The Loyalists of Massachusetts Part 13

[100] Short History of Anglo-Saxon Freedom.

The statesmen of Britain and America can do no worthier service than to find a way by which their strength may be combined to secure the peace of the world and the betterment of mankind. It is not necessary that their governments should be unified, or even that any hard and fast treaty obligation incurred. It is only necessary that they should agree to be friends and to stand by each other in all that will further these great objects. They alone of all the nations can do this and that they ought to do it few will deny. Both must forget certain bitterness born of the past and certain jealousies growing out of the greatness of both.

What Great Britain is doing for the many peoples under her care and what this nation is doing for the few outside our borders that we have in hand we might unitedly do for a great portion of the globe and its inhabitants. This combination must be strong enough to check certain highwaymen in international relations and to install a wholesome regard for human rights. Such an outcome of present friendliness will not be achieved in a day or generation. But it will come; it must come. Asia and the continent of Europe may become Chinese or Cossack, but the English-speaking race shall rule over every other land and all the islands and every sea.

The present time is a critical period in the life of the American Republic, and therefore in the life of the world. The impotence of the federal government to stop strike disturbances, lynchings and disfranchis.e.m.e.nts, the growing power of an oligarchial and plutocratic Senate, and the perils of imperialism are disquieting enough, but worst of all is the evil of party rule and party strife.

Washington abhorred party and regarded it as a disease which he hoped to avert by putting federalists and anti-federalists in his cabinet together. The intuition of the founders of the Republic was that the president should be elected by a chosen body of select and responsible citizens, but since the Jacksonian era, nomination and election have been completely in the hands of the Democracy at large, and the election has been performed by a process of national agitation and conflict which sets at work all the forces of political intrigue and corruption on the most enormous scale, besides filling the country with persons almost as violent and anti-social as those of the Civil War.

The qualification for public office from that of president down to that of a member of a city council in national, state or city politics is not a question of which man is most worthy of public confidence. It is no longer eminence but availability. The great aim of each party is to prevent the country from being successfully governed by its rival. Each will do anything to catch votes and anything rather than lose them.

Government consequently is at the mercy of any organization which has votes on a large scale to sell, or corporations that will freely contribute its funds. The Grand Army of the Republic is thus enabled to levy upon the nation tribute to the amount of a hundred and fifty million dollars each year, thirty-six years after the war, although General Grant at the close of the war said that the pensions should never exceed seven millions each year. And now both parties in their platform promise their countenance to this exaction.

The recent exposures of the millions contributed by the trusts, tariff protected industries, life insurance companies, etc., to the campaign funds has astonished the world. The history of the most corrupt monarchies could hardly furnish a more monstrous case of financial abuse, to say nothing of the effect upon national character.

Each party machine has a standing army of wire pullers with an apparatus of intrigue and corruption to the support of which holders of office under government are a.s.sessed. The boss is a recognized authority, and mastery of unscrupulous intrigue is his avowed qualification for his place. The pest of partyism invades all the large cities of the country.

New York is made the plunder of the thieves of one party and Philadelphia of thieves of the other. It is surely impossible that any nation should endure such a system forever. A nation which deliberately gives itself up to government by faction, under the name of party, signs its own doom. The end may be delayed but it is sure. The American people undoubtedly have the political wisdom and force to deal with this crisis, but there is no evidence that these qualities are being brought to bear on the situation nor is there any great man arisen to lead the reform.

PART II.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

of the

LOYALISTS OF Ma.s.sACHUSETTS

with

THE ADDRESSES TO GOVERNOR HUTCHINSON. THE CONSPIRACY ACT; AND RESOLUTION, RELATING TO THE BANISHING AND CONFISCATION OF THE ESTATES OF THE ABSENTEES, AND REFUGEES, AND A LIST OF THE LOYALISTS THAT WENT TO HALIFAX ON THE EVACUATION OF BOSTON.

The Loyalists of Ma.s.sachusetts

WHO WERE THE INHABITANTS OF THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES AT THE TIME OF THE REVOLUTION?

The first and second chapters of this work treated of the settlement of Ma.s.sachusetts and the framing and establishing of that social system and form of government which through successive generations, the settlers and their descendants took part, which culminated in the Revolution. The founders of Ma.s.sachusetts and of all New England, were almost entirely Englishmen. Their emigration to New England began in 1620, it was inconsiderable till 1630, at the end of ten years more it almost ceased.

A people consisting at that time of not many more than twenty thousand persons, thenceforward multiplied on its own soil, in remarkable seclusion from other communities, for nearly two centuries. Such exceptions to this statement are of small account. In 1651 after the battle of Dunbar, Cromwell sent some four or five hundred of his Scotch prisoners to Boston, but very little trace of this accession is left.

After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, about one hundred and fifty families of French Huguenots came to Ma.s.sachusetts; their names and a considerable number of their posterity are yet to be found.

A hundred and twenty Scotch-Irish families, came over in 1719 and settled in Boston, and New Hampshire. Some slight emigrations from it took place at an early date, but they soon discontinued, and it was not till after the Revolution that those swarms began to depart, which have since occupied so large a portion of the territory of the United States.

During that long period their ident.i.ty was unimpaired. No race has ever been more h.o.m.ogeneous than this, at the outbreak of the Revolution, and for many years later. Thus the people of New England was a singularly unmixed race. There was probably not a county in England occupied by a population of purer English blood than theirs. Down to the eve of the war in 1775, New England had little knowledge of the communities which took part in that conflict with her. Till the time of the Boston Port Bill, Ma.s.sachusetts and Virginia, the two princ.i.p.al English settlements, had with each other scarcely more relations of acquaintance, business, mutual influence, or common action, than either of them had with Bermuda or Barbados.

During the latter part of the nineteenth century vast numbers of Irish, and next to them German, came to New England, so at the time of writing, 1908, it is claimed that one half of the inhabitants of Boston are Irish, or of Irish parentage. During the past ten years the places of the Irish are being taken by the Italians, Jews, Portuguese, Greeks, Armenians, French Canadians, and others. The reader will see from the foregoing that the contestants in Ma.s.sachusetts during the Revolutionary war were a race representing a peculiar type of the Englishmen of the seventeenth century who, sequestrated from foreign influences formed a distinct character by their own discipline, and was engaged in a work within itself, on its own problem, through a century and a half, and which terminated in the Revolutionary War, that dismembered the Empire.

That the foregoing statement concerning the purity of the race at the time of the Revolution is a correct one, is shown in the following biographies of the Loyalists of Ma.s.sachusetts, for in nearly every case their ancestry date back to that of the first settlers, through several generations.

THE ADDRESSERS.

The importance of the following addressers is out of all proportion to their apparent significance. They are an indispensable genesis to the history of the Loyalists. For the next seven years the Addressers were held up to their countrymen as traitors and enemies to their country. In the arraignments, which soon began, the Loyalists were convicted not out of their mouths, but out of their addresses. The ink was hardly dry upon the parchment before the persecution began against all those who would not recant, and throughout the long years of the war, the crime of an addresser grew in its enormity, and they were exposed to the perils of tarring and feathering, the horrors of Simbury mines, a gaol or a gallows.

ADDRESS OF THE MERCHANTS AND OTHERS OF BOSTON TO GOV. HUTCHINSON.

_Boston_, May 30, 1774.

We, merchants and traders of the town of Boston, and others, do now wait on you, in the most respectful manner, before your departure for England, to testify, for ourselves the entire satisfaction we feel at your wise, zealous, and faithful administration, during the few years that you have presided at the head of this province. Had your success been equal to your endeavors, and to the warmest wishes of your heart, we cannot doubt that many of the evils under which we now suffer, would have been averted, and that tranquility would have been restored to this long divided province; but we a.s.sure ourselves that the want of success in those endeavors will not abate your good wishes when removed from us, or your earnest exertions still on every occasion to serve the true interest of this your native country.

While we lament the loss of so good a governor, we are greatly relieved that his Majesty, in his gracious favor, hath appointed as your successor a gentleman who, having distinguished himself in the long command he hath held in another department, gives us the most favorable prepossessions of his future administration.

We greatly deplore the calamities that are impending and will soon fall on this metropolis, by the operation of a late act of Parliament for shutting up the port on the first of next month. You cannot but be sensible, sir, of the numberless evils that will ensue to the province in general, and the miseries and distresses into which it will particularly involve this town, in the course of a few months. Without meaning to arraign the justice of the British Parliament, we could humbly wish that this act had been couched with less rigor, and that the execution of it had been delayed to a more distant time, that the people might have had the alternative either to have complied with the conditions therein set forth, or to have submitted to the consequent evils on refusal; but as it now stands, all choice is precluded, and however disposed to compliance or concession the people may be, they must unavoidably suffer very great calamities before they can receive relief. Making rest.i.tution for damage done to the property of the East India Company, or to the property of any individual, by the outrage of the people, we acknowledge to be just; and though we have ever disavowed, and do now solemnly bear our testimony against such lawless proceedings, yet, considering ourselves as members of the same community, we are fully disposed to bear our proportions of those damages, whenever the sum and the manner of laying it can be ascertained. We earnestly request that you, sir, who know our condition, and have at all times displayed the most benevolent disposition towards us, will, on your arrival in England, interest yourself in our behalf, and make such favorable representations of our case, as that we may hope to obtain speedy and effectual relief.

May you enjoy a pleasant pa.s.sage to England; and under all the mortifications you have patiently endured, may you possess the inward and consolatory testimonies of having discharged your trust with fidelity and honor, and receive those distinguishing marks of his Majesty's royal approbation and favor, as may enable you to pa.s.s the remainder of your life in quietness and ease, and preserve your name with honor to posterity.

William Blair, John Greenlaw, Theophilus Lillie, James Selkrig, Benjamin Clark, Miles Whitworth, Archibald Wilson, William McAlpine, James McEwen, Jeremiah Green, Jonathan Snelling, William Codner, Samuel H. Sparhawk, James Hall, James Perkins, Joseph Turill, William d.i.c.kson, John White, Roberts & Co., John Winslow, jr., Robert Jarvis, William Perry, Joseph Scott, Thomas Aylwin, Jas. & Pat. McMasters, Samuel Minot, William Bowes, William Coffin, Benjamin M. Holmes, Gregory Townsend, Simeon Stoddard, jr., Archibald McNiel, Francis Green, John Powell, George Leonard, Philip Dumaresq, Henry Laughton, John Borland, Harrison Gray, Eliphalet Pond, Joshua Loring, jr., Peter Johonnot, M. B. Goldthwait, William Jackson, George Erving, Peter Hughes, James Anderson, Joseph Green, Samuel Hughes, David Mitchelson, John Va.s.sall, John Semple, Abraham Savage, Nathaniel Coffin, Hopestill Capen, James Asby, John Timmins, Edward King, John Inman, William Tailor, Byfield Lynde, John Coffin, Thomas Brinley, George Lynde, Thomas Knight, Harrison Gray, jr., A. F. Phipps, Benjamin Green, jr., John Taylor, Rufus Green, David Green, Gilbert Deblois, David Phips, Benjamin Green, Joshua Winslow, Richard Smith, Henry H. Williams, Daniel Hubbard, George Spooner, James Warden, Hugh Turbett, Daniel Silsby, Nathaniel Coffin, jr., Henry Lyddell, William Cazneau, Silvester Gardiner, Nathaniel Cary, James Forrest, John S. Copley, George Brinley, Edward c.o.x, Edward Foster, Richard Lechmere, John Berry, Colbourn Burrell, John Erving, jr., Richard Hirons, Nathaniel Greenwood, Thomas Gray, Ziphion Thayer, William Burton, George Bethune, John Joy, John Winslow, Thomas Apthorp, Joseph Goldthwait, Isaac Winslow, jr., Ezekial Goldthwaite, Samuel Prince, Thomas Oliver, Benjamin Gridley, Jonathan Simpson, Henry Bloye, John Atkinson, James Boutineau, Benjamin Davis, Ebenezer Bridgham, Nathaniel Hatch, Isaac Winslow, John Gore, Martin Gay, Lewis Deblois, Adino Paddock.

ADDRESS OF THE BARRISTERS AND ATTORNEYS OF Ma.s.sACHUSETTS TO GOV. HUTCHINSON, MAY, 30, 1774.

A firm persuasion of your inviolable attachment to the real interest of this your native country, and of your constant readiness, by every service in your power, to promote its true welfare and prosperity, will, we flatter ourselves, render it not improper in us, barristers and attorneys at law in the province of Ma.s.sachusetts Bay, to address your Excellency upon your removal from us with this testimonial of our sincere respect and esteem.

The various important characters of Legislator, Judge and first Magistrate over this province, in which, by the suffrages of your fellow-subjects, and by the royal favor of the best of kings, your great abilities, adorned with a uniform purity of principle, and integrity of conduct, have been eminently distinguished, must excite the esteem and demand the grateful acknowledgements of every true lover of his country, and friend to virtue.

The present perplexed state of our public affairs, we are sensible, must render your departure far less disagreeable to you than it is to us--we a.s.sure you, sir, we feel the loss; but when, in the amiable character of your successor, we view a fresh instance of the paternal goodness of our most gracious sovereign; when we reflect on the probability that your presence at the court of Great Britain, will afford you an opportunity of employing your interests more successfully for the relief of this province, and particularly of the town of Boston, under their present distresses, we find a consolation which no other human source could afford. Permit us, sir, most earnestly to solicit the exertion of all your distinguished abilities in favor of your native town and country, upon this truly unhappy and distressing occasion.

We sincerely wish you a prosperous voyage, a long continuation of health and felicity and the highest rewards of the good and faithful.

We are, sir, with the most cordial affection, esteem and respect, Your Excellency's most obedient and very humble servants,

Robert Achmuty, Andrew Cazneau, David Ingersoll, Jonathan Sewall, Daniel Leonard, Jeremiah D. Rogers, Samuel Fitch, John Lowell, David Gorham, Samuel Quincy, Daniel Oliver, Samuel Sewall, William Pynchon, Sampson S. Blowers, John Sprague, James Putnam, Shearjashub Brown, Rufus Chandler, Benjamin Gridley, Daniel Bliss, Thomas Danforth, Abel Willard, Samuel Porter, Ebenezer Bradish,

From the Ess.e.x Gazette of June 1, 1775.

_Salem, May 30, 1775._

Whereas we the subscribers did some time since sign an address to Governor Hutchinson, which, though prompted to by the best intentions, has, nevertheless, given great offence to our country: We do now declare, that we were so far from designing by that action, to show our acquiescence in those acts of Parliament so universally and justly odious to all America, that on the contrary, we hoped we might in that way contribute to their repeal; though now to our sorrow we find ourselves mistaken. And we do now further, declare, that we never intended the offence which this address occasioned; that if we had foreseen such an event we should never have signed it; as it always has been and now is our wish to live in harmony with our neighbors, and our serious determination is to promote to the utmost of our power the liberty, the welfare, and happiness of our country, which is inseparably connected with our own.

John Nutting, N. Sparhawk, Thomas Barnard, N. Goodale, Andrew Dalglish, Nathaniel Dabney, Ebenezer Putnam, E. A. Holyoke, William Pickman, Francis Cabot, William Pynchon, C. Gayton Pickman,

In Committee of Safety, Salem, May 30, 1775.--The declaration, of which the above is a copy, being presented and read, it was voted unanimously that the same was satisfactory; and that the said gentlemen ought to be received and treated as real friends to this country.

By order of the Committee,

RICHARD DERBY, JR., Chairman.