inhabitants of the Commonwealth, & with them he has a right to encounter, resist, repel, pursue, & kill all & every such person as shall, in an hostile manner, attempt or enterprize the destruction, invasion, detriment, or annoyance of this Commonwealth. This clause of the article describes the authority of the Gov! over the Militia, & his power & duty respecting those who shall in an hostile manner, &c. His authority over the militia is surely as extensive as could be wish'd; he may assemble them in martial array, put them in warlike posture, & with them encounter, kill, &c. The next clause describes the persons to be encounter'd, kill'd, &c., & includes by the terms of it all & every such person or persons as shall in an hostile manner attempt, enterprize, &c. The words are general, & in their own force intend all those who are inhabitants of, or live within the state, as those who are from without, or are foreign enemies. This Clause is also equally extensive in its clear design as plac'd in the Constitution, for it is evident by the injury which the persons to be attack'd, &c., are suppos'd to be doing or intending to do, viz. the destruction & detriment as well as the invasion & annoyance of the Commonwealth, that internal enemies as well as foreign are design'd. Further, when law martial is exercised in case of rebellion declar'd to exist by the Legislature, no new or other authority is given the Gov! or the militia under him to suppress such rebellion than is given by the words already cited. It is therefor demonstrable that the natural & proper sense of the words is the same sense in which they are used in the Constitution. The only question, then, that at any time can arise, is whether there are any persons who in an hostile manner are attempting or enterprizing the destruction or detriment of the Commonwealth; & can there at any time exist such a doubt, when persons are in arms opposing the adm" of justice, quartering themselves on private houses, & refusing to disperse. There is another clause in the same article, from which some persons attempt to show that the Gov! has no authority to call out the Militia against internal enemies which may in an hostile manner, &c.; which is, that he is authoriz'd, in case of war or invasion or rebellion declar'd by the Legislature to exist, [to] exercise law martial over the Militia; they then conclude that, without such declaration, law martial cannot be exercised in rebellion. Admit the conclusion, & to what does it amount? Only to this, that they must be govern'd by the militia & other laws of the Govern! & not by law martial, but it cannot in any degree prevent the suppression & destruction of the rebellion with law martial. (It may be of some consequence to consider what law martial is, or was when the Constitution was made. Before the Revolution, statutes were made for the regulation & Government of the army & navy of the kingdom, by w modes of trying military offenders other than by the usual law of the land were instituted. This then was law martial.) Surely these laws were not in force here when the Consti? was made more than at this time. Rules & regulations have been made by Congress for the govt of the continental Forces. These had for their subject the continental forces & the militia when serving with them, & so far was law martial; but this could never be consider'd as the law martial of the State. The Militia Acts of this State have their proper construction & effect whether the Legislature declare the Existence of a rebellion or not (& all the Government which by them is given to their officers exists). On this Construction the declaration of rebellion simply would give the Gov! & the officers of the Militia no greater authority than they now have, & have they therefore no auth?? This would be a strange & unwarranted conclusion. It may be ask'd, what is then the intention of the Constitution as to law martial? I conceive it to be this, the framers of it suppos'd that the State might think it expedient to make a system of law martial for the Government of their forces, whether regular or Militia, in which different penalties & modes of trial might be provided; these they did not intend should be applied to the citizens of the State, but in case of rebellion declar'd to exist they reserv'd military execution, &c., for such a time & case. What power has an individual or a civil officer in case of treason or felony committed or about to be committed, & how will those principles apply to the militia, to those who lead or those who sent them? An individual may apprehend a traitor or felon, he may prevent a traiterous or felonious act. He is bound to do both if present; a fortiori, a civil magistrate, — they have both a right to go to the place where treason or felony are about to be committed, to prevent the same; they have a right to go armed in such manner as may be nescesary to defend themselves, prevent the treason or felony, & apprehend the traitor or felon.* [Copied from original rough sketch.] The President communicated the Award in the matter of the Hutchinson Papers as follows: The Society will certainly not have forgotten that, after a long and vexatious controversy with the Commonwealth in regard to certain "Hutchinson Papers," - presented to the Society by the late excellent Alden Bradford, about fifty years ago, while he was the Secretary of the Commonwealth, and presented, as he said, by the consent of the Supreme Executive of that period, with at least the implied concurrence of the Legislature, to which he reported what he had done, it was finally agreed by us, on recently discovering that the word deposited" was used by Mr. Bradford, in one of his communications, instead of "presented," as he had said in all his other communications on the subject, that we would no longer contend against the persistent demands of the Commonwealth, but would surrender to their custody all the papers received by us from Mr. Bradford, as soon as an Arbitrator agreed 66 There is no date to this draft, but the paper was unquestionably written at the time of the breaking out of Shays's Rebellion in Massachusetts, in 1786. — EDS. upon by the parties, after a careful and impartial investigation, should have identified those Papers. Having thus waived our claim to those Bradford-Hutchinson Papers, nothing remained for us but to open our archives and records freely to the examination of the Arbitrator, and to abide his decision. This we have done; and a formal copy of the Award having been transmitted to me during the past week, I take the earliest opportunity of laying it before the Society. I do so in the full belief that the Society will at once direct its Librarian to comply with the Award. In yielding up to the State, after a possession of half a century, these original historical manuscripts, it is a satisfaction to us to remember, that there is nothing in them which has not been either printed or copied, and that they will still be in safe keeping for any reference which we or others may desire. He then read the substance of the decision of Robert S. Rantoul, Esq. (the Arbitrator), as follows: "That the papers constituting those volumes [the three volumes lettered "Hutchinson Papers"] are sufficiently identified as being part, if not all, of the documents called the Hutchinson Papers, received by the Society from Secretary Bradford; and that they should be surrendered to the Commonwealth, in accordance with the terms of this arbitration." It was thereupon Voted, That the Librarian be instructed to comply with the Award, under the direction of the Committee. on the "Hutchinson Papers," taking a receipt for the volumes. The President read from a newspaper an account of a col lection of historical portraits, recently discovered in Philadel. phia, of cabinet size, by the well-known artist Sharpless. There was also announced a gift of a cane of orange wood, by Miss D. L. Dix, which grew on the Arlington Estate in Virginia, originally derived through seeds or slips from trees planted by Washington at Mount Vernon. The President said that the Curator of the Peabody Museum, Professor Jeffries Wyman, had extended an invitation to all interested to visit the Museum; the collection being placed in an upper room in Boylston Hall, and arranged in order for inspection. - The President said that our associate, Mr. Waterston, had invited the members to an evening meeting at his house, on the 16th December, the one hundredth anniversary of the "Destruction of the Tea in Boston Harbor," and that the Standing Committee had accepted the invitation. He further said that Mr. Waterston would like the privilege of taking to his house for exhibition on that evening the Edes punch-bowl and the phial of tea in the Society's Cabinet, also some volumes of newspapers of the year 1773. Voted, To allow Mr. Waterston to take from the Society's rooms the articles named. Dr. Edward Palmer, who is now connected with the Museum of Comparative Zoology, at Cambridge, applied for portions of articles in the Society's Cabinet, to form an historical composition for the Centennial Celebration at Philadelphia, on the 4th of July, 1876. The application was referred to the Cabinetkeeper, with full power. The President communicated a letter from our Corresponding Member, Mr. Sainsbury, accompanied by a copy of Memoranda from papers in the Public Record Office of England. In the mass of chaff which these memoranda contained, there might perchance be a grain or two of fact; but they are only worthy of being printed as a warning of the false, and sometimes foul, statements which found their way, in old colonial times, to the English Government. R. O. Papers. [These Memoranda are in the handwriting of Sir Joseph Williamson, who held the office of Under-Secretary of State, and subsequently that of Secretary of State, under Charles II., and who has indorsed them, "From Maj Scott's mouth” ? about 1667]. Sir Hen. Vane in 1637 went ov' as Govern! to N. Engl Colonial with 2 women, M Dier & M Hutchinson, wife to Hutchinson's Brother, w' he desbauched both, & both were delivered of monsters. Received y K Comiss", then banished. M Cotton dyed in 1654, & lived there 26 years. Left 2 sonnes, both Epocall. New England at p's' hath I. y Massachusetts (Elbowe), Boston is y head of it, & stands scituate on 7 hills (Gorton's Simplicity's defence ag y 7 headed Policy of Boston in N. Engl); in 1664 had 14,300 soules; of great Trade to Barbadoes with fish & other provisions, wth fruit (?) they fetch from Long Island, &c.; 300 vessells that trade abroad to Barbadoes, Virginia, Maderas, Acady, &c.; y Towne arched into (?) yo Sea upon Piles, so as shipps come up to their doores. 1300 Boates that fish at Cape Sables, &c. 1. Merchantible & best Fish send to Malaga & Canaryes. 2. sort they send to y° Portugall Islands. 3. ye worst to Barbadoes. This as all other Townes is governed by 7 Townesmen (so called), of wh one is a principall person, and of y° Quorum (?) annuall. chosen by y Council & Freemen. The Milatia is und' a Majo! Grall chosen annually by beanes (?); may have 30,000 fighting men. In every Town they have an Artillery wch meets weekly, & all from 16 to 60 traine 8 times in y yeare, and all men of y Seamen 2, & of such there are at least 8 or 10,000, part of y 30,000, wch are fishermen. Their University is called Cambredge, y Colledge is called Harvey (sic) Colledge. about 28 [? years] since, who went hence why Ladyes Arabella & Susanna who went wth M Cotton, the E. of Lincolnes sisters. One Dunstan (a Presbyterian Anabaptist) professor there, a very ingenious tho' heterodoxe man. Leverett is their Maj! (& y People is y° Generall); Bellingham, Governo', annuall, přsides in all Councill, &c., & hath a double vote. Willoughby, Depy Governor One Pike (?) a hopefull man & of great interest among them. [torn away] They can by their Charter make but 18 Magistrates & Govern", but they decide (?) by making Commiss" & Charter Dept of y Court, as they call it. The great quantity of Pease, Porke, &c., is from y Sea Coast that bord" Plimouth & Connecticutt Colonyes. Have 76 Townes and villages. Salam Ipswich Charles Towne great Townes of Trade. They have a mind to enlarge their Patent. Province of Maine. from A. to B. first Granted to S Ferd. Gorges, afterwards L. Gorges, & by him to divers others, one Eldredge, [Elbridge?], Godfrey, &c. Now severall of these Towns, as Winterharbor, Saco, Yorke, &c., have been hooked in by y° Massachusetts, & so their strength goes to that Colony. Great Fisheries at Isle of Shoales, &c. At Isle of Shoales are more than 1500 Fishermen. was part of that that was granted in 1632 to S W. Alexander or E. of Sterling in recompense of Canada, then restored to y° French, & so was Long Island another part, now both are y D. of Yorke's, y° E. of Sterling's Interest being bought out. |