USA > New Hampshire > New Hampshire and Vermont : an historical study > Part 4
USA > Vermont > New Hampshire and Vermont : an historical study > Part 4
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was not to be exercised for the time being; but pe- titions were soon received from the inhabitants of New York praying that Vermont might exercise jurisdiction without further delay. These last un- ions were more remarkable than any former effort in that direction, being accomplished while New York and New Hampshire were using every effort in their power to extend their claims over the whole terri- tory of Vermont.
When New Hampshire, New York and Massachu- setts, were seeking to absorb the territory of Ver- mont, there was little or no sympathy manifested for either state outside of its own limits; but when Vermont turned the tables upon all of them, by lay- ing claim to a large portion of New Hampshire and New York, its policy, though aggressive, met with so much favor that 35 towns in western New Hamp- shire and 10 districts in eastern New York, were represented in the Assembly of Vermont, June 16th, 1781.
On the 20th day of August Congress passed a re- solve setting forth that the people inhabiting the territory called Vermont, as preliminary to their admission into the federal union, should relinquish all demands or claims of jurisdiction on the east side of the west bank of Connecticut river, and also its claim west of a line 20 miles east of Hudson's river.
In October the Assembly of Vermont convened at Charlestown, N. H., and the resolve of Congress was presented and rejected on the ground that it would
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become necessary to break faith with New Hamp- shire in order to comply with the provision of Con- gress. Vermont, however, expressed a willingness to submit the boundary question to a commission.
New York became thoroughly frightened by the proceedings of Congress, and its Legislature claimed that that body had no right to intermeddle with matters of jurisdiction except in cases of dispute be- tween two states already in the union, nor to admit even a British colony, except Canada, without the consent of nine states, nor to create a new state by dismembering one of the thirteen United States, without unanimous consent of the invaded state ; and against all such procedure they entered a sol- emn protest. At this time Gov. Chittenden opened correspondence with Gen. Washington, claiming that Vermont had been driven to desperation by the in- justice of those who should have been her friends. This correspondence was interrupted by the appear- ance of new and more threatening danger.
The Sheriff of a New Hampshire county which had been admitted to a union with Vermont, in- formed Gov. Chittenden that New Hampshire was preparing to compel those who had formed a union with Vermont, to conform to the authority of New Hampshire. While this excitement was at fever heat, the authorities of New York were trying to suppress what they called an insurection among the citizens who had united with Vermont. This new feature in public affairs made lively work for the
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inhabitants of the New Hampshire Grants, and at one time it looked as though Vermont might have its life squeezed out between New Hampshire and New York. They were all badly frightened at the prospect of civil war, but their relations with Great Britain furnished an outlet for their belligerent ten- dencies till better judgment overruled the passions of the hour.
The Commander-in-chief of the American army was much troubled by the contest between these states, and on the 1st day of January, 1782, he re- plied to Gov. Chittenden, advising Vermont to con- fine its jurisdiction to its old limits, and thereby obtain an acknowledgment of independence by vir- tue of the resolution of the 20th of August, 1781.
In February, 1782, the Assembly of Vermont met at Bennington, and the letter of Gen. Washington was there presented, and it was agreed to comply with his suggestion, whereupon the Assembly resol- ved. "That the foregoing recommendation be com- plied with, and that the west banks of Connecticut river, and a line beginning at the northwest corner of the State of Massachusetts; from thence north- ward twenty miles east of Hudson's river, as specified in the resolutions of Congress in August last, be con- sidered as the east and west boundaries of this State. That this Assembly do hereby relinquish all claims and demands to, and rights of jurisdiction in and over any and every district of territory without said boundary lines."
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The delicacy about encroaching upon the good faith of New Hampshire had been forgotten by Ver- mont, and the eastern union, which she had declared should be held sacred, was dissolved in a summary manner; and by a like process the western union was also terminated.
Vermont having thus complied with the resolves of Congress, proceeded to take measures for her ad- mission into the union of states. The application was refused, and the people of Vermont began to suspect that Congress was not inclined to deal with them as had been intimated ; but they continued to appoint agents to perfect arrangements for admis- sion. Congress withdrew the continental troops, leaving the frontier exposed to the encroachments of the enemy. Vermont thus shorn of much of her political power, and essentially weakened in her means of defence, so long as she should exist outside of the Federal Government, still continued to assert her independence by declaring that she had as good a right to the same as Congress, and as much au- thority to pass resolutions prescribing measures to Congress as Congress had to give directions to her.
Some of the enemies of Vermont had been ban- ished and their estates confiscated; and Congress demanded that full restoration should be made be- fore the state could be admitted. New York was using every effort to keep Vermont out of the union, and the controversy between these three pow- ers continued till October 28th, 1790, when the As-
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sembly of Vermont, under advice of commissioners from both the states, agreed to pay $30,000 to New York in settlement of all matters between them in relation to boundary lines; and Vermont was ad- mitted as a State, Feb. 18th, 1791., at which time all controversy with New Hampshire, New York and Massachusetts, was brought to a close.
Such has been the history of the unions, secessions and disunions of New Hampshire and Vermont, in early times. It may be easy to criticise New Hamp- shire for the part she took in furnishing material for this history. We may claim that Gov. Wentworth was a trespasser and a swindler; but if such was the fact, what shall we say of those who bought and paid for their lands in good faith, with a view to make themselves homes, establish institutions of learning, and receive further light in civilization ? Are they to be censured for forming unions with a friendly ally, without reference to jurisdiction or boundary lines, when an unrelenting enemy with tomahawk and scalping knife in hand, stood ready to invade their peaceful firesides? If they met in secret conclave or open convention, resolving to do a work which they were unable to perform, are they to be looked upon with contempt for changing their course, their resolution, or their vote ? Are they to be blamed for dissolving an unsatisfactory union and and forming another more complete and beneficial ?
I might set forth in detail the action of the several towns on both sides of the river in relation to these
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unions, and delineate some of the scenes and per- sonal encounters of those stirring times; but none of them, nor all combined, would change your opin- ion in relation to the honor and fidelity of the early patriots of New Hampshire. Without means of ready communication, liable to be surprised at any moment, day or night, by an uncivilized and dan- gerous foe, their willingness to unite with their friends and neighbors for the common defence was a virtue not to be despised ; and the struggles they endured in behalf of their families, their homes and firesides, were not prompted by a spirit of invasion, nor the allurements of conquest.
After the dissolution of the eastern and western unions, in 1782, New Hampshire took but little in- terest in what transpired between New York and Vermont, or between both those states and Congress. This was not an unnatural course to pursue, for she had acquired an extensive territory not included in the grant to John Mason, which defined the actual territory of New Hampshire. Nor is there anything connected with the entire history of the New Hamp- shire Grants beyond the comprehension of an intel- ligent mind, or that could not be satisfactorially ex- plained and accounted for, would time permit. Had New Hampshire been settled exclusively by the English as far west as the Connecticut river, Ver- mont by natives of Massachusetts and Connecticut, and New York by the Dutch, the unions, secessions and disunions, now seeming so peculiar to the local
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historian, would never have occurred; and whoever traces out the genealogy of the races who inhabited this territory previous to 1780, will find a key to all the strange problems with which the historian has been perplexed.
It is true that the inhabitants of the New Hamp- shire Grants were a peculiar people. They were adventurers, seeking homes in the wilderness, sur- rounded by hostile and warlike tribes who sought to overwhelm and destroy the unprotected colony. They acknowledged no superior authority, except God, the king, and the Continental Congress. They enjoyed freedom of speech, an uncontaminated at- mosphere, and plenty of hard work. They erected their rude dwellings, churches and school houses, subdued the forests, and planted the germ of a high- er civilization. The sunlight that had gilded the mountain tops through the lingering decades of un- recorded ages responded to the march of improve- ment, and the valleys were made to blossom like the rose. Their integrity, their honorable bearing towards all men, their brave conduct in times of peril, their fidelity to the most complete liberty of mind and conscience, together with an unfaltering faith in energy, perseverance and self reliance, made them a terror to all tyrants, and champions of the highest type of freedom.
No settlement was ever made on the habitable globe by a more stern and conscientious race than were the rustic pioneers who established their homes
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within the jurisdiction of the New Hampshire Grants. Many of them had before been familiar with pioneer life, earning day by day their scanty meal and home- spun raiment,-destitute of every luxury except a clear conscience, and willing to spend their lives for the benefit of religious freedom, liberal education and good morals. They were quick to resent an injury, but ready to repair a wrong; and sometimes, with slight cause, they entered the arena of strife in behalf of state or country; and- the daring deeds they performed at Ticonderoga and Bennington, give a peculiar charm to American history.
Whether they espoused the cause of New Hamp- shire, Vermont or Massachusetts, let the annals of a great empire continue to glow with the recorded valor of these illustrious men.
6:2
MR. WEBSTER'S REMARKS
AT THE
NEW HAMPSHIRE FESTIVAL,
BOSTON, NOV. 7TH, 1849.
[ Copyright Secured.]
.
CORRECTION - page 3, last line, for dextra read dextram.
SPEECHES
OF THE
HON. DANIEL WEBSTER,
OF MASSACHUSETTS,
DELIVERED AT THE
festival of the Sons of New hampshire,
IN BOSTON, NOV. 7TH, 1849.
PHONOGRAPHIC REPORT BY DR. JAMES W. STONE,
PRESIDENT OF THE BOSTON PHONOGRAPHIC REPORTING ASSOCIATION.
BOSTON: JAMES FRENCH, 78 WASHINGTON STREET,
1849.
F842.41
OLD DICKINSON OFFICE, C. C. P. MOODY, PRINTER, NO. 52 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON.
P17714
MR. WEBSTER'S REMARKS
AT THE
NEW HAMPSHIRE FESTIVAL,
BOSTON, NOV. 7TH, 1849.
RESIDENTS of Boston and its vicinity, native born of New Hamp- shire ! we meet here to-day in honor of our native State, to com- memorate and record our grateful affection for her ; to acknowledge the obligation that we all feel under for her care and nurture in our early days. Coming into this, another State, we have not brought with us all our affections, or all our attachments.
We have invited to meet us many distinguished citizens of New Hampshire. They have answered our invitation, and have come in numbers. It may be considered properly the duty of the place I occupy to bid them, one and all, welcome. [Applause.] Welcome, ye of New Hampshire origin, from every part and quarter of our native State ! If you come from the pleasant valleys of the Con- necticut and Merrimac, welcome ! Are you from the sea-shore and the lakes of Strafford ? welcome ! Come ye from the Monadnock and the sides of the Crystal Hills ? welcome ! welcome ! WELCOME ! [Cheers.]
It was not in my power, Gentlemen, to meet you in the Hall of the State House before dinner. But I meet you here, and in the name of us who have prepared this celebration, I greet our guests, and in my own name. I greet all. I think they say the Chinese have a heathenish custom, when they meet, for one to shake his own hands to his friends. That is not our custom. Let us be more classical ; Cur dertræ jungere dextra non datur.
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Let us follow the English and the Saxon custom, and shake hands with our friends. I give my hands to the friends next me. Let us embrace, more majorum, and have a good hearty shaking of hands. [Great cheering, while Mr. Webster shakes hands with those near, and his example is followed by the company.]
Gentlemen, all the world admits that identity of local origin is a tie of connection and sympathy, especially if it be strengthened by early association, by the meeting with one another in the school- house, and in the early society of life. In the morning of life, the heart opens all its sympathies to those around it, and receives im- pressions which are deep and lasting. We have migrated from one State to another. Our migration has not, indeed, been far. Nor have we come among strangers; nor have we had a new tongue to learn, new principles to imbibe, new affairs of life to pursue ; but, nevertheless, we have changed our allegiance ; we have changed our citizenship; we have changed our social re- lations. New Hampshire men once in all these respects, we have ceased to be New Hampshire men now in every thing, but grateful remembrance and affections for the past.
To-day we meet to resume, for the time, the feelings which belong to us, as citizens of New Hampshire ; to put on the New Hamp- shire character, and see how well it may fit us here, in the metrop- olis of the State, to which we have come. Gentlemen, our lot is propitious ; singularly, remarkably, propitious. We are the native sons of one State, we are the adopted children of another, and we are proud of both. [Warm applause.] We desire not to forget whence we came, and Heaven forbid that we should forget where we are. We have met, I say, to commemorate our native State. We value it according to its merits, which we believe high and hon- orable. We value it for what Nature has conferred upon it, and for what its hardy sons have done for themselves. We believe, and we know, that its scenery is beautiful ; that its skies are all healthful ; that its mountains and lakes are surpassingly grand and sublime.
If there be any thing on this continent, the work of Nature, in hills, and lakes, and seas, and woods, and forests, strongly attract- ing the admiration of all those who love natural scenery, it is to be found in our mountain State of New Hampshire.
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It happened to me latterly to visit the northern parts of the State. It was Autumn. The trees of the forests, by the discolor- ation of the leaves, had presented one of the most beautiful specta- .cles that the human eye can rest upon. But the low and deep murmur of those forests ; the fogs, and mists, rising and spreading and clasping the breasts of the mountains, whose heads were still high and bright in the skies, all these indicated that a wintry storm was on the wing; that the spirit of the mountains was stirred, and that ere long the voice of tempests would speak. But even this was exciting; exciting to those of us who had been witnesses before of such stern forebodings, and exciting in itself as an exhibition of the grandeur of natural scenery. For my part, I felt the truth of that sentiment, applied elsewhere and on another occasion, that
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"The loud torrent and the whirlwind's roar, But bound me to my native mountains more."
[Applause.]
Ours is not one of the richest of the States. It does not compare with Massachusetts in its facilities of mercantile or commercial oc- cupation and enterprise. Its soil is sterile and stubborn, but the resolution to subdue it is stubborn also. Unrelenting rocks have yielded, and do yield, to unrelenting labor ; and there are produc- tiveness, and health, and plenty, and comfort, over all her hills and among all her valleys. Manly strength, the nerved arm of free- men, each one tilling his own land, and standing on his own soil, enjoying what he earns, and ready to defend it; these have made all comfortable and happy.
Nor need we be ashamed of her literary, her religious, or her social institutions. I have seen, and others of my age have seen, the church and the school-house rise in the very centre of the forest, and stand and be visited in the midst of winter snows. And where these things lie at the foundation and commencement of society, where the worship of God, the observance of morals, and the cul- ture of the human mind, are springs of action with those who take hold of the original forest, to subdue it by strong arins and strong muscles, depend upon it, no such people ever fail. [Seu- sation. ]
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Everywhere, everywhere, on her hills and rivers, are the school- houses. The school-house ; who shall speak of that all over New England as it ought to be spoken of? Who shall speak, as they ought to be spoken of, of the wisdom, and foresight, and benevo- lence, and sagacity of our forefathers, in establishing, as a great public police for the benefit of the whole, as a business in which all are interested, the great system of public instruction ? The world had previously seen nothing like it. But the world, in some parts, has since copied from it. But where, when you talk of fos- tering Governments. of guardian Governments, of Governments which render to subjects that protection which the allegiance of subjects demands ; where is it, I ask, that, as here with us, it has come to be a great and fundamental proposition, existing before constitutions, that it is the duty, the bounden duty, of Governments composed by the representation of all, to lay the foundation of the happiness and respectability of society, in universal education? If you can tell me such a country out of New England, I would be glad to hear of it. I know of none. I have read of none. [Ap- plause.]
Gentlemen, the inhabitants of our New Hampshire mountains were, it must be confessed, from the first, rather inclined to the in- dulgence of a military spirit. I believe that that is common to mountainous regions in most parts of the world. Scotland and Switzerland show the example of hardy, strong men in mountainous regions, attached to war and to the chase ; and it is not unfortunate in our New Hampshire history, that this sentiment, to a considera- ble degree, prevailed. For the position of the country, and the state of the people called for its exercise. We know that New Hampshire was settled in all its frontier towns, under circumstances of the most dangerous and difficult nature and character. It was a border State. It bordered on the Indians and on the French ; names and nations always coupled together in the language of our fathers as common enemies to them. This exposed the frontier men, of New Hampshire especially, to perpetual war ; to perpetual danger at least of war, and its frequent occurrence. People for- get ; they forget how recent it is, that the interior, the border country of New Hampshire, was settled and reclaimed, and made safe from Indian depredation. All the world reads that New
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England is the oldest part of the United States, or one of the old- est. It has been looked upon as the longest settled. But, in regard to the frontiers of our native State, the settlement has been recent. Even up to the time of the birth of some of us now living, there was some degree of danger from Indian depredations and Indian wars; liability to Indian assaults, murders, and burnings.
Whole generations, at least one entire generation, tilled the land and raised their bread with their arms in their hands, or in the fields with them at their labor. We do not now appreciate the diffi- culty of those frontier settlements ; because subsequent prosperity and security have obliterated the recollection.
The pioneers of more fortunate countries in our day, what are their dangers compared with those of our fathers ? They go to a mild climate. They go to a fertile land ; and they have behind them a powerful Government, capable of defending them against the foe, of protecting their interests, and of redressing the wrongs they may suffer. It was not so with our fathers in New Hamp- shire. There, on the border were the Indians, and behind the Indians were the hostile French. It was in this situation of border danger and border warfare, and border strife and border suffering, that our ancestors laid the foundation of the State from which we come. .
In the language of Fisher Ames, "It is not in Indian Wars that heroes are celebrated ; but it is there they are formed. No enemy on earth is more formidable, in the skill of his ambushes, in the suddenness of his attack, or in the ferocity of his revenge." Not only was this foe to be encountered, but also a civilized State at enmity with us behind the Indians, supplying them with means, and always ready to purchase the victims that they could bring for sale to Canada ; this was the condition of things in which the fron- tiers were settled. Let it be added, that half the year was winter, and that on the surface of the snow, encrusted by frosts, bands of savages, coming from a distance of two hundred miles, suddenly appeared and set fire, at midnight, to the houses and villages of the settlers.
It was in this discipline, it was in these Indian Wars, it was especially in the war of 1756, against the French, in which almost every man in New Hampshire, capable of bearing arms, bore arms;
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it was here that the military spirit of the country, the bravery, the gallantry of these mountain inhabitants were all called forth. They were a people given to the chase and to the hunt in time of peace ; fitted for endurance and danger, and when war came, they were ready to meet it. It was in the midst of these vicissitudes that they were formed to hardihood and enterprise, and trained to mili- tary skill and fearlessness.
As one example out of many, I might refer to Gen. John Stark, well known for his military achievements in all the wars of his time. A hunter in peace, a soldier in war ; and as a soldier, always among the foremost and the bravest. [Applause. ] And since he is brought to my remembrance, let me indulge in the recollection of him for a moment.
Gen. Stark was my neighbor ; the neighbor and friend of my father. One in a highly important, the other in a less distinguished situation ; they had seen military service together, and had met the enemy in the same field. It was in the decline of Stark's life, com- paratively speaking, when the Revolutionary War broke out. He en- tered into it, however, with all the manliness and all the fervor of his youthful character. Yet, in his advanced age, like other old men, he turned back fondly to earlier scenes ; and when he spoke of the "war," he always meant the old French and Indian war. His re- membrances were of Canada ; of the exploits at Crown Point, and Ticonderoga, and Lake George. He seemed to think of the Revo- lution as only a family quarrel, in which, nevertheless, he took a warm and decided part ; but he preferred to talk of the "war" in which he was taken by the Indians, as he was more than once, I think, and carried to Canada. The last time I saw him, he was seated around a social fire with his neighbors. As I entered, he greeted me, as he always did, with affection; and I believe he complimented me on my complexion, which he said was like my father's ; and his was such, he said, that he never knew whether he was covered with powder or not. [Laughter.] The conversation turned, like other conversations among country neighbors, upon this man's condition and that man's condition ; the property of one, and the property of another, and how much cach was worth. At last, rousing himself from an apparent slumber, he said, " Well, I never knew but once what I was worth. In the war, the Indians
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took me, and carried me to Canada, and sold me to the French for forty pounds ; and, as they say a thing is worth what it will fetch, I suppose I was worth forty pounds." [Laughter. ]
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