773 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND GIVEN IN 189I BY HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE Date Due [~l M -JAN -3 19/19 J R £t te 4,.4^gc rt Hfrs» ^ cornel. University Library E302.6.P73 P73 Life of W''"ffi,riimfl olin The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924032745212 ^ iw^^T/ o%>~£() aJ^-^/-^ ^^.-i^a^^- ^ '^yv ■-^f^ruyp ,^1^ . S. 1-^0, and have forborne,, perhaps, even to plan and project, if they had not been smarting, at the time, under the sore mortifica- tion of that signal defeat, which had dashed to the earth all their most cherished hopes, and seemed,, in " the full tide of successful experiment " which fol- 310 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMEK. lowed Jefferson's advent to power, to be sweeping before it, not their hopes and fortunes only, but all which they esteemed as best in the government and most sacred in the institutions of the country. " Our wisdom," said Fisher Ames, " framed a government, and committed it to our virtue to keep ; but our pas- sions have engrossed it, and armed our vices to main- tain the usurpation." " The election of Mr. Jefferson to the Presidency was," says John Q. Adams, " upon sectional feelings, the triumph of the South over the North ; of the slave representation over the free. On party grounds, it was the victory of professed Democracy over Federalism, of French over British influence. The party overthrown was the whole Federal party. The whole Federal party was morti- fied and humiliated at the triumph of Jej0ferson." Hence the reason, at once, and the apology for the earnest opposition which they waged to the leading measures of his administration. Unsuccessful in this opposition, it is not strange that, in the shipwreck of their fortunes, some able men among them, pro- foundly impressed with the value of the great interests at stake, and seeing no hope of relief by a change of measures, while the South, with its slave- holding influence, continued to govern the country, should have regarded disunion as, in the last resort, the only sure deliverance from the evils which they already felt, and the yet greater which they feared. LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 311 That they mistook the remedy, we may well believe; but history, in recording their error, will do justice to their motives. History, indeed, is full of such mis- taken remedies for real or imaginary evils, — the impracticable schemes of honest, but disappointed, and thence short-sighted politicians, — " fears of the brave and follies of the wise." Though, now that the feelings and the apprehensions which gave rise to such designs have passed away, we may regard them with disapprobation, or with regret, we can neither doubt their existence, nor disbelieve the accounts of those who were acquainted with, or con- cerned in them. The subject of these latter pages has been, in cer- tain respects, an unpleasant one to me, as it may be to some of my readers. But it could not be avoided. The path of duty was plain before me. The charac- ter of Mr. Plumer had been most vehemently assailed in this matter, and the truth of his statements loudly denied ; and that, too, with an imposing array of names, and a weight of character, which demanded and even challenged reply. It was not for his biog- rapher, under such circumstances, to shrink from an exposition of the facts, which repel that assault, and place his veracity, in this case, as it justly is in all others, beyond question or reproach. This exposition has been made in no unfriendly spirit towards the 312 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. living or the dead^ and with no imputation on any one of ungenerous or unmanly motives. The same spirit will be preserved in what follows, in subsequent chapters, on this subject of disunion. I have here, as in other cases, quoted, and shall continue to quote, though at the expense of some prolixity, the words of the persons whose opinions I would represent, rather than run the risk of mistaking their meaning, by attempting to express it in toy own language. Nor have I, by detaching them from the context, knowingly given them a meaning, in any case, differ- ent from that which they were intended to express. I have here, as elsewhere, added the dates, both as furnishiag references, and as connecting the words quoted with contemporaneous events, often necessary to their full understanding. CHAPTER VIII. THE SENATOE.— (CONTINTTEDO Returning from the heated atmosphere of Wash- ington, in the spring of 1804, with the excited feelings of an eager politician, Mr. Plumer felt sensi- bly the indifference of many of his Federal friends to the course of public events. Governor Gilman had been re-elected in March ; but a majority of both Houses was Republican, and that party looked with confidence to the next trial of strength to give them the entire control of the state. Under these circum- stances, many Federahsts were disposed to give up the contest in despair ; but Mr. Plumer attached too much importance to the questions at issue, to allow any doubt of success to relax his efforts. Members of Congress were to be chosen in August, and Elec- tors of President and Vice-President, in November. He thought it of great importance that New England should preserve its Federalist representation in Con- gress, and retain the party supreme in the state gov- ernments. He took the most active measures, there- fore, to bring out the whole Federalist strength at the August elections. Associating with himself five other 314 LIFE OF "WILLIAM PLUMER. persons, one from each county, he organized them into a self-constituted State Committee. Under this committee, of which he was chairman, county com- mittees were formed, and under these, town and school district committees, whose duty it was to bring every Federal voter to the polls, and secure, as far as possible, the wavering and doubtful to their ranks. Similar political arrangements have since become not uncommon; but this is believed to have been the first instance, in this state, in which a systematic attempt was made to bring the whole force of a party, thoroughly organized, to bear with undivided weight on the result of an election. Newspapers were provided for gratuitous distribution ; and post- riders employed to distribute them in every part of the state. Among other things, it was voted by the central committee, to have an address written and dis- tributed, in a pamphlet form, among the people, and the chairman of the committee and Judge Smith were requested to prepare it. Smith, however, declined writing any part of the address, on the ground, that, it was necessary for him, as Chief Justice of the Su- perior Court, whatever might be his real feelings, to preserve an appearance, at least, of impartiality, which, he said, he could not do if known to have written an electioneering pamphlet. This threw the labor of the address on the chairman of the com- mittee ; who, though accustomed to public speaking, LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 315 liad never written any thing for publication, beyond an occasional newspaper paragraph. He, however, set himself to the task with his accustomed zeal and activity ; and six thousand copies were printed, and distributed in every town of the state, on the 18th of Augvist, a few days only before the election. This address was republished in many Federal papers, both in and out of the state, and was undoubtedly among the chief agencies in deciding the election in favor of the Federalists, by an average majority of eight hun- dred votes. It is easy, in looking at this document, to see that the subject uppermost in the mind of the author was the unequal, and, he thought, unjust operation of the measures of the general government, as then admin- istered, on the rights and the interests of New Eng- land. After a brief, but able examination and defence of the Federalist administrations of Washington and Adams, and a comparison of them with the Republican one of Jeflferson, not at all to the advantage of the latter, he proceeds to point out the unequal burdens imposed on the Northern States, by the measures of the party then in power ; and traces all the evils suf- fered to the existence of slavery in the South, and its representation in Congress. This slave representa- tion, equal to that of six whole states, had made Jeflferson President ; and had carried, by its vote in Congress, almost every measure of which the free 316 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. states could justly complain. Banish the slave repre- sentation from the government, and Federalists would still be in the majority. That this slave power favors the South, at the expense of the North, is shown, by an examination of the leading measures of the administration, in respect to the army and navy, the duties on foreign goods, the navigation acts, the policy pursued towafds the Indians, the purchase of Louisi- ana, the post office, the hospital money, and the appointments to office. " The voice of New England is not now heard in Congress," he says. " Virginia influence directs every measure of the government. It has broken down and destroyed every man who has been opposed to it, whatever his polities may have been." While the author disavows any design to dissolve the Union, the whole strain of his argu- ment goes to show that such a measure would be for the advantage of the Northern States. This obvious tendency of the address, though disclaimed by the writer, was so strongly felt by others, that the answer which the ablest of his opponents made to it, was introduced by extracts from Washington's Farewell Address, on the value of the Union. Encouraged by his unexpected success in the Con- gressional election, the author entered with equal zeal into the Presidential canvass. The same machin- ery was again put in operation, and he wrote and published in the newspapers six numbers, under the LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 317 signature of " Cato," on the character of Mr. Jeffer- son and his pretensions to the Presidency. They were made up largely of extracts from the writings of Jefferson ; and their object was to show, that little reliance was to be placed on his judgment, or his sin- cerity, since he had, at different periods, advocated the most opposite and contradictory opinions. The subjects, respecting which his conduct and opinions were thus examined, were the naturalization of for- eigners, the encouragement of domestic manufac- tures, commerce, the navy, the judiciary, religion, the Presidential election of 1801, and his appointments to of&ce. In all of these, he found the usual, and, as he thought, much more than the usual inconsistencies of unscrupulous politicians, professing in theory, or while in opposition, opinions which, in practice, or while in of&ce, they renounce or disregard. He thought ill of Jefferson's politics, and worse of his morals. His efforts were, however, of little avail with the public. The opposition was daUy losing ground. New Hamp- shire voted, by a majority of five or six hundred, for Jefferson's re-election. Massachusetts did the same ; and the Federal candidate, Charles Cotesworth Pinck- ney, received only fourteen electoral votes out of one hundred and seventy-six in the whole Union. This triumphant re-election of Mr. Jefferson, pro- duced a great change in my father's mind, not as to the measures of the President, but as to the policy of 318 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLTJMER. further combined opposition to them. Connecticut alone, of the Northern States, had voted against Jefferson's re-election. Her nine votes, with the three of Delaware, and two from Maryland, constituted, on this occasion, the whole strength of the opposition. Was it good policy in the Federal party, any longer to keep up its feeble and unavailing opposition ? As to dissolving the Union, with Democracy ascend- ant in every state but one at the North, there was of course nothing more, at this time and under these circumstances, to be said or done. He had, even before the result of this election was known, become convinced that, however desirable such a measure might be, it was, at this time, impracticable ; and he was not long in reaching the yet more important conclusion, that the design itself was founded on a mistaken view of the true interest of even the Northern States, and, therefore, ought never to be entertained. From this time, without changing ma- terially his general views of policy, as to the measures of the government, he felt no longer the strong directing motives, which had before governed his procedure, and came by degrees to look, first with in- difference, and afterwards with aversion, on projects which had before seemed to him important, as means for the attainment of objects which he no longer regarded as desirable. The first effect of this dis- LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 319 appointment was to lead him to despair of the per- manency of a free government. " More than half my time," he writes, " since the adjourn- ment of Congress, has been devoted to the elections. Can a government 'which requires so much, and such unremitted attention to support it, long continue ? I feel weary ; but I consider it my duty to continue my efforts. I have ever con- sidered the existence of freedom here, as depending on the prevalence of Federalism. Perhaps I may have been, in this respect, in an error. Must we travel, as other states have done before us, through Democracy to despotism ? But I will not despair — too much wisdom is painful — it conjures up too many evils which, after all, may be but imaginary. I write this at the moment, (October 32, 1804,) of packing my clothes for Washington." It was with these views that he once more took his seat (November 5th, 1804,) in the Senate. The state of his feelings in this respect may be inferred from a letter (November 20th,) which he wrote to me: " I feel less interest in politics than I did the last year. The decline of Federalism in the East convinces me that Democracy must overrun us. As I can do little good by being active, in the present state of parties, I think I ought to be more quiet ; and that this will have a tendency to cool down the rage of party, and thereby bring our people to a 320 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLFMER. state of reflection and consideration. I do not mean that I have, in the least, changed my political creed. I am still a Federalist. I shall, on all occasions, when I am obliged to act, act openly, and according to my opinions. But I think, when I return home, if I find New Hampshire revolutionized, as I fear it will be in March, that I shall avoid the subject of politics, and not furnish, by my conversation, fuel for the fire of Democratic rage. Let them rule without opposition ; they will the sooner divide ; and the sooner be prepared for a better state of things, in which virtuous men will again be called to office." Though the violence of his Federalism had passed its culminating point, and he saw both the folly of dis- union, and the hopelessness of Federalist ascendency, his opposition to the JefFersonian policy was not at this time sensibly abated. The leading measure of the session, the impeachment of Samuel Chase, one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, touched him at a tender point. He had always attached great importance to the independence of the judiciary; and the avowed object of the admin- istration, was to render the judges dependent on the popular will. Mr. Giles, the administration leader in the Senate, said to him, in conversation : " We are to sit in this case as a Senate, not as a court, and to use the same discretion in the trial, as we do in legis- lation. We have authority to remove a judge, if he is disagreeable in his office, or wrongheaded, and LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 321 opposed to the administration, though not corrupt in conduct. Judges ought not to be independent of the co-ordinate branches of the government ; but should be so far subservient, as to harmonize with them in all the great measures of the administration." He avowed substantially the same opinions in debate in the Senate. This was saying, in effect, that if a judge delivered an erroneous opinion — erroneous in the view of the Senate — ^he might be impeached and removed from office, as guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors. Samuel Chase was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and is said to have been the man who first startled the ear of Congress, still fearful of extremes, with the daring declaration that he no longer owed allegiance to the British king. Bold, resolute and decisive, alike in conduct and in language, he knew no com- promises of opinion; and had little regard for the feelings or the wishes of his opponents. A sound lawyer and an able judge, he carried the prejudices of the party politician with him to the bench, and had thus made himself peculiarly obnoxious to the dominant party, by what they regarded as error of opinion, aggravated by insolence of demeanor. The impeachment now brought against him was founded on his conduct in the trial of Fries, for treason, and Callendar, for a libel, in 1800, and on one of his charges to a grand jury, in Maryland, in 1803. 21 322 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMEK, In these cases the judge, who was a zealous Feder- alist, was accused of having allowed party feelings to pervert his judgment and govern his decisions, " to the subversion of justice, and the disgrace of the character of the American bench." The trial com- menced on the 9th of February, and continued, with little intermission, till the 1st of March. It was remarkable, alike for the importance of the principles involved in the issue, the dignity of the court, the high standing of the accused, the power of his prosecutors, and the learning and ability of his coun- sel, not less than from the singularity of the fact, that the President of the Senate, who presided with such mingled ease, grace and authority at the trial, was himself then under indictment for murder, and was afterwards tried for his life on a charge of treason against the United States, — the very crime for which Chase had tried Fries, and in which trial he was accused of having committed some of the offences for which he was himself now arraigned. Mr. Plumer took great interest in the trial of this impeachment ; and his letters, journals and memoranda contain a full account of the proceedings. A few extracts are all we have room for in this place. " Though, during the trial, I did not visit Judge Chase, yet, on my accidentally falling in company with him, he said that, if this impeachment had been brought against him twenty LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 323 years ago, lie should liave considered it the most fortunate event of his life. It would have made him President of the United States. But he was now old, and grievously afflicted with -the gout, and he feared the prosecution would break him down. Yet, conscious of his innocence, he defied the Senate to convict him on any of the charges brought against him by the House. The trial was about half through, when he was seized with a fit of the gout, and obtained liberty of the Senate to return home. His counsel were vastly superior, in talents and legal attainments, to the managers appointed by the House. I took full notes of the testimony, arguments and authorities on both sides. Though the trial was long and fatiguing, yet, from its novelty and importance, it was very interesting. It engrossed my unremitting attention for more than twenty days. The public felt a deep interest in the result. Our galleries were crowded with gentlemen and ladies of distinction, not only from the vicinity, but from distant parts of the country. The Senators, during the trial, did not converse much with each other respecting its merits ; but each appeared to form an opinion for himself, without attempt- ing to influence others. There was a full Senate, when the final vote was taken ; and each Senator voted separately on each article. Uriah Tracy, of Connecticut, after hearing the testimony, was taken sick, and confined to his chamber. The mode of proceeding being settled, the Vice-President requested the Senate to wait a moment- for one of its members. Mr. Tracy was brought in on a couch, and led to his seat, where he continued for two hours, till every question was decided. The appearance of a sick man, with a very pale countenance, added to the solemnity of the proceeding, and made a deep 324 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEB. impression on the Senate, the House and the crowded specta- tors of the scene. Though I considered Judge Chase as hav- ing, in some few instances, been guilty of intemperance of language, and imprudence of conduct, unbecoming the char- acter of a Judge, his conduct, even in these cases, would not have prevented my voting for his appointment as a Judge, if that had been the question before us ; much less would it justify his conviction, as guilty of high crimes and misde- meanors. My vote, therefore, was, on each article, not guilty. On one of the articles, every Senator voted not guilty ; on four others, a majority acquitted him ; and on the other three, a majority found him guilty. But, as it required two-thirds ■to convict him, the President pronounced him acquitted on all the charges; and the court adjourned without day. This acquittal of Judge Chase was a great point gained in support of the Constitution, and the independence of the Judges. A prosecution commenced in the rage of party, and impelled by the whole influence of the administration, was arrested ; and, to the honor of the accused, he owed his acquittal to the votes of his political enemies. Immediately after the Senate had pronounced judgment in the case, Randolph, in the House, made a violent harangue against both the Judge and the Senate, and moved to amend the Constitution, so as to make it the duty of the President, on the address of Congress, to remove the judges from office. Nicholson, another of the managers, proposed that the Legislature of each state should have authority, at any time, to recall its Senators. But the administration, and a majority of the House, disapproved of these violent measures, and they were rejected." LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMBK. 325 My father attached the more importance to the result of this trial from the belief, then general with the Federalists, that the attack on Chase, if success- ful, would have been followed by other impeach- ments, which would have ended, either in removing all the judges, or, if they remained on the bench, in rendering them subservient to the wishes of the administration. He considered the impeachments of Pickering and Chase as " parts of a vicious sys- tem, which extends to the removal of every Federal judge from both the Supreme and inferior Courts." But the acquittal of Chase, the most obnoxious and assailable of the judges, put an end to all such de- signs. " Impeachment," said Mr. Jefferson, " is a farce which will not be tried again." He had, while the trial was still pending, (January 5th, 1804,) told Mr. Plumer, " that he regarded impeachment as a bung- ling way of removing judges." With reference to this trial, my father wrote to me, (March 3d, 1805) : " You will hear before this reaches you, that the greatest and most important trial ever held in this nation has termin- ated justly ; and that the venerable judge, whose head bears the frosts of seventy winters, is honorably acquitted. I never witnessed, in any place, such a display of learning and elo- quence as the counsel for the accused exhibited. They con- veyed correct sentiments, and pure principles, in so impressive a manner, to intelligent minds from all parts of the Uniori,, 326 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLTJMEE. as must have a salutary effect on the public, in relation not only to the Judiciary, but to the Constitution generally." (March 10th, 1805.) " At Baltimore, I spent an evening ■with Judge Chase and his family. Neither of his sons was . present ; but three of his daughters were there, the youngest perhaps eighteen. The strong, yet tender attachment they manifested for him, and the joy they exhibited at seeing me, who was at once the friend and the judge of their father, made a deep impression on my feelings. The righteous judg- ment of the Senate has made the judge and his family as happy as such an event can render those who prize reputa- tion above life." Though still a Federalist, my father was no longer anxious to keep up party distinctions. " I did," he says, " everything I could, during the session, to re- strain and destroy the spirit of party. With this view I opposed, and hy my opposition prevented, the cele- bration of Washington's birth-day by the Federalists, who had made it on former occasions a mere party festival. This I thought peculiarly imprudent at that time, from the unhappy influence it would have on the trial of Judge Chase, which was then depending." To his wife he wrote, (December, 1804) : " Yester- day, I dined with the President, and was seated by his side. He has improved much in the article of dress. He has laid aside the old slippers, red wais1> coat and soiled corduroy small-clothes, and was dressed all in black, with clean linen and powdered LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 32T hair. He is very sociable and easy of access, and puts his company perfectly at their ease." Massachusetts had, about this time, proposed an amendment of the Constitution, depriving the Slave- holding States of their slave representation. This amendment had been postponed by the Legislature of New Hampshire. In a letter to Wm. A. Kent, (December 31st, 1804,) he says, "I was in hopes the Court would have decided the amendment proposed by Massachusetts. Nothing but gross misrepresenta- tion, and the force of party rage, can induce the Free States to acquiesce in this negro representa- tion." To me, speaking of some falsehood reported of him, he wrote, (January, 17, 1805 :) " In times like these, and indeed at all times, and in all nations, those who hare discharged their duty to their country and their God, have been calumniated. It is unreasonable to expect an exemption from the common lot of man. I seek the approbation of the well-informed and Yirtnous ; and I know that so long as I act faithfully and prudently, I shall enjoy their confidence. But, beyond this, the honest man has a reward which the malice of demons cannot touch, — the consciousness of having done his duty. So live, and so con- duct, my dear son, as to enjoy the approbation of your own mind, and that of high heaven." 328 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. To J. Smith, (February 7, 1805): "The Senate is less divided by the line of Federalists and Democrats than I ever knew it before to be. Our divisions now arise from other sources, from the merits of par- ticular measures, and from local attachments, — from Free States and Slave States, commercial and anti- commercial." The Senate passed at this session a bill providing for the government of the Orleans territory. " I voted against it," he says, (February, 1805,) " because it provides that the territory, when it has sixty thousand free inhabitants, shall be admitted as a state into the Union, upon the foot- ing of the original states. This provision appears to me unconstitutional. I think we cannot admit a new partner into the Union, from without the ori- ginal limits of the United States, without the con- sent, first obtained, of each of the partners compos- ing the firm." This opinion he had avowed on the first purchase of Louisiana, and he never afterwards saw reason to change it. With this session expired the term of service of Aaron Burr, as Vice-President. I find among Mr. Plumer's papers, many notices of this extraordinary man. Burr lost, by his conduct in the presidential election of 1801, the confidence of the Republican party, without gaining the Federalists. In the New York election of 1804, he was a candidate for the office of Governor; and, by the aid of the Federalists, LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 329 most of whom voted for him, he came near being elected. Alexander Hamilton had used his influence against him, and Burr imputed his defeat to this opposition. This led to the fatal duel, and the death of Hamilton sealed the destiny of Burr. Desperate in his private fortunes, hated by the Federalists, and feared and distrusted by the Republicans, he had no longer a home in New York, nor a party in the Union. He took his seat, however, in the Senate, contrary to the usual practice, on the first day of the session. " This," said Mr. Plumer, (November 7, 1804,) in a letter to John Norris, of Salem, " is the first time, I believe, that ever a Vice-President ap- peared in the Senate the first day of a session ; certainly, the first (God grant it may be the last) that ever a man indicted for murder presided in the American Senate. We are indeed fallen on evil times. To a religious mind, the aspect of public afiairs is veiled in darkness. The high ofi&ce of Pre- sident is filled by an infidel ; that of Vice-President by a murderer." To me, he wrote, November, 1804 : " Colonel Burr seems determined to browbeat and cajole public opinion. The Federalists treat him with very great coldness. Those from New England do not visit him. In the Senate chamber, I make a very formal bow as he passes me, but hold no conversation with him. His manners and address are very insinuating. Mr. Jefferson has shown him 330 lilFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. more attention, and invited him oftener to his house, within the last three weeks, than he ever did for the same time before. Mr. Gallatin has waited upon him often at his lodg- ings, and one day was closeted with him more than two hours. Mr. Madison, formerly the intimate friend of Hamilton, has taken his murderer into his carriage, and accompanied him on a visit to the French minister. Mr. Giles, the present ministerial leader in the Senate, has drawn up a paper addressed to Governor Bloomfield, of New Jersey, stating that in killing his antagonist in a fair duel Burr was not guilty of murder, and requesting the governor to direct a nolle prosequi to be entered on the indictment now depending in that state. This address was not shown to New England Senators. Mr. White of Delaware, to whom it was presented, declined signing it. It was signed by many, if not all the Democratic Senators present. The Democrats of both Houses are remarkably attentive to Burr. What oiEce they can or will give him is uncertain. Mr. Wright, of Maryland, said in debate : 'The first duel I ever read of was that of David kill- ing Goliath. Our little David, of the Republicans, has killed the Goliath of Federalism, and for this I am willing to reward him.' They know their man, and will not choose to trust him unnecessarily." To James Sheafe, he writes, (January, 1805) : "When Judge Chase appeared before the Senate, Burr would not suffer a chair, which had been provided for him, to remain, but ordered it away. The judge was obliged to solicit a seat, and was interrupted, and treated with a degree LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 331 of rudeness, not to have been expected from so courtly a man as the Vice-President. His anxiety to please the Democratic party certainly made him, on this occasion, overact his part ; not at all to the satisfaction of the more moderate among them." To Ms wife, he writes, (March 2d, 1805) : " Mr. Burr has taken his final farewell of the Senate. His address would have done honor to a better heart. It was delivered with great force and propriety, and, as he bowed and retired^ we were all deeply affected, and many shed tears. The Senate passed unanimously a vote of thanks, approving of his official conduct as Vice-President. I condemn as cordially as any man living his fatal rencontre with Hamilton, on the Jersey shore, in July last ; but his official conduct in the Sen- ate, for the last three years, has fully met my approbation. To acknowledge this, in my public capacity, was a debt justly due from me, and I have paid it cheerfully. To-morrow, at half-past ten in the evening, I shall take my departure from this place. Anxious, as I am, to embrace again my family and friends at home, I part with regret from dear friends here, many of whom I shall probably never behold again. May He whose tender mercies extend to the lily of the valley, and the feeble sparrow of the field, protect you and our dear ofispring." Mr. Plumer found, on his return, that the Repub- licans had carried the state, at the March elections. 332 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEB. as he had predicted they would. To, Uriah Tracy, he writes, (May 2d, 1805) : "Democracy has obtained its long expected triumph in. New Hampshire. John Langdon is Governor elect. His success is not owing to snow, rain, hail, or bad roads, (the usual excuses for Federal failures,) but to the incontrovertible fact, that the Federalists of this state do not compose the majority. Many good men have grown weary of constant exertions to support a system, whose labors bear a close affinity to those of Sisyphus. They feel disposed to attend to their own affairs, and leave those of the state to philosojjhers, who can dissect the wing of a butterfly or the proboscis of a mosquito, and are, therefore, well qualified to make and administer the laws. In Massachusetts, Strong will be re-elected ; but Sullivan presses hard in his rear. That Com- monwealth must soon follow New Hampshire. It will be reserved for Connecticut to preserve her steady habits yet a little longer. Mutability is one of the ])ermanent laws of nature ; or, as our learned friend from South Carolina says, ' man is man.' And now a word as to my dear self. I have discontinued most of my newspapers, and devote my time and money to more useful works, principally history. I labor with my hands on my farm as much as four hours a day, and spend the residue in reading, writing and conversation. This change of studies is productive of more substantial pleasure than a knowledge of the fleeting events of the day can afford. The exercise is necessary to my health, which, thank Heaven, continues good." LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 333 The last of his children was born about this time. He thus states the fact in his Register : " On the fifth day of the fifth month, in the fifth year of the nine- teenth century, I had a fifth son born. These cir- cumstances induced me to call his name Quintus." The next entry on this subject, is, (May 29th, 1805,) This day my son Quintus died in my arms, having lived only five times five days." This remarkable con- concurrence of fives in the incidents of his birth and death, is commemorated on his gravestone, in an inscription which, from its singularity, has found its way into several collections of epitaphs. Mr. Plumer passed the summer and autumn in the society of his friends, and in the labors of the farm, to which he was always attached. The approaching ses- sion of Congress called him again to Washington. Under date of November 17th, 1805, he says: " Late in the afternoon I left my house for the seat of gov- ernment. The regret, accompanied with tears, which my family showed, made the parting very painful. My wife was so much affected that she could not dine with us. 18th. I was the only passenger in the stage from Exeter to Haverhill. The melancholy occasioned by leaving my family still clouds my mind. 19th. I walked to Cambridge, three miles, to visit my son. My children now engross my affections. Every month affords me new proofs of my attachment to them. I converse with William as with a companion ; and he, in turn, makes me his confidant. I felt sad at parting with him. In 334 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. the evening I walked back to Boston. 20tli. Took my seat in the mail stage, crowded with passengers, among whom were Nelson, Thompson, and Tenney, all members of Con- gress. "We arrived at Providence early in the evening. My spirits were much animated by meeting my friends Bourne and Hunter of Ehode Island. 21st. Eode to New London, 22d. Arrived at New Haven. ?3d. Stage so much crowded as to be very uncomfortable. Early in the evening arrived at Rye. 24th. Arrived at the City Hotel in New York. I immediately entered my name in the mail stage for Philadel- phia ; and having dined, I stepped into the ferry boat, and, in ten minutes, crossed the North Eiver. No one was with me in the stage, till I arrived at Brunswick, and then only a young Briton. The day and night Were stormy ; but I had not a wet thread. 25th. At 8 o'clock, A. M., I arrived at Philadelphia but little fatigued. 26th. I was the only person who took the mail stage at 9 o'clock, A. M., for Baltimore. At half-past ten, P. M., passed, in a small boat with the mail only, the Susquehannah, and supped at eleven at Havre de Grace, in Maryland. There is only one other line of stages on this road. 27th. At 7 o'clock, A. M., arrived at Balti- more. At ten, took my seat with two other passengers for "Washington, where I arrived at seven, P. M. In thirty-four hours I have safely performed a journey of more than one hundred and fifty miles, much less fatigued than I had reason to fear." Here is the story of ten days' hard travel, in the mail stage, from New Hampshire to "Washington, some of the way with one passenger, once or twice LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMEK. 335 crowded, there being on the route only one other line of stages! The battle of Trafalgar had given England, at this period, the undisputed dominion of the sea; while the successes of Napoleon made France no less formidable on the land. The effect of this sudden accession of strength was to render both these powers indifferent to the good wUl of other nations, and ready, on the slightest pretence, to violate their rights. The encroachments of both on the neutral and other rights of the United States, together with the difficul- ties with Spain growing out of the Louisiana treaty, formed the chief objects of attention with the govern- ment at this time. Many of the proceedings of Con- gress on these subjects were in secret session. I find frequent allusions to them in the letters and journals of this period. The extracts which follow relate prin- cipally to these subjects. December 1st, 1805 : " The Eastern States have an interest different from that of the Southern, and I really wish we might support that inter- est ; not, indeed, in such a way as would endanger the peace and happiness of the Union. In Virginia, a Federalist is still a Virginian ; but in New England, a Federalist does not feel or act as a New Englander." December 3d, 1805 : 336 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. " The President's message is more energetic and warlike than any he ever before sent to Congress. The state of the nation seems to demand it." December 15th : " 0. Cook, a member from Maine, told me that he had seen a private letter from James Bowdoin, our minister at Madrid, in which he writes that the French court would persuade Spain to settle our differences with that nation, to our full con- tent, if we would make a present of a handsome sum of money to France. Samuel Smith, Senator from Maryland, told me in confidence, that our government would purchase of France and Spain their title to the Floridas. Our Federal gentlemen generally decline visiting the Republican members, and so vice versa. I visit my political opponents freely, converse with them, avoid disputes, and obtain much useful information from them. My rule is to ask many questions, to converse cautiously and negatively on important subjects, and to dis- play, on subjects not important, much frankness. Whenever I answer a c[uestion, I do it correctly ; for I abhor duplicity. But a politician is bound to act cautiously, and not less to be on his guard in conversation with his opponents." He took strong ground in opposition to purchasing lands of the Indians ; both in justice to the Indians themselves, whom he considered as generally defraud- ed in these treaties, and from a desire to prevent the too rapid extension of our settlements, and the con- sequent dispersion of our people. He voted, during his whole term of service, against nearly all Indian LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 337 treaties ; and on that with the Cherokees, ratified at this time, (December lOth, 1805,) his vote was the only one in the negative. To John Langdon he writes, December 16th: " Against Great Britain we have serious complaints for the spoliations committed on our commerce. It will be difEcult to adjust these ; for the measures of that nation are parts of a premeditated system, to which she tenaciously adheres. Spain refuses to make compensation for spoliations committed on our commerce; and we have even more serious difficulties with her respecting the boundaries of Louisiana. Spain is weak, and her colonies in America are very accessible to us. But, in case of a war, I have no doubt France would support Spain against us. To Thomas Lowndes of South Carolina, he writes, December 30th : " The President's message is more bold and manly than what we have been accustomed to hear from this administra- tion. The spirit of the people demands energetic measures. It is confidently asserted that the administration is divided upon the measures which we ought to pursue both with Great Britain and Spain. In this desert city we have little company. The Tunisian ambassador, and the chiefs and warriors of some Indian tribes, who are now here, serve to attract curiosity for a day ; but we want society, which cannot be obtained in this place." 22 338 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. January 1st, 1806 : " The Federalists generally declined calling on tke Presi- dent to-day ■with the compliments of the season, on the ground that they have not been invited to dine with him this session. I thought it a respect due from me to him as President, and therefore went. Mr. Adams, General Chittenden, and Mr. Taggart, were the only Federalists who attended the levee. I will never yield implicit obedience to the will of any man or party. I see much to approve, and much to condemn, in all parties. The course which I pursue must, and shall be, one that my judgment approves. I am determined, as a pub- lic man, to support every measure which to me appears right, let the party, or the motives of the man, who brings it forward be ever so wrong." The House had passed, in secret session, a biU granting the President two millions of dollars for the extraordinary expenses of the foreign intercourse, in other words, for the purchase of the Floridas ; and this bill was now before the Senate. It was opposed by the vote of every Federal Senator, and did not receive the support of all the RepubHcans. Bradley of Vermont denounced it as intended to purchase men in Europe, rather than a province in America. Mr. Plumer's Register contains reports of the secret debates in the Senate, on this and other subjects con- nected with the foreign intercourse of the country. But their discussions belong to the history of the LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 339 country, rather than of the individual, and are there- fore not quoted here. January 2d, 1806, he says : "Mr. Jefferson intends to purchase the Florldas. The present clamor for warlike preparations, and the publication of supposed aggressions committed three years since, are made now to prepare the public for the purchase of the Floridas. I am assured, from high authority, that France will sell and guarantee both the Floridas to us for seven millions of dollars. At present I do not see any cause either for war or the pur- chase of more territory." On the resolution requesting the President to open negotiations with Great Britain on the subjects of dispute between the two countries, Mr. Plumer voted in the negative, on the ground that it is the duty of the President, and not of the Senate, to institute negotiations with foreign powers; and that, if the request is to be regarded as a command, it is an encroachment on the rights of the executive, while if, on the other hand, the President is at liberty to dis- regard it, the act is not merely useless, but exposes the Senate to contempt by the assumption of an authority which it has no means or ability to enforce. " I have full evidence," he adds, " that Mr. Jefferson has no wish or desire to involve the country in a war. It is, and has long been, his intention to negotiate. But he wished to remove from himself to the Senate, the responsibility of form- 340 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. ing a commercial treaty with Great Britain. He knew that the old one (Jay's,) occasioned much clamor, and had rendered a former administration unpopular. He, therefore, wished the Senate to place him in a situation that would not only justify, but render it necessary for him to treat. Many of his friends in the Senate were brought with difficulty to vote for the reso- lution. The Federal gentlemen, on the contrary, were all zealous for the measure. I was the only Federalist who voted against it. They wished to place the President in a situation where he would be bound not only to treat, but to adopt Jay's treaty, — a treaty which he and his friends had formerly branded with every odious epithet." February 20th : " I voted against the bill interdicting the trade with St. Domingo. I am not willing, as a Senator of this free and sovereign nation, to receive orders from Napoleon. I will never legislate under his threats. The laws and usages of nations justify the trade. Our interests urge us to pursue it. But a majority of the Senate decided otherwise. Several southern Senators said that the only thing which reconciled them to the bill was the fatal influence which the independence of the Haytiens would have on their own slaves." March 5th: "Mr. Randolph, long the administration leader in the House, has been for some time disaffected ; and he came out yester- day and to-day, in a most bitter philippic against the President and the Secretary of State, in the debate on Grey's resolution LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 341 to prohibit intercourse with Great Britain. He has fairly passed the Rubicon. Neither Jefferson nor Madison can, after this, be upon tei-ms with him. He has set them and their measures at defiance. The attention of crowded gal- leries was fixed upon him. The Senators left their chamber to listen to his eloquence. I heard him for nearly two hours with very great pleasure. He is certainly a man of very great talents, and by far the best speaker in the House. I have, from my first acquintance with him, ever considered him as a man of strict integrity. But his pas sions are strong, his pre- judices violent and inveterate; and he wants that plain common sense, which renders a man at once safe and useful to himself and to others." March 12th : " I have for some time been convinced that long speeches in the Senate have, in most cases, very little influence on the vote. Our number is small, thirty-four when the Senate is full. The documents are printed and laid upon our tables ; and those of us who examine for ourselves, and do not vote on the faith of others, form from them our opinions. Con- versation follows, and a free exchange of sentiments. This either confirms or changes our previous opinions ; and fixes the votes of others, who never give themselves the trouble of examination. Some are implicitly led by the administration ; others have their file leaders. When a Senator is making a set speech, there is seldom a quorum within the bar ; the chairs are deserted; and the question is, in the meantlnie, settled in conversation at the fireside. This conversation is often so loud as to interrupt the speaker. Under these cir- 342 LIFE OF WIILIAM PLUMEB. cumstances, it is difficult for any man to make an eloquent and eiFective speech, when he knows he is not even listened to. Add to this that we have no stenographers, and seldom any hearers in the galleries. I therefore make no long and not many short speeches. Yet, my influence is hy no means confined to my own vote. I am industrious in all private circles, expressing openly and frankly my opinions, and assigning my reasons ; and I have frequently full and satisfactory evidence that my brother Senators, of all parties, have much confidence in my opinions ; for they know that I am not governed by party views." March 16th, 1806 : " It seems now to be agreed that Mr. Jefferson is not to be a candidate at the next Presidential election. The disclosure of this fact, thus early, is an unnecessary and imprudent letting down of his importance. It lessens greatly his influence on the government. Most men seek the rising rather than the setting sun. The more impartially I examine the character and conduct of Mr. Jefferson, the more favorably I think of his integrity. I have, I am inclined to think, done him injustice in this respect. INot that he is a model of wisdom or goodness. He has too much cunning for that, and, I suspect, no very nice or high sense of moral duty. A man of science, an infidel in religion, he is in everything else credulous to a fault. He has muchjf?»e sense, yet little of the plain common sense, so necessary for the practical statesman. Yet he has been, as a politician, eminently successful. How is this ? More, it seems to me, by the popularity of his LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 343 doctrines, than by his strength of personal character, or by the practical wisdom of his public measures. These doctrines are, some of them, sound, more of them specious, and all of them addressed to the self-esteem and pride of the masses. He is, ill theory, at least, eminently democratic, and such our people are fast becoming. Federalism has passed away. Kepublicanism is now the favorite designation ; but Democ- racy is the true name for the direct, unbalanced, and unlimited rule of the many. This is not the government contemplated, either by the constitutions of the states or by that of the United States. But this is what we are coming to ; and it is owing more to Mr. Jefferson than to any other man. How far this unmitigated power of the major vote will prove a blessing remains to be seen. In the meantime, this possession of all power by the people is true only in appearance. The real power here, as every where else, is in the hands of a few. Jefferson wishes Madison to be his successor. Randolph is against Madison, and in favor of Monroe." March 28th : " This day a bill passed the Senate in favor of the Yazoo speculators. I was the only Senator from New England who voted against it. But, though deserted by every man from New England and every Federalist in the Senate, I never gave a vote with a more thorough conviction of its propriety than that against this bill." April 8th : ""With John Quincy Adams I am intimate. He is a 344 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. man of much information, a correct and animated, speaker, — '■ of strong passions, and of course, subject to strong prejudices, but a man of strict, undeviating integrity. He is not the slave of party, nor influenced by names ; but free, inde- pendent, and occasionally eccentric." April 13th : " The ratification of the treaty with Tripoli depended upon my exertions, and without them would have failed. By those exertions more than one vote was obtained for the treaty, which, after all, was barely carried. The Federalists, except Mr. Adams and myself, opposed it. Under the influence of Eaton's statements, I, at one time, thought the treaty a bad one, but subsequent inquiry convinced me that it ought to be ratified." Against the leading measures of the session, the two millions of secret service money, and the partial non-intercourse with England, he had indeed, voted, but in no spirit of indiscriminate or factious oppo- sition. There were only seven Federalists in the Sen- ate, and of these neither Adams nor Plumer could be considered as a reliable party man. Yet even this small number gave some trouble to the President. "Seven Federalists," he says, "voting always in phalanx, and joined by some discontented Republicans, some oblique ones, some capricious, have so often made a majority as to produce very serious embarrassments." rbi the House the opposition was not relatively LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 345 stronger, though aided by the accession of Randolph. He had, indeed, more talent as a debater, than any other member; but he ultimately carried with him not more than six or seven Republican votes, — so entire was the control which Mr. Jefferson retained to the last over the movements of the party. Ran- dolph was denounced as a Federalist; and the powerful administration leader became thenceforth the brilliant and sarcastic, but powerless opposition orator, fighting, however, always on his own ground, with very little concert with others. Four years on the administration side were preceded and followed by a life of opposition. He had, as I heard him say, many years after, as great an alacrity in getting into an opposition as FalstaflF had in sinking. This was, indeed, his true vocation, that of a fault-finder ; and there was seldom a time in which his peculiar talent in that respect was not in full requisition. Like Swift, he had ' ' too mueli satire in his vein. And seemed determined not to starve it, Because no age could more deserve it." The session closed on the 21st of April, and Mr. Plumer reached home on the 30th. May 15th, he writes : " Visited this week, my friends and acquaintances at Ports- mouth, by whom I was received with much kindness and 346 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. attention. Called, among others, upon Governor Langdon, who treated me with much politeness. He is re-elected •without any real rival, and a large majority of the legisla- ture is of his party. All is now calm and quiet in the state. The Federalists are silent and submissive. The Democrats are obliged to own that the change of men has produced little change in public measures. A few men have got offices under Langdon, who would not have obtained them under Oilman ; and that is all, — much indeed to some of them, even a justice's commission, but little to any body else. I was never much of a party man, and am becoming less of one every day." The Republicans were now in full possession of the state government; and in June they elected Nahum Parker to the United States Senate, for the next Congress. Mr. Plumer was not a candidate for re-election. "I am," he said, in noticing this event, "too much of a Federalist to have Republican votes, and too much of a Republican deeply to interest Feder- alists in my favor." " At the election of members of the tenth Congress, August 25th, I attended," he says, "the meeting, and voted for a ticket of my own, selecting two Democrats and three Federalists — hon- est men and true, moderate, but firm in their opinions — men that I should not be ashamed to meet in the councils of the nation." This vote for two Democrats and three Federalists, though determined chiefly by the merits of the individuals selected, was a not inapt LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 347 representation of his feelings at this time. He had ceased to feel any strong party attachment, and looked to the merits of measures, more than to their authors, for the degree of favor with which he should regard them. His last session in the Senate was now approach- ing. It need not detain us long. He took his seat on the first day of December, 1806; and his term of service closed with the session, on the 3d of March, 1807. The first measure of the session was an act to suspend the operation of the non-importation law of the last session. This was on the recommendation of the President, who announced the probable conclusion of a treaty with England. This treaty was received about the close of the session ; but, not being satisfac- tory to the President, it was rejected by him, without being communicated to the Senate. On this subject I find the following entry in my father's Register, March 4th, 1807 : " I called upon the President this morning. He told me he had not received the treaty with Great Britain ; but that Mr. Erskine, the British minister, had received a copy of it, and had politely sent it to him. The President said he disap- proved of it, for it contained no stipulation for the protection of American seamen ; and that, had he received the treaty ten days ago, he should not have laid it before the Senate." The movements of Aaron Burr formed, during this 348 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. session, the most prominent object of curiosity and attention, — of alternate wonder, incredulity and alarm. What was then doubtful, as to the designs of this mysterious conspirator, the lapse of nearly fifty years leaves still in obscurity. He had not at first despaired of obtaining, from the hopes or the fears of the administration, some appointment, which should imply his possession of the public confidence. "This evening," says Mr. Plumer, (January 15th, 1807,) " my colleague, Nicholas Gilman, told me that Mr. Jefferson, a few days since, informed him that, the last winter. Burr made several visits to him, and requested, as he was out of employment, that the President would give him some appoint- ment, as that of minister to some foreign court ; that at the last visit. Burr pressed the subject ; and that the President then replied, ' You once had my confidence, but the people and myself have now lost the confidence we once had in you. I cannot, therefore, gratify you with an appointment.' Burr then intimated to the President that he would find that he had the power to do him much injury." He afterwards talked of offering himself for a seat in Congress from Tennessee, where it was supposed he could be elected. His aims, however, evidently pointed at something higher. Desperate in his for- tunes, his irregular ambition was now apparently seeking its outlet in schemes of conquest and revo- lution in the West. His own account of the matter LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMEE. 349 was, that he was building boats, and enlisting men, with a view to take possession of a tract of land on the Red River in Louisiana, and to form a settle- ment there. By others, including the President, it was believed that his object was a dismemberment of the Union, and the establishment of an empire in the South West; and that with this view he would first seize on New Orleans, and thence push his fortunes against the Spaniards in Mexico. "He meant," said Jefferson, July 14, 1807, "to separate the Western States from us, to add Mexico to them, place himself at their head, and establish what he would call an energetic government." Of this long-dreaded expe- dition not much that was tangible ever appeared, beyond a few men floating in flat boats down the river towards New Orleans. These boats were seized by order of the government, and the men were dispersed. Burr was afterwards tried in Virginia, before Chief Justice Marshall, on a charge of treason, and acquitted for want of proof of any overt act. And thus ended an enterprise, which was thought for a time to threaten the safety of the Union. The subject of this memoir was slow to believe in the many rumors which were circulated on the subject. " We have many reports," he said, December 9th, 1806, " but very little correct information, respecting Burr's move- ments. I do not knovr enough of his late conduct to form an 350 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. opinion as to what are his objects in the Western States. But I am too well acquainted with the man to believe him guilty of half the absurdities ascribed to him. He is capable of much wickedness, but not of such folly as fhey impute to him." Yet such is the contagion of example that, under the excitement of these rumors, he voted, (January 23d,) for the bill to suspend for three months the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, which passed the Senate almost unanimously, but was rejected with almost equal unanimity by the House. Sub- sequent events showed that there was no occasion for this suspension, and he expressed, before the close of the session, his surprise and regret at having voted for it. The most permanently important measure of the session was the act prohibiting the importation of slaves into the United States, after the first of Janu- ary, 1808. Two other measures, of this session, then little regarded, have since led to important results, — the one an act to provide for surveying the coasts of the United States, a survey which, involving great expense, and requiring much time, is not yet com- pleted; the other, a call of the Senate on the Secre- tary of the Treasury to report at the next session a system of internal improvements for the United States. This latter was the first step in a series of LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 351 measures, which have since entered largely into the civil history of the country, and the course of its politics. Mr. Plumer voted for all these acts, fore- seeing as little as others the final results to which the two latter measures would lead, but deeming them clearly within the constitutional powers of the government, and conducive to the public good. Henry Clay came, for the first time, this session, into Congress. I find in Mr. Plumer's papers several notices of him. December 29th, 1806 : " This day, Henry Clay, the successor of John Adair, was qualified, and took his seat in the Senate. He is a young lawyer. His stature is tall and slender. I had much conver- sation with him ; and it afforded me much pleasure. He is intelligent, and appears frank and candid. His address is good and his manners easy." January 2d, 1807 : " Mr. Clay in the Senate. He appears to be an easy, elo- quent and graceful speaker." January 12th: " " Mr. Clay is a young lawyer, of considerable eminence. He came here as Senator, for this session only. His 352 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMEK. clients, who have suits depending in the Supreme Court, gave him a purse of three thousand dollars to attend to their suits here. He would not he a candidate for the next Congress, as it would materially injure his business. But it was a convenient and money-making business for him to attend this session. This day Henry Clay, and Matthew Clay, his uncle, joined the pai'ty at our lodgings. They are Republicans, and I am glad they have come. I dislike this setting up of partition walls between Members of Congress, because some are Federalists and others Eepublicans. The more we associate together, the more favorably shall we think of each other." It had been early an object with Mr. Plumer, to bring about this social union at the same boarding- house between members of the different parties ; and he succeeded, this session, in forming a mess of this character, of liberal minded men from both parties, much to his satisfaction. Clay came readily into it. January 23d : " Henry Clay told me he thought there was no occasion for suspending the writ of habeas corpus ; but the delicate situation in which he stood, as late counsel for Burr, would not only prevent him from opposing it, but oblige him to vote for it, which he did." LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 353 January 29th: "On the second reading of the bill to erect a bridge over the Potomac, Henry Clay made an eloquent and forci- ble speech against the postponement. He animadverted with great severity on Tracy's observations. As a speaker. Clay is animated, his language bold and flowery. He is prompt and ready at reply, but he does not reason with the force and precision of Bayard." February 13th : " Henry Clay is a man of pleasure ; fond of amusements. He is a great favorite with the ladies ; is in all parties of pleasure ; out almost every evening ; reads but little ; indeed he said he meant this session should be a tour of pleasure; He is a man of talents ; is eloquent, but not nice or accu- rate in his distinctions. He declaims more than he reasons. He is a gentlemanly and pleasant companion ; a man of honor and integrity." The following extract shows a state of things differ- ent from any which has since existed among the high officers of the government at Washington : March 1st: " The Heads of Departments visit few members of either House. Mr. Madison, for two or three years past, has 23 354 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. entirely omitted even the ceremony of leaving cards at tlieir lodgings. He invites very few to dine with him. Mr. Gallatin leaves no cards, makes no visits, scarcely ever invites a member to dine, or has even a tea party. General Dearborn and Eoljert Smith, Secretaries of War and the Navy, leave cards with all the members, but invite few to tea, and scarcely any to dine. Mr. Clinton, the Vice-Presi- dent, comes to the city in his own carriage, accompanied by one of his daughters and a servant; but lives out at board, like a common member ; keeps no table, nor invites any one to dine. These gentlemen do not live in a style suited to the dignity of their offices." After the close of his senatorial service, though he lived more than forty years, Mr. Plumer never re- visited the seat of government. He, however, always looked back with satisfaction and pleasure to the time which he spent there. With his habits of vigilant observation, and his keen insight of character, he had acquired a fund of curious anecdotes, and rich stores of information, respecting the distinguished men of the times, the prominent lawyers and politicians of the country, which added, in after years, fresh charms to his conversation, abounding, as it often did, with curious facts and instructive remarks on life and man- ners, derived from this source. Though he found there no lawyers whom he deemed superior to his old friends and opponents, Parsons, Dexter and Ma- son, he formed the acquaintaince of jurists, such as LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 355 M^/rshall, Patterson and Chase, on the bench, and Martin, Harper, Lewis and Hopkinson, at the bar,, with others, then noted, but now little known, who represented not unworthily the legal profession in the courts of the Union. If lawyers are unknown, or soon forgotten, the race of politicians is perhaps not much longer lived. Yet he associated with many there who are not yet quite forgotten, and with some whose memory will not wholly perish. He witnessed, at his first session, the departing glories of Ross and Morris, and, at a later period, the rising splendors of CHnton, Clay and Adams. Randolph was at the height of his power and popularity, and in the prime vigor of his peculiar and eccentric genius. Tracy, Griswold, Bayard, Taylor, Giles and Smith were able public men, though not brilliant debaters. In the Cabinet, Madison was learned in all questions of the law of nations ; modest and unassuming, with a fem- inine grace of manner ; yet firm and, at times, almost stubborn in his opinions ; strong in the powers of a clear, discriminating mind, improved by study, and enlightened by experience ; yet less expert in the arts of policy than his able and adroit colleague of the Treasury Department. Sagacious in design^ and persuasive in manner and address, Mr. Gallatin had few equals in his knowledge of human nature, or the skill with which he combined the means neces- sary for the accomplishment of his designs. In Mr. 356 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. Plumer's opinion, the President owed much of the success of his administration to the counsels of these two able ministers. Without their restrain- ing influence, his brilliant, but less balanced mind might have betrayed itself more freqiiently in such vagaries as his scheme of gun-boats and dry-docks, or his vision of salt mountains, and in the rancor of his personal and political animosities. CHAPTER IX. NEW POLITICAL RELATIONS. Retiring from the public service at the age of forty- eight, Mr. Plumer did not feel that the labors of his life were yet ended. The vigor of his mind was unimpaired, and its activity had never been greater. "Labor," he said, "is not irksome to me, and I well know that the busiest life is also the most happy." He did not, however, wish to return to his profession as a lawyer. He went, indeed, occasionally into court, at the request of an old client ; but he declined busi- ness from other persons. His health, though better than it had been five years before, was not, in his opinion, equal to the labors and the excitements of a lawyer in full practice. He had, while at Washing- ton, collected a set, nearly complete, of the public documents of the government; and this collection, which ultimately extended to four or five hundred volumes, was, probably, for the period which it embraced^ the most nearly complete in the United States. So assiduous were his labors in this respect, spending days and nights in selecting and sorting his materials, from cartloads of useless lumber, piled in. 358 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. obscure vaults, and rotting in damp and mlventilated chambers, that scarcely a paper published by Con- gress had escaped his research. This collection of State papers suggested to him the idea of writing a history of the government, from the Declaration of Indepen- dence to the close of Mr. Jefferson's administration. He afterwards enlarged the plan, so as to embrace a general history of the country from its first discovery to his own time ; a work, which he justly regarded as affording ample occupation for the longest life which he could hope to enjoy. He had, however, from the first, many misgivings as to his competency for the task. " I am," he said, " no scholar. Hardly master of my own language, I can read no other. It requires much time for me to express my ideas on paper, so as to satisfy myself, though I find that I now compose with greater facility than formerly." He began with drawing out a sketch, or plan of what his work should contain. This extended to seventy-two pages, and embraced such a variety of topics as showed that little or nothing, deserving notice, had escaped his attention. It was evident, however, that he looked to law, politics, the civil institutions of the country, and the lives and characters of its statesmen and law- givers, more than to the movements of armies and the incidents of war. He had gone so far, before leaving Washington, as to converse on the subject with the President, and LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 359 other oflficers of the government, from whom he received promises of assistance, and permission to examine the public archives. He now determined to devote himself to the work, and to allow no other pursuit to interfere permanently with its prosecution. The spirit in which he entered on this important undertaking was well expressed in a letter (May 1st, 1807,) to Mr. Jefferson. "It is my first determina- tion, like a faithful witness in court, to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing hut the truth, regardless of the applause or the censure of existing parties. This year I shall devote to the settling of my pecuniary affairs, to arranging my documents and manuscripts, and making indexes and references to them. The next year I hope to commence my work, and to spend the winter at Washington, in procuring further information from the public offices." To John Q. Adams, (July 11,1809,) he writes: " My leisure hours are now devoted to my history of the United States. I have made but little progress in the composition, the rough sketch of my introduc- tion being not yet finished. To this work I intend sedulously to devote the remainder of my days." To tell the truth with the conscientious fidelity of a witness under oath, it was, above all things, neces- sary that he should first know the truth. With this view he entered on a comprehensive course of careful and critical reading in American history; resorting 360 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. to the original authorities, in all cases where they were within his reach; taking nothing for granted, or at second hand, comparing adverse statements, sifting authorities, and thus deducing historic truth as the slow result of patient investigation. It was not till he had gone, in this way, through all the early writers, and compared them with the original docu- ments, so far as these could be obtained, that he commenced the labor of composition. In several preliminary chapters, he unfolded, first, the state of society in Europe, at the period of the discovery of America; and then traced the progress of naviga- tion and settlement along the coast, from Canada to Florida, down to the first permanent lodgement effect- ed by the English in Virginia. He then entered on the early history of that colony ; but had made little progress in it, when his labors as an historian came finally to a close. He had written what would make about half a volume of the ordinary octavo size. But, while intent upon this history of the past, he did not altogether lost sight of the present. His interest in passing events grew daily stronger, with the increasing aggressions of France and England on the commerce and maritime rights of the United States. To explain his return to public life, and to trace the new connec- tions into which he now entered, we must go back to the close of his senatorial term, and thence follow LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 361 down the course of events to the period of his elec- tion as Governor of New Hampshire. The administration of Mr. Jefferson, so prosper- ous at its commencement, was clouded and overcast towards its close, by the injustice of foreign powers to the United States. This rendered necessary, in the opinion of the government, a system of non-inter- course and embargo laws, and led finally to a war with England. The British order of blockade of May 16th, 1806, was the cause alleged by Napoleon for issuing his Berlin Decree of November 21st, 1806. This was followed by the British Orders in Council of January 7th, and November 11th, 1807. The Milan Decree of Napoleon was dated December 17th, 1807. The effect of these British orders and French decrees was well-nigh to destroy all neutral commerce, of which the largest portion was, at this time, in the hands of American merchants. More than a hundred millions of American property were swept from the ocean, or confiscated in port. With England there was the additional question of impressment of seamen from American vessels, complicated. by the attack on the Chesapeake, which took place June 22d, 1807. The question presented by this state of things to the people of the United States, was, whether they should submit in silence to these unjust aggressions ; and, if not, in what manner they should be met, and repelled. Mr. Plumer's views and feelings on these 362 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. subjects will be seen in the following extracts from his letters and other papers written at the time. In a letter to' Thomas Cogswell, August 3d, 1807, he says : "The conduct of Humphries, the Captain of the Leopard, in attacking the Chesapeake, and taking from her, by force, four of our seamen, was a direct assault upon our sovereignty. Even if they were British subjects, instead of American citizens, that would not justify an attack upon the national flag. If the British government justifies the conduct of Humphries, we ought, and, I trust, shall, declare war against her. I love peace ; I would suffer much to preserve it ; but war, with all its horrors, is preferable to degradation. One insult, meanly submitted to, will necessarily produce another. The conduct of Great Britain towards the United States, for some years past, has been hostile. It is sound policy in our government to demand an explicit stipulation that our flag, mercantile, as well as national, shall protect those who sail under it. If this is refused, and war should grow out of our present embarrass- ments, I trust we shall maintain it with a spirit worthy of freemen." To Martin Chittenden, a member of Congress from Vermont, and afterwards Governor of that state, he wrote, December 5th, 1807 : " If the honor and dignity of our nation can be preserved, I hope we shall avoid war. I would sooner abandon commerce, for a time, than jnvolve our country in the calamities insepa- rable from war. Our merchants, in that case, would clamor ; LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMES,. 363 but I would leave them to protect their property by voluntary embargoes. If they send their ships to sea, let them do it at their own risk, and not look to the government to be their insurers. Yet, as much as I deprecate war, I should prefer it to national degradation." This idea of letting commerce take care of itself was at the time extensively entertained. The mer- chants preferred it to an embargo. Trade embar- rassed, but not altogether destroyed by orders and decrees was, at this time, a game of hazard, in which, if the losses were frequent, the gains were' enormous. War was, indeed, the obvious, almost inevitable result of the state of things which then existed; but for this measure the country was not prepared, either morally, by a belief in its necessity, or physi- cally, by the armaments necessary to carry it on with success. The measure adopted was, therefore, that of an embargo. This act, December 22d, 1807, was defended by its friends on various grounds ; first, and most successfully, as a precautionary measure, to se- cure our shipping and produce from the grasp of the belligerents, till we could prepare for war ; secondly, as the best means of compelling France and England to respect our rights ; and thirdly, as a withdrawal from the scenes of European contest, till the nations of Europe should return once more to their wonted relations of peace and commerce. Those who sup- ported it upon this latter ground, held that the war 364 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMES. in Europe would not be of long continuance ; and that while it lasted it was our true policy, though at the loss of some property, and perhaps of some repu- tation for the time, to keep " out of the wind of such commotion," — safe at least, if inglorious, within our own borders. At an earlier period, Fisher Ames had said, (January 27, 1794,) "Though America is rising with a giant's strength, its bones are yet but carti- lages. By delaying the beginning of a conflict, we insure the victory." The great majority, however, of those who supported for years the policy of the embargo and non-intercourse laws did it upon the ground that they would compel both France and England ultimately to do us justice; our commerce being desirable to the former, and essential to the latter. Mr. Plumer's opinions on this subject were expressed in a letter, (dated January 26th, 1808,) to Samuel M. Mitchell, a member of Congress from New York. " Our merchants complain, of the embargo as a serious evil ; it oppresses our seamen, many of whom are in want of bread, and our farmers feel its pressure in the reduced price of the produce of their lands. When Congress imposed it, they possessed, I presume, information, which it was then improper to disclose, but which, if known, would have pre- vented prudent men from hazarding their ships on the ocean. When, from any source, this danger shall be known to our merchants, will the embargo be continued ? Or is it designed LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMBE. 365 to operate against other nations ? If the latter is the object, I fear, while we are chastising others with whips, we shall be scourging ourselves with scorpions." In August, 1808, Mr. Plumer voted for the Eepub- liean ticket for members of Congress, and in Novem- ber, for the Madison electors for President. " Though Madison was not," he says, " the man I should have selected for President, had I possessed the sole power, I thought him the best man that could be chosen, and therefore used my influence, and gave my vote for him." In the mean time, the opposition to the restrictive policy of the government had become so strong, particularly in New England, that Congress, at its next session, repealed the embargo, and adopted in its place a system of non-intercourse with France and England. " The alternative," said Mr. Jefferson, " was repeal or civil war." " Congress," said Mr. Plumer, "apprehended, not without reason, that, if they did not repeal the embargo laws, some, if not all of the New England States, would recede from the Union," Though, as we have seen, Mr. Plumer did not much Uke the embargo and non-intercourse, or, as it was then called, the restrictive system, he thought himself bound to support his own government against the hostile aggressions of foreign powers; and would, therefore, no longer go with his old asso- 366 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. ciates of the Federal party, in their indiscriminate opposition to all the measures of the administration. Unsuccessful ,in their party movements, and exasper- ated by their long exclusion from office, they had acquired, with the feelings of a minority, the usual faults of an opposition. The Republicans, on the contrary, had silently withdrawn from many of the untenable positions which they had originally occu- pied ; and, under the burdens of government, with the responsibilities of office upon them, were saying and doing many things which they had formerly con- demned, when said or done by the Federal party then in power. Amidst these changes of conduct and opinion in the two great political parties, Mr. Plumer found himself once more, what he had originally been, a supporter of the government; and, above all, a ready opponent of every foreign aggression on the rights of his country. It was this duty of supporting the government in its action against unjust pressure from abroad, which formed the chief tie between him and the party with which he now acted. Another motive, however, perhaps equally strong with him, was his belief that certain leading Federalists of New England still cherished their old design of a separa- tion of the states. He saw much in the spirit of the times and the course of events, calculated to give encouragement, if not success, to their exertions in a cause, which he had himself once favored, but the LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 367 success of which he now regarded as the greatest misfortune which could befall the country. That there was danger of this he firmly believed. Nothing, indeed, seemed so likely to drive the people of the north to the despair which precedes revolt, as the annihilation of their commerce, produced by the embargo, non-intercourse and other kindred measures. The embargo had been pronounced by the highest Federalist authorities, legal, executive and legislative, to be unconstitutional and void ; and resistance to it was alternately threatened and predicted. Threats of disunion and civil war were loudly uttered, in many quarters, by men of high standing and wide influence in the community ; and they were received with apparent favor by many, who, in ordinary times, would have shrunk from them with abhorrence. Mr. Plumer saw, therefore, in the success of Federalism, as then organized and directed, great danger to the union of the states ; and he believed that this danger could be averted only by the triumph of the Repub- lican, or, as he now regarded it, the national party. In the party sense of the word, he had ceased to be a Federalist; and, as no man can act with effect in public affairs, except in connection with others, he soon found himself acting with the Repubhcans, against his old associates of the Federal party. In- stead, however, of an increased faith in the popular 368 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. wisdom or virtue, his old doubts seem, at this time, to have come over him with fresh force. " It is a question," he writes, " which I often contemplate with gloomy apprehensions, whether a government, founded upon town meetings, can be permanent. I hope a Republic will always exist in this country ; but I fear that our govern- ment, like others which have preceded it, will terminate, if not in monarchy, at least in one of more energy, and less freedom, than the present. Much I fear that a system of pure republicanism is too pure, too liberal, and too good for human nature. All other republics have ended first in anarchy, and then in despotism. What right have we to expect an exemption in our favor ?" To Nicholas GUman, then Senator from New Hampshire, he wrote, January 24th, 1809 : " At no period of my life have I felt more anxiety for my country than the present. I apprehend more real danger from our own internal divisions than from the belligerent powers of Europe. In New England, and even in New York, there appears a spirit hostile to the existence of our own government. Committees of safety and correspondence, the precursors of revolution, are appointed in several towns in Massachusetts. Numbers who, a few months since, would have revolted with horror at the fatal idea of the dissolution of the Union, now converse freely upon it, as an event rather to be desired than avoided." LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 369 This fear for the safety of the Union was by no means peculiar to Mr. Plumer. The opinion of John Q. Adams has already been noticed. Joseph Story, then a member of Congress, and afterwards Judge of the Supreme Court, thus writes to a friend, (January 4th, 1809,) "If I may judge from the letters I have seen from the various districts of Massachusetts, it is a prevalent opinion there, and in truth many friends from the New England States write us, that there is great danger of resistance, and great probabihty that the Essex junto have resolved to attempt a separa- tion of the Eastern States from the Union ; and that, if the embargo continues, their plan may receive support from our yeomanry." "The New England States," said Lieutenant Governor Lincoln to the Massachusetts Legislature, "have been represented as ripening for a separation from the Union. Such suggestions, we trust, are unfounded. It is to be lamented that any color has ever been furnished for such alarms. If we must have conflicts, let them be with foreign enemies." To this latter suggestion, the House of Representatives replied, "Let Con- gress repeal the embargo, annul the Convention with France, forbid all intercourse with the French dominions, arm our public and private ships, and unfurl the Repubhcau banner against the Imperial standard." November 21st, 1808, Mr. Lloyd said in the United States Senate, that if "the embargo was 24 370 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. not repealed, the spark of present discontent would, he feared, be fanned into a flame of rebellion." November 30th, 1808, speaking of the embargo, Mr. Pickering reminded the Senate that the revolution, of which Boston was the cradle, began in New England ; and that " one of the reasons assigned for the Decla- ration of Independence was the cutting off our trade with all the world." This was during the embargo, " an act," said Mr. Hillhouse, December 21, 1808, in the Senate, "containing unconstitutional provisions to which the people are not hound to submit, and to which, in my opinion, they will not submit." " A storm seems," he says, "to be gathering, which portends, not a tempest on the ocean, but domestic convulsions." The Massachusetts Legislature followed up this opin- ion, February, 1809, declaring the embargo, "unjust, oppressive, and unconstitutional, and not legally binding on the citizens of the state." They did not, however, recommend forcible resistance to it. In view of these movements in New England, De Witt Clinton said, (January 31st, 1809,) in the Senate of New York: " The opposition in the Eastern States bids defiance to the laws, and threatens a dissolution of the Union. The match appears to be now lighted to produce an explosion which will overwhelm us with all the horrors of a civil war." September 27th, 1808, John Adams wrote to Benjamin Rush: "The Union I fear, is in some danger. If we can preserve it LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 371 entire, we may preserve our Republic ; but if the Union is broken, we become petty principalities, little better than feudatories, one of France, the other of England." Nor was it among heated partizans alone, that these views were entertained. "A dissolution of the Union," writes Mr. Brskine, the British minister at Washington, to his government, (February 15th, 1809,) "has been for some time talked of, and has, of late, as I have heard, been seriously contemplated by many of the leading people of the Eastern divis- ion." It appeared afterwards that John Henry, a British agent from the Governor of Canada, was, about this time, at Boston, watching the progress of events, and fomenting the popular discontents. As the result of his inquiries, he stated to his employers, (March 7th, 1809,) that, in case of a war with England, Massa- chusetts would give the tone to the neighboring states, " invite a Congress to be composed of delegates from the Federalist States, and erect a separate government for their common defence and common interest." But this, he says, is " an unpopular topic, the common people still regarding the Constitution of the United States with complacency." Writing from Boston, he afterwards, (April 13th, 1809,) speaks of " the men of talents and property there who now prefer the chance of maintaining their party by 372 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. Open resistance, and a final separation, to an alli- ance with France and a war with England." This may be the most convenient place for intro- ducing the following characteristic letter from John Quincy Adams to Mr. Plumer : "August leth, 1809. " My Deae Sir, — ^Among the letters which I received a few days before my departure from Boston, and which the precipitation with which I was obliged to hasten it prevented me from answering, I am almost ashamed to acknowledge, was yout very kind favor, of July. I say, ashamed to acJcnowIedge, because in examining rigorously the causes which occa- sioned this omission, I cannot but say to myself, and am sensible you will have reason to think, that, however short my time was, I ought to have made an hour, at least, for the expression of grateful sensibility to the obliging attentions of friendship. " To repair as much as remains within my power the fault from which I cannot altogether discharge my own mind, I take at least the earliest opportunity after my embarkation to do what ought to have preceded it, and to assure you that while absent from our country I shall feel myself highly in- debted to you for the benefit of your correspondence, when- ever your own convenience, and the opportunities of a navigation, so restricted as I am afraid ours will too long continue to be, may permit. And, in telling you how much I shall prize your correspondence, independently of the gratifi- cation which you will readily conceive an exile from his native land must derive from every token of remembrance coming LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 373 from those whom he most highly values in it, I may add, that the confidence with which I shall receive from you either intelligence or opinions, will be founded on a sentiment very deeply rooted in my experience and observation, that you see more clearly and judge more coolly of men and things relating to our political world, than almost any other man with whom it has ever been my fortune to act in public life. The spirit of party has become so inveterate and so virulent in our country, it has so totally absorbed the understanding and the heart of almost all the distinguished men among us, that I, who cannot cease to consider all the individuals of both par- ties as my countrymen, who can neither approve nor disap- prove in a lump either of the men or the measures of either party, who see both sides claiming an exclusive privilege of patriotism and using against each other weapons of political warfare which I never can handle, cannot but cherish that congenial spirit, which has always preserved itself pure from the infectious vapors of faction ; which considers temperance as one of the first political duties ; and which can perceive a very distinct shade of difference between political candor and political hypocrisy. " It afibrds me constant pleasure to recollect, that the history of our country has fallen into the hands of such a man. For, as impartiality lies at the bottom of all historic truth, I have often been not without my apprehensions, that no true history of our own times would appear at least in the course of our age ; that we should have nothing but Federalist histories or Republican histories, New England histories or Virginia histories. We are, indeed, not over stocked with men, capable even of this, who have acted a part in the public 374 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. affairs of our Union. But of pien, who unite both qualifica- tions — ^that of having had a practical knowledge of our affairs, and that of possessing a mind capable of impartiality in sum- ming up the merits of our governments, administrations, oppositions, and people — I know not another man, with whom I have ever had the opportunity of forming an acquaintance, on the correctness of whose narrative I should so implicitly rely. " Such an historian, and I take delight in the belief, will be a legislator without needing constituents. You have so long meditated upon your plan, and so much longer upon the duties of man in society, as they apply to the transactions of your own life, that I am well assured your work will carry a profound political moral with it. And I hope, — though upon this subject I have had no hint from you, which can ascertain that your view of the subject is the same as mine, — but I hope that the moral of your history will be the indissoluble union of the North American continent. The plan of a New Eng- land combination more closely cemented than by the general ties of the Federal government, — a combination, first to rule the whole, and, if that should prove impracticable, to separate from the rest, — has been so far matured, and has engaged the studies, the intrigues and the ambition of so many leading men in our part of the country, that I think it will eventually pro- duce mischievous consequences, unless seasonably and effect- ually discountenanced by men of more influence and of more comprehensive views. To rise upon a division system is unfortunately one of the most obvious, and apparently easy courses, which plays before the eyes of individual ambition, in every section of the Union. It is the natural resource of all LIFE OF WILLIAM PLTJMEE. 375 the small statesmen, who, feeling like Csesar, and finding that Rome is too large an object for their grasp, would strike off a village, where they might aspire to the first station without exposing themselves to derision. This has been the most powerful operative impulse upon all the disunionists, from the first Kentucky conspiracy down to the negotiations between Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire, of the last winter and spring. Considered merely as a purpose of ambi- tion, the great objection against this scheme is its littleness. Instead of adding all the tribes of Israel to Judah and Benja- min, like David, it is walking in the ways of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, by breaking off Samaria from Jerusalem. Looking at it in reference to moral con- siderations, it is detestable, as it certainly cannot be accom- plished by open and honorable means. Its abettors are obliged to disavow their real designs, to affect others, to practice continual deception, and to work upon the basest materials, — ^the selfish and dissocial passions of their instru- ments. Politically speaking, it is as injudicious, as it is con- tracted and dishonorable. The American people are not prepared for disunion, far less so than these people imagine. They will continue to resist and to defeat every attempt of that character, as they uniformly have done ; and such pro- jects will still terminate in the ruin of their projectors. But the ill consequences of this turbulent spirit will be to keep the country in a state of constant agitation, to embitter the local prejudices of fellow citizens against each other, and to diminish the influence which we ought to have, and might have in the general councils of the Union. 376 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. "To counteract the tendency of these partial and foolish combinations^ I know nothing so- likely to have a decisive influence as historical works, honestly and judiciously executed. For, if the doctrine of Union were a new one, now first to be inculcated, our history would furnish the most decisive argu- ments in its favor. It is no longer the great lesson to be learned, but the fundamental maxim to be confirmed, and every species of influence should be exerted by all genuine American patriots to make its importance more highly esti- mated and more unq^uestionably established. I should have been glad to see a little more of this tendency in Marshall's Life of Washington than I did find. For Washington was emphatically the man of the whole Union ; and I see a little too much of the Virginian in Marshall. Perhaps it was una- voidable ; and perhaps you will find it equally impossible to avoid disclosing the New England man. I have enough of that feeling myself most ardently to wish, that the highest example of a truly liberal and comprehensive American politi- cal system may be exhibited by New England men. " I regret that 1 could not have the pleasure of a full and confidential personal interview with you before my departure. My father, I am sure, will be happy to see you at Quincy, and to furnish you any materials in his power. He has been for the last three months publishing papers, which I think will not be without their use to your ixndertaking. " Adieu, my dear sir. I write you^his letter on the Grand Bank of Newfoundland, after passing the night in catching' cod, of which, in the interval of a six hours' calm, we have caught upwards of sixty. In the association of ideas, there LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 377 is no very unnatural transition from cod fishing on the Grand Bank to the History of the United States. No man will, I trust, be better able than yourself to supply the intermediate links in this singular copcatenation. Let me only hope that it will appear to you as natural a transition, as that from any subject whatsoever, to the assurance of the respect and attach- ment, with which I subscribe myself your friend, and humble servant, " John Quincy Adams." In the divided state of public opinion in New Hampsliire, the position of a man of Mr Plumer's talents and standing was not a matter of indifference to either party. His new friends were anxious to bring him once more into public life. They accord- ingly nominated him (Feb. 15, 1810,) as the Republi- can candidate for Senator, in the district where he resided. He was unwilling again to enter on the field of party politics, and had taken some pains to secure the nomination of another person ; but the imanimous call of the nominating convention over- came his reluctance ; and, having once assumed his ground, he entered with his usual activity into the contest, and contributed more, probably, than any other person in the state, to the success of the party in the March elections. His old friend, Judge Smith, between whom and himself a personal difference had occurred, heightened, probably, on both sides, by 378 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEB. party feeling, had, the previous year, been elected Governor, and was now a candidate for re-election. But the RepubUcans carried the state ; and Langdon was restored to his old office, with Republican major- ities in every branch of the government. Mr. Plumer's district was considered a doubtful one ; and the attack of the Federalists on their new opponent was of the most unscrupulous and envenomed char- acter. He received, on this occasion, as his successor in the Senate, Nahum Parker, said, " as many curses as a scape-goat could wag with." He was sustained, however, by the Republicans with equal zeal, and was elected by a very decided majority. The rival candidate was George Sullivan. In announcing his election to his friend Adams, he said, (May 18th,) " Much against my inclination, I was constrained to be a candidate ; and am elected a member of the State Senate. This has, and will, too much divert my attention from my historical pur- suits, which, however, I shall not long neglect. I bring to that work a mind purely American, devoted to neither of the parties which now unfortu- nately agitate and divide the country, in both of which I see much to censure and condemn." He had not yet given up the hope to proceed with this work. He had recently written on the subject to Mr. Jefferson, who said in reply, July 12th, 1810 : LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 379 " I am happy to hear you have entered on a work so inter- esting to every American as the history of our country. That of the last thirty or forty years admits, certainly, of much im- provement on any thing which has yet appeared ; and when- ever it shall be written with truth and candor, and with that friendship to the natural rights of man, in which our revolu- tion and constitution are founded, it wUl be a precious work. The only fund for information, which I can avail you of, is my memory as to facts which have occurred within my own time — say from the dawn of the revolution, aided by my letters, written at the time, a recurrence to which will refresh my memoiy. With respect to any facts within that period, which you may suppose to have passed under my observation, if you should, at any time, wish information, I will with pleasure and promptitude communicate what I know." On the meeting of the Legislature, in June, Mr. Plumer was chosen President of the Senate, — an office whose duties he discharged to the entire satis- faction of that body, from which he received, at the close of the session, a unanimous vote of thanks. There was little business of importance transacted during this session of the Legislature. His part in it was that of an intelligent and independent legislator, voting according to his own sense of right, now with one side and now with the other, with very little reference to party views or policy. More than once his solitary nay was recorded, where he thought both parties wrong ; and his new friends found that his old 380 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMEB. habit of independent action had lost none of its force by his change of party associations. " As President of the Senate/' he says, June 16th, 1810, "I promptly discharge my duties, speaking and acting my mind with great freedom. I examine studiously every question which I am bound to decide, and act as my judgment dictates, without fear or partiality. My influence is increasing. The Federalists court my favor ; some sincerely, others to excite distrust in the Republicans against me." He was appointed Chair- man of two Committees, to meet in the recess ; the one, to report a Judiciary system for the state ; the other, to publish a revised edition of the laws. But he declined both these appointments, as interfering too much with his literary pursuits. " Nature," he said, " and the course of events indicate private and literary life; and to that my inclination tends. I hope I shall pursue it steadily." Though acting, in the main, with the Republicans, he was not the slave of party. A person having been nominated to an important office, for which he thought him unfit, and his aid being asked to secure his election, he declined giving it, in a letter dated July 26th, 1810, to John P. Parrot, Chairman of the Central Committee. " There is no error," he said, "more fatal than that of selecting improper men for office. Men of this character I cannot support. Of men and measures, I have from early life been in the habit of thinking and speaking LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 381 freely. This right I cannot consent to sacrifice either at the shrine of party, or on the altar of popularity." There was, in this, little of " the zeal of a new convert," or the cool calculation of the " apostate politician," — terms applied to him, at the time, by men who could as little appreciate his motives as imitate his conduct. The candidate whom he had thus opposed, hearing of this letter, declined the nomination. Governor Langdon being desirous, from the infirm- ities of age, to withdraw from public life, Mr. Plumer was mentioned, among others, as a candidate for the succession. In reply to a formal application from some of his friends in Hillsborough county, he said, " We must persuade Governor Langdon to be, once more, our candidate;" and he accordingly set himself to bring about this result. "Having," he writes, (October 25th,) "received two mes- sages from Governor Langdon, I paid him a visit. He said that office was burdensome to him ; that he was desirous of retirement, and anxious that I should be his successor. I replied that I preferred private to public life ; and that office would be unwelcome to me ; and that the diversity of opinion among Eepublicans was such that, unless he consented to be a candidate, we should endanger the election. I left him with assuring him that he must be Governor one year." December 6th, 1810. "Visited Governor Langdon. He is averse to being a candidate ; and, at the same time, appre- hensive, if he should decline, and the Eepublicans fail, that 382 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. he would be severely censured. He said that at his advanced age, he could neither bear these reproaches, nor the burdens of office. I advised him to submit with cheerfulness to the will of the Republicans. He replied that, if they would release him, he would give them two thousand dollars to aid my election. His situation is indeed unpleasant. He is desirous of retire- ment, but afraid to insist upon it. ■ He must, however, be our candidate for the next year. T have not seen him for some time display so much resolution, judgment, and vivacity as he did this evening." This desire of the veteran politician to decline office, and even to pay for being excused from its labors, was, perhaps, as natural at seventy, as his fondness for it had been at an earlier date. He finally consented to remain a candidate, and was re-elected in March, 1811, against his old opponent, Oilman, the Federalists having dropped Smith, as less likely to succeed. Mr. Plumer was, at the same time, re-elected to the Senate, against Oliver Pea- body, supposed to be the most popular Federalist in this doubtful district. At the meeting of the Legis- lature, in June, he was again chosen President of the Senate. June 10th, 1811. " A general Republican caucus unani- mously nominated John Langdon as candidate for Governor next year ; and appointed a committee to wait upon him, and receive his answer ; which answer was that his age made it necessary for him to decline. LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 383 17th. "In the evening the caucus met again ; heard the report of the cornmittee, and appointed a committee of ten to nominate a new candidate. 19th. "I had two questions, to-day, to decide in the Senate, in which the earnest requests of my friends were op- posed to what I thought my duty. In both, I voted according to my own judgment. I cannot consent either to acquire, or hold office, by so base a tenure as the sacrifice of my opinions ; and those who expect it from me will be disappointed. It, in general, requires less information to discover our duty, than firmness to perform it. In the evening there was a meeting, say of one hundred and twenty Republicans. The commit- tee unanimously reported me as a candidate for Governor, next year ; which report was unanimously accepted. They appointed a committee, with the Speaker as chairman, to inform me of their proceedings, and request my answer. After General Storer had made the communication, I observed to the committee, that I was sensible of the honor conferred upon me ; that my wishes centred in retirement ; that the ■state of my health, and my pursuits in life required it; and that I should have been pleased if they had nominated a man better qualified for that high trust, and more ambitious of obtaining it ; but that considering the state of public affairs, and the unanimity of their choice, I did not think myself at liberty to decline. This nomination was made without my privity, and unsought by me. I have taken no measures, direct or indirect, to influence any man ; but have, on every occasion, while in office, done what I thought right and proper, regardless of the consequences to myself. When first informed of the vote of the Republicans to support me, a consideration 384 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. of the effects an election will necessarily produce on my family and my mode of living, the frequent interruptions it will occasion in my literary pursuits, the high responsibility of the oiSce, the raised expectations of my friends, the inveterate opposition of my political enemies, and the anxiety I must feel in office, depressed my spirits, and made me regret that my name had been mentioned. But sufficient for the day is the evil thereof. 20th. " I have had a fatiguing day in the Senate, where I sat twelve hours, and did much business." 21st. " The Legislature met at five o'clock, and adjourned, sine die, between ten and eleven in the forenoon. In seven- teen days, Sundays included, we have performed the legislative business of the state for the year." This session was the last which he attended as a member. He had served eight years in the House, and two in the Senate ; which, with his five years in Congress, made fifteen years of service in legislative assemblies. He still continued occasionally to attend the courts of law. Under date of August 26th, 1811, he writes: " I attended the Court of Common Pleas, in Eockingham. I was treated with much respect by the Court and Bar. The Federal lawyers were distinguished for their attentions ; Mason and Webster particularly so, though they will both vote against me in March. I inquired of Mason whether, in rase Evans should die, or Steel resign — both of them probable events, he would accept office under Livermore. He replied. LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 385 he could not, but discovered no aversion to the office. He said the Federalists of Massachusetts ■would make a great effort at the next spring elections ; and, if they failed, they would forciby resist the laws of Congress. I replied, that I did not doubt that some of them intended to do so ; but I thought they would be disappointed. He said that he was re- solved to have but little to do with politics ; and that he was censured by his friends for his inactivity." This opinion of Mr. Mason, that the laws wotild be resisted, was founded, probably, among other things, upon the proceedings of the Federalist Convention, held March 31st, 1811, in Boston, which resolved that the non-intercourse law, just then passed, " if persisted in, must, and will be resisted." " llesistance," said Dr. Parish, (April 11th, 1811,) is our only security." The bill providing for the admission of Louisiana, as a state, into the Union, had given occasion at the previous session, (January 14th, 1811,) for a strong expression -of feeling in Congress on this subject, by a distin- guished member from Massachusetts, Josiah Quincy, afterwards President of Harvard University. " If this .bill passes," said Mr. Quincy, "it is my deliberate opinion, that it is virtually a dissolution of this Union; that it will free the states from their moral obliga- tions ; and, as it will then be the riffht of all, so it will be the duty of some, to prepare definitely for a separa- tion, — amicably, if they can, violently, if they must. The bill, if it passes, is a death blow to the Consti- 25 386 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. tution. It may afterwards linger ; but lingering, its fate will, at no very distant period, be consummated." "I have known," wrote John Quincy Adams to Elbridge Gerry, at this time, (June 30th, 1811,) "now more than seven years, the project of the Bos- ton faction against the Union. They have ever since that time, at least, been seeking a pretext and an occasion for avowing the principle. The people, how- ever, have never been ready to go with them." " If," wrote Allen Bradford to Elbridge Gerry, (October 18th, 1811,) " our national rulers continue their anti- commercial policy, the New England States will, b}' and by, rise in their wonted strength and, wdth the indignant feelings of 1775, seve7' themselves from that part of the nation which thus wickedly abandons their rights and interests." " There is no state of parties," writes Mr. Plumer, (December 30th, 1811,) to Charles Cutts, Senator from New Hampshire, "so much to be deprecated as that designated by geographical lines. It is with deep regi-et that I find the terms Northern and Southern parties and interests, so often used in the debates of Congress.. Your present course is, you may rely upon it, highly grateful to certain Federal characters in New England, who have long privately favored a division of the states." CHAPTER X. THE CHIEF MAGISTRATE. The office of Governor of New HampsMre had, at this time, an importance attached to it in the public estimation, which it hardly possesses now. The office had been, for many years, confined, with the excep- tion of a single term, to two men, — John Langdon, and John Taylor Gilman. Langdon, the leader of the Democracy, was, perhaps, the most perfect gentleman in the state ; dignified, yet easy in his deportment, urbane and courteous, with a native grace, which won the good will and respect of all who approached him. Gilman, the representative of less popular opinions, was also a man of good personal appearance and refined manners, and wore the old-fashioned cocked hat of the revolution with an ease and dignity not unbecoming his high station. I remember him fifty years ago, when I Avas a student in the Academy at Exeter, bowing courteously to us boys, and regarded by us as, next to the Principal, Dr. Abbott, the greatest of men. The unpopularity of the embargo had made Judge Smith Governor in 1809 ; but he was turned out to pasture, according to his own 388 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. expression, a yearling; and -when, in 1812, Langdon declined being a candidate, Gilman was again brought forward as the man most likely to retrieve the fallen fortunes of his party. The contest was urged, on this occasion, with great zeal on both sides ; and, on the part of the Federalists, with no little bitterness towards Mr. Plumer. Their feelings were sharpened to acrimony by his former and present relations with them, as a leader in their ranks, and now their most formidable opponent. Along with many insinuations and much reproach thrown out, as usual on such occasions, two specific personal charges were brought against him; — the first, that he had formerly been a Baptist preacher, and was now, probably, (for no proof was offered,) an unbeliever ; and the second, that, from being once a zealous Federalist, he had now become as zealous a Republican ; — in other words, his change of opinion in religion and in politics. The first of these charges, that of infidelity, was relied on as likely to injure him with the religious portion of both parties. Yet such is the general indisposition to connect religious belief with political conduct, that he lost very few votes by his supposed opinions on this subject. His known exertions at the bar in favor of equal justice to all sects had secured for him the zealous support of the Methodists, Baptists, and other minor sects who felt the preponderance of the Congregational LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 389 clergy as unfavorable to their success. These last were almost all Federalists, as the former were very generally Republicans. His real crime, if crime it be to serve the state rather than a party, was that he no longer acted with his old associates. That he had been a Federalist, was readily admitted by his new friends ; and his opponents were reminded that, as there was no office which they once thought too good for him, they could not wonder that the Republicans, now that he acted with them, should think equally well of him. Aside, however, of these merely per- sonal considerations, the great question between the two parties was in relation to the nneasures of the general government. On counting the votes, in June, it appeared that there was no choice of Governor by the people. Of the eight or nine hundred votes thrown for other than the regular candidates, some were by Federalists, who thought that Smith had not been fairly dealt with in throwing him aside for Gil- man; and some by Republicans, who remembered Plumer chiefly as a Federalist. In the convention of the two Houses, he was elected Governor, (June 4th, 1812,) by one hundred and four votes against eighty- two for Oilman. All branches of the government, including the Council and the Judiciary, were now Republican. The Governor elect was waited upon, at his house 390 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. in Epping, by a Committee of the Legislature, and officially informed of his election. " After taking breakfast, he writes, June 5th, I rode with them on horseback to Concord. At Nottingham we were met by Gen. Butler and Col. Cilley, [Cilley was one of his old Federalist friends,] with about twenty gentlemen, who escorted us to Deerfield. There I was importuned to wait for a company of cavalry ; but my time was not my own, and duty forbade delay. About a dozen gentlemen escorted me from thence to Epsom, where I met Gov. Langdon. When he took leave of me, he was much affected ; tears filled his eyes, and impeded his utterance. Having dined at my sister's, I mounted my horse, accompanied by some twenty gsntle- men. Two miles from thence, I was met by about eighty more on horseback. The first six were mounted on gray horses, followed by the Marshal of the day, and the Sheriffs of Strafford and Rockingham. I came next to these, with two Captains of the United States' army, one on each side, and after me the remainder of the escort. On passing the bridge at Concord, we were met by an additional escort. The pro- cession proceeded to Barker's tavern, where we arrived at four in the afternoon. I ordered refreshments for all who attended. The day was favorable to the journey ; and though I had not, for many years, rode so far in one day on horse- back, I was less fatigued than I had expected. June 6th. " At nine o'clock in the morning, I took my seat in the Council chamber ; and soon after, a Committee from the Legislature conducted me, with the Council, to the LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 391 Representatives' hall, where the two Houses were assembled. After making a short address, I took and subscribed the affirmation of office, and, after being seated a few moments, I rose and read my speech, which occupied about twenty min- utes. I was agitated ; my hand trembled ; and, before I had read through the second paragraph, I was apprehensive that I should be obliged to stop. But my confidence increased ; and I pronounced the remainder with ease and propriety." Ease is not, however, the word to express properly the manner in which this speech was delivered. His momentary embarrassment — the not ungraceful deference of the orator to his audience — was followed by a reaction of imusual power and animation, which gave new force to his delivery, and produced a marked effect, both on the convention, and on the crowds in the lobbies and galleries. There was some- thing in his look and manner, in his tones and srestures, as well as in the words he uttered, which lifted men, at times, from their seats, as by an electric transfusion of thought and feeling, but which the words, as we now read them, seem hardly adequate to produce. He received from both friends and opponents many compliments on the ability displayed on this occasion ; and the speech itself was regarded by the public, both in and out of the state, with much favor. It was delivered a few days only before the declaration of war with England, and it struck in happily with the prevailing tone of the public feeling 392 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. on that subject. The answers of both Houses responded fully to the sentiments of the speech ; but they were adopted by a strictly party vote. The Governor's old correspondent, Thomas W. Thompson, offered, in behalf of the Federalists of the House, to return a general complimentary answer to the speech, condemning the conduct of both France and Eng- land, and speaking vaguely and in general terms, without censure or approbation, of the policy of the administration. But the Republicans were too strong, and too decided in their opinions, to admit of any such compromise or concealment. I have not room to quote this speech entire, and am unable to give extracts that would adequately represent its views and reasonings. The Legislature adjourned on the 19th of June, to meet again m November. The following is from Mr. Plumer's diary : June 20th. " At eight o'clock in the morning, I mounted my horse for home, and was escorted the whole distance by a large and increasing military escort and cavalcade ; till, between two and three o'clock in the afternoon, I reached my house, where liberal refreshments were furnished to the people." June 23d. " In the evening I received by an express a let- ter from IMajor-General Dearborn, stating that he was official- ly informed that the government of the United States had declared war against Great Britain, and requesting me to order LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 393 out one company of artillery, and one of infantry, of the detached militia, and place them under the command of Major Upham of the United States army, at Portsmouth, for the defence of the sea-coast." June 24th. " I issued orders to General Storer to order out the troops in conformity with this requisition." July Tth. "Last evening I received a requisition from General Dearborn to send one company of detached militia to defend the northern frontier of this state. To-day, I issued orders to General Montgomery to call them out from his brigade, and station them at Stewartstown and Errol." July 21st. "I issued an order to General Storer, requir- ing him to send one company of the detached infantry of his brigade to Portsmouth harbor, and to detach a suitable Major to take the command of the troops at Forts Constitution and McClary ; and also to General Robinson to send one company of the detached artillery from his brigade to the same place, for the defence of the sea-coast." August 6th. " I met the Council at Concord. I requested their attention to the appointment of a Judge of the Superior Court, which was the occasion of our meeting. After a free conversation, in which I stated my opinion of the importance of the office, and the necessity of selecting a man of talents and integrity, who had a thorough knowledge of the law,! pro- posed Samuel Bell, as a person well qualified by his talents, his attainments, his business habits, and his decision of character, to discheirge with dignity and propriety the duties of the office. His connection with the Plillsborough Bank would render the appointment at first unpopular ; but I was willing to take the responsibility on myself, and had no doubt his 394 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. good conduct 'would soon remove those prejudices. The Councillors gave no opinion, except Chase, who declared in favor of the appointment. In the evening, Hall, Upham, and Smith, the three Eepublican Councillors, came to my chamber, to converse on the appointment of a judge. The result was that Hall aiid Smith positively refused to agree to the nomi- nation of Bell ; and Upham said, if Franklin and Chase were in favor of Bell, he could not unite with those two Federal Councillors. As they had thus virtually negatived the man whom I considered best qualified for the office, I requested them to name a candidate. They proposed Clifton Claggett. I said, I thought him honest, but that his talents and legal attainments were not above mediocrity. I wished a man of superior qualifications ; but I would consider of it." June 7th. " In the morning I met the Council. Hall named Claggett. Chase observed that he could not vote for him till he knew the opinion of the Executive respecting Caleb Ellis, whom he wished to propose. I said, I considered Mr. Ellis an honest man and a sound lawyer. Chase and Franklin voted for, and the other three against him. Before we rose from our seats, Mr. Fj'anklin said, he wished to ask me a question, but had doubts of the propriety of it. I requested him to proceed. He said it was reported in the newspapers, that I had declared the present war premature and unjust, and he wanted to know whether this was true. I replied that it was not true, that I believed the war both just and necessary, and considered it my indispensable duty to support it." The assertion that Governor Plumer had declared LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 395 the war "premature and impolitic" was first made in an Exeter paper, distinguished for the virulence of its abuse of the Governor ; and though contradicted at the time in the Concord Patriot, it was repeated in the Federalist papers, in this and other states ; and, seventeen years after, found its way into Bradford's History of Massachusetts. On seeing it there he wrote to the author, contradicting the statement, and received from him a promise to correct the error in his next edition. As no such edition has yet appeared, I have thought the report worth noticing here. To proceed with the journal : "In the afternoon, the question was taken on the nomina- tion of Claggett for Judge. Three of the council made it, and I reluctantly consented. As he is Judge of Probate, and must resign that oiHce, to accept the other, I named John Harris as his successor. Mr. Chase said he was in favor of nominating Mr. Smith. I observed that I could not agree to appoint any Councillor to an office which would vacate his seat at the Board, and that I dissented from the former practice." This former practice, which had of late become very common, was for one Councillor to nominate another for some office, in the well-founded expectation that the favor would be returned; and the result often was, that, at the end of the year, several of the Coun- cillors, sometime a majority, had secured to them- 396 LIFE Of WILLIAM PLUMER. selves good offices, virtually by their own appoint- ment, though, perhaps, no one had directly voted for himself. Governor Plumer set his face resolutely against this abuse of the appointing power ; and no such appointment took place, while he was in office, though the attempt was made to force several upon him. With the selection of Claggett for Judge of the Superior Court, he Avas not satisfied ; and afterwards reproached himself with not having more resolutely opposed it. Livermore, the Chief Justice, though a strong man, felt the need of abler associates. Evans, who was not a lawyer, had been prevented, by ill health, from sitting on the bench more than one day for the last eighteen months. On applying in person for an order for his quarter's salary, the G overnor ad- verted delicately to the condition of the court, when Evans said that he had some thoughts of resigning, but that he was poor as well as sick, and wanted the emoluments of the office for his support. "To remove a sick man," says the Governor, in his journal, "oppressed with poverty, is a hardship to him; to continue him in office is a greater hardship to the state. The Legislature must decide." They had decided, in June, not to request his removal ; and without such request, the Governor could not act in the case. On the 18th of November, he again met the Legis- lature. His speech, on this occasion, was occupied, LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 397 as the previous one had been, mainly with the war, and circumstances growing out of it. Both Houses returned answers to the speecli, approving of the war, and of " the prompt and patriotic manner in which the call of the President respecting the mili- tia was complied with." The Federalists, in both branches, voted against the answers, and, in the House, entered their protest on the journals. This protest pronounced the war unjust and inexpedient ; but its chief argument was directed against the power claimed by the President of calling out the militia, and placing them under officers of the United States. The Federalist Governors, Strong of Massachusetts, and Griswold of Connecticut, had refused to comply with the requisitions of General Dearborn, on the ground that, having a right to judge for themselves whether the call was necessary, they saw no occasion for its exercise at the present time. It was further held in ^Massachusetts and Vermont, that, though the Presi- dent, when himself in the field, might command in person the militia of a state called into service, he could not put them under the command of any other than tlaeir own state officers. Governor Gore of Mas- sachusetts, said in the Senate of the United States, December, 1814, "The President is commander in chief of the militia when in the actual service of the United States ; but there is not a tittle of authority for any other officer of the United States to assume 398 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. the command of the mUitia." It was only in the Federahst states of New England that these doctrines were maintained. In the other states the power of the President over the militia was not contested. It is a curious fact, overlooked at the time by both parties in this controversy, that the Legislature of New Hampshire, (in June, 1794,) by a resolution, still in force, had authorised the Governor to call out the militia whenever required by the President. The choice of a Senator of the United States occur- ring at this time, many attempts were made, but without success, to elect one. The Republicans had a majority of only one in the Senate ; and Sanborn of Epsom, one of that majority, would vote for no man whom the others were willing to elect. Among those proposed, was the Governor, but Sanborn refused to vote for him, on the ground, avowed in the Senate, that the Republicans had no other man whom they could run as Governor with any chance of success, and that to elect him was to ensure their own defeat in March. The Governor being consulted on the subject, said that he preferred his present office to that of Senator, and private life to either ; and hoped, therefore, that no votes would be thrown for him. It was generally supposed that Sanborn's vote might have been obtained, if he had desired it. But he felt that a hard battle was to be fought by the Repubhcans in the March elections, and that his LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 399 proper place was here in the front of that battle. Defeat was probable ; but this was no reason why he should shun the contest. On most of the subjects recommended by him to the attention of the Legislature, they had acted in ac- cordance with his wishes. He had, however, during this year, returned one law and two resolves, with his objections to them. It is a singular proof both of his personal influence and of the facility with which improper measures are often adopted, that each of the acts on which he thus imposed his veto, was, on being returned, unanimously rejected; not a single vote being given for laws which a majority of both Houses had just before passed. In one of these cases, private rights were injuriously affected, and important public interests sacrificed, by the proposed enactment. So important is often the final supervision of a vigi- lant Executive, in the judicious use of an independent veto. Here were bills which had been read three times, at different hours, in each House, and passed by both, which yet, on revision, every one saw ought not to become laws. Among the measures of the 3'^ear, which were of permanent importance, were the building of the State's Prison, or Penitentiary, and the consequent revision of the Criminal Code. There were, at this time, eight offences punishable with death; they were now reduced to two, treason and murder ; the former an offence, of which no one has 400 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. ever been convicted in New Plampshire. Instead of the old punishments of the whip and the pillory, formerly used for minor offences, imprisonment in the State's Prison, or in the County Jail, was now substituted. A few extracts from letters and journals of the year will give a sufficient expression of the feelings and opinions of the period. To Samuel D. Mitchell, a Senator from New York, (January 1st, 1812 :) " Shall we have war with Great Britain ? If we persist in our preparations, will she repeal her Orders in Council, per- mit us the exercise of our rights on the ocean, and cease from impressing our seamen ? If she does not, are we to proceed from words to deeds — from acts of Congress to feats of arms ; or are we, by tamely submitting to new injuries, to provoke fresh insults ? The nation has grown tired of the exercise of its Restrictive energies in the shape of embargoes and non-intercourse, and calls loudly for more active and efficient measures." To John A. Harper, a Representative, from New Hampshire, (May 18, 1812 :) " There are numbers of Federalists who wish a separation of the states ; but I believe none of them have hardihood enough to come out now, and take publicly on themselves the responsibility of the measure. It is a settled plan with them, whenever a dismemberment of the Union is to be attempted. LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 401 that it be declared by some State Legislature ; and this year even Massachusetts has a Republican Senate." The Federalists, despairing of electing to the Presi- dency any candidate of their own, had concluded, at this time, to support De Witt Clinton, of New York, who was nominated by a portion of the Republicans against Mr. INIadison. Sept. 11th. " Read the address of the jSTew York Com.- mittee in favor of Clinton. In a state of war, it is an im.- proper time to talk about Virginia influence, or, indeed, the influence of any other state. Our united energies should be directed against the common enemy of our country. I shall vote for Madisonian electors." Oct. 20th. " The Essex junto are not so miich anxious to secure Clinton's election as to prevent Mr. Madison's having a single electoral vote in New England, that they may promote their favorite object, the dismemberment of the Union." Madison was, in fact, re-elected under a strong sectional influence, having received all the Southern and Western votes, and none north of Pennsylvania, except six given him by the Legislature of Vermont, at a time when the people, if allowed to vote, would have given them to Clinton. The subject of the right of the State Legislatures to bind, by mandatory instructions, their Senators in Congress, excited at this time much attention. 26 402 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. William B. Giles, of Virginia, who denied this right, had sent a copy of his speech on this subject to Gov- ernor Plumer, who (Dec. 28th,) said, in reply : " I most cordially approve of your opinion ; and thank you for the manly and able stand you have made in supporting the rights and independence of the Senate. Encroachments on the rights of public functionaries are as fatal to freedom, as if made on the people themselves. Both must be steadily resisted, or a free government cannot be supported. The public interests suffer more from an inordinate love of office, and a servile dependence on popular opinion, than they can do from any undue exercise of independent self-will in public men. Such independence is all too rare in our country." " It gives me great pleasure," said Giles, in reply, (March 3d, 1813,) "to learn that you concur in opinion with me ; because the confidence I feel in your judgment can but serve to confirm me in that opinion. I have read, with great atten- tion and interest, your able and patriotic speech to the Legislature of New Hampshire. If such sentiments actuated every bosom in the United States, there could not exist a doubt of a speedy and honorable termination of the war." The Governor had received similar commendations of his speech from other quarters — among the rest, one from John Adams. " I thank you," said the Ex- President, " for your eloquent and masterly speech, which I read with much satisfaction." He received soon after, (Jan. 10th, 1813,) another letter from Mr. Adams, in which he says: LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 403 " I know not when, or where, I have ever received a more luminous letter than yours of the second of this month. It is a misfortune to an old man to receive a good letter ; be- cause it springs a mine in his memory, and disposes him to write a volume, which his life could not be lo ng enough to finish. Hence the proverbial garrulity of age. You have consolidated the causes of change in the Northern States ; or, at least, your observations coincide with mine. Our two great parties have crossed over the valley, and taken posses- sion of each other's mountain. The coalition of North and Fox, in 1783, was modest in comparison with that between Clinton and the Federalists. To Jay, King, Koss and Pinckney, the pill was too bitter. A gentleman of greater talents and higher rank than Rufus King, asked him, at New York, ' Do you intend to vote for De Witt ? ' Eufus replied, ' No ; could you vote for Ben Austin ? ' I can say little of Mr. Clinton ; for I know nothing but by hearsay, having never seen him. But one thing I know. The state of New York has become a great state, and De Witt Clinton a great man, good, bad, or indifferent. The generous horse. New England, will be ridden as hard by New York as it ever has been by Virginia. " The clergy of this country are growing more and more like the clergy of all other countries. Osgood, Parish,. Gardiner, are but miniatures of Lowth, Sacheverel, Laud, and Lorain ; and in that rank I leave them." The division here indicated among leaders of the Federal party was not confined to the question of supporting Clinton for the Presidency. Many emi- 404 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. nent Federalists, though originally opposed to the war, held that, once declared, it should be vigorously- prosecuted; and they would do nothing unnecessarily to embarrass the government in its prosecution. But the majority of the party, looking mainly to party objects, saw only in the difficulties and embarrass- ments of the times the means of effecting their own advancement to power. Such of them as deemed disunion desirable, were, of course, anxious to increase these embarrassments, as sure to accelerate the crisis. Among the Federalists of New England, Avho protested loudly against this policy of their former associates, one of the most distinguished was Samuel Dexter, of Boston, formerly a Senator in Congress, and after- wards Secretary of War under John Adams, who as a lawyer now stood at the head of his profession in the Union. In a speech at a town meeting in Faneuil Hall (Aug. 6th, 1812,) he denounced the measures of the party with great force and earnestness, as leading inevitably to a separation of the states. So deep, indeed, had his convictions on this subject become before the end of the war, that, though having little sympathy with the Republicans, he suffered himself to be run against Strong, as their candidate for Gov- ernor, lie was, he said, utterly unable to reconcile some of the leading measures of the Federalists with the indispensable duty of every citizen in every country, and especially in the American Republic, to LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 405 hold sacred the union of his country. " Why," said he, "make publications and speeches to prove that we are absolved from allegiance to the national government, and hint that an attempt to divide the empire might be justified?" Dexter, the greatest lawyer, and Gray, the greatest merchant of the United States, both previously Federalists, were now the Republican candidates in Massachusetts, as . Plumer was^iiiT^ew H ampshir e; men whose opinions had undergone little change as to past measures, but who felt it their duty to support the administration of their country against a foreign power, in opposition to the mistaken policy of their former friends. Dis- tinguished Federalists out of New England regarded the subject much in the same light. William Pinck- ney, Rufus King, James A. Bayard, and Robert G. Har- per were of this number. The latter said, speaking of the war, (Oct. 31st, 1812,) "The Eastern States will soon relieve themselves from a burden which they will consider as no longer tolerable, by erecting a separate government for themselves. Thus the dis- solution of the Union, and all the direful evils attendant upon it, must, as we believe, be the last and necessary consequence of continuing the present war." It was impossible, indeed, not to see that there was, at this time, a great body of men of talents, wealth, and political influence, who were sys- tematically employed in prejudicing the people of 406 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. New England against the Southern and Western States, sowmg discord and distrust between them, and thus weakening the Union. Many who labored to this end were ignorant of the purpose they were subserving ; there were others who acted under no such mistake as to the tendency of their measures. It was a great, and, as the result proved, a fatal error of the Federal party, in the latter stages of its exist- ence, that it allowed its feelings of opposition to the Republicans to determine the course of its foreign policy to an extent which, in the popular estimation at least, identified it, in the end, with the enemies of the country. In the successes of England they saw not so much the defeat of an American by a British force, as the overthrow of their political opponents, and their own consequent advancement to power. They considered England as excused, if not justified, in her measures, by the necessities of her position, and by the previous acts of France, to which hers were, as they said, little more than a just retaliation. Under the influence of such feelings many worthy citizens were seen to rejoice over British victories, and to mourn over those of their own country. Pas- sion, prejudice, personal interests, and the disappoint- ments consequent on reiterated party defeats, had so embittered their feelings, that the foreio-n foe seemed less obnoxious to them than the domestic rival and opponent. The rancor thus engendered on LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 40T the one side, was met, on the other, with equal warmth of feeling by the friends of the administration. The seceders from the Federal party, in particular, felt that their first allegiance was, not to party, but to their country ; and that, as the Republicans were upholding, in this war, the essential rights of the United States against foreign aggression, they were entitled to their earnest support, as against the foreign foe. Mr. Plumer was not of a temperament to be cold or indifferent in such contests ; and he came ultimately to regard the success of his old asso- ciates of the Federal party, acting as they now were under the triple influence of devotion to England, hatred of France, and hostility to their own govern- ment, as utterly unworthy of the public confidence, and their success as fatal to the best interests of the j country. The more violent of them differed, indeed, in his opinion, little in feeling or conduct, from those furious Jacobins who, taking part with a foreign power against their own government, had, under Washington and Adams, justified the worst aggres- sions of France on the United States. He condemned such conduct then, and he saw no reason to approve it now. The spring elections of 1813 were conducted with great zeal and vigor on both sides, but with less per- sonal abuse of the Governor than in the preceding year. His dignified and impartial conduct in office 408 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. had inspired even his opponents with a respect for him, which was apparent on this occasion. "No part," he says, (March 9th, 1813,) "of my official conduct has been condemned, but that of ordering out the detached militia. The great accusation is, that I support the war, and vindicate the national government." The result of the canvass was' the election of Gov. Gilman, by a majority of about two hundred and fifty votes, out of more than thirty-five thousand thrown. So well was each party satisfied with its own leader, that there were few or no scattering votes. " The recent elections in New Hampshire," said Mr. Plumer, in a letter to President Madison, (March 27th,) "have terminated, by small majorities, in favor of the Federalists. Had our Republican citizens, who are absent in the army, been at the polls, we should have succeeded. I trust that our failure will not, in the least, influence the administration to relax in their measures to prosecute the war, or induce them to conclude a peace on unfavorable terms." Under date of May 12th, he writes : " Met the Council at Concord. I have not to-day had a moment's leisure — company the whole day and late at night — office- seekers and their friends have been importunate, and some of them tedious. This bargaining for office I heard with silent indignation." He could not, however, always conceal his contempt for such baseness ; and his plain-spoken indignation LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 409 made him enemies, who showed themselves after- wards in his contest with the Advocate party in 1816-17. Of one such individual he says: "His application gave me pain. He has been very atten- tive and obliging to me; and I am disposed to reward him liberally ; but not by conferring on him public office : that I cannot barter for personal or private favors. It is a degradation of which I am not capa- ble." One of his last official acts was the stationing of a watch or guard of thirty men, (May 20th) at Little Harbor, for the defence of Portsmouth. He writes, (June 2d :) " In the morning I administered the necessary oaths to the members of the two Houses. The majorities in both are Federal. In the afternoon I sent a message to the Legis- lature, stating certain measures which I had adopted since the last session. This was my last official act. I leave office without disgust, or regret. I am conscious that I have dis- charged its duties faithfully and impartially, without doing, or omitting, a single official act with reference to a re-election, or from any improper motive. Had my information and experience been the same, when my office commenced as when it terminated, my conduct, in a few things, would have been different. I should have made a more strenuous effort to have Bell appointed Judge of the Superior Court ; and should not have consented to the appointment of Claggett." June 4th. " I left Concord at five in the morning, having declined an escort, and reached home at two in the afternoon." 410 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEB. This brought him to the close of his first term, as Governor of New Hampshire. The war with England had added greatly to his labors and responsibilities; but the punctuality, industry, and method to which, in his own affairs, he was accustomed, carried him cheerfully and safely through. Easy of access, and prompt in action, he was always at his post ; neglect- ing no duty, and throwing into each the vv'hole force of his active and energetic mind. His public papers were prepared with great care, both as to the matter and the manner ; and they did him much credit with the public. Among these, his proclamations for Fast and Thanksgiving Avere characteristic productions; scarcely less so than his speeches. They excited much attention, both in and out of the state. In Massachusetts they were, in some cases, read from the pulpit, by Republican preachers, in the place of those of Governor Strong. Strong, in one of his, had condemned the war ; spoken of England as " the biil- wark of the religion we profess ; " and prayed that " God would hide us in his pavillion, until these dangers be past." Plumer, on the contrary, exhorted the people to pray to God "that he would inspire them with patriotism and love of country ; teach their hands to tvar, and their fingers to fight ; turn the counsels of their enemies into foolishness ; and so unite the hearts of all our people, as even to make our enemies to he at peace ivith us." These proclamations, political rather LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 411 than religious, express truly the sentiments, not of their authors merely, but of the two great parties to which they respectively belonged. June 25th. " This is my birth-day ; the last, I was Gov- ernor of the state ; to-day, Governor Gilman was escorted through the town, within half a mile of my house. How uncertain is public life ! How unstable public opinion ! Yet the reflection costs me no pain ; nor the change any uneasi- ness. I never wanted the office ; but yielded to it as a duty." June oOth. " Perez Morton, the Attorney-General of Massachusetts, told me that Mr. Thorndlke, an influential Federalist of Boston, was, a few days since, in company with a select number of that party, who declared themselves in favor of separating the New England States from the Union. He asked them if that was their real object. They answered, 'Yes.' He then said, ' If so, I am decidedly opposed to you. I am willing to pass resolutions, to talk loud, and thus intimi- date the government, so as to bring them, if possible, to make peace with England ; but I could not consent to a separation, if they would freely grant it. As a merchant, I know that it would render New England poor.' ' This,' said Mr. Mor- ton, ' is the opinion of many other Federalists of Boston.' " The accession of the Federal party to power in New Hampshire was signalized by a new organization of the courts of law. The Judiciary Act of June 24th, 1813, abolished the Superior and Inferior Courts; turned out all the old judges; and established a Supreme Court, and a Circuit Court of Common Pleas 412 LIFB OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. in place of the old courts. Of this new Supreme Court, Jeremiah Smith was appointed Chief Justice, and Arthur Livermore and Caleb Ellis, Associate Justices. By the Constitution of the state, judges hold their offices during good behavior, till they reach the age of seventy years, subject tg/remoYal, on impeachment for crimes and misdemeanors, and by the Governor and Council on address of the Legis- lature. As the judges, in this case, v/ere removed in neither of these modes, the act was, in this respect, clearly unconstitutional. Such it was held to be by the Republicans generall}^, and by many Federalists, including some of the first lawyers in the state. It was in striking contrast with the Federalist doctrine, as held throughout the Union, in the case of the Cir- cuit Judges of the United States, of vdiom Smith had been one, nor was it less inconsistent with their favorite doctrine of the independence of the judi- ciary. Livermore, who held the first court under the new law, at Dover, in September, pronounced it unconstitutional, so far as it removed the old judges from office; and denounced, with great sever- ity, the legislature by which it Avas passed. Smith, though he avowed his opinion less openly, was equally decided in his disapprobation of the law by which twenty-one judges were at once removed from office, in a way unknown to the Constitution, and contrary to its express provisions. " A very bold LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 413 step," he said, (July 26tli,) writing to Judge Farrar, " has been taken, in Avhich I had no agency. It is a step, too, which I should not have advised." To Mason, he wrote the same day, "The General Court are most piteously frightened. I sincerely believe that, if they could get back the act, they would see the devil have it, before they would pass another such." He and Livermore, however, both accepted their appointments, and held the courts; not without interruption and protest from the old judges. In the counties of Strafford, Rockingham, and Hills- borough, the old judges attempted to hold courts at the same time with the new ones. In the two latter counties, the sheriffs, Butler and Pierce, who were Republicans, took part with the old court. Governor Gilman, on this, called together the Legislature ; and the refractory sheriffs were removed, in November, from their offices. Evans and Claggett held no more courts; and ihe new judges met with no further obstructions. TheyAvere able men, and good judges; their administration gave strength to their party, and the courts were improved by the change. The sub- ject, however, of the new judiciary continued to oc- cupy the public attention, and, next to the war, was the main issue between the two parties. This was one of the many cases in which Governor Plumer adhered to his old opinions, while his Federal friends were changing theirs. In 1813, as in 1802, he con- 414 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. tended that judges, who held their offices by the tenure of good behavior, could not constitutionally be removed by the repeal of the law under which they were appointed. The pressure of the war, now becoming daily more severe, gave the Federalists a small majority in the March elections of 1814. Governor Gilman Avas re- elected by a constitutional majoritj^ of but little more than one hundred votes, out of nearly forty thousand thrown. The House and Senate were also Federal ; but in the Council there were three Republicans to one Federalist. " The Federalists," wrote Mr. Plumer, " made my calling out the militia in 1813, the rallying point against me; and said that, if re-elected, I should persue the same course again. That I lost votes enough from this cause to have elected me, is probably true ; but to sacrifice duty to personal aggran- dizement, is what I have not done, and never vs^ill do. I had no personal wish to gratify in being re-elected. I enjoy more ease and satisfaction in private, than I ever did in public life." May 25th, 1814. "Governor Gilman has called out eight companies for the defence of Portsmouth. This excites much murmuring among his partizans, who say that he has not only followed my example, but gone greatly beyond me in the number of troops ordered out. They should consider that more are necessary now than in 1812." Governor Plumer had been early in the habit of writing for the newspapers j and the excited state of LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 415 the public mind, for the last four or five years, had given more than usual activity to his pen. Among the essays which he published, was a series of num- bers, in the winter of 1813-14, entitled "An Address to the Clergy of New England, on their Opposition to the Rulers of the United States, by a Layman." The Congregational clergy of New England had, from the first settlement of the country, taken an active part in politics. During the Revolution, they were zealous Whigs; under Washington and Adams they Avere Fed- eralists, which they continued very generally to be under Jefferson and Madison. In New England their influence, as politicians, was much relied upon by the leaders of the Federal part}^. Many of them, besides their daily conversation among their parishioners, made it a matter of conscience to preach political dis- courses on Fast and Thanksgiving days, and often on other occasions. Many of their Republican hearers felt this as a grievance, the more offensive to their feelings, as there seemed no remedy for the evil, but by with- drawing from their societies, and joining the Baptists, Methodists, and other sectaries, who were principally Republicans. Some of them did this, and more threatened to do so. "I was unwilling," says the author, "to undertake this task; but the conduct of the clergy, and the state of the nation impelled me. My object is to serve my country, which, I think, they are injuring." In the preface, noticing some 416 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEPw attacks which had been made upon him, he says: "I have only attempted, and that in the spirit of friendship, to reclaim the clergy from intermeddling with degrading contentions, about which they are too ignorant to decide, and with which they have no concern. A clergyman preaching party politics merits less attention than the meanest of his hearers.. If he will wallow in the mire of factious opposition, he cannot expect his cassock and band to protect him from the filth and slander which he delights in hand- ling." He adds, in a quotation from Burke, " Surely the church is a place where one day's truce ought to be allowed to the disputes and animosities of mankind." Instead of justifying England, and con- demning their own country, if they must preach politics, he commends to them the fervent patriotism of the Psalmist: "If I forget thee, 0, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I jorefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy." Feeling sensibly the injustice, as well as the indecorum of the more outrageous of the attacks on the government, he pushed too far, perhaps, the scripture doctrine of submission to rulers, and the consequent interdict on the clergy against preaching political discourses. Political questions are often moral questions, and as such fall clearly within the domain of the pulpit. To discuss these temperately, LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 417 in the spirit of Christian candor, is not, therefore, to step beyond the line of clerical duty. But it was not with calm reasoning, or moral suasion, that he had in this case to deal, but with rude denunciation, and even with false statements. As against Osgood and Parish, the most prominent of these preachers, he had only to quote their former discourses, during the quasi-war with France, to prove that they were as inconsistent with themselves, as violent in their denunciations of others. It was in reference to these that he quoted the text of Malachi: "Ye have departed out of the way, ye have caused many to stumble; therefore, have I made you contemptible and base before all the people." The whole address was a eoncio ad clenim on the text, " Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people." Besides the newspaper circulation of the address, three thousand copies of it were circulated in a pamphlet form, and attracted much attention. An answer was attempted to it, by Dr. McFarland, of Concord; but it was in its general strain an attack on the administration, rather than a defence of the clergy. The correspondence of Governor Plumer, at this period, far from any abatement of zeal in the public cause, shows an increased confidence in the ultimate success of the war; notwithstanding the change of affairs in Europe, which enabled England, on the downfall of Napoleon, to throw, most unexpectedly 27 418 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. to her enemy, the victorious armies of Wellington on the shores of America, to meet, as unexpectedly to herself, at the two extremes of the Union, the repulse by McDonough at Plattsburgh, and the defeat by Jackson at New Orleans. To Elbridge Gerry, the Vice-President, he wrote : March 5tli, 1814. "I should prefer a continuance of the ' war till we can obtain the Canadas. Our possession of those provinces is the only real security which our northern and western frontiers can have against the Indians, and the best guaranty that England will keep peace with us, on fair terms, in future, as it will render her West India dominions depend- ent on us for subsistence. The war, even in New England, 1 j is daily becoming more popular. If we fail in our elections, I next Tuesday, in this state, it will be mainly owing to the 1 belief that a Republican governor would order portions of the militia into the service. This is enough to turn against us many timid men, who yet call themselves Republicans." " We are told," he writes to Mr. Gerry, (May 2d,) " that there are but few of our seamen impressed ; yet, one fact is incontrovertible : during the whole war, we have not cap- tured a single British public ship, but we have found native American seamen on board, who had been impressed, and forcibly detained, and, in some cases, made to fight against their countrymen. The number, then, is great ; but suppose it small, a single seaman, unjustly detained, is such a wrong as would justify a resort to arms. Yield one, and you may as well a thousand ; and there is no end to insult and injuries, if you tamely submit to them. Allegiance and protection are LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER, 419 correlative terms ; you claim the one of your citizens, you are bound to give them the other. " Though the Republicans have succeeded neither in New f Hampshire nor in Massachusetts, they have received acces- sions of strength in both of these states ; and in New York, they have obtained a triumph. I ardently desire an honorable peace ; but I hope and trust the government will not be so> much in haste to obtain peace, as to sacrifice any great advan- tage or any essential right of the country. No nation can. long survive the loss of honor, or the sacrifice of its rights.'' To Jolin Adams he writes, (November 25tL) "You ask my opinion whether New Hampshire is pre- pared to adopt the measures of the Massachusetts Legislature. I think not. Though dismemberment has its advocates here,, they cannot obtain a majority of the people or their repre- sentatives to adopt or avow it. How far their covert proceed- ings, aided by the imposition of taxes, and the adoption of other measures necessary to carry on the war, may eventually influence our people to aid them in their projects, time alone can disclose. Before Governor Strong's letter reached Gov- ernor Gilman, inviting New Hampshire to send delegates to Hartford, our Legislature was adjourned to June. The Governor cannot convene thein without the advice of the Council ; and, fortunately, a majority of the Councillors are staunch Republicans. This has prevented his even asking their opinion on the subject." It appears, however, that the Governor, at a later period, did consult the Council on the subject ; that 420 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. the two Federal Councillors advised him (Jan. 25th, 1813,) to call the Legislature together; and that the three ReiDublicans refused to sign this advice. This would have been too late to send delegates to the convention, but not too late to act on the meas- ures which they recommended. To Jeremiah Mason he writes, (Dec. 29, 1814.) " You ask what will be the result of the Hartford Conven- tion. I expect no good, but much evil from it. It will embarrass us, aid the enemy, and protract the war. Their prime object is to effect a revolution, — a dismemberment of the Union. Some of its members, for more than ten years, have considered such a measure necessary. Of this I have conclusive evidence. I think, however, they have too much cunning, mixed with fear, to proceed further, at their first meeting, than to addresses, remonstrances, and resolves. But the spirit they have excited in the minds of the more violent of their party will not, I fear, be satisfied with mere words, but will, should the war continue, lead to more violent measures." The Massachusetts House of Representatives had, at the preceding session, declared that " the time has arrived at which it is incumbent on the people of this state to decide whether these burdens [the war and embargo, the latter of which they pronounced unconstitutional,] are not ioo grievous to he home and to prepare themselves for the great duty of protect- LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 421 ing, hy their own vigor, their unalienable rights." They now (Oct., 1814,) declared that the Constitution, as at present administered, had "failed to secure to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and to the Eastern section of the Union, those equal rights and benefits, which were the great objects of its formation." "It is vain to talk about the Union," said Mr. Saltonstall, in the Massachusetts Senate, on the appointment of delegates to the Hartford Convention, (Oct., 1814,) " if our rulers pursue a course much longer which is teaching us all to look to the general government as the cause of our ruin. Unless an effort is made, the states will soon as naturally fall asunder as ripe fruit is now falling from our trees." The Convention which met at Hartford, Dec. 15thj 1814, consisted of delegates appointed by the Legis- latures of I Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, and of members appointed by two County Conventions in New Hampshire and one in Vermont. Its proceedings were conducted with closed doors; and among its rules was one " that the most inviolate secrecy shall be observed by every member of thia Convention, including the Secretary, as to all the propositions, debates and proceedings thereof" This injunction was removed at the close of the session, so far only " as relates to the report finally adopted." This report, which was made to the State Legislatures 422 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEB. by which the members were appomted, was approved and published by them. In it the question of dis- solving the Union was discussed at some length. "To prescribe patience and firnmess to those who are already exhausted by distress, is sometimes," they say, "to drive them to despair; and the progress towards reform by the regular road is irksome to those whose imaginations discern, and their feelings prompt to a shorter coursed This shorter course is direct and open violence. " A sentiment prevails to no incon- siderable extent, that the time for a change is at hand. Those who so believe, regard the evils which surround them as intrin&ic and incurable defects in the Constitution. They yield to the persuasion that no change, at any time, or on any occasion, can aggravate the misery of their country. This opinion may ulti- mately prove to be correct." " But as the evidence on which it rests is," they say, " not yet conclusive," they recommend, for the present, the adoption of a more moderate course, which, if it does not avert the evil, will, " at least, secure consolation and success in the last resort." " If," they add, " the Union be destined to dissolution, it shoiild, if possible, be the work of peaceable times, and deliberate consent. Events may prove that the causes of our calamities are deep and permanent. Whenever it shall appear that these causes are radical and permanent, a separation, by LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 423 equitable arrangement, will be preferable to an alliance by constraint, among nominal friends, but real enemies." They refer to Washington's farewell address, and conclude from all these premises — not against dissolving the Union under any circumstances — but against "precipitate measures," since "a sever- ance of the Union, by one or more states, against the will of the rest, and especially in time of war, can be justified only by absolute necessity," which necessity, they argue, does not now exist. In the mean time, after pronouncing certain measures then before Con- gress to be unconstitutional, the report adds : " In cases of deliberate, dangerous, and palpable infractions of the Constitution, affecting the sovereignty of a state and the liberties of the people, it is not only the right, but the duty of such a state to interpose its authority for their protection, in the manner best calculated to secure that end. When emergencies occur, which are either beyond the reach of the judicial tribunals, or too pressing to admit of the delay incident to their forms, states, which have no common umpire, must be their own judges, and exe- cute their own decision." This is, in its strongest form, the Virginia and South Carolina doctrine of nullification. "If," they say, "a different poHcy from the present should prevail, our nation may yet be great, our union durable. But should this prospect 424 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. be \itterly hopeless, the time will not have been lost, which shall have ripened a general sentiment of the necessity of more mighty efforts to rescue from ruin at least some portion of our beloved country." They then recommend, as their more moderate course, an application to Congress by the New England States, to enable them to assume their own defence, and for that purpose, that they may receive into their own treasuries a portion of the United States' revenue col- lected within their limits. They also propose seven amendments to the Constitution of the United States; the first, abolishing the slave representation ; the second, providing that no new state shall be admitted into the Union without the concurrence of two-thirds of both Houses of Congress; the third, that no embargo shall be laid for more than sixty days ; the fourth, that no non-intercourse law be passed but by a two-thirds' vote ; the fifth, no war declared but by the same vote ; the sixth, no naturalized citizen to hold any civil office; and the seventh, that no President be elected a second time, and no state furnish two Presidents in succession. Such were, in substance, the proceedings of the Hartford Convention, which closed its session by providing for a new Convention to meet in Boston, in June, in case the war should continue, or for the old one to meet sooner, if the committee appointed for that purj)ose should see fit to convene it. LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 425 The Treaty of Ghent not only brought peace with England, but put an end to nearly all the recent causes of party differences in this country. Impress- ment, claimed as a belligerent right, ceased with the European wars ; French decrees and British orders in Council had the same termination ; and the non- intercourse, embargo, and war in America, which had grown out of these, expired with their causes. There were, therefore, no longer the old grounds of quarrel between the two parties ; and that which underlay them all, the charge of foreign influence, ceased thenceforth to have any foundation on either side. The Federalists had charged the Republicans with being under French influence ; and the Republicans retorted the charge, by imputing their conduct to British influence. Both these charges were, to a cer- tain extent, true. Not that French or British gold was employed to make partizans here, for either of those nations, though something may perhaps have been paid for the support of party newspapers ; but the popular feeling itself had fallen in/o a semi- Colonial dependence on Europe. Sympathy wiih England and abhorrence of France were motives powerful with the one party ; and attachment to France, admiration of Napoleon, and hatred to Eng- land, were hardly less powerful in the other. "Every Frenchman," said Governeur Morris, "bears with him everywhere a French heart. I honor him for it. ! 426 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. that Americans had always an American heart!" " All will end without any shedding of blood," said Washington, "if, instead of being Frenchmen or Eng- lishmen in politics, our citizens would be Americans." It was not till after the war of 1812, that a truly American feeling, superior to all foreign attachments, obtained the entire ascendancy in our national councils. The Federal party, as a national organization, may be considered as having expired with the war. Pat- riotic in its original purposes, and wise in its early measures, it was never a popular party ; and when, after its final loss of power, in 1801, it fell insensibly into the ordinary vices of an opposition, it lost, by degrees, its nationality of character, became sectional in its objects, and, ultimately, during the war, to a considerable extent, anti-national in its admiration of England, its dread of France, and its abhorrence of the war and its authors. Fisher Ames had at an earlier period expressed, in one brief but pregnant sentence, the opinions in which many of them indulged. " Our country is too big for union, too sordid for patriotism, and too democratic for liberty." Southern Federalists ceased to feel their former unity of purpose with those of the north; local jealousies were engendered, local objects pursued ; and the final explosion of these angry feelings, in the impo- tence of the Hartford Convention, brought such LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 427 general odium on the expiring efforts of Northern Federalism, that men, -who had once borne it with pride, grew, at last, ashamed of a name which, in its earlier use, was illustrated by the wisdom and the virtue of Washington and Adams, of Hamilton, Jay, and a host of other revolutionary worthies. What was good in the principles of the party had been, to a great extent, adopted by the Republicans; and the evil of its original views had been sufficiently exj)osed. But if the Federal party expired with the war, the f Republican had, at the same time, well nigh lost its ' original identity. It had gradually eliminated some of its worst errors, both of theory and practice, and as gradually absorbed into itself much of what was j best in the policy of its opponents. " The era of good feeling," which commenced with Mr. Monroe's administration, led to a speedy oblivion of old feuds ; and, for the eight years which followed, it was not easy, by anything which any man said or did, to determine to which of the old parties he belonged, or whether, indeed, there was, at that time, any party in the country. When, at a later period, * parties once more emerged from the quiet of Monroe, : into the turbulence which ensued under Adams and : Jackson, many of the old Federal leaders Avere found j to be Democrats, and as many old Republicans took b rank as Whigs. The division turned mainly on new 428 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. issues, and on interests little felt in the earlier days of the Republic. The funding system, the army, and the navy, had lost their interest in the questions of the tariff and internal improvement, and in the first stirrings of that yet deeper and more important question of the extension or the restriction of slavery. Mr. Plumer early saw the change of parties which this change in the affairs of the country was about to produce, and felt it his duty to accelerate, as far as in him lay, the oblivion of past controversies, and to aid in the introduction of a policy more liberal and more comprehensive, in relation both to men and to measures. While party feelings had degenerated with iriany into personal animosities, he had kept up his social relations with his old Federalist friends, both by correspondence and by personal intercourse. He knew the good men of both parties, and the good points in both their creeds ; and his aim was to bring them together in combined action for the public good. The old party feelings were, however, still strong on both sides ; the Federalists exasperated by defeat, the Republicans warm with the excitement of recent strife. The heat of the contest had, indeed, as yet, very little abated. The antagonist muscles required time to soften and relax from the extreme tension of earnest and long-continued action. This relaxation did not come in season for the March elections in LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. New Hampshire ; and Governor Gilman was accord- ingly re-elected. So doubtful, however, was the contest, that, counting all the votes thrown; his majority was found to be only thirty-five. It was his last year. During the whole period from 1812 to 1817, neither party was strong enough to feel confi- dent of victory, and neither so weak as to despair of success. CHAPTER XI. THE CHIEF MAGISTRATE.— (CONTINUED.;) I Fi>fD little among Mr Plumer's papers in the year following the peace, which need be here introduced. Two extracts from his journal may be given, as touching upon subjects either already noticed here, or which will come up at a later period. September 16th, 1815. " On the 7th instant, I set out with my wife on a visit to our friends in Massachusetts, and to-day returned home. My visit to Newbuvyport, where I was born, and to Newbury Old Town, the orighial seat of the Plumer family, was productive, in my mind, of many inter- esting remembrances and reflections. In this ten days' excur- sion, I have been everywhere treated with great respect and attention ; but the journey, and my long and frequent conversations, fatigued me. At Salem, I spent an afternoon with Joseph Story, one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States. He said, the judges of that court had informally considered the question whether the Governor of a state was bound, on the requisition of the President, to order the militia into the service of the United States. He could, he said, discover no diversity of sentiment among them ; he believed they were unanimously of opinion that the Gov- ernors were bound to obey the requisition ; and regretted that LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 431 neither the President nor Congress had required their opinion on the subject. He complimented me on my speech to the Legislature in November, 1812, upon the question of ordering out the militia ; and said that my reasoning appeared to him conclusive. He mentioned, of his own accord, that he had considered the law of New Hampshire, of 1813, establish- ing the new judiciary, and was of opinion that it was unconstitutional." September 30th, 1815. "I spent an hour in social, free conversation with Governor Oilman. He condemned, with great frankness, the rem((Val of John Wheelock from the Presidency of Dartmouth College. He said it was injudici- ous and improper." This removal of Wheelock brought the affairs of the college, before the Legislature, and led to a vigor- ous, but finally unsuccessful attempt to remodel and improve that important institution. The spring elections of 1816 resulted in the entire success of the Republican party in New Hampshire. Governor Oilman, from the increasing infirmities of age, and, probably, from a conviction that he could not again be elected, declined being a candidate. His place was supplied by James Sheafe, — a respectable merchant of Portsmouth, probably, at that time, the richest man in the state. He had been imprisoned as a Tory, during the revolution; but, like many other honest loyalists, he had found this circumstance not incompatible with the possession, at a later period, of 432 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. the public favor. The people, though zealous in the cause of independence, were not vindictive or intol- erant in their feelings; and Avhen the danger was past, they looked to men's present conduct, rather than to their former opinions on a subject respecting which men might fairly differ. Sheafe had been elected Senator in Congress, in 1802, but had held his seat only one session. His opposition to the war of 1812 was now urged against him, as a |)roof that the Tory of the revolution was still the devoted partizan of the mother country. It Avas, perhaps, as an offset to this charge of toryism in Sheafe, that the story was told respecting Governor Plunier's being arrested for the same offence, during the revolution, as related in a former chapter. This story was at once contra- dicted; and the facts respecting Sheafe, though known, probably deprived him of very few votes. Of the vvhole number thrown, he had 18,326, and Mr. Plumer 20,652. This was the largest popular vote ever thrown in the state. It is curious to observe the increasing interest taken in politics by the mass of the people, as shown by the yearly increase of the votes. In 1790, the whole number thrown for chief magistrate was in the proportion of one vote to seventeen of the inhabitants ; in 1800, one to eleven; in 1810, one to seven; and in 1816, one to less than six. This augurs well of the people, as it shows an increasing interest in LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER, 433 their own affairs, and a determination not to lose their rights by a neglect of the elective franchise. When the result of the election was known, the Governor received many congratulations from his correspondents on his success; and among others, March 22d, 1816, the following from Richard Rush, then Attorney-General of the United States, after- wards Secretary of the Treasury, and Minister to England : "I beg leaye to offer to you my cordial congratulations upon the happy issue of the election in New Hampshire. May the great cause of Republicanism go on thus to triumph in the states about you. May Massachusetts be so fortunate, in her turn, as to get her Dexter ; thereby serving more and more to disappoint all the efforts and the hopes of those who know not how to value our noble institutions." This aspiration respecting Dexter was not answered, as he died. May 4th, 1816, soon after it was made. April 17th, 1816. " Spent the day at Portsmouth ; received much attention from men of both parties. My rival, James Sheafe, took an early opportunity of calling upon me at my lodgings, and politely urged me to dine with him ; but my engagements prevented me." ^ It may be here added, that he kept up, during life, a friendly intercourse with many worthy men who were his political opponents ; and that his personal respect for them was never impaired by the warmth 28 434 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. of these party contests. He wielded boldly and unsparingly against them all the weapons of political warfare ; but it was without malice or personal ill-will. May 18th, 1816. « I have been requested to be a candi- date for Senator in Congress, but have refused. I want no office whatever ; but if I am to be in the public service, I j)refer that of Governor." June 4th. " Perceiving, from the applications made to me by gentlemen from various towns, as to when I should set out for Concord, that measures were preparing for a numerous escort, I resolved to proceed thither without waiting to be officially informed of my election. Early in the afternoon I arrived at Concoi'd." 5th. " Spent the day at my lodgings, without making any visits, except one of ceremony to Governor Gilman, whom I found afflicted with the gout. He received me with polite- ness, and appeared in good spirits. The calls upon me were many ; and among others was one from the Reverend Dr. Parish. The moment his name was announced, my writing the ' Layman ' occurred to my recollection. His attachment to President Wheelock, and his belief of my aiding Dartmouth College, gave him pleasure in visiting me, though he knew I had zealously supported the late war, to which he was out- rageously opposed. On telling him that my health was good for one of my slender constitution, he replied, with an empha- sis, ' In that we harmonize.' He is man of strong passions, governed by feeling more than reason." 6th. " At twelve o'clock, I met the two Houses, in the Representatives' Hall, and found the galleries and avenues LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 435 crowded. After I had taken the affirmation of office, I delivered my speech, -which occupied about twenty minutes. After dinner. Dr. Parish spent two hours with me very pleasantly." Parish was warmly interested in behalf of Dr. Wheelock, and wrote afterwards to Judge Woodward: " We rejoice, we exult, in the firmness, constancy and success of Governor Plumer, to whom I pray you to give my thanks for the noble part he has taken in defence of our venerable friend." Among the subjects recommended by the Gov- ernor to the attention of the Legislature were the encouragement of manufactures by exempting them, for a limited period, from taxes; the districting of the state for the choice of electors and members of Congress ; the reduction of salaries ; and the subject of jury trials. The first of these recommendations was adopted, and had the effect, with other liberal provisions of the laws, to draw much foreign capital into the state, greatly to the benefit of its industry, wealth, and population. The districting recommended by him has since been adopted, as to members of Congress, but not as to electors. The reduction of salaries was a more popular measure ; and the rare example of a Governor recommending the reduction of his own salary, was sure to find favor with the Legislature. He had attempted the same reduction. 436 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. without success, in 1797; and, now tliat it affected Ms own remuneration, he was not less disposed to urge it. Writing to John Quincj Adams, (July 30th,) he said: "The great anxiety that too many of our countrymen discover for office, as the means of acquiring money — a motive too sordid to exist with, much less to cherish, patriotism — induced me to recommend a system of economy in relation to salaries. It was a feeble effort to inspire the people with more noble motives and more exalted views, than pecuniary rewards produce; to allure them with the love of fame and of the public good." His ideas on this subject were well responded to in a letter, which he afterwards received from Mr. Adams, (July 6th, 1818.) "I am convinced," says Mr. Adams, "that it is just and patriotic to make all offices of high trust and honor rather burdensome than lucrative. Real patriotism will cheerfully bear some pecuniary sacrifice ; and the appetite of ambition for place is sufficiently sharp-set, without needing the stimulant dram of avarice to make it keener." With respect to trials by jury, there had, in his opinion, been too great a disposition, of late, in the courts to set aside verdicts, and thus to arrogate too much authority in the trial of cases ; but it may be doubted whether the limitation he recommended of the power of the court to set aside verdicts, to cases of bribery or corruption, would contribute to the stabil- LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 437 ity or the uniformity of the law, by making it depend practically for its rules of action on the feelings or the opinions of jurors, instead of the knowledge and experience of the judges. No law was passed on the subject. The Governor's care for the rights of conscience and of private judgment in matters of religion, was evinced by his recommendation to grant acts of incorporation to religious societies, in all cases, and to all sects who applied for them. But the two most important topics of the Gov- ernor's speech were those relating to Dartmouth College, and to the judiciary acts of 1813. The latter were considered by the Republicans as un- constitutional, and, as such, to be repealed without delay. This repeal passed, by a strictly party vote, in the House, yeas 97, nays 83 ; in the Senate, yeas 8, nays 4. It was signed by the Governor, June 27, 1816. Several important questions were at once raised by this act. The first was as to the effect of the repeal on the judges of the courts so abolished. By some, it was contended that, the law under which they acted being unconstitutional, they were, from the beginning, usurpers, and that no action need be had in relation to them. But the safer opinion seemed to be that, being judges dc facto, if not de jure, they were "entitled to the same rights, immunities and privileges in their office as other judges ; " and, there- 438 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLTTMER. fore, that, if they were removed, it must be under the constitutional provision, on address of the Legisla- ture, by the Governor and Council. This was accord- ingly done. The next question was as to the judges of the old courts ; and it was thought advisable to remove them also. When this was done, the state presented the singular spectacle of a Commonwealth without judges. The next step proposed was the turn- ing out of the Federalist sheriffs, appointed on the removal of Messrs. Pierce and Butler. An address to that effect passed the Senate, but was postponed in the House, on an intimation of the Governor that the measure would be, in his opinion, illegal. The law respecting Dartmouth College grew out of difficulties between the Trustees of that institution and its President, John Wheelock, which had resulted in his removal from office. The subject was noticed in the speech of the Governor, who, after referring to Avhat he regarded as defects in the charter of the college, recommended to the Legislature to "make such further provisions as will render this important institution more useful to mankind." The act passed, June 27th, 1816, in pursuance of this recommenda- tion, changed the name of the institution from College to University ; increased the number of the Ti'ustees from twelve to twenty-one ; and created a board of Overseers, consisting of twenty-five members. These latter were to be appointed by the Governor and LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 439 Council; as were also, in the first instance, the new Trustees. "My object," said the Governor, "is not lim- ited to the restoration of Wheelock. It is to establish the authority of the Legislature over the institution, so far as to secure to the people the objects for which it was founded, and to form a useful connection between the government and the college." In the appoint- ment of Trustees and Overseers he introduced men of both political parties, and of all the prominent relig- ious sects. The college government had been hitherto Calvinistic in its religion, and Federalist in its politics. His appointments brought both political parties into each board, without giving any one religious sect the preponderance in either. Dr. Parish having written to him, expressing the hope that a man's being a Federalist would not prevent his being elected an officer of the institution, he said, in reply, "It has been a subject of deep regret to me that the cause of Dartmouth University has been considered a party question. My political opponents made it such, in hopes of obtaining support to their party politics. But, had I the power of appointing the officers of the University, I would select those men only for office who are best qualified, without regard to the religious sect or political party to which they are attached." The act itself provided that perfect freedom of relig- ious opinions should be enjoyed by all the officers and students of the University ; and that no officer or 440 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. student should be deprived of any honors, privileges, or benefits of the institution, on account of his religious creed or belief It was an essential part of his plan that the state should extend a liberal patronage to the University, and make it, what it had never yet been, a well-endowed institution. Into the private feuds of Hanover, or the quarrel between "Wheelock and the old Trustees, he felt no disposition to enter ; but the occasion seemed to him a fit one, to give to the college a less sectarian character, and to plant it firmly on the broad ground of Christian liberality, sound learning, and Republican polity. The following letter from Mr. Jefferson was in acknowledgment of a copy of the Message, contain- ing the above-named recommendations. "MoNTicEixo, July 31st, 1816. " I thank you, sir, for the copy you have been so good as to send me of your late speech to the Legislature of your state, which I have read a second time with great pleasure, as I had before done in the public papers. It is replete with sound principles, and truly Republican. Some articles, too, are worthy of notice. The idea that institutions, established for the use of the nation, cannot be touched nor modified, even to make them answer their end, because of rights gratu- itously supposed in those employed to manage them in trust for the public, may, perhaps, be a salutary provision against the abuses of a monarch, but it is most absurd against the nation itself. Yet our lawyers and priests generally incul- LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 441 cate this doctrine ; and suppose that preceding generations held the earth more freely than we do ; had a right to impose laws on us, unalterable by ourselves ; and that we, in like manner, can make laws, and impose burdens on future gen- erations, which they will have no right to alter ; in fine, that the earth belongs to the dead, and not to the living. I remark, also, the phenomenon of a chief magistrate recom- mending the reduction of his own compensation. This is a solecism of which the wisdom of our late Congress cannot be accused. I, however, place economy among the first and most important of Republican virtues, and public debt as the great- est of the dangers to be feared. "We see in England the con- sequences of the want of it, — their laborers reduced to live on a penny in the shilling of their earnings, to give up bread, and resort to oatmeal and potatoes for food ; and their land- holders exiling themselves to live in penury and obscurity abroad, because at home the government must have all the clear profits of their land. In fact, they see the fee-simple of the island transferred to the public creditors, and all its profits going to them for the interest of their debts. Our laborers and landholders must come to this also, unless they severely adhere to the economy you recommend. I salute you with entire esteem and respect. "Thomas Jefferson." On the adjournment of the Legislature, the Gover- nor and Council proceeded to appoint the Judges of the Superior Court and Common Pleas. It had been easy to turn out the old judges, but it was not found so easy to appoint new ones in their places. The 442 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. removed judges were Federalists; and the Republican Councillors, flushed with their recent party victory, felt called upon to retaliate on the intolerance of their opponents, by appointing none but Republicans to office. But the Governor told them, at their first meeting, that the minority had rights, which it became him to respect, however little others had done so ; and that he could not consent to have all the judges selected from one political party. July 1st, 1816. "Early in the morning, I met the Coun- cil ; and, after spending some time in talking upon the sub- ject of appointments, we proceeded to make nominations of Judges of the Superior Court. I named Jeremiah Mason, William M. Richardson, and Samuel Bell. The Council unanimously agreed to nominate Richardson. The Republi- cans nominated Bell ; but the Federalists opposed him on account of his conduct as President of the Hillsborough Bank. A majority declined nominating Mason. I then proposed George B. Upham, a Federalist, a good lawj^er, and a man of an irreproachable moral character. The two Fed- eral Councillors zealously supported, and the three Republi- cans as decidedly opposed him. We then endeavored to fix upon a Chief Justice for the Eastern District. Clifton Clag- gett and Daniel M. Durell were named. The question being taken on nominating Claggett, two of the Council were for him, and three against him. A majority could not be obtained for Durell, or any other man. William H. Wood- ward was unanimously agreed upon as Chief Justice of the Western District." LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER, 443 2(1. " Met the Council early in the morning ; urged the nomination of Upham ; but the Republican Councillors de- clined agreeing to him. We then conversed on a candidate for Chief Justice of the Common Pleas for the First Dis- trict ; and it was agreed to nominate Durell. A majority of the Council finally agreed to nominate Upham for the Superior Court. We then signed the nomination of all the seventeen judges, the number necessary to be appointed. Some of them were not such as I should have nominated, if I had possessed the sole power of appointment ; but they were the best I could induce the Council to agree to." 3d. " A majority of the Board agreed upon the lot upon which the State House should be erected." 4th. " Fixed the site for the State House." 5th. " Met the Council, and appointed those we had nominated for judges, and also a Committee to build the State House. After breakfast, I rode to Epsom, to see my sister." 6th. " In the morning, I pursued my journey home on horseback. At Deerfield line, I was met by an escort, which continued to increase till I reached my own house, there being more than five hundred gentlemen on horseback. The concourse of people was great, more than fifteen hundred at the house. They behaved very well ; and by eight in the evening they all left me." The appointment of Federalists to office by a Re- publican Executive was an act of justice and liberal- ity, which neither party knew how duly to appreciate. The leaders of the Federal party had not given over 444 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. the hope of regaining their lost ascendency in the state ; and they saw that if, co-operating with the liberal policy of the Governor, some of their ablest men took seats on the bench by his appointment, it would not be easy, under any local issues Avhich they could raise, now that the old national ones were closed, to rally the party strength for a new contest. Upham, who was appointed to the Superior Court, told me, many years after, (June 4, 1847,) that he had, at first, determined to accept the office; but, on coming to Concord, he was advised by Thomas W. Thompson and other Federalists not to do so ; that, on his way to Portsmouth, to consult Mr. Mason on the subject, he was told by Roswell Stevens, of Pem- broke, that Amos Kent, of Chester, had, on the advice of Daniel Webster, declined the judgeship offered him ; and that other Federalists appointed would do the same. On hearing this he returned home, and notified the Governor that he declined the appoint- ment, though he should, he said, have been happy, under other circumstances, with the concurrence of his friends, to accept it. The Federal party could hardly have made a greater mistake than to reject the olive branch thus offered to them, at a time when their power was, practically, at an end, not in the state only, but throughout the Union. Yet such was still the inveteracy of feeling with many, that the Governor was, soon after, informed that one Federal- LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 445 ist whom he had appointed a judge, not content with declining the office, had nailed up his commission in a grog-shop ; thus exposing it to the derision of its inmates, and himself hardly less to the pity, or the contempt, of all moderate and reflecting men. Wil- liam H. Woodward was the only Federalist, out of seven appointed judges, who accepted the office. " Though in making these appointments, I have been directed," says the Governor, "by what I consider the public interest, I am sensible I have made per- sonal enemies. The disposition of offices makes many enemies, and but few friends. What is worse, I am held responsible for all appointments, but have not the power to appoint, in all cases, those whom I consider best qualified." Not discouraged by his ill success thus far. Gover- nor Plumer made one more attempt to exclude politics from the temple of justice, and thus to secure the confidence of all parties in the impartial- ity, as well as in the ability of the courts of law, — an object which he justly regarded as second to none which he could accomplish in the appointments which he had to make. For this purpose, he sought to place his old friend Jeremiah Mason, as Chief Justice, on the Bench of the Superior Court. Rich- ardson, who held that office, offered to resign, and take a side-seat under Mason. When applied to m person by the Governor, Mr. Mason seemed, at first, 446 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. not displeased with the offer, but doubted whether he could be appointed. "Your views," he said, "are too liberal for your party. Your Council will not con- sent to my appointment." The Governor afterwards wrote to him on the subject. "It is an office worthy of your ambition ; and one which I hope you will hold, till you are removed to the Bench of the Su- preme Court of the United States." In his answer, (August 18th, 1816,) Mr. Mason said : " I am sensible of the honor which you do me in your letter of the 7th instant. Could I flatter myself with the be- lief of possessing the necessary qualifications, the proposed office would certainly satisfy my highest ambition. There would, however, still remain two objections, which to me appear insuperable. The salary allowed by the present law appears to me wholly inadequate. My other objection arises from the late organization of the Court. After thus stating the reasons which prevent my complying with your proposal, I trust it is unnecessary to add that political considerations, which, in these times, are often supposed to determine every- thing, have, with me, on this subject, no influence." In a pecuniary point of view, the decision was undoubtedly correct, the salary bearing no compari- son with what he received for his services at the bar. But had he accepted the office, besides the service rendered the state, he could have built up for himself, in the twenty-two years for which he might have LIFE OF WILLIAM ELUMER. 447 held it, a judicial reputation such, as no New England judge has ever yet attained. As Mason declined going upon the Bench, Richardson remained Chief Justice ; and the place which Upham had refused, was ultimately conferred on Levi Woodbury. Wood- bury, called in derision, at the time, "the baby judge," was not quite twenty-seven years old. He was then Secretary of the Senate, and thought of by nobody as judge, perhaps not even by himself But the keen eye and quick discernment of the Governor, with whom he boarded, at the house of Isaac Hill, had seen enough, during the session, to satisfy him that he was qualified for the place, and would do no dis- credit, in later life, to his early patron. Nor did Woodbury disappoint these expectations. He was afterwards Governor of the State, Senator in Con- gress, Seci-etary of the Navy and of the Treasury, and died Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States, with the near prospect, had he lived a year longer, of being President. Thirty-five years after this first appointment, on occasion of Woodbury's death, the Attorney General, Walker, spoke of " the venerable Plumer," and characterized him as " that great and unerring judge of the heads and the hearts of men," — terms, in their full import, inapphcable to man, but, in a lower sense, not ill describing the knowledge of human nature, for which he was distinguished. 448 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. After filling this and other vacancies in the courts, the Governor says, in his journal: " These appointments have relieved me from much anxiety. Our courts of law were never before filled by men so well qualified for their places as are the present judges. I have had great trouble, and incurred great odium ; but the intol- erance of others has been, and shall be, no rule for me. My liberality gains me no credit with either party. But I will do my duty ; and when I retire to private life, I shall enjoy a richer reward than that of office." October 3d, 1816. "I am informed that, before my elec- tion in March, the President had determined to appoint me Commissioner, under the late treaty with England, to run the line between the United States and Canada ; but my election made this improper. This was an office unsought, and unthought of by me. I have recently been requested to nominate an agent fi-om this state to attend the Com- missioners." It appears, too, from a statement of Mr. Mason, that he was, about this time, spoken of as likely to succeed his friend, Adams, as minister to Russia. But this was an oflBce for which, with his ignorance of French, he would have thought himself unfit. To Judge Woodward he wrote, (August 10th, 1816:) " I intend to be in Hanover in season ; but you must ex- cuse me from meeting an escort. It has been an object with LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 449 me, through, life, to avoid parade. It is troublesome to my friends, and painfal to me, as ill according with my views of the simplicity of a Republican government. I feel a grateful sense of the value of public approbation. But to enjoy the consciousness of having merited it, is to me a sufficient reward for the toils of office, and the calumnies of the ignorant and the designing. You will, therefore, be so obliging as to make my comphments to Colonel Poole and my Hanover friends, and dissuade them from taking the trouble to meet, me on the road." In his speech to the Legislature, (November 20th,. 1816,) the Governor confined himself chiefly to the affairs of the State, those of the Union not requiring from him, since the return of peace, more than a; passing notice. The strict notions of economy in the public expenditures, which, on a former occasion, had prompted him to recommend the reduction of salaries, including his own, now showed itself in various sug- gestions made by him in relation to the fees of sheriffs, treasurers, clerks, and other county officers. These were, in part, adopted by the Legislature, and led to some useful improvements in the laws on this subject. Among other matters adverted to in the speech were the building of the State House, the funding of the treasury notes received from the Gen- eral Government, and the affairs of the University. It soon appeared that, in relation to the two former 29 450 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. of these, and indeed, with respect to his administra- tion generally, the Governor was now to encounter, among his own party, an opposition more envenomed, if possible, than he had before experienced from his FederaUst opponents. Messrs. Morrill, Pierce, Claggett, Quarles, and Butler, the very leaders of the Republi- can party, were, for various reasons, unfriendly to him. Morrill, at that time Speaker, was afterwards Senator in Congress, and Governor of the State; Pierce and Quarles were members of the Coimcil, and the former was afterwards Governor. Claggett had been judge of the Superior Court; and both he and Butler were members of the House, and after- wards elected to Congress. These acknowledged leaders of the party might reasonably be expected, in any given case, to be too strong, by their united force, for any individual who refused submission to their will. Morrill, as Speaker, appointed Committees on the State House and the Treasury Note business, who reported unfavorably to the action of the Gov- ernor in both these cases. He had received from the General Government forty thousand dollars in treasury notes, bearing an interest of 5|- per cent., on account of military services in the late war, and had funded the sum at the loan ofl&ce, receiving United States six per cent, stock for the amount due on the notes. The committee thought he ought to have sold the notes, which were at a great discount in the market, LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 451 and put the proceeds in the treasury, or bought United States stock with it. This notion of turning broker, and speculating with the public funds, had never occurred to the Grovemor, who disposed of the United States notes, as Governor Gilman, with the approbation of the Legislature, had, the year before, done with those received by him. The location of the new State House, whether north or south of a given line, on the Main Street in Concord, was a question in which it might have been thought few would take much interest, except the dwellers on that street. Yet it excited a furious contest, not only in the town, but among the mem- bers of the Legislature, and through the state. As the spot selected by the Governor and Council was at a considerable distance south of the old State House, the people at the north end, with whom nearly all the members of the Legislature had hitherto boarded, were likely, by the new location, to lose thenceforth this monopoly. The clamor which they raised was in proportion to their sup- posed interest in the question; and it was soon found that many of the members were deeply infected with the feelings and the prejudices of their landlords on this subject, — "representatives," as Toppan, of Hampton, said, " of their respective boarding houses, rather than of the state." The spot selected was denounced as " a quagmire, and a frog- 452 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. pond ; " and Colonel Prescott, of Jaffrey, amused the House with an account of the frogs he had seen leaping about in the cellar, which might be ex- pected, at some future session, should the court be held there, " to make as much noise in it," he said, "as I do now." The Council had been divided on the location; and as the Grovernor's influence was sup- posed mainly to have settled the question, the odium of the measure, with those who disliked it, fell chiefly on him. The report of the committee was, however, rejected by the House, yeas 73, nays 84 ; and it is ' now generally admitted that no better spot could have been selected. Many timid Republicans were alarmed at these divisions in the party. "But difficulties," said the Governor, in a letter to me at the time, " neither embarrass, nor discourage me ; and I seldom despond. I have always found that what people call dangers appear greater at a distance, than when near at hand." It was in the midst of these excitements, increased as they were by the Governor's putting his veto on a bill which had just passed both Houses by very strong majorities, and when, by many, it was believed that his popularity was gone forever, that he received the most convincing proof that, however certain leaders might be disaffected, the great mass of the party did justice to his motives, and had lost none of their confidence in his integrity. LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 453 Under date of December 17tli, 1816, he says: " The Republicans met this evening, to nominate a candi- date for Governor for the next year. Ninety-three members attended, — a larger number than at any other caucus this session. General Pierce, in the chair, opened the meeting by observing that the Republicans were much divided, and would not probably be able to agree upon a candidate. He therefore proposed that the subject be postponed. Claggett seconded the motion, and was followed by Butler on the same side. Two or three other members replied, and the motion was negatived. On counting the ballots for a candidate, there were, for David L. Morrill, one ; for Levi Bartlett, seven ; and eighty-five for me. The two Councillors and the Speaker, with Butler and Claggett, could get only three other members to vote with them. They want a Governor whom they can govern. I am not altogether such a one." It was not without pleasure that, amidst the vio- lence of these factious discontents, he received the following letter from his friend, John Quincy Adams, at that time Minister to England : " His Excellency "William Plumee, 'i Governor of New Hampshire. 5 " Ealing, near London, January 17th, 1817. " My Dear Sir, — I am yet to acknowledge the receipt of your two obliging favors of 6th March and 30th July last, the latter enclosing a copy of your speech to the Legislature. During the whole time that I have enjoyed the happiness of an acquaintance and friendship with you, there has been so 454 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEH. general a coincidence of sentiment between us npon all the objects of concernment to our country, -which have succes- sively arisen, that I can ascribe it to no other cause than to the similitude, or rather the identity, of our political and moral principles. It was, therefore, not possible for me to read your excellent speech without great pleasure, and I was much gratified to see that its merits did not escape public notice, even in this country. It was republished entire in one of the newspapers of the most extensive circulation ; not as, during our late war, some of our Governors' speeches were repub- lished, to show the subserviency of the speakers to the hulwarJc of our holy religion, and to the press-gang, but professedly for the pure, and patriotic, and genuine Republican sentiments with which it abounded. It has been a truly cheering con- templation to me to see that the people of New Hampshire have recovered from the delusions of that unprincipled faction, which, under the name of Federalism, was driving them to the dissolution of the Union, and, under the name of Washington, to British recolonization, — to see them returning to the coun- sels of sober and moderate men, who are biased by no feelings but those of public spirit, and by no interests but those of their country. Such a person, I well knew, they had found in you, and such, I hope, you will find in your present and future coadjutors. Although the progress of reformation has not been so rapid and effectual in our native state as it has been with you, yet the tendency of the public opinion has been steadily, since the peace, in that direction, as it has been throughout the Union ; and, as that faction cannot fail to sink in proportion as the country prospers, I do not despair of LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMBR. 455 seeing the day -when the policy of all the state governments will be in unison with that of the nation. " We have lately received what may be termed President Madison's valedictory message to Congress ; and grateful indeed must it be to his feelings to compare the condition of the country, at the close of his administration, with the turbulent and perilous state in which it was at the period of his first election. It will be the great duty of his successor, and of the Congress with which he is to operate, to use diligently the days of peace to prepare the nation for other trials, which are probably not far distant, and which, sooner or later, cannot fail to arise. Your speech most justly remarks that the late war raised our public character in the estimation of the other nations ; but we cannot be too profoundly impressed with the sentiment that it has by no means added to the number of our fiiends. In this country more particularly, it is impossible for me to disguise to myself that the national feeling of animosity and rancor against America and the Americans, is more uni- versal and more bitter than it was before the war. A con- siderable part of the British nation then despised us ; and contempt is a feeling far less active in spurring to acts of hostility than hatred and fear, which have taken its place. No Briton of any party ever imagined that we should be able to maintain a contest against them upon the ocean. Very few among ourselves expected it. Our victories, both by sea and land, though intermingled with defeats and disasters, which we ought to remember more studiously than our triumphs, have placed our character, as a martial nation, upon a level with the most respectable nations of Europe ; but the effect here has been to unite all parties in the conviction that we are 456 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. destined to be the most formidable of the enemies and rivals of their naval power. Now the navy is so universally the idol of this nation^ that there is not a statesman of any descrip- tion or party, who dares befriend anything opposed to it, or look with other than hostile eyes to anything that threatens its glory or portends its downfall. The opposition party, and its -leaders before the war, were much more liberally disposed towards America than the ministerialists ; but, after the war commenced, they joined the ministers in full pack ; and, since the peace, their party tactics have constantly been to cavil against any liberality or concession of the ministers to America. The issue of the late European wars has been to give for the moment, though it will not last long, to the British govern- ment, an ascendency of influence over the whole continent of Europe, which they will naturally use to inspire preju- dices and jealousies against us. There is already, in all the governments of Europe, a strong prejudice against us as Republicans, or as the primary cause of the propagation of those political principles, which still make the throne of every European monarch rock under him, as with the throes of an earthquake. " With Spain we are, and have been for years, on the verge of war. Nothing but the impotence of the Spanish govern- ment has hitherto prevented the explosion, and we have so many collisions of interest as well as of principles with Spain, that it is not only the court, but the nation, which hates and fears us. " In France, the government, besides being in tutelage under Britain, have feelings against America, more venom- ous even than the British. The mass of the French nation LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 457 liave no such feelings, but they have no attachment to us, or friendship for us. Their own condition absorbs all their feelings, and they would delight at seeing us at war with Great Britain, because they flatter themselres that would operate as a diversion in their favor, and perhaps enable them to break the yoke under which they are groaning. " We have claims for indemnities against the governments of France, Spain, the Netherlands, Naples, and Denmark, the justice of which they do not admit, and which nothing but necessity will ever bring them to acknowledge. "The very pursuit of those claims has a tendency to embroil us with those nations, as has been fully exemplified in the result of Mr. Pinkney's late mission to Naples, and yet, as the claims are just, they ought not to be abandoned. The states of Barbary owe us a heavy grudge for the .chastise- ments we have inflicted upon all of them, and for the example first set by us to the European nations, of giving them battle instead of tribute, and of breaking up their system of piracy. We have, therefore, enemies in almost every part of the world, and few or no firiends anywhere. If there be an exception, it is in Russia ; but even there the shameful misconduct of the Russian Consul-General at Philadelphia, and the infamous manner in which he has been abetted by the minister, Dasch- kofi'j'have produced a coldness on the part of the Emperor which endangered at least the harmony of the relations between the two countries. " Add to all this that there is a vague and general senti- ment of speculative and forecasting jealousy against us pre- vailing all over Europe. We are considered not merely as an 458 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMEE. active and enterprising, but as a grasping and ambitious people. We are supposed to have inherited all the bad qualities of the British character, without some of those of which other nations in their dealings with the British have made their advantage. They ascribe to us all the British rapacity, with- out allowing us the credit of the British profusion. The universal feeling of Europe, in witnessing the gigantic growth of our population and power, is that we shall, if united, be- come a very dangerous member of the society of nations. They therefore hope, what they confidently expect, that we shall not long remain united ; that, before we shall have attained the strength of national manhood, our Union will be dissolved, and that we shall break up into two or more nations, in opposition against one another. The conclusion from all which that we must draw is, to do justice invariably to every nation, and, at the same time, to fix our military, naval, and fiscal establishments upon a foundation adequate to our defence, and enabling us to obtain justice in return from them. " I have not yet been able to procure for you Adair's History of the Indians, but I have found, at a very moderate price, a complete set of the Remembrancer, including the prior documents, all in eleven volumes, which I propose to send you by the Galen, to sail about the first of March. " I remain, with great respect and attachment, dear- sir, your friend and humble servant, "John Quincy Adams." The Trustees of the University were required by the law under which they were appointed to meet LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 459 on the 26tli of August ; but as they failed at that time to form a quorum, it was not till the Legislature in November authorized them to meet at a different time, that they were organized as a board. Nine out of twelve of the old Trustees declined accepting the new law, and refused to act under it. They continued to act imder the old charter ; and instituted a suit against Judge Woodward, the Treasurer of the Uni- versity, to try the validity of the new law. This suit was decided against them in November, 1817, by the Superior Court, which pronounced the law constitutional, in an elaborate and ably reasoned opinion delivered by Chief Justice Richardson. The case was carried up to Washington, and finally decided, in the Supreme Court, in favor of the old Trustees ; upon the ground that the law was a viola- tion of that clause of the Constitution of the United States, which provides that "no state shall pass any law impairing the obligation of contracts." The court held that, the college being a private eleemosy- nary corporation, the original charter was a contract between the royal government on the one hand, and the Trustees on the other, which could not be altered by the state, without the consent of the Trustees. Such consent not having been given, the act was invalid. This decision terminated, at once, the brief existence of Dartmouth University. It was not made till after Governor Plumer had retired from 460 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. public life. He was slow to believe that this clause of the Constitution respecting contracts was intended to apply to a case like that of the University. In this doubt he was sustained by Judge Marshall, who said that, though the framers of the Constitution had not probably foreseen its application to this class of cases, their words were broad enough to embrace it. However that might be, and without setting up his opinion, supported as it was by that of the State Court, against the judgment of Marshall and Story, Governor Plumer regarded it as unfortunate for all parties, that the decision should have been such as to withdraw the college at once from the control and from the patronage of the state. Considering it as essentially a public institution, he held that the authority of the state ought rightfully to extend over it, and that this would be equally for the benefit of the college and of the community. The opposition which the Governor had encoun- tered among his own party in the Legislature was transferred to the people, in the canvass for the March elections. A paper, called "The People's Advocate," established in Portsmouth in opposition to Messrs. Livermore and Parrott, in the preceding November election, was now turned upon Governor Plumer, with a virulence of personal abuse seldom equalled in party contests. Some honest, but over- zealous Republicans, who could not pardon the LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 461 appointment of a few Federalist judges, joined this opposition ; but the clamor came chiefly from men whose resentments were inflamed by the sting of per- sonal ambition, disappointed of its aim, by the refusal of the Governor to give them or their friends the offices they claimed. With these it was not so much that he had been liberal to his political opponents, as that he was insensible to their own individual merits. This factious opposition made, however, little impres- sion on the public mind, beyond the disgust excited by the violence of its abuse, and the manifest false- hood and injustice of its charges. This feeling of condemnation grew so strong, before the close of the campaign, that Butler, Bartlett, and other leading men, who were supposed to favor the movement, came out, one after another, in the public journals, to deny all connexion with it. When the votes came to be counted, (June 5th, 1817,) it was found that out of thirty-five thousand five hundred and eighty-five cast, the Advocate candi- date had received only five hundred and thirty-nine. The Federalists were divided between Mason and Sheafe ; and Governor Plumer received a majority of more than three thousand votes over all the other candidates. This signal failure of the Advocate party put an end to all further opposition to him among the Republicans; and his firmness g,nd im- partiality had secured him so much credit among 462 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. enlightened men of all parties, that he met thence- forth no serious personal opposition from any quarter. The treasury note stock, about which so much clamor was made, had, meantime, risen above par, and had been sold to meet the war expenses ; the appointment of the judges was no longer a question in dispute ; the State House, which, it was predicted, would sink out of sight in the quagmire, was rising gradually to completion, in the Doric simplicity of its granite strength ; and the frogs, which, during the November session, had croaked so dismally in its cel- lar, were no longer heard under the bright sun of the succeeding June. Two brief extracts from letters of this period will close the present chapter; one respecting the Colonization Society, then just founded, the other respecting the University. In a letter to the Rev. Thomas C. Searle, of Mary- land, (Jan. 13th, 1817,) he says: " I rejoice that measures are taking in the south to ameli- orate the sufferings of the negroes. I have some doubts whether free blacks will consent to form a colony in a distant land. If they do not, will our laws justify compulsion ? Perhaps sufficient numbers may be liberated, on condition of their forming such a colony. I should prefer that it should be in Africa, rather than on the shores of the Pacific. If on the latter, they may hereafter prove troublesome neighbors to us, when we shall extend, as we soon shall, our settlements LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 463 to that ocean. But, in all events, I -will afford my feeble aid and influence to rid the country of slaves and of black men, — a blot upon our character, an obstruction to our prosperity, and a severe scourge to the nation." To the Rev. Elijah Parish, he writes, (April 21st, 1817:) " It affords me pleasure to hear that the measures I have adopted in relation to Dartmouth University meet your approbation. On that subject, as on others, I have done what I considered my duty, and nothing more. It gives me great satisfaction to reflect that I had an agency in restoring the worthy Wheelock to the office from which he was unjustly removed. But it has pleased Heaven to remove him thence. He is gone where the wicked cease from, troubling, and the weary are at rest. I have no doubt that the University will yet become prosperous, if its friends do their duty. In the mean time, we must wait, in patience, the issue of the suit now depending in the Superior Court." CHAPTER XII. CLOSE OF POLITICAL LIFE. Governor Plumer met the Legislature, and took the affirmation of office on the 5th of June, 1817. His message contained many useful suggestions, and recommended various amendments of the law, hut none which require special notice here. A resolu- tion, which had passed the Legislature, was returned by him with his veto, and rejected by the House, yeas 4, nays 143. On the eve of the adjournment, the Legislature sent him a bill, making the fact of joining the Shakers, and living with them six months, a cause of divorce. As he had not time to return it with his objections, and did not sign it, it failed to become a law. It grew out of the case of Mary Dyer, who, with her husband Joseph, had, some years before, joined the Shakers, at Enfield. He remained with themj but Mary came away, and now applied for a law giving her the possession of her children. She was a woman of great energy and decision of character. She kept up an interminable warfare with the society in memo- rials to the Legislature, and publications against them. LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 465 Thirty-five years after her first petition, she was still an applicant to the General Court on this subject. "Mary," said her husband, in the hearing before the Legislature in 1818, "is a capable critter. "We got along very well together while I let her have her own way in every thing ; but she won't bear contra- diction. Her tongue is an unruly member, with a, world of iniquity in it, if you cross her." I was, at that time, a member of the House, and had abundanrt; proof that Mary's sharp tongue and shrewd wit were; more than a match for Joseph and his ferethren,, though some of the latter were shrewd enough too.. Her statements about Shaker practices were suffi- ciently piquant; and some of her repartees and retorts, were such as could hardly have been surpassed in; keenness and efficiency. She carried the House strongly with her, and the popular feeling was much excited. The committee to whom the sub- ject was referred visited, with other members, the Shakers at Canterbury; but we returned without making any very alarming disclosures. " Our Legis- lature," said the Governor, in a letter to Joseph? Hawley, of Rochester, New York, "passed no law vox relation to the Shakers; though the subject was fully and ably discussed. I consider that, sect, and some- others in our country, as being wild and enthusiastic ; but I fear that legislative interference with them, would produce more evil than good to society. Per- 466 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. secution, or what, by its objects, can, in any way, be considered such, seldom fails to build up the sect against which it is directed ; hence, the proverb ' Tlie Hood of the martyrs is the seed of the church! Nothing is more fatal to enthusiasm than toleration and neglect." Soon after the adjournment of the Legislature, President Monroe came to New Hampshire on his tour through the Northern States. He was every- where received with the most flattering attentions, by all parties, and by all classes of the people. "The era of good feeling" was happily inaugurated on this occasion of the first visit, since the time of Washing- ton, of a Southern President to New England. The leaders of the Federalist party, aware of the altered temper of the times, and feeling that their old role of opposition was now out of date, were foremost in their demonstrations of respect for the chief magis- trate of the Union. In Massachusetts, he was received by the Governor with the highest civil honors ; and a military escort was assigned him, under a vote of the Legislature, in his passage through the state. Governor Plumer was applied to, by a committee from Portsmouth, to call out the militia for the same purpose here ; but he declined it on the ground of want of power. He wrote to the President on the subject, (July 18th, 1817,) expressing his regret at not being able, consistently with his sense of duty, to order out an escort of honor, on this occasion. LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 467 " So cautiously is my power restricted, by the prudence, or tlie jealousy of our State Constitution, that I have authority, at no time, to order out the militia, except for certain known objects, designated by the Constitution and the laws enacted under it. Among these, there is none, which, by fair con- struction, can be extended to the present case. I have thought proper to make this statement, in justice both to myself and the state over which I preside. You were informed, while at Portsmouth, of my severe indisposition ; and I am now obliged to add, that I am still confined to my bed, by an attack of the typhus fever, which has not yet, I fear, reached its crisis. This unfortunate event has deprived me of the satisfaction of a personal interview with you, and pre- vented me from receiving a visit at this place, with which I had flattered myself you would have honored me. This letter will be delivered to you by the Secretary of State. Had my health permitted, I should have taken great pleasure in wait- ing on you, in person, during the time you remained in the state, and in suggesting some subjects of inquiry, which might have merited your attention, in this part of our common country." The President wrote in reply, (July 21st, 1817:) " Meeting your son at Portsmouth, I begged him to assure you that I should be distressed and mortified, if you suffered any uneasiness on my account, since it would delay the resto- ration of your health. More attention could not have been shown to me, than has been, since I entered New Hampshire. In yielding to it, I have consulted the wishes of my fellow- citizens, rather than my own." 468 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. From Mr. Plumer's journal, about tMs time, we quote the following extracts : July 3d, 1817. " My son "William came from Portsmouth, and urged me to issue orders for an escort to tlie President. He said, Eichardson, Mason, and otliers, were surprised at my doubts. They consider the power as incident to the office. This does not satisfy me. The opinions and advice of men, who are not responsible for the act to be performed, are not to guide me, who have examined the subject, and am responsible for what is done. I must act on my own sense of right, and not on theirs." 12th. " Yesterday and to-day, I have been confined by a typhus fever to my chamber, and, the greater part of the time, to my bed." 14th. " I am much debihtated ; but my spirits are good. My physician told me that I was not sensible how sick I was. I assured him that, as the fear of death did not terrify me, I could examine calmly the state of my disease ; and, though weak, I was satisfied that I was not dangerously ill j that for some days I had expected the attack, and prepared to meet it, by doing all the business of a public or private nature, which I thought necessary. This had fatigued me, and hast- ened, but not caused, the disease." 24th. " I am so weak that a little business fatigues and oppresses me. My present state exhibits much of the infirmity of age. Though not old, I have survived all my first friends, and a great portion of my early associates. Of the lawyers, at the bar when I was admitted, only six remain. There is not a single judge of any court, or clerk of a court, that was in LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 469 office when I commenced public life ; nor a member of either House, treasurer, or secretary, that was such when I first entered the Legislature; Of justices of the peace, not one in twelve is now living, who was in commission when I was first appointed. Indeed, I have survived most of the officers with whom I began public life." August 26th, 1817. "The ill state of my health prevents my attending the Commencement at Hanover." October 13th. " Travelled to Concord in my chaise, ac- companied by my son George. As I dislike parade, I thought a servant unnecessary." 14th. " In the afternoon, met the Council, and stated to them the business necessary to be done at the present session." 15th. "The Council were unanimously in favor of ap- pointing my son William, judge ; but I informed them that I could not consent to nominate any of my sons to office, and that, if appointed, I was confident he would not accept." December 21st. "1 have recently devoted a considerable portion of time to reading some works of Jeremy Bentham, which he sent me. In many things my opinions accord with his ; for example — ^he disapproves of oaths. I have never taken an oath." February 12th, 1818. "I had yesterday a long and close conversation with Judge Bell upon several important subjects of jurisprudence. It, in a great measure, deprived me of sound sleep, for the night. I have experienced, several times, within a year or two, similar efiects from mental exertion. Is this evidence of decay in the mental faculties, or does it pro- ceed from other causes ? " March 21st. "I do not recollect ever feeling so sensibly 470 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. tlie influence of the weather on my mind, as I have to-day. Easterly winds were always disagreeable to me ; but I now became uneasy, peevish, and. fretful ; till ultimately it pro- duced pain in my limbs, and languor and sluggishness in my mind. How much of our paia and our enjoyment is dependent on external causes, many of which are beyond our control ! " May 12th. " Met the Council at Concord. I nominated Amos A. Brewster as sherifl" of Grafton county; and the Council unanimously signed the nomination. Isaac Hill com- plained to me of this nomination ; saying that Brewster was a Federalist, and that it would injure my popularity. I told him, that I neither sought ofEce, nor desired it ; that, in following the dictates of my own judgment, in cases where I was responsible for the measures adopted, I might meet reproach from others ; but I should, at least, avoid the reproaches of my own mind. I could not consent to incur these for the sake of popular favor. If this is lost, by an upright discharge of duty, I am willing to lose it. He said it would destroy the Republican party, if it was understood that Federalists could be appointed by a Republican Governor ; and, in language not very courtly, he urged me to negative the nomination, and appoiat Edson. My reply, though iu a moderate tone, was severe and pointed." The March elections of 1818 were conducted with much less than their usual zeal and acrimony. The Advocate party attempted no organized opposition. Many Federalists voted for the Republican candi- date ; others for Jeremiah Smith, or William Hale. Governor Plumer was re-elected by a majority of LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 471 more than six thousand votes over all other candi- dates. His message to the Legislature, June 4th, 1818, contained, as his previous ones had done, various recommendations for the amendment of the laws, chiefly with a view to lessen the number of suits, to expedite the trial of causes, and to diminish the costs of litigation. He also recommended an increase of the salaries of the judges of the Superior Court, which was accordingly made, and the establishment of a law term for the trial of law questions. In this message occur the following recommendations as to the then existing law of imprisonment for debt. " There is another subject^ connected with the amelioration and improvement of the condition of our fellow citizens, which merits your consideration. I mean that of the im- prisonment of debtors. Their confinement within the walls of a prison pays no debt, and, instead of increasing, diminishes the means of payment. The loss of the labor, industry and talents of useful citizens, thus deprived of their liberty, not only depresses their ambition, but often subjects towns to the charge of maintaining their families, made destitute by the absence of those who usually provided for them. In ancient times, and in countries less civUized than our own, the power of the creditor over the body of the debtor was almost unlimited. Even in New Hampshire, in the early stages of our government, the debtor was strictly confined within the walls of the prison. The laws, at that time, afforded him no relief; he was imprisoned for life, unless he paid the debt, or was liberated by the humanity of his creditor. 472 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. A long period elapsed before a prison yard was established, in whicli the debtor, by giving bond, was permitted to breathe the common air without the limits of the prison house ; or before indigent debtors were authorized, in any case, to make oath that they were unable to pay their debts. Even then, an unfeeling creditor had authority to retain his debtor during life, by paying a small sum for his weekly support. To the honor of the state, this power of the creditor over his debtor, has been recently annulled ; and certain portions of his property, requisite to support life, exempted from attachment. " Great as these improvements are, the cause of humanity and of natural justice requires further legislative aid. We are bound, not only to protect the rights of creditors against the frauds of debtors, but to shield the latter against the unjust severity of the former. Our laws still authorize the creditor, after taking the greatest part of the debtor's prop- erty, to deprive him of his liberty by confining him in prison, without affording him the means of subsistence ; and, if poor and friendless, he will be unable to obtain even the liberty of the prison yard. I would therefore recommend that no debtor should hereafter be committed to prison, either upon mesne process or execution, unless the creditor, at the time of commitment, shall pay the cost of commitment, and give to the gaoler ample security for the comfortable support and maintenance of the prisoner so long as he shall be detained by him. If creditors will resort to the severity of depriving debtors of their personal liberty, it is reasonable that they, and not the public or the gaoler, should support them. I also recommend that persons committed, either on LIFE or WILLIAM PLUMER, 473 mesne process or execution, should have the liberty, as soon as they are imprisoned, of taking the poor debtor's oath, after giving reasonable notice to the creditor of their intention. I can see no necessity for a poor man, imprisoned on mesne process, to suffer confinement till judgment is rendered and execution levied on him. " The time appears to be approaching, when imprisonment for debt will no longer exist in any case, but creditors will consider the industry, fidelity and property of their debtors, and not the power of depriving them of liberty, as their only real and sufficient security. To make so great a change at the present time, might be attended with serious inconven- iences. Keform, to be useful and permanent, must be gradual. As many persons are imprisoned for small debts, and in such cases where payment is enforced by that means, it is usually obtained, not from the debtors, but from the humanity of their friends and neighbors, I would, therefore, recommend that the bodies of debtors should not be liable, for any debt here- after contracted, to be arrested on any process issuing from a justice of the peace. Let frauds in concealing property sub- ject the offender to punishment, but preserve, as far as may be, the personal freedom of the citizen ; for every unneces- sary restraint on his natural liberty is a degree of tyranny, which no wise Legislature will inflict." It will be observed tbat the reasoning here goes the full length of the total abolition of imprisonment for debt in all cases ; while the recommendation is of a much more limited measure. When reminded of this apparent inconsistency, he replied to the 474 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. objector, who was a clergyman, with the text of Solomon, "A prudent man concealeth knowledge;" and to another he repeated, without condemning, what Dugald Stewart calls the fine and deep saying of Fontenelle, that the wise man, if he had his hand full of truths, would often content himself with opening his little finger. "They will runout," he said, "through even this small aperture, faster than men wUl gather them up." He added : " If you only move in the right direction, though slow at first, you will soon find that you are going fast enough." The event showed that he was not mistaken in this case. I was at that time a member of the House ; and the hard- est battle we had to fight, during the session, was on this bill " for the relief of poor debtors." It was with the utmost difficulty that even the moderate measure, which he had recommended, was carried ; and yet it was a few years only before the total abolition of imprisonment for debt was enacted with the entire approbation of the people. It has since been abol- ished in nearly all the states. Another subject brought by the Governor before the Legislature was the proposal of Jeremy Bentham " to submit to their examination, for the use of the state, a complete code of laws, founded upon enlight- ened principles of legislation." " The great import- ance," he added, " of the object, and the peculiar talents of the author, render the subject worthy of LIFE OF "WILLIAM PLUMEE. 475 your mature consideration." This offer of Mr. Bentham was not confined to New Hamsphire, but was extended to all the states. The very modest request made by him, which was merely that the state would receive and examine his proposed code, and, when so examined, adopt or reject it at its pleasure, with the express declaration that he would, in no event, accept any compensation for his labors, seemed to entitle him, at least, to a respectful hear- ing. But the idea that an old man in London, whose name not one in ten of the members had ever heard, should be employed to prepare a code of laws for the state, struck most of them as a thing so strange, not to say ridiculous, that the proposal was dismissed, almost without debate. Along with the official letter from the Governor, informing him of the fact, I sent him a letter, explaining, with as much delicacy as I could, the action of the Legislature, and the probable causes of the rejection of his disinter- ested and generous offer. I suggested to him, at the same time, the propriety of giving to the world the results of his labors in jurisprudence, without waiting for any such invitation from a Legislative Assembly, as he had, in this case, sought to obtain. Mr. Bentham, in reply, invited me to come and spend with him, « at his -. hermitage in London," six months, or as many more as I had to spare, in digest- ing and drawing out such a code. This invitation I 476 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. respectfully declined ; not only because I was, at that time, otherwise occupied in the public service, but as not feeling myself competent to a task of so much delicacy and importance. Before meeting the Legislature in June, Governor Plumer had made up his mind not to be a candidate for re-election. " The cares and the anxieties of the oifice of Goyemor," he writes, (May 30th, 1818,) "oppress, at times, my mind, and injure my health. Placed at the head of the government, it is my indispensable duty to attend to all its concerns, and, in a great measure, to move and direct its operations. This requires a degree and constancy of watchfulness and attention, which my feeble health is, at times, not able to sustain. In thus declining a re-election, I have consulted no one, except my sons, who, for months, have advised me to it." Our advice, in this case, was founded upon the visible injury which his health suffered from his extreme anxiety to do every thing, and more than every thing, which the duties of his office seemed in the remotest degree, to require of him. He left nothing to subordinates, but did every thing himself. Sick or well, he would do the business of the day within the day ; for to-morrow would bring also its duties, which he might then be less able to perform. When he went to bed, early or late, his table was always clear, the letters all answered, the commissions LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMEE. 477 signed, the orders issued. At the same time his love of reading, study and retirement, was unabated; and he felt restless and dissatisfied, if he could not devote some portion of each day to his books. What troubled, however, his frank and manly nature more than the mere labors of his place, was the unceasing importunity of oflBce-seekers. He was wearied and disgusted at the daily visits of men, whom he must treat civilly, while he could not but despise them in heart for their meanness and servility. Offices for themselves or their friends, schemes of personal advancement, how to raise one man, and keep down another, were the frequent topics of long discussions, in which he was bound to hear, if not answer, persons with whom he had little sympathy, and for whom he had less respect. When he was well, such things gave him little trouble ; but, in ill health, they wore upon his spirits, and disturbed his equanimity. Under these circumstances, his family felt that, while his continu- ance in oJBfice could confer on him no increase of honors, its labors were manifestly impairing his health, and wasting hours, which might be more pleasantly, if not more profitably, employed. June 5th, 1818. " This evening, Samuel Bell spent two hours with me in my chamber. I told him that I had come to the resolution not to be again a candidate for the office I now hold. He said he was sorry to hear it ; that the confi- dence of the great body of the people was daily increasing in 478 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEB. . my administration ; and lie hoped I should long continue to be the chief magistrate. I replied that the state of my health could not permit me to hold an oiEce, that required my personal attendance at particular times and places, and whose duties claimed from me such unremitted attention. I told him, I hoped the Eepublicans would unite on him as their candidate ; though I was sorry to lose his services on the Bench. After much conversation, he said finally, if the Eepublicans should generally agree to support him, he would consent. I told him that this declaration relieved me from much anxiety. He then said that it was now his turn to make a request, which was that I would consent to be Sen- ator in Congress. I replied that no office pleased me better than that of Governor ; and, in decHning that, I decliried all other offices." I may here add, that, at the request of many of his friends, I urged him, at this time, to be a candidate for the Senate. His reply was: "It is well enough to have been once at Washington. There is much to be learned there which can be nowhere else acquired ; but a second term would give me less pleasure and less profit than the same time devoted to my books. As a matter of duty, I have already taken my turn ; as an honor, I do not covet it. You m.ay go if you will, but I would not advise it now. Law first, and politics afterwards, is my advice to every young man, who would be either lawyer or politician, in this coun- try." I need hardly add that this sage advice was LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 479 lost on me. A seat in Congress is seldom declined by a young man, to whom it comes unsolicited as unexpected. June 13th, 1818. "A committee informed me that, at a full meeting of the Eepublicans, I was unanimously nominated as a candidate for re-election as Governor. I answered them that the ill state of my health obliged me to decline the honor, at which they expressed great regret." June 23d. "The Republicans met in caucus. After nominating Bell for Governor, they balloted for a candidate for Senator. Butler, Livermore, Storer, and I were voted for. I had the highest number ; and, at the third ballot, received a majority. This makes it necessary for me to settle the course that it will be proper for me to pursue. The office I do not want ; and, if elected, I cannot accept it. But, if I withdraw my name, Parrott will be the most prominent Republican candidate, and as the Federalists will unite with the Republican minority, he cannot in that event be elected. My object is to defeat Butler. I shall, therefore, be silent." June 24th. "The House balloted for a Senator. The • Federalists voted for Jeremiah Smith ; the Eepublicans were divided between Parrott and myself I had, at the first vote, the highest number, but not a majority. At an after ballot, Parrott was elected ; the Federalists voting, as I supposed they would do, for the minority candidate." Though he had, as he says, remained for a time silent, it was generally known that he had dechned the office, or he would undoubtedly have been elected. It 480 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. is to be regretted that he was not chosen; as it would have added to his life six years of interesting public service, without injury probably, in the mild climate of Washington, to his health. In a letter, after the adjournment, to Salma Hale, he says, " I sincerely rejoice that I was not elected a Senator to Con- gress; but I do not regret my being considered a candidate, as it prevented a man less qualified than Parrott from being elected." June 26th, 1818. "I was so ill that I was obliged, about ten. o'clock, to take my bed, and was unable to meet the CouncU." 27th. " In the morning I was too sick for business. The Council met at my lodgings, in an adjoining chamber. I alternately met with them, and retired and reposed on my bed. Nominated Moses C. Pillsbury for the office of Warden of the States' Prison, and Roger Vose for Chief Justice of the second judicial district. The labors of the day fatigued me ; but I was able to drink tea with the boarders, and to sleep tolerably well in the night." 28th. "My health is feeble, and the pain in my limbs severe. Mr. Vose called upon me. He said he was gratified at being nominated as judge. I told him, that, though I had a friendship for him, I had not nominated him on that account, but because I thought the public interest req^uired his services." 29th. " Rose early ; debility and loss of appetite great ; but all my business is done, and, I hope, as correctly as if my health had been good." LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 481 30th. "The Council met me at my lodgings, at five o'clock in the morning. "We completed our appointments ; and I signed all the commissions. I approved the bill exempting the bodies of debtors from arrest on executions issued from justices of the peace, though it is in some respects very defective. It is a point gained in favor of the liberty of the person; and its defects may be remedied by a future Legislature. The lawyers in the House were unitedly opposed to it. Second and third rate lawyers, as many of these are, make bad legislators. At ten o'clock in the forenoon, at the rec[uest of the Legislature, I adjourned the two Houses. In the afternoon rode to Epsom ; and the next day to my own house." Among other acknowledgments of his message to the Legislature, received by the Governor, was the following from Mr. Jefferson, dated June 21st, 1818 : "Thomas Jefferson presents his compliments to Governor Plumer, and his thanks for the copy of his message, received yesterday. It is replete, as usual, with principles of wisdom. Nothing needs correction with all our Legislatures so much as the unsound principles of legislation on which they act gener- ally. The only remedy seems to be in an improved system of education. He is happy in every occasion of saluting Gov- ernor Plumer with friendship and respect." Mr. Madison wrote on the same occasion, August 10th: 31 482 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. "I cannot doubt that the motives to which you have yieldedj for discontinuing your public labors, are such as justify your purpose. In anticipation of the epoch of your return to private life, I offer my best wishes for the health and repose necessary for its enjoyments, and for the well chosen pursuits to which you mean to consecrate it ; to which, permit me to add assurances of my high esteem and cordial respects." The following is from Mr. Plumer's Diary, under date of July 21st: " Returned from Portsmouth, where I spent four days on a visit to my daughter. Her disease will, I am convinced, prove fatal. Yet she is in good spirits, and exhibits much patience and fortitude under sufferings which are severe. I visited, and was visited by, a number of the gentlemen of Portsmouth. Among these was Jeremiah Mason. He said that Bell would be elected Governor ; but, that the Superior Court would thereby lose its backbone. He did not think Bell would be able to manage the General Court; if he, (Mason,) were Governor, he should quarrel with them in a week, they were so impracticable, Nothing, he said, had more surprised him than the influence I had acquired over them, while, at the same time, I preserved my own inde- pendence. He said many of the appointments I had made reflected honor on the state, as well as on myself; that three more men, so well qualified as the present judges, and who would accept the ofiice, could not be found in the state ; and that the late appointment of Vose was equally judicious. He LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 483 had not expected that I should abandon public life^ when my popularity was increasing, and a re-election depended on myself alone. I repUed that the state of my health required the repose of private life ; and that, in peaceable times, like the present, the public had no claim on the service of a man of sixty." These opinions of Mr. Mason, years afterwards: repeated as his deliberate judgment, at a period' when he could have no motive to flatter or deceive,, were regarded by Governor Plumer as among the best proofs which he could receive, that he had not labored in vain in the public service ; and that while he knew, better than any one else could, that his motives were pure, others saw that his measures were beneficial, and his course of policy liberal and judicious. This was the only reward which he desired, — the deliberate approbation of an enlight- ened community. He used to say, that he cared little about present popularity, except as it enabled him to act with more effect for present purposes ; in^ other words, except as it was an instrument of power in his hands for the public good. Ultimate approba- tion could rest on merit only. In the long run, men would judge him fairly ; in the mean time, nothing was more uncertain, or more worthless, than the cen- sure or applause of the day. First or last, every man considerable enough to be remembered after his death, would be duly appreciated, and dealt with by 484 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. the world according to his deserts. This conviction made him indifferent to the censures of the ignorant ■who mistook him, and of the malicious who purposely misrepresented or maligned him. In a letter to Silas Betton, who wished to be re-appointed as sheriff of Rockingham, he said, " In the various oflBces I have held, I have sought more to serve, than to please the people ; and I trust that when the sod is green over my grave, those who survive me wiU say that in aU cases, I preferred the man of merit to the political partisan. Such, at least, has been my purpose, from which I have never knowingly departed." It was in this calm confidence of ultimate justice, that he had lived down calumny and abuse, and, in his old age, drew around him, in respectful attendance, many who, at an earlier period, had been loud in their disapprobation of his course. September 31st, 1818. " On the 18th, my daughter died — I was present — without a groan, ora sigh. From the time that I considered her disease incurable, I have not wished her life to be protracted ; because it was to her but an increase of suffering ; and I am now reconciled to the event." This was a child most tenderly loved by both parents, and was mourned tiU the close of their lives. She inherited her father's literary taste and talents to a great degree. Her peculiar sweetness of temper and many endearing traits made her the idol of her LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 485 family, and rendered her loss irreparable. She was the dearest and most affectionate of friends to me ; onr thoughts, our studies, and our feelings were inter- woven with each other. If I felt pleasure in any- new acquisition, it was because I hoped to share it with her. If I read a new book with delight, that delight was repeated, and redoubled in reading it again to her. I cannot express how much I have lost by her death. Many of my most pleasing recol- lections are connected with her. The sympathy that subsisted between us was so perfect, that her pleasures were mine, my joys were hers ; our griefs and our regrets were common, our sentiments, our opinions, our tastes ; what one felt the other reciprocated. Governor Plumer met the Legislature, for the last time, at the close of his oflBcial year, to assist in organizing the two Houses, and to see his successor inducted into oflQ.ce. Before finally retiring from his post, he sent a message, June 2d, 1819, to the Legis- lature, giving a brief account of his official conduct, and of the principles on which he had administered the government. We quote a few characteristic paragraphs from this message : " In making the appointments of the various officers, which the constitution and laws vest in the Executive, I have been frequently embarrassed and perplexed. The greatest imper- fection in all governments arises from not having men of 486 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEB. virtue and talents to carry the laws into execution. Laws founded in wisdom and justice require men of knowledge and integrity for their correct and impartial administration. From the nature of human affairs there must be a portion of discre- tion vested in executive officers ; and this discretionary power will often be abused^ by weak men from ignorance, and by bad men from design. Hence my object was to appoint those men to office who were best qualified. To make such a selection was difficult. I was not, in all cases, acquainted with the persons best qualified for places of trust ; and there- fore, in some instances, was obliged to act upon the information of others. That information, in general, consisted not of facts, but of opinions, and those often formed under the influence of interested motives, the partiality of friendship, personal hos- tility, slight acquaintance, or the spirit of party ; and of course they often proved incorrect. Recommendations and petitions in favor of candidates for particular offices have frequently been made ; but in many instances it afterwards appeared, that those who subscribed the recommendations did not con- sider themselves responsible for the character and conduct of those whom they recommended. Indeed, instances have occurred when those who recommended the successful can- didates, have been the first to join the disappointed expectants, in censuring the Executive for making such appointments. The candidates for office themselves, in too many instances, not satisfied with pkocueing recommendations, have personally importuned for office ; but I have found that oJjice-seeJcers were not always the best qualified, that they were usually more anxious for the honors and emoluments of office than to promote the interest of the public, and that men of modest. LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 487 unassuming merit ought to be preferred. To my regret, some men whom I considered well c[ualified, declined ofEce. To increase these embarrassments, a difference of opinion, in a few instances, existed between myself and a majority of the Council, respecting the qualifications of certain individuals for office. AVTien this happened, as it was necessary to fill the vacancy, if the Council declined to agree with me, I thought myself bound to consent to their nomination. In such cases I was considered by the people responsible for appointments, which I should not otherwise have made. " During the time I was in office, an unusual number of appointments were to be made, including all the judges of the courts of law, those of probate excepted ; the sheriffs of four counties ; most of the justices of the peace, and nearly all the militia officers of the state. "In appointing judges, it was my sole object to select men of talents, of legal information, of strict integrity, and such as I deemed best qualified for those important trusts. And with a view to exclude, as far as practicable, the spirit of party from the temple of justice, and to inspire a general con- fidence in the courts of law, in which every citizen has a deep interest, I appointed men of different political principles. " As offices are created for the benefit of the people, and not for the honor and emolument of the officers, and as their unnecessary increase has a tendency to impair the responsi- bility of the officer, and render the office less respectable, it has been my object not to increase the number of justices of peace beyond the limits which the public interest required. "As some towns appeared to have a greater number of justices than was either necessary or useful, soon after I came 488 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. into office I declined renewing some of their commissions ; but reflection and experience convinced me that this course would be injurious, as the commissions of some of the justices who were best qualified expired first, and if not renewed, the com- munity would be deprived of their services. On maturely con- sidering the subject, I came to the resolution to renew the com- missions of all justices whose term expired, except those who, by infirmity of age or mental derangement, were incapable of performing the duties of the office, those who encoiiraged and promoted litigation, were intemperate or guilty of gross immorality; sheriff's, and recently their deputies; persons who had removed into a town in which there were before a sufficient number ; and those the certificate of whose oaths of office had not, during the preceding five years, been returned to the Secretary's office. " The Constitution seems to imply that, if the judges of the Superior Court were justices of the peace, they should be throughout the state, and I accordingly appointed them such. But during the last three years I declined appointing any others of that grade, except the Chief Justices of the Courts of Common Pleas, and renewing those whose commissions expired ; because I could discover but little duty for them to perform, and the number already in office was sufficient for that purpose. " In the appointment of new justices of the peace, I made it a riile not to appoint in any town more than one to three hundred inhabitants, except where peculiar circumstances rendered it necessary. Though this rule leaves the num- ber greater than what is requisite, I considered that reform, to be permanent, must be gradual ; I was, therefore, content LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 489 ■with diminisliiiig an evil which I could not wholly remove. On the first of June, 1816, the numher of justices of the peace in the state was nine hundred and eighty-four; it is now reduced to eight hundred and three. " As the Constitution excludes a person holding the office of judge, attorney-general, or sheriff from a seat in the Coun- cil, there appeared to me an impropriety in appointing Coun- cillors to either of those offices. Such an appointment would deprive the state of a member of the Executive board, or subject the people to the expense of new meetings to elect another, and the state to the charge of an extra session of the Legislature to receive and count the votes. On that account, and, as far as I was able, to preserve the Independence of the Council, I have uniformly declined appointing a Councillor to any office which, if accepted, would have excluded him from the board. ''Upon the subject of granting pardons to persons con- victed of public offences, I never considered myself at liberty to revise, or question the propriety of the opinion of the court which rendered the judgment. The courts of law are the only tribunals competent to pronounce upon the innocence or guilt of the accused ; and their decision ought to be conclusive. As our currency consists principally of -pa-per bills, as much of our property depends upon the vaHdity of written iastruments, and as forgery is a crime which neces- sarily includes much turpitude of heart, and is attended with serious evils to society, I have uniformly declined pardoning any of that class of offenders. I have granted pardons but ia a few cases ; and those only to convicts who were insane, or approached a state of idiocy ; and to those who, being impris- 490 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. oned for theft, were, before their term had expired, visited with sickness, which, for want of free air and better accommo- dations, it appeared probable would terminate in death — a punishment which the law did not intend to inflict. "By the law of the 27th of June last, the concerns of the State Prison were committed to the Governor and Council, and provision made that they should have a suitable compen- sation for those additional services. In relation to myself, I request that you would make no grant to me on that account. I am satisfied with the reward I have received ; it is adequate to the services I have rendered. I never accepted oiEce for t"f-e sake of its emoluments. The great object of my ofiicial labors has been to promote the interest and prosperity of the state, not those of any religious sect or political party. I have, whenever they came in collision, preferred the public to my private interest ; and been more anxious to serve than to jilease the people. But how far my efforts have succeeded, it is for others to decide. I am satisfied with the honors of oflSce, without being disgusted with its duties ; and having rendered this account of my administration, I retire to private life, to share, in common with my fellow-citizens, the effects, prosperous or adverse, of my official measures. June 2, 1819. "WILLIAM PLUMER." The frequent use of the veto power, fourteen times in four years, grew out of his deep sense of personal responsibility. That a bill had passed both Houses of the Legislature by a unanimous vote, was, with him, no reason why he, as Governor, should, by signing it, make it a law. Plis duty was, if it did not approve LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 491 itself to his own judgment as right, to return it with his objections. It was for him no sufficient reason that others thought it right. He must act on his own responsibiUty, as they had done on theirs. There was, therefore, in these veto messages, no arrogant assumption of superiority, on the one hand, as if he knew more than they ; and, on the other, no affected humility, in the exercise of an acknowledged right, or rather ia the discharge of a duty which required no apology for its performance. June 4tli, 1819. "I attended the Council, and adminis- tered the oath to the two remaining Councillors. This is my last ofEcial act. Samuel Bell is elected my successor by a majority of about sixteen hundred votes." June 5th. " I parted with the Governor, and the gentle- men with whom I had been for some time associated, with regret. It required an effort to suppress my feelings, and preserve the natural tone of my voice." His friends had requested leave to form an escort, to accompany him to his home ; but he declined this honor, as undesirable to him while in office, and improper now that he was a private citizen. He could not, however, prevent the leading men of both pohtical parties from accompanying him a short dis- tance out of the town. On riding out of sight of these kind friends, from whom he did not part with- out strong emotions, he congratulated himself on his 492 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. final escape from the cares and anxieties of public life, and adverted with jnst satisfaction to the general good will and respect with which he was now regarded, even by those who had, at first, treated him with rudeness and contumely. He claimed no other merit than that of good intentions ; and desired, he said, no other reward than the consciousness, which he then felt, of having done, in aU cases, what, at the time, he regarded as his duty. In this quiet ride, on that beautiful June morning, along the plain, and through the dark pines which border the Merrimack, he dwelt, with glowing enthusiasm, on the peaceful retreat, where, in the society of his friends, in the study of his books, and the use of his pen, he hoped to pass the evening of his life, undis- turbed by the storms which had darkened its morning and mid-day course. As I sat silent at his side, in deep sympathy with his feelings, I had never seen him more buoyant in thought, or happier in his antic- ipations of the future. We reached home to a late dinner, and amidst the smiles and caresses of his wife and children, the veteran soldier felt that, after more than thirty years' service, he had received an honor- able discharge, and might now hang up his arms, and repose in peace, no longer to be roused by the daily reveille, nor summoned needlessly to the onset at the call of party leaders. Life to him was indeed thence- forth to be a march, with ported arms, along the LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 493 region which, leads silently downwards through the valley of the shadow of death, — awful to many, but which had in it no terrors for him. " I might," he 'writes, (June 7th,) " if I had wished it, have continued longer in oiSce ; but its cares and anxieties would have worn down and enfeebled my mental powers, and, without my perceiving their decay, my measures would have become more timid, less vigorous, less useful ; and my repu- tation, as a public man, would have declined. I have, there- fore, seasonably exchanged the duties of a sentinel for those of a private citizen." From the retreat, so early selected and so long cherished, he was only once, and that for a single day, afterwards withdrawn. In 1820, he was chosen one of the Electors of President and Vice President of the United States. His name had been placed at the head of the list, without his being consulted as to whether he would serve, or how he would vote. It was on the occasion of Mr. Monroe's second elec- tion. Governor Plumer did not regard himself in this, more than in other acts of his life, as the tool of a party, or the mere exponent of other men's opinions. By the provisions of the Constitution, the people choose the Electors; and it is the duty of those Electors to choose the President. In the exercise of this duty, he voted for John Quincy Adams, instead of James Monroe, who received every other electoral 494 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. vote in the Union. This single vote against Monroe (for it was regarded chiefly in that light) excited much wonder, and some censure, at the time. It, however, created no surprise in those who knew him, as it was the natural result of his general rule of independent action, combined with his avowed opinions respecting some of the leading measures of Mr. Monroe's administration. His first legislative act, thirty-five years before, had been the signing of a protest, which no one else signed, against an act, which the court soon after pronounced unconstitu- tional ; and now, at the close of his public life, his last ofl&cial act was the voting, as an Elector, for a man, for whom no one else then voted, but who was at the next election chosen President. He thought Mr. Monroe's capacity by no means equal to the place. "We mistake," he said, "if we suppose that any but the ablest men are fit for the highest place. The government of weak men must always be disas- trous. ' Wo to thee, land, ivhen thy hing is a child.' " He was influenced in part, perhaps, by a desire to draw attention to his friend Adams, whom he thus first nominated for the Presidency ; but more by his dis- approbation of what he regarded as the wasteful extravagance of the public expenditure, during Mon- roe's first term of service ; which, instead of paying the public debt, had compelled a resort to loans in a time of peace. " I see," he said, in a letter of an LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 495 earlier date, to Salma Hale, " the same spirit of pro- fusion and waste in granting the public money here, as in England. The expense of our army and navy, in proportion to numbers, exceeds that of any nation on the earth. The expense of our Legislature has no parallel in any other country ; and our pension sys- tem seems intended as a bounty to encourage idleness and want of economy." This dissatisfaction with the course of public events was by no means confined to Governor Plumer. I was in Congress at the time, and saw much of it in that body. I received many congratulations on this vote of my father, from such men as Randolph, Macon, and other Republicans of the old school. Not that they liked Adams, (Randolph assailed him with the fury of hereditary hate) ; but they disliked Mon- roe, whom they regarded as having adopted, chiefly under the influence of Calhoun, some of the worst heresies of the old Federal party. Randolph said in the House, with his usual felicity of sarcastic expres- sion : " They talk of the unanimity of his re-election. Yes, sir ; but it is the unanimity of indifference, and not of approbation. Four years hence, he will go out, with equal unanimity ; and the feeling will then be, not indifference, but contempt." This bitter proph- ecy was, in some measure, verified, by the almost total oblivion into which Mr. Monroe fell, amidst the din of the contest which preceded and followed the 496 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. election of his successor, rorgotten even before he left the White House, he was remembered afterwards, for a moment only, as an humble suppliant for the bounty of Congress, on one of whose most important acts he had, just before, put his veto. CHAPTER XIII. OLD AGE. The remaining thirty years of Mr. Plumer's life fur- nish, few incidents for biography. They were passed in study rather than in action. After a few weeks of relaxation, he began to cast about him for some new employment. He thought at first of resuming his historical labors ; but the reasons which had formerly seemed conclusive against the further prosecution of that design, were now strengthened by the considera- tion of his feeble health and his advanced age. He was unwilling, however, to leave wholly unused the materials collected, and the stores of knowledge which he had accumulated. Abandoning, therefore, the idea of writing a History of the United States, he determined to devote his leisure to the composition of a work which he entitled " Sketches of American Biography." "While prosecuting these inquiries, and as a relaxa- tion from them, he wrote and pubUshed in the news- papers, a series of Essays, under the signature of Cincinmtus, which had a wide circulation, and attracted much attention. They amounted in all to 498 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMEE. one hundred and eighty-six numbers, furnishing matter sufficient for two or three volumes, and extending, in point of time, from May 10th, 1820, to August 6th, 1829. Among the subjects treated of in these Essays, were the Freedom of the Press, Hard Times, Speculation, Intemperance, Industry and Idle- ness, Virtue and Happiness, Gaming, Lotteries, Extravagance in Dress, Furniture and Living, Insanity, Education, Agriculture, Roads, Government, Com- merce, Manufactures, Banks, Paupers, Slavery, Taxa- tion, Public Debts, "Wars, the Army, the Navy, the Mili- tia, Pensions, Schools and Colleges, the Professions of Law, Medicine, and Divinity. In answer to the inquiries which a reader naturally makes as to an anonymous writer, he says, in his first number : " My name can neither add to, nor detract from, the authority of my writings. My politics are Republi- can, and my religion liberal. My motive is the public good." He was not, however, studious of con- cealment. His style, indeed, and his tone of thought and feeling, were so peculiarly his own, that he seldom published any thing, which was not at once recog- nized by those who took an interest in his produc- tions. He gave, on this occasion, as the reason for his mode of publication, that a hundred read a news- paper for one who examines either large pamphlets, or ponderous volumes; and that, his object being to reach the mass of the people, and not the learned LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 499 few, he had sought his audience where alone he was sure to find it. His main purpose was indeed to impart useful information and practical wisdom, — to recommend prudence, economy, integrity, and the social virtues, to the great mass of the people, in all conditions and occupations of hfe. Like Franklin, in writings having the same object, he often descends,, in these essays, to minute details and homely objects, certain that he could not be ill employed in the- pursuit of useful knowledge, or too precise in its communication. Some of the essays, especially those on education, agriculture, and government, are full and elaborate, and may almost aspire to the dignity of finished treatises on these subjects. Others, less extended, contain, in many cases, comprehensive sur- veys of their subjects, and abound in acute remarks, in plain statements of important facts, and in well considered opinions, clearly and strongly expressed. The essays on agriculture embrace nearly the whole circle of our New England methods, and are equal> if not superior, to any thing since written on the subject, except so far as the application of chemistry to agriculture, then hardly made among us, has enabled later writers to give a reason, in some cases, for practices whose utility he could support only by an appeal to experience. The essays on government contain an account of our American forms of govern^ ment, state and national, and, to a considerable extent, 500 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. a history of their administration, with remarks on the errors and abuses to which they are exposed, and suggestions for their correction and improvement. The essays on education are practical in their charac- ter, and sagacious in their views and suggestions. The plan of his biographical work, to which he now devoted himself, was to give, not in the form of a dictionary, but chronologically arranged according to the date of each man's death, a sketch of dis- tinguished Americans, in every department of life and action, from the first settlement of the. country to his own time. It was not his object to supersede (if that could have been done) the separate lives of eminent men which we already possess, but to give, in a clear and succinct narrative, the facts and dates relating to all persons considerable enough to fill a place, however humble, in the history of the country. A reader, for example, finds, in some work he is examining, mention made, perhaps incidentally, of an individual respecting whom he wishes to know more than is there told. He turns to the Sketches ; and he finds, in a few pages, unincumbered with use- less details, the facts and dates of his life, all, in short, that is known respecting him, chronologically arranged, with a brief sketch of character, drawn up, as he said, "without eulogy on the one hand, or detraction on the other." In such a work, some men's lives would furnish matter for forty or fifty LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 501 pages ; others, for a few lines only. No date, which could be settled, was to be left unascertained, and no fact bearing on the history of the United States, unre- corded. The work was to embrace the whole country within the limits of the Union, and the entire period from its first discovery to the time of publication. To every reader of biography, or student in history, such a work, if adequately executed, would be an invalu- able assistant, — a methodical abstract and compen- dium of American history and biography. As early as 1808, he had sketched, for his own amusement, the characters of some public men with whom he was personally acquainted ; but it was not till 1819, that he began to devote his leisure from other occupations to preparing for the work here described. He began by collecting materials from all quarters, writing letters to the friends of deceased public men, and examining and making references to all the books, pamphlets, public documents, news- papers, and other sources of information within his reach. His own collection of such materials was probably the largest in the country. The earliest of these sketches, which I find among his papers, bears date November 28th, 1827; the latest, April 24th, 1843. Their whole number is one thousand nine hundred and fifty-two. They would form, if published, seven or eight closely printed octavo 502 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. volumes. He had selected the names of many himdred individuals . more, respecting whom he had made references and gathered materials, but had made no further progress in their biographies. These references, and this mass of materials, embrace the ■whole circuit of American history and biography ; and it would have required many years of industrious application to fill up even their modest outlines. It was, indeed, the labor of a life, and should have been commenced only in the first vigor of manhood. With his industry and perseverance, it would, if so begun, have ended in the production of a work of compre- hensive information and enduring value. As it is, it wants the hand of some competent compiler to put it into shape, and to complete the original design. To the author it was, for years, an object of pleasing contemplation, and of unexhausted and inexhaustible occupation. With this work before him, time never htmg heavy on his hands. The calls of company, the society of his friends, the circle of his domestic avocations, found him ever ready for the duty or the business of the day, whatever that might be ; but equally ready to turn from these to his books and his pen, for the piling up, month after month, and year after year, of these memorials of the past, and mementos for the future. Happy in his em- ployment, he viewed the swelling heap with more LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 503 than the miser's pleasure in his hoarded gold, and looked forward to its completion as the crowning achievement of his life. His own approach to old age having drawn his attention to the subject, he published, (July 18th, 1823,) a short essay on Longevity, in which he gives many interesting statements respecting the causes of long life, the effects of climate, occupation, and profes- sion, labor and exercise, temperance in meats and drinks, the habit of early or late rising, temper, country or city residence, and other conditions con- nected with health and longevity. He continued his inquiries on this subject, and had collected, before his death, the names and some account of about six hundred persons, who had reached the age of ninety years and upwards. A portion of them were pub- lished by Dr. J. E. Worcester, in the " Memoirs of the American Academy." Mr. Plumer also wrote, February, 1824, and pub- lished, in the New Hampshire Historical Society's Collections, "Remarks on the Authenticity of the Wheelwright Deed," which had become a subject of ■dispute among New England antiquaries. On this subject, he wrote, (March 19th, 1824,) to John Farmer : " I still think there is more evidence of its authenticity than that it was forged. Objections may be stated to ancient documents, which it is impossible, after the lapse of two cen- 504 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. turies, to obviate, and yet the papers may be genuine. The Declaration of Independence purports to have been signed at Philadelphia on the 4th of July, 1776, by those who were then delegates in Congress. Yet it bears the names of seve- ral persons, who, as appears by the Journals, were not, till many months after, members of Congress ; and a recurrence to the records of the states to which these persons belonged will show that they were, at that time, in office at home, and not present in Philadelphia. Suppose, two centuries hence, it should be said that the names so affixed were forged, it might, at that distant time, be difficult to disprove the allega- tion. The Journals of Congress do not contain the informa- tion necessary to explain the facts ; but many who are now living know that, for some time after the 4th of July, new members of Congress were required, on taking their seats, to sign the Declaration, though it had been issued previous to their appointment. This is a fact which I do not recollect to have seen stated ia any history of that period. Ancient deeds so far prove themselves, that they throw the burden of proof on those who deny them. There axe objections to this Indian deed, which cannot, perhaps, be fully explained ; but I think the evidence, on the whole, preponderates ia favor of its authenticity." These remarks led afterwards to an elaborate examination of the question by Savage, in his first edition of Winthrop's Journal. On reading this article, Mr. Plumer said, in his Journal, (Aug. 16th, 1825 :) " His observations upon my remarks on the Indian deed to "Wheelwright are written with more asperity than the occasion LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 505 required. Some of his arguments are more specious than substantial, and may be easily refuted. At this distance from the date, it is difficult to settle conclusively the question whether the deed is genuine or not. Much may be said on both sides ; but I have neither time nor inclination further to investigate the subject." Some of Mr. Savage's arguments are certainly very- strong, and seem not easy to be refuted ; yet it is said that certain documents, recently discovered, go to establish, the authenticity of that much disputed deed. I have not seen them. To John Q. Adams, Mr. Plumer writes, (February 13th, 1829 :) "I have long been convinced that the great secret of human happiness is not to suffer our energies to stagnate. Our pleasure consists in action more than in rest. I never enjoyed life better than I now do, in a state of retirement from the world. I feel a deep interest in my literary under- takings ; and if they should not prove useful to others, they will have served at least to smooth for me the passage down the vale of declining years. It would, indeed, be a gratifica- tion, if I could live to complete and publish the work ; but this is not probable." It would be easy to multiply from his papers evidences of the unwearied perseverance with which, under the weight of increasing years, Mr. Plumer 506 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER, continued to pursue his literary labors. The last Life which he attempted, and which, if completed, would have been one of the most elaborate of the series, was that of Thomas Jefferson. His own personal recol- lections furnished him with many interesting facts and traits of character; and he had gone carefully over the wide range of his books, pamphlets, news- papers and public documents, to collect materials for the intended memoir. But the labor of preparation seems to have well-nigh exhausted whatever of strength remained to him for the task. After writing eight or ten pages of the biography, he dropped the pen, (April 24th, 1843,) never to be again resumed in the same service. He continued, indeed, as if by the force of a habit too firmly fixed to be easily dis- continued, to take minutes of his reading, and to make references, as late as November 28th, 1848, and perhaps later ; but he attempted no more Sketches of American Biography. In looking back on the long years of labor which he devoted to this work, we cannot but regret that, by beginning so late in life, and by spreading himself over so wide a surface, he failed to complete what, within narrower limits and with longer time, would have been a very useful work. The articles, too, are most of them first sketches, rather than finished papers The toil of revision, addition, and correction, remains to be performed. In their present state, they are a LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 607 vast accumulation of interesting facts in American history and biography ; but they lack the harmony and artistical perfectness which longer time and greater elaboration could alone give them, and which the author's age, when he commenced the undertak- ing, left little reason to hope that he could live to supply. Whether, under such circumstances, any portion of these writings is in a condition to see the light, is a question reserved for farther consideration after the present memoir is completed. In the author's will, written nearly thirteen years before his death, he provided, on the supposition that the work would be finished by him in his lifetime, for its pub- lication after his death ; but, ' at a later period, he expressed doubts whether it should, in its then imperfect state, be given to the press. That the work was never completed, though a loss to the pub- lic, was no injury, perhaps, to its author, — none, at least, to his personal comfort and enjoyment. " Happy," it has been well said, " is the man who has a 'magnum opus' on hand! Be it an 'Excursion' by Wordsworth, or Southey's ' Portugal,' or a Nean- drine 'Church History' — to the fond projector there is no end of congenial occupation ; and, provided he never completes it, there will be no breach in the blissful illusion." This is surely a juster and more consoling view of the concluding labors of an author's life, than that taken by De Quincey respecting a 508 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. projected work of his, which he regards as " a memo- rial to his children of hopes defeated, of bafled efforts, of materials uselessly accumulated, of founda- tions laid that were never to support a superstructure, of the grief and ruin of the architect." In the present case, there was to the architect no grief and no ruin; but, on the contrary, a steady succession of pleasing occupations, of daily enjoyment, and cheerful antici- pations of usefulness to others, when he should him- self cease to act or to enjoy. Occupation in the present, and hope for the future, are among the essential elements of human happiness. With both of these, his declining years were abundantly fur- nished in the quiet seclusion of the domestic circle, by the gentle companionship of his books, and the assiduous but unexhausting labors of the pen. It may be here mentioned that his literary pur- suits brought him into connexion with many learned societies; and that among others to which he belonged were the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Statistical Association, the Academy of Lan- guages and Belles Lettres, the American Antiquarian Society, and the Danish Royal Society of Northern Antiquities. His last two journeys to Concord were to assist at the organization, in 1823, of the New Hampshire Historical Society, in which he took much interest, and of which he was the first President. They requested him to deliver the first annual LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 509 address before the society, which he declined, on the ground of feeble health. He gave to the society some two or three hundred volumes, principally the earlier and more valuable of his state papers. A few further extracts, containing the expression of opinions, or notices of facts, wiU lead us, by a dif- ferent route, over the same period to the close of his Journals and his correspondence. January 29th, 1820, he writes to Daniel D. Tompkins, Vice Presi- dent of the United States : " On the subject of the Missouri restriction, I indulge the fond hope that the friends of liberty will prevail, and that slavery will be kept within its present limits. On this sub- ject I have read and reflected much ; and have never doubted the right, or the policy of admitting new states, subject to the condition that they shall not enslave their fellow men. Nor have I any doubt that the power to hold slaves will eventually prove a cuj'se, and not a blessing, to the state to which it may be granted. It is an immutable principle of the laws of nature that those who violate those laws do, by that very vio- lation, lay a foundation for their own punishment, which, sooner or later, must and will be inflicted. The strength of any state must be impaired, and its danger from insurrections increased, in proportion as slaves increase within its limits. Slavery is not only a reproach to our character as a nation, but its extension to new states adds deeply to that reproach and disgrace. It increases, too, the existing inequality, in the apportionment of representatives and electors, in violation of the principles of right and justice ; and will, I fear, give 510 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. rise, in its consequences, to a new state of parties, marked by geographical lines, described as slaveboiding and non-slave- holding states, — a condition of parties more dangerous to our system of government, than any that has yet existed among us." On this subject of slavery, lie entered warmly into the feeling, then universal in the free states, against its further extension ; and predicted the overthrow of the Union from the moment that the slave states should acquire an acknowledged and uncontrollable preponderance in the government of the Union. He wrote me, (February 20th, 1820 :) " The Missouri question has lost, in my mind, none of its interest or importance. I could not consent to any compro- mise, Avhich the slave-holders may offer. I consider the extension of slavery as a crime in those who permit it, — an evil fatal to the interests of the free states. If it prevails, it will, I fear, eventually produce the calamity, which I have so long deprecated, — a dismemberment of the states. If, to obtain this extension, its advocates in the Senate can be guilty of such an outrage upon all parliamsntary proceedings, as to couple in one bill Missouri with Maine, what may we not expect from them, when, by their slave representation, they shall have gained the ascendency in the halls of Congress ? In wealth and in physical force, the free states will maintain a decided superiority ; but, in legislation^ the slave states will rule. The great interests of the free states are agriculture, commerce, and manufactures ; but, in the slave states, agricul- LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 511 ture constitutes tlieir principal employment^ — not an agricul- ture like ours, but the planting interests of cotton, tobacco, rice, and sugar. It will be, therefore, natural for those states, when all power is Tested in their hands, to neglect to provide for the protection and encouragement of commerce and manu- factures. A series of measures may be expected to follow, fatal to the integrity of the Union." To Jonathan 0. Moseley, he writes, (March 3d, 1820:) " On the question of admitting new states formed from without the limits of the old thirteen, I have never had a doubt either of the constitutionality or the expediency of requiring such states to stipulate that they will not hold slaves, as a condition requisite for their admission. I hope you will agree to no compromise on this subject with the slave-holding states. If your House will act with firmness, you will yet save the nation, preserve the rights of the free states, and eventually the new states of the west, though against their will, from a curse more grievous to them than war and pesti- lence united. The longer I have considered the subject, the more important it becomes in my view." The following passages are extracted from his Diary : June 18, 1821. "Of foreigners, we have already in our country more than enough. They, in general, consist of the poor, the discontented, the restless and unquiet, who diminish rather than increase our strength and our wealth. Their habits 512 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. and their opinions are unfavorable to our government and our institutions. A slower but sounder growth is more to be desired." Dec. 14th, 1821. " I have read the President's Message. As a writei:, he is vastly below some of his predecessors ; and, in point of talents, at a still greater distance from them. There is no one act of my official life on which I reflect with more sat- isfaction than that of withholding from him my vote as an Elector." Dec. 15th, 1823. " The President's Message is the best communication he has ever made to Congress. The senti- ments are manly and independent. As an individual, I am proud of such language from the Chief Magistrate of the nation to its Legislature. Though the Holy Alliance — the despots of Europe — may consider it made in defiance of their claims and conduct, and be irritated by it, we have nothing to fear from them. They have enough to do, in their own kingdoms, to keep their own people in slavery ; and however they may wish the destruction of our free government, they understand too well their own position, and ours, to make war on this country." This was the remarkable message, in which the doctrine was first advanced that no European power should, in future, be allowed to establish a colony in America. It is now understood that the tone of this message, so bold and energetic, if not its very lan- guage, was that of John Quincy Adams, then Secre- tary of State, rather than of President Monroe. Mr. Plumer entered warmly into the support ot LIFE OF WILLIAM PLTJMER. 513 Ms friend Adams, who had been elected President in 1824, and was met, from the beginning, by a most violent and envenomed opposition. Among his opponents in this State was Levi Woodbury, who, elected as an Adams man, very soon took his stand in the Jackson ranks, and became, ultimately, a promi- nent leader in the party. Of the kind of opposition which Adams had to encounter, a sample appears in the following extract from one of Woodbury's letters to Mr. Plumer, (April 23d, 1826 :) "It has been a subject of mortification to Mr. Adams's Mends, and must have astonished you, I think, that ' a billiard table, $50.00,' 'billiard balls, |6.00,' 'chess men, $33.00,' etc., etc., should compose a part of the articles pur- chased by him, with the public fund, and should go down to our posterity as a part of the furniture for the P resident's me, in this virtuous stage of our country's growth and history." The virtuous indignation of the worthy Senator at this misapplication of the public funds, seems not to have been felt so strongly by his correspondent, who wrote in reply, (May 8th, 1826:) " As to the President's purchasing a biUiard table, balls, and chess men, out of the money granted him to furnish his house, I consider it a trivial object, and of Kttle importance to the public. If nothing more substantial is alleged against the President, his opponents ought to feel more ' mortifica- cation' than his friends. A predisposition to find fault too 33 514 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. often induces men to strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. There is useless expenditure enough of the public money ; but, in this case, if the House or Senate charge the President with waste or extravagance, he may well reply to the accuser. Physician, heal thyself. I am glad your session is to close in a few days ; for I think the nation and its treasury will be safer in the necess. The present session has been distinguished for debating much and doing little ; the mountain has been in labor, and produced .a mouse." The following is from a letter of John Quincy Adams, dated April 24th, 1827: " Your approbation of the leading measures of the present administration, if not more than a counterbalance to all the obloquy with which it is visited, is among the most cheering incidents which sustain me in the discharge of my duties. That I endeavor to discharge them according to the best of my ability, is the sum of all the defence I can make against those who think they have an interest in passing censure upon me. I confidently rely upon the good sense of the people to correct the mischief which results from the present state of things, though I cannot flatter myself that it will be remedied within the term of my public service." June 17th, 1827, to Levi Woodbury, who had expressed the hope " that there was no such radical difference between them in politics as to alienate old friends," Mr. Plumer wrote : LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 515 "Though "we differ in opinion on some principles and measures, -which I consider of vital importance to the interests of our common country, that difference will never, I trust, alienate me from you. I have, through a long life, enjoyed the satisfaction of preserving my friendship and attachment to men whose religious and political opinions have been opposed to mine ; and as long as I think a man preserves his integrity, his opinions will not impair my confidence, or diminish my friendship for him." From the Diary for July 4th, 1828, we quote the foUowmg entry : " I presided at a public dinner, in Epping, where more than a hundred gentlemen from this and the adjacent towns celebrated the anniversary of our independence. I bore the fatigues of the day, and performed my duty with more ease than I expected. "We parted before the day closed in good humor and fine spirits." To Samuel Bell Mr. Plumer wrote, (December 9th, 1828 :) « I consider the late election of President [that of Jackson] one of the most unfortunate events that ever happened in this country. A man who, I think, has not a single qualification for the office has triumphed over one pre-eminently well qualified, and that by a great majority. A mania has seized the public mind ; the people have been deceived and infatuated. Is not this strong evidence that our government is in danger of ter- 516 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. minating, like others that have preceded us, in monarchy, or despotism ? Still we ought not to despair of the republic. ' It can never be too late to own a conqueror, and sue for chains.'" Mr. Plumer, having been nominated as an Elector of President and Vice-President, on the anti-masonic ticket, declined, October 26th, 1832, in favor of the National Republican candidates, stating, at the same time, that he was an anti-mason, and had always been one, on the ground of opposition to all secret societies, whatever might be their objects. In reply to an invitation to attend the celebration of the second centennial anniversary of the settlement of Newbury, he wrote, (May 16th, 1835:) " Newburyport is the place of my nativity. With the poet, I can truly say, ' Scenes of my youth ! once you were dear to me ! ' Not once only ; but still do the recollections of Newburyport aiford me real pleasure. In youth, we form attachments to the places wh^re we were bom, and where we have spent our juvenile years. In manhood, the reflecting mind extends those attachments to other places, and finally to the whole country. These attachments, thus extended, constitute that noble passion — ^love of country. If I live to the 25th of next month, I shall then be seventy-six years of age. It has never been my lot to enjoy, at any time, a high state of health. During the last three years, it has been so much impaired, that I have hardly ridden five LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 517 miles in a day. Though it would afford me much pleasure to attend your celebration, the want of health obliges me to decline the honor." He had now a new source of interest, pleasure and amusement, in the society of his grand-children, of whom he was very fond, and who visited him daily, while they were at home, and corresponded with hiin when they were absent at school. Their letters, how- ever imperfect, afforded him great pleasure ; and he never failed to answer them, giving them the same kind admonitions and wise counsels which he had, years before, lavished on their fathers. The last letter which he wrote, or rather signed, (for I was his amanuensis on this occasion,) was in answer to an invitation to attend the meeting of the Sons of New Hampshire, in Boston, in November, 1849 : " Epping, November 3d, 1849. " Gentlemen, — I have received your invitation to attend the festival of the Sons of New Hampshire, to be holden at Boston, on the seventh instant. It would give me great pleas- ure, if the state of my health would permit, to be with you on that occasion. But the infirmities of age press heavily upon me ; the penalty, which few escape, who much outlive the threescore years and ten, fixed by the Psalmist as the ordinary period of human life. Even the fourscore years, which he pronounced to be labor and sorrow to the few by whom they are attained, I have not only reached, but have left them, long 518 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. since, behind me in my progress of life. Age, then, and its consequent debihty, must be my excuse for not attending the meeting, to which you invite me. I do not the less sympa- thize with you in the objects of that meeting. Born in Mas- sachusetts, I feel for the old Bay State the veneration of a true son for a worthy parent ; and it is among your best claims on my regard, that you, gentlemen, and those for whom on- this occasion you act, have, in various ways, and in many walks of life, done such high honor, and rendered such true service, to the State of your adoption, and of my nativity. But though born in Massachusetts, I have been for more than eighty years an inhabitant of New Hampshire ; and you may well believe that I cherish for her the respect to which her many virtues entitle her, and feel, far more strongly than I can express, the deep gratitude which her favors, shown to me in years now long departed, have written on my heart. For her hardy, virtuous, and intelligent sons, whether remain- ing in their native homes, or seeking fame and fortune in other regions, I can indulge no better wish, than that they may prove their true descent from a noble stem, by conduct worthy of their birth and nurture in the Granite State. " I remain, gentlemen, with great respect, " Your obedient servant, "WILLIAM PLUMEE." " To the Committee of Invitation." In introducing this letter, the President of the meeting, Mr. Webster, said : " Governor Plumer is a man of learning and of talent. He has performed important service in the Congress of the United LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 519 States. He lias been many years Governor of the State of New Hampshire. He has lived a life of study and attain- ment, and, I suppose, is, among the men now living, one of the best informed in the matters pertaining to the history of his country. He is now more than ninety years of age. He expresses the pleasure he should feel to be here, if his advanced life would permit. Gentlemen, I propose the health of Governor Plumer of New Hampshire, the oldest living member of the Congress of the United States." This speech of Mr. Webster was received with great applause, and the toast drunk with hearty and long continued cheering. This warm reception of his name, after a retirement of more than thirty years from the public sight, by so distinguished an assembly of the sons of New Hampshire, the older among them contemporaries of his manhood, and most of the others, sons and grandsons of his former friends and opponents in public life — gave him great pleasure, when reported to him by me, as it seemed to indicate, to some extent at' least, the estimate which would ultimately be formed by the public judgment of his life and character, — a verdict ren- dered, with the impartiality of a succeeding gener- ation, on the transactions of the past. Many indications of his declining health have been given in the preceding extracts ; many more are to be found in his letters and journal. He was in the habit of noting down, chiefly on his birthday, or at 520 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEB. the close of the year, the changes which time and disease had made, and were making, in his ]30wers both of body and of mind. These he was himself the first to perceive ; and he has recorded them, not in a spirit of querulous discontent, but with calm resignation to the order of nature, and a ready acquiescence in the necessary course of inevitable events. A few extracts of a more personal charac- ter will bring us to the period when our record must close. June 25thj 1820. " It is more than a year since I retired from the government of the state to priyate life. I neyer spent a year of greater ease and happiness. I hare had too much of office and public life to wish for more. Though not wealthy, I have property enough to supply my reasonable wants, and I have no inclination to acquire more. I seldom neglect exercise for a single day. It consists principally in superintending my farm. My sleep is sound and refreshing, and I preserve the habit of early rising. My diet is regular, simple and plain. My thirst for information is strong, and the only thing I regret, is the shortness of time." July 10th, 1820. " Reading, study, and writing afford me the purest pleasure and the highest satisfaction which I enjoy. It exceeds the pleasures and the enjoyments of the prime of life. I pity the man of threescore who cannot read with ardor. His life is a barren wilderness. In politics I am not bound by the shackles of party, nor in religion by the chains of sectarianism ; truth alone is the object of my pursuit. Every subject I consider, every book I read, appears different LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 521 from what it formerly did. As my mind is independent, and my circumstances easy, I give free scope to my inquiries. If I discover an error, which I have long cherished, I relinquish it with pleasure, nay, even with pride ; but I do not change my opinions on important subjects without mature and delib- erate consideration." June 25th, 1821. " I am now sixty-two years of age. I feel the effect of age on my feeble constitution, though I bear it better than I expected. The period of life to which I have arrived has a natural tendency to limit the objects of my attention, and to make me reflect on approaching dissolution, which I often do, calmly, and without fear. The events of the past, books of history, science, literature, and morals, afford me more information and greater pleasure than passing events, and the politics of the day." June 25th, 1822. " I have passed my climacterical year. At this period of life, it is natural to expect that every year will render me more infirm. In some constitutions, decay commences before sixty-three, in others later. I perceive no particular change in mine. My mental powers have been as sound and vigorous as they were the preceding year." December 31st, 1826. "As I advance in years, I more sensibly feel the importance of forming correct habits in early life. I now receive the benefit of two habits which I con- tracted when very young ; one is that of industry, the other, that of waiting on myself My industry, instead of decreasing, as I descend the vale of years, is rather increased. I rise in the morning, at all seasons, before the sun ; and, in the winter, bring in my wood, and kindle my fire myself I feed my hogs and poultry, and visit my barn, in winter, twice a day." 522 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. This habit of feeding his swine was an early and inveterate one. On one occasion, w^hile he was Governor, a committee from Portsmouth, who called upon him on business, found him with his basket of corn in his hand, feeding his pigs. These city visitors were at first a little disconcerted by the homely occu- pation of their Chief Magistrate ; but he entered, at once, into conversation with them on the merits of the various breeds of swine, and enlarged on their habits and their attractions, with a relish and good hiimor, and a knowledge of the subject, which could hardly have been surpassed by that "prince of men," as Homer calls him, "the divine swine-herd," Eumasus himself This incident might remind the classic reader of the Samnite deputies, who, when sent on a solemn embassy to Marius Curius Den- tatus, found the Roman Consul at his Sabine farm, sitting by the fire, with a wooden platter beside him, roasting turnips in the ashes for his dinner. A some- what similar uacident, nearer home, and equally characteristic of the man and of the times, was that with which Lafayette used to amuse the French court, when he described his call on President Weare, of New Hampshire, in 1784. The Legislature was in session at Exeter; and on calling at the President's lodgings, he was told that he had stepped into an adjoining room. Impatient to pay his respects to the Chief Magistrate, the vivacious Trenchman rushed LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 523 forward, in spite of the friendly interposition, which would have staid his steps, till he came suddenly and unexpectedly on the venerable President, whom he found seated quietly in the kitchen corner, eating — not a piece of Christmas pie, but the humble repast of a bowl of hasty pudding and milk. February 18tli, 1829. " If the old would be happy, they must not suffer the energies of their minds to stagnate. They must continue those pursuits of which their declining age is capable, and exercise their powers on such subjects as most deeply interest and engage their attention. Indolence, whether of body or mind, is injurious in every stage of life; but, in old age, it never fails to break down the intellect, and degrade the moral powers." May 31st, 1829. "My health has, this spring, consider- ably declined. My memory is still retentive, except as to names. These are often recollected with difficulty. My imagination begins to fade ; and, though I cannot perceive that my judgment is much impaired, it rec[uires more time for me to form an opinion on particular subjects. My habits of industry remain in full force. I am uneasy when not employed. The prospect of approaching dissolution does not disturb the quiet tenor of my course to the grave ; but it doubles my diligence to perform my appointed task." /" December 31st, 1830. "I have long had but little con- fidence in physicians, and have seldom employed them. Between a good and a bad physician there is a great differ- ence ; but' very little between a good one and none at all. 524 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 'Thro-w physic to the dogs/ says Shakspeare; and I am much of his opinion." J December 31st, 1833. " My eyes begin to fail. I cannot, without an effort, read after sunset, or by candle-light. The loss of sight would be to me a great calamity. I fear I shall be obliged to abandon reading and writing in the evening. Last May, I was apprehensive that my taking snuiF was injuri- ous to my health. In weaning myself from it, which it took me several months to do, I suffered much ; but I now feel no inclination to return to it." June 25th, 1835. " I require a longer time to form an opinion than I formerly did ; but, when formed, my resolu- tion to adhere to it is still strong and decisive." January 1st, 1837. " The writing of letters I have almost abandoned. It is nearly nine months, since I have made a note in my journal respecting the books I read. In a word, my time and thoughts are devoted to a single subject, my biographical sketches." June 25th, 1837. " For the last twenty years, I have set every evening a bowl of water at the foot of my bed, and in the morning washed my feet in it, and wiped them dry. In winter I have sometimes to break the ice in the bowl. I have found this practice very beneficial. My appetite is good, and I sleep well at night. I rise, in summer, before five in the morning, and retire between nine and ten at night. My hair, which, in early life, was thick and very black, has become thin and grey, but not white. I am not so erect as formerly, but am now five feet and ten inches high. There is one habit which I formed in early life, which I have constantly prac- tised, that of waiting on myself. It is in general easier for me LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMBR. 525 to do this than to require a servant to wait on me. I speak here of the thousand little things, which occur in daily life, which I can do for myself easier and hetter than a servant can. By waiting on myself I avoid the vexation occasioned by his delay or his carelessness, and profit by the exercise which it gives me." February 7th, 1838. " It requires more time and labor to perform as much as usual ; and, what is worse, when done, it is more feeble and imperfect than formerly. But I still pre- serve my former habits of industry and application." To Professor Rafn, of Copenliagen, he wrote, (July 9th, 1838 :) " I fear that I shall not be able to contribute much, if any, assistance to your Society. I am too far advanced in life, being now in my eightieth year, to collect information, or investigate the facts relating to the early history of my country. I feel sensibly the debility which accompanies old age ; but, I thank God, I bear it with equanimity." In September, 1839, he had a severe attack of cholera morbus, which it was thought for some time would terminate fatally. The physician— the first he had employed for many years— pronounced him in danger. He thought so himself "My mind," he says, "though feeble, was calm; and I felt as wil- ling to die, as to sleep, or rest when weary." He gradually recovered his strength, and returned again before the close of the year to his usual avocations. 526 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. June 25th, 1840. " I have this day entered the eighty- second year of my life. The infirmities, deprivations and evils of age have increased upon me. My mental powers are diminished. My decision of character is still strong and vigorous. I am habitually industrious, and 'temperate in all things.' " November 9th, 1840. " I thought it my duty to attend the town meeting, and vote for the Harrison Electors of President and Vice-President. I am now older than my father was when he died. I have freq^uent attacks of rheuma- tism, and almost daily pain. My mental faculties have suffered a gradual decay. I hope I shall not survive the use of them. Their loss would render life useless to me, and burdensome to my wife and children." June 25th, 1842. " I have this year suffered more pain, and experienced more languor and debility, than in any pre- ceding year of my life. I contemplate the prostration of my mental faculties with regret, but my death with entire resignation," His health, always delicate, seemed, on the whole, nearly as good at eighty as it had ever been. His eye was not dimmed, nor his natural force abated ; nor was the alacrity of his spirit, or his extraordinary conversational ability, at all impaired. Though he sometimes forgot the name of a person, or a place, his memory of events, whether recent or more remote, was still ready and accurate ; and his quick- ness of repartee, and his unlimited command of lan- guage and illustration, excited the admiration even LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 627 of those who knew Mm the best. His seasonable retirement from business had given a long and serene evening to the close of life, after the laborious occu- pations of its earlier hours : and the studies in which he had then engaged saved him from the listlessness which creeps over the declining years of men of active habits, retired from business with no taste for reading. He had still the same quickness of percep- tion, rectitude of judgment, and vivacity of manner, which had given such force to his character ia earlier life. But the infirmities of age now began to steal upon him, by a gradual but sure advance — painful at times. At the age of eighty-five, his memory had lost its hold on recent occurrences, though still accurate as to earlier events. This failure of memory did not, as yet, affect his judgment, or his perceptive faculties. It was curious, indeed, to remark with what force and acute- ness he would discuss any subject proposed to him, and yet half an hour afterwards not perhaps recol- lect that it had been even mentioned in his hearing. As months passed on, it was painful to watch this gradual overclouding of the intellect, the light of memory fading from the mind, and leaving, finally, only flashes of former recollections— the embers of decaying fires. He was himself conscious of the mel- ancholy change ; and, on the occurrence of some unexpected failure of memory, or confusion of ideas. 528 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. an expression of mingled surprise and regret would escape liim, followed by the utterance of a resigna- tion at once striking and pathetic. The decay, how- ever, was so gradual, that he felt it perhaps less sensibly than we who witnessed it. Body and mind shared the same decline, each growing weaker to the close. After he had ceased to write, he con- tinned for gome time to read. But it became appar- ent, by degrees, that his reading was to little purpose, other than to pass away the time. His mind, though still inquisitive, had lost its power to retain what he readj and at length even this, the last, as it had been among the earliest and most cherished of his employments, failed to interest or to amuse him. He had now ceased to labor; and, as life and labor were with him synonymous, he soon ceased also to live. The brief interval of inaction which followed, was but the composing of the limbs to rest, — the relaxation which precedes sleep. Full of years and honors — satisfied with life — he was now ready for his departure. Some extracts from entries made by me, at the dates respectively named, wiU bring us to the period of his death. June 25th, 1847. "He is eighty-eight years old to-day. Though infirm, he is able to go about the house, and extends his walks occasionally to the garden, or the barn. I visit him twice a-day. His appetite is good, and his bodily health not bad for his time of life. But his memory is much impaired. LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 529 He will sometimes talk of old events with accuracy j but more frequently times, places, and persons are confounded ; and what is true of one is told of another, with circumstances belonging perhaps to a third. Yet he often speaks, and even reasons, on particular subjects, with a good deal of his old vivacity and acuteness. He is quick to mark the fallacy of any remark made in his presence, and will often draw the line of distinction between truth and error as clear and sharp as in his best days ; so that strangers, who converse with him for a short time only, go away with admiration at this unim- paired vigor of mind in so old a man. His hold on life is apparently very slender, — sometimes it seems all but gone. Yet, like a withered leaf which has hung trembling all winter upon the tree, there seems no reason why one breeze should detach it more than another." March 4th, 1848. " My father is much affected by the death of his old friend, John Quincy Adams. I found him this morning in tears, with the newspaper in his hand, reading the account of the death, and of the last honors paid to his distinguished friend. He repeated several times very emphati- cally : ' He was a great man — a good man — an excellent man.' He was so much affected by it, that we endeavored, though in vain, to keep the accounts from him." Dec. 28th, 1848. " On my return from Boston, last week, I found my father much altered in his appearance, and much indisposed. Thursday, the 21st, while conversing with the family, he suddenly stopped, turned pale, and seemed about to fall from his chair. He was immediately removed to his bed, and it seemed, for the moment, as if life had departed. He, however, revived with a sudden start, as if from a fit. 31 530 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. His physician thought that he had no disease upon him, beyond the natural debility of old age. He did not think that he could continue long. Since that, he has been growing weaker, yet with occasional improvement. At times, his mind seems bright and clear, and he indulges in his usual acute and lively remarks, not without an occasional touch of humor or sarcasm. I sat up with him on the night of the 23d, and again on the 26th, when it seemed hardly probable that he would live till morning. Till about midnight, he was very restless, and talked much and earnestly, but inco- hereAtly at times. "When more calm, he spoke, among other things, of his long accustomed labors, the materials he had collected for his Biographical Sketches, and the lives he had yet to write. He said he had written with freedom and impartiality of men and measures, telling, in every case, what he believed to be the truth. He hoped some of the sketches might be found fit for publication. This morning, he seemed better than he had been. He got up, and was able to sit in a chair for fifteen minutes. While he was sitting, my mother offered him a pinch of snufF. He stretched out his hand, but withdrew it again, and said, smiling : ' The woman which thou gavest me tempted me.' He added, smiling again : ' But Adam was a weak man to yield to temptation.' He after- wards quoted a passage from St. Paul, on the immortality of the soul ; spoke of dreams, and said that the phenomena of dreaming seemed to show a state of being, of which we had no other experience. He soon after became exhausted, and we restored him to his bed. His habitual kindness of disposition, and his desire to be as little burdensome as possible, appear in the frequent apologies which he makes for the trouble he LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 531 gives us. ' I thank you,' uttered in the kindest tones, is one of his most frequent expressions." Dec. 31st. " It is touching to remark, how, in the decline of the understanding, his moral powers seem to retain their rightful supremacy. The intellect has no longer its accus- tomed strength ; but the kindly affections, the moral feelings, come out in yet stronger relief. He seems better to-day, or at least stronger. He was dressed and sat in his chair the greater part of the day." Jan. 5th, 1849. " He has been gradually gaining strength for several days past, and seems now Ukely to get over this attack, though still very weak." He did accordingly recover; and seemed, for a time, to be quite as well as he had been for some years before. The death of his youngest son, (May 1st, 1849,) moved him greatly, and with a stunning effect. The funeral was from his house, and he seemed, at times, at a loss to understand why the house was so full of strangers, and what they were about. After supper, he said to me that he wanted to go home, evidently thinking that he was in some strange place ; but this was a momentary illusion ; and he soon after talked with his usual self-possession and equanimity. " It is," he said, " all for the best. Jay has gone before ; but I shall not be long in fol- lowing. This is a good world ; but there is a better one where he is gone." 532 lilFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. Aug. 6th, 1850. " For the last month or two, my father has been gradually losing his sight. It is a year or more since he complained that he could not find glasses that suited him. It now appears that cataracts are growing over one, if not both of his eyes. He walks but little, and steps slowly and with caution, as if afraid of falling. Two or three months ago, he set out alone to come up to my house, but was met half way, and persuaded to return. About a month ago, he rode up to see his brother Daniel, who was sick. Weakened as his mind is, it seems to have lost none of its activity. It is not the torpor, but the debility, of the brain ; nor is this weakness perpetual. He often reasons correctly, and makes sound and sensible remarks. His language, too, is accurate, and his use of words pure. If at any time he uses a word or expression which is improper, he pauses to correct himself, and shows by the phrase finally selected that the idea was in the mind, though the word proper to express it had at first escaped him. It is not, therefore, the parrot-like repetition of words not understood, but the deliberate utterance of compre- hended thought, and of a purity of taste and accuracy of expression, which survive the knowledge to which they were once auxiliary." On the third of December, he was suddenly taken ill, having been, for some time previous, as well as usual. He, however, rallied in a few days; and seemed to be recovering his wonted strength, so much so, that I went to Concord on the 9th to attend the Constitutional Convention, of which I was a member, LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 533 thinking him, though feeble, in no immediate danger. He was, the next day, strong enough to sit up in his bed, and it seemed probable that he would regain his usual state of health. The following account of the closing scene is from the diary of one of his grand- daughters. Dec. 15th. " He is very mild and pleasant, characteristic- ally afraid of giving trouble to others, and thanking every one who does him the slightest service. If giving way for a moment to any impatient feeling, he checks himself, and says — ' But it is all right.' He is so patient and uncomplaining, he seems so calm, and looks so peaceful, that it is a comfort to be with him. His mind often wanders back to his youthful days. As his sight is nearly gone, I asked him, on coming in to-day, if he knew me. He said : ' Yes ; you are my sister ;' and he afterwards asked me if I thought he could do anything to make his father and mother more comfortable in their old age. Even when not recognizing others, he knows grand- mother's voice, and answers her with great tenderness. He repeated to-day passages from Scripture, hymns, and other poetry. His quotations seemed to have reference mostly to his own situation." 16th. " One of his grandsons, who had been absent about two years, came home. He knew him, was glad to see him, and made some inquiries respecting his travels." 20th. " There was an evident change for the worse ; and he continued to grow weaker." 22d. "We were all with him through the day; and, when the others went home, I staid, to sit up with him 534 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. through the night. He was quiet, and seldom spoke ; but his breathing was faint and irregular. At length, as I sat listening anxiously to every breath, I heard him suddenly breathe a little harder and quicker than before. I sprang to the bed-side in time to see his last gasp. He died without a struggle or a groan, or the slightest movement, except of his lips. As I stood over him, he looked so calm — ^it was so much like sleep — that I could not believe he was gone. I held my breath to listen, and watched anxiously for some sign of life ; but none came. It was eight minutes past eight in the evening of the 22d of December when he left us. I was the only member of the family present at the time. I sent immediately to call the others. When my uncles came, the question was, how we should communicate the event to grandmother, who had been much agitated on leaving him a few hours before. It was decided that I should do it, which I accordingly did. I found her prepared for the event, and, though much afflicted, she bore it better than we feared." At the time of his decease, I was at Manchester, on my way home from Concord, having received notice of his increasing danger. A storm, which rendered all travelhng impossible, prevented my reaching Epping till two days later. He was already in the coffin when I arrived. There was still a faint smile around his lips, a tranquillity of expression, a serene composure, which seemed, in its mysterious silence, full of that peace which passeth understanding. But there was more than the serenity of death in his LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 535 countenance, — a look at once overawing and attrac- tive, calm, placid, yet noble beyond what the living form had recently worn — as if the spirit, in departing, had left that imprint of the soul stamped in the lineaments of the face, — a serene and pathetic beauty imparting to the beholder something of the beatitude into which it was itself about to enter. It seemed not so much the sleep of death, as of a higher life, — a light as of the dawning of a brighter day. As I stood over him in awe and reverent admiration of that benign and venerable face — venerable at once and lovely — ^with its silent, unchanging, and inexplicable expression, as of a new and a holier life, I felt, while laying my hand on his smooth, broad and tranquil brow, the truth of that saying of Novalis, " We touch heaven when we lay our hands on a human body." Grief for his departure was succeeded by a deep feel- ing of resignation — a solemn joy at this happy trans- formation from pain and suffering, from the cloud and darkness which hang over the valley of the shadow of death to the repose and the splendors of a purer and happier day. The funeral was on the twenty-seventh, five day^ after his decease ; and, though the roads were still blocked with snow, it was attended by a great con- course of his friends and neighbors. The Eev. Andrew P. Peabody preached on the occasion a ser- mon on Old Age, presenting consoling views of the 536 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. happy termination of a long life of public service and private virtue, "so successful in its active days, so serene and happy in its retirement, so richly favored in its domestic relations, so tenderly cherished even to its latest hours." He was then borne by eight of his neighbors from the house where he had lived for sixty-two years, to the family cemetery hard by. Fifteen months later, we followed, with affectionate sorrow, to the same retreat, the companion of his manhood, and the solace of his old age, who came at length in silence to repose by his side, in a union, indissoluble in death, as it had been happy in life. A granite column has been since erected by the filial piety of their sons, to mark the spot where they rest. The death of Governor Plumer called forth inter- esting notices of the event from various parts of the country, showing that, though he had long withdrawn from the public view, his character and his services were still fresh in the minds of the people. The Convention for revising the Constitution of New Hampshire was in session at the time of his decease. The following extracts from its proceedings will show the notice which they took of the event. " On Friday, the 27th of December, 1850, the Honorable Ichabod Bartlett rose in his place and announced the death of the late Governor Plumer, as follows : LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 537 "Mk. President:— Fifty-eight years ago, an assembly of one hundred of the most distinguished statesmen and patriots of New Hampshire met here and formed that Constitution under which our government has been so admirably adminis- tered, and our people so eminently prospered for that long period ; and we are now gathered to reply, if possible, to the yet unanswered question, whether any alteration or change can now be made in that venerable instrument, better to adapt It to the lapse of time. When we came here, on the 6th of November, all the members of that Convention, save one alone, had passed from the scenes of time. Since that period, the last survivor of that august assembly has descended to the tomb, and given to us another admonition that even ' the path of glory leads but to the grave.' " The Honorable "William Plxjmee died at his residence in Epping, on the 22d of December instant, in the ninety- second year of his age. This event cannot fail to make a deep impression upon the mind of every citizen of New Hampshire, and especially demands from us a public recog- nition of the solemn dispensation of Divine Providence. Governor Plumer had, for a very long period, filled a wide space in the regard and affections of his fellow men. "He was born in Newbury, on the 25th of June, 1759. At about the age of eight years, he removed with his father to Epping, where he resided till his death. At an early age, he was elected Representative to the Legislature from that town, and held that office for eight years ,• for two years of which time he occupied the Speaker's chair. He was after- wards elected to the Senate of this State, in which body he held the office of President. 538 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. " In 1793, he was chosen a delegate to the Convention to revise the Constitution of the state, and by the imperfect journal of that Convention, which has been in our hands, we see with what diligence and success he labored to leave the impress of his patriotic mind upon that instrument, which, after the lapse of more than half a century, we find it so difficult if not impossible to amend. In 1802 he was elected to the Senate of the United States, where he served till 1807. In 1812, 1816, 1817, and 1818, he was chosen and served as Governor of New Hampshire ; and in 1820 was chosen an Elector for this State of President and Vice-President. In 1787 he was admitted a member of the Bar, and for twenty years practised his profession with high reputation for legal learning, integrity, and talent. In all his various public offices he watched with such vigilance, and labored with such perseverance, for the interests and welfare of his constituents, as to secure their high esteem and lasting gratitude. " As an humble expression of our regard for his memory, I ask for the adoption by the Convention of the following resolutions : "Resolved, That in the death of the Honorable William Plumer the state has lost an eminent statesman, a patriotic citizen and an honest man. " Resolved, That for his long and faithful public services and exemplary virtues as a citizen, the whole people should cherish his memory vfith affectionate regard. " The members of the Convention passed the resolutions by unanimously rising in their seats ; and as a public mark of re- spect, on motion of Mr. Atherton, the Convention adjourned." Governor Plumer was one of the few remaining survivors of the revolutionary period, — a sample of LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 539 the kind of men by whom that crisis, and the scarcely less dangerous one which immediately followed the revolution, were encountered. Debarred in early life from the advantages of education, he was essentially a self-made man. Deriving his knowledge from observation more than from books, though he was ultimately a well-read English scholar, he showed always the freshness of an original observer, and he never failed to express clearly the truth which he had himself seen and verified. It was his sincerity of conviction, added to a fearlessness of temper which never shrank from the expression, on all suitable occa- sions, of his real opinions and sentiments, which gave uncommon weight to what he uttered, and left no one who heard him without the strongest conviction of his earnestness. His attention was ever on the alert, and nothing passed in his presence which he did not inquire into, and, if possible, understand. This steady, unremitted pursuit of knowledge was strong in him to the last, quickening liis ear, and strengthening his memory. His humanity was ever active. Nothing offended him more than wanton cruelty to man or beast, and, though careless of his own exposure to danger or to toil, he was tenderly regardful of the labor and the sufferings of others. His politeness, understanding by that word a courteous regard for the feelings of others, was uniform and enduring. Even his 540 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLTJMEE. children, who visited him every day, were helped by him to a chair, and were not permitted to depart without his waiting upon them to the door. This he did, and would do, with affectionate assiduity, not- withstanding their remonstrances, almost to the very close of life. The old man of more than fourscore had forgotten none of the amiable attentions of his younger years. He was fond of society, and the visits of his friends were always acceptable. They seemed to rouse him to new life, and he conversed as if conversation were his only pleasure. "Dr. Ripley," says Emerson, "knew every body's grandfather." This was true of my father. In early life he sought the company of the aged, and in age he was fond of the young. The company must have been more than commonly select, into which his entrance did not bring some new element of enjoyment or instruction, not by loud or obtrusive demonstrations, but by the extent of his information, the readiness and vivacity of his discourse, and the unstudied ease and urbanity of his manners. Utility was the great object of his pursuit, and he showed some impatience of studies which seemed to have no relations with life. His own knowledge was all of the practical kind. He seemed to reject from it whatever could not be turned to some practical purpose. Matters merely curious had for him very LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 541 little attraction. This indifference was, perhaps, car- ried by him sometimes too far, as it is not always easy to foresee to what uses knowledge, apparently useless, may, in the progress of events, be put. In person, he was tall and erect, his complexion dark, his face rather long and thin, his hair black, and his eyes black and sparkling, with a look and a smile — when he was pleased himself, or would please others — expressive of the most winning good will and kindness. In old age, his thin grey locks, the mild fire of his eye, and the smile on his lips, gave him a beauty and grandeur, at once conciliatory and com- manding. His eye was, perhaps, his most expressive feature. It seemed on fire when he was engaged in debate, or in earnest conversation. Yet there was a gentleness about it, which made it as attractive in his milder moods as it was terrible in his anger. His voice was clear, strong, and flexible. He was one of the best readers, if not the very best, I ever knew, putting the writer's meaning into his tones, and making the hearer forget all but his subject. On Sunday afternoons he was accustomed to read to us a sermon from some old English divine, — Barrow or Taylor. On such occasions, he did ample justice to his author ; and " truths divine came mended from his tongue." We were then required to read a chap- ter from the Bible. On this he would question us as to its meaning, and accompany his inquiries with 542 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. remarks and information, often curious and original, and always evincing a knowledge of Scripture, and a power of comparing one passage with another, and of thence eliciting its meaning, which I have never seen surpassed. These Sunday evening recitations, which were kept up till the family circle was broken by the marriage of my sister, and by my own removal to Portsmouth, were always regarded by us with great interest, and were equally pleasant and instructive. His remarks were not so much the result of deep learning, which he did not possess, as of a rare sagacity which revealed to him what profounder study made known to others. I close this labor of filial piety with mingled feel- ings of pleasure and regret, — of pleasure that it is accomplished, of regret at the manner in which it is performed. I commit it, with its many imperfections, to the charitable construction of friends, who know under what discouragements, in sickness and suffer- ing, it has been pushed steadily, but slowly, forward to its present imperfect completion. To others, the author and his theme are alike indifferent, and can have no claim to attention or regard beyond what the theme itself may possess, as presenting a picture, more or less perfect, of a true man — a man of head, heart, and hand, — of thought, feeling, and action — a man not great, in the sense in which some three or four LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 543 in. a century are, who leave tlieir stamp on their age or country — -not perfect, as being, even in his own opinion, never in the wrong ; but yet clear in intel- lect, warm in affection, upright in purpose, and active and indefatigable in exertion. Such a life, if well- written, might be an encouraging example to youth toiling in poverty and under privation ; to manhood tasked with labor and tried by temptation ; to old age, cheerful amidst suffering, and tranquil in its pilgrimage, amid the splendors of departing day, down the long valley of the shadow of death. Fortunate in life, and in death unfortunate only, parent revered, in this most inadequate portraiture of thy many virtues !