Transcriber’s Note:

New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.

Vol. I      No. 1
THE
MAGAZINE OF HISTORY
WITH
NOTES AND QUERIES
JANUARY 1905

WILLIAM ABBATT

281 Fourth Avenue, New York

Published Monthly $5.00 a Year 50 Cents a Number

THE MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

WITH NOTES AND QUERIES

Vol. I JANUARY, 1905. No. 1

CONTENTS

Entered as second-class matter, March 1, 1905, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879.

Copyright, 1905, by William Abbatt

SCENE OF MONTGOMERY’S DEFEAT.
Tablet placed by the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, 1904.

THE MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

WITH NOTES AND QUERIES

Vol. I JANUARY, 1905 No. 1

THE ORIGIN OF THE MASSACHUSETTS MILITIA

Prior to the outbreak of the Revolution the militia of the Province of Massachusetts Bay was governed by the provisions of an act for regulating the militia, passed in 1693. Although quaint and antiquated in its provisions, it seems to have sufficed for all practical purposes; and no other act was passed regulating the militia until the Provincial Congress, almost at the beginning of its sittings, took steps to place the militia of the Province upon a different basis in order to find themselves prepared for the impending contest with the mother country, which at that date, October, 1774, was patent to all men as an unavoidable conflict.

It may be interesting to note some of the provisions and requirements that governed the militia during the Province period under the old act referred to. The act provided that all male persons from sixteen years of age to sixty, with certain exceptions, should bear arms and duly attend all musters and military exercises of the respective troops and companies wherein they were listed, allowing three months’ time to every son, next after his coming to sixteen years of age, and to every servant for the same period after his time was out, to provide themselves with arms, ammunition, etc. It also provided that, if any person liable to be listed as aforesaid—i.e., as a member of any troop or company, in the precinct or town where he resided—should avoid service by shifting from house to house or place to place, to avoid being listed as a member of a troop or company, he should be fined ten shillings for every offence, the money to be paid over to the company to which he belonged. Regimental musters, except in Boston, were to be held but once in three years; but the act provided that every captain, or chief officer, of a company or troop, should draw forth his company or troop four days annually, and no more; to exercise them in motions, the use of arms, and shooting at marks, or other military exercises. The punishment for any disorders or contempt committed by any member of a company on a training day or on a watch was to be by laying neck and heels, riding the wooden horse, or ten shillings’ fine. The exemptions from training included the members of the Council, the Representatives for the time being, the Secretary, Justices of the Peace, the President, Fellows, students, and servants of Harvard College, Masters of Art, ministers, elders and deacons of churches, sheriffs, physicians, surgeons, and professed schoolmasters, all such as had held commissions and served as field officers or captains, lieutenants or ensigns; coroners, treasurers, the Attorney-General, deputy sheriffs, clerks of courts, constables, constant ferrymen, and one miller to each gristmill. In addition there were exempted officers employed in connection with the Crown Revenue service, all masters of vessels of thirty tons and upwards, constant herdsmen, persons lame or otherwise disabled in body (on production of a certificate from two surgeons), Indians and negroes. It also provided that where any person could not provide his own arms, corn or other merchantable provision or vendable goods, to the extent of one-fifth part more than the value of the arms and ammunition, might be proffered to the clerk of the company, who was authorized to sell it and thus provide the person with the necessary arms. In case any were too poor to even supply merchandise, the arms were to be provided from the town stock. It also provided that a stock of powder and ammunition should be held in every town, and from time to time be renewed by the Selectmen. The necessary stock of powder, arms, and ammunition, was to be secured by a rate equally and justly laid upon the inhabitants and estates in such towns; and the rate for this purpose was collected by the constables, who were authorized, in case of non-payment, to distrain as for other rates. Under this act the militia of the Province were governed, and from the militia so authorized were raised the troops who formed the contingent of Provincials in the various expeditions against Canada, and proved their natural military capacity and their inherent quality as good soldiers at the siege of Louisburg, the expedition against Crown Point, and upon other occasions, as well as in various minor engagements with the Indian enemy upon the eastern and western frontiers of the Province.

After the events of the Stamp Act and when it became a certainty that the colonists could hope for nothing from the tyrannical ministry of Great Britain, and all thinking men faced the possibility of armed resistance to the mother country, it became necessary for those foreseeing the event and in the forefront of the Revolutionary party to provide a more elastic instrument and one more responsive to their urgent needs than could be looked for under the old militia act. Accordingly, in the first Provincial Congress, on the 26th of October, 1774, a committee appointed to consider what was necessary to be done for the defence and safety of the Province made a report upon which a resolve was immediately passed, making provision for the appointment of a Committee of Safety, who were empowered and directed to alarm, muster, and cause to be assembled, with the utmost expedition, such and so many of the militia of the Province, completely armed and equipped, as they might judge necessary for any contingency they might be called upon to confront. Provision was made for the pay and subsistence of any force that might be so assembled, and for the appointment of general officers, inasmuch as some of the officers holding commissions under crown appointments might have, and no doubt did hold, what were at the time conservative opinions concerning the causes that had led to the bitter feeling between the people of the Colonies and the ministers of Great Britain. It was resolved that such companies as had not already chosen officers should do so forthwith; and, where said officers should judge the districts included within the regimental limits too extensive, they should divide them and adjust their limits, and proceed to elect field officers to command the regiments, so called. The effect of this action, when carried out, was to practically redistrict the whole militia of the Province, and provide them with company officers and field officers that were in sympathy with the popular feeling; and this change took effect upon the initiative of what was practically a convention of delegates from the people, who had assembled in response to a call to take measures to save the Province from what they considered violation of their rights and privileges, and from aggressive militarism.

THE MINUTE-MEN: WHAT THEY WERE

It was at the same time provided that one-quarter, at least, of the respective companies in every regiment should be formed into companies of fifty privates at the least, who were to equip and hold themselves in readiness to march at the shortest notice from the Committee of Safety upon any emergency. Each company so formed was to choose a captain and two lieutenants, and they were to be grouped in battalions to consist of nine companies each and the captains and subalterns of each battalion were to elect field officers to command them. These were the minute-men, and were organized under this resolve, nearly six months before the affair of April 19, 1775; and the promptness with which they assembled in response to the alarm upon that memorable occasion is thereby accounted for. The foregoing statement will also serve to explain what has been a matter of confusion to many people; namely, the distinction between minute-men and militia. The minute-men, while of the militia, were, for a short time at the beginning of the war, a distinct body under a separate organization. A minute-man was a member of the militia who had engaged himself, with others, to march at a moment’s warning; while a militiaman was one who had not so engaged, and yet was equally liable to be called upon for service, when the Committee of Safety should deem it necessary to order out the militia. It happened, therefore, that companies of minute-men and companies of militia from the same town responded under different commanders to the alarm of April 19, 1775. The service of one was as patriotic as that of the other; but the minute-men were under special engagement to hold themselves in readiness to march at a moment’s warning, and you may assume that they were, as a rule, the youngest, most active, and most patriotic members of their respective communities.

In December, 1774, a patriotic address by the committee on the state of the Province was accepted by the Provincial Congress, and a copy thereof sent to all the towns and districts in the Province. In this address after a recital of the grievances and oppressions laid upon the people, and of the necessity of guarding their rights and liberties, it was recommended that particular care should be taken by each town and district to equip each of the minute-men not already provided therewith with an effective firearm, bayonet, pouch, knapsack, thirty rounds of ball cartridges and that they be disciplined three times a week and oftener, as opportunity might offer. The militia in general were also not to be neglected, and their improvement in training and drill was strongly recommended. Thus early before open hostilities were declared did the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts take prompt and energetic measures to place themselves upon a military footing, so as not to be taken at a disadvantage when the shock of armed strife should occur.

The second Provincial Congress in February, 1775, confirmed the powers of the Committee of Safety, to whom all military matters were directly intrusted, repeated the recommendations of the previous Congress relative to the militia, and appointed four general officers. The commanding officer of each regiment of minute-men, as well as the colonels of the militia regiments, were recommended to review their respective commands and to make return of their number and equipment. Six days before the 19th of April the Committee of Safety was authorized to form six companies of the train artillery already provided by the Colony, to immediately enter upon a course of discipline and be ready to enter the service whenever an army should be raised.

The events of the historic 19th of April, 1775, brought matters to a crisis more rapidly than had been anticipated; and, following that incursion of the British troops (excursion it is sometimes called in the quaint language of the day, although one would hardly term it a pleasant one), the Provincial Congress resolved that an army of 13,600 men should be raised immediately by the Province of Massachusetts Bay. A few days later it was moved and passed that the companies in each regiment should consist of fifty-nine men, including three officers, and that each regiment should consist of ten such companies.

The militia and minute-men, as reorganized and prepared in accordance with the directions of the Provincial Congress, responded with marvelous promptitude when the call to arms came. Within ten days after the battle of Lexington between fifteen and twenty thousand men had assembled at Cambridge and Roxbury. But it was an armed assemblage rather than an army. There was practically no cohesion beyond the company organization. They were not accustomed to act with other units as battalions or regiments. There was no term or limit of service prescribed or that could be required of these men that came forward in response to the alarm. Their own patriotic fervor or the persuasiveness of their officers made the measure of their stay in the service. It was, in consequence, a fluctuating force from day to day, with arrivals and departures in constant progress. The problems involved in making it a united or cohesive force for either aggression or defence would drive the modern military man frantic. Yet of necessity this force had to serve as the nucleus of the army it was proposed to raise to serve for eight months or to December 31, 1775.

The method of recruiting seems odd in these days, but in reality it was simple enough and was effective at the same time. “Beating orders,” as they were called, were issued to captains and lieutenants, or rather to those desiring to be commissioned in such capacities; and, upon their securing the specified number of men agreeing to serve under them, they were accepted with their men, and their commissions assured to them. In this way the men practically chose their officers, while at the same time each officer in a regiment from the colonel down became his own recruiting officer, captains and lieutenants in order to fill up their company strength, and colonels in order to obtain their full quota of companies. No commissions were issued to any regiment until it was completed. It was this practice that caused several New Hampshire companies to be embodied in Massachusetts regiments.

The effectiveness of this method of enlistment can best be judged by the fact, officially verified, that commissions had been issued to the officers of fifteen regiments, they having at that time the proper complement of men. It could not be expected, under the conditions that prevailed, that an army so hastily gotten together and formed from small local organizations, totally unused to acting in masses under any military system as regiments or brigades, should have presented, either in the matter of discipline or equipment, anything that would commend itself to the trained military man. One thing, however, all those who had assembled, whether as minute-men or militia, possessed in common; and that was the patriotic determination to resist by every means in their power any further encroachment upon their rights and liberties. A goodly number of the recruits and many of the officers had served in the expeditions against Canada; and these were sufficient to leaven the mass, and communicate by example and precept something of the military spirit to their younger comrades who had never rendered service in the field. At that time the army was a Massachusetts army, and in fact it is so termed in the official documents. The regiments were really what would be designated in these days as State regiments, being enlisted, officered, and maintained entirely by Massachusetts. There was no lack of officers of the higher grades, as there were provided in addition to the general officers previously named as having been appointed in making the establishment for the organization of the army, May 23, 1775, one lieutenant-general, two major-generals, four brigadier-generals, two adjutant-generals, and two quartermaster-generals.

By June 13, 1775, it had been resolved that twenty-three regiments should be commissioned, exclusive of one regiment of artillery, which latter was to consist of ten companies, and had already been partly organized. Such were the constituent parts of the army organized by Massachusetts inside of two months after the 19th of April, 1775, from her local militia; and it was these same raw and undisciplined levies, assisted by the contingents from the neighboring Colonies, which had assembled at Cambridge and Roxbury upon news being conveyed to them that Massachusetts had accepted the gage of battle, who time after time repelled the attacks of picked regiments of troops of Great Britain, until compelled to leave the field by lack of ammunition upon the seventeenth day of June, 1775. No better test of the mettle of the American militiaman, when converted into a soldier, can be conceived than was furnished upon that day when a number of these hastily organized regiments met and shrank not from the attack of trained soldiers. Although, naturally enough, regarded as a defeat, and, therefore, in a measure discreditable to the provincials, so much so that in after years veteran survivors cared not to exploit their participation in the battle, it really had a tremendous moral effect upon each side, the provincials being assured thereafter that under anywhere near like equal conditions they could defeat the British, while for the enemy there resulted the enforced conviction that the colonists were not unworthy foes, and that like victory would be altogether too dearly bought.

The encouragement offered to men to enlist into the eight months’ service would hardly be considered in the light of a very extravagant bounty in these days. The Provincial Congress provided that a woollen coat should be supplied to every soldier who enlisted, in addition to his wages and travel allowance. These coats were to be provided by the different towns throughout the Province; and a schedule was made up, allotting a definite number to be furnished by each town. They were to be of a uniform pattern, as far as the style of the coat was concerned; but apparently the only distinctive military attachment in connection with them was the buttons, which it was enacted should be of pewter and bear the regimental number, when the coats were distributed to the men belonging to the different organizations. It may well be imagined that this method of securing coats did not result in very prompt delivery, and in consequence it was provided later in the year that soldiers might receive a money equivalent for the value of the coat. Inasmuch as many of the men served the full term of their enlistment without ever being gratified with the sight of the promised bounty coat, it is not to be wondered at that thousands of them accepted the money equivalent, and received it in some instances after the expiration of their term of service. With the appointment of Washington as commander-in-chief by the Continental Congress, the Massachusetts army, raised as I have described, together with the levies raised by the other Colonies, became a part of the Continental establishment. The eight months’ men raised by Massachusetts can properly be regarded accordingly as Continental soldiers, although originally raised under State auspices, without any outside encouragement or assistance. The actual transfer of State stores, supplies, etc., did not take place for some little time after Washington had taken command at Cambridge; and many of the officers exercised the duties of their positions under their State commissions, and did not receive Continental commissions until September or October, 1775.

It may be interesting to note how the effective forces at Washington’s disposition compared with the authorized number directed to be raised by the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts. They had provided for an army of 13,600 men; but on July 10, 1775, Washington expressed his concern at finding the army inadequate to the general expectation and the duties which might be required of it. In this communication he states that the number of men fit for duty of the forces raised by the Province, including all the outposts and artillery, did not amount to 9000. He also states that the troops raised in the other Colonies were more complete, although they also fell short of their establishment; and his estimate at that time of the total number of men at his disposition available for duty was not more than 13,500. The proportion, however, of the troops furnished by the different Colonies, and composing the army that invested Boston, is shown by a general return, signed by Adjutant-General Horatio Gates in July, 1775. It gives twenty-six Massachusetts regiments (an additional regiment not being completed is not included in the number), four independent companies, also of Massachusetts, with a regiment of artillery, three Connecticut regiments, three New Hampshire regiments, three Rhode Island regiments, and a Rhode Island company of artillery, making altogether a total force of 17,355 men.

At a council of war, July 9, 1775, it was estimated that the force of the enemy amounted to 11,500, and that the army investing Boston ought to consist of at least 22,000 men; and it was recommended, in order to supply the deficiency, that an officer from each company raised in Massachusetts Bay should be sent out to recruit all the regiments up to their standard efficiency as fixed by the Provincial Congress, Rhode Island and Connecticut being at the time engaged in recruiting for the purpose of filling up their quotas of troops to the full establishment. Naturally enough, the commander-in-chief found much to lament over in the deficiencies both as to number and equipment of the army he found almost ready made to his hand, and yet so lacking in all things from a military point of view; but there is little of criticism in his letters of the period, although they are filled with pleadings, expostulations, and exhortations for the purpose of bringing up the army to a desired state of efficiency.

While the enlisted men comprising this eight months’ army held the line and were being brought more or less under military discipline and system, there were times when their numbers fell short of the estimated number required for a besieging army, where it was at any time possible that the enemy equal in effective force might make an attack and break the line. It was found necessary from time to time to call forth the local militia from the towns in the vicinity of Boston to do duty for longer or shorter periods; but then, as later, the general officers criticised the efficiency of the militia thus called upon, as they could not be depended upon for a continuance in camp for any definite period, or regularity and discipline during the time they might stay. Such criticism was inevitable, and was applied during the whole term of the Revolutionary War to the militia contingents that were called forth in all the Colonies by the officers commanding the regulars or the Continental forces.

After the expiration of the term of service of the eight months’ men a call was made for twelve months’ men; and many of those who served the first term or first campaign, as it was called, both officers and men, engaged for the second campaign. The organization of the standing militia thereby became broken up and disrupted by the depletion of the local organizations. It therefore became necessary to make a reorganization and redistricting of the militia of the Province. An act was accordingly passed January 22, 1776, by which this object was attained. It provided that all able-bodied male persons from sixteen years of age to fifty, with certain specified exemptions, in every town and district should be considered members of the train band. The alarm list should consist of all male persons from sixteen years of age to sixty-five, not liable to be included in the train band and not exempted under special provision. Each company was to consist of sixty-eight privates, exclusive of the alarm list, officered by a captain and two lieutenants, non-commissioned officers to be four sergeants, four corporals, with a drummer and fifer for each company. A brigadier-general was directed to be chosen for each county, and under him the field officers of the different regiments were authorized to divide up and district the regiments, each regiment having a colonel, lieutenant-colonel, and two majors. Three major-generals were also to be chosen by the Council or House of Representatives. Under this enactment the county regiments were numbered, officered, and their organizations established, and from the standing militia thus provided for all detachments and drafts of Massachusetts militia that were made, either for short terms of service upon alarms or as re-enforcements to the Continental Army, were made during the remaining period of the war. This establishment for the militia continued in force until after the adoption of the State Constitution in 1780.

Boston.

James J. Tracy.

(Read before the Massachusetts Sons of American Revolution, 1904.)

A BIT OF CHURCH HISTORY

It is a subject of hope that someone—perhaps he is already cooing in his cradle and smiling in response to the wondering faces that bend over him—will be inspired to embody in imperishable epic, the adventurous deeds of the Puritan and Pilgrim Fathers in the New World. He must be a child of the Muses. He must have insight to sound the deeper currents of human motive and action, the instinct for dramatic situations, a feeling for the concrete in choice and act, and for the individual man. When that epic appears some cantos of it will relate to the settlements of the Connecticut valley, and among these old Windsor, to the ancient church in which place this brief article relates.

We are fortunate in having a memoir of Captain Roger Clapp, a young man of the company, written expressly for his own descendants, with glowing religious purpose, but in more than one particular illuminating upon the history and spirit of that early enterprise. Mr. Clapp’s own case is a fine exhibition of the process of selection and unification by which a party was made up of such as were fitted to undertake together the peculiar task of making a new community in the wilderness. One would readily guess that the relations of the individuals of such a company must be somewhat other than those secured by formal agreements and contracts on paper. They must be bound together by the finest of affinities, by mutual esteem, by the strength of commanding leadership. Add to this, of course, a rugged sense of the call and providence of God. Something of this sort would be essential to business success, not to say social happiness in the communal life of a new settlement; and if what Mr. Clapp says of himself is at all representative, such was actually the case. When a youth, evidently wishing to be self-supporting, he asked leave of his father to live “abroad,” and went to live on trial, three miles from Exeter (England). In his own language: “We went every Lord’s-Day into the City, where were many famous preachers of the Word of God. I then took such a liking unto the Revd. Mr. John Warham, that I did desire to live near him: So I removed (with my Father’s consent) into the city, and lived with one Mr. Mossiour, as famous a Family for Religion as ever I knew; ... I never so much as heard of New England until I heard of many godly Persons that were going there, and that Mr. Warham was to go also.”

Through Mr. Clapp’s personal history we can see in his account of the organization of the church, how here and there the preparatory process had been going on in individual lives, and often unconsciously to themselves men had been getting ready for this joint venture into the New World. I give his account of the organization somewhat fully: “I came out of Plymouth in Devon, the 20th of March, and arrived at Nantasket the 30th of May 1630. Now this is further to inform you, that there came Many Godly Families in that ship: We were of Passengers many in Number (besides Sea-men) of good Rank: Two of our Magistrates come with us, viz., Mr. Rossiter and Mr. Ludlow. These godly People resolved to live together; and therefore as they had made choice of these two Revd. Servants of God, Mr. John Warham and Mr. John Maverick to be their Ministers, so they kept a solemn Day of Fasting in the New Hospital in Plymouth in England, spending it in Preaching and Praying: where that worthy Man of God, Mr. John White of Dorchester in Dorset was present, and Preached unto us the Word of God, in the forepart of the Day, and in the latter part of the Day, as the People did solemnly make choice of, and call those godly Ministers to be their Officers, so also the Revd. Mr. Warham and Mr. Maverick did accept thereof, and expressed the same. So we came, by the good Hand of the Lord, through the Deeps comfortably; having Preaching or Expounding of the Word of God every Day for Ten Weeks together, by our Ministers.”

This little Israel, which came over the waters, one hundred and forty strong, in the good ship Mary and John, a craft of 400 tons, were forced by Capt. Squeb, contrary to his agreement, to disembark in a forlorn place on Nantasket Point. A place of settlement was soon selected and named Dorchester. Attracted by the rich Connecticut meadows, five years later Mr. Warham and the larger portion of his flock made the difficult overland journey thither, and settled in the beautiful region which was afterwards called Windsor by “order of the court.” Thus the First Church of Christ in Windsor goes back beyond Dorchester to Plymouth in Old England, and has had a continuous existence from March 20, 1630, to the present as a Congregational Church of what may be called, for lack of a better term, the orthodox or Trinitarian variety—a fact that can be affirmed of no other Congregational Church on the American Continent.

To speak of the members of this church and their numerous descendants, would take us beyond the limits of this article. A few names will suggest the significance of this body of Christians on the banks of the Connecticut, in the life of the nation. Matthew Grant, the clerk of the church and the town, whose fine records are now in the town clerk’s office, was the ancestor of Gen. U. S. Grant and the numerous clans of the Grant family in this country. The hero of Manila Bay is a descendant of Thomas Dewey, of the old Windsor church. Henry Wolcott, a man of wealth and social importance in old England, was the ancestor of the famous Wolcott family, which included two Connecticut governors and men of note in every generation to the present day. Roger Ludlow, the lawyer of the settlement, gave legal shape to the democracy of Thomas Hooker in the Constitution of Connecticut, the first written instrument of the kind on record. Captain John Mason led the federated colonists to the number of eighty men against the Pequots, and by no means least, Esther Warham, the youngest daughter of the minister, a woman of rare charm and remarkable gifts, was the mother of a mighty race, which has been distinguished by many illustrious names, chief among whom must be named her grandson, Jonathan Edwards. Two other men of national renown in quite different directions are Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth and Edward Rowland Sill. Ellsworth was born in Windsor, lived here practically his whole life save, of course, when he was away on public business, and his home still remains, now the property of the Connecticut Society of the D. A. R. He was a devoted member of the church and chairman of the building committee in charge of the erection of the new house of worship in 1794, which still remains in excellent condition. The book containing, among many others, Mr. Ellsworth’s subscription of 100 pounds, with that for like amounts by Dr. Chaffee and Jerijah Barber, is in possession of the present treasurer. Edward Rowland Sill, the rare quality of whose poetic genius has won increasing recognition ever since his early death, was a descendant of Rev. David Rowland, one of the old Windsor pastors, and was, by immediate family connections as well as the associations of his own boyhood, a child of the Windsor church, though he spent the larger part of his mature life elsewhere.

Roscoe Nelson.

Windsor, Conn.

CORNER OF SAULT AU MATELOT AND ST. JAMES STREETS.
Tablet placed by the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, 1904.
(The second barricade was across Sous Le Cap Street, behind where figure stands.)

ARNOLD AND MONTGOMERY AT QUEBEC

The last day of December, 1904, was the 128th anniversary of the unsuccessful attack on Quebec in 1775, and by a coincidence on almost that very day the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec erected two bronze tablets to commemorate the event. We are indebted to Mr. F. C. Würtele, the Secretary of the Society, for the photographs from which our two illustrations are made—they thus appearing in our pages in advance even of Canadian journals.

From the newspaper accounts furnished us, we condense:

When the Canadian Government erected monuments on the battlefields of 1812, the invasion of 1775 seemed to have been forgotten, and no memorials were placed in Quebec to commemorate the signal defeat of the Continental invaders on the 31st of December, 1775, at the hands of General Guy Carleton, the savior of Canada to the British Crown.

However, that brave defence has not been forgotten by Quebec’s citizens, and some time ago at a meeting of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, it was resolved, “That the time has come for the erection of historic tablets at Pres-de-Ville and the Sault-au-Matelot, in the lower town of Quebec, relating to the events of 31st of December, 1775, so important to the destiny of Canada; and as it is within the province of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec to erect such memorials, a committee is hereby appointed on the subject.”

As such memorials would be battlefield monuments, the Federal Government was petitioned by the society for means to erect suitable historic tablets at these places. The request was graciously responded to and splendid memorials in statuary bronze have been erected, one bolted to the rock where at its base Montgomery was defeated and killed, and the other on the St. James street gable of the Molsons Bank, as near as possible to the site of the Sault-au-Matelot barricade, where Arnold was defeated, and over 400 of his men made prisoners, both events taking place in the early morning of that memorable last day of December, 1775. As these bronzes have been placed in position for the anniversary of that event, a short historic retrospect may be interesting:

One hundred and twenty-nine years have passed since a force under Montgomery was sent by Lake Champlain to attack Montreal, and another under Arnold marched from Cambridge, Mass., via the Voyageur trail up the Kennebec river and across to the source of the river Chaudiere, to St. Marie and thence by road to Levis opposite Quebec, where, after considerable hardships throughout the whole journey it arrived, and crossing the St. Lawrence appeared on the present Cove Fields, on the 14th, was fired on and soon retired to Pointe aux Trembles, where the arrival of Montgomery from Montreal was waited.

Montgomery carried all before him, taking Sorel, Montreal and Three Rivers. General Carleton, who was in Montreal, knowing the importance of Quebec, and that for divers reasons Montreal could not then be defended, destroyed the government stores and arrived at Quebec on the 19th of November, where Colonel MacLean, who had preceded him, was preparing for its defence.

The defences were strengthened and barricades erected and armed in the Lower Town, in Sault-au-Matelot street, and the present Sous-le-Cap, also at Pres-de-Ville, where is now the Allan Steamship Company’s property.

Montgomery arrived on the 1st of December with his army, and Arnold’s 800 raised the attacking force to 2000 men, who proceeded to take possession of St. Roch’s and erected batteries on the high ground, Montgomery issued general orders on the 15th December, which were sent into the town, and a copy is now to be found in the Dominion Archives at Ottawa:

(Q. 12. Page 30.)

Headquarters Holland House, near Quebec.

15th December, 1775.

Countersign—Adams.

Parole—Connecticut.

The General having in vain offered the most favorable terms of accommodation to the Governor and having taken every possible step to prevail on the inhabitants to desist from seconding him in his wild scheme of defence, nothing remains but to pursue vigorous measures for the speedy reduction of the only hold possessed by the Ministerial troops in the Province. The troops flushed with continual success, confident of the justice of their cause and relying on that Providence which has uniformly protected them will advance to the attack of works incapable of being defended by the wretched garrison posted behind them, consisting of sailors unacquainted with the use of arms, of citizens incapable of the soldier’s duty and a few miserable emigrants. The General is confident a vigorous and spirited attack must be attended with success. The troops shall have the effects of the Governor, garrison, and of such as have been acting in misleading the inhabitants and distressing the friends of liberty, to be equally divided among them, each to have the one hundredth share out of the whole, which shall be at the disposal of the General and given to such soldiers as distinguished themselves by their activity and bravery, and sold at public auction. The whole to be conducted as soon as the city is in our hands and the inhabitants disarmed.

The General at Headquarters,

Ferd. Weisenfels,

Major of Brigade.

The division which was to attack Pres-de-Ville assembled at 2 o’clock A. M. of the 31st December, at Montgomery’s headquarters, Holland House (now the property of Frank Ross, Esq.), and headed by Montgomery, marched across the Plains of Abraham and descended into the beach path, now Champlain street. Those who were to make the attack by the suburbs of St. Roch, headed by Arnold, were about 800 strong. The plan was that Montgomery and Arnold were to meet at the foot of Mountain Hill and storm the Upper Town.

A heavy northeast snowstorm was raging at 4 o’clock that dark morning when Montgomery had descended the cliff and advanced along the narrow beach path, a ledge flanked to the left by the perpendicular cliffs of Cape Diamond and to the right by a precipitous descent at whose base flowed the tide of the St. Lawrence.

The Pres-de-Ville barricade and the blockhouse at the narrowest part of the road was defended by Captain Chabot, Lieut. Picard, 30 Canadian militiamen, Captain Barnesfare and 15 seamen, Sergeant Hugh McQuarters, of the Royal Artillery, with several small guns, and Mr. John Coffin, 50 in all. The garrison was alert and saw the head of the column approach and halt some fifty yards from the barricade, when a man approached to reconnoitre, and on his return the column continued its advance, when it was fired on by cannon and musketry, whose first discharge killed Montgomery, his aides Macpherson and Cheeseman, and 10 men. Thereupon the rest of the 700 men turned and fled, pursued by the bullets of the Canadians till there was nothing more to fire at. None behind the leading sections knew what happened, and the slain, left as they fell, were buried by the drifting snow, whence their frozen bodies were dug out later in the day.

Arnold’s column carried the barricade across Sous-le-Cap street, situated beneath the Half-Moon battery, and were stopped at the second barricade at the end of that narrow street (quite close to where is now Molsons Bank), defended by Major Nairne, Dambourges and others, who held them in check until Captain Laws’ strong party, coming from Palace Gate, took them in rear and caused their surrender, 427 in all, thus completing the victory of that morning. Arnold was put out of action early in the fight by a ball[^[1]] from the ramparts near Palace Gate, when passing with the leading sections, and was carried to the General Hospital.

The late Governor-General, Lord Minto, took great interest in the tablets, and approved of the inscriptions which were submitted for his consideration.

These tablets, in shield form, are of statuary bronze, with the lettering cast in relief.

The large one on the rock under Cape Diamond measures six feet three inches by five feet nine inches, and is thus inscribed:

Here Stood

The Undaunted Fifty

Safeguarding

Canada

Defeating Montgomery

At the Pres-de-Ville Barricade

On the Last Day of

1775

Guy Carleton

Commanding at

Quebec

That on Molsons Bank measures two feet ten inches by two feet six inches, and its legend relates:

Here Stood

Her Old and New Defenders

Uniting, Guarding, Saving

Canada

Defeating Arnold

At the Sault-au-Matelot Barricade

On the Last Day of

1775

Guy Carleton

Commanding at

Quebec

A “SCRUB-POETICAL” ANSWER TO A GOVERNOR

His Excellency Jonathan Belcher, governor of His Majesty’s provinces of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, must have many times realized what a very difficult and disagreeable task it is to drive an ill-matched team, especially when one of them is to all appearances possessed of the Evil One, and the pole is loose and not to be depended on. Such a team the governor had in his two provinces, and he was a very busy man.

Massachusetts kept well in the traces and gave him comparatively little trouble. He lived in Boston, and was thus able to maintain a more intimate knowledge of the people of that State and the trend of public opinion than was possible to do in respect to more distant New Hampshire, where he was relatively a stranger. Though not popular as a man or as a Crown official, his personal presence in Massachusetts as governor, with the miniature court, the sumptuous appointments, and the dignity which accompanied the King’s commission, necessarily had some effect in steadying the progress of government there.

But in New Hampshire he had many serious problems. A small province both in population and resources, it had for many years stood between Massachusetts and the savages, who were continually hovering about the frontiers, and in this almost constant warfare, and by the costly vigilance which was necessary even in times of nominal peace, the province had incurred debts which were a heavy burden on the sparse population. During the time in which New Hampshire was considered by the Crown not of sufficient size, wealth, and importance to maintain a governor of its own, and accordingly yoked with Massachusetts, the power of granting townships in New Hampshire was, of course, vested in the governor, and exercised by him under the same royal instructions as in Massachusetts. The plans and purposes of the government in locating these grants in New Hampshire are easily seen by their peculiar but systematic location. They were largely laid out in lines, each line of towns answering a specific purpose. One line followed the Merrimack river, Amherst, Bedford, and Goffstown, guarding the west bank of the main inland waterway of the two provinces. Another line, Concord, Hopkinton, Henniker, Hillsborough, Warner, and Bradford, formed a northern frontier, and connected the Merrimack with Washington and Lempster the most northerly of another line, the Monadnock townships, which, nine in number, established a perfect connection back to the Massachusetts line. Still another line, Chesterfield, Westmoreland, Walpole, and Charlestown, guarded the east bank of the Connecticut. All these established and maintained a protection for the whole of central Massachusetts against any incursions of the Indians from the north, and enclosed large tracts of very valuable land.

The burden of the taxation necessary to pay the expenses of Indian warfare and maintain the government rested heavily on the people of New Hampshire, while they were engaged in conflict with the wilderness, planting the standard of civilization step by step further north and west. Therefore, when the governor in his recurring messages constantly besought the Assembly to raise money—to supply funds for repairing Fort William and Mary, for building a new prison or repairing the old one, for the expenses of carrying on the boundary line controversy with Massachusetts—he did not always meet with a cordial reception or a courteous reply. Money for current expenses and paying old obligations as fast as possible the Assembly was willing to provide, but little was to be had for other purposes which did not appear to its members absolutely and urgently necessary.

A strong opposition to the administration sprang up in New Hampshire, and manifested itself in an intrigue to procure the governor’s recall. The opposition was headed by Lieutenant-Governor Dunbar, a pugnacious Irishman, and Theodore Atkinson and Benning Wentworth, who had been appointed councillors through the efforts of Dunbar, but whose admission to the council board Governor Belcher prevented for two years. It was a strong combination. Dunbar was not possessed of great influence with the home government aside from that which pertained to his office, but Wentworth and Atkinson had powerful friends and connections in England, who were not slow to take advantage of Governor Belcher’s increasing unpopularity both in America and England. So successful were they, that when, in 1741, the royal decision on the boundary line was carried into effect, and New Hampshire finally freed from union with Massachusetts, Wentworth was commissioned governor of the province and Atkinson became secretary of the council, equivalent to the present office of secretary of state.

Governor Belcher was not, however, without friends in New Hampshire, and the chief of these, perhaps, was Richard Waldron, then secretary of the council. They were intimate friends, both officially and personally, and maintained a lively correspondence. Entirely different in character and disposition, the oddities of each attracted and amused the other. The governor’s peppery temper gave Waldron many a chance for a jest or a clever and good-natured retort. But his friends were too few, and the opposition too strong, and the settlement of the long-disputed boundary line gave the home government an opportunity too attractive to be lost for reestablishing the governments of the two provinces on a basis of complete separation, intended to result in a lasting peace, and the relief of the Board of Trade and Plantations from continual complaints and the burden of discussion and decision of what, to them, were but petty provincial squabbles.

This was, in brief, the general atmosphere of the provinces when Governor Belcher went to New Hampshire to meet the Assembly in the winter of 1733–4, and there delivered his regular speech and scolded on his regular subjects. That he was not considered seriously by all the inhabitants was not due to any lack of earnestness on his part. The author of the poetical reply has not yet been ascertained. Suspicion, however, points to Richard Waldron. The handwriting resembles his, but cannot be certainly identified.

During the first century of the life of the province no family was more prominent or carried a larger influence in the public affairs of New Hampshire than the Waldrons. Whatever may be said of peculiar characteristics which were displayed by some members of the family, the early Waldrons were, as a rule, strong, hard-headed pioneers, the type of men most needed in subduing a hostile wilderness. Later generations became wealthy, and wealth brought to them education and refinement, as brains brought distinction, both civil and military.

Secretary Richard Waldron, whom we assume to be the author of the reply to Governor Belcher’s message, was the son of Richard, and grandson of Major Richard, who was killed by the Indians at Dover in 1689, and was born Feb. 21, 1693–4. He was graduated from Harvard in 1712, and soon removed from Dover to Portsmouth. He was a member of the Governor’s council, Secretary of the province, and Judge of Probate. It is to the burning of his house in 1736 that we may charge a considerable loss of the early New Hampshire archives and records, and the breaks in the records which were thus created are serious obstacles to the historian of the present day.

The friendship of Governor Belcher kept Waldron in his office of Secretary until the end of the Belcher administration, but Governor Wentworth suspended him from the council, and removed him from the offices of Secretary and Judge of Probate. In 1749 he was elected Speaker of the House, which the Governor refused to allow, and a controversy was created which lasted three years. He died soon after, August 23, 1753.

The original manuscript of his “Scrub Poetry” is on file with the Governors’ messages in the archives in the office of the Secretary of State at Concord, N. H.

On the second day of January, 1733–4, the governor thus addressed the Council and House of Representatives:

Gen^t of the Council & House of Representatives.

By the last ships from London I have received an account of the French King’s Declaring War against the Empe^r of Germany with whome his Brittanick Maj^tie is in alliance & how far this unhappy Rupture may lead to a Gen^ll War in Europe is uncertaine, however I think it a faire Alarm to all his Maj^ties Dominions to put themselves in a Posture of defence & you cannot but be sensible how naked & Exposed this Province is both by Sea and Land. Fort William & Mary at the Entrance of this River (the only Fortifications his Maj^tie has in this Province) you know Lyes in a miserable condition nor are you ignorant how often I have prest the Repaire of this Fortress upon the Assembly here altho it has forty Guns yet it has for a long time had only a Capt a Gunner and two Centinels belonging to it. I hope your own Safety as well as his Maj^ties Hon^r (at this Critical juncture) will put you upon doing what is absolutely necessary in this Important affaire.

I have Gen^t frequent Complaints of the ruinous condition of the Gaole of the Province which will Require a large Repaire or Rather Rebuilding as soone as may be their being Continual Hazards of Escapes thro’ its present Deficiency.

Gen^t of the House of Representative.

you very well know there has been no money in the Treasury of the Province for neare three years past which has greatly Exposed and dishon^d the Kings Goverm^t and has been a Publick Injustice & oppression—this with the threatening Aspect abroad (I have no doubt) will lead you to make Ample Provision for what I have now mentioned as well as for all the other Exigencies of the Goverm^t.

Gen^t of the Council, & House of Representatives.

Upon my meeting of the Ass^m of the Mass^ts Bay in April last I earnestly recommended to them the passing an Order (agreeable to what had been done in this Province) for putting a stop (at present) to any process in the Law ag^t the Borderers on the disputed Lines of the two Provinces. But the Publick Prints have long Since told you it had not the desired Success.

In January Last, I wrote verry fully to the Right Hon^ble the Lords of Trade praying them to Represent this long unhappy Dispute to his Maj^tie that there might be an End put to the Contention to which letter I have rec^d the Hon^r of their Lordships Answer, Saying they hope upon the return of my answer to their Letter no further delay may be occasioned to the accomplishing a matter of so much advantage to both Provinces and my answer to their Lordships Letter is Long Since gone forward and I shall rejoyce in Seeing this troublesome affaire bro^t to a happy conclusion.

Gen^t In whatsoever you can project for his Maj^ties Hon^r & Service and for the Prosperity of his good Subjects in this Province you Shall have my hearty assistance and Consent.

Jan^r 1^t 1733–4.

J. Belcher.

The reply in rhyme is found to follow very closely the official and more dignified document which was presented to the Governor, and is probably a versification of the prose message done for the amusement of the writer only, and never intended for the Governor’s ear. It is endorsed “Ans^r to y^e Gov^rs Speech Jan^y 1733–4. Scrub Poetry.”

PUNCH TO SHEARBACK

Good Sir, what fatall Dreadful things

The proclamation of French King’s

War ’gainst Emperour of Germany

May bring upon this new Country!

And Else how far it may effect

Tranquility of Europe great,

Approaching time must only speak.

But, Sir, great Britain, wee do hope

And other powers of Europe,

By prudent Mediation, may

Divert unto another day

Th’ alarming noise of cruell War,

With which wee so frightened are,

And then conclude a happy peace,

That war & war’s alarms may cease.

And this wee do believe full well,

Because, Great Sir, you did not tell

In Speech to us you lately made

The advise came from Board of Trade.

For surely wee do apprehend

That they would forward to us send

There timely wise Direction,

If of war they had Conception.[^[2]]

If with such sums wee should Supply

The present wants of Treasury,

As wee do Judge Sufficient are,

The Walls & Towers to repair

Of Old Fort William and Mary,

And to pay poor Jos. & Harry;

If wee the Prison should rebuild,

Our promises not yet fulfill’d,

Together with the gen’rall Tax

Already laid by sev’ral Acts

For repaying and for drownding,

For Sinking & for Confounding

Money borrowed heretofore,

When Indians bad in Days of yore,

Like Dastard sons of Swarthy whore,

Proclaim’d a sad Unnatural War;

These things (if wee are right) wee Count,

To Sums so large would sure amount,

As Constable would not be able,

On Poles[^[3]] & ’states (O Lamentable)

Of Subjects good of Majesty,

To gather in a Subsidy.

And such an Act would surely be

A great and sore Calamity,

And war itself by far outvye.

Which, should this house be Instrumental in,

It would not only much dishonour King,

But of Oppression be a peice,

And savour much of Injustice;

And wee presume you well do know

Peices this House are strangers to.

And to prevent such Imputations,

Wee once did, in December Sessions,[^[4]]

An act pass for the Emitting

Pounds Six thousand paper bills in,

To repair William and Mary,

Treasury also to supply,

Which did both houses pass, ’tis said,

With the act which Courts Removed

From Portsmouth, O Unhappy Mischance!

To Towns from us a greater Distance.

And to say truth, O strange mistake!

Wee thought one Common happy fate

Would both these Laws attend,

And money stand poor Portsmouth Friend.

But your Excellence approved

That the Courts should be removed,

And the poor Ready money Act

Was into Breeches pocket clapt

Till pleasure of his Majesty

Be known to your Excellency,

Since which three Years are gon & past,

And yet this Act doth hang an Arse.

This House hath also often, too,

Made Estimate exact & true

Of province Debts, as well as Creditt,

(And being in debt have never paid it).

Into the Treasury wee voted

That what was due should be transported,

For to pay of the claims of Many,

Tho’ wee design’d not to pay any;

Which being sent down Non concur’d,

A written Message did Afford,

(And by the way a strange one, too).

[An explanation here seems necessary, beyond the possibilities of a foot-note.

March 6, 1732–3, the House passed a bill for emitting £20,000 in paper money. The province was much in debt on account of Indian warfare, repairing and maintaining fortifications, etc., and provision for payment of this debt had been made by heavy taxes to continue annually until 1742. But money was very scarce, and the House considered that the people would be unable to pay the taxes laid upon them for the want of a proper medium. Therefore this £20,000 was to be placed in the hands of a committee, to be loaned to the people at 5% interest for sixteen years, and the principal of each loan was to be paid at the rate of 25% each year for the four years next following the term of sixteen years for which the loan was made. And for the supply of the treasury for the time before the first interest payment was due, a further sum of £1,000 was to be issued. The council, however, was unanimous in refusing to concur with the House on this bill.

The House attempted to bring about a compromise by reducing the loan term to eight years and by other changes in the original bill, but was not successful, the Governor claiming that the approval of such a bill would be contrary to his instructions.

Finally, March 9, the House addressed a message to the Governor, in which the council is charged with saying that the House had nothing to do with the matter of issuing money; and the House further defends its action and position thus: “Now this House thinks they have and ought to have a vote in the disposall of all Publick money and that the Board were formerly of this opinion appears by their Sending down Mr. Atkinson’s account to be past upon in the last Sessions. So that, that money is Still unapplyed notwithstanding the Said Atkinson hath declared his readiness to pay the Same. So that the House can See no other way of Supplying the Treasury without oppressing the People whome we Represent than what they have come into. Wherefore this House are humbly of opinion that it will greatly tend to the Prosperity and welfare of his Maj^ties Subjects of this Province to address his Maj^tie by the hand of our agent to obtaine his Royall leave for a further Emission of Paper Currency more Especially Since your Excell^y has informed this House that you cant consent to. It being contrary to his Maj^ties Royal Instruction to your Excell^y and if the Hon^ble Council Should think proper to appoint a com’ittee to Joyne with a Com’ittee of this House for the Ends aforesaid we are humbly of Opinion it would be attended with the desired effect.”

The next day, March 10, the council sent down a sharp and angry reply, as follows:

“Whereas in a Mess^a from the Hon^ble House to his Excellency the forenoon bearing date the 9th Curr^t & Sent up this day and communicated to the Council There are Sundry things mentioned which Seem to cast an Odium on the Council as tho it lay at their door that there is not a due Supply of the Treasury to which the Council in justice to themselves are oblidged to Say that the reason of their non-concurrence to the 20000£ Bills on Loan was (as the House has been Heretofore once and againe Informed) because the Emission of Bills on Loan is directly contrary to his Maj^tie Royal Instructions And as to the thousand pounds Mentioned for the im’ediate Supply of the Treasury it was couched in the Twenty thousand pound Bills from whence tis plaine that the House never intended one Should pass without the other but that if the thousand pounds for the Supply of the Treasury would not tempt the Council to break this the Kings Instruction their complyance with the Kings Instruction Should defeat the Supply of the Treasury but if they had a Sincere disposition to Supply the Treasury as they pretended and Sent up a Bill for the Same they would have soon seen the heartiness of the Council in doing their Duty to his Maj^tie and the utmost Justice to this Province by the rediest concurrence as to the Interest of the 1730£ the Council have been long Endeavouring that that Loan Might by some means or other be beneficial to the Publick Tho to their great grief by the disappointment of their attempts in the Honb^ble House Private psons have enjoyed the benefit of that money at 2½ p Ct when there have been many that would gladly have given more than double yea treble for the same if they might have been favoured with it and the Council have this day Sent down a vote for the Setting that Loan at 6 p C^t for 2 years instead of 2½ p Ct in order to Ease the Tax of the Province which has at last Succeeded as to the Money in Mr. Atkinsons hands which he recd of Hughs’s Estate long agoe and which ought for Several years past to have been in the Treasury the Council presume his Excell^y will take a due Care that that £292 Ball^ce Settled under his hands be paid by a Course of Law Since there is no prospect of its being done without it even after So much indulgence to him who has been So notoriously delinquent to the vast dishon^r of the Goverm^t & unspeakable oppression of Sundry poor distressed Creatures to whome the Province is indebted—as to the Houses Saying they ought to have a vote in the Disposal of the Publick Money the Council Reply when they the Council think proper to deny that Point in Politicks it will be time En^o for them to form an argum^t against it but that is not yet got unto the Question for saying the House of Representatives have nothing to do with a Confiscation or a forfeiture to his Maj^tie by a Judgm^t in Court Is not Saying the House have nothing to do with the disposal of Publick Money unless it [is] So by some Logick in the House w^ch the Council have not Learn’d—As to Mr. Atkinsons declaration of his readiness to pay the Money in his hands what is there in it did he not declare heretofore even in the House and most Solemnly at the Council Board too that he would pay part of his Debt at Such a time and the Residue in a Short Space after & are not the terms long Since Expired But are the paym^ts made let the Treasurers accounts answer which Say no not one penny why then Gen^t Should you trouble your Selves in making Such a mess^a & boasting of Such declarations the Council might further verry well observe too that the Scheme of the House for an audit to be appointed by the Gen^ll Court to Examine a Sheriffs Return of an Execution is intirely new however is a full Evidence that the House have been much bent on trifling as to what the House propose of the Councils Joyning with them in addressing his majesty by the hand of our our agent as they express it) &c the Council Say they know of no Person So qualified But if the House mean Cap^t John Rindge, Marriner then they answer That when it appears to them that his Capacity & other Quallifications are Equal to Such a Trust & he is hon^d with a Comissⁿ for that place the Council will readyly do w^t is proper on those heads.”]

They say the House had nought to do

With money to the province due,

And by which means that Money

Still is out of Treasury,

As also is the Interest

(As some do say who know it best)

Of pounds more than seventeen hundred,

And is not this much to be wondred,

Which the verry last assembly

Voted into the Treasury.

And if any wicked elf

Refused, for the sake of pelf,

To pay the Interest then due,

Also his Bonds for to renew,

Then Speaker he the Bonds must see,

And Borrower to Hampton send,

His Destiny there to attend.

Butt, Oh! when Mortals most are pleas’d,

How Subject are they to be Teaz’d!

The house disolv’d,[^[5]] the Speakers gone,

And none the Affair can carry on,

Which to the province, and to us,

Has been occasion of much loss.

And this wee hope will imputation

Of Injustice or Oppression

Take from a Guilty Generation,

And so Confirm the good Opinion

You express’d towards us whilome,

By saying that wee always acted

What a good and gracious King expected,

A Charracter wee always merritted,

And so shall never be Dispirritted.

Wee think it then our Duty is

His Majesty for to address,

That wee may Cash sometimes Emitt,

(You know ’tis Money that buys wit),

Upon this province’s Credit.

And so wee hope for the Concurrence

Of the Council & Your Excellence.

Of the house you do receive the Thanks

For telling of the Circumstance

Of Borderers on line distressed,[^[6]]

And staying process ’gainst th’ Oppressed,

Unto your other Government,

Tho’ what you said had no Effect.

Some of these towns, being offended,

Money at Law have much expended.

And is not this a Dismal sound?

Some say ’tis full a thousand pound,

Besides there time and loss of Ground.

But this, by what in yours you said,

And the Success our agent[^[7]] had,

When at great Britain he resided,

Gives hopes that soon ’twill be decided.

For Copy, wee do Understand,

Of Memoriall from the Land.

From King and Council hath been sent

To Massachusetts Government

For answer, (if wee right remember),

By the first day of Last November.

After which wee dare boldly say

Wee hope there will be no Delay.

Wee beg leave to tell you next,

That wee are met with good pretext,

Such things Determined to act

As C——k May in our Noddles pack;

Which wee conceive was the Intent

Of those whom we do represent—

Otis G. Hammond.

Concord, N. H.

HAS GOVERNOR LOVELACE OF NEW YORK BEEN PROPERLY IDENTIFIED?

I am not sufficiently acquainted with the details of historical investigation in New York to know whether there has ever been any doubt as to the identity (or rather the family) of Governor Lovelace; but I presume that the Dictionary of National Biography gives the generally accepted account when it states that he was the second son of Richard, first Baron Lovelace.

Recently the examination of some old documents has led me to the belief that the Governor of New York was of a much more distinguished kinship than that which has been usually assigned to him. To most of us the Lords Lovelace are only known by a passing reference in Macaulay; but the author of the two songs to Althea and Lucasta is one of the immortals.

In a volume in the Congressional Library, which was bought from President Jefferson and which contains copies of miscellaneous historical records relating to Virginia, are two documents signed by Francis Lovelace, Governor of New York.

The first of these is a letter evidently written to Governor Berkeley of Virginia. It is as follows:

“Deare Sir:

Since my last to you sent by M^r Machen in answere to yo^rs I received a letter from Mr. Tho: Todd of Mockjack bay who being appointed Guardian to the will Whitbey’s son by my neece M^rs Ruth Gorsuch he having hitherto taken great care and paines in the adjusting his interest in severall plantations being devolve to him by the death of his father M^r Tod desired me to signify to you that this lad I have brought over is the recitable child, and heare to M^r Whitby w^ch by these I declare to be soe and if you be satisfyed w^th this relacon w^ch I assure you upon the faith of a Xtian and Honor of a gentleman you may rest assured of it but if the Ceremony of an oath be requisite, I shalbe ready (if desired as necessary) to make my Deposicon of it, and I shall furt^r desire of you that when an application is made to you in his behalfe you would affourd him what favo^r and Countenance the Justness of his Cause & p^rtentions will beare he is now an orphant & I have been at considerable charge both to his transport education & clothing expecting noe other retorne but when he is in a capacity to make it onely to reimburse me with what I have expended for him, S^r I know his cause is safe in yo^r hands to whome I must refer him & the experience all that know you have of yo^r Justice & Compan * * [?] in p’tecting the fatherles shalbe argum^ts sufficient that I shall not miscarry in these my desires for him in gratitude of w^ch I can pay noe other returne but if you please to prepare any service for me you shall find me most ready to obey it when you reflect upon what I subscribe w^ch is

Yo^r most assured fathfull serv^t

Fran: Lovelace.

From y^e Barbadoes I hear yo^r Bro: Ld Berkeley is designed to be Governor but the truth I refer to your Consideracon. M^r Winthrop Newley sent me This newes w^ch here inclosed will kisse yo^r hands adue

Jeames ffort 6^th Decemb^r