aass_h_5S Book_i BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL, OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. WITH AW iiipipi3sr2>a^9 COMPRISING SELECTIONS FROM HIS SPEECHES, AND MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS. CONCORD, N.H. PUBLISHED BY JOHN F. BROWN. 1835. Entered according to an Act of Congress, bj John F. Brown, In the Clerk's Office of the District of N. H. I I Wlleon & Carter, Printers; CONCORD, N. H. 1- i PREFACE. It was a remark of that celebrated female writer Mad- ame de-Stael-Holstein, thai the adventures of almost ev- ery individual would, in competent hands, supply the materials for an interesting novel. The truth of this proposjtion, however paradoxical it may at first seem, can hardly be doubted. It is from the common events of a common Ufe, the excited hopes, the pleasing anticipations, the multiplied disappointments, the numerous vexations, the unavoidable accidents, the unexpected reversions of fortune, which make up the every-day round of human existence, connected with the degree of forben ranee, for- titude, patience, resignation, prudence and moderation, with which all these various and varied occurrences have been endured, w'ith their effects upon after life and the developement of character, that useful lessons for tlie reg- ulation of our own conduct may be deduced and much matter of interest and subject of serious contemplation. On the other hand, the biography of some startling indi- vidual, some man of a million, who, like the flashing meteor or wandering comet, dashes his eccentric course across the path of the multitude, overthrowing the results of human calculation, and heedlessly striking down the barriers which mankind have by common consent, erect- ed, as the eternal bounds of human enterprize and man's daring, may serve as a record of this miracle of the age, but would be far more likely to check the rising ambition of youth by the immeasurable distance at which its events must be contemplated, than to nourish their aspi- rations after fame and the possession of an honorable memory. The object of Biographical writing, it has been aptly remarked, is two-fold, — both to impart historical informa- tion by a sketch of the life and acts of some eminent in- PREFACE. tittt' Tet^I ^'^pl^p^g those acts in a true and prop- er light, devoid of false coloring or mis-statemenf tn miS^fVT"^ T' '°"^^' ^y excitinTfSible Wrir f t? i^'^?^ ^ ^" unconquerable disgust and horror of the wicked. To effect this latter and by far the rrt;;?^^''"' '"'^' "°^^'"g ^«"^d be more appr^oprLte particularly m a country where there is no aristocracy of- genius and where poHtical advancement is the chi7f aim of our young men's ambition, than to note for the consideration of youth and theinstruction of ah the pro! gressive steps by which an individual has risen thiXh his own enterpnze, and by the most unconquerab e peV tTon^riifrtoVT""- S'"^^^-^' f--thel?umblest^a: tionm life, to an honorable rank and comparative emi- Such is the design of this litUe book-a sketch of the hfe of a man who has borne no inconsiderable pari k the political events of the last twenty years, who ^s d^nt fi ed with the interests and success^of one pa ?y and ^ro^" nent m his opposition to another, has of cou^-se recdvTd his share of partizan abuse and the maliSy of tW Tu'Tho^afwi 11!,^^ '""f^''/ ^^^ -ecessf:;;i?otptd andS/°""f If."' '^"d to whose industry,Tt:.ly LstiSi'o^;' '^"■'*' '" ^"^ P""^°"^^ acquaintance's' wilf bclr lei^srb^j:.-^^:^^^^ for which the materials were first collcS '^ThT? ^ .tated arc of unquestionable antlou"; of the correct' BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL, Of ]Vew-Hampsliire. —- X— Isaac Hill was born of poor but respectable parentage. His father, also named Isaac, is a native of the present town of West Cambridge, then a part of Cambridge, Mass., and known as the parish of Menotomy. He was a descendant of Abraham Hill of Cliarlestown, who was admit- ted freeman 1640, and, leaving two sons, Isaac and Abraham, died at Maiden, 13 Feb. 1670. Abraham Hill, the grandfather of the subject of this memoir, was the fourth in descent from the first of that name, (the intermediate generations being Abraham, Abraham and Zachariah,) was a patriot of the French and Revolutionary wars, and died about five and twenty years ago. His wife survived him but a few years. Isaac, their youngest son, and the father of the^ subject of this memoir, was born about the year 1767, and is still living. Mr. llilPs mother, Hannah Russell, is a descen- dant of William Russell, who came from England, lived in Cambridge as early as 1645 and left sev- jf^ral sons. , She was, likewise, a native of the "'^fTparish of Menotomy, but of that part which be- "longed to Charlestown. The Menotomy boys were 1* 6 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. far-famed among the " sons of liberty" for their invincible spirit and undaunted courage, and her father, Walter Russell, commanded a company of alarmlist at the battle of Lexington, Avhich did great service in harrassing the enemy, arresting the baggage-wagons, &c. He died 5 March 1783, aged 45. At the house where this patriot and his imme- diate ancestors lived and died, Mr. Hill was born on the 6th of April 1788, being but sixteen years younger than his mother and the eldest of a fami- ly of nine children, having three brothers and five sisters, all of whom are living, and, with one ex- ception, heads of families. The unfortunate situation of Mr. Hill's family, which might at first view, appear an irreparable injury, in fact proved to him a blessing in disguise. His grandfather returned, at the close of the war, to take charge of a family rendered destitute by the circumstan- ces of the times, and was, in a short time, entir- Jy ruined in his earthly prospects by the depreci- ation of his wages. The shock proved too great for his mind to bear, and he became subject to that awful calamity, which appears to have been constitutional in the family, partial insanity, which continued in all the gradations from perfect clear- ness of mind to raging madness, till his death. His father, by nature an industrious, capable man, undertook the charge of a rising family and the care of his ruined parent, when, shocking to re- late, scarce yix years had elapsed from his mar- riage, ere he was overtaken by a similar visitation of Providence, and his intellectual faculties al- most entirely destroyed. BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL, - 7 The whole burden of course fell upon his moth- er, and full well did the noble woman fulfil her part. Young Isaac, as the eldest of the family, was early called to share in his mother's respon- sibilities, and at an age, when other children are hardly permitted out of the reach of their mother's voice, he became to her a useful assist- ant, counsellor and friend. Incredible as it may seem, this mother, amid all the difficulties, which, to a common mind, would have appeared insuper- able, contrived to save enough from the wreck of their ruined fortunes, to purchase a small farm in the town of Ashburnham, fifty miles distant from Menotomy. Hither his parents removed, in the spring of 1798, and here they both still live. From what has been said, it will readily be conceived that his advantages in early life, as to the attainmentof an education, were exceedingly limited. Young men, at the present day, can hardly have an idea of the extent of the discouragements against which an enterprising lad, at that time and in the situation in which Mr. Hill was placed, was obliged to struggle to obtain the instruction for which his young mind thirsted. There existed then and in such a place,no public libraries, whence might be drawn food appropriate to the growth of the intellect, and little opportunity for reading, either from the newspapers of the day or from private collections of books. That glorious in- vention, the Lyceum, which has been, under Prov- idence, the blessed means of great good to the present generation, and which, let Americans, in proportion as they value their political institu- 8 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. tions, cherish and sustain, had not yet been es- tablished, even in the villages and cities of the land. In addition to all this, in reference to Mr. Hill's particular case, it is to be remarked, that the place which his parents had selected for their future residence, and where young Isaac passed a brief, yet perhaps the most important part of his VI hole life, vi^as a stnall and newly settled country town. It was here, for a portion of the period between the ages of ten and fourteen years, and then only during such intervals as the weath- er or other circumstances would admit of his be- ing spared from the cultivation of the farm, and under such instruction as such a town would be likely to furnish, that Mr. Hill received most of the schooling that he ever enjoyed. But, during this period, young Isaac made the most of his limited advantages. It was at this time, that he laid the foundation of that un- tiring industry and indomitable perseverance, for which he has ever been distinguished, and which have formed the whole secret of his suc- cess in private and political life. We have spok- en of these four years which Mr. Hill passed at Ashburnliam as perhaps the most important era in his life. We have ventured the remark, be- cause we believe at that age are effected nearly all those important modifications of the natural disposition and character, which exert an essen- tial, an all-powerful influence over the modes of thinking and modes of acting in after life. But he had manifested at a much earlier period, his love of knowledge and desire of instruction. Before he was eight years of age, he had read BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 9 the Bible through in course, dwelling, with partic- ular pleasure, upon the historical portions. In- deed, historical information was that which he most longed to acquire. At six years of age, he had greedily laid hold of a brief account of the war of the revolution, contained in one of the school-books of Webster, which he read till he had committed to memory. Then, for want of a more complete record of the events of that stirring period, he would seek from his grandpa- rents and his uncles an account of the martial scenes which had occurred in their immediate vi- cinity, and in«which they had participated. The stories of the " Concord fight" and the burning of Charlestown were often described for his amusement, with a clearness, because from actu- al observation, that laid in his breast the founda- tion of that hatred of tyranny and arbitrary rule which has ever been the governing trait in his character. At seven years of age, Mr. Hill participated with the elder boys in speaking dialogues, and getting up mimic theatricals, in which they were encouraged by their instructor. At that period, his industry and love of learning, rarely allowing him to leave the school room during the hours of recreation, to mingle with the sports of his com- rades, were held up by the master as worthy of imitation. He read every thing which came in his way, even from a few tattered leaves of a "Call to the Unconverted," which his father chanced to own, to the two penny tales which he found in the possession of his neighbors. Ashburnham, at the period when Mr. Hill re- 10 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. sided there, was at the distance of twelve miles from the nearest post-town. The inhabitants, however, for a part of the time, were united in a company to take a small weekly paper then print- ed at Leominster, each going-, by turns, to bring this precious repository of the news of the day. When it fell, in its round, into the possession of young Hill, every word was greedily devoured before it was suffered to drop out of his hands. The town, being sparsely settled, the winter school, as in many new towns at the present time, was kept but a few weeks in each district, and the boys were allowed, at the close of the school, to attend at some other district, in any part of the town. Of this privilege, Mr. Hill glad- ly availed himself, even at his tender age, lame and of weak constitution, at the cost of a daily journey of four or five miles in the severe storms of that mountainous region. Rich would he have considered himself, could he have gained the sit- uation of the humblest charity scholar at a com- mon academy ! Mr, Hill had, from necessity, been early inured to severe labor, but his constitutional infirmities did not admit of his following the pursuits of the agriculturalist, or those professions in which bod- ily strength is the principal requisite. Besides this, the younger children were fast growing up to fill his place, and he could better be spared from the care of the family. Next to the attain- ment of an education, it had been his highest am- bit-ion to follow the trade of a printer, which he had thought would afford him the opportunity of obtaining what he most desired- — knowledge. He BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 1 I had never seen a printing office, and knew, thought nor cared any thing for the severity of the labor or the expense of carrying on the business. In these views his father and mother acqui- esced. It was at the age of fourteen, and after the enjoyment of such slender privileges, that the parents of Isaac Hill, with commendable prudence and an honorable desire to contribute to the fu- ture welfare of their son, determined to provide him with means amply sufficient to render him in- dependent of every reverse of fortune, by send- ing him to acquire the rudiments of a useful and lucrative trade. This was, without doubt, the wisest course that could have been pursued. De- prived, by their situation and circumstances in life of the blessed privilege of giving their son a liberal education, they did not, as far too many parents do, suffer their child to pass the important period of youth, in learning the lessons of idle- ness, dissipation and vice ; to grow up, as it were, a sort of left-hand member of society and to find himself a man in stature and years but destitute of the means and destitute of the disposition to sustain his proper place among his fellow-men. We are all, in some degree, mutually depend- ent upon each other — and this dependence is a necessary consequence of civilization. But if there is any portion of the community which can be termed independent, it is the laboring class ;— the mechanic and the farmer. They are the " bone and sinew of the republic ;" the right hand of freedom ; free from the taint of aristocratic associations, they are neither prepared servilely 12 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. to obey or haughtily to command. In our coun- try and under our happy form of government, those who earn their bread by the sweat of their brow are peculiarly fortunate in their situation. It is here more particularly, that they assume their proper place in society, the first file in the ranks of the free ; it is here that they are made proudly sensible of their own political importance. Government, contrived for the express purpose of attaining the '' greatest good of the greatest number," is here chiefly based upon a regard for their welfare, and instead of being a grinding curse to the faces of the poor, it is here particu- larly designed to encourage their honest efforts and defend them in the possession of their inalien- able rights, from the selfish grasp of the purse- proud oppressor. The officers of government are here, not their masters, but their servants ; not placed in authority by divine right, but by the free suffrages of a free people. The laboring class here are not disfranchised or deprived even par- tially of the rights nature has bestowed upon them. To them equally with the rest, is open the path to political preferment, to honors, to fame, to the respect of their fellow citizens. There is, in our country no royal road to distinction ; no young mechanic need envy the lot of a son of luxury. He is now acquiring lessons of manly indepen- dence, is learning to think for himself, is gaining the rich stores of experience — all, acquisitions which eminently fit him for any station, however exalted, to which Providence and his own enter- prize may yet raise him. The numerous bright instances which the history of our own country BIOnRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL, 13 can furnish, where persevering industry, worth and moral principle have triumphed over the for- tuitous obstacles of rank and situation in life, are so many burning and shining lights for the en- couragement of all who feel that they are at present below the sphere for which they were by nature intended. But to return from this digression, to which our subject has naturally led us. An unlocked for opportunity for the accomplishment of their wishes was soon offered Mr. Hill and his parents. Mr. Joseph Gushing, a young printer, had just established a printing office at Amherst, N. H., and was in want of an apprentice. Hearing of young Hill, his situation, capacity and wishes, and supposing him to be likely to suit his purpose, he came to his father's residence to see for himself. Young Isaac was much mortified at being found by his future master, a genteel young man, in his ragged working dress and laboring on the farm, but Mr. Gushing was sensible enough to rely more upon what he had previously heard of him, than upon his casually unprepossessing plight. The bargain was soon made with his father, and in a short time after on the 3d of December 1802, young Hill found himself in company with the el- der Mr. Gushing and on his way to a new scene of action. The first number of the Farmers' Cabinet was issued on the 11 Nov. 1802, consequently but three numbers had been printed before the com- mencement of Mr. Hill's apprenticeship,or rather his residence with his master, for he was never an indented apprentice. The transition from the 2 14 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. drudgery of a small farm in a thinly settled town to the bustle of a printing office in a pleasant country village, was to Mr. Hill, like an entrance into a new world. It was in truth an important era in his life ; an event which fixed his future destiny. The change was great ; the theatre on which he had now en- tered was comparatively a vast one. To an in- quiring mind such as he possessed, there was much that was instructive, even in the dull and labo- rious round of the duties of the youngest appren- tice. His opportunities for the acquisition of use- ful information, were greatly multiplied, and the temptations to which his inexperience rendered him subject, were equally increased. We can afford only a brief space for a detail of the particulars of this portion of the life of Mr. Hill, of which, much of the information we pos- sess, has been acquired from a conversation late- ly held with his old master.* Of course what we can advance, may be considered authentic. He was. during this period, remarkable as an excellent, faithful young man. His previously formed habits of perseverance and patient, untir- ing industry were now confirmed and were exhib- ited not less in his daily labors, than in his de- votion to intellectual improvement. During a sev- en years' apprenticeship, from his boyhood till he became of age, not an incident occurred to inter- * Mr. Cushins; left Amherst and removed to Baltimore about the time of the expiration of Mr. Hill's apprentice- ship. He has for nearly thirty years been in business in that city as a publisher and bookseller, and is now on® of its representatives in the legislature of Maryland. BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 15 rupt the constant liarmony which existed between his master and himself. Both parties concur in an affectionate remembrance of each others goodqual- ities. The one was kind, the other obedient ; the master showed no inclination to insist upon an un- due subserviency on the part of the apprentice,and the latter felt in nowise disposed to rebel against reasonable demands. He was conscious that whatever might be his fortunes, he was himself to be their architect, and that he could hope to ac- quire assistance, patronage and support in no other way than by his own industry, morality and good conduct. He had early been accustomed to as- sume important responsibilities ;and the severe les- sons which necessity had taught him, were not without their fruits. He was remarkable for the firmness of his principles and his power to resist temptation, and no instance is remembered of dereliction on his part from the path of rectitude and from the duty which he owed to his God, his master and his fellows. Besides a faithful attention to his daily labors, Mr.Hill became, during this period, a hard student. True, his studies and course of reading were very desultory, having no other guide than his own judgment or inclination, but the information which he was enabled to acquire, was precisely of that kind most needed for the practical purposes of life. He became thoroughly conversant with the general routine of business belonging to his profession, to which his long apprenticeship enabled him to add a perfect practical knowledge of the business. He waslong an active and efficient member of a De- bating Club, established by the young men of the 16 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. vicinity, and the Records, during the time he was secretary of the Society, r^re still in existence. Several of the members of tliis association have since found their way, in different parts of the world, to comparative distinction and opulence. Judge Swann of Ohio is remembered as one. It is related, that young Hill, when defeated in debate, was inclined to yield to his mortification and needed the encouraging voice of a kind mas- ter to relieve him of his despondent feelings. Mr. Gushing really loved him, placed the most im- plicit confidence in his abilities and integrity, and often entrusted to him the entire care of the office. Mr. Hill's industrious habits were further dis- played in the acquisition of a beautiful, rapid and clerkly style of penmanship — of the rapidity of his handwriting, he has to this day certainly lost noth- ing. He acquired it wholly by practice, writing in his leisure hours, almost incessantly. Ex- tracts and annotanda derived from his reading, at first afforded employment for his pen. He soon launched out into speculations and essays, both political and miscellaneous, and his first attempts of this descrii>tion are strongly tinged with the peculiarities of his intellectual character. Al- though the newspaper which was published at the office where Mr. Hill was employed, was then and always has been since, considered as belong- ing to the anti-democratic party,and notwithstand- ing his beloved master was a decided thougli moderate and consistent federalist, the youthful apprentice remained true to the republican prin- ciples in which he had been nurtured and from BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILE. l7 wliich he has never yet swerved. At that early period, he often contributed to the public prints of the day. As was perfectly natural in one of his charac- ter who looked forward to the practice of his profession as the means of earning his daily bread and ensuring a respectable and comfortable sub- sistence, Mr. Hill had long contemplated the opening ot an office and the establishment of a newspaper, whenever the expiration of his appren- ticeship should occur. Accordingly, on the fifth of April 1809, the day before he was twenty one years of age, he left his master and came to Concord. About six months previous,* the American Pat- riot, a small weekly newspaper, had been estab- lished at Concord, and published by Mr. William Hoit, Jr., a practical printer, who still follows his trade and is the senior of his profession in that place. It was considered a republican paper, and as far as it went was consistent in the defence of republican principles and measures ; but it had neverbeen conducted with that efficiency and reg- ularity, without which, under such circumstances, and struggling against such an opposition as that with which it had to contend, it was likely to prove rather an hindrance to the progress of truth than a useful auxiliary in the cause of republi- canism. Mr. Hill was therefore advised by those who knew his principles and felt confidence in his abilities, to purchase the establishment, and com- * The first No. was issued on the 18 Oct., 180S. 2* 18 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL, mence the life of the editor of a political news- paper. The idea was grateful to him, the trans- fer was speedily executed, preparations were made immediately and with his customary alac- rity, and, on the 18th of April, two weeks after he hecame a citizen of Concord, the first number of the publication, which has since become so deeply rooted in the affections of the people of New-Hampshire, was issued from his office. The press on which this and many succeeding numbers were primed, was one of the old Ramviage kind, and the identical press on which had been struck the first impression of the old Connecticut Cou- rant, forty-five years l>efore; that is, in December, 1764. This press was afterwards purchased and used in printing his religious periodical, by the self-taught brother of the type, Elder Ebenezer Chase of Enfield. At the period of which we are now speaking, there were only three printing offices in Concord, the business of which, taken together, was very small, and the whole of the work of the Patriot as well as such jobs as happened to be committed to his care, was executed by Mr. Hill himself, his younger brother Walter, Vv'ho had been his fellow- apprentice and was afterward his partner in busi- ness, and a single journeyman. Of course, Mr. Hill, in making the change in his situation by his removal from Amherst to Concord, and his ad- vancement from subordinate to principal, could not have contemplated a life of ease or indulgence, but rather an increase of labor and responsibility. He was a thorough and experienced workman and was by no means inclined to suffer his energies BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL, 19 to rust through want of exercise. Besides the wear and tear of brain, which, as editor of the paper, he was forced to underg-o, he took upon himself the oversight of the mechanical part of the operations, performed six times a week the days' work of a journeyman, directed all his pa- pers with his own hand, and when circumstances required, did not hesitate to circulate them at the doors of his village customers. Such industry and such resolution, could not go unrewarded. The paper, in its early stages was little more than half its present size, and the fourth page was devoted, under the caption of " The Museum," to poetical, literary and miscellaneous pieces. — The advertising patronage was at first small, but gradually and constantly increased. Mr. Hill thought proper to alter its title from ^American PairioV to ' The JVew- Hampshire Patriot,^ presu- ming, as he said, that a New-Hampshire Patriot would always be an American Patriot, and to dis- tinguish it from the pseudo-American Patriots which had been started in various parts of the country. The additional title of the " State Ga- zeife," was not added till after the lapse of several years. The first number of the New-Hampshire Pat- riot bears for its motto, the well known words of James Madison, "Indulging no passions which trespass on the rights of others, it shall be our true glory to cultivate peace by observing jus- tice." Mr. Hill's introductory address in this pa- per, being brief and the first document he ever, over his own name, presented to the public, is here given entire : 20 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC IIILL. " TO THE PUBLIC. " Amidst the conflicts of animosity and infuri- ated zeal — when the unerring genius of improve- ment is cramped by the persevering advocates of corrupt systems of polity — when the evil spirit of Federalism is stalking up and down our land seeking whom it may devour — when the avowed and secret projects of internal and external ene- mies are aimed at the vitals of our republic — it becomes every one v;hose views are American, whose sentiments coincide with those of our fa- thers of the revolution, to inculcate the sound doctrine of rational liberty, to espouse the cause of his country and his God. Educated in the simplicity of truth, early taught to revere the pa- triots of '75, and feeling the loss of personal con- nexions, the fruit of British barbarism at Menot- omy and Bunker-Hill, the juvenile years of the Editor have been republican ; he has detested tyranny, in whatever specious garb she has array- ed herself; — and he trusts the judgment of matu- rer age never will sorrow for past political follies, or wilfully persevere in future errors. The axioms of political morality, as expressed by Washing- ton in his valedictory, by JErFEp..soN and Madi- son each at the commencement of their presiden- tial career, and so well practised in all their lives, are engraved on the heart of every Ameri- can, and are precisely those we would adopt. Possessing no motives for personal enmity, having quarrels with no men on the score of private pique, our cause is the cause of our country — our only enemies, those who are seeking its ruin. " In our views of parties in this country, we BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. '^1 cannot consider the contest, as between two po- litical sects having equal claims for patriotism and love of country ; but as between the friends of our own independence, of our government, and our rights — and our enemies, the friends of a foreign nation, which is striving not only to distract our councils and influence the decisions of our gov- ernment, but to bring us into a close connexion with her own destinies,either virtually or avowed- ly. In saying this, we do not say that political honesty is exclusively attached to republicans : we believe many federalists have acted from upright intentions ; hut theirs noio is the cause of the Essex Junto, whose leaders, Pickering and Gore, have averred that " England has done us no es- sential injury" — that she is '' disposed to trtiat with us upon the principles of equity and justice" — assertions in the face and eyes of the most con- clusive evidence to the contrary : — Theirs is the cause of Great-Britain, inasmuch as they coin- cide with and justify her agressions on the princi- ples of right and justice, on the laws of nature and of nations : — Theirs is the cause of our ene- my, because they stigmatize our government in every act whatever its tendency, and because no subterfuge, however mean, is left unessayed to incite to distrust and opposition. *' In our views of foreign nations, we shall trf^at alike French injustice and British perfidy. While we consider the latter as far outstripping the for- mer, we cannot but dwell with more emphasis on that power who has ability and inclination to do us much injury, than upon bin), who, though he liave enough of the last, has comparatively but 2^ BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. little of the first requisite to molest us. We can- not forget the murderof our citizens, the impress- ment of our seamen, the seizure and confiscation of our property, the many insults and menaces on our national flag, &c. &c. " That our paper may not be identified with some whom we could not hold by the hand as brothers, and to discriminate from the many het- erodox and spurious patriots that may spring up, we have thought proper to substitute in our title the word JVeiu-Ham/p shire fox American ; presum- ing that a JVeiv- Hampshire Patriot always will mean an American Patriot, though every Ameri- can may not belong to J\eiv- Hampshire. *j Literary amateurs are solicited to •' cull the flowers of various science," and, entwined with the thread of genius, form a " bouquet of sweets" adapted to the tastes of our many scientific read- ers. The Museum, when more important consid- erations do not prevent, will be exclusively devo- ted to literary, scientific and agricultural objects. The smiles of the Nine are invoked. Our friends, who have promised to aid in the department of the Muses, will not forget us in the early stages of imbecility. '• It is our intention, as soon as the necessary implements can be obtained from Philadelphia, to enlarge our paper to a size equal to that of any paper in the State. It is hoped the patronage of an indulgent public will be commensurate with our exertions. With our republican friends rests the decision, whether the Patriot shall flourish with ample support, or shall never advance beyond the age of puberty. The utility of a public nc\vspa» BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL, 23 per, when })roporly conducted, is too well known To be improperly appreciated. To make support efficient, it is necessary that our patronage should be something' more than merely nominal — that when a person subscribes, he should always cal- culate on sometime paying-. "ISAAC HiLL." The New-Hampshire Patriot was commenced under very discouraging circunistances. It was shortly after the beginning of Mr. Madison's ad- ministration, and in the trying period of the Em- bargo. The whole country was involved in dis- tress, doubt and anxiety, and the commercial por- tion were peculiarly harrassed, troubled and excited. All confidence was lost, the activity of trade was destroyed, and the measures which the administration were pursuing, to avoid, if possible, a war, and open the eyes of the British Govern- ment to a true sense of the relative situation of the two parties and their rights according to the law of nations, were denounced by the federal party as pusillanimous and ineffectual, and cow- ardice and irresolution were declared characteris- tic of the timid and wavering- policy of Madison and his supporters. In New-England, particular- ly, this unfortunate situation of affairs rendered the administration unpopular. Every attempt which had been made to avoid the evils of war and make the enemy feel the effects of our dis- pleasure by commercial restrictions, seemed to have operated, with fatal effect, upon the pros- perity of our own citizens. In New-Hampshire, perhaps full as much as .24 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. in hor sister State of Massachusetts, to advocate such a cause might well have seemed a discoura- ging task. At the election for members of con- gress in the preceding autumn, the federal party had carried their ticket by 1500 majority. In the spring of 1809, that inflexible patriot and up- right man, John Langdon, who was identified, as he always had been, with the republican party, and against whom a temporary feeling had been excited on account of certain judicial appoint- ments, v*^as superceded in the gubernatorial chair, by Jeremiah Smith, though by a small majority.— Judge Smith was, it is well known, a leader in the ultra New-England federal party. He was to New-Hampshire, what Strong and Gore and Pickering were to Massachusetts, and Hillhouse and Goodrich to Connecticut. In the Presiden- tial election of 1808, he was one of the electors and gave his vote for Charles C. Pinckney, in op- position to the republican candidate. He was a man of talents and influence, and his politics were well understood prior to his election by the peo- ple. That he was, guided by their present feel- ings, their fair choice, could not then be doubt- ed. But Mr. Hill was in nowise daunted at this im- posing array of influence, learning and numeri- cal strength. He immediately commenced his eflx)rts for enlightening the public mind. At the session of the legislature in Jtme, Gov. Smith delivered his inaugural or annual speech, at the commencement of which he professed to consider himself the ' representative of all the people,' but before the close, displayed uncovered the cloven BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 25 foot, entered diffusely into partizan arguments and appeals, and made rather indecorous allusions to some of the executive appointments of his immedi- ate predecessor in office. The legislature, on their part, were not backward in demonstrations of the same spirit. Little business was done other than a series of party measures and the introduction and adoption of a violent ansv^er to the speech of his Excellency. Mr. Hill, with a bold and mas- terly hand, attacked their measures in a series of powerful articles, exposed their sophistry, put to flight their arguments and proved himself a tower of strength in the cause of truth. To his efforts, was it owing, almost wholly, that our beloved State did not at that time become as deeply en- thralled in the bands of slavery as her southern neighbor. In proportion as the power of his pen began to manifest itself, did the vituperation and abuse which was unsparingly poured upon his head, in- crease. The vials of wrath were opened upon him, and those who had at first ridiculed the beardless boy, became convinced that the young David was no contemptible antagonist. ' We have hit them for they flutter,' was the remark of Mr. Hill. Perhaps in the whole course of his po- litical life, never were more falsehoods circulated or denunciations poured upon him, than during the first four years after the establishment of the Patriot. A paper in Concord was particularly vio- lent and abusive in its language, and the succes- sor of his old master, in the editorial care of the Amherst Cabinet, was little behind it. It was said that Governor Langdon was the virtual own- 3 26 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. er of the Patriot; and the tale was persisted in, in spite of the assertion of Mr. H. to the contra- ry. Perhaps not the most ridiculous of the ob- jections made against his character, was the as- tounding fact tiiat some astute antiquary had dis- covered, that Mr. Hill was, bona fide, a lineal descendant, on both sides, from the first witches who were hung at Salem ! This, perhaps, ac- counted, in their opinion, for the species of sorce- ry by which he seemed to acquire the affections of the people — for Mr. Hill was much encouraged by the support and such substantial support too, as printers love, of his republican friends. Be- fore the end of the year, the size of the Patriot was very considerably enlarged, and in August, its patronage was such as to call forth the follow- ing acknowledgement from the editor : " It has never been our wish to bluster about the number of our subscribers — about our twen- ty, or thirty, or forty new names each month, or the prospect of increasing patronage ; but, for the information of certain gentlemen (particularly in the soulh) who take great pains to belittle our es- tablishment, and to impress a belief that it is not generally patronized by the republicans, we would state that the number of actual subscribers to the J\r. H. Patriot exceeds eightf.ex hundred— three or four hundred more, we presume to say, than the books of any (avowed or impartial) fed- eral paper in the State can exhibit. To convince the editor of the correct ground he stands on, he has the satisfaction to witness a continued aug- mentation of his list, and among his names those the most respectable in the State : an average in- BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 27 crease of one hundred each month since he com- menced, has crowned his labors. " The inexperience and youth of the editor of the Patriot claim indulgence and charity from the more mature in age and judgment. Though he shall always advocate the immutable principles ingrafted into our constitutions and the rights of man, he will never wilfully step aside from the path of rectitude — never deviate from the truth to exculpate the unjust — convinced that the truth alone is sufficient to defend the principles which are the motives of action to republicans. Assail- ed, as our republican institutions are, by corrup- tion and foreign intrigue, by the advocates and palliators of foreign injustice and wickedness — it were criminal not to advocate our rights with ardor ' and a degree of warmth. As in the times of our revolutionary struggle, those who will not oppose British aggressions and tyranny, who are even indifferent whether we should be manacled with the chains of slavery, or should be free and inde- pendent — are to be counted as among our enemies. Every republican at this time will not hesitate to express his sentiments freely ; and honest federal- ists, we are happy to observe, do not restrain their indignation at British perfidy." This, it is to be remembered, was immediately after the renewal of the non-intercourse act, and at the period when the whole community were convulsed by that worst of evils, a distrust of their currency, and when the failures of Banking cor- porations were producing real distress. The ob- loquy of all this unfortunate state of things was thrown upon the supporters of the administration, 28 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. and it is a fact, that at this gloomy period, the Patriot was the only newspaper in the State whose editor was not a federalist. Very many of their prints, then as now, made professions of impar- tiality, but in these pretended neutrals, Mr. Hill found his most insidious and effective enemies ; and against them, he in a great measure directed his efforts. As the spring election of 1810 approached, the exertions of both parties were redoubled. The circulation of the Patriot was illegally obstructed — the republican candidate for Governor, the pat- riot Langdon, was called by every base term that the malice of despair could suggest — he was de- clared to be in favor of banking monopolies, to be in his dotage, dead in law, and ineligible to ofRcc. Gov. Smith was the candidate of the anti-repub- lican party. The battle was gallantly fought and nobly won — it resulted in a complete republican triumph in every branch of the government. It is interesting as Avell as useful to review these past scenes of party strife and political history, nor indeed would the life of Mr. Hill be complete without a relation of these events, with which he is so intimately identified. His paper soon became prominent in the de- fence of republican principles, and the sarcasm of Jiis pen a scorpion to those who deserved its in- fliction. Even grave members of congress con- sidered him worthy their notice, and his manly, independent course procured for him, this year, a personal assault ; — that last resort of a coward writhing under a sense of his own shame. In April, 1810, he was attacked and struck in the BIOGRAriiY OF ISAAC HILL. ^9 Streets of Concord, by a citizen of the town and a member of the legal profession. An attempt was rfiade by some of the federal presses, to ex- ult at this disgraceful event as a species of hon- orable triumph, but this dishonorable spirit was soon checked by the universal reprobation of all lovers of peace and good order. The application of Lynch law is not consonant with the spirit and disposition of the puritan blood of New-Eng- land. The malignity of the opposition, soured by re- cent defeat where they had thought themselves secure of victory and attributing the overthrow of their darling hopes and cherished projects principally to the unwearied eflbrts of Mr. Hill, aided by the personal popularity of Langdon, can hardly be appreciated, in its length and breadth, by the young men of the present day. They vv^ill with difficulty believe what is nevertheless a mournful fact, that that revolutionary patriot and venerable chief magistrate was publicly burnt in effigy and his soul solemnly consigned to the care of the fallen angels, and that the editor of the Patriot was traduced and abused even for his per- sonal defects.'^ One groat secret of Mr. Hill's influence and success in his vocation, was the moderate estimate Avhich he was always inclined to make, of the re- sult of future elections. He preferred that his * Take the following as an instance of the spirit that prompted their actions : — " If Thomas Jefferson had a thousand lives, he deserves to be hung a thousand dif- ferent times as high asHaman." — Concord Gaz. 5 Feb. 1811. 3* so BIOGRAPIIV OF ISAAC HILL. readers should be favorably disappointed than that by his representations, they should be indu- ced to expect more than the result would actually justify. Hence, was produced a mutual confidence which tended to the advantage of both parties. — It would be well if editors would more generally attend to the operation of this principle. In September of this year, the election took place for representatives in congress. Prior to the election, twelve newspapers were actively em- ployed in the canvass, and these were distributed into every nook and corner of the State. Of these twelve, ten were federal, — democrats have always been remiss in not taking pattern from the enemy in this respect. The power of truth un- assisted is not always sufficient to counterbalance numbers, influence and momentary impulse. — Yet, notwithstanding the unparallelled exertions of the opposition and the discouraging situation of public affairs, two republicans were elected, and of the remainder of the candidates, there was no choice. In 1811, the March election resulted in a sig- nal triumph of the democratic party. It was placed, too, distinctly on the ground of peace or war. Mr. Hill, believing further negotiation use- less, and exasperated, in common with every good citizen, at the delays and prevarications of the British government, had long advocated a resort to arms as the only mean of preserving national honor. In April, he took his brother Walter Russell as his partner in business, and in an edit- orial address to his patrons, acknowledged with gratitude the unusual degree of public support BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 31 he had received, and the indulgence which had been manifested for the unintentional errors of youth and inexperience. During this period, he commenced, for the public benefit, a periodical publication of the debates in congress, on the in- teresting subjects which then engrossed the atten- tion of the National legislature. In 1812, Gov. Langdon declined a re-nomina- tion and William Plumer was supported by the republican party as his successor in office. This gentleman had been a federalist; but like Adams, Wolcott, Gray, Pinkney and other patriotic men, in the time of his country's peril, came manfully to her relief and of course found himself opposed by his former friends. The apostate traitor, the crafty lawyer was held up in bold relief in con- trast with their candidate, John Taylor Gilman ; a man who had been long a faithful servant of the people, and who, in his old age, however fallen, still could lay claim to the gratitude of the public for his long and patiotic services. These circum- stances operated to Mr. Plumer's disadvantage, and he was accordingly left, by an exceedingly close vote, in the minority. The state of parties was, however, clearly manifested by a return of a republican majority in both branches of the legis- lature, and there having been no choice between Plumer and Gilman, the latter having received a plurality only, the former was elected Governor in a legislative convention. Mr. Hill, during this violent party contest at home, at the time the new embargo law,^ the 'V. Appendix A. S2 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. hostile preparations which the state of the times demanded, and the disclosure of John Henry's traitorous correspondence, made every patriotic man tremble at the sense of his country's danger, wavered not from the cause, which, from his very infancy, he had been pledged to support. At length the long-expected Declaration arrived. Tnstead of a neutral, the country assumed the as- pect of a beligerent, and, as might have been expected, loud were the denunciations of the British party. The inconsistency which they had displayed by such a course ; — the very individuals who had reproached the government for pusillan- imity and boasting that it could not be kicked Into a war, now, in the loudest terms deprecating the measure which they had recommended, — and the motives of such conduct, were set forth by Mr. Hill as follows : " It were an endless task to notice all the ab- surdities and inconsistencies of the party which is making at the present moment so loud a hue and cry for peace. " Peace, Peace, Peace," continually sounds in our ears, as if there were a metrical charm in the word itself that would at once batter down the administration. " Six months ago these loud declaimers for peace called for more energy in the government — they accused the administration of cowardice — Mr. Quincy in Congress said the American gov- ernment '• could not be kicked into a war." The same men told us that if Congress would declare war against Great-Britain they would support it — but they never would support a " weak and pusil- lanimous administration." BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 33 "If the clamors of the federal faction were cal- culated to procure a speedy and honorable peace, they would be entitled to some praise. But only look at the thing. Not a man of the federal par- ty that cannot be made to acknowledge we have cause of war against Great-Britain. Now if we have cause, why ail this noise about it — why does this faction " cry aloud and spare not " against the government for having declared war ? For the same reason that they opposed the Embargo — for the same reason that they opposed the non- importation and non-intercourse acts — to invite fur- ther aggressions and encourage our enemy. If they wished for an honorable peace, the government has declared war to obtain it — and why not sup- port the government ? But no — they do not wish for honorable peace — that would make our nation prosperous and happy, and make all classes of people contented with their own government: hence the loud cry of the British faction for an inglorious peace, a peace with submission and de- gradation : the leaders of the British party know, if we obtain an honorable peace, their hopes are gone forever ; and hence they wish to protract our difficulties by charging them to the govern- ment, and impressing our enemies with a belief that they may do with us as they list, because we are a divided people. " The federalists say our government wishes for the destruction of commerce ; and to prove this point they adduce the embargo, non-inter- course and war. These they say were intended for the annihilation of commerce. We aver that that they were intended to foster and protect com 34 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. merce ; and had it not been for the treasonable opposition of the federal party, we have not a doubt tliat our commercial, neutral rights would long ago have been respected by the British. — But the violence of that opposition induced the Tenth Congress to abandon the Embargo. — Non- intercourse was substituted : this has produced a powerful effect on Great-Britain — it has produced a partial change in her Ministry, and a conditional revocation of her piratical Orders in Council. Non-intercourse has been followed by war, and we have nothing to fear but the unprincipled, the mad opposition of a few incendiaries who are protected in the bosom of our mild govcrnnient, that our commerce will be protected on the ocean. If we can calculate any thing from the effect our res- trictive measures have produced on Great-Britain, we may calculate with certainty that the mag- nanimous stand taken by our government will pro- duce all the effects anticipated. We want nothing more than justice — and justice we will have, if it is not prevented by the clamors of a faction whose aim it is to stab the vitals of our liberty, and make us forever subservient to Great-Britain. Our government is the friend of commerce : to defend commerce against the piracy of Great- Britain it has declared war. Those who oppose this war oppose commerce, and are its only ene- mies." At the present time, both of the great political parties claim, through their organs, to have sup- ported this war. But however universally does odium attach to the opponents of a war, now so generally believed to have been just and patriotic. BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 35 it is certain that at that period, the commencement of hostilities was attended with a momentary panic and revulsion in public feelings. The federalists took advantage of this inauspicious state of things. An election for members of congress and for electors of President was to take place in the autumn, and the important results that depended upon its decision justified recourse to ^extraordi- nary measures. They became all things to all men to effect their ends, and their efforts were attended with but too great success. They car- ried their ticket by a small majority, and sent to Congress a man who has since become the strong hold of New-England vvhiggism, but who was as noted then for political management as he has since been on a larger scale. The more violent of the federal leaders seem to have acted throughout this whole war, on the determination * To rule the nation if they could, But see it damned ere others should.' Early in the spring of 1813, they commenced their measures to preserve the ascendency they had gained. Their thorough organization by means of the Benevolent Societies, which sustain- ed a continued correspondence and inter-commu- nication and thus effected a regular and simulta- neous system of operations, was to them of the greatest advantage. The result of their endeavors was the election of their candidate Oilman, by a majority much less than that of the previous au- tumn. The editor of the Patriot, always moderate 36 BIOGRAPHY OF ISA.AC HILL. in his assertions, had not anticipated the triumph of his candidate, although he had been unremitted in his exertions to bring about so desirable an event. His paper had been, in 'the mean time, quietly gaining in the affections of his republican friends. In his yearly address, he states that his subscribers exceeded three thousand in number, and declares his confidence that no paper in that part of the country, was so generally patronized. The meeting of the Legislature this year will long be remembered by our citizens, for the vio- lence of its measures, and the confusion which they caused throughout the community. The Governor made a speech full of the most declam- atory matter against the Executive of the Union, and the majority of the legislature were not behind his Excellency in their denunciatory responses. — By a series of successful manoeuvres and artful management, a quondam, time-serving republican having first been elected and persuaded to decline, a violent federalist, one of the exiled trio that now grace the city of Boston, was sent to the United States Senate. But the most alarming measure was the attack made upon the Judiciary. To get rid of the Judg-es that then held their places upon the Supreme bench, constitutional scruples were overcome,the courts were entirely remodelled, the old ones abolished, Ex-Governor Smith receiving the appointment of Chief Justice, and thelateChief Justice Livermore, made one of his associates.— The Judges, who found themselves thus uncere- moniously dismissed from the service of the public, declared the law to be unconstitutional and held their Court in the usual manner. In several BIOGRAPHY OP ISAAC HILfc. 37 counties, where there were republican Sheriffs and Clerks, these officers obeyed the old court as the only constitutional and supreme tribunal ; in others, the new court vv^as recognized ; and in some, both setts of Judges attempted to occupy the same room at the same time. Inflammatory appeals were made to the public by both parties ; the course of justice was stayed and universal confusion prevailed in the community. Governor Gil man thought it necessary to convene an extra session of the legislature ; the refractory sheriffs were removed, and obedience to the authority of the new Judiciary enforced by legislative enact- ments. During all these party measures, intes- tine dissensions and national concerns, the pen of Mr. Hill was busily employed. The columns of liis paper were filled with judicious and power- fully-written articles upon the various subjects that then agitated the public mind. He was partic- ularly prominent in the bold stand which he took against the usurpations of the legislature and the violence of the Executive, and drew upon himself the full measure of their reprobation. In 1814, primary meetings were held in the respective counties and districts, by both parties, and active measures taken for the ensuing cam- paign. Mr. Hill was almost always called upon to act as Secretary of those conventions held in his own district. The same candidates were put in nomination, and the same result ensued. The federal candidate had a majority of about eight hundred. Had a fliir representation of the views of all the citizens been made, there is not a doubt that the republicans would have proved victorious. 4 88 BIOaRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. For at this very time, it is to be remembered, that there were absent from the State, several thous- ands of her brave sons fighting the battles of tlieir country ; all of whom, without a doubt, would have gone, heart and hand for the cause of de- mocracy at the ballot-box as well as in the field. It was in the early part of this year, that Dan- iel Webster, one of the representatives from New- Hampshire, made his celebrated, his eloquent speech, upon the Army Bill, on the floors of Con- gress. It abounded in violent denunciations of the Administration and its measures, and ridiculed the efforts and operations of our patriotic soldiery. It declared the war to be wicked and inglorious ; in 1806, the same man had said, in a public ora- tion, that ' America had sufficient cause for war with Great Britain.' This speech, which it has been thought prudent to omit in the late collec- tion of Mr. Webster's works, Mr. Hill attacked in his paper, and from the weak arguments and unpatriotic sentiments which it contained, extend- ed his remarks to the character of its author. — This was tlie first bitter pill of opposition that Mr. Webster was destined to receive in his own State, and to which, he so pathetically alluded on a late i>ublic occasion. At the meeting of the legislature in June 1814, it was discovered that three out of the five coun- sellors were returned republican. It became ab- solutely necessary to pick a flaw somewhere, in order to have the Executive branch of the gov- ernment, as well as the legislative, in federal hands. An illegality was supposed to have been discovered in the proceedings of the Portsmouth BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 39 town meeting. Daniel Webster was brought be- fore the legislature to demand, on this ground, the rejection of the votes, and the consequent expulsion from the council-board, of the venera- ble Elijah Hall, the coadjutor of Langdon and the companion-in-arms of Paul Jones. The votes were rejected, but when the election of a counsellor to fill the vacancy came before a con- vention of both houses, the consciences of a few would not allow them to assist in defeating the express will of the people, and Mr. Hall was le- gally elected by a majority of two votes. This result saved New-Hampshire from the disgrace of a participation in the Convention at Hartford, in December. It is well understood that Gover- nor Gilman urged the appointment or election of delegates to represent theState in that convention, and that it was only by the firmness of his repub- lican counsellors, that the measure was defeated. It may be said that these details have nothing to do with the life of Mr. Hill. Yet, that gentle- man's biography can hardly be accounted perfect, unless it contains some account of those meas- ures of public moment, the consideration of which engrossed his whole attention, and employed all his time ; which his efforts often materially affect- ed. We pass on. Many of the clergy had injudiciously taken a prominent part in the political disputes of the day ; had proclaimed the war from the pulpit aa unjust, unholy, favoring the cause of Anti-Christ. These denunciations were received by many as sa- cred, inspired ; and religious enthusiasm was thus made to combine with party machinery and tho 40 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. basest ambition, in clogging the wheels of gov- ernment and procuring disgrace to the country. The tone of the federal papers,tGo, at the close of I8I43 had reached the height of treasonable vio- lence.* Against all these powerful influences, was Mr.Ilill-, in his own State almost alone,called upon to struggle, and was a stone left unturned or an argument unanswered, his readers were dissatis- fied. A series of Essays, over the signature of A Layman, and entitled ' An Address to the Cler- gy, on their opposition to the Government,' un- derstood to have been from the pen of Gov. * The reader may be surprised to learn that such sen- timents as the following received the support and appro- bation of a large and powerful party in New-England : " My plan is to withhold our money and make a sep- arate peace." — Daily Advertiser. *' In times past, there have been much talk and loud menaces, but little action by the adherents of reform in New-England. Now, we shall hear little said and much done. — The plan is, to frame a new government. The new constitution is to go into operation as soon as two or three States shall have adopted it." — Federal Repub- lican. " New-England is unanimous and we announce our irrevocable decree, that the tyrannical oppression of those, who at present usurp the powers of the constitu- tion, is beyond endurance and we will resist it." — Bos- ion Ceniinel. *' We will begin the work of New-England independ- ence." — Ibid. The above are only specimens, selected only for their brevity. Long and elaborate essays were written in de- fence of a separation of the States. Many of the pub- lished Washington Benevolent orations were couched in ■till bolder language. Against such a desperate faction, did Mr. Hill find himself arrayed. BIOGRAPHY OP ISAAC lllLL. 41 Plumer, appeared in the Patriot, and were after- wards collected in a more durable form. Tt waa Mr. Hill's peculiar province to silence the objec- tions of cavillers, to expose the weakness of ar- gument where any argument was attempted ; to lay open the concealed malignity and treason of federal papers, and to encourage the drooping spirits of his friends. A venerable republican citizen of Concord, lately deceased, has been heard to declare, that Mr. Hill's paper was, in this war, of more essential service to the country than the combined efforts of a thousand soldiers. And, without doubt, the influence which he ex- erted upon public opinion, particularly in a State, where the opposition were so active, w^as of incal- culably greater importance in strengthening the sinews of government, than a mere array of phys- ical, military strength. In 1815, a society was formed in this State, under the name of ' The Friends of Union,' the object of which was chiefly to counteract in some measure, the' mischievous influence of the secret associations which disgraced the names of Wash- ington and Benevolence. Mr. Hill was chosen its secretary. This year is distinguished by the return of peace. Chittenden of Vermont, Strong in Massachusetts, and Jones in Rhode Island, ashamed of the part they had acted in thwarting the wishes and nullifying the efforts of the general government, or fearing the reprobation of the peo- ple, thought it prudent voluntarily to decline being considered as candidates for the gubernatorial chair at the ensuing election. In our own State, Mr. Oilman, probably actuated by similar motivea, 4* 42 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HfLL* was wise enough to follow their example. Great difficulty was experienced by the federalists in bringing- forward a suitable person for his succes- sor. Dr. Goddard, a recreant democrat, was at first nominated, but he declined ; Judge Farrar was then named as a candidate, but was after- wards withdrawn, and finally, after many fruitless attempts, James Sheafe of Portsmouth was fixed upon as the last hope of the party. But in vain ; the sun of their ascendancy was eclipsed ; the dynasty was overthrown, and has ne.ver since succeeded in establishing itself upon the down- fall of democracy in New-Hampshire. Plumer, the republican candidate, was known to be a man of genuine talents. Sheafe possessed no such recommendation, and it operated much to the dis- advantage of his friends, whose politics were sup- posed to be identified with those of their candi- date, that the original document was lodged in the office 4f«^he, "Secretary of State, which prov- ed that he had been obliged to give bonds, during the Revolution, to save himself from imprison- ment as a tory. Mr. Hill published this instru^ ment and used the most strenuous exertions to effect a revolution in the politics of, the State. — His efforts were, at the succeeding spring elec- tion, crowned with complete success. In August 1815, Mr. Hill's name appeared once more upon his paper, as sole editor and publisher, the partnership which had heretofore existed be- tween him and his brother, having been dissolv- ed. It was in this year that the Dartmouth College controversy commenced. It was continued, as BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 43 all will remember, with the greatest acrimony ; the most intense interest was excited throughout this State and Vermont at every scrap of fact or argument on the subject ; men who had never before been found among the advocates or oppo- nents of the interests of literature, now took sides and zealously prepared for the contest. It is by no means our intention to enter into the de- tails of this unfortunate controversy. Suffice it to say, that Mr. Hill's paper took the lead in the opposition to the proceedings of the old trustees and more than one half of its editorial matter from this time to the year 1819, relates to this, then the all-absorbing topic. It is known that the grounds which Mr. Hill had taken, were gen- erally approved ; that the legislature of New- Hampshire remodelled the institution so as to make it and its officers conform to the general o- pinion ; that the college appealed to the Sirperior Court by whom it was decided that the act of the legislature was constitutional ; and that a further appeal was thence made to the Supreme Judicial Court of the United States, where this decision was promptly reversed, the law remodelling the college, declared unconstitutional and the institu- tion again established in statu quo ante helium. It fell to Mr. HilFs lot to make severe animad- versions upon the conduct and speeches of Dan- iel Webster, the chief champion of the college, and it is owing in the main to his subsequent ex- ertions that the real political character of that great orator, is so well understood in his native State. In the spring of 1816, as has been before men- 44 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC llIl.L. tioned, a complete revolution was effected in the politics of the State. The election was put mainly on the ground of religious freedom. A species of sectarian intolerance, certainly not the native growth of the soil, had nevertheless taken deep root in New-Hampshire. It was, to some extent, fostered by law ; every citizen, whatever might be his own tenets, being obliged to furnish liis quota towards the support of some religious teacher in the town where he resided. The ten- dency of such a law was to legalize many acts of individual injustice, and to throw great power into the hands of the predominant sect ; and the conduct of many clergymen, during and sub- sequent to the war, seemed to show that they felt fully the political importance which the law had given them, and which did not naturally at- tach to their ministerial functions. In several instances these worthy preachers of the gospel actually prosecuted for their iylhes with an over- bearing insolence that any Irish Catholic priest might have envied, and recovered heavy sums in the courts of law. The grievance at length be- came intolerable. Mr. Hill, as might naturally have been inferred from his previous lite, was foremost in his denunciations of such a system, than which nothing can be imagined more repug- nant to the spirit of our institutions. His oppo- sition to the old trustees of Dartmouth College, might, in some degree, have been prompted by the supposition that they, as well as the federal party generally, were active in sustaining this o- dious species of intolerance. Gov. Plumer received a greater vote than had BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 45 ever before been cast in the State for any one candidate. In the senate there were eight repub- licans and in the other branches of the govern- ment, a proportionable preponderancy. In the Governor's Message, a reduction of salaries, the passage of a Toleration law, the revocation of the charter of Dartmouth College, and a remod- elling of the Judiciary, were the principal meas- ures recommended to the action of the legisla- ture. They were all supported by Mr. Hill. — But the consideration of the Toleration law was, by some management, procured to be postponed. Dartmouth University was founded on the ruins of the old college, and Gov. Gilman's Judiciary exchanged for a new system. Of the appoint- ments made under the last-named act, a large minority belonged to the opposite party ; evincing a candor and moderation, the more to be recom- mended, because so rarely met with in a party, which, after a long struggle, at last finds itself in an overwhelming majority. In the fall of 1816, came on the most impor- tant election, in which freemen can be called to participate. It was to select a ticket of electors for the choice of President and Vice President. The election of members to congress was fixed at the same time. The federalists had never en- tirely lost all hopes of regaining their former as- cendancy. They saw the present to be a favor- able opportunity, and their efforts equalled those of former times. Each party proposed its strong- est men, and every editor entered zealously into or the parting BIOGRAPHY OP ISAAC HILL. 69 advice of the sage of Mont-Vernon. Active as he had been in the promotion of every constitu- tional scheme of improving the internal resour- ces of our country, he did not consider it repub- lican, constitutional or politic, to convert the mo- ney of the whole nation to the aggrandisement or the improvement of particular sections. Hence, he early and actively engaged in the opposition to Mr. Adams. The same principles which he sup- ported in the columns of his paper, found a zeal- ous advocate in the national senate, in the person of Judge Woodbury, who was now more than ever obnosious to the administration party. But Mr. Hill was not long allowed to persevere in the bold and decided stand which he had taken, without experiencing the effects of the malice of those whom he opposed. The public printing v^hich he had long enjoyed was taken from him by Mr. Secretary Clay and given to the New- Hampshire Journal, a paper which had just been commenced, had only a limited circulation, and whose talented editor, the brother-in-law and for- mer partner of Mr. Hill, now became his most uncompromising opponent. The amount of this patronage, which was taken from him by such a summary act, was indeed but trifling, and in the prosperous state of Mr. Hill's affairs, had no effect upon the circulation of his paper, or his own wel- fare ; yet Mr. Hill could not but regard it as an attempt at proscription and as a manifestation of the treatment he had to expect from his political opponents, whenever it should be in their power to injure him. Me had the consolation, however, of the approhaAion of hia friends, in the courie 70 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. which he had taken ; and knowing that he was beloved of the people, such petty attacks could only excite a smile of contempt. There is an Eastern saying, " If the moon be with thee, thou needest not care for the stars." Hence, he was above being affected by the exclusive, the perse- cuting policy which the administration party ev- er adopted, whenever for a moment, they had it in their power to exercise a little brief author- ity. In 1827, Mr. Hill once more received the re- publican nomination for senator in the State leg- islature from district No. Four. Unparallelled exertions were made to secure his defeat. Such an event was confidently anticipated by the oppo- sition — their measures had been laid with such skill and secresy, that they were certain of suc- cess. On the day before the election, a new can- didate, a man of talents and influence, was nom- inated in opposition to the editor of the Patriot, and runners sent throughout the district to dis- tribute the tickets and drill every man to his duty. Yet, was Mr. Hill chosen by a majority greater than any of his predecessors in office had ever received, when their election had been contested. A better evidence of his popularity with those who knew him best, could not have been given. The Presidential contest was fiercely waged this year, throughout New-England. Every man exerted all his influence with a devotedness that seemed to say that the existence of the country depended upon his individual exertions. The editor of the New-Hampshire Patriot was recog- nized as the leader of the oppositien or Jackson BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 71 party in this section of the Union. His paper teemed with argument and sarcasm ; the produc- tions of his own pen and the contributions of friends supplied him with matter such as every republican was anxious to read. In proportion as the value of his exertions began to be appre- ciated by the friends of democracy generally, did the abuse with which he had always been unspar- ingly visited, increase in virulence. Not only was his public course arraigned before the bar of general condemnation, but his private character was traduced, and a selfish motive discovered in every, the most benevolent act of his life or ami- able trait in his character. It is never pleasant to have one's conduct judged by the green eye of jealousy or the gangrene of political or personal malice, and few men ever came forth from the fiery ordeal so pure as did Mr. Hill. The more he was abused, the more obstinately did the re- publicans resolve upon shewing him honor, and the only way to render him an object of indiffer- ence to the people of this State, will be to cease those unmerited, groundless attacks, which have redounded, in the end, to his own honor, and have put his accusers to the blush. Mr. Hill, while he did not suffer his whole time to be employed in answering and re-answering every stale slander that was adduced against him, adopted always the principle, conscious of his ability to do so, to refute with promptness every charge, which, from its nature or the source from which it orig- inated, might tend to injure his reputation or les- sen his credit. Although his friends might not believe the accusation, yet they might think hii 73 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. silence an unfavorable indication. The Egyp- tians have a proberb, « Throw mud against the wall, and if do not stick, it will leave a mark.' The Secretary of State of New-Hampshire, adopting the petty, miserable policy of a higher dignitary, was this year pleased to withdraw the State printing from Mr. Hill and transfer it to the Journal. No reason was assigned, because per- haps too obvious ; but the worst feature of the business was the refusal of the Secretary to allow Mr. Hill an opportunity to publish the laws of the State for nothing, simultaneously with the favor- ed print. None of these things moved Mr. Hill. He addressed to the Secretary a temperate letter, to which he received no reply. When the charge of inconsistency was brought against him for denouncing the course of Mr. Bell in the Federal Senate, Mr. Hill replied by show- ing that it was Mr. Bell who had changed his opinions, and who supported measures which he had denounced when Governor of the State and a favorite of Mr. Hill. He proved these things from the messages of Gov. Bell. In them, His Excellency had declared national appropriations for internal improvements, a " construction of the constitution wholly unwarranted" — the Senator now considered the system constitutional aud pol- itic. So of the rest ; — and had Mr. Hill changed ? He could only say that he entertained the same opinions upon all the topics of national interest, then under discussion, as he had expressed in 1819, when he agreed with Mr. Bell and gave him his hearty support. It W&3 likewise busily and maliciously reported BIOGRAPHY or ISAAC HILL. 73 that Mr. Hill was at times insane, and some even affected to pity him for the tinge of madness which characterised his writings. Mr. Hill once took occasion to notice this tale ; "There is," said he, "an Almighty Power who tempers the wind to the shorn lamb, who will preserve us from such a calamity, and who will not suffer our intellectual vision to be dimmed until our work shall be ac- complished. We have faith to persevere in a righteous cause, confident that cause will be pros- pered." IVIany of the old republicans in New-Hamp- shire had preferred Mr. Adams in 1824, to any of his rival candidates. Many of them still cleav- ed to his fortunes, while a large number once more returned to the democratic ranks ; disap- proving the favorite measures of the candidate they had helped to elect, and disgusted with the persecuting spirit of their new associates. Mr. Hill's views of the momentous questions involved in the decision of the Presidential question, . are well expressed in the following article from his pen : '' The editor of the Patriot commenced this paper nearly nineteen years ago during the dark and porten- tous period which preceded the late war with Great Britain. He commenced it, not with the expectation of the gain of filthy lucre, not with the expectation of getting to himself the honors or emoluments of office, but with the hope that he should render a feeble support to those Principles in which are involved the rights and liberties and best interest of the people* In his progress thus far, he has not always trod the smoothest and easiest road : with a single view to the cause in which he was engaged, he has frequently encountered rough and rugged paths, the thorns and thongs of aristoc- 7 74 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC IIlLL. racy on the one hand, and the cold and thankless indif- ference of men who thought there was nothing worth contending for in that cause, no great difference between the friends and the enemies of the country, on the other. He has not stopped to inquire which ^^•ouid be the pop- ular side Avhich course would meet with most favor of the largest number of great men ; but having ascer- tained what would best subserve the great and cardinal principles always kept in view, he has not feared to en- counter, in the support of the right side, the obloquy and the reproaches of men v/ho are always brave and valiant wliere there is no danger. The last and the present Presidential controversy has brought into action many of that valiant class of poli- ticians just hinted at — it has revived the old spirit of the federal party, awakened that party to new hopes, and kindled again that fire of persecution and prosci-ip- tion which was always the strong characteristic of that party. New-England feelings and New-England prej- udices are again appealed to, for no other purpose than to bring a second time the aristocratic party into power. We very early foresaw that this was the great object of many of the New-England men who first espoused the cause of Mr. Adams : v/e saw that they had this object in view when they first contended so strenuously a- gainst all agreement and concert among republicans in the choice of President : we saw it, as the election pro- gressed to that state which showed that the House of Representatives, pre-determining that the people should not elect, intended to give the final choice to a minority of their own body : we saw it in the first movements and appointments of an Executive^ thus elected, claim- ing t6 be the administration ; and we have seen it in ev- ery subsequent movement and measure of a Cabinet whose great business since its first organization, seems to have been that of forcing public opinion to the pledge that the Cabinet should be continued in power after its first term had expired. If we have taken ground in opposition to this Cabinet, it was not because Ave ex- pected our cause vv^oald be a popular one in New-Eng- land, it was not that we could entertain a hope that ours would not be a thorny and a disagreeable path ; but it was because we considered that there was a right side BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. IB ^nd a wrong- side to this qaestion, and we were deter- mined to take what we deemed to be the right side, regardless of consequences, regardless of the frowns and the dispieasnre of men who commanded an immense patronage w^hich they could w^ield against us. Thus far, we have been happily disappointed in the effect and the results of this struggle in New-Hamp- shire. The great ma^ss of the democratic party are fast getting upon their old ground, from which they will not be driven. The violence of the administration and its agents is fast opening the eyes of the people. The more candid men of the federal party already admit that there may be a majority of this State opposed to the re-election of Mr. Adams ; and every attempt of the " Great New-England Adams party " to take this State into its keeping by force has resulted in utter dis- comfiture . In many sections of the State the people are already aroused by the violence and proscription which has been threatened. And, at present, we have no doubt that, by due vigilance and energy, the Demo- cratic Party will pass the fiery trial through which their old enemy is forcing them, unscathed and un- hurt." At the se.s3ion of the legislature in 1827, Mr. Hill was chairman of the committee of the Sen- ate on schools and seminaries of learning, and a member of the committee on banks. In his first capacity, he reported a bill for the establishment of the New-Hampshire University ; an institution to be supported by the avails of the Literary Fund, and to be under the control of the State. The measure was not adopted, but a different disposition of tl^e Literary Fund has been made. At the legislative caucus. Gov. Pierce was again nominated for the executive chair. In 1828, on the ever memorable eighth of Jan- uary, the republicans of New-Hampshire held a festival at Concord to commemorate the great 76 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL, victory, which must ever be associated with tlie return of that anniversary. A larger assmblage of rejoicing freemen has never been witnessed in the capital of the Granite State, save on one or two similar occasions. Mr. Hill was selected to deliver the Address to this great auditory. — The duty was ably performed. The orator com- menced by alluding to the great principles for which the war of the revolution was declared ; he showed how those principles were established ; he showed how prosperous our country had be- come, prior to the late war with Great Britain. — He briefly alluded to the causes of that war, and then entered upon an historical sketch of the great chain of events whose final consummation in the victory of New-Orleans, his auditors were then called together to celebrate. He gave a brief history of the prominent events of the life of vicissitudes which Gen. Jackson had endured, and from his services and the principles he had contended for, he passed to a summary of the life of Mr. Adams ; his numerous treasons com- mitted against every party ; the principles in which he had been nurtured, and the measures, which, in his Executive capacity, he had advocat- ed. The address was plain and practical ; such an one as was calculated to instruct, to please, and to make a lasting impression. The conclusion is elsewhere given.^ Mr. Hill was re-nominated to the senate. A- gain, was every nerve strained against him. His own paper, the only republican paper in the dis- See Appendix D. filOGRA'PHY OF ISAAC HILL. 77 trict, the opposition, inflamed by numerous defeats and having at their command two presses, whence were thrown off every species of abuse, which partizan malignity or personal hatred could dic- tate, were successful, not only in this senatorial district, but throughout the State. This result, many causes combined to produce. As in 1814, the continual cries, together with the underhand machinery of a united and talented opposition, produced a temporary reaction in the public mind. There seemed to exist a feeling that violence would be committed against the rights of the Presidential incumbent, were he permitted to serve but one constitutional term. The letter of an honorable senator in congress, who knowingly and deliberately committed the falsehood of wri- ting home from the seat of government to the political gamblers of the State he represented, that the venerable ex-presidents, Madison and Monroe had consented to stand as electors in op- position to Gen Jackson, exerted its full effect in defeating the real favorite of the people and pla- cing a brother of the letter-writer in the guber- natorial chair. To secure the defeat of Mr. Hill, an object ap- parently of greater moment to the federal party than the victory of their candidate for the chief magistracy, the greatest exertions were used, and every measure, however unprincipled, unhesita- tingly adopted. Garbled extracts, such as every file-thumber can collect, were made from ancient numbers of the Patriot, showing what were called his deliberate opinions of Mr. Bell, Mr. Adams and others, by republishing the occasional senten- r. 78 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL, ces in which Mr. H. had formerly alluded to those gentlemen, when they acted with the republican party, and when they co-operated with him in opposition to federal misrule, and the toryism of 1814. These extracts were carefully collated, used as texts for bitter comments, published in pamphlet form, and made to travel, under the ti- tle of *' Wise Sayings of Hon. Isaac Hill," into every hamlet of the country, as damning proofs of inconsistency and insincerity.''^ By such means as these, did Mr. Hill lose his election ; the first time that he ever experienced defeat for any elective office, for which he was a candi- date. Throughout the year 1828, as every one re- members, the whole country was convulsed by the political contest that was then waged. Nei- ther time, labor or money was spared by either party. Newspapers sprang into existence like the magic creations of the lamp of Aladdin, and old establishments poured forth their redundant matter in teeming extras. In New-Hampshire, the struggle was peculiarly violent. Fresh as must be the particulars of this contest, in the minds of our citizens, it is not our purpose to en- large upon them. Suffice it to say, that Mr. Hill's paper was almost entirely filled with topics of na- tional interest ; that whilst he maintained abroad, a high character for talents and perseverance, he was obliged to contend with a bitter, uncompro- mising foe at home. Coffin-handbills, monumen- tal inscriptions, and other hideous, ghastly shapes, * See Appendix E. BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 79 apparently just fresh from the Golgotha of dry- bones, were thrown into every farmers's house in the land, to prejudice the honest puritan a- gainst the coldblooded murderer of poor John Woods and his five innocent fellow-soldiers, the heartless traitor and fellow-conspirator with Burr, or the parricide who could wantonly imbue his hands in the blood of his own kinsmen. Such was the opposition that Mr. Hill had to contend with ; such the unprincipled measures which he was called upon to expose. ^ In June, a grand republican State Convention was held at Concord to take measures relative to the ensuing Presidential election. Primary meet- ings of the people in every part of the State were here represented, and an interchange of views and opinions effected, highly conducive to unan- imity of action. Candidates for Governor, Elec- tors and Members of Congress were fixed upon. Isaac Hill was a delegate from Concord. He was chosen chairman of a committee of correspond- ence, and also chairman of a committee to pre- pare an address to the people. In that capacity, he reported a lengthy and interesting document, in which he reviewed with a masterly hand, the acts and measures of the administration, and the character of its supporters. We could not do it justice by any extracts we could make. Every branch of the government was anti-dem- ocratic, and an entire revolution was effected in the public officers. A senator in congress was chosen by this legislature. Mr. Hill received the republican suffrages, but Mr. Bell was elected by a vote of 133 to 82 ; a result agreeing with the 80 BIOGRAPHY OP ISAAC HILL, situation of parties in the legislature. It was on this occasion, that Mr. Bell gave, in a public speech, his solemn engagement to resign his of- fice, whenever he should cease to represent a majority of his constituents. It is well known that this pledge was never redeemed, and that Mr. Bell clung to his place in the Senate, mis- representing the wishes and the opinions of the people of New-Hampshire, and disregarding their oft-repeated requests for him to vacate his seat, till the last moment of his constitutional term. On the fourth of July of this year, Mr. Hill de- livered an oration before the republicans of Ports- mouth. In the autumn, the fiat of the people decided the great question which had so long agitated the community. Their voice loudly proclaimed their determination that a weak and unprincipled administration was unworthy of their support. New-Hampshire gave her electoral vote for Adams, but the people of the Union de- clared for the patriot-soldier who had filled the measure of his country's glory. In January, 1829, a primary meeting of the republican electors of the senatorial district No. 4, again nominated Mr. Hill and resolved to give him their united, hearty support. Mr. Hill declin- ed and another gentleman received the nomina- tion and was elected. Indeed, throughout the State, the people rose up, as if actuated by one common sentiment and threw off the shackles which had been imposed upon them. The men, whom, through deception and chicanery, they had been induced to support, after a twelve months' BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL, 81 butterfly existence under the honors and emolu- ments of office, were permitted to retire to pri- vate life, and the revolutionary patriot Pierce was again called to the chief magistracy, with repub- lican associates in every branch of the govern- ment. Those who had the preceding year, been proscribed for their unyielding republicanism, were replaced in the stations which they had lost, not forfeited. ->-., Mr. Hill, this year, forwarded to Washington a petition of the people of Portsmouth, accompanied With a letter of his own, complaining of oppres- sion on the part of the Branch Bank of the Uni- ted States in Portsmouth, and praying for redress. Mr. Biddle justified the Bank, and entered into an argument to disprove the existence of fraud or oppression. This, we have been told by a distinguished statesman, was in reality, the com- mencement of the struggle between the demo- cratic party and the directors of the Bank — it did not originate in their refusal to lend Gen. Jack- son money without responsible endorsers, or in their declining to become the agents of govern- mental corruption — to this petition and the ac- companying letter, is alone to be attributed the downfall of the Bank. — -^ Mr. Hill passed the latter part of the winter and the spring at Washington. Gen. Jackson was desirous of bestowing upon him some office which might serve to indicate his feelings towards him, and to prove the reality of his opinions of the eminent services which Mr. Hill had ever been, even from the time of the Embargo, ren- dering to the cause of republicanism. He there 82 mOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. fore, almost immediately after his inauguration, tendered to Mr. Hill the responsible office of Se- cond Comptroller of the Treasury Department. Mr. Hill accepted the appointment and entered upon the duties of his office* on the twenty-first of March. Retiring from the editorial chair of the New-Hampshire Patriot, which he had so ac- ceptably and ably filled for thirty years, during which time, he had invariably been found on the side of republicanism, that paper appeared with the names of Ploratio Hill & Co. as publishers. Mr. Hill commenced the reform which had been demanded by the people in tones whose meaning could not be misunderstood, by returning and or- dering the discontinuance of the great number of newspaper^ that it had been the custom of his predecessor to receive at the^ expense of the gov- ernment. This act brought upon him the personal hatred of those editors whose publications he had * The duties of the Second Comptroller are to ex- amine all accounts settled by the Secondj Third and Fourth Auditors, certify the balance to the Secretary of the Department, in which the expenditures have been incurred ; countersign all requisitions drawn by the Secretaries of the War and Navy Departments, warranted by law ; report to the Secretaries the official forms to be used in the different offices for distributing the jjubhc money in those Departments, and the man- ner and form of keeping and stating the accovmts of the persons omjdoyed therein. It is also his duty to superintend the preservation of the public accounts sul)ject to his revision. The salary of the Second Comptroller is three thou- sand dollars per annum, and he has the appointment of eight clerks, whose salaries vary from ten to seveWiteen hundred dollars. BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL, 83 refused to receive, as well as the unsparing abuse of the whole kennel of disappointed political managers who had found themselves left far in the background by the result of the general elec- tion. Their aristocratic feelin^^s, too, were strongly excited by this appointment. They could not bear in patience, the idea, that a com- mon printer and a self-educated man should be elevated to a post of honor and emolunsent, where he could not but be a prominent object before the people of the country ; and as such, could not fail to impress the public with favorable opinions of himself, his motives and measures. The printer and editor Hill, and the schoolmaster and editor Kendall, both enterprising sons of dear Yankee iaiid,were especially eye-sores in the sight of this exclusive aristocracy. Throughout the year was Mr. Hill doomed to be- come the passive recipient and unyielding object of the vile slanders of a vile press. It seemed that the very gall of bitterness which had been accumu- lating against him ever since the commencement of his editorial career, by those whose mischiev- ous doctrines he had exposed and whose meas- ures he had contributed to defeat, was now to be poured out unsparingly upon his devoted head. — Mr. Hill, himself inactive, pursued quietly the even tenor of his way, turned not to the right hand or to the left to refute the base and self-an- swering charges alleged against him, and, by his steady, persevering attention to the business of his office, the capacity for business and the almost intuitive knowledge which he evinced of the routine of duties attached to his station, secured 84 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC MiLt. to him the respect and admiration of all who had occasion to deal with him in his official character. He had friends, however, who, unwilling to see an amiable man, and a worthy public officer, tra- duced with impunity, zealously took up the gaunt- let in his behalf, and compelled his enemies, either to retract their accusations, or by silence, ac- knowledge their falsehood. Mr. Hill's private affairs requiring a short visit to the place of his former residence, he sought and obtained of the President leave of absence and visited Concord. His business, which had been for thirty years graduall}'' increasing and enlarging itself, he was now obliged to close. It was likewise his wish to obtain a permanent ed- itor for the Patriot ; a man who should in some measure, fill the place which he had formerly held in the affections of the people of New- Hampshire. His visit to Concord was made in June ; hence, the sagacious observers who were always so cunning as to suspect duplicity and management, where none existed save in their own hearts, conceived his object to be to dictate to the legislature and oblige them to conform themselves to his sovereign will. A State Convention was, as usualj held at Con- cord, during the session, for the nomination of candidates and other measures necessary to sus- tain the organization of the democratic party. — This large and respectable convention, collected from all parts of the State, took occasion, before their separation, to make a public expression of their sense of the important services which Mr. Hill had rendered to the republican cause. — BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL, S5 This was done in a manner so happy, so flatter- ing- and so appropriate, as coming from the rep- resentatives of a State, with whose politics he had long been identified, that we cannot refrain from inserting the proceedings at length. On motion, the Hon. John Chadwick, Horace Chase, Peter Sweatt^ Squire B. Hascall, Joseph Hammons, Samuel Tilton, Warren Lovell, John Quimby, Abner B. Kelly and Ebenezer Butler, Esquires, were ap- pointed a committee to wait on the Hon. Isaac Hill and in behalf of this Convention tender him their most cordial and decided approbation of the course he has uniformly pursued in support of the republican cause, and express also their regret that he is about to leave the State. Pursuant to said app6intment, the follow^ing commu- nication was addressed to him : ADDRESS. THE HONORABLE ISAAC HILL : Sir — The Democratic Republican members of the State Legislature assembled in convention, June 23, 1829, appointed the undersigned a committee to convey to you their cordial and unqualified approbation of your political course — for the able and independent support you have for more than twenty years rendered to the cause of Democratic Republicanism in this State, and also for the indefatigable and never-tiring zeal mani- fested by you in defence of the rights and sovereignty of the people . And although their kind feelings towards you have been highly gratified by your appointment to a high and responsible office, recently conferred on you by the government of the United States, and notwith- standing they heartily rejoice that you are about to re- ceive the reward your talents, integrity and faithful services so justly merit; yet these feelings are not un- mingled with regret while reflecting on your necessary absence from the State, and while taking leave of a 8 86 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. citizen who has ever enjoyed the fullest confidence oi tlie Republican party. Be pleased, sir, to accept assurances of our unfeigned esteem and respect. JOHN CHAD WICK, HORACE CHASE, WARREN LOVELL, PETER SWEATT, SQUIRE B. HASCALL, JOSEPH HAMMONS, SAMUEL TILTON, JOHN QUIMBY. EBENEZER BUTLER, ABNER B. KELLY. Concord, June 24, 1829. To which he made the following reply : ANSWER. To the Hon. John Chadiinck, Horace Chase, Warren Lot)- ell, Peter Siceatt, Squire B. Hascall, Joseph HaimnonSy Samuel Til ton, John Qiumby, Ebcnezer Butler and Ahner B. Kelly, Esquires. Gentlemen : About to leave the State in the tempo- rary service to which I have been called by the President at the seatof the National Government, no circumstance can give me greater pleasure than to carry with me the kind feelings and the approbation of the republicans of New-Hampshire. In reviewing the past, what man of active life before the public, can look back without seeing sometliing in himself to regret .'' What man, incessantly engaged in the political controversies of the last twenty years, who may not have discovered at times perhaps an imprudent zeal, and at other times have mistaken the character and motives of men .'' With no claims to an exemption from the frailties incident to human nature, my higliest am- bition is gratified by the award of honest and upright intentions, bestowed by you, gentlemen, in behalf of the Representatives of the Democracy of the State of New- Hampshire in its Legislature. Through all political vicissitudes, from the first great BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 57 division of federalist and republican inl798 down to the present time, parties in this State have remained the same ; individuals only have changed as some have passed off, while others have come upon the stage, and a few time servers and trimmers, generally for the sake of preferment, have changed from one side to the other. It is a fact worthy of remark, that nearly every town in this State which warmly supported the reign of the first Adams, supported the Administration of the second Ad- ams, and those which espoused the cause and the prin- ciples of Jefferson in 17'J8, supported the election of Andrew Jackson thirty years afterwards. So also the towns which have this year chosen democratic repre- sentatives and given our patriotic Governor majorities, are the same towns which gave our first democratic Gov- ernor majorities. The identity of character in the two parties may be traced all the way through our political history. The federal, or aristocratic party has been invariably intole- rant, supercilious, overbearing and exclusive. The re- publican, or democratic party has been generous even to a fault toward their political enemies. The conse- quence has been that the commencement of the present National and State administrations found most of the offices under both in the hands of the aristocracy. Al- though this aristocracy, after its discomfiture in 1816, had proclaimed an oblivion of parties, yet the victory obtained over the people by bargain and intrigue, in the Presidential election of 1824, and the consequent acces- sion of a corrupt administration to power, revived at once their old intolerance and bitterness. In this State every moveable man in any office who acted as a repub- lican was displaced. And now that the republicans, again reinstated in power by the people, protect them- selves by removing some of the most violent and intol- erant of their enemies from office, replacing their friends in their old positions, or appointing others who have encountered oppression in its worst form, the exclusive party who were never known to tolerate any political opponent, raise and reiterate the cry of persecution and proscription at every removal that takes place. It is worthy of observation, that at least two thirds of the of- fices of profit at the seat of the National Government, 8» BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. after the removals thus far made, are still held by per- sons who were opposed to the election of Gen. Jackson, and the same may be said of the officers under our own State government. If ever there was a time when a republican adminis- tration could be justified in removing its enemies from office, that time is the present. So far as the people could express an opinion on this subject, that opinion has been decisively in favor of such removals. Our political enemies, anticipating that they deserved it, put the late elections on this ground : — they chose to run the risque of either engrossing the whole power to themselves or of losing it, rather than that we should have any favor — they chose an exclusive course ; and if we do not now take them at their word, we shall show that we are willing to place weapons in their hands with which they may destroy us — we shall show that we de- serve all their reproaches, and that we deserve no com- miseration if the serpent warmed in our own bosom stings us to death. The aristocratic party, in conducting the late elec- tions, have also provoked retaliation by the most prof- ligate and abandoned course of electioneering : the most unheard-of calumny and abuse was heaped on the can- didate of the people, sanctioned by men high in author- ity — he was called by every epithet which could desig- nate crime, and the amiable partner of his bosom was dragged before the people as worse than a convicted fe- lon. What sympathy do men of such a party deserve — what sympathy can they receive, when complaining that the places which they have abused are given to others '? The political conflicts of the last twenty years in this State have been a contention for absolute and exclusive control by the federalists, and for equality of rights and toleration by tlie republicans. The former have shewn no mercy, and have treated their opponents as usurpers in office ; the latter have always given their opponents more than their proportion of offices accord- ing to numbers. The war has been unequal — it has been offensive on one side, and defensive on the other. And so habitual has become the kind treatment of re- publicans towards the federalists, that after the latter BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 89 liave waged a Puiiic war and been beaten and prostrated, they have at length the hardihood to come in at once and claim anew that equal distribution which they have been wont to receive, and to arm themselves again with the same offensive weapons which have been repeatedly wrested from them. This course, although it may do great credit to the humanity of republicans, is, to say the least, of doubtful policy : it may be laudable and magnanimous, once or twice to try such an experiment ; but when each experiment has repeatedly failed, to the disadvantage of the majority, it is surely bad policy to continue its repetition. One bad effect of the policy pursued by republicans has been the acquisition to their ranks in the heyday of their prosperity of all that class of politicians who love the honors and emoluments of office better than the public interest : these men, always intending to be on the strongest side, are sure to be found in the ranks of our enemies at all dark and gloomy periods. The re- publican ascendency in this State was prostrated in the time of the embargo of 1808, by the influence of these men ; and to the influence of the same men does our State owe the triumphsof the Hartford Convention par- ty during the trying years of ]813 — 14 and '15. So strong and self sufficient had the same class of men be- come, at the commencement of Mr. Adams' late admin- istration, that they even essayed to lead the entire body of the republicans and lay them bound at the feet of the aristocracy ! To fight or die was the only alternative of the repub- lican party. In this State they have nobly contended — they contended with their old political adversaries, when nearly every man claiming to be a political leader went over to the enemy. The enemy with the new recruit of leaders have been routed and beaten : what favors have the republicans now to ask of them — what favors can those men bestow who have sold themselves to our political enemies ? The Republican Yeomanry of New- Hampshire have been the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night which it has always been safe to follow. With these it has ever been my pleasure and my pride to act on every great question of National politics : their names have 8* 90 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. been constantly before me as my staff and my support — these, ninety-nine cases in every hundred, have con- tinued true to principle and to patriotism. From the ranks of these liave proceeded those who have covered the Nation with glory in the tented field : these are safe politicians, safe defenders and safe friends. It fills the measure of my regret to leave such friends — may 1 hope, NOT FOREVER ! 1 am, gentlemen, with great respect. Your friend and obedient servant, ISAAC HILL. Concord, June 25, 1829. The first number of the New-Hampshire Pat- riot, under the editorial conduct of its present editor, was issued on the ninth of July, 1829. After tarrying a few weeks at Concord, and after placing his affairs in a proper train for final adjustment, Mr. Hill returned to Washington, and entered with renewed ardor and with his characteristic industry, upon the duties of his of- fice. But all his attention to business, his with- drawal from any participation in petty political struggles, his correct and gentlemanly deport- ment, his exertions to give no one just cause of offence where all were watching him, anxious to seize upon the slightest error that might be made an excuse for renewed denunciations, could not shield him from tlie calumny of personal and po- litical opponents. The same, oft-repeated, idle stories were reiterated through the columns of every opposition print in the Union. It was very evident that he had been expressly marked out as an individual on whom to wreak their ven- geance for the failure of their schemes. He was denounced as insignificant and odious ; odious, without doubt, to those who applied these epithets, BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HiLL. 91 but insignificant he could not be called who had totally prostrated a thoroughly organized major- ity in New-Hampshire, and had paralysed the ef- forts of the opposition throughout New-England. That opposition had the baseness even to reproach him with his personal deformity ; as though ca- lamities inflicted by the hand of heaven, could be imputed to the unfortunate sufferer, as a crime. An incident occurred in the autumn of 1829, which is connected with the history of Mr. Hill, and which, at that time, created great excitement throughout the State. Timothy Upham of Ports- mouth, who had been an officer in the late war, and under Mr. Adams, collector of the port of Portsmouth, was nominated by the opposition party as a candidate for the chief magistracy of of the State. Col. Barton, the editor of the Patriot, conceived that he could obtain documents that would indubitably establish a fact which, in the eye's of the law-loving puritans of New-Eng- land, would not redound greatly to the honor of Gen. Uphara. In short, he openly and boldly accused him of a violation of the revenue laws, and of having amassed wealth by a series of smuggling transactions. Several papers tending to establish this fact, he knew to be in one of the public offices atWashington,and at his request and for his use, copies of them were obtained through the agency of Mr. Hill. The exposure of Gen. Up- ham's dishonorable and illegal practices threw the ranks of his supporters into the utmost confusion. Many an honest yeoman concluded that he must be a hollow-hearted patriot, who could reap lau- rels on the field, at the same moment that he was 92 BIOGRAPHY or ISAAC HILL. robbing' his country of the very thews and sin- ews of war. Although Mr. Upham's friends boldly declared the documents spurious, the peo- ple obstinately persisted in testifying- to their credibility, both in caucus and at the polls. The part which Mr. Hill had taken in bringing about this exposure, was greatly exaggerated and the malignity of the supporters of Upham, propor- tionably increased. The same sort of fellow- feeling, which had led them to sympathise in the misfortunes of Toby Watkins and to rail at Mr. Kendall, who had been in a measure, the neces- sary instrument of exposing his defalcations, now induced them to declaim in terms more bitter than ever against a man who had dared to be instru- mental in exposing the dishonorable transactions in which a candidate for a high public office had once been engaged. Their wrath at this over- throw of their candidate, did not, however, influ- ence their judgment so far as to induce them to submit once more, for certain defeat, the man who had met •with so unfortunate an accident as the disclosure of this little episode in the his- tory of his past life. As the session of congress approached, the struggle to ensure what they thought would for- ever disgrace Mr. Hill, and return him to his for- mer station a hunibled and ruined man, was ea- gerly commenced and perseveringly maintained by his personal and political opponents. Calcu- lations were made in the public papers, prior to the meeting of congress, of the exact number of the democratic senators, whose minds it would be necessary to poison against Mr. Hill to effect hi« BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 93 rejection from the office of Second Comptroller. These machinations were not without their effect. It was made known in April, 1830, that Isaac Hill, the pride of the democracy of New-Hamp- shire, was indeed rejected from the office, for which the confidence of the President had thought him equal. A shout of exultation at this result rang through the anti-republican papers from one end of the Union to the other. One might have supposed from the congratulations of these party- heated enthusiasts, that the salvation of the coun- try had depended upon this decision of the senate and the disgrace of a humble, 'insignificant' in- dividual. The republicans, on the other hand, were deeply grieved at this act of injustice, this raising of the ensign of proscription ; the perfidy of the democratic senators who had suffered themselves to be deceived when they had the truth at their command, or who had wickedly and meanly betrayed the trust reposed in them, con- fiding in the secrecy of their executive proceed- ings to conceal their conduct from their abused constituents, was every where denounced. The President felt personally injured, and his real friends were astonished ; while the people of New-Hampshire thought themselves insulted by the indignity which had been offered them in the person of their favorite. Mr. Hill did not allow himself to be deeply affected by an act which he knew must have been founded partly upon intentional deception and in part upon delu- sion ; although he could not be indifferent at what he felt was intended as a direct and fatal stab at his reputation. Pie had surrendered a lucrative 94 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. business and an Iionorable situation at hoine, in compliance with the wisht'S of the President ; he now retired from his office, according to the con- stitutionally-expressed will of the senate, with as little parade and ostentation as he had, the pre- ceding year, entered upon its duties. The rejec- tion of Mr. Hill is to be imputed, as has been suggested, both to the effects of misrepresenta- tion and the treachery of pretended friends. Mr. Hill could not feel that he had been advanced, by his appointment to the office of Second Comp- troller ; or that such a station was higlier than he deserved ; had it not been for his affijction for the administration from whom he received this mark of respect, he would not have left his pros- perous business in Nevz-IIampsliire for the honors and emoluments of this appointment. He had attended studiously to the duties of his office, in- stead of dancing upon the steps of the members of the senate, to secure tiieir favor. As it after- wards proved, the event was fortunate. The day after his rejection, a re-consideration was moved by a member of the senate, but the motion was decided to be out of order, as the result had al- ready been communicated to the Executive.'^ * We subjoin ental aberrations, freedom of thinking is the most obnoxious, as it is fostered by the pride of the heart and the vanity of the imagination. In superstition, we sometimes see the anxiety of a well disposed mind to discharge its conscience ; with bigotry, we often see asso- ciated the mild virtues which are taught by Christianity ; but in the free-thinker, we only see the bad passions and the unruly will, set free from all the constraints of outward authority, and disengaged from the control of reason and judg- 14 15^ KlOriRAFIiV OP ISAAC lllf.T,. inont: in such a ni.sn, the arniablp qualities of ilie natural ilispcjitiDri beco.ne corn^ptcd, and the «'vil humors trinmph.' Mr. iliil co-operated, sonic years since, in procdrhig- the regular performance of Episcopal services i-n Concord. After they had been disconlinned, he usually attended upon j)ub]ic worship in th.e Aiethodist church. In his morals, we fear no contradiction, when we declare him a living pattern for the imitation of ev- ery young aspirant for honor and reputation. From his very boyhood, he has been free from the taint of vice in every form. In his school-days, during his apprenticeship, and. the period subsequent to his removal to Concord, no imputation of moral stain can rest upon his character. How melan- choly is the reflection, that upon so few of our great men can this greatest of all commendations he truly bestowed! Men of powerful intellect and superior talents too often, in the words of a distinguished writer, '' make their genius an apol- ogy for vice, and take the sacred fire, kindled by God within them, to inflanriO men's passions," and to minister to the worst of purposes. Mr. Hill has ever been regular in all his habits, upright and honorable in all his dealings, temperate and industrious, exact and prudent. Even in his, youthful days, he never sliared in those dissipa- tions which are, at that period, generally held ex- cusable. There exist many striking points of analogy between his character and that of the venerable parent of American literature, Benjamin Frank- lin. They both were of humble extraction ; born in indigence and nursed in labor. Thoy both KIOGHAriSY OF ISAAC HILL. 159 followed the same profession and both became patriarchs among their brethren of the trade. — They were both studious in the days of their you til, and in the intervals of severe daily labor, laid the foundation of future eminence. Both owe their fortunes to tlieir own indu:-try and perse- verancft, accompanied by the kindred virtues of temperance, sobriety, order, and government of the passions. Both have been plain, practical »i!on, neither possessiag eloquence, or poetry, or the attractions which the imaginative faculty can throw around the most absfrut^e subject; com- mon sense is characteristic of their writing*?. Such are some of the prominent trr.its in t'lo character of the man who is now offered to the citizens of Nevz-Hampshiie as a candidate for the ciiief manistraey of their i'^'tate. If elected, we have every assurance in the entire history of his past life, that lie will pursue, in that station, the s uho course of conduct, governed by the same princi- )>les, as he has hitk«^'rto done in Ins editorial and legislative capacity. It would bo difficult lo siip- pto^e an individual more suitable to guide the councils of a rcpnblicfin State, than a mnn "\\l:o has for so nsaiiy A^enrs, fought for the repubhwin cauvo, who has adhered to it through evil rejiort niid throngh good reroit, v.ho hrs never swerved fio!;! hi.^ prinriplee, hul has found Vnem equal to his sujij.ojL in every p;i!tin wjiich he has been called ujxin to engage; who has been of such eunuent ser- vice in chaniiing the pcditics of r>rew-I]anij)shire and who is, withal, of inei)roachahle mor;^; , of u!ii~ 160 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. versal benevolence, and of excellent general character. The party that support him, will be the same with which he has co-operated for twen- ty-five years ; it includes those who are in favor of constitutional republicanism, as opposed to monarchical federalism, or aristocratic principles however named ; who are in favor of equal rights to every citizen ; who are opposed to all monopo- lies, and hostile to every system by which sec- tional jealousy may be excited and kept alive, and one portion of the Union may enrich itself at the expense of another. The party who oppose him can certainly not be characterized in so few words. If organized at all, it must be marshalled under divers petty leaders and in various distinct shapes to preserve uniformity of action among- so heterogeneous a mass. It is composed of parti-colored politicians, of men of very different views and whose lives have been passed in struggles for very difi'erent interests. The only common bond of union is an inveterate hatred against the democratic party and an ardent desire to hurl its members from the ascendency which they now enjoy. Should this be acconji^lished, and v.ere it possible for the re- publican party to be drawn from the field, so that no common enemy should frighten them iiito mu- tual concession, the struggles of these difierent factions for the domination of the rest, would equal in virulence their present united contest for the supreme power. Now, this i»arty, com])os(^d of these men, have stolen the sacred name of Whigs to serve their selfish interests, and seem to hope the deception BIOGIlAl'Ii.V OV ISAAC HILL, U)i u succossful one ; tlint ^-'Y tlio mnrric irill'.icnce ot" that povv-erful and once revered word, they shall be able to slide into power over the necks of an abused peo-ile and a prostrate democracy. They expect to conceal eifectually under these borrow- ed plumes, the jack-dav/ blackness of their own character. They wish to call off the attention of the people from their objects and principles by raising aloud an assumed watchword, under wiiich they are endeavoring to undermine t!)e very bat- tlements and walled places of repuidicanism. As has been well remarked, he that picks your pock- et, always tries to make you look another way, * See that man, the other side of the street — what a fiery nose he has ! Lord, there's a chimney a-flre ! D'ye see yon man going along in the bottle-green cloak ? That's the very man that stole one of Jupiter's satellites and sold it to an ignorant fool for a gold watch, and it set his breeches on fire ! ' Now the man that has his hand in your pocket, does not care a brass far- thing whether you believe what he says or not. Ail his aim is, to prevent your looking at Inn), and discovering what he is really doing. Just so it is with the remnant of the federal faction. — Under the name of Whigs, and with the aid of a few mercenary renegades, they hope to deceive the people into forgetfulness of tlse measures they once advocated and into a belief of their present purity and patriotism. It is impossible that such barefftced deception as the assumption by such a mixture of such men, of the sacred name of Whigs, can be finally successful. ]?ut if the people are not upon their guard, thcv niav 3 4- 162 BIOGRAPHY or tSAAC HILL. be for a time, as not a few doubtless have been, led asti-ay. The father of poetry, the bard of ancient Greece, has remarked that celestial bod- ies, if separated, soon unite again ; and it is cer- tain that no stab can inflict a fatal wound on Truth — but incessantly repeated attempts may for a brief period obscure its lustre. This party, which has at last agreed upon a name under which to contend, (though doubtless it will soon be worn out) forms a curious medley. It consists of those who have been unwillingly deceived ; of renegades from republican faith ; and of the remnant of the original federal dynas- ty. The first of these elements of the great National Whig party, must soon see their error, and will, at the first accidental disclosure of the cloven foot and cornuted skull of the monster under whose wing they have been sheltering, seek refuge among their early friends and once more range themselves in support of old consti- tutional principles. Yet, a man may as easily introduce himself between the onion and its peel, and come forth unscented, as can these escape taint from their intercouse with this lecherous 'Old Man of the Sea.' Many, through fear of ridicule for tlieir inconsistency, will remain firm in the allegiance to v/hich they have unwittingly submitted. These, with the renegades from re- publicanism, those whom chance had thrown upon the side of democracy, though in heart and dis- position opposed to its principles, disappointed seekers for office, discontented and growling partizansj all whose inordinate expectations and BIOGPvAPIiy OF ISAAC HILL. 163 insatiable ambition have not been gratified, form the second, a large, and the most virulent and unprincipled portion of the opposition party. It is their favorite policy to add to their ranks, by recruits of like character with themselves. It is thus they hope to acquire an ascendancy, not on- ly over present opponents, but also over those towards whom they now profess cordiality — those who sincerely and honorably believe the senti- ments which they profess. These last will not find their selfish allies of great service, and in- deed, some of the most sagacious often manifest •a gleam of suspicion as to their motives and measures ; a thought that they may possibly prove faithless and will yet endeavor, ' with new treasons, to redeem the past.' The old federal party and those who maintain the principles which actuated the partizans of John Adams in '98, are, almost to a man, ranged in opposition to the present administration and its supporters. This fact cannot be denied. Where- ever there still lives a man, who was a prominent member of the old federal party, that man is an adherent of modern Whiggery. Think for a moment of the politics of every surviving mem- ber of the Hartford Convention. They are Whigs, without an exception. Where is the Secretary of that Convention and the zealous de- fender of its motives and measures ? Where are its ministers plenipotentiary to the government at Washington, sent to treat with the Executive, as with any foreign power ? It is true, a bare- faced attempt has more than once been made to 5 04 niounAYUY gi- Isaac; hill. i.iciiliJy llio ol.l republican party withil)c mongrel Whi^s of tlie present day, but the deception irf too plain to be swallowed. Even the honest con- sciences of many of the old federalists theui- «elves will not allow it. When the New-England Revie\y, on a Hte occasion, declared the princi- ples of the Whi^\s to be isubotantialiy those of Jefferson and Madison, Noah Webster, an old veteran editor of ihe black cockade stamp, indig-- nantly repelled the slander upon the old federal party and reproached his young brother for not knowing that" it was identical with the opposition to Jackson and^^'an Euren. To the same effect have Dwight and Sullivan and Buckingham and tiie veteran editor of the Farmers' Cabinet in our own State, — all authorities which the Whigs will not care to dispute, borne Vvilling testimony. Of s^hat use, then, can it be, for such a man as Dan- iel Webster, ff leading opponent of the late war, and in favor of the Hartford (convention, what- ever his friends may now find it expedient to say to the contrary, impudenlly to claim for his party, the presumed support of such men as Stark and Ijungdon, men whom he himself personally oppo- sed in 1812 ? Why sliould certain Whig papers persist in declaring themselves defenders of re- publican principles and believers in the denio- crnlic doctrines of Jefferson ? It is only to de- ceive the ignorant and unwary- — there can be no other motive. So the emperor Alexander pros- trated himself before the tomb of Achilles and went through the farce of doing honor to h memory ; when had that hero been alive, tl IS BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 165 ambition and jealousy ef the Macedonian would not have permitted hi-tri to rest, till the destruction of so dangerous a rival had been ef- effected. The opposition, then, is in effect, no other than the old federal party, and is composed of sincere believers in the old fashioned doctrines of a ' strong government,' and of those who find it convenient to make profession of a similar faith. With the former, we make no war, as men ; be- lieving them honest, we respect them for their independence and their consistency ; but v;e would contend against them with all the enthu- siasm which the cause of liberty can inspire ; with the strength of ail our soul, would we op- pose them — because we think their doctrines dangerous, subversive of freedom, opposed to equal rights, and inconsistent with the entire spirit of our institutions. Iiad it not been, that a few worthy patriots of Revolutionary limes, attached by all the powerful prejudices of birth and education, to the old systems of government, though disliking those who chanced then to ad- minister power, and distrusting the ability of the people to take care of themselves, used the in- fluence of their names in the promulgation of njonarchical sentiments, such doctrines could never have taken deep root J n our liberty-loving country. Their principles are, we repeat it, es- sentially monarchical : though somewhat modified, and the more dangerous because they are so, to conform to the popular voice, and so as not to shock too much the free sentimenJs of our free 166 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. citizens. The 'vhole train and tenor of their writiiiiis is against demncracy, ag-ai-nst en;~ must be hiid to th-ir churro.— 'inhere men •j i. e. the old Whim's] c;innot be ciinrg<-d Wvitli iripri'-r; ihe ffaiiie spirit ichith IiL::Jd(d a Jhimc in 'To, would suivcy v.ilh indifference a blazing sireot in '97, rather than forget the rifrhl of svrhj afposiiiori.'' Again, llie same man speaKs of ti;e ^French Revolution, ajj event wliict), hc'-vrver iin- diappy in its result, v.as broughl nbei;t by l!,e same gh)rious y^riucipl-es tb.at afj'ccted oor own in.lependence, 'Frenchmen are I'ui uijk'c! equal and free; lliey are destir'evl to yield nh(Mli(>n-ce to •.the-bchests oi' their Maker and the viandaks of nonRArnv of isaac ihi.t,. Hi? a king.'"*' In siiort, we nm.st coni-iiidOj in iho words of Jefferson bi.nseh' as cxprcyiried in a let- ter to our own venerated Lang-don, tluit ''the to~ ryisin with which we strng'gded in '77, (iilFered but in name from the federalism of '*J3, with which we struggled also ; and the Angliciytn of 1808, with which we are now struggding, is bnt the same thing still, in another form. It is a longingc for a king, and an English king, rather than any other. This is the true source cf their sorrows and wailings," if tiieu, we have proved what vve think must follow from their own occasional confessions that toryism, federalism, anglicism and modern whig- ism, (not the * old Whigs,') are essentially the same, does it not behoove every true republican to stand en his guard against tlie approaches of this foe to liberty ? They come to us under a name which once implied every thing that was good, that was patriotic ; they come with fair pretences and with loud protestations of inno- cence, but it is only that they may rob us of all that we hold dear. Let us turn a deaf ear to their syren songs, let us present to them a bold and united front, let us say, with the wise Tro- jan, ' I fear those Grecians, even when they come with a present in their hands.' Let us not throw- do \vn the walls of union which now preserve us, to admit their wooden image of deception — its flanks conceal death to our cause. The old * The writings of Gouverneur Morris, Josiah Dun- ham, &c. will afford innumerable declarations of a sim- ilar import. 163 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. lion of toryism is there, though conceaied ; Ite is not dead, but sleepeth ; whether couchant or rampant, he is the same dangerous beast. Their motto is, ' Divide and conquer,' and like Milton's devil, their attempts will not bo discontinued, so long as there remains the least chance of success. What tho' the field be lost! Al! is not lost; th' unconquerable will And study of revenue, immorfaZ hate And courage never to submit or yield, Remain. It is only by perfect union ; by a thorough organization, by previous concert, and well digested plans, by mutual concession, by a yielding of personal preferences and repress- ing personal dislikes, for the victory of principle^ that the Republicans can hope long to resist successfully their repeated and varied attacks. — So long as they shall pursue such a course, a course which true wisdom and sound policy dictate, there is good sense and vital virtue enough in our country to preserve us forever from the domination of an aristocracy, and our General and State governments from the taint of federal influence. For Mr. Hill himself, as a candidate for a high office, we feel no fear ; and have hence said nothing in allusion to his particular case. — He received the nomination for Governor, unso- licited, and hi3 principles and character are BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 169 well known to the people of New-Hampshire. — Apart from his political views, there is probably not a man among us, who would not readi- ly acknowledge him the most suitable person for the chief magistracy of a State, in whose pros- perity he is so deeply interested, and with whose honor, his own reputation is so intimately con- nected. " To birth or office, no respect be paid Let worth determine here." 15 COMPRISING SELECTIONS FROM THE SPEECHES AND MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS OF MR. HILL. APPENDIX. A. Extract frcm the N. H. Patriot, 12 May, 1812. THE EMBARGO. Tlie intention of the British ministry, according to their own publications, is to " annihihile neutial connnerce;' tliis means American commerce, a? America is the only neu- tral nation. Now, we have aheady seen that, there is no safety on the ocean. — Great -Britain seizes all American commerce destined to any other part of the world than her own, or the territories of her allies. — Under such circum- stances, « hat can so effectually suljserve our interests as the Embargo? True it is, the merchants in the British inter- est, informed that an embargo was intended, by the treach- ery of federal members in Congress, pushed out immense (|uantities of flour, &lc. the week preceding the embargo — a part of this will inevitably precipitate itself into the jaws of destruction. The embargo v\ ill undoubtedly be substituted either by a war or such concessions! as will cause the right.« ol neutrals to be respected. The government will either be- con;e a belligerent, or she will no longer continue a neutral nation giving Great-Britain the right to " amiihilate neutral commerce;" she will either go to war, or she will remain at peace on no other terms than that the American flag shall protect American property . We are firm in the opinion that she must and will fight. Such being the case, the em- bargo was a wise and prudent measure; vnsc, because it 174 APPKNDIX. prevented our enemy from obtaining supplies which she cannot do without; and prude7ii, because it keeps at home ihat property and those resources which we shall need in case of a contest now rendered inevitable. In vain may the merchants, whose interest is wrapped up in the interests of Great-Britain, and whose attachments to her, notwithstanding she continues to seize their property, are as natural as the increased affection of the spaniel for the severity of his master — in vain may they attempt to con- vince thinking jjcople in the country that the embargo will not be beneficial: — they will undoubtedly have some effect on their poor dependents, whose knovvledge extends no fur- ther than their own private interests, who think they see in our government that enemy to American commerce which is only to be found in Great-Britain, and who suppose the nation must starve because we have plenty of provisions, and because government has the prudence to retain them for our own use! The embargo is beneficial to pooi^ people — because it makes every necessary article of consumption cheaper. It is beneficial to the manufacturer — because it enables him to sell his own productions in place of the miserable manufactures ol Britain. It is beneficial to the farmer — because it prevents the exchange of articles of real and solid worth for those which comparatively speaking are worth little or nothing. But what redounds to the benefit of all tlie foregoing classes, is su|)posed to be injurious to the merchant; — not to the fair and lionorable merchant — but to such as have been in the habit of sponging the country people and have made themselves rich at other's expense. — These hate to see the growth of domestic manufactures — because if the people are thereby supplied, they lose the profit of their very lucrative trade with England . -lienor their incessant clamors against the non-intercourse and embargo laws We do not expect but the pressure of the times will produce partial distress — we may anticipate that those distresses will be charged to the government, by men who cannot, who will not see the real cause; but we trust that the continued afiection of more than three fourths of the people, and therefieclion of doing what is- right and just, will operate as a strong incentive to the Administration to march forward in their course of hon- orable measures with a firm and upright step. APPE.XDIX. 175 B. Extract from the N. II. Patriot, 26 ^laij, 1S12. THE CRISIS. The present times are big wiih events upon wiiose favor- able or unfavorable turn depends the salvation or the eternal degradation of the only republican government on earth. — The party in this country adverse to its republican institutions have all along predicted that republics cannot last long — that there is not virtue, stability or energy in the people; and they have endeavored that dieir predictions should be verified by straining every nerve to palsy the arm of gov- ernment, to destroy that contidence the people repose in it, and misrepresent its measures and its strength, thereby en- couraging .foreign nations to continue their aggressions. — The British faction have invited the insult and contumely of foreign nations — laughed at tlie government for its long for- bearance under the repeated deccfjtions and injuries prac- tised on it by Great-Britain — said that government could not be kicked into a war; and now th.'t ihe cup of concili- ation has been drained of its very dregs, and our government is calling into action the energies of the nation and pursu- ing the only course which can free us /*-om the shackles of foreign bondage-^this same factiop declare that government rash and " mad " — they decla«3 that we have not cause of war with Great-Britain, and that the people will forcibly resist the government rather than join it in support of a war : — they withhold the means of supporting the govern- ment which themselves possess, and they discourage others in lending their means for the laudable purpose of perpetu- ating that independence which was bought by the blood of our fathers; they attempt to terrify tlie people into the most abject vassalage, by arraying the horrors of war in all their vivid colors before them, and fancying miseries andsufter- ings in consequence which no nation ever realized. That tlie policy of our governujent has ever been the preservation of peace, must be manliest to those in the least degree acquainted with its measures. Its anxiety to preserve peace has perhaps been too great — has caused it to bear injuries which nothing else could justify. To this pre- disposition for peace, the internal enemies uf our republic have flattered themselves the nation would fall an easy sac- rifice; and to their disappointment in this particular may be asciibed their present virulence towards the government. 176 APPENDIX. They do not now oppose war because longer submissiort would be of advantage to thoimselves or the country, but be- cause it must end in the disgrace of the country and the entire prostration of its independence. I'hey do not ad- dress the peace-loving passions of the pef pie — they do not deprecate the expense in blood and treasure wliich a war may incur, from a wish to preserve the country — but because they knovv if that country continues in ils present state, its government must be destroyed, and one better adapted to their \ie\vs, an aristocraey which shall not depend on the voice of the people, will rise on its ruins. The republicans, tjie nation's party, the life-biood of the country, are and ever have been the advocates of peace ; and to secure that peace their voice is now unanimous in fiivor of asserting the rights of their country. — in favor of a war, which is the on- ly resort left for an ultimate and honorable peace. The fed- eralists are advocates for tame submission to the insults of foreign nations, which submission they call peace, because they know that such submission is directly calculated to des- troy the confidence of the people in tliemselves and their government, and to produce that anarchy and confusion which of all other things are best calculated to subserve their purposes. The situation to v\hich the aggressions of foreign nations, of Great-Britain in particfdar, have reduced our country, is of all others the best calculated, under the misrepresenta- tions of the opposition, to make the administration unpop- ular with that class of people who cannot or will not trace effects to their causes. It is not at all surpi ising that the opposition wish this state of thingsto continue, because up- on such a state of things alone can they ri.-e into power. — They knovv that a war will cause our rights to be respected ; and that the effects of a war must destroy all tiieir grounds of opposition. Hence they attempt to impress the people with the belief tiiat a war will be destructive to the country, vvhen it will only l>e the destruction of the faction which sighs for the subversion of our liberties. Our administration do not wish for war, and they have delayed it so long as a glimmering of hope remained that the last resort would not be necessary. The federalists have i-iade great exertions in our elections; and their delusions, with some local causes, have succeeded in changing the opinions of a few hundreds in New-England, out of as many hundred thousands, under the idea that all would be right if they voted for federal men. The great body of the people APPENDIX. 177 ■s emaiii firm, and will support the government, if that gov- ernment supports its own digaity tvud its rights ; but if it deserts them, the people must resort to others who will act worthy of the cause and rights for which they are contend- ing. "We have full confidence in the government of the peo- ple ; we feel assured, as well from their known character as from our private information, that the government will not flinch. The time is even no\V come (yesterday) when the ulterior measures have been submitted to Congress; and THE PEOPLE are ready to meet, and second them. c. MR. HILL'S DEFENCE AGAINST THE CHARGE OF POLITICAL BIGOTRY. Extract from the N. H. Patriot, 30 May, 1820. It is often a complaint against us, that we are too rigid in our political sentiments — that we contribute to keep a- live the flame of party spirit, vviiich but for the continual references of the republicans would die away forever. Ref- erences, to what ? Why, to the past political sins of the federal party. Now we shouhl be sorry to have every fed- eralist think himself included in the censures justly cast up- on his party, although he may be oulpable for being found in such company. It is tl^e leaders of that party — the men who openly talked of a dissolution of the union in 1815 — the men who have for twenty years been incessantly pouring out vials of wrath and obloquy on those very measures which have raised our country to its present height of glory, and for the raerit of which this very modest party now claims a share of applause. — It is such men whom we deem unwor- thy, whose conduct should often be looked into, and who are not fit to be entrusted with public ofiices. There ate many honest federalist?, no doubt, whose intentions and prayers were on the side of country; they loved our insti- tutions, but were blindly impressed with the sentiment that they were withering away under a republican administra- tion ; their enmity was artificial, produced by the continual excitement of men whose motives had deeper foundations; 178 APPENDIT, tWey opposed men only. But the leaders of the federaf par- ty had objects more interesting iu their hostility. They dis- believed the theory of our government disdained the idea of universal liberty — censured as enthusiasts and wild men those who advocated our untrammelled institutions; their coiduct arose from a settled, native hostility to a republican form of government. Privileged orders, titles, hereditary honors, and all the et ceteras of European systems entered into their schemes of political organization. To them the mountain cry of liberty, as she ranged throughout our bor- ders, seemed disorderly, and they could not believe, after the fatal examples of ancient republics, that ours would be permanent or happy. Well meaning federalists, we say, knew nothing of such views. Their leaders were too wise to instil them openly ; and even when the infamous assem- blage at Hartlord was planned and all the fiery apparatus of civil uproar prepared — when New-England was on the brink of a separate existence — well meaning federalists knew no- thing of the views of their leaders. The safety of the coun- try they sighed (or, but blindly upheld its enemies. These things are abundantly proved — by the revealed intentions of the leading federalists — by their chagrin and mortification under disappointment — and by the general secession of the honest federalists from their ranks. Under such circum- stances, we deem it our bounden duty to admonish our brethren of the dangers to which our country is exposed — of the intentions of those who even declare the feasibility of a teparation of the Stiites. To remind the evil of their er- rors, the foolish of their danger, and to uphold good men in erery laudable pursuit, is a sacred duty. Better err on the side of country than amongst its deadly enemies. D. CONCLUSION OF MR. HILL'S ADDRESS AT THE REPUBLICAN CELEBRATION IN CONCORD. 8 Jan. 1828. Tt is a solemn truth, which will not be too often or too forcibly impressed on the minds of the people, that poor human nature cannot always be trusted with the exercise of fowsr without abusing it. The fascinations of power, the APPENDIX. 179 long exercise of official authoiKty, will Bometimes change » plain republican into a contemner of the people's rights. — The salvation of the people rests in themselves — in the lib- erty to discuss the merits of men and measures — in the right to change the public servants which is given them by our fre- quent elections. I should despair of our rights — I should consider the toils and the blood of the revolution to have been expended in vain — had we a» hereditary President or Senate for life, agreeably to the wishes of the party who consider the people their own worst enemies. I should des- pair of the Republic, were the doctiine to obtain which is now contended for by the partizans of Mr. Adams, that the President alone is the Constitutional Government, and that every opinion calling in question his measures or his acts — €very effort to prevent his succession in office, is " wicked opposition"" — is moral treason ! The doctrine of slavish submission and non-resistance is fit only for the slaves of an European despot ; let it never be adopted by a republican people, whose boast is that their rights were gained by the flowing Wood of the purest patriots. While the people shall retain that intelligence which ig quick to discern, and that virtue which is prompt to choose the most disinterested men for their rulers — when the public servants shall be as prompt and willing to retire from office to give place to others their equals or superiors, as they w ere to accept office — when our officers shall without ex- ception be as faithful in managing the business of the public as they are in managing their own concerns — when those unfaithful servants shall be dismissed whose maxim is that robbery of the public treasury is not as sinfid as theft from an individual — when combinations of lobby managers to overawe and control the delibei^ations and acts of our legis- lative bodies, shall he scouted from the land — v\'hen the will of the people shall no longer be frustrated" by bargain, in- trigue and management — when the last attempt to orgajiize faction by mingling all good and bad politic;! [ distiuctions and arraying one portion of the country against another portion of the country on account of some pretended differ- ence of interest, shall have been looked down by the people — when man shall no longer persecute and oppress man for an honest difference of opinion either in religion or onmat- ••rs of civil polity ; then shall we enjoy in fnll Iruition all the rights and benefits of a perfect Republic; then shall our« present the sublime spectacleof tlie most perfect adminietra- sJoG of the most perfect Government onearth. ISO ArrENDii. ^• MR. HILL'S DEFENCE AGALNST THE CHARGE OF INCONSISTENCY. Extract from the N. H. Patriot, 28 July, 1828. POLITICAL CONSISTENCY. One of the expedients of the federal part)', to effect their object of a covL\\Ae\.e amalgamation, is to make their polit- ical opponents, the old republicans, appear as inconsistent as they have been themselves. The reason is, they have no other way of glossing over their own criminality but by producing a belief on the public mind that others Ivave not been less criminal than they have been. The editor of the Patriot has now been before the publio almost twenty years ; and during that time his sole object has been to support and maintain republican principles — the principle, that our government is instituted for the ben- efit of the whole and not of a few — the principle, that the officers of government are the servants and not the masters of the people — the principle, that the people ought not to be taxed to pay men for holding offices where they do not ren- der an equivalent — the princii)le of strict economy in public disbursements, of frequent and free elections, of the right to change our rulers, of toleration and protection of all political and religious opinions, when those opinions do not infringe the rights and consciences of others; in short, our object has been to support the principle of Democracy against the machinations of the vindictive Aristocracy. But during the period of nineteen years, there has not been a time when the Patriot has not been opposed, when the editor of the Patriot has not fieen personally abused and vilified by the federal papers in this State. It is, as he bel,ieves, a com- pliment to his consistency that he has never been a subject of their praise; and it affi)rds him a good evidence of his rec- titude, that he has been invariably patronized and supported by the great body of republicans in tliis State. In a contest for principle, the individual is of little con* sequence. Our political enemies have given to the Editor of the Patriot much more consequence than he ever deserved. With the newspapers three to one in the State in their favor, they are not satisfied wiih newspaper attacks. Within the last six months, nearly a hwidred thousand pamphlets have Appr.vDix. 181 been yd in gratuitous circulation to produce an 'mpret- sion that ike opinions of an individual were formerly inconsiste7it with his present opinions; and garbled ex- tracts are produced to prove that he formerly had a good opinion of individuale whose conduct he now condemns. — And all this too when the party and the persons taking these unheard of measures will not, cannot even pretend that they have not been as inconsistent as they would represent us — for in opposing the principles we have supported, they have constantly opposed the individuals we have supported, and supported those we have opposed. Take, for instance, the Plnmers, the Bells, the Morrils, the^^Bartletts— great J M and little S — — H ;and even the present objects of their strong affections, John Q,. Adams and Henry Clay, c-jmpf«ing the " administration;" we confess that while these men appeared to be engaged in the cause of their country — while they seemed to be support- ing republican principles, the Patriot believed well and spoke well of thein ; — but then there was no epithet too vile for the federalists to use respecting them. The tables are completely turned so soon as these people array themselvea against the republican party : the Patriot takes up its testi- mony against duplicity and treachery ; and federalists are even more enamoured of their new recruits — some of whom have betrayed alternately both parties — than of those who have steadily been their friends. Almost one h:df of the present generation has ccr.ie upon the stage during the last nineteen jears. 'J'o show that the New-Hampshire Patriot lias steadily advocated the cause and principles it now advocates, we select a short article from one number in each month of its first year, all proceed- ing from the pen of the Editor. And we fear not to take up that paper year by year, and pursue it from the age of twenty-one to forty. Let the federalists do the same with the Concord Gazette, Register and Statesman, the Ports- mouth Oracle and Journal, the N. H. Sentinel, the Amherst Cabinet, &c. and it cannot but be apparent that neither they nor we have changed our principles, however they may have attempted to cast off their old name and take ours. The New-Hampshire Patriot in 1S09-10. April 18, 1809. ** Amidst the conflicts and animosities of infuriated zeal — when the unerring genius of improvement is cramped by the persevering advocates of corrupt systems of politv — when the evil spirit of Federalism is stalking up 18 182 APPENDIX. and down our land seeking whom it may devour — when the avowed and secret projects of internal and externa] enemied are aimed at the vitals of our republic — it becomes every one ivhose views are American, whose sentiments coincide with those of our fathers of the revolution, to iiicnlcate the pound doctrine of rational liberty, to espouse the cause of his country and his God. — The axioms of political morality, as expressed by \Vashington in his valedictory, by J kkfeu- SON and Madisok each at ths commencement of their presidential career, and so well practiFed in all their liv'es, are engraved on the heart of every American, and are pre- cisely those we would adopt." 3Iay 9, 1809. " The State of Virginia forms an hon- orable contrast. While MapHach'.isetts was forming her plots, this first State in the Union was [>assing laws for the encour- agement of learning and the arts. As this respectable State was the first to oppose British tyranny, 'so she will be the last to desert her own free constitution and gov- ernment." June 6, IS09. " The temporary results in favor of fed- eralism of the late elections in New-England have inspired that party with new confidence and impudence.— But their day of retribution is comir)g — the eyes of the deceived have been opened. We venture to say, that 'another elec- tion will exhibit New-Hampshire perfectly regenerated." — [And it was so in the election of John Langhox.] July IJ, 1809. " The federalists, wcmean " the leading men of the federal party," have repeatedly violated that faith without which government and societies are of no avail : they have sought to divide the Union, to palsy the arm of government, to impel to open war, by interested and base appeals to the avarice and the interested passions of the worst part of the community. As republicans we are will- ing to receive them; but we can never meet them halfway — adopt half her errors, for the sake of being on terms with apostate federalism." [Have we not invariably held this doctrine ?] August 8, 1S09. " Freedom of opinion in religion, as wellasin those concerns which relate to civil polity, is the prevailing charactieristic of a republic : without such free- dom, our republican form of government degenerates at once into despotism. The true American principles, those Erinciples whose unerring path has been invariably pursued y the illustrious Jefferson, and thus far followed by the amiable Mai>ison, have stood the test of experiment, and APPEMJIX. 183 proved tbemseWes to be the immutaLle foundation on which js to rest the safety of our rights. V/hatever good might at any time be attached to the iederal party, it has ceased to exist with respect to the motives of the leaders of that party ; they l»ave now given over every thing American. Their exertions are in diametrical opposition to the independent exercise of our privileges." [This has always been our sentiment.] Sept. 5, 1809. " It is the duty and privilege of a free people to search out the motives of their rulers — to lock at the tendency of their measures— to see whether they be in- tended for personal popularity, or the public good." "The motives of the great body of the people are undoubtedly pure; but prejudice attaches them alike to erroneous and correct sentiments- While every other State in the UnioQ renounced their erroneous opinions of polity in favor of the system of Mr. Jefferson — that system which has given us eight years of unexampled prosperity — Connecticut remaii>- ed firm to the cause of federal stamp acts and taxes, stand- ing armies and sedition bills." * [Connecticut was subse- quently partially regenerated — but where is she now *?] Oct. 3, ISCii. '• Whatever may now be the professions of the leaders of the Junto, — hov>ever they may discard former arrogance — however humble their attitude — " let them not be trusted;" — they stand ready, as well at this time as any other, to take advantage of circumstances." — " Never, till they renounce p^ist errors, can they claim our confidence in public stations. As a party, they have cast on themselves an indelible stigmy, an everlasting reproach." [Have they since wiped away that reproach 1] ' Nov. 21, 1809. " The people not only have a right to know what are the leading sentiments of a candidate for public favor, but they likewise are entitled to the liberty of making comparisons between public conduct and private professions. In this way only can they discriminate be- tween the honest man and the hypocrite; between him who wishes well for his country, and him who seeks only for pop- ular favor in popular delusion." Dec. 12, 1809. '• There are some men, it is well known, who have professedly been republicans, but who have bar- tered their principles either for considerations of personal favor or for British gold. Among these is James Cheetham of New-York, who publishes a paper which formerly rank- ed among the first of the defenders of the republican cause. I! is dereliction having produced an entire withdrawal of re- 184 ATPE^DIX. publican support, hs must look for a maintenanre to jome corrupt source. It is common now to see extracts publish ed in federal papers from Cheetbam's American ('itizen, " a rspublican" or " democratic paper," justifying Briti.sli insolence, and calling every American who is indignant at her insultg, by some odious appellation. Let the people not be deceived by disgraceful opinions palmed upon them as the opinions of tlieir friends." January 16, 1810. " Honest men might liave early im- bibed an unfavorable opinion of the administration of Mr. Jefferson. What pious christian would not shudder to hear, and witnessing in superiors an apparent serious belief in, the stories told of the infidelity and atheism of Jefferson in 1801 — how our meeting houses were to be destroyed, our bibles burnt — clergymen to suffer martyrdom, or renounce their re- ligion — and like foolish tales. — But the inconsistencies of the leaders of the Anglo-federal party — the varim.is grourtds of opposition they have taken, at one time applauding the administration and afterwards condemning it for the same measures — their justification of the British, when they have added personal insi\k to national injury — must open tlie eyes of the blind. The question now between the two political parties is — shall we tamely submit to reiterated aggressions of foreign nations — shall we permit an agent of Bi itain to beard our Executive to the face, to give our government the lie with impunity "? or will we defend our Independence? will we defend those rights for which our fathers fought and bled?" Feh. 6, 1810. " If the question should be asked. What causes the disparity between the two administrations? (John Adams' and Jefferson's) — it may be answered — that in rendering unnecessary and abolishing the ofiices pertain- ing to the general administration, legislative and judicial departments included, the annual expenses were lessened more than one million of dollars — a host of excisemen, taxgath- erers, &.c. have been dismissed — the expenses of the naval and war departments have been lessened; — in fine, economy has taken the place of lavish expenditures, and reformation has been introduced into every department." [Mow is it under the second Adams ? John Adams' or Thomas Jeffer- son's administration,? — which does his rese.mble ?] March 20, 1810. " The resuir of the election (in which the patriot liANGDON triumphed over the federal candidate as the patriot Pierci: will triumph next year over the can- ^lidate of the federali.'ts) has i,>ern a glorious triumph of the APPKM)IX. 185 friends of our Constitution and tiie union of the States. In ?pite of the fell fiends of discord and division — in epite of the machinations of enemies in and out of the State, (he Republican cause has prevailed ; it has passed the fiery or deal, and proved that " the truth is great and will PREVAIL." Never was the rectitude of republican prin- ciples more thoroughly tebted, and never had the friends of those principles greater cause to rejoice than in the result of this election. — They will rejoice, that the patriot of our rev- olution will be revered and esteemed, though assailed by the malignant powers of calumny and detraction — though two-edged slander has stabbed athis reputation. — They will rejoice at this practical comment upon republicans and fed- eralists — that though the latter may triumph in momentary delusion, in times when there must be sacrif-ce of interest to present leeling — the former will blossom and tiourii-h when the winter of delusion shall have passed away." F. THE TRUE REPUBLICAN DOCTRINE OF EXECU- TIVE APPOIi\TMKNTS. Extract from N. H. Patriot, 24 Nov. 1828. PUNISH THE DECEIVERS, BUT RECLAIM THE DECEIVED ! The magnanimous generosity of republicans towards their political opponents, exhibited in all times of prosperity of the people's party, desei\e> at this time tl e public conside- ration. That generosity was indeed calculated to promote an " era of good feeling;" and had it been met by a corres- ponding generosity on the part of our political opponents:, " good feelings" might have continued to the present mo- ment. But what has been the conduct of the old federal party under the mild and tolerant reign of republican principles I That party has turned the «:enf'rosity, the kindly feelings of republican.^ into an engine tor the destruction of republicans. That vindictive parlv has taken advantage of a pretended 16* 183 AFTF.yiDtX. " era oi gcod feelings" to introduce a system of unrelentiiig perpeciition and proscription, and to create the most bitter animosities among republicans and friends. We need only look back the short term of three years for conclusive proof of our position. What has been ihe con- duct of the old federal party in New-Hampshire? Samuel Bell came to this town June session 1827, and made proc- lamation that the " LINES WKRE KOw DRAWN," and that every friend of Gen. Jackson holding an oflice must be put out. Tliis signal from a former adherent of the federal par- ty was promptly answered by that party in a body ; and from that time to this, aided by the treaciiery of those nominal republicans holding offices, every republican who was either a candidate for office or who was in office, has been hunted down like a wild beast of the forest. All th.e bitterness of the black cockade party of 1798 — all the vindictive animos- ity of the " reign of terror" under John Adams, have re- turned under the restoration of the party which fell with the first Adams. But the days of the second Adams are numbered and fin- ished; and (he vindictive aristocracy of New-England has, in the late election, met a repulse, a defeat more signal and decisive than in the great election in 1800. — What shall be done ? Shall we again take to our bosoms the scorpions who have so repeatedly stung us ? Shall we again extend to them all that " good feeling" which is dueonly to friends ? Slsail we use our influence to elect and appoint to office, and to continue in office, the men who have made use of all the influence which such offices gave them to destroy the re- publican party, and to libel and abuse the bravest defenders and the purest patriots of the country ? Forbid it, our coun- try — forbid it. Heaven ! Thus far the running account between the federal and the republican parties — an awful account which the present generation of that party can never cancel, involving that breach of good faith, that violation of all the principles of common right and justice, that utter destitution of all the natural feelings of gratitude, which man wo-uld condemn in the brute : What shall we then say of those ungrateful men who to the sia of of ingratitude have added that of deep apostacy and treachery to the republican party ; who, not content with better treatment from the re|^ublican party than ever their deserts merited, have aimed a deadly stab at the paitv which had sustained them and taken some of theu^ f'-'.m the very mire of disgrace aucl bestoweJ (fii them honors i!id emoluments which tiie worthy ;iione deserved ? Thiit the most considerable portion of those men calling themselves republicans in this State who have thus far sup- ported the cause of the second Adams, did so from no un- worthy motive, we frankly admit. Many have been deceiv- ed by the reiterated falsehoods of the Coalition — many have not intended, although their exertions have had the direct eifect of doing it, to be instrumental in giving the ascenden- cy to the old federal party, and thereby introducing in thid State a second reign of terror. These men, finding gross deception practised upon them, will return to the fold from which they have strayed; they are but a small portion of th.e strength of the State — probably not one sixteenth of the legal voters; but they will be sufficient at our very next e- lection to give the Democracy of the State a triumphant as- cendency. The men in office, the twaddlers, the recreants from the republican party, who have practised every species of deception on the people — the men who hive circulated coffin handbills and other vile cahminies and T'lsehoods on the character of the republican candidate for the Presidency, will deserve a separate place from all others — as politicians they must and they will be execrated so long as they shall claim affinity to any party. Is it nov.- thought that "den. Jackson and the friends of Gen. Jackson, burying in immediate oblivion their deeds, will meet and treat these men as worthy of future confi- dence ? Can it be supposed, that Samuel Bell and the office- hunters who have joined him — the men in this State who proscribed and removed from office every individual friend- ly to Gen. Jackson — will again be received as republicans ■worthy our confidence ? When John Bell came to take his place as Governor in June, as if desiring to conceal his shame, he stole into the town, and went the back way into the back door of the capitol; his first magnanimous act after taking the oath, was to dismiss a republican door- keeper who had fought the battles of his country ; thus e- vincing that although he had not courage to meet the people face to face, he was valiant to set the example of removing every independent democrat from office. Can it be expected that the republicans will hereafter cherish the vipers whose association has poisoned the re- publican party ? Is it the duty of republicans to continue in office those who have converted their offices into instru- mentg with which to oppress them '? Will it not be their 16** 183 APPENOIX. boiia;]en duty to cleanse ths Augean stable — to clear ?.\vay that mass of coniiption which h:is |.oisoned all our channels uf information ? Every State in New-England is now goverwed by the same aristocracy that ruled in 179S — that ruled during the late war. The republicans here are in a miuurity; but the late elections show them to be a glorious majority of the whole Union. A band of New-Engiand democrats have encoun- tered the dominant party at vast odds — they have suffered every species of persecution and contumely. Shall these men not be protected by the Administration of the people under Gen. Jackson ? If that Administration fail to extend this protection, then indeed v.il! it fail of one of the princi- pal objects for which tiie people placed tbem in power by at least two to one of the votes of the Union. MR. HILL'S SPEECH ON THE PENSION BILL, In Senate of United States, 27 April 1S32. The Pension Bill was taken up, the question being on the amendment extene money actually expended and claimed was not all allowed. South Carolina h;is been j)aid all she claims fur similar services, principal and interest, during the pres- ent session; the bill does not state the precise sum she will receive — some say it is between one and two hundred thous- and dollars — others say it will be much more. Soi'th Carolina mu?t admit, that in one instance at least, the gem- eral government has been to her not only just but gener- ous. I care not, Mr. President, what p<-tt"of the"^ Union wiM derive the most benefit from a pension law providing for the comfort and relief of the soldiers of the revolution; be it north or south, it will be my pride and my pleasure that my voice and my vote have contributed to the passage of such a law. If it goes to the greater benefit of my immediate con- stituents, so much the better because they have better deser^ ted it; not that it were worse at all if other States have- a superior claim, and shall receive a larger amount. In my section of the country, there is but one opinion open" Jy expressed on this question ; and that is, that the soldiers of the revolution were never paid for their services, and that the present generation owe to the few survivors a liberal pro- vision. The public domain, now released from that portion of the revolutionnary debt which was funded, stands jjledged to the survivors of that revolution ; if the government has the title deed to that domain, the veterans who gained that title deed by'campaigns of blood and privation are virtually the own- ers. Much of the legitimate debt of the revohitipposed the democracy of the country — at no time have I been a favorite, or even conciliated the good opin- ion either of those who have always been at war with free principles, or of those who have vas ciliated between the parties for the sake of oiiice or the emoluments of office. r)ut daring the whole time I have been before the public, if I have never pleased the sticklers for aristocracy — if I have conciliated neither the " federalists" of 1809, the *' Washingtonians" and •' peace party men" of 1812, the APPF..N-D1X, 195 '* no party men" of 1816, the "Adams men" of 1821, nor the Henry Chiy and American System men of 1S29, 'SO, '31 , '32 — I have always found among the honest Yeomanry of the Granite State, men whose friendship haa never quailed. Those friends were the bone and muscle of democracy twenty-three years ago — they were then the supporters of Tiiomas JefTerson and John Langdon. They are still the bone and muscle of the democracy, and they are now the supporters of Atidrew Jackson and the free principles con- tended for by the patriots of 1798. It gives me pleasure to meet at this festive board several of tliose old and steady friends, some of whom eveu participated in the scenes of the revolution which gave birth to our freedom, and all of whom have dei ived their principles from the fathers of that school. It gives me more pleasure to be able to say that I have en- joyed the uniform friendship, through good report and through evil report, of such men, than if I were able lo make the complacent declaration that Iliad never offended any body, because I had always treated alike the friends and the ene- mies of our republican institutions, and that I was at this moment as much the favorite and friend of the one as of the other. ****** * There can be no mistake as to the identy of this party even under all the disguises it has assumed. The bitter op- ponents of the war. of 1812, in New-England, are now al- most to a man the most malevolent and unforgiving enemies of the administration of Andrew Jackson. Look around you, my friends: can you find in the State of New-Hamp- shire, so many as one hundred old federalists who opposed Jefferson and Langdon, and the war of 1812, who are not the enemies of the present administration, who, repudiating their old name oi federalists, do not now claim to be " Na- tional Republicans" and friends to Henry Clay and his " American System ?" It is the old party with a new disguise that would upturn heaven and earth to procure a change of the present admin- istration. This party at all times has with open arms re- ceived to its embrao.es the traitors to democratic principles: there never has been a time when some, of more or less con- sideration, have not been found joining their ranks. As an encouragement to such acquisitions, the party has bid high or low, according to its necessity. Of late years, the trait- ors to democracy have generally received the highest re- wards. In tliis' State, from 1824 to 1828, scarcely other 196 AprKNoix,. than recreant democrats were by this party openiy nominated U) any office. It became, at length, a subject of complaint that while nine tenths of the rank and file of the party were old federalists, all the offices were filled by those who had formerly acted with the democrats. The federalists insisted on having a share; accordingly two of their most distin- guished leaders were placed on their nomination for Con- gress in 1829, v\hen the whole party fell into a minority of more than three thousand, which has since been in- creased to nearly ten thousand, leaving that part}' hope- less, except by art and mjjtnagemeiit they shall .succeed in fomenting dissension among the present adherents of de- mocracy. It must have been remarked by those who have watched the course of politicians in this country, that new converts evince more Zealand will go greater lengths than those who have steadily belonged to the same party. What men of the federal party are more violent at this time than those who went over to that party from our ranks, and who have been conspicuous in many of the public offices of the State for the few j'ears preceding the revolution of 1829 1 Sever- al of these remain in office whose terms have not yet ex- pired ; a.id not one of them, to my knowledge, hesitates to hold on to his office or to make use of its influence against the State and Nation.il administrations which have been .sanctioned by a large majority of the people. * "* * Standing as I do in the Senate alone from New-England friendly to Andrew Jackson — coming there in despite of a political intolerance as despe- rate and unrelenting as ever existed in this or any other country; it will not surprise you, gentlemen, nor my fellow citizens of New-Hampshire generally, to be informed that I neither entered the Senate on personal good terms with some gentlemen of that body, nor have my course of conduct or my votes been such as to conciliate their kindness or good wishes. It never was, and I trust in God it never will be, in me to compromise my principles or my duty to my con- stituents for the favor or good graces of any man. As hum- ble men in pretensions as myself can and do receive the per- sonal attentions even of Henry Clay and Daniel Webster. I have not been the favorite or received the personal atten- tions of either : one of them has once deigned ti^ notice the '' still small voice" from the East, as the solitary individual in the Senate from that part of the Union opposed to his APPENDIX. 197 aggrandizing schemes of bargaining for the votes of the People for the Presidency, and at another time has reproach- ed me for reading, as he said badly, extracts from his own speech against the Bank of the United States in 1811. The other, has preserved generally a dignified silence, content that the louder yelpersof his kennel from Maine and Dela- ware, (Holmes and Clayton,) whose low and blackguard eiforts were quite too indecent and too vulgar even to find a place in the most worthless opposition prints of the country, should set upon me. * * * * . * * * The opposition in Congress were highly incensed that their predictions of the bankruptcy and ruin of the Post Of- fice Department had not been verified. They supposed that such a result must necessarily follow from the increased fa- cilities that had been given to the transmission of the public mails, and the extraordinary expenses incurred by granting these facilities. They were mistaken — for although the great mail from Washington to New-Orleans had been ex- pedited to nearly double speed, and the mails to the other principal points of the Union in a similar ratio ; although the number of post offices had been increased one fourth, and the transportation from thirteen to fifteen millions of miles; the annual revenue was likewise increased in a ratio suffi- cient more than to cover all this expense, enabling the De- partment to extend still farther the mail facilities after the first of January next over more than twenty .thousand miles of new mail roads. As if determined to break down the Department, the plan to abolish newspaper postage was pursued with great zeal and ardor by the opposition members of the Senate. The newspapers already carried in the mail are probably as ten to one in weight when compared with letters ; while the revenue derived from them is less than as one to ten of the letters. The effect of aboHshing newspaper postage would have been to increase the weight of the mail four fold, ren- dering extra carriages necessary on all the great routes ; and the annihilation of nearly all the village newspapers in the country, making the business of publishing newspapers a monopoly to -wealthy men in the large cities. One of the Senators (Holmes of Maine) boldly avowed the object of the opposition Senators who unanimously voted for this bill to be the giving their newspapers at the seat of government the privilege of going free to all parts of the country, that they might break down tlris administration. He said the partiea 17 198 APPENDIX. Stood on equal ground durlrrg the sitting of Congress, for then one could frank as many newspapers as the other; but that the adrainiytration had the advantage in the public offi- cers franking during the recess. His remedy for this sup- posed advantnge was, abolishing newspaper postage entire- ly. Happily the proposition to break in upon the Post Office Department was ultimately defeated in the Senate by a sin- gle vote. ******* Another prominent subject showing the utter recklessness of the leaders of the two branches of the opposition in the Senate, was the rejection of the President's nomination of Martin Van Buren to be minister plenipotentiary to Great Britain. 1 have recently been informed that when Mr. Webster received intelligence how certain vacancies were filled in the Senate in the course of the last year, he declared before he left Boston, that Mr. Van Buren's nom- ination would be rejected ! This previous declaration serves to unfold the duplicity of the man who in such solemn terms, when the nomination came to be acted on, declared his ab- horrence of party spirit, and who so feelingly portrayed his regard for the honor of "the country and the whole country" so deeply tarnished in the despatches which the President directed Mr. Van Buren to write to Mr. M'Lane ! There is not perhaps in the world a man of greater amen- ity of manners, a man of more personal civility, a man who in all social intercourse treats more alike both political friends and opjionents, than Mr. Van Buren. The men who were most embittered against him in the Senate, especiall)' Mr. Webster, had often participated in his hospitality and kindness; indeed it is scarcely a year since it was noticed in the opposition papers that Mr. Webster and Mr. Van Buren were arm in arm at the Springs and enjoying there in high glee each other's society. The heart of that man may be better conceived than described which could, in the absence of an intimate if not a personal friend, make a calcu- lation from the election of Senators how he might be per- sonally and politically prostrated, and afterwards carry that calculation into effect by feigning a reason which was any thing but a true reason, and by a coarse of caucus drilling and management such as would disgrace the veriest dema- gogue. No wonder, when Mr. Van Buren returned, the Senator from Massachusetts could not meet or look him in the face ! There is no object of so strong aversion, as the individual by another individual most injured. APPENDIX. 199 The rejection of Mr. Van Buren has, however, had a ve- ry difi'erent effect from that contemplated by its authors, — Several weeks time were taken up in so arranging the votes of Senators as to effect his rejection — the three leaders, (Messrs. Clay, Calhoun and Webster) were incessantly en- gaged until the requisite number of Senators was secured — there was more than one honest man deceived. But after all, the efiort only went to disgrace those who made it — to arouse the spirit of the nation at the indignity which was ofi'ered to the President — and to unite the great democratic party throughout the Union on the most^suitable person for the second office in the government. ******* I have thus glanced at some of the matters which have been the basis of the proceedings of one of the longest ses- sions of Congress since the adoption of the Constitution. — Condemning as I do the whole course of the opposition — be- lieving as I do their incentive to action was not a wish to promote the public good, but a desire to supplant the pres- ent administration and a determination to oppose its meas- ures right or wrong. I must attribute the obliquity to that esprit du corps which leads a mass of individuals to do that collectively, which separately, they could not be induced to do. With few exceptions, the members of the Senate who have acted with the opposition are amiable and exemplary in all their private relations, and preserve the character of gentlemen. . It is to be regretted that such men should feel themselves under obligations to follow in the wake of polit- ical leaders grown utterly desperate and reckless from cha- grin and disappointment that the people are no longer in- clined in them to place confidence. The man whose unbending integrity will not suffer him to look on corruption, on bargain and management, with complacency — who would not turn on his heel to save him- self in the most honorable office in the world — who shrinks not to discharge his duty and his whole duty come what will ; this man, standing in the way of ambitious dema- gogues who would cheat the people of their vjghts, in the way of monopolies, who would manage the wealth of the country and control its industry, is more than any other the object of present attention. By his friends he is admired with enthusiasm — by his foes he is contemned with loud ex- ecrations. 1 have seen this man at various times and in various situations ; I have seen him while under excited feelings, and i>i tlie scenes of calm and quiet enjoyment 200 APPENDIX. He never speaka behind a man's back what he will not say before his face ; excited on any subject, he is one of the most interesting and eloquent men of the age. He aonvers- es freely, and on every topic discovers a profound judgment looking far into consequences, and an intimate knowledge of human nature. He is probably a greater if not a more learned Statesman than any other now living in the United States. And it may be fearlessly averred that no p.ublic man in America ever had a more thorough knowledge of every subject on v/hich he was called to act, than has President Jackson. I have never known a candid political opponent spend any time with him so as to listen to his conversation, who has not left him with the declaration that he had been entirely deceived in relation to his manners, his intelligence, and his general character. Mr. President, I have already taken up too much time, and have probably tired the patience of the company. In conclusion I will give as a sentiment, what, in my belief, will always distinguish the true from a false political faith : The doctrines practised by the Democracy of the Gran- ite State — A limited Government, State Rights, Rotation in Office, Economy in the public expenditures, no unneces- sary Taxation, and universal Liberty and Equality. EXTRACTS FROM MR. HILL'S SPEECH ON THE LAND BILL, In Senate of the United States, 22d Jan. 1833. ****#*! must protest against the principles which are involved in the bill proposed to be amended. The original proposition presents itself as a direct appeal to the cupidity of the several State governments in which the people are supposed to have a nearer interest than in the General Government — it is an invitation to take and eat of the forbidden tree, with the assurance "thou shalt not surely die." The friends of a high tariff in the old States are supposed to advocate the bill, while the opponents of a high tariff in the old States oppose it. The interest of the tariff and an- APPENDIX. 201 ti-tarift States, so far as relates? to the reception of the divi- dend proposed, must be the same. Money must be as ac- ceptable to tlie State of Georgia as to the State of Massa- chusetts. Why, then, does not Georgia seek the same dis- position of the public lands as does Massachusetts ? Geor- gia well knows that the proceeds of the public lands, ab- stracted from the Treasury, creates the necessity of raising, by taxation on the consumption of the country, an equal a- mount; and Massachusetts, in the same thing, fancies that this additional taxation goes so much for the protection of that class of her citizens who have invested capital in vari- ous manufactures. The idea is altogether fallacious, that the great mass of the people of this country can be benefitted by the division of the proceeds of the sales of the public lands among the several States. So long as the legitimate expenditures of the National Government exceed the amount of revenue raised from any other than public property, so long will such a division of the avails of the public lands among the several States lessen the burdens of the people not at all. — ■ We will see what will be the operation of this dividend on the State of New-Hampshire. It will be admitted by all to be bad policy to raise money in any government for the purpose simply of distributing it among those who have originally contributed it. The ex- penses of collection and distribution and the interest or use of the money raised during the term of the whole process are so much dead loss. The distribution of the avails of the sales of the public lands, so long as it is necessary to raise money by impost or otherwise, is still worse in principle than the taxation and the distribution to which I have allu- ded. It is worse to New-Hampshire and to all the States on the seaboard, because while those States receive less than their proportion from the public lands, they pay mere than their proportion of the taxes on imports to support the government . In the distribution of three millions of dollars, the propor- tion of New-Hampshire will be about sixty thousand. This sixty thousand dollars, augmented by the expense of collec- tion and the greater portion of duties paid by consumers on the seaboard than by those living far in the interior who consume less, will bring upon her an additional tax of at least one hundred thousand dollars; so that for every sixty cents received she pays out a dollar in new taxes. If an 202 APPENDIX. individual in his own private affairs were to engage in such a speculation as this, he would be set down as a fool. But it is not the loss from the speculation itself that I so much deprecate — it is the demoralizing effect the dividend must kave on the healthy action of our State Governments. Where a State has incurred an enormous debt in attempting to make internal improvements in improductive roads and canals, the application of the dividend might be well appli- ed to discharge the interest upon an interminable burden which has been thrown upon such State ; and when thus applied would no longer be a subject of controversy; but in a State like New-Hampshire — r State which has been too poor to run herself millions in debt on splendid projects of roads and canals; a State whose hai'dy yeomanry have contrived to make tolerably convenient roads and to improve the nav- igation of their rivers without either running the State as such in debt, or asking Congress for appropriations ; in New-Hampshire this appropriation ofsixty thousand dollars annually — if indeed the whole proceeds of the public lands shall hereafter give her this as a dividend — would go to turn our State government topsy turvy. The State would never consent that any portion of this dividend should go for the purpose of colonizing free blacks in Africa . But if it was to be applied for objects of inter- nal improvement, there would be an annual scrambling in the Legislature that would keep up a constant warfare be- tween the different sections of the State. The West there, would have an interest in making improvements which would •arry away the business from the East ; the extreme North would turn her roads towards the State of Maine, and the South would draw them towards Massachusetts, while the only seaport, and commercial capital of the State would consider that she had a claim that all the money should be expended to bring the whole business of the State into her lap. The result would be, that the strong would combine and deprive the weak of their proportion of the benefits — that these benefits would be unequal — that new expedients would be resorted to to give the appropriation a different direction ; and that the State would be kept Irom year to year in a turmoil. Thousaads of dollars of the dividend would be expended in useless legislation, in contriving ways and means to secure some portion of the money. Projects of improvement would be started involving a greater expenditure than the land fund would warrant. — Som« bridge, or road, or canal, which had been begun and 18 APPENDIX. 303 under-estimated — for what project of this kind, in its incipi- ent state, was ever estimated at half its cost 1 — must be completed ; the land fund from Congress fails. The State must hire money or raise additional sums by taxes to carry the improvement on. Where credit is good as that of a city corporation or State, loans may be effected, if not in this country, in Europe ; and posterity may have entailed upon it a perpetual tax to pay the annual interest on money applied to such improvements as will not afford even a suffi- cient income to pay for their own repairs. Is the land dividend applied to purposes of education ? it will then be a matter of dispute whether it shall go to a high school or a common school, to a college or an academy — to prepare the pupil for the pulpit or the bar, for surgery or physic — or whether males exclusively, or females, or both, shall be entitled to its benefits. If, Mr. President, the amount of dividend was so much gain to a State, the inconveniences that might arise from State legislation on this subject were not worthy to be nam- ed. But when it ia considered that the State has to con- tribute its full share, and to pay a larger tax to fill the va- cancy which the abstractioa of this dividend has produced, "folly with his cap and bells" could not appear more ridic- ulous than this project. Are the State Governments to be reduced to abject de- pendence on the treasury of the nation ? Are they to depend dti the breath and the favor of the two branches of Congress ? Are they to come here crouching for the means to enable them to educate their children, or to complete some great public improvement ; at the same time they are taxed in what they eat, drink and wear, to fill that vacuum in the national chest which has been produced by the donation ? Do you call this a gift, a favor, to any State ? It has become evident to my mind that we mnst either confine the Legislation of the Federal Government to the de- fined objects of the Federal Constitution, or present that continued collision between the National and State Gov- ernments which must end in consolidation, anarchy and ul- timate dissolution. I am of those, Mr. President, who be- lieve Congress is no less potent under the powers expressly granted to it by the people of the States than the legislature* of the States are by the powers granted them by the people of each State. Rightly practised upon, there is a beauty and A harmony in our Constitutions, forever assuring the libw dies of the j^ople. 204 APPENDIX. The framers of the Constitution never intended that the National Government should raise money to be distributed among the State Governments, any more than they intended that the common funds of the General Government should be dissipated in splendid projects of internal improvement. — When Virginia ceded her title to the present States. and territory north of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi, "as a common fund" to dischaige the debts of the revolution,could it be believed it was the intention of the terms of the com- pact that at any future time the avails of those funds should be paid over directly by the General Government to the States of Massachusetts and Connecticut 1 ******* The extinctionof our national debt presents this nation in an attitude to excite the admiration of the world; there is probably on record no other instance of the kind. Now is the favorable time to put that practical construction upon the Constitution which shall confine the government within its acknowledged limits, and leave full scope for the States to act in their several spheres. It will be impossible that this government shall go on, if Congress shall permanently assume powers which the framers of the Constitution never intended to grant; such, for instance, as the right to make unlimited appropriations for internal improvements, for roads, bridges, and canals, by which the people of the sev- eral States are to be bought up with their own money. If this power be contested, as I trust it will be successfully, what shall we say of the right of Congress to divide any por- tion of the common funds of the country among the States for the same object 7 * # * * It has been said in debate, [by Mr. Chambers,] that this bill has been hailed in all parts of the country, as a measure of justice, and that '*it is a just and equal distribution." — Just so far, and no farther, has this bill been applauded, as the "American System" and the desire to keep up the du- ties on articles of consumption at the highest point, have found favor. The legislature of Vermont, in the fear that her iron manufactures will not be protected if an enormous duty shall not be continued on that article necessary for the comfort and sustenance of the poor as well as the rich, has passed resolutions in favor of this land bill. An attempt was made to steal tinough the l^islature of New-Hampshire resolutions to the same effect the last evening of its last ses- ;-ion ; but the resolutions were voted out of the House by APPENDIX. 205 nearly two to one. The legislators of that State had not for- gotten that their predecessors, so long ago as June 22, 1821, had resolved, that "any partial appropriation of the public lands for State purposes, is a violation of the spirit of our national compact, as well as the principles of justice and sound policy." ******* For myself, Mr. President, I had rather the few thousand dollars which I possess in a manufacturing establishment should be sunk in the bottom of the sea than to see, not the Union rent in twain, for that "must and will be preserved" — but a spirit of hostility between the different sections of the country engendered and perpetuated in the repeated attempts of the stronger to take advantage of the weaker. To the threats of any State holding herself in a menacing attitude towards this happy Union, believing as I may that she has been impelled by politicians whose motives are any thing but commendable, 1 would not yield an inch ; so neither would I be prevented from prosecuting a course of right and justice to other patriotic States, because such a process would disarm the refractory even of a pretext for doing Avrong. The bill for dividing the proceeds of the public lands — inasmuch as it will furnish occasion for continuing millions of taxes on import? which might otherwise be dis- pensed with — inasmuch as it is one of the means to keep up a system calculated to promote public discontent and even threatens bloodshed and civil war — has my decided disap- probation. J. MR. HILL'S LETTER TO THE TYPOGRAPHICAL FESTIVAL, held at Concord, 28 Nov. 1833. Concord, N. H. Nov. IS, 1833. Gentlemen, — It would have given me great pleasure to be able to attend the Typographical supper on the 28th, to which your polite card had invited me. My public duty at the city of Washington requires that I should leave tov/u before *hat time. It is now nearly a quarter of a century, since just emerged flora an apprenticeship of seven years, in a country village 18* 2Q6 APPENDIX. printing office, I commenced the business of a practical printer in Concord. The greater portion of what little ed- ucation I have received, has been in the printing office; having never been to a sehool, of any sort, after the age of fourteen, and, up to that time, under the small means of in- struction affiarded in a rough, new settled town ; for nearly twenty years of early life, the whole time for study and im- provement had been taken from that usually devoted to rest or relaxation from severe personal labor. No inconsiderable share of the present prosperity of this flourishing village is to be attributed to the enterprise and industry of her printers and publishers. To them, perhaps, more than to any other profession, is it due that business from all parts of the State has particu- larly centred here; and of all the mechanical callings, it is believed that those connected with printing and the manufac- ture of books and newspapers are much more numerous than any other. When I first commenced here in 1S09, there were three small printing houses only, the whole united ap- paratus of which would be scarcely sufficient to print a large sized weekly newspaper of the present time. With the aid of a single journeyman and my eldest brother then under twenty years of age, the Patriot newspaper was printed weekly, and such jobs of printing as came in from custom- ers were executed in addition. The printing press I then had was one that had been used at Norwich, Connecticut,to print a newspaper of foolscap size, during the v/ar of the revolution ; and the types were a remnant of those which had been nearly worn out by Mr. Etheridge of Charlestown, in printing a quarto bible, &c. The whole expense of the office was about ^'300 ; and it was really worth, perhapa half that sum. My colleagues in the business, in this town, were the late veteran printer George Hough, and our friend Jesse Carr Tuttle, the latter of whom printed a rival politi- cal newspaper. Mr. Hough had a font of Small Pica, and about a hundred pounds of old brevier type; and he had a printing press not quite as rickety as mine, because he bad sold my predecessor the older one, and bought another that had not been used probably more than twenty years, and this constituted nearly the whole of his apparatus, lie very rarely had n^ore than one apprentice ; but he always worked himself when he had a job of printing on hand, and obtain* ed other occasional assistance. With the exception of my predecessor in the Patriot, William Hoit, Jr. who, 1 be- lieve waa an apprentice of his, Mr. Hough was one of the APPENDIX. 207 most accurate and neat printers I have ever known. The former, to my knowledge, has repeatedly presented a proot" sheet of eight octavo pages without a single error. The lat- ter was proverbially moderate in all his movements; he was a politician of the ancient school, eschewing every thing that did not coincide with the doctrine practised by the fed- eral party thirty-five and forty years ago . We were always at swords points in our political opinions, contending each at or near the two extremes, but even dnring that time of great political heat, the years 1812, 13 and 14, we were personally on so good terms that we printed and published together, at either office, two large octavo volumes of Con- gressional documents and debates, he leaving to me, as I had been principally instrumental in obtaining the subscrib- ers, the selection of documents and speeches for publication. As for our other colleague printer, Mr. Tuttle, his also were the old Scotch types which had long been used by Mr. Hough, and nearly every thing done in his office was the newspaper; this was at first larger than the Patriot, and better supported with advertising patronage. His paper, the Concord Gazette, generally was conducted by a hired editor of liberal education, and had besides written contri- butions from most of the professional men on that side of the question in the town ; while the Patriot had no one to de- pend upon but the young printer, who lacked much the advan- tages of experience^ and, as all his opponents insisted, of the sonud discretion necessary to the proper management of a newspaper. It is true, we were always actuated by a zeal Avhich was scarcely ever at all restricted by considerations of personal interest ; but if our zeal has not been misdirec- ted more than half of the time, an honest motive must turn the scale in our favor. Our friend Tuttle generally had two or three apprentices and sometimes a journeyman ; but, for himself, he was never fond of the printing office. He was most at home in that business which is now and has been for years his occupation— a team of horses aud a snap of the whip were his delight. He did almost every thing and any thing with his horses ; and not having enough to do on his own premises, he teamed to help others carry on their land; and hence for more than twenty years he has had affixed to him the honorable appellation of Farmer Tuttle. About the time of the close of the late war he sold out his newspaper to a family of printers by the name of Spear; but in their hands the Concord Gazette did even 208 APPENDIX. worse than in those of our Farmer, until it was finally dis- continued, leaving the Patriot the whole field. Such was the condition of our art in this place twenty years ago. At this time there are six different newspaper establishments in the village, and these constitute but a small portion of the printing done here. There are proba- bly more than twenty different kinds of school books stereo- typed and published here, some of which find a market at more than a thousand miles distance. I had the gratifica- tion to present the President and Vice President of the Uni- ted States and the Secretaries of War and Navy, who visit- ed this town last summer, with specimens of the fine Bible stereotyped and manufactured by Luther Roby & Co. and of the Christiau Harmony, a volume of Music published by Horatio Hill & Co. Specimens, the almost entire materi- al of which was produced here and which twenty years ago would have been thought wonderful if produced by the best artists in Europe. It is only necessary, gentlemen, that industry, vigilance and economy should be practised to continue the advance here of this, which is justly denominated the "art of arts." To the young men of Concord engaged in this profession T will say, "Go on, and prosper !" And for them especially will I ask leave to present the following sentiment : Employers and Employed. Not less honorable is the apprentice who labors than the master who is benefitted by that labor. Fidelity and industry in the one are the sure precursors of prosperity and success to tiie same person when he shall arrive in the position of the other. I am, gentlemen. Your obedient servant; ISAAC HILL^ Messrs. E. G. Ea.stman, Amos Head, ^ Committee. W. Odlin, A1?PENDIX. 209 K. EXTRACTS FROM MR. HILL'S SPEECH ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSI'lES, In Senate of Uni- ted States, 3d and 4th March, 1834. It is believed, however strong may be the doubts of the com- mittee, against the Batik seeking for political power, that there are millions of the people of America, who have no doubts on the subject. They understand the definition of the offence, "what acts constitute it" — "how it should be tried" — "who is to be the judge" — and what "shall be the pun- ishment." And although the commitete think the charge too general too be either proved or disproved, they want no stronger proof than the admission of the party criminat- ed. The directors of the Bank in their pamphlet which has been laid on the tables of the Senators, in justilfication of the many thousand dollars of the funds of the Bank ex- pended in political publications, say: "This has been done with regret that it should be necessary, but with the strong- est conviction of its propriety, and without the slightest wish to disavow or to conceal it. On the contrary the Bank asserts its clear right to defend itself equally against those who circulate false statements and those who circulate false notes." And, although they deny that their object in pay- ing an amount for political publications unparallelied even by the expenditures of any mere political party in this coun- try, has extended beyond self defence, it is abundantly man- ifest from this pamphlet itself, that they consider misrepre- sentation and crimination necessary to effect that object. — The Bank has poured out its funds through its agent, who is not limited in the amount of his expenditures, in the most profligate manner to partisan printers. It is said one edi- tion of seventy-five thousand copies of a single newspaper, printed at New-York, containing this report of the direct- ors, and other offensive matter, have been lately circulated, evading the postage by addressing them to postmasters. It is also said that three or more editions of fifty thousand speeches, made since the commencement of the present ses- sion of Congress, printed on fair large type, at the expense of the bank, in one or more of which the Executive Head of this government is abused in unmeasured terms — have been circulated far and wide at the public expense. If the friends of the Bank are in real doubt whether or not the Bank owns presses, and carries on the business of 210 APPENDIX. party political mauagement on an extended scale, the mass of the citizens cannot but be convinced of a fact of wiiicb many pereons have ocular demonstration. ******* But, Mr. President, my present object is to notice the panic and agitation produced by the distress for money which is felt in the commercial cities of the union. What has produced that distress? Both the friends and the foes of the Bank have admitted that the Bank, wielding a capi- tal of thirty-five millions, and controlling the pecuniary means of debtors to twice the amount of that capital, can produce temporary distress. This fact admitted, the only question is, has the Bank taken those measures which are calculated to produce distress ? That the Bank can produce temporary distress at a given point, has been abundantly proved by the conduct of its branch at the commercial capital of New-Hampshire, in 1829. Very little of the capital of this Bank has ever been owned in that state. Three hundred thousand dollars were sent to that town, and loans to the amount of perhaps half a million of dollars were urged upon that community at a time- when there was abundant capital in the State Banks for all the legitimate business of the town and its vicinity. This made money so easy of attainment, that men who had a little money and some credit, were induced to take more money from the Branch Bank and invest it in manufacturing establishments. After the Tariff law of 1828 had passed, the manufacturing stock fell, in many instances sinking the whole investment, so that where the Bank had had no other security,bad debts were made, and where collateral security was given, those who hired the money, and their sureties became the sufferers. A large portioa of the business men were stripped of their all, and the Bank lost in bad debts some eighty thousand dollars. To improve the aft'airs of that Branch, it was recommen- ded that its management should be placed in the hands of a great Bank attorney, with an addition of some fifteen hun- dred dollars per year to the salary of its former President. — This Bank attorney, ignorant of tho wants of the men of bu- siness, as he was ot what was the true interest of the Bank, took it into his head because the Bank had made bad debts from speculators in the State, that the substantial men of business who remained, ought no longer to be trusted, and in violation of the terms of payment on which loans had been made, called on all the customers of the Bank to pay APPENDIX. 211 four for one of what they were required to pay by the im- plied terms of their first contract. Preceding even this, he made a loan to a single house in Boston of nearly a hundred thousand dollars at one time, drawing the specie from the local banks, whereby they were for the moment unable to furnish the relief which they otherwise might have done. — The customers of the Branch Bank were pressed, they in turn pressed others, the specie which was the substratum of the entire currency, was abstracted, and the expansion and contraction of the United States Bank paper credit a- ione might be set down as the sole procuring cause of the distress and embarrassment which followed. It was this arbitrary breach of faith with the customers of the Bank that induced the mevciiants and men of business of all par- ties to petition for the removal of the man who had caused the distress. The present Secretary of the Navy, then a resident of Portsmoudi, and myself, were the organs of the wishes of that community . Mr. Woodbury wrote the Sec- retai-y of the Treasury, expressing the dissatisfaction of the citizens at the conduct of the offending officer, and request- ing the influence of that department to assist in correcting the evil; and T wrote two gentlemen of Philadelphia, en- closing for the president of the bank the petition of "sixty respectable members of the New-Hampshire Legislature," and another petition subscribed "by most of the business men, merchants at Portsmouth, without distinction of par- ty," requesting that the cause of the trouble might be remov- ed — that a board of directors of mixed political character, (instead of a board exchisively hostile to the state and na- tional administrations) should be delegated for the year which was about to commence, and that the "institution in that State may not continue to be an engine of political op- pression by any party." These were my words, and a most disiflgenuous use was made of them, and of the petitions which they covered, by the President of the mother Bank, who not only exposed these petitions to the derision of his agent, but justified and retained that agent in office, till by tlie force of public opinion, he left both the office and the State. The oppression and contumely heaped upon the citizens of Portsmouth didnot end the affair. This isolated transaction is made, in a publication bearing the sanction of Nicholas Biddle and eleven directors of tlie Bank at Philadelphia, at a meeting on the 3d December, 1833, the ground of a weigh- 2l2 APPENDIX, ty charge against the administration. The pamphlet charg- CB as follows : " It was in the midst of this career of inoffensive usehil- ness, when soon after the accession to power of the present Executive, the purpose was distinctly revealed that other duties than those to the country were required — and that it was necessary for the bank in administering its affairs, to consult the political views of ?*3te bank of more convenient location. At no time have the friends of the ad- ministration manifested a desire to convert the Bank of the United States into a political engine, or to take it under their exclusive control. ******* Mr. President, there never was a time more propitious than the present for the Bank of the United States to com- mence the "winding up of its concer.is." Tf the directors of the Bank understood the true interests of the institution, they would commence the work with alacrity; and they would find that a course of mildneea and accommodation APPENDIX. 213 woiikl be far more salutary to the Bank than the opposite course, which they now are pursuing. This, however, does not seem likely to be the case from present appearances. — Recent advices from the city of New-York, leave us to infer that the Bank has determined we shall not "havk peace, BUT THE SWORD." The directors of the branch Bank at that place have not only refused to unite with the local banks in attempting to relieve the distresses of the community ,but they have refused to have it understood that they will not run upon State Banks for specie the moment these last shall discount for the purpose of relieving individuals; and these directors assign for their belligerent aspect the reason of their peculiar relations at this time with the Government ! Those peculiar relations we are left to infer; and these we may safely say to be a determination to force the return of the deposites, and with that a re-chartering of the Bank. — Indeed we have it announced in the known organ of the Bank (the National Intelligencer) in this city, that the Bank will never consent either to take any steps for the relief of tho community itself, or suffer the State Banks to do it, un- til the State Banks selected by the Secretary of the Treasu- ry as places of deposite, shall themselves ask to have the de- posites taken from them, and restored to the United States Bank ! Here the People and the State Banks have their choice of the only alternative. The State Banks must be destroyed, and the distress kept up so long as the means to do it can be furnished by the Bank of the United States; or else the Government, the People, the State Banks, must consent to UNCONDITIONAL SUBMISSION and DE- GRADATION ! This looks so much like the conditions and requirements of a certain New-England conclave twenty years ago, wdio sent a mission to Mr. Madison, demanding of the Government to submit uncenditionally to such terms of peace as Great Britain might grant, that I have about as much faith that the one will be attended with success as the other. I readily and freely admit, that in the vicinity of the mo- ther Bank and its branches, more than common pecuniary distress does now prevail. There they have put on the screwa ; and where the Bank had made extensive loans the pressure is felt — where the people have been so fortunate as never to have had the benefits of the Bank's capital, there is very little distress. It is the extension of loans and their sudden contraction which produce revulsions in trade — it is the fcicilities of credit suddenly caught up that cause the 214 APPENDIX. distresa. That the Bank can expand or contract — that it can at any time make money plenty or scarce where it has an exclusive operating capital, or wherever it can coacen- trate its operation, is true; and being true, lurnishes the strong conclusive reason why I would never place the power again in its hands. With the strong expression of the peo- ple against the Bank, manifested in the triumphant election of General Jackson, I should consider myself a traitor to that people, now to vote in favor of continuing the odious monopoly. Wherever there is a branch of this Bank, there we find an attempt to oppress. Ever since the Hegira of Mr. Biddle's attorney-agent from New-Hampshire, the bu- siness of the Branch in that State has been small; from 1829 to ISSO, the branch did not do sufificient business to pay the salaries of its officers — that is, the amount of inter- eat on its loans was not enough to pay the salaries of its President, Cashier, clerks and waiters. But the little branch there, is contributing its mite to do what the parent Bank ref|uires. A recent letter from an intelligent gentle- man at that place says : — " You know that it is my great desire, that the monster which has so long held the purse strings of the nation should be prostrated, and no longer be permitted to tyrannize over other monied instutions. The monster seems however, de- termined to die hard, and do all the mischief in its power before it expires, putting on the screws with all its might. Even the little branch here is doing all it can to "make the people feel," as tliey term it, by withholding discounts and getting hdld of the bills of the State Banks in this town, and holding them in a menacing attitude, preventing our diseounting ti the extent we otherwise could." In the interior of the State, among the mass of the peo- ple, but little pressure is felt. The larger portion of these people are men who never ask for a bank favor — who rely at all times on their own resources, and who of course would prefer a hard money currency to any other currency. They do not believe that United States Bank notes are any better as a currency than their own State Bank notes ; and gladly would they see the flood of paper circulation superseded by silver and gold. * * a * * *■ * On yesterday, I examined the report of the Committee Finance, and attempted to show that neither the facts nort e inferences of that rejiort were sufficient to invalidate the APPENDIX. 215 reasons of tlie Secretary of the Treasury for the remsval of the deposites. I attempted to show that the allegation ie untrue, that ef- forts are making to array the prejudices of the poor against the rich, to the injury of the Bank. I attempted to show that one of the present fast and influ- ential friends of the Bank presented, fourteen years ago, such an array of facts and inferences as demonstrate most clearly, that those who then opposed and now support the Bank, are condemned from their own mouths. I attempted to show that the present party opposed to the administration, have for a long time been panic-makers, whenever, out of place and power, they could invent any plausible pretext for creating excitement. I attempted to show that the branch Bank in New-Hamp- shire, in 1829, and previous, played the same game of ex- pansion and curtailment that is now playing by the mother Bank and its branches in all parts of the United States, and that although it succeeded in bringing ruin on some, it failed to make itself popular or acceptable to the people of New- Harapshire. I challenged the proof to the charge made by the Direct- ors of the Bank in their publication of December last that the "principal chiefs" of the administration had a meeting in this city in 1829, for the purpose of concerting measures to make the Bank a political engine; and have disproved that charge so far as strong presumptive evidence could disprove it. 1 have shown that the Bank itself voluntarily put the question of re-charter or no charter on the result of the last Presidential election ; that it took this position from choice, and put all its means, without limitation, into the contest, interfering and attempting to influence the elections to the full extent of its ability ; and that the Bank now stands in the position of that individual who should propose his own terms — make his own bargain ; and after he should have a- vailed himself of all the privileges of his own terms, should insist that a decision should go for nothing, because it had been discovered that the right belonged to the other party; and claim a new trial by a tribunal which the people (the opposite party) never had sanctioned. I have shown that the Bank has wantonly, and with mal- ice aforethought, contrived the means which should break up the currency of the country, and destroy the facilities of trade and exchange; and that within the last six months it 216 APPENDIX. has premeditated embarrassment and ruin to the trade of the country; that, through distress and suffering, it might force on the People what it could not obtain by a fair use of its capital and influence. I have shown that a great portion of the suffering and pe- cuniary distress have been caused by over-trading and an inflated paper credit ; and that this distress could at any time be produced by the Bank, whenever its owners and di- rectors should feel it to be for their interest to bring the dis- tress into operation to further their purposes. I have shown that the pecuniary distress has not been confined to the United States. That it preceded, and was more severe in the British Provinces on the North, and in the West Indies, than it is in this country; and that it is even felt to a considerable extent in Great Britain, where a National Bank had just been re-chartered ; from which facts it may fairly be inferred, either that the present distress would not have occurred at this time if the United States Bank had not wantonly produced it, or that we might have had partial distress, with the exercise of the best disposi- tion on the part of the Bank. I have shown, that in New-England, the sound state of the currency is not at all dependent on the United States Bank — that the local banks there regulate the currency. I have also shown that that the prices of the farmers' produce have there been higher within the last two months than they have been at any corresponding period for several years — that where there has been no overtrading, there is no un- common pecuniary distress; and that the great mass of the community are better oft' in a pecuniary point of view than they had before been for many years. 9(1 4f if ^ * * * The peojde of my State, at every successive election, have sanctioned the veto of the President of the Maysville road bill, and thus declared that Congress has not the constitu- tional power to make appropriations for roads and canals, or any other mere object of local improvement. The same people have sanctioned the veto of the Presi- dent on the bill re-chartering the Bank of the United States, believing that institution to be '-one of the most deadly hos- tility existiug against the principles and form of our Con- stitution," inasmuch as it possesses, "in time of war the power to dictate to the nation the peace it should accept, or to bankrupt the government by withdrawing its aid," and inasmuch, in time of peace, it has proved itself of sufficient APPENDIX. 217 power to agitate the wholt? country, to break in upon the Jbundations of its great busines?, and to threaten its entire mercantile relations, with derangement and ruin. Tlie .same people Iiavc sanctioned all lionest efforts to re- duce the taxes on impoits, and have discountenanced tiie idea that our agriculture and manufactuiies can thrive and flourish only w lien the government shall secure to them a do- mestic monopoly by ojipressive taxation. As they have op- posed high taxes for protection, so they are opposed to those profuse expenditures which render high taxes necessary. — They have .seen, not without regret, the disposition of the two last Congresses, to increase the public expenditures; they believe that millions are little better than thrown away which have been appropriated to objects of professed im- provement; they do not l)elieve it necessary for the welfare or prosperity of the District of Columbia, in addition to the immense amount paid in salaries and improvements of the public property, that there .shoi\ld be from five hundred thou- sand to a million of dollars anuHally appropriated to keep in repair or build her roads, l)riilgcs, and canals; they do not believe that two or three hundred thousand dollars should be appropriated annually for the benefit of printers employed to oppose and vilify the people's President and the people's administration. In short, the people of iVew-Vlampshire have often expressed, and will continue to express the opin- ion, that the General Government should confine its a<;tion to the objects specified by the con.4itution ; tliat strict econ- omy should be exercised in the public expenditures; that no taxes should be imposed for protection, believing that com- munity the best protected, which is the lightest taxed. The same people have ever looked upon the two ex- tremes — extremes which seem recently to have embraced each other — of consolidation on the one hand, and nullificar tion of the constitution on (he oiher, with ecpial abhorrence and disgust. They believe there is a redeeming power in the ballot-boxes of our country, in the intelligence and good sense of the whole people of the United States, not only to furnish a corrective for all encroachments upon State Rights, but to secure the execution of laws constitutionally enacted, whenever any minor body of the people shall attempt to re- sist them. George Washington saved his country by his great pru- dence and forecast, especially in the winter of 1776-7, when a general despondency had taken hold of the people, and when, almost destitute of means, and with bnt the skeleton 19 218 APPENDIX. of an army, composed of men reduced taekeletona by priva- tion and suffering, he planned and executed the glorious vic- tory of the 25th Dec. at Trenton. Andrew Jackson also grasped the drovkrning honor of his country — shall I say, saved his country from impending ru- in — by his prudence and forecast — by that mighty energy of mind which could create the means where the most of human kind would deem it impossible, and which stilling the clam- ors and caballing of treachery, converted a mass of the most incongruous material? into a formidable bulwark of defence; and what is still more matter of wonder, from these mate- rials furnished the means of annoyance and death to an at- tacking army, which was the flower and pride of the enemy, in the great victory at New-Oilean?, Jan. 8, 1815. George Washington jjreserved the Union from the incen- diary machinations of the Eastern foes to our republican confederacy, terminating in the abortive treason of the Hartford Convention, by that immortal legacy which enjoin- ed it as our duty to "frown indignantly on the first dawning of any attempt to alienate one portion of the country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred tics which bind its sever- al parts." Andrew Jackson also preserved the Union against the attempts of fomenters of mischiefiat the South, who, seizing the occasion of supposed oppression, taught an honest but deluded people, that no allegiance was due the constitution of our national government; he saved it, by energetically and promptly practicing in the winter of 1832, on the sen- timent first uttered from his own lips, and which has since been responded by millions of. freemen ; " The Union — it must be preserved .'" The bold and resolute stand which he then took, caused a fearful trembling among those who l)ad threatened breaking down the confederacy, and forced them to retreat ingloriously from the field under the cover of a fire from those who had been the source of their complaints, and finally into the very arms of the party wdiich had been the author of the oppression of which they complained. Thomas Jefferson by his example and his doctrine, res- tored the constitution to its true reading, and expelled the corruption and abuse of power which a party in this coun- try, obtaining an ascendancy have been wont to exercise — he confined the operations of the general government to its legitimate purposes — he opposed lavish appropriations and unnecessary expenditures — he was an enemy to high taxa- tioHj Hnd to interference with the rights reserved to the APPENDIX. 21^ States — he invariably removed from office those imbitteretl partisans who opposed his administration and the popular principles of the country. He considered the national bank to be an institution of the "most deadly hostility" to "the principles and form of our constitution," and had a bill, chartering the bank, passed both houses of Congress, there cannot be a doubt he would have placed upon it hia veto. — For his strict democratic principles, for his enthusiastie at- tachment to the rights of the people, for his strong and lasting hatred to oppression of all kinds, no man has been more abused and vilified than was the illustrious apostle of American liberty. Andrew Jackson under a system of increasing corruption, has again attempted and is now laboring to restore the con- stitution to its original reading. He has set his face against corruption and abuse of power. He would confine the pub- lic expenditures to the legitimate objects of the constitution. He would relieve the people from unnecessary taxation, and he would prevent all encroachments on State rights. He has removed from office some of the embittered partisans who deride his principles and his administration. Better than all, he has had the moral courage to take upon himself the sole responsibility of vetoing the charter of a bank of the United States, and has thus preserved the country from that blighting curse, a moneyed corporation, "possessing in time of war the pov/er to dictate to the nation the peace it should accept," and in peaca the power at any time to pro- duce extended pecuniary distress. And scarcely less than was the illustrious apostle of liberty, is the name of Andrew Jackson held up to reproach by the party which has ever been opposed to free principles. More than either Washington or Jefferson has Andrew Jackson been successful in his administration of the department of foreign relations; there is no govern- ment in the world having intercourse with our own, that does not repose in him all the respect that is due to upright exertions and honest intentions; and his known decision of character has aided the peculiar situation of this country, to prove those concessions of right for his administration, which had been denied to all others; and truly may it be said that not only has Jackson filled the place, in the field and the cabinet, of both Washington and Jefferson, but that he has gone beyond them both in securing for the nation, the confidence and resj)ect of all the principal kings, prin- ces and potentates of the world. Hereaft«r shall his fame iI20 Ari'EiS'Pix. be tiaiiscfctided h^ l)Ul tew men whose decdk lidve .-lied lus- tre upon their species. L. EXTRACTS VlUm MR. HILL'S SPEECH ON THE POST OFFICE, 111 Senate of United States, II June, 1834. I had foreseen, Mr. President, from the commencement, ^"at an attack was to be made, during the present session, ^n the Post Ofiice Department. Circumstances had forced that Department into a position, that, whether culpable or not, blame might be imputed to its managemant : and that obli'uit exliibited by the gentleman towards it, hat> coiitiibiited at all in preventing eriibarras.sment to the De partment, the gentleman oughl to have due credit for all hi? labors of love towards it. * * * * * * From the year 1810 to [he year 1829, 1 was a contractor I'nder the Dej)artment to carry a number of mails in the State of New-Hampshire. At no time, I believe, did these contracts exceed the sum of three thousand dollars per an- num. Contracts were issued to me under Mr. Granger, Mr. Meigs, and Mr. M'Lean. In no instance, under either of these gentlemen, did 1 ever obtnin a contract but on ternus of fair competition ^^\^\l all other biilders. The circum- stance of having been for twenty years a contractor, enables me to explain, what was yesterday mad.e a grave subject of complaint against the department in the State which I have the honor to repre.-ent. In that State, among a number of ethers, Horatio Hill is a contractor for several routes. As his name happens to be associated with another who is the conductor of a newspa- per — for he is no political writer, and scarcely a politician himself — the keen optics of the committee were directed to the discovery of some alarming, some astounding favoritism in his case. They could not find, on a careful inspection of the contracts, any extra allowanc es, l)nt they did find what greatly alarmed tiio Senator from New-Jersey. They found written out on the face of his contracts, what I have good reason to believe they would have found written out'in other contrncts in that part of the country, a grant of what is call- ed the " newspaper privilege." Now, sir, can you diviiie what this newspai)er privilege means '? The Senator from New-Jersey appears to be altogether in the clouds on this matter; and lest he should continue to suppose that the newspaper privilege in the Granite State were some in- fernal machine, slaying his political friends by thousands, I will attempt to (piiet his apprehensions and set him right. In New-Hampshire as in some of the other New-England States, almost every farmer and mechanic is well informed on political affairs, and takes one or more newspapers. — Ever since I had any knowledge of that State, in most of the towns through whicli a mail carrier passed, these news- papers are carried and delivered by the carriers, at the doors of those who took them. The i^rivilege of the car- rying and delivering ol nsn-spipers out of the mail has been Apr^iNDix. 223 UiKlioluibed ever since ilie establishment ol" llie i'ost Otlice Department, allhuitgli the law m'glit be so constiiio;d as to require that all uewspiipcrs should be carried in the mail. — 'J'his practice had been continued without any notice of tlic newspaper privilege on the face of the contract, and news- papers were carried out of the mail through all parts of JVew-EngJand. About four or five years :)go, some agent of tlie department — and these agents have been kept up under all administrations — discovered that persons in some of the cities and larger towns, were in the habit of evading the payment of postage by wrapping their letters in a newspa- per and forwarding it in the mail stage. To correct this evil an order was issued from the department, directing the carriers to carry no newspapers out of the mail. As might be well supposed, this order was not well received by the newspaper readers, they could not readily consent, while tlie carrier passed daily by their doors, to travel a distance of half a dozen miles, or even one mile, to a post office to obtain their newspapers. The department very soon relax- ed its orders in relation to newspapers, and suffered the car- riers to take them as usual. In some instances, if not in all, where newspapers had been thus carried by contractors, to put an end to all doubt on the subject, the newspaper privilege — meaning the right to carry and deliver newspa- ]yevs out of the mail — was noted in the proposals — and where the proposals were accepted this condition was of course entered on the face of the contract. This trifling incident, in no wise altering what had been the practice from time ijnmemoriul throughout the whole interior of New- England, is the whole amount of the enormity that has been perpetrated with malice prepense, by the department, in the case of Horatio Hill. If the Senator from New-Jersey, or the majority of the Post Office Committee will call for per- sons and papers at the department, he or they will probably find that there are cases of contract other than that of Ho- ratio Hill, in which this newspaper privilege has been in- serted ; at all events, they may ascertain, that the " news- paper privilege" is not confined to the State of New-Hamp- shire, or to one side of the political cjuestion, and that newspapers are carried out of the mail as well in Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Connecticut, as in New-Hamp- shire. ***** * The political friends of the Senators who assail New- Hampshire who are mail contractors in that State will not 224 APPENDIX. thank them for the manner in which their contracts are no- ticed. Even in that State, which is pointed at as a greater political sinner than her sisters, mnch the largest amount of money paid by the post office department to mail con- tractors, goes directly into the pockets of our political op- ponents ; and so long as they shall conduct as honorable opponents; so long as they shall continue to do business, and treat alike men on all sides of every political question; so long as they shall treat us as fairly as they do those who difibr from us in opinion; there will be little disposition on our part to deprive them of at least equal rights with oth- ers in an honorable competition for the pay and emoluments of carrying the public mails in the Granite State. I have said, sir, that the patronage of the post office de- partment is not confined to the friends of the administra- tion. Of the money paid to mail contractors; of the extra allowances made to mail contractors in the six New-Eng- land States, much the largest portion has been, and con- tinues to go into the hands of political opponents. T was in this city as a mail contractor in the fall of 1828, previous to the closing of my contracts with the Department. The New-England contractors were generally here at the time. I was not a little surprised to be told that I was the only open and decided friend of the election of Andrew Jackson among them all, and was asked how I could expect tb ob- tain any contracts. The contest was thea fierce aud warm. I was at that time the conductor of a newspaper, and had the fortune to be considered worthy of persecution for opin- ion's sake, by an accidental ascendency of a piebald party in my State, consisting principally of old federalists, aided by a portion of nominal republicans, who were more anx- ious for the honors and emoluments of office, than for the furtherance of any honest principle. The same contractors who were here in 1828, in most instances are now contract- ors; not one of {.hem, I will dare allege, has lost his contract, or been dejirived of the benefits of his bid by the present Postmaster General, on account of his political opiuions. ******* On the whole, Ml". President, 1 cannot say I regret the scrutiny which the Post Office Department has encountered from the examination of a hostile committee. If that com- mittee, seeking occasions to criminate the department, has discovered any thing censurable, censure should be bestowed as it shall b© deserved. If the committee has told more than APPE^^DIX. 225 was tiue oil otic rfiJc, there is also gooci icuhctn to believe that much uf the truth lemaiiiH to be told in lelatioii to the other side, if they have not spaied the transadions of the iVIends of tlie adaiinistralion in coniiexiun with the busi- ness of the department, there is certainly good reason to believe that the contracts and extra allowances for carrying mails, and the blanks, paper, and twine, and other jobs Inr- nished to their own friends, have passed entirely ftee from animadversion. I listened attentively to the reading- of both reports. I weighed earnestly the lescimony that was adduced to prove corruption or intententiunal misconduct, on either the head or subordinates of the dei)avtmenf, and I am constrained to say, that although the charges of raalconduct are made with great confidence, there is much less of evidence to sustain those charges than I had been lead to anticipate from the rimxors that were in circulation. M. EXTRACTS FROM MR. HILL'S FPEEv'Jll UN THE DELIVERY OF THE RESOLU I IONS OF THE NEW-HAMPSHIRE LEGISLATURE, In Senate of United States, 2Sd June, 1S34. Ever since the <|niet of the nation has been disturbed by public agitators in many portions uf the country, relative to the Bank of the L^nited States, the State of New-Hampsliire has pursued the even tenor of lier way — she has has lent n() helping hand to stir up the embers of public strife — she has taken no part in creating public panic and distress. 'J'hiee panic memorials only have been presen'ed to Congress from New-Hampshire, and these were trom a corner of the slate, embracing three towns, in one of which is a branch of the United States Bank, and in each of the two others are man- ufacturing establishments, principally owned and controlled by persons living beyond the limits of the State. The first naemorial was originated by the Bank itself— the two others were the work of persons under the influence of die Bank, and not belonging to the State. The three «:on(ained about «'!c\en hundred names, of a population comprising nearly or 2*36 APPENDIX. quite three hundred thousand souls; and counting all the petitioners as citizens, scarcely one fiftieth part of the legal voters of the state have come here to ask either for the res- toration of the deposites, or the recharter of the Bank of the United States. The citizens of New-Hampshire, of the months that have been expended in reading and listening to speeches on me- morials, have not probably taken a single hour of this ses- sion of Congress as their share. The democratic majority of that State has taken up none of your time — it has freely expressed its opinions, both at public meetings and at the polls, but it has contributed nothing towards interrupting the deliberations of Congress — it has sent no committees here to overawe the constituted authorities. And now, sir, the Legislature, the immediate Representatives of the Peo- ple of New-Hainpshire, have a right to claim your attention. This Legislature was elected by the People on the second Tuesday of March last, at a point of time when the greatest alarm pervaded the community. The friends of the Bank, and the party opposed to the General Administration, made greater efforts to elect members of the House of Representa- tives in the several towns, than they had done at any time since 1830. The result ol' these efforts is seen in the vote of the. House on these resolutions — one hundred and sixty- three Representatives, after a discussion of three days, vo- ting for the resolutions, and only sixty-two against them. — If all the Representatives had been present, tlie vote would have beeli one hundred and sixty-seven to sixty-threo. But in the Senate these resolutions had a unanimous vote. That body consists of twelve members elected annually in as many Districts, and in these twelve Districts, not a sin- gle opnosition man was returned. ** * * * * * * The resolutions which I shall present, were offered in the House of Representatives on the same day that the Govern- or's message was communicated. Although the Legislature of this State had always been very decided in its political character, it is believed no parallel case since the adoption of her constitution, exists, where both a new Governor and Legislature have evinced so unequivocal and decided a spir- it on national polities, as have this governor and legislature. This expression was moved at the first moment after the or- ganization of the state government; and it proves the deep interest that is there felt in the present crisis, and the deter- mined epirit of the people of New-Hampshire to resist all APPENDIX. 227 encroachments on their rights, and to put an end to that odious monopoly whidi assumes to stand in the place of the government. The resokitions which I shall ask to be read, are not couched in language disrespectful ; they speak as freemen have a right to speak, in a tone worthy the best days of the Repub- lic. The opinions here given, are in thq main decidedly averse to those of a majority of this Senate. These resolut'ons say, that the course of the administra- tion and of the President, is entirely approved; and that the latter, by his endeavors to restore the constitution to its original purity; by his integrity and firmness; by staying the expenditure of the public money in an unconstitutional system of internal improvements; by settling thetariff on a satisfjictory basis; by his resistance of all measures tending to a dissolution of the Union: by his veto on the bank bill; and the stand he has taken ag-ainst the alarming proceed- ings of the Bank itself, has proved himself to be a true disci- ple of Thomas Jefferson the fatlier of American democracy. That he only exercised a power conferred on him by the constitution, recognized by tiie example of all his predeces- sors, when he removed from office the late Sscretary of the Tieasury. That the present Secretary of the Treasury, in removing the deposites of public money from the Bank of the United States, has violated neither the letter nor the spirit of the charter of the Bank ; and that his course is fully ap- proved by the People, and was demanded by the protiigate conduct of the officers of the Bank. That- the Bank of the United States ought not to be re-chartered — because, un- constitutional in its creation, it has proved itself to be an institution of thefmost deadly hostility to the free principles of our Government, attempting to sustain itself and to obtain for its friends political power, by a course of bribery and corruption, setting at defiance the Representatives of the People, and veiling its transactions in secrecy and darkness. That the late Protest of the President of the United States, against that extraordinary and unprecedented resolution of the Senate, which pronounced him guilty of a most flagrant ofience widiout either hearing or trial, was a measure justi- fied by his personal right to vindicate his own charncter from unmerited reproach, and his imperative official duty to de- fend the Executive branch, while in his charge, from all intemperate assaults or unconstitutional encroachments; and that the Senate, in passing such a resolution, violated the first principles of justice, and unfitted themselves for the ±1^ APPF.NDIX. proper (ii.«c!iar^e of (hose official diuios wliicli hy the Coii- PtiUition (if their clmrges were true) they were bound to be- lieve liie House of Representatives would soon invoke thein to perform. And they instruct the Senators in Congress from New-Hampshire to vole that the resolution wliich they condemn be expunged from the Journal of the vSenate. 7'Ut^v approve of the course of their delegation in both branches of Congress with a single exception;* and they request him to resign his place, who "has long misrepresented, and now TTiisre-presents, the opinion of a majority of his constituents.'" I have the pleasure to state, from intelligence received this morning, that a new choice, in this solitary case, has been rnade; and that the expression in this new choice is no less decided than was that in each branch on the resolutions in favor of the administration. These, Mr. President, are the sentiments of a State, which, although inferior in wealth and numbers to many of the other states of the Union, is second to no state in point of intelligence, integrity and patriotism. The citizens of this state have ever i)een among the first to come forward in defence of their country's rights. The war of the revolu- tion, and the war of 1812, bear witness to their valor. No state, in proportion to her size, has sent forth more warri- ors, fought mtne valiantly, or bled more profusely. The time has been, before she knew herself, that this state was led in her political opinions by the influence of the metrop- olis of a sister state — when the money and the mercantile cupidity of that metropolis kept her in leading-strings. Tlie day has gone by. The hardy yeomanry of New-Hampshire have become independent in property, as they are in free spirit. They rest on their own resources and their own judgment — they are under the head of no man or set of men. The millions of a monopoly cannot corrupt them, nor can a hundred thousand bank speeches, circulated gratuitously a- niong them, change their opinions. * Referring to the colleague of Mr. Hi APPENDIX. 221) N. EXTRACT FROM MR. IIITJ-'S LETTER TO THE REPUBLICANS OF CONCORD, dnlcd Washington, 28 June, 1834. The present session of Congress has l)een marked, beyond all others which have preceded it, with efforts and events which cannot soon be forgotten by the people. A chartered monied Institution that had for years basked on the public favor, and assumed to control the vvliole operations of busi- ness in the cotmtry, came into Congress at the commence- ment of the session. It had previously interfered in the elections thronghout the countrj- — it had failed in a great effort to supercede the present Chief Magistrate by placing in that station one of its Attorneys and partisans, and it had poured out its money like water, to give its friends places in either branch of Congress. Although in several instances it succeeded in securing the election of nominal friends to the President, who were leally its friends, in Dis- tricts where in an open contest it would have found no fa- vor, yet it is now a settled point, that independent of the doubtful, there is a decided majority in the House of Rep- resentatives opposed to the Bank. In that body the struggle has been a iearful one. The Bank has expended vast sums of money in urging the citizens of commercial and trading towns and districts to force on their Representatives a change of their votes; but it has scarcely been able in any instance wliere it has desired a change, to show a ma- jority of the people even in those places, favorable to a re- charter. The partizans of the Bank in the House have hesitated in the performance of no act, in the resort to no expedient, which was calculated to further its views. But, so far as relates to that body, the cause of Truth and Jus- tice has signally triumphed — the Bank and the Bank Attor- neys have been voted down in that body on every important question, and although questions have been delayed day af- ter day, week after week, and month after month, yet the termination of the whole matter in that branch, has been a greater majority on the last important question taken, (thebill regulating the deposite of the public money in the State Banks,) than on tlie previous and preliminary ques- tion. An impetus to the o|)p()sition to the Bank in the House 20 '230 APPF.rsDix. has been given, l)y the failure of that branch of the Goverr- inciit in its attempt to investigate the concerns of that insti- tution. The charter had expressly jirovided for an exam- ination by either House of Congress, info the concerns and proceedings of the Bank; but in defiance of tl)at clause of the charter, all access to these concerns and proceedings was denied by the Bank. Tliis institution had long laid under the imputation of making corrupt appliances for the purchase of editors and newspapers, and for carrying on electioneering operations generally. Worse than this if pos- sible; there was reason to believe that the operations of tlie Bank on the business of the country, through its secret com- mittee — its cutting off the usual facilities for exchange — its curtailment of discounts at some points, while it expanded its accommodations at other points, either from favor, or to be able at a future time to curtail with more efliect— had been the procuring cause of the pecu.iiary distress that had pervaded many parts of the country. An examination such as was contemplated by the Resolutions of the House, would liave disclosed every thing that the people, who have an in- terest in this question, could have desired. If such an ex- amination would have shown that the Bank had not been corrupt in its management — that it had not purchased polit- ical presses — that it had not expended large sums of money to pay for the millions of speeches in jjamphlets and news- papers circulated gratuitously throughout the'country — that it had not cut off the exchanges and interrupted the ordina- ry mercantile transactions of the country; can it be believ- ed that the managers of the Bank would have suffered the opportunity to pass for furnishing evidence of its innocence? The refusal of the Bank to answer the questions put to it by the committee of the House, or to suffer its books to be examined, \s prima facie evidence of guilt in its worst as- pect — it is a confession not only that it is guilty of the charges which have been preferred against it, but of almost every other offence which we might imagine it would have an interest to commit. But it is not in the House of Representatives where the worst aspect of things has appeared. The Senate of the United States, at this time has at least three members who are aspirants for the Presidency, each embittered to the highest degree against the existing Chief Magistrate, and each having a motive to throw every embarrassment in the way of his administration. From its very commencement on the fourth of March 1829, we have seen two of these APPIIXDIX. 231 three men \f ith their follower?, pursuing- the most reckless course of opposition. At first, while tliey were nominally of ti minority in the Senate, they were more restrained in their acts and less daring in tlieir execution, than they have been nsore recently. There was not, for the two first years, an open alliance between the interests of the three; one of the aspirants was then in the Vice President's chair, nom- iniilly the friend of the administration. I'he next session of Congress after Andrew Jackson was inaugurated, may be marked as a new era in the history of the Executive Icgis- 1 ition of th.e Senate. At that session the nominations of tiie President were suffered to lie for months without a de- cision. One of the aspirants generally had it in his power to control the confirmation or rejection of the nominees, and while ihese nominees were in duress, the candidate and his friends were plied for the purpose of di>covering whether or not they willing to become (partisans of him ^^ho aspired to succeed Gen. Jackson at tlie eiui of his first four years, and who purely because he could not throw the whole influ- ence of the administiation into his scale for that purpose, became henceforward its bitter and unrelenting enemy. — The history of the intrigues which broke up the first Cabi- net of President J-.ickson is now pretty well understood. Tlie events of that day — the means ])ursued to interrupt so- ciety and social intercourse in the city of Washington, for the purpose of breaking up this cabinet — need not at this time be recounted. From the commencement of the first session of the last Congress, the opposition, embracing a majority of the Sen- ate of the United States, has waged a warfare rigainst the President and his administration, which is without a paral- lel in the history of this Government. Having been an eye M'itness of the course taken b}' the men who constitute tl.o opposition to Andrew Jackson in this body, if I may be al- lovved in any case to judge of men's motives by their acts, I say fearlessly, that the w hole scope of their efforts has been, not to legislate usefully fi'i" the country, whenever useful leg- islation should at all militate with their views as bitter par- tisans. To create all the agitation and discontent possible among the people seems to have been the leading object of the op- position leaders in tlie Senate. Every measure that could appeal i to the mercenary feolirgs of the pcf pie has been stirred whenever stirring could produce an effect. A large portion of the people, especially at the South, had become '-itj*^ APPExVDIX. deeply excited under the operation of die tariff laws. Evciy pcts.-il.ile expedient was devised to pievent an amicable ad- justment ol" that fjuestion — the north was pulling one way — the south was palling the other way. Each was contending for interests irreconcilable to the other. Propositions for ad- justmentof the vexed question, were repeatedly made by ti.e Executive, in such a reduction of duties as ought to recon- cile all portions of the countrj'. The public sentiment even in those sections of the country supposed to be most friendly to a high tariff, v\'as fast settling down upon such a reduc- tion of the imposts as the Executive of the nation had rec- ommended. The great leader of the "American System" saw this tendency of the public eentiment, and was alarm- ed. Like the fickle weathercock, he suddenly veered round from point Noith East to point South West; he executes on this point a treaty offensive ond defensive with the Nullitiers of Carolina, conceding at once all that the South retjulred in ndation to the tariff ; he tiansfers his Eastern tariff friends like so many cattle over to the opposite doctrine, a- gainst which he had so ardently contended, and s.itislies them that their interest had been consulted in this arrange- ment; and the high contracting parties attempt to despoil the administration and its friends of all the credit that was their due for having laid tlie foundation to relieve the jjeople of at least one half of the burdens v\hich the high tariff had imposed. Before closing this letter, I would advert to the rejection of several conspicuous gentlemen nominated for ofiice by the President. Until the present opposition obtained a majori- ty of the Senate, it had been considered as a matter of course to consult the wishes of the President alone in his selection of Cabinet officers — it had not been supposed that the Sen- ate, confessedly not representing the public sentiment,should prescribe to a Chief Rlagistrate representing a vast majori- ty of the nation which elected him, terms as to the opinions of his own counsellors and advisers. Roger B. Tankv, a man as irreproachable in private life, as he is unsurpassed in qualifications for any public position in which he might be placed; the second day after his nomination as Secretary of the Treasury, has been rejected by the Senate. — Anil Ai)- drrw Stevenson, who foi' the last seven years had presided over the House of Kepresontatives with not less approbation than any man who had ever sustained the same office — a man uo less amiable in social life than he was prompt and APPENDIX. 233 able in llie discliatgc of every public duty — lias also been rejected ; l-olh of lliese gentlemen within the lat^t few days. These men have been proscribed merely for entertaining' o- pinions adverse to the majority t>f the jjienate of the United States in relation to the Bank. Madness alone could pro- scribe two such men, when those who had the power to re- ject knew that their rejection could not prevent others with opinions alike obnoxious from sujiplying their place. I will conclude this letter by proposing the following senti- ment, and am, Kesi)cctfully, Your ob't servant, ISAAC HILL. The Senate of the United States. — Useless as a check ivhen it ontiages the public sentiment — worse than useless as a balance when its scale turns against justice. o. EXTRACTS FROM MR. HILL'S SrEECII AT THE DIININER GIVEN HIM AT HAVERHILL, N. H., 22 Oct. 1834. Besides citizens of this State and county, I perceive gen- tlemen present from the adjacent Stale of Vermont. That State is quite as democratic in principle, if not in present practice as any of her sisters : during the last war, and in the great Presidential contest of 1812, Vermont was the last of the States of New-England to desert the democratic standard. And she would now have been among the fore- most to support the general administiation, had not an hon- est and unaccountable delusion been practised upon her by the adversary, 'i hat very delusion, under the circumstances, does credit to the character of her citizens. Many lionest men have been honestly drawn into Antimasonry. It is not surprising that jealous republicans, after the abduction und cold blooded murder of a fellow mortal, oflcrthe ])ains that had been taken to identify that murder with tbe whole Ma- sonic fraternity, should have looked on Freemasonry as dan- gerous to the liberties of the country. I have good reaso)i to believe that the propagation of An- timasonry wan! one of those plots, inany of which have been 20-^ 234 AlTKiNDlX. invented by the party vvlio have attempted in various shapeB to dekide and mislead the people, believing they might be misled with impunity. Ceitaia leading politicians opposed to the democracy, some of whom were themselves freema- sons, were dee|)ly concerned in propagating this delusion, that the public mind might be diverted from the true ques- tion in issue. A large sum of money was raised among the office holders in Wasliington in 1827 to establish Antima- sonic presses in the westerly part of the State of New- York. Succeeding vvel! there, another agent in the confidence of Henry Clay (a high mason) came to Vermont in 1829, and travelled through the >-'tate lecturing and preachirg on the subject of Autimasonry, and so well succeeded as to pro- cure for himself an election to Congress. This? agent since {he commencement of the present session of the Vermont legislature has been at the seat of government and earnestly contended fjr the proposition that the Antimasonic party, which is the most numerous party in that State, should be dissolved and join en masse the self styled whig party! There is evidently a serious schism in the Antimasonic party of Vermont. A jjortion of that party arehonest dem- ocrats opposed to the United Stales Bank. They already see that the intention of the political Antimasons who unite themselves to the aristocracy is to make them the merest in- struments; that that those political Antimasons are at heart tory federalists, determined that no honest republican shall hold any oflice. These are ready and anxious to unite with ibeir brother democrats with whom they were wont to act in former times. Within a few days the Antimasons of Ver- mont have separated into two divisions, and there is little probability that diey will ever again come together. The charm is brolien in that State — the whole democracy of the State will unite; and we need not be surprised before the next great contest for the Tresidency, to see the Green- Mountain Boys acting in full communion with the great democratic phalanx of the Union. ******* An honorable Senator from Blassachusetts also made hi.s appearance at the Concord dinner "gladly in the character of a witness to bear conscientious and ready testimony to the able manner in which he [Mr. Bell] has supported the interest and credit of the State." If to disobey the voice of his constituents — if to treat iht lieojjle of his State with nuM.ked scorn and contumely — if to reproach those Avho have Leen repeatedly elected to important ollicca as being "the APPENDIX. 235 ••--cnui of the polilical pot" — if vioUiliou of his own plighted faith to resign when he shoukl no longei- represent the will of his constituents — if charging those who disagree with him in opinion with th.e "vilest corruption" — be supporting "the interest and credit of the State," then has the volunta- ry "witness" spoken the truth in this case. It surely need- ed sonie witness, not from another world, but at least from another State — from the federal "Bay State" — to convince any respectable number of citizens that the gentleman who had misrepresented the people of his State for nearly six years, had ahly "supported the interest and credit of his State." The tw^o gentlemen together would subserve the "interest and the credit" of the people of New-Hampshire by saving them from their worst enemies — themselves ! This is truly in character for the aristocrat and contemner of the people's rights ! But the "witness" from Massachusetts has discovered "if the ancient revolutionary heroes of New-Hampshire — Lang- don, Whii)ple, Bartletc, Gilman, Sullivan, Poor, Stark, &c. were now in the land of the living, every man of them would be on our side !" Does any man believe that these Patriots, if now living, would have espoused the cause of the self-styled whigs of the present day ? [Yes, exclaimed a revolutionary man — Gilman probably might, but not one the rest.] Gilman was not, as I have understood, a revo- lutionary hero — I never heard that he either took up arms, or warmly espoused the American cause. But John Lang- don and John Stark were living (said Mr. H.) since I ar- rived at the age of manhood — 1 knew them both — 1 knew the former personally to oppose Daniel Webster at the polls in Portsmouth, and I knew both Langdon and Stark, while living, to be objects of the inveterate political hatred of the witness from Magsachusetts. If either of them had been in active life during the late war. — as both of them, advanced to great age, took a strong interest in that contest — he would have done what the Massachusetts Senator never did — he would have marched to meet the enemy. If either of them had been in Congress, he would have voted, not as the Mas- sachusetts Senator voted, against supplies for the army and navy, against raising men and money, but to furnish and sustain both. The gentleman would have found much to hid chagrin that neither Langdon or Stark would have been on his side m that memorable contest, nor in any other politi- cal contest in which he ever was engaged. The ears of the 236 APPEiNDlX. wolf are too palpable to cover such detestable hypocrisy from such a source in appeals to the men of the revolution. ******* I have, said Mr. H. in my whole course as a legislator, voted against the charteiiiig of Banks. I have considered the effect of paper credit and paper circulation to be injuri- ous to the great interests of the people. Those \vho look back twenty-five years well recollect the evils which the peojile of this State tlien suffered from the sudden multipli- cation of Banks. The people of the county of Grafton from that day to the present have felt the effects of a bank mo- nopoly in a few hands; do they want a money accommoda- tion, not one in ten can procure it at the bank — but money can be had of somebody near the bank, may be at twelve, may be at twenty per cent. Incredible as it may seem, the multiplication of banks and fictitious paper credit makes money more scarce in a time of scarcity in the pjecise ratio that it makes money too plenty when it cannot be used to the advantage of the hold- er, it is the paper system which produces sudden lluctua- tions and revulsions in trade. The introduction of a specie currency is the best remedy against sudden revulsions in trade and credit. Late events have aroused the public attention ; and I trust that soon the Legislatures of the several States will put an end to the cir- culation of small bank notes, l)eginning with those under five dollars, and gradually excluding them under ten and even un- der twenty dollars, if it shall be found useful. Already has the gold bill of the last session of Congress had its beneficial effect, especially in the state of Pennsylvania, where bank notes of less than five dollars had been exclued. That bill aided by state regulation will make gold a substitute for rag currency — it will be the means of placing the cur- rency of the country on a foundation that cannot be shaken by ail the panic makers that self-styled whigs can send into Congress — it will place it beyond the power of banks or a combination of banks to shake the public credit. 1 ha\e said 1 am opposed to state banks. When a mem- ber of the House of Representaiives of this state in 1826, I take to myself some credit for having aided by my efforts in defeating the charter of a batch of fourteen banks which were then applied for in this state, and to procure which there had been a combination of local interests from several considerable towns of the state. Since that time, a few banks have been granted by way of defence against the in- APPKNDIX. 237 ro.'uls made by the numerous grants of othei' states. These t;tate banks are all subject to state taxation, and contribute to the suj^port of the public treasury; being under the con- trol of our legislatures, they are not as dangerous as they might otherwise be. But restricted and guarded even as ihey are, they aie still attended with evils of which, in the interior country, it may be a question whether these are not greater than the corresponding benefits. ******* With any other man as President to resist its insidious power than Andrew Jackson, the Bank would probably have been successful. Defeated in the hard struggle of the last Presidency, the Bank had determined to put forth its whole strength in the next election; and for this ])urpose was hus- banding its means to pounce upon the people in 1835-6. — The President, foreseeing what would be its enormous pow- er if aided by the whole government funds, prudently resol- ved to exercise the discretion left to the Executive by the charter of withdrawing the government deposites from the Bank, and, by m much, lessening the power of themonopoly to iiijisre the community. For this act of withdrawal, the Bank attornies and all its minions have not ceased to cry out "Tyrant !" "A violated Constitution!" "Restore the Con- stitution and the Laws !" when we may fearlessly defy the combined ingenuity of all the Bank partisans in the country to point out in what particular the withdrawal of the depos- ites has violated either the constitution or the law ! The wisdom of the man who alone is entitled to the credit of de- stroying the Hydra is manifest in depriving the beast of its means to injure before its fangs were whetted and prepared to sti ike the fatal blow; the desperation of the Bank and its retainers is increased in proportion to the disappoint- ment they have felt at being compelled to take the field with- out that ample preparation that the whole means of the gov- ernment would give them. This desperation is evinced in the reoent elections in some of our cities where newspaper editors and men have been "bought like cattle in the mar- ket," and where blood has flowed from the stilletto and the fire arms used by Bank assassins. It is likewise evinced in that arrogance which assumed to deny to a committee of Congress an investigation as provided by the charter; that its enormities in attempting to bring distress and ruin on the country, and in corrupting the very sources of public liberty might be concealed. The same desperation is also evinced in the forcible seizure by the bank of !if'15S,000 of the pub- 238 APPENDIX. lie money, with no better excuse than I should have to entw on the premises of my neighbor, and, under the pleaof chiim but without taking any legal steps to establish it, forcibly seize to my own use whatever property came within my vendi. P. EXTRACTS FROM MR. HILL'S SPEECH ON THE TENURE OF OFFICE, In Senate of United States. 22d Feb. 1835. There seems to be a sort of hydrophobia dread of rem<>v- als from office whenever a certain party is at the bottom of the wheel. The Senator from Kentucky says, the princip.le of dismissing men from office is a new principle — that it commenced about six years ago, when Gen. Jackson first C'Mtie into oftice. So great has been the burden on the mind of the Senator since that time, that ho may be readily excu- sed for not recollecting what took place during the adminis- tration immediately preceding that of Gen Jackson. — Does lie remember that the editors of the two principal democrat- ic newspapers in Maine and New-Hampshire, which had 'done the State some service,' while contending in a fearful minority during the war with Great Britain, were proscri- bed because they would not put on and wear the (hen exec- utive collar? Does he recollect the declaration then made by a Secretary of State (Mr. Clay) relative to one of those newspapers when the Representatives of the State recjuested his reasons for proscribing its editor, that he would 'have no neutrals?' Does he remember that this Secretary pro- ceeded to make these removals, as was stated at the time, even against the wishes or without consulting the Represen- tatives of the People of those States ? The Senator has complimented the veteran Gerry for his opposition to the doctrine of Executive removals in ihe Con- gress of 1789. Il he had been conversant with CJerry's ad- ministration, while at the head of the Executive of Massa- chusetts, in 1810 and ISll, he would have seen that he car- ried the doctrine of removals, in just retaliation of the uni- versal proscriiotlon by the opposite party, much further than it has been carried by President Jackson. The name of the APPENDIX. 2o9 revokuionary patriot was made a by-word witli the aristoc- racy of Massachusetts, becciuse he had the independence to prefer his own political friends to his political enemies, in his appointments to office. He was even arrested for debt ou the day of tlie annual election, by his political enemies, to sliow their spite for his fidelity to the democratic party. The Senator says, the people of the West cannot and will not submit to the turning out of officers; and he seems to take it for granted that the present administration alone is guilty of the enormous offence of preferring its friends to its enemies. Whit has the Senator himself been doing for the la^t six years ? Have not his nightly cogitations and his daily speeches been directed to the business of turning out the 'hungry' and 'haggard' crew, who have obtained offices under Gen. Jackson .' Can any man believe the Senator would have consented to the confirmation of any officer dif- fering in opinion with him, if he could, by withholding that consent, have forced the appointment of one of his political friends 1 It would be drfficult for any friend to the administration in the Senate soon to forgot the "armor and the attitude" of the honorable Senator from Kentucky, during the session of one year ago. The 'Long and Hungry* exultation at the old Hanover election in Virginia, in which our friends were turned out, and the Senator's friends were in full tide of success, had such an impression on my mind, that I have been scarcely able to think of any thing else than 'Long and Hungry' for office every time I have cast my eyes at the seat of the honorable Senator. It was most manifest, Mr. Pr«s- ident, that the principal pleasure then anticipated by the Senator and his friends, was that of turning every Jackson man out of office that could be reached, either by the Exec- utive, Legislative, or Elective power. The whole busiuess of the honorable Senator for years seems to ha\e been, ci- ther directly or indirectly, to bring about that state of things which would leave the coast clear, to the turning out of eve- ry political enemy, that the Senator himself and his friends might step into their places. ******* Removals from office, after all, have been the great and crying sin of the Post-Otfice Department since Gen. Jackson came into office. From the opinions which have been ad- vanced in the Senate Chamljer, we might suppose that after a man is once seated in oiSee, he has a right to it for life; it is very inconvenient for him to give it up, since he (.\o. 940 APPEi\DIX. pends upon it for a living; lie has made Ins arrangeincn'tP to keep it, and it will but deprive his children of bread to take from him his oHice. I rare not whence comes such a doctiine, whether from the North or the h'outh, the East or the West. I saj^ no man is entitled to an offiee one momant longer than he is useful in that office, nor has he the right to complain if the ]>ower which gave it, at any time shall see fit to take it a- way. When a man accepts an office, lie cither considers it a matter of favor to himself or favor to the public; if it be a favor to himself, how are his rights invaded by discontin- ing that favor ? If he accepts the office at a personal sacri- fice, he ought to be thankful to bo relieved of the duty. The doctrine that once in an yffice of emoluments gives a man a claim to "be always in office, will not stand alone. If we would see this government becoming one of the most corrupt on earth, we should favor the appointment of men to office for life. And this would hardly go fur enough; for the poor children who would suffer if their father was de- prived of office during his life, would certainly have stronger claims to the same office after the father was dead, when they were still more helpless. In the elder Adams' time, the federalists very well under- stood the advantage of the influence and emoluments of office. In the State of New-Hampshire, from 1797 to 1804, no man who did not subscribe to the doctrines of the alien and sedi- tion laws could even be appointed a justice of the peace. In 1798, a demociat clergyman was turned out of the office of chaplain, after a formal trial before the Legislature,because he happened to omit naming the President of the United States in his morning prayers. All the offices from high to low were filled by friends of the administration. The ven- erable Whipple, and Gardner, the one collector of Portsmouth, and the other commissioner of loans for the state, who had been appointed by Washington, were both dismissed from office by Adams, because their names were not found upon an adulatory address lo the President whiclv had been circulated at Portsmouth. Mr. Jeflerson came into the President's office in 1801; and what did he do ? Without assigning his reasons to the Senate, he reinstated his own jiolitical friends, and he dismissed others who were his opponents. Whipple and Gardner were reinstated in New-Hampshire. Did Mr. Jeffijrson place other than a political friend in any consider- aljle office ? Did he not remove officers in repeated instair- APPENDIX. 241 cea for no other renson than that they were opposed to the principles which elevated the repnl)lican party, and raised him to the Presidency 1 During his administration and the greater part of that of James Madison, Gideon Granger of Connecticut was the Postmaster General. The post offices in ISOO, were not more than one for every ten at this time. Yet during those two administrations, in almost every considerable office, a change of postmaster was made for no other reason than that the incumbent was not friendly to the administration. These two cases are only specimens of the general turning out of federal postmasters in New-England, by Gideon Granger. It was not then as it is now ; there were no charges exhibited against the incumbent waitingfor answers and explanations. If the democrats in any town were dis- satisfied with their postmaster, they wrote to the Postmas- ter General, generally through John Langdon, the well known patriot of the Granite State, and the removal was as sure to take place as the day is to succeed the night. The removals under the administration of James Madison were even more decisive in their character than uader Thom- as Jefferson. All the more kicrative post offices that Mr. Jefterson had left in the hands of the federalists, were by Mr. Madison, changed to other hands. In Boston, in Ports- mouth, Newburyport, Hartford, Baltimore, and all other places where a change was desired, changes for political reasons alone, were made ; the most of them under Mr. Madison. And it is well known that for refusing to remove the Postmaster at Philadelphia for political reasons only, at the instance and direction of the President, Gideon Gran- ger hhnself was turned out of the office of Postmaster Gen- eral. Looking back to the administration of Mr. Madison, it must be recollected that he had even less aftection for his political opponents than almost any other President. It will thus be seen that the doctrine of change and rota- tion in office is not new. The old federalists at first insisted that no democrat was fit for any office, and never suffered any to be apointed while they had the power. The demo- crats, as was natural, when they obtained the ascendancy, as a matter of necessity, made removals of their adversaries, because, as Mr. Jefterson then said, "few died, and none re- signed." From that day to this, much the larger share of permanent offices, depending upon executive appointment, has been held bv the party in this country adverse to popu- 21 242 APPENDIX. lar rights. The party has not scrupled, in all instances where they had the power, to turn out their adversaries. — Nor has it ceased to claim their right to remain in office, when the tables have been turned upon them. On ihe one hand they never cease to cry out "proscription for opinion's sake," while on the other, their very creed is based on that spirit of persecution which will tolerate in office, or even in proi^perous business, no man who thinks difierentiy from themselves. It is to old Virginia, to Jefferson and Madison, that vvp are indebted for the republican example of doing justice to our own political friends when we are in the ascendency. — They were not quite so magnanimous as Virginians have on some occasions since been. They did not think it of so lit- tle consequence what a man's political opinions were, to e- lect men as members of tlie Legislature, who were decided political opponents, and ihus give a character to one branch of her representation in Congress hostile to the principles which she has ever professed. After the examples of Jefferson and Madison, sanctioned as they were by the strong public sentiment of the country, should it be imputed to the present administration as a crime, that it prefers its friends to its enemies? It was abundant- ly evident, during the panic of last winter., that a large ma- jority of the army of office-holders in this District belonged to the opposition Men who had been neutral before, view- ing the triumph of the Bank, in its great contest for power, certain, did not hesitate to come out. Indeed, at this mo- ment, the enemies of the administration stand a much better chance for favor than its friends, in every Thing that depends upon Congress. All officers who want increased salaries — all who want increased expenditures, great appropriations, and great patronage; all who want to press doubtful claims to a favorable result; know very well on what side to look for favors. As to removal of Postmasters, I am of opinion that the present Postmaster General has been in fault, and that fault is, that he has not, in some places, made changes where he ought to have made them. There are counties in New-Eng- land with thirty to sixty Post Offices, and scarcely a demo- cratic Postmaster among them all. Perhaps not one in five of the offices in some of the New-England States is in the hands of a friend of the administration. It is well known hat ihe opposition party in New-England not only do not tufTer the friends of the adaiinistration to be appointed to APPENDIX. 245 -» lucrative place for years, and his more needy neighbor, . ^ T i o rSefe netlr Jm be a'change against „s ,„ the 1 f-^., c simiie, engraved by a young artist of Boston. 21' '•^a3|? LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 014 041 470