haps, at the period of which we are speaking, lived to be a leader
in the Congress of the Declaration, and did not die without the
highest honors of his native State ; while if he failed to receive
all the consideration to which he was entitled in his lifetime, it
has been more than made up, for his posthumous and permanent
fame, by the statue of him which Massachusetts has so recently
ordered to be sent to Washington, as one of her two represent
ative characters in the gallery of the Capitol. James Bowdoin,
older than almost any of them, many years older than any
except Samuel Adams, and upon whose feeble constitution the
infirmities of age came early and heavily, lived to preside over
the convention which framed our State Constitution, as well as
to take a prominent part in the convention which adopted the
Federal Constitution ; and, as Governor of Massachusetts, to
294 THE BOSTON TEA-PARTY.
conduct the State with distinguished wisdom and safety through
the perilous "period of Shays s Rebellion. Even Warren, who
played no second part in 1773, was spared for two years longer,
to die a death more glorious, as far as historical fame is con
cerned, than any life, and to be associated for ever with the
great events at Lexington, and Concord, and Bunker Hill.
When the Centennial Anniversary of those events arrives, his
name, we all know, with that of the gallant Colonel Prescott,
will have its rightful pre-eminence.
But when Josiah Quincy, Jr., at the early age of twenty-nine,
made that brilliant speech in the Old South Meeting-house, one
hundred years ago to-day, the last formal speech made by
any one before the destruction of the tea was consummated,
his career was rapidly approaching its close. The fever flush
was already on his cheek. An admirable and masterly pam
phlet remained to be written by him, and many other powerful
contributions to the newspaper press. But a voyage to Eng
land was soon rendered necessary by his failing health, and from
that voyage he only returned to die within sight of his native
shores on the 26th of April, 1775, seven days only after the
fight at Lexington, of which he could never have heard ; twenty
days only before the battle of Bunker Hill, when Warren, the
friend whom he so much yearned to see, was to follow him to
the skies.
Am I not right, then, in speaking of the peculiar fitness, that
the name of one who was thus so soon to be cut off from all
part or lot in the other great days of that struggle for liberty,
for which, young as he was, he had done so much to prepare the
way, should be recalled with special distinctness, and with spe
cial distinction, on this first commemoration of our grand centen
nial era ?
I have here the original draft of a letter from James Bowdoin,
in his own hand, to Benjamin Franklin, then in London, which
may be interesting on this occasion. It is dated Boston, Sept.
6, 1774, after the destruction of the tea had brought upon us
the vengeance of the British Parliament in the shape of Port
Bills and Army Bills, and contains the following language :
" The several Acts of Parliament relative to this town and
THE BOSTON TEA-PARTY. 295
province will instamp eternal infamy on the present administra
tion, and tis probable that they themselves will soon see the
beginning of it. The spirit those Acts have raised throughout
the colonies is surprising. It was not propagated from colony
to colony, but burst forth in all of them spontaneously, as soon
as the Acts were known ; and there is reason to hope it will be
productive of an Union that will work out the salvation of the
whole. The Congress now holding at Philadelphia, which was
intended to effect such an Union, it is earnestly wished may be
the means of establishing, on a just and constitutional basis, a
lasting harmony between Britain and the colonies." " -Pro arts
et focis, our all is at stake, is the general cry," he continues,
" throughout the country. Of this I have been in some meas
ure a witness, having these two months past been journeying
about the province with Mrs. Bowdoin on account of her health,
the bad state of which has prevented my attending the Con
gress, for which the General Assembly thought proper to ap
point me one of their Committee."
The main interest of this letter, however, in connection with
what I have been saying, is in the fact, that it was a letter intro
ducing Josiah Quincy, Jr., to Benjamin Franklin, and borne by
him across the Atlantic in that voyage from which he was not
to return alive.
" It is needless," says Bowdoin, " to enlarge on the subject of
American affairs, as the worthy and ingenious gentleman, Mr.
Josiah Quincy, Junior, of distinguished abilities in the profession
of law, who does me the favor to take charge of this letter, can
give you the fullest information concerning them, and his infor
mation may be depended on. To him I beg leave to refer you,
and at the same time take the liberty to recommend him to your
friendship and acquaintance."
The " acquaintance and friendship " of Franklin ! Who does
not envy those who were privileged to enjoy them, as the young
Quincy so eminently did ? But hardly less might one envy the
appreciation which Quincy soon won from Franklin. " His
coming over," says the Great Bostonian, in a letter to Quincy s
father, " has been of great service to our cause, and would have
been much greater if his constitution would have borne the
296 THE BOSTON TEA-PARTY.
fatigues of being more frequently in company ; " while in a
later letter, after the death of the young patriot, he says : " The
notes of the speeches taken by your son, whose loss I shall ever
deplore with you, are exceedingly valuable, as being by much
the best account preserved of that day s debate."
And may I not say that if Josiah Quincy, Jr., had left no
other fruit of his visit to England than his grand report of the
noble speech of Lord Chatham on American Affairs, on the 20th
of January, 1775, he would have entitled himself to the endless
gratitude of every admirer of eloquence, and of every friend of
freedom ?
But I cannot conclude these introductory remarks without a
more distinct reference to the speech of Quincy himself, at the
Old South, a hundred years ago to-day. Only a short paragraph
of that speech has ever been found in print, and I know not that
any thing more of it is to be found anywhere. That paragraph
contains an eloquent and noble plea for moderation. He was
evidently, I think, inclined to hold back his native town from
plunging precipitately into a struggle which he knew must come,
but for which the country at large might not yet be ready. He
loved liberty so well and so wisely, that he was reluctant, I
think, to have the sacredness and the lustre of its cause in the
slightest degree dimmed or tarnished by any outbreak of irre
sponsible or lawless violence. Accordingly, in his masterly
u Observations on the Boston Port Bill," a few months after
wards, he vindicates the town from the charges of riot and dis
order. He maintains that " Boston had, as a town, cautiously
and wisely conducted itself ; not only without tumult, but with
studied regard to established law." He alludes to the very last
town-meeting before the proceeding which we commemorate,
and to what he calls " the mere temporary events which took
place in Boston in the matter of the tea," as having occurred
" without any illegal procedure of the town ; " and he challenges
" the greatest enemy of the country " to " point out any one
step of the town of Boston, in the progress of this matter, that
was tumultuous, disorderly, and against law."
It is thus, I think, rather with the great principles of free
dom which led to the destruction of the tea, than with the act
THE BOSTON TEA-PARTY. 297
itself, that his name is ever to be associated ; and, in the clear,
calm light of history, it will never be less honored on that
account. That volunteer band of Liberty-Boys, in the disguise
of Mohawks, performed their work " better than they knew,"
averting contingencies which must have caused immediate
bloodshed, and accomplishing results of the greatest importance
to the American cause. But Quincy was right in claiming that
it was not the act of Boston, as a town ; that the people, or a
part of the people, took matters into their own hands on that
occasion ; and that, while the act was exactly what might have
been expected under the circumstances, and had actually been
predicted, it was one which the truest and most ardent friends
of freedom, as our associate, Mr. Frothingham, has justly said,
"would have gladly avoided," if they could have done so with
out sacrificing the best hopes of their country.
But, Gentlemen, Mr. Frothingham, the Historian of all this
period, is with us to-night ; and I will not detain you a moment
longer from the statement which, at our request, he has kindly
prepared for this occasion. For, indeed, all the rest of the acts
of the Tea Party, all that they did, and all the great results to
which their proceedings directly and indirectly led, are they
not written in the Chronicles of the " Siege of Boston," and
the " Life of Warren," and the " History of the Rise of the
Republic " ? Let me, then, call upon the author of these works
without further delay.
OUR HOME MUSIC.
SPEECH AT THE DINNER OF THE HARVARD MUSICAL ASSOCIATION,
JANUARY 26, 1874.
I AM greatly honored, Gentlemen, in being numbered among
your invited guests this evening, and I am sure that the best
way of showing my gratitude will be to make my acknowledg
ments brief. I came here, indeed, only to manifest my interest
in the objects of your Association, and to express publicly, as I
have often done privately, my obligations, as a lover of music,
to your excellent President, Mr. Dwight, for all that he has
done, and for all that he has written, for so many years past, in
the cause of musical culture in Boston.
It was with real regret and concern that I learned, a few days
ago, that your Symphony Concerts had not thus far, during the
present season, received an adequate public support. How far
this may have resulted from the change which has been made
in the manner of disposing of the tickets, and how far from the
financial embarrassments of the community, I may not venture
to pronounce. But I cannot help feeling that the poorest econ
omy which could be resorted to, by any friend of musical enter
tainments, or of moral and aesthetic culture, is to withhold his
patronage from a class of concerts so moderate in their cost,
and so popular in their character.
It is now nine years since this Symphony Series was regularly
organized. It has thus stood the old classical test, Nonum
prematur in annum. And I do not hesitate to express the opin
ion that during this period, apart from all the pleasure these
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OUR HOME MUSIC. 299
concerts have afforded, they have done more than all other
things combined to educate and elevate the musical taste of our
community. They have now fairly become one of the recog
nized institutions of Boston. To some of us they have become,
not merely one of the luxuries, but, I had almost said, one of
the necessaries, of life. For myself, certainly, I would not have
exchanged the satisfaction and recreation and inspiration I have
so often derived from them, for any other public secular enjoy
ments which have been within my reach.
It has happened to me, Mr. President, in the course of my
life, if I may be pardoned for the egotism of saying so, to
have met with not a few fortunate opportunities of hearing the
best music. I heard the " Elijah," in London, on the second
night of its original performance, with Mendelssohn himself
wielding the baton. I saw Verdi conducting the first represen
tation of one of his own operas, on a Queen s night, at Covent
Garden, nearly thirty years ago. I have heard the " Israel in
Egypt," under Costa s lead, with an orchestra of five hundred,
and with a perfectly trained chorus of four thousand voices, and
with Mr. Simms Reeves for the solos. I have heard Beetho
ven s Ninth Symphony, by a hundred picked performers in
Vienna, and we all know what picked performers in Vienna
are, with the u Song of Joy," sung by the artists and chorus of
the Vienna Opera, in presence of the Emperor and Empress of
Austria, on the One Hundredth Anniversary of Schiller s birth
day. I might recall other occasions of the same sort, and hardly
less memorable.
All these, however, were accidental ecstasies, momentary
raptures, to be remembered for ever, but to be enjoyed only
once in a life-time ; and I should no more think of comparing
them with the sober certainty and assured satisfaction of good
music, at stated intervals, at home, than I should of comparing
a passing glance at Niagara, or Mont Blanc, with the quiet
daily enjoyment of the rural beauties of Brookline, or of the
bolder scenery of Beverly Shore or the Berkshire Hills.
What we need, and what we have a right to demand, and
what we ought steadfastly to support, is good stated music at
home. We owe it to ourselves and to our children, and we owe
300 OUR HOME MUSIC.
it not less to the accomplished musicians who reside among us,
whether native or foreign, to have regular concerts of our own ;
and it ought to be accounted a matter of loyalty to Boston to
sustain them with a liberal and generous hand, for the good
of the community, even if not for our immediate personal
gratification.
We have as fine a Hall for the purpose as almost any in the
world, with its charming Statue of Beethoven, and its magnificent
Organ. It requires only a little better ventilation, and a little
more elbow-room for some of us " whose shadows broaden as
our Sun declines " to render it quite perfect. We have the
old Handel and Haydn Society for the grand Oratorios, and the
new Apollo Club for the charming Glees and Part Songs. Long
life and prosperity to them both ! But this Association has fur
nished the crowning complement to the whole. It would be a
reproach to our civilization, and to our liberal culture, if any of
these organizations were to fail for want of patronage. But no
one of them is more entitled to support than that of the Sym
phony Concerts.
Without them, we should have been almost strangers to the
splendid instrumental compositions of Beethoven and Mendel
ssohn, of Mozart and Haydn and Schumann. We might have
had scraps and snatches of them, an Adagio from one, an
Andante from another, a Scherzo from a third, a Finale from a
fourth, elegant extracts, served up in exquisite style by some
itinerant orchestra, to catch the popular ear. But we could
never have had them, as this Association has given them to us,
in all their grand unity and entirety, with all their parts follow
ing each other in dramatic sequence, like the successive Acts of
some great play of Shakspeare.
I trust, Mr. President, that the time is past when we are to
be dependent for our musical entertainments on the occasional
and capricious visits of artists from other countries or other
cities. We will welcome them when they come. But we have
a right to stated music of our own ; and the experience of the
last nine years has proved abundantly that we can have it.
Doubtless there are grander orchestras than you have been able
to supply us ; or than you could have supplied, perhaps, even
OUR HOME MUSIC. 301
if your treasury had been more adequately replenished from
year to year. I would certainly speak with nothing but admira
tion of the attractions and perfections of Mr. Thomas s Band,
which is just coming to pay us another of its " angel visits, few
and far between." We shall all go to hear them ; and we shall
all be rewarded for doing so. But I cannot help recalling in
this connection, with the change of a word or two, the
lines of an old poet :
" What tho some charming caterer Thomas
Hangs a new Angel two doors from us ;
I hold it both a shame and sin
To quit the true old Angel Inn."
Now, my friends, our Music Hall next Thursday afternoon,
if never before, with Carl Zerrahn as the Conductor, and Mr.
Lang at the Piano ; with a charming Overture of Mozart at the
beginning, and a glorious Symphony of Beethoven at the end ;
with the Prelude to a new Cantata by an accomplished American
composer ; and with Longfellow s touching Ode on the Fiftieth
Birthday of the lamented Agassiz, set to music which, to assure
us in advance that it will be as full of soul as of science, needs
only the name of Otto Dresel ; the Music Hall, I repeat,
next Thursday afternoon, with all this feast of good things, and
with the genial countenance of your President, ever welcome
in its accustomed sphere in the gallery, will surely be the " true
old Angel Inn " for us, and for all the music lovers of Boston ;
and there ought not to be an unoccupied seat in the Hall.
Let me only, in conclusion, express the earnest hope that
this, and the few other opportunities which remain to us this
season, may not be neglected by our fellow-citizens, to make
amends for any meagre attendance during the past months ;
and to show that the Stated Concerts of this Association are
still held in the high estimation which they so richly deserve,
and that they will never be suffered to die out.
HON. WILLIAM MINOT.
MEMOIR READ AT A MEETING OF THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL
SOCIETY, MARCH 12, 1874.
ON the 28th of May, 1802, our late illustrious associate, John
Quincy Adams, in a public Address, spoke of his friend the
Honorable George Richards Minot, then recently dead, as fol
lows : " The community to which such a man as this belongs,
confer honor upon themselves by every token of distinction they
bestow upon him. Mr. Minot was successively employed in
various offices of trust and of honor. To vice, a merciful but
inflexible judge; to misfortune, a compassionate friend; to the
widow, a protector of her rights ; to the orphan, one in place
of a father; in every station which the voice of his country
called him alternately to fill, he displayed that individual
endowment of the mind, and that peculiar virtue of the
heart, which was most essential to the useful exercise of its
functions."
On the 12th of June, 1873, our honored Vice-President,
Charles Francis Adams, at a meeting of our Society, said of the
Honorable William Minot, then recently dead, as follows : " It
becomes my duty to note the decease, since the last meeting,
of one of our most venerable and respected members. Though
never taking any prominent part in the public action of life,
no person passed his days in the performance of duties more
useful to society or honorable to himself. Confidence in the
fulfilment of obligations of pecuniary trusts is only merited by
a life of the purest integrity. The many who reposed it in
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HON. WILLIAM MINOT. 303
him, during the long course of his active career, had cause to
congratulate themselves, when reflecting how much shifting
sand was visible always around them, that they had built their
house on a rock."
It is a rare thing for a father and son to be the subjects
successively of such enviable tributes, from sources so distin
guished. It is not less rare for another father and son, at
an interval of more than seventy years, to be the privileged
authors of such tributes. The double coincidence may well be
noted.
Of George Richards Minot, one of the original members of
our Society, and who made such early and substantial contribu
tions to the work in which we are engaged, by his History of
Shays s Rebellion, and his continuation of Hutchinson s History
of Massachusetts, a Memoir will be found in the Eighth Vol
ume of our Collections. It was undoubtedly prepared by his
pastor, the Rev. James Freeman, D.D., then the Recording
Secretary of the Society ; who, however, marked the Memoir as
his own only by affixing " R. s.," in small type, to the last printed
page. To that Memoir, made up in large part from a Eulogy
previously delivered by himself in King s Chapel, nothing needs
be added ; as it sets forth fully the life, character, and services
of its subject, at a moment when they were fresh in the affec
tionate memory of the writer and of the community.
William Minot was born in the homestead of his father and
grandfather, in what is now known as Devonshire Street,
Boston, opposite the New Post Office, on the 17th of Sep
tember, 1783 ; and he took his Bachelor s Degree at Har
vard University, with the distinguished Class of 1802, a few
months after his father s death. He was admitted to the Bar
of Suffolk County in 1805, and entered at once on the profes
sional pursuits in which his father had been so eminent. To
those pursuits he perseveringly adhered ; only abandoning them
when compelled to do so by the infirmities of old age. He was
particularly devoted to the Law of Wills and Trusts. A man
of the purest life, of the highest principles, of the most scrupu
lous and transparent integrity, his counsel was eagerly
sought, during a long term of years, by those who had estates
304 HON. WILLIAM MINOT.
to bequeath, or trusts to be arranged and executed ; and no one
enjoyed a greater share than he did y in these and in all other
relations, of the esteem and confidence of the community in
which he lived.
Among other Funds committed to his care, was that be
queathed to the town of his birth by Benjamin Franklin, with
a primary view of encouraging young and meritorious mechan
ics. This Fund was placed in Mr. Minot s hands by the
authorities of Boston in 1804, and was gratuitously adminis
tered by him for the long period of sixty-four years, when it
had increased from four thousand to one hundred and twenty-
five thousand dollars. The City Government did not fail to
enter upon its records a grateful acknowledgment of the emi
nent prudence and probity with which the Fund had been
managed.
Naturally of a retiring disposition, Mr. Minot never sought
public office, and very rarely yielded to the solicitation of
friends by accepting it. He served his native place for a year
or two, when it was first incorporated as a City, as the presid
ing officer of one of its wards; and he served the Common
wealth, for another year or two, with fidelity and honor, as a
member of the Executive Council, during the administration
of Governor Everett. He rendered valuable services, also, to
the community, for a considerable time, as an Inspector of
Prisons. But his tastes were for professional and domestic life,
and he resolutely declined all further public employment.
No one could be more charming in the family or social circle,
which often included Sedgwicks and Saltonstalls, the Lees and
the Deweys, with Mrs. Fanny Kemble, and others of similar
gifts. His noble countenance and genial manner attracted the
regard and admiration of all who were admitted to his friend
ship, while his Christian faith and principle gave the crowning
grace to his life and character.
He was of an ancient family, which has been traced back to
Thomas Minot, the Secretary to the Abbot of Saffron Walden,
in Essex County, England, in the reign of Henry VIII., whose
coat-of-arms was surmounted by a Cross, with the motto " Ad
astra per aspera." The family name, indeed, finds a distin-
HON. WILLIAM MINOT. 305
guished wearer, still further back, in the reign of Edward
III., in the person of Laurence Minot, whose Poems, written
about 1352, earlier even than those of Chaucer, were
printed in London in 1795. A copy of the little volume has
recently been added to our library.
Mr. Minot was elected a member of this Society in 1843, and
had thus been associated with us for thirty years, his name
standing, at the time of his death, sixth in the order of senior
ity of membership, on our Resident Roll. He took a warm
interest in our prosperity, and delighted to remember that his
father had been one of our founders. To his thoughtful con
sideration for our welfare, as I have the best reason to
know, we have owed more than one of the substantial con
tributions to our funds, which have helped to relieve our
treasury within the past few years.
He was a great reader during the later period of his long
life. Few men were more familiar with the sterling produc
tions of English literature, and he was always eager to converse,
with the friends who visited him in his old age, on the books
of history or philosophy, of romance or poetry, which were sel
dom out of his hands. Rarely, however, could he be induced to
prepare any thing for the Press. He communicated, indeed, to
the " Polyanthos," a periodical now forgotten, in 1806, a
graceful sketch of his father s life and character, which has lately