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HE great news of the Declara tion reached the city of Boston about the 4th of the month At that time there was not in all New England one British soldier who was not a prisoner of war nor on a vessel in New England Waters showing the British flag. When the Declaration arrived, therefore, there was nothing to hinder the full ex pression of the public joy, and Boston extemporated a very spirited and ele gant celebration. The town authorities were so polite as to Invite to the public ceremony all the English officers then on parole in and near the town. It took place at the Town House on the 18th of Juty. One of the British officers wrote a brief account of what he saw. The whole town, he said, was thronged, “and all the people were in their holiday attire. By very eye spar kled with delight and every tongue was unloosed”. The streets about the Town House were lined with infantry, which this officer thought were “tolerably equip ped. In Queen street, nearby, st illery was stationed, the gunners standing near with Ileeted matches The crowd treated the British officers with all due consideration, opening passage for them to approach the building, and the troops giving them, as they mounted the steps, the Usual military waute, UST as the clock struck 1, Col.’ Thomas Crafts, chairman of the occasion, rose and read aloud the Declaration of Independence. When t [the was finished, “the gentlemen stood up, and each, repeating the words as they were spoken by an offi cer, swore to uphold the rights of hie oing on within the building, the town clerk, on the bal cony outside, read the Declaration to the crowd. At the close of the read ing 2 shout of applause, which began In the hall, was heard by the people In the streets, who responded with fed hurrane. Then was heard the measured fring of the cannon and a rattling salute of musketry. In the* couneil chamber a banquat wan pre [bereds bed tate was partaken of By. ‘the principal etthsens, ‘The central point of interest in the evening was the corner of King and Bilvy artests, In front of an ancient tavern called the Branch of Grapes. To this epet were Brought as the Insignia of royalty, which had mdorned Boston, such as the royal arms from the Town House, from the court house and the custom house, all of which were heaped up at this historic corner and burned in a grand bonfire. In New York, where the American troops were assembling to defend the city against the expected attack, the celebrating had a more military char acter. At least, it began that way. In the afternoon the Continental Army Wass drawn up on parade and at the head of each brigrade the Dec laration of Independence. One read. Both the troops and the people re ceived it with loud acclamations, late in the evening the equestrian statue of George Ji, which had been for some years the most conspicuous or nament of the city, was pulled off Its base in the Bowling Green, and, to quote the language of a newspaper of the day, “was far prostrate in the dirt—the just desert of an ungrateful tyrant The newspaper continued: “The lead wherewith the monument was made is to be run into bullets to assimilate with the brains of our Infatuated adversaries, who, to gain a Peppercorn, have lost an empire.” This last remark was an allusion to a famous sentiment Uttered by Lord Clare in the house of commons, to the effect that a Peppercorn in acknowledgment of Great Britain's right to tax America was of more importance than millions of revenue without that acknowledgment on the same day all the debtors in the New York jail were set free. The next morning the leaden head of the statute of George III was conveyed in a Wheelbarrow to the quarters of Gen. Washington and there left on the sidewalk before his door. It does appear that. Gen. Washington had any other use for this object than the one to which the rest of the statue was applied. Probably the head, too, was rim into bullets. ‘The British and Hessian troops, who were then encamped on Staten stand, heard of the overturn of the king's statue In Bowling Green and prepared a retort by constructing life-size eligies of the three generals, Wash ington, Lee and Putnam, and Dr. Witherspoon, president of Princeton College. The four figures were placed upon a pile of fagots, the three generals facing President With ersyoon, Who was in the act of read ing to them the Declaration of Inde pendence. All of The figures except that of Gen. Washington, had been covered with tar, when violent storm came on, which obliged the troops to run for a better. In the evening, when Sadeemals said Sas Sitar ware on a ere the unterred Ogure of Gen wi ‘This was accounted “s mysterious such menacing, prodigy” |
Newspaper Details
Evening Star
Washington, Washington-DC, US
Sun, Jul 02, 1922
Page 51
Full Page
Clipped by
James W.
CA 04 Jul 2026
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