New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-11-12
THE BURNED CITY.

it's foundation down to comparatively modern
period will show ct this moment which so thor
oughy tests the endurance OF her Inhabitants that
they may be safely trusted TO recover themselves
from the temporary prostIation which has Deialeh
them. For the city owes its very existence to inc
trials and prosecutions which befet its toundere
driving them from the old English homes which
were 60 dear 20 them TO found new ones in tho
Wilderness. To borrow a jest of Stcme, tho
troubles Of Boston may be said to bayo
begun before sho was born, in the unyield-
ing bigotry with which Elizabeth maintained the
ceremonies Of tho Established Church and fairly
called tho PuIitms into existence as a religious
body by insisting that the church service should be
ono at which they could not assist Objection to the
services Of the Church soon enlarged by objec-
tons to its doctrine which Imprisonment and other
prosecutions failed to remove and which were hardly
refuted by the fires Of SmithGeld in 1915. The mo-
lestations Of .Trmes were followed by those Of
Charles Stuart and Bishop LGud until the project OF
n refuge in Massachusetts, Bay seriously cOnsid-
cred and finally carried out. Prince, the histo-
rian, says Of these exiles: They were about
to leave tine land Of their fathers sepuichers
perhaps forever; TO break asunder those CHORDS Of
affection which 50 powerfully bind good man 10
his natiye SOIL and to dissolve those tender assocll-
tons which constitute the bliss Of civil society. In
ordinary cases. the pain Of separation IL lessened by
the promises Of hopc-the pleasure Of another inter
view; but here adicu, 10 most Of them at least was
TO be the last, like the fual farewell to departing
SPIRIT The suncrings Of the first colony at Salem
belong properly to tho history Of Boston-the pesi-
lcroe which caused eighty deaths in the little settle
mcnt in one Winicr-the peril Of starvation, and
q thousand discon.forts which find no record in the
pages OF history The second emigration lad also
its share Of tIOu lcs-cyer scEYy, tie dread Of the
insOlent french, and Of the siling Indian foe IL
was not strange that tho earliest religious services
were those Of fasting and prayer, for relief from
hundred wants and for protection from as many sur
rounding and mortal pcnls. There was malignant
disease which prevailed IN the Colony in lC4G. 1t is
curious to note that the first fire occurred in lC5l
burning two houses, tho casualty occurring from
chimney taking fire, and communicating the flames
to a thatched roof And there was another terrible
fro in CHAR town in 1850 There was a still greater
fro in lC7j-greater perhaps because there was
more to burn. But the Gttlo town went on
slowly increasing in spite of fires sickness In
diaus Quascr3 B1ptists Witches, and other annoy
ances. Wheeler Hutchinson, williamson, Williams
and other heretics' gave infinite trouble. Inc
surrounding towns began, even thus carly, TO be
Jealous Of Boston. In tho Winter fuel was scarce
aud tho snow deep, 30 that Boston acquired the by
10 means enya5lo tile OF TIE LOST ToWN. But
sho was no moro lost thon than she IS lost now.
Her vitality was ~ it sill il, superior to the
scycrast assaults Of misfortune. i ston contin-
ueI to liy0 tho best evidence Of prosperity
for size sent OF from tiue 10 time little col
0nios until she was surrounded by family
of thriving daughters. ThoIo was a spirit
OF liberty even then in tho Tri-mOuntain settle
mcnt, which continued TO increase until it culnii-
mated, after infinite contcntious with the Home
Government, in the Revolution Of 1i76. Hutcbn-
son. the historian swi,h philosophical and moral
accuracy that straits anu difficulties at the begin
ming Of the colony Lad produced industry ana good
husbauGIy." 10 was only, ne adds, "by hard labor
and hard fare that, after few years tie land pro-
duced more than was consumed by the Inhabitants
so that tho oyorplus w2s sent abroad TO tie West
Indies the Wine Islands, and other places
tmay not be inappropriate to notice what the an
rali,ts call "the terrible fro" in Boston which
curreu aus. %, 1c7o" tho most NUful daeaoton that
Boston had ever seen. There were eighty odd dwell
ing houses and seventy odd warehouses. with sew
erl vessels and their hdng consumed to ashes"
1t was the work Of an ucendary; the whole loss
was computed at 10000; and it half ruined
tho colony as vel as tho town. Fortunately there
was 4 moicty which resisted ruin.
1t is hard 10 say whether the King Of England or
the Indians were the most troublesome to the colony
misunderstanding. Randolph, who brought over
commission from the Crown for Collector ana Sur
yeyor and Searcher of she Customs was a great nui-
sance II was odd that upon tho next day after his
arrival. in October, 1888, ." destructive fire hap
pencd in the richest part OF the town. 1t the
south side Of tho docks mouth, and consumed a
great number Of dwelrg-LOuses, warehouses and
vessels" Jealous and angry people supposed
that this fro was "kindlod by Ran
dolph's procurement" The calamity of Sir Ed
mund Andross we can merely mention--as usual,
the colonists got the better Of the creature
Of th1 crown. IL was fur worse for Boston
that sho could do 10 better than hang four
poor Quakers; but she has paid roundly for her
intolerance. She has never heard tho last Of the
matter since. She had another big fire in Iii, and
then sar,ly concluded TO try what virtue there
would be in a little precaution For all this, We
ret to say that in the history Of Boston there are
great many fires recorded even at that compara-
lively early time and that many Of them were very
destructive In fact, DR.. Snow heads emo CT his
chapters With this igneous quotation:
"Inr 4 aud wreathing columns flashed
The fame, as loud the rum crashed
Aud here and there the cracking dome
WIS fred before the exploding bomb"
But the days Of moro serious trouble were ap-
proaching-the days Of resistance to tyranny and
taxation. Il il the duty Of the whole Republic to
remember at this time that if we owe anything TO
the Revolutionary fathers, many Of the bodest and
most persistent of them were sons of Boston. The
sister colonies al that time were prompt gratefully
to recognize the obligation. 1t is enough here to
say that Boston, by her fidelity to freedom, risked
not only her political but her material existence;
her comfortable homes, her woll-flled warehouses,
her growing commerce and the lives of her inhabi-
tants. How much She suffered, and how nobly she
recovered herself under the auspices Of hardly
acquired liberty, il is unnecessary to relate. IL
a., Il 81