charming notice of him in the 'Daily Advertiser,' by our friend Dr. Holmes, whose initials were hardly needed to assure me of the authorship. I hope that this notice may be incorporated into our Proceedings. Nothing better could be said or written by any one in regard to our lamented associate. For myself, I could certainly add nothing to so just and genial a delineation of the life and character of one whose memory I shall ever warmly cherish. "Let me turn, before proceeding to other topics, to another of the great men of science whose loss we are all lamenting. While at Basle, ten days ago, I had occasion to see the United States Consul at that place, Mr. Henry Erni, who informed me that not many days before— on the 6th of September, I believe a marble tablet, in memory of the great naturalist Agassiz,' was placed on the house in which he was born, at Motier, in the canton of Fribourg, Switzerland, with solemn exercises, accompanied by vocal and instrumental music. This was the more interesting to me at the moment, as Murray's Handbook, which, of course, had been my vade mecum along the route, had made Orbe the birthplace of Agassiz.* "Our friend and associate, Mr. George B. Emerson will remember Consul Erni, who spent several years in Boston, and lectured at our Normal schools." Dr. ELLIS reported that the Proprietors' Records of the late New South Church had been presented to the Society by Mr. Charles Wells Cook, son of the late Charles Edward Cook, clerk of the Proprietors. The Rev. Henry W. Foote, of Boston, was elected a Resident Member. Mr. Samuel Rawson Gardiner, of London, was elected a Corresponding Member. An application of Mr. William Goold, of Windham, Me., to make extracts from the journal of Colonel Winslow, relating to the removal of the neutral French, or Acadians, was referred to the Council, with full powers. A letter was read from Mrs. John Gough Nichols, dated Holmwood Park, Dorking, October 20, 1874, in which she presented a copy of a memoir of her late husband, John Gough Nichols, F.S.A., a Corresponding Member. The letter was accompanied by the volume. In a subsequent letter from Mr. Winthrop, the following slip from "Galignani" was enclosed: A letter from Fribourg to the "Journal de Genève" states that a memorial has just been placed in the village of Motier to the memory of Agassiz. It is a black marble slab, surrounded by ornaments, simple but in good taste, about three feet high and four wide, and which bears this inscription: J. LOUIS AGASSIZ, CELEBRATED NATURALIST, WAS BORN IN THIS HOUSE ON THE 28TH MAY, 1807. The thanks of the Society were ordered for this gift. SIR,- Will you be so good as to express to the Massachusetts Historical Society my sense of the compliment they have been pleased to pay me, by an unanimous vote of thanks for the small share I have had in placing them in possession of a portrait of George Washington? That I should have been in any wise instrumental in putting your national hero in his proper place is a gratification to me without alloy, belonging, as I do, to a family whose principles were uniformly opposed to that course of policy which compelled America to separate herself from the mother country. I have the honor to be, Sir, your most obedient servant, CHARLES DEANE, Esq. ALBEMARLE. Mr. WHITMORE presented a copy of a book by Increase Mather, which he regarded as the earliest publication of that prolific writer. It had the following title: "The Mystery of Israel's Salvation explained and applied; or, a discourse concerning the General Conversion of the Israelitish Nation. "Wherein is shewed, "1. That the Twelve Tribes shall be saved. "2. When this is to be expected. "3. Why this must be. "4. What kind of Salvation the Tribes of Israel shall partake of (viz.): A Glorious, Wonderful, Spiritual, Temporal Salvation. "Being the Substance of several Sermons preached by Increase Mather, M.A., Teacher of a Church in Boston in New England. London, 1669." Mr. ELLIS AMES produced an original printed instrument, subscribed by eighty-four legal voters of the west parish of Bridgewater, Mass., now the town of West Bridgewater. The heading of the printed paper bore date 1776, but against the first signature was written " May 20, 1776," the date at or near which probably most of the signatures were affixed. The following is a copy of the instrument, and of the genuine signatures of the subscribers thereto : Colony of Massachusetts Bay, 1776. We, the subscribers, Do each of us severally for ourselves, profess, testify, and declare, before GOD and the World, that we verily believe that the War, Resistance, and Opposition in which the United American Colonies are now engaged, against the Fleets and Armies of Great *The first fifty-four names were written on the face of the paper, beneath the printed instrument. The remainder, for want of room, were written on the back of the paper. Both lists are headed by the name of "Oakes Angier," each of whose signatures has written against it the date "May 20, 1776." Britain, is on the Part of the said Colonies, just and necessary. And we do hereby severally promise, covenant, and engage, to and with every Person of this Colony who has or shall subscribe this Declaration, or another of the same Tenor and Words, that we will not during the said War, directly or indirectly, in any Ways, aid, abet, or assist any of the Naval or Land Forces of the King of Great Britain or any employ'd by him; or supply them with any Kind of Provisions, Military or Naval Stores, or hold any correspondence with, or communicate any Intelligence to any of the Officers, Soldiers, or Mariners belonging to the said Army or Navy, or inlist or procure any others to inlist into the Land or Sea Service of Great Britain, or take up or bear Arms against this or either of the United Colonies, or undertake to pilot any of the Vessels belonging to the said Navy, or in any other Way aid or assist them: But, on the contrary, according to our best Power and Abilities will defend by Arms the United American Colonies, and every Part thereof, against every hostile Attempt of the Fleets and Armies in the Service of Great Britain, or any of them, according to the Requirements and Directions of the Laws of this Colony that now are, or may hereafter be provided, for the Regulation of the Militia thereof. Daniel Perkins Barnabas Snell William Snell Shepard Fiske Mr. AMES proceeded to say that the paper was a copy of the same instrument that was doubtless circulated in print among the legal voters of every town, parish, and hamlet of the State of Massachusetts, for those who should see fit to subscribe, so that their representatives in the General Court and in the Continental Congress might know upon what to depend as public opinion, and that the representatives might conform to the wish of their constituents. To a great extent the legislation of the country, at the commencement of and during the Revolutionary War, was carried on under instructions from the legal voters, expressed in one form or another, with little or no debate. Thus every town in Massachusetts, as their records show, in or about May, 1776, unanimously or by overwhelming majorities (except, perhaps, the town of Hadley), directed their representatives to vote for the Declaration of Independence; so that the Declaration of Independence in Congress was merely an act of the people through their representatives; and, if any member of the Continental Congress from Massachusetts had refused to sign that declaration, he would never have dared to return home, and would have found safety only by fleeing to the British fleet or army. Like other towns in Massachusetts, one-seventh part of the male population of that parish were in the field, which accounts in some degree for no other subscribers. There were in February, 1774, one hundred and thirteen legal voters in that parish, now town. The first signature upon this instrument is that of Oakes Angier, Esq., son of Rev. John Angier, H. C. 1720, the first minister of the east parish of Bridgewater, and grandson of Rev. Samuel Angier, H. C. 1673, minister of Rehoboth, and afterwards of Watertown. Oakes Angier was a great-grandson of the Rev. Urian Oakes, President of Harvard College, and also a great-grandson of Governor Hinckley. He graduated at Harvard College in 1764, studied law with the elder President Adams, was a man of great force of character, and arrived at eminence in his profession. He represented Bridgewater in the General Court of Massachusetts during the political years 1776-77, 1777-78, 1778-79, and 1779-80. The next signer to that instrument was Dr. Richard Perkins, son of the Rev. Daniel Perkins, hereinafter named. Dr. Richard Perkins graduated at Harvard College in 1748, was a physician, and was a surgeon and physician in the Provincial Army in the time of the French war, and was once taken prisoner by the French. His wife was a sister of Governor John Hancock, and he was a representative of Bridgewater in the first and second of the Provincial Congresses, so called. John Ames, the thirteenth signer, and father of the late Oliver Ames, Esq., of Easton, was a gunmaker, and made guns for the town's supply during the war of the Revolution. Solomon Ripley, the ninth signer, was the great-uncle of Major-General Eleazer W. Ripley, who figured in the war of 1812, and was Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives during the January session of 1812. John Willis, the sixteenth siguer, was justice of the peace from 1762 to his decease. He died July 17th, 1776, less than two months after he signed, aged seventy-five years. Daniel Lothrop, Jr., was a captain in the Revolutionary War; and Isaac Hartwell, the next signer, was a lieutenant in the Revolutionary army. Nathan Howard was a justice of the peace from August 5, 1767, to the time of his death in 1800. Simeon Dunbar was a graduate of Harvard College, 1774, and a physician, and had a son George, who was with Perry's fleet at the naval battle on Lake Erie. Daniel Perkins graduated at Harvard College in 1717, and was the second minister of West Bridgewater, and preached there sixty-two years, until he died in 1783. Josiah Williams was the great-uncle of the late Hon. Reuel Williams, of Augusta, Maine, and of Mr. Daniel Williams, the father of the late Major-General Seth Williams, the adjutantgeneral of the army of the Potomac. Seth Howard was the grandfather of the late Seth Howard, Esq., of Leeds, Maine, who represented that town in our General Court for the political year 1803-7, and who was the grandfather of General Oliver O. Howard. Abiel Howard graduated at Harvard College in 1729, was a physician and poet, and the great-grandfather of William Cullen Bryant, Esq., from whom Mr. Bryant claims to have inherited his gift of poetry. D. Howard, 2d, was many years the representative of Bridgewater, and many years Senator of Plymouth County, a member of the Massachusetts Convention which adopted the Constitution of the United States, a member of the Convention of 1820 for revising the Constitution of Massachusetts, and a judge of the Court of Common Pleas; and is the same person mentioned on page 496 of our Proceedings for 1869-70. Adams Bailey soon after was a captain in the Continental. army, and was a member of the Society of the Cincinnati. Shepard Fiske was a graduate of Harvard College, 1721, |