Ralph Waldo Emerson - The Complete Works, Vol. XI, Miscellanies, 1893 by gnosisclassics

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Emerson's complete works.

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iSiDerjEfitie

â&#x201A;¬littion

MISCELLANIES BEING VOLUME

XI.

EMERSON'S COMPLETE WORKS

MISCELLANIES

RALPH WALDO EMERSON

BOSTON HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY New

York

11 East Seventeenth Street

1S93

/\,6

H-l

Bt RALPH

WALDO EMERSON.

EDWARD

W. EMERSON.

The Riverside Press, Carnhridge, Mass., U. S. A. Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton Company.

NOTE.

The itorial

first five

pieces in this volume,

and the Ed-

Address from the " Massachusetts Quarterly-

Review" were published by Mr. Emerson, long ago. The speeches at the John Brown, the Walter and the Free Religious Association meetings

Scott,

were published at the time, no doubt with his consent,

but without any active co-operation on his

part.

The " Fortune

of the Republic " appeared

separately in 1879: the rest have never been pub-

In none was any change from the original form made by me, except in the " Fortune of the lished.

Republic," which was

made up from

ures for the occasion upon which

several lect-

was read. J.

CABOT.

COI^TENTS.

—*— PASS

The Lord's Supper

iillSTOKICAL DlSCODKSE IN CONCOKD

....

Address at the Dedication op the Soldiers' Monument IN Concord Address on Emancipation in the British West

129

Indies

.177

War The rnoiTivB Slave Law The Assault upon Mr. Sumner

....

Speech on Affairs in Kansas

203 231

239

Remarks at a Meeting foe the Belief of John Brown's Family John Brown Speech at Salem Theodore Parker Address at the Memorial Meet-

....

7 31

249 257

ing in Boston American Civilization

265

The Emancipation Proclamation Abraham Lincoln

291

Harvard Commemoration Speech

275

....

305 317

Editors' Address: Massachusetts Quaeterlt Re-

view

323

Woman

335

Address to Kossuth

357

viii

CONTENTS. PAQE

KOBERT BnR»9

363

Walteh Scott Remarks at the Okgakization of the Free Relig-

373

ious Association

379

Speech at the Annual Meeting op the Free Religious Association

The Fortune op the Refublio

385 .

„

393

THE LORD'S SUPPER. SERMON DELIVERED BEFORE THE SECOND CHURCH IN BOSTON SEPTEMBER 9, 1332.

THE LOED'S SUPPEE.

The Kingdom ness,

God

and peace, and joy

not meat and drink

in the

Holy Ghost.

;

but righteoas-

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Romans

xiv.

17.

In the history of the Church no subject has been more fruitful of controversy than the Lord's Supper,

There never has been any unanimity in the

understanding of the

mode

its

nature, nor

of celebrating

any uniformity in

Without considering

it.

the frivolous questions which have been lately de-

bated as to the posture in which take of

;

men

should par-

whether mixed or unmixed wine should

be served; whether leavened or imleavened bread should be broken;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the questions have been

differently in every church,

to the feast,

and how often

settled

who should be admitted it

should be prepared.

In the Catholic Church, infants were at one time permitted and then forbidden to partake

;

and,

since the ninth century, the laity receive the bread only, the

cup being reserved to the priesthood.

as to the time of the solemnity.

So,

In the Fourth

;

SERMON ON

Lateran Council,

was decreed that any believer

should communicate at least once in a year,

Afterwards

Easter.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

was determined that this

Sacrament should be received three times in the year, at Easter, Whitsuntide and Christmas.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

But more important controversies have arisen reThe famous question of the specting its nature. Real Presence was the main controversy between

England and the Church

the Church of

The

doctrine of

Rome.

the Consubstantiation taught

Luther was denied by Calvin.

In the Church of

England, Archbishops Laud and

Wake maintained

that the elements were an Eucharist, or sacrifice of

Thanksgiving to

God

;

Cudworth and Warburton,

that this was not a sacrifice, but a sacrificial feast

and Bishop Hoadley, that

nor a feast after

sacrifice,

but a simple commemo-

finally, it is

now near two hundred

ration.

And

was neither a

sacrifice

years since the Society of Quakers denied the authority of the rite altogether,

for disusing

and gave good reasons

it.

I aUude to these facts only to show that, so far

from the supper being a tradition in which men are fuUy agreed, there has always been the widest

room

for difference of opinion upon this particular. Having recently given particular attention to this subject, I was led to the conclusion that Jesus did

not intend to establish an institution foi perpetual

THE LORD'S SUPPER. observance ciples

when be

ate tbe Passover with his dis-

and, further, to the opinion, that

;

not

it is

now

do.

endeavor to state distinctly

reasons for these

expedient to celebrate

I shall

two opinions.

The

authority of the

rite.

account of the last supper of Christ with his

disciples is

given by the four Evangelists, Mat-

thew, Mark, Luke, and John.

St.

Matthew's Gospel (Matt. xxvi. 26-30)

are recorded the words of Jesus in giving bread and

wine on that occasion to his

disciples,

but no ex-

pression occurs intimating that this feast was hereafter to xiv.

be commemorated.

St.

Mark (Mark

22-25) the same words are recorded, and

stiU

with no intimation that the occasion was to be

membered.

St.

Luke (Luke

xxii.

re-

19), after re-

lating the breaking of the bread, has these words

"This do in remembrance of me."

St.

John,

although other occurrences of the same evening are related, this

whole transaction

passed over with-

out notice.

Now

observe the facts.

Two

of the Evangelists,

namely, Matthew and John, were of the twelve ciples,

and were present on that

them drops the

slightest intimation of

tion on the part of Jesus to set

nent.

John

occasion.

dis-

Neither

any inten-

up anything perma-

especially, the beloved

disciple,

who

SERMON ON

has recorded with minuteness the conversation and the transactions of that memorable evening, has

Neither does

quite omitted such a notice.

ap-

pear to have come to the knowledge of Mark, who,

though not an eye-witness, relates the other

facts.

the occasion was to be re-

This material

fact, that

membered,

found in Luke alone, who was not

present.

There

no reason, however, that we

know, for rejecting the account of Luke. not, the expression

was used by Jesus.

ently consider

meaning.

its

I have only brought

these accounts together, that you it is

I doubt

I shall pres-

may judge whether

likely that a solemn institution, to be continued

to the

end of time by

all

mankind, as they should

come, nation after nation, within the influence of the Christian religion, would have been established in this slight

manner

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; in a manner so

the intention of commemorating pear,

from their narrative,

slight, that

should not ap-

to have caught the ear

mind of the only two among the who wrote down what happened. Still we must suppose that the expression, " This

or dwelt in the

twelve

do in remembrance of me," had come to the ear of

Luke from some did

disciple

really signify ?

fectionate expression.

who was

thinks of his

What

his countrymen, celebrating their

present.

a prophetic and an afJesus is a Jew, sitting with

own impending

national feast.

death,

and wishes

THE LORD'S SUPPER.

the minds of his disciples to be prepared for

"When

"you

hereafter," he says to them,

keep the Passover, your eyes.

It is

will

now a

God

historical covenant of

Hereafter

you of a new covenant sealed with

will

remind

Jerusalem to keep this

feast, the

blood.

years to come, as long as your people shall to

shall

have an altered aspect to

with the Jewish nation.

it.

come

connection

which has subsisted between us will give a new

meaning in your eyes the anniversary of

to the national festival, as

I see natural

death."

feel-

ing and beauty in the use of such language from Jesus, a friend to his friends

was willing and

that he

met, his

;

I can readily imagine

desirous,

memory should hallow

when

his disciples

their intercourse

;

but I cannot bring myself to believe that in the use of such

an expression he looked beyond the living

beyond the abolition

generation,

of the festival

was celebrating, and the scattering of the nation,

and meant

to impose

a memorial feast upon the

whole world.

Without presuming in the ions

mind

of Jesus, you will see that

may be

sistent

to fix precisely the purpose

many

opin-

entertained of his intention, all con-

with the opinion that he did not design a

perpetual ordinance. his disciples

with good

He may

effect.

have foreseen that

remember him, and that may have crossed his mind

would meet

SERMON ON

that this would be easily continued a hundred or a

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; as men more transmit a â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and yet have been altogether

thousand years,

form than a

easily

virtue,

out of his purpose to fasten

and

upon men in

times

all

all countries.

But though the words, " Do this in remembrance Matthew, Mark or John,

of me," do not occur in

and although

should be granted us that, taken

alone, they do not necessarily import so

much

many

persons are apt to imag-

ine that the very striking

and personal manner in

usually thought, yet

which the eating and drinking cates a striking tival.

And

probably be

described, indi-

and formal purpose

found a

upon the mind

left

of one

who read

only the passages under consideration in the

Testament.

fes-

I admit that this impression might

But

New

removed by reading any narrative of the mode in which the ancient or the modem Jews have kept the Passover. this

impression

It is then perceived that the leading circumstances

in the Gospels are only a faithful account of that

ceremony.

Jesus did not celebrate the Passover,

and afterwards the Supper, but the Supper was the

He did with his disciples exactly what every master of a family in Jerusalem was doing at the same hour with his household. It appears that Passover.

the Jews ate the

and drank wine

lamb and the unleavened bread

after

-a

prescribed manner.

was

THE LORD'S SUPPER.

the custom for the master of the feast to break the

bread and to bless

it,

using this formula, which

the Talmudists have preserved to us, " Blessed be

Thou,

Lord, our God, who givest us the fruit

the

—

and then to give the cup to all. modern Jews, who in their dispersion

the vine,"

Among

retain the Passover, a

hymn

also

sung after

this

ceremony, specifying the twelve great works done

by God

for the deliverance of their fathers out of

Egypt.

But

stiU it

may be

asked,

Why

did Jesus

make

expressions so extraordinary and emphatic as these

— " This Take you.

eat.

;

Drink

body which

This it

broken for you.

blood which

— I reply they are not

shed for extraor-

They were familiar in his mouth. He always taught by parables and symbols. It was the national way of teaching, and was largely used by him. Eemember the readidinary expressions from him.

ness which he always showed to spiritualize every occurrence.

stopped and wrote on the sand.

admonished his

of the Pharisees.

disciples respecting the leaven

instructed the

maria respecting living water. self to

be anointed, declaring that

interment.

washed the

woman

of Sa^

permitted himit

was for his

feet of his disciples.

These are admitted to be symbolical actions and expressions.

Here, in like manner, he

calls the

SERMON ON

bread his body, and bids the disciples eat. He had used the same expression repeatedly before. The reason why St. John does not repeat his words

this occasion,

seems to be that he had reported

a similar discourse of Jesus to the people of Caper-

naum more

at length already

there tells the Jews, "

of the

Son

life in

you."

Man And when

(John

vi.

27â&#x20AC;&#x201D;60.)

Except ye eat the

flesh

and drink his blood, ye have no the Jews on that occasion

complained that they did not comprehend what he meant, he added for their better understanding,

and as

for our understanding, that

we might not

think his body was to be actually eaten, that he

only meant

we shoidd

live

his

commandment.

closed his discourse with these explanatory ex-

pressions

"The

flesh profiteth nothing; the

words

that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life."

Whilst 1

am upon

marking that

this topic,

not a

little

I cannot help re-

singular that

should have preserved this rite and insisted upon perpetuating one symbolical act of Christ whilst

have totally neglected aU others,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

particularly one

other which had at least an equal claim to our observance. Jesus washed the feet of his disciples

and

told

them

that, as

he had washed their

they ought to wash one another's feet

;

for he

feet,

had

given them an example, that they should do as he

THE LORD'S SUPPER. had done

I ask any person

to them.

of it

forever, to go

in the other Gospels,

who

believes

by Jesus

the Supper to have been designed

commemorated

and read the account

and then compare with

the account of this transaction in St. John, and

tell

be not much more explicitly author-

if this

ized than the Supper.

we have found

and the washing found

It only differs in this, that

the Supper used in

But

of the feet not.

an established

rite in

grounds of mere authority,

New England if

we had

our churches, on

would have been im-

possible to have argued against

That

it.

rite

used by the Church of Rome, and by the Sande-

been very properly dropped by

It has

manians.

Why ?

other Christians.

because

was a

western coimtries

For two reasons

local custom, ;

and (2) because

and aU understood that humility fied.

But the Passover was

concern us, and

which they

signified.

full of

was

typical,

the thing signi-

local too,

and does not

to understand the redemption

accoim.t of the Lord's

an occasion

(1)

bread and wine were typical,

its

and do not help us

and unsuitable

These views of the original

Supper lead me

to esteem

solemn and prophetic

interest,

but never intended by Jesus to be the foundation of a perpetual institution. It appears disciples

however in Christian history that the

had very early taken advantage of these

SERMON ON

impressive words of Christ to hold religious meetings, where they broke bread and drank wine as I look upon this fact as very natural in

symbols.

The

the circumstances of the Church. lived together

common memory

;

disciples

they threw aU their property into a

stock; they were

bound together by the

and nothing could be more nateventful evening should be afthis ural than that that they, Jews fectionately remembered by them of Christ,

;

adopt his expressions and his

like Jesus, should

types,

and furthermore, that what was done with

by them, his personal friends, propriety should come to be extended to

peculiar propriety

with

less

their

companions

also.

this

way

religious feasts

grew up among the early Christians. readily

They were adopted by the Jewish converts who were

familiar with religious feasts,

and

also

by the

Par-

gan_eoiiigrts^whose idolatrous worship had been

made up

of sacred festiyalsr^and

readily

as appears from the cen-

abused these to gross

riot,

sures of St. Paul.

Many

fact, the

who very

persons consider this

observance of such a memorial feast by

the early disciples, decisive of the question whether it

ought to be observed by

There was good

us.

reason for his personal friends to friend

and repeat

able that

among

Jews, any

rite,

his words.

remember

their

was only too prob-

the half converted Pagans and any form, would find favor, whilst

THE LORD'S SUPPER.

yet unable to comprehend the spiritual character of Christianity.

The

circumstance, however, that St. Paul adopts

these views, has seemed to in favor of the institution. is

many persons conclusive I am of opinion that it

wholly upon the epistle to the Corinthians, and

not upon the Gospels, that the ordinance stands.

Upon

this matter of St. Paul's

view of the Supper,

a few important considerations must be

The end which he has chapter of the

first

stated.

in view, in the eleventh

Epistle

not to_enjoiii upon

his friends to observe the Supper, but_to censure

their abuse of

if it

We quote

it.

the passage nowadays

enjoined attendance upon the Supper

he wrote

To make

;

but

merely to chide them for drunkenness.

their enormity plainer

he goes back to

the origin of this religious feast to show what sort of feast that was, out of which this riot of theirs

came, and so relates the transactions of the Last Supper.

" I have received of the Lord," he says,

" that which I delivered to you." sion

it is

cation

this expres-

often thought that a miraculous communi-

implied

son, if it is

;

but certainly without good rea-

remembered that

in the lifetime of

him an account

aU the

St.

Paul was living

apostles

of the transaction

who could ;

trary to all reason to suppose that

work a miracle

and

it is

God

give con-

should

to convey information that could

SERMON ON

20 so easily be got

by natural means.

port of the expression

that he

story of an eye-witness such as

But there

So that the imhad received the also possess.

a material circumstance which dimin-

ishes our confidence in the correctness of the tle's

view; and that

mind had not escaped the prevalent church, the

primitive

Apos-

the observation that his

is,

belief,

error of the

namely, that

the

second coming of Christ woiUd shortly occur, until

which time, he

tells

them, this feast was to be kept.

Elsewhere he teUs them that at that time the world

would be burnt up with in

established,

thrones

and

;

which

so slow

fire,

and a new government Saints would

the

sit

were the disciples during the

on life

after the ascension of Christ, to receive the

idea which

receive, that his second

coming was

a spiritual kingdom, the dominion of his religion in the hearts of men, to be extended gradually over

the whole world.

clearly

enough how

footing

among the

this

manner we may

see

this ancient ordinance got its

early Christians,

and

this single

expectation of a speedy reappearance of a temporal

Messiah, which kept itual

man

its

influence even over so spir-

as St. Paul,

would naturally tend to

preserve the use of the rite

We arrive then

when once

at this conclusion

established.

first, that it does not appear, from a careful examination of the account of the Last Supper in the Evangelists, that :

THE LORD'S SUPPER. it

was designed by Jesus to be perpetual secondly, ;

that all

does not appear that the opinion of St. Paul,

things considered, ought to alter our opinion

derived from the Evangelists.

One

general remark before quitting this branch

of this subject.

We ought to be cautious in taking

even the best ascertained opinions and practices of the primitive church, for our own.

be satisfactorily shown that they esteemed

could au-

thorized and to be transmitted forever, that does

not settle the question for us.

know how

in-

veterately they were attached to their Jewish prejudices,

and how often even the influence of Christ

failed to enlarge their views. ject succeeding times

ment more

in accordance with the spirit of Chris-

was the practice of the early

tianity than II.

But

it is

said

Admit

designed to be perpetual.

Here

stands, generally

every other sub-

have learned to form a judg-

ages.

that the rite was not

What harm accepted,

doth it?

under some

form, by the Christian world, the undoubted occasion of

much good;

main? " This

is it

not better

should re-

the question of expediency.

I proceed to state a few objections that in

judgment 1.

lie

If the

against

its

use in

its

present form.

Adew which I have taken of the history

of the institution be correct, then the claim of au-

thority should be

dropped in administering

it.

You

SERMON ON

22 say, every time

enjoined

;

you celebrate the

that Jesus

rite,

and the whole language you use con-

But

veys that impression.

you read the

New

Testament as I do, you do not believe he did. 2.

It has

seemed to

that the use of this ordi-

nance tends to produce confusion in our views of the relation of the soul to God.

It is the old ob-

jection to the doctrine of the Trinity,

true worship was transferred

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; that

from God

the

to Christ,

or that such confusion was introduced into the soul that an undivided worship was given nowhere.

not that the effect of the Lord's Supper

now

to the convictions of

I appeal

communicants, and ask

such persons whether they have not been occasionally conscious of

a painful confusion of thought be-

tween the worship due to

God and the commemoration

due to Christ. For the service does not stand upon the basis of a voluntary act, but thority.

imposed by au-

an expression of gratitude to Christ,

enjoined by Christ.

There

an endeavor to keep

Jesus in mind, whUst yet the prayers are addressed to

God.

clothe

I fear

the effect of this ordinance to

Jesus with an authority which he never

claimed and which distracts the mind of the worshipper. I know our opinions differ much respecting the nature and offices of Christ, and the degree of veneration to which he is entitled. I am so much

a Unitarian as

this

that I believe the

human mind

THE LORD'S SUPPER.

can admit but one Grod, and that every

pay

homage

religious

to take

away

I appeal, brethren, to

all right ideas.

In the moment when

your individual experience.

you make the but a

one moment to your act, necessarily

God, and Jesus

life,

exclude

In that

thought ?

God, though

least petition to

wish that he

silent

effort to

more than one being, goes

may

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; do

all

approve you, or add

you

not, in the very

other beings from your

act, the soul stands

alone with

no more present to your mind

than your brother or your child.

But

not Jesus called in Scripture the Media-

tor?

the mediator in that only sense in

which possibly any being can mediate between

and man,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; that

teaches us

how to become

is,

an instructor of man. like

God.

ciple of Jesus will receive the light

thankfully

;

but the thanks he

exalted being

wUl

And a true dishe gives most

offers,

accept, are

God

and which an

not compliments,

commemorations, but the use of that instruction. -

Passing other objections, I come to

this, that

the use of the elements, however suitable to the

people and the modes of thought in the East, where originated, is foreign and unsuited to affect us. Whatever long usage and strong association may have done in some individuals to deaden this repul-

sion, I

apprehend that their use

than loved by any of

us.

rather tolerated

are not accustomed

SERMON ON

to express our thoughts or emotions

by symbolical

actions. Most men find the bread and wine no aid to devotion, and to some it is a painful impediment.

eat bread

one thing; to love the precepts

them

of Christ and resolve to obey

The

quite another.

statement of this objection leads

that I think this difficulty, wherever

to say

is felt,

be entitled to the greatest weight.

It is alone a

sufficient objection to the ordinance.

It is

objection. is

not suitable to me.

I should abandon

by Jesus on

That

his disciples,

ration, every

and yet on

way

reason enough

If I believed

it.

why

was enjoined

and that he even contem-

plated making permanent this

mode

commemo-

agreeable to an Eastern mind,

trial it

was disagreeable to

feelings, I should not

adopt

it.

would approve more.

my own

I should choose

other ways which, as more effectual

upon me, he

For I choose that

membrances of him should be pleasing, religious.

my own

This mode of commemorating Christ

I will love him as a glorified friend,

ter the free

way

of friendship,

stiff

sign of respect, as

fear.

A passage read

ing provocation to

re-

affecting, af-

and not pay him a

men do

those

whom

they

from his discourses, a movworks like his, any act or meet-

ing which tends to awaken a pure thought, a flow of love,

an original design of

a true commemoration.

virtue, I call

a worthy,

THE LORD'S SUPPER. 4.

The importance

dinance

ascribed to this particular or-

not consistent with the spirit of Chris-

The general

tianity.

dinance

and

object

effect of the or-

It has been,

unexceptionable.

and

I doubt not, the occasion of indefinite good

an importance

given by Christians to

never can belong to any form.

;

is,

but

which

friends, the

the-kiugdomof jjod not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace

apostle well assures us that " is

and joy

in theTIoly Ghost.

'"^

as to declaim"'lsgainst"forms.

bodies

tial as

not so foolish

Forms

are as essen-

but to exalt particular forms, to ad-

;

moment

here to one form a is

unreasonable, and

after

it is

outgrown,

alien to the spirit of

If I understand the distinction of Chris-

Christ.

tianity, the

reason

why

aU other systems and moral system

that

;

it is

divine

be preferred over is this,

men

presents

that

it is

with truths

which are their own reason, and enjoins practices that are their

may be

own

justification

said to have been

Christians, they are not

its

that

;

which praises

christian

nances

;

it is

itself.

not engaged

by decent forms, or saving

not usage,

stand, that binds

it is

it,

Chris-

and every practice im-

itself,

which condemns

to Christianity

first

evidence to us, but the

doctrines themselves; that every practice tian

miracles

evidence to the

ordi-

not what I do not under-

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

let these

be the sandy

SERMON ON

26 foundations of

obey in

deep interior

its reality, life,

the rest

my makes with my reason it

What

falsehoods.

and

boundless charity,

its it

I revere

gives to mind, the echo

thoughts, the perfect accord

returns to

its

through

God and His Providence

;

all its

representation

and the persuasion

and courage that come out thence to lead me upward and onward. Freedom is the essence of this faith.

It has for its object simply to

good and wise. flexible as the

which the

life

Its institutions

make men

then should be as

That form out of and suitableness have departed,

wants of men.

should be as worthless in

its

eyes as the dead leaves

that are falling around us.

And

therefore, although for the satisfaction of

others I have labored to this rite

was not intended

show by the history that to

be perpetual

;

although

I have gone back to weigh the expressions of Paul,

I feel that here

the true point of view.

In the

midst of considerations as to what Paul thought,

and why he it is

so thought, I cannot help feeliag that

time misspent to argue to or from his convic-

tions, or those of

form.

Luke and John,

respecting any

I seem to lose the substance in seeking the

That

shadow. gloriously crucified

;

for

which Paul lived and died so

that for which Jesus gave himself to be

the end that

animated the thousand

martyrs and heroes who have followed his steps,

;;

THE LORD'S SUPPER. was

redeem us from a formal

and teach

religion,

us to seek our well-being in the formation of the

The whole world was full of idols and ordinances. The Jewish was a religion of forms it was all body, it had no life, and the Almighty God soul.

;

was pleased teach

men

to qualify

that only that life

oughly good

that

;

were shadows. this life

and send forth a man

him with the heart was religious which was thorsacrifice was smoke, and forms

that they must serve

purpose

;

This

man

and died true to

lived

and now, with

his blessed

word and

before us, Christians must contend that

matter of vital importance,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; reaUy a duty,

it is

to com-

memorate him by a certain form, whether that form be agreeable to their understandings or not. not this to to turn

make vain

God ?

the gift of

back the hand on the dial ?

make men,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

make

ourselves,

forms, but duties; not names,

Is not this

Is not this to

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; forget that not but righteousness

and love are enjoiaed there

and that in the eye of God ; no other measure of the value of any one

form than the measure of

its

use

There remain some practical objections to the ordinance, into which I shall not is

mean

enter.

the unfavorable relation in which

that numerous class of persons it

now

There

one on which I had intended to say a few words

who

merely from disinclination to the

places

abstain from

rite.

SERMON ON

Influenced by these considerations, I have pro-

posed to the brethren of the Church to drop the use of the elements and the claim of authority in

the administration of this ordinance, and have sug-

mode

gested a

which a meeting for the same

purpose might be held, free of objection.

My brethren have

considered

views with pa- ^

and candor, and have recommended, imani-

tienee

mously, an adherence to the present form.

I have

therefore been compelled to consider whether

comes

to administer

ion I ought not.

it.

be-

clearly of opin-

This discourse has already been

so far extended that I can only say that the reason

determination

desire, in the office of

shortly this

nothing which I cannot do with

Having

said this, I have said

tility

to this institution

want

sympathy with

have obtruded

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; It

a Christian minister, to do

;

whole heart.

I have no hos-

all.

only stating

it.

Neither should I ever

this opinion

upon other people, had

by my office to administer it. my opposition, that I am not inI am content that it stand to the end

I not been called

That

the end of

terested in

it.

of the world,

and I

if it

please

men and

shall rejoice in all the it is

religious

good

the prevailing opinion

community, that

please Heaven,

and an

produces. feeling in our

indispensable part of the pastoral office to administer this ordi< is

THE LORD'S SUPPER. nance, I office

about to resign into your hands that

which you have confided to me. It has many

duties for

which I

some which

feebly qualified.

wiU always be

charge according to

ability,

It has

delight to dis-

wherever I

exist.

And whilst the recollection of its claims oppresses me with a sense of my unworthiness, I am consoled by the hope that no time and no change can deprive me of the satisfaction of pursuing and exer- 4 cising

its

highest functions.

â&#x20AC;˘^'

HISTOEICAL DISCOURSE, AT CONCORD, ON THE SECOND CENTENNIAL ANNIVBESART OS THE INCOEPORATION OF TEE TOWN, SEPTEMBER 12, 1835.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.

Fellow

Citizens:

The town century of people of

Concord begins,

its history.

New England,

for a

this day, the third

common

consent, the

few years

past, as the

second centennial anniversary of each of settlements arrived, have seen

You have

thought

planting of the is just,

fit

early

becoming to commemorate the

first

The sentiment Our ears shall not

inland town.

and the practice

wise.

We will

be deaf to the voice of time. deeds of our fathers,

and pass that

them we expect from

posterity

And

its

to observe the day.

review the

just verdict

on our own.

how recent The imagination is impaWho can teU how many

yet, in the eternity of nature,

our antiquities appear

tient of a cycle so short.

thousand years, every day, the clouds have shaded these fields with their purple

awning ?

The

river,

by whose banks most of us were bom, every winter, for ages, has spread its crust of ice over the great

meadows which,

in ages,

had formed.

But the

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE

34 little

society of

men who now,

in this river, plough the

for a

fields it

few years,

fish

mow

the

washes,

grass and reap the corn, shortly shall hurry from its banks as did their forefathers. " Man's Hfe," said

Saxon king, " is the sparrow that enters at a window, flutters round the house, and flies out at another, and none knoweth whence he came, or whither he goes." The more reason

Witan

the

that

to the

we should

we can

;

give to our being what permanence

— that we should

recall the Past,

and

ex-

pect the Future.

Yet the race survives whilst the individual

dies.

In the country, without any interference of the law, the agricultural life favors the permanence of fam-

Here are

ilies.

ants of the

still

around

first settlers of this

Flint, "WiUard,

the lineal descend-

town.

Here is Blood,

Meriam, Wood, Hosmer, Barrett,

Wheeler, Jones, Brown, Buttrick, Brooks, Stow, Hoar, Heywood, Hunt, Miles, inhabitants for the

first

— the

thirty years

;

names of the and the fam-

many cases represented, when the name is If the name of Bulkeley is wanting, the honor

ily is in

not.

you have done

organ,

your persevering kindness to his

testifies

this day, in

making me your

blood.

I shall not be expected, on this occasion, to re-

peat the details of that oppression which drove oui fathers out hither.

Yet the town of Concord wa«

AT CONCORD. settled

by a party of non-conformists, immediately

The

from Great Britain.

best friend the Massachu-

much

against his wUl, was

Archbishop Laud in England.

In consequence of

setts

his

colony had, though

famous proclamation setting up certain novelties

in the rites of public worship, fifty godly ministers

were suspended for contumacy, in the course of two years and a half.

Hindered from speaking, some

of these dared to print the reasons of their dissent,

and were punished with imprisonment or mutilaThis severity brought some of the best

tion. ^

England

men

overcome that natural repugnance to

emigration which holds the serious and moderate of

every nation to their

own

soil.

Among the

clergymen was a distinguished minister of

silenced

Wood-

hiU, in Bedfordshire, E,ev. Peter Bulkeley, descend-

ed from a noble family, honored for his own virtues, his learning

and

gifts as

a preacher, and adding

to his influence the weight of a large estate.^

secution readily knits friendship

between

Mr. Bulkeley having turned

tims.

money and

set his face

towards

easily able to persuade a to join

him.

Probably there

Per-

its vic-

his estate into

New

England, was

good number of planters

They arrived in Boston in 1634.^ had been a previous correspondence

Neal's History of New England, vol.

p. 132.

Neal's History of New England, vol.

Shattuck's History of Concord, p. 158.

321.

JBISTORICAL DISCOURSE

with Governor Winthrop, and an agreement that they should settle at Musketaquid. joined Mr.

With them

Simon WUlard, a merchant from Kent They petitioned the General Court

in England.

for a grant of a township,

and on the 2d of Septem-

ber, 1635, corresponding in

New

Style to 12th Sep-

tember, two hundred years ago this day, leave to

begin a plantation at Musketaquid was given to

Peter Bulkeley, Simon WiQard, and about twelve families more.

month

and a large number town arrived

later,

Rev. John Jones

of settlers destined for the

new

in Boston.^

The grant of the General Court was but a preliminary step. The green meadows of Musketaquid or Grassy Brooh were far up in the woods, not to be reached without a painful and dangerous journey through an uninterrupted wilderness.

They could by the

cross the Massachusetts or Charles river,

ferry at as

Newtown they could go up the

Watertown.

;

river as far

But the Indian paths leading up

and down the country were a foot broad. They must then plunge into the thicket, and with their axes cut a road for their teams, with their

and children and

women

their household stuff, forced to

make long circuits too, to avoid hills and swamps. Edward Johnson of Woburn has described in an affecting narrative their labors ^

Shattnck, p.

by the way. 5.

" Some-

AT fcimes

passing through thickets where their hands

are forced to

and

CONCORD.

make way

for their bodies' passage,

their feet clambering over the

crossed trees,

which when they missed, they sunk into an uncertain bottom in water, and wade up to their knees, tum-

bling sometimes higher, sometimes lower.

end

of this, they

meet a scorching

the

plain, yet not so

plain but that the ragged bushes scratch their legs foully,

even to wearing their stockings to their bare

skin in two or three hours.

leggins,

step.

And

Some

of them, having

have had the blood trickle down at every in time of

reflecting heat

summer, the sun

from the sweet

fern,

casts such a

whose scent

very strong, that some nearly fainted."

They slept

on the rocks, wherever the night found them. time was

lost in travelling

they

knew not

when the sun was hidden by clouds

;

Much

whither,

for " their com-

pass miscarried in crowding through the bushes,"

and the Indian paths, once

lost,

they did not easily

find.

Johnson, relating undoubtedly what he had himself

heard from the pilgrims, intimates that they

consumed many days

in exploring the country, to

select the best place for the town.

Their

porary accommodation was rude enough.

tem" After

first

they have found a place of abode, they burrow themselves in the earth for their first shelter, under a hiU-side,

and casting the

soil aloft

upon timbers, they

mSTORICAL DISCOURSE

make a

fire

And thus

against the earth, at the highest side.

these poor servants of Christ provide shel-

and

ter for themselves, their wives

ing off

the short showers from

ones, keep-

little

their lodgings, but

the long rains penetrate through, to their great dis-

Yet in these poor and praise their which they houses, provide them God, till they can could not ordinarily, tiU the earth, by the Lord's turbance in the night season.

sing psalms, pray

wigwams they

blessing, brought forth bread to feed them.

This

they attain with sore travail, every one that can

lift

a hoe to strike into the earth, standing stoutly to his labors,

and tearing up the roots and bushes from

the ground, which, the lean crop,

till

first

year, yielded

the sod of the earth

was

them a and

rotten,

therefore they were forced to cut their bread very.

But the Lord

thin for a long season.

pleased to

provide for them great store of fish in the spring time,

and

especially, alewives,

a herring."

For

flesh,

about the bigness of

These served them also for manure.

they looked not for any, in those times,

unless they could barter with the Indians for veni-

son and raccoons.

made den 1

as pleasant

fruits

grew

" Indian corn, even the coarsest,

meal as

well, "

rice." ^

and

let

AU kinds

of gar-

no man," writes our

Johnson's Wonder -Working Providence, chap. xxxv.

have abridged and slightly altered some sentences. 2 Mourt, Beginning of Plymouth, 1621, p. 60.

;

AT CONCORD.

pious chronicler, in another place, "

pumpkins, for with

to feed his people until their

increased."

great cost of cattle, and the sickening of

The

their cattle

before

make a jest of Lord was pleased corn and cattle were

this fruit the

;

upon such wild fodder as was never cut

the loss of their sheep and swine by wolves

the sufferings of the people in the great snows and

cold soon following

;

and the fear of the Pequots

are the other disasters enumerated

The hardships

by the

historian.

and of the

of the journey

first

en-

campment, are certainly related by their contemporary with some air of romance, yet they can scarcely

be exaggerated. with their â&#x20AC;˘

forest,

stuff,

from a

to spare, to

A march

of a

number

of families

through twenty miles of unknown

little

town that had not much

rising

an Indian town in the wilderness that

had nothing, must be laborious

who were new

to the country

a formidable adventure.

all,

and

and bred

for those

in softness,

But the pilgrims had the

preparation of an armed mind, better than any hard-

ihood of body.

And

the rough welcome which the

new land gave them was a life

they must lead in

But what was

fit

introduction to the

it.

their reception at

Musketaquid ?

This was an old village of the Massachusetts Indians.

Tahattawan, the Sachem, with *

Johnson,

p. 56.

Waban

his

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE

son-in-law, lived near

Their

tribe,

Nashawtuck, now Lee's HiU.^

once numerous, the epidemic had

re-

Here they planted, hunted and fished. The moose was stiU trotting in the country, and of Of the pith his sinews they made their bowstring. duced.

elder, that stiU

nets

and

grows beside our brooks, they made

their arrow.

Hemp

the Indian

lines for

summer

angling, and, in winter,

they sat around holes in the pickerel,

they spun their

ice,

catching salmon,

breams and perch, with which our river Their physical powers, as our fathers

abounded.^

found them, and before yet the English alcohol had proved more fatal to them than the English sword, astonished the white men.^ cellent, that,

told of the

Their sight was so ex-

standing on the sea shore, they often

coming of a ship at

hour, yea, two hours

sail,

sea,

sooner by one

than any Englishman that

stood by, on purpose to look out.*

Roger Williams

known them run between eighty and a hundred miles in a summer's day, and back

affirms that he has

again within two days.

A little poimded

parched

corn or no-cake sufficed them on the march. his bodily perfection, the wild

noble traits of character. 1

Shattuok, p.

Josselyn's Voyages to

3 ^

To man added some

was open as a child

New England, 1638. Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, vol. Thomas Morton

;

New England

Canaan,

chap. 6.

p. 47.

AT CONCORD. to kiudness

and

Many instances

justice.

of his hu-

manity were known to the Englishmen who suffered in the

woods from sickness or

cold.

When

you

came over the morning waters," said one of the

Sachems, " we took you into our arms.

you with our best meat.

cold and hungry from Indian

The

faithful dealing

during the

life

fed

Never went white man

wigwam."

and brave good-will, which,

of the friendly Massasoit, they imi-

formly experienced at Plymouth and at Boston,

went to their

So that the peace was made,

hearts.

and the ear of the savage already secured, before the pilgrims arrived at his seat of Musketaquid, to treat with

him

for his lands.

made with

It is said that the covenant

dians by Mr. Bulkeley and

made under a

the In-

Major WiUard, was

great oak, formerly standing near

Our Records afSquaw Sachem, Tahattawan, and Nimrod

the site of the Middlesex Hotel.-'

firm that did

sell

a tract of six miles square to the English,

receiving for the same, some fathoms of

Wampum-

peag, hatchets, hoes, knives, cotton cloth and shirts.

Wibbacowet, the husband of Squaw Sachem,

re-

ceived a suit of cloth, a hat, a white linen band, shoes, stockings

and a great coat and, in conclusion, ;

the said Indians declared themselves satisfied, and told

the Englishmen 1

they were welcome.

Shattuek, p.

And

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE

was concluded, Mr. Simon Wil-

after the bargain

lard, pointing to the four

comers of the world, de-

had bought three miles from that place, east, west, north and south.^ The Puritans, to keep the remembrance of their clared that they

unity one with another, and of their peaceful com-

named their forest settlement They proceeded to build, under the

pact with the Indians,

CONCOED.

shelter of the hiU that extends for

north side of the

The labors citements.

of a

a mile along the

Boston road, their

new

iBrst

dwellings.

plantation were paid

its ex-

I seem to see them, with their pious

pastor, addressing themselves to the

ing the land.

work

of clear-

Natives of another hemisphere, they

aU the pleasing features of The landscape before them was strange and rude. The little

beheld, with curiosity,

the American forest.

was

fair, if it

flower which at this season stars

roadsides with

its

our woods and

profuse blooms, might attract

even eyes as stern as theirs with its hmnble beauty. The useful pine lifted its cones into the frosty air. The maple which is already making the forest gay with

its

orange hues, reddened over those houseless

The majestic summits of Wachusett and Monadnoc towering in the horizon, invited the steps men.

of adventure westward. 1

Depositions taken in 1684, and copied in the

of the

Town

Records.

first

volume

AT CONCORD. As

the season grew later, they felt

Many

iences.

bareleg,

and some in time of

inconven-

its

were forced to go barefoot and frost

and snow, yet

were they more healthy than now they are." land was low but healthy ; and

aU the

settlements, they

if,

found the

The

common with

air of

America

very cold, they might say with Higginson, after his description of the other elements, that "

land

may boast of

the element of

the rest ; for aU Europe

New

so gi-eat fires as

that

for fire as

many noblemen

New Eng-

more than

not able to afford to

England.

to possess but fifty acres,

more wood

fire,

all

make

poor servant,

may afford

to give

good as theworld yields, than

in England." ^

Many

were their

The

light strug-

wants, but more their privileges.

gled in through windows of oiled paper,^ but they

God by

read the word of

make use

it.

They were

fain to

of their knees for a table, but their limbs

were their own.

Hard

labor and spare diet they

had, and off wooden trenchers, but they had peace

and freedom, and the wailing of the tempest

in the

woods sounded kindlier in their ear than the smooth voice of the prelates, at home, in England. is

no people," said their pastor to his

exiles,

"but wiU

strive

little

excel in

Johnson.

New

E. W.'s Letter in Mourt, 1621.

England's Plantation.

" There flock of

something.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE

What

can we excel

look to number,

in, if

not in holiness ?

are the fewest

;

to strength,

we are the weakest if to wealth and riches, we are the poorest of aU the people of God through the ;

whole world.

cannot excel nor so

equal other people in these things short in grace

and

much as we come

and holiness too, we are the most

picable people under heaven. fore, herein to excel,

and

taken away from us."

and tender hearts

des-

Strive

we, there-

suffer not this

crown to be

The sermon

fell into

good

the people conspired with their

;

Their religion was sweetness and peace

teacher.

amidst toU and tears. ''

;

And,

are informed.

the edge of their appetite was greater to spiritual

duties at their first coming, in time of wants, than

afterwards."

The

original

years, are lost.

Town

Records, for the

first

thirty

have records of marriages

and deaths, beginning nineteen years after the settlement and copies of some of the doings of the town in regard to territory, of the same date. But ;

the original distribution of the land, or an account

of the principles on which preserved.

was divided, are not

Agreeably to the custom of the times,

a large portion was reserved to the public, and it appears from a petition of some new comers, in ^

Peter Bulkeley's Gpspel Covenant; Preached at Concord 2d Edition London, 1651, p. 432.

N. E.

;

AT CONCORD.

1643, that a part had been divided

among

the

first

without price, on the single condition of

settlers

improving

it.^

Other portions seem to have been

successively divided off

and granted

at the rate of sixpence or a shilling

in the first years, the land

to individuals,

acre.

But,

would not pay the neces-

sary public charges, and they seem to have fallen heavily on the few wealthy planters.

by his

Mr. Bulkeley,

generosity, spent his estate, and, doubtless in

consideration of his charges, the General Court, in

1639, granted him 300 acres towards Cambridge

and

Mr. Spencer, probably for the

like reason,

In 1638, 1200 and 1000

300 acres by the Alewife Eiver.

acres were granted to Governor Winthrop, to

Thomas Dudley of

the lands adjacent to the town,

and Governor Winthrop selected as a building spot the land near the house of Capt.

The

first

record

now remaining

tion of land for the minister, of

new lands

men.

divided

Humphrey Hunt.^

that of a reserva-

and the appropriation

commons or pastures

some poop

the same date, in 1654, the town having

itself into

three districts, called the North,

South and East quarters. Ordered, " that the North quarter are to keep and maintain all their highways

and bridges over the great

river, in their quarter,

and, in respect of the greatness of their charge there*

See the Petition in Shattuck,

Shattuck, p. 14.

p. 14.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE

about, and in regard of the ease of the East quarter rest, in their

above the

the North quarter ÂŁ3."

highways, they are to allow ^

Fellow Citizens, this

recorded political act

first

of our fathers, this tax assessed on

by a town,

implying, as

civil history,

its

inhabitants

the most important event in their does, the exercise of a

immu-

sovereign power, and connected with all the nities

and powers

guish the planting of the

over

all

Massachu-

greater speed and success that distin-

The

setts.

town

of a corporate

human

race in this country,

other plantations in history,

owe them-

mainly to the new subdivisions of the State

selves

into small corporations of land

and power.

No man made

them.

of the parts of that perfect structure

grew

out of the necessities of an instant occasion.

The

vain to look for the inventor.

Each

germ was formed to the

in England.

The charter gave

freemen of the Company of Massachusetts

Bay, the election of the Governor and Council of Assistants.

prescribing the

be elected

;

moreover gave them the power of

manner

which freemen should

and ordered that

all

fundamental laws

should be enacted by the freemen of the colony.

But the Company removed

New England more ;

than one hundred freemen were admitted the year,

and

it 1

first

was found inconvenient to assemble Town Records

;

Shattuok, p. 34.

;;

AT CONCORD. them

And

all.i

colony began to

when, presently, the design of the fulfill

itself,

by the settlement of

new

plantations in the vicinity of Boston, and par-

ties,

with grants of land, straggled into the country

to truck with the Indians and to clear the land for

own

their

benefi.t,

Boston found

the Governor and freemen in

neither desirable nor possible to

control the trade and praptices of these farmers.

What

could the body of freemen, meeting four

times a year, at Boston, do for the daily wants of the planters at Musketaquid killed

weUs

to be

be cleared

dug ;

to be

;

the forest to be f eUed

;

pastures to

corn to be raised ; roads to be cut

town and farm

lines to

be run.

be done, govern who might.

and

The wolf was

Indian to be watched and resisted

the

;

These things must

The nature

man

his condition in the world, for the first time

within the period of certain history, controlled the

formation of the State. nists vn-ote the law.

The

their manifest convenience

of the Governor nities,

necessity of the colo-

Their wants, their poverty,

made them bold

to ask

and of the General Court, immu-

and, to certain piirposes, sovereign powers.

The townsmen's words were heard and weighed, for all knew that it was a petitioner that could not be slighted

;

was the

river, or the winter, or

famine,

or the Pequots, that spoke through them to the Gov*

Bancroft

;

History of the United States, vol.

p. 389.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE

and Council of Massachusetts Bay.

ernor

structed

itself after

the pattern of

pointing

constable,

its

officers.

man

and other petty half-military office of

early as 1633,^ the

who seems

or selectman appears,

been appointed by Concord, in 1639.

only themselves,

first

townsto

In 1635, the Court say, " whereas

many

things which concern

Ordered, that the freemen of

every town shall have power to dispose of their

and woods, and choose

officers." ^

their

and very sisted,^

own

This pointed chiefly at the

but they soon chose their

stable,

have

the General Court, as here, at

particular towns have

lands,

In-

company organized the larger town, by ap-

necessity, each little

early assessed taxes

;

own

particular

office of con-

own

selectmen,

a power at

first re-

but speedily confirmed to them.

Meantime, to this paramount necessity, a milder and more pleasing influence was joined. I esteem the happiness of this country, that

its settlers,

whilst they were exploring their granted

and natural

rights

and determining the power

of the magistrate,

were imited by personal affection.

Members

church before whose searching covenant

all

of a

rank

was abolished, they stood in awe of each other, as religious men. They bore to John Winthrop, the *

Savage's Winthrop, vol.

Colony Kecords,

See Hutchinson's

vol.

p. 114.

Collection, p. 287.

AT CONCORD.

49 For the

Governor, a grave but hearty kindness.

men examined

time,

first

whom

the powers of the chief

For the

they loved and revered.

and reverence held

love

first

time,

The bands

the ideal social compact was real.

of ^y

fast the little state, whilst

they untied the great cords of authority to examine their soundness

They were

and learn on what wheels they

ran.

to settle the internal constitution of the

towns, and, at the same time, their power in the

The Governor conspires with them

commonwealth.

in limiting his claims to their obedience,

much more The

and values

their love than his chartered authority.

disputes between that forbearing

man and the much do

deputies are like the quarrels of girls, so

they turn upon complaints of unkindness, and end in such loving reconciliations.

was on doubts

own power, that, in 1634, a comto him for counsel, and he advised,

concerning their mittee repaired

seeing the freemen were

grown so numerous, to send

deputies from every town once in a year to revise the laws and to assess

aU monies.^

And

the Gen-

eral Court, thus constituted, only needed to

go into

separate session from the council, as they did in 1644,2 to

become

same assembly they

essentially the

are this day. 1

Winthrop's Journal, voL

pp. 128, 129,

Note. *

Winthrop's Journal, VOL. XI.

vol.

ii.

p. 160.

and the Editor's

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE

Concord and the other plantations found themselves separate and independent of Boston, with certain rights of their own,

this course of events,

which, what they were, time alone could fully de-

same time, a strict and loving fellowship with Boston, and sure of advice and aid, on every emergency. Their powers were termine

;

enjoying, at the

speedily settled

by obvious convenience, and the

towns learned to exercise a sovereignty in the ing of taxes

;

house of representatives

town lands school

;

lay-

in the choice of their deputy to the ;

in the disposal of

thfe

in the care of public worship, the

and the poor

;

and, what seemed of at least

equal importance, to exercise the right of expressing an opinion on every question before the coun-> try.

In a town-meeting, the great secret of

politi-

cal science was imcovered, and the problem solved,

how

to give every individual his fair weight in the

government, without any disorder from numbers.

In a town-meetiag, the roots of society were reached. Here the rich gave counsel, but the poor also ; and moreover, the just and the unjust. He is ill-informed who expects, on running down the town records for two hundred years, to find a church of saints,

a metropolis of patriots, enacting wholesome

and creditable forbid

it.

laws. this

The constitution of the towns open democracy, every opinion

had utterance; every

objection, every fact, every

AT CONCORD. acre of land, every bushel of rye,

The moderator was the

51 its

entire weight.

passive mouth-piece,

and

the vote of the town, like the vane on the turret

overhead, free for every wind to turn, and always

turned by the

last

In these

and strongest breath.

assemblies, the public weal, the call of interest,

duty, religion, were heard

and every

;

local feeling,

every private grudge, every suggestion of petulance

and ignorance, were not Wrath and love came up

pany. or not,

produced.

less faithfully

town-meeting in com-

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; freeman â&#x20AC;&#x201D; might introduce any

the law of 1641, every man,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; inhabitant or

not,

business into a public meeting.

Not a complaint

occurs in aU the volumes of our Records, of any in-

habitant being hindered from speaking, or suffer-

ing from any violence or usurpation of any class.

The negative

ballot of a ten shilling freeholder

as fatal as that of the honored

Farms or WUlard's Purchase. self at liberty to exhibit, at

was

owner of Blood's

man

felt

him-

town-meeting, feelings

and actions that he would have been ashamed of anywhere but amongst his neighbors. protests are frequent. sired his dissent

Individual

Peter Wright [1705] de-

might be recorded from the town's

grant to John Shepard.^

In 1795, several town-

meetings are called, upon the compensation to be

made

to a

few proprietors for land taken in mak1

Concord Town Records.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE

ing a bridle road large damages,

and one of them demanding

;

many

offers

meeting, and refused

The

;

The matters

there debated

to iuvite very small

considerations.

very unreasonable." are such as

were made him in town-

" which the town thought

ill-spelled

pages of the town records contain

I shall be excused for confessing that

the result.

I have set a value upon any

and private pique which

symptom of meanness met with in these

I have

antique books, as proof that justice was done if

;

that

the results of our history are approved as wise

and good,

was yet a free

sel prevailed, the

suggested

;

strife

;

the good coun-

sneaking counsel did not

freedom and

triumphed in a fair

field.

fail to

virtue, if they triumphed,

And

ing testimony for them, and so

so be it

everlast-

much ground

of as-

surance of man's capacity for self-government. It is the consequence of this institution that not

a school-house, a public pew, a bridge, a pound, a mill-dam, hath been set up, or pulled down, or

al-

whole populatown having a voice in the affair. A

tered, or bought, or sold, without the

tion of this

general contentment

the result.

And

ple truly feel that they are lords of the

the peosoil.

every windiag road, in every stone fence, in the

smokes of the poor-house chimney, in the clock on the church, they read their sider, at leisure,

judgments.

own power, and

the wisdom

and error of

contheir

AT CONCORD. The

British government has recently presented

to the several public libraries of this country, copies of

the splendid edition of the

Domesday Book^

and other ancient public Records of England. cannot but think that

knowledgment

would be a

of this national munificence, if the

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; of town, for â&#x20AC;&#x201D; should be printed, and presented the

records of one of our towns,

example,

suitable ac-

this

governments of Europe

to the English nation, as

;

a thank-offering, and as a certificate of the progress of the

Saxon race

as a lesson of

to the continental nations

;

humanity and

Union has twenty-four

love.

States,

dred towns, and Concord

one

are five hundred rateable polls,

an equal

that in

Concord

after the planting of Concord,

began to be made to

;

and every one has

vote.

About ten years and "

them, the

Tell them, Massachusetts has three hun-

is one.

efforts

TeU

and Massachusetts

to civilize the Indians,

win them to the knowledge of the true

God." This indeed, in so many words,

expressed

in the charter of the Colony as one of its ends;

and

this design is

siderations,"

named

mined Winthrop and

The

first

in the printed "

Con-

Hampden, and deterfriends, to come hither.

that inclined his

interest of the Puritans in the natives

was

heightened by a suspicion at that time prevailing. ^

Hutchinson's Collection, p. 27.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE

The

that these were the lost ten tribes of Israel.

woods might well draw on himself the His erect and perfect form, though disclosing some irregular virtues, was found joined to a dwindled soul. Master of aU

man

of the

compassion of the planters.

sorts of wood-craft,

and the

lake,

he seemed a part of the forest

and the

secret of his

amazing

skill

seemed to be that he partook of the nature and fierce instincts of the beasts

he slew.

Those who

dwelled by ponds and rivers had some tincture of

but the hunters of the tribe were found

civility,

tractable at catechism.

Thomas Hooker

in-

antici-

pated the opinion of Humboldt, and called them " the ruins of mankind."

Early

efforts

were made to instruct them, in

which Mr. Bulkeley, Mr. Flint, and Capt. WiUard, took an active part.

widow

In 1644, Squaw Sachem, the

of Nanepashemet, the great

Sachem

of Con-

cord and Mistic, with two sachems of Wachusett,

made a formal submission

to the English government, and intimated their desire, " as opportunity served,

and the English lived among them, to learn and know God aright; " and the

to read God's word,

General Court acted on their request.^

John

Eliot,

in October, 1646, preached his first sermon in the

Indian language at Noonantum

;

Waban,

Tahatta-

wan, and their sannaps, going thither from Con1

Shattuck, p. 20.

AT CONCORD.

There under the rubbish and

cord to hear him. ruins of barbarous

life,

human

the

and awoke

voice of love,

heart heard the

from a

sleep.

The

questions which the Indians put betray their rea-

son and their ignorance.

Can Jesus

Christ un-

derstand prayers in the Indian language

man be

him ?

and

wise,

his

" If

sachem weak, must he obey

a meeting which Eliot gave to the

squaws apart, the wife of Wampooas propounded the question, "

band prays, I like

Whether do I pray when my

hus-

I speak nothing as he doth, yet

what he

saith

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

" which questions were

accounted of by some, as part of the whitenings of the harvest toward."

Tahattawan, our Concord

sachem, called his Indians together, and bid them not oppose the courses which the English were tak-

ing for their good

;

for, said he, all the

time you

have lived after the Indian fashion, under the power of the higher sachems,

what did they care for you ?

They took away your skins, your kettles and your wampum, at their own pleasure, and this was aE they regarded. But you may see the English mind no such things, but only seek your welfare, and instead of taking away, are ready to give to you.

Tahattawan and Eliot to

his son-in-law

come and preach

Waban, besought

them

Concord, and

here they entered, by his assistance, into an agree^

Shepard's Clear Sunshine of the Oospel, London, 1648.

;

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE

ment

to twenty-nine rules, all breathing

a desire to

conform themselves to English customs.^ They requested to have a town given them within the

bounds of Concord, near unto the English. When this question was propounded by Tahattawan, he

was asked, why he desired a town

so near,

when

there was more room for them up in the country ? The Sachem replied, that he knew if the Indians dwelt far from the English, they would not so much care to pray, nor could they be so ready to hear the

word

God, but would

be, all one, Indians still

but dwelling near the English, he hoped

be otherwise with them then.

We, who

might,

see in the

squalid remnants of the twenty tribes of Massachusetts,

the final failure of this benevolent enterprise,

can hardly learn without emotion, the earnestness with which the most sensible individuals of the copper race held on to the

new hope they had

con-

ceived, of being elevated to equality with their civilized brother.

It is piteous to see their self-dis-

trust in their request to

and

their

remain near the English,

unanimous entreaty to Capt. Willard, to

be their Recorder, being very solicitous that what they did agree upon might be faithfully kept without alteration.

was remarkable that the preach-

ing was not wholly

new

to them.

thers," the Indians told Eliot, " did ^

See them iu Shattuck,

" Their forefa-

know God,

p. 22.

but

AT CONCORD. after this, they fell into

a deep

sleep,

did awake, they quite forgot him."

and when they

the instance of Eliot, in 1651, their desire was

granted by the General Court, and Nashobah, lying near

Nagog pond, now partly

in Littleton, partly in

Acton, became an Indian town, where a Christian

worship was established under an Indian ruler and teacher.^

Wilson

relates, that, at their meetings,

" the Indians sung a psalm, made Indian by Eliot, in one of our ordinary English tunes, melodiously."

Such was,

for half a century, the success of the gen-

eral enterprise, that, in 1676, there

were

five

hun-

dred and sixty-seven praying Indians, and in 1689, twenty-four Indian preachers, and eighteen assemblies.

Meantime, Concord increased in territory and population.

The lands were divided

;

highways

were cut from farm to farm, and from this town to Boston. in 1636.

military company had been organized The Pequots, the terror of the farmer,

were exterminated in 1637.

Capt. Underhill, in

1638, declared, that " the

plantations of

ham and Concord do

new

and wiU contain abundance of people." our

first

selectmen,

Ded-

afford large accommodation,

Mr.

Eichard Griffin were appointed.^ ^

Shepard, p.

Shattuck, p. 27.

Âť

Wilson's Letter, 1651.

In 1639,

Flint, Lt. "Willard,

And,

in 1640,

News from America,

Shattuok,

p. 19.

and

p. 22.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE

when the colony

was ÂŁ1200, Concord was

rate

as-

The country already began to yield more than was consumed by the inhabitants.^ The very great immigration from England made the sessed ÂŁ50.^

lands more valuable every year, and supplied a mar-

In 1643, the colony was so

ket for the produce.

numerous, that

became expedient to divide

into

four counties. Concord being included in Middlesex.^

In 1644, the town contained sixty families. But, in 1640,

all

immigration ceased, and the

country produce and farm-stock depreciated.* Other

The

difficulties accrued.

abundant manure of the jure the land.^

The

fish,

which had been the

settlers,

have caused some distress now by

its

drought.^

the corn eat

;

to in-

seems to

overflow,

now

blighted

enormous flocks of pigeons beat down and

much from

English grain; and the crops

New

mice.'^

plantations

had been opened, far and near

better land

whilst

its

A cold and wet summer

all sorts of

suffered

was found

river, at this period,

many

of the colonists at

Winthrop,

Hutchinson,

vol.

Hutchinson,

vol.

Winthrop,

Hutchinson, vol.

Bulkeley's Gospel Covenant, p. 209.

Winthrop,

vol.

p. 2.

ii.

ii. i.

ii.

and and

Boston thought

vol.

;

p. 90. p. 112.

p. 21. p. 94.

p. 94.

AT CONCORD.

remove, or did remove to England, the Concord people became uneasy, and looked around for

the inhabitants went to Connecticut with Eev.

Jones, and settled Fairfield. loss,

new

In 1643, one seventh or one eighth part of

seats.

Weakened by

Mr. this

the people begged to be released from a part

of their rates, to which the General Court con-

Mr. Bulkeley dissuaded

sented.i

his people

from

removing, and admonished them to increase their

Even this check which bethem acquaints us with the rapidity of their

faith with their griefs. fell

growth, for the good man, in dealing with his people, taxes

them with luxury.

pretended to

come hither," he says, " for ordinances ordinances are light matters with us after

the prey.

pride of

life

;

but now

are turned

have among us excess and

pride in apparel, daintiness in diet,

;

and that in those who, been

;

satisfied

in times past,

with bread.

lowest of the people."

This

would have

is the sin

of the

Better evidence could not

be desired of the rapid growth of the settlement.

The check was but momentary. The earth fruits. The people on the bay built ships, and found the way to the West Indies, with teemed with

pipe-staves,

lumber and

fish

;

aÂŤd the country people

speedily learned to supply themselves with sugar, >

Shattuok,

Gospel Covenant, p. 301.

p. 16.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE

and molasses.

The

college

gathered in 1638.

Now

the school house went up.

The General Court,

in 1647, " to the

tea

ing

may

fathers,

had been already end that learn-

not be buried in the graves of our fore-

Ordered, that every township, after the

Lord had increased them

number

to the

of fifty

house-holders, shall appoint one to teach all chil-

dren to write and read increase to the

and where any town

;

number

of one

Grammar

they shall set up a

hundred

shall

families,

school, the masters'

thereof being able to instruct youth so far as they

may be

fitted for the

University."

With

these

requirements Concord not only complied, but, in 1653, subscribed a

sum

for several years to the sup-

port of Harvard College.^

But a new and alarming public the growth of

this, as of

distress retarded

the sister towns during

more than twenty years from 1654 1654, the four united to raise

Sachem

New England

270 foot and 40 horse, to reduce of the Niantics,

mon "Willard, war seems

to 1676.

Colonies agreed Ninigi-et,

and appointed Major

of this town, to the

command.^

Si-

This

have been pressed by three of the

col-

and reluctantly entered by Massachusetts. Accordingly, Major Willard did the least he could, onies,

Bancroft, History of the United Siates,^\ol.

Shattuck, p. 45.

Hutchinson, vol.

172.

p. 498.

AT CONCORD.

and incurred the censure of the Commissioners, who write to their " loving friend

Major "Willard," " that

they leave to his consideration the inconveniences arising from his non-attendance to his commission."

This expedition was but the introduction of the war

In 1670, the Wampanoags be-

with King Philip.

gan

to grind their hatchets,

and

insult the English.

and mend

their guns,

Philip surrendered seventy-

guns to the Commissioners in Taunton Meetinghouse,^ but revenged his humiliation a few years after,

by carrying

English

villages.

fire

and the tomahawk

From Narraganset war was

necticut River, the scene of

into the

to the

as these red hunters could traverse the forest.

The

cord was a military post.

Con-

shifted as fast

inactivity of

Con-

Major

Willard, in Ninigret's war, had lost him no confidence.

He marched

from Concord

in season to save the people

burned, and

to Brookfield,

whose houses had been

who had taken

shelter in

fortified

But he fought with disadvantage against an enemy who must be hunted before every battle. Some flourishing towns were burned. John Monoco, a formidable savage, boasted that "he had

house.^

tive,

See his instructions from the Commissioners, his narra-

and the Commissioners'

Collection, pp.

letter to

him

261-270.

Hutchinson, History, vol.

Hubbard, Indian Wars,

254.

p. 119, ed.

1801.

in Hutchinson's

mSTORICAL DISCOURSE

burned Medfield and Lancaster, and would burn Groton, Concord, Watertown and Boston ; " adding,

" what

will,

do."

did burn Grroton, but

before he had executed the remainder of his threat

he was hanged, in Boston, in September,

still

1676.-'

more formidable enemy was removed, in

the same year, by the capture of Canonchet, the faithful ally of Philip,

who was soon afterwards

shot at Stonington.

stoutly declared to the

Commissioners that " he would not deliver up a

Wampanoag, nor the paring of a Wampanoag's nail," and when he was told that his sentence was death, he said " he liked

well that he was to die

had spoken any-

before his heart was soft, or he

thing unworthy of himself."

We know beforehand who must unequal struggle.

and there a

straggler, as

a wild beast

a farm-house, or a village

fire

of the white

conquer in that

The red man may destroy here

men and

;

may

their arts of

war give them

we already hear the flourish I confess what chiefly interests me,

annals of that war,

by a few

of the Indian chiefs.

cans, after cruel tortures,

Hubbard,

201

of vicin the

the grandeur of spirit exhib-

Wampanoag who was put 1

may

in the first blast

of their trumpet

ited

but the association

an overwhelming advantage, and tory.

;

to death

nameless

by the Mohi-

was asked by his butch2

Hubbard,

p. 185.

AT CONCORD. ers during the torture, said, " he found

lislimen."

how he

liked the

as sweet as sugar

was

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; he Eng-

The only compensation which war manifold mischiefs, to which

war ?

offers for its

in the great personal qualities

gives scope

and

The

occasion.

virtues

of patriotism and of prodigious courage and address

were exhibited on both stances,

by women.

The

many

and, in

sides,

historian of

in-

Concord has

preserved an instance of the resolution of one of the daughters of the town.

Abraham and Mary, a

Two young

farmers,

Isaac Shepherd, had set their sister

girl of fifteen years, to

threshed grain in the barn.

watch whilst they

The Indians

stole

upon her before she was aware, and her brothers were

She was carried captive

slain.

into the In-

dian country, but, at night, whilst her captors were asleep, she plucked a saddle

from under the head

of one of them, took a horse they

Lancaster, and

had

stolen

from

having girt the saddle on, she

mounted, swam across the Nashua

river,

and rode

through the forest to her home.^

With

the tragical end of Philip, the

war ended.

Beleaguered in his own country, his corn cut down, his piles of

meal and other provision wasted by

the English,

that, 1

was only a great thaw in January,

melting the snow and opening the earth, enar Hubbard,

p. 245.

Shattuck, p. 55.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE

bled his poor followers to come at the ground-nuts, else they

had

Hunted by Captain Church,

starved.

he fled from one swamp to another his uncle, his sister,

taken or

slain,

and

he was at

his brother,

;

squaw being

his beloved

down by an

last shot

In-

dian deserter, as he fled alone in the dark of the

morning, not far from his own

Concord suffered to be attributed

little

fort.^

from the war.

no doubt, in

This

part, to the fact that

troops were generally quartered here, and that

was the residence of many noted

Tradi-

soldiers.

tion finds another cause in the sanctity of its minister.

The

elder Bulkeley

was gone.

bones were laid at rest in the tle of his

upon

Indian.* village of

In 1659,^

his

But the man-

piety and of the people's affection fell

his son

it is said,

forest.

Edward,^ the fame of whose prayers,

once saved Concord from an attack of the

undoubtedly was the

great defence

Praying Indians, until

this settlement fell

a victim to the envenomed prejudice against their

The worst

countrymen. those years,

When

is,

that no

feature in the history of

man

spake for the Indian.

the Dutch, or the French, or the English

royalist disagreed with the Colony, there 1

Hubbard,

Neal, History of New England, vol.

Mather, Magnolia,

Shattuck, p. 59.

was

p. 260.

vol.

p. 363.

p. 321.

al-

•

AT CONCORD.

Ways found a Dutch, or French, or tory party, an earnest minority,

—

But the Indian seemed

ity.

—

keep things from extremto inspire such a feel-

ing as the wild beast inspires in the people near his den.

Concord

It is the misfortune of

have per-

mitted a disgraceful outrage upon the friendly Indians settled within

which ended in

its limits,

in February, 1676,

their forcible expulsion

from the

town.

This painful incident

but too just an example

of the measure which the Indians have generally re-

For them the heart of

ceived from the whites. charity, of humanity,

stone.

strength was

death, their

They never more

After Philip's

irrecoverably broken.

disturbed the interior settlements,

and a few vagrant ers

was

families, that are

now

on the bounty of Massachusetts, are twenty

left of the

"Alas

Their

for

No more

tribes.

them

iires

— their day

are out from

for

pension-

all that is

hill

is o'er,

and shore,

them the wild deer bounds,

The plough is on their hunting grounds The pale man's axe rings in their woods.

;

The

pale man's sail skims o'er their floods,

Their pleasant springs are dry."

I turn gladly to the progress of our civil history, "before

15,000 acres had been added by

1666, *

Sprague's Centennial Ode,

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE

grants of the General Court to

tlie

original terri-

tory of the town,^ so that Concord then included

the greater part of the towns of Bedford, Acton,

Lincoln and Carlisle.

In the great growth of the country, Concord participated, as is manifest

and increased to the English

towns

;

its

increasing polls

at this period writes

Government, concerning the country

The farmers

good houses

live in

from

Randolph

rates.

;

are numerous

and wealthy,

are given to hospitality

;

and

make good advantage by their corn, cattle, poultry, butter and cheese." ^ Edward Bulkeley was the pastor,

until his death,

brother, Peter,

in 1696.

His youngest

was deputy from Concord, and was

chosen speaker of the house of deputies in 1676.

The

following year, he was sent to England, with Mr. Stoughton, as agent for the colony; and, on his return, in 1685,

was a royal

But I

councillor.

Randolph speaks him with marked respect.^ It would seem that his visit to England had made him a courtier. In sorry to find that the servile

1689, Concord partook of the general indignation of the

province against Andros.

marched

to the capital

company

under Lieut. Heald, forming

a part of that body concerning which

are

Shattuek.

Hutchinson's Collection, p. 484.

Hutcliinson's Collection, pp. 543, 548, 557, 566.

in-

AT CONCORD.

formed, " the country people came ton,

armed

into Bos-

on the afternoon (of Thursday, 18th April,)

in such rage and heat, as

made

think what would foUow

for nothing

;

us all tremble

would

to'

satisfy

them but that the governor must be bound in chains or cords, and put in a more secure place, and that they would see done before they went away

them he was guarded by them But the town records of that day

to satisfy fort."

;

and

to the

confine

themselves to descriptions of lands, and to conferences with the neighboring towns to run boundary

lines.

1699,. so

broad was their

territory, I find

the selectmen running the lines

\^'ith

Cambridge and Watertown.^

Some

peculiarities in the

Chelmsford, interesting

manners and customs of the

time, appear in the town's books.

Proposals of

marriage were made by the parents of the parties,

and minutes

of such private agreements sometimes

The public charity seems to have been bestowed in a manner now obsolete. The town lends its commons as pastures,

entered on the clerk's records.^

to poor

men

;

present want

and " being informed of the of

Stephen Hosmer, color,

Thomas to deliver

a town cow, of a black

with a white face, unto said

present supply."

great-

gave order to

Pellit,

Pellit, for his

Town

Hutchinson's History, vol.

See Appendix, Note A. March and April.

Records, July, 1698.

p. 336.

Records.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE

From

the beginning to the middle of the eight-

eenth century, our records indicate no interruption of the tranquillity of the

church or in

Mr. Estabrook,

1711,

inhabitants, either in

After the death of Eev.

civil affairs. it

was propounded at the

town meeting, " whether one of the three gentle-

men

lately improved here in preaching, namely, Mr. John Whiting, Mr. Holyoke and Mr. Prescott shall be now chosen in the work of the ministry? Voted Mr. Whiting, who was chosen, affirmatively." ^

was,

are told in his epitaph, " a universal lover

of mankind."

The charges

seem to have

islation, at this period,

town

;

for,

and

of education

of leg-

afflicted the

they vote to petition the General Court,

to be eased of the

law relating to providing a school-

master happily, the Court refused; and in 1712, the selectmen agreed with Capt. James Minott, " for ;

his son

Timothy to keep the school

at the school-

house for the town of Concord, for half a year be-

ginning 2d June

;

and

â&#x20AC;˘within the said time, for

any scholar

shall come,

laming exceeding

his son's

abUity, the said Captain doth agree to instruct

himself in the tongues, fulfilled

;

for

which

till

service, the

Minott ten pounds."

them

the above said time be

town

pay Capt.

Capt. Minott seems to have

served our prudent fathers in the double capacity of teacher 1

and representative.

Records, Nov. 1711.

It is

2 Records,

article in

May, 1712.

AT CONCORD.

the selectmen's warrant for the town meeting, " to see if the

town

exceeding

will lay in for a representative not

four

pounds."

Captain

was

Minott

chosen, and after the General Court was adjourned

received of the town for his services, an allowance

The country was not

of three shillings per day.

yet

so thickly settled but that the inhabitants suffered

from wolves woods

;

and

wild-cats,

which

infested

the

since bounties of twenty shillings are given

as late as 1735, to Indians

and whites, for the heads

of these animals, after the constable has cut off the ears.i

Mr. Whiting was succeeded fice

in the pastoral of-

by Rev. Daniel BHss, in 1738. Soon after his town seems to have been divided by

ordination, the ecclesiastical

discords.

In 1741, the celebrated

Whitfield preached here, in the open congregation.

Mr.

air, to

a great

Bliss heard that great orator

with delight, and by his earnest sympathy with him, in opinion and practice, gave ofEence to a part of his people.

Party and mutual councils were

called,

but no grave charge was made good against

him.

I find, in the Church Records, the charges

preferred against him, his answer thereto, and the result of the Council.

been made

l)y

The charges seem

have

the lovers of order and moderation

against Mr., Bliss, as a favorer of religious excite1

Records, 1735.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE

His answer

ments.

to one of the counts breathes

3uch true piety that I cannot forbear to quote it. The ninth allegation is " That in praying for himself,

in a church meeting, in

said,

he was a poor

was allowed ple.' "

you speak

December

worm

vile

Mediator between

last,

of the dust, that

God and this

peo-

this Mr. Bliss replied, " In the prayer of,

Jesus Christ was acknowledged as

the only Mediator between

God and man

;

which

was fiUed with wonder, that such a sinful and worthless worm as I am, was allowed to repretime, I

sent Christ, in any manner, even so far as to be

bringing the petitions and thank-offerings of the people unto God, and God's will and truths to the people

;

and used the word Mediator in some

ing light from that you have given L

was soon uneasy that

;

differ-

but I confess

had used the word,

some would put a wrong meaning thereupon."

lest

The

Council admonished Mr. Bliss of some improprieties

and

of expression, but bore witness to his purity

In 1764, Whitfield preached

fidelity in his office.

again at Concord, on Sunday afternoon

;

Mr.

Bliss

preached in the morning, and the Concord people thought their minister gave them the better

mon

of the two.

The planting

was

of the

ligious principle. >

ser-

also his last.

Colony was the

The Revolution was

Church Records, July, 1742.

effect of re-

the fruit of

AT CONCORD. another principle,

From

tice.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the

devouring thirst for jus-

the appearance of the article in the

Selectmen's warrant, in 1765, " to see will give the Representative

any important

affair to

and warlike to

Stamp Act " ^ ;

Town Records

to the

breathe a resolute

bold from the

spirit, so

the town

be transacted by the Gen-

eral Court, concerning the

peace of 1783, the

any instructions about

first

as hardly

admit of increase.

would be impossible on

this occasion to recite

all these patriotic papers.

I must content myself

with a few brief extracts.

the 24th January,

1774, in answer to letters received from the united

committees of correspondence, in the vicinity of Boston, the town say " past

We cannot

possibly view with indifference the

and present obstinate endeavors

of the enemies

of this, as well as the mother country, to rob us of

those rights, that are the distinguishing glory and felicity of this

land

;

rights, that

are obliged to

no power, under heaven, for the enjoyment of

;

they are the fruit of the heroic enterprises of the first

settlers

these

American

colonies.

And

though we cannot but be alarmed at the great mathe British parliament, for the imposition

jority, in

of unconstitutional taxes

gives life

on the

colonies, yet,

and strength to every attempt to oppose 1

Records.

;

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE

them, that not only the people of

this,

but the neigh-

boring provinces are remarkably miited in the important and interesting opposition, which, as

suc-

ceeded before, in some measure, by the blessing of heaven,

with ^^

so,

still

we cannot but hope

wiU be attended

greater success, in future.

Hesolved, That these colonies have been and

stiU are illegally taxed

by the British parliament,

as they are not virtually represented therein.

"That

the purchasing commodities

such illegal taxation

explicit,

subject to

though an im-

pious and sordid resignation of the liberties of this free

and happy people.

" That, as the British parliament have the East India

Company

empowered

to export their tea into

America, for the sole purpose of raising a revenue

from hence

;

to render the design abortive,

not, in this town, either

or under us, buy,

Company's

sell,

tea, or

will

by ourselves, or any from

or use any of the East India

any other

tea, whilst there is

duty for raising a revenue thereon in America neither will

suffer

any such tea to be used ia

our families. " That, all such persons as shall purchase,

sell,

use any such tea, shall, for the future, be deemed unfriendly to the happy constitution of this country.

" That, in conjunction with our brethren in

Amep

AT CONCORD. ica,

will risk our fortunes,

defence of his majesty, person, crown

same

and even our

King George

and dignity

;

lives, in

the Third, his

and wUl,

also,

with the

his free-born subjects in this

resolution, as

country, to the utmost of our power, defend all our rights inviolate to the latest posterity.

"That,

any person or persons, inhabitants of

this province, so long as there is a

duty on

tea, shall

import any tea from the India House, in England, or be factors for the East India Company, treat them, iu their country,

" That,

we wiQ

an eminent degree, as enemies to

and with contempt and

we think

our duty, at this

detestation. critical

time

of our public affairs, to return our hearty thanks to

the town of Boston, for every rational measure they

have taken for the preservation or recovery of our invaluable rights and liberties infringed upon ; and

hope, should the state of our public affairs re-

quire

it,

that they will stiU remain watchful

persevering

;

and

with a steady zeal to espy out every-

thing that shall have a tendency to subvert our

happy

constitution."

the 27th June, near three hundi'cd persons,

upwards of twenty-one years of age, inhabitants of Concord, entered into a covenant, " solemnly en-

gaging with each other, in the presence of God, to

suspend

all

commercial intercourse with Great Brit1

Town

Records.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE

ain, until the act for blocking the

be repealed

;

and neither

harbor of Boston

buy nor consume any

merchandise imported from Great Britain, nor to deal with those

who

do."

In Aug^t, a County Convention met in

this

town, to deliberate upon the alarming state of pub-

and published an admirable

lic affairs,

report. ^

September, incensed at the new royal law which

made

bade the This

dependent

judges

the

assembled

inhabitants

justices

little

on the crown, the

on the common, and

open the court of

town then assumed the sovereignty.

the

was judge and jury and council and king.

26th of the month, the whole town resolved into a committee of safety, " to suppress aU tumults,

for-

sessions.

and disorders in said town, and

itself riots,

to aid all

untainted magistrates in the execution of the laws of the land."

more companies

was then voted, to

raise

one or

Minute Men, by enlistment, to

be paid by the town whenever called out of town ; and to provide arms and ammunition, " that those

who are unable

to purchase

have the advantage of them, it." *

them themselves, may if

necessity calls for

In October, the Provincial Congress met in

John Hancock was President.

Concord. *

Town

See the Report in Shattuck, p. 82.

Records.

This

AT CONCORD. body was composed adopted those

and

of the foremost patriots,

efficient

and

measures whose progress

issue belong to the history of the nation, ^

The

clergy of

New England

were, for the most

A deep

part, zealous promoters of the revolution.

religious sentiment sanctified the thirst for liberty.

All the military movements in this town were

emnized by acts of public worship.

sol-

In January,

1775, a meeting was held for the enlisting of minute men.

Rev.

the Provincial

Sixty

men

WDliam Emerson,

the Chaplain of

Congress, preached to the people.

enlisted and, in a

few days, many more.

13th March, at a general review of all the mili-

tary companies, he preached to a very full assembly, taking for his

" And, behold, tain,

and

God

2 Chronicles xui. 12,

text,

himself

with us for our cap-

his priests with sounding trumpets to cry

alarm against you." vices of that

It is said that all the ser-

day made a deep impression on the

people, even to the singing of the psahn.

A large amount

of military stores

posited in this town,

Committee of Safety. stores, that the troops

had been

de-

by order of the Provincial It

was

to destroy those

who were attacked

in this

town, on the 19th April, 1775, were sent hither

by General Gage. 1

Bradford, History of Massachusetts, vol.

Rev.

Emerson's MS. Journal.

p. 353.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE

The

story of that day

peaceful

the

fields, for

In these

well known.

first

time since a hundred

drum and alarm-gun were heard, and the farmers snatched down their rusty firelocks from the kitchen walls, to make good the resolute years, the

words of their town debates.

In the

field

the western abutment of the old bridge

be seen, about half a

mUe from

organized resistance was

There the Americans Eight hundred British

made first

Boston to Concord

;

stUl

this spot, the first

to the British arms.

shed British

soldiers,

of Lieut.-Col. Francis Smith,

where

may

blood.

under the command

had marched from

Lexington had

fired

upon

the brave handful of militia, for which a speedy

revenge was reaped by the same militia in the after-

When

they entered Concord, they found and minute-men assembled under the command of Col. Barrett and Major Buttrick. noon.

the militia

This

little battalion,

some were urgent before the

bank

enemy

though in their hasty council

to stand their ground, retreated to the high land

on the other

of the river, to wait for reinforcement.

Barrett ordered the troops not to

upon.

The

British

following

bridge, posted two companies,

fire,

them

Col.

unless fired across

amounting

the

to about

one hundred men, to guard the bridge, and secure the return the

men

of the plundering party.

of Acton, Bedford, Lincoln

Meantime,

and

Carlisle,

AT CONCORD. all

once included in Concord, remembering their

parent town in the hour of danger, arrived and

fell

into the ranks so fast, that

Major Buttrick found

number

to the enemy's party at

himself superior in

And when

the bridge.

from the

smoke began

the

to rise

where the British were burning

village

cannon-carriages and military stores, the Americans resolved to force their

way

The Eng-

into town.

lish

beginning to pluck up some of the planks of

the

bridge, the Americans quickened their pace,

and the British

one or two shots up the

fired

river,

(our ancient friend here. Master Blood, saw the

water struck by the

ball

first

;)

then a single gun,

wounded Luther Blanchard and Jonas Brown, and then a volley, by which Captain Isaac Davis and Abner Hosmer of Acton

the ball from which

were instantly

Major Buttrick leaped from

killed.

the ground, and gave the

command

was repeated in a simultaneous cry by

The Americans wounded eight. this bank of the first

victims

lie.

and

fired,

killed

fire,

which

all his

men.

two men and

A head stone and a foot stone, on river,

The

mark

the place where these

British retreated immediately

towards the village, and were joined by two compar nies of grenadiers,

whom

the noise of the firing had

The militia and minute every one from that moment being his own

hastened to the spot.

men,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

commander,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; ran over the

hills opposite the battle-

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE

and across the great

field,

ter of the town, to

The

his retreat.

fields, into

the east quar-

waylay the enemy, and annoy were re-

British, as soon as they

joined by the plundering detachment, began that disastrous retreat to Boston, which

was an omen

both parties of the event of the war.

all

the anecdotes of that day's events

discern the natural action of the people.

we may It

was

not an extravagant ebullition of feeling, but might

have been calculated on by any one acquainted with the spirits and habits of our community.

Those poor farmers who came up, that day, to defend their native stincts.

soil,

acted from the simplest in-

They did not know

they were doing.

was a deed of fame

These men did not babble of

They never dreamed their children would who had done the most. They supposed they had a right to their com and their cattle, withglory.

contend

out paying tribute to any but their

And

as they

a fear of God.

wounded

own

governors.

had no fear of man, they yet did have Capt.

Charles Miles,

who was

in the pursuit of the enemy, told

ven-

by me, that " he went to the services of that day, with the same seriousness and acknowledgement of God, which he carried to

erable friend

who

sits

church."

The presence of these aged men who were In arms on that day, seems to bring us nearer to it. The

AT CONCORD.

benignant Providence which has prolonged their lives to this hour, gratifies the strong curiosity of tlie

new

see

generation. The PUgrims are gone but what manner of persons they were who j

stood in the worst perils of the Revolution.

hold by the hand the last of the invincible old,

and confirm from living

men

lips the sealed records

of time.

And

you,

fathers,

of your country have

whom God and the ennobled, may weU

history

bear a

chief part in keeping this peaceful birth-day of our tovsm.

ever

You are indeed extraordinary heroes. If men in arms had a spotless cause, you had.

You have fought a good fight. And having quit you like men in the battle, you have quit yourselves like men in your virtuous families in your corn;

fields

;

and in

society.

We wiU not hide your hon-

orable gray hairs under perishing laurel leaves, but

the eye of affection and veneration follows you.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and forever, â&#x20AC;&#x201D; for the esteem

You

are set apart,

and

gratitude of the

a better badge than pering country ing nation

human stars

race.

To you belongs

and ribbons.

This pros-

your ornament, and this expand-

multiplying youi- praise with millions

of tongues.

The agitating events of those days were duly remembered in the church. On the second day after the

affray,

divine service was

attended, in

this

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE

80 house, pastor,

by 700 soldiers. William Emerson, the had a hereditary claim to the affection of

the people, being descended in the fourth generation

But he

from Edward Bulkeley, son of Peter.

had merits of

his own.

The cause

of the colonies

was so much in his heart, that he did not cease to

make

prayers,

the subject of his preaching and his

and

said to have deeply inspired

of his people with his

saw

own

enthusiasm.

He,

many

at least,

clearly the pregnant consequences of the 19th

April.

I have found within a few days,

among

some family papers, his almanac of 1775, in a blank

leaf of

the fight

;

which he has written a narrative of

and, at the close of the month, he

writes, " This

month remarkable

To promote

events of the present age." cause, he asked,

for the greatest

the same

and obtained of the town, leave

to accept the commission of chaplain to the North-

ern army, at Ticonderoga, and died, after a few

months, of the distemper that prevailed in the

camp. In the whole course of the war the town did not depart from this pledge

had given.

Its little

population of 1300 souls behaved like a party to the contest.

The number

of its troops constantly

in service is very great.

are out of all proportion to 1

Its

pecuniary burdens

its capital.

See the Appendix, Note B.

The

econ-

AT CONCORD. omy

so rigid which

vanished.

all

marked

its earlier history,

has

It spends profusely, affectionately,

" Since," say the plaintive records, " General Washington, at Cambridge, is not able

in the service.

to give but 24s. per cord for wood, for the

army

;

Voted, that this town encourage the inhabi-

it is

by paying two

tants to supply the army,

dollars

per cord, over and above the Greneral's price, to such as shall carry wood thither of

wood were

carried.^

;

and 210 cords

similar order is taken

Whilst Boston was occupied by

respecting hay.

the British troops, Concord contributed to the re-

money

the inhabitants, ÂŁ70, in

lief of

of grain

When,

and a quantity

;

225

btfehels

meat and wood.

presently, the poor of Boston were quar-

tered by the Provincial Congress on the neighbor-

ing country. Concord received 82 persons to hospitality.^

ute men,

In the year 1775,

and 74

its

raised 100 min-

soldiers to serve at

Cambridge.

In March, 1776, 145 men were raised by this town In June, the Gen-

to serve at Dorchester Heights.*

Assembly

eral

of Massachusetts resolved to raise

5,000 militia for six months, to reinforce the Conti" The numbers," say they, " are nental army. large,

but this Court has the

their brethren, 1

Records, Deo. 1775

Shattuck, p. 126.

vol. XI.

fullest assurance, that

on this occasion,

will not confer with

Shattuck, p. 125.

Shattuck, p. 124.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE

82 flesh

and blood, but

will,

without hesitation, and

with the utmost alacrity and despatch,

numbers proportioned

fill

to the several towns."

up the ^

that occasion. Concord furnished 67 men, paying

them

itself,

And

an expense of ,ÂŁ622.

For these

with every levy, to the end of the war.

men

shirts,

so on,

was continually providing shoes, stockings, The taxes, which, coats, blankets and beef.

before the war, had not

much exceeded ÂŁ200 per

annum, amounted, in the year 1782,

to $9,544, in

silver.^

The

great expense of the

war

whilst the

cheerfulness,

war was borne with lasted

but years

;

passed, after the peace, before the debt

was paid.

soon as danger and injury ceased, the people

were

left at leisure to consider their

their debts.

The town

records show

poverty and

how

slowly

the inhabitants recovered from the strain of excessive exertion.

Their instructions to their represent-

atives are full of loud complaints of the disgrace-

ful state of public credit,

expenditure.

distress, for the

They

fell into

to the

and the excess of public

They may be pardoned, under such mistakes of an extreme frugality.

a common error, not yet dismissed

moon, that the remedy was, to forbid the

great importation of foreign commodities, and to 1

Bradford, History of Massachusetts, vol.

Shattuck, p. 126.

ii.

p- 113.

AT CONCORD.

by law the prices of articles. The operar tion of a new government was dreaded, lest it should prove expensive, and the country towns thought it would be cheaper if it were removed from the capital. They were jealous lest the Genprescribe

eral

Court should pay

fathers

must be forgiven by

terity, if, in it

too liberally, and our

itself

their charitable pos-

1782, before choosing a representative,

was "Voted, that the person who should be chosen

representative to the General Court should receive 6s.

per day, whilst in actual service, an account of

which time he should bring to the town, and

if it

should be that the General Court should resolve, that, their

pay should be more than

6s.,

then the

representative shall be hereby directed to pay the

overplus into the town treasury."

This was

se-

curing the prudence of the pubhe servants.

But whilst the town had public distress,

its

own

full share of the

was very far from desiring

at the cost of order

and law.

general sufferings drove the people in parts of cester

and Hampshire counties

large party of

relief

In 1786, when the

Wor-

to insurrection,

armed insurgents arrived

in this

town, on the 12th September, to hinder the sitting

Common

of the Court of

uo countenance here,^

But they found The same people who had Pleas.

May 3.

Records,

Bradford, History of Massachusetts, vol.

ords, 9th September.

p. 266,

and Rec-

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE

been active in a County Convention to considei grievances,

condemned the

authorities in putting

rebellion,

down.

and joined the

In 1787, the ad-

mirable instructions given by the town to sentative are a

repre-

its

proud monument of the good sense

and good feeling that prevailed.

The grievances

ceased with the adoption of the Federal constitution.

The

constitution of Massachusetts

accepted.

was put

to the

had been already

town of Concord, in

October, 1776, by the Legislature, whether the exist-

ing house of representatives should enact a constifor the State? The town answered No.-' The General Court, notwithstanding, draughted a

tution

constitution,

sent

here,

whether they would have

and asked the town it

for the law of

the

The town answered No, by a unanimous

State?

In 1780, a constitution of the State, proposed

vote.

by the Convention chosen

for that purpose,

was

ac-

cepted by the town with the reservation of some articles.2

And,

accepted the

in 1788, the town,

new Constitution

of the

its

delegate,

United States,

and this event closed the whole series of important public events in which this town played a part.

Erom

that time to the present hour, this

town

has made a slow but constant progress in population

and wealth, and the

arts of peace.

It has suf-

fered neither from war, nor pestUence, nor famine, 1

Records, 21st October.

Records, 7th May.

AT CONCORD. nor flagrant crime.

Its population, in the census

of 1830, was 2,020 souls.

The

public expenses, for

the last year, amounted to |4,290 ; for the present year, to |5,040.i If the community stints its ex-

pense in small matters,

The town

duties.

public paid, year,

schools

by it

;

spends freely on great

besides

Two

for its

about |1,200 which are

subscription, for

expends 1800 for

expended 1900.

f 1,800

raises, this year,

private schools.

its

poor

;

This

the last year

religious societies, of differ-

ing creed, dwell together in good understanding,

both promoting, we hope, the cause of righteousness

and

Concord has always been noted for

love.

its

The living need no praise of mine. among the sources of satisfaction and gTat-

ministers.

Yet

it is

itude, this day, that the

aged with

whom is

our fathers' counsellor and friend,

wisdom,

spared to

counsel and intercede for the sons.

Such, Fellow Citizens, the history of Concord.

an imperfect sketch of

I have been greatly in-

debted, in preparing this sketch, to the printed but

Unpublished History of this town, furnished the unhesitating kindness of

dent in this place.

its

me by

author, long a resi-

I hope that History will not

The author has done us and posterity a kindness, by the zeal and patience of his research, and has wisely enriched his pages

long remain unknown.

Records, 1834 and 1835.

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE

with the resolutions, addresses and instructions to its

agents, which

riods, the

from time

to time, at critical pe-

town has Yoted.

Meantime, I have read

They must

with care the town records themselves. ever be the fountains of

all just

information respect-

ing your character and customs.

They

tory of the town. of a

They are the

his-

exhibit a pleasing picture

community almost exclusively

agricultural,

where no man has much time for words, in his search after things plicity of

dropping

legislators,

marked with a uniform

no hanging of witches, no

whipping of Quakers, no unnatural

The

crimes.

justice.

town has deserved the name

I find no ridiculous laws, no eaves-

sense.

ghosts,

part, the

I find our annals

wears.

good

community of great sim-

manners, and of a manifest love of

For the most it

of a

;

tone of the records rises with the dig-

nity of the event.

These soiled and musty books

are luminous and electric

within.

The

old

town

clerks did not spell very correctly, but they contrive to

make

just

pretty intelligible the wiU. of a free

commimity.

frugal,

Frugal our fathers

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; though, for

the most part, they deal gen-

erously by their minister, schools

and the poor.

and

were, â&#x20AC;&#x201D; very

and provide well for the any time, in common

If, at

with most of our towns, they have carried this

economy

to the verge of

bered that a town

is,

vice, it is to

many

respects,

be remem.

a financial

AT CONCORD.

They economize, that they may sacriand higgle on the price of a pew, that they may send 200 soldiers to General Washington to keep Great Britain at bay. For splendor, there must somewhere he rigid economy. That the head of the house may go brave, the members must be plainly clad, and the town must save that the State may spend. Of late years, the growth of Concord has been slow. Without navigable waters, corporation.

They

fice.

stint

without mineral riches, without any considerable mill privileges, the natural increase of her popula-

by the constant emigration of the

tion is drained

youth.

Her

and

from

far

sons have settled the region around us, us.

Their wagons have rattled down

the remote western country, and in

hills.

And

many foreign

in every part of this

parts, they

earth, they traverse the sea, they

and in

all

plough the

engage in trade

the professions.

Fellow Citizens

;

two hundred years,

let

not the solemn shadows of

this day, fall over us in vain.

I feel some unwillingness to quit the remembrance of the past.

that

With

all

the hope of the

are leaving the old.

new

Every moment

I feel carries

us farther from the two great epochs of public principle,

the Planting, and the Revolution of the col-

ony.

Fortunate and favored this town has been, in

having received so large an infusion of the both of those periods.

Humble

spirit of

as is our village in

HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.

the circle of later and prouder towns that whiten the land,

and

has been consecrated by the presence

mind you

Why

men.

activity of the purest

need I

re-

our own Hosmers, Minotts, Cumiags,

Barretts, Beattons, the departed benefactors of the

town of

the village green have been the steps

Winthrop and Dudley

dian apostle,

who had

those savages

whom

;

John

Eliot, the In-

a courage that intimidated

his love could not melt

;

Whitfield, whose silver voice melted his great con-

gregation into tears

;

riots of the provincial

Hancock, and his compat-

Congress

;

of Langdon,

the college over which he presided.

and

But even more

sacred influences than these have mingled here with the stream of fill

human

liEe.

a space in the world's

forward, as

whom

The merit of history, who

those

who

are borne

were, by the weight of thousands

they lead, sheds a perfume less sweet than do

the sacrifices of private virtue.

I have had

much

opportunity of access to anecdotes of families, and

I believe this town to have been the dwelling place, in all times since its planting, of pious

and

excel-

who walked meekly through the paths of common life, who served God, and loved man, and never let go the hope of immortality. The

lent persons,

benediction of their prayers and of their principles lingers around us.

Supreme Being

The acknowledgment

of the

exalts the history of this people.

APPENDIX. brought the fathers hither. it

delivered their sons.

this faith survives

In a war of

And

among

89 principle,

so long as a spark of

the children's children, so

long shall the name of Concord be honest and venerable.

APPENDIX. NOTE

SEE

P. 67.

The following minutes from the Town Kecords in 1692,

may

serve as an example

John Craggin, aged about 63 his wife, aet. about

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

years,

63 years, do both

and Sarah

upon

testify

John Shepard,

oath, that, about 2 years ago,

sen. of

Concord, came to our house in Obourne, to treat with us, and give us a

visit,

and carried the

said

Sary

Craggin to Concord with him, and there discoursed us ia order to a marriage between his son, John

Shepard, Jr. and our daughter, EHz. Craggin, and, for our incouragement, that,

and before

upon the consummation

he, the said

John Shepard,

us, did promise,

of the said marriage,

sen.

would give

to his

John Shepard, jun. the one half of his dwelling house, and the old barn, and the pasture before the barn the old plowJand, and the old horse, when his colt was fit to ride, and his old oxen, when his son,

;

APPENDIX.

90 steers

were

fit

to work.

All this

lie

promised upon

marriage as above said, which marriage was con-

summated upon March

following,

which

years ago, come next March, Dated Feb. Taken on oath before me, Wm. Johnson.

NOTE

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; SEE

The importance which

two

25, 1692.

P. 80.

the skirmish at Concord

Bridge derived from subsequent events, has, of late years, attracted

day.

much

notice to the incidents of the

There are, as might be expected, some discrepIn

ancies in the different narratives of the fight.

the brief

summary

in the text, I have relied mainly

on the depositions taken by order of the Provincial Congress within a few days after the action, and on the other contemporary evidence.

I have consulted

the English narrative in the Massachusetts Historical Collections,

and in the

trial of

Home

adjudged in King's Bench; London, 1800, 677), the inscription

made by order

(Cases

vol.

ii.

of the legisla-

ture of Massachusetts on the two field-pieces pre-

sented to the Concord Artillery; Mr. Phinney's

History of the Battle at Lexington History of Concord Fight

;

Dr. Kipley's

in his

Mr. Shattuck's narrative History, besides some oral and some manu-

script

evidence of eye-witnesses.

narrative, written

;

The following by Kev. William Emerson, a

spectator of the action, has never been published.

APPENDIX.

part of

a part of

has been in

it it

possession for years:

I discovered, only a few days since, in

a trunk of family papers 1775, 19 April.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

This morning, between 1 and 2

o'clock,

we were alarmed by

barges,

from the bottom of the Common over

the ringing of the bell, and upon examination found that the troops, to the number of 800, had stole their march from Boston, in boats and

in Cambridge, near to Inman's

to a point

Farm, and were

Lex-

ington Meeting-house, half an hour before sunrise, where

they had fired upon a body of our men, and (as we afterward heard,) had kiUed several. This intelligence was

brought us at

first

by Dr. Samuel

Prescott,

who narrowly

escaped the guard that were sent before on horses, purposely to prevent

all

and messengers from giving us

posts

He, by the help of a very

timely information.

crossing several walls

and

the time above mentioned

fences, arrived at

when

;

fleet horse,

Concord at

several posts were

imme-

diately despatched, that returning confirmed the account of the regulars' arrival at Lexington,

and that they were

on their way to Concord. Upon this, a number of our minute men belonging to this town, and Acton, and Lyncoln, with several others that

out to meet

them

;

whUe

were in readiness, marched

the alarm

paring to receive them in the town.

commanded them, thought the

hill

company were

pre-

Capt. Minot,

who

proper to take possession of

above the meetiug-house, as the most advanta-

geous situation.

sooner had our

we were met by the companies

men gained

it,

than

that were sent out to

meet

APPENDIX.

92 the troops, us,

who informed

and that we must

than treble ours.

us, that

they were just upon

then retreated from the

new

the Liberty Pole, and took a

formed, before

we saw

of a quarter of a

battalions,

Scarcely had

glittering in arms, celerity.

advancing

to-

Some were

for

stand, notwithstanding the superiority of their

number but ;

till

two

town

the British troops at the distance

mUe,

wards us with the greatest

making a

into

enemy.

waited the arrival of the

near

hill

post back of the

upon an eminence, where we formed

and

numher was more

retreat, as their

others

more prudent thought

best to retreat

our strength should be equal to the enemy's by re-

cruits

from neighboring towns that were continually

coming in

to our assistance.

over the bridge,

when

Accordingly we retreated

the troops came into the town, set

fire to several carriages for

the artillery, destroyed

bbls. flour, rifled several houses, took possession of the

town-house, destroyed 500

men

at the

lb.

of baUs, set a guard of

North Bridge, and

sent

up a party

100

to the

house of Col. Barrett, where they were in expectation of finding a quantity of warlike stores.

But these were

happily secured just before their arrival, by transportation into the

woods and other

time, the guard set

by-places.

by the enemy

In the mean-

to secure the pass at

the North Bridge were alarmed by the approach of our people,

who had

retreated, as

mentioned before, and

were now advancing with special orders not the troops

unless fired upon.

punctually observed that

enemy

in three several

to fire

upon

These orders were

received the fire of the

and separate discharges of

their

;

APPENDIX. pieces before

was returned by our commanding

officer

the firing then soon become general for several minutes,

which skirmish two were kiUed on each

side,

and

sev-

enemy womided. It may here be observed, way, that we were the more cautious to prevent

eral of the

by the

beginning a rupture with the King's troops, as

we were

then uncertain what had happened at Lexington, and

knew

[not]

that they

had began the quarrel there by

first firing

upon our people, and

the spot.

The

killing eight

men upon

three companies of troops soon quitted

their post at the bridge,

and retreated

disorder and confusion to the main body,

upon the march

For

meet them.

in the greatest

who were soon

half an hour, the

enemy, by their marches and counter-marches, discovered great fickleness and inconstancy of mind, sometimes advancing, sometimes returning to their former posts at length they quitted the town,

;

tiU,

and retreated by the

In the meantime, a party of our men

way they came.

(150) took the back way through the Great Fields into the east quarter,

and had placed themselves

to advan-

tage, lying in ambush behind walls, fences and buildings,

ready to

The

fire

upon the enemy on

their retreat.

following notice of the Centennial Celebra^

tion has been

who thought

drawn up and it

desirable to

by a friend preserve the rememsent us

brance of some particulars of this historical

festi-

val. 1

The

context and the testimony of some of the surviving

veterans Incline omitted.

thmk

that this

word was accidentally R.

APPENDIX.

At a meeting last, it

nial

of the town of Concord, in April

was voted

to celebrate the

Second Centen-

Anniversary of the settlement of the town, on

the 12th

Septemher following.

committee of

were chosen to make the arrangements.

fifteen

This committee appointed Balph

Waldo Emerson,

Orator, and Rev. Dr. Ripley and Rev. Mr. Wilder,

Chaplains of the Day.

Hon. John Keyes was

chosen President of the Day.

the morning of the 12th September, at half

past 10 o'clock, the children of the town, to the

number

of about 500,

common in

moved

in procession to the

front of the old church

and there opened

to the right

the procession of citizens.

and Court-house,

and

At 11

left,

awaiting

o'clock, the

Con-

cord Light Infantry, under Capt. Moore, and the Artillery under Capt. Buttrick, escorted the civic procession, under the direction of

as Chief Marshall,

Moses Prichard

from Shepherd's

hotel,

through

The and the was a good

the lines of children to the Meeting-house.

South gallery had been reserved for

ladies,

North gallery for the children

(it

;

but

omen) the children overran the space assigned their accommodation,

for

and were sprinkled through-

out the house, and ranged on seats along the

aisles.

The old Meeting-house, which was propped

to sus-

tain the its walls,

unwonted weight of the multitude within was built in 1712, thus having stood for

APPENDIX. more than half the period

which our history goes

Prayers were offered and the Scriptures

back.

read by the aged minister of the town, Rev. Ezra

now

Eipley,

in the 85th year of his age

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; another

interesting feature in this scene of reminiscences.

A very pleasant and impressive part of the services in the church

was the singing

of the 107th psalm,

from the

New England

Mather, and others, in 1639, and used in

Eliot,

version of the psalms

made

the church in this town in the days of Peter Bulkeley.

The psahn was read a

line at a time, after

the ancient fashion, from the Deacons' seat, and so

sung to the tune of

St.

Martin's by the whole con-

gregation standing.

Ten

of the surviving veterans

at the Bridge, festival

who were

arms

on the 19 April, 1775, honored the Their names are Abel

with their presence.

John HosThomas Thorp, Solomon Smith, Aaron Jones, of Acton ; David Lane,

Davis, Thaddeus Blood, TiUy Buttrick,

mer, of Concord

John of

Oliver,

;

Bedford ; Amos Baker,

of Lincoln.

leaving the church,

the procession again

formed, and moved to a large tent nearly opposite

Shepherd's hotel, under which dinner was prepared,

and the company

sat

down

to the tables, to the

We were

honored with

the presence of distinguished guests,

among whom

number

of four hundred.

were Lieut. Gov. Armstrong, Judge Davis, Alden

;

APPENDIX.

Bradford (descended from the 2d governor of Plym-

Hon. Edward Everett, Hon. Stephen C. Phillips of Salem, Philip Hone, Esq. of New York, Gen. Dearborn, and Lt. Col. E. C. Winouth Colony),

throp, (descended

men

from the

1st

Governor of Massa-

Letters were read from several gentle-

chusetts.)

expressing their regret at being deprived of

the pleasure of being present on the occasion.

The

the speeches and sentiments at the

character of

dinner was manly and affectionate, in keeping with the whole temper of the day.

On with

leaving the dinner table, the invited guests,

many

of the citizens, repaired to the Court-

house to pay their respects to the ladies of Concord,

who had

an elegant

there, with their friends, partaken of

collation,

to the gentlemen.

was spread, festoons of

and now

The

politely offered coffee

hall, in

which the collation

had been decorated by fair hands with flowers, and wreaths of evergreen, and

Aung with pictures of the Fathers of the Town. Crowded as it was with graceful forms and happy faces, and resounding with the hum of animated conversation,

was

itself

a beautiful living picture.

Compared with the poverty and savageness

of the

scene which the same spot presented two hundred years ago,

was a

and could scarcely

brilliant reverse of the fail, like all

holiday, to lead the reflecting

medal

the parts of the

mind

to thoughts of

APPENDIX.

that Divine Providence, which, in every generation,

has been our tower of defence and horn of blessing.

At their

company separated and retired to and the evening of this day of excite-

sunset the

homes

;

ment was as quiet

a Sabbath throughout the

ADDRESS AT THE DEDICATION OP THE SOLDIERS' MONUMENT IN CONCOBD, AFBIL 19TH, 1867.

ADDKESS.

Fellow Citizens: The day

Concord doubly our calendar day,

as~l3eing the anniversary of the invasion of the

town by the British troops

in 1775,

and of the

de-

parture of the company of volunteers for Washington, in 1861.

the facts which

are all pretty well aware that

make

day

to us the interest of this

are iu a great degree personal and local here

every other town and city has

its

own

that

;

heroes and

memorial days, and that we can hardly expect a wide sympathy for the names and anecdotes which

we delight to record. we have no monopoly

We are glad and proud that We are thankful

of merit.

that other towns and cities are as rich

heroes of old and of recent date,

;

that the

who made and

kept America free and united, were not rare or

sol-

itary growths, but sporadic over vast tracts of the

Republic.

common

Yet, as

it is

a piece of nature and the

sense that the throbbing chord that holds

us to our kindred, our friends and our town, to be denied or resisted,

not

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; no matter how frivolous

ADDRESS.

102

— we

shall cling af-

fectionately to our houses, our river

and pastures,

or unphilosophical its pulses,

and believe that our

visitors

wUl pardon us

take the privilege of talking freely about our nearest neighbors as in

a family party ;

were directed

ArLrtues

thy of every loyal American for the protection

aided

its

of our

its

sons

fit

just

country, and

to signify its honor for

by raising an obelisk

It is a simple pile enough,

dug

were exerted

citizen,

common

triumph.

The town has thought a few of

— well assured,

we are met to honor which command the sympar on aims

meantime, that the

— a few

below the surface of the

the top of

;

but as

in the square.

slabs of granite,

soil,

and laid upon

we have learned

that the up-

heaved moimtain, from which these discs or flakes

were broken, was once a glowing mass at white heat, slowly crystallized, then uplifted tral fires of the globe

by the cen-

so the roots of the events

appropriately marks are in the heart of the universe.

I shall say of this obelisk, planted here in

our quiet plains, what Eichter says of the volcano " Vesuvius stands in the fair landscape of Naples :

in this

poem

of Nature,

and exalts everything, as

war does the age."

The

art of the architect

and the sense of the

town have made these dumb stones speak I

may borrow

;

have,

the old language of the church, con-

MONUMENT, CONCORD.

SOLDIERS'

103

verted these elements from a secular to a sacred

and

spiritual use

and the future

;

have made them look to the past

have given them a meaning for the

imagination and the heart.

The

sense of the town,

the eloquent inscriptions the shaft

now

bears, the

memories of these martyrs, the noble names which yet have gathered only their first fame, whatever

good grows to the country out of the war, the

lar-

gest results, the future pow^r and genius of the land, will

go on clothing

and

spiritual life.

like this, standing

erence to

utilities,

of the civil

nature,

this shaft

with daily beauty

certain that a plain stone

on such memories, having no

ref-

but only to the grand instincts

and moral man, mixes with surrounding

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; by

day, with the changing seasons,

night the stars roU over

gladly,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; becomes

sentiment, a poet, a prophet, an orator, to every

townsman and passenger, an altar where the noble youth shall in aU time come to make his secret vows.

The house,

old Monument,' a short haK-mile from this

stands to signalize the

first

Eevolution,

where the people resisted offensive usurpations,

of-

fensive taxes of the British Parliament, claiming that there should be no tax without representation.

Instructed

events, after the quarrel began, the

Americans took higher ground, and stood for political

independence.

But in the

necessities of the

ADDRESS.

104

hour, they overlooked the moral law, and winked at a practical exception to the Bill of Rights they

had drawn up. lieving

nature of

They winked at the exception, beBut the moral law, the things, did not wink at it, but kept its insignificant.

It turned out that this one viola-

eye wide open.

which in eighty years

tion was a subtle poison,

corrupted the whole overgrown body

and

politic,

brought the alternative of extirpation of the poison or ruin to the Republic.

Monument is built to mark the new principle, say,

This new

at its

new acknowledgment,

old as Heaven,

arrival

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

of the nation at the

rather,

for the principle

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; that only that

which injury to the least member

The aim

home.

hour was to reconstruct the South

North had

and practice

and must be

be reconstructed. of liberty

corrected.

State can live, in

damage to the whole. Reform must begin

recognized as

;

Its

but

of the

first

own

the

theory

had got sadly out

of gear,

was done on the

instant.

A thunder-storm at sea sometimes reverses the magand south is north. The storm of war works the Kke miracle on men. Every democrat who went South came back a republican, like nets in the ship,

the governors who, ia Buchanan's time, went to

Kansas, and instantly took the free-state colora

War,

says the poet, is

MONUMENT, CONCORD.

SOLDIERS'

" the arduous

To which

Every principle

man

strife,

the triumph of all good is

a war-note.

105

given."

When

the rights of

are recited under any old government, every

one of them

War

a declaration of war.

re-arranges the population, distributing

civilizes,

by ideas,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

the innovators on one side, the antiquaries on the

Once we were

It opens the eyes wider.

other.

up to the town-bounds, or the But when you replace the love of family

patriots

a principle, as freedom, instantly that the State-line into

York and Ohio,

New

State-line.

or clan

fire

runs over

Hampshire, Vermont,

New

and beyond, leaps

into the prairie

the mountains, bridges river and lake, burns as

hotly in Kansas and California as in Boston, and

no chemist can discriminate between one It lifts every population to

the other.

soil

and

an equal

power and merit.

As form

long as

which

" Every of

we debate

their private guess

the strongest.

man

to his tent,

in council, both sides

what the event may

But the moment you cry

Israel

hope and fear are at an end

now

be tested by the eternal

be no doubt more.

The

may

be, or

The world

;

" the delusions

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the strength facts. is

There

equal to

will

itself.

secret architecture of things begins to disclose

itself sis of

;

the fact that all things were

right

;

that justice

made on a baby all in-

really desired

ADDRESS.

106

telligent beings ; that opposition to it is against the

nature of things

;

and

that,

may happen

whatever

in this hour or that, the years

and the centuries are

always pulling down the wrong and building up the right.

The war made

many who honest.

the Divine Providence credible to

did not believe the good

Every man was an

Heaven quite by convic-

abolitionist

tion,

but did not believe that his neighbor was.

The

opinions of masses of men, which the tactics of

primary caucuses and the proverbial timidity of trade had concealed, the

war discovered

was found, contrary

popular

to all

;

and

belief, that

the

country was at heart abolitionist, and for the Union

was ready

As tion,

to die.

cities of

and

men

are the

so armies,

which are only wandering

ate a vast heat,

and

who compose them

lift

civilization, cities,

gener-

the spirit of the soldiers

The armuch mis-

to the boiling point.

mies mustered in the North were as sionaries to the

of civiliza-

first effects

also instantly causes of

mind

of the country as they were

carriers of material force,

and had the vast advan-

tage of carrying whither they marched a higher civilization.

course, there are noble

men

where, and there are such in the South

;

every-

and the

noble know the noble, wherever they meet and we have all heard passages of generous and excep;

SOLDIERS' MONUMENT, CONCORD.

107

tional behavior exhibited

our

officers

common

by individuals there to and men, during the war. But the

people, rich or poor, were the narrowest

and most conceited negroes on the looks as

of mankind, as arrogant as the

Gambia River

;

and, by the way,

the editors of the Southern press were

in all times selected

from

this class.

The invasion

of Northern farmers, mechanics, engineers, trades-

men, lawyers and students did more than forty years of peace had done to educate the

"This

will

be a slow business," writes our Con-

cord captain home, " for people as

ize the

It is

we go

we have

and

civil-

history, the

man-

to stop

along."

an interesting part of the

ner in which this incongruous militia were soldiers.

South.

made

That was done again on the Kansas plan.

Our farmers went to Kansas as peaceable, Godfearing men as the members of our school-committee here. But when the Border raids were let loose on their villages, these people, who turned pale at home if called to dress a cut finger, on witnessing the butchery done by the Missouri riders

on women and babes, were so beside themselves with rage, that they became on the instant the bravest soldiers and the most determined avengers.

And

the

first

events of the war of the Rebellion

gave the like training to the new recruits.

sorts of

men went

to the war,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the roughs,

ADDRESS.

108

men who liked harsh play and whom pleasure was not strong

New

and

;

last for their

then the adventurous type

Englander, with his appetite for novelty

travel

;

the village politician,

who could now

verify his newspaper knowledge, see the South,

amass what a stock of adventures at the fireside, or to the

the

for

enough, but who

wanted pain, and foimd sphere at superabundant energy

men

violence,

MiU-dam

;

and

to retail hereafter

well-known companions on

young men,

also, of excellent educa-

and polished manners, delicately brought up manly farmers, skUful mechanics, young tradesmen, tion

;

men

knowing

hitherto of narrow opportunities of

the world, but well taught in the grammar-schools.

But perhaps ists,

in every one of these classes

men who went from

were

a religious duty.

ideal'

I have

a note of a conversation that occurred in our

first

company, the morning before the battle of Bull

Run.

were

sitting

a halt in the march, a few of our boys

was right

said, "

to die for

fence talking together whether

One

them it,

and he thought one was never too young

One

a principle."

on the day when he

question,

now

rail

to sacrifice themselves.

he had been thinking a good deal about

last night,

teers,

on a

How

left

our later volun-

home, in reply to

can you be spared from your farm,

that your father

I shall always be sorry

so ill? said: if

"I go because

I did not go when the

MONUMENT, CONCORD.

SOLDIERS' country called me.

One wrote think

109

I can go as well as another." " You may words

to his father these

strange that

—

who have always

naturally

rather shrunk from danger, should wish to enter the

army

;

but there

a higher Power that tunes

the hearts of men, and enables duty,

and gives them courage

them

to see their

to face the dangers

And

with which those duties are attended." captain writes

home

the

of another of his men,

—

comes from a sense of duty and love of

country, and these are the soldiers you can depend

upon."

None

of us can have forgotten

to try our peaceful people with,

for troops.

I doubt not

how sharp a

was the

many of our

repeat the confession of a youth in the beginning of the war,

York, went to the

who

and died

field,

test

first call

soldiers could

whom

enlisted in

knew

New

Before his

early.

departure he confided to his sister that he was naturally a coward, but

should ever find

was determined that no one

out

;

that he

had long trained

himself by forcing himself, on the suspicion of any

near danger, to go directly up to struggles it might.

ment of

Yet

it,

from

cost

him what

this tempera-

sensibility that great heroes

have been

formed.

Our first company was led by an officer who had £3*0 wn up in this village from a boy. The older

;

ADDRESS.

110

among and

us can well remember him at school, at play

at work, all the

sible,

way up, men

unpretending of

lived long in his cheek

of the last

men

in this

the most amiable, sen-

;

much

and one

town you would have picked

out for the rough dealing of war, fierceness,

blonde, the rose

fair,

grave, but social,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; not a

trace of

less of recklessness, or of the de-

vouring thirst for excitement

;

woman men

tender as a

in his care for a cough or a chilblain in his

had troches and arnica in his pocket army officers were welcome to their

The

for them.

on him as

jest

too kind for a captain, and, later, as the colonel

got off his horse

when he saw one

on the march, and told him to

men had found

that his tain,

of his

men

who

lim p

But he knew

ride.

out, first that

he was cap-

then that he was colonel, and neither dared nor

wished to disobey him. conceit,

a saint

who never

the most modest

;

gaged in common occasion

He was

duties,

man

without

and amiable

men, en-

but equal always to the

and the war showed him

;

fancied himself a philosopher or

still

equal, how-

ever stem and terrible the occasion grew, closed in

him a strong good

resource, the helping hand, qualities of

tired out,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

dis-

sense, great fertility of

and then the moral

a commander, â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a patience

not to be

a serious devotion to the cause of the

country that never swerved, a hope that never faUed.

He was

a Puritan in the army, with

traits

MONUMENT, CONCORD.

SOLDIERS' that remind one of corruptible,

John Brown,

and an

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; an

Ill

integrity in-

ability that always rose to the

need.

You and

will

remember that

lieutenants,

these colonels, captains

and the privates

domestic

too, are

men, just wrenched away from their families and

by this They have

their business

rally of all the

the land.

notes to pay at

manhood in home have ;

farms, shops, factories, affairs of every kind to

home

think of and write sacrifice

Consider what

about.

and havoc in business arrangements

this

They have to think carefully of

war-blast made.

every last resource at home on which their wives or mothers

may

fall

back

;

upon the

little

account

in the savings-bank, the grass that can be sold, the

old cow, or the heifer.

These necessities make the

topics of the ten thousand letters with

mail-bags came loaded day by day.

which the

These

letters

play a great part in the war. The writing of letters

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; meantime they

Sunday in every camp are without the means of writing.

made

the

marches there opes,

After the

first

no envel-

letter-paper, there are

no postage-stamps, for these were wetted into

a solid mass in the rains and mud. letters are written

brown paper, or firelight,

Some

on the back of old strips of

making the

of these

bills,

some on

newspaper; written by

short night shorter

;

written

on the knee, in the mud, with pencil, six words at

ADDRESS.

112 a time

or in the saddle, and have to stop because

;

But the words are

the horse will not stand stiU.

proud and tender, grace her I

;

will not dis-

" " teU her not to worry about me, for

had me stay at home if The letters of the capare the dearest treasures of this town. Always

know

she would not have

weU

she could as tain

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; " Tell mother I

as not."

devoted, sometimes anxious, sometimes full of joy at the deportment of his comrades, they contain the

sincere praise of

sembly.

men whom

now

see in this as-

Marshal Montluc's Memoirs are the

Bible of soldiers, as

Henry IV.

of France said, Col-

Book of Epistles. know how one gets at-

onel Prescott might furnish the

writes,

"You

don't

tached to a company by living with them and sleepall the time. I know every man know every man's weak spot, who and who is true blue." He never remits

ing with them

by is

heart.

shaky,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

his care of the

men, aiming to hold them to their

good habits and to keep them cheerful. with them friends;

;

urges their correspondence with their

writes

news of them home, urging

own correspondent

to visit their families

them informed about the men perance society which

have not had a since

For the

he keeps up a constant acquaintance

first point,

we came

man

;

formed

his

and keep

encourages a temin the

camp.

" I

drunk, or affected by liquor,

here."

At one time he

finds his

SOLDIERS'

MONUMENT, CONCORD.

company unfortunate

in having fallen

companies of quite another the time

all

men, I think

class,

—"

113

between two 't is

profanity

yet instead of a bad influence on our

works the other way,

—

disgusts

them."

One day he

writes

" I expect to have a time,

this forenoon, with the officer drills us. it.

If he does not stop

away when he

right

it,

I shall

march

drilling them.

my men

There

many young men

shall,

that are not used to such talk.

I told the colonel this morning I should do

— don't

swearing in the army, and I have

fine for officers

too

from West Point who

very profane, and I wUl not stand

care what the consequence

is.

and

it,

This

men who never who has been at

lieutenant seems to think that these

saw a gun, can

West Point

drill as well as he,

At night he adds " I from West Point, this morning,

four years."

told that officer

that he could not swear at

my company

yesterday ; told him I would not stand

as he did

any way.

him I had a good many young men in my company whose mothers asked me to look after them, and I should do so, and not allow them to hear such language, especially from an officer, whose duty it was to set them a better example. Told him I did not swear myself and would not allow him to. He looked at me as much as to say, Do you know whom you are talking to f and I I told

ADDRESS.

114

do.

looked rather ashamed, but went through the

drill

much

looked at him as

So much

without an oath."

His next point

morals.

and pitching

The

best

excellent five

men

means

these

Prison in

New

keep them cheerful.

has games of base-

and euchre, whilst part

quoits,

the military discipline

for the care of their

is to

'T is better than medicine. ball,

as to say, Yes,

sham-fights.

heartily second him,

and invent

When,

afterwards,

of their own.

men were

prisoners in the Parish

Orleans, they set themselves to use

the time to the wisest advantage,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; formed a de-

bating club, wrote a daily or weekly newspaper, called

"Stars and

Stripes."

advertises,

" prayer meeting at 7 o'clock, in cell No. 8, second floor,"

and their own printed record

a proud and

affecting narrative.

Whilst the regiment was encamped at

Camp An-

drew, near Alexandria, in June, 1861, marching

came.

orders

Colonel Lawrence sent for eight

wagons, but only three came.

aU the canvas

these they loaded

of the tents, but took

"It looked very much

all

tents,

knew

the

men

have to sleep out of doors, unless we car-

So I took six poles, and went and told him I had got the poles

ried them. colonel,

tent-poles.

a severe thunder-

storm," writes the captain, " and I

would

to the for two

which would cover twenty-four men, and un-

SOLDIERS'

MONUMENT, CONCORD.

less

he ordered

so.

had no

said he

not to carry them, I should do objection, only thought they

would be too much for me.

men

only had about

" (the rest of the

company being, peron picket or other duty), " and some of them

twelve haps,

115

have their heavy knapsacks and guns to carry, so could not carry any poles.

two miles without stoppiag anything to this time

started

and marched

to rest, not having

had

and being very hot and dry."

eat,

Captain Prescott was daily threatened

with sickness, and suffered the more from this heat. " I told Lieutenant Bowers, this morning, that I

could afford to be sick from bringing the tent-poles, for

doors

saved the whole regiment from sleeping out for they

;

would not have thought of

The major had

had not taken mine. courage over,

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

said,

perhaps,

it, if

tried to dis-

I carried them

some other company woidd get them

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;I

told him, perhaps he did not think I was smart."

He had

the satisfaction to see the whole regiment

enjoying the protection of these tents.

In the disastrous battle of

pany behaved lieved,

what

well,

BuU Eun

and the regimental

now

this

com-

officers be-

the general conviction of the

country, that the misfortunes of the day were not so

much owing

to the fault of the troops, as to the

insufficiency of the combinations officers.

by the general

It happened, also, that the Fifth

Massa-

ADDRESS.

116

was almost

chusetts

The

unofficered.

early in the day, disabled tenant-colonel, the major

;

the lieu-

and the adjutant were

new

already transferred to places were not yet

colonel was,

by a casualty

regiments, and their

The

filled.

three months of

the enlistment expired a few days after the battle.

In the this

fall of

1861, the old ArtiUery

company

town was reorganized, and Captain Richard

Barrett

received a commission in March, 1862,

from the

State, as its

commander.

chiefly recruited here,

was

later

This company,

embodied in the

Forty-seventh Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers, enlisted as nine months'

men, and sent to

during their term of service.

New

Or-

where they were employed in guard duty

leans,

Captain

Humphrey

Buttrick, lieutenant in this regiment, as he

had

been already lieutenant in Captain Prescott's com-

pany in 1861, went out again

in August, 1864, a

captain in the Fifty-ninth Massachusetts, and saw

hard service in the Ninth Corps, under General Burnside.

and in

The regiment being formed

fields requiring great activity

suffered

extraordinary losses

and one other

who were

officer

;

of veterans,

and exposure,

Captain Buttrick

being the only

officers in it

neither killed, wounded, nor captured.

In August, 1862, on the new requisition for troops,

when

was becoming

difficult to

meet the

draft,

mainly through the personal example and influence

SOLDIERS' of

MONUMENT, CONCORD.

117

Mr. Sylvester Lovejoy, twelve men, including

himself, were enlisted for three years, and, being

soon after enrolled in the Fortieth Massachusetts,

went to the war

;

and a very good account has been

heard, not only of the regiment, but of the talents

and

virtues of these

men.

After the return of the three months' company

new company of volunteers, and Captain Bowers another. Each of these companies included recruits from this town, and they formed part of the Thir-

to Concord, in 1861, Captain Prescott raised a

ty-second llegiment of Massachusetts Volunteers.

Enlisting for three years, and remaining to the end

saw every variety

of the war, these troops service

which the war

at first

offered, and,

hard

though suffering

some disadvantage from change of com-

manders, and from severe

losses,

they grew at

last,

under the command of Colonel Prescott, to an excellent reputation, attested

by the names

of the

thirty battles they were authorized to inscribe their flag,

assigned them in the I have found

field.

many

notes of their rough experi-

ence in the march and in the

field.

In McCleUan's

retreat in the Peninsula, in July, 1862, "

our

men

and by the important position usually

can do to

We marched

draw

it is all

their feet out of the

mud.

one mile through mud, without exag-

geration, one foot deep,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a good

deal of the

way

ADDRESS.

118 over

and with short rations

boots,

on one day

;

nothing but^ liver, blackberries, and pennyi'oyal " At Fredericksburg we lay eleven hours tea."

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

in one spot without moving, except to rise and fire."

The next note

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; but

half,

left the

" cracker for a day and

is,

Another day, " had not

all right."

ranks for thirty hours, and the nights were

How

broken by frequent alarms.

would Concord

people," he asks, " like to pass the night on the battle-field,

and hear the dying cry for

and

help,

But the regiment did good service at Harrison's Landing, and at Antieand at Frederickstam, under Colonel Parker not be able to go to

them

;

burg, in December, Lieutenant-Colonel Prescott loudly expresses his satisfaction at his comrades,

now and then

particularizing

names

Shepard and Lauriat are as brave as

" Bowers,

lions."

the battle of Gettysburg, in July, 1863, the

brigade of which the Thirty-second Regiment formed

a part, was in line of battle seventy-two hours, and suffered

severely.

Colonel Prescott's

regiment

went in with two hundred and ten men, nineteen officers.

the second of July they had to cross

the famous wheat-field, under

fire

from the rebels

men were

in front

and on both

flanks.

killed or

wounded out

of seven companies.

Seventy

Francis Buttrick, whose manly beauty

all of

Here us re-

member, and Sergeant Appleton, an excellent

sol-

SOLDIERS'

MONUMENT, CONCORD.

119

were fatally wounded. The colonel was hit " I feel," he writes, " I have bullets.

dier,

by three

much

be thankful for that

life is

spared, al-

though I woidd willingly die to have the regiment

Our

do as well as they have done. eral holes

made, and were badly

hit the staff

which the bearer had ia

color-bearer

you

had

One

sev-

bullet

his hand.

The

brave as a lion ; he wiU go anywhere

and no questions asked

say,

colors

torn.

;

The Colonel took

shall Davis."

name

his

Mar-

evident pleasure

in the fact that he could account for all his men.

There were so many kUled,

mean

many wounded,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

For that word " missing " was apt

but no missing. to

skulking.

Another incident

A friend

Barrow complains that we did not treat his body with respect, inasmuch as we did not send it home. I think we were very fortunate to of Lieutenant

save

at aU, for in ten minutes after

he was killed

we had

the rebels occupied the ground, and

carry

him and

all of

our wounded nearly two miles

in blankets.

There was no place nearer than Bal-

timore where

we could have got a

pose

was eighty mUes

there.

coffin,

and I sup-

laid

two double blankets, and then sent

off

tance and got boards off a barn to

make

coffin

could,

and gave him

him

a long disthe best

burial."

After Gettysburg, Colonel Prescott remarks that Ottr

regiment

highly complimented.

When

Col-

ADDRESS.

120

came to him the next him that " folks are just beginning to appreciate the Thirty-second Regiment it always was a good regiment, and people are just beginning onel Grumey, of the Ninth,

day

to tell

to find nal,

out

;

" Colonel Prescott notes in his jour-

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; " Pity they have

was aU gone.

not found

out before

have a himdred and seventy-

seven gims this morning."

Let me add an extract from the

official

report of

the brigade commander " Word was sent by General Barnes, that, when we retired, we should fall :

This order was

back under cover of the woods.

communicated to Colonel Prescott, whose regiment

was then under the to '

hottest

fire.

be a peremptory order to

I don't want to retire

I can hold this place

; '

;

Understanding

retire

them, he replied,

not ready to retire

and he made good

;

his as-

Being informed that he misunderstood

sertion.

how

the order, which was only to inform him

when it became necessary, he was satisfied, and he and his command held their ground manretire

fully."

when

was said that Colonel Prescott's

reply,

reported, pleased the Acting Brigadier-Gen-

eral Sweitzer mightily.

After Gettysburg, the Thirty-second Regiment

saw hard

service at

Rappahannock Station

;

and

Baltimore, in Virginia, where they were drawn in battle order for ten days successively

crossing

MONUMENT, CONCORD.

SOLDIERS'

121

the Kapidan, and suffering from such extreme cold,

a few days

Mine Run,

later, at

that the

men were

compelled to break rank and run in circles to keep themselves from

being frozen.

the third of

December, they went into winter quarters. I

must not follow the multiplied

make

the hard

work

details that

But the

of the next year.

campaign in the Wilderness surpassed

all

worst experience hitherto of the soldier's

life.

the third of

May, they

fifth time.

their

crossed the Eapidan for the

the twelfth, at Laurel HiU, the

regiment had twenty-one killed and seventy-five wounded, including five officers. " The regiment has been in the front and centre since the battle

now

build-

ing breastworks on the Fredericksburg road.

This

begun, eight and a half days ago, and

has been the hardest fight the world ever knew.

think the loss of our army wiU be forty thousand.

Every day,

for the last eight days, there has been

a terrible battle the whole length of the

day they drove us dog fighting."

for seventeen days rest.

;

but

the twenty-first, they had been,

the twenty-third, they crossed the North success.

the thir-

we learn, "

Our regiment has never been in we crossed the Eapidan, on On the night of the thirtieth, " The

the second line since the third."

One

and nights, under arms without

Anna, and achieved a great tieth,

line.

has been regular bull-

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

ADDRESS.

122 hardest day

ever had.

have been in the

first line

twenty-six days, and fighting every day

but two

whilst your newspapers talk of the inac-

;

tivity of the

ers could

Army

of the Potomac.

be here and fight

the trenches, and be called

all

If those writ-

day, and sleep in

several times in the

night by picket-firing, they would not call

June fourth

tive."

awful day

mand last

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; two

;

inac-

marked in the diary as

"An

himdred men

lost to the

com-

" and not until the fifth of June comes at

;

a respite for a short space, during which the

men drew

shoes

and

socks,

and the

officers

were

able to send to the wagons and procure a change of clothes, for the first time in five weeks.

But from

these incessant labors there

be rest for one head,

commander

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the honored On

of the regiment.

was now to

and beloved

the sixteenth of

June, they crossed the James River, and marched

Early

to within three miles of Petersburg.

morning of the eighteenth they went formed

line of battle,

in the

to the front,

and were ordered

to take the

Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad from the Rebels.

this charge.

Colonel George L. Prescott was

mortally wounded.

After driving the enemy from

the railroad, crossing

bank of his

it,

and climbing the farther

to continue the charge,

he was struck, in front

command, by a musket

his breast near the heart.

ball

which entered

was carried

off the

MONUMENT, CONCORD.

SOLDIERS'

and died on the

field to the division hospital,

lowing morning.

123 fol-

his death-bed, he received

the needless assurances of his general, that " he had

done more than aU his duty," science so faithful

men and

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; needless

to a con-

and unspotted. One of his towns-

comrades, a sergeant in his regiment, writ-

ing to his

own

family, us6s these words

men who

one of the few

He was He

fight for principle.

did not fight for glory, honor, nor money, but because he thought

These are not

his duty.

feelings only, but of the whole regiment."

the

first of

Regiment made

January, 1865, the Thirty-second itself

comfortable in log huts, a

mile south of our rear line of works before Peters-

burg.

came

the fourth of February, sudden orders

move next morning

at daylight.

At Dab-

ney's Mills, in a sharp fight, they lost seventy-four in killed,

wounded and missing. Here Major Shep-

The

ard was taken prisoner.

lines

were held imtil

the tenth, with more than usual suffering from snow

and

hail

and intense

of the artillery

fire.

cold,

added to the annoyance

the

first

of April, the reg-

iment connected with Sheridan's cavalry, near the Five Forks, and took an important part in that battle

which opened Petersburg and Richmond, and

the ninth, they

cavalry,

and were advan-

forced the surrender of Lee.

marched in support of the cing in a grand charge,

when

the white flag of Gren.

ADDRESS.

124

Lee appeared. The brigade of which the Thirtysecond Eegiment formed part was detailed to receive the formal surrender of the Rebel arms. The homeward march began on the thirteenth, and the regi= ment was mustered out in the field, at Washington, on the twenty-eighth of June, and arrived in Boston on the

first

of July.

Fellow-citizens

names

of the dead.

The

obelisk records

There

this distribution of honor.

those dreadful fields

and

only the

something partial in

Those who went through returned not, deserve

much more than all the honor we can pay. But those also who went through the same fields and returned alive, put just as much at hazard as those who died, and, in other countries, would wear distinctive

badges of honor as long as they

lived.

hope the disuse of such medals or badges in

this

country only signifies that everybody knows these

men, and

carries their

deed in such lively remem-

brance that they require no badge or reminder.

sure I need not bespeak your gratitude to these

fellow-citizens

and neighbors of

ours.

I hope they

will be content with the laurels of one war.

But

let

me, in behalf of this assembly, speak

directly to you, our defenders,

easy to see that

and

say, that it is

danger should ever threaten the

homes which you guard, the knowledge of youi

APPENDIX. presence will be a wall of

Brave men

you

fire for their protection.

will liardly

fields as terrible as those

125

be called to see again

you have already trampled

with your victories.

There are people who can hardly read the names on yonder bronze eyes.

Three of the names are of sons of one family.

A gloom gathers is

tablet, the mist so gathers in their

of kindred

this assembly,

men and women,

the dearest and noblest stone.

Yet

it is

composed as

for, in

many houses,

gone from their hearth-

tinged with light from heaven.

duty so severe has been discharged, and with such

immense

results of good, lifting private sacrifice to

the sublime, that, though the cannon volleys have

a sound of funeral echoes, they can yet

hear

through them the benedictions of their country and

mankind.

APPENDIX. In the above Address I have been compelled

suppress more details of personal interest than I

have used. But I do not like to omit the testimony to the character of the

Commander

of the Thirty-

second Massachusetts Regiment, given in the

lowing letter by one of his soldiers :

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

fol-

;

APPENDIX.

126

Near Petbbsbukg,

Virginia,

June

Deae Father With

feelings of

deep regret, I inform you that Colo-

nel Prescott, our brave and lamented leader,

He was

20, 1864.

no more.

shot through the body, near the heart, on the

eighteenth day of June, and died the following morning.

On the morning

of the eighteenth, our division

were moving

to the front.

and came upon and formed our

Crawford's Division. tant, the Rebels'

Soon we passed the ground

where the Ninth Corps drove the enemy from j&ed lines,

was not

and before long we

Reveille was at an early hour,

line.

In front of

their f orti-

line in rear of

and one mile

us,

hues of works could be seen.

dis-

Between

us and them, and in a deep guUey, was the Norfolk and

Petersburg railroad. Soon the order came for us to take the railroad from the enemy, whose advance then held

Four regiments so the

of our brigade were to

it.

head the charge

32d Massachusetts, 62d, 91st and 155th Penn-

sylvania regiments, under

moved forward

command

of Colonel Gregory,

good order, the enemy keeping up a

aU the time. All went well tiU we reach^ The Rebels left when they saw us advance, and, when we reached the road, they were running away. But here our troubles began. The banks, on each side steady

fire

the road.

of the road, were about thirty feet high, and, being clay,

were nearly perpendicular.

enough, because

down

stiff

well

got started, and were rolled to the

bottom, a confused pile of Yanks. other side

got

was impossible

to get

Now to

climb the

up by climbing,

for

APPENDIX. the side of

was

like the side of

getting on each other's shoulders

127

a house.

our feet with hayonets, a few of us got up

down

our guns

to the others,

dint of

and making holes for

reaching

;

got over.

all finally

Meanwhile, a storm of hullets was rained upon

Through

encouraging the almost

all across,

men

men out to here." The

when a bullet and wounded pany G.

wounded

After

their best.

him, saying, "

Come

on,

This

line,

and

men form ;

color-hearer stepped towards him,

Com-

the color-bearer. Sergeant Giles, of

Calmly the Colonel turned, and ;

we were

struck the Colonel, passed through him,

some one help me

pany B, and one off.

he moved out in front of the

called the

our line

us.

Colonel Prescott was cool and collected,

it all,

man

of the 21st

me,

told

said, "

A sergeant of

ComPennsylvania, helped him

off."

last night, all that the

Colonel

He was afraid we would be driven back, and wanted these men to stick by him. He said, " I die for my country." He seemed to be conscious that said, while

going

off.

death was near to him, and said the wound was near his heart ; wanted the sergeant of his family,

and

tell

Mrs. Prescott, probably

some one an account this to

to Concord.

much.

last,

and

but

to write to

will write

they do not hear from

you would show

died in the division hospital,

his remains

"We lament

He was

;

of his death, I wish

Mrs. Prescott.

night before

Company B,

them aU about him.

wiU probably be

his loss in the

like a father to us,

sent

regiment very

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; always counselling

us to be firm in the path of duty, and setting the example himself.

I think a more moral man, or one more

APPENDIX.

128 likely to enter the

in the

Army

swear, or saw vice.

kingdom

of heaven, cannot be found

No man

of the Potomac.

him use

must do

this for the present.

ment has

lost its leader,

cord to console the

by showing

and

afflicted

folks at

home

The Thirty-second

Regi-

But the

principle.

some manner.

fight for principle,

his duty.

feelings only, but of the

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; pure

These are not

whole regiment.

and how he died

and comfort

his

we thought

in front of his regiment.

poor family.

think soldiers have no feeling, but

deep anxiety for the families of

I want you

every one, so they can see what

of the Colonel, bless

him

did not fight for glory, honor nor money,

but because he thought

this to

on the people of Con-

calls

family of the brave departed,

their esteem for

was one of the few men who

God

him

in the ser-

I wish there was some way for the regiment to

pay some tribute to his memory.

show

ever heard

we were

liquor, since

all

it is

Perhaps people not

so.

feel

our dear comrades.

Chables Babtlett, Sergeant Company G, Thirty-second Massachusetts Volunteers.

ADDRESS DELIVERED IN CONCORD ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE EMANCIPATION OF THE NEGROES IN THE BRITISH WEST INDIES, AUQUSI 1, 1811.

ADDKESS ON EMANCIPATION IN THE BRITISH WEST

INDIES.

Friends and Fellow Citizens:

[We

met

are

to exchange congratulations

on the

anniversary of an event singular in the history of civilization

of that

;

a day of reason

;

of the clear light

which makes us better than a flock of birds

and beasts

a day which gave the immense

fortifi-

cation of a fact, of gross history, to ethical abstractions.

pire

was the settlement, as far as a great Em-

was concerned, of a question on which almost it had taken care to record

every leading citizen in his vote

one which for

;

attention of the best

many

years absorbed the

and most eminent of mankind.

I might well hesitate, coming from other studies,

and without the smallest claim to be a

special la-

borer in this work of humanity, to undertake to set this

matter before you

done by a persons

;

which ought rather to be

many

strict co-operation of

but I shall not apologize for

In this cause, no man's weakness it

has a thousand sons

;

one

man

well-advised

my weakness.

any prejudice cannot speak,

ADDRESS.

132 ten others can; friends, or

its

and, whether by the wisdom of

by the

speech and by sUence to do,

goes forward.

not

or,

folly of the adversaries ;

;

by doing and by omitting Therefore I will speak,

but the might of liberty in

The subject is said to have duU men eloquent. J

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

weakness.

the property of

making

It has been in all men's experience a

marked

effect of the enterprise in behalf of the African, to

generate an overbearing and defying institution of slavery seems to its

but one

side,

and he

feels that

spirit.

The

opponent to have

none but a stupid

or a malignant person can hesitate on a view of the

Under such an impulse,

facts.

was about to

say.

If any cannot speak, or cannot hear the words of

freedom,

let

him go hence,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; I had

almost said.

Creep into your grave, the universe has no need of

you

But I have thought better consider what remains

When we

let

him not

to be

this interest in this country, the dictates of ity

make

suaded.

go.

done for

human-

us tender of such as are not yet per-

The hardest

selfishness

to be borne

Let us withhold every reproachful, and,

with.

can, every indignant remark. In this cause, we must renounce our temper, and the risings of pride.

If there be of

men

ration

any man who thinks the ruin of a race

a small matter, compared with the last deco-

and completions

of his

own

comfort,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; who

WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION.

133

would not so much as part with his ice-cream, to save them from rapine and manacles, I think I

must not

hesitate to satisfy that

man

that also his

cream and vanilla are safer and cheaper by placing the negro nation on a fair footing, than

them.

by robbing on the

If the Virginian piques himself

â&#x20AC;˘luresque

pic-

luxury of his vassalage, on the heavy

Ethiopian manners of his house-servants, their lent obedience, their

si-

hue of bronze, their turbaned

heads, and would not exchange

them

for the

intelligent but precarious hired service of whites, I shall not refuse to

made

papers are to

remain on his

ers of

estate,

will still

history of

own

and that the

conflict

cheaper to

interests us only as it

which

and

right, in the

records between the

From

material and the moral nature.

monuments

oldest plant-

it is

the slave.

mankind

exhibits a steady gain of truth

incessant

their free-

be their interest

Jamaica are convinced that

pay wages than

The

show him that when

out,

the earliest

appears that one race was victim and

served the other races.

In the oldest temples of

Egypt, negro captives are painted on the tombs of kings, in such attitudes as to

show that they are and Herodotus,

on the point of being executed

;

our oldest historian, relates that the Troglodytes

hunted the Ethiopians in four-horse chariots. From the earliest time, the negro has been an article of

ADDRESS.

134

So has it been, dawned on the world.

luxury tb the commercial nations.

down

to the day that has just

Language must be raked, the

secrets of slaughter-

houses and infamous holes that cannot front the day, must be ransacked, to teU what negro-slavery

These men, our benefactors, as they are

has been.

producers of corn and wine, of cofEee, of tobacco,

rum and brandy

of cotton, of sugar, of

;

gentle and

joyous themselves, and producers of comfort and

luxury for the civilized world,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; there seated

in the

finest climates of the globe, children of the sun,

heart-sick

when

how they came

I read

and how they are kept

Their case was

there.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

there, left

out of the mind and out of the heart of their brothers.

The

prizes of society, the trumpet of fame, the

privileges of learning, of culture, of religion, the

and joys of marriage, honor, obedience,

decencies

personal authority and a perpetual melioration into

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; these were

a finer

civility,

them.

For the negro, was the whose

with, in lie

down

woman

;

all,

but not for

slave-ship to begin

hold he sat in irons, unable to

bad food, and

;

franchisement ered him

filthy

for

insufficiency of that

;

dis-

no property in the rags that cov-

no marriage, no right in the poor black

that cherished

to the children of his

him

in her bosom,

body

;

no right

no security from the

humors, none from the crimes, none from the appetites of his

master:

toil,

famine, insult and flog-

WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION. ging

;

and,

when he sank

in the furrow,

good fame blew over him, no visited

him with glad

to death with

catchers

136

no wind of

priest of salvation

went down

tidings: but he

dusky dreams of African shadow-

Very sad was

and Obeahs hunting him.

the negro tradition, that the Great Spirit, in the

beginning, offered the black man,

whom

he loved

better than the buckra, or white, his choice of two

and a

boxes, a big

little

The black man was " The buckra box

one.

greedy, and chose the largest.

was fuU up with pen, paper and whip, and the negro box with hoe and biU

;

and hoe and

bill for

negro to this day."

But the crude element must work and laws and

its

of good in

ripen, spite of

West Indian

interest.

and could not

pillow,

human

affairs

whips and plantation-

sleep.

Conscience rolled

sympathize

very tenderly here with the poor aggrieved planter, of

whom

we women; if

so,

many

unpleasant things are said ; but

saw the whip applied to old men, to tender and, undeniably, though I shrink to say

women

pregnant

fusing to work

;

set

the treadmill for re-

when, not they, but the eternal

law of animal nature refused to work

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

we saw

men's backs flayed with cowhides, and "hot

poured on, superinduced with brine

rum

or pickle,

rubbed in with a cornhusk, in the scorching heat of the sun

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

we saw

the runaways hunted

ADDRESS.

136

with blood-hounds into swamps and hUls

;

and, in

cases of passion, a planter throwing his negro into

—

a copper of boiling cane-juice,

things with eyes,

moral

the blood

runs cold in the veins

the stom-

not pleasant sights. JThe blood is

anti-slavery

ach it

saw

with disgust, and curses slavery^ Well, so

rises

happened

or girl,

we saw these They are

too should wince.

—

;

a good

these injuries

woman, a country boy

fall out,

and had the

The horrid

of them.

man

would so

story ran

— once

in a while

indiscretion to tell

and flew ; the winds

They who heard it asked their rich and great friends if it was true, or only missionary lies. The richest and greatest, the

blew

all

over the world.

prime minister of England, the king's privy council

were obliged to say that

was too

became plain to aU men, the more

true.

this business

was

looked into, that the crimes and cruelties of the slave-traders stated.

and slave-owners could not be

The more

ing anecdotes came up,

Humane insisted

persons

over-

was searched, the more shock-

— things not

who were informed

on proving them.

to be spoken.

of the reports,

Granville Sharpe was

made acquainted with the sufferings of a slave, whom a West Indian planter had brought with him to London and had beaten with a pistol accidentally

on his head, so badly that his whole body became diseased,

and the man

useless to his master,

who

WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION.

137

him to go whither he pleased. The man applied Mr. William Sharpe, a charitable surgeon, who attended the diseases of the poor. In process of

left

time, he

was healed.

Granville Sharpe found

him

and procured a place for him in an apothecary's shop. The master accidentally met

at his brother's

his recovered slave,

get possession of

him

and

instantly endeavored to

Sharpe protected the

again.

In consulting with the lawyers, they told

slave.

Sharpe the laws were against him. not believe

;

no prescription on earth could ever

But the decisions are Lord Mansfield, now Chief Justice

render such iniquities legal. against you, and of

England, leans to the

stantly sat

Sharpe would

decisions.'

down and gave himself

Sharpe

in-

to the study of

English law for more than two years, untU he had

proved that the opinions relied on, of Talbot and

Yorke, were incompatible with the former English

and with the whole

decisions

spirit of

English law.

published his book in 1769, and he so

filled

the

heads and hearts of his advocates that when he brought the case of George Somerset, another slave,

Lord Mansfield, the slavish decisions were and equity affirmed. There is a sparkle of God's righteousness in Lord Mansfield's judgment, which does the heart good. Very imwiUinghad that great lawyer been to reverse the late debefore

set aside,

cisions

;

he suggested twice from the bench, in the

ADDRESS.

138 course of the rid of

how

trial,

the question might be got

but the hint was not taken

;

the case was

adjourned again and again, and judgment delayed.

last

judgment was demanded, and on the 22d

June, 1772, Lord Mansfield cided in these words

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

reported to have de-

"Immemorial usage preserves the memory

positive law, long after all traces of the occasion,

reason, authority lost

;

and

slaves,

and time

of its introduction, are

in a case so odious as the condition of

must be taken

strictly

(tracing the subject

;

to natural principles, the claim of slavery never

can be supported.)

The power claimed by

return never was in use here. cause set forth by this return of

by the laws

man must be

of this

kingdom

this

cannot say the

allowed or approved ;

and therefore the

discharged."

This decision established the principle that the ''air of

England

too

pure for any

slave

breathe," but the wrongs in the islands were not

thereby touched.

Public attention, however, was

drawn that way, and the methods of the stealing and the transportation from Africa became noised In their abroad. The Quakers got the story. plain meeting-houses and prim dwellings this dis-

mal

agitation got entrance.

They were

rich

owned, for debt or by inheritance, island erty

;

they were religious, tender-hearted

they prop-

men and

WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION. women gest

and they had

;

to hear the

139

news and

di-

Six Quakers met in Lon-

as they could.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

WiUiam DiUwyn, don on the 6th July, 1783, Samuel Hoar, George Harrison, Thomas Knowles, John Lloyd, Joseph Woods, "

to consider

they should take for the

and

relief

what step

liberation of the

negro slaves in the West Indies, and for the discour-

agement of the

They made

slave-trade

friends

on the coast

they interested their Yearly Meeting lish

and

all

easy in his sale of

;

and

slave

all

;

Eng-

John Woolman

American Quakers.

New Jersey,

of Africa."

and raised money for the

an apprentice, was un-

whilst yet

mind when he was

set to write

a negro, for his master.

a biU of

gave his

testi-

mony against the traffic, in Maryland and Virginia. Thomas Clarkson was a youth at Cambridge, England,

when

the subject given out for a Latin prize

dissertation was,

"Is

right to

others against their will? "

won

the prize

peace

;

Quakers.

;

left

slaves of

wrote an essay, and

but he wrote too well for his own

he began to ask himself

could be true rest.

;

make

and

these things

they were, he could no longer

Cambridge

;

They engaged him

fell

in with the six

to act for them.

himself interested Mr. WUberforce in the matter.

The shipmasters in that trade were the greatest miscreants, and guilty of every barbarity to their own crews. Clarkson went to Bristol, made him-

ADDRESS.

140

seK acquainted with the interior of the slave-ships

and the

The

details of the trade.

facts confirmed

his sentiment, " that Providence

had never made that to be wise which was immoral, and that the ; slave-trade was as impolitic as it was unjust that it was f oimd peculiarly fatal to those employed in it. More seamen died in that trade in one year than in the whole remaining trade of the country

Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox were drawn into the generous enterprise. In 1788, the House of in two.

Commons a

voted Parliamentary inquiry.

bill to abolish the

berforce,

and supported by him and by Fox and

Burke and fulness

;

In 1791,

trade was brought in by Wil-

Pitt,

resisted

West Indian

with the utmost ability and faith-

by the planters and the whole and lost. During the next

interest,

sixteen years, ten times, year after year, the attempt

was renewed by Mr. WUberforce, and ten times defeated by the planters.

The

king, and all the

royal family but one, were against

it.

These de-

bates are instructive, as they show on what grounds

the trade was assailed and defended.

Everything

generous, wise, and sprightly

come

attack.

sure to

barefaced selfishness and silent votes. tion was aroused to fact

to the

the other part are found cold prudence,

became known.

enthusiasm.

But the na-

Every horrid

In 1791, three hundred thou-

sand persons in Britain pledged themselves to ab-

WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION. stain ers

from

all articles of island

were obliged

to give

The plant-

produce.

way

the 25th March, the bill passed,

and and the ;

141

in 1807,

slave-trade

was abolished.

The

assailants of slavery

limit their political action

had early agreed tc

this subject to the

abolition of the trade, but Granville Sharpe, as

matter of conscience, whilst he acted as chairman of the

london Committee, felt constrained

to record

his protest against the limitation, declaring that

slavery was as

much a crime against the Divine The trade, under false

law, as the slave-trade. flags,

went on as before.

official

In 1821, according to

documents presented to the American gov-

ernment by the Colonization Society, 200,000 slaves were deported from Africa.

Nearly 30,000 were

landed in the port of Havana alone. In consequence of the dangers of the trade growing out of the act of abolition, ships were buUt sharp for swiftness,

and with a frightful disregard of the comfort of the victims they were destined to transport. ried five, six, even seven

They

car-

hundred stowed in a ship

bmlt so narrow as to be unsafe, being made just broad enough on the beam to keep the tempting to make

its

sea.

at-

escape from the pursuit of a

man-of-war, one ship flung five hundred slaves alive into the sea.

These facts went into Parliament.

In the islands was an ominous state of cruel and

ADDRESS.

142

licentious society; every house

tached to

There

every slave

;

had a dungeon at

was worked by the whip.

no end to the tragic anecdotes in the mu-

The boy was own mother to blood,

nicipal records of the colonies.

and

strip

to flog his

Looking

small offence.

by the negro was held

courts.

tion

salt

for a

in the face of his master

by the

island

was worked sixteen hours, and

his ra-

by law, in some

and one

set to

to be violence

islands,

herring a day.

stripes, mutilation,

at the

was a pint of

flour

suffered insult,

humor

the master:

iron collars were riveted on their necks with iron

prongs ten inches long

;

pepper was

capsicum

rubbed in the eyes of the females

;

and they were

done to death with the most shocking levity between the master and manager, without fine or inquiry.

And

when, at

last,

some Quakers, Moravians, and

Wesleyan and Baptist

missionaries, following in

the steps of Carey and

Ward

had been moved

in the East Indies,

come and cheer the poor victim

with the hope of some reparation, in a future world, of the

wrongs he suffered in

this, these missionaries

were persecuted by the planters, their ened,

their

chapels

burned,

and

lives threat-

the

furiously forbidden to go near them.

negroes

These out-

rages rekindled the flame of British indignation. Petitions poured into Parliament

sons signed their

names

to these

a million per-

and

in 1833. on

WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION. May, Lord

the 14th

Stanley, minister of the col-

House of Commons

onies, introduced into the

his

the Emancipation.

bill for

The scheme tion as

of the minister, with such modifica-

received in the legislature, proposed grad-

ual emancipation;

persons tered

143

now

apprenticed

thereby

all

on 1st August, 1834,

that,

be entitled to be

slaves should

laborers,

and

all

regis-

acquire

the rights and privileges of freemen,

subject to the restriction of laboring under certain conditions. dials should

These conditions were, that the

owe

prse-

three fourths of the profits of their

labor to their masters for six years, and the non-

The

prsedials for four years.

apprentice's time

was

other fourth of the

be his own, which he

might seU to his master, or to other persons at the

end of the term of years

fixed,

;

and

he should be

free.

With

these provisions

and

conditions, the bill

proceeds, in the twelfth section, in the following

terms

enacted, that all

and every person

who, on the 1st August, 1834, shall be holden in slavery within shall

any such British colony as

upon and from and

become and be

after the said 1st August,

and purposes free, and manner of slavery, and and forever manumitted; and

to all intents

discharged of and from shall

aforesaid,

be absolutely

all

that the children thereafter born to any such per-

ADDRESS.

144 sons,

and the offspring of such manner, be

from and be and

from

free,

children, shall, in

their birth;

and

that

after the 1st August, 1834, slavery shall

hereby utterly and forever abolished and

declared unlawful throughout the British colonies, plantations,

The

and possessions abroad."

ministers, having estimated the slave pro-

ducts of the colonies in annual exports of sugar,

and

rum

ÂŁ1,500,000 per annum, estimated

coffee, at

the total value of the slave-property at 30,000,000

pounds

sterling,

and proposed

as a compensation for so

to give the planters,

much

of the slaves' time

as the act took from them, 20,000,000 pounds sterling, to

be divided into nineteen shares for the nine-

teen colonies, and to be distributed to the owners of slaves by commissioners, whose appointment

by the Act. After much passed by large majorities. The

and

duties were regulated

de-

bate, the bill

ap-

prenticeship system

understood to have proceeded

from Lord Brougham, and was by him urged on his colleagues, who, it is said, were inclined to the

policy of immediate emancipation.

The

colonial legislatures received the act of Par-

liament with various degrees of displeasure, and, of course, every provision of the biU was criticised

with severity. ter

The new

and the apprentice,

chievous

;

relation between the mas-

was feared, would be misÂŤ

for the bill required the appointment of

WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION.

who should hear every complaint

magistrates

the apprentice It

145

and

see that justice

was feared that the

servant would

interest of the

now produce

oÂŁ

was done him. master and

perpetual discord be-

In the island of Antigua, containing

tween them.

37,000 people, 30,000 being negroes, these objections

had such weight, that the

the apprenticeship

system,

legislature rejected

and adopted absolute

In the other islands the system of

emancipation.

the ministry was accepted.

The

reception of

by the negro population was

The negroes were by the missionaries and by the planters, and the news explained to them. On the night of the 31st July, they met everywhere at their churches and chapels, and at midnight, when the equal in nobleness to the deed. called together

clock struck twelve, on their knees, the silent, weep-

ing assembly became

each other

;

men

;

they rose and embraced

they cried, they sung, they prayed,

they were wild with joy, but there was no feasting.

riot,

1 have never read anything in history

more touching than the moderation of the negroes.

Some American

captains left the shore and put to

sea, anticipating insurrection

With

and general murder.

far difEerent thoughts, the negroes spent the

hour in their huts and chapels. to

I will not repeat

you the weU-known paragraph, in which Messrs.

Thome and Kimball, VOL. XI.

the commissioners sent out in

ADDRESS.

146 the year 1837

by the American Anti-slavery

Society,

describe the occurrences of that night in the island of Antigua.

has been quoted in every news-

paper, and Dr. Channing has given

But I must be indulged

fame.

sentences from the pages that follow

behavior

the

next day.^ " The release

of the

first

it,

few

narrating

emancipated people on the

August came on Eriday, and a all work until the next

was proclaimed from

Monday.

The day was

mass of the negroes in

The

additional

in quoting a

by the great the churches and chapels. chiefly spent

clergy and missionaries throughout the island

were actively engaged, seizing the opportunity to enlighten the people on all the duties and responsibilities of their

new

and urging them

relation,

the attainment of that higher liberty with which

Christ maketh his children free.

In every quarter,

we were assured, the day was

Work had

The hum

ceased.

a Sabbath.

was still and country. The

of business

tranquillity pervaded the towns

planters informed us, that they went to the chapels

where their own people were assembled, greeted them, shook hands with them, and exchanged the 1

Emancipation in

the

in Antigua, Barbadoes, J. A.

Thome and

146, 147.

West Indies:

and Jamaica,

H. KimbaU.

Six Months' Tour

the

New

year 1837.

York, 1838.

WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION. At Grace

most hearty good wishes. were at

house of took

who could

God

Hill, there

a thousand persons around the Mora^-

least

vian Chapel

147

not get

suffered violence,

force.

For once the

in.

and the

At Grace Bay,

violent

the people,

dressed in white, formed a procession, and walked

arm

We were

into the chapel.

told that

the dress of the negroes on that occasion was un-

There was not the

commonly simple and modest. least disposition to gayety.

Throughout the

there was not a single dance

known

island,

of, either

or night, nor so much as a fiddle played." On the next Monday morning, with very few ceptions, every negro

to see their master, to

make

;

but, for the

the ministers.

places, they waited

know what bargain he would

most

ands, nothing painful

ex-

on every plantation was in

In some

the field at his work.

day

part, throughout the

occurred.

isl-

In June, 1835,

Lord Aberdeen and Sir George Grey,

declared to the Parliament that the system worked well

;

that

now

for ten months, from 1st August,

1834, no injury or violence had been offered to any white,

and only one black had been hurt in 800,000

negroes that the

and, contrary to

new crop

many

sinister predictions,

of island produce

would not

fall

short of that of the last year.

But the habit

of oppression

by a law and a day

of jubilee.

was not destroyed It soon appeared

ADDRESS.

148

in all the islands that the planters were disposed to

their

and overwork the apprenfrom them, under various pretences, fourth part of their time and to exert the

same

licentious despotism as before.

use their old privileges, tices

;

to take

;

The negroes

complained to the magistrates and to

In the island of Jamaica,

ernor.

tinually

grew worse.

The

the

gov-

this ill blood con-

governors.

Lord

Bel-

more, the Earl of Sligo, and afterwards Sir Lionel

Smith (a governor

of their

own

class,

who had been

sent out to gTatify the planters,) threw themselves

on the side of the oppressed, and were at constant quarrel with the angry and bilious island legislar ture.

Nothing can exceed the

ill

humor and

sulk-

iness of the addresses of this assembly.

may

here express a general remark, which the

history of slavery seems to justify, that it is not

founded solely on the avarice of the planter.

sometimes say, the planter does not want slaves,

he only wants the immunities and the luxuries

which the slaves yield him

him a machine

that

wiU

as the slaves, and he will

him money, give as much money thankfully let them go. ;

give

yield

him

has no love of slavery, he wants luxury, and he

pay even this price of crime and danger for it. But I think experience does not warrant this favor-

will

able distinction, but shows the existence, beside the covetpusness,

of a bitterer element, the love of

WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION.

149

human

power, the voluptuousness of holding a

ba-

We sometimes observe

ing in his absolute control.

that spoiled children contract a habit of annoying quite wantonly those

seem to measure

who have charge of them, and own sense of weH-being, not

their

by what they do, but by the degree can cause.

minding them ticed,

humming

purring and

they squeal and screech

and console them, they ceeds,

of reaction they

vain to get rid of them by not

and they begin

;

then

not no-

you chide

find the experiment

again.

The chUd

your arms contented, provided you do nothing.

you take a book and read, he commences operations.

The

planter

suc-

will sit in

hostile

the spoiled child of his

unnatural habits, and has contracted in his indolent

and luxurious climate the need of excitement by and tormenting

irritating

his slave.

Sir Lionel Smith defended the poor negro girls,

prey to the licentiousness of the planters shall not

be whipped with tamarind rods

not comply with the negro

women

tJieir ;

master's will

;

they should not be

the cane-holes, (which

they

;

they do

he defended

made

to dig

the very hardest of the

field-work ;) he defended the Baptist preachers

the stipendiary magistrates, friends,

from the power

who

and

are the negroes'

of the planter.

The power

of the planters however, to oppress, was greater

than the power of the apprentice and of his guard-

150

ADDRESS.

ians to withstand.

Lord Brougham and Mr. Bux-

ton declared that the planter had not fulfilled his part in the contract, whilst the apprentices had fulfilled theirs

and demanded that the emancipation

;

should be hastened, and the apprenticeship abol-

Parliament was compelled to pass additional

ished.

laws for the defence and security of the negro, and in

ill

humor

at these acts, the great island of Ja-

maica, with a population

half a million,

and

300,000 negroes, early in 1838, resolved to throw up the two remaining years of apprenticeship, and to

emancipate absolutely on the 1st August, 1838. In British Guiana, in Dominica, the

had been

same resolution

taken with more good will

earlier

the other islands fell into the measure

;

and

so that

the 1st August, 1838, the shackles dropped from

every British slave.

from too

who were

ure),

originally

and from

the

satisfactory kind. festival

The

The accounts which we have

both from the planters (and those

all parties,

most opposed to the meas-

new freemen, are of the most The manner in which the new

was celebrated, brings tears to the

First of August, 1838,

was observed

eyes.

in Ja-

maica as a day of thanksgiving and prayer.

Sir

Lionel Smith, the governor, writes to the British Ministry, " It

impossible for

justice to

the good order, decorum and gratitude which the

whole laboring population manifested on that happy

WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION. occasion.

nance,

Though was

151

beamed on every counte-

joy

throughout tempered with solemn

thankfulness to God, and the churches and chapels

were everywhere

humble

filled

with these happy people in

offering of praise."

The Queen,

in her speech to the

Lords and Com-

mons, praised the conduct of the emancipated population

and in 1840 Sir Charles Metcalfe, the

new governor

of Jamaica, in

his

address to the

Assembly expressed himself to that late exasperated body in these terms

" All those

quainted with the state of the island

emancipated population are as

who are acknow that our

free, as

in their conduct, as weU-conditioned, as

independent

much

in the

enjoyment of abundance, and as strongly sensible

we know

of the blessings of liberty, as any that in

any country.

tions of color

All disqualifications and distinc-

have ceased

;

men

of all colors

have

equal rights in law, and an equal footing in society,

and every man's

position

is settled

by the same

cir-

cumstances which regulate that point in other free countries,

may be

where no difference of color

exists.

asserted, without fear of denial, that the

former slaves of Jamaica are now as secure in social rights, as

freeborn Britons."

describes the erection of els

all

further

numerous churches, chap-

and schools which the new population required,

and adds that more are

stUl

demanded.

The

legis-

ADDRESS.

152

lature, in their reply, echo the governor's statement,

and

say, "

The peaceful demeanor

of the emanci-

pated population redounds to their own credit, and affords a proof of their continued comfort

and

pros-

perity."

I said, this event

Ours

not one only. are

signal in the history of civil-

There are many

ization.

many

facvdties in

styles of civilization,

is full

in any period

There

of barbarities.

man, each of which takes

turn of activity, and that faculty which

mount

and

its

para-

exerts itself through the

strongest nation, determines the civility of that

age

and each age thinks

Our

reason.

culture

own

its

the perfection of

very cbsap and

Unroof any house, and you

shall find

intelligible.

The

it.

well-

being consists in having a sufficiency of coffee and toast, lor,

with a daily newspaper

;

a well glazed par-

with marbles, mirrors and centre-table

the excitement of a few

a year.

and a few

Such as one house, such are

owner of a

New York manor

and equipage ton merchant

and the

parties

and

all.

The

imitates the mansion

of the

London nobleman

rivals

his

villages

;

rides in

brother of

copy Boston.

;

the Bos-

New York;

There have been

by great sentiments. Such was the civility of Sparta and the Dorian race, whUst it was defective in some of the chief elements of nations elevated

ours.

That

of Athens, again, lay in

intellect

;

WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION. That of Asia Minor

dedicated to beauty. etry,

music and arts

Rome

that of

153

;

in po-

that of Palestine in piety

and

in military arts

virtues, exalted

by a prodigious magnanimity that of China and Japan in the last exaggeration of decorum and etiquette. Our civility, England determines the ;

inasmuch as England

style of,

the strongest of

the family of existing nations, and as

expansion of that people. nation lord

and

;

it is

a shopkeeping

are the

It is that of a trading civility.

The English

a retired shopkeeper, and has the prejudices

timidities

of that

profession.

And we

are

shopkeepers, and have acquired the vices and

vii--

We peddle, we truck, we sail, we row, we ride in cars, we creep in teams, to market, and for the sale of we go in canals, The national aim and employment streams goods. tues that belong to trade.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

into our

ways of thinking, our laws, our habits and

our manners. of our souls.

The customer is the immediate jewel Him we flatter, him we feast, com-

pliment, vote for, and will not contradict.

seemed the dictate of trade,

down. like,

and

had very

had found a race who were

less energetic little skill

It was,

keep the negro less

shopkeepers than we

in trade.

found

;

war-

who very

convenient to keep them at work, since, by the aid of a little whipping,

could get their work for

nothing but their board and the cost of whips.

; !

ADDRESS.

154

What

cost a

coast of Africa ?

few unpleasant scenes on the

That was a great way

off

;

and

the scenes could be endured by some sturdy, unscrupulous fellows,

who could

go, for high wages,

and bring us the men, and need not trouble our ears with the disagreeable particulars. If any mention was made of homicide, madness, adultery, and intolerable tortures, we would let the churchbells ring louder, the chiu-ch-organ swell its peal

and drown the hideous sound. raised was excellent:

The

was fragrant

coffee

the brandy the world.

wages

The sugar they

nobody tasted blood ;

it.

the tobacco was incense

made nations happy the cotton clothed What! all raised by these men, and ;

Excellent

They seemed

What

convenience

by Providence to bear heat and the whipping, and make these fine created

the ar-

ticles.

But unhappily, most unhappily, gentlemen, man is

bom

sugar

;

with

intellect,

and with a sense of

taste for strong drink. those.

as well as with a love of

You

justice,

as well as a

These ripened, as well as

could not educate him, you could not

get any poetry, any wisdom, any beauty in

woman,

any strong and commanding character in man, but these absurdities of a ity for the

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

still come flashing out, demand for justice, a generos-

these absurdities would

weak and oppressed. Unhappily too

foi

;

WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION. the planter, the laws of nature are in

each other

mand,

harmony with

that which the head and the heart de-

found to be, in the long run, for what the

grossest calculator calls his advantage.

sense

155

The moral

always supported by the permanent interest

of the parties.

know

Else, I

not how, in our world,

any good would ever get done.

was shown to

the planters that they, as well as the negroes, were slaves

that though they paid no wages, they got

;

very poor work

that their estates were ruining

;

them, under the finest climate

needed the severest

;

monopoly laws

them from bankruptcy. on them.

their children

were lumps of pride,

rottenness.

bad

The

could be

home

The oppression They were full of

slave recoiled

and

and that they at

position of

keep

of the vices

sloth, sensuality

woman was nearly

and, like other robbers, they

;

could not sleep in security.

Many

planters have

said, since the emancipation, that, before that day,

they were the greatest slaves on the estates. ery

no scholar, no improver

whistle of the railroad

;

Slav-

does not love the

does not love the news-

paper, the mailbag, a college, a book or a preacher

who has it

the absurd

whim

of saying

what he thinks

does not increase the white population

not improve the

soil

;

does

everything goes to decay.

For these reasons the islands proved bad customers to England.

was very easy for manufacturers

ADDRESS.

156 less

shrewd than those of Birmingham and Man-

chester to see that

ands was altered,

the state of things in the

would be clothed, would build houses, would

them with hardware

tools,

fill

with pottery, with crockery, with

and negro women love

;

well as white

isl-

the slaves had wages, the slaves

women.

fine clothes as

In every naked negro of

Meanby keep-

those thousands, they saw a future customer.

saw further that the

time, they

slave-trade,

ing in barbarism the whole coast of eastern Africa, deprives them of countries and nations of customers,

once freedom and civility and European

manners could get a foothold

there.

But the trade

could not be abolished whilst this hungry

West

Indian market, with an appetite like the grave, " cried, " More, more, bring me a hundred a day ; they coidd not expect any mitigation in the madness of the poor African war-chiefs.

These consid-

erations opened the eyes of the dullest in Britain.

More than

this,

West Indian

the

estate

was owned

or mortgaged in England, and the owner and the

mortgagee had very plain intimations that the

feel-

ing of English liberty was gaining every hour

new

mass and sisted it

velocity,

would be

and the fatal.

hostility to such as re-

The House

Commons

would destroy the protection of island produce, and interfere in English politics in the island legislation

so they hastened to

position,

and accepted the

make bill.

the best of their

WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION.

157

These considerations, I doubt not, had their weight

the interest of trade, the interest of the

;

revenue, and, moreover, the good fame of the action.

was inevitable that men should

But they do not appear

motives.

excessive or unreasonable weight. this history, I think the infinite

land.

feel these

have had an

reviewing

whole transaction

reflects

honor on the people and parliament of EngIt

human

was a

stately spectacle, to see the cause

rights argued with so

much

patience and

generosity and with such a mass of evidence before that powerful people.

It is a creditable inci-

dent in the history that when, in 1789, the

first

privy-council report of evidence on the trade (a

bulky

folio

embodying

all

the facts which the Lon-

don Committee had been engaged lecting, cil)

and

for years in col-

the examinations before the coun-

all

was presented

to the

House

Commons, a

late

day being named for the discussion, in order to give Mr. WUberforce, Mr. Pitt, the members time,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

prime minister, and other gentlemen, took advantage of the postponement to retire into the country to read the report.

For months and years the

biU.

was debated, with some consciousness of the extent of its relations,

the foremost

by the

men

first

of the earth

citizens of ;

England,

every argument was

weighed, every particle of evidence was sifted and laid in the scale

;

and, at

last,

the right triumphed,

ADDRESS.

158

man was yindicated, and

the poor

flung out.

know

that

the oppressor was England has the advantage

of trying the question at a wide distance

spot where the nuisance exists

from the

the planters are not,

excepting in rare examples, members of the legisla

The extent of the empire, and the magnitude and number of other questions crowding into court, keep this one in balance, and prevent it from ob-

ture.

taining that ascendency, and being urged with that

intemperance which a question of property tends to

There are causes in the composition of

acquire.

the British legislature, and the relation of

much

that

is pitiful

tive assemblies.

its lead-

and to Europe, which exclude

ers to the country

and injurious in other

From

legisla-

these reasons, the question

was discussed with a rare independence and magnanimity.

was not narrowed down

electioneering trap justice,

for

;

to a paltry

and, I must say, a delight in

an honest tenderness for the poor negro,

man

combined with the

suffering these wrongs,

national pride, which refused to give the support of

English

soil

or the protection of the English flag

tO-these disgusting violations of nature. 1^ Forgive

me, feUow-citizens,

in the last few days that

own

to you, that

attention has been oc-

cupied with this history, I have not been able to

read a page of parisons.

without the most painful com-

Whilst I have read of England, I have

WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION. New England. my solitary walks

Whilst I have medi-

thought of tated in

159

on the magnanimity of

Bench and Senate, reaching out the

the English benefit of the

law to the most helpless

citizen in her

world-wide realm, I have found myself oppressed

by other thoughts. As I have walked in the pasand along the edge of woods, I could not keep

tures

my imagination on those

agreeable figures, for other

images that intruded on me.

I could not see the

great vision of the patriots and senators

adopted the slave's cause backs on me.

men

— they

who have

turned

I see other pictures,

their

— of mean

I see very poor, very ill-clothed, very igno-

— — poor black men of obscure employment

rant men, not surrounded by happy friends,

be plain,

as mariners, cooks, or stewards, in ships, yet citi-

zens of this our

Commonwealth

freeborn as

— whom the slave-laws

we,

of Massachusetts,

—

of the States

South Carolina, Georgia and Louisiana have

ar-

rested in the vessels in which they visited those ports,

and shut up

mained in

in jails so long as the vessel re-

port, with the stringent addition, that if

the shipmaster

fails to

pay the

costs of this official

and the board in jail, these citizens are to be for slaves, to pay that expense. This man, sold these men, I see, and no law to save them. Fellowarrest

citizens, this

crime will not be hushed up any longer.

I have learned that a citizen of Nantucket, walking

ADDRESS.

160 in

New

Orleans, found a freebom citizen of Nan-

tucket, a it

man,

too, of great personal worth, and, as

happened, very dear to him, as having saved his

own

life,

city,

kidnapped by such a process as

working chained in the

streets of that

In the

this.

two

sleep of the laws, the private interference of

excellent citizens of Boston has, I have ascertained,

rescued several natives of this State from these

Southern prisons.

Gentlemen, I thought the deck

was as much the territory

of a Massachusetts ship

of Massachusetts as the floor It should

The

be as sacred as the temple of God.

poorest fishing of

on which we stand.

smack that

floats

an iceberg in the Northern

under the shadow seas,

or hunts the

whale in the Southern ocean, should be encompassed protection, as

much

Ann and Cape

Cod.

suffered within our

own

by her laws with comfort and as within the

And

this

arms of Cape

kidnapping

land and federation, whilst the fourth article of the Constitution of the United States ordains in terms, that,

" The citizens of each State shall be entitled

to all privileges

and immunities

several States. "

If such a

of citizens in the

damnable outrage can

be committed on the person of a citizen with impu~ nity, let the

State of

;

Governor break the broad seal of the

he bears the sword in vain.

Massachusetts

Boston

a play-house

trifler; ;

The Governor

the State-house in

the General Court

dis-

WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION.

161

if they make laws which they canThe great-hearted Puritans have left The rich men may walk in State

honored body, not execute.

posterity.

Street, but they walk without

ers

may brag

cause

;

and the farm-

democracy in the country, but

their

they are disgraced men.

If the State has

own people

to defend its

honor

in its

own

no power

shipping, be-

has delegated that power to the Federal

Grovernment, has

Government?

no representation in the Federal

Are

those

men dumb?

am no

lawyer, and cannot indicate the forms applicable to the case, but here forms.

something which transcends

all

Let the senators and representatives of the

State, containing

a population of a million freemen,

go in a body before the Congress and say that they

have a demand to make on them, so imperative that all functions of is satisfied.

government must stop until

If ordinary legislation cannot reach

it it,

then extraordinary must be applied^ The Congress

should instruct the President to send to those ports of Charleston,

Savannah and

New

Orleans such

orders and such force as should release, forthwith, all

such citizens of Massachusetts as were holden in

prison without the allegation of any crime, and

should set on foot the strictest inquisition to discover where such persons, brought into slavery by these local laws at any time heretofore,

That

first

VOL,. XI.

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and then, 11

let

may now be.

order be taken to indem

ADDRESS.

162

nify all such as have been incarcerated.

dangers to the Union, from such demands

Union

already at an end

Massachusetts

when

thus outraged.

the Is

for

— the

first citizen of

an union and

covenant in which the State of Massachusetts agrees

and the State

to be imprisoned,

prison

Gentlemen, I

am loath

and perhaps I know too

little

of Carolina to im-

to say harsh things, of politics for the

—

smallest weight to attach to any censure of mine,

but I

and

at a loss

silence of the

how to

characterize the tameness

two senators and the ten repre-

sentatives of the State at

Washington.

To what

purpose have we clothed each of those representatives with the

power of seventy thousand persons,

and each senator with near half a are to

sit

dumb

at their desks

uents captured and sold sitting

by them in the

;

million, if they

and see

— perhaps

hall ?

There

rumor that has been swelling louder

— perhaps

it is

wholly

bullied into silence

false,

— that

their constitto gentlemen

a scandalous of late years,

members

by Southern gentlemen.

so easy to omit to speak, or even to be absent delicate things are to

say what all

men

feel,

be handled.

may

are It

when

as well

that whQst our very amiable

and very innocent representatives and senators

Washington are accomplished lawyers and merchants, and very eloquent at dinners and at caucuses, there is

a disastrous want of

men from New

WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION. England.

you

I would gladly make exceptions, and

will not suffer

to forget one eloquent old

man, in whose veins the blood rolls,

of Massachusetts

and who singly has defended the freedom

speech,

and the rights of the

gressional debates, in to see with

free, against the usur-

But the reader of Con-

pation of the slave-holder.

New

England,

perplexed

what admirable sweetness and patience States are schooled and

the majority of the free

ridden by the minority of slave-holders.

we should send

thither representatives

particle less amiable

you,

163

sirs, let

and

less

innocent ?

not this stain attach,

ery accumulate any longer.

let

What

who were a I entreat

not this mis-

If the managers of

our political parties are too prudent and too cold

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

if,

most unhappily, the ambitious

men and

political

men have found

class of

;

young

out that these

neglected victims are poor and without weight

;

that

they have no graceful hospitalities to offer ; no valuable business to throw into any man's hands, no strong vote to cast at the elections

may

with impunity be

chance of chains,

;

and therefore

left in their chains or to the

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; then

let

the citizens in their

primary capacity take up their cause on

this

very

ground, and say to the government of the State,

and

of the Union, that

government

exists to de-

fend the weak and the poor and the injured party

;

the rich and the strong can better take care of

ADDRESS.

164 themselves.

And

an omen and assurance of

you to the bright example which

success, I point

England

set you,

this day, ten years ago.

There are other comparisons and other imperative duties

which come sadly to mind,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; but I do

not wish to darken the hours of this day by crimination

;

I turn gladly to the rightful theme, to the

bright aspects of the occasion.

This event was a moral revolution.

The

history

Here was no prodigy, no fabuno bloody war, but all was achieved by plain means of plain men, workof

it is

before you.

lous hero, no Trojan horse,

ing not under a leader, but under a sentiment.

Other revolutions have been the insurrection of the oppressed It

;

this

was the repentance of the

was the masters revolting from

The

tyrant.

their mastery.

slave-holder said, I will not hold slaves.

end was noble and the means were pure.

The Hence

the elevation and pathos of this chapter of history.

The

lives of the advocates are

pages of greatness,

and the connection of the eminent senators with question constitutes the immortalizing those men's lives.

The bare enunciation

theses at which the lawyers

and

sentence, "

of the

legislators arrived,

gives a glow to the heart of the reader.

Chancellor Northingfcon

this

moments

Lord

the author of the famous

soon as any

man

puts his foot on

English ground, he becomes free." " I was a slave,"

WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION. said the counsel of Somerset, speaking for

am now

"for I was in America: I

165

Ms client,

in a country

where the common rights of mankind are known

and regarded."

Granville Sharpe

filled

the ear of

the judges with the sound principles that

had from

time to time been affirmed by the legal authorities

" Derived power cannot be superior to the power from which it is derived " " The reasonableness :

of the law

the soul of the law "

" It

better to

Out

suffer every evil, than to consent to any."

would come, the God's truth, out

from a cloud, for

bolt yers.

One

feels

the

all

came, like a

mumbling

of the law-

very sensibly in aU this history

that a great heart and soul are behind there, superior to

and

any man, and making use

every person according

infinitely attractive to

to the degree of reason in his this cause

of each, in turn,

own mind,

has had the power to draw to

particle of talent

the beginning.

and

so that

every

worth in England, from

All the great geniuses of the Brit-

ish senate. Fox, Pitt, Burke, GrenvUle, Sheridan,

Grey, Canning, ranged themselves on poet Cowper wrote

Washington, in votes. fire of

All

this

for

its side

country, all recorded

men remember ;

the

their

the subtlety and the

indignation which the "Edinburgh

contributed to the cause

;

Franklin, Jefferson,

and every

Review"

liberal

poet, preacher, moralist, statesman, has

mind,

had the for-

ADDRESS.

166

On the

tune to appear somewhere for this cause.

and shilmanner of rage and stupidity a rewhich drew from Mr. Huddlestone in Par-

other part, appeared the reign of pounds lings,

and

sistance

all

;

liament the observation, " That a curse attended

even in the mode of defending

this trade

it.

certain fatality, none but the vilest arguments were

brought forward, which corrupted the very persons

who used them.

Every one of these was

built

the narrow ground of interest, of pecuniary profit, of sordid gain, in opposition to every motive that

had reference

to humanity, justice,

and

religion,

or to that great principle which comprehended them all."

This moral force perpetually reinforces and

dignifies the friends of this cause.

gave that

tenacity to their point which has insured ultimate

triumph

;

and

gave that superiority in reason, in

imagery, in eloquence, which makes in

all

countries

anti-slavery meetings so attractive to the people,

j~and has made I

" eloquence

a proverb in Massachusetts, that

dog-cheap at the anti-slavery chapel."

I wOl say further that this

movement and

are indebted mainly to

to the continuers of

it,

for the

popular discussion of every point of practical ethics,

and a reference of every question to the abso-

lute standard.

religious

man

and

are

It is notorious that the political,

social schemes, with

now most

which the minds

occupied, have been matui'ed,

WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION.

167

or at least broached, in the free and daring discus-

Men have become aware,

sions of these assemblies.

through the emancipation and kindred events, of the presence of powers which, in their days of darkness, they

had overlooked.

Virtuous

men

will not

They have found

again rely on political agents.

out the deleterious effect of political association.

to this

amount

day we have allowed

social standing,

to the great. to

them any

to statesmen a par-

and we bow low

them as

cannot extend this deference

The

longer.

secret cannot be kept,

that the seats of n jwer are filled by underlings, ignorant, timid

and

selfish to

of the just

a degree to destroy

all

on compassion, to the society

claim, excepting that

and generous/^

What happened

notori-

ously to an American ambassador in England, that

he found himself compelled to palter and to

dis-

guise the fact that he was a slave-breeder, happens to

men

Their vocation

of state.

a presumption

them among weU-meaning people. The superstition respecting power and office is going to

against

the ground. IThe stream of

own way, and of legislators.

very

little

What

done, wiU. be done freak, but because

;

human affected

affairs flows its

by the

great masses of

political,

men wish

and they do not wish

it is

their state

it for a and natural end.

There are now other energies than than

activity

which no

man

force, other

in future can allow

ADDRESS.

168

himself to disregard.

There

direct conversation

A man is to

and

influence.

his

proper force.

make himself felt by The tendency of things runs

steadily to this point, namely, to put every

man on

much power as he naturally exerts, no more, no less. Of course, the timid and base persons, aU. who are conscious of no worth in themselves, and who owe all their his merits,

and

to give

him

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

place to the opportunities which the old order of things allowed them, to deceive and defraud men,

shudder at the change, and would fain sUence every honest voice, and lock up every house where liberty

and innovation can be pleaded

for.

and healthy yeomen and husbands self-sustaining class of inventive

men, fear no competition or

what

will, their faculty

The First new element

family.

of the land, the

and industrious

superiority.

modern

Not the

Come

cannot be spared.

August marks the entrance

into

ilization of the negro.

man

They would

But the strong

raise mobs, for fear is very cruel.

politics,

A man

of a

namely, the civ-

added

to the hu-

least affecting part of this

history of abolition is the annihilation of the old

indecent nonsense about the nature of the negro.

In the case of the ship Zong, in 1781, whose master had thrown one hundred and thirty-two slaves alive into the sea, to cheat the underwriters, the first

jury gave a verdict in favor of the master and

;

WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION. owners

169

they had a right to do what they had

Lord Mansfield is reported to have said on Was The matter left to the jury is, from necessity ? For they had no doubt,

done.

—

the bench, " it

though slaves

shocks one very much,

was the same as

overboard.

— — that the case of

horses had been thrown

But a

It is a very shocking case."

more enlightened and humane opinion began to prevail. Mr. Clarkson, early in his career, made a collection of African productions

and manufactures,

as specimens of the arts and culture of the negro

comprising stones

cloths

and woods,

soap, pipe-bowls

Mr.

treme son,

Pitt,

many

loom, weapons, polished

and

trinkets.

These he showed

who saw and handled them with

interest.

and

leather, glass, dyes, ornaments,

ex-

sight of these," says Clark-

sublime thoughts seemed to rush at "

once into his mind, some of which he expressed

and hence appeared

to arise a project

always dear to him, of the civilization of Africa, a dream which forever elevates his fame.

Mr. Wilberforce announced mons, "

to the

;

which was

—

In 1791,

House

Comwe

have already gained one victory

have obtained for these poor creatures the recognition of their

human

nature, which for a time

most shamefully denied them."

casm of Montesquieu, " it would not do that negroes were men, lest

was

It was the sarto suppose

should turn out that

;

ADDRESS.

170 ;

whites were not " for the white has, for ages, done

what he could to keep the negro in that hoggish His laws have been

state.

ceptible of

furies.

now appears

more than any other, susrapid ciAolization. The emancipation is

that the negro race

is,

observed, in the islands, to have wrought for the

negro a benefit as sudden as when a thermometer is

brought out of the shade into the sun.

given him eyes and ears.

It has

he was taxed

If, before,

with such stupidity, or such defective vision, that

he could not set a table square to the walls of an apartment, he

now

the principal

mechanic in the West Indies architect, a physician, editor,

The

is,

besides,

a lawyer, a magistrate, an

and a valued and increasing

political

recent testimonies of Sturge, of

Kimball, of Ghirney, of

;

not the only

and

power.

Thome and

Philippo, are very explicit

this point, the capacity

and the success of the

colored and the black population in employments of skUl, of profit and of trust

;

and best

the testimony to their moderation. hints

of all is

They

receive

and advances from the whites that they

will

be gladly received as subscribers to the Exchange,

members of this or that committee of trust. They hold back, and say to each other that " social position is not to be gained by pushing." as

I have said that this event interests us because it

came mainly from the concession of the whites

;

WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION. I add, that in part

171

the earning of the blacks.

it is

They won the pity and respect which they have received, by their powers and native endowments. I think this a circumstance of the highest import.

Their whole future

Our

it.

age of written history, had

its

planet, before the

races of savages,

like the generations of sour paste, or the animal-

and

cules that wriggle

Who

water.

drop of putrid

bite in a

cares for these or for their wars ?

We do not wish a world

of bugs or of birds

;

nei-

ther afterward of Scythians, Caraibs or Feejees,

The grand style of nature, her great periods, is aU we observe in them. Who cares for oppressing whites, or oppressed blacks, twenty centuries ago,

more than

for bad dreams ? harmony of nature

in the

germ

Eaters and food are and there too is the

;

forever protected, unfolding

after leaf, a

newer

period, yet its next product It will only save

what

never to be guessed.

worth saving

not by compassion, but by power.

guard the

police to

lion,

bers,

flies

;

and

but his wings

and mites, but

their

men

and

foolish,

a race,

after the

saves

same manner.

;

res-

spawning num-

which no ravages can overcome.

with

It appoints

but his teeth and claws

fort or city for the bird,

cue for

gigantic leaf

flower, a richer fruit, in every

It deals

If they are rude

down they must go. When at a new principle appears, an idea,

last in

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; that

ADDRESS.

172 conserves

man

ideas only save races.

feebK~and not important

races, not

If the black to the existing

on a parity with the best

race, the black

man must serve, and be exterminated. But if the black man carries in his bosom an indispensable element of a new and coming civilization

for the

;

sake of that element, no wrong, nor strength nor circumstance can hurt him

he will survive and

play his part^ So now, the arrival in the world of

such

men

and the Haytian

as Toussaint,

heroes, or

of the leaders of their race in Barbadoes and Ja-

omen all the English and American humanity. The anti-slavery of the whole maica, outweighs in good I

world

dust in the balance before

squeamishness and nervousness right are here

and

cance.

has

it,

here

this,

the anti-slave

you have man, black or white

The

intellect,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; that

has the talisman

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

a poor

the might and the

here

miraculous

his skin

man

insignifi!

Who

and bones, though

they were of the color of night, are transparent,

and the everlasting stars shine through, with atBut a compassion for that which

tractive beams. is

not and cannot be useful or lovely,

and

futile.

degrading

All the songs and newspapers and

money-subscriptions and vituperation of such as do

not think with us, wUl avail nothing against a

fact.

I say to you, you must save yourself, black or white,

man

woman

;

other help

none.

es-

WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION. teem the occasion of

this jubilee to

173

be the proud

discovery that the black race can contend with the

white

;

that, in the great

tory, a piece of

many

anthem which we

call his-

parts and vast compass, after

playing a long time a very low and subdued accom-

paniment, they perceive the time arrived when they

can strike in with

The

in the music.

effect

that pitch that their indispensable,

honored for

and take a master's part

civility of the

world has reached

more moral genius

and the quality of

For

itself.

this,

becoming

this race is to

they have been pre-

served in sandy deserts, in rice-swamps, in kitch-

ens and shoe-shops, so long

now

let

them emerge,

own form.

clothed and in their

There remains the very "elSvated consideration which the subject opens, but which belongs to more abstract views than

are

now taking, this namely,

that the civility of no race can be perfect whilst

another race

degraded.

It is a doctrine alike of

the oldest and of the newest philosophy, that is one,

man

and that you cannot injure any member,

without a sympathetic injury to

America

iยง

not

civil,

all

whilst Africa

the members.

barbarous.

These considerations seem to leave no choice for the action of the intellect and the conscience of the country.

There have been moments in

well as in every piece of moral history,

this,

when there

seemed room for the infusions of a skeptical phi-

;

ADDRESS.

174 losophy

;

when

seemed doubtful whether brute

force would not triumph in the eternal struggle.

doubt not that sometimes, a despairing negro, when

jumping over the

there was no vindication of right

think

of,

from the

ship's sides to escape

who surrounded him, has

white devils

but

seemed

;

it is

believed

horrible to

I doubt not that some-

so.

times the negro's friend, in the face of scornful

and brutal hundreds felt

his heart sink.

of traders

and

Especially,

some degree of despondency

own

pardonable,

when

and of

intellect,

natural allies and champions,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; those

he observes the his

men

drivers, has

seems to me,

of conscience

whose attention shoidd be nailed

to the

jects of this cause, so hotly offended

grand ob-

by whatever

incidental petulances or infirmities of indiscreet .

defenders of the negro, as to permit themselves to

be ranged with the enemies of the human race

and names which should be the alarums of liberty and the watchwords of truth, are mixed up with aU the rotten rabble of selfishness and tyranny. assure myself

pass away. scatter

them

that this coldness

single noble

forever.

and blindness

will

wind of sentiment wiU sure that the good

and

wise elders, the ardent and generous youth, will not

permit what

draw

incidental

their devotion

and exceptional

from the

essential

nent characters of the question.

to with-

and perma-

There have been

;

WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION.

175

when men might be forgiven who doubted. Those moments are past. [Seen in masses, moments, I

said,

cannot be disputed, there

There

society.

interest of

progress in

human

a blessed necessity by which the

men is always

and, again, making

all

driving them to the right

crime

mean and

The

ugly.

genius of the Saxon race, friendly to liberty

;

the

enterprise, the very muscular vigor of this nation, _

are inconsistent with slavery.

The

Intellect,

with

blazing eye, looking through history from the be-

ginning onward, gazes on this blot and

disap-

The sentiment of Right, once very low and indistinct, but ever more articulate, because it is the The voice of the universe, pronoimces Freedom. pears.

Power

that built this fabric of things affirms

and in the history

the heart

;

gust, has

made a

of the First_of

sign to the ages, of his will.

Au-

WAE.

The

archangel

Looks

Hope

to the azure cope,

Waits through dark ages for the

mom.

Defeated day by day, but unto Victory hoTO,

WAK.1

It has been a favorite study of

ophy

to indicate the steps of

modem

human

philos-

progress, to

watch the rising of a thought in one man's miud, the communication of ity, its

to a few, to a small minor-

expansion and general reception, until

publishes itself to the world isting laws

and

institutions,

by destroying the

ex-

and the generation of and

new.

Looked

many

things wear a very different face from that

at in this general

historical

they show near by, and one at a time, ticularly, war.

War, which

to sane

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and, men

way,

par-

at the

present day begins to look like an epidemic insanity,

breaking out here and there like the cholera or

influenza, infecting men's brains instead of their

bowels,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; when seen

in the remote past, in the in-

fancy of society, appears a part of the connection of events, and, in

As ^

its place,

necessary.

far as history has preserved to us the slow

Delivered as a lecture in Boston, in March, 1838.

Re-

printed from "Esthetic Papers," edited by Miss E. P. Pea-

body, 1849.

WAR.

180

unfoldings of any savage tribe,

how war

not easy to see

it is

could be avoided by such wild, passionate,

needy, ungoverned, strong-bodied creatures. in the infancy of society,

when a

and improvidence make the supply shelter insufficient

hunger,

thirst,

For

thin population of food

and

and very precarious, and when

ague and frozen limbs universally

take precedence of the wants of the mind and the heart, the necessities of the strong will certainly be satisfied at the cost of the

weak, at whatever peril

It is plain, too, that in the first

of future revenge.

dawnings of the religious sentiment, that blends with their passions and

itself

is oil to

the

fire.

Not

only every tribe has war-gods, religious festivals in A/ictory,

but religious wars.

The student ily in this

of history acquiesces the