Boston City (part 8 of 67)

" Embargoes and non-intercourse, with political and other causes of embarrassment, crossed our path ; but we kept our trade with China, and during the war of the Penin¬ sula embarked largely in the shipment of provisions to Spain and Portugal. Our general plan was to freight vessels, load them with flour at the South for Europe, and have the funds remitted to London. To make some necessary arrangements respect¬ ing them, I took passage in the brig ' Reaper,' belonging to my friend Henry Lee, for London, in August, 1811. The intention of Mr. Lee was to proceed to India in the brig, taking funds from England, and returning to Boston with Calcutta cloths, which then paid a great advance. I sent funds in her, and she returned in the year 1812, during the war with Great Britain, and with great profit. Long-cloths of India then brought twenty-five cents a yard, though an inferior article to what is now made at six cents, being less than one fourth of the price the India cloths then sold at. I remained in London during the year, or until the summer, and returned after war had been declared. While in London I bought, with the elder Mr. Higginson, goods brought into England for France, which resulted in great gain."

In December, 1813, Congress passed a further restrictive measure, which added to the suffering already existing and increased the complaints of the people. It was so severe as to interdict the coasting trade between ports in the same State and the fishing business in small craft near the coast. The fishermen of Boston, who were thus deprived of the means of obtaining their daily bread, petitioned the General Court for relief.

The following extracts from the correspondence of the Messrs. Perkins will serve to throw light on the commercial history of the period now under review : -

" You say a cargo laid in at Canton would bring three for one in South America, and your copper would give two prices back. Thus, $30,000 laid out in China would give you $90,000 in South America, one half of which laid out in copper would give one hundred per cent, or $90,000, - making $135,000 for $30,000 ; 60,000 lbs. of indigo, even at 80 cts., $48,000 ; 120 tons of sugar at $60, $7,200 ; and cotton, or some other light freight, say skin tea, $20,000, - in all $75,000, - would be worth here $400,000, and not employ the profits of the voyage to South America. Manilla sugar is worth $400 to $500 per ton, clear of duty. The ship should be flying light, her bottom in good order, the greatest vigilance used on the passage, and make any port north of New York."

" Teas have risen to enormous prices, but are now declining. . . . Teas will rise with you immediately after a knowledge of peace takes place. Many voyages will be undertaken after the war, and the country will be again flooded with teas."

" A messenger has recently arrived in this country, offering in the name of the Prince Regent propositions for concluding a peace between this country and Great Britain. ... A final settlement, such as will enable us to navigate in safety, may be protracted, by the diplomatic habits of our Government, to the ensuing autumn. It may be concluded sooner. All will depend upon the complete prostration of Buona¬ parte. God grant that this obstacle may not long intervene ! How far we shall, in time of peace, be permitted to pursue our former commerce, is a question difficult to decide. Great Britain has neither affection nor respect for us. Her interest will guide in relation to her future stipulations. When she can, consistently with her own rights, restrict us, she will naturally do so."

" We hear that the ' Jacob Jones ' went safely into Canton, and presume she may be despatched before the river is blockaded. In such case, she ought to be here at the time appointed, unless captured. Our coast is closely invested, and the hazard of getting in very imminent.1 Some insurance has been done on her, owing to her being

1 The risks were great, and so were the pos¬ sible profits. A son of Colonel Perkins sailed for China during the war "in a private armed ship that was prepared to fight her way for a rich cargo," and this she did literally and suc¬ cessfully. The ship " Sally " arrived in the bay without knowing of the war. Two British frigates were off the harbor ; she received advice from a fishing boat, and ran into Plymouth. Her cargo was brought by land to Boston. The arrival of the schooner " Russell " at New Bed¬ ford, ninety-two days from Canton, is reported in the Columbian Centinel, April 5, 1815, and it is said : " Information had been received at a war-built vessel and having the reputation of being a swift sailer, at fifty per cent, but very little can be had. We have only $ 8,000 written at present, and fear we shall not be able to effect more by safe men, even at that. Vessels built before the war cannot be insured at seventy-five per cent, which premium has been given on prizes taken near this coast and ordered in. Owing to the decline of public credit conse¬ quent on a continuance of the war, and the many failures which have taken place, it is extremely difficult to effect sales of any sort except for immediate consumption, and those are made only for cash, no one being inclined to sell on credit at this critical juncture. . . . Public funds here (six per cent) are down to sixty-five, and growing worse. Nothing but peace can prevent an utter downfall of governmental credit and means. We have no expectation that the duties will be reduced for several years, if at all.1 Keep the ' Levant ' safe in port till you hear of peace. Then she may do well with black teas for European markets." 2

There had been a wide divergence of opinion in the country on the questions of declaring and continuing the war; but there was no difference in the spirit with which the news of peace was welcomed by the people of both parties and of all classes. Mr. Silsbee says: "The news was received with demonstrations of universal joy in every part of the country." Colonel Perkins was in Washington with two other commissioners from Massachu¬ setts, and he wrote from that city, Feb. 16, 1815, to Mr. John P. Cushing: " The joyful event of peace has suspended the mission on which I came. You will hear with delight of this event. No sacrifice is made of terri¬ tory or commercial rights. It is a treaty formed on the basis of that of 1783. ... I trust I shall never see another war."

February 18. "The lights in the light-houses off this harbor and Cape Ann have recommenced by order of Government. The moderate weather, which we hope is now commencing, will raise the ice blockade of this and other harbors, and permit the numerous vessels now preparing for sea to spread their white canvas to the gale."

"The first effects of peace have been seen in the rapid declension in the price of foreign goods, West India produce, etc. In New York, sugars have fallen 100 °j0 ( sic ), teas from 75 to 100 °f0."

Canton from Columbia River of the capture of ship ' Charon,' Whittemore, of Boston, with her cargo of furs, and ship ' Isabella,' Davis, of Boston, particulars not known. All the Ameri¬ can vessels on the Northwest Coast were con¬ sidered as lost or in danger of capture. The establishment at Columbia River had been bro¬ ken up." ships "Jacob Jones" and "Levant" are re¬ ported as being at Canton, Dec. 26, 1814; and the ships "Levant" and "New Packet," and the brig "Brutus," - all of Boston, - Feb. 27, 1815.

1 The duties on all merchandise were doubled on the breaking out of the war. Hyson teas paid sixty-four cents a pound ; Y oung Hyson skin, forty cents ; Souchong and Congo, twentyfour cents.

loose their sails to-morrow, if the wind will permit. The elegant new ship ' Galen ' will sail for London in all the month. Vessels which now sail for any European ports cannot run into danger." 1

Mr. Abbott Lawrence was one of the passengers in the " Milo " for Liverpool. He managed to ship his first English purchases by her on her return trip, and they reached Boston and were sold within ninety days from the time of his departure.2

Of the many other Boston merchants of this period of returning pros¬ perity, worthy then, and not forgotten now, the shipping record 3 of the

2 Mr. Amos Lawrence began business in Boston in December, 1807. His brother Abbott came here in 1808 ; and the firm of A. & A. Lawrence was formed Jan. 1, 1815. The first set of books by double entry in Boston was opened in their counting-house in 1816 or 1817. They occupied for many years a store in what is now known as Cornhill, but which was called Market Street when it was laid out in 1817, until the year 1828. They then moved to 11 Liberty Square, and later to Milk Street, on the corner of Bath Street, - a locality which was obliterated by the changes which followed the fire of 1872.

Bath Street was first called Tanner's Lane, and afterward (until 1807) Horn Lane, because of its crookedness. Drake's History and Anti¬ quities of Boston , pp. 81 1, 813, 817.

[A Lawnence tabular pedigree, by H. G. Somerby, was printed in 1856; also in the N. E. Hist, and Geneal. Reg., October, 1S56, in con¬ nection with a memoir of Abbott Lawrence ; and The Genealogy of the Family of John Law¬ rence, Boston, 1857, and third edition, 1869, also covers the ancestry of the well known Boston merchants of this name. Their lives are also traced in Hunt's American Merchants. - Ed.]

3 The new and superior ship "Canton," B. P. Tilden, supercargo, was advertised for Can¬ ton by Benjamin Rich, 75 Long Wharf, to have immediate despatch. The ship " Hope," Cap¬ tain Bachelder, sailed for Calcutta April r, 1S1 5. On the fourth of the same month the ship " Flor de Brazil," Silva, from Pernambuco, via Bermuda, arrived with a cargo of molasses and sugar, consigned to Ropes, Pickman, & Co.; and a few days later the brig " New Hazard," Endicott, came in from Matanzas, with thirtyeight thousand gallons of molasses to the same firm. The name of this brig is suggestive of the perils from which our commerce had just escaped; so is that of the schooner " Catch-meif-you-can," which arrived at the same time from Baltimore, with a cargo of flour consigned to Hall & Thacher. (Columbian Centinel, April 8, 1815.) The first arrival from Liverpool after the peace was reported May 3, - the British ship

"Kingston," Captain Smith, with "dry-goods, crates, hardware, pig-iron, and lead, to David Hinckley, Giles Lodge, Daniel Hastings, and others."

"This day (Monday, May 3d) arrived and fired salutes the fine letter-of-marque brig ' Rambler,' Captain Edes, and ship ' Jacob Jones,' Captain Robarts, both in 108 days from Canton, with rich cargoes of silk, teas, and other articles, to the Messrs. Perkins, Bryant & Stur¬ gis, Mr. B. Rich, etc. They escaped dashingly the British blockading squadron, consisting of the ' Grampus,' 50, and ' Owen Glendower,' who had long been watching for them." (Columbian Centinel, May 10, 1815.) Mr. Thomas H. Per¬ kins, Jr., and Mr. Edes came passengers in the "Jacob Jones." The cargo of the " Rambler" consisted of Canton crapes, sewing-silk, blackfringed handkerchiefs, dimities, sarcenets, rib¬ bons, pongees, teas, cassia, and six thousand walking-sticks.

A few days later the letter-of-marque schoon¬ er "Tamaahmaah," Captain Porter, arrived from the Northwest Coast, September, 1S13, and one hundred and fifteen days from Canton, with a full cargo of teas, nankeens, cassia, alum, etc. She had sailed from Boston in the month of February, 1813, with supplies for various vessels on the coast, and to give them information of the war. These Canton cargoes were sold at auction immediately on their arrival, in accord¬ ance with the custom of the trade.

On the 17th of May fifty-three vessels arrived " coastwise," with large quantities of flour, to¬ bacco, hemp, molasses, whiskey, rice, oil, tar, coal, sugar, corn, gin, candles, grindstones, turpentine, plaster, oysters, etc., consigned to numerous mer¬ chants. May 19, arrived Swedish ship " Mercurius," forty-eight days from Liverpool, with dry-goods, hardware, tin-plates, coals, crates, etc. ; also the Russian ship " Alexander," fiftyone days from Lisbon, with salt, bar-iron, duck, and corkwood. May 27, arrived the British brig " Speedy," fifty-six days from Liverpool, with dry-goods, hardware, shot, iron, crockeryware, to Andrew Elliot, C. R. Codman, Trott & Bumstead, O. Everett, Lewis Tappan & Co., J. Sewall, J. Carter, S. G. Perkins, H. Higgin-

Soon after the war the export trade in ice was started and carried for¬ ward under the enterprise of Mr. Frederic Tudor. In the winter of 1805-6 Mr. Tudor had taken a cargo to Martinique, and although the venture had son, John Tappan, F. Cabot, S. Torrey & Son, B. & C. Adams, K. Boott & Son, Rice & Read, T. Cordis. The ship " Milo," Glover, arrived from Liverpool June 3. The passengers by the "Milo" were "James Creighton, Esq. of New York, Bearer of Despatches to the Government from our late Commissioners at Ghent ; " also, Gustavus Tuckerman, Joseph B. Ilenshaw, Ralph B. Forbes, and others. The " Liver¬ pool Packet," Nichols, and "Roscoe," Amory, arrived on the fifth, with assorted cargoes to a large number of consignees. Among those who advertised dry-goods received by these vessels were Tuckerman, Rogers & Cushing, Benjamin C. Ward & Co., John Grew, Lane & Larnson, Henry Gassett & Co., Isaac Osgood, Phineas Foster, James Read. Those who ad¬ vertised hardware were J. & E. Phillips, Sam¬ uel May, Charles Scudder, John Bradford, Fair¬ banks & Burbeck. June 7, arrived schooner "Union," of Beverly, forty-four days from Lis¬ bon, with lemons, salt, duck, etc., to Ray & Gray ; and the British schooner " Matchless," fifty-four days from London, with a cargo of cordage, duck, porter, iron, copperas, tin, steel, alum, crockery, paints, chalk, whiting, and thirty piano¬ fortes.

The brig "Panther," Lewis, cleared for Liv¬ erpool and the northwest coast of America June 8. "The fine new ship 'Union,' of six hundred and nineteen tons, belonging to the Hon. Mr. Gray, sailed from the outer roads on Monday last (June 5th), for Calcutta." Mr. William Gray had moved to Boston from Salem in 1809. [See his portrait in the chapter on " Finance." - Ed.]

July 13, arrived ship "Hannibal," Burgess, fifty-five days from Liverpool, with an assorted cargo; she brought about two thousand letters. On the same day, ship " Beverly," Edes, was cleared for Canton. July 20, arrived brig " Mary," from Gottenburg, with iron, steel, block-tin, hones, slates, pencils, brass and card wire, pins, camphor, copperas, flats for hats, and dry-goods, to Walley & Foster, T. Williams, E. & J. Breed, and Beckford & Bates. The junior member of this last firm was Joshua Bates, who went to Europe in 1816, as Mr. Gray's agent, and afterward became a member of the firm of Baring Brothers & Co., London. From a brief outline by Mr. Bates of his earlier history, drawn off by years, we make the following extract : 1803 to 1812, with William Rufus Gray, in Bos¬ ton and Charlestown 1S13 to 1815, Beckford & Bates; 1816 to 1819, William Gray's agent in Europe; 1828, joined Baring Brothers & Co. [See the chapter on " Libraries." - Ed.]

Cleared, August 21, ship "Jacob Jones," Oxnard, for Canton ; and 23d, ship " Sultan," Reynolds, for the Northwest Coast and Canton; the latter by Boardman & Pope. Arrived, Au¬ gust 25, ship "John Adams." Downing, fortythree days from Liverpool, with assorted cargo, to Walley & Foster, owners, and others; Sep¬ tember 7, ship " New Packet," Bacon, from Canton, with teas and cassia to Ropes, Pickman, & Co.

Among the prominent business men of the day, besides those whose names have been already mentioned, were Samuel Parkman, Rob¬ ert G. Shaw, John Parker & Sons, Israel Thorn¬ dike, Thomas C. Amory & Co., Thomas Wigglesworth, Isaac Winslow, James Ingersoll, Josiah Bradlee, and Cornelius Coolidge & Co. The leading auctioneers were Plimpton & Marett, Whitwell & Bond, T. K Jones & Co., and Coolidge, Deblois, & Co. How nobly these men and their fellow-merchants had maintained, as a whole, their financial position and the credit of the town, during all the vicissitudes of the previous decade, is illustrated by the following paragraph which we find in the Columbian Centinel , July 12, 1815: -

" In many of the Southern prices-current, gold and silver and Boston bank-bills are quoted at the same prices, and from twelve to sixteen per cent above their own bankpaper."

Mr. Bromfield was proud of the financial position maintained by New England during the war with Great Britain from 1812 to 1S1 5, at a time when all south and west of her borders failed to fulfil their engagements, and suffered dishonor ; " but he was sadly troubled and deeply mortified at the course taken in 1837, when, in a time of profound peace and apparent prosperity, all the moneyed institutions in the country sus¬ pended payment, not as they alleged, but be¬ cause they chose to consider it for the public good that they should violate their engagements and refuse to pay their debts." - Lives of Ameri¬ can Merchants , ii. 478, 479.

not been a pecuniary success, it had been demonstrated that this article could be carried to a warm climate. After the war the British Govern¬ ment offered him the monopoly, for a term of years, for Jamaica, upon certain conditions, which were readily acceded to; and further encouraged him by releasing all ships bringing ice from port charges. The first promi¬ nent and permanent establishment of ice-houses in the West Indies was at Kingston. Soon after the monopoly was secured for Havana, and liberal concessions were made for the introduction of ice into other ports in Cuba. The first cargo for Charleston was shipped in 1817, and ice-houses were established in Savannah in r 8 1 8 , and in New Orleans in 1820.

In May, 1833, at the request of English and American merchants resi¬ dent in Calcutta, Mr. Tudor sent a small cargo, about two hundred tons, to that port. " The result, like that of the first shipment to the West Indies, was not a pecuniary success; but it proved that ice brought twenty thousand miles could, with all the attendant waste and loss, successfully compete in prices with that prepared by the natives." The result was the establishment of a trade which steadily increased in volume and import¬ ance, and which, for many years, enabled Boston " to hold the key to the rich and extensive commerce between Calcutta and the United States."

A cargo was sent to Rio Janeiro in 1834. In 1842 Messrs. Gage, Hittinger, & Co. shipped a cargo to London in the bark " Sharon," but it was not a success ; and subsequent attempts to introduce the American article into that market were not more fortunate. In 1855 twelve companies were engaged in the business in and about Boston ; and the estimated value of the plant, including ponds, ice-houses, wharves, and tools, was $600,000. The quantity shipped to the East Indies in 1857 was ten or eleven thousand tons, and during the next two or three years it increased to twenty thou¬ sand. In 1867 it reached twenty-seven thousand tons, and then gradually fell away, until now the annual shipment has declined to one or two thou¬ sand tons. The total export of ice from Boston, foreign and coastwise, according to the Custom-House returns, was one hundred and forty-two thousand four hundred and sixty-three tons in i860, which was the highest point reached. In 1865 it was one hundred and thirty-one thousand two hundred and seventy-five; and in 1866, one hundred and twenty-four thou¬ sand seven hundred and fifty-one tons. Of late years it has been fifty or sixty thousand tons per annum.1

In this connection it will be appropriate to give some particulars about the Calcutta trade. We have seen that in the year 1800 twelve vessels were loaded at Calcutta in one season for the United States, with cargoes valued altogether at about $2,400,000. These cargoes consisted largely of cotton and silk manufactures. In 1840 twenty-one vessels arrived with Calcutta cargoes, amounting in quantity to seventeen thousand tons, and in value

1 See Reports of the Boston Board of Trade ; letter on the " History of the Ice Trade," in also an article on "Ice," by F. II. Forbes, in the Massachusetts Historical Society' s Proceedings , Scribner's Monthly , x. 462-470; and F. Tudor's January, 1856.-

(first cost and freight money) to $1,250,000. The tonnage had increased, but the value had been reduced by one half, owing to the change in the character of the goods imported. The trade steadily increased until, in 1857, one hundred and twenty-two ships were loaded at Calcutta for the United States, bringing one hundred and eighty-nine thousand two hundred and sixty-seven tons, valued at $17,000,000. The following table will show how Boston controlled this trade at the period of its greatest development 1 : -

From and after 1859 New York began to gain upon Boston; but it was not until 1867 that the tonnage imported at the former city actually exceeded that at the latter.2

The Russia trade of Boston deserves special mention. VVe find the arrival of a ship from Riga reported as early as Dec. 25, 1783. In the summer of 1784 Mr. Derby of Salem sent his barque, the "Light Horse," from that port to St. Petersburg, the first vessel to go there from New England. The ship "Thomas and Nancy" arrived at Boston from St. Petersburg Aug. 31, 1786; and the ship " Garrick " Nov. 15, 1787. Mr. George Cabot once said : " The hemp, iron, and duck brought from Rus¬ sia have been to our fisheries and navigation like seed to a crop." But for many years the trade was carried on at a disadvantage. The same intelligent merchant, writing to Colonel Pickering in 1806, remarked: " In Russia we sell little or nothing, and buy to a great amount. We go there dead-freighted , and pay all in cash, or rather in bills on London, bet¬ ter to us than money, having cost us a considerable premium in Spain or elsewhere."3 * *

After the War of 1812, American vessels began to go to Havana and Matanzas to load with sugar for Cronstadt, the port of St. Petersburg, and gunny-cloth. In 1840 the quantity was less than five thousand bales; in 1856 it was ninety thou¬ sand bales; in 1859, eighty-seven thousand; in i860, eighty-eight thousand ; and in 1S67, eightysix thousand. The importation has since almost entirely ceased.

8 In the same letter, Mr. Cabot said that in the trade with Spain and the south of Europe American merchants were selling much more than they bought, and there was often a loss, because the ships had to come home deadfreighted. Life and Letters of George Cabot, p. 353.

to return with Russia cargoes to Boston and New York. Among the articles brought were hemp, bolt-rope, cordage, oakum or turned hemp, codilla, occasionally flax and flax-tow, junk both for oakum and paper, sail-cloth, ravensduck, diaper, crash, bar-iron, sheet-iron, feathers, down, horse-hair, hogs' hair, felt of cows' hair, occasionally red leather, cantharides, and China rhubarb. In 1829 Mr. William Ropes, previously of the firms of Ropes, Pickman, & Co., Ropes & Ward, and Ropes, Reed, & Co., made a voyage, by way of Havana, to Cronstadt, as supercargo in the ship " Courser," and was so favorably impressed with the prospect for business there, that after another voyage he removed, in 1832, with his family to St. Petersburg, and established the house of William Ropes & Co., which still continues. Mr. Ropes was the first to import cotton from the United States direct into Russia. Among other Boston merchants engaged in this trade were Curtis & Stevenson, Robert B. Storer, Josiah Bradlee, and John Dwyer. It was extensive and profitable for many years. Since the development of native industry in Russia, and the adoption of an extreme protective policy there as well as in the United States, the mutual trade between the two countries has been nearly destroyed. In 1857 twenty-three cargoes arrived from Russia at Boston, against eight at New York.

From 1820 to 1830 the trade of Boston, both foreign and domestic, grew and advanced steadily; and from 1830 to 1840 it prospered still more. This prosperity was only temporarily and slightly checked by the general disasters of 1837. During this latter period the taxable valuation increased fifty per cent; 1 and the arrivals of shipping from abroad were more than doubled, the ratio of increase being much greater in this particular than at New York or Philadelphia.2 The railroads to Providence, Lowell, and Worcester were built, and the line from Worcester to the Hudson River was almost completed. But the succeeding decade was still more pros¬ perous, and in its development was one of the most marked in the history of Boston. This was the result of the energy and public spirit with which its business men had pushed the work of railway construction, and of the opening of steam communication with Liverpool by the ships of the Cunard Company.

In 1838, after the successful passages of the " Sirius" and " Great West¬ ern " across the Atlantic and back again, the British Government advertised for tenders for the conveyance of the mails, by steam, between England and North America. Mr. Samuel Cunard of Halifax went to England,

These figures show that the valuation of Boston has doubled itself in three decades of the present century, - from 1S10 to 1820 ; from 1840 to 1S50 ; and from i860 to 1870.

concluded a contract arrangement with the Government, and then put him¬ self in the hands of Mr. Robert Napier, the great marine engineer, by whom he was introduced to the Messrs. Burns of Glasgow, and the Messrs. Maclver of Liverpool. These firms were running steamboat lines between the two cities, in active competition with each other. Mr. Cunard and they united forces, and what is known now as the Cunard Company was the result.1 Four vessels were built, with as little delay as possible, each of twelve hundred tons gross register, and four hundred and forty horse power. A pioneer steamer, the " Unicorn," which was to be kept in reserve at Halifax, sailed from Liverpool May 18, 1840; and the "Britannia," the first of the regular line, on the 4th of July following. Boston had been selected as the American port of destination, and it continued to be so exclusively until 1848, when a service from New York was begun by the " Hibernia" sailing on the 1st of January of that year. These first vessels were paddle-wheel steamers, and as the engines then in use made it neces¬ sary to take large quantities of coal on board, there was little room for general cargo.2

Importers soon saw the advantage to be gained by bringing their Eng¬ lish goods to this market by steam, and it was not long before the ships were used to the utmost of their limited capacity for cargo.3

When the line was started, the sailing days were the 4th and 19th of each month from Liverpool, and the 1st and 16th from Boston. During the winter season the departures were monthly; all the ships called at Halifax. The " Columbia" came out for the first time in January, 1841 ; the " Hibernia " in May, 1843; and the " Cambria " in January, 1845. In 1842 the February and March packets came only to Llalifax, and the pas¬ sengers and mails were brought to and taken from Boston in the " Unicorn."

1 The company was a private one, and was called the British and North American Royal Mail Steam-Packet Company. In its organiza¬ tion there were what were called inside and out¬ side partners. The former were Samuel Cun¬ ard of Halifax, afterward of London ; George and James Burns of Glasgow ; and David and Charles Maclver of Liverpool, They trans¬ acted all the business and received certain com¬ missions, sharing the surplus profits with the outside partners, - Thomas Buchanan, Sir James Campbell, John James Kerr, Robert Napier, and others of Glasgow, and Henry and John Bannerman of Manchester, who supplied most of the capital.

2 The amount of duties paid at the Custom House by the first arrivals is worth recording, for the sake of comparison with the figures to which we are now accustomed : -

The average in 1845 was about fifty thou¬ sand dollars for each ship ; but two steamers, the " Cambria," in January, and the "Hibernia," in February, brought cargoes, the duty collected on which was more than one hundred thousand dollars each. At the present time the duties col¬ lected on the cargo of a Cunard steamer amount to about fifty thousand dollars, the character of the goods being coarser and cheaper than those formerly brought by steam.

In July, 1843, the " Columbia" was lost on Seal Island. In January, 1844, an ice embargo, like that which aggravated the situation at the close of the war of 1812, gradually suspended all communication between the har¬ bor and the bay; and after the arrival of the "Britannia," it looked as though there might be very serious delay in sending her to sea again. As her sailing day, February 1, approached, the papers commented with many misgivings on the ice blockade, which had become complete and threatened long continuance, and on the 30th of January a meeting of merchants was called on the Exchange to consider the situation.1 The mayor, Mr. Martin Brimmer, presided, and after some discussion it was decided that the steamer should be cut out without expense to her owners, and sent to sea as near the advertised time of her departure as possible. A committee to collect the requisite money was chosen, consisting of Benjamin Rich, Caleb Curtis, Ozias Goodwin, Thomas C. Smith, Samuel Quincy, Thomas Gray, Charles Brown, Thomas B. Curtis, and Ammi C. Lombard. A contract was made with Messrs. Gage, Hittinger, & Co., and John Hill, for cutting two canals in the ice, - one from the East Boston Ferry to the open sea, and the other from the Ferry to India Wharf, into which other channels might be opened by such as desired it. For this work the contractors were to receive $1500. It was promptly and effectively completed, and the steamer sailed on the afternoon of February 3, thousands of spectators being on the ice to witness her passage through the canal.2 This vigorous action of the business men of Boston made a very favorable impression on the other side of the Atlantic, and rather astonished the people of New York, who had never regarded the coming of the Cunard ships to Boston with much com¬ placency, and who, especially since the loss of the " Columbia," had had a great deal to say about the extraordinary perils attendant upon ocean steam navigation at this port.3

The Cunard line was destined to furnish the entering wedge for the overturning of the wall of separation between the United States and British North America. Hitherto the Canadian mails had been landed at Halifax. As the result of Mr. Cunard's personal efforts at Washington, an act of

1 Persons who started from Boston for New York on Monday, January 29, after staying at Stonington for several days, and being unable either to go through the Sound or to cross over to Greenport to connect there with the Long Island Railroad, returned to Boston on the even¬ ing of Friday, February 2. As late as February 12 the channel was closed for a mile and a half from the wharves.

2 The scene has been perpetuated by a sketch from the pencil of Mr. King, the sculptor, which was lithographed at the time. Mr. King has told us that he was on the ice with Captain

Hewitt of the " Britannia," when it occurred to him to make the sketch, and the only material at hand was a piece of brown parcel-paper. The

3 Only once since has a similar work been necessary, and the same public spirit was mani¬ fested as before. In the month of January, 1857, the steamship "America" went to sea through a canal cut for the purpose; and on the following day the steamship " Arabia," from Liverpool, passed up through the same canal. The writer of this chapter was a passenger in the "Arabia" at the time.

The New York Herald , in commenting on the loss of the " Columbia " in 1843, had said of the dangers of the Boston route : " Four hun¬ dred and fifty miles of rock, ledge, shoal, fog, and narrow intricate channels."

Congress was passed (approved June 15, 1844) which authorized the postmaster-general to make such arrangements as might " be deemed expedient with the post-office department of the British Government, for the transmission of the British mail, in its unbroken state or condition, between Boston and Canada." This prepared the way for the provisions in Mr. Walker's Warehouse Act of 1846, which permitted Canadian impor¬ tations to be landed at United States ports, and to be sent forward, in transitu , without payment of duty, or more than a nominal examination of the packages. This in turn led to the mutual arrangement for the passage of through trains, under lock and seal, on the international routes of the two countries; and, as the natural result of all this freedom of intercourse, came the Reciprocity Treaty of 1854, which, unfortunately for the people on both sides of the frontier, was abrogated in 1865 ; but which, we feel sure, will before long be succeeded by another arrangement, more com¬ prehensive it may be, and more mutually beneficial, than that which pre¬ ceded it.

Early in the summer of 1844 Mr. Enoch Train, who had been engaged in the leather trade, and in connection with this in the trade with South America, started his celebrated line of Liverpool packets, which for twelve or fifteen years, or until the general use of screw-steamers, proved so val¬ uable to the trade and commerce of Boston.1 Mr. Train had gone to England in the " Hibernia," in January, and had arranged with Messrs. Baring Brothers & Co. to take charge of the proposed line in Liverpool until he should establish a house of his own there. On the 2d of May the ship "Dorchester," Captain Caldwell, was advertised to sail for Liverpool June 8, and it was added: "A first-class ship will hereafter be despatched from Boston on the 8th, and from Liverpool on the 24th, of each month." On the 20th of May a new announcement of the line was made, and the fol¬ lowing ships were named : " Dorchester," 500 tons ; " Cairo," 600 tons ; " Governor Davis," 800 tons; " St. Petersburg," 800 tons, - ".all first-class, Medford-built, copper-fastened, coppered, and fast sailing ships," to begin running from Liverpool June 24, and from Boston July 8.2

1 The Warren line of steamers, now running between Liverpool and Boston, is the direct successor of the old Train line of sailing pack¬ ets. Mr. Train sent his young partner, Mr. Frederick W. Thayer, to reside in Liverpool in 1848 or 1849; and when, several years later, Mr. Thayer came home, Mr. George Warren was sent out to take his place. On the failure of Mr. Train, and after the death of Mr. Thayer, the firm of George Warren & Co. was formed, and a new and prosperous business was built up on the ruins of the old.

fully kept pace with the growth of the business, and he built in rapid succession the "Joshua Bates," "Anglo Saxon," "Anglo American," " Washington Irving," " Ocean Monarch," " Par¬ liament," " Daniel Webster," " Star of Empire," "Chariot of Fame," "Staffordshire," "Cath¬ edral," and " John Eliot Thayer." Through him Donald McKay was first brought into promi¬ nence as a ship-builder. Among Mr. Train's captains, all men of ability and high character, were Caldwell, Murdock, Thayer, Brown, PIoward, Richardson, and Knowles. [Another well known East Boston ship-builder of this period was Samuel Hall, who, like several others, had established his reputation while his yard was in

The Cunard and Train lines gave an immediate and very marked impulse to the general trade of the city, and especially to its foreign business. The imports increased from about $14,000,000 in 1840, to $28,659,733 in 1850, and to $44,840,043 in 1857. At no time have there been so many import¬ ing and jobbing houses in Boston as between the years 1840 and 1857, although a few houses now do a larger business than was done by them all then.1 The coastwise shipping trade during this period was also very large. The supplies of cotton for the mills of New England came by sea; also the products of the Southwest, such as provisions, lard, lead, etc. In return we shipped to the Southern ports domestic dry-goods, boots and shoes, furniture and wooden ware ; and when everything else failed, there was always a tonnage supply of ice and granite for every vessel seeking a cargo for that direction.

Boston participated largely in the commercial activity created by the discovery of gold in California and Australia, while it lasted. The clearances at this port for those countries were : -

Forty-four vessels were built in and about Boston, in the year 1855, with a tonnage amounting to 45,988; and twenty-two more, of 27,877 tons, were on the stocks at the close of the year. The tonnage owned in Boston in 1855 was larger than ever before or since, - 541,644 tons.

From this time forward the foreign trade of the port began to wane, and it was many years before it was able to recover itself, as at length it has fully succeeded in doing. In 1867 the importations and the foreign arri¬ vals were no more than they had been in 1857. The changes in ocean com¬ merce brought to pass by the introduction of steam, and the effect of the Civil War upon the shipping interest, made themselves felt in Boston as at other ports in the United States; but, independently of all this, causes local and peculiar in their nature had been and were at work here, which as we

Duxbury. He built the steam-schooner " Midas," which, in 1844, was the first American steamer to pass the Cape of Good Hope. Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc ., September, 1874, p. 327. - Ed.]

A few of the larger houses sent their own buyers abroad, but the majority gave orders a season in advance, which were executed by such commission houses as A. & S. Henry & Co. ; Thornton, Atterbury, & Co. ; and Crafts & Stell of Manchester ; and John Munroe & Co. of Paris. The Messrs. Henry did an enormous business in the United States' for many years. One of the partners, Mr. Samuel Henry, was lost in the " Lexington," on Long Island Sound, in 1840. The house was afterward represented in this country by Mr. Wm. F. Schofield, Mr. Nicholas Carter, and Mr. Henry Hitchcock.

now look back upon them seem to have been unnecessary and easily pre¬ ventable, and which therefore are to be especially deplored. It has been said that Boston began to lose its hold upon the Calcutta trade after 1857. Previously to this it had lost the Canton trade, and it had lost it in a very foolish way. It had been the custom to sell China cargoes, immediately on their arrival, at public auction. The Legislature of Massachusetts in 1824, having discovered as it thought a valuable and permanent source of revenue, laid a tax of one per cent ad valorem on all merchandise sold in this way. The merchants remonstrated, and declared that the effect of the tax would be to transfer the China business to New York; but it was all in vain. One by one the ships were ordered elsewhere, until in 1857 there were forty-one arrivals from China in New York (half of these being ships owned in Boston), and only six here.1 In 1849 the auction tax had been reduced on merchandise imported from beyond the Cape of Good Hope, to one quarter of one per cent; and in 1852 it had been repealed altogether. But this remedial legislation had come too late. The set of the current was now in another direction, and it could not be di¬ verted to the old channel. Mr. John E. Lodge, Messrs. Dane, Dana, & Co., and others would bring an occasional cargo of tea to this port; but New York had possession of the Canton trade, and held it firmly until the com¬ pletion of the Pacific Railroad and Suez Canal, when another great change in courses and methods was introduced.2

Boston suffered much loss from the establishment in New York of branch commission houses for the sale of the manufactured dry-goods of this part of New England. This movement began in 1846; and a report of a special committee of the Board of Trade, in 1858, says that nineteen such houses had then been established, and that their sales amounted in the aggregate to $25,000,000 per annum. The dry-goods importing and job¬ bing trade, and the West India business, suffered seriously in consequence. The boot and shoe trade was held here by the firmness of the leading men engaged in it. Had they given way to the prevailing impulse, the result to the city would have been most disastrous.

The commercial interests of Boston suffered severely for many years from another cause. The construction of railroads in various directions from Boston had been undertaken at the first with much vigor, but after

1 A similar tax in Philadelphia drove the ships of that port, coming from beyond the Cape of Good Hope, to New York. See an article on " Local Taxation," in the Penn Monthly for May, 1871.

2 Captain Sturgis, in a lecture at the Odeon in February, 1844,- before the Mercantile Library Association, gave an account of the changes which had taken place in his day in the Canton trade. Nankeen, he said, was once imported in large quantities. As late as 1820 there was $1,000,000 worth imported ; now there was none.

In 1806 Canton crape was first used ; in 1810 ten cases were imported ; in 1S16 twenty-one thou¬ sand pieces ; in 1825 the importation amounted to $1,500,000; and in 1844 the article was not imported. Silk was once imported in large quantities from China ; one cargo, worth near¬ ly $1,000,000, was mentioned ; now the whole yearly importation amounted to less than $100,- 000. In 1S18, $7,000,000 were carried to China, in specie; in 1844 settlements were made by bills of exchange. Boston Daily Advertiser , Feb. 19, 1844.

certain limitations had been reached, the work came to a premature pause. The Boston & Worcester and Western Railroad Companies, which to¬ gether furnished the only direct means of communication with the West, seemed to expend most of their interest and energy in fruitless controversies with each other in reference to the proper division of freight earnings and terminal expenses. The former had no track connection with tide-water; and the latter, until 1865, had no bridge across the Hudson River, and was only partially double tracked. In 1867 the Boston & Albany Railroad Com¬ pany was created by the consolidation of the two connecting and conflicting lines, and this was the beginning of a better state of things. In 1868 the double track between Boston and Albany was completed, and a connection perfected with the wharves at East Boston; and in 1870 an elevator was erected on these wharves, with a grain capacity of three or four hundred thousand bushels, since increased to a million.1

The consolidation of the two railroad lines just referred to was largely the result of the long continued efforts of the Boston Board of Trade, which was formed in 1854, with special reference to the radical defects in the transportation system of New England then prevailing, and to the necessity which existed for improved facilities of intercourse with the South and West. We must refer our readers to the reports of the Board for informa¬ tion as to how much was accomplished by it in the first ten or fifteen years of its history, in reducing rates of transportation by rail, and, what was of equal importance, in securing some approximation to regularity in the con¬ veyance and delivery of freight, as well as in the promotion and encourage¬ ment of coastwise steamship lines. Some of the men who were the most active in these efforts, and to whom the present generation of business men in Boston owes much more than it is aware, were James C. Converse, George C. Richardson, Silas Potter, James M. Beebe, Edward S. Tobey, William Perkins, Otis Norcross, Wm. B. Spooner, Jonathan Ellis, Isaac C. Bates, Samuel H. Walley, Avery Plumer, M. Denman Ross, Edward Atkin¬ son, Joseph S. Ropes, Ezra Farnsworth, and Lorenzo Sabine.

In 1863 the Cunard Company was sending two steamships a month to Boston, the same number as in 1840, and there was no indication or hope that it would attempt anything further in the way of extending the foreign trade of the port. The Board of Trade believed that this trade might be increased almost indefinitely, and it appointed a committee to consider the expediency of establishing an American steamship line between Boston and Liverpool. After much conference with railroad managers and represen¬ tative men in the various branches of business, it was decided that such a line should be attempted, and a company was organized under an Act of the Legislature, July 6, 1864. Two steamers, the "Ontario," and the "Erie," were subsequently built; but the subscriptions of stock were only about one half what they should have been, and after the " Ontario " had made

At this juncture the Cunard Company took a step which, so far as its own interests are concerned, has proved to have been a serious mistake, and which for the time was a severe blow to the foreign trade of Boston. Its mail subsidy was to be reduced, and a change in its method of manage¬ ment was forced upon it. It was feeling the competition of the Inman and other modern lines at the port of New York, and it would seem that it could not have been informed as to the new spirit of enterprise to which our railroad managers were awaking. It determined, therefore, to withdraw its mail steamers from this port at the end of the year 1867, and to send instead cargo steamers, which, after landing their freight here, should pro¬ ceed to New York to load there for Liverpool direct.2 But this did not dis¬ courage those who were preparing, by various improvements, for a closer connection with the West, and for an export trade upon a large scale. In 1869 Mr. James Alexander was sent from Glasgow as the agent of the Company here. He at once put himself in communication with the officers of the Board of Trade, and with others competent to give him full and correct information, and after much correspondence with his principals, he induced them to attempt the loading of two or three of their cargo steamers at Boston for Liverpool direct. This was done in 1870. The "Palmyra" sailed September 22, being the first departure of a steamship for Liverpool since the "Africa" left the port in i868.s The attempt was so far a success that it was decided to continue it. The Boston & Albany Railroad Com¬ pany co-operated cordially with the Steamship Company, and joined it in some large purchases of grain, which it was necessary at the outset to make in order to insure full cargoes for the ships. Soon after, Mr. David Maclver (the second of the name), now member of Parliament for Birkenhead, vis¬ ited this country, and after investigation fully confirmed the judgment of Mr. Alexander as to the commercial capabilities of the port, and the desir¬ ableness of the Cunard Company's restoring, so far as practicable, the old relations with it, which it had so unfortunately sundered. But Mr. Maclver's suggestions were not accepted by his partners; and in 1873 he retired from the Company and disposed of his entire interest in it. So indifferent was the Company to the splendid opportunity which lay within its reach here, that a few years later it sent one of its captains to Baltimore, to examine and report upon the shipping facilities of that port; and in the winter of 1879-80 it suspended its trips to Boston for a time. It declined,

1 For a full account of the American Steam- on the second and proceeded on the fifth to ship Company, see Report of the Boston Board of New York, to take her place in the mail line Trade for 1880, pp. 47-50; and for an account from that port. After this came the cargo of the steamers " Midas," " Edith," and " Massa- steamers.

In the mean time other steamship companies were giving their attention to Boston, and were gradually identifying themselves with it. Messrs. War¬ ren & Co., of Liverpool, had sent, during many years, an occasional steamer to this port, which had proceeded to Philadelphia or some Southern port for a return cargo. They now have a well established line between Boston and Liverpool. The Messrs. Leyland began to send their steamers here in the spring of 1876.2 Branches of the Anchor and Allan lines were estab¬ lished later; until, in 1880, the departures from Boston for English and Scotch ports were more than one for every working day of the year, repre¬ senting nine or ten different ownerships. We doubt whether, in the history of commerce, there is to be found a record of such a commercial develop¬ ment as that over which we have occasion to rejoice in Boston, - an advance from no sailing of a steamship for Europe direct in 1869, to three hundred and twenty-two such sailings in 1880.3

We have mentioned one legislative enactment, the direct effect of which was to drive business away from the port of Boston. It is only just to refer to other and later action by the General Court, which was designed and intended to promote our foreign commerce, and which has more than ful¬ filled the expectation of those who carried it through. At about the time when the Cunard Company was considering the question of reopening direct steamship communication between Boston and Liverpool, the Inman Company seemed disposed to send some of its ships to Boston, and actually began to do so. For the purpose of strengthening these companies in the disposition thus indicated, the Board of Trade asked the Legislature to repeal, or at least to modify, the law of the Commonwealth which levied a head-money tax on immigrant passengers arriving for the first time within its limits. It was represented by the Board, that to relieve immigration at the port of Boston from a tax which was imposed elsewhere would inev¬ itably have the effect to increase immigration here, and would offer an additional inducement, and a very strong one, to steamship companies to send their vessels here. Indeed, one of the considerations which had great weight with the Cunard Company in reaching its ultimate decision with regard to Boston was that immigrant passengers brought here by its ships

Of this total the Cunard sailings were 59, all to Liverpool, - being less than one third of the sailings to that port, and less than one fifth of all the sailings to ports in Great Britain.

The port is, at present, almost destitute of facilities for the first-class passenger traffic with Europe, but the Allan Company has given en¬ couragement to the hope that it will soon send some of its fine mail steamers here regularly. The splendid steamship " Parisian " came to Boston on her first trans-Atlantic voyage, and the " Sarmatian " and others like her are to follow.

were likely to be exempted from this tax, which, as it then appeared, would continue to be levied at the port of New York. The company foresaw in this exemption a reasonable promise of compensation for any disadvantages or losses to which it might for the time become liable, in engaging in the export trade between this city and Great Britain, which had been so long neglected ; and in the end it realized all that it anticipated in this respect, and perhaps more. In 1870 the Legislature granted relief from the opera¬ tion of the tax to such immigrants as immediately on their arrival here proceeded to places beyond the limits of the Commonwealth. At the next session the Board of Trade asked that this relief might be extended to all passengers arriving by regular lines of vessels, whether proposing to leave the State at once, or to take up their abode in it; and a bill to this effect was passed by both branches, but was vetoed by Governor Claflin. In 1872 the Board of Trade was successful, after a long struggle, in secur¬ ing the abolition of the head-money tax altogether ; and, but for the long depression which followed the commercial panic of 1873, the immigration of the port would have continued to increase year by year as the result of this enlightened and liberal legislation. In 1876 the Supreme Court of the United States declared all taxes on immigration levied by State authority to be unconstitutional ; and as this decision peremptorily stopped their collec¬ tion at the port of New York, the advantage which had been anticipated by the Board of Trade for the commerce of Boston from their abolition in Massachusetts was only temporary. It remained long enough, however, to impart an impulse to the steam commerce of the port, when it took a fresh start, the force of which has not yet expended itself.1

But this fresh start could not have been made had it not been for the admirable facilities which were brought into existence for the cheap and speedy transfer of merchandise between the railroad train and the sea¬ going vessel. Forty years ago the railroads leading from Boston were unequalled in their arrangements for receiving and handling freight, and it is strange that this pre-eminence was not maintained. The great depot in Boston (soon to be transformed into a new passenger station) was con¬ sidered at the time it was built to be one of the wonders of the city ; and Mr. Elias Hasket Derby, in his pamphlet Two Months Abroad, in which he describes a trip to Europe undertaken by Mr. Alvah Crocker and himself in 1843, for the purpose of buying iron for the Fitchburg Railroad, says: " I cannot learn that there are any goods stations in Europe to be compared with the principal depots of our line from Boston to Albany."2 In 1851 the

2 Mr. Derby says further : "The English en¬ gineers would be surprised on viewing the depot at Albany, four hundred and fifty feet long, with its roof overhanging the canal, and a steam-en¬ gine loading and discharging, both in storm and

Grand Junction Railroad was opened with high anticipations and amid pub¬ lic rejoicings; 1 but the time was not fully come, as it would now seem, for its profitable use. The property and franchise, which were of immense value to any proprietor who could afford to hold and improve them, came into the possession, in 1865 or 1866, of the Boston & Worcester Railroad Company, and soon afterward they became part of the inheritance of the Boston & Albany Railroad Company. In 1868, as we have said, the con¬ nection between East Boston and the railroad system of the city was perfected ; and Boston was then restored to the position, with regard to freighting facilities, which it enjoyed in the early days of railroad con¬ struction and management, and which was the aim of the enterprising men of 1851. The establishment of steamship lines to various European ports speedily followed, almost as a matter of course.

We have been obliged to compress this record of Boston's commercial history for a century within very narrow limits. To sum up in a single sentence : the town of less than twenty thousand inhabitants has become a metropolitan centre with half a million of people within and around its municipal limits ; its banking capital has increased from $200,000 to more than $50,000,000; its export trade has grown from $500,000 to $60,000- 000; and the amount of its imports from less than $1,000,000 to nearly $70,000,000.

sunshine, six or seven canal boats at once with 1 [See the chapter by Mr. James M. Bugbee, perfect facility, the packages of goods descend- on "Boston under the Mayors," in Vol. III. ing as the flour rises." - Ed.]

By Charles K. Dillaway

OUR Puritan fathers who came from the mother country to establish a colony in Massachusetts, had a right appreciation of the great task before them, and they had too the energy, intelligence, and Christian man¬ liness so necessary to accomplish it. Palfrey says of them : -

" They were men of eminent capacity and sterling character, fit to be concerned in the founding of a State. In all its generations of worth and refinement, Boston has never seen an assembly more illustrious for generous qualities, or for manly culture, than when the magistrates of the young colony welcomed Cotton and his fellow-voy¬ agers at Winthrop's table."

Religion was the dominant element in their characters. Its inspiration brought them here, and its influence was seen in every act of their lives. It was the rock on which the State was founded.1 In the records of the Court for May 3, 1654, we read : -

" Forasmuch as it greatly concerns the welfare of this country that the youth thereof be educated, not only in good literature but sound doctrine, this Court doth therefore commend it to the serious consideration and special care of the officers of the college and the selectmen of the several towns, not to admit or suffer any such to be continued in the office or place of teaching, educating, or instructing of youth or children, in the college or schools, that have manifested themselves unsound in the faith, or scandalous in their lives, and not giving due satisfaction according to the rules of Christ."

1 " Necessitie," said one of the Massachu¬ setts company, " may presse some ; noveltie draw on others; hopes of gaine in time to come may prevail with a third sort ; but that the most sin¬ cere and godly part have the advancement of the gospel for their main scope I am confident." " The propagation of the gospel," the company write in 1629, "is the thing we do profess above all to be our aim in settling this plantation." Massachusetts Archives.

They knew that in such a community as they were forming public opinion would have a controlling influence, and should therefore be an en¬ lightened one. For this reason they gave early and earnest attention to the establishment of free schools. Indeed, it has always been characteristic of New England that she adopted and maintained the principle, that it is the right and duty of Government to provide for the instruction of the young; that every man should be subject to taxation in proportion to his property for the support of free schools, whether he himself have children or hot. Popular education lies at the basis of the free institutions of New England.1

In 1642 the General Court of the Colony required the municipal author¬ ities to see that every child within their jurisdiction should be educated, and that this education should not be narrow or superficial. The select¬ men of every town were required to " have a vigilant eye over their breth¬ ren and neighbors; to see first that none of them shall suffer so much barbarism in any of their families as not to endeavor to teach, by themselves or others, their children and apprentices so much learning as may enable them to read the English tongue and obtain a knowledge of the capital laws, upon penalty of twenty shillings for each neglect therein." Such was the idea of " barbarism" entertained by the colonists of Massachusetts Bay more than two centuries ago.

"To the end that learning may not be buried in the graves of our forefathers, it was ordered in all the Puritan colonies that every township, after the Lord hath in¬ creased them to the number of fifty households, shall appoint one to teach all children to write and read ; and when any town shall increase to the number of one hundred families, they shall set up a grammar school, the master thereof to be able to instruct youth so far as they may be fitted for the University ; provided that if any town neglect the performance hereof above one year, that every such town shall pay five pounds to the next school, till they shall perform the order."

" That all parents and masters do breed and bring up their children to some honest, lawful calling, labor, or employment, either in husbandry or some other trade profitable for themselves and the Commonwealth, if they will not or cannot train them up in learning to fit them for higher employments."

1 President Dwight, in 1790, said: "A school-houses for their children, but had built stranger travelling through New England marks them in a neat style, so as to throw an additional with not a little surprise the multitude of school- appearance of deformity over their own clumsy houses appearing everywhere at little distances, habitations. This attachment to education in Familiarized as I am to the sight, they have ex- New England is universal, and the situation cited no small interest in my mind, particularly of that hamlet must be bad indeed, which, if it as I was travelling through the settlements re- contains a sufficient number of children for cently begun. Here, while the inhabitants were a school, does not provide the necessary acstill living in log huts, they had not only erected commodations."

Education, Past And Present

When we consider the period in which this system of instruction was in¬ augurated, the small number of the population of Massachusetts, the dangers which surrounded them from the Indians, the scattered settlements and their poverty, the boldness of the measure which aimed at universal education through the establishment of free schools, - we cannot but admire the good sense, energy, and indomitable courage of our Puritan ancestors.1

The records of the town of Boston " 1634, 7th month, day 1," relate to the absolute necessities of an infant settlement. In 1635 (April 13) we find this entry in the handwriting of the venerable elder of the First Church, 1 homas Leverett : " Likewise it was then generally agreed upon that our brother Philemon Pormort shall be intreated to become scoolemaster for the teaching and nourtering of children with us." He accepted the trust, and was supported partly by donations of liberal friends of education, and partly by the income of a tract of land assigned to him at Muddy River.2

This being the only public school in the town for about half a century, it is reasonable to infer that the elementary as well as the higher branches were taught. Its principal object, however, from its establishment to the present time has been to prepare young men for college. " Out of small beginnings," says Bradford, " great things have been produced; and as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shone to many, yea in some sort to our whole nation." He must have had in his mind the first Boston school, which has been perpetuated in the present Latin School. Its origin was simple and unpretending; its advantages as an educational institution in its early days hardly to be compared with those of the humblest country school of the present time ; and yet what a burn¬ ing and shining light it has become ! For nearly two and a half centuries it has been training statesmen whose wisdom has guided our nation. It has given us such men as Benjamin Franklin, whose statue3 stands on the spot4 where his brief school-days were spent ; Samuel Adams, the distin¬ guished patriot, whose statue has been recently erected ; Cotton Mather, one of the best scholars of his time ; Judge Hutchinson ; Governor Leverett

1 "The education of the people," says Mac¬ aulay, " ought to be the first concern of a State. . . . This is my deliberate conviction ; and in this opinion I am fortified by thinking that it is also the opinion of all the great legislators, of all the great statesmen, of all the great political phil¬ osophers of all ages and of all nations. ... It is the opinion of all the greatest champions of civil and religious liberty in the old world and in the new ; and of none - I hesitate not to say it - more emphatically than of those whose names are held in the highest estimation by the Protes¬ tant Nonconformists of England. . . . These men, illustrious forever in history, were the founders of the Commonwealth of Massachu¬ setts." following record : " It is also agreed on that Mr. Woodmansey, the schoolmaster, shall have fiftye pound p. ann. for his Teaching ye Schollers, and his proportion to be made upbyratte." In 1666 the town "agreed with Mr. Dannell Henchman for T4° Pel' ann. to assist Mr. Woodmansey in the Grammar Schoole, and teach Children to wright, the Yeare to begine the 4th of March, ,;(f ." In March, 1670, " upon the request of Mrs. Mar¬ garet Woodmansye, widdowe, to provide her a house to live in, if she removeth from the schoole house, it was granted to allow her eight pounds per ann. for that end during her widdowhood." [See further on Woodmansey and Iienchman, Vol. I. pp. 313, 317 ; II. p. xxxiii. - Ed.]

and his grandson, a President of Harvard College; Wm. Stoughton, Chief- Justice of Massachusetts; James Bowdoin, and many others whose eminent public services are on record.1

Dec. 12, 1670, we find the first mention in the town records of the famous " Master Cheever," who for thirty years had such an important influence upon the education of the people of Boston. Cotton Mather, who was his pupil, calls him the civilizer of his country. He died Aug. 21, 1708, " ven¬ erable," says Governor Hutchinson, "not merely for his great age (xciv), but for having been the schoolmaster of most of the principal men who were then upon the stage." Upon the decease of his master, Mather preached one of the good long sermons in which he most delighted, - de¬ vout rhapsodies, which in our days seem to be a mass of dogmatism, fervor, and italics.2

The law of 1642 enjoined universal education, but did not make it free; nor did it impose any penalty upon municipal corporations for neglecting to maintain a school. The spirit of the law, however, worked energetically in the hearts of the people. Says Governor Winthrop: -

" Divers free schools were erected, as in Roxbury (for maintenance whereof every inhabitant bound some house or land for a yearly allowance forever) and at Boston, where they made an order to allow fifty pounds and a house to the master, and thirty pounds to an usher who should also teach to read and write and cipher ; and Indians' children were to be taught freely, and the charge to be by yearly contribution, either by voluntary allowance, or by rate of such as refused, etc. ; and this order was con¬ firmed by the General Court. Other towns did the like, providing maintenance by several means." 3

1 In our time it has given us such men as Robert C. Winthrop, Charles Sumner, Charles Francis Adams, Wm. M. Evarts, Ralph Waldo Emerson, James Freeman Clarke, and Edward Everett Hale. It has given us three Presidents of Harvard, including Charles W. Eliot, its present head, whose vigorous administration is making our University a model institution. [See H. E. Scudder's paper on " Classical Schools," in Harper's Monthly Magazine , 1877, h- P- 7I21 H. F. Jenlcs's Boston Public Latin School, re¬ printed from The Harvard Register, 18S0 ; G. B. Emerson's " Education in Massachusetts," in the Lowell Institute Lectures of the Mass. Hist. Soc. ; Latin School Prize Book, No. iv, reprinted in the American Journal of Education. An improved catalogue of the graduates of the school is in preparation, under the auspices of the Boston Latin School Association. - Ed.]

2 In a poetical essay on his memory, Mather ascribes the learning of New England to him and to Corlett, an eminent teacher in Cam¬ bridge, who is celebrated in the Magnalia :

See Vol. I. pp. 397, 461 ; II. xxxiii, 420. Mr. Cheever having died in 1708 (See Sewall Papers ii. 230), was succeeded by Nathaniel Williams in 1710, and he in 1734 by the celebrated " Master Lovell." In 1710 five inspectors of schools were appointed, but little is known of their objects or duties. [This movement of the town was frowned upon by some of the ministers, who had grown to think that they had a prescriptive right to control the schools. See letters of Increase Mather and Sewall, in Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc , Feb. 1873, where will be found a paper by R. C. Waterston on the early schools. - Ed.] It ap¬ pears from the records that originally the schools were under the supervision of the selectmen, in whose care they continued until 1789.

In 1645, only ten years after the establishment of the Boston school, another quite similar in character and origin was begun in Roxbury. The town had then but few inhabitants, and these widely scattered. Amidst all their trials and sufferings they never lost sight of the great fact that the moral and intellectual training of their children was a matter of the first importance. To secure this they established a school, and mortgaged their estates for the payment of an annual sum to support it. One of the most earnest advocates of this enterprise was John Eliot, familiarly known to us as the Apostle Eliot, - clarum ct venerobile nomen , - whose labors and sacrifices in Christianizing the Indian population of the neighborhood will never be forgotten by those who appreciate Christian heroism and the heartiest philanthropy.1

In 1671 Thomas Bell, one of the early settlers in Roxbury,2 who had been a liberal benefactor to the school, returned to England and died there. His will is a long document of fifteen pages, from which we make the fol¬ lowing extract : -

" Imprimis, I give unto Mr. John Eliot, Minister of the Church and people of God, at Roxbury in New England, and Isaac Johnson, whom I take to be an officer or overseer of and in the same church, and to one such other Godly person now bear¬ ing office in said church, and their successors, ... all those my messuages or tene¬ ments, lands, and hereditaments, with their and every of their appurtenances, scituate, lying, and being at Roxbury in New England, aforesaid, in parts beyond the seas, to have and to hold to the said Minister and officers of the said Church of Roxbury for the time being, and their successors from time to time for ever, in trust only, notwithstanding, to and for the maintenance of a schoolemaster and free schoole for the teaching and instructing of poore men's children at Roxbury, aforesaid, for ever, and to and for no other use, intent, or purpose whatsoever."

The property received from this liberal bequest consisted of various pieces of real estate scattered over the town of Roxbury. Soon after the act of incorporation was passed, the board of trustees appointed under it thought it expedient to raise a fund which would be more productive than these tracts of land had been, and resolved to dispose of them on long leases. They were probably influenced in some degree by the conviction that it would better comport with the views of the testator; and partly also by a belief that lands were safer for permanent charitable institutions, and that such lands in a new country, in which they had risen in a little more than a century from the price of a few blankets to a great pecuniand such other occasions as ye Townsmen for Miss Hudson, deceased, shall be lett to Capt. the time being shall think meet, the sayd Schoole James Olliver, for 16s. per annum, so long as he being sufficiently Provided for." In 1649, Long pleases to improve itt." [Christopher Stanley and Spectacle Islands were assigned to the use left an early bequest, 1646, to support the town of the school, and the selectmen were directed school. See Vol. II. p. vi, x; and Shurtleff's to take order that they be leased for the use of Description of Boston , 160. - Ed.] the school, at a yearly rent of six pence on 1 [See chapters by Dr. Ellis and F. S. Drake, every acre. In 1654 "it is ordered that the ten in Vol. I. - Ed.] pounds left by legacy to ye school of Boston by 2 [See Vol. I. p. 420.]

ary value, would go on increasing in the same ratio perhaps to a higher one ; and partly, if not principally, from a belief that it is improvident in any present generation to grant away from posterity property which was designed for that posterity. Whatever their motives might have been, they resolved to retain the fee simple of the lands for the institution. Their decision time has shown to be a wise one. The lands leased at auction for one hundred and twenty years appear to have brought nearly or quite the prices that would have been paid for the fee simple. The amount received was $9,888, the income of which in those days was sufficient to support a school of thirty boys and one teacher. Sixty years later, so valuable had the lands become that the trustees deemed it expedient to sell a portion in order to enlarge the capacity of the school. From this sale they received an amount sufficient to maintain permanently a school of one hundred and thirty boys, with six teachers, and to pay salaries liberal enough to com¬ mand the best talent.1 The course of studies is substantially the same as that of its contemporary, the Boston Public Latin School, both having for their object the fitting of boys for a college education. By the act of in¬ corporation the number of trustees must not be more than thirteen, nor less than nine. In case of vacancies in the board the trustees are required to " elect by ballot one or more persons, being respectable freeholders in the town of Roxbury, to supply such vacancy or vacancies. Provided always, that the minister and the two oldest deacons of the First Church of Christ in the said town of Roxbury shall always, by virtue of their said offices, be members of the said corporation."

Thus has private munificence provided for us an educational institution possessing rare advantages owing to the liberal course pursued in its man¬ agement, and still more to the mode of electing its trustees, as prescribed by the constitution.2

For nearly fifty years the Boston Latin School was the only one sup¬ ported by the town. In 1682 it became so crowded that two others were established, " for the teaching of children to write and cipher."

The question naturally arises, Why were not schools for the common English branches the first to be established? Those who appreciate the re¬ ligious character of our Puritan ancestors will not think it improbable that in providing so early for instruction in Latin and Greek, and preparing young men for college, their object was to secure a body of learned scholars who "by acquaintance with ancient tongues" should be able to obtain a

C. Collar, is larger than that of any one of our in their board. We have thought it right to public teachers. give a full account of this school, because Rox-

2 In electing a city school-committee it fre- bury, which for more than two centuries was an quently happens that politics and sectarianism independent town, has become by annexation a are prominent agents. The consequence is that part of Boston, and therefore identified with its the best qualified men are often superseded by interests. [Mr. Dillaway published a History of others whose only claims are that they belong the Roxbury Latin School in 1S60, with biographito the dominant party in politics or theology cal sketches of the ministers of the First Church The records of the trustees show that such a and other trustees. - Ed.]

The Old Latin School.2

One of the schools in writing and arithmetic soon became classical in its character, and was called the North Latin School till 1790, when it was restored to its original purpose.3 Since that time the Boston Latin School

1 The training of ministers was one of the chief objects in the foundation of the college. Our forefathers believed in a Church even with¬ out a bishop, as they did in a State without a king.

" This Courte being sensible of the necessity and singular use of good literature in managing the things of greatest importance in this Com¬ monwealth, as also perceiving the fewnes of persons accomplished in such employments, especially for future times, have thought rneete to propose to all and every our rev. elders and brethren, that due care be had from time to time to improve and exercise such students, especially in divinity, as through the good hand of God may issue forth of the colledges, that so for want of imployment or maintenance they be not forced from us, and we left destitute of help that way." - Massachusetts Records, ii. 167.

- [This cut follows a water-color belonging to Mr. Epes Sargent Dixwell, and is copied by his kind permission. A portion of the rear of King's Chapel, given in the foreground, fixes its exact location on the opposite side of School VOL. IV. - 31.

Street ; the site is now covered by the Parker House. The building was erected in 1S12, and was taken down in 1844 ; and some reminis¬ cences of it by George S. Hillard are printed in The Boston Book, 1850. It was the second build¬ ing on that site, the previous one having been built about 1748, when the school-house on the opposite side of the street was given up. Mr. Dixwell was head-master of the school from 1836 to 1851, his immediate predecessor (1831 to 1836) having been the writer of this chapter. - Ed.]

In 1758 the selectmen, after their official visit, reported "841 in all, and which were found in very good order." In 1800 there were seven free schools, with 900 pupils, of whom 160 were has been the only one of our free institutions, established by the School Committee and under their control, where boys could be prepared to enter college.1

In 1789 there was a thorough reorganization of the school system, to adapt it to the circumstances and wants of the time. The course of in¬ struction, which was prepared by a committee of eminent men, among whom was the distinguished patriot Samuel Adams, was as follows : -

"In Town Meeting, Oct. 16, 1789. Voted, that there shall be one writing school at the South part of the Town, one at the Centre, and one at the North part ; that in these schools the children of both sexes shall be taught writing and also arithmetic in the various branches of it usually taught in the Town schools, including vulgar and decimal fractions.

"That there be one Reading school at the South part of the Town, one at the Centre, and one at the North part; that in these schools the children of both sexes be taught to spell, accent, and read both prose and verse ; and also be instructed in English grammar and composition."

Although these schools were intended for both sexes, girls were admitted to them only for half the year, - from April to October. This rule con¬ tinued till 1828, when they were allowed to attend the whole year, and until sixteen years of age, - the boys being required to leave at fourteen. It is noticeable that no text-books were named ; there was little need of it, for until about that time there was but one school-book proper which children were expected to have, and that was Dilworth's Spelling-Book, containing a brief " treatise on English grammar," which was probably the grammar required to be taught. The Testament, Psalter, and Bible were the only reading-books. There were no printed copy-books for writing, and no slates in use, the ciphering being done on paper. The requirements of this programme were considerably above what had previously been taught in the schools, and were by many thought to be excessive.2

Among the important changes made during the last forty years were the abandonment of the " double-headed " system, and the placing of each school under the care of one master, with such assistants as might be re¬ quired. In the construction of school-houses, the rooms have been so ar¬ ranged that each class may be by itself. Another change has been made which some may not think an improvement, in the adoption of the system of large schools, each containing from 600 to 900 pupils.

taught Latin. [Thomas Hutchinson, the father of the Governor, gave to the North End its first school-house, which was built on the lot where now the Eliot School-house stands. Shurtleff's Description of Boston , 205. - Ed.]

1 Its present head-master is Moses Merrill, Ph.D., a graduate of Harvard University. He was elected in 1877, after many years of success¬ ful service in the school.

2 The curriculum of instruction has been exastonished our forefathers. To their "reading, writing, grammar, and ciphering," have been added geography, morals, manners, vocal music, natural philosophy, drawing, history, declama¬ tion, physiology, book-keeping, and the Consti¬ tution of the United States. Some of these would not unreasonably be considered highschool studies ; but it must be remembered that for many the grammar-school is the last stage in their training for the labors and responsibilities of active life.

Vocal culture, physical training, and vocal gymnastics have been adopted as a part of the system for all the schools. Music, besides its refining and humanizing influences which all acknowledge, has been of practical advantage in many ways. It has been an efficient aid in making good readers.1 It has been, too, a relief from earnest and exhausting study.2 " Recreation," says Locke, " is not being idle, as any one may observe, but easing the weary part by change of business." The system originated in Germany, whence it spread into Holland, Switzerland, and France; more recently into Great Britain, where it encountered the same opposition as with us.3

Another progressive step has been made by a better understanding of that much-abused word " discipline." Fifty years ago corporal punishment was considered a necessity in all our public schools. It is comparatively rare now, and daily growing less frequent. " Discipline," says Coleridge, " is the maximum of watchfulness with the minimum of punishment." Our best teachers do not believe that severity is an attribute of true discipline.

We must number among the important improvements the introduction of drawing, - an art so valuable to every engineer, builder, designer, ma¬ chinist, men of all professions and trades, that it seems indispensable in the list of public-school studies. An act of the Massachusetts Legislature in 1870 makes the teaching of drawing obligatory, and requires industrial drawing-schools to be set up in the cities and towns of the State having more than ten thousand inhabitants. The former of these had already been anticipated in Boston. Fortunately the facilities afforded by the Massachu¬ setts Institute of Technology, both in respect to instructors and accommo¬ dations, rendered it practicable to open evening classes in industrial drawing on a liberal scale. Eight teachers were employed on free-hand and mechan¬ ical drawing, the number of pupils being about five hundred.

The centennial report of the French commissioners, after commending the exhibition from our public schools as " extremely remarkable, the most complete of all and the most methodically arranged," goes on to state that Massachusetts does not propose to multiply the number of artists, but to create able artisans ; not to procure a few talents in harmony with the best

1 Roger Ascham, the famous teacher and scholar of the Elizabethan age, said: "All voices, great and small, base and shrill, weak or soft, may be holpen and brought to a good point by learning to sing." ing - the most impressive form of devotional music - into many of our churches. This alone would compensate us for all the expense we have incurred, and for the strenuous effort made to overcome the prejudice against singing as an element in our common-school education. Martin Luther said: "As for myself, if I had children, and were able, I would teach them not

3 When a prominent member of Parliament suggested in the House of Commons that sing¬ ing should be taught in all the schools as in Germany, bis suggestion was received with ridi¬ cule. This spirit of opposition afterward elicited from the celebrated John Hullah, an earnest ad¬ vocate for music, the quaint remark: "Yea, verity, thanks to the arduous labors of those who well addressed themselves to ears as deaf as stone walls on this subject, the principle is now at length recognized by all the educational societies in the realm." Says Byron, - well-to-do population, but to give to the thousands of future workmen the sum of knowledge and aptitude which they need to increase the value of their labor, to get a larger price for their work, and finally to unite and per¬ fect national industry. A triennial exhibition of drawing made in our city schools and free evening drawing-schools was held in conjunction with that of the State schools in the beginning of June, 1879. The report of the judges stated that a greater average of excellence of rank was manifestly observable since the previous exhibition in 1876.1

" Every sheet of drawing on any one screen in the Primary and Grammar divisions represents a different school ; and we notice a general uniformity of careful work in all. . . . This is more satisfactory than the exceptional excellence of a few schools, which used to be observable several years ago. In the High Schools also there can be no doubt of a progress having been made, both in the system of study pursued and the attainment of the pupils in individual studies. In the evening schools, with one or two exceptions, a more systematic course of study is evident in the individual subjects of machine drawing and ship draughting ; and many of the free-hand works from the cast in several schools display great excellence." 2

The provision of a superintendent 3 has contributed largely to the success of our schools. Nathan Bishop, a gentleman of experience and eminent fitness for such an office, was the first to hold it. His successor was John D. Philbrick, LL.D., whose services continued for the long period of twenty years. He fully appreciated the importance of our educational institutions, and by his good judgment, energy, and perseverance effected many changes in their management which time has shown to be improvements.4

2 The department of drawing has been until recently under the direction of Walter Smith. His successor is Henry Hitchings, a gentleman of ability and large experience. [See the chap¬ ter, " Art in Boston," by Arthur Dexter. - Ed.]

3 This office was established in 1851. The superintendent is elected biennially. He is re- .quired to devote himself to the study of the public-school system, and to keep himself ac¬ quainted with the progress of instruction and discipline in other places, in order to suggest appropriate means for the improvement of our own schools. He must see that the regulations of the School Board are carried into effect, visit each school as often as his other duties permit, and be able to suggest improvements and remedy defects in their management. He becomes a member of the Board of Super¬ visors, and when present must preside at its meetings.

mittee. In addition to the examination in detail of all the schools, they are required to ascertain by careful inspection the sanitary condition of the schools, houses, and premises, including the heating and ventilating apparatus ; the mode of government, including motives of study, prin¬ ciples, and methods of classifying and promoting pupils; the merits, defects, and needs of each school, - and in general the physical, mental, and moral condition of the scholars. Another important duty devolving upon them is the ex¬ amination of candidates for the office of teachers in our schools of all grades. This Board was established in 1876. Its members are elected biennially by the School Committee. Very wisely the claims of both sexes are equally re¬ cognized in the election of members of both boards. The present Supervisors are Samuel W. Mason, Lucretia Crocker, Ellis Peterson, Francis W. Parker, George A. Littlefield, and John Ivneeland.

4 His annual reports from 1857 to 1878 abound with practical suggestions of great value, and give a complete history of our school system during that period. My acknowledgments are due to him for many of the statements in this chapter.

The next incumbent was Samuel Eliot, LL.D., whose rare scholarship and familiar acquaintance with the best educational institutions in Europe as well as in this country admirably qualified him for so important an office. Unfortunately for us, after two years of eminently successful service, failing health compelled him to resign and seek in other lands a restoration to his former vigor. The present superintendent is Edwin P. Seaver, Ph.D., for¬ merly head-master of our English High School.

In speaking of our grammar schools, we are reminded of the great ser¬ vice rendered to them and to the cause of education generally by the late Horace Mann. In 1837 he was elected Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education, and for many years discharged with great efficiency and success the duties of that office. By his lectures and writings he awakened an interest in our schools which had never been felt before. Through his influence important changes were made in the school-laws of Massachusetts, and a thorough reform was effected in the educational system of the State. He was a gifted and heroic philanthropist.1

In 1818 provision was made for the instruction of children from four to seven years of age. The primary schools established for this purpose seem to have originated in a general desire of our citizens to relieve the Sundayschools from the great amount of secular instruction received there, which was fast crowding out the religious training that should be the object of such institutions. But this was not the only or the chief consideration. It was found that several hundred children under the age of seven did not attend any school, because the charity schools were in most instances pro¬ vided for girls only, being under the inspection of ladies, their founders, and the private schools were too expensive for parents of moderate means. Another consideration was, that the children who had not learned to read or write could not be received into the grammar schools, and were there¬ fore virtually deprived of their advantages. How important the citizens of Boston considered such elementary instruction may be inferred from the fact that two hundred of its most prominent men petitioned for a public meeting in Faneuil Hall, to consider the subject. Among those most in¬ terested was the late James Savage, a well-known and influential citizen, of strong benevolent impulses, under the control of a sound, practical under¬ standing. In that forcible manner so peculiar to him, whether in speaking

1 When the new Constitution of Massachu¬ setts was adopted, in 1780, public education was duly recognized. An article, the spirit of which was in accordance with the legislation of 1647, was adopted, and still remains the fundamental law of the State. In 1834 $ 1,000,000 were raised in Massachusetts to aid the towns in their educa¬ tional labors. By an act of the Legislature in 1854 it was enlarged to $1,500,000, by the trans¬ fer to the fund of two thousand nine hundred and forty-four shares of the stock of the Western Railroad Corporation, held by the State. By a law of 1859 the fund has been increased to

$2,000,000 by the sale of lands on the Back Bay. One half the income is annually distributed among the cities and towns of the State, in proportion to the number of children in each between the ages of five and fifteen years. No apportion¬ ment, however, is to be made to any town or city which does not send a report and raise by taxation three dollars for each child for the support of schools. The establishment of the " School Fund," and the organization of the Board of Education were the most important measures ever adopted by our State Legislature for the improvement of our educational system.

At this public meeting the selectmen and school committee were op¬ posed to the movement. Indeed, so strongly were they prejudiced that they retained the eloquence and personal influence of Harrison Gray Otis on their side ; but they were defeated by a large vote of the people, and the primary schools were established. No one well acquainted with our system of public education can fail to appreciate this early introduction to it.