USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Windham > History and proceedings of the celebration of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the settlement of Windham in New Hampshire held June 9, 1892 > Part 5
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Address by Hon. James Dinsmoor.
tory between the two walls was the fighting ground of the Scots and the Romans till the inroads of the Goths and Vandals on the Eternal City obliged the Romans to abandon Britain. And, afterwards, Scot- land was never subject to the crowned head of England till England was obliged, by the divine right of succession, to go to Scotland to get a head to crown. Scotland, up to the time of James First, of England, was governed, so far as it was governed at all, by its own kings and subject to the laws enacted by the Scotch parliament, if, in truth, they can be said to have been subject to any power, save the arm that was, at the time being, the strongest.
History tells us that one of the Scottish chiefs was summoned for trial for an offense against the government. He came willingly, but he brought with him 5,000 of his dependents, mounted, and armed to the teeth, as much as to say, "I am ready to be acquitted ; who doubts it, let him look around me." He was acquitted.
The revival of learning, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, roused the world from that lethargy in which it had been sunk for ages. The human mind felt its own strength, broke the fetters of au- thority without reason by which it had been so long bound, and pushed inquiries with boldness into all subjects of thought, and reli- gion was one of the first objects that claimed its attention. "The opin- ions of Luther spread from the heart of Germany, with astounding rapidity, over all Europe, and wherever they came, endangered or overturned the ancient system of religion. The vigilance and address of the court of Rome, cooperating with the power of the Austrian family, suppressed the teachings of Luther in the southern kingdoms, but the fierce spirit of the north, irritated by multiplied impositions, could neither be mollified by the same arts nor subdued by the same force, and easily bore down the feeble opposition of an illiterate and im- moral clergy." The form of popery which prevailed in Scotland was of the most bigoted and illiberal kind. Those doctrines which are most apt to shock the mind, and those legends which farthest exceed belief, were proposed to that people without any attempt to palliate or disguise them, nor did the people ever call in question the reason- ableness of the one or the truth of the other. The power and wealth of the Romish church kept pace with the progress of superstition. The Scottish kings early demonstrated how much they were under its influence, by their vast additions to the immunities and riches of the clergy. The profuse piety of King David I., who acquired on that account the title of saint, transferred almost the whole of the crown lands of the Scottish kings, which were at that time of great extent,
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into the hands of the clergy. This example was imitated by his suc- cessors, and this spirit spread among all orders of men, who loaded the priesthood with new possessions. "The Scottish clergy paid one half of every tax imposed on land, so that, at the time of the Refor- mation, little (if any) less than one half of the national property had fallen into the hands of the church. This extraordinary share in the national property was accompanied with a proportionate weight in the supreme council of the kingdom. The lord chancellor was the first subject in the kingdom, both in dignity and power. From the earliest ages of the monarchy to the death of Cardinal Beaton, fifty- four persons had held that office, and forty-three of them had been churchmen."
Such was the religious condition of Scotland in 1534, when Henry the Eighth, of England, threw off the papal yoke, because the pope would not grant him a divorce from Queen Catharine. Eight years after that, John Knox began to disseminate the doctrines of the Ref- ormation among his pupils in Scotland, in consequence of which he was degraded from the priesthood, denounced as a heretic, and only escaped assassination by flight. He was a man of great oratorical powers, bold and fearless in his speech, captivating in his style, and to Scotland what the justly-celebrated George Whitefield was to England, as a preacher, in his day.
We don't know how much we are indebted to that same John Knox. Historians acknowledge that he was the chief promoter of the Reformation in Scotland. He was born in 1505, in a suburb of Haddington, secured the rudiments of his education at the Had- dington grammar school, and studied philosophy and theology at St. Andrew's college. This fact, which historians have record- ed of John Knox, shows us the condition of education in Scot- land in his day. I remember that our college professor of history used to tell us that the common school system, which has been the glory and the boast of New England, and has traveled west with every emigrant wagon till it has reached the Pacific ocean, originated in Scotland. I have not time to verify his statement, but we find a grammar school in that little town one hundred years before the May- flower struck Plymouth Rock, and prior to the Scotch emigration to the province of Ulster. Knox became so obnoxious to Cardinal Bea- ton and Archbishop Hamilton that he was obliged to seek safety in concealment in the castle of St. Andrews, where he resumed his duties of teaching, giving lectures on the scriptures, and regularly catechising his hearers in the parish church in which he ministered.
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Address by Hon. James Dinsmoor.
While there, the castle was invested by the French force sent to the assistance of the regent, Arran, and the garrison, after a brave and vigorous resistance, was obliged to capitulate, and all within it were carried to France as prisoners of war. The captives were detained in the galleys in France more than a year, and Knox, in that place of confinement, wrote out a confession of his faith, and transmitted it to the adherents of the Reformed religion, in Scotland. This is the ear- liest written confession of Presbyterian faith of which we have any account. His reputation, and zeal in the Reformation commended him to Archbishop Cranmer, of England; and, through the interposi- tion of Edward Sixth of England with the king of France, Knox was released, passed over to England, appointed by the privy coun- cil preacher of the reformed doctrines, preached before his majesty, Edward the Sixth, at Westminster, was offered the bishopric of Roch- ester, but declined it, and returned to Scotland.
It will be kept in mind that, all this time, the influence of the crown, so-called, in Scotland, was adverse to the Reformation, and yet, in August, 1560, the Presbyterian religion received the sanction of the Scotch parliament, the old ecclesiastical courts were abolished, and the exercise, of a religious worship according to the rites of the Romish church entirely prohibited. When King James the Sixth was crowned, John Knox preached the coronation sermon, the first coronation sermon ever preached by a Protestant. When James the Sixth, of Scotland, became king of England and Ireland, as well as Scotland, he found that the province of Ulster, and, indeed, about one fourth of the territory of Ireland, had been depopulated by wars to subdue rebellions, and that by bills of attainder passed by the English parliament, the lands had reverted to the crown. King James, with a Scotch eye to home industry and thrift, conceived the plan of re-peopling those waste places with an industrious, thrifty, loyal people. The method adopted was the only one that has proven successful in colonization. The land was vacant. The man of enter- prise, courage, push ; the man in debt who wanted another chance of success, with different surroundings ; the man who was hemmed in with too close neighbors, or crowded out by the ill-tempered and over- bearing, would see the chance to assert himself, and, with nerves of steel, would take up his line of march for the promised land. It was the process of sifting out the sturdy, self-reliant, independent men and women from every neighborhood in which that class could be found. It was but natural that the lowlands of Scotland should furnish the complement of people for such an enterprise. They were educated
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to think for themselves. They had adopted the Presbyterian form of church government under the teaching of the peerless John Knox, and in the church polity had the fundamental principles of self-govern- ment. They went upon the lands as tenants, and by their industry and tact reclaimed the province of Ulster from the ruins of the cruel wars that had wasted the substance of its former inhabitants, started its commerce, built up its manufactures, and made it rich in herds and flocks. The colonists flourished during the reigns of James the First, Charles the First, during the Commonwealth under Cromwell, and under Charles the Second, to such an extent that Macaulay says that, in 1688, when King James the Second, after being deposed from the throne in England, undertook, with the Celtic inhabitants of Ireland, to drive out or kill the Protestants, "Though four fifths of the popu- lation of Ireland were Celtic, and Roman Catholics, more than four fifths of the property of Ireland belonged to the Protestants," in the territory settled by colonists under James the First. Thus we see what the Scotch colonists had done for themselves, in about eighty years in the abandoned and desolate province of Ulster.
Now, the reader of this history naturally asks himself what possible object had the king of Ireland, as he styles himself, in arming four fifths of the inhabitants of his country, to make war on the other one fifth, who were peaceable, industrious subjects, unarmed, making ne threats of war, and who had taken a waste territory, and in eighty years had produced out of the soil five times as much as all the other inhabitants had accumulated in all the previous history of the country. Certainly he could not have thought of the well-being of his subjects for a moment. The trouble with him was that these peaceable, thrifty, law-abiding citizens did not think as he did, nor as the non-productive four fifths of his people did, on the subject of religion. The Irish nation, so called, that is, the Celts, were called to arms, and the call was obeyed with promptitude and enthusiasm-indeed, that is the leading characteristic of the Celts to this day. The flag on the castle of Dublin was embroidered with the words, "Now or never; Now and forever."
Never, in modern Europe, was there seen such a rising of the whole people. The habits of the Celtic peasant were such that he made no sacrifice in quitting his potato patch for the camp. He loved excitement and adventure.
The army, which had previously consisted of eight regiments, was increased to forty-eight, which were full to overflowing. "The pay of the soldier was threepence a day, and only half of this was given in
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money. But a far more seductive bait was the prospect of boundless license. The garners, the cellars, the flocks, and the herds of the minority were abandoned to the majority. Whatever the regular troops spared was devoured by bands of marauders, who overran almost every barony in the island. Every smith, every carpenter, and. every cutler was at constant work on guns and blades."
If any Protestant artisan refused to assist in the manufacture of implements which were to be used against the Protestants, he was cast into prison. The Protestants not only were not protected by the government, but were not permitted to protect themselves. It was determined that they should be left unarmed in the midst of an armed and hostile population. A day was fixed on which they should bring all their swords and firelocks to the parish churches, and it was ordered that every Protestant house in which, after that day, any wea- pon should be found, should be given up to be sacked by the soldiers. Chief Justice Keating, a Protestant, and almost the only Protestant who held official position in Ireland, struggled courageously in the cause of justice and order, against the united strength of the govern- ment and the populace. "Whole counties," he said, " were devasta- ted by a rabble resembling the vultures and ravens which follow the march of an army." Most of these wretches were not soldiers, and acted under no authority known to the law, yet it was, he said, but too evident that they were encouraged and screened by some who were high in command. How else could it be that a market overt for plunder should be held within a short distance of the capital? Noth- ing was more common than for an honest man to lie down rich in flocks and herds acquired by the industry of a long life, and to awake -a beggar.
It was to small purpose that Justice Keating attempted, in the midst of that fearful anarchy, to uphold the supremacy of the law. Priests and military chiefs appeared on the bench for the purpose of overawing the judge and countenancing the robbers. One ruffian escaped because no prosecutor dared to appear. Another declared he had armed himself in conformity to the orders of his spiritual guide, and according to the example of many persons of higher station than himself, whom he saw at that moment in court. The chief riches of the Protestants consisted in flocks and herds. More than one gentle- man possessed twenty thousand sheep and four thousand cattle. The freebooters who now overspread the country belonged to a class which was accustomed to live on potatoes and sour whey, and which had always regarded meat as a luxury reserved for the rich. These men
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revelled in beef and mutton, as the savage invaders who of old poured down from the forests of the north, on Italy, revelled in Mussic and Falerian wines. A French ambassador reported to his master that in six weeks 50,000 cattle had been slain, and were rotting on the ground all over the country. Any estimate which can be made of the value of property destroyed during this fearful conflict of races must neces- sarily be inexact. The Quakers were neither a very numerous nor a very opulent class. It is supposed that they did not exceed one- fiftieth part of the Protestant population of Ireland. They were non- combatants, and undoubtedly better treated than any other Protest- ant sect, yet they computed their loss at £100,000. In Leinster, Munster, and Connaught, it was impossible for the Protestants, few in number, to make any effectual resistance to this terrible outbreak of the aboriginal population.
Many families submitted, delivered up their arms, and thought themselves happy in escaping with life. Many resolute and high- spirited gentlemen and yeomen were determined to perish rather than yield. They packed up such valuable property as could be easily carried away, burned what they could not remove, and, well armed and mounted, set out for those spots in Ulster which were the strongholds of their race and faith. The flower of the Protestant population of Munster and Connaught found shelter in Enniskillen. Whatever was bravest and most true-hearted in Leinster took the road to London- derry. To reduce the Protestants of Ulster to submission before aid could arrive from England, was the chief object of Tyrconnel. A great force was ordered to move northward, under the command of Richard Hamilton. The country behind him was a waste, and soon the country before him became equally desolate, for, at the fame of his approach, the colonists burned their furniture, pulled down their houses, and retreated northward. The fugitives broke down the bridges and burned their ferry boats. The people of Omagh de- stroyed their dwellings so utterly that no roof was left to shelter the enemy. The people of Cavan emigrated in one body to Enniskillen ; all Lisburn fled to Antrim, and, as the foe came nearer, all Lisburn and Antrim came pouring into Londonderry. Thirty thousand Prot- estants of both sexes, and of every age, were crowded behind the earth walls of that city. The siege of Londonderry continued 105 days. During all this time the walls were closely besieged, and all communication with the outside world for supplies of any kind was cut off. No preparation for a siege had been made by the Protest- ants, nor was it expected by them. The city was destitute of all mili-
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tary and civil government. No man in the town had a right to com- mand any other; the defences were weak, and provisions scanty. An overplus of people had crowded into the place, with no suitable ac- commodations for their ordinary comfort even in times of peace. An incensed tyrant and an army of savages were at the gates. Whatever an engineer might think of the strength of the ramparts, all that was most intelligent, most courageous, most high-spirited, in Leinster and Ulster was crowded behind them. The number of men capable of bearing arms, within the walls, was 7,000, and the whole world could not have furnished 7,000 men better fitted to meet such a terrible emergency with clear judgment, dauntless valor, and stubborn pa- tience. The peculiar situation in which they had been placed as colo- nists in Ireland had developed in them some qualities which in the mother country might have remained latent. They had been enabled by superior intelligence, a close union, sleepless vigilance, and cool intrepidity, to keep in subjection a numerous and hostile population. Almost every one of them had been, in some measure, trained both to military and civil functions, and they were fitted both to command and to obey in any position and in any emergency in which they might be placed. Let us examine the situation in which the people of Londonderry were placed at this time.
In 1609 the corporation of London entered into an agreement to rebuild Derry, and that the liberties of the city should extend three miles every way. "The Society of the Governor and Assistants London, of the new plantation in Ulster," was granted the towns of Derry and Coleraine, with 4,000 acres, besides bog and mountain, at Derry, and 3,000 acres at Coleraine, and the fisheries and ferries of the Foyle and Bann. The society was to maintain a garrison in Cul- more Castle forever, and to fortify and enclose Derry (henceforth to be called Londonderry) with stone walls. By the same charter the citizens of Londonderry were incorporated by the name, "The Mayor Commonalty and Citizens," and had the power to appoint two sheriffs of the city and county, and to send two members to the Irish parlia- ment. The walls of Derry were laid out and built at a cost of nearly £90,000. A dry ditch eight feet deep and thirty feet broad ran from the west end along the south to the water's edge, which cost, with other fortifications, £2,300. Five hundred and fifty-eight pounds was spent for arms, £40 for ordnance, and £14,000 for building 111 houses, all defrayed by the city of London. In 1617, Mathias Spring- ham, a Londoner, at his own expense, erected the original free school house. Ireland was at that time a kingdom, dependent on the crown
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of England, and a part of the royal inheritance, and, therefore, must follow its fate, which it could not decline without ruin to its own interest. Now, King James having abdicated the throne of England, William the Third being in possession of it by the consent of the parliament of England, was de facto king of England and Ireland, and it was the duty of Protestants in Ulster to be subject to the crown of England. No wonder that the peaceable, industrious, thrifty, Ulster men should refuse to acknowledge as their sovereign James the Second, who had lost the throne of England by his own stupidity. The men of Londonderry knew that they were right, and, as Shake- speare says,
" Thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just ; And he but naked, though locked up in steel, Whose conscience with injustice is oppressed."
The situation of the English government at this time, it will be re- membered, was very trying. James the Second had just been deposed, and William the Third, Prince of Orange, had come over from Hol- land, and had been recognized by the parliament as king. King James, with the aid of the king of France, had gone into Ireland, and in person taken command of the Catholics, with the hope of rallying all the Catholics in the kingdom to his support, and driving the Prince of Orange out. . William had not yet got full hold of the lines in the then, to him, new country, and the people of England had been so demoralized with the conduct of the deposed king, with fresh memory of the execution of Charles the First, and the Commonwealth of Crom- well, that a painful uncertainty prevailed in the minds of the people , as to what would be done by the new made king.
There was no disposition on the part of the House of Commons to let the brave people of Londonderry and Enniskillen be butchered or starved by the one hundred thousand at the command of James the Second. An expedition, which was thought to be sufficient for the relief of Londonderry, was dispatched from Liverpool under the com- mand of Kirk. On the 16th of May, Kirk's troops embarked, but he did not reach Londonderry till the evening of the 31st of July. The true condition of the garrison can be learned by the account given in July.
" The condition of the city was, hour by hour, becoming more fright- ful; the number of the people had been thinned more by famine and disease than by the fire of the enemy. Yet the fire of the enemy was as constant as ever. Every attack was still repelled by the besieged,
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but the fighting men were so much exhausted that they could scarcely keep their feet. A very small quantity of grain remained, and was doled out by mouthfuls. The stock of salted hides was considerable, and by gnawing them the garrison appeased the rage of hunger. Nine horses were still alive, but barely alive. They were so lean that little meat was to be found on their bones. It was, however, de- termined to slaughter them for food. The people perished so fast that it was impossible for the survivors to perform the rites of sepul- ture, and almost every cellar contained an unburied dead body. And yet in this extremity the cry was ' No surrender,' and it was no slight aggravation of the suffering of the garrison that all this time the Eng- lish ships, sent for their relief in May, were in Lough Foyle, the com- mander, Kirk, not having courage and tact enough to sail past the enemy's batteries, on the banks of the Foyle, and break through the boom that had been placed in it to prevent the landing of supplies in Londonderry. At the last he received from England peremptory orders to relieve Londonderry, and he set about obeying the order. Among the merchant ships that had come under his convoy, was one called Montjoy, commanded by Micajah Browning, a native of Lon- donderry, which had a cargo of provisions for the starving garrison. He had repeatedly remonstrated against the inaction of the fleet, and now eagerly volunteered to take the first risk of succoring his fellow- citizens, and his offer was accepted. Andrew Douglas, master of the Phoenix that had on board a great quantity of meal from Scotland, was willing to share the danger and the honor.
"The two merchantmen were escorted by the Dartmouth, frig- ate of thirty-six guns, commanded by Capt. John Leake. It was the 30th of July. The sun had just set. The evening sermon in the cathedral was over, and the heart-broken congregation had just sepa- rated, when the sentinels on the tower espied the sails of three vessels coming up the Foyle. Soon there was a stir in the Irish camp. The besiegers were on the alert for miles along both shores. The ships were in extreme peril, for the river was low, and the channel ran near the left bank, where the headquarters of the enemy had been fixed, and where the batteries were the most numerous."
"Leake performed his duty with a skill and spirit worthy of his noble profession, exposing his frigate to cover the merchantmen, and using his guns with great effect. At length the little squadron came to the place of peril. The Montjoy took the lead, and went right at the boom. The huge barricade cracked and gave way, but the shock was so great that the Montjoy rebounded and stuck fast in the mud.
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A yell of triumph rose from the banks; the Irish rushed to their boats, and were prepared to board, but the Dartmouth poured on them a well-directed broadside, which threw them into disorder. Just then the Phoenix dashed at the breach which the Montjoy had made, and was in a moment within the fence. Meantime the tide was rising fast ; the Montjoy began to move, and soon passed safe through the broken stakes and floating spars. But her brave master was no more. A shot from one of the batteries had struck him, and he died the most enviable of all deaths, in sight of the city of his birth, of his home, which had just been saved by his courage and self-devotion from the most frightful form of destruction. The night had closed in before the conflict at the boom began, but the flash of the guns was seen and the noise heard by the lean and ghostly multitude that cov- ered the walls of the city. When the Montjoy grounded, and the shout of triumph rose from the Irish on both banks of the river, the hearts of the besieged sank within them. One who endured the un- utterable anguish of that moment, has told us that they looked fear- fully livid in each other's eyes.
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