Bernard sailed for home that same year; but in March of 1770 occurred the Boston Massacre, and his successor, Hutchinson, who has already figured in our story, prudently followed his policy of “rusticating” the Legislature.[1] For three strenuous years, under one pretext or another, the Great and General Court, resisting tooth and nail, was forced to continue at Cambridge. Throughout that time the above housing arrangement was apparently adhered to, Holden serving as a convenient overflow for the curious olla podrida of religion, education, and politics that stewed and simmered in the college cauldron, waiting only for a little more fuel to boil up into active revolt.
That portentous event was not long in coming. Harvard, in the very heart of the cataclysm, was shaken to its foundations. Soon after the Battle of Lexington the students were ordered out of college, and the buildings were appropriated to the needs of the militia who poured into Cambridge, the headquarters of the revo-
- ↑ Bernard’s original taking of Holden Chapel seems to have been by a species of eminent domain, no record appearing of the Corporation’s consent. In 1770 the Corporation addressed Hutchinson, objecting to the continued use of the College by the General Court, but received a conciliatory reply; and being informed that the House “does not choose to enter the Chapel of the College without the concurrence of those with whom the property and care of it is betrusted, do hereby signify their consent, to oblige the House in such a case of necessity.” Indeed, considering the increase in business and prestige that the Legislature brought to Cambridge, we may well surmise that, in voicing any protests, the Corporation, like Bottom, roared as gently as any sucking dove.
