THE

Bay State Monthly

A Massachusetts Magazine

OF

LITERATURE, HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, AND STATE PROGRESS



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VOLUME II

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BOSTON JOHN N. McCLINTOCK AND COMPANY PUBLISHERS No. 31 MILK STREET 1885



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1885, by John N. McClintock and Company, in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. All rights reserved.



CONTENTS OF VOLUME II.

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Ames, Lieutenant Governor Oliver James W. Clarke, A.M. 185 Bartholdi Colossus William Howe Downes 153 Battle of Shiloh General Henry B. Carrington 330, 367 Bermuda Islands, Early History of James H. Stark 277 Blaine, James Gillespie 1 Boston, Taverns of in Ye Olden Time David M. Balfour 106 Boston Herald 22 Our National Cemeteries Charles Cowley. LL.D. 58 Cleveland, Grover Henry H. Metcalf 61 Cleveland, Grover, and The Roman Catholic Protectory Charles Cowley, LL.D. 243 Dark Day Elbridge H. Goss 254 Easy Chair Elbridge H. Goss 306 Editor's Table 120 Elizabeth: A Romance of Francis C. Sparhawk Colonial Days 82, 159, 236, 296, 375 Fitchburg, Historical Sketch of Ebenezer Bailey 226 Fitchburg in 1885 Atherton P. Mason, M.D. 341 Gaston William Arthur P. Dodge 245 Gems from the Easy Chair 372 Glorifying Trial by Jury Charles Cowley, LL.D. 82 Gold, Past and Future of David M. Balfour 359 Groton, Boundary Lines of Old—III IV Hon. Samuel Abbott Green, M.D. 12, 69 Lancaster, Historical Sketch of Hon. Henry S. Nourse 261 Lee, William George L. Austin, M.D. 309 Lothrop, Daniel John N. McClintock, A.M. (Illustrated) 121 Middlesex Canal Lorin L. Dame, A.M. 96 Names and Nicknames Gilbert Nash 255 National Bank Failures George H. Wood 373 New England Conservatory of Music Mrs. M.J. Davis (Illustrated) 132 Phillips, Wendell 306 Pittsfield, Historical Sketch of Frank W. Kaan (Illustrated) 193 Protection of Children Ernest Nusse 89 Publishers Department—Chromo— Lithography 89, 174 Robinson, George Dexter Fred W. Webber, A.M. 177 Rogers, Robert, the Ranger Joseph B. Walker 211 Reuben Tracy's Vacation Trips. II. Elizabeth Porter Gould 368 Saugus, Historical Sketch of E.P. Robinson (Illustrated) 140 Shepard, Charles A.B. George L. Austin, M.D. 312, 316 Summer on the Great lakes, A Fred. Myron Colby 42 Sunday Travel and the Law Chester F. Sanger 231 Wachusett Mountain and Princeton Atherton P. Mason 35 Webster, Daniel, Reminiscences of Hon. George W. Nesmith, LL.D. 252 Wallace, Hon. Rodney Rev. S. Leroy Blake, D.D. 317

POETRY.

A Glimpse Mary H. Wheeler 276 Fitchburg Mrs. Caroline A. Mason 328 Heart and I Mary Helen Boodey 295 My Mountain Home William C. Sturoc 366 Roused From Dreams Adelaide Cilley Waldron 225 Sails 81 Washington and the Flag Henry B. Carrington 41

STEEL ENGRAVINGS.

James G. Blaine 1 Grover Cleveland 61 Daniel Lothrop 121 George D. Robinson 177 Oliver Ames 185 William Gaston 245 William Lee 309 Charles A.B. Shepard 313 Rodney Wallace 317

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THE BAY STATE MONTHLY.

A Massachusetts Magazine.

VOL. II. OCTOBER, 1884. No. 1.

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JAMES GILLESPIE BLAINE.

In the long list of illustrious men who have held the high office of President of the United States, a few names stand out with such prominence as to be constantly before the American people. While Adams, Jefferson, Monroe, Jackson, Grant, and others, did the country service that never will be forgotten, it is indisputable that Washington, Lincoln, and Garfield gained a firmer hold upon the confidence and affection of the masses than any others. And now, as we approach another presidential campaign, the result of which is to place in the highest office of the nation a new man, it is alike a source of pride and satisfaction that the Republican party has put in nomination a man, who, if elected, will bring to the discharge of his duties as high a degree of honesty as Washington, as thorough an acquaintance with human nature as Lincoln, and as profound a knowledge of political economy as Garfield. Through all the years of his manhood he has been a central figure in American politics, and his achievements are indelibly written on almost every page of American history for the last quarter of a century. With such a man as a candidate the country may well congratulate itself that if he proves to be the choice of the majority he will, by his ability and experience, bring as great renown to the office as any of his predecessors, and that under his guidance the material prosperity and intellectual growth of the nation will be such as to gain for his administration great popular favor, the admiration of his friends, and the respect of all nations.

James Gillespie Blaine, the nominee of the Republican party for President of the United States, was born on January 31, 1830, in Washington County, in the southwestern corner of Pennsylvania, in West Brownsville, a village on the west bank of the Monongahela. Here Neil Gillespie, before the British army left America at the close of the Revolution, had established his family, purchasing the land of the Indians. Nearly twenty years later the Blaines came from Carlisle, seeking investment and development in this new West, and the father of James G. Blaine, who had left Carlisle when a child, married the daughter of Neil Gillespie the second.

The first of the Blaine family of whom much is known was Colonel Ephraim Blaine, who lived at Chester, and in the Revolution was purveyor-general of the Pennsylvania troops, and incidentally of the whole Revolutionary array. He married Rebekah Galbraith in 1765. Elaine is a well-known Scotch name. Galbraith and Gillespie are Scotch-Irish; in fact, the ancestors of James G. Blaine were nearly all Scotch and Irish. It is a circumstance worthy of comment that Blaine comes from a stock which has furnished the United States with many of her ablest public men, notably among them being Andrew Jackson and Horace Greeley.

Colonel Ephraim Blaine had two sons named Robert and James, and each of these sons named his son for Colonel Ephraim Blaine. Old Ephraim Blaine did not leave his property to his sons, but to these two grandsons, (1) Ephraim, who remained in Carlisle, and (2) Ephraim Lyon Blaine, who grew up in western Pennsylvania. Ephraim Lyon Blaine was named for his mother, Miss Lyon, the daughter of Samuel Lyon from about Carlisle. Ephraim Lyon Blaine married Miss Gillespie, a devout member of the Roman Catholic Church, but most of their seven children—five boys and two girls—adhered to the traditional faith of the Blaines. The second of these sons, James Gillespie Blaine, is the subject of this sketch. He would have inherited large blended fortunes, had not his father, like his grandfather, been a spendthrift. Therefore, soon after James G. Blaine was born his parents had to move out of the big house which they could no longer keep up, and occupy a frame-house called the Pringle dwelling, also in West Brownsville, about a quarter of a mile distant. Here young Elaine lived and went to school both in Brownsville and in West Brownsville, until his father was elected prothonotary of the county, in 1843, when the whole family removed to Little Washington, twenty-four miles distant.

James G. entered Washington College in 1843, being then thirteen years of age, and became at once prominent as a scholar among the two or three hundred other lads from all parts of the country. He was also a leader in athletic sports. He was not a bookworm, but he was a close student and possessed the happy faculty of assimilating knowledge from books and tutors far more easily and quickly than most of his fellows. In debating-societies he held his own well, and was conspicuous by his ability to control and direct others.

After leaving college young Blaine started for Kentucky to carve out his own fortune. He went to Blue Lick Springs and became a professor in the Western Military Institute, in which there were about four hundred and fifty boys. A retired officer who was a student there at the time relates that Professor Blaine was a thin, handsome, earnest young man, with the same fascinating manners he has now. He was popular with the boys, who trusted him and made friends with him from the first. He knew the given name of every one, and he knew his shortcomings and his strong points. He was a man of great personal courage, and during a fight between the faculty of the school and the owners of the springs, involving some questions about the removal of the school, he behaved in the bravest manner, fighting hard but keeping cool. Revolvers and knives were freely used, but Blaine only used his well-disciplined muscle. Colonel Thornton F. Johnson was the principal of the school, and his wife had a young ladies' school at Millersburg, twenty miles distant. There Blaine met Miss Harriet Stanwood, who subsequently became his wife. She was a Maine girl of excellent family sent to Kentucky to be educated.

After teaching for a while Blaine left Kentucky and went to Philadelphia to study law. While there he taught for a short time at the blind asylum and also wrote for the newspapers. He soon, however, was irresistibly attracted to the State of Maine, and left his native State for a home in the community with which his name is now indissolubly connected. It is somewhat remarkable that this ambitious young man should have gone East instead of West, choosing a State which the young men were fast leaving—one whose population in the last forty years has increased very little. He is, indeed, almost the only man who has gone East in the last half-century and risen to any prominence.

Mr. Blaine went to Maine in 1853, and soon afterward married Miss Stanwood, whose family are well known in New England. Through their influence he soon found an occupation in journalism, and until 1860 was actively engaged in editing at different times the Kennebec Journal and the Portland Daily Advertiser. He retained a part ownership in the Kennebec Journal until it began to hamper him in his political career, and then he sold out. A friend has said of him as a journalist: "I have often thought that a great editor, as great perhaps as Horace Greeley, was lost when Mr. Blaine went into politics. He possesses all the qualities of a great journalist: he has a phenomenal memory; he remembers circumstances, dates, names, and places more readily than any other man I ever met."

Wielding a strong, vigorous, aggressive pen, Mr. Blaine soon made its power felt among politicians. He went to Maine at a time when the Whig and Democratic parties were breaking up. Previous to 1854 the Democratic party had governed the State for a quarter of a century, but its power was broken in the September election of that year, through a temporary union of the anti-slavery and temperance elements. In 1855 the different wings of the new party were well consolidated, and in the famous Fremont campaign of 1856 they carried the State, electing Hannibal Hamlin governor by twenty-four thousand majority. Mr. Blaine, during all these exciting times, did not by any means confine himself to writing political leaders. He took an active part in politics, attending Republican meetings throughout the State, and soon made himself one of the recognized Republican leaders in Maine. Of this period of his career, the late Governor Kent, of Maine, who himself stood in the front rank of public men in his State, once wrote as follows:—

"Almost from the day of his assuming editorial charge of the Kennebec Journal, at the early age of twenty-three, Mr. Elaine sprang into a position of great influence in the politics and policy of Maine. At twenty-five he was a leading power in the councils of the Republican party, so recognized by Fessenden, Hamlin, the two Morrills, and others, then, and still, prominent in the State. Before he was twenty-nine he was chosen chairman of the executive committee of the Republican organization in Maine—a position he has held ever since, and from which he has practically shaped and directed every political campaign in the State, always leading his party to brilliant victory. Had Mr. Blaine been New-England born, he would probably not have received such rapid advancement at so early an age, even with the same ability he possessed. But there was a sort of Western dash about him that took with us Down-Easters; an expression of frankness, candor, and confidence, that gave him from the start a very strong and permanent hold on our people, and, as the foundation of all, a pure character and a masterly ability equal to all demands made upon him."

Mr. Blaine's early political addresses, and especially the ability which he displayed in them as a debater, won him great local reputation, and, during the Fremont campaign, he achieved a distinction as a speaker which insured him a seat in the Legislature, in 1858, though he was not yet thirty years of age and had been but five years in his adopted State. The ability which he displayed as a legislator was so marked that his constituents returned him four years in succession, and the Legislature, recognizing his talents, elected him speaker in 1860 and 1861, a rare honor for so young a man. As a presiding officer he displayed those fine qualifications which afterward made him one of the most brilliant of the long line of able men who have occupied the speaker's chair in the National House of Representatives.

By this time Mr. Blaine had become a professional politician. In other words he had given up all other occupations and made politics his sole employment. This is a fact worthy of serious consideration, for few men in this country have avowedly chosen politics as a calling and succeeded in it as James G. Blaine has succeeded. Most of our statesmen, like Webster and Lincoln, have been eminent lawyers. Blaine studied law thoroughly, but never applied for admission at the bar. Some, like Greeley, have been eminent journalists. Blaine made journalism merely a means to an end, discarding it as soon as it had served his purpose. Blaine has made a systematic and thorough study of politics and political affairs. Constitutional history and international law he made it his business to master. Above all, he has studied men, has learned by careful observation how to handle, to mould, to use his fellow-beings. No man in America to-day is more learned in everything pertaining to the science of statesmanship than James G. Blaine. It is the fashion in this country to decry professional politicians, to uphold the doctrine that the office should seek the man and not the man the office. Yet there can be no more honorable profession than the service of one's country, and surely no man should be blamed for fitting himself for that service as thoroughly and as carefully as for any other profession.

A man of Mr. Blaine's ability, of his rare knowledge of parliamentary usages, and, above all, of his ambitions, was not likely to remain long content with the position of a representative in the State Legislature. As early as 1859 he had an ambition to go to Congress, and he was talked of as a candidate in 1860. But Anson P. Morrill was nominated, Mr. Blaine not having strength enough to obtain the honor. In 1862 Mr. Blaine was nominated to the office, although he was not then so desirous of it as he had been two years before. His patriotic utterances in the convention which nominated him met with a hearty response, and he was elected over his Democratic competitor by the largest majority that had ever been given in his district, it exceeding three thousand. This majority he held in six succeeding and consecutive elections, running it up in one exciting contest to nearly four thousand.

During his first term in Congress Mr. Blaine gave himself up to study and observation, but in the next Congress, the Thirty-ninth, he gained some prominence, and from that time to the end of his congressional career he occupied a foremost place among the Republican leaders. His reputation was that of an exceedingly industrious committeeman. He was a member of the post-office and military committees, and of the committees on appropriations and rules. He paid close attention to the business of the committees, and took an active part in the debates of the House, manifesting practical ability and genius for details. The first remarkable speech which he made in Congress was on the subject of the assumption by the general government of the war debts of the States, in the course of which he urged that the North was abundantly able to carry on the war to a successful issue. This vigorous speech attracted so much attention that two hundred thousand copies of it were circulated in 1864 as a campaign document by the Republican party. In the winter of 1865-66 Mr. Blaine was very energetic in promoting the passage of reconstruction measures. In the early part of 1866 he proposed a resolution which finally became the basis of that part of the fourteenth amendment relating to congressional representation. In the second session of the Thirty-ninth Congress he also distinguished himself by the "Blaine amendment" to the military bill, which was universally discussed in the public press of the day.

In 1867 Mr. Blaine made a trip to Europe, returning in time to fight against the greenback heresy, of which he was the foremost opponent. In December he made an elaborate speech on the finances, in which he analyzed Mr. Pendleton's greenback theory. "The remedy for our financial troubles," said he, "will not be found in a superabundance of depreciated paper currency. It lies in the opposite direction, and the sooner the nation finds itself on a specie basis the sooner will the public treasury be freed from embarrassment and private business be relieved from discouragement. Instead, therefore, of entering upon a reckless and boundless issue of legal tenders, with their constant depreciation, if not destruction, of value, let us set resolutely to work and make those already in circulation equal to so many gold dollars."

This was the last great question in the discussion of which Mr. Blaine took part on the floor of the House, his colleagues in 1869 electing him to the office of speaker, vacated by the promotion of Schuyler Colfax to the vice-presidency. The vote stood one hundred and thirty-five votes for Blaine to fifty-seven for Kerr, of Indiana. Mr. Blaine proved himself eminently fitted for the position. As a speaker he may be classed with Henry Clay and General Banks, who are acknowledged to have been the best speakers we have ever had. Blaine was their equal in every respect. The whole force of such a statement as this cannot be felt unless it is fully understood that the speaker of the House of Representatives stands next to the President in power and importance in the United States. The business of Congress is done largely by committees, and the committees of the House are appointed and shaped by the speaker. Then, to say that Blaine was one of our three ablest speakers is to say a great deal, for a long line of very able men have filled the speaker's chair. His quickness, his thorough knowledge of parliamentary law and of the rules, his firmness, clear voice, impressive manner, his ready comprehension of subjects and situations, and his dash and brilliancy, really made him a great presiding officer. He rose to a high place not only in the estimation of his Republican friends, but also of his Democratic opponents, and he was re-elected to the speakership in 1871 and again in 1873. In 1875, the Democratic majority took control, and Mr. Blaine resumed his place on the floor to win fresh laurels as a debater, and to discomfit the majority in many a projected scheme which his quick eye detected and his ready words exposed.

The governor of Maine, on the tenth of July, 1876, appointed Mr. Blaine to the national Senate, in place of Mr. Morrill, who had resigned to become secretary of the treasury. He was afterward elected for the unexpired term and the full term following. On his appointment he wrote to his constituents thus:—

Beginning with 1862, you have, by continuous elections, sent me as your representative to the Congress of the United States. For such marked confidence, I have endeavored to return the most zealous and devoted service in my power, and it is certainly not without a feeling of pain that I now surrender a trust by which I have always felt so signally honored. It has been my boast, in public and in private, that no man on the floor of Congress ever represented a constituency more distinguished for intelligence, for patriotism, for public and personal virtue. The cordial support you have so uniformly given me through these fourteen eventful years is the chief honor of my life. In closing the intimate relations I have so long held with the people of this district, it is a great satisfaction to me to know that with returning health I shall enter upon a field of duty in which I can still serve them in common with the larger constituency of which they form a part.

While in the Senate Mr. Blaine advocated the Chinese immigration bill, and opposed the electoral commission and Bland silver legislation. Here, as throughout his political career, he was never on the fence on any question. His position has always been clear and he has always taken strong grounds.

Mr. Elaine was a candidate for the presidential nomination in 1876, and came within twenty-seven votes of being successful. His vote increased from two hundred and ninety-one on the first ballot to three hundred and fifty-one on the seventh, but he was beaten by a combination against him of the delegates supporting Morton, Conkling, Hartranft, Bristow, and Hayes, who united upon Hayes, and made him the nominee. He was also one of the leading candidates for the presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention in Chicago, in June, 1880. Out of a total of seven hundred and fifty-five he received, on the first ballot, two hundred and eighty-four votes. On the thirteenth and fourteenth ballots he received his highest vote, two hundred and eighty-five, which very gradually declined to two hundred and fifty-seven on the thirty-fifth ballot. On the thirty-sixth ballot General Garfield was nominated by a combination of the elements opposed to General Grant and a third term. As before, Mr. Blaine yielded to the inevitable, remaining true to his party principles, and contributing his aid to the election of James A. Garfield.

When President Garfield made up his Cabinet he offered Mr. Blaine the control of the state department. This is how Mr. Blaine accepted the offer:

WASHINGTON, December 20, 1880.

My dear Garfield,—Your generous invitation to enter your Cabinet as secretary of state has been under consideration for more than three weeks. The thought had really never occurred to my mind until, at our late conference, you presented it with such cogent arguments in its favor, and with such warmth of personal friendship in aid of your kind offer. I know that an early answer is desirable, and I have waited only long enough to consider the subject in all its bearings, and to make up my mind, definitely and conclusively. I now say to you, in the same cordial spirit in which you have invited me, that I accept the position. It is no affectation for me to add that I make this decision, not for the honor of the promotion it gives me in the public service, but because I think I can be useful to the country and to the party; useful to you as the responsible leader of the party and the great head of the government. I am influenced somewhat, perhaps, by the shower of letters I have received urging me to accept, written to me in consequence of the mere unauthorized newspaper report that you had been pleased to offer me the place. While I have received these letters from all sections of the Union, I have been especially pleased, and even surprised, at the cordial and widely extended feeling in my favor throughout New England, where I had expected to encounter local jealousy and, perhaps, rival aspiration.

In our new relation I shall give all that I am and all that I can hope to be, freely and joyfully, to your service. You need no pledge of my loyalty in heart and in act. I should be false to myself did I not prove true both to the great trust you confide to me and to your own personal and political fortunes in the present and in the future. Your administration must be made brilliantly successful and strong in the confidence and pride of the people, not at all directing its energies for re-election, and yet compelling that result by the logic of events and by the imperious necessities of the situation. To that most desirable consummation I feel that, next to yourself, I can possibly contribute as much influence as any other one man. I say this not from egotism or vainglory, but merely as a deduction from a plain analysis of the political forces which have been at work in the country for five years past, and which have been significantly shown in two great national conventions. I accept it as one of the happiest circumstances connected with this affair that in allying my political fortunes with yours—or, rather, for the time merging mine in yours—my heart goes with my head, and that I carry to you not only political support, but personal and devoted friendship. I can but regard it as somewhat remarkable that two men of the same age, entering Congress at the same time, influenced by the same aims and cherishing the same ambitions, should never, for a single moment in eighteen years of close intimacy, have had a misunderstanding or a coolness, and that our friendship has steadily grown with our growth and strengthened with our strength. It is this fact which has led me to the conclusion embodied in this letter; for however much, my dear Garfield, I might admire you as a statesman, I would not enter your Cabinet if I did not believe in you as a man and love you as a friend. Always faithfully yours,

JAMES G. BLAINE.

Mr. Blaine's diplomatic career began with his appointment as secretary of state on March 5, 1881, and ended with his resignation on December 19, three months after President Garfield's death. The two principal objects of his foreign policy, as defined by himself on September 1, 1882, were these: "First, to bring about peace, and prevent future wars in North and South America; second, to cultivate such friendly commercial relations with all American countries as would lead to a large increase in the export trade of the United States, by supplying those fabrics in which we are abundantly able to compete with the manufacturing nations of Europe." President Garfield, in his inaugural address, had repeated the declaration of his predecessor that it was "the right and duty of the United States to assert and maintain such supervision and authority over any interoceanic canal across the isthmus that connects North and South America as will protect our national interests." This policy, which had received the direct approval of Congress, was vigorously upheld by Secretary Blaine. The Colombian Republic had proposed to the European powers to join in a guaranty of the neutrality of the proposed Panama Canal. One of President Garfield's first acts under the advice of Secretary Blaine was to remind the European governments of the exclusive rights which the United States had secured with the country to be traversed by the interoceanic waterway. These exclusive rights rendered the prior guaranty of the United States government indispensable, and the powers were informed that any foreign guaranty would be not only an unnecessary but unfriendly act. As the United States had made, in the Clayton-Bulwer treaty of 1850, a special agreement with Great Britain on this subject, Secretary Blaine supplemented his memorandum to the powers by a formal proposal for the abrogation of all provisions of that convention which were not in accord with the guaranties and privileges covenanted for in the compact with the Colombian Republic. In this state paper, the most elaborate of the series receiving his signature as secretary of state, Mr. Blaine contended that the operation of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty practically conceded to Great Britain the control of any canal which might be constructed in the isthmus, as that power was required, by its insular position and colonial possessions, to maintain a naval establishment with which the United States could not compete. As the American government had bound itself by its engagements in the Clayton-Bulwer treaty not to fight in the isthmus, nor to fortify the mouths of any waterway that might be constructed, the secretary argued that if any struggle for the control of the canal were to arise England would have an advantage at the outset which would prove decisive. "The treaty," he remarked, "commands this government not to use a single regiment of troops to protect its interests in connection with the interoceanic canal, but to surrender the transit to the guardianship and control of the British navy." The logic of this paper was unanswerable from an American point of view.

The war between Chili and Peru had virtually ended with the capture of Lima on January 17, 1881. The state department made strenuous exertions to bring about the conclusion of an early peace between Chili and the two prostrate states which had been crushed in war. The influence of the government was brought to bear upon victorious Chili in the interest of peace and magnanimity; but, owing to an unfortunate misapprehension of Mr. Blaine's instructions, the United States ministers did not promote the ends of peace. Special envoys were accordingly sent to South America, accredited to the three governments, with general instructions which should enable them to bring those belligerent powers into friendly relations. After they had set out from New York Mr. Blaine resigned, and Mr. Frelinghuysen reversed the diplomatic policy with such precipitate haste that the envoys on arriving at their destination were informed by the Chilian minister of foreign affairs that their instructions had been countermanded, and that their mission was an idle farce. By this reversal of diplomatic methods and purposes the influence of the United States government on the South American coast was reduced to so low a point as to become insignificant. Mr. Blaine's policy had been at once strong and pacific. It was followed by a period of no policy, which enabled Chili to make a conqueror's terms with the conquered and to seize as much territory as pleased her rapacious generals.

The most conspicuous act of Mr. Blaine's administration of the state department was his invitation to the peace congress. The proposition was to invite all the independent governments of North and South America to meet in a peace congress at Washington on March 15, 1882. The representatives of all the minor governments on this continent were to agree, if possible, upon some comprehensive plan for averting war by means of arbitration, and for resisting the intrigues of European diplomacy. Invitations were sent on November 22, with the limitations and restrictions originally designed. Mr. Frelinghuysen lost no time in undermining this diplomatic congress, and the meeting never took place.

On the morning of Saturday, July 2, President Garfield was to start from Washington by the morning limited express for New York, en route for New England and a reunion with his old college mates at the Williams College commencement. His secretary of state accompanied him to the train, and has recorded the great, almost boyish, delight with which the President anticipated his holiday. They entered the waiting-room at the station, and a moment later Guiteau's revolver had done its work. The country still vividly remembers the devotion with which the head of the Cabinet watched at the President's bedside, and the calm dignity with which, during those long weeks of suspense, he discharged the painful duties of his position. On September 6 the President was removed from Washington to Elberon, whither he was followed the same day by Mr. Blaine and the rest of the Cabinet. The apparent improvement in the President's condition warranted the belief that he would continue to gain, and Mr. Blaine went for a short rest to his home in Augusta. He was on his way back to Elberon when the fatal moment came, and reached there the next morning. It is the universal testimony of the press and people that, during the weary weeks which intervened between the President's injury and death, Mr. Blaine's every action and constant demeanor were absolutely faultless. Selected by Congress to pronounce a formal eulogy upon President Garfield, Mr. Blaine, on February 19, 1882, before President Arthur and his Cabinet, both Houses of Congress, the Supreme Court, the foreign legations, and an audience of ladies and gentlemen which crowded the Hall of Representatives, delivered a most just, comprehensive, and admirable address upon the martyr's great career and character.

Since his withdrawal from President Arthur's Cabinet and his retirement to private life at Augusta, Mr. Blaine has busied himself with his history, entitled Twenty Years of Congress, the first volume of which was given to the public last April. When finished, this work will cover the period from Lincoln to Garfield, with a review of the events which led to the political revolution of 1860. The story he tells in his first volume is given with the simplicity and compactness of a trained journalist, and yet with sufficient fulness to make the picture distinct and clear in almost every detail. The book is as easy to read as a well-written novel; it is clear and interesting, and commands the attention throughout, the more for the absence of anything like oratorical display or forensic combativeness. In literary polish it is not beyond criticism, though occasional infelicities of expression and instances of carelessness do not outweigh the general clearness and force of style. It is not at all points unerring in portraiture, nor infallible in judgment, though the writer's impartiality of spirit and desire to be just are conspicuous, and he gives cogent reasons for opinions expressed. But in broad and comprehensive appreciation of the forces by which the development of public opinion has been affected, the work is one of great merit. It seems to be entirely free from those personal qualities which have characterized Mr. Blaine in politics. It is very remarkable that a man so prominent as a partisan in political affairs could have written a book so free from partisanship.

Mr. Blaine is now in his fifty-fifth year. Although above medium height, he is so compactly and powerfully built that he scarcely seems tall. His features are large and expressive; he is slightly bald and his neatly trimmed beard is prematurely gray; his brows are lowering—his eyes keen. On the floor of Congress he manifested marvelous power and nerve. His voice is rich and melodious; his delivery is fluent and vigorous; his gestures are full of grace and force; his self-possession is never lost. He has appeared on the stump in almost every Northern State, and is an exceedingly popular and effective campaign speaker. But it is not when on the platform, speaking alone, that he has shown his greatest strength. He is strongest when hard pressed by opponents in parliamentary debate. He is a thorough believer in the organization of men who think alike for advancing their views. He believes that in order to carry out any great project it is necessary to have a party organization, not for the purpose of advancing individual interests, but to push ahead a great line of policy. He is a positive with the courage of his convictions, and believes in aggressive politics. As a consequence of this he has always had both very strong friends and very bitter enemies. It is probable that no man in this country has had a stronger personal following since the days of Harry Clay.

Blaine is a man of great physical capacities. He has great powers of application. His mind works quickly. He is as restless as the ocean and has the power of accomplishing an immense amount of work. Another quality which he possesses—rare but invaluable to a public man—is that of remembering names and faces, of remembering men and all about them. This ability is partly natural, partly the result of his training. He has made it a study to get acquainted with men.

His knowledge of facts, dates, events, men in our history, is not only remarkable, but almost unprecedented. It would be difficult to find a man in the United States who can, on the instant, without reference to book or note, give so many facts and statistics relating to the social and political history of our country. This has been the study of his life, and his memory is truly encyclopaedic.

Mr. Blaine was not a poor man when he entered Congress in 1863, and he is not a millionaire now. For twenty years he has owned a valuable coal tract of several hundred acres near Pittsburgh. This yielded him a handsome income before he entered Congress, and the investment has been a profitable one during his public life. He is said to have speculated more or less, and to have made and lost millions. Yet in general his business affairs have been managed with prudence and shrewdness, and he now has a handsome fortune. His home in Augusta, near the State House, is a plain two-story house. Several institutions in the State have received benefactions from him, and his charity and generosity are appreciated at home. He is a member of the Congregational Church in Augusta, and constant attendance at divine service is a practice that he has always inculcated upon his family. He has constantly refused to take religious matters into politics, but his respect for his mother's belief has made him tolerant and charitable toward all sects. In his own house he is a man of culture and refinement, a genial host, a courteous gentlemen. No man in public life is more fortunate in his domestic relations. He is the companion and confidant of every one of his six children, and they fear him no more than they fear one of their own number. Mrs. Blaine is a model wife and mother. The eldest son, Walker Blaine, is a graduate of Yale College and of the Law School of Columbia College. He is a member of the bar of several States, and has been creditably engaged in public life in Washington. The second son, Emmons Blaine, is a graduate of Harvard College and the Cambridge Law School. The third is James G. Blaine, Jr., who was graduated from Exeter Academy last year. The three daughters are named Alice, Margaret, and Harriet. The eldest was married more than a year ago to Brevet-Colonel J.J. Coppinger, U.S.A.

But however Mr. Blaine may have distinguished himself as an author, a diplomatist, or a man of varied experience and knowledge, in the present political campaign, in which he is destined to play so important a part, he will necessarily be largely judged in a political sense, and as a politician. What does the record show in these directions? Has he been true or false to his political convictions? Assuredly no man, be he friend or foe, can point to a single instance in Mr. Blaine's long and varied political career, in which he has betrayed his political trust or failed to respond to the demands of his political professions. Through the anti-slavery period; during the trying years of the war; through the boisterous struggle for reconstruction, and constantly since, Mr. Blaine's voice has always been heard pleading for the cause of equality, arguing for freedom, and combating all propositions that aimed to restrict human rights or fetter human progress. That he has sometimes been swayed by partisan rather than statesmanlike considerations is highly probable, but even that can but prove his zeal and devotion to party principles.

No one claims for him political infallibility, and his warmest admirer will admit that he, like other men, has faults. But those who look upon Mr. Blaine as an impetuous and rash politician have but to read his letter of acceptance to see how unjust that judgment is. Calm, dignified, and scholarly, it discusses with consummate ability the issues that to-day are engaging the attention of the American people, and whether it be the tariff question or our foreign policy, he shows a familiarity with the subject that at once stamps him as a man of remarkable versatility and rare accomplishments. As the standard-bearer of the great Republican party, he will unquestionably inspire in his followers great enthusiasm and determination, and, if elected to the high office to which he has been nominated, there is every reason to believe that he will make a Chief Magistrate of whom the entire people will justly be proud.

* * * * *



THE BOUNDARY LINES OF OLD GROTON.—III.

By the Hon. Samuel Abbott Green.

The running of the Provincial line in 1741 cut off a large part of Dunstable, and left it on the New Hampshire side of the boundary. It separated even the meeting-house from that portion of the town still remaining in Massachusetts, and this fact added not a little to the deep animosity felt by the inhabitants when the disputed question was settled. It is no exaggeration to say that, throughout the old township, the feelings and sympathies of the inhabitants on both sides of the line were entirely with Massachusetts. A short time before this period the town of Nottingham had been incorporated by the General Court, and its territory taken from Dunstable. It comprised all the lands of that town, lying on the easterly side of the Merrimack River; and the difficulty of attending public worship led to the division. When the Provincial line was established, it affected Nottingham, like many other towns, most unfavorably. It divided its territory and left a tract of land in Massachusetts, too small for a separate township, but by its associations belonging to Dunstable. This tract is to-day that part of Tyngsborough lying east of the river.

The question of a new meeting-house was now agitating the inhabitants of Dunstable. Their former building was in another Province, where different laws prevailed respecting the qualifications and settlement of ministers. It was clearly evident that another structure must be built, and the customary dispute of small communities arose in regard to its site. Some persons favored one locality, and others another; some wanted the centre of territory, and others the centre of population. Akin to this subject I give the words of the Reverend Joseph Emerson, of Pepperell,—as quoted by Mr. Butler, in his History of Groton (page 306),—taken from a sermon delivered on March 8, 1770, at the dedication of the second meeting-house in Pepperell: "It hath been observed that some of the hottest contentions in this land hath been about settling of ministers and building meeting-houses; and what is the reason? The devil is a great enemy to settling ministers and building meeting-houses; wherefore he sets on his own children to work and make difficulties, and to the utmost of his power stirs up the corruptions of the children of God in some way lo oppose or obstruct so good a work." This explanation was considered highly satisfactory, as the hand of the evil one was always seen in such disputes.

During this period of local excitement an effort was made to annex Nottingham to Dunstable; and at the same time Joint Grass to Dunstable. Joint Grass was a district in the northeastern part of Groton, settled by a few families, and so named from a brook running through the neighborhood. It is evident from the documents that the questions of annexation and the site of the meeting-house were closely connected. The petition in favor of annexation was granted by the General Court on certain conditions, which were not fulfilled, and consequently the attempt fell to the ground. Some of the papers relating to it are as follows:

A Petition of sundry Inhabitants of the most northerly Part of the first Parish in Groton, praying that they may be set off from said Groton to Dunstable, for the Reasons mentioned.

Read and Ordered, That the Petitioners serve the Towns of Groton and Dunstable with Copies of this Petition, that they show Cause, if any they have, on the first Friday of the next Sitting of this Court, why the Prayer thereof should not be granted.

Sent up for Concurrence.

[Journal of the House of Representatives (page 264), March 11, 1746.]

Francis Foxcroft, Esq; brought down the Petition of the northerly Part of Groton, as entred the 11th of March last, and refer'd. Pass'd in Council, viz. In Council May 29th 1747. Read again, together with the Answers of the Towns of Groton and Dunstable, and Ordered, That Joseph Wilder and John Quincy, Esqrs; together with such as the honourable House shall join, be a Committee to take under Consideration this Petition, together with the other Petitions and Papers referring to the Affair within mentioned, and report what they judge proper for this Court to do thereon. Sent down for Concurrence.

Read and concur'd, and Major Jones, Mr. Fox, and Col. Gerrish, are joined in the Affair.

[Journal of the House of Representatives (page 11), May 29, 1747.]

John Hill, Esq; brought down the Petition of the Inhabitants of Groton and Nottingham, with the Report of a Committee of both Houses thereon.

Signed Joseph Wilder, per Order.

Pass'd in Council, viz. In Council June 5th 1747. The within Report was read and accepted, and Ordered, That the Petition of John Swallow and others, Inhabitants of the northerly Part of Groton be so far granted, as that the Petitioners, with their Estates petition'd for, be set off from Groton, and annexed to the Town of Dunstable, agreable to Groton Town Vote of the 18th of May last; and that the Petition of the Inhabitants of Nottingham be granted, and that that Part of Nottingham left to the Province, with the Inhabitants theron, be annexed to said Dunstable, and that they thus Incorporated, do Duty and receive Priviledges as other Towns within this Province do or by Law ought to enjoy.

And it is further Ordered, That the House for publick Worship be placed two Hundred and forty eight Rods distant from Mr. John Tyng's North-East Corner, to run from said Corner North fifty two Degrees West, or as near that Place as the Land will admit of.

Sent down for Concurrence.

Read and concur'd with the Amendment, viz. instead of those Words, ... And it is further Ordered, That the House for publick Worship be ... insert the following Words ... Provided that within one Year a House for the publick Worship of GOD be erected, and....

Sent up for Concurrence.

[Journal of the House of Repesentatives (page 26), June 6, 1747.]

To his Excellency William Shirley Esquire Captain General and Governour in Chief in and over his Majestys Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England The Hon'ble: the Council and Hon'ble: House of Representatives of the said Province in General Court Assembled at Boston the 31'st. of May 1749.

The petition of the Inhabitants of the Town of Dunstable in the Province of the Massachusetts Bay

Most Humbly Shew

That in the Year 1747, that part of Nottingham which lyes within this Government and part of the Town of Groton Called Joint Grass preferred two petitions to this Great and Hon'ble: Court praying that they might be Annexed to the Town of Dunstable which petitions Your Excellency and Honours were pleased to Grant upon Conditions that a meeting house for the Publick Worship of God should be built two hundred and forty Eight Rods 52 Deg's: West of the North from North East Corner of M. John Tyngs land But the Inhabitants of the Town Apprehending Your Excellency and Honours were not fully Acquainted with the Inconveniencys that would Attend placeing the Meeting House there Soon after Convened in Publick Town Meeting Legally Called to Conclude upon a place for fixing said meeting house where it would best Accommodate all the Inhabitants at which meeting proposals were made by some of the Inhabitants to take the Advice and Assistance of three men of other Towns which proposal was Accepted by the Town and they accordingly made Choice of The Hon'ble: James Minot Esq'r. Maj'r: Lawrence and M'r. Brewer and then Adjourned the Meeting.

That the said Gentlemen mett at the Towns Request and Determined upon a place for fixing the said meeting house which was approved of by the Town and they Accordingly Voted to Raise the sum of one hundred pounds towards defraying the Charge of Building the said House But Upon Reviewing the Spot pitched upon as aforesaid many of the Inhabitants Apprehended it was more to the southward than the Committee Intended it should be And thereupon a Meeting was Called on the Twenty Sixth day of May last when the Town voted to Build the meeting house on the East side of the Road that leads from Cap't: Cummings's to M'r Simon Tompsons where some part of the Timber now lyes being about Forty Rods Northward of Isaac Colburns house which they Apprehended to be the Spot of Ground the Committee Intended to fix upon.

And for as much as the place Last Voted by the Town to Build their meeting house upon will best Accommodate all the Inhabitants,

Your pet'rs. therefore most humbly pray Your Excellency and Honours would be pleased to Confirm the said Vote of the Town of the 26'th: day of May last and order the meeting house for the Publick Worship of God to be Erected on the peice of Ground aforementioned,

And in duty bound they will ever pray &c.

Simon tompson Eben Parkhurst

Com'tee for the Town of Dunstable

[Massachusetts Archives, cxv, 507, 508.]

The Committee appointed on the Petition of a Committee for the Town of Dunstable, reported according to Order.

Read and accepted, and thereupon the following Order pass'd, viz. In as much as the House for the publick Worship of GOD in Dunstable was not erected within the Line limitted in the Order of this Court of June 6th 1747, the Inhabitants of Groton and Nottingham have lost the Benefit of Incorporation with the Town of Dunstable: Therefore

Voted, That a Meeting House for the publick Worship of GOD be erected as soon as may be on the East Side of the Road that leads from Capt. Cummins to Simon Thompson's, where the Timber for such a House now lies, agreeable to a Vote of the said Town of Dunstable on the 26th of May last; and that the said Inhabitants of Groton and Nottingham be and continue to be set off and annexed to the Town of Dunstable, to do Duty and receive Priviledge there, their Neglect of Compliance with the said Order of June 6th 1747, notwithstanding, unless the major Part of the Inhabitants and rateable Estate belonging to said Groton and Nottingham respectively, shall on or before the first Day of September next in writing under their Hands, transmit to the Secretary's Office their Desire not to continue so incorporated with the town of Dunstable as aforesaid; provided also, That in Case the said Inhabitants of Groton and Nottingham shall signify such their Desire in Manner and Time as aforesaid, they be nevertheless subjected to pay and discharge their Proportion of all Publick Town or Ministerial Rates or Taxes hitherto granted or regularly laid on them; excepting the last Sum granted for building a Meeting House. And that the present Town Officers stand and execute their Offices respectively until the Anniversary Town-Meeting at Dunstable in March next. Sent up for Concurrence.

[Journal of the House of Representatives (pages 46, 47), June 26, 1749.]

Whereas the Great & Generall Court of the the [sic] Province of the Massachusetts Bay in June Last, On the Petitions of Dunstable & Nottingham has Ordered that the Inhabitants of Groton and Nottingham, Which by Order of the s'd Court the 6th of June 1747 Were On Certain Conditions Annexed to s'd Dunstable & (Which Conditions not being Complyed with) be Annexed to s'd. Dunstable to do duty & Receive priviledge there their neglect of Complyance notwithstanding, Unless the major part of the Inhabitants and ratable Estate belonging to the s'd. Groton & Nottingham respectively Shall on or before the first day of September next in Writing under their hands Transmitt to the Secretarys Office their desire not to Continue so Incorporated With the town of Dunstable as afores'd. Now therefore Wee the Subscribers Inhabitants of Groton & Nottingham Sett of as afores'd. do hereby Signifie Our desire not to Continue so Incorporated with the town of Dunstable as afores'd. but to be Sett at Liberty As tho that Order of Court had not ben passed

Dated the 10th day of July 1749

Inhabitants of Groton

Timothy Read Joseph fletcher John Swallow Samuel Comings Benjamin Robbins Joseph Spalding iuner

Inhabitants of Nottingham

Samuell Gould Robert Fletcher Joseph perriaham Daken [Deacon?] iohn Collans Zacheus Spaulding and ten others

[Massachusetts Archives, cxv, 515.]

A manuscript plan of Dunstable, made by Joseph Blanchard, in the autumn of 1748, and accompanying these papers among the Archives (cxv, 519), has considerable interest for the local antiquary.

In the course of a few years some of these Groton signers reconsidered the matter, and changed their minds. It appears from the following communication that the question of the site of the meeting-house had some influence in the matter:—

Groton, May 10, 1753. We have concluded to Joine with Dunstable in settling the gospell and all other affairs hart & hand in case Dunstable woud meet us in erecting a meting house in center of Lands or center of Travel.

Joseph Spaulding jr. John Swallow. Timothy Read. Samuel Cumings. Joseph Parkhurst.

[Nason's History of Dunstable, page 85.]

The desired result of annexation was now brought about, and in this way Joint Grass became a part and portion of Dunstable. The following extracts give further particulars in regard to it:—

A Petition of a Committee in Behalf of the Inhabitants of Dunstable, within this Province, shewing, that that Part of Dunstable by the late running of the Line is small, and the Land much broken, unable to support the Ministry, and other necessary Charges; that there is a small Part of Groton contiguous, and well situated to be united to them in the same Incorporation, lying to the West and Northwest of them; that in the Year 1744, the Inhabitants there requested them that they might be incorporated with them, which was conceeded to by the Town of Groton; that in Consequence of this, upon Application to this Court they were annexed to the Town of Dunstable with the following Proviso, viz. "That within one Year from that Time a House for the publick Worship of GOD should be erected at a certain Place therein mentioned": Which Place was esteemed by all Parties both in Groton and Nottingham, so incommodious, that it was not complied withal; that on a further Application to this Court to alter the Place, Liberty was given to the Inhabitants of Groton and Nottingham, to withdraw, whereby they are deprived of that contiguous and necessary Assistance which they expected: Now as the Reasons hold good in every Respect for their Incorporation with them, they humbly pray that the said Inhabitants of Groton by the same Bounds as in the former Order stated, may be reannexed to them, for the Reasons mentioned.

Read and Ordered, That the Petitioners serve the Inhabitants of Groton therein refer'd to, as also the Clerk of the Town of Groton, with Copies of this Petition, that so the said Inhabitants, as also the Town of Groton, shew Cause, if any they have, on the first Tuesday of the next May Session, why the Prayer thereof should not be granted.

Sent up for Concurrence.

[Journal of the House of Representatives (pages 138, 139), April 4, 1753.]

John Hill, Esq; brought down the Petition of a Committee of the Town of Dunstable, as entred the 4th of April last, and refer'd. Pass'd in Council, viz. In Council June 5th 1753. Read again, together with the Answer of the Inhabitants of that Part of Groton commonly called Joint-Grass, and likewise William Lawrence, Esq; being heard in Behalf of the Town of Groton, and the Matter being fully considered, Ordered, That the Prayer of the Petition be so far granted, as that Joseph Fletcher, Joseph Spaulding, Samuel Comings, Benjamin Rabbins, Timothy Read, John Swallow, Joseph Parkhurst, and Ebenezer Parkhurst, Jun. with their Families and Estates, and other Lands petitioned for, be set off from the Town of Groton, and annexed to the town of Dunstable, agreable to the Vote of the Town of Groton on the 18th of May 1747, to receive Priviledge and do Duty there, provided that Timothy Read, Constable for the Town of Groton, and Collector of the said Parish in said Town the last Year, and Joseph Fletcher, Constable for the said Town this present Year, finish their Collection of the Taxes committed or to be committed to them respectively; and also that the said Inhabitants pay their Proportion of the Taxes that are already due or shall be due to the said Town of Groton for the present Year, for which they may be taxed by the Assessors of Groton, as tho' this Order had not past: provided also that the Meeting-House for the publick Worship of GOD in Dunstable be erected agreable to the Vote of Dunstable relating thereto in May 1753. Sent down for Concurrence.

Read and concur'd.

[Journal of the House of Representatives (page 21), June 7, 1753.]

The part of Nottingham, mentioned in these petitions, was not joined to Dunstable until a later period. On June 14, 1754, an order passed the House of Representatives, annexing "a very small Part of Nottingham now lying in this Province, unable to be made into a District, but very commodious for Dunstable;" but the matter was delayed in the Council, and it was a year or two before the end was brought about.

The west parish of Groton was set off as a precinct on November 26, 1742. It comprised that part of the town lying on the west side of the Nashua River, north of the road from Groton to Townsend. Its incorporation as a parish or precinct allowed the inhabitants to manage their own ecclesiastical affairs, while in all other matters they continued to act with the parent town. Its partial separation gave them the benefit of a settled minister in their neighborhood, which, in those days, was considered of great importance.

It is an interesting fact to note that, in early times, the main reason given in the petitions for dividing towns was the long distance to the meeting-house, by which the inhabitants were prevented from hearing the stated preaching of the gospel.

The petitioners for the change first asked for a township, which was not granted; but subsequently they changed their request to a precinct instead, which was duly allowed. The papers relating to the matter are as follows:—

Province of The Massechuetts Bay in New England.

To His Excellency W'm: Shirley Esq'r: Goveinr in & over y'e Same And To The Hon'le: his Majestis Council & House of Representetives in Gen'll: Court Assembled June 1742:

The Petition of Sundry Inhabitants & Resendant in the Northerly Part of Groton Humbly Sheweth that the Town of Groton is at Least ten miles in Length North & South & seven miles in wedth East & West And that in Runing two miles Due North from the Present Meeting House & from thence to Run Due East to Dunstable West Line. And from the Ende of the S'd: two miles to Run West till it Comes to the Cuntry Rode that is Laide out to Townshend & soon S'd: Rode till it Comes to Townshend East Line then tur[n]ing & Runing Northly to Nestiquaset Corner which is for Groton & Townshend then tur[n]ing & Runing Easterly on Dunstable South Line & So on Dunstable Line till it comes to the Line first mentioned, Which Land Lyeth about Seven miles in Length & four miles & a Quarter in Wedth.

And Thare is Now Setled in those Lines here after mentioned is about the Number of Seventy families all Redy And may [many?] more ready to Settle there and as soon as scet off to the Petitioners & those families Settled in y'e Lines afore s'd: Would make A Good township & the Remaining Part of Groton Left in a regular forme And by reason of the great Distance your Petitioners are from the Present Meeting House are put to very Great Disadvantages in Attending the Public Worship of God many of Whom are Oblidged to travel Seven or Eight miles & that the Remaining Part of Groton Consisting of such good land & y'e Inhabitants so Numerous that thay Can by no means be Hurt Should your Petitioners & those families Settled in y'e Lines afore s'd: Be Erected to a Seprate & Distinct Township: That the in Contestable situation & accomodations on the s'd: Lands was y'e one great reason of your Petitioners Settling thare & Had Not those Prospects been so Clear to us We should by no means have under taken The Hardship We have already & must go Throu.

Wherefore Your Petitioners Would farther Shew that Part of y'e Land here Prayed for all Redy Voted of by the S'd town to be a Presinct & that the most of them that are in that Lines have Subscribed with us to be a Dest[i]ncte Township Wherefore Your Petitioners Humbly Pray your Honnors to Grante us our Desire according to This our Request as we in Duty Bound Shall Ever Pray &c.

Joseph Spaulding iur Zachariah Lawrance William Allen Jeremiah Lawrance William Blood Nathaniel Parker Enoch Lawarnce Samuel Right James larwance Josiah Tucker Sam'll fisk Soloman blood John Woods Josiah Sartell benj'n. Swallow Elies Ellat Richard Worner Ebenezer Gillson Ebenezer Parce James Blood iu Joseph Spaulding Phiniahas Parker iur Joseph Warner Phineahas Chambrlin Isaac laken Isacc Williams John Swallow Joseph Swallow Benj'n: Robins Nathan Fisk John Chamberlin Jacob Lakin Seth Phillips John Cumings Benj'n: Parker Gersham Hobart Joseph Lawrance John Spaulding Isaac Woods

In the House of Rep'ives June. 10, 1742.

Read and Ordered that the Pet'rs serve the Town of Groton with a Copy of this Pet'n that they shew cause if any they have on the first fryday of the next session of this Court why the Prayer thereof should not be granted

Sent up for concurrence

T Cushing Spkr

In Council June 15. 1742;

Read & Non Concur'd

J Willard Sec'ry

[Massachusetts Archives, cxiv, 779, 780.]

To his Excellency William Shirley Esq'r. Captain General and Governour in Cheiff in and over his Majesties Province of y'e. Massachusetts Bay in New England: To y'e. Honourable his Majesties Council and House of Representatives in General Court Assembled on y'e: Twenty sixth Day of May. A:D. 1742.

The Petition of as the Subscribers to your Excellency and Honours Humbley Sheweth that we are Proprietors and Inhabitants of y'e. Land Lying on y'e. Westerly Side Lancester River (so called) [now known as the Nashua River] in y'e North west corner of y'e. Township of Groton: & Such of us as are Inhabitants thereon Live very Remote from ye Publick worship of God in s'd Town and at many Times and Season of y'e. year are Put to Great Difficulty to attend y'e. same: And the Lands Bounded as Followeth (viz) Southerly on Townshend Rode: Westerly on Townshend Line: Northerly on Dunstable West Precint, & old Town: and Easterly on said River as it now Runs to y'e. First mentioned Bounds, being of y'e. Contents of about Four Miles Square of Good Land, well Scituated for a Precint: And the Town of Groton hath been Petitioned to Set of y'e. Lands bounded as afores'd. to be a Distinct and Seperate Precint and at a Town Meeting of y'e. Inhabitants of s'd. Town of Groton Assembled on y'e Twenty Fifth Day of May Last Past The Town voted y'e Prayer of y'e. s'd. Petition and that y'e Lands before Described should be a Separate Precinct and that y'e. Inhabitants thereon and Such others as hereafter Shall Settle on s'd. Lands; should have y'e Powers and Priviledges that other Precincts in s'd. Province have or Do Enjoy: as p'r. a Coppy from Groton Town Book herewith Exhibited may Appear: For the Reasons mentioned we the Subscribers as afores'd. Humbley Prayes your Excellency and Honours to Set off y'e s'd Lands bounded as afores'd. to be a Distinct and Sepperate Precinct and Invest y'e Inhabitants thereon (Containing about y'e N'o. of Forty Famelies) and Such others as Shall hereafter Settle on s'd. Lands with Such Powers & Priviledges as other Precincts in s'd. Province have &c or Grant to your Petitioners Such other Releaf in y'e. Premises as your Excellency and Honours in your Great Wisdom Shall think Fit: and your Petitioners as in Duty bound Shall Ever pray &c.

Benj Swallow W'm: Spalden Isaac Williams Ebenezer Gilson Elias Ellit Samuel Shattuck iu James Shattuck David Shattuck David Blood Jonathan Woods John Blood iuner Josiah Parker Jacob Ames Jonas Varnum Moses Woods Zachery Lawrence Jun'r Jeremiah Lawrence John Mozier Josiah Tucher W'm Allen John Shadd Jam's. Green John Kemp Nehemiah Jewett Eleazar Green Jonathan Shattuck Jonathan Shattuck Jun'r

In the House of Rep'tives Nov'r. 26. 1742

In Answer to the within Petition ordered that that Part of the Town of Groton Lying on the Westerly Side of Lancaster River within the following bounds viz't bounding Easterly on said River Southerly on Townsend Road so called Wisterly on Townsend line and Northerly on Dunstable West Precinct with the Inhabitants thereon be and hereby are Set off a distinct and seperate precinct and Vested with the powers & priviledges which Other Precincts do or by Law ought to enjoy Always provided that the Inhabitants Dwelling on the Lands abovementioned be subject to pay their Just part and proportions of all ministeriall Rates and Taxes in the Town of Groton already Granted or Assessed.

Sent up for Concurrence.

T Cushing Spk'r.

In Council Nov'r. 26 1742 Read and Concurr'd

J Willard Secry

Consented to, W Shirley,

[Massachusetts Archives, cxiv, 768, 769.]

When the new Provincial line was run between Massachusetts and New Hampshire, in the spring of 1741, it left a gore of land, previously belonging to the west parish of Dunstable, lying north of the territory of Groton and contiguous to it. It formed a narrow strip, perhaps three hundred rods in width at the western end, running easterly for three miles and tapering off to a point at the Nashua River, by which stream it was entirely separated from Dunstable. Shaped like a thin wedge, it lay along the border of the province, and belonged geographically to the west precinct or parish of Groton. Under these circumstances the second parish petitioned the General Court to have it annexed to their jurisdiction, which request was granted. William Prescott, one of the committee appointed to take charge of the matter, nearly a quarter of a century later was the commander of the American forces at the battle of Bunker Hill. It has been incorrectly stated by writers that this triangular parcel of land was the gore ceded, in the summer of 1736, to the proprietors of Groton, on the petition of Benjamin Prescott. The documents relating to this matter are as follows:—

To his Honnor Spencer Phipes Esq'r Cap't Geniorl and Commander In Cheaf in and ouer his majists prouince of the Massachusets Bay in New england and to The Hon'ble his majestys Counsel and House of Representatiues In Geniral Courte assambled at Boston The 26 of December 1751

The Petition of Peleg Lawrance Jarimah Lawrance and william Prescott a Cum'ttee. for the Second Parish In Groton in The County of Middle sikes.

Humbly Shew That Theare is a strip of Land of about fiue or six hundred acors Lys ajoyning To The Town of Groton which be Longs To the town of Dunstable the said strip of land Lys near fouer mill in Length and bounds on the North Line of the said second Parrish in Groton and on the South Side of Newhampsher Line which Peeace by Runing the sd Line of Newhampsher was Intierly Cut off from the town of Dunstable from Receueing any Priuelidge their for it Lys not Less then aboute Eight mill from the Senter of the town of Dunstable and but about two mill and a half from the meeting house in the said second Parish in Groton so that they that settel on the sd Strip of Land may be much beter acommadated to be Joyned to ye town of Groton and to the sd second Parish than Euer thay Can any other way in this Prouince and the town of Dunstable being well sencable thare of haue at thare town meeting on the 19 Day of December Currant voted of the sd Strip of Land allso Jarnes Colburn who now Liues on sd Strip Land from the town of Dunstable to be annexed to the town of Groton and to the sd second Parish in sd town and the second Parish haue aCordingly voted to Recue the same all which may appear by the vote of sd Dunstable and said Parish which will be of Grate advantige to the owners of the sd. strip of Land and a benefit to the said second Parish in Groton so that your Petitioners Humbly Pray that the sd. strip of Land may be annexed to the said second Parish in Groton so far as Groton Nor west corner to do Duty and Recue Priulidge theare and your petionrs In Duty bound shall Euer Pray

Peleg Lawrence Will'm Prescott Jeremiah Lawrence

Dunstable December 24 1751

this may Certifye the Grate and Genirol Courte that I Liue on the slip of Land within mentioned and it tis my Desier that the prayer of this Petition be Granted

James Colburn

In the House of Rep'tives Jan'ry 4. 1752

Voted that the prayer of the Petition be so farr granted that the said strip of Land prayed for, that is the Jurisdiction of it be Annex'd to the Town of Groton & to y'e Second Precinct in said Town & to do dutys there & to recieve Priviledges from them.

Sent up for Concurrence

T. Hubbard Spk'r.

In Council Jan'y 6. 1752 Read & Concur'd

J Willard Secry.

Consented to

S Phips

[Massachusetts Archives, cxvi, 162, 163.]

The west parish of Groton was made a district on April 12, 1753, the day the Act was signed by the Governor, which was a second step toward its final and complete separation. It then took the name of Pepperell, and was vested with still broader political powers. It was so called after Sir William Pepperrell, who had successfully commanded the New England troops against Louisburg; and the name was suggested, doubtless, by the Reverend Joseph Emerson, the first settled minister of the parish. He had accompanied that famous expedition in the capacity of chaplain, only the year before he had received a call for his settlement, and his associations with the commander were fresh in his memory. It will be noticed that the Act for incorporating the district leaves the name blank, which was customary in this kind of legislation at that period; and the governor, perhaps with the advice of his council, was in the habit subsequently of filling out the name.

Pepperell, for one "r" is dropped from the name, had now all the privileges of a town, except the right to choose a representative to the General Court, and this political connection with Groton was kept up until the beginning of the Revolution. In the session of the General Court which met at Watertown, on July 19, 1775, Pepperell was represented by a member, and in this way acquired the privileges of a town without any special act of incorporation. Other similar districts were likewise represented, in accordance with the precept calling that body together, and they thus obtained municipal rights without the usual formality. The precedent seems to have been set by the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, which was made up of delegates from the districts as well as from the towns. It was a revolutionary step taken outside of the law. On March 23, 1786, this anomalous condition of affairs was settled by an act of the Legislature, which declared all districts, incorporated before January 1, 1777, to be towns for all intents and purposes.

The act for the incorporation of Pepperell is as follows:—

Anno Regni Regis Georgij Secundi vicesimo Sexto

An Act for Erecting the second Precinct in the Town of Groton into a seperate District

Be it enacted by the Leiu't. Gov'r: Council and House of Representatives

That the second Precinct in Groton bounding Southerly on the old Country Road leading to Townshend, Westerly on Townshend Line Northerly on the Line last run by the Governm't. of New Hampshire as the Boundary betwixt that Province and this Easterly to the middle of the River, called Lancaster [Nashua] River, from where the said Boundary Line crosses said River, so up the middle of y'e. said River to where the Bridge did stand, called Kemps Bridge, to the Road first mentioned, be & hereby is erected into a seperate District by the Name of ———— and that the said District be and hereby is invested with all the Priviledges Powers and Immunities that Towns in this Province by Law do or may enjoy, that of sending a Representative to the generall Assembly only excepted, and that the Inhabitants of said District shall have full power & Right from Time to time to joyn with the s'd: Town of Groton in the choice of Representative or Representatives, in which Choice they shall enjoy all the Priviledges which by Law they would have been entitled to, if this Act had not been made. And that the said District shall from Time to time pay their proportionable part of the Expence of such Representative or Representatives According to their respective proportions of y'e. Province Tax.

And that the s'd. Town of Groton as often as they shall call a Meeting for the Choice of a Representative shall give seasonable Notice to the Clerk of said District for the Time being, of the Time and place of holding such Meeting, to the End that said District may join them therein, and the Clerk of said District shall set up in some publick place in s'd. District a Notification thereof accordingly or otherwise give Seasonable Notice, as the District shall determine.

Provided Nevertheless and be it further enacted That the said District shall pay their proportion: of all Town County and Province Taxes already set on or granted to be raised by s'd. Town as if this Act had not been made, and also be at one half the charge in building and repairing the Two Bridges on Lancaster River aforesaid in s'd: District.

Provided also and be it further Enacted That no poor Persons residing in said District and Who have been Warn'd by the Selectmen of said Groton to depart s'd: Town shall be understood as hereby exempted from any Process they would have been exposed to if this Act had not been made.

And be it further enacted that W'm Lawrence[1] Esq'r Be and hereby is impowered to issue his Warrant directed to some principal Inhabitant in s'd. District requiring him to notify the Inhabitants of said District to meet at such Time & place as he shall appoint to choose all such Officers as by Law they are Impowered to Choose for conducting the Affairs for s'd. District.

In the House of Rep'tives April 5, 1753

Read three several times and pass'd to be Engross'd

Sent up for Concurrence

T. Hubbard Spk'r.

In Council April 5 1753 AM

Read a first and Second Time and pass'd a Concurrence

Tho's. Clarke Dp'ty. Secry

[Massachusetts Archives, cxvi, 360-362.]

[Footnote 1: This name apparently inserted after the original draft was made.]

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THE BOSTON HERALD.

The newspapers of America have had their greatest growth within the past quarter-century. Their progress in commercial prosperity during this period has been remarkable. Before the Civil War the journals in this country which returned large profits on the capital invested could almost be numbered upon the fingers of one hand. Now they can be counted up into the hundreds, and a well-established and successful newspaper is rated as one of the most profitable of business ventures. This advance in financial value has accompanied, and for the most part is due to, the improvement in the character of the publications, which has been going on steadily year by year. There has been a constant increase of enterprise in all directions, especially in that of gathering news, and with this has come the exercise of greater care and better taste in presenting the intelligence collected to the reading public. The quality of the work of reporters and correspondents has been vastly bettered, and the number of special writers engaged has been gradually enlarged; subjects which were once relegated to the monthlies and quarterlies for discussion are now treated by the daily press in a style which, if less ponderous, is nevertheless lucid and not unbefitting their importance. In short, the tone of the American newspaper has been elevated without the loss of its popular characteristics, and the tastes of its readers have thereby—unconsciously, perhaps, but none the less surely—been refined. For at least the length of time mentioned at the beginning of this article, journalism has been regarded as worthy to rank beside, if not exactly to be classed with, the "learned professions." The newspaper writer has emerged from the confines of Bohemia, never to return, and has taken a recognized position in the literary world. His connection with a reputable journal gives him an unquestioned standing, of which his credentials are the diploma.

In view of these great changes in journalism, the record of the progress of a successful newspaper during the last four decades contains much matter of general interest, and if excuse were needed, this would warrant the publication here of a brief history of The Boston Herald.

Like most, if not all, of the leading journals of the country, The Boston Herald had a very humble origin. Forty years ago some journeymen printers on The Boston Daily Times began publishing a penny paper, called The American Eagle, in advocacy of the Native American or "Know-nothing" party.

Its publishers were "Baker, French, Harmon & Co." The full list of proprietors was Albert Baker, John A. French, George W. Harmon, George H. Campbell, Amos C. Clapp, J.W. Monroe, Justin Andrews, Augustus A. Wallace, and James D. Stowers, and W.H. Waldron was subsequently associated with them. The Eagle was successful at the outset, but its fortunes declined with those of the party of which it was the exponent, and in the summer of 1846 it was found to be moribund. The proprietors had lost money and labor in the failing enterprise, and now lost interest. After many protracted discussions they resolved to establish an evening edition under another name, which should be neutral in politics, and, if it proved successful, to let the Eagle die. The Herald, therefore, came into existence on August 31, 1846, and an edition of two thousand was printed of its first number. The editor of the new sheet was William O. Eaton, a Bostonian, then but twenty-two years of age, of little previous experience in journalism.

The Herald, it must be admitted, was not a handsome sheet at the outset. Its four pages contained but five columns each, and measured only nine by fourteen inches. But, unpromising as was its appearance, it was really the liveliest of the Boston dailies from the hour of its birth, and received praise on all hands for the quality of its matter.

The total force of brain-workers consisted of but two men, Mr. Eaton having the assistance, after the middle of September, of Thomas W. Tucker. David Leavitt joined the "staff" later on, in 1847, and made a specialty of local news. The editorial, composing, and press rooms were the same as those of the Eagle, in Wilson's Lane, now Devonshire Street.

"Running a newspaper" in Boston in 1846 was a different thing altogether from journalism at the present day. The telegraph was in operation between Boston and New York, but the tolls were high and the dailies could not afford to use it except upon the most important occasions. Moreover, readers had not been educated up to the point of expecting to see reports of events in all parts of the world printed on the same day of their occurrence or, at the latest, the day following.

For several years before the extension of the wires overland to Nova Scotia, the newsgatherers of Boston and New York resorted to various devices in order to obtain the earliest reports from Europe. From 1846 to 1850 the revolutionary movements in many of the countries on the continent were of a nature to be especially interesting to the people of the United States, and this stimulated enterprise among the American newspapers. Mr. D.H. Craig, afterward widely known as agent of the Associated Press, conceived the idea of anticipating the news of each incoming ocean-steamer by means of a pigeon-express, which he put into successful operation in the year first named. He procured a number of carrier-pigeons, and several days before the expected arrival of every English mail-steamer took three of them to Halifax. There he boarded the vessels, procured the latest British papers, collated and summarized their news upon thin paper, secured the dispatches thus prepared to the pigeons, and fifty miles or so outside of Boston released the birds. The winged messengers, flying homeward, reached the city far in advance of the steamers, and the intelligence they brought was at once delivered to Mr. W.G. Blanchard, then connected with the Boston press, who had the brief dispatches "extended," put in type, and printed as an "extra" for all the papers subscribing to the enterprise. Sheets bearing the head "New York Herald Extra" were also printed in Boston and sent to the metropolis by the Sound steamers, thus anticipating the arrival of the regular mail.

It is interesting, in these days of lightning, to read an account of how the Herald beat its local rivals in getting out an account of the President's Message in 1849. A column synopsis was received by telegraph from New York, and published in the morning edition, and the second edition, issued a few hours later, contained the long document in full, and was put on the street at least a half-hour earlier than the other dailies. How the message was brought from Washington is thus described: J.F. Calhoun, of New Haven, was the messenger, and he started from the capital by rail at two o'clock on the morning of December 24; a steamtug in waiting conveyed him, on his arrival, from Jersey City to New York; a horse and chaise took him from the wharf to the New Haven depot, then in Thirty-second Street, where he mounted a special engine and at 10 P.M. started for Boston. He reached Boston at 6.20 the next morning, after an eventful journey, having lost a half-hour by a derailed tender and an hour and a half by the smashup of a freight-train.

The Herald, feeble as it was in many respects at first, managed to struggle through the financial diseases incident to newspaper infancy so stoutly that at the opening of 1847, when it had attained the age of four months, its sponsors were able to give it a New-Year dress of new type, to increase the size of its pages to seven columns, measuring twenty-one by seventeen inches, and to add a morning and a weekly edition. The paper in its new form, with a neat head in Roman letters replacing the former unsightly title, and printed on a new Adams press, presented a marked improvement.

Mr. Eaton continued in charge of the evening edition, while the new morning issue was placed in the hands of Mr. George W. Tyler. The Herald under this joint management presented its readers with from eight to ten columns of reading-matter daily. Two columns of editorials, four of local news, and two of clippings from "exchanges," were about the average. News by telegraph was not plenty, and, as has already been intimated, very little of it was printed during the first year. Yet, the Herald was a live and lively paper, and published nothing but "live matter." Much prominence was given to reports of affairs about home, and in consequence the circulation soon exhibited a marked improvement.

At this time the proprietors entered on a novel journalistic experiment. They allowed one editor to give "Whig" views and another to talk "Democracy." The public did not take kindly to this mixed diet, and Mr. Eaton, the purveyor of Democratic wisdom, was permitted to withdraw, leaving Mr. Tyler, the Whiggite, in possession of the field.

Meantime, Mr. French had bought out the original proprietors one by one, with the exception of Mr. Stowers, and in March their names appeared as publishers at the head of the paper. The publication-office was removed to more spacious quarters, and the press was thereafter run by steam-power rented from a neighboring manufactory. At the end of the month a statement of the circulation showed a total of eleven thousand two hundred and seventy.

In May, 1847, The American Eagle died peacefully. About this period Messrs. Tucker and Tyler left the Herald, and Mr. Stowers disposed of his interest to Samuel K. Head. The new editor of the paper was William Joseph Snelling, who acquired considerable local fame as a bold and fearless writer. He died in the December of the following year. Under a new manager, Mr. Samuel R. Glen, the Herald developed into a successful news gatherer.

Special telegrams were regularly received from New York, a Washington correspondent was secured, and the paper covered a much broader field than it ever had before. Eight to ten columns of reading-matter were printed daily, and it was invariably bright and entertaining. The circulation showed a steady increase, and on August 17, 1848, was declared to be eighteen thousand seven hundred and fifteen daily, a figure from which it did not recede during the autumn and winter. After the death of Mr. Snelling, Mr. Tyler was recalled to the chief editorial chair, and heartily co-operated with Mr. Glen and the proprietors in keeping the paper abreast of the times. On April 2, 1849, the custom of printing four editions daily was inaugurated. The first was dated 5 o'clock, A.M., the second, 8, the third, 12 M., and the fourth, 2.30 P.M. That day the force of compositors was increased by four men, and the paper was for the first time printed on a Hoe double-cylinder press, run by steam-power, and capable of producing six thousand impressions an hour. Mr. Head withdrew from the firm about this time, and Mr. French was announced as sole proprietor throughout the remainder of the year. In October the announcement was made that the Herald had a larger circulation than any other paper published in Boston or elsewhere, and the publisher made a successful demand for the post-office advertising, which by law was to be given to the paper having the greatest circulation.

During this year (1849) the Herald distanced its competitors and accomplished a feat that was the talk of the town for a long time afterwards, by reporting in full the trial of Professor Webster for the murder of Dr. Parkman. Extras giving longhand reports of this extraordinary case were issued hourly during the day, and the morning edition contained a shorthand report of the testimony and proceedings of the day previous. The extras were issued in New York as well as in Boston, the report having been telegraphed sheet by sheet as fast as written, and printed there simultaneously with the Herald's. The type of the verbatim report was kept standing, and within an hour after the verdict was rendered pamphlets containing a complete record of the trial were for sale on the street. The year 1850 found the Herald as prosperous as it had been during the previous twelvemonth. In September, the editorial, composing, and press rooms were transferred to No. 6 Williams Court, where they remained until abandoned for the new Herald Building, February 9, 1878, and the business-office was removed to No. 203 (now No. 241) Washington Street. Early in 1851, through some inexplicable cause, Mr. French suddenly found himself financially embarrassed. In July he disposed of the paper to John M. Barnard, and soon after retired to a farm in Maine. Mr. Tyler was retained in charge of the editorial department; but Mr. Glen resigned and was succeeded as managing editor by Mr. A.A. Wallace. During the remainder of the year the Herald did not display much enterprise in gathering news. Its special telegraphic reports were meagre and averaged no more than a "stickful" daily, and it was cut off from the privileges of the Associated Press dispatches. In 1852 there was a marked improvement in the paper, but it did not reach the standard it established in 1850. Two new presses, one of Hoe's and the other a Taylor's Napier, were this year put in use, which bettered the typography of the sheet. In 1853 the Herald was little more than a record of local events, its telegraphic reports being almost as brief and unsatisfactory as during the first year of its existence. But the circulation kept up wonderfully well, growing, according to the sworn statements of the proprietor, from sixteen thousand five hundred and five in January to twenty-three thousand two hundred and ten in December. The Herald of 1854 was a much better paper than that of the year previous, exerting far more energy in obtaining and printing news. On April 1 it was enlarged for the second time and came out with columns lengthened two inches, the pages measuring twenty-three by seventeen inches. The circulation continued to increase, and, by the sworn statements published, grew from twenty-five thousand two hundred and sixteen in January to thirty thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight in June. Success continued through the year 1855. In February, Mr. Barnard, while remaining proprietor, withdrew from active management, and Edwin C. Bailey and A. Milton Lawrence became the publishers. There were also some changes in the editorial and reportorial staff. Henry R. Tracy became assistant editor, and Charles H. Andrews (now one of the editors and proprietors) was engaged as a reporter. There were then engaged in the composing-room a foreman and eight compositors, one of whom, George G. Bailey, subsequently became foreman, and later one of the proprietors. Printers will be interested to know that the weekly composition bill averaged one hundred and seventy-five dollars. This year but one edition was published in the morning, while the first evening edition was dated 12 M., the second, 1.30 P.M., and a "postscript" was issued at 2.30 P.M., to contain the latest news for city circulation. Twelve to fourteen columns of reading-matter were printed daily, two of which were editorial, two news by telegraph, two gleanings from "exchanges," and the remainder local reports, correspondence, etc. The average daily circulation during 1855 was claimed to have been thirty thousand, but was probably something less.

Early in 1856 a change took place in the proprietorship, Mr. Barnard selling out to Mr. Bailey, and Mr. Lawrence retiring.

Mr. Bailey brought to his new task a great deal of native energy and enterprise, and he was ably seconded by the other gentlemen connected with the paper, in his efforts to make the Herald a thoroughly live journal. He strengthened his staff by engaging as assistant editor, Justin Andrews, who had for some years held a similar position on The Daily Times, and who subsequently became one of the news-managers of the Herald, holding the office until, as one of the proprietors, he disposed of his interest in 1873.

During Mr. Bailey's first year as proprietor he enlarged the facilities for obtaining news, and paid particular attention to reporting the events of the political campaign when Fremont was run against Buchanan for the presidency. The result of the election was announced with a degree of detail never before displayed in the Herald's columns or in those of its contemporaries. The editorial course of the paper that year is perhaps best explained by the following paragraph, printed a few days after the election: "One of our contemporaries says the Herald has alternately pleased and displeased both parties during this campaign. That is our opinion. How could it be different if we told them the truth? And that was our only aim." The circulation during election week averaged forty-one thousand six hundred and ninety-three copies daily; throughout the year it was nearly thirty thousand—considerably larger than during the preceding year—and the boast that it was more than double that of any other paper in Boston undoubtedly was justified by the facts. Mechanically, the paper was well got up; in July the two presses which had been in use for a number of years were discarded, and a new four-cylinder Hoe press, having a capacity of ten thousand impressions an hour, was set up in their place. Ten compositors were employed, and the weekly composition bill averaged one hundred and sixty dollars. In 1857 the Herald was a much better paper than it had ever been, the Messrs. Andrews, upon whom the burden of its management devolved, sparing no effort to make it newsy and bright in every department. Beginning the year with a daily circulation of about thirty thousand, in April it reached forty-two thousand, and when on the twenty-third of that month the subscription list, carriers' routes, agencies, etc., of The Daily Times were acquired by purchase, there was another considerable increase, the issue of May 30 reaching forty-five thousand one hundred and twenty. In 1858 the Herald continued its prosperous career in the same general direction. Its telegraphic facilities were improved, and events in all parts of the country were well reported, while local news was most carefully attended to. The editors and reporters this year numbered eleven, and the force in the mechanical departments was correspondingly increased. A new six-cylinder Hoe press was put in use, alongside the four-cylinder machine, and both were frequently taxed to their utmost capacity to print the large editions demanded by the public. The bills for white paper during the year were upwards of seventy thousand dollars, which, in those ante-war times, was a large sum. The circulation averaged over forty thousand per diem. In 1859 the system of keeping an accurate account of the circulation was inaugurated, and the actual figures of each day's issue were recorded and published. From this record it is learned that the Herald, from a circulation of forty-one thousand one hundred and ninety-three in January, rose to fifty-three thousand and twenty-six in December. Twelve compositors were regularly employed this year, and the weekly composition bill was two hundred dollars. The year 1860 brought the exciting presidential campaign which resulted in the election of Abraham Lincoln. Great pains were taken to keep the Herald's readers fully informed of the movements of all the political parties, and its long reports of the national conventions, meetings, speeches, etc., in all parts of the country, especially in New England, brought it to the notice of many new readers. The average daily circulation for the year was a little over fifty-four thousand, and the issue on the morning after the November election reached seventy-three thousand seven hundred and fifty-two, the largest edition since the Webster trial. E.B. Haskell, now one of the proprietors, entered the office as a reporter in 1860, and was soon promoted to an editorial position. A year later R.M. Pulsifer, another of the present proprietors, entered the business department.