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individual influence upon the fortunes of his country.

Accordingly, we find that long before the breaking out of the Revolution he was known as one of the most prolific, earnest, and fearless advocates of freedom. Extracts from his busy pen will hereafter be laid before the reader. The moment opportunity offered, he began to practice what he had been preaching during the previous ten or fifteen years.

At day-break, April 19, 1775, he left his school in Boston and rode, gun in hand, to Concord. The next day General Artemus Ward appointed him his Aide-de-Camp and Secretary. It was in this capacity that he served at Bunker Hill, where, riding across Charlestown Neck to execute one of General Ward's orders, he passed through a crossfire of the enemy's floating batteries, and was the sole mark of a broadside from a British man-of-war. General Washington's recognition of this bold ride seems thus far to have escaped the notice of the biographer. So pleased was the new Commander-in-Chief with his soldierly conduct that he presented him with a pair of silver-mounted pistols. These choice weapons are now in possession of the recipient's grandson, Joseph Frederick Ward of Chicago. Colonel Ward's services under General Ward terminated with the latter's resignation in December, 1776. April 10, 1777, the Continental Congress appointed him "Commissary General of Musters, with the rank of Colonel." His commission, now in the keeping of the family, is signed by John Hancock, President. This new situation, confused as affairs then were, was full of perplexity. In reply to a letter from the Colonel, asking information as to his immediate line of conduct in this position, the Commander-in-Chief confessed his inability to set it out in a clear light. The original letter lies before us.

In the fall of 1778 Colonel Ward was captured by a scouting party of refugees, and confined in the horrible prison at Flatbush, L. I., where he suffered the inhuman treatment of that wretched place. Massachusetts made every effort to obtain his release; to Samuel Adams, more than to any other, he attributed his exchange for a British officer in April, 1779. His services as Muster-Master-General ended January 10, 1780, when Congress resolved to discontinue the department. This was not done without a vote of thanks from that honorable body for his eminent services. The following expression of satisfaction and gratitude was VOL. XI.-28.

addressed to Colonel Ward at this time by General Washington:

"You have my thanks for your constant attention to the business of your department, the manner of its execution, and your ready and pointed compliance with all my orders; and I cannot help adding, on this occasion, for the zeal you have discovered at all times and under all circumstances, to promote the good of the service in general, and the great objects of our cause."

ers.

In April of the same year, Congress elected him Commissary-General of PrisonColonel Ward did not accept this appointment, but retired in February, 1780, from the army to Boston, where, four years afterward, he married Prudence, daughter of Jacob Bird, a farmer of Dorchester.

It is, perhaps, no small point of interest that a man of such character and property should remain a batchelor till the age of forty-seven years; and when the stout heart finally gave way, it is not surprising that the facts found would furnish a theme for a round dozen of modern novels. The writer secured this choice bit of privacy from a member of the family. Not long after the Colonel retired with his laurels to business life as an operator in lands in Boston, he found himself in a dry-goods shop, examining material for new breeches. The various satins were laid before him, and he was no doubt as puzzled to choose between those articles of personal necessity, as he had been to decide upon important questions of State, when a beautiful girl, perhaps sixteen years of age, entered the shop, nodding familiarly to the proprietor. Ward was filled with admiration for the girl, and, addressing her, stated his perplexity and need of her assistance. She refused to inspect the satins, giving as a reason her ignorance of that sort of wear. The Colonel was so much pleased with the girl and her answer, that upon her departure he inquired who she was.

He was informed that she was the niece of the proprietor's wife, by name Prudence Bird, daughter of a Dorchester farmer; that she was then on a visit in Boston, and was as good as she was beautiful. The Colonel made an immediate decision upon plum-colored satin and retired. He took early occasion to meet her, and soon went to Dorchester to consult with her father. The good old farmer was not a little astonished to find his child beloved by the famous, rich, and handsome Colonel Ward. He argued the disparity of their years and fortune, saying, moreover,

that Prudence was uneducated, his means having been exhausted in the schooling of a large family before her.

The conference resulted in the suitor's agreement to wait till she was older. Returning to Boston, he sent farmer Bird a check for a liberal sum, requesting him therewith to send his daughter to school. She was sent to Boston. This was a fortunate stroke; and, finishing her course and her courtship, she gave her hand to her lover on the 30th day of November, 1784. The groom was forty-seven, the bride nineteen. Their married life was most happy, Mrs. Ward insisting to the last that it was "a genuine love match."

The following verses, which found their way into the Poet's Corner, in 1788, certainly attest the happiness of the first four years.

POET'S CORNER.

STANZAS WRITTEN BY AN UNFASHIONABLE HUS
BAND.

WHILE others 'gainst the marriage state
In artful strain make free,

Let me in verse sincere relate

The joys it brings to me.

Since blest with fair Maria's love,
I'll sing with tuneful glee,
What joys a mutual flame will prove,
The joys it brings to me.

Each season of the circling year
In her complete I see;
And as each season does appear,
Each brings fresh joys to me.

Her blooming youth, like op'ning Spring,
With that does well agree;
Like that, does sweetest pleasures bring,
And brings fresh joys to me.

Like Summer is her warmth of love-
Can greater pleasures be?

Such glowing warmth, such love to prove,
And find that love for me.

In her enlarged, enlightened mind, An Autumn do I see;

Like that replete with stores I find, And all those stores for me.

With Winter still compare will hold,
As strong the simile;
Maria's cold, severely cold,
To every one-but me.

Then, since I share such happy fate,
Still may I grateful be,
And ever praise the marriage state,
That brings such joys to me.

His beloved commander and friend wrote his own love verses much earlier; and it is rational to believe that the Misses Grimes and Bird were no less remarkable young

women, because they failed to make poets where nature had not ventured the attempt.

It is but just to say, however, that Colonel Ward was the better bard of the two, when treating upon less subtle themes. In a letter of William Bradford, Jr., hereafter to be given in full, mention is made of a "Boston Celia who rode upon the saddle of the Colonel's heart" as early as 1779. If Celia was another individual, we will suppose her an ephemeral creature, and the affair unworthy of closer investigation. If Celia was the alias of Prudence, then the Colonel found his Bird hardly out of the nest.

Mrs. Pope, of Spencer, Mass., who, by the way, told her best stories when she was over a century old, used often to be in company with American officers, and knew many of them well. It was her opinion that Colonel Ward, all in all, was a more captivating man than the Commander-in-Chief. His gallantry was unsurpassed. He was a large man, fully six feet in height, of light complexion, blue eyes, with features regular and handsome; but much of his charm lay in the elegance of his speech and manner. Among other anecdotes, Mrs. Pope used to. relate the following. She was sitting at her window one evening, when an officer rode up to the gate and dismounted. She discovered through the twilight a huge bandage about one leg. Terrified, she rushed out of the door, and, recognizing the maimed officer, exclaimed:

"I hope you are not badly wounded, my dear Colonel!"

"No, madam," was the quiet reply, “but my breeches are."

It turned out that he had tied his great red kerchief about his leg, to conceal a rent in those useful articles which seem to have exercised his ingenuity, in one way or another, throughout his life. It must not be omitted that this Mrs. Pope lived from the time she was eighteen till her death in the same house; and out of the window thereof rang the first bell of the town's rejoicing upon the receipt of the news of the laying of the cable.

It may be here remarked, that Mrs. Colonel Ward retained her beauty to the end of life; and "Lady Ward," as she was called, was for years a favorite, particularly of the young, in that famous town of Concord, Mass. She lived the last years of her life with the Thoreaus, and her intimate friend was the mother of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Her minister, old Dr. Ripley, then lived in the house now known as the Old Manse, the

home of Hawthorne. The Hoars lived opposite. Amid the luster of such surroundings, she found a peaceful death in 1844.

In April, 1792, Colonel Ward, having amassed a sufficient amount to be considered a fortune in those days, retired from business in Boston to Newton; and, purchasing a farm in the eastern portion of the town, built a noble mansion on Chestnut Hill. This house stood opposite that of Rev. James Freeman, grandfather of the present Rev. James Freeman Clarke. These tasteful gentlemen and neighbors were the first to import ornamental trees into this country. Their beautiful groves and long lines of green and shade, were marked features of the two estates. Here Colonel Ward was happy in his splendid home, and here he had expected to live the remainder of his days. Fate was unwilling; and a series of disasters took away his riches. The creditors of a traitorous friend for whom he had indorsed, seized upon charming Chestnut Hill. Destitute and well in years, he went from it in 1804, to resume the drudgery of business in Boston. Three years afterward, Governor Sullivan appointed him one of the Justices of the Court of Common Pleas for the County of Suffolk.

He did not long survive his misfortunes, though he bore them with exemplary resignation, giving up his life as he had passed it, for the good of others. He died at Boston, February 14, 1812, aged seventy-five years; leaving a widow and six children, five of whom were minors.

It is now proposed to bring forward a few extracts from the flood of printed matter following the pen of this patriot; leaving his own private letters, and letters of distinguished men to him, till later. The body of the next paper will be hitherto unpublished letters of his stanch friend, John Adams.

The first public letter is from the old "Massachusetts Spy," the first number of which was issued in Boston, July, 1770. Isaiah Thomas long edited, and the celebrated "Mucius Scævola" corresponded for this paper. The following was written in 1772:

[For the "Massachusetts Spy."]

To the American Colonies:

Your exertions in the great cause of freedom, have been noble; and they must be continued with redoubled vigor. The time is now come which requires your united strength and wisdom. Act agreeable to the character of Freemen, and you shall continue Free. You need not be instructed in the

rights of mankind; you know them. The principles held up in my treatise on government, which you have approved and highly honored, are, that whoever invades the liberties of the people, is guilty of treason, and may justly be punished by them, be his character high or low; and if he oppose them by force, he thereby becomes their enemy, and may be opposed by force until he is brought to reason or to ruin. The application of this doctrine is easy, and you will naturally make it.

If a clan of unrighteous men in Britain, with a few of their tools in America, should enslave this great, free, and growing people, astonishment must seize every generous mind, and all will view it as the most unaccountable event in the history of mankind.

But it cannot be. Liberty has taken deep root, and will reign in America. Five millions of people, born and nourished in freedom and enlightened by learning, cannot, unless Heaven is against them, be enslaved. The history of the world does not produce such an instance; neither does it show one people or country, at the age of this, equally glorious. America will undoubtedly exhibit new scenes of human glory, surpass all other peoples and nations, and be the most delightful abode for all mankind on this globe.

A misguided administration in Great Britian has, for a number of years, pursued plans calculated to destroy the nation; and it fully appears that nothing but the stern virtue of this country can resist the despotism which now threatens to involve all in ruin. It is, therefore, the indispensable duty of the Americans to defend their own rights from every approach of tyranny. So sunk is Britain in debt, in corruption, and every abomination, you have very little reason to expect that wisdom and justice will ever again govern her conduct toward you; and, therefore, your safety, under Providence, depends entirely upon yourselves.

You cannot, consistent with your safety, suffer pensioned, or which is the same thing, bribed men to rule over you, nor allow any set of men to prosecute measures which strike at the root of liberty. And it will doubtless be considered by the Americans (if the British administration should let another session of Parliament pass without fully redressing their wrongs and injuries), whether the dernier ressort for their liberties and only Asylum for freedom, is not an AMERICAN COMMONWEALTH.

You are now in a condition to redress your injuries, and establish your own rights; and you will degrade yourselves if you should ever petition any man or men again for relief.-LOCKE.

Such is the scarcity of these old papers, that the writings of Colonel Ward are introduced without selection, as often as found.

The next is from "The Independent Chronicle" of October 17, 1776, then printed by Powers and Willis, at Boston. The United Colonies were then an independent power; but were they so to remain ?

So far the campaign of '76 had been

indeed disheartening. The great soul of Washington was undergoing its severest trial. His soldiers were deserting by companies, and he was yielding point after point to the disciplined troops and superior numbers of Howe's army. New enlistments and a permanent army must be had, or hope was vain. Colonel Ward thus puts the case to his countrymen :

TO THE INDEPENDENT SONS OF AMERICA. "I'll stir up all that is Roman in them."

The important day is come, big with the fate of millions, and America now beckons to her Sons to kindle all their native fire, push into action every power, and press to the seas or fields where fame and glory call. The united wisdom of America in Congress has determined that it is necessary to the salvation of these States, that an army be raised to serve during this war. The wisdom of this measure must appear to all; therefore let us all promote it with our utmost power. He that enlists into this army of freemen in defense of everything good and great, enrolls his name in fame's brightest temple, where it will shine (if not blotted by after misconduct) with growing luster down applauding ages, while posterity rise through successive eras to taste

the bliss of freedom handed down by us their fore

fathers; and every infant tongue and hoary head will bless Our Memory-with rapture hail the day when we drew the sharpened steel against the tyrant George, and with transports all their own, pass down

the stream of time till time shall be no more! How angelic the design to communicate felicity to all those millions who may rise after us and inhabit these United States. "The blessings of future ages, which the conscious imagination anticipates," crowd together in the patriot's breast, and are the solid pleasures which delight his mind!

The history of mankind bleeds with the destruc

tion which tyranny has made in all countries and

nations; and while we weep over the "tragic pages stained with the blood of patriot citizens," they speak like a voice of thunder in the ears of Americans, to guard against the execrable monster! Despotic kings, from the days of Nimrod to this hour, have deluged the world in blood, and have been the curses of mankind; but, in the whole catalogue of royal villains, has there been one of a more infernal character than George the Third? Do not our heroic ancestors who fled from the tyranny of Britons, and subdued American wildernesses in spite of savage barbarity, speak to us from their celestial abodes to defend the dear inheritance of liberty which they left us, while posterity mingle their cries, reason and religion unite their voice in the pressing call! Imploring the assistance of Him who gave us the rights of humanity, let us, with a sacred ardor and unalterable firmness, watch over and defend the rights of America, "nor pause to waste a coward thought on life."

Every good mind must feel a glow of gratitude to

Heaven for the animating prospect of seeing America the asylum of liberty, the land of virtuous freedom, the seat of learning, of industry, manufactures, commerce, and husbandry; the nurse of heroes, the parent of science, the bosom of virtue, and the guardian of mankind.

The whole series of Divine dispensations, from the infant days of our fathers in America, are big with importance in her favor, and point to something great and good. If we look round the world and view the nations with their various connections, interests, and dependencies, we shall see innumerable causes at work in favor of this growing country. Nature and art seem to labor, and, as it were, travail in birth to bring forth some glorious events that will astonish mankind, and form a bright era in the annals of time. A SOLDIER.

"The Boston Gazette and Country Journal" was at this time a long-established and influential paper. Its first issue was on April 7, 1755, by Edes and Gill. Distinguished writers of the period were represented in its columns. Early in its career, James Otis, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Joseph Warren, Thomas Cushing, John Adams and Josiah Quincy, Jr., with other advocates of civil, political, and religious liberty, used to meet in its office to discuss

those measures which resulted in the final independence of the Colonies. The last number of the "Gazette" was issued September 17, 1798, the paper having had a life of fortythree years. Poor old Benjamin Edes who stood by so long, died in 1803, aged eighty years, poverty-stricken and neglected.

Colonel Ward's opinion of George the Third is taken from this paper, dated February 3, 1777. The author's lack of veneration for crowned heads and those in

authority was a source of peril to his personal safety. His friends were repeatedly cautioning him to be milder in his manner; which advice, as may here be seen, passed unheeded.

To George the Tyrant:

You are become a remarkable character-perhaps not equaled in past ages, and, I trust, will not be in any future period. The eyes of millions will therefore be fixed upon you. When you ascended the throne of Britain, great were the expectations of the people that you were raised up for a blessing; but they soon had melancholy proofs of the contrary. Soon did the Tories, with their abandoned tools. flock round you and take the seats of the patriotic and wise, who, offended with your sordidity, left you with abhorrence. Britain soon groaned under the weakness and wickedness of your reign. In America your steps were marked with oppression. rapine, and blood, which have roused that spirit of heroism and independence which, to your just

astonishment, you now behold. This spirit, by the Divine blessing, will show you to yourself, and show Britain that she is now cursed with a fool and a tyrant; and soon show the world that Liberty, Peace, and Safety reign gloriously in America!

Although it is too late to recover by repentance what you have lost by tyranny, yet repentance may soften the severity of your fate. Tears of blood cannot restore lost dominions, atone for the thousands you have slain, nor obliterate one of your crimes; yet true repentance toward God may prevent your punishment from being eternal. Forgiveness from man (with respect to this life) you cannot expect. Nothing but that mercy which is infinite can pardon a criminal like you, black with the most shocking enormities, and whose soul is stained with rivers of innocent blood. Hark, ye fiend in human form! Those hoary heads that have put up millions of prayers for blessings to descend upon you, are now weeping for the blood of their beloved offspring shed by your execrable hands. Their petitions now are, that God would remove you and yours far from them; that He who "putteth down one and setteth up another" would put down all the tyrants of the earth, among whom you are always included.

No matter what the situation, nowhere do we find the spirit of Colonel Ward cast down. He is continually holding up to struggling America the necessity of the performance of present duty-the sum and substance of the philosophy of life. His faith is unshaken; for through the night he sees the coming day. During the winter of 1777 Howe had been lounging in luxury at Philadelphia, and Washington freezing and starving at Valley Forge. Our soldiers, naked and hungry, were clamoring for their pay, long overdue. Europeans in American service were deserting and going back to the British, while those remaining were weary of the war. In February, 1778, says Marshall, the effective rank and file of Washington's army amounted to but five thousand and twelve.

The following appeal from Colonel Ward's pen appeared in the "Boston Gazette" while matters were in this discouraging condition. He is, as ever, urgent and confident:

To the Generous and Brave:

You only are the men to whom your country can look in the day of trial for assistance, and you are the instruments Heaven hath employed for her deliverance; therefore permit me to address myself to you in few words-a few to the wise are sufficient. In this month I left the camp of our Southern army, and I have the pleasure to assure you that, notwithstanding the fatigues of the last campaign and the hardships of the winter, the spirit of

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patriotism and valor glowed in the bosoms of the officers and men, all wishing for the arrival of the necessary re-inforcements to extirpate the enemy and put a glorious period to the war. Long and inactive campaigns are equally painful and injurious to the brave soldiers and to the people at large; and millions of reasons now urge you to decisive exertion. There was a time for delay, but now is the time for action; and the united efforts of the generous and brave in these States will, in a very few months, deliver this country from the hostile rage of savage Britons. I speak confidently, because Heaven hath owned our cause, and never will oгsake us until we forsake our cause. The enemy's force is now small compared with what it hath been; and by pouring in early re-inforcements to our army they may be crushed before any assistance can arrive from Britain. This, I know, is the design of our General, and the wisdom of his design must strike every mind.

Some, perhaps, will suppose it unnecessary to send so large a re-inforcement as the General may call for, and others make objection to sending men to this or that place; but we must confide in the wisdom of our General. We have sufficient reason so to do; and had all his calls been complied with, the last year would have seen an end of the enemy. If his requisitions are complied with this year, I will pawn my honor and my life, that this year will see the enemy driven from every part of these United States.

All our misfortunes originate in indolence; we are ever too late in our business. Let us be instructed by experience, and now act the part wisdom dictates. Let us despise that timid, unmanly spirit which dwells only in little souls and harbors a thought of dependence. Act like yourselves; now rouse at the call of Washington and your country, and you will soon be crowned with glory, independence, and peace. This inestimable prize is before us; let us press on till we secure it. Present ease and interest we must part with for a time, and let us all rejoice at the sacrifice; like parting friends, we shall soon re-embrace with ecstasy of joy.

The concluding article appeared in the "Gazette" October 13, 1783. The reader will remember that this was at the very close of the war. It is written in the same spirit of those darker days, no more, no less confident in the justice of the great struggle now brought to a successful termination.

The bosom of every American must expand with growing pleasure to behold the rising prospects of his country, and the happy consequences which are constantly flowing to the world from her independence. Already it hath set Ireland free, and its glorious influences are spreading light and liberty through the European nations. Even the distant regions of India participate in the blessing whereby British tyranny is relaxing, and millions are blessed