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                    THE MENTOR 1918.07.01, No. 158,
                         The Cradle of Liberty

                            LEARN ONE THING
                               EVERY DAY

                  JULY 1 1918          SERIAL NO. 158

                                  THE
                                MENTOR

                             THE CRADLE OF
                                LIBERTY

                        By ALBERT BUSHNELL HART
                        Professor of Government
                          Harvard University

                   DEPARTMENT OF           VOLUME 6
                   HISTORY                NUMBER 10

                          TWENTY CENTS A COPY




LIBERTY


Liberty is older than Law, older than Government, older than the State.
Liberty goes back to the Garden of Eden, where first was taught the
bitter lesson that where Liberty is uncontrolled, society breaks down.
The word is a splendid one, coined by the Romans, “With a great price
obtained I this freedom,” said the Roman centurion; “But I was free
born,” replied St. Paul. Liberty was in the hearts of the English
colonists; Liberty rang out from the Bell of Independence Hall; Liberty
is stamped upon our state and federal constitutions. For Liberty
millions of men have struggled and died. Toward Liberty oppressed
myriads are stretching out their hands today. Liberty is the pole-star
of peoples, the hope of mankind.




[Illustration: FANEUIL HALL, BOSTON, MASS.--“THE CRADLE OF LIBERTY”]




_THE CRADLE OF LIBERTY_

_Faneuil Hall_

ONE


    “In old Faneuil, that guild temple of traders and aldermen,
    butchers and clerks, hucksters and civic magistrates, the
    spirit of the people conceived an embryonic nation.”

Among early Bostonians who owned argosies and had a prosperous trade
with France and England was a young bachelor named Peter Faneuil,
who, like Paul Revere, was descended from Huguenot refugees. He was
the heir of his uncle, Andrew Faneuil, who died in 1738 and left a
large fortune. Fond of good living and hospitable, “Here’s to Peter
Faneuil!” was the toast often proposed above brimming bumpers. From
Madeira he ordered amber wine, from London, chariots and sets of
crested harness, and fine stuffs, buttons and laces. His ships carried
cargoes of tobacco, black walnut, fish, stoves and general merchandise.
At forty years of age he was a prince among Colonial merchants. He
had, moreover, pride in Boston’s advancement, and offered “at his own
cost and charge” to build a market for “the use, benefit and advantage
of the town.” Later, the donor of the market house instructed his
architect, the renowned John Smibert, to add a hall above the space
given over to provisioners’ stalls. In 1742 the two-story brick
building was completed. When Peter Faneuil received the formal thanks
of Boston, he made the prophetic response, “I hope what I have done
will be for the service of the whole country.” A year later he died,
and was buried in the Granary Burying Ground.

The chamber over the market became the seat of public offices, and, as
the Town Hall, was in demand for patriotic celebrations, debates and
banquets. In 1761, all of the structure except the walls was destroyed
by fire. As no benevolent townsman offered to duplicate Faneuil’s
gift, the selectmen were empowered to raise the necessary funds for
rebuilding by holding a lottery. “Faneuil Hall Lottery Tickets” bore
the signature of John Hancock, then a young politician of promise. In
1763 the reconstructed Town Hall was ready for occupancy. It was this
rebuilt meeting-place that became the forum of free speech in Boston,
the Altar of Liberty from which rose the flame that “roused a depressed
people from want and degradation. Here those maxims of political truth
which have extended an influence over the habitable globe, and have
given rise to new republics, were first promulgated.”

The Stamp Act (1765) was denounced within its arched and pillared
walls, and the repeal celebrated with festivities. Revenue laws were
discussed, and when troops were ordered to the provincial capital,
a convention in session here raised a fearless voice in defence of
Colonial independence. The day following the massacre of the fifth
of March, 1770, a mass meeting was called in the Hall, but so many
citizens responded that it was necessary to repair to Old South Church,
where there was more room. Early in November, 1773, John Hancock
presided over a Town Hall meeting, the object of which was to protest
against threatened importations of tea by the East India Company of
London. At numerous conclaves the tea question continued to agitate the
grave townsfolk, until on December sixteenth a group of patriots in the
disguise of Indians summarily put an end to discussion by dumping the
cargoes of the newly-arrived tea ships into Boston harbor.

Faneuil Hall echoed to vigorous protests against the Port Bill,
which so vitally affected Boston commerce, and from the same “Old
Faneuil” printed letters were dispatched to the other colonies for the
purpose of presenting facts and securing coöperation against proposed
aggressions by the mother country. At Faneuil Hall representatives
of General Gage assembled one tragic day to receive the arms of the
Bostonians. In joyous contrast were the meetings held in the honored
edifice after the evacuation of the city by British troops.

French naval officers and the Marquis de Lafayette were feasted here;
two presidents, George Washington and John Adams, were guests of
honor at Faneuil Hall banquets; and in 1793 the execution of Louis
XVI was celebrated by sons of freedom who sympathized with the French
Revolutionists.

In the year 1806 the sturdy building was remodeled and enlarged. During
the naval war with England, citizens again held meetings in the Town
Hall to inveigh against renewed violations of their “national rights
and sovereignty.” In the “Cradle of Liberty” Charles Francis Adams,
Daniel Webster, Wendell Phillips, Edward Everett, Rufus Choate and
Charles Sumner championed justice and democracy. In 1834, at a memorial
meeting for Lafayette held in Faneuil, Edward Everett delivered one
of his most glowing and eloquent orations, in which he extolled the
departed French patriot as the “Lover of Liberty.” Referring to the
Hall in which he spoke, he said, “The spirit of the departed is in high
communion with the spirit of this place.”

  PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
  ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 6, No. 10, SERIAL No. 158
  COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.




[Illustration: OLD NORTH CHURCH, BOSTON, MASS.--ASSOCIATED WITH THE
RIDE OF PAUL REVERE]




_THE CRADLE OF LIBERTY_

_Paul Revere_

TWO


Though Paul Revere performed bravely and well numerous patriotic duties
assigned to him, most early historians of the Revolution forgot even to
mention his name in recounting the crucial events of April, 1775. He
lives in our memory today chiefly because one valorous deed of his, in
that month of valorous deeds, was made the subject of a popular poem.
Nearly ninety years after the Ride, Longfellow rescued the Midnight
Messenger from oblivion, and gave him a place among Revolutionary
heroes.

Apollos Rivoire, father of Paul, was a native of the Island of
Guernsey, and came of Huguenot stock. A fugitive in search of freedom,
he found a home in Boston, where on January 1, 1735 (new style), the
son was born who was to establish in the annals of his country the
Anglicized name of liberty-loving French ancestors. Father and son were
metal craftsmen and wrought fine tableware, many examples of which are
still in existence. Paul was a skilful designer, and a cartoonist of
wit and imagination. But of far greater importance to his associates,
he was an up-and-ready sort of person, keen for any task that gave vent
to an ardent nature--always in the thick of everything. He was a moving
spirit in various secret organizations, had an active part in the Tea
Party, and because he was bold and dependable was chosen to carry the
news of Boston’s successful exploit to sympathizers in New York, and
speed it on to Philadelphia. Following a ride of Revere’s in December,
1774, to Durham and Portsmouth, the provincials secured powder and
ammunition from Fort William and Mary that actually saved the day at
the Battle of Bunker Hill.

Early in 1775 Revere engaged with other patriots to patrol the Boston
streets and keep advised as to the movements of the redcoats. On April
15th they reported the British camp unwontedly astir. The next day,
Sunday, Revere took a message from Dr. Warren to Lexington, where
Hancock and Adams, on whose heads a price had been set by the king,
were lodging. Upon receiving the messenger’s news of British activities
the adjourned Provincial Congress re-assembled in Concord and began
immediate preparation against attack on the colony’s stores. Here let
us read the account of “the express” himself, an account at variance
with the familiar rhymed version, especially in respect to the lantern
signals, and his arrival at the journey’s end.

“On Tuesday evening, the 18th, it was observed that a number of
soldiers were marching towards the bottom of the Common (thus
indicating to Revere and his fellow-watchers that the troops were
about to leave Boston by water). About ten o’clock Dr. Warren sent in
great haste for me, and begged that I would immediately set off for
Lexington, where Messrs. Hancock and Adams were.… When I got to Dr.
Warren’s house, I found he had sent an express by land to Lexington, a
Mr. William Dawes.… The Sunday before.… I agreed with a Colonel Conant
(at Charlestown, across the river from Boston) that if the British went
out by water we would shew two lanthorns in the North Church steeple:
and if by land, one, as a signal.… I left Dr. Warren, called upon a
friend, and desired him to make the signals.… Two friends rowed me
across Charles River, a little to the eastward where the _Somerset_
man-of-war lay.… I met Colonel Conant, and several others; they said
they had seen our signals.… I set off upon a very good horse; it was
then about eleven o’clock, and very pleasant.” It is plain that the
signals were not for the messenger, as related by Longfellow, but were
intended to flash the intelligence to the people and militia that the
British were advancing.

Revere was in constant danger of being overtaken by the entire force,
which had embarked at Boston almost at the moment he was reaching the
Charlestown shore. Riding at top speed he reached Medford. “I awaked
the captain of the Minute Men; and after that I alarmed almost every
house, till I got to Lexington. I found Messrs. Hancock and Adams at
the Rev. Mr. Clarke’s; I told them my errand, and inquired for Mr.
Dawes.”

When the latter arrived, the two set out for Concord, six miles
distant. On the road they were overtaken by a young Dr. Prescott, and
all three proceeded to wake the sleeping households along the highway.
Suddenly, Revere, riding ahead, was surrounded by four armed redcoats.
With William Dawes he was forced into a pasture and detained, while
Dr. Prescott, “jumped his horse over a low stone wall, and got to
Concord.” Revere was led back toward Lexington, but at the sound of
guns his captors seized his mount and let him continue alone on foot.
In Lexington he saved important papers of Hancock’s, and witnessed the
first exchange of shots between the provincials and the British.

“Old North Church,” Boston, still stands on the original ground where
it was erected in 1723. From “the highest window in the wall” the
sexton hung the warning lights. The face of the tower bears a tablet to
the memory of the dauntless and resourceful Messenger of Liberty.

    “Through the gloom and the light
    The Fate of a nation was riding that night;
    And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight
    Kindled the land into flame with its heat.”

  PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
  ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 6, No. 10, SERIAL No. 158
  COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.




[Illustration: THE LINE OF THE MINUTE MEN, LEXINGTON, MASS.]




_THE CRADLE OF LIBERTY_

_Lexington Green_

THREE


During the years immediately preceding the conflict on Lexington
Green, the temper of the Colonials was sorely tested by persecutions
instigated by Tyrant George III--“the Stamp Act, its repeal, with
the declaration of the right to tax America; the landing of troops
in Boston, beneath the batteries of fourteen vessels of war, lying
broadside to the town, with springs on their cables, their guns loaded,
and matches smoking; the repeated insults, and finally the massacre
of the fifth of March resulting from this military occupation; and
the Boston Port Bill, by which the final catastrophe was hurried
on.” Delegates were appointed to the Continental Congress; at Salem
the Provincial Congress was formed in October, 1774. At Concord and
Cambridge the latter assembly enacted measures providing for troops,
officers and stores. Early in the year 1775 it was clear that the
crisis was at hand. General Gage betrayed his intentions when in March
he caused the stone walls to be leveled that divided the fields about
Boston, and so made these peaceful pastures ready for battle. His spies
obtained information as to the amount of provisions hoarded at Concord
and Worcester. On the fifteenth of April patriots in Boston were
convinced that the plans of the British were mature, and an attack on
Concord was imminent. By advice of Hancock and “Sam” Adams the stores
were distributed among neighboring towns. Colonel Revere delivered his
first warning, and “at length the momentous hour arrived, as big with
consequences to Man as any that ever struck in his history.”

Though British officers were ignorant of the means by which Gage was
to assail American freedom, the provincials already knew, and were
prepared. The lanterns in North Church tower had signaled their message
to watchers in Charlestown, and Revere and Dawes were already on their
separate ways, when eight hundred grenadiers and light infantrymen
landed at East Cambridge and crossed the marshland to the road that
led to Lexington and Concord. At dawn the Minute Men were alive to the
warning given by bells and drums that the enemy was approaching; three
score or more answered the call to arms on Lexington Green--“a little
band of farmers on their own training-field, facing the veteran ranks
of the king.… Their homes, their property, personal and communal, and
their rights as freemen were threatened; they were patriots and heroes,
everyone.”

Commanded with threats and oaths to lay down his arms, Captain Parker
of the militia cried to his men: “Don’t fire unless you are fired on;
but if they want a war, let it begin here.” In the ensuing assault
several militiamen fell, wounded to the death. The blood they spilled
baptized the cause of Freedom in a new land. Resolved to die rather
than submit, their martyrdom fixed the resolution of all their brothers
in the Colonies.

Here, three-quarters of a century later, in “the birthplace of
American liberty,” Louis Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot, eulogized
“the embattled farmers” of immortal memory in these eloquent phrases:
“It is their sacrificed blood in which is written the preface of your
nation’s history. Their death was and ever will be the first bloody
revelation of America’s destiny, and Lexington the opening scene of a
revolution destined to change the character of human governments, and
the condition of the human race.”

“The Minute Man of the Revolution!” exclaims George William Curtis.
“And who was he? He was the husband and father, who left the plough in
the furrow, the hammer on the bench, and, kissing wife and children,
marched to die or be free!… This was the Minute Man of the Revolution!
The rural citizen, trained in the common school, the town meeting,
who carried a bayonet that _thought_, and whose gun, loaded with a
principle, brought down, not a man, but a system!”

A youth who fought the king’s men that wonderful day described how they
pushed the British back from Concord Bridge, back through Lincoln,
Arlington, Cambridge and Somerville to the Charles. “What could be
more pleasing to ambition,” he wrote, “than to knock off the shackles
of despotism? Freedom was the hobby I mounted, sword in hand, neck or
nothing, life or death. I will be one to support my country’s rights
and gain its independence!”

“What was the matter, and what did you mean in going to the fight?” one
of a later generation asked a veteran of Concord. “Young man,” was the
reply, “what we meant in fighting was this: We always had been free,
and we meant to be free always.”

  PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
  ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 6, No. 10, SERIAL No. 158
  COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.




[Illustration: FROM THE PAINTING BY JOHN TRUMBULL. ORIGINAL IN THE
CAPITOL, WASHINGTON, D. C.

SIGNING THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE]




[Illustration]


The Declaration of Independence is here reproduced in miniature--not
for reading purposes; that would be too severe a tax on the
eyesight--but simply to show the form and style of the