That man who moves only within the circumference of self, reflecting no social rays upon the community in which he moves, contributing in no way to the advancement of human happiness, winding himself up in the hermitical cocoon of a miser’s cell or of total seclusion from the world, makes his life a vacuum and his death a burletta. The acutest metaphysician can never demonstrate the problem of his creation, the lemma of his existence has no corollary in philosophy. The following apothegm from Elbridge Gerry should be deeply impressed upon the mind of every reader: “It is the duty of every citizen, though he may have but one day to live, to devote that day to the service of his country.” This precept he enforced by the examples of his brilliant career.
Elbridge Gerry was a native of Marblehead, Massachusetts, born on the 17th of July, 1744. He was the son of an enterprising and respectable merchant, who bestowed upon him a classical education. He graduated at Harvard University in 1762, with a scholastic and mental reputation creditable to himself and pleasing to his friends. Judging the tree by its fruit, the seed from which it sprang must have been of the purest kind, and its vegetation not retarded by the absorbing and poisonous weeds of vice. Its incipient pruning and growth must have been directed by a master hand, to produce a form of so much symmetry and beauty.
After having completed his collegiate studies, Mr. Gerry entered the counting-house of his father and ultimately became one of the most enterprising and wealthy merchants of his native town. From the nature of his business he was among the first to feel the weight of the impolitic and unconstitutional revenue system, and by the nature of his mind, he was impelled to meet oppression at the threshold. A man of deep reflection and investigation, he examined closely the nature and extent of chartered rights and of British wrongs. He made himself acquainted with the structure and principles of government, law, political economy, and national policy. No one understood better than him, the natural, legal and practical relations between the mother country and the colonies. He was therefore prepared to act advisedly and disposed to act firmly. His extensive influence, his decision of character, his sound discretion and his exalted patriotism, pointed him out as one of the master spirits to guide the public mind and aid in the public affairs of the people. He at once became a participant in all the popular movements in favour of liberty. On the 26th of May, 1773, he commenced his official career as a member of the legislative body of Massachusetts Bay, then called “the general court.” That assembly and the royal governor took a bold issue upon rights and wrongs. The unconstitutional acts of parliament were sanctioned by the latter, and fearlessly censured by the former. The general court, moved by Samuel Adams, appointed a standing committee of inquiry for the purpose of watching closely the proceedings of ministers and parliament, and of corresponding with the other colonies upon the important subjects then under national consideration. This committee was appointed two days after Mr. Gerry had taken his seat for the first time in a legislative body, of which he was made a member. From that time forward he was a conspicuous actor upon the tragic stage of the revolution, in the drama of peace and in the construction of the federal government. He walked shoulder to shoulder with Adams and Hancock in the adoption of the bold measures that roused the lion from his lair and the people to their duty. At the Boston tea-party, the opposition to the port bill, the impeachment of the crown judges, the controversy with Governor Hutchinson and the establishment of non-intercourse with Great Britain, Mr. Gerry stood firmly at his post. Completely prostrated in his influence, and driven from every position assumed, Governor Hutchinson retired and was succeeded by General Gage. This change was of no advantage to the royal cause. The blending of military and civil power was an unpopular measure. He issued a commission for a new general court, but finding it would be composed of members inimical to his views he countermanded the order. The sovereign people, however, elected delegates, who assembled in October at Salem, an unusual place of meeting, to do the business of their constituents. The governor and council not appearing to administer the oath of office, they adjourned to Concord and organized a provincial Congress, of which Mr. Gerry was a leading member. They prepared an address to the governor in respectful but firm language, declaring their attachment to the mother country, and their willingness to obey all laws of parliament and the mandates of the king that came within the sacred pale of the British constitution and the well defined charters which had emanated from it. They pointed out the violations of right, the perversions of justice, the military array of foreign soldiers, all tending to reduce the people to slavery. They reasoned, they explained, they remonstrated, but all in vain. These appeals to Governor Gage fell upon his adamantine soul as the morning dew upon the desert of Sahara. The delegates then appealed to the legitimate source of a righteous government—the people—who nobly responded and sustained them in the hour of peril. They then proceeded to adopt measures for the vindication of their inalienable rights, and whilst they presented the olive branch of peace they prepared for war. Severe measures were adopted by parliament, the charter of Massachusetts was altered by exparte legislation under the crown, illegal taxes were imposed, the hirelings of the king became more insolent, the indignation of the people rose like a tornado, colonial blood began to flow, the tocsin of war was sounded, the clash of arms and fury of battle commenced, the struggle was terrific, the lion was conquered—America was free!!
During all the thrilling scenes that passed in Massachusetts previous to his election to Congress, Mr. Gerry was a leading member of the legislative body from its aurelia form to its more perfect growth. He was an active and efficient member of the two great committees that were for some time virtually the government—the committee of safety and that of supplies.
In April, 1775, he narrowly escaped the grasp of his foes. The night previous to the battle of Lexington, Messrs. Gerry, Lee and Orne were at Cambridge, through which the British passed on their way to the opening scene of hostilities. When they arrived opposite the house where these gentlemen were in bed, a file of soldiers suddenly separated from the main body and approached it rapidly. The patriots barely escaped by the back way in their linen as the enemy entered, not having time to put on a single article of their over-dress. After the military passed on they returned for their wardrobe, and immediately rallied the people to prepare for resistance.
The night previous to the fall of his intimate friend, the brave Warren, Mr. Gerry lodged in the same bed with him. The anxiety they felt for their country drove sleep from them, and their time was spent in concerting plans for future action. The lamented hero of Bunker Hill appears to have had a presentiment of his premature fate. The last words he uttered to Mr. Gerry as they parted were,
“Dulce et decorum est,
Pro patria mori.”[D]
[D] It is sweet and glorious to die for one’s country.
In the month of July, 1775, the government of Massachusetts assumed a systematic form. A legislature was chosen and organized, and in a few months a judiciary was established upon the basis of the new arrangement. Mr. Gerry was immediately appointed to the responsible post of judge of the admiralty court, but declined serving, preferring more active and exciting duties. He desired to be where he could render the most important services.
On the 18th of January, 1776, he was elected to the Continental Congress, a situation he was well calculated to fill. Bold and fearless, yet cautious and prudent, he was admirably adapted to meet the awful crisis of that eventful era. His public reputation already established on a lofty eminence, he was placed upon the most important committees, and among others upon the one sent to head-quarters to consult with Washington and mature plans of supplies for the army and for its augmentation. To the speculating sutlers and to peculating contractors, he was a terror during the war. He introduced in Congress many salutary guards against dishonest men, who, during a war more especially, always hang about every department of government like vultures. Even now, in a time of profound peace, they occasionally tap the jugular vein of our republic, and produce a laxity of the sinews of power.