USA > Maine > Biographical encyclopedia of Maine of the nineteenth century > Part 30
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"Can we tamely submit to be driven from our territory as guaranteed to us by an instrument as sacred as that of our Constitution ? The Treaty of 1783 was the result of the high and noble struggle of
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the Revolution. It was a product of 'the times that tried men's souls.' It was wrested from British domination by the energy and justice of the American cause. The exercise of the highest heroism and the loss of the best blood was a necessary preliminary to the formation of this treaty. Sacred then as this holy instrument is, what descendant of the Revolution is there that would not enroll himself with , alacrity under the stars and stripes of his country, and defend its provisions, in humble imitation of the valor and devotedness of his fathers ? No man deprecates collision more than I do; but I should depre- cate infinitely more an insult to our National honor to pass unredressed, or to have a foreign power exer- cise jurisdiction within the State territory, whose boundaries are clearly fixed by the men who won it. I say then, sir, carry out these resolves in their true and legitimate manner. Let us have no more delays, no more false moves, no more gasconade; but let us carry the true spirit of the people we represent into practical operation. I know, sir, it is a responsibility of high moment. I feel it from the bottom of my heart. It is a step that no State in our Union has ever been called to take. These resolutions, if car- ried out, will sustain our rights, and secure us from further aggressions. It is the calm and deliberate conviction of my mind that the resolutions will accomplish your purpose."
This resolve was passed unanimously. In obedience to the same, the Governor ordered troops to the boundary, a division of which had reached there; and there was another brigade at the capital, ready to march. At this critical hour, General Scott, of the Army of the United States, arrived at the capital of the State, with instructions from the President.
By special request, Mr. Allen made an address of welcome to General Scott at the State House.
General Scott was impressed with the importance of the question, and in a conversa- tion with Mr. Allen he said that he admired the patriotic spirit of the people of Maine. " But," said he, "you are aware that the United States is never prepared to enter immedi- ately into a war with a powerful nation. They require a short time for preparation. Still," said he, "should war follow, we shall probably be unsuccessful for the first six months, but in twelve months we can roll back the victories upon the enemy." Mr. Allen replied that while the assault upon the jurisdiction and property of the State compelled and fully justified the course taken, there was no disposition to involve the country in a war. But it was very important for the honor and interest of the State that the question should be settled. In the expectation that the General Government would give immediate attention to the settlement of the question, the troops were very reluctantly withdrawn. General Scott conducted his mission with great good sense, and strengthened his claim to the title of the great pacificator.
Perhaps there can be no better sketch of this session of the Legislature, so important to the State, than that given by Mr. Allen at its close, on a resolution of thanks to the Speaker, Mr. Hamlin. He said :
"Mr. Speaker: An important, laborious, and exciting session of legislative duty we are now about to close. Acts of high concernment, as affecting the economical interests, character, and territorial
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sovereignty of our State, have been brought within the range of our inquiries and determinations. We have been called upon to consider and act on these measures, which affect the rights, the duties, and obligations of our citizens. Questions of high moment, and which have involved political considerations of a grave character, and which have deeply agitated the minds of the people of this country, have engaged our earnest attention. We have been required, too, by our position, by our duty as representa- tives for the maintenance of the integrity of our territory, by our duty to our State, and our common country, to take an important and highly responsible course in regard to the relations of this State and of the United States to a foreign country.
"Our measures on this most highly interesting question have awakened a strong feeling throughout the country, and I trust the day is at hand when this border difficulty may be honorably and satisfac- torily settled ; for it has a large influence on our resources and their development : our wealth and extent-yea more, our National character-is involved in the issue.
" In the discussion of all these agitating subjects which has called forth the spirit of party, as well as the high and elevated sentiment of patriotic devotion, the Speaker of the House has presided over our deliberations with that courtesy and ability which, while it protects the freedom of debate, preserves the order which is necessary for the advancement of the public business.
"This will be a memorable session in the history of our State, for it has been marked by the con- . sideration of subjects deeply interesting to the Union, and which will be of interest in its history; and to have presided over this body, with so much satisfaction, amid the excitement of debate,-feeling, as we have, a high sense of responsibility,-bears full testimony of high qualifications.
"We must now part; but memory will retain its impressions of friendship and regard which have been formed here. We have been engaged in business this session too deeply momentous soon to forget those who have participated in it. May the result of our anxious deliberations prove useful to our constituents, and may He who guides the destinies of nations watch with peculiar favor on this our beloved country!"
Mr. Allen was re-elected to the Legislature in 1840, and in the same year was Whig candidate for Congress in a district heretofore decidedly Democratic. The Hon. Han- nibal Hamlin was the Democratic candidate. They had been members of the House of Representatives of the State for five years, and leading men in debate in those high party times, but they always preserved friendly personal relations.
In the campaign for Congress the district was very fully canvassed by them, and in the days just preceding the election some of the people desired them to discuss the questions of difference between the two parties-which was done to great general satis- faction.
There was at this election a popular sentiment favorable to the Whig Party, and Mr. Allen was elected.
He had had thorough training in the Legislature of the State, and had been its Speaker, and although a young man, entered Congress well prepared for its duties. He was in the organization of the House placed on the Committee of Foreign Affairs, which was an exceedingly important committee at the time, as the great question of the Northeastern Boundary was under consideration by the Executive and by Congress.
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Mr. Allen represented a district in which a large portion of the disputed territory was situated. His acquaintance with the subject gave his opinions great value. He became very well acquainted with Lord Ashburton, who was appointed a Special Minister by Great Britain to settle this question, which threatened to involve the two countries in a war. As Mr. Allen represented the district of country which was in controversy, he be- came more particularly acquainted with his Lordship than he otherwise would have been. His Lordship said to him, " I want to settle the question in a way that will be satisfactory to the American people." Mr. Allen was much pleased with his cordial and frank man- ner ; and on one occasion he said, "I have been very much disappointed in not receiving some charts from New Brunswick." Mr. Allen replied that it would give him great pleasure to furnish him with such as he might wish. With thanks he said facetiously, " If I should take a Yankee chart, severe criticism would undoubtedly be made on me."
A change of administration had taken place. Mr. Webster, Secretary of State, addressed a note to the Governor of Maine, informing him "that Lord Ashburton, a Minister Plenipotentiary and Special from Great Britain, had arrived at the seat of Gov- ernment of the United States, and that, in regard to the boundary question, he had offi- cially announced to the Government at Washington that he was authorized to treat for a conventional line, or line by agreement, on such terms and conditions, and with such mutual considerations and equivalents, as may be thought just and equitable," and "inviting the co-operation of the Governments of Maine and Massachusetts in an endeavor to terminate this long-pending controversy."
Mr. Webster adds, "that the importance of the subject, and a firm conviction in the mind of the President that the interests of both countries, as well as the interests of the two States more immediately concerned, require a prompt effort to bring the dispute to an end;" and he therefore "expresses an earnest hope that the Governor will convene the Legislature of Maine, and submit the subject to its grave and candid deliberation."
The Legislature was convened, and commissioners were appointed, "fully empowered to confer with the authorities thereof upon a conventional line, or line by agreement, with its terms, conditions, considerations, and equivalents, with an understanding that no such line should be agreed upon without the assent of such commissioners."
During a discussion on the Army Bill, allusion was made to the reported agreement between the Ministers of the United States and Great Britain, for a settlement of the Northeastern Boundary, and a gentleman from South Carolina, a Mr. Holmes, said, " Well, the negotiation has been going on," and "it is rumored that the result is especially palatable to Maine." Mr. Allen replied :
"If it is, it is the first thing palatable which has ever been administered to her on this question. This seems to be a different rumor from that announced in the House on Saturday. Whatever the result may be, let me assure gentlemen that no result can suit us so well as for the Government
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to run the line according to the Treaty of 1783, and there plant the American standard. Gen- tlemen seem to intimate as if we wished a sort of traffic on this subject. Let me tell them that we have come here at their solicitation, and against our wishes when acting independently of the necessary connection of other States, and of the Union. We came up here with bleeding hearts, expect- ing to make a sacrifice on the altar of our country for the common interest. It is a sacrifice to us, what- ever may be the equivalent, to leave the old line of 1783, and take any other. We have been called upon by the country at large and by many of the Legislatures of the Union to aid in the settlement.
" The course which she has taken has been out of regard to the Union, disregarding with patriotic spirit every consideration of self. No man from Maine, I will venture, asks a ratification; and if other members of the Union think she is too generous, or gets an equivalent which they deem too great, the decision is with them, not with us. And whatever it may be, let there be no misunderstanding; and I speak it in no spirit of bravado, but declare that we have done all that in honor we can do, and now demand of you to take military possession of that territory, and dislodge the British troops which now hold it."
Mr. Allen in his remarks on the tariff of 1842 in the House of Representatives said :
" It is for the people to say which policy they will adopt-the American, which is a protection to their agriculture, commerce, manufactures, and above all to their labor; or the foreign, and particularly the British, which has always been hostile to the advancement of our great interests. The gentleman from the city of New York, Mr. Mckeon, who was frank in his opinions, took the broad ground that we could not incidentally protect manufactures. 'Europe,' said he, 'is the country whence, according to the nature of things, manufactures should come. They had capital and cheap labor, which we had not. In such things, indeed, as were the product mainly of labor-saving machinery, we might successfully com- pete with her; but in the rest it was impossible.' If a stranger were to come into this hall and hear these advocates of free trade, and their constant appeal to such authorities as Sir Robert Peel, Mr. Hume, and other distinguished politicians of Great Britain, he would suppose that he was in the British House of Commons, listening to the strong advocates of their interests instead of our own.
· .
. " The sea-girt isle is filled with manufactories, and they can be wrought with cheap labor; and if they can give constant employment to their people, and gain the immense and exclusive advantage of machinery, and at the same time employment to their navigation, they will confine the rest of the world to pastoral pursuits, and control their destinies. Lord Brougham said, as early as 1812, that ' America is an immense agricultural country, where land is plentiful and cheap. In such a country manufactures do not naturally thrive. Every exertion, if matters are left to themselves, goes to other channels.' It perhaps would not have been so strange that prior to the last war such opinions should have been enter- tained, but one would have supposed that during that conflict the American people, both citizen and soldier, suffered enough from the want of blankets and other necessary manufactures, from the want of the munitions of war, as well as from the exorbitant price that was paid for what they did have, to make any one resist such colonial dependence, and that the great purposes of our Government could not have been carried out unless the agriculture, commerce, and manufacturing interests were protected and encouraged; and hence the distinction in the line of policy between the two parties is distinct and marked. The one looks upon this blessed country, rich in its soil, in its mines, in its water-power, in its navigation, in its varied production, and above all in the patriotism, energy, and industry of its people,
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as worthy of being developed and highly improved; the other inevitably, by its policy, forces the labor now engaged in manufactures and mechanics, and in many other pursuits intimately connected with them, to seek a support from agriculture. It is a most remarkable fact that the opponents of this bill and the advocates of the policy of Britain so entirely agree."
Mr. Allen while in Congress took part in many important debates on the subject of tariff and bankruptcy.
In 1846 he was elected again to the Legislature, and the same year removed to Boston. He represented the city in the Legislature in 1849, and was nominated for re-election, but declined, as he had received the appointment of Consul to the Hawaiian Islands, which was conferred upon him without his knowledge that his name had been entered for the office ; and he decided to accept it, thinking that residence for a few years in a tropical climate might be of advantage to him.
HAWAIIAN CHAPTER IN THE LIFE OF HIS EXCELLENCY ELISHA H. ALLEN.
During a period of more than thirty years, or a full generation, Mr. Allen was most intimately associated with the affairs of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
His arrival dates from the 11th of March, 1850; and while coming to officiate as U. S. Consul in Honolulu, he was also entrusted as diplomatic agent by the Government at Washington with a treaty which had just been signed at Washington, on the 26th of December, 1849. This circumstance neces- sarily imparted to his advent in this kingdom a certain diplomatic prestige, which happily fore- shadowed that subsequent diplomatic career which was terminated only, after a long life of distin- guished usefulness, when he died, at the President's New Year's Reception in the White House at Washiington, January 1, 1883.
During a period of four years, from 1850 to 1854, lie discharged with scrupulous fidelity his Con- sular duties, holding an even balance, so that the U. S. Consular service should not be compromised, while the large number of shipmasters and seaman should have no just cause of complaint. Persons unconnected with either party often looked on with admiration while witnessing the good judgment and official tact with which he adjusted the oft-perplexing affairs of the Consulate at that time-one of great importance, owing to the very large fleet of whalers which made the Islands their basis of supplies and rendezvous. It was during his incumbency, in 1852, that occurred ; the famous Sailors' Riot, when from two to three thousand seamen from a hundred whale-ships for two days held possession of the city of Honolulu, having burned the Harbor Master's Office and committed other unlawful acts. During this fearful demonstration he was called upon by the Governor of the Island of Oahu to render his assistance to quiet the rioters, and restore order to the city threatened with fire and misrule. His appeals to the tumultuous mob had the desired effect, and the writer of these lines can now most vividly recall the lithe form and agile step of the Consul, as he made his eloquent and soul-stirring appeals to the angry rabble thronging the streets of the city of Honolulu. After eight and forty hours of the most fearful misrule, the sailors returned to their ships and order was restored.
It was during his Consulate that he was invited to visit the United States with the tender to the Gov- ernment at Washington of the cession of the Islands, under certain conditions and stipulations; and because the measure did not succeed, it was not through any want of diplomatic tact and skill on his part, for it
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was then acknowledged that he discharged the delicate office of Ambassador with great prudence and wisdom.
Having closed his Consular career, Mr. Allen made all his arrangements to return to his native land, and bid forever farewell to the Hawaiian Islands, when most unexpectedly he was invited by his Hawaiian Majesty, through his Foreign Minister, Mr. Wylie, to become Minister of Finance. Thus opened a new chapter in his life. After mature reflection, he accepted the portfolio, and hence became during the remainder of his life associated with Governmental affairs of the Hawaiian Kingdom, first as Minister of Finance, which office he held until the death of Chief Justice Lee, whom he succeeded in 1857 as Chancellor of the Kingdom and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court-the highest office in the gift of the Crown. As Chancellor he was ex-officio a member of the Cabinet, and his opinions always carried great weight in that body. As Chief Justice for a period of twenty years, Mr. Allen presided, in the courts of this country with distinguished legal ability, such as to reflect the highest credit upon his knowledge as a jurist well versed in the intricacies of a wide range of legal subjects. His decisions cover all branches, as the court over which he presided was that of last resort from every tribunal in the kingdom. His decisions universally met the approval of those qualified to judge in matters of this nature. He was not only a well-read lawyer in the ordinary acceptation of that term, but he naturally possessed a mind of judicial cast, balanced by a high sense of moral obligation; hence during all his consular, diplomatic, financial, and judicial career the shadow of anything approaching unfairness or chicanery never rested upon his decisions. In both Honolulu and Washington, if Mr. Allen made a statement it was received and accepted as truthful and honest. It might be said of him as of Mr. Sumner, that he lived in Washington, but was ignorant of the existence of those unscrupulous lobbyists who approach public officials, whose ears are open to their plausible speeches. Such men are an honor to the countries they represent, and to humanity. This high and responsible position he held until his resignation to become Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary at Washington.
It is pleasant to reflect that in private as well as public life Mr. Allen's character was most pleasing and attractive. He was a person to whom those in trouble could resort for counsel and advice, when that could be given, and it would not intrench upon his character as a judge upon the bench. If it would then his lips were closed.
In referring to his sojourn in Honolulu, it is pleasant to recall his efforts in behalf of the community at large. In 1854 he was associated with many of the principal foreign residents and the sea-faring community in erecting the Sailors' Home, and was chosen President of the "Honolulu Sailors' Home Society" in 1854, which office he discharged, not merely as an honorary affair, but was accustomed to meet the various committees and confer with them, in season and out of season. In all public debates relating to educational and philanthropic matters he was most hearty and outspoken. His office as Trustee of Oahu College he resigned only when he bade the Islands farewell.
During the long period of his residence in Honolulu he was an attendant upon the public worship of God at the Bethel Chapel, and was an annual subscriber for its support as a free chapel.
In reviewing the life of this distinguished diplomat, judge, and public official, it is pleasant to recall the remarkable and natural ease, urbanity, and gracefulness which ever characterized his inter- course with his fellow-men-whether he met them in the Consular office, the Supreme Court room, the public street, or the evening entertainment. He was by nature a refined and polished gentleman, and the true instincts of a gentleman were apparent, whether addressing a child, a lady, a diplomat, a jury, or his Majesty. When unoccupied with official duties, he was ever pleased to engage in general con- versation, upon public matters throughout the world; but by no topic could his mind be more easily
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arrested than the history of New England and the scenes of home-life among the descendants of the Puritans. The writer of this brief sketch of the late Judge Allen, as he was familiarly known, takes great satisfaction in paying this humble tribute to departed excellence.
SAMUEL E. DAMON.
HONOLULU, September 7, 1883.
The last great work of Mr. Allen's life was the successful negotiation with the United States of the Hawaiian Reciprocity Treaty, by which the products of the Hawaiian Islands, mostly sugar and rice, are admitted into the United States free of duty, and the manufac- tures and other products of the United States have like advantages at the Islands, and by which the latter are prevented from creating any lien upon any of them or any port or harbor in favor of any other power, or from giving any other country equal advantages. Mr. Allen had always favored the negotiation of such a treaty. England and France had both for short periods taken possession of the Islands, and coveted the prize. The English and French citizens would gladly have seen their own flag waving over them. He felt that San Francisco was the natural market for the Islands' products, that the treaty would be of mutual advantage to the Islands and the United States commercially, and that from a political point of view the United States ought to have some lien upon the Islands, and not allow them to drift into the power of any other nation ;- holding as they do the key to the North Pacific.
Through his influence many missions were sent to the United States, on some of which he went himself. He negotiated a treaty with Henry L. Marcy, but it did not receive the assent of Congress. In 1864 he negotiated another treaty with Mr. Seward, but the absorbing interest of the war caused it to fail. He also made another attempt in 1870, which was unsuccessful. Finally in 1875 he went again to Washington, though everyone in Honolulu despaired of success, and a movement was on foot to see what could be done to negotiate a treaty with Australia, in order to make an outlet for Hawaiian sugars. After a most laborious winter, the treaty, which was negotiated with Mr. Hamilton Fish, passed the Senate by a vote of fifty-two to twelve; but affecting, as it did, financial and tariff ques- tions, it had to pass the House. After another laborious winter and spring, success crowned his efforts : the treaty passed the House, August, 1876, and was immediately signed by General Grant.
Mr. Allen's predictions of the benefits that would arise from this treaty were more than realized, and reflect the utmost credit upon his foresight and breadth of view as a statesman. The trade between the Hawaiian Islands and the United States increased six- fold in as many years. A large American merchant-marine does most of the shipping business, and American capital has sought investment there in large sums, to its own profit and to the advantage of the Islands. The Hawaiian Government and people have derived the greatest benefit from it. The wealth of the kingdom has increased immensely, and the population has also grown much in numbers, as immigrants have been numerous,
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