PUBLICATIONS
OF THE IPSWICH
HISTORICAL
SOCIETY
XXVI
and
MRS. EUNICE
WHITNEY FARLEY FELTEN
1927
Table of Contents
John
Wise of Chebacco is a most interesting character, and the record of his work and
influence in the Colony has been portrayed by Mr. Waters with a strict fidelity
to historic facts. To his untiring energy this contribution is solely due, and
gives additional evidence of his zealous regard for the splendid character of
the men who did so much toward shaping the best form of government the world has
ever known.
The
second part of this pamphlet has been contributed by a lineal descendant of
Michael Farley, a name that has persisted down to the present time. It is hoped
that the story of "Two Ipswich Patriots" may be of interest to its
readers, and give these men the honored place to which their character and their
deeds justly entitle them.
He
was fourteen years old when the General Court was convened in special session on
the 11th of September to consider a matter of vital significance to the liberty
and independence of the Colony. For many years there had been assaults of
various kinds upon the Charter, under which the Colony was founded. As early as
1634, the alarming news had come that the enemies of the Colony were so strong
in the royal councils that there was a plan formed of sending over a General
Governor and of creating a special commission for the management of all the
colonies and the revocation of their charters, with Laud, Archbishop of
Canterbury, at its head. The General Court met, decided that a General Governor
could not be accepted, and, with perfect understanding of the revolutionary
nature of its decision, ordered that all citizens should be trained in military
tactics and that a castle should be built in Boston harbor. An immediate
conflict was saved only by the chaotic condition of public affairs in England.
In 1638, another demand for the Charter was made, to which Governor Winthrop
replied wisely but firmly. Again in
1646, there were plots against their liberties, and constant misrepresentation
of the arbitrary administration of government, and Edward Winslow of Plymouth
was sent over to bear and defend a formal declaration by the General Court.
"We conceive," that document declared, "that in point of
government, we have, granted by patent, such full and ample powers of choosing
all officers that shall command and rule over us, of making all laws and rules
of obedience, and of a full and final determination of all cases in the
administration of justice, that no appeal or other ways of interrupting our
proceedings do lie against us."
Such
plainness of speech would have provoked conflict, we judge, with a king jealous
of his authority; but the days of Charles the First were numbered, and the
strong hand of Puritanism demanded his life before he could attempt coercive
measures.
With the passing of the Commonwealth, the peace of the Puritan colony was again in peril. The news of Charles the Second's accession was received with suspicion of impending trouble. No official proclamation of his sovereignty was made nor oath of allegiance ordered. It was known that the scheme of sending a General Governor was again revived, and projects for the more rigid enforcement of the navigation laws, for the establishment of Episcopal worship, and for the larger liberty of Quakers, were already under discussion. The critical juncture of affairs was discussed calmly in General Court, in June, 1661, and a committee was appointed "to consider and debate such matter or thing of publicke concernment touching our pattent, lawes, priviledges and duty to his maj'ty as they in their wisdom shall judge, most expedient & draw up the result of their apprehensions & present the same to the next session for consideration & approbation, that so (if the will of God be) wee may speake & act the same thing, becomeing prudent, honest, conscientious & faithfull men."
The
spirit that moved so mightily in Samuel Adams, Otis and Patrick Henry, a century
later, is felt in these calm but determined words, and it breathes in every
sentence of the report of that committee. They affirmed that under their patent,
they were a body politic, vested with power to make freemen, to choose their
rulers, to make laws for the government of the people in all ecclesiastical and
civil affairs, and defend itself by force of arms from any assault, and that any
enactment "prejudicial to the country, contrary to any just law of ours,
not repugnant to the lawes of England, to be an infringement of our right."
These
bold utterances disturbed the conservative colonists, who deprecated any
deliverance that might disturb the peace and prosperity of the Colony.
Petitions, urging cautious and diplomatic action, were presented from Ipswich,
Newbury and Sudbury. A similar address from citizens of Boston was read. The
delicacy of the situation was apparent, and Mr. Bradstreet and Rev. John Norton
were sent to England to represent the Colony in the debates of the Council. They
returned in September, 1662, bringing word that the King had confirmed the
patent, but at the price of very obnoxious concessions on their part. He
demanded that the oath of allegiance should be taken, that the administration of
justice should be in his name, that the privilege of Episcopal worship should be
allowed, that the Lord's supper should be open to all of good and honest lives,
and there should be similar enlargement of the franchise.
The
Colony delayed answer, and in 1664 the Clarendon commissioners arrived to see
how the Charter was maintained, and reconcile the differences between the
colonists and the King. This Commission was received coldly and even defiantly.
It reported to the King to this effect, and His Majesty wrote to the colonists
of Massachusetts Bay "that those who governed the colony of Mass. in did
upon the matter, believe that His Majesty had no jurisdiction over them, but
that all persons must acquiesce in their judgments and determinations how unjust
soever, and could not appeal to his Majesty." Accordingly he ordered agents
to be sent to England.
This
determination of royalty to compel recognition in the Colony, and the obvious
determination of the men of Massachusetts to resist and affirm its right of
self-rule, were likely to clash violently. In all the homes of the Colony there
was much talk of the impending danger, and that Roxbury boy, fourteen years old,
was waiting anxiously the drift of affairs.
The
General Court met, and in very solemn mood. The occasion was one of the most
intense and far-reaching significance. Six of the ministers were present by
invitation of the Court, and the whole forenoon was spent in prayer, and
adjournment was then made until the following day. The next morning petitions
from Boston, Salem, Newbury and Ipswich, counselling prudence, were read and
considered. Vigorous debate followed, and a reply to the King was adopted :
"We
have in all humility given our reasons why we could not submit to the
Commissioners and their mandates the last year. ...
"We
must, therefore, commit this our great concernment unto Almighty God, praying
and hoping that his Majesty (a prince of so great clemency) will consider the
state and condition of his poor and afflicted subjects at such a time, being in
imminent danger by the public enemies of our nation, and that in a wilderness
far remote from relief."
Weeks, perchance months, elapsed before the defiant message could be borne over the sea and the royal reply returned. War with the mother-land was imminent. A frigate or a squadron might be expected, to compel submission. No thoughtful youth could help forecasting the future, and the discipline of anxiety and strong determination to uphold the Puritan government wrought maturity of character and strong love of liberty.
When
he was seventeen he went to college, and was graduated from Harvard in due
course in 1673; but of these years we know nothing. For seven other years,
little is heard of him. King Philip's War burst suddenly upon the Colony, and
all its resources were taxed to preserve itself from annihilation. The drafts
upon the young men of every community were so frequent that scarcely a single
able-bodied man could have escaped military service.
In
some fashion he had won the favorable regard of the General Court, and in 1680,
when the Chebacco Parish was passing through a series of trials incident to the
acting minister, Rev. Jeremiah Shepard, he was recommended by the General Court
to this church. He was received with favor, and was ordained Pastor on August
12, 1683, and the pastorate then begun was ended only by his death.
The
parish was small and overshadowed by the dignity and prominence of the old First
Parish, whose pulpit was adorned with the eminent William Hubbard, already
renowned as the Historian of the Indian Wars. The venerable Thomas Cobbet was
still able to perform some of the duties of his pastorate, and John Rogers, in
the very prime of his life, brilliant in scholarship and accomplished in
medicine as well as theology, after seventeen years of helpfulness in the
ministry, was installed as President of Harvard College on the very day Mr Wise
was formally inducted into his Chebacco pastorate. For many years the Ipswich
church had enjoyed the singular privilege of the ministry of a student of
Oxford, a graduate of the first class sent out from Harvard, and the future
President of their beloved College, -three men of large reputations and
exceptional strength and usefulness.
The
atmosphere in which Mr. Wise found himself was stimulating, we conceive.
Association with men like these, and with the vigorous men of the Ipswich
church, was a rare privilege.
Public
affairs, too, were in a disturbed and even disheartening condition. Within a few
months of his arrival in his field of labor, a convention was held in Ipswich,
to discuss the course to be pursued by the Essex County towns in relation to the
Mason claims. Pressing his title to all the lands between the Salem river and
the Merrimac under the original grant to his grandfather, John Mason, Robert
Mason had succeeded in compelling attention to his claims. The establishment of
this claim, which was about to be prosecuted in the courts, would have
invalidated every title in all the towns within their limits. All the years of
labor in subduing the wilderness and building comfortable homes and prosperous
villages, which had been enjoyed now for half a century would have been in vain.
The people were intensely concerned in defending their rights and repelling the
demands of the claimant.
But
the bitterness which was roused by Mason was less perhaps than the distress and
alarm which Edward Randolph, the agent of the King, was causing by his
vindictive and tireless attacks. He had already drawn up his " Articles of
High Misdemeanor" against a faction in the General Court, which he charged
with being factious and seditious, and deserving of summary punishment. Among
the men whom he proscribed was Major Samuel Appleton of Ipswich, an Assistant,
and the famous leader in King Philip's War, and feeling ran high in the old
town. William Goodhue, Senior, a conspicuous member of Mr. Wise's parish, was
then a member to the lower House, and as he was not mentioned by Randolph he may
have been friendly to the Royal cause. Captain John Appleton, brother of the
Major, and one of the most conspicuous men of the town, was a hearty royalist. The
town was rent with factions, as sympathy or conviction led the citizens to side
with the King or with the Colonists, who demanded practical independence of the
Sovereign. The line of cleavage separated fathers from sons, brothers
from brother, neighbors and friends from life-long associates.
The
minister of Chebacco had a delicate
task to lead his flock wisely in such troublous times. The long contention ended
at last in the royal decree of June 21, 1684, which vacated the Charter.
Massachusetts ceased to be, as a body politic. "The elaborate fabric,"
says Palfrey, "that had been fifty-four years in building, was levelled
with the dust." The General Court was dissolved, all judges and officials
of the courts were removed from office, popular elections were at an end. All
the machinery of government ceased, and Massachusetts became the private estate
of a hostile monarch. Gloom and despair were evident in every face. Charles the
Second died, and James the Second came to the throne, Feb. 6, 1684/5, but it was
soon found that the change would bring no relief. Joseph Dudley was appointed
President of the Council, and the Crown designated his associates.
Armed
resistance was impossible in the exhausted financial condition caused by the
protracted and disastrous Indian wars; and that strong Puritan party in England,
which, in earlier struggles, would have sided enthusiastically with the
colonists, had ceased to be. No resort was left to the patriots of New England
but to submit to the bitter fate that awaited them as helpless subjects of a
distant King, with whom they had nothing in common.
But
there began to be mutterings of popular discontent. A Popular Fast was
proclaimed, but some refused to observe it in Rowley and Ipswich, and a justice
was forthwith despatched to hold court there and ferret out the guilty parties.
Captain John Gould of Topsfield was charged with speaking seditious words
against the Government and was fined heavily and imprisoned, in the summer of
1686. The temper of the new Government was not to be mistaken. The slightest
manifestation of resistance would be followed by summary and severe punishment.
Accustomed to virtual independence from their earliest remembrance, trained to
discuss all matters of public moment freely in town meetings and to express
their convictions to their elective rulers as circumstances required, the men of
Massachusetts submitted with ill grace to the edicts of this new arbitrary
government, which must be acquiesced in with silence and with no show of
displeasure.
But
harsher discipline was in store. On the 12th of December, 1686, the frigate
"Rose" dropped anchor in Boston harbor, and Sir Edmund Andros,
attended by sixty redcoats landed. He was escorted to the Town House at the head
of King, now State street, where he caused his commission as Governor to be read
and at once assumed his functions of Governor. The abasement of Massachusetts
was now complete. An English lord was her chief ruler, British soldiers overawed
her people. Her Puritan meeting house was profaned with Episcopal worship. An
odious oligarchy sat in the seats of her honored officials. A conservative party
submitted tamely, but there was a strong, clear-headed, liberty-loving party
much in preponderance, I judge, which endured silently, but with inward
rebellion. No voice, however, was raised to protest against the invasion of the
soil by an armed force, and the wanton trampling upon her liberties.
In
January, 1687, the final stroke fell. A tax of a penny a pound was ordered, to
afford a revenue, and each town was ordered forthwith to choose a taxing
Commissioner. This Commissioner and the Selectmen were instructed to make a list
of persons and a valuation of estates, and the Commissioners of each County,
meeting at their respective County seats, were ordered to determine the local
tax and issue warrants to the Constables for collection. This was in direct
defiance of the honored right of the colonists to determine their own tax. From
the beginning it had been stoutly and constantly maintained that there could be
no taxation without representation. This was the shibboleth of their chartered
liberties, not only in Massachusetts, but in New York, in Pennsylvania, in
Virginia, had this cardinal principle been affirmed, and maintained at no small
cost.
What
was to be the attitude of the Colony of Massachusetts toward this oppressive
violation of her ancient right to determine her own taxes. In the town meetings
of the old Commonwealth the opportunity was given the friends of liberty to make
their protest, though it was evident that plainness of speech would not be
tolerated by the royal Governor, and his agents were waiting, no doubt, in every
community to hear the manner of speech into which ardent patriots might be
betrayed.
The
Boston town meeting was held on July 25th. The high-minded Thomas Danforth, the
Deputy Governor, and other members of the General Court might have spoken there,
but no protest was made, and meekly and obediently the Tax Commissioner was
chosen. The Salem town meeting convened. Old Simon Bradstreet, the deposed
Governor, was a resident, and the Salem folk looked to him for guidance. No dissenting voice was heard. The Tax Commissioner was
chosen. At Manchester, at New- bury, at Marblehead, the same prudent though
timid counsels prevailed. At Taunton, in the month of August, the first
courageous refusal to elect the Commissioner occurred, and the Town Clerk,
Shadrack Wilbore, was arrested and held for trial.
In
the face of this prudent policy of acquiescence, at a time when the strong
friends of the Colony hid their heads and covered their mouths with their hands,
the Ipswich town meeting was held. It was convened on August 23d, after most of
the towns had voted. On the evening before, John Wise, the bold minister of
Chebacco, with some of his parishioners, leading men in town affairs, came to
Ipswich and attended a caucus, or preliminary meeting, at the residence of the
Town Clerk. The reverend pastor, William Hubbard, was there, and some dozen of
the officers and prominent citizens of the town. It was the sense of the meeting
that this "warrant- act" abridged their liberties as Englishmen, and
they concluded "yt it was not ye Town's Dutie any
wayes to Assist yt ill methode of Raising mony wtout a
Generall Assembly.”
The
town meeting met next day. Mr. Wise spoke vigorously against taxation without a
vote of their representative assembly. He said, it was remembered, "We had
a good God and a good King, and Should Do well to stand for or
previledges." The vote was practically unanimous,
it would seem.
"Considering
that the sd act doth infringe their Liberty as Free borne English subjects of
his Majestie by interfearing Wth ye statutory Laws of the
Land-by wich it is enacted that no taxes shall be Levied on ye
subjects wtte out consent of an assembly chosen by ye Free
holders for assessing ye same. They do therefore vote, that they are
not willing to choose a Commisser for such an end, wtte
out Sd priviledges."
The
language of the vote was inspired by Mr. Wise, and he may have drawn the
resolution. It was the first determined yet statesmanlike utterance in that
period of the usurpation, when the boldest grew timid and the wisest counsellors
were silent. The minister of Chebacco was treading on dangerous ground.
This
decisive vote was followed by a bold propagandism. Agents went covertly to
Topsfield and Rowley, and those towns came into line. This high-handed
proceeding, as it was regarded, was not to be overlooked. Ipswich was, next to
Boston, probably the most important town in the Colony, and such factious and
turbulent action called for stern repression. Legal proceedings were begun
speedily, and Mr. Wise and five others were arrested, brought before the Council
and cast into the Stone Prison in Boston, awaiting their trial. When brought
before the Council, Mr. Wise carried himself boldly. He declared that as
Englishmen they had privileges according to Magna Charta, -to which it was
replied, "You have no privilege, Mr. Wise, except not to be sold as
slaves."
Mr.
Wise reported this sharp repartee to Mr. Francis Wainwright, one of the leading
citizens. He repeated it to others, and straightway he was arrested, and secured
his liberty only by an abject apology for his indiscretion. Such was the
intolerant repressiveness of the time. The newly-fledged Councillors were very
sensitive of their honor .
An
appeal for release on bail met with no success. This was followed by another
appeal from the Ipswich men, Mr. Wise signing and probably being the author,
which we keenly regret to chronicle. Thus far his attitude had been heroic, but
the gloomy Stone Jail had a depressing effect upon his free spirit. The other
men confined under the same charge, made acknowledgment of their error. The
apologies of Dudley Bradstreet and Col. Nathaniel Saltonstall, both Magistrates
and Assistants, were pitifully abject and painful in their self-abasement.
Further resistance seemed hopeless. So Mr. Wise and his associates plead for
pardon, affirming their loyalty and praying the Governor and Council to pass
over their offence, "hoping you will please to impart it rather to our
ignorance than Obstinacy, in neither of which we would persist."
But
this humble apology failed of its end. They were arraigned before a special
session of the Oyer and Terhiner on the 24th of October, found guilty and
returned to jail, where they lay twenty-one days awaiting sentence. Mr. Wise was
"suspended from ye ministerial function, fined 50 £ in money
& the costs, obliged to give a bond of £1000 for ye Good
Behaviour one year." His associates suffered similar penalties. They
furnished bonds and were released, and on the 24th of November Mr. Wise was
permitted by an order from the Executive Council to resume the work of the
ministry .Another town meeting was called, a taxing commissioner was chosen. The
patriotic action of the first meeting seemed to have been in vain.
But
the protest then uttered made a profound impression upon the Colony. The
indignities put upon Mr. Wise, a minister of the Gospel, and the only one who
had any public connection with the affair, seemed monstrous and intolerable. His
affirmation of the rights of the Colonists, as Englishmen protected by Magna
Charta, to refuse the tax in which they had no voice, caught the public ear.
In
April, 1689, the popular uprising was made, and Andros and his Council were
seized and imprisoned. On the morning of April 18, the military escorted the
venerable Governor Bradstreet, and Danforth and others, up State street, and
from the balcony of the Town Hall a Declaration was read, attributed to Cotton
Mather, which charged Andros with malicious oppression of the people. It
appealed to the men of Ipswich and Plymouth to tell their tale. The language of
Deputy West to Mr. Wise was repeated, and his demand of the liberties guaranteed
by Magna Charta was repeated. The Chebacco minister's defence was the catchword
of the hour. A month later, on May 26th, 1689, a ship arrived bearing an order
to the authorities to proclaim William and Mary, King and Queen. The joy of the
people was unbounded. They had been guilty of open rebellion, and the lives of
the leaders might have paid the penalty of their boldness. This assured their
safety.
Formal
articles of impeachment were drawn up at once against Andros, West, Parker and
the rest, and the first of the long list of specific charges against each, was :
“Mr.
John Wise, minister, John Andrews Sen., Robt. Kinsman, Wm Goodhue
Junr., Thos. French, These prove their damage for their being unwilling for Sir
Edmund Andros rayseing money on the people without the consent of the people,
but Improved upon Contrary to Magna Carta."
In
his oration entitled "The Colonial Age of New England," delivered at
the two hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of Ipswich, Rufus Choate,
remarking upon these men and the action of the town, exclaimed: “These men,
says Pitkin, who is not remarkable for enthusiasm, may justly claim a
distinguished rank among the patriots of America. You, their townsmen-their
children-may well be proud of them: prouder still, but more grateful than proud,
that a full town meeting of the freemen of Ipswich adopted unanimously that
declaration of right, and refused to collect or pay the tax which would have
made them slaves. The principle of that vote was precisely the same on which
Hampden resisted an imposition of Charles I, and on which Samuel Adams and
Hancock and Warren resisted the Stamp Act-the principle that if any power but
the people can tax the people, there is an end of liberty ." (Vol. II, p.
57. )
The quiet course of the Chebacco minister's life flowed on, unvexed by public affairs, for three years. Then horrors of the Witchcraft delusion settled like an incubus upon these Essex County towns. The minister of the Danvers Parish was the chief instrument in fomenting the charges, which soon brought death and devastation in their train. As the whim of a few nervous girls, of diseased imagination directed, the deadly crime of witchcraft was charged upon some of the sweetest and saintliest of God's people, as well as upon those of a coarser sort. Venerable mothers in Israel, whose children had grown to honorable manhood and womanhood, were dragged from their homes and sentenced to the gallows. A minister of the word could not escape the attaint of guilt. These communities were panic-struck. Everyone lived in fear of the accusation which was the brief preliminary to execution. The ministers were the natural leaders of the people in such a conflict with the power of Satan, but they kept silent though the choicest of their flock were assailed. It was not wholly strange that Tituba, the old Indian, and Bridget Bishop, a coarse and commonplace woman, and poor Dorcas Hoar of Beverly, should have been left to the tender mercies of the law, but it was passing strange that Rebecca Nurse and Elizabeth How and Mrs. Mary Easty should not have found a zealous champion among the ministers of the word. Elizabeth How, of spotless character, beloved by a large circle of friends and neighbors, suffered the shame and horror of being called a witch, because sundry cows in her neighborhood had died suddenly and other unfortunate things had happened. She had been already propounded as a candidate for membership in the Ipswich church. Mary Easty, held for sentence and the scaffold in the Ipswich Prison, made most tender and persuasive appeals to the authorities that the blood of the innocents might at least be spared. But the minister of the Ipswich church raised not a finger in their behalf. In that dark and dreadful time, John Wise again played the manly part. John Proctor and his wife Elizabeth, who had formerly lived in Chebacco but were then I resident in Salem Farms, were accused. The neighbors and friends rallied in their behalf. Twenty of them certified to the Christian character of the accused. "To our apprehension," they declared, "they lived Christian life in their families, and were ever ready to helpe such as stood in need of their helpe."
And
from their old home, came an earnest address to the Court of Assistants, drawn
up by Mr. Wise and signed by thirty-five men of the parish besides himself,
certifying to the upright character of their old neighbors. Again, let it be
mentioned to his honor, that he alone of the powerful group of Essex County
ministers and of the Colony, dared make personal appeal to the magistrates on
behalf of the accused. While he was in prison, Mr. Proctor earnestly requested
Mr. Noyes to pray with him and for him, but it was wholly denied because he
would not own himself to be a witch.*
He also addressed an earnest petition to Mr. Mather, Mr. Allen, Mr.
Moody, Mr. Willard and Mr. Baily, prominent ministers, to use their influence in
his behalf and others under similar accusation, but in vain. So far was Cotton
Mather from feeling pity for the condemned that, sitting his horse at the
execution of Rev. George Burroughs, when he had spoken from the ladder and moved
the people to tears, and it was feared that the bystanders would hinder the
execution, but finally the hanging had been accomplished, that Mather then and
there declared that the Devil was often transformed into an angel of light, and
quieted the people so that the executions could go on. And after Mary Easty had
taken her last farewell of her husband, children and friends, in such
affectionate and solemn way that all were moved to tears, and so suffered the
pains of death with seven others, Mr. Noyes, minister of Salem, turning him to
the bodies, said, "What a sad thing it is to see eight firebrands of hell
hanging there." Mr. Hale, minister of Beverly, was very forward in the
executions, but when his wife was accused he was speedily brought to a humbler
mind. We may rejoice that in that hour, when the reverend clergy encouraged and
advised the arrests and executions with one consent, John Wise dared to befriend
the friendless and declare himself out of sympathy with the sad errors of the
time. Years later, his plea for the removal of the attainders attaching to the
families of those convicted, was rewarded with full success.
Once
more it fell to his lot to champion a great cause. In the year 1705, some new
theories of church government were broached by the Mathers and others. Sixteen
proposals were drawn up and submitted to the churches for consideration. The
independence of the churches was covertly assailed by a proposal to place the
control of many matters in the hands of certain councils. Mr. Wise scented Papal
infallibility and abuse of popular liberty of choice and action, but he held his
peace until the Colony of Connecticut adopted measures of like import. Then his
blood stirred hotly. Nearly a score of years before he had suffered for his
steadfast declaration that the privilege of self-government was the inalienable
right of the colonists. Self-government was as vital a part of the religious as
of the political life. The independence of the local church was essential to a
right form of church government. He published a pamphlet, "The Churches
Quarrel Espoused" (1710), a reply in satire to certain proposals made, etc.
He discoursed of the principles of government: "That government which is in
any good measure formed, and does agree with the natural freedom of human
beings, and is adopted by the law of wisdom and honor and plainly and fairly
established : is too much of God in the world, and too great a royalty belonging
to men, for any to play the knave or fool with." (Page 99.)
Again,
he affirms the native right of the Englishman to govern himself. He lays down
several principles, the last of which is: "Englishmen hate an arbitrary
power (politically considered) as they hate the devil."
"The
very name of an arbitrary government is ready to put an Englishman's blood into
a fermentation, but when it really comes, and shakes its whip over their ears,
and tells them it is their master, it makes them stark mad, and being of a
memical genius and inclined to follow the Court mode, they turn arbitrary,
too."
"That
some writers, who have observed the governments and humors of nations, thus
distinguish the English: 'The Emperor, say they, is the king of kings, the king
of Spain is the king of men, the king of France the king of asses, and the king
of England the king of devils, for that the English nation can never be bridled
and rid by an arbitrary prince." (147-148.)
No
more acute and stinging satire was ever written than that which makes the pages
of this pamphlet flame with fiery vehemence. Mr. Mather and his fellows must
have writhed as the ancient St. Laurence on his gridiron, under his merciless
rallying.
In
milder mood he set himself a few years later, 1717, to write "A Vindication
of the Government of New England Churches." He considers the fundamental
principles of government. He discovers "an original liberty instampt upon
his (man's) rational nature." (Page 25.)
"Every
man must be acknowledged equal to every man."
"The first human
subject and original of civil power is the people. For
as they have a power, every man over himself in a natural state, so upon a
combination they can and do bequeathe this power unto others, ...and when they
are free, they may set up what species of government they please."
"The
end of all good government is to cultivate humanity and promote the happiness of
all, and the good of every man in
all his rights, his life, liberty, estate, honor, etc., without injury or abuse
done to any." (Page 40.)
The
philosophy is lucid, the argument is direct and convincing, and the literary
style is of surprising finish. The Chebacco pastor struck a blow for liberty
that made it impossible for the free self-government of the churches to be
fettered by any scheme of arbitrary or aristocratic rule. And when the
Revolution was impending, and some simple, convincing statement of the rights
and liberties of the colonists was needed, these two pamphlets were put to press
again in Boston in 1772, being published by subscription. The list of
subscribers is appended, and Mr. Mackaye calls attention to the fact that John
Scollay, Esq. of Boston, who was to be a leader of the Boston Tea Party,
subscribed for four copies; that Ebenezer Dorr, messenger of the Committee of
Safety, who, on the night of April 18, 1775, crossed Boston Neck and carried the
alarm to Cambridge while Paul Revere was riding to Lexington, had three copies;
Colonel Barret of Concord had one; Hon. Artemus Ward, Esq., of Shrewsbury, first
Commander-in-chief of the Revolution, had six; and Capt. Timothy Pickering of
Salem, six. Rev. Edward Emerson of Concord subscribed for twenty-four, and Mr.
William Dawes of Boston, Ephraim Fairbanks of Bolton, Peter Jayne of Marblehead
had a hundred each.
It
was good reading for those tense times, and the popular orators of the day may
have been familiar with it. Certain it is that when the Declaration of
Independence was written, Jefferson might have found some sentences already
framed in the calm, philosophic deliverence of John Wise. Not without reason
then, has the minister of Chebacco been styled "The Founder of American
Democracy," the first clear expounder of those principles of popular
government of the people by the people, upon which the fabric of the American
commonwealth has been built.
He
died on the 8th of April, 1725. Felt records that his son-in-law, Rev. John
White of Gloucester, sat by him, and the dying man said: "I have been a man
of contention, but the state of the churches made it necessary. Upon the most
serious review I can say I have fought a good fight, and I have comfort
reflecting upon the same. I am conscious to myself that I have acted
sincerely."
His house still stands, built by himself in 1703, in which he wrote these famous pamphlets, and wherein he died. To the door of his house, perchance, the wrestler of Andover, Capt, John Chandler, came to try conclusions with the dominie, who had been a famous wrestler in his youth. From his window Mr. Wise called down to the doughty Captain that he was not in trim, but he yielded to his desires and came down to the front yard. In a trice, the boastful Andover man found himself flat on his back in the highway. He picked himself up, and looking over the wall, begged Mr. Wise to kindly throw his horse over and he would ride his way forthwith.
His
grave is in the old burying ground near by, and on the simple table stone the
epitaph is inscribed: "For talents, piety and learning, he shone as a star
of the first magnitude."
It is strange that he has been forgotten, but some have remembered him. Prof. Moses Coit Tyler, in his "History of American Literature," well observes: "It is an illustration of the caprice which everywhere prevails in the domain of the Goddess Fame, that the one American who, upon the whole, was the most powerful and brilliant prose writer in this country during the Colonial time, and who in his day enjoyed a sovereign reputation in New England, should have passed since then into utter obscurity, while several of his contemporaries … who were far inferior to him in genius, have names that are still resounding in our memories.”
MICHAEL FARLEY Publications of theHistorical Society Thomas Franklin Waters