USA > Connecticut > The history of Connecticut, from the first settlement of the colony to the adoption of the present constitution, vol. II > Part 43
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"I am not informed that any effectual arrangements are made by the national government to put our sea-coast into a more respectable state of defense. Should the plan of the last campaign be renewed, and especially should the war retain the desolating character it has been made to assume, the states on the Atlantic border cannot be insensible to the dangers which await them. 'To provide for the common defense' was an avowed, and it may with truth be said the chief purpose for which the present constitution was formed. How far this object is promoted by aiming at foreign con- quest, and resigning our most wealthy and populous frontier to pillage and devastation, becomes a momentous inquiry. Whatever measures, gentlemen, you may think proper to adopt on the occasion, I feel assured they will flow from an equal regard to your own rights and to the interests of the
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Union. In any event, I am persuaded that we shall place no reliance on the forbearance of a declared enemy, and that if the aid to which we are entitled is withheld, the means which God has given us will be faithfully employed for our safety."*
Massachusetts was no less alarmed than Connecticut, at the situation of the eastern coast. In the summer of 1814, the English took possession of Castine, a town on the Penobscot, and of all that part of Maine which lies to the eastward of that river. News soon arrived in Boston, that the enemy were preparing to invade Massachusetts. This, among other causes of alarm, induced that state, through her constituted authorities, to address a letter to the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island, calling upon them "to appoint delegates" to meet with those from other states to deliberate upon the dangers then impending, and "to devise, if practicable, means of security and defense which may be consistent with the preservation of their resources from total ruin, and adapted to their local situation, mutual relations and habits, and not repugnant to their obliga- tions as members of the Union." Such were the avowed motives that led to the call for the far-famed "Hartford Convention."
The General Assembly was in session when this communi- cation was received from Massachusetts, and immediately appointed a committee to investigate the matters named in it. Henry Champion was chairman of the committee, a man of an "original type of intellect and character, and capable of expressing his thoughts in a strong nervous style, of which the following extracts afford a good illustration :
"The condition of this state demands the most serious attention of the legislature. We lately enjoyed, in common with the other members of the national confederacy, the blessings of peace. The industry of our citizens, in every
See Appendix to the Eulogy of Governor Smith, by the Rev. William W. Andrews, of Kent.
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HENRY CHAMPION.
[1814.]
department of active life, was abundantly rewarded ; our cities and villages exhibited indications of increasing wealth; and the foreign relations of the Union secured our safety and nourished our prosperity.
"The scene is now reversed. We are summoned to the field of war, and to surrender our treasures for our defense. The fleets of a powerful enemy hover on our coasts, block- ade our harbors, and threaten our towns and cities with fire and desolation.
" When a commonwealth falls from a state of high pros- perity, it behoves the guardians of its interests to inquire into the cause of its decline, and, with deep solicitude, to seek a remedy."
"Occupying a comparatively small territory, and naturally associating, during the revolutionary war, with states whose views were identified with ours, our interests and inclina- tions led us to unite in the great national compact, since defined and consolidated by the Constitution of the United States.
"Thus driven from every object of our best hopes, and bound to an inglorious struggle in defense of our dwellings from a public enemy, we had no apprehension, much as we had suffered from the national government, that it would refuse to yield us such protection as its treasures might afford. Much less could we doubt, that those disbursements, which might be demanded of this state, would be passed to our credit on the books of the treasury. Such, however, has not been the course adopted by the national agents. All supplies have been withdrawn from the militia of this state, in the service of the United States. The groundless pretext for this unwarrantable measure, was, their submission to an officer assigned them by the commander-in-chief, in perfect conformity with military usage and the principles of a re- 64
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. 1
quest from the President himself, under which a party of them were detached." *
"The people of this state have no disloyalty to the inte- rests of the Union. For their fidelity and patriotism, they may appeal with confidence to the national archives from the commencement of the revolutionary war.
"In achieving the independence of the nation, they bore an honorable part. Their contingent in men and money has ever been promptly furnished, when constitutionally required. Much as they lament the present unnatural hostilities with Great Britain, they have, with characteristic obedience to lawful authority, punctually paid the late taxes imposed by the General Government. On every lawful demand of the national executive their well-disciplined militia have resorted to the field. The public enemy, when invading their shores, has been met at the water's edge and valiantly repulsed. They duly appreciate the great advantages which would result from the federal compact, were the government ad- ministered according to the sacred principles of the constitu- tion. They have not forgotten the ties of confidence and affection, which bound these states to each other during their toils for independence ; nor the national honor and commer- cial prosperity which they mutually shared, during the happy years of a good administration. They are, at the same time, conscious of their rights and determined to defend them. Those sacred liberties-those inestimable institutions, civil, and religious, which their venerable fathers have bequeathed to them-are, with the blessing of Heaven, to be maintained at every hazard, and never to be surrendered by tenants of the soil which the ashes of their ancestors have consecrated.
"In what manner the multiplied evils, which we feel and fear, are to be remedied, is a question of the highest moment, and deserves the greatest consideration. The documents transmitted by his excellency the governor of Massachusetts, present, in the opinion of the committee, an eligible method of combining the wisdom of New England, in devising, on
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DELEGATES TO THE CONVENTION.
[1814.]
full consultation, a proper course to be adopted, consistent with our obligations to the United States."*
These brief extracts will show something of the feelings of the people of the state, and leave little doubt of the sincerity at least of a writer who has had few equals in New England.
A resolution accompanied the report, appointing seven delegates to represent the state at a convention to be held at Hartford, on the 15th of December, 1814, there to confer with delegates from Massachusetts, and such other New Eng- land states as shall join in the enterprise, "for the purpose" to use the words of the committee, "of devising and recom- mending such measures for the safety and welfare of those states as may be consistent with our obligations as members of the national Union."
The names of the men who were appointed delegates to the convention, were Chauncey Goodrich, John Treadwell, James Hillhouse, Zephaniah Swift, Nathaniel Smith, Calvin Goddard, and Roger Minott Sherman.
On the 15th of December, 1814, the convention met at Hartford, and was composed of the following named gentle- men, in addition to those from Connecticut.
Rhode Island .- Messrs. Daniel Lyman, Samuel Ward, Benjamin Hazard, and Edward Manton.
Massachusetts .- Messrs. George Cabot, William Prescott, Harrison Gray Otis, Timothy Bigelow, Nathan Dana, George Bliss, Joshua Thomas, Hodijah Baylies, Daniel Waldo, Joseph Lyman, Samuel S. Wilde, and Stephen Long- fellow, Jr.
New Hampshire .- Messrs. Benjamin West, and Mills Olcott.
Vermont .- William Hall, Jr.
Having chosen the Hon. George Cabot, president, and Theodore Dwight, secretary, the convention proceeded to business, and after a session of about three weeks, they put into the form of a report, the result of their proceedings. After setting forth what they claimed to be the causes of
* Dwight's Hist. of "Hartford Convention."
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
their grievances, they passed a series of resolutions which were as follows :
"Resolved, That it be and hereby is recommended to the legislatures of the several states represented in this conven- tion, to adopt all such measures as may be necessary effectu- ally to protect the citizens of said states from the operation and effects of all acts which have been or may be passed by the Congress of the United States, which shall contain pro- visions, subjecting the militia or other citizens to forcible drafts, conscriptions, or impressments, not authorized by the Constitution of the United States.
"Resolved, That it be and hereby is recommended to the said legislatures, to authorize an immediate and earnest appli- cation to be made to the government of the United States, requesting their consent to some arrangement, whereby the said states may, separately or in concert, be empowered to assume upon themselves the defense of their territory against the enemy; and a reasonable portion of the taxes, collected within said states, may be paid into the respective treasuries thereof, and appropriated to the payment of the balance due said states, and to the future defense of the same. The amount so paid into the said treasuries to be credited, and the disbursements made as aforesaid to be charged to the United States.
" Resolved, That it be, and hereby is recommended to the legislatures of the aforesaid states, to pass laws (where it has not already been done,) authorizing the governors or com- manders-in-chief of their militia to make detachments from the same, or to form voluntary corps, as shall be most con- venient and conformable to their constitutions, and to cause the same to be well armed, equipped, and disciplined, and held in readiness for service ; and upon the request of the governor of either of the other states, to employ the whole of such detachment or corps, as well as the regular forces of the state, or such part thereof as may be required and can be spared consistently with the safety of the state, in assisting the state making such request, to repel any
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RESOLUTIONS.
[1814.]
invasion thereof which shall be made or attempted by the public enemy.
" Resolved, That the following amendments of the Consti- tution of the United States be recommended to the states represented as aforesaid, to be proposed by them for adoption by the state legislatures, and in such cases as may be deemed expedient, by a convention chosen by the people of each state.
" And it is further recommended, that the said states shall persevere in their efforts to obtain such amendments, until the same shall be effected.
"First, Representatives and direct taxes shall be appor- tioned among the several states which may be included within this Union, according to their respective numbers of free persons, including those bound to serve for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, and all other persons.
" Second, No new state shall be admitted into the Union by Congress, in virtue of the power granted by the constitution, without the concurrence of two-thirds of both houses.
" Third, Congress shall not have power to lay any embargo on the ships or vessels of the citizens of the United States, in the ports or harbors thereof, for more than sixty days.
" Fourth, Congress shall not have power, without the con- currence of two-thirds of both houses, to interdict the com- mercial intercourse between the United States and any foreign nation or the dependencies thereof.
" Fifth, Congress shall not make or declare war, or author- ize acts of hostility against any foreign nation, without the concurrence of two-thirds of both houses, except such acts of hostility be in defense of the territories of the United States when actually invaded.
" Sixth, No person who shall hereafter be naturalized, shall be eligible as a member of the senate or house of represen- tatives of the United States, nor capable of holding any civil office under the authority of the United States.
" Seventh, The same person shall not be elected president
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of the United States a second time; nor shall the president be elected from the same state two terms in succession.
" Resolved, That if the application of these states to the government of the United States, recommended in a fore- going resolution, should be unsuccessful, and peace should not be concluded, and the defense of these states should be neg- lected, as it has been since the commencement of the war, it will, in the opinion of this convention, be expedient for the legislatures of the several states to appoint delegates to an- other convention, to meet at Boston, in the state of Massa- chusetts, on the third Thursday of June next, with such pow- ers and instructions as the exigency of a crisis so moment- ous may require.
"Resolved, That the Hon. George Cabot, the Hon. Chaun -. cey Goodrich, and the Hon. Daniel Lyman, or any two of them, be authorized to call another meeting of this conven- tion, to be holden in Boston, at any time before new delegates shall be chosen, as recommended in the above resolution, if in their judgment the situation of the country shall urgently require it."*
This report, with the resolutions as above quoted, was immediately published to the world, and, as was naturally to be expected, filled the whole country with excitement. Some hailed it with demonstrations of lively joy, and others with hisses of derision ; some called it patriotic, others averred that it was treasonable; some made it their banner-cry, others were ready under other banners to go out and give battle to the men who dared to march under it. But the prevailing voice of the country, it must be admitted, was against the Hartford Convention. It had sat with closed doors, and although in doubtful times the General Assembly of Connec- ticut had always done so, although the very convention that adopted the Constitution of the United States had done the same, yet the delegates to the Hartford Convention were not allowed to plead these precedents in answer to the charge that secrecy was a badge of fraud.
* Vide Dwight's Hist.
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THE CHARACTER OF THE WITNESSES.
Now without attempting to vindicate that convention, the fruitful mother of so many others that were possessed of few of the attributes which it embodied, it is a duty devolving upon the author of such a work as this, to inquire into the motives of the delegates who composed it, and see if they were criminal. It has been already asserted that the states which they represented felt themselves aggrieved. The alleged motives of the state legislatures themselves, was to provide for the safety of the eastern coast, acting under the Constitution of the United States, and without doing any- thing that should contravene the letter or the spirit of that instrument. Again, the delegates themselves in their public manifesto, declared that they were governed by the same influences. But testimony is to be weighed by the triers not only in accordance with the probabilities of the case, but the character of the witnesses for veracity, good or bad, is to be taken into the account. The witnesses to the honest motives of the authors of the Hartford Convention, were no vulgar men.
At the head of the Connecticut delegation stood his honor Chauncey Goodrich, whose blanched locks and noble features had long been conspicuous in the halls of national legislation ; a gentleman whose character is identified with truth and honor in all parts of the Union ; a gentleman of whom Albert Gallatin was wont to say, that when he endeavored to meet the arguments of his opponents, he was accustomed to select that of Mr. Goodrich, as containing the entire strength of all that could be said upon that side-feel- ing that if he could answer him, he could maintain his cause; a man of whom Jefferson, no mean judge of intellectual strength, used playfully to say, "that white-headed senator from Connecticut is by far the most powerful opponent I have to my administration."
Next to him was James Hillhouse, the great financier of the state, who found our School Fund in darkness, and left it in light; the scholar and the father who superintended the early cul- ture of that poet-boy, and laid the foundations of that, bright and
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
glorious intellect, which in the bowers of "Sachem's Wood," saw as in a vision the magnificent scenes of Hadad, and re- ceived as guests in western groves, the spirits of oriental oracle and song; Hillhouse, the man of taste, who planted the New Haven elms; the native American, with Irish blood in his veins-a man who like Washington never told a lie.
John Treadwell, was the third delegate, whose life was filled with honors and usefulness.
The fourth was Swift, the first commentator upon the laws of our little republic, of whom no lawyer in the United States would dare to feign ignorance, lest he should put at risk his professional reputation.
The Hon. Nathaniel Smith, was the fifth, whom the God of Nature chartered to be great by the divine prerogative of genius ; a jurist wiser than the books, whose words were so loaded with convincing reasons that they struck an adversary to the earth like blows dealt by a hand guantletted in steel ; to listen to whom, when he spoke in the convention, Harri- son Gray Otis turned back as he was leaving the chamber, and stood gazing in silent admiration, unconscious of the flight of time.
The sixth was Calvin Goddard, who long enjoyed the reputation of being the most learned and successful lawyer east of the Connecticut river ; an upright judge, a wise counselor, an honest man.
Last, but not least of the Connecticut delegation, was Roger Minott Sherman, a profound metaphysician, a scholar equal to the younger Adams, one of the principal oracles of the New York city bar for the last twenty years of his life, who seemed more fitly than any other man to represent the lawgiver, Roger Ludlow, and to inhabit the town which he had planted, whose level acres he had sown with the quick seeds of civil liberty and then left the up-springing crop to be harvested by the sickle of his successor.
Such were the men from Connecticut, who took part with men as nearly their equals as could be gathered from the other eastern states, in the debates and deliberations of the
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CHARACTER OF THE WITNESSES.
[1814.]
Hartford Convention. The grave has closed over them all. In their lifetime they were kept from the councils of the nation, because they had been unfortunate enough to be designated by the General Assembly for the place that they filled with such ability and integrity. Like a priesthood hon- ored in their monastic retirement, but excluded from the field where they were eminently fitted to shine, they passed the rest of their days under a cloud. Let their conquerors be generous. Let them not trample rudely upon the ashes nor trifle with the fame of the strong men who were singled out by the state as hostages to remain in exile for the policy, demeanor, and future good faith, of those whom they represented .*
* The Hon. Chauncey Goodrich was a son of the Rev. Elizur Goodrich, pastor of the congregational church in Durham, Conn. A gentleman of thorough education and high legal attainments, he was for many years an eminent advocate at the Hartford bar, until called to serve his constituents in other fields of honor- able distinction. He was frequently a member of both branches of the Connec- ticut legislature, besides being a representative in Congress, United States Sena- tor, and lieutenant-governor. He died August 18, 1815.
The Hon. John Treadwell, of Farmington, was successively a representative. councilor, judge of the court of common pleas, lieutenant-governor, and governor. Distinguished for the simplicity of his manners, the uprightness and purity of his life and character, his sound judgment, and unquestioned integrity, he enjoyed in a remarkable degree the confidence of his fellow citizens. He died August 19, 1823, aged seventy-seven.
The Hon. James Hillhouse, of New Haven, was a representative and senator in Congress for nearly twenty years. In the war of the revolution he had bravely fought for his country, and through life he was esteemed for his integrity, patriot- ism, and talents. He died in New Haven.
The Hon. Zephaniah Swift, of Windham, was long in public life, as a member and Speaker of the House of Representatives, representative in Congress, judge, and chief judge of the supreme court of the state. He died Sept. 27, 1823, aged sixty-four.
The following letter from the Hon. David S. Boardman, of New Milford, rela- tive to Judge Smith, will be read with interest. There is no other person now living who could have furnished such a sketch.
"NEW MILFORD, Jan. 7, 1855.
" Dear Sir,-Yesterday afternoon, I received a line from my friend, General Sedgwick, stating that it was your desire that he would ask of me, in your behalf, to furnish you with some facts in relation to the late Nathaniel Smith, and my
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In January, 1815, a special session was convened by the governor, when it was resolved, that his excellency should appoint two commissioners to proceed immediately to Wash-
views of his character, which might be of use to you in the preparation of the work you have in hand.
" I am of course aware that this application is owing to the accidental circum- stance that I am the oldest if not the only member of the profession now living, who had much personal acquaintance with that truly able and excellent man, or saw much of him in the exercise of his forensic or judicial talents. Judge Smith was indeed one of nature's nobles, and considering the limited range of his early education, he had few equals and perhaps no superior in the profession which he chose, and which he eminently adorned. You are doubtless aware that Judge Smith had only such an education in childhood and youth, as the common schools of the country afforded at the time. It was such, however, as a boy of unusual capacity and industrious habits would acquire from such a source, and such as, under the guidance of uncommon discretion through life, rarely permitted its defects to be disclosed.
" When I first went to the Law School in Litchfield, which was in the fall of 1793, Mr. Smith, though not over thirty years old, was in full practice, and engaged in almost every cause of any importance. Indeed, he was said to have established a high reputation for talents in the first cause he argued in the higher courts. It was upon a trial for manslaughter, which arose in his native town, and in which he appeared as junior counsel, and astonished the court, the bar, and all who heard him. Not long afterwards, in the celebrated case of Jedediah Strong and wife, before the General Assembly, (she having applied for a divorce,) he greatly distinguished himself again, and thus became known throughout the state as a young lawyer of the first promise ; and the reputation thus early acquired was never suffered to falter, but on the other hand, steadily increased in strength until his elevation to the bench.
"During my stay in Litchfield, and after my admission to the bar, I of course saw Mr. Smith, and heard him in almost all the important cases there; and as I was located in the south-west corner town in the county, adjoining Fairfield, I almost immediately obtained some business which, though small, was such as dur- ing nearly all my professional life caused me to attend the courts in that county, where I found Mr. Smith as fully engaged and as highly esteemed as in his own county. In New Haven I also know he had a very considerable practice.
" It is worthy also to be observed, in forming an estimate of Mr. Smith's pro- fessional talents and character, that there never at any period was an abler bar in Connecticut, than during his practice. In Litchfield county, were Judge Reeve, Judge Adams, General Tracy, John Allen, Judge Gould, N. B. Benedict, and others ; at the Fairfield county bar, were Pierpont Edwards, Judge Ingersoll, and Judge Daggett, constantly from New Haven, Judge Edmonds, S. B. Sherwood, R. M. Sherman, Judge Chapman, and Governor Bissell ; and in New Haven, besides the three above named, were James Hillhouse, Judge Baldwin, and others.
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