Читать книгу Old Boston Days & Ways - Mary Caroline Crawford - Страница 8

OF course the enforcement of the Boston Port Bill worked great hardship to the town. Boston was preeminently a trading center and, with its commerce cut off, its warehouses empty and its ships idle at the wharves, thousands were thrown out of employment. The other towns along the coast line refused, however, to take advantage of Boston's plight, and relief was freely sent to the boycotted city.

The legislature met now at Salem, for rebellious Boston could no longer be the seat of government, and to it came, soon after Gage had taken possession, a messenger to dissolve its sessions.

The members, however, held the door against this messenger and, before he had had a chance to deliver his lord's decree, a call to the other colonies had been sent out, — and the first step toward the initial meeting of the Continental Congress had been taken. To its sessions in Philadelphia John and Samuel Adams were sent as delegates, the absence of the former giving us the first of those remarkable letters from Abigail Adams to which reference will be made later, and that of the latter supplying to Dr. Joseph Warren the opportunity to draw up at Milton, in the county of Suffolk, a series of resolves which fairly set on foot the Revolution.

These resolves, nineteen in number, were by far the boldest doctrines ever adopted or promulgated in America, and probably did more than any one other thing to bring matters to a crisis. They declared that the sovereign who breaks his compact with his subjects forfeits their allegiance. They arraigned as unconstitutional the repressive acts of Parliament, and rejected all officers appointed under their authority.

They directed collectors of taxes to pay over no money to the royal treasurer. They advised the towns to choose their officers of militia from the friends of the people.

They favored a provincial congress, and promised respect and submission to the Continental Congress. They determined to act upon the defensive as long as reason and self-preservation would permit, but no longer.

They threatened to seize every crown officer in the province as hostages if the governor should arrest anyone for political reasons.

They also arranged a system of couriers to carry messages to town officers and corresponding committees. They earnestly advocated the well-known American principles of social order as the basis of all political action; exhorted all persons to abstain from riots and all attacks upon the property of any person whatsoever; and urged their countrymen to " convince their enemies that in a contest so important, in a cause so solemn, their conduct should be such as to merit the approbation of the wise, and the admiration of the brave and free of every age and country."

No sooner had General Gage heard of the adoption of these resolves than he sent to England for more troops, and began that campaign of confiscation which ended in the fight of Lexington and Concord. Before we proceed to discuss the natural and inevitable outcome of these resolves let us, however, examine a little the state of mind of those other officers who were associated with Gage in the difficult task of putting down the Bostonians.

The most interesting personality in the group was he whom we in America know best as Earl Percy, a man whose father had voted against the Stamp Act, who was himself opposed to the American war, but who yet felt it to be his duty to come to America with his regiment when orders to that effect were given. To this man we are able to come pretty close to-day for we are so fortunate as to have now available, — through the diligent scholarship of the late Edward Griffin Porter and the careful editing of Charles Knowles Bolton, — a number of letters sent by Percy to his kinsfolk in England during the period of his Boston service. On the voyage over he had written: "Surely the People of Boston are not Mad enough to think of opposing us," but three months later (July 5, 1774) we find him recording a fear " that we shall be obliged to come to extremities ... so extremely violent and wrong-headed are the people." A few days later he adds that "as General Gage received orders to remain at Salem, I have been left commanding officer of the camp.

. . . The people here talk much & do little; but nothing, I am sure, will ever reestablish peace & quiet in this country, except steadiness & perseverance on the part of the Administration. . . . The people in this part of the country are in general made up of rashness & timidity.

Quick and violent in their determinations, they are fearful in the execution of them unless, indeed, they are quite certain of meeting little or no opposition, & then, like all other cowards, they are cruel and tyrannical. To hear them talk you would imagine that they would attack us & demolish us every night & yet, whenever we appear, they are frightened out of their wits.

They begin to feel a little the effects of the Port Bill & were they not supported by the other Colonies, must before this have submitted.

One thing I will be bold to say, which is, that until you make their Committees of Correspondence and Congresses with the other Colonies high treason & try them for it in England, you must never expect perfect obedience & submission from this to the Mother Country."

"This is the most beautiful country I ever saw in my life," writes Percy, under the head, "Camp of Boston, Aug. 8, 1774," "& if the people were only like it, we shd do very well.

Everything, however, is as yet quiet, but they threaten much. Not that I believe they dare act."

A week later, he felicitates himself upon having acquired, in the town of which he was now practically the ruler, " a good house to dine in (for we are all obliged to remain at other times & sleep in camp). By this convenience I am enabled to ask the officers of the Line & occasionally the Gentlemen of the country, to dine with me; & as I have the command of the Troops here, I always have a table of 12 covers every day. This, tho' very expensive, is however, very necessary."

In a delightful little brochure called "Earl Percy's Dinner Table," Harold Murdock has pictured for us a typical dinner company at the headquarters of this hospitable host, — situated then at the corner of Winter and Tremont Streets, though there is evidence that, at one time, the young officer was entertained by William Vassall, on Pemberton Hill, in what was later known as the Gardiner Greene mansion. Mr. Murdock is a modern writer and there is no authentic document to support the list of "those present" which it has pleased him to draw up. But, so carefully and conscientiously has his little sketch been prepared, that I am very glad of his permission to quote from it here: "The house occupied by Percy . . .had been built early in the century, and its windows looked out upon the open pasturage of the Common. Through the thin foliage of those youthful elms which Mr. Paddock planted, loomed the crest of Beacon Hill, with its gaunt signal drawn like a gibbet against the sky, while more to the west and down the slope there was a glimpse of the bright waters of the Charles, with the wooded heights of Brookline and Newton beyond. The location was most convenient for the Earl, who was always within a stone's throw of the camps. It is pleasant to see him crossing the Common each afternoon to do the honors of his mansion, and day by day and week by week it is interesting to watch his guests passing in and out of the great door.

It opens to officers in scarlet and gold, and to officers in the blue of the Royal Navy, to gentlemen in silks and brocades and to gentlemen in velvet and lace. Old Dr. Caner goes up the path, leaning upon his stick, the great coach of Colonel Royall lumbers up to the garden gate, the chaise of Judge Lee waits in Winter Street to carry His Honor back to Cambridge.

"And now, as the darkness of an early spring day comes on, let us in imagination look into Earl Percy's dining-room and see what passes there. The newly lighted candles are burning brightly on the broad table around which the Earl's eleven guests are sitting at their ease, all but three in the uniform of the royal army.

The dinner is cleared away and the port and madeira are going the rounds. The Earl is chatting with a strapping officer on his left whose handsome face is a fair legacy from the race of which he comes. This is Lieutenant Colonel Gunning of the 43rd Foot. . . . On the right of Lord Percy is a lad of twelve or thirteen years, who is the hero of the occasion.

This is Roger Sheaffe, son to the faithful customs collector whose memory is abhorred by rebellious Boston. He has won his way into the affection of the Earl who has promised to see to it that he gains a commission in his regiment. . . .

"The rather stout officer who sits beyond Sheaffe ... is the Hon. Henry Edward Fox, the youngest son of the late Lord Holland, and a captain in the 38th Regiment. Anyone familiar with the prominent faces at Westminster, at Brook's Club, or on the track at Newmarket, would recognize in the Captain a near kinsman to the celebrated Charles James Fox. . . . Harry Fox is said to have little of his brother's brilliancy and none of his vices, and when the 38th sailed for America Mr. Horace Walpole of Strawberry Hill informed Sir Horace Mann that they took with them Lord Holland's 'only good son.' . . . Across the table is Captain William Glanville Evelyn of the King's Own, a man of quiet, serious countenance marked with the scars of smallpox. ... He is flattered and happy to sit at Earl Percy's table to-night. Scandal has not left the Captain's name unsullied, and the curious among his acquaintance would know more of pretty Peggie Wright, who has come out to him from England. It is whispered that she was a servant in his father's household. . . .

"At the foot of the table the Reverend Mather Byles is discoursing with Major John Pitcairn of the Royal Marines, and keeping that staid old officer in a state of uproarious laughter.

Poor Dr. Byles labors under the disadvantage of being considered not only a preacher but a poet and wit as well. Within the year a doggerel rhyme describing the local clergy has gone the rounds of Boston, and in the two stanzas devoted to Byles even his friends admit that a lively portrait has been drawn.

"There's punning Byles provokes our smiles,

A man of stately parts;

Who visits folks to crack his jokes,

That never mend their hearts.

"With strutting gait and wig so great.

He walks along the streets,

And throws out wit, or what's like it,

To everyone he meets.

"Though not of the Church of England Dr. Byles is in the eyes of the army the most sensible as well as the most delightful clergyman in Boston. He has correspondents among the brightest literary lights in England, and will show with pride volumes from his library with the loving inscription of his dear friend, the late Mr. Pope of immortal memory. At heart an arrant Tory, he has kept his congregation in order by asserting that his functions are spiritual and that it is not for him to profane his pulpit by discussing the political problems of the day. .. .

"There is that in Major Pitcairn which attracts the Reverend Byles as it must all men who admire honest simplicity and courage.

Here in rebellious Boston, hot-headed townspeople affronted by quarrelsome or drunken soldiers are glad to leave their grievances in Pitcairn's hands for reparation. Blunt and outspoken, he is yet a modest man, and in the long years that have passed since he left his Fifeshire home he feels that he has made little of his life.

... If the time shall come, which God forbid, that the sword is really drawn in this distracted province, he will do his full duty to the King and will do it humanely by firing low with shotted muskets. In the meantime he is accomplishing as much for peace as any man in Boston who wears King George's livery."

Such were some of those whom Earl Percy entertained on Winter Street. He himself is shown by his pictures, and by letters and accounts which have come down to us, to have been a young man of courage and character, with a delicate high-bred face in which might be discerned just a tinge of melancholy, induced, very likely, by his unhappy domestic experience.

For it was now five years since he had separated from that sprightly granddaughter of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, whom he had made his wife in 1764, and of whom we are given a racy glimpse in the Journals and Correspondence of Miss Berry.

Percy, not having a wife to whom he could send accounts of his American campaign, addressed his letters to his friends and kinsfolk overseas. And they, as good fortune would have it, preserved his communications carefully. At first the letters are disposed to undervalue the character and courage of the Americans but, little by little, there creeps in an appreciation of the resourcefulness of a people who could cope with a royal army, and parry blows inflicted by royal edicts. Under the heading "Camp at Boston, Aug. 21, 1774," he says: "Their method of eluding that part of the Act [which swept away the rights of Massachusetts under the charter] relating to the town meetings is strongly characteristic of the people.

They say that since the town meetings are forbid by the Act, they shall not hold them, but as they do not see any mention made of county meetings, they shall hold them for the future. They therefore go a mile out of town, do just the same business there they formerly did in Boston, call it a county meeting, & so elude the Act. In short, I am certain that it will require a great length of time, much steadiness, and many troops, to reestablish good order & government. . . ."

To his father, a month later, Earl Percy writes: "Things here are now drawing to a crisis every day. The People here openly oppose the new Acts. They have taken up Arms in almost every part of this Province, & have drove in the Govr & most of the Council.

The few that remain in the country they have not only obliged to resign, but to take up arms with them. A few days ago, they mustered about 7000 men at Worcester, to wh' place they have conveyed about 20 pieces of cannon. . . ."

For " the General's great lenity and moderation," Percy is beginning by this time to have only scant respect. He grants that Gage is behaving with exceeding "discretion and prudence," but he sees clearly, none the less, that the time for temporizing is almost past.

With unmistakable pleasure he now writes that his superior officer has "given orders for fortifying the town." A dawning respect for his opponents, too, is discernible in this letter, albeit the same is not very graciously expressed. "What makes an insurrection here always more formidable than in other places," he writes, "is that there is a law of this Province wh' obliges every inhabitant to be furnished with a firelock, bayonet, & pretty considerable quantity of ammunition. Besides wh', every township is obliged by the same law to have a large magazine of all kind of military stores. They are, moreover, trained four times in each year, so that they do not make a despicable appearance as soldiers, tho' they were never yet known to behave themselves even decently in the field."

A pleasant touch of color is lent to Percy's next letter by his astonished reference to the Indian summer which Bostonians of to-day know so well. The date is October 27, 1774: "It was so warm yesterday," he writes, " and is again so warm to-day that I am obliged to sit with all my windows open. Nay, even this morning when I went to visit the outposts at daybreak it was quite mild and pleasant."

Earl Percy did his duty scrupulously, and there was probably very good ground for Dorothy Quincy's complaint that the morning exercises of the soldiers interrupted her beauty sleep.

"Things here grow more and more serious every day," confides Percy to a military kinsman in England under date of November 1, 1774. "The Provl' Congress at Cambridge have now come to resolutions which must be attended with fatal consequences to this country. They have voted an army of observation of 15,000 men, & have appointed a committee of 15 who are to have the conduct & management of the affairs of this Province; but they are particularly to take care that proper magazines are formed, & that their army is supplied with everything proper for carrying on war.

"They have chose Col. Ward, Col. Preble, & Col. Pomeroy, Genls to command this army, wh' is to be divided for the winter into 3 corps: one at Charlestown, wh' is just on the other side of the harbor from Boston, one at Roxbury, wh' is just at the opposite end of the neck from Boston; & one at Cambridge wh' is about 6m distant, & wh' last place is to be Headquarters.

"It was for a long time debated in their councils whether they shd not form an encampment immediately, on some high ground just above Roxbury, & within random shot of our lines: but as the season was so far advanced the other plan was thot more advisable. As they only came to this resolution on the 29th of last month, they have not as yet assembled. If they really shd do so, I take it for granted the Genl will think it necessary to deprive them of part of their quarters, at least by burning Charlestown and Roxbury directly.

"These resols they have kept private, for pretty good and substantial reasons, tho' those they have ventured to publish are not very moderate, as you may see by the enclosed newspaper. . . . Gen. Gage (by some conversation I have lately had with him on that subject) will, I fancy, be very earnest in his solicitations for more troops, & indeed, they will be absolutely wanted if we are to move into the country next spring to enforce the New Acts. For as this place is the fountain from whence spring all their mad & treasonable resolves & actions, it will be nec'y to leave a large corps here, to keep the town in order & protect the friends of Govt."

Obviously, Earl Percy and his superior officer had been deceived, just as it was meant they should be, into thinking the American force much larger than it really was at this time.

A letter of Percy's written about Christmas time, 1774, is interesting for its mention of "Mr. Paul Revere, a person who is employed by the Committee of Correspondence here as a messenger." Little did the writer think that Revere would soon, by his intrepidity and skill, defeat one of his own expeditions. The last Percy letter before the affair of April 19 is dated "Boston Apl 8. 1775," and begins: "Things now every day grow more & more serious; A Vessel has arrived by accident here that has brought us a newspaper in which we have the joint address of the two Houses of Parliament to His Majesty; this has convinced the Rebels (for we may now legally call them so) that there is no hopes for them but by submitting to Parliament; they have therefore begun seriously to form their army & have already appointed all the Staff. They are every day in greater number evacuating this Town & have proposed in Congress, either to set it on Fire & attack the troops before a reinforcement comes, or to endeavor to starve us. Which they mean to adopt time only can show. The Genl however, has received no Acct whatever from Europe, so that, on our side no steps of any kind can be taken as yet. The Weather here for the last three weeks has been cold & disagreeable, a kind of second Winter. ... I still continue to enjoy my Health perfectly & have very much surprised the Inhabitants here by going constantly all winter with my bosom open without a Great Coat. They own however that this was a remarkably mild winter."

To the Americans the mildness of the winter had been a great advantage, for it had enabled them to push their plans for resistance faster and farther than would otherwise have been possible. The Suffolk Resolves had been adopted in September; on the fifth of October the members of the Massachusetts Assembly appeared at the Court House in Salem with the intention of holding their meeting there. But they were refused recognition by Gage, whereupon they resolved themselves into a Provincial Congress and adjourned to Concord.

There on October 11, 1774, two hundred and sixty members, representing over two hundred towns, took their seats and elected John Hancock president and Benjamin Lincoln secretary.

To Gage they promptly sent a message remonstrating against his hostile attitude. That personage responded by thundering recriminations at them. Shortly afterward, he issued a proclamation denouncing the Congress as "an unlawful assembly whose proceeding tended to ensnare the inhabitants of the Province and draw them into perjuries, riots, sedition, treason and rebellion."

Then the Congress adjourned to Cambridge, and appointed a committee of public safety, of which Hancock, Warren and Church were the Boston members. Even now, though, there was no intention to attack the British troops, only to make preparations for self-defense should that become necessary. In the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News Letter of February 23, 1775, is published a resolution passed at the Provincial Congress in Cambridge on February 17, and recommending that the militia drill as much as possible and that " such persons as are skilled in the Manufacturing of firearms & bayonets be encouraged diligently to apply themselves thereto for supplying such of the inhabitants as shall be deficient."

This is signed by John Hancock as president.

From this time on events crowd. The fifth of March was at hand and Dr. Warren craved the privilege of delivering the customary address, in the Old South Meeting-House, in commemoration of the Boston Massacre. The actual date having fallen on Sunday, a warrant was issued for a town meeting to be held on March sixth. The trifling difficulty that town meetings were no longer permissible was got over by the announcement that this was an adjournment of the Port Bill Meeting of the June 17 preceding!

It required considerable nerve to speak in a patriotic strain just then, for Gage had now under his command eleven regiments of infantry and four companies of artillery. He had come to the point of using them, too, at least for threatening purposes. Some accounts tell us that the aisles of the church were so blocked by soldiers when the hour for Warren's "Massacre" speech arrived, that the orator of the occasion had to enter through a window back of the pulpit. It was known indeed that some attempt was to be made to interrupt the meeting. But Samuel Adams had resolved to keep the peace if it were possible and so, when forty British officers entered, he asked the civilians occupying the front seats to yield their places to the visitors.

At one point in the address an officer thus seated held up a few pistol bullets in his open palm, but Warren, nothing daunted, dropped his handkerchief upon them and went on with his address. Yet he alluded feelingly to the "ruin " all around, and exclaimed in the course of his remarks: "Does some fiend, fierce from the depths of hell, with all the rancorous malice that the apostate damned can feel, twang her destructive bow, and hurl her deadly arrows at our breast? No, none of these; but how astonishing! It is the hand of Britain that inflicts the wound. The arms of George, our rightful king, have been employed to shed that blood which freely should have flowed at his command, when justice or the honor of his crown had called his subjects to the field."

Pretty fiery words these, and it seems strange, looking back, that the peace was not disturbed by them. It was afterwards learned that an attempt was to have been made to seize the persons of Adams, Hancock and Warren, and that a certain ensign had been appointed to give the signal for the others by throwing an egg at Dr. Warren in the pulpit. But the young fellow had a fall on the way to the meeting, which dislocated his knee and broke the egg, — on which account the scheme failed.

The time for blows was not yet quite ripe.

From the newspapers of the day, it would appear indeed, that, outside of a certain limited circle, life in Boston was going on much as usual. Thomas Turner, a dancing master, advertises for pupils quite as if no such thing as war was at hand, and the public entertainments of the day seem to have been well attended. One advertisement relative to a performance at a certain concert room is of interest. No checking system for wraps had then been devised, and as a result we come on such a notice as: "Exchanged, At Concert Hall, Thursday evening, the 16th of March, a long new blue Bath coating Surtout, which has a velvet Collar of the same Colour: Whoever is possessed of the above is requested the Favor to deliver yt to Joe at the British Coffee House, or leave it at the Concert Hall, where an old short blue surtout remains." Yet this calm was only that which precedes the storm. Before March had blown itself out, a number of drunken British officers were hacking the fence before Hancock's house opposite the Common, and making it necessary for that gentleman to apply for a guard. The time was now close at hand when Hancock himself became the admitted object of a certain military manoeuvre still remembered by British soldiers.

To describe the Battle of Lexington from an American standpoint would not fit well into the scope of this chapter, but let us see how Earl Percy regarded it. The official account sent by him to General Gage, the next day, was written at Boston and runs as follows: "In obedience to your Excells orders I marched yesterday morning at 9 o'clk, with the first Brigade and 2 field pieces, in order to cover the retreat of the Grenadiers & Light Infy, on their return from the Expedition to Concord.

"As all the houses were shut up & there was not the appearance of a single inhabitant, I could get no intelligence concerning them till I had passed Menotomy, where I was informed that the Rebels had attacked His Majesty's Troops, who were retiring, overpowered by numbers, greatly exhausted & fatigued, & having expended almost all their ammunition.

And about 2 o'clok I met them retiring through the Town of Lexington.

"I immediately ordered the 2 Field-pieces to fire at the Rebels, and drew up the Brigade on a height. The shot from the cannon had the desired effect, & stopped the Rebels for a little time, who immediately dispersed, & endeavoured to surround us, being very numerous.

As it began now to grow pretty late, & we had 15 miles to retire, & only our 36 rounds I ordered the Grenadiers and Lgt Infy to move on first, & covered them with my Brigade, sending out very strong flanking parties, wh were absolutely necessary, as there was not a stone-wall, or house, — though before in appearance evacuated, — from whence the Rebels did not fire upon us.

"As soon as they saw us begin to retire, they pressed very much upon our rear guard, which for that reason I relieved every now & then.

In this manner we retired for 15 miles under an incessant fire all round us, till we arrived at Charlestown, between 7 & 8 in the even, very much fatigued with a march of above 30 miles, & having expended almost all our ammunition.

"We had the misfortune of losing a good many men in the retreat, tho' nothing like the number wh, from many circumstances, I have reason to believe were killed of the Rebels.

"His Majesty's Troops during the whole of the affair behaved with their usual intrepidity & spirit. . . ."

Unofficially, in a letter to the military friend who was one of his regular correspondents in England, Percy wrote that of his men sixty-five were killed, one hundred and fifty-seven wounded, and twenty-one missing. Of the officers, one was killed, fifteen were wounded and two were taken prisoners. "During the whole affair," he then went on, "the Rebels attacked us in a very scattered irregular manner, but with perseverance & resolution. . . . Whoever looks upon them as an irregular mob, will find himself much mistaken. They have men amongst them who know very well what they are about, having been employed as Rangers agnst the Indians & Canadians, & this country being much covd with wood, and hilly, is very advantageous for their method of fighting.

"Nor are several of their men void of a spirit of enthusiasm, as we experienced yesterday, for many of them concealed themselves in houses, & advanced within 10 yds to fire at me & other officers, tho' they were morally certain of being put to death themselves in an instant.

You may depend upon it, that as the Rebels have now had time to prepare, they are determined to go thro' with it, nor will the insurrection here turn out so despicable as it is perhaps imagined at home. For my part, I never believed, I confess, that they wd have attacked the King's troops, or have had the perseverance I found in them yesterday. I myself fortunately escaped very well, having only had a horse shot. ..."

Lord Dartmouth, secretary of state for the Colonial department, was highly pleased with Percy's gallant conduct on this occasion. To the Earl's father, the Duke of Northumberland, he wrote: "Lord Dartmouth presents his compts to the Duke of Northd & has the honor to send His Grace two extracts from private letters from Boston, wh have been communicated to him. . . . 'Ld Percy has acquired great honor, he was in every place of danger, cool, deliberate, & wise in all his orders.' . . .

'Ld Percy commanded and behaved with distinguished honor, & tho' he was continually in a shower of bullets, & an object that was much aimed at on horseback, came off unhurt.' Blackheath, 11 June, 1775."

As a reward for his gallantry, Percy was made "a Major-General in America," the commission being signed " at our Court at St. James, 22nd June, 1775." He led his men with spirit at the attack upon Fort Washington, in November, 1776, but, from an inability to agree with Howe, he took steps, in 1777, to obtain a recall. Two years later, he was divorced from his first wife, Lord Bute's daughter, and the same year he married again, — happily this time, and lived to a ripe old age. He seems in many ways the ablest soldier as well as the most gracious personality, of all the officers of the king who were stationed at Boston.