Words of William E. Chandler Address of June 8, 1915, on the 150th Anniversary of the Chartering of the aa TOWN OF CONCORD dd Histories of Concord — Three Incidents In Con- cord History — John P. Hale and Franklin Pierce. The Present War— Its Horrors— Edna Dean Proctor's Poem— Peace Letters— The United States Hot a Colonizing Nation— Make Haste Slowly — Opinions of Secretaries Long and Herbert— The Proper Size of Our Navy. RUMFORD PRESS, CONCORD, N. H. A copy of this pamphlet will be mailed to any person sending a postal card request therefor. 183 5 December 28th 1915 Words of William E. Chandler Address of June 8, 1 9 1 5, on the 1 50th Anniversary of the Chartering of the TOWN OF CONCORD PAGE Mr. Chandler's Birthplace 1 The Two Histories of Concord: By Rev. Nathaniel Bouton in 1855 2 By Leading Citizens of Concord in 1903 2-3 The True Principles of the Progress, Prosperity and Greatness of Commu- nities Like Concord 4 Three Incidents in the Growth of Concord: (1) The John P. Hale and Franklin Pierce Debate in the Old North Church on June 5, 1845 4 (2) The Refusal by the Citizens of Concord in October, 1856, to give a Non-partisan Public Reception to President Pierce 4 (3) The Unveiling in the State House Yard in Concord of a Statue of Franklin Pierce, erected by the State of New Hampshire, on November 25, 1914 5 Sketch of the Lives of John P. Hale and Franklin Pierce 5-7 The Present War of the Christian Nations. "I am afraid" 7 The Horrors of the War in Europe — Edna Dean Proctor's Poem of Abdul- lah of Cairo. "By the Prophet, if these be Christians where shall we find the heathen?" 8, 16 APPENDIX Letter of February 23, 1915, to William W. Thayer, Secretary of the New Hampshire Peace Society 9 Keep Calm, Moderation of Speech, The United States Not a Colonizing Nation 10 Letters to Senator George C. Perkins, January 15, and February 1 and 8. "Reasons for Making Haste Slowly." 11 Opinions of Naval Secretaries: John D. Long and Hilary A. Herbert 12 The Proper Size of Our Navy. Mr. Chandler's Speech in the Senate on May 13, 1892 14, 15 December 28, 1915. ADDRESS OF WILLIAM E. CHANDLER. June 8, 1915. Ladies and Gentlemen, Citizens of Concord, Felloiv Legislators: My first appearance in this my native home was on the 28th day of December in the year 1835, within the dwelling house which was directly north of the old Call's Block (His- tory, Vol. 1, page 599) and was known as the Call house, then standing on what is now the corner of State and Park streets, whereon is the marvelously beautiful edifice of the New Hampshire Historical Society given by Edward Tuck from his home in Paris, France, for the use and blessing of his native state. South nearby (History, Vol. 2, page 745) is the public school building, in the various grades of which I was educated; north adjoining which is the present church edifice of the Second Congregational Society, Unitarian, of which I have all my life been a member; and opposite the Call's Block lot whereon the United States government building now stands, behold the New Hampshire State House, within which have been conferred upon me the highest public honors of my life. For seventy-nine and one-half years I have continued a legal resident in Concord, voting at its elections after 1856 and responding earnestly to every call of duty from its people. The present elaborate celebration of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the chartering of the town of Concord, with the making of a record of the ceremonies, is for the mutual rejoicing and complaisant contemplation of events already well related and is not necessary as a history except of the last ten years. No such perfect record of any com- munity has ever been made as the two existing histories of Concord— those of 1855 and 1903. The first of these histories is by Rev. Nathaniel Bouton, that of Concord "from its first grant in 1725 down to 1855." Any historical narrative of any community made by only one writer does not exist, more accurate, complete and attractive than this by Doctor Bouton, and it is a pleasure for me to praise and honor a minister and an author whom I respected and loved, and members of whose family are still dear to my heart. The next history of Concord is that of 1903, "from the original grant in 1725 to the opening of the twentieth cen- tury." It is the joint production of citizens of Concord, originated in 1896 by the City Government, with Henry Robinson as mayor, and was carried forward to completion by him and Mayors Albert B. Wood worth, Nathaniel E. Martin, Harry G. Sargent and Charles R. Corning, with a City Com- mission specially incorporated by the Legislature on March 24, 1903. The record announces James O. Lyford as the editor; Amos Hadley was the author of the general narrative, in sixteen chapters; Joseph B. Walker described the physical features and development, and contributions of important chapters and articles were made by Henry McFarland, Jacob H. Gallinger, Charles R. Corning, James O. Lyford, John C. Ordway, Frank W. Rollins, Howard F. Hill, Thomas C. Bethune, Frank Battles and William W. Flint. The illus- trations were in charge of Henry B. Colby and prepared under the supervision of Benjamin A. Kimball, while the reading of the revised proof was the contribution of Edward N. Pearson and the indispensable index was made by the accomplished Miss Harriet L. Huntress. Isaac A. Hill, John M. Mitchell, Benjamin A. Kimball, James L. Norris, Lewis Downing, Jr., John M. Hill, John Kimball, Leland A. Smith, George A. Cummings, Edson J. Hill, Franklin D. Ayer, E. J. Aiken, Woodbridge Odlin, Lyman D. Stevens, John Whitaker, Daniel B. Donovan, Milon D. Cummings, Cyrus R. Robinson and Giles Wheeler were important promoters of the work, some of them as members of the City Commission. An account of the construction of the history was made by that literary ornament of Concord, Miss Frances M. Abbott, which was published in the Granite Monthly of January, 1904, and is a model of completeness and concise- ness. She also contributed to the history a chapter on Domestic Customs and Social Life. I venture to give adjec- tives of praise only to the two female workers in the construc- tion of the incomparable "History of Concord," which is such an accurate and complete record of the city's fame. It was not my lot to be able to make any contribution to this wonderful history of my beloved city, but on Old Home Day, August 24, 1904, at Contoocook River Park, it was my privilege to deliver an address containing a careful analysis and enthusiastic eulogy of the History, and to express my unbounded gratitude to its authors, all of whom, except the deserving author of the general narrative, gave their minds and hearts to the work without compensation. A copy of my address was furnished with every copy of the large two- volume History, which tribute of mine I consider it a privi- lege to have been allowed thus to make something like a part of those remarkable volumes. On this occasion it is not my purpose and would not be my privilege to make a long discourse; so that beyond a state- ment of my constant affection and fidelity to my birthplace and the only legal home I ever had, I shall venture to present but one idea. Senator Proctor once invited me to a celebra- tion of the Loyal Legion, telling me that there would be many speakers and that one idea would be enough if it was a good one. He then commanded me to speak to the toast, "The Soldiers and Sailors of the United States from 1776 to 1896," and gave me ten minutes in which to do it! My one present idea is that the progress, prosperity and greatness of communities like Concord, and of nations like ours, result from the brave assertion of all individual differences of opinion with full and free debate thereon, and, as soon as human nature will permit, a decision and final ending of controversy thereon, the expulsion of anger, and animosity, and the systematic cultivation in the future of continuous co-operation guided by mutual and true affection. Without such a national principle, popular harmony will always be precarious and unity of national growth uncertain, while with its free exercise national greatness is sure. This being my idea, I illustrate it today only by three incidents in the history of Concord. I. The John P. Hale and Franklin Pierce debate in the Old North Church in Concord on June 5, 1845. II. The refusal by the citizens of Concord in October, 1856, to give a non-partisan public reception to President Pierce. III. The unveiling in the State House yard at Concord, front- ing Main Street, of a statue of Franklin Pierce, erected by the commonwealth of New Hampshire on November 25, 1914. John P. Hale of Rochester and Franklin Pierce of Hills- borough were Bowdoin College classmates and political associates and personal friends. When the question of the annexation of Texas arose, Mr. Hale, then a member of Con- gress, wrote his famous Texas letter, dated January 7, 1845, opposing the annexation of any more slave territory; and on February 12 the Democratic State Convention, under the lead of Franklin Pierce, reassembled and removed Hale's name from the ticket. Next, on June 5, at Concord, came the famous, impassioned meeting between the two brilliant orators, the result of which was the defeat of the Democratic party in the state at the election of 1846 and the election of Mr. Hale as Speaker of the House and United States Sena- tor; with Anthony Colby as Governor. Then followed the long and bitter anti-slavery and seces- sion combat; the annexation of Texas; the war with Mexico; the compromises in 1850; the election in 1852, with Hale a Free Soil candidate against him, of Franklin Pierce as Presi- dent; the repeal of the Missouri Compromise in 1854; and the struggle in 1856 to elect Fremont over Buchanan as President. During this canvass, President Pierce came to Concord, and an effort was made to give him a non-partisan reception. It was opposed, and by practically an unresisted vote, in an immense meeting in Depot Hall, voted down. The men who bravely did this had received no visit to his home from their President between March 4, 1853, and October, 1856, and, much admired and beloved as he had been by all the people of Concord, they then regaided him as more than any other person responsible for the bloody struggle in bleeding Kansas. The Democrats, in their indignation, gave the President an immense, partisan demonstration, but the Republicans had done their duty. Concord, in November, gave 452 plu- rality for Fremont, and New Hampshire gave him more than 5,000; while in 1852 General Pierce had received 229 ma- jority in Concord and nearly 7,000 in the state. But fifty -eight years later Concord saw another sight. Time had worked the wonders of the nineteenth century in the United States. The growth of slavery had been checked. Kansas had been made free. Abraham Lincoln had been made President. Secession had been proclaimed and a war of rebellion declared by the South, but victory in that war had been achieved by the armies of the Union under the leadership of Grant and Sherman and Sheridan and the other heroes of the North. As a result of the war, slavery had been abolished and citizenship and suffrage conferred upon the colored race. Even the terrible calamities of the murders of Lincoln and Garfield and McKinley were seen to have pro- ceeded from no considerable number of assassins. The United States in the interest of humanity had liberated from the harsh rule of Spain the island of Cuba and the islands of the Philippines. Prosperity unbounded had come to the whole country. The national honor had been maintained to every national creditor. In New Hampshire the statue of Daniel Webster had been placed in the State House yard at Concord with that of General John Stark and also statues of both of them in the National Gallery in the Capitol at Washington; a statue of John P. Hale had been also erected in the State House grounds, and the time had come for a like recognition of the true meiits of President Franklin Pierce. This appropriate event took place on November 25, 1914. All reluctance had disappeared. The Legislature and Gov- ernor had directed the erection of the statue. All real ob- jection had vanished, and on that day the statue of President Pierce was unveiled and given to the people with fitting ceremonies duly made of record. Without distinction of party, the political leaders, with discriminating praise, with just judgment and with sincere affection at last placed President Pierce upon the pinnacle of fame to which he had been entitled. The Present War of the Christian Nations. I cannot close without uttering a sad and gloomy thought. The growth and glory of our city, our state and our nation has been thus accomplished and illustrated, only to be at this moment put in peril by the distress and horror arising from the world-wide European War of 1914-1915; so that every public occasion is oppressed and subdued by a paralyz- ing sadness. This whole globe is but a speck in the unbounded universe and it is now full of the tortures of murderous warfare. I expressed to a thoughtful friend the despairing idea that the only real ending of such woes would be that the world itself should come to an end. Two days later I saw attributed to Cardinal Gibbons the expression of the thought that the end of the world might be at hand. How can this be otherwise? Will God preserve our material earth to continue to be the horrible human habitation it now appears? I am afraid! It seems to me that the greatest duty and labor to which the people of the world can commit themselves is the estab- lishment of international treaties for the prevention of the devastations and horrors of war. '"A task for the thirty -five neutral nations" is once again stated by the New York Independent of May 24 to be under- taken by their proposed conference at Washington "to sit in continuous session until the war is over," and to go on to provide guarantees against war "until after diplomacy, mediation, commissions of inquiry, arbitration and economic pressure have failed." The Independent says: "Let Presi- dent Wilson call immediately the thirty-five neutral nations together." From Edna Dean Proctor. From the same number of the Independent listen to our noble and far-seeing New Hampshire poetess, Edna Dean Proctor, speaking through Abdallah of Cairo. By the Prophet, if these be Christians, where shall we find the heathen? If this is their Gospel of Love, where shall we look for Hate? With the lilies of Peace their Jesus in temple and shrine is wreathen, But they raven like wolves in the fold when the moon is late. And for what? For the market, for greed of gold and dominion; To rule to the uttermost sea and the shores no foot has trod, Their impious fleets cleave the sky, but never a pinion Bears the beleagured spirit to regions above the clod. Hark to the roar of battle, the wail for the dead and the dying ! Prating of Light, these Christians have shrouded the earth in gloom. Each unto God or Goddess for conquest and gain is crying — I will repeat the Fatiha and leave them to their doom. [See on pages 16 and 17 the whole of the Abdallah poem, with an explanatory note by Miss Proctor.] APPENDIX. Mr. Chandler, on account of impaired health, is not likely long to continue to write much for publication. It is, there- fore, appropriate that there should be annexed to his address at Concord of June 8 extracts from two recent publications of his. I. A letter of February 23, 1915, to William W. Thayer, Esq., Secretary of the New Hampshire Peace Society: At this exciting period it is important that every American citizen should keep calm on the subject of War, and that advocates of Peace should continue to urge their views in reasonable words intended to be not at all offensive to any of the warring nations. Our relations with Mexico are critical. Of equal if not greater importance is moderation of speech in connection with the war in Europe. Preaching peace by us to the warring nations will have no effect at this time. The most terrifying event in the world's history has been the beginning of that war and its extent and continuance. But it is not by any means certain that it should end prematurely; that is, without a reasonable certainty that it will not soon begin again. So pronunciamentos from the United States should be moderately expressed and our real influence reserved until the time comes when our nation can propi- tiously offer aid in friendly and judicious mediation and conciliation. 10 Neither is this an appropriate time to agitate for vast immediate expenditures for the army and navy of the United States. Deliberation and care in new constructions of forts, ships, guns, explosives, submarines and aeroplanes is ad- visable because we have plenty of time, and should learn what the events of this war will teach us before we over- burden our people with appalling taxation for war prepara- tion, on the idea that we may at any moment become in- volved in war with one of the great nations. The suggestion is preposterous. Of course we should keep on with our ordinary military preparations. ***** The question how large should be our continuous and complete military and naval preparation ought not to be settled either in a time of apathy or in a time of excitement. Because we are not a colonizing nation we are not going to prepare for war as a colonizing nation does. We ought to have a close alliance with our parent nation, speaking the same language. But England has 350,000,000 of colonists while we have none except in the Philippines and those we intend to part with in due time, I hope, aided in the plan by a treaty with England and Japan. We shall never have a war with a European nation unless we have another Euro- pean nation and probably more than one as an ally. We are sure to have an alliance with Argentine, Brazil and Chile and possibly with substantially all the nations of the Western Hemisphere. What folly to talk of our main- taining a navy as big as England's and an army as big as Germany's. Peace, prosperity and an overflowing treasury are to be 11 our fortune, and peace will be preserved quite as well by prosperity and gold in the treasury as by huge armaments whose expense may crush out the vitality of the common people of our country. II. Extracts from letters of Mr. Chandler to United States Senator George C. Perkins of the Committee on Naval Af- fairs, dated January 15, February 1 and February 8, 1915, with extracts from letters to Secretary Daniels from ex- Secretaries John D. Long (of December 24, 1914) and Hilary A. Herbert (of January 30, 1915). Washington, D. C, Jan. 15, 1915. Hon. George C. Perkins, United States Senator. My Dear Senator Perkins: I venture to advise you to refrain (1) from bringing politics into naval legislation or adminis- tration, (2) from making haste in naval construction or expenditure, (3) from weakening civilian control in the navy department, and (4) I urge you not to forget the duty that is due from congress to the taxpayers of the United States. ***** Reasons for Making Haste Slowly. There is a potent reason for not hurrying present naval construction. Until the present war in Europe is over we cannot be at all certain in what direction large expenditures ought to be made. It is not to be expected that whatever may be revealed big battleships will be no longer built. But such is the terrifically destructive power of Zeppelins and aeroplanes and of submarines that no more large war ships should be built until every possible device is developed for the 12 protection of the ships. One, two or three more protective decks may be required, one, two or three more ship's bottoms may be advisable. Who can now tell? It is the height of folly not to study questions like these, before making vast additional expenditures. We can spend money enough in various ways — upon submarines and flying machines, upon guns and explosives — to use up all the appropriations that can wisely be made within the next few years. If is not my purpose in this brief letter to discuss the question whether our country is in any danger of immediate war with any powerful nation. The blindest man can see our absolute safety till long after the present European war ends. During this period we should study the art of modern war with dili- gence and wisdom and make sure that when we next spend vast sums for dreadnoughts we are as certain what we ought to do as investigation into a dreadful war all around the globe can make us. . . . Already we are told that five of our battleships — the famous Oregon, and the Indiana, Mas- sachusetts, Kentucky and Kearsarge, are obsolete and should be replaced by new ships ! From Hon. John D. Long: I am very much struck with the great development of the navy since my day. I think that you are right on the one hand, maintaining the present reasonable program of naval construction, adapted to our ordinary preservation of the peace, but not, on the other hand, getting panic-stricken over the present European condition as if we were in danger of attack by the great nations which will come out of that conflict bankrupt and exhausted and recognizing the vital need of a long peace for their recuperation. 1:5 From Hon. Hilary A. Herbert: The old maxim, Festina lente, never was more applicable than it is to our naval program now. ***** Now is precisely the time when we should keep cool and study carefully the lessons that are being taught by the war in Europe. ***** We have already before us several lessons from this war about the efficiency of submarines, of contact mines, of fast fighting ships, of swift commerce destroyers, or long- range guns ; and we have learned also something about aero- planes and Zeppelins, but we do not know yet the relative values of all these or what are to be the decisive factors in the great naval war that is now on, and that, before it is ended, will try out to the utmost every implement of destruc- tion that human ingenuity has been able to devise. ***** Twelve months hence we shall know better how much we should expend for naval construction and what to spend it for. ***** If Germany should win, even though her success should be a vast menace to America, no one can for a moment believe that, exhausted as the winner in this great war will be when it is over, our country would be in danger of immediate attack from that quarter. 14 Extract from Mr. Chandler's speech in the Senate on May 13, 1892, on the pending Naval Appropriation Bill. The Proper Size of Our Navy. Mr. President: I wish to say before concluding what I think should be the navy of America. I do not think that we should undertake to build a navy equal to that of the great European powers. I do not think that any Senator, or any public man in America, or any naval officer advocates any such enlargement of the navy. I have stated in the report, to which I have alluded, how far I think we should go in the direction of naval construction. Coast defense should be first amply provided for. All the arts of naval warfare should be kept alive among our people. Industries necessary to the construction of any kind of war vessels or guns should be domesticated. We should restore the flag of our merchant ships and revive the carrying trade in American vessels in all the waters and in all the commer- cial ports of the globe, and protect our mercantile marine when thus reestablished. We should construct and main- tain a navy superior to that of any nation of the Western Hemisphere, and to that of the nation owning the island of Cuba; and there we can stop, it is to be hoped, for many years. Mr. President, it is hardly to be supposed that the United States will ever become engaged in a war with any one of the great European powers without having, at the same time, an alliance of some sort with some one of the other great European powers. We certainly cannot undertake to build a navy that shall be superior to that of all the great European naval powers. If all those powers should combine against us, of course they would be irresistible, and it would be im- 1.5 possible for us to undertake to meet them upon the ocean with the vessels of our navy. But such a combination is impossible. Whenever we find ourselves approaching a conflict upon the ocean or upon the land with England or any other of the great powers of Europe we shall find ourselves approaching an alliance with some one or more of the other great European powers, and, when the shock of battle comes, we shall have to oppose against our European enemy not only our own navy but also the navy of some European ally. It is not conceivable that we shall have a conflict with any of the European powers under any other conditions. Therefore it is that I have reached my conclusion that when the navy of this country is the equal of that of any power upon the Western Hemisphere, is equal or superior to the navy of the nation which owns the island of Cuba, we can afford to rest. We are sure to have a navy with fifty-six modern ships completed and armed which will not be inordinately expensive, either in the cost of construction or in the cost of maintenance, and which can be depended upon, as it seems to me, to maintain the interests and the honor of the United States under all imagin- able circumstances. Cong. Record, Vol. 23, part 5, 52 Cong. 1st sess., page 4257. 16 THE WAR IN EUROPE. {Abdallah of Cairo Speaks.) BY EDNA DEAN PROCTOR. By the Prophet! If these be Christians where shall we find the Heathen? If this is their gospel of Love where shall we look for Hate? With the lilies of Peace their Jesus in temple and shrine is wreathen, But they raven like wolves in the fold when the moon is late. And for what? For the market; for greed of gold and dominion; To rule to the uttermost sea and the shores no foot has trod ; Their impious fleets cleave the sky, but never a pinion Bears the beleaguered spirit to regions above the clod. A blast of the desert were we in our fervor, our valor, From Khalid to bold Alp Arslan, and Timour who shook the world ! Alike in the flush of triumph, the death angel's pallor, We were soldiers of God and our banners were only in Paradise furled ! These carry their Goddess with them — the Virgin they dare bedizen With jewels and robe of silver or fret of gold to her feet : Blessed, thrice blessed be Allah ! the soul that to Him has risen Nor images needs, nor temples, the merciful Lord to greet! Pleasant the cool of the mosque, the fountain, the soaring column; Dear the call of the muezzin to prayer at the day's decline; But the wind of the waste can summon in tones more tenderly solemn, For the East and the West are Allah's — the wilderness-ways a shrine. So, if this infidel host at the Moslem gates should thunder, We know that beneath the tumult will be Allah's eternal calm; Aye, if to prove our faith the walls should be rent asunder, He will build them again more grandly for the glory of Islam! By the Prophet! If these be Christians where shall we find the Heathen? If this is their gospel of Love where shall we look for Hate? With the lilies of Peace their Jesus in temple and shrine is wreathen, But they raven like wolves in the fold when the moon is late. 17 Hark to the roar of battle ! the wail for the dead and the dying ! Prating of light these Christians have shrouded the earth in gloom ; Each unto God or Goddess for conquest and gain is crying — I will repeat the Fatiha and leave them to their doom ! Mohammedanism is, in the main, the religion of the Old Testament, with some Arab features added. The Allah of the Arabs is the Jehovah of the Bible — a Being one and indivisible, infinite in goodness, power and glory, and not to be represented by picture or image. The Christian Trinity is abhorrent to the Moslems. Jesus is honored as a prophet; Mohammed is the prophet of the Arabs, but neither is held divine. Of the western nations they say: "You are great in material things, but for knowledge of God and Religion you must come to us." The Fatiha is the brief opening chapter of the Koran and their often-repeated Lord's Prayer. It was thus: "Praise be to God, the lord of all Creatures, the most merciful, the King of the Day of Judgment, Thee do we worship and of Thee do we beg assistance. Lead us in the right way, in the way of those to whom Thou has been gracious, not of those against whom Thou art incensed, nor of those who go astray. "