A CHAPTER OF PROVINCIAL HISTORY f I THE SILVER PUNCH BOWL MADE BY PAUL REVERE TO COMMEMORATE A VOTE OF THE HONORABLE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY N 1768 (Reproduced from the " Boston Sunday Herald " of January 20, 1895.) BOSTON: NATHAN SAWYER & SON, PRINTERS, 70 STATE STREET. 1895. THE SILVER PUNCH BOWL The reputation of the great Boston mechanic, Paul Revere, does not depend solely upon any one of his many qualifications. He was as ardent a patriot as he ^was an excellent mechanic, and as fearless a post-rider for the leaders of the Revolution as he was a good soldier, bearing a commission as lieutenant from Governor William Shirley, under which commission he served his Majesty King George II. on an expedition against the French at Crown Point. He was a man of many resources; and, as his biographer aptly puts it, "he was an artificer of many trades, who was relied upon by the leading patriots for valuable services in the times that tried men's souls." It has been said that " although his bells were hanging in many steeples, his cannon had been heard around the world, his articles of silverware were sacredly cherished in many a family, a few of his caricatures and historic engravings were still treasured in the hands of those who knew their value, yet Revere himself was comparatively unknown. To-day his name is a household word, made so in a great measure by the muse of Long- fellow." That famous midnight ride, set to the music of the poet's verse, has travelled many times around the world, ever adding in its course to the undying fame of the hero and the poet. But it is not to celebrate an incident in his patriotic career that the writer of this article wishes your attention; it is to an incident in his peaceful days, when older and possibly wiser heads were planning those acts against the British crown which Revere and those like him carried to a successful termination. All my readers know how absolutely without price a piece of Revere silverware is to-day, how scarce it is, and how our antiquaries and collectors would almost sell their souls to pos- sess even a spoon which came from the hands of the grand old silversmith. Here you will be shown, not a piece made for a household purpose, but a royal punch bowl com- memorative of an historic event, which was the worst annoyance that King George III. received from the colonists before the Revolution. To fully understand why and for whom this bowl was made, let us go back to the year 1765, and consult the historians of the times, who will readily tell us how hot the temper of the people had become by contact with the officers of the British crown, when King George III., led by his ministry, had saddled npon our ancestors the infamous Stamp Act, the outcropping of the most villanous doctrine ever set forth to grind a free and enlightened people into the dust, — taxation without representation. The Stamp Act levied a duty, or tax, of half a penny to twenty shillings on any piece of parch- ment or paper on which anything should be written or printed. The news of its passage reached Boston in April, 1765, and was received with alarm and indignation. Not only Massa- chusetts Bay, but every province, exhibited a spirit of resistance. In Virginia the resolutions of the House of Burgesses, drawn up by Patrick Henry, gave an impetus to public senti- ment throughout the length and breadth of the land, and every province was in a blaze of excitement and resentment. On the 12th of August, the birthday of the Prince of Wales, the people of Boston, instead of honoring the event by public rejoicings, shouted, " Pitt and Liberty ; " and the enthusiasm increased until, two days after, the stuffed figures of Andrew Oliver, Secretary of Massachusetts Bay, who had been appointed distributor of 6 stamps, and of Lord Bute, were seen dangling from Liberty Tree, the eflSgy of Bute being a boot with a devil peeping out with a " Stamp Act" in his hand. The subsequent proceedings originated with Kevere's organization, the Sons of Liberty, who cut down these figures, and carried them in pro- cession through the streets of the town, borne on a bier. The multitude moved in perfect order, and their route was lined with towns- people. They passed through the Town House and under the council chamber, where the Gov- ernor and council were sitting, and the ]3atriotic crowd shouted, " Liberty, property, and no stamps ! " into the ears of the listening digni- taries. The Sons of Liberty were preceded by some forty or fifty tradesmen. From King (now State) Street they proceeded to Fort Hill, and there burnt the effigies in a huge bonfire. Governor Hutchinson fled to the castle for safety by means of a boat from Dorchester Point. Old Boston had rarely been so excited. It hardly needs mention that all business was suspended on that day. The officers of government could not appease the ire of the people, who in a large body proceeded to Kilby Street, where a building had been erected by Oliver, which was supposed to be the intended office for distributing the stamps, and instantly demoUshed it, bearing on their shoulders a portion of its ruins to Fort Hill, and there made a bonfire with it in full view of Oliver's house, — all of which induced Mr. Oliver to declare that he would not attempt, directly or indirectly, to introduce any of the King's stamps into the market. A change in the British ministry soon repealed the obnoxious tax law; and on receipt of the glad tidings. May 16, 1766, the town bells were rung. Liberty Tree was hung with lamps, and fireworks were displayed in every direction. In the evening a magnificent pyramid was erected on the Common, on which were two hundred and eighty lighted lamps; and subscriptions were raised for releasing the prisoners for debt, that all might partake in the general rejoicing of the Liberty Boys. During the quasi existence of the Stamp Act, on Monday, August 26, 1765, some boys lighted a bonfire in front of the Town House on State Street, now known as the Old State House, and a great number of people gathered there, whose watchword appeared to be "Liberty and prop- erty." The assembly soon became a riotous mob, and at once beset a house tenanted by Mr. Paxton, surveyor of the port, who had made 8 himself obnoxious in many ways to the people. The owner of the honse stood in front of it, and, to save his property, Paxton having left with his eflfects, invited the mob to drink a barrel of punch at the next tavern, which offer was gladly accepted. Thence the mob went to Mr. Storey's, deputy register of the admiralty, whose house was opposite the north corner of the Town House, and staved it to pieces, took out all the books and papers and records of the admiralty, carried them to Fort Ilill, and there with them fed the liberty flame, or bonfire. They then visited the house of Mr. Hallowell, comptroller of the customs, broke into it, and destroyed or carried off everything of any value. The Lieutenant-Governor, Thomas Hutchinson, did not consider himself a party to the Stamp Act or custom-house concerns, and gave himself, for a time, no uneasiness; but, while he was at supper, he was apprised that the mob had him in special remembrance. He sent his children away, determined to see the event out; but his eldest daughter returned for him, and he pru- dently left with her. The mob entered his house, which stood front- ing ISTorth Square, and destroyed or carried off everything, including a thousand pounds in specie 9 and the family plate, with large and valuable collections of manuscripts and original papers (the efforts of a long life) relating to the policy and features of the country from its earliest settlement by Europeans. The loss of these papers cannot be estimated. Hutchinson was appointed governor of the province by King George III. in 1769. In 1772 a number of his letters were obtained in London by Benjamin Franklin, who sent them to Boston, which disclosed his secret enmity to his country, in one of which he wrote: "There must be an abridgement of English liberties in colonial administration." The Legislature, on ascertain- ing his treachery, voted an impeachment; but Hutchinson, obtaining early information of what was transpiring, dissolved the Legislature, and sailed for England June 1, 1774. There he experienced the neglect and contempt of the lords, for whom he had sacrificed his reputation for honor and integrity, and, becoming an object of disgust with all parties, like Arnold, he lived some few years in a state of chagrin and de- spondence, and died in June, 1780, at the age of sixty-nine years. When the Stamp Act went into operation, November 1, 1765, the day was ushered in with the tolling of bells and the firing of minute 10 guns, while the flag of every vessel in port was at half mast: thus the people showed their determination to nullify the Act. Again the multitude crowded around Liberty Tree, and hung upon its branches the effigies of Grenville and Lord Bute. In the afternoon they were cut down, and carted, with great solemnity, first, to where the General Assembly was in session, and thence to the gallows on the T^eck, where they were again suspended, and finally torn in pieces, and given to the winds of heaven. Then the people quietly dispersed to their homes, at the request of their leaders, and the night was undisturbed by confusion or noise. The times were, indeed, tempestuous, even with the repeal of the hated Stamp Act, and persons began seriously to prepare themselves for the storm which evidently was brewing between the colonies and the mother-country, the cloud of which, no larger than a man's hand, had already appeared upon the horizon. It was when the news arrived from England that the Stamp Act had become a law that the great Boston mechanic, Paul Eevere, with a few other patriots, organized the famous society of the Sons of Liberty, whose active work con- tinued until American independence had been achieved. 11 These Sons of Liberty were, for the most part, of the laboring dasses and mechanics, with here and there a sprinkhng of lawyers and merchants, under the direction of influential leaders. They were successfully secret in all their meetings and concerted movements. They even issued war- rants for the arrest of persons suspected of lack of patriotism. They arranged in secret caucus for the government of elections and the pro- gramme for patriotic celebrations, and, in fact, were the mainspring of every public demonstra- tion against the government. They were some three hundred in number, and they held their public meetings around the " Liberty Tree," at the junction of Xewbury, Orange, and Essex Streets, or, as would be said to-day, Washington and Essex Streets. Thousands of people assem- bled under this historic tree when the Sons of Liberty met there; but their secret meetings, according to John Adams, were held in the counting-room of Chase & Speakman's distillery in Hanover Square. It has been more generally believed from Paul Revere's well-known leader- ship, that the Sons met at the old Green Dragon Tavern in Union Street. It was not long before the Sons of Liberty had organizations in many towns in this prov- ince, and in towns in 'New York, Rhode Island, 12 Georgia, Maryland, and South Carolina. Prob- ably no single republican organization in the history of governments ever before wielded so much power for good as that of the Sons of Liberty, composed of laboring men and mechanics. The name " Sons of Liberty " originated from a similar term applied to the Bostonians by Colonel Isaac Barre in his speech in Parliament when George Grenville brought forward his infa- mous scheme of taxation, which resulted in the Stamp Act, when Barre said, " The people of the American colonies, I believe, are as truly loyal subjects as the King has, but a people jealous of their liberties, and who will vindicate them if they should ever be violated." After the delivery of the speech from which the foregoing is an extract, the town solicited the portraits of Colonel Barre and General Henry Seymour Conway, Secretary of State from 1765 to 1768, able parliamentary defenders of the colonies. The request was complied with, and the pictures were sent over in 1767; but they disappeared from Faneuil Hall after the evacua- tion of Boston by the British soldiery. It was General Conway who moved to bring in a bill to repeal the Stamp Act, after Pitt had made his celebrated speech, in which he said: "I rejoice that America has resisted. Three 13 millions of people so dead to all the feelings of liberty as voluntarily to submit to be slaves would have been fit to make slaves of the rest. ... In a good cause, the force of this country can crush America to atoms. But, on the ground of this tax, v^^hen it is wished to prose- cute an evident injustice, I am one who will lift my hands and my voice against it. In such a cause your success would be deplorable, and victory hazardous. America, if she fell, would fall like the strong man. She would embrace the pillars of state, and pull down the Consti- tution with her." The news of the repeal of the Stamp Act reached Boston in the spring of 1766, and the third day following, being May 19th, was set apart for general rejoicing. At one in the morning the bell on Dr. Byles' church (now the Hollis Street Theatre), being nearest to Liberty Tree, began to ring. This was answered by the bells of Christ Church at the IN^orth End, from which edifice Paul Revere, on April 18, 1775, hung out his lanterns of warning, and soon every town bell was ringing. Passing lightly over the year subsequent to the repeal of the Stamp Act, provincial history brings us to the passage, by the Legislature of Massachusetts Bay, of what has been called the 14 strongest State paper ever sent forth in the province, — the celebrated circular letter written by that stern old patriot, Samuel Adams, to the other colonies, which passed the Legislature in February, 1768, by a nearly unanimous vote. From a condition of deep loyalty to the Crown at the date of the repeal of the Stamp Act, the provincials, in 1768, became its deter- mined enemies. Nothing they desired was done; their wishes and rights had been disregarded, and what they thought to be the worst evil to their trade and commerce had been unposed upon them, — a hated revenue bill. It is stated by contemporaneous history, what may well be believed to-day, that the Revolution commenced with the aggressive acts of the Crown in 1768. But, notwithstanding the unfortunate condition of affairs, there was no overt act of violence on the part of the people; so well disciplined were they by their leaders, that even the anniversary of the repeal of the Stamp Act passed away in quiet. Charles Townshend, the author of the Taxation Bill, had died, and was succeeded in office by Lord jN^orth, who would not concede a single favor to the colonists; and it was at this juncture of affairs that Samuel Adams thought out and drafted his celebrated circular letter, which contained a reference to every 15 question which had arisen between the colonists and the home government, such as the right of the Crown to tax the province without a representation in ParHament, and the powers of the Crown; and strong allusion was made to the great value there would be to England in the growing American trade if fostered and protected, and of the great loss that would be sustained if that trade were taxed to death to support a set of hungry office-holders. For seven days was the Legislature engaged in debating this circular letter, and it may be pre- sumed that nothing important was left out. Bancroft, in his history, says of the writer of this wonderful production : " The ruling passion of Samuel Adams was the preservation of the distinctive character and institutions of New England. He thoroughly understood the ten- dency of the measures adopted by Parliament; approved of making the appeal to heaven, since freedom could not otherwise be preserved; and valued the liberties of his country more than its temporary prosperity — more than his own life — more than the lives of all." Adams wrote to Lord Camden, who had been the friend of the colonies in the Stamj) Act agitation: "The position that taxation and rep- resentation are inseparable, is founded on the 16 immutable laws of nature. But the Americans had no representation in Parliament when they were taxed. Are they now then unfortunate in these instances, in having that separated which God and nature joined? Such are the local circumstances of the colonies at a distance of a thousand leagues from the metropolis, and separated by a wide ocean, as will forever render a just and equal representation in the supreme Legislature utterly impracticable." Copies of this document, which detailed the antagonistic position of the province toward the Crown, in consequence of the laws levying duties upon imports and other aggressions, were sent to every province in the country, the Legis- latures of which sustained Massachusetts Bay in the position she had taken in issuing the circular letter. On the 21st of June Governor Bernard trans- mitted to the House a government letter from Lord Hillsborough, secretary of the provinces, a part of which reads as follows: "It is the King's pleasure that so soon as the General Court is again assembled at the time prescribed by the charter, you should require of the House of Representatives, in his Majesty's name, to rescind the resolution which gave birth to the circular letter from the speaker, and to declare 17 their disapprobation of, and dissent to, that rash and hasty proceeding; and if, notwitlistanding the apprehensions which may justly be enter- tained of the ill consequences of a continuance of this factious spirit that seems to have influ- enced the resolutions of the Assembly at the conclusion of the last session, the new Assembly should refuse to comply with his Majesty's reasonable expectation, it is the King's pleasure that you should immediately dissolve them." On the 30th of June, 1768, the vote was taken to rescind the circular letter. ]^^inety-two voted not to rescind, and seventeen voted in favor. In obedience to the mandate of King- George III., Governor Bernard prorogued the House on the day of their refusal to rescind, but not before they had appointed a committee to prepare a petition to the King, praying that his Majesty would be graciously pleased to remove his Excellency Francis Bernard, Esq., from the government of the province. But the Sons of Liberty in Boston determined to show their appreciation of the patriotic stand taken by the ninety-two members of the House of Representatives in their vote not to bend the loiee to royalty; so fifteen of them com- missioned one of their number — their leader, and the most eminent among them, Paul Revere 18 — to make for them a silver punch bowl to commemorate the action of that noble band. And this disobedience of the King's mandate, as embodied in the act of the ninety-two not to rescind that circular, is why Paul Kevere made his famous punch bowl in 1768 for fifteen Sons of Liberty. Round the rim of this bowl are the names of the subscribers in a round-robin as follows: John Marston, Ichabod Jones, John Homer, John White, William Bowes, William Mackay, Peter Boyer, Daniel Malcolm, Benjamin Cobb, Ben- jamin Goodwin, Caleb Hopkins, John Welsh, ISTathaniel Barber, Fortesque Yernon, Daniel Parker. The inscription on one side of the bowl is as follows : " To the Memory of the glorious ninety- two Members of the Hon-^ House of Represen- tatives of the Massachusetts Bay, who, undaunted by the insolent Menaces of Yillains in Power, from a strict Regard to Conscience and the Lib- erties of their Constituents, on the 30th of June, 1768, voted not to rescind." On the opposite side of the bowl is a liberty cap, and under it these words within a wreath: " 'No. 45. Wilkes and Liberty," the figures refer- ring to that numl^er of the North Britain^ the paper conducted by John Wilkes, in which he 19 espoused the rights of the colonies. On the other side of the wreath are two flags, one con- taining the words "Magna Charta," the other " Bill of Rights," and the engraving of a torn letter, marked " General Warrants," which gave the power to search houses, and under which Wilkes had suffered arrest. This punch bowl belongs to a descendant of Wilham Mackay, one of the subscribers, who was in that day a merchant. He bought the right of ownership of the other Sons of Liberty; and the valuable relic is still, and will always continue to be, in the possession of the oldest male descendant. The name of Revere is stamped on the under side of the bowl. The names of William Mackay, gentleman, Fish Street, and five others appear in the first Boston Directory of 1789; viz., Benjamin Cobb, distiller, Long Wharf ; John Homer, stonecutter. Fish Street; John Welsh, ironmonger. Union Street; John White, Scarlet's Wharf; Peter Boyer, town treasurer, Sudbury Street. The other nine had accomplished their life's journey. John Marston, whose name I have first men- tioned upon the list, was in 1777 the keeper of the Bunch of Grapes Tavern, which was on the corner of State and Kilby Streets, formerly Mackerel Lane. He was Boston born, and in 20 1740 received a commission from Governor Belcher of Massachusetts Bay as captain, and served at the battle and capture of Louisburg. During the Revolution his tavern, the Bunch of Grapes, was the resort of the hottest-headed patriots. On the occupation of Boston by the British, John Marston was arrested and parolled. He never took active service in the Revolution, but his son, the grandfather of the present John Marston of Philadelphia, did, and served faithfully to the close of the war. Another of the subscribers, Daniel Malcolm, has a history. He was of Irish birth, and intensely American, and extremely bitter against the Crown. He was an importer of wines, and had an invoice subject to duty arrive here in a schooner. The vessel was brought to anchor about five miles below the castle. Daniel Mal- colm, with twenty or more sturdy fellows in barges, went do^vn at night, unloaded the cargo, and returned to the city with sixty pipes of wine free of duty. He died in 1769, aged about forty-four years. The British soldiers, in revenge for his act of insubordination, made a target of his gravestone, and there it stands in Copp's Hill burial-ground with the marks of the British bullets upon it. In 1874 this rare old punch bowl, sole relic of 21 an event which must have set King George's teeth on edge, was taken to the rooms of the Massachusetts Historical Society by the late Rev. Dr. George E. Ellis, and the transactions on that memorable and interesting occasion are recorded in the archives of the Society. It was then re- turned to the Mackay family, in whose possession it has remained until lately. A few days ago the writer of this article received a letter from his friend John Marston of Philadelphia, requesting him to make inquiries concerning a Paul Revere punch bowl that was understood to be in or about Boston which bore the name of his great-grandfather, John Marston, upon it. Here seemed a difficult, almost hopeless, task. Where should it begin, and where would it end? The letter, while being read in the office of the New England Mutual Life Insurance Company on Milk Street, was listened to by a clerk, who stepped forward and said, — *'Mr. Stevens, the owner of that punch bowl is a direct descendant of William Mackay, one of the original fifteen Sons of Liberty for whom Paul Revere made it, and he is a clerk in this office." Here, certainly, my readers will say, was a singular coincidence, for, without leaving my chair, as it were, the famous punch bowl had been found. 22 The owner kindly sent it to me the same day, and photographs of it will soon be in possession of John Marston of Philadelphia, the great-grandson of one of the original subscribers. If it is not unlawful to drink punch, the writer purposes to have that bowl filled with the best the market will afibrd, and on some occasion, at which he may be so fortunate as to be present, he intends to propose prosperity to the descendants of Paul Revere the maker, William Mackay, and John Marston, and the other thirteen subscribers whose names are on the bowl, as well as drink to the memory of the ninety-two members of the honorable House of Representatives of the Legislature of Massachu- setts Bay, who, undaunted by the menaces of villains in power, voted not to rescind the famous circular letter, so carefully drawn by that intense patriot, Samuel Adams, who, more than any other man of his day, threw fear into the ranks of the British ministry and consternation into the heart of his so-called " Gracious Majesty King George III." BENJ. F. STEVENS. Note. — The photographs of the famous punch bowl were made specially for this pamphlet by Mr. A. H. Folsom, 48 Alleghany Street, Roxbury. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 014 012 943 4