The Loyalists of Massachusetts Part 62

Boston, March 29th, 1770.

Sir:

When I heard that you was cutting a plate of the late Murder, I thought it impossible as I knew you was not capable of doing it unless you copied it from mine and as I thought I had intrusted it in the hands of a person who had more regard to the dictates of Honor and Justice than to take the undue advantage you have done of the confidence and trust I reposed in you. But I find that I was mistaken and after being at great Trouble and Expense of making a design, paying for paper, printing, etc., find myself in the most ungenerous Manner deprived not only of any proposed Advantage, but even of the expense I have been at as truly as if you had plundered me on the highway. If you are insensible of the Dishonour you have brought on yourself by this Act, the World will not be so. However, I leave you to reflect and consider of one of the most dishonorable Actions you could well be guilty of.

H. PELHAM.

[278] See Atlantic Monthly. April 1893, "Some Pelham Copley Letters."

This is a serious charge against Revere's honor and integrity, for it seems that Pelham loaned Revere a drawing of the "Ma.s.sacre" from which Revere made an engraving and sold copies without giving the real artist credit for his sketch, since the Revere plate bears the inscription Engraved, Printed and Sold by Paul Revere.

Revere was one of the chief actors in the tea mobs that destroyed the tea which precipitated the Revolution. The North End Caucus had, on Oct.

23, 1773, declared that its members would "oppose at peril of life and fortune the vending of any tea that might be imported by the East Indian Company." A song was composed which became very popular. One of them commenced with

"Our Warren's there and bold Revere With hands to do and words to cheer."

[Ill.u.s.tration: PURSUIT AND CAPTURE OF PAUL REVERE.

He and another scout, named Dawes, was captured on the road to Lexington, April 19, 1775.]

Revere took a prominent part in this tumultuous affair, and the next day he was selected as the man to take the news to New York and Philadelphia. From this time on he was the chief scout of the Boston Revolutionists. He was one of a band of thirty formed to watch the movements of the British that had been sent to Boston after the destruction of the tea. Finally the vigilance of these scouts was rewarded. It became apparent that something unusual was occurring in the British camp on the evening of April 18th, 1775, for Revere says "On Tuesday evening, the 18th, it was observed that a number of soldiers were marching towards the bottom of the Common," which meant that they were going in boats across the river to Charlestown or Cambridge, instead of making a long march around by land. About ten o'clock Dr.

Warren sent in great haste for me and begged that I would immediately set off for Lexington. I found he had sent an express by land, a Mr.

William Dawes." I then went home, took my boots and surtout, went to the north part of the town, where I kept a boat; two friends rowed me across Charles River. When I got into town, I met Colonel Conant and several others. They said they had seen our signals. I told them what was acting, and went to get a horse." Mounted on Deacon Larkin's horse, he said "I alarmed nearly every home till I got to Lexington. After I had been there about half an Hour, Mr. Dawes arrived, who came from Boston over the Neck. We set off for Concord." They had gone but a short distance when they were taken prisoners. Revere said "I saw four of them, who rode up to me with their pistols in their hands, said G--d d--n you, stop, if you go an inch further you are a dead Man." The result was that neither Revere nor Dawes reached Concord.

On the day following these events Revere was permanently engaged by Dr.

Warren, as a scout to do outside business for the Committee of Safety.

This patriotic service had a commercial value, and the Committee in auditing the bill thought he was disposed to value his labors too highly, for they reduced his charges from five shillings to four shillings a day.[279] In his financial dealings with the government he hardly ever failed to send in bills for work done which the authorities deemed extravagant charges and pruned down accordingly.

[279] Paul Revere's Bills can be seen in the Archives at the State House, Boston.

Most men like Revere, somewhat above the ma.s.ses, but not possessing the elements of enduring fame, are remembered by a circle of admiring and respecting friends until they pa.s.s away, and are ultimately forgotten, finding no place upon the pages of written history. Paul Revere was rescued from this fate by an accident, a poet's imagination of things that never occurred. His famous ride remained unsung, if not unhonored for eighty-eight years, or until Longfellow, in 1863 made it the text for his Landlord's Tale in the Wayside Inn. It is to the "poetic license" of Longfellow, that most persons owe their knowledge of the fact that such a person as Revere ever existed. The poet did not mention the name of Dawes, yet he was ent.i.tled to as much credit, for what he did on the eve of the historic skirmish at Lexington, as Revere.

Poetry and history sometimes become sadly mixed, the poet and romancist, in so far as they deal with matters of verifiable records should keep closer to the truth, and make use of poetic license as little as possible. To be sure the poet's statement concerning the lantern, and that Revere reached Concord was long ago shown to have been incorrect, but its persistent virility only goes to prove that truth is not the only thing which crushed to earth, will rise again. Very little is said by historians, concerning the Pen.o.bscot Expedition despatched in the summer of 1779 by the Ma.s.sachusetts Council against the British on the coast of Maine. It was an episode of the Revolution that resulted in disaster so complete, so utterly without excuse, and so thoroughly discreditable to American arms as to make its contemplation without feelings of shame and humiliation impossible. An overwhelming force of Colonial troops, through the clear cowardice of an admiral bearing the proud name of Saltonstall, allowed itself to be frightened into an ignominious and panic-stricken desertion of its post of duty by a ridiculously ill equipped enemy. The ensuing scandal besmirched reputations. .h.i.therto untarnished, and the State of Ma.s.sachusetts was plunged, on account of the expedition, into a debt of eight million dollars sterling. "To attempt to give a description of this terrible Day," wrote General Lovell, "is out of my Power. It would be a fit subject for some masterly hand to describe it in its true colors, to see four ships pursuing seventeen Sail of Armed Vessels, nine of which were stout Ships, Transports on fire. Men of War blowing up every kind of Stores on Sh.o.r.e, throwing about, and as much confusion as can possibly be conceived."[280]

[280] Lovell's Journal, p. 105.

Thus did this little Garrison with three Sloops of War, by the unwearied exertions of soldiers and seamen, writes John Calef in his Journal under date of August 14, 1779, whose bravery cannot be too much extolled, succeed in an enterprise of great importance, against difficulties apparently unsurmountable, and in a manner strongly expressive of their faithful and spirited attachment to the interests of their King and Country. Calef gives the total number of American ships of war, brigs and transports as 37, of which 26 were burnt and 11 captured.[281] "The soldiers and crew took to the woods, and singly or in squads, made their way to the Kennebec, where most of them arrived after a week's suffering from hunger and exposure."[282]

[281] The Siege of the Pen.o.bscot, etc., pp. 23, 25.

[282] Ma.s.s. Archives, Vol. 145, pp. 230-237. (Todds report).

Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Revere was in command of the artillery train, and this episode was a serious event in his life, and came near stripping him of the laurels he had won by his earlier exploits, he was arrested on charges of cowardice, censured after an investigation, court martialled, and was grudgingly acquitted, after three years persistent effort.

Paul Revere's Masonic Record also has its blemishes. He received his degrees in St. Andrews Lodge in 1760-1. He afterwards became Grand Master. There being too many Loyalists or "Gentry" in St. Andrews Lodge to suit the taste of Revere, the leader of the mechanics, he and his friends therefore withdrew from same, and started "Rising States Lodge,"

but it did not succeed. The members soon fell to quarrelling among themselves. Some twenty members came together and voted the lodge out of existence, and divided the funds of the lodge, amounting to $1,577.50 among twenty-five members of the lodge, among whom was Paul Revere and his son. This was contrary to all Masonic precedents. The funds and paraphernalia of the Lodge should have been returned to the Grand Lodge.

A committee was appointed to investigate the matter. They made a very scathing report in which it said "To divide it among members of a Lodge whenever they think proper to dissolve this union, is making the funds an object of speculation, it is treating the n.o.ble example of departed donors with contempt and devoting their sacred deposit to individual emoluments, it is taking bread from the hungry, It is multiplying the tears of the widow and fatherless."

The Grand Lodge ordered that the funds of the lodge should be devoted to charity and a report of same printed and sent to each member of Rising States Lodge.[283]

[283] See copy of report in "Rising States Lodge," in Library of Ma.s.s.

Grand Lodge.

WILLIAM FRANKLIN, SON OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.

William Franklin, Last Royal Governor of New Jersey, was a natural son of Dr. Benjamin Franklin. He was born about 1731. His father said of him: "He imagined his father had got enough for him; but I have a.s.sured him that I intend to spend what little I have myself, if it pleases G.o.d that I live long enough; and, as he by no means wants acuteness, he can see by my going on that I mean to be as good as my word." He served as Postmaster of Philadelphia, and as clerk of the House of a.s.sembly of Pennsylvania. In the French war he was a captain and gained praise for his conduct at Ticonderoga. Before the peace, he went to England with his father. While there, Mr. Strahan wrote Mrs. Franklin, "Your son I really think one of the prettiest young gentlemen I ever knew from America. He seems to me to have a solidity of judgment, not very often to be met with in one of his years." While abroad young Franklin visited Scotland and became acquainted with the celebrated Earl of Bute, who recommended him to Lord Fairfax, who secured for him, as is said, the appointment of Governor of New Jersey, in 1763, without the solicitation of himself or his father. All intercourse between him and his father was suspended for more than a year before the actual commencement of hostilities. He was involved in a helpless quarrel with the delegates, and the people of New Jersey. In May, 1775, in a message he sent to the a.s.sembly he said, "No office of honor in the power of the Crown to bestow would ever influence him to forget or neglect the duty he owed his country, nor the most furious rage of the most intemperate zealots induce him to swerve from the duty he owed his Majesty." On the 20th of May, the day this message was transmitted, the a.s.sembly was prorogued, and Governor Franklin never communicated with that body again. Three days after the first Provincial Congress commenced their session at Trenton, and the Royal Government ceased, and William Livingston became Franklin's successor.

Congress ordered the arrest of Governor Franklin as an enemy to his country. He was accordingly placed in the custody of a guard commanded by a captain who had orders to deliver him to Governor Trumball in Connecticut. He was conveyed to East Windsor, and quartered in the house of Captain Ebenezer Grant. In 1777 he requested liberty to visit his wife who was a few miles distant, and sick. This Washington refused, saying, "It is by no means in my power to supersede a positive Resolution of Congress under which your present confinement took place."

His wife was born in the West Indies and it is said that she was much affected by the severity of Doctor Franklin to her husband while he was a prisoner. She died in 1778 in her 49th year, and is buried in St.

Paul's Church, New York. It is inscribed upon the monumental tablet erected to her memory that "Compelled to part from the husband she loved, and at length despairing of the soothing hope of his speedy return, she sunk under acc.u.mulated distresses, etc."

In 1778, after the arrival in America of Sir Henry Clinton, an exchange was effected and Governor Franklin was released, and went to England. In West's picture of the Reception of the American Loyalists, by Great Britain in 1783, Governor Franklin and Sir William Pepperell are the prominent personages represented. (See page 214.)

In 1784, the father and son, after an estrangement of ten years, became reconciled to one another, for Doctor Franklin writes, "It will be very agreeable to me, indeed nothing has ever hurt me so much, and affected me with such keen sensation, as to find myself deserted in my old age by my only son, and not only deserted, but to find him taking up arms against me in a cause wherein my good fame, fortune and life were all at stake. You conceived, you say, that your duty to your king and regard for your country required this. I ought not to blame you for differing in sentiment with me in public affairs. We are all men, subject to errors, etc." In his will, dated June 23, 1789, a few months before his decease, he showed his shrewdness and craftiness for which he was always noted, in leaving his Nova Scotia lands to his son, the t.i.tle to which was doubtful on account of the part he took in the Revolution. He says "I give and devise all the lands I hold or have a right to in the Province of Nova Scotia, to hold to him, his heirs and a.s.signs forever.

I also give to him all my books and papers which he has in his possession, and all debts standing against him on my account-books, willing that no payment for, nor rest.i.tution of the same be required of him by my executors. The part he acted against me in the late war, which is of public notoriety, will account for my leaving him no more of an estate he endeavored to deprive me of."

Governor Franklin continued in England during the remainder of his life.

He received a pension from the British Government of 800 per annum. His personal estate valued at 1800, which was confiscated, the government allowed him full compensation for. He had several shares in back lands and grants and real estate in New York and New Jersey, all of which he conveyed to his father, as he was indebted to him. He died in Nov., 1813. His son, William Temple Franklin, was Secretary to Dr. Franklin, and edited his works. He died at Paris in May, 1823.

ROYAL COAT OF ARMS.

The Royal Coat of Arms embossed on the outside cover of this work is an exact reproduction of the Coat of Arms that was formerly above the Governor's seat in the Council Chamber in the Old State House in Boston.

It was made from a photograph taken from the original in Trinity Church, St. John, N. B., for a fuller description of same, see p. 436. The seal embossed on the outside back cover, is a reproduction of the seal of "The Colony of the Ma.s.sachusetts Bay in New England" from which the present seal of the State of Ma.s.sachusetts is derived. It was the seal that was used on all official doc.u.ments down to the time of the Revolution.

PELHAM'S MAP OF BOSTON.

This plan was made by Henry Pelham, the half brother of Copley the painter. It was made under permission of J. Urquhart, Town Major, August 28, 1775. It shows the lines about the Town and the Harbor, and is the most important of the early maps of Boston and the one upon which all subsequent revolutionary maps are based. It was printed in two sheets published in London, June 2, 1777, done in aquatinta by Francis Jukes.

This copy is reproduced from the original in the Ma.s.sachusetts Historical Society's Library and is drawn on a photographic print from which this engraving is made.

JUDGE CHAMBERLAIN'S OPINION OF COL. THOS. GOLDTHWAITE.

Col. Goldthwaite was a man of ability, unbounded enterprise, and considerable influence. Chamberlain in his History of Chelsea says of him: "Some very unfavorable accounts of Col. Goldthwaite have been published, which I do not feel at liberty to withhold, but in referring to them suggest, first, that they were mainly written after he had become obnoxious as a loyalist; secondly: that his position on the Pen.o.bscot was one in which it would have been impossible to protect the just rights of the Indians against turbulent frontiersmen outside any efficient government without incurring their hostility, since their only sense of justice was their desire for exclusive possessions of lands which rightfully belonged to the original occupants."

GOV. JOHN WINTHROP--See Page 426.

John Winthrop, born Jan. 12, 1587, died at Boston March 26, 1649, by his first wife Mary Forth, had

John, born Sept. 12, 1606 Henry, born Jan. 19, 1608 Forth, born Dec. 30, 1609 Mary, born probably 1612 Ann, baptised Aug. 8, 1614 and died soon after Ann (again) baptised June 26, 1615

By his second wife, Thomasine Clopton, had a child who died at the same time as its mother.

By his third wife, Margaret Tyndal, he had