USA > New Hampshire > Colony, province, state, 1623-1888: history of New Hampshire > Part 41
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For forty years this line of canals formed the principal channel of heavy transportation between the two capitals, and, except that the canals did not effectually compete with the stages for carrying passengers, they held the same position to transporta- tion as is now held by their successor and destroyer - the rail- road.
.
A. E.H.
THE TOW-PATH ON THE CANAL.
During the entire season of open river, from the time that the spring break-up of winter ice permitted navigation to commence, until the frosts of fall again closed it, this eighty-five miles of water was thronged with boats, taking the products of the coun- try to a market at the New England metropolis, and returning loaded with salt, lime, cement, plaster, hardware, leather, liquors, iron, glass, grindstones, cordage, paints, oils, and all that infinite variety of merchandise required by country merchants, formerly classed under the general terms of "dry and West India goods." The original bills of lading show that they brought up from Boston, for consumption in the country, flour, corn, but- ter, and cheese, which plainly indicates that the people of the
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Merrimack river valley gave more attention in those days to lumbering and river navigation than to agriculture.
The boats were built of two-inch pine plank, spiked on small oak cross-joints and side-knees, and had heavy oak horizontal timbers at either end. The sides were vertical and without cross thwarts, except what was called the mast-board,-a thick oak plank, securely fastened across on top, from side to side, a little forward of the centre of the boat. A cross yard, with a square sail attached, which could be hoisted or lowered at plea- sure by a rope working over a single block in the top of the mast, completed the sailing outfit. It was only used upon the river, the mast being struck and stowed in the boat when pass- ing the larger canals. The rudder was a long steering oar, pivoted on the centre of the cross-frame of the stern, the blade, about eighteen inches wide and ten feet long, trailing in the water behind the boat, and the handle or tiller extending about the same distance over the boat, so as to afford a good leverage for guiding the unwieldy craft.
The Act of embargo went into effect at the end of December, 1807, and was not repealed until a year had elapsed. Theamount of suffering it involved can hardly be appreciated. Had a farmer been forbidden to work his farm for a year, he would still have had his farm. The merchant's ships rotted at the wharf. The sailors were thrown out of employment, fortunes were swept away, and many were ruined. So disastrous were its effects that many of the most ardent Federalists could see relief only in a dissolution of the Union, which no longer protected their prop- erty. The Massachusetts legislature, in February, 1809, de- clared the embargo " unjust, oppressive, and unconstitutional, and not legally binding on the citizens of the State."
In the spring election, in 1808, for State officers, the Repub- lican party retained their ascendency, choosing a legislature which sustained the policy of President Jefferson, adopting an address to that effect; but in the national election in the autumn the tide of politics turned, and the Federal party prevailed, choosing five members of Congress, and presidential electors.
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HISTORY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. [1808
1 The commencement of the American Patriot was attended by circum- stances of no more favorable character than accompanied preceding attempts, except that Concord had been chosen in which to permanently hold the ses- sions of the legislature. In all probability the Patriot, after brief existence, would have gone into the same grave as its predecessors, but for the fortunate circumstance that it came into the custody of a gentleman of the ability, in- dustry and tact necessary not merely to rescue it front the fate of other village journals there, but to make it a power in New Hampshire. This person was the late Hon. Isaac Hill, who in his day acquired a reputation as a political writer and journalist second to that of no other newspaper conductor. He came to Concord soon after the expiration of his apprenticeship with Joseph Cushing, proprietor and publisher of the Amherst Cabinet. The American Patriot had been six months in existence. The first number printed by Mr. Hill is dated April 18, 1809; and thenceforward the people of New Hampshire came within an influence they had only imperfectly realized - the power of the press to mold and guide popular opinion. Mr. Hill was a man of decided convictions and untiring industry, wrote with great facility and vigor, and possessed that electric force by which a writer upon political affairs imparts to others the convictions and zeal possessed by himself. Under his guiding hand the success of the Patriot was certain. It soon became a successful journal, attaining a wide and constantly increasing circulation ; greater than that of any preceding or contemporary journal in New Hampshire. A circum- stance which accelerated its growth was that difficulty with England which culminated in what is known as the war of IS12-15. That the Patriot, in the hands of Mr. Hill, would have become permanent, even in years of profound calm, there is no reason to doubt; but it is equally certain that its growth would have been less rapid, because of the natural sluggishness of mankind until moved by exciting causes, the disinclination of the people, during the first twenty years of the period here in review to expend money for the grat- ification of literary taste, and the limited amount of money in circulation.
The only competitor of the New Hampshire Patriot, from its commence- ment until the year IS23, was the Concord Gazette. The scanty materials employed in printing the Gazette were purchased of Dudley Leavitt, the cel- ebrated almanac author, and were brought hither from Gilmanton Corner in a two-horse wagon. They had been used for printing one number of the almanac, and a village paper. The circumstance that only two horses were required to transport two men and the materials with which a weekly paper was equipped, sixty-five years ago, is of sufficiently suggestive character.
Jeremiah Smith was elected governor in 1809.
Judge Smith, after serving four terms in Congress, and as judge of probate in the county of Rockingham, was at forty-one,. 5. in February, 1801, made judge of the Circuit Court of the United States for the district of New Hampshire; and in May, 1802, chief justice of the highest court in the State. He held this posi- I Asa McFarland.
D. Kimberly
JEREMIAH SMITH.
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STATE GOVERNMENT.
1809]
tion until 1809, when he was over-persuaded by certain of his pol- itical friends,among whom was Daniel Webster, to abandon it for that of governor, because the supposed interests of the Federal party required the nomination of its most available candidate.
Jeremiah Smith, the son of William and Elizabeth (Morison) Smith, was born at Peterborough, N. H., November 29, 1759. His parents were of Scotch-Irish stock. His father was born in the north of Ireland, and his maternal grandfather, John Morison, was in Londonderry during the siege of that town, and was at the battle of the Boyne. He early developed great de- sire for learning ; sometimes walking miles to a place where he heard there was a book. When seventeen years of age he en- listed for a short term in the Revolutionary army, and was pres- ent at the battle of Bennington, where he was slightly wounded. In 1777 he entered Harvard College. After remaining there two years, he removed to Queen's (now Rutgers) College in New Jersey, where he graduated in 1780. He was admitted to the bar in 1786, and opened an office in his father's farm-house at Peterborough. In 1788, 1789, and 1790 he was a member of the legislature, and was chairman of the committee which pre- pared the draft of the revised statutes enacted in 1791. He was a member of the constitutional convention of 1791, and took a prominent part in its proceedings. In December, 1790, he was elected a member of the second Congress of the United States, and was re-elected to the third, fourth, and fifth Congresses. In Congress he was a supporter of Washington's administration ; and, when the inevitable division into parties came, he joined the Hamiltonian Federalists.
In July, 1797, he resigned his seat in Congress, accepted the appointment of United States district attorney for New Hamp- shire, and removed to Exeter, which continued to be his home until within a few months of his death. In 1800 he was ap- pointed judge of probate for the county of Rockingham, and it was probably at this time that he composed an elaborate treatise on probate law, which still exists in manuscript. In February, 1801, he was appointed by President Adams a judge of the newly established U. S. Circuit Court, which was abolished a year later.
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HISTORY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.
[1809
In 1802 he was appointed chief justice of the Superior Court of New Hampshire, and served until 1809, when he became governor. Failing a re-election as governor, he returned to the bar in 1810, but left it in 1813 to take the position of chief justice of the Supreme Court established in that year. Upon the abolition of this court in 1816 he returned once more to the bar, where he was associated with Mason and Webster as counsel in the Dartmouth College case.
In 1820 or 1821 Judge Smith withdrew from active practice, and passed the remaining years of his life chiefly at his beautiful home in Exeter, still continuing to be a purchaser and reader of law books, and an indefatigable student of general literature. In these years he was never idle. In addition to his legal and literary studies he gave much time to financial and educational trusts ; serving as president of the Exeter Bank, and as treasurer, and president of the board of trustees, of Phillips Exeter Acad- emy.
In the spring of 1842 he removed to Dover, N. II., where he died September 21, 1843.
The most important public service rendered by Judge Smith was that performed by him as chief justice of New Hampshire. Before his time the administration of the law in this State was exceedingly unsystematic, not to say chaotic. A lively sketch of the old state of things may be found in the life of Governor Plumer, pages 149-159 and 181-184. Many of the judges of the highest court had received no legal education. Two of the three associate justices at the date of Judge Smith's appoint- ment were clergymen. It cannot be doubted that the credit of " bringing order of chaos " belongs to Judge Smith more than to any other one man "To him," said Mr. Mason, "the State is greatly, if not chiefly, indebted for the present more orderly proceedings, and better administration of justice." "With him," said Chief Justice Parker, "there arose a new order of things." The present chief justice (Hon. Charles Doc), in Vol. 49, New Hampshire Reports, p. 604, alludes to the " inestimable labors of Chief Justice Smith, who found the law of New Hamp- shire, in practice and administration, a chaos, and who left it com-
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STATE GOVERNMENT.
1809]
paratively an organized and scientific system." "When I came to the bar," wrote Mr. Webster to Chancellor Kent, "he was chief justice of the State. It was a day of the gladsome light of jurisprudence. He knows everything about New England, having studied much of its history and its institutions ; and as to the law, he knows so much more of it than I do, or ever shall, that I forbear to speak on that point."
The practice of reporting the decisions in print did not begin in this State until after Judge Smith had left the bench ; and consequently none of his opinions are to be found in the regular series of New Hampshire Reports. A volume selected from his manuscript decisions was published in 1879, and is commonly cited as " Smith's New Hampshire Reports." But these deci- sions, though praised by competent authorities, cannot give the present generation a fair idea of the worth of Judge Smith's judicial labors. His most valuable work, that of systematizing the practice and administering the law upon scientific principles, is something which cannot be fully delineated on paper or in print.
Any sketch of Judge Smith would be incomplete if it failed to mention the high estimate generally formed of his conversa- tional powers. On this point it will be sufficient to cite the testimony of Mr. Webster, given near the close of his own life, after opportunity for converse with the best talkers of England as well as America. "Jeremiah Smith," wrote Mr. Webster in 1849, " was perhaps the best talker I have been acquainted with ; he was full of knowledge of books and men, had a great deal of wit and humor, and abhorred silence as an intolerable state of existence."
The two paupers who claimed support from a town in Rock- ingham county were bid off to the lowest bidder - Joseph Baker bidding in a woman for twenty-three cents a week, and Solomon Wheeler, Esq., bidding in a man for one dollar and fifty-eight cents a week; the town agreeing to clothe and pro- vide medical attendance for the unfortunate ones. This entry in the records of the town in 1809 is remarkable, as it is the first mention of the disposal of paupers in this way.
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HISTORY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.
[1810
James Tallant was the post-rider out of Concord, and sup- plied the New Hampshire Patriot, then in its first volume, to its patrons, and, with the editor, dunned delinquents in its columns.
John Langdon, the Republican candidate, was elected over his Federal opponent, Governor Smith. William Plumer, who had given in his allegiance to the popular Republican party, was elec- ted to the State Senate, and was chosen president of that body. The following year Governor Langdon offered $2000 to his party associates, to be used as a campaign fund, if they would excuse him from being again a candidate; but his offer was not ac- cepted, and he was re-elected "against his old opponent, Gilman, the Federalists having dropped Smith, as less likely to suc- ceed."1 Charles Cutts, a Republican, was elected to the United States Senate to fill out Nahum Parker's unexpired term. Of the five members chosen to Congress, in the fall of 1810, four were Republicans. The parties were pretty equally divided, and neither could afford to be careless or indolent. Each was obliged to select good candidates, and to work hard in their behalf. The result being doubtful, elections were watched with lively interest, and the full strength of each party was brought out .. Of wealth, influence, social position, and education the Federal party had a larger share than its rival. The clergy had much power over public opinion, and the clergymen of New Hampshire, as well as all New England, were generally Federalists, not only dislik- ing the politics of Jefferson, but hating him personally on ac- count of his heterodoxy in religion, with all the rancor of theo- logical hatred.2
The "Crow bill," so familiar to the legislature of late years, was discussed in Pembroke in 1810. A bounty of twenty-five cents each was offered for the destruction of crows, but within the year the offer was repealed.
Manufacturing of cotton into cloth, which has since become an industry of great importance in the village of Suncook, was first undertaken this year by Major Caleb Stark, a Revolutionary soldier and son of General John Stark. He purchased the I William Plumer, Jr. 2 Life of Mason.
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STATE GOVERNMENT.
1812]
establishment known as Osgood's Mills, which was being en- larged or rebuilt by a company, and introduced machinery lately invented.
The celebrated "Cold Friday " was January 11, 1810. The people of that date kept indoors and piled the wood upon fervid fires.
1 In 1812 William Plumer of Epping was elected governor. He was a descendant of the Puritans, and was born in Newbury- port, Mass., in June, 1759, and in childhood was brought to Epping. He was a thoughtful and studious youth, and when twenty-one years of age began to preach as a Baptist minister, travelling through most of the State, delivering one or two sermons every day, and meeting with much success as an evangelist. In a short time, however, he turned his attention to legal studies. In 1785 he was elected to the legislature, and again in 1786, and was admitted to the bar in 1787. Although a Federalist, he was elected to the legislature in 1788, 1790, 1791, when he was elected speaker, to the constitutional convention of 1791, to the House in 1797, 1798, 1800, and 1801. In 1802 he was elected to the Senate of the United States to fill out Mr. Sheafe's term, and served until 1807. In 1810 and 1811 hc was elected to the State Senate, of which body he was chosen presi- dent at both sessions. In 1812 he was elected governor by the Democrats, and re-elected in 1816, 1817, and 1818. At the close of his last term he retired to the quiet of his library and farm, and took no more active part in politics, until his death in December, 1850, at the age of ninety-one years.
His election was by a very small majority. This too was the
year for the choice of presidential electors. The autumn clec- tion was contested with peculiar earnestness. Each party put forth all its strength, and after a hot conflict the Federal party prevailed, choosing the electors of president and the members for the thirteenth Congress. Among these latter was Mr. Web- ster, who had become widely and favorably known by "the Rockingham memorial " in opposition to the war, published in August, 1812.2
1 William Plumer, Jr.
2 Life of Mason.
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HISTORY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.
[1812
Inquiry is frequently made as to the disposition or fate of our judges, who are unable to discharge the duties of their stations by reason of permanent bodily infirmities, or confirmed mental insanity.
As to the judges appointed under State authority, the constitution confers the power upon the executive to remove the judge in such cases, when both Houses of the legislature, in their discretion, shall, by their joint address, first determine that the public good requires the act to be done.
The first under our own State Constitution occurred in 1812. William Plumer was governor; Arthur Livermore was chief justice of the Supreme Court; Clifton Claggett was associate justice; Judge Evans, who lies buried on the old Hopkinton road, near Concord line, was associate justice.
The views of Governor Plumer, in relation to the case of Judge Evans, are stated in the following extract :--
"Livermore, the chief justice, though a strong man, felt the need of abler associates. Evans, who was not a lawyer, had been prevented by ill health from sitting on the bench more than one day for the last eighteen months. On applying in person for an order for his quarter's salary, the governor ad- verted delicately to the condition of the court, when Evans said that he had some thoughts of resigning, but that he was poor as well as sick, and wanted the emoluments of his office for his support. To remove a sick man, says the governor, in his journal, oppressed wit. poverty, is a hardship to him; to continue him in office is a greater hardship to the State. The legislature must decide. They had decided, in June, not to request his removal, and without such request the governor could not act in the case." The governor placed the responsibility where it belonged. Here was a case of non-action.1
I G. W. Nesmith.
-
Mendury Lubslet Puta'
1
CHAPTER XIV.
WAR OF IS12-1812-1815.
CAUSES OF THE WAR - RIGHT OF SEARCH - ORDERS IN COUNCIL - DECLA- RATION OF WAR - GOVERNOR WILLIAM PLUMER - STATE MILITIA - DANIEL WEBSTER - GOVERNOR JOHN TAYLOR GILMAN -FEDERALISTS RESTORED TO POWER - CHANGE OF THE JUDICIARY - JEREMIAH MASON - DEFENCE OF PORTSMOUTH - FALSE ALARMS - HARTFORD CONVENTION - PEACE.
T HE war of 1812, known for several generations as " the last war with Great Britain," arose from complications attendant upon England's titanic struggle to overthrow the Emperor Napoleon. Her enforcement of the right of search, to enable her ships to take enemies' goods out of neutral vessels, exas- perated even friendly powers, and as early as 1801 Russia was joined by Sweden and Denmark to enforce resistance to the claim. In 1807 England had to face Napoleon alone. The battle of Friedland and the peace of Tilsit left him master of the greater part of the Continent. The English victory at Trafalgar two years earlier over the combined French and Spanish fleets had left England mistress of the sea. Prussia and Austria were already stripped of territory ; and, as protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, Napoleon ruled in Germany. Italy was directly subjected to his power. Unable to make war upon England by his fleets and armies, he attempted to subdue her by ruining her commerce. By the Berlin decree hc declared the whole of the British islands to be in a state of blockade, though he had not a single ship at sea to enforce his declaration. He declared all British manufactured goods pro- hibited wherever his power reached; and excluded from his
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HISTORY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.
[1812
dominions even neutral ships which had touched at a British port. The British government retaliated by Orders in Council that declared that all vessels trading with France were liable to seizure, and that all such vessels clearing from a hostile port must touch at a British port to pay customs duties. Napoleon answered by the Milan decree, forbidding neutrals to trade in any article imported from any part of the British dominions. The Orders in Council cost England a war with America. The Berlin and Milan decrees contributed largely to the overthrow of Napoleon's power. Every poor man who was debarred from the means of providing sugar or cloth for his family felt the grievance. The French Republic had declared war against the nobles : Napoleon decreed an oppression which was felt in every cottage.
The right of search, many years enforced by the English, was a grievous burden to our adventurous sailors, and an insult to every patriotic American. The Orders in Council, enforced by the whole power of the British navy, amounted to a confiscation of American ships; and as the English Government refused to withdraw it at the urgent request of President Madison, he called an extra session of Congress in November, 1811, and laid before them the state of our foreign relations and recom- mended preparation for war. Congress at once increased the force of the navy and the regular army, accepted the service of volunteers, detached the State militia, and made other active preparations for war ; and in the carly part of 1812, insults and injuries being continued on the part of Great Britain, openly declared war on that power. This act of war was unpopular with the Federalists, but was sustained by the great majority of the American people, who felt that a resort to arms was the only alternative for maintaining our rights, protecting our citizens, and sustaining the national honor.
President Madison made requisition upon the government of New Hampshire for its quota of militia to be detached, armed, equipped for actual service, and in readiness to march at the shortest notice ; and Governor John Langdon issued general orders in the latter part of May for a draft of three thousand
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1812]
five hundred men, leaving their organization into companies, battalions, and regiments in the hands of his successor, Gover- nor William Plumer, who entered upon the duties of his office in June. The declaration of war found the militia of the State in a flourishing condition. It consisted of three divisions, six brigades, and thirty-seven regiments.
William Plumer was elected governor by the legislature as an Anti-Federalist.
In 1812 he was in the prime of manhood, and though not a military man, was one of energy, patriotism, method, and great executive ability. His heart and hand were in the cause. His predecessors in office had been men engaged in the Revolu- tionary struggle, and in time of peace had prepared for war by a well-regulated militia. Timothy Upham and John A. Harper were his aids, Michael McClary, adjutant-general, Samuel Dinsmoor, quartermaster-general, and Moody Bedel, com- mander of a brigade. In June Major-general Clement Storer o. the first brigade detached a battalion to defend the sea coast about Portsmouth, the companies being commanded by Captain: Robert Neal, Samuel Shackford, Joseph Towle, and John Leor ard. Moses C. Pillsbury, many years warden of the State Prison., was a sergeant in Captain Leonard's company. At the same time a company under command of Captain Ephraim H. Mahu rin was stationed at Stewartstown, on the northern frontier. John Page, jr., afterwards United States senator and governor, was his lieutenant.
1 The office of governor of New Hampshire had, in 1812, great importance attached to it in popular estimation. The office had been confined for many years to two men-John Langdon and John Taylor Gilman. "Langdon, the leader of the De- mocracy, was, perhaps, the most perfect gentleman in the State ; dignified, yet easy of deportment, urbane and courteous, with a native grace which won the good-will and respect of all who ap- proached him. Gilman, the representative of less popular opinions, was also a man of good personal appearance and refined manners, and wore the old-fashioned cocked hat of the Revolution with an .
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