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PROCEEDINGS
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Commtttee of i^ufaltcation.
HENRY CABOT LODGE.
JAMES FORD RHODES.
EDWARD STANVVOOD.
WORTHINGTON CHAUNCEY FORD.
M^.^^ l/L^-^y^jyvvO
iW^assadjusetts fltstorical ^octetp
Founded 1791
PROCEEDINGS
October, 1919 — June, 1920
66X^.3 Volume LIII
^ufaUsfjeti at tfte Cftargc of tfje WLattvSton Jfunb
Boston
PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY
MDCCCCXX
^\)t Slntbrrsitg ^Brrss:
John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U. S. A.
112R'
^o38G
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Agassiz, George Russell
The Real Frankenstein 99
Alston, Theodosia Burr
Letter to Dorothy Payne Madison, 1809 ....... 334
Amherst, Jeffrey
Letter to John Bradstreet, 1759 24
Annual Meeting
Report of the Council 145
Treasurer 149
Librarian 158
Cabinet-Keeper 159
Committee on Library 160
Officers 161
AuBiN, J. Harris
Memoir of Arnold Augustus Rand 30
BoiT, John
Log of the Columbia, 1 790-1 792 217
Clement, Edward Hentiy
Tribute by Worthington Chauncey Ford 97
CoDMAN, Charles Russell
Memoir by William Vail Kellen 168
Columbla., Log of the, i 790-1 792 217
Davis, Andrew McFarland
Tribute by Henry Herbert Edes 141
Edes, Hentry Herbert
Tribute to Andrew McFarland Davis 141
Eliot, Charles William
Tribute to Henry Lee Higginson 4°
Fleming, Willla.m
Letter to Preston, 1756 28
Vi , CONTENTS.
PAGE
Ford, Worthington Chauncey
Tribute to Edward Henry Clement 97
Frothingii.\m, Paul Revere
Memoir of George Hodges 131
Gifts to tiie Society . . . i, 17, 37, 65, 92, 128, 140, 177, 185
Glasgow- Weekly-History, 1743 192
Greenleae, Stephen
Sheriff's account, 1761-62 21
Hassam, John Tyler
Memoir by Julius Herbert Tuttle 85
Herefordshire Tragedy, The 161
Hewes, Elehu
Letter to Joseph Hewes, 1775 25
HiGGiNSON, Henry Lee
Tribute by Charles William Eliot 40
Memoir by John Torrey Morse, Jr 105
Hodges, George
Memoir by Paul Revere Fro thingham 131
Hunt, Washington
Letter to George Dawson, 1845 57
Iredell, James
Letter to Johnson, 1793 27
Jenks, Henry Fitch
Tribute by John Collins Warren 95
Memoir by Charles Edwards Park 1S2
Kellen, William Vail
Memoir of Charles Russell Codman 168
Kennett, White, Bishop of Peterborough
Letters to Benjamin Colman, 1 7 13-17 28 67
Knox, William
Letter, 1781 59
Lawrence, Amos Adams
Letters from Washington, 1836 48
Lee, Henry
Letters to Thomas Thomely, 1840 276
Lincoln Benjamin
Letter to John Lowell, 1781 24
LrvERMORE, Thomas Leonard
Tribute by James Ford Rhodes 5
CONTENTS. vii
PAGE
LivERMORE, William Roscoe
Memoir by Abbott Lawrence Lowell '. 338
Long, John Davis
Memoir by Arthur Lord 10
Lord, Arthur
^Memoir of John Davis Long 10
Lowell, Abbott La whence
Memoir of William Roscoe Livemiore 338
Members, Lists of
Resident xii
Corresponding xiv
Honorary xiv
Deceased xvi
Morse, John Torrey, Jr.
Memoir of Henry Lee Higginson 105
NoRCROSS, Grenville Howland
Tribute to Henry Ernest Woods 19
Nott, Eliphalet
Letter to Chesselden Ellis 332
Park, Charles Edwards
Memoir of Henry Fitch Jenks 182
Pickering, Timothy, Sr.
Letter, 1777 22
Plimpton, George Arthur
The First American Geography 45
Rand, Arnold Augustus
Memoir by J. Harris Aubin 30
Rantoul, Robert Samuel
Memoir of Thomas Franklin Waters 61
Rhodes, James Ford
Tribute to Thomas Leonard Livermore 5
RoxBURY Committee of Vigilance, i 834-1835 325
Smibert, John
Verses to Mr. B on, 1730 59
Story, Joseph
Letter to Henry Alexander Scammell Dearborn, 1844 . . 331
Thornely, Thomas
Letters to Henry Lee, 1S40-1847 275
VIU CONTENTS.
PAGE
TuTTLE, Julius Herbert
Roger Williams' Gift to John Endecott 8
Memoir of John Tyler Hassam 85
The Glasgow- Weekly-History, 1743 192
Wait, Thomas Baker
Letter to James Savage, 1 816 335
Warren, John Collins
Tribute to Henry Fitch Jenks 95
W^ARREN, WiNSLOW
Remarks 3
Washburn, Charles Grenfill
Photographs of Civil War officers 179
Waters, Thomas Franklin
Memoir by Robert Samuel Rantoul 61
Williams, Roger, Gift to John Endecott 8
WiNSHip, George Parker
Letters of John Eliot, the Apostle 1S9
Woods, Henry Ernest
Tribute by Grenville Howland Norcross 19
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Henry Lee Higginson Frontispiece
John Davis Long lo
Arnold Augustus Rand 30
Thomas Franklin Waters 61
John Tyler Hassam 85
George Hodges 131
Charles Russell Codman 168
Henry Fitch Jenks 182
Willlam Roscoe Livermore 338
OFFICERS
OF THE
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY
April S, 1920.
^resilient
HENRY CABOT LODGE Nahant.
WINSLOW WARREN Dedham.
JAMES FORD RHODES Boston.
EDWARD STANWOOD , Brookline.
Corr£sponlii'n0 SecTEtarg
Wn^LIAM ROSCOE THAYER Cambribge.
2Cr«a0urer
ARTHUR LORD Plymouth.
Efbrarfan
JULIUS HERBERT TUTTLE Dedham.
Cabmet=lv£ep£r
GRENVn^LE HOWLAND NORCROSS Boston.
WORTHINGTON CHAUNCEY FORD CAMBRrocE.
fSLzmhtxQ at 3Large of t\}t CTouncfl
FREDERICK CHEEVER SHATTUCK Boston.
CHARLES LEMUEL NICHOLS Worcester.
WILLIAM BRADFORD HOMER DOWSE Sherborn.
WILLIAM STURGIS BIGELOW Boston.
ROGER BIGELOW MERRIMAN CAMBRmcE.
RESIDENT MEMBERS.
1873-
Hon. Winslow Warren, LL.B.
Charles William Eliot, LL.D.
1876.
Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge, LL.D.
1877.
John Torrey Morse, Jr., Litt.D.
1882.
Arthur Lord, A.B.
1884,
Edward Channing, Ph.D.
1889.
Albert Bushnell Hart, LL.D.
1890.
Abbott Lawrence Lowell, LL.D.
Hon. Oliver Wendell Holmes, LL.D.
Henry Pickering Walcott, M.D.,
LL.D.
1893.
Barrett Wendell, Litt.D.
James Ford Rhodes, LL.D.
Rt. Rev. William Lawrence, D.C.L.
William Roscoe Thayer, LL.D.
1895.
Hon. Thomas Jefferson Coolidge, LL.D.
Hon. William Wallace Crapo, LL.D.
1896.
Granville Stanley Hall, LL.D.
Rev. George Angier Gordon, LL.D.
Rev. James DeNormandie, D.D.
Archibald Gary Coolidge, LL.D.
Charles Pickering Bowditch, A.M.
1900.
Melville Madison Bigelow, LL.D.
1901.
John Osborne Sumner, A.B.
1902.
Brooks Adams, A.B.
Grenville Howland Norcross, LL.B.
Edward Hooker Gilbert, A.B.
1903.
Charles Knowles Bolton, A.B.
Ephraim Emerton, Ph.D.
Waldo Lincoln, A.B.
Hon. Frederic Jesup Stimson, LL.B.
Edward Stanwood, Litt.D.
Moorfield Storey, A.]\I.
1904.
Roger Bigelow Merriman, Ph.D.
Charles Homer Haskins, LL.D.
RESIDENT MEMBERS.
Xlll
1Q05.
Theodore Clarke Smith, Ph.D.
Henry Grecnleaf Pearson, A.B.
Bliss Perry, LL.D.
1906.
Edwin Doak Mead, A.M.
Lindsay Swift, A.B.
Mark Antony DeWolfe Howe, Litt.D.
1907.
Jonathan Smith, A.B.
Albert Matthews, A.B.
WUliam VaU Kellen, LL.D.
Frederic Winthrop, A.B.
Hon. Robert Samuel Rantoul, LL.B.
George Lyman Kittredge, LL.D.
Charles Pelham Greenough, LL.B.
1909.
Worthington Chauncey Ford, LL.D.
William Coolidge Lane, A.B.
1910.
Hon. Samuel Walker McCall, LL.D.
John Collins Warren, M.D., LL.D.
Harold Murdock, A.M.
Edward Waldo Emerson, M.D.
Frederick Jackson Turner, Litt.D.
Gardner Weld Allen, M.D.
1911.
Henry Herbert Edes, A.M.
George Hubbard Blakeslee, Ph.D.
Richard Henry Dana, LL.B.
Rev. George Foot Moore, LL.D.
Gamaliel Bradford, Litt.D.
Justin Harvey Smith, Litt.D.
1912.
John Spencer Bassett, Ph.D.
Malcolm Storer, M.D.
1913-
Hon. Charles Grenfill Washburn, A.B.
1914.
Zachary Taylor Hollingsworth, Esq.
Chester Noyes Greenough, Ph.D.
Joseph Grafton Minot, Esq.
Samuel Eliot Morison, Ph.D.
Ellery Sedgwick, A.B.
1915-
William Crowninshield Endicott, A.B.
Rev. Paul Revere Frothingham, D.D.
Lincoln Newton Kinnicutt, Esq.
Hon. Robert Grant, Ph.D.
George Parker Winship, Litt.D.
Julius Herbert Tuttle, Esq.
1916.
Ferris Greenslet, Ph.D.
Rev. Charles Edwards Park, D.D.
Francis Apthorp Foster, Esq.
Frederick Cheever Shattuck, M.T>.,
LL.D.
1917.
William Sumner Appleton, A.B.
Charles Lemuel Nichols, M.D., Litt.D.
Lawrence Park, Esq.
Hon. John Adams Aiken, LL.D.
1918.
William Bradford Homer Dowse, LL.B .
William Sturgis Bigelow, j\LD.
Russell Gray, A.I\L
Hon. Arthur Prentice Rugg, LL.D.
Hon. Nathan Matthews, LL.D,
1919.
John Woodford Farlow, M.D.
Charles Francis Adams, LL.B.
Robert Gould Shaw, A.M.
Fred Norris Robinson, Ph.D.
Lawrence Shaw Mayo, A.M.
1920.
Edward Gray, A.B.
Endicott Peabody Saltonstall, LL.B.
Fitz-Henry Smith, Jr.. LL.B.
Francis Russell Hart, Esq.
Robert Means Lawrence, M.D.
HONORARY MEMBERS.
1896.
Rt. Hon. Viscount Bryce, D.C.L.
1899.
Rt. Hon. Sir George Otto Trevelyan,
Bart., D.C.L.
1904.
Adolf Harnack, D.D.
Rt. Hon. Viscount Morley of Black-
burn, D.C.L.
1905.
Ernest Lavisse.
1910.
Eduard Meyer, Litt.D.
1919.
Charles Harding Firth, LL.D.
CORRESPONDING MEMBERS.
1878.
Joseph Florimond Loubat, LL.D.
1897.
Hon. Woodrow Wilson, LL.D.
1898.
John Franklin Jameson, LL.D.
Hon. Simeon Eben Baldwin, LL.D.
John Bassett Moore, LL.D.
Frederic Harrison, LL.D.
Frederic Bancroft, LL.D.
Sir WiUiam (James) Ashley, Kt., Ph.D.
John Bach McMaster, LL.D.
Albert Venn Dicey, LL.D.
1903.
Rev. Arthur Blake EUis, LL.B.
Auguste Moireau.
1904.
Sir Sidney Lee, LL.D,
1905.
William Archibald Dunning, LL.D.
Gabriel Hanotaux.
Hubert Hall.
1906.
Andrew Cunningham McLaughlin,
LL.B.
Hon. Beekman Winthrop, LL.B.
CORRESPONDING MEMBERS.
XV
1907.
Hon. James Phinney Baxter, Litt.D.
Wilberforce Eames, A.M.
George Walter Prothero, LL.D.
Hon. Jean Jules Jusserand, LL.D.
James Kendall Hosmer, LL.D.
1908.
John Bagnell Bury, LL.D.
Rafael Altamira y Crevea.
Hon. James Wilberforce Longley,
D.C.L.
Charles Borgeaud, LL.D,
1909.
Lyon Gardiner Tyler, LL.D.
Clarence Bloomfield Moore, A.B.
igio.
Charles William Chadwick Oman,
LL.D.
1911.
Samuel Verplanck Hoffman, Esq.
William Milligan Sloane, LL.D.
1912.
William MacDonald, LL.D.
1913-
John Holland Rose, Litt.D.
1014-
Hon. George Peabody Wetmore,LL.B.
1915-
Henry Osborn Taylor, Litt.D.
1916.
George Macaulay Trevelyan.
Charles Downer Hazen, Litt.D.
William Keeney Bixby, LL.D.
1917.
Rt. Hon. Earl of Rosebery, D.C.L.
1918.
Frederick Scott Oliver.
1919.
George Arthur Plimpton, LL.D.
George Russell Agassiz, A.B.
Max Farrand, Ph.D.
Hon. Albert Jeremiah Beveridge,
LL.D.
Rt. Hon. Herbert Albert Laurens
Fisher, LL.D.
Paul Fredericq.'
George Lincoln Burr, LL.D.
1920.
Edwin Francis Gay, LL.D.
^ Died March 30, 1920.
MEMBERS DECEASED.
July, 1919 — June, 1920.
Resident.
1881, Henry Filch Jenks Jan. 31, 1920.
1897, William Roscoe Livermore Sept. 26, 1919.
1898, Andrew McFarland Davis March 29, 1920.
1902, Henry Lee Higginson Nov. 14, 19 19.
1906, Edward Henry Clement Feb. 7, 1920.
1908, Henry Ernest Woods Oct. 11,1919.
1914, Thomas Franklin Waters Nov. 23, 1919.
Correspotiding.
1899, William Cunningham June 10, 1919.
1905, James Schouler April 16, 1920.
1919, Paul Fredericq March 30, 1920.
PROCEEDINGS
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY
OCTOBER MEETING, 1919.
THE stated meeting was held on Thursday, the 9th instant,
at three o'clock, p.m.; the first Vice-President, Mr.
Warren, in the absence of the President, in the chair.
The record of the last meeting was read and approved.
The Cabinet-Keeper reported the following accessions:
From Mrs. Charles Francis Adams, a bust, in bronze, of Mr.
Adams, by T. Spicer-Simson.
From the Boston Medical Library, two large photographs of
General William T. Sherman.
From Mr. Norcross, a photograph of Francis Gardner (181 2-
1S76), headmaster (1851-1876) of the Boston Latin School, taken
about 1870.
From George L. Shepley, of Providence a photostat of a pen-
and-ink sketch, by Whitman Barber, 1919, of "Shakespeare's Head,"
Meeting Street, Providence, which was John Carter's printing
ofl&ce from December, 1772, to November, 1793; also woodcuts of
Harvard College, Yale College, and other colleges, and buildings
in the country.
From the Misses Sarah and Joanna Williams, of Yonkers, New
York, four pewter plates, made by Samuel ElUs, in London, used
by General John Thomas at the time of the American war for inde-
pendence, also a mortar and pestle used by him when a physician.
From Mr. Charles P. Greenough, a collection of engravings of
members of the Society, authors, and others.
From Charles W. Jenks, a collection of miscellaneous engraved
portraits.
From Edwin H. Brigham, two lithographs of monuments erected
in 1865 in memory of the patriots who fell in the first Battle of Bull
Run, July 21, 1861, and in the second battle, August 28-30, 1862;
2 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OCT.
also a photograph of a view in Needham, Mass., at its 200th anni-
versary celeVjration in igii.
From F. H. Shumway, the medal of the Eastern States Ex-
position, at Springfield, 1919; and a medallion, in plaster, of J. A.
Bolen, of Springfield, maker of fac-similes of colonial coins, one
of only two that he made of himself.
From Mr. Gray, a "Jackass" Sio bill, 1880.
From the selectmen of Provincetown, by James Biram, the serv-
ice medal for Provincetown men in the World War.
From Dr. Farlow, two photographs of buildings on Staniford
Street, Boston, owned by the late Dr. George C. Shattuck, used
for medical purposes, and in some connection with the Harvard
Medical School.^
From Miss Susie Z. Preble, by deposit, a painting by Simqua, a
Chinese artist, in 1855, of the United States chartered steamer
Qtieen, George H. Preble, Lieutenant Commanding, at Canton,
China; a photograph of the fight between the Kearsarge and Ala-
bama taken from a painting by Norton belonging to Edward Ernest
Preble, navigating officer of the Kearsarge, who furnished the sketch
from which it was made; a photograph of the destroyer Preble; a
carbon photograph of Commodore Edward Preble; and a photo-
graph of Rear-Admiral George Henry Preble.
By purchase, two engraved caricatures, the "Hoosac Bore," and
"Provision for the Convent," 1835.
By permission of the Newport Historical Society, a photostat
of a colored lithographic view, by Thayer and Co., of the "Grand
Mass Washingtonian Convention on Boston Common," May 30,
1844, published by F. Gleason, Boston.
The Corresponding Secretary reported the receipt of a
letter from Herbert Albert Laurens Fisher, of Sheffield, Eng-
land, accepting his election as a Corresponding Member of
the Society.
The Editor reported the following accessions of mss.
By gift: From Helen Mason Boynton, the papers and newspaper
correspondence of her husband, the late General Henry Van Ness
Boynton. Though born in Massachusetts General Boynton passed
the first half of his life in Ohio, served in the civil war and was
^ The Shattuck house, corner of Staniford and Cambridge Streets, was oc-
cupied by Dr. Shattuck as a residence. The second building, also owned by Dr.
Shattuck, was on Staniford Street and was used as a clinic for women and children
successively by Dr. George C. Shattuck (1870-1880), Dr. James R. Chadwick,
Dr. C. P. Putnam, and Dr. J. W. Farlow (1875-1890).
1 91 9-] REMARKS OF WINSLOW WARREN. 3
brevetted for good conduct at the battles of Chickamauga and Mis-
sionary Ridge. After the war he resided in Washington and served
as correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette. He wrote much on the
war, notably in criticism of Sherman's Memoirs, and on current
public questions in the period of reconstruction and after. A man
of independent judgment and courage, his comments on men and
measures are good history.
From Charles Stearns, the "Records of the Mercantile Elocution
Class, 1835-1836, composed of members of the Mercantile Library
Association of Boston, with the signatures of ninety-six members;
also some papers on the Benevolent Fraternity Fund of the library.
On deposit: By Roger Wolcott, the papers and correspondence of
William Hickling Prescott, the historian, containing his private and
business letters, social and historical, much of which served as the
foundation of Ticknor's Life of Prescott issued in 1864. Much that
was not so used shows the extent of Prescott's studies, his investiga-
tions in Spanish sources and his purchase of manuscripts and printed
books. The collection is unusual in quality for its European con-
nections.
By purchase: Two volumes of record books of Col. Moses Little
containing general orders issued before Boston, June 26-October
20, 1775, with regimental rosters and lists of furloughs; camp ac-
counts, December 1775, appraisal of guns, receipts for wages, lists
of deserters and store accounts, 1776. They were given by Eben
Hale to his brother Joshua Hale and in 1875 passed into the posses-
sion of Josiah L. Hale. Colonel Little commanded the Twelfth
Regiment of Foot, and served from the opening of the war to 1777,
when he was obliged to retire on account of broken health.
Fred Norris Robinson, of Cambridge, was elected a Resident
Member of the Society.
Paul Fredericq, of Ghent, Belgium, was elected a Corre-
sponding Member of the Society.
Mr. W'lNSLOW Warren read the following:
It has been a pleasant custom at the October meeting for the
presiding officer to briefly review the events of the four months
during which we hold no meetings, but the short notice given
me of the expected absence of Senator Lodge does not allow
of any elaborate study of the few months past, full as they have
been of extraordinary events and of a condition of unsettle-
ment the world over productive of unusual disturbance and
giving cause for much anxiety as to the future.
An abnormal state of things for a while was to be expected
4 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OCT.
after the awful war that has upset the whole world. Millions
of young men could not be taken from their usual employments
and after active service in strange lands be returned to the
quiet and less absorbing home life without a good deal of dis-
content, restlessness, and more or less inabihty to suddenly
adjust themselves to violently changed conditions, and it is
not strange that after their wider experience many are unwilling
or unable to return to their former business or social relations.
We are experiencing the usual aftermath of great wars,
though the magnitude of the great conflict has magnified the
new conditions. Undoubtedly the long delay, made necessary
by the unavoidable complications in the peace settlement and
the impossibihty of quickly restoring normal business activi-
ties the world over, has greatly added to the world's perplexi-
ties. The prevailing high prices have caused constant strikes,
and the strikes again have caused higher prices, to the end that
we have been travelling in a vicious circle, aft'ording an oppor-
tunity for agitators and demagogues to mislead and inflame
the ignorant and lawless, and to increase the difficulties en-
compassing us. Plainly enough the immediate need is of more
work and more production, but how to procure these with the
evident tendency towards shorter working hours and almost
prohibitory wages is a puzzle not yet solved. There is en-
couragement, however, in the fact that many of the best minds
in the country have devoted themselves to a study of existing
conditions and to the seeking of adjustments between capital
and labor which may produce a working system of co-ordina-
tion of forces, combined with a genuine co-operation. Nor is
this confined to employers of labor only; it is a hopeful sign that
some of the strongest and most intelligent labor leaders have
been working conscientiously upon the same problem, with a
pretty clear thought into the instability and unsatisfactory
nature of the present relations between capital and labor.
However dark the immediate outlook may be, we may look
hopefully to some result of these efforts, although in all proba-
bihty there may be great changes in methods of doing business
and more or less shipwreck of preconceived ideas. More than
ever before we need calm judgment, freedom from hysterical
alarm, and an avoidance of hasty conclusions.
One thing in this country must be beyond dispute: law and
1 91 9-] WILLL4.M R. LIVERMORE. 5
order must be and will be maintained at any cost, and the
public will not endure that it shall be the sufferer because of
disputes and disagreements between employers and employees.
This has grown more and more obvious as relates to public
service corporations, and methods must be found to prevent
the constant interruption to business and consequent suffering
from quarrels with which the public has little or no concern.
Here in Boston we have witnessed a dereliction of public
duty which has been and is a startling lesson. It has been a
mortifying sight to the people of Boston that any necessity
should have arisen for the patrol of its streets by armed men.
Grandly and patriotically those men have obeyed the call,
but that it should have been necessary is a shameful fact.
If public officers can subordinate the public safety to their
own selfish ends or can hold a divided allegiance in the per-
formance of their duties, the community has no protection
and law is of no avail. The official authorities of state and
city have manfully maintained respect for the laws of the
Commonwealth and have punished as they deserved unfaithful
public servants: it now becomes our duty as citizens, without
regard to political ties, to unreservedly support them in en-
forcing to the utmost respect for law and faithfulness to duty.
The Vice-President announced the death of Col. William R.
Livermore, a Resident Member, and of Rev. William Cunning-
ham, of Cambridge, England, a Corresponding Member.
Mr. Rhodes read a tribute to
William R. Livermore.
When Charles Eliot Norton paid some years ago a tribute to
his friend W. W. Story he said, quoting the remark one Eng-
lishman made of another, that his talent was "too various."
The same may be said of our deceased friend William R.
Livermore. A graduate of West Point, he was distinguished
in his profession and was noted as an excellent man in the
United States Engineers. Really if one should take the ac-
count printed in the newspapers of his work as an engineer one
might well consider such labor sufficient for the work of a life-
time. But he might have been a distinguished engineer without
gaining admittance to this Society.
He was a remarkable scholar. I remember well that a pro-
6 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OCT.
fessor of Harvard, an Oxford graduate, said to me years ago,
"Do you know you have a great scholar in Boston and his
name is William R. Livermore?" That was true in the highest
sense of the word. Livermore knew ancient and modern
history. He exhibited some of his unpublished "Historical
Atlas of Europe, Asia and North Africa, 3000 b. c. to the Pres-
ent" before this Society and during his talk gave a glimpse of
his wonderful learning and profound study. I purposely use
the word glimpse as his time here was limited, and he could not
make his associates appreciate how he had actually burned the
midnight oil to arrive at the results which he showed us that
afternoon. Hearing him give a number of formal talks on the
subject, enjoying his intimacy, led one to know how he had
compassed historical knowledge. It is quite true that in his
formal talks he never did himself full justice. It was not from
lack of adequate preparation but rather from diffidence when he
got upon his legs and from not possessing a proper power of ex-
pression. I can read many languages, he once said to a friend,
but I cannot talk my own. This was of course a statement in a
moment of despair, as when he sat down to write he wrote well,
but was either so modest or so reticent that he never displayed
the amount of knowledge and study that was at the back of
every statement. In regarding his work the thought of Thack-
eray in respect to Macaulay cannot fail to come: "He reads a
hundred books to write a sentence; he travels a thousand miles
to make a description." It is an inconsistency that Livermore,
who knew his Shakespeare well, should have sometimes failed
in the power of expression. He could repeat three plays by
heart. I heard him one night discourse on Macbeth when he
talked like one inspired, attracting great interest even if one
could not follow him in his theory, which I think might have
astonished Shakespeare himself. Why would he not always
talk like that, I said to myself when hearing his discourses be-
fore the Thursday Evening Club and before this Society?
No one who heard his luminous and illustrated account of
Napoleon's campaigns in Northern Italy which he gave towards
the end of the last century before the ISIilitary Historical Society
of Massachusetts could fail to see that he had grasped the
strategy and tactics of this greatest of modern military masters.
John C. Ropes, who was admirably fitted to write the Story
I gig.] WILLIAM R. LIVERMORE. 7
of our Civil War and who thought to make it his Hfe-work, died
after he had completed the campaign of Fredericksburg in 1862.
It was a grave question for a while whether the work should be
continued, and the decision fell to John C. Gray, one of our
associates. With efTective discernment he selected William R.
Livermore for the task. The result was two volumes carrying
the story through Gettysburg in 1863. Only one who has used
this work as a student, weighed each sentence, verified many
of the references, can have an idea of its value. The Boston
scholar, the man who knew ancient and modern history, the
student of Napoleon, brought all of this wealth to bear on a
study of our Civil War. Nor did he, like some men, rely alone
on his general culture. He made a special study of the subject
in the manner of a true specialist. He knew his Ofhcial Records
and the most valuable literature of the subject. His detailed
accounts of battles are unsurpassed and are simply invaluable.
Most of us who write about the Civil War are obliged to illus-
trate our narratives by maps and are content to take those
furnished by the admirable generosity of our Government or
by the Military Historical Society of Massachusetts. Not
so Livermore. An officer of the United States Army, a promi-
nent member of the Military Historical Society, he used these
maps simply as materials, and visiting the fields of action, using
his wonderful power of observation and his technical study,
made his own maps himself. We may all regret that Livermore
did not live to finish the Story of the Civil War.
He was not overweighted by his materials. His character-
izations of generals of the Civil War were always well worth
bearing in mind. *'A superior intellect," he wrote, "and long
and hard study are required to make an efficient commander."
To illustrate his first qualification he might have quoted
Parkman, that a great general is the rare son of the tempest.
Student that Livermore was, the second qualification seemed to
him also necessary. By his test Hooker fails lamentably in
both qualifications, as may be read in Livermore's first volume.
It is well known that some English critics in their admira-
tion of Stonewall Jackson do injustice inferentially to Lee.
How cleverly Livermore sees the merits of each! "Day and
night," he wrote, "Jackson studied new combinations and was
always on the alert to apply them. He saw possibilities that
8 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OCT.
would never occur to the average officer; and was always fight-
ing imaginary battles in his head." Livermore went on in the
same paragraph to remark, on Jackson's limitations and ends
his paragraph with "Jackson required the intellect of Lee to
keep him within bounds and direct his efforts."
I can do no better than to cite in conclusion Professor
William E. Dodd's remark, who reviewed the two volumes on
the Civil War in the Dial during October, 19 13: "All who desire
a fair and straightforward account of the military movements of
1863 need but turn to these volumes. And all who knew the
earlier work of John C. Ropes will rejoice that the same spirit
and the same keen intelligence which distinguished the author
of the first part of the work also pervade the pages of Colonel
Livermore's termination."
Mr. Ford read a paper on "Henry Adams, correspondent."
Mr. Stanwood gave some reminiscences of the Hales, of
the Boston Advertiser, the paper in which the Adams communi-
cations from Washington appeared.
Mr. TuTTLE then read as follows:
Roger Williams' Gipt to John Endecott.
The Society has an old book, Herwologia Anglica, by Henry
Holland, printed at Arnheim, in the Netherlands, in 1620. It
contains sixty-three brief memoirs in Latin of persons of note
in England in the sixteenth century with engraved portraits.
There is written at the top of the first fly-leaf "Bought at the
sale of Dr. Byles' books, Thomas Wallcutt 1790," in the hand
of Mr. Wallcut, one of our ten founders, and our first Record-
ing Secretary. He gave it early in 1791, among the first books
of our library, and it has three of our earliest book-plates. This
is one of many books and tracts given by Mr. Wallcut bearing
his autograph signature, or the entry of his previous purchase.
The book is in the original binding, but lacks the engraved title-
page, a few leaves, and two of the portraits.
Mather Byles, the "fatherless grandson" of Increase Mather,
received under Mather's will one-fourth of his library, which
may have included this book. The words "Crescentius Mat-
herus 1680 " are written in it, but not in Mather's hand. Mather
owned a copy, as appears by his list of October 18, 1664.^
' Proc. Amer. Ani. Soc, N. S. xx. 281.
I9l9-i ROGER WILLIAMS' GIFT TO JOHN ENDICOTT. 9
Several of the torn leaves are mended with pieces of the title
page of Increase Mather's Revolution in New England Justified^
Boston, 1690. Cotton Mather's handwriting is found on page
218, "Vide Perkinsii Effigiam in Vol. prius Operum Perkin-
sianorum," which refers to the missing leaf, pages 219, 220,
having on its recto the portrait of Perkins. At the death
of Increase Mather, his son Cotton received one-half of his
library, and the book might have been in Cotton's hands before
it was received by his favorite nephew, Mather Byles.
Another important entry appears in the book, in the hand
of Roger Williams, "Liber Johannis Endicott ex dono frater-
culi in Christo indignissimi Rogeri Williams." Below this is
the autograph signature of Endecott. If Williams brought the
book with him when he arrived in Boston on February 9, 1631,
it passed not long afterward into the hands of Endecott, and
some years later, before 1664, it found a home in the library
of Increase Mather, and then traced its way to Mather Byles,
either through Increase Mather's bequest to him, or through
the bequest to Cotton Mather, finally reaching the hands of
Thomas Wallcut, who gave it to our library in its first year.
Next year the book will have its own tercentenary, and bear
silent witness to interesting associations with some of our
notable New England worthies during its earlier history.
lO MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OCT.
MEMOIR
OP
JOHN DAVIS LONG
By ARTPIUR LORD.
John Davis Long was born in the town of Buckfield, Maine,
on October 27, 1838, and died at his home in Hingham, August
28, 1915.
Governor Long, as he was usually called, came of pure New
England stock, going back to the first settlement of Plymouth,
and his emigrant ancestors were included in the company both
of the Mayflower and the Ann. His father was Zadoc Long,
a prosperous merchant in Buckfield. His mother was Juha
Temple Davis. Zadoc Long retired from active business in the
year of his son's birth and that year became the Whig candi-
date for representative to Congress and received a plurality of
votes at the election. In 1840 he was chosen a presidential
elector. It was said of him that "he was a man of rare intel-
lectual ability, a ready and fluent writer, and many of his
poems were published in the papers of the day."
Mr. Long was fitted for college in the public schools of his
native town and at Hebron Academy in the neighboring town
of Hebron, and was admitted to Harvard in 1853, at the age of
fourteen years. His Harvard life as told by him in the paper
which he read at the meeting of this Society in June, 1909, was
far from satisfactory or enjoyable. He says :"I look back upon
my college education with less satisfaction than any other part
of my hfe. I was not thoroughly fitted. I was too young. . . .
I look back with a certain pathetic commiseration on myself,
unwarmed for the whole four years by a single act or word
expressive of interest on the part of those to whom my edu-
cation was intrusted. And this is literally true. The element
I gig] JOHN DAVIS LONG. II
of personal influence was entirely lacking. No instructor or
officer ever gave me a pat on the shoulder physically, morally,
or intellectually." In spite of his lack of preparation and the
absence of all personal influence which he lamented, his rank as
a scholar admitted him to membership in the Phi Beta Kappa,
and perhaps no distinction he enjoyed more than the presi-
dency of the Phi Beta Kappa, to which he was elected in 1904.
Graduated from college in the class of 1857 with distinction, he
received from his classmates the compliment of being elected
their class poet.
Immediately after graduation he came to Westford, Massa-
chusetts, and became principal of the Westford Academy.
It is said that the school under his management was very pros-
perous, the number of pupils was unusually large, and the en-
thusiasm of both teachers and scholars was high-toned and
abundant.^
In 1859, after two years of service at the Academy, he began
the study of law in the Harvard Law School and in the office of
Mr. Sidney Bartlett, a great leader of the Boston bar, and was
admitted to the bar in 186 1. He then returned to his native
town to open there an office for the practice of his chosen pro-
fession. But Buckfield did not hold him long, for in 1862 he
removed to Boston and maintained an office there until his death.
He married in September, 1870, Mary Woodward Glover,
of Hingham, and began his residence in that town, which con-
tinued to be his home until his death. Mrs. Long died in 1882
and one of his two daughters survived him. In 1886 he married
Agnes, the daughter of Rev. Joseph Dexter Pierce of North
Attleboro. Mrs. Long and their one child, Pierce Long, a
practising lawyer in Boston, survive him.
His first political experience was as a Democratic candidate
for the Legislature in 1871-72, and he failed of an election.
In 1873 he built his Hingham home; and again ran for the
Legislature in 1874 and was elected as a Republican member.
In the Legislature of 1875 the opportunity came to him for
showing his remarkable parliamentary ability by an occasional
service in the Speaker's chair; and the next year upon his return
to^'the House he was chosen Speaker for the three years, 1876,
1877, 1878.
1 History of Westford, 323.
12 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OCT.
In 1879 he was elected Lieutenant Governor of the Com-
monwealth, and in 1880-81, 1881-82 he was elected Governor.
His first campaign for the governorship was against Benjamin F.
Butler, whom he defeated by a majority of over fifty thousand
votes, and who succeeded Governor Long as Governor in 1883,
Mr. Long having declined a renomination. In accordance with
the custom Harvard University conferred upon him at its first
commencement after his election the honorary degree of Doctor
of Laws, which at that time it was considered the Governor of
the Commonwealth ex-officio was entitled to receive. Gov-
ernor Long was the last recipient of the degree under the
ancient rule. The college authorities selected the year of
Governor Butler's service as Governor as the occasion to in-
terrupt this time-honored custom.
He was elected to the 48th Congress from the Plymouth
District in 1883, and served in the 48th, 49th, and 50th Con-
gress, 1883 to 1889, when he declined renomination.
In 1884 he was a delegate-at-large to the Repubhcan National
Convention, and placed in nomination for the presidency
Senator Edmunds of Vermont, in a speech which was long
remembered as a model of convention oratory.
After his retirement from Congress as the member from the
Second Massachusetts District he became a member of Presi-
dent McKinley's Cabinet, and remained as a member of
President Roosevelt's Cabinet until May, 1902, when he re-
signed and became senior member of the law firm of Long and
Hemenway, in Boston.
In 1901 he gave to Buckfield its Pubhc Library, naming
it in honor of his father, the Zadoc Long Free Library.
In 1902, as President of the Harvard Alumni Association,
he presided at the famous commencement dinner when Presi-
dent Roosevelt and Secretary Hay both attended and spoke,
and at the election for Overseers on the same day he received
the largest vote. In recognition of his eminent public services
and of his rare ability as a presiding officer, he was elected
during his first year of service as the President of the Board,
and for eleven years, during his entire term of service, he was
annually elected President without opposition.
In his busy public and professional life he found time to
deliver and publish many addresses and orations, to publish
igig] JOHN DAVIS LONG. I3
a History of the American Navy, and a translation of Aeneid,
and two volumes of verses. In his volume entitled After Dinner
and Other Speeches, published in 1895, we find addresses on
Daniel Webster, Wendell Phillips, Grant, Sherman, Long-
fellow, Garfield, Andrew, on the 250th anniversary of the
settlement of Cambridge, the 250th anniversary of the in-
corporation of Sandwich, Forefathers' Day at Plymouth,
and the Fourth of July Oration delivered in Boston in 1882.
There was little of shadow and a great deal of sunshine
in his more than threescore and ten of happy and useful years.
Among the personal quahties that contributed to his remark-
able success in many directions and which made him both
honored and beloved, I think of the first importance was his
singularly attractive personality. He had, as one who knew
him best defined it, "a genius for companionship." He seemed
to find that pleasure in companionship, not merely with
scholars and public men, but particularly with the plain
people whom he knew and understood and thoroughly sym-
pathized with.
He had also an extraordinary capacity for continuous and
efi'ective work. He never wasted any time and he never had
any idle moments. His translation of the Aeneid may not be
classed by scholars among the great translations of Virgil, but
it was a remarkable thing that as he sat at the Speaker's desk
during the Legislature of 1877 ^^^ 1878 he could make so good a
translation. In its preface he confesses "disappointment at
finding such dearth of humor, that next best thing in the world,"
and although he agrees that the Aeneid is an immortal poem,
he says, "The world could better lose it all than the Psalms of
David or a verse of Whittier." Upon which conclusion I sup-
pose there would be no general concurrence of opinion.
It was not an affectation that he translated Virgil while
presiding over debates in the Massachusetts Legislature.
It was written because he wanted to be busy doing something,
and this translation, in his opinion, would contribute to the
enjoyment and enrichment of his vocabulary and undoubtedly
leave him never at a loss on any occasion for the graceful and
appropriate word.
During his life he never went home from his law office or
from his desk at the State House, in Congress, or the Cabinet,
14 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OCT.
and left anything undone which ought to have been done that
day. His working table was never in confusion. Everything
was in order and everything disposed of. He could more rapidly
receive, hear and answer an applicant for position or aid than
any of his contemporaries, and at the same time leave the
impression upon the mind of the applicant that he had received
all the attention that he could fairly ask, and that if his appli-
cation was refused, it would be a source of regret to the Gov-
ernor. When he was Secretary of the Navy his waiting-room
would be filled with visitors awaiting their turn. To attempt to
interview each one with the formalities incident to his reception
and withdrawal would have wasted an immense amount of
time. His usual practice was to take a stenographer and go
down the line of waiting applicants, hear each man's brief
story, and answer it at once if he could, with the result that the
individual made his story brief and was gratified to find that he
was relieved of the necessity of waiting several hours for his turn.
It was a fortunate and happy faculty, this capacity for
continuous and well-directed labor, without haste and without
rest. He had the kindhest impulses. He liked to say pleasant
things. That was a great factor in his pohtical success and
some people have assumed that that personal interest which he
showed in the simple affairs and details of life of his constitu-
ents was based upon a lively sense of favors to come, but there
is no foundation whatever for that theory. He was always
ready to say the pleasant word or do the helpful act without
the slightest thought of its effect upon his poUtical prospects,
and where there was no other reason than that he knew it
would gratify or help the persons to whom his remarks were
addressed, or upon whom his call was made, and that they
would value it. It was only natural that this innate courtesy
and thoughtfulness and consideration should greatly endear
him to all the people whom he met.
He had also a remarkable sense of humor. It was at all times
a quaint, simple, country. New England humor. He never
told a story. His humor or wit, as you may call it, was a prod-
uct of his imagination and not of his memory. It was a humor
which differed from Mr. Reed's, it was less quotable but it was
never sharp or cutting, and it left no wounds. It was a pleasant
thing, said in an unexpected way, which everybody present
iqiq] JOHN DAVIS LONG. 15
enjoyed, the subject of his humorous comment no less than the
interested listener, and the Governor himself. It had a quality
of quaintness which gave it a peculiar charm.
He was an admirable presiding officer on all occasions,
thoroughly familiar with Parliamentary Law; he knew it so well
he was not embarrassed by his knowledge, and had the faculty
of presiding so that everybody had an opportunity to speak,
and when he reached the conclusion that the subject had been
fully discussed and that what else might be said could be of no
useful contribution to the subject, he tactfully managed to con-
clude the debate, and when the meeting adjourned all that had
been done was well done, without undue delay or haste, and
the result was that the meeting was always a success and the
pleasant, witty, effective and admirable way in which he pre-
sided was recognized as an important contribution to that result.
His public speeches were always felicitous and well adapted
to the occasions where they were delivered. They were not
intended to have any distinct historical value. Antiquarian or
original research did not interest him. He cared little for dates.
The formal historical address, such as Mr. Winthrop or Mr.,
Hoar or Mr. Adams made, represented an amount of labor
which to Governor Long would seem utterly disproportionate
to the result or the occasion. His speech in the Convention,
when he placed in nomination George F. Edmunds for the
presidency, called out this high tribute from so competent an
authority as Andrew D. White: "Considering the occasion, the
purpose and its effect, it was great among great speeches."
His argument to the jury for the defence in the case of Com-
monwealth vs. Trefethen, was a masterpiece of jury oratory,
and unsurpassed by any argument in a criminal case in the
opinion of those who heard it. His oration on Abraham Lin-
coln was perhaps the most eloquent of his addresses, and will
rank with the best of the many tributes to the martyred
President.
He had not a particle of conceit. He had a very just appre-
ciation of his own abihties and his public performances. He
had no doubt of his capacity to meet the requirements of any
occasion. But he also beheved that there were an hundred
other men who, if the opportunity and occasion had presented
itself, would have done the work just exactly as well. He once
l6 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OCT.
said that he could fill an hundred cabinets from Massachusetts
and that he could find a cabinet ofiicer in almost every board
of selectmen in any town in the state. That seems perhaps an
extravagant statement and a hasty generalization, but it
represented an abiding conviction of the Governor, of the ca-
pacity of the average man if an opportunity were given him.
That everybody's place could be filled and that there was no
occasion which would be hkely to arise in human history in the
future any more than there had been in the past, when there
could not be found some Massachusetts man who would be
perfectly qualified to carry on the work, he thoroughly believed.
It was a sincere belief.
And lastly, the distinguishing characteristic of Governor
Long was his sound common sense. He was always safe and
sane. He did the right thing and he did it in the right way
to secure the result which he sought. There are few pubHc men
in Massachusetts who in a long pubhc career have made so few
mistakes. He brought to the decision of pubHc questions that
which, after all, best helps in their solution, not so much the
knowledge of the expert or the student, but the conclusions of
a well trained and sane mind, based upon experience and
observation, impartial and unprejudiced.
He had the happy fortune to come on to the stage at the
right time for the employment and development of his par-
ticular powers of usefulness and service. He was a typical
New Englander, true to the traditions and manners and cus-
toms and mode of thought of New Englanders. He understood
them and they understood him. He was one of them and they
regarded him with affection and respect.
And so the happy years went by and the last years brought
him more quiet enjoyment, and satisfaction, and peace, than
those earlier years, richer in public honors. It was an unusual
privilege to be able truthfully to write on his seventy-fifth
birthday, in reply to a letter of congratulation suggesting
some public recognition of the event: "I have no wish to con-
ceal my age. On the contrary I rather like it, and I think I can
say that it is the happiest time of a very happy life." His death
came before the grasshopper became a burden and desire failed.
Remarks were made during the meeting by Messrs. Storer
and Stanwood.
igig.] GIFTS TO THE SOCIETY. 17
NOVEMBER MEETING.
THE stated meeting was held on Thursday, the 13th instant,
at three o'clock, p. m. In the absence of the President,
the first Vice-President, Mr. Warren, occupied the chair.
The record of the last meeting was read and approved.
The Librarian called attention to the recent gift, by Mr.
Ellerton James, of Milton, of a complete set of The Gentleman' s
Magazine from its beginning in 1731 to the year 1907, in fine
and uniform binding, a series which is now difiicult to obtain.
The volumes contain much interesting and valuable contem-
porary material relating to American affairs.
The Cabinet-Keeper reported the following gifts :
From Charles W. Jenks, an engraving by Amos Doolittle, New
Haven, March i, 1794, with the legend, "A Display of the United
States of America."
From Mrs. Kingsmill Marrs, two French war posters, "Sous les
Ailes," and "L'Emprunt de la Liberation."
From Mrs. A. Clarke Walling, a piece of wall paper, framed,
from the Paul Revere House.
From John W. Farwell, a signed proof of his bookplate, engraved
by Sidney L. Smith.
From the estate of Charles Carleton Cofiin, a book of stock
certificates, 1861, of the Confederate States, with a few blanks
remaining.
From Miss Ellen A. Robbins Stone, of Lexington, engravings of
Rev. Caleb Stetson, Nathan Robbins, and Mrs. Eliza Lee Follen.
From Mrs. James Barr Ames, of Cambridge, an Anti-Slavery
"Liberty Bell," used in the home of her parents, George R. and
Sarah (Shaw) Russell, in Louisburg Square, Boston.
From Mr. Norcross, photograph views of the old Feather Ware-
house, in Boston, of the Parkman House on Hanover Street, and
of the shop of Joseph Foster, goldsmith, on North Street; and the
medal of the Boston Congress of the Sons of the American Revolu-
tion, struck in 191 2, showing the Old State House.
From Henry Pennypacker, Headmaster of the Boston Latin
School, the bronze medal of the Massachusetts High School Athletic
Association.
l8 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
From Fred Joy, two souvenir pennies of Louisburg.
From H. A. Gray, a Swift and Company "dollar."
From the Whitehead and Hoag Company, of Newark, N. J., the
Robbins Company, of Attleboro, Mass., the selectmen of Lincoln,
of Milton, and of Winchester, Mass., from G. E. Campbell, of
Wakefield, and from Philip E. Brady, Mayor of Attleboro, a collec-
tion of service medals awarded to returned soldiers and to families
of deceased soldiers.
From Dr. Farlow, a photograph of King Edward and Emperor
William, taken in Homburg, perhaps in 1909, which he bought there
in August, 191 1.
The Corresponding Secretary reported the receipt of a
letter from Fred Norris Robinson, of Cambridge, accepting his
election as a Resident Member of the Society.
The Editor reported the following gifts of mss. :
From George Peabody Wetmore, a letter of Washington Hunt
to George Dawson, January 26, 1845, on Native Americanism and
the admission of Texas into the Union.
From Mrs. Charles A. Prince, granddaughter of Rufus Choate
and daughter of Ellerton Pratt, a number of letters, 1S07-1824,
among others from Daniel Webster, Mills Olcott and Jeremiah
Mason. They come to the Society at the instance of Senator Lodge.
From Dr. Edward H. Bradford, a letter of Rev. Charles Lowell,
without year, addressed to the editors of the Christian Register, on
Bishop Cheverus.
From Miss Edith Crehore, papers on property in Avon Place,
Boston, bought in 1849 by her parents Edward and Sarah Minns
(Tileston) Crehore.
From Ellen A. Robbins Stone, of Lexington, papers on abolition.
From George L. Shepley, a photostat reproduction of a copy of a
list of Providence Records turned over to Roger Williams and others
in 1678.
From Charles Hunt, a list of pew taxes in the West Boston Meet-
ing House, 1819-1823.
From George W. Thacher, the records of the Williams IMarket
Corporation, 1851-1919.
On behalf of Philippe Marcou, Mr. Bowditch presented some
manuscripts of unusual interest and importance, being papers
from the family of Jeremy Belknap, a founder of this Society.
Among them are the following: Washington to Belknap,
January 5, 1785, acknowledging the first volume of the History
1919] HENRY ERNEST WOODS. I9
of New Hampshire; another, June 15, 1798, relating to the
American Biography, and a third, July 12, enlarging his sub-
scription to that work. With these Washington letters are a
letter of Ebenezer Hazard enclosing the first, and a letter of
Andrew E. Belknap in reply to the third, stating that it was
received after the death of Rev. Mr. Belknap. Also a letter
from Tobias Lear, April 9, 1791, on Washington's correspond-
ence with Governor Chittendens towards the close of the War
for Independence. With those papers are a commonplace Book
kept by Jeremy Belknap, and letters from Mr. Robert C.
Winthrop and George E. ElHs to Miss Elizabeth and Andrew E.
Belknap, with replies.
Lawrence Shaw Mayo, of Cambridge, was elected a Resident
Member of the Society.
George Lincoln Burr, of Ithaca, New York, was elected a
Corresponding Member of the Society.
The Vice-President announced the death of Henry Ernest
Woods, a Resident Member, and Mr. Norcross spoke as
follows :
As most of you probably know, Mr. Woods was found dead in
his bathroom at the Hotel Weldon in Greenfield, on the eleventh
of October. He died about 2 o'clock in the morning of angina
pectoris, as it was learned, but he had no previous warning of
heart trouble. He had been on a few days' trip of inspection
of the towns in that vicinity in the course of his duty as Com-
missioner of Public Records.
Mr. Woods was born in Boston, July 5, 1857. His family was
from Groton, his grandfather's house being next or next but
one to that of Dr. Green. His great-grandfather was Gen.
Henry Woods who served as one of Colonel Prescott's officers
at Bunker Hill.
Mr. Woods attended Chauncy Hall School in Boston and
for some reason did not go to Harvard College with other mem-
bers of his class, but he kept up a close association with them,
and after their graduation in 1881 he went abroad with several
of them (among whom was Curtis Guild) and remained for
some two years, visiting many parts of the old world quite
unusual for tourists at that time, such as Northern Africa,
Turkey, and Asia Minor. He was in business for a short time
20 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
but soon became interested in historical and genealogical
matters and was an active member of the New England His-
toric Genealogical Society, serving on its Council and editing
its Register from 1901 to 1907, at the same time supervising
the publication of 32 volumes of the Massachusetts Vital
Records. In 1907 Gov. Curtis Guild appointed him Commis-
sioner of Public Records to succeed Robert T. Swan, deceased,
and this office he held under reappointments until his death.
Mr. Swan had for a few years been unable on account of ill
health to visit the various towns in the state, making his in-
spection by correspondence only, and conditions had become
quite bad. Mr. Woods at once began regular tours of inspec-
tion, and my intimate acquaintance with him began about this
time, when I went with him on many of his trips. I have con-
tinued to do this ever since — during the last summer making
four trips with him — once to all the towns on Cape Cod and
another to southern Berkshire. There are only some half
dozen towns in the state that I have not visited with him. He
could cover the entire state about once in three years, though he
visited many towns more often as occasion required. His work
was to see that all the public records of cities, towns, counties,
and courts were properly safeguarded against loss by fire and
damage by careless usage. At first it was not uncommon to
find the record book of births, deaths and marriages on the
counter of a country store of which the proprietor had been
chosen Town Clerk. Now it is very different and cases of
extreme carelessness are rare and usually occur when a new
ofl&cial is chosen who has not yet learned all the requirements
of his office.
I was much interested in the tact displayed by Mr. Woods in
dealing with the town and county officials who in the early
days often looked on him as an intruder and were inclined to put
obstacles in his way. He always was good-tempered but firm,
and careful to explain the law and his position under it, and
before leaving the town he was usually on friendly terms with
the officers, who were ready to co-operate with him in carrying
out his suggestions.
He was elected a member of this Society in igo8, but was
prevented by the requirements of his office from attending the
meetings as often as he would have liked.
igig] SHERIFF GREENLEAf's ACCOUNT, 1761-62. 21
He was devoted to his official work and in the administration
of the Commonwealth he filled an important niche for which he
was unusually well suited.
Mr. Melville M. Bigelow read a paper on "The Family
in English History," being a chapter of a forthcoming volume
of similar studies.
Sheriff Greenleaf's Account, 1761-62.
1 761 County of Suflfolk, To Stephen Greenleaf, Dr.
Fabry. 9 To fees for dispers'g Proclamation to pro-
rogue the Gen'll Court to 4th March ... - 9 -
19 Ditto the Laws for Observation of the Sab-
bath -9-
21 Ditto for Valuation of Estates ... - 9 -
23 Proclamo. for prorog'g the Court to
iSth March -9-
50 Treasurers Warrants to the Constables
and Collectors - 16 8
Ap'll To 14: years allow'ce for a Whipper .... 2 10 -
10 Dispers'g 53 Proclamo. for the Annual Fast. . 166
22 Sending out Precepts for a new Assembly . . 2
24th To Adjourn'g the Infer'r Court by Proclam-
ation and posting up Notifications, etc. . . - 6 -
To sending out Venires for Ap'll Court ... - 6 -
To Cash p'd two Men watching the Goal two
Nights while the Lock was mending ... - 4 10
Dispers'g Proclamo. for prorog'g the Court
to 25th M'ch - 9 -
June To the Venires for July Court - 6 -
July To 34 Years Allowance for a Whipper ... 210-
To the Venires for Aug't Sup'r Court ... - 6 -
Augt. Proclamo. for prorog'g the Court to the i6th
Sepr -9-
19 To Sending out iS Treasures Warrants to the
Towns -5_
Do. 18 Tax Acts @ 16 - 9 -
25 Do. 54 Proclamo. for Prayer for Rain i 7 -
31 Do. prorog'g the Court to 14th Octob'r . . - 9 -
Sepr. 10 To my trouble in pilloring Jeremy Dexter . . i
To Cash p'd for drink to the Constables . . - 6 -
26 Dispers'g Proclamo. for prorog'g the Court
to 1 1 th Novr _Q_
Venires for Octob. Court -6-
22 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
Octo. To 3-i years Allowance for a Whipper ... 2 lo -
To my trouble with several Officers in Search'g
Col. Doty's house for tools to make dol-
lars and for Treasurers Notes, per Warr't
from Col. Brattle -12-
To I Officer sent to Stoughton to apprehend
Doty, himself and horse and keeping him
two days Custody -12-
Nov. 9 To dispers'g 54 proclamo. for Thanksgiving . 17-
Dec. To Venires for Jany Court - 6 -
To 18 County tax Warrants - 6 -
Jany To ]/^ years Allowance for a Whipper ... 2 10 -
To a years AUow'ce for keep'g the Goal . . 10
£36 I -
Boston, Jany. 12th, 1762
Errors Excepted.
S. GREENLE.A.F
We being appointed to audit and examine the foregoing Account
Report that the same is right Cast and the Charges therein agreeable
to Law.
Joshua Winslow
Foster Hutchinson
Committee.
From Timothy Pickering, Sr.^
To my brethren in the 13 United American Colonys or States.
I have lived in the Reigns of Three Kings, who have always Pro-
tected me, and I have all along paid them a moderate Tribute as you
have done. I never had any Reason to be Jealous, or afraid of Op-
pression. Parliament's Readiness to Repeal Duty Acts of late years
Proves How Very Desirous they were of Living in Friendship with the
Colonys. Their saying that we must be Subject to them in all Cases
whatsoever is like the Decree that Came out from Augustus Caesar,
that all the World should be taxed. Such Declarations are always
to be Understood with their Proper Limitations. Our Maxim, No
Representation, No Taxation, in my Opinion, is Quite Childish, all
things Considered. We had best look at home to hnd Oppression for
it has been so Great and Generall in our Northern Governments of
late that they have been Obliged to make Penall Laws to suppress
it. And How have wee for many Years, Oppressed Africans with
' (1703-1778.) Sec Pickering Genealogy, i. Si.
I9I9-] LETTER OF TIMOTHY PICKERING, SR. 23
Slavery not suffering ihem to enjoy either Liberty or Property,
Especially in our Southern Governments. Coveting and stealing
their Children for Slaves, or Receiving them of those that do, has all
along been the Occasion of Civill Wars in that Country, The same
Measure we meet is measuring to us again. Our Slavers are advised
to pay their Africans for their Past Services and to Let them Goe
free. Jer'h 22.13. Isaiah 5 8.6.
Forty of fifty thousand Widows and fatherless Children with
many Others, suffered most Grievous Wrongs in Our four New-Eng-
land Governments from the Year 17 10 to 1750. by the Breaches
of the Publick faith with Respect to our then paper Money. This
may be Called Devouring Widows Houses. A People who Chuse
such men for their Representatives for many Years together, who
Deliberately violate the Publick faith in an Affair so materiall as this,
Desen.'e to lose their Country. (Ananias and Saphira lost their lives
for their falsity about a little Money.) Their making that Money a
tender in all Payments had the same mischievous effects as the
Setting up Divers Weights. Its easy for Honest Clergymen to show,
that it will be much more tollerable for Sodom at the Day of Judg-
ment then for us, if thease with our many Other Publick Sins were
Brought into the Account.
My Brethren, We keep our Eye on Our Afifliction, A Providential!
Punishment, not on the Sin that occasions it, and this undoes us.
Tim'o Pickering.
Salem N. E. June 4. 1777.
P. S. With Respect to Mobs.
There was one in Sodom when they Came near to Break Lot's
Door. There was one in Boston when they Broke open Mr. Hutch-
inson's House and Plundered it. There was another when they
Broke open the Ships at Boston and Destroyed a Great deal of
Merchandize belonging to some of our Brethren in Old England.
There was another in Gibeah of Benjamin. This Brought on a Civil
War in which 75 Thousand Men were Slain. See Judges 19 and 20
Chap'rs.
T. P.
[Endorsed] Piece signed Timo. Pickering. Not printed.^
Mr. Stephen W. Phillips, of Salem, courteously permits the
Society to print the following two letters in his possession:
1 From the original in the Society's Mss.
24 massachusetts historical society. [nov.
Jeffrey Amherst to John Bradstreet.
Camp at Crown Point,
Novr. 2d. 1759.
Sir — I have this morning received your letter and I have sent
Lt. Colonel Robertson to the landing place to send over the boats in
the best manner he can for bringing the Provisions, if we can do
it by the large boats it will be much better at this season than by
employing a number of men in Batteaus. The weather is so severe
that I must close the works here as fast as I possibly can the Artillery
that I allot for Fort George and Fort Edward is in part gone, and
the remainder shall be sent out of the way without delay. The Pro-
vincial Regiments will all march (Schuylers excepted) by No 4
but they must send their Baggage and a Guard of each Regiment
with it over Lake George and to Albany this will require carriages
to Fort Edward from thence to Albany, I should suppose, the best
method will be sending them in batteaus down the Hudson's River.
Then there will be wagons or carriages wanted for the transportation
of the baggage of the Royal, Prideaux's, Montegomerys, Gages, and
the Royal Highlanders to their Quarters, so that I would have you
prepare what carriages you may judge necessary at Fort George,
and as you have no demands for the cattle from People in New
England, I believe the best method will be to take some cattle
back here for the Carriages. Lt. Col. Robertson will see at the
landing place how things go on and what can be done and will give
you information of the state they are in, by which you will be so
good to make the best preparations you can that the Troops may not
be stopped in their march but as little as possible, as the Season
is so far advanced and I imagine it will be between the tenth and
fifteenth instant that I shall march all the Troops from this place.
I am, Sir, Your most obedient Servant,
Jeff Amherst.
Benjamin Lincoln to John Lowell.
My dear Sir — You know that I spent most of the winter in this
town and on business of this state and that I went at their request to
Newport with the Militia at my own expense. I have accounted
for every farthing of the money I received out of the treasury prior
to my taking the command.
It is painful to me to make a charge of these matters tho my ex-
penses have been very great, for I am a pubhc officer and the whole
of my time should be spent in the service of my country yet as the
business I did for the State at a time when I was doing the duty of a
igig.] ELIHU HEWES TO JOSEPH HEWES. 25
continental officer increased my expenses I can hardly omit a charge
in justice to my family. I shall omit it but would with pleasure
receive a little wine or Spirits from the state which they have in
store in consideration of my attention to their matters in particular.
If you think the measure proper and that it would be agreeable to
the House will you move it?
I am my Dr Sir, Yours affectionately,
B Lincoln.
31st of May, Si
Mr. Robert D. W. Connor, Secretary of the North Carolina
Historical Commission, contributes the tw^o following letters
from the Johnston collection at Hayes.
Elihu Hewes to Joseph Hewes.
Should this reach its destin'd Port, you will receive a Letter from
a new Corner of the world in a very gloomy Crisis.
I can't well discribe the Satisfaction and Support it affords me to
find you are plac'd in so conspicuous and Honourable a Department
for the Defence of our excellent Constitution. I have been moved
from Boston several years, but not being able to get a Sloupe Suitable
I never mov'd my goods, only such as I could not do without, the
Rest I left with a Valuable Friend who has lately been glad to make
his Escape and leave his as well as Mine to the tender Mercies of the
Wicked. I live now about 280 miles Eastward from Boston on a
River call'd Penobscott about 23 miles above Fort Pownal where
I mov'd near 2 years ago. It is a fine Healthy Country well Water'd
the River abounding with various kinds of Fish, in particular fine
Salmon in abundance at this Season; The land extraordinary good
& well Water'd with fine Springs and Brooks. I never saw a Country
that pleas'd me so well, and my Health is much restored. But our
Settlement being very Yong the greater part of the Inhabitants
have not been here Three years which makes great Difficulty in
procuring the Necessities of Life. But Nevertheless we are very
Firm being determined to encounter every Difficulty and Sacri-
fice our lives rather than yield to that System of Tyranny which I
find by the by has been long forming against America, this I am
confirmed in by an Anecdote or two that has come to my knowledge
since my Residence on this River for I am distant Neighbor to
Colol: Thomas Goldthwaite Commander of Fort Pownal who was
a Member of our Assembly for many years and particularly in the
year 1762, who told me that Richard Jackson Esqr: was then Agent
for the Massachusetts Province and that in some of his private
26 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
Letters which he wrote after his appointment, He intimated his
Fears that it would not be in his Power to do the Province much
Service as there was a Principle prevailing in England at that Time
to render the Colony Assemblys useless, Col. G. also says Mr. Bollin
(who was Agent before Mr. Jackson) was continually warning the
Assembly of this Principle then Prevailing in England, and yet
those Gentlemen were turned out of their Agency on Suspition that
they were not in the Interest of the Province, Certainly they were
faithful as touching the most important Matter, whatever part of
their conduct might give umbrage to their Constituants, but as
what Mr. Jackson wrote was in a private Letter be careful of expos-
ing my Authors Name except it tends to Public Service and if I
receive an Answer likely I may write more of these Affairs. You'l
have an Opportunity of an Acquaintance with Colol: John Hancock
who is the Superior Man our Province affords. I have had an
Opportunity to Eye him from the Moment his Uncle left the World
and Him invested with an Independent Fortune. His whole Time
since has been spent in a Round of Benevolent Acts, and Opposing
the Enemies of His Country. I hope you'l contract an Intimacy
with him, my Indegent Circumstances only has kept me from an
Intimate Acquaintance with him for he was Accessible to the Poorest
as well as the Rich.
Should the God of our Fathers prosper us so as to bring on an
Accommodation; Among other Grievances I look on the Greenwich
Hospital Money exacted from our American Seamen to be a very
Capital One.
We are here in a Deplorable Condition on Account of Cloathing
and must be worse; Tho' could we get Wool and Flax we could
Fabricate & Manufactor our own Ware so as to be creditable and
Comfortable. We should Pay in Good Lumber, could any way be
Devis'd to furnish us with the Articles we want.
But I must draw to a Close: May the God of all Grace Prosper
and Succeed you in the Glorious Cause you are ingaged In, that so
these Difficulties may be Settled to your Honours and the Lasting
Comfort of this much Percicuted Continent, This is the ardent
Prayer of one who holds you the closest in Love & Esteem of any of
your Sex, fro your Homb. Servt:
Elihu Hewes.
Fort Pownal, lo June 1775.
on this River since the first of May there has been caught above
100 Moose the 4 Quartrs: of some of them would weigh from Soo to
1000 Wt: 'tis the finest Meet for a Stake or Stew that I ever Eat and
equal to Beef Roasted when fresh.
I9I9-] JAMES IREDELL TO JOHNSON. 27
I have wrote to Doer. Warren Pr: of our Congress as I had the
Honr of being well Acquainted with Him at Boston.
Addressed to Joseph Hewes Esqr. in the Continental Congress, To The
Care of Joseph Warren Esq., President of the Massachusetts Congress in
New England. By Favr. Capt. Buck. loth June 1775.
James Iredell to Johnson.
Richmond, May 29th, 1793.
My dear Sir — I was very happy in receiving the letter you were
so good as to write me of the 21st. The satisfaction of hearing you
were all well is a great one indeed. I continue perfectly so, and
have the pleasure to inform you that I have received a letter from
Mrs. Iredell dated the 2 2d. by which I have reason to hope they
were all well in Philadelphia. She mentioned the children expressly,
and said nothing in particular in regard to herself, but wrote chear-
fully.
P. Henry has been speaking these two days, and tho' he spoke 4
hours each day I was not in the least tired. He is certainly the first
orator I ever heard — speaks with the most ease, the least embar-
rassment, the greatest variety, and with an illustration of imagery
altogether original but perfectly correct. His manner too in respect
to his adversaries is very gentlemanly, and I am told it always is, and
that notwithstanding he is the Idol of every popular Assembly he
never was known to say anything personally offensive but in his
own defence and then he is always sure to make his adversaries
repent their attack. He is a much more solid character and better
Reasoner than I expected to find him, and I have every reason to
believe from accounts received of him here by many gentlemen that
he is a man of real benevolence and integrity. You may imagine
as to his oratory I am quite impartial for in the course of many points
he has argued he has not satisfied me in the slightest degree as to
anything but the Payments into the Treasury about which I still
hesitate. I am astonished to find that the Defendant's lawyers here,
who are certainly very able Men think the defence as to the breach
of the Treaty by G. B. seriously tenable. But I was much more so
to find (entre nous) that Mr. Johnson and Mr. Griffin were doubtful
about it, and I believe for this reason principally directed a second
argument. On this point neither Mr. Jay or myself had a shadow of
doubt for one moment. Perhaps we may differ eventually about
the payments into the Treasury but I am not sure. The indication
of my opinion at present is in support of them. The court will cer-
28 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
tainly not be over till next week but what time in the week I can't
conjecture. I will not fail to acquaint you of our determination.
I do not forget that this is the anniversary of your marriage, I
congratulate you and Mrs. Johnston upon it, and hope you will
both live to commemorate many happy returns of it. Be pleased to
remember me very affectionately & respectfully to Mrs. Johnston,
and Mr. and Mrs. McKenzie, and to Mrs. Swann when you see her,
and to give my love to Gaby and Helen. Be so good as to tell Helen
I have very favourable accounts of James, & that he can now read.
I had a very pretty letter from Annie, intirely of her own dictating
and spelling, and without a single fault.
Adieu! my dear Sir. I am ever very respectfully and affection-
ately yours,
Ja. Iredell.
William Fleming to Preston.^
Sir,
I have by this Opportunity sent you some of the books you
favored me with Viz the Dean of Colrain 3 vols Blakes Moris i vol:
the manuscript of Salus trip to New Orleans. As to the first it
pleased me when a boy but I see innumerable defects in it now.
The Adventures of Morris is a low ill Conducted thing. He Affects
the Misanthrope, but sinks wretchedly in the Characterre in soaring
to the fame of a Satirist, he proves the Author a mean snarUng
libeller. What induced me to Covet the reading of his Adventures
was his laying one of his scenes in the Hand of Fernando Po where
I myself was in more real, than he in imaginary distress, but I
sufficiently paid for my Curiosity by reading such a heap of indigested
Stuff. The taste of the Age is much altered from what it was formerly
in the Choice of Books of Amusement. In the dawn of literature,
the monks who were the only learned men of their age, threw out to
the Illiterate many, as Mariners do a tub to a whale, incredible stories
of enchanted Castles, flying horses and huge Giants, which Amazed
the Gaping crowd, and made them Glibly swallow the more absurd
Empostures palm'd upon them, by those unerring teachers of
Religion. As the Power of the Monasteries decreased, learning
amongst the many increas'd. As I dont design to trace the different
tastes of different ages down to the Present, and shall only observe
that Novels first appeard in an English dress, in Charles the Seconds
time, when by degrees introduced Memoirs, Adventures, and after
some imperfect essays. Fielding with your favorite heroes and
SmoUets inimitable Roderick Random fixt the reading of the Baga-
> From the Preston Papers in the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.
igiQ.] WILLIAM FLEMING TO PRESTON. 29
telle of the present age to the History of Private Persons. They
Introduce mixed Characters real and Imaginary. I know and have
seen several of SmoUets heroes, And AUworthy your near relation
is the real Characture of Squire Allan near Bristol to whom he
dedicates his Sophia a favorite book of mine, their real Characture
are so disguisd as not emediatly to point out the person describd,
yet they never loose sight of the Grand Constituents of the Char-
acterre which makes it only suit the person they intend. And those
who know the original cannot be mistaken in the Coppy. Where
they paint this in any form they spare the person but they lash the
fault, they sooth at the same time they expose oure Crimes, for
want of Observing this rule I think is the reason that Swifts GuUiver,
The Severest Satire I know is universally Admir'd but leaves a
secret disgust on the mind of the reader, they are well acquainted
with the Geography of the Country and the Manners of the People
where they lay their Sceines and wherever an Author deviates from
these rules he fails of Pleasing.
The Manuscript is not well done and contains some contra-
dictions. Yet some part of it is of use to me.
I hope you will send me for this Opportunity the first Vol: of
Brownes Voyage to the levant. The first leafe of Sallus Journall
and 40 Grains of Red Precipitate for my horse, and you will greatly
oblidge, Dr. Tom, your most Obedt. Humble Servt.
Wm. Fleming.
Vausses, Deer. 17, 1756.
P :S : My Compliments to the young ladyes — I wish them a
Merry Cristenmas and good husbands.
Remarks were made during the meeting by Messrs. Thayer,
Rhodes, and Emerton.
30 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
MEMOIR
or
ARNOLD AUGUSTUS RAND
By J. HARRIS AUBIN.
Arnold Augustus Rand was born in Boston, March 25,
1837, the son of Edward Sprague Rand and EHzabeth Arnold
Rand. The family home was on Mount Vernon Street, after-
wards on Beacon Street opposite the Public Garden, with a sum-
mer place in Dedham. A boyhood spent in such surroundings,
attending St. Paul's Church and Mr. Dixwell's school, is to be
accounted fortunate in including much that was typical of the
best in the Boston of those days. A course at a school in Vevey,
Switzerland, where one of his fellow pupils was J. Pierpont
Morgan, and further European travel at an impressionable
age, lent a tinge of old-world distinction and charm to a thor-
oughly American personality.
Returning to Boston, Arnold Rand entered the office of one
of the old-time shipping firms on the water-front. Here long
hours and strict disciphne laid the foundation of a habit of
unflagging industry which endured through life. Subsequent
employment in the banking house of Blake Brothers and Com-
pany had led as far as the responsible post of cashier, which,
with its excellent prospects, was relinquished at the outbreak
of the war.
Entering service as a private in the Fourth Battalion of
Infantry, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, there followed a
brief period at Fort Independence, Boston Harbor, without
muster into United States service. In the fall of 1861, com-
missions in the First Massachusetts Cavalry, then being
igig.] ARNOLD AUGUSTUS RAND. 3I
organized under the command of Col. Robert Williams, a West
Point graduate and a strict disciplinarian, were much sought
after, and the young soldier was fortunate in obtaining a second
lieutenancy, October 30, 1861, joining his troop in camp at
Readville.
An opportunity soon arose for Lieutenant Rand to utilize
the knowledge he had gained in his early shipping experience
on Long Wharf. As acting battalion quartermaster, he won
the approval of his Colonel by efl&cient loading of horses and
equipment on board of transports, and in consequence was
promoted to a captaincy February 4, 1862, over the heads of
the other subalterns. The regiment was sent to the vicinity
of Port Royal, South Carolina, and saw arduous service in
scouting and outpost duty. Captain Rand resigned from the
regiment to accept a commission from President Lincoln as
Captain, Assistant Adjutant General, United States Volunteers,
June 3, 1863, serving in South Carolina on the staff of Brigadier
General Rufus Saxton, commanding the Military District.
Captain Rand was offered the command of a regiment of
freedmen, one of the first Negro regiments to be organized
in the South, but preferred to accept instead the commission of
Lieutenant Colonel, Fourth Massachusetts Cavalry, December
3, 1863. This regiment was being raised in Boston and pro-
motion to the colonelcy followed on January 22, 1864, with
temporary appointment as superintendent of recruiting at
Faneuil Hall. Governor Andrew's opinion of the manner in
which this service was performed was thus expressed in a letter
to Secretary of War Stanton: ''In administrative ability I con-
sider Colonel Rand the equal of any ofhcer commissioned from
this State."
The regiment was sent to Virginia and attached to the Army
of the James, making a creditable record in the trying duties
of cavalry service, frequently under fire, and making a recon-
naissance into the environs of Richmond. At one time many
thousand troops were under the Colonel's command at the
important post of Varina Landing on the James River.
One of its officers. Major Bouve, has thus written of the
regiment and its commander:
The Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Cavalry had been sub-
jected to a training and discipline which caused it to develop rapidly
32 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov,
into one of the finest cavalry regiments in the army. The officers
were nearly all veteran soldiers, educated in the hard school of war.
A large proportion of the men in the ranks had seen service, and the
rank and file, as a whole, proved to be such as any officer might be
proud to lead.
The quality of the regiment is easily accounted for, when it is
considered that its first colonel left the lasting impress of himself
upon it: that colonel was Arnold A. Rand.
From the very beginning of its service in the field, the regiment
had the hard fortune to be cut into detachments and details for
special duty. This was probably due to the good opinion entertained
of it by the general; but it was very trying and disappointing to the
colonel, and to all who had hoped to be serving, as earlier orders
(too soon countermanded) directed, with Sheridan.
Colonel Rand's resignation, on February 3, 1865, after more
than three years of continuous service, was prompted by filial
devotion. Receiving word from home of his mother's critical
illness, with hope of recovery believed to depend upon some
measure of relief from anxiety for her three sons at the front,
he at once rode across country to the Petersburg lines. There,
in the camp of the Twentieth Massachusetts Infantry, he con-
sulted with his younger brother, Charles Arthur Rand. The
young lieutenant urged that his service of but three months in
the field would not justify resignation. So, with the young-
est brother, Capt. Frederic Henry Rand, too far away to be
reached, the eldest sacrificed his hope of rounding out his own
career to the end of the war, then known to be at hand. He
gained his reward by reaching home in season to verify the
physician's prediction and to prove the favorable determin-
ing factor that brought complete restoration of his mother's
health.
Two months later, at High Bridge, one of the decisive minor
actions of the closing days, the Fourth Cavalry showed the
temper of the weapon its first commander had welded. Under
the gallant Colonel Washburn, who fell mortally wounded, three
squadrons of the regiment attacked the advance guard of the
Army of Northern Virginia and appreciably hastened the
surrender at Appomattox three days afterwards.
Immediately after the War the young Colonel went to Cali-
fornia at the request of a group of Boston friends who had ac-
quired gold-mining interests. His fidelity to this trust and his
19 1 9-] ARNOLD AUGUSTUS RAND. 33
persistency in endeavoring to make the project a success kept
him in the midst of the adventurous Hfe of that time and region
for half a dozen years. Much of the time he was at Havilah,
a little mining camp within sight of Mount Whitney, the high-
est peak in the then United States. He visited this place forty
years later, when it could be reached only by a long stage-ride.
It had become picturesque in its semi-decay, only a small
amount of gold-mining being carried on, but the "Rand lode,"
long abandoned by its original owners, was still being worked by
persistent believers in the eventual overcoming of the subter-
ranean flow that had baflied earlier operations. At the time of
this visit the only inhabitants remaining who were there in
Colonel Rand's time were the postmaster, with whom he ex-
changed reminiscences of the hangings by the Vigilance Com-
mittee on a tree still standing in the middle of the somnolent
hamlet, and the widow of his former mine foreman, who con-
ducted the unpretentious village inn.
This period of Colonel Rand's life was varied by an occa-
sional sojourn in San Francisco and several trips East by over-
land stage route and by the way of the Isthmus of Panama.
His narrations of incidents of these stirring times gave keen
enjoyment because of their vivid interest and humorous treat-
ment.
In 1872 Colonel Rand returned to Boston, studied at Boston
University Law School, was admitted to the bar in 1874 and
began the practice of law with especial relation to real estate
and probate matters. He was associated with his father until
the latter (with four other members of the family) was lost in
the wreck of the steamer City of Columbus in 1884. He then
took part in organizing the Massachusetts Title Insurance
Company and was for ten years its Vice-President and manager.
In 1895 he resumed practice as senior partner of the law firm of
Rand, Vinton and Wakefield until he became connected with
the John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company of Boston.
One of his closest associates in the Company, Vice-President
Walton L. Crocker, has rendered this just tribute to the labors
of the last quarter of a long and useful life :
Colonel Rand's service with the Company began with his election
as a Director, December 11, 1893. He was elected Vice-President on
January 10, 1S98. The story of his life with us is one of important
34 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
bearing on our institution. It was he who directed our development
in the region of our finances, into those wisely chosen paths which
have ever since been pursued to the credit and just advantage of
our Company. It was he whose practical sagacity, armed and in-
formed by wide experience in affairs, by knowledge of men, of our
country, its resources and possibilities, helped so greatly to place on a
secure foundation the investments of the Company and to mould
its financial methods into harmony with its expansion, while his
influence in the department of the law was a broad humanizing
force in the maintenance of the traditions of equity which are our
heritage from our predecessors.
But it is to Colonel Rand, the man, that our thoughts are most
largely attracted, for his was a personality of winning power, at
once lofty and kindly, pure and yet human. He radiated character,
and his presence in our midst lent to our ofiScial household the
fine air of by-gone days and manners. His gentle courtesy, which
was but the outward sign of the inward grace so largely his, won
for him the hearts of all who came within the circle of his acquaint-
ance. To him went young and old for the kind and fatherly counsel
and assistance which it was his delight to give, and many a shadow
he thus helped to lift, many a burden he shared, and many a new
inspiration he gave to those who sought his aid and advice, or whose
vicissitudes became known to his boundless charity. Above and
through all our recollections of him is the picture of the perennial
spirit of youth with its abounding enthusiasm, alertness, humor and
companionableness, which remained his to the last, unimpaired,
though the snows of eighty winters had whitened his head. This
high spiritual quality, springing from the innermost recesses of a
soul instinct with sweetness and light, became manifested to us by a
daily example, serene, lofty and unaffected, of how to live a life
of sunshine and good cheer. In the measure of all these things, and
what they meant to us in our daily round of life, is the measure in
which he will be missed from our councils and from our friendly
intercourse.
Perhaps no part of Colonel Rand's later business career
afforded him greater satisfaction than the long journeys under-
taken in connection with his work of directing the investment
of many millions of dollars. Every state of the Union was
visited and the final trip was made during the last year of his
life. A phase of this work that particularly gratified the
chivalrous soldier was in helping in this way to rebuild the
prosperity of the South; incidentally many w-arm friendships
were made with Confederate soldiers.
I9I9-] ARNOLD AUGUSTUS RAND. 35
Aside from his professional and business interests Colonel
Rand was best known in connection with the Military Order of
the Loyal Legion, having served twenty-five years as the execu-
tive officer of the Commandery of the State of Massachusetts.
The tribute to his memory offered by the Commander, Henry
M. Rogers, thus describes the scope of this work:
From 1 88 1 to 1906 he was our honored Recorder. His Annual
Reports during these years of service are masterpieces of compre-
hension, trumpet-toned in their appeal to carry forward to their full
and logical expression all the principles of our great Order and its
objects as embodied in its constitution. He believed that not alone
the Companions of today, but those of the future, the community at
large and the nation itself, were all beneficiaries of it; that it was an
educator of high citizenship.
In this belief, he persistently emphasized the thought that our
Commandery is not a mere dining club at which in our social gather-
ings alone we are to cherish the memories and associations of the
Civil War, but that it had more far reaching objects, among others
to foster the cultivation of military and naval science, to gather
together memorabilia of the Civil War — everything that would aid
Companions, historians, investigators, to understand by object les-
son what the Civil War meant — and so he urged the formation
of a Civil War library; the collection of paintings, engravings and
photographs of scenes of the War and of those who were partici-
pants in it; of flags and trophies and relics and medals, and the
thousand unconsidered trifles that throw light upon a period and
that mean so much when studied and considered as a whole.
He knew that from these things fresh inspiration would come to the
younger men, to seekers after truth and the understanding of our
great Republic and its ideals. For years he labored. Every book,
every relic and paper, photograph, medal and trophy was known to
him and each one bore the stamp of his care, his discrimination,
his artistic sense, his orderliness and his consummate, painstaking
precision, so that everything is in its proper place marked, labelled
and accessible, at a minute's demand. He strove to make it full,
complete and perfect.
This monumental work of his — for it must be considered his
work — is an enduring record of hours snatched from the occupa-
tions of a busy life, from his well-earned leisure, and even from his
sleep. He could leave no better memorial of devoted service.
He was Commander-in-Chief of the Loyal Legion in 191 2 in
succession to Lieutenant General Arthur McArthur who died that
year. He filled this high ofl&ce with rare ability and efiiciency.
-a-_iL A*- v_; ^_,- o O
36 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
declining re-election at the end of his term of service, to the great
regret of the Order.
Captain Charles Hunt also records the love and admiration
felt by so many of his Army associates:
From an intimacy with Colonel Arnold A. Rand, covering a
period of forty years, and only terminated by his death, I find myself
a devoted admirer of the charm which surrounded such a man,
in whose presence no low thought found expression, and whose
natural aspirations were always of the highest, making one proud
to become an associate or participant in services which he performed,
and which find almost photographic expression on the tablet to his
memory placed a year after his death upon the walls of the Head
Quarters of the Massachusetts Commandery of the Loyal Legion in
the Cadet Armory:
The heart to conceive
The understanding to direct
The hand to execute.
Membership in the Grand Army of the Republic, Algonquin
Club, Massachusetts Historical Society and Massachusetts
Military Historical Society comprised virtually all of Colonel
Rand's other affiliations.
This interesting, varied, useful life drew to its close with
but a month's cessation in activity and with no abatement of
mental vigor; fortunate during four score years to the end
which came on December 23, 19 17, at his home in Brookline.
Colonel Rand had often consented to take charge of military
funerals, and with characteristically tender thought had devised
appropriate and dignified mingling of ecclesiastical and mili-
tary ceremonial. For himself he desired only the simple
Church liturgy. Those who thronged Trinity Church on
that bright clear day after Christmas, will long remember,
after the boyish voices of the choristers had died away, the
thrilling bugle-notes of "The Lost Chord" and of "Taps" —
the soldier's "good night."
iQig.] GIFTS TO THE SOCIETY. 37
DECEMBER MEETING.
THE stated meeting was held on Thursday, the nth instant,
at three o'clock, p. m. In the absence of the President,
and the first Vice-President, the second Vice-President, Mr.
Rhodes, occupied the chair.
The record of the last meeting was read and approved.
The Librarian reported the gift.
From Miss Ellen A. Robbins Stone, of Lexington. Mass., of a
collection of books, pamphlets, broadsides, and miscellaneous pieces
from the library in the Stephen Robbins homestead there, descended
to her, and used by the Robbins family who have occupied the place
since 1781.
The Cabinet-Keeper reported the following gifts:
From Edwin H. Brigham, a daguerreotype of the Aztec children,
exhibited in Boston in 1851; and a collection of Rebellion photo-
graphs, engravings, and envelopes.
From Frank H. Shumway, a rare colored lithographic view,
printed by Tappan and Bradford, of the celebration on Boston
Common, October 25, 1848, of the introduction of water, by
aqueduct, from Lake Cochituate, placed on stone by Samuel W.
Rowse, after a drawing by Benjamin F. Smith. The printing firm
was composed of Eben Tappan and Lodowick H. Bradford.
From Charles P. Greenough, a number of American and English
portrait engravings.
From the Bunker Hill Monument Association, a large engraving
of George Peabody by Henry Lemon after a painting by H. W.
Pickersgill, pubHshed in London on September 21, 1867.
From Miss Ellen A. Robbins Stone, a photograph of the Stephen
Robbins homestead, Lexington, Mass., built in 1720, and now
occupied by Miss Stone.
From Harry A. Gray, checks issued and used by Western banks
about 1870; and some San Francisco lottery tickets.
From James Monroe Olmstead, a piece of the core of the sub-
marine cable between Manila and Hong Kong, which was cut by
38 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [DeC.
order of Commodore Dewey after the Battle of Manila Bay, May i,
1898.
The Corresponding Secretary reported the receipt of a letter
from Lawrence Shaw Mayo, accepting his election as a Resi-
dent Member of the Society, and of letters from Paul Fredericq,
of Ghent, Belgium, and George Lincoln Burr, of Ithaca, New
York, as Corresponding Members.
The Editor reported the following accessions:
From Robert Means Lawrence, the papers of his great grand-
father, Amos Lawrence (1786-1852), merchant and philanthropist,
whose more intimate life is represented in his Diary and Correspond-
ence, first issued by his son, William Richards Lawrence in 1855, for
private distribution, but also published in the same year in an en-
larged form. These papers comprise fifteen volumes of letters
addressed to him, 1820-1855, five volumes of transcripts of his
correspondence with Mark Hopkins, of Williams College, one volume
of a journal of a visit to Spain in 1831 by WilHam R. Lawrence;
letters from father to son, 1828-1838, and some miscellaneous
letters. Mr. Lawrence never held public office nor did he invite
notice, but was a generous giver to charities and his example was
followed by his son Amos Adams Lawrence (1814-18S6).
From Charles P. Greenough a number of parchment deeds and of-
ficial papers of an English origin and coming from the boxes of a
solicitor charged with their preservation, before the registration
system made the originals of little value. Beginning with the early
part of the sixteenth century and coming well into the nineteenth
this collection of one hundred and seven pieces, of all sizes and
shapes, ofifers an unusually good opportunity for studying the changes
in writing, from court hand to unofficial, the legal phraseology of
land transfers, and the manner of signing, sealing and attaching
stamps to such documents. Some of the names suggest American
connections.
The records and papers of the Bunker Hill Monument Associa-
tion have been deposited with this Society — a large quantity of
books and papers which cannot but be useful in a history of that
historic shaft.
By purchase: Papers of the Marquis and Comte de Langeron.
Charles Etienne Louis Andrault, Comte Langeron, was born in Paris
in 1763 and died in 1831 in service of Russia. At the age of nine-
teen he became a lieutenant in the French army and under Rocham-
beau served in the American campaign, returning to France with the
rank of colonel {en second). In 1790 he emigrated and after seeking
IQig.] GIFTS TO THE SOCIETY. 39
in vain to be employed in the Austrian army, he turned to Russia and
was given high command by Catherine II. He had a long but varied
experience in the Russian army. Before the French Revolution he
wrote some plays, a comedy, Le Duel Suppose being the best known.
These papers, some four hundred in number, relate wholly to the
French and American portions of his career. The Marquis was in
charge at Brest in 1776 and later superintended the outfit of vessels
on the American expedition.
Mr. Bowditch presented in behalf of Mr. Philippe Marcou further
MSS. of the Belknap family (see p. 18, supra) comprising: three
memorandum books 1757-1764, containing expenses of his educa-
tion, original verses, copies from books and newspapers of what in-
terested him, and much miscellaneous matter; four notebooks of
verse, 1 758-1 764, some on historical incidents, like the "Reduction
of Louisburg," or "On the Death of my intimate Friend, J. C[hip-
man], at Marblehead, April 17, 1761," Mather and Samuel Byles
contributing, as did also Henry Hulton, one of the Commissioners of
Customs; one notebook of lectures, 1758-1760; an oration in verse,
"delivered on St. Cuffee's day, before the Right Worshipful Grand
Master, Wardens and Brethren of the most ancient and honorable
Lodge of African Masons'^ — a squib in favor of the negroes; and
"Dialogues of the living and dead, 1774." Also a package of "new
emission bills" 1780, and a set of questions and answers in "Con-
versation cards" — a home game. Also a receipt book, 1774-1784,
of Jeremiah Belknap, Jr. (i 720-1 796), uncle of the historian, a dealer
in sheepskins in Boston, with a shop on Cornhill and Wilson's Lane,
first hired of Joshua Jackson. It is possible to give a list of the
owners of this property during his occupancy: Andrew Lane, 1744-
1748; Joshua Henshaw, 1748-1754; John Cotton, 1755-1758;
Samuel Cotton, 1758; Mary Cotton, 1759-1761; William Fisher,
1763, and Robert Gibbs, 1764. A few miscellaneous papers com-
plete this interesting gift.
From Harry Gregory, of Providence, R. I., two volumes of pro-
ceedings of the proprietors of the First Universal Church of Boston,
1792-1815. Although in existence from 1785 they were not incor-
porated until 1792. During the term covered by these ministers
the church was ministered to by George Richards and John Murray.^
From F. W. Sprague, a letter from his father, Caleb Sprague,
Captain of the ship North Bend of Boston, to Joseph Sprague, of
Hingham, dated from the Mississippi River below New Orleans,
July 5, 1S47, and relating to conveyance of troops in the war with
Mexico.
' See Winsor, Memorial History of Boston, in. 488.
40 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [DeC.
From Jay Backus Woodworth, a deed to land in Scituate exe-
cuted by Joseph and Sarah Woodworth, June 29, 1760.
Mr. BowDiTCH read two letters from the Belknap papers —
a letter from Abraham Howard to John Belknap, Boston,
June 2, 1 8 13, describing the fight between the Chesapeake and
the Shannon, and an unsigned letter describing a visit to
Ferney and the meeting between Gibbon and Voltaire.
Dr. J. Collins Warren made some remarks upon the
picture of the introduction of water into Boston in 1848, a
scene of which he was a witness. He described some features
of the landscape at that time, and gave recollections of buildings
on Park Street which may be seen in the picture. He also spoke
of the Aztec children, whom he saw when they were exhibited
here in 185 1, referring to the account of these two remarkable
Indian dwarfs, written by his father, Dr. J. Mason Warren, in
that year.^
The Vice-President announced the death of our late asso-
ciates, Major Henry L. Higginson, and Rev. Thomas Franklin
Waters, and spoke briefly of their connection with the Society.
Mr. Eliot spoke as follows:
Major Higginson was not a frequent attendant at the meet-
ings of this Society, and the part that he took in its proceedings,
with one exception, I think, had to do with the military history
of the Civil War. In the tributes he paid here to his comrades
in that War who were members of this Society, he gave some
details about the part those gentlemen had taken in the War,
and incidentally painted some pictures of the War itself.
I do not suppose that Major Higginson had to a high degree
the historical or biographical tendency. Nothing in his life
would intimate that he thought much about the past history
of the country or about the records of leading families in this
vicinity. He was proud of his own ancestry; but when we
examine his family records we find that the distinction of the
family was that they presented generation after generation fine
types of the New England Congregational ministry. Of course,
those ministers were all educated at Harvard College; but
we do not find that the higher education was universal in
^ Taken from the American Journal of Medical Sciences, with colored engrav-
ings of the dwarfs.
1 91 9-] HENRY LEE HIGGINSON. 4 1
the Higginson family in its successive generations. Major
Higginson's father, for instance, was not educated in Harvard
College, and, as we all remember, Major Higginson himself had
an education of an unusual sort for a Boston boy. He went
to the Boston Latin School; but he did not go to Harvard
College except for a short residence; and he never received any
degree from Harvard until an honorary degree of Master of
Arts was conferred on him when he was forty-eight years
of age.
He had not settled into any occupation for life when the Civil
War broke out in April, i86i. He at once offered his services,
and received a commission in the 2d Massachusetts Regiment.
His experience in the Civil War was intense but brief. He was so
severely wounded in 1863 that he had to resign from the army,
after two efforts to return to the service in spite of his wounds.
It was at a very dismal, anxious period of the Civil War that
he was obliged to give up the mihtary service, deeply regretting
his inability to continue his career as a soldier. He therefore
shared the fate of most of the officers of the Civil War — and of
the privates too, indeed — in that they fought, and many died,
without the least vision of what the War was to bring forth.
Those who died on the field of battle died without any shout
of victory in their ears, or any knowledge of the rewarding
issue.
When Higginson found himself obliged to abandon service
in the army he searched for an employment in which a some-
what disabled man might make himself useful. This period
was made happy by his felicitous marriage, an event which had
a deep influence on his future career, not only because of the
rare qualities of his wife, but also because it brought him into
intimate relations with his brother-in-law, Alexander Agassiz.
It was not until several years after the close of the War that
Higginson settled into what was to become his permanent
occupation as a banker and broker first in Boston and later also
in New York and London. Almost immediately, however, he
began to study and prepare for what was to be the most inter-
esting and useful work of his life. The great contribution he
made to the life of this community was at that time unex-
ampled. No one man had done such a thing before. I find
no other instance of the precise undertaking which occupied
42 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [DeC.
the greater part of Higginson's time and thought for the rest
of his life.
A great many Americans have endowed education, endowed
charitable societies and learned societies; but what other Amer-
ican has undertaken to create, all by himself, an institution
which should contribute to the intelligent enjoyment of or-
chestral music by his fellow countrymen? We have some
recent instances of rich Americans who have founded picture
galleries, who have taken great pleasure all their lives in accu-
mulating objects of art, valuable in money but more precious
still as examples of beauty, and have left them by will to the
public. We have had in our own community examples of well-
to-do men who as men of leisure enjoyed collecting, and col-
lected wisely, and have later given their collections to the
public; but what other American of wealth has taken it upon
himself to organize an orchestra — to select, pay, and in every
way support an orchestra for many years with the object of
creating among his fellow countrymen love of music of the
highest types?
This was not only the work of the largest part of Higginson's
life; it was also his dehght. He had many losses and struggles
during this undertaking, but it was to him always a source of
keenest satisfaction. We are all glad that he enjoyed those
satisfactions. In the last two or three years, years of the War,
he had serious disappointments and trials regarding his Or-
chestra; but we are glad that he lived to see its reconstruction
on a firm foundation, and to know that the friends who under-
took to carry on his work had been successful, and that the
future of the institution was well-nigh assured. It remains,
of course, for this community to put it on a permanent footing
with an ample endowment.
How great a service Higginson's was in developing the love
of music in this community and nourishing that love, one can
hardly imagine who does not remember the condition of this
Puritan community with regard to music and the love of music.
It was my father, in connection with George Webb and Lowell
Mason, who first succeeded in getting music taught in the
public schools of Boston. The subject had not been taught
at all in any American schools. It is not taught well now. The
Puritan objection to the organ was another cause of the rarity
19 1 9-] HENRY LEE HIGGINSON. 43
of men and women who loved music, or who knew about
music.
The selection of music as the art which Higginson desired to
cultivate in his own community was a novel one, but one that
is going to bring forth precious fruits in long generations.
Those of us who knew Major Higginson for many years
recall with great delight his personal qualities in familiar inter-
course. His was not a typical Boston temper and quality in
respect to daily intercourse with friends and associates. He
was more impetuous than most Bostonians of the cultivated
sort. His language was often more vivid than the cultivated
Bostonian uses. His impetuosity manifested itself in friendliest
expressions to people he liked; it sometimes manifested itself
also in hasty and rough expressions to persons he did not like.
This impetuosity with the accompanying vividness of language
was one of the qualities which endeared him to both friends
and foes.
He had a keenness of wit also which flashed out in his con-
versation now and then, and was always highly characteristic
and very delightful. Then, his experience of life gave him
another quality which was truly remarkable, a great tender-
ness, particularly towards a friend who had met with some
disappointment or some distress, and towards strangers whose
need was brought to Higginson by a friend. I had somewhat
frequent occasions to perceive in him this tenderness, accom-
panied by a spontaneous and sometimes rash generosity.
He liked particularly to come to the aid of a man, or better
still a woman, who had known better times, and without fault
of his own or her own had fallen into straitened circumstances
of some sort, perhaps through sickness, perhaps through the
death of parents, perhaps through some adverse circumstances
which other human beings had neglected to ward off, or had
made worse by roughness or cruelty. I have in mind at this
moment several instances of that sort where Higginson not
only came at once to the relief of the distressed person with a
gift of money, but undertook to continue that gift year after
year so long as the person lived. I have also known him to en-
list other people in such a cause, so that he would get together
an adequate support for the disabled person. And then in later
years when some of those whom he had enlisted in such a cause
44 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [DeC.
forgot it, or ceased to send the expected contributions, he would
go after those persons, and procure the renewal of their gifts,
at much sacrifice to himself and not liking to go ; but he never
failed.
I have in mind one case of that sort where he followed the
object of charity for twenty years, when he might reasonably
have expected to be relieved of the charge within five or ten
years, such was the age of the recipient of his gift. He never
said anything about these occasions and always took pains
that his name should not be known, even to the recipient. No-
body ever will know about those things; but some of us who
did know about them will always feel towards Higginson a
pecuHar respect and admiration.
His gifts to the public were made during his life, including, of
course, the generous support of the Orchestra. That I find to
be a lesson which rich men in America may well learn. It is,
on the whole, wiser and happier for a rich man to make his
gifts during his life than after his death. It argues more sacri-
fice and personal care on his own part, but is much surer to
accomplish the pubhc object to which he wishes to devote his
private property, or a proper part of it.
I was talking with a French gentleman two days ago who had
been reading the will of the late Mr. Frick. He had not words
to express his admiration for that will, because of the disin-
terestedness of the donor in his selection of objects, and also
his wisdom in selecting objects of a permanent character, so far
as human means can insure perpetuity of benefactions. In one
respect he had not observed the meritorious quality of that will.
He had not observed that Mr. Frick provides for the immediate
working of his gifts to the pubhc, the immediate fruition of his
beneficence.
Our friend Higginson did better still. He secured the be-
neficent objects he had in view by seeing them accomplished
during his hfe, and he did that on purpose, or by design, not by
accident. This consecration of private wealth to pubhc uses is
one of the most admirable quahties exhibited by American citi-
zens. It is almost unexampled in the world; it has hardly been
seen elsewhere, never so frequently, and on so large a scale. The
world has seen priests and cardinals devote their property to
the founding of monasteries and churches. We have known of
1919] THE FIRST AMERICAN GEOGRAPHY. 45
great princes and nobles endowing universities; but this rather
common quality of the American rich man who devotes private
property to public uses either before or after his death, is a
phenomenon peculiar to our country. It may be said, I think,
to be a consequence or outcome of American democracy. Is
there any more promising assurance for the future welfare of
the people of the United States?
Mr. Wendell read a letter of Major Higginson on his
entrance into the business world at the end of the Civil War.
Mr. Plimpton read a paper on
The First American Geography.
Before going into the details of and describing the first geog-
raphy printed in America, let us have a few words about the
author and incidents connected with his life.
Jedidiah Morse was born in Woodstock, Connecticut,
August 23, 1761, and he died in New Haven on June 9, 1826.
He prepared for Yale College in one year at Woodstock Academy
and entered Yale College in 1779. His physical constitution
was inadequate for the work on the farm and he had a strong
desire for an education. He was drafted for the Continental
army but his father secured from Governor Trumbull his
redemption on the ground of his ill health. He paid his way
largely through college by teaching.
During college he read and studied Chesterfield's letters to
his son, and such was his estimate of these letters that subse-
quently, after many years, he published an edition of them
under the name of Chesterfield's Letters on Politeness.
On the first Sabbath in March, 1781, while twenty years old,
he was admitted to the College church and soon after decided
to devote himself to the ministry. On his graduation in 1783
he met the venerable Doctor Bellamy, far advanced in years,
who, on learning that he was going into the ministry, gave him
his blessing and added: ''Now let me tell you how it will fare
with you. After you have preached as a candidate, received a
call, and been settled over a parish, at first your people will
dote on you. They will say to you, 'Poor Pussy,' 'Poor Pussy.'
Soon after their fervor will cool and then it will be 'Puss,'
'Puss/ and at last it will be 'Scat you.'"
46 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Dec.
It was while teaching in 1783 and 1784 in a girls' school that
he realized the lamentable deficiency in the textbooks in
geography, especially relating to the United States, the prin-
cipal book being Guthrie's Grammar of Geography, published in
England, a copy of which is exhibited here. To supply this
want he gathered material from all sources and as a result
issued in 1784, Geography Made Easy. Being a short but com-
prehensive system of that very useful and agreeable science, pub-
lished by Meigs, Bowen and Dana in Chapel Street, New Haven.
He studied theology under Jonathan Edwards and was li-
censed to preach in 1785. He was tutor at Yale during the
year 1 786, but on account of ill health went to Georgia, where
he gathered a good deal of material for his geographies, and
during this journey he met Benjamin Franklin, George Wash-
ington at Mt. Vernon, Doctor Ramsay, of Charleston, and
Doctor Witherspoon.
He became pastor of the Charlestown First Congregational
Church on April 30, 1789, the same day and hour that Wash-
ington was inaugurated President of the United States. His
salary as pastor of the church was eleven dollars per week,
cord-wood sufficient for his study until married and then with
dwelling house and barn and twenty cords of wood annually.
On account of the hard times in Charlestown, as a result of the
Bunker Hill fight, he took only ten dollars per week.
He received when thirty-four years of age a degree of Doctor
of Divinity from the University of Edinburgh.
On March 12, 1789, he published The American Geography.
A View of the present situation in the United States of America,
dedicated to William Livingston, Governor of New Jersey.
This was printed at Elizabethtown. He also wrote at this
period — 1789 — The American Universal Geography. In his
preface to these books he said :
Before the Revolution Americans seldom pretended to write
or think for themselves. We humbly received from Great Britain
our laws, our manners, our books, and our mode of thinking, and
our youth was educated as subjects of the British King rather than
as citizens of a free and independent Republic. It is not easy at
once to break off old habits of either thinking or acting. Accus-
tomed as we have been to appreciate British literature and manu-
factures, it has been natural in comparison to undervalue our own.
1 91 9-] THE FIRST AMERICAN GEOGRAPHY. 47
It has been for the interest of Great Britain and British subjects
who have emigrated and settled among us to cherish these senti-
ments, and hence our own production of books as well as articles
have been discouraged and those of Great Britain promoted.
He sent a copy of these books to George Washington and
Washington writes him on July 17, 1793.
Reverend Sir:
I should have at an earlier moment acknowledged the receipt of
your polite letter of the twenty-fifth of June and returned my best
thanks for the acceptable work which accompanied it, but I had
not been at Mt. Vernon when it reached this place. You will there-
fore be pleased now, sir, to accept the thanks and acknowledgment
which are due your polite attention in sending me a set of the Uni-
versal Geography. At the same time be assured that you have my
best wishes that you may amply be rewarded for the time and labor
spent in preparing so valuable a work. With due consideration, I am,
Reverend Sir,
Your most obedient servant,
George Washington.
These identical books are in the Athenaeum Library with
Washington's autograph.
In 1797 he first tested the copyright law of 1789, when an
English bookseller sold an English edition of his American
Gazeteer, 600 pages of it being identical. Alexander Hamilton
was his attorney and won his case — the first copyright case.
In 1805 he was one of the Overseers of Harvard College and
resigned when a Unitarian w^as elected to the Hollis Professor-
ship of Theology, and after that he was a strong upholder of
orthodoxy.
His controversy with Hannah Adams, who claimed that his
History of New England was copied more or less from hers,
went on for several years until finally his friends showed that
she had copied largely from the history of Ramsay. So said
his son.
Up to 1794, 20,000 of his geographies had been sold.
He resigned his pastorate at Charlestown in 1820 and for the
following two years was appointed Commissioner of Indian
Affairs by President Monroe.
48 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Dec.
He was a most voluminous writer on many subjects. Daniel
Webster spoke of him as "always thinking, always writing,
always talking, always acting."
He was elected a member of this Society on January 17, 1796,
and remained a member until 1820, when he removed to New
Haven. Previous to his election he presented to the Society in
1792 the Life of Thomas Paine, in 1793, newspapers, maps of
New York with township, and after his election in 1798 about
15 books including his own geographies.
So much for the history of the man who wrote the first
geography published in America.
Mr. Plimpton then read a number of amusing extracts from
Morse's Geography.
Letters of Amos Adams Lawrence.
Abbott Lawrence was elected a representative from Massa-
chusetts to the Twenty-fourth (December, 1835, to March,
1837) and to the Twenty-sixth (December, 1839, to March,
1 841) Congresses, but resigned on account of ill health in 1840,
giving place to Robert C. Winthrop. He represented the
Boston district, strong in wealth and respectability, and his
terms of service covered parts of the administrations of Andrew
Jackson and Martin Van Buren. With the former his relations
could hardly have extended outside of ofiicial courtesies, for
Mr. Lawrence was a Whig and a good party man; with Van
Buren, more of a man of the world, all could have social inter-
course approaching to warm friendship, though his pohtical
career and inheritance might not commend him to one of
another party. So little is known of Mr. Lawrence's service
in the House of Representatives that the following letters,
written by his nephew, then in his twenty-first year of age,
during a visit to Washington, are of value. They express the
impressions made upon the writer by the public men he met
or heard, and indicate the position and influence of the mem-
ber of Congress from Massachusetts. Unfortunately the visit
was a short one and the letters are few in number; but Bishop
Lawrence, in his Life of Amos A. Lawrence (p. 18), gives ex-
tracts from an account of a visit to Washington made in the
spring vacation of 1834, before the uncle was in Congress, in
which the petitions on slavery, the President, and the place are
1919] LETTERS OF AMOS ADAMS LAWRENCE. 49
touched upon with a free hand. The letters now printed are in
the papers of Amos Lawrence, father of the writer.
Washington, January 7, 1835 [1836.]
Dear Father, — I received your letter this morning. There has
been a severe debate today in the Senate on the reception of peti-
tions, which you read reported in the papers. I had never before
heard Mr. Porter of Louisiana.^ He is a very rapid and animated
and his manner not bad. The South Carolina gentlemen ^ seemed
determined to have their point carried without adjournment, but
not so Mr. Buchanan and some other members.
All the Senators are wilHng to refer these petitions for Abolition of
Slavery in this district and they will never be heard of afterwards;
it seems ultra to require them to refuse to receive them at all. The
debate is postponed till Monday and then probably the main
question as to the power of Congress to legislate will be taken up.
The Vice-President ^ was not in his chair, though he was in the Hall
the whole forenoon. Mr. Clay was not present.
I sent you my phrenological character the other day, which I
mention because I do not recollect that my name was upon it. The
man Fowler •* is a Uon in his department, and all the members and
even the ladies have submitted their crania to his inquisition.
You would laugh to read Mr. Palfrey's,^ which Mr. Granger ^ has
just been reading at table. I cannot write while others are talking
so I will delay till tomorrow. Your affectionate son,
A. A. Lawrence.
Washington, January 8, 1836.
Dear Father, — I mentioned the debate of yesterday. Of all
the speakers I think Mr. Benton and Buchanan gained themselves
most credit, if we consider their arguments, though Calhoun and
Preston were more striking orators. The subject hardly admits
much argument; it is rather a matter of judgment, though regard is
always had to precedents. Mr. Benton produced a precedent, but
seemed in no way desirous of pushing the thing too hard. He was
very willing to postpone it as Mr. Buchanan suggested till Monday,
^ Alexander Porter (1786-1844), born in Ireland and a judge in Louisiana.
His speech on this day is in Debates in Congress, xii. 74.
2 John C. Calhoun and Wilham C. Preston.
^ Martin Van Buren.
* Orson Squire Fowler (1809-1887), or his brother Lorenzo Niles Fowler
(1811- ) who had in partnership opened an office in New York city in 1835.
^ John Gorham Palfrey, not a member of Congress until 1847.
* Francis Granger (1792-1868), representative in Congress from the Canan-
daigua (N. Y.) district.
50 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Dec.
to give Senators time to concert measures which would hinder the
presentation of these petitions in future. Benton's manners on the
fioor while speaking, and at other times, are those of a gentleman; he
never reads without applying a double glass to his eye in a very
genteel way. I can hardly imagine him in a great passion, though if
he were, it would be tremendous, he has so strong a voice. His age
appears to be fifty.
He said what was true, "That the indignation manifested at the
North during the last summer was a plain declaration of the people
that they were as hostile to these doctrines as any reasonable
Southerner could wish. The gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Bu-
chanan), the representative of the great Quaker State, had declared
his abhorrence of them and his firm conviction that the Government
had no right to legislate on this subject, not even in this district —
could the South ask any more?" He produced a rough cut on a
large sheet, which he had received through the Post Ofl&ce, which as
he held it up to be looked at excited apparently great passion in Mr.
Calhoun: he sat directly before him and I thought he and Preston too
would have snatched it away. It represented the Tree of Liberty,
under whose shade the whole world was gathered pursuing the
occupations which characterise different classes of society, but so to
the disadvantage of the slave that it would excite the worst feeling
wherever circulated.^ "He had no doubt that the Senators of the
North were as indignant as the South at such black proceedings,
and for one he was willing to plan measures for putting a stop to
them, but he wished order and not disorder in the Senate." ]Mr.
Morris of Ohio - introduced these petitions and advocated " the
power of legislating on all subjects in the District, which state legis-
' "He (Mr. Benton) had had many pictures of this kind, as well as many dia-
bolical publications, sent to him on this subject, during the last summer, the
whole of which he had cast into the fire, and should not have thought of referring
to the circumstance at this time, as displaying the character of the incendiary part
of the abolitionists, had he not within those few days past, and while abolition
petitions were pouring into the other end of the capitol, received one of these
pictures, the design of which could be nothing but mischief of the blackest dye^
It was a print from an engraving (and Mr. B. exhibited it, and handed it to
Senators near him) representing a large and spreading tree of Uberty, beneath
whose ample shade a slave owner was at one time luxuriously reposing, with
slaves fanning him; at another carried forth in a palanquin, to view the half-naked
laborers in the cotton field, whom drivers, with whips, were scourging to the task.
The print was evidently from the abolition mint, and came to him by some other
conveyance than that of the mail, for there was no postmark, or mark of any kind,
to identify its origin and to indicate its line of March. For what purpose could
such a picture be intended, unless to inflame the passions of slaves?" Debates in
Congress, xii. 85.
^ Thomas Morris (1776-1844).
1 919] LETTERS OF AMOS ADAMS LAWRENCE. 5 1
latures can act upon in regard to the states, and the petitions
could not be thrown out without being laid on the table," and this
brought on the debate. The question was on sending them to the
committee of the District, where they never would be heard from
again; or, refusing to consider them at all.
After Mr. Calhoun's second speech Mr. Webster rose and the
effect was wonderful. His eloquence is appreciated because he
seldom nowadays makes an exhibition of it. The members of the
other House were crowded around the President's chair and the
Senators' seats, and the galleries were full. But when Mr. Webster
stood up, all was as still as though the hall was empty. He merely
made a motion to adjourn till Monday, which had been made before
by Mr. Buchanan.^ He did this to give all time to confer, and to
prepare for the main question, "whether Congress can legislate on
the subject of slavery here." Considering that Maryland and
Virginia assented to the Constitution on condition that there should
be no liberation of slaves in their neighbourhood, it seems to be a
breach of faith to liberate them. The effect would be as disastrous
as though it took place in these states, for this would be a central
place for all runaways and abolitionists, and such a gang in the
heart of slaveholding states could be as mischievous as the worst
abolitionist can desire. But if Congress deny all power of legisla-
tion, there may come a time when it may create another difficulty.
For supposing, what is undoubtedly true, that Maryland and Vir-
ginia are gradually becoming free states, when they shall be wholly
free from slaves, this District must follow, and then if it petition to
be free, this decision might bring the Government into trouble.
Mr. Calhoun said he hoped the Senate would not adjourn till it
had given the South some testimony of its detestation of these peti-
tions, something that would soothe the anger of the slaveholders
against the whole North: they required pacification and must have
it. He had received a letter, and he had heard from Arthur Tappan
and others that there had been an increase of Abolition societies
since last summer, that then there were 240, and now there are 340.^
He was not surprised the Senator from Massachusetts was anxious
to avoid discussion, he feared he was unwilling to discuss a subject
on which he entertained different sentiments from his constituents.
The reception of a book written by a learned divine indicated a state
^ Only nine lines in the Debates are given to Webster on this occasion (xii. 95).
^ It was a printed protest, signed by Arthur Tappan and others, remonstrating
against the language used in the President's message "against the fanatics, in
which it was stated, boastingly, that, so far from being repressed by the proceed-
ings against them in the North during the last summers the number of their so-
cieties," etc. Debates, xii. 96.
52 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [DeC.
of feeling in the North which the gentleman must regret. He (Mr.
Calhoun) had not seen it, but he understood its falsehoods were
exceedingly admired.^ When the most elegant writer in this country
had written in such a strain, and other learned gentlemen enter-
tained the same views, he did not believe that less well-informed
people should think differently: the existence of this immense
number of societies denied the fact." Mr. Preston is an elegant
speaker, but he seldom falls into deep argument.
Old Matthew L. Davis,^ "the Spy in Washington," is just saying
to Uncle Abbot about the Bill for the relief of the N[ew] York suf-
ferers: "Mr. Whittlesey,^ Sir, is opposed to it decidedly; he has just
told me so confidentially and the bill is knocked on the head unless
you do something."'*
"Mr. Davis, I am'very much obliged to you. I will go and talk
with Whittlesey, but I cannot hope to convince him and I agree with
you, at least I fear it is 'knocked on the head.'"
We will see how it turns out. Nobody expects the three separate
propositions they make will be complied with, but by asking for a
good deal they expect something. They have delayed too long, the
delegates are not here yet; if they get anything they may thank the
"gentleman from Massachusetts" as much as anybody. All parties
consult him; you can hardly imagine the confidence that is reposed
in him. He knows all that is going on at the White House before the
party themselves, and now he can tell Mr. Chamberley and Matthew
L. Davis things they must wait to hear. I did not suppose his in-
fluence would be so great, but that in the crowd of great men here
he would be in a measure lost, at any rate for some time.
But his power in finishing business has already placed him high,
and his personal character makes him friends on every side, every
day. With our delegation I am sure he is held in great estimation
and at this time when there are so many interests clashing, and each
^ "He had not seen Dr. Channing's book [Slavery, 1836], but that a divine of
his eminence, and one of the most eloquent and poHshed writers of the country',
should publish such a book at this time, was a matter for serious reflection to
those he represented, as weU as all who had similar interests. If he might judge
of the whole from some of its extracts, it might be well compared with the incen-
diary publications of Garrison himself. It is a sad omen at the times, that he
should lend the aid of his talents and character to criminal designs, the direct
tendency of which is to work asunder the union and subvert the constitution."
Debates, xii. 96.
' Matthew Livingston Davis, the friend and literary executor of Aaron Burr.
^ Elisha Whittlesey (1783-1863) of Connecticut.
^ From sufferers by the great fire in New York. The details of the petition
cannot be found, but they concerned postponing the collection of customs duties
and a measure of relief was passed. See Debates in Congress, xii. 2195.
igig.] LETTERS OF AMOS ADAMS LAWRENCE. 53
is looking for his own candidate — beyond Mr. Webster, it requires
infinite resource to make all hang together, and I think that before
this there would have been a scattering unless he had held them to-
gether. They all come in here often to talk. Mr. Van Buren of
course is very attentive to so hopeful an ally; perhaps Mr. Granger's
intimacy here makes him fear for his game, but without reason; for
though Mr. Granger might make a very good Vice President, not all
our Northern gentlemen would agree to Mr. Harrison for as good a
President. Besides, they never discuss this question, and Mr.
Granger dislikes being reminded of his acting second to Mr. Harri-
son's first. Said he the other day: "I had rather have given five
thousand dollars than had my name on that ticket and I told Mr.
(I forget who) he might withdraw it." But being ambi-
tious, he is willing to run the risk of non-election and on Harrison
ticket rather than not stand at all.
Mr. Webster looks very gloomy since the Harrisburgh convention,
and hesitates about doing what the Massachusetts delegation wait
for. When he does withdraw I think there will be some commotion
among them.
Mr. Van Buren is in high feather; he looks well and feels well.
He seldom keeps his seat, but is everywhere in the hall, talking
with everybody. He gives large dinner parties every week.
The Administration are alarmed about our French affairs. Some-
thing came by the last Packet which has thrown things into a new
position. Uncle Abbott knows some circumstances he may tell you
if he chooses, I cannot: at any rate you will have it soon: no one yet
knows it here. The probability is that an express has been sent to
our fleet in the Mediterranean to come home immediately, and in
order to enable the fleet to get under way before the French Govern-
ment can receive the special message from the President to Congress,
this message is withheld for a few days.^ The probability too is
that there is a division in the Cabinet on the subject, they are
alarmed at the state into which they have brought themselves by
their high tone heretofore.
This now is the great question with them and they have attended
to it to the exclusion of all other business. Until within three
days, all the heads of departments and the President himself have
aflSrmed that the whole affair would be settled. Now no such
promise is held out, and there seems to be little doubt that we shall
have trouble soon. Please not mention this, 'because it will be sus-
pected to come from Uncle Abbott, and he dislikes all responsibility
on the subject. At this moment he is giving the history as far as he
knows it to Gov. Lincoln. Besides the danger to our fleet from a
^ The message is dated January 15, 1836.
54 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [DeC.
special message, the Government fears the effect of the last message,
that the fleet will be seized on the receipt of that. But in this they
are too timid; gentlemen here say there is no danger immediately.
A great many people come in here to talk. Since I have been
writing here, there have been near fifteen, which is rather large.
The average may be twelve in an hour. Lord Selkirk ^ is thumping
my back and asking who I am writing to at such a rate, and advises a
respite. Here comes Mr. McKim of Baltimore.^ He is an old man,
very rich and a great admirer of Gen. Jackson. He admires Uncle
Abbott too, and as his proximity to him is greater than Gen. Jack-
son's, Mr. McKim is glad to be his humble servant as far as asking
his advice. He does nothing without consulting him. He has
brought in some petitions, which belong to the Committee of Ways
and Means. They are reading them aloud, and Uncle A. like a par-
son has the first saying and Mr. McK. like the clerk responds. Earl
Selkirk is a very honest, unassuming fellow, good humoured and
knows a great deal. He was educated in England and has been four
years in the House of Lords: his seat is not hereditary, but his own
talent and rank have placed him in it. He is no blusterer and not
elegant in his manners, but he talks remarkably well and comes in
here very often at all times of the day, wishes nobody good day
and goes away in the same manner, hat on or ofif as it happens. He
says har-r? to a question, and does not stop to talk when he is
eating.
Here comes the "Spy" again, he has been on the scent after the
French news, but whether he has found it or not I cannot say, for
he has gone out at the sight of Mr. McKim. Here comes Mr,
Granger, full of his fun. There is another knock, and in enters Capt.
Cook of S[outh] Boston with a long cue, an old-fashioned ship-
builder. He has come to bid good-bye. He has done this and Mr.
Granger gone after him. Mr. McKim is against a stump, he objects
to a decision, and Uncle A. is smoothing it to suit his mind, or
rather arguing it with him : he will get him along again in a minute.
With love to all, I remain Your affectionate son,
Amos A. Lawrence.
P. S. I find I have written beyond my reckoning. This has arisen
from laying the sheets in a drawer out of sight.
Washington, January lo, 1836.
Dear Father, — We have received nothing this morning from
Boston and only one letter from N[ew] York. The mails come very
1 Dunbar James Douglas, Earl of Selkirk.
* Probably Alexander McKim, who was interested in the cotton manufacture.
igig] LETTERS OF AMOS ADAMS LAWRENCE. 55
irregularly, owing to bad roads, the disarrangement of the N[ew]
York P[ost] Office, and perhaps to neglect on the part of contractors
or the head of the department.
iVIr. Kendall's nomination is now before the Senate and he will
probably be rejected: so some of the gentlemen of that body say,
and Mr. Taney will follow in the same way.^ The opposition Sena-
tors are inclined to stand pretty firmly in these times on their rights,
for the unhappy state of the Cabinet cannot but influence them in
their decisions, besides their personal feelings.
The opinion of those who know best is that the Cabinet are
wholly unfit for the present occasion, and there is no doubt they
are in great doubt and distress. As to Mr. Cass,- I should suppose
from what Capt. Turnbull said yesterday that he is unpopular with
the officers of the Army and unskilled in management. The Presi-
dent himself the other day compared him to "an old woman." The
President is out of humour with the whole concern that they will not
second him in his designs against France — in fact they can hardly
keep him within the bounds of official dignity. Com. Morris ^ and
Gen. Scott both agree in saying that the country is in a miserable
state for defence, that there are no materials for arming the forts in
this vicinity. The appropriation bills will be introduced probably
very soon, and before granting any extras Congress must be ac-
quainted with the necessity; and an explanation of the state of
affairs will certainly be demanded.
Here I must close and go to church. From your affectionate son,
A. A. Lawrence.
Washington, January 15, 1835 [1836].
Dear Father, — I have just read yours of the loth, with great
pleasure. One from William ^ came yesterday. Uncle Abbott pulls
from his pockets near a dozen letters chiefly on business every
day, and the answering these consumes so much time that you cannot
wonder he writes less frequently home than at first: this he would
prefer doing, but really he is very much pressed to get through with
regular business. His character as a business man is so well known
that every thing is sent to him in preference to any of the other
gentlemen here. Mr. Webster says he has lost all his constituent
^ To be Postmaster General. The nomination was sent to the Senate Decem-
ber 28, 1835, but was not confirmed until March 15, 1836 — 25 to 7. Taney was
nominated and confirmed on the same dates — 29 to 15.
* Cass became Secretary of War August i, 1831, and retired in October, 1836.
^ Charles Morris (1784-1856), commissioner of the navy.
* Wilham Richards Lawrence, half-brother of Amos A. Lawrence.
56 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [DeC.
employment of a certain sort this session and is perfectly at ease,
and so with some others of our delegation. Nothing but the honour
and influence consequent on office could induce one in good circum-
stances to undertake the duties of a representative of our thriving,
claiming and particular community, but this object I think as good
and honourable as any other for which most of us labour; it is not
so honourable an ambition as the cultivation of the mind and heart,
but besides this I can think of no other.
The debates in the House today were of little interest^ and the
Senate was not in session, so I rode on horseback to Georgetown
heights and then to the College.^ The view of the river, city and
the hills around, from the Heights is very pretty even at this season,
though the bare, red soil gives it an appearance of barrenness.
The roads through the hills in the vicinity have been made at
a great expense and never can be very much improved except by
Mac-Adamizing or paving, which cannot be expected in a district so
poor; but without it they will be next to useless at certain seasons;
and on this account the encouragement to railroad building is very
great. I think we need them less by far in the North and yet we
manage them better in regard to their value to proprietors. The
Baltimore and Washington road for instance is a perpetual draft on
its owners; they have little hope of ever realizing anything from it,
and may be obliged to relinquish their steam power. They cannot
manage as well as we can and never will. We must excel in wealth
and in consequence in learning and refinement the South: this we
say we do now, but they will not acknowledge it. In a few years the
diversity will be too great to allow a doubt of our superiority.
Their climate is as unfavorable to industry as ours is impelling
to it, and their indolence more than outweighs the disadvantages we
labour under in being forced to provide for an unproductive and con-
suming winter. The decayed state of Alexandria and Georgetown
and the unthrifty population here in Washington is an unfair test,
but the great number of insolent free negroes is a common evil in
almost all the larger towns. Mr. Palfrey writes from Richmond after
a very severe ride of two days: the roads he describes as the worst he
ever traversed. He will find them worse as he proceeds and will
suffer a good deal, though his acquaintance and letters will not admit
his going long distance without a friend in case of need. Jos. Patter-
son is here. I might have written you a longer letter, had not Mr.
^ West Point Academy and banks in the District of Columbia were the two
subjects before the House.
^ Columbian College, incorporated in 1821. It was located north of the city,
about a mile and a half from the President's House on boundary and Fourteenth
Street. A description will be found in ElHot's IVashinglon Guide (1837), 127.
iqiq] WASHINGTON HUNT TO GEORGE DAWSON. 57
Hasler,^ Gov. Cass and Gen. Ward come in, the two first well worth
hearkening to: so I am just in time for the closing of mail.
From your affectionate son,
Amos. A. Lawrence.
Mr. Wetmore has given to the Society the following letter:
Washington Hunt to George Dawson ^
Washington, January 26, 1845.
My Dear Sir, — I was compelled to leave my seat about three
weeks ago to attend to some private affairs in Lockport. I went
there chiefly to aid my friends who were in some trouble with the
Bank. The concern is perfectly sound, though it has suffered some
misfortunes. It will move on I think without further trouble.
The stock-holders are a clever set of fellows (as you might know
from my being one) and I felt anxious to help them out of trouble.
Some of them felt sore at what they considered a disparaging allusion
in your paper, but I told them to think nothing of it, as it no doubt
proceeded from a natural misapprehension of the real state of
affairs. The Cashier could show you that the Bank is "more
sinned against than sinning," and that it has some $200,000 sound
securities beyond its liabilities.
On returning here I find my table loaded with letters, and amongst
them yours of the 31 ulto. and i8th inst. Very few documents
have been printed as yet at this session, but it will give me pleasure
to supply you as fast as they appear. I am sure your Representa-
tive has not neglected you in this regard from any feeling of malice.
He seems moody and abstracted, under the weight of national
affairs in this great emergency.
1 concur with you entirely respecting the fatal tendency of
Native Americanism. I consider it sure death to touch it. We
must avoid all contact or appearance of contact with it. On coming
here I found some of our friends seriously infected with this dis-
temper. I have taken much pains to cure them of the malady,
and I rejoice to say the most of them are returning to a state of
health and sanity. Archer ^ and a few old ladies of the same stamp
are past praying for, and we can expect nothing but mischief from
^ Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler (1770-1843), superintendent of the Coast
Survey.
2 (1813-1883), Editor of the Rochester Z)cwzocra^. In 1846 he became associate
editor of the Albany Evening Journal and editor and proprietor on the retirement
of Thurlow Weed in 1862.
^ WiUiam S. Archer (i 789-1855), United States Senator from Virginia.
58 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Dec.
them till they detach themselves entirely from the whig ranks, and
enroll amongst the natives eo nomine.
You will see that the House yesterday passed the Joint Resolu-
tion admitting Texas into the Union. Nine of the southern whigs
joined the annexationists, and the northern demagogues and dough-
faces gave them an easy triumph.^ All the influences of the Execu-
tive, present and prospective, were brought to bear with resistless
effect. I yet indulge some faint hopes that the Senate may save
the country till the 4th of March, but the annexationists claim a
majority, with great confidence, and in view of what has transpired
I advise you to prepare your mind for the worst. I cannot express
to you the sentiments of grief and indignation with which my mind
is filled by this momentous act in the great drama of American
History. It adds four slave states to the Union, and in a few days
Florida will swell the triumph of southern power. It establishes
southern supremacy so long as the Union shall stand. In all matters
touching slavery the south moves in solid phalanx, and the north,
by its own divisions, will always fall an easy prey. Whilst I write
the representatives of the south are exulting over us, as if they had
vanquished a foreign enemy. Are we to submit? Will not the
boldness and insolence of Southern domination kindle a spark
of manly rage and independence in the breasts of the northern
people, or has the glorious spirit of the Revolution gone out and
departed forever? But I must not pursue the train of painful reflec-
tions which crowd upon me. I have never suffered myself to "de-
spair of the Repubhc," but I will say to you in all sincerity if nothing
can be done to arrest the progress of events, if this government
must be made an instrument to extend and strengthen slavery, the
Union is no longer worth preserving.
The most insulting part of the affair is the guarantee that slavery
shall not exist in that part of Texas lying north of 36° 30'. As if the
people of the free states were fools and children. Of the country
known and understood as Texas, not one inch extends north of
that line. In order to pass it you must first invade Mexico, take
in the Spanish settlements of Santa Fe etc. and then you take
nothing north of this compromise line except a protuberance of the
mountains upon which God established freedom by making it
inaccessible to human habitation. Do not fail to present this part
of the case in its true light, to the people.
I write in much haste which I beg you will excuse, and believe
me. Very sincerely yours,
W. HUNT.2
1 The vote stood 120 to 98. * 1S18-1867.
iQig.] LETTER OF WILLIAM KNOX. 59
Mr. Ford called attention to some lines in one of the note
books in the Belknap gift (page 39, supra) taken from the
Boston Gazette of April 13, 1730, of which issue no copy is
known to exist.
To Mr. B 1 occasioned by his verses to Mr. Smibert on
seeing his Pictures.
Unhappy Bard! spring in such Gothic Times
As yield no friendly muse, t'extol your Rhymes.
Hard is the Task you singly undergo
To praise the Painter and the Poet too.
But much I fear you raise a short-livd Fame
Which lives but on the Pen from whence it came.
Boast on, and take what fleeting Life can give.
For when you cease to write, you cease to live.
If you to future ages would be known,
Make this Advice I freely give your own.
Go to the Painter — for your picture sit
His art will long survive the Poet's Wit.
From William Knox ^
7th January, 1781.
My dear Sir, — I cannot recollect the date of Lord Rawdon's
letter to Gen'l Leslie which mentions Lord Cornwallis having been
ill, but it is later than any direct account we have from Charles
Town, it says however his Lordship was not sufficiently recovered to
write, which implies no circumstance of danger for the disease of
that climate and season is of all others the most debilitating and
dispiriting tho' not fatal if at all attended to. I know it well having
had it eight times in six years. When the frosty nights come every-
body gets well within land that has Bark to take. The sea air or a
voyage does as well for those who can use it. Capt. St. George's ^
promotion arise out of his staff appointment of Deputy Adjutant
General I think it is, which taking him out of the line does not give
to the same discontent as when an officer is made to command those
tomorrow who commanded him today. This I know was the reason
of Lord Amherst's yielding to Sir Henry Clinton's recommendation
1 Byles?
2 (1732-1810), under Secretary of State for America.
' Richard St. George, commissioned Deputy Adjutant General, December i,
1780.
6o MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Dec.
in favour of Capt. St. George. Why he has refused Capt. Broderick/
I know not, but perhaps you may find a reason in what I have said
was the occasion of the other's success. I am dear sir most truly
Your faithful Servant,
Will: Knox.
Remarks were made by Mr. Agassiz.
1 Hon. Henry Broderick, aid to Lord Cornwallis.
%
^-^^^ •^n-l^.c-<y4jc^ /7^C^<^cZ7
I gig.] THOMAS FRANKLIN WATERS. 6 1
MEMOIR
OF
THOMAS FRANKLIN WATERS
By ROBERT S. RANTOUL.
The sudden death of Thomas Franklin Waters, at the ripe
age of sixty-eight, deprives this Society of one of its tireless
delvers in the local history and antiquities of his section, whose
services had come to be greatly appreciated, and whose loss will
be deeply felt. A Harvard graduate of 1872, later well rooted
in the ancient community of Ipswich, one of the central and
primitive settlements of Essex County, Mr. Waters was en-
dowed by nature with strong antiquarian instincts and love
of thorough work, and he was able and inclined to follow his
researches in original sources, and to produce history at first
hand. Students of a more ambitious flight are appearing every
day, who must draw their inspiration from books and institu-
tions, but the original delver, while he specializes in a more lim-
ited field, and examines it microscopically, must come equipped
with exhaustless patience and curiosity, and must be content
to forego the wider reputation, but in his heart is conscious
of an equal service to his craft.
Mr. Waters was born, April 12, 1851, in that section of
Salem early known as "North Fields," and was prepared for
college in the Salem Schools. He took his degree of A.B. with
the Harvard Class of 1872, and earned such rank as entitled him
to membership in Chapter Alpha of the Phi Beta Kappa. He
was then a student at the Andover Theological Seminary for
three years, and began his pulpit ministrations at Edgartown
in Martha's Vineyard. In 1879, he accepted the pulpit of
the South Congregational Church of Ipswich, having married
62 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [DeC.
at Edgartown Miss Adeline Orswell, who, with two children,
survives him.
Mr. Waters was of English stock, and the coincidence is
noted that four pioneers from the British Isles bearing the
name of Waters were settled early in Salem, no two of whom
seem to have been blood-relations. Through all the years
spent by Henry Fitz-Gilbert Waters in his gleanings among
English records, he says he had an eye out for facts that would
warrant him to refer those Waters immigrants to a common
origin, but he never found such. Thomas Franklin Waters was
the son of Thomas, and his grandfather, John, came to Salem
in 1800 from Boston, where he had worked as a neighbor of
Paul Revere. In Salem he established himself as a brass-
founder and gunsmith in the vicinity of the historic North
Bridge. The schools of Salem were good, and the father's
ambition to send the son to college was readily gratified.
After brief experiences at Andover and at Edgartown, he
settled down for his life-work at Ipswich, an ancient commu-
nity in the midst of an ancient county, and began, under the
best auspices, his study of the primitive, colonial life of the
old shore town. Ipswich shared her ancient, birthright tradi-
tions with Salem, and had set off, from time to time, from her
ample acreage, Essex, the cradle of the Choates, and Hamilton,
the home of Manasseh Cutler, and had given birth to Nathan
Dane, and, in the midst of such surroundings, such a scholar
as Waters would have lacked imagination if he did not care to
know what were the dreamy Indian legends that clustered
about the sand-dunes and Hog Island, or what wrecks had
strewn that wonderful broad beach, or where were the thatch-
banks that furnished the growing hamlet with its chair-seats and
cottage-roofing, or where they sought the candlewood that
saved them tallow and rush-lights, or who planted the rows of
fruit-trees that have been sunk to their topmost branches by
the drifting sand.
The Essex Institute, founded in 1848, as the successor of the
Essex Historical Society of an earlier generation, was earning
for itself a great name in local history and science, under the
tutelage of Judge White and Dr. Wheatland when, in 1867,
the Peabody endowment gave such an impetus to scientific
research in the County that the historical side of the house had
igiQ-] THOMAS FRANKLIN WATERS. 63
all it could do to maintain the balance. The accession of such
an enthusiast as Mr. Waters was a most helpful occurrence. We
had laborers in the vineyard in all parts of the County from
the Merrimac Valley down, but, since the death of Oakes,
whom Sir Charles Lyell visited at Ipswich, that venerable
town had lacked its quota, and the new clergy-man's presence
at once made itself felt at the Essex Institute.
The list of contributions from the pen of Mr. Waters, re-
corded in the catalogues of the Ipswich Historical Society, of
the Essex Institute and of the Massachusetts Historical
Society, his membership in which last dates from 1914, is
quite too long to be considered here. Aside from publications
in his line of duty as Pastor and Pastor Emeritus of the South
Parish of Ipswich, and as Founder and Life-President of the
Ipswich Historical Society, his literary activities cover many
pages, beginning with a Commemoration, in 1887, of the
Second Century Centennial of the historic resistance offered
by Ipswich to the Andros Tax. His publications deal with
the development of Town Government, with the origin of the
historic Thread Lace and Hosiery industry of Ipswich, with the
history of the John Whipple house, now the Society's domicile,
which has been called a "Village Hotel Cluny."
The restoration of the John Whipple house, one of the
oldest in the Colony, clinging to life by a slender thread, and
maintaining its interest because incorrectly associated with
one of the Saltonstalls, was so conscientiously and ingeniously
effected that it still provokes the admiration of the Country.
Nathaniel Ward, the "Simple Cobbler of Agawam," a prede-
cessor in the Ipswich Pulpit, a benefactor of Harvard, and the
author of the "Magna Charta" of Massachusetts, is indebted
to Mr. Waters for a new edition and a preface. For twelve
years, from 1905 to 191 7, Mr. Waters was engaged in pre-
paring a two-volume record of "Ipswich in the Bay Colony,"
and no more fitting monument to his diligence and devotion
could be devised than is furnished by these volumes. During
the years of their preparation he joined this Society and be-
came an unfailing attendant at its meetings. He formed a habit
of reaching the rooms early on the day of meeting, in order to
devote hours to the search for choice items in the work upon
which he was engaged. Many of these impressions are pro-
64 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [DeC.
fusely illustrated with original prints, not omitting among
them an exhaustive history of Plum Island. And among them
ranks a tribute, extending to 120 octavo pages, to the family
of Augustine Heard, and his contemporaries bearing the hon-
ored names of Coggswell and Tread well, to whom the town
of Ipswich owes no end of obligations. In 1897, Mr. Waters
read, before the Institute, a paper on the "Early Homes of the
Puritans," in which he put on record, avaihng himself of all
the help to be got from Felt, and Dr. Palfrey and Weeden and
others who had forestalled him in that field, a portrayal of the
times which no future inquirer can afford to overlook. Mr.
Waters was engaged, when the death-summons came, on a
memorial volume, "Ipswich in the World War," which he
had nearly completed.
Mr. Waters was fortunate in finding, in the historic Appleton
family of Ipswich, of which he diligently gathered and pub-
lished a rare Memorial, a living member whose interest in local
annals and whose large means made him an ideal backer, and
their collaboration bore fruit in pageants and tablets and monu-
ments reviving the careers of the historical characters asso-
ciated with Ipswich. Such were Thomas Dudley, and Simon
Bradstreet and his daughter Ann, " the tenth muse," and John
Winthrop, the younger, and Sir Richard Saltonstall. Even
this cursory review of his varied labors is enough to show that
the Society may well pause a moment to regret his loss.
I920.] GIFTS TO THE SOCIETY. 65
JANUARY MEETING, 1920.
THE stated meeting was held on Thursday, the 8th instant,
at three o'clock, p. m. ; the first Vice-President, Mr.
Warren, in the absence of the President, in the chair.
The record of the last meeting was read and approved.
The Librarian called attention to the desirability of
having the works of members of the Society on the Library
shelves.
The Cabinet-Keeper reported the following accessions:
From Mrs. Henry L. Higginson, a large framed photograph of
Daniel Webster.
From Mr. Lane, a Uthograph by Bufford, Boston, of the Putnam
Free School, published by William Snell, of Newburyport, and
several broadside prints.
From Farran Zerbe, of San Francisco, a fac-simile of a fifty-dollar
gold slug of 1S50.
From the Selectmen of the town of Cohasset, one of the service
medals given by the town to her soldiers who served in the World
War.
By exchange, an apparently undescribed example of Bryan
money of 1896, with milled edge, bearing on the obverse, "Bullion
Value 1896," and on the reverse, "Sixteen to One! We don't think";
also a large number of coins and forty examples of the work of
Joseph H. Merriam, of Boston. ^
By purchase: insignia of the Sons of the American Revolution; of
the Order of the Founders and Patriots, New York; of the Massa-
chusetts Chapter of St. George of the Holy Roman Empire in the
Colonies of America; of the Sons of 181 2; and of the Massachusetts
Society of Colonial Wars.
^ The name of Joseph H. Merriam, seal presses, brands and seals, is first found
in the Boston Directory of 1854, in the rear of 147 Washington Street. The firm
of Merriam Brothers, brands, seals and stencils, composed of Joseph H. and
John C. Merriam, first appeared in 1856, at 37 Faneuil Hall Square. In the next
year Joseph H. Merriam is alone, with a shop at 18 Brattle Square and remained
there until 1865, when he drops from the record and John C. Merriam and
Company {i. e. William N. Weeden) carry on the business in the same location.
66 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.
The Editor reported the following accessions:
By gift: from Mrs. M. A. DeWolfe Howe (Fanny Huntington
Quincy), a commonplace book kept by Josiah Quincy, Jr. (1744-
1775), being extracts from political essays and parliamentary debates
touching on government. Also a transcript by Quincy of law reports
made by Edward Rutledge of South Carolina. The copy was made
March 13, 1773, when Quincy was on his southern journey.^ In the
same volume are transcripts of South Carolina state papers, 1767-
1768, and of Ward's Simpler Cobler of Agaivam. Also letters and
diaries of Helen Ruthven Waterston, daughter of Rev. Robert Cassie
Waterston, and a number of scrap-books made by the Quincy and
Waterston families. On deposit: a number of deeds of property held
by the Quincys and the original journal of Josiah Quincy, Jr., on
his southern tour in 1773, which has been printed in Proceedings,
XLix. 424.
From Mr. C. P. Greenough, a certificate of share in the School-
House in Federal Street, Boston, issued to Thomas C. Amory and
signed by Russell Sturgis and Thomas Handasyd Perkins.
By purchase: a letter, dated, London, July 4, 1637, written to
the authorities of Massachusetts Bay, by Sir William Alexander,
Earl of Stirling, and Edward and Ferdinando Gorges. It relates
to the claim of John Thompson, son of David Thompson, to Thomp-
son's Island, Boston harbor .^
A number of papers relating to Groton, Massachusetts, more
especially on church questions 1827-1883. The miscellaneous papers
run from 1764 to 1826.
A ship's paper issued, London, April 27, 1742, to William Storey,
master of the Kilmore, a ship built at Boston in 1735.
Will of William Curtis of Bristol, England, "mariner being now
bound on a voyage beyond the seas," dated April 28, 1699.
Dr. William Sturgis Bigelow presented for deposit a series
of diplomas or certificates issued to him in 1888 during his
days of study in Japan. They are in the name of Gesshin,
as a Buddhist disciple, and bear the seals of the Hieizan mon-
astery and a list of various teachers through whom knowledge
of the faith (according to the Tendai sect) was transmitted
until it reached the student receiving the diploma.
Edward Gray, of Milton, was elected a Resident Member of
the Society.
1 Proceedings, xi.ix. 450.
2 Shurtleff, Topographical and Historical Description of Boston, 503.
I920.] BISHOP KENNETT TO BENJAMIN COLMAN. 67
Mr. Ford read a paper by Mr. Bradford entitled "A Por-
trait of Henry Adams," which will be printed in the Atlantic
Monthly.
Bishop Kennett to Benjamin Colman.
The following letters from White Kennett (1660-17 28) ^re in
the collections of the Society, and were given by Mrs. Isaac P.
Davis in 1856. The writer is best known as a collector of books,
and of two of his gatherings one went to the library of the church
of Peterborough, where it still remains; a second he presented
to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign
Parts and a part of it was sold at auction in 1917. He was
consecrated Bishop of Peterborough November 9, 17 18.
London, Sept. 15, 1713.
Reverend Sir, — Tho I seem negligent in my due Acknowledg-
ments for yours from Boston Nov. 4. 171 2. yet among private
f rends I have often e.xprest my satisfaction in the Sense and Stile and
Temper of it, and I do heartily accept such a Correspondence, and
desire the continuance of it; for the sake of our common Cause of
Charity to Souls, and of zeal to our Christian Religion.
I was under a great Temptation of communicating your Letter to
a General Meeting of our Society, that I might have had their In-
structions for an Answer to the Particulars contained in it. But then
I thought myself restrained by some prudent intimations of your own
and I was very unwilling to be the Occasion of drawing you into any
Controversy or any Envy that too often attend us for speaking plain
Truths, for such indeed I believe are the kind Informations you give
me relating to the Places you mention ; and I know you meant only
to inform us, not to upbraid, or so much as accuse us with the
Mention of them.
For I perceive you are sensible (as the wiser Part of Mankind
must be) under what disadvantages we labour, as a Society holding
Commerce with another World, for no Gain but that of Godlieness,
and for pure Conscience Sake. It is possible, we are not so intent
upon our Business, as if it were ior filthy Lucre. We are not so con-
stant in our Attendance, as Secular Companies or trading Bodies of
Men would be. We are less exact in our Correspondence and Ac-
counts, than if the dear Liberty and Property of this World de-
pended on it. However our General Aim is to pursue our General
Commission of planting Christianity according to the Ch. of England
in those Parts of our English Plantations where there is no setled
68 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.
Ministry; or for the benefit of great Numbers who can not in con-
science conform to the Ways of Worship different from our establisht
Church. We think that these two Provinces are committed to us,
the first chiefly and primarily as our original Design, the second as an
ordinary consequence of it. In the former we labour of our own
Accord; to the latter we have never put our Hand, but upon the
Call and Importunity of People on your side the Water. If they
call when they have no Need, it is our Charity as well as our Cre-
dulity to believe them. If they misrepresent things to us, we must
still take them for granted for want of better Information: nay
and if different Accounts be given, we are apt to be partial in our
Receiving or Rejecting for some respect or other.
I dare assure you the Case was thus in all those particular Places
you take a right Notice of. We were not forward to obtrude our
Charity, and had no Ambition to extend our Power or Care beyond
our own Line. But the Motions began from the respective Places;
we only yielded to the Request of Others, and if they impose upon
our Ignorance at so great a Distance, they are to blame, and much
the more if they gratifie their own passions, or serve their own inter-
ests by it. If we proceed upon Mistake in such Cases, Sincerity and
good Intention is a Plea and Defence, upon which we hope God will
accept us, and our Neighbours forgive us, if we have done them any
Harm.
I need make no other Apology. You, Dear Sir, (if I can judge by
the Spirit of one single Letter) have Sens[e] and largeness of Soul
to make allowances for greater faults than any I hope we have been
guilty of: we should fall into much greater, at this vast Distance, if
God of his grace did not (upon our Prayers) continually direct and
preserve us.
It is our being misinform'd and misguided in some ways, that
increases our Desire of having Bishops setled in those foreign Parts
committed to our Care, that they may judge better of Things and
Persons within their own View. There seems to be a Prospect of
fixing one Bishop on the Islands and another on the Continent. But
alas there is so much of an Ecclesiastical and of a Civil Nature in
this Affair, and such a Concurrency required here at Home and
Abroad, that what Issue it may come to, we are yet uncertain. And
whether at this Juncture we should make a discreet choice of fit Men
for that Office, I dare not pretend to guess. I hope your Churches
would not be jealous of it, they being out of our Line, and therefore
beyond the cognisance of any Overseers to be sent from hence.
What time may do, with the Spirit of Knowledge and Charity, to
make all the English in America of one Heart and of one way of
I920.] BISHOP KENNETT TO BENJAMIN COLMAN. 69
Discipline and Worship, I recommend to your Prayers, and add my
own.
I can answer for my own Conscience, that from the Beginning of
our Society I have acted as a Member of it upon the Principle of
Doing Good. I have been at some Labour, and have not grudg'd
some little Expence in picking up the Beginning of a Library for the
use of our Corporation. I am publishing the Catalogue (which I
hope shortly to send you) under this title, Bibliotheca Afnericana
Primordia. An attempt towards laying the foundation of an American
Library in Several Books, Papers, and Writings, humbly given to the
Society for Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, for the per-
petual Use and Benefit of their Members, their Missionaries, Friends,
Correspondents and Others concerned in the good Design of Planting
and Promoting Christianity within her Majesties Colonies and Planta-
tions in the West Indies. By a member of the said Society. 4'°.
I am very glad to understand by our very sensible Friend Mr.
Dummer, that a public Library is going on at Boston. I have sent
a small tract or two by the hands of Mr. Dummer as a Mite to the
Treasury; and shall be wiUing to give and procure more, when I
better apprehend the constitution of it. Our exchanging Sir the
good offices of common Charity and public Spirit, will help much
(under God's Blessing) to enlarge our Understandings, and to recon-
cile our Affections to one Another and so to meet nearer upon Earth,
and inseparably in Heaven. Let be these our mutual Prayers and
Endeavours. I am. Dear Sir, Your Assured Friend and Affectionate
Brother,
White Kennett.
I should be glad to be commended to the President of Hawarden
CoU:^ of whom I have heard a good and honourable character; tho I
am a Stranger to him.
Peterborough, July 28. 1716.
Dear Sir, — My thoughts reprove me often for not being more
civil to a Stranger, rather to a Friend and Correspondent, whom
by all that I have read and heard of him I have good reason to value
and esteem. My thanks have been long due for the Books you sent
over to improve our American Library, which is not yet dispos'd in
a proper Place for want of some special Benefactor, but I am adding
what I can to the number of Tracts suitable to the Arguments of
Navigation, etc., and doubt not (if God spare a few years) to make
it a Collection not unworthy the good Design.
* John Leverett.
70 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.
That good Design of propagating Christianity in your Parts has
lost the wisest Director and President of it, the late Archbishop of
Canterbury,^ whose Aim and Care in those Matters (as in all others)
were guided by a truly Christian Spirit for the Public Good of the
Protestant Religion. He put a stop to many indirect Motions and
Steps made to put us out of the way; and prevented a great deal
of interruption and embarrassment that would have been otherwise
given to us. He was a wise and honest Prelate, truly sensible that
at home and abroad we were under a great danger of losing Chris-
tianity in the Name of the Church.
The two great difficulties that still lye hard upon our Society for
Propagation of the Gospel are i. the want of sober and religious
Missionaries, few or none offering themselves to that Service for the
glory of God and the good of Souls but chiefly to find Refuge from
poverty and scandal. 2. Such men when they come to the places
allotted to them forget their Mission, and instead of propagating
Christianity, are only contending either for Rites and Ceremonies,
or for Powers and Priviledges, and are disputing with the Vestries
of every Parish, and even with the Civil Government of every
Province. These two Mischiefs can hardly be redress'd, but by
fixing Schools and Universities in those Parts, and settling we hope
two Bishops, one for the Continent, another for the Islands, with
advice and assistance of Presbyters to ordain fit Persons especially
Natives, and to take care of all the Churches. Which needful Pro-
vision will not break in upon your National Rights and Customs, at
least no other way, than by laying a foundation (we'll hope and
you'll agree) for the Union of all Protestants in some future Age,
when Charity and Peace shall prevail above Interest and Passion.
We have no great Prospect I confess of such happieness in our
old England where the Spirit of dissension and faction (nay of
the utmost Infatuation) has rag'd horribly, and is not yet cast out.
I think I saw long since, that the Beginnings of this Sorrow were the
Seeds of Popery scattered in the minds of common People with
strange industry and Art, to smooth the way for a Popish Pretender.
Noise and Nonsens were very prevailing, and at last the word given
out was, / had rather be a Papist than a Presbyterian; and under this
delirious Cant, the poor Souls were prepared to cry out the Church,
the Church, as loud as if they had been in the streets of Rome, and to
idolize a seditious Doctor as much as if he had been a Pope of this
other world.
The People in this ferment were disposed to read and admire the
' Thomas Tenison (1636-1715). He was largely instrumental in establishing
the Society and believed America should have bishops.
I920.] BISHOP KENNETT TO BENJAMIN COLMAN. 7I
daily Pamphlets thrown about to reconcile them more and more to
Popery under the pretences of Divine Rights, Uninterrupted Succes-
sion, Independent State of the Church, the Expediency and even
Necessity of Private Confession, the immediate Effects of Sacerdotal
Absolution, the Invalidity of Baptism out of Episcopal Communion:
a Priest, an Altar, a real Sacrifice in the Lord's Supper; a Middle
State of Souls, no harm at least in Prayers for the Dead, and many
other Devices approaching as near to Rome as present Safety would
admit. All which Conceits you well know sprung up as tares of the
Enemy long after our Blessed Reformation, and I think never
appear'd till a little before the Beginning of the Civil Warrs, under
the influence of a Court that had too much of the Popish Queen in
it; and were now reviv'd to serve no other purpose but that of the
interest of a Popish Impostor. Only there was some difference in
the times, for before those Civil Warrs None run into those Notions
but some of the warmer and more ambitious Clergy, whereas now
the Common People and the very Women have their heads full of
them.
Under these Delusions a Multitude have been giving up to believe
the Idol at Avignon to be something and worthy to be set up: given
up alass to the Beliefe of any Lies, and to the practice of many
Romish Superstitions. Some would not goe to their Seats in the
Church, till they had kneel'd and pray'd at the Rails of the Com-
munion-Table; they would not be content to receive the Sacrament
there kneeling, but with Prostration and striking of the Breast and
kissing of the Ground: they began to think the Com: Prayer without
a Sermon (at least after Noon) to be the best way of serving God;
and Churches without Organs had the thinner Congregations: New
Ornaments and even Pictures about the Altar began to be the Books
of the Vulgar: the Meeting Houses of Protestant Dissenters were
thought to be more defiled Places than Popish Chapells. In short,
the Herd of People were running toward Rome without any fore-
sight or any power of looking backward.
To this Madness of the People was the Rebellion owing, now one is
quelled the other will abate; and our greatest Deliverance under King
George will be that of being delivered from Ourselves, and being
restored not only to our Religion and Liberties but to our Senses.
Great and glorious are the Triumphs of King George; I cannot
bring the Intimation of them within the bounds of a Letter, but in
a very abrupt manner.
I. The King has subdued the Resentments of the Emperour, who
was angry with our Nation, and car'd to deal no farther with us; and
'tis well known was not tractable to two or three Embassadours sent
72 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.
successively from this Court. But as last, the wise conduct and
prevailing weight of K. George have brought his Imperial Majestic
into good terms with us and a firm Alliance.^
II. The King has subdued the prejudices of the K. of Spain,'
who had a real fondness for the Pretender,^ had passt his word to
restore him, and had planted his Irish Embassadour in the Queen's
closet to help forward that intended Restoration: And yet his
Catholick Majestic feeling the impressions of the fame and interest
of King George is brought over to Him, and to court his Friendship,
has done justice to our injured Peace and Commerce, and redeem'd
us from our own hands that betray'd us.
III. The King has in effect settled the dubious IncHnations of
the Regent of France,'^ who seem'd in good faith to goe on upon the
Plan of the old Monarch, and was allmost disposed to enable the
Pretender to pay off his Mortgage to that his School of Education:
But he is well nigh vanquisht by the superiour Genius of King
George, and at his Request will not only restore the poor Protes-
tant Slaves to Kberty, but will perhaps take up their chains, and put
them upon the necks of the Pope and his congregation of Cardinals.
IV. The very Great Turk ^ is yielding to the influences of King
George's wisdom and power, and contrary to the usual Policy of his
Ottoman Port, will receive and return Embassadours, to put the
scale of the Peace of Europe into the hands of his Britannic Majestic.
V. The King of Sweden ^ is the last Prince who would be guided
by any counsels but his own, harden'd in warr, and deaf to any other
charms: and yet possibly the time is very near, when he likewise
shall hearken to the offer of Mediation made by a more potent Neigh-
bour and suffer the Peace of the North to be adjusted by the same
auspicious Majestic of Great Britaine.
His Triumphs and Conquests at home arc no less considerable.
Not that the chasing away a sorry Pretender, and the reducing a few
Rebells ought to be numbered among the Triumphs of King George;
but there be some greater Instances of Success and Glory in his wise
and steady Administration.
I. Many of the former Ministry, bold Men, who held up their
heads, and even boasted of their Peace and other Actions, they are
1 Charles VI (1685-1740). The treaty of Westminster was signed May 25
(O. S.) 1716.
2 Philip V (1683-1746).
' James Francis Edward, ChevaHer de St. George (1688-1766).
* Phihp II, Duke of Orleans (i 674-1 723) regent during the minority of Louis
XV(i7io-i774).
» Ahmed III (1687-1736).
• Charles XII (1682-1718).
I920.] BISHOP KENNETT TO BENJAMIN COLMAN. 73
several of them convinc't of the King's Sagacity and Resolution,
that they can neither deceive him, nor aflfright him; and therefore
would be glad of any terms of yielding; and I dare say in a little
time their only Contention will be among themselves, whose Sub-
mission shall be first and best accepted.
II. Many of the condemned Criminals who seem'd resolved One
and All to extort Mercy, or to dye like Dar: in desperate falshood, or
like Ken: in sullen silence, begin to find that even abused Mercy
can still be merciful!; that there is no other Refuge to a Mob nor
to any mistaken Politicians, and therefore submit to a wise and a
good Prince, and are I hope conquered into Ingenuity and Christian
Confession.
III. A Set of Great Men who have been taught of late to think
themselves necessary to a Government, and in that confidence to
prefer their own Interest or even their own Humour before any other
Regards, are brought over to more becoming measures of Loyalty, by
one or two examples made by a steady Prince, who is never ingrate
for Services, nor insensible of Wrongs.
IV. The popular Speakers in a great Assembly, who by a pervers
English custom have learn'd to speech it against a Court, in order
to be bought over to it upon their own terms, begin to be untaught
those ill Manners, and to know that a good Prince in a legal Ad-
ministration wants no indirect ways and means of purchasing Men;
and that a Subject of never so good Parts and Elocution is no longer
to be retain'd, than while he can keep himself within the bounds of
Modesty and Honour.
v. The whole Body of the Papists in these Kingdoms who had so
long flattred themselves with the hopes of setting up their Religion
with a pretended Prince of it, are well nigh utterly subdued in those
hopes and expectations; and begin some to be Converts, and Others
to think more seriously of the Protestant Religion, at a Juncture
when they foresee it must be safe and flourishing under a Prince, who
is not only Defender of that Faith at home, but is at the head of the
Protestant Interest in Europe.
VI. The disaffected Clergy who were dissolving all Government
by advancing wrong Notions of it, will no longer keep up a Distinc-
tion between Divine Right and Legal Constitution, but will again
reconcile the Gospel of Christ and the Laws of the Land, and be good
Divines and good Subjects under a Supreme Governour, who de-
spises Flattery, and desires no other Principles from them, but such
as in reason and conscience they can practise in spite of rebelling
Nature.
VII. The two Universities that must needs have had their share
in a common Contagion, are growing sensible what little thanks they
74 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.
owe to those buisy Men who have spread the poyson among them:
they are opening their eyes to see, that K. George is a true Friend of
the Church of England, and a true Patron of Learning. He must
daily gain upon them, for they cannot withstand an immense Bounty
and an insuperable Constancy and Courage.
These few particulars are but Hints and Intimations, which you
and your good Brethren know how to improve. My Respects and
Services to you and them, and especially to the worthy President of
Hawarden College.
I must not conclude before I pay Truth and Justice to the char-
acter of Mr. Dummer Agent of your Country here, who by smart
abilities, and unwearied diligence, and a good interest in Men of
figure, has been I believe very serviceable to your common Affaires,
and very instrumental in obtaining a new Governour ^ whose vertue
and prudence (if I mistake not) will make you All easy and happy.
Let us join in our Prayers for the King's safe Return and long
Life, and for the Progress of Christianity, and Increase of the Pro-
testant Religion. I am. Dear Sir, Your Affectionate Friend,
White Kennett.
March 13. 1716.7.
Reverend and Dear Sir, — Your two several Letters from Bos-
ton of October i. and November 10. 1716 were both very agreeable
to Me, and I shall be very glad to keep up such a Friendly Corre-
spondence as becomes us in the valuable and ever dear Relation of
Christian and Protestant and English Brethren, who are ready to
love and serve our common faith and Countrey. But you see we
must write, as we would personally converse, in a mutual confidence
of safe Privacy and between Ourselves: So far we can answer for our
own Integrity, and dare be confident on either Side that we mean
no Harm, but in the simplicity of our own Hearts to trust One
Another. Whereas you find by experience, that if we are free in
communicating our Letters, tho' in the openness of our own Breasts,
we expose them to the want of Understanding in Some, and to the
want of Charity in others, to Strangers and Enemies to us.
You have Sir an Instance of this Partiality well observed in your
last Letter, the catching at invidious Facts, and then questioning
and even denying the Truth of them. I had it seems inform'd you
in great Innocence and with great Truth, that among the Delusions
prevailing in the Name of High Church, there was a visible Super-
stition tending towards Popery in the writings of some Few of our
1 Samuel Shute (1662-1742).
I920.] BISHOP KENXETT TO BE^7AMIN COLMAN. 75
Clergy, and in the practise of some more of our ignorant People;
beyond and against the received Doctrine and Discipline of the
establisht Church of England. I might have said that this Humour
was more abounding than it was in the daies oi ABp. Laud, when we
paid so dear for it. Upon the latter Head of Innovation in Practise,
I toucht upon what I had often seen, some people affecting to begin
their private Devotions at the Rails of the Commun. Table, before
they went to their Seats or other Stations in the Church: and
Others or the Same assuming new Gestures and Postures in receiving
the H. Sacrament, smiting their breasts, prostrating their faces to
the ground, receiving the bread in the palm of their Hand, bowing
down their lips to it, as unworthy to touch it with their fingers, and
such like Fooleries not prescribd by our Liturgy nor practisd by
our forefathers. I have seen too many more of such like Signs and
Tokens of a new Disposition in the Minds of People to an outward
Show of zeal and pagentry, that however innocently taken up by
some undesigning Souls, yet was privily and artfully brought in by
cunning Men, in favour and for the service of a Popish Pretender
and his Kingdom of Darkness.
I could write nothing more true than what had been my daily Ob-
servation, and God knows I had no ill Meaning in the Mention of it,
but justly to condemn it, and honestly to help reform it. Our Church
itself was not concernd in giving out any such new Orders: our
Superiours did not professedly allow of any such new Fashions; and
the wiser Part of our Clergy did all they could to discountenance
and put them down; nay the greater Part of our Communicants
still avoided them and despis'd them. The Humour was got
chiefly among the inferiour Sort of women, who had before kneeld
in the way of Dr. Sacheverell and Kisst the tail of his Gown or
Cassok.
These Fooleries indeed might the rather be forgiven in a Time
of general Infatuation upon the IVIinds of People and as general a
Corruption of Manners. We see and lament the sad Contagion
spreading in our establisht Communion, and you have sens enough
to let me tell you as a very charitable Friend, that there is somewhat
of a like wrong Spirit among our Dissenting Brethren or the Body of
them. The good old tenderness of Conscience is visibly abated, the
strict Regard to Sobriety and Temperance is very much alter'd; the
keeping up Family Prayers and Fear of God in Children and Serv-
ants is wearing off apace; Bibles are less read, and Sabbaths less
observd, etc. In short they are very much gone off from the good
old Puritans, who had certainly a more sober Deportment and a more
serious Sens of Religion and Devoutness in them.
76 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.
And this Degeneracy at a time when they have been in greatest
Danger, and ought to have been most upon their guard of Piety and
Prudence, For whereas the good old Puritans were all along Popular
and well Beloved, upon the just Reputation of being a sober Godly
Party, who spoke better and liv'd better than most of their Neigh-
bours: It so happens on the contrary (God knoweth how) that our
Dissenters of late have had the common Cry against them: the Laws
could hardly protect them, the Government allmost afraid to defend
them, and if the Bishops and Clergy whom they call the Low Church
would have fell into that Stream of Prejudice against them, they had
been driven (as the Wind and Tide have long sate) into a State of
Persecution and the utmost Desertion, wherein the Body of the
Clergy and People would have thought they had done God good
Service.
And yet the Dissenters (perhaps to a Man) have had one of the
greatest Merits, that of being true to their Country and to the Bal-
ance of Europe, allwaies well affected to the Protestant Succession,
and very faithfuU Subjects of King George and firm Adherents to his
Royal Family. An Advantage that one would think might before
this time have been improv'd to their Security and Honour. And
so undoubtedly it would have been if they had follow'd the Steps
of the good old Puritans, and had once more the esteem of a Peaceable
and Religious People, if they had been ready to join with the sound
and moderate Bishops and Clergy, and had complain 'd only of
Innovations unknown to the first Reformers, requiring only some few
Concessions to be made to them, showing themselves truly tender
of the Peace and Unity of Church and State, and allway more zealous
for a good Life and good Works, than for any other matter of Con-
tention. Such a Spirit of God in a still Voice will at some Providen-
tial Time or other heal all our Breaches, and frustrate the hopes of
the Common Enemy.
You see how freely and heartily I set down my own present
Thoughts and Wishes and I have that Opinion of your Understand-
ing and good Conscience, that I can not but think we could talk over
these matters without any ill Resentments and at least with good
Will and Charity. But I cannot answer for the different Impression
upon other Minds, indispos'd with Prejudice and Passion. And
therefore I trust your Discretion that you only intimate my Freedom
of Writing to a Few of the Best of your own Brethren, and particu-
larly to the worthy President, to all whom my hearty Service and
Respects.
I thought to add somewhat of our present State of Affairs, but
I reserve this to another Letter if the Opportunity of Shipping will
I920.] BISHOP KENNETT TO BENJAMIN COLMAN. 77
attend a day or two longer. I pray God preserve us and amend us
all for the continuance of his good Providence to us.
I am, Dear Sir, Your very Affectionate Friend and Brother,
Wh: Kennett.
I thank you for your very right good Sermon. I send you the
last of my public Exercises.
James Street, Westminster. June 5th. 17 18.
Dear Sir, — Our good friend Mr. Dummer is a kind Monitor to
me, that by this shipping I ought to send a Letter to his worthy
Mr. Coleman. I gladly take the opportunity of expressing my
hearty Thanks for your last, and my Willingness to keep up a Corre-
spondence with one whom I know so well by his own Writings and by
others' good Report, that I should be glad if Providence would allow
us a nearer Conversation.
You'll rejoice to hear that by the wonderfull Mercy of God we
are preserved in Peace and Happiness amidst a general Infatuation
of ISIinds and Corruption of Manners; that we are yet Safe in spite
of our Enemies and in Spite of Ourselves.
Our never failing Enemies the Papists are (one would think) the
only steady Men, and Allwaies the same in pursuing their uniform
Design of setting up their own Religion and the Creature of their
own in order to do it; by all those waies and means that force or
fraud can make possible. The Pope is more infallible with them
for espousing the Chevalier. The King of Spain shall be more
Catholick if his Arms in Italy can restore Indefeasible Right to
Great Britain; Or even the K, of Sw[eden] shall be absolved from
his Northern Heresie, if he will answer their Expectations, and make
but one Attempt for them.
The Non- Jurors or Protestant Jacobites are much more unreason-
able Men, they think that Laws and Parliaments are Nothing, and
that there is but one Right in the World that of Personal Succession.
To this simple Divine Right all other Claims of Liberty, Property
and Conscience itself must bow down and surrender themselvs,
in a Passive Obedience proud of being Miserable. Nay and to bring
back that Curse upon a Nation, they think all things lawfull. Plots,
Conspiracies, Invasions, and even horrid Assassination of Princes,
For so some have spirited up young Disciples, who in professt Inten-
tion and unshaken Insolence have exceeded if possible any Novices
in the Schools of the Jesuits, more daringly wicked and obstinate,
it suf&ces them to be absolved at Death, and to be taken from the
Gallows to be hung up again in Effigie for Saints and Martyrs. It
78 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JaN.
has been literally so with Shepheard, and Orme if he will stand to it
shall have the same Reward. Good God. What can become of
such a Party, and what of us if ever they prevail.
We need no other Enemies, but God knows we have a strange sort
of Friends, that are perhaps more dangerous to Church and State.
They are Men who acknowledge Titles and take Oaths and would
seem to be Subjects, nay and would be supposed to be the only
Church-Men, when by unaccountable prejudice, they do in their
hearts hate the Revolution, curse the memory of King William,
murmur at the Protestant Succession, and can speak well of no part
of any Reign, but the last three years of Queen Anne. And some of
these Men too have invented Principles as extravagant as any at
Rome; that they may take Protection where they mean no Allegiance,
that they may pray for Princes only in a sort of civil Complement
to them; that they may swallow any Oaths for Necessity, nay for
Conveniency, and leave the Sin upon the heads of the Imposers of
them. In a word, that they may submit to K. George while they
cannot help it, and not be Rebells till they are able to be so.
The greater Pity still, that after the Pride of being called Tories
we should have any Whigs so calling themselves, and so really in
Principle and in all former Conversation; and yet they would be,
they would have, they know not what. They would govern a Prince
who should govern All but them. They would have all Places, or
they would have none at all: Ambitious to be in, Proud to be out,
as they are in or out of Humour, Capricious, Sullen, Angry with
others without cause, and then with greater reason angry with them-
selves; hanging upon wheels because they cannot drive, and — play-
ing the Fool, if that were All.
And are there no Faults among our best Friends? They likewise
are Men and have human Infirmities. Some too indolent and uncon-
cerned, who will be eating and sleeping, if the greatest Enemy were
behind them and upon them. Others in Dress and the Life of Show
and Appearance for Assemblies and Masquerades and other oppor-
tune Places of Vanity and Sin, some again aspiring to new Titles and
Ornaments of Honour without Merit without Action or Counsel.
Some intent upon Nothing but their Profit and their clear Gain, the
PubUck Interest is what they can make of it; the World goes well or
ill, as they have so much more or less, the Nation is their own Person
or at farthest their own Family. If you talk of sun-shine, they
think it no Blessing but for making their own hay. They must
have somewhat, if no Place, then a Pension, nay both, and much the
same Price to take a Place or to leave it. And the wisest PoUticians
allmost afraid to be in earnest; hardly willing to remember Injuries
I920.] BISHOP KENNETT TO BENJAMIN COLMAN. 79
or Services; thinking it safer to buy of an Enemy, than to reward
an old Friend, and when they do reward it is rather to comply with
Men's Importunity, than to consider their Deserts. However Prom-
ises are the cheapest things, and there is a way to make them good,
or to evade them which is much at one. These things are common to
good Men in the best Cause.
But how then shall we stand and prosper? Our Hope our Con-
fidence is first in the good Providence of God, who has been working
many Wonders for us, from the Reformation to this Protestant
Succession to this Day, and He will uphold and finish I verily believe
the Work of his own Hands whoever labour to pull it down.
Then 11. the Merit of our Cause, or what we may call the Intrin-
sick Goodness of it, the Cause of Christians, of Protestants, of
Mankind, of Liberty, Property, Religion; a Cause that Men may
neglect or despise while they enjoy it, but when they come to lose
or to the danger of losing, they'll naturally come to their Senses,
and try again to defend or recover such a Cause. I remember in the
latter end of K. James's reign; the maddest Tories were wishing
for a redemption from Popery and Slavery; and I dare say if the
pretended Son ^ were to come, even they who invite him would turn
upon him and help drive him out again; tho that indeed would be
a dear Experiment.
And therefore iii. We trust better to the firmness and con-
stancy of a wise and valiant Prince, who can mark the unhappy Steps
of his Predecessor, and will be (as we can wish to be) Steady, Steady,
whatever the Tide or Storm is or may be.
And lastly under God and the King we place some confidence
in a wise and faithfull Ministry, who may be Wise upon the Follies
of many who have gone before them, and will be faithfull in Grati-
tude and Honour: who must act upon this View, that if their Master
will give them up, their most faithfull Administration would not
long secure them; for complaints would be even if there were no
faults; it would be Fault enough that they can never gratifie all Men.
But if they can depend upon wh[torn] and shall h[ave nothin]g to
answer for but their own [torn]ty and Honesty, then that Honesty
will certainly be their true and best Policy, for under a wise and
steady Prince no Ministry can be hurt, but by Male-Administration,
by Corruption and illegal Practise, which I think can not be chargd
upon the present Ministry, and I hope never will. — But you see I
am going out of my depth, by writing in a familiar way to a private
1 The Pretender was the only son of James II by his second wife, Mary of
Modena. As five years had passed since the queen had given birth to a child,
the incredulity of the nation on the event was great, but had no basis in fact.
8o MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.
Friend, Secure that Neither of us mean any Harm. Pray we God
to preserve our Peace and Prosperity, and Dear Sir your Health and
Happiness. I am Your Affectionate Friend and Brother,
White Kennett.
Tho I have not the honour of being acquainted with your worthy
Governour, I have a great Respect for him, and the more on account
of his Brother Barrington,^ whom I sometimes meet with in this
Town and therefore presume to give my Respects to him.
My service to your Brethren, and especially to the good President
of Hawarden Coll:
There is one Subject that a prudent or a good natur'd Man would
not care to touch upon. Unhappy Breach! if any widen it, they are
very wicked. I am no Judge, for I have Children, and I have a little
Jurisdiction in the Church, and I am apt therefore to be Partial on
the Side of the Governour and the Parent. Beati Pacifici etc.
February 25. 1722.3.
Rev. Sir, — I have often accus'd myself of negligence (which I beg
you would not think a Disrespect) in not writing to you. It is not
for any Change of Station, and much less for any Alteration of
Christian Charitable Sentiments, but out of pure Hurry of Life and
necessary Application to Men and Things and Books. I thank you
heartily for your very good Sermon on occasion of the Jewish Convert
[Monis] to Christianity: 2 I wish you would republish it with some
Declaration of Motives and Reasons given by the Person himself;
and a Catalogue of such eminent Converts from Judaisme to our
Reformed Religion, as have been publickly Baptized, and have many
of them publisht very sound Testimonies of their real Conversion
and Sincerity in our Faith and Worship. I think I could furnish
you with near a hundred Instances out of my poor Collections if you
will make the seasonable Use and Application of them.
I was sent to this moment by my good Neighbour Chamberlayne
to write a Line to you and have put up a little parcell for your
Amusement, and desire you to esteem me and to pray for me as
Your very Affect[ionate] Friend and Brother,
Wh: Peterbor.
James Street, Westm[inster,] March 23. 1723.4.
Reverend Sir, — Your agreeable Letter from Boston N. E. came
safe to my hands within a due time from the Date Octob. 30. 1723.
" John Shute Barrington, Viscount Barrington (1678-1734)-
^ Proceedings, Lii. 285.
1920.] BISHOP KENNETT TO BENJAMIN COLMAN. 8 1
with a very kind Present of your Publick Services, your Discourse
before the Baptism of R. Judah Monis, with the three Discourses
written by Mr. Monis himself. Your Funeral Discourse upon the
Death of the very Reverend and Aged Dr. Increase Mather; and your
Sermon Preachd at the Ordination of Mr. Cooper. All which I com-
municate to Others, and preserve for myself.
The case of Mr. Monis will be a credit to our Religion if he con-
tinue firm in our Faith, and exemplary in his Christian Life; but
truly I am so doubtfuU of the Sincerity of Converts, especially
from that obstinate Party, who act upon temporal Motives towards
a Temporal Messiah, that I shall not be much surprized if we are at
last deceived in him. However, if possible, let no Offence be given
to him, that if he do fall away, it may be his own Crime and Shame.
We have a new Instance in the Conversion and Baptism of the eldest
Son of Mr. Marcus Moses a very rich Jeweller in London, who has
publishd the Motives of his Conversion (with some good assistance)
in a plausible manner. And yet we have Reason to be afraid, that
he owes his Profession not to the Law of the Gospel, but to an Act
of ParHament, which gives him a Separate Maintenance. The suit
now depending in Chancery, and the Affidavits made in it of his Im-
morahty and Indifference to all Religion, incline me much to that
Suspicion of him. No doubt there will in God's time be a General
Conversion of that People, and many particular Pretensions in the
mean time. God alone can judge of hearts, till we see they persevere
unto the End.
This last Week the opulent Jews about this town obtaind in the
H. of Com. a Clause in the Explanatory Act for taking the Oaths,
by vertue of which they would have been declared capable of purchas-
ing Lands and Lordships, and put in effect upon equal foot with
other his Ma'ties Liege and sworn Christian Subjects. When it came
to the H. of Peers I thought it my Duty to oppose it pleading that no
Oaths of Allegiance were ever design'd for the Jews, much less the
Oath of Abjuration professtly to be taken upon the Faith of a Chris-
tian; that the Jews had been allways here conniv'd at as Foreigners
without any title to free born Subjects, had dealt as Usurers and
Money Changers, but had never been allowed to be free PurcJiasers
and Land Holders; that whatever Opinion might be given by Lawyers
that they could find no Act of Parliament] or Force of Com[mon]
Law to forbid the Right of Purchasing by such Jews as were born in
his Ma'ties Dominions, or were made Free Denizens by his Ma'ties
Letters Pat[ent], yet even this considered them as Native or Adopted
Subjects not as Original Jews; and it made a stronger Reason against
extending that Privilege to all manner of Jews, who might thereby
82 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JaN.
bring over all their dispersed Tribes and Treasures, and become able
to purchase the City, the whole Country, and be the Lords of our
Courts and the Patrons of our Churches; and be at last the National
People; which would be for us Men to repeal the Divine Curse laid
upon them; and even to encourage their setting up a Messiah in
this Island, if they should here obtain more Property and more
Power than in any other part of the World.
What was said by some few other Lords had so good effect
that the Clause was amended, and only gave liberty to those Jews
who should offer themselves to take the Oaths, to omit the words
in the Faith of a Christian, and to be indulged to swear in like manner
as they have been usually allowed to do in the Courts of Justice
(i. e. laying their hands on the Pentateuch or Old Test[ament] and
concluding, So help me God, etc.).
In your Discourse upon the Death of Mr. Mather you have done
his Memory great Justice with great Modesty the best way of
commending.
By your Ordination Sermon I perceive you have changed an
irregular Custom into much more Decency and Order, by not suffer-
ing the young Candidate to make then his Probation Sermon, but to
have the Preparatory Discourse made by a Senior more apt and able
to teach.
I have nothing worth your Acceptance; I put up in hast Mr.
Ollyff's^ Discourse upon the Madness of some People, very well
meant and most of it plain Truth. With a Discourse of Dr. Small-
brook^ our new Bishop of St. Davids on the Text of St. John in the
Complutens. Bible. I wish when you run over our Catalogues or
public Papers, you would point out to me any two or three of the
Tracts you would desire to see, and I should be glad to transmit them
to you, or to do any other Ofhce or Service in Learning or in our
Common Holy Religion. My prayers for you. I am. Your Aflfect-
[tionate] Friend and Brother,
Wh: Peterbor.
Westm[inster]. March 19. 1727.8.
Reverend Sir, — I take it very kindly, that you have remem-
bred me with a good Token of Friendship, the well accepted Present
of your late Labours for God and the Publick Good. Your Discourse
of Fidelity to Christ and to the Protestant Succession,^ was a Word in
' John Ollyffe (1647-1717).
^ Richard Smalbroke (1672-1749), bishop of Coventry and Lichfield. In
1722 he wrote a letter to Bentley on the authenticity of i John, v. 7.
* A sermon delivered after the proclaiming of George II, 1727.
I920.] BISHOP KENNETT TO BENJAMIN COLMAN. 83
Season, and savour'd with such a Spirit of Religion and Loyalty, as
to leave a due Impression upon the Readers, as I doubt not it did
upon the Hearers of it. I have pointed out to Many the Passage in
the Preface that the American Churches know not of one single Per-
son in that Conummion that is not Loyally affected to his Majesty
and to his House. We do a little envy you that singular glory, and
hope we shall soon be full Partakers with you. For his Majestie's
wise and good Administration must win upon the hearts of all
who have their eyes open on this side the Gulph of Popery and
Slavery.
Your serious Discourse of the Judgments of Providence ^ must have
been very affecting, while your People had so lately heard the voice
of God in them. I am much of your Opinion, that as the Earth was
once dissolved by waters, it will be so at last by Fire and in the
bowels of the earth that Fire is already kindled: God prepare us for
the general Conflagration. I hope some of your accurate Observers
took Notes of the Symptoms and Incidents of your late Storms and
Earthquake, to communicate to our Royal Society, for the more
critical Enquiry into the Causes and Effects of 'em. This perhaps is
allready done, tho I have not seen it.
Your Ordination Sermon is well suited to the occasion and in-
structive to your Ministers and People. You shew Charity and
Brotherly Love to the Memory of the most Reverend Bishop Burnet.
I could rather wish you had not mentioned the Black Barthol[omew]
Day, not only to prevent your Printer's mistake of 1660 for 62, but
to spare the calling of hard things to remembrance. It was an Act
of the Legislature, and was at that time thought of Political Neces-
sity for restoring Peace and Union. And among the number of
Ejected, many went out by conscience, but many I doubt were drawn
in by secret Powers, etc. But I do not mean to dispute.
We had last week in the H. of Lords a very long Debate upon
this Question: Whether a Foreigner by taking the Sacrament in a
Lutheran Chapell here was thereby qualified to be Naturalized in
this Kingdom according to the Act of Pari. VII. Jas. I. Cap. 11,
Some argued for Parochial Communion in the Established Church:
Others for the Latitude of Protestant Communion in any Congrega-
tion of the Foreign Churches here Allowd. Our Bench argued for
the Honour of the Evangelical and Reformed Churches, and for the
common Interest of the Protestant Religion. And it was at last
carried without dividing.
I could wish my daily Attendance at the House and many other
Avocations did not hinder my writing more at length. I pray God
^ On the Earthquake.
84 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.
for you, and desire your Prayers. I am, Your Loving Brother and
Assured Friend,
White Peterbor.
Pray accept the small Packet of things that lay next at hand,
of which I thought there might be some you had not yet seen.
Remarks were made during the meeting by Messrs. Wash-
burn, Wendell and Endicott.
ffi
-Jo-hv^ r^^ HoL'^'^
^C^iAH^
I920.] JOHN TYLER HASSAM. 85
MEMOIR
OF
JOHN TYLER HASSAM
By JULIUS HERBERT TUTTLE.
John Tyler Hassam, whose membership in the Historical
Society from November lo, 1881, to his death on April 22, 1903,
proved to be a source of pleasure and of pride to him, was often
in attendance at the meetings of the Society, and from time to
time contributed valuable papers to its proceedings. The late
William S. Appleton, who had with Mr. Hassam kindred anti-
quarian and historical interests at heart, was sponsor for his
admission to the Society; and Mr. Hassam 's first expression of
gratitude for his election was intended for his then unknown
friend.
From boyhood Mr. Hassam's associations were all with
Boston and her institutions, as were most of those of his parents.
The direct ancestral line of the family had its beginning in
Manchester, Mass., on the settlement of William Hassam (or
Horsham) there about the year 1684; where the family home
continued for a century and a half. This William, who married
at Marblehead on December 4, 1684, Sarah, daughter of Samuel
Allen of Manchester, died there about 1735. Jonathan, his son,
born on August 17, 1702, a master mariner, was married on
August 10, 1727, to Mary Bennett, and died on February 21,
1754. William, son of Jonathan, born on August 11, 1752, a
master mariner, was married to Elizabeth, daughter of Ambrose
Allen, May 15, 1780, and died on April 9, 1833. Jonathan,
William's son, born on May 23, 1784, also a master mariner,
was married on October 22, 1808, to Sally, daughter of John
86 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY, [Jan.
Cheever, a descendant in the fifth generation from Ezekiel
Cheever, Master of the Grammar School at Ipswich, 1650-
1661; of the free school at Charlestown, 1661 to 1670; and of the
Boston Latin School from 1670 to his death in 1708. John, son of
Jonathan, born on September 4, 1809, was married on May 15,
1836, to Abby, daughter of Capt. Amos Hilton, a descendant
in the eighth generation from William, who came in the ship
Fortune to Plymouth in 1621 ; and died in Boston, on August 3,
1885. John Tyler, the subject of this memoir, son of John, born
in Boston at No. 3 Barton Street, the family home, on Septem-
ber 20, 1841, was married at Salem on February 14, 1878, to
Nelly Alden, daughter of Dr. John Henry and Jane Reed
(Smith) Batchelder of that place.
Mr. Hassam received his early education in the Mayhew
School where on his graduation in 1856 at the age of fourteen
he was presented with a Franklin Medal, a silver medal given
annually as an honorary reward in accordance with the will of
Benjamin Franklin, "for the encouragement of scholarship"
in the Boston schools. He passed through the full course in the
Boston Latin School in three years, winning at his graduation in
1859 another Franklin Medal. He completed his course at
Harvard College with the Class of 1863, and later received his
degree of A.M. in course; was a member of the Institute of
1770, and of the O. K. Society; and was selected as Class Poet in
January, 1863, only to resign the choice in the following March.
Responding to the call of his country he entered its service,
when he was given a commission as First Lieutenant of the
Seventy-fifth United States Colored Infantry on December 8,
1863, and saw active service in the Red River campaign and
until August I, 1864.
Mr. Hassam's father, when a lad of fourteen, in 1823, came to
Boston and learned the trade of bookbinder. In 1836, his name
first appears in the Boston Directory as at 33 Garden Street.
In 1839, he is listed as a bookbinder, with his house at the same
place; and in 1840, with the same occupation, at 136 Washing-
ton Street. Later he became interested in the buying and selling
of real estate, and for three years entered into a partnership
with Samuel Rice under the name of Rice and Hassam, brokers
in real estate. He then continued the work alone, and his
success brought him into the care of trust property and the
I920.] JOHN TYLER HASSAM. 87
management and settlement of estates. So it was natural on
the part of his son, John Tyler, on his return from the front in
August, 1864, to take up a profession for which his father's
business would furnish a good foundation. He entered at once
upon the study of law in the office of Ambrose A. Ranney, at 35
Court Street, boarding at his father's home No. 11 Indiana
Place. Upon Mr. Hassam's admission to the Suffolk Bar, on
December 13, 1867, he began the general practice of law at the
same oihce and continued there until February i, 1878, when
he removed to No. 47 Court Street. He published in 1903 an
interesting account of the latter building where he continued
the practice of his profession until his death. But a large part
of his career was devoted to the work of conveyancing, in which
he gained a notable position at the Bar.
Mr. Hassam's constant recourse in his professional work to
original records, and the difhculties in his way to obtain desired
information, led him to realize the great importance of their
care, preservation, and accessibility for public use. Beside his
incessant labors in this direction during the remainder of his
life, his studies, genealogical, historical, and antiquarian, gave
him the needed recreation from his daily occupation. His
election to membership in the New England Historic Genea-
logical Society on February 6, 1867, marked his early interest
in genealogical research. The Society later honored him by
electing him for many years a Director, then a Councillor, and
from time to time placing him on various committees. In this
direction his labors were fruitful. He pubHshed his accounts
of the Hassam, Hilton, and Cheever famihes, in the Register
of the Society, and then in various separate issues, with addi-
tions, and changes, from 1870 to 1903. The excellent work
carried on in England by the late Henry Fitz-Gilbert Waters of
making "genealogical researches for the English ancestry of
American families" was begun at his suggestion in 1880, sup-
ported by generous contributions from interested persons, and
followed with the warmest interest by Mr. Hassam, who finally
wrote the introduction to Mr. Waters' Genealogical Gleanings
in England, in two volumes, published in 1901. The last major
effort by Mr. Hassam for the Society was the inception and
preparation of the Consolidated Index of the first fifty volumes
of the Register, in charge of a committee appointed by the So-
88 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.
ciety on February 3, 1896, of which he was chairman. Mr.
Hassam did not Uve to see its completion and publication.
Mr. Hassam's daily labors led him to other lines of effort.
Fourteen volumes of Suffolk Deeds (1629-1697) were prepared
under his direction, and carefully indexed, twelve volumes of
which were published before his death, and permission had
already been given by the Board of Aldermen of the City of
Boston to publish the thirteenth and fourteenth volumes which
appeared after his death, in 1903 and 1906. This series was
begun by a petition prepared by him, signed by lawyers and
conveyancers, and presented on February 10, 1879, to the
Board of Aldermen acting as the County Commissioners of
Sufifolk County. The threatened destruction of a large mass of
early Suffolk Court files aroused Mr. Hassam and others, who
were instrumental in causing steps to be taken for their preser-
vation. These papers were arranged, bound, and carefully
indexed under the direction of the late John Noble, Clerk of
the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, and the late
William P. Upham.
Mr. Hassam, in the Boston Evening Transcript for January 24,
1883, called attention, to three "State House Matters," for
which he urged that the Legislature should make some early
and effective provision, to improve their condition for public
use. He presented first the need of a suitable index to the Regis-
tration Returns, "classified according to towns and by Chris-
tian and surnames," as an important aid to the transaction of
real estate business. He then urged the necessity of printing
a volume which could contain an index of more than nine
thousand changes in the names of persons in the Commonwealth
to prevent " confusion and uncertainty . . . particularly when
they affect the title to real estate." His third object in mind was
the chaotic condition of the Massachusetts State Archives in the
Secretary's department, which he claimed "are unequalled in
all America" as "they contain valuable original state papers
of the utmost importance to the historian and student of history,
whether family, municipal or state." He called for steps to be
taken to have these papers orderly arranged "conveniently
for examination and reference," and to have a suitable index
prepared to take the place of the "cumbersome and antiquated
entry book, which masquerades in the covers of an index . . .
I920.] JOHN TYLER HASSAM. 89
a survival of the Provincial period." Mr. Hassam followed
these matters up in the Legislature of 1884, preparing and
securing the passage of Resolve, Chapter 60 of the session of
that year, providing for the appointment of a commission to
examine and report as to the condition of the records, and files,
papers, and documents in the State Department, preliminary
to the adoption of a plan for making their contents more ac-
cessible for reference; and also Chapter 249 of the Acts of 1884,
which provided for the pubhcation of a volume on the changes
of names from 1780 to 1883. The favorable report of the Com-
mission led to years of work on the Archives, with some of the
desired results; but there still remains the preparation of the
index which Mr. Hassam desired, to give perfect access to all
the state papers.
Mr. Hassam 's ever increasing work of conveyancing required
much of his time in the Registry of Deeds and Probate building
which stood on Court Square at the rear of the Historical
Society's building at Nos. 30 and 32 Tremont Street. Since
the beginning of his practice in December, 1867, Mr. Hassam
witnessed all the changes in these departments caused by the
rapidly growing business of Suffolk County. Upon the com-
pletion of the Society's new building in 1872, the first and
second stories, with an entrance at No. 32 Tremont Street, were
leased by the City of Boston, and connected by a passageway
with its Court Square building. In 1886, Mr. Hassam labored
to secure the passage of the Act of that year to authorize the
New Court House Commission to provide for suitable quarters
in the new building to be constructed in Pemberton Square.
The Probate files were taken from the old rooms at No. 32
Tremont Street to the new building in September, 1893 '■> ^^^ the
records of the Registry of Deeds were moved in September,
1894.
Five years before this time, in 1889, Mr. Hassam had called
attention to the dangers to which public records were exposed
and the proper method of preserving them, and the importance
of his report led to its being reprinted in the First Report of the
Commissioner of Public Records of the Commonwealth, and
having the attention of the General Court called to it. He took
the subject up again in January, 1894, when it was known that
a part of the Probate files had been placed in the basement of
go MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.
the New Court House and were alternately exposed to damp-
ness and steam heat, both of which conditions were likely to
cause serious injury. He, with Albert D. Bosson and George A.
Sawyer, made a report urging their transfer to low modern
stacks where there could be a free circulation of air above the
papers, to assure their preservation.
The present system of Land Registration of titles, which
simplifies the transfer of real estate, had its beginning in an
article by Mr. Hassam which appeared in the Boston Evening
Transcript for November i, 1890, calling attention to the ad-
vantage of adopting the Australian Real Property Act. The
immediate interest in the subject of Land Transfer reform
found expression in the republication of this article in the
Harvard Law Review for January, 1891, and the issue of a pam-
phlet on the subject under the auspices of the Land Transfer
Reform League, of which he was for several years chairman
of the executive committee.
As early as 1880, Mr, Hassam, in his pamphlet on Boston
Taverns, spoke of the great labor in digging out the facts he
needed as having been increased "a hundred fold by the im-
perfect system of indexing and recording deeds." He gave
suggestions for a perfect indexing of such documents, which
in a general way were later taken up. His appointment on the
Board of Index Commissioners of the County, on April 5, 1884,
gave the opportunity for the beginning of a system of indexing
in the Suffolk Registries, which now makes them the best
equipped in the Commonwealth.
Mr. Hassam's election to membership in the Historical
Society in 1881 gave him great encouragement in the work
nearest at heart, reform in the care and accessibility of manu-
scripts, and his historical studies. He communicated to the
Society's Proceedings, a paper on the "Confiscated Estates of
Boston Loyalists," in May, 1895; on the "Dunster Papers," in
October following; on the "Early Recorders and Registers of
Deeds for the County of Suffolk," 1639-1900, in May, 1898,
and in March, 1900; on the "Bahama Islands," in March, 1899;
and on the "Registers of Probate of the County of Suffolk,"
1639-1799, in March, 1902. All of these papers showed careful
and extensive research in the gathering of the historical facts.
Mr. Hassam was one of the original members of the Boston
I920.] JOHN TYLER HASSAM. 9I
Antiquarian Club which was merged on December 27, 1881,
into the Bostonian Society, of which he was a corporate member
in 1882, and one of its directors for nine years. He became
a member of the Weymouth Historical Society on January 4,
1882; of the American Historical Association on November 12,
1884; of the Virginia Historical Society, Bunker Hill Monu-
ment Association; of the Bar Association of the City of Boston;
and of the Abstract Club. The purpose of the last named Club
is to encourage " the knowledge and practice of the law, and the
exercise of good fellowship among conveyancers and other law-
yers and the improvement of the laws of the Commonwealth,"
in all of which objects Mr. Hassam was in sympathy, though
not active in the councils of the Club.
Mr. Hassam had schooled himself through all his years of
assiduous labor to master and marshal the infinite details of his
subjects with a clear purpose in view to accompUsh some worthy
results for the service of the public. Most of the reforms he had
so clearly worked out in his mind came in course of time to their
logical development ; and the student of history today is greatly
his debtor for whatever success attended his energetic efforts;
but it is not to be wondered at that on occasion his steps pro-
voked opposition, which time and different conditions only
could satisfactorily overcome.
Mr. Hassam's widow and daughter Eleanor survived him.
92 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Feb.
FEBRUARY MEETING.
THE stated meeting was held on Thursday, the 12th instant,
at three o'clock, p. m. In the absence of the President,
and the first Vice-President, the second Vice-President, Mr.
Rhodes, occupied the chair.
The record of the last meeting was read and approved.
The Librarian reported among the accessions :
The gift of twenty-eight volumes relating to the Netherlands,
from the Committee of Historical Publications of Holland; of the
gift of a collection of books formerly a part of the library of Thomas
Shaw, of Portland, Maine, from his daughter. Miss Harriet C. Shaw,
of Cambridge; ^ and the purchase of twelve volumes, containing
Acts of Parliament, in black letter, fifty of Charles II, 1670-1678,
two hundred and sixty-one of WiUiam III, and of Anne, 1695-1716,
and eighty-four of George II and George III, 1 758-1 762, relating to
English and American affairs.
The Cabinet-Keeper reported the following accessions:
From Mrs. Bradley Gilman, an engraving of Dwight Foster
(1757-1823), of Brookfield, a representative and senator in the
United States Congress from Massachusetts, made by Boudier, a
French engraver and imitator of St. Memin in style and size of
portrait plates, who was in this country for a short stay about the
same time as St. Memin. This engraving bears the words "Boudier
Fecit"; and there is said to be only one other of his plates known,
that of Bonaparte, signed "Boudier, Sculpt, Phila."
From Mrs. Kingsmill Marrs, a photograph of Juliana, the crown
princess of Holland, daughter of Queen Wilhelmina, April, 191 1, also
five decorations intended to be used by the Germans, if victorious,
on their return to the Fatherland, taken from a German storehouse
at Metz, by a French general and given to the Committee on the
Appeal for devastated France.
From Percy Bryant Baker, a signed photograph of his bust of
Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, 1919.
From Lawrence Park, a photograph of James Lawrence (1821-
' Among them is the Poems of George Bancroft, published in 1823.
ig20.] GIFTS TO THE SOCIETY. 93
1875, H. C. 1S40) of Boston and Groton, son of Abbott and Katherine
(Bigelow) Lawrence.
From the Merrymount Press, an engraving of the Custom House
Tower from the Waterside, by R. Ruzicka, 1919.
From the Hopedale Welcome Home Committee, the Hopedale
service medal.
From the town of Hamilton, the service medal of Hamilton.
From Cardinal O'Connell two medals struck in his honor when
he was created Cardinal.
From Thomas Hibbard, a Virginia treasury note of May 15, 1862,
and three pieces of United States fractional currency, July 17, 1S62.
From JNIiss Harriet C. Shaw, three pieces of paper money of the
American Revolution; four pieces of Confederate States paper money
1863, and 1864; three pieces of fractional currency, 1863, 1874; a
i2]/2 cent bill. City of Augusta, Maine, July 17, 1837; a piece of
Brazilian paper money; and ten coins.
From John W. Farwell, a gold twenty-five cent piece, California,
1853-
From Mr. Bowditch, a gold Mohur of Hindostan.
From Mr. Shaw, a three cent scrip of the Townsend Bank, of
Brookline, N. H.
By deposit: from Miss Harriet C. Shaw, a lock of George Pea-
body's hair cut ofif on April 30, 1S67, the day before he sailed for
England; and a case of seven razors marked with the days of the
week, with the addressed label inside in the handwriting of George
Peabody, giving the case to Thomas Shaw, also containing a letter
from the Sheflfield firm of makers.
By exchange : thirty hard times pieces, three pieces of B ryan money,
four encased stamps, one very rare Fugio piece, and a medal of the
Prince Hall Lodge of Freemasons.
The Corresponding Secretary reported the receipt of a letter
from Edward Gray, of Milton, accepting his election as a
Resident Member of the Society.
The Editor reported the following accessions:
By gift: from Charles T. Mason, of Watertown, the original
commission issued April 5, 1653, to Hugh Mason, of the same place,
to be Captain of a foot company, signed by John Endecott and
Edward Rawson. Also a parchment leaf in the writing of Henry
Adams, (1604-1676) recording the grants of land made to John
Bowers by the town of Medfield, January 14, 1655-56.
From Henry Burt Alexander, of Lincolnia, Va., a roster of the
94 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Feb.
First Mass. Regiment, 2d Brigade and 7th Division of Militia,
1831-1835, William C. Plunkett being the Colonel, Rensselaer
Solomons, Lieutenant-Colonel and George A. Lapham, Major.
By bequest: from Horace Parker Chandler, a framed engraving
by — Closson of Oliver Wendell Holmes, with a letter, dated
February 23, 18S1, on "Dorothy Q."
On deposit: by the heirs of David Greenough, the lease for
ninety-nine years of the land occupied by the Massachusetts General
Hospital, dated April i, 181 7.
By Miss Harriet L. Shaw, protection issued to Thomas Merrill, Jr.,
June 4, 1804; letter of George Peabody, June 13, 1858; a fac-
simile of one from Queen Victoria to George Peabody, March 28,
1866, on her portrait and a grant of honors to him; and a record
of a voyage from New York to Appalachicola, in the Bark Lincoln,
F. A. Merrill, master, April 17 — June 12, 1856, and from Boston
to AustraHa, in the Ship Chasca, the same master, August 7, 1856 —
July 4, 1857.
By purchase: about two hundred letters to and from Martin
Van Buren, containing political and social letters from Aaron Burr,
Pierre van Cortlandt, Benjamin F. Butler, Andrew Jackson, Edward
Everett, Daniel Webster, Jesse Hoyt, Rufus King, Thomas Jefferson,
John Howard Payne, Morgan Lewis, Lord Palmerston, James K,
Polk, James Buchanan, Henry Clay, J. K. Paulding, H. D. Gilpin
and F. P. Blair. They are excellent examples of the correspondence
and interests of this masterly politician.
From H. Stoddard Ruggles of Wakefield, a photostat reproduc-
tion of leaves of a diary of Captain John Burk, describing service at
Crown Point in 1755, in the Massachusetts regiment commanded by
Col. Timothy Ruggles.
The Vice-President announced the death of Rev. Henry
Fitch Jenks, a Resident Member, and, speaking of his connec-
tion with the society said:
Rev. Henry Fitch Jenks died on January 31, 1920.
He was elected a Resident Member of the Society on February
10, 1881, and was a constant attendant at the meetings until
the close of the year 1903, missing only six meetings during
this period of twenty-three years. Protracted illness afterward
prevented his presence, and also his active participation in the
work of the Society, except that during the years 1908 to 191 2
he felt well enough to come to most of the meetings, that of
December, 191 2, being his last.
I920.] HENRY FITCH JENKS. 95
Mr. Jenks was a Member at Large of the Council from 1891-
1894, and the Cabinet-Keeper of the Society from 1898 to 1904,
when illness made his retirement necessary. His special interest
in the Cabinet was shown in his report for the Committee to
examine the Library and Cabinet in April, 1889.
He served on several publishing committees of volumes of the
Collections, and from time to time communicated papers for the
Proceedings. His last official act was signing the Memorial of
the Society to Congress to preserve the frigate Constitution.
His interest in the Society found expression often in his brief
remarks at meetings, and in many gifts to the Library, while
his special effort was in encouraging additions to the Society's
Cabinet.
Dr. J. C. Warren then said:
Mr. Jenks was a classmate of mine in college and I had already
known him as a Boston Latin School boy; but we were never
on terms of intimacy. So although I have been acquainted with
him for a very long period of time I am not in a position to
analyze som.e of his salient traits of character. Therefore I
think it better to read some of the following extracts from the
report of the Class of 1863, of which he was a member. In this
way the man will speak for himself, which he does in a very
modest and unassuming way. Through the courtesy of Mr.
Clarence H. Denny, our class secretary, I have obtained some
of the following data.
Mr. Jenl^s belonged to the studious section of the class as his
record shows fairly well. It should be remembered that at that
time rank did not depend wholly on scholarship but was affected
by certain penalties in the way of "deductions" for infringe-
ment of college rules. His retiring disposition and a certain
temperamental reserve seems to have disinclined him to partici-
pating in the college society life of that period. His rank was,
freshman year, number 23, eighty-one percent; sophomore year,
number 39, sixty-seven percent; junior year, number 32, seventy-
three percent; and senior year, number 30.^ His part at Com-
mencement was an essay, "The Fauna and Flora of Australia."
He belonged while in college to the Rumford Society and the
Christian Union, and in 1877 was made an honorary member
^ Of a class of 120.
96 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Feb.
of the Phi Beta Kappa. He received a "Detur" in his sopho-
more year, and a second prize for reading in 1863. He was made
a member of the Class Committee on July 19, 1865, but resigned
ffom the committee on June 20, 191 2. His chum was Henry
Tuck who studied medicine and later held high ofhce in one of
the great national life insurance companies.
After leaving college he seems to have become more active in
society work and developed a capacity for executive talent in
various organizations and on numerous committees, when
much useful public service w^as accomplished. At the time of
the death of Arthur Lincoln, secretary of the Class of 1863, he
volunteered promptly to assume the duties of that ofhce and
served for several years, to the great satisfaction of his class-
mates, until his retirement from all work on account of ill
health. In his "Life" in the class book written by himself he
says:
Having been brought up with the expectation that I would become
a minister, it has been an understood fact to which I looked forward
ever since I can rerriember, that I should come to college. . . .
My course in college has not been notable in any way. I have never
been distinguished for my neglect of my duties, or for any special
excellence in their performance. . . .
On the 6th of March, 1859, I became a member of the Church
in Brattle Square (Unitarian), Boston, of which Rev. S. K. Lothrop,
D.D. (H. C. 1825) is pastor. Since i860 I have had a class in the
Sunday School connected with that church. . . .
I have never yet been able to find any one thing for which I had
any peculiar taste or inclination, but during the last three or four
years that I was at the Latin School I took a great fancy for printing,
and my father gave me a room at home for the purpose. I had, in
connection with a friend, quite a well appointed printing-office
where we did considerable work which we thought very creditable
to us.
As I have had no difficulties in getting my education, having
only to make use of the advantages which were put in my way, and
as most of my life has been spent in one place, it has been quite
barren of incident, and for the most part just what would be naturally
expected to fall to the lot of any one similarly circumstanced. . . .
My father was the fourth son of Rev. William Jenks, D.D., LL.D.
(H. C. 1797) and Betsy (Russell) Jenks. He was a member of the
firm of Jenks and Palmer, booksellers and publishers.
I920.] EDWARD HENRY CLEMENT. 97
Mr. NoRCROSS also spoke on Mr. Jenks and his services to
the Society.
The Vice-President announced the death of Edward Henry
Clement, a Resident Member, and gave his connection with
the Society. He called upon Mr. Ford who read as follows:
Born in Chelsea Mr. Clement was of Massachusetts origin,
though his family seem to have belonged to Claremont, New
Hampshire. His parents lost a child of the same name in 1842,
aged one year and some months, and a year after the subject of
this sketch was born — April 19, 1843. He had two brothers in
the Union army — Andrew J. and William B., of whom he
spoke in his paper on the first battle of Bull Run.^ Mr. Clem-
ent graduated at Tufts College in 1864 and touched by the spirit
of adventure and perhaps by that of the reformer, he went in
1865 to Savannah, Georgia, to be the editor of the Savannah
Morning News, a daily paper, originally established in 1850
by William T. Thompson, an ante-bellum humorist, whose
Major Jones's Courtship (1844), Major Joneses Sketches of
Travel (1848) and Major Jones's Scenes in Georgia (1858) had
no little vogue in their day. Two Union soldiers took possession
of the office and material, invited Mr. Clement to be the editor,
and launched into a campaign of education — something the
South did not want from such hands. Carpet-bag editors
were as unwelcome after the war as carpet-bag politicians, for
the one thing the South desired was to be allowed to work out
its own salvation. With Sumner, Stevens, and Wade in con-
trol no New Englander could be welcome anywhere in the
South, and Georgia had cause still to feel Sherman's march.
For two years Mr. Clement remained on this thankless and
wearisome duty and then returned to Boston, where he had
employment on some journals without forming a permanent
connection with any one.
He went to New York in 1867 and for nearly two years was
night editor of the New York Tribune when John Russell Young
was of influence, a somewhat useful but not very desirable
model to follow. For Young had an extraordinary facility of
language rather than a supply of suggestion — ideas would be
too strong a word. Greeley was more interested in teUing what
^ Proceedings, xlii. iSi.
98 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Feb.
he knew about farming, and Whitelaw Reid, joining the editorial
board at this time, had not yet become the dominating factor.
From 1869 to 1875 Mr. Clement tried journahsm in New
Jersey, but in the latter year he was invited by William A.
Hovey to come to the Boston Transcript and for twenty-five
years, 1881-1906, he was its editor-in-chief. In that time he
saw the newspaper grow into its present size from an eight-page
paper and a modest quantity of news and literature.
There was in him something more than New England, for
his experiences in Southern and New York journalism broadened
his point of view. He had something of the reformer, some-
thing of the poet, and something of the artist, for he wrote
verse and practised painting, but none of these affected his
journalistic habit, for by long usage habit it had become. In
these days of the anonymous editorial it is difficult to create
the feeling of influence, such as the older newspaper men exerted,
and the reader is more conscious of an office than of a personality.
In fact, I cannot beheve that the editorial is read, if read at all,
from a desire to be instructed or to be quickened, but from a
sense of being supported in our existing opinion. In the columns
of "The Listener," appearing twice a week, Mr. Clement
reached a wider audience than he could have done as a leader
writer. As editor he made mistakes, for even a journalist can
commit serious errors of omission and commission.
I have spoken of him as something of a reformer, but this
tendency was never strong enough to overturn his instinct
of conservatism. He was an anti-imperialist, but the question
never came to be prominent in national politics and was an
infection local to Massachusetts. He would not have left party
lines, because that form of political expression, however whole-
some as symptomatic of abuses, is apt to be spasmodic and
temporary. But he was active in many ways and was an
earnest worker in many causes, notably those of anti- vivisection
and the Armenians. His colleagues dwell upon his ideaHsm,
but it was one wanting in the force and concentrated energy of
the true fanatic. His exposition was intended to persuade
rather than to impose a conviction, and with a ready pen he
rather pointed towards a compromise of opinion than enforced
an unalterable opinion of his own. He would have been out of
place anywhere but in Boston; it is difficult to imagine him on
I920.] THE REAL FRANKENSTEIN. 99
any other paper than the Boston Transcript. To him we owe
the revival of the name of St. Botolph, apphed to a club from
which St. Botolph would in all probabihty have been rigidly
excluded.
The Vice-President, remarking that this meeting of the
Society is held on the anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lin-
coln, read from the Proceedings of the Society, at the meeting
on April 20, 1865, the tribute paid to Lincoln by the President,
Robert C. Winthrop.
Mr. Agassiz read a paper on
The Real Frankenstein.
You can tell a man's outlook on hfe by his attitude toward
oysters. If he is an optimist he will look for pearls; if a pessi-
mist he will fear ptomaine. Henry Adams has said that if you
probe deeply enough into the mind of the contemporary philoso-
pher or man of science you will probably incline to the conclu-
sion, from the sub-current of his thought, that he must look on
Schopenhauer as an optimist. Has the historian any better
prospect of finding pearls in his oyster stew? The man of
science, the philosopher and the historian must all alike face the
fact that the accumulation of human knowledge leads us to
the recognition that we are living on a dying planet, that the
ultimate fate of humanity on this earth is annihilation.
One of the most recent discoveries of astronomy is that the
globular clusters of stars all lie at such tremendous distances,
that each of them is far outside and beyond the huge cluster of
stars that we call our universe; that each forms a galaxy of its
own in the remote and otherwise empty regions of space. One
of the nearest of these other universes, the great cluster in
Hercules, is approaching us at the rate of some 150 miles a
second. But that need not alarm us, it will not reach the
outer limits of our universe for some fifty milhon years.
Long before that the Earth will be as dead and as unfit for
human habitation as the moon. Truly "we are such stuff
as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a
sleep."
The historian is fortunate in that his preoccupation is with
the past. But I need not remind you, whose business or avoca-
lOO MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Feb.
tion is looking backwards, that this is the least unsatisfactory
method of attempting to see ahead.
Is not the historian, therefore, the most competent person to
guess at the future pages of history? Given like conditions
man will invariably react in the same way. Whenever he
reaches a certain stage of civilization he will always do the same
thing. He has apparently invented the bow and arrow inde-
pendently in half a dozen different parts of the world whenever
he was ready for it. When civilization has become too burden-
some and complex, it has broken down. It has done so at least
twice in the Mediterranean basin, and the archseologist gives
us glimpses of the collapse there of other civilizations that we
know not of.
Babylon, Thebes, Athens, and Rome have all fallen. Why
should we expect immunity for London, Paris and New
York; to say nothing of Berlin and Vienna? Such speculations
may not seem as utterly fantastic today as they would have
appeared a few years ago. Had a Roman Senator been told
that the Empire would fall, and the Latin language become
extinct, he would have regarded his prophet as a harmless
lunatic.
In the past, new civilizations have sprung up from the virile
blood that the conquering barbarian has poured on the ruins
that he found, and made. Where shall we find such blood
today? Surely not in the Eastside Jew, the parlor Bolshevist,
or the proletarian. It may be that the hope of the world lies
in the East. Do recent events in China still permit us to say
that hers is the only civilization that has endured? It is hard
for us to realize how untinged with the heritage of the West
is the Hfe of the Celestial Kingdom. An educated mandarin who
once held a professorship of Chinese at Harvard, confessed that
before coming to this country he had never heard of Rome,
Athens, or Jerusalem !
Is our civilization as it stands worth preserving? We breathe
the word civilization and shout progress, as if we were dealing
with the mystic symbols of the anointed. What! shall the
infidel attempt to force his way into the shrines of the holy!
But toward what goal are we shouting progress? Galsworthy
wonders how we will avoid falling into the trombone we are
blowing so loudly, and Carlyle said that he would be an ardent
I920.] THE REAL FRANKENSTEIN. lOI
advocate of civilization, if any one could show him that it had
ever made a single bootblack happier.
Think how much of our civilization consists in attempting
to get rid of one evil by devising another. We are like a child
with a great piece of soft molasses candy, which it keeps pulling
from one hand to the other, becoming constantly more sticky in
the process. But I will not dwell on this aspect of our troubles.
We apply our science by prostituting it for the perfection of
the ghastliness of war. The untutored savage orders his life
more intelligently than that. Shortly before Stanley cut a
swathe through Congo-Land, and blazed the way for opening
up the country to all the delights of civilization, as exemplified
in the exploitation of the natives in the rubber trade — shortly
before this, the chiefs of those parts held a Hague Conference
of their own, decided that the bow and arrow was a murderous
weapon, and abolished it as an implement of war.
In the dim past we inherited from our inarticulate ancestors
a beautiful world; we are making it a utilitarian wilderness. Is
it worth while to destroy our forests, that we may have the so-
called comic supplement of our Sunday papers? Is it worth
while to ruin our waterfalls, that we may blot out the light of
the stars with some flaming monstrosity advertising the product
of the enterprising maker of a half-digested food? Our modern
life is saturated with such examples.
We are ruining our birthright for a mess of pottage. Every-
where we are scarring the fair face of nature with the hideous
contrivances of our handiwork. We have smeared our smiling
valleys, and polluted our streams, with the grime of our count-
less factory towns, whose chimneys belch forth smoke and
poisonous gases in such volumes that the air, at no compara-
tively great distance of time, will be unfit for human respira-
tion; while we are planning to rob the atmosphere of its nitrogen
on a scale that will eventually leave us a prey to spontaneous
combustion.
It is not however, on precisely such phases of our civilization
that I wish more specially to speak.
The historian is hampered in forming any intelligent estimate
of the future trend of history, if you will pardon the Hibernicism,
by the fact that, like Frankenstein, we are confronted with a
monster of our own making, that has no parallel in history. If
I02 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Feb.
one man, more than another, is responsible for the growth of the
Juggernaut that we worship, but which some of us are beginning
to look on with suspicion and distrust, it is James Watt. Could
his mother have prevented the boy from dreaming over the
antics of her steaming kettle, she would deserve a high place
among the benefactor^ of mankind.
Our modern industrial life dates from the application of
the steam engine to the productive activities of man; and the
tremendous stimulus it gave to the introduction of machinery
into his daily work is at length threatening to strangle him in
the mechanism in which he has entangled himself.
The monster that we have created is a machine-ridden land,
that has us all in its grasp ; whose tentacles reach into the inner-
most corners of our lives, and which holds our less fortunate
fellow beings, in our myriad factories, in a bondage more appal-
ling than any dreamt of in Greece or Rome. If the choice were
forced upon you, would you hesitate a moment between the life
of a Greek Helot, and the stoke-hole of an ocean steamer?
Columbus, setting forth on an unknown sea, found a new
world. The intrepid aviator, yearning for a like adventure,
has nowhere to go. His mission is to reduce the ends of the
world to one dead level of mechanical complexity.
Surely Nature never intended man for a mere appendage to a
machine. The essential requisites of his healthy existence are
an open-air life, and a joy and pride in his work.
A few men, now past their middle age, have wandered in a
country where they could build pictures of their own lands,
such as they were before the days of modern industrialism. In
Japan, before the influence of the West had spread its pall over
the land, the intelligent traveller might see on all sides the happy
artisan delighting in the joy of his work, which inheritance from
his ancestors had transformed into an art.
Our mechanical industrial life has produced the festering
sores of the slums of our great cities, where masses of humanity
lie gasping, huddled together "in the sordid dens of . . . of the
crowded warrens of the poor." The subdivision of labor, by
the mechanical devices of the modern factory, is constantly
reducing man's work to a smaller and still smaller process.
This results in his taking less and less interest and responsi-
bility in the completion of the whole; and not only brutalizes
I920.] THE REAL FRANKENSTEIN. IO3
him by subjugating him to be a mere routine feeder of a machine,
it robs him of joy and pride in his work. If you do not be-
Heve this, go to the next meeting of workingmen, and talk to
them of the satisfaction and solace of labor. You will be re-
ceived with jeers as an ignorant fanatic. The one idea of the
worker today is to do as httle labor as possible. And who can
blame him for such an attitude? Modern hfe is pinning him
down to an ever-increasing monotony of toil, such as was never
before known in the history of the world. The skilled craftsman
could find some satisfaction in making a pair of shoes by hand.
No sane man can find any alleviation in the constant repetition
of a few mechanical gestures which guide a machine that drives
the nails into the heel. Is it not such conditions as these that
have led to the rumbhngs of the social volcano that we all feel
trembling beneath us?
My guess is as good as the next man's. If the situation lies
in our hands, unless it is handled with more intelligence than is
at present visible, man will, in desperation, smash the civihza-
tion he has made, but does not fit.
With one hand we are endeavoring to educate the people for
a broader and fuller Hfe; with the other we are chaining them
down in an ever-increasing gloom, to a life of monotony and
mechanism. Who but a maniac would expect anything but dis-
aster from such a process?
If modern thought leads to such conclusions as are sketched
in my opening paragraphs, is that any reason why mankind
should prepare to live out the httle span of its life in bedlam?
It is far easier to find the sore than to suggest the remedy.
Fantastic as were the dreams of Rousseau, they contained
one fundamental truth. Nature is bigger than man; in any
contest with her, he will always emerge defeated. If, with
Sidney Carton, we are to see "the evils of this time, and of the
previous time, of which this is the natural birth, gradually
making expiation for itself, and wearing out." Man must
cease forging the chains with which he is fettering himself.
Somehow he must strike them off. Somehow he must get down
to the deep reaUties of life, sift the chaff from the wheat, the
unessential from the essential, wake up and realize that the
bhnd worship of the golden calf leads nowhere, that an ounce of
health and happiness is worth tons of material prosperity. He
104 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Feb.
must learn to know that his salvation does not rest in aimless
complexities, but in calmer and less complicated surroundings,
where in a simpler, freer and more healthy life, he will live in
sympathy with Nature, and in harmony with her laws.
Mr. Thayer read an amusing account of a visit of ceremony
he made when a young man upon James Russell Lowell, when
Leslie Stephen also was present.
Mr. Ford spoke on the incident in the career of Jonathan
Russell which brought him into opposition with John Quincy
Adams, produced Adams' Duplicate Letters and led to Russell's
retirement from public life.
Remarks were made during the meeting by Messrs. Thayer
and Wendell.
I920.] HENRY LEE HIGGINSON. IO5
MEMOIR
OF
HENRY LEE HIGGINSON
By JOHN T. MORSE, Jr.
During the two earlier generations of the past century in Bos-
ton a group of the Lee, Lowell, Jackson, Cabot and Higginson
families maintained a strong solidarity. They had a way of
marrying each other, and besides matrimonial enlacements they
kept a close social intimacy, liking even in their dwellings to
cluster in neighborhood. The Higginsons were of intellectual
tastes, respected, content to lead quiet, unobtrusive lives, but
prone to advanced ideas, which they maintained with courage
and independence. The Jacksons, with excellent brains, were
chiefly noted for an astonishing sweetness of temper, and an
intense desire to work exceedingly hard, but were seriously
handicapped by their virtues and over-developed consciences.
When Patrick Jackson died. Col. T. Handasyd Perkins "shut
himself up in his room; for never lived three such men as the
Judge, the Doctor and Patrick." The Lees brought different
quahties, being a virile, energetic race, not incapable of rough-
ness, enterprising, good merchants, generally successful getters
of money, with a tendency towards usefulness in public affairs,
impetuous and outspoken withal, so that commonplace people
alleged them to be ''almost eccentric." The Cabots — but how
give an idea of that various clan ! Quot homines, tot sententiae.
Each one had his own special views, traits, qualities, tempera-
ment, purposes, gloriously independent of all the rest of the
world; many of them were intellectual and cultivated, often
highly so, in literature, art and music, of liberal ideas, able men
of affairs, and generally with an aptitude for acquiring money,
Io6 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Feb.
though only in sporadic cases showing any inordinate taste for
hard work. No Lowell blood, I believe, ran in Henry Higgin-
son's veins, the connection being by marriage from which he
was not descended. His father, George Higginson, was beloved
and respected by every one; a warm-hearted, impulsive man,
generous even beyond prudence, with a sense of personal honor
so romantic that in one matter it actually brought criticism
upon him.. Though short of stature, he was remarkably mus-
cular, with such long arms as made Rob Roy the most redoubt-
able man in the Scotch Highlands. From him Henry got his
splendid physical strength. Mrs. Higginson (Mary Lee) upon
her mother's side a Jackson, had a temper and disposition of
notable sweetness, but unfortunately had delicate health. The
writer can remember her, ill and feeble, lying on the sofa, while a
noisy rout of boys frolicked through the house, and she all the
while smiled gently, making no plea for quiet. She died while
the children were still young.
Such were the characteristics which came into the making of
Henry Lee Higginson, and they are dwelt upon at such length
because nearly all these component elements became distinctly
noticeable in him, and in a measure not often encountered in
studies of heredity. It seems almost like making up a man by a
chemical formula from component qualities, moral, mental,
temperamental, all furnished by his forbears. Further, the
inference suggests itself that this fact may not improbably have
been an occult influence tending to give rise in him to his very
marked regard for the ties of blood and kinship. Numerically
it was an extensive family connection that surrounded him, but
over all its members his interest and his sense of relationship
spread. Each and all could depend upon him not only for
friendly words but for acts of substantial kindness in time of
need. This strong loyalty was an attractive trait, and not
altogether without reward too, since it secured for him an
influential band of devoted adherents.
But it is time to extricate ourselves from these too enticing
speculations as to heredity, and to get Henry Higginson born.
This practical event occurred on November i8, 1834, in New
York City. He was the second of five children, George, Henry,
James, Mary and Frank. The residence in New York was soon
abandoned, and the household came back to Boston and es-
I920.] HENRY LEE HIGGINSON. I07
tablished itself in Bedford Place, in the centre of a colony of
relations. Boyhood passed like all boyhoods in those days — a
routine of marbles, tag, and spelling books, developing into foot-
ball, skating, and the Latin Reader, with the customary delivery
over into Harvard College. The entry into this institution,
then of "the humanities," was effected in the spring of 1851;
but Henry Higginson's stay there was not long protracted.
Weak eyes interfered with study, and he did not quite finish the
Freshman year. The sole tradition extant relates not to scholar-
ship, but to the noteworthy prowess of the vigorous youngster in
the famous "football tight," properly so called, which recurred
annually on "Bloody Monday night," being the early evening
of the first Monday in September. In this desperate fray it
would seem that "Bully Higg" won laurels which to his young
contemporaries seemed imperishable, and which in fact did
survive longer than some more useful greenery.
After leaving Harvard, Henry Higginson made a trip to
Europe; returned and did some desultory studying with the
idea of rejoining his class; abandoned this purpose and passed
some eighteen months or so in the house of Samuel and Edward
Austin, peeping a little into the business of foreign commerce.
Leaving this occupation in the autumn of 1856, he again went
abroad with Stephen Perkins and Powell Mason, and later
joined Charles Lowell and John Bancroft. With these friends
he travelled and had joyous and not unimproving days until
in the fall of 1857 he went to Vienna and entered then and there
into the seriousness of life. It was his purpose to make music
the practical occupation of his life, and to this he devoted three
winters of earnest labor. He took lessons from Eppstein, later
Professor at the Vienna Conservatory, and studied composition
with Ruffinatscha. He wrote to his father :
My position here is very pleasant. I am most kindly received in
houses worth visiting, and have friends worthy of the name. I am
fairly in the best circle of musicians in Vienna and am befriended of
many of them. ... I live with a very genial and bright man who is
second as pianist to very few people in the world. He is by all odds
the first here, not by his brilliancy (of which he has enough) but
by the warmth, the heart and the understanding of his play. . . .
Remember that I enjoy, in the depths of my soul, music as nothing
else, and you'll easily comprehend my stay.
Io8 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Feb.
Meantime the practical gentlemen of Boston, merchants
and manufacturers, and his numerous relatives were shaking
their heads not approvingly : "Pity that young Higginson should
be wasting his time and his money in Germany, learning to
fiddle! Bye and bye he will come home, and what will he be
good for?" To give three years to studying music was a hardly
pardonable idiosyncracy in the view of these descendants of
the Pilgrims and Puritans. Henry Higginson, however, thought
quite otherwise, and with wonted independence, he followed
his own convictions. It was a cruel disappointment when his
long persistent apprenticeship forced him at last to the con-
clusion that success was beyond his reach. He said that he
had failed in the special thing which he had most at heart. For
a while then he wandered in Europe thinking over the situation.
"I must find something to do," he wrote to his father, "or I
shall go into the insane asylum. I'd not live at home without
employment for any possible reward." In the autumn of i860
he came home, still undecided, still seeking the answer to the
query "what he was good for."
His comrades also were puzzling themselves over the like
conundrums in their own several cases. They were not triflers;
they consulted together about life and its possibilities, they
had undefined hopes, often high ambitions, but as yet uncertain
purposes. Stephen Perkins wrote to Higginson: "I wonder
whether we shall go on constantly expecting life to unfold itself,
and the great possibilities to appear in us and outside of us until
we are surprised that death has come to us, when we hardly
seem to ourselves to have lived." Charles Lowell said: "My
ambition now is to be able to toil terribly ! — like Sir Walter
Raleigh. Let me but get and keep this and I may yet do some-
thing. I want to know something still, but don't know yet
what I want to know."
But while they pondered the world moved and the spring of
1 86 1 brought to them all a curt solution of the question of what
they should do. Already prior to the winter of 1860-61 a por-
tion of the entourage of Higginson had been of anti-slavery
leanings; and apart from this he had done his own thinking in
the matter. So early as 1854 the return of the escaped slave,
Anthony Burns, to his Southern owners took place in Boston.
Charles Lowell and Henry Higginson with youthful ardor
I920.] HENRY LEE HIGGINSON. IO9
sought an audience with the judge, which was properly refused
to them. They then went with the crowd to the wharf and saw
the negro put on board the U. S. revenue cutter. "Charley, it
will come to us to set this thing right," said Henry; and now in
that winter of 1 860-61 he saw plainly that the expected duty
was close at hand. He talked it over with James Savage, his
near and dear friend. "I shall not go," said Savage. "I shall
go," said Henry Higginson, and says that he marvelled at the
attitude of Savage, which he failed to understand. Then the
hour struck, and troops were called for, and Savage and Higgin-
son were among the earliest to offer their services. On May 21
Savage had a Captain's commission in the Second Regiment
Massachusetts Volunteers, and Higginson had a lieutenancy in
the same company. Together they went to Fitchburg to
recruit men, and soon the regiment, nearly full, went into camp
at Brook Farm. In the same regiment went also Stephen Per-
kins, another intimate friend of Henry Higginson, and Greely S.
Curtis with whom he afterward lived as tent mate in the field
for a long time. The two men became closely attached to each
other, and certainly the canvas covered no better regimental
officers in the Northern army — stalwart warriors both, of
ready intelligence, abounding courage, with a natural capacity
for command, and in this cause deeply in earnest. Duties at
Brook Farm were somewhat bewildering; for the officers had
to teach what they themselves were only learning — drill and
the routine, disciphne and hygiene of camp life; but hard work
good will and quick intelHgence counted for much and it was
a fact that the second Regiment held exceptional material
alike in the commissioned officers and in the ranks; also it was
well understood by them that thorough discipline was the
fundamental essential. On July 8, 1861, an intensely hot day,
the regiment left Boston going first to Harper's Ferry and later
to Maryland Heights. Many trying and vexatious months
ensued, a period of picket duty, special little errands hither
and yon, with none of the romance of war and plenty of its
discomfort, such as unwholesome food, rain and mud, with
"fearful heat and dampness," and "considerable sickness
among men and officers," "pretty rough work." "These
things are the trials beside which the hardest fighting is noth-
ing." Sometimes the men became mutinous. But the officers
no MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Feb.
stood resolutely to their theory of discipline. "If we can say to
our men, 'Do this,' and they do it without hesitation; we can
thrash any one. If we can say ' Charge bayonets' and ' Forward,'
what regiment in the South can stand before us? . . . That is
what we want, soldiers who will do anything, fight anybody
and go anywhere. ... In active and perfect obedience lies
the secret of good soldiers." Persistence bore fruit; and Higgin-
son wrote: "Daily we see more order and discipline," and "our
regiment is in this respect much above the large proportion
of volunteer regiments." It became in fact very nearly, if not
quite, the "crack" regiment of the volunteer army. But what
these young officers largely pined for was fighting. "We
shall never see the enemy!" wrote Henry Higginson despairingly.
Nor indeed did the regiment see the enemy until after Henry
Higginson and Curtis had left it. Then it had its initiation day
at Cedar Mountain, and a bloody day it was, with terrible
carnage among officers and men; but the men stood like seasoned
veterans, and Curtis and Higginson listened with keen interest
and high pride to the account of results so largely due to their
pains and patience. The fight was a "stupid" blunder, Henry
Higginson always bitterly said; it did honor to the regiment
to which he felt natural attachment, but it lost him inexcusably
his two dear friends, Savage and Perkins. It was the story,
too familiar in our military annals, of a superb rank and file,
with first-rate regimental officers, and melancholy incapacity
"higher up."
That Curtis and Higginson themselves escaped this holo-
caust was due to the fact that in the autumn of 1861 they had
been transferred to the First Regiment of Mass. Volunteer
Cavalry, then forming. In this Henry Higginson was given the
Captaincy of Company A. Cavalry played an important role
in Virginia, and for a long while the Confederates far excelled
the Northerners in this arm of the service. It is immeasurably
more difficult to make a good cavalry than a good infantry
regiment; and while half-fit infantry may by lucky chance
sometimes do some good, half-fit cavalry is substantially sure to
be worse than nothing. In its home State high hopes and
stern purposes were centred in this First Mass. Cavalry. By it
Massachusetts assumed the task of proving to the North that
first-rate mounted troops could be put into the field. Bound
I920.] HENRY LEE HIGGINSON. Ill
to achieve her purpose, she selected her best men and plainly
laid upon them an especial charge to make good. Liberal time
was given them for training at Readville, and in February, 1862,
they left for Hilton Head. Henry Higginson wrote: "We are
getting on slowly but surely. One must look at each little thing,
and I'm never sure that everything is as it should be unless I've
seen it done." "It is a good deal harder work than in the 2nd
Regiment; the turning from men to horses and horses to men
gives us plenty to do, and could it be well done, it would be a
great pleasure." It was "well done." There were no neglected,
ungroomed horses in this regiment, neither were they fed
with their bits in their mouths, after the slovenly fashion in
some squadrons. But the army commanders, still distrustful
of cavalry, gave them scant consideration, leaving them with-
out shelter tents or proper clothing, with toasted corn and
apples as their chief diet.
In the spring of 1862 Higginson was promoted to the rank
of Major with command of a battalion. In June Stephen Per-
kins wrote to him: "Your letter has come, reflecting my com-
plaints for blood and action." Perkins had not long to wait,
poor fellow, but Higginson had. The regiment was moved about
vaguely month after month and not much use was made of
it, though under General Averell and later under General
Pleasanton it gave good proof of its efficiency in sundry clashes
with the famous troopers of J. E. B. Stuart and Mosby. At
Beverly Ford they captured Stuart's despatch box, and they
won a sharp encounter at Brandy Station, on June 9, 1863.
They were present, but not seriously used, at Antietam and
Fredericksburg. On May 6 Henry Higginson wrote from
Fredericksburg: "Hard work is healthy for me. Just now we
are waiting for the enemy to retreat. Gen. Hooker and Gen.
Lee will provide for a good many of us before May is passed."
On June 16, again: "We are going to have a very severe cam-
paign, I suppose, but we are all pleased and in excellent spirits."
The very next day came the fight at Aldie, from which he
emerged alive, but very badly wounded.
The Regiment was in the Division of General Gregg, under
immediate command of General Kilpatrick. Henry Higgin-
son with a squadron was sent forward by Colonel Curtis to
check the Confederate cavalry. There were charges on both
112 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Feb.
sides, encounters, advances, and fallings back. In the midst
of it, said Higginson:
I was knocked off my horse while striking a man with my sabre,
and probably my face was cut then. [He bore the scar, a deep and long
one, yet not disfiguring, all his life.] While on the ground he struck
me over the head, inflicting a slight wound. I don't remember how I
got the bullet wound in the back. It was a rough and tumble fight
during which I got several wounds. I don't remember the details
distinctly, but I think that while on the ground I was shot at with a
pistol which did not go off. Some of the rebels took my field glass
and pistol. Something was said about making me prisoner, but
I said I should soon die, and they left me. While they were not look-
ing I pulled off my shoulder straps, that being the only distinguishing
mark between me and a private.
There was great dread among our men of being taken prisoners,
and undergoing the horrors of Libby or Andersonville, and
wounded officers were more likely to be taken off the field than
were privates. The rebels also took away Higginson's gray
horse, which had received four bullet wounds, but later was
retaken, and "became a very serviceable horse."
After the engagement was over and the combatants on both
sides had withdrawn, Higginson made efforts to get back to
our lines. "I stopped now and then," he said, "took out my
diary to make a memo, or two and to say Goodbye to my father;
drank some water out of a brook, and somehow got through a
fence, and through the woods and across the fields, limping,
crawhng and walking as best I could, until I reached the spot
where the light began, and I found some of our men." The
"regimental surgeon patched me up." Then came the painful
journey "in an ambulance over a rough road to Centreville
and thence by freight cars to Alexandria." "On a straw mat-
tress, in the hollow of which I lay without being able to stir,
resting on my face and one shoulder, hardly able to open my
mouth to eat anything;" — thus he made the journey to Wash-
ington, where at last he found himself in a hospital and under
the care of Miss Anna Lowell, the sister of his friend Charles
Lowell. Later he got back to Boston. His wound was both
serious and very painful, and his recovery was slow. Even for a
long while after he was able to walk, he was not able to sit,
and it was only after much probing that Dr. Samuel Cabot
ig20.] HENRY LEE HIGGINSON. II3
succeeded in extracting the bullet from the lower part of his
spine. He was eager to get back to the service, but not until
July, 1864, was he able to be "off again for the war," and even
then in defiance of medical as well as friendly advice. Being
not quite well enough yet for regimental service, he took
for the time being a position on the staff of his friend Gen.
Francis Barlow, a very able man, distinctly a fighter, at the
time commanding a brigade in front of Petersburg. With
him Higginson could expect hot work, and saw some; but, as he
had been forwarned, he found himself so far from fit for cam-
paigning, that he had to give up. Barlow had a short furlough
and the two came back to Washington together. There Higgin-
son tried to get employment in the Reserve Corps, but failing
in this, he resigned and received honorable discharge from the
service in September, 1864, bitterly regretting that he could not
stay to the end, then appearing in sight. ^
1 The following pleasant anecdote is furnished by Mrs. Higginson:
Some years ago, when Mr. Higginson and I were in Washington (I have for-
gotten the exact date) I asked him to take me to Aldie and show me the ground
where the battle was fought — it was really not a battle but an active skirmish
fight — where Mr. Higginson was wounded, which was the 17th of June, 1863.
We went first by rail to Leesburg and there we hired a mule team and open wagon
and drove to Aldie. The wagon could n't go as far as the battlefield itself, so
we left it by the roadside and walked. As we approached the field we saw a
man plowing, who said: "Hello, friends, you come to see where we beat you
Yankees at the Battle of Aldie." (He was a pleasant-looking farmer, I should
say about 12 or 15 years younger than Mr. Higginson was at that time.) Evi-
dently he was an ex-confederate. We said: "Yes, we came to see it and to look
the place over." Upon which he replied: "Well, I remember all about it myself.
I was about a dozen years old and I heard the fighting from my house which is
over there" — pointing to a farmhouse at no great distance — "and when the
fighting had stopped my mother said ' I want you to go with this pail of water
and give a drink to all the men you find left there, no matter whether they are
Federalists or Confederates. There is a Federal Major there who has been badly
wounded and a Captain and other wounded men, and I want you to look after
all of them' — so I went. There were one or two wounded men, but I could n't
find the ISIajor. I looked everywhere for him, asked a few men who were left
if they knew anything about him, but they said they did n't. The\^ believed
that in some way he must have managed to get back to camp, although wounded.
Well, the long and short of it is that I could n't find him anywhere — he got
away." Upon which, my husband laughed and said, "Yee, you are right; he
did get awa}'. I am the Major." The man laughed heartily, held out his hand
and said: "Well, Major, I am glad to see you. At least, it is all right now."
We walked over the whole place, Mr. Higginson explaining to me in detail just
all the action of the fight. We saw the monument which had been erected on
the spot, giving the names of the men engaged in the fight; also, names of pris-
114 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Feb.
The war cost Henry Higginson dear in friends lost. Notably
there were Savage, Stephen Perkins, Charles Lowell, and Rob-
ert G. Shaw. For him the memory of these men never faded.
To his latest years he frequently referred to them with a still
fresh and ardent affection. One is tempted to use a slang
phrase, though it profanes a sacred subject, and to say that
friendship was a specialty with Henry Higginson. His friend-
ships were many and were not only warm but singularly endur-
ing. With most of us, A and B may be our best friends in one
stage of life, then neighborhood, occupations, interests change
and in this new environment C and D come into the present
while A and B glide gently into the past; some of us hve to get
far down in the alphabet. Not so with Henry Higginson. He
was constant in such a relationship; sometimes adding a new
friend, never dropping an old one. Always the company which
he kept was good evidence in Higginson's behalf. In 1853
Stephen Perkins wrote to him : "The only set worth belonging to
is that of the best fellows." To names already mentioned, let us
add Alexander Agassiz, Gen. Charles Jackson Paine, James
Lowell, and Col. Henry S. Russell (and I fear that I forgot some)
and we have most of the set of "best fellows" with whom Henry
Higginson came through youth and advanced into active life.
They were neither the "fast" nor the "smart," nor the fashion-
able, nor the "sporty" set, nor the "pious men," nor the "digs,"
nor the prigs ^ — only simply the really "best fellows." They
started in life with all the abundant exuberance of youngsters,
taking their full share of cakes and ale and all manner of joyous-
ness; they had brains and they studied much and read more,
and talked often seriously enough, had ambition and high pur-
pose and the intent to labor usefully and the resolve, while
absorbing the pleasure of Ufe, to meet also the duties which
oners and the wounded men, among which were Mr. Higginson's own brother
Capt. James J. Higginson, and his own name — as having been badly wounded.
It was a lovely day in spring and the place looked as peaceful as if there had
never been any fighting there.
Another incident connected with Aldie is also interesting:
My son, who is a member of various hunting clubs in this country, was riding
with a hunting club of the region all about Aldie — and Aldie — when one of
the Southern members said to him: "By the way, was n't your father wounded
at the battle of Aldie? If so, I wish you would give him this sword, which was
picked up on the battlefield; he may like to keep it as a remembrance." This
sword is now hanging in Mr. Higginson's room and is a very precious rehc to us.
I920.] HENRY LEE HIGGINSON. II5
ought not to be shirked by men of their class. Those of them
who Hved made good; among those who died were two or three
of the best. Dead or Hving they were all dear to Henry Hig-
ginson to the end; and there were no mistakes in the hst. In
less intimate relations such was not always the case. Occasion-
ally Henry Higginson was heard ingenuously to remark that he
was a good judge of men; and then sagacious friends exchanged
surreptitious smiles; for they did not give him credit for this
perspicacity. In fact, not intelligence and experience together
ever enabled him to overcome a tendency to give credit to
others for more brains and better characters than they had.
Such generosity in judgment cost him dear at times, as good
and attractive quahties often are costly; and properly enough,
for, after all, virtues are really luxuries, and luxuries ought to
be paid for. But it is a fine thing to see any man who Ukes to
give credit to his fellows, who admires even competitors and
rivals, with no faintest shade of envy or jealousy, never begrudg-
ing praise to another, nor feeling himself elevated by the depres-
sion of others. Such a man is magnanimous, and such a man
was Henry Higginson.
While he was at home, a wounded hero from Aldie, Major
Higginson became engaged to Miss Ida Agassiz. She was the
daughter of the famous Professor at Cambridge, a lady whom
he had known from his early youth, and who became after
marriage to him his constant companion during fifty-six
years of married Hfe. On September 20, 1863, Charles Lowell,
in camp at Centreville, wrote: "I shall ask for 20 days leave —
(Halleck is such a splendid old veteran that I expect he will
refuse,) — and I shall be married on the first five — (one of
the first five, Henry, it only takes one day,) — and I want you
to try to be married in one of the other five." In fact, the
marriage did take place on December 5 in the College Chapel at
Cambridge. Col. Greely Curtis had been married just a fort-
night earlier.
A few days later than the above-quoted letter, Lowell again
wrote: ''How could I be married without daily bread? a perti-
nent question, Henry. There are still young ravens, but it
does not appear that Elijah ever taxed the powers of his by
marrying. ... I think you have enough to start as well as any
young fellow ought to start, for his own happiness." "Enough
Il6 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Feb.
to start," but in what direction? Lowell had declared Henry
Higginson to be "a born merchant." But foreign commerce
already belonged to the past. Many of the old merchants were
losing what they had made, and none were gathering much in-
crease. There were the cotton mills of New England, but the
weaving and selling of eternal yards of cotton cloth was a
prosaic occupation. The Western railroads were excellent for
capitalistic managers at home, with salaries for those who would
go West; Charles Perkins almost alone among these exiles
in time won money and distinction there. None of these
callings was attractive. There was a brief experiment with an
oil well in Ohio; then a year or so with Col. Charles F. Morse
and Major Channing Clapp trying to raise Sea Island cotton
in South Carohna, and then Major Higginson came back to
Boston to avail himself of the very obvious opportunity which
offered there in the shape of partnership in the stock-brokerage
firm of Lee, Higginson & Co. It was already a good business
and rapidly growing. It is true that one had not to look back
far to see one or two brokers running about State Street and
trying to get someone to buy or to sell a few shares of a cotton
mill or one of the httle New England railroads, and thus doing
all the brokerage business that offered. But within a few years
a new situation had developed. The lavish outpouring of bonds
and stock by the new Western railroads, the impetus given by
the war to manufacturing industries, the flood of paper money,
the issues of Government bonds with tempting fluctuations
in price, the speculation in gold, the gambling in the cheap
"coppers," all combined to make a stock exchange which
would have dazed the old-time broker. The family and social
connections of the firm assured to it the best possible chentele ;
there was sufiicient capital; the partners had the highest stand-
ing in point of character; thus all else being propitious, it
remained only for them to make good in point of ability, and
this they proceeded to do. The house moreover became a
sort of educational institution, to which the Boston gentlemen
crowded to secure admission for training their sons. INIajor
Higginson's strong feeling of kindred always looked out for
family applicants, and the list of relatives in one way or
another engaged in or with the firm shows: John C. Lee,
George Higginson, Henry L. Higginson, Col. Henry Lee,
I920.] HENRY LEE HIGGINSON. II 7
Francis L. Higginson, George Lee and his son, George C. Lee,
Charles C. Jackson, James Jackson, Frank Lee, James Jackson
Storrow, F. L. Higginson, Jr. Not one of those relatives ever
failed worthily to play his part. It was only when Major
Higginson went farther afield that he was less sure to be fortu-
nate. He made an excellent selection in that popular gentle-
man, Gardiner Lane; but in other instances had reason to
regret his choice — having judged too generously of his
men.
Further, the firm owed in some measure to family alliances
its well-advised connections with the best financial enterprises
of the day. Thus in the case of the great Calumet and Hecla
Copper Mine, mother of fortunes, and fruit of the resolute faith
of Quincy Shaw, the scientific knowledge of Alexander Agassiz,
the practical energy of both — these two brothers-in-law of
Major Higginson naturally brought their gallant bird to
deposit her golden (or copper) eggs in the nest at 40 State
Street. Then Professor Bell came with his telephone inven-
tion. Drawbaugh set up his claim of priority, and there was
the long and doubtful legal conflict with wild speculation and
fluctuation in the shares. James Jackson Storrow, Major
Higginson's cousin, was the Bell counsel; the Major knew his
calibre, stood steadfastly with him and reaped the harvest.
Then came Western railroads, among which the champion was
the Chicago, Burhngton & Quincy, with its children, whom it
swallowed, as Saturn had done with his. It was matter of
course that the firm should have its share in these extensive
deahngs, but again it had a personal advantage — for another
cousin, Gen. Charles Jackson Paine, was reputed to be one of
the ablest men who sat on the C. B. & Q. Board of Directors.
He sat also habitually in the office of Lee, Higginson & Co.,
where he could be seen almost any forenoon ensconced in a
comfortable armchair, handsome, silent, puffing at a cigar which
seemed never to have had a beginning and certainly never
had an end. If the firm sought information it was there at
hand.
As the years rolled on the firm naturally strengthened and
greatly extended its interests and its power. Of course all
streams which came into the office were not such afliuents as
these earlier ones; into the procession of good securities some
Il8 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Feb.
insecurities inevitably found their way. But the balance was
largely on the right side. Thus the Major, as chief partner in
the prosperous house, certainly sat at the receipt of custom.
If he did not take rank among the conspicuous multi-millionaires
of the country, it was because he did not make the amassing
of money his chief purpose. To spend it well interested him
more. Charles Lowell only a few short weeks before his death
on the battle-field, in a memorable letter to Henry Higginson
had written: "Don't grow rich; if you once begin you'll find
it much more difficult to be a useful citizen." Probably Henry
Higginson needed no such advice; at least the "useful citizen"
always predominated over the money-getter in him. We shall
now see how.
Betwixt labor on her behalf and gifts made to her, Harvard
College has had no other such benefactor. What aid he rendered
inconspicuously, in smaller matters from time to time, or to
individuals, can only be guessed at. What all can see is that,
had he not lived and prospered, it is unlikely that the students
would have had a playground or a Stadium, or a Harvard
Union Clubhouse. It was not that he took what is called an
"intelligent interest" in a great institution of learning or a huge
factory of education. What moved him was a very human
interest in the multitudinous, ever-changing body of students
who had the future in their hands, who were citizens in the
making, who soon would largely possess and control the coun-
try — very largely, if they were true to their opportunities. He
said to them: "The honor of the nation rests with you, for
the hope of a nation is in its young men." Intertwined with
this feeling there was also a sympathy with those primitive
qualities which make the study of youth the study of the crea-
ture Man; for the young man is much more the natural man
than he will ever be in later years. When we predict of the
youngster that he will "learn by experience," or will "out-
grow" this or that, we mean that the natural human will be
transformed into an artificial product. The Major had the
simple and sound purpose to cultivate among the swarming
lads those good tendencies which one expects to find, at least in
embryo, in young men, as Colonel Newcome would have said in
his favorite phrase, ingenui vultiis, higenuique pudoris. Fortu-
nately for the establishment of an influential relationship he had
I920.] HENRY LEE HIGGINSON. II9
an entirely honest and very lively interest in their sports —
more especially, as was characteristic of him, in the more
manly sports of football and rowing. This fellow-feehng secured
their confidence; they could put their trust in a man who cared
for these things. He used to go out to see what was going on
upon Holmes Field or Jarvis Field, and in so doing his eye of the
business man told him that it would be but a short time before
these areas would be absorbed for buildings. Where would
"the boys" go then? He walked about the region and looked
hither and yon, and saw nothing. At last the scheme of the
Soldiers Field occurred to him. There were objections, of
distance, of the marshy character of the ground. But to wait
for a scheme without objections was to wait forever. So he
bought the land and presented it to the College. On June lo,
1890, at a gathering of students and graduates in Sever Hall
the gift was formally made. In a letter which was read Major
Higginson said that the "estate henceforth belongs to the
College without any condition or restriction whatsoever. . . .
My hope is that the ground will be used for the present as a
playground for the students" and if it should ever be otherwise
used, that "another playground would be given. . . . The only
other wish on my part is that the ground shall be called 'The
Soldiers ' Field ' and marked with a stone bearing the names of
some dear friends — alumni of the University, and noble gentle-
men — who gave freely and eagerly all that they had or hoped
for, to their country and to their fellow men in the hour of great
need — the war of 1861 to 1865 in defence of the Republic."
President Eliot spoke briefly in acceptance, and then Major
Higginson, not improbably to the astonishment of himself and
his friends, approved himself an orator — a very great orator,
if, as Dr. Holmes said, a man is to be measured by his highest
achievement. The brief address then made by him is of the
very first quahty, and the man is to be pitied who can read it
without feeling his heart throb and his eyes fill. As an utterance
of deep feeling, made more intense by restrained expression, it
is not surpassed in English hterature. In form and substance
it is beyond criticism. Hereafter the Major spoke on other
occasions — at the Harvard Union, more notably at the Sanders
Theatre concerning Robert Gould Shaw, and elsewhere — and
always with eloquence, beauty and feeling; but he never again
I20 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Feb.
quite reached the level of this address. His habit was to speak
in short, crisp, emphatic sentences, a dangerous method unless
used in perfect good faith and with genuine earnestness behind
it, for if employed merely rhetorically the affectation is sure to
be detected. Major Higginson used it habitually and eflectively
in conversation as well as on formal occasions; it was natural to
him. Therefore when he talked in earnest he talked forcibly.
But he was not always willing to hand out his thoughts, and in
such case he defensively threw out trifling, banal remarks
which did not always produce a favorable impression. This,
however, meant only that he was not at the moment incHned
for serious talk.
First, and last, in one way and another, the students got
much assistance and advice from Henry Higginson. Largely
to him they owed it that inter-collegiate football was continued.
In the earher days it was a revoltingly brutal game, each side
attributing to the other, and too probably itself sometimes
practising, unworthy tricks — a game too often played in a bad
and ungentlemanly spirit. Either reform or prohibition became
inevitable. That it was reform was due more to the influence of
Major Higginson than to any other one single cause.
In your games there is just one thing that you cannot do, even to
win success. You cannot do one tricky or shabby thing. Trans-
late tricky and shabby — dishonest and ungentlemanlike. Prince-
ton is not wicked, Yale is not base. . . . Mates, the Princeton and
the Yale fellows are our brothers. Let us beat them fairly, if we can,
and believe that they will play the game just as we do.
He preached a good deal, but very tactfully. Leaving aside
the nice little well-bred virtues, he urged the more inspiring
and manly ones. He told the boys to be honorable, strenuous
and resolute, public-spirited, never shirkers of public or of
private duty. He did not wish Harvard to pour over the coun-
try every year a flood of gentle saints; what he did want was
that she should send all through the country manly men and
useful citizens. His influence was great because there was in
him a temperament which young men instinctively felt and
liked; they recognized a man not quite so crude as themselves,
but not less human, a man virile, impulsive, strong, passionate;
and by the same instinct they could see that those qualities
I920.] HENRY LEE HIGGINSON. 121
were held firmly in hand by resolute self-control. Understand-
ing this they gave their confidence to such a man. In fact,
Henry Higginson was one of those fortunate men who under-
stood his own character, and who thus was clearly aware that
among his tendencies was an impetuosity which called for re-
straint; with intelligent firmness, therefore, he applied that
restraint, with the result that there was constructive power
where there might otherwise have been destructive violence.
This sort of man the lads respected, getting at his nature by
the freemasonry of youth.
In 1882 Harvard University conferred upon Mr. Higginson
the honorary degree of Master of Arts. In 1893 she further did
him the honor and herself the benefit of making him a member
of the Corporation, which office he continued to hold till his
death. In 1901 Yale gave him an LL.D., a very graceful recog-
nition, apart from general considerations, of the efforts which
he had made to bring the two Universities upon the footing of
an honorable and friendly spirit in the rivalry which naturally
existed between them. In 191 2 WiUiams College did him the
like honor.
The most conspicuous act of Henry Higginson's life was, of
course, the founding and maintaining of the famous Symphony
Orchestra. He said that the scheme first occurred to him in
Vienna when he reached the sad conclusion to abandon the
further study of music there, and he then mentioned it to
Professor Eppstein. Thereafter through the years of war
and of business he kept it quietly laid by in his mind until
at last, in 1881, he felt able to face the financial risk. Yet the
money was the least matter. If he had it, well and good of
course; but it only gave him the chance to begin to work, and
the work in itself was momentous in proportion as his visions of
achievement were high. Already engaged in managing a
great business, he now proposed to assume as a mere side issue
a task which energetic impresarios, with an experience which
he lacked, found to be quite all that they could handle. He
must also be pretty sure of himself, of his patience to persist
during long years when progress must be slow and criticism
would doubtless be abundant, of his good temper likewise and
tact for dealing with the numerous groups of foreigners be-
longing to the most uneasy and difficile class of mankind. All
122 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Feb.
these drafts upon purse, physical endurance and moral qualities
he had intelligence enough to foresee and courage enough to
face. Some probably turned out serious beyond anticipation;
also others, unforeseen, were added — as, for example, when
from time to time he was subjected to the attempted invasion
of "unions," though this especial difficulty probably gave him
some gratification as well as trouble. For the old spirit of the
hero of "Bloody Monday" night still lived in him, and it must
have been a keen pleasure for him to administer to "agitators"
a kind of agitation very little to their taste. The newspaper
critics of course bothered him more or less; sometimes they
were witty and amusing, only rarely abusive; and if they knew
more than he or his leader — well, that was only their business.
But worry on this score was not excessive; and the public,
always wanting more tickets than there were seats, kept the
balance of opinion on the right side.
For the matter of financial deficit, Major Higginson had
anticipated it as likely to last at least a few years, and had set
what he thought a safe estimate at $20,000 per annum. In fact
it was variable, but, like the poor, was always with him. One
year it ran up to $50,000, another to $52,000. Mr. Howe, in his
well-told story of the Orchestra, says that the exact aggregate of
the deficits was not obtainable, but that at the time of his
writing (191 2) it had been at least $900,000. This probably
represented the Treasurer's accountings and did not include
many disbursements which would be taken by Henry Higginson
from his privy purse. Also several years were yet to be added
before the close. Altogether it is not likely that a prudent
gambler would care to bind himself to make good all the out-
lay, direct and indirect, from earliest A to latest Z, for a less
sum than a million and a quarter of dollars, probably he would
exact substantially more. For the multi-millionaire of today
this would be no staggering sum ; but for the Boston banker and
broker, during the now antiquated period covered by the con-
certs, it was large. No one, of course, knew what were Major
Higginson's income and resources, but the down-town gossips
did not pretend that these sums were any bagatelle for Mm, to
be met with indifference year after year, in good times and
in bad alike. In 1857, while he was devoting himself to his
musical studies, and, as he well knew, was being criticized by the
I920.] HENRY LEE HIGGINSON. 1 23
busybodies, he wrote to his father: "What is money good for, if
not to spend for one's friends and to help them? You've done
so all your life — let me do so while I can, for it is in me (I have
always known it,) to be a close man, a miser." It is interesting
to lay this letter of youth, almost boyhood, beside the ledger
of the Symphony Orchestra; the "miser" in him certainly was
being castigated, yet was not heard to groan.
Patience in well-doing was not less needed than dollars.
The concerts started well under an able conductor; but in the
clamber to the ultimate pinnacle of real supremacy it is the
final stage which counts. It was not long before New York was
outstripped; but Major Higginson had European capitals also
in his mind as competitors, not indeed to be surpassed, but if
possible to be equalled. In the earher years when gracious
compliments were brought to him, he only replied, substantially,
that it was not yet time for them. At last, however, he could
accept them. In 1893 Mr. Paur, when he first heard the Or-
chestra, said that he thought it "the best orchestra in the
world," and with greater famiharity with it this opinion was
corroborated. Richard Strauss exclaimed, "I wish I could have
this orchestra in Europe and perform the Beethoven Sympho-
nies with it! " In 1906 Dr. Muck "did not hesitate to rank the
orchestra with the best in Europe."
The story was commonly reported that Major Higginson
had estabHshed by his will a sufficient financial foundation to
secure the continuance of the orchestra for an indefinite period
after his death. In 1888 he wrote: "It is a work with which
I wish to go on as long as I can, and if it can be made to con-
tinue forever, which is my expectation, so much the better."
Other remarks or indications seemed to point to his purpose to
make it a permanent institution, not limited by his own life or
personal control. But unfortunate occurrences brought about
what may be called the Tragedy of the Symphony Orchestra.
After the outbreak of the war, rumors were circulated that Dr.
Muck, then the leader, was a German spy. Some persons be-
gan to cry out that Major Higginson should dismiss him, for-
getful that there was a contract which Mr. Higginson could
not cancel without actual legal proof of sufficient cause; whereas
no one presented any smallest item of real evidence against the
conductor. Certainly the surpassing meanness of the musi-
124 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Feb.
cian's face made suspicion of him easy, but a mean face is not
proof; and further Major Higginson knew that the initial move
of the assailants was based upon a falsehood, which those who
made it did not abandon after proof of its falsity. Apart from
these practical considerations, there was perceptible a strange
air of personal malice. Was it perhaps a case of dux femina
facti? If the compliment which lay in the words as used by
the Roman poet were first carefully eliminated, sagacious
friends and adherents of Major Higginson felt no doubt that
the quotation held the true explanation. This was quite the
wrong way to attack a man of his spirit. Further, to the
Major's honorable temperament such perfidy as he was asked
to believe seemed so incredible, that he refused to believe it
and in actual fact did not believe it. Yet harassed by the
unfriendly gossip and made anxious by the advice of dispas-
sionate friends, he turned to the Government. Twice most
searching investigations were officially made by the best detec-
tives, and twice the Government gave to the Major a "clean
bill" for Dr. Muck. Thus the matter stood when suddenly
the news came that the German was interned at Fort Ogle-
thorpe. Short and sharp as the blade of the guillotine falls, so
fell this blow. The few concerts still due were given under
other leadership, and Major Higginson's Symphony Orchestra
came to an end. Why? The relationship between Major
Higginson and the musician had been strictly one of business,
and down town many such relationships were being severed
without therefore destroying the business. The Major had
never been in the most remote manner sponsor for the integ-
rity of its leader; even less so indeed than the National Govern-
ment itself, whose judgment he had asked and accepted. Why
then should he have thus dropped his enterprise? Many ques-
tions shall be asked, and few shall be answered. The un-
worthy treatment which he had received gave him abundant
justification for resentment. But he uttered no word indicative
of the feeling. As being an old man and ill, he might have been
glad of an opportunity to lay down a burden which now had
such painful associations. But he hinted at no such explana-
tion. He said not a word. He simply did what he saw fit,
and that was the end. It is useless for us to try to divine his
feeling; and though it is difficult for his friends to hold their
1920.] HENRY LEE HIGGINSON. 125
peace, and there are things which they would like to say, yet it
is right that they should respect his judgment.^
Incidentally, it is in place here to say that, at the outbreak
of the late war, Major Higginson's sympathy was enlisted for
the allies with all the decisiveness and ardor which marked
his temperament. Tales of German cruelty and bad faith
stirred his fierce indignation. Later, when Mr. Wilson, with
tardy and hesitating steps, at last ranged this country against
Germany, Henry Higginson gave hearty approval. Of course
he could not render active personal service, but by every stimu-
lating word and every useful act, whenever opportunity offered,
he gave his best aid. Had a zeal equal to his and such efficiency
as he demanded been found everywhere in our high official
quarters it would have been well for the cause and for the
country.
Major Higginson's eightieth birthday was celebrated by a
great complimentary banquet. Starting in the modest scheme
of a few friends, it could not be prevented from expanding.
Such a demonstration required to be managed with delicacy
and tact, for other men besides Henry Higginson were liberal
and useful citizens and were receiving no such distinction.
True; but no other man had made to the community such a
present as the Symphony Concerts, and it was this gift which
was really the underlying incentive to the celebration. Boston
for a long while had been living upon her traditions; upon
memories of her past; and a very brilliant past she certainly
had for living upon; but unfortunately it was a past; and if
any unlvind person should say that her present was little better
than commonplace respectability, his discourtesy would have
1 The internment of Dr. Muck took place early in April, 1918. ^Ir. Higginson's
will was executed in October, 1918. Therein he made no mention of the Symphony-
Orchestra. A codicil was executed in December, 1918, at which time a newly
organized " S>Tnphony Orchestra " was giving concerts. To this he bequeathed
his very valuable musical library and collection of musical instruments. But
this gift was conditional upon the discretion of his executor, who, not less than
three and not later than five years after the testator's death, was to make de-
livery of the bequest, or to cancel it, as he should see fit, with the hope that he
would be " guided by the manner in which the Symphony Orchestra shall have
been and is being managed, and the prospect of continued existence in accor-
dance with high standards." It was a kindly and magnanimous spirit towards
the successor which was going to try to take the place of his own beloved
enterprise.
126 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Feb.
been more easily resented than gainsaid. To the good Boston-
ians, who were painfully conscious of this condition, Major
Higginson had suddenly given a fresh distinction, a splendid
preeminence in music. He had made Boston the rival of
Vienna or Berlin, while in America she had no rival. For though
New York might boast with her Philharmonic, she boasted only
as a poor second. For this glorious revival Boston had to be
grateful to Major Higginson alone, and the great dinner was
the token by which his fellow citizens expressed their Thank
You. It was a grand success.
On the occasion of this eightieth birthday dinner Major
Higginson appeared to be in fair physical condition. But ail-
ments were brooding which slowly developed during the suc-
ceeding years. He had to undergo some severe surgery. His
superb strength enabled him for some time to hold his own
against the inevitable, but of course the end had to come. On
November 14, 1919, he went to the Hospital for a slight supple-
mentary operation, which was successfully performed; he
failed, however, to rally and died that night. His funeral took
place on Monday, November 17, at the Appleton Chapel in
Harvard College Yard, an immense crowd attending; and he
was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery where a file of United
States soldiers fired a volley over his grave.
To sketch a man of Major Higginson's countless activities
and many very striking characteristics within the compass
of a Memorial notice is to do miniature work; and he does
not easily lend himself to presentation in miniature. Sargent
made a superb full-length portrait of him, and a biographic
likeness which shall be in Literature what that great painting
is in Art ought to be made. In what has been herein above
said, eulogy has been carefully shunned. Not a trait has been
attributed to him which he did not have, and not one has been
drawn in extravagant phrase. All the praise that has been
given is strictly true. Of course, being eminently human, he
had faults; but in writing of a good man, we do not expatiate
upon his shortcomings, just as per contra, no historian has ever
suggested the presence of virtues in Nero, though he too, being
human, doubtless had some good quality. But the good serv-
ices which a man does for his fellowmen, and the fine traits
whereby he stimulates them to well-doing — these are the
I920.] HENRY LEE HIGGINSON. I27
things we want to know, and which it is good for us to know.
On the other hand to point out flaws is not only ungracious;
it is officious and altogether superfluous, for what is more cer-
tain than that our very dear friend knows all our failings
much more surely than any one else does ? In point of fact
the biographer of Henry Higginson fortunately can dare — as
not too many biographers can — to take and keep the ancient
and venerated oath of our courts of justice: To speak the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Thus will
the character of this strong and generous man and most use-
ful citizen be most fairly depicted.
128 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [MARCH,
MARCH MEETING.
npHE stated meeting was held on Thursday, the nth instant,
-■- at three o'clock, p. m. In the absence of the President, the
first Vice-President, Mr. Warren occupied the chair.
The record of the last meeting was read and approved.
The Librarian reported accessions:
The purchase of fifty-two issues of the Boston Evening Post,
1 739-1 743, being in most cases the only copies now in Boston, and
the second known numbers; also a number of broadsides, among
which are "A Poem on the Death of Abraham Howe, of Shrews-
bury," October ig, 1779, printed and sold at the printing office in
Worcester; and one on a "Violent Storm" which raged through the
eastern part of the State on October 9 and 10, 1804.
. The Cabinet-Keeper reported the following accessions:
By purchase from the Estate of Miss Grace Lyde Gordon, of
New York, the private seal of Gov, Jonathan Belcher; a compass
for a watch chain, with the Oliver crest; a wedding dress of Elizabeth,
daughter of Lt. Gov. Andrew Oliver, her vellum fan and satin
slippers used at her marriage to Edward Lyde, November 18, 1772;
and six miniatures, of George Lyde (i 742-1 804), son of Byfield and
Sarah (Belcher) Lyde, painted in England in 1785 by Cosway or
William Wood; of Mrs. Ehzabeth (Oliver) Lyde (173S-1820),
daughter of Lt. Gov. Oliver and Mary (Sanford) Oliver, sister of Gov.
Thomas Hutchinson's wife, painted in 181 2 by Dunlap; of Ehzabeth
Lyde (i 775-1 S 70), daughter of Edward and Elizabeth (Oliver)
Lyde, painted by Rousseau; of Edward Lyde (1773-1831), son of
the same parents, having a lock of his hair in the back of the case; of
Sarah Louisa Lyde (1779-1871), daughter of the same parents, hav-
ing a similar lock of her hair, who married Belcher Byles(i78o-i8i5);
and one of the same Belcher Byles, with a similar lock of hair,
painted in 1811.
From Winslow Warren, the reproduction of a rare contemporary
hthograph of Park Square in 1837, pubhshed by Charles E. Good-
speed in 1902, the original drawn on stone by Robert Sturn, showing
the view from the Hancock House on the left to the Boston and
I920.] GIFTS TO THE SOCIETY. I29
Providence Depot, at the right; also an engraved view of Harvard
University, Cambridge, by James Archer, and an engraved portrait
of Benjamin Franklin.
From Mrs. Kingsmill Marrs, a badge of the 191st Infantry, U.S.A.,
twelve months in foreign service; and a badge of the Belgian
Relief.
From Howard M. Chapin, of Providence, a photograph of a
sampler made by Marian Guild, Dedham, at the age of thirteen
years, in 1819, a great-aunt of the late Governor Curtis Guild, being
one of an exhibition held at the Rhode Island Historical Society,
which included a nimiber of fifty Massachusetts samplers.
From George Hale Nutting, Vice-President of the Massachusetts
Society of Sons of the American Revolution, one of the Washington
and Franklin Medals to be presented by that society to certain
High Schools and Academies in the Commonwealth, annually, for
excellence in the study of United States history.
From F. H. Shumway, a badge of the Springfield Board of Trade.
From the towns of Wenham, and Westwood, their service medals
in the World War.
By purchase: three photographs, two of which show the interior
of the entrance gallery of the Old Boston Museum, when the build-
ing was torn down; and the third showing the Museum and the old
building of the Historical Society, at the same time, all taken by
WiUiam T. Clark.
By exchange, medals of John Adams and John Quincy Adams
struck from the old copper of the belfry of the First Church in
Quincy, 191 1.
Dr. J. Collins Warren, exhibited a lithograph of the house
built by the Hon. Jonathan Mason on Mt. Vernon Street,
(directly opposite the head of Mt. Vernon Street) in 1801 and
torn down in 1839 to give place to a block of red-face brick
houses most of which remain standing at the present time. Mr.
Mason w^as formerly a United States Senator and a prominent
citizen of Boston; he died in 183 1. The architectural design of
the building shows a swell front with two wings and in this
respect it closely resembled the building erected by his son-in-
law, Mr. David Sears, in 1818, and now occupied by the Somer-
set Club. This latter building had but one swell front and it is
evident that another one was added later, as the history of the
Somerset Club indeed states.
These two buildings in general design also resemble the
130 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [MARCH,
famous Gore house at Watertown, which also has a single swell
front in the center with two very extensive wings, giving it a
most imposing appearance. Dr. Warren thought that the
Gore house was built by Bulfinch ^ and that the Mason house
was also built by the same architect. The Sears mansion was
designed by Parris. These three buildings represent the ideal
architecture at the opening of the century and the passing of
the Jonathan Mason house indicates the end of the old-time
mansion house and the substitution of brick-faced houses in
Boston.
Incidentally Dr. Warren showed a picture of Beacon Street as
it appeared in 1843 at the opposite end of Walnut Street. No. i
Walnut Street was originally built by the father of Wendell
Phillips and was occupied at the date above mentioned (1843)
by Thomas Dixon, K.N.L., K.L. The house on the opposite
side of the street was occupied by F. Homer, Esq. son of B. P.
Homer, the former occupant.
The Vice-President announced the appointment of the fol-
lowing Committees, in preparation for the Annual Meeting
in April:
To nominate Officers for the ensuing year: Messrs. W^illiam
Crowninshield Endicott, Richard Henry Dana, and Paul
Revere Frothingham.
To examine the Library and Cabinet: Messrs. Robert
Gould Shaw, Lawrence Shaw Mayo, and Edw^ard Gray.
To examine the Treasurer's Accounts: Messrs. Charles
Pelham Greenough, and Henry Herbert Edes.
Endicott Peabody Saltonstall was elected a Resident Member
of the Society.
Mr. Morison read a paper on "From Sea to Factory; two
transitional Decades in Massachusetts History, 1820-1840,"
being a chapter of a forthcoming history of Massachusetts.
Remarks were made during the meeting by Messrs. J. C.
Warren, Thayer, and Dowse.
1 Or his co-worker Samuel Mclntire (the " wood carver of Salem "); died
181 1 aged 54.
q^"^^
I920.] GEORGE HODGES. I31
MEMOIR
OF
GEORGE HODGES
By PAUL REVERE FROTHINGHAM.
George Hodges was born of New England parents. His
father, George Frederick (Handel) Hodges, and his mother,
Hannah EHsabeth Ballard, came from Taunton, Massachusetts.
Both families were rooted deep in Massachusetts soil. William
Hodges, an ancestor, settled in Taunton in 1643, ^^^ the Bal-
lards traced descent from Miles Standish. In the early records
of Taunton we find mention of men by the name of Hodges who
were constables, town-officers and soldiers, and of Ballards who
were deacons and men of public spirit. The inheritance was a
good one, marked by a rather unusual amount of intellectual
force, and in one instance by conspicuous musical abihty. The
father of George Hodges owed the presence of Handel in his
name to the fact that the grandfather, Zephaniah Leonard
Hodges, attained reputation as a builder of organs, and a maker
of violoncellos. He organized the Beethoven Society in 182 1,
and perhaps it was due to him that Taunton still remains a
rather well-known musical center.
Soon after their marriage, in 1844, the parents of George
Hodges moved to Camden, N. Y., where the Ballards had a
''fulling" mill. There two children were born to them, both of
whom died in childhood. A few years later, some time between
1853 and 1856, a move was made to Rome, N. Y., and there on
October 6, 1856, George was born. His mother died when he
was five years old, and somewhat later his father married again,
having a son also by this second marriage.
The boy attended the public schools, and later on the local
132 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [MARCH,
academy of Rome, finding his way in time to Hamilton College
from which he graduated as Bachelor of Arts in 1877, five years
later receiving the Master's Degree. He taught school for a
year in London, Ontario, after which, having decided to study
for the ministry, he attended for a time a theological school in
Syracuse, N. Y. — St. Andrew's Divinity School, which had
just been organized by Bishop Huntington. Twelve months
later he made his way to Berkeley Divinity School in Middle-
town, Conn., where he finished his theological training. Ordi-
nation as Deacon came in due course in 1881, and as Priest in
1882. In the autumn of 1881 he was married to Anna Sargent
Jennings of Skaneateles, N. Y., and in the same year he became
assistant to Rev. Boyd Vincent, the rector of Calvary Church
in Pittsburgh, Penn.
His life work had now definitely begun. He was twenty-five
years old. Almost at once he began to give evidence of those
capacities and qualities, those varied gifts and marked endow-
ments, which speedily made him a power in the Church, and a
conspicuous influence in the civic life of Pittsburgh.
In an outward, or physical sense, George Hodges had little in
his favor. He was destined to become in time a noted figure
in the pulpit, and a brilliant success upon the public platform;
but what he became was won by application, perseverance, and
hard work. He was not dowered with a commanding figure,
nor helped by a handsome countenance. He was small of
stature, rather plain of feature, and with a voice of no particular
power, or attractiveness.
But almost at once his peculiar and remarkable gifts began
to be displayed. There was a virility about him, a freshness of
thought and speech, which ministers of religion so frequently
lack. He took hold of his tasks with vigor and enthusiasm.
He identified himself first of all with the civic life and business
interests of Pittsburgh. He was of Ruskin's opinion that
in a great industrial center the sole interest should not be to
strengthen steel, or to bleach cotton, or to mould metal, but to
strengthen, shape and manufacture men and women. "Chris-
tianity between Sundays" was the significant title that he
gave to a volume of his sermons. His was not a preaching
ministry alone: it was a working ministry as well. He was
with his people not merely on the first day of the week, but
I920.] GEORGE HODGES. 133
on the other six days also. His service of the Master was
continuous.
This went on for a period of eight years. Then, in 1889, Rev.
Dr. Vincent was elected Bishop of Southern Ohio and resigned
as Rector. Hodges was at once unanimously chosen to fill the
vacancy. For four years more his work was carried on in
Pittsburgh, growing as the city grew, and widening, deepening
all the time in power and efTectiveness. These were the days
when Social Reform was coming to the front, and when Social
Settlements were being organized. The Pittsburgh Rector was
early in the field. His church became an institutional church:
his parish was the city. He was among the first to catch the
social vision of Religion, and it was a vision to which he was
ever afterwards obedient. In other words, he saw that Religion
ought to be concerned not merely with individual men and
women, but, with society itself, and the righting of the social
order. As he himself expressed it in his pointed, practical and
pungent way: "We have a long tradition of emphasis on the
individual virtues. We are only beginning to emerge from the
idea that the function of religion is to save men and women one
by one, out of the world, and not to save the world. We have
addressed ourselves to the task of making good fathers and
mothers, good sons and daughters, good wives and husbands,
good neighbors — all of it excellent and necessary • — but we
have only in a vague way, as yet undertaken the task of making
good citizens, good councilmen, good mayors, good employers
of labor, good directors of corporations, good landlords, gover-
nors, and presidents."
In obedience to this vision, he went out and estabHshed in
Pittsburgh a social settlement on the lines laid down by Toyn-
bee Hall, giving it the name of Kingsley House. The title
was significant. There was not a little similarity between
Hodges' ministry and that of the famous English churchman
and christian socialist. He had Kingsley's passionate interest
in human life, together with a considerable measure of his in-
stinct for reform.
But George Hodges was not destined to continue long as a
parish minister, even though his ministry was as broad as this,
and his parish as inclusive. His peculiar gifts, and his inspira-
tional power came to be widely recognized. Moreover it was
134 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [MARCH,
understood that he had teaching as well as preaching gifts, and
academic no less than ministerial equipment. It was not sur-
prising, therefore, that in 1893 the Episcopal Theological School
in Cambridge, Mass., reached out and took him. The dean-
ship of the School had been left vacant by the elevation of
William Lawrence to the Bishopric of Massachusetts. The
position was offered to Dr. Hodges. The Pittsburgh people
were very loth to let him go, but in 1894 he moved to Cam-
bridge which thenceforth was to be his home. The post was an
important one, and he was destined to fill it to perfection. He
had found his niche. Besides serving as Dean of the School he
became Professor of homiletics, hturgics, and pastoral care. It
was not as Professor Hodges, however, that he was thereafter
to be known, nor as Dr. Hodges, though he was given the D.D.
degree as early as 1892 by Western University of Pennsylvania.
Almost universally for the rest of his life he was to be known as
Dean Hodges, and the title was made use of by a constantly
increasing number of acquaintances and friends, and by a grow-
ing stream of grateful students.
George Hodges was not, therefore, a man of many posts, nor
of continuously changing duties. He served but one parish, he
occupied only one academic position. It is not to be inferred
from this, however, that his life was in any sense a narrow one,
or that his influence and outlook were provincial. The very
opposite was the case. Although a teacher he never ceased to be
a preacher, and his duties in a theological school never interfered
with his duties as a citizen and a champion of Social Reform.
From the first after his settlement in Cambridge he discharged
the double function of teaching in the school, and ministering
to St. John's congregation. Moreover, he was in constant de-
mand as a college preacher. He went on Sundays from Yale to
Princeton, from Wellesley to Vassar, Smith, Mt. Holyoke and
Amherst. For several years he was a member of the Harvard
Board of Preachers. At odd intervals he was delivering lectures
either in some formal course, like that of the Lowell Institute,
or on casual occasions of less importance. Withal he was active
in local charity work, toiling early and late on Cambridge boards
of civic reform and public welfare. What he wrote of the
famous Quaker, William Penn, was true, in a degree of himself:
"He had taken the world for his parish. He considered himself
I920.] GEORGE HODGES. 135
a citizen of the planet, and took an episcopal, pontifical interest
in the affairs of men and nations." He was at one and the same
time Teacher, Preacher, Reformer, Lecturer, Man of Letters,
Man of the World, and Man of God. He was perpetually pass-
ing without haste, but likewise without rest, from one duty to
another, and from one task to a greater, more absorbing task.
There were three things in the character and career of George
Hodges which call for careful emphasis, three qualities which,
more than any others, marked him as a man, and made his life
conspicuously fruitful. In the first place, no one could come
into close contact with him, and not recognize the genuine
catholicity of his spirit. Almost equally significant was the
extraordinary freshness and originality of his thought, which
was accompanied by a delicious and spontaneous sense of
humor, and finally, he had a capacity for work and a power of
achievement which left one filled with increasing wonder.
Some men are liberal on principle, and force themselves to
assume a breadth of interest they do not feel; but Dean Hodges
was instinctively, joyously and unfailingly catholic and inclusive
in his point of view. He was no narrow partisan whether in
politics or religion: and he knew how to be loyal, without com-
ing to be a bigot. He was a devout Episcopalian who loved his
church, and was splendidly devoted to it; but somehow one
always thought of him first and foremost as a sincere, large-
hearted Christian who sought to follow in the footsteps of the
Son of Man. He had friends in all denominations, and enemies
in none. Indeed, he almost gave the impression of belonging
equally to all. He made an earnest effort to understand the
other person's point of view. It was thus that he could write
so sympathetically and with an understanding so complete, of
William Penn. In the course of his little Beacon Biography
of the famous Friend he wrote: "There have been many religious
persons in high positions who have been so shut in by Church
walls that they have been incapable of wider outlook ; they have
accordingly been narrow, prejudiced, and often impractical
people; they have been blind to the elemental social fact of
difference; they have hated the thought of toleration. Penn
was almost alone among the good men of our era of colonization
in being a man of the world, and a man of the other world."
Quite as characteristic, however, as the breadth of Dean
136 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [MARCH,
Hodges' mind was the extraordinary freshness, spontaneity
and originality of his thought. He was vivid in his manner of
speech, quick and apt in illustration, with a positive genius for
applying ancient, historic happenings to present-day events
and needs. If he spoke about the Good Samaritan, he took
you with him all the way from Jerusalem to Jericho, pointed
out the dangerous sections of the road, and showed you where
ruffians could easily lie concealed. Palestine, when he spoke
of it, became a present place, the Dead Sea, a sheet of living
water, the Jordan, a real, as well as a sacred river.
He had a quaint, colloquial way of introducing and describing
familiar Scriptural friends. It was thus in the course of a sermon
that he characterized Martha and Mary as "two maiden ladies
living in straitened circumstances." More especially, it was
this peculiar gift of his that enabled him to write of sacred things
so alluringly for children. His Garden of Eden, and When the
King Came are almost without parallel in the way they attract
and hold the attention of the child. Dean Hodges understood
as few have done so thoroughly and well the true meaning of
"the Simplicity that is in Christ." Never were sermons,
lectures and addresses simpler or more direct than his, and it
might be added that few have been more searching. He went
to the heart of a subject with unerring instinct, and he lighted
it up with positive genius. Moreover, he was the happy pos-
sessor of a delicate and delicious sense of humor, and this gift
in his case came to be a truly saving grace. It kept him from
giving offense, and from arousing unfortunate opposition.
Except for his humor one can easily believe that this man
would have had no easy time as he came in contact with those
who lacked his breadth of vision. For he held an advanced
position in theological thought. He led opinion and did not
merely follow. He went out in advance of his religious com-
munion, and was extremely unconventional along various lines.
His experience gave added emphasis to the familiar assertion
that it is not so much what one says that gives offense, as the
way one says it. There is a world-wide difference between speak-
ing the truth forbiddingly, and speaking it in love — between
the cold, or heartless, and the gently humorous expression of
unwelcome opinions. His latest book, for instance, was a
radical exposition of the primitive and barbarous ethical stand-
I920.] GEORGE HODGES. I37
ards of part of the Old Testament record. He treated the sub-
ject with unsparing frankness. One cannot imagine such a
book coming from one of his communion without awakening
more or less unfriendly censure. But Hodges seldom gave
offense. The heretic was concealed behind the humorist. He
disarmed criticism by being armed himself with kindness and
consideration. He found no joy in hurting people's feelings,
and hence it was that he was such a helpful influence.
But it may be that his most conspicuous quality was ex-
traordinary industry. Someone has said of him that he had " a
prodigious capacity for toil" ; and that is no exaggeration. How
he ever accomplished so much, or discovered time for the writing
of so many books, and the delivery of so many lectures, and the
preparation of so many sermons, to say nothing of the perform-
ance of so many prescribed tasks and the doing of so many
kindly deeds that were unprescribed, must ever remain a
mystery. No one ever heard of him forgetting engagements,
or giving up appointments, or pleading in excuse that he had so
much to do. He was constantly saying "yes" to a multitude
of requests, and always "present or accounted for" when the
appointed time arrived. The very titles of his books, and the
dates of their publication tell a tale of constant toil that does
not call for comment. Beginning with 1889 when his first book
was published, there was hardly a year until the last year of his
life that he did not supply readers with at least one volume of
interest and value. In 1892 we have Christianity between Sun-
days; in 1894, The Heresy of Cain; in 1896, 7w This PresentWorld;
and Faith and Social Service; and so it goes on until in 1904
we have Fountains Abbey, The Human Nature of the Saints,
When the King Came, and The Cross and Passion. Two years
later we have another armful of volumes, for in 1906 he saw
through the press Three Hundred Years of the Episcopal Church
in America, The Administration of an Institutional Church,
The Year of Grace, and The Happy Family. And so he went
on to the end, unceasingly at work, either publishing sermons,
or editing lectures, or writing histories, or preparing biographies.
Strachey tells us that " It is as difficult to write a good life as to
Hve one." It would appear, however, that both were easy to
this extraordinary man. After publishing in 1914 a Class-book
of Old Testament History, and a volume on The Early Church
138 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [MARCH,
(Lowell Lecture), he was ready in 191 5 with the Life of Henry
Codman Potter, Seventh Bishop of New York. Then came in
191 7 a volume of sermons entitled Religion in a World at War,
and finally, in 1918, How to knoiv the Bible. It was a remarkable
record of twenty-nine books in thirty-one years: and when it is
remembered that in addition to writing books he was con-
stantly contributing to magazines and periodicals the record
becomes still more extraordinary.
When a stream of thought was so copious it was not to be
expected that it should be conspicuously original or profound.
It was clear, fresh, life-giving, inspirational, and was drawn
from many sources. Dean Hodges never set himself up to be
a great student. He made no direct contribution to learning or
scholarship. He was neither a pedant, nor bookworm, but a
prophet and interpreter of life.
He wrote no monumental book either of history or philosophy
which future generations will consult in search of information,
but he left a large number of books which will probably remain
for many years a source of inspiration. He was content to
promote life, not learning; and in much the same way his interest
was in Religion rather than Theology.
As a matter of fact, however, his reputation for scholarship
suffered from the very simplicity of his thought, and his clear-
ness of expression. It is difficult to persuade some people that
dullness is not a sign of learning, and it is a fallacy which
still persists that if a preacher or author is interesting he can-
not, therefore, be either accurate or profound. It is true, no
doubt, that George Hodges was not primarily nor technically
a scholar: but he valued scholarship and he was very widely
read, with a wealth of knowledge at his quick command.
A life of ceaseless toil and unresting industry, like his, could
not go on indefinitely. In 191 5 there were indications of a
break. He took a year away from academic tasks and went to
Southern California. He returned apparently as well as ever.
But the injury to health was permanent. His heart had given
way. Nevertheless there were four more years of continued
energy and usefulness. In the spring of 19 19, however, there
came collapse. He was moved in May to his summer home in
Holderness, N. H., and there, on the 27th of the month he passed
quietly away. The funeral was held three days later from St.
I920.] GEORGE HODGES. I39
John's Chapel, Cambridge, where he had spoken to so many
of life and death and immortality. The services were conducted
by his associates in the Faculty of the School. They were in
charge of Dr. Drown, who was assisted by Dr. Kellner, and
Bishop Babcock. At the Dean's definite request the body was
cremated, and Dr. Washburn read the committal service in the
Crematory Chapel at Mt. Auburn.
It had been a happy, useful, and productive life, not without
its burdens and its sorrows, but for the most part bright and
joyous, crowned with honors and achievements. His wife died
in 1897, leaving him with two children. After a period of loneH-
ness he married, for a second wife. Miss Julia Shelley, of Oswego,
N. Y., and three more children came to him. He was happy
in his home; he had a host of friends, and a multitude of warm
admirers. Young men gathered around him in increasing num-
bers as his years increased. He never grew perceptibly old. He
was permitted to round out a quarter of a century of service at
the Episcopal Theological School, and the joyous anniversary
was celebrated fitly. He loved his fellowmen, and love was
given to him in return. He served, and he knew the joy of
service. In a sermon called "The Credentials of Christianity"
it was characteristic of him to assert that "The Credentials
of Christianity are not creeds, but deeds." He could say:
"Wherever the Christian religion has ceased to be helpful, men
have ceased to believe in it; and rightly, because then it has
ceased to be Christian." No words could better, or m.ore fitly
and fully express, the spirit of his life, and the essence of his
Gospel. Both were a blessing to the world and an impetus
to higher living.
I40 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [APRIL,
ANNUAL MEETING, APRIL, 1920.
THE annual meeting was held on Thursday, the 8th instant,
at three o'clock, p. m. In the absence of the President,
and of the first Vice-President, the second Vice-President,
Mr. Rhodes, occupied the chair.
The record of the last meeting was read and approved.
The Librarian reported the deposit by Mrs. Nicholas P. T.
Burke, of Milton, of a Baskerville Bible, 1771, owned by Paul
Revere, her ancestor, containing his family record in his own
handwriting.
The Cabinet-Keeper reported the following accessions:
From Mr. C. P. Greenough, a collection of American, EngKsh.
and French engraved portraits.
From Dr. John W. Farlow, a number of engravings.
From James W. Reardon, a medal in silver presented by the
Boston Sunday Advertiser in the Washington Franklin Essay Com-
petition, founded in 1920, in recognition of literary merit and general
excellence.
From Edward Gray, a 6}/2 cent scrip of the Philadelphia Loan
Company, July 4, 1837.
From Fred Joy, a ten cent note of Southbridge, 1862. By ex-
change, three pieces of Bryan money, three very rare "hard time
tokens," four medals of the St. Louis Fair, four very rare specimens
of Bolen's work, the Assay Medal of 1874, the medal of the
Patent celebration of 1891, and two repHcas of very rare colonial
coins.
By purchase: a volume of photographs of members of ''The
Club" Boston, 1818.
The Corresponding Secretary reported the receipt of a
letter from Endicott Peabody Saltonstall, of Newton, accepting
his election as a Resident Member of the Society.
The Editor reported the following accessions of manuscripts:
By gift: from Mrs. F. Gordon Dexter, a merchant's ledger,
accompanied by the following note:
I920.] ANDREW MCFARLAND DAVIS. I41
171 Commonwealth A\^nue, Boston, Massachusetts,
March 21, 1920.
Worthington C. Ford, Esq.,
You did me the favor last week of coming to my house to see an
Account Book kept from 1735-1756, by Gardiner Greene, the
Father of my Mother, Martha Babcock Greene-Amory.
You will now do me a greater favor if you will allow me, through
you, to make a Gift of this Book to the Massachusetts Historical
Society, as you have assured me it would be valued there.
Believe me yours very sincerely and in deep memories,
Susan Greene Amory Dexter.
The volume is of great interest in itself for its record of commodities,
prices and other items of economic interest, and also gives the names
of many prominent Bostonians of that day and their dealings with
Mr. Greene. The volume is notable for the beautiful penmanship
and its perfect condition.
From Mrs. Charles P. Coffin (Grace Parkman) a series of letters
from Adolph Francis Alphonse Bandelier to her father, Francis
Parkman, upon subjects connected with his histories.
From Dr. Arthur W. H. Eaton transcripts of a large number
of letters of the Byles family obtained by him from Halifax, Nova
Scotia, together with his notes on the correspondence and on the
family.
From Charles E. Goodspeed a bill of sale, 1699, of Robert Lattimer
of New London, Connecticut, for the sloop Swan, and a bill of sale,
1703, of James Barton, ropemaker of Boston, for one-eighth of the
brigateen Friends' Adventure.
From Miss Eleanor Hassam, of Salem, further papers of the
Hassam and Hilton families.
The Vice-President announced the death of Andrew McFar-
land Davis, and sketched briefly his connection with and serv-
ices for the Society and called upon Mr. Edes, who said:
Worcester is not alone among our New England towns in
having had within its borders families which have not only im-
pressed themselves strongly upon their own community, but
through several generations have sent forth sons who have oc-
cupied high public station in other States with honor to the
Commonwealth and to themselves. We need only recall such
families as Lincoln, Paine, Salisbury, Chandler, Bancroft and
Davis, from three of which, at least, our late associate Andrew
McFarland Davis traced his lineage.
142 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [APRIL,
A native of Worcester, he was born on the thirtieth of Decem-
ber, 1833, the son of "Honest John Davis" and grandson of
the Reverend Dr. Aaron Bancroft, who married the younger
daughter of John Chandler the Loyalist, fourth of the name,
whose sobriquet was "Tory John."
After graduating at the Lawrence Scientific School in the
Class of 1854, Mr. Davis was engaged for a short time in civil
engineering in the South and the Middle West, where he was
also connected with railroad interests, especially with Erie,
and made the first freight schedule used in the United States.
He then studied law and was admitted to the New York and
Massachusetts Bars. Later he went to California, and became
a partner in the business enterprises of his brother, Horace
Davis, then and subsequently one of the most eminent and
useful citizens on the Pacific slope.
While in San Francisco, Mr. Davis was active in municipal
affairs, especially in connection with the public schools, having
been President of the Board of Education. At the close of a
successful business career, about thirty years ago, he returned
to Massachusetts and settled in Cambridge, which was ever
after his home. For a few years he was Vice-President of the
Prudential Fire Insurance Company of New York, having his
office in Boston.
After his retirement from active business, Mr. Davis was
enabled to indulge his natural taste for historical and anti-
quarian research, and wrote valuable papers on a variety of
subjects for this and other learned societies and for the Narra-
tive and Critical History of America. He was especially inter-
ested in finance and published several volumes on currency
and banking in Massachusetts, and the origin of the national
banking system, beside two profusely illustrated monographs
on Chinese paper money, which he wrote for the American
Academy. His volume, entitled The Confiscation of John
Chandler's Estate, published in 1903, elicited much favorable
comment. Mr. Davis was deeply interested in the history of
Harvard College, and printed several papers upon subjects con-
nected therewith. He also made a close study of the early
records of the University and of the location of the early grants
and buildings.
Harvard recognized Mr. Davis's accomplisliment in his-
I920.] ANDREW McFARLAND DAVIS. I43
torical research by conferring upon him the honorary degree of
Master of Arts, in 1893, and the Harvard Chapter of <l> B K
elected him to honorary membership in 1895. ^^ 1882, he was
elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society, of
which he was for nearly twenty years an officer and for the
last ten years a Vice-President. At the time of his death his
name stood third in seniority on the Roll. Mr. Davis joined
our fellowship in October, 1898, and until his health became
delicate he was a frequent contributor to our Proceedings. He
was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,
and a member of several State and other historical Societies,
including the Cambridge Historical Society, of which he was
also Vice-President.
Mr. Davis was an incorporator of The Colonial Society of
Massachusetts, and a Vice-President at the time of his death.
He had served the Society as its first Corresponding Secretary,
and for twenty-seven years was one of its most active, loyal
and generous members.
In two of our older organizations Mr. Davis had an unusual,
if not a unique, hereditary interest — the Society of $ B K and
the American Antiquarian Society. Plis grandfather, Dr.
Bancroft, of the Harvard Class of 1778, was a classmate of
Elisha Parmele — to whom was granted the charter for estab-
lishing at Cambridge the Alpha Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa in
Massachusetts — and was one of the earliest members of the
Chapter; his father. Governor Davis (Yale 181 2) was a member
of the Yale Chapter; while the names of his brother Horace
of the Harvard Class of 1849, o^ his two sons, Bancroft Gherardi
('85) and Horace Andrew C91) and of his grandson, Hallowell
Davis, ('18) were, with his own, borne on the Roll of the Har-
vard Chapter. Thus, Mr. Davis's immediate family has been,
through five generations, uninterruptedly in fellowship with
the Society from its establishment in Massachusetts until
to-day. Of the Antiquarian Society, Dr. Bancroft was a
Charter member (181 2) and a Councillor or Vice-President
for nearly twenty years; Governor Davis, who for a score of
years had served the Commonwealth with distinction in Con-
gress, in the United States Senate, and as Governor, was for
thirty years Councillor, Vice-President and President, until
his death in 1854; and George Bancroft, Mr. Davis's uncle,
144 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [APRIL,
long honored the position of Vice-President of the Society,
which, as already mentioned, our late associate held at the
time of his decease on the twenty-ninth of March. Mr. Davis's
elder brother, John Chandler Bancroft Davis, a prominent
figure in the Tribunal of Arbitration at Geneva, was also a
member.
Mr. Davis's personality was striking and remarkable, and
while, like most strong characters, he had many staunch and
devoted friends, strangers were sometimes repelled by his
bluntness. Among his warm admirers was our late associate
Col. Thomas Wentworth Higginson, who had known him from
childhood. He once said to me, in his gentle way, "I have
known but few men who have improved their opportunities
for cultivating their minds more sedulously and successfully
than our friend, but, from his earHest youth, Mr. Davis has
had a certain roughness of manner which he has never al-
together laid aside." While we must admit the truth of this
observation, those of us who best knew Mr. Davis realize that
his brusqueness was all upon the surface, and that his heart was
tender and sympathetic as a woman's. The singular sweetness
of his smile lighted up his face like a burst of sunshine. If
his frankness occasionally seemed harsb, we felt sure that
it expressed his honest thought, and when he spoke in
commendation we were equally sure that he was indulging
in no empty compliment. His remarkable sagacity and
success in business enabled him to indulge the generous
impulses of a benevolent nature, and no appeal for a de-
serving cause or for the relief of suffering humanity was ever
unheeded, for the spirit of helpfulness was ever uppermost in
his thought.
His interests were in no wise limited to his historical pursuits;
he was an extensive and intelligent traveller and his descriptions
of places and people he had seen were most entertaining.
Blest as he was with a keen sense of humor, his tales of the
ways and days in the Worcester of his boyhood, accompanied
by mimicry of some of the old town worthies, will be long
remembered.
Mr. Davis was a striking example of the type of New Eng-
lander now almost passed away — strong, steadfast, if some-
times a little given to objections yet always fair-minded and
I920.] REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. I45
open to conviction, generous, warm-hearted, loyal, capable of
deep devotion, a
Friend to truth! of soul sincere,
In action faithful, and in honour clear;
Who broke no promise, serv'd no private end.
Fitz-Henry Smith, Jr., of Boston, was elected a Resident
Member of the Society.
The Society then proceeded to the business of the Annual
Meeting, and
Mr. Endicott read the
Report of the Council.
As you all know the Massachusetts Historical Society was
founded in 1791 and during the many years of its existence
has never appealed to the public for funds in order to protect its
many valuable books, manuscripts and collections. When this
building was erected in 1899, it was thought to be fireproof and
to have ample storage capacity. But time has changed all that,
and today we are faced with two facts — the building is not
sufficiently fireproof and the collections have outgrown the
storage capacity of a building ill adapted to its needs. No
changes in the existing building could provide more than tem-
porary relief, and that would delay the permanent location of
material in its due sequence and relation. The library is so
overcrowded that books of some value have been placed in
wooden shelves in the basement, while others have been kept
on wooden shelves on the wall of the library. The Winthrop,
Parkman and Sibley manuscripts are in wooden cases, and not
in the fireproof stacks, where many of our valuable manuscripts
are deposited. Our historical collections for want of space are
exhibited in such a manner that the stranger has the impression
that the collections do not amount to much, while in reality
when arranged in proper surroundings, they would be of great
historical interest and value.
In April, 1919, a committee was appointed to raise funds to
"erect and fit with modern library equipment a stack building,
absolutely fireproof in which its library and manuscripts will be
placed." In March, 1920, an appeal was issued to the public.
146 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [APRIL,
It is too early to report results, but in view of our needs and the
justice of the cause, it does not seem possible that the money
will not be subscribed to aid the Society in the development of
plans which have become a necessity. It is not the plan of the
Committee to conduct an active campaign for this purpose, but
merely to give an opportunity for friends, whether members
of the Society or not, to assist us in protecting our collection.
A special exhibit of the manuscripts, printed books and coins,
in twenty steel cases, was opened on February 12, and will
remain open for some months. During the three weeks after
the opening, upwards of five hundred visitors attended the
exhibition and showed much interest, as is proven by the fact
that the Society has since received gifts and deposits of valuable
material. By showing what collections the Society owns and by
demonstrating what class of records should be preserved and
the best manner of preserving them, we can do an immense
amount to educate people who are interested in historical work.
It is proposed to hold similar exhibits from time to time, which
will include loaned books and manuscripts as well as those of the
Society, and to maintain a permanent exhibit of typical manu-
scripts.
During the year, the publications were a volume of Proceed-
ings, Vol. Lii in the series, and the first volume of the Journals
of the House of Representatives of Massachusetts, 1715-1717.
Through the generosity of William Bradford Homer Dowse, a
gift was received by which we were able to start this important
historical undertaking — important because it will enable the
investigators to study these legislative records so essential to
State, local and family history. It is proposed that one volume
a year be printed under this fund, and that the Journals be
reprinted up to the year 1780.
Photostat reproductions of more than 20,000 prints have
been made during the past year, and cover a variety of subjects,
as will be seen from the following:
The Boston News Letter has been completed to the end of
1743, making thirty-nine years in all.
English and American broadsides (150 in all) have been
printed for subscribing libraries.
A translation (in manuscript) of an unpublished essay on a
"New System of Theology" by Voltaire.
1920.] REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. 147
A Catechism in Testerian hieroglyphics, made for the
Mexican Indians, and a Cajahon manuscript, in the Bowditch
series.
The records of the Church of Plymouth, Mass., in three
volumes.
The records of the Church of Milton, Mass., 1861-1918.
In addition our machine has been employed in copying for
investigators and correspondents such data as they require, thus
enriching the collections of the Society by what could not
otherwise be obtained. During the last summer the operator
visited the Library Company of Philadelphia to photograph
rarities relating to Massachusetts or the War of Independence,
and used more than eight hundred plates. As far as can be
learned, none of this material exists in any library in Massa-
chusetts. The thanks of the Society are due to the Library
Company for its courtesy.
The war involved the destruction of valuable libraries as is
especially shown in the case of the University of Louvain.
The great libraries of England, France and Italy removed their
treasures to places of safety. In order to prevent the destruc-
tion of material in Europe relating to American history, the
New York Pubhc Library, the Massachusetts Historical Society,
and the John Carter Brown Library adopted a plan of repro-
ducing such material as there was in Europe relating to American
history, often found in a single copy. Photographic copies of
books and manuscripts were obtained from Europe and were
then reproduced by our photostat.
The subjects for reproduction were obtained from the Bod-
leian, PubHc Record Office, London Society of Antiquaries,
the British Museum, the Bibhotheque Nationale in France,
the Bibhotheque Royale of Brussels, and from various Spanish
and ItaHan libraries. The first reproduction was sent out in
August, 1919, and by April, 1920, twelve volumes were com-
pleted and distributed. The nature of the material is indicated
by the following titles:
Letter of Columbus (two issues) 1493.
An oration by Almeida on the Embassy of Obedience of
Portugal, 1493.
Letter of Vespucci, 1504 and 1507.
148 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCITTY. [APRIL,
Bull of Alexander VI, 1511 (dividing the new world between
Spain and Portugal),
Cortes' first two letters summarized in French, 1523.
Poem by Pietro Arias, 1525 (on Pizarro's expedition).
Alfonce, Les Voyages Avantureux, 1559.
Briefe Declaration in the Present State of Things in Virginia,
1614.
Carre, Echantillon, 1690 (the first book printed in Boston in
French) .
Loyalty Vindicated, 1698 (a tract relating to New York,
but printed in Boston and paid for by the Province).
If it was wise to reproduce valuable material found in Euro-
pean collections, it was thought to be equally wise to reproduce
such material when found in American libraries. Conse-
quently it was decided to include the collections of Mr. Henry E.
Huntington, of New York, and Mr. William L. Clements, of
Michigan, whose private libraries are notable for their size and
quahty. With these five libraries, strong in early Americana,
as a foundation, five other libraries, in different parts of the
country were invited to participate — the Library of Congress,
the Library of Yale University, the American Antiquarian
Society, the Newberry Library and the State Historical Society
of Wisconsin. No two libraries are in one locality, and thus a
fair distribution is obtained.
In the coming year, other issues will be made of these
rarities of Americana, laying the foundation of a collection
extremely valuable in itself, and admirably adapted to special
study.
The number of acquisitions increase yearly, and large addi-
tions have been made to the files of the Massachusetts news-
papers.
Our books, manuscripts and newspapers need constant care
and attention. The Society once more has an expert repairer
and each year an immense amount of work is done to put in
proper condition our unique records.
While reporting upon what has been done in the past
year, the Council has not overlooked the fact that our work
should be broadened, and, in order to accomplish this, special
funds should be established by our friends and members, to
enable the Society to maintain its high standard of efhciency.
I920.J REPORT OF THE TREASURER. I49
The contemplated fireproof addition to our building will
solve many existing and difficult problems.
William C. Endicott.
Report of the Treasurer.
In presenting his annual report Mr. Lord said :
A brief statement of the financial condition of the Society,
summarizing and supplementing what is set forth in full detail
in the Treasurer's report may be of interest.
The property of the Society may be divided conveniently as
follows :
1. The Land and Buildings, which stand on the books at
$97,990.32 and are valued by the City Assessors at $196,000.
2. The Library and Collections have never been appraised.
3. The Investments of the Society are carried on the books,
as appears in the Investment Account, Exhibit i, of the Treas-
urer's Report, at $544,513.95, an increase in the invested funds
the past year of $31,612.98. Of this sum the two Centenary
funds amount to $84,259.09, of which $77,550.48 is the princi-
pal of the Sibley Centenary Fund and $6,708.61 is the principal
of the Anonymous Fund. Under the terms of the bequests the
income of these funds must be added to the principal until the
expiration of one hundred years from the date of their receipt,
or, in the case of the Sibley Fund the year 2002, and in the case
of the Anonymous Fund the year 1991.
The income of the Society from its Investments credited the
past year was $29,602.81. From this income must be deducted
the income of the two Centenary funds, which under the terms
of the gifts are to be added annually to the principal, amounting
to $4012.34, and leaving a balance of income from investments
available for the purposes of the Society under the term of gift
of $25,590.47.
May I take this opportunity to call to the attention of the
Society some facts which are suggestive and may be helpful
in the determination of the future poUcy of the Society.
Of this substantial amount of invested funds from which
the Society receives its only certain income, approximately
$84,000 is invested in the Centenary funds, the income of which
150 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [APRIL,
is not available for the purposes of the Society for eighty years.
The accumulated income of the funds applicable only to specific
purposes, and by reason of the frugality of the expenditures in
the past or the fact that the application of the income was so
strictly Hmited that it made it almost impossible to judiciously
expend the income in any given year, now amounts to $55,000.
The history of these funds and the purposes to which the
income is applicable is fully stated in the treasurer's report
for the year ending March 31, 1910, Proceedings , Vol. xliii,
529, and will justify a careful perusal, and furnishes an
interesting illustration of the not uncommon mistake of a
too strict limitation in a gift or bequest to certain specific
purposes.
The only certain income is the income from invested funds.
The gross income of the last two years has been largely in-
creased by the Dowse gift and by the receipts from the sale of
publications, electrotype plates, and duplicate books and news-
papers, and of course cannot be considered as a permanent
source of revenue. That is a shallow cistern and will yield
hereafter a scanty, short supply.
Speaking generally the regular income of the Society may be
considered as some $26,000. The fixed charges which include
the care and maintenance of the building, the salaries, and
certain necessary miscellaneous expenses, are approximately
$18,000, which leaves a balance, therefore, of $8,000, to which
may be added with safety, perhaps, the sum of $1,000, receipts
from the sale of publications. Last year we spent approximately
for
Printing $4300
Binding 2400
Books 2800
Additions to Collections . . . 2200
Making a total of $11,700
This we were able to do because of the unusual receipts from the
sources before mentioned.
The public service of this Society must be exercised in two
directions; first, in the additions to its library and cabinet;
second, in its publications. The income from the funds alone
I920.] REPORT OF THE TREASURER. 151
for the reasons mentioned will not permit in the future an
equal extension of the work of the Society in either of the
directions named.
REPORT.
In compliance with the requirements of the By-Laws, Chapter
VII, Article 2, the Treasurer respectfully submits his Annual
Report, made up to March 31, 1920.
The special funds now held by the Treasurer are thirty-two in
number. A list of these funds, with the income and expenditure
of each fund the past year, appears in Exhibit V in this report.
An account of twenty-nine of these funds, giving a brief history
of each fund, will be found in the Treasurer's Report for the year
ending March 31, 1910 (Proceedings, xliii. 529); the thirtieth
fund is described in the Treasurer's Report for the year ending
March 31, 191 1 (Proceedings, xliv. 568). The bequest of
Mrs. Charles Card Smith, amounting to the sum of Fifteen
Thousand Dollars, has been received and the fund has been
established in the name of the Charles Card Smith Fund, being
the thirty-first fund, the income of which fund under vote of the
Society, is to be applied by vote of the Council to promote the
objects for which the Society was founded. Special fund num-
ber thirty-two has been established this year under the name
of the Adams Fund. This fund now amounts to $17,781.79,
being the receipts from the royalties on the Autobiography of
Charles Francis Adams and the Education of Henry Adams.
The income of this fund is to be applied under vote of the
Society to the General Account until the further order of the
Council.
The receipts from the Photostat were $3724.60 and the ex-
penditures were $4162.47, leaving a deficit of only $437.87.
Mr. Dowse has provided for the second volume of the Jour-
nals of the House of Representatives of Massachusetts, to be
issued under the terms of his gift.
The Treasurer has received contributions in aid of the Soci-
ety's Building Fund amounting to $8840.00, which is deposited
in the Old Colony Trust Company as a separate deposit.
152
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
[April,
INVESTMENTS.
Schedule
Rio Grande Western R. R. Co.
Baltimore & Ohio R. R. Co.
Atchison, Topeka & Santa F6 R. R.
Atchison, Topeka & Santa F6 R. R.
Chicago Jet. & Union Stock Yards
Oregon Short Line R. R. Co.
Oregon Short Line R. R. Co.
Boston & Maine R. R. Co.
American Tel. & Tel. Co.
Northern Pacific & Gt. Northern R. R.
Long Island R. R. Co.
New York Central & Hudson River R. R.
Bangor & Aroostook R. R. Co.
Fitchburg R. R. Co.
Kansas City, Clinton & Springfield R. R.
Lowell, Lawrence & Haverhill St. R. R.
Washington Water Power Co.
United Electric Securities Co.
Blackstone Valley Gas & Elec. Co.
Western Tel. & Tel. Co.
Seattle Electric Co.
Detroit Edison Co.
U. S. Steel Corporation
Boston Elevated Railway
New England Tel. & Tel. Co.
Connecticut Power Co.
Boston & Albany R. R. Co.
Cleveland Short Line R. R. Co.
Arlington Gas Light Co.
United Elec. Lt. & Power Co.
Wilmington City Electric Co.
Old Colony Gas Co.
Dedham Water Co.
Railway & Light Securities Co.
Plymouth Electric Light Co.
Pere Marquette R. R.
Pere Marquette R. R.
New Bedford Gas & Edison Light Co.
United States Liberty Loan, " Second "
United States Liberty Loan, "Third"
United States Liberty Loan, " Fourth "
United States Victory Loan
Western Union Tel. Co.
United States Liberty Loan, Second
American Tel. & Tel. Co.
OF Bonds.
4%
1939
$5,000.00
4%
1959
3,000.00
4%
1995
14,500.00
4%
I99S "adjustment" 9,000.00
5%
1940
lOjOCO.OO
5%
1946
10,000.00
4%
1929
10,000.00
4i%
1944
6,000.00
4%
1929
10,000.00
4%
1921
50,000.00
4%
1949
6,000.00
4%
1934
15,000.00
4%
1951
10,000.00
4%
1927
9,000.00
5%
1925
3,000.00
5%
1923
2,000.00
S%
1939
10,000.00
S%
0)
25,000.00
5%
1939
10,000.00
5%
1932
5,000.00
S%
1929
5,000.00
5%
1933
5,000.00
S%
1963
5,000.00
S%
1942
8,000.00
5%
1932
10,000.00
-s%
1963
10,000.00
5%
1938
10,000.00
4i%
I96I
10,000.00
5%
1927
10,000.00
4i%
1929
10,000.00
5%
1951
5,000.00
S%
193 1
5,000.00
5%
1935
5,000.00
5%
1946
5,000.00
5%
1925
4,000.00
5%
1956
15,000.00
4%
1956
2,000.00
6%
1922
5,000.00
4^%
"converted"
10,000.00
4l%
18,000.00
4i%
10,000.00
4J%
10,000.00
5%
1938
10,000.00
4i%
13,000.00
6%
1922
Par value
7.000.00
$429,500.00
> 1936, 1939, 1940 and 1942.
I920.] REPORT OF THE TREASURER. 153
Schedule of Stocks.
50 Merchants National Bank, Boston $5,000.00
SO National Union Bank, Boston 5,000.00
50 Second National Bank, Boston 5,000.00
50 National Shawmut Bank, Boston 5,000.00
35 Boston & Albany R. R. Co 3,500.00
25 Old Colony R. R. Co 2,500.00
25 Fitchburg R. R. Co. Pfd 2,500.00
150 Chicago Jet. Rys. & Union Stock Yards Co. Pfd 15,000.00
75 American Smelting & Refining Co. Pfd 7,500.00
158 Atchison, Topeka & Santa F6 R. R. Co. Pfd 15,800.00
302 Kansas City Stock Yards Co. Pfd 30,200.00
10 Cincinnati Gas & Electric Co 1,000.00
6 Boston Real Estate Trust 6,000.00
5 State Street Exchange 500.00
200 Pacific Mills 20,000.00
52 Puget Sound Traction Light and Power Co. Pfd 5,200.00
5 " " " " " " " Common . . . 500.00
50 American Tel. & Tel. Co 5,000.00
50 American Sugar Refining Co. Pfd 5,000.00
1348 Shares Par value $140,200.00
Schedule of Savings Bank Books.
M. A. Parker Fund $1,430.10
Brattle St. Church Model Fund 249.96
$1,680.06
Recapitulation.
Bonds, par value $429,500.00
Stocks, par value 140,200.00
Savings Bank Books 1,680.06
$571,380.06
Balance Sheet, March 31, 1920.
Investment Account, Funds, Exhibit II . . . $492,901.31
Exhibit I $544,513.95 Accumulated Income of
Cash on hand. Exhibit IV 3,35536 Funds, Exhibit III . . 54,968.00
$547,869.31 $547,869.31
154 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [APRIL,
EXHIBIT I.
Investment Accoxtnt.
Balance, April i, 1919 $512,900.97
Added during year:
$10,000 Victory Bonds $10,000.00
10,000 Western Union Telegraph Co. 5% . . . 8,545.00
7,000 American Tel. & Tel. Co. 6% 6,947.50
13,000 Liberty Bonds, Second aVYo 11,872.90
13,000 Liberty Bonds, Third 12,174.50
50 Shares Paciiic Mills 7,500.00
Accrued Interest M. A. Parker Savings Bank Book . 62.21
" " Brattle St. Church Model Bank Book 10.87 57,112.98
$570,013.95
Less
$30,000 United Zinc & Chemical Co 25,500.00
Balance, March 31, 1920 $544,513.95
EXHIBIT II.
Increase of Funds in Year 1919-1920.
Amount of Funds, April i, 1919 $459,107.18
Added during year:
Centenary Funds:
Anonymous Fund $319.46
J. L. Sibley Fund 3,692.88
Charles Card Smith Fund, balance bequest .... 12,000.00
Adams Funds, Royalty receipts 17,781.79 33, 794-i3
Total of Funds, March 31, 1920 $492,901.31
EXHIBIT III.
AcCtJMULATED INCOME OF FUNDS.
Balance Accumulated Income, April I, 1 9 19 $55,592.11
Income during year. Exhibit IV 41,075.84
$96,667.95
Expenditures during year, Exhibit IV 37,687.61
$58,980.34
Less additions to Centenary Funds 4,012.34
Balance, March 31, 1920 $54,968.00
I920.] REPORT OF THE TREASURER. 1 55
EXHIBIT IV.
Cash Account.
Balance on hand, April i, 1919 $1,798.32
Receipts during year to March 31, 1920:
Sales by Library:
Publications $1,136.94
Photostat 3,724.60
Sales of Duplicates 7,141.89
Sale of Electros 445-i8
Royalties, Little, Brown & Co 3.10
Gift of W. B. H. Dowse 1,200.00 $13,651.71
Less Transfer to Adams Fund 2,525.16
Credited to General Fimd Income 11,126.55
Interest on Bank Balances 273.40
" " Savings Bank Books 73-o8
Income from Investments 29,602.81
Total Income, Exhibit V $41,075.8 4
Credited to Income of Various Funds $37,063.50
" " Principal of Centenary Funds 4,012.34
Balance Legacy of Charles Card Smith 12,000.00
Adams Fund. Receipts from Houghton & Mifflin Co. $15,256.63
Transferred from General Fund 2,525.16 17,781.79
S72,6s5-95
Charges during year to March 31, 1920:
Investment Account: Purchases, Bonds, and Stocks . $57,039.90
Added to Savings Bank Deposit 73.08
$57,112.98
Less United Zinc Chem. Bonds
sold 25,500.00
Total Addition, Exhibit 1 $31,612.98
Income Account:
Bindery; $1,195.86
Binding 1,120.32
Books, Pamphlets, Newspapers, and MSS. 2,854.67
Building:
Cleaning $588.75
Engineer 1,088.76
Fuel 686.00
Furniture 3,602.40
Light 371-01
Repairs 615.75
Telephone i45-94
Water 47.60 7,146.21
Photostat 4,162.47
Portraits and Medals 2,223.96
Postage 151-46
Carryforward $18,854.95 $31,612.98 $72,655.95
156 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [APRIL,
Cash Account — Continued.
Brought forward $18,854.95 $31,612.98 $72,655.95
Printing:
Proceedings, vol. 5 2 $1,463.46
Illustrations and Reprints . . 425-37
Henry Adams 662.04
Book Plate 150.00
House Journals 1,590.40 4,291.27
Miscellaneous 533-25
Salaries:
Librarian and Assistants . . . $5,749.98
Editor and Assistant 6,260.00 12,009.98
Stationery 77.02
Treasurer's office:
Bond $25.00
Bookkeeper 1,000.00
Safety Vault 60.00
Certified Public Accountant . 7S-oo 1,160.00
Miscellaneous Expenses 761.14
Charged Income of Funds, Exhibit V . . . 37,687.61
Total Payments 69,300.59
Balance on hand, March 31, 1920 $3,355-36
1920.]
REPORT OF THE TREASURER,
157
EXHIBIT V.
Income and Expenditures of Funds for the Year Ending
March 31, 1920.
Adams
Amory
Appleton
Bigelow
Billings
Brattle St
Chamberlain , . .
Dowse
Ellis
Frothingham . . .
General
Hunnewell . . . .
Lawrence . . . .
Lowell
Mass. Hist. Trust .
Parker
Pcabody
Salisbury . . . .
Savage
C. A. L. Sibley . .
J. L. Sibley . . .
Slafter
Chas. Card Smith .
Waterston No. i .
Waterston No. 2 .
Waterston No. 3 .
Waterston Library
R. C. Winthrop . .
T. L. Winthrop . .
Wm. Winthrop . .
Totals
Balance
Mar.31,'19
Sibley Centenary .
Anonymous Centenary
Total Income, 1920
rofal Funds, March 31, 1920
$1,992.98
4,858.05
590.66
3.825.63
139.09
159-52
250.08
742.96
2,775-96
1,742.56
2,657.62
870.52
465-63
6,050.34
19.41
4,333-86
261.74
1,151.96
600.20
5,177-94
266.26
1,647.31
4,243-25
4,218.88
69.69
4,471,12
458-84
1,550-05
$55,592.11
Income
$602.19
200.58
815.89
133-72
668.60
10.87
82.39
668.60
2,118.15
200.58
14,917.92
334-30
200.58
200.58
668.60
62.21
1,479.14
334-30
401.16
1,504.92
7,701.40
66.86
597-79
334-30
668.60
668.60
259-09
668.60
158.10
334-88
57,063.50
3,692.88
319.46
^I, 075.84
Expendi-
tures
¥195-00
1,260.00
116.06
425-37
47.60
659.98
2,296.35
16,585.75
923.96
1,174-35
338.61
242.49
1,505-73
9,918.00
6.00
603.25
800.00
100.00
200.00
$37,687.61
Balance
Mar.31,'20
$602.19
1,998.56
4,413-94
608.32
4,068.86
149.96
194-31
258.70
564.76
2,976.54
74-73
2,991.92
1,071.10
666.21
5,794-98
81.62
4,638.65
257-43
1,310.63
599-39
2,961.34
327-14
597-79
1,378.36
4,622.74
4,887.48
328.78
4,339-72
516.94
1,684.93
$54,968.00
Principal
of Funds
$17,781.79
3,000.00
12,203.00
2,000.00
10,000.00
100.00
1,232.33
10,000.00
31,666.66
3,000.00
56,709.16
5,000.00
3,000.00
3,000.00
10,000.00
1,000.00
22,123.00
5,000.00
6,000.00
22,509.48
121,077.00
1 ,000.00
15,000.00
5,000.00
10,000.00
10,000.00
3,875-14
10,000.00
2,364.66
5,000.00
1.08,642.22
77,550-^
6,708.61
$492,901.31
158 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [APRIL,
Report of the Auditing Committee.
The undersigned, a Committee appointed to examine the accounts
of the Treasurer of the Massachusetts Historical Society as made
up to April I, 1920, have attended to that duty, and report that
they find that the securities held by the Treasurer for the several
funds correspond with the statements in his Annual Report.
They have engaged the services of Mr. Gideon M. Mansfield,
Certified Public Accountant, who reports to them that he finds the
accounts correctly kept and properly vouched, that the balance of
cash on hand is satisfactorily accounted for, and that the trial bal-
ance is accurately taken from the ledger.
Charles Pelham Greenough,
Henry H. Edes,
Committee.
Boston, April 8, 1920.
Report of the Librarian.
The Librarian reports that during the last five years there
have been added to the Library :
ipi6
i(H7
1918
1919
ig20
Books
910
2,565
1,687
6,133
3,130
Pamphlets ....
1,436
1,296
1,516
1,001
1,083
Manuscripts, bound
84
155
27
166
125
Broadsides ....
54
96
181
909
147
Maps
10
25
14
16
4
2,494 4,137 3,425 7,425 4,489
This total number of pieces offers an encouraging hope for the
future growth of the Library. From time to time reports have
been made of the most important gifts, purchases and deposits.
The Library of Henry Adams has been placed on the shelves
and catalogued. The Kingsmill Marrs Collection now numbers
nearly fifteen hundred volumes, having received valuable addi-
tions from Mrs. Marrs since the gift from her was first recorded
at the May meeting, 1919. It contains works in the fields of
English history and biography, and will be kept together as a
memorial collection, with an appropriate bookplate. Other
accessions have found their way into the various divisions of
the Library, while the rarer earlier volumes have added interest
I920.] REPORT OF THE CABINET- KEEPER. 1 59
and value to the many treasures which the Society has inherited
from its long life of a century and a quarter.
Under a vote of the Council the larger part of the mass of
duplicates, the accumulation of years, has been sold during the
year, giving the Library a chance for a little expansion. But
the overcrowded condition of the Library as a whole still
presents difficulties in location. Such conditions emphasize
the need of the proposed addition to the Society's building, in
which ample provisions will be made for housing our possessions
for years to come under the best fire-proof conditions.
Visitors and those making researches from the wealth of
material which the Library has in store, have been given every
attention and aid possible on the part of the Library staff —
with the hope that the resources of the Society may at last
come into their rightful and best service. It remains to
provide adequate space for a reading-room with appropriate
outfit.
As the Library has limited means for the purchase of books
and manuscripts, it must depend largely for future accessions
upon generous gifts and deposits. The Library needs the works
of members, and their interest as well, to raise it to a higher
degree of efficiency. Books of biography, of history, of reference,
of early imprints, also others which would add value to our
special collections, and manuscripts, will be welcome additions.
The Society is grateful for whatever support members and
friends have given; and rests in the hope that a larger and
more complete service may be rendered in the education of the
public.
Julius Herbert Tuttle,
Librarian.
Report of the Cabinet-Keeper.
It has been the practice for several years to print in the
Proceedings from month to month the full Hst of additions to
the Cabinet and it therefore seems sufficient for this annual
report to refer to those lists.
The greatest activity during the year has been in the depart-
ment of coins, medals and currency, of which the Curator,
Dr. Malcolm Storer, gives the following summary — "When I
l60 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [APRIL,
was appointed curator of the coins in 1914 the collection con-
sisted of 10,425 coins. After disposing of many duplicates it
stood on May ist, 1919, at 11,689. During the last year I ob-
tained 155 new Massachusetts pieces, giving us a total of 1845
Massachusetts pieces."
Grenville H. Norcross,
Cabinet-Keeper.
Boston, April 8, 1920.
Mr. Edward Gray read the
Report of the Committee on the Library and Cabinet.
Your Committee have visited the Library and Cabinet
under the helpful guidance of Messrs. Norcross, Storer and
Tuttle and were impressed by the evidence of the want of
proper space and facilities for receiving and preserving the
printed and manuscript treasures of the Society. The existing
shelving is occupied and there is no room available for more;
the floors are used, but even that imperfect substitute for shelves
has its limitations. It is becoming increasingly difficult to
find a place for accessions or for carrying into effect an arrange-
ment of the Library that will be permanent. The two notable
accessions of the last year — the libraries of Henry Adams
and Kingsmill Marrs — have been placed in the stacks and the
Adams books have been catalogued; but there are many classes
of the library eccentrically located and there is no possibility of
making the system more elastic and proper for an historical
collection under existing conditions. The Committee are con-
vinced that the only true solution of the problem is the proposed
addition of a stack to the present building. They do not under-
take to suggest minor changes, as most of them must follow
that improvement, and to its accomplishment the energies of the
Society should be directed.
Robert G. Shaw
L. S. Mayo
Edward Gray
Mr. Endicott, for the Committee to nominate officers for
the ensuing year, made a report, upon which a ballot was taken.
The officers are as follows:
1920.] THE HEREFORDSHIRE TRAGEDY. l6l
President.
HENRY CABOT LODGE.
Vice-Presidents.
WINSLOW WARREN.
JAMES FORD RHODES.
Recording Secretary,
EDWARD STANWOOD.
Corresponding Secretary.
WILLIAM ROSCOE THAYER.
Treasurer.
ARTHUR LORD.
Librarian.
JULIUS HERBERT TUTTLE.
Cabinet-Keeper.
GRENVILLE HOWLAND NORCROSS.
Editor.
WORTHINGTON CHAUNCEY FORD.
Members-at- Large of the Council.
FREDERICK CHEEVER SHATTUCK.
CHARLES LEMUEL NICHOLS.
WILLIAM BRADFORD HOMER DOWSE.
WILLIAM STURGIS BIGELOW.
ROGER BIGELOW MERRIMAN.
Mr. KiNNicuTT read a paper on "The Pilgrims of Plymouth
and the Indians" • — to be published elsewhere.
The Herefordshire Tragedy.
The following chapbook, of unknown authorship, appeared
early in in the eighteenth century, without imprint or other
indication of place of issue. A copy is in the British Museum.
The I Herefordshire Tragedy; | or, the Cruel Mother-in-Law. |
Giving I A full and true Relation of a Lady who living in He- \
l62 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [APRIL,
refordshire, who was second Wife to a Merchant, | and he having a
beautifull Daughter, this Lady never | loved her; and was so curel
as to bargain with a Sea | Captain to take her beyond Sea.
Likewise how she was required by her own Son, in | whom she
took great Delight, who wasted her Sub- | stance, and brought her
to great Poverty, so that | she had not Bread to eat; but he still
not being | satisfied, came to her for fresh Supplies, which she | could
not grant him, so he resolved by some Means | or other to take
away her Life; upon which he goes to a Lord's House, and takes
from thence a golden | Cup, and gave it to his Mother to lock up;
but she I thinking he would come to an untimely End, she | resolved
to leave England, and therefore sold herself | to go beyond Sea. |
Also, when she came to America, she saw a young | Lady standing
by the Sea-side, who happened to | be the Child she sold for a Slave;
So going to her | to crave her Charity, the Lady bid her come in and |
she would relieve her. The Mother making herself | known, the
Lady freely forgave her; but her Con- | science troubled her so
much for what she had done, | that in a short Time after she broke
her Heart with | Grief and died. |
Licensed and Entred according to Order. [2]
The Herefordshire Tragedy, b'c.
How the old Lady heats and starves the Child; and the Child upon
her bended Knees ask'd her pardon if she had done any Fault.
LET every pious Christian lend an Ear,
* Unto this Tragedy I mention here;
And Children who now disobediant are.
Take Warning now by what I shall declare.
In Herefordshire there lived a Lady bright,
She was the wife of a most wealthy Knight,
His second Wife she was, as we hear.
By his first Wife he had a Daughter dear.
The Baby being Motherless, we find.
Her Step-mother used her most unkind.
Of bitter Blows, and hunger she had share,
Which from this Infants Eyes drew many a Tear.
At length this Lady prov'd with Child, we find.
Which made her use the other more unkind:
At length this Child said to her Father dear,
Father, why is my Mother so severe?
I920.] THE HEREFORDSHIRE TRAGEDY. 1 63
How the Child complains to her Father of the barbarous and cruel
Usage of her Mother.
^OR if I ask her for to give me Bread,
She cruelly will strike me o'er the Head :
And if the Servants they are kind to me,
She turns them from their Place immediately. [3]
F"
The Father hearing this, he wept amain,
And instantly goes to his lofty Dame:
Saying, I pray what do you mean my Dear,
By using of my Infant so severe.
She had a Mother once, but now she 's none.
You shall not wrong her Child, tho' she is gone:
As God hath sent you Plenty, and to spare.
Why do you starve my tender Infant dear?
In a furious Rage she to her Husband said,
What has she told you that she wanted Bread?
I will reward her straight for what she's done,
I'll whip her till the Streams of Blood do run.
How the Ghost of the Child's Mother appeared to this Cruel Wretch,
threatening her for her barbarous Usage of the Child.
ONE Night as she lay upon her Bed,
A Vision straight unto her appeared;
The Mother of the injured Infant dear,
Cloathed in white, which put her Soul in fear.
Thus spoke the Apparition to the Lady fair,
"You fill the Arms of my Husband dear;
But my dear Infant which to him I bore,
You starve it, tho' the Lord has sent you store.
But for my Child, which you do now oppress,
God hear's the Cries of the poor Motherless:
You '11 be repayed by your own Infant dear,
For using of my darling Child severe."
When thus the Spirit spoke it disappeared.
Leaving this cruel Wretch opprest with fear ;
Who with the Fright in Labour fell that Night,
And was delivered e'er the Morning light. [4]
164 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [APRIL,
How she was delivered of a Boy, after which she slighted the Girl
more than ever.
THE Child it was a Son, as we do find,
The Bells did ring for Joy, Bumpers of Wine
Past merrily for Joy this Babe was born;
But yet the other Child was held in scorn.
The Boy kept like to a Prince of Fame,
With Servants like wise to attend the same,
Cloathed in Gold and costly Jewels bright.
He was his Mother's darling and delight.
The Father seeing that his Lady fair,
Was to his little Daughter so severe:
He said. This in my Child, and therefore I
Will not let her suffer this Cruelty.
This Child was charming sure in every Case,
And she like wise was blest with heavenly Grace;
Upon her Heart she wore our Saviour dear,
No outward Pride, but inward Grace and Fear.
How the cruel Mother seeing her beloved, agree'' d with a Sea Captain
to take her beyond Sea.
HER Step-mother seeing this Child belov'd,
By many Ladies bright, and gallant Lord,
She was resolved this child to make away.
So lays a Trap her Life for to betray.
She with a Captain bargained out of Hand,
A Slave to sell her to a foreign Land:
This cruel Captain, for the sake of Gain,
He takes this beautious Babe to cross the Main.
Where we will leave her, and we '11 now return
Unto her Father, who finding of her gone, [5]
Enquires for the Darling of his Heart,
The Mother said, I know not for my Part.
What can become of her, I do declare,
I'm griev'd for her, tho' I am so severe:
I would not have any Harm attend the Child,
If she's not found, I surely shall run wild.
I920.] THE HEREFORDSHIRE TRAGEDY. 165
The Father complains for the Loss oj his Daughter, and dies with
Grief.
^HE Father of this tender Infant dear,
Finding no Tidings of his Child could hear,
In little Time with Grief he broke his Heart,
And now begins his cruel Ladies smart.
T
She soon forgot the tragick Part she 'd done.
Placing her chief Delight upon her Son:
As he grew up, all things as he did crave,
She let him have to keep him fine and brave.
At ten Years old he 'd curse her to her Face,
Minding her not at all in any Case;
And when to fifteen Years of Age he come,
Into all wicked Courses he did run.
Whoring, Cards and Dice was his delight,
Consuming of his Gold both Day and Night:
The Mother now begins to think upon
The cruelty she by the Child had done.
How her Son steals a Gold Cup, which she conceals.
ONE Day she speaking to him said. My Son,
What mean you by this wicked Course you run.
Then Damning her, he straight way to her said,
I purpose for to make you beg your Bread. [6]
He minded not her Sighs and bitter Cries,
Coming one Day to her for fresh Supplies:
She said, I have not Food to eat God knows.
So in a Passion straight from her he goes.
Unto a noble Lord that lived hard by.
Where on a golden Cup he casts his Eye,
Saying, if no Money she has got for me,
I will contrive to take her Life away.
So he takes the Cup and brings it to his Mother,
Saying, The Cup I stole this for to smother.
Take it I say and hide it out of Hand
If it must be so come dont disputing stand.
1 66 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [APRIL,
Her Son robs a House, commits Murder, and is hanged.
WITH trembling Hands from him she took the Cup,
For fear 't would be found she lock'd it up:
While he and his Companions that same Night,
Contrived a Way to rob this worthy Knight.
They rob'd the House and kill'd two Serving-men,
Next Day was apprehended for the same:
Being then try'd for the same, were doomed to die.
Oft sheen seeing his Fate, she then did cry.
She told herself to go o'er the Sea,
So to America did take her way;
While Thousands went her dying Son to see.
These Words he did express when at the Tree.
Behold an unrelenting Sinner here.
Who from my Cradle had no Grace to fear;
My Mother train'd me to the Hight of Pride,
To forward me to Heaven I had no Guide. [7]
How the Mother goes beyond Sea, and meets with her Daughter-in-
law, who she had so barbarously abused.
IN stead of Church to Balls and Plays she 'd go.
She ruined my Soul by doing so:
It is a dismal Story for to tell.
She brought me up a Fire-brand for Hell.
My Heart so stubborn is, it will not melt,
I have no Heart at all for to repent:
I fear the Lord unto me is severe.
For the Transactions of my Mother dear.
What Tongue could now his Mother's Grief impart,
To have a Son now with such Words depart :
But as I did relate to you before.
She was resolv'd to leave great Britain''^ Shore.
She in America soon landed there.
Where soon she did behold the Lady fair;
Though she'd sent her an Infant o'er the Sea,
Her Mother knew her Face immediately.
How she craves. Charity of her Daughter, who kindly relieves her,
tho' she had used her so cruelly.
ipso.] THE HEREFORDSHIRE TRAGEDY. 1 67
SHE goes to her, and falls upon her Knees,
Saying, Lady fair, I crave your Charity:
Come in poor Soul, the Lady did reply,
I will relieve your sad Extremity.
She flew about the Lady's Neck and cry'd,
Pardon me Lady, for I am satisfied;
Instead of succouring me, as I here stand,
I ought to die, dear Lady, by thy Hand. [8]
Poor object, then the Lady fair did say,
What Harm have you now ever done to me:
If you ever wrong'd me in Deed or Word,
I forgive you in the Name of the Lord.
She answer'd You are the Daughter of a Knight,
I was indeed his second Lady bright.
And your Step-mother, who basely used thee,
And sold thee for a Slave beyond the Seas.
The Lady hearing this she wept amain.
Saying, Mother dear, I pray your Grief refrain:
Although so cruel you did prove to me,
I am resolved to help and succour thee.
This Kindness made her Conscience fresh to fly.
Into her Face, to think on the Cruelty:
Then she relates the the Story of her Son,
And how the Gallows it did prove his Doom.
Well, Mother dear, replyed the Lady fair.
The Lord has bless'd me here with Riches store.
And I '11 relieve you while that I have Life,
For to a wealthy Merchant I am Wife.
In little Time the Mother broke her Heart,
Death put an End to all her Grief and Smart:
Step-mothers, and all that's left in Care,
Of Friendless Babes, be not to them severe.
For God does for your Infants in Distress,
He does behold them tho' they 're Motherless:
So let this be a Warning to you all.
That now does hear this cruel Lady's fall.
FINIS.
Remarks were made during the meeting by Messrs. Norcross
and TuTTLE.
l68 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [APRIL,
MEMOIR
OP
CHARLES RUSSELL CODMAN
By WILLIAM VAIL KELLEN.
Col. Charles Russell Codman was born on October 28,
1829, in Paris, France, where his parents, Charles Russell Cod-
man, the elder, and Ann McMaster Codman, while abroad were
temporarily residing. On his father's side he was of English
stock, being descended from Robert Codman, who appeared in
Salem in 1637, and from John Winslow, who came over in the
Fortune in 1623, and his wife Mary Chilton Winslow, who came
over in the Mayflower in 1620. His mother's ancestry was, on
her father's side, Scotch, and on her mother's, Dutch, through
both the Deys and the Van Buskirks. John and Mary Chilton
Winslow removed to Boston in 1657, and Stephen Codman, a
son of Richard, settled in Charlestown about 1680. John
Codman, a son of Stephen, married Parnell Foster, a great-
granddaughter of John and Mary Chilton Winslow. The min-
gling of these strains of blood, English, Scotch and Dutch,
produced a singularly vigorous, aggressive, and persistently
independent personality.
Colonel Codman's grandfather, John Codman, was a success-
ful Boston merchant, and his grandmother was the daughter of
James Russell, a solid citizen of Charlestown. The family
home was on Chestnut Street, well down the slope of Beacon
Hill, the spacious mansion being occupied in recent years for a
time by Edwin Booth and for many years by Hopkinson's
School. Time and the Hour, in a sketch of Colonel Codman at
the age of seventy, in its readable list of ''Famous Persons at
Home," has this to say about it:
%
TW^^
t^^^^^^. ///^^^^
I920.] CHARLES RUSSELL CODMAN. 169
The Codman family lived in that interesting house on Chestnut
Street, which stands sidewise, opening on its own garden. It was
ornamented with some of that purple glass which belonged to a
period when a certain quantity imported from Europe and used in
the best houses, developed this color owing to some impurity in the
manganese. Some folk nowadays think purple glass was significant
of the purple, or blue, blood of those who had it in their window
frames, and suppose it was an intentional distinction. The house
had a conservatory at the end of the garden — a rare thing in those
days — and a statue before the front door, while the interior pos-
sessed a handsome winding staircase and double suites of rooms on
either hand.
To this fine old house young Codman returned with his
parents and in it spent the years of his boyhood. After sharing
the instruction of Henry Cleveland, Judge Cushing, and Frank-
lin Forbes in Boston, he was sent to Flushing, Long Island, to
complete his preparation for college under Dr. Muhlenberg.
"The three years under that good man's influence" were said
to be "perhaps the most important of his life." In due course
he entered Harvard College and was graduated in the Class of
1849. He proceeded to study law in the office of Charles G.
Loring of Boston, a lawyer of wide practice and experience, and
was admitted to the bar in 1852. For the next ten years, like
many young men of his class and expectations, he did not en-
gage in a general practice of the law, but employed his pro-
fessional knowledge in the conduct of his own affairs, the
care of trust estates and the like. Independent in fortune,
the active years of his life thenceforward were devoted in
ample measure to furthering the interests of the public; as
churchman, as soldier, as Harvard man, and as a private citi-
zen he never failed to respond to the call of duty. With his
power of clear statement, of incisive argument and of forcible
oratory, if necessity had compelled, and, but for a certain aloof-
ness, if not coolness, of manner, Colonel Codman must have
gone far both at the bar and in the world of politics. With these
limitations, he yet never failed to respond to any genuine
and urgent call to serve his fellow men, and in one capacity
or another he was so engaged until the oncoming debility
of a very advanced age obliged him to retire from all such
activity.
lyo MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [ApRIL,
Colonel Codman's earliest public service was rendered as a
member of the Boston School Committee during 1861 and 1862.
Those opening years of the Civil War also found him with
other young Bostonians a member of the First Corps of Cadets,
the captain of a company and adjutant. The Cadets were
mustered into the service of the United States on May 26,
1862, and sent to Fort Warren in Boston Harbor to relieve
the garrison and to guard certain Southern gentlemen of dis-
tinction put there for safe-keeping. With them went Captain
Codman as adjutant. " Soon after the Cadets were mustered
out of service," writes a member of the Corps who served at
Fort Warren, " in July, 1862, a movement was made to organ-
ize a regiment of volunteers for service in the war, to be
officered by members of the Cadets. The regiment assembled
at Readville for drill and formation. Captain Codman was
the unanimous choice of the men for Colonel. While at Fort
Warren he had displayed abilities as captain and adjutant.
A strict disciphnarian, and a man of few words, he won the
respect and esteem of all the members of the Corps. At all
times just and impartial, courteous and dignified, he was the
type of a true soldier. No one would presume to be familiar
with him, and he was of a serious nature. It was his ability
and devotion that won for him the popularity he enjoyed."
This regiment, popularly known as the "Cadet Regiment,"
became the 45 th Regimient of Massachusetts Volunteers and
formed a part of the i8th Army Corps. It was engaged in the
minor battles of Vinton and Whitehall, in North Carolina.
Under his vigorous and efficient leadership, the regiment made
a creditable record throughout its term of service, and was
mustered out at the end of the enlistment period in July,
1863. This ended his military career.
Subsequently he entered upon a career of political activity,
which, while resulting only in part in his fiUing elective ofilce,
reflected all of it great credit upon him and was of benefit to
the cause of reform and clean politics generally. In 1864, he
was sent from his senatorial district by a discriminating elector-
ate to the General Court. He served in the Senate during the
session of that year, and again in the year following, with
credit, apparently, but without special prominence. Again,
after an interval of seven years, he was sent to the Legisla-
I920.] CHARLES RUSSELL CODMAN. 171
ture, this time to the House, where he served with unusual
credit and with increasing reputation from 1872 to 1875.
Colonel Codman's career in the Legislature, and subsequent
political activity, has been adequately and sympathetically
commented upon at length in a tribute rendered before this
Society by Mr. John T. Morse. ^ While Colonel Codman during
his two terms in the Senate did good work, in the House, as the
Chairman of the important Committee on the Judiciary, he was
a conspicuous success. "He was masterful," said Mr. Morse,
"but neither despotic nor hasty"; he kept "an endless proces-
sion of bills moving rapidly and smoothly; especially he showed
keen judgment and somewhat imperious decision in separating
those which deserved consideration from the rubbish which
belonged in the waste-basket"; "his manner was positive and
decided, but he was invariably fair-minded, patient of argu-
ment, open to persuasion, courteous and kindly." With a gift
of oratory "he did not once make what could be called a
speech," yet, speaking in a businesslike and straightforward
way, he influenced more votes "than could have been done by
any other half dozen of our would-be orators." "Six years of
service," continues Mr. Morse, "in the State legislative bodies
enabled a man of his energy and ability to accomplish a great
amount of useful work, and to win wide recognition and a high
reputation throughout the Commonwealth." Such a man, in-
dependent in fortune, with a genuine talent for pubhc work,
with an extraordinary ability to sway the minds of men to do the
right thing, coupled with a willingness divorced from self-
seeking to devote his time and energies to promoting the com-
mon weal, should have been kept continuously in the service
of the state and nation. His membership of the General Court,
however, marked the end of a promising career as a lawmaker
and office-holder.
After completing his last term in the Legislature Colonel
Codman went abroad with his family, and by reason of domestic
bereavement, did not return until 1878. In that year he began
a long and honorable career in the immediate service of his
alma mater. He first served as a member of the Board of Over-
seers of Harvard College for two terms of six years each, cover-
' Proceedings, Lii. 87.
172 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [APRIL,
ing the years 1878 to 1890 inclusive. It was proof at once of the
standing he had attained in the community at large, as well as
of the estimation in which he was held in the college world, that
upon his election in 1878 he was chosen president of the board
and filled that ofhce during the entire period of twelve years.
Ineligible for a year at the end of that time for reelection under
the statute, a year later, in 1891, he was promptly reelected to
the board for another six years. During the interim before this
last election, the Hon. Solomon Lincoln was made president
and was not superseded in that ofhce when Colonel Codman
was elected for a third term. For these eighteen years of his
life, Colonel Codman devoted his energies without stint to
advancing and conserving the interests of Harvard University.
A member of the Board of Overseers during the service of
Colonel Codman as President writes of him that he remembered
"several strenuous debates in the Overseers in my time, and
Colonel Codman always showed to advantage as a presiding
ofhcer, ready, decided, courteous," and that while he "never
had occasion to listen to the Colonel as a debater," having left
the board in 1890, he had understood that "he took a prominent
part in the meetings of his final term of service."
The same year that marked his entrance into the peaceful
oversight of academic affairs also found Colonel Codman drawn
into the strife of municipal politics. In 1878, he accepted the
Republican nomination for the mayoralty of Boston. His
Democratic opponent was Frederic O. Prince, a respectable
lawyer, an amiable gentleman of the old school, and a traditional
politician of the elder Democratic type. Meanwhile, Colonel
Codman had become an independent Republican, was a reformer
of sorts, and, especially, what was anathema to the spoilsmen, a
civil service reformer, so that the odds were all against him in
this attempt to purify city politics. In spite of these political
drawbacks, he made a great fight, Mr. Prince becoming mayor
by a very small margin of votes.
In 1880, Colonel Codman rendered a signal service to the
cause of civil service reform, of which he was a consistent and
ardent advocate, and but for which the merit system might
have received a serious set-back at the hands of the spoilsmen.
He was sent as a delegate to the Republican Convention of
1880 at Chicago. The Committee on Resolutions, in a majority
I920.] CHARLES RUSSELL CODMAN. 1 73
report, made no reference to the vital question of civil service
reform, but on the floor of the Convention, James M. Barker of
Pittsfield, afterwards Mr. Justice Barker of the Supreme Judi-
cial Court, moved an amendment committing the party to it.
Objections were made, and, says Mr. James Ford Rhodes:
"The result looked uncertain, but Charles R. Codman, another
Massachusetts delegate, made a vigorous remonstrance against
an indicated tendency to shelve the subject, and, after some
further discussion, the Civil Service Reform plank was adopted
by a viva voce vote."
It was, however, in the Blaine Campaign of 1884 that Colonel
Codman rendered his most notable pohtical service to the
country, and added greatly to his own reputation as a sturdy
fighter and consistent reformer. It was very largely due to him
and his fellow "Mugwumps," particularly to his combination
in his own person of fighting capacity and shrewd political
management, that Grover Cleveland was elected President. For
the first time in a presidential campaign the vital issues were
the Spoils System versus the Merit System, and Bribery and
Corruption versus Purity, in the administration of national
affairs. Many upright and leading Republicans decided to
support Mr. Blaine, and clean house afterwards within the
Republican Party; not so Colonel Codman and his independent
associates. A meeting was held in New York of Independents
and Civil Service Reformers, at the old University Clubhouse in
Madison Square, and an organization was effected. Colonel
Codman made a ringing speech of protest and defiance, and the
campaign was launched. "The Committee of One Hundred,"
as the executive committee of the Mugwump movement was
called, was formed, and Colonel Codman was made a member.
His services on this committee in furthering and directing the
campaign were brilliant and preeminent. He was a veritable
Boanerges of the platform, his hammerlike oratory dealing
smashing blows at the forces of reaction and corruption. His
was not to "tickle the ears of the groundlings" through stump-
speech oratory, but by appeals to the independent judgment of
a sufficient number of lightly held party men of reforming pro-
clivities to turn the election. In voice, manner and matter, he
was a bold and most impressive speaker; disdaining the gentle
art of persuasion, he flayed his opponents by forceful statement
174 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [ApRIL,
and unanswerable argument. At his best, no more effective
speaker ever mounted an American platform, but it must be
conceded that his oratory swayed an audience in the proportion
that intelligence and thoughtfulness predominated in it. As a
result of this presidential campaign Colonel Codman became a
Cleveland Democrat, but sturdily refused to accept office
under the new Administration.
Later, in 1885, in the campaign in Massachusetts against
the reelection of Benjamin F. Butler as Governor, Colonel
Codman's type of oratory, freely exhibited on many a platform,
played an important part in the overthrow of that prince of
demagogues and in the election of George D. Robinson.
Only once more did Colonel Codman enter the political field
as a candidate for public office. He appeared for the first time
as a Democratic candidate, but for a second time in the familiar
role of leader of a forlorn hope. He had taken up his legal resi-
dence at Cotuit on Cape Cod, his summer home, subsequent to
which, in 1890, he was induced to accept a nomination for
Congress as a tariff reformer on the Democratic ticket from the
Cape District. The district was overwhelmingly Repubfican
and his opponent for the seat was a staunch and much-respected
citizen of the city of New Bedford. Yet here again in the cause
of tariff reform, and of other reform issues. Colonel Codman
displayed the same vote-getting qualities in his appeals to the
reason and sober sense of his audiences, and though his gallant
fight did not win for him a seat in Congress but resulted
in his defeat, he was not disgraced. This campaign marked
the end of his political career and henceforth he was content
to lead the life of a "typical, honored, independent citizen,"
though in other walks he continued in the service of his
fellows.
Colonel Codman was a Hfelong and devout member of
the Episcopal Church, and served as a vestryman, and success-
ively as Junior Warden and Senior Warden, of Trinity Church
in the City of Boston for upwards of fifty years. He was elected
a vestryman for the first time at the annual meeting of the Pro-
prietors on Easter Monday, April 22, 1867. He became Junior
Warden on April 14, 1873, ^^^ Senior Warden on April 4, 1904,
rounding out his faithful service to the parish in that capacity
in his 89th year on March 28, 191 7. He rarely missed the
I920.] CHARLES RUSSELL CODMAN. 1 75
yearly meeting of the Proprietors on Easter Monday, and pre-
sided over that meeting as Senior Warden and at the meetings
of the Vestry with great dignity. He was a great admirer and
staunch friend of PhilHps Brooks, and when as Warden it
became his special care he showed a constant interest and took
great pride in the upkeep of the fine church on Copley Square
which is that great preacher's monument. It was only when
declining years and failing powers made the burden and re-
sponsibility of the position too heavy that, at the close of his
fiftieth year of service, he finally rehnquished the ofhce of
Senior Warden.
Colonel Codman was elected to membership in this Society
on April 13, 1893. He served on the Council during the years
1896-1898 inclusive, presenting its report to the Society for
the year last named. Thereafter, he served the Society on the
House Committee from 1899 to 1905 inclusive. His attendance
upon the meetings of the Society and his service on Committees
showed his interest in its work, and he frequently took part
in the proceedings. At the May meeting of 1895 he rendered
a tribute to the Hon. Leverett Saltonstall, and subsequently
wrote a memoir of him which in depicting the independent and
non-partisan attitude while in ofhce of that fine man and
conscientious public servant might well be taken as an auto-
biographic sketch of his own rule of conduct towards public
affairs. In October, 191 1, he paid feeling tribute to his class-
mate, Gamaliel Bradford, and again, in November, 1913, as he
was rounding out his 84th year, a like tribute to Thornton K.
Lothrop, another classmate.
For many years, while that militant organization, the
Massachusetts Reform Club, was doing effective educational
work in civics and politics. Colonel Codman was an active
participating member, and for a time served as its president.
He was also a member of the Massachusetts Commandery of the
Loyal Legion. He was at one time President of the Massa-
chusetts State Homeopathic Hospital and of the Boston Provi-
dent Association; he was also a Trustee of the State Insane
Asylum in Westborough.
Colonel Codman during the last years of his long and useful
life lived during the winter in Brookline, but passed his summers
at Cotuit on the south side of Cape Cod, where he died in
176 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [APRIL.
his 89th year on October 5, 1918. He was survived by three
sons and two daughters, Russell Sturgis Codman, John Sturgis
Codman, JuHan Codman, Ann McMaster, wife of Henry B.
Cabot of BrookHne, and Susan Welles, wife of Redington Fiske
of Needham.
I920.] GIFTS TO THE SOCIETY. 1 77
MAY MEETING.
THE stated meeting was held on Thursday, the 13th instant,
at three o'clock, P. M. In the absence of the President,
the first Vice-President, Mr. Warren, occupied the chair.
The record of the last meeting was read and accepted.
The Librarian reported
The gift of a rare tract, A Table for the ready turning any old Tenor
Sum, into Lawful Motiey, Boston, 1750, a pamphlet of sixteen pages,
from Dr. Jameson, a Corresponding Member. It bears the names,
in writing, of Elijah Wyman and Samuel E. Wyman, Woburn,
November 27, 1793. The Library already had similar tables, printed
in 1750, one a pamphlet of twelve pages, and the other a broadside.
The Librarian also reported the addition, by purchase, of The Eng-
lish Physitian Enlarged, by Nicholas Culpeper, London, 1656.
The Cabinet-Keeper reported the following accessions:
From Henry W. Cunningham, a drawing made by D. W. Cun-
ningham in August, 1849, of the front elevation of the residence of
his grandfather, Andrew Cunningham, 25 Mt. Vernon Street, Bos-
ton, who lived there from 1829 until his death in December, 1861,
and whose widow continued to live there until her death in March,
1879. This house, built of brick, stood between Temple and Han-
cock Streets, and was torn down to make way for the extension of
the State House. No. 23 was occupied by George P. Upham, and
later Ezra Farnsworth; No. 27, by Peter Thacher Homer; and No.
29, on the corner of Hancock Street, not shown in the drawing, by
Ozias Goodwin.
From Edwin H. Brigham, a photograph of a portrait of Rev.
Samuel Mather, in possession of the Second Church, Boston.
From Mr. Norcross, a photograph of the old Wolcott Mansion,
Litchfield, Conn.; one of the Block House of Fort Pitt, Pittsburgh,
Pa., built in 1764; one of William Ellery, a signer of the Declaration
of Independence; and an engraving of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, made
for the Prince Society from a rare print in Holland's Herwologia
Anglica, 1620.
By exchange, a piece of Bryan Money, bearing on one side "Sound
1 78 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May,
Money," and on the other a United States eagle displayed; the rare
Confederate half-dollar minted in New Orleans in 1861; five Wash-
ington medals, seventeen medals of Grant, fifty-six of Lincoln, and
fifteen miscellaneous; thirty-four Railroad checks; and thirty-nine
embossed store cards. These include the rare "slave check" of
Charleston, S. C.
From J. H. Storer, one hundred and fifteen coins and medals.
The Corresponding Secretary reported the receipt of a letter
from Fitz-Henry Smith, Jr., of Boston, accepting his election
as a Resident Member of the Society.
The Corresponding Secretary also reported the death of
Paul Fredericq, a Corresponding Member of the Society, at
Ghent, Belgium, on March 30.
The Editor reported the following accessions of Mss. :
By gift: from Henry Savage, a large collection of papers of Sam-
uel Phillips Savage, 1711-1795, and of Charles Savage, 1800-1840.
Samuel Phillips Savage was in a temporary trading partnership
with David Jeffries in 1741, but soon became independent. He had
commercial connections with Canada, Connecticut and London.
In the War for Independence he was a member of the Massachusetts
Board of War. While the papers are largely of a mercantile char-
acter there are abundant evidences of his interest in religion, in
public events, detailed in letters to his wife, and in the welfare of
his brother, Arthur, a loyalist residing in England after 1776.
Charles Savage, a grandson of Samuel Phillips Savage, was a mer-
chant in New Orleans, associated with his brother, W. H. Savage
in St. Louis, and later was Consul of the United States in Guatemala.
Some official publications of Guatemala are interesting.
From Dr. Edward H. Bradford, minutes kept by his grandfather,
Charles Hickling, of the proceedings of a Committee of Vigilance
formed in Roxbury to afford refuge and protection to nuns on the
burning of the convent in Charlestown, December, 1834.
From Mrs. Charles H. Joy, two papers on the Old Brick Meet-
ing House in Cornhill, 1807-09.
From Miss Virginia Stockwell, papers of Timothy Tileston (1782-
1866) of Boston.
From Frank J. Wilder, a ms. Journal of E. W. Arnold, Jr., of
Chelsea, 1849-185 2. He records that he was twenty-four years of
age January 3, 1852, the date of the last entry in the volume.
From Miss Mary E. Haven, six commercial papers of William
Ballard of Framingham.
I920.] GIFTS TO THE SOCIETY. 179
From George U. Crocker, a photograph of an inscription on a
pane of glass in the window of the old tavern in East Saugus, and
of a note upon it by Joseph Ballard.
By deposit: from Mrs. Morton Dexter, a letter of Nathaniel
Morton of Pl}Tnouth, to Thomas Prence, April 2, 1658, and the
pleadings of Thomas Dexter in his case against Nahant, August 24,
1657-
From William B. Clarke, a paper on Col. John Brown by Henry
Van Schaick and a memoir of him by Murray Nelson.
From Dr. Arthur W. H. Eaton, copies of letters from Harrison
Gray to Miss Catherine Byles, 1 784-1 788.
Mr. W. Warren also reported, on behalf of Mr. F. W. Denton,
of Cambridge, the gift of a letter-book of Hector McNeill,
appointed captain of the Boston by the Continental Congress
in October, 1776, being third on the list and ranked only by
James Nicholson and John Manley. The material relates to
his command of the Boston, a ship of twenty-four guns. He is
known for his sharp criticism of Manley.
Francis Russell Hart, of Boston, was elected a Resident
Member of the Society.
Mr. Brooks Adams gave an outline of an essay on the devel-
opment of the trust idea in property, to be printed later.
Mr. Stanwood called attention to some amusing entries in
the Journal of the House of Representatives of Massachusetts,
1715-1717, recently published by the Society.
Mr. Dowse presented a copy of Gradus ad Parnassum,
London, 17 13, once owned by John Lowell and bought by his
father. Rev. Edmond Dowse, of Sherborn, in 1827, and used
by himself when he entered Harvard College in 1869. He gave
an account of earlier associations with the Lowell family, and^
of his own appreciation of the work when at College.
Mr. TuTTLE read the following letter from Mr. Washburn:
Worcester, May 10, 1920.
Dear Mr. Tuttle: On March 13, 1919, I presented to the Society
a collection of framed photographs of Boston men who were in the
Civil War. The collection contains two rows of photographs, six
in the upper and six in the lower. Those upon the upper row are:
James Jackson Higginson, Cabot Jackson Russell, William Lowell
Putnam, Charles Russell Lowell, Henry S. Russell, Stephen G.
Perkins; those in the lower row are: Wilder Dwight, James Savage,
l8o MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May,
Jr., James Jackson Lowell, Robert Gould Shaw, Charles Russell
Lowell, Henry Lee Higginson.
There are two photographs of Charles Russell Lowell, the one
in the upper row is of the head only, that in the lower is two-thirds
length. Upon the back of the framed collection is the following
inscription. "Presented to Charles G. Washburn of Worcester by
Miss Elizabeth C. Putnam of Boston, and by him presented to the
Massachusetts Historical Society on March 13, 1919." It had been
my intention, which unfortunately was not effected, to get Major
Higginson, the last survivor of the group, to speak about these men.
Upon the stone shaft at Soldier's Field in Cambridge is the follow-
ing inscription:
To the Happy Memory of
James Savage Stephen George Perkins
Charles Russell Lowell James Jackson Lowell
Edward Barry Dalton Robert Gould Shaw
Friends, Comrades, Kinsmen who died for their Country, this
field is dedicated by Henry Lee Higginson.
Though love repine and reason chafe
There came a voice without reply,
'T is man's perdition to be safe
When for the truth he ought to die.
In Hero Tales from American History, published in 1895, by Theo-
dore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge, is the story of Charles
Russell Lowell's life by Senator Lodge, preceded by the following
quotation from James Russell Lowell:
"Wut's wurds to them whose faith an' truth
On war's red techstone rang true metal,
Who ventered life an' love an' youth
For the gret prize o' death in battle?
To him who, deadly hurt, agen
Flashed on afore the charge's thunder,
Tippin' with fire the bolt of men
Thet rived the rebel line asunder?"
Senator Lodge quotes General Sheridan as saying: "I do not
think there was a quality which I could have added to Lowell. He
was the perfection of a man and a soldier."
Miss Putnam has recently published a small volume entitled,
Memoirs of the War of ^61 — Colonel Charles Russell Lowell, Friends
and Cousins, which I take great pleasure in presenting, in her behalf,
to the Society. It contains sketches of all the men who appear in
I920.] COMMITTEES OF THE SOCIETY. l8l
the framed collection of photographs. The following is the dedi-
cation: "To the young men of 19 17 who so nobly risked their hopes
of future usefulness, their health, their lives, to stand side by side
with our Allies against tyranny and injustice abroad; to those who
fell, and to those who survived to whom the future of our own coun-
try is now intrusted, — this collection of brief memoirs of the young
men of 1861 is dedicated." Yours sincerely,
C. G. Washburn.
Announcement was made of the appointment of the follow-
ing Committees:
House Committee: J. Collins Warren, Grenville H.
NoRCROSS, and Julius H. Tuttle.
Finance Committee: Winslow Warren, Grenville H.
NoRCROSS, and Charles P. Greenough.
Committee to publish the Proceedings: Henry Cabot Lodge,
James Ford Rhodes, and Edward Stanwood.
It was voted that the income of the Massachusetts Historical
Trust Fund for the last financial year be retained in the Treas-
ury, to be expended in such objects as may seem desirable to
the Council of the Society.
Remarks were made during the meeting by Messrs. Storer
and Wendell.
l82 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May,
MEMOIR
OF
HENRY FITCH JENKS
By CHARLES EDWARDS PARK.
Henry Fitch Jenks was born in Boston 19 October, 1842,
the son of John Henry and Mary Rand (Fitch) Jenks. His
father was a publisher. His grandfather, Rev. Wilham Jenks,
was minister of the Green Street Church, Boston.
He secured his education at the Boston Latin School, and
at Harvard, where he took his Bachelor of Arts in 1862, and his
Master of Arts in 1866, on graduating from the Divinity School.
On 10 April, 1867, he was ordained to the ministry and in-
stalled over the First Parish, Fitchburg, Mass. After trying
out his powers in brief pastorates in Fitchburg, Charleston,
S. C, Revere, and Lawrence, INIass., he finally found his life
work and his permanent home in Canton, Mass., where he was
settled I July, 1885, and where he remained through about
twenty years of active and fruitful labor, followed by fifteen
years of increasing ill health as Pastor Emeritus, until his
death, 31 January, 1920.
Boston was not alone his birthplace, but ever remained his
spiritual home. His interests were metropolitan. He was es-
sentially a city dweller, and all the activities, the busy sights and
sounds, the industry and alertnessof a great city, were dear to his
soul. His settlement in Canton was a peculiarly happy one, in
that he was thus enabled to gratify one of the deeper tastes of
his nature. To vegetate in rural detachment would never have
suited him. He must be in the mid-current of human living.
At the same time, it is doubtful if urban life in any other
citv would have meant a tithe of what Boston life meant to
I920.] HENRY FITCH JENKS. 1 83
him. It was perhaps not that he loved city life, so much as
that he loved Boston. Its physical charm, its long and honor-
able history, its countless venerable institutions, both charitable
and antiquarian, its intellectual vigor, its quaint provincialisms,
its general atmosphere of age, and continuity, and solid self-
respect — in all these ways the city made its appeal to him,
and supplied the soil in which his nature took deepest root and
found its most congenial nourishment. His election to the
Massachusetts Historical Society was one of the happiest and
proudest events in his life.
First and last, he was a member in something like forty-six
of Boston's literary, historical, philanthropic or professional
societies and associations. Of this number fully one quarter
are especially indebted to him not alone for an interested
membership, but for genuine downright service in some official
capacity, either as secretary, vice president or director. And
those who have had experience, well know how ardent and
valuable such official service can be; how exacting and at the
same time how thankless. Mr. Jenks had an unusual capacity
for just such necessary, unrewarded service. In his hands it
never became perfunctory, slipshod, careless. More than one
of our venerable institutions owes its orderliness and well-being
to the scrupulous fidelity and painstaking care of his manage-
ment. And more than one of his associates will ever cherish a
mental photograph of Mr. Jenks the secretary, as he hurries
into an annual meeting, (they are usually crowded into the
month of May,) his face streaming with perspiration, a bag of
record books under his arm, and a faint all-inclusive smile of
greeting on his face. His bag contains the records of the
meeting he has just left, and the meeting he has still to attend,
but he picks out the right book at once and opens it to show
that all is in order: the records are written up, the items of
business duly set forth, the various sub-committees have been
forewarned of the reports expected from them, there is no hitch
or delay. He had a genius for the work. He was a great saver
of time to his grateful associates.
Here are some of the offices he held.
Boston Provident Association, manager.
Boston Latin School Association, director, and vice president.
184 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May,
Boston Lying-in Hospital, secretary, member of corporation.
Mass. Infant Asylum, director and vice president.
Mass. Evangelical Missionary Society, secretary'.
Mass. Convention of Congregational Ministers, treasurer.
Mass. Congregational Charitable Society, secretary.
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, Piety, and Charity,
secretary.
Young Men's Benevolent Association, director.
Home for Aged Women in Boston, director.
Home for Aged Men in Boston, member of Corporation.
Canton Public Library, trustee for seventeen years.
Class of 1863, Harvard, secretary 1902-1912.
He was a member of the American Antiquarian Society, and the
last surviving Charter member of the Bostonian Society.
He was made honorary member of the Phi Beta Kappa, at
Harvard.
As a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, to
which he was elected 10 February, 1881, he assisted in editing
the Letters between General Washington and Governor Trum-
bull, (5 Collections, x) ; was one of the committee to print Let-
ters of Jonathan Belcher, (6 Collections vi, vii); and also the
Trumbull Papers, (7 Collections 11, iii). He was appointed
Cabinet-Keeper in 1898.
Mr. Jenks traveled widely and with great and intelligent
enjoyment. He knew America exceptionally well, for a New
Englander. With the American Library Association, of which
he was a devoted member, he made several trips: In 1887, down
the St. Lawrence, to Halifax, through the "Evangeline Coun-
try;" in 1889, down the Mississippi to New Orleans, and home
via Mobile, Nashville, Chattanooga, Mammoth Cave; in 1891,
across the Continent; in 1897, to England, Scotland and
France, and in 1902, a six weeks' sojourn in England.
He liked to be able to say that he had visited all but ten
states in the Union, and had virtually circumnavigated that
portion of the country which lies East of the Mississippi.
He was married in Boston, i March, 1881, to Lavinia Hath-
away Angier, daughter of Oakes Angier of Belfast, Maine.
There are three sons: Henry Angier, born November 17, 1882;
Charles Fitch, born February 12, 1884, and Frederic Angier,
born December 3, 1886.
I920.] GIFTS TO THE SOCIETY. 185
JUNE MEETING.
THE stated meeting was held on Thursday, the loth instant,
at three o'clock, p. m. In the absence of the Presi-
dent, and the first Vice-President, the second Vice-President,
Mr. Rhodes, occupied the chair.
The record of the last meeting was read and approved.
The librarian reported accessions;
From Mrs. Kingsmill Marrs, several additions to the Kingsmill
Marrs collection of English history and biography, among which
are a presentation copy of Richard Sims' Handbook of the Library
of the British Museum, 1854; R. W. Huntley's Chavenage, A Tale
of the Cotswolds, 1648, London, 1845; and Fenwick-Metcalfe's Visi-
tations of Gloucester, 1682-3, privately printed in 1884.
From Miss Sarah K. Burgess, of Dedham, two rare volumes,
Matthew Mead's The Almost Christian Discovered, 14th edition,
Boston, 1730, bearing the autograph signature, "Hannah Heuens
Her Book 1741"; and Thomas Gwin's A brief narration of the Life
and Sufferings of John Peters, who lived and suffered persecution in
England, with the hope "to Transport himself and his Family to
America," printed in 1709, having the autograph signature "Frances
Daves hir Book."
From the Union Club, Boston, a collection of magazines and
newspapers, 1918 to 1920.
The Cabinet-Keeper reported the following accessions:
From W. Sturgis Bigelow, a sword said to have belonged to King
George III, bought by Dr. Bigelow in London thirty years ago.
The mountings of the sword are silver gilt, and show that it was
probably part of a royal uniform, to be worn, however, in the char-
acter of a king, and not as honorary colonel or general of a foreign
army.
From Miss Ada A. Gilbert, of Brighton, a crayon portrait of Rev.
Andrew Leete Stone (1815-92, Yale, 1837), minister of Park Street
Church, Boston, 1849-61, made by her sister. Miss Helen Sewall
Gilbert, a member of that Church.
From Miss Emma Rodman, a lithograph of Rev. Francis William
l86 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
Pitt Greenwood, printed in colors by William Sharp in 1840, exe-
cuted at the request of the Congregation of King's Chapel ; a litho-
graph of John Thornton Kirkland, by Pendleton, after Gilbert
Stuart; and an engraving of Daniel Webster by J. Cheney and
R. W. Dodson after Richard M. Staigg.
From Mrs. Kingsniill Marrs, a photograph of Queen Victoria,
in the sixtieth year of her reign ; of Queen Elizabeth of Wlirtemburg,
about 1903; and of members of the royal family of Italy, 1875 and
1900; and of the YD parade in Boston.
From Mrs. Frances W. Porter, a gold watch, and fob with seal,
which were worn by her grandfather, James Savage (i 784-1 873),
our former associate and President. The watch was made by Louis
Mallet, Horloger du Due d'Orleans, Paris, and is numbered 503.
The seal consists of the initials "I. S." within the legend "Vitam
impendere vero."
From Mary Baker Strong and Caroline C. Burlen, of Cambridge,
a silhouette, by Doyle, of Elijah Corey, from whom Corey Hill,
Brookline, was named; and an old-fashioned watch carried by him.
From Dr. James Brown Thornton, of Boston, a piece of wood
from the manor house at Scrooby, brought home by John Wingate
Thornton, and several coins from the Plain of Abraham, Quebec.
From Mr. Norcross, an impression on wax of a seal, showing the
head of Napoleon, said to have been given by him to one of his officers,
and which is now in the possession of George Clarendon Hodges.
From F. H. Shumway, a badge of the Vineyard Chapter, Royal
Arch, and one of the Lodge of Odd Fellows, 1920.
From John H. Storer, a collection of coins and medals.
From Charles P. Greenough, a number of coins and Mexican notes.
By purchase: a portrait of Elizabeth Oliver (173 8-1 820), who
married Edward Lyde, March 18, 1772, painted by Copley.
By deposit: from James Brown Thornton, a gold watch,
formerly owned by James Brown Thornton, of Boston, Merchant,
and a ring once a part of the watch chain of his father, Dr. Thomas
Gilbert Thornton, of Boston, who was United States Marshal of
the District of Maine.
The Corresponding Secretary reported the receipt of a letter
from Francis Russell Hart, accepting his election as a Resident
Member of the Society.
The Editor reported the following accessions:
From Francis R. Hart, eleven photostat prints of charts, colored
like the originals in his possession, showing the shifting positions of
1920.] GIFTS TO THE SOCIETY. 187
the English and French fleets off the island of Dominica, on April 9
and 12, 1782, with a list of the British ships engaged and their flags
and signals. The English fleet was commanded by Rodney, the
French, by De Grasse. The action of the 9th was inconclusive, and
the refusal of Rodney to pursue after his victory on the 12th in-
volved him in a controversy with Hood. These plans, of great
detail and technical finish, were prepared to illustrate the movements
of the fleet on the days of battle.
From Mrs. Adalbert Ames and Mrs. Paul Butler of Lowell, a card
index to all references to General Benjamin Franklin Butler found in
the Boston Public Library. This index, remarkable for its size and
completeness, was prepared by Henry Jefferson Moulton,and contains
some 25,000 entries, covering every phase of General Butler's long
and not uneventful career in public life. It will serve as an index
to political and military history for a half century, and only an ex-
amination of it will indicate its scope. The sole condition attached
to this gift is that it shall be freely open to students of history.
From Miss Ruth K. Richardson of Boston, a series of letters
written by Rev. Joseph Warren (1765-1815) of Plymouth, to his
college classmate, Rev. Thomas Gray of Jamaica Plain, from 1792-
18 10, some sixty in number. Miss Richardson is the great-grand-
daughter of Rev. Mr. Gray.
From Miss Emma Rodman, certificates of membership of her
father, Samuel William Rodman, in the Bunker Hill Monument
Association, 1833, and in the Pilgrim Society, 1835.
From William C. Endicott, a "Characteristic Epitaph upon
James Sullivan, who died at Shirley, June, 1787," of unknown
authorship.
From Miss Susanna Willard, two letters, written in April, 1873,
descriptive of the division of the Henry Knox papers between
Francis S. Drake and Henry K. Thacher.
From James Brown Thornton, a receipt, dated May 11, 1802,
signed by Thomas G. Thornton.
By purchase: A diary kept by Rev. Hezekiah Smith (i 737-1805)
of Haverhill, August i, 1773, to April 28, 1778. It is "bound" in a
broadsheet of Harvard "Quaestiones," 1772.
The Vice-President announced a bequest of $3,000 from the
estate of James Schouler, long our associate as a Resident and a
Corresponding Member, the income of which is to be used for
the purchase of historical manuscripts.
The Vice-President also announced the gift of $10,000 ac-
companied by the following letter:
1 88 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
To the President and Council of the
Massachusetts Historical Society
Boston, Massachusetts.
Gentlemen :
It gives me great pleasure to present from m)'self and my brothers,
Grenville Lindall and Beekman, to the Massachusetts Historical
Society Ten thousand Dollars as follows:
Frederic Winthrop, in Memory of Robert Dudley Winthrop $2,500
Grenville Lindall Winthrop 2,500
Frederic Winthrop 2,500
Beekman Winthrop 2,500
$10,000
to establish a Fund in Memory of our father, Robert Winthrop, to
be known as the Robert Winthrop Fund. The principal of this
Fund is to be invested and kept invested, and the income only to
be used for the publication of papers written by Members of the
Winthrop Family, or of papers relating to the Winthrop Family in
Massachusetts and in Connecticut, or of research relating to the
Winthrop Family in England before or during the Great Puritan
Emigration to New England in the Seventeenth Century.
Should desirable material for such publication or research not be
available during any year or term of years, the income shall be al-
lowed to accumulate during such year or term of years until the
income so accumulated shall amount in the aggregate to Ten thou-
sand Dollars. These accumulations shall then be added to the
principal, and the principal so increased shall be regarded as a new
principal, which shall be invested and kept invested, and the income
only used for such purposes of the Society as the President and
Council of the Society shall from time to time determine — prefer-
ence always to be given to the purposes for which this fund originally
was established. Very truly yours,
Frederic Winthrop.
The Vice-President then announced that Mr. Schouler's
bequest, and the gift from Frederic Winthrop and his brothers,
had been accepted by the Council on the terms and conditions
as stated.
Mr. Ford stated that the Winthrop collection of manuscripts,
given to the Society by Robert C. Winthrop, Sr.,and Robert C.
Winthrop, Jr., constitutes the largest and most valuable collec-
tion of early colonial papers in existence. No other colony can
I920.] LETTERS OF JOHN ELIOT. 189
show SO numerous, so important in themselves, or so widely
related a series of letters, extending through five generations of
men prominent in public affairs. Apart from the family
interest, they possess great historical value, and hardly a name
of moment in the first fifty years of New England history
cannot be found in some form and often in a long series of com-
munications. Though six volumes of selected letters have been
printed, they do not begin to touch the material available. This
generous gift now places it in the power of the Society to make
a complete and systematic publication of the known Winthrop
material, and thus fitly rounds out the gift of the manuscripts.
Robert Means Lawrence, of Boston, was elected a Resident
Member of the Society.
Edwin Francis Gay, of New York, was elected a Corre-
sponding Member of the Society.
Mr. NoRCROSS then spoke as follows:
Soon after the great Boston fire in November, 1872, the fol-
lowing letter was received by registered mail by Mayor Gaston
and turned over to my father who was the Treasurer of the
Fire Relief fund:
Graham's, S. C.
Nov. 18 1872
To the Mayor and Aldermen
of Boston, Mass.
Gentlemen —
Enclosed please find One Thousand Dollars for the benefit of
Those who were burned out at the recent fire.
Hopeing This ^\^I1 be rec'd with the true feeling, we are Gentlemen
Very truly
Yours etc
Ex Confederate Soldiers.
The sum of One Thousand Dollars was enclosed — in Confed-
erate hills!! I give the letter and the bills to the Society for
preservation with other memorials of the Summer Street Fire
Fund already in its possession.
Mr. WiNSHiP submitted a note on
Letters of John Eliot, the Apostle.
The Society's publications contain two series of letters
written by John Eliot, printed in one case with no clue to show
igo MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUXE,
where they came from, and in the other with this information,
but without the important additional fact that the originals are
still extant.
The first group consists of 9 letters written between 1670
and 1688 to Robert Boyle, Governor of the New England Com-
pany, the English missionary society which supplied most of the
money used by Eliot during the latter half of his hfe. These
form an important part of the third volume of the Society's
Collections, issued in 1794, and were taken from the Appendix
to Thomas Birch's Life of Boyle, London, 1744, pp. 430-449.
The other series of letters, written to Boyle and to Henry
Ashurst, the Treasurer of the Company, are included in the
Proceedings for November, 1879, having been crowded out of
the second volume of "Early Proceedings,'" where they would
naturally have appeared, under the date of July, 1852, when the
copies were given to the Society. These are printed from a
square memorandum book into which they were copied by
"John Waddington, pastor of the church formed by Henry
Jacob in Southwark," and are attested under seal of the legation
of the United States by Abbott Lawrence, who certifies that he
"has seen the original of the copies . . . and that the copies
are true." He might have added that the originals, presum-
ably at any rate then, as now, belonged in the archives of the
Company, which is still an active missionary organization.
They were again printed in 1896 by Governor John W. Ford
of the Company, in a volume with the title:
Some Correspondence between the Governors and Treasurers
of the New England Company in London and the Commissioners
of the United Colonies in America, the Missionaries of the Company
and others Between the Years 1657 and 17 12, to which are added
the Journals of the Rev. Experience Mayhew in 1713 and 1714,
Printed from the Originals in the possession of the New England
Company by Spottiswoode & Co., London, 1896. Privately printed.
In the Proceedings, the first letter is addressed to "Mr.
Hord," and in Some Correspondence the name is given as
"Lloyd," but the actual recipient was Richard Floyd, who
was Treasurer of the English corporation during the first ten
years of its existence, coincident with the period of the
Protectorate.
I920.] LETTERS OF JOHN ELIOT. IQI
The first volume of the Collections, 1792, contains another
document which belongs with these letters. This is Major
Daniel Gookin's Historical Collections of the Indians, written in
1674. This is printed from the original author's copy, belonging
to the Society. Gookin's work was intended to be a continua-
tion of the series of Eliot Indian Tracts, which now ends with
the Brief Narrative of 1 67 1 . Another copy of his manuscript was
submitted to the Company in London and at a meeting on
March 24, 1674-75, was referred to a Committee with instruc-
tions to consider it, and if they thought fit, to prepare it for
the press. The news of the outbreak of King Philip's war put
an end to this scheme for reviving interest among the contribu-
tors to the Society's missionary funds, and the manuscript
sent to England disappeared. The Society's copy contains the
names of two of Gookin's descendants, and a note that in 1741
it was offered as evidence to the Commissioners who were de-
termining the Massachusetts-Rhode Island boundary.
Gookin was not deterred by the fate of his first venture, and
wrote another lengthy narrative for the Company, giving an
account of the Indian War of 1675-76. This was likewise sub-
mitted, presumably, for publication. An English Clergyman
loaned it to the Rev. Mr. Campbell of Pittsburg, who loaned
it to Jared Sparks. Sparks copied it, and from his transcript
it was printed in the second Archaeologia Americana of the
American Antiquarian Society, in 1836.
One other fact ought to be recorded in the publications, al-
though this likewise is eighty-five years late to do much good.
When in 1834, in 3 Collections, iv, the publication committee
printed what it thought was the "entire series" of the Eliot
Indian Tracts, it left out the last three: A further Accompt, of
1659; A further Account, of 1660; and A Brief Narrative, of 1671.
Another matter which it may be well to put on record , in
connection with the foregoing, is that four letters from Eliot
to the Rev. Jonathan Hanmer, were issued in facsimile by the
late Theodore N. Vail in 191 5, and that three of them were also
printed, from copies made before the originals were sold out of
England, in 1919, in the Bulletin of the John Ry lands Library,
Manchester.
The earlier volumes of the Society's publications contain a
good many documents which were printed without note or
192 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
comment to show where the originals may be seen or how they
came to the attention of the pubHcation committee. At that
time, when historical investigators rarely looked beyond what
was written on a paper, and had not reached the point of
realizing that the way an old document chanced to be preserved
is often quite as significant as anything it contains, such
economy of editorial effort was nothing one could object to.
Now that rather more is expected, it will perhaps save some
one else a little time, and contribute to the completeness of the
Society's publication record, to insert these memoranda even
though a century too late to be really useful.
Mr. TuTTLE submitted a paper on
The Glasgow-Weekly-History, 1743.
The Society has recently obtained by purchase a copy of
The I Glasgow-Weekly-History | Relating to the | Late Progress |
of the I Gospel | At Home and Abroad; | Being | A Collection of Let-
ters, partly reprin- | ted from the London- Weekly-History,^ | and
partly printed first here at Glas- | gow. | For the Year 1742. ||
Glasgow: Printed by William Duncan. 1743. Small 8vo.
The volume was received in its broken original building.
It is printed in signatures of eight pages, with signature-
marks A-Fff, but each part is paged separately. In the
second number subscribers were advised to "lay up their
Weekly half Sheets till the end of the Year," when a Title
Page and Index would be supplied gratis. An Index of six
pages follows the title, and this is followed by a series of fifty-
two issues of eight pages each; the first of which is without
number and with the heading:
Four I Letters | from ] Mr. Gilbert Tennent, the Secretary | of i
New-England, | And Dr. Colman, Concerning the great | Success of
the Gospel abroad. || Glasgow, Printed by W. Duncan, Price one
Half-penny.^
1 There is a copy of "The Weekly History: Or, An Account of the Most Re-
markable Particulars relating to the present Progress of the Gospel. By the
Encouragement of the Rev. Mr. Whitefield, Printed by J. Lewis in Bartholomew-
Close [London], Numbers i to 84, 1741-42, 4to," in the hbrary of Wymberly
Jones De Renne, Wormsloe, Georgia (p. 239). This is the only copy of the Lon-
don issue so far found.
' A similar title, probably taken from the same source as this, appears in the
1920.] THE GLASGOW-WEEKLY-HISTORY, 1 743. I93
The heading of numbers 2 to 52 is
The I Weekly History: | Or, | An Account of the most Remark-
able Particulars relating | to the present Progress of the Gospel.
Number 2 has this additional line: "By the Encouragement
of the Rev. Mr. Whitefield."
Numbers 2 to 25 have the line just below the heading:
"Glasgow, Re-printed by W. Duncan, Price one Half-penny."
Numbers 26 to 52 have this line changed to: "Glasgow, Printed
by W. Duncan, Price one Half-penny."
The proposal for printing this work by subscription was
issued from Glasgow on November 18, 1741, and is printed on
the last page of the first number giving the imprint: "London
Printed: And Glasgow Re-printed by William Duncan, in the
Salt Mercat." The numbers were printed weekly, on Mondays,
beginning with the issue for December i, 1741; and edited by
William M'CuIloch. Number 52 was the last issue, at the end
of one year, when the series was discontinued. Search for
other copies of the work reveals one in the Library of the Earl of
Crawford at Haigh Hall, Wigan, England, but it lacks the title
and index.
The Society's volume bears the autograph signatures of
Archibald Houston, and of Thomas Smith, of Dundee, 1760,
1769, October 23, 1770, and 1777. On the inside of the front
cover is written the following note :
Dear Brother: — Along with Brother Thomas's letter I send this
old book of Letters and Sermons, the reading of which has often
refreshed me. I hope it will do the same to Yoiuself and youj Wife.
Mr. Whitefield and Dr. Willison^ are men whose memories I
greatly revere.
May every blessing attend You and Yours.
Elizabeth Sommerville.
18 West Register St.
23d March, 1847.
Catalogue of the British Museum: "Four Letters, &c., taken from the London
Weekly History of the Progress of the Gospel : with a large postscript, occasioned
by the reading of these letters, . . . vindicating . . . the late revival of real
Christianity, etc. pp. 64. J. Traill: Edinburgh, 1743."
* John Willison (1680-1750), who initiated a religious revival at Kilsyth,
after hearing Whitefield speak at Cambuslang in 1742.
194 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. ' [JUNE,
Following the Weekly History, at the end of the volume, are
three tracts:
The I Duty and Advantage | of | Religious Societies, | proven
from I Scripture and Reason: | with | Proper Directions to all who
either are or | may be engaged in such Societies. | . . . To which are
subjoin'd ] Two Letters anent the Life of Faith; one | by the Rev-
erend Mr. Joseph Belcher late of Ded- | ham in New-England/ . . .
And the o- | ther from Doctor Joseph Hall . . . || Edinburgh, 1743.
Pp. (i), 42.
The Balm of Gilead displayed, or, | Christ the Physician of
Souls I — I A I Sermon | Preached in the Orphan-Hospital Park, | on
Thursday Evening, the 8th July, | 1742. . . . | — | By the Reverend
Mr. George Whitefield, | A.B. late of Pembroke College, Oxford.
I — I — II Glasgow, 1742. Pp. 16.
The I Blood of Sprinkling | in two | Sermons, | Preached by | — |
The late Rev. Mr. William Wright, Minister of the ] Gospel at
Kilmarnock. . . . Glasgow, 1742. Pp. 40.
The Great Awakening of 1 737-1 742 received its inspiration
from Whitefield, whose invitation to come to Boston was ex-
tended by Rev. Benjamin Colman, Minister of the Brattle
Street Church.
The contents of the " Glasgow- Weekly-History," the letters
of Mr. Colman, and a few items of special interest, are given
below, as no trace of their being in print has been found:
[Number i] Title given above.
Gilbert Tennent to his brother William, Boston, Jan.
24, 1 740-1, [ ] Bealty to [ ] Red-
man, Philadelphia, March 4, 1741, Gilbert Tennent
to George Whitefield [page 2].
New-York, Apr. 25, 1741.
Very Dear Brother,
After cordial Salutation, these may inform you, that through
great Mercy I have enjoy'd some Measure of Health, for the most
Part of Time. In my Return homewards, I have been preaching
daily, ordinarily three Times a Day, and sometimes oftner (a few
Days in the aforesaid Space excepted) and through pure Grace I
' Of the Letter found in the Library of Rev. Joseph Belcher, twenty-three
separate issues have already been found, including one described in the Publica-
tions of the Colonial Society. This reprint in "Duty and Advantage," has
hitherto escaped notice, and adds one to the number. 2 Proceedings, xviii. 469.
I920.] THE GLASGOW-WEEKLY-HISTORY, 1 743. 1 95
have met with Success much exceeding my Expectation. In the
Town of Boston there were many Hun[dreds or] Thousands as some
have judged, under Soul-concern. When I left that Place, many
Children were deeply affected about their Souls and several had re-
ceived Consolation. Some aged Persons in Church Communion and
some open Opposers were convinced ; divers of the young and middle-
aged were comforted: And several Negroes were hopefully converted.
The Shock was rather more general at Charles-iown. Multitudes
were awakened, and several had received great Consolation, espe-
cially among the young People, Children and Negroes. At Cam-
bridge also in the College and Town, the shaking among the dry
Bones was general; and several of the Students have received Con-
solation. In these Places, I found several Fruits of your Ministry.
In Ipswich, there was a general Concern among the Inhabitants, so
in this Place also I saw some of the Fruits of your Labours. There
were also several awakend in Portsmouth, in Greenland, in Ipsit'ick,
Hamlet, Marble-head, Chelsea, Maiden, Hampton, New-town, Rose-
bury, Plimouth, Bristol, Providence, Stoningtown, Geatton [Groton],
New-London, Lime, Guilford, New-haven, Miljord, Stratford, New-
port. The shock at New-port, was very considerable. Divers
Quakers and Children came to me, in distress about their Souls,
with others. At Heiv-haven, the Concern was general both in Col-
lege and Town: . . . About thirty Students came on foot ten Miles
to hear the Word of God. And at Milford the Concern was general.
I believe by a Moderate Computation that Divers Thousands have
been awakened. Glory be to God on High! I have had good Informa-
tion this Journey, that God has bless'd my poor Labours on Long
Island in my pass to New-England. I thank you, Sir, that you did
excite me to this Journey. It was doubtless of God, there have been
several Children in several other Places beside these mentioned,
Who after Distress, have received Comfort. The Work of God
spreads more and more. My Brother William has had remarkable
Success this Winter at Burlington. I hear that there are several
religious Societies formed there. Mr. John Cross has had remark-
able Success at Straiten [Staten] Island, and many I hear, have been
awakened by the Labours of Mr. Rolinson in divers places of the
York Government. Mr. Mills has had remarkable Success in Con-
necticut, particularly at New-haven. And I hear that Mr. Blair,^
has had remarkable Success in Pensilvania. Mr. Noble and Family
' John Blair. He was "bred under old Mr. Tennenl aforemention'd, and is
a choice Minister and Servant of Christ, and one of Mr. Gilbert Tennent's As-
sociates, and settled in Pensilvania, where the Harvest of Souls is exceeding
reat." Seward, "Journal," 36.
196 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuNE,
are well. The Lord bless you Dear Brother. I add no more, but
Love and remain Yours. G. Tennent.
P. S. In and about Mr. Davenport'5 ^ Place there is a great Commo-
tion; AUiUitudes are under Soul-concern: And I hear that he is very
warm. From Horseneck to York beyond Boston, there is in most
Places a greater or less Degree of Soul-concern.
E.xtract of a Letter to the Reverend Mr. Whitefield, from Josiah
Willard, Esq; Secretary of the Province of New-England [p. 4].
Boston, April 25, 1741.
Reverend and dear Sir,
Your kind Letters of the first and sixteenth of January I received
last Week with great Thankfulness and Satisfaction. That God
should honour me, the most unworthy of all Creatures, with the
Love and Friendship of some of his dearest Servants, fills me with
abundant Joy, and yet with the deepest Shame and Abasement.
Oh! That the Lord would make me worthy of so great a Favour.
There has been so evidently the Finger of God in directing you into
this Province, and (after your Departure) the Reverend Mr. Ten-
nent, thro' your earnest and importunate Request to him, and in
the wonderful Success that has attended both his and your Ministry;
as also the Labours of our own Ministers for some Months past,
that many that like not the Work are sadly put to it to keep their
Eyes shut against the evidences of it.^ The Alteration in the State
of Religion in this Town, and many of the neighbouring Towns
(especially Charles-Town and Cambridge) is very amazing. The vast
Numbers that flock to hear the Word preached even on the Week
Days, and the serious Looks, grave Deportment, and close Atten-
tion of almost all, and the weeping Eyes of many, are evident
Proofs of the Power of the Word: Our Churches are almost as much
crowded at our Evening Lectures as when you were here. We
opened an Evening Lecture at our Church the last Week, and had a
' James Davenport (1716-1757), a son of John, and a successful revivalist
in Connecticut in 1741, being expelled from the colony and, on trial, in Boston,
was declared non-compos. His career was eventful, and Whitefield speaks of
him as a "sweet, pious soul."
^ Whitefield prints an e.xtract relating to Tennent in his "Some Remarks on
a late Pamphlet Intitled The State of Religion in New England," Glasgow, 1742.
Boston, reprinted, 1743, p. 10. A copy of the "State of Religion," issued by
Robert Foulis, Glasgow, 1742, is in the Prince Collection, Boston PubHc Li-
brary, and also a copy of the second issue made in the same year^ with a reply to
Whitefield's "Remarks." The author was A. M. In both editions Colman
is made to complain that " Mr. Whitefield's Friends have been too free with
my Letters, in printing Part of them, and mixing them with Parts of others,
without Distinction."
I920.] THE GLASGOW-WEEKLY-HISTORY, 1 743- IQV
very full Assembly. Mr. Webb told me last Week, that he had five
Hundred and Fifty Persons noted down in his Book (besides some
Strangers) that have been with him in their Soul Troubles within a
Quarter of a Year, and above Eighty that are in a State of Comfort
and Peace; and the most, (he is perswaded) upon a good Foundation.
Mr. Cooper also has his Hands full of Work; Dr. Sewall and Mr.
Prince are likewise well employed; and I believe the rest of our Min-
isters find their Labours much more successful than formerly: But
that which forbodes a more lasting Advantage, is the new Face of
Things at the College, where the Impressions of Religion have been,
and still are very general and many in a Judgment of Charity
brought home to Christ; and divers Gentlemen's Sons, that were
sent there only for a more polite Education, are now so full of Zeal
for the Cause of Christ, and of Love to Souls, as to devote them-
selves entirely to the Studies of Divinity.^
Extract of a Letter from the Rev. Dr. Coleman of Boston, to the
Rev. Mr. Whitefield [p. 5].
Rev. and dear Sir,
God has carried us thro' the longest and severest Winter, since
you left us, that I ever knew. Numerous and mighty Snows have
hardened into Ice by mighty Frosts, which have shut up Town and
Country from each other; yet Mr. Tennent was nothing terrified,
from facing our North Winds from hence to York, and back again,
and is now near Xew-haven (as I suppose) home-wards. -
We opened a weekly evening Lecture upon your leaving us in our
House, which has to this Day been crouded as when you were
preaching to us; our Sabbath Assemblies are also greater, and our
Lectures much more in Number, and more reverend, attentive, and
affected than when you came to us.
The good Work of God was going on among us when Mr. Ten-
nent came. We received him just as we did you, as Angels of Christ.
He has been abundant and fervent in Labours as you were; Morn-
ing and Evening, and exhorting at home. God has been pleas'd
to crown his Labours with abundant Success. Our young People,
and little Children, are wonderfully impress'd to the Admiration of
Ministers and Parents, and all Observers. In a particular manner
their Affection works in a Zeal for the Souls of others, their Com-
panions, School-master, Brethren and Sisters, and Servants in the
Families. . . . Charles-Town is even more generally and deeply
^ Last sentence is printed in " Some Remarks," p. 14.
^ He left Boston Monday, March 2, "to return to his own people." Boston
News-Letter, March 5, 1741.
igS MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
impress'd than Boston; at Cambridge ^ the College is anew Creature;
the Students full of God, and hope to come out Blessings in their
Generations, and how to be so now to each other. Many of them
are now we think truly born again, and several of them happy In-
struments of Conversion to their Fellows. The Voice of Prayer
and Praise fills their Chamber; and the Sincerity, Fervency, and
Joy, the Seriousness of their Heart sits visibly on their Faces. I
was told Yesterday that not Seven of a Hundred remain unaffected.
I know how the good Tidings of this will affect and please you.
God give you like Joy every where in the Fruit of your Labours.
At Portsmouth in Newhampshire Government, the Congregation
were mightily melted under Mr. Tennent's Sermon, on his Return
from York. The great Town of Ipswich is also greatly mov'd; we
hear from Rode-Island and from Providence that a great Presence
and Power of God attended his Labours among them. The mar-
vellous Thing and great Wonder there was, that Mr. C[heck]ly
the Church Minister invited him to Preach in the Church, whither
all of every Denomination crowded, and seem'd to unite in Love
to the Word and Preacher.
My late Letters from Connecticut, inform me of great Numbers
under Convictions at Hartford and Lyme. And at Northampton and
Daverfield [Deerfield], the Work of God is greatly reviv'd, Mr.
Edwards read lately to his People part of a Letter from me, giving
him an account of our State. Help us still dear Sir with your
Prayers and constant remembrance. And the Lord deliver you
from unreasonable Men. We hear of your Arrest at Carolina.
Numb. 2.
E.vtract of a Letter from the Rev. Dr. Coleman - of Boston, to the
Rev. Air. Whitefield [p. i].
Rev. and very dear Sir.
Having been out in the Country, under the Service of the best
of Masters, I have not had the time to write to you as I hoped for,
and also miss'd some opportunities, which troubl'd me: for, next to
the Pleasure of receiving a Letter from you, is that of writing to you.
A few Days ago I received your two Letters, one from on board
the Minerva, the other from London. Many here besides myself,
will give thanks to God for his Mercies to you in your Voyage; some
of us pray and give Thanks publickly for you as well as privately.
1 Extract to the end of this paragraph is printed in "Some Remarks," p. 13.
2 Whitefield in "Some Remarks," p. 10, says the printer of the "Weekly
History," No. 2 has mistaken Rev. Mr. Cooper for Colman as the writer of this
letter from which Whitefield makes an extract relating to Mr. Tennent.
I920.] THE GLASGOW-WEEKLY-HISTORY, 1 743. 199
Indeed your Letters fill me with Joy from time to time. Blessed,
blessed, be the name of Jesus our sweetest Redeemer, who so delights
to use you in his Service, and lets you lean in his Bosom. I join
with you in the Cry, Grace, Grace! . . . Indeed the good Seed
sown in yoiu" Ministry here has not quite done springing up to this
Day; we were endeavouring to water it, and not without some mani-
fest Success, when dear Mr. Tennent came: And he came in the
Fulness of the Blessing of the Gospel indeed. He was with us several
Months. Many Thousands were awakened, and I believe, many
truly converted. There is quite a new Face on Religion in this
Town, as well as in many Places in the Country. Many Ministers
as well as People are greatly quickened. Blessed be God who put
it in our Hearts to move him to come, and inclin'd his Heart to come
and help us. He has great Success in his way home; there was a
great shock in the College of New-haven, and a sweet Work has been
going on at our College at Cambridge. Indeed God has given us a
gracious reviving Time; of which I will write you more particularly
in a short Time.
Mr. H . . , B . . .^ a wealthy Planter, in South Car-
olina to his sister; giving an account of his Conversion.
Numb. 3.
Conclusion of letter of H. B.
Gilbert Tennent to Mr. Whitefield, New Brunswick, Dec.
I, 1739-
William Tennent to " " New^ York, Dec. 22,
1739-
R. . . .aB . . .n, a girl of 10, to Mr. Whitefield, Bethesda,
Orphan House, Georgia, March 24, 1740-41.
Numb. 4.
Mr. Whitefield, from his journal, on Howel Harris, at
Cardiff , Wales, March 8, 1738-9.
Mr. Whitefield to Howel Harris, Edinburgh, August 15,
1741.
Howel Harris to J Cennick, Brinkworth, Oct. 7, 1741.
Numb. 5.
Conclusion of H. Harris.
1 Hugh Bryan, of Prince William's Parish, whose strange career is touched
upon by McCrady. He was uncle to Mrs. Stephen Bull — Elizabeth Bryan.
200 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuXE,
A remarkable Account of a Reformation among some Gentleynen, at
Boston in New-England; being an Abstract of a Letter from G. D.
of that Place, to his Friend W. N. in Biddiford, Dated Nov. 22,
1740.
The Rev. Mr. Whitefield has been here and has been a Means of
a thorough Reformation in this Town. Oh! 't is good to be where
ReHgion is the main thing aim'd at! We have two Lectures every
Week: the Ministers are stirr'd up by Mr. Whitefield (that famous
Divine) greatly. We have Instances of several extraordinary Con-
victions, almost incredible, but certainly true. I shall instance the
Heads of one which I heard but last Night from an eminent Divine,
which is as followeth; a Gentleman being a great hater of Religion,
and especially Mr. Whitefield' s Preaching, one Day as he was walking
in his Room he thought he heard Mr. Whitefield: He stood some-
time very pensive about it; and hearing him, as he thought, conclude
his Prayer and begin his Sermon, as he thought the Voice was in
another Room : He went to see who was there, and found one of his
Negroes preaching: As he laugh'd at the poor Negroe it put a Stop
to his Work. The next Day the Gentleman had an Entertainment
at his House several Gentlemen were there. After Dinner the
Gentleman said to his Company, Come, III entertain you ivith Mr.
Ws Preaching: For my Negroe can preach as well as he. The Pipes
and Tobacco, Bottles and Glasses were brought, and a Joint-Stool
for the Negroe to preach on. So the Negroe begun and ended his
Prayer: (the Negroe had the very Phrases of Mr. Whitefield.) And
then began his Sermon, the Company laughing and ridiculing at
Whitefield' s Doctrine. At last the Negroe came to his Exhortation,
and explain'd himself thus. I am now come to my Exhortation; and
to you my Master after the Flesh: But know I have a Master even Jesus
Christ my Saviour, who has said that a Man cannot serve two Masters.
Therefore I claim Jesus Christ to be my right Master; and all that
come to him he will receive. You know, Master, you have been given
to cursing and Swearing and blaspheming God's holy Name, you have
been given to be Drunken, a Whoremonger, Covetous, a Liar, a Cheat.
&c. But know that God has pronounced a Woe against all such,
and has said that such shall never enter the Kingdom of God. And now
to conclude (saith he) except you shall repent you shall likewise perish.
The Negroe spoke with such Authority that struck the Gentlemen
to Heart. They laid down their Pipes, never drank a Glass of Wine,
but departed every Man to his own House: and are now pious sober
Men ; but before were wicked profane Persons.^ Such is the Work of
^ The same story is briefly related in William Seward's "Journal of a Voyage
from Savannah to Philadelphia," 1740, p. 7.
I920.] THE GLASGOW-WEEKLY-HISTORY, 1 743. 201
God by the Hands of poor Negroes: We have such Instances every
Week from some part of the Country or other.
Mr. A ... M ... of Edinburgh, to Mr. S. . M. . of
London, Edinburgh, Sept. 26, 1741.
Copy of a letter taken out of the American W^eekly Mer-
cury,^ of Thursday, July 16, 1741, from J. L., of East
Lyme, Conn., to Mr. Gilbert Tennent.
A Letter from a Gentleman of East Lyme, in Connecticut, to the
Rev. Mr. Gilbert Tennent, of New-Brunswick.
Rev. and Dear Sir,
The Work of the Lord hath prospered in this Place since you
Preached here to Admiration; within a Week after you left this
Place, a serious Thoughtfulness seemed to spread itself over the
whole Parish; our Pastor Mr. Griswold~ being much Enlivened hath
been wonderfully assisted to Water the good Seed sown, you left
many Souls much concerned, and some deeply wounded: A careful
Attendance on the Word Preached, a close Application to reading
Books of Piety, and Christian Conversation, soon spread almost
over the whole Parish very speedily, and Pri\^ate Meetings were
soon set up. The Wednesday Fortnight after you left us, Mr. Par-
son's Preached to our Private Meeting at my House to about 100
Persons but such a Power of the Divine Spirit accompanying the
preached Gospel I had then never seen, about 40 Persons were then
deeply wounded, about 20 of them in such anguish of Soul as I never
beheld before, 7 were greatly filled with Fear and Horror, and when
a little revived made such doleful Outcries that had the Distress
been upon any other Account, it would almost have broke the hard-
est Heart. Some Complaining of a load of Guilt lying on them, a
fiery Hell just ready to ^ecei^'e them, and almost the whole Night
was spent in Prapng with and Counceling the poor distressed Souls.
The next Sabbath after being the 20th of April, the whole Congre-
gation was in Tears, and about 80 Persons in deep Anguish, and since
that there has scarcely been a Sermon Preached, but some Persons
were deeply Wounded, the Children of all Ages from 6 Years old
and upwards are great sharers in this blessed Work, and talk most
wonderfully of the Things of God, the great and unwearied Pains
they take to bring their Mates to Christ with them, is a standing
reproach to those that are grown up. . . . Our Parish is but small
no more than 60 Families, I suppose there is about 1 20 Persons, and
1 Printed at Philadelphia, 1719-1746+, by Andrew Bradford.
^ George Grisvvold.
202 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
about 80 Concerned, about 20 give good Evidence of the New-Birth,
some rejoicing with Joy unspeakable, my own Children are Sharers
in the Work, 2 hopefully Converted the one 16 the other 13 Years
old, another about 7 under deep Convictions, indeed hardly a House
escapes but some one or more under deep Concern, so that there is
not one Scoffer, nor many opposers. The good Work goes on at
Groton, New London, and the first Parish of Lyme, and of late hath
much spread. . . Last Thursday Mr. Parsons Preached a Sermon
in his own Parish which had such an effect on his people that for
some Time the Worship was interrupted, near 100 Persons in deep
anguish and about 60 crying out aloud. . . . What shall say I fur-
ther? Tongue nor Pen can't express the one half; it's a most blessed
Time, its a mere Heaven upon Earth, the People from dull Care-
lesness, now are like the Horse-leach at the Vein, crying give give.
Worldly discourse is now much banished; Heaven, the Things of
God, and the New-Birth ingrosses all Conversation; we have 2
Lectures a Week much Crowded, . . . The same blessed Work goes
on under the Ministry of Mr. Walrok ^ and Pumrey ^ at Hebron and
the North Parish of Lebanon, in a most surprising Manner. Some of
the Clergy put to the Hand with all their Strength to carry on the
good Work. vi. Mess. Owen,^ Croswell, Adams, '^ Jewett,^ Griswold,
and Parsons, others silent, and some oppose it, but thereby they
have brought a great odium on themselves, that their o%vn People
begin to talk of leaving their Ministry. . . . Dear Sir, God must
have all the Glory, tho' it's meet that I should render you hearty
Thanks for your Labour of Love, especially in our small Parish,
where the Lord hath made it a Means to Convert many Souls al-
ready, and many more in a likely way. Oh! pray hard that these
good Beginnings may not be as the Morning Cloud, &c. This is all
at present from him who ventures to subscribe himself your most
Humble and Obedient Son and Servant. J. L.
Numb. 6.
J.® Cennick to J. Humphreys, London, Oct. 21, 1741
" " to Lewis, Avon, June 26, 1741.
The Rev, Dr. Colman,/row Boston writes thus [p. 7].
June 8, 1 741.
Rev. and dear Sir,
I have both your kind Letters to me, that at Sea, & the other
after your arrival at London, our Hearts and Prayers are ever with
' Eleazar Wheelock. ^ Benjamin Pomeroy. ' John Owen.
* Eliphalet Adams. ^ David Jewett. ^ John Cennick.
I920.] THE GLASGOW-WEEKLY-HISTORY, 1743. 203
you, as we see with Joy that yours are with us. May Wisdom and
Strength be added to you abundantly Day by Day. The Work of
God with us goes on greatly from Boston, Charlestown, Cambridge,
Ipswich, Maulden, &c, to Hampshire Country, New-London, Hartford,
Lyme, Lebanon, &c. and round about New-haven, our crowded serious
Assemblies continue, and great Additions are made to our Churches.
Yesterday no less than nineteen; the Month before nine or Ten.
Many of them among the Rich and Polite of our Sons and Daugh-
ters. This week the overseers of our Colleges have appointed a
Day of Prayer and Humiliation with thanksgiving, for the Effusion
of the Spirit of God on the Students who are seriously disposed to
attend; and are bright Examples to their Instructors, or at least in
their Eyes.
J. Cennick to [ ]. Little Sommerford, July 8,
1741.
Numb. 7.
Conclusion of J. Cennick's Letter.
J. Cennick to Howel Harris, Kingswood, Aug. 15, 1741.
Numb. 8.
Conclusion of J. Cennick's Letter.
J. Cennick's account of his persecution, Sept. 6, 1741.
Numb. 9.
Conclusion of J. Cennick's account.
T. D. to [ ] in London, Edinburgh, Oct.
24, 1741.
Numb. 10.
Mr. Whitefield to J. Cennick, Brechen, Oct. 17, 1741.
" " " Gloucester, Jan. 28, 1741.
[ ] to a friend in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Nov.
21, 1741.
Advice to a Junior Minister, Leominster, Jan. 6, 1 741-2.
[ J to a friend in Glasgow, Edinburgh, [Nov.
1741J
Numb. II
Conclusion of the Edinburgh letter of [Nov. 1741]
Mr. Whitefield to J. Cennick in London, Gloucester,
Feb. 6, 1741
204 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
J. Humphreys to the Society at Deptford, near London,
Gloucester, Jan. i6, 1741-2.
J. Wilhson, of Dundee, to Mr. Whitefield, [1741]
T. L. and J. K. to Mr. Whitefield, Edin-
burgh, Dec. 26, 1 741.
Numb. 12.
J. O . . .e,^ of Aberdeen to Mr. Whitefield, Aberdeen,
Nov. 27, 1741.
Howel Harris, in Wales, to his friend in London, Gloucester,
Dec. 22, 1741.
Mr. Whitefield to J. Cennick, Gloucester, Dec. 22, 1741.
Dr. John Nichols, of New York, to Nicholas Spence,
Agent for the Church of Scotland, May 20, 1741
Numb. 13.
Wilham M'Culloch to Mr. Whitefield, [Cambuslang, 1741]
John Wilhson to [ ] Oct. 8, 1741.
Howell Harris to the Society at the Tabernacle London,
dated Feb. 12, 1 741-2.
Numb. 14.
Conclusion of Harris's letter.
Numb. 15
From the Rev. Mr. P. . . .,'/<? the Rev. Mr. Whitefield [p. i].
Boston, Dec. 6, 1741.
Reverend and dear Sir,
I am now to inform you, that since my last our exalted Saviour
has been riding forth in his Magnificence and Glory thro' di\'ers
Parts of our Land, in so triumphant a Manner as has never been
seen or heard among us, or among any other People as we know of,
since the Apostles Days. He is daily making his most resolute
Opposers to fall down under him: And almost every Week we hear
of new and surprising Conquests, and even almost all at once, and
in a Manner over whole Congregations, where whole Assemblies
lay as Congregations of the Dead; the Day of the Power of Christ
comes at once upon us, and they are almost altogether, both Whites
and Blacks, both Old and Young, both Prophane and Moral, awak-
ened, and made alive to God. It is astonishing to see some who were
like incarnate Devils, thrown at once into such extreme Distress as
^ James Ogilvie. ^ Thomas Prince.
I920.] THE GLASGOW-WEEKLY-HISTORY, 1743. 205
no Pen can possibly describe, or absent Mind imagine; and in two
or three Days Time turn'd into eminent Saints, full of Divine Adora-
tion, Love, and Joy unspeakable and full of Glory.
Amazing Works of this kind were a Fortnight ago begun, and are
now going on at Taunton and Middleborough, about forty Miles
South of Boston, at which last my Brother and Sister live, who so
earnestly desired your Help; as also in Bridgewater about thirty
Miles, and at Abington about twenty-three; and a little before at
York, Ipswich, Rowley, Cape Anne, and thence to Rittery [Kittery]
and Berwick: And on a Day of Fasting and Prayer at Portsmouth,
Discatoway [Piscataqua], which you know is the Metropolis of New-
hampshire, wherein both Mr. F. . . .^ and Mr. S . . .'s- Congrega-
tion are join'd; before the Day was over, the Spirit of God came
down and seiz'd them at once by Scores and Hundreds, that every
one in the large Congregation clearly saw and own'd it was a Work
of God, and in three Days time it was computed there were a Thou-
sand in that Town in deep Distress about their Souls, and crying
out in the Bitterness of Anguish, What shall we do to be saved? Yea,
the wondrous Work even spread into the Church of England there:
And this Evening I saw a Letter thence, wherein a Gentleman writes,
that even Mr. B . . . .,^ the Church of England Clergyman there,
who has often preach'd against this Work with distinguish'd Vio-
lence, has now declar'd he is convinc'd it is a wondrous Work of God.
N. B. The Writer of the above Letter was a Correspondent of the late
Rev. Mr. J. . .H 's, Minister in Glasgow.
Mr. B n^ to Mr. Whitefield, [Charlestown, S. C] Dec.
14, 1741.
J. Humphreys to the Mr. Whitefield, Bristol, March 4,
1741-2.
E . . . A. . . .n to Mr. Whitefield, Heriot's Hospital,
Edinburgh, Dec. 8, 1741.
Numb. 16.
J. B . . .r to Mr. Whitefield, Bethesda, Nov. 10, 1741.
J. . . . S . . ., to T. D. in Edinburgh. London,
March 20, 1741-2.
Numb. 17.
Mr. Whitefield to William M'CuUoch, London, March 22,
1741-2.
• Jabez Fitch (1672-1746). ^ William Shurtleff (1689-1747).
* Arthur Brown ( -1773)- * Hugh Bryan?
206 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
J . . . B . . .r to Mr. Whitefield, Charlestown, S. C,
Dec. 14, 1741
Extract of a Letter Printed at Boston, concerning the
Conduct and Preaching, of Mr. W — . and T — }
Numb. 18.
Rev. Mr. H. . . to Mr. Whitefield, Weathersfield,
Feb. 13, 1741.
Howell Harris to John Lewis, March, 1741-2.
Numb. 19.
Mr. E. . . toMr. Whitefield, Philadelphia, Dec. 18, 1 741.
Howell Harris to a Sister under Trials.
Mr. A . . .s to Mr. Whitefield, Hampton, March 12,
1741-2.
God intreated for Jerusalem. An Hymn for a Fast Day
from Isaiah Ixii, 67.
A Letter to the Publisher of this Paper.
Numb. 20.
Rev. Mr. I. H . . .y to Mr. Whitefield, Biddiford,
March 7, 1741.
J. Humphreys to " " Bristol, March
23, 1741-2.
Rev. Mr. J. O . . .n to " " Leominster, Jan.
26, 1741-2.
J. Cennick to a u Kingswood, April
6, 1742.
Numb. 21.
J. . . . P. . . .8^ to Benjamin Coleman, Lyme, Dec. 16,
1741.
Howell Harris to Mr. Whitefield, April 5, 1742.
Extract from Jonathan Edwards' Narrative of Conversion
at Northampton.
Numb. 22.
Continuation of the Edwards Narrative.
Mr. A. T. to Mr. Whitefield, Edinburgh, April i, 1742.
'Whitefield and Tennent.
^ Jonathan Parsons, of the church in Old Lyme.
ig20.] THE GLASGOW- WEEKLY-HISTORY, 1 743. 207
Miss M. Finlysom, a young girl, to Mr. Whitefield, Edin-
burgh, Nov. 18, 1 741.
Numb. 23.
S. Willison, to Mr. Whitefield, April 2, 1742.
[ ] to William Duncan, May 29, 1742.
James Robe, First Journal at Kilsyth, May 28, 1742.
[ ] to John Lewis, April 26, 1742.
Numb. 24
Conclusion of letter to Mr. Lewis.
J . . .s S . . .h to Mr. Whitefield, Bristol March 31,
1742.
James Robe, second Journal at Kilsyth, June 2, 1742.
Mr. Whitefield to John Lewis, London, May 11, 1742.
Numb. 25.
Conclusion of Whitefi eld's Letter.
James Robe, third Journal at Kilsyth, June 9, 1742.
Mr. Whitefield to Wilham McCulloch, Edinburgh, June 8,
1742.
Numb. 26.
James Robe, fourth Journal at Kilsyth, June 16, 1742.
J. WilHson to [ ] Dundee, March 22, 1742.
Redemption by Price and Power, a hymn.
Numb. 27.
J. Humphreys to Mr. Whitefield, Bristol, April 28,
1742.
A . . .r W r^ to Mr. Whitefield, April 20, 1742.
Wilham M'Culloch of Cambuslang to Mr. Whitefield,
April 28, 1742.
James Robe, fifth Journal at Kilsyth, June 24, 1742.
Numb. 28.
James Robe, sixth Journal at Kilsyth, June 30, 1742.
James Ogilvie to person of honor at Edinburgh, Aberdeen,
October 3, 1741
Frail Life and succeeding Eternity, a hymn.
^ Alexander Webster.
2o8 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
Numb. 29.
James Robe, seventh Journal at Kilsyth, July 7, 1742.
Rev. Mr. J. O. . . .n, of Leominster, to Mr. Whitefield,
April 19, 1742.
E. B., a little girl of Edinburgh to Mr. Whitefield.
The World's Three chief Temptations, a poem by I. W.
Numb. 30.
William M'Culloch to [ ] Camb[uslang], July 14,
1742.
Minister in Dublin to William M'Culloch, Dublin, June
19, 1742.
James Robe, eighth Journal at Kilsyth, July 15, 1742.
Numb. 31.
James Robe, ninth Journal at Kilsyth, July 20, 1742.
Minister in Boston, to his Correspondent in Gorbals,
Boston, May 14, 1742.
Mrs. A. . . A . . .ng, one of the Society of Kinswood to
J. Cennick, June 8, 1742.
Numb. 32.
Mr. Whitefield to Mr. Abbot, Edinburgh, June 4, 1742.
" to [ ], extracts from a book
lately published.
Faith and Repentence, UnbeHef and Impenitence, verses,
by I. W.
Numb. T,T,.
J. Humphreys to Mr. S. . . .s
To the Rev. Mr. B. B. at S\ . . r [p. 2].
Harv. Coll. Feb. 4, 1741-2.
Dear Cousin,
I Desire to be very thankful that I can yet say, vital Religion is
still a very flourishing Condition amongst us. Could I collect all
the wonderful Accounts of the Success of the Gospel, and powerful
Effects of the Means of Grace, accompanied by the Influences of the
Holy Spirit, you will I doubt not, be quite astonished at the wonder-
ful Grace and Mercy of God to usward ... I think most of our
Churches have partook of this great Blessing, some in a larger, some
in a smaller Degree. And according to Judgment of Charity, many
I02O.] THE GLASGOW-WEEKLY-HISTORY, 1 743. 20g
Thousands have been brought to taste and see that the Lord is
gracious; in some Congregations the People have so thirsted after
the Word, that a Seri^on in the Meetinghouse every Night would
hardly suffice them. And in some Churches they have tarried after
Service in vast Numbers, as I myself have been an Eye-witness of,
sometimes most part of the Night and sometimes all Night, blessing
and praising God, or bewailing their lost and undone Condition by
Nature ... At a Town called Portsmouth, the Metropolis of New-
Hampshire Government, a place remarkable before for Politeness,
the Ministers set apart a Day of Prayer for the Success of the Word.
Just after Service there was a sensible Commotion among them;
vast Niunbers crying out, some in great Distress of Soul, under a
Sense of their lost Condition by Nature: Others under a View of the
Loveliness of Christ, and the Holiness and Purity of God, as far as
I can understand. A Day or two after they had another Sermon in
the Evening; just after the Service two or three Hundred People
cried out; some full of Distress, others full of holy Joy. The whole
Auditory which was large, seem'd to be under the sensible Impres-
sions of the Spirit of God ... I ask'd several that were in the
Meeting-house to give me an Account of the Transactions of that
Memorable Night, but they told me it was not to be conceived of,
much less expressed; that they themselves were lost in Wonder and
Surprize when present, having never heard of, nor seen any Thing
equal to it before . . . You may easily judge then, my dear Cousin,
that it is but a poor feeble Representation of these Things I am able
to give you, but if it be a Mark of the true Spirit, if it excites im-
moral and prophane Persons to Reformation of their Lives and
Conversations, and to an entire Change of Life; to profess a Sweet-
ness and Pleasure in the Ways of God, they could never have found
the Paths of Sin; if it excites outward Professors to a strict Exam-
ination of their Hearts with regard to the Power of Godliness, and
to a discovery of their own Self-righteousness, and of the all-suffi-
cient Righteousness of Christ, and enables them to depend on that
alone for Pardon and Life: In fine, if it actuates young and old to
croud around the Banner of the great Redeemer, and to an open
Profession of Him, from a Discovery of his being the only begotten
Son of God, as of the Glory of God the father full of Grace and
Truth; and if it makes People careful to evidence their faith in the
Eye of the World by a life of holy Obedience, and the Fruits of
Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost; and if this has
appeared in Multitudes a Year or two ago, so as to evidence it not
to be a sudden Motion of the animal Spirits, or a Work barely on
the Passions, there is a great & glorious Work of the Spirit of God
among us. Accounts come to us every Day from some Town or
2IO MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
Other of some remarkable Commotion; and in some Parishes there
has been very few but what have been hopefully converted.
Your loving Cousin,
B. B}
A. D. . s- of Kingswood Society, to J. Cennick, June 27,
1742.
H. . . R. . . to J. Cennick, Clavering, June 21, 1742.
James Robe, tenth Journal at Kilsyth, August 5, 1742.
Numb. 34.
Rev. R. . . . A. . . .^ to his friend D. . . G. . . at Leslie,
Boston, May 25, 1742
Anne A . . .rg'' of Kingswood Society to J. Cennick,
June 25, 1742.
Causes of sinful Anger, a sermon.
Numb. 35.
[ ] to William Duncan, Glasgow, August 20,
1742, about the "State of Religion in New England."
M. . . .t L. . . .y, a young girl in Merchants Hospital,
Edinburgh, to Mr. Whitefield, Nov. 20, 1741.
Numb. 36.
Continuation of the letter to Mr. Duncan, a defence of the
extraordinary Work in New-England, from the As-
persions in the pamphlet entitled "The State of Religion
in New England," in a letter signed by A. M.
Numb. 37.
Conclusion of the letter to Mr. Duncan, dated, Sept. 4,
1742.
Mr. Whitefield to a Minister in the North, Cambuslang,
August 17, 1742.
Extract of Sermon of M'Gregore,^ Londonderry,
New England.
^ The initials would answer to Benjamin Brandon (1724-1755), of Boston,
a member of the class of 1742.
* Mrs. Ann Button? She is highly spoken of by Seward.
^ Robert Abercrombie. A certificate recommending him is in the Colman
MSS. in the Society. He was first minister in Pelham, Mass.
* Ann Armstrong? The letter is signed A . . . ng.
"• David McGregore (i 710-1777).
1920.] THE GLASGOW-WEEKLY-HISTORY, 1 743. 211
Numb. 38.
Continuation of M . . .t L . . .y's letter, in No. 35.
S. M. to Mr. Whitefield, London, July 16, 1742, on the
Indians of Connecticut.
Extract of a letter from Georgia, Bethesda, December 12,
1741.
God my only Happiness, verses.
Numb. 39.
William M'Culloch's account of the second Sacrament at
Cambuslang.
J. Humphreys to Mr. Whitefield, Bristol, July i, 1742.
Numb. 40.
J. Periam^ to Mr. Whitefield, Bethesda, May i, 1742.
John Lawson to W. M'Culloch, Closeburn, May 23, 1742.
The Priesthood of Christ, verses by J. W.
Numb. 41.
Mrs. Margaret Kennedy to Mr. Whitefield, Bethesda, May
9, 1742.
Jane Mackay, a child of 8 or 9 years, to Mr. Whitefield,
Bethesda, May 6, 1742.
Mr. M . . . .n of London to Mr. Whitefield, July, 1742.
J. Cennick to Mr. Whitefield, London, July 14, 1742.
[ ] Mason to " " " August 24
From one of the Tabernacle Society, August 24.
J. Cennick, to Mr. Whitefield, London, August 25.
From a friend at Chafford to Rev. Mr. J ot
Stroud, July 27, 1742.
Numb. 42.
The Copy of a Letter from Mr. John Moorhead, Minister at Boston
in new England, to Mr. Willison, dated July 30th, 1742 [p. ij.
Since I wrote to you God's Work goes on with great Speed both
in Town and Country. The last Time that I administred the Lord's
Supper, we had above 300 Souls so overpower'd with the Love of
Jesus, that they could not contain from expressing it in an audible
Manner, tho' with Decency and Order, such a Day of Christ I never
1 Stephens says it was reported that Periam, an instructor of the orphans,
was "bred a lawyer and found out at a Mad-House."
212 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
saw before; God filled the Place with his Glory, and my Soul with
love to him, and to the Souls of Men. I know no Congregation,
who have been greater Sharers in the Love of Glorious Christ, some
have at several Times been in such Raptures of Joy, that they have
expected to expire under the feeling Sense of Divine Love, some
have been a Week, some a Month so together and wholly taken up
Night and Day with great Himiility, and profound Adoration in
praising God, and calling to Jesus to come and carry them hence.
I can't express the Love that subsists among them to God and one
another.
I have been lately eastward from this, about sixty Leagues. I
preached in eight or nine different Settlements, which are new; they
have no stated Minister as yet; I was above five Weeks among
them. God's convincing and enlightning Power began with them
last Winter; they ly scattered on River-sides. Nothing has been
more remarkable, than God's Power among a People seemingly void
of Law and Gospel. I never saw more glorious Days of Christ than
while there at their Desire. I administered the Lord's Supper
amongst them, we had a large Society; some came 40 Miles by
Water; others came nigh 30 thro' a Wilderness, the Shout of a king
was there: God's Power and Love were unspeakably great, both in
causing Sinners to cry out for Fear of God, and Numbers to shout for
Joy; this Day of God exceeded all that I ever saw, our own Sacra-
ment excepted, of which before. I examined and admitted 53, who
had never been at the Lord's Table before, four of them had been
bred bigotted Papists, and severals strenuous Episcopalians; some
had never seen a Sacrament before. Tho' many of them were weak
in Knowledge, yet in the Judgment of Charity, all of them savingly
knew Christ. A few days before this eight or nine of that Number
who had been under concern of Soul received the consolatory Ev-i-
dences of God's Love, and above 20 came under Distress about their
Souls, and all at one Sermon; all the Glory be to Christ my dear
Lord. God rides in Triumph thro' this Wilderness, Hosanna,
Hosanna.
I preached while among them 44 Times tho' thro' much outward
Difficulty. I passed while there, a cross Bays, and up and down Rivers
in Boats and Canoos, 211 Miles. I can't express the wonderful
things which God is adoing, and has already Manifested amongst
Indians, Negros, Papists, and Protestants of all Denominations.
We are under Apprehension of Deadness and Confusion, arising
from contradictory Sermons, Pamphlets, Anonymous Libels, En-
thusiastick and Visionary Notions, which are among some indiscreet
Zealots both Ministers and Hearers. O how Satan spews out his
Flood! God direct us what to do, particularly with pious Zealots,
I920.] THE GLASGOW-WEEKLY-HISTORY, 1743. 213
and cold Diabolical Opposers. The Moravians also have proved a
great Clog to the Work in the Southern Provinces, by their Lali-
tudinarian Principles. There is a great Contest between Michael
and the Dragon, &c . . . In another place, he says, Let the Guar-
dian Angels carry the News to Heaven of the numerous Converts;
the Millennium is begun, Christ dwells with Men on Earth.
Extract from Dr. Colman one of the Ministers of Boston his Letter
to Mr. Willison, dated at Boston May 27, 1742 [p. 3].
I thank God the good Work goes on among us, and thro' the
Provinces in many Parts of them, from Carolina, Pensilvania, the
Jersies, and thro' our new English Colonies. And yet in every Part
we find Satan busy in countermining it. Nevertheless our Ministry
is attended with greater Success than heretofore, but we rejoice
with Fear and Trembling, b°c . . . That which is very surprizing
to us these late Months past is to find an earnest Desire of the
preached Gospel by some Towns near Rhode Island, who would
never admit the Ministry of it among them from the Days of our
Fathers, but now send to us for it. And we hear that the Faniilies
of the Quakers, as well as others, are ready to attend and hearken.
And in like Manner the Clans or Tribes of Indians the Reliques of
the Mokeage, Pequots, and Niantic's in Connecticut Colony, who
have obstinately continu'd in Infidelity, of their own accord, aply
for Instruction to the Pastors about them, and receive it greedily,
and with great Thankfulness, and Numbers of them seem savingly
wrought upon. This is wondrous in our Eyes, and the Pastors about
them are wonderfully spirited to serve them by the Grace of God,
and see the Fruits of their Labours; The Indian Fund here, and
private Helps will not be wanting to give Assistance.
Jane Lumsden to Mr. Whitefield.
Numb. 43.
From a gentleman in Edinburgh to James Robe, covering
the Preface^ to the Cambuslang Narrative, lately
translated into Dutch, and printed in Holland, Oct. 2,
1742.
Numb. 44.
Thomas Adams to J. Cennick, Hampton, July 10, 1742.
Howell Harris to Mr. W^hitefield, London, Oct. 12, 1742,
and Oct. 15.
^ By Hugh Kennedy, minister of the Scots church in Rotterdam.
214 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
Mrs. M. . . .n, Schoolmistress in the Tabernacle School
in London to Mr. Whitefield, Oct. 13, 1742.
Mr. M . . .n to Mr. Whitefield, Oct. 12, 1742.
Numb. 45.
Rev. Daniel Rowland in Wales to W. G. at Lambeth,
Sept. 6, 1742.
From the Rev. Dr. Colman to Mr. Whitefield [p. 3.]
Boston. June the 3d, 1742.
Rev. and dear Sir,
Our good Brother, Mr. Prince tells me that in a Pacquet, he has
read from you this Day, You complain of my Neglect in not writing
to you. The whole Reason of which was (if you will allow it to pass
for any Reason at all) that I imagined you was on your Voyage to
Georgia near the Times, when I received your kind Letters, the last
of which was on board the Vessel on your Way to Scotland. The
Rev. Mr. Willison of Dundee, has lately refreshed me with a most
brotherly Letter, respecting your first Visit in N. Britain, and con-
gratulating me on the good Spirit, he thinks I have testified in my
Sermon on the Doves, towards you, and I find he bears the same
humble fervent Mind you-ward, which he would find and love in
me. He tells me that since your Visit to their Kingdom, Religion
begins to look with another Face in some of their principal Citie§;
but he wants to see the Colleges and Students impress'd as many of
ours were. I Hint to let you know, that ours impressed at Cambridge
and Boston, have gone on in their Studies, and come forth into Serv-
ice since, in a happy Manner of Spirit: One of whom is now first
with Mr. Webb. But at New-haven Things have not proceeded with
the like Prudence, Calmness and Modesty; and there has been too
much Division and Animosity among the Ministers and Churches
in Connecticut. The fervent, pious Mr. Devenport, and Mr. Cross-
well,^ have been too much under the Impressions of a heated Imagi-
nation, and no doubt often preached under actual Fevers, judging
and censuring the spiritual State of Ministers and People; who could
not go into the Way and Length, of singing thro' the Streets to and
from the House of God, and favouring Exhorters of no Gifts, or
prudence for pubhck Speaking. Some very young Students also,
I hear have taken upon them, to go about exhorting, and one of
them has lately visited from Northampton down to us, and gone
from hence to Portsmouth in Newham p-shire. He preach'd for Mr.
' Andrew Croswell (c 1 709-1 785), of the church in Ledyard, Conn.
1920.] THE GLASGOW-WEEKLY-HISTORY, 1743. 215
Prince several Times; but Dr. Sewal and Mr. Cooper told me, he
needed more to be at his Studies. I look upon him to be greatly
Spirited to serve Souls but wanting Furniture. We have advised
our own Students not to rush forth so unprepared, but to be waiting
upon God for Gifts, Grace, and holy Zeal. Mr. Willison bewails
much the envious and uncharitable Divisions and Separation in
Scotland for smaller Matters, as if they could not allow Good to be
done by those who are not of their own Persuasion, and Party in all
Respects; and it is with a surprizing Pain, on account of the Messrs
Erskines and associate Presbytry,^ their Weakness, when I read, that
even they should be ready almost to disown you; because you would
not confine yourself to them; but ministred equally (and I hear with
Equal Acceptance and Success) with the established Pastors, and
in their Assemblies: I heartily joy (my dear Brother) that you
acted with this catholic Spirit among them, and will not be ingrossed
by any Party.
You have seen Mr. Parson's Letter from Lyme in our Connecticut
to me; for I see it printed from London: God is yet wonderfully
owning his Ministry among his People, and has graciously prevented
him from running into Impulses, after the Example of Mr. Devon-
port of Long Island, whom he greatly emulated once, and left among
his People, to the damaging the great and good Work, that had been
singular among them: But it is revived and grown; and in the neigh-
bouring Towns of Stonytoun, to Gaoton [Groton], and about New-
London, and at Farmington, among the Mokeag, Pequot, Niantick,
and other Tribes of the obstinate infidel Indians, a general Concern
hath come upon them for their Souls Instruction and Salvation, and
the IVIinisters in the Neighbourhood are wonderfully assisted to
serve them, and see the good Fruits of their Labours. Also, the
People of Freetown, Tiverton, and the Borders of Dartsmouth (Fam-
ilies who by no Means receive the Ministry and Ordinances of the
Gospel from the first Settlements of those Towns) are now desirous
of having Ministers come among them, and Freetown has lately sent
to us for one who is gone among them, and we are told, that there is
scarce a Family of the Quakers in those Parts, but their Children
will come to hear the Word.
Mr. Habersham- refreshed us all with his Letters some Time since,
1 Ebenezer (1680-1754) and his brother Ralph Erskine (1685-1752). The
"associate Presbytery" was formed in 1733 by the secession from the assem-
bly of Ebenezer Erskine, William Wilson of Perth, Alexander Moncrieff of Ab-
ernethy, and James Fisher of Kinclaven. In August, 1741, Whiteficld had a
conference with them, but would not agree to the condition of preaching only
for them.
^ James Habersham (171 2-1 775), who came to George with Whitefield and
opened a school for orphans and destitute children at Bethesda.
2l6 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. QuNE,
and I wish we could have sent him more for the Use of his dear
Family; but the Necessaries of Life have bore such an excessive
Price, that our Poor have called for more than we could find for
them. Mr. Cooper's eldest Son has been at Bethesda, and wrote his
Father a most pleasant Account of your Orphan house.
Wherever you are our Prayers will follow you, and yours reach
us daily (I trust) in the most blessed Effects and Fruits; for I am
satisfied New England is much upon your Heart, it will add much
to your Joy and Crown in the Day of Christ. To Day, I have a
Letter from dear and Rev. Dr. Watts, dated April i6th. He tells
me. You go on labouring beyond the Power of Mortality. His own
inability to preach at present, more than two half Hours in a Month,
I suppose gives him the Phrase. He thinks God has greatly hon-
our'd you, and commands him to do it for that Reason, and heartily
to pray for your Success. He wishes not your going over to the
Dissenters, because he thinks you are like to do much more good in
your visible Relation to the Church of England, and so do I too.
You must think that some of the dissenting Ministers appear but
your cooler Friends for this Reason, altho' some of them are truly
to be so accounted I doubt not, from a want of that Esteem or
Opinion of your Way or Principles, which others of us have: But
your Work Success, and Reward, and Judgment is with your God.
I have only to add. That the Work of God goes on yet calmly at
Boston. The overboiling Zeal of some from far, visiting Charlestown,
has not served the Interest of Religion there. They threaten to visit
us a Month hence, and it they do, I fear the Alienation of some
from me whom I heartily love, for their true and earnest Love to
God; but I must submit to it, if God calls me to this Grief. Help
me by your Prayers, that I may please God, and not wilfully offend
any of his People. Mercy, Grace and Peace, be multiplied unto you.
/ am Rev. and dear Brother your most affectionate fellow Servant
To the Kingdom of God,
Benjamin Colman.
Part of a Sermon of Dr. Guise.^
Numb. 46.
John Cennick to the Society at the Tabernacle, London.
Kingswood, Sept. 9, 1742.
Thomas Adams to John Cennick, Hampton, July 30, 1742.
From a gentleman in Glasgow to his friend in Edinburgh.
* John Guyse (i 680-1 761), or his son and assistant, William Guyse.
I920.] LOG OF THE COLUMBIA, 1790-1792. 217
Numb. 47.
Mr. Whitefield to William M'Culloch, Edinburgh, Sept.
15, 1742.
P. H. Molter, a minister of the Moravian Church, to their
Societies in London, 1740.
From Augustus Spangenberg, October 28, 1742, occasioned
by his reading Mr. Alexander Webster's pamphlet.
A Living and a Dead Faith, collected from several Scrip-
tures, verses.
Numb. 48.
Letter to William Duncan, Printer in Glasgow.
From a dissenting Minister in Wales to WiUiam M'Culloch,
Oct. 26, 1742.
Numb. 49.
Rev. Daniel Rowland, Wales, to Howell Harris, in London,
Oct. 20, 1742.
Herbert Jenkins in Wales, to Mr. P. in London.
Letter to James Robe at Kilsyth, Nov. 2, 1742.
Numb. 50.
Extract from the Life of Mr. Robert Blair, of Ireland, and
Scotland, "never heretofore printed."
Numb. 51
Continuation of Mr. Blair's life.
Rev. James Boes, of Campbeltoun, to a person of Honor
in Edinburgh, Dec. 6 and 13, 1742.
Numb. 52.
Mr. Blair on his ministry.
William M'Culloch to William Duncan, Dec. 1742, with a
request to stop printing the " Glasgow- Weekly-History,"
because of "difficulty to get proper materials to carry
it on."
Boit's Log of the Columbl\, i 790-1 792.
Among the log-books left to the society by the late Robert
Apthorpe Boit is one kept by his grandfather, John Boit, of
peculiar interest. It describes in full the voyage to the north
2l8 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
west coast of the ship Columbia of Boston, in the course of
which the Columbia River was entered and named. The
records of this voyage and incident have been few in number
and imperfect in detail. They are summarized in Bancroft's
History of the northwest Coast in his usual manner, and that
work may be consulted for voyages made by the ships of other
nations and the maps of the coast and islands resulting from
surveys or hurried explorations. The names given to localities
have been derived from Spanish and British explorations and
of those given by Captain Gray few remain. This Boit journal
must stand as the fullest account of the voyage and covers
without break the entire course of the ship from the day on
which it left Boston until the day of return. The original is
closely followed and as a necessary guide to locahty the obser-
vations are given in full.
Remarks on the Ship Columbia's voyage
from Boston, (on a Voyage round the Globe).
By John Boit.
d^N. B. The dates etc. is by Nautical Account {Not Civill).
The Ship Columbia was fitted out for a four years cruize, on a
trading voyage to the N.W. Coast of America, China etc — about
250 tons burthen, mounted 12 Carriage Guns, and navigated with
50 men (including Officers) — own'd chiefly by Sam'l Brown, Joseph
Barrell and Crowell Hatch Esq'rs, and Commanded by Robert
Gray. Cargo consisted of Blue Cloth, Copper and Iron.
1790, September 28. Latt. of Boston 42° 25' N.; Long. 70° 31' W.
from London. Left Boston Sept. 28th, 1790, with the wind from
the western board, and the next day pass'd Cape Cod. On the 30th
the wind having chang'd to the East'd and blowing heavy, obliged
us to bear away, and we anchor'd the same evening, in Herring
Cove, on the west side Cape Cod, in 15 fm. muddy bottom, but not
liking our situation, we got under way the following morning, and
anchor'd the same evening in Nantasket Roads, in 7 fm. Blowing
weather, from the Eastern board.
October 2. Wind at SW. Weigh'd and came to sail, stood to sea.
On the 3d pass'd Cape Cod, at 3 leagues distance. Generally blow-
ing hard, with squalls of rain.
8. N. Latt. 40° 30'; W. Long. 55° 43'; Azi. 14° 35' W. O C . Ship
sails dull, but is a fine seaboat. Crew appears to be a set of fine fellows.
I920.] LOG OF THE COLUMBIA, 1790-1792, 219
10. N. Latt. 39° 58'; W. Long. 52° 38'; Amp'd 14° 38' W.»
Weather more pleasant, winds generally from SW.
16. N.Latt.35°37';W.Long. 37°3i';Azi. i4°35'W.2 Weather
generally pleasant, winds from the NE.
18. N. Latt. 34° :is'; W. Long. 31° 40'; Amp'd 14° 22' W. Fair
weather, wind from NW.
22. N. Latt. 28° 46'; W. Long. 24° 37'; Azi. 14° 54' W. Pleasant
weather. Crew all well.
23. N. Latt. 26° 41'; W. Long. 24° 16'; Azi. 14° 54' W. Serene,
pleasant weather. Winds from the North'd.
24. N. Latt. 24° 52'; W. Long. 24° 10'; Amp'd 14° 22' W. Se-
rene, pleasant weather. Winds from SE.
25. N. Latt. 24° 12'; W. Long. 24° 7'; Azi. 14° 26' W. Serene,
pleasant weather. Winds from SE.
27. N. Latt. 22° o'; W. Long. 23° o'; Azi. 14° 19' W. O C.
Pleasant weather, winds from the NW. Plenty of Dolphin and
Skip-jacks playing round us.
30. N. Latt. 20°; W. Long. 23°; This day took the NE. trade
winds, after experiencing one day's calm, {between the variable and
trades).
November i. N. Latt. 17° 16'; W. Long. 22° 30'; In the course of
this day, saw the Island of Sal, (one of the Cape de Verd Isles), 293^
days from Boston light house, — (a long passage). Pass'd it to the
Eastward and bore away to the South'd, high land. Crew are all
in health, although the regulation of the ship as respects cleanliness
among them, is not strict.
Towards Cape Horn.
4. N. Latt. 12° 15'; W.Long. 23° 6'; Azi. 13° 28' W. This day
lost the NE. trade winds, and immediately took the wind from the
Southward.
7. N. Latt. 9° 16'; W. Long. 22° 35'; Amp'd 11° 52' W. Light
variable winds, pleasant warm weather, attended at times with
sharp lightning.
' The Century Dictionary defines the amplitude compass as an azimuth com-
pass whose zeros of graduation are at the east and west points, to facilitate the
reading of the amplitudes of the celestial bodies. "Amplitude . . . differs from
the azimuth merely in being counted from the east and west points, instead of
from north and south." U. K. S. Nat. Phil., iii. xiii.
^ "In the azimuth compass the circumference of the card is divided into de-
grees and parts by a vernier, and is fitted up with sight-vanes to take amplitudes
and azimuths, for the purpose of determining the variation of the compass by
observation. The variation is applied to the magnetic course shown by the steer-
ing compass, and thus the true course with respect to the meridian becomes
known." Encyclopaedia Britannica (gth ed.), vi. 225.
2 20 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
g. N. Latt. 7° 21'; W. Long. 22° 13'. Squally weather, with
rain, with sharp lightning and heavy thunder, many water spouts in
different directions. Experience very heavy squalls. Winds all
round the compass since losing the trades. Many vessells in sight.
14. N. Latt. 5° 4'; W. Long. 22° 13'. Winds continue very
variable and squally. This day spoke two ships: one a Portuguese
from Lisbon bound to Rio Janeiro; the other an English whaleman
from England, for the Brazil coast. The Captain (by name Buller)
was an American.
18. N. Latt. 3° 48'; W. Long. 23° 30'. This day Capt. Buller
left us, his ship sailing much faster than ours. Winds and weather
still remains very unsettled, with hard squalls, carried away our
Jib boom, and got a new one out. A constant swell from the SE.
Winds harp most at SSW.
19. N. Latt. 2° 41'; W. Long. 25° 42'; Azi. 11° 32'. Weather
pleasant. This day took the wind at SSE, which no doubt is the
commencement of the SE. generall winds. The weather at this time
is quite settled. Heretofore since leaving the NE. trades, it has
been very gloomy and dark. Have noticed, since passing the Latti-
tude of 12° that the winds generally have been from South to SSW.
— at times squalls from West.
21. N. Latt. 2° 38'; W. Long. 24° 48'; Azi. 10° 30' W. A con-
stant Current, setting to the Northward, in these Latitudes; (two
sail in sight.)
22. N. Latt. 2° 6'; W.Long. 25° 2'; Azi. 10° 13' W. Winds holds
from SBE. to SSE. and fair pleasant weather, with a swell from
the SE.
23. N. Latt. 1° 41'; W. Long. 25° 26'; Azi. 10° 7' W. Winds and
weather as before. Crew all well.
24. N. Latt. 1° 15'; W. Long. 26° i'; Azi. 9° 28' W. Winds at
SSE. and quite moderate, weather pleasant.
25. W. Long. 26° 57' O <^ • In the course of this day cross'd the
Equator. Wind at SEBS. and pleasant, serene, temperate weather.
Have fish of different kinds round most of the time. Ship's crew are
all in health.
543^ days from Boston, 25 days from Isle of Sal, (long passages).
Keep all hands through the day in good weather, employed in the
various departments of the ship — it is best to keep them moving.
They are allowed tea or coffee, each morning and in general the
ship's fare is good, but proper attention to airing their beds and
cloathing and fumigating their berths is not paid.
27. S. Latt. 2° 5'; W. Long. 28° 26'; Azi. 5° 50' W. Pleasant,
agreeable weather. Wind from SE to ESE. Plenty of fish about
us. Breezes moderate.
I920.] LOG OF THE COLUMBIA, 1790-1792. 221
28. S. Latt. 3° 34'; W. Long. 29° 5'. Spoke a French India ship,
from L'Orient bound to Pondicherry, reckond himself in Longitude
26° 50' W. of Paris. Caught a large Albacore.^ Wind ESE. Pleas-
ant weather.
29. S. Latt. 5° 12'; W. Long. 29° 22'; Amp'd 4° 59' W. Winds
from ESE., squally weather.
30. S. Latt. 7° 24'; W.Long. 30° 16'; Azi. 4° 51' W. Fresh gales.
Caught an Albacore that weighed 130 lb. Spoke a Portuguese ship
from Lisbon bound to Rio Janeiro.
31. S. Latt. 9° 23'', W. Long. 31° 9'; Morning, Azi. 4° 8', Evening,
Azi. 3° 42'. A ship in sight. Pleasant weather with fresh trade
winds, from ESE. to SE.
December T,. S. Latt. 13° 30'; W.Long. 3 2° 26'; Azi. i°4o'W.;OC.
This day lost the SE. general winds, and immediately took it at NE.
This Northly wind is no doubt the Monsoon prevailing at this season
along the Brazill coast. Pleasant weather.
4. S. Latt. 14° 39'; W. Long. 32° 40'; Amp'd 0° 53' W. Light
breezes from NE. and very hot weather.
6. S. Latt. 17° 23'; W. Long. 33° 14'; azi. 1° 28' W. Moderate
breezes and pleasant. Winds from NE. to ENE.
7. S. Latt. 18° 25'; W.Long. 33° 33'; Amp'd 0° 17' E. Do. winds
and weather, and swell from NE.
9. S. Latt. 21° 52'; W. Long. 35° 43'; Azi. 1° 36' E. Moderate
monsoon, and fair weather.
10. S. Latt. 23° 55'; W. Long. 37° 4'; Azi. 2° 34' E. Lively breeze
and pleasant temperate weather.
11. S. Latt. 25° o'; W.Long. 38° 44' O d. This day a heavy
squall struck the ship, carried away the top gall't masts and yards,
topsail yards, and fore, and mizen, topmasts; lost the top gall't sails
and damaged the topsails.
13. S. Latt. 27° 11'; W. Long. 39° 18'; Azi. 5° 15' E. In the
course of this day got ship to rights again. Winds sometimes hauls
to the southward of East. Crew all in health.
14. S. Latt. 27° 50'; W. Long. 40° 5'; Amp'd 8° 5' E. Wind at
SE., moderate breeze, a large swell from SW.
16. S. Latt. 30° 26'; W. Long. 42° 59'; Azi. and Amp'd 8° 28' E.
Wind at NE. and weather pleasant.
18. S. Latt. 32° 52'; W. Long. 45° 39'; Azi. 9° o' E. O C. This
day the NE. winds left us, and come at NW., fresh breeze and
cloudy hazy weather.
21. S. Latt. 33° 56'; W. Long. 48° 34'; Azi. 11° 32' E. Saw an
Albatross, many other kinds flying about the ship. Large sea
from SE.
1 A large species of Tunny (Thynnus).
22 2 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
22. S. Latt. 34°33';W. Long. 48°is';Azi. ii°38'E. * (C. This
day a heavy gale of wind from the SE. Lay too. Saw a turtle. A
high sea.
25. S. Latt. 36° 57'; W. Long. 46° 23'; Azi. 11° 36' E. Cool
weather. Since the NE. winds left they have generally prevailed
from the Southward, and blow'd fresh.
26. S. Latt. 37° 37'; W. Long. 47° 20'. Sounded, no bottom,
150 fm. line out the water discolour 'd.
27. S. Latt. 39° 7'; W.Long. 49° 58'. Discolor'd water. Sounded
no bottom at 150 fm.
29. S. Latt. 41° 6'; W. Long. 53° 28'; Azi. 17° 25' E. Discolor'd
water, no bottom at 120 fm. lowr'd a whale boat, and struck a black
fish but lost him. The iron. drew.
30. S. Latt. 41° 53'; W. Long. 54° 4'; Azi. 17° 54' E. Cold
weather. Winds from SW.
31. S. Latt. 42° 46'; W. Long. 53° 45'; Azi. 17° 54' E. Fresh
gales. Caught 16 Albatross's, with a hook and line from the stern,
hook'd them in the bill. Ships crew are all in health.
So ends the year 1790.
Made the Brazil Coast or Patigonia.
1791. January 6. S. Latt. 48° o'; W. Long. 54° o'; Amp'd 21°
2' E. Generally fresh gales, and winds mostly from the Southward.
Have caught many albatrosses within these few days past, and seen
plenty of Finback and right whales. Experience a current setting
to the Southward.
7. S. Latt. 47° 43'; W. Long. 54° 40'; Amp'd 20° 10' E. Fresh
gales and pleasant cool weather.
10. S. Latt. 46° 28'; W. Long. 58° 22'. Winds from the south-
ward. Sounded, no ground, with 120 fm. line. Saw seals and whales.
Water much discolour'd.
13. S. Latt. 45° 2'; W. Long. 61° 14' O C A whale come so
near as to strike the ship with his flukes and gave considerable of a
blow. Got bottom, with 53 fm. line, fine black sand, with a few
white specks.
14. S. Latt. 46° o'; W. Long. 62° o'. Wind from NW. Sound-
ings 50 fm., fine black sand.
15. S. Latt. 45° 31'; W.Long. 63° 54'; Azi. 22° o'E. Winds from
the Southward. Soundings 45 fm., soft mud with sand.
17. S. Latt. 46° 48'; W. Long. 66° 58'. Fresh gales, under
double reef'd topsails, with a high sea. At noon 35 fm. mud, wind
NE. Saw the land to the Westward of Cape Blanco on the Coast
of Patigonia, bearing from SSE. to SW. Very squally, haul'd our
I920.] LOG OF THE COLUMBIA, 1790-1792. 223
wind to the Eastward, find the ship embayed with the wind, on
shore. Stood on within 2 miles of the beach, and cou'd not weather
the land on our larboard tack; we were under the necessity of wear-
ing ship to the Westward, at this time had 12 fm. grey sand. Our
situation was very critical, as we cannot weather the land on either
tack. Bent cables, and overhaul'd a range of each of them, pass'd
several times over very shoal water but did not sound, for fear of
intimidating the crew. Ship'd many seas, one of which stove the
Binnacle and broke the Compasses. Wore ship several times as
the wind favour'd. This land appear'd levell, without much wood
and very high grass growing. Saw several smokes, but none of the
Natives. The shore was lined with white sand banks. Fortunately
at midnight the wind moderated, and haul'd more of shore. Haul'd
off into 20 fm. and stood along shore; given the Cape a good berth.
18. S.Latt. 47°9'; W. Long. 66°38'; Azi. 2i°36'E. Saw break-
ers a head, haul'd to the East'd. Cape Blanco bore S 65° W., 4
leagues. Sounded and had but 5 fm. water; deepened gradually, in
25 fm. pebble or gravell stones. This shoal was not laid down in
the Drafts. I judge it to be very small.
At the Falkland Islands.
19. S. Latt. 48° 37'; W. Long. 66° 8'. Winds from the SW.
56 fm. water, weather pleasant but cold. Many Albatross and large
scholes of Whales.
22. S. Latt. 51° 53'; W. Long. 64° 5' O C. Wind at NW. and
squally. Made the Islands of Sebald-De Wert,^ (or Jasons Islands)
which lie off the NW. part of the Group call'd Falkland. Vast
many birds and seals round. Made sail to the South'd for States
Bay, in New Island (one of the Falkland). At 6 A. M. saw Cape
Percivall, SBE. 10 leagues. Fresh gales. At Meridian anchord, in
New Island harbour. Mud and sand in 5 fm. Remain'd in this
Harbour 11 days, during which time we give the ship a complete
overhaul. We had the winds generally from the westward, and
sometimes blew so strong that we drag'd with 5 anchors a head.
A tent was erected on shore, for the Tradesmen. Found the water-
ing place very handy, and the water excellent. The ship's crew on
our arrival was all in health. Still no doubt, by being frequently
indulg'd on shore, was of great service to them. The weather gen-
erally was very cool. During our stay at these Island[s] we shot
upwards of 1000 Ducks and Geese, and 6 Hogs, (which was evidently
' Sebald de Weert who circumnavigated the globe in 1598-99 in the ship het
Geloof, the sole surviving vessel of the fleet of five commanded by Jacques Mahu
and Simon de Cordes.
224 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
of the Spanish breed). The fowl was quite tame when we first arriv'd,
but the}^ soon was taught the doctrine of self-preserv^ation. The
Swine was very wild.
The face of the Country does not present a very deKghtful pros-
pect, extensive heaths, mountains, and ponds of water are to be
seen all over the Island. There is not a tree upon it, but the grass
is 3 feet high in most places. The turf generally of the height of
6 foot, between which the Hogs and Penguins have their habitations.
The soil appear'd to me to be proper for the reception of such seeds
as contribute towards the substenance of inhabitants. The wild
Cellery, which is an excellent antiscorbutic grows here in abundance.
I think these Islands are most proper to touch at, when bound
round Cape Horn in preference to those in Straits La Maire ^ as
the water is handy, and you may keep your People on Geese and
Ducks while you remain.
In the Pacific Ocean after Passing Staten Land and
Cape Horn.
February 3. S. Latt. 51° 47'; W. Long. 66° 10'; Amp'd 25° 7' E.
Wind from the Southward, and pleasant weather. Left the Falk-
land Isles last evening. This day spoke the Ship Bedford, Laben
Coffin, Master, from Dunkirk (in France) bound to the Pacific
Ocean, on a whaling voyage. Took a departure from Cape Percivall
at 6 P. M., it being the westward extreme of the Falkland, lying in
Latt. 51° 50' South, and Longitude 66° West of London. Light
airs, and a swell from the Southward. Vast many marine birds
flying round.
5. S. Latt. 53° 54'; W.Long. 69° 36'; Amp'd 25° I'E. Moderate
breezes and pleasant. Saw Staten Land ^ bearing South 14 leagues
distant, a Current setting to the Eastward.
6. S. Latt. 54° 52'; W. Long. 68° 13'. Pleasant weather. St.
Bartholomews on Staten Land, bore SWBW.
7. S. Latt. 55° 24'; W. Long. 68° i'; Amp'd 25° 16' E. Wmds
light and from the Westward, a Constant Current setting to the
Eastward. Staten Land in sight, bearing WNW. 20 leagues distant,
very high and unequal land, with snow on the mountains.
12. S. Latt. 58° o'; W. Long. 76° 15'; Azi. 24° 36' E. Weather
still holds pleasant, but very cold. Winds generally from the
Eastward.
17. S. Latt. 60° i'; W. Long. 82° 8'; Azi. 24° 30' E. Winds since
the 12th has been much from the Westward and blowd excessive
* Named after Jacob le Maire, who circumnavigated the world in 1615-1617.
' I. de Ids Estados.
I920.] LOG OF THE COLUMBIA, 1790-1792. 225
fiery, with high seas. This day's Latitude is the highest South
during the passage.
23. S. Latt. 57° 36'; W. Long. 84° 42'. A Seal playing round
the ship. (Light winds.)
27. S. Latt. 54° 44'; W. Long. 86° 24'; Azi. 23° 52' E. Cape
Horn is doubled. Winds light from the west'd with frequent calms.
March 13. S. Latt. 43° 9'; W. Long. 88° 55'; Amp'd 15° 54' E.
Since 27th Feb'y winds have prevailed generally from the West-
ward, with moderate breezes and pleasant weather.
19. S. Latt. 40° 32'; W. Long. 88° 20'; Azi. 14° 28' E. Light
winds and pleasant.
21. S. Latt. 37° 43'; W. Long. 88° 7'; Azi. 14° 44' E. Very
pleasant weather. Some of the Crew have the Scur^^y in the Gums.
24. S. Latt. 36° 56'; W. Long. 89° 7'; Azi. 13° 20' E. Light winds
from NW. and frequent Calms.
26. S. Latt. 34° 35'; W. Long. 88° 41'; Azi. 12° 51' E.; Amp'd
12° 35' E.; 2d Azi. 12° 47' E. Very pleasant, and temperate light
airs.
31. S. Latt. 30° o'; W. Long. 89° 28'. Winds still from the
westward with pleasant weather. Ship's Crew are in health.
Passage from Cape Horn to the NW. Coast.
April 2. S. Latt. 27° 17'; W. Long. 89° 38'; Azi. 11° 50' E. O C.
This day took the SE. trades, and experienced a swell from the
Northward. Weather very pleasant.
4. S. Latt. 24° 59'; W. Long. 93° o'; Azi. 11° 34' E. Swell from
the Southward.
6. S. Latt. 22° 38'; W. Long. 96° 12'; Azi. 10° 14' E. Steady
trades and fair. Blackfish and Porpoises.
8. S. Latt. 20° 56'; W. Long. 98° 19'; Azi. 10° 26' E. Very pleas-
ant, with smooth sea, winds to the North of East.
9. S. Latt. 20° 32'; W. Long. 98° 55'; Azi. 9° 59' E. Small winds.
10. S. Latt. 19° 41'; W. Long. 99° 56'; Azi. 9° 50' E. Small
winds.
11. S. Latt. 18° 50'; W. Long. 100° 29'; Amp'd 9° 12' E. Small
winds. Wind at ESE. Ship's Crew is many of them complaining.
12. S. Latt. 17° 57'; W. Long. 101° 24'; Azi. 9° 16' E. A little
Scurvy among the Crew.
15. S. Latt. 14° 9'; W. Long. 105° 28'; Azi. 9° o' E. Lively trade
winds and pleasant serene breeze, with smooth water.
16. S. Latt. 12° 36'; W. Long. 106° 54'; Azi. 7° 50' E. Do. Do.
22. S. Latt. 5° 37'; W. Long. 113° 39'; Azi. 6° 44' E.; Amp'd 6°
32' E. Saw a Turtle.
2 26 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuXE,
23. S. Latt. 4° 37'; W. Long. 114° 39' O CT . Between the hours
of 3 and 4 P. M. Departed this life our dear friend Nancy the Goat
having been the Captain's companion on a former voyage round the
Globe, but her spirited disposition for adventure led her to under-
take a second voyage of Circumnavigation; But the various changes
of Climate, and sudden transition from the Polar Colds, to the
tropical heats of the Torrid zone, prov'd too much for a constitution
naturally delicate. At 5 P. M. Committed her body to the deep.
She was lamented by those who got a share of her Alilkll Men of
War Birds and Porpoises round.
26. S. Latt. 1° 59'; W. Long. 117° 23'; Azi. 6° 0' E.; Amp'd 5°
34' E. Pleasant weather. Saw a Turtle. Many Barracota and
Dolphin round the ship.
28. S. Latt. 0° 50'; W. Long. 118° 35'; Azi. and Amp'd 5° 30' E.
Caught a shark; porpoises about the ship. Excessive warm.
29. S. Latt. 0° 5'; W. Long. 119° 13'; Azi. and Amp'd 5° 18' E.
O C . Gentle trades at ESE and pleasant. Four seamen laid by,
with the Scurvey, their mouths and legs are very bad.
30. Both by Meridian and Double Altitudes N. Latt. o'^ 50';
W. Long. 119° 59'; Azi. 5° 15' E. Porpoises and Bonnetto round
together with Tropic Birds and Boobies.
May 2. N. Latt. 3° 26'; W. Long. 121° 45'; Azi. 6° 28' E. Sharks
round, and Boobies. This day took the NE trade wind.
3. N. Latt. 4° 38'; W. Long. 122° 42'; Azi. 6° 52' E. Squally
weather porpoises round and many birds, on the wing.
8. N. Latt. 12° 34'; W. Long. 128° 5'; Fresh trade winds. Saw
a turtle.
13. N. Latt. 20° 7'; W. Long. 132° 44'; Azi. 9° i' E. Fresh trade
winds. Porpoises round. Weather pleasant.
15. N. Latt. 23° 9'; W. Long. 132° 33'; Azi. 9° 47' E. Steady
trade winds and very pleasant. Scurvy making progress.
At anchor IN Cox's harbour or Clioquot on the NW.
Coast.
17. N. Latt. 25° 35'; W. Long. 133° 43'; Azi. 9° 45' E. Fresh
trade winds and generally pleasant weather.
19. N. Latt. 27° 38'; W. Long. 134° 15'; Azi. 10° 41'. Do. Do.
7 Men off duty with the scurvy, their Gums is quite putrid, and legs
as big roimd as their bodies and quite numb, (the worst of Com-
plaints!!).
24. N. Latt. 34° 9'; W. Long. 135° 33'; Amp'd 12° 20' E. This
day lost the NE trades, and immediately took the wind from the
westward.
I920.] LOG OF THE COLUMBIA, 1790-1792. 227
31. N. Latt. 46° 47'; W. Long. 125° 50'; Azi. 17° 20' E. Have
had generally fresh breezes and cool weather since 24th with the
winds generally from SW. Many birds round, among the rest some
that look'd like Plovers. 6 People extreme bad, with the scurvy.
June 4. N. Latt. 49° 10'; W. Long. 120° 21'. This day made the
land, on the NW. Coast of the American Continent between Nootka,
(or King George's Sound) and Clioquot ^ (or Coxes harbour) . For
these severall days past we had seen whales, drift wood, feathers,
kelp etc. All signs of its vicinity. Breakers pt. bore NEBE 8
leagues, high land back, and snow perceivable on some of the moun-
tains. Wind from Southward.
5. N. Latt. 49° 5'; Correct W. Long. 125° 26' O C This day
anchor in Coxes harbour, and found it very commodious. This
Harbour is made remarkable by three remarkable round Hills,
abreast its entrance. Hannah, Chief of the village Ahhousett came
on board and appeared friendly. Above 300 of the Natives was
alongside in the course of the day. Their canoes was made from the
body of a tree, with stem, and stern, pieces, neatly fixed on. Their
models was not unlike our Nantucket whale boats. The dress of
these Indians was either the Skin of some Animal, or else a Blankett
of their own manufactory, made of some kind of Hair. This gar-
ment was slung over the right shoulder. They all appear'd very
friendly, brought us plenty of fish and greens. We tarry'd in this
harbour till the i6th June, landed the sick, immediately on our
arrival and pitch'd a tent for their reception, and although there
was ten of them in the last stage of Scurvy, still they soon recover'd,
upon smelling the turf, and eating greens of various kinds. We buried
severall of our sick, up to the Hips, in the earth, and let them re-
main for Jtours in that situation. Found this method of great service.
The principall village in this harbour is called Opitsatali, and is
governed by Wickananish, a warlike Chief. He and his family
visited us often. The Indians brought severall Deer, and plenty of
Rock Cod, Salmon, and other fish. Wild parsley, and a root call'd
Isau or Isop, by the natives and much resembling a small onion,
was brought us in abundance. We purchas'd many of the Sea Otter
skins in exchange for Copper, and blue Cloth. These Indians are of
a large size, and somewhat corpulent. The Men w^ear no other
covering, but the garment before mentioned, and seem to have no
sense of shame, as they appear in a state of Nature. The Women
stand in great fear of the Males, but appear to be naturally very
modest. Their garment is manufactured from the bark of a tree
and is well executed, being so constructed as to cover them complete
^ Cayuela or Clayoquot.
2 28 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuNE,
from the Neck to the Ancle. Both Male and Female wear Hats of a
conicle form made out of strong reeds. On them is painted, (in a
rude manner) their mode of Whale fishery. Attoo, the Captain's
servant (and a native of the Sandwich Isle) ran away, among the
Indians. A chief coming on board, plac'd a guard over him, and
sent his Canoe back to the village with the news. They soon re-
turn'd with Mr. Atto, and ransom'd their Chief.
17. This day weigh'd the anchors and left Coxe's harbour. Fine
weather, wind at SW. All hands once again on duty. Make the
people use Spruce Tea, boil'd from the Boughs we took on board,
for that purpose and although not very palatable, I believe is an
excellent Antiscorbutic. Bound along shore to the North and West.
Saw woody point bearing ESE 3 or 4 leagues.
At anchor in Columbia's Cove and Juan de Fuca Straits.
20. N. Latt. 50° 6'; W. Long. 128° 12'. Moderate breezes. At
8 P. M. abreast Woody point, lay'd off and on, through the night.
At daylight made sail, for Chickleset sound, out Pinnace, and sent
her ahead of the Ship to sound. At 8 A. M. abreast the entrance
of the sound. Hove to. At 10 the pinnace made the signall for an
harbour. Bore away, wind at NW. At Meridian anchor'd in a
small Cove, (which we named Columbias). In this situation we was
completely land lock'd. Vast many natives alongside. They ap-
pear'd much the same as those at Coxs harbour and talkd their
language. We laid in this harbour till the 26th, diu-ing which time
got many Sea Otter and land furs, from the Natives, in exchange
for Copper, Iron and Cloth, (wuth Beads, fish Hooks and such small
stuff kept the Ship supplied with various kinds of fish and greens,
with a few deer). These Natives was generally arm'd with Bows,
arrows, and spears. Like those at Clioquot they would pilfer when-
ever an opportunity offer'd. Their Women were more Chaste than
those we had lately left. But still they were not all Dianas. During
our tarry here I visited one of the villages in the sound, found the
Natives busily employ'd building Canoes, and packing provisions
against the ensuing Winter. They treated me quite friendly. They
dry their fish in the Sun, and then pack it in neat wooden boxes.
d^^Necessity is the mother of invention.
26. This day left Columbia's Cove, and stood along shore
towards the Straits of Juan De Fuca. Crew all well. Steering to
the South and East'd. This is an Iron bound Coast, with high land
back.
27. This day pass'd Clioquot, with a fine breeze from WNW and
pleasant.
I920.] LOG OF THE COLUMBIA, 1790-1792. 229
28. N. Latt. 48° 42'; W. Long. 124° o'. Enter'd the Straits of
Juan De Fuca and hove to abreast the Village of Nittenatt, found
strong tides. Vast many Natives off, with Sea Otter and other
Furs, which we purchas'd with the same articles as before. 'T was
evident that these Natives had been visited by that scourge of
mankind the Smallpox. The Spaniards, as the natives say, brought
it among them. These Indians appear'd friendly.
N. Latt. 48° 2^:!,'; W. Long. 124° o' O C * (T . Kept beating
about the entrance of De Fuca Straits till 3d July, on SE. parts (off
a small Isle) call'd Tatooch, we collected many Otters. These
natiA'es gave the preference to Copper. Fine Halibut and Salmon
was procured in abundance. Nails, Beads etc. serv'd for this traffic.
This Chief at Tatooch's Isle offer'd to sell us some young Children
they had taken in war.
July 3. N. Latt. 49° i'; W. Long. 126° 20'. Left the Straits. At
6 P. M. Cape Flattery (so named by Capt. Cook) bore SEBE 8
leagues. Standing along shore to the Westward, wind from the
East'd.
4. Took the wind from the Westward, employ'd beating to
windward the land about 12 leagues. Many Whales.
At anchor in Barrell's Sound, in Queen Charlotte
Isles.
8. N. Latt. 52° 10'; W. Long. 131° 12'. This day anchor'd in
Barrells sound on the SE. part of the Queen Charlotte Isles, 20
fathom, rocky bottom. Sent the Pinnace, with an officer, to seek
better anchorage, which was soon found. Got under way and stood
up sound, and anchor'd in 15 fathom muddy bottom. A Chief by
name Coyac, came along side, with plenty of other Indians. The
Natives here are much stouter than any we had before seen, and
appear to be very savage. The Men go quite naked, except a skin
over the shoulder. The Women are entirely cover'd, with Garments
of their own manufactory, from the bark of tree. They appear to
carry full sway over the men and have an incision cut through the
under lip, which they spread out with a piece of wood, about the
size and shape of a goose egg (some much larger). It's considered
as an ornament, but in my opinion looks very gastly. Some of them
booms out two inches from the chin. The women appear very fond
of their offspring, and the Men of both. We remain'd in this sound
till the 17th. During which tune we purchas'd a good lot of Sea
Otter and other furs chiefly for Iron and Cloth. Copper was not in
demand. The boats were sent frequently after wood and water,
but were always well arm'd. The Natives supplied us with plenty
230 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
of Halibut and Rock Cod, for which we paid them in Nails. Wild
fowl was plenty in this Sound, of which we caught and kill'd many.
I landed at one of their villages, found the Indians comfortably
lodg'd, and kept large fires, although the weather was temperate.
When I went into one of their houses they was eating roast muscles
and singing a warlike Song. They appear'd fond of our visit and
never offer'd to molest any thing in the boat. Their canoes are not
made near so neat as those we had seen before, but I think was
more commodious. The females was not very chaste, but their lip
pieces was enough to disgust any civilized being. However some
of the Crew was quite partial.
In THE Straits of Admiral Defont.
17. Weigh'd and left Barrells sound, bound to the Straits of
Admiral De Font,^ which is form'd by the Charlotte Isles and the
Main.
18. N. Latt. 51° 34'. Wind from Westward and pleasant, beat-
ing to and fro, off the South pt. of Charlotte Isles, endeavouring
to get into the Straits.
23. N. Latt. 52° 26'; W. Long. 131° 30'; Azi. 20° 22' E. Spoke
the Brig Hope, Joseph Ingrahim master from Boston, on the same
business with ourselves. Soon parted.
24. N. Latt. 53° 6'. A small Isle, in the Straits bore North at
Meridian, which we named Hatches. Weather is generally clear,
so that the Isles and Main are distinctly seen together. Found
ground at 120 fm. The Natives wou'd often come along side
from the Main, or Isles, as we border'd on either shore, and brought
"iurs and plenty of Halibut, which you cou'd buy for a board Nail
apiece.
28. N. Latt. 53° 14'; W.Long. 132° o'; Azi. 21° 35' E. Ship over
towards the Main. Sent an officer in the pinnace in search of anchor-
age. Found the land hereabouts low and barren near the shore, but
rises back into high mountains. Find excessive strong currents in
these Straits. The Natives on the Main speak a language different
from those on the Islands. Boat returned without success.
30. N. Latt. 52° 47'; W. Long. 131° O (T . Fresh gales and
stormy weather. At Meridian Charlotte Isles extended from SBW
to WBN 8 or 10 leagues. Some Canoes full of Indians boarded us
from the Isles. They inform'd us that severall English vessells had
visited not long since. We purchased a good lot of furs, chiefly for
Iron and Cloth.
31. Stood towards the Islands, and anchored in 24 fm. with a
' Rio de Raver of Admiral Fonte.
ig20.] LOG OF THE COLUMBIA, 1790-1792. 231
Kedge. Light wind from NW. A Chief (by name Cnmswah)
brought us several fine Sea Otter skins.
.August I. Wind from SE. Standing along the Queen Charlotte
Isles, through De Font straits, about 3 or 4 leagues from land, sound-
ings generally from 15 to 25 fm. mud. The main land in sight to the
North and West'd at a great distance.
2. Fresh gales and very thick weather. Narrowly escaped run-
ning on a reef of rocks. Quite foggy and see the land but seldom,
beating to and fro. Wind from the Eastward.
3. N. Latt. 54° 43'; W. Long. 132° 23'. Heavy gales from SE,
and thick weather, found the Ship embay'd, employ'd making short
hanks. At length we being too nigh the shore for to keep off, through
the night, we was alarm'd with all the horrors of a lee shore. A
small opening appearing in the land to leeward, hove out the pinnace
and sent an officer to examine for anchorage. At 6 in the evening
she made a signal for a Harbour. Bore away and anchored under a
point of land, in 17 fm. sandy bottom, let go three anchors, it being
a wild road stead. We remain'd in this station, which we call'd
Port Tempest till the 8th and only four Indians made their appear-
ance, and I believe there was no villages in the vicinity. Made
severall excursions, with boats, and procur'd many Salmon and
plenty of Berries. In one of these excursions I discover'd a small
rknilet, not deep enough to admit the boat. In it we caught up-
wards of 100 fine salmon, chiefly with the boat hook and grainz,
and shot a deer upon the banks. Crew all in health.
8. Got under way and left Port Tempest (situated on the main
land of America), stood over for land in sight to the North 'd and
westward, and as we approach'd it severall Canoes came off, with
furs and halibut.
10. N. Latt. 55° o'; W. Long. 133° o'. Light winds and pleasant,
standing to the NW. and 6 P. M. came to with the Kedge 28 fm.
Port Tempest bearing NEBN. 12 leagues. The Natives brought us
plenty of fine Otter furs. Their Canoes are the same as at Charlotte
Isles, some of them capable of carrying 30 men. They go well
arm'd, with bows, arrows and spears, and appear to be a savage
race. I went in the Cutter — well arm'd — ^ to a small cove, not
far distant from the Ship, and soon caught 9 large Halibut. The
Ship was concealed by a point of land, making out from the NE.
part of the Cove.
12. Still laying at anchor in same situation as on the loth, the
nearest land not above 3-2 rnile distant, and the point of the Cove I
was fishing in on 10 inst. about 34 n^i^e. Mr. Caswell this morning
took a Boatswain Mate and one Seaman with him in the Jolly Boat,
by the permission of Capt. Gray, and went to the Cove a fishing.
232 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
A breeze springing up soon after, and wishing to leave this place, a
six pounder was fird, a signal for the boat to return. She not ap-
pearing, soon after two more Cannon was fir'd. Got the Ship under
way and stood off and on, and sent the pinnace under charge of the
4th officer in search of the small boat. Soon after we see the Pin-
nace returning with the Jolly Boat in tow, without any person in
her and soon discover'd they had the Boats Colours hoisted half
mast. With this melancholy token they approach'd the Ship, when
we soon discover'd our worthy friend, and brother officer, Mr.
Joshua Caswell (2d) lay dead in the bottom of the boat, strip'd
perfectly naked and stab'd in upwards of twenty places. They saw
nothing of John Folger (the boatswains mate) but Joseph Barnes
(the Sailor) lay dead on the beach, and Cjuite naked. Fearing the
Natives lay in ambush, they did not land to take of the Corps. It
is probable they were beset upon by a great superiority of natives,
prompted by a desire to possess their cloaths and arms. As soon
as the boats return'd made sail for Port Tempest, and anchord in the
evening, at our former station. In Mr. Caswell I lost a firm and
steady friend. He was a man of a mild and gentle temper, a com-
plete Seaman, and in short was possest of every qualification ' that
bespoke the gentleman. Observ'd that the day previous to this
disastrous affair few Indians had visited the Ship.
NW. End of Charlotte Isle.
13. N. Latt. 54° 43'; W. Long. 132° 23'. Calm, and temperate
weather. At 8 in the morning the 4th Officer was dispatch'd with a
party well arm'd in the Pinnace, for to dig a grave for our worthy
friend. At 9 the pinnace return'd. At 10 left the Ship with three
boats, under charge of Mr. Hazwell, ist Officer, with the corps, the
Ship firing minute guns. At 11 Capt. Gray landed in a small boat,
and after performing divine service, we inter'' d the remains of ovir
departed, and much beloved, friend, with all the solemnity we was
capable of.
The place was gloomy, and nothing was to be heard but the
bustling of an aged oak, whose lofty branches hung wavering o'er the
grave, together with the meandering brook, the Cries of the Eagle,
and the weeping of his friends added solemnity to the scene. So ends.
15. Weighed, and left Port Tempest, wind at NW. At sunset
it bore NBW. 6 leagues, and (Massacre Co^'e) West 5 Miles. Saw
none of the Natives. No doubt the Rascles wou'd have destroy'd
the Jolly boat after they had massacred our unfortunate countr\--
men, had not the Ship's guns alarm'd them. Standing to the South
and E.
I920.] LOG OF THE COLUMBIA, 1790-1792. 233
16. This day spoke the Brig Hancock of Boston, Samuel Crowell,
Master. They was on the same business as ourselves, and had been
pretty successfull. Capt. Crowell inform'd that his Longboat was
cruizing among the Charlotte Isles, under charge of his 2d Officer.
The Brig kept us company.
18. Pleasant weather. Came to anchor, in a River, which Capt.
Crowell had named Hancocks, situated on the NW. part of the
Queen Charlotte Isles, in company with the Brig, 6 fm. water, mud.
The Brig's Longboat we found at this place, vast many of the Na-
tives along side the Ship, and a few furs was purchased. Capt.
Crowell had, upon some trifling oft'ence, fir'd upon these Indians,
by which a number of them fell, (such wanton cruelty throws him
upon a levell with the savage), and perhaps this same fray was the
means of our losing our worthy 2d Officer as the places are not 20
leagues distant and mayhap they reck'd their Vengeance upon us,
thinking us all of one tribe. If it was so, bad luck to Crowell. Amen.
At anchor in Clicquot harbour.
19. N. Latt. 54° 12'; W. Long. 132° 25'. Fine weather. The
Hancock saild on a Cruize. The land about this River, is the best
without exception I've yet seen, on the NW. Coast, and a place
well calculated for a Factory for to reap the advantages of the fur
trade. The Natives, I dare say, have always plenty of Otters, and
there is fish in abundance. Hove up, and came to sail towards
evening and stood to sea, light winds and very strong tides. At
sunsett Murderers Cape bore NNW. at a great distance.
20. N. Latt. 53° 49'; W. Long. 133° 24'. Soundings from 7 to
12 fm., shoal water about these parts of Charlotte Isles. Standing
to the Southward through Defont straits, running along the Isles in
from 15 to 30 fm. according to distance off shore, these Charlotte
Isles are from the Latt. 51° 55' to 54° 24' N. and from Longitude
131° o' to 133° W.
22. N. Latt. 53° 2'; W. Long. 131° 31'; Amp'd 20° 2' E. O (T.
Many of Indians of this day from Cumswah village, in Charlcot
Isles, brought a few skins, but I think they are pretty well drain'd.
Came to, with the Kedge in 20 fm. about 2 miles from shore. Soon
after see a Boat rowing towards us, and heard a Cannon fir'd in the
sound. At 3 P. M. Mr. Cruft, ist Officer of the American Brig Hope
(which we had spoke with before) came along side, with Capt. In-
grahim's compliments, and offer'd to be the bearer of Letters, as he
was shortly bound for Canton. We readily embraced the oppor-
tunity. At dark Mr. Cruft left us. Up Kedge and bore away to the
southward and East'd.
234 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
23. N. Latt. 52° 37'; W. Long. 130° 22'. The SE. part of Char-
lotte Isles bore SEj^E. 12 leagues, light winds and variable. A
Canoe boarded us, at this great distance, and brought many prime
furs.
28. N. Latt. 49° 20'; W. Long. 127° 16'. At Noon this day,
Nootka (or King Georges sound) bore ENE. 10 leagues. Since the
23d we have never lost sight of the Continent. 'T is very high land.
Saw whales.
29. N. Latt. 49° 5'; W. Long. 126° o'. At Noon the entrance of
Clioquot (or Coxes harbour) bore NE 4 leagues. Standing in for
the harbour, and towards evening anchor'd in our former station,
vast many of the Natives along side, and seem'd glad to see us
again. Found riding here the Brig Lady Washington, of Boston,
John Kendrick, master. He had made up his Voyage and was bound
for Canton. He appear'd happy in meeting with his old friends.
N. Latt. 49° 9'; W. Long. 125° 26' O (T * C. Captain Ken-
drick inform'd us that he had had a skirmish, with the Natives
at Barrells sound in Queen Charlotte Isles, and was oblidg'd to
kill upwards of 50 of them before they wou'd desist from the
attack. It appear'd to me, from what I cou'd collect that the
Indians was the aggressors. This Brig Lady W ashington was a
Sloop when she left Boston, but Capt. Kendrick had alterd her rig
in Canton the year before. I was sorry to find that Kendrick had
made no remittances, to the owners, since he had parted with the
Columbia the first voyage, although since that period he had made
two successful trips from this Coast to Canton. As the Vessells
still belong'd to the same owners he was under some mistrust that
Capt. Gray was empower'd to seize the Brig, and kept himself
always ready against attack. We tarried in this harbour till the
8th Sept., during which time collected many Sea Otter and other furs,
and fish in abundance. These Natives miss'd Mr. Caswell, and it was
thought proper to inform them that he had died a natural death.
September 8. Weighed and beat out of the harbour, wind at SW.
At Noon Clioquot bore NW. 6 leagues standing towards Juan De
Fuca straits.
In the Straits of Juan De Fuca.
II. N. Latt. 48° 15'; W. Long. 124° 30'. This day abreast Cape
Flattery, on the SE. part of De Fuca entrance, vast many of the
Natives along. Purchas'd many Otters. These Indians told us,
there was five sail of Spaniards up the straits. At Midnight saw
Tatoosh Isle, bearing NNE. 3 miles. Thought ourselves further off
shore. Almost calm, and an excessive strong tide sweeping us be-
tween some ledges and the Isle. At daylight thick fog, saw the Rocks
1920.] LOG OF THE COLUMBIA, 1790-1792. 235
a head, within pistol shot, with high breakers. Out all Boats, and
just towed the Ship clear. Our situation was truly alarming, but
we had no business so near the land in thick weather. However
Good Luck prevail 'd and a breeze springing up from offshore we
stretch'd out clear in Boats. Foggy disagreeable weather. Cou'd
observe at intervals that the woods were on fire.
12. Wind NE. Heard the roaring of Breakers, foggy, haul'd
more off shore. At 3 P. M. saw a rock about stone's throw distant,
and narrowly escaped being dash'd upon it — damn nonsense to
keep beating about among rocks, in foggy weather. At midnight
heard the surf roar again, which I suppose to be on the North side
of the Straits, sounded and found ground at 25 fm. Rocks. The
Captain, at length, was frightned, and proceeded with the Ship to a
good offing (this ought to have been done long before), thick foggy
weather, wdth a moderate breeze.
16. N. Latt. 48° 14'; W. Long. 124° 30' € *. Fog clear'd off,
saw Capt Flattery bearing NNE. 2 leagues. Very strong tides. At
Noon we were about 2 miles from Tatooch Isle. Came to with the
Kedge, sandy bottom, the Island bearing North. I think it possible
there is a passage between Cape Flattery and this Isle of Tatooch;
it appears about 2 miles wide. However cou'd see breakers between
them and currents are excessive strong, as we cou'd discern them to
foam in that narrow pass. Many Natives came off, and we purchas'd
a few skins and plenty Halibut. Weigh'd and came to sail towards
evening, bound to Clicquot.
At anchor in Clioquot harbour.
18. N. Latt. 49° 9'; W. Long. 125° 26'. This day anchor'd in
our Old Station in Clioquot harbour, found the Brig Lady Wash-
ington, still riding here. At this Harbour Captain Gray had de-
termin'd to winter, if he cou'd find a suitable place, for to build a
Sloop of 45 Tons, for to assist in collecting furs, on the next season.
The stem and stern post, with part of the floor timbers had been
brought from Boston for this purpose.
19. On the 19th Capt. Gray went with two boats up the sound,
for to seek a convenient cove. In the evening the Captain return'd,
having found a place to his mind, about 4 leagues from where the
Ship lay.
Winter Quarters. Latt. 49° 9' N; Long. 125° 30' W.
20. On the 20th weigh'd, with light airs, and with the Boats
ahead, assisted by the Brig's Crew, we tow'd, and sail'd, into winter
236 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
quarters, which we call'd Adventure Cove, and moor'd Ship for the
winter. Vast many of the Natives along side, and appear'd to be
highly pleas'd with the Idea of our tarrying among them through
the Cold Season. The Columbia lay moor'd in this Cove till the
25th of March, 1792. I shall endeavour to give the heads of our
proceedings during that period.
Adventure Cove was situated in about the Latitude of 49° 15' N.
and Longitude 125° 30' W. of London, about 17 miles from the
Ocean. This Cove was form'd by an Isle and the SE. shore of Clio-
quot sound — so small, that when the Ship was moor'd, you might
throw a stone upon the beach in any direction, the passage in was
not to exceed 100 feet, so that we was in a complete bason. (At
25th inst. Copt. Kendrick sail' d for Canton.) The Adventure was set
up at the back of a fine beach, the woods being previously clear'd.
A Log House was erected near, mounted with two Cannon, with
Loop holes for Musketry. Here Capt. Haswell, with a party of
Seamen, and all the Mechanics was station'd. Near it, the Black-
smiths and Boat builders Shops were plac'd; two Saw pitts was
erected, and kept constantly at play, sawing planks, and was sup-
plied with Logs from the sound, by Boats constantly on that duty.
So that Adventure Cove soon had the appearance of a young ship
yard. Strip'd the Ship to a gritline, and kept a gang under the
directions of the Boatswain upon the rigging.
The Natives made us frequent visits, and brought a good supply
of fish and some Sea Otter Skins, and by keeping a small boat dowm
sound, with 4 of our Seamen we procured a constant supply of wild
Geese, Ducks and Teal. The Geese and Teal resembled those at
home, but the Ducks were exactly of the same Species, with the
tame of our Country. We see none of any other kind. Now and
then we shot a wild turkey. The Natives appear'd to be highly
pleased with the different works going on at the Cove. They some-
times brought us Venison and supplied us with as many boards as
we wanted. They was all cseder, and appear'd to have been split
with wedges, from the Log.
October 7. An alarm was given by the Centry at the Block house,
that there was Canoes in the Cove. Finding they was discover'd
they soon went off.
13. The frame of the Sloop was up complete, and this day
brought the Garboard streak of Plank to her bottom. This is what
I call dispatch. Wickananish, high Chief, came on board, with
severall of the Royal family. He inform'd that his winter village
was a great way off, which occasion'd his visiting us so seldom. He
went on shore, and astonishment was conspicuous in his coun-
tenance at the work going on there. The Natives was very much
IQ20.] LOG OF THE COLUMBIA. 1 790-1 792. 237
puzzled to know how we shou'd get the Sloop off when finish'd, as
she was 75 foot back from high water mark. Wickananish is the
most powerfuU chief we have yet seen on this Coast. His tribe
consists of upwards of 3000 souls. They allow Polygamy, but the
women are not prolific, as barrenness is very common among them.
The Indians girls kept us well supplied with Berries of dilTerent kinds,
which was very grateful!.
14. We was inform'd this day that Capt. Crowell, in the Brig
Hancock, was at Juan de Fuca straits.
27. The Natives brought us some excellent Salmon. E.xperience
much rain, which hinders the work. When the weather is too bad
for to work on the Sloop, keep the Carpenters imder shelter making
a boat for her. Heard of three Spanish Ships being at Nootka.
Keep always upon our guard against surprize as we are among a
powerful! sett. The boat after game, met with some Indians that
was a little troublesome, but by firing a musket over their heads they
soon went off. These Indians was very enquisitive, for to know the
cause of thunder and lightning, but we cou'd not make them under-
stand the real cause, but much surprized them by saying there was
a man in our Country, that made both. They suppose thunder to
be occasioned by an Eagle carrying a Whale into the air, and Light-
ning, the hissing of a Snake, which are exceeding large in this coun-
try. One of our Seamen, being down sound a gunning, saw one of
these animals, which by his discription was as big round as his thigh.
Being alone, and somewhat frightned, retir'd without firing. These
Indians are very superstitious in regard to this Animal, for when
they go on a whaling cruize they always rub their face with a piece
of it. We have never been able to gain much information as respects
their Religion, but they certainly pay adoration to the Sun, and
Moon, and believe in Good and evil Spirits. They lash their dead
on the trees, first stowing them in a box 3 or 4 feet long. The Head
and Legs are cut off to make good stowage, and little valuables that
belong to the deseas'd are bury'd with them. Capt. Gray went to
an Indian Village for to look at a Chief, said to be very sick. On his
arrivall he was received very cordially, and conducted to the sick
man's house, which was full of people. In one Corner lay the Sick
Chief, and around him eight stout men, which kept pressing his
stomach with their hands, and making a most hideous Bow-wowing,
in the poor fellow's ears. Upon the Captain's approach, he suppos'd
the Cheif to be nearly dead, and order'd this band of Doctors to
^ , desist. Having made him some gruell to take,
the Chief soon came to a little, and order'd two
Sea Otter skins as a present. After giving him a Wine toast he
order'd him to be left to sleep, and visited a number of Chiefs
238 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuxE,
houses, the masters of which treated hrni with an attention not very
common among savages. (He returned on board.) I made an ex-
cursion to this same Village, not long after. As soon as I landed,
Men, Women, and Children came down to the beach to receive me,
but did not offer to molest the boat. Found the sick Chief much
better, and reliev'd him from his pressing and noisy friends. The
house was large and commodious, and wou'd hold fifty Indians
very comfortably. All round was packages of Fish in Boxes, and
decorated with pearl shells. Their furniture consisted chiefly of
matts, and wooden boxes, which last serves to boil their fish in,
which they easily do by applying red hot stones, till it boils. They
neither scale or draw the fish, but as it comes from the water, so it
goes into the box, to boil, or on the Coals to broil. There was sev-
erall fires about the house but being there being no chimnies, the
smoak was too mighty for my eyes. They sleep on boards, rais'd
about a foot from the ground, and cover'd with matts, roUing them-
selves up with furs. Over the sick man's head there was a board
cut out in the shape of a heart, and stuck full of Otter's teeth, with
a long spear on each side of him. His young wife did not appear to
be affected at the sight of her sick husband, but the Father and
Mother was watching their Son, with the most parental affection.
After boiling him some rice and leaving more with his mother, I left
the village and returned safe on board.
25. This day was kept in mirth and festivity by all the Colum-
bia's Crew, and the principal Chiefs of the sound, by invitation,
din'd on board ship. The Natives took a walk round the work shops
on shore. They was surprized at seeing three tier of wild fowl roast-
ing, at one of the houses — indeed we was a little surprized at the
novelty of the sight ourselves, for at least there was 20 Geese roast-
ing at one immense fire, and the Ship's Crew appear'd very happy,
most of them being on shore. The Indians cou'd not understand
why the Ship's and houses was decorated with spruce bows. At
12 clock fir'd a federall Salute, and ended the day toasting our
sweethearts and ivifes.
1792. January i. This day, being down sound, with the Jolly
boat after game, I stopt at the village. Visited Yethlan the sick
Chief, and found him much better. The family treated me ex-
tremely well. I received many pressing invitations from the rest of
the Chiefs, for to visit their houses, and complied with most of them,
and was particularly pleas'd at visiting Wickananish's dwelling, who
this day had given an entertainment to all the warriors of his Vil-
lages, with many visitors from distant villages. As soon as the
King saw me I was call'd towards him, and seated upon his right.
This house was about 80 foot long, and 40 broad, and about 12 feet
I920.] LOG OF THE COLUMBIA, 1790-1792. 239
high, with a flat roof. The King was elevated about two feet higher
than the company, with a Canopy over his head, stuck full of ani-
mals teeth. The Company consisted of above 100 men, all con-
siderably advanced in years. The Women belonging to the house
was in an apartment by themselves, busily employ'd making their
Bark Garment. The Machines for that purpose, is not unlike the
Looms with us. They are very neat and dexterous in this business.
The entertainment (which consisted of Fish Spawn mixed with
Berries and train Oil,) was served up in wooden Bowls, handed by
the lowxr Orders of males. I was invited strongly to partake, but
the Smell was enough — therefore pleaded indisposition. After
they had done, the remains was sent to the females. The King in-
form'd they was going to have a dance in the evening, and wish'd
me for to stay. However I declin'd, and return'd on board. This
Village was 3 leagues from Adventure Cove. Capt. Hannah, a Chief
of the village Ahhousett, sometimes came to see his old friends (as
he call'd us). He resided 9 leagues from the Cove but was under
the Jurisdiction of Wickananish.
6. This day one of the Chiefs of Juan De Fuca Straits came on
board. He was upon a visit to Wickananish, and indeed had mar-
ried his sister, inform'd us there was a Spanish Ship in the Straits,
brought many furs.
17. Began to caulk the Sloop Adventure'' s bottom, it being com-
pletely planked up. I this day made an excursion to the Village,
having put myself under the care of Tatoochkasettle, one of the
King's brothers, who conducted me in his Canoe. Upon my arrival
was treated as usuall very politely. I took up my residence at
Tatoochkasettle's house, who invited a large company to sup with
him. After supper finding I wushd to visit some other familys he
sent his servants with lighted torches, for to conduct me. I return'd
back about Midnight and found that there was an excellent watch
kept throughout the village, each one hooping at certain intervals
throughout the night. My Indian friend had made me as com-
fortable a berth to sleep on as was in his power, but the House being
full of smoak, and the young Children very fractious, occasion 'd
my sleeping but little all night. In the morning early observ'd most
of the Men bathing on the Beach. On enquiring the cause, was
inform'd that this day the King was going to give his Eldest Son
the name of Wickananish, and take another upon himself, upon
which account there was to be great rejoicings. About noon, up-
wards of 100 men assembled upon the beach in front of the Village,
with the King at their head. Their dress, which was exactly uni-
form, consisted of a Blankett, made fast round the Loins with a
Girdle, and reach'd about half way down their thighs. Their hair
240 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
was tum'd up, and tyed with a thick bunch before and decorated
with feathers. Their faces was painted of dififerent colours, and
their bodies of a deep red. Beads and fibres of Bark were woulded
round their Ancles and Knees, and at a distance they made a grand,
although savage appearance. They collected near the water, at one
end of the village, in regular tiers, about four deep. At each wing
many women were placed with Copper Boxes, in which was small
Stones, serving as part of the music. The procession moved slowly
along, the front squatting on their hams, the others standing erect,
with three of the King's brothers upon their shoulders, who were
dancing and running from right to left, in that position while those
under them was on the Continual move. The King kept in front,
giving the word of Command. All their voices kept perfect tune
with the rattling of the boxes. The rest of the inhabitants were
seated along the beach viewing the performance. When they arrived
opposite the King's house, they enter'd single file, and I followed to
see the transactions within doors. About 30 of the principal Actors
seated themselves in a Circle, and was presented with a piece of
board and a small stick. This they used instead of a Drum. The
whole Company then began to dance and sing, and the Musicians
joining, made it very pleasing. But the S?nell was too strong for
my Organs. Therefore soon drew off. These Natives are mild and
chearfull, with little of that savage appearance that Savages gener-
ally have. Their Complexions is very light Copper, but they darken
it with Oil and Paint. The Hair is coarse, long and black. 'T is a
general custom to eat their own Vermin, and they are so plenty that
they will often make a decent repast. The Men are generally thick
set with fiat noses and broad faces. The Women are pretty. Their
eyes are rather small, and though they are not very quick and pierc-
ing, they give the countenance a frank, chearfull, and pleasing cast.
We understood from the Natives that they sometimes made Human
sacrifices, and shocking to relate, that they eat the flesh of such poor
victims. However I do not believe that this custom is very common
and only happens on some very particular Occasion. A prisoner
of War is the person selected for this savage feast.
18. This day severall chiefs came on board, one of which we
found was busily employ'd talking with our Sandwich Island lad.
Their conversation was soon put a stop to, and the Lad examin'd,
but he denyd that the Chief ask'd him any improper questions.
These Natives, always behaving so friendly, occasion'd us to place
too much confidence in them, and what a pity it is, that we cou'd
not leave this port, with that opinion of them which we had here-
tofore held; But alas! We find them to be still a savage tribe, and
only waiting an opportunity for to Massacre the whole of us, in cold
I920.] LOG OF THE COLUMBIA, 1790-1792. 24I
blood. The Ship had been brought some days previous to this, to a
bluff point of Rocks, where she lay'd as to a wharfe, not even touch-
ing the ground at low water. The Cannon and all the stores was
landed here, as we was about hauling on the beach to grave and pay
the Bottom. The situation of the Ship at this period was very favor-
able to their views, and must have encouraged them with the hope
of destroying the whole of us; without the loss of a man on their side.
However in this they wou'd have been mistaken, as we kept a strong
watch, under the conduct of an Officer and was always guarded
against surprize. But shou'd we have been overpow'd by numbers,
our friends perhaps never wou'd have known our sad fate.
But fortunately, in the evening, the Sandwich Island lad made a
confession to his Master, (as follows). He said TatoochkaseUle, (the
Chief) told him, that Wickananish was about to take the Ship and
Massacre all the Crew, and said he shou'd be a great man if he
wou'd wet our Musketis, and steal for him some Bulletts. He said
they shou'd come that night, or the next, and told him to come over
to them, when the fray first began. This news alarm'd the Ship's
Company exceedingly, and we immediately got in readiness to re-
ceive them. Capt. Gray call'd his officers together, for to consult
what was best to be done, and we was unanimously of opinion that
't was best to haul the Ship on the ways, and grave her, as the tide
then suited, and we cou'd retreat in safety to the Block House
shou'd the Natives appear, (where we had several Cannon mounted
and good quarters.) This plan was immediately put in execution,
leaving a strong guard on the point for to guard the Stores, with
necessary signals shou'd they want relief. By midnight one side of
the Ship was finish'd, when we heard a most hideous hooping of
Indians, and at every shout they seem'd to come nearer. Every
man immediately took his arms, and stood ready, both on board
ship and at the Log house. They kept hooping about one hour,
when they ceas'd and 't is probable retreated, lamenting their hard
luck, that the cruel plan was so completely frustrated. The guard
at the point saw many large Canoes off the entrance of the Cove,
but like brave fellows, they scorn'd to quit the station. In the
morning tide we finish'd the Ship, and haul'd again to the point,
and in the course of the Day took on board all the stores and can-
non, and moor'd off in the Cove, in our old berth. Scal'd the Guns,
which made all rattle again, and I believe never was more work done
in so short a time. But Men determined can do most any thing.
It does not appear that Wickananish wish'd to conquer a part of
us, as he had frequent opportunitys to have accomplish'd it, for
two or three times a week a boat was down at the Village, generally
with an Officer and four Sailors, but I suppose he very prudently
242 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
thought, that shou'd he cut a boat's Crew off, there was still enough
left, for to destroy his Villages. The Chiefs had been telling us for
some time that they was going to war with a distant tribe and
wish'd for us to lend them Musketts and Ammunition, which some
of these fellows used as well as ourselves. We had observed of late
that they did not seem so cheerfull as common, but seem'd to be
deeply wrapt in thought. After this, no more of the Natives visited
Adventure Cove, except some old women and young girls, who
brought us berries and fish — and most probable they was sent as
spies.
March 4. This day the Ship was completely rig'd, hold stowed,
and in every respect in readiness for sea. She look'd like a fiddle!
The King's Mother came along side and brought some otter skins
which we purchased. She told Captain Gray that the Moon in-
form'd her Son if he come to the Ship he wou'd be killd.
21. This day departed this life, after a lingering sickness, Benj,
Harding {Boatswain). He was a smart, active, and steady man,
and one that know'd, and did his duty in every respect. Deposited
his remains, next morning, near to the Block house, after performing
divine service. Promoted a Seaman to his place.
22. Launch'd the Sloop Adventure. She went off admirably.
Took a hawser and got her along side the Ship, and soon had her
rig'd.
24. The Sloop Adventure is ready for sea. Capt. Haswell, ist
mate of ship, went on board and took charge, taking with him I\Ir.
Waters (4th mate) and a crew of ten Seamen and tradesmen. I
think she was one of the prettiest vessells I ever saw, of about 45
tons, with a handsome figure head and false badges, and otherways
touch'd off in high stile. There was not a Butt either in the Planks
on deck or sides, and the plank not above nine inches wide. She
was victuall'd for a four months cruize, and supplied with Articles
for the Queen Charlotte Isles trade, on which route 't was meant
she shou'd go, while the Ship proceeding along the Southern Coast.
25. Pleasant weather, wind at SE. In the morning got the
Remainder of our affairs from the shore, and unmoor'd. Left
Adventure Cove, and stood down Sound, with the Sloop in com-
pany. We left our log houses all standing. Anchor'd abreast the
Village Opitsatah, but found it entirely deserted. Observ'd very
few Canoes moving.
During our long tarry in Adventure Cove, we all enjoy'd good
health, although the Crew was at times very much exposed. The
boatswain's sickness commenced before our arrival in the Cove. '
The Weather was generally very fine, and very seldom had Snow,
and never Ice thicker than a Spanish Dollar, but experienced fre-
I920.] LOG OF THE COLUMBIA, 1790-1792. 243
quent heavy rains. We pick'd Whurtle and Blue berries, through-
out the winter, which was very tine, and Whurtle Berry pudings
was quite common with us. We kept the Crew continually supplied
with Spruce beer, and their breakfast and supper was Tea boild
from the green Spruce boughs sweetned with Molasses. Perhaps
this method kept the Scurvy off. However they did not eat much
Salt provisions, as we was generally supplied with Poultry, Venison,
and fish.
27. I am sorry to be under the necessity of remarking that this
day I was sent, with three boats all well man'd and arm'd, to destroy
the ^'illage of Opitsatah. It was a Command I was no ways tena-
cious of, and am grieved to think Capt. Gray shou'd let his passions
go so far. This ^'illage was about half a mile in diameter, and con-
tained upwards of 200 Houses, generally well built for Indians;
every door that you enter'd was in resemblance to an human and
Beasts head, the passage being through the mouth, besides which
there was much more rude carved work about the dwellings some
of which was by no means inelegant. This fine village, the work of
Ages, was in a short time totally destroy 'd.
Cruizing to the S. and E. of De Fuca Straits
April 2. Weigh'd in company with the Sloop, and left Clioquot
harbour, and stood to the South'd with the Ship, while the Sloop
haul'd her wind to the Northward. Parted, with loud Huzzas, a
proper rendevous being appointed.
3. On the 3d passed De Fuca Straits, experience blowing weather
on the coast, but generally keep sight of the Land. The Shore seems
sandy, and the land of a moderate height, with much clear ground
fit for cultivation. Lat. 45° 15'. There is regular soundings of this
Coast, which is not the case to the Northward.
7. N. Latt. 44° 56'; W. Long. 122° 52'. Very blowing weather,
and quite cold. Beating off the Coast, waiting for to find a good
harbour. The weather grows pleasant.
g. N. Latt. 44° 24'; W. Long. 122° 17'. Pleasant weather, wind
NW. Running along shoar to the South and East'd, about 2 miles
off the land trended NBE. and NBW., and look'd very pleasant.
The Shore made in sandy beaches, and the land rose gradually back,
into high hills and the beautiful fields of grass, interspersed among
the wood lands, made it delightfull.
10. N. Latt. 43° 45'; W. Long. 122° 11'. Abreast a small inlet
in the land, which had some the appearance of an harbour. Hove
to for some canoes that were coming off. These Natives talk'd a
different language from any we have before heard. Their canoes
244 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
had square stems, and the blades of the paddles oval. We purchas'd
of them many fine Otter skins for Copper and Iron. They had
some raw Bujfaloe in the canoes, which they offer'd us for sale, and
greedily devourd some of it, in that state, as a recommendation.
I'm fearfull these fellows are CanihaUs. Mr. Smith, 2d Ofiicer, was
sent in the Cutter to look for an harbour but was unsuccessfull.
Bore off and made sail. Cape Gregory (so call'd by Capt. Cook)
bore SE. Variation. Amp'd 15° 57' East.
II. N. Latt. 42° 50'; W. Long. 122° 3'; Amp'd 16° 42' E. Some
Canoes came along side full of Indians and brought a few Otter and
Beaver Skins. Cape Mendocin bore ESE. 2 leagues. Hauld again
to the Northward.
17. N. Latt. 44° 54'; W. Long. 122° 23'; Azi. 16° 57' E. Sent
the Boat, under charge of 2d officer, to examine an inlet abreast the
Ship, to see if there was safe anchorage, but was unsuccessfull. A
large Canoe came along side full of the Natives. By their behaviour
the Columbia was the first ship they ever saw.
22. N. Latt. 46° 39'; W. Long. 122° 50'; Azi. 17° ^t,' E. Still
beating about, in pursuit of anchorage. Sent the boat in shore
often, but cou'd find no safe harbour. The Natives frequently came
along side, and brought Otter furs and fish. Their language to us
was unintelligible. Experience strong currents setting to the south-
ward. We have frequently seen many appearances of good harbours,
but the currents and squally weather hinderd us from a strict exam-
ination. However Capt. Gray is determin'd to persevere in the
pursuit.
At anchor off the Village Kenekomitt.
27. N. Latt. 47° 52'; W. Long. 123° 30'. O <L ■ This day stood
in shore, the weather having become more settled, and anchor'd with
the Kedge in 15 fm. sand, abreast a village, call'd by the Natives
Kenekomitt, which was situate on a small Hill, just back of the
Beach. The Indians brought us a fine lot of Skins, which we got
chiefly for Copper, but the weather coming again unsettled, we
weigh'd towards evening and stood off making short hanks off and
on, shore. These Indians spoke the same language as those in De
Fuca straits.
28. This doy spoke his Britannic Majesty's Ships Discovery and
Chatham, commanded by Capt. George Vancover, and Lieutenant
Wm. Broughton, from England, on a voyage of discovery. Left
England April ist, 1791, Do. Otaheita January, '92, and Sandwich
Isles March, '92. A boat boarded us from the Discovery, and we
gave them all the information in our power. Especially as respected
the Straits of Juan De Fuca, which place they was then in search of.
I920.] LOG OF THE COLUMBIA, 1790-1792. 245
They bore away for the Straits niouth, which was not far distant.
Stood in and drain'd the village we was at yesterday and then bore
off after the English ships.
29. Pass'd Tatooch Isle, close on board, and left a large ledge of
Rocks without us, and stood into the Straits of De Fuca. Many
Indians came off and brought plenty of furs. The English ships
came too towards evening on the South entrance of the straits. In
the morning they got under way and stood up. We stood in and
anchor'd, to the Westward of Cape Flattery, in 17 fm. Trade not
very brisk. Got under weigh again towards evening and stood to
the S. and E. along shore.
May I. N. Latt. 47° 52'; W. Long. 123° 30'; Azi. 17° 30' E.
Anchor'd off the Village Kenekomitt, in the place we left on the 27th
April. Tatooch Isle bore WBS. 2 leagues. A brisk trade for furs.
3. Hove up and made sail for the Straits, the weather looking
threatning and soon enter'd them, found smooth water. Kept
beating to and fro, in preference to casting anchor.
5. Stood in towards Tatooch's Isle. The Natives brought plenty
of Halibut and other fish, but few Skins. Stretch'd out from De
Fuca Straits and bore off to the S. and E., running along shore,
about 2 miles from land.
6. Hove to for some Canoes to come up. They brought us fish
but no skins. Bore off. These fellows belong'd to a small village in
sight from the Ship, call'd Golicw.
At anchor in Gray's harbour.
7. N. Latt. 46° 58'. Saw an inlet in the land, which had all the
appearance of an harbour. Sent the Cutter, under charge of 2d
Officer, to examine it. Laying to, a strong current with Squally
weather. The Boat returnd, and the Officer reported that he cou'd
find nothing but breakers at the entrance, but farther in it had the
appearance of a good harbour. This appearance being so flattering,
Capt. Gray was determin'd not to give it up. Therefore ordering
the boat a head to sound, with necessary signalls, the Ship stood in
for the weather bar and we soon see from the Mast head a passage
in between the breakers. Bore off and run in NEBE., having from
4 to 9 fathom sand, an exceeding strong tide setting out. The boat
having made a signal for anchorage and a good harbour, we con-
tinued to stretch on till completely within the shoals when we
anchor'd in 5 fm. in an excellent harbour. Vast many canoes came
off, full of Indians. They appear'd to be a savage set, and was well
arm'd, every man having his Quiver and Bow slung over his shoul-
der. Without doubt we are the first Civilized people that ever
246 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
visited this port, and these poor fellows view'd us and the Ship with
the greatest astonishment. Their language was different from any
we have yet heard. The Men were entirely naked, and the Women,
except a small Apron before made of Rushes, was also in a state of
Nature. They was stout made, and very ugly. Their canoes was
from the Logs, rudely cut out, with upright ends. We purchas'd
many furs and fish.
8. N. Latt. 46° 58'; W. Long. 123° o'. Vast many canoes along
side, full of Indians. They brought a great many furs which we
purchas'd cheap, for Blankets and Iron. We was fearfull to send
a Boat on discovery, but I've no doubt we was at the Entrance of
some great river, as the water was brackish, and the tide set out
half the time. This evening heard the hooting of Indians, all hands
was immediately under arms. Several canoes was seen passing
near the Ship, but was dispers'd by firing a few Muskets over their
heads. At Midnight we heard them again, and soon after, as 't was
bright moonlight, we see the canoes approaching to the Ship. We
fird severall cannon over them, but still persisted to advance, with
the war Hoop. At length a large canoe with at least 20 Men in her
got within V2 pistol shot of the quarter, and with a Nine pounder,
loaded with langerege^ and about 10 Muskets, loaded with Buck shot,
we dash'd her all to pieces, and no doubt kill'd every soul in her.
The rest soon made a retreat. I do not think that they had any
conception of the power of Artillery. But they was too near us for
to admit of any hesitation how to proceed.
9. Very pleasant weather. Many canoes came along side from
down River and brought plenty of Skins; likewise some canoes from
the tribes that first visited us, and their countenances plainly show'd
that those unlucky savages who last Night fell by the Ball, was a
part of the same tribe, for we cou'd plainly understand by their
signs and gestures that they were telling the very circumstance, to
their acquaintances from down River, and by Pointing to the Can-
non, and endeavouring to explain the noise they made, made us still
more certain that they had no Knowledge of fire arms previous to
our coming amongst them. I am sorry we was oblidged to kill the
poor Devils, but it cou'd not with safety be avoided. These Natives
brought us some fine Salmon, and plenty of Beaver Skins, with
some Otters, and I believe had we staid longer among them we
shou'd have done well.
' Langrage, case-shot loaded with pieces of iron of irregular shape, formerly
used in naval warfare to damage the rigging and sails of the enemy. The origin
of the word is not known. Captain John Smith mentions in his Seaman's
Grammar (1627) langrill shot, but a century and a half passed before langrage
came into use.
I920.] LOG OF THE COLUMBIA, 1790-1792. 247
11. Weigh'd and came to sail, and stretch'd clear of the bar.
Named the harbour we had left, after our Captain. Standing to the
South.
At anchor in Columbia's River.
12. N. Latt. 46° 7'; W. Long. 122° 47'. This day saw an appear-
ance of a spacious harbour abreast the Ship, haul'd our wind for it,
observ'd two sand bars making ofT, with a passage between them to
a fine river. Out pinnace and sent her in ahead and followed with
the Ship under short sail, carried in from 3<2 three to 7 fm. and when
over the bar had 10 fm. water, quite fresh. The River extended to
the NE. as far as eye cou'd reach, and water fit to drink as far down
as the Bars, at the entrance. We directed our course up this noble
River in search of a Village. The beach was lin'd with Natives,
who ran along shore following the Ship. Soon after, above 20
Canoes came ofif, and brought a good lot of Furs, and Salmon, which
last they sold two for a board Nail. The furs we likewise bought
cheap, for Copper and Cloth. They appear 'd to view the Ship with
the greatest astonishment and no doubt we was the first civilized
people that they ever saw. We observ'd some of the same people
we had before seen at Gray's harbour, and perhaps that was a
branch of this same River. At length we arriv'd opposite to a large
village, situate on the North side of the River, about 5 leagues from
the entrance. Came to in 10 fm. sand, about % mile from shore.
The Ri\'er at this place was about 4 miles over. We purchas'd 4
Otter Skins for a Sheet of Copper, Beaver Skins, 2 Spikes each, and
other land furs, i Spike each.
We lay in this place till the 20th May, during which time we put
the Ship in good order and fill'd up all the water casks along side, it
being very good. These Natives talk'd the same language as those
farther South, but we cou'd not learn it. Observ'd that the canoes
that came from down river, brought no otter skins, and I believe
the otter constantly keeps in Salt water. They however always
came Mell stocked with land furs, and capital Salmon. The tide
set down the whole time and was rapid. Whole trees sometimes
come down with the Stream. The Indians inform'd us there was
50 Villages on the banks of this river.
15. N. Latt. 46° 7'; W. Long. 122° 47'. On the isth took up the
anchor, and stood up River, but soon found the water to be shoal so
that the Ship took the ground, after proceeding 7 or 8 miles from
our first station. However soon got off again. Sent the Cutter and
found the main Channel was on the South side, and that there was
a sand bank in the middle. As we did not expect to procure Otter
furs at any distance from the Sea, we contented ourselves in our
248 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
present situation, which was a very pleasant one. I landed abreast
the ship with Capt. Gray to view the Country and take possession,^
leaving charge with the 2d Officer. Found much clear ground, fit
for cultivation, and the woods mostly clear from underbrush. None
of the Natives come near us.
18. Shifted the Ship's berth to her Old Station abreast the
Village Cliinoak, command'd by a chief name Polack. Vast many
canoes, full of Indians, from different parts of the River were con-
stantly along side. Capt. Gray named this river Columbia's, and
the North entrance Cape Hancock, and the South Point, Adams.
This River in my opinion, wou'd be a fine place for to set up a
Factory. The Indians are very numerous, and appear'd very civil
(not even offering to steal). During our short stay we collected 150
Otter, 300 Beaver, and twice the Number of other land furs. The
river abounds with excellent Salmon, and most other River fish, and
the Woods with plenty of Moose and Deer, the skins of which was
brought us in great plenty, and the Banks produces a ground Nut,
which is an excellent substitute for either bread or Potatoes. We
found plenty of Oak, Ash, and Walnut trees, and clear ground in
plenty, which with little labour might be made fit to raise such
seeds as is necessary for the sustenance of inhabitants, and in short
a factory set up here, and another at Hancock's River, in the Queen
Charlotte Isles, wou'd engross the whole trade of the NW. Coast
(with the help [of] a few small coasting vessells).
20. This day left Columbia's River, and stood clear of the bars,
and bore off to the Northward. The Men, at Columbia's River, are
strait limb'd, fine looking fellows, and the Women are very pretty.
They are all in a state of Nature, except the females, who wear a
leaf Apron — (perhaps 't was a fig leaf. But some of our gentlemen,
that examin'd them pretty close, and near, both within and without
reported, that it was not a leaf, but a nice wove mat in resemblance! !
and so we go — thus, thus — and no War! — !
21. N. Latt. 47° 55'. Abreast the Village Golm, hove to and
purchas'd some Skins from the Natives, then bore off to the North
and West.
22. N. Latt. 48° 20'; W. Long. 124° 32'. Saw Tatooch's Isle
and Cape Flattery, on the S. and E. entrance of Juan De Fuca
straits (bound to the North'd) for to meet the Sloop Adventure.
23. N. Latt. 49° 9'; W. Long. 126° o' O (C * C. Pass'd Clio-
quot harbour, fine fresh gales, at SE.
24. N. Latt. 50° 10'; W. Long. 128° 10'. Pass'd Woody point,
^ The words "and lake possession" were inserted at a later time and are in
quite a different ink.
I920.] LOG OF THE COLUMBIA, 1790-1792. 249
at 2 miles distant. Several canoes put off from Columbia's Co\'e,
but we did not stop.
At anchor in St. Patrick harbour.
25. N. Latt. 50° 30'; W. Long. 128° 30'. This day the Ship being
abreast a fine inlet, dispatch'd Mr. Smith, in the Cutter to examine
it. Soon after the Boat had a signal for a harbour. Haul'd our
wind and stood in shore and anchor'd 15 fm. mud and sand, in a
complete Snug Cove. Many canoes came along side, full of Indians.
They was all dress'd in War Armour, and completely arm'd with
Bows, arrows and Spears, and had altogether quite a savage ap-
pearance. I believe they was fearful we shou'd rob their village,
which was at no great distance as they appear 'd much agitated.
However soon began a brisk trade for Otter furs. We landed, with
the boats, and got Wood and Broom Stuff, but the Indians wishing
to be troublesome, soon give over this business — indeed I was
oblidged to knock one of them down with my Musket.
At anchor in Columbia's Cove.
28. N. Latt. 50° 30'; W. Long. 128° 30' Od. Weigh'd and
came to sail, and left this harbour, which we named St. Patrick's.
The Indians were much the same as the Nootka tribes. Standing
towards Woody point, which was in sight. Towards evening,
anchor'd in Columbia's Cove, in our former berth, past many natives
along side, and seem'd much pleas'd at our visiting them again.
29. N. Latt. 50° 6'; W. Long. 128° 12'. Vast concourse of Indians
off, among whom was Necklar chief of the sound. They brought
many more furs than they did the last season we visited them.
Found these Natives so chearful and oblidging, that we did not ap-
prehend any danger in sending parties on shore after Wood and
Water. However, they soon discover'd our Crew was diminish 'd,
and was very inquisitive for to know what had become of the rest
of us. We thought prudent for to tell them that they was asleep
below. I mistrust that the Indians did not believe us, but probably
supposed our Shipmates had been kill'd. At 10 in the evening, a
number of large canoes full of People, came into the Cove. They
halted near some rocks about Pistol shot from the Ship, and there
waited about ten minutes, during which time all hands was brought
to arms, upon deck in readiness to receive them. Soon after a large
War Canoe, with above 25 Indians, paddled off for the Ship. We
hail'd them, but they still persisted, and other canoes was seen
following, upon which Capt. Gray order 'd us to fire, which we did
so effectually as to kill or wound every soul in the canoe. She
250 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuNE,
drifted along side, but we push'd her clear, and she drove to the
North side of the Cove, under the shade of the trees. 'T was bright
moon light and the woods echoed with the dying groans of these
unfortunate Savages. We observed many canoes passing and re-
passing the Cove, at a small distance, in all probability they was
after the poor dead Indians. They soon after ceas'd groaning, and
we neither see nor heard any thing of them after.
We always found these Natives very friendly but they soon dis-
cover'd how thin the Ship's Company was now to what it was when
we visited them before, and I believe it is impossible to keep friends
with savages any longer than they stand in fear of you. But I
cannot think they had any intention of boarding the Ship but were
after a small anchor, which they in the course of the day see plac'd
on some rocks (above water) for to steady the Ship, and when taken
off at dusk they had left the Ship. But still they was daring fellows,
to think they cou'd steal the anchor of a moon light night, within
pistol shot of the Ship. Capt. Gray did not wish to fire upon them,
for we cou'd easily have blown them to pieces, while they was hold-
ing a conference abreast the Rocks. They first stopt all by firing
a cannon or two among them, and the reason we suffer'd them to
approach so near before firing was that we were in hopes they wou'd
miss the Anchor and then leave the Cove, and we wish'd much to
keep friendly with these Indians, as this was the appointed Rendez-
vous for to meet the Sloop.
Bound to the Northward.
30. This day unmoor'd and left Columbia's Cove, bound to the
Northward, having left a Board naiVd to a tree, just back of the
watering place, with the following inscription "Ship Columbia,
arriv'd May 28th Saild May 30th. Beware," that in case Capt.
Haswell shou'd arrive before us, he might be on his guard.
June I. N. Latt. 50° 7'; W. Long. 128° 30'; Amp'd 21° 20' E.
Head wind at NW. and squally weather. Ships Crew all well and
hearty.
4. N. Latt. 51° o'; W. Long. 129° i'. Some Canoes full of Indians
came off from the Shore, abreast the Ship, and many valuable skins
was purchased. Iron seem'd most in demand. These fellows soon
grew saucy, and threw a number of stones, at our people, but as we
did not wish, (if possible) to avoid it, for to shoot the poor mistaken
savages, we bore off to the Northward, keeping in sounding from
30 to 20 fm., 2 miles off shore.
i920.] log of the columbia, 1790-1792. 251
Pintard's Straits.
5. N. Latt. 51° 30'; W. Long. 129° 30'; Azi. 20° 30' E. This day
saw a large entrance in the land, between two points, above 4
leagues wide. We haul'd in for the same and when between the
points had no bottom with 30 fm. We directed our [course?] about
E3 2S and cou'd not see the Land to the East. The Ship went in
exceeding fast with a strong tide in favour. Water was quite salt,
which prov'd it not to be a River. Observ'd many high Rocks and
small Isles, scatter'd about in this famous Straits. Kept the Lead
going but got no bottom wdth 30 fm. line, and saw no signs of Indians.
Towards dark stretch'd close in to the South Shore, for anchorage,
but found none. Kept working under short sail all night, making
short boards. No ground in any direction with 120 fm. line.
6. Azi. 20° 30' E. Bore away up sound, in pursuit of anchorage
and Natives. At length, after advancing 15 leagues up sound, we
came to, within stone's throw of the beach, in 20 fm. water, sandy
bottom, upon the South shore.
7. I went on shore abreast the Ship, with two boats after wood,
took the Carpenter with me for to cut a Mizen topmast. We had
not been long at work, in the Woods before above 200 Indians, of a
sudden rush'd out upon us. The carpenter being some way from the
rest of the party, got nearly surrounded, and was oblidg'd to fly,
leaving his Broad Axe behind. I immediately rallied my people
together, and retreated slowly, at the same time fir'd a few Musketts
over their heads which kept them in check. At length they ad-
vanced so near as to throw their Spears. We then discharg'd our
Musketts and killd several. However they still persisted, and I
believe if we had not got to the beach (clear from the woods) that
we shou'd have been overpow'd. They heard the reports of the
Musketts on board, but never dreamt that we [were] attack'd by
Indians, as none had been seen before. Immediately as we made
our appearance the Ship cover'd us with the Cannon and the Grape
and round Shot, must have done considerable damage to our pur-
suers, as they fell just into the brink of the wood, where the thickest
of the Indians was. This soon dispers'd them, and we got all safe
on board. Some of these fellows afterwards came down abreast the
Ship and brandishd their Weapons at us, bidding defiance.
8. N. Latt. 51° 30'; W. Long. 129° 30'; or thereabouts. Got under
way bound farther up the Straits and towards evening luff'd into a
small bend of the land, and came to in 17 fathom close to the shore.
A few canoes, with Indians came off, who talk'd the Nootka lan-
guage. They inform'd that in two days, through the woods, they
cou'd reach Nootka Sound and indeed, the Ship was at Anchor near
252 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
to a Mountain, which is plainly in view at Friendly Cove, (Nootka
Sound).
9. Many canoes of this day, and plenty of fine Otter Skins was
purchas'd. About Noon, 20 large War Canoes hove in sight, with
above 30 Men in each, and we soon discern 'd with our Glasses that
they was all arm'd, with Spears and Arrows. The friendly Indians
that was trading along side, told us these people had come to fight,
and belong'd to the tribe we had fir'd at two days before, when
attack'd upon the beach. Capt. Gray thought it not safe to admit
them along side at once, and therefore order'd them, when within
hail, for to keep off, and not but one canoe come along side at a
time. They obey'd the command, and one canoe, with 42 men came
alongside, but had only a skin or two. We soon discover'd that the
main body of canoes was paddling towards us, singing a War Song.
We fir'd a cannon and some Muskets over their heads. At this they
mov'd off about 100 yds. and again halted. A Small Canoe, with
a Chief, (paddled by two Indians) kept constantly plying between
the Ship and the main body of the Canoes, counting our Men, and
talking earnestly to the Natives along side, encouraging them to
begin the attack. He was suffer'd to proceed in this manner some
time, when Capt. Gray told him to come near the Ship no more,
but he still persisted, and was shot dead for his temerity. Also the
Chief Warrior, of the Canoe along side, was shot, for throwing his
Spear into the Ship. They then made a precipitate retreat, and the
trading Indians, who had kept at a small distance viewing the
transactions, again recommenced their trade with us. They in-
form'd us these Indians, who meant to attack us, was of another
tribe with them. Canoes with Indians, came along side and traded
away their Otter Skins, but not without Manifest signs of fear.
12. The Natives kept bringing furs, which we purchas'd for
Copper and Cloth. Iron very dull sale.
From Pintard's Straits to Columbia's Cove.
13. Weigh'd and came to sail, standing down straits saw a num-
ber of fishing canoes, at a distance but none came near. Towards
evening came to in 16 fm. at our former anchorage. See no Indians.
14. Fair wind and pleasant, weigh'd and stood down straits,
and at 9 in the evening got clear out bound to Columbia's Cove,
our place of Rendezvous. Shou'd these straits join with Juan da
Fuca, which perhaps it does, it must make the whole Coast between
the Latitudes of 48° 15' and 51° 30' North and Longitudes 124° 57'
and 1 29° 30' W. a vast Archipalago of Islands. We named the port
we had entred Pintards, after one of the owners, and I 've no doubt
I920.] LOG OF THE COLUMBIA, 1790-1792. 253
we are the first discoverers. It is certainly the most dangerous navi-
gation we have experienced being full of Ledges, small Isles, no
soundings and excessive strong tides. But I think it affords the
most Sea Otter skins. We procured upwards of 300 hundred, during
our stay, and saild up this straits more than 100 miles, and cou'd
see no end. At our last anchorage, or rather the highest up the
shore seem'd to trend about ESE.
15. N. Latt. 51° 17'; Amp'd 21° 14' E. Head wind beating to
and fro, making slow progress. The entrance of Pintards straits
bore East, 3 or 4 leagues, 70 fm. water.
17. N. Latt. 50° 6'; W. Long. 128° 12' O €. Fresh breezes.
This day spoke the Sloop Adventure, Capt. Haswell, sent our boat
and Capt. Haswell came on board the Ship. Bore off the Cove.
'T is remarkable that we both meet within 1 2 leagues of our Rendez-
vous bound in. The chief of the Sloop's Cruize had been about the
Charlotte Isles, and had collected about 500 Skins, all prime. On
the 24th of April Capt. Haswell fell in with the Ship Margaret of
Boston, James Magee Master. They was on the same business as
ourselves. At 5 P. M. past Woody point, and at 7 anchored in
company with the Sloop, in Columbia's Cove. A few Natives ven-
tured along side, after much coaxing. (Found the Inscription at
the watering place unmolested.) Took the Skins from Sloop on
board ship. Sent parties on shore, well arm'd after wood and water.
Purchas'd some furs.
20. Haul'd the Sloop on shore, and graved her. Capt. Haswell
says she is an excellent sea boat, and sails very well. The Indians
among whom he traded never offer'd insult.
21. Got the Sloop off the ways, and fitted her for another Cruize.
24. Weigh'd and sail'd from the Cove, in company with the
Adventure, bound to Queen Charlotte Isles.
25. N. Latt. 50° 37'; W. Long. 129° 55'. Fair wind and moder-
ate breezes. Sloop in company. The coast about 8 leagues distance.
28. N. Latt. 52° 18'; W. Long. 129° 15'. Fresh winds, all sail
out running along shore, about 3 leagues distance, with smooth sea.
Sloop about 2 miles a head. At 2 P. M. the Ship struck a Rock,
which lay about 7 feet under water and did not break, hove all
aback, and she came off clear, try'd the pump, and found she
leak'd 1000 smart strokes per Hour, sounded along the Rock,
and found no ground at 70 fm. Hoisted a signal for the Sloop,
and she immediately haul'd her wind for us. Stood off, both
pumps just keeps the leak under. In the morning bore off to the
Northward.
29. N. Latt. 53° i'; W. Long. 131° 41'. Came on a hard gale
of wind, and although we kept firing Cannon through the night the
2 54 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
Sloop parted from us, as 't was very thick in the morning. The
leaks rather increas'd, and our feelings was not the most agreeable
on the occasion.
Off Queen Charlotte Isles (South part).
30. N. Latt. 51° 57'; W. Long. 131° 10'. This day see the Queen
Charlotte Isles, stood in pretty close to the South pt. and fother'd
the Ship with a topsail which we had previously prepared for that
purpose. This, fortunately for us, stop'd the leak one half.
July I. N. Latt. 51° 48'. Close in off the South pt. of Queen
Charlotte Isles from which lay many detach'd Rocks. We pass'd
the pt. within two or three miles and left many breakers without
us in the Offing. We wish to get into Barrells sound.
2. N. Latt. 51° 49'; W. Long. 130° 30'. Saw the entrance of
Barrells sound, bearing NW., the wind direct in our teeth. Em-
ploy'd turning to windwards, with all the Elements against us.
Crew all in brave health.
3. Employ 'd beating to windward through the night, in the
morning spoke the Ship Margaret, James Magee, Master. Capt.
Gray went on board the Margaret, and found Capt. Magee very
sick. This ship stopt a few days at the Cape De Verds, and made
her passage in 6 months. They had not been very fortunate in
trade. Bore away to the Southward, in company with Capt. Magee,
bound to Columbia's Cove, for the purpose of examining the Cohmi-
bia's bottom. Fair wind at NW.
At ANCHOR IN Columbia's Cove.
5. N. Latt. 50° 6'; W. Long. 128° o'. This day came to in
Columbia's Cove in company with the Margaret. Several canoes
came along side, and the Natives appear'd quite chearfull.
6. Hoisted all our Cannon, in the longboats of both Ships, made
a raft of our spare spars on which we put every thing possible that
wou'd not damage. Struck yards and topmasts. So ends.
7. Took up the Anchor, and hauld the Ship on shore, on a fine
beach, at high tide. When the tide ebb'd, 't was discover'd that the
Ship's keel was split, and the lower part of the Stem was entirely
gone, within 2 inches of the Wood ends, a great deal of Sheathing
was off, and three of the plank next to Garboard Streak was stove
on the larboard side. The Carpenters went to work and put in
new pieces of plank but it was found impracticable to pretend to
repair the bows without heaving down, or some such method, and
this cou'd not be done in our present situation. Nootka Sound,
I920.] LOG OF THE COLUMBIA, 1790-1792. 255
where we knew there was a Spanish settlement, Capt. Gray tho't
the most proper place, and we all concur'd in the opinion.
8. Hauld the Ship off, and soon got ready to leave the Cove.
Bound to Nootka Sound.
10. N. Latt. 50° 6'; W. Long. 128° o'. This day weigh'd, and
again left the Cove, in company with the Margarett, standing to-
wards Nootka, but overshot it in the Night, which is a misfortune.
11. N. Latt. 49° 9'; W. Long. 125° 26'. Abreast Clioquot har-
bour, and as it's in vain to beat to Nootka with a strong breeze a
head, we bore up, and towards evening, in company with the Mar-
garet, anchor'd in Clioquot harbour. The Natives were at first shy,
but we prevail'd on some of them to come on board.
12. Capt. Gray, having met with Wickananish on board the
Margaret, prevail'd on him to visit the Columbia, but he did not
appear happy. However 't was the means of getting more Skins,
than we otherwise should have done. Employ'd wooding and water-
ing (abreast the Ship) and under cover of her Guns.
15. This day arriv'd in the Harbour the English Brig Venus,
Henry Sheppard Master, 6 months from Bengali in India. I went
off to him in the offing, and piloted his Brig to the harbour. He
inform'd us that at a small harbour in De Fuca straits, where he was
at anchor a few days since, there w^as a Spanish settlement, where
lay a Spanish 64, the master of which while amusing himself in
shooting back in the woods, was kill'd by the Indians, in consequence
of which the Spaniards seized a Canoe full of Natives and massacred
them all (in cold blood) not even sparing Children. Shocking to
relate!
17. Weigh'd with a fair wind, and left Clioquot bound to Nootka
sound, to repair the Ship, under the protection of the Spaniards.
Left the Ship and Brig behind. The wind soon came a head, and
we began turning to windward, without making much progress.
However we shall reach it by perseverance.
19. N. Latt. 49° o'; W. Long. 125° o'. Bad weather and the
wind direct ahead. This day stood in and anchor'd in Clioquot
harbour. Found the Ship made a poor hand beating to windward,
without a Stem. Found the Brig Venus here, but Capt. Magee had
sail'd. No canoes off.
20. Wind favourable, weather more settled. Weigh'd at Day-
light, in company with the Venus, and stood to sea. Wind soon
haul'd in its old quarter. Employ'd beating to windward towards
Nootka Sound.
21. N. Latt. 49° 17'; W. Long. 126° o'. Wind still at WNW.
256 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
and fair weather. Saw Breakers point NW. 4 leagues, making short
hanks.
22. Weather'd away Breakers point and stood towards Nootka
Sound. Observ'd the Spanish Colours flying at the Entrance of
Friendly Cove, but the tide swept us so strong towards some breakers
on the East shore, and the wind being light oblidg'd us to Anchor
in 16 fm. rocky bottom. Hoisted our Ensign in a Wiff and fired a
Gun for assistance which was answered by the Spaniards. Soon
after see several Boats rowing towards us. Quite calm.
23. The Boats got alongside. They was sent by the Spanish
Admirall to our assistance (except one, from an English Store Ship,
under charge of Mr. Neal, the ist Officer.) This Ship was sent out
by the British Government, with Stores for Capt. Vancoover, who
had not yet arriv'd at the Sound. The Spanish boats was under
the charge of a Pilot, who had orders to Get the Ship to the Cove,
and lend every assistance.
At anchor in Nootka Sound.
24. N. Latt. 49° 30'; W. Long. 126° 30'. Light breeze from the
South'd and East'd. Weigh'd and came to sail, under conduct of
the Spanish Pilot, who well knew his business, and was perfectly ac-
quainted with the soundings and tides. Upon passing the Spanish
fort, at the Entrance of the Cove, we saluted with 7 Guns, which
was return'd. Towards evening came to, in Friendly Cove (Nootka
sound). Found riding here the Store Ship, a Spanish Sloop of War,
and the Brig Venus. The Spaniards treated us nobly, and offer'd
freely every assistance in their power. We lay in this place till the
23d August. Shall give the Minutes of our transactions during that
period.
25. N. Latt. 49° 30'; W. Long. 126° 30'. Discharg'd the Ship's
Cargo and stores, and stored them in a house on shore which the
Spaniards had lent us for that purpose. Strip'd the Ship to a Gut-
line, and got the riging all on shore to repair. The Spanish governor
seem'd highly pleas'd with the dispatch that took place; indeed ev'ry
man in the Columbia was anxious to get the Ship in readiness to
pursue her Voyage, well knowing that the time drew nigh when we
shou'd again be sailing towards our friends in America, and our
sweet anticipation of the joys that await us there made us use ev'ry
effort. This Spanish settlement at Nootka, contain'd about 50
Houses, indifferently built (except the Governor's, which was rather
grand than otherways). There was about 200 Inhabitants, con-
sisting of Spaniards and Peru Indians, but no females. Their fort
was no great thing, mounted with 6 twenty four and thirty six
I920.] LOG OF THE COLUMBIA, 1790-1792. 257
pounders — the platforms would not bear the weight of metal.
There was two Botanists resided with the Governour. Capt. Gray
took up his lodgings at the governor's request, at his house.
29. Don. Van Francisco De La Vondego, which was the name
of the Governor, gave a grand entertainment, at his house, at which
all the Officers of the Fleet partook. Fifty four persons sat down
to Dinner, and the plates, which was solid silver was shifted five
times, which made 270 Plates. The Dishes, Knifes and forks, and
indeed every thing else was of Silver, and always replaced with
spare ones. There cou'd be no mistake in this as they never carried
the dirty plates or Dishes from the Hall where we dined, (as /
thought, on purpose to let us see the quantity of plate used by Span-
iards in South America.)
31. This day got all ready to heave down, by the Spanish Sloop
of War, the Governor having granted us his permission.
August I. Haul'd along side the Spanish Ship, tix'd our purchases
to her, and soon had the Columbia keel out. But was oblidg'd to
right her again, as she made too much water, her upper works being
quite weak. Capt. Gray determin'd to give over the Idea of heav-
ing her out, and accordingly gave orders to prepare to lay her ashore
on blocks.
2. N. Latt. 49° 30'; W. Long. 126° 30'. This day haul'd the
Ship upon the beach at high water, and placed a long round log
along her keel fore and aft, endeavouring to trip her over it, but the
Bottom being so flat, she wou'd turn keel out. Other logs was laid,
and moor'd with Cannon on the Beach, wdth an intention of laying
the Ship's Forefoot on them, which we accordingly did at high water,
the logs laying as far aft as the fore Chains. This method answered
our most sanguine expectations. At low water, or half ebb, the
ship's bows lay'd four feet above the beach. In this situation we
scuttled her Aft, so as to keep her steady in her berth, at high water.
In three days, by the assistance of the Spanish and English Car-
penters, a New Stem and part of the Cutwater was put to the Ship.
Stopt the Scuttle, grav'd the Ship, and haul'd off to our Moorings.
8. The Spaniards view'd us, with astonishment, and the Gov-
ernor observ'd that he believed we cou'd build a ship in a month.
9. The Brig Hope, Joseph Ingrahim, arriv'd here, on the ist
from Canton, and sail'd this day on a Cruize.
ID. On the loth arrived here the Ship Butter sworth, from Lon-
don, Wm. Brown Commander; Ship Margaret, James Magee, and
Brig Hope, Joseph Ingrahim.
II. And on the nth arriv'd the Sloop Prince La Boo, Capt.
Gordon from London. These vessells were all in the fur trade.
The Laboo was a tender to the Butter sworth.
258 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [j^"SE,
16. The Ship Margaret put to sea, under charge of Mr. Lamb,
I St Officer Capt. Magee residing with the Spanish governor for the
benefit of his health.
22. This Day the Columbia was ready for sea, and in line order.
Have painted her complete.
23. Arriv'd the English brig Three B's, Leiutenant Alder, Com-
mander, from London, on a trading Voyage.
Bound to Charlotte Isles.
24. Weigh'd and came to sail, bound for Queen Charlotte Isles,
Barrells sound, those Isles being the appointed rendezvous, for to
meet the Adventure, Capt. Haswell. It is but doing Justice to the
Spaniards at Nootka sound to observe that during our tarry among
them we was treated with the greatest hospitality, and in fact they
seem'd to exert themselves, and to feel interested in our behalf.
May such fine fellows Never be in want of the like assistance shou'd
they ever stand in need of it from the hands of any American. The
Governor wou'd Not allow Capt. Gray for to pay one farthing.
Bound to Nootka Sound.
25. N. Latt. 49° 30'; W. Long. 126° 30'. Nootka sound is as
remarkable a place to know from seaward as any I know of. At
most times latheo peak (a mountain) in the form of a sugar loaf can
be seen, and there is none other that at all resembles it, on this part
of the Coast. A long low point, with high Breakers off it, makes the
SE. part of the Bay. The Western entrance of the sound runs down
to a low point, with a small round Hill just back of Friendly cove.
28. N. Latt. 51° 45'; W. Long. 130° 30'. This day made the SE.
part of the group of Charlotte Isles. A thick fog came on, so that
we cou'd not reach the sound. Employ'd beating off and on, wait-
ing for fair weather.
30. This day the weather clear'd and the Sloop Adventure hove
in sight standing for Barcl. [Barrells?] sound. This is the second
time we have met off the place of Rendezvous. Saluted each other
with 7 Guns. Found Capt. Haswell and Crew all well, and had
made a successful cruize. We stood into Port Mongommery, a
small harbour to the North'd of Barrells Sound, which the Adventure
had visited before, and her Captain named it after our famous
American General who fell before Quebec while gloriously fighting
in the defence of our liberties. Graved the Sloop in this place, and
otherways put her in fine order, to attract the eyes of the Spaniards
at Nootka, as Capt. Gray meant to sell her to them if possible. Cut
I920.] LOG OF THE COLUMBIA, 1790-1792. 259
some spare spars at this place, and wooded and watered the Ship
for her passage to Canton. Many Natives visited us, and brought
plenty of fish but few furs. Took out the Skins from the Sloop and
stow'd them away on board the Ship.
September 13. Weigh'd and stood to sea, in company with the
Adventure, bound to Nootka sound.
21. N. Latt. 49° 30'; W. Long. 126° 30'. Abreast the Entrance
of the Sound. A Spanish Brig in sight to leeward, which hove to
and fir'd a Gun. We immediately bore off for her. She was the
Acteva of 14 Guns, with the Spanish Governor of Nootka on board,
bound to Peru. He told Capt. Gray that he wou'd wait 10 days at a
small Spanish settlement, in Juan De Fuca straits, where he was
then going, for to leave some orders, previous to his leaving the
Coast. He appear'd anxious to have the Sloop, and Haswell was
not backward in displaying her to the best advantage. Towards
evening we anchor 'd in Friendly Cove, having saluted the Spanish
Governor with 13 Guns when we parted. Found riding in the Cove
His Majesty's Ships Discovery and Chathafn, The Dedalus, Store
Ship, Capt. [Thomas] New, Ship Margaret, of Boston, Capt. Magee,
English Brig Fens, Capt. Duffin, English Sloop JackhaU, Capt.
Steward, and a Spanish Line of Battle Ship of 74 Guns. Spanish
Colours still flying at the fort, the Governor having refused to give
up the Sound to Capt. Vancoover who was authoriz'd by his Gov-
ernment for to take possession of it. However the Spaniards told
Vancoover that he might have that particular place where Capt.
[John] Mears made his small settlement, and built a Sloop, which
was very inconsiderable. Capt. Vancoover insisted upon having
the whole or none. However they both agreed to let the business
remain (in statu quo), to remain friends, and write home to their
respective Courts, on the subject of dispute.
Juan de Fuca Str.\its.
22. Weigh'd in company with the Sloop, and left Nootka bound
to Port Ne-ar in Juan de Fuca straits. Fair wind and pleasant
weather.
23. N. Latt. 49° 9'; W. Long. 125° 26' O C. Close in with
Clioquot harbour. In the morning saw two Sail in the NW^ At
Meridian Tatooch's Isle on the SE. entrance of the Straits bore
E3^S. 8 or 9 leagues.
24. N. Latt. 48° 30'; W. Latt. 123° 45'. Spoke the Spanish
Brig Acteva, with the Governor on board. They was much sup-
priz'd at our being in the Straits as soon as they was. At dark the
Spanish Brig hove to under her tops'ls. We kept plying all night
26o MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
for our Port, and in the Morning got safe to anchor in Co with the
Sloop Adventure. Found riding here the Spanish Ship Princessa of
64 Guns, and Brig Hope, Capt. Ingrahim. This was a small, good
harbour, situate about 5 leagues from Cape Flattery, within the
straits of De Fuca. The Spaniards had erected a Cross upon the
beach, and had about 10 Houses and several good Gardens. Several
Natives along side, and a few prime Skins was purchas'd, (with
plenty of fine Halibut). I went with the Pinnace to the Assistance
of the Acteva, she having been oblidg'd to anchor near Cape Flat-
tery, in a dangerous situation. When I came on board, instead of
using every effort to get clear of the threatning Danger, they was
performing Mass. However soon got under way and stood for
Port Ne-ar.
25. N. Latt. 48° 35'; W. Long. 123° 30'. The Acteva anchor'd
in company. Saluted the Governor with 13 Guns, which was re-
turn 'd. Employ 'd filling up our Water, and getting ready for our
passage across the Pacific Ocean.
26. Spanish Officers from both ships, together with Capt. In-
graham, dined on board the Columbia. Fired, on their coming, and
going away, two Foederall salutes.
27. Saild the Princessa for Nootka sound. Ships crew are all in
prime health. Natives constantly visit us, but they do not like the
Spaniards.
28. This day sold the Sloop Adventure to the Spanish Governor,
for 72 Prime Sea Otter Skins, worth 55 Dollars each in Canton,
which is equal to 4960$., which at 50 per Ct. advance home, is 7440
Spanish Piasters, a good price. He wanted her as a present to the
Viceroy of Mexico. Before delivery we took out all her provisions
and stores, with a New Cable and Anchor.
29. Saild this day the Brig Acteva and Sloop Adventure, under
Spanish Colours, bound to Acapulco. We saluted on their departure
with 9 Guns which was return'd.
30. Weigh'd and saild from Port Near, bound across the Straits
for a Cove, call'd by us Poverty. Same evening anchor'd, in 7
fathom. Found this harbour much snuger for our business. The
Indians brought a few Skins and plenty of fish and some train oil,
which last article we much wanted.
October 1. Employ 'd wooding and watering and getting the Ship
in order. Cut many spare spars.
3. Weigh'd for the last time on the NW Coast, and left Poverty
Cove, bound for Canton in China, via Sandwich Islands. Our
feelings on this occasion are easier felt than described. Our friends
at Home and ev'ry endearing Idea rush'd so full upon us, and made
us so happy, that 't was impossible, for a while, to get the Ship in
I920.] LOG OF THE COLUMBIA, 1790-1792. 261
readiness for bad weather, and full allowance of Grog being serv'd
on the occasion, made our worthy Tars join in the general Mirth —
and so we go.
N. Latt. 48° 25'; W. Long. 123° 30'. At noon Cape Flattery bore
East 7 leagues. Steering SW. Wind NE. Soon lost sight of the
Mountains of North America.
9. N. Latt. 44° 51'; W. Long. 128° 34'; Amp'd 14° 37' E.
II. N. Latt. 43° 7'; W. Long. 129° 5'; Amp'd 13° 17' E. O C .
Pleasant weather. Wind at West. Ship's Crew in health.
16. N. Latt. 34° 7'; W. Long. 138° 6'; Azi. 10° 58' E. Pleasant
gales and fair weather.
17. N. Latt. 32° 54'; \V. Long. 138° 42'; Azi. 11° 46' E. Pleasant
gales and fair weather.
21. N. Latt. 28° 10'; W. Long. 142° 24'; Azi. 10° o' E. Crew
all in health, and wind and weather propitious. Took NE trade
winds this day.
26. N. Latt. 20° 15'; W. Long. 150° 39'; Azi. 6° 7'; Amp'd 6°
38' E. Warm and pleasant, with a smooth sea.
28. N. Latt. 20° 5'; W. Long. 154° 52' * C. Spoke the Brig
Fens, Capt. Duffan, bound to Canton. The first lieutenant ^ of the
Discovery, Capt. Vancoover, was a passenger on board this Vessell,
bound home, with dispatches for Government.
Sandwich Isles. Pacific Ocean.
29. N. Latt. 20° 14'; W. Long. 154° 20'. Made the Isle of
Owhyhee,^ one of the Sandwich Isles, where the famous Circum-
na\dgator, Capt. James Cook was killed by the Natives. Stand-
ing towards the Isles, it having been seen at 15 leagues distant.
30. Hove to, for some Canoes, and purchased 11 Hogs, from
the Natives, and plenty of vegetables, such as Sweet Potatoes,
Yams, tarro etc. These Canoes was very neatly made, but quite
narrow. The Outrigger kept them steady, or else, I think, they
wou'd too easily upset in the Sea. The Men were fine stately looking
fellows, and the Women quite handsome. They were all in a state
of Nature, except a small covering round the middle. Not many of
the Colnyyihia's Crew prov'd to be Josepths. Run along very near
the Isles, and hove to off Karakakoa Bay. Some double Canoes
came alongside. These was suspended apart by large rafters, well
supported. The Masts were rig'd between the canoes, and they
carried their mat sails a long time, sailing very fast. The Shore was
lined with people.
31. N. Latt. 20° 14'; W. Long. 154° 50'. Stood round the
' Lieutenant Mudge? ^ Hawaii.
262 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
Island and haul'd into Toaj yah yah bay/ and hove to. Vast many
canoes sailing in company with us. The shore made a delightful
appearance, and appeared in the highest state of cultivation. Many
canoes along side, containing beautiful Women. Plenty of Hogs
and fowls, together with most of the Tropical fruits in abundance;
great quantities of Water, and Musk, Mellons, Sugar Cane, Bread
fruit, and salt was brought for sale. The price of a large Hog was
from 5 to 10 spikes — smaller ones in proportion. 6 Dunghill fowls
for an Iron Chizzle, and fruit cheaper still.
November i. This day, having on board 93 Hogs, and great quan-
tities of Fruits and Vegetables, we bore away from this enchanting
Island bound to Onehow," after more Yams and to put a Native on
shore, which the Captain had taken from that Isle on his former
voyage. Pass'd the Isles of Tahousa,'' Rainai,^ Mower,^ and Wha-
how,^ left them to the North'd of us.
2. N. Latt. 21° 59'; W. Long. 160° o'. Pass'd Atooi, and steer'd
for Yam bay in Onehow. In the morning was well into the bay.
Vast many canoes off, in one of which was the Father and other
relations of our Sandwich Island Lad. They came on board and
the meeting was very affectionate, but still our Lad refused to go
on shore and Capt. Gray did not think proper for to force him.
However made his friends many presents. Purchas'd some Hogs
here, and great quantitys of Cocoa Nuts, with a good lot of Nice
line for Rising etc.
3. Bore off and made all sail for the Coast of China, and soon
lost sight of these beautiful Isles, the Inhabitants of which appear'd
to me to be the happiest people in the world. Indeed there was
something in them so frank and chearful that you cou'd not help
feeling prepossesd in their favour.
4. N. Latt. 19° 56'; W. Long. 163° 58'. Pleasant NE. trade
winds, with smooth sea. Crew all in health. Kill'd and salted 17
large Hogs. We followed Capt. Cook's plan, by taking out the
Bones, and laying the Meat, (after salting), between two Hatches,
with a heavy Weight on them, through the Night and in the morn-
ing early, after a good examination, pack'd it away in Barrells,
using strong pickle. This method answerd ev'ry purpose.
13. N. Latt. 15° 49'; W. Long. 185° 25'; E. Long. 174° 35';
Amp'd 13° 23' E. Keep the people employ'd cleaning furs.
24. N. Latt. 15° 50'; W. Long. 212° 29'; E. Long. 147° 31';
Azi. 9° 56' E. This is pleasant sailing, have not experienced a squall
since leaving the Islands, and the sea quite smooth, although a fresh
NE. trade. Crew all well.
1 Kawaihae Bay? "^ Niihau. ' Kahoolawe?
< Lanai? ^ Maui. « Oahu.
I
I920.] LOG OF THE COLUMBIA, 1790-1792. 263
29. N. Latt. 18° 24'; W. Long. 226° 15'; E. Long. 133° 45'; Azi.
and Amp'd 7° 12' E. Sea grows more rough, and the weather a
little squally.
Bashee Isles and Coast of China. Pacific Ocean.
December 3. N. Latt. 20° 30'; W. Long. 232° 28'; E. Long. 127°
32' O <r. This day, contrary to our expectation, we made the
Bashee Isles, at 10 leagues distance to the Westward. Have ex-
perienced strong Currents in our favour, since leaving the Sandwich
Isles. As we cou'd not weather, with the wind at NE., 't was
thought best to run between Grafton and Monmouth Isles, bore off
accordingly.
4. Fresh breeze. At 6 P. M. we were between the Islands,
doubled pretty near Grafton, and luff'd close under the lea'd of
Orange Isle. Saw a number of fires on the shore, but it was too dark
to make any observations. When clear of the group hauld close on
a wind for the Coast of China.
5. N. Latt. 21° 48'; Correct W. Long. 239° 29'; Correct E. Long.
120° 31'; Azi. and Amp'd 2° 41' W. 16 O O * C (T. d Sights.
Saw the Island of Formosa, bearing EBN. at Meridian, 12 leagues.
Fair NE. Monsoon.
6. N. Latt. 22° 20'; W. Long. 243° 38'; E. Long. 116° 22'. Saw
the Main land of China, bearing NW. 8 leagues, at Meridian above
100 sail of fishing boats in sight. Soundings 23 fathom sand and
ouze.
7. N. Latt. 22° 7'; W. Long. 244° 57'; E. Long. 115° 3'. Pass'd
the Island, or rather Rock of Pedro Branca, (or Blanco),'^ at Day-
light. It was of a conical shape and appear'd perfectly white. At
Noon, the Grand Lema Island bore WSW., 5 leagues. Hundreds of
fishing boats in sight. At 3 P. M. pass'd the Lema, leaving it on our
larboard hand. At 6 got a Pilot on board, who agreed to carry us
to Macao roads, for 25 Dollars. Stood between the Lema Islands
all night, with a light breeze.
Macao Roads. Coast of China.
8. This morning early anchor'd in Macao roads, 14 fm. muddy
bottom. Not liking our situation weigh'd and shifted our berth
nigher to Macao, and anchor'd in 43^^ fm. Mud. The Fort at Macao
bearing S 8° 8' W. 4 miles, and the outermost of the Nine Isles
N 8° E. Capt. Gray went to Macao, in the pinnace. A Black fellow
came on board and inform'd us that Capt. Kendrick, in the Lady
1 Pedra Branca.
264 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
Washington, lay in Lack's Bay, and that the Brig had been dis-
masted in the Chinese seas about two months before, in a Tufoon,
being again bound for the NW. Coast. Kendrick was refitting his
vessell again.
9. Capt. Gray return'd on board, he inform'd us that Capt.
Kendrick saild for the NW. in September last, in company with a
small tender he had fitted in Macao. He was out four days when
the Tuffoon overtook him. The Brig laid on her Beam ends for
some time before they cut away the Masts. She then righted, and
the gale abating steer'd for Macao. The whole surface of the sea
was cover'd with the Wrecks of Chinese Boats, and many of the
poor fishermen was still hanging to pieces of the Boats. Capt.
Kendrick pick'd up above thirty of the poor fellows, and was obligd
to pass a great many that he cou'd not assist. He arriv'd in Lacks
Bay, the 7th day after the Gale. A Macao Boat came along side,
with two European gentlemen, and purchas'd of us 21 pistale of
Iron at 7$ per pistal. A River pilot took charge for 40S to take the
Ship to Whampoa.
ID. Weigh'd, with the wind at NE. early in the morning making
slow progress; in the evening anchor'd below Lintin bar, in 5 fathom.
Next morning weigh'd and beat up to the Boca Tigris, and anchor'd
in 17 fm.
Canton River, China.
12. This day arriv'd to our Moorings at Whampoa, having been
oblidged to beat the whole way from Macao roads. Found riding
here 47 sail of European Ships, and 6 American Do. Capt. Gray
went to Canton, in the pinnace. We lay'd at this place till the 2d
of February, during which time we give the Ship a complete overhaul
from her keel to the truck. We haul'd the Ship a shore, on Dutch
Island beach, and graved. This business cost 150$ (paid to the
Proprietors of the beach). The whole expence accruing to the Co-
lumbia at Canton amounted to the enormous sum of 7000 Spanish $.
The other Furs were landed at Canton, and delivered to the Hong
Merchants, for 90,000$, average 45 Dollars each. The Land furs
sold quite low, in proportion.
The Ship was laden with a full Cargo of Teas and Nanken with a
small proportion of Sugar and China Porcelain. 'T is the Custom
in this place to engage with a Contractor to supply the Ship with
provisions and other stores. They call themselves Compadores.
You must give them a certain Sum, generally 150$ before they'll
undertake. The first of these fellows that was engag'd run away
with 250$ in our debt. This Money was advanced him pre^•ious to
our having a Security Merchant; otherways it wou'd have been
I920.] LOG OF THE COLUMBIA, 1790-1792, 265
recover'd. These security Merchants ev'ry ship must have before
they can transact business, as the government looks to them for the
Amount of Duties. Capt. Gray generally staid at Canton and the
Officers by turns, and ev'ry man on board had two Days liberty
allowed him.
We had a building, made of Bamboo and Cover'd with Matts,
nearly abreast the Ship on the Banks of the River. This was found
by the Compadore and answer'd very well for to put the Ship's
stores in while careening and loading. An Officer and gang of hands
was station'd at this place, as a guard. There was two large boats
station'd along side the Ship, with Customs house officers on board,
the whole time we lay'd in the river. A family resided in each boat
(they being completely shelter'd). The Manderine had an apart-
ment by himself.
1793, January i. Rec'd a letter from Capt. Kendrick, who in-
form'd us of the death of Messrs. Wood and Stodderd, two young
men of Boston. I believe they liv'd too fast for the climate.
When we arriv'd at Whampoa there was upwards of a dozen fine
Hogs on deck, which we had reserv'd for the Passage home. The
Rasscles of the Chinese found means to throw them some poisinous
stuff, which kill'd the whole of them. But we took notice as soon
as they was thrown overboard they was eagerly seiz'd, and no doubt
was feasted upon by the poor of the River; indeed nothing escap'd
their clutches — the Entrails of Poultry, or Dead Rats serv'd equally
alike to appease these half starv'd wretches that constantly sur-
rounds the shipping. However I always remark'd that they was
very nice in their Cookery, and Rice was always a part of ev'ry
Mess. No Indians we had ever visited during the Voyage was more
complete in the Art of thieving than the Chinese of the lower order,
on this River. And in fact they appear'd to me to be the greatest
Villains in the Universe. (These remarks are only as respects the
common people.) The Chinese Gentleman is of a very different
character, and indeed I was highly pleas'd with the polite attention
shewn to strangers at Canton, by the Mandarines and Merchants
at that place; indeed among themselves they appear to stand upon
the nicest Etiquette. The Chinese merchant is very particular in
his business, and very nice in his calculations, and no part of his
affairs appear to be unnotic'd by him. In making a bargain they
are very shrewd; when closed they are faithful as to quantity, but
for quality you must be constantly on your guard or else 't is certain
the Goods will not turn out as expected, and the only satisfaction
you will get from them is that you ought to have looked sharper,
and at the same [time] will try to console you by this remark, that
on another Voyage you will be better acquainted with the mode of
266 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. QuNE,
doing business at Canton. Upon the whole, the Candour that is
about the Chinese merchant makes some amends for the general
complaint against them, that they will cheat you, if they can —
therefore your business is to see that they shall not.
'T is surprizing to observe the business that is going on in the
Suburbs of Canton ; the streets are generally thronged with people,
all busily engag'd in their several avocations; the Shops well stock'd
with Goods, and appear to meet with encouragement. Few Women
are to be seen. These (if Chinese) have the small crippled feet, the
Ancle looking like an Horse's hoof. If Tarter, the feet is of the
natural growth. So much has been said about Canton, and the
Manners and Customs of the Chinese, that 't is needless for me to
make any further remarks on the subject.
From Canton towards the Straits of Banca.
February 2. This day the Pilot came on board and took charge.
Unmoor'd and stood down the River. Left but 7 Ships behind, all
English and Swedes.
4. Anchor'd this day below the Bars. Wind generally in our
teeth, work along with the tides.
6. Anchor'd just above the Boca Tigris; in the Night the Chinese
rasscles cut the cable, although we kept a good watch. Let go an-
other, and brought up. In the morning, the Buoy being taken
away, cou'd not recover the Anchor. Therefore left it with 9 fm.
Cable.
7. Pass'd the Boca Tigris, and stood for Macao roads.
8. Ran through Macao Roads, and stood to sea. The Pilot left
us. Took a departure from the Macao Fort, it lying in Latitude
22° 13' North, and Longitude 113° 52' East of London. Some
Chinese junks in company. Find the Ship requires one Pump pretty
steady to keep her free. However as it has been a steady leak for
some time it is not look'd upon as a serious affair. The Wind pre-
vails from the Eastern board, and is very squally.
The Ship's Crew are all well and hearty, and looking forward,
with anxious solicitude, to a happy meeting of Sweethearts and
Wives. How can we be otherways than happy, when anticipating
the joys that awaits us there!!
g. N. Lat. 19° 57'; W. Long. 246° 39'; E. Long. 113° 21'; Azi.
1° 43' W. Wind at SE. Pleasant weather. Two Chinese Junks in
company.
10. N. Lat. 19° 35'; W. Long. 245° 44'; E. Long. 114° 16'; Amp'd
0° 43' W. Wind SSW. Junks in company. Very pleasant, light
airs.
I920.] LOG OF THE COLUMBIA, 1790-1792. 267
12. N. Lat. 17° 31'; W. Long. 246° 35'; E. Long. 113° 25'. Azi.
0° 48' W. Wind SE. and pleasant weather. See Boobies often.
14. N. Lat. 15° 2'; W. Long. 246° 14'; E. Long. 113° 46'. Took
the wind at NE., which I suppose is the Monsoon.
18. N. Lat. 9° 44'; W. Long. 250° 48'; E. Long. 109° 12'. At
Midnight saw a small Isle bearing SWBS. i league, and soon after
see Pulo Sapata, bearing SBE. 2 leagues to the North'd. At 6 A. M.
bore off and made sail. Wind ENE. Cou'd not weather Pulo
Sapata. Pass'd two miles to the Westward of it. When the Isle
bore East, a large White Rock or Isle bore NNW., 6 or 7 leagues
distant. At 9 was clear of Sapata, and see no dangers in the track
we pursued, although I believe 't was quite an unfrequented one.
This Sapata Isle is very properly named, as it has every appearance
of a Shoe — after which it is called in Malay. Bore off to the west'd
with an intention of striking soundings off Pulo Condore. Pulo
Sapata, Latitude is 10° 4', and 109° 10' E.
19. N. Lat. 8° 4'; W. Long. 252° 4'; E. Long. 107° 56'. Regular
NE. Monsoon. Soundings at Noon 26 fathom, fine sand.
20. N. Lat. 6° 9'; W. Long. 252° 46'; E. Long. 107° 14'. Sound-
ings at Noon, 32 fm., fine sand.
21. N. Lat. 4° 28'; W. Long. 253° 23'; E. Long. 106° 37'; Azi.
1° 18' E. Soundings at Noon 45 fm., steady Monsoon.
22. N. Lat. 3° o'; W. Long. 255° 5'; E. Long. 104° 55'. The
Islands of Pulo Timon, Aore, and Tissang ^ in sight to the South-
ward. At Noon Pulo Aore bore SBW}^ 10 leagues. Soundings 35
fathom.
23. N. Lat. 0° 56'; W. Long. 254° 20'; E. Long. 105° 40'. Sound-
ings at Noon 35 fm., Sand and Mud.
24. S. Lat. 0° 44'; W. Long. 254° 46'; E. Long. 105° 14'. This
day saw Pulo Taya to the westward. At Noon Pulo Taya ^ bore
WNW. 6 leagues, the Seven Islands, SBE. Experience a current
to the Southward this 24 hours, the Monsoon moderate.
25. S. Lat. 1° 43'; W. Long. 255° 9'; E. Long. 104° 51'. Pass'd
between Taya and the Seven Isles, distance from Seven Isles about
4 leagues. More Islands hove in sight to the SE. At Sunset saw
land, which we took for Monopin Hill. Laid off and on through the
Night under short sail. Soundings from 8 to 16 fathom. At day-
light Monopin Hill bore SBE, 7 leagues. Bore oft". At Meridian
ISIonopin Hill bore EloN and the Sumatra shore WSW., the ship
nearest the Banca Shore, strong currents to the Southward. Sound-
ings 18 fathom.
1 Tioman, Aor and Pemangil or Tingy? ' Saya.
268 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
Straits of Banca.
26. S. Lat. 2° 43'. Enter'd the Straits of Banca, and stood to
the SE. At 5 P. M. Monopin Hill bearing NNW, the Ship being
}/2 nearest to the Banca shore from Sumatra on. We shoal'd the
water very sudden from 10 to 3 fathoms, rocks, bore off to the
South and West, and soon deep'd it again. This must have been
on the Fredrick Hendrik Shoal.
In the evening came to on the Sumatra shore, 9 fm. Mud, strong
tides. 3d point bore EBS 2 leagues.
At daylight got under way, and stood down straits. At 10 abreast
the Nanka Isles, a number of Malay proas in sight. At 11 A. M. a
dangerous shoal bore West i league, high breakers. At Noon
observed as above, ist pt. bore SBE 4 leagues.
27. S. Lat. 4° 21'; W. Long. 253° 43'; E. Long. 106° 17' O C.
Winds from NW. and pleasant. At 2 P. M. pass'd a Moorish Sloop,
at anchor. She was strongly man'd and arm'd. I believe she was a
Pirate. Many Proas about. At Sunset the Isle of Lucepara bore
SEBE 3 leagues, and ist point on Sumatra, SWBS. Pass'd nearest
to the Sumatra Shore, the shoalest water 4}^ ^^^- ^■nd when through
deep'd it to 12 and 14 fm. A strong tide in favour. At Noon
observed as above.
28. S. Lat. 4° 39'; W. Long. 253° 50'; E. Long. 106° 10' * (T.
Depth of Water, from 10 to 14 fm. throughout these 24 hours.
Wind from the West'd, and very dark weather. Bound towards
the Straits of Sunda.
March 1. S. Lat. 5° 9'. At sunset see the Two Sister^ Isles to
the Southward, wind to the SW. and very light. Soundings from
12 to 14 fm. At dark came to off the Sumatra shore, at 23^ leagues
distant, 9)2 fni. Mud. In the morning got under way. At Noon
observ'd Lat. as above, the Sisters bearing SSE. 2 miles.
2. S. Lat. 5° 25'. Wind at West. Soundings throughout this
24 hours from 12 to 15 fm. Found these Isles of Sisters to be sur-
round'd with Dangerous Reefs. In the evening came to in 12 fm.
Muddy bottom. Hogs point on Sumatra in sight bearing South
II leagues, and North Island SWBS 3'2W. In the morning weigh'd
and stood towards North Isle. At Noon observ'd as above.
At North Isle and Straits of Sunda.
3. Winds moderate and cloudy, working towards North Isles
Roads. At sunset came to in the Roads, 15 fm. muddy bottom.
Pass'd several Turtle and Water Snakes between the Sisters and
* Two Brothers?
ig20.] LOG OF THE COLUMBIA, 1790-1792. 269
our anchorage. The two ships shew English Colours. In the morn-
ing early shifted our berth nearer the watering place, and at 7 A. M.
anchor'd in 15 fm. Hoisted out all the Boats, and dispatch'd them
for water. The ships that lay in the Road was an English 64, Capt.
Gore,^ and the Indostan India Company Ship, Capt. Mackintosh.
The Lion had on board Mr. Macartney,- a Minister from the British
Government to the Court of Pekin. We took Dispatches for them
to leave at St. Helena. Towards evening these ships sail'd for
Batavia. Two Dutch Guard of Coasters anchor'd in company with
us. By night we had fitll'd up all our water and purchas'd a good
quantity of Poultry and Fruit of the Malays at the Beach. I landed,
with the charge of our boats, found above 200 Malays round the
watering place. They was completely arm'd, with Creases, (or
Daggers), but was quite friendly. However I did not allow the
Boats to touch the beach and only let 6 men beside myself land,
and swam the water casks off to the boats, when fiird. This method
I thought but prudent, as the Malays had kill'd one of the Lion's
crew, while washing cloaths at the brook. I cannot say that I
experienced the most agreeable sensations while on this duty.
4. Employ'd variously. Got a good quantity of Wood from
North Isle. The watering place being on Sumatra, we see no Na-
tives on North Isle.
5. Weigh'd and sail'd from North Island Roads, bound through
Sunda straits, pass'd the Qepthan Isles and Stroon Rock, upon
which was high breakers. Pass'd it on the larboard hand. At
Meridian Crackatoa Isle bore SSW. 4 miles, sounding 20 fm. St.
Tamanies Isle NNE. Wind SSW.
6. S. Lat. 6° 2'. Wind from SW. to NW. and very squally
weather, with heavy rain. Turning to windward between Princes
Island and Crokatore and in the Night came very near depositing
the Ship upon the Qu Klip rocks. Plowever good luck prevail'd.
Crew all in health.
7. S. Lat. 6° 39'. At Meridian Princes Isle bore East and Java
Head ESE. 5 leagues. Wind from NW. Stood to the southward.
8. S. Lat. 7° 13'; W. Long. 255° 36'; E. Long. 104° 24'. Steady
NW. Monsoon and pleasant.
9. S. Lat. 8° 4'; W. Long. 255° 47'; E. Long. 104° 13'; Amp'd
1° 24' East. Wind WSW. and squally weather.
13. S. Lat. 10° 47'; W. Long. 257° 40'; E. Long. 102° 20' O (T .
This day took the SE. trade winds after having experienced the
NW. Monsoon quite variable from SSW. to NNW., and weather
much unsettled, with plenty of rain and a continual swell from the
Southward. Many Boobies about us.
1 Erasmus Gower. ^ George Macartney, Earl Macartney (1737-1S06).
270 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
20. S. Lat. 15° 32'; W. Long. 270° 16'; E. Long. 89° 44'; Azi. 1°
54' E. This is an uncommon Variation for the place. Have had
fine weather since taking the SE. Trades.
27. S. Lat. 17° i'; W. Long. 280° 57'; E. Long. 79° 3'. Have
had the wind from the west'd these three days past, with squally
weather. This day it drew to the SE. again. Caught several
Dolphin.
30. S. Lat. 16° 32'; W. Long. 286° 5'; E. Long. 73° 55'; Azi.
4° 38' W. Pleasant SE Trade winds.
April I. S. Lat. 16° 55'; W. Long. 289° 25'; E. Long. 70° 35';
Azi. 7° 36' W. Have experienced a Httle Thunder and Lightning,
for several days at intervals.
3. S. Lat. 18° 52'; W. Long. 295° o'; E. Long. 65° o'; Azi. 14° o'
W. Fresh trades and Hazy weather.
Saw the Isle of Roderigue and Mauritius. Southern
Ocean.
4. S.Lat. 19° 37'; W. Long. Corrected 297° 10'; E. Long. 62°
50' O (T . This day made the Isle of Roderigue bearing SW. The
Ship having experienced a current to the West'd since leaving the
Straits of Sunda. Found this Island to be surround'd with danger-
ous Reefs — the one on its NW. extends many miles into the Sea.
5. S. Lat. 19° 44'; W. Long. 299° 11'; E. Long. 60° 49'; Azi. 10°
4' W. Amp'd 9° 58' W. Wind from the south'd and pleasant.
7. S.Lat. 20° 36'; W.Long. 302° 19'; E.Long. 57° 41'. Saw the
Isle of France at daylight. At noon the South pt. of Mauritius bore
WNW, 8 leagues, very high uneven land.
8. S. Lat. 2i°36'; W.Long. 303° 38'; E.Long. 56° 22'. Pleasant
trade winds. Saw the Isle of Bourbon. At noon it bore NW. 10 or
12 leagues. Exceeding mountainous.
ID. S. Lat. 24° 4'; W. Long. 307° 55'; E. Long. 52° 5'; Azi. 18°
51' W. Fresh SE. trades and squally. Crew all well.
14. S.Lat. 28° 2'; W.Long. 315° 59'; E.Long. 44° i'. Azi. 22°
25' W. O (T O *. Wind still at SE. and pleasant weather.
17. S. Lat. 30° 41'; W. Long. 323° 44'; E. Long. 36° 16' © C.
This day the SE. trades left us, and immediately took the wind
from NW.
19. S. Lat. 29° 32'; W. Long. 325° 49'; E. Long. 34° 11'; Azi. and
Amp'd 23° 50' W. O a: O * 16 6 CT Sights. Wind at SW. and
pleasant cool weather. Current setting to the NE.
21. S. Lat. 29° 37'; W. Long. 326° 48'; E. Long. 33° 12'; Azi. 25°
30' W. Wind from west, and pleasant.
23. S. Lat. 31° 11'; W. Long. 328° 20'; E. Long. 31° 40'; Azi. and
I920.] LOG OF THE COLUMBIA, 1790-1792. 271
Amp'd 27° 56' W. Wind from the Eastward. Experience a strong
current setting to the North.
28. S. Lat. 3S° 58'; W. Long. 336° 13'; E. Long. 23° 47'; Amp'd
28° 28' W. Have had much blowing weather for some time. This
day saw the land about Muscle Bay/ at 11 leagues distance. At
Noon Cape Talhado bore NW. The current has changed, and now
sets strong to the SW. Wind from the Westward.
Off the Cape of Good Hope.
29. S. Lat. 34° 12'; W. Long. 337° 6'; E. Long. 22° 54'. Sound-
ings 45 fm. Black sand, 2V^ leagues from land, many smoakes on
shore. At Noon the land in sight bore from North to ENE., a
strong current in favour. Wind right a head.
30. S. Lat. 34° 22'; W. Long. 338° 3'; E. Long. 21° 57 CT.
Many Gannetts and some seals round. Pass'd Cape St. Brass, saw
the 7 Hills, and a number of Fires on the shore through the Night.
Generally keep about 5 leagues from the Coast. Wind a head. So
ends.
May I. S. Lat. 34° 49'; W. Long. 340° 9'; E. Long. 19° 51'; Amp'd
25° 18' W. Land at 10 leagues distance, 75 fm. sand and shells.
A current to the S & W.
2. S. Lat. 34° 29'; W. Long. 340° 27'; E. Long. 19° 33'; Azi. 26°
24' W. Wind steady from the Westward, not even allowing us a
tolerable slant. Sounding 54 fm. grey sand with shells. Keep an
offing generally of about 6 or 7 leagues, the land very mountainous
in our present situation. At Noon the land 5 leagues distance, 57
fm., fine grey sand and shells.
3. S. Lat. 34° 32'; W. Long. 337° 30'; E. Long. 22° 30' QCl.
Fresh gales, employ'd working to windward.
4. S. Lat. 35° i'; W. Long. 340° o'; E. Long. 20° o' O C. At
length, thank God, the wind chang'd to the Eastward, made all
sail, haul'd more to the Southward to clear Cape Lagullas.-
5. S. Lat. 34° 40'; W. Long. 340° 30'; E. Long. 19° 30' O €.
Saw the Table land and Gunners Quoin to the East of False bay.
At Noon Cape Point bore NW'd 10 leagues. Wind SE. Bore off
to the North'd and West'd.
9. S. Lat. 31° 29'; W. Long. 344° 39'; E. Long. 15° 21'; Azi. 22°
o' W. Wind from the Westward.
10. S. Lat. 30° 24'; W. Long. 346° 28'; E. Long. 13° 32'; Azi.
2i°4o'W. Wind at SW. and fair weather. Crew all in health.
13. S. Lat. 27° 7'; W. Long. 350° 52'; E. Long. 9° 8'; Amp'd
20° 34' W. O (T . Winds still from SW to NW.
1 Mossel Bay. ^ Agulhas.
272 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
16. S. Lat. 24° 27'; W. Long. 353° i'; E. Long. 6° 59'; Azi &
Amp'd 20° 26', 19° 22' W. O CT * C . Winds steady from the West-
ward.
17. S. Lat. 24° 27'; W. Long. 353° 16'; E. Long. 6° 44'; O (T.
Amp'd 20° 30'. Tight winds for men in a hurry, steady at NW-
20. S. Lat. 20° 9'; W. Long. 357° 3'; E. Long. 2° 57'. This day
took the SE. trade winds box'd her away for St. Helena.
21. Pass'd the Meridian of London.
St. Helena Island.
25. S. Lat. 15° 54'; W. Long. 5° 46'. Saw the Island of St.
Helena at Sunset. Hove to for the night. Early in the morning
sent a boat in to ask permission of the Governor to anchor in the
Bay. At 9 the Boat return'd, and the officer reported favorably.
Bore off, and at 10 anchor'd in Chapell Vally bay, in 14 fm. mud
and sand, the Church bearing SE. Found riding here several Eng-
lish India and Whale Ships — waiting for Convoy. At this place
we first heard of the War and troubles in Europe, and that poor
Louis was a head shorter. Capt. Gray landed to visit the Gover-
nor. Employ'd watering. The Lieutenant Governor (by name
Robinson) paid us a visit. He appear'd to be an excellent man and
was anxious to obtain curiositys from us, to put in his Museum. He
appear'd gratify'd with the Collection that was present'd him. I
must confess that I was agreeably surpriz'd on landing at James
Town, for from the appearance it has from the Ship at anchor you
feel prepossessed against it, but to me, when on shore, 't was quite
a pleasant place, and the sight of an English Lady made my heart
feel all in an uproar — and alas ! the poor Sandwich Isle Girls were
entirely forgot. So it is, and we cannot help it.
26. S. Lat. 15° 54'; W. Long. 5° 46'. Finish'd watering, and got
ready for sea. I made an excursion in company with a Brother
Officer to view the Company's Garden, and was amply rewarded for
my trouble. 'T was kept in fine order. St. Helena had been visited
by a famine, not long since, which carried off the greatest part of
their stock and greatly distress'd the inhabitants. Consequently
cou'd not procure much refreshments for the Ship.
The Island to windward makes a most rugged appearance, and
indeed in the Bay 't is not much mended but to leeward 't is quite
pleasant and the roads — though the work of Art cheifly — are far
from being bad. The Inhabitants are very polite to strangers, and
in short no Man after a long voyage ought to pass this pleasant and
agreeable place without stopping. You get the W^ater with great
ease, as its convey 'd to the Port by pipes under ground. You fill
I920.] LOG OF THE COLUMBL\, 1790-1792. 273
with a Hose, and are not oblidg'd to take the Casks from the Boat,
but in case you do, there is a Crane on the pier to load with. Shou'd
haA-e sail'd this evening but 't is against the rules of the Port to sail
after sunset.
Bound for Boston.
27. S. Lat. 15° 34'; W. Long. 6° 15'. Saild at daylight, and
stood to the NW., with pleasant sensations enough at what awaits
us in that direction.
28. S. Lat. 14° 2,Z'\ W. Long. 7° 14'. Azi. 12° 6' W. O C.
Pleasant trade winds and fair weather.
June 3. S. Lat. 8° 32'; W. Long. 15° 9' O C * (T. Azi. h
Amp'd 11° 2' W., 10° 50' W. Pass'd the Isle of Assencion about
midnight, at 2 miles distance.
7. S. Lat. 1° 22'; W. Long. 20° 10'. Azi. 11° 38' W.O <L. Plenty
of fish about the Ship, and a few Birds.
9. N. Lat. 1° 10'; W.Long. 22° 33'; Amp'd 7° 41' W. * d:. This
is the fourth time the Equator has been cross 'd during the Voyage.
16. N. Lat. 6° o'; W. Long. 30° 38'. Azi. 6° 48' W. O C. Dull
times. Winds very light and baffling.
20. N. Lat. 7° 28'; W. Long. 33° 26'; Variation 2° 26' W. O C.
This day took the NE. trade wnnds, having lost the SE. trades in
Lat. 4° 30' North. Winds between have generally been from the
West'd but very light.
22. N. Lat. 9° 58'; \N. Long. 36° 49'; Azi. 2° 26' W. Pleasant
trade winds. Employ'd painting ship, etc.
24. N. Lat. 12° 38'; W. Long. 41° o'; Amp'd 3° 7' W. Pleasant
trade winds. Employ'd painting ship, etc.
27. N. Lat. 17° 5s'; W. Long. 46° 36'; Azi. 4° 36' W. Generally
fresh \vinds. No Birds, or Fish.
30. N. Lat. 22° 11'; W. Long. 51° 2'; Azi & Amp'd 3° 10' W\
OCT
16 O C Sights.
* <L
Gentle trades and fair weather. Several sail pass'd at a distance.
July 2. N. Lat. 24° 29'; W. Long. 53° n'; Azi. 2° 46' W. O <C.
Spoke an English Brig, under American colours, from New London,
bound to Grenada, loaded with stock. Was oblidg'd to lire several
shot a head of him before he wou'd stop. Purchas'd out of her
many Sheep Hogs etc., with two tierces Bread. This was quite a
seasonable Supply, as we had been eating maggotty bread for this
some time.
5. N. Lat. 25° ^T,' ; W. Long. 56° 13'. Spoke two Sloops from
Portland for Guadal[oupe].
274 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
8. N. Lat. 28° 16'; W. Long. 59° 35'; Variation 1° 28' E. O <i: .
This day the NE. trade wind left us, took it from the Southward.
18. N. Lat. 40° 17'; W. Long. 65° 15'; Variation 14° 55' W. O C
* C . Spoke the Brig Betsey from New York, Wm. WilHams Master,
bound to Amsterdam. Have experienc'd much blowing weather
from the North and West since leaving the Trades, and generally
squalls of rain. Ship's Crew are all in health, but anxious to get
home, as the Ship's provisions have grown quite bad and but little
of it left.
20. N. Lat. 40° 23'; W. Long. 67° 51'; Azi. & Amp'd 12° 17' W.
Winds from the Northward.
21. N. Lat. 40° 29'; W.Long. 68° 35'; Azi. 7° 16' W. Dull times
for men in a hurry. The Columbia is in fine order, having given the
rigging a complete overhaul since leaving St. Helena. Rounded to
and got soundings 67 fm. fine black and white sand.
22. N. Lat. 42° 11'; W. Long. 68° 45'. At Sunset sounded, in
38 fm. gray sand. Spoke a Sloop from Newbury port, bound to the
West Indies, told us Cape Cod bore NW. 30 leagues. At Midnight
shoald our water pretty sudden, from 20 to 15, 12, 10 and 8 fm, fine
white sand on Georges Shoal; hauld to the East and soon deep'd it
again to 30 fm. At Noon Latt. as above, soundings in 40 fathom.
Wind from the WSW. Hard luck.
24. Lower'd the yawl and sent her on board a fishing Schooner
in sight to the west'd, it being nearly calm. At Sunset the boat re-
turn'd and Officer reported that the Skipper of the Schooner cou'd
not spare any salt provisions, but sold us 3 Bar'l Salt Mackarell and
about 300 Ship Biscuit. These last were very grateful. Divided
them fore and aft among the Crew. A breeze sprang up from the
Eastward pt., all sail, and at daylight saw Cape Cod bearing SW.
6 leagues, and the Gurnett WBS, the land abreast us on the South
Shore, 4 leagues distance. Several sail in sight. Employ'd turning
to Windward, the wind having shifted to the NW.
Arrived at Boston.
25. Light breezes and pleasant weather. At i P. M. nearly
abreast of Cohassett Rocks, almost calm. At Sunset we had got
too near to Hassett Ledges, by reason of the tide. However a small
breeze sprang up and we san'd off. At daylight Boston Light bore
WBN. 3 leagues distant. At 8 A. M. a pilot came on board and
took charge to take the Ship to Boston. At Meridian pass'd the
Light house, with a light air from the Eastward. At 6 we pass'd
Castle William, and gave a federal salute, which was return 'd. A
fine Breeze at SE. At 7 anchored off the Long wharfe in the Stream
1920.] LEE-THORNELY LETTERS, 1840-1847. 275
and saluted the town, with 11 Guns which was return'd from the
Wharfes, with three welcome Huzzas.
m^^At making Boston Light, from which place we took our de-
parture, we have just made 360 degrees of Longitude West, which
is the Circumference of our Globe — of course we have lost one
complete day. It was Friday at Boston, and Thursday with us.
'T is impossible to express our feelings at again meeting with our
friends. But the loss of an affectionate and much lov'd Sister, during
my absence, was a great obstacle to the happiness I shou'd other-
ways have enjoy'd.
So Ends the Remarks on Columbia's Voyage.
John Boit.
Lee-Thornely Letters.
Through the courtesy of Airs. Frederick C. Shattuck the
following exchange of letters between Henry Lee and Thomas
Thornely have been deposited in the Society. The positions
occupied by the writers, the time of writing and the subjects
treated give a value to the correspondence beyond the histori-
cal interest. Mr. Lee was long prominent in the discussion of
currency and tariff questions which followed the wild-cat
banking of the Jackson administration and the "tariff of
abominations" of 1828. Mr. Thornely was a member of
Parliament, with close relations with the leading writers on
finance and trade at a time when currency problems and the
position of the Bank of England were quite as acute as the
corresponding problems in the United States. His letters,
written for an American, give a somewhat different view of
public affairs than can be gathered from English memoirs and
newspapers of the time, and extend through the period of the
adoption of free trade by Great Britain and the passage of the
Bank restriction act of 1844, measures that have profoundly
influenced the course of English history and, indirectly, of the
world. Unfortunately, only a single letter from Mr. Lee has
been found, and it would appear that he kept no copies of his
letters beyond that now printed.
276 massachusetts historical society. [june,
Henry Lee to Thomas Thornely.
Orig. per British Queen sailed April i*"", '40. No. 2. Duplicate.
Boston, 24th March, 1840.
Dear Sir, — Since I replied to your favor of the 10 Jan'y per
Great Western under date of the 17th inst., I have received Mr.
Jones Lloyd's pamphlet/ which I have read with great attention
and great satisfaction. His plan of improving your currency and
your banking system, is in my opinion the best which has been
presented to the public, and yet I have strong doubts of its working
out all the practical results which Mr. Lloyd anticipates. Confine
the bank to the mere administration of the currency in one branch
and to loaning in the other, will be a manifest improvement on its
twofold office of performing both these functions conflicting in
their nature, not only with the public, but private interests of the
nation; but what security can you have that [gov't] commissioners
united with Corporation directors will not, from ignorance, or from
want of firmness of principle abuse the power entrusted to them,
as the Bank of England directors have heretofore done? It has
been said in most of the pamphlets in defence of the Bank manage-
ment and admitted generally by those who impugn their conduct,
that the directors had no sinister interests to promote by over issues,
because it was shewn that none of the directors owned over £2000,
or the sum necessary to qualify them for office. That however is a
very erroneous conclusion, you will find among the directors, and
among its most active and influential ones, members of mercantile
and banking establishments, who have a vital interest, not in raising
or sustaining existing dividends of 8 per ct. but in sustaining and
enhancing the prices of foreign stocks, at least long enough to enable
the dealers in them to force them off to that large class of men
who from their limited fortunes are strongly tempted to make in-
vestments in stocks, which at the prices paid for them, yield double
the income yours do. Now it is the inflation of your currency acting
upon a spirit of speculation, which has always raised the value of
this kind of property beyond its natural value, and at the same time
given a currency to it, which in the ordinary circumstance of a
sound state of the currency, would not have found buyers. It was
during the expansion of your currency of 1824 to 1826 which gave
a value of 20/ in £ to the South American stocks and which in truth
caused the issues of those stocks, when the London houses and their
> Samuel Jones Loyd, Baron Overstone (i 796-1883). The pamphlet was his
Remarks on the Management of the Circulation and the Conduct of the Bank of Eng-
land during iSjg.
I920.] LEE-THORNELY LETTERS, 1840-1847. 277
agents, knew, from the condition and character of the states from
whom they emanated, there was no chance of their ever being paid,
when the loans came to maturity, or that the interest could be paid.
Now who were the men who introduced these gambling securities
on your Exchange and who made fortunes by their commissions on
the negotiation? I say some of the most efficient ones were in the
Bank direction and others so connected with the direction, that they
could influence them. Again, who are the persons who have urged
our states and corporations to plunge into debt for internal improx- e-
ments [some] fifty years in advance of our means of paying for them,
and in some cases of their ability even had we the means? I say the
most efficient promoters and originators are to be found in the
"Bank Parlour." But for the interest these men and their connec-
tions had in American stocks, the circulation of the bank of England
would have been managed very differently from what it was during
1839. They would have contracted the circulation when it would
have prevented the sudden revulsion which took place and in spite
of bad harvest, a fact as well known at the bank, months before
they curtailed, as it now is. The revulsion of 1837 was brought
about by the seven or eight Anglo-American houses by their credits
of 15 to 16,000,000 to the gambling merchants of this country, and
who were those houses? Why, three of them had partners in the
Bank direction and there were other directors who were commenc-
ing American connections and have since formed them, and are
now deep, I imagine, in our state stocks, and New York free bank
stocks most of which were got up for the purpose of creating paper
money, upon real estate securities, which have fallen 25 to 75 per ct.
below what they were valued at, when deposited as securities, and
on the worst descriptions of state stocks, on which interest can't be
paid unless your lenders will lend the money, and as to principal
it will be paid when your National debt is paid. And what is the
position of these Anglo-American houses and stock jobbers? Why
they are so deeply involved in American stocks state and bank, that
they may be ruined unless their value can be greatly raised on this
side or on yours. In this country they have no certain value, but
what is founded on the prices with you, but if our banks can again
inflate our currency by an over issue of 40 to 50,000,000 of bank
notes, stocks, like all other property will advance, and not only ad-
vance, but again have an artificial value, as a gambling property.
In 1833 to 1836 during which period the issues of our banks were
extended 50 per cent, at least, state stocks and all other stocks sold
at 10 to 25 and even 50% premium which can now be had at 2/ to
15/ in £. American stocks then even those of the wealthiest states
with exception of Massachusetts, and some few others who are but
278 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
small, and which are still above par here as well as in England;
can't be raised to par or anything near to it, unless by [ef]forts of
holders and speculators on your side, and among those who are
liable to be the most affected are gentlemen who meet in the Bank
of England Parlour, and others who have such an influence over
those gentlemen, as may induce them to look much more to the
beneficial and personal effects of an expansion than to the great
interests of the Nation. Again who has a deeper interest in sus-
taining and raising prices of cotton, raw silk, teas, indigo etc. than
the most influential members of the Bank? To put banking and
currency on a permanent and solid footing, whether the proposed
change advocated by Mr. Lloyd is made or not, there should not
be a mercantile or a stock jobber in the direction, because every
man interested deeply in the fluctuation of stocks or merchandise
is in a position to benefit by a condition of things adverse to the
national interest. It is impolitic and as injurious to the public in-
terest to allow a currency to be created and administered by mer-
chants and bankers, no matter what may be their moral and in-
tellectual standing, as it would be to allow the judges of your courts,
who are probably as honest and as intelligent as the gentlemen of
the Exchange, to sit in judgment on cases, the res[ult] of which
would affect and deeply affect their pecuniary salvation. The crea-
tion and management of a currency is one of the most important
functions of sovereignty, and ought no more to be transferred to a
Corporation of individuals, than the power of making laws. For
these reasons I have no great confidence that your circulation can
be kept in a state of perfection, upon the principles laid down by
Mr. Lloyd, but I shall be glad to see them carried into action, be-
cause it would be a great improvement, and in the meantime a
knowledge on the subject extended, whether from reflection or
from the sufferings incident to the practical evils of the fluctuations
in the standard of value, the public mind would become sufficiently
enlightened to establish an entire metal currency, or at any rate
something as near to it as the currency of France was, prior to
establishments of the private banks, whose action [but] for the con-
trolling, wise, and honest conduct of the Bank of France, would
have been much more inju[rious] to the commercial and national
interests of that country than they have been the past [ ] years.
Mr. Lloyd's plan of making the Bank of England a regulator of the
currency and connecting the Direction with the Administration of
your National Government will no doubt prevent much of the evil
incident to the present bad management of the currency, but who
will regulate the Regulator? Can you rely on Government? Your
own history shews that in an emergency Government will lead the
I920.] LEE-THORNELY LETTERS, 1840-1847. 279
way to an inflation of currency. Who forced that act upon the
Bank in 1797? Mr. Pitt and his friends. That there was no over-
coming necessity was shewn by the state of the currency which for
two or three years was on a level with the currencies of the conti-
nent, as may be seen by the foreign exchanges and prices of bullion.
Who sustained the bank in its subsequent over issues? The Ad-
ministration, and to cover their folly and iniquity, contended that a
paper which required 26/ to 27/ to buy a guinea was not a depre-
ciated one, and there are millions and millions who to this day have
not any clearer conceptions of a sound or unsound currency, than
the prevalent ones of that period, and it is only within fifteen or
twenty years, that the governing directors of [the] Bank of England
have emerged from the darkest ignorance and errors, which are
evinced in the parliamentary discussions and on examinations be-
fore parliamentary committees on the questions of banking and
currency. There is another point to be considered. Those who
believe the Bank of England under a more intelligent, independent
and impartial administration, can keep your currency on a level
with the metal and therefore sound and stable currencies of the
neighboring countries, rely on the foreign exchanges as a test and
a safe one. In the first place an inflation of currency acting upon a
spirit of speculation and usually originating it, precedes the altera-
tion in the exchanges to an extent which renders it impossible to
avert all the mischief of sudden changes in the value of property
and to give the reaction all the benefits of a currency consisting
wholly of the precious metals. 2nd. What if the countries with
whom we deal extensively are afiiicted with an un[sound] currency?
like the United States for instance. Now if your whole trade were
with us the rates of foreign exchange would be an unsafe guide, as
they have been to us for a considerable portion of the last ten years,
during which our currency has been superfluous, though the ex-
changes have generally been at par and part of the time i or 2 per
cent, in our favor. Our imports have been greatly in advance of our
exports leaving for years 1834, 1835, 1836 and 1837 an excess of
imports over exports of $135,273,410. And how were the Exchanges
maintained? Why by running in debt to the "Anglo-American"
houses and to others 15 to 20,000,000 Stg. In 1838 our imports and
exports balanced each other. In 1839, we have for year ending 30
Septr., an excess of imports of $45,000,000 to which add 15,000,000
for over valuation from exports, as they stand in the Custom House
records in an inflated currency. Here then is a balance of payments
of 60,000,000. Part is paid by sale of state stocks, borrowings on
Banks and other stocks, about 10,000,000 by failures of American
[de]btors and by losses on goods sent here on foreign account, the
28o MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
proceeds of which do not exceed 10/ in £ and [there is] still a balance
due which will be paid by our remittances of produce. Now how
did the Exchanges in Europe indicate an inflation of $40 to 50,000,-
000, which is the least of the excess? Why not at all, we kept them
straight by exporting money securities and mercantile credit and
if your capitalists, merchants and stock jobbers had been content
with more of those commodities, we should have gone on importing
to such an extent as your credulity and riches would hold out, and
they have sometimes appeared to me to be inexhaustible. If your
currency and ours had been in a natural and sound state, these
credit and stock operations could not have been carried on, and
the commercial transactions between the two nations would now
have been in their usual prosperous condition. If the currencies
of France and Holland etc. were like yours, there would not be that
steadiness of prices, the sure characteristic of a metal currency (or
a paper one if there w^as any power to keep it on a level with a metal
one). They would be, like yours and ours, occasionally in case of
derangement, and then your regulator, would be out of order; [for]
every nation of Europe, like the states of this confederacy would
have currencies of an unequal value. In other words the standard
of value would be lost and to get right all Europe would have to go
through the process we did in 1837, namely suspend specie pay-
ments, contract, get the currencies of all Europe on the same level,
and then by another expansion be on the road to the same catas-
trophe from which they had but just recovered.
Such was the course things took in this country in 1837 and 1838,
and when we have recovered from our present difl&culties, our prin-
ciples of banking and currency being unchanged, we shall rapidly
expand and be liable to the same results at which we arrived last
October by the expansion of 1838 and 1839. Thus far we have
learnt but Kttle by experience and if you read Mr. Clay's, Mr.
Webster's, and most other speeches in Congress and elsewhere, you
will find they attribute our pecuniary difficulties to wrong causes
and they lament that by a reduction of a superfluous currency prices
of cotton, flour etc. should have fallen, fallen to a level with prices
of Europe. They believe or pretend to believe in the existence at
the same moment of two prices, one on this side of the Atlantic
based on a currency above the level of Europe, and another based
on the sound currencies of those countries with whom we trade;
and in whose markets we must sell those very products. The
leading men on the side of Mr. Van Buren have somewhat sounder
notions, but it is with them as it is with their opponents, almost
wholly a party question, and if the Whigs, as they call themselves,
were to argue in favor of a metal currency, or a greater infusion of
I920.] LEE-THORNELY LETTERS, 1840-1847. 28 1
metal into our almost exclusively paper currency, the Administra-
tion party would take the other side. As matters now stand, the
"Whigs" have rendered the more sound notions maintained by
their opponents, very unpopular, by ascribing to their agency" the
reduction of an exuberant currency, to a sound currency, and in that
way reducing wages of labor and prices of produce, though there
has been no reduction in price of labor in any degree corresponding
to the fall of prices of provisions, fuel and other necessaries of life.
The people however can see a reduction in prices of labor, more
clearly than a reduction of prices of what they consume, at any
rate they do not comprehend the necessity of suffering by the one
while they enjoy the benefits of the other. They are told that their
labor is reduced in value, which is not true, since a day's work will
now procure more of the necessaries of life than in 1838 and 1839.
Again the planters of cotton and growers of grain, whose staples
have come down from their artificial standards, are disposed to join
in the clamour against the sound currency party, and a considerable
portion of the people of the country would prefer an entire paper
currency, or more properly speaking, a system which must lead to
it, to a circulation kept within the limits of the sound currencies of
the nations with whom we trade. I would not have it inferred, that
all the ruinous fluctuations in the value of property, proceed, in my
estimation, from ill managed paper currency, nor that they could
wholly be avoided, if a currency was entirely metal or like that of
France which may be four-fifths metal. I do maintain, however,
that in such a case the changes would be gradual and unimportant,
and that demand and supply would be the great regulators of prices.
If this is denied, I will adduce France as an instance of the truth of
my proposition. Since the establishment of regular government,
commencing with the ascendency of Buonaparte to the supreme
power, their currency has never been in disorder nor their com-
mercial concerns suffered from those revulsions, which have been
so frequent in your country and ours, though during this long
period, the political condition of France has been in a critical state
at various times, and for some years the country was in the hands
of a foreign army, who levied enormous contributions of money and
interrupted many of the great branches of industry. Holland and
Hamburgh have experienced the like benefits from a specie currency
and no doubt owe their prosperity in some degree to its existence.
If, however, an entire metal currency can't be established, then a
suppression of all notes under £20 will be an improvement, and on
the expiration of the bank charter, a reorganization of an institution
upon the principles laid down by Mr. Lloyd and in which Mr. Tooke ^
1 Thomas Tooke (1774-1858), author of History of Prices, 1839-1857.
282 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
and other writers on his side will concur. Indeed Mr. Tooke
maintains that the only benefit derived from paper is in the
interest saved on the dead capital, which would be required, but
that is more than lost by every revulsion through which you have
passed for forty years, to say nothing of the immoral effects of
changes in the value of property so injurious to the general interests
of the nation and so injurious to the most enterprising and laborious
and useful portion of the community. The two great points of
attention then, in my apprehension, to which your people and gov-
ernment should be directed, are Currency and Corn and I am glad
therefore, to perceive you have discussed them together, a steady,
unfluctuating standard of value and a free trade in Corn will remove
some of the most potent and frequently occurring causes of your
distress. I hope therefore, that you will become an agitator, as Mr.
Villiers^ has promised he will be, and never cease your efforts till
they are crowned with success. We are now suffering for want of a
market for our grain, of which we have a heavy surplus, but your
duty is so fluctuating, that prudent men are not willing to adventure.
The duty some few months since was 1/ now 22/ and by the time
shipments will reach, may be 25/ or even 30/. If it were now fixed
for six months at even 10/ we should send you Sio and perhaps
$15,000,000 in flour, maize etc., for that is but a small percentage of
our whole crop, which may be estimated at even the present standard
of prices at even $200,000,000. It is, however, often said that an
average harvest in the United States affords but a small surplus, so
that in event of a repeal of your corn duties no great reliance can
be placed on our supplies. It is true our crops are limited to the
ordinary wants of the country and our usual export demand to
South America and West Indies, which may have averaged the past
ten to fifteen years $5 to $6,000,000 and it would be unwise to go
further because in the event of a greater surplus there is no market
and prices would fall very low, as is your case, in a redundant har-
vest. If however, your duty was fixed and at a moderate rate say
8/ or 10/ quarter and permanently so, it would be the interest of
about 6,000,000 of our grain growing population to extend their
corn planting and this grand staple, the best of all currencies, would
be like cotton a leading article of export to your half fed popula-
tion, and every dollar it produced invested in the products of your
island. This new source of wealth would increase the means of the
Western and Middle States to pay for the manufactures of New
England, as well as old England, and render an extreme tariff un-
popular in those regions and unnecessary in this quarter. I am
glad to learn that the removal or modification of the Corn duties
1 Charles Pelham Villiers (1802-1898).
1920.] LEE-THORNELY LETTERS, 1840-1S47. 283
may, in your opinion, become a Cabinet question. It should be so,
for sooner or later, by moral means, or by physical means, that
foolish and wicked impediment to the national welfare and national
progress, will and must be removed, and who ever shall be mainly
instrumental in effecting it now, cannot fail to enjoy a reputation
in history more enviable than all the victories of a Wellington, be-
cause the results of such a reformation will contribute much more
to your national strength and national happiness, than all the
beneficial consequences of your glorious wars! from the Roman In-
vasion to the battle of Waterloo. Indeed the only durable monu-
ment of fame which your warriors and statesmen of the past half
century have left behind is $4,000,000,000 of national debt, called
by those few who were the most instrumental in its creation and
expenditure a national blessing, but by the taxed and disregarded
many, termed and justly termed an unjust, an unsupportable bur-
den. In respect to our state debts, stocks and other money securi-
ties, the more they are investigated the worse they appear. The
loans having been for the most part injudiciously applied, have been
a serious injury to the country, and they will I fear be a source of
injury to those who hold them. The annual interest due abroad on
them cannot be less than $10,000,000 per annum, a portion of which
however, cannot be paid save by new borrowings in Europe, and
the balance will absorb a portion of our exports, which would be
otherwise invested in your manufactures. I recommend you and
your friends to abstain from all dealings in them. In commercial
matters we are utterly stagnant. The enclosed remarks made by
me in one of our newspapers, embrace some of my notions on the
subject. In the course of four or five months, there will be a favor-
able reaction, but we shall not be in a condition to take freely of
your manufactures of iron, cottons, woollens, linens etc. till 1841.
You shall soon hear from me again and in return I shall be grati-
fied to hear from you and more especially upon the progress made
in overthrowing the Corn Laws.
If you are [acqu]ainted with Mr. Lloyd I shall be glad to have him
see what I have said of his pamphlet. I have also been in cor-
respondence on the question of free trade with Mr. Thomas Tooke,
whom I esteem as one of the best practical and theoretic writers
upon all branches of political economy, though I think he does not,
in his work on prices, allow enough for the injurious effects of a
fluctuating currency. To him I shall be glad to have you exhibit
what I have written, if you happen to come in his way. Yours
truly,
[H. Lee.]
284 massachusetts historical society. [june,
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
LivEiiPOOL, 3 Sept., 1S40.
My dear Sir, — I had very great pleasure in receiving your
letter dated the 26 July, and I may say I never received a com-
munication more replete with sound views. I am not sure about a
currency entirely metallic, but undoubtedly we have gone very
wrong in this country, and in yours it is quite lamentable to witness
the state of your currency. You are quite right in believing that
much U. S. Bank Stock is held by worthy people, not in trade, but
who have made the purchase for the sake of a fair interest return.
I know several ladies who are put to inconvenience for want of the
dividends. I sent to Mr. Jones Loyd one copy of the printed articles
which you sent me from the newspapers, and desired he would for-
ward them to Mr. Tooke. I have a very handsome letter from him
in which he begs I will thank you for the perusal of these papers,
and to assure you that he shall always be obliged by having an
opportunity of perusing any farther remarks which may come from
your pen. He says, "I cannot doubt that his mode of treating the
subject must prove useful and instructive to his countrymen, and
by a reiterated exposition of the truth, I trust that an effectual im-
pression will gradually be produced upon public opinion in his
country and our own." The copies which you sent for the Morning
Chronicle, I have hesitated to send, for the 'City article' of that
paper and its Philadelphia agent ' Publicus ' have been from first to
last, writing up the United States Bank in a way that I think \'ery
discreditable. I have remonstrated about it, twice at least, but
without success. There is some private history about this matter
which I have been unable to fathom, but I have my suspicions that
there are parties (not the proprietor of the paper) who get a con-
sideration for what they write. I must beg you to send me any thing
farther that you write, for I shall have the gratification of reading
and can make use of the articles to public account. Our harvest in
the South is over, and the grain is partially secured all over the
country. Wheat will probably be a fair crop; oats, barley, potatoes
and turnips in abundance. By the management of interested parties
the wheat averages have been run up, so that the duty has this day
fallen to 2/8 per quarter, or 1/7 per bbl. of flour. This will take
all the stock out of bond, and the duty will continue thus low for
three or four weeks, when, as prices will probably fall materially,
the duty will rapidly advance, and we shall be no longer an import-
ing country. Nothing can be more absurd than this system, and I
have never met with a man of sense who did not say so. Our Min-
isters are all favorable to an alteration of the Corn Laws, and would
jg20.] LEE-THORNELY LETTERS, 1840-1847. 285
like a low fixed duty but they are timid about it, knowing that they
have not the support of either House of Parliament. You will find
in a Chronicle which I send you, an extract from one of your letters,
with an editorial article upon it. I do not agree with you that any
thing could be got from the Tories in respect of Free Trade. The
Duke of Wellington is now an aged man,^ and will be carried off by
one of those attacks to which he is so subject. As to Sir Robert
Peel, I have heard every important speech that he has made since
I have been in Parliament and I come to the conclusion that he is
really a narrow minded man. He has great qualifications, he has a
fine voice and is an excellent debater, but then he has had great
advantages. He had a first rate college education, he has been in
Parliament thirty years and has filled most of the high offices of
state. He has always been trammelled by his connection with the
Church and with Toryism, and so he will continue to be, not having
strength of mind to divest himself of it. I have sometimes thought
if Peel would take up Free Trade he might become the greatest man
of the age. Lord Melbourne is not profligate in a moral sense, but
he is getting old, is very much at Court and not alive to the com-
mercial wants of the country.
I was serving at the close of the Session, on a committee on import
duties to inquire whether they were for protection or for revenue,
and it was an enquiry which interested me greatly. We had the
two Secretaries and a former Secretary of the Board of Trade, all
giving the strongest evidence in favor of Free Trade and we had
excellent evidence from mercantile men. The evidence is not yet
printed, but I am in daily expectation of receiving it, when I shall
have the pleasure to send you a copy of it, as well as of the evidence,
before the Committee on Banks of Issue. I wish you had been in
England when our Committee was sitting — you might have
favored us with opinions which would have had great weight.
You have attended to the case of Nolte.- Certainly it is a most
extraordinary fact, that this person, not in the possession of one
cent, should be able to purchase thirty to forty thousand bales of
cotton. A neighbour came to my brother with a draft at 90 days
and a bill of lading to be delivered on condition of the draft being
accepted. My brother at once said he would have nothing to do
with the transaction without writing to me, and my answer was,
under no temptation whatever to put his name to any of Nolte's
drafts. You may be assured there has been an enormous loss some-
where by Nolte's operations.
- He died in 1852.
- Vincent Nolte. who has related his story in Fifty Years in both Hemi-
spheres, 1854.
286 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
I came away from Parliament, much discouraged about Free
Trade, and yet I have such entire reliance on the soundness of the
principle, that certain I am that Free Trade must ultimately pre-
vail. I beg to hear from you upon this all interesting question and
with my best acknowledgments for your former communications,
I remain, Dear Sir, truly yours,
Tho. Thornely.
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
LivERFOOL, i8 Sept., 1840.
My dear Sir, — The evidence given before the Committee of the
House of Commons on Banks of Issue has just been printed. I have
sent you a copy of it by the Caledonia Steamer as per inclosed re-
ceipt, and I hope you will have leisure to look it over. Mr. Page,
one of the witnesses, is a person who has written a good deal in the
Times newspaper, under the signature of Henry Hardcastle. I am
in daily expectation of receiving the evidence before the Committee
on Import Duties, of which I shall send you a copy. It discloses a
system which is perfectly disgraceful to a commercial community.
The working of our Corn Laws is very striking at the present
moment. Last week but one the duty on flour was 1/7 per bbl.,
last week 4/, today it has risen to 6/5 and next week it will be 8/2.
I believe our wheat crop will be nearly an average; oats, barley and
potatoes most abundant. The trade I think is better than it [was]
but I cannot look for any permanent improvement until we relax
our commercial legislation.
I have just been on board the Acadia and President, two of the
fine steamers. What a revolution in the navigation of the Atlantic
— my first passage to New York was fifty-eight days.
My nephew^ writes us he had had the pleasure to see you. He
is a steady youth, and I hope will fortify his notions of Free Trade.
With great regard. Yours,
Tho. Thornely.
Letters to or from any part of the United Kingdom by the Gov-
ernment Steamers which go to Boston are 1/ postage per half ounce.
By the private Steamers Great Western, etc., they are M per half
ounce, newspapers 2d each.
1 William, son of John D. Thornely.
i920.] lee-thornely letters, 1840-1847. 287
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
Liverpool, 19 Oct., 1840.
My DEAR Sir, — I inclose a receipt for a parcel which I have
addressed to you by the Britannia, containing the Report of the
Committee on Import Duties with the evidence given before it.
There was not time before the close of the Session to draw up such
a report as was due to the very important evidence given before the
Committee. The Report ought [to] have put forth in a prominent
manner, the leading points of the evidence given by the very in-
telligent witnesses who appeared before us.
I have to thank you for a letter by the Britannia, but am sorry to
say that having been out of Town and hav[ing] also some pressing
engagements for the present, I have not yet had time to go over it.
With great regard. Yours, ™ ^
^ to ' Tho. Thornely.
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee,
Liverpool, 5 January, 1841.
My dear Sir, — I have for some time past contemplated a retire-
ment from business, and I now beg leave to hand you a Circular
shewing that I have withdrawn from trade. I am glad of the oppor-
tunity of placing my eldest nephew in partnership wuth his father,
and shall feel quite as much interest for the new firm, as I did for the
old one. If it happens to you to be able to serve them, I wall be
obliged if you will do so.
When you favor me with any newspapers, please to send them
entire, open at the ends, and the number of papers marked on the
address. In this way the Post office charges 2d each paper, by the
Government Steamers and it is no higher if they go on to London
or any other part of the Kingdom, but when parts of newspapers
are sent they are considered as letters and charged i/. per half
ounce. I hope we shall do something in the Import duties this year
but the monopolists are very strong and always act together.
I was sadly at a loss, whilst the Committee was sitting for some
witness who could show the working of our restrictive policy on the
trade with the U. S. and I wished a hundred times that you had
been here. The Americans who come over, are frequently Buyers
of Goods and scarcely regard the principles of trade, whilst such as
understand the principle are ignorant of the details. I sought out a
gentleman from Lowell, but found he knew nothing beyond the
establishment of manufactures there. My nephew desires his
respects and I remain. Dear Sir, truly yours, ^ ^
'■'■'' Tho. Thornely.
288 massachusetts historical society. [june,
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
London, 9 March, 1831 [1841.]
My dear Sir, — I send you the Chronicle of to-day to shew you
what is thought of the Report of the Committee on Foreign Rela-
tions, submitted to the House of Representatives. It was received
here yesterday, and I believe made a considerable impression —
this however I doubt not is wearing away, and that the public will
soon be of opinion that there will be no interruption of the peace
•between our countries. It is certain there is no cause for war (when
indeed will there be an adequate cause) and I must say that in this
country there is no feeling towards the United States, except that
of a wish to cultivate friendly relations. I do trust the McLeod
affair will speedily be adjusted.
This week the president of the Board of Trade is to introduce a
measure to Parliament, to remove restrictions, and to reduce the
duty on Imports into our Colonies, which is intended to benefit the
Colonies but will also, I trust be to your advantage, by increasing
your intercourse with those possessions. The Resolutions which I
sent you some time ago, in favor of a modification of the Tariff, have
been signed by no Members of the House of Commons, not includ-
ing any one connected with the Government, but who are all favor-
able to us, and there are also many Members who concur with us,
but who do not commit themselves by signing. I understand a
public meeting which was held at Liverpool yesterday, the Mayor
in the Chair, was quite unanimous in favor of a modification of the
Tariff. I have sent you one or two numbers of the Examiner which
has contained some good Free Trade articles. On the whole I am
convinced this cause is progressing — slowly no doubt, but in the
end sound principles must prevail. U. S. Bank shares have been
sold here at £4.10/. now I beUeve worth £5.10/. but I do not be-
lieve those who hold them till the concern is wound up, will ever
get so much. Believe me. Dear Sir, Truly yours,
Tho. Thornely.
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
London, 3 April, 1841.
My dear Sir, — I have to thank you for your letter dated 12
ulto. The accounts from your side have been looked for with great
interest, and those recently received, are considered quite pacific.
Here there is no other feeling than that of a very strong desire that
peace may continue, and people all ask what makes the Americans
so ready to rush into war. I only mention this, as shewing the
IQ20.] LEE-THORNELY LETTERS, 1840-1847. 289
general opinion here that you and not we, are the warlike party.
Your currency seems still in an unsettled state. I heard last night,
that the U. S. Bank Bonds or post notes due here this month will
not be paid, but that the holders will be paid their interest and ten
per cent of the principal. This is sad work, and the losses by this
establishment, to excellent people in this country, ladies and or-
phans, it is melancholy to think of. The trade of our manufacturing
districts is far from being prosperous, and cannot be amended, in
my opinion, under our present Corn Laws and in other articles,
restrictions such as our present very absurd Tariff imposes. The
Chancellor of the Exchequer ^ is to bring out his Budget on the
30th inst. and we are doing all we can, to impress upon the Govern-
ment the necessity of seeking an increase of revenue by a modifica-
tion of the Tariff. I cannot help thinking something will be done,
but our Government is too timid on the subject of Free Trade and
they have to contend with powerful interests that have [been]
working, I cannot say flourishing, under the protective system.
It is not necessary to cross your letters as postage here is not paid
for single or double letters but by weight. Pray let me hear from
you any thing that refers to Free Trade etc. Truly yours,
Tho. Thornely.
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
London, i May, 1841.
My dear Sir, — I send you a Morning Chronicle containing the
debate upon the Budget which was brought forward last night by
the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Previous to this being done. Lord
John Russell gave notice that early in June he would move the
House to go into Committee on the Corn Laws, and on being much
pressed by his opponents as to the object of his motion, he declared
that the Cabinet was united in opinion that the time had arrived
when the Corn Laws should be altered, and his motion, in accordance
with the opinions which he had previously expressed would be,
to do away with the fluctuating scale, and lay a moderate fixed
duty.
The alterations in duty proposed by the Budget, are to reduce the
duty on foreign sugars from 63/ which is prohibitory, to 36/. the
duty on British remaining at 24/. The timber duties to be altered,
that from British possessions to be raised from 10/ to 20/ per load
of 50 cubic feet, and foreign to be reduced from 55/ to 50/. Besides
these, which are revenue alterations, there is no doubt the President
' Francis Thornhill Baring (1796-1866), Lord Northbrook.
290 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
of the Board of Trade will propose other modifications, namely
coffee, mahogany and other articles. All these announcements were
received in the House of Commons, on our side by loud cheers, by
the Tories with strong marks of disapprobation, and as to the Corn
Laws, almost with dismay. They were taken by surprise about
corn, and Sir Robert Peel was particularly savage about the matter.
I am happy this great fight, so important to this country, so needful
for the happiness of the human race has at length commenced.
One may doubt the Corn Law modification being carried, but the
proposal is a glorious one, and we shall now see a great battle be-
tween the friends of Free Trade, and the Supporters of Monopoly.
There will be a great effort made to turn out the Ministers but even
if this should happen the present Government will have had the
credit of originating sound measures which must be carried in the
end. Truly yours,
Tho. Thornely.
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
London, 18 May, 1841.
My dear Sir, — I have sent you several newspapers to shew you
what is passing in the House of Commons and in the country on the
subject of the Ministerial proposal to lay a fixed duty of 8/ per
quarter of wheat, and to modify the duties on sugar and timber.
The duties on these articles form a part of the Budget, but it is quite
understood that Ministers propose also to take up the duties on
coffee and many other articles, in short to have a revision of the
Tarifif and a diminution of protective duties. We, of the Free Trade
party have thought it good policy to prolong the debate, which
accordingly has already lasted seven nights. The discussion does
good out of doors and gives time for the country to be put in
motion. The division will take place to-night, and Ministers
will be in a minority of at least thirty for they are opposed by a
combination of Landowners, Ship Owners, West Indians, East
Indians and British Americans. The next step will be that
Ministers will either resign or dissolve the Parliament. If the
latter it will be left to a new parliament to decide what party
shall be in power. I hope for a dissolution, and would let the
question take its chance.
My great comfort is, that Free Trade principles have been fairly
taken up by this Government. Sure I am they must prevail at last,
and I think the prospect is fair that something will be gained very
shortly, for the country understands the subject in a way it ne\'er
did before. Accept my best thanks for your last letter. Pray do
I920.] LEE-THORNELY LETTERS, 1840-1847. 291
not cross them, for I care not about postage, and we now pay by
weight and only i/. per half ounce. With great regard, Truly yours,
Tho. Thornely.
[Attached to the letter.]
Notices of Motions.
I. Lord John Russell, — Amendment intended to be proposed
to the Amendment proposed by Lord Viscount Sandon, to leave
out from the word 'considering' to the end of the Amendment, in
order to add the following words, "that it is practicable to supply
the present inadequacy of the Revenue to meet the Expenditure of
the Country, by a judicious alteration of protective and differential
Duties, without any material increase of the public burthens, such
a course will, in the opinion of this House, promote the interests
of Trade, afford relief to the industrious classes, and is best calcu-
lated to provide for the maintenance of public faith and the general
welfare of the people.
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
London, 25 May, 1841.
My dear Sir, — I trouble you with a line just to say what are
our present prospects.
Ministers having been beaten, by a majority of 36, upon their
proposed modification of the sugar duties, have brought in a Bill
to continue the present sugar duties for a year.
Sir Robert Peel has given notice of a motion of want of confidence
in the Ministers for the 27th instant. The debate will probably last
some days, and on the 26th we adjourn for Whitsuntide till the
2 June. On the 4th June Lord John Russell brings on his motion
about the Corn Laws. The latter motion will certainly be lost, and
Peel may possibly (tho' I think not quite certainly) have a very
small majority as to want of confidence in Ministers.
Parliament will be dissolved next month, and meet again prob-
ably in October or November. I earnestly hope the people may
exert themselves at the elections to return Free Trade Members;
but the counties are in favor of the Corn Laws, and in the boroughs
the influence of monopolists, East India merchants. West India
merchants, ship owners and traders to British America, is very great
indeed. Come what may, I am delighted the fight has come. Free
Trade may be delayed, but once taken up, as it has been, by the
Ministers of the country, and it cannot be very long, before these
great measures are accomplished. Believe me. Dear Sir, Yours
faithfully,
Tho. Thornely.
292 massachusetts historical society. [june,
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
LoN'DON, 3 June, 1841.
My dear Sir, — I must again refer you to the newspapers which
I send you and to others which you will see, for information of public
affairs in this country.
We are in the midst of a debate on Sir Robert Peel's Motion, of
want of confidence in Ministers. I believe we shall have a majority
against him, but it will be a very small one, if any, and the result
is not very material either way, for the Ministers have taken their
course, and will not swerve from it. They will bring forward their
proposition for a fixed duty on corn (8/ on wheat) and when that is
thoroughly discussed and I may add, lost (which time will be al-
lowed for) and the other necessary business disposed of, Parliament
will be dissolved, probably in three weeks from the present time.
At present we are not aware that Mr. Villiers and I shall be opposed
at Wolverhampton. Many changes will take place, for we have
always a certain number of elderly persons who retire, from in-
ability to undergo the fatigue of a Parliamentary life and there
will be gains to us in some places, and of course losses in others.
From the accounts which you will read in the papers, of the
public meetings that are taking place, you will find a great spread
of knowledge on the subject of Free Trade. This, with an unfavor-
able state of trade must have its effect on the elections in the manu-
facturing districts, where I have no doubt we shall gain, but we
shall lose in some counties where the unwise landlords exercise a
powerful influence. I think we shall gain upon the whole by a dis-
solution, and I am so confident with you, as to the soundness of
Free Trade principles that I am sure they must prevail at last. I
hope we shall make progress very soon, and I should be proud if
this country should take the lead, regardless of the Tariffs and
restrictions of other countries. The Legislature of Pennsylvania,
in despite of the Governor of the State, I see has hit upon a most
enlightened plan of issuing notes which are to be payable not in
specie, but if presented to the amount of $100. in State Stock!!
Yours very truly,
Tho. Thornely.
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
Liverpool, 19 July, 1841.
My dear Sir, — I am exceedingly obliged to you for the letters
you have favored me with, the last dated 29 June. I have sent you
some newspapers which will shew you the progress of our elections.
I920.] LEE-THORNELY LETTERS, 1S40-1847. 293
Mr. Villiers and I were re-elected at Wolverhampton without any
opposition. The Tories knew they had not the slightest chance of
unseating us, so they wisely saved themselves the expense and
trouble of a contest. On the whole the elections have turned out
worse than I expected, especially in the West Riding of Yorkshire.
Lord Morpeth,' Lord Milton,- Lord Howick and Mr. Hume '^ are
unseated, which I consider a great loss, but we have got some new
Free Traders, Mr. Cobden, Mr. Ricardo and Dr. Bowring.* Al-
though I regret the result of the elections, I am in good spirits about
Free Trade. It was never before a question which the people under-
stood or cared for, and it never was a question which the Alinisters
brought forward on the liberal and extended scale they have now
done. I ought to say as to the elections the Liberals have a good
majority in the cities and boroughs of the United Kingdom but the
counties have swamped our majority. The counties too are monop-
olists (in a great degree) as to Corn Laws. In the counties the voters
are very much under the influence of the landlords, a great propor-
tion of whom are Tories and they have worked the machinery of
the registration far better than the Liberal Party have done. My
belief is that in the New Parliament which is to meet late in August,
we shall muster nearly 300 Members in the opposition (for I pre-
sume Peel will come into office immediately after Parliament meets)
and that we shall be banded together on Free Trade principles, and
that in them we shall be strong [torn]. No one however appears to
think the wheat will be a large crop, and there is some talk that the
averages will be worke[d] so as to let in the stock of foreign at a
moderate duty. At present it is 23/ [torn] per quarter, and if we
have good weather I doubt if the duty will go very low, tho' the
holders may chuse to pay the duty when they think it at the lowest,
rather than hold for another season. I really think Peel must reduce
his Sliding Scale for there are many Tories gone into Parliament
[torn] in support of the great principles that you and I advocate.
I think it very likely that Lord Sandon and Emmerson Tennant ^
will be the President and Vice President of the Board of Trade. We
must succeed in the end. Yours truly,
Tho. ThoiJxely.
Pray let me hear from you.
' George Howard (i 773-1848), later sixth Earl of Carlisle.
* William Thomas Spencer VVentworth Fitzwilliam, commonly called Lord
Viscount Milton.
» Joseph Hume (i 777-1855).
* Sir John Bowring (1792-1872).
* Sir James Emerson Tennent (1S04-1869).
294 massachusetts historical society. [june,
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
Liverpool, 8 Sept., 1841.
My dear Sir, — I wrote you by the last Packet, and I cannot
say that I have now any thing to add that is at all material, but it is
pleasant to communicate with you regarding Free Trade. U. S.
Bank Shares were lately selling in London at £2.10/. I have for a
long time given my opinion to my acquaintances that they are not
worth any thing, and I have saved some of them from adventuring
at what they thought tempting prices, when they were a good deal
higher than they now are. I cannot think that the stock of your
Fiscal Bank, if it should be sanctioned by law would meet with
buyers in this country, the holders having suffered so severely by
the U. S. Bank and other "securities," and they are very generally
the same class of persons who have invested their capital in that
way. The railways in this country must have had an effect on our
money market, for they have absorbed sixty millions sterling and
that within a very few years. As a whole the railways have not
been a profitable investment, some of them paying either a very
small dividend or none at all, but the best lines pay very well namely
the London and Birmingham upwards of 8 per cent., Liverpool &
Birmingham 13 per cent., Liverpool & Manchester 10 per cent.
The business of our Joint Stock Banks has been exceedingly ill
conducted and they have made enormous bad debts. They have
lent out far too much money to the Cotton Spinners and Manu-
facturers, have been the occasion of too many cotton mills being
built and in fact have made it a very poor trade. The woollen,
linen and hardware and crockery trades are all suffering, the iron
trade doing better than any others, tho' prices have fallen. I con-
stantly impress upon people that they can only look for a permanent
improvement in trade by adopting Free Trade measures. You
have rightly stated how largely the exports of the U. S. were paid
for by your Bank and State Stocks. That sort of business is, I take
it, pretty much at an end, and I tell the people they may have a
great trade with you, upon one condition and one condition only
that they will take your corn, flour, maise, beef, pork, lumber, in
short any thing that you chuse to offer, and that we chuse to take.
In connection with this subject, I certainly do not look with any
satisfaction upon the recent Ministerial Appointments. At the
same time I do hope that Sir Robert Peel will be so pressed by the
Tories among the merchants and manufacturers, (very many of
whom are Free Traders and assure Mr. Peel will do for us, what
the late Ministers could not do,) that he will be obliged to give way
and compel his party to relax the System. The people out of doors
I920.] LEE-THORNELY LETTERS, 1840-1847. 295
understand this question far better than they ever did before, and
will never rest till much good is accomplished. One would like to
see in our day, the good that sound commercial principles would
confer upon mankind.
The duty on wheat will to-morrow fall to 2/8 per quarter for
one week, the week following it will be the same or, as most people
expect, and I strongly hope, it will be i/.; the third week, I do not
know, but after this month the duty will rise rapidly on account
of the quantity of new wheat which will be brought to market,
much of which is very indifferent in quality and by selling it at a
low price will lower the averages and raise the duty. I am fearful
the flour expected from America will arrive too late to come in at
the low duty. This system is perfectly iniquitous.
I shall go to London next week, as the House will sit for a few
days. Sir Robert Peel will want a Vote of Credit (which he will
get) to carry him on till spring, but we are entitled to ask him how
he proposes to pay the interest, and whether by imposing new taxes
or modifying our commercial system. We shall say the money
would have been raised upon our plan, by a fixed duty of 8/ per
quarter on wheat and by reducing the duty on foreign sugar and
coffee and altering the timber and other duties. I never liked the
plan of raising the duty on Canada timber, which is in effect laying
a new tax, but I would reduce the duty on Baltic and other foreign
timber to any extent. Very truly yours,
Tho. Thornely.
About a million of quarters of wheat, including flour are ready to
be taken out of bond when the owners think the duty is at the
lowest.
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
Liverpool, 3 November, 1841.
My dear Sir, — I send you copy of an order issued by our Treas-
ury to admit rough rice, or paddy from the U. S. at a nominal duty.
The duty heretofore charged on American rough rice, was I believe
2/6 per bushel or 20/ per quarter, but the same article from West
Africa admitted as British produce appears to have been charged a
nominal duty, and the American Minister, I perceive having remon-
strated, our Government has given way. I wish the low duty may
be permanent. The American Chamber of Commerce of this place
has just sent a Memorial to Sir Robert Peel, stating the very un-
fair manner in which the Corn Laws operate as it respects our trade
with the U. S. It appears by the Gazette just pubHshed that in the
month ending 10 October there were entered at our various custom
296 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
houses 2,010,263 quarters foreign wheat, 505,000 cwt. foreign fiour.
By far the greatest part of this came out at the duty of 1/ per
quarter, and almost the whole of it was the produce of the Continent
of Europe, scarcely a particle of it from the U. S. because you could
not possibly be aware that we should have a low duty, till you were
also informed that a prohibitory duty had again taken place. Now
I do think your Government would have a very fair right to remon-
strate upon this matter — if done at all, it should be done at once.
Parliament will probably meet the end of January, previously to
which time Sir Robert Peel and the Cabinet will have concluded
what alteration to make in the Corn Laws. I am sure a remon-
strance would do great good. Let there be no mention of the sug-
gestion coming from me. I am favored by the last Steamer with
your letters 12th to 15th Oct. I have found good information of
the quantity of flour which you exported, and wheat imported in
the American Almanac of 1840, pages 146 and 147. We will set the
matter at rest the first opportunity, but if Peel and Stanley say you
are an importing country, they have the less to dread from opening
the ports to your productions. / know well that you have never yet
undertaken to cultivate any particular article, but you have yielded
it in abundance and to an extent that has surprized every one. I
hear large orders are gone out to Egypt and the Mediterranean for
wheat, beans, etc., by parties who anticipate low duty. The wheat
duty is now 24/8. Markets steady and rather on the advance.
General sales of American cotton s^/g and 5^^. Stock of American
345,000 bales, of all sorts 491,000; last year, American 374,000, all
sorts 461,000. More Bombay cotton is now in use, the quality
having improved and when trade is bad (and it is very bad at present
without prospect of improvem.ent) the spinners run after cheap
qualities. The only consolation one has, regarding the depression
of our trade is that there is only one way out of it, which is by means
of Free Trade. I send you an able speech of Mr. Cobden's to his
constituents. I have sent Mr. Jones Loyd your two letters signed
Investigator, but have not yet received his acknowledgment of
them. I cannot do less than say I greatly admire the high tone in
which they are written, tho' your disclosures of the state of your
banking are deplorable indeed. I am sure it will be attended with
the best possible effects in your country, if there should be no longer
any sale in Europe (and I hope there is not), for your State or Bank
Stocks. Your resources are ample, whilst in the case of borrowed
money, it comes too lightly to be well looked after in the expendi-
ture. There will be heavy losses on some of the cotton which has
been long held over in this market. I hear some cotton here will
lose £6 and £8 per bale. We are glad the McLeod affair is settled.
I920.] LEE-THORNELY LETTERS, 1S40-1S47. 297
Our people did right in sending Grogan back. I have hopes about
the boundary. Sometimes it is fortunate to have a new Ministry
to negotiate with. Try what you can do with ours about Corn
Laws. Yours truly,
ThO. TlIORNELY.
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
Liverpool, 18 November, 1841.
My dear Sir, — I have received your favor of 30 Ulto. with
some excellent articles by Investigator. I have shewn them to a
few friends, but have some difficulty in getting them before the
public. The loss of the holders of U. S. Bank Shares and the de-
preciation in State Stocks, will probably be the best instructors to
the monied men of this country. How far your Government Stocks
may sell, seeing the Congress can lay taxes, which the State Govern-
ments cannot or will not do, I cannot say, but I should think there
must be an end of all sales, except of that stock to which it is con-
sidered the general Government is pledged. Every week I find
additional instances of distress arising from the total loss of property
in U. S. Bank Shares belonging to ladies and other retired persons.
The last number of Investigator, I think No. 12, appears to me al-
most superior to any of the previous numbers, tho' they are all
excellent. I am glad you were pleased with what I said on a late
occasion in the House of Commons. If I can lay my hands upon a
Wolverhampton paper, I will send it to you, as it contains a some-
what corrected report of my argument with some hint from the
Editor that I ought to talk oftener.
We are still in the dark as to what Sir Robert Peel will do as to
the Corn Laws and other commercial restrictions. I am quite sure
he will alter the Sliding Scale, and it is some indication of a change
that the[re] was a public dinner some days ago of the Members of
Parliament returned by the County of Salop, they were eleven in
number all Tories, but not one of them said a word upon the Corn
Laws, not even Lord Darlington ' one of their warmest advocates
in the House. I presume they have a secret understanding that
there is to be a change. I wish your Government would remon-
strate in the way I pointed out, against the Sliding Scale. You
have a fair right to do so, and it would strengthen Sir Robert Peel
against his own party.
Every trade in this country continues as bad as possible — the
cotton trade at least as bad as any other. Stock of American cotton
' William Harry Vane (i 766-1842).
298 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
last week 318,000, all sorts 471,000. Prices have fallen J^d since
the last packet, the general sales of American 53^ and 5%, at these
prices the loss will be very heavy, and quite enormous upon cottons
which some great houses are said to have held long on hand. India
cottons are certainly getting more into use, the sales here last week
were 4000 bales of which all but 500 were to consumers. Mr. Jones
Loyd in returning your printed letter says "the time I trust will
come when the monetary and banking affairs of the U. S. will assume
a more reputable character; their present condition is indeed dis-
graceful." I do not think they will mend till there is an end of
selling stocks in Europe. When the money is raised at home, the
expenditure will be better looked after. What you have written
about the Philadelphia Banks is quite decisive to my mind. They
must break and give way to a better system, the sooner the better.
I am glad to hear New York is profiting by her adherence to specie
payments and earning business which would otherwise have gone
farther South. I have lately too had pleasure in seeing some Amer-
ican gentlemen who are strongly against a National Bank and de-
clare they can carry on their business without reliance on Banks.
With great regard, Yours,
Tho. Thornely,
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
Liverpool, 3 December, 1841.
My dear Sir, - — One of the papers which I send you, contains
an Address from some Birmingham people urging an extension of
the currency as a means of extending trade and removing distress.
If these people knew what was going on in the States, they would
have more just notions upon the subject. I am pleased to say how-
ever that all our newspapers have written against these wrong-
headed notions. I am greatly obliged to you for your letter of 13
November, and newspapers containing some excellent articles upon
Banking and Currency. I anticipate a very early explosion of the
Banks in Philadelphia and Maryland. So far as I can judge, the
people here have given up the purchase of American securities;
otherwise to the extent of any influence that I might have, I should
certainly dissuade them from embarking either as a speculation of
their own, or as doing any service to the U. S. It is time your coun-
trymen should look soberly about them, and consider what is to
be the end of these things.
I am still of course ignorant of what Sir Robert Peel will do, upon
the Corn Laws. I cannot doubt he will do something, perhaps more
than is expected, and in thanking you for the notice you have taken
I920.] LEE-THORNELY LETTERS, 1840-1847. 299
of a very indifferent copy of a Speech of mine, I am glad that I
pointed out to Peel the working of these Laws towards the U. S.
You are quite right in urging upon the attention of your people and
your Government the importance of remonstrating with our Min-
isters about the Exclusion of your corn, flour, and timber. In
stating that Sir Robert Peel may do more than his party expect, I
have regard to the extremely depressed state of our manufactures
and upon the necessity of concessions in order to keep his Party in
power. I \\dsh I could suggest higher motives of action. Our trade
is extremely depressed, and I am of opinion that we are permanently
losing our export of woollens and many other articles. These things
must, one would think, make some impression on the rational part
of the Government. I presume the information of the export of
iiour, which I derived from the Atnerican Almanac, may be relied
upon as correct. A Free Trade or Anti-Monopoly Association is to
be formed here next week, of which I am to be Chairman, and I
think good may be done by a monthly report of the effect of monop-
oly as shewn in this great market for sugar, coffee, corn and timber.
However you will say, as I do, all this is too late, and so, I fear it
will be found. I rather think we shall have but little difficulty with
Ireland. The cry of repeal of the Union is quite absurd and all men
of influence in the country treat it with ridicule. In cotton there
is no change since the last packet, but I still observe a good deal of
East India getting into consumption. We have an abundant stock
of cotton and no doubt your crop v.'ill furnish an adequate supply.
There will be very heavy losses on some cotton which has been long
kept on hand. McCulloch ^ is not reckoned so sound in his Free
Trade notions as he was some years ago. His proposal to pay a
bounty upon the export of British corn is quite ridiculous. Some
parties have proposed emigration upon a large scale. Any thing
rather than let the corn into the country and make the people com-
fortable at home. Yours very sincerely,
Tho. Thornely.
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
Liverpool, 3 January, 1842.
My dear Sir, — The two last Packets have brought me very
acceptable letters from you with the papers of Investigator and
accounts of your exports of flour, etc. — all of which I am very
thankful for, and shall make such use of, as I azii enabled to do.
There is much of what I like in the Message of your President, and
^ John Ramsay McCulloch (1789-1864).
300 MASSACHUSETTS PIISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
when he was writing, most properly, in recommendation of your
non-paying Banks going into liquidation, I could almost imagine
you were at his elbow. The remarks on the Tariff are probably as
liberal as it was prudent to give expression to. There is an air of
great candour about the President, and I am glad on e\ery occasion
to express my respect for his character. You see Lord Ashburton '
has accepted the post of Minister Extraordinary to the U. S. but
will probably not sail till the spring is somewhat advanced. He is
upwards of seventy years of age, and some of the newspapers are
somewhat free in their criticisms upon his appointment. I dare
say you recollect his pamphlet on the Orders in Council, which I
reprinted in New York upwards of thirty years ago. It was replete
with Free Trade opinion, and so were his speeches in the House of
Commons, but he has taken a peerage from the Tories, and has
become a great buyer of land (I am told his notion is to buy at low
prices, where titles are doubtful) and so he is now a great supporter
of Corn Laws and protective duties. I never knew a Baring that
possessed any feeling for the people or for mankind — this I say
privately.
I have sent you several newspapers, some of them provincial
papers which are very well written and honestly conducted, and
favorable to Free Trade. There is nothing new in our prospects.
Parliament is to meet the 3rd February, and then Sir Robert Peel
will propose his commercial changes. No doubt he will propose
some alteration in the Corn Laws, and probably in other articles
but certainly not to the extent that I should like. Probably some-
thing will depend on the state of trade, and it is generally believed
there will be some slight improvement this month, for reasons how-
ever which are not very forcible. For instance it is said the Bank of
England having more bullion will be more liberal in its discounts,
etc., but I have no reliance on anything but Free Trade. Our wheat
duty has again advanced, and it is very doubtful whether the duty
will be so low in the spring as to admit of imports. There appears
to be a considerable accumulation of flour at New York, and most
happy should I be, if we were receiving it at a low duty. The con-
sumption of cotton last year (in bales) appears to have fallen off
only about 5 per cent but the trade has been most disastrous to the
spinners and manufacturers, most of whom have been I suspect
without profits for the last three years. I hear the import of East
India cotton into Liverpool and London in this and the next months
will not be less than 58,000 bales. The London and Liverpool
House of B. are said to have reduced their stock of cotton to about
1 Alexander Baring (1774-1848).
I920.] LEE-THORNELY LETTERS, 1840-1847. 301
40,000 bales. I am well content to have retired from business, but
my Brother is doing a safe business because he does it upon a scale
of moderate interest. With great regard, Yours,
Tho. Thornely.
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
Liverpool, 27 Jan'y, 1842.
My dear Sir, — The Second Report of Banks of Issue, I have
great pleasure in sending you by a sailing vessel, the Germany, and
I hope you will safely receive it.
As the meeting of Parliament draws near, we are more and more
anxious to know what Sir Robert Peel will do. We shall put forth
all our strength, but power at present rests with our opponents.
Something Peel will propose in the way of relaxation, but he will
not dare boldly to attack the fortress of Monopoly. With great
regard. Yours,
Tho. Thornely.
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
London, 3 February, 1842.
My dear Sir, — I have arrived here for the Session which com-
mences to-day, and I am sorry I have only time to thank you for
your very interesting communication by the last Packet. I have
preserved most of the Letters of Investigator, which are written in
so bold a stile, and in so high minded a spirit that I very greatly
regret they are not to be continued. It is little to the credit of your
countrymen that you have not more supporters, but the Americans
will discover their error, when suffering under the embarrassments
and losses resulting from a bad system of banking and the adoption
. of the High Tariff policy. Whatever you publish, I should wish to
be sent to me not by the Steamers — if as a pamphlet let me have
half a dozen copies and pray let me pay for them.
Sir Robert Peel has kept his policy very secret. I hear however
that he will propose a considerable change in the Sliding Scale and
an alteration of the sugar, timber and other duties. The only indi-
cation that has occurred is the resignation of the Duke of Bucking-
ham,^ of his seat in the Cabinet and the ofi&ce of Lord Privy Seal.
The Ministerial papers say the Duke differed with Peel upon the
figures of the new Sliding Scale. I have no confidence in the con-
sistency of either of these men and the Duke's resignation may be
^ Richard Plantagenet Temple Nugent Brydges Chandos GrenviUe (1797-
1S61).
302 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
to throw dust in the eyes of the community. Sir Robert Peel will
be pressed to bring his measures forward early, indeed it is his best
policy to do so. If we have various divisions on the corn question,
I intend to vote ist for total repeal, 2nd, low fixed duty, after which
no doubt we must take what Peel and his majority chuse to give us.
Something we must gain, and thank God there is great light abroad
upon Free Trade subjects so that the movement cannot stop. With
great regard. Yours,
Tho. Thornely.
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
London, 2 March, 1842.
My dear Sir, — I have again to thank you for letters. The last
is dated the ist Feb'y and informs me of the stoppage of Philadel-
phia Banks which upon your authority I had long been prepared for.
Mr. Wm. Brown called upon me two or three days before I recei^■ed
your letter and I told him I was prepared to hear of the failure of all
the banks in Philadelphia and Baltimore. I still hear of more in-
stances of losses by worthy people by holding Bank Stock, etc. — a
dissenting minister has been with me, whose wife had £8000 in Mr.
Biddle's bank bought at £28. I have seen a gentleman who loses
£22,000. A friend of mine in December told me his father had
shares in the Girard Bank and asked me what he should do with
them. I told him to send them out by the first packet and get any
thing he could for them as the Bank would certainly fail. He de-
layed and only sent them out in February.
I fear you will think I bore you by the newspapers I address to
you. I do not expect however that you will read what I am un-
fortunately doomed to listen to, especially the talk of our Agricul-
tural party. It is a new thing however to get 90 Members (and if it
had not been for absentees we should have had upwards of 100) to
vote for a total and immediate repeal of the Corn Laws, and the
word now was a stumbling block to many people. I stated the case
of America as well as I could. Sir Robert Peel has not yet got leave
to bring in his Bill, but I suppose it will pass pretty much as already
laid before the public. Many people say he has gone as far in his
New Scale as he could command the support of his Party. I detest
the Measure which I hope will not last very long. I am anxious for
the rest of Peel's measures those which affect other commodities
than grain for I hope he is going largely to alter the sugar, coffee
and timber duties. All this however is quite uncertain. I have sent
you, by sailing vessel, a few parliamentary papers on the corn trade
and am pleased that one of them states the flour exports of the U. S.
I920.] LEE-THORNELY LETTERS, 1840-1847. 303
My Brother has refused the drafts of one of his correspondents who
writes largely about the advance which is to take place in cotton
here, making it a pretext to overdraw largely. I really do not think
the nett commission upon cotton justifies a shipper in expecting an
advance beyond a fair proportion of what the sale is likely to pro-
duce, and in the wretched state of our trade there is no ground
for calculating on higher prices. Our Government intends to
allow American wheat to go free into Canada, but to tax flour
2/ per bbl.
I am desirous of learning what the Congress will do about the
Tariff. According to Peel's New Scale the duty on wheat to-day
would be 12/ per quarter, the present duty 26/8 per quarter. This
will never do tho it is a reduction. Yours truly,
Tho. Thornely.
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
Liverpool, 2 April, 1842.
My dear Sir, — I return to-morrow to London to resume my
duties. I hope that you will have received the proposed Tariff
which I sent you by a sailing vessel last month. There will be some
modifications in it, but in the main I think it will be carried. The
Agricultural Party are in arms against the removal of the prohibi-
tion to import sheep and cattle, as they say great numbers will
arrive from Holstein and the Continental ports, into ports on the
east coast of our Island. I hope it may be so, and Sir Robert Peel
shall have my vote, wherever he proposes the removal of prohibi-
tions and of protective duties. I fear the reduction on foreign
timber will scarcely let in your staves of which we had formerly a
large supply. Eventually, I think you will supply us with a great
quantity of fish and sperm oil.
Your country and mine are playing a very different game as to
tariffs. I perceive your legislators and your people are very much
of one opinion as to raising duties and extending protections, whilst
here the Tory prime Minister is boasting that he intends to revive
trade, by lowering Import Duties and removing prohibitions. Your
course may be in some measure necessary from the deficiency in
your revenue. I have never in my experience, heard such com-
plaints of the state of trade, and every one engaged in commerce or
manufactures appears to be out of spirits. You have been right in
all you have told me about your Southern Banks and Stocks and I
suspect a good deal of mischief has yet to occur, before you are in
course of improvement. Money in London is abundant at 7,^4 and
4 per cent. I never knew cotton so low before and am inclined to
304 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
think it cannot go lower. Hoping soon to hear from you, I remain,
My dear Sir, Very truly yours, ^^^ Thornely.
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
London, 18 April, 1842.
My dear Sir, — I am disappointed that we have not heard of
the arrival of the steamer of the 2nd. In Parliament we have passed
Resolutions on which a Bill will be brought in to admit foreign pro-
ductions into the British Possessions in America and the Mauritius
at a low rate of duty. This is the measure (tho' not exactly the
same) that was brought in by Mr. Labouchere ^ last year, but which
he did not succeed in passing.
The Corn Importation Bill is to be read a first time in the House
of Lords to-day. There will be a discussion about it, but being a
money bill they cannot alter it, without throwing it out, so I e.xpect
it will pass in the course of a few days. The Income Tax is still
under discussion in the House of Commons, but will undoubtedly
pass, and when that has become a matter of certainty, we shall pro-
ceed with the tariff. I have sent you the first tariff and the revised
one, but being by sailing vessels they may not reach you very early.
Sir Robert Peel declares his determination to pass the tariff, as a
good deal of opposition is rising up against it on the part of the
Agriculturalists and Cattle Feeders, the latter foresee a considerable
importation of cattle from Holstein and some parts of the Conti-
nent. Sir Robert Peel will have the support of the Free Trade
Party in the House of Commons to enable him to carry his tariff,
which I think with all its defects is a step in the right direction. It
will certainly increase our trade in a variety of articles with the
U. S. and our continental neighbours, and I consider it as dealing a
blow at monopoly which will be followed up with much success
hereafter. I am therefore not without much satisfaction at this
commencement of Free Trade measures by a Tory Ministry.
The corn merchants I hear do not intend to pay duty on their
wheat upon the passing of the Bill. The new duty would be 13/
per quarter but the merchants say the markets are rising and the
duty will be considerably lower during the summer. The duty on
oats would be 8/., barley and Indian corn 9/ per quarter. There
is no improvement in trade, but there have been considerable pur-
chases of cotton on speculation, merely because money is very
plentiful 3^ to 4 per cent, and it is thought cotton will pay for
keeping. Yours always,
Tho. Thornely.
1 Henry Labouchere (179S-1S69).
i02o.] lee-thornely letters, 1840-1847. 305
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
London, 3 May, 1842.
My dear Sir, — I have not had the pleasure to hear from you
for some time. The only real progress that we have made in legis-
lation is that the Corn Importation Bill has passed into a law. The
duty payable this week is wheat 13/ per quarter, flour proportion
the same as before, barley and Indian corn 10/., oats 8/., rye 9/6,
beans and peas 10/6 per quarter. Canada wheat and flour come in
at the lowest duty i/. so that all that are in bond in the country say
12,000 quarters of wheat and 80,000 barrels of flour will at once be
taken out of bond, but with respect to foreign wheat of which the
stock is 650,000 quarters and flour 160,000 barrels, I believe very
little duty will be paid at present, for the holders or many of them,
are sanguine that prices will rise and the duty be considerably lower
before the harvest. This however is always uncertain. The v/eather
has this spring been unusually dry; we have not had a shower for
several weeks, the winds have been easterly and rather cold, and
on the whole I should think the season not unfavorable. The trade
in our manufacturing districts continues deplorably bad which no
doubt materially diminishes the consumption, especially of the
better sorts of food. I hope you will have received a copy of the
Tariff which I sent you. We have not yet undertaken the discussion
of the tariff, as Sir Robert Peel wants to make sure of the Income
Tax, before he proceeds with the Tariff but we last night, in com-
mittee, got through about half of the Income Tax Bill, and the rest
will be so little opposed that I think the Tariff must be proceeded
with very shortly. I hope some good will result from the tariff;
at all events it is breaking ground in fa\"or of the abolition of pro-
hibitory duties, and it will be the fault of the people if more is not
gained hereafter. The Income Tax Bill taxes the income from funds
held by foreigners. I was one of forty who voted last night to
exempt foreigners, but Peel had a very large majority, many Lib-
erals voting with him, against us.
I hear no very favorable intelligence from the States. Some of
the Philadelphia Banks appear to have resumed specie payments,
but Maryland and the South appear to be lamentably involved.
The lowering of interest by the Bank of England and the want of
employment for capital has caused so great an abundance of money
that I believe it is to be had upon very low terms; I should think
2?^ to 7,^2 per cent. With very best wishes believe m.e,.Dear Sir,
Truly yours,
Tho. Thornely.
3o6 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
Liverpool, 22 Oct., 1842.
My DEAR Sir, — I have to thank you for your obliging letter of
the 28 ulto. I do not attach very great importance to Sir Rob.
Peel's declaration about the high price of grain, etc., in the States.
Mr. Cobden I think did take an opportunity of stating in the House
of Commons that your high prices of flour were owing to the ex-
pansion of your currency; at least I recollect our agreeing upon that
point. I wanted to get a parliamentary return of all flour, grain and
provisions exported from the U. S. and the prices, in a series of
years. It was too late in the Session to get it, and indeed the Board
of Trade said they had not the materials to furnish it, but in the
forthcoming volume of "Tables of Revenue, Population and Com-
merce" they have promised to give all the returns which they
possess. Such a return would shew that in every year, you have
largely exported flour and provisions, and this could not ha\'e been
the case, if you had not furnished the articles at lower prices than
other countries. Upon the few occasions when you were importers
of wheat, not only was your currency in excess, but I think you
were so occupied in investing in internal improvements and railways
the money you had borrowed in Europe that you had to a certain
extent, neglected the more humble occupation of tilling the earth.
The misrepresentation of Sir Rob. Peel probably served his tem-
porary purpose. There will be a great pressure upon Sir Rob. Peel,
both in and out of Parliament, to adopt Free Trade measures, and
I feel confident he must do something in the way of concession, but
Peel is not a great man, nor a statesman to my mind. I think per-
haps rather better of him, than does an excellent Free Trade Mem-
ber of our House from whom I have a letter this morning. He says:
"I expect nothing from Peel's disposition, tho' perhaps his ambi-
tion still to lead a majority in the House of Commons, or to retain
whatever public esteem he now enjoys in the country may induce
him to concede a little to pubUc good; but he has no great or gen-
erous views with regard to his country or to mankind and if he had
he lacks the spirit to enforce them. A prudent man of business is a
good character for any man no doubt, but something more is re-
quired to lead and regulate a free and progressive people.'' The
trade of our country is bad in every direction and can only be per-
manently improved by adopting Free Trade measures. Our harvest
is turning out worse than had been expected and any fall in prices
is owing to the damp state of the corn and the general badness of
the quality. Our potatoes are turning out very ill, owing to the
very heavy rains which have inundated the country. These then
I920.] LEE-THORNELY LETTERS, 1840-1S47. 307
are materials for Free Trade agitation, and with the lights that are
abroad, I trust we shall accomplish something now, and more
hereafter.
The duty on wheat is 22/8. Flour in bond is worth 28/ per bbl.
duty paid 38/ and 39/. per bbl. but no one now pays duty as it is
almost certain we shall want supplies which must come in, at some
lower rate. In cotton, I believe prices have not varied for nearly
two months. They are sufl&ciently low to prevent much fall and
the stock is too large and the trade too much depressed to admit of
any material advance. We perhaps feel less anxiety than we did,
about McLeod.^ I wish the borderers could be restrained. Yours
very truly,
Tiio. Thornely.
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
Liverpool, 31 December, 1842.
My dear Sir, — I arrived safely at home in eighteen days. The
weather was stormy but the wind being favorable, we did tolerably
well.
I am delighted that I have made this visit to the States. I have
seen much that has gratified me, but I have been amazed at the
extent of the bankruptcies, losses and delinquencies that have been
mentioned to me in New York and Philadelphia. I suppose I must
admit that the Free Trade Party in America is on the decline, tho'
the result of the New York elections certainly told a different tale,
and whilst I was in New York, I thought I could perceive a change
in public opinion, for some of my Whig friends would not vote at
all, and several that I saw, said they had voted Locofoco for the
first time.
Here some of my friends tell me Free Trade has made greater
progress whilst I have been away, than in all time previously. This
is cheering. The Anti Corn Law League which go for Free Trade
generally and for a total repeal of the Corn Laws have stated that
they want £50,000 to pay for lecturers, printing, etc. Most of this
sum is raised, and the rest will be, and people say, at all events, the
Sliding Scale must go, as it has this year disappointed every one,
and ruined the importers. The Landlords at their public meetings
exhort the farmers not to rely on corn laws, so much as upon im-
provements in agriculture, and it is a fact that in many districts,
1 Alexander jNIcLeod, who boasted that he had been of the party to destroy
the steamer Caroline in 1837, had been arrested and indicted for murder in 1841,
when visiting the United States, in connection with the Caroline affair. After
much legal complication he was released.
3o8 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
the draining and improving of land is going on, in a way it never
was before. I am not sanguine as to what Sir Robert Peel may do,
but I am certain that the public opinion has rapidly advanced on
the side of Free Trade, and I trust we cannot stand long just where
we are.
A friend of mine in London writes to me that he is disposed to
buy some Indiana stock. I have recommended him to do nothing
of the sort, as I am certain the principal and interest will never be
paid. I understand there has been a decided improvement in the
trade of this country, and the low price of provisions has added
greatly to the comfort of the laboring classes. If we could all get
all the productions of the world at their natural price, what a happy
world this would be.
Some of our newspaper editors have been rather jocose upon the
candour of your President in stating that he could not borrow any
money in Europe whilst the old Governments, tho' overwhelmed
with debt, can borrow at a low rate.
I do not at present recollect any publication that it would interest
you for me to send. The Anti Corn Law are distributing tracts all
over the country in favor of a total repeal of the Corn Laws, and
the friends of a fixed duty who would formerly have been glad of
8/ and 10/ per quarter, now say that they would not accept a
higher duty than 4/ and 5/.
I cannot tell you how much pleasure I derived from seeing you
and from conversations with you in Boston. I am writing to Mr.
Biddle and am greatly obliged to you for procuring me the ac-
quaintance of so valuable a man. How much I missed, by the death
of Dr. Channing ^ and Condy Raguet.^
Pray favor me with a continuance of your correspondence. Any
thing about Free Trade interests me greatly. Very truly yours,
Tho. Thornely.
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
London, 3 March, 1843.
My dear Sir, — I owe you many thanks for your letter dated
the I February which contains a great deal of information that is
interesting to me. Besides information of your State Stocks and
monetary concerns, I should like to know the state and prospects
of your manufacturing stock, the popularity of the tariff and pros-
pect of its continuance, modification or repeal. Here there appears
to be a great abundance of money and I believe the Bank of Eng-
» Channing died October 2, 1842. 2 (1784-1842).
I920.] LEE-THORNELY LETTERS, 1840-1S47. 3OQ
land has just put out a notice that they will discount long paper at
the rate of 3 per cent per annum. With all this abundance, I do
not hear that there is any disposition to go into American stocks.
Indeed a gentleman who came to me the other day about some Ohio
stock which he has held a good while, and to whom I mentioned
Massachusetts stock as a safe investment, said at once, that when
he once got his money out of American stocks, he would never put
it in again.
My colleague will probably not bring forward his Corn Law
motion till about the i May. Lord Robert Grosvenor ^ M. P. (son
of the Marquis of Westminster) has sent a donation to the Anti
Corn Law League but states in his letter (which is published,) that
he does not entirely agree with them but that the Sliding Scale is
doing great mischief in the country, and that no duty above 5/. per
quarter would now be acceptable. The opinion of those who advo-
cate a fixed duty, I find to be pretty unanimous that 5/. should be
the very highest rate.
I suppose our Ministers intend to bring in a Bill to charge 3/
stlg. per quarter on American wheat going into Canada, the said
wheat and the flour made from it, being to be always admitted into
this country at a nominal duty say i/. per quarter. I don't know
what our landed interest gentry may say to this, for as far as it goes
it repeals the Sliding Scale and substitutes a low fixed duty. One is
never certain of measures of this sort being carried thro'.
I shall feel great interest in the report which you inform me you
propose to publish in April and shall be much obliged if you will
send me two or three copies to Liverpool (but not thro' the Post
Office) or inform me where I can get them. Sir Robert Peel has
thus far made no announcement of intended commercial changes.
We think the sugar duties (which you are aware are a yearly grant)
must be modified either this year or next. The rest will probably
depend on the strength of public opinion, which I am certain has
become of late, far more on the side of Free Trade than it ever was
before. You are so obliging as to pay me a compliment on some-
thing that I have said in public. I am sorry to acknowledge I am
wanting in confidence or I should speak more than I do, in the House.
I envy the Irish Members, for they can all speak, whether to the
purpose or not. Hoping to hear from you, as you have leisure, I
remain Most truly yours,
Tno. Thornely.
The income tax yd in the pound, estimated by Peel to produce
£3.700.000, it is said will raise considerably more than six milUons.
1 (1801-189,5) later Lord Ebur}'.
3IO MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
Our financial quarter and year, end the 5th April, directly after
which Sir Robert will tell us what he will do.
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
London, 3 April, 1843.
My DEAR Sir, — Many thanks for your valuable letter of i
March. Your remarks on the price of cotton are important. I
presume it would have been lower even than it is at Liverpool, if
the price had depended on the state of trade, for there is nothing
very flourishing in that respect, but money is so very abundant,
that people who have a surplus think that it must come out right in
the end, if invested in cotton at these prices. The cheapness of
money I apprehend is confined to bills and securities easily con-
vei-tible; I presume on mortgage 4 per cent may be had, and a
person told me the other day he had given 5 per cent, on mortgage
upon small houses. I do not know much of what is going on among
the merchants. Browns I think are rich and they have for a good
while past sold all their cotton on arrival. This is very judicious, it
brings accounts speedily to a close, and in fact brings a better result
to the owners and is more satisfactory to them. The other great B
(I mention privately, but have no doubt of the fact) have held over a
very heavy stock of cotton, so everybody says, and the loss some-
where must be enormous.
I begin to fear that we shall not get much more Free Trade this
year. Lord Stanley,^ after Easter is to bring in a Bill to charge 3/
per quarter duty on your wheat going into Canada, which wheat,
when ground into flour, not otherwise, is to be admitted here, either
free, or at a nominal law fixed duty say i/. This is but little change
from the present law, but it will alarm our agricultural party, who
are getting less and less favorable to Sir Robert Peel, only they
cannot do without him as their leader. I presume a good many of
your cattle and pigs will walk over into Canada and get slaughtered
and brought in here at a very low duty. Perhaps some of our cheap
goods may be taken back in exchange. I don't see how this is to be
helped, unless your people are very much more virtuous than ours.
We have a Commission sitting to investigate the frauds on the
admission of silk goods into London. These have occurred to such
an extent, that I have the best reason to beheve that between
smuggling and paying too little duty, the silks from the Continent
brought into this country have not paid more than half the duty
they are legally liable to. The low prices of grain and provisions
check the progress of improved legislation on these articles and the
1 Edward George Geoffrey Smith Stanley (i 799-1869), later Earl of Derby.
I920.] LEE-THORNELY LETTERS, 1840-1847. 31I
next thing that will happen \xi\\ be agricultural distress. The prin-
ciples of Free Trade however are daily making more and more
progress, and the leaven is at work from which I expect great re-
sults. I have sent you a newspaper with an account of an Anti-
Corn Law meeting at Drury Lane Theatre which I think will interest
you, and also to-day's Chronicle with Mr. Everett's Answer to the
Memorialists upon State Stocks. Your respected Diplomatist has
rather more confidence in them than I have. I do not expect Sir
Robert Peel will make any alteration in the Corn Laws this year, or
till prices are higher. I shall be anxious to see any thing farther
that }'ou may publish. With great regard. Yours,
Tho. Thornely.
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
Liverpool, 18 April, 1843.
My dear Sir, — I came down for a few days, (our Easter holy-
days) and was truly glad to receive your letter of 28 March and
I April. Your printed remarks upon the cotton market are very
important. I am told prices here are very steady, the stock enor-
mous, but money is extremely abundant and prices are so moderate
that the spinners who can afford it, stock themselves largely, and a
fall of 3 8 brings speculators into the market who buy upon the
chances of what may happen. At these prices, American cotton
must drive East India out of use. The cotton trade with us, is no
doubt improved, and the low price of provisions is very favorable
to our working people. Mr. Villiers' Motion on the Corn Laws, I
expect will come on the 9 May and we shall have other motions
bearing upon Free Trade, but the result depends upon Sir Robert
Peel. It is unfavorable to any movement on the Corn Laws that
grain and provisions are now so cheap, that there is no pressure as
to price. Still the principle of Free Exchange is what we want, and
we never shall have a sound and steady trade to the extent we are
entitled to, until that great principle is adopted. This packet I
understand takes out a good many sovereigns. I shall be curious
to see what is the result in the States of so unusual an accumulation
of specie. I sincerely hope there will be a large circulation of it in
the West and that it will throw out much of your paper circulation.
Your Eastern capitahsts must have lost very largely by your credits
at the South and by the depreciation of paper. I don't see how
you are to get over the long credit system. I am told that our
people are giving very long credit in Brazil and the losses in that
trade have been very serious. I believe also I have heard that even
at Moscow, our credits are become very long indeed. The Bank,
312 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
you will observe holds a larger stock of specie than it has had for
some years, and there is a very large amount in circulation and all
the Banks, but especially the Bank of England, are glad to pay out
sovereigns. You may thtis draw away, but I still think you had
better have taken some of our cheap goods. I wish I could have
made out any thing interesting to write to you. I offer as my apol-
ogy that I was unwilling to let the packet go away without a line.
With great regard. Yours truly,
Tho. Thornely.
My nephew was about leaving New Orleans and going up the
River at our last dates.
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
London, 19 June, 1843.
My dear Sir, — I was favored with your letter of 31 May. The
day after I received it, a question was put in the House of Commons
by a Member (who was formerly a cotton manufacturer) to the
President of the Board of Trade about 400 bales of American cotton
goods, now lying here in bond. When the answer (such as it was)
had been made, I read an extract from your letter. I send you the
newspaper and would be much obliged to you to say whether I was
correct in the quantity of bales which I stated to have been exported.
I could not be certain that I read correctly your figures. I have
sent you one or two papers that may interest you. Our division on
Lord John Russell's Motion was a bad one and does not shew our
strength. Many of our people were unavoidably or accidentally
absent. Mr. Cobden was unwell and obliged to go away. This
Parliament is a very bad one; it is out of doors that Free Trade
principles are spreading, and if we had the good luck to have a
dissolution within the next twelve months, I am confident we should
have a very much better House of Commons. I am not surprized
that you like Lord Howick's^ speeches, he is a most able man, and
very sound and firm in his Free Trade notions. His temper is none
of the best, but when he is right, as is generally the case, nothing
on earth can turn him. We are to have a debate on the sugar duties
this week, and Sir Robert has given notice he will not remove, for
another year the prohibitory duty on foreign sugars. This is abom-
inable for British sugars are at least 16/. per cwt. dearer than foreign
sugars in bond. I am disappointed in Sir Robert Peel's movements
this year, he appears to have yielded to the Agricultural and Monop-
olist Party for the present. The cotton trade is doing better than
' Charles Grey (i 764-1845).
I920.] LEE-THORNELY LETTERS, 1840-1847. 313
any other, indeed I entertain but a poor opinion of the condition
of the other trades of the country. There has been a very heavy
failure in the iron trade, the House of Harford, Davis & Co., of
Bristol, their works in Glamorganshire. It is said they owe £400,000
at least, and will pay almost nothing. I hear a large contract has
been made for bar iron delivered at Bristol at £4- 15/- per ton. I
should only mislead you, if I was to give you any estimate of the
consumption of cotton next year, and Mr. Cobden knows nothing
of it. He has done great good by his addresses to the farmers in
the agricultural districts. Nor have I any information whether the
holders of American stocks will send them out for sale, upon the
recent advance. I expect my nephew here this evening who is to
pay me a short visit, and we shall have much pleasure in talking
over the later accounts which he will bring me, of you and other
friends. He will bring me some copies of Mr. Raguet's Work on
Free Trade, one of which I shall place in the Library of the House
of Commons. I dined yesterday in company with General Duff
Greene.^ I remember hearing a year ago that he had had an inter-
view with Sir Robert Peel about the necessity of a commercial
treaty and of mutual concessions in the way of duties. He then
returned to the States and is here again, as I am told, in the confi-
dence of the President and Mr. Webster. What do you say of the
weight I am to attach to all this? I wish we could all act like men
of sense and reduce our tariffs to revenue rates and disregard the
prohibitions and follies of other countries. When the Session is over
I purpose going up the Rhine to Switzerland with my sister and
two nieces. Very truly yours,
Tho. Thornely.
Memorandum, Rec'd 3 July. Answered in the matter of cotton goods
to Mr. Thornely 30 July and also about Duff Greene no credit due to him
or to anything he has to say about treaties.
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
Liverpool, 3 November, 1843.
My dear Str, — I returned home about a fortnight ago, having
made a tour upon the Continent of about three months. I cannot
say that I learned much of the state of the countries we passed
through; but I did witness a little smuggling of tobacco into France,
an indication, I doubt not, that it is done every day, so as in the
course of the year to furnish a considerable proportion of the con-
sumption of the country. The constant searching of luggage
1 (i78o?-i875).
314 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
(though we had a servant who kept us almost clear of it) as you pass
the borders, shews that the Governments set up obstructions against
the interests of the people. I had my sister and two nieces to take
care of; we crossed to Antwerp, then to Cologne, from whence we
explored the Rhine; we entered Switzerland by Schaffhausen, from
whence we visited all that is interesting in that admirable country.
We then crossed the Alps by the St. Gothard, went to Como and
Milan; recrossed by the Simplon, visited Lausanne, staid some time
at Geneva and then to Paris and home. We had a most interesting
tour and not a single thing occurred, to mar our pleasure. I recol-
lected you had informed me your son was in Italy. If we had gone
farther, as to Leghorn for instance, I should have hoped for the
pleasure of seeing him. We saw beautiful crops of Indian corn and
other articles of food and I in my admiration of them, thought how
delighted I should be, when these things should be freely admitted
in my country.
There appears to have been a considerable improvement in trade
in this country, partly owing to increased orders from the U. S., but
cotton, which was perhaps too low, and which was run up by specu-
lators too high and too fast, has been receding in price for the last
three or four weeks and I understand the market to be now very
dull, but you will have better information from others than I can
give you. Your currency in the States appears to be all right, at
least chiefly so, with a great abundance of specie and a general ad-
mission that things are in a flourishing state. I fear all this is against
a revision of your tariff, which would have been more likely to be
accomplished, if you had felt a continued pressure.
I do think that in this country, sound principles are gaining
ground and a conviction that the Corn Laws must be changed and
that duties must be for revenue and not for protection. Mr. Cob-
den and Mr. Bright have done incalculable good by attending meet-
ings in the agricultural districts and appealing to the farmers whether
the Corn Laws and the Sliding Scale have made theirs a profitable
pursuit. Sir Robert Peel too, at two farmer's dinners, has exhorted
the farmers to drain their lands and improve their cultivation and
has offered to give leases to his tenants. The Free Traders are very
proud of the result of the City of London election, where Mr. Thomas
Baring ^ (nephew of Lord Ashburton and a partner in the House,)
the very best man his party could have put forward, was beaten by
Mr. Pattison,^ an out and out Free Trader. My friend Mr. War-
burton ^ is a candidate for Kendal and I expect will be elected next
' (1799-1873)-
^ James Pattison.
» Henry Warburton (i784?-i858).
I920.] LEE-THORNELY LETTERS, 1840-1847. 315
week. The Anti-Corn Law Association has removed to London.
They have taken a house in a conspicuous situation in Fleet Street
and have established a weekly paper called the League. (These
gentlemen do not put their candle under a bushel.) They call on
the public for £100,000 which they will get. I send you some of
their papers and a number of the Economist which I believe is
established by ISIr. James Wilson/ who published an excellent work
on the Influences of the Corn Laws. He is a man of property. I
shall be glad of information of the probable legislation on your
tariff. I did hope that America would set the example of Free Trade,
but of that I entirely despair. I was sorry not to be here when your
friend Mr. Parker passed thro'. My nephew unites with me in best
regards to Mrs. Lee and youi- family. Very truly yours,
Tho. Tiiornely.
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
Liverpool, 3 Januarj-, 1844.
My dear Sir, — I thank you very much for your letters, the last
dated 15 December. Your President's Message is not in favor with
our public writers or with any of us. There is nothing high minded
about it, and we suppose it is written, however unsuccessfully, to
secure some degree of popularity. I expect nothing of Free Trade
from the next Congress and wish I could see any prospect of your
adopting sound principles, even at some distance of time. I sup-
pose we expected too much from you in this country; certainly the
liberal Party among which I was reared, and with whom I have
always associated, did expect great things as the result of your liberal
institutions. To a certain degree we are disappointed, but we will
hope for the best. Any of your early Presidents would have sent a
Message very different from that of Mr. Tyler, but your public
men of the present day appear to be sad trimmers to secure popu-
larity, and you scarcely find any one firmly determined to sustain
high principles, come what may as the result.
In this country, we of the Free Trade Party are in general, giving
our exertions in support of the League, that being the only asso-
ciation formed for carrying out Free Trade principles. Many per-
sons undoubtedly withhold their support, because they think the
League go too far. These parties wish for a fixed duty on corn, but
all our fixed duty men are now down to 5/. per quarter of wheat, so
that the difference is not any great affair. The Liverpool subscrip-
tions for the League, consequent upon our public meeting, now
1 ( I 805-1 860).
3l6 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
amount to £6000, a large sum for a town where monopoly is so much
in the ascendant. The Manchester subscriptions are about £20,000.
The Houses of Marshalls of Leeds, Strutt of Derby, and Philips of
Manchester, have each subscribed £500. These sums shew the
earnestness of the Parties, and I certainly have greater confidence
than I ever had that Free Trade principles will be adopted in this
country, but I should like them adopted soon, for one grows older,
and should like to witness the good working of good measures. I
quite agree with you that we should adopt Free Trade measures
irrespective of the conduct of other countries, and like you, I would
not wait for treaties of reciprocity.
I very much doubt if Sir Robert Peel will alter the Corn Laws
next Session. Provisions are now at moderate prices, trade is greatly
improved and the condition of the laboring classes better than it
has been for several years. These things are unfavorable to better
legislation, which generally is most successful when the people feel
a pressure. My reliance is upon the increased knowledge of the
people and the certainty that our Free Traders will never stop in
carrying out the enlightenment of the people, till we have gained
our ends. A new Parliament and a new Ministry are wanted to
carry out good measures, but I would rather we had no change for a
year to come. Earl Grey is very unwell and at his death. Lord
Howick, one of our very clever men, will go to the House of Lords.
Money is so abundant that it is thought the Government will be
able to reduce the interest on the 33>^2 per cents to 3. A great rise
has taken place in railway shares and in all property yielding in-
terest, and I think they have been run up too high. What an im-
mense increase in our consumption of cotton last year! I am sorry
to send you so dull a letter. With every good wish, and my respects
to Mrs. Lee and your family, Yours truly,
Tho. Thornely.
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
London, iS April, 1844.
My dear Sir, — I know not whether to begin by offering my
hearty thanks for the important information yoiir letters have
afforded me, or my apology for being so long in wTiting to you.
With respect to the delay, let me say I have had more hard work
upon Committees this Session than I ever had before; almost every
day I have had to attend at noon, and frequently have not left the
House till after midnight. This I assure you has thrown my cor-
respondence very much in arrear.
Your letters to me come down to the ist April. I am sorry you
I920.] LEE-THORNELY LETTERS, 184C-1847. 317
are of opinion the tariff will not be altered. In truth I did not ex-
pect it, for your Monopolists are become a very powerful body, and
people who work for themselves, do undoubtedly work a great deal
harder than those who work for the public. Then there is such a
delusion abroad about a country supplying its own wants, and
being independent of foreigners. Your tariff is as clearly a law to
impoverish your people, as if you had a law to take the money out
of their pockets. I saw a letter lately from a gentleman who had
travelled in the far West, and he was surprized to find what ordi-
nary clothing was worn by persons having large landed possessions,
and who would undoubtedly have been better covered if you had a
greater freedom of import.
I wish indeed that I could tell you we were making much advance
in legislation in the direction of Free Trade. This however is not
the case at present. On the 2gth the Chancellor of the Exchequer ^
is to bring forward his Budget. The Income Tax has brought a
large surplus revenue, and we hope the duty on foreign sugars will
be reduced so as to bring them into consumption and that the wool
duty will be taken off. The Government has the power of doing a
good deal. We have a Committee sitting to enquire into the smug-
gling of tobacco and the general working of the duty. I do not
think however the duty will be altered, for the revenue upon it
yields between three and four millions. I could have wished for a
reduction in yoiu- tariff because it would have aided our Free Trade
movement, especially among persons who take the narrow view of
the subject and fear to act lest other people should not be as wise as
ourselves. In the meantime, we are strengthening ourselves, and
public opinion is getting stronger every day, so that when circum-
stances favor us, the declaration of public opinion in favor of Free
Trade will be strong and irresistible. I send you two or three papers
to show what we are doing. The Economist is very clever but I
doubt if it will continue, for we are quite overdone with papers.
The League has a circulation not much below 20,000. Money you
see is most abundant and our funds very high. The universal
speculation in cotton in January will be followed by heavy losses
somewhere. I suspect Mr. Humphreys at Liverpool will be among
the losers. Cotton now arriving loses at least £1 per bale. The
weather, as spring weather is very fine. Great draining of land is
going forward and there is a great demand for guano. My kind
respects to Mrs. Lee. Very truly yours,
Tho. Thornely.
1 Henry Goulburn.
3l8 massachusetts historical society. [june,
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
London, i8 July, 1S44.
My dear Sir, — It is a great proof of your kindness that you
write to me by almost every packet, without receiving a letter from
me in return. The truth is, my labors in the present Session have
been more pressing than they ever were before. Here have I been
since the ist February, serving upon Committees in the morning
and attending in the House till a late hour at night. We have had a
Bill to pass thro' both Houses, called the Dissenter's Chapel Bill,
in which the body which I am connected with, felt a great interest
inasmuch as it was chiefly intended for their benefit. The passing
of this Bill has added very much to my labors and I can now truly
say, that both in mind and body, I am thoroughly tired out and I
heartily desire the rest which I trust the close of the Session, in about
four weeks, will give me the means of enjoying. I intend to take a
tour in Scotland, with the party I took to the Continent last Autumn.
I ought to be able to tell you what measures we have carried this
session, not very many, I admit, which would chiefly interest you
and me. The reduction in the 3^^ per cent stock to 3 per cent has
been very well managed and will be a large saving to the Exchequer.
Sir Robert Peel's Bank charter Bill was also managed with great
skill, and I think it will be a great check upon paper issues. No
new bank of issue is to be allowed, and the banks now issuing are
to be confined to the average amount of what they issue at present.
The reduction of the duty of foreign coffee from 8d to 6d (British
remaining at 4d) will bring in a good deal of the finer qualities of
foreign coffee. After the Brazil Treaty expires in November, we
are to admit foreign free labor sugar at 34/ and 5 per ct. British re-
maining at 24/ and 5 per ct. I and the Free Traders opposed the
distinction between free labor and slave labor produce, but we did
not succeed. However since the apprehension of the alteration in
the sugar duties, the price of British has fallen 5/. perhaps 6,'. per
cwt., the importers selling immediately on arrival. The Corn Laws
will remain as they are, so long as food is cheap and trade is good.
I suppose we may give up the hope of Free Trade principles being
advanced by the co-operation of the United States. If we had acted
with judgment, as to our Corn Laws and Tariffs, you would scarcely
have adopted a policy so completely restrictive. Still it would have
been gratifying had you set a good example instead of following a
bad one. I think with you, that the New York banks must be issuing
too much paper. From the state of the exchange, it appears prob-
ably we shall get some of your specie which we do not want, having
already too much of that article.
I920.] LEE-THORNELY LETTERS, 1840-1847. 319
I think there is every prospect that Sir Robert Peel will remain
in office for a while, but he has a difficult Party to manage, so many
of them being behind the age, and Sir Robert himself so much in
advance of them. I doubt whether the distinctions of party which
have till now existed, will continue much longer. Pray let me hear
from you. A letter from you is always a treat. My respects to
Mrs. Lee. Very truly yours,
Tho. Thornely.
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
Liverpool, 3 October, 1S44.
My dear Sir, — I am indebted to you for two letters, but I must
postpone my remarks upon them to a future occasion, for I have
just returned from my second tour, made since the close of the
Session, and to-morrow shall set out upon a third short trip. In
this way, I really have not time to give much consideration to any
one subject, tho' I would not allow the Packet to depart without
thanking you for all the information you are so obliging as to gi\'e
me, and for your own remarks on what is passing. My principal
tour has been thro' the Western Highlands of Scotland, with my
sister and two nieces. We visited Staffa, and went as far north as
Inverness, then varying our route as any thing was to be seen, we
came to Edinburgh, then to Carlisle, Newcastle, Durham and York.
Last week I went alone to Worcester, Cheltenham and Gloucester,
and in the Cathedral of the last named city, heard the Messiah of
Handel in great stile by about three hundred performers. To-
morrow my brother and I go to Hull and shall probably visit some
of the other towns in that direction. I always find that in visits of
this sort, I pick up a good deal of information that is hereafter useful
to me.
I was glad to hear how well your cotton manufactures are going
on. I suppose they were never doing better than they now are in
this country, and so are most of our manufactures, but I am sorry
to find this is a year of great loss to the merchants of Liverpool. I
am told there is a loss on every article of import except timber,
sheep's wool and hides. There is a great loss on flour from Canada,
much of which is of low quality and most of it arriving sour. But
the greatest loss of all, is upon cotton, and that is to an enormous
amount. Importers, speculators, and brokers who have made ad-
vances to speculators, all lose heavil3^ There has been one failure,
Roskell, Ogden & Co., but they lost every thing and received as-
sistance from their relations in 1837 or 1839. Now their engage-
ments afloat, I hear are only £26,000 of American drafts. You
320 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
probably know, or have heard of their New York partner, Mr.
Depeyster Ogden, a gentleman, I think sadly too wise in his own
conceit. Mr. Roskell when freed from his engagements, will become
a share broker, and when prices are rising on account of the cheap-
ness of money, these people do very well. I hear that your country-
man, Mr. Humphreys, has been a large speculator in cotton — of
course by means other than his own. The American commission
business is a discouraging one, for shippers when there is a profit,
take it of course, but when there is a loss, it is a most difficult thing
to recover. I read a speech of Mr. Webster, delivered, I think at
Albany. To all his remarks upon the tariff policy, there is one short
answer in the pithy words of Coll. Peyronnet Thompson, "All pro-
tection means robbing somebody else." You must not suppose
we are losing ground in Free Trade. That question is quietly
progressing, and will mature in a while. At all the agricultvu^al meet-
ings, the farmers are exhorted to improve their system of agriculture,
and not rely on protection. Depend upon it we shall gain something
e^•ery year. I wish your people would have aided in this great cause,
but I doubt if they will do so. And they give us little credit for what
wc do, for if we continue protection, they say 'thereby you flourish,'
if we abandon it, they say 'you can now afford to do so.' However
we will go on. My kind regards to Mrs. Lee. Very truly yours,
Tho. Thornely.
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
London, Monday 4 May, 1846.
My dear Sir, — The Irish Bill has been the great obstruction to
proceeding with the Corn and Tariff Bills, but we came to a division
on the first reading on Friday night, and now we proceed with the
Com and Tariff Bills which I expect will pass our House either next
Friday, or not later than the nth or 12th inst.
The general belief is that the Lords will pass both Bills and the
majority it is stated will be twenty or thirty. Certain it is that the
delay has brought about many conversions in the Lords.
I do not pretend to say when the Bills will have received the
Royal Assent but whenever that is secured, you must write me a
letter of congratulation. What shall we find to write about, when
these great measures are accomplished?
1 think you had better come over and pay us a visit, and see how
prosperous and happy a people we shall be, supplied with food and
merchandise from every part of the world. My respects if you
please to Mrs. Lee. Very truly yours,
Tho. Thornely.
IQ20.] LEE-THORNELY LETTERS, 1840-1847. 32I
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
London, 3 July. 1846.
My DEAR Sir, — On Friday last, the 26 June, I had the happiness
to hear the Royal Assent given to the Tariff Bill, and to the Bill for
the repeal of the Corn Laws. Believe me I feel that we are in a
very proud position, and it is most creditable to the character of
our countrymen to have accomplished these measures as we have
done. The House of Lords, I think has distinguished itself, not by
its decisions only but by the speeches of the Peers which have on
the whole done them great credit.
The duty I presume has been paid already on the whole stock of
wheat and flour, for the duty, according to the three years sliding
scale, Avas on the passing of the Bill at its lowest point say 4/ per
quarter. Yesterday it rose to 5/. foreseeing which the importers
no doubt paid duty in anticipation. What a blessing to our people
and to so many parts of the Civilized World !
The newspapers which I send you will shew you the circumstances
under which Sir Robert Peel retires from office. He is right in going
out, and it could not well be otherwise. On the question of the
sugar duties he is opposed by Gladstone and Goulburn.' I hope
Lord John Russell will bring in a good Sugar Bill and that Sir R.
Peel will support it. Then we may carry the measure.
Many thanks for your letter by the last Packet. I am glad the
Oregon question seems to be got over, but there is in your democracy
a warlike spirit that will produce evil fruit some day. Yours very
truly,
- Tho. Thornely.
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
Liverpool, 3 November, 1846.
My dear Sir, — Your esteemed letter of the 15 August reached
me at Amsterdam. I had never been in Holland, so a day or two
before we broke up, I went over, and was met at Rotterdam, by an
old Dutch friend whom I knew many years ago, a singular man but
a very honest one, whom you may recollect in the States, Mr. Ven
den Velden. He accompanied me for three weeks, so that we had
ample time to see the whole of that country. I afterwards went
over to Ireland, and I reached Galway on the West Coast, whence I
intended to make a tour to the north west, which is about the most
distressed district but the weather was so rainy and unsettled, that I
gave up my tour and returned home. In Dublin I met in company
' Henry Goulburn (i 784-1856).
322 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
one of the Judges and some other persons of standing and they
asked me what had brought me to Ireland. I answered that I had
been spending three weeks in Holland, a country which Nature had
made a swamp and 3^et the industry and perseverance of the Dutch
had drained the land and created the finest pasture land, and they
were rearing the finest cattle I ever saw, and the whole population
appeared to be in a flourishing condition. Now I said I am come to
Ireland, to see why this country, so superior naturally to Holland,
and setting aside the failure of your potato crop, is always in a state
of beggary and wretchedness. This question was not very easily
answered.
There is no question that the potatoes have failed in Ireland to a
very great extent, and yet I have sometimes thought the failure was
exaggerated. The outcry for relief is beyond any thing for the
landlords and the upper classes want to get all the public money and
to supply as little of their own, as they possibly can. The whole
state of society in Ireland, is anything but what it ought to be. It
is extraordinary that when Indian meal was first introduced into
Ireland a year ago, the people refused to eat it, and almost con-
sidered it something poisonous, and now they seem as if they would
eat nothing else. All the Indian corn that has arrived both from
the U. S. and the Mediterranean has been bought up, chiefly for
Ireland and there is not any now on sale at this port. The price is
56/ per quarter or 7/ per bushel of 60 lbs. I believe the Irish de-
mand would take off a very large quantity. Our Free Trade meas-
ures are working admirably, and almost all parties seem as if they
wish the remaining Corn Laws were taken off. Some representa-
tions to that effect have been made to the Government but they
have prorogued Parliament till 12 January and it is believed they
will not interfere with the Corn Law. You know Indian corn does
not pay a fluctuating duty, but a permanent duty of 1/ per quarter,
and the lowest duty is payable on all the other articles, namely 4/
wheat, 1/6 oats, 2/. all the rest, and these duties will probably con-
tinue for several months. Wheat and flour seem to be rather de-
clining, flour in bond about 32/. I do not think wheat and flour
will fluctuate very much, but we shall want large supplies of I. corn
and the inferior grains, and indeed I think we shall want all the wheat
and flour you can send us. Our sugar duties too are working well and
the nonsense about slavery seems at an end. Duty is paid here e\ery
day on a small quantity of Manilla, Cuba, Porto Rico and Brazil.
Your Tariff I have no doubt will give you the Re^'enue ^Ir. Walker
expects. My objection to the Tariff, if I was an American, would
be that it is a great deal too high. Yours very truly,
Tho. Thornely.
i920.] lee-thornely letters, 1840-1s47. 323
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
London, 2 T^bruary, 1847.
My dear Sir, — Your letter of the i6th December remarked
good naturedly that you were almost sorry the Corn Laws were
repealed, as we might no longer have materials for correspondence.
It is true we have been fellow labourers in the cause of Free Trade,
and now that so much has been accomplished we ought to write,
if only to congratulate each other. Besides this, I assure you that
your letters for years past have given me both great pleasure and
great instruction, and I doubt not we shall be able to fmd materials
for farther correspondence.
In four days after our Session begun, we suspended till ist Sept.
the import duties on grain, flour, meal and rice, and suspended the
Navigation Laws so as to admit them, to that time, in any ships
from any countries. So that for the present we have got the total
repeal, and I think it very probable, the duty will not again attach.
Our wants for Ireland have been so pressing (and so they will con-
tinue whilst the Irish have public money with which to buy food)
that the supplies from the States seem to have disappointed us as
to their extent. I am aware you have grown nothing for us, and
eventually the supplies will be enormously large, but what we are
anxious about is the next few months. I suppose Western Canal
flour is worth about 40,'. and there must be about 500,000 barrels
of flour lying in Liverpool. Some people are of opinion the stocks
held by the farmers, even in Ireland are large and that prices have
seen the highest, and indeed wheat in Mark Lane fell yesterday 5/
per quarter.
The Indian corn has been bought for consumption as fast as it
arrived and often before, and has sustained the enormous prices of
70/ and 74/ per quarter. This is such a fancy price that I will not
pretend to say when it will fall to its natural price. Certainly the
famine in Ireland, occasioned by failure of the potato crop, is more
serious than I apprehended, and oatmeal, so well suited to the people
is selling higher than wheaten flour. The difficulty of managing Ire-
land, no one can tell. The wealthy absentee Landlords are the best,
the worst are the poor resident Landlords mortgaged to the utmost.
If they could all be sold up it would be a great blessing. You
will receive from us a good deal of specie, at the present
exchange. Your agriculturists must have a great harvest of
wealth in the present state of things. I will add a P. S. to-
morrow, and with my kind respects to Mrs. Lee, believe me
Yours most truly,
Tho. Thornely.
324 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
The Irish poor are so crowding over to this country, that in-
cluding women and children they are now relieving in Liverpool
24,000.
3 February. I see Western Canal flour has fallen in Liverpool to
38/6 and 39/. Indian corn is still upwards of 70/. I really believe
we shall want a great deal of Indian Corn and I do not think any of
these articles will fall low for a considerable time.
Thomas Thornely to Henry Lee.
London, 30 November [18 November], 1847.
My dear Sir, — I have to thank you for your obliging letters of
30 September and 30th October. Parliament meets to-day, but
only for the election of Speaker and for swearing in Members when
it must be decided whether the Jewish Baron Rothschild ^ can sit
among us Christians. The Queen's Speech which makes the com-
mencement of business will not be delivered till the 23d inst. It is
stated in some of the well informed papers that a Parliamentary
Committee will be appointed to consider our present banking sys-
tem. If there should be a Committee I [hope] it may be a searching
one, for the Country Joint Stock Banks have been carrying on a
very wild business, discounting all sorts of paper at long dates,
charging a high rate and then re-discounting with the money brokers
in London at a low rate and thus making a large dividend. If they
had confined their business to the limits required [by] the extent of
their capital, their dividend would have been less, so the share-
holders would have been dissatisfied and the managers would not
have been regarded for their wisdom. It was when the money
brokers in London could no longer find cash to discount these bills
that the Joint Stock Banks cried out about currency. I told the
managers I saw clearly (this was in April) that they were short of
capital, that I was sure they had in their bill case vast amounts in
bills which ought never to have been there, and that they had better
go home and make calls upon their shareholders for more capital,
and also that they should do less business. I had no idea of the
extent to which bills connected with India and China were running,
generally drawn at six months. The railways as I once told you
have been a principal cause of the scarcity of money they have
locked up so \'ery much capital — this year upwards of thirty-five
millions. I do not know exactly how the money market now stands.
A rich banker in Liverpool told me last week he had been lending
1 Lionel Nathan de Rothschild (1808-187Q). He was not allowed to take his
seat, although repeatedly elected, until 1S58. The question of admitting him
turned on the oath taken by members.
I920.] ROXBURY COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE, 1834-1835. 325
out money on the London Stock Exchange at 4 per ct. and I was
told the same Bank was discounting bills at 6 per ct. Our 3 per cts.
have advanced and are now between 84 and 85 and I think money
will be abundant and at a moderate rate very soon. Most [of] the
doubtful bills must have run out, tho' no doubt many have been
renewed. I understand in Liverpool that holders of railway shares
are offering to borrow money, leaving a good margin at 10 per cent.
It is said the Royal Bank of Liverpool wnll [ca]ll up more capital
from their share holders and resume business the ist December.
Were I a share holder, I would withdraw and I believe shares on
which £500 had been paid, we[re] since the stoppage to have been
had [for] nothing. The House to which this Bank advanced nearly
£500,000 is already in the Gazette. One thing is already pretty
generally understood, namely that no House has failed which ought
not to fail. These London Houses had long been unsound, and were
merchant princes only in their princely expenditure.
I scarcely think Parliament will do any thing about banking,
unless it be to remove the restriction on the issues of the Bank of
England, which has been done by the letter from Lord John Russell
and Sir Charles Wood,^ tho' not acted upon by the Bank thus far, and
now will not be required though they say it restored confidence. At
all events our convertible currency will be sustained, and we shall
not allow issues of paper. Speculation and over trading have done
terrible mischief, but I look for a good sound trade, under our
present Free Trade regulations and we shall be all the better
when these rotten establishments are out of the way. Very truly
yours,
Tho. Tiigrnely.
The Roxbury Committee of Vigilance, 1834- 183 5,
Dr. Edward H. Bradford has presented to the Society the
following papers pertaining to a committee of Vigilance formed
in Roxbiir}^ after the burning of the convent in Charlestown
and intended to protect nuns who had taken temporary refuge
in Roxbury. The secretary of this committee was Charles
Hickling, whose daughter was the mother of Dr. Bradford. -
Fragmentary as they are, these records of meetings, all in
1 (1800-1885).
2 The Hicklings traced back to William, of York, who married Sarah Sales;
his grandson, WiUiam, married Elizabeth Hudson (or Hodson), and his great-
grandson, also William, married Elizabeth Bradford and had Charles, born in
1799, who married Eliza Edes.
326 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
Hickling's writing, are of interest in bringing to light an act of
mercy at a time when its performance demanded courage and
sacrifice.
I.
Cambridge, December 15th, 1834.
Dear Sir, — I would inform you that, I have received informa-
tion, that threats have been made to pull down or destroy the build-
ing, used a[s] a Nunery, at Roxbury. Altho. I do not, on common
occasions, think much of these threats, Yet I think they may mean
something, in these times of excitement and insubordination. I
sincerely hope, if such an attempt should be made, the persons
engaged may be tried and punished, on the spot. They could not
be convicted, probably, before a Court of Justice. We learn that,
by the present trials, here. You will excuse me, I presume, for this
information. I hope for better acquaintance.
I am, Sir, with great respect,
B. F. Varnum, Shf. of Middlesex.
John Baker, 2d. Shff. of Norfolk.
II.
At a meeting of the Inhabitants of Roxbury held at the Town
Hall on Tuesday evening, Dec. 23d, 1834 for the purpose of taking
measures to suppress riots and for protecting the building now occu-
pied by the "Ursuline Community "
Major Isaac Gale was chosen Chairman, and C. Hickling, Secre-
tary.
Voted That Messrs. Jon'n Dorr
C. Hickling
S. J. Gardner
Dr. Prentiss and
George Adams, be a committee to draft resolu-
tions expressive of the sentiments of this meeting upon the subject
before them.
Said committee Reported the following:
"Whereas the Inhabitants of Roxbury have viewed with feelings of
regret the late disgraceful riots in an adjoining County; And having
had information that the same scenes will be acted at their very
thresholds; And feeling the necessity, while they profess to live in a
community governed by wise and wholesome laws that those laws
should be supported with a becoming spirit of energy and deter-
mination; and that all rioters, and all bodies of men associated for
the destruction of private property should be considered and treated
ig20.] ROXBURY COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE, 1834-1835. 327
as enemies of the public weal, and destroyers of the sacred rights of
society — therefore
Resolved, That we will form a Committee of Vigilance of Pro-
tection who shall hold themselves ready at a moments warning to
repair to any place of riot, and repress with energy the lawless at-
tacks of a lawless mob.
Resolved, that said Committee be forthwith formed by all such
persons, as shall voluntarily subscribe articles of association, founded
on principles of the last resolution, who shall have the power to
apply to the proper Authorities for a legal watch and to take such
other legal measures, as shall have the tendency to promote and
command the peace of the community.
Voted to accept these resolutions.
Voted that the following gentlemen be the Executi\'e Committee
of this general Committee:
David Dudley Joseph Harrington Gen. E. W. Bradley
D. A. Simmons Shubael Bills John Webber
Chas. Hickling J. J. Clarke Jon'a Dorr
Isaac Gale Watson Gore John Lemist
\'oted that this meeting be dissolved.
C. Hickling, Secretary.
The Executive Committee of Vigilance and Protection having
adjourned to the Norfolk House,
John Lemist was chosen Chairman
Charles Hickling Secretary.
Voted that the Selectmen be requested to appoint a nightly patrol
to watch the building occupied by the Ursuline Community.
Voted that a Secret Cotnmittee of three be formed to collect the
earliest information of any threatened attack, or of any meetings
held in any of the neighboring towns to disturb the quiet of this
Community.
Voted that this Committee be formed by one from this board and
two out of it.
Voted that Mr. Shubael Bills from this Board be Chairman of
this Committee and that S. J. Gardner, Esq. and Capt. Lewis Slack
be associated with him.
Voted That D. A. Simmons and Watson Gore be a committee to
wait immediately upon the Superior and state to her the proceedings
of this evening.
Voted that a watch be appointed to guard the building this night,
and that Gen'l Bradley be a Committee from this Board to attend
to the forming a watch of six persons, and repair to the Town House
for that purpose.
328 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUXE,
Voted that J. Harrington be a Committee to make the necessary
preparations to have the military in readiness at a moment's
warning.
Voted that the Captain of the watch be nightly instructed, upon
the first alarm, to send a man to ring and toll the bell in Mr. Put-
nam's meeting house.
Voted that the names of the nightly watch be handed to the
Superior, and that they report themselves to her.
Voted that the members of this Board on the first alarm repair
immediately to Mr. Watson Gore's house.
The Committee appointed to wait upon the Superior reported
that they found the inmates of the Convent at rest, for the first
time for two nights, and a guard on duty around the house.
The Committee to form the Watch, returned and reported that
he had dispatched six persons upon that duty for this night.
III.
A Committee from the meeting of the young men, submitted a
letter directed to the Superior of the Ursuline Community. Where-
upon it was Voted that this Board approve it, and that the Chair-
man endorse said approval upon it.
Voted that this meeting adjourn to W. Gore's house Friday
evening ' next 7. o'clock.
C. HiCKLiNG, Sec'y.
[The following was crossed out:] Voted Mess. Harrington and
Gore be a committee to confer with the Lady Superior in relation to
the Head c|uarters of Watch.
IV.
Adjourned meeting at Mr. Gore's Dec. 26th, 1834.
Voted that a voluntary watch be raised to guard the building
now occupied by the Community.
Voted that each member of this Committee obtain ten persons
to compose the voluntary watch.
Voted that Mr. Harrington and Mr. Gore and Mr. Hickling be
a committee to call upon the Superior and ascertain her ^•ie^vs
touching the mode of protecting those under her charge.
Voted the above Committee inform the Superior, that it is the
opinion of this Committee of Vigilance that the inmates of Brinley
Place, in case of alarm should not remove, but remain quietl>' in
the building confident of adequate protection.
' December 26?
iq20.] ROXBURY COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE, 1834-1835. 329
Voted that Jon'n Dorr be a Committee to confer with the Pru-
dential Committee of the district in which the School house is situated
and endeavor to obtain the nightly use of the building for the ac-
commodation of the watch.
The Committee appointed to wait upon the Superior reported
that she wdth great kindness offered the use of the Hall with a fire
and refreshments for the nightly watch. That she could not express
the gratitude she felt for the energetic steps which had been taken
by the Citizens of Roxbury for her protection — a kindness greater
than she had ever experienced before. And that she kindly thanked
them.
Voted that the Norfolk Guards be kept in readiness at their
Armory in case of any riot and wait the orders of a civil officer.
Voted that Judge Leland be requested in case of a riot to read the
riot act. If he should not be on the ground, then the Senior Magis-
trate to act in his stead.
Voted that the watch word "Protection" be reported to the
Superior, as one that may admit the Committee of Vigilance into
the building occupied by her, in case of alarm.
Voted that Mr. Gore report the watch word to the Superior.
Voted to adjourn to next Thursday evening 7. o'clock at Mr.
Lemist's house.
V.
To the Committee of Vigilance :
Messrs, If a requisition of the Infantry is necessary in the present
crisis of affairs, independent of the Norfolk Guards I would suggest
the expediency of being extremely cautious to whom the Command
of Infantry Companies were assigned and that no officer be detailed
for duty on the occasion who is unwilling to make a single effort to
sustain the 'Supremacy of the Laws.' I am induced to make these
suggestions to you from remarks made by a number of officers, in
command of Infantry Companies, and their subalterns under them,
in this Town. Knowing the influence those officers exert over Men
under their command I should think it would be highly improper
that any duty be assigned them in the defence, (if any attack is
made) of the Ursuline Community. I would call the attention of
the Committee to the subject of Alarms of Fire, wether it would not
be necessary to reconnoitre the 'Highlands' south of the Convent
to see wether there are any Combustible Materials for making
Beacon Fires, collected on the hill to be used by evil disposed per-
sons to anoy the members of the U. Community by False Alarms of
Fire. While the Bells were ringing an Alarm last Evening, in the
City, the Attention of a particular class of Men were directed to-
33© MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
wards the Convent, — and an Alarm of Fire on the Hill south of the
Convent will be the Signal for an attack, or collection of a mob near
the Convent for the Annoyance of its Inmates ; if not the destruction
of the Buildings. I hope the Committee will excuse the manner
in which the above suggestions are made. Necessarily coming in
contact with a great variety of Men as I do, and hearing frequent
allusions made to the all exciting topics of conversation; I am able
from what I can collect together from the informations of some of
the most worthless and detestable Men, who justify the proceedings
of the late outrages at Charlestown, that a somewhat similar mode
of opperation will be adopted here.
Gentlemen I am with Respect Your Obedient Servant,
L. Slack.
RoxBURY, December 28, 1834.
[Addressed,] To the Committee Vigilance of Roxbury.
VI.
Dec. 31st, 1834.
Gentlemen: — Look out sharp on Saturday night as an attack
on the temporary Convent is meditated. It will be attacked if the
Conspirators do not find out that they are watched. They will look
sharp as well as you. You cannot watch them too sharp. I can tell
you no more than "Look sharp."
Adieu.
A Friend to the Laws.
To the Select men of Roxbury.
[Addressed, in another handwriting,] Mr. Nathaniel S. Prentiss,
Roxbury, Mass. [Postmarked,] Boston.
VII.
Adjourned meeting at Mr. John Lemist's Thursday evening,
January i, 1835.
Voted that the subscriptions paper be handed to Mr. BuUard and
he be requested to make a complete list, of the names, and then be
submitted by him to the inhabitants generally for additional names.
Mr. Lemist read a letter from the Superior.
A letter was read from Capt. Slack in relation to his duty as one
of the Secret Committee.
Voted that Mr. Clark be a Committee to carry into effect the
first vote as far as respects the passing the subscription paper to
Mr. Bullard, and requesting him to collect additional names.
I920.] JOSEPH STORY TO H. A. S. DEARBORN. 33I
VIII.
Special Meeting at Mr. Gore's January 3d, 1835.
Voted that a committee be appointed to confer with the Select-
men and ascertain if the Committee of Vigilance can be made a
permanent watch or special constables in case of emergency.
Voted that J. Lemist and D. A. Simmons be a committee to confer
with the Selectmen upon the subject of the above vote.
IX.
Whereas certain evil minded, lawless persons, hitherto unknown,
have threatened violence to the property, the late Mansion-House
of the Hon. Henry A. S. Dearborn, but now owned by us — and
desirous to protect the same from wanton destruction. Therefore
we earnestly solicit the aid of those citizens of Roxbury who have
formed an association for the purpose of meeting any emergency to
which they may be called, in protecting the said Building and its
curtilages, and more especially its innocent Inmates who have made
it their dwelling place and Castle.
David Dudley
Shubael Bills.
Fuller & Simmons
Jon'a Dorr.
Mr. Wetmore has given to the Society the original of the
following letter:
Joseph Story to H. A. S. Dearborn.
Cambridge Septr. 19, 1844.
My dear Sir, — I thank you very sincerely for the No. of the
Knickerbocker^ containing your article on Mr Alston's "Belshaz-
zar's Feast," and still more for your kind and interesting Letter.
The article on "Belshazzar's Feast" is written with great beauty
and force, and vividness of colouring, and shews a mind thoroughly
imbued with the Love of Art, and with a nice and curious discrimina-
tion. It has elevated the picture and Alston also in my opinion,
highly indeed, as I had thought of his powers and genius, and skill
in execution before. The Tribute is a noble one, and cannot fail
to meet the approval of the public as well as of all friends. How
few, indeed, there are who know, how to appreciate such a work,
and to bestow upon it a warm and distinctive praise, and to feel as
well as to unfold its merits!
^ Knickerbocker Magazine, xxiv. 205.
332 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
The part of your Letter, which alludes to our early friendship, is,
I confess, still more dear to me. I rejoice to know, that it has been
from the beginning, unshaken, and unvaried. I look back with
pride upon it; and with a consciousness, that your own most honor-
able course through life has been in perfect keeping with the promise
of your early manhood. Few men, indeed, have I had the good
fortune to know, who have so steadfastly maintained their prin-
ciples through all the changes and tergiversations of party politics,
and kept their honour unstained and unobscured. I have only been
mortified, that your merits have not constantly received those re-
wards, which I know to be your just due; and I have been indignant
when they have been passed over in favour of the trivial and supple
candidates for the popular suffrage.
This is the 19th of September, and I trust it may be a day of
happy Augury for Mr. Clay and the whigs. If he should be chosen,
as I most earnestly pray, that he may. President of the U. States, I
cannot doubt that you will, as you ought to, receive some high
mark of the public confidence through him. I can speak of you as
one always true to Whig Principles, and devoted to him, and his
principles, for the protection of the great Interests of our country —
Agriculture, commerce and manufactures — and that you have
labored long and worthily in the good cause and with no mean
sacrifices. What office would best befit you, I pretend not to desig-
nate; but I should rejoice that you might have some honorable and
profitable office at home, or abroad.
I began this Letter without intending to dwell on these topics.
But my true opinions and feelings are in it; and if Mr. Clay should
win the race, pray do not hesitate to use this Letter, wherever you may
deem it useful, as my sincere and cordial Testimony in your favour.
Pray give my kindest Regards to your wife ^ — my early friend —
whose family always possessed my highest Respect, and the memory
of whom will never pass from my thought while I live. Believe me
most truly and affectionately your friend,
Joseph Story
Mr. Wetmore also presented the following letter:
Eliphalet Nott to Chesselden Ellis.-
Union College, Feb. 4th, 1844.
My dear Ellis, — Your favour, some parts of which you say is
confidential, will be so regarded. I am glad to see that you \vd\e
' Hannah Swett Lee, of Salem.
^ A member of Congress from New York.
I920.] ELIPHALET NOTT TO CHESSELDEN ELLIS. 333
made so good a beginning. You have the talent, and the industry
to acquire influence; and if you will exercise the prudence and self-
government requisite to this end, you will assuredly acquire it. In
Congress, as elsewhere, time as well as talent, is necessary to ac-
quire an ascendency. A new member cannot do much at first,
and must not try to do too much. His first object must be to es-
tablish a character of some sort. It may be for debating, or it may
be for advising, or for judging correctly of men and measures, or it
may be for truth, honour, and incorruptible integrity, and the last
must be established by every statesman who is to maintain an
abiding influence.
A man's thoughts are his own — he has a right to hold his peace,
to adopt a course of action for himself, and to wait the issue. But
if he speak at all, he is bound to speak truth, and if he promise,
tho' to his hurt, he must keep his word. He must do this for con-
science sake, and also for his own sake. A man may be cautious
and sagacious, but he may not be faithless, either to friends or foes.
Oaths are to be kept with heretics, as well as with the orthodox,
and as well in politics, as religion.
I think the politics of this country more complicated than at any
former period. There is a growing feeling against any President's
running for the office a second term, and this of itself makes it more
difficult to carry our friend Van Buren than it would otherwise be.
Mr. Calhoun is a splendid and noble man, but there is one thing
that presses like an incubus upon him.
Things are now so balanced, that if either party could bring for-
ward an unobjectionable candidate, and a candidate in whose be-
half some enthusiasm could be excited, that candidate might be
elected. But it is difficult for an army during action to change
fronts, and not much less so for a party during a political cam-
paign, to change candidates, especially in a great country and dur-
ing the existence of conflicting interests. Tho' the candidates were
less blameless than they are, it would still behove us to trust in
Providence.
I perceive that the die is cast, and that our friend Spencer ^ is
rejected. So be it. I only hope that a worse man may not be forced,
through party animosity, upon the country.
The individual you mention as a substitute is a good man and
true — but can his nomination be effected? Perhaps.
I send you a copy of the Enquirer and enclose a brief notice of it,
' John Caniield Spencer (i 778-1855), nominated by President Tyler, January
9, 1844, to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States,
and rejected by the Senate, January 31, by a vote of 26 to 21. His name was
again sent to the Senate, June 17, and withdrawn the same daj-.
334 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuXE,
with the correspondence between the Ex: Com: and Doct's War-
ren, Mott, and Worner, which I should Kke to have inserted in the
Washington papers, and a copy forwarded to me. Yours truly,
Elip't Xott.
Theodosia Burr Alston to Mrs. Madison
Rocky River Springs, N. C, June 24th, 1809.
Madam: — You may, perhaps, be surprised at receiving a letter
from one with whom you have had so little intercourse for the last
few years. But your surprise will cease when you recollect that my
Father, once your friend, is now in exile, and that the President only
can restore him to me and to his country.
Ever since the choice of the people was first declared in favor of
Mr. Madison, my heart, amid the universal joy, has beat with the
hope that I, too, should soon have reason to rejoice. Convinced
that Mr. Madison would neither feel nor judge from the feelings or
judgment of others, I had no doubt of his hastening to relieve a man
whose character he had been enabled to appreciate during a con-
fidential intercourse of long continuance; and whom he must know
incapable of the designs attributed to him. My anxiety on this
subject has, however, become too painful to be alleviated by an-
ticipations which no events have yet tended to justify; and in this
state of intolerable suspense, I have determined to address myself
to you, and request that you will, in my name, apply to the Presi-
dent for a removal of the prosecution now existing against Aaron
Burr; I still expect it from him as a man of feeling and candour, as
one acting for the world and for posterity.
Statesmen, I am aware, deem it necessary that sentiments of
liberality, and even of justice, should yield to considerations of
policy: but what policy can require the absence of my Father at
present? Even had he contemplated the project for which he stands
arraigned, evidently to pursue it any further would now be impos-
sible. There is not left one pretext of alarm even to calumny; for,
bereft of fortune, of popular favor and almost of friends, what
could he accomplish? And, whatever may be the apprehensions or
the clamors of the ignorant and the interested, surely the timid,
illiberal system which would sacrifice a man to a remote and un-
reasonable possibility that he might infringe some law, founded on
an unjust, unwarrantable suspicion that he would desire it, cannot
be approved by Mr. Madison, and must be unnecessary to a Presi-
dent so loved, so honored.
Why, then, is my Father banished from a country for which he
has encountered wounds and dangers and fatigue for years? Why
IQ20.] THOMAS B. WAIT TO JAMES SAVAGE. 335
is he driven from his friends, from an only child, to pass an unlimited
time in exile, and that too at an age when others are reaping the
harvest of past toils, or ought at least to be providing seriously for
the comfort of ensuing years. I do not seek to soften you by this
recapitulation; I wish only to remind you of all the injuries which
are inflicted on one of the first characters the United States ever
produced. Perhaps it may be well to assure you there is no truth
in a report, lately circulated, that my Father intends returning im-
mediately. He never will return to conceal himself in a country
on which he has conferred distinction.
To whatever fate Mr. Madison may doom this application, I
trust it will be treated with delicacy; of this I am the more desirous
as Mr. Alston is ignorant of the step I have taken in writing to you,
which, perhaps, nothing could excuse but a warmth of filial affection ;
if it be an error, attribute it to the indiscreet zeal of a daughter
whose soul sinks at the gloomy prospect of a long and indefinite
separation from a Father almost adored; and who can leave un-
attempted nothing which offers the slightest hope of procuring him
redress. What indeed, would I not risk once more to see him, to
hang upon him, to place my child on his knee, and again spend my
days in the happy occupation of endeavouring to anticipate all his
wushes?
Let me entreat, my dear Madam, that you will have the con-
sideration and goodness to answer me as speedily as possible; my
heart is sore with doubt and patient waiting for something definite.
No apologies are made for giving you this trouble, which I am sure
you will not deem it irksome to take for a daughter, an affectionate
daughter, thus situated. Enclose your letter for me to A. I. Fred-
eric Prevost, Esq., near New Rochelle, New York.
That every happiness may attend you, is the sincere wish of
Theo. Burr Alston
Thomas B. Wait to James Savage
Washington City, Feb. 7th, 1816.
My dear Sir, — I told you before I left Boston I would write to
you, and you see I keep my word. You have heard, in the Legis-
lature of Massachusetts, of broad stair members. I have had the
honour of being this sort of member at Washington for two or three
weeks past; and I have the happiness of not being alone. If the
doors of Congress could be opened to us, we should vote all the
other members out of the House; but we are allowed neither to
vote nor speak; we resort, therefore, to secret influence. Some want
places, some Indian lands, some contracts, some money, some to
336 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
sell books. Mr. Jefferson and I belong to this last class. His business
is finished, mine is but half done.^ He has received twenty thousand
dollars and I expect but ten. So that, in all respects, he is my
superior, as broad stair member. How he managed I know not, but
I have had hard work. I made my attack on the Senate, took the
bull by the horns, and tormented till I tamed him. Whether in
mercy to me or themselves wdll never perhaps be known, but they
have this day voted to purchase 500 sets of State Papers,- at $2.25 a
copy; and there is little reason to doubt but the vote will be sanc-
tioned by the House. A Committee has been appointed, Mr. King,^
Chairman, to examine the unpublished confidential Documents.
We have found them all, but several of them must not be printed.
Still I fear there will be nearly another volume. Mr. King wishes
that the secret journals of the old Congress may be published. He
is Chairman of a Committee to examine them. He has consulted
the President and Secretary of State. They doubt, but have not
yet determined. Mr'. Monroe told me that those Journals would
make three or four volumes; but I believe they will fill seven or
eight. The business will be determined before I leave Washington;
but on the whole I doubt whether it will yet be expedient to publish
them.
To talk a little more soberly about the Senate. They are the
most respectable, and dignified, and able, and I will add, because I
feel it to be my duty to add, the most excellent, body of men to
whoni I was ever introduced. Mr. King, you know, is the greatest
man in our country, excepting Mr. Cabot; and Mr. King has that
transcendent influence in the Senate of the United States, to which
his talents, and integrity and acquirements entitle him. I look
upon that Senate, and am once more proud of my country. I did
this before they voted to purchase 500 copies of State Papers.
Feb. 9th. The treaty making power is now before the two Houses.
The Senate say it belongs to the President and themselves, the
House that they have a right to participate; and do you believe
that Cyrus King has voted in favour of the pretensions of the
House? He has. My faith in him, as a correct Statesman, is gone
forever. He may be a very clever fellow, but in politicks he is a
mad-cap. Mr. R. King has this day made a speech on the subject,
and just such a one as he ought to make, and just such a one as no
other man in Congress could make. He is — shall I not use the
epithet, it is what I think — he is a god-like man. The House
* Jefferson had sold his library to the United States.
- A publication by Wait. ^ Rufus King.
I920.] THOMAS B. WAIT TO JAMES SAVAGE. 337
must recede, or no bill will pass. There is no party consideration
which appears to influence any member of the Senate; it is principle,
a great constitutional principle. Mr. Barbour, late governour of
Virginia, is most decided in opposition to the claims of the House.
"There is not," said he, "much which we can do, but we have much
to resist. The line is marked out. I am now^ standing on it, and will
not recede an inch. I am for postponing the subject indefinitely;
the Judiciary will know how to decide, they will not hesitate." The
subject is to be again taken up on Monday.
I have spoken with some, perhaps too much, severity of Cyrus
King, but it is on principle. I have nothing personal against him.
I am sure I have no quarrel with him, for I dine with him tomorrow.
I mean only, that he is too impetuous and passionate for a States-
man, too precipitate for a sound politician. His friends say, that
he voted for the House because he hated the President. Admitting
that the D 1 himself were President, and that he had made a
treaty consigning us all, during four years, to the infernal regions,
he ought to support it, and you and I ought to go, rather than
violate a fundamental principle of the constitution.
Randolph is a sad fellow. I wish you could look at him. He is
as tall, and as straight, and as swarthy, as a Sagamore, and squeels
like a pig when the knife is in his throat; and he is as great a nuisance
as the Pig without a knife and without a yoke. He breaks into
every one's yard, and pokes his nose into every one's pail of swill.
He talks at all times, and upon all subjects; generally, howxver,
preferring any subject rather [than] the one before the House. The
first day after my arrival I feared that he would not, and ever since
that he would, speak; and there is not a man in the House or gallery
who is not, on this subject, as great a coward as I am. Since I have
been in the city he has cost the House more than I have cost the
Senate, which you know is more than ten thousand Dollars.
There my friend, if you w^ant more nonsense, you must call
upon some other member — my stock is exhausted. Respectfully
and sincerely yours,
Thos. B. Wait.
Remarks were made during the meeting by Messrs. Shat-
TUCK, J. C. Warren, Storer, and Norcross.
338 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
MEMOIR
OF
WILLIAM ROSCOE LIVERMORE
By ABBOTT LAWRENCE LOWELL.
On the ancestry of our late colleague, Col. William Roscoe
Livermore, it is unnecessary to comment here, for his father,
George Livermore, was an honored member and benefactor
of this Society, and a long memoir of him by Charles Deane
may be found in Volume x of the first series of our Proceedings.
Colonel Livermore was born in Cambridge on January 11,
1843. There his childhood was passed, and in due time he
naturally entered Harvard College. But, while a freshman,
he obtained a nomination to West Point, whither he went in
1 86 1. An incident there shows that he was not devoid of the
spirit of harmless mischief which gives a spice to life; and in
fact he always had a sense of fun little suspected by those
who did not know him well. With two or three other cadets
he sounded reveille one morning and made the whole corps,
with the officers of the post, turn out an hour before the
proper time. This he did without being discovered — no small
exploit at the Academy, a serious offence against discipline at
the moment, but a good story in later life.
During the whole four years spent by his class at West
Point the Civil War was raging, and the cadets longed to be
called out for active service, but the government wisely ab-
stained from anticipating the supply of trained young officers
in a war whose duration was uncertain. In 1865 he graduated
sixth in a class of sixty-eight, and selected the Corps of Engineers
I920.] WILLIAM ROSCOE LIVERMORE.' 339
for which he was peculiarly fitted by his mathematical and
scientific abihty. It was not long before he showed his capacity.
In 1868, when twenty-five years of age, the laying of the
first American cable from the United States to Havana gave a
chance to exercise his systematic precision and resourcefulness.
While it was being laid the cable parted, and the engineers of
the company, unable to find the broken end, abandoned the
attempt to do so; whereupon he asked leave to try to find it,
and by an ingenious use of the data at command he succeeded.
As an army engineer he was connected with work on forti-
fications on the Atlantic coast from New Bedford to Tortugas,
with river and harbor improvements in the Northeast and on
the Missouri, and with surveying on the Great Lakes and in
Texas. In the last of these places his services proved so note-
worthy that a mountain in Jefferson Davis county bears his
name. It is characteristic of his indifference, if not repugnance,
to popular recognition that he objected to this; but his dis-
inclination was very properly unheeded by the Department.
While in this region he had an experience that showed his
determination and pluck. Roughs in the neighborhood were
impeding the work of the post, but instead of resorting to
military measures he decided to give them a lesson of a kind
they could understand. Although not a large man or particu-
larly athletic, he offered to fight their leader with his fists. To
make the lesson more emphatic he had one hand tied behind
his back, and being skillful in boxing he thrashed his opponent.
Thereafter he had no trouble with these men and became very
popular among them.
Most of his active life was spent in this country serving on
the Engineer Corps; but in 1899 he was sent to Europe as
MiHtary Attache to the embassies at Copenhagen and Stock-
holm. During that mission he travelled in Germany and
Russia, witnessing the army maneuvers in the former, and the
three years he passed abroad were full of interest to his alert
and observing mind.
Intellectually, indeed, he was always busy, and his interests
extended over a wide range, military and civil. He published
a manual of tactics {Maneuvers for Infantry, 1884), simplified
the German Kriegspiel for the use of American officers, and,
with Col. A. H. Russell, invented magazine and automatic
340 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE,
guns, including the method of loading the rifle by clips. His
interest in, and capacity for, mastering scientific problems led
him into many fields. To the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences he was elected, not in the section of engineering but
of chemistry; and he contributed to the Journal of the American
Chemical Society (Vol. xii. No. 9) a paper on the mathematical
relations of the atomic weights, — a problem whose signifi-
cance he was, indeed, one of the first to appreciate.
To no subject could he turn his attention without devoting
to it profound study. An opportunity for doing so in a matter
important for both military and civil life was presented when
he was detailed as engineer of the first light-house district, a
service placed under the War Department although its utility
is naval. It had long been known that fog signals were at
times inaudible when most needed, and vessels were often
wrecked close to fight houses without hearing a sound. Major
Livermore, as he then was, undertook to ascertain the cause
and cure of this phenomenon. He began by charting the
silent areas — the sound shadows as he called them — of his
district under different atmospheric conditions; and found that
they occurred only where the signal was situated upon a cliff
or bluff high enough to deflect the wind, only when the wind
was blowing strongly on shore, and only over an area extend-
ing a certain distance to sea. He then calculated the inter-
ference with the sound waves caused by the ascending current
of the wind on touching the cliff, and showed that under these
conditions the sound waves which would otherwise strike the
nearer sea would be deflected upward, but by dispersion would
reach the water farther out. This accounted for the sound
shadows near the fog signal and the audibility of the sound at
a greater distance. As that occurred only when the wind was
strong on shore, and hence the sea rough, it was evident that a
whistling buoy would sound whenever the fog signal could not
be heard. He recommended, therefore, that such buoys should
be moored to windward of all fog signals standing upon high
ground, and they may now be seen throughout our coast,
thereby removing a former danger of maritime disaster.
Mifitary history always occupied much of his attention, and
he was a diligent student thereof, but his principal pubhcation
on the subject was rather a tribute to the memory of a friend
I920.] WILLIAM ROSCOE LIVERMORE. 341
than a labor undertaken for its own sake. John C. Ropes, the
learned historian of Napoleon and of the Civil War, known
and beloved by all members of this Society, died when only
half of his history of the Civil War was completed; and Col.
Livermore agreed to finish it. This he did in two admirable
volumes covering the period from the beginning of 1863 to the
close of the war.
With so little of a popular nature from his pen his writing of
this book is a satisfaction, tempered only by a fear that it may
have interfered with the completion and publication of what
he regarded as his chief productive work. This is the historical
atlas upon which he spent an enormous amount of labor. It is
significant of his versatile mind that his primary activities
being connected with military art and physical science he
should have taken as the leading object of many years a plan
that falls within neither of those fields. But he was an in-
tellectual pioneer by temperament, and felt that here lay a
work never done and much needed. He believed that history
could be greatly illuminated by a picture virtually continuous
of the changes in political geography that have taken place
from the dawn of historical knowledge to the present day.
His object is best described in his own words:
A separate map is given for each ten years for Europe and twenty
for Asia, excepting for those in which there were no important
changes within the period. ... As the maps are so closely con-
tinuous in time, they represent all political changes of any impor-
tance, whereas other atlases represent only distant periods. . . .
The advantages of my plan are: that it presents a complete
panorama of history; in turning over the pages we see the growth
and decline of nations and tribes; the maps are moving pictures.
A narrative is expressed in language addressed to the ear, perhaps
through the eye. This is addressed directly to the eye, which takes
in thousands of impressions while the ear takes in one. It is history
expressed in three dimensions.
For example, to find the state of Europe at a definite time, we
have only to turn to the map of the date next following. To find
the time that any nation or race first predominated in any spot,
we have only to turn the leaves back until the color of that spot
changes, the figures near the boundary line indicating the precise
year if known in which the change occurred. ... A knowledge of
the geographical distribution of political supremacy is the alphabet
342 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUNE, 1920.]
and the foundation of Historical Science. . . . By means of these
maps with brief explanations one can learn more in a few hours than
by reading alone for many years, and what is thus learned is retained
longer in the memory.
At the time of his death the first three volumes — the most
important of the Atlas — were substantially finished, and the
fourth was far advanced. It is earnestly to be hoped that they
may be speedily published.
In 1904 he had reached the grade of Colonel of Engineers,
and in 1907 was retired by operation of law; but when our
country entered the Great War, Colonel Livermore offered his
services, was detailed for special duty with the chief of En-
gineers and edited the Professional Memoirs. This is in fact
a journal of military engineering, and the work was one for
which he was especially fitted. Shortly after the end of the
war he fell ill, and died suddenly at a hospital in New York
on September 26, 1919.
Colonel Livermore's intellectual gifts, his versatihty and his
industry are evident from this brief description of what he
did. Yet he was not a man to be appreciated by those who did
not know him well. Affectionate by nature, genial with his
friends and delightful in propounding new theories that bit
into the mind, he was taciturn among strangers, and indifferent
to fame. He cared very much about the solution of problems,
but singularly little about the reputation they might bring.
His desire and facility for self-expression were, indeed, far from
strong, either in speech or writing. He was contented to seek
for knowledge, to find it, and to place it where it could be of
use to those who might look for it. He left few letters, not
much published material in comparison with the range of his
knowledge and his thought; and what can be stated in a
memoir comes in large part from personal recollection. But
to the friends who knew him his memory is treasured with
affectionate admiration.
INDEX.
Abercrombie, Robert, 210.
Abington, revival, 205.
Abolition, petitions for, 49, 50.
Acteva, 259, 260.
Adams, Brooks, paper, 179.
Adams, Charles Francis, bust of, i.
Adams, Eliphalet, 202.
Adams, George, 326.
Adams, Hannah, 47.
Adams, Henry (1604-1676), 93.
Adams, Henry, 67.
Adams, John, medal, 129.
Adam.s, John Quincy, medal, 129.
Adams, Mary Ogden, gift of bust, i.
Adams, Thomas, 216.
Adams fund, 151.
Adventure, 236, 242, 253, 258; sale
of, 260.
Adventure Cove, 236.
Agassiz, Alexander, 117.
Agassiz, Alexander Russell, 'The
real Frankenstein,' 99.
Agassiz, Ida, 115.
Ahhousett, 227, 239.
Ahmed III, 72«.
Alabama, 2.
Alder, , 258.
Aldie, fight at, in.
Alexander, Henry Burt, gift, 93.
Alexander, Sir William, Earl of
Stirling, letter, 66.
Allen, Ambrose, 85.
Allen, Elizabeth, 85.
Allen, Samuel, 85.
Allen, Sarah, 85.
AUston, Washington, Belshazzar's
Feast, 331.
Alston, Theodosia Burr, letter, 334.
Americana, early, photostat repro-
ductions, 147.
Ames, Mrs. Adelberl, gift, 187.
Ames, Mrs. James Barr, gift, 17.
Amherst, Jeffrey, 59; letter, 24.
Amory, Martha Babcock (Greene),
141.
Amory, Thomas Coffin, 66.
Andrault, Charles Etienne Louis,
Comte de Langeron, papers, 38.
Angier, Lavinia Hathaway, 184.
Angier, Oakes, 184.
Anne, Queen, 78.
Anti-Corn Law League, 307, 315.
Archer, James, 129.
Archer, William S. 57.
Armstrong, Ann, 210.
Arnold, E. W., Jr., journal, 17S.
Ashurst, Henry, 190.
Atlas, historical, Livermore, 341.
Attleboro, Mass.. medal, 18.
Attoo, 228, 240.
Aubin, J. Harris, Memoir of A. A.
Rand, 30.
Augusta, Me., currency, 93.
Aztec children, 37, 40.
B.
Bachelder, Jane Reed (Smith),
86.
Bachelder, John Henry, 86.
Bachelder, Nelly Alden, 86.
Baker, Percy Bryant, gift, 92.
Ballard, Hannah Elisabeth, 131.
Ballard, Joseph, 179.
Ballard, WilHam, papers, 178.
Bancroft, George, Poems, gin.
Bandelier, Adolph Francis Al-
phonse, 141.
Bank of England, Lee's criticisms
276; American securities, 277
regulator of currency, 27S
charter bill, 318.
344
INDEX.
Bank of the United States, 284,
288, 289, 294, 297, 298, 302.
Banks of issue, evidence on, 286,
301; joint stock, 324.
Barber, Whitman, i.
Barbour, Philip, 337.
Baring, Alexander, Lord Ashbur-
ton, 300.
Baring, Francis Thornhill, 289«.
Baring, Thomas, 314
Barlow, Francis, 113.
Barnes, Joseph, 232.
Barrell, Joseph, 218.
Barren's Sound, 229, 234.
Barrington, John Shute, 8o«.
Barton, James, 141.
Bashee Isles. 263.
Bealty, , 194.
Bedford, 224.
Belcher, Jonathan, seal and hair,
128.
Belcher, Joseph, letter, 194.
Belcher, Sarah, 128.
Belknap, Andrew E., 19.
Belknap, Elizabeth, 19.
Belknap, Jeremiah, papers, 18,
39-
Belknap, Jeremiah, Jr., 39.
Belknap, John, 40.
Bell, Alexander Graham, telephone,
117.
Bellamy, , 45.
Bennett, Mary, 85.
Benton, Thomas Hart, speech of,
49.
Betsy, 274.
Biddle, Nicholas, 308.
Bigelow, Katherine, 93.
Bigelow, Melville Madison, paper,
21.
Bigelow, William Sturgis, diplomas
in oriental studies, 66; gift of
sword, 185.
Bills, Shubael, 327, 331.
Biram, James, medal, 2.
Bishops in the colonies, 68, 70.
Black Bartholomew Day, 83.
Blaine, James Gillespie, campaign
of 1884, 173.
Blair, John, 195.
Blair, Robert, 217.
Blake, 'Adventures of Morris,' 28.
Boes, James, 217.
Boit, John, log-book of the Cohini-
bia, 217.
Bolen, J. A., medals, 2, 140.
Bollan, William, 26.
Bosson, Albert D., 90.
Boston, Washingtonian Conven-
tion, 2; Mercantile Elocution
class, 3; Mercantile Library, 3;
views, 17; West Boston Meeting
House, 18 ; Cochituate celebration,
37; First Universal Church, 39;
Putnam Free School, 65; Federal
Street School, 66; public hbrary,
1713, 69; Custom House tower,
93; Mass. General Hospital lease,
94; Museum, 129; Old Brick
Meeting House, Cornhill, 178;
YD parade, 186; fire, 1872, 189;
revival, 195, 196, 197, 200, 203,
211, 214, 216.
Boston Latin School, photograph
of F. Gardner, i.
Boston Medical Library, gift, i.
Boston Sunday Advertiser medal,
140.
Boston Symphony Orchestra, 121.
Boston, 179.
Boudier, , profile maker, 92.
Bouve, Edward T., on A. A. Rand,
Bowditch, Charles Pickering, Belk-
nap papers, 18, 39, 40; gift, 93.
Bowers, John, 93.
Bowring, Sir John, 293.
Boyle, Robert, 190.
Boynton, Helen Mason, gift, 2.
Boynton, Henry Van Ness, papers,
2.
Bradford, Edward Hickling, gifts,
18, 178, 325.
Bradford, Elizabeth, 32^11.
Bradford, Gamaliel, 'Portrait of
Henry Adams,' 67.
Bradford, Lodowick H., 37.
Bradley, E. W., 327.
Bradstreet, John, 24.
Brady, Philip E., gift, iS.
Brandon, Benjamin, 210.
Brattle, , 22.
Brazil, note, 93.
Bridgewater, revival, 205.
Brigham, Edwin Howard, gifts, i,
37, 177-
INDEX.
345
Bright, John, 314.
Broderick, Henry, 60.
Brookline, N. H., Townsend Bank,
note, 93.
Broughton, William, 244.
Brown, Arthur, 205.
Brown, John, 179.
Brown, Samuel, 218.
Brown, William, 257.
Bryan, Hugh, 199, 205.
Bryan money, 65, 93, 140, 177.
Buchanan, James, 49.
Buck, , captain, 27.
Buckfield, Mass., Zadoc Long Li-
brary, 12.
Buddha, certificates of disciple of,
66.
Buflford, John H., lithograph, 65.
Bull Run, memorials to dead, i.
BuUard, , 330.
BuUer, , captain, 220.
Bunker Hill Monument Associa-
tion, gift, 37; records, 38.
Burgess, Sarah K., gifts, 185.
Burke, John, diary, 94.
Burke, Mrs. Nicholas P. T., de-
posit, 140.
Burlen, Caroline C, gift, 186.
Burlington, N. J., revival, 195.
Burnet, Gilbert, Bishop of Salis-
bury, 83.
Burns, Anthony, 108.
Burr, Aaron, daughter's plea for, 334.
Burr, George Lincoln, correspond-
ing member, 19, 38.
Burr, Theodosia, letter, 334.
Butler, Benjamin Franklin, 12; in-
dex on, 187.
Butler, Paul, gift, 187.
Butter sworth, 257.
Byles, Belcher, miniature, 128.
Byles, Catherine, 179.
Byles, Mather, 8, 39, 59.
Byles, Samuel, 39.
Byles, Sarah Louisa (Lyde), minia-
ture, 128.
Byles family, papers, 141.
C.
Cabot, Ann McMaster (Codman),
176.
Cabot, Henry Bromfield, 176.
Cabots, the Massachusetts, 105.
Calhoun, John Caldwell, 49;?, 50,
T)2,i; on abolition, 51.
Calumet and Hecla mine, 117.
Cambridge, Mass., revival, 195.
Campbell, G. E., gift, 18.
Canada, imports of wheat, 303, 310.
Canton River, Columbia in, 264.
Cape Adams, 248.
Cape Flattery, 229.
Cape Hancock, 248.
Carter, John, printer, i.
Cass, Lewis, 57; opinion of, 55.
Caswell, Joshua, murder of, 231,
234-
Cayuela, 227.
Cennick, John, 199.
Chadwick, James Read, 2.
Chamberlayne, , 80.
Chamberley, , 52.
Chandler, Horace Parker, bequest,
94.
Channing, William Ellery, on slav-
ery, 52; death, 308.
Chapin, Howard Millar, gift, 129.
Charlcot Isles, 233.
Charles VI, emperor, 71.
Charles XII, of Sweden, 72, 77.
Charlestown, Mass., burning of
convent, 178, 325; revival, 195,
216.
Chasca, 94.
Chatham, 244, 259.
Checkley, John, 198.
Cheever, Ezekiel, 86.
Cheever, Sally, 85.
Cheney, J., 186.
Cheverus, Jean Louis Anne Mag-
daleine Lefebvre de, 18.
Chicago, Burhngton & Quincy
R. R., 117.
Chickleset Sound, 228.
China, merchants, 265.
Chinoak, 248.
Chipman, J., 39.
Choate, Rufus, 18.
Church of England, forms and cere-
monies, 71, 75.
Clark, WiUiam T., 129.
Clarke, J. J., 327, 330.
Clarke, William B, deposit, 179.
Clay, Henry, 49; Story on, 332.
Clayoquet, 227, 234, 235, 255.
346
INDEX,
Clement, Andrew J., 97.
Clement, Edward Henry, tribute
to, 97.
Clement, William B., 97.
Clinton, Sir Henry, 59.
Clioquot, see Clayoquet.
Closson, , engraver, 94.
Cobden, Richard, 293, 296, 306,
312, 314-
Codman, Ann McMaster, 168.
Codman, Charles Russell, memoir
of, 168.
Codman, John, 168.
Codman, John Sturgis, 176.
Codman, JuHan, 176.
Codman, Robert, 168.
Codman, Russell Sturgis, 176.
Codman, Stephen, 168.
Codman, Susan Welles, 176.
Coffin, Charles Carleton, gift from
estate, 17.
Coffin, Grace (Parkman), 141.
Coffin, Laban, 224.
Cohasset, service medal, 65.
Colman, Benjamin, letters of White
Kennett to, 67; tracts, 81, 82;
Glasgow- Weekly-History, 192;
complaint, i96«; letters, 197, 198,
202, 213, 214.
Colonies, imports into British, 288.
Columbia, on the northwest coast,
1790-1792, 217.
Columbia's Cove, 228, 249, 253,
254.
Columbia River, 247.
Columbian College, 56.
Compass, azimuth and amplitude,
219.
Confederate States, stock certifi-
cates, 17; paper money, 93.
Connecticut, Indians of, 211, 213,
215-
Connor, Robert Digges Wimberley,
25-
Convention,)Washingtonian, 1884, 2.
Cook, James, 261.
Cook, , 54-
Cooper, William, 81, 82, 197, 215,
216.
Copley, John Singleton, portrait of
Elizabeth Oliver, 186.
Corey, Elijah, silhouette and watch,
186.
Corn, duties, in England, 282, 289,
290, 292, 302, 304, 305, 316;
laws, agitation, 284; operation,
286, 295; imports, 296; repealed,
321. ':M
Cornwallis, Charles, Earl, 59.
Cosway, Richard, 128.
Cotton, John, 39.
Cotton, Mary, 39.
Cotton, Samuel, 39.
Cotton, in England, 296, 297, 300,
302, 310, 311.
Coxe's Harbor, 227.
Coyac, Indian, 229.
Credits, use of, 311.
Crehore, Edith, gift, 18.
Crehore, Edward, 18.
Crehore, Sarah Minns (Tileston),
18.
Crocker, George Uriel, gift, 179.
Crocker, Walton L., on A. A. Rand,
33-
Cross, John, 195.
Crosswell, Andrew, 202, 214.
Crowell, Samuel, 233, 237.
Crown Point, Amherst's letter, 24.
Cruft, , 233.
Cumswah, Indian, 231.
Cunningham, Andrew, 177.
Cunningham, D. W. 177.
Cunningham, Henry Winchester,
177.
Currency, and prices, 281.
Curtis, Greely Stevenson, 109.
Curtis, WiUiam, of Bristol, 66.
D.
D., G., 200.
Dalton, Edward Barrj', 180.
Dana, Richard Henry, nominating
committee, 130.
DarUngton, Lord, see Vane.
Davenport, James, 196, 214, 215.
Daves, Frances, 185.
Davis, Andrew McFarland, tribute
to, 141.
Davis, Jub'a Temple, 10.
Davis, Matthew Livingston, 52,
54-
Dawson, George, 57.
Dearborn, Hannah Swett (Lee),
332«.
INDEX.
347
Dearborn, Henry Alexander Scam-
mell, 331; on Allston, 331.
Dedalus, 259.
Deeds, English parchment, 38.
Denny, Clarence Holbrook, on
H. F. Jenks, 95.
Denton, F. W., gift, 179.
De Renne, Wimberley Jones, i92«.
Dexter, Jeremy, 21.
Dexter, Mrs. Morton, deposit, 179.
Dexter, Susan Greene Amory, gift,
140.
Dexter, Thomas, against Nahant,
179.
Discovery, 244, 259, 261.
Dissenters, change in spirit of, 75;
chapel bill, 318.
Dodd, William Edward, 8.
Dodson, R. W., 186.
Dominica, naval battle off, 187.
DooHttle, Amos, 17.
Dorr, Jonathan, 326, 327, 329, 331.
Doty, , 22.
Douglas, Dunbar James, Earl of
Selkirk, in Washington, 54.
Dowse, Edmond, 179.
Dowse, William Bradford Homer,
House journals, 146, 151; on
'Gradus ad Parnassum,' 179.
Doyle, William Massey Stroud,
silhouette by, 186.
Drake, Francis Samuel, 187.
Dudley, David, 327, 331.
Dufifin, ,259, 261.
Dummer, Jeremiah, 69, 74, 77.
Duncan, William, 192, 193.
Dunlap, William, 128.
Duties, import, commission, 285,
287; changes, 289.
Dutton, Ann, 210.
Dwight, Wilder, 179.
Earthquake of 1728, 83.
East Lyme, revival, 201.
East Saugus, tavern inscription,
179.
Eastern States exhibition medal, 2.
Eaton, Arthur Wentworth Hamil-
ton, gift, 141; deposit, 179.
Economist, estabUshed, 315, 317.
Edes, Eliza, 325W.
Edes, Henry Herbert, treasurer's
accounts, 130, 158; tribute to
A. M. Davis, 141.
Edward VI, photograph, 18.
Edwards, Jonathan, 198, 206.
EHot, Charles William, tribute to
H. L. Higginson, 40.
Eliot, John, the Apostle, letters,
189; Indian tracts, 191.
Elizabeth, of Wiirtemburg, 186.
Eliot, Samuel Atkins, 42.
Ellery, WiUiam, 177.
EUis, Chesselden, 332.
ElHs, George Edward, 19.
EUis, Samuel, pewter plates, i.
Endecott, John, gift from Roger
WiUiams, 8.
Endicott, William Crowninshield,
nominating committee, 130, 160;
report of council, 145; gift, 187.
Erskine, Ebenezer, 215.
Erskine, Ralph, 215.
Everett, Edward, 311.
Exchange, foreign, and currency,
279.
F.
Falkland Islands, Columbia at,
223.
Farlow, John Woodward, gifts, 2, 18,
140.
Farwell, John Whittemore, book-
plate, 17; gift, 93.
Fens, 259, 261.
Finlysom, M., 207.
Fisher, Herbert Albert Laurens,
Corresponding Member, 2.
Fisher, James, 2i5«.
Fisher, William, 39.
Fiske, Redington, 176.
Fiske, Susan Welles (Codman), 176.
Fitch, Jabez, 205.
Fitch, Mary Rand, 182.
Fitzwilliam, William Thomas Spen-
cer Wentworth, Lord Milton,
293-
Fleming, William, letter, 28.
Floyd, Richard, 190.
Fog signals, 340.
Folger, John, 232.
Follen, Eliza Lee, 17.
Fonte, Admiral, 230.
Ford, John W., igo.
348
INDEX.
Ford, Worthington Chauncey, 59
67, 104; 'Henry Adams,' 8
tribute to E. H. Clement, 97
Winthrop MSS., 188.
Fort Pitt, Pittsburgh, 177.
Fortune, 86.
Foster, Dwight, portrait, 92.
Foster, Joseph, 17.
Foster, Parnell, 168.
Founders and Patriots, order of, 65.
Fowler, Lorenzo Niles, 49.
Fowler, Orson Squire, 49.
France, war posters, 17; relations
with, 53; currency of, 281.
Franklin, Benjamin, engraving of,
129.
Fredericq, Paul, corresponding
member, 3, 38; death of, 178.
Friends^ Advenkire, 141.
Frothingham, Paul Revere, nom-
inating committee, 130; memoir
of G. Hodges, 131.
Fugio money, 93.
Fuller & Simmons, 331.
Gale, Isaac, 326, 327.
Gardner, Francis, photograph of, i.
Gardner, S. J., 326.
Gay, Edwin Francis, correspond-
ing member, 189.
'Gentleman's Magazine,' set of, 17.
Geography, first American, 45.
George I, triumphs of, 71.
George II, 82M.
George III, sword of, 185.
Germany, decorations on victory,
92.
Gibbs, Robert, 39.
Gilbert, Ada A., gift, 185.
Gilbert, Helen Sewall, portrait by,
185.
Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, 177.
Gilman, Mrs. Bradley, gift, 92.
Gladstone, William Ewart, 321.
Glasgow-Weekly-History, 1743,
192.
Gleason, Frederick, 2.
Glover, Mary Woodward, 11.
Goldthwaite, Thomas, 25.
Goliew, 245, 248.
Goodspeed, Charles Eliot, gift, 141.
Gookin, Daniel, 'Historical Col-
lections,' 191.
Gordon, Grace Lyde, estate of, 128.
Gordon, , 257.
Gore, Watson, 327, 328, 331.
Gorges, Edward, letter, 66.
Gorges, Ferdinando, letter, 66.
Goulburn, Henry, 317, 321.
Gower, Erasmus, 269.
Granger, Francis, 49, 53, 54.
Grant medals, 178.
Grasse, Alexander Frangois Aug-
uste, Comte de, 187.
Gray, Edward, resident member,
66, 93; committee on library
and cabinet, 130, 160; gift, 140.
Gray, Harrison, letters, 179.
Gray, Harry Alexis, gifts, 18, 37.
Gray, Robert, of the Columbia, 218,
231, 232, 234, 237, 241, 243, 249,
252.
Gray, Russell, gifts, 2.
Gray, Thomas, 187.
Gray's Harbor, 247.
Great Britain, currency and corn,
282; elections, 1841, 292; new
tariff, 303, 304, 305, income tax,
304, 305, 309.
Green, Duff, 313.
Greene, Gardiner, account book,
141.
Greene, Martha Babcock, 141.
Greenleaf, Stephen, account as
Sheriff, 21.
Greenough, Charles Pelham, gifts,
I, 37, 38, 66, 140, 186; treasurer's
accounts, 130, 158; Finance com-
mittee, 181.
Greenough, David, 94.
Greenwood, Francis William Pitt,
portrait, 186.
Gregory, Harry, gift, 39.
Grenville, Richard, Lord Bucking-
ham, 301.
Grey, Charles, Lord Howick, 293,
312, 316.
Grifhn, Cyrus, 27.
Griswold, George, 201.
Grosvenor, Lord Robert, 309.
Groton, Conn., 202.
Groton, Mass., papers, 66.
Guatemala, official publications,
178.
INDEX.
349
Guild, Marian, sampler, 129.
Guyse, John, 2i6«.
Guyse, William, 2i6n.
Gwin, Thomas, on John Peters,
185.
H.
Habersham, James, 215.
Hale, Eben, 3.
Hale, Joshua, 3.
Hale, Josiah L., 3.
Hall, Joseph, 194.
Hamilton, Mass., service medal,
93-
Hancock, John, 26.
Hancock, 233, 237.
Hancock's River, 2$s> 248.
Hanmer, Jonathan, 191.
Hannah, chief, 227, 239.
Hardcastle, Henry, 286.
Harding, Benjamin, 242.
Harrington, Joseph, 327, 328.
Harris, Howel, 199.
Harrison, William Henry, 53.
Hart, Francis Russell, resident mem-
ber, 179, 186; gift, 186.
Harvard College, 69; Long on, 10;
Higginson and, 118; view of, 129;
quaestiones, 1772, 187; White-
field's influence, 197, 198, 199,
203, 208, 214.
Hassam, Abby (Hilton), 86.
Hassam, Eleanor, 91, 141.
Hassam, Elizabeth (Allen), 85.
Hassam, John, 86; bookbinder, 86.
Hassam, John Tyler, memoir of,
85-
Hassam, Jonathan, 85.
Hassam, Mary (Bennett), 85.
Hassam, Nelly Alden (Bachelder),
86.
Hassam, Sally (Cheever), 85.
Hassam, Sarah (Allen), 85.
Hassam, William, 85.
Hassler, Ferdinand Rudolph, 57.
Hastings, Francis Rawdon-, 59.
Haswell, Robert, 232, 236, 242, 250,
253, 258.
Hatch, Crowell, 218.
Hatches island, 230.
Haven, Mary E., 178.
Hazard, Ebenezer, 19.
Hebron, Conn., 202.
Henry, Patrick, Iredell on, 27.
Henshaw, Joshua, 39.
Herefordshire Tragedy, 161.
Heuens, Hannah, 185.
Hewes, Elihu, letter, 25.
Hewes, Joseph, 25.
Hibbard, Thomas, gift, 93.
HickHng, Charles, 178, 2>-S' 326,
327. 3^8.
Hickhng, Eliza (Edes), 32^)1.
Hickling, Elizabeth (Bradford),
325«-
HickUng, Elizabeth (Hudson) , 3 2 5U.
HickHng, Sarah (Edes), 32 5».
Hickhng, William, 325;;.
Higginson, Francis Lee, 117.
Higginson, Francis Lee, Jr., 117.
Higginson, George, 106, 116.
Higginson, Henry Lee, 180; tribute
by C. W. Eliot, 40; memoir by
J. T. Morse, Jr., 105.
Higginson, Ida (Agassiz), 115;
gift, 65.
Higginson, James Jackson, ii4n,
179.
Higginson, Mary Lee, 106.
Hilton, Abby, 86.
Hilton, Amos, 86.
Hilton, William, 86.
Hindostan, Mohur of, 93.
Hodges, Anna Sargent (Jennings),
132.
Hodges, George, memoir of, 131.
Hodges, George Clarendon, 186.
Hodges, George Frederick (Han-
del), 131.
Hodges, Hannah Elisabeth (Bal-
lard), 131.
Hodges, Juha (Shelley), 139.
Hodges, WiUiam, 131.
Hodges, Zephaniah Leonard, 131.
Holland, Henry, 'Herwologia An-
glica,' 8.
Holland and Ireland, 322.
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, portrait
and letter, 94.
'Hoosac Bore,' caricature, 2.
Hope, 230, 233, 257, 259.
Hopedale, Mass., service medal,
93-
Hopkins, Mark, 38.
Horsham, see Hassam.
Houston, Archibald, 192.
35°
INDEX.
Howard, Abraham, 40.
Howard, George, Lord Morpeth,
293-
Howe, Fanny Huntington (Quincy),
gift, 66.
Howick, Lord, see Charles Grey.
Hudson [or Hodson], Elizabeth,
Hulton, Henry, 39.
Hume, Joseph, 293.
Humphreys, J., 204.
Hunt, Charles, gift, 18; on A. A.
Rand, 36.
Hunt, Washington, letter, 57.
Hutchinson, Foster, 22.
Hutchinson, Thomas, 23.
latheo, 258.
Indiana, stock, 308.
Indian corn for Ireland, 322, 323.
Indians, Ahhousett, 227.
Indostan, 269.
Ingraham, Joseph, 230, 233, 257,
259-
Ipswich, 195; revival, ig8.
Ireland, 320; condition, 321, 323.
Isau, 227.
J.
Jackal, 259.
Jacob, Henry, 190.
James, Ellerton, gift, 17.
Jameson, John Franklin, gift, 177.
Jay, John, 27.
Jefferson, Thomas, sale of library,
336.
Jeffries. David, 178.
Jenkins, Herbert, 217.
Jenks, Betsy (Russell), 96.
Jenks, Charles W., gifts, i, 17.
Jenks, Frederic Angier, 184.
Jenks, Henry Angier, 184.
Jenks, Henry Fitch, tribute by J. F.
Rhodes, 94; J. C. Warren, 95;
memoir, 182.
Jenks, John Henry, 182.
Jenks, Lavinia Hathaway (Angier),
184.
Jenks, Mary Rand (Fitch), 182.
Jenks, WiUiam, 96, 182.
Jenks and Palmer, 96.
Jennings, Anna Sargent, 132.
Jewett, David, 202.
Jews, converted, 80, Si; oaths, 81,
324-
John Francis Edward, Chevalier
de St. George, 72.
Johnson, , 27.
Joy, Mrs. Charles H., gift, 178.
Joy, Fred, gifts, 18, 140.
Juliana, crown princess of Holland,
92.
K.
Kearsarge, 2.
Kellen, WiUiam Vail, memoir of C.
R. Codman, 168.
Kendall, Amos, nomination held
up, 55-
Kendrick, John, 234, 236, 263, 265.
Kenekomitt, 244, 245.
Kennedy, Hugh, 213W.
Kennedy, Margaret, 211.
Kennett, White, Bishop of Peter-
borough, letters, 67; American
library, 69.
Kilmore, 66.
King, Cyrus, 336.
King, Rufus, 336.
Kinnicutt, Lincoln Newton, 161.
Kirkland, John Thornton, 186.
Knox, Henry, papers, 187.
Knox, William, letter, 59.
L., J., of East Lyme, Conn., 202.
Labouchere, Flenry, 304.
Lady Washington, 234, 235, 264.
Lamb, William, Viscount Mel-
bourne, 285.
Lamb, , 258.
Lane, Andrew, 39.
Lane, Gardiner, 117.
Lane, William Coohdge, gift, 65.
Langeron, Comte de, see Andrault.
Langrage, 246^.
Lapham, George A., 94.
Lattimer, Robert, 141.
Laud, William, 75.
Lawrence, Abbott, 93; in Wash-
ington, 52, Si, 55-
Lawrence, Amos, papers, 38.
Lawrence, Amos Adams, 38; letters,
I
INDEX.
o:)
Lawrence, Katherine (Bigelow), 93.
Lawrence, James, photograph, 92.
Lawrence, Robert Means, gift, 38;
resident member, 189.
Lawrence, William Richards, 38, 55.
Lawson, John, 211.
Lear, Tobias, 19.
Lebanon, Conn., 202.
Lee, Frank, 117.
Lee, George, 117.
Lee, George C., 117.
Lee, Hannah Swett, 332?;.
Lee, Henry, 116; Lee-Thornely
letters, 275.
Lee, John Clark, 116.
Lee, Higginson & Co., 116.
Lees, the Massachusetts, 105.
Le Maire, Jacob, 224.
Lemist, John, 327, 330, 331.
Lemon, Henry, 37.
Leslie, Alexander, 59.
Leverett, John, 69.
Lewis, J., i92«.
Liberty bell, 17.
Lincoln, Abraham, medals, 178.
Lincoln, Arthur, 96.
Lincoln, Benjamin, letter, 24.
Lincoln, Levi, 53.
Lincoln, Mass., medal, 18.
Lincoln, 94.
Lion, 269.
Little, Moses, record books, 3.
Livermore, George, 338.
Livermore, William Roscoe, tribute
by J. F. Rhodes, 5; memoir, t^t,?,.
Lockport, N. Y., bank, 57.
Lodge, Henry Cabot, 3, 180; bust,
92; on 'Proceedings,' 181.
London-Weekly-History, 1742, 192.
Long, Agnes (Pierce), 11.
Long, John Davis, memoir of, 10.
Long, Julia Temple (Davis), 10.
Long, Mary Woodward (Glover),
II.
Long, Pierce, 11.
Long, Zadoc, 10.
Long Island, N. Y., revival, 195.
Lord, Arthur, Memoir of J. D.
Long, 10; report of treasurer, 149.
Louisburg pennies, 18.
Lowell, Abbott Lawrence, memoir
of W. R. Livermore, 338.
Lowell, Charles, 18; marriage, 115.
Lowell, Charles Russell. 180.
Lowell, James Jackson, 180.
Lowell, James Russell, 180.
Lowell, John, 24, 179.
Loyalists, doctrines of, 22.
Loyd, Samuel Jones, Baron Over-
stone, 283, 284, 296, 298; pamph-
let, 276.
Lumsden, Jane, 213.
Lyde, Byfield, 128.
Lyde, Edward, 128.
Lyde, Edward, Jr., miniature, 128.
Lyde, EHzabeth, miniature, 128.
Lyde, Elizabeth (Oliver), minia-
ture, 128; portrait, 186.
Lyde, George, miniature, 128.
Lyde, Sarah (Belcher,) 128.
Lyde, Sarah Louisa, miniature, 128.
M.
M., A., 'State of Religion in New
England,' iq6«, 210.
M., S., on Indians of Connecticut,
211.
Macao, Columbia at, 263.
Macartney, George, 269.
McCulloch, John Ramsay, 299.
M'CuUoch, William, 193, 204.
McGregore, David, 210.
Mclntire, Samuel, i30«.
Mackay, Jane, 211.
McKim, Alexander, 54,
Mackintosh, , 269.
McLeod, Alexander, 288, 296, 307.
McNeill, Hector, letter book, 179.
Madison, Dorothy Payne, 334.
Magee, James, 253, 254, 255, 257,
258, 259.
Mallet, Louis, 186.
Manila, cable, 37.
Manley, John, 179.
Mansfield, Gideon M., 158.
Marcou, Philippe, gifts, 18, 39.
Margaret, 253, 254, 255, 257, 258,
259-
Marrs, Mrs. Kingsmill, gifts, 17,
92, 129, 158, 185, 186.
Mason, Charles T., gift, 93.
Mason, Hugh, commission, 93.
Mason, Jeremiah, 18.
Mason, Jonathan, house of, 129.
Mason, Lowell, 42.
352
INDEX.
Massachusetts, paper money, 23;
militia rosters, 94; ist. Mass.
Cavalry, no; 'Journals of House
of Representatives,' 146.
Massachusetts Historical Society,
committees, annual, 130; reports:
Council, 145; treasurer, 149;
auditing committee, 158; libra-
rian, 158; cabinet-keeper, 159; on
library and cabinet, 160; nomi-
nating committee, 160; need of
new building, 145; publications,
146; photostat products, 146;
income and policy, 149; officers,
161; House committee, 181;
Finance committee, 181 ; on ' Pro-
ceedings,' 181; Historical Trust
Fund, 181.
Massachusetts High School Athletic
Association, medal, 17.
Massachusetts Society sons of the
American Revolution, medals,
129.
Massacre Cove, 232.
Mather, Cotton, 9.
Mather, Increase, 8, Si, 82.
Mather, Samuel, 177.
Mayo, Lawrence Shaw, resident
member, 19, 38; committee on
library and cabinet, 130, 160.
Mead,Matthew,' Almost Christian,'
185.
Mears, John, 259.
Medals and coins, 2, 17, 65, 93, 129,
140, 178, 186.
Medfield, Mass., 93.
Melbourne, see Lamb.
Mercantile Elocution class, 3.
Mercantile Library, Boston, benev-
olent fund, 3.
Merriam, John C, 651?.
Merriam, Joseph H., 65.
Merrill, F. A., 94.
Merrill, Thomas, Jr., 94.
Merrymount Press, gift, 93.
Middleborough, 205.
Milford, revival, 195.
Milton, Lord, see Fitzwilliam.
Mills, , 195.
Minerva, 198.
Milton, Mass., medal, 18.
Mobs in New England, 23.
Mohur, of Hindostan, 93.
Molter, P. H., 217.
Moncrief, Alexander, 2i5«.
Monis, Judah, 80, 81.
Monroe, James, 336.
Moorhead, John, letter, 211.
Morison, Samuel Eliot, reads paper,
130.
Morpeth, Lord, see Howard.
Morris, Charles, 55.
Morris, Thomas, 50.
Morse, Jedediah, first American
geography, 45.
Morse, John Torrey, Jr., memoir
of H. L. Higginson, 105.
Morton, Nathaniel, to Prence, 179.
Moses, Marcus, conversion of, 81.
Moulton, Henry Jefi'erson, Butler
index, 187.
Muck, Karl, and the Boston Sym-
phony Orchestra, 123.
Mudge, , 26 1«.
Murray, John, 39.
N.
N., W., 200.
Nahant, Thomas Dexter against,
179.
Nancy, a goat, 226.
Napoleon I, 186.
Native Americanism, Hunt on, 57.
Naturalisation in England, 83.
Navigation law, English, 323.
Neal, , 256.
Necklar, 249.
Needham, Mass., 200th anniver-
sary, I.
Nelson, Murray, memoir of John
Brown, 179.
Netherlands, Committee of his-
torical publications, gift, 92.
New, Thomas, 259.
New England Company in Lon-
don, 190.
New Haven, revival, 195, 214.
Newport, R. I., Historical Society,
2; revival, 195.
New York, relief of fire sufferers,
52; election, 307.
Nichols, John, 204.
Nicholson, James, 179.
Nittenatt, 229.
Noble, , 195.
INDEX.
353
Nolte, Vincent, 285.
Nootka Sound, 256, 258.
Norcross, Grenville Howland. 97;
gifts, I, 17, 177, 186; tribute to
H. E. Woods, 19; report of
cabinet-keeper, 159; Boston fire,
1872, 189; House Committee,
181; Finance Committee, 181.
Norfolk Guards, 329.
North Bend, 39.
Norton, Charles Eliot, 5.
Norton, , Alabama and Kear-
sarge, 2.
Nott, Eliphalet, letter, 332.
Nutting, George Hale, gift, 129.
O.
O'Connell, William Henry, car-
dinal, medals, 93.
Ogden, Depeyster, 320.
Ogilvie, James, 204.
Olcott, Mills, 18.
Oliver, Andrew, 128.
Oliver, Elizabeth, 128; portrait by
Copley, 186.
Oliver, Mary (Sanford), 128.
Ollyfe, John, 82.
Olmstead, James Monroe, gift, 37.
Opitsatah, 227, 242; destroyed, 243.
Oregon, question, 321.
Orme, , 78.
Orwell, Adeline, 62.
Owen, John, 202.
Page, , 286.
Paine, Charles Jackson, 117.
Palfrey, John Gorham, 49, 56.
Park, Lawrence, gift, 92.
Parkman, Francis, letters to, 141.
Parkman, Grace, 141.
Parsons, Jonathan, 201, 202, 206,
215-
Patterson, Joseph, 56.
Pattison, James, 314.
Peabody, George, 37, 94; hair and
razors, 93.
Peel, Sir Robert, 290, 291, 292,
293, 294, 297, 298, 300, 301, 304,
310, 312, 316; character, 285,
306, 319; retirement, 321.
Pendleton, William S., 186.
Pennsylvania, state stock, 292.
Pennypacker, Henry, gift, 17
Penobscot, account of, 25.
Periam, J., 211.
Perkins, Stephen, 109.
Perkins, Stephen George, 179, 180.
Perkins, Thomas Handasyd, 66.
Peterborough, Kennett collection,
67.
Peters, John, 185.
Petitions on abolition, 49, 50.
Philadelphia, Loan Company, scrip,
140; banks, 298, 302, 305.
Philip II, of France, 72.
Philip V. of Spain. 72, 77.
Phillips, Stephen Willard, 23.
Phrenology, 49.
Pickering, Timothy, Sr., letter, 22.
Pickersgill, Henry William, 37.
Pierce, Agnes, 11.
Pierce, Joseph Dexter, 11.
Pintard's Straits, 251, 252.
Piscataqua, 205.
Plains of Abraham, Quebec, 186.
Plimpton, George Arthur, 'The
First American Geography,' 45.
Plunkett, William C, 94.
Polack, 248.
Pomeroy, Benjamin, 202.
Popery, propaganda, 70, 74, 77.
Port Montgomery, 258.
Port Ne-ar, 259.
Port Tempest, 231.
Porter, Alexander, 49.
Porter, Frances W., gift, 186.
Portsmouth, N. H., revival, 198,
209.
Postage, international, 287, 289.
Poverty Cove, 260.
Pratt, EUerton, 18.
Preble, Edward, photograph, 2.
Preble, Edward Ernest, 2.
Preble, George Henry, photograph,
2.
Preble, Susie Z. , gifts and deposits, 2.
Preble, 2.
Prentiss, Nathaniel Shepherd, 326,
330-
Preston, William Cabell, 49^, 52.
Pretender, the, 79.
Prescott, William Hickling, papers,
354
INDEX.
Prevost, A. I. Frederic, 335.
Prince, Mrs. Charies A., gift, 18.
Prince, Thomas, 197, 214, 215;
letter, 204.
Prince Hall Lodge of Freemasons,
medal, 93.
Prince La Boo, 257.
Princess a, 260.
Providence, R. I., records, 18; revi-
val, 198.
Provincetown, Mass., medal, 2.
'Provision for the Convent,' carica-
ture, 2.
Putnam, Charles Pickering, 2.
Putnam, Elizabeth C, 180.
Putnam, William Lowell, 179.
Putnam Free School, Boston, 65.
Queen, 2.
Queen Charlotte isles, 229.
Quincy, Fanny Huntington, 66.
Quincy, Josiah, Jr., manuscripts of,
66.
Quincy, Mass., church medal, 129.
R.
Raguet, Condy, 308, 313.
Rand, Arnold Augustus, memoir
by J. H. Aubin, 30.
Rand, Charles Arthur, 32.
Rand, Edward Sprague, 30.
Rand, Elizabeth Arnold, 30.
Rand, Frederic Henry, 32.
Randolph, John, 337.
Ranney, Ambrose Arnold, 87.
Rantoul, Robert Samuel, memoir
of T. F. Waters, 61.
Rawdon, Lord, see Hastings.
Reardon, James W., gift, 140.
Redman, , 194.
Revere, Paul, paper from house,
17; bible, 140.
Rhode Island, revival, 198, 213.
Rhodes, James Ford, 99; tribute
to W. R. Livermore, 5; presides,
37, 92, 140, 185; tribute to H.
F. Jenks, 94; on 'Proceedings,'
181.
Ricardo, David, 293.
Rice, Samuel, 86.
Rice, duty on, 295.
Richards, George, 39.
Richardson, Ruth K., gift, 187.
Rio de Rayer, 230.
Robbins, Nathan, 17.
Robbins, Stephen, 37.
Robbins Co. of Attleboro, medal, 18.
Robinson, , 272.
Roby, James, 207.
Robertson, , lieut. col., 24.
Robinson, Fred Norris, resident
member, 3, 18.
Rodman, Emma, gifts, 185, 187.
Rodman, Samuel William, 187.
Rodney, George, 187.
Rogers, Henry M., on A. A. Rand,
35-
Rolinson, , 195.
Roosevelt, Theodore, 180.
Ropes, John Codman, 6; Liver-
more's continuation, 340.
Roskell, Ogden & Co., 319.
Rothschild, Lionel Nathan de, 324.
Rousseau, , 128.
Rowland, Daniel, 214.
Rowse, Samuel W., 37.
Roxbury, Mass., committee of
vigilance, 178, 325.
Royal Bank of Liverpool, 325.
Ruggles, H. Stoddard, gift, 94.
Ruggles, Timothy, 94.
Russell, Betsy, 96.
Russell, Cabot Jackson, 179.
Russell, George Robert, 17.
Russell, Henry Sturgis, 179.
Russell, James, 168.
Russell, John, Lord, 289, 291, 312,
321, 325-
Russell, Jonathan, 104.
Russell, Sarah (Shaw), 17.
Rutledge, Edward, law reports, 66.
Ruzicka, Rudolph, 93.
S.
Sacheverell, Henry, 75.
St. George, Richard, 59.
St. George of the Holy Roman
Empire, 65.
St. Helena, Columbia at, 272.
St. Louis fair medals, 140.
St. Patrick's Harbor, 249.
Sales, Sarah, 32s«.
INDEX,
355
Saltonstall, Endicott Peabody,
residenl member, 130, 140.
Salus, , trip to New Orleans,
28.
Sandon, Lord, 291.
Sandwich Islands, Columbia at,
261.
Sanford, Mary, 128.
San Francisco, Cal., lottery tickets,
37-
Savage, Arthur, 178.
Savage, Charles, papers, 17S.
Savage, Henry, gift, 178.
Savage, James, watch, 186.
Savage, James, Jr., 109, 179, 180.
Savage, Samuel PhiUips, 178.
Savage, W. H., 178.
Sawyer, George Augustus, 90.
Schouler, James, bequest, 187,
188.
Scott, Winfield, 55.
Scrooby, manor house, fragment,
186.
Scurvy, on Columbia, 225, 226;
treatment, 227, 243.
Selkirk, Earl of, see Douglas.
Sewall, Joseph, 197, 215.
Seward, Wilham, 200??.
Shakespeare's Head, Providence, i.
Sharp, William, 186.
Shattuck, Mrs. Frederick Cheever,
Lee-Thornely letters, 275.
Shattuck, George Cheyne, 2.
Shaw, Harriet C., gifts, 92, 93,
94.
Shaw, Robert Gould, 180.
Shaw, Robert Gould, gift, 93; com-
mittee on library and cabinet,
130, 160.
Shaw, Thomas, 92.
Shelley, Julia, 139.
Shepheard, , 78.
Shepley, George Leander, gifts, i,
18.
Sheppard, Henry, 255.
Sherman, William Tecumseh, pho-
tographs of, I.
Shurtleff, William, 205.
Shute, Samuel, 74M, 80.
Shumway, Frank Herbert gifts, 2,
37, 129, 186.
Silk imports, 310.
Simmons, D. A., 327, 331.
Simmons, Fuller &, 331.
Simqua, painting by, 2.
Slack, Lewis, 327, 330.
Slave check, Charleston, 178.
Slavery, power of Congress, 49, 51.
Smalbrook, Richard, 82.
Smallpox among Indians, 229.
Smibert, John, verses on, 59.
Smith, Benjamin F. 37.
Smith, Charles Card, fund, 151.
Smith, Fitz-Henry, Jr., resident
member, 145, 178.
Smith, Hezekiah, diary, 187.
Smith, Jane Reed, 86.
Smith, Thomas, 193.
Smith, , 244, 249.
Snell, Wilham, 65.
Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel, 67; Kennett's letters, 67;
nature of, 67, 70.
Society of Colonial Wars, 65.
Soldiers' Field, Cambridge, 119.
Solomons, Rensselaer, 94.
Sommerville, Ehzabeth, 192.
Sons of the American Revolution,
Boston Congress, 17; insignia,
65-
Sons of 1812, 65.
Southbridge, Mass., note, 140.
Spangenberg, Augustus, 217.
Spaniards on Northwest coast, 255,
256, 258.
Sparks, Jared, 191.
Spence, Nicholas, 204.
Spencer, John Cantield, ^;^^.
Spicer-Simson, T., bust of C. F.
Adams, i.
Sprague, Caleb, letter, 39.
Sprague, Frank William, gift, 39.
Sprague, Joseph, 39.
Springfield, Mass., Board of Trade
badge, 129.
Spruce tea, 228.
Staigg, Richard M., 186.
Stanley, Edward George Geoffrey
Smith, Lord, 310.
Stanwood, Edward, remarks, 8,
179; on 'Proceedings,' 181.
Stearns, Charles, gift, 3.
Stetson, Caleb, 17.
Steward, , 259.
StirUng, Earl of, see Sir William
Alexander.
356
INDEX.
Stockwell, Virginia, gift, 178.
Stodderd, , 265.
Stone, Andrew Leete, portrait,
185.
Stone, Ellen Adelia Robbins, gifts,
17, 18, 37.
Storer, John Humphreys, gifts, 178,
186.
Storer, Malcolm, medals and coins,
159-
Storey, William, 66.
Storrow, James Jackson, 117.
Story, Joseph, letter to Dearborn,
331-
Story, WilHam Wetmore, 5.
Strong, Mary Baker, gift, 186.
Stuart, Gilbert, 187.
Sturgis, Russell, 66.
Stum, Robert, 128.
Sullivan, James, epitaph, 187.
Swan, 141.
Swift & Co. dollar, 18.
Taney, Roger Brooke, 55.
Tappan, Arthur, abolition societies,
51-
Tappan, Eben, 37.
Tatooch island, 229.
Tatoochkasettle, 239, 241.
Taunton, revival, 205.
Tenison, Thomas, Archbishop of
Canterbury, Society for Propaga-
tion of Gospel, 70.
Tennent, Gilbert, 192, 197, 199;
letter, 194.
Tennent, Sir James Emerson, 293.
Tennent, William, 195, 199.
Texas, admission as state, 58.
Thacher, George W., gift, 18.
Thacher, Henry Knox, 187.
Thayer, WiUiam Roscoe, 104.
Thayer & Co., 2.
Thomas, John, rehcs of, i.
Thompson, David, 66.
Thompson, John, 66.
Thompson, Peyronnet, 320.
Thompson, William Tappan, 97.
Thompson's Island, 66.
Thornely, John D., 286.
Thornely, Thomas, letters, 275;
retires from business, 287.
Thornely, WilHam, 286??.
Thornton, James Brown, gift and
deposit, 186, 187.
Thornton, John Wingate, 1S6.
Thornton, Thomas Gilbert, 1S6,
187.
Three B's, 258.
Tileston, Sarah Minns, 18.
Tileston, Timothy, papers of, 178.
Tooke, Thomas, 281, 283.
Treaty, power to make, 336.
Tree of Liberty engraving, 50.
Tuck, Henry, 96.
TurnbuU, WiUiam, 55.
Tuttle, JuHus Herbert, Roger Wil-
liams' Gift to John Endecott, 8;
memoir of J. T. Hassam, 85;
report of librarian, 158; House
Committee, 181; 'Glasgow-
Weekly-History, 1743,' 192.
Tyler, John, message, 315.
U.
Union Club of Boston, gift, 1S5.
V.
Van Buren, Martin, 49, 53, 280,
333; papers, 94.
Vancouver, George, 244, 256,
259-
Vane, William Henry, Lord Darl-
ington, 297.
Van Schaick, Henry, 179.
Varnum, B. F., 326.
Venus, 255.
Victoria, Queen, 186.
ViUiers, Charles Pelham, 282, 292,
293,311-
Virgil, Long's translation of Aeneid,
13-
Virginia, treasury note, 93.
Voltaire, Frangois Marie Arouet
de, 'New system of theology,'
146.
Vondego, Francisco de la, 257.
W.
Waddington, John, 190
Wait, Thomas Baker, letter, 335.
INDEX.
357
Walker, Robert John, 322.
Wallcut, Thomas, 8.
WaUing, Mrs. A. Clarke, gift, 17.
VVarburton, Henry, 314.
Ward, Nathaniel, 'Simple Cobler of
Agawam,' 66.
Ward, , 57.
Warren, John Collins, Cochituate
celebration and Aztec children,
40; tribute to H. F. Jenks, 95;
on Mason house, 129; House
Committee, 181.
Warren, Joseph, 27.
Warren, Joseph, rev., letters of,
187.
Warren, Winslow, 179; presides, i,
17, 65, 128, 177; remarks, 3; gift,
128; Finance Committee, 181.
Washburn, Charles Grenfill, gift,
179.
Washington, George, letters to Belk-
nap, 18; to Morse, 47; medals,
178.
Washington, D. C, in 1836, 56.
Waters, Adeline (Orwell), 62.
Waters, John, 62.
Waters, Thomas, 62.
Waters, Thomas Franklin, memoir,
of, 61.
Waters, , 242.
Waterston, Helen Ruthven, diaries,
66.
Watt, James, influence of, 102.
Watts, Isaac, 216.
Webb, George, 42.
Webb, , 197, 214.
W^ebber, John, 327.
Webster, Alexander, 207, 217.
Webster, Daniel 18, 53, 55; speech,
51; photograph, 65; engraving,
186; on tariff, 320.
Weed, Thurlow, 57W.
Weeden, William N., 65W.
Weert, Sebald de, 223^.
Wendell, Barrett, letter of H. L.
Higginson, 45.
Wenham, Mass., service medal,
129.
Westford, Mass., Academy, 11.
Westwood, Mass., service medal,
129.
Wetmore, George Peabody, 57;
gift, 18, 331, 332.
Wheat, exports, 282, 296, 306,
323-
Wheelock, Eleazar, 202.
Whigs, and currency, 280.
Whitefield, George, 192;?, 193, 199,
200; 'Balm of Gilead,' 194;
imitated by negro, 200.
Whitehead and Hoag Co., medals,
18.
Whittlesey, Elisha, 52.
Wickananish, 227, 236, 238, 239,
241- 255.
Wilder, Frank J., gift, 178.
Willard, Josiah, letter, 196.
Willard, Susanna, gift, 187.
William II, of Germany, photo-
graph, 18.
William III, of England, 78.
Williams, Joanna, gifts, i.
Williams, Sarah, gifts, i.
Williams, Robert, 31.
Wilhams, Roger, 18; gift to Ende-
cott, 8.
Williams, William, 274.
WiUiams Market Corporation, 18.
Willison, John, 193, 204, 214,
215-
Wilson, James, establishes the
' Economist,' 315.
Wilson, William, 2is«.
Winchester, Mass., medal, 18.
Winship, George Parker, letters of
John Eliot, 189.
Winslow, John, 168.
Winslow, Joshua, 22.
Winslow, Mary Chilton, 168.
Winthrop, Beekman, gift, 18S.
Winthrop, Frederic, gift, 188.
Winthrop, Grenville Lindall, 188.
Winthrop, Robert, memorial fund,
188.
Winthrop, Robert Charles, 19.
Winthrop, Robert Dudley, mem-
orial fund, 188.
Wolcott, Roger, deposit of Prescott
Papers, 3.
Wolcott house, Litchfield, Conn.,
177.
Wood, Sir Charles, 325.
Wood, William. 128.
Wood, — — , 265.
Woods, Henry Ernest, tribute to,
by G. H. Norcross, 19.
358
INDEX.
Woodworth, Jay Backus, 40.
Woodworth, Joseph, 40.
Woodworth, Sarah, 40.
Woody Point, 228.
Wright, William, 194.
Wyman, Elijah, 177.
Wyman, Samuel E., 177.
Y.
Yale College, revival, 199.
Yethlan, 237, 238.
Young, John RusseU, 97.
Z.
Zerbe, Farran, gift, 65.
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