What days and nights those were! 1765! then, the man, who has now passed
on to ninety-four, was the boy of ten! How perfectly the tablet of memory
retains those impressions, made, by the pressure of great events, when the
wax was soft and warm!
It is quite common, with the present generation, at least, to connect the
origin of LIBERTY TREE with 1775-6. This is an error. It became
celebrated, ten years earlier, during the disturbances in Boston, on
account of the Stamp Act, which passed March 22, 1765, and was to be in
force, on the first of November following. Intelligence arrived, that
Andrew Oliver, Secretary of the Province, was to be distributor of stamps.
There was a cluster or grove of beautiful elms, in HANOVER SQUARE--such
was the name, then given to the corner of Orange, now part of Washington
Street, and Auchmuty's Lane, now Essex Street. Opposite the southwesterly
corner of Frog Lane, now Boylston Street, where the market-house now
stands, there was an old house, with manifold gables, and two massive
chimneys, and, in the yard, in front of it, there stood a large, spreading
elm. This was LIBERTY TREE. Its first designation was on this wise. During
the night of August 13, 1765, some of the SONS OF LIBERTY, as they styled
themselves, assuming the appellation bestowed on them in the House of
Commons, by Col. Barre, in a moment of splendid but unpremeditated
eloquence, hung, upon that tree, an effigy of Mr. Oliver, and a boot, with
a figure of the devil peeping out, and holding the stamp act in his hand;
this boot was intended as a practical pun--wretched enough--upon the name
of Lord Bute. In the morning of the 14th, a great crowd collected to the
spot. Some of the neighbors attempted to take the effigy down. The _Sons
of Liberty_ gave them a forcible hint, and they desisted. The Lieutenant
Governor, as Chief Justice, directed the sheriff to take it down: he
reconnoitred the ground, and reported that it could not be done, without
peril of life.
Business was suspended, about town. After dark, the effigy was borne, by
the mob, to a building, which was supposed to have been erected, as a
stamp-office. This they destroyed, and, bearing the fragments to Fort
Hill, where Mr. Oliver lived, they made a bonfire, and burnt the effigy
before his door. They next drove him and his family from his house, broke
the windows and fences, and stoned the Lieutenant Governor and Sheriff,
when they came to parley--all this, upon the night of August 14, 1765. On
the 26th, they destroyed the house of Mr. Story, register-deputy of the
Admiralty, and burnt the books and records of the court. They then served
the house of Mr. Hollowell, Contractor of the Customs, in a similar
manner, plundering and carrying away money and chattels. They next
proceeded to the residence of the Lieutenant Governor, and destroyed every
article not easily transported, doing irreparable mischief, by the
destruction of many valuable manuscripts. The next day, a town meeting was
held, and the citizens expressed their _detestation of the riots_--and,
afterwards manifested their silent sympathy with the mob, by punishing
nobody.
Nov. 1, 1765, the day, when the stamp act came into force, the bells were
muffled and tolled; the shipping displayed their colors, at half mast; the
stamp act was printed, with a death's head, in the place of the stamp, and
cried about the streets, under the name of the FOLLY OF ENGLAND, AND THE
RUIN OF AMERICA. A new political journal appeared, having for its emblem,
or political phylactery, a serpent, cut into pieces, each piece bearing
the initials of a colony, with the ominous motto--JOIN OR DIE. More
effigies were hung, upon "_the large old elm_," as Gordon terms
it--LIBERTY TREE. They were then cut down, and escorted over town. They
were brought back, and hung up again; taken down again; escorted to the
Neck, by an immense concourse; hanged upon the gallows tree; taken down
once more; and torn into innumerable fragments. Three cheers were then
given, and, upon a request to that effect, every man went quietly home;
and a night of unusual stillness ensued.
Hearing that Mr. Oliver intended to resume his office, he was required,
through the newspaper, by an anonymous writer, to acknowledge, or deny,
the truth of that report. His answer proving unsatisfactory, he received a
requisition, Nov. 16th, to appear "_tomorrow, under_ LIBERTY TREE, _to
make a public resignation_." Two thousand persons gathered then, beneath
that TREE--not the rabble, but the selectmen, the merchants, and chief
inhabitants. Mr. Oliver requested, that the meeting might be held, in the
town house; but the SONS OF LIBERTY seemed resolved, that he should be
_treed_--no place, under the canopy of Heaven, would answer, but LIBERTY
TREE. Mr. Oliver came; subscribed an ample declaration; and made oath to
it, before Richard Dana, J. P. This exactitude and circumspection, on the
part of the people, was not a work of supererogation: Andrew Oliver was a
most amiable man, in private, but a most lubricious hypocrite, in public
life; as appears by his famous letters, sent home by Dr. Franklin, in
1772. After his declaration under the TREE, he made a short speech,
expressive of his "_utter detestation of the stamp act_." What a spectacle
was there and then! The best and the boldest were there. Samuel Adams and
John--Jerry Gridley, Samuel Sewall, and John Hancock, _et id genus omne_
were in Boston then, and the busiest men alive: their absence would have
been marked--they must have been there. What an act of daring, thus to
defy the monarch and his vicegerents! I paused, this very day, and gazed
upon the spot, and put the steam upon my imagination, to conjure, into
life and action, that little band of sterling patriots, gathered around;
and that noble elm in their midst:--
"In medio ramos annosaque brachia pandit
Ulmus opaca, ingens."
Thenceforward, the SONS OF LIBERTY seem to have taken the TREE, under
their special protection. On Valentine's day, 1776, they assembled, and
passed a vote, that _it should be pruned after the best manner_. It is
well, certainly, now and then, to lop off some rank, disorderly shoots of
licentiousness, that will sometimes appear, upon LIBERTY TREE. It was
pruned, accordingly, by a party of volunteer carpenters, under the
direction of a gentleman of skill and judgment, in such matters.
News of the repeal of the stamp act arrived in Boston, May 16, 1766. The
bells rang merrily--and the cannon were unlimbered, around LIBERTY TREE,
and bellowed for joy. The TREE, so skilfully pruned, in February, must
have presented a beautiful appearance, bourgeoning forth, in the middle of
May! The nineteenth of May was appointed, for a merrymaking. At one, in
the morning, the bell of the Hollis Street Church, says a zealous writer
of that day, "_began to ring_"--_sua sponte_, no doubt. The slumbers of
the pastor, Dr. Byles, were disturbed, of course, for he was a tory,
though a very pleasant tory, after all. Christ Church replied, with its
royal peal, from the North, and _God save the king_, rang pleasantly
again, in colonial ears. The universal joy was expressed, in all those
unphilosophical ways, enumerated by Pope,
With gun, drum, trumpet, blunderbuss and thunder.
LIBERTY TREE was hung with various colors. Fireworks and illuminations
succeeded. Gov. Hancock treated the people with "_a pipe of Madeira_;" and
the SONS OF LIBERTY raised a pyramid, upon the Common, with two hundred
and eighty lamps. At twelve o'clock--midnight--a drum, upon the Common,
beat the _tattoo_; and men, women, and children retired to their homes, in
the most perfect order: verily, a soberness had come over the spirit of
their dreams, and method into their madness. On the evening of the
twentieth of May, it was resolved to have a festival of lanterns.
The inhabitants vied with each other; and, about dusk, they were seen
streaming, from all quarters, to HANOVER SQUARE, every man and boy with
his lamp or lantern. In a brief space, LIBERTY TREE was converted into a
brilliant constellation. Like the sparkling waters, during the burning of
Ucalegon's palace, described by Homer, the boughs, the branches, the
veriest twigs of this popular idol
--------"were bright,
With splendors not their own, and shone with sparkling light."
It appears, by the journals of that day, from which most of these
particulars are gathered, that our fathers--what inimitable, top-gallant
fellows they were!--took a pleasant fancy into their heads, that these
lamps would shed a brighter lustre, if the poor debtors, in jail, could
join in the general joy, under LIBERTY TREE. Accordingly they made up a
purse and paid the debts of them all! There was a general jail delivery of
the poor debtors, for very joy. Well: a Boston boy, of the old school, was
a noble animal--how easily held by the heart-strings!--with how much
difficulty, by the head or the tail!
An antiquarian friend, to whom I am already under sundry obligations, has
obligingly loaned me an interesting document, in connection with the
subject of LIBERTY TREE; under whose shade I propose to linger a little
longer.
No. XLII.
March 22, 1765. George III. and his ministers took it into their heads to
sow the wind; and, in an almost inconceivably short time, they reaped the
whirlwind. They scattered dragons' teeth, and there came up armed men.
They planted the stamp act, in the Colonial soil, and there sprang into
life, mature and full of vigor, the LIBERTY TREE, like Minerva, fully
developed, and in perfect armor, from the brain of Jupiter. Whoever would
find a clear, succinct, and impartial account of the effect of the stamp
act, upon the people of New England, may resort to Dodsley's Annual
Register, page 49, of that memorable year. "The sun of liberty has set,"
wrote Franklin home, "but you must light up the candles of industry and
economy."
The life of that act of oppression was short and stormy. March 18, 1766,
its miserable requiem was sung in Parliament--"an event," says the Annual
Register, of that year, page 46, "that caused more universal joy,
throughout the British dominions, than, perhaps, any other, that can be
remembered." How such a viper ever found its way into the cradle of
liberty is quite a marvel--certain it is, the genius of freedom, with the
power of Hercules, speedily strangled it there.
In America, and, especially, in Boston, the joy, as I have already stated,
was very great; and some there were, beyond all doubt, who were delighted,
to find an apology, for going back to monarchical usages. Even liberty may
be, sometimes, irksome, at first, to him, who has long lived a slave; and
it is no small grievance, I dare say, to such, to be deprived of the
luxury of calling some one, Lord and Master, after the flesh. However
monstrous, and even ridiculous, the idea of a king may seem to us,
republicans, born in this wonderfully bracing atmosphere--there are some,
who have a strong taste for _booing_ and genuflection, and the doffing of
beavers, and throwing up of "greasy caps," and rending their throats, for
very ecstacy, when the royal coach is coming along, bearing the heir
apparent, in diapers. This taste, I suppose, like that for olives, must be
acquired; it cannot be natural.
May 19, and 20, 1766, the face of the town of Boston was dressed in
smiles--a broad grin rather, from ear to ear, from Winnisimmet to Roxbury.
Nothing was talked of but "_a grateful people_," and "_the darling
monarch_"--which amounts to this--the "_darling monarch_" had graciously
desisted, from grinding their faces any longer, simply because he was
convinced, that the "_grateful people_" would kick the grindstone over,
and peradventure the grinder, should the "_darling_" attempt to give it
another turn.
Under LIBERTY TREE, there was erected, during the rejoicings, an obelisk
with four sides. An engraving of those four sides was made at the time,
and is now, doubtless, very rare. A copy, loaned me by the friend, to whom
I referred, in my last number, is lying before me. I present it,
_verbatim, literatim, et punctuatim_.
It is thirteen and an half inches long, and nine and an half wide. On top
are these words--"A VIEW of the OBELISK erected under LIBERTY TREE in
BOSTON on the Rejoicings for the Repeal of the ---- Stamp Act 1766." At
the bottom--"To every Lover of LIBERTY this Plate is humbly dedicated by
her true born SONS in BOSTON, New England." The plate presents,
apparently, four obelisks, which are, in reality, the four sides of one.
Every side, above the base, is divided horizontally, and nearly equally,
into three parts. The superior division of each contains four heads, many
of which may be readily recognized, and all of which have indicating
letters. The middle division of each contains ten decasyllabic lines. The
inferior division of each contains a sketch, of rude execution, and rather
more patriotic, than tasteful, in the design. The principal portraits are
of George III.; Queen Charlotte; Marquis of Rockingham; Duke of York; Gen.
Conway; Lord Townshend; Colonel Barre; W. Pitt; Lord Dartmouth; Charles
Townshend; Lord George Sackville; John Wilkes; Alderman Beckford; Lord
Camden; &c. The first side is subscribed thus: "_America in distress,
apprehending the total loss of_ LIBERTY;" and is inscribed thus:
Oh thou, whom next to Heaven we most revere
Fair LIBERTY! thou lovely Goddess hear!
Have we not woo'd thee, won thee, held thee long,
Lain in thy Lap and melted on thy tongue.
Thro' Deaths and Dangers rugged paths pursu'd
And led thee smiling to this SOLITUDE,
Hid thee within our hearts' most golden cell
And brav'd the Powers of Earth and Powers of Hell,
GODDESS! we cannot part, thou must not fly,
Be SLAVES! we dare to scorn it, dare to die.
Beneath is the sketch--America recumbent and dejected, in the form of an
Indian chief, under a pine tree, the angel of Liberty hovering over; the
Prime minister advancing with a chain, followed by one of the bishops, and
others, Bute clearly designated by his Scotch plaid, and gaiters; over
head, flying towards the Indian, with the stamp act in his right claw, is
the Devil; of whom it is manifest our patriotic sires had a very clever
conception.
The second side is subscribed thus: "_She implores the aid of her
patrons_;" and is inscribed thus:
While clanking chains and curses shall salute
Thine Ears remorseless G----le, and thine O B----e,
To you blest PATRIOTS, we our cause submit,
Illustrious CAMPDEN, Britain's Guardian, PITT.
Recede not, frown not, rather let us be
Deprived of being than of LIBERTY,
Let fraud or malice blacken all our crimes,
No disaffection stains these peaceful climes.
Oh save us, shield us from impending woes,
The foes of Britain only are our foes.
Beneath is the sketch--America, on one knee, pointing over her shoulder
towards a retreating group, composed, as the chain and the plaid inform
us, of the Prime Minister Bute, and company, upon whose heads a thunder
cloud is bursting. At the same time America--the Indian, as
before--supplicates the aid of others, whose leader is being crowned, by
Fame, with a laurel wreath. The enormous nose--a great help to
identification--marks the Earl of Chatham; Camden may be known by his wig;
and Barre by his military air.
The third side is subscribed thus: "_She endures the Conflict, for a short
Season_" and is inscribed thus:
Boast foul Oppression, boast thy transient Reign,
While honest FREEDOM struggles with her Chain,
But know the Sons of Virtue, hardy, brave,
Disclaim to lose thro' mean Dispair to save;
Arrowed in Thunder awfull they appear,
With proud Deliverance stalking in their Rear,
While Tyrant Foes their pallid Fears betray,
Shrink from their Arms, and give their Vengeance way.
See in the unequal War OPPRESSORS fall,
The hate, contempt, and endless Curse of all.
Beneath is the sketch--THE TREE OF LIBERTY, with an eagle feeding its
young, in the topmost branches, and an angel advancing with an aegis.
The fourth side is subscribed thus: "_And has her_ LIBERTY _restored by
the Royal hand of_ GEORGE _the Third_;" and is inscribed thus:
Our FAITH approv'd, our LIBERTY restor'd,
Our Hearts bend grateful to our sov'reign Lord;
Hail darling Monarch! by this act endear'd,
Our firm affections are thy best reward--
Sh'd Britain's self against herself divide,
And hostile Armies frown on either side;
Sh'd hosts rebellious shake our Brunswick's Throne,
And as they dar'd thy Parent dare the Son.
To this Asylum stretch thine happy Wing,
And we'll contend who best shall love our KING.
Beneath is the sketch--George the Third, in armor, resembling a Dutch
widow, in a long-short, introducing America to the goddess of liberty, who
are, apparently, just commencing the Polka--at the bottom of the engraving
are the words--_Paul Revere Sculp._ Our ancestors dealt rather in fact
than fiction--they were no poets.
Gordon refers to LIBERTY TREE, i. 175.
The fame of LIBERTY TREE spread far beyond its branches. Not long before
it was cut down, by the British soldiers, during the winter of 1775-6, an
English gentleman, Philip Billes, residing at Backway, near Cambridge,
England, died, seized of a considerable fortune, which he bequeathed to
two gentlemen, not relatives, on condition, that they would faithfully
execute a provision, set forth in his will, namely, that his body should
be buried, under the shadow of LIBERTY TREE, in Boston, New England. This
curious statement was published in England, June 3, 1774, and may be found
in the Boston Evening Gazette, first page, Aug. 22, 1774, printed by
Thomas & John Fleet, sign of the Heart and Crown, Cornhill.
No. XLIII.
Josiah Carter died, at the close of December, 1774. Never was there a
happier occasion, for citing the _Quis desiderio_, &c., and I would cite
that fine ode, were it not worn threadbare, like an old coverlet, by
having been, immemorially, thrown over all manner of corpses, from the
cobbler's to the king's.
If good old Dr. Charles Chauncy were within hearing, I would, indeed,
apply to him a portion of its noble passages:
Multis ille bonis flebilis occidit,
Nulli flebilior quam tibi----.
For good Josiah many wept, I fancy;
But none more fluently than Dr. Chauncy.
Josiah Carter was sexton of the Old Brick. He died, in the prime of
life--fifty only--a martyr to his profession--conscientious to a
fault--standing all alone in the cold vault, after the last mourner had
retired, and knocking gently upon the coffin lid, seeking for some little
sign of animation, and begging the corpse, for Heaven's sake, if it were
alive, to say so, in good English.
Carter was one of your real _integer vitae_ men. It is said of him, that he
never actually lost his self-government, but once, in his life.
He was finishing a grave, in the Granary yard, and had come out of the
pit, and was looking at his work, when a young, surgical sprig came up,
and, with something of a mysterious air, shadowed forth a proposition, the
substance of which was, that Carter should sell him the corpse--cover it
lightly--and aid in removing it, by night. In an instant, Carter jerked
the little chirurgeon into the grave--it was a deep one--and began to fill
up, with all his might. The screams of the little fellow drew quite a
number to the spot, and he was speedily rescued. When interrogated, years
afterwards, as to his real intentions, at the time, Carter always became
solemnized; and said he considered the preservation of that young
doctor--a particular Providence.
Carter had a strong aversion to unburying--so have I--especially a
hatchet. I have a rooted hatred of slavery; and I hope our friends, on the
sunny side of Mason's and Dixon's line, will not censure me, for digging
up the graves of the past, and exposing unsightly relics, while I solicit
the world's attention to the following literary _bijoux_.
To be sold, a young negro fellow, fit for country or other business.--Will
be sold to the highest bidder, a very good gold watch, a negro boy,
&c.--Cheap, for cash, a negro man, and woman, and two children.--A very
likely negro wench, about 16 years of age.--A likely negro woman, about
30, cheap for cash.--A likely negro boy, about 13.--Sold only for want of
employ, a healthy, tractable negro girl, about 18 years of age.--To be
sold, for want of employ, a strong, hearty negro fellow, about 25 years of
age.--Ran away, a negro, named Dick, a well-looking, well-shaped fellow,
right negro, little on the yellow, &c.--A likely negro woman, about 33
years old, remarkable for honesty and good temper.--Grant Webster has for
sale new and second hand chaises, rum, wines, and male and female
negroes.--At auction, a negro woman that is used to most sorts of house
business.--A likely, healthy negro man, a good cook, and can drive a
carriage.--Ran away, a negro man, named Prince, a tall, straight fellow;
he is about 33 years old, talks pretty good English; his design was to get
off in some vessel, so as to go to England, under the notion, if he could
get there, he should be free, &c.--Ten dollars reward: ran away, negro
Primus, five feet ten inches high, long limbs, very long finger nails,
&c.--To be sold, for no fault, a negro man, of good temper.--A valuable
negro man.--Ran away, my negro, Cromarte, commonly called Crum, &c., &c.;
whoever will return said runaway to me, or secure him in some public jail,
&c.--The cash will be given for a negro boy of good temper.--A fine negro
male child, to be given away.--To be sold, a Spanish Indian woman, about
21 years old, also a negro child, about two years old. To be sold, a
strong, hearty negro girl, and her son, about a week old.--Ran away, my
negro man, Samson; when he speaks has a leering look under his eyes;
whoever will return him, or secure him in any of the jails, shall receive
ten dollars reward. For sale, a likely negro man; has had the smallpox.--A
likely negro boy, large for his age, about 13.--To be sold, very
reasonably, a likely negro woman, about 33 or '4 years of age.--To be sold
or hired, for a number of years, a strong, healthy, honest, negro girl,
about 16 years of age.
Ah, my dear, indignant reader, I marvel not, that you are grieved and
shocked, that man should dare, directly under the eye of God, to offer his
fellow for sale, as he would offer a side of mutton, or a slaughtered
hog--that he should offer to sell him, from head to heel, liver and
lights, and lungs, and heart, and bone, and muscle, and presume to convey
over, to the buyer, the very will of the poor black man, for years, and
for aye; so that the miserable creature should never draw in one single
breath of freedom, but breathe the breath of a slave forever and ever.
This is very damnable indeed--very. You read the advertisements, which I
have paraded before you, with a sentiment of disgust towards the men of
the South--_nimium ne crede colori_. These are northern negroes! these are
northern advertisements!
--------Mutato nomine, de te
Fabula narratur--------.
Every one of these slaves was owned in Boston: every one of these
advertisements was published in the Boston Gazette, and the two last on
December 10, 1781. They are taken from one only of the public journals,
and are a very Flemish sample of the whole cloth, which may be examined by
him, who has leisure to turn over the several papers, then published here.
There is one, however, so awfully ridiculous, when we consider the
profession of the deceased owner, and the place of sale, and which, in
these connections, presents such an example of _sacra, commixta profanis_,
that I must give the advertisement without defalcation. John Moorhead, the
first minister of Bury, afterwards Berry Street Church, died Dec. 2, 1773.
About a year after, his effects were sold, and the following advertisement
appears, in the Boston Gazette, Jan. 2, 1775: "To be sold by Public
Auction, on Thursday next, at ten o'clock in the Forenoon, all the
Household Furniture, belonging to the Estate of the Rev. Mr. John
Moorhead, deceased, consisting of Tables, Chairs, Looking Glasses, Feather
Beds, Bedsteads and Bedding, Pewter, Brass, sundry Pieces of Plate, &c.,
&c. A valuable collection of Books--Also a likely Negro Lad--The sale to
be at the House in Auchmuty's Lane, South End, not far from Liberty
Tree."--Moses and the Prophets! _A human being to be sold as a_ SLAVE,
_not far from_ LIBERTY TREE, in 1775!
Let me be clearly comprehended. Two wrongs cannot, like two negatives,
neutralize each other. It is true, there was slavery in Massachusetts, and
probably more of it, than is supposed to have existed, by many of the
present generation. Free negroes were not numerous, in Boston, in those
years. In the Boston Gazette of Jan. 2, 1775, it is stated, that 547
whites and 52 blacks were buried in the town in 1774; and 533 whites and
62 blacks in 1773. Such was the proportion then.
The energy of our northern constitution has exorcised the evil spirit of
slavery. Common sense and the grace of God put it into the minds and
hearts of our fathers, when the accursed _Bohun Upas_ was a sapling, to
pull it up, by the roots. It follows not, therefore, that the people of
the South are entitled to be treated by us, their brethren, like _outside
barbarians_, because they do not cast it out from their midst, as
promptly, and as easily, now that it has stricken down its roots into the
bowels of the earth, and become a colossus, and overshadowed the land.
Slavery, being the abomination that it is, in the abstract, and in the
relative, we may well regret, that it ever defiled our peninsula;
especially that a slave market, for the sale of one slave only, ever
existed, "_not far from Liberty Tree_." In sober truth, we are not quite
justified, for railing at the South, as we have done. The sins of our
dear, old fathers are still so comparatively recent, in regard to slavery,
that I am absolutely afraid to fire canister and grape, among the group of
offenders, lest I should disturb the ashes of my ancestors. Neither may we
forget, that we, of the North, consented, aided and abetted,
constitutionally, in the confirmation of slavery. Some of the most furious
of the abolitionists, in this fair city, are _descendants in the right
line, from Boston slaveholders_--their fathers did not recognize the
sinfulness of holding slaves!
The people of the South are entitled to civility, from the people of the
North, because they are citizens of one common country; and, if there is
one village, town, or city of these United States, that, more than any and
all others, is under solemn obligations to cherish a sentiment of grateful
and affectionate respect for the South, it is the city of Boston. I
propose to refresh the reader's recollection, in my next.
No. XLIV.
_Delenda est Carthago--abolendum est servitium._--No doubt of it; slavery
must be buried--decently, however. I cannot endure rudeness and violence,
at a funeral. John Cades, in Charter Street, lost his place, in 1789, for
letting old Goody Smith go by the run. The _naufragium_ of Erasmus, was
nothing at all, compared with that of the old lady's coffin. Our Southern
confederates are entitled to _civility_, because they are men and
brethren; and they are entitled to _kindness and courtesy from us, of
Boston_, because we owe them a debt of gratitude, which it would be
shameful to forget. Since we, of the North, have presumed to be
_undertakers_ upon this occasion, let us do the thing "_decenter et
ornate_." Besides, our friends of the South are notoriously testy and
hot-headed: they are, geographically, children of the sun. John Smith's
description of the Massachusetts Indians, in 1614, Richmond ed., ii. 194,
is truly applicable to the Southern people, "_very kind, but, in their
fury, no less valiant_."
I am no more inclined to uphold the South, in the continued practice of a
moral wrong, because they gave us bread when we were hungry, as they
certainly did, than was Sir Matthew Hale, to decide favorably for the
suitor, who sent him the fat buck. _Nullum simile quatuor pedibus
currit_--the South, when they bestowed their kindness upon us, during the
operation of the _Boston Port Bill_, had no possible favor to ask, in
return.
This famous Port Bill, which operated like _guano_ upon LIBERTY TREE, and
caused it to send forth a multitude of new and vigorous shoots, was an act
of revenge and coercion, passed March 31, 1774, by the British Parliament.
No government was ever so _penny wise_ and _pound foolish_, as that of
Great Britain, in 1773-'4. They actually sacrificed thirteen fine,
flourishing colonies for _three pence_! In 1773 the East India Company,
suffering from the bad effects of the smuggling trade, in the colonies,
all taxation having been withdrawn, by Great Britain, excepting on tea,
proposed, for the purpose of quieting the strife, to sell their tea, free
of all duties, in the Colonies, and that sixpence a pound should be
retained by the Government, on exportation. But the Government insisted
upon _three pence_ worth of dignity; in other words, for the honor of the
Crown, they resolved, that the colonists _should pay three pence_ a pound,
import duty. This was a very poor bargain--a _crown_ for _three pence_!
Well; I have no room for detail--the tea came; some of it went back again;
and the balance was tossed into the sea. It was not suffered to be landed,
at Philadelphia and New York. Seventeen chests, brought to New York, on
private account, says Gordon, vol. i. page 333, were thrown overboard,
Nov. 18, 1773, and combustibles were prepared to burn the ships, if they
came up from the Hook. Dec. 16, 1773, three hundred and twenty-four chests
of tea were broken open, on board the ships, in Boston, and their contents
thrown into the salt water, by a "number of persons," says Gordon, vol. i.
page 341, "chiefly masters of vessels and shipbuilders from the north end
of the town," dressed as Indians.
In consequence of this, the _Port Bill_ was passed. The object of this
bill was to beggar--commercially to neutralize or nullify--the town of
Boston, by shutting the port, and cutting off all import and export, by
sea, until full compensation should be made, for the tea destroyed, and to
the officers of the revenue, and others, who had suffered, by the riots,
in the years 1773 and 1774. Such was the _Port Bill_, whose destructive
operation was directed, upon the port of Boston alone, under a fatal
misunderstanding of the British government, in relation to the real
unanimity of the American people.
It is no easy matter, to describe the effect of this act of folly and
injustice. The whole country seemed to be affected, with a sort of
political _neuralgia_; and the attack upon Boston, like a wound upon some
principal nerve, convulsed the whole fabric. The colonies resembled a band
of brothers--"born for affliction:" a blow was no sooner aimed at one,
than the remaining twelve rushed to the rescue, each one interposing an
aegis. In no part of the country, were there more dignified, or more
touching, or more substantial testimonies of sympathy manifested, for the
people of Boston, than in the Southern States; and especially in Virginia,
Maryland, and both the Carolinas.
The _Port Bill_ came into force, June 1, 1774. The Marylanders of
Annapolis, on the 25th of May preceding, assembled, and resolved, that
Boston was "_suffering in the common cause of America_." On the 30th, the
magistrates, and other inhabitants of Queen Anne's County resolved, in
full meeting, that they would "_make known, as speedily as possible, their
sentiments to their distressed brethren of Boston, and that they looked
upon the cause of Boston to be the common cause of America_." The House of
Burgesses, in Virginia, appointed the day, when the Boston Port Bill came
into operation, as a day of fasting and prayer, throughout the ancient
dominion. A published letter, from Kent County, Maryland, dated June 7,
1774, says--"The people of Boston need not be afraid of being starved into
compliance; if they will only give a short notice, they may make their
town the granary of America."
June 24, 1774.--Twenty-four days after the Port Bill went into operation,
a public meeting was held at Charleston, S. C. The moving spirits were the
Trapiers and the Elliots, the Horries and the Clarksons, the Gadsdens and
the Pinkneys of that day; and resolutions were passed, full of brotherly
love and sympathy, for the inhabitants of Boston.
"Baltimore, July 16th, 1774.--A vessel hath sailed from the Eastern Shore
of this Province, with a cargo of provisions as a free gift to our
besieged brethren of Boston. The inhabitants of all the counties of
Virginia and Maryland are subscribing, with great liberality, for the
relief of the distressed towns of Boston and Charlestown. The inhabitants
of Alexandria, we hear, in a few hours, subscribed L350, for that noble
purpose. Subscriptions are opened in this town, for the support and
animation of Boston, under their present great conflict, for the common
freedom of us all. A vessel is now loading with provisions, as a testimony
of the affection of this people towards their persecuted brethren."
"Salem, Aug. 23, 1774.--Yesterday arrived at Marblehead, Capt. Perkins,
from Baltimore, with 3000 bushels of corn, 20 barrels of rye meal, and 21
barrels of bread, for the benefit of the poor of Boston, and with 1000
bushels of corn from Annapolis, for the same benevolent purpose."
"New York, Aug. 15, 1774.--Saturday last, Capt. Dickerson arrived here,
and brought 376 barrels of rye from South Carolina, to be sold, and
proceeds remitted to Boston, a present to the sufferers; a still larger
cargo is to be shipped for the like benevolent purpose."
"Newport, R. I.--Capt. Bull, from Wilmington, North Carolina, arrived here
last Tuesday, with a load of provisions for the poor of Boston; to sail
again for Salem."
These testimonies of a kind and brotherly spirit, came from all quarters
of the country. These illustrations might be multiplied to any extent. I
pass by the manifestations of the most cordial sympathy from other
colonies, and the contributions from the towns and villages around us--my
business lies, at present with the South--and my object is to remind some
of the more rampant and furious of my abolition friends, who are of
yesterday, that the people of the South, however hasty they may be, living
under the sun's fiercer rays, and however excited, when a Northern man,
however respectable, comes to take up his quarters in their midst, and
gather evidence against them, under their very noses--are not precisely
_outside barbarians_.
Let the work of abolition go forward, in a dignified and decent spirit.
Let us argue; and, so far as we rightfully may, let us legislate. Let us
bring the whole world's sympathy up to the work of emancipation. But, let
us not revile and vituperate those, who are, to all intents and purposes,
our brethren, as certainly as if they lived just over the Roxbury line,
instead of Mason's and Dixon's. Such harsh and unmitigated scoffing and
abuse, as we too often witness, are equally ungracious, ungentlemanly, and
ungrateful.
There is something strangely grotesque, to be sure, in the idea of calling
a state, in which there are more slaves than freemen, the _land of
liberty_. Our Massachusetts ancestors had a very good _theoretical_
conception of its inconsistency and absurdity, as early as 1773; when the
first glimmerings of independence began to come over the spirit of their
dreams. In that year, the Massachusetts negroes caught the liberty fever,
and presented a petition to have their fetters knocked off. May 17, 1773,
the inhabitants of Pembroke addressed a respectfully suggestive letter to
their representative in the General Court, John Turner; the last paragraph
of which is well worthy of republication. The entire letter may be found
in the Boston Gazette of June 14, 1773--"We think the negro petition
reasonable--agreeable to natural justice and the precepts of the Gospel;
and therefore advise that, in concurrence with the other worthy members of
the assembly, you endeavor to find a way, in which they may be freed from
slavery, without wrong to their present masters, or injury to
themselves--and that a total abolition of slavery may in due time take
place. Then we trust we may with humble confidence, look up to the Great
Arbiter of Heaven and earth, expecting that he will in his own due time,
look upon our affliction, and in the way of his Providence, deliver us
from the insults, the grievances, and impositions we so justly complain
of." This, as the reader will remember, had reference to slavery in
Massachusetts.
No. XLV.
In 1823, and in the month of May, something, in my line, caused me to
visit the first ex-President Adams, at the old mansion in Quincy. By some
persons, he was accounted a cold man; and his son, John Quincy, even a
colder man: yet neither was cold, unless in the sense, in which Mount
Hecla is cold--belted in everlasting ice, though liable, occasionally, to
violent eruptions of a fiery character.
As I was taking my leave, being about to remove into a distant State, my
daughter, between five and six years old, stepped timidly towards Mr.
Adams, and placing her little hand upon his, and looking upon his
venerable features, said to him--"_Sir, you are so old, and I am going
away so far, that I do not think I shall ever see you again--will you let
me kiss you before I go?_" His brow was suddenly overcast--the spirit
became gently solemnized--"_Certainly, my child_" said he, "_if you desire
to kiss a very old man, whom it is quite likely you will never see
again_."--He bowed his aged form, and the child, rising on tiptoe,
impressed a kiss upon his brow. I would give a great deal more than I can
afford, for a fair sketch of that old man's face, as he resumed his
position--I see it now, with the eye of a Swedenborgian. His features were
slightly flushed, but not discomposed at all; tears filled his eyes; and,
if one word must suffice to express all that I saw, that word is
_benevolence_--that same benevolence, which taught him, on the day of his
death, July 4, 1826, when asked if he knew what day it was, to
exclaim--"_Yes, it is the glorious Fourth of July--God bless it--God bless
you all_."
At the time of the little occurrence, which I have related, Mr. Adams was
eighty-eight years old. I ventured to say, that I wished we could give him
the years of Methuselah--to which he replied, with a faint smile,--"_My
friend, you could not wish me a greater curse_."--As we wax older and
grayer, this expression, which, in the common phrase, is _Greek_ to the
young and uninitiated, becomes sufficiently translated into every man's
vernacular. Mr. Adams was born October 19, 1735, and had therefore
attained his ninety-first year, when he died.
Nothing like the highest ancient standard of longevity is attained, in
modern times. Nine hundred, sixty, and nine years, is certainly a long
life-time. When baby Lamech was born, his father was a young fellow of one
hundred and eighty-seven. Weary work it must have been, waiting so long,
for one's inheritance!
The records of modern longevity will appear, nevertheless, somewhat
surprising, to those, who have given but little attention to the subject.
The celebrated Albert De Haller, and there can be no higher authority,
enumerated eleven hundred and eleven cases of individuals, who had lived
from 100 to 169. His classification is as follows:--
1000 from 100 to 110
60 " 110 to 120
29 " 120 to 130
15 " 130 to 140
6 " 140 to 150
1 of 169.
The oldest was Henry Jenkins, of Yorkshire, who died in 1670. Thomas Parr,
of Wilmington, in Shropshire, died in 1635, aged 152. He was a poor
yeoman, and married his first wife, when he was in his 88th year, or, as
some say, his 80th, and had two children. He was brought to Court, by the
Earl of Arundel, in the reign of Charles I., and died, as it was supposed,
in consequence of change of diet. His body was examined by Dr. Harvey, who
thought he might have lived much longer, had he adhered to his simple
habits. Being rudely asked, before the King, what more he had done, in his
long life, than other old men, he replied--"_At the age of 105, I did
penance in Alderbury Church, for an illegitimate child_." When he was 120,
he married a second wife, by whom he had a child. Sharon Turner, in his
Sacred History of the World, vol. iii. ch. 23, says, in a note, that
Parr's son (by the second wife, the issue by the first died early) lived
to the age of 113--his grandson to that of 109--his great-grandson to that
of 124; and two other grandsons, who died in 1761 and 1763, to that of
127.
Parr's was a much longer life than Reuben's, Judah's, Issachar's, Abner's,
Simeon's, Dan's, Zebulon's, Levi's, or Naphthali's. Dr. Harvey's account
of the post mortem examination is extremely interesting. The quaint lines
of Taylor, the water poet, as he was styled, I cannot omit:--
"Good wholesome labor was his exercise,
Down with the lamb, and with the lark would rise;
In mire and toiling sweat he spent the day,
And to his team he whistled time away:
The cock his night-clock, and till day was done,
His watch and chief sundial was the sun.
He was of old Pythagoras' opinion,
That green cheese was most wholesome with an onion;
Coarse meslin bread, and for his daily swig,
Milk, buttermilk, and water, whey and whig.
Sometimes metheglin, and by fortune happy,
He sometimes sipp'd a cup of ale most nappy,
Cider or perry, when he did repair
T'a Whitsun ale, wake, wedding or a fair;
Or, when in Christmas time he was a guest
At his good landlord's house, among the rest.
Else he had very little time to waste,
Or at the alehouse huff-cap ale to taste.
His physic was good butter, which the soil
Of Salop yields, more sweet than candy oil.
And garlic he esteemed, above the rate
Of Venice treacle or best Mithridate.
He entertained no gout, no ache he felt,
The air was good and temperate, where he dwelt;
While mavises and sweet-tongued nightingales
Did sing him roundelays and madrigals.
Thus, living within bounds of nature's laws
Of his long, lasting life may be some cause.
From head to heel, his body had all over
A quickset, thickset, nat'ral, hairy cover."
Isaac lived to the age of 180, or five years longer than his father
Abraham. I now propose to enter one or more well-known old stagers, of
modern times, who will beat Isaac, by five lengths. Mr. Easton, of
Salisbury, England, a respectable bookseller, and quoted, as good
authority by Turner, prepared a more extensive list than Haller, of
persons, who had died aged from 100 to 185. His work was entitled _Human
Longevity_--1600 of his cases occurred, within the British Isles, and 1687
between the years 1706 and 1799. He sets down three between 170 and 185,
giving their names and other particulars.
Mr. Whitehurst's tables contain several cases, not in Mr. Easton's work,
from 134 years to 148. Some twenty other cases are stated, by Turner, from
130 to 150. I refer, historically, to the case of Jonathan Hartop, not
because of the very great age he attained, but for other reasons of
interest: "1791.--Died, Jonathan Hartop, aged one hundred and
thirty-eight, of the village of Aldborough, Yorkshire. He could read to
the last, without spectacles, and play at cribbage, with the most perfect
recollection. He remembered Charles II., and once travelled to London,
with the facetious Killegrew. He ate but little; his only beverage was
milk. He had been married five times. Mr. Hartop lent Milton fifty pounds,
which the bard returned, with honor, though not without much difficulty.
Mr. Hartop would have declined receiving it; but the pride of the poet was
equal to his genius, and he sent the money with an angry letter, which was
found, among the curious possessions of that venerable old man."
On the 4th of July, 1846, I visited Dr. Ezra Green, at his residence, in
Dover, N. H. He showed me a couple of letters, which he had received, a
short time before, from Daniel Webster and Thomas H. Benton,
congratulating him, on having completed his one hundredth year, on the
17th of the preceding June, the anniversary of the battle of Bunker's
Hill, and remarked, that those gentlemen had not regarded the difference,
between the old style and the new. He told me, that in 1777, he had been a
surgeon, in the Ranger, with John Paul Jones. Upon my taking out my
glasses, to read a passage in a pamphlet, to which he called my attention,
he told me he had never used spectacles, nor felt the need of any such
assistance, in reading. Dr. Green died, in 1847.
He graduated, at Harvard, in 1765. At the time of his death, every other
member of his own class, numbering fifty-four, was dead.
Previously to 1765, two thousand and seventy-five individuals are named,
upon the catalogue. They were all dead at the time of his decease, though
he died so recently, as 1847. Yet, from the year, when he graduated, to
1786, a period of twenty years, of seven hundred and seventy-three
graduates, fifteen only appear, upon the catalogue of 1848, without the
fatal star. One of the fifteen, Harrison Gray Otis, has recently died,
leaving three survivors only, in his class of 1783, Asa Andrews, J. S.
Boies, and Jonathan Ewins. Another of the fifteen has also recently died,
being the oldest graduate, Judge Timothy Farrar, of the class of 1767. The
oldest living graduate of Harvard is James Lovell, of the class of 1776.
I send my communication to the press, as speedily as possible, lest he
also should be off, before I can publish.
No. XLVI.
A few days ago, I saw, in the hands of the artist, Mr. Alvan Clarke, a
sketch, nearly completed, from Stuart's painting of John Adams, in his
very old age. This sketch is to be engraved, as an accompaniment of the
works of Mr. Adams, about to be published, by Little & Brown. I scarcely
know what to say of this sketch of Mr. Adams. His fine old face, such as
it was in the flesh, and at the very last of his long and illustrious
career, is fixed in my memory--rivetted there--as firmly as his name is
bolted, upon the loftiest column of our national history. Never have I
seen a more perfect fac simile of man, without the aid of relief--it is
the resurrection and the life. If I am at a loss what to say of the
sketch, I am still farther at fault, what to say of the artist. Like some
of those heavenly bodies, whose contemplation occupies no little portion
of his time, it is not always the easiest thing in the world, to know in
what part of his orbit he may be found; if I desire to obtain a portrait,
or a miniature, or a sketch, he can scarcely devote his time to it, he is
so very busy, in contriving some new improvement, for his already
celebrated rifle; or if it is a patent muzzled rifle that I want, he is
quite likely to be occupied, in the manufacture of a telescope. Be all
these matters as they may, I can vouch for it, after years of experience,
Alvan Clarke is a very clever fellow, _Anglice et Americanice_; and this
sketch of Mr. Adams does him honor, as an artist.
It was in the year 1822, I believe, that a young lady sent me her album,
with a request, that I, of all people in the world, would occupy one of
its pages. Well, I felt, that after all, it was quite in my line, for I
had always looked upon a young lady's album, as a kind of cemetery, for
the burial of anybody's bantlings, and I began to read the inscriptions,
upon such as reposed in this place, appointed for the still-born. I was a
little startled, I confess, at my first glance, upon the autograph of the
late Bishop Griswold, appended to some very respectable verses. My
attention was next drawn to some lines, over the name of Daniel Webster,
_manu propria_. I forget them now, but I remember, that the American Eagle
was invoked for the occasion, and flapped its wings, through one or more
of the stanzas. Next came an article in strong, sensible prose, from John
Adams, written by an amanuensis, but signed with his own hand. Such a
hand--the "_manu deficiente_" of Tibullus. The letters, formed by the
failing, trembling fingers, resembled the forked lightning. A solemnizing
and impressive autograph it was: and, under the impulse of the moment, I
had the audacity to spoil three pages of this consecrated album, by
appending to this venerable name the following lines:--
High over Alps, in Dauphine,
There lies a lonely spot,
So wild, that ages rolled away,
And man had claimed it not:
For ages there, the tiger's yell
Bay'd the hoarse torrent as it fell.
Amid the dark, sequestered glade,
No more the brute shall roam;
For man, unsocial man, hath made
That wilderness his home:
And convent bell, with notes forlorn,
Is heard, at midnight, eve, and morn.
For now, amid the Grand Chartreuse,
Carthusian monks reside;
Whose lives are passed, from man recluse,
In scourging human pride;
In matins, vespers, aves, creeds,
With crosses, masses, prayers, and beads.
When hither men of curious mood,
Or pilgrims, bend their way,
To view this Alpine solitude,
Or, heav'nward bent, to pray,
Saint Bruno's monks their album bring,
Inscrib'd by poet, priest, and king.
Since pilgrim first, with holy tears,
Inscrib'd the tablet fair,
On time's dark flood, some thousand years,
Have pass'd like billows there.
What countless names its pages blot,
By country, kindred, long forgot!
Here chaste conceits and thoughts divine
Unclaim'd, and nameless, stand;
Which, like the Grecian's waving line,
Betray some master's hand.
And here Saint Bruno's monks display,
With pride, the classic lines of Gray.
While pilgrim ponders o'er the name,
He feels his bosom glow;
And counts it nothing less than fame,
To write his own below.
So, in this Album, fain would I,
Beneath a name, that cannot die.
Thrice happy book! no tablet bears
A nobler name than thine;
Still followed by a nation's pray'rs,
Through ling'ring life's decline.
The wav'ring stylus scarce obey'd
The hand, that once an empire sway'd!
Not thus, among the patriot band,
That name enroll'd we see--
No falt'ring tongue, no trembling hand
Proclaim'd an empire free!--
Lady, retrace those lines, and tell,
If, in thy heart, no sadness dwell?
And, in those fainting, struggling lines,
Oh, see'st thou naught sublime!
No tott'ring pile, that half inclines!
No mighty wreck of time!
Sighs not thy gentle heart to save
The sage, the patriot, from the grave!
If thus, oh then recall that sigh,
Unholy 'tis, and vain;
For saints and sages never die,
But sleep, to rise again.
Life is a lengthened day, at best,
And in the grave tir'd trav'llers rest;
Till, with his trump, to wake the dead,
Th' appointed angel flies;
Then Heav'n's bright album shall be spread,
And all who sleep, shall rise;
The blest to Zion's Hill repair,
And write their names immortal there.
I had as much pleasure, in composing these lines, as I ever had, in
composing the limbs or the features of a corpse; and now that they are
fairly laid out, the reader may bury them in oblivion, as soon as he
pleases. The lines of Gray, referred to, in the sixth stanza, may be found
in the collections of his works, and were written in the album of the
Chartreuse, in 1741.
My recollections of John Adams, are very perfect, and preeminently
pleasant. I knew nothing of him personally, of course, in the days of his
power. I had nothing to ask at his hands, but the permission to sit and
listen. How vast and how various his learning!--"Qui sermo! quae praecepta!
quanta notitia antiquitatis!... Omnia memoria tenebat, non domestica
solum, sed etiam externa bella: cujus sermone ita tum cupide fruebar,
quasi jam divinarem id, quod evenit, illo extincto, fore, unde discerem,
neminem." Surpassingly delightful were the outpourings, till some
thoughtless wight, by an ill-timed allusion, opened the fountain of
bitter waters--then, history, literature, the arts, all were buried _in
gurgite vasto_, giving place to Jefferson's injustice, the Mazzei letters,
and Callender's prospect before us--_quantum mutatus ab illo_!
How forcibly the dead are quickened, upon the retina of memory, by the
exhibition of some well known and personally associated article--the
little hat of Napoleon--the mantle of Caesar--"_you all do know this
mantle_!" I have just now drawn, from my treasury, an autograph of John
Adams, bearing date, Jan. 31, 1824, and a lock of strong hair, cut from
his venerable brow, the day before. In October of that year, he was
eighty-nine years of age; and that lock of hair is a dark iron gray. I
have also taken from its casket a silver pen, and small portable inkstand
attached, which also were his. The contemplation of these things--I came
honestly by them--seems almost to raise that venerable form before me. I
can almost hear him repeat those memorable words--"THE UNION IS OUR ROCK
OF SAFETY AS WELL AS OUR PLEDGE OF GRANDEUR."
No. XLVII.
I am rather surprised, to find how little is known, among the rising
generation, about slavery, in the Old Bay State. One might delve for a
twelve month, and not gather together the half of all, that is condensed,
in Dr. Belknap's replies to Judge Tucker's inquiries, Mass. H. C., iv.
191.
I never was a sexton in the Berry Street Church, but I knew Dr. Jeremy
Belknap well, in 1797, when he lived on the southeasterly side of Lincoln
Street, near Essex. He died the following year. His garden was overrun
with spiders. I had a great veneration for the doctor--he gave me a copy
of his Foresters--and, to repay a small part of the debt, I was
proceeding, one summer morning, with a strong arm, to demolish the
spiders, when he pleasantly called to me to desist, saying, that he
preferred them to the flies.
Slavery was here--negro slavery--at a very early day. Josselyn speaks of
three slaves, in the family of Maverick, on Noddle's Island, Oct. 2, 1639,
M. H. C., xxiii. 231. These were probably brought directly from Africa.
In 1645, the General Court of Massachusetts ordered Mr. Williams, at
Pascataqua, over which Massachusetts exercised jurisdiction, to send the
negro he had of Captain Smith, to them, that he might be sent home; as
Smith had confessed, that the negroes he brought were stolen from Guinea.
Ibid. iv. 195. In the same year, a law was passed, against the traffic in
slaves, those excepted, who were taken in war, or cast into servitude, for
crime. Ibid.
The slave trade was carried on, in Massachusetts, to a very small extent.
"In 1703," says Dr. Belknap, "a duty of L4 was laid on every negro
imported." He adds--"By the inquiries which I have made of our oldest
merchants, now living, I cannot find that more than three ships in a year,
belonging to this port, were ever employed in the African trade. The rum
distilled here, was the mainspring of this traffic. Very few whole cargoes
ever came to this port. One gentleman says he remembers two or three. I
remember one, between thirty and forty years ago, which consisted almost
wholly of children. At Rhode Island the rum distillery and the African
trade were prosecuted to a greater extent than in Boston; and I believe no
other seaport, in Massachusetts, had any concern in the slave business."
Ibid. 196. Dr. Belknap drew up his answers to Judge Tucker's inquiries,
April 21, 1795: "_between thirty and forty years ago_," therefore, was
between 1755 and 1765. Dr. Belknap remembered the arrival in Boston of a
"_whole cargo_" of slaves, "_almost wholly children_," between the years
1755 and 1765! If we have ever had an accurate and careful narrator of
matters of fact, in New England, that man was Jeremy Belknap. The last of
these years, 1765, was the memorable year of the Stamp Act, and LIBERTY
TREE! Let us hope the arrival was nearer to 1755.
"About the time of the Stamp Act," says Dr. Belknap, "this trade began to
decline, and, in 1788, it was prohibited by law. This could not have been
done previous to the Revolution, as the governors sent hither from
England, it is said, were instructed not to consent to any acts made for
that purpose." Ibid. 197. In 1767, a bill was brought into the House of
Representatives, "to prevent the unnatural and unwarrantable custom of
enslaving mankind, and the importation of slaves into the Province:" but
it came to nothing. "Had it passed both houses in any form whatever," says
Dr. B., ibid. page 202, "Gov. Bernard would not have consented to it."
One scarcely knows which most to admire, the fury against the South, of
gentlemen, whose ancestors imported cargoes of slaves, or bought and sold
them, at retail, or the righteous indignation of Great Britain, who
instructed her colonial governors, to veto every attempt of the
Massachusetts Legislature, to abolish the traffic in human flesh. A
disposition existed, at an earlier period, to abolish the brutal traffic.
In a letter to the Rev. Dr. Freeman from Timothy Pickering, which may
found in M. H. C., xviii. 183, he refers to the following transcript, from
the records of the Selectmen of Boston: "1701, May 26. The Representatives
are desired to promote the encouraging the bringing of white servants, and
to put a period to negroes being slaves."
"A few only of our merchants," says Dr. B., M. H. C., iv. 197, "were
engaged in this traffic. It was never supported by popular opinion. A
degree of infamy was attached to the characters of those, who were
employed in it. Several of them, in their last hours, bitterly lamented
their concern in it." Chief Justice Samuel Sewall wrote a pamphlet against
it. Many, says Dr. B., who were wholly opposed to the traffic, would yet
buy a slave, when brought here, on the ground that it was better for him
to be brought up in a Christian land! For this, Abraham and the patriarchs
were vouched in, of course, as supporters.
Our winters were unfavorable to unacclimated negroes; white laborers were
therefore preferred to black. "_Negro children_," says Dr. B., ibid. 200,
"_were reckoned an incumbrance in a family; and, when weaned, were given
away like puppies. They have been publicly advertised in the newspapers,
to be given away_."
In answer to the question, how slavery had been abolished in
Massachusetts? Dr. Belknap answered--"_by public opinion_." He considers,
that slavery came to an end, in our Commonwealth, in 1783. After 1781,
there were, certainly, very few, who had the brass to offer negroes, for
sale, openly, in the newspapers of Boston. Public opinion, as Dr. Belknap
says, was accomplishing this work: and every calm, impartial person may
opine for himself, how patiently we of the North should have endured, at
that time, even a modicum of the galling abuse, of which such a
_profluvium_ is daily administered, to the people of the South. It seems
to me, that such rough treatment would have been more likely to addle,
than to hatch the ovum of public opinion in 1783.
Dr. Belknap's account, ibid. 203, is very clear. He says--"The present
constitution of Massachusetts was established in 1780. The first article
of the declaration of rights asserts that '_all men are born free and
equal_.' This was inserted, not merely as a moral or political truth, but
with a particular view to establish the liberation of the negroes, on a
general principle; and so it was understood, by the people at large; but
some doubted whether this were sufficient. Many of the blacks, taking
advantage of the _public opinion_, and of this general assertion, in the
bill of rights, asked their freedom and obtained it. Others took it
without leave. Some of the aged and infirm thought it most prudent to
continue in the families, where they had been well used, and experience
has proved that they acted right. In 1781, at the court in Worcester
County, an indictment was found against a white man for assaulting,
beating, and imprisoning a black. He was tried at the Supreme Judicial
Court, in 1783. His defence was that the black was his slave, and that the
beating, &c., was the necessary restraint and correction of the master.
This was answered by citing the aforesaid clause in the declaration of
rights. The Judge and Jury were of opinion that he had no right to beat or
imprison the negro. He was found guilty and fined forty shillings. This
decision was a mortal wound to slavery in Massachusetts."
The reader will perceive, that a distinction was maintained, between the
_slave trade_, eo nomine, and the _holding of slaves_, inseparably
connected as it was, with the incidents of sale and transfer from man to
man, in towns and villages. He, who was engaged in the _trade_, so called,
was supposed _per se_ or _per alium_ to _steal_ the slaves; but, contrary
to the proverb, the _receiver_ was, in this case, not accounted so bad as
the _thief_! The prohibition of the _traffic_, in 1788, grew out of public
indignation, produced by the act of one Avery, from Connecticut, who
decoyed three black men on board his vessel, under pretence of employing
them; and while they were at work below, proceeded to sea, having
previously cleared for Martinico. The knowledge of this outrage produced a
great sensation. Gov. Hancock, and M. L'Etombe, the French Consul, wrote
in favor of the kidnapped negroes, to all the West India Islands. A
petition was presented to the Legislature, from the members of the
association of the Boston Clergy; another from the blacks; and one, at
that very time, from the Quakers, was lying on the table, for an act
against equipping and insuring vessels, engaged in the traffic, and
against kidnappers. Such an act was passed March 26, 1788.
The poor negroes, carried off by that arch villain, Avery, were offered
for sale, in the island of St. Bartholomew. They told their story
publicly--_magna est veritas_--the Governor heard and believed it--the
sale was forbidden. An inhabitant of the island--a Mr. ATHERTON, of
blessed memory--became their protector, and gave bonds for their good
behavior, for six months. Letters, confirming their story, arrived. They
were sent on their way home rejoicing, and arrived in Boston, on the
following 29th day of July.
In 1763, according to Dr. Belknap, ibid. 198, there was 1 black to every
45 whites in Massachusetts; in 1776, 1 to every 65; in 1784, 1 to every
80. The whole number, in the latter year, 4377 blacks, 354,133 whites.
It appears, by a census, taken by order of Government, in the last month
of 1754, and the first month of 1755, that there were then in the Province
of Massachusetts Bay 2717 negro slaves of and over 16 years of age. Of
these, 989 belonged to Boston. This table may be found in M. H. C., xiii.
95.
No. XLVIII.
Of all sorts of affectation the affectation of happiness is the most
universal. How many, whose domestic relations are full of trouble, are,
abroad, apparently, the happiest of mortals. How many, after laying down
the severest sumptuary laws, for their domestics, on the subject of
_sugar_ and _butter_, go forth, in all their personal finery, to inquire
the prices of articles, which they have no means to purchase, and return,
comforted by the assurance, that they have the reputation of fashion and
wealth, with those, at least, who have, so deferentially, displayed their
diamonds and pearls!
Who would not be thought wealthy, and wise, and witty, if he could!