not for the danger of precipitating a crisis, not a man of them would have been spared. It was provoking enough to the whole corps, that, while there were so many troops stationed here, with the design of suppressing town-meetings, there should yet be one for the purpose of delivering an oration to commemorate a massacre perpetrated by soldiers, and to show the danger of standing armies." "The scene was sublime," Samuel L. Knapp says. "There was in this appeal to Britain-in this description of suffering, dying, and horror—a calm and high "The committee appointed to wait on Joseph Warren, Esq., to acquaint him with the vote of the town respecting the time and place of the delivery of the oration, "Reported that said gentleman was ready to comply with the orders of the town, made known to him by their committee. "Upon a motion made, Voted, That there be a collection made in this meeting for Mr. Christopher Monk, a young man now languishing under a wound he received in his lungs, by a shot from Preston's butchering party of soldiers, on the 5th of March, 1770. "An oration to commemorate the horrid massacre of the 5th of March, 1770, and to impress on the minds of the citizens the ruinous tendency of standing armies being placed in free and populous cities, &c., was delivered by Joseph Warren, Esq., to a large and crowded audience, and received by them with great applause. "Upon a motion made and seconded, Voted, That the thanks of the town be, and hereby are, given to Joseph Warren, Esq., for the elegant and spirited oration, delivered by him, at their request, in commemoration of the horrid massacre, perpetrated on the evening of the 5th of March, 1770, by a party of soldiers of the Twenty-ninth Regiment, under Captain Thomas Preston. Also, "Voted, That Mr. Samuel Adams, the Hon. John Hancock, Esq., Benjamin Church, Esq., Mr. John Pitts, John Scollay, Esq., Colonel Thomas Marshall, and Mr. Samuel Austin, be, and hereby are, appointed a committee to wait on Joseph Warren, Esq.; and, in the name of the town, to require of him a copy of said oration for the press." Warren returned the following answer: "GENTLEMEN, The same motives which influenced me yesterday to appear before my fellow-citizens, induce me to deliver this copy to you. "I am, with the sincerest respect, your most obedient servant, "MARCH 7, 1775." "JOSEPH WARREN. souled defiance which must have chilled the blood of every sensible foe. Such another hour has seldom happened in the history of man, and is not surpassed in the records of nations. The thunders of Demosthenes rolled at a distance from Philip and his host; and Tully poured the fiercest torrent of invective when Cataline was at a distance, and his dagger no longer to be feared; but Warren's speech was made to proud oppressors resting on their arms, whose errand it was to overawe, and whose business it was to fight. If the deed of Brutus deserved to be commemorated by history, poetry, painting, and sculpture, should not this instance of patriotism and bravery be held in lasting remembrance? If he "That struck the foremost man of all this world," was hailed as the first of freemen, what honors are not due to him, who, undismayed, bearded the British lion, to show the world what his country dared to do in the cause of liberty? If the statue of Brutus was placed among those of the gods, who were the preservers of Roman freedom, should not that of Warren fill a lofty niche in the temple reared to perpetuate the remembrance of our birth as a nation?"1 1 Biographical Sketches, 114, 115. CHAPTER XIV. ON THE NINETEENTH OF APRIL. THE COMMITTEE OF SAFETY. - WARREN'S LETTERS. THE S LEAVES 1775. THE 5TH OF MARCH TO THE 19TH OF APRIL. WARREN, on the day after the delivery of his oration (March 7), met with the committee of safety in Cambridge, where the deliberations were uncommonly important, Cushing and Adams being named, for the first time, as having been present. The proceedings related to the proposed army. They were of a similar character at the next meeting of the committee, on the 14th, when a watch was arranged to be kept in Charlestown, Cambridge, and Roxbury, in order that the committees of these towns might be ready "to send couriers forward to the towns where the magazines were placed, when sallies were made from the army by night." According to Paul Revere, about thirty persons, chiefly mechanics, had agreed to watch the movements of British soldiers and the Tories. These patriots met at the Green Dragon tavern in Union Street. We were so careful," he says, "that our meetings should be kept secret, that every time we met, every person swore upon the Bible that they would not discover any of our transactions but to Messrs. Hancock, Adams, Drs. Warren, Church, and one or two more. They took turns to watch the soldiers, two by two, by patrolling the streets all night." It was now a common remark, that there was a traitor in the Provincial Congress. At this time, the ministry were assuring George III. that the union of the colonies could not last; and he said, on the day on which Warren delivered his oration, "I am convinced the line adopted in American affairs will be crowned with success."2 At this time, Warren, as the organ of the committee of donations, expressed the faith with which the patriots clung to unity as the anchor of their safety, and the interest with which they looked to the decision of Canada. Joseph Warren to the Committee of Montreal. BOSTON, March 15, 1775. Messrs. JAMES PRICE and ALEXANDER HAY, at Montreal. GENTLEMEN,- So handsome a donation as £100. 4s., accompanied by such an animating letter from our brethren at Montreal, cannot fail to excite the warmest gratitude in the breast of every one who wishes prosperity and freedom to his country. The committee to whom your letter comes directed beg leave (as well on their account as in the name and behalf of every virtuous man in the town, more especially of the many thousands who are actually feeling the miseries occasioned by the Boston Port Bill) to offer you their most unfeigned thanks for this convincing proof of your sympathy for the distresses of your fellowcountrymen, and for your firm, disinterested attachment to the rights of your country. It affords singular pleasure to every friend of virtue to find such enlarged and generous sentiments as dictated your letter discovering themselves in places where the utmost diligence and most wicked devices have been made use of to distinguish them. The 1 Paul Revere's Narrative. 2 Bancroft, vii. 253. religion lately established in Canada is but too well calculated to banish every idea of freedom, and to familiarize the mind to slavery. But your letter is an agreeable instance how tenacious men are of their rights when they clearly understand them. We wish most heartily that sentiments like yours may be diffused throughout your widelyextended province, to the utter extinction of every imposition, whether civil or religious. Your numbers are great, and it is of course important to us whether you are engaged for or against us. The decision of the present controversy between Britain and the colonies will give happiness or misery to America for years, perhaps for centuries. Unanimity and firmness form the only anchor on which we depend. And we have the strongest assurances that can be given, that the whole continent see with the same eyes, and are actuated by one soul. To war with brethren must be shocking to every brave, every humane mind; but, if brethren and fellow-subjects will suffer themselves to be instruments in the hands of tyrants to stab our Constitution, every tender idea must be forgot, and they must be repelled with that heroic spirit which open enemies have experienced. Our advocates are many, both in Europe and America; but the importance of our prosperity makes it a duty to solicit with earnestness for all the assistance and all the strength which the continent can give. The inhabitants of Montreal have done worthily. May Heaven reward them! and, while life lasts, the memory of their kindness will never be effaced from the bosoms of the committee of donations. JOSEPH WARREN, per order.1 The temper of the public mind was never firmer than it was in the month of March. The donations for the relief of the poor continued to flow into Boston as for a common cause: the letters accompanying them were of the most resolute character; and the evidences multiplied that the colonies would be one and indivisible. The tenor of the reports from the mother-country was thoroughly warlike. It was said, in letters from England, printed in the newspapers, "that the ministry were determined to persevere in 1 This letter is printed in 4th Mass. Hist. Soc. Collections, iv. 237. |