erer and the insolent demeanor of the Crown officers, who threaten fines and imprisonment for a refusal to obey. The people are aroused and are united; some are hopeless, some hopeful. The Crown seems to have its sway, but the far-sighted see the people on the coming throne of righteous judgment. What troubles our ancestors most is the interference with their religious life. Archbishop Laud is now supreme, and the Pope never had a more willing vassal. Ministers are examined as to their loyalty to the government, their sermons are read to private judges of their orthodoxy, the confessional is established, and the altar-service is restored. It is a time when earnest men and women cannot be trifled with on soul concerns. Their property may perish or be confiscated, but the right to unmolested worship is older than Magna Charta, and as inalienable as life itself. What is to be done? Resistance or emigration which? Resist and die, say Cromwell and Wentworth, Eliot and Hampden. Emigrate and live, say the men and women who came by thousands from all parts of England during the reign of this monarch, and made possible the permanent establishment of a new society, on the basis of social order and family life. AN INCIDENT OF SIXTEEN HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-SIX. BY THE HON. MELLEN CHAMBERLAIN. James the Second!" and then rode on. But soon turning his horse towards the travelers he most inconsequentially completed his sentence by adding, "But I say, God curse King James! " and this malediction he repeated so many times and with such vehemence, that the two horsemen at last turned their horses and riding up to him, told him plainly that he was a rogue. This expression of their opinion produced, however, only a slight modification of the young man's sentiments, to this form: "God curse King James and God bless Duke James!" But a few strokes of their whips effected his complete conversion, and then, as a loyal subject, he exclaimed: "God curse Duke James, and God bless King James!" On the afternoon of the twenty-sixth other salutation, said: "God save King of May, 1686, two horsemen were riding from Boston to Cambridge. By which route they left the town is not known; but most probably over the Roxbury Neck, following the path taken by Lord Percy when he went to the relief of Lieutenant-Colonel Smith's ill-starred expedition to seize the military stores at Concord, on the nineteenth of April, 1775. Of the nature of their errand-whether peaceful or hostile, — of the subject of their conversation, as they rode along the King's highway, neither history nor tradition has left any account. But when they had reached Muddy River, now the beautiful suburb of Brookline, about two miles from Cambridge, they were met by a young man riding in the opposite direction, who, as he came against them, abruptly and without Such is the unadorned statement of facts as sworn to the next day in the Monmouth's ill-fated adventure for Council by these riders, and their oath the Crown had failed at Sedgemoor, was attested by Edward Randolph, the and his young life ended on the block, "evil genius of New England." I denied expected mercy by his uncle, present it in its legal baldness of the king: ended on the block: but detail. The two horsemen are no not so believed the common people of reminiscence of Mr. James's celebrated England. They believed him to be opening, but two substantial citizens still living, and the legitimate heir to of Boston, Captain Peter Bowden the British crown, and that his unnatand Dr. Thomas Clarke; and the ural uncle was only Duke James of young man with somewhat original England. In those days English affairs objurgatory tendencies was one Wiswell, were more closely followed by the colas they called him— presumably not onists than at present, and for obvious a son of the excellent Duxbury parson reasons; and it is quite open to conof the same name; and for the same jecture at least that the feelings of Engreason, even less probably, a student of lish yeomen and artisans were known Cambridge University, as it was at that to, and shared by, their cousins in early day sometimes called. Massachusetts Bay, and that Master Wiswell only gave expression to a sentiment common to people of his class on both sides the water. The original paper in which the foregoing facts are recorded has long been in my possession; and as often as my eye has rested on it, I have wondered what made that young man swear so; and by what nicety of moral discrimination he found his justification in blessing the Duke and cursing the King" unus et idem "—in the same breath. Who and what was he? and of what nature were his grievances? Was there any political significance in that strange mingling of curses and blessings? That his temper was not of martyr firmness was evident enough from the sudden change in the current of his thoughts brought about by the tingling of the horsewhip. All else was mystery. But the commonest knowledge of the English and colonial history of those days was sufficient to stimulate conjecture on these points. At the date of the incident recorded James II had been on the throne more than a year, and for a long time both as duke and king had been hated and feared on both sides of the ocean. The Duke of This, however, is mere conjecture. But there are important facts. On the preceding day, in the Town House, which stood at the head of State Street, where the old State House now stands, events culminated, in comparison with which the causes which led to the war of the Revolution sink into utter insignificance. On the twenty-third of October, 1684, in the High Court of Chancery of England, judgment was entered on the writ of scire facias, by which the charter of Massachusetts Bay was vacated; and as a consequence, the title to the soil, with all improvements, reverted to the Crown, to the ruin of those who had wrested it from the wilderness, and guarded it from the savage foe. The old government, so endeared to the people, and defended against kingly assault with the truest courage, was swept away by arbitrary power, and in its place a new one established, under the presidency of Joseph Dudley, and he a recreant son of the colony. It was the inauguration of this government which had taken place on the day before Captain Bowden and Dr. Clarke encountered John Wiswell, Jr., on their ride to Cambridge. The ceremonies of the inauguration were not without circumstances of pomp, and are set forth in the Council records at the State House, from which I transcribe the following incidents: When the new government, the president, and Council were assembled, the exemplification of the judgment against the charter of the late governor and company of the Massachusetts Bay, in New England, publicly (in the court where were present divers of the eminent ministers, gentlemen, and inhabitants of the town and county) was read with an audible voice. The commission was read and the oaths administered, and the new president made his speech, after which, proclamation was openly read in court, and commanded to be published by beat of drum and trumpet, which was accordingly done. The people in the Forum heard these drums and trumpets-young Wiswell, doubtless, with the rest and knew what they signified: the confiscation of houses and lands; the abrogation of existing laws; taxes exacted without consent or legislation; the enforced support of a religion not of the people's choice; and navigation laws ruinous to their foreign commerce, then beginning to assume importance; and from these consequences they were saved only by the revolution, which two years later drove James II from his throne. It is difficult to credit these sober facts of history, and still more to fully realize their destructive import; but they should always be borne in mind; for if any one reflecting on the causes assigned by the leaders of the great Revolution, as justifying the violent - partition of an empire, is led for a moment to question their sufficiency, let him then consider that they were assigned by a people full of the traditions of the long struggle against kingly injustice, in the days of the second Charles and the second James. A few words the result of later investigation as to the actors in the events of this ride to Cambridge. When Bowden and Clarke had attested their loyalty by horsewhipping young Wiswell, they took him in charge to Cambridge, and vainly tried to persuade Nathaniel Hancock, the constable, to carry him before a magistrate. This refusal brought him into difficulty with. Council; but his humble submission was finally accepted and he was discharged on payment of costs, on the plea that upon the change of the government there was no magistrate authorized to commit him to prison. Not quite so fortunate was John Wiswell, Jr., for on the third of August the grand jury found a true bill against him for uttering "these devilish, unnatural, and wicked words following, namely, God curse King James." That he was brought to trial on this complaint I cannot find. And so the actors in these scenes pass away. Of Bowden and Clarke I know nothing more; and the little which appears of John Wiswell's subsequent life is not wholly to his credit, I am sorry to say, and the more so, as I have recently discovered that he was once a townsman of mine, and doubtless a playmate of my kindred at Rumney Marsh. These actors have all gone, and so has gone the old Town House; not so, as yet, let us heartily thank God, has gone the old State House which stands where that stood; on the one spotif there is but one - which ought to be death and ascension of English sovereigns-the Declaration of Independence, and the adoption of the of Constitution of the United States; and here still stands the grandest historic edifice in America, and within dear to the heart of every Bostonian, and sacred from his violating hand. For here, on the spot of that eastern balcony, looking down into the old Puritan Forum, what epochs in our history have been announced! - the abrogation of the First Charter-the it?-why add to the hallowing words deposition of Andros- the inaugura of old John Adams?"Within its tion of the Second Charter-the walls Liberty was born!" THE BOUNDARY LINES OF OLD GROTON. - III. THE running of the Provincial line in 1741 cut off a large part of Dunstable, and left it on the New Hampshire side of the boundary. It separated even the meeting-house from that portion of the town still remaining in Massachusetts, and this fact added not a little to the deep animosity felt by the inhabitants when the disputed question was settled. It is no exaggeration to say that, throughout the old township, the feelings and sympathies of the inhabitants on both sides of the line were entirely with Massachusetts. A short time before this period the town of Nottingham had been incorporated by the General Court, and its territory taken from Dunstable. It comprised all the lands of that town, lying on the easterly side of the Merrimack River; and the difficulty of attending public worship led to the division. When the Provincial line was established, it affected Nottingham, like many other towns, most unfavorably. It divided its territory and left a tract of land in Massachusetts, too small for a separate township, but by its associations belonging to Dunstable. This tract is to-day that part of Tyngsborough lying east of the river. The question of a new meeting-house was now agitating the inhabitants of Dunstable. Their former building was in another Province, where different laws prevailed respecting the qualifications and settlement of ministers. It was clearly evident that another structure must be built, and the customary dispute of small communities arose in regard to its site. Some persons favored one locality, and others another; some wanted the centre of territory, and others the centre of population. Akin to this subject I give the words of the Reverend Joseph Emerson, of Pepper ell, as quoted by Mr. Butler, in his History of Groton (page 306), taken from a sermon delivered on March 8, 1770, at the dedication of the second meeting-house in Pepperell: "It hath been observed that some of the hottest contentions in this land hath been about settling of ministers and building meeting-houses; and what is the reason? The devil is a great enemy to settling ministers and building meeting-houses; wherefore he sets on his own children to work and make difficulties, and to the utmost of his power stirs up the corruptions of the children of God in some way to oppose or obstruct so good a work." This explanation was considered highly satisfactory, as the hand of the evil one was always seen in such disputes. annex During this period of local excitement an effort was made to Nottingham to Dunstable; and at the same time Joint Grass to Dunstable. Joint Grass was a district in the northeastern part of Groton, settled by a few families, and so named from a brook running through the neighborhood. It is evident from the documents that the questions of annexation and the site of the meeting-house were closely con nected. The petition in favor of annexation was granted by the General Court on certain conditions, which were not fulfilled, and consequently the attempt fell to the ground. Some of the papers relating to it are as follows: A Petition of sundry Inhabitants of the most northerly Part of the first Parish in Groton, praying that they may be set off from said Groton to Dunstable, for the Reasons mentioned. Read and Ordered, That the Petitioners serve the Towns of Groton and Dunstable with Copies of this Petition, that they show Cause, if any they have, on the first Francis Foxcroft, Esq; brought down the Petition of the northerly Part of Groton, as entred the 11th of March last, and refer'd. Pass'd in Council, vis. In Council May 29th 1747. Read again, together with the Answers of the Towns of Groton and Dunstable, and Ordered, That Joseph Wilder and John Quincy, Esqrs; together with such as the honourable House shall join, be a Committee to take under Consideration this Petition, together with the other Petitions and Papers referring to the Affair within mentioned, and report what they judge proper for this Court to do thereon. Sent down for Concurrence. Read and concur'd, and Major Jones, Mr. Fox, and Col. Gerrish, are joined in the Affair. [Journal of the House of Representatives (page 11), May 29, 1747.] John Hill, Esq; brought down the Petition of the Inhabitants of Groton and Nottingham, with the Report of a Com mittee of both Houses thereon. Signed Joseph Wilder, per Order. Pass'd in Council, viz. In Council June 5th 1747. The within Report was read and accepted, and Ordered, That the Petition of John Swallow and others, Inhabitants of the northerly Part of Groton be so far granted, as that the Petitioners, with their Estates petition'd for, be set off from Groton, and annexed to the Town of Dunstable, agreable to Groton Town Vote of the 18th of May last; and that the Petition of the Inhabitants of Nottingham be granted, and that that Part of Nottingham left to the Province, with the Inhabitants theron, be annexed to said Dunstable, and that they thus Incorporated, do Duty and receive Priviledges as other Towns within this Province do or by Law ought to enjoy. And it is further Ordered, That the |