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Dorchester in 1630, 1776, and 1855. 
 
 ORATION 
 
 DELIVERED ON THE FOURTH OF JULY, 1855, 
 
 EDWAKD EVERETT. 
 
 A]^ ACCOUNT OF THE PEOCEEDINGS 
 
 IN DORCHESTER 
 
 AT THE CELEBRATION OF THE DAY. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY DAVID CLAPP. 
 EBENEZER CLAPP, Jr 184 WASHINGTON ST. 
 
 1855. 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congi-ess, in the yeai' ISoo, by 
 
 David Clapp, 
 
 lu the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Distr-ict of Massachusetts. 
 
 /^"f^' 
 
Dorchester, July 13, 185.5. 
 Hon. EDWARD EVERETT,— 
 
 My Dear Sir: 
 
 I have the honor herewith to ti-ansmit a Ilcsolution of the 
 Excciitive Committee for the late celebration in Dorchester, which passed 
 that body with perfect unanimity. 
 
 Permit me also to exi^-ess the sense of gratitude which the Committee, in 
 common with theii- feUow citizens, feel for the most acceptable service 
 performed by you on that occasion, and to hope that it may suit your con- 
 venience to place early in oiu- hands, a copy of yoiu- very Iciu-ned and 
 eloquent Oration for publication. 
 
 With profound respect, yom- obd't servant, 
 
 MARSHALL P. WILDER. 
 
 Dorchester, July 9, 1855. 
 
 At a meeting of the Executive Committee for the Celebration of the Settle- 
 ment of Dorchester and the Seventy-ninth Anniversaiy of the Lidependencc 
 of the United States, it was — 
 
 Besoked, That the thanks of the Committee be tendered to the Hon. 
 Edward Everett for his eloquent, instinctive, and triily pati'iotic Adckess 
 delivered ixpon that occasion, and that a copy of it be requested for publica- 
 tion. 
 
 Marshall P. Wilder, Lewis Pierce, 
 
 E. P. Tileston, Nathan Carruth, 
 
 Daniel Denny, E. J. Bispham, 
 
 William D. Swan, Jno. H. Eobinson, 
 
 Nahum Capen, Charles Hunt, 
 
 Enoch Train, Edward King. 
 Oliver Hall, 
 
 Bosto)/, 15 July, 1855. 
 My Dear Sir, — 
 
 I have received yotu* letter of the 1 3th, with the resolution of the 
 Executive 'Committee for the late Celebration in Dorchester, requesting a 
 copy of my Oration delivered on the 4th instant. 
 
 I am much indebted to the Committee for their favorable estimate of my 
 Addi-ess, and cheerfully place it at their disposal. 
 
 Be pleased to accept my acknowledgments for the kind terms with 
 which you have conveyed the request of the Committee, and believe me, 
 dear Sir, with great regai'd, 
 
 Very ti'uly yours, 
 
 EDWARD EVERETT. 
 Hon. Marshall P. Wilder. 
 
Y 
 
 i 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 To THE Inhabitants of both Sexes of my Native 
 Town this Oration is, with warm Gratitude for the 
 sympathizing attention with which it was heard by 
 
 THEM, 
 
 Eespectfully and affectionately 
 Dedicated, by 
 
 EDWAED EVERETT. 
 
( 
 
 I 
 
INTrtODUCTOEY NOTE 
 
 The following. Oration is printed from the manuscript as 
 originally prepared (of which about a third part was omitted in 
 speaking in consequence of its length), with the addition as far 
 as recollected of what suggested itself in the delivery. 
 
 Besides the original authorities cited in their appropriate places, 
 I would make a general acknowledgment of my obligations to the 
 " Chronological and Topographical Account of Dorchester," by 
 Rev. Dr. Harris, in the ninth volume of the first series of the Col- 
 lections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and to the three 
 numbers of the " History of Dorchester," now in course of publi- 
 cation by a committee of the Antiquarian and Historical Society 
 of that town. Other interesting materials, of which my limits did 
 not permit me to make much use, were placed in my hands 
 by Dr. T. W". Harris, partly from the manuscripts of his 
 venerable father ; by Mr. Nahum Capen on the connection of 
 Roger Sherman with Dorchester ; by Mr. Ebenezer Clapp, jr. on 
 the subject of the Midway Church ; and by Mr, Daniel Denny, 
 from a memorandum of the late Mr. J. Smith Boies, on the occu- 
 pation of Dorchester Heights, If those acquainted with the history 
 of our ancient town should be disappointed at finding some matters 
 of interest wholly passed over, and others lightly treated, they 
 will be pleased to reflect upon the difficulty of doing justice to all 
 parts of a subject so comprehensive, within the limits of a popular 
 address. 
 
 In the narrative of the occupation of Dorchester Heights, I have 
 followed the safe guidance of the " History of the Siege of Bos- 
 ton," by Mr. R. Frothingham, jr. 
 
VIM INTRODUCTORY XOTE. 
 
 It may be thought ungracious, at the present day, to dwell with 
 emphasis on the oppressive measures of the Colonial Government, 
 which caused the American Revolution, and on the military inci- 
 dents of the contest. I believe, however, that no greater service 
 could be rendered to humanity than to present the essential abuses 
 and inevitable results of colonial rule in such a light to the Gov- 
 ernments of Western Europe, and especially to the English Gov- 
 ernment as that most concerned, as will lead to the systematic 
 adoption of the course suggested on page 77 of this discourse ; — 
 that is, the amicable concession to colonies, mature for self-govern- 
 ment, of tliat independence which Avill otherwise be extorted by 
 mutually exhausting wars. 
 
 Among the novel lessons of higher politics taught in our con- 
 stitutional history, as yet but little reflected on at home, and well 
 worth tlie profound study of statesmen in the constitutional gov- 
 ernments of Europe, is the peaceful separation from parent States 
 of territories as large as many a European kingdom ; an event of 
 which five or six instances have occurred since the formation of 
 the Federal Union, under whose auspices these separations have 
 taken place. 
 
 Boston, July, 1855. 
 
ORATION 
 
 Among the numerous calls to address public meet- 
 ings with which I have been honored during my 
 life, I have never received one with greater pleasure, 
 than that which brings me before you tliis day. 
 Drawn up with unusual precision and care by a 
 skilful pen, subscribed by more than one hundred 
 and fifty of your leading citizens, and placed in my 
 hands by a most respected committee of their num- 
 ber, it apprizes me that " the citizens of Dorchester, 
 without distinction of ]3arty, actuated by motives of 
 public good, and believing in the salutary teaching 
 of national events, when contemplated with an in- 
 quiring spirit and an enlightened judgment, are 
 desirous of celebrating the 4th of July, 1854, in a 
 manner that shall prove creditable to that ancient 
 town, instructive to the young, renovating to the 
 aged, and morally profitable to the nation," and it 
 invites me, as a native citizen of the town, to join 
 you in carrying this purpose into efiect. 
 
 You are well acquainted. Fellow-citizens, with the 
 circumstances that prevented my appearing before 
 you last year, in pursuance of this invitation. I 
 might still, without impropriety, ofifer you a sufficient 
 
excuse, in the state of my health, for shrinking from 
 the effort of addressing an audience like this ; and I 
 feel deeply my inability, under any circumstances, to 
 fulfil the conditions of your invitation as I have just 
 repeated them. But I confess I have not been able 
 to forego this first opportunity, the last, also, no 
 doubt, I shall ever enjoy, of publicly addressing the 
 citizens of Dorchester ; — the place of my birth, of 
 my early education, and of all the kindly associations 
 of my childhood. I have felt an irresistible attrac- 
 tion to the spot. I behold arotind me the originals 
 of the earliest impressions upon my mind, which 
 neither time nor the cares of a crowded life have 
 effaced. Some fifty-six or seven years have passed 
 since, as a school-boy, I climbed, — summer and win- 
 ter, — what then seemed to me the steep acclivity of 
 Meeting-house hill. The old School-house (it was 
 then the new School-house, but I recollect that which 
 preceded it) has disappeared. The ancient Church 
 in which I was baptized, is no longer standmg. The 
 venerable pastor,* whose affectionate smile still lives 
 in the memory of so many who listen to me, has 
 ceased from his labors. The entire generation to 
 whom I looked up as to aged or even grown men, 
 are departed ; but the images of all that has passed 
 away have been cast and abide, with more than pho- 
 tograjihic truth, upon the inmost chambers of my 
 memory. Some of us, my friends, companions of 
 school-boy days, remain to cherish the thought of 
 the past, to meditate on the lapse of years and the 
 
 * Eev. Dr Harris. 
 
events they have hrought forth, and to rejoice m the 
 gro^\ th and improvement of our native town. ^Yo 
 have pursued different paths in life ; Providence has 
 sent us into various iiekis of duty and usefuhiess, of 
 action and suffering : but I am sure there is not one 
 of us who has wandered or who has remained, that 
 does not still feel a dutiful interest in the place of 
 his birtli ; and who does not experience something 
 more than usual sensibility on an occasion like this. 
 In those things, which in a rapidly improvmg 
 connnmiity are subject to change, there are few 
 23laces, within my knowledge, wdiich within fifty 
 years have undergone greater changes than Dorches- 
 ter. The population in LSOO was 2347; in 1850 it 
 was a little short of 8000. What was then called 
 " the Neck," the most secluded portion of the old 
 town, although the part which led to its being first 
 pitched upon as a place of settlement, was in ISO-i 
 annexed to Boston ; and being united wdth the city 
 bv two bridges, has loni>- since exchano-ed the re- 
 tirement of a village for the life and movement of 
 the metropolis. The pick-axe is makmg sad ravages 
 upon one of the venerable heights of Dorchester; 
 the entrenchments of the other, no longer masking 
 the deadly enginery of war, are filled with the re- 
 freshing waters of Cochituate lake. New roads have 
 been opened in every part of our ancient town, and 
 two railways traverse it from north to south. The 
 ancient houses built before the revolution have not 
 all disappeared, but they are almost lost in the mul- 
 titude of modern dwellings. A half century ago 
 there was but one church in the town, that which 
 
stood on yonder hill, and the school-house which 
 then stood hy its side was, till 1802, the only one 
 dignified by the name of a Town School. You have 
 now ten churches and seven school-houses of the first 
 elass ; — and all the establishments of an eminently 
 prosperous town, situated in the vicinity of a great 
 commercial metropolis, have multiplied in equal pro- 
 portion. 
 
 But all is not changed. The great natural fea- 
 tures of the scene, and no where are they more 
 attractive, are of course unaltered: — the same fine 
 sweep of the shore with its projecting headlands, — 
 the same extensive plain at the North part of the 
 toAvn, — the same gentle imdulations and gradual 
 ascent to the South, — the same beautiful elevations. 
 I caught a few days ago, from the top of Jones's hill, 
 the same noble prospect (and I know not a finer on 
 the coast of Massachusetts), which used to attract 
 my bojish gaze more than fifty years ago. Old hill, 
 as we called it then (it has lost that venerable name 
 in the progress of refinement, though it has become 
 half a century older), notwithstanding the tasteful 
 villas which adorn its base, exliibits substantially the 
 same nati^^e grouping of cedars and the same mag- 
 nificent rocks, and commands the same fine view of 
 the harbor, which it did before a single house was 
 built within its precmcts. Venerable trees that 
 seemed big to me in my boyhood, — I have been look- 
 ing at some of them this morning, — seem but little 
 bigger now, though I trace the storms of fifty win- 
 ters on some well-recollected branches. The aaed 
 sycamores which shaded the roof, beneath which I 
 
9 
 
 was born, still shade it ; and tlie ancient bnrial 
 gTonud hard by, with which there are few of us who 
 have not some tender associations, upon whose early 
 graves may yet be seen the massy unhewn stones 
 placed there by the first settlers for protection against 
 the wolves, still attracts the antiquary with its quaint 
 and learned inscriptions, and preserves the memory 
 not merely of " the rude forefathers of the hamlet," 
 but of some of the most honored names in the his- 
 tory of Massachusetts. 
 
 But I ought to apologize, my friends, for dwelling 
 on tojiics so deeply tinged with personal recollection. 
 The occasion on which we are met invites all our 
 thoughts to public themes. It is two hundred and 
 twenty-five years since the commencement of the 
 settlement of our ancient town, — the first foothold 
 of the pioneers of Governor Winthrop's expedition. 
 It is the seventy-ninth anniversary of the Declaration 
 of the Independence of the United States. Our 
 minds naturally go back to the foundations of the 
 ancient Commonwealth of which we are citizens, 
 laid as they were within our limits. We dwell with 
 pleasure and pride on the growth of our native town 
 under the vicissitudes of colonial fortune, from its 
 feeble beginnings to the dimensions of a large and 
 flourishing municipality ; and we meditate with just 
 interest upon those eventful scenes at the commence- 
 ment of the llevolutionary War of which our heights 
 w^ere the theatre, and which exerted an undoubted 
 influence upon the Continental Congress at Phila- 
 delphia in hastening the Great Declaration. 
 
 Thus the appropriate topics of the day correspond 
 
10 
 
 ^vitli the three great divisions, which make up the 
 whole system of political philosophy. We ha^•e, 
 first, The foundation of a State, — the measures and 
 agencies bv which, under Providence, a new people 
 is called into the family of nations ; — manifestly the 
 most important event, humanly speaking, that can 
 occur in the history of our race. Second, We have 
 the mstitutions and events which make up the poli- 
 tical life of a community; — the organization and 
 action, by which the divinely appointed ordinance of 
 civil government is administered, so as best to pro- 
 mote the welfare and progress of a people. Iliird, 
 We have one of those great mo^•ements called Revo- 
 lutions, by which a people for urgent causes introduces 
 organic changes in the frame-work of its govern- 
 ment, and materially renovates or wholly reconstructs 
 the fabric of its political relations. 
 
 In reference to each of these three great branches 
 of political science, the history of our ancient town 
 and the occasion which calls us together furnish us 
 with the most striking illustrations and instructive 
 lessons. The foundation of a new State, in a quar- 
 ter of the globe before unknown, is an event without 
 a parallel in the domain of authentic history. The 
 time and the manner in which the earliest predeces- 
 sors of the present inhabitants of Europe became 
 established there, are but imperfectly known ; while 
 the first settlement of Asia and Africa, after the 
 original dispersion of mankind, is lost in those un- 
 fathomable depths of antiquity, which the deep sea- 
 Ihie of research has ncAcr sounded. It is only after 
 comparing the authentic pages of our early history 
 
11 
 
 with the clouds of insipid fable that hang over the 
 origin of Athens, and Home, and Great Britain, — 
 fables which neither Plutarch, nor Livy, nor Milton 
 has been able to raise into dignity and interest, — that 
 we perceive the real grandeur of the work of which 
 the foundations were laid two centuries and a quarter 
 ago on Dorchester plain. 
 
 So with respect to the second branch of political 
 philosophy, the organization and administration of 
 States, I am disposed to affirm that there are secrets 
 of practical wisdom and prudence, — elements of 
 growth and prosperity, — in our municipal system, 
 which deserve to be thoughtfully explored. Our 
 towns of course are but units in the great sum which 
 makes up the State. They possess none of the higher 
 powers of government. Not by their hands is wield- 
 ed the mace of legislation, or the scales of justice, 
 the purse or the sword of the Commonwealth. But 
 whenever the prosperity of New England and the 
 younger States modelled on its type is traced to its 
 ultimate causes, it will be found to a good degree in 
 this municipal system. In the pages of these ancient 
 volumes, — these old town records ^^■hich have in 
 few cases been better preserved than in Dorchester, — • 
 there will be found lessons of experience, of blessed 
 common sense shaping itself to the exigency of un- 
 common times, of patient submission to present evils 
 in the hope of a brighter day, of fortitude and cour- 
 dge m an humble sphere, of provident care for the 
 rising generation and posterity, of unwearied dili- 
 gence for the promotion of religion, morals, and 
 
12 
 
 education, which in their joint effect have done much 
 toward gi^•iug us this goodly heritage. 
 
 Lastly, of those great movements by which organic 
 chan<:>es are wrought in established governments and 
 a new order m the political world brought m, it 
 must be admitted that the event which we comme- 
 morate to-day, in the character of the parties, — an 
 infant confederacy of republics just startmg out of a 
 state of colonial pupihige on the one hand, and one 
 of the oldest monarchies in Europe on the other ; 
 the long and silent preparation and the gradual 
 approach ; the soundness of the principles w^hich 
 impelled the movement, acknowledged as it was by 
 the most illustrious statesmen of the mother country ; 
 the purity and pristine simplicity of manners that 
 characterized the revolutionary leaders ; the almost 
 total absence of those violent and sanguinary inci- 
 dents that usually mark the progress of civil war ; 
 and the gradual development, out of the chaos of the 
 struggle, of well-balanced systems of republican gov- 
 ernment and federal union ; — in all these respects, it 
 must be allowed, that there is a solitary dignity and 
 elevation in our American Revolution. They make it 
 perhaps the only instance in history of the severance 
 of a mighty empire, equally to the advantage of the 
 new state and the parent country ; the single case 
 of a rismg republic not built upon the calamitous 
 ruins of earlier organizations. 
 
 You will rcadUy perceive, my friends, that the 
 thorough treatment of this subject in all its parts 
 would occupy much more time than can be reasona- 
 bly devoted to a public address ; and that in attempt- 
 
 I 
 
13 
 
 ing to embrace them all in the remarks I venture to 
 offer you, I must wholly omit some important topics 
 and pass lightly over others. 
 
 It is impossible fully to comprehend the import- 
 ance of the ^i'ork which was accomplished in the 
 colonization of America, without regarding it as a 
 part of the great plan of Providence, in disposing 
 the time and circumstances of the discovery of our 
 continent ; — hidden as it was till the end of the fif- 
 teenth century from the rest of the world. This 
 thought was brought so forcibly to my mind a few 
 years since by a circumstance personal to myself, that 
 I think you will j^ardon me for alluding to it, though 
 in itself of a trifling domestic character. In the 
 year 1841, I occupied with my family the Villa Ca- 
 reggi, near Florence, once, as its name im|)orts ( Casa 
 regia), a princely residence, belonging to the Grand 
 Duke of Tuscany, but of late years private property, 
 and occasionally leased to travellers.* Half fortress, 
 half palace, it was built by Cosmo cle' Mechci in 1444, 
 nine years before the capture of Constantinople by 
 the Ottomans in 1453. By that aj^palling event, a 
 barbarous race (which had issued from the depths of 
 Asia some centuries before, and had engrafted the 
 Mahometan imposture on the primitive stock of Tar- 
 tarian paganism) had stormed the last stronghold of 
 
 * Roscoe's Lorenzo de' Medici, p. 292. This most interesting Villa re- 
 mained a part of the Grand ducal domain till 1788, when with other estates 
 it was sold by the Grand Duke Leopold from motives of economy. It has 
 lately passed into the possession of Mi-. Sloane, an English gentleman of 
 taste and fortune, by whom the gi'ounds and approaches have been greatly 
 improved, and the whole establisliment restored to something like its origi- 
 nal magnificence. 
 
 3 
 
u 
 
 the ancient civilization, the metropoUs of the Greek 
 empire, and established the religion of the Koran at 
 the heart of the old world. The relations of the 
 Tui'ks to the rest of Euroi^e are so entir-ely changed, 
 that it is now scarcely possible to conceive the terror 
 caused by this event. Had nothing occurred to 
 renovate and strengthen the civilization of the west, 
 it is not easy to imagine 's\hat might have been at 
 this day the condition of Christendom. Even as it 
 was, the Sidtan was for two centuries forward the 
 strongest military power in the world ; the scourge 
 and the terror of the Mediterranean, and the master 
 of some of the finest jH'ovinces of Eastern Europe. 
 
 But germs of revival sprung up from the ruins 
 of the old civilization. A host of learned and inge- 
 nious men, Christian scholars, fled from the edge of 
 the Turkish scimetar and took refuge in Italy. They 
 were received with hospitality there, and especially 
 by the merchant princes of Florence, The Platonic 
 Academy was established in the arcades of the Villa 
 Careggi. A great intellectual restoration took place 
 in Italy, and spread rapidly to the west of Europe, 
 where precisely at the same time the Art of Printing 
 (after slowly struggling through successive stages 
 in the cities of the Netherlands and the Rhine) burst 
 upon the world in a state approaching perfection and 
 not surpassed at the present day. The stores of 
 learning and thought accumulated by the mind of 
 antiquity were thrown ojien to the world. The 
 modern bar and Senate were not yet created, and 
 philosophy stammered in the jargon of the schools ; 
 but Cicero, and Demosthenes, and Plato, stepped 
 
15 
 
 forth from the dusty alcoves of monkish libraries, 
 and again spoke to living, acting men. The pulpit 
 of the golden-lipped St. Chrysostom was hushed, but 
 Moses and the prophets, the Evangelists and the 
 Apostles rose, if I may venture to say so, as from the 
 dead. The glorious invention was inaugurated in a 
 manner worthy of itself. Two years only after the 
 Koran began to be read at Constantinople (just four 
 centuries ago this year), the Bible went forth on the 
 wings of the press to the four quarters of the world.* 
 Mahomet the second had struck dov/n the last Christ- 
 ian emperor ; but Fust, and Schoeffer, and Gutten- 
 berg, the Strasburg printers, aimed a deadlier blow 
 at Mahomet the first, his code of barbarism, and all 
 the hosts of political and spiritual darkness through- 
 out the world. The walls of Byzantium, spouting 
 torrents of unquenchable ilame, had crumbled ; but 
 the mind of the world rallied to the new combat 
 under the living artillery of the press, and came off 
 victorious. A conflict more important to humanity, 
 was never waged on earth. And from that day to 
 this, the civilized world of Europe and America is 
 indebted for that superiority which no second night 
 of ignorance can darken, no new incursion of van- 
 
 * My much valued friend, Mr. George Livermore of Cambridge, possesses 
 a leaf on vellum, from an imperfect copy of the Mazarin Bible, the fii'st 
 book ever printed, and which, though withovit date, is known to have been 
 completed in 1455, and a copy of the New Testament from the Bible of 1462, 
 the fii'st Bible printed with a date. " A metrical exhortation," says Mr. 
 Hallam, " in the German language (o ta/ce arms against the Turks, dated in 
 1454, has been retrieved in the present centiuy. If this date \inequivocally 
 refers to the time of printing, which does not seem a necessary conse- 
 quence, it is the earliest loose sheet that is known to be extant." — Literature 
 of Europe, Part I., Chap. III., Sec. 23. 
 
16 
 
 dalism can overthrow, to an enlightened, conscien- 
 tious, independent press. 
 
 But Pro\idence had other instrumentalities in 
 store ; higher counsels. A broader field of develop- 
 ment was to be opened to renovated humanity. The 
 East of Europe and the West of Asia, by nature and 
 position the fairest region of the old w^orld, was re- 
 lapsing into barbarism, but the hour had arrived to 
 " redress the balance of empire and call into exist- 
 ence a new world in the West." At the close of the 
 century which witnessed these extraordinary events, 
 a Genoese mariner, declined from the meridian of 
 life, in pursuit of a vision which he had cherished 
 through years of enthusiasm and disappointment, 
 seeking a sovereign truth through the paths of sa- 
 gacious but erroneous theory, launched forth, the 
 living compass his pilot and the constellated hea- 
 vens his only chart, to find a western passage to 
 India, and discovered a new world. A Florentine 
 navigator, folloAving in his track, completed his dis- 
 coveries, projected them on the map, and (oh, vanity 
 of human renown), in spite of geography and his- 
 tory, in spite of orators and poets, in spite of the 
 indignant reclamations of all succeeding ages, forever 
 stamped upon the new found continent the name of 
 a man who did not first discover it, almost before the 
 ashes were cold of the man who did ! 
 
 Thus, then, we have two of the elementary con- 
 ditions of the political, moral, and religious restora- 
 tion about to be effected in the order of Providence, 
 at a moment Avhen an overshadowing cloud of Ma- 
 hometan barbarism had shot rapidly toward the 
 
17 
 
 zenith, and seemed about to settle down on the 
 Christian world. We have a general excitement in 
 the Western mind, produced by the revival of the 
 ancient learning, the art of printing, and other 
 conspiring causes Avhich I have not time to enume- 
 rate, and we have the boundless spaces of a new 
 hemisphere, opened to the commerce, the adventure, 
 and the ambition, in a word, to the quickened 
 thouo-ht and rcvivino- life of the old world. 
 
 But something further is wanting : a third condi- 
 tion is required, which should draw the two already 
 existing into efficient cooperation ; and that was the 
 impulse and the motive, the moral machinery, the 
 social inducement, the political necessity, which 
 should bring the reviving intelligence of the age 
 into fruitful action upon this vast new theatre, for the 
 joint benefit of America and Europe, and the solid 
 foundation of a higher civilization than the world 
 had yet seen. 
 
 In the Villa Careggi, which I have just named, 
 Lorenzo de' Medici, the merchant dictator of Flo- 
 rence, died, and his son Giovanni was born ; created, 
 through the influence of his fond father, an Abbot 
 at the age of seven years, a Cardinal at thirteen, and 
 raised to the papal throne at the age of thirty-eight, 
 as Pope Leo X.* This aspiring, liberal and mu- 
 
 * The Villa Careggi is still supplied with water from a very deep well in 
 the court yard, into which, according to a stiU existing but unfounded 
 tradition, the servants of Lorenzo threw his physician for having, as they 
 supposed, poisoned their master.— Roscoe follows the writers who represent 
 Leo the tenth as born in Florence ; but other writers and the local traditions 
 make Careggi his birth-place. An extraordinary list of his early prefer- 
 ments is given by Koscoe, Leo X., Vol. I., p. 12. 
 
1! 
 
 nificcnt Pontiff', who, regarded as a secular prince, 
 was, with all his faults, the most enlightened sove- 
 reign of his age, cradled in all the luxuries of worldly 
 power, nursed at the bosom of the arts, raised to the 
 throne of the then undivided church in early man- 
 hood, devoted his short but brilliant reign to two 
 main objects, viz. : — the expulsion of the Turks 
 from Europe, and the completion of the Church of 
 St. Peter's at Home, the most splendid and costly 
 structure of human hands, and designed by him to 
 be the great Metropolitan Temple of Universal 
 Christendom. AVho can blame him, with the genius 
 and taste of Michael Angelo and Raphael at his 
 command, for the generous ambition? To defray 
 the enormous expenditure incurred by these and 
 other measures of magnificence and policy, Leo 
 resorted to the famous sale of indulgences through- 
 out the Christian world. The mind of Western and 
 Northern Europe had been warming and kindling 
 for a century and a half toward the reformation ; the 
 sale of indulgences was the torch in the hands of 
 Luther which lighted the flame. 
 
 Some of the German princes put themselves at 
 the head of this great popular revolution, which was 
 in reality the movement of the age toward civil and 
 religious liberty; but Henry YIII. of England was 
 one of its earliest opponents. I have held in my 
 hand, in the library of the Vatican, the identical 
 copy of his book against Luther, sent by Henry to 
 Pope Leo the 'J cnth, which acquired for him and 
 all his successors the cheaply earned title of " De- 
 fender of the Eaith." A few years passed by ; new 
 
19 
 
 light, kindled at no spiritnal altar, shone into his 
 mind ; Catherine of Arragon was repudiated ; Anne 
 Bolcyn was married, and the supremacy of the Pope 
 abjured by Henry VIII. 
 
 This certainly was not the Reformation, but, in 
 the hands of that Providence, which sometimes 
 shapes base means to worthy ends, it was a step 
 toward it. After the decease of the remorseless and 
 sensual monarch, the conscience of England took 
 up the work which his licentiousness and ambition 
 began. The new opinions gained credit and exten- 
 sion rapidly, but with fearful dependence on the 
 vicissitudes of the State. The service and ritual of 
 the Church of England, substantially as they exist 
 at this day, were established under Edward VI. ; but 
 his sister Mary, married to Philip II., the man wlio 
 caused his own son to be assassinated for the good 
 of his soul,* restored the old fliith and kindled the 
 fires of Smithfield. 
 
 With the accession of Elizabeth, the Church of 
 England was cautiously restored, and Protestantism 
 again became the religion of the State. But the 
 trial of prosperity was scarcely less severe than the 
 trial of adversity. Among the pious confessors of 
 the reformed faith, who had been driven into banish- 
 ment under Mary, bitter dissensions arose on the 
 continent. One portion adhered at Frankfort to the 
 ritual of the Church of England, as established by 
 Edward ; another, wdio had taken refuge at Geneva, 
 
 * This almost incredible fact seems to be supported by the authority of 
 Louis XIV., who was gi-eat grandson of Philip 11. Mad. Sevigne's Letters, 
 Vol. Y., p. 73, Edition of 1844. 
 
20 
 
 preferred the simpler forms of -worship, and the 
 more republican system of church government, 
 adopted by Calvin. On their return to England, 
 after the accession of Elizabeth, these differences 
 grew to formidable magnitude, and those inclining 
 to the simpler forms received the name of " Puri- 
 tans." The Queen leaned to the ceremonial of the 
 ancient church ; a large number of the clergy and 
 laity regarded the ecclesiastical vestments, the use 
 of the cross in baptism, and some other parts of 
 the ritual, as remnants of Popery. There was no 
 disagreement on points of doctrine ; but difference 
 of opinion and taste on these empty forms, the mere 
 husk of religion, led to bitterness of feeling, to the 
 formation of hostile sects (the constant scourge of 
 Protestantism), to the interference of legislation to 
 secure unity of worship, and when this failed, as it 
 always has and always will, except under govern- 
 ments purely despotic, to the exercise of the iron 
 arm of power to punish non-conformity. For this 
 purpose courts of high commission and the star- 
 chamber were established, tribunals abhorrent to 
 the genius of the common law of England ; and 
 penalties of fine, imprisonment and death were 
 denounced upon all whose consciences forbade them 
 to conform to the established ritual. After various 
 laws of greater or less severity passed for this end, 
 the statute of 1593 was enacted, by which perse- 
 vering non-conformists, guilty of no offence but that 
 of failing to attend the Established Church, were 
 required to abjure the realm and go into perpetual 
 banishment; — if they did not depart within the 
 
21 
 
 prescribed time or returned home from exile, the 
 penalty was death.* This atrocious statute, in its 
 final result, peopled New England. The fundatio 
 perficiens^ — the real foundations of Plymouth and 
 Massachusetts, — are to be sought not in the patent 
 of James or the charter of Charles, with their grant 
 of zones of territory from the Atlantic to the Pa- 
 cific, but in the stern text of this act of 1593. 
 
 Its thunders slumbered at the close of the reign 
 of Elizabeth, but not long after the accession of 
 James the penal laws began to be executed with 
 rigor. He had early announced that no toleration 
 was to be extended to dissent ; end in his uncouth 
 border English had threatened to "harrie" the 
 Puritans out of the land. That portion of them 
 who had formally separated from the church, and 
 were known as Brownists, were the first victims. 
 They were driven, under circumstances of great 
 cruelty, from England, as early as 1608, and after 
 sufiering for some years the harsh discipline of 
 exile in Holland, went forth, the immortal band of 
 Pilgrims, to find a new home in the wilderness. 
 The more appropriate duties of this occasion permit 
 us to pay only a passing tribute of respect to the 
 precious memory of Robinson and his little flock, 
 canonized as they are in the patriotic calendar of 
 America, and honored in a progeny which in every 
 State of the Union proudly traces its lineage to 
 Plymouth Rock. 
 
 ' * 35 Elizabeth, c. I. See Hallam's Constitutional History, Vol. I., 
 p. 213. 
 
 4 
 
22 
 
 The fathers of Massachusetts belonged to the 
 more moderate school of the Puritans. They 
 reo-arded the ecclesiastical vestments and ceremo- 
 nies with as little favor as the separatists ; but they 
 considered the church as established by law a true 
 church, and still clung to her communion. But 
 the burden lay heavy on their consciences, and at 
 length became absolutely intolerable. Shortly after 
 the accession of Charles I. they prepared to execute 
 the plan which they had for some years been medi- 
 tating, that of transporting themselves to the new 
 world ; where, as they supposed, they could, without 
 a formal separation from the Church of England, 
 adopt those simpler forms of worship and church 
 government, which their views of divine truth re- 
 quired. 
 
 The waters of Massachusetts Bay, both before 
 and after the settlement at Plymouth, had been 
 much frequented by English fishing vessels. As 
 early as 1619, Thompson's Island, within our limits, 
 is known to have been occupied by an Englishman. 
 In the year 1624, as many as fifty vessels were 
 employed on this coast,* mostly from the West of 
 England. Among the leading non-conformists in 
 that quarter, none Avas more active and respected 
 than Rev. John White, of Dorchester. He encour- 
 aged his parishioners and their friends to engage in 
 these adventures, and early connected with them 
 the idea of a gradual colonization of the coast. 
 
 * Dr. Young's Cbi-ouiclcs of Massachusetts, and the authors cited by' 
 him, page 5. 
 
'23 
 
 Like Robinson, in reference to Plymouth, John 
 White never set foot upon the soil of Massachu- 
 setts, but he was the most efficient promoter of the 
 undertaking which resulted in the settlement, not 
 merely of our ancient town, but of the colony. 
 
 In the county of Dorset, which stretches fifty 
 miles along the British Channel in the West of 
 England, upon an island formed by the divided 
 stream of " a noble river in those parts," called the 
 Frome, lies the chief tow^n of the county, the ancient 
 city of Dorchester. The Britons in all probability 
 occupied it, before the time of Julius Caesar. Dru- 
 iclical mounds still surround it. The Romans, who 
 called it Durnovaria, fortified it and built near it the 
 largest Roman Amphitheatre in England, of which 
 the circuit still remains. It was a strong-hold in 
 the time of the Saxon Kings ; the Danes stormed 
 it ; under a rapacious Norman Governor, one hun- 
 dred houses, out of one hundred and eighty contained 
 in it, were destroyed.* Every age and every race 
 has left land-marks or ruins within its bounds ; it 
 is, by the last English census, a prosperous city 
 of six or seven thousand inhabitants ; but perhaps 
 its most honored memorial in after times will be 
 that it gave origin to this its American namesake, 
 and impulse to one of the noblest enterprises of 
 transatlantic colonization. 
 
 Of this ancient Dorchester in England, John 
 White was the minister for well nigh forty years, 
 
 * Camden's Britannia, Gough's Edition, Vol. I., p. 60. The Durotrlges 
 are placed by Ptolemy in this region ; and a British -word, Dior, or Dour 
 (water), is supposed to be the root of their name. 
 
24 
 
 being rector of the ancient church of the Trinity. 
 Upon the life and character of this venerable man, 
 " the Patriarch of Dorchester," as he was styled 
 by his contemporaries ; " the father of the Massa- 
 chusetts Colony," as he has been called in this 
 country, you will ex]3ect me to dwell for a moment.* 
 He was a Puritan in principle and feeling, but not 
 deeming the ceremonies of vital importance, he 
 adhered to the church. But in periods of great 
 excitement, moderation is an offence in the eyes of 
 violent men. The cavalry of Prince Rupert sacked 
 his house and carried off his library. This drove 
 him to London. He was a man of most excellently 
 tempered qualities, " grave, yet without moroseness, 
 who would willingly contribute his shot of facetious- 
 ness on any just occasion." He was an indefatigable 
 preacher, and " had an excellent faculty in the clear 
 and solid interpretation of the scriptures." His 
 executive talent was not less remarkable, and he 
 administered the secular affairs of his church so as 
 greatly to promote the temporal prosperity of the 
 city. Of two things not easily controlled he had, 
 according to Fuller, absolute command, " his own 
 passions and the purses of his parishioners, whom 
 he could wind up to what point he pleased on 
 important occasions." A generous use of his own 
 means was the secret of his command of the means 
 of others. " He had a patriarchal influence both in 
 Old and New England." I find no proof that this 
 
 * Wood's Atheuce Oxonienses : Calleucler's Sermon, in the EJiode Island 
 Historical Collections, Vol. IV., 67. 
 
 I 
 
25 
 
 influence ever ceased over the hardy young men 
 who, by his encouragement, had settled this Ameri- 
 can Dorchester ; but at home his old age was 
 embittered by factions and the " new opinions 
 which crept into his flock." A generation arose 
 which slighted the crown of his old age ; and of 
 this he was " sadly and silently sensible ; " sadly, as 
 was natural in a man who had reaped ingratitude 
 where he sowed benefits ; silently, as became the 
 self-respect of a proud, good conscience. lie was 
 one of the most learned and influential of that 
 famous assembly of Divines at Westminster, whose 
 catechisms, after two centuries, remain accredited 
 manuals of Christian belief to millions on millions 
 in the old world and the new. The biographer of 
 the "Worthies of England," after sketching bis 
 admirable character of our ever memorable founder, 
 expresses the hope, that Solomon's observation of 
 the poor wise man who saved the little city, " yet 
 no man remembered him," will not be verified of 
 " Dorchester in England, in relation to this their 
 deceased pastor."* He lies buried, without a stone 
 to mark the spot, in the porch of St. Peter's church ; 
 and if the good old patriarch should be forgotten in 
 the Dorchester of Old England, let it be some atone- 
 ment to his memory, that here in New England, 
 after a lapse of two centuries and a quarter, he is 
 still held in pious and grateful remembrance. 
 
 Mr. White's connection with New England pre- 
 ceded by several years the settlement of our ancient 
 
 * FuUer's Worthies of England, Vol. III., p. 24, Edit, of 18 iO. 
 
26 
 
 town. He was the chief promoter of the attempt to 
 establish a colony at Cape Ann under Conant ; and 
 after its failure there, it was his encouragement and 
 aid that caused the transfer of what remained of it 
 to Salem, w^here it became the germ of a permanent 
 settlement * It was Mr. White who brought the 
 adventurers of the West of England into connection 
 with the men of influence in London, in Lincoln- 
 shire, and the other eastern counties, and formed 
 with them the ever memorable company, which 
 under a charter from Charles I., engrafted Endecott's 
 settlement at Salem upon the languishing enterprise 
 of the single-hearted, persevering and ill-rewarded 
 Conant ; and finally fitted out that noble expedition 
 in 1630, under the great and good AVinthrop, which 
 put the finishing hand to the work, and consoli- 
 dated the foundation of Massachusetts. In all the 
 labors and counsels tending to this end, John 
 White, of Dorchester, appears to have been the 
 person of greatest activity and influence ; and when 
 all was prepared for the expedition, and the 
 " Arbella " and her chosen company were ready to 
 set sail, the " Humble Request," as it is called, 
 addressed to the churches of England, setting forth, 
 in language which can scarcely yet be read without 
 tears, the motives and feelings which influenced the 
 pious adventurers, is ascribed to his pen.f 
 
 * Tlie history of the establishment at Cape Ann, illustrated with a fac 
 simiU of the recently recovered patent luider -which it was made, is given 
 with great learning and ingenuity by John Wingate Tliornton, Esq., in his 
 late ijublication on this subject. 
 
 t The authorship of this paper rests upon the authoritj' of Hubbard, who 
 speaks of it as a thing " commonly said." This must be considered good 
 
27 
 
 With us, fellow citizens of Dorchester, his con- 
 nection is still more intimate. There was a laree 
 body of " West Country," or " Dorchester men," in 
 Gov, Winthrop's expedition, who were many of 
 them of Mr. White's church, and all were enlisted, 
 so to say, under his auspices and encouragement; 
 and they were the first in the field. Early in March, 
 1630, they were ready to depart, and a large vessel 
 was chartered at Plymouth, for their separate con- 
 veyance. The faithful pastor, guide at once in 
 things divine and human — which in that age of trial 
 ran strangely together, as in what age do they not I — 
 went with them to their port of embarkation ; met 
 with them in the New Hospital at Plymouth, where 
 they gathered themselves into a church under the 
 ministers of his selection; held with them a solemn 
 fast of preparation, and preached to them the last 
 sermon they were to hear from his lips : — 
 
 prompt at every call, 
 
 He watched and wept, he prayed and felt for" all. 
 
 And so on the 20th March, 1630, the Dorchester 
 emigrants embarked in the Mary and John, Capt. 
 Squeb master, a vessel of 400 tons. They had a 
 prosperous voyage of seventy days, and arrived at 
 Nantasket on the 30tli of May, about ten days in ad- 
 vance of the "Arbella," and the vessels which accom- 
 panied her. The Dorchester company contained 
 
 evidence that such was the tradition in his time. Dr. Young thinks it more 
 likely that the "Humble Request" was wi-itten by Winthrop or Johnson 
 (Chronicles of Mass., p. 299) ; but as its chief object was to define the 
 relation of the adventui-ers to the Established Church, it appeai-s to me more 
 likely to have been written by a clergjTaan. Prince adopts Hubbard's ti-a- 
 dition (Clu-onology, p. 275). 
 
28 
 
 several persons of consideration and substance, a 
 numerous party of emigrants with their wives and 
 children, and a frugal store of worldly goods. They 
 were attended by their pastors Messrs. Maverick and 
 Warham, — by whom, says Roger Clap, in his nar- 
 rative ;f the voyage, " we had preaching or ex- 
 pounu. .g of the word of God every day for ten 
 weeks together." 
 
 Capt. Squeb was under engagement to convey the 
 company to Charles River, but by a latitude of in- 
 terpretation not peculiar to him, and not perhaps 
 strange at a time when the localities were so little 
 understood, he insisted, greatly to their discontent, 
 on landing them and their cattle at Nantasket. 
 This spot furnished no room nor other facilities for 
 the proposed new settlement, besides being already 
 occupied by " Old Planters " as they were called 
 ("old" on the coast of Massachusetts in 1630!); 
 that is, individuals who had separated themselves 
 from the other independent settlements such as those 
 of Plymouth, Cape Ann, Weymouth, or Salem, or had 
 found their way in the fishing vessels to these coasts. 
 From one of these old planters, a boat was borrowed 
 by the newly arrived company, and a party of ten, 
 headed by brave Capt. Southcoat, who had served in 
 the low countries, was sent up to explore Charles 
 River in search of a place for a settlement. Roger 
 Clap was one of this party ; — they went up the river 
 as far as Watertown, passed a day or two on a spot 
 near the present arsenal, and still called " Dorchester 
 fields," and held friendly communications with the 
 Indians of that place, which afterwards became the 
 
29 
 
 ■first field of the apostolic labors of Eliot, who, when 
 he was in the flesh, sat in the chair in which you, 
 Sir (Gov. Gardner), now sit. The main body mean- 
 time had explored the coast nearer Nantasket, and 
 having found " a neck of land fit to keep their cattle 
 on," called Mattapan, had established themselves 
 there.* This, after some hesitation, was adopted as 
 the permanent seat of the settlement. 
 
 This "neck of land" was the present South Bos- 
 ton, which within my recollection was still called 
 Dorchester neck. The curving bay, which sweeps 
 round between the neck and Savin hill, still bears 
 on our maps the name of " Old Harbor," and the 
 rising grounds to the South were the site of the 
 first habitations. The first humble meeting-house 
 with its thatched roof, — which caught a year or two 
 afterwards as Mr. Maverick the minister was "dry- 
 ing a little powder (which took fire by the heat of 
 the firepan "), — it being one of the first cares of the 
 puritan fathers to keep their powder dry, — -stood 
 probably at the northern end of the plain, now 
 called Pleasant street ; and close by its side, — some- 
 what to the north-east of the present ancient ceme- 
 tery, — was the first place of burial, of which no 
 traces now remain. It was at first supposed that 
 Dorchester might become the emporium of the new 
 colony. Capt. Smith, in his rude map of the coast, 
 had placed the name of " London " on the spot 
 afterwards and still called Squantum, and a fort was 
 
 * The facts relative to the organization of the Dorchester Church at Ply- 
 mouth, the voyage, and the settlement at Mattapan, are recorded in Roger 
 Clap's Memoir. 
 
 5 
 
80 
 
 built on Savin hill, and a battery on the shore, for the 
 protection of the future metropolis. It soon ap- 
 peared, however, that the water was not of sufficient 
 depth for this purpose, and Boston w^as ascertained 
 to be the spot marked out by nature as the future 
 capital of New England. On the 17th of September, 
 1630, at a meeting of the Court of Assistants at 
 Chaiiestown, which had already received that name, 
 it was " ordered that Trimountaine shall be called 
 Boston ; Mattapan Dorchester ; and the towne vpon 
 Charles Ryver Waterton." * 
 
 Such, fellow citizens, in the plainest language in 
 w^hich I can relate it, is the simple tale of the foun- 
 dation of Dorchester, which preceded by a short time 
 the settlements made by the main body of Gov. 
 Winthrop's party at the other toT\ais just named. 
 The hardships of the entke emigration were for the 
 first season severe. They were disappointed m the 
 expectation of deriving supplies from the settlers at 
 Salem ; there was dearth there. The stock of pro- 
 visions brought from England was inadequate for the 
 support of so large a comx3any, and it was too late in 
 the year to plant ; the diseases sure to be engendered 
 by want and anxiety prevailed ; the native tribes in 
 the neighborhood were an object of exaggerated 
 though natural terror ; alarms of invasion from the 
 French and Dutch penetrated to these remote cor- 
 ners of the earth ; and the hearts of some failed them 
 
 * ^Massachusetts Records, Vol. I., p. 75. I quote, of coui-se, the recently- 
 published edition of the Records, superintended and prepared with extreme 
 accuracy by Dr. Nath'l B. Shm-tlclf, and printed in a style of unsurpassed 
 beauty at the expense of the Cojumonwcalth, 
 
31 
 
 at the thoughts of their distant home, as want stared 
 them in the face. " In our begmnings," says Eoger 
 Clap, " many were in great straights for want of ])yo- 
 visions for themselves and little ones. Oh ! the 
 hunger that many suffered and saw no hope m an 
 eye of reason to be supplied, only by clams, mus- 
 cles, and fish." 
 
 With all our contemporary accounts and traditions, 
 I imagine we form very inadequate conceptions of 
 the hardships endured by the first settlers of this 
 country. Modern art, with its various astonishing 
 applications, traverses the ocean on its chariot wheels 
 of fire, and transports the traveller in ten or twelve 
 days from Europe to America. Even the sailing 
 vessels accomplish the voyage m three or four weeks. 
 The passages in the seventeenth century were more 
 frequently of two or three months' duration. The 
 INIary and John, without having met with any disas- 
 ter, was out seventy days. Modern enterprise en- 
 counters the expected navigators at sea; sends out 
 her pilot-boat, bounding like a sea-bird on the 
 waves, a hundred miles from port (who that has 
 witnessed the sight homeward bound will ever forget 
 it) ; unrols her charts, where every shoal and rock is 
 projected, and the soundmgs laid down so carefully, 
 that you may find your way in the dark, studs the 
 coast with light-houses, and receives the weather- 
 beaten ship at convenient landing places. The first 
 settlers were obliged to feel their way into unknown 
 harbors, ignorant of the depths and shallows, the 
 rocks and the currents, often finding the greatest 
 
32 
 
 discomforts and dangers of the voyage awaiting them 
 at its close* 
 
 Nor were the difficulties less after landing. The 
 " state of nature " in which they found the country, 
 " bare creation " as it is expressively called by an 
 early writer (Dummer), the goal of their wishes and 
 prayers, was a far different thing from that which 
 presents itself to the mind, when those words are 
 used by us. Few, I fear, even in this intelligent 
 audience, have formed an adequate notion of the 
 hard rough nature that confronted our fathers, two 
 centuries and a quarter ago, on these now delightful 
 spots. The " nature " which we think of consists of 
 dreamy la^svns, dotted here and there with picturesque 
 cottages, hung with festoons of prairie-rose and 
 honey-suckle ; — of shady walks, wmdmg through 
 groves carefully cleared of the thorns and brambles, 
 that weave its matted underbrush into an impene- 
 trable thicket; — of grand sea-views from the cool 
 porticoes of marine villas ; — of glimpses of babbling 
 streams as they sparkle through meadows, vocal with 
 lowing herds and bleating flocks. This we call na- 
 ture, and so it is ; but it is nature brought into 
 loving union with the skUful hand and tasteful eye 
 of man, the great " minister and interpreter of 
 nature." Great heavens ! how different the nature 
 which froAMied upon the fathers and mothers of New 
 England ; — harsh, austere, wearisome, often terrific. 
 
 * This is well illustrated in the voyage of the Eev. Richard Mather, the 
 first pastor of Dorchester after the re-organization of the church in 1636. — 
 Collections of Dorchester Anti<iuarian and Historical Society, No. III. 
 
33 
 
 On the sea-board, broad marshes cut up with deep 
 oozy creeks, and unfordable tide-water rivers, — no 
 dykes, no bridges, no roads, no works of friendly 
 communication of any kind ; — in short, no traces of 
 humanity in the kindly structures for travel, shelter, 
 neighborhood, or defence, which raise the homes of 
 man above the lairs of wild beasts. In fact, the abo- 
 riginal tribes, in this respect, hardly went as far as 
 the beavers, who in their small way were very tole- 
 rable engineers for wet meadows. 
 
 Such was the coast ; as you retreated from it, you 
 entered the terrific wilderness, which stretched from 
 ocean to ocean, the abode of the savage and the wild 
 beast, — gloomy— awful ! No civilized foot had pene- 
 trated its depths, — no surveyor's chain had measured 
 its boundaries, — no Christian eye had searched its 
 dismal shades. In the ignorance that prevailed as 
 to the real character of the new and unexplored 
 country, imagination naturally added fictitious to 
 real terrors. Unearthly cries were sometimes heard 
 in the crackling w oods ; glimpses were caught, at 
 dusk, of anmials, for which natural history had no 
 names ; and strange foot-marks which men did not 
 like to speak of, were occasionally seen in the snow. 
 Even amidst the multiplying settlements, the hill- 
 sides were alive with rattle-snakes, a iTptile unknown 
 and much dreaded in Europe; and the ravening 
 bear and wolf were heard by night around the 
 farm-yard. Humanity lost the kindly links of intel- 
 ligible language ; and was seen only under the 
 aspect of a strange race, whose numbers and strength 
 were unknown, and whose disposition toward the 
 
34 
 
 new comers remained to be learned from expe- 
 rience. 
 
 But these hardships and terrors yielded to the 
 courage and perseverance of our fathers, and the all- 
 subduing power of time. Dorchester, with the usual 
 vicissitudes of a new country, prospered. As it was 
 by a slight priority the jfirst to^\Ti settled by Governor 
 AVinthrop's party, it retained for a short time a 
 certain precedence. In 1633, a tax of four hundred 
 pounds was laid, of which Dorchester paid eighty 
 pounds, — Boston, Roxbury, Newtown (afterwards 
 Cambridge), Watertown, and Charlesto^A^l, paid £4:8 
 each, Saugus £36, Salem £28, and Medford £12 ; 
 and these were the whole of Massachusetts, two cen- 
 turies and a quarter ago ! In the year 1633, Wood 
 calls our ancient town " the greatest town in New 
 England." The description of Josselyn is still more 
 glowmg. Its geographical extent, till reduced by 
 the seijaration from it of several large new towns, 
 was great. It comprised the modern to\Mis of 
 INIilton, Stoughton, Sharon, Canton, and Foxbor- 
 ougli, with a part of Wrentham and Dedliam, being 
 of the length of thirty-five miles, and the average 
 breadth of five. Nor was it merely in time or 
 wealth that it took for a short time the lead. It set 
 the example, in 1633, of that municipal organization 
 which has prevailed throughout New England, and 
 has proved one of the chief sources of its progress. 
 It has been supposed that the first stated provision 
 for a public scliool was made here : — but the loss of 
 the earliest leaves of our town records leaves us 
 without the documentary proof of this fact, if it be 
 one. 
 
35 
 
 One would suppose that the extensive tcrii- 
 tory I have just described, woukl have afforded 
 ample accommodation for some two or three hun- 
 dred inhabitants. They had, however, scarcely 
 established themselves in their new home, before 
 they began to be straightened for want of room. 
 It seems to have been thought extremely desirable, 
 in the first settlement of the country, to be seated 
 either on the sea coast or the banks of a river. 
 The inhabitants of the Bay had been early made 
 acquainted by those at Plymouth with Connecticut 
 River, although the court declined an application 
 from that quarter, to join them in anticipating the 
 Dutch in their attempts to get possession of it. 
 Three or four individuals, however, from Dorchester, 
 had as early as 1633 crossed the intervening wilder- 
 ness, and explored this magnificent stream. 
 
 Influenced by their reports of the noble range of 
 pasturage to be found on its banks, aided, it must 
 be confessed, by discontents in the Bay, an emigra- 
 tion was contemplated in 1634 by the inhabitants 
 of Dorchester and Newtown, Mr. Ludlow, of 
 Dorchester, it was said, thought that some other 
 persons, himself included, would fill the chair of 
 State as well as Governor Winthrop ; and the star 
 of Mr. Hooker in the church at Newtown, it was 
 thought, was not wanted so near the light of John 
 Cotton. The emigration was warmly debated in the 
 Court. Fifteen out of twenty-five of the infant 
 house of deputies, first elected that year, were for 
 the removal; a majority of the magistrates placed 
 their veto on the measure, and great heats ensued. 
 
36 
 
 It was opposed on various grounds, but the " pro- 
 catarctical" reason (as Hubbard somewhat learn- 
 edly expresses it) was, that so many of its inhabi- 
 tants could not safely be spared from tlie Bay.* 
 The next year the Rev. ^Messrs. Richard Mather, and 
 Thomas Shepherd, with numerous associates, arrived 
 in the colony. Mr. Mather's company being pre- 
 pared to fill the places of those desiring to leave 
 Dorchester, and Mr. Shepherd's to succeed to their 
 brethren at Newtown (Cambridge), the Court gave 
 way and permitted the undertaking. A portion of 
 the emigrants went in the autumn of 1635, the 
 residue in the following spring. Great were the 
 hardships and severe the sufferings endured in this 
 early American exodus through the wilderness, first 
 faint image of that living tide of emigration which 
 in all subsequent time has flowed westward from the 
 Atlantic coast, till in our day it has reached the 
 boundless west ; and is even now swelling over the 
 Rocky Mountains, and spreading itself on the shores 
 of the Pacific. Still may it swell and still may it 
 flow ; bearing upon its bosom the laws and the 
 institutions, the letters and the arts, the freedom 
 and the faith, which have given New England her 
 name and praise in the world ! f The adventurers 
 from Dorchester, — men, women and children, — were 
 fourteen days in making the journey now daily 
 accomplished in three hours, and reached the river 
 
 * Winthrop's Journal for 4th September, 1634. 
 
 t This emigi-ation is beautifully described in the Life of John Mason, by- 
 Rev. George E. Ellis ; Spai-ks's Librai-y of American Biography, Vol. XIII., 
 p. 331. 
 
37 
 
 weak with toil and hunger, and all but disheartened. 
 Both the Dorchester ministers, though it is said 
 reluctantly, agreed to join their emigrating church. 
 Mr. Maverick the senior died in Boston before 
 starting ; Mr. Warham conducted his flock to East 
 Windsor, where they formed the first church in 
 Connecticut, as they had been in Massachusetts 
 second to Salem alone. Thus from our native town 
 of Dorchester, and from Cambridge, not yet bearing 
 that honored name, within five years from their first 
 settlement, went forth the founders of Connecticut. 
 
 Nor was it for their own establishment alone that 
 the early fathers of Dorchester were careful ; they 
 remembered the native children of the soil with 
 kindness. When, a few years after the emigration 
 to the Connecticut, the increase of the new comers 
 about the falls of Neponset had begun to press hard 
 upon the natives gathered about that spot, on the 
 application of John Eliot a grant of six thousand 
 acres of land, being the greater part of the modern 
 town of Stoughton, was made by Dorchester for 
 their accommodation ; a grant, as one of our town 
 clerks well says, without example in the history of 
 the State.* In this pleasant retreat were collected 
 the remnants of the friendly tribe, wdio gave us this 
 venerable name of Massachusetts, and who ruled 
 the shores of the noble Bay, which, in years past, 
 added another epithet to this time-honored designa- 
 tion. The fair domain of this, our name-sake tribe, 
 
 * Noali Clap's letter, 4 Jan., 1792. Mass. Hist. Coll., First Series, Vol. I., 
 p. 98. 
 
 6 
 
38 
 
 extended from the broad smooth floor of Nantasket, 
 where the whispering ripple, as it runs np the 
 beach, scarcely effaces the foot prints of the smart 
 little sand-piper, all round to the cold gray ledges 
 of Nahant, on which the mountain waves of the 
 Atlantic, broken and tired with their tempestuous 
 weltering march through seventy degrees of longi- 
 tude, conflicting with all the winds of Heaven, sink 
 down upon their adamantine bed, like weary Titans 
 after battling with the gods, and lulled by the 
 moaning dirges of their voiceful caves, roll and rock 
 themselves heavily to sleep. Some " old men of 
 Massachusetts" affirmed that in the interior they 
 extended as far west as Pocomtacook. They hunted 
 small game in the blue-hills, and on their snow- 
 shoes they followed the deer to Wachusett. They 
 passed in their bark canoes through Mother Brook 
 into Charles River ; the falls of Nonantum and the 
 head waters of the Mystic were favorite resorts ; 
 they ranged even to the Nashua. Their war parties 
 met the Tarratines on the Shawshine and the Mer- 
 rimac ; — but they loved especially the fair headland 
 of Squantum ; the centre of their power was Ne- 
 ponset falls. 
 
 From the origin of the colony they were the 
 friends of the white man, and in the first mention of 
 Mattapan as the place of the future settlement, it is 
 stated, that " there also the Indians were kind to 
 us." Thinned by a pestilential disease before the 
 arrival of the English, overshadowed by the num- 
 bers, the physical power, and the intellectual superi- 
 ority of the new comer, reading in the events of 
 
39 
 
 every day the terrible but inevitable doom, "he 
 must increase, but I must decrease," they adopted 
 the white man's faith, and by a miracle of Christian 
 pains and charity read the white man's Book in 
 their native tongue. But not even that mighty 
 element of life, to which the civilized nations of the 
 earth owe so much of their vitality, availed to pro- 
 long the red man's existence. Twelve families only 
 of praying Indians, as they were called, the remains 
 of those who removed from Neponset, were found 
 by Gookin at Punkapoag in 1674.* John Eliot, 
 jun., the son of the apostle, — and truly I know not 
 who, since Peter and Paul, better deserves that 
 name, — labored with them once a fortnight. But 
 they dwindled with each generation ; till in my 
 boyhood I remember hearing of one poor solitary 
 Indian, who, it was said, occupied a lonely wigwam 
 on Stoughton Pond, and who used to come down, 
 once or twice a year, to the sea-side ; hovered a day 
 or two about Squantum ; caught a few fish at the 
 lower mills ; strolled off into the woods, and with 
 plaintive wailings cut away the bushes from an 
 ancient mound, which, as he thought, covered the 
 ashes of his fathers ; and then went back a silent, 
 broken, melancholy man, — the last of a perished 
 tribe. 
 
 The agency of Dorchester in the settlement of 
 Connecticut is not the only incident of the kind in 
 our annals. Two generations later, viz., in 1695, 
 application was made to our minister, Mr. Danforth, 
 
 * Mass. Hist. Collections, First Series, Vol. I., p. 184. 
 
40 
 
 both personally and by letter, from South Carolina, 
 setting forth the spiritual destitution of that region, 
 and asking aid from us. A missionary church was 
 forthwith organized, in compliance with this request 
 from the remote sister j^lantation, A pastor, Mr. 
 Joseph Lord, was ordained over it; — it sailed from 
 Dorchester in the middle of December, and arrived 
 at its destination in fourteen days. The little com- 
 munity established itself on Ashley river, in South 
 Carolina, and fondly assumed the name of Dor- 
 chester. Here, for more than half a century, the 
 transplanted church and settlement enjoyed a modest 
 prosperity. But the situation proving unhealthy, 
 and the quantity of land limited, a removal to 
 Georgia was projected in 1752. The legislature of 
 that colony made a liberal grant of land, where the 
 emigrants from Dorchester founded the town of 
 Midway, as being half-way between the rivers 
 Ogeechee and Altamaha. This settlement consti- 
 tuted a considerable part of the parish of St. John's, 
 afterwards honorably known as Liberty County in 
 Georgia. Its inhabitants, in the third generation, 
 retained the character and manners, the feelings and 
 principles, which their ancestors brought from our 
 Dorchester eighty years before. On the assembling 
 of the Continental Congress at Philadelphia in 
 1774, Georgia as a colony not having chosen dele- 
 gates, the parish of St. John's addressed themselves 
 directly to that body, and received from them a 
 copy of the " General Association." The Conven- 
 tion of Georgia declining to join it without modifi- 
 cation, the Parish of St. John's subscribed it on their 
 
41 
 
 own account, and sent one of their number, Dr. 
 Lyman Hall, a native of Connecticut, a member of 
 the little Dorchester-Midway church, to represent 
 that Parish in the Congress at Philadelphia. " At 
 this period," says Dr. Stevens, the intelligent histo- 
 rian of Georgia, " the parish of St. John's possessed 
 nearly one third of the entire wealth of the 
 province ; and its inhabitants were remarkable for 
 their upright and independent character. Sympa- 
 thizing, from their New England origin, more 
 strongly with the northern distresses than the other 
 parts of Georgia, and being removed from the imme- 
 diate supervision of the Governor and his Council, 
 they pressed on with greater ardor and a firmer step 
 than her sister parishes. The time for action had 
 arrived, and the irresolution of fear had no place in 
 their decisive councils. Alone she stood, a Pharos 
 of liberty in England's most loyal province, re- 
 nouncing every fellowship that savored not of 
 freedom, and refusing every luxury w^liich contribu- 
 ted to ministerial coffers. With a halter around 
 her neck and a gallows before her eyes, she severed 
 herself from surrounding associations, and cast her 
 lot, while as yet all was gloom and darkness, with 
 the fortunes of her country, to live with her rights 
 or to die for their defence. Proud spot of Georgia's 
 soil ! Well does it deserve the appellation (Liberty 
 County) which a grateful State conferred upon it ; 
 and truly may we say of its sons, in the remem- 
 brance of their patriotic services, " nothing was 
 w^anting to their glory, they were w^anting to ours."* 
 
 * Georgia Historical Collections, Yol. II., p. 24. 
 
42 
 
 Dr. Hall appeared at Philadelphia on the third 
 day of the session of 1775 (13th May), and was ad- 
 mitted as a delegate. On that day Congress was 
 composed of the representatives of the twelve United 
 Colonies, and Dr. Lyman Hall, the depnty from the 
 Parish of St. John's. The patriotic example was 
 soon followed by the colony, and four delegates, of 
 whom Dr. Hall was one, were in the course of a few 
 weeks deputed to Philadelphia. In this way, and 
 by the strange sequence of events which pervades 
 our history, the pious zeal of a few humble Christ- 
 ians of our ancient town, in 1695, was the remote 
 cause that the great empire State of the South, then 
 in its infancy, was represented at the opening of the 
 Congress of 1775. A deputation from this distant 
 offshoot of the old Dorchester stock has been ex- 
 pected to favor us with their attendance on this 
 occasion. If they are present, we bid them cordially 
 welcome.* 
 
 It cannot be expected that the annals of a small 
 municipality like Dorchester should furnish many 
 events of striking public interest. It is enough to 
 say of our fathers that they bore their part faitlifully 
 in the silent work of progress, which was carried on 
 under both charters. Among them were many indi- 
 viduals of great worth, and some who have played a 
 cUstinguished part in public affairs. 
 
 Of Maverick and Warham, the first ministers, not 
 
 1 
 
 * Tliis interesting and important incident in the History of Dorchester is 
 fully narrated by the Rev. Dr. Holmes, who in early life was the pastor of the 
 Midway church. See Aimals, under the years 1696, and 1775. Also 
 Journals of the Continental Congress for 13th May, 1775. 
 
43 
 
 mucli is known. Warliam had been the clergyman 
 of Exeter in England, and they were both selected 
 by Mr. AVhite as the spiritual guides (and that 
 imported little less than a moral dictatorship) of 
 the uifant colony. His name is still perpetuated in 
 Connecticut. 
 
 When their services were lost to the church of 
 Dorchester, by the decease of Mr. Maverick in 1636 
 and the emigration of Mr. Warham to Connecticut, 
 their place was more than filled by Mr. E-ichard 
 Mather, the leader of the second emigration, a person 
 of great authority in the infant churches of the 
 colony, the father of Increase Mather, the grand- 
 father of Cotton Mather, and as such the head of a 
 family which for nearly a century filled no second 
 place in the church of New England. 
 
 Mr. Eossiter was one of the assistants chosen in 
 London in 1629, but died in a short time after his 
 arrival. 
 
 Mr. Ludlow, also one of the first emigration, was 
 of the magistracy in 1630; deputy in 1634, and an 
 unsuccessful candidate for the governorship the next 
 year. He was unwise enough to let this want of 
 success disturb his equanimity, and protested against 
 the election of Winthrop. The constituency were 
 offended at this, and refused to continue him in the 
 second office. In the gentle phrase of Dr. Eliot, they 
 " gave him an opportunity to enjoy private life." 
 Disgusted with the turn things were taking in the 
 Bay, he joined the emigration to Connecticut, and 
 took a distinguished part in the affairs of that colony. 
 He finally removed to Virginia. 
 
44 
 
 I have already spoken of Roger Clap, whose diary 
 relates the voyage and settlement of the first com- 
 pany of Dorchester emigrants, and is an interesting 
 origmal contribution to our early history. Induced 
 by his example and advice, several of his kindi-ed 
 followed him to America, among whose descen- 
 dants are those of that name, who in every generation 
 have creditably served their native town, as well as 
 some of the most eminent sons of New England in 
 other parts of the country. Of this stock was the 
 learned President Clap of Yale College, and the 
 venerable Nathanael Clap of Newport, of whom 
 Bishop Berkeley said, " before I saw Father Clap, I 
 thought the Bishop of Rome (Pope Clement XI.) 
 had the most grave aspect of any man I ever saw, 
 but really the minister of Newport has the most 
 venerable appearance. The resemblance is very 
 great." I may be permitted to allude to my own 
 grateful associations with this name, as that of the 
 patient and faithful instructress of the same lineage, 
 who taught me to read before I could speak plain. 
 Considerately mingling the teacher and nurse, she 
 kept a pillow and a bit of carpet in the corner of the 
 school-room, where the little heads, throbbing from 
 a premature struggle with the tall double letters and 
 ampersand, with Korah's troop and Vashti's pride, 
 were permitted, nay encouraged, to go to sleep. 
 Roger Clap was a military man ; and in time suc- 
 ceeded, with the title of Captain, to the command of 
 our stout little colonial Sebastopol, — originally the 
 Castle, then Castle William, and now Fort Indepen- 
 dence: — a fortress coeval with the colony; whose 
 
45 
 
 walls first of mud, then of wood, then of brick, and 
 now lastly of granite, not inappropriately symbolize 
 the successive stages of our political growth. When 
 the great Dutch Admiral de Ruyter, the year after 
 that famous Annus Mir ah ills immortalized by Dry- 
 den, having swept the coast of Africa had been 
 ordered to the West Indies, intending, says Capt. 
 Clap, not a whit daunted at the thought, " to visit 
 us," the Captain adds, with honest satisfaction, " Our 
 battery was also repaired, wherein are seven good 
 guns," probably six pounders at least. De Ruyter, 
 however, did not think it expedient to come within 
 two thousand miles of their range. 
 
 John Mason was a chieftain of still greater eminence. 
 He had served under Fairfax in the low countries. 
 He commanded the Dorchester train band in 1633, 
 but led the emigration three years afterwards to 
 Connecticut. When the great Pequot war broke 
 out, he commanded the river troops ; and at the 
 famous battle of the Mystic, in May 1637, he all 
 but annihilated that hostile tribe. He was among 
 the most active, useful, and honored of the Dorchester 
 company, and of the founders of Connecticut ; whose 
 fate depended for the time on the success of the 
 battle of the Mystic. The late Jeremiah Mason, 
 one of the most distinguished of the statesmen and 
 jurists of our own time, was among his descendants. 
 
 William Pynchon early removed from Dorchester 
 to Roxbury, and thence to Springfield, — the most 
 prominent of the founders of Western Massachusetts. 
 
 Israel Stoughton was probably one of the first 
 emigration ; his name appears on one of the earliest 
 7 
 
46 
 
 pages of our Dorchester annals. He was a member 
 of the first general court of deputies ; a citizen of 
 energy and public sj)irit. Unlike modern legislators, 
 who, " without distinction of party," are accused of 
 looking out for the loaves and fishes for themselves, 
 worthy Col. Stoughton provided them for others. 
 He built the first tide-mill for grinding corn, and 
 established the first wier for taking fish in the 
 colony. He, too, was a military man, and commanded 
 the contingent from Massachusetts in the Pequot 
 war. After filling important trusts in New England, 
 he returned home and served as a colonel in the 
 parliamentary army. By his will he bequeathed 
 three hundred acres of land to Harvard College. 
 
 His son William fills a still more distinguished 
 place in the history of Dorchester and Massachu- 
 setts. He was educated for the pulpit, and often 
 urged to settle over the church of his native town 
 and elsewhere. He preached the annual election 
 sermon in 1668, from which one striking expression 
 is still remembered : " God sifted a whole nation 
 that he might send choice grain over into this 
 w^ilderness." He was an agent for the colony at the 
 court of Charles II., and was afterwards named 
 Deputy Governor in the new charter, subsequently 
 acting as chief magistrate on the departure of Phipps 
 and Bellamont. He built a college at Cambridge, 
 which bore his name ; — a memorial of his liberality 
 which has been j)erpetuated by a college edifice, of 
 more recent construction, but bearing the same 
 name. His monument, the most costly in our ancient 
 burial ground, the work probably of a foreign artist, 
 
47 
 
 is conspicuous for a highly rhetorical inscription, of 
 which the material portion is borrowed from that 
 of Pascal. 
 
 AVilliam Poole was of the first company of emi- 
 grants, for several years town clerk and school-mas- 
 ter. He lived a considerable time at Taunton, 
 where the benefactions of his sister procured for her 
 the honorable title of the " Virgin Mother " of that 
 town, William Poole is spoken of in our records as 
 a " sage, reverend, and pioiis man of God." His 
 epitaph, written by himself before his death, is still 
 legible upon his grave stone, and is one of the best 
 expressed of our mortuary inscriptions : 
 
 " Ho pafsengcr tis worth thy paines to rtay 
 
 & take a dead mans lefson by ye way 
 
 I was what now thou art & thou fhalt be 
 
 what I am now what odds twixt me & thee 
 
 Now go thy way but ftay take one word more 
 
 Thy flaff, for ought thou knowest, stands next ye dore 
 
 Death is ye dore ye dore of heaven or hell 
 
 Be warned. Be armed Bcliue Repent Fariewell." 
 
 Edmund Hartt is just mentioned in the list of the 
 first company. I suppose him to be the ancestor of 
 Edmund Hartt who built the frigate " Constitution." 
 It has been denied that he drew the plan of that 
 noble ship; doubted even if he superintended the 
 work ; but he was at least the " master " who " laid 
 the keel;" and the master who laid the keel of 
 " Old Ironsides," even if he worked with no higher 
 instruments than mallet and chisel, was surely a 
 workman that needeth not to be ashamed of his 
 work, nor Dorchester of the workman. 
 
48 
 
 Robert Pierce was of the first emigration, and was 
 the ancestor of the late venerable and beloved Dr. 
 Pierce of Brookline. He built the house in which 
 one of his descendants, Mr. Lewis Pierce, lives at 
 the 2^1'esent day, in whose possession is still pre- 
 served a portion of the bread brought from England 
 by his ancestor; a " remainder biscuit" certainly, 
 and by this time a pretty dry one.* 
 
 Humphrey Atherton was of the second emigration, 
 a man of mark and influence in the colony. He 
 filled some of the most important offices of civil life, 
 and attained the highest military rank. He was 
 " slow of speech;" but " dow^nright for the business, 
 one of cheerful spirit and entire for the country." 
 After having been employed on almost every occasion 
 of importance, in peace or war, for thirty years, he 
 was thrown from his horse as he was riding from 
 Boston, and killed. His death (in 1661) was re- 
 garded as a public calamity. The sensation caused 
 by it has been handed down to posterity in the 
 monumental record, still legible upon his tomb-stone, 
 and still constantly quoted, in which, at some expense 
 of grammar and rhythm, the high qualities of his 
 character and the pomp of his obsequies are set 
 forth with a certain solemn quaintness not unpleas- 
 ing to a native Dorchester ear : 
 
 " Here lies ovr Captaine, & Major of SvfFolk was withal) ; 
 A Godly Majiftrate was he, and Maior General!, 
 
 * !Mr. Everett here exhibited in a glass ease two sea-biscuits which were 
 brought over by !Mr. Robert Pierce, and have been carefully iweserved in his 
 family to the present day. 
 
49 
 
 Two Trovps of Hors M-ith him heare came, fvch worth his love 
 
 did crave ; 
 Ten Companycs of Foot also movrning marcht to his grave. 
 Let all that Read he fure to keep the Faith as he has don 
 With Chrifl: he lives now Crown'd his name was Hvmpry i\therton." 
 
 But time would fail nic to mention even by name 
 all the persons entitled to a respectful recollection 
 in our history. It is enough to say that they com- 
 prehend a fair proportion of the eminent men of 
 the colony, and that a large number of those most 
 distinguished in New England, or tlie States settled 
 from New England, trace their origin directly or 
 collaterally to this spot. In proof of this assertion, 
 besides the names already given, I might repeat 
 those of Roger Sherman, Strong, Dewey, Wolcott, 
 Hawthorne, Putnam, Phillips, Breck, Minot, Moseley, 
 Withington, Robinson, and many others. So, too, it 
 would be easy to show, from the contents of our 
 ancient records, if the limits of the occasion permit- 
 ted it, that the character of Dorchester, as a town, 
 was at all times sustained upon the solid basis on 
 which the fathers had placed it. When we bear in 
 mind the great power and influence of the church in 
 the early days, as a species of moral and spiritual 
 government, outside and above the municipal organi- 
 zation, and exercising a paramount control far 
 beyond the strict bounds of ecclesiastical affairs, we 
 shall be prepared to admit, that the steadiness of 
 our progress and the general prosjDerity which the 
 town has enjoyed, are owing, in no small degree, to 
 the diligent labors, faithful services, and excellent 
 characters of its clergy, an unbroken line of pious, 
 learned, and devoted men. The whole period, from 
 
50 
 
 the emigration to Connecticut in 1636 to the 
 resignation of Mr. Bowman in 1773, is covered by 
 the lives of Mather, Flint, Danforth, and Bowman, 
 who with Messrs. Burr and Wilson, both colleagues 
 of Mather, make up the list. It would not become 
 me to speak of Mr. Bowman's successor, a near 
 relative of my own ; while the memory of Dr. Har- 
 ris, the last pastor of the first, and of Dr. Codman, 
 the first pastor of the second Dorchester church, is 
 too recent to require a tribute. It would not per- 
 haps be easy to find a town, which has been more 
 highly favored in a succession of ministers modelled 
 upon the true type of a New England Pastor, in 
 whom a well-digested store of human and divine 
 learning, directed by a sound practical judgment, 
 was united with an all-controlling sense of the worth 
 of spiritual things ; while the austerity of manners 
 required by the taste of the age was sustained by 
 spotless purity of life, and habitually softened by 
 offices of charity and words of love. Notwithstand- 
 ing the dissensions with which the churches of New 
 England, in the course of two centuries, were too 
 often agitated, and the consequent frequent dis- 
 turbance of the friendly relations of Minister and 
 People, I do not know that there is one of the 
 Ministers of Dorchester who may not be considered 
 as having adorned his ofiice, and as having exercised 
 a kindly and healing influence on the church and 
 the community. 
 
 With respect to the great reproach of our puritan 
 fiithers, that of intolerance, too well founded as we 
 must all admit and lament, I cannot find that our 
 ancient town was above or below the standard of 
 
51 
 
 the age. It was an age which sincerely believed 
 itself in direct alliance with the Supreme Being. 
 The Colonial government for two generations had 
 all the essential features of a theocracy. Every 
 event, from the sickness or death of the minister of 
 a village church, to that of a foreign potentate, a 
 winter's storm or a summer's drought, canker worms 
 in the spring and frosts in the autumn, a heresy 
 invading the church, a quo umrranto threatening the 
 charter, an Indian or a European war, was the occa- 
 sion of a fast, and "improved" in a s|)iritual appli- 
 cation. We use the same language as our fore- 
 fathers in this respect. The difterence between us 
 and them, I fear, is, that they believed what they 
 said, with a more profound conviction. But while 
 their lofty faith gave a high tone to their characters, 
 its influence was not in all respects favorable to the 
 happiness of their lives, the wisdom of their coun- 
 sels, or the charity of their opinions. Our poor 
 natures are not strong enough to bear a direct 
 personal union with the Infinite. We are too prone 
 to do wrong, to be trusted with the consciousness of 
 infallibility ; too ignorant, to be safely animated 
 with the conviction that we have grasped the whole 
 truth. The annals of Dorchester, however, present 
 a few noble examples of charity and toleration 
 beyond the age. When the statute against the 
 Quakers was enacted in 1658, a statute which 
 reproduced the worst features of the cruel law 
 against non-conformists of 1593, Thomas Clark, 
 with one other deputy, voted against it. He was a 
 Dorchester man, though removed to Boston, which 
 
52 
 
 he represented at that time ; — and Nicholas Upsall, 
 also of Dorchester, was fined, imprisoned, and 
 eventually banished, for deeds of mercy toward that 
 persecuted sect. 
 
 In all the important political events of the times, 
 the town of Dorchester bore its part, often a con- 
 spicuous one. A very striking illustration of this 
 fact may be seen in the Memorial addressed to the 
 Colonial legislature in 1664, and signed by the 
 principal inhabitants of the town.* The New 
 England Colonies, though by no means what can be 
 called a military people, had been led by circum- 
 stances to a large experience of the hardships and 
 perils of war. This grew at first out of the necessity 
 of protecting themselves against the native tribes ; 
 which they were obliged to do, entirely without aid 
 from the mother country. I do not recollect that, 
 under the first charter, a dollar or a man was sent 
 from England to the Colonies, to aid in their defence 
 against the Indians, the French, or the Dutch. 
 Under the new charter, and with the increase of 
 population both in the French and British Colonies, 
 American interests acquired a greatly increased 
 importance ; and the Colonies, as a matter of course, 
 were involved in all the wars of Europe. A con- 
 siderable military and naval force was always kept 
 up, and the royal navies and armies were recruited 
 for foreign service in New England. In this way, 
 the flower of our youth, for three successive genera- 
 
 * Tliis interesting paper was published in the New England Genealogical 
 Register, Vol. V., p. 393, with valuable notices of the signers. 
 
53 
 
 tions, were engaged in a series of sanguinary but 
 now almost forgotten conflicts on the inland fron- 
 tier, the banks of the St. Lawrence, in Cape Breton, 
 in Martinico and Cuba, and on the Spanish Main. 
 Besides what was done still earlier, the New 
 England Colonies raised two thousand men in 1690 
 for that fatal expedition against Canada, of whom 
 one thousand perished, " not vagrants," says Dum- 
 mer, " picked up in the streets and pressed into the 
 war, but heads of families, artificers, robust young 
 men, such as no country can spare, and least of all, 
 new settlements."* Expeditions of this kind, some- 
 times prosperous, more frequently attended with the 
 most distressing sacrifices, not merely of property 
 but of life, recur too frequently even to be enume- 
 rated here. I mention only those which are alluded 
 to in our histories. In 1740, five companies of one 
 hundred men each, as the excellent Mr. James 
 Blake, for so many years the faithful town clerk of 
 Dorchester, relates, " went from this province to war 
 with Spain. Tliey went to Jamaica to Admiral 
 Vernon, and so to Carthagena and Cuba." Mr. 
 Blake adds, " we hear many or most of them are 
 dead." Let us hope that the town clerk of Dorches- 
 ter will never again have to make precisely that 
 record. Three thousand men were raised in New 
 England for the memorable expedition against Lou- 
 isburg in 1745. " Most that went from hereabouts," 
 says Father Blake, " that I knew, either died there, 
 or in their passage home, or soon after they came 
 
 * Defence of tlie New Englaucl Charters, p. 17. 
 
 8 
 
54 
 
 home. 'Tis said there died of our New England 
 forces about five hundred." This expedition, as you 
 are well aware, was planned by Gov. Shirley. The 
 Governor's stately mansion still stands upon our 
 borders ; the iron cross, brought from the market- 
 place at Louisburg, adorns the library of Harvard 
 College. But no monument is reared to the brave 
 men who fell in these distant expeditions ; no memo- 
 rial remains of those who came back to their native 
 villages, with wounds and diseases brought from the 
 camp. On one mouldering stone only, in our 
 ancient grave-yard, we read that it covers a person 
 who " died in his majesty's sarvice." 
 
 The Indian's shaft, the Briton's ball. 
 
 The sabre's thksting edge, 
 Tlie hot- shell shattering in its fall. 
 
 The bayonet's rending wedge 
 There scattered death ; — yet seek the spot, 
 
 No trace thine eye can see, 
 No altai" ; and they need it not, 
 
 WHio leave their childi'cn free.* 
 
 The great expedition against the Havana, in 
 1762, was on the point of sinking under the climate 
 and the protracted resistance of the Spaniards. " A 
 thousand languishing and impatient looks," says the 
 historian, " were cast on the reinforcements from 
 America''' None, however, as yet appeared; and 
 the exhausted army was left to its own resources. 
 Many fell into despair and died, overcome with 
 fatigue, anguish, and disappointment. These rein- 
 forcements at length arriA ed in two divisions. Some 
 
 ♦ Holmes. 
 
55 
 
 of the vessels composing the first, were wrecked in 
 the Bahama passage ; of the second, a part were 
 intercepted by the French ; but those who escaped, 
 " arrived seasonably and rendered excellent service," 
 On the 14th day of August, 1762, after a murderous 
 siege of two months and eight days, under a burning- 
 tropical sun, in mid-summer, the Royal forces of 
 England, with her brave provincial allies, marched 
 together through the battered wall of the Havana.* 
 This was an era in history ; it was the last time in 
 which England and her North American colonies 
 stood side by side on the battle field. Their next 
 meetings were fifteen years later at Lexington and 
 Concord, at Bunker Hill and Dorchester heights ; — 
 No, not on Dorchester heights ; it was not deemed 
 expedient by the royal forces to meet them there. 
 
 In 1763, the temple of Janus was shut, and there 
 was peace throughout Christendom. England had 
 gained an empire in the war ; Canada had been 
 acquired by her, and, with her elder American colo- 
 nies, spread out before her one vast field for the pro- 
 motion of human happiness and the culture of a high 
 civilization. By the hand of Chatham she might 
 have sown protection, and reaped grateful allegiance. 
 From the lips of Burke she might have sown con- 
 ciliation, and reaped union and love. But by the 
 counsels of Grenville and North she sowed taxation, 
 and reaped revolt. In 1764 she sowed the wind (a 
 crop which never comes up in regular drills) ; she 
 came for the harvest in 1775, and, lo ! the whirl- 
 
 * Annual Register for 1762, chap. YHI. 
 
56 
 
 wind ; reaper, sickle, and sheaves swept before the 
 tempest ; the fountains of the great deep broken up ; 
 and the very soil itself, the rock-ribbed continent, 
 torn from the British empire by the convulsion ! 
 
 In the struggle, which began Avitli the passage of 
 the Stamp-act, Dorchester was in no degree behind 
 the metropolis. In 1765 she instructed her repre- 
 sentative, Col. John llobinson, " to use the utmost 
 of his endeavors, with the great and general court, 
 to obtain the repeal of the late parliamentary act, 
 (always earnestly asserting our rights as free-born 
 Englishmen), and his best skill in preventing the 
 use of stamped paper in this government." But 
 though resolutely bent on resisting the obnoxious 
 and tyrannical act, they would nevertheless manifest 
 to him their " utter abhorrence of all routs, riots, 
 tumults, and unlawful assemblies ; and if the laws 
 now in being arc not sufficient to suppress such 
 high misdemeanors, that you would use your skill 
 and interest in making such laws as would answer 
 such a salutary purpose." (Dorchester Rec. III., 
 293.) When, in consequence of the dissolution of 
 the general court in 1768, a convention of the 
 Province was recommended by Boston, Dorchester 
 voted " to choose one person to act as a committee 
 in convention, Avith such committee as may be sent 
 from other towns in the province, in order that such 
 measures may be consulted and advised, as his 
 majesty's service and the peace and safety of his 
 subjects in this province may require." As a farther 
 measure to promote his majesty's service and the 
 peace and safety of the province, the next vote 
 
57 
 
 passed at the same meeting was, that a " place be 
 built under the roof of the meeting-house at the east 
 end thereof, to keep the town's stock of powder in." 
 (Rec. III., 333.) In 1770, Dorchester resolved not 
 to purchase any articles of the traders in Boston, 
 who had violated the non-importation agreement, 
 and resolved that " whereas a duty has been laid on 
 foreign tea, we will not make use of it in our fami- 
 lies, except in case of sickness, till the duty is 
 repealed." (Rec. III., 352.) On the 4th of June, 
 1773, Dorchester responded to the solemn exposi- 
 tion of the rights of America, drawn up by a com- 
 mittee of twenty-one of the citizens of Boston. The 
 resolutions of this town were nine in number, 
 expressed with perspicuity and force, and the 
 representatives of Dorchester are instructed " to 
 join in any motion or motions in a constitutional 
 way, to obtain not only redress of the aforementioned 
 grievances, but of all others, and that they in no 
 wise consent to give up any of our rights, whether 
 from nature or by compact." (Rec. III., 380.) 
 
 At the close of 1773, the great question of taxa- 
 tion, out of which sprung the independence of 
 America, was brought to a practical issue in refer- 
 ence to the duty on tea. AVhen attempts were made 
 to persuade Lord North not to introduce the obnox- 
 ious article into the colonies, his answer was, " It 
 is of no use making objections, for the King will 
 have it so. The King means to try the question " ; 
 and the question was tried in Boston and its 
 vicinity.* As soon as information was received that 
 
 * Bancroft's History, Vol. VI., p. 465, 472. 
 
58 
 
 two or three cargoes of tea were speedily to arrive 
 in Boston, the consignees were called upon, by a 
 committee of the citizens in town meeting assembled, 
 to resign their trust. This they refused to do ; and 
 the further management of affairs w^as left by the 
 citizens to the committee of correspondence. On 
 Monday, November 22d, 1773, the committees of 
 Dorchester, Roxbury, Brookline, and Cambridge 
 met the Boston Committee in the Selectmen's room 
 in Faneuil Hall. At this conference of the five 
 committees, it was unanimously voted to prevent the 
 landing and sale of the tea, and to address a letter 
 on the subject to all the towns in the province. 
 On Sunday the 28th, the Dartmouth, the first of the 
 tea ships, arrived. On the following day Samuel 
 Adams invited the committees of Dorchester and 
 the three other towns, to meet the committee and 
 citizens of Boston in Faneuil Hall. This is the 
 memorable meeting that was adjourned to the Old 
 South church, at which it was resolved that the tea 
 should be sent back to England. On the 30th, a 
 meeting was held in Dorchester, at which it was 
 resolved, that " should this country be so unhappy, 
 as to see a day of trial for the recovery of its rights, 
 by a last and solemn appeal to Him who gave them, 
 we should not be behind the bravest of our patriotic 
 brethren, and that we will at all times be ready to 
 assist our neighbors and friends, when they shall 
 need us, though in^the greatest danger." (Rec. 
 HI., 407.) In the course of a few days, two more 
 ships arrived ; the committee of the six towns (for 
 Charlestown had now been added) were in continual 
 
59 
 
 conference. The consignees were urged to send 
 back the tea ; the collector would not clear the 
 vessels till the tea was discharged ; the governor 
 refused a permit to pass the castle, unless the ships 
 were cleared. No peaceable solution of the problem 
 remained, and on the night of the 16th December, 
 a party of persons, disguised as Mohawk Indians, 
 boarded the ships and threw into the water three 
 hundred and forty-two chests of tea. 
 
 One of these chests, partly emptied, and buoyant, 
 was borne by the tide to Dorchester neck, and there 
 picked up on the morning of the 17th, by a person 
 who saw it on the marshes and " thought it no 
 harm." He was speedily required to surrender the 
 article, and it was only after apology made in pub- 
 lic town meeting, that he was forgiven for his 
 indiscretion. (Rec. III., 414:.) 
 
 The destruction of the tea, I need hardly say, 
 occasioned the Boston port-bill, and the occupation 
 of the town by a greatly increased military force. 
 These measures on the part of the government were 
 met by the organization of measures of resistance, 
 military and political, on the part of the colonies. 
 On the 24th of August, 1774, delegates were chosen 
 by Dorchester, to attend the celebrated meeting at 
 Dedham, of all the towns in the County of Suffolk, 
 not as yet divided. A month later, instructions 
 were given to Capt. Lemuel Robinson to represent 
 the town in the general court to be held at Salem. 
 The writs for the meeting having been recalled by 
 General Gage, Capt. Robinson was authorized to 
 meet the representatives of the other towns in gene- 
 
60 
 
 EAL Provincial Congress, to "act upon such mat- 
 ters as might come before that body, in such a man- 
 ner as may ajipear to him conducive to the true 
 interest of this town and province, and most likely 
 to preserve the liberties of all America." (Rec. 
 III., 435.) The persons elected, to the number of 
 ninety, assembled at Salem on the 5 th of October, 
 notwithstanding the recal of the writs. Having 
 waited in vain for the appearance of the Governor 
 to administer the usual oaths, they organized them- 
 selves into a convention the next day, with John 
 Hancock as Chairman, and Benjamin Lincoln as 
 Clerk. A committee was appointed to consider the 
 proclamation of the Governor, and on their Report 
 the following day (October 7th, 1774) it was voted, 
 that " the members aforesaid do now resolve them- 
 selves into a Provincial Congress." This body 
 adjourned the same day to Concord, and afterwards 
 held its meetings at Watertown. Its formation fol- 
 lowed, by one month, the meeting of the Continental 
 Congress at Philadelphia, and it was, I believe, the 
 first regularly organized body assembled in any of 
 the States, and assuming legislative powers of a 
 revolutionary character. 
 
 Among its acts was one which may be considered 
 of itself as forming, as far as Massachusetts is con- 
 cerned, a precise date to the revolution in the gov- 
 ernment, regarded as a political measure ; I mean 
 the recommendation to the toAvns to pay their quota 
 of the Province tax not to the Receiver for the 
 Cro^vn, but to a treasurer appointed by this Provin- 
 cial Congress. Dorchester, on the 27th Dec. 1774, 
 
61 
 
 complied with this recommendation, and resolved 
 that " the collectors of this town pay the j)rovirice 
 tax, now in their hands or yet to be collected, to 
 Henry Gardner, Esq., of Stow," a gentleman of 
 sterling probity and a true patriot, prematurely re- 
 moved from the stage of life ; whose grandson, a 
 native son of Dorchester, the chief magistrate of the 
 Commonwealth, honors us with his presence on this 
 occasion. 
 
 By another act equally decisive, the Provincial 
 Congress of Massachusetts made military preparation 
 for the approaching crisis. The enlistment of twenty 
 thousand men was recommended, and officers of the 
 seven years' war designated for the command. 
 
 In pursuance of this recommendation, Dorchester, 
 on the 10th March, 1775, resolved that "the whole 
 of the inhabitants of this town assemble on a certain 
 day, those who are liable to do military duty with 
 arms and ammunition according to law, in order to 
 be reviewed, and to see whether any members of them 
 will enlist and hold themselves in readiness as mmute 
 men ; and those in the alarm list to choose officers 
 to command them." (Rec. III., 442.) 
 
 On the 19th of April the all-important blow was 
 struck; the blow which severed the fated cliam 
 whose every link was bolted by an act of Parliament, 
 whose every rivet was closed up by an order in 
 Council, — which bound to the wake of Eiu-ojdc the 
 brave bark of our youthful fortune, destined hence- 
 forth and forever to ride the waves alone, — the blow 
 which severed that fated chain was struck. The 
 blow was struck, which will be felt in its consequen- 
 9 
 
62 
 
 ces to ourselves and the family of nations, till the 
 seventh seal is broken from the apocal}'ptic volume 
 of the history of empires. The consummation of four 
 centuries was completed. The life-long hopes and 
 heart-sick visions of Columbus, poorly fulfilled in 
 the subjugation of the plumed tribes of a few tropical 
 islands, and the partial survey of the continent ; cru- 
 elly mocked by the fetters placed upon his noble 
 limbs by his own menial and which he carried with 
 him into his grave, were at length more than fulfilled, 
 when the new world of his discovery put on the 
 sovereign robes of her separate national existence, 
 and joined, for peace and for war, the great Panathc- 
 naic procession of the nations. The wrongs of 
 generations were redressed. The cup of humiliation 
 di'ained to the dregs by the old puritan confessors 
 and non-conformist victims of oppression, — loathsome 
 prisons, blasted fortunes, lips forbidden to open in 
 prayer, earth and water denied in their pleasant 
 native land, the separations and sorrows of exile, the 
 sounding perils of the ocean, the scented hedge-rows 
 and vocal thickets of the " old countrie " exchanged 
 for a pathless wilderness ringing with the war-whoop 
 and gleaming with the scalping-knife ; the secular 
 insolence of colonial rule, checked by no periodical 
 recurrence to the public will ; governors appointed 
 on the other side of the globe that knew not Joseph ; 
 the patronizing disdain of undelegated power ; the 
 legal contumely of foreign law, wanting the first 
 element of obligation, the consent of the governed 
 expressed by his authorized representative ; and at 
 length the last unutterable and burning afifront and 
 
63 
 
 shame, a mercenary soldiery encamped upon the fau* 
 emmences of our cities, ships of war with springs 
 on their cables moored in front of our crowded 
 quays, artillery planted open-mouthed in our prmci- 
 pal streets, at the doors of our houses of assembly, 
 their morning and evening salvos proclaiming to 
 the rising and the setting sun, that we are the 
 subjects and they the lords, — all these hideous 
 phantoms of the long colonial night swept off by the 
 first sharp volley on Lexington Green. 
 
 Well might Samuel Adams exclaim, as he heard it, 
 "Oh, what a glorious morning is this ! " glorious, but 
 as is too often the case with human glories, the germ 
 and the fruit of sorrow, sanctified with tears and 
 sealed "svith blood. Precious lives are to be sacrificed, 
 great trials public and private to be endured, seven 
 years of war are to desolate the land, patriot armies 
 are to march with bloody feet over ice-clad fields, a 
 cloud of anxiety must hang over the prospects of 
 one generation of the young, while another of the 
 aged go down to the grave before the vision is 
 fulfilled : — but still glorious at home and abroad, — 
 glorious for America, and, strange as the word may 
 sound, glorious even for England ! Lord Chatham 
 rejoiced that America had resisted. Surely Lord 
 Chatham never rejoiced in the shame of England ; 
 he rejoiced that America had resisted, because she 
 resisted on the great principles of constitutional 
 liberty. Burke, in the early stages of the contest, 
 wrote these golden words : " We view the estabhsh- 
 ment of the British Colonies on principles of liberty, 
 as that which is to render this kingdom venerable to 
 
64 
 
 future ages. In comparison of this wc regard all 
 the victories and conquests of our warlike ancestors 
 or of our ovm times as barbarous and vulgar dis- 
 tinctions, in which many nations whom we look 
 upon with little respect or value, have equalled if 
 not exceeded us. This is the peculiar glory of 
 England ! "* All the victories and conquests of our 
 warlike ancestors or of our own times — Plantagenets 
 and Tudors ; Crecy, Poictiers, Agincourt ; Dunkirk 
 and Calais ; Jamaica and Gibraltar ; the Cromwells 
 and the Blakes ; the Williams and the Georges ; the 
 triumphs of Marlborough at the gates of France, 
 the thunders of Clive on the banks of the Ganges ; 
 all, in Burke's judgment, barbarous distinctions, 
 vulgar fame, compared with " the peculiar glory " 
 of founding a colonial empire on the principles of 
 liberty ! 
 
 Of the great events which influenced the result of 
 the revolution, few are more important than that 
 which took place A\ithin our limits. At Lexington 
 and Concord the great appeal to arms was irrevocably 
 made. As the alarm of that day spread through 
 the country, the men of Dorchester hastened to the 
 field. They stood side by side with their countiymen, 
 from every part of New England, when the great 
 question of the capacity of a patriotic militia to 
 contend with veteran troops was decided at Bunker 
 Hill. But the occupation of our Heights produced 
 a distinct strategic result, not inferior in importance 
 to any other in the whole war. It was literally 
 
 * Burke's Works, Vol. EC., 403. 
 
65 
 
 victoria sine clade ; a noble victory achieved without 
 the effusion of blood. 
 
 But there is another circumstance which must ever 
 clothe the occupation of Dorchester Heights with an 
 affecting- interest. It was the first great military 
 operation of Washington in the revolutionary war ; 
 not a battle, indeed, but the preparation for a battle 
 on the grandest scale, planned with such skill and 
 executed with such vigor, as at once to paralyze the 
 army and navy of the enemy, and force him, without 
 striking a blow, to an ignominious retreat. Wash- 
 ington was commissioned as Commander in Chief of 
 the American Armies on the day the battle of 
 Bunker Hill Avas fought. The siege of Boston had 
 been already formed; and those noble lines of 
 circumvallation, twelve miles in compass, of which 
 some faint remains may still be traced, had been 
 drawn along the high grounds of Charlestown, Cam- 
 bridge, E,oxbury, and Dorchester. An adventurous 
 expedition against Quebec had failed ; partial col- 
 lisions had taken place wherever there were royal 
 forces throughout the country ; but nothing decisive 
 was brought about, and a feverish excitement per- 
 vaded the continent. Congress w^as still conducting 
 the war without a constitutional existence ; and all 
 eyes and hearts were turned to the army and to 
 Washington. Men at a safe distance and with 
 nothmg at stake, are prone to judge severely the 
 conduct of those who are at the post of responsibility 
 and danger. Washington himself felt the delicacy 
 and the hazards of his position ; the importance of 
 sustaining the expectations of the country; the 
 
66 
 
 necessity of decisive results. But his army was 
 without discipline or experience, save a few veterans 
 of the seven years' war, without adequate supplies of 
 any kind, composed of men who had left their homes 
 at a moment's warning and were impatient to return, 
 weakened by camp diseases and the small-pox, with 
 a stock of powder so scanty, that stratagem was 
 resorted to by the commander to conceal the defi- 
 ciency even from liis officers. Thus the summer and 
 the autumn wore away, and every week increased 
 the public impatience and added to the embarrass- 
 ments of Washington. His private letters at this 
 time are filled with the most touching remarks on 
 his distressed condition. In a letter to Colonel E.eed, 
 of the 14 th of January, 1776, he says, "The reflec- 
 tion on my situation and that of this army, produces 
 many an unhappy hour, when all around me are 
 wrapped in sleep. Few people know the predicament 
 we are in on a thousand accounts ; fewer still will 
 believe, if any disaster happens to these lines, fit'om 
 what cause it flows. I have often thought how 
 much happier I should have been, if, instead of 
 accepting the command under such circumstances, I 
 had taken my musket on my shoulder and entered 
 the ranks ; or, if I could have justified the measure 
 to posterity and my ovm. conscience, had retired to 
 the back country and lived in a wigwam." 
 
 At length, however, the re-enlistment of the army 
 was completed; advanced lines were thrown up, 
 ordnance captured at Ticonderoga had been trans- 
 ported by Knox with prodigious effort across the 
 country, ammunition had been taken by Manly in 
 
67 
 
 his prize ships, shells were furnished from the royal 
 arsenal at New York. It was AVashington's wish to 
 cross the ice to Boston, to carry the town by assault, 
 and destroy the royal army. The ice, however, did 
 not make till the middle of February ; and it was 
 decided, by a council of war, that the town could not 
 be assaulted with success. 
 
 It was then resolved to repeat, on a grander scale, 
 with full preparation and ample means, the hasty 
 operation w^hich had brought on the battle of 
 Bunker Hill, the preceding summer. It was deter- 
 mined first to occupy the heights of Dorchester, and 
 as soon as an impregnable position was secured 
 there, to establish batteries on Nook Hill and the 
 other rising grounds nearest Boston. The fleet in the 
 harbor was within range of the heights ; the town 
 was commanded from the hills below. The occupa- 
 tion of these points would of necessity compel the 
 enemy to take the risk of a decisive action, or to 
 evacuate the town. 
 
 Washington, though preferring the bolder mea- 
 sure, yielded to the decision of his council, and threw 
 his whole soul into the work. A plan for a grand 
 combined movement was matured. The heights of 
 Dorchester were to be occupied on the night of the 
 4th of March, in order that the anticipated battle 
 might be fought on the anniversary of the ever- 
 memorable 5th of March, 1770. As soon as the 
 conflict was engaged on the heights, Putnam was 
 to cross from Cambridge with a body of four thou- 
 sand men, land in two divisions in Boston, and 
 forcing his way through the town burst open the 
 
68 
 
 fortifications on the neck, and thus admit a division 
 of the American army from Roxbury. To distract 
 and occupy the attention of the enemy, the town 
 was severely bombarded from Somervillc, East Cam- 
 bridge and Roxbury, during the nights of the 2d, 
 3d, and 4th of March. 
 
 I am tokl by professional men that these disposi- 
 tions evince consummate military skill ; and are 
 among the facts which show that Washington, too 
 often compelled by his situation to pursue the Fa- 
 bian policy, possessed a talent for military combina- 
 tions that entitles him to a place beside the greatest 
 captains of the last century. 
 
 The 4:th of March, the day so long and anxiously 
 expected, at length arrives. The troops are put in 
 motion in the evening, from the American lines at 
 Roxbury and Dorchester. An advanced guard of 
 eight hundred men precedes ; the carts with 
 intrenching tools came next, with the main body, 
 twelve hundred strong, under General Thomas ; the 
 whole followed by a train of three hundred wagons 
 loaded with fascines, gabions, and bundles of hay. 
 They crossed Dorchester neck without being per- 
 ceived, and reached their destination in two divisions, 
 one for each of the heights. Bundles of hay were 
 placed on the side of the causeAvay, at the most 
 exposed parts, as a protection in case the enemy 
 should discover and attempt to interrupt the move- 
 ment. Under this shelter, parties from the Ameri- 
 can army passed several times during the night, 
 without being perceived, though it was bright moon- 
 light. This was owing, no doubt, to the cannonade 
 
69 
 
 and bombardment of the town from the opposite 
 quarter, by which also the whole surrounding 
 country was thrown into a state of painful expecta- 
 tion and alarm. The operations were conducted by 
 Gridley, an experienced engineer of the old French 
 war. He was aided by Col. Putnam, in laying out 
 and executing the works, which before morning, 
 though incomplete, were adequate against grape- 
 shot and musketry. 
 
 Washington was present on the heights. In the 
 strictness of military duty, the presence of the com- 
 mander-in-chief of the army was not required on the 
 ground, on such an occasion ; but the operation 
 was too important to be trusted entirely to subordi- 
 nates. Accompanied by Mr. James Bowdoin, then 
 a young man of twenty-two, afterwards your respect- 
 ed fellow citizen, and the representative of Dorches- 
 ter in the Convention of Massachusetts which 
 adopted the Constitution of the United States, 
 Washington, whose head quarters were at Cam- 
 bridge, repaired, on this eventful night, to Dorches- 
 ter heights.* He has left no record descriptive of 
 the scene, or of his thoughts and emotions at what 
 he must have regarded, at that time, as the most 
 eventful hour of his life, and the most critical mo- 
 ment of the war. " The moon shining in its full 
 lustre" (they are the words of Washington), 
 revealed every object through the clear cold air of 
 early March, with that spectral distinctness, with 
 
 * Eidogy on Hon. James Bowdoin, by Rev. Dr. Jenks, p. 19, 20; 
 Addi'esses and Speeches, by Hon. R. C. Wiiithrop, p. 109, 
 
 10 
 
70 
 
 which things present themselves to the straining 
 eye, at a great juncture. All immediately around 
 him intense movement, but carried on in death-like 
 silence ; nothing heard but the incessant tread of 
 busy feet, and the dull sound of the mattock upon 
 the soil, frozen so deep as to make it necessary to 
 place the chief reliance on the fascines and gabions. 
 Beneath him, the slumbering batteries of the castle; 
 the roadstead and harbor filled with the vessels of 
 the royal fleet, motionless except as they swung 
 round at their moorings at the turn of the midnight 
 tide ; the beleaguered city, occupied by a powerful 
 army and a considerable non-combatant population, 
 startled into unnatural vigilance by the incessant 
 and destructive cannonade, but yet unobservant of 
 the great operations in progress so near them ; the 
 surrounding country, dotted with a hundred rural 
 settlements, roused from the deep sleep of a New 
 England village by the unwonted tumult and glare. 
 It has been stated, in one or two well-authenti- 
 cated cases of persons restored after drowning, 
 where life has been temporarily extinguished in the 
 full glow of health, with the faculties unimpaired 
 by disease and in perfect action, that, in the last few 
 minutes of conscious existence, the whole series of 
 the events of the entire life comes rushing back to 
 the mind, distinctly but with inconceivable rapidity; 
 that the whole life is lived over again in a moment. 
 Such a narrative, by a person of high official posi- 
 tion in a foreign country, and perfect credibility, I 
 have read. AVc may well suppose that at this most 
 critical moment of Washington's life, a similar con- 
 
71 
 
 centration of thought would take place, and that the 
 events of his past existence as they had prepared 
 him for it, — his training while yet a boy in the wil- 
 derness, his escape from drowning and the rifle of 
 the savage on his perilous mission to Venango, the 
 shower of iron hail through which he rode unharm- 
 ed on Braddock's field, would now crowd through 
 his memory ; that much more also the past life of 
 his country, the early stages of the great conflict 
 now brought to its crisis, and still more solemnly 
 the possibilities of the future for himself and for 
 America, would press upon him ; the ruin of the 
 patriotic cause if he failed at the outset ; the trium- 
 phant consolidation of the revolution if he pre- 
 vailed ; with higher visions of the hopeful family of 
 rising States, their auspicious growth and prosper- 
 ous fortunes, hovering like a dream of angels in 
 the remoter prospect ; — all this, attended with the 
 immense desire of honest fame (for we cannot 
 think even Washington's mind too noble to possess 
 the "last infirmity"), the intense inward glow of 
 manly heroism about to act its great part on a 
 sublime theatre, — the softness of the man chastening 
 the severity of the chieftain, and deeply touched at 
 the sufferings and bereavements about to be caused 
 by the conflict of the morrow ; the still tenderer 
 emotions that breathed their sanctity over all the 
 rest ; the thought of the faithful and beloved wife 
 who had followed him from Mount Vernon, and of 
 the aged mother whose heart was aching in her 
 Virginia home for glad tidings of " George, who was 
 always a good boy," — all these pictures, visions, 
 
72 
 
 feelings, pangs ; — too vast for words, too deep for 
 tears, — but swelling, no doubt, in one unuttered 
 prayer to Heaven, we may well imagine to have 
 filled the soul of Washington at that decisive hour, 
 as he stood upon the heights of Dorchester, with 
 the holy stars for his camp-fire, and the deep folding 
 shadows of night, looped by the hand of God to the 
 four quarters of the sky, for the curtains of his 
 tent* 
 
 The morning of the 5th of March dawned, and the 
 enemy beheld with astonishment, looming through 
 a heavy mist, the operations of the night. Gen. 
 Howe wrote to the minister that they must have 
 been the work of at least twelve thousand men. In 
 the account given by one of his officers, and adopted 
 in the Annual Register, it is said that the expedi- 
 tion with which these works w^ere thrown up, with 
 their sudden and unexpected appearance, " recalled 
 to the mind those wonderful stories of enchantment 
 
 ♦ This imagery was partly suggested to me by a noble stanza in 
 Gleim's Ode on the victory gained by Frederic the Great, at Lowositz, 
 dimly retained in a recollection of fortj' years. Since the Addi-ess was 
 delivered, my friend, Prof. Felton, has at my request, with the kind aid of 
 Dr. Beck, helped me to the original, which is as follows : — 
 
 " Auf einer Trommel sass der Held, 
 Und dachtc seme Schlacht ; 
 Den Himmel aber sich zum Zelt, 
 Und um sich her die Nacht." 
 
 Nearly in English as follows : — 
 
 Upon a drum the hero sat, 
 
 And thought upon his fight ; 
 The heaven above him for his tent. 
 
 And aU around the night. 
 
73 
 
 and invisible agency, which are so frequent in the 
 Eastern romances." 
 
 General Howe, like a gallant commander, imme- 
 diately determined on the perilous attempt to dis- 
 lodge the Americans before their entrenchments 
 should be rendered impregnable. A powerful de- 
 tachment, led by Lord Percy, dropped down to the 
 castle in the afternoon, to rendezvous there, and 
 thence cross over to Dorchester point, and storm the 
 heights. A heavy gale (a " dreadful storm," it is 
 called, in the British account) scattered the barges, 
 and prevented the embarkation of the troops. This 
 delay gave the Americans time to perfect their 
 Avorks, barrels filled with earth were placed round 
 the heights, an ahattis of trees disposed around the 
 foot of the hill, a reinforcement of two thousand 
 men ordered to the support of General Thomas, and 
 every preparation made for a decisive conflict.* 
 
 It was soon understood that the royal com- 
 mander, not deeming it safe to take the risk of an 
 engagement, had determined to evacuate Boston. 
 To prevent the destruction of the town, Washington 
 was willing that they should leave it unmolested. 
 Finding, however, after some days, that no apparent 
 movement was made for this purpose, he determined 
 without further delay to occupy Nook hill and the 
 other elevations fronting and commanding the town. 
 This produced the desired effect, and General Howe 
 was at length compelled to acknowledge the inability 
 of a powerful land and naval force, under veteran 
 
 * Heath's Memoirs, p. 40. 
 
74 
 
 leaders, to maintain themselves against untried 
 levies whom they were accustomed to regard with 
 contempt, led by officers from whom they affected 
 even to withhold the usual titles of military com- 
 mand. He was obliged to acquiesce in an engage- 
 ment with the Selectmen of Boston, tacitly sanc- 
 tioned by " Mr. Washington," that his army should 
 be allowed to embark without being fired upon, 
 on condition that they would not burn the town.* 
 
 Thus, on the 17th of March, 1776, an efiective 
 force of many thousand men evacuated the town, and 
 with a powerful fleet and a numerous train of 
 transports, sailed for Halifax. Putnam, with a de- 
 tachment of the American army, took possession of 
 Boston, The beloved commander himself made his 
 entry into the town the following day, and the first 
 great act of the drama of the Eevolution was brought 
 to a triumpliant close, on that old Dorchester Neck 
 which, before the foundation of Boston, our fathers 
 selected as a place for settlement. 
 
 This event diff'used joy throughout the Union, and 
 contributed materially to prepare the public mind 
 for that momentous political measure, of which we 
 this day commemorate the seventy-ninth anniversary. 
 Tliat civil government, however human infirmities 
 mingle in its organization, is, in its ultimate princi- 
 ples, a Divine ordinance, will be doubted by no one 
 who believes in an overruling Providence. That 
 every people has a right to interpret for itself the 
 will of Providence, in reference to the form of gov- 
 
 * Newell's Journal, Mass. Hist. Collections, Fourth Series, Vol. I., 272. 
 
75 
 
 eminent best suited to its condition, subject to no 
 external human responsibility, is equally certain, 
 and is the doctrine which lies at the basis of the 
 Declaration of Independence. But what makes a 
 People, — what constitutes this august community, to 
 which we give that name; how many persons — how 
 few ; bound to each other by what antecedent ties 
 of physical descent, of common language, of local 
 proximity, of previous political connection 1 This 
 is a great question, to which no answer, that T 
 know, has yet been given ; to which, in general 
 terms, perhaps, none can be given. Physiologists 
 have not yet found the seat of animal life, — far less 
 of the rational intellect or spiritual essence of the 
 individual Man. Who can wonder that it should be 
 still farther beyond our ability to define the mysteri- 
 ous laws which, — out of the physical instincts of our 
 nature, the inexplicable attractions of kindred and 
 tongue, the persuasions of reason, the social sympa- 
 thies, the accidents as we call them of birth, the 
 wanderings of nations in the dark ages of the past, 
 the confederacies of peace, the ravages of war, 
 employed by the all-fashioning hand of time, which 
 moulds every thing human according to the eternal 
 types in the divine mind, — work out, in the lapse of 
 centuries, with more than Promethean skill, that 
 wondrous creation which we call a People ! 
 
 The Declaration of Independence which we cele- 
 brate to-day, attempted no definition of these myste- 
 rious agencies ; it assumed their result. It assumed 
 that the late Colonies of England were a People, and 
 entitled to all the rights implied in the name. 
 
76 
 
 " When, in the conrse of human events, it becomes 
 necessary for one People to dissolve the political 
 bands which have connected them with another, 
 and to assume among the poAvers of the earth the 
 separate and equal station to which the laws of 
 nature and nature's God entitle them, a decent 
 respect for the opinions of mankind requires that 
 they should declare the causes that impel them to 
 the separation." Such is the dignified and solemn 
 commencement of the great instrument by which, 
 seventy-nine years ago, with the hearty concurrence 
 .of the citizens of Dorchester, the Continental 
 Congress of America, renouncing allegiance to the 
 British government, asserted the Independence of 
 these United States.* They left, — they were com- 
 
 * The Council of Massachusetts dii'ected (July 17th, 177G) that a copy of 
 the Declaration should be sent to each muiister of every denomination in the 
 State, to be read to his congregation, and then handed to the town clerks, 
 *< who are required to record the same in their respective town or district 
 books, there to remain as a perpetual memorial thereof." It is found in 
 Dorchester Records III., p. 461 — 5. 
 
 It is a matter of interest to compare the Declaration of the Independence 
 of the United States of America, of the 4th Jvdy, 1776, with that of the 
 States General of the United Provinces of Holland, of the 26th of July, 
 1581, by which they asserted their independence of the Spanish Cro-mi. 
 The two Declarations are necessarily altogether different in their details, but 
 as the occasions which produced them ai-e alike, so there is a similarit}'' in 
 their sti-ucture, and in the mode of trcatmg the subject, which I hardly 
 think can be mere coincidence. I have a black letter copy of the original in 
 Dutch, printed at Leyden by the sworn Printer of the State of Holland, in 
 1581, with this title: — Placcaet vande Staten generael vande ghevnieerde 
 Nederlanden : byden welcken, midts den redenen in't lange in't selfde 
 begrepen, men verclaert den Conmck van Spaegnien vervallen vande 
 Ouerheyt ende Heerschappije van dese voors. Nederlanden, ende verbiet 
 sijnen uaem ende zcghel indc sehie Landen meer te ghebruycken, &c. A 
 translation is contained in Lord Somers's Tracts, Vol. I., p. 323, Sir Walter 
 Scott's Edition. 
 
77 
 
 pellecl to leave it to the bloody arbitrament of war, 
 whether they were rebellious colonies to be lawfully 
 reduced by force, or a sovereign people rightfully 
 struggling to be free. 
 
 Happy for humanity would it be, if this question 
 could find a peaceful and practical solution. It 
 will, in the coming centuries, perhaps in times near 
 at hand, be a frequently recurring question. Vast 
 colonial dependencies exist in various parts of the 
 world, subject to the powers of Western Europe. 
 Such is the case with half the continent of North 
 America ; with all the West India Islands, with a 
 single exception ; with an immense region of south- 
 ern Africa ; with the vast territory of India, and 
 with most of the islands of the Indian Archipelago ; 
 and with the whole Australian world. There is no 
 reason to doubt that, in the lapse of time, these 
 colonial dependencies will grow up in population, 
 in wealth, in intelligence, and in all the elements of 
 political life, to the stature of a perfect State. How 
 devoutly is it to be wished that principles of public 
 law should be established, regulating the transition 
 of colonies into a condition of Independence, by 
 great constitutional compacts, and not through the 
 gates of bloody revolution ! 
 
 There is another momentous question which is 
 left undecided in the great declaration ; and that is, 
 whether all the inliabrtants of British America in 
 their united capacity, and in that alone, formed the 
 " one People " which asserted their independence 
 (which was perhaps the opinion generally entertained 
 by the statesmen of 1776), or whether the inliabi- 
 11 
 
78 
 
 tants of the several colonies were each a people who, 
 if it had pleased them, could each have declared its 
 separate mdependence (as some appear afterwards to 
 have held and to hold) ; — this was a question not 
 discussed this day seventy-nine years ago. That was 
 a period of high patriotic excitement, of fervid senti- 
 ment, of impulsive effort against an impending 
 danger. The metaphysics of state are an after- 
 thought of prosperous and speculative times. But, 
 however these questions may be decided, whatever 
 foundation there may be for the opinion that the 
 inhabitants of each State in the Union are entitled 
 to the name and rights of an independent people ; it 
 may be safely affirmed that they cannot at one and 
 the same time be the people of two different States 
 or Territories ; although the contrary doctrine seems 
 to prevail to some extent, I trust not widely, in the 
 West, where it has lately been maintained, by the 
 sharp logic of the revolver and the Bowie-knife, 
 that the people of Missouri are the people of Kanzas ! 
 It woidd have been a pleasing task, fellow citizens, 
 had time permitted it, to pursue this rapid glance at 
 the fortunes of our native town, through the period 
 which has elapsed from the Declaration of Inde^^en- 
 dence to the present time. Such a glance would 
 have exhibited, at least since the commencement of 
 this century, a picture of steady growth and almost 
 uninterrupted prosperity, of Avhich few brighter 
 examples can be found in the Commonwealth. It is 
 within this period that my own family associations 
 with Dorchester, and my personal recollections, fall. 
 I seem even now to hear the voice of the same 
 
79 
 
 ancient bell wliicli clieered us tins morning with its 
 festal peal, as fifty-five years ago it called together the 
 citizens of Dorchester to the meeting-house on yonder 
 hill, to listen to the eulogy on Washington from the 
 lips of one, whom I was called too soon to deplore ; 
 and who is not to be named by me, after the lapse of 
 so many years, but with tenderness and veneration.* 
 In this period, under the influence of the principles 
 of solid national growth which gave character to the 
 earliest settlements of Massachusetts, and of which, 
 thank heaven, the force is not yet expended, of that 
 love of liberty which prompted the Declaration of 
 Independence, and of that spirit of fraternal affection 
 which produced the last great fruit of the revolution, 
 — the union of the States under a constitution of 
 confederated republican government,— our country 
 has increased in population, in wealth, in strength, 
 in all that benefits or adorns the societies of men, 
 till it stands the admiration of the world. O fortu- 
 natos nimium, sua si bona norint ! Happy, too 
 happy, did w^e but know our blessings. Perfection 
 belongs to nothing human. Times of trial have 
 come upon the country, at different periods ; wars 
 abroad and dissensions at home, — alarming junctures 
 of affairs ; — and these vicissitudes must be anticipated 
 in time to come as they have happened in time past. 
 But hitherto an unfailing good Providence has 
 carried us through the trials, without which this 
 world would come too near perfection. Let us, my 
 
 * A eulogy on Washingtoii was, at the request of the citizens of Dorches- 
 ter, delivered on the 22d February, 1800, by my honored father, Oliver 
 Everett, who died 19th December, 1802. 
 
80 
 
 fellow citizens, on this anniversary of the nation^s 
 birth, rescue one day from the cruel dominion of 
 those passions which fill us with bitterness toward 
 each other, and unite in the hope, that we shall still 
 be sustained by the same Almighty arm which bore 
 our fathers over the waters, — supported them under 
 the hardships of the first settlement, — conducted 
 them through the difficulties of the colonial period, 
 — protected them through the dangers of the revolu- 
 tionary struggle, — and has guided their career as an 
 independent State. 
 
 Thus, my friends, in the neighborhood of the spot 
 where, in my early childhood, I acquired the first 
 elements of learning at one of those public schools, 
 which are the glory and strength of New England, 
 I have spoken to you imperfectly of the appropriate 
 topics of the day. Retired from public life, without 
 the expectation or the wish to return to it, but the 
 contrary, — grateful for the numerous marks of public 
 confidence which I have received, and which I feel 
 to be beyond my merits, — respectmg the convictions 
 of those from whom I have at any time differed, and 
 asking the same justice for my own,— I confess, fellow 
 citizens, that few things would better please me than 
 to find a quiet retreat in my native tow^n, where I 
 might pass the rest of my humble career in the 
 serious studies and tranquil pursuits which befit the 
 decline of life, till the same old bell should announce 
 that the chequered scene is over, and the weary is 
 at rest. 
 
I 
 
AN ACCOUNT OP THE 
 
 CELEBRATION IN DORCHESTER, 
 
 JULY 4, 185 5. 
 
 THE SEVENTY-NINTH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 AMEPlXGAS" IISTJOEPEFDE'^GE, 
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIFTH YEAR 
 
 LANDING OF THE FIRST SETTLERS. 
 
PJIELIMINARY PROCEEDINGS. 
 
 In the year 1853, a letter, numerously signed by citizens 
 of Dorchester, was addressed to the Hon. Edward Everett, 
 inviting him to deliver an oration in honor of the Declara- 
 tion of ladcpendence. Upon Mr. Everett's acceptance 
 of the invitation, in the succeeding year, a meeting of 
 the citizens of Dorchester was convened, and a large 
 committee appointed with full authority to make all 
 necessary arrangements for the proper observance of the 
 day, and also to commemorate the two hundred and twenty- 
 fifth anniversary of the settlement of the town. 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 LETTER TO MR. EVERETT FROM THE CITIZENS OF DORCHESTER. 
 Hon. EDWARD EVEIIETT. Dorchester, October 10, 1853. 
 
 Sir: 
 
 Actuated by motives of public good, and believ- 
 ing in the salutary teachings of national events when con- 
 templated with an inquiring spirit and enlightened judgment 
 — the undersigned, citizens of Dorchester, without distinc- 
 tion of party, are desirous of celebrating the 4th of July, 
 12 
 
84 THE CELEBRATION. 
 
 1854, in a manner that shall prove creditable to that ancient 
 town, instructive to the young, renovating to the aged, and 
 morally profitable to the nation. 
 
 Although the occasion is one of annual occurrence, its 
 magnitude increases "with every revolution of the great 
 wheel of progress, and the growing and diversified interests 
 of the country arc unceasingly presenting new and momen- 
 tous questions to be studied, illustrated and explained. The 
 asylum of freedom, and equally the director of progress, 
 America, in her youth, stands in the highly responsible 
 positions of both protector and pioneer ; and while it is her 
 ambition to secure an unquestionable efficiency in the one, 
 it is no less her pride to aim at the highest standard of 
 ■«dsdom in the other. 
 
 Placed in such fearful relations of responsibility, and 
 held strictly accountable to posterity for the faithfulness 
 with which they perform the sacred duties of citizenship, 
 the American people owe it to the achievements of the 
 past, to the bloody toils and sacrifices of their ancestors ; 
 to their hopes and aspirations as immortal beings for the 
 advancement of their descendants, and to the universal 
 cause of humanity in the immeasurable future, — so to 
 sanctify and ennoble the great birth-day of freedom by 
 constantly associating with it the cheering and weighty 
 events of progress, as to render identical the power of 
 knowledge and the blessings of freedom. The intellect 
 should be trained to acknowledge and to practise the true 
 means of happiness. Such a theme demands a patriot's 
 spirit, a statesman's knowledge, and a master's skill. It 
 is a lesson to be taught to an entire nation, — to the ob- 
 servers of all nations. It is a subject narrowed to no 
 limits of Township, Commonwealth, or Countr}^, but illimi- 
 table as the workings in the invisible and unfathomable 
 depths and recesses of the soul. 
 
 The humble but ancient town of Dorchester, though once 
 
THE CELEBRATION. 85 
 
 tlie chief of New England, aflbrds but a slender stock of 
 materials for the scrutinizing historian. Still, its annals 
 are not entirely void of national interest. Its early ex- 
 ample of Town organization, and the zeal of her sons to 
 extend the domain of truth, and to give form to the colo- 
 nizing spirit in distant sections of the continent, were 
 characteristic indications of its first settlers. Its Heights 
 were made to frown upon an invading foe, and its brave 
 citizens were among the first to resist the acts of British 
 oppression. Its hills were honored by a Bowdoin, and its 
 plains by a Stoughton and an Everett. 
 
 In asking you to address the people of Dorchester, and 
 such others as may honor the occasion with their presence, 
 on the 4th of July 1854, the subscribers are not unmindful 
 of your important and laborious position in the councils of 
 the nation, and of those numerous engagements ever inci- 
 dent to the transcendant gifts and acquirements of mind. 
 It is hoped, however, that the place of your nativity may 
 be regarded in the present case with an indulgent and 
 special consideration, — believing, as we do, that whatever 
 and whenever you speak as a statesman, the people of a 
 nation will seek to become acquainted with your counsels. 
 
 We have the honor to be, with considerations of respect 
 and esteem, your most obedient servants and fellow 
 citizens. 
 
 Oliver Hall, Thomas Tremlett, 
 
 Ebenezer Eaton, Nathaniel R. Childs, 
 
 Samuel P. Loud, Nathan Carruth, 
 
 John Kettell, Henry Gardner, 
 
 Edward King, John Barnard, 
 
 Daniel Denny, Wm. Worthington, 
 
 David Cummins, Charles Ranstead, 
 
 Charles Hood, M. O. Barry, 
 Marshall P. Wilder, Wm. P. Barnard, 
 
 Edward Sharp, A. C. Dorr, 
 
 John G. Nazro, Wm. H. Richardson, 
 
 Thomas Groom, John H. Sumner, 
 
 M. Field Fowler, Samuel Gilbert, Jr. 
 12'^ 
 
86 
 
 THE CELEBRATION 
 
 Lorenzo Prouty, 
 Thomas M, Vinson, 
 Elisha Preston, 
 E. P. Tileston, 
 Willam D. Swan, 
 Thomas D. Quincy, 
 Lewis Pierce, 
 Eleazer J. Bispham, 
 Darius Brewer, 
 J. B. Robb, 
 John H. Robinson, 
 Ebenezer Clapp, 
 George Richardson, 
 John Richardson, 
 Cornelius Bird, 
 William Richardson, 
 Nahum Capen, 
 Edward Everett Rice, 
 James Tucker, Jr. 
 Nath'l E. Tucker, 
 Wm. E. Vincent, 
 James Sivret, 
 Henry J. Gardner, 
 Eben. Clapp, Jr. 
 Seth C. Jones, 
 C. M. Thompson, 
 E. P. Robinson, 
 Harvey Howe, 
 W. A. Gilbert, 
 Charles Hunt, 
 Amos Upham, 
 Charles Bradlee, 
 Robert Richardson, 
 Samuel J. Capen, 
 Joseph Tuttle, 
 Thomas M. Mosely, 
 Nath'l W. Tileston, 
 John C. Brown, 
 Charles B. Peirce, 
 Charles Howe, 
 Elijah Vose, 
 James Jenkins, 
 William Clap, 
 T. J. Vinton, 
 James Swan, 
 William Pope, Jr. 
 J. P. Clapp, 
 
 Charles Emery, 
 Williams B. Brooks, 
 Charles H. Pierce, 
 O. Putnam Bacon, 
 Otis Wright, 
 Wm. H. Chamberlain, 
 Charles Lane, 
 J. W. Pottle, 
 Wm. F. Worthington, 
 Elisha H. Preston, 
 John Preston, 2d, 
 Richard Pitts, 
 O. A. Farwell, 
 George M. Browne, 
 John W. Blanchard, 
 Edmund Wright, 
 Wm. E. Abbot, 
 Robert Pierce, 
 S. B. Pierce, 
 Robert Vose, 
 Samuel E. Sa^vyer, 
 James VV. Sever, 
 Charles P. Ripley, 
 Roswell Gleason, 
 George Haynes, 
 R. F. Tolman, 
 Nath'l F. Safford, 
 Amasa Pray, 
 Ebenezer Holden, 
 Robert Codman, 
 William Tolman, 
 Benjamin Cushing, 
 Benjamin Jacobs, 
 John W. Porter, 
 Robert Rhodes, 
 Nathan Holbrook, 
 John P. Spooner, 
 Eben Tolman, 
 George C. Thacher, 
 John J. May, 
 D. E. Wadieigh, 
 Daniel Lane, 
 John Mears, 
 Barnabas Davis, 
 Thomas Howe, 
 Samuel B. Pierce, 2d, 
 Isaac Clapp, 
 
THE CELEBEATION 
 
 87 
 
 Edward Jarvis, 
 Charles Ansorge, 
 T. H. Cleveland, 
 Wm. R. Austin, 
 Augustus Brown, 
 William T Andrews, 
 Oliver Downing, 
 James H. Upham, 
 Enoch Train, 
 Samuel Swan, 
 Dean F. Battles, 
 Bradish Billings, 
 John O. B. Minot, 
 Fred. F. Hassam, 
 Samuel Hall, 
 E. H. R. Ruggles, 
 John Burt, 
 Edmund J. Baker, 
 
 W. F. Temple, 
 H. Temple, 
 Cheever Newhall, 
 Edward Jones, 
 Wm. M. Jackson, 
 Frederick Nichols, 
 John Fox, 
 G. W. Boynton, 
 ThoiTias C. Wales, 
 Nath'l Hall, 
 Henry Lunt, 
 George W. Porter, 
 George Yendell, 
 S. S. Curtis, 
 J. H. Pray, 
 John A. Pray, 
 Wm. H. Pray. 
 
 LETTER OF COMMITTEE OF INVITATION. 
 
 Dorchester, October 10, ISoS. 
 Hon. EDWARD EVEKETT, 
 
 Sir: 
 
 We hare the honor to present to you a communi- 
 cation, numerously signed by citizens of Dorchester, and 
 respectfully ask that you will give to the subject of it the 
 most favorable consideration consistent with your convic- 
 tions of duty. 
 
 The Committee, in performing the agreeable duty as- 
 signed to them, take great pleasure in extending to you 
 the assm-ance, that could the celebration take place as 
 proposed in the communication now presented, it has the 
 promise of being singularly distinguished by the spirit of 
 unanimity and of patriotism. 
 
 With high considerations of respect and true regard, we 
 have the honor to be your most obedient servants. 
 
 Marshall P. Wilder, 
 Daniel Denny, 
 William T. Andrews, 
 Nahum Capen, 
 Robert Codman, 
 
 Com. of 
 Invitation. 
 
88 THE CELEBRATION. 
 
 MR. EVERETT'S REPLY. 
 
 Boston, November 30, 1854. 
 
 Gentlemen : — 
 
 You are aware, through my personal communications 
 with ^Ir. Capcn, of the reasons which prevented me, a 
 twelvemonth since, from returnino; a formal answer to the 
 invitation of a very large number of the citizens of Dor- 
 chester, transmitted to me with your letter of the 10th of 
 October, 1853, to deliver an oration on the 4th of July of 
 the present year. 
 
 My Congressional duties at tliat time forbade my entering 
 into an engagement for the 4th of July last, and you were 
 pleased to propose the extension of the invitation to the 
 4th of July, 1855. 
 
 I cannot but feel gratified and honored by an invitation 
 proceeding from so large a number of the most respected 
 citizens of the town where I Avas born and passed my cliild- 
 hood, and at whose schools I received the rudiments of my 
 education. I have been obliged for many years, in conse- 
 quence of the very great number of applications to address 
 public meetings of every kind, to excuse myself almost 
 altogether ; and I might find, in the state of my health and 
 other domestic circumstances, an apology for declining this 
 invitation. But I cannot resist the temptation to avail 
 myself of this opportunity, to address my fellow citizens of 
 Dorchester, for the first time in my life, and to unite with 
 them in a festival, which, as I infer from the communication 
 with which you have favored me, has been projected with 
 more than usual thoughtful reference to the nature and 
 consequences of the great event commemorated. 
 
 With these feelings, gentlemen, I accept with pleasure 
 the invitation which I have received through you from a 
 large number of the citizens of Dorclicster, without dis- 
 tinction of party, to deliver an oration before them on the 
 fourtli of July next. 
 
 I remain, with great respect, gentlemen, sincerely 
 yours, 
 
 EDWARD EVERETT. 
 
 Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, 
 Daniel Denny, Esq. 
 William T. Andrews, Esq. 
 Nahum Capbn, Esq. 
 Robert Codman, Esq. 
 
OFFICERS AND COMMITTEES. 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE DAY. 
 
 MARSHALL P. WILDER. 
 
 Samuel P. Loud, 
 Ebenezev Clapp, 
 William Clapp, 
 William Pope, 
 Henry Lunt, 
 Samuel B. Pierce, Sen. 
 John Barnard, 
 Lewis Pierce, 
 Ebenezer Eaton, 
 Daniel Denny, 
 Thomas J. Tolman, 
 J. P. Spooner, 
 Isaac Clapp, 
 John Preston, 
 Enoch Train, 
 Edmund P. Tileston. 
 Charles Hood, 
 
 VICE PRESIDENTS. 
 
 Edward King, 
 Roswell Gleason, 
 Cheever Newhall, 
 Oliver Hall, 
 E. J. Baker, 
 , William D. Swan, 
 James Tolman, 
 Timothy Farrer, 
 Nathaniel Crane, 
 Edward Capen, 
 John Mears, 
 William E. Vincent, 
 John H. Robinson, 
 William T. Andrews, 
 E. J. Bisphara, 
 Robert Vose, 
 
 Charles Hunt, 
 Asaph Churchill, 
 Samuel B. Pierce, 2d, 
 Thomas Groom, 
 Wm. Richardson, Rive7' 
 Charles Howe. [st. 
 
 John J. May, 
 Richard Baker, Jr., 
 Thomas C. Wales, 
 Nathaniel F. Safford, 
 Thomas Liversidge, 
 Edmund Wright, 
 Samuel Gilbert, Jr., 
 G. M. Browne, 
 William E. Abbot, 
 Dana Tucker, 
 Thomas Kendrick. 
 
 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 
 
 Marshall P. Wilder, 
 Edmund P. Tileston 
 Daniel Denny, 
 William D. Swan, 
 Oliver Hall, 
 
 John H, Robinson, 
 , Aaron D. Capen, 
 
 Edward King, 
 
 Nahum Capen, 
 
 Enoch Train, 
 Nahum Capen, Secretary. 
 Oliver Hall, Treasurer. 
 
 Nathan Carruth, 
 E. J. Bispham, 
 Charles Hunt, 
 Lewis Pierce. 
 
90 
 
 THE CELEBRATION 
 
 COJnnTTEE OX INVITATIONS. 
 Samuel P. Loud, Edmund J. Baker, John P. Spooner, 
 
 Nahum Capen, Ebenezer Clapp, Jr., Robert Codman, 
 
 W. E. Abbot. 
 
 Daniel Denny, 
 Enoch Train, 
 Samuel Hall, 
 
 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE. 
 Thomas Howe, William T. Andrews, 
 
 James Tucker, Jr., Charles Lane, 
 Cheever Newhall, Oliver Hall. 
 
 COMMITTEE ON RECEPTION, 
 
 Edmund P. Tileston, 
 Erastus D. Miller, 
 Benj. Gushing, 
 
 Charles Howe, 
 John J. May, 
 Samuel J. Capen, 
 
 William Codman, 
 William H. Vincent. 
 
 COMMITTEE ON SENTIMENTS AND SPEECHES. 
 William T. Andrews, Asaph Churchill, Edward Jarvis, 
 
 N. F. Safford, Charles Hood, E. J. Baker, 
 
 William D. Swan. 
 
 COMMITTEE ON MUSIC. 
 Nathan Carruth, James Jenkins, James Swan, 
 
 Charles Bradlee, 
 Samuel Gilbert, Jr. 
 
 William P. Barnard, 0. P. Bacon. 
 Edward Everett Rice, 
 
 COMMITTEE ON MILITARY. 
 
 Col. J. W. Sever, Capt. Harvey Howe, Capt. Amasa Pray, 
 
 Maj. Aaron D. Capen, Capt. Roswell Gleason, Maj. M. G. Cobb. 
 
 COMMITTEE ON PLACE OF MEETING AND ORDER OF 
 
 Oliver Hall, 
 Lewis Pierce, 
 James Tolman, 
 
 PROCESSION. 
 
 Robert Vose, 
 Edward Jones, 
 E. J. Bispham, 
 
 John Mears, Jr., 
 Ebenezer Eaton. 
 
 COMMITTEE ON DINNER AND DECORATIONS. 
 
 John H. Robinson, John Mears, 
 
 Samuel B. Pierce, 2d, William Pope, Jr., 
 
 Joseph Tultle, Thomas Groom, 
 
 Otis Wright, George Yendell, 
 
 George Haynes, 
 Parker Barnes, 
 Thomas Kendrick, 
 William Wales. 
 
THE CELEBRATION 
 
 91 
 
 COMMITTEE ON FIREWORKS. 
 
 Edward King, 
 John Preston, 2d, 
 M. 0. Barry, 
 VVm. H. Richardson, 
 
 Benjamin Jacobs, 
 J. H. Upham, 
 Fred. F. Hassam. 
 George H. Vincent, 
 
 A. W. Spencer, 
 F. S. Drake, 
 Robert Vose, Jr. 
 
 C. C. Holbrook, 
 Frank Tileston, 
 
 George H. Vincent, 
 
 E. W. Howe, 
 Geo. Woodman, 
 A. L. Jordan, 
 Charles F. Preston, 
 Charles H. Pierce, 
 Harvey Howe, 
 Benjamin Cashing, 
 A. D. Swan, 
 
 F. F. Hassam, 
 F. S. Drake, 
 Robert Vose, Jr., 
 Henry G. Denny, 
 J. Henry Loud, 
 Wm. H. Wilder, 
 George Newhall, 
 Anson Hardy, 
 Axel Dearborn, 
 
 CHIEF MARSHAL. 
 
 MOSES G. COBB. 
 
 AIDS. 
 
 George F. Pierce, 
 Thomas W. Tuttle, 
 
 ASSISTANT MARSHALS. 
 
 C. M. Thompson, 
 A. W. Spencer. 
 
 N. W. Coffin, 
 M. L. Bradford, 
 A. Donaldson, 
 R. Gleason, Jr., 
 Samuel J. Capen, 
 William P. Leavitt, 
 Sylvester H. Hebard, 
 Thomas M, Vinson, 
 George Fisher, 
 Robert White, 
 Jno. C. Robinson, 
 Alfred Clapp, 
 Eben Bird, 
 Laban Pratt, 
 Amasa Pray, 
 Eben. Holden, Jr., 
 C. A. Clapp, 
 W. W. Paise, 
 
 Augustus Parker, 
 G. H. Kingsbury, 
 Frank Pierce, 
 S. B. Mandell, 
 
 E. W. Lincoln, 
 Joseph D. Robinson, 
 Barney Ford, Jr., 
 
 J. W. Porter, 
 J. B. Callender, 
 Wm. W. Swan, 
 George W. Mears, 
 Gideon Beck, 
 Robert Cunningham , 
 W. J. Robie, 
 B. F. Brown, 
 
 F. B. Snow, 
 Isaac Swan, 
 E. G. Emery. 
 
 13 
 
CEREMONIES OE THE DAY. 
 
 The morning proved to be one of the most delightful 
 and balmy of the season, not a cloud obscuring the sky. 
 During the day no accident occurred to mar its festivi- 
 ties ; and throughout the various ceremonies of the occasion, 
 there was but one expression of feeling — that of the highest 
 enjoyment and satisfaction. 
 
 At sunrise, noon and sunset, salutes of cannon were fired 
 from Mount Bowdoin and Commercial Point, by the Boston 
 Light Artillery. The bells of the various Churches were 
 rung, and otlier customary patriotic ceremonials of the 
 day observed. Om- national banner was thrown to the 
 breeze from a hundred different flag-staffs, and as it 
 floated over and among the delightful groves, looked more 
 beautiful than ever. The magnificent staff erected on 
 Meeting-House Hill, and the immense flag which floated 
 from its top — both of which were furnished for the occasion 
 tlyough the liberality of Col. Enoch Train — attracted 
 universal attention and admiration. 
 
 At an early hour, throngs of people from various quar- 
 ters began to repair to the good old town of Dorchester, 
 where they were cordially and hospitably received by the 
 inhabitants, who were well prepared to greet their visitors. 
 The public conveyances, cars and omnibuses, carried full 
 
THE CELEBRATION. 93 
 
 loads, while the roads were filled with private carria_a:cs. 
 Many houses in the principal streets were handsomely de- 
 corated, and before the hour for commencing the more 
 public proceedings of the day, the visitors from abroad 
 were numbered by thousands. 
 
 The invited guests assembled, at 9 o'clock, at the beau- 
 tiful residence of William T. Andrews, Esq. The pro- 
 cession, which was large and imposing, was formed in 
 Pleasant street, imder the direction of Major Moses G. 
 Cobb, Cliief Marshal; the following gentlemen acting as 
 aids : — C. C. Holbrook, Frank Tileston, George F. Pierce, 
 Thomas W. Tuttle, C. M. Thompson, and A. W. Spencer. 
 
 The procession was preceded by a cavalcade, which pre- 
 sented, under the command of Lieut. Axel Dearborn, a 
 fine appearance- 
 
 The escort duty was, by particular invitation, performed 
 by the Independent Corps of Cadets, of Boston, under the 
 command of Lieutenant Colonel Thomas C. Amory. They 
 turned out sixty guns, and constituted a brilliant feature 
 of the procession. The Weymouth Brass Band furnished 
 the music. 
 
 The following was the order of the 
 
 PROCESSION. 
 
 Cavalcade. 
 
 Independent Company of Cadets. 
 
 Committee of Arrangements. 
 
 Vice Presidents. 
 
 (in carkiages,) 
 
 The President of the Day and the Orator. 
 
 The Reader of the Declaration of Independence and the Chaplains. 
 
 His Excellency the Governor and Staff. 
 
 United States Senators and Representatives. 
 
94 THE CELEBRATION. 
 
 Lieut. Governor and Executive Council. 
 
 Officers of the Massachusetts Legislature. 
 
 President and Ex-Presidents of Harvard University. 
 
 Judges of the Courts in the State. 
 
 Officers of the War of 1S12. 
 
 United States Officers, civil and military. 
 
 Descendants of Dorchester resident elsewhere. 
 
 Clergy and distinguished guests. 
 
 Next came a boat on wheels, called the " Everett Barge." 
 It was filled with a delegation of fifteen children from the 
 Everett School, all handsomely attired. 
 
 FIRE DEPARTMENT. 
 
 The several companies formed on Adams street, at 9 
 o'clock, A.M., accompanied by the Boston Brigade and 
 Stoughton Brass Bands, and marched through Centre, 
 Washington, Bowdoiu and Commercial streets to Pleasant 
 street, where they took their position in the procession, 
 in the following order : — 
 
 Sylvester H. Hebard, Chief Engineer. 
 
 Alfred Clapp, Robert White, Joseph C. Robinson and George L. 
 Fisher, Assistant Engineers. 
 
 Fountain Company, No. 1, George S. Esty, Foreman. 
 Protector " No. 2, Samuel F. White, " 
 
 Torrent " No. 3, Seth D. Durell, 
 
 Alert " No. 4, Joseph W. Sloan, " 
 
 Independence " No. 5, Andrew Collins, " 
 
 Tiger " No. 6, James H. Upham, " 
 
 These companies turned out with full ranks, in new and 
 appropriate uniform. The engines were beautifully deco- 
 rated, and each one was drawn by two or four horses. 
 
 This Department, with their banners and decorations, 
 added greatly to the interesting pageant. 
 
THE CELEBRATION. 95 
 
 A deputation of thirty-one members of the Order of 
 United Americans, dressed in continental uniform, were 
 represented in the procession. They appeared in a barge, 
 which was drawn by eight splendid gray horses. Then 
 followed the 
 
 Dorchester Antiquarian and Historical Society. 
 
 Town Officers of Dorchester. 
 
 School Committee. 
 
 Representatives to the General Court. 
 
 Subscribers to the Dinner. 
 
 Citizens. 
 
 The procession moved at 10 minutes past eleven, and 
 took up Mr. Everett at the house in which he was born 
 at the corner of Pond and Boston streets. It then passed 
 through Pond, Boston, Hancock, Bowdoin and Webster 
 streets, to the Pavilion, where the Oration was delivered. 
 
 As the procession passed through Webster street, the 
 scene was beautiful beyond description. The public 
 schools had been formed in a line on either side of the 
 street, with distinctive and appropriate banners. The boys 
 were dressed in white pants and dark jackets, and the girls 
 in white, their hats and bonnets being tastefully trimmed 
 with wreaths and flowers. The various schools were dis- 
 tinguished by gay rosettes and sashes of different colors, 
 and the children carried beautiful bouquets of flowers, 
 which were scattered with liberal profuseness ; the orator, 
 president of the day, the chief marshal, and distinguished 
 friends from abroad, being the happy recipients. Never 
 was there a more pleasing sight. The animated and intel- 
 ligent faces of these children, their large numbers, stretch- 
 ing a considerable distance along the way, made a beautiful 
 show, and they seemed indeed the jewels of Dorchester. 
 They greeted the distinguished orator and invited guests 
 , with the most enthusiastic cheers. 
 
96 THE CELEBRATION. 
 
 After the procession had passed, the schools joined it, 
 in their order, as follows : — 
 
 Col. John P. Clapp, Marshal. 
 
 MATHER SCHOOL— with Banner. 
 
 Motto — " Mather School, Dorchester. Established 1C39." On the reverse, 
 
 " July 4th, 18.55." 
 
 Benjamin F. Brown, Principal. 
 Misses Mary Pearson, Mary M. Smith and Betsey Hooper, Ass'ts. 
 
 WINTHROP SCHOOL— with Banner. 
 
 Motto — " "Wintlirop School, Dorchester." 
 
 Isaac Swan, Principal. 
 
 Misses Sophia A. Clapp, E. J. Stetson and S. R. Childs, Ass'ts. 
 
 [Scholars belonging to the Eliot Intennediate School, Miss A. 
 
 French, Teacher; and Primary School, Miss M. Stone, Teacher, 
 
 were with the Winthrop School.] 
 
 GIBSON SCHOOL— with Banner. 
 Motto — " Common Schools — our Country's Hope. Gibson School, July 4, 
 
 1855." 
 
 Robert Vose, Jr., Principal. 
 Mrs. M. J. Homer, Misses L. P. Tolman and M. E. Tolman, Ass'ts. 
 
 ADAMS SCHOOL— with Banner. 
 Motto — " Adams School, Dorchester." On the reverse side — " ' Indepen- 
 dence forever.' — Yes, patriot Sii-e, we will maintain it." 
 
 Francis B. Snow, Principal. 
 Misses Ann Tolman and Kate W. Towne, Ass'ts. 
 
 [Scholars belonging to the Maverick School, Misses M. T. Snow 
 and Charlotte W. Towne, Teachers ; the Neponset School, Misses 
 L. J. Davis and A. E. Crane, Teachers ; and the Stoughton School, 
 Miss M. Larkin, Teacher, were with the Adams School.] 
 
 EVERETT SCHOOL— with Banner. 
 
 Motto — "Everett School, Dorchester. Established 1808." 
 Robert Richardson, Marshal. 
 
 , Principal. 
 
 Misses Jane E. Wate, Mary A. Gleason and J. M. Pratt, Ass'ts. 
 
 NORFOLK SCHOOL— with Banner. 
 
 Motto — " Norfolk School, Dorchester. Common Schools : — 
 ' The tree our Fathers planted, | We '11 nourish ami protect.' " 
 
 Elbridge G. Emery, Principal. 
 Misses Martha A. Baker and Mary J. Pope, Ass'ts. 
 
THE CELEBRATION. 97 
 
 [Scholars from the Butler School, Miss Maria Crane, Teacher, 
 were with the Norfolk School.] 
 
 BOWDOIN SCHOOL— with Banner. 
 Motto — " Bowcloin School." 
 
 Miss Harriet L. Wales, Teacher. 
 
 HIGH SCHOOL— with Banner. 
 
 Motto — " Dorchester High School. July 4, 1855. Possunt quia posse 
 
 videntiir." 
 
 On the reverse side — " Dorchester High School, organized Dec. 1852." 
 
 William J. Rolfe, Principal. 
 
 Misses M. Coburn and Lucy Shepard, Ass'ts. 
 
 As these marched into the tent, the scene was most de- 
 lightful, passing as they did in front of the immense audi- 
 ence, to their seats. 
 
 The route of the procession was very tastefully deco- 
 rated. The decorations were put up by Mr. R. M. Yale, 
 and reflect the highest credit on his taste and judgment. 
 
 In front of the house where the distinguished orator of 
 the day was born, there was an arch, trimmed with flags 
 and evergreens. On the span was the inscription, 
 
 " The Scholar and Statesman." 
 And on the pillars, the following: 
 
 Born, 
 
 1794. 
 
 Entered College at 
 
 the age of 18. 
 
 Professor at Harvard 
 
 at 21. 
 
 Member of Congress, 
 
 1824. 
 
 Governor of Massachusetts, 
 
 1835. 
 
 Minister to England, 
 
 1841. 
 
 President of Harvard 
 
 University, 1846. 
 
 Secretary of State, 
 
 1852. 
 
 U. S. Senator, 
 
 1853. 
 
 On the limb of a large tree was the inscription — 
 " Birth-place of Everett." 
 
98 THE CELEBRATION. 
 
 As the procession moved on its way towards the Pa- 
 vilion, a large number of vehicles of all descriptions, 
 filled with persons, and thousands of others on foot, lined 
 the streets, and indicated their enthusiasm by waving of 
 handkerchiefs, and other demonstrations of joy. 
 
 In front of Dea. Ebenezer Clapp's house was the motto, 
 
 " The House where Everett was taught his A, B, C. 
 
 ' Happy is the man that findeth wisdom and the man that 
 getteth understanding.' " 
 
 Mr. Samuel B. Peirce's house, and the store of Messrs. 
 A. & J. H. Uj^ham, were handsomely decorated. 
 
 Gov. Gardner's residence was also tastefully decorated. 
 In front of it was an arch, handsomely trimmed, at the apex 
 of which was the State Seal ; across the span, the motto, 
 
 *' Old Massachusetts and the Union Forever." 
 
 The pillars of the arch bore the names of the several 
 States, and at their base was the inscription, 
 
 " Knowledge and the Laws." 
 
 On the top of the house there was a splendid American flag. 
 
 At the entrance to Webster Hill, where the Oration was 
 delivered, was another arch, across the top of which was 
 the inscription, 
 
 " Dorchester Settled in 1630." 
 
 On the pillars were the names of the " Early Settlers," 
 as follows : — 
 
 Atherton, Minot, 
 
 Andrews, Mather, 
 
 Blake, Maverick, 
 
 Baker, Kobinson, 
 
 Capen, Tileston, 
 
 Clap, Stoughton, 
 
 Humphrey, Sumner, 
 
 Moseley, Wales. 
 
THE CELEBRATION. 99 
 
 On the reverse, across the top, was the motto, 
 " Dorchester and her Children. 
 
 Milton, Sharon, Foxboro', 
 
 Canton, Stoughton, Wrentham, 
 
 South Boston." 
 
 The procession reached the tent at about noon, but some 
 time was necessarily occupied in seating the numerous as- 
 sembly. The ladies had already been admitted. The 
 accommodations were ample, and the audience, numbering 
 scarcely less than five thousand, were easily seated, and 
 presented an imposing aspect. There was a good circula- 
 tion of air in the tent, and an immense number of palm-leaf 
 fans had been provided for the convenience of the company. 
 
 In the tent were displayed the following inscriptions 
 appropriate to the day, selected from the writings of Mr. 
 Everett. On the north side — 
 
 " JULY 4th, 1776. 
 It is henceforward what the dying Adams pronounced it, 
 ' A Great and Good Day.' " 
 
 On the south side of the Pavilion — 
 
 " The Hand that traced the Charter of Independence is, indeed, 
 
 motionless ; the eloquent lips that sustained it are hushed ; 
 
 but the lofty spirits that conceived, resolved, and 
 
 maintained it, and which alone to such men 
 
 '■make it life to live,' — these cannot expire." 
 
 Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, the President of the day; 
 Hon. Edward Everett, and other gentlemen who were to 
 take part in the services ; his Excellency Gov. Gardner 
 (in citizen's dress), accompanied by his four Aids and the 
 Adjutant General (in uniform) ; Rev. James Walker, D.D., 
 President of Harvard College ; Hon. Rufus Choate ; Col. 
 Aspinwall, Major Grafton and Gen. Chandler, officers of 
 the war of 1812 ; Captain Moore and Lieutenant Wise, of 
 the U. S. Navy ; Hon. Charles Francis Adams ; Prof. Felton, 
 of Cambridge ; Hon. Wni. Foster ; Hon. Ebenezer Everett, 
 14 
 
100 
 
 THE CELEBRATION. 
 
 of Brunswick (Me.); Hon. Nathan Hale; the venerable 
 Rev. Dr. Kendall, of Plymouth, Rev. George E. Ellis, 
 Rev. Dr. Frothingham, Rev. Edward Everett Hale, and nu- 
 merous others of the clergy; Barnas Sears, D.D., Secre- 
 tary of the Board of Education; Judge Sanger; Judge 
 Hopkinson ; several members of the Governor's Council : 
 Hon. Robert B. Hall, M. C. ; Hon. Peter Cooper, Hon. 
 Joseph Curtis, Malcolm Ives, Esq., and Rev. Dr. Hosmcr, 
 of New York ; John Hancock, nephew of Gov. Hancock ; 
 Hon. Mr. Hargraves, Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company 
 in North America ; I. D. Andrews, Esq., U. S. Consul Gene- 
 ral for the British Provinces ; Arthur W. Austin, Charles 
 Folsom, Richard Frothingham, Jr., Esqs., and a large number 
 of other distinguished gentlemen, occupied seats upon the 
 platform. 
 
 The services were commenced with a voluntary by the 
 Boston Brigade Band. 
 
 Prayer was offered by Rev. Nathaniel Hall, of Dor- 
 chester. 
 
 The following original hymn was sung by one hundred 
 and thirty singers, under the direction of Mr. Charles 
 Ansorge, accompanied by the Band. 
 
 HYMN. 
 
 BT REV. S. G. BULFINCH, OF DORCHESTER. 
 
 On the ancestral sod, 
 Gathered from far abroad, 
 
 Thankful we meet ; 
 Many a g^rassy mound, 
 In yon old burial ground, 
 Tells where our sires have found 
 
 Kest, calm and sweet. 
 
 God ! who o'er yon blue sea 
 Guidedst the brave and free 
 
 In the old time ; 
 Thanks their descendants pour 
 That thou did'st lead them o'er 
 To no soft tropic shore. 
 
 But this rough clime. 
 
 Thanks, when the destined hour 
 Of independent power 
 
 The ages brought. 
 That by Thy high command. 
 
 A firm and patient band. 
 Strong heart and valiant hand, 
 Deliverance wrought. 
 
 Nurtured in manly toil. 
 Tilling a rocky soil, 
 
 Pure, free and Ixild, — 
 Such praise our fathers bear. 
 Such may their children share ! 
 ?ave from corruptinu's snare. 
 
 Base lust of gold ! 
 
 Father and King divine ! 
 On us and on our line 
 
 Thy gi-ace be poured ! 
 Fnion of heart and hand, 
 Freedom throughout the land. 
 Strength through all time to stand 
 
 True to the Lord ! 
 
 Mr. John B. 
 pendence. 
 
 Tileston read the Declaration of Inde- 
 
THE CELEBRATION. 101 
 
 Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, President, next arose and 
 said : — 
 
 " Fellow Citizens, — It is not my province to break the 
 seal of your history, or to unwind tlie roll upon which it 
 is written ; but it is my dclio'litful privilege to introduce to 
 you an honored son of Dorchester, one worthy to perform 
 this service, the Hon. Edward Everett." 
 
 Mr, Everett was received with the most enthusiastic 
 applause, which was continued for some minutes. When 
 it had subsided, he delivered the preceding eloquent Ora- 
 tion, which was listened to throughout with the most earn- 
 est attention. Many passages were greeted with hearty 
 applause. The delivery of the oration occupied two hours 
 and twenty minutes, during which time the distinguished 
 orator did not in a single instance have occasion to refer 
 to his notes. 
 
 The following original Ode was sung : 
 
 ODE. 
 
 BY REV. N. L. FROTHINGHAM, D.D., OF BOSTON. 
 
 01(1 Dorchester has fame to wear, Old Dorchester is glad to-day ; 
 
 Won from the days of Faith and Strife ; — Her sacred bells ring feast and mirth ; 
 
 The Faith that winged the Pilgrim's prayer, Her gunner's trains and war-array 
 
 The War that breathed a Nation's life. But shoot their joy to sky and earth. 
 
 In front she stood, when first arose Old Dorchester is proud to-day ! 
 
 The Church upon the red man's shore ; Through her own lips its trump is blown ; 
 
 In front — to meet the shock of foes, And he, who speaks what she would say, 
 
 When opened Freedom's cannon roar. By two-fold title is her own. 
 
 Her heights have felt the foot and eye old hundred. 
 
 Of him who led oui* victories on ; O God of Faith and Armies ! now 
 
 Her plains run seaward, as to vie Make pure our thanks, lift high our vow. 
 
 With some yet future Marathon. Thy Spirit be thy people's might. 
 
 And valor guard their free bii'thright. 
 
 Rev. James H. Means, of Dorchester, then offered an 
 appropriate prayer. 
 
 ODE. 
 
 BY MISS ANNE S. TILESTON, OF DOECHESTEE. 
 
 This day unto the breeze again, Ring out your cadence deep and strong. 
 
 Be Freedom's banner proudly flung; Ye joyous bells, with merry peal; 
 
 And wave triumphantly as when And borne upon the air along, 
 
 Her choral pa^an first was sung; Let every note be Freedom's seal : 
 
 When nations with admiring eyes, And every Freeman's heart shall beat, 
 
 The glorious conflict turned to see. From North to South — on land or sea, 
 
 And watched the star of Peace arise. With quicker throb this day to greet. 
 
 When gained our blood-bought Liberty. The day that made our nation free. 
 
102 
 
 THE CELEBRATION, 
 
 IIow dearly was that freedom bought. 
 The reconls of our fathers tell; 
 Those spirits bmve, who, fearing nought, 
 Against oppression dared rebel, 
 And with heroic heart and tongue, 
 They raised the loud, exulting ci-y; 
 Through the whole land the chorus rung, 
 " We will be free — or we will die ! " 
 
 And in our memory hallowed be 
 Those patriot souls, who, leaving all, 
 Gave up their lives for Liberty, 
 Responsive to their country's call. 
 A nobler raced on them bestow, 
 Than sculptured marble can Impart; 
 Let Fame unfading records show, 
 Inscribed upou a nation's heart. 
 
 And ne'er forget the sainted dead, 
 Who on this great and glorious daj' — 
 When Liberty's broad wing was spread, 
 And Peace spread o'er onr land its ray — 
 In calmness breathed their latest breath. 
 Midst shout and song, and choral hymn; 
 Freedom's triumphal hour — their death; 
 Its jubilee — their requiem. 
 
 One choriLS let the nation raise. 
 To hail our country's natal day; 
 One universal song of praise. 
 From youth and age ascend alway: 
 And still while circling ages roll, 
 Till even time itself is o'er. 
 The watchword to each freeman's soul, 
 Be " IxnEPENDENCE" evermore. 
 
 Shout the glad sound ouce more, 
 Let the loud cannon's roar 
 Echo from shore to shore. 
 
 Boom o'er the sea. 
 Let every nation round. 
 To earth's remotest bound, 
 Catch the inspiring sound, 
 
 Till all are free. 
 
 Bene- 
 
 Tlie services were then closed with the following 
 diction, by the Rev. James H. Means : — 
 
 " The Lord our God be with us, as He was with our Fathers. " «< T\\c 
 Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you, and 
 be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his coujitenance upon you and give 
 you peace. Amen." 
 
 The Procession was then reformed, under the escort of 
 the Independent Company of Cadets, accompanied by the 
 "Weymouth and Boston Brigade Bands. The same order 
 was observed as in its approach to the Pavilion on Webster 
 Hill, with the pleasant addition of numerous ladies, who 
 were to join in the festivities at the dinner table. On its 
 arrival at the Pavilion on Meeting-House Hill, the cus- 
 tomary honors were rendered by the Cadets, who paraded 
 in a line on one side, and by a body of United Americans 
 in continental costume, who were stationed on the other 
 side. At the entrance to the tent was a beautifully deco- 
 rated arch, on which was the following inscription : 
 
 " Sons and Daughters of Dorchester, 
 Welcome Home." 
 
 The procession marched into the tent with the utmost 
 regularity and precision, filing off in regular columns, and 
 taking scats at the tables, which were spread for nearly 
 
THE CELEBRATION. 103 
 
 two thousand persons, and riclily furnished with the viands 
 and fruits of the season, by Mr. J. B. Smith, of Boston. 
 They were also ornamented with a profusion of magnificent 
 bouquets from the gardens and conservatories of Dorchester. 
 
 The tent was adorned with national emblems, and studded 
 with numerous and appropriate mottoes. The Avhole scene 
 presented a most interesting and beautiful appearance. 
 
 The tables were so arranged as to enable the large au- 
 dience to see and hear the speakers. On the south side, 
 there was an elevated platform, on which were seated the 
 President and invited guests. On its front, extending the 
 whole length, was the following inscription : — 
 
 " Peace, Liberty and Love shall crown this Festive Day." 
 
 On the centre post, directly in front of the President's 
 seat, was the following inscription, surrounded by ever- 
 greens and flowers — 
 
 Marshall P. Wilder, 
 
 PRESIDKNT OF THE DAY. 
 
 " Blessed is he that turneth the waste places into a garden, and 
 maketh the wilderness to blossom as a rose." 
 
 On the right of the foregoing was — 
 " Our Fathers Trusted in Thee, and Thou didst Deliver them." 
 On the left was — 
 
 " God be with us, as He was with our Fathers," 
 Opposite the main entrance of the tent was the motto — 
 " His Excellency Henry J. Gardner, 
 
 governor of MASSACHUSETTS, 
 
 An honored Son of Dorchester." 
 
 On the side directly opposite the rostrum, in a conspicu- 
 ous position, was this motto : — 
 
 " Norfolk County, 
 The land of Everett and the Adamses." 
 
104 THE CELEBRATION, 
 
 Among tlie other mottoes were tlie following : — 
 
 " Gov. WlNTHROP, 1630. 
 
 His name and fame still live." 
 
 " The good Ship Mary and John in 1630, 
 and 
 Train's Packet Ships in 1855." 
 
 " Our Country in all that is Great and Good." 
 
 " From Ocean's Wave to Ocean's Wave, Perpetual Peace 
 AND Friendship." 
 
 " Dorchester in 1855. 
 There is a touch of the Old Puritan about us yet." 
 
 " Washington, 
 The Father of his Country." 
 
 " Dorchester Heights and Bunker Hill." 
 
 " Edward Everett, 
 Professor in Harvard College at the age of 21." 
 
 " Harvard, 
 
 The Alma Mater of the Great and Good of past and 
 
 present time." 
 
 " Our Glorious Constitution, and its Glorious Defender." 
 
 "Liberty and Union, 
 Now and forever, one and inseparable." 
 
 " The First Free School Established in Dorchester in 1639." 
 
 " Lafayette." " Webster." " Sherman." " Bowdoin." 
 " Hancock." " Adams." " Franklin." 
 
 " In Union is our Strength." 
 
 " Enoch Train, 
 His path is o'er the mountain wave." 
 
 " John Bull and Uncle Sam. 
 May they always live in peace." 
 
 " Our March is Onward, and shall not be stayed." 
 
 At five o'clock, Maj. Cobb, the Chief Marshal, announced 
 to the President of the day that the Company were all 
 seated, and awaited his pleasure. 
 
THE CELEBRATION. 105 
 
 j\Ir. Wilder then rose and said, — 
 
 " Ladies and Gentlemen : — It is suitable on all occasions 
 to acknowledge our dependence upon Him who controls 
 the destinies of individuals and nations ; especially is it 
 appropriate on this high day of patriotic rejoicing. Let 
 us then unite with the Rev. Mr. Pike, of Dorchester, in 
 imploring the blessing of Heaven on us and on our feast." 
 
 The divine blessing was then asked by Mr. Pike, as 
 follows : — 
 
 «' Our Father and our God, we thank Thee for this auspicious day ; for all 
 its hallowed recollections and interesting associations ; we thank Thee for 
 the assembling together from theii- scattered homes, which this day witnesses, 
 of sons and daughters of this ancient town amid the familiar scenes of their 
 early years, or in the places in which their fathers labored and suft'ercd and 
 hoped in the faith of a Chi-istian people ; we thank Thee for this pleasant 
 re-union around these tables spread before iis, and for the pleasures of social 
 intercourse to which this hour is consecrated. In paitaking of these boun- 
 ties of Thy hand and in jDarticipating in the enjopnents of this occasion, Ave 
 desire to acknowledge, with grateful hearts, oui- dependence on Thee for 
 every blessing of oiu- earthly lot, and to have grace given us that we may live 
 henceforth in obedience to the precepts and commandments of Jesus Clurist 
 oiu- Saviour. A)nen." 
 
 After a season spent in the repast, the President called 
 to order, and said : — 
 
 " The divine commandment requires that when we have 
 eaten, and are full, we should bless the Lord our God. I 
 will call upon the Rev. Al)ijah R. Baker, of Lynn, a 
 descendant of Dorchester, to express our thanks." 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Baker returned thanks in the following- 
 words : — 
 
 <' jXdmighty and most merciful God, we bless thee for these provisions of 
 thy love, for this good land in which we dweU, and for all its institutions, 
 civil, literary and religious. We thank thee for the events which we this 
 day commemorate, for the precious memory of oiir fathers, and for the rich 
 inheritance which we have received from them, and which, we jDray, thy 
 grace may enable us to ti-ansmit to our chikben, and they to theii-s till time 
 shall be no more, and thy praise shall be forever perfect in Heaven, tlurough 
 Jesus Christ our Lord. Amc7i." 
 
106 THE CELEBRATION. 
 
 Mr. Wilder tlien arose, amidst applause, and addressed 
 the large assemblage as follows : 
 
 Fellow Citizens, and Descendants of the First Settlers of Dorchester : 
 
 On this seventy-ninth birth-day of our beloved Republic, — on 
 this two hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary of the settlement of 
 our ancient town, I greet you with a right hearty welcome. 
 
 In behalf of those whom I have the honor to represent, I tender 
 you our most cordial salutations. Welcome to our festive board. 
 Welcome to the hallowed associations of this day and place. 
 Welcome to our hearts and to our homes, and to all the joys and 
 pleasures of this occasion. [Cheers.] 
 
 The time allotted for these exercises demands of me great 
 brevity, nor Avould I presume to stand between you and those 
 masters of eloquence, from whose lips you are to drink the inspi- 
 ration of the hour. The story of this day's commemoration is as 
 familiar to you as household words — the landing of our fathers 
 upon these shores — the proclamation of our nation's independence 
 — the erection of the standard of American liberty, and the com- 
 mencemeiit of her glorious career, [Applause.] 
 
 The soil on which we have assembled is consecrated by the 
 recollection of devoted patriotism, and is sanctified by the sacrifices 
 of a noble ancestry. Before us roll the waters which bore on 
 their bosom the good ship Mary and John, freighted with the 
 first settlers of Dorchester. Here were the homes of John Mave- 
 rick, John Warham, Richard Mather and their godly associates. 
 Here and around us were the homes of Hancock, of Warren, of 
 Prescott, of the Adamses, and other illustrious patriots, who 
 struck some of the first and heaviest blows for freedom, and who 
 consecrated themselves at the altar of liberty, by a baptism of fire 
 and blood. Within our view are Dorchester Heights and Bunker 
 Hill, those everlasting sentinels, which have guarded with sleep- 
 less vigilance Massachusetts Bay, in times of awful peril ; and 
 there, faithful to their trust, they will stand forever. [Continued 
 cheering.] 
 
 Honored Descendants of Dorchester : To this home of your 
 patriot sires, we welcome you as the representatives of long and 
 worthy lines, which here had their auspicious beginning ; to the 
 spot where the cradle of your infancy was rocked, and where re- 
 
THE CELEBKATION. 107 
 
 main the sepulchres in which your fathers still sleep. On this 
 day Dorchester may well rejoice in her sons — in the presence of 
 our elder brother the Orator of the Day and the representative of 
 our nation at the court of Kin^rs [cheers], of our younger brother 
 the Chief Magistrate of the Commonwealth [cheers], and of other 
 worthies among her descendants who have performed honorable 
 service in the councils of our State and nation, the army and 
 navy, in arts and letters, and in morals and religion. We also 
 rejoice in the presence of our neighbors from the various towns 
 which have arisen from the original Dorchester settlement, for the 
 promptness and cordiality with which they have responded to our 
 invitation, especially to the citizens of Boston, a part of whose 
 territory was once the " old cow pasture " of the Dorchester set- 
 tlers. [Laughter and applause.] Ladies and Gentlemen, I intend 
 no reflection upon the Queen city of New England, and she needs 
 no encomium from me. There she stands in her proud pre-emi- 
 nence, like ancient Rome upon her Capitoline hill. As we gaze 
 at her forests of masts, her crowded and busy marts, her princely 
 dwellings and institutions, and consider her wealth, intelligence 
 and power, we may indulge in a little ancestral pride, for we can- 
 not forget that in the colonial tax of 1633, Dorchester paid £80, 
 or one-fifth of the whole tax, while Boston paid but £48 ; and 
 that, as history informs us, " Dorchester was the greatest town in 
 New England," but " that Boston was too small to contain many 
 people." [Laughter.] But now that the balance of power has 
 turned, we will glory in her prosperity, and most sincerely do we 
 rejoice to meet our brethren by whom she is here represented. 
 [Cheers.] 
 
 Cilizeiis of Borchester : I congratulate you upon the auspicious 
 circumstances under which we meet, upon the flourishing condi- 
 tion of our churches and schools, our efficient fire department, and 
 the various other associations which have united with us to-day 
 — especially upon the presence at this board of so many of our 
 fair matrons and maidens. Ladies, we welcome you to a partici- 
 pation in the pleasures of this day. [Great cheering.] Nothing can 
 be more appropriate than your presence, for to you and your patriot- 
 ic mothers is Dorchester much indebted for its celebrity and welfare. 
 
 But I must not trespass upon the indulgence of this assembly. 
 One word more, and I will proceed to introduce to you the distin- 
 15 
 
108 THE CELEBRATION. 
 
 guished guests I see around me, and who, inspired by the surpass- 
 ing eloquence of the orator of the day, are no doubt waiting to 
 give utterance to the excited emotions of their hearts. To them I 
 cheerfully accord the privilege of gleaning after this great reaper. 
 Sheaves they can hardly expect to find ; but if they should chance 
 to gather a few grains, I trust they will give us the result of 
 their labors. 
 
 Friends and Fellow Citizens : We stand here upon the broad 
 platform of American citizenship, to rejoice in the glorious princi- 
 ples of our fathers, and to perpetuate by the services of this day 
 their precious memories. But how wonderful the contrast between 
 their sacrifices, and the priceless blessings we enjoy ; between the 
 glimmering fires of liberty which they kindled on these shores, 
 and tlie light and glory of this latter day; between the Mattapan 
 of 1630, with its few feeble colonists just landed at " Old Harbor," 
 and this goodly Dorchester in 1S55, the mother of a quarter of a 
 million of sons and daughters ! [Loud applause.] 
 
 And whose soul does not glow with patriotic and gi'ateful feel- 
 ings at the recollection of these events, — events which have made 
 this nation the most intelligent, free and happy on earth, and which 
 are fast revolutionizing the world, — events which constitute the 
 sublimest facts of history, and which in their results transcend the 
 powers of human understanding. [Sensation.] And who does 
 not feel an interest in this day's commemoration ? Whose heart 
 has not been affected by the scenes of this day ; the peal of merry 
 bells, the booming of cannon, the sight of congregated thousands, 
 and by the thought of twenty-five millions of happy freemen unit- 
 ing to swell the paean of American Freedom, and to offer up, as 
 with the voice of many waters, their hallelujahs and thanksgivings 
 to the God of Nations ! [Repeated cheers.] 
 
 The President then announced the first toast. 
 
 The Day we Celebrate — Fraught with precious memories of deliverance 
 from oppression, — bright with glorious anticipations of freedom for the 
 ■world. [Cheers.] 
 
 The second sentiment was : — 
 
 Tlie United States of America — One and Inseparable : Now and For- 
 ever ! [Enthusiastic applause.] 
 
THE CELEBRATION. 109 
 
 To this toast it was expected the Hon. Rufus Ciioate 
 woukl have responded, but the state oT his health prevented 
 him from being at the dinner table. [See liis letter and 
 article in Appendix.] 
 
 The President. — It is a som-co of great gratihcation, 
 that among Dorchester's distinguished sons, it is our privi- 
 lege to recognize, on this occasion, the Chief Magistrate of 
 our beloved Commonwealth. I propose as a sentiment : 
 
 Massachusclts^The chosen laud of om- PLiritan Fathers. She was the first 
 to strike for liberty ; she wUl be the last to desert its standard. [Cheers.] 
 
 The President then introduced His Excellency Henry J, 
 Gardner, who was received with rounds of applause. The 
 Governor responded as follows : — 
 
 M?'. Preside fit, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
 
 I am glad at all times to recognize, and bear witness to, the 
 truth of the sentiment you. Sir, have just announced, complimen- 
 tary to Massachusetts. Yet, now, in this place, at home as I am, 
 I can but feel that propriety and true politeness dictate that I 
 should occupy but litde of your time, while others, strangers and 
 gentlemen of eloquence and fame, are yet to be heard. 
 
 Were it not so, however, I should distrust my power to fix your 
 attention after the affluent intellectual banquet of the morning. 
 Ours has to-day been a rare privilege, and while listening to the 
 eloquent orator, I could not but think that though he portrayed so 
 beautifully events and scenes of historic and local pride to Dor- 
 chester, yet he himself was a source of as just pride to her as any 
 of them all. His character and attainments surpass even his 
 own felicitous delineaments of her social, intellectual and moral 
 advantages. 
 
 It is true that this ancient town was settled before our metro- 
 polis, — was intended by its founders as the capital of the Pro- 
 vince, — and for some period surpassed or rivalled at least Boston. 
 But when the fiat went forth, and Boston took the lead of Dor- 
 chester in numbers and in wealth, it was owing to a large portion 
 of her citizens voluntarily leaving this their new town, and on ac- 
 eount of commercial facilities migrating to the peninsula of 
 
110 THE CELEBRATION. 
 
 Shawmut. Yet though depleted by emigration, dismembered into 
 a half dozen separate municipalities, and even now, once and 
 again diminished by annexation to the adjacent City, Dorchester 
 has constantly continued, for two centuries and a quarter, pros- 
 perous and increasing. 
 
 And to-day, in all her glorj% she welcomes her returning sons. 
 From Cow-pasture Bar to Pine-Garden Rock, from Neponset River 
 to Roxbury Brook, she bids them welcome. Change, they may 
 find, has worked its ravages on much around them, — the brow 
 may be somewhat furrowed with weightier cares, the look some- 
 what graver with sterner duties, but the same warm heart beats 
 within, and sends forth, as of yore, its cordial greeting. 
 
 But remembering my promise, I close by proposing as a senti- 
 ment, — 
 
 That Civil and Religious Liberty which our ancestors sought these shores 
 to secure, which has been preserved through toils and privations by our 
 fathers : May we fulfil o\ir whole duty in aiding to perpetuate it to coming 
 generations. [Applause.] 
 
 The President then said — The sentiment which I am 
 about to propose I am sure will call forth a cordial re- 
 spouse from this assembly. Nor are any words of mine 
 necessary to assure the distinouished gentleman to whom 
 it alludes, of the great satisfaction his presence afibrds to 
 the citizens of Dorchester, and the thousands who have as- 
 sembled this day to hear his voice. He theu gave — 
 
 Ths Orator of the Dai/. — Dorchester recognizes in him her ripest Scholar, 
 her profoundest Statesman, and her most eloquent Orator. She delights to 
 honor a son who has reflected so much honor upon her. 
 
 This sentiment was received with nine hearty cheers, 
 the company all standing. 
 
 Mr. Everett, in response, made the following felicitous 
 speech. 
 
 Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
 
 I need not tell you how grateful I am to you all for this most 
 cordial welcome. I wish the state of my voice, after the effort of 
 the morning, would allow me to express my feelings more audibly 
 and at more appropriate length. If the kind language that you 
 
THE CELEBRATION. Ill 
 
 have been pleased to use toward me, could lead me so far to 
 flatter myself, as to think I was capable of saying any good thing 
 at any time, it would but the more forcibly impress upon me, at 
 this time, the truth of the old maxim, that there may be too much 
 even of a good thing. [Laughter.] 
 
 I feel that to-day I have already had my full share of the time 
 and the attention of this most intelligent company ; and I should 
 reproach myself. Sir, if I could presume so far upon your kind 
 encouragement, as to intrude myself upon them much longer, even 
 if I were capable of doing so, in my present state of physical 
 exliaustion. 
 
 But grateful as I am, Mr. President, for the land notice vou 
 have taken of me, you Avill alloAV me to say that, in your opening 
 address, there was one allusion, on which you will permit me a 
 single remark. There was a little significance, I thought, which 
 might have been spared, in whnt you said of our "elder brother." 
 [Laughter.] Now, Sir, I am not so discourteous as to hint, that 
 the President of the day could, at any time, make an intimation 
 without matter of fact to support it; and if the truth must be told, 
 I fear it will turn out, that I am somewhat his " elder brother." 
 But I must say that your use of the epithet, and the obliging 
 smile which accompanied it [laughter], brought to my mind an 
 anecdote of one of the predecessors of His Excellency the Gover- 
 nor, in the olden times. I refer to Gov. Strong. 
 
 Gov. Strong was holding a council with a deputation of Stock- 
 bridge Lidians, who used occasionally to come down to Boston, 
 to pay their respects to their " great father," and solicit a little 
 "material aid." Governor Strong, in the course of his " talk," said 
 to them, with bland condescension, " Our hearts are of the same 
 color, though our faces are lighter than yours." Now it so hap- 
 pened that Governor Strong was a man of very dark complexion — 
 A-ery. And when this expression fell from his lips, the leader of 
 the Indians was observed, as he stood at the other side of the 
 Council chamber, to show some signs of impatience, and to mur- 
 mur something in a low voice. The Governor paused in his 
 address, and asked an officer who stood near, what the chief was 
 saying. The person interrogated, replied, with some reluctance 
 and hesitation, " Why, your Excellency, he says, he does not 
 think there is much difference in the color of their faces ; — ' not 
 
112 THE CELEBRATION. 
 
 mush,' as he calls it." [Great laughter.] So, Mr. President, with 
 respect to our ages, to which you have so obligingly alluded, I do 
 not think there is " much difference." [Laughter.] Some eight 
 or ten years, perhaps ; but what is that to make a talk about 
 before two thousand friends ? [Laughter.] 
 
 The Governor said I had omitted one thing in my oration, and 
 that was that a considerable number of Dorchester people had * 
 gone over to Boston, at an early period of the settlement. But 
 that was a point I did not like to say much about ; it is one of 
 some delicacy with me. I knew a Dorchester boy, in later times, 
 — a very dutiful son of our ancient tOAvn, who also ran away to 
 Boston. [Laughter.] And I can only say that I am pretty sure 
 he sometimes wishes he was well back again. [Renewed laughter.] 
 
 Again, Mr. President, allow me to say that I am greatly in- 
 debted to you and our friends around me for this most kind recep- 
 tion. It is not the first time I have dined on Meeting-house Hill, 
 though it is certainly the first time I have had the honor of dining 
 here in a company like this. But in old-fashioned times, fifty or 
 sixty years ago, when the little boys came a long way from home 
 in mid-winter to school, and their fathers and mothers did not 
 think they ought to travel the distance four times a day, they 
 were fitted out, in bad weather, with a dinner to be eaten at 
 school. It was called " Staying at noon." We were provided 
 with a basket, in which was a little bread and cheese, or a piece 
 of cold meat, an apple, a sausage, sometimes uncooked, to be 
 roasted on the end of a stick at the school stove ; not greatly to 
 the benefit of the air of the school-room. That was the dinner : 
 there were none of those niceties which now load our tables ; no 
 chicken salads, no ice creams, no strawberries, no delicacies of 
 any kind, no bright faces of the fairer half of creation, no banners, 
 no music ; no joyous demonstrations ; but good old Dorchester 
 school-boy fare. 
 
 Alas, such times can be lived over but once, Mr. President, 
 We can never be young but once. That is uTipossible ! But the 
 best we can do, when we cease to be young, and find ourselves 
 verging toward the decline of life, is to take pleasure in the com- 
 pany of our " younger brethren." [Laughter.] Happy as I am 
 at finding myself at the side of one so much my junior, I will 
 only, in taking my scat, express the heart-felt wish for the welfare 
 
THE CELEBRATION. 113 
 
 of every lady and gentleman present, and the continued growth 
 and prosperity of our beloved native Dorchester. [Long-continued 
 applause.] 
 
 The next toast was, — 
 
 The Descendants of Dorchester — Theii- name is legion, their home Qxcry- 
 where. We welcome them to-day to the land of their fathers. Dor- 
 chester is not only proud of her childi'eu, but of her children's children. 
 Honor to those who honor theu" parents. [Cheers.] 
 
 The President called upon the Rev. Edward Everett 
 Hale, a descendant of Dorchester, to respond to this sen- 
 timent. Mr. Hale said : — 
 
 I think, Sir, that we, who are the children's children, if not 
 most at home here to-day, are most at ease. We can compliment 
 every-thing we see, and can join in the compliments we hear, 
 without maldng modest exceptions while we speak, and without 
 blushing while we listen. Indeed, Sir, just as we are all proud 
 that we were born of such mothers as we are, we have reason to 
 be proud of our grand-mother Dorchester. [Cheers.] 
 
 I do not think. Sir, that we recognize the full value of the debt 
 we owe the fathers whose names you have hung up all around us 
 to-day, precisely because the result of their work has made these 
 old homes of theirs so beautiful. We have a feeling that any 
 body might have been glad to emigrate to America, — particu- 
 larly just now, when so large a body of you young Americans are 
 making attempts for " obstructing the laws for the naturalization 
 of foreigners." We do not, I say, reflect, how many Emigrant Aid 
 Companies'it needed to bring hither Warham and Maverick and 
 Mather, the men of whom we have been hearing to-day. Dor- 
 chester, as we see it, is such a lovely place, that we think it a very 
 excellent thing to get here. [Cheers.] They thought it much the 
 same thing as you would think it to remove yourself to the head 
 of the Republican Fork, or to settle yourself in one of the parks of 
 the Rocky Mountains. It happens, however, that we know just 
 the valuation put on this continent by England, when England 
 got hold of it. These settlers came under English law, to a re- 
 gion which the kings of England claimed by right of discovery. 
 Against France and against Spain they asserted their right to the 
 
114 THE CELEBRATION. 
 
 whole of North America, b3cause an English sailor had discover- 
 ed it. Now, what did the king of England give him for his dis- 
 covery ? When the hard-faced old Cabot, — ancestor of your 
 Cabot, — went home to the king of England, and told him that he 
 had discovered North America, what did the king say to him ? 
 We have the king's account-book of that day's expenses. In that 
 book there are these items : — 
 
 " To the damsel that daiiceth £12 
 
 To llio man who found the new island, £10 
 
 To Jake Haute, for tennis play, £9 
 
 To a woman with a red rose, 2 shillings." 
 
 The Continent of North America was rated less than a dance, 
 and cost the crown of England just the price of a hundred red 
 roses! [Laughter and applause.] 
 
 Well, Mr. President, this was three or four hundred years ago. 
 But sometimes when I have looked in upon our monarchs of horti- 
 culture, when I have seen some of your garden-princes, compar- 
 ing your Gloria Rosamundi, your Souvenir de Malmaison, or your 
 dear old Hermosa, I have fancied then, that if a hard-faced old 
 fellow should come in and say, " I have found you an island in 
 the salt sea of Utah, what will you give me for it ? " and a woman, 
 yes, a woman. Sir, with a new red rose, more beautiful than Gloria 
 Rosamundi, — you would give her two shillings for her red rose, be- 
 fore you would give him ten pounds for his island ! That was 
 what the king of England did. [Cheers.] 
 
 The origin of that emigration. Sir, to lands thus slighted, is of 
 particular interest to the ministers of Massachusetts. It has been 
 particularly grateful, this day, to hear the eulogy passed on that 
 minister. Rev. John White, of Old Dorchester, not only the found- 
 er of this town, but the founder of Massachusetts and so of Con- 
 necticut. All that Massachusetts and Connecticut haA^e done, we 
 owe in its origin, under the providence of God, to John White, 
 minister of Dorchester, I was glad to hear this made so clear 
 to-day, in a time when it seems to be sometimes expected that 
 ministers shall not attempt to found anything at all. That town 
 of his, Old Dorchester, of which he was the patriarch, was called, 
 I think by Clarendon, the magazine of rebellion, — " the maga- 
 zine whence the other places were supplied loith the principles of re- 
 belliony When they ran short of principles in London, or in the 
 
THE CELEBRATION. 115 
 
 North, or in the East, they sent to the Dorchester magazine for a 
 new supply. [Applause.] The sneer of that day is the glory of 
 this clay for Old Dorchester. The principles of constitutional 
 liberty are scattered over the world : an honor to the old town, 
 that she was the magazine of those principles, when magazine 
 there was but one. And this ne\v Dorchester of ours has lived to 
 see something of the same experience. After our defeat at Lex- 
 ington, for it was a defeat ; after the defeat at Concord, for it was 
 a defeat ; after the defeat at Bunker Hill, for it was a defeat ; — 
 Dorchester Heights witnessed that " more than victory," which 
 has to-day been described to us — the victory commemorated in the 
 ■first medal of our minted history, with its proud motto, Hostibus 
 prhno fugatis : the first rout of the enemy. The country was at 
 the moment of its despair; and all over the country, from here to 
 our friends in Georgia, Dorchester Heights threw the first sparks 
 of encouragement and hope. Old Dorchester and young Dorches- 
 ter, — for we are young, after all, — have had this common experi- 
 ence; and I will give you for a sentiment; — 
 
 Old Dorchester, the maga7:ine of principles -wlien English constitvitional 
 liberty was 3'oimg ; new Dorchester, the first scene of victory wlien American 
 constitntioual libeity was young — May the omens of the past rule the history 
 of the fxitm-e. [Applause.] 
 
 The President. — It affords me great pleasure to an- 
 nounce, that we are honored by the presence of the Presi- 
 dent of Harvard University, and I propose for your con- 
 sideration, as a sentiment : — 
 
 Harvard College — Our forefathers, knowing that freedom could not be 
 maintamed without education, founded that institution as the safeguard of 
 human rights. More than two hundi-ed years has she been faitMul to her 
 trust, and she still stands a rock of defence against ignorance and supersti- 
 tion. [Cheers.] 
 
 Rev. James Walker, D.D., President of the University, 
 responded to this sentiment in the following felicitous 
 speech. 
 Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
 
 Harvard College has been called the High School of Boston and 
 the neighboring towns. I believe the name is commonly given in 
 a tone of disparagement; but I see no reason why iho friends of 
 16 
 
116 THE CELEBRATION. 
 
 the College should diso^vn the truth which has suggested it. No 
 college in this country leans so much on the surrounding commu- 
 nity as ours does ; and no college has such a surrounding commu- 
 nity on which to lean ; and furthermore, it is glory enough for 
 Harvard College to be considered as one among the instrumentali- 
 ties which have made this community what it is. I do not forget how 
 much we owe to our ancient and beloved Commonwealth, and to 
 the whole country ; but our principal indebtedness is to the sur- 
 rounding community : there is hardly a historical name of this 
 group of cities and towns which is not enrolled among the bene- 
 factors of the College. [Applause.] 
 
 To Dorchester, Harvard College is under peculiar obligations. 
 Who can remain for a single day within the precincts of the Col- 
 lege, and not hear the name of Stoughton ? — one of the oldest and 
 most distinguished of the Dorchester names. The Stoughtons, 
 both father and son, were among the earliest and most liberal bene- 
 factors of the College ; the son, by far its largest benefactor in the 
 seventeenth century, if we except Hansard himself. [Cheers.] 
 But this is not our only, or our chief debt of gratitude to Dorches- 
 ter. In our own days she has given us a student whose scholar- 
 ship is the pride of his country. [Applause.] A son of Harvard, 
 who has reflected the highest honor on the place of his education 
 in every situation he has filled throughout his various and honored 
 life [applause] ; and a President, the wisdom and efficiency of 
 whose administration will be felt and acknowledged as long as 
 the College stands. [Hearty applause.] 
 
 The President. — Ladies and Gentlemen — We have 
 present, I am happy to say, many distinguished friends, 
 upon whom I shall call in order, should time permit. But I 
 have now to ofier a sentiment, to which I think the gentle- 
 men will at least respond. It was customary, in olden 
 time, to save the best wine until the last ; and consequently 
 the sentiment to the ladies was reserved until then. 
 But I propose now to reverse that order, and I give 
 you :— 
 
 Woman — Earth's fairest flower. Without her, home is " Paradise Lost " ; 
 with her, home is "Paradise llegaiiied." [Received with nine cheers. 
 Music by the Band and Orchestia, with one stanza of "Home, Sweet 
 Home."! 
 
THE CELEBRATION. lit 
 
 €ol. Enoch Train rose, amid many cheers, and said : — 
 According to parliamentary nsage, an amendment to a 
 motion is allowable. I liave one to ofl'er to that clegixnt 
 sentiment which we have jnst heard from your lips, Mi'. 
 President. It is mathematical, and I'cfers to the ladies, 
 who are all mathematical, thank God ! | Tjanghtcr and 
 merriment.] 
 
 The Ladies — 
 
 May they add Vii-tue to Beauty ; 
 
 Subtract En\-y from Friendship ; 
 
 Mullipli/ amiahie accompiishmcuts by sweet temper ) 
 
 Divide time by sociability and economy — 
 
 And reduce Scandal to its lowest denomination. [Great applause.] 
 
 The President. — Ladies and Gentlemen — It is om- 
 good fortune to-day, to have with us a lineal descendant of 
 two Presidents of the United States, the Adamses, to the 
 elder of whom it has been truly said, " we owe our inde- 
 pendence more than to any other created lieing " ; and of 
 the younger it may be said, with equal propriety, that he 
 labored longer than any other man of his generation, for 
 the preservation of that independence. I give you as a 
 toast : — 
 
 Our Guest from Quincy — The son, the grandson and the historian of 
 these pati'iot sues. Long may he live, to gather the rich hai'vest of theii' 
 l^lauting. [Ai:)plause.] 
 
 Hon. Charles Francis Adams replied in the following 
 eloquent speech : — 
 
 Mr. President : 
 
 I owe you many thanks for the honor you have done me, by invit- 
 ing me to respond to the last sentiment. Permit me to say that I 
 am a little overcome by it. With the recollections that cluster 
 about this day, we may all, without exception, be allowed to ex- 
 press somewhat loudly our gratitude to past generations for the 
 blessings which we now enjoy through their labors. Yet if the 
 indulgence of this sentiment imparts satisfaction, it does not the 
 less awaken serious reflection. The event of 1776 inaugurated 
 a new thought into the politics of the world. And this thought 
 
118 THE CELEBRATION. 
 
 was so far cherished in America as to harden into action through 
 our institutions. It was not merely a revival of the ancient notion 
 of national liberty. The impression is not uncommon among us, 
 even now, that a release from the rule of Great Britain was all 
 that was contemplated by the struggle. But this seems to me to 
 be giving a narrow view of its nature and purposes. Surely the 
 men of that day, besides providing security for individual freedom, 
 meditated a system resting upon the indispensable duty of self- 
 control, as well as a wide diffusion of knowledge, high moral ex- 
 cellence and political purity ; all, elements of the best state to 
 which man on earth can aspire, that of a great Christian Com- 
 monwealth. That they did not fully attain their objects, I am not 
 prepared to deny. The obstacles Avere great, and they had per- 
 petual interruptions, extrinsic in their nature, to distract their at- 
 tention. Yet it may be fairly claimed for them that they accom- 
 plished much, before the inevitable hour came which put a stop to 
 their labors. In the movements of nations we must all remember 
 that a generation is but a span. And still further, that what they 
 had no time to do, it therefore devolves upon us their successors 
 yet to complete. The responsibility is not upon them, but upon us. 
 We assume their places under trials not less severe, though of a 
 wholly opposite nature. If theirs came from the endurance of 
 adversity, ours spring from the enervating influence of continual 
 temporal blessings. Whether we shall be as worthy of praise for 
 overcoming the internal weakness of the heart, as they were for 
 their triumph over the assaults of external oppressors, it remains 
 for time to prove. If we do, then is our course plain and straight- 
 forward to the goal which they marked out. If we do not, the 
 effect will be to dissipate their great purposes into thin air, or per- 
 haps to suffer ourselves to be diverted to others of quite an oppo- 
 site character. [Cheers.] 
 
 But if I am asked how this responsibility of ours is to be fully 
 discharged, my answer is clear. It can only be fully done by 
 maintaining in our own bosoms that sacred fire, the aspiration for 
 all that is truly high and noble, which animated them. Wanting 
 this, all our multitudinous assemblages to celebrate this occa- 
 sion are but a vain show ; the pomp and display of rejoicing, but 
 empty ceremony. The temple of our government may be grand 
 and imposing to the outward eye, the sacrifices at the public altar 
 
THE CELEBRATION. 119 
 
 may be as costly and splendid as money can buy ; if the heart is 
 not there to give the vital heat, they will be of no avail to redeem 
 the future from dishonor. If I may be allowed to compare great 
 things with small, I wovild illustrate my view by reminding you 
 of those undertakings to improve our domestic communications 
 which have of late become so familiar to us every where. In pro- 
 secuting these, the mountains have been cut down and the valleys 
 have been filled up, and long curves of the earth's surface have 
 been bound with iron ways. Yet all this is of no use — the most 
 complete apparatus of motion which the ingenuity of man has 
 ever devised fails to carry us to the destined point, if the Prome- 
 thean spark of fire be not applied. Grant but this to rouse the 
 expansive force of what in former days passed for another ele- 
 ment, water, and the great machine is at once in movement, direct- 
 ed by the hand of man steadily and surely to its destination. And 
 just so it is with the grander moral movement of our republican 
 system. If it be not continually stirred by the fire of progressive 
 zeal developing the expandible water of conservative fidelity to 
 trust, all the eflTorts and all the aspirations of our excellent ances- 
 tors must prove at last but labor in vain. [Applause.] 
 
 Reflecting on this topic, my thoughts naturally led me from the 
 consideration of what duty required to be done, towards a not less 
 important thought, what it Avould be wisdom to avoid. Involun- 
 tarily my eyes turned to the scenes now enacting on the other side 
 of the ocean, and to the very diflferent manner in which great na- 
 tions there were engaged in spending this day. Without a wish 
 to enter into the merits of their dispute, I content myself with 
 noting what appear to be the ultimate objects of the contending 
 parties, and comparing them with those suggested by the reminis- 
 cences of this day. The orator, whose eloquent voice is yet fresh 
 in our ears, gave us a striking and a just idea of the consterna- 
 tion that overspread all Christendom upon the occasion of the tri- 
 umph of the followers of Mahomet the Second over the defences 
 of Constantinople. Four hundred years have since passed away, 
 and the land, which was won by the sword, has remained under 
 the sword, a land of moral and political desolation. Yet the chief 
 purpose of one party to the present strife is to keep up for an in- 
 definite future the very same state of things which has so long- 
 prevailed in the past ; to uphold the power of the Crescent over 
 
120 THE CELEBRATION. 
 
 the Cross in the very cradle of Christianity itself. So, on the 
 other hand, if we truly comprehend the motives of the opposite 
 side, its victory would end only in the annexation of another wide 
 tract of earth to an empire already suffering from the denial to its 
 inhabitants of the noblest privileges which belong to the human 
 race. Thus, whichever way we look, designs like these excite in 
 us no sympathy. Already have at least two hundred thousand 
 brave men laid down lives which might have passed in making 
 the land now whitened with their bones a very garden of Eden, 
 in the futile effort to keep a balance of power which has no weights 
 more solid than mutual jealousies and reciprocal preventions. In 
 such a picture I look in vain for heroism or for motives truly ad- 
 mirable. Yet perhaps a single class of exceptions may be made. 
 The veritable hero of this war is, after all, a wowaw. [Cheers.] Nay, 
 with perfect respect for the achievement of Miss Nightingale, I 
 cannot set beneath it the moral force of the example of those more 
 humble sisters of charity, who are described, in the very midst of 
 the thunders of the enemy's artillery, the crash of surrounding 
 edifices, and the wailings of the dying, as not diverted from the 
 duty to which they have cheerfully devoted their lives, of watch- 
 ing and praying by the couches of the fallen. In these acts 
 are the symptoms of a higher life, but no where else. All the 
 rest will serve as a warning to us in America to discern what we 
 should avoid ; as a lesson teaching us to subdue passions, the in- 
 dulgence of which leads only to bitter results, and never to swerve 
 in our devotion to the principles set forth by the wisdom and the 
 patriotism of the founders of these States. [Applause.] 
 
 Let me conclude my remarks by proposing, in the form of a 
 sentiment, a summary of the Avhole matter. It is this — 
 
 Tlie true balance of power, among citizens, within states, and between 
 nations ; — Fidelity to trust, before God and man. [Cheers.] 
 
 The next sentiment was — 
 
 Our Representation in Congress — While guarding oiu- material interests, 
 may they express our love of liberty and oiu- loyalty to the Constitution. 
 
 [Applause.] 
 
 Hon. Robert B. Hall, of Plymouth, Representative from 
 the 1st District, was expected to respond, but had been 
 compelled by an engagement to leave the pavilion. Dr. 
 
THE CELEBRATION. 121 
 
 Barnas Sears, Secretary of tlic Massachusetts Board of 
 Education, was then called upon, and spoke as follows : 
 
 Mi\ President : 
 
 I suppose it is not expected that 1 shall respond for Con- 
 gress. [President — No, Sir, you are expected to speak as Secretary 
 of the Board of Education.] The Common School, then, which I 
 have the honor to represent, is fitly included in the celebration of 
 this day, and its appearance in the procession has added to the 
 beauty and interest of the scene. It had its part in the early 
 history of the colony, and it was intimated by the orator of the 
 day that, possibly, to Dorchester belonged the honor of establishing 
 the first school in the colony. Many cities and towns claim that 
 honor; and if they show themselves worthy of it, we may admit 
 the claim on the ground that, whether true or not, it ought to be 
 trne. The schools of Dorchester are known to be worthy of such 
 an origin. [Applause.] The schools of Massachusetts have done 
 their full share in making her what she is. The free district 
 school was of itself an important institution — was one of the 
 pillars of the State. But the most important thing was the spirit 
 with which it was maintained. Into it was infused, at the outset, 
 and ever after, the genius of a Christian civilization, — a civiliza- 
 tion which was the growth of ages. Greece had developed the 
 human mind with reference to politics, literature and art, but 
 without a linowledge of the divine plan in respect to the end of 
 human existence. Rome had defined the rights of the individual 
 in a wonderful system of law, and by conquest diffiised this legal 
 spirit over the civilized world; and yet Rome never knew the 
 true value of the human soul, nor the ground of its claim to liberty. 
 Education, in these ancient seats of honor and refinement, could 
 not rise above the principle on which it was founded. 
 
 The Christianity of the early and middle ages furnished the 
 first corrective,' but blindly excluded ancient culture as a compo- 
 nent part of a complete Christian education. Still an intensity 
 was given to the longings and activity of the human mind by 
 means of its contact with spiritual and eternal things, which pre- 
 pared it, on its reunion with ancient culture by the revival of 
 learning, to produce what never before existed, a civilization flow- 
 ing from Christianity as its source, but running in channels opened 
 
122 THE CELEBRATION. 
 
 and prepared by Greece and Rome. [Cheers.] The swelling 
 stream of Christianity, making all former and all contemporary 
 progress tributary to itself, — this it was which, by a Providential 
 arrangement, came to our fathers at the vexy time that the insti- 
 tutions of the old world checked its free course, and the new 
 world was thrown open with its larger and freer channels of com- 
 munication. All previous history was necessary to prepare the 
 colonists for founding our free States, No other people could be 
 educated in the same spirit. It was because our fathers were true 
 to their high trust, with lofty views and aims, striving to usher in 
 a better period, that succeeding generations have been educated 
 and trained for the service required of them in the cause of hu- 
 manity. The essential condition of success in our schools 7ioiv is 
 the keeping up in our minds of this pure ideal of human society. 
 [Cheers.] We must instil into the minds of the young, ideas of a 
 higher and purer life, and make them feel that there is a great 
 work for them and their posterity to achieve, which was impossible 
 in former years ; that all the past has been slowly accumulating 
 knowledge and inventing means and instruments for them to em- 
 ploy in advancing to a still higher degree the well-being of society. 
 The mere mechanical drill of the school -room, the daily toil of 
 the teacher in giving the elements of knowledge, will not advance 
 society unless the social atmosphere breathed by the young be 
 healthful and invigorating. The family educates ; the social 
 circle educates ; the political press educates ; literature educates ; 
 fashion educates ; the public assembly educates ; we this day 
 educate. Unless all these teachings tend in the right direction, it 
 will be in vain that we trust in our schools for safety. The 
 schools receive their character from the people. You have ten- 
 fold more power over teacher and pupil than they have over you, 
 and can more eflfectually prevent the good they would do, than 
 they the evil you may do. Create, then, a pure moral atmosphere 
 for your schools. Let the town and the neighborhood be free from 
 contamination, and then it will not reach the school. Let the love 
 of freedom, of virtue and of religion everywhere be manifest, and 
 then a new generation will be trained ^^p in our schools, with all 
 the care that is now bestowed upon them, to whom it will be safe, 
 with God's blessing, to commit the sacred interests whirli av(^ so 
 tenderly cherish in our hearts this day. [Applause.] 
 
THE CELEBRATION. 123 
 
 The President. — I am liappy to state tliat we arc liou- 
 ored with the presence of a delegation of Officers of the 
 Army of 1812. I propose as a sentiment — 
 
 The Army — Born amid the fires of the Revolution, and ti-ained on the 
 battle fields of om- country. Though small, the myriad hosts of Europe can 
 boast no brighter fields, or more glorious achievements. [Cheers.] 
 
 The Trcsidcnt then introduced CoL Thomas Aspinwall, 
 late U. S. Consul at London, who responded as follows : 
 
 Mr. President: 
 
 I have a deep sense of the honor done me by your call to 
 respond to the toast in compliment to the Army. But, I fear, the 
 call is open to two objections : first, that by my long separation 
 from that body, I am hardly entitled to speak for it ; and next, 
 that from long habits of silence on such occasions, I have lost all 
 aptitude for public speaking. 
 
 But I still retain a sufficiently clear recollection and impression 
 of military feeling and character to assure you, Sir, that the com- 
 pliment, just paid to the Army, by such an assemblage, will not 
 fail to meet with a respectful and hearty welcome. [Applause.] 
 For the soldier naturally looks to the approbation of his fellow 
 citizens, as the great object of his hopes. It mingles with his 
 dreams. It sustains and cheers him in hardship and danger. It 
 stimulates him to the severest personal sacrifices and to court the 
 most arduous and perilous enterprises ; and, if he fail to gain the 
 good opinion of those, for whom he is ready to lay down his life, 
 he feels it, always, as a disappointment and a mortification, but 
 often, as the heaviest of misfortunes, " a stain " worse than " a 
 wound." [Cheers.] 
 
 The military spirit of this country, whenever called forth, whether 
 to repel or chastise the incursion of the savage Indian, or to fight the 
 battles of the mother country in this Western Hemisphere, or in 
 the subsequent contests of the Revolution and more recent periods, 
 has always, in the eyes of the world, been honorable to the nation ; 
 and on this great anniversary of our national freedom, it is well 
 to remember that those, who were most instrumental in gaining 
 for us that freedom, have left us a rich legacy in the example of 
 their own character and conduct, in their spirit of lofty patriotism, 
 of noble and generous self-sacrifice, of zealous and untiring perse- 
 
 17 
 
124 THE CELEBRATION. 
 
 verance in the deadly struggle for the common cause, for the 
 country's welfare, for national freedom and independence. [Cheers.] 
 They have left us models of character, worthy to be studied and 
 copied by every military man ; and if our official men and political 
 aspirants throughout the breadth of the land, should habitually 
 recur to these models for guidance, it would go far to improve 
 their sentiments, conduct and usefulness, and at the same time to 
 raise the standard of our moral and political character. 
 
 As the existing army of the United States is now a component 
 part of the general system established by law, and being, myself, 
 no longer connected with it, I may be permitted to say, that the 
 advantages of academical instruction and discipline which it en- 
 joys, have raised it to a degree of efficiency, much superior to that 
 of previous periods, and also, to a high rank, in the opinion of 
 competent militaiy judges abroad. As a signal instance of this 
 estimation, I would add, that the late Duke of Wellington, no 
 mean authority, pronounced the march of General Scott to Mexico, 
 with his inconsiderable force, in spite of the difficulties of the 
 landing and route, to be one of the military miracles of the age. 
 [Applause.] 
 
 The next sentiment was — 
 
 The Navy — The ocean attests her valor. Although she now rests safely 
 moored in the harhor of peace, let but the enemy awake her, and her thun- 
 ders wiU startle the nations. [Cheers.] 
 
 The President. — Ladies and Gentlemen — I think I can- 
 not proceed farther without the *' benefit of clergy." I will 
 therefore give you — 
 
 The Clergy — Tlie pioneers of the Revolution — may they be the conserva- 
 tors of the liberty it achieved. [Cheers.] 
 
 To this sentiment, Rev. Lyman Whiting, Chaplain of the 
 Senate, responded eloquently, maintaining the conservatism 
 of the clergy and their influence for good, both in the 
 church and state. He concluded with the following toast : 
 
 The Clergy as Pioneers of the Bevolution wei'e helped by jiatriotic Parishion- 
 ers — May they ever find patriotic parishioners to help them preserve the 
 liberty of the country. [Cheers.] 
 
 Lewis Pierce. Esq., of Dorchester, one of the Vice Pre- 
 sidents, asked permission to propose a toast, and gave — 
 
THE CELEBRATION. 125 
 
 The Prcsuh-nt of the Daij — Distingviished throughoiit the luitiou as the 
 friend of Agriculture and Km-al Art. Whatever he touches he adorns. 
 Dorchester claims him as her adopted son. 
 
 This sentiment was received with three times three 
 cheers. 
 
 Mr. Wilder responded as follows : 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen : 
 
 I tender you my heart-felt acknowledgments for the cordial 
 greetings with which you have received the sentiment announced 
 by our worthy Vice President ; but had I known his object, per- 
 haps I might not have so readily yielded the floor to him. I beg, 
 however, to say, that if I have been enabled to perform any ser- 
 vice for you or for my country, at all worthy of this compliment, 
 I owe it quite as much to your kind adoption, and to the support 
 of mj/- fellow citizens, as to any ability of mine. [Cheers.] No 
 one rejoices in the prosperity of Dorchester, of our Commonwealth, 
 and of our Republic, more than I do, or looks forward to the 
 bright future with more glorious anticipations. But who can 
 foretell their progress and renown, when two hundred and twenty- 
 five years more shall have completed their course ! Ere that 
 day shall dawn, we shall have been gathered to our fathers ; but 
 other millions will then celebrate the birth-day of American 
 Freedom. That the influences of this day's commemoration may 
 live to bless our children and our children's children, to the latest 
 generation, is my earnest prayer and hope. [Applause.] 
 
 The President then alluded to the complimentary ser- 
 vice performed by the Independent Company of Cadets, 
 and gave : 
 
 Our MiUtartj Escort — the Tndependent Compamj of Cadets — Tlie right arm 
 of His Excellency the Commander in Chief, and the entrenched guard of the 
 Commonwealth — A model of citizen soldiery. [Hearty cheers.] 
 
 Col. Thomas C. Amory, Commander of the Cadets, hav- 
 ing left the pavilion when this sentiment was given, has 
 since kindly sent the following note in response. 
 
 To the inhabitants of Dorchester, through you, Mr. President, 
 and their Committee, the Cadets are indebted for the honor of an 
 
12G THE CELEBRATION. 
 
 invitation on this memorable day, which to us has been an oc- 
 casion of much pleasure. For your kind complimentary notice 
 of the corps, and for all the attention which has been bestowed 
 on our comfort and enjoyment, I beg leave to return you our 
 sincere thanks. For whatever may have appeared praisewor- 
 thy in the movements or discipline of the corps, we are in a great 
 measure indebted to the instructions of Lieut. Colonel James W. 
 Sever, our former commander and a resident in Dorchester, and 
 for the remainder to the members themselves, for their self-sacri- 
 ficing spirit and unremitting exertions to make themselves profi- 
 cient in their military exercises. 
 
 Mr. President, my o^\^l associations with Dorchester have been 
 somewhat peculiar, as well as pleasant. In my boyhood I was 
 often among you, residing with my relatives, and during that pe- 
 riod it was my privilege to listen to religious instruction from the 
 lips of that excellent man, the Rev. Dr. Harris. I was also for 
 some time under the tuition of Mr. Elisha Clapp, a Dorchester 
 man, who fitted me for College. He was a most faithful and ex- 
 cellent instructor, and a strict disciplinarian, and had a peculiar 
 faculty of making his dull boys smart in the end. 
 
 In College I became acquainted and lived under the same roof 
 with the learned and eloquent orator of the day, who has so much 
 enlightened and delighted us, and for whom I entertain the high- 
 est personal respect — so that my early associations with Dorches- 
 ter and its inhabitants have been of the most pleasant and agreea- 
 ble description. 
 
 Mr. President, there is in this assemblage a member of the 
 Cadets, whom we are proud to claim as " one of ours," and who 
 to-day so Avell served you in the honorable and responsible posi- 
 tion of Chief Marshal. This gentleman is at the head of one of 
 the most important arms of military service, and to it in fact may 
 be fairly attributed much of the success Avhich crowned the efforts 
 of our national armies, against most fearful odds, in the late war 
 with Mexico — I mean the Light Artillery. By his energy and 
 skill he has in this Commonwealth brought it to a degree of per- 
 fection which reflects the highest honor on himself and his asso- 
 ciates. 
 
 And now, Mr. President, I will no longer trespass on your 
 time, but offer you as a sentiment — 
 
THE CELEBRATION. 127 
 
 The Event wv celebrate and Us consequent Blessings. — They "vvlio evince 
 no interest in the first, hardly deserve to participate in the others. 
 
 The Pkesident. — Ladies and Gentlemen — We have 
 amono- our lionorcd Ji'uests from the City of New York, one, 
 Avho lias devoted a hirii'c fortune, nearly half a million of 
 dollars I believe, in establishing- institutions for the diffu- 
 sion of knowledge. I refer to Hon. Peter Cooper, the mu- 
 nificent founder of the Cooper Institute in New York. 
 [Cheers.] 
 
 Mr. Cooper responded as follows : 
 Mr. Preside7it, and Gentlemen : 
 
 After the eloquent remarks to which we have listened with 
 so much pleasure, it would be improper for me to occupy your 
 time in the presence of so many gentlemen, who are altogether 
 more able to interest you than myself. Your kind allusion to my 
 humble efforts to advance the cattse of science, claims from me a 
 reply, that I fear it will be entirely out of my power to offer. I 
 will venture, however, so far as to assure you, that if the institu- 
 tion to which reference has been made, shall acc^omplish but a 
 small part of the good that I desire, it will amply compensate for 
 all efforts that have been required to give it a permanent and use- 
 ful existence. It has fallen to my lot, Mr. President, to know 
 just enough of the beauties and benefits of scientific knowledge to 
 awaken within me an inextinguishable desire to spread its bless- 
 ings throughout the world. [Cheers.] If I am not mistaken, 
 Mr. President, it is to the spread of knowledge, and a right appli- 
 cation of the exact sciences to all the varied uses and purposes of 
 life, that we must look for all future improvement in the condition 
 of mankind. I mean such an application and use of science as 
 will so unveil the wonderful and beautiful mysteries of creation, 
 that " What may be known of God will be clearly seen, being 
 understood by that which he has made." I indulge the hope that 
 a right application and use of scientific knowledge will yet elevate 
 man to comprehend the true dignity of his nature, and the powers 
 given him, by which it is both our privilege and duty to keep, 
 subdue and have dominion over the great garden of the world, and 
 thus demonstrate that the right use of every thing is good, and 
 that the wrong use of anything is an evil — an evil destined by the 
 
128 THE CELEBRATION. 
 
 operations of an immutable law to afflict us as individuals, as 
 communities, as States and nations, not willingly but of necessity ; 
 for our profit, so " filling us with our own ways," making us sick 
 of our sins, and willing to yield obedience to those laws and prin- 
 ciples of eternal truth and justice. [Applause.] Laws that will 
 finally in their operations reward every man according to his 
 works, and that without respect to persons. I will not longer 
 occupy your time, only to thank you for the honor you have con- 
 ferred, by inviting me to join you in celebrating the birth of our 
 national independence. With your permission I will ofler the 
 following sentiment : — 
 
 The Day ice Celebrate — May every return strengthen the bonds that bind 
 together our union of States in perpetual and fraternal interest and afFection. 
 [Applause.] 
 
 Mr. Ebenezer Clapp, Jr. being called upon for a speech, 
 fiu'nished the following paper : — 
 
 Mr. President : 
 
 The question why the early settlers of this part of Massachu- 
 setts selected Mattapan for their abode, has no doubt entered the 
 mind of many, as in imagination they have placed themselves in 
 the position of the new comers. After their passage of ten weeks 
 was terminated, and they landed upon Nantasket shore, glad to 
 plant their feet upon that continent which they had chosen as their 
 future home, they tarried for a few days, to recruit from the ill 
 effects attendant upon their long voyage. They now began to look 
 about for a place of habitation. Methinks 1 see Chickatabot, the 
 chief of the Massachusetts tribe, standing upon this hill and watch- 
 ing the movements of the strange visitors. He had seen, from 
 Squantum Head, the boat which a few days previous had passed 
 up towards Charles River, and now his eagle eye saw another as 
 it leaves the shore and makes a straight wake towards the mouth 
 of his favorite Neponset. He marks them as the ebbing tide sets 
 them towards the North, till they disappear behind Old Hill ; they 
 soon re-appear, pass up the quiet waters of Old Harbor, and land 
 upon the south side of Mattapan Neck. He had seen Blackstone 
 at Shawmut, and Walfourd at Mishawan, and hoped that they 
 were to be his nearest pale-faced neighbors. He finds that he is 
 
THE CELEBRATION. 129 
 
 mistaken, and wends his way to his wigwam, at the Massachu- 
 setts Fiekis, to ponder vipon these things. As they approached 
 our harbor and marked the landscape as it lay before them, the 
 sloping highlands receding as they approached the shore, and gor- 
 geous with the foliage of early summer, who will wonder at their 
 choice ? 
 
 A kind word, before I close, to the inemory of Capt. Squeb, whose 
 name has been handed down to posterity by our pious progenitor, 
 Roger Clap, as a merciless man, because he landed his passengers 
 at Nantasket. He agreed to bring them to the mouth of Charles 
 River. He called that the mouth, and well might any stranger 
 do so as he approached the coast, and saw the wooded islands 
 apparently closing in on every side, with the great Brewster twice 
 its present size ; Nix's Mate, containing twelve acres ; Sound Point, 
 a high bluff projecting far towards Long Island Head, with the 
 waters of the Charles, Neponset and Mystick rushing by at every 
 ebb — a channel which no pilot's eye had marked or line had 
 sounded — no warning buoys upon the Centurion nor Upper nor 
 Lower Middle. Well might he call that the mouth of the Charles, 
 and refuse to steer the prow of " that great ship the Mary and 
 John " another fathom up its unknown waters. 
 
 I will offer the following sentiment : — 
 
 The Passengers in the Ship " Mari/ and John " — Educated by the trials and 
 persecutions of their age, to be the founders of a new country ; their j^oste- 
 rity meet this day on theu* sacred hill, and, like Moses from Mt. Pisgah, 
 view the promised land. 
 
 The President. — Ladies and Gentlemen — It is my 
 duty, as well as my privilege, to acknowledge our obliga- 
 tions to one of our fellow toAvnsmen for the truly liberal 
 and honorable spirit which lie has manifested in all the pro- 
 ceedings connected with this celebration. I allude to Col. 
 Enoch Train, who in addition to other acts of munificence, 
 has erected, at his own expense, yonder magnificent flag- 
 staif, from which floats, this day, one of the largest — if not 
 the largest banner in the world. I therefore propose the 
 following sentiment : — 
 
 Health, happiness, and long life to oui- worthy citizen. Col. Exoch Train. 
 [Great applause.] 
 
130 THE CELEBRATION. 
 
 Col. Train responded : — 
 
 Mr. Preside?it : 
 
 I have taken great pains, 1 must confess, to erect something 
 substantial. My hope is, that all here present Avill, for many years 
 to come, on the return of this anniversary, see that staff stand- 
 ing, and those " stripes and stars " floating before the breeze. 
 [Cheers.] We are peculiarly fortunate in our weather to-day, for 
 floating bunting. It was fortunate, I think, that the Declaration 
 of Independence was signed at a favorable season of the year. 
 Had it been the fourth of February, like that cold night when the 
 committee were at your house. Sir, instead of the fourth of July, 
 we could not have been here ; we could not have enjoyed the plea- 
 sant marches and festivities of this day. [Cheers.] 
 
 I observe in this tent some mottoes with complimentar}'^ allusions 
 to myself, in one of which Train's Packet Ships are placed in 
 contrast with the ship " Mary and John," which brought the first 
 settlers of our goodly town to these shores. The contrast is truly 
 wonderful between the ships of that day and those of the present ; 
 but time will not permit me to enter upon this subject. 
 
 Mr. President, I am extremely obliged to this assembly for the 
 cordial manner in which they have received the sentiment with 
 which you have honored me. [Repeated cheers.] 
 
 The following sentiment was then announced by the 
 chair : 
 
 The Dorchester Antiquarian and Historical Society — In treasiiring iip the 
 memorials of the fathers, it best manifests its regai'd for posterity. [Cheers.] 
 
 Edward L. Pierce, Esq. being called upon by the Pre- 
 sident to respond to this sentiment, said : 
 
 Mr. President and Fellmo Citizeyis : 
 
 It was said by that eminent master of social philosophy — 
 Edmund Burke — that people who do not look back to their ances- 
 tors, will not look forward to their posterity. Responding for this 
 Society, let me say, that mindful of the generations to come, they 
 turn their reverent eyes to the fathers and founders of this ancient 
 community. Whatever is illustrative of their lives in records, 
 traditions and relics, it gathers into its archives. Thither, in 
 
THE CELEBRATION. 131 
 
 after-times, shall the patriot citizen repair to invigorate his love of 
 country. Thither shall the historian resort, anxious to present to 
 posterity a faithful transcript of our national life. History no 
 longer fulfils her office, when she busies herself only with the 
 movements of armies, tlie details of politics, the mysteries of 
 cabinets, and the amours of courts. She alone accomplishes her 
 peculiar work, when, walking among the people, the visitant of 
 their homes, the spectator of their amusements, and the student of 
 their customs, ideas and aspirations, she prepares herself to 
 deliver to mankind a luminous chart of human progress. Thus 
 at once is evident, the importance of local historical societies, like 
 the one in whose behalf I now speak. 
 
 In collecting the memorials of the fathers, and in celebrating 
 their virtues as we do to-day, we act well. Their influence is not 
 circumscribed within the narrow limits of the township, where 
 they may have lived and died. It has spread wherever their 
 blood circulates — wherever the genius of their ideas has found its 
 way, on this hemisphere or the other. The whole land is redolent 
 with the perfume of their memories. History bends under the 
 blossoms of their beautiful deeds. So has it ever been with 
 beneficent lives. 
 
 The Avon to the Severn runs, 
 
 The Severn to the sea ; 
 And Wickliffe's dust shall sjDread abroad, 
 
 Wide as the waters be. 
 
 [Mr. Pierce closed his speech by eloquently enforcing the im- 
 portance of maintaining the true spirit of liberty which animated 
 the breasts of our forefathers.] 
 
 The President then happily alluded to the valuable 
 services of the Chief Marshal and his assistants, and gave : 
 
 Tho Chief Marshal of the Z)ay.— Before his Flying Artillenj onr foes^y 
 away, and under his command the " Ancient " cannot but he the " Honorable " 
 Ai-tillerj'. [Ap^jlause.] 
 
 Major Cobb responded as follows : 
 
 Mr. President : 
 
 I am indeed grateful for the flattering sentiment you have just 
 expressed relative to my connection with the volunteer militia of 
 18 
 
132 THE CELEBRATION. 
 
 the Commonwealth. I am one of those who believe, with the Con- 
 stitution of the United States, that " a well-regulated militia is 
 necessar)^ to the security of a free State," and you, Sir, must be 
 undoubtedly aware that in a community like ours, where the mili- 
 tary power is expected, in the language of the Constitution of our 
 own State, to be " held in an exact subordination to the civil 
 authority, and be governed by it," that there has been, and it is 
 to be feared there always will be, a dangerous sentiment of con- 
 tempt entertained by many towards our militia. 
 
 Upon these considerations I have thought it my duty to give 
 my countenance and support to our present militia organization. 
 To me, Sir, it seems anything but trifling and contemptible to see 
 citizens, like yourself, distinguished in the callings of civil life, 
 leaving the comforts and quiet of their homes and their places of 
 business, and with a zeal measured only by their love of country, 
 submitting to the rigors of the field and camp, with as little con- 
 cern for life, and with as much attention to all the details of mili- 
 tary discipline, as the trained troops of a standing anny, and then 
 quietly returning to the duties of civil life, ready, if need be, to 
 sacrifice home, fortune, even life itself, for their country, 
 
 I believe. Sir, there is not enough love of country in the hearts 
 of the people. I believe, too, that a good soldier cannot be other- 
 wise than a good patriot. 
 
 I shall therefore, among other things, by precept and example, 
 strive to teach my children the duties of the citizen soldier of the 
 United States of America, believing that by so doing I am incul- 
 cating the most enduring lessons of patriotism. 
 
 Hoping, Sir, that the duties of the Chief Marshal and his Aids 
 and Assistants have been performed to the acceptance of yourself 
 and the citizens of Dorchester, I will give — 
 
 The I'arents of Massachusetts — Let them respect the Volunteer Militia of 
 the Commonwealth as it deserves to be respected, and the service in it can- 
 not be otherwise than rcHpectahle for their sons. [Applause.] 
 
 A vote of thanks was then passed to the President, 
 the Secretary, and other officers, the Marshals, the Inde- 
 pendent Company of Cadets, the Boston Light Artillery, 
 the choir of Singers, and all Avho aided in the celebration. 
 
THE CELEBRATION. 133 
 
 The Presidcut announced that the present festivities 
 would be closed by singiu,o: the 117th Psahn, to tlie tune 
 of Old Hundred — a tune in which our fathers delighted to 
 praise the Creator and Preserver of men. The audience 
 then rose and united in singing- the following verses : 
 
 From all that dwell below the skies, 
 Let the Creator's praise ai'ise ; 
 Let tlie Redeemer's name be sung 
 Tlnroiigh every land, by every tongue. 
 
 Eternal are thy mercies, Lord, 
 
 Eternal truth attends thy word ; 
 
 Thy praise shall sound from shore to shore. 
 
 Till suns shall rise and set no more. 
 
 VOLTNTEER SENTIMENTS 
 
 BY WILLIAM D. SWAN, ESQ. 
 
 The Constitution of the United States, and the memory of its immortal 
 defender. 
 
 BY CAPT. EBKNEZER EATON. 
 
 The Declaration of Independence — A democratic document, to be read, 
 studied, taught — and always to be remembered, observed and honored. 
 
 BY ROBERT VOSE, ESQ. 
 
 The State of New Hampshire — When asked for her jewels, she can, like 
 the old Koman mati'on, proudly present to us her sons. 
 
 SENT BY HON. WM. FOSTER (aGED 84), OF BOSTON. 
 
 A President — the Mem we want — Not too young for safe cotmsel, or too old 
 for energetic action ; with leai-ning and experience, with independence and 
 coui'age. 
 
 BY NAHUM CAPEN, ESQ. 
 
 The Day we Celebrate. — TVliat the Sabbath is to the Religious World, this 
 is to the World of Freedom. It brings the nation to every cottage, and the 
 great truths of nationality to every mind. Withovit its observance the 
 Young cannot be prepared for the practical duties which belong to the citizen, 
 and the Old would forget the patiuotism of their fathers. 
 
134 THE CELEBRATION. 
 
 BY OLIVER HALL, ESQ. 
 
 Tlic Fmtrth of July 1776, and the Fourth of Juhj 1855 — The former a tune 
 of iieril, the latter a time of rejoicing. 
 
 BY ARTHUR W. AUSTIN, ESQ., WEST ROXBURY. 
 
 Our National Constitution — Franaed by the wisdom and patriotism of oui- 
 fathers — intrigue may impeach, or ti'aitors may assail it, but the spirit of 
 ^Vashington protects it, the sword of Jackson guards it, and the game blood 
 of the Revolution is able and will defend it forever. 
 
 BY AUGUSTUS BROWN, ESQ. 
 Old Dorchester. — After the Boston Tea Party, Washington proposed a 
 series of Free Balls fi'om Dorchester Heights, music by the Bunker Hill Band ; 
 but these bails were too democratic, and ^^"ere declined by a Dancing Fleet, 
 which preferred Bay Water to Boston Port. 
 
 BY EDWARD JONES, ESQ. 
 
 The Independence of the United States. — The fathers who achieved it have 
 gone to their homes. May theii- posterity, to the latest generations, preserve 
 and protect the precious boon from all rutliless hands, and extend its bless- 
 ings to " earth's remotest bounds." 
 
 FROM THE DORCHESTER ANTIQUARIAN AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 Sons and Daughters of Old Dorchester — Welcome to your ancestral home. 
 Our meetings on earth Mill be but few ; but may we all, progenitors and de- 
 scendants, present and absent, fhially be gathered into that temple "not made 
 with hands, eternal in the heavens." 
 
 BY A GUEST. 
 
 The Orator of the Day. — TTie garlands of literatiu-e, of oratory and states- 
 manship are gracefully ■oTeathed around his honored brow — not the less 
 unfadmg, not the less immortal, because illumined by a life of patriotism. 
 
 BY O. PUTNAM BACON, ESQ. 
 
 The Prayers of a Warham, a Maverick, and a Mather — They have ascended 
 to heaven ; may they descend in copious showers to bless those institutions 
 — the Church and the School — which their hands planted and their teius 
 watered. 
 
 BY R. VOSE, JR., ESQ. 
 
 TJie President of the United States — The brave soldier, the accomplished 
 scholai", the ti-ue pati'iot. Litelligence, honesty and fidelity distinguish the 
 acbuinisti'atiou of e^•ery public ti'ust confided to his hands. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 The following letters constitute a part of the correspondence 
 with the individuals who were invited to be present at the 4th 
 of July Celebration in Dorchester. The replies are, with a few 
 exceptions, addressed to the Connnittee on Invitations — consisting 
 of Messrs. S. P. Loud, Nahum Capen, Edmund J. Baker, Ebene- 
 zer Clapp, Jr., John P. Spooner, Robert Codman, and W. E. 
 Abbott. 
 
 TO THE CITIZENS OF DOKCIIESTER, ENGLAND. 
 
 Dorchester, Massachusetts, U. S. A., May 8, 1855. 
 TuE Undersigned, Membebs of the Dorchester Antiquarian and 
 
 Historical Societ\^, 
 To THE Citizens of the City of Dorchester, Dorset, Eng. 
 Friends : — 
 
 Yovir place being the residence of many of our progenitors, 
 and from which this to^vn derived its name, we address you with an affec- 
 tionate interest. It is comparatively but a few years since our ancestors left 
 their quiet homes and launched forth tipon the ocean, to make a new home 
 for themselves and posterity, and take up their abode in this then inhospi- 
 table wilderness of savages and wild beasts. As we look back upon the history 
 of this period, it appeal's as if events had been transpiring for two centuries, 
 to bring forth and educate for the work, this inestimable race of men. They 
 came to worship) God according to the dictates of their owu consciences ; and 
 although theii- ti-eatment of those who differed from them in religious senti- 
 ment, was often harsh, cruel, and abnost inexcusable, yet we must remem- 
 ber that they were the most tolerant of then- age, and that toleration was a 
 doctrine not then dreamed of by the great mass oi mankind ; even noM', 
 many are they who fall far short of its christian requirements. We must 
 
13G THE CELEBRATION. 
 
 also admit that it is not just to judge that generation by the staudard of the 
 present. We believe that this is almost the only country ever seuled, that had 
 not the lower motive of gold, plunder, or conquest, for its paramoiuit object. 
 But time will not permit us to go mto a lengthened history ©"those men; 
 suffice it to say, they loved their native land, sung of its sacred memories, 
 and prayed for its true glory ; they had " great contempt of terrestrial dis- 
 tinctions," and felt assured, that " if their names were not found in the 
 register of heralds, they were recorded in the book of life." This state of 
 things contuiued until they thought that encroaclunents were made on their 
 chartered rights, which they endeavored to remedy Avith aU the skill of prac - 
 tised diplomatists ; but nothing could prevent a final separation ; in the 
 fvdness of time the breach was made, which might indeed be called << manifest 
 destiny." About thirty-six years after, another little misunderstanding 
 occurred ; but the lapse of time has healed aU breaches and all misxindcrstand- 
 ings, and we claim you as brethren beloved, and recal the tiiue when our 
 fathers sat side by side, gloried in the same countiy, and looked forward to 
 the same destiny. It was meet that the separation should come, and the 
 great doctrine of " Westward the star of Empire takes its way," be fulfilled. 
 That star has reached its culminating point, and planted its bynner by the 
 settmg sun ; henceforth civilization must travel east, and Asia and Africa 
 be its field of operation. 
 
 It is supposed that this town was called Dorchester, on account of the 
 great respect of its early settlers for Rev. John White, a clergjinan of your 
 place at that time, and an active instrument in promoting the settlement and 
 procuring its charter. They sailed from Plymouth, England, ^March 20, 
 and arrived May 30, 1630 ; they came in the ship Mai-y and John, Capt. 
 Squeb, and were finally settled down here as a body politic about June 17, 
 • 1630. They were reinforced from time to time, and many remained here only 
 for a short period and then went to other places and made new homes. It is 
 estimated that there are now living, in this country, two hundred thousand 
 persons who are descendants of the eaidy settlers of this town. 
 
 A little previous to the year 1700 (Oct. 22, 1695), a church was organized 
 in this town, which went to South Carolina and planted another Dorchester ; 
 so that in civil affairs you have chikben and grandchilcben in this western 
 world. A large number of persons of the following names, descendants of 
 the early settlers of this town, are now living here or in this vicinity, viz. : 
 Baker, Bii-d, Blackman, Blake, Bradlee, Billings, Capeu, Clapp, Davenport, 
 Foster, Glover, Holmes, Hall, Hawes, Howe, Hewuis, Humplu-eys, Jones, 
 Leeds, Lyon, Moseley, Minot, Pierce, Payson, Preston, Pope, Robinson, 
 Spur, Sumner, Tileston, Tolman, Vose, White, Withington, Wales and 
 WisweU. Any information concerning these names would be very interest- 
 ing to us, appreciated, and ti'casured up for posterity. 
 
 The mhabitants of this town propose to celebrate the 79th anniversary of 
 oiu' birth-day as a nation, on the coming July ■ith. Hon. Edward Everett, 
 a native of this place, and late Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britain, 
 
APPENDIX. 137 
 
 will address tlie assembly. The sons and daiightcrs of the town, ■wherever 
 scattered, are invited to come to their ancestral home and unite with us on 
 this occasion. It is too much for us to ask that a delegation might be sent 
 from yom- Borough to add to the interest of this festival ; but should one or 
 m.ore of your citizens whom you would approve be in this country, it would 
 give us great pleasure to have them attend as our guests. Dorchester ad- 
 joins Boston on the south, contains about 8000 inhabitants, and for its size 
 is one of the wealthiest towns in the country ; its valuation last year was 
 $10,182,400. Its location is one of great interest, and its founders had an 
 eye for the lieautiful when they pitched then touts upon this land of pro- 
 mise; their 1 unds cultivated these spreaduig fields and "helped to subdue a 
 wilderness which now blossoms lilve the rose." Within the last generation 
 science has subdued the elements, and made them applicable to the purposes 
 of mau ; distance is computed by time and not space, so that you seem neigh- 
 bors as well us friends, and by this epistle we reach forth across the ocean, 
 offer you the right hand of fellowship, and in imagraation look forward to 
 that future v/lien the only question asked by all nations will bo, how does 
 it stand related to eternal truth ? 
 
 With gi-eat respect, yom- Friends, 
 
 Edmund P. Tilestox, 
 Edmund J. Bakek, 
 
 EnENEZER ClaPP, Jr. 
 
 Wm. D. Swan, 
 Wm. B. Trask, 
 Wm. H. Richardson, 
 James Swan, 
 Samuel Blake, 
 Edward Holden. 
 
 fROM THE MAYOR OF DORCHESTER, ENG. 
 
 To THE Members of the Dorchester Antmuarian and Historical 
 Society, Dorchester, Massachusetts, U. S. 
 
 South Street, Dorchester, Dorset. IGth June, 1855. 
 Gentlemen and Friends : — 
 
 Youi- letter, which as Mayor it fell to my lot to 
 receive, has created a feeling of interest amongst us, and we welcome with great 
 cordiality the communication from those whom we may style kinsfolk. I 
 have caused your letter to be printed, and have circulated it amongst such 
 persons especially as are likely to assist us in om- inquiries on the subject of it. 
 
 I myself, and I believe many others, would gladly pay you a visit, but that 
 we cannot spare the tune requhcd to do so. 
 
 We feel tiat we cannot furnish you with an account of om- town and 
 neighborhood in such a manner as we would wish, in time for your anni- 
 versary, but we hope by the 80th anniversary to bo enabled to collect a port- 
 
138 THE CELEBRATION, 
 
 folio for you, -u-hich, if you wish, we shall gladly forward to you. I have 
 aheady a nucleus of the collection. 
 
 Ml-. White's name is still kuown in the Borough, and there are still names 
 amongst us which are enumerated by you. The Town itself docs not proba- 
 bly exceed, by much, the limits it had when our common ancestors left it. 
 
 Being surrounded by the lands of the Duchy of Cornwall, which aie held 
 in common, there has been a constant check upon increasing our bounds. 
 AVe are, however, we trust, increasing our station amongst other towns, and 
 we hope ere long that the obstacle to our extension may be removed. 
 
 The County Gaol and other publio buildings being situated here, and the 
 Assizes and Quarter Sessions being held here, add to our importance. The 
 suburb of Fordington now forms part of our Borough. "\Ve have five 
 Churches, and several Chapels for those whose doctrines differ from the 
 Church of England. Of these churches, two are in Fordington and tlu'ee in 
 Dorchester. The Holy Trinity Church was rebuilt in 1824 — 5 ; the Church 
 of All Saints about five or six yeai-s ago. The Church of St. Peters is the 
 oldest church in the to mi. There is now a scheme on foot for restoring and 
 repaii-ing this church, and for giving greater accommodation to our poorer 
 bretliren. When completed, we shall give them upwai'ds of 200 free sittings, 
 and the building will then be a handsome specimen of architectui-e. At 
 present the committee are stayed by want of sufficient funds. 
 
 Two important Railways, the London and South AVesteru and the Great 
 Western, approach us, whilst at eight miles distance we have the Port of 
 WejTnouth, and the Island of Portland, with the Quai-ries, whereon the 
 Government have established Convict Prisons, and by convict labor in great 
 piu't they are forming a breakwater. 
 
 Our design is to furnish you, if acceptable, with a full description 
 of the town and neighborhood, accompanied by such views as we may be able 
 to procure or fui-nish to illustrate our account. We do not think we can 
 do this with justice to the subject before next summer, but if you will then 
 accept it as a pledge of good feeling and good fellowship, it is humbly at 
 your service. 
 
 You will perhaps let me know how these matters should be sent to you ; 
 and with every good wish for your welfare, 
 
 I remain yoiu's very faithfully, 
 
 THOS. COOMBS, Ma>/or. 
 
 FROM THE MIDWAY SOCIETY, GEORGIA. 
 
 Hioeuoro', Liberty Co., Ga., June 4th, 1855. 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 Your letter dated Dorchester, Mass., May 11th, 1855, has been received 
 by the Midway Society. You mention that in the year 1695 (Oct. 22) 
 «' a church was formed in this town, which went to South Carolina and set- 
 
APPENDIX. 139 
 
 tied in a place -which they called Dorchester," and '• suhsecixiently they 
 removed to Midway, in Georgia; " and you also inquire, " whether any of 
 the descendants of those who went off from this town ai'e now living." In 
 reply, we would state that your communication was received with much 
 j)leasiu-e. It recalled to our minds the ties of consanguinity, and those tradi- 
 tional associations, which have ever endeared in oui- memories the home of 
 our ancestors. AYe ai'e happy to inform you that, according to oiu' records, 
 the church organized in Dorchester, Mass., in the year 1695, A. D., of which 
 the Rev. Joseph Lord was pastor, settled in Dorchestei- and Beach Hill, 
 vS. C, diu-ing the same year, and continued there until th.e year 1752 — a 
 period of fifty-seven years, when the Society being in Avant of lands for the 
 settlement of then children, began to remove to Midway, in Georgia, and 
 located there upon the 6th of December, 1752, w^here most of then descend- 
 ants remain until the present time. About one half of the present popula- 
 tion of Liberty County are related to these settlers. Others have followed 
 the westward tide of emigration. Dm-ing the infancy of the chiu-ch at 
 ^Midway, oiu- society was much afflicted with disease, anuoj^ed by the i^reda- 
 tory incursions of Indians, and sacked by the rapacious British diu'ing our 
 sti'ugglc for Independence. Diu'ing the continviance of the war, oiu' society 
 was much scattered, but with the news of peace a brighter day dawned. 
 Our chiu-ch and society was then settled upon a sure and solid basis, and, we 
 hope, has proved a blessing to very many of our race. 
 
 The mission upon which this chm-ch and society left Dorchester, was to 
 " encourage the settlement of chvuxhes, and the promotion of religion in the 
 Southern plantations." We ti'ust this mission has been a successful one. 
 Many, heralds of the cross, have gone forth from our society to j)reach the 
 Gospel ; some to China and Bminali, some to oiu- sister States, whUst others 
 have chosen our colored population as their field of usefulness. We have 
 not been altogether forgetful of om- origin. In the year- 1795, a sermon was 
 2)reached by the Rev. Cjtus Gildersleeve, pastor of IMidway Church at that 
 time, commemorative of the one hundredth anniversary of oui- society since 
 its formation in Dorchester, Mass. The church and society at Midway 
 (which has preserved its Congregationalism intact to the present time) also 
 celebrated on the 4th, 5th and 6th of December, 1852, the centennial anni- 
 versary of our settlement here. Our exercises were commenced by a ser- 
 mon from the Rev. J. S. R. Axson (who had been our pastor for seventeen 
 ye;u-s, now President of Greensboro', Geo., Female College), a man of ster- 
 ling piety, rare intelligence, and polished eloquence. On the next day. Prof. 
 John B. MaUai-d read an essay, containing an epitome of aU the historical 
 associations connected with our eaiiy settlement. On the 6th, Judge 
 Wniiam Law delivered an oration on the character, objects and influences of 
 our church and society. 
 
 Thus we have endeavored to refresh om- memories with the history of the 
 past, and impress them upon the minds of our children. 
 
 The descendants of the fathers of oiu: society assembled from many remote 
 
 19 
 
140 THE CELEBRATION. 
 
 points, and paiticipated with us in the festivities of that occasion. Wc 
 regret that ■wc -were so remiss in our dutj', as not to have extended an invita- 
 tion to you to unite with us. 
 
 We feared that sad changes of time had obliterated us from the memory of 
 oiur Northern relatives and friends ; but now that you have sought us out, 
 to renew our acquaintance, your kindness wiU render you doubly dear to 
 us. * * * "We ai'e pleased to infer, from yoiu- invitation to 
 unite with you in the celebration of the ensuing 4th of July, that a senti- 
 ment of nationality still pervades our ancestral tovm. 
 
 In your letter you say, " We give you our fraternal greeting, and through 
 you, your Society, ^^■ishing you peace, prosperity and every Christian grace." 
 Most willingly do we accept these proffers of love and friendship, and tender 
 you oxu- reciprocity of sentiment. Tlie names of Dorchester and Plymouth 
 are dear to us. The Puritans of New England have impressed theii- charac- 
 ter upon America. Our ancestors at Midway, bringing with them a love of 
 religion, liberty and law, were the first in Georgia to declare in favor of 
 independence, and the name of Libertj' County has been given to our 
 former pai'ish in testimony of the fact. The descendants of the originiil 
 settlers of Midway have spread themselves over Georgia, and the Southern 
 States, as the pioneers of religion, education and jturisprudence. Our Soci- 
 ety at present occuj^ies a commanding position upon the seaboard of Georgia. 
 Considerable progress has been made in civil and religious development, 
 agricultiu-al science, wealth and population. We beg leave to refer you, for 
 further pailiculai's, to White's Historical Collections of Georgia, as contain- 
 ing a full and authentic statement of our Society, which might interest some 
 of our Northern friends. We will mention, also, that within about seven 
 miles of Midway Church, we have a neat village, called Dorchester, in honor 
 of our ancestral town, whose citizens ai'e noted for their intelligence and 
 hospitality. Our present pastors are the Rev. D. L. Biittolph, of New York, 
 and the Eev. John F. Baker, of Wilkesbai-re, Pa. 
 
 The undersigned have been appointed a committee of correspondence, and 
 we have endeavored to respond to yoiu- communication, detailing some mat- 
 ters of interest. We have appointed a delegation of Messrs. G. W. Walthoiu-, 
 John B. Bai-nard, and Samuel M. Vai-nadoe, to attend your celebration, and 
 we would be glad for you to receive them in the name of the ^Midway 
 Society. 
 
 Please accept oui- thanks for yo\u' hospitable invitation, fraternal feelings, 
 and cordial gi-eetings. 
 
 May we be ever united in the bonds of patriotism and Christian love, 
 and be mutually remembered at a throne of grace. 
 
 Youi-s most ti'uly, W. S. Noeman, "] 
 
 S. M. Vaunadoe, I 
 A. Winn, y Cor. Cum. 
 
 W. S. Baker, | 
 
 John B. Barnard, J 
 
APPENDIX. 141 
 
 FROM HON. ROBERT C. WINTIIROP. 
 
 Newpout, II. I., od July, 185;5. 
 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 Unexpected and unavoidable absence from home will deprive me of 
 the pleasui'e of fulfilling my engagement to be present at the I')orchester Fes- 
 tival to-morrow. I regret extremely to lose the Oration of my distinguished 
 friend, INIr. Everett, and to miss the opportunity of meeting the sons and 
 daughters of Dorchester on so interesting an occasion. 
 
 I cannot altogether forget that I have some claim to be among them, apart 
 from the complimentary invitation with which I have been honored. In 
 your good old Town have lived, in years past, not a few of those with whom 
 I have been connected by the nearest ties both of affection and of blood. 
 The vote of Dorchester in favor of the adoption of the Constitution of the 
 United States — the most imiDortant vote she was ever called upon to cast — 
 was given by the hand of my near maternal relative, James Bowdoin, whose 
 name has been fitly assigned to one of the beautiful hiUs withui your bor- 
 ders. Not a few of the pleasantest hours of my boyhood were passed upon 
 that hill ; and, certainly, there is no prospect which I have ever seen since, 
 either at home or abroad, which has left a more vivid impression on my 
 mind for variety and beauty, than that of my native citj', with its charming 
 envii'ons and lovely harbor, as viewed from the old summer house which 
 has but recently disappeared from Mount Bowdoin. 
 
 It would have afforded me real pleasiire to unite with you in recalling the 
 interesting events of your early history, and in renewing our common 
 pledges of fidelity and devotion to the Independence, the Constitution, and the 
 Union of our Coimtry. But it is only in my power to thank you once more 
 for your obliging invitation, and to offer to the people of Dorchester my cor- 
 dial wishes both for the success of the occasion, and for their continued 
 prosperity and welfare. Believe me, dear sir, 
 
 Very sincerely and faithfully, 
 
 Yom- Friend and Servant, 
 
 ROB'T C. WINTHROP. 
 
 FROM HON. RUFUS CIIOATE. 
 
 Boston, July 3d, 185.5. 
 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 I have delayed a formal reply to your kind invitation for the 4th 
 instant, in the hope that I might be well enough to accept it ; yet apprehen- 
 sive that I should not. My recovery, though advancing, is yet so incomplete 
 that, as I feiu-ed, it is now certain' I shall not have the ijleasiu-e of sharing 
 in all that entertainment to which the taste and public sphit of Dorchester 
 are sure to give so much attraction. 
 
 The discom-se of Mi-. Everett, I cannot deny myself the gratification and 
 inshxiction of attending. If it were only to see and hear the consummate 
 
142 THE CELEBRATION. 
 
 orator, returning from so many triumphs of eloquence, to speak on the sub- 
 lime themes of Independence and Union, among the graves of homo, and to 
 the children of his father's friends, and in sight of the ridges of the great 
 "war, still uiiobl iterated, on his native heights — if it were only to see and hear 
 genius, erudition and practice unc^qualled under stimulations and ■with ad- 
 vantages so unwonted, the temptation -would be enough. But the moderate 
 and healing counsels of a good, wise, and gi'cat man, capacious of his whole 
 country, arc matter even more atti-active ; and to listen to these chiefly I 
 would be, and wish all could be, of his audience. 
 
 I am with great regard, Your obedient servant, 
 
 RUFUS CHOATE. 
 
 Ml-. Choatc gave further exincssion to his feelings through the columns of 
 the BosTOx Courier, in the article which follows. 
 
 " 5Ir. EvEREiT AT HoME. — Thc ucwspapcrs win have, before this time, 
 placed 'Mr. Everett's admirable discourse in the hands of the whole public ; 
 but one of his audience may still be permitted to speak of the impression it 
 made on him in the actual delivciy. It is little to say that it b.ad brilliant 
 success. Certainly it had. Some five or six thousand persons — but, however, 
 a vast multitude — ladies and gentlemen, childi-en in green chaplets from 
 school, and old age with his staff shaking in both his hands ; of all varieties 
 of cultm-e and of opinion — by silence, by teai's, by laughter, by hearty and 
 fi-equent applause, for more than two hours of not very comfortable weather, 
 confessed the spell of the spoken eloquence of "VNTitten thoughts and thoughts 
 not -m-itten ; and Avhen he ended, sat stiU fixed to heai", as if the spell would 
 not be broken. 
 
 "It is saying more to say that it deserved all its success. Tlie noble, afflu- 
 ent and beautiful genius, and the effective ti'ained and popular talent, aU 
 remain at their best. The same playfulness, the same elegance, the same 
 memory of his learning, the same justness and exactness of thought and 
 image, the same discernment of ti'uth, the same fidelity to history and bio- 
 graphy, the same philosophic grasp and sweep, the same intense American 
 feeling ; occasionally an ascent to more than his former height of eloqiience, 
 pathos and poetry — an impression altogether of more and even ti'uer wealth 
 of mind. One is glad to see such powers and such attainments beai'ing a 
 chai-med life. Long and late be the day when the * old bell ' shall announce 
 that the chai"m is dissolved, and the life on earth is quenched. 
 
 " The topics and method of the discoiu-se, now that it is printed, we need 
 not dwell on. The treatment of the whole subject, too, can be appreciated 
 by those who did not hear him, only by reading it. AVhat struck us, among 
 other things Avas, the affectionate and pains-taking fidelity with which the 
 local history and biography of Dorchester M'cre displayed — its periods, 
 growth, acts, and good men in chiirch and state remembered as if it were a 
 duty of justice and genealogy as well as love — and yet that aU these nanower 
 
APPENDIX. 143 
 
 annals -vvcre so gi'acofully connected -with, and made to exemplify a history 
 of heroic times, and reno^raed events — ' the foundation of a state ' — the 
 maxims and ai'ts imperial by which it lives, grows, and works out its ends 
 — the tliroes and glory of revolution — effected by the shedding of the blood 
 of man, and conducting to a true national life. In this way Dorchester be- 
 came representative, and as it were illusti'ious — as a handful of minerals may 
 be made to show forth the history of a world, and of cjx-les. ' 
 
 " More than once the speaker rose from the plane of his elegant and cleai" 
 English, and moving narrative, and just thought, to passages of superlative 
 beauty. Of these wore that which sketched the last man of the Massachu- 
 setts tribe of Indians ; that which contrasted the loving, cultivated, and aux- 
 iliar nature which enfolds us, with that austerer nature which repelled the 
 first settlers ; that which imagined the Titan sleep of the spent wave at Na- 
 hant ; that which condensed the long wTongs of the colonial period into the 
 image of a slow ' night, swept away by the first shai'p volley on Lexington 
 green ; ' and, above all, that which conceived the memories and the anticipa- 
 tions that might labor in the ' soul of Washington, at that decisive hour, as 
 he stood upon the heights of Dorchester, with the holy stars for his camp- 
 fii'e, and the deep folding shadows of night, looped by the hand of God, to the 
 fom- quarters of the sky, for the ciu-tains of his tent.' 
 
 " And these all, m then jilaces, were aj^propriate, spontaueo\is, and help- 
 ful. Nunc crat his locus. 
 
 " Shall we confess that there was a certain trait pervading the whole dis- 
 coui'se, which gave it an interest even beyond its wisdom and eloquence } 
 More than ever before, in oiu- observations of his public efforts, his heart was 
 allowed to flow from his lips. It was, as when one of a large and happy 
 household, on a holiday, remembers and recalls to the rest the tune when 
 the oldest of them were young — what they used to see, and what they used 
 to heal" told — the speaker and the hearer the while, sometunes smiling and 
 sometimes sad — smiling often M'ith a tear in the eye. Such he seemed, and 
 those who have only seen and heard hun on some high theme and day, and 
 wdien he might appear- to be pleading for the crown of gold, should have 
 seen and heard hun at home, to know and feel how much he is made to be 
 loved. 
 
 " Jlr. Everett declares himself ' retired from public life, without the ex- 
 pectation or the wish to return to it, but the contrary, and that few thuigs 
 wotild better please him than to find a quiet reti-eat in his native town, where 
 he may pass the rest of his humble cai'eer in the serious studies and tranquil 
 ptu-suits Avhich befit the decline of life, till the same old bell shall announce 
 that the cheqxiered scene is over, and the weary is at rest.' Scholai's will 
 recall the pathetic expression of Cicero : Nunc vera, quoniam, quae patari esse 
 jrrcclara, exjm-tus sum, quain essent inania, cum omnibus Musis rationem habere- 
 cogito. But this was after his splendid consulship, and when he had no 
 longer a civil futm-e. Until that has been Mr. Everett's whole experience, 
 why shoidd he cmjiloy his language ? " 
 
144 THE CELEBRATION. 
 
 FllOM THE MAYOR OF THE CITY OF BOSTON. 
 
 Mayor's Office, City IIall, Boston, June 21st, 1855. 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 A celebration of the political birth-day of the nation in Boston, Avill neces- 
 sarily prevent me from i^articipating in similar festivities abroad. The beau- 
 tiful place where the distinguished orator and statesman who oflBciates on the 
 occasion of your celebration, and the Governor of the Commonwealth, were 
 born, possesses rare advantages for giving interest to the gathering. 
 
 From the intimate relationship existing between Dorchester and Boston ; 
 their historical associations, their united efforts in the first settlement of New 
 England and in the revolutionary struggle through which they passed, 
 there is no reason for supposuig that a friendship thus establLshed, will ever 
 decline, while business intercourse and the refinements of social life are the 
 accompaniments of christian civilization. 
 
 Yery respectfully, I have the honor to remam, 
 
 Youi- obedient servant, 
 
 J. V. C. SjVIITU. 
 
 Dorchester and Boston. — As they were in youth, so may they remain in age — friends and 
 associates, giving their iufluence for the advancement of society and the security of the privi- 
 leges, good institutions and liberties of our coimnon country. 
 
 FROM HON. DAVID SEARS, OF BOSTON. 
 
 Beacon Street, Bostox, June 23d, 1855. 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 I regret that I cannot do myself the honor to accept the invitation of the 
 Citizens of Dorchester, without distinction of party, to celebrate the 4th 
 of July next, in a manner suited to the great birth-day of freedom. But an 
 engagement to dine with the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati, puts 
 it out of my power. 
 
 Tlie relations between Boston and Dorchester have always been those of 
 friendship and courtesy, founded on a feeling of mutual respect, and ce- 
 mented by many acts of sympathy and kindness. 
 
 Boston can never forget the day when her citizens looked with an anxious 
 eye to the heights of Dorchester for relief, nor can she cease to remember that 
 to the gallant aiTay of freemen assembled there for action on the night of the 
 4th of March, 1776, she was saved from disgi-ace, and enabled to resume that 
 high position among the sons of enlightened freedom which it has ever since 
 been her endeavor to maintain. 
 
 Tlie influence of Dorchester extends far beyond her limits. Her children 
 are well known and esteemed, and every where show evidence of the sound- 
 ness of their principles, and the excellence of tlicir cdiication. None more 
 so than the lion. Edward Everett, whom you have "invited to addiess you on 
 
APPENDIX. 145 
 
 the coming national auniversiu'y. His name is akcady historical, and lie 
 adds and gives back honor to his bu'th-place. I have known him since boy- 
 hood, followed his course with interest, from his first labors for distinction, 
 to his masterly efforts for his country's good in the Depai'tment of State, and 
 in every position, and under all cii-ciunstances, he has shone forth — the 
 scholar", the statesman, and the gentleman. 
 
 With great consideration, and very respectfully, 
 
 Youi" obedient servant, 
 
 DAVID SEARS. 
 
 FllOJI HON. S. D. BRADFORD. 
 
 West Eoxbuuy, 28th June, 18.55. 
 Gcntkmen : 
 
 I have received yoiu- much resijcctcd fa'^or inviting me to join the citizens 
 of Dorchester in celebrating the 4th of July, " in a manner suited to the 
 great buth-day of freedom, and without distinction of pai'ty." 
 
 I thank you for this proof of your remembrance and regard, and regret 
 that a prior engagement beyond my control will prevent my being j^resent 
 upon the occasion indicated, Avhich offers so many inducements to every 
 lover of freedom and his coi;ntry. 
 
 I congratulate you that the county of Norfolk and the to-s^-n of Dorchester 
 can number amongst its sous so distinguished a statesman and such a pro- 
 found scholar and orator as the Hon. Edwaixl Everett, and that he is to de- 
 liver the oration in the presence of the inhabitants of his native place and of 
 the towns in the vicinity, and also that a deputation may be expected from 
 the floruashiug colony in Georgia planted by Dorcliester so may yeai's ago, 
 which cannot fail to add greatly to the attractions of the day. 
 
 You have said that it will be celebrated "without distinction of pai'ty," 
 which remmds me of the eai'lier days of our Republic, when in every town 
 there might be found Democrats and Federalists, the ajDologists of all the 
 WTongs done us by Prance and Great Britain, but not one American, who felt 
 that ti-ue pati-iotism always rises above pai'ty, is never confined by geogra- 
 phical boundaries, and embraces the whole country. East, West, North and 
 South. 
 
 That amongst oui- coiintrjinen, who had so recently fought and triumphed 
 together, there should have been such divisions in celebrating the birth-day 
 of our national freedom, would seem ahnost incredible, were it not recorded 
 in history, besides being remembered by many now living. 
 
 That Ulusti-ious pati-iot General Jackson, in speaking of Columbus, once 
 called him " the firm, darmg, loftj' spirit who gave a continent to civilization 
 and liberty a land to abide in ; " and who can look now upon this beautiful 
 and highly favored land, in its present state of prosperity and greatness, with- 
 
146 THE CELEBRATION. 
 
 out feeling Avluit a debt of gi-atitude we owe to Washiugtoii and the founders 
 of oui" llepublic for having defended the country discovered by Columbus ; 
 and also how essential it is to guard and preserve the Union of these States, 
 without which we could no longer be prosperous or great ? 
 
 Let us never forget, then, the words of the Father of his counti-y, " that 
 there will always be reason to disti-ust the pati-iotism of those, who in any 
 quai-ter may endeavor to weaken its bands ; " and let us aU (whatever may 
 be our political preferences) resolve " that the Constitution, the object of our 
 reverence, the bond of oui- Union, our defence in danger, the source of our 
 prosperity in peace, shall descend, as we have received it, uncoiTupted by 
 sophistical consti'uction, to the latest posteritj-." 
 
 Believe me to remain, with sentiments of great respect, 
 
 Yoiu most obedient servant, 
 
 S. D. BRADFORD. 
 
 FROJI HON. Jt'LirS KOCKWELL. 
 
 PiTTSFiELD, July 22, 1855. 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 I have this day received yotu- kind invitation to attend the celebration of 
 the Anniversary of Lidependence at Dorchester, on the 4th of July. Pre- 
 vious to my knowledge that this anniversai'y was to be celebrated at Dor- 
 chester, Tuider circumstances of so gi-cat interest, I had engaged to preside at 
 a celebration in this to-nTi, by the people of the coimty. This engagement 
 I mtist fulhl, and it weU prevent my attending at Dorchester. Otherwise I 
 would have most gladly availed myself of the opportunity to attend your 
 celebration. 
 
 William Rockwell, my ancestor, was one of the original, or eai'ly settlers 
 of that towni, and I believe he was a worthy and useful man. Tlie genea- 
 logy has been traced out by members of my family, with gxeat interest and 
 satisfaction ; and I have taken care to preserve such historical evidences as I 
 have been able to obtain. 
 
 I need hardly say, that nothing of this kind could be so interesting to mc 
 as this celebration. I have seen the good town of Dorchester, and am aware 
 of its j)resent honorable position among the to^^Tis of oiu- beloved common- 
 wealth. But when I visited that toTvni, I was not aware of the fact so inte- 
 resting to me, that my blood was draT;sTi from a heai't which found freedom 
 and the liberty of conscience there. If my life is spared, it will be deemed 
 by me a sacred duty to pohit out to my children the spot where that heai't 
 ilrst realized the Christian liberty for which it made so many sacrifices, and 
 endured so great labor and privation ; in the hope that they may preserve the 
 principles and emulate the Tirtues which were there sustained and exhibited. 
 With gi-eat respect, your obedient servant, 
 
 JULIUS ROCKWELL. 
 
APPENDIX. 147 
 
 FROM REV. W. A. STEARNS, D. D. 
 
 Amherst Collegk, 29th June, LS.j.'k 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 YoTii- favor of May lOtli, gi'^'ii^g ™e an invitation to attend youi- proi^osed 
 celebration of the -Ith of July, and " to i^articipate in its festivities," was 
 duly received. I piit off sending the appropriate acknowledgment, as I was 
 not without hope that by a little delay I might respond to your politeness 
 with an affirmative answer. But chcumstances, the most ijnperious of which 
 is sickness in my family, will prevent me from enjoying the pleasui-e of being 
 with you on that interesting occasion. I regret this deeply, as the town of 
 Dorchester has always been vividly associated, in my mind, with the noble 
 struggles and ti'iumphs of our fathers for liberty. " Dorchester heights " is 
 among the magic words which quicken the blood of every American, 
 when he reads the history of his native land. But great as this honor may 
 be, the town is no less favored, by being the birth-place of that most distin- 
 guished statesman who has consented to adorn the celebration with an ad- 
 di-ess. Whether as a dignitary of the Senate of the United States, or as 
 Governor of his native Commonwealth ; as representing • his country at the 
 proudest of the Eiu-opean courts, or as tilling the chaii' of Webster in the 
 office of Secretai-y of State ; as presiding over the uiterests of science and 
 letters in our venerated University ; as moving in the humble wallvs of a 
 private citizen, or as sth-ring the people with his enchanting eloquence. Jus 
 eminences are in no respect sui'passed by those which have made your town 
 immortal in the history of oui revolution. 
 
 Gentlemen, as I cannot be with you on the iaiteresting occasion anticipated, 
 permit me to embody my feelings in a brief sentiment : 
 
 Dorchester and her distinguished Son — The " heights " of both will forever be remembered 
 as heights of glory in the history of our country. 
 
 I am, gentlemen, most respectfully, 
 
 Yoru" obedient servant, 
 
 W. A. STEARNS. 
 
 FROM HON. SAMUEL BRECK. 
 
 Philadelphia, June 4th, 1855. 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 I gratefully acknowledge the receipt of an invitation to a dinner in celebra- 
 tion of the -ith of July next, by the citizens of Dorchester. And as this year 
 is the 225th anniversary of the settlement of that town, its sons and daughters, 
 wherever residing, are called together, to partake of the festival to be given 
 that day, in honor of our National Independence. 
 
 I would seize with eagerness this opportunity to visit the resting place of 
 my remote American ancestors, did not my advanced age of eightj'-fonr years 
 l^rcvent me. In Dorchester are the graves of my progenitor, Edward Breck, 
 
 20 
 
148 THE CELEBRATION. 
 
 and several of liLs cliildren. He was selectman of tliat town for five years, 
 from 1641 and foUowing, and is the honored root from whom sprang a nu- 
 merous progeny, now scattered from sea to sea ; and, generally, bearing our 
 name in good repute, and sometimes with considerable distinction, in the law, 
 the puljjit, and in medicine. 
 
 Unsuited, then, for the convivial board, I am mast reluctantly obliged to 
 deny myself the pleasure and honor I should receive were I able to wait 
 upon you. 
 
 The oration of Mr. Everett — a man so eloquent, so eminent in every ac- 
 complishment of mind and heart — would of itself be a sufficient attraction, 
 were not the leaden weight of old age in my heels. Should opportunitj' offer, 
 I pray you to assure him of my highest esteem and respect. Please, sir, to 
 accept for yourself and the gentlemen associated with you, the assurance of 
 cordial thanks and great respect. 
 
 SAMUEL BEECK. 
 
 ■ FROM REV. LEONARD WITHINGTON. 
 
 Newbtjky, June 30th, 1855. 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 I suppose it is almost supei-fluous to write, as I imagine our letters crossed 
 each other on the way. Tliere was a little delay m yovirs, from mis-direction. 
 I have akeady sent one which I suppose you have received, in which I say 
 it will be impossible for me to be at Dorchester on the 4th, which I regret. 
 The attractions are great. I ventured in my last to communicate a senti- 
 ment — something like this : 
 
 Old Dorchester — She welcomes to her maternal bosom this day her original and her 
 adopted sons ; her eye sees that they are many, her heart feels that they are one. 
 
 Mr. Everett, I have no doubt, will equal the high expectations his name 
 must raise. 
 
 With respect, yom-s, 
 
 L. WITHINGTON. 
 
 FROJI HON. JUDGE DEWEY. 
 
 Northampton, June 20th, 1855. 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 It would give me great pleasure to accept the invitation of the Committee 
 of the Citizens of Dorchester, «' to unite with them in celebratmg the 4th 
 of July next, in a manner suited to the great birth-day of freedom," but in- 
 dispensable engagements elsewhere will render it impracticable, I am happy 
 to be remembered by you as one of the descendants of the ancient town of 
 
APPENDIX. 149 
 
 Dorchester, that having been the residence of Thomas Dewey, my first an- 
 cestor from England, at the early period of 1634, and from whom I am the 
 fifth generation in descent. I shall ever delight to recognize my relation to 
 old Dorchester, honored as she is by being probably the earliest place in Mas- 
 sachusetts, entered upon by civilized men, — rich as she is in her incidents 
 and memorials appertaining to the days of oiu- revolutiouaiy sti'uggles, — and 
 blessed with a present generation who know how to appreciate the blessings 
 of civil and religious liberty. 
 
 Accept the assui'ances of my highest respect. 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 CHARLES A. DEWEY. 
 
 FROM FLAVEL MOSELEY, ESQ. 
 
 Chicago, III., June 8th, 1855. 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 I feel very much gratified, as well as highly honored, with your polite in- 
 vitation to be present on the 4th of July next, and pai'ticipate with you in 
 the festivities of the " great biith-day of freedom." 
 
 There is no place, in the wide world, whose citizens I would more gladly 
 meet, than those of the good old town of Dorchester. The very name of 
 youi' town awakens in my mind pleasing memories of the past. Dorchester 
 was the biith-place of my ancestors. The name was familiar to my child- 
 hood. I am a stranger to most of the peojjle of your place ; but not to the 
 place itself. The fii-st tune I ever visited Massachusetts, I hastened to Dor- 
 chester ; and without a personal acquaintance with a smgle individual there, 
 I spent happy hours, viewing and admii-ing its beautiful scenery ; yet loving 
 it still more, for its historic associations. 
 
 My regret, that I cannot be present at your celebration, is increased by 
 the consideration that I shall miss the opportunity of listening to the elo- 
 quence of him who is to address you on the occasion. 
 I am, gentlemen, with much respect, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 FLAVEL MOSELEY. 
 
 FROM HON. JUDGE LANE. 
 
 Sandusky, Ohio, May 29th, 1855. 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 It is among the most valued treasm-es of my memory, that I am de- 
 scended from one, who was numbered with the inhabitants of Dorchester 
 more than two hundred years ago. I have therefore received, with lively 
 
150 THE CELEBRATION. 
 
 pleasure, an invitation to share in yonr celebration of the 4th of July. If I 
 can command time and opportunity, I shall most willingly ■welcome the oc- 
 casion. Meanwhile it is no slight gratification that the childi'en of Mattapan 
 are willing to name me among their brethren. 
 
 I am, "with much consideration, 
 
 E. LANE. 
 
 TROM W. W. MATHER, ESQ. 
 
 Columbus, Onio, July 2d, 1855. 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 Your kind letter of invitation to attend the celebration of " the birth-day 
 of freedom," and to participate in the festivities of the day at Dorchester, 
 was received on my return from the East. I have been spending some 
 weeks at West Point, as one of the board of visitors attending the examina- 
 tion of the Cadets of the United States ^lilitary Academy. 
 
 I would gladly have availed myself of this opportunity to have visited 
 Dorchester, had I known it e^irlier. It would have been very pleasant to 
 visit Dorchester, Boston and Cambridge, the scenes of active usefulness of 
 my ancestors, Richard and Licrease Mather, and join in the festivities with 
 other descendants of the early settlers of New England, in cormnemorating a 
 nation's birth-day — to see their faces, and hear the sentiments flow from 
 their lips on such an occasion. 
 I regret that I cannot avail myself of this opportunity. 
 Please accept the kindest regards and best wishes of, 
 
 Yotu- obedient servant, 
 
 W. W. MATHER. 
 
 FROM A. M. CLAPP, ESQ. 
 
 Buffalo, Jmie 21st, 1855. 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 I have the honor to acknowledge your kind invitation to participate in the 
 festivities of the coming annivcrsai'y of our National Independence, with the 
 •citizens of Dorchester. I regret exceeduigly that other engagements will 
 prevent my being present with you on that occasion. I am proud to be re- 
 cognized as a descendant of the early settlers of Dorchester, and it would 
 afford me unalloyed satisfaction to mingle with the friends and descendants 
 of my ancestors on the very soil Avhere they sustained good lives and upright 
 characters, and oxemplitied the principles of true philantliropy and justice as 
 private citizens or public servants, and to commemorate with you their deeds 
 of valor and philanthropy. I look to Boston and its vicinage Avith profound 
 
APPENDIX. 151 
 
 respect and veneration, as the Athens of tins hemisphere, Avhose broad light 
 of religion and knowledge has illnmined a great nation, extending from Pil- 
 grim Rock to the golden sands of the Pacific. Yours is classic soil. It is 
 the bii'th-place of American liberty, whose infant hours were spent in Faneuil 
 Hall, and whose baptism was performed in the piu-est blood of New 
 England, on the very soil you ti'cad in commemorating its ti'irunph over 
 every foe. 
 
 ******** 
 
 It would be pleasant to join with you on this occasion. It would be de- 
 lightful to mingle with those who have succeeded to the manors of our an- 
 cestors, and shai'ed the blessings of New England life in its full fruition, 
 while the more adventurous of ovu- stock have plunged into the forests of the 
 "West, and by the hard hand of uidustry have made them to " bud and blossom, 
 as the rose." "While we have enjoyed less of the world than you who have 
 been cradled where yoiu* ancestors were graved, and who will be graved near 
 the spot where your progeny are cradled, we have seen more of its rugged 
 paths and privations. Thus we have each and all borne oiu- parts in the drama 
 of life, each impressed with the belief that the true honor of man lies in act- 
 ing well the part allotted to him. 
 
 "With much respect, yoiu's, &c. 
 
 A. M. CLAPP. 
 
 FROM OLIVER FROST, ESQ. 
 
 Boston, June 22d, 1S55. 
 
 Gentlemen . 
 
 It is with no ordinary i)leasure that I acknowledge the receipt of yoiu- 
 very polite invitation to meet " the citizens of Dorchester without distinction 
 of pai'ty," on the Ith of July next, and to participate in the festivities of the 
 day. 
 
 Nothing but some unforeseen contmgcncy shall prevent me from embracing 
 the opportunity for the enjoyment of the rich intellectual feast which 
 awaits you from yovu- distinguished orator, as well as the other festivities of 
 the occasion. 
 
 The day you celebrate is the anniversary of our countiy's freedom, the 
 bkth-day of independence to America, however bounded ; its events, the 
 seminal of the freedom of the world. It is a day worthy of commemoration 
 tlu'ough all time, and has been aptly called oiu- political Sabbath. And it is 
 a cheering reflection to all good citizens, that every passing year brings one 
 day in its calendar, when twenty millions of freemen are content to cease 
 from party strife, and unite xipon one common platform at the shi-ine of pa- 
 ti'iotism. No surer guaranty for the perpetuity of the Union, or for its 
 rescue from all external or internal attempts to weaken its bonds, need be 
 desked than such demonstrations as yoxu- public-spii-ited people have deter- 
 
152 THE CELEBRATION. 
 
 mmctl upon. A community combining all classes, from the most refined 
 intellect, abundantly enriched with classic lore and modern learning, to the 
 most hiimble artisan ; from the independent lord of the manor, to the toiling 
 gardener ; from the merchant prince to his stevedore, have agreed to unite in 
 doing honor to the brave men, who had the moral couiage to tell the proudest 
 nation on the earth, that henceforth yve ought to be and wiU be free — to comme- 
 morate the day in renewed pledges to each other, that the sacred charter 
 of our liberties shall not be dishonored, but transmitted unsullied to our 
 children. These are the fortresses that shall bid defiance to all ■\\'ho may 
 attempt to invade our liberties. 
 
 In conclusion, allow me to offer, on the occasion, the foUowhig sentiment, 
 in case of absence : 
 
 Dorchester — She has been shorn of her Heights and her Washington. Her only reclama- 
 tion must be the annexation of the Athens of America to her dominions. 
 
 I have the honor to be, gentlemen, 
 
 With sentiments of the highest respect, 
 
 Yoiu" obedient servant, 
 
 OLIYER FROST. 
 
 FROM JOSEPH BRECK, ESQ. 
 
 Boston, July 2d, 1855. 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 It would give me great pleasure to attend the 225th anniversai-y of the set- 
 tlement of Dorchester, but other engagements will prevent me. 
 
 All my ancestors in a direct line, except my father, died and were buried 
 in Dorchester. I am the third son of Jonathan, who was the oldest son of 
 Edward, who was the oldest son of Edward, who was the oldest son of En- 
 sign Edwai'd, who was the oldest sou of Capt. John, who was the oldest son 
 of Edward Breck, who came from Ash ton, England, in 1630, and settled in 
 Dorchester the same year ; was member of the church in 1636 ; freeman, 
 1639 ; one of the selectmen m yeai-s 1642, 46, 55, 56, 59 ; was one of a 
 committee to build a meeting-house in 1645, and died in the year 1662. 
 His son Capt. John was a man of great energy of character, and great grand- 
 father to the Hon. Samuel Breck, now living in Philadelphia, at the ad- 
 vanced age of 84. Many of the descendants are men of sterling character, in- 
 heriting the sound moral principles of theu* ancestors. 
 
 ITie Hon. S. P. Loud now occupies the homestead of my ancestors. He 
 married a great gi-and-daughter of Ensign Edward Breck, and grand-daughter 
 of the honored James Robinson, now many years deceased. 
 
 As my elder brother is deceased, and the next in age at a distance, I repre- 
 sent the oldest son, in direct succession, of one of the worthy settlers of your 
 ancient town. 
 
APPENDIX. 153 
 
 Permit me, therefore, to give the followiug sentiment : 
 
 The Descendants of the worthy Settlers of Dorchester — Scattered tlivoughout the length 
 and breadtli of the land. May they ever bear m mind the moral worth and high religious 
 principles of their honored ancestors, and in their lives carry out their design of establishing a 
 free country, where every man should have the privilege of worshipping God agreeably to the 
 dictates of his own conscience. 
 
 E;esi)cctfully yours, 
 
 JOSEPH BRECK. 
 
 FROM GEN. WILLIAM 11. SUMNEIl. 
 
 Jamaic.v Plain, Jnly 3d, 1855. 
 Gentletnen : 
 
 You did me the favor to invite me to participate in the festivities of the 
 4th of July, in Dorchester. 
 
 How delighted should I be, were it prudent that I should expose myself 
 by going mto a crowd, to hear the discourse of that great orator, Edward 
 Everett, of whose nativity Dorchester may well be proud. He will doubtless 
 give you the eaidy history of Mattapan, and will i^robably relate to you (if he 
 has time for such details) an instance recorded by AVinthrop, of the " won- 
 derful working of a kind Providence," in relation to the preservation of the 
 first meeting-hotise, and the life of Rev. 'Mx. Maverick, who had charge of it, 
 on the explosion of some gunpowder which he was drying in the building. 
 ***** * * * * * 
 
 If it were consistent with the dignity of this occasion, I could relate to 
 you many circumstances which give me an unusual interest in this celebra- 
 tion. Some of these are minute, and relate to localities of individuals. But 
 if these are not divulged upon occasions lilvC the present, when the ears of all 
 the renowned collectors of the Aamals of Dorchester are open, is there not 
 danger, if they ai-e of any value, that they will pass off with the fleeting 
 breath of those who could now nai-rate them ? How complete would be the 
 history of Dorchester, if the events, both great and small, which are in the 
 memory of all those who ai'c present, were collected ! For myself, being in 
 the habit of dealing in small thmgs, I wiU contribute an item or two tOAvards 
 making it so, if you will excuse the egotism which will be necessai-y for 
 their recital. 
 
 Although Roxbury was the place of my nativity, yet during my minority, 
 in the latter end of the last century, I became possessed of a paternal estate 
 on the boundaries of Dorchester, which has obtained great celebrity by the 
 scientific cultivation of its present owner, the distinguished gentleman who 
 presides at yoxu festival. Upon a part of this, I resided, for many happy 
 yeai-s, and am thus permitted, tlii'ough associations of a most interesting 
 natm-e, to indulge in all the feeluigs of a present townsman. 
 
 One of these chcumstances is, that I am now the owner, by wiU, or 
 
154 THE CELEBEATION. 
 
 inheritance, from my ancestors, of all or a part of several pieces of land in 
 the toMni, Avliich have been held in the family for upAvards of a century. 
 One of these, containing forty-one acres, was conveyed to my great-grand- 
 father, Edward Sumner, and my grandfather. Increase Sumner, by llalph 
 Morgan, in the year 1742. Another, by Samuel Leeds, of seven acres of 
 upland and the marsh round about it, called Leeds's Neck, to my gi-and- 
 father, Increase Sumner, in 1747 ; and another, of three acres of fresh 
 meadow, which was conveyed by Jerijah Wales in 1743. 
 
 Some of the orator's audience, though he may not, will remember the 
 opening of the road in 1808, across the second piece above described. This, 
 at the time, was no small undertaking. It was commenced by the gi'atui- 
 tous grant of the lands of Newell & Niles, the owners of Commercial 
 Point, on the one side of the Mill Creek, and myself, the owner of Leeds's 
 Neck, on the other. Although this is a gi'eat improvement, as it now 
 appears, yet it is, like many other things, less in its accomplishment than in 
 its design. The original plan Avas to build a solid dam, instead of a bridge, 
 across ^lUl Creek, and for this purpose an act of incorporation was obtained, 
 and a com jmuy formed,* entitled the "Dorchester MUl Corijoration." To 
 the failui-e of the original project may be attributed the compai-ative stillness 
 of these two points of land, which, from the depth of water bordering them, 
 are as favorably situated for external navigation as for manufacturmg 
 purposes. 
 
 I take some pride, as an agriculturist, in having introduced into Dorches- 
 ter, upon my marsh at Leeds's Neck, the mode of ditching which is now 
 universally adopted ; ditches, one rod apart from each other, of the width of 
 a spade, three and a half feet deep at the lower end, next the creek, and two 
 
 * It was authorized to "build a Dam from Commercial Point, across MiJI Creek, to Leeds's 
 Neck," thus affording " seats for a number of Mills to carry on various manufactories." The 
 principal obstacle was the grist mill above ; to obviate this, Newell & Niles, in behalf of them- 
 selves and their associates, agreed with Thomas and Ebenezer D. Tileston, owners of the Mill, 
 to transfer their riglits to the Comi)any, upon condition that it would build them " a new 
 Mill," of equal power, " on the contemplated dam." The expense of the proposed dam, 
 including the highway to be opened from the Neponset road to Commercial Point, was esti- 
 mated at ten thousand dollars, which was to be divided into one hundred shares. Seventy- 
 seven of these were taken up, by forty-one individuals ; but the Messrs. Tilestous receding 
 from the offer, the whole project was defeated, and a bridge, instead of a dam, was constructed, 
 as a necessary consequence. This bridge soon after went to destruction, although the propri- 
 etors contribvitcd largely to its maintenance ; but it did not obtain its present eligible condi- 
 tion, until it was assumed by the town. 
 
 The following are the names of the forty-one individuals referred to : — Newell, Niles & Co., 
 20 shares ; William H. Siunner, 8 ; James Ivers, 5 ; Mrs. Saunders and Miss Beach, 3 ; Ed- 
 ward Preston, Ebenezer Weld, John F. Pierce, Edward Holden, Thomas Tileston, Edward 
 Kobinson, Amasa Stetson, 2 each ; Ezekiel Burlcy, Andrew Thayer, Daniel Withington, Adam 
 Perry, John Kelton, Cyrus Balkcom, Frederic and William Pope, James Humphries, Josei)h 
 Clap, Samuel Withington, Samuel Withington, Jr., Ebenezer Clap, Jonathan Pierce, Jr., 
 George Minot, Isaac Clapp, John llolden, Samuel Paysoii, Nathaniel Clapp, Ebenezer Adams, 
 
 Cloflen, Pliiiiehas Holden, Edward Shai'p, Jonathan Rawson, Benjamin Fuller, Abner 
 
 Gardner, 1 each ; Talbut & Swan, 1. 
 
APPENDIX. 155 
 
 and a half feet at the upper end, towoi-ds the shore, instead of two or three 
 feet ■wide as practised at that time. Tliis mode of ditching, so far as I am 
 informed, was introduced by Nathaniel Adams, Esq., of Medford, upon " the 
 Eoyal farm," whicli was paitly o^\'ned by myself. Having there seen the 
 success which attended it upon a lot of coarse marsh, of ninety acres (which 
 lie between the Middlesex Canal and the Medlbrd Tiu-npike), hj bringing iu 
 black grass and other seeded grasses of two and a half tons to the acre, and 
 some parts of which were mowed twice in a season, I engaged Mi-. Hall, a 
 Medford ditcher, to come over to Dorchester and treat my marsh iu a like 
 manner. He had been at work but a few days, and made several pUes of 
 sods from the ditches he had dug, and as I was standing by him while he 
 was at work. Gov. Robbuis hailed me, from the road, and asked what I was 
 about, digging my marsh all mto sods ? I explained to hnn the benefits 
 which had resulted from this mode of ditching upon the Royal fai'm, and of 
 wliich Mr. HaU Avas a witness, when he became so convinced of its superi- 
 ority that he engaged Mr. Hall, at once, to work for liim, after he had done 
 with me. 
 
 My residence in Dorchester was interestmg, particrdarly, from the cii-cum- 
 stance that while there I gathered the fruit of an apple orchard which my 
 father grafted with his owti hands, in the first year of the siege of Boston, 
 when he removed, with his mother, from Roxbury sti'eet to Dorchester, out 
 of the reach of the shot of the besieged. He lived for a year, and upwai'ds, 
 in Mr. Morgan's old dwelling house, which stood over a cellar under the 
 house now called Brier Cottage. He afterwards (say in 1790) erected the 
 mansion house, of which Jonathan Pierce was the buddcr, on the part of 
 that farm Avhich is now OAA-ned by the Hon. INIarsliall P. WUder, Upon 
 this, in the beginning of the present century, Seth Adams, Esq., a former 
 tenant of mme, iuti-oduced the first merino sheep imported into Massachu- 
 setts. 
 
 Upon the Morgan farm, after it came mto my possession, I built three 
 houses. The first, over fifty years ago, Avas situated on the corner next 
 southerly of Mr. Wilder's, on Washington street. The house, and the gar- 
 den which I laid out with it, was for the occupation of that elegant gentle- 
 man, and early friend of mine, Jolm Ward Gurley, who lived in it, as a 
 tenant, until he received the first appointment of District Attorney of the 
 United States, for Louisiana, when he removed to New Orleans. This has 
 been altered into a more conspicuous place, by Cliai-les Hood, Esq., AA^ho 
 now owns it. 
 
 In 1813, I built the cottage upon the rock, for my own residence, which 
 is now occupied by Ciipt. Cobb, the exemplary artillerist. About the same 
 time, I imUed doAvn Morgan's dilapidated house, and put up a fai-m-house 
 on the ceUai-. In 1827, as an appendage to my cottage, I erected a stone 
 stable, with a ceUai- and stm-corary under it. This Avas built with the con- 
 glomerate rocks dug from Ijeneath it, and from its permanence wiU, I think, 
 last tUl Sebastopol is taken, and will stand as severe a bombiirdment. 
 
 21 
 
156 THE CELEBRATION. 
 
 I must now call your attention to another successful experiment, of a dif- 
 ferent kind. Having had the misfortune to be thrown from a chaise and 
 break my jaw, while confined to my home with my bandaged head, desirous 
 of having a water view if I could, I employed myself in digging a canal 
 through the meadows, the water of which came from under the rock on 
 which my cottage was erected. This was a living sprmg, always having, 
 even in the driest time, six inches of water in it, and at such times fui-nish- 
 ijig only a sujiply that would run through a hole as big as a pipe-stem. The 
 constant supply from this soxirce was aided by temporary accessions from a 
 dry brook, or rather from a brook which run only in wet times. The length 
 and dimensions of this canal I afterwards enlarged, and found the water sulti- 
 cient, except in the very driest periods. It is somewliat remai-kable that this 
 little spring is one of the sources of Stony Brook, in West Roxbui-y, which 
 runs in a serpentine coui-se through a piece of meadow, which I pm-chased 
 for the purpose. The enlargement of this brook, thoiigh at a distance, gives 
 me a delightful water view from the windows of my house, on Jamaica 
 Plain, where I now reside. 
 
 The success of my experiment in Dorchester, induced me to make a 
 second, which has been just described, and which is more successful than 
 the first. 
 
 These two exiierimeuts have convinced me, that if the brooks and creeks 
 in the vicinity of Boston were improved in lilie manner, the beauty of the 
 scenery in our neighborhood would be immeasurably enlarged, and at a 
 trifling cost, too, for the mud from the meadows would pay for the 
 ditching. 
 
 The manner in which I became the owner of the Morgan farm (and other 
 lands in Dorchester), a jiai-t of which is now improved, in the lai'gest sense 
 of that term, bj' Hon. Mai-shaU P. Wilder, is too interesting to be omitted. 
 It was given to me on the death-bed of the late Gov. Sumner, my father, 
 the deed of which, from the time and manner in which it was done, as well 
 as the value of the gift, will ever be as a jewel to me. When he was first 
 taken with a disease of the heart, called angina pectoris, he was impressed 
 with the conviction that it would prove fatal. He called me to his bed-side, 
 and said to me he did not intend to make a Will, and that it was his wish 
 that I should have a larger portion of his estates than my sisters, and told 
 me to write a Deed, to myself, of the Doi'chcster farm. I was so overcome 
 by the evidence this afforded of his owni conviction he would not recover, 
 that I could not hold a pen or indite a sentence. Seeing my perturbation, 
 he asked me to give him a blank deed and a book to \^'Tite ui)on. I could 
 not find a blank, and he, saying there was no time to be lost, sat up in his 
 bed, and with perfect composure MTote out the Deed, on the 16th March, 
 1799, of the three pieces of land, before named — also, the !Merrifield farm, of 
 about sixty acres, at the vipper part of the town, on the banks of the Nepon- 
 set, and the jjew in the Meeting-house, all the estate he owned in Dor- 
 chester — to his only son, who fears he shall not bo able to be present to unite 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 157 
 
 with his father's old friends and neighbors, who, witli himself, he liopes, 
 will never cease to bless his memory. The pew which my father gave me 
 was in the Mceting-hoiise of the Pai-ish formerly Mr. Maverick's. This parish 
 gave buth to yom- distinguished orator, and there I have often heard his 
 uncle, who was its Pastor, preach. My pew was in the builduig wliich pre- 
 ceded the highly ornamented jSIeeting-house, founded on a rock hard by, 
 and if compjued with the thatched Meeting-house of the llev. Mr. Maverick, 
 used for a powder magazine, would lead him to doubt, if he could behold 
 it, whether he was in his own imrish. I propose to you, for a toast : — 
 
 The First Parish in Dorchester — Should there be any attempt in future to ))luw up its 
 vinion, may its result, as in the Rev. Mr. Mavericlc's time, be a mere flash ix the pan. 
 
 I am res^jectfully, 
 
 Youi' obedient serv't, 
 
 WM. II. SUMNEK. 
 
 Letters were received from the following gcntlenu^n, dccliniiig the invita- 
 tion on account of previous engagements — and enclosing the sentiments 
 annexed. 
 
 From John T. Heai'd, Esq., Boston — 
 
 The United States of America. — Fanatics and demagogues will labor iu vain for their 
 disunion, while the xjeoiile hold in veneration the memory and teachings of Washington. 
 
 From Ex-Governor Hubbard, of New Ilampshhc — 
 
 The Orator of the Day — A faithful, untiring and intelligent Watclmian on the walls of 
 American Freedom. 
 
 From Hon. Isaac Toucey, of Connecticut — 
 
 The Constitution of the United States — The crowning glory of American Independence. 
 Without abating one jot or tittle from it, we will defend it to the last extremity. 
 
 Similar letters Avere received from the following named gentlemen : — 
 
 Hon. Samuel H. Walley, 
 
 '< J. Wiley Edmands, 
 Hon. AVm. E. ]\Iarcy, Sec'y of State, 
 Jefferson Davis, Secretary of War, 
 K. McClelland, Sec'y of the Interior, 
 Hon. George M. Dallas, 
 
 " Theron Metcalf, 
 
 " Peleg Sprague, 
 
 *' Lemiiel Shaw, 
 Franklin Haven, Esq., 
 Hon. C. H. Peaslee, CoU. of Boston, 
 llev. Jared Sparks, LL.D., 
 T. W. Harris, M.D., Cambridge, 
 
 Hon. B. F. Thomas, Worcester, 
 
 " Levi Lincoln, do. 
 
 Jacob Foss, Esq., Charlcstown, 
 Hon. Geo. H. Kuhn, Boston, 
 
 " James Savage, 
 
 " Henry Wilson, 
 Eev. Mark Hopkins, D.D., Pres. 
 
 Williams College, 
 Hon. Thos. Brags;-, of N. C, 
 AVm. H. Prescott, LL.D., 
 Hon. Pliny Merrick, 
 Washington Irving, Esq., 
 IMavors of Lowell, Salem, Lynn, 
 
 Hon. J. H. Clifford, Att. Cien., Mass., Cambridge, Roxbury, 
 
158 THE CELEBRATION. 
 
 His Excellency, M. H. Clark, Gov. of lion. John Whipple, Rhode Island, 
 
 New York, llev. George Putnam, D.D., 
 
 Ilis Excellency Gov. Pollock, Pa., Peter C. Brooks, Esq., 
 
 »< « Gov. Minor, of Conn., A number of the officers of the U. 
 
 Hon. Abbott La■^^Tence, S. Anny and Na\-y, stationed in 
 
 Professor Joseph Henry, Scc'y Smith- and netu Boston, 
 
 sonian Institute, Washington, J. C. Warren, M.D., Boston, 
 
 Professor A. D. Bache, do., Several :Members of Congress, 
 
 Edwin Croswell, Esq., N. Y., Hon. Isaac Adams, 
 
 Hon. II. N. Byington, Seth Adams, Esq., 
 
 " Gorham Brooks, Medford, Rev. S. K. Lotlu-op, D.D. 
 
 In conformity with the votes passed at the close of the festivities, as men- 
 tioned on page 132, letters were written by the Secretary of the Executive 
 Committee, Nahum Capen, Esq., to the Chairman of the Dorchester School 
 Committee, to the Chief Engineer of the Dorchester Fire Dejjartment, to the 
 Commanders of the Independent Cadets and the Boston Light Ai-tillery, to 
 the Chief ^larshal of the Day, and also to the Chaii-man of the Committee 
 on Music, conveying copies of the votes, and also expressive of the general 
 appreciation of the acceptable manner in which their several duties were 
 performed. The hope was likewise expressed that this seventy-ninth an- 
 niversary of the "great and good day" in Dorchester, might conti'ibute to 
 the " honor and freedom of the Republic and the permanency of the 
 Union." 
 
 At a meeting of the Executive Committee, July 19th, 1855, a vote of 
 thanks was passed to Col. Enoch Tuain " for the lively interest which he 
 has manifested in the late celebration ; especially for his liberality in erecting 
 on Meeting-house Hill a magnificent flag-staff, from the top of which floated 
 on that occasion a splendid national banner." It was also suggested that this 
 token of Col. Train's munificence " be placed in the keeping of the to^^l, to 
 be used on the return of our national bkth-day and other proper occasions." 
 It was likewise resolved that "a metallic band, with a suitable inscription, 
 be affixed to the flag-sbitt', as a testimonial of the regard of this Committee for 
 the patriotism and liberality of its worthy donor." 
 
 The festivities and rejoicings of a day long to be remembered by the citi- 
 zens of Dorchester, were closed by a magnificent display of Fireworks in the 
 evening, on Mt. Bowdoin, under the general management of the committee 
 appouited for the pui'pose, and by a Levee at the house of Gov. Gai'dner. 
 
 C O II R E c T I o N s , 
 
 It is stated, page 46, that Israel Stoughton " built the first tide-miU for 
 grinding corn in the Colony." The word " tide" should be omitted. The 
 mill was at the lower falls of tlie Xeponset. 
 
 In the list of Oihccrs and Committees, page 89, the name of Ali^heus 
 Hai'dy, Esq., should have been inserted among the Vice-Presidents. 
 
 LBJL07 H 99 78 
 
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