USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Portland > Portland by the sea; an historical treatise > Part 10
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frontal part. The two ends of the city were mostly common and pasture land, the settled portion being bounded practically by India, Con- gress and High Streets and the harbor. This locality was well filled with buildings of good quality, being mostly built of wood with a large proportion of stores and warehouses. Between Congress Street and Back Bay the land was open. The United States Census of 1800 gave a popula- tion of 3704, which showed a very substantial gain, especially when we consider that agriculture was then the principal business of the country and that the rural population comprised ninety- seven per cent. of the whole. The same United States Census gave to the District of Maine an enumeration of 151,719 and Portland was admit- tedly its commercial emporium.
The Portland settlement had in its early days often been alarmed and made to suffer by foreign wars, in some of which it was only indirectly a party. The time now came for a reversal of this kind of condition. In 1789 the French Revolution made its definite beginnings with the capture of the Bastile by the Paris mob. The Revolution made continued progress until three years later the Republic was proclaimed, and in 1793 the King and Queen were executed. This act was equivalent to a declaration of combat with all Europe. The nations generally assembled their armies for the invasion of France and thereafter- ward the world was at war. It seems a far fetched idea to connect this warfare, distant three thousand miles across the sea, with the story of our Port-
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land, but by reason of its effect upon transporta- tion by water the result was immediate and large, for shipping and shipbuilding had become the leading business here. Under the conditions of hostility which prevailed the American flag was the only one under which cargoes could find their way into European ports, and nearly all the carrying trade of the world fell to American skip- pers who were free as neutrals to go where they pleased. There had been in America when the French Republic was proclaimed a quite general burst of enthusiasm to hasten to the assistance of the people of France, our recent ally. Willis says the local sympathy had become almost a mania. Clubs were formed and French fashions, French phrases and manners were caught up, monthly meetings were held and on Free Street a house was occupied for gatherings, suppers and toasts.
It was the calm and steady hand of President Washington that held back the too generous impulse and kept us out of war. Instead of plunging into foreign battles we amplified our trade and made money. Willis again declares that our trade found new channels, and the employment of our own navigation gave abundant activity to all the springs of industry and wealth. The enterprise of the people rose to the emergency and in a few years our ships were floating upon every ocean, becoming the carriers of southern as well as of northern produce and bringing back the money and commodities of other countries. "This trade," he says, "contributed mainly to the advancement and prosperity of the town and
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nourished a hardy race of seamen and formed a people among the most active and enterprising of any in the United States." A large part of the young men then went to sea from choice and soon developed into officers of most superior quality. R. H. Dana's well-known book, Two Years Before the Mast, tells of the experience of a young man of good family who went upon a voyage as a common sailor. Commodore Edward Preble of Portland, who commanded the United States naval expedi- tion which in 1803 brought to submission the Barbary pirates that had long demanded and received tribute from the commerce of the world, left a name that adorns the annals of our country. Though perhaps the most distinguished he was a type of many others here of very high standing.
In these days of prosperity the town made progress, not only in commerce and business but also in all lines of advancement. The number of merchants increased with the growth of population and business. A foreign visitor speaks of Portland at this time as "a handsome town, with churches, schools and a public library." Building lots, he says, "are reckoned high and land within a mile of the town costs as much as twenty dollars an acre." In 1799 a bank was incorporated by the state in Portland with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars and called the Portland Bank. This was the first bank in Maine. Shortly after, in 1802, a second was established named the Maine Bank, having a capital of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, all of which was taken up locally.
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It had become a place of well-to-do citizens and of good society. We find at this time no references to the poverty of the people. There were frequent social parties and entertainments which took in the people of outlying towns. The letters of Eliza Southgate Bowne, daughter of Judge Robert Southgate of Scarboro, were pub- lished in a book by the Scribners in 1887 under title of A Girl's Life Eighty Years Ago. This makes frequent references to Portland and the leading people here. They had then begun to mention "the quality folk" and "the smart set." The younger groups were enjoying sleigh rides and even dancing parties more than spinning-wheels and hand looms. There was even criticism in regard to extravagant dressing and foppishness of manners. The place was filling up fast and the general quality of living was far beyond that of the pioneer days. It is with regret that one has now to tell of another unfavorable turn of the fickle wheel of Portland's fortune which, unobserved, was close at hand.
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XIX
THE EMBARGO AND WAR OF 1812.
I N the year 1806 Portland and the District of Maine, and the whole country for that matter, had attained a degree of expansion such as they had never known before. The markets of the world were open to them for what they had to sell and the profits of the carrying business of the nations were mainly coming to them. The thirteen original colonies had comprised little more than a substantial strip along the Atlantic coast, but the Louisiana purchase of 1803 had extended the western boundary to the Mississippi River. The new government was working smoothly. Besides the substantial increase of the native stock, immigration of an excellent sort was making a considerable addition to the population and new settlements were opening up in the unoccupied parts. Yet there was a serious condition of dependence in material things. Outside of agri- cultural and raw products their articles of domestic and common use, exclusive of what was made by hand, came almost wholly from foreign countries. The manufacture of goods for sale had scarcely begun.
At this time Napoleon was at the height of his power. Between him and England there was a duel to the death. The Corsican controlled the most of Europe upon the land. England's only
WHARF IN PORTLAND, TIME OF EMBARGO
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mastery was upon the sea. The Americans, being neutrals, were carrying cargoes to both combatants as well as to other countries, of every kind and from every quarter of the globe. As an offset, in order to weaken the French, England in May, 1806, by a series of Orders in Council constituted a paper blockade virtually declaring all ports in Europe and the Indies closed to neutral trade, on penalty of capture and confiscation. Her ships of war were sufficiently numerous to make these orders effective. Napoleon retaliated by declaring every port of England and her allies closed also. Under the two hostile programs the American ships and cargoes had almost no chance. The little American naval force, begun under Wash- ington, had not been kept up and was nearly dismantled.
To understand the situation one must remem- ber that America then had a new form of govern- ment, only about fifteen years old, and, with no army and but a negligible navy, was regarded as scarcely more than an uncertain experiment and a somewhat presumptuous intruder upon the world's commercial business. Between England and France the United States was like a rich and unarmed traveler in the presence of two brigands. Both countries were making seizures of our vessels and their contents without scruple. The English, because they could do so, went farther than the French, who had little opportunity except in the parts they controlled. By English law it was held that the allegiance of a subject could not be renounced. Naturalization was not recognized.
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Accordingly, British cruisers overhauled Amer- ican merchantmen when and where they pleased and carried off such men as they chose to call deserters. When it came to resistance France upon the land was beyond reach, and England, with Nelson as fleet commander, was over- whelmingly strong upon the water.
In this condition of affairs it was a most serious question as to what the Americans could do. To President Jefferson it seemed probable that the combatants, if deprived of the food and munitions brought by the neutral ships, would feel compelled to relax their harsh and hostile rules, and if not, it would be better that our vessels should perish in their own harbors rather than to become the spoil of foreign robbers. The Congress agreed with the President, and in December, 1807, the Embargo Bill became a law. Its terms were drastic. All vessels in the ports of the United States were forbidden to set out to any foreign part, and even coasting trade and the navigation of bays and rivers was prohibited. It was an injury to the nations struck at, but to the states it produced complete disaster. Ships rotted at the wharves. Prices went to pieces. It was like bankruptcy for the whole country. Especially to a commercial town like Portland it was utterly ruinous. To the interior places the effect was quite as injurious as to those upon the coast. Wheat, live stock, lumber and other things lost their value. Willis. in his Portland history, gives a vivid account of conditions here. Mercantile business came to a standstill. Eleven of the
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GRAVES OF CAPTAINS BURROWS AND BLYTH, EASTERN CEMETERY
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strongest commercial houses stopped payment in 1807 and this was followed the next year by nearly all of the rest. The shipyards were idle. Work- men found no employment. The grass literally grew upon the wharves. There were street parades displaying emblems of protest. A large meeting of the inhabitants was called and a com- mittee chosen to devise a plan for the relief of the distressed poor of the town. At the market house in Monument Square a cooking range of large kettles was built and there hundreds, many of whom had been living in affluence, obtained the greater part of their daily food. This condition prevailed until the restrictions were removed from commerce.
The pressure upon the administration was so pronounced that in 1809 the Embargo Law was repealed, and in its place was substituted a Non- Intercourse Act. This allowed commerce with all the world except England and France. The change was of marked benefit to Portland, espec- ially as it opened up again the old West India business. But the English continued to interfere with our commerce at will. The French would have been equally bad, but they had not the ships. The crowning outrage was the stopping and search- ing of our vessels and wilfully carrying away our sailors. This was not wholly without reason, for a sailor's life in the British navy then was a dog's life and their men deserted at every opportunity and found service, if they could, with the Amer- icans. The condition was intolerable. . They were impressing nearly one thousand men a year out of
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American ships. It was done with overbearing insolence. They omitted no opportunity to insult "the Yank Yahoos and their gridiron flag." This contemptuous self-confidence was checked some- what when in 1811 the British cruiser, Little Belt, wantonly fired upon the President, one of our few frigates. The fire was returned with broad- sides and the Little Belt herself surrendered.
In spite of harassments and interruptions upon the sea Portland soon began to make a considerable advance towards recovery. Back from the coast the country was becoming developed and this town was the most convenient distributing point for goods and merchandise that came and went. The home market grew in importance. Com- merce with coastwise places on the shores and islands of the Caribbean Sea was not forbidden, and clipper built vessels were produced of a type never excelled for speed. Blockade running to some of the European ports, though hazardous, was, when successful, exceedingly profitable. The record of the escape of the brig Rapid after capture, from Memel on the Baltic, shows that Portland skippers were not averse to taking chances. Nevertheless the continued search and robbing of our vessels persisted to such extent as to be beyond endurance.
James Madison became President in 1809. He wished if possible to keep out of war. Protests and lengthy diplomatic correspondence were kept up but with no satisfactory result. In the begin- ning of the year 1812 it was reckoned that 6252 of our seamen had been impressed and were detained
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on British war ships. By vote of both houses of Congress June 18, 1812 war against England was declared. Considering the relative power of the two countries at that time, this seemed to many a reckless venture.
Britain, with continental complications upon her hands, was in poor condition for war in this hemisphere. Upon our part we were almost totally unprepared. Our raw recruits were on the land no match for the trained English soldiers sent over, and they suffered repeated disasters. This unsatisfactory record was later, to a considerable extent, redeemed by the battle of Plattsburg, and by the remarkable victory in the battle of New Orleans, fought after the signing of the treaty but before the news of peace had been received. England, however, claimed the proud title of mistress of the ocean. Where we had only about a dozen ships of war, exclusive of little gunboats, she had more than a thousand of formidable type. Our government promptly issued letters of marque to privateers, and the English did not hesitate to do the same. For them the war upon the water began with strange surprises. The English and French had been fighting for more than twenty years and in single combats the English had captured hundreds of ships and had lost only five. Here in the course of six months they lost six first-class cruisers and took none. The Amer- icans proved that they had far better ships, better sailors and better gunnery than they. Nothing could have enhanced the reputation of
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the Americans in England and in the world gen- erally more than these astonishing naval victories.
Portland very promptly engaged in building and sending out privateers. This was considered as something of a business operation and a con- siderable part of them were owned by companies in shares. The names indicate that they were in- tended especially to possess the quality of speed. One of the first was the Rapid, which well deserved her name. Then came the Dart, the Dash, the Yankee, the Hyder Ally and, as Gould states, thirty-four more. Others made Portland their home port. Exclusive of the unnamed captures at places far distant, it is said the old Custom House records give account of thirty-nine prize vessels brought into this port for condemnation and sale.
The sea fight between the American brig Enterprise and the British brig Boxer on the fifth of September, 1813, was then and still is famous. The Boxer was one of the crack ships of the English navy, and after making considerable of trouble along our coast was, it was said, dispatched
to find and destroy the Enterprise. The first part of this errand was easily accomplished. The two ships, of about equal strength, the Boxer having two more guns and two more men than the Enterprise, met off Monhegan, about forty miles from Portland. The smoke of battle could be seen from the observatory and a large crowd gathered. The Yankee vessel out-maneuvered the other and by well-directed shots brought down her main mast. In forty-five minutes the contest was over and the Boxer, helpless and battered
SEA FIGHT, ENTERPRISE AND BOXER
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from stem to stern, surrendered. The Enter- prise was but little injured and brought her opponent as a prize into Portland. Both com- manders, Captain Burrows of the Enterprise and Captain Samuel Blyth of the Boxer, were killed. A single public funeral was held for the two, with a long procession in which officials and people marched, and in which were included the sur- viving officers and sailors of both vessels. The rival captains now lie side by side in the Eastern Cemetery, "In their graves o'erlooking the tranquil bay where they .in battle died."
During the first year of the war Portland was but little disturbed. Later the whole coast was closely blockaded, with frequent landings and hostile incursions. With her two forts which guarded the main channel, a battery at Portland Head and others in commanding places, the fortifications were such that the enemy, though constantly cruising outside, never ventured into the harbor. In the latter part of the year 1814 the conditions were serious. With a strong force, naval and military, the British took possession of Castine and established there a garrison and made capture of Bangor. It was asserted that the old French contention was correct and that the Penobscot River was the true boundary line, and submission of all the people on the east of that river was demanded. Preparations seemed to be on foot for an attack in force upon Portland. This caused a general alarm and between six and seven thousand militia were assembled for · its protection. The approach of winter suspended
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hostilities, and the day before Christmas, 1814, a peace treaty was signed at Ghent. It was a peace without victory. Napoleon had been de- feated and was in Elba, but England by reason of the long drawn out contest was nearly at the point of exhaustion. The Americans, too, were disrupted in all of their activities and were heartily sick of war. The points at issue were not mentioned in the treaty, but by tacit under- standing the American rights upon the sea were recognized. This was in the nature of a gentle- man's agreement which has scrupulously been kept upon both sides. For more than a century a boundary line of some thirty-five hundred miles has been guarded only by "a scrap of paper," without a fort or a garrison, and the unsettled differences between the high contracting parties have been adjusted by honorable arbitration.
Curious to say, during this time of anxiety and turmoil Portland had been growing. With com- munications by water closed and constantly inter- rupted, highways on the land were opened and constructed. By reason of the exclusion of foreign goods home industries were established. New lines of development had been promoted and the town was becoming a place of general commercial importance rather than a mere seaport. This is shown by the increase of population in the few later years to the extent of several hundreds, so that in 1815 the estimated number of resident people was about eight thousand.
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XX
MAINE A STATE AND PORTLAND ITS CAPITAL.
P ORTLAND took a conspicuous part in the movement which resulted in the separation of this state from Massachusetts. Maine, as we have seen, for more than a century prior to the end of the seven years war which in 1763 terminated the colonial ambitions of France in America, was a place which by its varied and profitable utilities awakened a desire for occupation more generally than any other place upon the Atlantic coast. The accomplishment of that de- sire was obstructed by long-continued conflicts among aggressive rivals for its possession. Con- ditions were maintained of such threatening nature that none could set up establishments here with assurance of permanency or even of safety for individuals or property. As a result the settlers in the scattered and disconnected groups in the whole district in 1764 were estimated to number only about twenty-four thousand. Under more stable conditions, and in spite of hardships pro- duced by the Revolutionary War and the political uncertainties subsequent to it, the popular inflow had expanded so that the first United States census in 1790 gave a population of 96,540. The two colonies were united by the Province Charter of 1691 but they were geographically separated and had few interests in common. Maine was made
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a sort of appendage instead of being an integral part of the larger commonwealth. The inter- course between the two, however, was friendly and the relations were with hardly any exception harmonious.
The earliest suggestions regarding statehood for Maine seem to have appeared in 1785. In that year the Portland Gazette, the first newspaper in Maine, began its publication in Portland. Its columns were open to communications of all kinds. There were then three counties, York and Cumberland of about their present dimensions, and Lincoln in which was included the rest of the District. In one of the first issues a Portland writer over the signature of "A Farmer" spoke of Maine's great local resources in respect to harbors, fisheries and foreign trade, and especially of the lumber business and the natural advantages of the uncultivated lands which were accessible only by a few roads and were waiting for develop- ment. Needed and valuable expansion he patriot- ically declared could be obtained "only by restor- ing to Maine its ancient privileges." Soon after the newspaper published a call, said to be upon request of a large and respectable number of persons, for a public meeting to be held at the meeting-house of Rev. Messrs. Smith and Deane in Portland, "for collecting the sentiments of the people upon the subject." The meeting was not largely attended but a committee was appointed to forward a circular letter to every town and plantation in the three counties, inviting them to send delegates to a convention to be held in
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Portland in January, 1786, to consider the expe- diency of the said counties being formed into a separate state. Only about half of the towns responded and but little was done except to com- plain of grievances, the principal of which were stated to be the distance from the seat of gov- ernment and the difficulty and expense of obtaining access to the records which were kept in Boston. It was voted to recommend that all towns send representatives to the General Court as they were entitled to do, though many neglected to make use of the privilege. Meetings were held and petitions sent to the General Court and arguments pub- lished both for and against the proposition. In 1792 a legislative act was passed to allow the people of Maine to express their preferences by ballot. The vote was taken and showed a sub- stantial plurality against the measure. For sev- eral years but little was said about it. The agitation was, however, kept up intermittently, and in 1807 another popular vote was taken which again showed a decisive expression of public opinion against separation.
The embargo and the War of 1812 brought great changes. By the interruption of the ship- ping business a great many people were deprived of their regular employment and business. As a result there was extensive emigration to Maine, where they found virgin forests and great areas of unoccupied and fertile land. Many new towns were incorporated and farms given away to settlers. The opening up of the unoccupied territory in the East became popular in the same way as was the
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case later in regard to the Far West. Especially had the war conditions produced marked devel- opment in internal affairs. Prior to that time nearly all manufactured wares had been imported. Stimulated by the public needs, factories and shops of various kinds were set on foot to supply the demands. These at first were mostly private establishments. The business corporation, which in earlier times had been practically unknown, was found to be a most convenient instrument for promoting larger production than could well be done by individuals or partnerships. The first first cotton mill was established in Brunswick in 1809, and soon there were in operation textile mills, iron foundries, tanneries and factories of all sorts, not large to be sure but active and thrifty in their work. By 1814 Williamson says thirty manufacturing corporations had been chartered by the General Court and of these Maine had a proportional part. Willis makes mention of factories of tin plate, of brass and iron, of watches and clocks, of furnaces for casting iron and of other kinds of establishments operating in Port- land. A general change of industry came with the application of steam and machinery in man- ufacturing. It should be noted that in our munic- ipality and in Maine and in the whole country, there had grown up an increasing feeling of individual confidence and personal assertion. This is what is meant by calling the war of 1812 a second war of independence. The nation in all its usages then acquired a quality of self-reliance such as it had never known before, and patriotism became
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