Bridge became free, it discontinued payment of all annuities to the College.[1]
On April 21, 1836, the College Treasurer informed the Corporation that the Charles River Bridge also declined to make any further payment, and on September 19, 1836 he reported that "the bridge shares are at present valueless."[2]
The Charles River Bridge received from 1828 to 1836 about one-third of the tolls collected on the two bridges. It was kept open for about one year after the Warren Bridge became free, but was discontinued as a public highway, May 5, 1837, the Legislature having refused its petition for compensation.
The loss to the College was therefore figured as follows: On the two shares purchased by it in 1814 at $2080-$4160 loss. The annuity of $666.66 represented a capital of $11111.11 and the loss of interest on the shares for nine years figured $8246.40 — a total loss of $23517.71.[3]
Such was the situation when Daniel Webster and Warren Button for the Charles River Bridge; and Professor Simon Greenleaf and John Davis (then Senator from Massachusetts), for the Warren Bridge, went to Washington in January, 1837 to argue the great case. Owing to the absence of Judge James M. Wayne, Greenleaf was compelled to wait in Washington for over two weeks, the re -argument of the case not being heard until January 19, 1837 and ending January 26.
The following correspondence between Greenleaf and Charles Sumner, who was supplying his place as instructor at the Harvard Law School, during his absence, is full of interest.[4]
On January 1, 1837, Greenleaf wrote from Washington:
"This is indeed the city of magnificent distances, not only in its own arrangements but in its distance from good New England, and especially from that most desirable of all places, the very oculus Novanglia and therefore oculus mundi — need I say, Dane Hall? What is this mighty mass of marble called the Capitol compared with that little edifice of brick which honest Mr. Dane (may he rest in peace) so eloquently remarked to the President was 'worth the money it cost? ' And what is this mighty realm of Mephistopheles, this, his very headquarters, in comparison with the circle of choice and cultivated spirits, and above all the moral atmosphere, of our own Cambridge? Away with the pitiable race of cringing colored menials whose very demeanour speaks slavery, and let me once again
- ↑ See the following interesting letter from N. I. Bowditch of this Corporation, to Treasurer T. W. Ward, November 24, 1835, Harv. Coll. Papers, 2nd Series, Vol. vii. "I have conferred with Mr. [William] Prescott upon the subject of the rights of the College in the annuity payable by Charles River Bridge. He says that it is possible in case the College have accepted from Warren Bridge the half of said annuity by which by their charter they were bound to pay, that act may have operated as an extinguishment of one-half of the annuity in favor of Charles River Bridge, leaving the College to look solely to Warren Bridge for that half — and when that is made free, to the Legislature who made it so. It is clear that nothing can be done by the College until a failure of payment of the annuity occurs. And then Mr. Prescott thinks that the first step should be a petition or memorial to the Legislature reciting the original rights of the College and the subsequent arrangements, by which the same became converted into an annuity — and the final act by which the franchise of the corporation chargeable with payment of it has become worthless and their property destroyed, and praying for relief. If this is refused, a suit must be commenced against Charles River Bridge, and perhaps in the new aspect presented by Warren Bridge being made free, a decision of our courts may be obtained which could not be while it continued a toll bridge. Mr. Prescott says that he is happy to be of any service to the College, and makes no charge for his trouble."
- ↑ See Reports of the Treasurer, April 21, 1836, Harv. Coll. Papers, 2nd series, Vol. vii, and September 12, 1836; Harv. Coll. Papers, 2nd series, Vol. viii.
- ↑ See estimate made for President Quincy in Harvard Archives — Quincy Papers. In the History of Harvard University, Vol. ii, App. liii, Quincy figures the loss at $35,401.16.
- ↑ The letters from Greenleaf of January ii, 1837, and January 28, 1837, never before published, are to be found in the "Sumner Papers" in the Harvard College Library. The letter from Sumner is to be found in "Memoirs of the Life of Charles Sumner" by Edward L. Pierce Vol. II. The letters from Story unless otherwise stated are to be found in his "Life and Letters," by W. W. Story.
