USA > New Hampshire > History of New Hampshire, from its first discovery to the year 1830; with dissertations upon the rise of opinions and institutions, the growth of agriculture and manufactures, and the influence of leading families and distinguished men, to the year 1874; > Part 26
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The clergy of New England in their annual election sermons before the state legislatures were expected to indicate the wants of the people, to point out the blessings to be gained and the evils to be shunned by wise legislation. In Massachusetts res- olutions were passed requesting the clergy to enlighten the peo- ple on important public measures. No law affecting the general welfare could be enacted without their aid ; even the recruiting officers besought the eloquence of the pulpit to promote enlist- ments. New Hampshire, though not so rigidly Puritan as the colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts, yet followed the ex- ample set by her elder sister in church and state. The Fast- Day sermon never failed to enumerate the sins of the people, national and individual ; the Thanksgiving sermon called on all classes to praise God for his goodness, and the Election sermon revealed the political wants of the state and taught the law- makers their responsibility to God. So the ministers of the " standing order " became politicians in the highest and noblest
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sense. They sought to make human law identical with the di- vine. They were followers of Washington and Adams and were nearly all federalists. When a new party arose friendly to the French and hostile to the English, the ministers, through dread of French atheism and love of English protestantism, became active partisans and thus lost their influence in the state. When the republicans gained the ascendency the ministers were virtu- ally disfranchised, and many can remember the time when it required great heroism in a clergyman to go to the polls.
Edward St. Loe Livermore, a distinguished jurist and states- man, said in 1808, in a public address : "It is a happiness for our country to observe that the ministers of religion are truly federal, and only two solitary exceptions can be found in New Hampshire. These are rare birds very like unto black swans. How can other ministers exchange with them or admit them into their desks? Why do they not have councils upon them and have them dismissed? It is conceived that ministers should be of pure morals and sound orthodoxy, at least as to the funda- mental principles of the religion of Christ, and that a council would dismiss them for deficiency in either ; and are they not the humble followers of infidels, and by their example, words and actions doing all in their power to promote the cause of Antichrist ? Let ministers and people consider these proposi- tions and answer as they please."
CHAPTER LXX.
PURITAN INFLUENCE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Supposing the Puritans to have been such and so great as they have been represented to be, what has New Hampshire to do with them? Much every way ; for though the early settlers of this state were neither Puritans nor Pilgrims, their laws, schools, religion and government were patterned after those of Massa- chusetts, and were thus a legitimate legacy from puritanism. What was good or bad in the one state was equally good or bad in the other. The two states were under one government for nearly two generations of men ; and that, too, in the infancy of our republic, when the younger state would naturally imitate the older. Such was the result. The town, the school, the church and the state were identical in the two republics. New Hamp-
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shire, therefore, quarried the corner stones of its political and ecclesiastical structure from the mine of puritanism. Thus her origin was ennobled. The Puritans were simple in habits ; plain in dress ; bold in speech ; stern in morals ; bigoted in religion ; patient in suffering ; brave in danger ; and energetic in action. But what have the clergy done for New Hampshire ? Let us in- quire what has been done in morals, religion and education ; .and whatever that is is chiefly due to them. Ministers of the gospel have been the originators and promoters of educational institutions. The common schools have been cherished, super- intended and elevated by them. Academies have been built and sustained by their fostering care. It is hardly probable that an instance can be found in the history of our state, where an institution of learning, a social library, a lyceum or a literary association has been established without the active and constant support of the clergymen of the place. Ministers have been the models in style, pronunciation and delivery whom all the young lovers of oratory have imitated. The college was founded by a clergyman, and has, with a single exception, been presided over by clergymen. Its most active supporters have been from that profession. During the years of its sore trial, when the state attempted to seize its franchise, its chief defenders were Con- gregational clergymen. Dr. McFarland, at the risk of reputa- tion and usefulness, sometimes wrote two columns a week in de- fence of the old board and their measures. Others fought in the same battle and with similar peril. The clergyman in every town has been among the first to discover and encourage rising merit among the sons and daughters of the flock. Hundreds of young men have received a liberal education through the aid and counsel of faithful pastors, who otherwise might have remained for life "mute and inglorious" upon their native hills. Dr. Samuel Wood of Boscawen, during his long, successful ministry, fitted at his own home more than one hundred young men for college. Those who could not immediately pay one dollar a week for board and tuition he trusted ; to some indigent stu- dents he forgave their debt. Upon the subjects of morals, religion, reforms and revivals it is superfluous to speak in this connection. To recite what has been done in these respects by the ministers of all denominations would require a complete history of the moral and spiritual progress of the state from its origin. The other learned professions have been co-workers with them ; but it is not my purpose to speak of them here and now. By such agencies as I have indicated New Hampshire has risen to an honorable rank among her sister states. Her schools, academies and churches compare favorably with those of other more attractive portions of our country.
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CHAPTER LXXI.
INTERNAL CONDITION OF NEW HAMPSHIRE FROM 1805 TO 1815.
The political revolution which transferred the government of the state in 1805 from the federalists to the republicans produced no serious disturbance among the citizens. Party spirit had previously run so high that it could scarcely have been increased without breaking out in open violence. The majority in favor of the change was so large that the defeated party yielded gracefully to the decision of the people. Prior to this date the important offices of the state had been held by the same incum- bents for many years in succession. A kind of official aristoc- racy had grown up in the community. John Taylor Gilman had held the office of governor eleven years. Governor Langdon, his successor, was a Revolutionary patriot, and had been during a large part of his life in high official stations. Joseph Pearson had been secretary of state for nineteen years. This fact reveals the confidence of the legislature in his integrity and competency for the station. He was succeeded by Philip Carrigain. Na- thaniel Gilman was elected treasurer in place of Oliver Peabody. Hon. Simeon Olcott, one of the senators in congress, was re- moved by death, and Nicholas Gilman was chosen to succeed him. He was the first republican elected to either branch of congress since the advent of the new party to power in New Hampshire. Most of the senators and representatives from New England were still of the federal party. The legislature, after an appropriate reply to the governor's message and an ex- pression of "their utmost confidence in the virtuous and mag- nanimous administration of President Jefferson," proceeded to consider the local interests of the state. An English professor of history says that we can best ascertain the true social and political condition of any people by inquiring what are the laws, and who made them? Let us apply this test to the present epoch. The new administration made no violent innovations. The old laws for the most part remained in force. Among the new enactments was a statute prohibiting the circulation of pri- vate notes as a medium of exchange, and another limiting all actions for the recovery of real estate to twenty years. Pre- scription by common law had for centuries been regarded as a valid title to land and hereditaments. The length of time nec-
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essary to constitute a title against adverse claimants had not before been determined in New Hampshire by statute. If a person had occupied lands "under a bona fide purchase " for six years, he could not be ejected by the true owner without the recovery of his betterments if he chose to appeal to the court for protection. Laws were also passed regulating the internal police of the state, appointing guardians of indolent, profligate and intemperate persons, regulating the making and selling of bread, the inspection of beef and the collection of damages caused by floating lumber. At the same session of the legisla- ture, provision was made for the division of the towns into school districts, with special regard to the convenience and edu- cation of the entire population. Thus the common school, with its untold blessings, was brought into the neighborhood, if not to the very door, of every citizen of the state; and the school- house, usually placed in the geographical centre of the district that owned it, not only served as a seat of learning for the chil- dren, but was often used by the parents for political, judicial and religious purposes. Here the local caucus, the justice court and the infant church helped to educate the common mind in policy, law and religion. Themes of the highest interest to church and state have often been thoroughly discussed and wisely decided in these primitive homes of science and litera- ture. In them, also, the inventors, discoverers and legislators of the state received their elementary, sometimes their entire education.
By the legislature of 1805, The New Hampshire Iron Factory Company, at Franconia, was incorporated. This very useful institution maintained a healthy and progressive existence for many years, and did much to develop that most necessary of all the useful ores, and to advance the permanent prosperity of the surrounding country. Recently, on account of the high price of personal labor, its operations have been suspended.
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CHAPTER LXXII.
CAUSES OF THE SECOND WAR WITH ENGLAND.
England and France had been waging with one another an internecine war. Each of these powerful nations forbade neu- tral powers to trade with her mortal foe. Great Britain, by her orders in council, interdicted our trade with France. Bona- parte, by way of retaliation, decreed capture and confiscation to all American vessels trading with England. Our ships and their cargoes became the plunder of both nations. British cruisers boarded our vessels and impressed all seamen who could not prove that they had not English blood in their veins. They also blockaded our harbors and, in one instance, attacked and disabled an American man-of-war while quietly riding in our own waters. The insolence of England became intolerable. She had no peer upon the high seas. Her navy consisted of more than a thousand men-of-war, while the Americans had only seven effective frigates and perhaps fifteen sloops-of-war. It was not in the power of the Americans to protect her merchants or chas- tise her enemies ; she therefore retained her vessels at home by an embargo.
On the expediency of this measure the country was divided. The federalists, who were inclined to apologize for the aggres- sions of England, bitterly assailed the law. The suspension of all commerce, the enhanced prices of imported articles, in- creased the popular discontent, and although the legislature of 1808 voted an address to President Jefferson approving of his entire policy, yet the people in the August election of members of congress reversed that decision. A federal delegation was elected, and in the following November federal electors for pres- ident were chosen. The politics of the state were again changed. In the spring of 1809 the republicans lost their ascendency in the town elections. Jeremiah Smith, the federal candidate, was elected governor by a majority of about two hundred votes. The council was still republican. In the legislature the power of the federalists was supreme. Moses P. Payson was made president of the senate, George P. Upham speaker of the house, Nathaniel Parker secretary of state, and Thomas W. Thompson treas- urer. These were all prominent men in the history of the state. Mr. Thompson was afterwards elected to the senate of the United States. The governor-elect was one of the ablest men
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our state has produced. He was a native of Peterborough, and for several years had discharged the duties of chief justice of the superior court of New Hampshire with distinguished ability.
On the fourth of March, 1809, Mr. Madison was inaugurated president of the United States. He pursued the policy of his predecessor with slight modifications. The embargo was so un- popular that the administration deemed it wise to change the name though they retained the principle. They made a law pro- hibiting all commercial intercourse with France and England, with a proviso that in case either of those countries should re- peal their injurious edicts against American commerce the non- intercourse act should at once cease with respect to that nation. This law, of course, relieved our government of the blame of re- stricting trade, and made the foreign powers responsible for their aggressions upon a neutral nation. This change of policy produced a corresponding change in New Hampshire. In 1810 the republicans resumed their power and Governor Langdon was reëlected by a majority of more than one thousand. Every de- partment of the state government was again in the hands of the republicans. William Plumer, formerly a distinguished federal- ist but now an ardent supporter of the doctrines he once op- posed, was chosen president of the senate, and Charles Cutts speaker of the house. Mr. Cutts belonged to the distinguished family of Portsmouth whose founder was the first president of the province of New Hampshire in 1679. Charles Cutts, during the session in which he was speaker, was elected to the senate of the United States. In 1811 the same party was victorious.
In 1812 Gov. Langdon retired from public life in consequence of the infirmities of age. He enjoyed, in his quiet home at Portsmouth, the respect and reverence of a grateful people. His revolutionary services were never forgotten. His declining years were solaced by the kind intercourse of friends and the conso- lations of religion. He took a deep interest in the circulation of the Bible and contributed liberally to the funds of the New Hampshire Bible Society, of which he was one of the founders.
Party spirit was now at its height. The controversies about men and measures were exceedingly bitter, often malignant. About this period a new political power arose in the state in the person of Mr. Isaac Hill and in the issues of the New Hamp- shire Patriot, of which he was the editor. Mr. Hill, having spent the first fourteen years of his life upon a farm, was apprenticed to Mr. Joseph Cushing, publisher of the Amherst Cabinet, in 1802. There he devoted himself with increasing assiduity to labor and study. Every leisure moment was given to reading, writing and debating, and by this self-culture he made himself one of the most accomplished journalists of our country. In
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April, 1809, when he had obtained his majority, he removed to Concord and purchased a paper called The American Patriot, which had been edited by William Hoit, jr., for about six months, and changed its name to "The New Hampshire Patriot." The first number of this paper bears this motto : " Indulging no pas- sions which trespass on the rights of others, it shall be our true glory to cultivate peace by observing justice." Mr. Hill was an uncompromising republican. Speaking of the federalists in his introductory address he says :
" Theirs is the cause of Great Britain, inasmuch as they coincide with and justify her aggressions on the principles of right and justice, on the laws of nature and of nations; theirs is the cause of our enemy, because they stig- matize our government in every act, whatever its tendency, and because no subterfuge, however mean, is left unessayed to incite to distrust and oppo- sition. In our views of foreign nations we shall treat alike French injustice and British perfidy. While we consider the latter as far outstripping the former, we cannot but dwell with more emphasis on that power who has ability and inclination to do us much injury than upon him who, though he have enough of the last, has comparatively little of the first requisite to mo- Jest us. We cannot forget the murder of our citizens, the impressment of our seamen, the seizure and confiscation of our property and the many in- sults and menaces on our national flag."
When we remember that these charges were literally true, and that history his confirmed them, we do not wonder at the strong language which so often flowed from his pen. In the nine years preceding the war nine hundred American vessels had been cap- tured and condemned in British courts, and more than six thou- sand seamen had been taken from American vessels and trans- ferred to English ships or imprisoned ! In our day public sentiment is as sensitive as an aspen leaf to the slightest breeze of English insolence. The seizure of a single American citi- zen, contrary to the rules of international law, would be deemed a sufficient cause for official interposition. We cannot wonder, therefore, that our fathers, sixty years ago, deeply felt the "bit- ter, burning wrongs " which England for years persistently in- flicted upon our country. For several years after Mr. Hill became an editor there were only two republican papers in the state, while there were ten supported by the federalists. The new champion of republicanism warred almost alone. He was the Ulysses of the party, a man of great sagacity, energy and perseverance. After the clouds which obscured the vision of contemporaries have been lifted, history pronounces Mr. Hill a wise statesman and an honest patriot. Like all political par- tisans he was severe, sometimes unjust, to opponents, but his heart was true as the needle to the pole to what he deemed the best interests of the country. His fellow-citizens showed their approbation of his course by bestowing upon him, for many years in succession, the highest honors in their gift.
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CHAPTER LXXIII.
RECORD OF NEW HAMPSHIRE DURING THE WAR FOR "SAILORS' RIGHTS."
War was declared against Great Britain by the United States on the eighteenth of June, 1812. Congress and the people were nearly equally divided on the question of an appeal to arms. The declaration was carried by a small majority. Sec- tional interests influenced the minds of voters. The South and West favored the war. New England was generally opposed to it. Manufactures were then deemed of little importance com- pared with the commerce and fisheries of that section of the country. It was thought that war would ruin the prosperity of New England ; hence the violent opposition of the wise and wealthy citizens of the North. Lawyers and legislators, teachers and authors, merchants and ministers, denounced the war and its supporters. The dissolution of the Union was then regarded as necessary to the welfare of New England. Opinions in favor of secession were freely expressed in private and in public, by indi- viduals and assemblies. The Federalist convention, held in Boston on the thirty-first day of March, 1811, resolved that the non-intercourse law, just then passed, "if persisted in must and will be resisted." Jeremiah Mason, the ablest lawyer our country has produced, said to Mr. Plumer, in August, 1811 : "The federalists of Massachusetts will make a great effort at the next spring elections ; and if they fail, they will forcibly re- resist the laws of congress." "Resistance," said Dr. Parish, in April, 1811, "is our only security."
Josiah Quincy, in January, 1811, speaking of the bill for the admission of Louisiana, in congress, said : "If this bill passes, it is my deliberate opinion that it is virtually a dissolution of the Union ; that it will free the states from their moral obliga- tions ; and, as it will then be the right of all, so it will be the duty of some, to prepare definitely for a separation,-amicably if they can, violently if they must. The bill, if it passes, is a death- blow to the constitution. It may afterwards linger ; but, linger- ing, its fate will, at no very distant period, be consummated."
Allen Bradford wrote to Elbridge Gerry, under date of Octo- ber 18, 1811 : "If our national rulers continue their anti-com- mercial policy, the New England states will by and by rise in their wonted strength, and with the indignant feelings of 1775,
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sever themselves from that part of the nation which thus wickedly abandons their rights and interests." These sentiments, uttered by leading men of New England, were not the hasty ebullitions of party spirit, but the deliberate expressions of matured con- victions. Disunion was not merely a threat, but a purpose, with many influential opponents of the war. In the spring of 1812, William Plumer, who had formerly advocated the views of the federal party, but, like John Quincy Adams and other distin- guished statesmen, had become an earnest and conscientious op- ponent of them, was brought forward for governor. His former friends, who accused him of apostasy, assailed him with un- stinted censure and acrimony. The federalists nominated again John Taylor Gilman, a gentleman of the old school, a man of high purpose, firm resolve and sterling integrity. His great popularity, from former services and revolutionary memories, gave him decided advantage in a political canvass. The parties were so nearly balanced that there was no election by the peo- ple ; but in the convention of the two houses, on the fourth of June, 1812, Mr. Plumer was chosen governor by one hundred and four votes against eighty-two for Mr. Gilman. The house was republican.
The governor entered at once upon the discharge of the du- ties of his new station, and worked in perfect harmony with the existing administration. A few brief extracts from his diary will show what he did in support of the war. Under date of June 23, he writes : "In the evening, I received by an express, a letter from Major-General Dearborn, stating that he was offi- cially informed that the government of the United States had declared war against Great Britain, and requesting me to order out one company of artillery and one of infantry of the de- tached militia, and place them under command of Major Up- ham of the United States army at Portsmouth, for the defence of the sea-coast."
June 24 : " I issued orders to General Storer to order out the troops, in conformity with this requisition." July 7 : "Last even- ing, I received a requisition from General Dearborn to send one company of detached militia to defend the northern frontier of the state. To-day I issued orders to General Montgomery to call them out from his brigade, and station them at Stewartstown and Errol." July 21: " I issued an order to General Storer, requiring him to send one company of the detached infantry of his brigade to Portsmouth harbor, and to detach a suitable major to take command of the troops at Forts Constitution and McClary ; and also to General Robinson to send one company of the detached artillery from his brigade to the same place, for the defence of the sea-coast."
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These military requisitions profoundly agitated the minds of the quiet citizens of the state. Words had passed into acts ; and prophecy had become reality. The fiery eloquence of in- dignant patriots now flashed from the sword and bayonet, and were soon to speak in thunder tones from the mouths of cannon.
"Ah! then and there was hurrying to and fro,"
and by the fireside, in the streets, and in all places of concourse, men talked of war and its consequences. The generation then upon the stage knew its horrors only by tradition and history ; and when a son of a family or a hired man was "drafted" to guard the sea-coast or frontiers, the household bewailed him as one dead.
Governor Plumer, in his first message to the legislature, pre- sented some new views with respect to corporations, which have since been adopted in the state by all parties. They are found in the following extract : " Acts of incorporation have within a few years greatly increased in this state ; and many of them, being of the nature of grants, cannot with propriety be altered without previous consent of the grantees. Such laws ought therefore to be passed with great caution ; many of them should be limited to a certain period, and contain a reservation authorizing the legislature to repeal them whenever they cease to answer the end for which they were made or prove injurious to the public interest." This is sound doctrine and deserves to be inscribed in letters of gold on every state-house and hall of legislation in the land. In reply to the governor's call for men and means to carry on the war, the legislature said : "We are all Americans ; we will cordially unite in maintaining our rights in supporting the constitutional measures of our government, and in repelling the aggressions of every invading foe." The citizens of New Hampshire were moved by the same patriotic spirit which actu- ated their representatives. They flocked to our national stand-
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