USA > Pennsylvania > Lives of the governors of Pennsylvania : with the incidental history of the state, from 1609 to 1873 > Part 27
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That gallant Captain little knew the hard fate that was to await him in the fulfilment of his patriotic desires. His regiment joined the patriot army, and came often in conflict with the enemy, when many were wounded and killed. Fi- nally Captain Hiester and most of his surviving men were taken prisoners, and he, with many other American officers, was confined on board the notorious prison-ship, the Jersey, where they were subjected to every indignity which refined cruelty could invent. British arms were dishonored, and the British name made hateful by the inhuman treatment here accorded. Jonathan Russell, one of the Commissioners on the part of the United States who concluded the treaty of Ghent, in an oration delivered on the 4th of July, 1800, at Providence, Rhode Island, delineated the horrors of that im- prisonment in the following strain of patriotic frenzy : "But it was not," he says, " in the ardent conflicts of the field only that our countrymen fell; it was not the ordinary chances of war alone which they had to encounter. Happy indeed, and thrice happy were Warren, Montgomery, and Mercer; happy those other gallant spirits who fell with glory in the heat of battle distinguished by their country and covered with her applause. Every soul, sensible to honor, envies rather than compassionates their fate. It was in the dungeons of our in- human invaders; it was in their loathsome and pestiferous
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prison-ships, that the wretchedness of our countrymen still makes the heart bleed. It was there that hunger and thirst, and disease, and all the contumely cold-hearted cruelty could bestow, sharpened every pang of death. Misery there wrung every fibre that could feel before she gave the blow of grace which sent the sufferer to eternity. It is said that poison was employed. No-there was no such mercy there. There nothing was employed which could blunt the susceptibility to anguish, or which by hastening death could rob its agonies of a single pang. On board one only of these prison-ships above eleven thousand of our brave countrymen are said to have perished. She was called the Jersey. Her wreck still remains, and at low ebb presents to the world its accursed and blighted fragments. Twice in twenty-four hours the winds of heaven sigh through it, and repeat the groans of our expiring countrymen, and twice the ocean hides in her bosom those deadly and polluted ruins, which all her waters cannot purify. Every rain that descends washes from the unconsecrated bank the bones of those intrepid sufferers. They lie naked on the shore, accusing the neglect of their | countrymen. How long shall gratitude and even piety deny them burial ? They ought to be collected in one vast ossery, which shall stand a monument to future ages, of the two ex- tremes of the human character ; of that depravity which, tram- pling on the rights of misfortune, perpetrated cold and calcu- lating murder on a wretched and defenceless prisoner, and that virtue which animated this prisoner to die a willing mar- tyr for his country. Or rather, were it possible, there ought there to be raised a colossal column whose base, sinking to hell, should let the murderers read their infamy inscribed on it, and whose capital of Corinthian laurel ascending to heaven should show the sainted Patriots that they have triumphed. Deep and dreadful as the coloring of this picture may appear, it is but a faint and imperfect sketch of the original. You must remember a thousand unutterable calamities, a thousand in- stances of domestic as well as national anxiety and distress, which mock description. You ought to remember them,
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you ought to hand them down in tradition to your posterity, that they may know the awful price their fathers paid for freedom."
From this prison-ship Captain Hiester was taken, and thrust into confinement in New York, where the want of food, and general harsh treatment of the captives, was scarcely a remove better than they had experienced on board the Jersey. He was here attacked with a low fever, and became so feeble and emaciated that he was obliged, in passing up and down stairs, to crawl on his hands and knees. After several months' im- prisonment he was exchanged, and was set at liberty, having been plundered of his money and clothing. He immediately repaired to Reading, and after having regained his strength returned to the army. He arrived in time to participate in the battle of Germantown, and while engaged with a com- pany of the enemy's horse, he received a wound in the head, but not of a dangerous nature. In the varied fortunes of the patriot army he continued to share until the close of the war, when, seeing the liberty of his country fully assured, he returned with joy to the bosom of his family.
He was chosen a member of the convention which assem- bled in Philadelphia in 1787 for the ratification of the Con- stitution of the United States, and in 1789 he was a member of the convention which framed the State Constitution of 1790. For several successive years, he was a member of the Legislature, where he was distinguished for his practical knowledge of affairs, and for his good sense in the duties of legislation. In 1799, after the removal of his uncle Daniel, who had previously represented the Berks district in Con- gress, to Maryland, he was elected a member of that body, to which he was regularly returned until 1805, and again from 1815 to 1821, a period of fourteen years. Before the expira- tion of his last term, he resigned to accept the nomination of Governor of Pennsylvania, tendered him by the Independent Republican party, supported by the Federalists. He was elected over his competitor, Governor Findlay, and served for one term of three years. " It is a fact well known," says
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his biographer before quoted, " to the political and personal friends of General Hiester, that he was reluctantly induced to become a candidate for the office of Governor, and that he yielded his consent upon the express and well understood condition that he would serve but one period. It is equally well known that at the end of that period of service he reso- lutely refused again to permit the use of his name, although urged by partisans and by many friends to be a candidate."
His administration was characterized by great activity in promoting the growth and prosperity of the Commonwealth, and especially in pushing forward its internal improvements. The period was one of sharp political contest, and the dispo- sition to attack those in power and call them in question for every offence, or conceived offence, had been exercised with- out license during the rule of his immediate predecessor. In alluding to this subject in his inaugural address he says: "But, I trust, if any errors shall be committed, they will not be chargeable to intention. They will owe their origin to the imperfection of our nature and the narrow limits of human foresight. They will not proceed from a wilful neglect of duty on my part, nor from any want of devotion to the best interests of our beloved country. Such errors I may justly hope will meet with indulgence from an enlightened and liberal people. Where censure shall, upon a full and impar- tial view of matters, be merited, let it not be withheld. It is the duty of freemen to examine closely into the conduct of those to whom they have delegated their power, or the guar- dianship of their rights and interests, to censure the abuse of the one, or the neglect and mismanagement of the other. Considering myself as elected by the people of this Common- wealth, and not by any particular denomination of persons, I shall endeavor to deserve the name of Chief Magistrate of Pennsylvania, and to avoid the disgraceful appellation of the Governor of a party."
As has already been noticed in the sketch of Governor Findlay, the enormous patronage at the disposal of the Exec- utive had become very troublesome. Its dispensation had
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actually become an object of dread to every one who approached it, and we find Governor Hiester calling the attention of the Legislature, among other subjects of reform, to the devising of some means of relief therefrom. "Permit me," he says, " to suggest to you, whether it would not be possible to de- vise some method of reducing the enormous power and pa- tronage of the Governor, without impairing the other general features of our present excellent Constitution; and whether the annual sessions of the Legislature might not be shortened without detriment to the public good. .. . It also deserves serious consideration whether public improvements might not at this time be advantageously made, and domestic manu- factures encouraged with success. Above all it appears an im- perative duty to introduce and support a liberal system of education connected with some general religious instruction."
At the expiration of his term of office he withdrew alto- gether from public employments, and sought that peace and quiet in private life to which a long period of public service had justly entitled him. He died on the 10th of June, 1832, in the eightieth year of his age, and was buried in the grounds of the German Reformed church at Reading. The attend- ance of the military, and other demonstrations of respect and attachment, which were promptly tendered, were declined, and he was followed to the grave by a great concourse of mourning relatives and fellow-citizens, without display or ostentation, in keeping with the republican simplicity which had marked the whole course of his long and useful life.
The last paragraph of his last annual message to the Legis- lature, that in which he took a final leave of all public em- ployments, is so instinct with devotion and pathetic tender- ness that it may properly form the conclusion to this memoir. " Having been," he says, " for nearly fifty years occasionally engaged in various highly responsible situations in the ser- vice of my country, having witnessed its progress from Colo- nial vassalage to independence and sovereignty, it is with most sincere pleasure that, on quitting the theatre of action, I can congratulate you, and our fellow-citizens at large, on the
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propitious situation in which it is now placed; and I avail myself of the occasion it affords of repeating my fervent prayers to the Almighty Ruler of the Universe, under whose superintending influence it has attained to its present emi- nence, that he may continue to cherish it with his fostering care, preserving its citizens in the free enjoyment of their just rights and republican institutions, until all earthly gov- . ernments shall be terminated by the consummation of time."
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JOHN ANDREW SHULZE,
GOVERNOR UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF 1790. December 16, 1823, to December 15, 1829.
P OLITICAL organizations underwent a radical transforma- tion during the administration of Governor Shulze. The discussions in the convention which framed the Constitution of the United States gave birth to two parties in that body. When the conventions met in the several States to ratify it, discussions of the same purport were repeated, the members ranging themselves on opposite sides as in the originating assembly. The newspapers were likewise divided, and through them the people. The one party believed that the Constitution gave the States too much power, and favored a greater degree of strength and centralization in the Na- tional Government, while the other with equal zeal argued that the States were shorn of their sovereignty and despoiled of their rights. Washington was, however, elected with great unanimity the first President, though he was known to strongly favor the Constitutional party. His Cabinet was divided, and as the terms Federal and Republican came into use as the designations of the two parties, Adams and Ham- ilton allied themselves with the former, while Jefferson led the latter. For a quarter of a century these parties combated each other with great ability, and often with acrimony. At the end of that period, a degeneracy, which had for some time been perceptible, culminated in a general dissolution, and the two old parties were known no more.
In the election of a Governor in 1823, Andrew Gregg was supported by the independent Republicans and Federalists,
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which had twice before triumphed, the latter party in con- vention at Lancaster, over which James Buchanan presided, resolving that "We, as Federalists, will support Andrew Gregg, of Centre County, for Governor of Pennsylvania." The Republicans nominated John Andrew Shulze, and were again successful.
Mr. Shulze was born on the 19th of July, 1775, in Tulpe- . hocken township, Berks County, Pennsylvania. His father was a clergyman of the German Lutheran Church, and had several congregations to which he ministered. The son received his early instruction in English and German from his father. He was afterwards put to an institution in Lan- caster, and while there was under the immediate care of his uncle, Dr. Henry Muhlenberg. He completed his prepara- tion for college in York County, under the instruction of the Rev. Mr. Melsheimer.
He received a finished classical education in the city of New York, and afterwards studied theology there with his uncle, Dr. Kunze, a celebrated divine of that day. In 1796, he was admitted as a member of the German Lutheran Synod, and was shortly afterwards ordained a minister in that church. For a period of six years he officiated as pastor of several congregations in Berks County, and was esteemed and loved by all who knew him.
In 1802 a rheumatic affection from which he had long suf- fered obliged him to suspend his labors in the ministry, and two years later, finding no improvement in his condition, he was induced to seek other occupation. He accordingly en- tered upon mercantile business in the village of Myerstown, then Dauphin County, in which he continued for several years, accumulating a small fortune.
In 1806 he was elected a member of the House of Repre- sentatives of Pennsylvania, and was re-elected for the two suc- ceeding years. He was urged by his constituents to accept a nomination for a fourth term, but declined. The journals show that during the period in which he was in the House, there was no more active or efficient member than Mr.
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Shulze, or one whose votes will better stand the test of minute scrutiny. He was a consistent Republican throughout, mani- festing an ardent attachment to the Constitution, and the principles which he had received from a pious and patriotic father, and which characterized the whole course of his life.
His business qualifications and his probity attracted the attention of Governor Snyder, who, in 1813, appointed him Surveyor-General of the State. This office, at that time an important and responsible one, he declined. Governor Sny- der then tendered him the positions of Register, Recorder, Prothonotary, Clerk of the Orphans' Court, and Clerk in the Sessions Court of Lebanon County, which he accepted. In the discharge of the duties of this office he continued until the expiration of Governor Snyder's term, when he was re- commissioned under the appointment of Governor Findlay. In the early part of 1821, though warmly solicited by large numbers of the citizens to remain in this position, he resigned, and was in October of that year elected to represent Lebanon County in the House of Representatives. In the following year he was chosen a State Senator for Dauphin and Lebanon counties, carrying the district by a large majority, though opposed by a well-organized party.
Before he had been a year in the Senate, he was selected as candidate for Governor by the Republican party, and was elected by a majority of over twenty-five thousand. He was nominated for a second term in 1826, and was elected with a unanimity unparalleled in the history of the Government, receiving over seventy-two thousand votes, while his op- ponent, John Sergeant, got but about one thousand. He had immense patronage to bestow, having in addition to that originally given by the Constitution, now grown to enormous proportions, that recently created by the legislation for the public works. In commenting upon this feature of his ad- ministration, a recent political writer says : "This power was exercised with great prudence and good judgment. It might indeed be said that Governor Shulze called the best sense of the State around him. His officers everywhere were capable and honest."
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This was an era when stupendous plans for the improve- ment of the Commonwealth were adopted and put in execu- tion. Questioning the propriety of the State assuming to execute the functions of a corporation in opening avenues of traffic, he opposed the loan of a million of dollars which was authorized by the Legislature, but was obliged to yield to the will of the people, and before the close of his second term six millions had been borrowed.
It was soon after his first election, in 1823, that the old parties were broken up, none after that calling themselves Federalists. Indeed, the term Federalist became odious ; but from its ashes there sprang a party that became more powerful than any which before or since has borne sway in this country. Every Federal newspaper in Pennsylvania, except three, the United States Gazette, of Philadelphia, The Village Record, of West Chester, and the Pittsburg Gazette, joined in its support. In the national election of 1824, parties being in a disorganized state, there was no choice for President by the people, Crawford, Adams, Clay, Calhoun, and Jackson being supported. John Quincy Adams was elected by the House of Representatives. But in 1828, Jack- son was chosen, receiving a majority of fifty thousand in Pennsylvania, his brilliant victory at New Orleans, gained with scarcely a casualty on our side, creating immense en- thusiasm among the people in his favor. In 1824, the nation's early friend and benefactor, General Lafayette, re- visited the scenes of his former trials and final triumphs. Governor Shulze had the satisfaction of welcoming the hero to the soil of Pennsylvania, which he did at Morrisville in a brief but eloquent and impressive speech.
In his annual message to the Legislature, immediately suc- ceeding the election of President Jackson, Governor Shulze expresses his views of the duties of the citizen in acquiescing in the will of the majority, and of giving the successful can- didate a cordial support, in a manner worthy of the most thoughtful consideration. He says, "In the organization of our government of the Union and of the State, the simple
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and efficient principle which secures our welfare and repose, is, that the will of the majority shall rule, and whenever that will is constitutionally expressed, whether it be by election or by legislation, it is the plain duty, as it must always be the pleasure, to every public functionary, cheerfully to concur. To him the laws are the laws of the people; and to him the magistrate is the magistrate of the people, by them right- fully invested with authority for their benefit, and entrusted with so much power as the Constitution confers upon the office. At seasons of elections, especially for the higher sta- tions, there will often be great excitement, proportioned to the interest produced by the occasion, and indicative of the soli- citude naturally felt in the delegation of important public trusts. It is the right of the citizen freely and actively to take his post according to the dictates of his judgment. The election over, and its result known, he who has the majority is entitled to be honored and respected as the people's choice, and to be supported in his efforts faithfully to fulfil and dis- charge his duties. Such a season has just passed, and fur- nished a new evidence of the stability and excellence of our form of government. If, in its progress, there has been more than usual warmth, it is now at an end. The question which caused it is decided. Every good citizen will acquiesce in the decision, and every public functionary, governed by the same motive which influenced him to abstain from embark- ing his official character in the contest, while it is going on, will find himself placed in no new position, but maintaining the relation to the high officer elected, which the Constitution creates, and ready, within his allotted sphere, cordially to cooperate with him for the common good."
None of the predecessors of Governor Shulze had come to that high office with so much scholastic culture and grace, as he. He truly appreciated the value of education; and as he looked over the broad face of the Commonwealth, and saw a vast and rapidly increasing population without adequate means of school instruction, his heart was moved, and his sympathies were aroused in their behalf. He knew the will
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of the founder in this regard. He knew the provisions of the organic law ; and he was unwilling to rest satisfied so long as the intentions of the founders remained unfulfilled. His mes- sages are replete with the most urgent appeals for some legis- lation which should secure the privileges of elementary edu- cation to all. In that of 1827, he says : "Among the injunc- tions of the Constitution, there is none more interesting than that which enjoins it as a duty on the Legislature to provide for the education of the poor throughout the Com- monwealth. Whether we regard it in its probable influence upon the stability of our free republican governments, or as it may contribute to social and individual happiness, it equally deserves the earnest and unremitted attention of those who are honored with the high trust of providing for the public welfare. If the culture of the understanding and the heart be entirely neglected in early life, there is great reason to fear that evil propensities will take root, while, with proper discipline, there might have been a rich harvest of usefulness and worth. A knowledge of our rights, and a sense of our duties, a just estimate of the value of the blessings we enjoy, and an habitual desire to preserve them, are the wholesome fruits of that good seed, which it is the object, and, with the favor of Providence, the effect, of moral and intellectual instruction to implant. It cannot be supplied to all in equal measure, but it is hoped that the time will come when none shall be left entirely destitute. Then will the Legislature truly be in this respect, what the framers of the Constitution desired it should be, a parent to the children of the poor; and they in return will have strong inducements to love and to honor, and to do their utmost to perpetuate the free institu- tions from which they derive so signal a benefit, so prolific a source of happiness."
Again, in his message of the following year he urges upon the attention of the Legislature the importance of immediate action, and adduces new and weighty considerations to enforce his views. " The mighty works," he says, " and consequent great expenditures undertaken by the State, cannot induce
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ine to forbear again calling attention to the subject of public education. To devise means for the establishment of a fund, and the adoption of a plan, by which the blessings of the more necessary branches of education should be conferred on every family within our borders, would be every way worthy the Legislature of Pennsylvania; an attention to this subject, at this time, would seem to be peculiarly demanded, by the increased number of children and young persons who are employed in manufactories. It would be desirable for the employers and parents, as well as children, that this mat- ter should early engage the attention, and be early acted upon by the Legislature, inasmuch as it will be easier in the infancy of manufactories, to adopt and enforce a liberal system, than it would be to establish such a system when thousands more children shall be employed than are at this time. The estab- lishment of such principles would not only have the happiest effects in cultivating the minds, but invigorating the physical constitutions of the young. What nobler incentive can pre- sent itself to the mind of a republican legislator, than a hope that his labor shall be rewarded by insuring to his country, a race of human beings, healthy, and of vigorous constitu- tions, and of minds more generally improved than fall to the lot of any considerable portion of the human family !"
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