I 
 
 74 
 
 CANDID REVIEAV 
 
 PROJECT OF ANNEXATJON, 
 
 CHARLESTOWN MAN. 
 
 « » ■» > 
 
 CHARLESTOWN : 
 
 Dk COSTA & WILLIAMS Printers. 
 
 1 B~5^4. 
 
CANDID REVIEW 
 
 PROJECT OF ANNEXATION, 
 
 CJjnthstauiii Blnti. 
 
 CflAELEStoWN; 
 
 t)ECOSTA & WILLIAMS, PIlINTERf5. 
 1 854» 
 

 ;ii!j"Pivv 
 
 \V( 
 
•J \ OAXDII) REVIEW, &c 
 
 " To be, or uot to be, that 's the question." . 
 
 In that only fragment of American eloquence tliat is destined to any 
 thing like an immortality, Mr. Webster declared that '' When the 
 mariner had been tossed for many days in thick weather, and on an 
 unknown sea, he naturally availed himself of the first pause in the 
 storm, the earliest glance of the sun, to take his latitude, and ascertain 
 how far the elements have driven him from his true course." Let us, 
 as far as we may, act upon this wisdom. There is to be no pause in 
 the storm. No sky more benignant than that now above us, can be 
 looked for until this question is finally settled. We are now in the 
 sweep and hurry of the final discussion. We are like that unfortunate 
 victim, who was drawn into the all-ingulfing gullet of Niagara;, if we 
 reach the shore noui, it is well ; if we proceed further, we are gone 
 forever. 
 
 Let us, then, calmly review what we have done. Let us, as in our 
 weakness we may be able, lift the curtain that enfolds the future. 
 
 The cily we inhabit is no sickly municipality, to which independent 
 life, is an untried experiment. She is not struggling for existence. 
 She is in no danger of foes from without. She has no internal feud 
 to distract, nor divide her. She is in no peril of her life from the 
 ambition, or other wickedness of her citizens. She, therefore, is in no 
 particular want of foreign aid. She is not compelled to call upon her 
 overgrown, but younger brother, to aid her. She has attained already 
 so many years of useful life, that she is hopeful of a most honorable 
 old age. She yet exhibits no symptoms of decay. Her citizens are 
 as industrious, as moral, as enterprising and as numerous as they were 
 in 1845, when, in committee of the whole, it was resolved that the 
 public health was such as to need nothing of this Boston nostrum of 
 annexation. Her streets resound, from early dawn to the blackest 
 night, with the busy hum of her industry. No blade of grass is suf- 
 
fered to peep through her paving stones; its life is crushed out by the 
 hoofs of trade. No shipping rots at her wharves. Boston merchants 
 do not scorn the endorsement of a Charlestovvn wharfinger " when he 
 finds himself in a tight place." Flis banker, moreover, has often more 
 confidence in the back than the face of that note. Her children are 
 not growing up in ignorance. Few girls or boys can be found here, 
 who cannot read and understand the best literature Boston prints. The 
 superiority of Boston youth is so minute, that it has not yet been com- 
 puted. Her High and Grammar Schools are, confessedly, as good as 
 the same institutions in Boston. Competent judges claim that the 
 instruction here is more practical and thoughtful, and less mechanical, 
 than there. She has churches wherein is taught all of the Gospel that is 
 considered at all popular or respectable in Boston. She has religious 
 teachers who preach with as much ability and fervor as any elsewhere. 
 They are like the Boston ministers, save in their wages — they preach 
 for less " hire and salary." We are protected against all the elements, 
 as in Boston. Never, in fact, since Boston sent over some fellows, 
 whom she quartered in her best meeting-house, has this city been 
 visited by any conflagration which the energy of her citizens could not 
 stay within reasonable limits. Neither is this city a pauper in historic 
 renown. Her soil is moistened by the earliest blood of the Revolution. 
 The granite finger, from the sacramental ground of America, points to 
 the resting place of her heroes. Take, indeed, from the history of the 
 past the name of Charlestovvn, and it would be a meagre record that 
 would remain. 
 
 And thus we might proceed and enumerate all the essentials, and 
 most of the luxuries and extraordinary blessings, and many of the 
 glories of life, that we here enjoy as fully as do the citizens of Boston. 
 But we have said enough to make legitimate the inquiry we now pro- 
 pose to discuss, substantially started by Mr. Quincy, in his pamphlet, 
 of What is the occasion for the proposed change^ and what are the 
 reasons assigned for it 1 
 
 These reasons have been as various as they who have advanced 
 them. We shall be pardoned, therefore, for going into a somewhat 
 detailed enumeration thereof. They have changed, moreover, with 
 the shifting exigencies of the controversy. For this statement will be 
 required no coroboration by those familiar with the views expressed 
 by the advocates of annexation within the last eight months. " See," 
 says your ultra annexationist to a cab driver, " we must be annexed so 
 as to have better streets." " Look," says the same man to old Grind- 
 stone, who, he knows, pays a large tax, " look, see what infernal ex- 
 travagance our city has indulged in fixing Medford Street. Our streets 
 
are too good now. We must go for annexation and put a stop to this 
 business." Driven, indeed, by tlie laughter of the public, or the stub- 
 bornness of notorious facts, tliey have sought shelter from the conse- 
 fjuences of one absurdity under the protecting wings of anotlier. 
 Tlience they iiave again been expelled, till they liave successively 
 taken and abandoned every subterfuge that it is possible for the mind 
 of man to conceive. 
 
 Let us address ourselves now to the more permanent arguments 
 urged by the friends of this project. These were fully presented to 
 the Committee of the Legislature, both by witnesses and counsel. 
 
 First : It was said a consolidated government was better than sepa- 
 rate local administrations. It is obvious this is mere assertion. It finds 
 no support in the history of other cities ; it receives no nourislunent 
 from the theory of our political system. It is admitted, indeed, to be in 
 direct conflict with the spirit of that system. It is conceded, by its 
 advocates, to be centralization in its most odious form. It is, therefore, 
 liable to all the objections that have been urged by the wise and good, 
 in times past, against this dangerous policy. There is nothing in the 
 political temper of Boston calculated to lessen this danger. She never 
 has declined to grasp or wield power that came within her reach. And 
 when she shall have grown more lusty, and of course proportionally 
 more self-important, by the expansion of her territory, her greediness 
 for political power will not be satisfied, but rather will her appetite be 
 whet into greater craving. Already it is declared, that into the same 
 capacious maw of hers a sweep of ten miles from the brokers of State 
 Street shall soon go. Lynn shoes, it is absurdly contended, will meet 
 with a readier sale, if pegged under the eye of a Boston Alderman. 
 Waltham will suddenly expand, it is urged, into a young giant, if her 
 citizens are obliged to make pilgrimage to Court Street, would they 
 have their names on the check-list. How delightful it will be, if all 
 the poor within a half day's journey of State Street are swept off down 
 to Deer Island ! This pretence of increased business energy but feebly 
 masks the real purpose of concentrating political power. The sarcasm 
 that has heretofore spoken of the learned gentlemen who make laws 
 €very winter, at the State House, as the Boston legislature, will be 
 more legitimate in the future, than in the past, if this measure succeed. 
 And the act by which this annexation is to be consummated, has not 
 sought to mitigate this evil. The interests of Cliarlestown, say the 
 advocates of annexation, are all Bostonian, and will be more so when 
 the marriage treaty is ratified. Vet this act of union, in conformity 
 with the Constitution of the State, which never anticipated so wild a 
 project, and which is fortified at all points against it, denies our citizens 
 
all particlpancy in the election of that host of Representatives, and 
 formidable body of Senators, who really control the legislation of the 
 State. This pill that has been prescribed for us, then, is by no means 
 suo-ar-coated. It comes in its bitterest form. It is as crude as the ele- 
 ments of which it is composed coulJ make it. It has seen the alembic 
 of no political chemist. It bears evident marks of haste in the prepa- 
 ration thereof. It throws the wealth and government of Charlestown 
 into the lap and hands of Boston, reserving no share of political 
 strength, and only saying " Take it all, O, State Street, deal whh us as 
 you will ; we want a guardian ; do what you can for us, and we must 
 be satisfied ; we ccnuwl complain ; we have closed up our mouth, and 
 torn out our tongue." 
 
 Second : Reduced rates of taxation to the people of Charlestown, 
 was urged as one of the strongest grounds of union. This vapor, that 
 for a time blinded the eyes of some of our citizens, has been dissi- 
 pated by the sudden uprising of the sun of truth. The statistics of 
 the present year, upon this subject, are before the public. The tax 
 payers of our city are rejoicing, at this stringent hour in the money 
 market, in a light taxation ; while our friends over the river, like the 
 historic characters of old time, are calling upon us to come over and 
 help lift their heavy burden. The city of Charlestown has passed its 
 critical period in the matter of taxation. She has reached the " turn 
 of life," so to speak. Her city government has been fully organized. 
 Her schools are established. Her educational institutions are built and 
 paid for. Her almshouse has been saved from the fiery furnace of a 
 lawsuit, and in a somewhat more accessible place than Deer Island. 
 And in the county of which she has heretofore formed so distinguished 
 and important a part, she has been called on to contribute largely to 
 expenses that cannot occur again for at least two hundred years. She 
 has paid her part towards the erection of the three best court-houses 
 that can be found in America. She has erected jails enough for all 
 her criminals for the next twenty decades. She has built a house of 
 correction that will accommodate, in comfort, all the vagabonds that 
 will fall into misfortune during a longer interval than that named 
 above. To all these, and other expenditures, she has largely contrib- 
 uted, and the fact has appeared in the tax bills of our citizens ; but 
 these can never come again. So that if Charlestown remains in Mid- 
 dlesex County, the hat of the publican will not again be thrust in her 
 face for many long years. On the other hand, let her ally herself to 
 Boston, and what will be the consequence in the way of taxation ? 
 Hear what one of the sturdiest advocates of annexation said, in answer 
 to this question, less than a week ago. " Charlestown," in coming 
 
over to us, said the Boston Journal, uttering nothing but the truth, " will 
 assist us tji defraying the principal of the Water Debt, arid in meeting 
 the necessary expenses for repairs and interest, lohich last year exceed- 
 ed the income of the Water Works by the stun of one hundred and 
 thirty-one thousand and forty dollars.'''' This " principal," which 
 Charlestown " will assist in defraying," is near six millions of dol- 
 lars ! It is refreshing to contemplate this, especially if one has al- 
 ready a morbid imagination on this matter of taxes. To any one who 
 grumbled at his last year's tax bill, it will be a particularly interesting 
 subject of thought. To such a mind, fatally bent on annexation, we 
 would commend two other matters of profitable contemplation. In 
 the first jilace, look at the enormous debt of Suffolk County, which, 
 like the water investment, we " must assist in defraying." That Jail, 
 for instance, built after an unheard of and extravagant style of archi- 
 tecture, which in winter punishes its inmates by freezing, and by suffo- 
 cation in summer, has made a mark on the assessor's book that will 
 reappear on the tax bills for many a long year. In the second place, 
 see what lurks in your own Act of Annexation ; see what poison has 
 been strewn in the "bill of fare," by way of dessert. Middlesex Coun- 
 ty, it seems, is to have a parting hand grip with us, just by way of fu- 
 ture remembrance. Like absconding insolvents, we are to be arrested 
 for debt, because we are " fleeing the jurisdiction." " Great cities," 
 generalizes Mr. Jefferson, " are great sores." Little cities are small 
 festers, in the way of crime, we continue. Lowell, Charlestown and 
 Cambridge, in that sense, are festers in the County of Middlesex. 
 Their existence rendered it necessary to build the jails and houses of 
 correction we have named. Charlestown was largely responsible for 
 the erection thereof. 
 
 There are other county expenses, of which she was the occasion, if 
 not the immediate cause. Now it is well settled, that if a guest seat 
 himself at the table, and nibble at all, though he leave before the en- 
 tertainment is concluded, he must, nevertheless, settle with his host. 
 It is a sound principle. The Act of Annexation is to " try it on " to 
 our city. If she goes over, she has got to leave a large share of her 
 treasure behind her, to repair the damage she has done, and to pay the 
 expenses she has been partly the occasion of. This is to be done at 
 once, not by instalments. The cold, hard hand of an old companion, 
 that has always treated us well, but whom we have ignominiously de- 
 serted in her old age, will be searching in the pockets of our tax payers 
 for a quantity of dollars equal to all the expense we have caused. It 
 will be a profoundly " dead horse," too, that we shall be paying for. 
 Dissolution is so apparent that even Coroner Pratt would " deem an 
 
8 
 
 inquest unnecessary." We shall be paying for court-houses in which 
 we shall not be permitted to quarrel ; for jails, in which we shall have 
 no right to be shut up ourselves, or have our children incarcerated ; 
 for houses of correction, wherein we can find no wholesome discipline, 
 when we fall into error. Can any horse-flesh, then, we would like to 
 ask, be more decayed than that ? Could any taxes be thrown wider 
 awav ? See, then, how mightily our rates will mount up as soon as 
 this measure is adopted ! We shall be like the tenant who leaves one 
 house and goes into another before his lease of the former has expired. 
 He pays double rent. Middlesex County will hold out her slouched 
 hat, not for alms, but for dues, and the Supreme Court will compel us 
 to pay. Boston, whh her Water Debt, and Suffolk County, with her 
 burden, will hereafter, as now, invite us to help them carry a load that 
 causes their unassisted strength to stagger not a little. In a word, we 
 shall be beset by two pick-pockets ; the one, not in the most amiable 
 temper, because we have cut her acquaintance rather unceremoniously ; 
 the other, feeling like a hostess who has a guest that has come prema- 
 turely and uninvited to dinner. 
 
 Third : The next grand reason pressed was, tliat Charlestown 
 needed water, purer and more of it. As to some portions of the city, 
 the premise is granted. But what then } Will annexation give it at 
 a cheaper rate, or more speedily than it may otherwise be obtained ? 
 Surely not, unless all signs fail more fatally in this dry time than ever 
 before. This cry of " water," and this general thirst, may be readily 
 appeased by the Legislature, and will be, unless the " Boston " General 
 Court refuse aid to any measure not for the immediate benefit of the 
 three hills. It cannot be had without paying for it. But the price at 
 which it may be had, will be less without than with annexation. Join- 
 ing with Cambridge in her project, or obtaining it by legislative aid 
 from the Boston pipes that now pass through our city, without annexa- 
 tion, we shall have it freed from the enormous burden of that water 
 debt. And this expense could not be heavy, for the greater portion of 
 Charlestown needs no better water than the wells and heavens afford. 
 And this supply is inexhaustible, and by no means expensive ; for the 
 wells disappoint no man's expectations in the dryest heat of summer, 
 and " the most ancient heavens are fresh and strong," distilling their 
 blessings freely without the exaction of salaries or water tax. And 
 the clamor of " poor water," that is now raised for the first time, though 
 well founded in regard to some localities, is false and hollow in respect 
 of others. There is more good water here now than is drank ; and 
 cold water is not unfrequently traduced in order to make the transition 
 to gin less violent and indefensible. From the time Thomas Walford 
 
9t 
 
 built his " palisadoed and thatched house," on tlio sUipc of Town Hill, 
 more than two centuries ago, down to the present hour, the heuhh of 
 our people has suiTereci more from average rum, than poor water. It 
 will be so in the future. But the evil of poor water, as we have seen, 
 so far as it is an evil, is easily remedied. It would have been done by 
 the last Legislature, had it not been for the determination, in certain 
 high quarters, to compel us to annexation by heavy tolls on our bridges, 
 and by shutting out the water from our citizens. 
 
 Fourth: Annexation, it was again said, will give further and better 
 protection against fires. Herein the Fire Department was foully tra- 
 duced. It was hinted, in direct terms, that it was inefficient by reason 
 of the rowdyism of those who composed it. The proof signally failed 
 to establish this point. Its efficiency is known and respected here and 
 elsewhere. Neither in Boston, nor in any other city, can, in fact, its 
 equal be found. It is not composed, as in some other places, of citizens 
 without character or reputation ; but the most valuable men we have 
 among us, are embodied in it. We say most valuable, because they 
 are the men by whom the business of the great active world is done. 
 And upon these depends any city for its prosperity or its misfortunes. 
 If they are unworthy, it is soon seen and felt in the reputation in which 
 that citv is held at home and abroad. Superannuated and inactive men 
 are useful, undoubtedly, to hold the world together ; but a community 
 made up of such would scarcely be desirable. But the Fire Depart- 
 ment comprises the muscle, and not a httle of the mind of our city. 
 The people here are largely indebted thereto, for that exemption from 
 loss, by fire, which they^have so long enjoyed. And it was certainly 
 an il'.-advised attack, which was made upon it in the hope of advancing 
 this scheme. For if its annihilation be one of the main objects of 
 union, the prayer of every good citizen should be that it be forever 
 averted. 
 
 Fifth : A rise in real estate, it was said, would be the next conse- 
 quence. Why would this be so? it was demanded. Annexation 
 brings her physically no nearer Boston. The same hridge will sepa- 
 rate "the cities then, that divides them now. Yes ; but, said the annex- 
 ationist, the traders in real estate, the brokers and speculators therein, 
 will demand more for it, by a general conspiracy among themselves 
 and the great land proprietors, and ii must go up as coal, and (lour, and 
 the other essentials of life have gone up. Now this reply proves too 
 much. The whole argument proves too much. It shows that ninety- 
 nine one-hundredths of our population are to starve by it. It shows 
 that no man is to gain by it, unless he is the owner of at least a whole 
 street of houses, unincumbered by mortgage. For if the price of real 
 estate is to be thus enhanced, it necessarily follows that the rents and 
 taxes of these houses rise also. He, therefore, who now pays two 
 hundred dollars and taxes for the house that shelters himself and his 
 family, and has hard work to pay that and keep the wolf of hunger 
 from his door, with nine dollars per ton for his coal, and thirty cents 
 per pound for grev or striped butter, will find old Skinflint, his landlord, 
 dem.anding two hundred and fifty dollars and higher taxes than before. 
 
10 
 
 The consequence will be, he will either be obliged to retreat info a 
 smaller and less commodious tenement, in a poorer neighborhood in 
 the city, or else he will be obI«ged to remove his loved ones, and his 
 houseliold gods, to some suburban district, on some railroad, or at the 
 head of omnibus navigation, and to wear out his life by too early 
 breakfasts, and too late suppers, in, order to attend to his business in 
 North Boston, which, by the way, is gradually growing less by reason 
 of his absence therefrom. If this theory, therefore, of your ultra 
 annexationist, be sound, it is most obvious what its tendency is — " It 
 makes the rich richer, and the poor poorer.''' And those like ancient 
 Agur, having neither poverty nor riches, it loads with heavier burdens. 
 It crushes the life out of industry and enterprise, without capital. It 
 depresses the man, and elevates the dollar. It helps those who need 
 no help ; it destroys them that are struggling to live. It lays its curse 
 heavily upon all young men, unless they are large inheritors of landed 
 estates. It extinguishes and "crushes out" You/jo- America, and ele- 
 vates Fogie America instead. It leads, directly and distinctly, to the 
 formation of two classes in society — the very rich and the very poor. 
 It lays the burden of life upon the industry and enterprise of the city. 
 It makes that burden so great that no man can bear it and do more. 
 He must be either '' rich or a bachelor," to sustain it. Under its ope- 
 ration, in full swing, in ten years, there would be no " middling inte- 
 rest" left on Bunker Hill. North Boston will, indeed, have her 
 Beacon Street about the Monument, and her "Half Moon Alley" at 
 the Neck, and elsewhere all over the peninsula ; but she will not have, 
 as now, her thrifty laborers, her enterprising mechanics, her snug 
 tradesmen, her happy and prosperous families of the middle station 
 of life. And in this middle station the city now finds the sinews of 
 her' greatest strength. "Temperance, moderation, quietness, health, 
 society, all agreeable diversions, and all desirable pleasures, are the 
 blessings attending the middle station of life," said Robinson Crusoe, 
 Sen., in the admirable fiction of Defoe, to his wayward son. Let the 
 policy of the annexationist be carried out, this class and its blessings 
 will be measurably banished from our midst, by the stringent necessity 
 that will be induced. 
 
 Sixth : Another great point with the earlier friends of this measure 
 w'as, that a union of the police and watch of the two cities, would 
 furnish greater protection against crimes and criminals. In support of 
 this view it was claimed, that it would prevent the escape of prisoners 
 from Boston into another jurisdiction. No man lives who has ever 
 heard of a single defeat of justice from the grievance complained 
 against. The annals may be searched with the closest eye, but no 
 such case can be found. When an isolated instance is heard of, it will be 
 quite time to look for a remedy. Let us not call a doctor, until at least 
 some indication of present or approaching ill health be apparent. And 
 more especially let us cease to vex so important a quesiion as this of 
 annexation, with such trivial reasons. A Boston constable may now 
 pursue a Boston malefactor upon our soil, " exult in his successful 
 game," and be protected by the law in so doing. And how idle it is, 
 therefore, to make such complaints as the above, or like that of one of 
 the main witnesses before the Legislative Committee, whose reason for 
 
11 
 
 annexation was, that tlicre was a scarcity of constables in Charlestown, 
 althouuh he achnilted that such as we had were of the first (jiialitv ! 
 The \)\i\\n truth about this matter is this : if we were a pari of Dostun, 
 we should be obliged to pay for their day and night police, which is of 
 no earthly consequence to any man, woman or child, on this side of 
 the river. 
 
 SevaUh : We tlius have glanced at the most prominent reasons that 
 have been urged in favor of this project. We have not, and slialt not, 
 go into a detailed statement of others, which, whatever may have been 
 the original purpose of their utterance, only served to move the mirth 
 of those who listened to them. But an attempt has latterly been made 
 to promote this cause by liolding out the idea that the JNavy Yard, in 
 the event of annexation, may be removed from our soil. If res])ecta- 
 ble presses had not publislied the correspondence upon this subject, we 
 should have made no allusion to it here, for, at present, it really seems 
 too ridiculous for comment. The evidence, pointing to such removal 
 is distinctly this, and nothing more : — 
 
 One of the briefest of the " briefless barristers " of Court Street 
 who was not known as a member of the Bar out of the entry in which 
 his name was found, upon a piece of painted tin, one afternoon wrote 
 a letter to Hon. Charles Sumner, characterized by self-inflation more 
 than any apparent wisdom, and asking his opinion of the practicability 
 of such removal. Giving it a hurried reading, Mr. Sumner mistook 
 the name of the writer for that of a commission merchant, who does 
 quite a business in various trafiic. So he thought he would answer it. 
 Accordingly, to the next man he meets, who happened to be the pres- 
 ent Naval Secretary, he casually inquires whether he considered such 
 an event as at all possible. The Secretary, in substance, replied, that 
 personally, he had no objections. Thereupon Mr. Sumner wrote back 
 to his querist, reporting progress, not supposing the matter would ever 
 again be heard of. The next thing, however, to his great charrrin, that 
 he hears, is that his unfortunate correspondence is printed in ail the pa- 
 pers of Boston, and the community is convulse^ with laughter at the 
 young Hercules, who had, in advance of all the rest of mankind, con- 
 ceived the notion of removing that Navy Yard to Newport. Here, 
 then, is the whole of this matter plainly stated. The public can judge 
 of the probability of the success of the measure at present. We shall 
 not be in a hurry to bet our money on that particular " bob-tailed na"." 
 How far annexation is connected therewith, is also readily seen. 
 
 With a few general considerations we must bring to a close this 
 already expanded review. 
 
 To him who thinks annexation will at some time be beneficial, we 
 have this to say. That time has not yet come. Boston has, indeed, 
 feebly invited us. But it is notorious that all the courlivg, so to speak, 
 up to last M(jnday, was done by us. On that day, dressed in her dirti- 
 est, every-day clothes, and making no particular account of the mat- 
 ter, the old lady gave a reluctant assent, in the evident hope that we 
 shall back out. The invitation she sends, indeed, seems to " covie u-ilJi- 
 in an inch of her life.'''' It is as much as ever that it amounts to a 
 feeble welcome. So that Charlestown is like one who suirgests that it 
 would be entirely agreeable to dine out. Boston is like the hostess 
 
12 
 
 who says, " if you want to come, come, bat I had as lief you would 
 stay at home, after all." The cry from the kitchen, in the south L of 
 Boston, is, " stay at home, by all means ; you will only be made a 
 scullery of in the north wing of our overgrown edifice." And so we 
 think if annexation be ever, or at all desirable, it can be had on mors 
 advantageous terms than those now offered us. We confess, though 
 perhaps it is ill manners in an almost uninvited guest, our dissatisfaction 
 with the bill of fare. It is skilfully drawn to rob us of all our rights 
 and power. It " evinces a more deliberate and settled disregard " of 
 those rights than any other Act that could be passed. It could not 
 have been framed with subtler ability to put us beyond the power of 
 interfering at all with the will of Boston in respect of our affairs. And 
 all this, by the rejection of the present Act, may be remedied here- 
 after. 
 
 The burden of proof in this matter is manifestly upon those alleging 
 the expediency of the new project. Unless a clear case is established, 
 the measure should be rejected. '' Let well enough alone " is a morsel 
 of wisdom which all of us have had salted down from our earliest 
 boyhood. 
 
 '♦ Let us rather bear the ills we have, 
 Than fly to others that we know not of." 
 
 They that ask us to enter upon an entirely untried experiment, in the 
 face of formidable opposing considerations, should give us reasons that 
 cannot be shaken. But South Boston, which knows how Boston proper 
 treats her suburban friends, has honestly declared to us her opinion of 
 the alliance we are asked to join. 
 
 We have purposely said noihing herein of those feelings of patriot- 
 ism that must be arouaed against this measure. The eloquent words 
 of Mr. Quincy have anticipated our poor speech. No man here can 
 be insensible of the considerations he has urged. It is, indeed, incred- 
 ible that such a project should originate upon this soil. The memory 
 of the past would seera to be stronger than ada«)ant against the deed. 
 Every argument in favor of it is the cry of a pedlar, rather than of a 
 patriot. It bottoms upon some paltry, selfish consideration. It is in 
 defiance of the instincts of true manhood. It is a manifestation of a 
 spirit that would sell the monument that marks our earliest glory, for a 
 sea-wall, and the cannon that belched its hot breath into the bosom of 
 the foe, to the nearest junk dealer. 
 
 " Ey ortT fathers' ashss, 
 "^There's the spirit of the free-hearted gone ! '' 
 
 Shall these ignominious footsteps, O men of Charlestowrj, be left by us- 
 "• on the sands of time ? " 
 
 "By Warren's ghost, by Prescott's shade, 
 Sy all the memories of our dead j 
 By their enlarging souls, which burst 
 The bauds and fetters round them set ;• 
 By the free Pilgrim's spirit nursed 
 ^Vithin our inmost bosoms yet, — 
 By all above, around, below. 
 Be ours the indignant answer — NO !-"^ 
 
; 
 
 LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 
 
 1 
 
 014 059 532 4