March 3.—Annual meeting of the Dedham Historical Society. The Act of the General Court, empowering the society to hold real estate to the amount of $25,000, was accepted, as was the bequest of land and money from the late Hannah Shuttleworth. A memorial sketch of the late Judge Colburn was read by Erastus Worthington, Esq. The society chose officers as follows: President, Henry O. Hildreth; Vice-president, Alfred Hewins; Recording Secretary, John D. Cobb; Treasurer and Librarian, J. H. Burdakin; Curators, Erastus Worthington, Henry W. Richards, Don Gleason Hill, J. H. Burdakin, Elijah Howe, Jr.; Auditors, George F. Fisher, A. Ward Lamson; Chronicler, Don G. Hill; Historiographer, J. H. Tuttle.
March 9.—Meeting of the Bostonian Society. The essayist was J. M. Hubbard, whose subject was “Boston, in 1710, Preparing for a Small War.” It appeared during the reading that the military enterprise on hand was the capture of Port Royal, in Nova Scotia, then in the hands of the French. The reason why Boston was peculiarly interested in it was that this Nova Scotia harbor was a resort and head-quarters for a great number of French privateers, which made short cruises along this coast, capturing many merchant-vessels and fishing-craft, greatly to the injury of the commerce of Boston. The English Government accordingly sent hither a small fleet with a body of marines, expecting that the force would be augmented by troops raised in the Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire provinces. The whole expedition was to be commanded by Colonel Francis Nicholson, who came in the fleet from England. To provide for the requirements of the local forces the Provincial Council of Massachusetts ordered that £15,000 in bills of credit of the province be printed, which was a ready way to raise the money.
March 9.—The Concord Monitor, in announcing the result of the vote on this day on the question of calling a constitutional convention, says that New Hampshire towns have been directed to vote on the expediency of calling a constitutional convention by the Legislatures of 1799, 1806, 1813, 1820, 1832, 1833, 1837, 1844, 1846, 1849, 1857, 1860, 1862, 1864, 1868, 1869, 1875, 1883, resulting in the conventions of 1850-1 and 1876-7. The proposition had a sufficient majority this time.
March 10.—An explosion on the tug-boat “John Markee,” in Boston Harbor, instantly killed the entire crew, consisting of five men.
March 12.—At a special meeting of both branches of the Cambridge City Council, a special committee was appointed on the part of the city government to confer with the committee on the part of the citizens relative to a suitable observance of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the departure for the seat of war of Co. C, Third Regiment of Infantry, of Cambridge. This was the first volunteer company organized for the war of the rebellion in the city. Ex-Mayors Montague, Saunders, and Harding, ex-Aldermen Thurston and Chapman, and Mr. J. W. Merrill, made short addresses, urging the necessity of making the 17th of April a day of local pride for Cambridge. The following committee on the part of the citizens was chosen: ex-Mayors Bradford, Harding, Montague, and Saunders, ex-Alderman F. L. Chapman and D. H. Thurston, and Messrs. George H. Howard, J. C. Wellington, and L. B. Porter. On the part of the City Council there were chosen Mayor Russell, Aldermen Hincks and Lindsay, and Councilmen Kemp, Ivers, Coveney, and President Corcoran.