Connecticut western news., 1875-04-30
THE BATTLE OF LEXINGTON.
The First Shot and its Results-FrOnI the
 Address of Richard H. Dana, Jr.

F The address of Richard H. Dana, of Lexington, Mass. was an eloquent eulogy of the martyrs who fell at the battle of Lexington. They stood alone, those. sixty minute men, on the village green, a force twelve times theirnumber march ing upon them. It was a time of legal peace throughout the land. The regu- lars and militia were citizens of one land and subjects of a common sovereign. The militia were ordered to surrender their arms and disperse by an officer who was entitled to disarm and disperse them, under the new order of things, if they were an armed band unknown to the law. The regulars came out in part to do that very thing, if they met any such organization in arms. Our men refused to surrender their arms and re- fused to disperse. Must they not have expected the res11lt2 The volley came, and one-quarter of that little band fell killed or wounded. They fell where they stood, their arms in their hands. They were powerless to resist, but they would not obey. They fell willing vic tims, martyrs by intention and in act. | This act of our ancestors, i'll some lights so inexpicable, was @ wise, well-con- sidered deed of self-sacrifce; sad but necessary part of plan of action which the best understandings and bravest hearts of this province, and of the other provinces, had devised and recommend ed, and which, under the blessing of God, was acted out to it's letter on this field, in way that could not have been bettered, which struck right home, touched the deepest chords, gave the surest conservation to the inevitable war, and has made this day, this spot, and their memory blessed forever.
 MT. Dana then reviewed the success sive acts of oppression to which the people of the colonies were subjected the stamp act, the tea tax, the Boston port bill, the restraining and regula- tion acts, the military act, and finally and chiefly the reconstruction acts of 1774, which withdrew counselors, judges, sheriffs and jurors from the free choice or appointment of the people, provided for the transfer of cer- tain classes of accused persons to some other colony, or to England, for trial, and restrained the town meetings. ssThis monument on this field" he said, "commemorates resistance to the re- construction acts of 1774." These acts sought to change self-government into government by the King, and for home rule to substitute absolute rule at Vest minister and St. James Palace. The people by peaceful means and moral coercion, and by intimidation, prevented the new system of legislature, jurors, judges and executive officers going into effect; and Gen: Gage attempted to seat the judges and the new officers by the Tho ,,o0,,1o continued 4o ho1J their town meetings, and organized gress, and Gage resolved to disperse them by the bayonets of the regulars. In short, Massachusetts was placed un- der martial law, to be enforced by the Kings troops; and all for the purpose of changing radically, by imperial power, the fundamental institutions of the peo- pie, in which they had grown up, which they had wisely, safely and justly ad ministered, and on which their liberties depended.
 Against these subversive revolutionary measures the colonists prepared to resist by force, for to that they knew it must come. Meetings, caucusses, and con- gresses of towns, counties, of the pro- vince, and of all the provinces, became the order sof the day. They were all illegal under the new system, and we held them at our peril. The Provincial Congress collected military stores, called on the towns to organize the town com panies, and began to organize the army of Massachusetts. D The old militia, recognized by the royal gov ernor, had disappeared, and the new militia was fast forming, still inchoate; but it was illegal under the new system, and we joined it at our peril. Gage de- termined to disarm and disperse the new militia, to destroy the military stores, and, in short, as Lord Dartmouth sug- gested, to effect by the troops Ca gen eral disarming of the colonists." /" These declarations began to be put into execu- tion. Still, so far, there had been no conflict. No irretrievable act had been done.
 The convention of Middlesex resolved: eff in support of our rights we are called to encounter even death, we are yet un- daunted, sensible that he can never die too soon who lays down his life in sup port of the laws and liberties of his corln- try" Lexington wrote to Boston: "We trust in God that, should the state of our affairs require it, we shall be ready to sacrifice our estates and everything dear in life, yea, and life itself, in support of the common cause." Quincy wrote from England: "Om countrymen must seal the cause in their blood"
 The whole atmosphere was charged with war. We felt it in every breath There was stiffness of deadly prepara- ation and a patient awaiting of the fall ing of the bolt. The Provincial Con- gress appointed day of fasting, humilia- tion, and prayer, measure of deep significance in those days. It ordered the citizens to pay their taxes to MT. Gardner, the agent of the people, and not to the royal collector; and Lexington l directed it's collectors to obey this order and the town would secure them harm Less. The issue was made up. But it solemnly resolved that we must not pre- cipiate the war, we must not strike the | first blow. The British troops must fire the first shot. When, there 1 fore, the news reached Lexington at night that the regulars were marching from Boston to destroy the stores at Concord, to arrest leading patriots, to disperse and disarm all assembled forces, they came together on this green in full ranks, under the eye and counsel of Adams and Hancock, and of their own wise, venerated, patriotic pastor. The widow awaked her only son, the young bride summoned her husband, the motherless child her father. "The regu- lars are out, and something must be done!" That something was to stand on the defensive, and meet death if it came, and then meet war with war. The men separated on the doubt as to the truth of the report, with orders to rally at the drum beat and the alarm guns. The first messengers sent down the road had been captured, and the great force was moving steadily on. One scout, more fortunate, escaped, and spread the