USA > New Hampshire > The history of New Hampshire, from its discovery, in 1614, to the passage of the Toleration act, in 1819 > Part 23
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Nor are the attractions of this region confined to the searcher after curious mineral specimens alone. The sublimity of its mountain scenery has been admired by travellers from every part of the country. It is approached from the south through a mountain pass, second only to the White Mountain Notch in grandeur, and thronged with objects of curiosity and interest. As the traveller threads his way through the entrance of this soli- tary defile, his vision is limited by a long range of dark hills on one side, and a huge and almost per- pendicular cliff of bare and shelving granite extends a long distance on the other. Suddenly, after a series of devious windings, in which the prospect is ever and anon obscured by the forest trees that skirt the way, he finds himself in the midst of a vast amphitheatre of mountains, their sides clothed with dark evergreen, broken here
XI. Dr. Jack- son's Report.
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CHAP. and there by rough ledges and shattered piles of XI. granite, that rise above the surrounding woods and threaten the valley below. On the right, and considerably in advance, stands mount Lafayette, its gloomy sides retreating in the distance, and its high cone-shaped and rocky summit rising above the region of clouds and storms, and looking down, like a presiding genius, upon the convocation of giant hills beneath. On the left sleeps a little lake, from whose surface the white mist curls gracefully to the mountain-tops around it. Be- hind him, upon the frowning termination of the giant wall of granite he has gazed upon so long, the traveller sees the Profile Rock,* " an abrupt crag, hung from the mountain's brow," and pre- senting, in a mass of granite, the perfect lineaments of a human face.
Poem by Har- ry Hib- bard.
" And full and fair those features are displayed, Thus profiled forth against the clear blue sky, As though some sculptor's chisel here had made This fragment of colossal imagery, The compass of his plastic art to try ; From 'Adam's Apple' to the shaggy hair That shoots in pine trees from the head on high- All, all is perfect-no illuison's there To cheat the expecting eye with fancied forms of air."
The Old Man is seen casting a bold look upward towards the east, with his head partially inclined towards the little lake which lies below him em- bosomed in the surrounding mountains, and sweeps with its limpid waters the base of the throne on which the Old Man seems to repose. To the north of the notch road, lies another crystal lake, its
* From its exact resemblance to the human face, it is called "The Old Man of the Mountain."
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margin tracked by the wild deer, from the middle CHAP. of which, in a boat, the voyager may catch a XI. ~ glimpse of the summit of mount Lafayette, standing aloft between two contiguous mountains, resting against the clear blue sky, or sublime amidst the storm, with clouds piled upon its top and hanging in black and heavy masses down its sides. Passing below the Old Man, the eye no longer distinguishes a profile; and mount Jackson, with its bold front of bare rock, frowns over the silent lake, and affords a picture of ruggedness and sublimity. In the ascent up mount Lafay- ette, the traveller enters a dense forest opposite the Old Man; and passing upward in a winding path, is afforded a glimpse of mount Jackson. As he advances, his ears are saluted with the noise of Lafayette brook, which rolls through the woods below with a solemn roar. After proceeding three miles, over cliff and crag, he emerges suddenly upon mount Pleasant, which is a small plain, cut as it were in the mountain side, from which is afforded a view of the surrounding heights, the villages far below, and the valley of the wild Am- monoosuck. At his feet, southward, lies Pleasant pond, the hillocks around it partly covered with stinted firs, partly bare and partly clothed with a thick moss of the brightest green. Full before him, to the east, is the summit of Lafayette; the clouds slowly sweeping along it sides, or curling around the top, as they sail majestically upon the air, or rush upon the wings of the blast. From Pleasant pond, whose waters are sweet, and spot- ted by the yellow lily, the path upward leads first through a grove of dwarf firs, which have been
43
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CHAP. blasted by fire, and, having bleached white, they XI. stand with craggy arms, like a group of skeletons ; but when seen from the summit of the mountain, present the appearance of a field covered with bones. Upward, the traveller proceeds over a stairway of stone, stepping from rock to rock, as they lay scattered over the mountain. Even on the summit he has not passed beyond the hum of the bee, the only insect of this vast height. Veg- etation has long since disappeared, save the small white blossom springing up amongst the moss- the solitary flower of the mountain. Below, to the east, stretch interminable ranges of mountains. To the north, the White Hills bound his view. South, is the valley of the Pemigewasset; south- westward, mount Jackson, Black pond and Fi- field's pond ; and northwest, the valley of the Ammonoosuck. The rocks, which at mount Pleasant were white, have now changed to dark gray, spotted with black and dull yellow, inter- mingled with specs of green moss, which adheres to them in scales. Descending from the moun- tain, not the least interesting object to the weary traveller is the Franconia Notch Hotel, which stands completely wedged in between the heights. There is hardly room around it for a garden and narrow fields, which are bordered and environed by mountains. The cold breezes preserve here, through the summer months, a refreshing coolness, like the atmosphere of May, or September ; and the fierce heat of summer is unknown. To the north, immediately in the rear of the hotel, rises a high peak, in the form of a sugar loaf, and it takes that name. A ride of four miles southward,
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through a shaded road running along the Pemige- CHAP. wasset, brings the traveller to the Basin; and three XI. miles farther, to the Flume. Yet in this space of seven miles there is not a house or a human habi- tation. Northward, the nearest dwelling stands at the distance of three miles ; and thus, in the space of ten miles, the cheerful mansion where the trav- eller rests, stands alone, embosomed amidst the lofty mountains which are the object of his pil- grimage.
The Basin and Flume are among the objects in this vicinity, which invite the attention of the trav- eller. The first is a broad, round, deep cavity, scooped out in the solid rock by the road-side, by the revolving waves of the mountain stream, which supplies the head waters of the Pemigewasset. The second lies at some distance to the right of the road, through the mountains, as it enters the defile from the south. It is a long, deep and yawning fissure in the rock, presenting a general appearance sufficiently indicated by its name. ' During the freshets of spring, the little rill, which ripples through it in summer, swells to a mountain torrent, which, tumbling over loose rocks and broken crags, grows white with foam, and dashes through the giant channel, flinging its spray upon its massive walls, and thundering in the hollow caverns it has worn below.
On the 25th of December, 1805, the Honorable Russell Freeman, once speaker of the house, and five years a member of the state council, having been imprisoned in the jail at Haverhill, was mur- dered, with a companion in misfortune, by Josiah Burnham. Burnham was their fellow-prisoner, an
Papers of the day.
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CHAP. occupant of the same cell. Debt was the com- XI. mon offence, both of the murderer and the men he slaughtered; and the complaints of his victims, who had suffered great inconvenience from his gross manners and ravenous appetite, were the sole incentives to his crime. Near the close of the following year the murderer expiated his crime on: the gallows, at Haverhill; and the law, under the rigorous provisions of which this tragedy occurred, was afterwards-unfortunately long af- terwards-expunged from the statute books of the state.
The decisive result of the election of 1805, established the political character of the state for several years. In the meantime, Governor Lang- don, favored with legislatures whose views were in accordance with his own, discharged his execu- tive duties with firmness and moderation, respected even by his opponents, and escaping much of that violence of attack, with which so many of his suc- cessors have been assailed.
At the spring election of 1806, there was scarce- ly the appearance of a contest ; and in August of the same year, five republican representatives to congress were elected, while, a few months after- wards, the Honorable Nahum Parker, a republi- can also, was chosen to fill the remaining seat in the senate.
Whiton. 1806.
On the 16th of June, in the same year, the sub- lime spectacle of a total eclipse of the sun was witnessed by the citizens of New Hampshire, in common with millions of others. For a time the obscuration was complete, the stars were visible, and the darkness of night shadowed the earth at
1806. Legis- lative Jour- nals.
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mid-day. The return of light was instantaneous; CHAP. one side of the sun suddenly presenting a lumin- XI. ~ ous thread, of incomparable brilliancy. A scene so sublime and unusual, which, a century before, would have been regarded as the sure presage of wars and calamities, even at this time excited an interest which has made it an era in the lives of many who witnessed it, and who, if still living, refer to the "great eclipse" as the date from which all their recollections of that period are reckoned.
For a period of nearly ninety-five years, extend- 1807. ing from 1680 to 1775, and from the administra- tion of John Cutts to that of Meshech Weare, the seat of government had been permanently fixed at Whi- ton. Portsmouth. From the beginning of the revolu- tion to the year 1807, the legislature had adjourned from town to town, holding several sessions in Portsmouth, Exeter, Concord and Hopkinton, and one each in the towns of Dover, Amherst, Charlestown and Hanover. As a compliment to Governor Langdon, the December session of the legislature for 1805 was holden at Portsmouth. In 1806 and 1807 the June sessions were holden at Hopkinton. At the close of the first session for 1807 the legislature adjourned to Concord, in which town, though it has never been established by law as the seat of government, its sessions have ever since been uniformly holden.
The year 1807 may be regarded as the close 1807. of the brightest season of commercial prosperity which Portsmouth, the only considerable maritime ander town in New Hampshire, has ever enjoyed. Its Ladd, Esq. exports during that year amounted to $680,022 ;
MS. Letter of Alex-
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CHAP. and, during the five preceding years, sometimes XI. rising above and sometimes sinking below that Reports on the Finan- ces. sum, had maintained an average not far from it. Its imports, during the same period, had probably exceeded $800,000 per annum. On the 31st of December, 1806, its tonnage amounted to twenty- two thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight tons, while, during the same year, one hundred and three vessels cleared from its harbor for the West Indies alone, and its total exports were valued at $795,263.
In this connection, a somewhat extended view of the commercial operations of this ancient town, may not be entirely out of place. Before the com- mencement of the revolution, the commerce of Portsmouth consisted principally in the trade to Great Britain and the West Indies, and a small coasting trade to the southern states. The same abundance of lumber in our forests and of fish on our coasts, which invited the first settlement of the state, together with live stock, still constituted the
great staples of its trade. Ship-building was extensively carried on upon the banks of the Pis- cataqua, and the large number of vessels annually fitted out at Portsmouth were laden with these simple, but exceedingly useful staples of the coun- try, and despatched to the British West Indies. There an exchange was effected for sugars and other articles suited to the markets of the mother country, where both vessels and cargoes were very commonly sold, and the returns made in British manufactured goods and such productions of other foreign countries as we were forbidden to import by a direct trade. The smaller vessels, after sell-
1807.
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ing their cargoes in the West Indies, usually CHAP. returned with the produce of those islands to X1. ~ Portsmouth.
At that period, the commerce of Portsmouth, compared with that of other commercial towns, was of much greater relative importance than at the present time. But, whatever its extent, it was annihilated by the revolution, and at its close, in 1783, it had not a single square-rigged vessel in a seaworthy condition.
The recovery of its commerce from the general ruin was gradual. It was impeded at first by the loss of a foreign market for ships built on the Pis- cataqua, and the imposition of restrictions by Great Britain on its West India trade. In a short time, however, its commercial enterprise, partially exclu- ded from its accustomed channels, sought out new ones for its employment. Its fisheries were prose- cuted with greater vigor, its tonnage increased, and its foreign trade rose to a more respectable stan- dard. The breaking out of a general war in Eu- rope gave to American trade the advantages of neutrality. Business again quickened into life, and Portsmouth shared largely in the general pros- perity. Her exports, as entered upon the books of her custom-house, swelled to the respectable amount already stated ; and a large portion of her business, conducted through other ports, added greatly to the real, though nothing to the nominal amount of her trade. The experiment of the employment of a regular packet-ship in the trade with Liverpool, was commenced in 1806, with every prospect of success, but, in December, 1807, 1807. the embargo set the seal of death upon this, in common with every other commercial enterprise.
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CHAP. XI.
The repeal of the embargo, in 1809, was followed by a brief season of prosperity. In spite of Brit- ish orders and French decrees, our ships once more unfurled their sails in every sea, and bore the American flag to every quarter of the globe.
This momentary sunshine was but the prelude of the storm. The war of 1812 again swept our commerce from the ocean.
The return of peace brought with it the general pacification of Europe. We enjoyed the advan- tages of neutrality no longer. The direct foreign trade of Portsmouth has never again recovered its former vigor. The forests in its vicinity no longer yield those stores of lumber, once deemed inexhaustible. Its commerce with the British West Indies has given way, under the active competition of the government of which they are dependencies, and the restrictions which that gov- ernment has imposed.
Reduced as the foreign trade of Portsmouth has been, its coasting trade has increased in nearly the same proportion. A large number of manufac- turing establishments have sprung up around the tide waters of the Piscataqua. The consequent demand for flour, grain, coal and cotton, has fur- nished a profitable employment for a very con- siderable tonnage. At a port where, thirty years ago, two hundred bales of cotton would have been an ample supply for a year, there is now an aver- age demand for eleven thousand bales per annum. Its trade, from this and other favoring impulses, is regularly increasing, and its business streets are again beginning to exhibit tokens of reviving prosperity.
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The year 1808, as we have already seen, com- CHAP. menced a period of severe commercial restrictions XI. 1808. and great national excitements. The conflicting powers of Europe had long regarded the advan- tages of our neutral position with jealousy. Sail- ing under the only flag which was not arrayed among belligerant powers, our ships gathered a golden harvest in every sea. Carrying the pro- ducts of England and her dependencies to the ports of France on one hand, they returned, freighted with French goods, to the marts of Great Britain on the other.
The British cruisers, however, had long claimed the right to board our ships and impress our sea- men. The arbitrary enforcement of this claim was soon followed by other aggressions. By a series of orders in council, Great Britain inter- dicted our trade with France. France, in retali- ation, prohibited our trade with Great Britain. Our commerce was subjected to the common plunder of both nations, and hundreds of our ves- sels, engaged in a lawful trade, were captured by their cruisers and condemned by their courts. At length, our harbors were blockaded by British fleets, and one of our national vessels, reposing on our own waters, was fired upon by a British ship of war, of superior force. From these causes resulted the embargo. Its object was, by detain- ing our ships in our own ports, to protect them from the piratical aggressions of Great Britain and France, and, at the same time, to compel those nations to respect our rights, by depriving them of the advantages of our trade.
However patriotic were the motives which 1808.
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CHAP. induced the adoption of this measure, it was XI. unsparingly assailed. It added to the feeling of discontent by which the federal party had long been pervaded, that excitement which is so easily and sometimes so unjustly created by the loss of trade, the derangement of business, and the tem- porary decline of the internal prosperity of the country. Motives of patriotism alone sustained the embargo. The clamors of interest were every- where raised against it.
Nor were these clamors without effect. Though in the spring election in New Hampshire there was scarcely a contest ; though a legislature was elected which concurred with President Jefferson in sentiment, and adopted an address, approving his measures and sustaining the embargo; the federalists rallied at the subsequent elections, made use of all the means of agitation which for- tune had placed in their hands, and again recov- ered, by a small majority, and after a hard contest, their ascendency in the state. A federal delega- tion in congress was once more elected from New Hampshire, and its electoral votes were secured to Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, the unsuccessful rival of James Madison in the presidential contest.
1809.
1809.
These triumphs gave new courage to the federal party. In the spring of 1809 it again entered the field in full force. It was opposed with a vigor corresponding to the attack. The republicans of that time, ever ready to sustain any measure, how- ever burdensome, which they deemed necessary for the vindication of American rights and American honor, never sunk desponding and discouraged under the pressure of defeat. Nearly thirty-one
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thousand votes were cast for governor, and Jere- CHAP. miah Smith, the federal candidate, was chosen by~ XI. little more than two hundred majority. The coun- cil still remained in the hands of the republican party. The federalists carried both branches of the legislature. Upon its meeting, in June, the work of political revolution was prosecuted still further. Moses P. Payson was elected president of the senate, and George B. Upham, speaker of the house. Nathaniel Parker, of Exeter, was chosen secretary of state, in place of Philip Carri- gain, and Thomas W. Thompson, afterwards senator in congress, succeeded Mr. Gilman in the office of treasurer. The federal party was once more in full power in New Hampshire.
But while that party was enjoying the rewards of victory, there were causes already in operation which were destined to secure its defeat. The continued aggressions of England, the perfidy with which she had repudiated an amicable arrange- ment concluded with one minister, and the insults offered to our government by another, had roused a feeling of patriotism in the country, like that which preceded the revolution. A modification of the non-intercourse policy of the administration had removed, to a great extent, the foundation for the clamors which had been raised against it; and a feeling of indignation against the movements of the British government rallied thousands of its former opponents around our own. If it was assailed with unbridled license on the one hand, it was supported with warm enthusiasm on the other. If an appeal to selfish interests was sometimes, for a moment, successfully used against it, the time
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CHAP. was never far distant, when the people, inspired XI. with patriotism and burning to avenge the insults 1809. offered to our national honor, rallied again to its support.
1810.
The revolution of a single year found the repub- lican party of New Hampshire again in power. In March, 1810, John Langdon was again chosen governor, by more than one thousand majority in an increased vote. The republicans, at the same time, carried every branch of the government. William Plummer, once a member of the federal party, but then become distinguished for his ser- vices in the republican cause, was elected presi- dent of the senate, and Charles Cutts, of Ports- mouth, was chosen speaker of the house, and after- wards elected, during the same year, a member of the United States' senate.
The same party triumphed in the congressional election, in August. Four of the candidates of the republican party were elected. The remaining seat was filled by the election of George Sullivan- a federalist it is true, but still a pure-hearted and patriotic man, whose opposition to the administra- tion in power, never led him to participate in factious attempts to embarrass its measures. He opposed the declaration of war; but when the war was begun, when a foreign enemy threatened our coast and invaded our frontiers, he uniformly gave his vote in support of every measure essential to the public defence. It was his distinguished honor so to conduct at that important crisis, as to excite the approbation of his political opponents, without forfeiting the respect of his political friends.
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These elections exerted an important influence CHAP. upon the country. Had the federal party retained XI. 1810. its ascendency in the state, the election of a sena- tor and members of congress opposed to the administration, would have embarrassed many of its measures, and defeated, very probably, the declaration of war itself.
Upon the result, therefore, of the elections of 1810, among the hardy and independent yeomanry of New Hampshire, the success of that great mea- sure in a good degree depended-a measure which vindicated our honor, and asserted our rights, by the thunders of our cannon upon the sea and the valor of our soldiers upon the land-a measure which has given to so many of our military and naval commanders a deathless name in history, and secured to our national flag the respect of every nation on the globe.
Party excitement now glowed too fiercely to subside under the influence either of victory or defeat. No sooner had one political campaign been concluded in this state, than another was commenced. Governor Langdon, a man whose spotless character had hitherto preserved him, amid the furnace of party rage, unscathed by its flames, became, in these exciting times, the object of unfounded calumny and unsparing abuse. Benevolent, irreproachable in his morals, and thus far universally respected for his services in the revolution, he was now publicly burned in effigy and loaded with execrations. It was from a par- tisan feeling, of a kindred character, that a leading journal in New Hampshire, at the same period, declared that "if Thomas Jefferson had a thou-
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CHAP. sand lives, he deserved to be hung a thousand XI.
different times, as high as Haman."
1811.
" Caius Bru- tus," in N. H. Pat- riot,
1811.
The contest between the rival parties had now become a question of peace and war. On one side it was said that the administration was hostile to commerce, unjust to Great Britain, and criminally subservient to France. On the other, it was asserted that the opponents of war, in their zeal against France, seemed to have entirely overlooked the outrages of Great Britain. "They could see," said an able republican writer of the day, " the detention of a few seamen in France, engaged in illicit commerce; but they could not discern the detention of thousands by England. They could see the millions of property seized by France ; but to the seizures and captures of England, their eyes were shut. They could see the disavowal, by the English government, of the murderous attack on the Chesapeake ; but they could not see the pro- motion of the admiral who ordered the attack. They could see the treachery of France, in not abiding by her contract to rescind her decrees ; but they were blind to the perfidy of England in the arrangement with Erskine."
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