USA > New Hampshire > Sketches of the history of New-Hampshire, from its settlement in 1623, to 1833: comprising notices of the memorable events and interesting incidents of a period of two hundred and ten years > Part 19
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174
HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE
[1805
of Amherst, Attorney General of the State, who had been an active and influential member of Congress. The Hon. Sam- uel Livermore, one of the first settlers of Holderness, an em- inent lawyer, who was successively Attorney General, Chief Justice of the Superior Court, and for ten years a distinguish- ed member of the Senate of the United States, died in 1803. 'The Rev. Daniel Emerson of Hollis, who accomplished a ministry almost unequalled in length, extending from 1743 to the commencement of the present century, deserves respectful remembrance on account of the piety of his life, and the usefulness of his labors. Doct. Joshua Brackett of Ports- mouth, closed a useful life in 1802, having been a distinguished physician and naturalist, Judge of the Maritime Court during the revolution, and the successor of Gov. Bartlett in the Pres- idency of the Medical Society. " Such was his regard to the poor, that he never made a charge for his professional servi- ces, where he supposed that payment would occasion the least inconvenience. The Hon. Matthew Thornton was a native of Ireland, and was brought by his parents, when he was a child, to Wiscasset in Maine. He afterwards became a resident of Worcester, Ms .; and having acquired a Medical education, settled in Londonderry as a Physician. Amid the agitations and perils of 1775, he rose to the Presidency of the New-Hampshire Convention. Being soon after elected to Congress, his name has the honor of an enrolment among the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He sustained a variety of important offices, and lived to an advanced age .- The last twenty-five years of his life were passed at Merri- mac, in a rural abode on the bank of the river. Having gone in 1803 on a visit to Newburyport, he was there arrested by death. His decease was followed in a short space by that of the Hon. Bezaleel Woodward, Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in Dartmouth College; and also of the Rev. Doct. McClintock of Greenland, highly esteemed by his cotemporaries as a patriot and Divine.
To these brief memorials will be added notices of two other individuals, whose deaths occurred in 1805. Judge Pickering of Portsmouth was a lawyer of much celebrity, and for many years one of the prominent men of his day. Not only had he an important agency in the formation of the Constitution of New-Hampshire ; but at a later period,his eloquence had no small influence in procuring the ratification, on the part of this State, of the Federal Constitution. After the resignation of the Chair by President Langdon on his election as one of the Senators of New-Hampshire in Con-
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PERIOD IX .- 1784-1805.
gress, Mr. Pickering, as senior Senator, presided over the State the remainder of the year. As a candidate for the chair in the election of 1790, he was defeated; but was afterwards appointed Chief Justice of the Superior Court, and Judge of the United States' Court for the District of New- Hampshire. In his last years he was afflicted with mental derangement, and exhibited the affecting spectacle of a bright intellect in ruins !
The Hon. John Dudley, a native of Exeter, and afterwards a resident of Raymond, was a self-made man, and furnislies a striking instance of the triumph of laborious diligence over the defects of early education. He arrived at adult age with no other education than having learned to read, and lived as an hired laborer with Col. Gilman, grandfather of Gov. Gil- man. It has been well said that in " those good old times, there was not such an insuperable barrier between the kitch- en and the parlor, as modern wisdom or pride has erected ; " yonng Dudley was admitted into the family circle, and from an association with intelligent men, derived a fund of political and general information, to which he continued to make ad- ditious through a long series of years. His merits introduced him into public life. During the revolutionary war he was the Representative of his town in the Legislature, a member of the Committee of Safety, and the confidential friend of President Weare, Doct. Bartlett, and other patriots of the day. His sound practical wisdom and integrity at length elevated him to a seat on the bench of the Superior Court, which he held with reputation till the infirmities of age admonished him to retire. Much of his time after his retirement was de- voted to the reading of the Holy Scriptures, "in which he took great delight; often remarking, that he found new evidence of the truth of the christian religion whenever he opened his Bible." In his disposal of the evening of his life, he exem- plified the saying of an eminent statesman, who on being asked after his retirement from office, how he contrived to fill up bis time ? replied, that to look back on a long life, and forward to a long eternity, was employment sufficient to occupy his few remaining years.
PERIOD X.
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FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF GOV. LANGDON'S ADMINISTRA- TION IN 1805, TO THE YEAR 1833.
The political change which had transferred the control of the State government into the hands of the republican party, occasioned no great interruption of the harmony of society- as the minority yielded a ready submission to the will of the majority. Gov. Langdon retained the chair for several years, and conducted the Executive department with wisdom and moderation. He was happy in an association with successive Legislatures of political views coincident with his own, and the various departments of the government moved on harmo- miously, and acceptably to the majority of the people.
On the sixteenth of June, 1806, was presented to the eyes of the people of New-Hampshire in common with millions of others, the sublime spectacle of a total eclipse of the sun near mid-day. For a short space this luminary was entirely obscured ; during the greatest darkness, the sky was perfectly serene, the stars were visible, the, birds sang their evening lays, and the animals betook themselves to their nocturnal retreats. The return of the light was instantaneous, presenting on one edge of the solar orb a luminous thread of incomparable brilliancy.
Through the whole duration of the royal government in New-Hampshire from 1680 to 1775, a period of almost a cen- tury, Portsmouth was the permanent seat of government .- From the commencement of the revolutionary war, and on- ward through a period of more than thirty years, the Legis- lature was a migratory body, holding its session in different sections of the State, as the public convenience and the equal distribution of political privileges seemed to require. It met in Exeter, Portsmouth, Concord, and Hopkinton, frequently: in Dover, Amherst, Charleston, and Hanover, once in each place. Some efforts had been made to fix the seat of gov- ernment at Hopkinton ; but they failed of success. As a com-
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PERIOD X .- 1805-1833.
1808.]
pliment to Gov. Langdon, the December session of 1805 was holden at Portsmouth, the place of his residence. The June sessions of 1806 and 1807 were at Hopkinton. At the close of the last of these sessions, the Legislature adjourned to meet the next year at Concord, and from this place they have not since removed. It has not however been established as the seat of government by any Legislative act, other than by adjournment.
The war now raging between Great Britain and France, led each of these powers to injure in every possible manner the commerce of the other ; and produced a series of orders and Decrees from the belligerents, which made almost every American ship afloat, liable to capture. After ineffectual re- monstrances, Congress, with the view of preserving our ships, seamen and merchandize from capture, by retaining them in our own ports, and of bringing the aggressors to a sense of justice by depriving them of the benefits of Ameri- can commerce, passed an Act laying an EMBARGO of indefi- nite duration. This measure, interfering as it did with the pursuits of many of the people, and having the effect of de- pressing the prices of home produce and enhancing those of imported articles, was extremely unpopular in New-England ; and arrayed the larger portion of its inhabitants, in opposition to the policy of the general government. The whole body of the Federalists assailed it in the most determined manner .---- Though the Legislature of this State in June, 1808, voted an Address to President Jefferson, expressive of their approba- tion of the measures of his administration, the Embargo in- cluded-the majority of the people were found not to sus- tain the sentiments of the Address. At the election of Rep- resentatives to Congress in August, the Federal ticket pre- vailed by a considerable majority ; and at the choice of Electors of President of the United States in November, the Federal and anti-Embargo candidates were elected, though by a vote somewhat less decisive. The Electoral votes of the State were accordingly given to Charles Cotesworthi Pinckney of South Carolina, the Federal candidate for the Presidency : the election however terminated in the choice of Mr. Madison, the Republican candidate, who was inaugurated as President of the United States on the 4th of March, 1809. Mr. Jeffer- son had declined another re-election, on the ground that rota- tion in office ought to be the practice in republican govern- ments. Congress was at length induced by various consider- ations to repeal the Embargo Act, and to substitute in its stead a law, prohibiting all commercial intercourse with France and
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HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1812.
Great Britain ; with a proviso, that in case either of these powers should repeal its edicts against neutral commerce,the non-intercourse act should cease to operate against that na- tion. This measure also met with strenuous opposition-a restrictive policy seemed not to suit the genius of the people.
Another indication of its unpopularity was exhibited at the election of State officers this year, by the defeat of Gov. Lang- don, and the election of his competitor, the Hon. Jeremiah Smith of Exeter, the Federal candidate for Governor. This gentleman, eminent for his legal attainments, was a native of Peterboro', and for some years had occupied the station of Chief Justice of the Superior Court with distinguished abili- ty. He held the Chief Magistracy but one year-the Repub- licans prevailing in 1810 to replace the former Governor, and to return majorities of their own party to both branches of the Legislature. They were victorious also in the election of 1811.
In 1812, Gov. Langdon retired from the chair. So nearly were the political parties balanced, that the scales hung al- most in equilibrium, and a small weight sufficed to give a turn. Though the Federalists had been unsuccessful in their attempts the two preceding years to elect Judge Smith, yet they had given him a heavy vote. They again brought for- ward Gov. Gilman, one of the most popular men in the State, as their candidate for Governor ; while the Republicans sup- ported the Hon. William Plumer of Epping, formerly a Sen- ator in the National Legislature. The former received a few votes more than the latter, but not a majority of the whole number ; the choice devolved of course on the Legislature, and in Convention of the two Houses, Mr. Plumer was elected Governor by a majority of twenty-two votes. Mr. Langdon withdrew from the turmoils of public life, carrying with him a large measure of the affection and gratitude of the people ; and passed his remaining years at his' seat in Portsmouth .- Justly was he considered as having contributed, in a degree scarcely inferior to any other man, to the establishment of American Independance, and to the prosperity of his native State. The evening of life he devoted to social enjoyment, devotional exercises, and benevolent efforts to benefit his fel- low men. He was accustomed to meet a small circle of his christian neighbors, some of them in humble life, and engage with them in his turn in religious conversation and worship ; and was not unwilling to state, that such seasons were among his most valued hours. Immediately after his retirement from office,he became a Founderand liberal patron of the New Hamp-
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PERIOD X .- 1805-1833.
1812.]
shire Bible Society-an Institution, which has not only suppli- ed most of the destitute families of the State with the Inspir- ed Volume, but has contributed many thousands of- dollars for the supply of other portions of our country, and of foreign regions. Of the American Bible Society, it has been one of the most efficient Auxiliaries.
The State Prison, or Penitentiary, was constructed this year at Concord of hammered granite, at an expense of thirty-seven thousand dollars. Placed under the immediate control of the Governor and Council, it early acquired the reputation of be- ing among the best regulated prisons in the country. Partic- ular attention has been paid by the officers to the moral and religious instruction of the convicts, with the hope of accom- plishing, at least in some instances, a radical reformation .- Before the erection of the Prison, there were eight crimes against which the laws denounced the punishment of death ; but on a revision of the criminal code this year, the Legisla- ture reduced the number of capital offences to two-treason and murder ; and instead of the whip and the pillory, pre- scribed by former laws in the punishment of some minor offences, they wisely substituted imprisonment in the Peni- tentiary-a change which humanity and religion must warmly approve.
This year gave birth to a religious Institution which has acquired in the christian world no small consideration, The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions .- Though the centre of its operations is at Boston, its corporate members are scattered through most of the States ; and among the citizens of New-Hampshire it numbers many of its patrons and friends. A desire on the part of a few young men of distinguished talent and piety, among whom were Mills and Judson, to engage in the enterprise of spreading a knowledge of the gospel in heathen lands, led to the formation of this Board. Its concerns have been so managed as to secure a large share of public confidence ; and its annual income, de- rived chiefly from voluntary contributions, has risen from small beginnings to about one hundred and forty thousand dollars. Under its patronage Missionary Establishments, some of which have been eminently useful in disseminating chris- tian knowledge, have been formed in Hindostan, Ceylon, Syria, Turkey, Greece, the Sandwich and Washington Islands, and among several tribes of North American Indians. It has sent exploratory Missions to China, Armenia, and Patagonia. Several liberally educated and excellent young men of this State, have been among the number of its Missionaries.
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HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE
[1812.
For some years the course pursued both by Great Britain and France, had awakened resentments in the breasts of Americans. Both had been guilty of outrageous spoliations on our commerce. The two great political parties at home criminated each other in relation to their foreign attachments ; the Federalists accusing the Republicans of an overweening partiality to France, while the latter retorted by accusing the former of being the servile apologists of Britain. At length the course of events concentrated the chief weight of popular indignation on the heads of the British. The attack by a British man of war on an American frigate, in 1807, in our own waters, and in a time of peace-the long delay of repa- ration-the impressment of American seamen into British ships of war-the capture of American vessels-and the fail- ure of repeated efforts to obtain redress-exhausted the pa- tience of the nation and produced an exasperation of feeling which issued, in June, 1812, in a Declaration of War against Great Britain. By a large party the measure was opposed as unnecessary and unwise ; but it was urged forward by a deci- sive majority, as a war for the freedom of the Ocean. Vigor- ous efforts were immediately made to fit out ships of war and privateers, to annoy the commerce of the enemy; also to raise a formidable army for the reduction of Canada. Of this army, Maj. Gen. Henry Dearborn, a resident of Massa- chusetts, but a native of New-Hampshire, and one of her revolutionary officers, was appointed Commander in Chief. This State furnished a considerable number of troops, and several efficient officers, of whom Brigadier Generals James Miller of Peterborough and John McNiel of Hillsborough were particularly distinguished.
Some victories were achieved by American ships of war over British vessels of superior force, soon after the com- mencement of hostilities. But on the land, defeat and disgrace attended through the first campaign the arms of the Republic. Among the most disastrous events of this campaign, were the surrender of Gen. Hull and 2000 men to the British at Detroit, and the defeat of the Americans under Gen. Van Rensellaer, in an attempt to invade Canada on the Niagarae frontier. The friends of the national administration wer mortified and dejected ; and ascribed these failures to the unreasonable opposition of the Federalists to the measures of the government : while they on their part attributed them to the incapacity of the administration.
With a small majority of the citizens of New-Hampshire,the war was unpopular. This circumstance gave the Electoral
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PERIOD X .- 1805 .- 1833
1813.]
votes of the State, at the quadrennial election of President, near the close of the year, to Dewitt Clinton of New-York ; who was supported, unsuccessfully however, by all the opponents of the War, in opposition to Mr. Madison, the incumbent of the Chair. It led also to a political change at the annual State Election in March, 1813-when Gov. Gilman, after a retire- ment of eight years, was elected over Gov. Plummer by a small majority, and replaced in the Chief Magistracy, in which he was continued by the voice of the people for three successive years. The Federalists at the same time returned majorities of their own party to both branches of the Legislature.
An Academical Institution at Plainfield, among the best endowed in the State, was incorporated at this period, and called the Kimball Uuion Academy. It possesses a permanent fund of $40,000, the liberal bequest of the Hon. Daniel Kim- ball; of which the income, with the exception of a small portion, is devoted to the aid of pious and indigent young men destined to the christian ministry. The Institution is in a flourishing condition, and has thus far accomplished in a good degree, the benevolent design of its Founder. Such bequests, for a purpose so important, entitle the donor to an enrollment among the benefactors of his race.
A law, enacted by the Legislature at the June session abol- ishing the "Superior Court of Judicature," and creating in its stead a "Supreme Judicial Court," excited in the public mind no little agitation. One of the Judges of the old Court was appointed to a seat on the bench of the new-the other two being dropped, and Judge Smith of Exeter was made Chief Justice. By the Republicans, the constitutionality of the measure was strenuously denied, on the ground that Judges could be removed from office only by impeachment, or an Address to the Governor by both branches of the Legislature ; while the Federalists maintained that as the office was created by the authority of the Legislature, the same authority was competent to abolish it. The autumnal sessions of the Court in the Counties of Strafford, Rockingham, and Hillsborough, exhibited the singular spectacle of two sets of Judges, each claiming to be the highest judicial tribunal of the State, at- tempting to exercise their conflicting jurisdictions over the same persons and things : but the members of the bar in gen- eral, the jurors, witnesses, and the majority of the people recognized the authority of the new Court. The Sheriff of Rockingham openly refused to obey its orders ; and the Sher- iff of Hillsborough, though he sent some of his Deputies to attend it, gave his personal attendance on the old Court .- Q
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HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
[1813.
These affairs occasioned some confusion, and induced the Governor to convene the Legislature in October. They sup- plied some deficiencies in the late Judiciary Act, and addressed the Chief Magistrate with a request for the removal from office of the two Sheriffs; which was accordingly done. In the western Counties, the new Court proceeded in the discharge of its duties without opposition or embarrassment.
To the calamities of war was added that of a dreadful con- flagration at Portsmouth, near the close of the year, which laid in ashes a flourishing portion of the town, including about 400 buildings. More than one fourth part of these were dwelling houses, many of them large and elegant. So intense was the fire, that in the evening, the reflection of the light from the clouds was visible in the western parts of the State, and even in Vermont as far as to the summits of the Green Moun- tains, a distance of more than 100 miles. Large contributions of money and provisions were collected from all quarters for the relief of the numerous sufferers.
The war with Britain had been prosecuted in the mean time with various success ; but the predominent character of the campaign of 1813 was that of failure. As the scene of its operations was without the limits of this State, a detailed ac- count of them comes not within the plan of a History of New-Hampshire. The chief military events of the year were the defeat and massacre of the Americans under Gen. Win- chester at Frenchtown ; the capture of York in Upper Canada by a detachment of American troops led by Gen. Dearborn; the defeat of the British by Gen. Brown in their attack on Sackett's Harbor ; the capture of the British squadron on Lake Erie by Commodore Perry ; the recovery of Detroit, and the defeat of the British by Gen. Harrison; and the unsuccessful attempt of the Americans under Gen. Wilkinson to penetrate to Montreal. Of the campaign of 1814, the general results were decidedly favorable to the American arms. In the sanguinary battles of Chippewa and Bridgewater, in which the sons of New-Hampshire, led on by Miller and McNiel, bore a distin- guished part, the victory, though dearly purchased, remained with the Americans. The British succeeded in their attempt on the City of Washington, but in their attack on Baltimore, they met with a mortifying defeat. Their naval armament on Lake Champlain, after a severe conflict, fell into the hands of Commodore McDonough ; and on the same day their invading army from Canada, under Gen. Provost, sustained a calamitous defeat at Plattsburg, and retreated with precipitation.
Late in the summer, a powerful British naval force came
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PERIOD X .- 1805-1833.
1814.]
into Penobscot Bay and landed a body of troops, which took possession of Castine and some other towns on these waters. The proximity of this force awakened in Portland, Portsmouth and Boston, serious apprehensions of an attack ; so great was the alarm that many families hastily removed into the country. Large detachments of the militia were summoned to the pro- tection of Portsmouth, and stationed in and around the town, under the immediate command of the Governor. Apprised of the formidable means of defence, collected by the Ameri- cans at all the large towns on the coast, the enemy did not venture upon any of the meditated attacks.
By the perils and sacrifices incident to such a state of things, the popular discontents were greatly aggravated. The party opposed to the war accused the national administration of employing the resources drawn from New-England on distant and impracticable objects, and of leaving this region destitute of the necessary means of defence. Some went even so far as to propose the retention both of the militia, and ot the rev- enue accruing in the eastern States, for their own protection. The State of Massachusetts appointed Delegates, to whom were added others appointed by Connecticut and Rhode-Island, who met in Convention at Hartford, for the purpose of consid- ering the public grievances and proposing means of redress .- In this Convention the Government of New-Hampshire took no part. It has indeed been affirmed that Gov. Gilman pro- posed a special session of the Legislature, with the view of submitting to them the question of appointing Delegates on the part of this State ; but a majority of the Council, being of the Republican party, refused their concurrence. County conventions were however holden by the Federalists in Chesh- ire and Grafton, in which that party had large majorities ;- who elected Benjamin West and Mills Olcott to represent those Counties in the Convention at Hartford. This body, on their adjournment, published an Address to the people, enu- merating the grievances of New-England and proposing such alterations in the Constitution of the United States, as they supposed would prevent their recurrence in time to come .- What would have been the result of their meeting, had the war continued, it is impossible to determine-as the unexpec- ted cessation of hostilities, soon after their adjournment, relieved the public distress, and of course rendered their plans abortive. The alleged objects and procedings of the Hartford Convention were denounced by the Republicans in the strong- est terms.
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