USA > New Hampshire > History of New Hampshire, Volume II > Part 6
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The lords for trade and plantations reported that the com- plaints made by Peter Livius were established by evidence. After stating the facts in the case they concluded thus: "We humbly submit that the complaint against Mr. Wentworth, so far as it regards the facts above stated, has been fully verified. At the same time it is our duty to represent, that the reports which we have received through different channels of the situa- tion of affairs within your Majesty's government of New Hamp- shire do all concur in representing the colony to have been,
9 N. H. State Papers, XVIII. 646.
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ever since Mr. Wentworth's appointment, in a state of peace and prosperity; that its commerce has been enlarged and extended, the number of its inhabitants increased, and every attempt made to excite the people to disorder and disobedience has been, by the firm and temperate conduct of Mr. Wentworth, suppressed and restrained." In other words, they reported him to be a safe man in the administration of such government in New Hampshire as they desired in spite of some maladministra- tions and suspicion of selfish greed. A committee of the king's privy council took a different view of the case. They found a sufficient answer to all complaint in the defense prepared by the governor and his attorneys and so reported, "That there is no foundation for any censure upon the said John Wentworth, Esq., your Majesty's governor of New Hampshire, for any of the charges contained in Mr. Livius's complaint against him." This report was approved by the king.
The decision of this case was satisfactory to the people of New Hampshire in general and of Portsmouth in particular. The president and tutors of Dartmouth College wrote him a letter of commendation, and the House of Representatives ex- pressed to the governor their congratulations on his triumphant acquittal. "We hope that all other ill grounded complaints of the like nature will meet with the like catastrophe."
Peter Livius obtained the appointment of chief justice of New Hampshire, but relinquished it in favor of a similar office in Quebec. He was regarded as a Tory and his property in New Hampshire was confiscated. He died in England in 1795.
While Captain Samuel Holland, the king's Surveyor Gen- eral of the Northern District, was stationed at Portsmouth for two years, unable to survey the sea coast during the severity of winter, Governor Wentworth thought it a favorable opportunity to secure a complete survey of the province. At first the House refused to vote aid, but in 1772 it was voted to pay one hundred guineas when the plans were completed and one copy delivered to the governor, council and assembly, one to each. The needed amount had already been raised by subscription. In this work Captain Holland was assisted by James Grant who afterwards petitioned for a grant of two thousand acres as compensation for fatigues endured, and by Thomas Wright, George Sproule,
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Thomas Wheeler and Charles Blackowitz. Astronomical obser- vations were made by Wright at Hinsdale and at the Pine Tree boundary mark in Dracut, and Sproule first reported that the southern boundary line did not run due west as it should, and thereby New Hampshire had lost 59,872 acres which properly belonged to that province. Holland's map was published in London in 1784 and it seems to be the basis of a German map published in 1796. ] Holland's was the first extended and thorough survey of New Hampshire,10 according to which the province contained 9296 square miles, or 5,849,440 acres, after deducting one hundred thousand acres for ponds and rivers.
Although the governor had been "vindicated" by royal decision and restored to popular favor, he soon began to decline in popularity. He wanted to please the people of New Hamp- shire and George the Third at the same time. He counseled moderation and patience. If his counsel could have been heard and heeded in the king's court and parliament, the revolutionary war might have been averted. A sense of duty, as well as inclination, led him to side with the British government, when at last the decision was forced. He could not forsee the end of the struggle and felt that in a short time peace and harmony would be restored,-by means of armed forces, if this was necessary as a last resort. He did not like the congresses, the committees of correspondence, the communications between the colonies for mutual action and protection, but the House of Representatives, with another John Wentworth of a different spirit as Speaker, went about the performance of their patriotic duties, as if there were no royal governor. They knew the people were with them. In response to call and example of the House of Burgesses of Virginia a Standing Committee of Cor- respondence and Inquiry was appointed in May 1773. It con- sisted of the Hon. John Wentworth, Speaker of the House, John Sherburne, Judge William Parker, John Giddinge of Exeter, Jacob Sheafe, Christopher Toppan of Hampton and John Pick- ering. Their business was "to obtain the most early and authentic Intelligence of all such acts & Resolutions of the British Parliament or proceedings of Administration as may
10 N. H. Prov. Papers, VII. 294, 362, and XVIII. 652. A copy of Hol- land's map is in the library of the N. H. Hist. Society.
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relate to or affect the British Colonies in America, & to keep up and maintain a Correspondence & Communication with any sister Colonies respecting those important considerations, & the result of such their proceedings from Time to Time to lay before the House." At the same time the Speaker wrote to the Speaker of the House of Burgesses, assuring him that the representatives of New Hampshire were unanimously with their southern brethren in patriotic sentiments and resolves; that all the col- onies were in one common ship; and that the hope was enter- tained, that some measure might be hit on for restoring mutual confidence once existing between Great Britain and the Amer- ican provinces. A similar message was sent to the House of Deputies in Rhode Island, in response to a letter received from them.11
After the repeal of the Stamp Act England put a duty on some exports to the colonies, which was resisted on the prin- ciple that this was indirect taxation without representation. Such was the opposition that in 1770 all such duties were repealed except that on tea, and this was retained more to show that England had a right to tax the colonies than for purpose of revenue. The answer was the formation of clubs, especially of women, that agreed to use no tea whatever, and importations grew less, till the East India Company had seven- teen million pounds of tea stored in English warehouses. On the tenth of May, 1773, a bill was enacted in Parliament to take off all duty on tea and permit the East India Company to export it to the colonies, charging an import tax of only three pence per pound. Thus the colonies could get tea cheaper than they could before. But a tax in any form without their consent conflicted with an awakened public opinion. Therefore its landing was opposed in New York, Boston and Portsmouth. The Boston Tea Party, which threw overboard three hundred and forty-two chests of tea. in the harbor, from three ships, on the night of December 16, 1773, is well known in history. On that same day a public meeting was held in Portsmouth, and resolutions were framed and sent to every considerable town in the prov- ince, declaring the action of the British Parliament to be un- just, arbitrary and inconsistent with the fundamental principles
11 N. H. Prov. Papers, VII. 330-332.
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of the British Constitution, tending to hasten on the destruction of the empire. They asserted that it was the natural right of every person born in that empire to dispose of his own prop- erty ; that the tax took from Americans property without their consent ; that "every virtuous and public spirited freeman ought to oppose to the utmost of his ability every artful attack of the ministry to enslave the Americans; that the power given to the East India Company was an attempt to enforce the plans of the British ministry and a direct attack upon the liberties of the colonies, which all true hearted Americans ought to resist"; that "a union of the Colonies appears to be the most likely method, under God, of obtaining a repeal of all those acts which are so subversive of the freedom of the British colonies and destructive to the whole nation"; that "in case any of the Company's tea should be brought into this port for sale, we will use every necessary method to prevent its being landed or sold here"; and that whoever assisted in the importation of tea shall be deemed an enemy to America.12
The governor tried to persuade the House not to consider any extra-provincial measures, but finding that they had chosen by a bare majority a committee of correspondence and learning that the Speaker had letters from other colonies to read to the House, he dissolved the assembly March 7, 1774, thinking it improper for a provincial governor to admit the proceedings intended. In a letter to the Earl of Dartmouth, dated June 8, 1774, he expressed the expectation "that a few weeks will con- vince those who may be members (of the new Assembly) of the imprudence and error of measures that tend to weaken or subvert the subordination of the colonies."13
On the twenty-fifth of the following June twenty-seven chests of tea, consigned to Edward Parry, were landed at the custom house before the people could be informed of it. A town meeting was called and it was proposed that Mr. Perry at once reship the tea, to which he consented. The duty was openly paid at the custom house, and the tea was sent to Halifax. This was better than to mix it with salt water. A second cargo, of thirty chests, arrived on the eighth of Sep-
12 Adams' Annals of Portsmouth, pp. 239-40.
13 N. H. Prov. Papers, VII. 369.
.
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tember. Mr. Parry asked the governor for protection after the windows of his house had been broken, which was granted, and a popular assembly next day prevailed on Mr. Parry to send this tea also to Halifax. So much tea and so many tories went to that place that it may have given rise to the exclama- tion still sometimes heard, "Go to Halifax," a softened mode of telling disagreeable persons where to go.
Meanwhile a new Assembly had convened, April 7, 1774. Most of its members had belonged to the previous Assembly but some new names appear, among them men of great in- fluence in subsequent affairs, such as Woodbury Langdon of Portsmouth, Meshech Weare of Hampton Falls, Col. Nathaniel Folsom of Exeter, Col. Josiah Bartlett of Kingston and Ebenezer Thompson of Durham. Col. John Wentworth of Somersworth was again chosen Speaker of the House. The governor's speech to the House avoided disputed questions and , recommended harmony and diligence as the basis of prosperity. The House replied that harmony should exist especially be- tween the different branches of the legislature. The following were chosen as a Committee of Correspondence with other provinces, viz., John Wentworth, Samuel Cutts, John Giddinge, Clement March, Josiah Bartlett, Henry Prescott and John Pickering. The House expressed themselves as in readiness to join with sister Assemblies in all salutary measures that may be adopted in this important crisis for saving the rights and privileges of the Americans and promoting harmony with the parent State. Only five men were voted as a guard to fort William and Mary, disregarding the plea of the governor for a strong garrison. After the usual and necessary business of the province had been finished the governor adjourned the House several times and finally sent down the following message :-
As I look upon the measures entered upon by the House of Assembly to be inconsistent with his Majesty's service & the good of this Government, it is my Duty as far as in me lies to prevent any Detriment that might arise from such proceedings. I do threfore hereby Dissolve the General As- sembly of this Province and it is Dissolved accordingly. Dated 8th June, $774.
But the House of Representatives were not in a mood to
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be sent home from school. The Committee of Correspondence summoned them to meet in their own chamber at the State House. The governor attended by the sheriff of the county made his appearance and they arose at his entrance. He de- clared their meeting illegal and ordered the sheriff to make proclamation for all persons to disperse and keep the king's peace. When he had retired they resumed their seats and after deliberation adjourned to an inn. Then they wrote letters to all the towns in the province, asking them to send delegates to a general congress and to pay their proportionate part of the estimated expenses of said congress, two hundred pounds. They also recommended July 14th as a day of fasting and ยท prayer on account of the gloomy state of affairs. The day was observed, the money was collected, and eighty-five dele- gates were chosen. They met at Exeter, on the 21st of July, I774.
The Provincial Congress at Exeter chose Colonel Nathaniel Folsom of Exeter and Major John Sullivan of Durham as dele- gates to the Continental Congress, to be held "at such time and place as may be appointed, to devise, consult and adopt such measures as may have the most likely tendency to extri- cate the Colonies from their present Difficulties, to secure and perpetuate their Rights, Liberties and Privileges and to restore that Peace, Harmony and mutual Confidence, which once happily subsisted between the Parent Country and her Colonies." The two hundred pounds collected were handed over to the delegates, to pay their expenses, and a committee to give gen- eral instructions to the delegates was elected, consisting of Hon. John Wentworth, Hon. Meshech Weare, Colonel Josiah Bartlett, Colonel Christopher Toppan and John Pickering, Jr. This Congress also voted unanimously "to recommend it to their respective Towns to take into Consideration the dis- tressed unhappy Condition of the Town of Boston, and liberally to contribute towards the Relief of the Foor of that Town, according to the noble and laudable Example of their Sister Colonies."14
The commiseration expressed throughout the colonies for the poor people of Boston was occasioned by the enactment
14 N. H. Prov. Papers, VII. 407-8.
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in Parliament of the Boston Port Bill, excluding merchandise from the harbor. Thereby the cost of the necessaries of life was greatly increased, and the many poor who flock to a city were in distress. A circular petition was sent to many places, imploring aid. Portsmouth voted two hundred pounds for this purpose; Exeter sent up one hundred pounds; other towns sent money and words of sympathy. The following letter from Durham is the most eloquent and patriotic expression of public feeling of that time. It was probably written by the Rev. John Adam's, an eloquent preacher and a zealous patriot, assisted by Major John Sullivan. Note the unanimity expressed. This noble epistle is worthy to be ranked with the utterances of the most famous orators and patriots of revolutionary times. It is dated November 21, 1774:
Gentlemen : We taken pleasure in transmitting to you by Mr. Scammell a few cattle, with a small sum of money, which a number of persons in this place, tenderly sympathizing with our suffering brethren in Boston, have contributed towards their support. With this, or soon after, you will re- ceive the donations of a number in Lee, a parish lately set off from this town, and in a few days those of Dover, Newmarket & other adjacent towns. What you herewith receive comes not from the opulent, but mostly from the industrious yeomanry in this parish. We have but a few persons of affluent fortunes among us, but those have most cheerfully contributed to the relief of the distressed in your metropolis.
This is considered by us, not as a gift, or an act of charity, but of jus- tice, as a small part of what we are in duty bound to communicate to those truly noble & patriotic advocates of American freedom, who are bravely standing in the gap between us & slavery, defending the common interests of a whole continent and gloriously struggling in the cause of liberty. Upon you the eyes of all America are fixed. Upon your invincible patience, forti- tude & resolution (under God) depends all that is dear to them and their posterity. May that superintendent gracious Being, whose ears are ever upen to the cry of the oppressed, in answer to the incessant prayers of his people, defend our just cause, turn the counsels of our enemies into fool- ishness, deliver us from the hands of our oppressors and make those very measures, by which they are endeavoring to compass our destruction, the means of fixing our invaluable rights & privileges upon a more firm & last- ing basis.
While with the most painful sensations we reflect that prior to the com- mencement of the evils which now surround us, supineness & inattention to our common interests had so far prevailed, as almost wholly to sink in luxury & dissipation the inhabitants of these Colonies; we are bound to acknowledge the divine wisdom & goodness, which by these calamities roused
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us from our lethargy, and taught us to defend those inestimable liberties, which otherwise must have been lost forever to us & our posterity; and to evince his determination to save America, directed the attacks of our ene- mies to that quarter where the virtue and firmness of the inhabitants could brave the shafts of military tyrants, and set at defiance the threats of an exasperated & despotic minister.
We are pleased to find, that the methods by which the ministry sought to divide, have happily united us, and by every new act of oppression, more & more strengthened union. And we can with truth assure you, gentlemen, that in this quarter we are engaged, to a man, in your defence, and in de- fence of the common cause. We are ready to communicate of our sub- stance largely, as your necessities require; and, with our estates, to give our lives and mingle our blood with yours, in the common sacrifice to lib- erty. And since we have no asylum on earth, to which we may fly: before we will submit to wear the chains of slavery a profligate & arbitrary ministry are preparing for us, we are determined upon an emigration through the gate of death, in hope of inheriting the fair land of promise and partici- pating with our forefathers in the glorious liberty of the sons of God.
That Heaven may support you, under your distressing circumstances, and send you a speedy and happy deliverance from your present troubles, is the earnest prayer of, Gentlemen, your cordial friends and very humble servants.
JOHN ADAMS, JOHN SULLIVAN, Committee.15
The governor brought popular disapproval upon himself by sending carpenters to Boston, at the request of General Gage, to assist in erecting barracks for the British soldiers, the carpenters in the vicinity of Boston refusing such work. One Nicholas Austen of Middleton was the governor's agent in find- ing the desired workmen, and he was summoned before the Rochester Committee of Correspondence and forced, on his knees, to ask forgiveness for so doing, promising in the future to do nothing contrary to the Constitution of the Country, a phrase at that time of elastic meaning, but afterwards made sufficiently definite. Portsmouth chose a committee of forty- five persons, and the governor's uncle, Hunking Wentworth, was its chairman and allowed the use of his own house for a place of meeting. The governor alludes to him in a letter to the Earl of Dartmouth, as "Mr. Wentworth, an old gentleman of seventy-eight years and lately extremely impaired by recent
15 Mass. Hist. Coll. Fourth Series, Vol. I., p. 144.
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epileptic fits." He was an ardent patriot and lived to see the triumph of his nephew's wiser and bolder opponents.
On the thirteenth of December, 1774, Paul Revere came riding from Boston with a message from the Committee, that troops were to be sent to reinforce fort William and Mary, at New Castle, and that orders in the King's Council prohibited the exportation of gunpowder and military stores to America. This alarmed the people, who began to assemble and make plans what to do. The insurgents in Portsmouth were led by Captain John Langdon, afterwards governor of New Hamp- shire. Governor Wentworth warned Captain Cochran at the fort to be on his guard. He had only five soldiers; these put three four-pounders where it was thought they would be of most service and awaited the expected assault.
The next day about four hundred men went to the fort in gondolas and naturally did not directly face the four-pounders, which were discharged without injury to any one. Indeed only a show of resistance was made, for what could an officer and five privates do against a mob of four hundred? Had Captain Cochran aimed those cannons effectively, as he might well have done, the event would have been a rival to that of Concord and Lexington a few months later. By injuring nobody he saved himself and his men from harm. Quickly they were overpowered and held as prisoners, till the assailants secured about one hundred barrels of gunpowder, which they took away in their gondolas. Then Captain Cochran and his men were released. The powder was consigned to the care of Major John Sullivan of Durham, who the next day went down with a strong party, conferred with the governor, and at night visited the fort again and took away, as he afterwards reported, "the remainder of the powder, the small arms, bayonets, and car- touch-boxes, together with the cannon and ordinance stores." The party from Durham were out all night. It was bitterly cold, and Oyster River was so frozen that the ice had to be cut from Little Bay to Durham Falls, this work consuming several days. Among those who went down from Durham the names of the following have been gleaned from authentic sources, viz., John Sullivan, the Rev. John Adams, Deacon Nathaniel Norton, Lieutenant Durgin, Captain Jonathan Wood-
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man, Aaron Davis, Winborn Adams, Ebenezer Thompson, Major John Demerit of Madbury, Alpheus Chesley, Jonathan Chesley, John Spence, Micah Davis, Edward Sullivan, Isaac Small, Benjamin Small, and Eleazer Bennett. The three clerks of John Sullivan, who were studying law with him, were Alexander Scammell, Peter French and James Underwood. These assisted in bringing the military stores up the river and may have been at the fort.
On the next day, the fifteenth of December, Col. Nathaniel Folsom led a company of men from Exeter, who paraded the streets of Portsmouth, and it was rumored that they were to demolish the fort, but nothing more was done.
The powder captured was taken to Durham and thence was distributed to various places and towns. Some was stored, as tradition says, under the pulpit of the church, but not for a long time. There is complete evidence that some was stored at the residence of Ebenezer Thompson, and more was carried to the farm-house of Major John Demerit in Madbury. Tra- dition, that in this case seems to be trustworthy, says that some of the powder stored with Major Demerit was hauled to Cambridge and used in the battle of Bunker Hill, and there is historical evidence that some was sent to Winter Hill at the request of General Sullivan. The arms brought to Durham were repaired by Thomas Willey, for which he was paid, according to a town record, twenty shillings and nine pence.
The governor at once ordered that thirty men should be enlisted to guard the fort. Efforts were made to secure them, but not a man would volunteer. All persons concerned in the assualt on the fort, who had held any office under the govern- ment, were dismissed from office by the governor.16 He also issued the following proclamation, dated December 26, 1774:
Whereas several bodies of men did, in the day time of the 14th, and in the night of the 15th of this instant December, in the most daring and re- bellious manner invest, attack, and forcibly ente= his Majesty's castle William and Mary in this province, and overpowering and confining the captain and garrison, did, besides committing many treasonable insults and
16 Belknap's Hist. of N. H., Farmer's Edition, p. 353. The Capture of Fort William and Mary, by Prof. Charles H. Parsons, in Proceedings of the N. H. Hist. Society, IV. 18.46; also Hist. of Durham, N. H., Vol. I., pp. 118-122.
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outrages break open the magazine of said castle and plunder it of above one hundred barrels of gunpowder, with upwards of sixty stand of small arms, and did also force from the ramparts of said castle and carry off sixteen pieces of cannon and other military stores, in open hostility and direct oppugnation of his Majesty's government, and in the most atrocious con- tempt of his crown and dignity ;
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