“Charles R.“Trusty and well beloved, we greet you well. Having been informed that several of our subjects amongst you, called Quakers, have been and are imprisoned by you, whereof some have been executed, and others (as hath been represented untous) are in danger to undergo the like: We have thought fit to signify our pleasure in that behalf for the future, and do hereby require, that if there be any of those people now amongst you, now already condemned to suffer death or other corporal punishment, or that are imprisoned, and obnoxious to the like condemnation, you are to forbear to proceed any further therein, but that you forthwith send the said persons, whether condemned or imprisoned, over into this Our Kingdom of England, together with the respective crimes or offenses laid to their charge, to the end such course may be taken with them here as shall be agreeable to our laws and their demerits; and for so doing these our letters shall be your sufficient warrant and discharge.“Given at Our Court at Whitehall the ninth day of Sept., 1661, in the thirteenth year of Our Reign.“To Our trusty and well-beloved John Endicott, Esquire, &c.“By his Majesty’s Command,“William Morris.”
“Charles R.
“Trusty and well beloved, we greet you well. Having been informed that several of our subjects amongst you, called Quakers, have been and are imprisoned by you, whereof some have been executed, and others (as hath been represented untous) are in danger to undergo the like: We have thought fit to signify our pleasure in that behalf for the future, and do hereby require, that if there be any of those people now amongst you, now already condemned to suffer death or other corporal punishment, or that are imprisoned, and obnoxious to the like condemnation, you are to forbear to proceed any further therein, but that you forthwith send the said persons, whether condemned or imprisoned, over into this Our Kingdom of England, together with the respective crimes or offenses laid to their charge, to the end such course may be taken with them here as shall be agreeable to our laws and their demerits; and for so doing these our letters shall be your sufficient warrant and discharge.
“Given at Our Court at Whitehall the ninth day of Sept., 1661, in the thirteenth year of Our Reign.
“To Our trusty and well-beloved John Endicott, Esquire, &c.
“By his Majesty’s Command,“William Morris.”
The bearer of this mandate from the King was one of the banished Quakers, formerly of Salem; and when he appeared at Gov. Endicott’s house, on Pemberton Square, was admitted to the presence, and ordered to take his hat off; and on receiving the mandamus the Governor took his own hat off (which he probably put on to receive his callers). After reading the document, he went out and bade the two Friends to follow him, and proceeded to consult, as it appeared, with Lieut.-Gov. Willoughby (not Bellingham, as some writers have it). His answer was, “We shall obey his majesty’s command.” So far as hanging was forbidden, the command was obeyed. The formality of sending Commissioners to England to defend and justify the measures of the colony was adopted, but never amounted to any thing.
The laws against the Quakers were afterwards revived to the extent of whipping, limited to “through three towns only;” and perhaps they did not choose to regard this display as “capital or corporal punishment.”
In May, 1664, Edward Wharton, of Salem, being in Boston, a Quaker meeting was held, when a warrant was issued for his arrest: but the meeting being over, he was found at a friend’s house; was arrested; the next day whipped, and sent to the constable at Lynn, to be whipped there, and then sent to Salem. In one instance, a girl, eleven years of age, allowing herself to be a Quaker, whether she knew what the word meant or not, was sent to prison, and afterwards brought before the great and dignified Court. The Court speak of “the malice of Satan and his instruments,” and determine that as “Satan is put to his shifts to make use of such a child, not being of the years of discretion, it is judged meet so far to slight her as a Quaker, as only to admonish and instruct her according to her capacity, and so discharge her.” Hutchinson says, “It would have been horrible, if there had been any further severity.”
In 1665, additional laws were made, or orders passed, levying a fine of ten shillings for attending a Quaker meeting, and five pounds for speaking at one; and, in the same year, the penalty of death was revived against all Quakers who should return to the colony after they had been banished. Some persons ventured to express their dissent with regard to some of these laws, and, probably owing to their respectability, escaped punishment; but NicholasUpsall, who had shown compassion to some Quakers while in prison, in 1656-57, was fined and banished, and endured incredible hardships. Three years later, in 1660, he returned, and was again thrown into prison, and died in 1666.
The laws against Quakers and heretics were published in Boston “with beat of drum through its streets.” We presume they were read after the town-crier fashion of later days.
In 1677, when the toleration of the Quakers was thought to be one of the sins which brought on the Indian war, as a punishment, the Court ordered, “That every person found at a Quaker’s meeting shall be apprehended ex officio, by the constable, and, by warrant from a magistrate or commissioner, shall be committed to the House of Correction, and there have the discipline of the house applied to them, and be kept to work, with bread and water, for three days, and then released, or else shall pay five pounds in money, as a fine to the country, for such offence, and all constables neglecting their duty, in not faithfully executing this order, shall incur the penalty of five pounds, upon conviction, one third thereof to the informer.”
Upon this remarkable order, Hutchinson declares, “I know of nothing which can be urged as in anywise tending to excuse the severity of this law, unless it be human infirmity,” and, he adds, the practices of other religious sects who are persuaded that the indulgence of any other “was a toleration of impiety” and brought down the judgments of heaven. This law cost the colony many friends.
Soon after this a party was arrested and “whipped at the cart’s tail up and down the town with twenty lashes.” On the same day, fourteen Quakers were arrested at a meeting, and twelve of them whipped: the other two had their fines paid by their friends. At the next meeting, fourteen or fifteen more, including some strangers, were arrested and whipped. And yet the Quakers continued their meetings; and, finally, one of them was so large, that, as it is said, “fearfulness surprised the hypocrites,” and the meeting was not molested.[6]
Hutchinson says, “Notwithstanding the great variety of sectaries in England, there had been no divisions of any consequence in the Massachusetts; but from 1637 to 1656, they enjoyed, in general, great quietness in their ecclesiastical affairs, discords in particular churches being healed and made up by a submission to the arbitrament of neighboring churches, and sometimes the interposition of the civil power.” But soon after all this, commencing indeed in 1655, in New England, continues Hutchinson, “it must be confessed, that bigotry and cruel zeal prevailed, and to that degree that no opinions but their own could be tolerated. They were sincere but mistaken in their principles; and absurd as it is, it is too evident, they believed it to be for the glory of God to take away the lives of his creatures for maintaining tenets contrary to what theyprofessed themselves.” It is said, however, “that every religion which is persecuted becomes itself persecuting; for as soon as, by some accidental turn, it arises from persecution, it attacks the religion which persecuted it.” Perhaps the Puritans thought they had been persecuted!
It seems to be understood that the Quakers finally got a standing in Boston, and a meeting-house, as, in 1667, mention is made of their “ordinary place of meeting,” though their numbers were small. The Baptists, however, did not get their meeting-house until 1679; and then, as a law had been passed against the building of meeting-houses without permission of the county courts, theirs was built as a private house, and afterwards purchased by them. But Drake says, “The times had become so much changed that such a law could not be very well enforced.” By this time, also, the matter was again brought to the notice of the king, Charles II.; and he wrote, on July 24, to the authorities of Boston, “requiring them not to molest people in their worship, who were of the Protestant faith, and directing that liberty of conscience should be extended to all such.” This letter, it is said, had some effect on the rulers, although they regarded it as an interference with their chartered rights; and, after all, it was rather a development of that common sense which fanaticism and bigotry had so long obscured, possibly awakened by the order of the king, rather than controlled by it, that brought about the change in the spirit of persecution.
In 1737, a different Christian spirit was manifestedtowards the Quakers, and they were exempted from taxes for the support of the clergy, provided they attended their own meetings. A letter from a Quaker to the King gives the following statement of the punishments and penalties received by his brethren: “Twenty-two have been banished on pain of death, three have been martyred, three have had their right ears cut, one hath been burned in the hand with the letter H, thirty-one persons have received six hundred and fifty stripes, ... one thousand and forty-four pounds worth of goods have been taken from them, and one lieth now in fetters, condemned to die.” The letter H was probably intended for “heretic,” which would certainly be giving a judgment against the religion the Quakers professed.
In 1694, the Quakers owned a lot on Brattle Street, and it is thought probable had some sort of a meeting-house upon it; but still the years passed on, we hardly know how, until 1708, when they desired to build a brick house, but could not get permission to do so. Afterwards they built a small brick meeting-house in the rear of Congress Street on one side, and in the rear of Water Street on the other. It ran back to what is now the line of Exchange Place; in fact, was nearly in the centre of the square formed by State, Congress, Water, and Devonshire Streets. This building was partly destroyed by fire in 1760, having been standing more than fifty years; was then repaired, and finally demolished in 1825, having been unoccupied for nearly twenty years, the society, in 1808, having voted to discontinue their meetings.
It is probably true that the treatment of the Quakers in the Massachusetts Colony, in the years mentioned, from 1600 to 1666-67, is unparalleled in the history of the human race; and although it may be true, as has been said, that the people here exiled themselves in order that “they might maintain and perpetuate what they conceived to be the principles of true Christianity,” they manifested but little of the spirit of the Saviour of mankind or the religion he came to teach. Hutchinson concludes what he has to say of the remarkable persecution of the Quakers and its severity, with the remark, “May the time never come again, when the government shall think that by killing men for their religion they do God good service.” However other denominations of Christians were persecuted by the Puritans, only Quakers and witches were hung. “These transient persecutions,” as Bancroft calls them, with all the leniency possible, “begun in self-defence, were yet no more than a train of mists hovering of an autumn morning over the channel of a fine river, that diffused freshness and fertility wherever it wound.” Much of this condition of things, it must be admitted, resulted from natural causes; namely, the character and circumstances of the settlers, their peculiar religious belief, and absolute fanaticism.
Finally, another writer says, “The Puritansdisclaimedthe right to sit in judgment on the opinions of others. They denied that they persecuted for conscience sake.” These and some other statements seem to show that they did not practise as they preached, or gave an interpretation to that practicenot in accordance with the understanding and convictions of mankind. To be sure, they had a law to punish any one who spoke disrespectfully of the Scriptures, and at the same time fined, punished, banished, and hung those who entertained and presumed to teach principles, belief, or doctrines in relation to the Scriptures different from their own; not, as they allege, because they had the right to sit in judgment upon them, but because of the dangers of their teaching and practice: in other words, for their own protection, “self-defence,” as has been said. Nevertheless, maiming, marring, and taking the lives of God’s creatures, the equals in every respect of themselves, as Hutchinson puts it, is only to be apologized for or excused by the infirmities of humanity; indeed, we should rather say, is not to be excused on any such ground, and their own doctrine and belief teaches that it was a proceeding to be punished and repented of. This, at any rate, was always the belief of the Quakers. Drake says, “The persecuted Quakers were fully persuaded that a day of wrath would overtake New England, and they did not fail to declare their belief; and, indeed, it was not long before their predictions were fulfilled: for the terrible war with the Indians, which followed in a few years, was viewed by them as the vengeance of heaven for their cruelty to the Quakers.”
FIRST NEWSPAPER IN AMERICA.
It is said that the first newspaper ever issued was at Venice in 1583,[7]called “The Gazette,”—and this was in manuscript,—unless (as has been reported) there was an older paper of some kind issued at Hong-Kong. The oldest printed newspaper, “The English Mercury,” was issued in England in 1588,[8]but, it is believed, was not regularly published. In the next century, from 1624 onward, newspapers multiplied; and among them were “The Parliament Kite,” and “The Secret Owl,” and some other curious names. Towards the close of this century, the first American newspaper appeared; and possibly this had been preceded by what represented a newspaper, in manuscript, as was the case afterwards in Boston in 1704, when “The News-Letter” first appeared. The first American newspaper was issued in Boston in 1690,—only fifty or sixty years after newspapers became common in England,—if the statements which we have quoted are reliable. But at this time, as might be reasonably supposed, the people who came to this country in order to improve their liberties,were not prepared for a free press, or, one might almost say, for any thing that did not tally with their religious notions and vague superstitions; so that, after the first issue, Sept. 25, 1690, the paper was suppressed, as said, by the “legislative authorities.” Still it was a newspaper, intended to be such, and intended to be regularly issued once a month, or oftener, if occasion required.
It was entitled as follows:—
“Numb. 1.PublickOCCURRENCES,Both Foreign and Domestic.Boston,Thursday, Sept. 25, 1690.”
It was “printed by R. Pierce, for Benjamin Harris, at the London Coffee House, 1690.” And it would seem that most of the copies were destroyed, though probably not many were printed, as only one copy has ever been found, and that by some unknown chance got into the colonial state-paper office, in London. It is a small sheet of paper doubled, printed on three pages, two columns to each; and some years ago, after a good deal of trouble to find the copy in the London office, the contents of the whole sheet were copied by Dr. Samuel A. Green, of Boston, and have since been once or twice reprinted.
It is said that it was stopped by the “legislative authorities,” who described it as a “pamphlet,” and as containing “reflections of a very high nature;” and the order of the Court, passed in 1662 forbade “any thing in print without license first obtained from those appointed by the government to grantthe same:” so that it would seem that there was a law against printing any thing without a license, and that this sheet, called a pamphlet, came within its provisions. “In 1644, It is ordered that the Printers shall have leave to print the Election Sermon with Mr. Mather’s consent, and the Artillery’s with Mr. Norton’s consent.” This, of course, meant without their undergoing any inspection.
With respect to the contents of this first newspaper, the introductory paragraph is as follows:—
“It is designed that the countrey shall be furnished once a month(or if any Glut ofOccurrenceshappen oftener,)with an Account of such considerable things as have arrived unto our Notice.”
The editor, it is said, will take pains to get a faithful relation of things, and hopes observers will communicate of such matters as fall under their notice; and then states what is proposed in an editorial way: first, that memorable occurrences may not be neglected or forgotten: second, that people may better understand public affairs; and third, “that something may be done towards theCuring,or at least theCharmingof thatSpirit of Lying, which prevails among us,” &c. This, probably, is one of the passages referred to by the authorities as “reflections of a very high nature.” And, in addition to what has been said, “the Publisher of these Occurrences” proposes to correct false reports, and expose the “First Raiser” of them, and thinks “none will dislike this Proposal, but such as intend to be guilty of so villainous a Crime.”
Then follows the news, or “Occurrences.”Mention is made of a thanksgiving appointed by the Christian Indians of Plymouth; the husbandmen find no want of hands, “which is looked upon as a merciful Providence,” being a favorable season; the Indians have stolen two children, aged nine and eleven years, from Chelmsford; an old man of Watertown hung himself in his cow-house, having lately lost his wife, and thereupon “the devil took advantage of the melancholy which he thereupon fell into.” Epidemical fevers and agues and small-pox are next spoken of: of small-pox, three hundred and twenty had died in Boston, and “children were born full of the distemper.” A large fire is spoken of near the Mill Creek,—twenty houses burned; and on the 16th and 17th of this instant (September, 1690), a fire broke out near the South Meeting-house, which consumed five or six houses; a young man perished in the flames, and one of the best printing-presses was lost. Report of a vessel bound to Virginia, put into Penobscot, where the Indians and French butchered the master and most of the crew.
The next is a longer article in relation to the expedition to Canada under Gen. Winthrop, its failure, and a variety of Indian complications. The editor says, “’Tis possible we have not so exactly related the Circumstances of this business, but the Account is as near exactness as any that could be had, in the midst of many various reports about it.”
Then follows an account of the massacre of a body of French Indians in the “East Country.” Two English captives escaped at Passamaquoddy, and got into Portsmouth. There was terrible butcheryamong the French, Indians, and English at this time. Following this is some news from Portsmouth by an arrival from Barbadoes; a report that the city of Cork had proclaimed King William, and turned their French landlords out of doors, &c.; more Indian troubles at Plymouth, Saco, &c., &c. Then follows the imprint at the end, as already quoted.
Such was the nature, character, and contents of the first paper ever published in America; and we doubt if the first paper printed in England, more than a hundred years before, exceeded this in manner and matter. The judgment of the present day would be that it was a very good paper for the time, both in its news and editorial matter, and we fail to see any ground of offence either against law or religion. Many of the early papers published in this country, after the failure of this attempt, are not half as good as this first copy of “Publick Occurrences.” It is creditable to Benjamin Harris, and its discontinuance not so creditable to the “legislative authorities,” who either made or perverted a law for its suppression. But the idea of establishing a newspaper “that something may be done towards the Curing, or at least the Charming of that Spirit of Lying, which prevails among us,” is very peculiar.
In all newspaper nomenclature it is hardly possible to find a more appropriate name than that selected for this first newspaper of America. We now have Heralds, Couriers, and Messengers; Records, Chronicles, and Registers; then all sorts of party names; Banner, and Standard; Crayon, Scalpel, and Broadaxe; Age, Epoch, Era, Crisis, Times; and finallySun, Star, Comet, Planet, Aurora, Galaxy, &c., but among these and thousands of other names, not one more truthful and expressive than that of “Publick Occurrences.”
THE BOSTON NEWS-LETTER.
The first Boston newspaper which gained a permanency, was published in 1704, and was continued for more than seventy years. It was equally fortunate in the selection of an appropriate and significant name, the “Boston News-Letter,” and this was possibly suggested by the fact that it was preceded by the issue of a news-letter in manuscript which was as strictly, as the newspaper which followed it, a “News-Letter.” Naturally enough too, considering the times, it was originated by the postmaster, who came in contact in his business, not only with the people of Boston, but generally with those of the whole colony, as we think, there were then but few post-offices in the colony: the need of a News-Letter for everybody would, as we have intimated, naturally suggest itself to him, and be also, as in fact it was, an important aid to his business, though it is said he did not make much out of it, and soon after lost his position as postmaster.
New England.TheBOSTON News-Letter.From Monday April 17, to Monday April 24, 1704.“Boston: Printed by B. Green, and sold by Nicholas Boone, at his shop near the old meeting-house.”
New England.
TheBOSTON News-Letter.
From Monday April 17, to Monday April 24, 1704.
“Boston: Printed by B. Green, and sold by Nicholas Boone, at his shop near the old meeting-house.”
John Campbell, a Scotchman, bookseller and postmaster, was the proprietor of the paper. It was printed on a half-sheet, pot paper, and was to be continued weekly, “Published by authority.” Among the contents was an article from the “London Flying Post,” containing news from Scotland, “concerning the present danger of the kingdom and the Protestant Religion,” “Papists swarm the nation,” &c.; also extracts from the London papers, and four paragraphs of marine news. Advertisements inserted “at a reasonable rate from twopence to five shillings.” On the same day that the paper was issued Judge Sewall notes in his diary that he went over to Cambridge, and gave Mr. Willard, president of the College, “the first News-Letter that was ever carried over the river.”
The second issue of the paper, No. 2, was on a whole sheet of pot paper, the last page blank.
In the fifth number Boone’s name was left out, and the paper was sold at the post-office. To No. 192, the paper was printed on a half-sheet, excepting the second issue.
Green printed the paper for Campbell, until Nov. 3, 1707, after which it was printed by John Allen, in Pudding Lane, near the post-office, and there to be sold; and Allen printed it four years to No. 390. On the day that number was published, Oct. 2, 1711, the post-office and printing-office were burnt; and the following week it was again printed by Green, in Newbury Street, and he continued to print it until October, 1715. In 1719, Mr. Campbell tried the experiment of printing a whole sheet, instead of a halfsheet, every other week, but this did not pay very well; and in addition to this difficulty, he lost the office of postmaster in December of that year. The new postmaster also printed a paper (Gazette) and this led to the first newspaper war in the country, but which did not last long, and terminated without much damage.
In 1721, Campbell got a new idea and printed some copies of the “News-Letter” on a sheet of writing paper, leaving one page blank, so that his subscribers could write their letters on that, and send the paper abroad without extra postage. In the next year, after he had published the paper eighteen years, he sold to his printer, Bartholomew Green. “Published by authority” had been omitted by Campbell for two years, and in 1725 Green restored it. In December, 1726, the title was changed to “The Weekly News-Letter,” and subsequently, in 1730, to “The Boston Weekly News-Letter,” and the numberings of the previous issues were added together, and the total reached 1,396, in October, 1730. No other alteration took place until the death of Green, when in Jan. 4, 1733, John Draper, his son-in-law, succeeded him. Draper printed the “News-Letter” for thirty years, and died November, 1762. His son, Richard Draper, continued the paper and enlarged the title to “The Boston Weekly News-Letter and New England Chronicle.” In about a year the title was again altered to “The Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter,” and was decorated with the King’s Arms. Richard took a kinsman as partner, and the paper now bore thisimprint: “Published by Richard Draper, Printer to the Governor and Council, and by Samuel Draper, at the printing-office, in Newbury Street.” Richard Draper continued the paper, and in May, 1768, a singular arrangement took place between the “Massachusetts Gazette” (or News-Letter) and the “Boston Post Boy and Advertiser,” and both papers were “Published by authority,” in other words as government papers. Each paper was one-half “The Massachusetts Gazette, published by authority,” and the other half bore its own proper name; and Draper called it the “Adam and Eve paper.” This plan continued until September, 1769, and then its title “The Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter,” was resumed. In May, 1774, Draper took a partner, and the next month he died, and his widow, Margaret Draper, continued the paper in the interest of the loyalists or tories, until the evacuation of Boston, and then it ceased. She went to Halifax and then to England, and there obtained a pension. The “News-Letter” was published seventy-two years. It is a curious fact that the first newspaper established in Boston should have got into the hands of the tories, and in the last year of its existence, in the trying times of the revolutionary war, should have been conducted by a woman.
“The New England Chronicle, or The Evening Gazette,” published at Cambridge, Sept. 28, 1775, speaks of “Mrs. Draper’s Paper,” in the following paragraph:—
“The miserable Tools of Tyranny in Boston appear now to be somewhat conscious of their infamy in Burning Charlestown, and are, with the assistance of the Father of Liars, devising Methods for clearing up their characters. One of them, in Mrs. Draper’s paper, asserts that the Provincials, on the 17th of June, after firing out of Houses upon the King’s troops, set the Buildings on Fire. This doubtless, is as true as that the Provincials fired first upon the King’s Troops at Lexington. Both of them are equally false, and well known to be as palpable Lies as ever were uttered. The propagation of them are, however, perfectly consistent with the Perfidy, Cowardice, and Barbarity of Gage and his detestable understrappers.”
Some other paragraphs are copied from “Mrs. Draper’s last Boston Paper,” of which the following is one:—
“We hear a certain Person of Weight among the Rebels hath offered to return to his Allegiance on Condition of being pardoned and provided for: What encouragement he has received remains a secret.”
John L. DeWolf, Esq., of Boston, has complete files of “The Boston Weekly News-Letter,” for the years 1744 and 1745; and we are indebted to him for the use of them. The following are specimens of some of the advertisements of the time:—
“To be sold, a likely Negro boy about 12 years old: enquire of the printer.”“To be sold by the Province Treasurer: Good Winter Rye, which may be seen at the Granary, on the Common” [Park street].“A fine negro male child to be given away.” [There are numerous advertisements of slaves and negroes.]“To be sold, a Good Dwelling-House, situate near the Green Dragon, in the Main street, with a large tract of Land for a Garden, a good Well in the Cellar and other conveniences. Enquire of Daniel Johonnot, Distiller.”
“To be sold, a likely Negro boy about 12 years old: enquire of the printer.”
“To be sold by the Province Treasurer: Good Winter Rye, which may be seen at the Granary, on the Common” [Park street].
“A fine negro male child to be given away.” [There are numerous advertisements of slaves and negroes.]
“To be sold, a Good Dwelling-House, situate near the Green Dragon, in the Main street, with a large tract of Land for a Garden, a good Well in the Cellar and other conveniences. Enquire of Daniel Johonnot, Distiller.”
Elizabeth Macneal advertises “a likely young negro girl;” “also some Household goods to be sold.”
Josiah Jones advertises his man servant, 19 years of age as a runaway, “having on an old ragged Coat, a good Check’d Shirt and Trowsers, a Pair of Black Callamanco Breeches, a pair of Gray Yarn Stockings, and a new Pair of Shoes.”
“The Gentleman who borrowed a Blue Great Coat at the White Swan, about three weeks past, is desir’d to return the same forthwith: the Person whom he borrow’d it of, thinking he has had it long enough.”“This is to inform the Publick, That the Cold-Bath in the Bath-Garden, at the West End of Boston is in Beautiful Order for use. It is a living Spring of Water, which the coldest Season in Winter never affects or freezes,” &c.“This is to inform the Publick that Edmond Lewis of Boston, watch-maker, never bought a Watch of, nor ever sold one to any Slave whatever; and the malicious Report of his having dealt with some negroes is scandalously false.”“Choice Carolina Pork and Beef, to be sold at the Warehouse on the South side of the Town Dock, adjoining the Impost office.”“A negro woman to be sold by the Printer of this paper; the very best negro woman in town; who has had the small-pox and measles; is as hearty as a horse, as brisk as a bird, and will work like a Beaver.”
“The Gentleman who borrowed a Blue Great Coat at the White Swan, about three weeks past, is desir’d to return the same forthwith: the Person whom he borrow’d it of, thinking he has had it long enough.”
“This is to inform the Publick, That the Cold-Bath in the Bath-Garden, at the West End of Boston is in Beautiful Order for use. It is a living Spring of Water, which the coldest Season in Winter never affects or freezes,” &c.
“This is to inform the Publick that Edmond Lewis of Boston, watch-maker, never bought a Watch of, nor ever sold one to any Slave whatever; and the malicious Report of his having dealt with some negroes is scandalously false.”
“Choice Carolina Pork and Beef, to be sold at the Warehouse on the South side of the Town Dock, adjoining the Impost office.”
“A negro woman to be sold by the Printer of this paper; the very best negro woman in town; who has had the small-pox and measles; is as hearty as a horse, as brisk as a bird, and will work like a Beaver.”
CURIOUS BOSTON LECTURES.
BOSTONIAN EBENEZER.
There was published in Boston, in 1698, a very small thin volume of 82 pages, 3 × 5 inches, entitled “The Bostonian Ebenezer.” “Some Historical Remarks on the State of BOSTON, theChief Town of New Englandand of theEnglishAMERICA, with someagreeable methodsfor Preserving and Promoting, theGood Stateof THAT, as well as anyother Town, in the like circumstances.” “Humbly offered by a native of Boston.” Ezk. 48, 35, “The Name of the City from that day, shall be THE LORD IS THERE.” Boston: printed by B. Green and F. Allen, for Samuel Phillips, at the Brick Shop, 1698.
This singular little volume contains two lectures. Preceding the first lecture at the top of the page are these lines:—
“THE HISTORY OF BOSTON,Related and Improved.AtBostonLecture 7d.2m.1698.” [April 7, 1698.]
The remainder of the page is occupied with this preface:—
“Remarkable and memorable, was the Time, when anArmyof TerribleDestroyerswas coming against one of theChief Townsin the Land of Israel. God Rescued theTownfrom the Irresistible Fury and Approach of those Destroyers, by an Immediate Hand of Heaven upon them. Upon that miraculous Rescue of theTown, and of the whole Country whose Fate was much enwrapped in it, there follow’d that Action of the Prophet, SAMUEL, which is this Day, to be, with some Imitation Repeated, in the midst of thee, O, BOSTON,Thou helped of the Lord.”
At the head of the next page we have the text,—
I SAM. VII. 12.“Then SAMUEL took a Stone and Set it up, ... and called the Name of it EBENEZER, saying, Hitherto the Lord hath Helped us.”
I SAM. VII. 12.
“Then SAMUEL took a Stone and Set it up, ... and called the Name of it EBENEZER, saying, Hitherto the Lord hath Helped us.”
Then follows the exordium, in which the preacher says the Thankful Servants of God have used sometimes to erect monuments of stone as durable tokens of their thankfulness:—
“Jacob did so; Joshua did so; and Samuel did so.” “The Stone erected by Samuel, with the name of Ebenezer, which is as much as to say,A Stone of Help. I know not whether any thing might beWrittupon it; but I am sure, there is one thing to be nowReadupon it, by ourselves, in the Text where we find it: Namely, this much,“That a People whom the God of Heaven hath Remarkably Helped, in their Distresses ought Greatly and Gratefully to acknowledge, whathelpof Heaven they have Received.“Now, ’tis not my Design to lay the Scene of my Discourse, as far off asBethcar, the place where Samuel set up his Ebenezer. I am immediately to Transfer it into the heart ofBoston, a place where theRemarkable Help Received from Heaven, by the People, does loudly call for an Ebenezer. And I do not ask you,to change the Name of the Town, into that ofHelp stone, as there is a Town inEnglandof that Name, which may seem the English ofEbenezer; but mySermonshall be this Day yourEbenezer, if you will with a Favorable and Profitable Attention Entertain it. May the Lord Jesus Christ, accept me, and assist me now toGlorify Him, in theTown, where I drew my First Sinful Breath. ATown, whereto I am under Great Obligations, for the Precious Opportunities toGlorify Him, which I have quietly enjoy’d therein, for NEAR EIGHTEEN years together.O my Lord God, Remember me, I pray thee, andstrengthen me this once, to speak from thee, unto thy People.“And now, Sirs, That I may set up an EBENEZER among you, there are these Things to be inculcated.”“1. Let us Thankfully, and Agreeably, and Particularly, acknowledge what Help we have received from the God of Heaven, in the years that have rolled over us. While the Blessed Apostle Paul, was as it should seem, yet short of beingThreescoreyears old, how affectionately did he set anEbenezerwith the Acknowledgment in Acts 26, 22.Having obtained Help of God, I continue to this day.Our Town is nowThreescore and Eightyears old: and certainly ’tis Time for us, with all possible affection to set up ourEbenezer, saying, Having obtained Help from God, the Town is continued, until almost the Age of Man is passed over it. The Town hath indeed Three Elder Sisters in this Colony; but it hath wonderfully outgrown them all; and her Mother, old Boston, in England also; Yea, within a Few Years, after the first settlement it grew to be,the Metropolis of the whole English America. Little wasthisexpected, by them that first settled the town, when, for a while, Boston was proverbially calledLost Town, for the mean and sad circumstances of it. But, O Boston, it is because thou hastObtained help from God.” “There have been several years wherein the Terrible Famine hath Terribly Stared the Town in the Face. We have been brought sometimes unto the Last Meal in the Barrel! But the fear’d Famine has always been kept off.”
“Jacob did so; Joshua did so; and Samuel did so.” “The Stone erected by Samuel, with the name of Ebenezer, which is as much as to say,A Stone of Help. I know not whether any thing might beWrittupon it; but I am sure, there is one thing to be nowReadupon it, by ourselves, in the Text where we find it: Namely, this much,
“That a People whom the God of Heaven hath Remarkably Helped, in their Distresses ought Greatly and Gratefully to acknowledge, whathelpof Heaven they have Received.
“Now, ’tis not my Design to lay the Scene of my Discourse, as far off asBethcar, the place where Samuel set up his Ebenezer. I am immediately to Transfer it into the heart ofBoston, a place where theRemarkable Help Received from Heaven, by the People, does loudly call for an Ebenezer. And I do not ask you,to change the Name of the Town, into that ofHelp stone, as there is a Town inEnglandof that Name, which may seem the English ofEbenezer; but mySermonshall be this Day yourEbenezer, if you will with a Favorable and Profitable Attention Entertain it. May the Lord Jesus Christ, accept me, and assist me now toGlorify Him, in theTown, where I drew my First Sinful Breath. ATown, whereto I am under Great Obligations, for the Precious Opportunities toGlorify Him, which I have quietly enjoy’d therein, for NEAR EIGHTEEN years together.O my Lord God, Remember me, I pray thee, andstrengthen me this once, to speak from thee, unto thy People.
“And now, Sirs, That I may set up an EBENEZER among you, there are these Things to be inculcated.”
“1. Let us Thankfully, and Agreeably, and Particularly, acknowledge what Help we have received from the God of Heaven, in the years that have rolled over us. While the Blessed Apostle Paul, was as it should seem, yet short of beingThreescoreyears old, how affectionately did he set anEbenezerwith the Acknowledgment in Acts 26, 22.Having obtained Help of God, I continue to this day.Our Town is nowThreescore and Eightyears old: and certainly ’tis Time for us, with all possible affection to set up ourEbenezer, saying, Having obtained Help from God, the Town is continued, until almost the Age of Man is passed over it. The Town hath indeed Three Elder Sisters in this Colony; but it hath wonderfully outgrown them all; and her Mother, old Boston, in England also; Yea, within a Few Years, after the first settlement it grew to be,the Metropolis of the whole English America. Little wasthisexpected, by them that first settled the town, when, for a while, Boston was proverbially calledLost Town, for the mean and sad circumstances of it. But, O Boston, it is because thou hastObtained help from God.” “There have been several years wherein the Terrible Famine hath Terribly Stared the Town in the Face. We have been brought sometimes unto the Last Meal in the Barrel! But the fear’d Famine has always been kept off.”
The preacher proceeds,—
“A formidable French squadron hath not shot one Bomb into the midst of Thee;” our Streets have not run Blood and Gore; devouring-flames have not raged. “Boston, ’Tis a marvellous Thing, a Plague has not laid desolate!” “Boston, Thou hast been lifted up to Heaven; there is not a Town upon Earth, which, on some accounts, has more to answer for.”Secondly, we are to acknowledge whose help it is. “This is the voice of God from Heaven to Boston this day; Thy God hath helped thee!” “Old Boston, by name, was but SaintBotolphs Town. Whereas Thou, O Boston, shall have but one Protector in Heaven, and that is Our Lord Jesus Christ.”
“A formidable French squadron hath not shot one Bomb into the midst of Thee;” our Streets have not run Blood and Gore; devouring-flames have not raged. “Boston, ’Tis a marvellous Thing, a Plague has not laid desolate!” “Boston, Thou hast been lifted up to Heaven; there is not a Town upon Earth, which, on some accounts, has more to answer for.”
Secondly, we are to acknowledge whose help it is. “This is the voice of God from Heaven to Boston this day; Thy God hath helped thee!” “Old Boston, by name, was but SaintBotolphs Town. Whereas Thou, O Boston, shall have but one Protector in Heaven, and that is Our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The preacher’s third division is that the help Boston has already had should lead her people to Hope. “Hope in him for more help hereafter.” “The motto upon all our Ebenezer’s is Hope in God! Hope in God!” In the course of this part of his lecture, the preacher says,—
“The Town is at this day full of Widows and Orphans, and a multitude of them are very helpless creatures. I am astonished how they live! In that church, whereof I am the servant, I have counted. The Widows make about a sixth part of our communicants, and no doubt in the whole town, the proportion differs not very much. Now, stand still my Friends, and behold the will of God!Wereany of these ever starved yet? No, these widows are every one in some sort provided for.”Fourthly, “Let all that bear public office in the town contribute all the help they can that may continue the help of God in us!” First the ministers will help, and then he calls upon the Justices of the Courts, the constables, the school-masters and the townsmen to help: “Each of the sorts by themselves, may they come together to consider, What shall we do to save the town?”Fifthly, “God help the town to manifest all that piety which a town so helped of Him, is obliged unto!” And then the town is warned against all sorts of iniquities: against fortune-tellers, bad houses, drinking houses, &c.“Ah! Boston, Beware, Beware, lest the Sin of Sodom get Footing in thee!”“And, Oh! that the Drinking Houses in the Town, might once come under a laudableRegulation. The Town has anEnormous Numberof them! Will theHauntersof thoseHouseshear the Counsels of Heaven? Foryouthat are theTown Dwellers, to be oft, or long, in yourVisitsof theOrdinary, ’twill certainly Expose you to Mischiefs more than ordinary. I have seen certainTavernswhere the Pictures of horrible Devourers[9]were hang’d out for the signs; and thought I, ’twere well if suchSignswere not sometimes tooSignificant! Alas, men have their estatesDevoured, their namesDevoured, their HoursDevoured, and their very soulDevoured, when they are so besotted, that they are not in theirElement, except they be in Tippling at Such Houses. When once a man is Bewitched with the Ordinary, what usually becomes of him? He is agone man. And when he comes to Dy, he’l cry out, as many have done,Ale Houses are Hell Houses! Ale Houses are Hell Houses! Ale Houses are Hell Houses!” ... “There was anInnatBethlehem, where the Lord Jesus Christ was to be met withal. CanBostonboast of many such? Alas, Too ordinarily it may be said,There is no Room for Him in the Inn!My Friends, Let me beg it of you: Banishthe unfruitful works of Darkness, from yourHouses, and then theSun of Righteousnesswill shine upon them. Don’t countenanceDrunkenness,RevellingandMispendingof precious Time in your Houses. Let none have thesnares of DeathLaid for them in yourHouses.”
“The Town is at this day full of Widows and Orphans, and a multitude of them are very helpless creatures. I am astonished how they live! In that church, whereof I am the servant, I have counted. The Widows make about a sixth part of our communicants, and no doubt in the whole town, the proportion differs not very much. Now, stand still my Friends, and behold the will of God!Wereany of these ever starved yet? No, these widows are every one in some sort provided for.”
Fourthly, “Let all that bear public office in the town contribute all the help they can that may continue the help of God in us!” First the ministers will help, and then he calls upon the Justices of the Courts, the constables, the school-masters and the townsmen to help: “Each of the sorts by themselves, may they come together to consider, What shall we do to save the town?”
Fifthly, “God help the town to manifest all that piety which a town so helped of Him, is obliged unto!” And then the town is warned against all sorts of iniquities: against fortune-tellers, bad houses, drinking houses, &c.
“Ah! Boston, Beware, Beware, lest the Sin of Sodom get Footing in thee!”
“And, Oh! that the Drinking Houses in the Town, might once come under a laudableRegulation. The Town has anEnormous Numberof them! Will theHauntersof thoseHouseshear the Counsels of Heaven? Foryouthat are theTown Dwellers, to be oft, or long, in yourVisitsof theOrdinary, ’twill certainly Expose you to Mischiefs more than ordinary. I have seen certainTavernswhere the Pictures of horrible Devourers[9]were hang’d out for the signs; and thought I, ’twere well if suchSignswere not sometimes tooSignificant! Alas, men have their estatesDevoured, their namesDevoured, their HoursDevoured, and their very soulDevoured, when they are so besotted, that they are not in theirElement, except they be in Tippling at Such Houses. When once a man is Bewitched with the Ordinary, what usually becomes of him? He is agone man. And when he comes to Dy, he’l cry out, as many have done,Ale Houses are Hell Houses! Ale Houses are Hell Houses! Ale Houses are Hell Houses!” ... “There was anInnatBethlehem, where the Lord Jesus Christ was to be met withal. CanBostonboast of many such? Alas, Too ordinarily it may be said,There is no Room for Him in the Inn!My Friends, Let me beg it of you: Banishthe unfruitful works of Darkness, from yourHouses, and then theSun of Righteousnesswill shine upon them. Don’t countenanceDrunkenness,RevellingandMispendingof precious Time in your Houses. Let none have thesnares of DeathLaid for them in yourHouses.”
The preacher goes on in two or threefurther divisionswith his declamation against evil and sins, and his conjurations for better things, in faith, hopes and works, intimating all the evils that exist in Boston, and warning the people of the danger of them.
The second sermon is a piece of similar declamation, about what the preacher calls HouseholdReligion, “at Boston Lecture, 26d. 7m. 1695.” A short extract will give a sample of this discourse.
“First, I suppose, we are all sensible, That for us to Loose our Houses by any Disaster whatsoever, would be a very terrible Calamity: Oh! it would be aJudgmentof God, wherein theAngerof God, would be seen written withfierycharacters. If by an accident, or by an enemy, our House be laid in desolation, every Roar of the Raging Flames, every crack of the Tumbling Timbers, every Downfall of the Undermined walls, and every jingle of the Bells then tolling the Funeral of those Houses, would loudly utter the voice in Deut.,A Fire is Kindled in the Anger of God.”
This discourse is very severe upon all “Houses where God is not served,” and defines them as gaming-houses, drinking-houses, houses where troops and harlots assemble. “If the Worshipful Justices, and the Constables, and the Tythingmen, would Invigorate their zeal, to Rout the Villanous Haunts of those Houses, the whole Town would be vastly the Safer for it.”
All that can be said of these curious discourses is that they are a strange medley of declamation, fanaticism, and exhortation, not lacking in thought perhaps, or devoid of sense, but rather insinuating than direct and sensible. The author does not print his name, though they purport to be Boston Lectures, one delivered in 1695 and the other in 1698: it is understood, however, that they were by the Rev. Cotton Mather.
REMARKABLE PROCLAMATIONS.
FAST DAY.
The first proclamation, issued on a broadside, that we have seen, is that of March, 1743, “for a public fast.” It is issued by Gov. Shirley, and begins, “It being our constant and indispensable duty by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving to make known our requests to God,” &c. He then appoints the 12th of April ensuing to be observed as a day of general fasting and prayer. After acknowledging “all our heinous and aggravated offences,” the people are required to implore the Divine mercy for “the following blessings, namely,” the life and health of “Our Sovereign Lord the King;” the prosperity of his government; that he would direct and grant success to his Majesty’s arms in the present war, and prevent a further rupture among the nations; in behalf of the Prince and Princess of Wales; and that “it would please God to cover and defend the English plantations, more especially this Province,” &c. Given at the Council Chamber, signed, &c., and ending “God save the King.”
“WAR AGAINST THE FRENCH KING.”
The next proclamation which we have is not probably much known, and not such as were issued by the governors of the Provinces or States, but is a “Declaration of war against the French King.” It purports to be issued originally from “Our Court at St. James’s, the twenty-ninth day of March, 1744, in the 17th year of our reign.” “God save the King.” “Printed in London by Thomas Baskett and Robert Baskett, printers to the King’s most excellent Majesty, 1744.” “Boston, N. E. reprinted by John Draper, Printer to His Excellency the Governor and Council, 1774.”
The proclamation rehearses the troubles which have taken place among the European states, “with a view to overturn the balance of power in Europe, ... in direct violation of the solemn guaranty of the Pragmatick Sanction given by him [the French King] in 1738, in consideration of the cession of Lorrain.” It refers to other offensive conduct of the French King, and then replies to some assertions made in the “French King’s declaration of war.” “Being therefore indispensably obliged to take up arms,” the King calls upon all his subjects to assist in prosecuting the same by sea and land; but no special reference is made to the British colonies in America, and the governor (Shirley) does not even add his name to the proclamation. One copy of the remarkable document, at least, has been preserved, and is in possession of Mr. John L. DeWolf of Boston. It is headed by an engraving of the King’s arms, as areall the proclamations issued by the governor, including those for Fast and Thanksgiving Days, &c. It is not probable, though we do not know the fact, that a declaration of war by the King of England was ever re-issued by the governor of any other colony. Previously to this, in this colony, in 1672, the proclamation of war, by the King of England against the Dutch, was publicly read in Boston.
FAST DAY.
Following this on the 8th of June, 1744, was issued the “proclamation for a public fast.” “Whereas it hath pleased God, in his holy, wise and sovereign Providence, further to involve the British dominions in war, whereby this Province will be greatly affected,” &c. Therefore the 28th day of June is appointed to be observed as a day of fasting and prayer, &c., “and all servile labor and recreations are forbidden on that day.” Signed, W. Shirley. [Troops were raised in Boston at this time, following the declaration of 29th March, and sent to Annapolis, Nova Scotia, where they arrived, as Gordon says, in season, and “were the probable means of saving the country.”]
RIOT IN BRISTOL COUNTY.
Among the lesser proclamations, issued by Gov. Shirley, was one on account of “an heinous riot in the Town of Bristol, in open defiance of His Majesty’s authority and Government within this Province.” This was a case where the six persons named and “a great number of others,” marched to the county jail,and there demanded the release of John Round, jr., and by force of arms broke open said prison, “rescuing and carrying off the said John Round and Samuel Borden, another prisoner in said gaol.” The governor calls upon all officers and people to apprehend and secure the parties, and “for the encouragement of all persons whatsoever that shall discover the parties,” a reward of one hundred pounds is offered for several of them, and fifty pounds each for others. Given at the Council Chamber in Boston, 18th day of October, 1744. Signed, &c.
WAR AGAINST THE INDIANS.
Another remarkable proclamation was issued by “His Excellency, William Shirley, Esq., Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief in and over His Majesty’s Province of Massachusetts Bay, in New England.” This is a “declaration of war against the Cape Sable’s and St. John’s Indians.” It is stated that whereas some of the Cape Sable Indians, who have formally by treaty submitted to his Majesty’s government, have, “in the port of Jedoure, in a treacherous and cruel manner, murdered divers of His Majesty’s English subjects, belonging to a fishing vessel; and, whereas, the Cape Sable Indians with the St. John’s tribe, have in a hostile manner joined with the French King’s subjects in assaulting His Majesty’s fort at Annapolis-Royal, &c., therefore, said Indians are declared to be rebels, traitors, and enemies, and His Majesty’s officers and subjects are to execute all acts of hostility against the said Indians,” &c. This proclamation is dated at Boston, Oct. 19, 1744.
THANKSGIVING.
On the next day, 20th October, 1744, there was issued the usual proclamation for thanksgiving: “Forasmuch as, amidst the many rebukes of Divine Providence with which we are righteously afflicted, more especially in the present expensive and calamitous war, it has pleased God to favor us with many great and undeserved mercies in the course of this year,” particularly in preserving the life and health of the King, the Prince and Princess of Wales, &c.; in the restraint hitherto given to the Indians near the frontiers of this Province, &c.: therefore, the twenty-second day of December is to be observed as a day of thanksgiving throughout the Province. It will be noticed that nothing is said concerning the season or the crops in any of these thanksgiving proclamations, and it would seem that that matter was not thought of any account as compared with the health of his Majesty the King and the royal princesses.
[Here are three proclamations issued on the 18th, 19th, and 20th October, 1744, the first in relation to a “heinous riot,” the second a bloody declaration of war, and the third for a public thanksgiving.]
BLOODY PROCLAMATION AGAINST THE INDIANS.
In two weeks after the thanksgiving proclamation, on the 2d of November, 1744, came forth another proclamation from Gov. Shirley, of a most bloody character, against the Indians, as follows:—