Bay State Monthly, Vol. I, No. 3, March, 1884 by Various

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[Illustration: J.W. BOOTT]

THE BAY STATE MONTHLY.

_A Massachusetts Magazine._

VOL. I. MARCH, 1884. No. III.

* * * * *

Hon. JOSIAH GARDNER ABBOTT, LL.D.

By Colonel John Hatch George.

The Honorable JOSIAH GARDNER ABBOTT, the subject of this
biographic sketch, traces his lineage back to the first settlers of this
Commonwealth. The Puritan George Abbott, who came from Yorkshire,
England, in 1630, and settled in Andover, was his ancestor on his
father's side; while on his mother's side his English ancestor was
William Fletcher, who came from Devonshire in 1640, and settled, first,
in Concord, and, finally, in 1651, in Chelmsford. It may be noted in
passing that Devonshire, particularly in the first part of the
seventeenth century, was not an obscure part of England to hail from,
for it was the native shire of England's first great naval heroes and
circumnavigators of the globe, such as Drake and Cavendish.

George Abbott married Hannah, the daughter of William and Annis
Chandler, whose descendants have been both numerous and influential. The
young couple settled in Andover. As has been said, ten years after the
advent on these shores of George Abbott came William Fletcher, who,
after living for a short time in Concord, settled finally in Chelmsford.
In direct descent from these two original settlers of New England were
Caleb Abbott and Mercy Fletcher, the parents of the subject of this
sketch. Judge Abbott is, therefore, of good yeomanly pedigree. His
ancestors have always lived in Massachusetts since the settlement of the
country, and have always been patriotic citizens, prompt to respond to
every call of duty in the emergencies of their country, whether in peace
or war. Both his grandfathers served honorably in the war of the
Revolution, as their fathers and grandfathers before them served in the
French and Indian wars of the colonial period of our history. In his
genealogy there is no trace of Norman blood or high rank: but

"The rank is but the guinea's stamp,
The man's the gowd for a' that."

In this country, while it is not necessary to success to be able to lay
claim to an aristocratic descent, it is certainly a satisfaction,
however democratic the community may be, for any person to know that his
grandfather was an honest man and a public-spirited citizen.

Judge Abbott was born in Chelmsford on the first of November, 1814. He
was fitted for college under the instruction of Ralph Waldo Emerson. He
entered Harvard College at the early age of fourteen and was graduated
in 1832. After taking his degree, he studied law with Nathaniel Wright,
of Lowell, and was admitted to the bar in 1837. In 1840, he formed with
Samuel A. Brown a partnership, which continued until he was appointed to
the bench in 1855.

From the very first, Judge Abbott took a leading position in his
profession, and at once acquired an extensive and lucrative practice,
without undergoing a tedious probation, or having any experience of the
"hope deferred which maketh the heart sick." In criminal cases his
services were in great demand. He had, and has, the advantage of a fine
and commanding person, which, both at the bar and in the Senate, and, in
fact, in all situations where a man sustains the relation of an advocate
or orator before the public, is really a great advantage, other things
being equal. As a speaker, Judge Abbott is fluent, persuasive, and
effective. He excites his own intensity of feeling in the jury or
audience that he is addressing. His client's cause is emphatically his
own. He is equal to any emergency of attack or defence. If he believes
in a person or cause, he believes fully and without reservation; thus he
is no trimmer or half-and-half advocate. He has great capacity for
labor, and immense power of application, extremely industrious habits,
and what may be called a nervous intellectuality, which, in athletic
phrase, gives him great staying power, a most important quality in the
conduct of long and sharply contested jury trials. After saying this, it
is almost needless to add that he is full of self-reliance and of
confidence in whatever he deliberately champions. His nerve and pluck
are inherited traits, which were conspicuous in his ancestors, as their
participation in the French and Indian wars, and in the war for
Independence, sufficiently shows. Three of Judge Abbott's sons served in
the army during the war of the Rebellion, and two of them fell in
battle, thus showing that they, too, inherited the martial spirit of
their ancestors.

Judge Abbott had just reached his majority, when he was chosen as
representative to the Legislature. In 1841, he was elected State
senator. During his first term in the Senate he served on the railroad
and judiciary committees; and during his second term, as chairman of
these committees, he rendered services of great and permanent value to
the State. At the close of his youthful legislative career he returned
with renewed zeal to the practice of his profession. His ability as a
legislator had made him conspicuous and brought him in contact with
persons managing large business interests, who were greatly attracted by
the brilliant young lawyer and law-maker, and swelled the list of his
clients.

At this period General Butler was almost invariably his opposing or
associate counsel. When they were opposed, it is needless to say that
their cases were tried with the utmost thoroughness and ability. When
they were associated, it is equally needless to say that there could
hardly have been a greater concentration of legal ability. In 1844,
Judge Abbott was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention at
Baltimore, which nominated James K. Polk as its presidential candidate;
and he has been a delegate, either from his district or the State at
large, to all but one of the Democratic National Conventions since,
including, of course, the last one, at Cincinnati, which nominated
General Winfield S. Hancock. His political prominence is shown by the
fact that he has invariably been the chairman of the delegation from his
State, and, several times, the candidate of his party in the Legislature
for the office of United States senator.

Judge Abbott was on the staff of Governor Marcus Morton. In 1853, he was
a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, which consisted so largely
of men of exceptional ability. In the debates and deliberations of this
convention, he took a conspicuous part. In 1835, he was appointed judge
of the superior court of Suffolk County. He retired from the bench in
1858, having won an enviable reputation for judicial fairness and
acumen, and suavity of manner, in the trial of cases, which made him
deservedly popular with the members of the bar who practised in his
court. In the year following his retirement from the bench, he removed
his office from Lowell to Boston, where he has since resided, practising
in the courts, not only of this Commonwealth, but of the neighboring
States and in the Supreme Court of the United States. In 1874, he was
elected a member of Congress, from the fourth congressional district of
Massachusetts. He was chosen by his Democratic colleagues of the House a
member of the Electoral Commission, to determine the controverted result
of the presidential election. When the gravity of the situation, and the
dangers of the country at that time, are taken into account, it is
obvious that no higher compliment could have been paid than that
involved in this selection; a compliment which was fully justified by
the courage and ability which Judge Abbott manifested as a member of
that commission. It should have been mentioned before, that, in 1838,
Judge Abbott married Caroline, daughter of Judge Edward St. Loe
Livermore. After what has been said, it is scarcely necessary to give a
summary of the prominent traits of Judge Abbott as a man and a lawyer.
The warmth and fidelity of his friendship are known to all such as have
had the good fortune to enjoy that friendship. He is as conspicuous for
integrity and purity of character as for professional ability. As a
citizen, he is noted for patriotism, liberality, and public spirit.
As a politician, he is true to his convictions. As a business man,
he has brought to the aid of the large railroad and manufacturing
interests, with which he has long been, and is still, connected, large
intelligence, great energy, and sound judgment. His physical and mental
powers are undiminished, and it may be hoped that many years of honor
and prosperity are still in store for him.

GENEALOGY.

[1. GEORGE ABBOT, the pioneer, born in 1615, emigrated from Yorkshire,
England, about 1640, and was one of the first settlers and proprietors
of Andover, in 1643. His house was a garrison for many years. In 1647,
he married Hannah Chandler, daughter of William and Annis Chandler. They
were industrious, economical, sober, pious, and respected. With
Christian fortitude they endured their trials, privations, and dangers.
He died December 24, 1681, aged 66. She married (2) the Reverend Francis
Dane, minister of Andover, who died in February, 1697, aged 81. She died
June 11, 1711, aged 82.

2. TIMOTHY ABBOT, seventh son and ninth child of George and Hannah
(Chandler) Abbot, born November 17, 1663; was captured during the Indian
War in 1676, and returned in a few months to his parents; was married in
January, 1690, to Hannah Graves, who died November 16, 1726. He lived at
the garrison-house, and died September 9, 1730.

3. TIMOTHY ABBOT, eldest son of Timothy and Hannah (Graves) Abbott, was
born July 1, 1663; lived with his father in the garrison-house; was
industrious, honest, useful, and respected. He married in December,
1717, Mary Foster, and died July 10, 1766.

4. NATHAN ABBOT, third son and sixth child of Timothy and Mary (Foster)
Abbot, was born January 18, 1729; married, in 1759, Jane Paul.

5. CALEB ABBOT, son of Nathan and Jane (Paul) Abbot, married, in 1779,
Lucy Lovejoy, who died February 21, 1802; he married (2) Deborah Baker;
he died 1819.

6. CALEB ABBOTT, son of Caleb and Lucy (Lovejoy) Abbot, was born
November 10, 1779; settled in Chelmsford; married Mercy Fletcher
(daughter of Josiah Fletcher), who died in 1834; he died December 5,
1846.

7. JOSIAH GARDNER ABBOTT, second son and fourth child of Caleb and Mercy
(Fletcher) Abbott, was born November 1, 1814. In 1838, he married
Caroline Livermore, daughter of the Honorable Edward St. Loe Livermore,
and granddaughter of the Honorable Samuel Livermore, of New Hampshire.
Their children are:--

I. Caroline Marcy Abbott, born April 25, 1839; married April 19, 1869;
and died in May, 1872, leaving one daughter, Caroline Derby, born in
April, 1872.

II. Edward Gardner Abbott, born in Lowell, September 29, 1840; was
killed in battle August 9, 1862.

III. Henry Livermore Abbott, born January 21, 1842; was killed in battle
May 6, 1864.

IV. Fletcher Morton Abbott, born February 18, 1843.

V. William Stackpole Abbott, born November 18, 1844; died May 6, 1846.

VI. Samuel Appleton Browne Abbott, born March 6, 1846; married October
15, 1873, Abby Francis Woods, and has four children.

(_a_) Helen Francis Abbott, born July 29, 1874.
(_b_) Madeline Abbott, born November 2, 1876.
(_c_) Francis Abbott, born September 8, 1878.
(_d_) Caroline Livermore Abbott, born April 25, 1880.

VII. Sarah Livermore Abbott, born May 14, 1850; married October 12,
1870, William P. Fay, and has three children.

(_a_) Richard Sullivan Fay, born in July, 1871.
(_b_) Catherine Fay, born in September, 1872.
(_c_) Edward Henry Fay, born in 1876.

VIII. Franklin Pierce Abbott, born May 6, 1842.

IX. Arthur St. Loe Livermore Abbott, born November 6, 1853; died March
28, 1863.

X. Grafton, born November 14, 1856.

XI. Holker Welch Abbott, born February 28, 1858.

EDITOR.]

* * * * *

ESOTERIC BUDDHISM.--A Review.

By Lucius H. Buckingham, Ph.D.

Those who have read Sinnett's Esoteric Buddhism will probably agree on
one point, namely: that, whether the statements of the book be true or
false, the book, as a whole, is a great stimulant of thought. The
European world has looked upon Indian philosophy as mere dreams, idle
speculations, built only on a foundation of metaphysical subtleties.
Here comes a book which, going down to the root of the whole matter,
claims that, instead of resting on mere imaginations, this whole
structure of Buddhistic philosophy has, as its cornerstone, certain
facts which have been preserved from the wrecks of a time earlier than
that which our grandfathers ascribe to the creation of the world, and
handed down without interruption from eras of civilization of which the
earth at present does not retain even the ruins. Such a claim of
antiquity rouses an interest in our minds, were it only for its
stupendous contempt of common belief.

There is one direction in which the book so harmonizes with one's
speculations that it makes upon us a very peculiar impression. It
carries out the theory of human development, physical and metaphysical.
Darwin's idea of the origin of the human animal, in connection with the
doctrine of the survival of the fittest, might, if one had the time to
make it all out, be shown to be the sufficient basis for a belief in,
and a logical ground for anticipating, the progress of man toward moral
and spiritual perfection. A healthy man is an optimist. Pessimism is the
product of dyspepsia; and all the intermediate phases of philosophy come
from some want of normal brain-action. Following out the Darwinian
theory,--supported as it seems to be by the facts,--one must believe
that the human race as a whole is improving in bodily development; that
the results of what we call civilization are, increase of symmetry in
the growth of the human body, diminution of disease, greater perfection
in the power of the senses, in short, a gradual progress toward a
healthy body. Now, a healthy body brings with it a healthy mind. The two
cannot be separated. Whatever brings the one will bring the other;
whatever impairs the one will impair the other. A sound mind must bring,
in time, a sound moral nature; and all, together, will tend toward the
perfection of humanity in the development of his spiritual affinities.
Such has been, roughly sketched, my belief regarding the progress of
man. It has left all the men of the past ages, all of the present time,
all of many generations yet to come, in a condition, which, compared
with that which I try to foresee, must be called very immature. This has
never been a stumbling-block to me; for I hold that the Lord understands
his own work, the end from the beginning; and that, if "order is
heaven's first law," there is a place for every soul that is in it,
and a possible satisfaction of the desires of every one. Dr. Clarke
expresses the thought that, however much any being may have gone astray,
the soul reconciled at last to God, though it can never undo the past,
or be at that point it might have reached, will yet be perfectly content
with its place in the universe, and as much blessed as the archangels.
That consideration has satisfied my mind when I contemplated humanity,
seeming to stop so far short of its perfection. My regrets--if I can use
such a term--came, as I believed, out of my ignorance.

Now comes a book which claims to give us the key of the whole problem of
human destiny--a book containing some assertions regarding occult
science, belief in which must remain suspended in our minds, and some
points in cosmogony which conflict with our Christian convictions--yet a
book making statements about human history which, though in the highest
degree startling, are not contradicted by anything we know of the past,
but are rather an explanation of some of its dark passages--a book
developing a system of human growth which cannot be disproved and which
makes plain some of the riddles of destiny.

Perhaps the most remarkable feature of the book is its tremendous
assumption. "All that have hitherto written on this subject have been
only half-taught. They have not been admitted to the real inner
doctrine. Here is the first putting-forth, to the world, of the real
teaching, as the Buddhists present it to those who have been initiated
into occult science." Such is, in substance, the author's claim. We may
believe just as much of this as we can. I, for my part, knowing nothing
about the matter, choose, just now, and for our purpose, to assume that
the doctrines of Esoteric Buddhism are what Sinnett says they are,
because they suggest to my mind so many attractive avenues for my
imagination to wander in.

There are two main points in this book which give it its chief interest:
(1) "The past history of the human race as now living on this planet;"
and (2) "The manner in which, and the circumstances under which, any
individual man works out his own salvation." But before entering upon
these, we should say a word about the Buddhist statements regarding the
nature of man.

Seven is the sacred number in the Buddhist system. As there are seven
worlds in the planetary chain, seven kingdoms in Nature, seven
root-races of men, in like manner man is a sevenfold being, continuing,
through untold millions of years, his existence as an individual, yet
changing, one knows not how many times, many of his component elements.
As the Buddhist sees the mortal body to be dissolved into its molecules,
and these molecules to be transferred with their inherent vitality to
other organisms, so some of his higher elements, among them his "astral
body," his impulses and desires, under the name, as our author gives it,
of _animal soul_, may separate from the more enduring parts of his
composition, and become lost to him in Nature's great store of material
substance. As there is an _animal soul_, the seat of those
faculties which we possess in common with the lower beings about us, so
there is a _human soul_, the seat of intelligence; and, higher
still, a _spiritual soul_, possessing powers of which as yet we
know but little, yet destined to give us, when it shall be more fully
developed, new powers of sense, new avenues for the entrance of
knowledge, by which we shall be able to communicate directly with
Nature, and become as much greater than the present race of men, as
_that_ is greater than the lowest brutes. Above all these elements
of man, controlling all, and preserving its individuality throughout, is
"spirit." Yet even this, when absorbed into Nirvana, is lost in that
great whole which includes all things and is Nature herself. Lost, do I
say?--yes, lost for inconceivable ages upon ages, yet destined to come
forth again at some moment in eternity, and to begin its round through
the everlasting cycle of evolution.

Here, you will say, is materialism. As the intelligent man of early ages
looked out upon the world, he felt the wind he could not see, he smelt
the odor that he could not feel, and he reasoned with himself, I think,
as follows; "There is somewhat too subtile for these bodily senses to
grasp it. Something of which I cannot directly take cognizance brings
to me the light of sun and stars." These somethings were, in his
conception, forms of matter. He saw the intelligence and the moral worth
of his friend, and then he saw that friend a lifeless body stretched
upon the ground, and he said some _thing_ is gone. This thing was
again to him only another and more subtile form of matter. We, with all
the aids of modern knowledge and thought, are absolutely unable to say
what distinction there is between matter and spirit. The old philosopher
was logical. He could find no point at which to draw his line. Therefore
he drew no line. He recognized only different manifestations of one
substance. In terms of our language, he was a materialist. So is the
modern scientist; yet I cannot help thinking that the Buddhist stands
much nearer to truth than the materialist of to-day. The various
faculties of human sense and human intellect are so many molecules
forming, by their accretion, the animal and the human soul. As, at
death, the molecules of the body separate and are, by-and-by, absorbed
with their inherent vitality into new agglomerations, and become part of
new living forms, so the elements of the human soul may be torn apart,
and some of them, being no longer man, but following the fortunes of the
lower principles, may be lost to us, while other elements, clinging to
the spiritual soul, follow its destiny in the after-life. I know a
thinking man who believes in nothing but matter and motion; add time and
space, and we have the all in all, the Nature, of Buddhism. Yet the
Buddhist believes in a state of being beyond this earthly life: a state
whose conditions are determined absolutely by the use which the human
soul has made of its opportunities in the life that now is, and my
friend says he does not. Truly, Buddhism is better than the materialism
of to-day.

Let me now turn to the history of humanity as revealed to us in our
book. Every monad, or spirit-element, beginning its course by becoming
separated from what I conceive as the great central reservoir of Nature,
must, before returning thither, make a certain fixed round through an
individual existence. If it belongs to the planetary chain, of which our
earth is the fourth and lowest link, it must pass seven times through
each of the kingdoms of Nature on each one of the seven planets. Of
these seven planets, Mars, our Earth, and Mercury, are three. The other
four are too tenuous to be cognizable by our present senses. Of the
seven kingdoms of Nature, three are likewise beyond our ken or
conception; the highest four are the mineral, the vegetable, the animal,
and man. Our immortal part has therefore passed already through six of
the kingdoms of its destiny, and is, in fact, now near the middle of its
fourth round of human existence upon the earth. One life on earth is,
however, not sufficient for the development of our powers. Every human
being must pass through each of the seven branch races of each of the
sub-races of each of the root-races of humanity; and must, in short,
live, or, as our author expresses the idea, be incarnated about eight
hundred times--some more and some less--upon this planet, before the
hour will come when it will be permitted to him, by a path as easy of
passage for him then, as is that followed by the rays of light, to visit
the planet Mercury, for his next two million years of existence.

Through each of these eight hundred mortal lives, man is purifying and
developing his nature. When, at the end of each, his body dies, his
higher principles leave the lower to gradual dissolution, while they
themselves remaining still bound in space to this planet, pass into
_Devachan_, the state of effects. Here, entirely unconscious of what
passes on earth, the soul remains, absorbed in its own subjectivity. For
a length of time, stated as never less than fifteen hundred years, and
shown by figures to average not less than eight thousand, the soul,
enjoying in its own contemplation those things it most desired in mortal
life, surrounded in its own imagination by the friends and the scenes it
has loved on earth, reaps the exact reward of its own deeds. When Nature
has thus paid the laborer his hire, when his power of enjoyment has
exhausted itself, the soul passes by a gradual process into oblivion of
all the past--an oblivion from which it returns only on its approach to
Nirvana--and waits the moment for reincarnation. Yet it comes not again
to conscious life, unaffected by the forgotten past. _Karma_,--the
resultant of its upward or downward tendencies,--which has been
accumulating through all the course of its existence, remains; and the
new-born man comes into visible being with good or evil propensities,
the balance of which is to be affected by the struggles of one more
mortal phase of existence. Thus we go on through one life after another,
each time a new person yet the same human soul, ignorant of our own past
lives, yet never free from their influence upon our character, exactly
as in mature life we have absolutely forgotten what happened to us in
our infancy, yet are never free from its influence. In Devachan, which
corresponds, says our author, to what in other religions is the final
and eternal heaven, we receive, from time to time, the reward of our
deeds done in the body, yet still pass on with all our upward or
downward tendencies until, many millions of years in the future, during
our next passage through life on this planet, we shall come to the
crisis in our existence which shall determine whether we are to become
gods or demons.

Let me now turn back the page of history. A little more than one million
years ago this earth was covered, as now, with vegetable forms, and was
the dwelling of animals, as numerous, perhaps, and as various as now;
but there was no humanity. The time was come when man, who had passed
already three times round the planetary chain, and was nearly half way
through his fourth round, should again make his appearance on the scene.
Nature works only in her own way, and that way is uniform. The first man
must be born of parents already living. As there are no human parents,
he must be born of lower animals, and of those lower animals most nearly
resembling the coming human animal. Darwin has told us what the animal
was, yet the new being was a man and not an ape, because, in addition to
its animal soul, it was possessed also of a human soul. We all know that
man is an animal. Those modern students of science, who affirm that that
is the whole truth of human nature, take a lower view of their own being
than the Indian philosophers. Man is an animal plus a human and a
spiritual soul.

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