Reminiscences of Sixty Years in Public Affairs Volume I Part 10

And thus shall it be with Austria. With the judgment of the civilized world against her, with her people disaffected and disloyal, her treasury drained and her credit destroyed, she shall wither and fall.

The part.i.tion of Poland, and the dispersion of the Poles all over Europe, have been active agencies in the revolutionary movements of that continent. Thus do the results of tyranny aid in the overthrow of tyrants. No government can now be considered strong, whether it call itself republican or monarchial, unless its foundations are laid deep in the affections of the people, and based upon the immutable principles of justice and equality.

In 1775, England had been engaged a century in the work of disunion.

In a hundred years great changes may be wrought. The affections of a whole people may be diverted from former objects and attached to new ones. This was the great change which took place in America. England had ceased to be the _mother country._ The colonists had less regard for her in 1774 and 1775 than we have now. All fear and, I trust, all prejudice have disappeared, and we may look upon her as she is.

However England may regard us, we need only view her as a splendid example of a nation great and powerful by the productiveness of her soil and mines, the ability of her people, and the liberalizing spirit of her commerce. In her present external condition, in her vast navy, her extensive commerce, in all save her insulated and secure position, we may read our own near destiny. Grasping, ambitious and powerful the British race certainly is; illiberal, cowardly or mean it certainly is not. Highly refined it never was, possibly never will be. Neither the ocean nor the mountain produces the highest refinement of manners or nicety of scientific investigation; but the sh.o.r.es of the ocean and the mountain valleys are the birthplaces of great men.

"Chains may subdue the feeble spirit, but thee, Man of the iron heart, they could not tame; For thou wert of the mountains, they proclaim The everlasting creed of liberty."

On the 19th of April, 1775, the first movement was made which really put in danger the lives and property of the inhabitants of Ma.s.sachusetts. Its destination was Concord--its object the destruction of the stores secreted there, and incidentally the seizure of obnoxious patriots who were members of the Provincial Congress, which had then but recently adjourned. It was a test movement in the controversy. If the British could make incursions and seize the public property of the province then the colonies would be disarmed and without the means of resisting the offensive acts of May, 1774. Hence the protection of the stores was the question of resistance or submission to the claims of Parliament.

You know the story of the stealthy, midnight march from Boston,--the successful mission to Adams and Hanc.o.c.k,--the sudden fear which seized Colonel Smith, the commander of the expedition,--his call for reinforcements before he knew whether the yeomanry would fight or not, --the ma.s.sacre at Lexington,--the alarm of the country,--the gathering of the minute men,--the arrival of the foe at Concord,--the division of the invading party to secure the entrance to the town,--the engagement at the Old North Bridge, where the resolutions of the county of Middles.e.x of August, 1774, were embodied in action,--the confusion consequent upon so serious a matter as resistance to the Parliament and Ministry of England,--the retreat of the invading party,--the hot pursuit,--the final flight,--and the electric shock which the proceedings of April 19 gave to the colonies and to Great Britain.

These events were long and well remembered, and the historian cannot omit to give them importance in his view of the progress of liberty, and especially of American liberty. But my respect for your familiarity with the opening, thrilling scenes of the Revolution counsels me to omit the details, even when we remember those whose names have been made ill.u.s.trious by the parts they bore. All shall live upon the just page of our own historian. But the interest which belongs to the events of that day is not more on account of the important results of the war, than from the sense of duty under which the contest was commenced. It was this conviction which made American invincible. It produced that singular and highest quality of martyrdom which endures more than the worst enemies can inflict.

It was this sense of duty which gave courage to our soldiers and inspired all our families with that charity and patriotism on which the army was so dependent for clothing and the necessities of life.

The sentiment was almost universal that the colonies were oppressed, that the policy of the mother country was in violation of its own principles of government, that the colonists were refused the rights and privileges of British subjects, and lastly that Great Britain was determined to introduce a commercial system purposely detrimental to colonial interests; in fine, that commerce was to be paralyzed, manufactures discouraged, and agriculture reduced to a state of va.s.salage.

The public attention had been for many years directed to the possibility of a rupture,--none knew when or how terrible it would be.

There had, however, been a long season of preparation. The courage necessary to meet the crisis was quite different from that which the mere soldier requires.

In 1775 our fathers were called upon to judge of the morality of the course they were entering, not for themselves only, but for their country and for posterity.

They commenced as rebels; whether their career should be that of patriots or traitors was in some degree uncertain. But a high sense of duty overcame all obstacles and led them with a firm reliance on Divine Providence to take the great step which must lead to freedom and honor or slavery and disgrace.

Acton had uniformly supported the policy of the colony, and early pledged itself to the town of Boston in favor of non-importation and non-consumption of foreign products. It declared in strong language its hostility to all those who did not subscribe to the merchants'

agreement; even to denying them personal notice and social conversation. In November, 1774, a company of minute men was raised and placed under the command of Isaac Davis. It contained the hope of the town,--young men from sixteen to thirty years of age. They were frequently drilled at the public cost, and they acquired a good deal of discipline. On the morning of the 19th of April the town of Acton was alarmed by some unknown person who hurried rapidly on to more interior points. Early in the day Captain Davis with his company, enrolling about forty men, reached the northerly side of Concord River and took his proper position on the left of the line under command of Colonel Barrett. About a hundred British troops were near the bridge, but they soon removed to the opposite side of the river. Another small body had gone to Colonel Barrett's in search of stores secreted there.

Before any blood was shed the officers of the provincial troops held a council at which it appears to have been understood that Captain Davis should take the right of the line. Whether the change was made in consequence of the superior equipment, or better discipline, or reputed valor of the Acton men, there is no reason to doubt it was made, and made with the consent, if not at the request, of the officers and princ.i.p.al men upon the ground. But for whatever reason made, it was none the less creditable to the command which at once a.s.sumed the post of honor and the position of danger.

The column was led by Major b.u.t.trick, Colonel Robinson and Captain Davis. Colonel Robinson was lieutenant-colonel of Prescott's regiment, and on this occasion he volunteered for no purpose but the encouragement of the men. At the first general fire from the British, Captain Davis and Abner Hosmer, a private in Davis' company, were killed. Almost instantly the fire was returned, and one British soldier was killed and several were wounded. The engagement was at an end.

The two parties seem to have been equally confused by the fight. The Provincials manifested no fear, but the contest so long antic.i.p.ated had actually taken place,--blood had been shed,--men had fallen on both sides. The responsibility of the moment was very great. In contemplation of law they had resisted the British Ministry, they had attacked the British throne.

The regulars retired to the village, and, the divisions of troops having joined each other, they commenced a retreat which for several miles was a precipitous flight.

Hayward fell mortally wounded at Lexington in a personal recontre with a British soldier. It was fatal to both, though Hayward survived several hours. With a religious patriotism he a.s.sured his father that the day's doings gave him no regret.

Patriotism is one of the most exalted virtues. It is not, as some would have us believe, a mere excitement, or even a pa.s.sion. It is high among the virtues which men in this state of existence may exhibit. Patriotism is not merely a barren attachment to the country in which we were born, nor is it that narrow yet holy feeling which leads us to look with affection upon the spot of our nativity,--upon the hills over which we have roamed in childhood and youth; but a large and n.o.ble view of the entire nation,--a regard for its inst.i.tutions, social, moral, civil and religious, crowned by a manly spirit which leads its possessor to peril all in their defence. The patriot is devoted and self-sacrificing.

Such were Davis, Hayward and Hosmer. Their names were comparatively humble, yet they were men of duty, men of religion, men of a liberal patriotism. Davis was about thirty years of age. He was both a husband and a father. He left his family that morning with a firm conviction that he should see them no more. If his lip quivered and his eye moistened as he trod his own freehold for the last time, fear had no part in those emotions. He had not accepted a command and trained his men for months without having antic.i.p.ated the actual condition of war which was then immediately before him.

Hayward and Hosmer were both sons of deacons in the church and were sent forth that morning upon an errand of death with the paternal blessing. Neither churches nor clergy were indifferent to the result.

The clergy had counseled resistance. The people had imbibed with their religious opinions and sentiments a deep hatred of oppression. The three who fell were young men and well educated for the age in which they lived. They were of the yeomanry. They did not serve on that day upon compulsion nor for mercenary motives. They were the servants of the province; they were martyrs in the cause of freedom.

"Their names mankind shall hold In deep remembrance, and their memory shall be A lasting monument, a sacred shrine Of those who died for righteousness and truth."

Colonel Robinson was a native of the county of Ess.e.x, but then a citizen of Westford. In 1775 he was forty years of age, a veteran of the French War, and at the time of his death in 1805 he had been engaged in nineteen battles. Of his courage there was no doubt.

Thaxter says of him, "a braver and more upright man I never knew." At Bunker Hill he served under Prescott, who p.r.o.nounced him both honorable and brave.

His epitaph claims for him the honor of commanding at Concord Bridge, but the weight of evidence is in favor of Major b.u.t.trick as the active commander. And Robinson's fame can well spare even so distinguished an honor as the command at the North Bridge. The name of Major b.u.t.trick, with that of Captain Davis, was early consecrated by the Legislature of the Commonwealth.

From ten to twelve o'clock, of the morning of the 19th, there was a cessation of hostilities. This respite was the natural result of the policy and purposes of the two parties. The Americans' great idea was resistance. Whatever may be said to the contrary, the officers in command did not regard it within their line of duty to make an attack.

The instruction of the Provincial Congress were explicit to the contrary. It was deemed a great point to show that the British fired first. But even admitting the purpose of the Americans to make an attack, the village of Concord was most unfavorable. The British would have had the advantage of position, and at any moment might have inflicted irreparable injury in the destruction of the town. To whatever reason the alleged apathy of the Americans during those two hours is attributable, it was most fortunate for the cause they defended.

The purpose of the invaders, it is quite certain, was a retreat to Boston rather than a renewal of hostilities at Concord. The fierce and continued attack of the Americans during the afternoon was induced by a knowledge of what had happened at Lexington, by the presence of large numbers of men, and possibly by the advice and counsel of Adams and Hanc.o.c.k.

Of Davis' company there were men among the survivors who deserve well of posterity. Thomas Thorp was an apprentice in Acton, having been taken from the alms-house of the town of Boston. He not only served at Concord but during the war; and his love of country shone as bright in the evening as in the morning of his days.

In Ma.s.sachusetts the revolution was carried on by towns. These organizations were proof against all the attacks of the British Government. For ten years previous to 1775, they had pa.s.sed resolutions and taken the initiatory steps of resistance. The colonies were more c.u.mbrous, and opinion when expressed was necessarily representative. Representatives may go beyond, or fall short of, the opinions of their princ.i.p.als, but the people themselves make no such mistakes. A New England town meeting is the most perfect democracy which the world has ever seen. Citizens are upon an equality. Votes are not given on account of wealth, standing, or official position, but as the primary, legitimate right of each citizen. Even at the commencement of the Revolution we had had great experience in voting.

It was not a questionable right. At all times, even when valued rights of British subjects were invaded, that of voting had never been a.s.sailed. Towns not only chose their selectmen and representatives, but with great freedom they expressed opinions upon public affairs and the conduct of public men, even to the King upon his throne. They had voted men and supplies in the French war, and in the Revolution they did the same. In this province the people were reached through the towns almost exclusively. They voluntarily a.s.sumed the burdens of the war, and hence they had great influence in its prosecution. It is a singular and most agreeable fact that the Revolution was eminently a popular movement; and in proportion as we appreciate correctly the burdens of the war does our respect increase for the men who voluntarily a.s.sumed them. When the army was famis.h.i.+ng, when the soldiers were dest.i.tute of clothing, when men and money were needed, the appeal was made to the towns, and in their meetings the subject was considered and determined. I know not of a more gratifying fact in the Revolution than this, and I may venture to say that it is one whose importance has been sometimes overlooked.

The spirit of patriotic Boston was the spirit of every munic.i.p.ality in the province, and there is no instance of devotion superior to that manifested by all when Boston was the special object of ministerial wrath. Her injuries were felt by each town as though the blow were aimed at its own independence and integrity. And so in fact it was.

But had Boston even fallen there were still strongholds of rebellion throughout the province, and the principles of the revolution would have survived.

Nor did the towns cease their efforts when they had voted supplies for the prosecution of the war. They took part early in favor of independence. In every town men sprung up equal to the crisis which existed. Our local histories will bear to posterity resolutions as immortal in sentiment and principle as the Declaration of Independence itself. The resolutions of the neighboring towns of Concord express the views of Ma.s.sachusetts towns. They say: "As men we have a right to life, liberty and property; as Christians, we in this land (blessed be G.o.d for it) have a right to wors.h.i.+p G.o.d according to the dictates of our own consciences; and as subjects we have a right to personal security, personal liberty, and private property. These princ.i.p.al rights we have as subjects of Great Britain; and no power on earth can agreeably to our const.i.tution take them from us, or any part of them without our consent." Where such principles existed the Declaration of Independence was a necessity; therefore when it came, most of our towns were prepared not only to accept it but to sustain it. They readily affirmed in their own names the principles which had been declared, and a.s.sumed the responsibilities which had been taken by their representatives in the Continental Congress.

Nor did their active agency in the cause of liberty and government cease here. They declared the principles on which the State government ought to be based and the manner of framing it. The resolutions of Acton and Concord are full and explicit on this point. They deny the authority of the Legislature to frame a const.i.tution because, says the town of Acton, "a const.i.tution properly framed has a system of principles established to secure the subjects in the possession of their rights and privileges, against any encroachments of the Legislative part; and it is our opinion that the same body that forms a const.i.tution, have, of consequence, a power to alter it; and we conceive, that a const.i.tution, alterable by the supreme legislative power, is no security to the subjects, against the encroachments of that power on our right and privileges." And it was resolved, "that the town thinks it expedient that a convention be chosen by the inhabitants of the several towns and districts in this state, being free to form and establish a const.i.tution for this state." The const.i.tution proposed by the Legislature was rejected by a vote of about three to one.

Similar resolutions were pa.s.sed by Concord, and the legislative const.i.tution was unanimously rejected. But the town of Acton, early and alone, so far as I can ascertain, made a distinct declaration in favor of an American Republic. On the 14th of June, 1776, twenty days before the Declaration of Independence, the inhabitants declared "that the many injuries and unheard of barbarities, which the colonies have received from Great Britain, confirm us in the opinion, that the present age will be deficient in their duty to G.o.d, their posterity and themselves, if they do not establish an American republic. This is the only form of government we wish to see established."

It is true that the idea of a common government was somewhat general, but not my any means universal even in Ma.s.sachusetts, while Maryland had not then declared herself in favor of independence.

It was a liberal, enlarged, progressive idea which looked from beneath the lowering clouds of war, tyranny and hards.h.i.+p to the existence of an American republic which should include at least all the territory within the jurisdiction of the thirteen colonies. For even at a much later period there were men of exalted attainments who doubted the applicability of the republican principle to large sections of territory, and who would have sough in the division of the country, or in the establishment of what was then deemed a stronger government that security which they did not expect in an American republic.

The revolution through the town governments had three princ.i.p.al points of support. First, _popular intelligence;_ secondly, _the influence of the clergy;_ thirdly, _the possession of land._

The age of the Revolution was an intelligent, thinking age. It cannot be considered as one of refinement, but there was a great deal of original, independent, manly, intellectual activity. It was an age of great men, both in this country and England. It could boast of the Pitts, Burke, Fox and Sheridan; of Was.h.i.+ngton, Franklin, Jefferson, the Adamses, Patrick Henry and the Lees. It was an age of useful intelligence, of eminent practical wisdom. The leading minds of a country to some extent represent its general characteristics. A popular sentiment which sustained with fidelity the measures of non- intercourse, of resistance and of war; which gave a generous, affectionate, intelligent support to the leaders of the Revolution, must have been liberal, sagacious and honest. The common-school system had been in operation more than a century and a quarter, and under its influence the patriotism of the Revolution was highly intelligent.

The clergy generally were warm supporters of the war. Most of them were graduates of Harvard College, whose influence was always on the patriot side. The influence of the clergy was very great in New England; hence the two most powerful springs of human action, religious and political enthusiasm, were blended in the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of our fathers.

Some of the clergy, like Emerson of Concord, gave their personal services to the American cause; while others, like Adams and Clark, made the points in controversy with the mother country themes of religious discourse. The religion of Ma.s.sachusetts was patriotic.

The Rev. Zabdiel Adams, of Lunenburg, in a sermon preached during the war, uttered these prophetic words: "To encourage us to persevere, let us antic.i.p.ate the rising glory of America. Behold her seas whitened with commerce, her capitals filled with inhabitants, and resounding with the din of industry. See her rising to independence and glory.

Contemplate the respectable figure she will one day make among the nations of the earth; behold her venerable for wisdom, for counsel, for might; flouris.h.i.+ng in science, in agriculture and navigation, and in the arts of peace. Figure to yourselves that this your native country will ere long become the permanent seat of liberty, the retreat of philosophers, the asylum of the oppressed, the umpire of contending nations, and we would hope the glory of Christ."

In the Revolution a large portion of the people were land-holders,--men who answer to the old Saxon term yeoman. Of course it is not possible for every man to own land, nor is it essential that every man should be a land-holder, yet it is evident that a community loses nothing by an increase of proprietors.

When a man owns land, even though his acres be not broad, he feels a new interest in the welfare and freedom of the state. The possession of land creates a certain and desirable independence. Inducements should therefore be held out to every branch of society, that the enn.o.bling idea of home may be realized in every bosom. Even to this day our unoccupied lands are the storehouse of American freedom,--they are father's mansions to which every son of the Republic, be he prodigal or not, may turn his steps and find a welcome.

And when our population shall have reached two hundred million, may there still be beneath the flag of the Republic a home for the oppressed and a refuge for the down-trodden.

In 1775 the spirit of emigration had not developed itself in the New England character; it was latent until Wayne's victory in 1794 prepared for our fathers the fertile lands and inviting climate of Ohio. The proportion of land-holders in Ma.s.sachusetts was much greater then than at present, though the absolute number is now quite equal to that of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

In all other countries the possession of land has been the element of aristocracy; but with us it has been made subservient to the principles of republicanism. And as an aristocracy cannot exist unless the land is aggregated in the hands of a few, so a republic cannot exist unless the land is divided among the many. There can be no doubt that the great proportion of land-holders was an element of strength in the Revolution. Patriotism is defined as love of country,--and part of that love proceeds from the fact that within and under the protection of our country is our home.

On the 19th of April, 1775, the men of Acton left their homes upon these hills, and their families anxious and disconsolate, that they and their descendants might have homes undisturbed by the hand of the oppressor.

On the 20th of April, 1775, these homes were deserted that all might pay the last tribute of respect to Davis, Hayward and Hosmer. And now after the lapse of seventy-six years the descendants of that generation have met, not as then to mingle their tears at the grave of departed friends and heroes, but to utter with all of filial respect the names of worthy men, and to impress with new power upon their hearts the sentiment of grat.i.tude for all who served and suffered in the cause of American freedom. And as we contemplate the glorious death of those who fell, shall we not say,

"Since all must life resign, Those sweet reward which decorate the brave 'Tis folly to decline, And steal inglorious to the silent grave."