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 28
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* He received twenty thousand six hundred and fifty-two votes; and his opponent, Mr. Sheafe, received eighteen thousand three hundred and twenty-six. This was the largest pop- ular vote that had ever been cast in the state. The increased interest of the citizens in the annual elections is indicated by the larger number of votes in proportion to the population. In 1790, only one vote in seventeen of the inhabitants was thrown for the chief magistrate; in 1800, one in eleven ; in 18ro, one in seven, and in 1816, one in six.
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violence of party feeling was gradually subsiding, and " the era of good feelings " was dawning upon the state.
The summer and autumn of 1816 were uncommonly cold. The mean annual temperature in the southern part of the state was 43°. Snow fell upon the ninth of June, even upon the sea- board ; and the month of August alone was free from frost. The crops were destroyed by the severe cold, and the people be- came disheartened and began to covet serener skies and a more fertile soil. Ohio was then inviting immigrants, and the citizens of New Hampshire began to desert the sterile farm, the harsh climate and humble homes of their native state for the more genial air and richer soil of the new states. That process of depletion has been steadily acting ever since; and, during the last decade of our history, New Hampshire has lost instead of gaining population. The great West and the rising manufactur- ing towns have both drawn so largely upon the agricultural dis- tricts, that they are now declining in numbers and wealth; and some of the less productive portions of the state are fast falling to decay.
In a republic it is natural that those who administer its affairs should wish their friends to occupy all places of trust and power. "To the victors belong the spoils" is now the law of American politics. When a party falls from power all the officials in the state, from governor to door-keeper, retire to private life. All laws offensive to the new party are at once repealed. The martyrs of the minority become the heroes of the majority. When the republicans came into power in 1816, they immediatly proceeded to redress the wrongs, private and public, real and imaginary, which the federalists had perpetrated during the war. The judiciary received early attention. The law of 1813, estab- lishing the supreme judicial court, was promptly repealed ; and the judges who owed their places to this law were deprived of their dignity. William Merchant Richardson, Samuel Bell and Levi Woodbury, gentlemen eminent for their moral worth and legal learning, were raised to the bench of the superior court. Benjamin Pierce, distinguished for his revolutionary services and his private virtues, was restored to the office of sheriff of Hills- borough county. His new term of service was rendered mem- orable by a noble act of philanthropy. Three aged men were then lying in Amherst jail for debt. No crime but poverty was alleged against them. One of them had been in durance four years. The veteran Pierce was moved with pity at their helpless condition. He paid the debts for which they had been impris- oned. The sum required made large inroads upon his limited estate ; still he decreed and executed the liberation of the unfor-
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tunate debtors and received the hearty commendation of every contemporary whose heart was not embittered by party hate .*
Josiah Butler, the other sheriff who refused compliance with the law of 1813, and Clifton Claggett, one of the degraded judges, were nominated for congress. Mr. Evans, who was also removed from the bench, would have been honored with the others, had not his failing health rendered him incompetent to the discharge of high official duties. Thus the new party rewarded those who had led their "forlorn hope " when they were in the minority. In such cases "poetic justice " culminates in partisan gratitude. David L. Morrill and Clement Storer were elected to the United States senate in place of Jeremiah Mason and Thomas W. Thompson. The state then had six members in the lower house, all republicans ; and the electoral vote of the state was given for James Monroe, whose political principles were so liberal as to command the respect of all parties. In the summer of 1817, President Monroe visited New England and was received with unbounded joy by all parties. The zeal of the federalists in welcoming the chief magistrate of the nation was the subject of severe criticism in some of the republican journals. President Monroe proceeded as far north as Hanover in New Hampshire. We find the following record of incidents that occurred during this brief visit :
"At Enfield, in this state, the President called at the 'Habitation of the Shaker community.' The elder came forth from the principal house in the settlement and addressed the President : 'I Joseph Goodrich welcome James Monroe to our habitation.' The President examined the institution and their manufactures, tarried with them about one hour, and was highly pleased with the beauty of their fields, their exemplary deportment and habits, the improvements in their agriculture, buildings and manufactures, and with their general plain though neat appearance.
At Hanover he unexpectedly met with an old acquaintance in the widow of the late revered and lamented President Wheelock. This lady was a native of New Jersey, was at Trenton at the time of the Hessian defeat, in which our gallant Monroe took a part as lieutenant of a company and was wounded ; she was the person who dressed his wound after he was conveyed to the house in which she then was. The President did not recognize her at first, but as 'remembrance rose' the interview became peculiarly affecting to the two principal individuals, and highly interesting to the large circle of ladies and gentlemen present. A letter from a friend at Hanover remarks : ‘We
* The following notice of the liberation of these men appeared at the time in the Amherst Cabinet, December, 1818 :
THE PRISONERS SET FREE !- We are happy to announce to the public, that the poor pris- oners so long retained in Amherst gaol for prison-charges, viz., MOSES BREWER, ISAAC LAWRENCE and GEORGE LANCEY, were yesterday released from confinement and set free by the liberality of Gen. PIERCE, the newly appointed Sheriff of the county. The feelings of these inen on the occasion, whose prospects, but a few days since, were imprison- ment for life, can easier be conceived than described. The scene was witnessed by numer- ous spectators, who rejoiced with the released prisoners, and who felt glad with them that they were restored to liberty and breathed again free air. On liberating the prisoners fromn their confinement, General Pierce read to them a handsome and feeling Address, which he then handed to Captain Brewer, as their discharge, or 'passport,' as he kindly expressed it, from prison.
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were delighted with the short visit of the President. For his sake the hatchet was buried for at least twenty-four hours-a short truce, but a merry one.'
At Biddeford, Maine, the President was introduced to the venerable Dea- con Samuel Chase, now in the 99th year of his age. He addressed the Pres- ident with the simplicity of a Christian and the affection of a father. It was an interesting scene. The good old man at parting rose and with all the dignity of an ancient patriarch pronounced his blessing.
While at Portsmouth the President spent that part of the Sabbath which was not devoted to public, divine service, with that eminent patriot and Christian, John Langdon. His tarry at the mansion of Gov. L. was proba- bly longer than the time devoted to any individual in New England. It is thus that the President evinced his partiality to our most distinguished and illustrious citizen."
The state-house at Concord was built in 1817, at an expense of eighty thousand dollars. The citizens of Concord contributed liberally to the building fund. Governor Plumer recommended the state appropriation for this purpose in 1816. The location of the state-house excited a furious contest, not only in Concord but in the legislature and throughout the state. The old state- house had been nearer the north end of the main street. The dwellers in that vicinity were influenced by pecuniary considera- tions to demand of the legislature that the new building should stand upon the old site. The representatives who were their " boarders " were persuaded by them to adopt their interested views ; and, as Mr. Toppan of Hampton said, they became "the representatives of their respective boarding-houses, rather than of the state." The spot selected for the new house was de- nounced as "a quagmire and a frog-pond." Colonel Prescott of Jaffrey amused the house with an account of the frogs he had seen leaping about in the cellar, which might be expected at some future time, should the court be held there, " to make as much noise in it," he said, " as I do now." The council was divided on this momentous subject ; and Governor Plumer, whose in- fluence was supposed to decide the question, incurred great cen- sure from many of his political friends. He had become unpop- ular with some leading men of the republican party, though the people were still his warm supporters. Messrs. Morrill, Pierce, Claggett, Quarles and Butler were for various reasons unfriendly to him. Morrill as speaker of the house impeded his plans in the constitution of committees. Pierce and Quarles in the council also opposed him. Still his policy prevailed ; and for more than fifty years there has been no complaint of "croakers" in the cellar of the state-house ; but rather of those " that came up and covered " the upper floors.
In January 1817, John Quincy Adams, then minister to Eng- land, wrote a long letter to Governor Plumer in commendation of his message, of which he says :
" It was republished entire in one of the newspapers of the most exten-
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sive circulation, not as, during our late war, some of our governors' speeches were republished, to show the subserviency of the speakers to the bulwark of our holy religion and to the press-gang, but, professedly, for the pure, patriotic and genuine republican sentiments with which it abounded. It has been a truly cheering contemplation to me to see that the people of New Hampshire have recovered from the delusions of that unprincipled faction which, under the name of Federalism, was driving them to the dissolution of the Union, and, under the name of Washington, to British re-coloniza- tion-to see them returning to the counsels of sober, moderate men, who are biased by no feelings but those of public spirit and by no interests but those of their country."
He also bears unequivocal testimony to the moral effects of the late war, in which "our victories," he says, "have placed our character as a martial people on a level with the most respecta- ble nations of Europe."
Governor Plumer closed his official life in 1819, by declining a reelection. In the spring of that year, Hon. Samuell Bell of Chester was chosen governor by a large majority over William Hale of Dover, the candidate of the federalists. But little in- terest was manifested in the canvass. The storm of war had been succeeded by the calm of peace ; and party leaders, like exhausted athletes, retired from the arena of controversy to re- cruit their strength for a new conflict.
CHAPTER LXXVII.
DARTMOUTH COLLEGE CONTROVERSY.
Eleazar Wheelock, the founder of Dartmouth college, was a man large in heart, prudent in counsel, sagacious in design and energetic in execution. He was a Puritan in creed and an evan- gelist in practice. He was a herald of modern revivals and anticipated the age of missions by nearly half a century. In the field of literary enterprise, he was gathering a harvest before other educators were aware that the seed-time had arrived. Hon. Nathaniel Niles, distinguished for his dispassionate judg- ment and eminent legal learning, a trustee of the college as early as 1793, a contemporary of the elder Wheelock and cognizant of the entire history of the college to the date of his record, in 1815, writes as follows :
"The venerable Dr. Eleazar Wheelock had, by his zeal, enterprise, ad- dress and indefatigable exertions, created an Indian charity school, and as- tonished everybody. He had procured for it great pecuniary resources and an extensive and powerful patronage. He had extensive views and a daring
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mind, and projected the conversion of it into a college in the wilderness. He applied for a charter, obtained it and fixed on Hanover, forty or fifty miles distant from all considerable settlements, for the place of its establishment. In any other man this would have looked like a wild and hopeless project, but what this wonderful man had already achieved produced a general con- fidence that he would succeed. I believe that no one of the trustees first appointed (himself excepted) lived within one hundred miles of this place, to which there was then no path that deserved the name of a road. They were part of them in Portsmouth and its vicinity and part in Connecticut. Probably all of them wanted confidence in their own abilitics to manage such a concern, and presumed, on the evidence of what he had already done, that he was equal to this prodigious enterprise, and said to themselves: 'Our wisdom directs us to permit him both to devise and execute his bold projects. We eannot do better than to rest satisfied with the encouragement we can give him by sanctioning his proposition.' It was wise in them to do so. Thus the management of everything, almost, was left to him, while the board took the responsibility on themselves. Such seem to have been the views of the trustees who were, at first, so distant as seldom to give a general attend- ance at the board. Additional circumstances gave the president a decided control in the board itself. One of his sons-in-law had been appointed a trustee by the charter. In 1773 Mr. Woodward, another son-in-law, and Dr. Burroughs, who looked up to the president as to an almost infallible judge, were elected, and in 1776 Mr. Ripley, another son-in-law, was elected. The votes of the members had generally the same effect as would have re- sulted from the president's having as many votes of his own, and formed a majority when there were present a bare quorum. These, except Mr. Pat- ten, were near at hand, while the other trustees were at a great distance and seldom attended. If the influence of the president was thus supreme in the board it was not less so in the executive. He had for his assistant instruc- tors two sons, two sons-in-law, and Dr. John Smith. The last was, in sort, adopted into his family, and had imbibed sentiments so profoundly obse- quious that he was probably never known, understandingly, to thwart any of the president's views; so that, in effect, the president had in his own hands the uncontrolled direction of all the elections, appointments, instruction and government in every department. His authority extended even beyond his life. He had been authorized to appoint his successor, and he did appoint his son, who had been a tutor for seven years and had witnessed the exposi- tion of the character exhibited by his father. In such circumstances it was extremely natural, if not almost unavoidable, for him, unless he had more than a common share of common sense and common modesty, to regard as devolving on himself all the powers which had been exercised by his prede- cessor. He was sole heir to his father, as to his office, and might perhaps honestly think he was also heir to his abilities. Besides there were circum- stances which strongly tended to create in him a belief that he was well qualified to copy his father's example, and therefore worthy of the same confidence, authority and preeminence. He had commanded a regiment in the army, and naturally felt in himself that spirit of domination incident to the military character. He, no doubt, thought he knew how to govern. Further, he had (according to his own account) the estecm and confidence of many great men in America, France and Great Britain. These items, united in one round sum, were enough to turn any man's head, unless he was something more than common. HIcre we see the occasion of the president's exorbitant claims and his dolorous complaints."
Slight differences of opinion between the second president and his colleagues sprang up from the very beginning of his adminis- tration. The matters in dispute were at first local and ecclesiasti-
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cal ; then literary and financial, and finally they became personal and official. They agitated first the church, then the village and faculty. They passed to the legislature and the state court, and finally, by appeal, the controversy was decided by the supreme court of the United States. The question at issue was supposed to involve the existence and usefulness of every eleemosynary institution in the country. In his pastorate in Lebanon, Conn., the first president of the college was a Congregationalist. When he came to Hanover he deemed it expedient in the organization of a new church to adopt the Presbyterian form of government. The Scotch fund for the education of Indians, in connection with Moor's Charity School, was of course controlled by Presby- terians ; and a cordial sympathy with the donors was thought to be essential to the highest success of their benefactions. Even at that early day the differences between the Congregation- alists and Presbyterians were regarded as no bar to the change of church relationship from one to the other. But it sometimes happens that very slight differences, even in external matters, lead to very grave disputes ; and the bitterness of the contro- versy is in the inverse ratio to its importance.
As we have no other authority, both contemporary and au- thentic, respecting the church difficulties in Hanover, we again quote from the careful, considerate and, in some sense, the official record of Judge Niles. He writes :
" At an early day, Dr. E. Wheelock collected a church at Dartmouth Col- lege. It may be considered as consisting of two branches, distinguished by the distance of their local situations; one of them being in the vicinity of the college and the other in Hartford, Vermont. This union took place while neither part was able to provide preaching for itself. After some time, however, the members living in Hartford erected a house for public wor- ship, and generally supported preaching in it, while those near the college assembled for worship, with the members of college, first in the chapel and afterwards in the meeting-house. Yet they celebrated the Lord's supper, sometimes at Hanover and sometimes at Hartford, and although they thought themselves Presbyterians, they often found it convenient to have church meetings. They met on occasion of the election of Dr. Worcester as pro- fessor of Divinity, and passed several votes expressive of their being, and designing to continue to be, Presbyterians, and that Dr. Smith was, and that they chose he should continue to be, their pastor. This was an offensive disappointment to the body of professors and others on the Plain. They had on some account become dissatisfied with Dr. Smith, both as pastor and teacher, although they loved him as a man and as a neighbor ; and having expected that the professor of Theology, when one should be appointed, would be both teacher and pastor, and the election of Dr. Worcester being highly pleasing to them, they found themselves greatly disappointed in their hopes by these votes, which they suspected had been passed with a view to prevent the professor-elect from accepting the appointment, and still to hold them unpleasantly confined under the administration of Dr. Smith."
Dr. Worcester having declined to accept the professorship tendered to him, Roswell Shurtleff was elected to that chair in
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1804. This appointment by the trustees put a new face upon the controversy. A majority of the church members resided in Hartford. It was in their power to control, by major vote, all the plans of those who resided in Hanover. A long correspon- dence ensued ; various propositions were made by the minority ; but all were rejected. That portion of the church and congre- gation who resided upon the Plain, with few exceptions, desired that Prof. Shurtleff should officiate as colleague to Dr. Smith. This request was preferred to him in September, 1804. He de-
clined the invitation. Then the Hanover branch of the church requested the Hartford branch to allow Prof. Shurtleff to receive " ordination at large " and take the pastoral care of the Hanover people, while Dr. Smith should continue to officiate at Hartford. This proposition was declined. Then the Hanover branch peti- tioned for a mutual council to determine whether two churches should be formed, by a local division, leaving one in New Hamp- shire and the other in Vermont. This petition was rejected. Thereupon the Hanover people called an ex parte council to ad- vise with them concerning their difficulties. The council recom- mended a division. This result was not accepted by the Hart- ford people. The trustees were requested to interpose their official power and settle the dispute. They so far succeeded as to secure a mutual council, who said : "We judge it expedient that there be but one church at present in connection with Dart- mouth College, denominated as formerly, consisting of two branches, one on the east side and the other on the west side of Connecticut river, under the same covenant as heretofore ; that each branch have an independent and exclusive right of admit- ting and disciplining its own members ; that each branch, also, have the exclusive privilege of employing and settling a minister of their own choice; " with other exclusive rights and powers to be enjoyed by each branch, as though it constituted a distinct and separate church. This decree of council was variously in- terpreted ; the Hartford branch claimed, under its provisions, supremacy in the government of the entire church; and the Hanover branch claimed independency, from the same authority, and procceded to adopt a congregational form of government. We quote from Judge Niles :
" Those members of the church living in Hanover, and who had been formed into a Congregational church, after having in vain solicited the church to which they belonged to unite with them in calling a council to enquire into the expediency of a division, invited an ex parte council for advice ; and afterwards at the desire of the president, Mr. Shurtleff was allowed to ex- change with other ministers, with an exception of those clergymen who, as the sketcher expresses it, 'dared to encroach on Presbyterian ground, to inter- fere with its government, extract its members to form them into a new eccle- siastical machine.' Here is a just portrait of the president's own liberal catholicism. A number of his brethren thought themselves oppressed, and
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believed it would contribute to their comfort and edification to become a dis- tinct church, and wished for counsel and advice respecting the subject. They wished to have the concurrence of their brethren in the choice of the coun- selors, but this was refused. They called in a council of ministers, and these ministers are prohibited from preaching at Hanover. For what? Why because they had 'encroached on Presbyterian ground.' What did they do? They interfered with presbyterian government, by counseling some of its subjects, who said they were opposed. So then, these brethren must remain in their present connexion, unless they should go an hundred miles to find a Presbytery to whom they might complain; and ministers of the gospel must, as to the president, be silenced, because they dared to encroach on Presby- terian ground."
The president, John Wheelock, * and Prof. John Smith who was acting as pastor of the old church, still favored the presbyterian form of government and were opposed to the new church. Here was planted a seed which grew and became a mighty tree whose branches, in some sense, overshadowed the whole land ! " Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth." From 1804 to 1814, the controversy was chiefly local, disturbing the harmony of the village church and impeding the vigorous administration of the college, both in the faculty and board of trust. At the latter date the public became interested in the quarrel, and began to take sides as their political or religious preferences inclined. During the whole of the year 1815 the press in New Hampshire probably devoted as much space to Dartmouth College as to political matters. In some instances the leading journals of the state devoted five or six columns to original articles pertaining to the college controversy. The parties mutually charged each other with bigotry, intolerance and hypocrisy. The dispute soon became political in its character ; and federalists and republi- cans became earnest defenders of particular forms of ecclesiasti- cal government. The republicans in this case were generally Presbyterians, and the federalists Congregationalists. The for- mer assailed, the latter defended, the action of the majority of the faculty and trustees. At the June session of the legislature in 1815, President Wheelock called on that body to redress his wrongs real and imaginary. The following extract from his "Memorial" contains the charges preferred by him against the trustees. Speaking of himself, he says :
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