USA > New Hampshire > History of New Hampshire, Volume IV > Part 7
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There was a Peace Conference to try to patch up an agree- ment between the North and the South, which spent itself in fruitless talk. The delegates from New Hampshire were Levi Chamberlain, Asa Fowler and Amos Tuck, and the State al- lowed three hundred dollars each to the first two and three hundred and thirty-five dollars to the last for expenses. The South, under the leadership of Jefferson Davis as Secretary of War, had been getting ready for rebellion for years, and a Peace Conference meant for them only a delay in order to pre- pare more fully for the inevitable struggle.
The United States congress threw a sop to Cerberus, March 2, 1861, in the form of a joint resolution as a proposed amend- ment to the Federal Constitution, as follows :
No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which shall authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere within any State with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of said State.
This was meant as a pledge to the Southern States, that slavery should not be hindered within their borders, if they would not secede. The offer was not sufficient; they wanted also the privilege to carry with them their slaves wherever they wished to go, and to have their runaways arrested and sent back to them. Whittier voiced the indignation of the North :
"Thank God, not yet so vilely can Massachusetts bow."
The House of Representatives of New Hampshire ratified the proposed amendment and sent it to the Senate, where it was postponed and never came up for further consideration.
In the election of 1861 Nathaniel S. Berry was chosen gov- ernor by 35,467 votes. The opposing candidate was Gen. George Stark, who received 31,452 votes. Governor Berry was a man of the people, a friend of human liberty, as a Methodist class-leader naturally would be. He had been a candidate while
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the hosts of emancipation were growing, often victoriously defeated. He was born at Bath, Maine, September 1, 1796. The death of his father left the family penniless, and at the age of nine years Nathaniel was chore boy in a tavern. His mother married Benjamin Morse, and the family moved to Lisbon, N. H., where Nathaniel was apprenticed to a tanner. At the age of twenty-one he removed to Bristol, to take charge of a tannery at a salary of two hundred dollars per annum. In 1820 he be- gan the manufacture of leather, and in 1826 introduced into the State the process of tanning with hot liquids. The business was removed to Hebron in 1840 and there continued till 1857, when his tannery was burned. He was affiliated with the Democratic party till 1840, when he helped to organize the Free-Soil party and was its first candidate for governor. Five times he served as a member of the lower House and twice as State senator. He was made judge of the court of common pleas in 1841, and judge of probate in 1856. After serving two years as governor he made his home at Andover, Mass., 1864-78, and then for five years he lived at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Then he returned to Bristol, New Hampshire, to end his days there, April 27, 1894. He was the War Governor of New Hampshire. All the seven- teen regiments, except the first, were organized and equipped during his term of office. His messages and administration evince business ability and complete loyalty. The integrity of his character and his political principles brought him to the front in the hour of the nation's greatest need. He was not a whit behind the noted War Governors of other Northern States. He was a class-leader for thirty years, delegate to the general con- ference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1872 and organizer of the first temperance society in the State, among men of his own tannery.
In his inaugural Governor Berry characterized the seizure of forts, arsenals, mints and public property as "high-handed acts of treason" and asked the legislature to appropriate one million dollars to aid in suppressing the rebellion. At this time for- tunately the debt of the State was small, only about thirty thou- sand dollars. He cautioned the legislature against "external mercenary efforts exerted in matters of legislation. This should be everywhere guarded against, and especially the corrupting influence of men habitually frequenting the sessions of our legis-
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lature, tendering their brokerage assistance in the disposal of offices, and directing in matters of government. The tolerance in any way of such men or such influences about our public con- cerns is certain to be productive only of injury and mischief." Yet the lobbyists, it is said, continue to beset the legislators of State and nation down to the present day, sometimes as the corruption agents of great corporations, sometimes to extort graft from the corporations themselves. The brewers and dis- tillers make it necessary that all manner of reform leagues should also have agents on hand to influence legislation. The greater battles of civilization are here fought. The forces of evil have the "sinews of war"; the friends of righteousness and the moral reformers wield the sword of truth and put on the shield of faith. For them there is no money to gain and much to lose.
While the governor's message bristled with patriotism and all minds were aroused intensely by news from the battle front, and the prospective burden of taxation was great, the legislature made an appropriation this year to purchase the oil painting of Daniel Webster that hangs in the representatives' hall. The legislature voted three hundred dollars for this purpose, on con- dition that two hundred dollars be given by private citizens in New Hampshire and five hundred dollars more by natives of New Hampshire living in Massachusetts.
In his second message, 1862, Governor Berry was able to express his joy that the curse of slavery had been removed from the national capital, and his confident hope that it would soon be prohibited in the territories. He voices the resolution of the North saying, that "there can be but one result to the struggle in which we are engaged-submission to the first principles of government inaugurated and established by our fathers. The inheritance we have received from them, we will transmit to our posterity. Foreign thrones and dynasties may change, but the institutions of Freedom; as established and administered here by WASHINGTON and those of his successors who have been actuated by a like spirit, were designed for all time. Whatever in them was perishable or temporary, owing to the ill-judged wrongs of the mother country, time, they felt assured, would heal, and ultimately relieve us from them. It was designed that this country should expand in the spirit of liberty; that this
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spirit should grow with its growth and strengthen with its strength, and everything alien to it should die out and grad- ually pass away, overshadowed and controlled by the great power of freedom, of which our flag was to be the chosen sym- bol, wherever it might wave. A base, rebellious spirit has, how- ever, attempted to reverse this order of things and make an institution national, fundamental and permanent, which was originally only sectional, exceptional and temporary. This bane, which once extended largely over the whole Union, it was sup- posed the increase of just sentiments of moral and religious obligation would gradually limit and terminate. The progress of the age and regard to the true honor and permanent pros- perity of the nation demand this result. Higher motives than these demand it. We may well tremble in view of this national sin, when, like Jefferson, "we reflect that God is just." The people of this country have determined that this alarming evil shall not pass beyond the original bounds prescribed to it; that it shall not master, control, and turn to its own selfish purposes the constitution and government of the country. They have determined to crush back the hydra to his den, and let it die out as our fathers designed it should die, under the progress of enlightened wisdom and that philanthropy and charity which, in its destined march, is to bring good will to all men. The fearful lesson we have had in the conflict with slavery ; its dis- asters to all its promoters; its evident weakness in its death- struggle with freedom-all portend a change in the estimation in which this great evil will be hereafter held, and foretell, in legible characters, written in view of all the nations, that its days are numbered." Thus the war to maintain the Union soon came to be also a war to free four millions of slaves and abolish forever slavery in this free land. One year of fighting had made such an utterance possible from the governor of a northern State. The war had taken on a new phase.
The Republican majority in the legislature were of the same opinion and spirit as the governor and on the nineteenth of June, 1862, introduced the following resolutions :
I. That it is with profound satisfaction that the people of New Hamp- shire are relieved (by the action of Congress abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia and the Territories) from all responsibility for the existence of the barbarous system of human slavery, as practiced in the
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presence of foreign ministers in the capital of the nation, which now, by the action of the national administration, is consecrated to human freedom.
2. That those great measures of national beneficence, the homestead act and the Pacific railroad act, binding together the widely extended material interests of a great nation, and thereby developing the national resources and prompting the national happiness, meet our hearty approval.
3. That the proposition of the President, adopted by Congress, granting material aid to such States as shall take measures for the abolishment of slavery was imperatively demanded by the necessities of the country, and has placed our government actively in harmony with the civilizing tendencies of the age.
4. That New Hampshire will respond with alacrity to the call of the government for all the troops necessary to suppress this most iniquitous rebellion, and maintain at all hazards the integrity of the Union and the Constitution.
5. That the time has now come when the blood and treasure which have been sacrificed in subduing this wicked rebellion demand that the property of wilful rebels, alienated by their treason, should be summarily confiscated and used in such manner as shall afford some indemnity for the past and security for the future.
6. That those measures rendered imperative by the exigencies and necessities of a war for the salvation of the nation, the Constitution and all the rights secured by it, are equally constitutional with those measures adopted in accordance with the provisions of that instrument in time of peace.
7. That we recognize slavery as the principal cause of the rebellion and the war which has been fixed upon us; that every fact in its inception and prosecution shows a long-planned, deep-laid scheme to perpetuate slavery and render subservient to it all the interests of freedom; that wherever slavery has strength, there is incessant treason and implacable, insidious hostility to the Government; that wherever slavery has no strength, there is abiding loyalty and unyielding, generous and enthusiastic support of the Government; that the Government having exhausted those efforts and measures of conciliation which would have satisfied a mistaken and excited people, not in deadly hostility to it, it now becomes the duty of that Government (if this rebellion shall not immediately cease from destroying its peace and prosperity and threatening the very existence of the nation), by the use of the war power-a power placed in the hands of the Government by slavery, through treason, rebellion and war upon it-to end both the rebellion and the war by removing the cause.
8. That we will heartily support any measure, and cheerfully bear any amount of taxation which may be necessary to compensate loyal men for all slaves liberated in accordance with the recommendation of the President through Congress, and for all taken by the necessities of war in suppressing the rebellion.
9. That copies of these resolutions be sent to the President of the
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United States, the Governor of each State, and to our Senators and Repre- sentatives in Congress.
Later in the session the committee on National Affairs, to whom were referred certain portions of the governor's mes- sage, brought in a majority report that was substantially in accord with the above resolutions and indeed embodied some of them in almost the same words. A minority report also was offered, supporting and praising the army and navy for what they had done in trying to break up rebellion and secession and preserve the Union, but also reaffirming the old Democratic position that nobody, neither President, Congress, nor other States, had any right to regulate nor interfere with the domestic institutions of a sovereign and independent State. All such legislation was an unwarranted interference with the rights of States, which rights would remain intact as soon as the rebel- lion ceased, which indeed had not been forfeited by rebellion. The thought of the minority report was that the seceding States should truly be flogged for their wicked secession and that they should be compelled to remain in the Union, or return to it, with all the rights they ever had, with the provoking cause of the war remaining as before, with slavery at their own sovereign disposal, with no confiscation of property except through trial by jury. They affirmed that the abolitionists were in theory as much at fault as the secessionists, and that their schemes for confiscation, emancipation and similar unconstitu- tional measures left little hope for the restoration of the Union. In the debate the old arguments for State rights were rehearsed. The logic of events seemed to have no weight with theorists. The Democrats supported the minority report. Amendments were offered and voted down. The Senate could not at first agree with the House. A joint committee of conference, report- ing through Senator William E. Chandler, finally offered the following resolution, as a substitute for a portion of the resolu- tions of the House, which was adopted. It is sufficiently pointed and clear and was intended to make it easier for President Lin- coln to issue the Proclamation of Emancipation.
That Congress has power, under the constitution, to confiscate the property of traitors and rebels, and that such power should be resorted to, wherever and to the extent which the safety of the country, the government
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and the constitution may demand; that while we approve of the past policy of the National Government, we fully believe that forbearance toward willful traitors should cease, and that the President, as Commander-in-Chief of the army, will be justified in exercising the power and emancipating the slaves of those now in armed and persistent rebellion against the govern- ment as a military necessity, and that Congress will be justified in providing all lawful and constitutional means for the same purpose, to the end that this fearful waste of life and property may cease, that some indemnity for past losses may be obtained, and security given to the Union and the cause of civil freedom for the future.
The needs of sick and disabled soldiers pressed upon north- ern hearts. The Civil War created a new era in humanitarian- ism. Two powerful organizations were formed to alleviate suf- fering and lessen the death roll. The United States Sanitary Commission, of which the Rev. Henry Whitney Bellows, Uni- tarian minister of New York city, was the first and only presi- dent, and the United States Christian Commission, which did substantially similar work and added thereto some preaching and distribution of tracts and Bibles, by their agents followed the Union armies. It seems that the Evangelicals and the non- Evangelicals were not able to work together under one organi- zation in feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and healing the wounded. The Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. The work of the Red Cross societies now does about the same work for all armies and in all cases of great human need, and no denominational differences appear. Humanity has become higher than creed. In 1862 New Hampshire voted two thou- sand dollars to aid wounded and disabled soldiers to return home. Hon. Larkin D. Mason of Washington, Colonel Frank E. Howe of New York city, and Robert R. Carson of Phila- delphia, were appointed agents to look after, provide and care for the sick and wounded soldiers of New Hampshire, who were in the hospitals of those cities or passing through them. These made monthly reports to the Adjutant-General of the State. The Commissions furnished medicines, clothing, ambulances, field hospitals, trained nurses and delicacies. Women through- out the State made bandages, lint, and garments. Collections were taken; fairs and sales were held to aid the soldiers. The Sanitary Commission alone distributed $15,000,000 in supplies and $5,000,000 in money.
The army called away many voters and the great majority
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of them were Republicans. This was, doubtless, the reason why a Republican legislature sought to find a way of utilizing the votes of soldiers and the Democrats opposed any way of doing so. At first it was proposed that they vote at home by proxy, and that was "unconstitutional." On the first day of the ses- sion of 1863 a soldiers' voting bill was introduced, and the opinion of the justices was sought as to its constitutionality. Their opinion was signed by Samuel D. Bell, Chief Justice, and Henry A. Bellows, George W. Nesmith and William H. Bart- lett, Associates, that the bill permitting soldiers to vote in places other than those pointed out in the Constitution of New Hamp- shire "in its most prominent feature is in conflict with the pro- vision and spirit of our Constitution." The bill was a general one, and no distinction was made between the election of State officers and the election of repreesntatives to Congress and presidential electors. Nobody then noticed the distinction, but shortly afterwards the Supreme Court of Vermont declared the soldiers' voting bill in that State to be constitutional; since the Federal constitution was silent as to the place of voting for electors and representatives to Congress, the legislature of the State could provide that they should be voted for outside of the State. This furnished a precedent for a subsequent decision of the Supreme Court of New Hampshire. The whole matter was referred to the legislature of 1864.
Meanwhile Governor Gilmore used his influence to get as many men at the front as possible released on furlough, that they might come home and vote at the State elections, and in the winter of 1864 especially three hundred and ninety soldiers of New Hampshire had free transportation given them home and return. Only about two-thirds of them arrived home in time to vote, the others being detained by a washout on the Boston and Maine Railroad, near Newmarket. The sol- diers were allowed to carry side arms and they were to wear them on all occasions, as though on uninterrupted military duty. This was in consequence of threats that they would not be allowed to vote. The writer remembers well that in his native town in Maine every possible trig was put in the way of the returned soldier's voting, by Democratic officials. One sol- dier's vote was challenged on the assertion that he was a pauper, and he disproved it by showing a roll of greenbacks
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worth three hundred dollars. After much delay he was allowed to vote.
In the legislature of 1864 a new bill was presented, per- mitting soldiers in the field to vote for presidential electors and representatives to Congress. This, too, was opposed as "un- constitutional," and the opinion of the Justices was sought. They rendered a decision and later elaborate reasons therefor, referring especially to the action of the Supreme Court of Ver- mont. They affirmed that there was nothing in the bill per- mitting soldiers to vote at the front that was contrary to the Constitution of the State; that it was an ancient practice that proprietors of granted towns often held legal meetings outside of those towns; and that other States had permitted their soldiers to vote, while they were at the front. But Governor Gilmore wanted an amendment to the State Constitution and was disposed to veto the bill passed by the legislature. After the lapse of five days the bill would become a law without his signature. He delayed a reply till the last moment and then sent his veto in an irregular manner. There was in the House quite a brilliant display of parliamentary tactics to prevent the reading of the governor's veto till the fatal hour had flown. The excitement was great, and there were shouts of "Revolu- tion." The obstructionists prevailed and the bill was declared lawful by the Justices of New Hampshire. Whether the gov- ernor purposely delayed his veto does not appear, but it is quite evident that the Republican majority purposely prevented its being read in time, though every member of the House knew that the veto was before them on the table.
It is only another illustration that constitutions and laws must not stand in the way of the people's conviction concern- ing what is right and good. The Constitution must not be made a shibboleth of unprogressiveness, above plain human rights. The war made necessary an enlarged interpretation of the Constitution to suit extraordinary and unforeseen exigen- cies. Sympathizers with slavery and southern rights kept appealing to the letter of an ancient law, like political pharisees.
It is interesting to know the result of the balloting in the field at the presidential election of 1864. Lincoln had 2066 votes, and Mclellan had 690. The three Republican congressmen, Marston, Rollins and Patterson, had 2053 votes and the three
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Democratic opponents, Marcy, Clark and Bingham, had 157 votes, or together 535 votes less than the Mclellan electors. This may mean the popularity of "Little Mac" with many of the soldiers, or the unpopularity of Democratic candidates for Congress.1
In the election of 1863 there was no choice of governor. The Democratic candidate, Ira A. Eastman, had 32,833 votes ; Joseph A. Gilmore had 29,035, and Walter Harriman had 4,372. The legislature decided the contest in favor of Joseph A. Gil- more by 192 votes, while Ira A. Eastman had 133, and Walter Harriman had one. This plurality of Democratic votes in the State alarmed the Republicans and led to the act permitting the soldiers to vote. The reverses to the Union army were causing some measure of temporary discouragement, and many were calling for peace by compromise.
Governor Gilmore was born in Weston, Vermont, June 10, 18II. In early manhood he settled in Concord and was one of the leading business men, becoming superintendent of the Con- cord railroad. He was a member of the State senate in 1858 and 1859. His messages show him to have been an ardent patriot and a man of energy, bold enough to do things that provoked criticism from his political opponents. He died in Concord, April 27, 1867. His re-election in 1864 was by 37,006 votes, a majority of 5,666 over his opponent, Edward W. Harrington.
Governor Gilmore's inaugural message states that the de- posits in the savings banks had increased by nearly a million dollars during the preceding year. One reason of this was that the soldiers in the field had allotted a portion of their wages to their families at home, and such remittances amounted to $867,- 613. Moreover, manufactures were stimulated by the war, and wages were higher. The patriotism of the governor shines out in such utterances as, "New Hampshire will be the last State to betray the cause for which they are offering up their lives." "They will never submit to an ignominious peace, or a dis- honorable surrender of our liberties. They will rejoice that the folly and treason of those who have conspired against our na- tional existence have already dealt a death blow to that accursed system of human bondage which has so long disgraced
1 Voting in the Field, by Josiah H. Benton, 1915, pp. 204-222.
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our country and the age. They will sanction the use of every constitutional means which experience has shown to be neces- sary for the vigorous prosecution of the war. They will stand up boldly and manfully to the contest, till victory crowns the efforts of our brave soldiers, and an unconditional restoration of the Union rewards their sacrifices."
The committee on National Affairs, to whom were referred parts of the governor's message, brought in a majority report, headed by Daniel M. Christie of Dover, one of the ablest law- yers of the State, a man of wide influence and power. They said, in emphatic terms, that no peace could be negotiated with traitors and rebels in arms; that no proposition could be enter- tained that had for its object the dissolution of the Union ; that the war must be prosecuted till victory crowned the efforts of the Union army; that the federal constitution gave to the Government all the powers necessary to suppress rebellion ; and that traitors in arms could not plead their rights under the constitution. To this the minority, led as usual by Harry Bing- ham, replied that no plea of military necessity could justify any violation of the sacred constitution ; that a solemn protest should be made against the President's Emancipation Proclamation, "holding the same to be unwise, unconstitutional and void"; that no compensation should be paid out of the United States treasury to free slaves in any States, since this would be "bur- densome upon the people, unjust in its very nature, and wholly without warrant of the Constitution." Thus the opposing political parties, by their leaders, kept appealing endlessly to the same constitution for support of their wishes, just as con- flicting denominations among Christians keep appealing to the letter of the same Bible to support favored tenets. With suf- ficient skill both Constitution and Bible can be interpreted in such a way as to suit almost anybody. Then the appeal will have to be made to something, or somebody, higher than either Constitution or Bible. Where is the seat of authority in poli- tics as well as in religion? Is the free untrammeled voice of the people the voice of God? Is the consensus of the wisest and best the highest law? The rule of a thoroughly good and wise aristocracy, yes, of an unlimited ideal monarch, might be excellent, if such could be always found and placed in the seat of authority. A few men made our constitutions; a few jurists
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