USA > New Hampshire > Colony, province, state, 1623-1888: history of New Hampshire > Part 43
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A treaty of peace had been concluded at Ghent in December, 1814, and was announced by special messenger, while the people were rejoicing over the victory at New Orleans ; and the news was nowhere more welcome than to the inhabitants of New Hampshire.
1 The Federalists carried all branches of the State government in 1814 except the Council, in which were three Republicans. They re-elected Governor Gilman by a majority of little over hundred votes out of nearly forty thousand thrown. The pres sure of war brought about this result, many Republicans fearing that if Mr. Plumer was elected he would call out the militia The Congregational clergy of New England took an active part in politics as they had done from the first, preaching political sermons on Fast and Thanksgiving days, and often on other days. They had been zealous Whigs during the Revolution, and had been as zealous Federalists during the early days of the Republic, their assistance being relied upon by the leaders of that party. They had given great offence to the Republicans, many of whom for this reason withdrew from their societies and joined the Baptists, Methodists, and other sects. Mr. Plumer issued a pamphlet entitled " An Address to the clergy of New England on their
1 William Plumer, Jr.
506
HISTORY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.
[1814
opposition to the Rulers of the United States, by a Layman." The work received a very wide circulation in the newspapers, aside from three thousand copies of the pamphlet, and attracted much attention. Governor Strong's letter inviting New Hamp- shire to join with Massachusetts in sending delegates to the Hart- ford convention reached Governor Gilman after the adjournment of the legislature, and the governor could not convene the legis- lature without the advice of his Council, the majority of whom were Republicans and opposed to the measure.1 The Hartford convention, which met in December, 1814, consisted of delegates appointed by the legislatures of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, and members appointed by two county conven- tions in New Hampshire, and one in Vermont, and conducted their proceedings with closed doors and a mutual pledge of invi- olate secrecy as to all propositions, debates, and proceedings, ex- cept the final report. The character of this, as well as the boldly announced views of the promoters of the convention, left little doubt that a revolution was contemplated unless their demands were acceded to. Among their claims they wanted : " no natur- alized citizen to hold any civil office ; no president to be elected a second time ; no State to furnish two presidents in succession." They provided for a new convention to meet in Boston in June following, in case the war should continue.
1 William Plumer, Jr.
-
CHAPTER XV.
STRUGGLE FOR TOLERATION, 1815-1819.
THE FEDERALISTS DISBAND AS A PARTY - DARTMOUTH COLLEGE - SEP- TEMBER STORM - MIDDLESEX CANAL -DARTMOUTH UNIVERSITY - STATE HOUSE - CHIEF JUSTICE RICHARDSON - DANIEL WEBSTER - BAPTIST DENOMINATION - PRESIDENT MONROE'S VISIT - GOVERNOR SAMUEL BELL - BRISTOL - THE TOWN HOUSE -THE TOLERATION ACT - COLO- NIAL LAWS FOR THE SUPPORT OF THE MINISTRY AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
PEACE1 ended nearly all causes of party differences in the State and country. Impressment ceased with the European wars, as did French decrees and British Orders in Council, non-in- tercourse, embargo, and the war in America. During the war the Republicans were said to have been under French influence, the Federalists under British influence. One party sympathized with England, the other party admired Napoleon. It was not until after the 1812 war that a truly American feeling obtained the entire ascendency in this country.
The Federal party died with the war. It had gone out of power in the country in 1801, and its northern and southern members had become estranged. It was never a popular party. The Hartford convention brought such odium upon it that men became ashamed of the name. At the same time the Republi- can party lost its identity, having "eliminated some of its worst errors, both of theory and practice " and " absorbed into itself much of what was best " of the principles of the Federalists. " The era of good feeling, which commenced with Mr. Monroe's adminis- tration, led to a speedy oblivion of old feuds ;" and for the eight years which followed party lines were obliterated. When once more parties were formed under the leadership of Adams and
1 William Plumer, Jr.
508
HISTORY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.
[1815
Jackson, " many old Federal leaders were found to be Demo- crats, and as many old Republicans took rank as Whigs." The old questions had been settled, and the new ones of tariff, in- ternal improvement, and the extension or restriction of slavery arose. The old party feeling in New Hampshire did not subside until after the March elections of 1815, and Governor Gilman was re-elected by a majority of thirty-five votes, so close and doubtful was the contest. During the summer, the trouble long brewing in the affairs of Dartmouth College resulted in an open rupture between the president, John Wheelock, and the trustees. He applied to the legislature for an investigating committee ; they, without waiting for the report of the legislative committee, removed Dr. Wheelock from his office of president and trustee, and inaugurated his successor, Rev. Francis Brown; and the affairs of the college entered into the politics of the State in the next election.1
2 A destructive tempest took place on Saturday, September 23, 1815, and sur- passed, in extent and violence, any wind that has blown over New England during the present century.
The day was rainy, and the wind came from an easterly quarter, we think the south-east. In Concord, although, from its situation in the valley of the Merrimack, the damage was less than in more exposed places, yet here build- ings were unroofed, growing crops damaged, and wood and timber-trees torn up by the roots, which, at their present valuation, would be worth many thousands of dollars. The rotten trunks of trees blown down in that memo- rable gale have hardly yet disappeared from forests in this city; a circum- stance to be accounted for in this wise : sixty years ago wood was of so little value that people neglected to remove these fallen trees until they fell into such decay as to be worthless.
3 The wind commenced in the morning at north-east. At about noon it changed to south-east, and for two hours seemed to threaten everything with ruin. The sturdy oak, the stately elm, and the pliant poplar were alike vic- tims to its fury. The destruction of orchards and buildings has been great. "There is scarcely an apple left on the standing trees. Many cattle have been killed by falling trees. Had this violent wind occurred in the season of vege- tation there is no calculating its effects. It might have produced a famine.
4 Sheds, trees, fences, etc., were blown down, buildings unroofed, and limbs and fragments of trees strewed in every direction. It continued with una- bated fury nearly two hours.
John M. Shirley.
3 New Hampshire Parriot.
2 Asa McFarland.
4 Amherst Cabinet.
1815]
STRUGGLE FOR TOLERATION.
509
1 In 1814 the obstructions in the Merrimack had been sur- mounted, so that canal boats, locking into the river at Chelmsford, had been poled up stream as far as Concord.
Firewood and lumber always formed a very considerable item
--
SHOT OF LUMBER COMING OUT OF A LOCK.
in the business of the canal. The navy yard at Charlestown and the ship yards on the Mystic for many years relied upon the canal for the greater part of the timber used in shipbuilding ;
PUSHING AGAINST THE CURRENT.
and work was sometimes seriously retarded by low water in the Merrimack, which interfered with transportation. The supply of oak and pine about Lake Winnipiseogee, and along the Merri- mack and its tributaries, was thought to be practically inexhaus-
1 General George Stark.
510
HISTORY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.
[1816
tible. In the opinion of Daniel Webster, the value of this tim- ber had been increased $5,000,000 by the canal. Granite from Tyngsborough, and agricultural products from a great extent of fertile country, found their way along this channel to Boston ; while the return boats supplied taverns and country stores with their annual stock of goods. The receipts from tolls, rents, etc., were steadily increasing, amounting in 1812 to $12,600, and in 1816 to $32,600.
Yet, valuable, useful, and productive as the canal had proved itself, it had lost the confidence of the public, and, with a few exceptions, of the proprietors themselves. The reason for this state of sentiment can easily be shown. The general depression of business on account of the embargo and the war of 1812 had its effect upon the canal. In the deaths of Governor Sullivan and Colonel Baldwin, in the same year, 1808, the enterprise was deprived of the wise and energetic counsellors to whom it owed its existence.
The aqueducts and most of the locks, being built of wood, required large sums for annual repairs; the expenses arising from imperfections in the banks, and from the erection of toll- houses and public-houses for the accommodation of the boatmen, were considerable; but the heaviest expenses were incurred in opening the Merrimack for navigation. From Concord to the head of the canal the river has a fall of one hundred and twenty-three feet, necessitating various locks and canals. The Middlesex Canal Corporation contributed to the building of the Wiccasee locks and canals, $12,000; Union locks and canals, $49,932 ; Hookset canal, $6,750 ; Bow canal and locks, $14, 115.
1 Before 1816 the quarrel in the management of Dartmouth College had been between Federalists and Congregationalists, although Dr. Wheelock leaned towards the Presbyterians in his sympathies. In the spring elections of 1816 Mr. Plumer received not only the support of the Republicans, but of the Federalists who were friends of Dr. Wheelock, and was elected governor, receiving over twenty thousand votes, while his opponent, James Sheafe of Portsmouth, received more than two thousand less.
1 John M. Shirley.
511
STRUGGLE FOR TOLERATION.
1816]
Sheafe had been a Tory, and was imprisoned during the Revolu- tion, but had come into popular favor again, and at this time was the richest man in the State. He had been elected a United States senator in 1802 ; Mr. Plumer having been elected to fill out his unexpired term. The interest felt in politics then is known from the fact that the votes numbered one in six of the inhabitants.
Mr. Webster favored the design of creating a " University of New Hampshire," to be located at Concord, to settle the college quarrel. Governor Plumer proposed in his message a reorganiza- tion of the college, thus placing it under legislative control - a proposition which met with favor with the great Republican lead- ers of the country and was favorably acted upon by the legislature. His recommendation to remit taxes on manufacturing establish- ments, on being adopted, led to a large increase of business in the State. His idea of establishing Congressional districts was after- wards put in force. The legislature complied with his wishes and freely granted charters to all religious denominations ; and re- duced official salaries.
1 The most important measure undertaken was the reorganiza- tion of the Courts. The Judiciary Acts of 1813, being con- sidered unconstitutional by the Republican majority of the Gen- eral Court, were promptly repealed, and the new judges, de facto if not de jure, were addressed out of office, and the same course was taken as to the old judges, leaving the Commonwealth without a judiciary. A similar course in regard to the federal sheriffs was proposed, but not acted upon. The appointment of seventeen new judges after the adjournment of the legislature was a diffi- cult task, as the governor did not wish the court to be wholly partisan, but only one of his appointments offered to Federalists was accepted. William M. Richardson was appointed chief jus- tice, although the office was offered to Jeremiah Mason, the lead- ing lawyer in the State, and a firm Federalist. Levi Woodbury. who was then secretary of state and boarding with the governor at the house of Isaac Hill, was appointed a judge in place of George B. Upham, who refused the office from political motives .:
1 William Plumer, Jr.
5.02
HISTORY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.
[1816
Samuel Bell was the other judge of the Supreme Court ap- pointed by the governor.
A little entry in Governor Plumer's private diary under date July 4, 1816, " Fixed the site for the State House," is thought to be the only record of that important event. In his address to the legislature at an adjourned meeting in November he ad- verted to it and aroused opposition to himself in his own party.
" The location of the new State House, whether north or south of a given line, on the main street in Concord, was a question in which it might have been thought few would take much in- terest, except the dwellers on that street. Yet it excited a furious contest, not only in the town, but among the members of the legislature and through the State. As the spot selected by the governor and Council was at a considerable distance south of the old State House, the people at the North End, with whom nearly all the members of the legislature had hitherto boarded, were likely, by the new location, to lose thenceforth this monopoly. The clamor which they raised was in proportion to their supposed interest in the question; and it was. soon found that many of the members were deeply infected with the feelings and the prejudices of their landlords on this subject. 'Representatives of their respective boarding-houses rather than of the State,' as a member expressed it. The spot selected was denounced as a quagmire and a frog pond."1 The governor and Council were sustained by the legislature, how- ever, and it was afterwards admitted that no better spot could have been selected.
By Act of the legislature Dartmouth College was changed to Dartmouth University, the number of trustees was increased from twelve to twenty-one, and a board of twenty-five overseers was created. Both political parties and all prominent religious sects were represented on these boards. The Act provided for perfect freedom of religious opinions among the officers and « students. of the university, and was part of the plan to bring the institution under the fostering care of the State.1 The old board of trustees resisted this Act, and, appeal being made to
I William Plumer, Jr.
513
STRUGGLE FOR TOLERATION.
1816]
the courts, it was decided that the trustees must yield. The matter, however, was finally carried before the Supreme Court of the United States, where the old board of trustees were sus-
STATE HOUSE, CONCORD.
tained, and where it was practically ruled that a legislature could not overturn the charter granted by the king -a tri- umph for the trustees, but, in the minds of many, a serious blow
514
HISTORY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.
[1816
to Dartmouth College, which missed its opportunity to become a great university under the auspices of the Commonwealth. Timothy Farrar, and afterwards John M. Shirley, published vol- umes on this controversy easily accessible, while numberless pamphlets were issued on the same subject.
At the September term of the court, 1817, the case of Dart- mouth College was tried before Chief Justice Richardson and Judge Bell at Exeter. Mason, Smith, and Webster argued the cause for the trustees, Sullivan and Bartlet tor the State. "These were all members of the Rockingham bar, when it was literally ' an arena of giants.' Of this bar Judge Story said that it had ' vast law learning and prodigious intellectual power.'"1 Mason, at this time fifty years old, was from Connecticut, but read law and commenced practice in Vermont. "He was six feet seven inches in height, and proportionately large in other :espects. His intellectual exceeded his physical stature. Webster, with a thorough knowledge of the man, deliberately wrote down that as a lawyer, as a jurist, no man in the Union equalled Mason, and but one approached him." 1 Mason loved his family and the law : for the sake of the former he resigned his position as United States senator. He was denied the gifts and graces of the ora- tor, but this great man "on his feet in the court room was seem- ingly an inspired Euclid." 1
Smith, then fifty-eight years old, was "possessed of great and accurate learning, and of great natural abilities, but, like Mason, he was no orator." 1
Webster, at thirty-five, the " Great Black Giant of the East," was in full possession of his great powers.
Sullivan, forty-three years of age, was from a race of soldiers, ora- tors, and lawyers. He was for many years attorney-general, as his father was before him and his son after him. He was a classi- cal scholar, " well read in the law ; an excellent special pleader ; swift to perceive, prompt to act, and full of resources. He relied too little on his preparation, and too much upon his ora- tory, his power of illustration and argument. But neither the court, the jury, nor the people ever grew weary of listening to
1 John M. Shirley.
515
STRUGGLE FOR TOLERATION.
1816]
his silver tones or his arguments, that fell like music on the ear." 1
Bartlett was from a family "eminent for its physicians, preachers, and jurists." He was at thirty-one "indefatigable in preparation, eloquent in the highest sense, ready, witty, and a popular idol." 1
Webster, who had the closing argument, so wrought upon the court that it adjourned in tears, and tradition affirms that it was the greatest effort of his life. The counsel for the State were overmatched, but they won their case.
" Chief Justice Richardson was a graduate of Harvard, a mem- ber of Congress from Massachusetts in 1812, and was subse- quently re-elected ; but, being averse to political life, resigned and removed to Portsmouth, in his native State, in 1814. From his appointment, in 1816, till his death, in 1838, he was chief justice of the highest court. Physically he was as imposing as he was great intellectually. Like Marshall's, his eyes were black, piercing, and brilliant ; " his hair was black as a raven's wing. He had refined and simple tastes ; he had a full, high, and broad forehead. "In learning and industry he ranked with Chief Justice Parsons. He was a great and honest judge." He did not owe his eminence to subtility in judicial fence. "His reas- oning and his heart alike were as open and ingenuous as the light of day. He was reverenced by the people of the State as no other judge ever was." 1
Judge Bell, father of the late Chief Justice Bell, belonged to a family famous for their talent. He was a graduate of Dart- mouth College, and had been a trustee. He was judge until he was elected governor in 1819, and afterwards for twelve years a United States senator. " He was a man of immense erudition and great business capacity, a thorough lawyer, and possessed of great moral courage." 1
Judge Woodbury was some years less than thirty at the time of his appointment. He succeeded Governor Bell as chief mag- istrate. He was afterwards United States senator, secretary of the navy, secretary of the treasury, and one of the justices of the
1 John M. Shirley.
516
HISTORY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.
[1816
Supreme Court of the United States from 1845 until his death in 1851. He was a possible and very probable candidate for the presidency.
According to Jeremiah Mason, " three more men so well qual- ified as the present judges, and who would accept the office, could not be found in the State." 1
The trustees of the college had for a considerable time pur- sued a course calculated to render them unpopular with a ma- jority of the people. Possessing, under their charter from the King, the power of removing members of their board and ap- pointing their own successors, "they had confided the exclusive control of an institution designed for the common benefit to members of a single religious sect and a single religious party. Funds bequeathed to the college for the establishment of a pro- fessorship had been applied to purposes partaking of a sectarian character. John Wheelock, himself a liberal benefactor of the college, and the son of its illustrious founder, had been removed by a summary exercise of the powers of the trustees." 2
" Mr. Mason felt the deepest interest in the Dartmouth College case, and argued it with all the energy of conviction. In his view it was not simply a controversy between two corpo- rations as to which was entitled to certain rights and property, but the question went deeper than this. It went deeper than the relations between the States and the general government, even to the foundations of civil society itself. He believed the Act of the legislature of New Hampshire to be a piece of legis- lative usurpation, and that the State had no more right to trans- fer the property of Dartmouth College to another corporation than they would have to take his house from him without paying for it, and give it to another man."
3 Dartmouth College had, in its earlier years, a somewhat re- markable and romantic history. Its founder, Eleazer Wheelock, was no ordinary man. He was an eminent preacher, a man of broad plans, of high enthusiasm, of indefatigable toil, and of great executive ability. Every one of these qualities was put to
I John M. Shirley. 2 Barstow's History of New Hampshire.
3 Rev. S. C. Bartlett, D. D., LL. D.
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1816]
the severest test in his arduous enterprise. His original concep- tion of an Indian school exhibited well the wisdom of his judg- ment, which anticipated the results of the latest experience. For his plan was to train Indian youth of both sexes, so sepa- rated from all their savage environments as to mould them fully into the habits of Christian civilization, and send them back to their own country, in company with English young men also educated by him as missionaries, that their united efforts might raise the savage tribes "to the same habits of life." There has been little advance upon the wisdom of the plan.
When the Indian school expanded into a college, and caused its transfer to another locality, the labor and care thrown upon him were enormous : an extended and incessant correspondence at home and abroad, the necessity of devising ways and means for every separate part of the enterprise, material and literary, an exhausting attention to all the minutiæ of business, the struggle of a settlement in an unbroken forest, remote from supplies, and, at times, the oppression of debt.
From Lebanon, Conn., in August, 1770, he pushed his way to Hanover, to make ready. In a short time he was followed by a part of his family, who with difficulty made their way over the wretched roads in " a coach," the gift of a London friend, and by two pupils who came on foot. This company entered a dense pine forest, containing " two or three log huts," and no house on that side of the river within two miles. They felled six acres of forest, and the fallen trees "in all directions covered the ground to about the height of five feet." One of those trees, says Dr. David McClure, who avers that he measured it, reached the almost incredible length of "two hundred and seventy feet, from the butt to the top ;" and," the sun was invisible by reason of the trees till it had risen many degrees above the horizon." Many of the company at first "slept on the ground with boughs of trees for beds, sheltered by a few boards raised over them on poles." Here at once began the labor of clearing the ground, of erecting buildings, of digging wells (the first attempt unsuc- cessful), and even of erecting a saw-mill and a grist-mill. These mills failed to serve any valuable purpose, and " he was obliged
518
HISTORY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.
[1816
to send a great distance into Massachusetts and Connecticut for necessary provisions." The process was often attended with unavoidable delays, " the supplies were scanty, and they sub- mitted to coarse fare." Dr. Wheelock sometimes conducted morning and evening prayers in the open air. He was cheered in the first hard winter by a religious revival. The snow that lay "four feet deep" did not chill out the warmth of poetic fire. We have an interesting record of that early time in . a consider- able poem written by Levi Frisbie, then a senior in college pre- paring for missionary work. The following is an extract : -
" For now the king of day, at distance far, In southern signs drove his refulgent car, On northern climates beamed a shorter day, And shot obliquely his diminished ray. Grim winter, frowning from the glistening Bear, Unbarred his magazines of nitrous air, And, clad in icy mail, of rigid form, Menac'd dark, dismal days of dreadful storm. Forlorn thus youthful Dartmouth trembling stood, Surrounded with inhospitable wood ; No silken furs on her soft limbs to spread, No dome to screen her fair, defenceless head, On every side she cast her wishful eyes, Then humbly raised them to the pitying skies. Thence grace divine beheld her tender care, And bowed her ear propitious to the prayer. Soon changed the scene; the prospect shone more fair ; Joy lights all faces with a cheerful air ; The buildings rise, the work appears alive, Pale fear expires, and languid hopes revive, Grim winter's surly blasts forbear to blow, And heaven locked up her magazines of snow."
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