USA > New Hampshire > Strafford County > History of Rockingham and Strafford counties, New Hampshire : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 140
USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > History of Rockingham and Strafford counties, New Hampshire : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 140
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be permitted to say that the measure of my ambition will be full if when my earthly career shall be finished and my bones be laid beneath the soil of New Hamp- shire, when my wife and children shall repair to my grave to drop the tear of affection to my memory, they may read on my tombstone, 'Ile who lies be- neath surrendered office, place, and power rather than bow down and worship slavery.' "
The scene which followed can be imagined but not described, as round after round of applause greeted this close. At the end of the canvass in September, with three candidates in the field, there was again no election. A second effort in November ended with a like result. No other attempt was made until the annual March election of 1846, when full tickets were placed in the field by the Democrats, Whigs, Free- Soilers, and Independent Democrats. The issue of no more slave territory was distinctly made, and a can- vass such as the State had never known before, in which Mr. Hale took the leading part, resulted in a triumphant vindication of his course and the complete overthrow of the Democratic party, which was beaten at all points. Mr. Hale was elected to the House from Dover on the Independent ticket, and on the opening of the session was made Speaker of the House of Repre- sentatives, and during the session was elected United States senator for the full term of six years. During this session of the Legislature an incident took place which exhibited the independent spirit of the man. Dr. Low, a member from Dover, introduced resolu - tions upon the tariff, slavery, and annexation, taking the ultra-Whig view of the tariff question, and in- tended to bring Mr. Hale and his friends to their sup- port as the condition upon which he could have the vote of a considerable portion of the Whig party. But instead of yielding his convictions for the con- sideration of their support, he and his friends de- clared they would submit to no shackles; they had fought successfully against the tyranny of one polit- ical organization, and no allurements of a senatorship should stifle their convictions and bind their judg- ment to the dictations of another. Much excitement followed, but the counsels of the liberal Whigs pre- vailed. The resolutions were not called up until
Mr. Pierce, who had few equals as a speaker, saw the marked effect of Mr. Hale's address, and spoke | after the senatorial election, when Mr. Hale left the under great excitement. He was bitter and sarcastic Speaker's chair and offered amendments, which were adopted after a strong speech by him in their favor. He was supported by his old friend and instructor, Daniel M. Christie, of Dover, also a member of the House, who had done much to quiet the opposition and induce it to vote for Mr. Hale. in tone and matter, and domineering and arrogant in his manner, if not personally insulting. The conven- tion was wrought up to the highest pitch of excitement when Mr. Hale rose to reply. Ile spoke briefly but effectively, and closed by saying,-
The hearts of the friends of liberty all over the country were filled with joy at the auspicious result of this first victory over the slave power after repeated, prolonged, and excited struggles both before the peo- ple and at the polls. Mr. Ilale entered the Senate in 1847, and for two years stood alone with unfalter- ing courage, battling the aggressive measures of the slave power with surpassing eloquence, keen wit, un-
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failing good humor, and boundless resources for any and every emergency. He drew the attention of the country during this session by the telling blows he struck for the great cause of human freedom, to which he dedicated all the noblest powers of his mature manhood. He stood fearless against every threat and all combinations. It was of his debates during his first senatorial term, after his return from Spain, broken in health, that Charles Summer said to the writer, " Poor ITale ! It is sad to see his manly form crippled and shrunken. He stood up bravely and alone before the rest of us got there to aid him, and said things on the spur of the moment that will last and be remembered when the labored efforts of the rest of us are forgotten." Chase, of Ohio, a sturdy son of New Hampshire, came to the Senate in 1849 to stand beside him, and two years later, in 1851, Sum- ner, of Massachusetts. They constituted a trio of great ability, but were treated as interlopers and re- fused positions on the committees of the Senate, for the reason. as alleged by Bright, of Indiana, that " they belonged to no healthy organization known to the country."
One of the first debates in which MIr. Hale distin- guished himself after entering the Senate was on the admission of Oregon, when he proposed to add the ordinance of 1787 excluding slavery, which drew on a fierce debate. When accused of provoking a "useless and pestiferous discussion," he told them with his accustomed good-nature that he was "will- ing to stand where the word of God and his con- science placed him, and there bid defiance to conse- quences."
Early in April, 1848, the year of popular upheav- ings and revolutions in Europe, President Polk sent a message to Congress, announcing in glowing terms the uprising of the French people, the peaceful over- throw of the monarchy, and the establishment of a republic. Resolutions were introduced in the Ilouse of Representatives tendering their warmest sympathy with the struggling patriots, and expressing the hope " that down-trodden humanity may succeed in break- ing down all forms of tyranny and oppression." Similar resolutions were introduced in the Senate. Speaking on the question in a sad strain, Mr. Hale said, --
" I have sometimes thought, in dwelling upon the history of this republic, that I have seen indications, fearful and fatal, that we were departing from the faith of our fathers; that instead of living true to the first principles of human liberty which we have proclaimed we were cutting loose from them ; that the illustra- tion we were about to give of the capability of man for self-government was to be the same as that of all other nations that have gone before us; and that after our failure the hope of freedom would indeed be ex- tinguished forever. But in the dawning of this revo- lution in France I behold the sun of hope again arise, his beams of golden light streaming along the eastern
horizon. I am now inspired by the hope that even if we fail here, if liberty should be driven from this her chosen asylum, the divine principle would still live and would find a sanctuary among the people of an- other land, and when our history shall have been written, and our tale told, with its sad moral of our faithlessness to liberty, boasting of our love of free- dom while we listened unmoved to the elanking of chains and the wail of the bondmen, ,even then, in a continent of the Old World, light would be seen breaking out of darkness, life out of death, and hope out of despair."
There was a municipal celebration of this event in Washington, with torchlight procession and other out- door demonstrations, the houses of the President and heads of the departments being illuminated. During these demonstrations the schooner " Pearl" came to Washington loaded with wood, and when she left took away seventy-seven slaves. Such an exodus caused great commotion, and an armed steamer was sent in hot pursuit, which overtook the schooner at the mouth of the Potomac and brought her back with her ill-fated company. The greatest excitement pre- vailed, and out of it came a mob, which, after partially exhausting its fury, started for the office of the Na- tional Era to destroy it, but were frustrated in their purpose. In Congress the excitement was as fierce and intense as outside. In the House the debate was especially bitter. In the Senate Mr. IIale offered a resolution, copied from the laws of Maryland, provid- ing that any property destroyed by riotous assem- blages should " be paid for by any town or county in the district where it occurs." Mr. Calhoun was "amazed that even the senator from New Hampshire should have so little regard for the Constitution of the country as to introduce such a bill as this without including in it the severest penalties against the atro- cious act which had occasioned this excitement," ... and he " would just as soon argne with a maniac from Bedlam as with the senator from New Hampshire on the subject." Foote, of Mississippi, denounced the bill " as obviously intended to cover and protect negro- stealing." Turning to Mr. Hale he said, " I invite him to visit Mississippi, and will tell him beforehand in all honesty that he could not go ten miles into the interior betore he would grace one of the tallest trees of the forest with a rope around his neck, with the approbation of every honest and patriotic citizen ; and that, if necessary, I should myself assist in the operation." Jefferson Davis and Butler, of South Carolina, joined in the attack upon him in the same strain, while he stood alone. Mr. Hale explained his purpose in introducing the resolution, and in replying to the assaults said, "The notes of congratulation sent across the Atlantic to the people of France on their deliverance from thralldom have hardly ceased when the supremacy of mob law and the destruction of the freedom of the press are threatened in the capital of the nation." Referring to Foote's threat-
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ened reception in Mississippi, he invited the senator to visit " the dark corners of New Hampshire, where - the people in that benighted region will be very happy to listen to his arguments and engage in the intel- lectual conflict with him, in which the truth would be elieited." Turning to Calhoun he said, "It has | down and stirred them. . .. As for myself, I glory in the name of agitator."
long been held by you that your peculiar institution is incompatible with the right of speech ; but if it is also incompatible with the safeguards of the Constitu- tion being thrown around the property of the Amer- ican citizen, let the country know it. If that is to be the principle of your action, let it be proclaimed throughout the length and breadth of the land that there is an institution so omnipotent, so almighty, that even the sacred rights of life and property must bow down before it. There could not be a better oc- casion than this to appeal to the country. Let the tocsin sound ; let the word go forth." He further told Calhoun that it was "a novel mode of terminat- ing a controversy by charitably throwing the mantle of a maniac irresponsibility upon one's antagonist." Adjournment elosed the discussion, and the Senate refused to take it up afterwards.
In December, 1850, Mr. Foote, of Mississippi, in- trodueed a resolution declaring it to be the duty of Congress to provide territorial government for Cali- fornia, Deseret, and New Mexico. Mr. IIale offered an amendment that the ordinance of 1787 should be applied. It was during the debate which followed that Mr. Webster made his 7th of March speech. During the discussion Mr. Hale occupied two days in an argument vindicating the measures and acts of the anti-slavery men. Replying to Mr. Webster, he said, " Yet the senator declares he would not re-enact the laws of God. Well, sir, I would. When he tells me that the law of God is against slavery, it is a most potent argument why we should incorporate it in a territorial bill."
In closing he said, " And firmly believing in the providences of God, we trust the day will dawn in this country when the word ' slavery' shall be a word without a meaning, ... when any section of the Union will join hands with another in spreading abroad the principles of humanity, philosophy, and Christianity, which shall elevate every son and dangh- ter of the human race to that liberty for which they were created and for which they were destined by God. These opinions, sir, we entertain, and these hopes we cherish ; and we do not fear to avow them, here, now, always, and forever."
Mr. Hamlin and Mr. Hale presented petitions for the repeal of the Fugitive Slave Act, one of which was referred to the judiciary committee. A debate sprung up on a motion for reconsideration, which gave rise to a spirited controversy. Butler, of South Carolina, declared he " was tired of casting impediments in the stream of anti-slavery agitation ; they might as well attempt to put a maniac asleep by lullabies." Mr. Hale in reply said "agitation was the great ele-
ment of life. It gave birth to the Revolution and the Constitution, and none but those who hug fatal errors have anything to fear from that life-giving element, which will impart its healing as did the waters at the beautiful gate of the temple when the angel had gone
The period of greatest interest in Mr. IIale's sena- torial career centres around his first term, when he stood alone, or almost alone, in the thick of the con- fliet, undaunted, and dealing blows to the oppressor on every side. There were no weak places in his ar- mor, and neither threats, attacks, or allurements could shake his constaney. When this term expired the Democratic party had obtained control in New Hampshire ; but two years later, in 1855, they lost it, and Mr. Hale was again elected for four years, to fill a vacancy occasioned by the death of Charles G. Atherton. He was again re-elected for a full term in 1858. He was conspicuous in this term for his integ- rity and fearless independence in exposing the mal- administration and extravagance of the navy de- partment, while acting as chairman of the naval committee of the Senate.
Mr. Hale was nominated as the Free-Soil candidate for the Presidency in 1847, but declined after the nomination of Mr. Van Buren at the Buffalo Conven- tion in 1848. He was again nominated for President by the Free-Soil Convention in 1852, with George W. Julian for Vice-President, and received at the No- vember election 155,850 votes.
At the close of his senatorial career, in 1865, Mr. Hale was appointed minister to Spain by President Lincoln, and was absent five years, much of the time in ill bealth. He came home with a broken consti- tution. His health, which had always been perfect up to the time of the well-remembered National Hotel sickness, was never so good afterwards.
He lived to see the full triumph of his efforts to rid the land of slavery, and the freedmen placed as citi- zens with the ballot under the protection of the Con- stitution, and died Nov. 19, 1873, bearing with him the blessing of millions who had been raised from the sorrow and degradation of human servitude, and of millions more who had admired his unselfish fidelity to the cause he had espoused, and his unwavering in- tegrity.
CHARLES WILLIAM WOODMAN is a son of Jere- miah II. Woodman, Esq., and was born in Rochester, Dec. 7, 1809. His law studies he completed under the tuition of his father and others, having graduated at Dartmouth College in the class of 1829. He opened an office in Somersworth in 1833, but removed to Dover the next year, and has resided there ever since. He was solicitor for Strafford County from 1839 to 1844; judge of probate from 1846 to 1853; judge of the State Circuit Court of Common Pleas from 1854 to 1855, when the court was abolished. He has rep- resented the city of Dover in the General Court in
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the years 1861 and 1862, and again in 1878 and 1879. He has long been a commissioner of the Circuit Court of the United States, and is still in full practice in Dover.
FRANCIS COGSWELL belonged to a family of some note in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. He was born in Atkinson, Dec. 21, 1800, and was the son of Dr. William Cogswell, an officer in the Revolution. Graduating from Dartmouth College in the class of 1822, he chose the law for his profession, and read in the office of Stephen Moody, Esq., of Gilmanton. Ile made his first essay in practice in Tuftonborough, then changed to Ossipee, and in 1834 went to Dover as clerk of the courts. In 1842 he quitted the law, and was agent of a manufacturing corporation in Andover, Mass. Subsequently he became cashier of a bank, and later a director of the Boston and Maine Railroad. In 1856 he was chosen president of that corporation, and administered its important affairs for twelve years with ability and prudence. He held various positions of trust, and was much esteemed and respected. Ile died Feb. 11, 1880, at Andover.
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JOHN H. SMITHI was a son of John Smith, of Roches- ter. He studied law in that place with J. H. Wood- man, Esq., and entered the practice at Centre IIarbor in 1824. Staying there but a short time he went to Conway for a while, and then returned to Rochester, where he resided until 1838, and then moved to Dover. While in Rochester in 1832 he was chosen a repre- sentative in the General Court. In 1841 he received the appointment of clerk of the courts in Strafford County, a position which he retained through his life. He was killed in the terrible railroad collision at Meredith, Oct. 7, 1852.
GEORGE THOMAS WENTWORTH, son of Isaac Went- worth, was born at Dover, Oct. 17, 1814, and was an attorney-at-law in that place for many years. He also held the office of town clerk from 1845 to 1850, and that of postmaster under Presidents Tyler and Fillmore. He died July 3, 1874.
AMASA ROBERTS, son of Ephraim Roberts, of Far- mington, was born there March 2, 1814. He took his bachelor's degree at Dartmouth College in 1838, and studied the profession of the law in the office of Hon. Charles W. Woodman, of Dover. There he be- gan practice and permanently resided. He was town clerk of Dover from 1853 to 1856, and register of pro- bate in 1867 and 1868. He died in Dover, May 8, 1877.
continued about four years, and then went into Mas- sachusetts, where he held the office of trial justice, returning afterwards to his native town of Wakefield, where he still resides.
Mr. Sawyer was postmaster of Sandwich many years ; was assistant clerk of the New Hampshire Senate in 1846; solicitor of the county of Carroll from 1857 to 1862, and repeatedly by special appointment afterwards ; and representative in the State Legisla- ture in 1859 and 1860.
Ile is among the oldest members of the bar in the State, but is blessed with vigorous bodily and mental powers, and still practices his profession.
JOHN RILEY VARNEY was descended from a vig- orous ancestry. William Verney, or Varnie, of Ips- wich, Mass., the immigrant ancestor, died in Salem, Mass., in 1654. His son, Humphrey Varney, was "received an inhabitant" in Dover, N. H., Aug. 2, 1659. He married Sarah, daughter of Elder Edward and Catharine Starbuck. Their son, Peter Varney, was born in Dover, March 29, 1666-67. His son, Benjamin Varney, married Mary Hussey as early as 1720. Their son, Moses Varney, born about 1724, was married in 1750 to Esther Chick. Among their children was Moses Varney, born May 10, 1762; mar- ried, in 1782, Mercy Cloutman. Of their ten chil- dren was James Bowdoin Varney, born in Rochester, N. Il., July 17, 1784; died in Dover, March 22, 1838. He married, April 14, 1812, Sarah Byles, daughter of John and Mary Riley, of Dover. The fourth of their seven children was John Riley Varney. He was born in Dover, March 26, 1819. The house where he was born stood on what is now the extension of Washington Street, opposite the new No. I mill. Ilis early education was in the public schools of Dover. He then became a clerk in the store of Messrs. Alden & Morse, but soon determined that he would have a college education, and for this purpose he entered the Franklin Academy of Dover, fitted for college, went to Dartmouth, and graduated in 1843, taking the first or second position for scholarship in his class. While in college he taught school during his vacations, and after his graduation taught in the Franklin Academy for two years. He then took up the occupation of civil engineer, and continued in it for ten years. Here the very strong mathematical bent of his mind had full play in the solution of those problems which enter into the laying out of railroads. Ile was employed for a considerable time in surveys and measurements for a route through the great forest region of New York.
LUTHER DEARBORN SAWYER, son of Timothy Sawyer, was born in Wakefield, March 7, 1803. He In 1856 Mr. Varney became clerk of the court for Strafford County, remaining in office four years. He was then chosen professor of mathematics in Dart- mouth College, in which position he remained three years. His extraordinary capabilities in this depart- ment of science were very fully conceded. But it was with him as it was with others of like greatness was educated at Phillips' Exeter Academy and Bow- doin College, from which he graduated in 1828. His profession he studied with Messrs. Sawyer & Hobbs, and he was admitted to practice in 1832. Ile began business in Ossipee, and remained there, with the exception of about a year that he was in Sandwich, until 1859, when he removed to Dover. There be in mathematical science,-as it was with Prof. Chase,
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John Rlarney
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of Dartmouth, and Benjamin Pierce, of Harvard,- his mind worked with great intuitive rapidity, leap- ing at conclusions over vast distances, which to the ordinary student in mathematics must be slowly bridged by successive stages of proof and reasoning. In 1863 he was admitted to the bar, and became the partner of Hon, John P. Hale, of Dover. He served in this town as postmaster for four years. He was a member of the Legislature in 1856 and 1857, and was secretary of the Naval Committee at Washington in 1862 and 1863. He was register of probate from the death of William C. Woodman until 1874, and two years after was reappointed to the office. IIe also served the city as its police judge for five years, and as a member of the Board of Education for four years. In 1868 Mr. Varney became a joint proprietor and editor of the Dover Enquirer, and subsequently of the Daily Republican. These last three positions he was filling at the tinte of his death. He was also deacon of the First Church.
"These are the outlines," wrote Dr. George B. Spalding, in his discourse preached at the funeral of Mr. Varney, May 5, 1882, " which mark the course through which the public life of Mr. Varney for these forty years has run, without ambition at all commen- surate with his powers, or at all equal to the services which he has rendered to this community in every department of its interests, he has served on with diligence, with faithfulness, leaving a record which will shine brighter and brighter through the days to come, of a life of true manliness, consistency, and purity.
" Mr. Varney bore about with him two natures, and they were most singularly opposite. He was large in physical stature, but every nerve tingled with life. He was as active in body as any child, buoyant and bounding in step. And that other nature, his intel- lectual, was built on the same grand scale as was his physical, but the fires beneath it were further down and burnt slowly. It took the winds of great occa- sions to breathe through the slumberous mass; and when they did, no man in all the community could flame out to better effect. If you turn the leaves of the Dover Enquirer, now and then you will strike an editorial which is really masterful in the force of its logic, in the fullness of its fact and information, in the clearness and felicity of its language, and the elo- quence of its appeal. Articles written for the Christ- mas weeks of the Enquirer's issue, in beauty of thought, in rhythmic flow of words, in tender pathos, and re- joicing faith are gems in literature. Ilis mind was logical. His judgment was clear. His opinions were unmistakable. He had an intense zeal for any cause he represented, for he carried to an unusual degree his moral and even religious convictions into every cause he espoused. It was the moral part in him that kindled into heat and activity his intellectual forces. He believed that his party was right, hence he battled for it with an intensity that provoked per-
sonal opposition. He believed that his church was right, hence he was loyal to its every interest, to its very name, down to the core of his being. lle be- lieved that his friends were good, hence he was im- patient and indignant when others spoke aught against them. And yet in all the antagonisms which he met or challenged there was no bitterness in his soul, no lingering vindictiveness in any part of his nature. He had a love for everybody, and some of the more special acts of kindness were performed for those who had sought to do him injury. lle was a man of purest taste, of cleanest speech. Ile abhorred profanity, irreverence, and impurity of every kind. He was pitiful and charitable to an uncommon degree. In his office of police judge he had very large discretion granted him in his adjudication of criminal eases. More than the judge on a higher bench he had oppor- tunities to mingle mercy with justice. It was not the majesty of the law that he kept so much in mind as the moral saving of the culprit. I have been told by others, who knew him in this very important sphere of our public interests, that often, when as magistrate, be sat like one inflexible, when nothing else could move him, the tale of suffering which further exam- ination disclosed would melt his heart. How many poor sinners have found their discharge from him, as with hearty, touching tones he has said, 'Don't do it again.' His last official act, which was performed within an hour of his death, was a judicial decision in which the kindly instincts of his heart triumphed over the undue severities of the law in the case. ' Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.' How soon was the beatitude accomplished for him !
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