New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1872-11-21
The Burned City.

A1nAs SHArlIEsS
The Burned City.
glance at the history of Boston from the
date of its foundation down to a compare
lively modern period will show at this mo-
ment which so thoroughly tests the endurance
of her inhabitants that they may be safely
trusted to recover themselves from the tenn
pOrary prOstration which has befallen them.
For the city owes Its very existence to the
trials and prosecutions which beset its found
ers, driving them from the old English homes
which were so dear to them to found new
ones in the wilderness. To borrow a lest of
Sterne, the troubles of Boston may be said
to have begun before she was born, in the
unyielding bigotry with which Elizabeth
maintained the ceremonies of the Established
Church and fairly called the Puritans into ex-
istence as religious body, by insisting that
the church service should be one at which
they could not assist. Objection to the serv-
ices of the Church soon were enlarged by OBJ
jectiOns to its doctrine, which imprisonment
and other prosecutions failed to remove, and
which were hardly refuted by the fires of
Smithfeld in 1875. The mOlestations of
James were followed by those of Charles
Stuart and Bishop Laud until the project of a
refuge in Massachusetts Bay was seriously
considered and finally carried out. Prince,
the historian, says of these exiles: "They
were about to leave the land of their fathers
sepulchers perhaps forever; to break asunder
those chords of affection which so powerfully
bind good man to his native soil, and to
dissolve those tender associations which con-
stitute the bliss of civil society. In ordinary
cases, the pain of separation is lessened by
the promises Of hope-the pleasure of another
interview; but here adieu, to most of them
| q loQsf ,vos RI ho no 1oe% 10 &C.,
well to departing spirit" The sufferings
of the first colony at Salem belong properly
to the history of Boston-the pestiience
which caused eighty deaths in the little set
Element in one winter-the peril of starva-
ton, and a thousand discomfOrts which find
no record in the pages Of history. The Sec
ond emigration had also it's share of troubles
fever, scurvy, the dread of the insolent
French, and of the skulking Indian foe. 1t
was not strange that the earliest religious
services were those of fasting and prayer, for
relief from hundred wants and for protec-
ton from as many surrounding and mortal
perils. There was a malignant disease
which prevailed in the colony in 1646. 1t is
curious to note that the first fire occurred in
1851, burning two houses, the casualty oc-
curing from chimney taking fire, and COM
municating the flames to matched roof.
And there was another terrible fire in
Charlestown in 1850. There was a still
greater fire in 1676-greater perhaps because
there was more to burn. But the little town
went on slowly increasing in spite of fires,
sickness, Indians, Quakers, Baptists,
Witches, and other annoyances. Wheeler,
Hutchinson, Williamson, Williams, and
other "heretics" gave infinite trouble. The
surrounding towns began, even thus early,
to be jealous of Boston. In the winter fuel
was scarce and the snow deep, so that Bos-
ton acquired the by no means enviable title
of ''The Lost Town." But she was no more
lost then than she is lost now. Her vital
ity was, as it still is, superior to the severest
assaults of misfortune. Boston continued to
give TIE best evidence of prosperity, for she
sent off from time to time little colonies UNI
til she was surrounded by family of thriv-
ing daughters. There was spirit of liberty
even then in the tri-mOuntain settlement,
which continued to increase until it culmi-
mated, after infinite contentious with the
Home Government, in the Revolution of l776.
Hutchinson, the historian, says, with philo-
sophical and moral accuracy, that "straits
and difficulties at the beginning of the colony
had produced industry and good husbandry."
hard fare" that, after few years, the land
produced more than was consumed by the in
habitants, so that ''the overplus was sent
| abroad to the WestIndies, the Wine Islands,
and other places"
| It may not be inappropriate to notice what
| the annalists call "thc terrible fire" in Bos-
ton which occurred August 8, 1679-"the
most woful desolation that Boston has ever
seen. There were eighty odd dwelling
| houses and seventy odd warehouses, with
several vessels and their lading consumed to
ashes" 1t was the work of an incendlary !;
the whole loss was computed at e200 900 !;
and it half ruined the colony as we'll as the
town. Fortunately there was moiety which
resisted ruin.
| 1t is hard to say whether the King of Eng
| land or the Indians were the most trouble
some to the colony of Massachusetts Bay.
With both there was a chronic misunder-
standing. Randolph, who brought over a
commission from the Crown for Collector
and Surveyor and Searcher of the Customs,
was great nuisance. 1t was odd that upon
the next day after his arrival, in October,
1858, "a destructive fire happened in the
richest part of the town. Itwas on the south
side of the docks mouth, and consumed a
great number of dwelling-houses, ware
houses, and vessels" Jealous and angry
people supposed that this fire was "kindled
by Randolph's procurement" The calamity
Of Sir Edmund Andross we con merely men,
tomas usual, the colOnists got the better
of the creature of the crown. 1t was far
worse for Boston that she could do no better
than hang four poor Quakers; but she has
paid roundly for her intolerance. She has
never heard the last of the matter since.
She had another big fire in I'LL, and then
sagely concluded to try what virtue there
would be in little precaution. For all this,
we regret to say, that in the history of Bos-
ton there are a great many fires recorded,
even at that comparatively early time, and
that many of them were very destructive
In fact, DIR. Snow heads one OF his chapters
with this igneous quotation
"In red and wreathing columns flashed
The fame, as loud the ruin crashed,