USA > New Hampshire > The history of New Hampshire, from its discovery, in 1614, to the passage of the Toleration act, in 1819 > Part 26
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After an extended debate, the resolutions were committed by a majority of six votes only. They were, however, reported and adopted in a new form, so modified as better to suit the taste of the majority, and yet convey a high compliment to the brave men who had participated in the hardships, dangers and triumphs of the war. They declared 1815. that " the legislature, in common with their fel- low-citizens, duly appreciated the important ser- vices rendered to their country, upon the ocean, upon the lakes, and upon the land, by officers, seamen and soldiers of the United States, in many brilliant achievements and decisive victories, which will go down to posterity as an indubitable memo- rial that the sons of those fathers who fought the battles of the revolution, have imbibed from the
Jour- nal of House, June, 1815, p. 158.
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CHAP. same fountain that exalted and unconquerable XI. spirit which insures victory, while it stimulates the exercise of humanity and courtesy to the vanquished."
1816.
Governor Gilman having declined the support of his friends for a re-election, and taken a final leave of public life, the federal party, upon the approach of the spring election of 1816, presented James Sheafe, of Portsmouth, as a candidate for the office of governor. He was a man of exten- sive property and respectable abilities, and had already been elevated, by the favor of his party, to a seat in the United States senate. The republi- cans still adhered to William Plummer, who had received their zealous but unsuccessful support throughout the whole period of the war. The contest was waged with great violence, and re- sulted in the election of the republican candidate for governor, by a very decisive majority. The republicans at the same time gained an entire ascendency in the state ; an ascendency which the federalists, in that name, were destined never to regain.
Upon the meeting of the legislature, William Badger was elected president of the senate, and David L. Morrill speaker of the house. In his message, Governor Plummer recommended legis- lative action in the affairs of Dartmouth college, a repeal of the judiciary law of 1813, and a general reduction in the expenses of the state.
1816.
" Our public offices were made," said the gov- ernor, " not for the emolument of the officer, but to promote the public interest; and by the con- stitution frugality is considered as indispensably
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necessary, and economy an essential virtue to the CHAP. state. The great mass of our citizens are agricul- XI. turalists and mechanics, and live on the products of manual labor ; and from this class of people is collected the principal portion of taxes paid into the public treasury. Under such a government and from such a people, justice and sound policy equally require that the salaries of their public officers should be moderate, not exceeding an adequate compensation for the actual services they perform." * * " Whenever the salaries in a repub- lic are raised so high as to excite the spirit of avarice, and induce men to seek office from sordid motives, it has a direct tendency to extinguish public spirit, and to destroy the laudable ambition of holding office for the noble purpose of promot- ing the public good. It tends to multiply the number of office-seekers, increase intrigue and corruption, produce extravagance and luxury in the officers; and their influence insensibly leads others to imitate their pernicious example. It was the observation of a man, not less eminent for his talents as a statesman than his knowledge as a historian, that high salaries are evidences of the decline of republicanism in a state."
The law of the federal legislature of 1813, estab- lishing the supreme judicial court, was promptly repealed, and the former superior court of judica- ture was again revived. The judges who owed their places to the party innovations of the period referred to, were sent into retirement. William Merchant Richardson, of Chester, was appointed chief justice, and Samuel Bell and Levi Wood- bury were associated with him on the bench-
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CHAP. three gentlemen of talents and high legal attain- XI. ments, of whom the former retained his respon- sible station till his death, a period of twenty-two years, while the others resigned only to accept of still higher honors.
Mr. Woodbury was at this time but twenty-six years of age; but he had distinguished himself in college as a scholar, and was already a leading member of the bar. He was also still more dis- tinguished as an ardent and powerful advocate for the war of 1812, and a firm supporter of the gov- ernment. So responsible an office conferred upon one so young, drew general attention to the man- ner in which his duties were discharged. But his reach of thought, his research, and ready appre- hension, seemed to supply the place of experience, and rendered his services on the bench of the highest value, and his legal opinions of undoubted authority. Seven years from this time he was elected governor of the state, and afterwards passed into the senate of the United States, and finally he became successively secretary of the navy and of the treasury. But whether on the bench or at the bar-in the senate or the cab- inet-he has displayed that integrity, diligence, and weight of talent, by which not a few of the young men of America have risen from obscurity to distinction, and won immortal honors for them- selves and their country. Untiring effort and judi- cious method-the great secret of success-both in his private studies and official duties, have enabled him to rise step by step to all the high stations of honor and public trust which he has been called upon to fill. During the intervals between the
I.B. Longere nel.
Seni Trasury Engraved for Barstow History of New ,a. fon
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sessions of congress he has continued to practise CHAP. at the bar, and has moved, not without honor to XI. himself, amidst that bright constellation of lawyers for which New Hampshire was at this period cele- brated throughout the United States. Webster, unanswerable in argument-Mason, Smith, Bell and Fletcher, all famous for legal acuteness- Sullivan, unequalled in the music of his voice and the charms of his persuasive address-Bartlett, master of all the graces of action, speech and thought, yet strong in argument-these were the associates and competitors of Mr. Woodbury. Disciplined in such a school, he became strong amongst the strong men by whom he was sur- rounded ; and by his characteristic industry, zeal and habits of systematic arrangement, made him- self felt as a man of distinguished ability at the bar, and in all the various and high public stations which he occupied.
Benjamin Peirce, who had been removed from office, for his sturdy refusal to recognise the new court, only to be elected four years in succession to the council, was ultimately again appointed sheriff of Hillsborough county.
The enormous abuses of the power of creditor over debtor were exciting the attention of the peo- ple, and calling forth execrations from the phi- lanthropic and liberal everywhere. In some in- stances, the father of a poor family was for years immured in a dungeon for the amount of the prison charges, and his family, meanwhile, were reduced to pauperism and beggary. No age, no condition, was exempt. The poor and decayed veteran, whose best years had been spent in the
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CHAP. service of his country, was often confined with XI. felons, and year rolled on after year, leaving him in hopeless confinement. In Amherst jail were three aged prisoners, one of whom had groaned in con- finement almost four years. A way was now open for their deliverance. General Benjamin Peirce had been appointed sheriff of the county by Governor Plummer. In his character were united the gen- erosity of the soldier with the liberal sentiments of enlightened philanthropy. He had fought for lib-
erty and had enjoyed it. He was a man who lived not for himself alone; and he could not endure that three old men, for no crime but honest pov- erty, (which, though not a crime, was punished as such,) should be shut out from the air, and close their days in a dungeon. When he found every other means for their release ineffectual, he at once resolved to pay their debts himself. He gave them notice to this effect, and appointed the day for their deliverance. The inhabitants thought the occasion worthy of public demonstrations, and assembled to witness the release. On liberating the prisoners the veteran general thus addressed them :--
" Moses Brewer, Isaac Lawrence, and George Lancy. By the return made me by Israel W. Kelly, Esq., my predecessor in the office of sheriff for the county of Hillsborough, it appears that you, Moses Brewer, was committed Dec. 13, 1814; and you, Isaac Lawrence, was committed Dec. 27, 1815; and you, George Lancy, July 2, 1817.
" My unfortunate fellow-citizens : the feelings excited by a view of your situation, are inexpressi- ble. That those heads, silvered by age and hard-
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ship, and those hearts, throbbing with kindly emo- CHAP. tions, should be held for this long period of time, - XI. ~ by their fellow-citizens, without the imputation of 1808. a crime, in a captivity unparalleled even in the annals of the French Bastile, or Algerine slavery, always viewed by us with sentiments of inexpress- ible horror, is more than my nature is able to endure. To be immerged in a dungeon, standing on the very soil of liberty and in the midst of men boasting its high privileges, is in my mind, with which the ideas and the value of freedom are closely interwoven, infinitely worse than to be en- slaved in a foreign land, by enemies and barbarians, from whom nothing better could be expected. But, as an officer of the county, I have a duty to per- 1818. Nov. 20. form. I must either be governed by the law, and suffer you still to remain, the devoted victims of unavoidable misfortune and honest poverty, shut out from the genial light of heaven and the vital air, God's equal gift to all; to endure, perhaps perish under, the privations incident to your situa- tion and the stern ravages of approaching winter ; forlorn and destitute, with no friend to comfort, no society to cheer, no companion to console you- or, I must be directed by the powerful impulse of humanity ; pay the debt myself, and bid you leave this dreary and gloomy abode.
" My unfortunate fellow-citizens ;- my duty to myself will not suffer longer to remain here an old companion in arms, who fought for the liberty of which he is deprived, for no crime but that of being poor. My duty to my country, whose honor is deeply implicated by your sufferings-and it is one of my first wishes it should be untar-
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CHAP. nished-and my duty to my God, who has put it XI. into my power to relieve, irresistibly urge me to the latter course. This, I am sensible, takes from me a large sum of money, however the liberal and generous people, among whom it is my happy lot to reside, may participate; if not, none but my children will have any right to reproach me; and I am confident they will do no more than say their father was generous to a fault. In this view, go ; receive the uncontaminated air, which is diffused abroad for the comfort of man ; go to your fami- lies and friends, if you have any. Be correct in your habits. Be industrious-and if your totter- ing and emaciated frames are so far exhausted as to prevent your getting a comfortable support, apply to the good people for relief-and may the best of heaven's blessings accompany you the remainder of your days."
This liberation took place on the 20th of No- vember, the more grateful to the prisoners that it happened at the coming on of winter.
Sixty-one years before this time General Peirce was born at Chelmsford in Massachusetts, and was the son of a farmer. On the memorable nine- teenth of April, 1775, while he was ploughing in the field, a horseman rode up to the door, and having delivered a brief message, hastened onward to alarm the country. It was the news of the battle of Lexington which the stranger was com- missioned to proclaim. Leaving the plough, Peirce immediately set out on foot for Lexington. He found, on his arrival, that the British troops had fallen back upon Boston, and he proceeded to Cambridge. It was here that young Peirce, then
Engã by G.G. Smith
Painted. bu H. C.Frall.
Benjamin Parce
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but eighteen years of age, enlisted as a private in CHAP. the army of the revolution, and attached himself to XI. the regiment of Colonel Brooks. He was in the midst of the battle of Bunker's hill; and from that time to the close of the revolution, he followed the fortune of his regiment, fought whenever it was called into action, and was invariably distin- guished and commended, by his superior officers, for his gallantry and good conduct. He rose from the ranks to the command of a company, which he held at the disbanding of the army, in 1794. He returned to his native village and found that his nine years' pay, in continental money, had so much depreciated that it would not suffice for the purchase of a farm. He was, therefore, obliged to go into the wilderness, where lands were cheap, and begin the cultivation of wild land. Here he made a clearing and erected a rude habitation, felling the trees with his axe, and procuring food for sustenance with his gun. In the autumn of 1786, President Sullivan, having resolved to form the militia of the county of Hillsborough into a brigade, sought out the veteran soldier, then far in the woods, and commissioned him as a brigade major. He immediately took the necessary steps for the perfect organization and discipline of the several regiments. He had already served more Moore's than eight years in the regular army, and he con- Life of Peirce, in the tinued to serve in Massachusetts and New Hamp- Biogra- phical Annual, p. 95. shire for twenty-one years in the militia ; leaving it finally in the capacity of brigadier general. The regiment which furnished a Miller and a McNeil was for many years commanded by him; and many other valuable officers, who have distin-
Jacob B. Moore's Life of Peirce, in the Biogra- phical Annual, p. 92.
-
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CHAP. XI. guished themselves in the public service, have been proud to say that they received the first les- sons of military discipline from the veteran Gene- ral Peirce, in the militia of Hillsborough.
It was from principle that General Peirce was attached to the institution of a citizen soldiery. He distrusted standing armies, and regarded the militia as the right arm of the nation's defence, and not liable to become an instrument in the hands of executive power to overawe the people and destroy liberty.
From 1789 to 1802, he was a representative to the general court, and in 1803 was first elected to the council, where he continued six years; five of which were passed in the council of Governor Langdon. It was not till 1827, that he was elected governor of the state; and was re-elected in 1829, having been omitted one year on account of his opposition to John Quincy Adams. At the commencement of the last war with Great Britain, his spirit entered into the contest ; but the infirm- ities of age admonished him that he could hasten no more to the battle-field. Two of his sons, with his consent and advice, entered the public service. Endowed by nature with a strong mind, Governor Peirce had overcome the obstacles springing from a want of education, and by practice and perseve- rance had acquired a knowledge of business and a skill in the conduct of public affairs. It was not from his high public station that he obtained a commanding influence, but from his integrity of character, his benevolence, hospitality, and love of justice. Cheerful in his disposition, and de- lighting to contribute to the happiness of all
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around him, youthful vivacity found in him a con- CHAP. genial spirit, while sedate manhood and sober age XI. discovered in his conduct nothing to reproach. Biogra- phical Annual, 1841, p. 99. When he was removed by death, the public felt the loss of a man who had sincerely loved and faithfully served his fellow-men and his country.
Clifton Claggett, one of the proscribed judges, and Josiah Butler, one of the refractory sheriffs of 1813, were nominated by the republican party for seats in the ensuing congress. If Evans, the 1818. fourth and not the least deserving of those individ- uals, whom, in an evil hour, party violence had attempted to degrade in the public estimation, received in this new state of things, no distin- guished marks of public favor, it was because, un- der the influence of a hopeless disease, engendered by the laborious application of a studious life, he was fast going down to an untimely grave.
The feasibility of a canal, connecting the waters of the Merrimac and Connecticut rivers, had long been a matter of discussion. It had been sup- posed that such a work, starting at the Merrimac, at the junction of the Contoocook, might be ex- tended to the waters of lake Sunnapee, and thence along the valley of Sugar river, to the Connecti- cut. During the year 1816, a committee of the Massachusetts legislature, with which the Honor- able Henry B. Chase, of Warner, was associated by our own, made a thorough survey of the contem- plated route. The lake was found to be eleva- ted more than eight hundred feet above the level of the two rivers whose waters it had been pro- posed to connect, and the enterprise was aban- doned as wholly impracticable, excepting by such
1818.
Nov.26.
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CHAP. an expenditure as its advantages could never re- XI. pay.
During the year, David L. Morrill and Clement Storer were elected to the United States senate, in place of Jeremiah Mason and Thomas W. Thompson ; six republicans were elected to the lower branch of congress, and the electoral vote of the state was given to James Monroe.
This year was marked by an unusual prevalence of cold weather during the summer and autumn, and has ever since continued to be referred to as the cold season .. Snow fell in the southern part of the state on the 9th of June. August was the only month of the year entirely exempt from frost. A scanty harvest and a general scarcity of bread, the natural results of a season of such unusual rigors, gave a new impulse to western emigra- tion. Hundreds of farmers, discouraged by the scanty reward of their toil at this unfortunate pe- riod, gave up their farms, and sought, in the fertile wilds of a distant land, for that bright sunshine of prosperity, which, in most cases, would have smiled far more surely upon them on their own native hills.
CHAPTER XII.
CONTROVERSY with Dartmouth College-Message of Governor Plummer-
The state assumes jurisdiction-The trustees refuse to submit to the law-they are summoned to meet at Hanover-A quorum do not obey the summons-they declare the law unconstitutional-Second message of Governor Plummer-Wheelock reappointed president-Charges against the professors-their address to the public-Death of President Wheel- ock-Trial of the Dartmouth college case-Arguments of counsel- Opinion of Chief Justice Richardson-overruled by the supreme court of the U. S .- President Monroe-The toleration act-Toleration in Connec- ticut-Bill of rights-Act of 1791-Vexatious lawsuits brought against dissenters-Toleration in Maryland and Vermont, Pennsylvania and Maine-Speech of Dr. Whipple-Bill of rights-Speech of Dr. Whipple- Speech of Henry Hubbard-Dr. Whipple in reply to Mr. Parker-Speech of Ichabod Bartlett-The toleration act is assailed-it passes-is again as- sailed violently-finally becomes popular-The Methodists-The Bap- tists-The Universalists-Scenery of New Hampshire-Ascent up Moose- hillock mountain-Owl's Head-Scenes in the valley of the Connecti- cut-View from Moosehillock-from Catamount hill-from Haverhill corner-from mount Pulaski-Appearance of an American forest in Au- tumn-Route to the White Hills from Haverhill through Bethlehem and Franconia-from Lancaster-The Notch-Valley of the Saco-Scenery about Indian Stream and the country near the Magalloway-Dixville Notch.
THE trustees of Dartmouth college, (so called CHAP. from the name of its founder and patron, the Earl XII. 1816. of Dartmouth,) had for a considerable time pur- sued a course calculated to render them unpopular with a majority of the people. Possessing, under their charter from George III., the power of re- moving members of their board and appointing their own successors, they had confided the exclu- sive control of an institution, designed for the com- mon benefit, to members of a single religious sect and a single political party. Funds, bequeathed to the college for the establishment of a professorship, had been applied to purposes partaking of a secta- rian character. John Wheelock, himself a liberal
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CHAP. benefactor of the college, and the son of its illustri- XII. ous founder, had been removed by a summary exer- cise of the power of the trustees, and a man more subservient to their views appointed in his place.
Entrusted with the care of a great public semina- ry, designed to promote the general good, the trus- tees were accused of using the influence it gave them for ambitious and selfish purposes. Con- trolling an institution established by the bounty of all sects and all parties, they were believed by many to have perverted it from its true purposes, and made it a powerful instrument, in the hands of a particular class, for the diffusion of its own pecu- liar opinions. Patronised by people of every shade of opinion, and favored at times with liberal grants from the legislature of New Hampshire, the people could see no reason to justify the sectarian posi- tion which it had assumed.
It was from such views as these, that the legis- lature of 1816, believing that the trustees had adopted a policy in direct conflict with the charter from which they derived their powers, determined to claim jurisdiction over this institution, in behalf of the state, for whose "benefit" only it had been created. They accordingly passed two laws upon this subject, increasing the number of trustees from twelve to twenty-one ; empowering the gov- ernor and council to appoint the nine additional trustees, and fill all vacancies which should occur in the board, previous to its next annual meeting, and changing the name of the institution from Dartmouth college to Dartmouth university.
In executing the duties devolving upon him under this law, the governor conducted with great moderation, appointing several of his political op-
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ponents among the new members of the board of trustees. It had been neither his design, nor that of his party, to make the college subservient to any particular interest. On the contrary, it was the wish of the legislature of 1816, by introducing men of different religious and political opinions in- to its government, to secure an impartial extension of its advantages to every sect and party. They believed it to be no part of the proper business of such an institution to inculcate the favorite dog- mas of any one class in that community for whose common benefit it had been established. They wished, rather, to place the only college in the state in such a position-a position that it should be regarded not as an engine to stamp a peculiar creed upon the minds of its citizens, but as the fountain of that correct knowledge which enables men to reason for themselves-in such a position, in short, that it should deserve the equal favor and equal patronage of the whole community.
At the opening of the June session of the legis- 1816. lature, June 6, 1816, Governor William Plummer thus called the attention of the legislature to the subject of Dartmouth college :
" There is no system of government where the general diffusion of knowledge is so necessary as in a republic. It is, therefore, not less the duty than the interest of the state to patronise and sup- port the cause of literature and the sciences. So sensible were our ancestors of this, that they early made provision for schools, academies, and a col- lege, the good effects of which we daily experi- ence. But all literary establishments, like every- thing human, if not duly attended to, are subject to decay.
CHAP XII.
Jour- nal of the Senate, 1816, 1817.
Jour- nal of the Senate, June session, 1816, p. 25.
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CHAP. XII.
" Permit me, therefore, to invite your consider- ation to the state and condition of Dartmouth college, the head of our learned institutions. As the state has contributed liberally to the establish- ment of its funds, and as our constituents have a deep interest in its prosperity, it has a strong claim to our attention. The charter of that college was granted Dec. 30th, 1769, by John Wentworth, who was then governor of New Hampshire, under the authority of the British king. As it ema- nated from royalty, it contained, as was natural it should, principles congenial to monarchy. Among others, it established trustees, made seven a quo- rum, and authorized a majority of those present to remove any of its members, which they might consider unfit or incapable; and the survivors to perpetuate the board, by themselves electing others to supply vacancies. This last principle is hostile to the spirit and genius of a free govern- ment. Sound policy, therefore, requires that the mode of election should be changed, and that trus- tees, in future, should be elected by some other body of men. To increase the number of trus- tees, would not only increase the security of the college, but be a means of interesting more men in its prosperity. If it should be made, in future, the duty of the president, annually in May, to report to the governor a full and particular account of the state of the funds; their receipts and expendi- tures; the number of students and their progress ; and generally the state and condition of the col- lege; and the governor to communicate this state- ment to the legislature, in their June session ; this would form a check upon the proceedings of
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