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7 
 
 REMARKS 
 
 ON AN AGREEMENT AMONG CERTAIN MEMBERS OF 
 THE GENERAL ^URT IN 1786, RELATING TO THE 
 IMPORTATION OF FOREIGN GOODS, AND ALSO 
 ON FOUR VIEWS IN BOSTON MADE DURING THE 
 REVOLUTION. 
 
 At a meeting of the Massachusetts Historical 
 Society, held in Boston, on Thursday, February 8, 
 1894, Dr. Samuel A. Geeen spoke as follows : — 
 
 Among the recently discovered Bowdoin Papers, mentioned 
 by Mr. Robert C. Winthrop, Jr., at a meeting of this Society 
 more than a year ago, is the following Agreement signed by 
 members of the General Court. It is in the handwriting of 
 the Honorable James Bowdoin, Jr., whose father was then 
 Governor of the Commonwealth, and who himself was after- 
 ward Minister to Spain. The Agreement was drawn up dur- 
 ing the session of 1786, as in that year all the signers were 
 members of the Legislature; and Artemas Ward, whose name 
 heads the list, was then Speaker of the House. On Novem- 
 ber 17, 1786, a Report of a Joint Special Committee was 
 adopted, which deals in part with subjects contained in this 
 paper. See also " The Massachusetts Centinel " (Boston), No- 
 vember 29, 1786, for other facts. The document is of special 
 interest at the present time, when some of the topics embodied 
 in it are attracting so much attention throughout the country. 
 
 VVhereas the ICxcessive use of Articles of foreign growth and manu- 
 facture, has been attended with the most pernicious consequences ; — by 
 depriving us of our circulating Msedium, and by diffusing a Taste for 
 
foreign Frippery, Dress cV; Extnivagance. And Whereas it is of the 
 utmost Importance, to encourage Industry', Frugality and our own 
 Maimfacturcs ; — to recover a circulating Mredium, to restore public 
 Credit, and to facilitate the Payment of public and private Debts ; aud 
 thereby to promote the Welfare & Happiness of our Country : With 
 a View to these, and other salutary Purposes : We, the Subscribers, 
 do hereby enter into a solemn Agreement and Association, to refrain 
 from, & as far as in our power to prevent, the excessive use aud Con- 
 sumption of Articles of foreign Manufacture, especially Articles of 
 Luxury & Extravagance. And We do hereby engage to use our 
 utmost Influence to promote Associations for the abovementioned Pur- 
 poses in the several Towns we represent. 
 
 Artemas ^^'ard 
 Caleb Davis 
 Aaron Whitney 
 W- Shepaid 
 Sam* 'I'hompson 
 David Sniead 
 Walter M'' Fa Hand 
 Sam' Fisk 
 Joshua Holt 
 Save! Metcalf 
 Asahel Wheeler 
 Robert H.uniltou 
 Jon" Hale 
 Eben' W;ishburn 
 Samuel I\Ioody 
 Jonathan Ward 
 Edward Barns 
 Beuj" Bates 
 Timothy Sibley 
 Isaac Tobey 
 Seth Smith Jur 
 Benjamin Sheldon 
 Azariah Ashley 
 John Choate 
 Atherton Hall 
 Ebenezer Tj'ler 
 Joseph Farnham 
 W'-^ W Cobb 
 David Nye 
 Sam A Otis 
 
 Jas Bowdoin jr 
 John Carnes. 
 Hez. Ward 
 Isaac Thomson 
 Benj. Shepanl 
 Nath! Marsh 
 James Endicott 
 Ezra Sargeant 
 Benjamin Read 
 Joseph He wins 
 John Coffin Jones 
 Joshua Thomas 
 Ebeny Thayer jun' 
 John Treadweli 
 Tho^ Dawes 
 Nicholas Baylies 
 Benj^ Brown 
 Tho. Clarke 
 Joseph Curtis 
 
 John Stinton 
 Zacheus Beal 
 
 Stephen Maynard 
 
 Israel Vinal Ju."^ 
 
 Leonard Williams 
 
 Jon" Brown 
 
 Saml Ilarnden 
 
 J. Brooks. 
 
 Noah M Littlefield 
 
 John Williams 
 
 Leo : Jarvis 
 
 58 
 
 
Dr. Green continued : — 
 
 More than a year ago I was authorized by our Vice-Presi- 
 dent, Mr. Charles Francis Adams, to buy a set of rare German 
 prints, whenever or wherever I could find one, which repre- 
 sent views in the town of Boston during the Revolutionary 
 period. Within a few weeks, at a sale in New York, I have 
 succeeded in procuring these engravings, which now in Mr. 
 Adams's name are given to the Society. They are four in 
 number, 12 inches by 15| in size, and are rather interesting, 
 — on the lucus a non lucendo principle, — inasmuch as they 
 probably represent nothing that ever existed in this city. 
 Apparently the original sketches were drawn by an artist 
 who received a verbal description of the places from sdme 
 person who may have I)een here. The prints were engraved 
 by Francois Xavier Habermann, a native of Glatz in Silesia, 
 where he was born in 1721, but wlio for many years lived 
 in Augsburg, wliere he was a well known engraver and 
 publisher, until his death in 1796. The legend underneath 
 each one is given both in German and French, and in the left- 
 hand upper corner is the inscription, "Collection des Pro- 
 spects.'" The set now given to the Society is colored, and 
 belongs to a series of Views, made on copper; though a set 
 in the possession of the Boston Public Library is not colored. 
 Perhaps the pictures appeared originally in a volume and also 
 as separate prints. I have seen four similar engravings of 
 Views in New York, several of Views in Philadelphia, and 
 four of Views in Quebec, all made by the same engraver, and 
 also published in Augsburg. Our associate, Mr. William H. 
 Whitmore, tells me that he has seen one of the Views of 
 Quebec, just alluded to, which was identical with one of the 
 Boston pictures, though I have never had an opportunity m}'- 
 self to compare the two side by side. 
 
 While there is no date whatever on the copies now given, 
 there is a slight clew on some of the others as to the time 
 when they were made. The Views in New York represent 
 the Destruction of the Royal Statue, which took place on 
 July 10, 1776 ; the Triumphal Entry of the Royal Troops, and 
 the Disembarkment of the English Troops, both occurring on 
 September 15 of that year; and the Fire in New York on the 
 
night of SeiJteniber lil, 1T7G. These dates show that the New 
 York views were made [jiobabl3^ not earlier than 1777, and 
 perhaps not uniil 1778. Doubtless all the American views 
 were engraved during the same period, and at a time when 
 Boston, New York, and Philadelpliia, on account of the Revo- 
 lution, were attracting considerable attention in Europe, and 
 the excitement from military or political events in Am.erica 
 was fresh in the public mind. 
 
 The Views are unnumbered, though in the following de- 
 scription I shall speak of them by numbers, at the same time 
 giving a free translation of the legends, and referring to the 
 streets by their modern names. 
 
 No. I. has the legend, '' View of the Great Street toward the 
 Old South Presbyterian Church in Boston." The plate gives 
 a view in Washington Street looking north from the Old South 
 Meeting-house. A person familiar with the spot can possibly 
 make out the head of Water Street and of State Street, with 
 the Old State House, though this is somewhat doubtful. The 
 picture furnishes a t3'pical German scene, and shows a few 
 soldiers in the street marching by the side of a mounted gun. 
 
 No. II. has the legend, "View of King Street toward the 
 Gate leading to the Country." Soldiers and citizens are seen 
 in the foreground. 
 
 No. III. "■ View of Boston toward the Harbor," — a scene 
 purely imaginary, though perhaps an attempt was made to rep- 
 resent the North Battery and the North Church, as given in 
 the neighborhood. 
 
 No. IV. '' View of the Street and the Town House," — 
 perhaps a representation of a part of Washington Street, look- 
 ing toward the Old South. Men and women, including two 
 Indians, appear in the foreground. 
 
 Tiiese four engravings are so very inaccurate that I am by 
 no means sure I have fully identified the various places. 
 
iT"