Part 19

The incidents that marked the approach of the War of Independence need barely be adverted to. Opposition to the measures of the British government for taxing and oppressing the colonies began in Boston. The argument of Otis on the writs of assistance was in 1760-1761. The Stamp Act, passed in 1765, was repealed in 1766; it was opposed in Boston by a surprising show of determined and unified public sentiment. Troops were first quartered in the town in 1768. In 1770, on the 5th of March, in a street brawl, a number of citizens were killed or wounded by the soldiers, who fired into a crowd that were baiting a sentry. This incident is known as the "Boston Massacre." The Tea Act of 1773 was defied by the emptying into the harbour of three cargoes of tea on the 16th of December 1773, by a party of citizens disguised as Indians, after the people in town-meeting had exhausted every effort, through a period of weeks, to procure the return of the tea-ships to England. To this act Great Britain replied by various penal regulations and reconstructive acts of government. She quartered troops in Boston; she made the juries, sheriffs and judges of the colony dependent on the royal officers; she ordered capital offenders to be tried in Nova Scotia or England; she endeavoured completely to control or to abolish town-meetings; and finally, by the so-called "Boston Port Bill," she closed the port of Boston on the 1st of June 1774. Not even a ferry, a scow or other boat could move in the harbour. Marblehead and Salem were made ports of entry, and Salem was made the capital. But they would not profit by Boston's misfortune. The people covenanted not to use British goods and to suspend trade with Great Britain. From near neighbours and from distant colonies came provisions and encouragement. In October 1774, when General Gage refused recognition to the Massachusetts general court at Salem, the members adjourned to Concord as the first provincial congress. Finally came war, with Lexington and Bunker Hill, and beleaguerment by the colonial army; until on the 17th of March 1776 the British were compelled by Washington to evacuate the city. With them went about 1100 Tory refugees, many of them of the finest families of the city and province. The evacuation closed the heroic period of Boston's history. War did not again approach the city.

The years from 1776 to the end of "town" government in 1822 were marked by slow growth and prosperity. Commerce and manufactures alike took great impetus. Direct trade with the East Indies began about 1785, with Russia in 1787. A Boston vessel, the "Columbia" (Captain Robert Gray), opened trade with the north-west coast of America, and was the first American ship to circumnavigate the globe (1787-1790). In 1805 Boston began the export of ice to Jamaica, a trade which was gradually extended to Cuba, to ports of the southern states, and finally to Rio de Janeiro and Calcutta (1833), declining only after the Civil War; it enabled Boston to control the American trade of Calcutta against New York throughout the entire period. But of course it was far less important than various other articles of trade in the aggregate values of commerce. It was Boston commerce that was most sorely hurt by the embargo and non-importation policy of President Jefferson. In manufactures the foundation was laid of the city's wealth. In politics the period is characterized by Boston's connexion with the fortunes of the Federalist party. The city was warmly in favour of the adoption of the federal constitution of 1787; even Samuel Adams was rejected for Congress because he was backward in its support. It was the losses entailed upon her commerce by the commercial policy of Jefferson's administration that embittered Boston against the Democratic-Republican party and put her public men in the forefront of the opposition to its policies that culminated in lukewarmness toward the War of 1812, and in the Hartford Convention of 1814.

Some mention must be made of the Unitarian movement. Unitarian tendencies away from the Calvinism of the old Congregational churches were plainly evident about 1750, and it is said by Andrew P. Peabody (1811-1893) that by 1780 nearly all the Congregational pulpits around Boston were filled by Unitarians. Organized Unitarianism in Boston dates from 1785. In 1782 King's chapel (Episcopal) became Unitarian, and in 1805 one of that faith was made professor of divinity in Harvard. But the Unitarianism of those times, even the Unitarianism of Channing, was very different from that of to-day. Theodore Parker and Channing have been the greatest leaders. The American Unitarian Association, organized in 1825, has always retained its headquarters in Boston. The theological and philosophical developments of the second quarter of the 19th century were characterized by the transcendental movement (see MASSACHUSETTS).

In the period from 1822 to the Civil War anti-slavery is the most striking feature of Boston's annals. Garrison established the Liberator in 1831; W.E. Channing became active in the cause of abolition in 1835, and Wendell Phillips a little later. In 1835 a mob, composed in part of wealthy and high-standing citizens, attacked a city-building, and dragged Garrison through the streets until the mayor secured his safety by putting him in gaol. But times changed. In 1850 a reception was given in Faneuil Hall in honour of the English anti-slavery leader, George Thompson, whose reported intention to address Bostonians in 1835 precipitated the riot of that year. In 1851 the Court House was surrounded with chains to prevent the "rescue" of a slave (Sims) held for rendition under the Fugitive Slave Law; another slave (Shadrach) was released this same year, and in 1854 there was a riot and intense excitement over the rendition of Anthony Burns. Boston had long since taken her place in the very front of anti-slavery ranks, and with the rest of Massachusetts was playing somewhat the same part as in the years before the War of Independence.

Later events of importance have already been indicated in essentials. On the 9th-10th of November 1872 a terrible fire swept the business part of the city, destroying hundreds of buildings of brick and granite, and inflicting a loss of some $75,000,000. Within two years the whole area, solidly rebuilt and with widened and straightened streets, showed no traces of the ruin except an appearance superior in all respects to that presented before the fire. The expense of this re-creation probably duplicated, at least, the loss from the conflagration. Since this time there has been no set-back to the prosperity of the city. But it is not upon material prosperity that Boston rests its claims for consideration. It prides itself on its schools, its libraries, its literary traditions, its splendid public works and its reputation as the chief centre of American culture.

AUTHORITIES.--See the annual _City Documents_; also Justin Winsor (ed.) _The Memorial History of Boston, including Suffolk County ... 1630-1880_ (4 vols., Boston, 1880-1881), a work that covers every phase of the city's growth, history and life; S.A. Drake, _The History and Antiquities of ... Boston_ (2 vols., Boston, 1854; and later editions), and _Old Landmarks and Historic Personages of Boston_ (Boston, 1873, and later editions); Josiah Quincy, _A Municipal History of ... Boston ... to ... 1830_ (Boston, 1852); C.W. Ernst, _Constitutional History of Boston_ (Boston, 1894); H.H. Sprague, _City Government in Boston--its Rise and Development_ (Boston, 1890); E.E. Hale, _Historic Boston and its Neighbourhood_ (New York, 1898), and L. Swift, _Literary Landmarks of Boston_ (Boston, 1903). A great mass of original historical documents have been published by the registry department of the city government since 1876 (34 v. to 1905). Boston has been described in many works of fiction, and the reader may be referred to the novels of E.L. Bynner, to L. Maria Childs' _The Rebels_, to J.F. Cooper's _Lionel Lincoln_, to the early novels of W.D. Howells (also those of Arlo Bates), to O.W. Holmes' _Poet_ and _Autocrat_, and Hawthorne's _Scarlet Letter_, as pictures of Boston life at various periods since early colonial days.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] On the alteration of streets alone $26,691,496 were expended from 1822 to 1880.

[2] Faneuil Hall is the headquarters of the Ancient and Honourable Artillery Company of Boston, the oldest military organization of the country, organized in 1638.

[3] The dam is 1250 ft. long, with a maximum height of 129 ft., only 750 ft. having a depth of more than 40 ft. from high water to rock. The entire surface of the basin was scraped to bed rock, sand or mineral earth, this alone costing $3,000,000. Connected with the reservoir is an aqueduct, of which 2 m. are tunnel and 7 m. covered masonry. The metropolitan system as planned in 1905 for the near future contemplated storage for 80,000,000,000 gallons, reservoirs holding 2,200,000,000 gallons for immediate use, aqueducts capable of carrying 420,000,000 gallons daily, and a minimum daily supply of 173,000,000 gallons.

[4] In 1851 the mayor of the English Boston sent over a copy of that city's seals, framed in oak from St Botolph's church, of which John Cotton, the famous Boston divine (he came over in 1633) had been vicar. The seals now hang in the city hall. In 1855 a number of Americans, including Charles Francis Adams and Edward Everett, and also various descendants of Cotton, united to restore the south-west chapel of St Botolph's church, and to erect in it a memorial tablet to Cotton's memory. The total amount raised by subscription for this purpose was L673.

BOSTON, a game of cards invented during the last quarter of the 18th century. It is said to have originated in Boston, Massachusetts, during the siege by the British. It seems to have been invented by the officers of the French fleet which lay for a time off the town of Marblehead, and the name of the two small islands in Marblehead harbour which have, from the period of the American Revolution, been called Great and Little Misery, correspond with expressions used in the game. William Tudor, in his _Letters on the Eastern States_, published in 1821, states somewhat differently that "A game of cards was invented in Versailles and called in honour of the town, Boston; the points of the game are allusive, 'great independence,' 'little independence,' 'great misery,' 'little misery,' &c. It is composed partly of whist and partly of quadrille, though partaking mostly of the former." The game enjoyed an extraordinary vogue in high French society, where it was the fashion at that time to admire all things American. "The ladies... filled my pockets with bon-bons, and ... called me _'le petit Bostonien.'_ It was indeed by the name of Bostonian that all Americans were known in France then. The war having broken out in Boston and the first great battle fought in its neighbourhood, gave to that name universal celebrity. A game invented at that time, played with cards, was called 'Boston,' and is to this day (1830) exceedingly fashionable at Paris by that appellation" (_Recollections of Samuel Breck_, Philadelphia, 1877). There was a tradition that Dr Franklin was fond of the game and even that he had a hand in its invention. At the middle of the 19th century it was still popular in Europe, and to a less degree in America, but its favour has steadily declined since then.

The rules of Boston recognized in English-speaking countries differ somewhat from those in vogue in France. According to the former, two packs of 52 cards are used, which rank as in whist, both for cutting and dealing. Four players take part, and there are usually no partners. Counters are used, generally of three colours and values, and each hand is settled for as soon as finished. The entire first pack is dealt out by fours and fives, and the second pack is cut for the trump, the suit of the card turned being "first preference," the other suit of the same colour "second preference" or "colour," while the two remaining suits are "plain suits." The eldest hand then announces that he will make a certain number of tricks provided he may name the trump, or lose a certain number without trumps. The different bids are called by various names, but the usual ones are as follows:--To win five tricks, "Boston." (To win) "six tricks." (To win) "seven tricks." To lose twelve tricks, after discarding one card that is not shown, "little _misere_." (To win) "eight tricks." (To win) "nine tricks." To lose every trick, "grand _misere_." (To win) "ten tricks." (To win) "eleven tricks." To lose twelve tricks, after discarding one card that is not shown, the remaining twelve cards being exposed on the table but not liable to be called, "little spread." (To win) "twelve tricks." To lose every trick with exposed cards, "grand spread." To win thirteen tricks, "grand slam." If a player does not care to bid he may pass, and the next player bids. Succeeding players may "overcall," _i.e_. overbid, previous bidders. Players passing may thereafter bid only "_miseres_." If a player bids seven but makes ten he is paid for the three extra tricks, but on a lower scale than if he had bid ten. If no bid should be made, a "_misere partout_" (general poverty) is often played, the trump being turned down and each player striving to take as few tricks as possible. Payments are made by each loser according to the value of the winner's bid and the overtricks he has scored. There are regular tables of payments. In America overtricks are not usually paid for. In French Boston the knave of diamonds arbitrarily wins over all other cards, even trumps. The names of the different bids remind one of the period of the American Revolution, including "Independence," "Philadelphia," "Souveraine," "Concordia," &c. Other variations of the game are _Boston de Fontainebleau_ and Russian Boston.

BOSTONITE, in petrology, a fine-grained, pale-coloured, grey or pinkish rock, which consists essentially of alkali-felspar (orthoclase, microperthite, &c.). Some of them contain a small amount of interstitial quartz (quartz bostonites); others have a small percentage of lime, which occasions the presence of a plagioclase felspar (maenite, gauteite, lime-bostonite). Other minerals, except apatite, zircon and magnetite, are typically absent. They have very much the same composition as the trachytes; and many rocks of this series have been grouped with these or with the orthophyres. Typically they occur as dikes or as thin sills, often in association with nepheline-syenite; and they seem to bear a complementary relationship to certain types of lamprophyre, such as camptonite and monchiquite. Though nowhere very common they have a wide distribution, being known from Scotland, Wales, Massachusetts, Montreal, Portugal, Bohemia, &c. The lindoites and quartz-lindoites of Norway are closely allied to the bostonites.

BOSTROM, CHRISTOFFER JACOB (1797-1866), Swedish philosopher, was born at Pitea and studied at Upsala, where from 1840 to 1863 he was professor of practical philosophy. His philosophy, as he himself described it, is a thoroughgoing rational idealism founded on the principle that the only true reality is spiritual. God is Infinite Spirit in whom all existence is contained, and is outside the limitations of time and space. Thus Bostrom protests not only against empiricism but also against those doctrines of Christian theology which seemed to him to picture God as something less than Pure Spirit. In ethics the highest aim is the direction of actions by reason in harmony with the Divine; so the state, like the individual, exists solely in God, and in its most perfect form consists in the harmonious obedience of all its members to a constitutional monarch; the perfection of mankind as a whole is to be sought in a rational orderly system of such states in obedience to Universal Reason. This system differs from Platonism in that the "ideas" of God are not archetypal abstractions but concrete personalities.

Bostrom's writings were edited by H. Edfeldt (2 vols., Upsala, 1883). For his school see SWEDEN: _Literature_; also H. Hoffding, _Filosofien i Sverig_ (German trans. in _Philos. Monatsheften_, 1879), and _History of Mod. Philos._ (Eng. trans., 1900), p. 284; R. Falckenberg, _Hist. of Phil._ (Eng. trans., 1895); A. Nyblaeus, _Om den Bostromske filosofien_ (Lund, 1883), and _Karakteristik af den Bostromska filosofien_ (Lund, 1892).

BOSWELL, JAMES (1740-1795), Scottish man of letters, the biographer of Samuel Johnson, was born at Edinburgh on the 29th of October 1740. His grandfather was in good practice at the Scottish bar, and his father, Alexander Boswell of Auchinleck, was also a noted advocate, who, on his elevation to the supreme court in 1754, took the name of his Ayrshire property as Lord Auchinleck. A Thomas Boswell (said upon doubtful evidence to have been a minstrel in the household of James IV.) was killed at Flodden, and since 1513 the family had greatly improved its position in the world by intermarriage with the first Scots nobility. In contradiction to his father, a rigid Presbyterian Whig, James was "a fine boy, wore a white cockade, and prayed for King James until his uncle Cochrane gave him a shilling to pray for King George, which he accordingly did" ("Whigs of all ages are made in the same way" was Johnson's comment). He met one or two English boys, and acquired a "tincture of polite letters" at the high school in Edinburgh. Like R.L. Stevenson, he early frequented society such as that of the actors at the Edinburgh theatre, sternly disapproved of by his father. At the university, where he was constrained for a season to study civil law, he met William Johnson Temple, his future friend and correspondent. The letters of Boswell to his "Atticus" were first published by Bentley in 1857. One winter he spent at Glasgow, where he sat under Adam Smith, who was then lecturing on moral philosophy and rhetoric.

In 1760 he was first brought into contact with "the elegance, the refinement and the liberality" of London society, for which he had long sighed. The young earl of Eglintoun took him to Newmarket and introduced him into the society of "the great, the gay and the ingenious." He wrote a poem called "The Cub at Newmarket," published by Dodsley in 1762, and had visions of entering the Guards. Reclaimed with some difficulty by his father from his rakish companions in the metropolis, he contrived to alleviate the irksomeness of law study in Edinburgh by forcing his acquaintance upon the celebrities then assembled in the northern capital, among them Kames, Blair, Robertson, Hume and Sir David Dalrymple (Lord Hailes), of whose sayings on the Northern Circuit he kept a brief journal. Boswell had already realized his vocation, the exercise of which was to give a new word to the language. He had begun to Boswellize. He was already on the track of bigger game--the biggest available in the Britain of that day. In the spring of 1763 Boswell came to a composition with his father. He consented to give up his pursuit of a guidon in the Guards and three and sixpence a day on condition that his father would allow him to study civil law on the continent. He set out in April 1763 by "the best road in Scotland" with a servant, on horseback like himself, in "a cocked hat, a brown wig, brown coat made in the court fashion, red vest, corduroy small clothes and long military boots." On Monday, the 16th of May 1763, in the back shop of Tom Davies the bookseller, No. 8 Russell Street, Covent Garden, James Boswell first met "Dictionary Johnson," the great man of his dreams, and was severely buffeted by him. Eight days later, on Tuesday, the 24th of May, Boswell boldly called on Mr Johnson at his chambers on the first floor of No. 1 Inner Temple Lane. On this occasion Johnson pressed him to stay; on the 13th of June he said, "Come to me as often as you can"; on the 25th of June Boswell gave the great man a little sketch of his own life, and Johnson exclaimed with warmth, "Give me your hand; I have taken a liking to you." Boswell experienced a variety of sensations, among which exultation was predominant. Some one asked, "Who is this Scotch cur at Johnson's heels?" "He is not a cur," replied Goldsmith, "he is only a bur. Tom Davies flung him at Johnson in sport, and he has the faculty of sticking." Johnson was fifty-four at this time and Boswell twenty-three. After June 1763 they met on something like 270 subsequent days. These meetings formed the memorable part of Boswell's life, and they are told inimitably in his famous biography of his friend.