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COLLECTIONS

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MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY,

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VOL. VIII.

PORTLAND:
HOYT, POGG & DOKHAM.

1881.

?

It

• • •

• • •

• • •

PRINTED BT STEPHEN BEBBY, POBTLAND.

At a meeting of the Maine Historical Society, held at Bruns-
wick, on the twenty-third day of If ovember, 1880, a tender of
lai^e and convenient rooms in the city building at Portland, by
the government of that city, to this Society, for its general uses,
free oi rent, was considered by the Society, and, after a full dis-
cussion, was accepted. A committee, consisting of James P.
Baxter and Lewis Pierce, Esquires, and Gen. John M. Brown,
was appointed to superintend the removal of the library and
cabinet, and the setting up of the same in the new rooms. This
work was so well and promptly done, that the rooms were put
in readiness for occupancy by the Society, with its books and
other treasures, on the second day of February, 1881. On that
day, a meeting of the Society was held in the quarters thus
made ready for it, and which in the evening were thrown open
to members of the Society and invited guests.

This meeting was very largely attended, and was addressed
by the President, Hon. James W. Bradbury, in an able and in-
teresting speech, and by other gentlemen. The proceedings of
these meetings, and the addresses at the latter, have been re-
ported in full, and will be published in the first volume of the
" Proceedings " of the Society, for which series of publications
provision was mada

At the business meeting of the Society, it was voted that its
pubUcations, in future, should consist of its documentary col-
lections, and of its proceedings. The series first named will
embrace papers properly belonging to the documentary history
of the State, towards the pubUcation of which it makes contri-
bution ; and the latter series will contain historical papers read

mr>iiH

IV PREFACE.

at the meetings of the Society, or contributed to it, as well as its
proceedings and transactions. Of the documentary collections,
two volumes have already been issued, viz : On the Discovery of
North America^ by Dr. J. G. Kohl, published in 1869 ; A Dis-
course on Western Planting, by Bichard Hacklyt, written in
1584, published in 1877 ; a third volume. The Trelawny Papers,
is now in press, and it is expected will be published early in
the next year.

The first volume of the proceedings of the Society, with pos-
sibly an appendix containing such of the former collections as
shall not have been already published and shall be deemed
worthy of being thus preserved, will be ready for the press, it
is believed, in 1882.

Since the removal to Portland, an increased interest in the
Society and its work has become apparent The library and
cabinet have received many valuable contributions of books,
pamphlets, manuscripts and relics. The rooms are kept open a
part of each secular day, and have already become a desirable
place of resort for persons engaged in historical studies as well
as for members of the Society.

Now that the books, pamphlets and manuscripts are conven-
iently arranged and shelved (and are being catalogued), so as to be
easily found, and the contents of the cabinet are being placed
in such order as to be readily seen and examined, it is hoped
that the people of the State, and especially her native sons and
daughters, will recognize the fact that the safest and most con-
veniently accessible depository — for themselves and the public —
of their historical treasures, has been placed within their reach
by the Maine Historical Society.

Portland, November 1, 1881.

CONTENTS OF VOLUME VIII.

CONTENTS.

\

ABTICLK. PAGE.

I.— The North-Eastem Boundary. By Hon. Israel Washburn, Jr.,

LL.D.,of Portland, 1

II. — Col. Arthur Noble, of Georgetown. By Hon. William Goold,

ol Whidham, 107

in.-^£ducational Institations in Maine while a District of Massa-
chusetts. By Rev. J. T. Champlhi, D.D., LL.D., of Portr

land, 155

IV.— The Femaquid Country under the Stuarts. By H. W. Richard-
son, A. M., of Portland, 181

v.— Fort Halifax : its Projectors, Builders and Garrison. By Hon.

William Goold, of Windham 197

VI.— Ool. William Vaughan, of Matlnlcus and Damariscotta. By

Hon. William Goold, of Windham, 201

Vn.— Norambega. By Hon. John E. Godfrey, of Bangor, 315

Vm.— Memoirs and Biographical Sketches, 383

1. Hon. Reuel Williams. By John A. Poor, Esq., 335

2. Hon. Edward Emerson Bourne, LLJ). By Hon.

Edwin B. Smith, 386

Viii CONTENTS.

3. Hon. Ether Shepley, LL.D. By Hon. Israel Wash-

bum, Jr., LL.D., 409

4. Hon. George T. Davis. By Hon. George F. Talbot, ... .438

5. Hon. Edward Kent, LL.D. By Hon. John E. Godfrey,
I with remarks by Israel Washbnm, Jr., and

George F. Talbot, 449

6. Rev. Leonard Woods, D. D., LL.D. By Prof. Charles

Carroll Everett, D.D., 481

•

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Portrait of Hon. Edward E. Bourne, LL.D., Frontispiece.

Fort Halifax in 1765, 1^8

Ground Plan of Fort Halifax, 272

The South Flanker of Fort Halifax, 280

Comer Stone of Fort Halifax, 281

ARTICLE I.

The North-Eastern Boundary.

Read before the Maine Historical Society, at Port-
land, May 15, 1879,

BY

HON. ISEAEL WASHBUEN, Jr., LL.D.

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

• • • • • •

I shall read you, this morning, a chapter of concessions, sub-
missions and humiliations by which the otherwise fair record of
American diplomacy has been dimmed and stained.

And I shall do this, not to cast reproach upon the memory of
any of the actors in the deplorable business, whose history cul-
minated, if it did not close, in the so-called Ashburton Treaty,
a work of which the indulgent criticism of the most friendly
commentator might be borrowed from Sheridan, who, speaking
of another convention, said, " It was one of which, although
some were glad, nobody was proud." Nor shall I do it with
the expectation that anything said or written by me, or by any
one at this time, can avail aught towards a correction of the
errors and mistakes of the past. But rather in the thought
that a paper which may serve in some measure to keep the
history and the lesson alive for purposes of warning, of counsel
and of suggestion in the future, will be neither unworthy nor
unwelcome ; and, I will add, with the further impression, that
it will not be wholly uninteresting or unprofitable to the pres-
ent generation to learn something more than, as a general rule,
those who compose it know of the particular history of the im-
portant, protracted and imbittered controversy which preceded
that settlement

And, besides these considerations, I have sought a personal
gratification in an opportunity to express my sense of the debt

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

• • •

due from the people of Maine to those faithful magistrates, who,

in no hour of pressure or of alarm, allowed, icft a single moment,

the honor of the State, or her material interests, to be compro-

mitted by any action. of the commonwealth over whose affairs

t^ey .pr^ided.^ Oi Enoch Lincoln, Edward l^ent and John

fgprfidd^ Xtr^iiJd: be said with peculiar force and propriety, in
* •• •••••

the yioi^ pf Sir Walter Scott's tribute to Fox, they

^•* • ; •

/ i ••• II •/iZt(5oAiy their country's honor fast,

And nailed her colors to the mast."

It so happened in the history of the negotiations that upon
these men rather than upon any other of our Governors, fell
the chief weight of.responsibihty, and the most imperative de-
mands for decisive action. Nor should I pass from tliis grate-
ful duty without some reference to two gentlemen upon whose
patriotic and ardent interest in, and thorough and perfect
knowledge of, the questions involved, in all their aspects and
relations, these functionaries always and safely relied. I refer
to Col. John G. Deane, of Ellsworth — who in his later years was
a resident of Portland — and to the Honorable Charles S. Daveis,
also of this city.

On the afternoon of the 20th of September, 1875, I left
Edmundston, on the St. John Eiver, by the fine military road —
constructed at great expense by the British government a
quarter of a century before, and following, in the main, the
route traveled by Lord Edward Fitzgerald in 1788 — leading
from the river St John to the St. Lawrence. Wlien, at two
o'clock the next morning, the stage reached a point twenty-six
miles south of the latter river, although it had been raining for
several hours, the snow was more than a foot deep, and I was
informed that three days before its depth was more than two
feet J and here I said, without doubt, on this elevation, fifteen

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 5

hundred feet above tide-wAter, are the " highlands," of which I
had read so much in the years preceding the treaty of Wash-
ington. For, although that treaty, sometimes called the Ash-
burton Treaty, had been concluded thirty-three years before (in
1842), the leading facts which its discussion had elicited, or
which had been brought out in the years preceding, in the
correspondence of our Governors, and in legislative reports,
were to'o deeply written upon my memory not to be at call at
any moment. But when on a clear, bright August day, in
1877, 1 came from the St. Lawrence, at Eiver Du Loup, over
the same road to Madawaska, after a steady general ascent of
some ten miles, a comparatively short descent brought the mail
coach (in which I was traveling) to a stream which my com-
panions said was a branch of the river St Francis, and sixteen
miles from the St. Lawrence, I knew that we were, if only the
treaty of 1783 had been respected, within the limits of the State
of Maine — for the St Francis is one of the rivers whose waters
descend to the Atlantic Ocean — and had been within them since
our journey had passed the fifteen miles bourne from the river
St. Lawrenca

The high ground, which, on the preceding journey, I had
mistaken for the main highland range, was but a spur of it, and
the ^true dividing ridge was ten miles .to the northward. It
was interesting to notice, on this bright day, how plainly
marked and impossible to be mistaken was the treaty boundary.

Never was there such a history of errors, mistakes, blimders,
concessions, explanations, apologies, losses and mortifications on
the one side; of inconsistencies, aggressions, encroachments,
affronts and contempts on the other, as that which has respect
to this boundary question ; and in the calm of this day, when
all direct, practical interest in it has ceased, and the sense of
wrong and indignity has slept for more than a third of a cen-

6 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

tury, it is impossible for one to read it with anything like com-
posure or patience.

To those statesmen and writers of other countries, who have
represented the United States as arrogant, uncomfortable and
domineering, I would commend this tale of the sacrifice of
northern Maine, as likely to afford them great, if not endless
comfort

Article two of the Treaty of Peace, concluded at Paris be-
tween Great Britain and the United States in 1783, so far as
respects the question of the north-eastern boundary, is as follows :

" From the north-west angle of Nova Scotia, to wit : that
angle which is formed by a line drawn due north from the
source of the St Croix Eiver to the highlands, — albng the said
highlands which divide those rivers that empty themselves into
the St Lawrence from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean,
to the north-westernmost head of Connecticut Eiver."

This is the northerly line ; the easterly is described : —

" East, by a line to be drawn along the middle of the river
St Croix, from its mouth in the Bay of Fundy to its source,
and from its source directly north to the aforesaid highlands
which divide the waters that fall into the Atlantic Ocean from
those wliich fall into the river St Lawrence, comprehending all
islands within twenty leagues of any part of the United States,
and lying between the lines to be drawn due east from the
points where the aforesaid boundaries between Nova Scotia on
the one part, and east Florida on the other, shall respectively
touch the Bay of Fundy and the Atlantic Ocean, excepting such
islands as now are or heretofore have been within the limits of
the said Province of Nova Scotia.'*

This language seems to be too plain to admit of dispute, and
yet under it four questions have arisen between the parties to

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 7

the treaty : First, as to the river St Croix ; second, as to which
of the affluents of the St Croix, was the source of that river
within the intention of the treaty ; third, as to the islands in
Passamaquoddy Bay; fourth, as to the north-west angle of
Nova Scotia and the highlands that divide the rivers that fall
into the Atlantic Ocean from those which empty themselves
into the St Lawrence. And ail of them have been decided
against the United Staies,

I propose a brief examination of each.

L The first question that arose was in regard to which of
three rivers falling into the Bay of Fundy was the St Croix
contemplatecf by the treaty. The question was plain, and easy
of solution. These rivers had all been known and described at
some time by the name of St Croix. The most easterly had
been called also the Magaquadavic ; the intermediate the
Schoodic ; the most westerly the Cobscook. That the first named
is the St Croix of the treaty, is so plain, I trust, that but few
words will be needed for a clear understanding of the case.

Soon after the treaty of 1783, the inhabitants of Nova Scotia
(that part which is now New Brunswick) were found occupy-
ing, and claiming as British subjects to hold the territory be-
tween the Magaquadavic and the Schoodic Bivers, and particu-
larly that near the present town of St Andrews. Massachu-
setts objected, claiming the territory as her own, and made
complaint to Congress of these encroachments, and was by the
latter body requested to cause inquiry into the facts to be made.
In pursuance of this solicitation, it appointed a commission, of
which two members, (Jenerals Knox and Lincoln, visited Passa-
maquoddy in the year 1784, and on the 19th of October of that
year, made their report to the Governor of Massachusetts. In
this report, they say ;

8 THE NOBTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

" They beg leave to inform your Excellency that a very consid-
erable number of British subjects are settled at a place called St.
Andrews, on the eastern bank of the river Schoodic; which, in the
opinion of your commissioners, is clearly within the limits of this
State.

" By your Excellency's leave, they will recite a short state of
facts on which this opinion was formed.

" There are three very considerable rivers which empty them-
selves into the bay Passamaquoddy, which is five to seven leagues
wide. The eastern river falls into the bay about a league from the
head of it, and perpendicular to the eastern side ; the middle river
falls into the bay far on the westerly side of the head of it, and in
a direction parallel therewith ; the western river falls into the bay
about six leagues from the head of it on the westerly side, and
nearly perpendicular to it ; all of which in late British maps are
called St. Croix. The first is by the Indians called Maggadava,
the second Schoodick, the third Cobscook.

"From every information the subscribers could obtain on inquiry
of the Indians and others, the eastern river was the original St.
Croix. This is about three leagues east of St. Andrews, where the
British inhabitants have made a settlement. Soon after the sub-
scribers received their commission, they wrote to Mr. Jay request-
ing him to give them information whether the Commissioners for
negotiating the peace confined themselves in tracing Xhe bounda-
ries of the United States to any particular map, and if any one, to
what ? Since their return they received his answer, mentioning
that Mitchell's map was the onlt/ one that the commission used,
and on that they traced the boundaries agreed to.

" On this map two rivers were laid down ; the western was called
thereon the Passamaquoddy, and the eastern the St, Croix.'^

It is to be observed that the Passamaquoddy is the river at
other times called the Schoodic.

The Commissioners also say, " The subscribers further repre-
sent that they find in the maps of a quarto volume published

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 9

in Paris in 1774, from Charlevoix's voyage to North America,
made in 1644, two rivers delineated at the head of the bay of
Passamaquoddy, the western of which is called Passamaquoddy,.
and the eastern St. Croix."

The westernmost river, the Cobscook, is much smaller than
either of the others, and is not laid down on all the maps.

But as to the fact that the true St. Croix was east of the
Passamaquoddy — otherwise called Schoodic Eiver — there seems
to be no doubt. Whatever doubt might possibly have other-
wise existed is wholly removed by the testimony of Surveyor
Mitchell, given in an affidavit on the 9th of October, 1784, as
follows :

" The subscriber, an inhabitant of Chester, in the State of New
Hampshire, voluntarily makes the following declaration, to wit :
that I was employed by his Excellency, Francis Bernard, Esq.,
Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, in April, 1764, in
company with Mr. Israel Jones as my deputy, Mr. Nathan Jones
as commanding officer of a party of troops, and Captain Fletcher
as Indian interpreter, to repair to the Bay of Passamaquoddy to
assemble the Indians usually residing there, and from them to
ascertain the river known as the St. Croix. We, accordingly,
assembled upwards of forty of the principal In€ians upon an
island then called L'Atereel, in the said Bay of Passamaquoddy.
After having fully and freely conversed with them upon the
subject of our mission, the Chief commissioned three Indians to
show us the said river St. Croix, which is situated nearly six miles
north, and about three degrees east of harbor L'Tete, and east
north-east of the bay or river Schoodick, and distant from it about
nine miles on a right line. The aforesaid three Indians, after
having shown us the river, and being duly informed of the
nature and importance of an oath, did in a solemn manner depose
to the truth of their information respecting the identity of the
said %iver St. Croix, and that it was the ancient and only river

10 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

known among them by that name. We proceeded conformably to
this information in our surveys; and, in August following, I de-
livered to Gov. Bernard three plans of the said river St. Croix
and the said Bay of Passamaquoddy."

This statement of Mitchell is confirmed in every respect by
the deposition of Nathan Jones, given March 17, 1785, who
states that he was appointed by Gov. Bernard in 1764, com-
mander of a party to explore the woods and view the rivers,
bays, &c., to ascertain the river St Croix dividing the Province
of Massachusetts Bay from Nova Scotia, and to perform a sur-
vey thereof. He said the river " St Croix was then known as
the Maggacadava."

It must be remembered that in 1764, when this survey and
these plans were made, Massachusetts Bay and Nova Scotia
were both Provinces of Great Britain, and that the object of
Gov. Bernard, as a faithful servant of the Crown, was to find
and determine the true line. He had no interest to do anything
else. He appointed his Surveyor and other officers : they made
their report (which in respect to this line was in conformity
with the map of John Mitchell made eighteen years before),
and he accepted and acted upon it ; and from that date to the
time of the treaty, the line so fotmd was the established, the
recognized, and the undisputed line between these Provinces.
Thus by the treaty of 1783, all that then belonged to Massa-
chusetts, all that did not belong to Nova Scotia, was ceded to
the United States. The river St Croix, dividing these Provinces,
had been ascertained, and declared in the report of 1764, as it had
also been laid down on the map used by the Commissioners
themselves. The question was settled.

It has been seen by the reports of Generals Knox and Lincoln
that Mitchell's map (although other maps were before them)
was the only one " used " by the Commissioners when the tAaty

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 11

was made, and that the line was drawn thereon. Not only is
there the testimony of Mr. Jay to this eflPect, but there is also
that of John Adams. Writing from Auteuil, near Paris, October
25, 1784, to Governor Gushing, he says :

''We had before us through the whole negotiation, several maps,
but it was Mitchell's map upon which we marked out the whole of
the boundary lines of the United States ; and the river St. Croix
which we fixed on, was upon that map nearest to St, John; so
that in all equity, good conscience and honor, the river next to St.
John's should be the boundary. I am glad the General Court are
taking early measures, and hope they will pursue them steadily
until the point is settled, which it may be now amicably ; if neg-
lected long, it may be more difficult."

Nor does the testimony stop here. Dr. Franklin was one of
the Commissioners by whom the Treaty of Peace was negoti-
ated, and on the 8th of April, 1790, in a letter to Mr. Jefferson,
he writes :

" 1 can assure you that I am perfectly clear in the remembrance
that the map we used in tracing the boundary was brought to the
treaty by the Commissioners from England^ and that it was the
same as that published by Mitchell twenty years before. Having
a copy of that map by me in loose sheets, I send you that sheet
which contains the bay of Passamaquoddy, where you will see that
part of the boundary traced, I remember, too, that in that part
of the boundary we relied much on the opinion of Mr. Adams, who
had been concerned in some former disputes concerning these terri-
tories. ♦ # ♦ That the map we used was MitchelVs map^
Congress were acquainted at the time by letter to their Secretary
of Foreign Affairs, which I suppose may be found upon their files."

One would suppose that upon this record, nothing could be
more clear and certain than that the river now called the Mag-
aquadavic, was the true St Croix that divided the Provinces of

12 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

Massachusetts Bay and Nova Scotia. It was purely a question
of fact, not of convenience or argument. Did Messrs. Jay,
Adams and Franklin state the facts in the letters that have
been quoted ? That they did has never, to my knowledge, been
disputed. One will be curious to learn upon what plausible or
possible grounds it could be claimed that the Schoodic, or Passa-
maquoddy, was the St Croix River agreed upon and marked by
the Commissioners as the treaty river.

In the first place, no sooner had the treaty been ratified than
the British Government changed the ground on which it had
established its claims against the French, and adopted that of
France. So that Mr. Jay, our Minister at London, was well
justified in the prediction made to Mr. Randolph, our Secretary
of State, in a letter written November 19, 1794, in which he
said:

" In discussing the question about the river St. Croix before the
Commissioners/' (Commissioners had at this time been agreed upon
by the treaty of 1794, known as Jay's treaty, for determining the St.
Croix), '* I apprehend the old French claims will be revived. We
must adhere to Mitchell's map. The Vice President " (Mr. Adams)
" perfectly understood this business."

In pursuance of the 5th article of this treaty of 1794, a com-
mission, consisting of Thomas Barclay, David Howell (English-
men), and Egbert Benson (American), was appointed to decide
the question, " What river was the true St. Croix contemplated in
the treaty of peace, and forming a part of the boimdary therein
described?"

In the argument made by the British agent before these
Commissioners, it was contended first, that by an Act of Parlia-
ment, in the year 1774, a line between Nova Scotia and Massa-
chusetts Bay was recognized which made the Schoodic River
the boundary between these Provinces.

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 13

It will be observed that even if it should appear that the
Schoodic was recognized as the fit Croix, or as a St. Croix, by
Act of Parliament in 1774, that that fact could in no way
afifect the other and controlling one ; that the Commissioners
decided that the Magaquadavic was the St. Croix which was to
form the boundary, and traced it as such upon the official map.

But this point does not seem to have been greatly relied
upon. The main contention was really an appeal to considera-
tions of convenience and accommodation. The agent exerted
himself to maintain that the American construction would
carry the line to within a short distance of Fredericton, and
would, by separating the sources of certain rivers running into
the Bay of Chaleurs from their mouths, produce such incon-
venience that it could not be supposed that such a line was in
the minds of the parties who negotiated the treaty. But, when it
is considered that the line from the source of the St. Croix, as
decided by these Commissioners of 1794 themselves, crosses
the same streams that fall into the Bay of Chaleurs, as well as
the river St John, a river which falls into the Bay of Fundy,
separating its source from its debouchure, the assumption falls
to the ground. It is employed, however, to prove that as the
parties would respectively wish to secure within their own
limits the entire course of the streams which had an outlet
therein, they would fix upon that river as the true St Croix of
the treaty, which would most nearly compass this desirable
end.

That this consideration had no practical weight with the
Commissioners by whom the treaty of peace was made, appears
not merely from the fact already stated, that the line did divide
the sources of several important rivers from their mouths, but also
from the fact that the north-west angle of Nova Scotia (which,
by the treaty, was the north-eastern angle of the United States)

14 THE NOBTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

was known by all the parties to the treaty. It was a point on
the southerly border of Canada, and that border was, and long
had been, fixed upon a range of highlands well defined, and
situated but a short distance south of the St Lawrence River.
The angle was formed on this border by a line drawn due north
from the source of the river St. Croix. That this angle on the
southerly boundary of Quebec (Canada), was so located that a
line to it from the river St. Croix, whether that river was the
Schoodic or the Magaquadavic, would intersect rivers which had
their mouths within British territory, was known to the Com-
missioners as a fact that was beyond question. Everybody
knew it ; nobody doubted it. To found an argument from it
for a change of the river from the one agreed upon, implies a
belief on the part of the British agent that the United States,
in the exhausted condition of the country, would stand a great
deal of injustice before going to war again.

Great Britain, as has happened several times since, and nota-
bly in the late fisheries controversy, had the good fortune to be
strongly represented on the St. Croix Commission, while the
side of the United States was but feebly and inadequately sup-
ported ; and so in 1798, the former succeeded in obtaining a
report declaring the northerly branch of the Schoodic to be the
boundary line. She had claimed the westerly branch, and all
her arguments applied to that line, and were based on grounds
that rendered the acceptance of a more easterly branch inconsist-
ent and entirely inadmissabla She had demanded a line that
would have brought the Province of New Brunswick to near
the Passadumkeag River, and which would have nullified or
contradicted every essential provision of the treaty, and she
gained (doubtless all that she ever expected) a compromise line.
The plain provisions of the treaty and all its undisputed history
were set aside.

THB NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 15

By this settlement, which covered the only question as
to the boundary, then in dispute, and which proceeded all along
on the mutual understanding that the line north of the source
of the St. Croix, was where the United States claimed it to be,
the State of Maine lost a strip of territory from fifteen to
twenty miles in breadth, and one hundred and seventy-five
miles in length, including all that is west of the Magaquadavic
Eiver, and all that is west of the river St John from a point
near the Meductic rapids some twenty miles below Woodstock,
embracing that fine town and the unrivalled farming tract above
and below it on the west side of the river St John, as well as
an extensive territory east of the river.

IL But our bad fortune did not stop hera The Commis-
sioners, having agreed upon the river, decided that its source
was in what is now known as Bound Lake, the same, I suppose,
that is laid down as North Lake on Greenleaf s map of 1815 ;
but, when they came to make their report, for reasons which I
have never been able to learn, substituted Cheputnecook for
Bound Lake, and thereby gave to New Brunswick a tract of
country of the average breadth of ten miles, and one hundred
and fifty miles long ; and more by so much than was actually
required, even upon the hypothesis that the Schoodic was the
true St Croix.

HL The next question that arose under the treaty, was in
r^ard to the islands in Passamaquoddy Bay ; and this, too, was
decided in favor of Great Britain. By conceding the title of
Maine to Moose Island (Eastport)— which could never have
been in more doubt than her title to Mt Desert — she acquired
Campo Bello, and Grand Menan, a large island on our coast
^ west of Eastport This decision, while greatly objectionable,
and unsupported by the treaty, did not do such gross violence
to its terms, or to its histoty, as did that in respect to the St

16 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

Croix. It was made November 24, 1817, by Thomas Barclay
and John Hohnes, Commissioners appointed under the pro-
visions of the 4th article of the treaty of Ghent, December 24,
1814.

IV. For twenty years subsequent to 1794 (or the date of
Jay's treaty), there was no denial of the claims of the United
States respecting the treaty line, north of the source of the St.
Croix, on the part of Great Britain ; but, on the contrary she
many times, and in various ways, assumed their correctness, and
acted upon that assumption. In the hearing before the Com-
missioners under this treaty, she asserted it, and obtained a de-
cision for which she argued on the basis of that assertion. In
1803, there was a convention between the two nations (which
the United States failed to ratify on account of a provision
touching our Western possessions), in which was inserted a
clause for running the line between the source of the St. Croix
and the north-west angle of Nova Scotia. It was a misfortune,
so far as this State was concerned, that this convention was not
ratified, for there can be no doubt that if it had been, the line
would have been run and established as claimed by the United
States ; for, at that time, there was no thought or suggestion of
any other lina

In 1804 and 1807, the subject of running the line according to
the treaty was referred to by the British Government in terms
implying that there was no difference of opinion between the
parties as to its construction. Massachusetts had exercised
undisputed jurisdiction over the territory afterwards brought into
question. In 1792, she sold to Henry Jackson and Royal Flint
a large tract of land lying within the claim afterwards set
up by Great Britain ; and in 1794, Park Holland and Jona-
than Mayhew made a survey of the tract extending from the
St Croix almost to the highlands dividing the waters of the

THE NOKTH-BASTEBN BOUNDAET. 17

St John and the St Lawrence, and which they were prevented
from completing only by lack of provisions. This survey was
laid down on a map of Maine drawn by Osgood Carleton, in
1795. In 1797, Massachusetts granted from the territory,
afterwards in dispute, half a township to Deerfield Academy.
In 1806, a grant of a half township was made to General Eaton,
and in 1808, a whole township was granted to the town of
Plymouth.

Down to the close of the war of 1812, the question stood in
this way :

1. The laqguage of the treaty was plain, undisputed, indis-
putable. Let us turn to this language once more, and see if it
is open to doubt ^*From the north-west angle of Nova Scotia^
to wU : that angle which is formed by a line drawn due north
from the sau/rce of the St. Croix River to the highlands wh/ich
divide those rivers that empty themselves irUo the St, Lavrrence
from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, to the north-
toestemmost head of Connecticvi River, * * East by a line
to be drawn along the middle of the river St. Croix, from its
mouth in the Bay of Fundy to its source, and from its source
directly north to the aforesaid highlands wh/ich divide the rivers
thai fall into the Atlantic Ocean from those which fall into the
river St. Lawrem/xr

2. Great Britain had raised no question as to the validity of
our claim in respect to this line, but, in order to secure her own
interpretation as to the river St Croix, had deliberately admitted
it, and thereupon laid a foundation ' for an argument, to con-
vince the Commissioners of the justice of her contention in
regard to the river, and had further admitted it by the terms of
the Convention of 1803.

3. Massachusetts had exercised unquestioned and undis-
turbed jurisdiction over the territory for more than twenty yeaxs.

d

18 THE N0ETH-EA8TERN BOUNDAKY.

But, by the close of the war of 1812-15, England had learned
something of the probable value of a way between her eastern
and western Provinces, and that such a way would most conven-
iently, if not necessarily, lead across the State of Maine. She
affected to believe (and therein was a grave affront) that that
war was waged by the United States in part for the conquest of
the Ganadas, and insisted that it was therefore reasonable and
proper that she should take steps to protect them against future
attacks. On the fourth of September, 1814, her Minister at
Ghent wrote to our Minister as follows : " If, then, the security
of the British North American dominions requires any sacrifice"
(note the word) "on the part of the United States, it must be as-
cribed to the declared policy of that government in making the
war not one of self-defence, nor for the redress of grievances, real or
pretended, but a part of a system of conquest and aggrandizement"

But, even under the spur of this source of apprehension, Great
Britain was not prepared to assert that, by the treaty line, the
road-way was not in the territory of the United States. She ad-
mitted that it was, and asked for a conventional line.

On the eighth of August, 1814, the British Commissioners,
who were then engaged in an effort to make peace, in a note to
the American Commissioners, describe their request as " such a
VARIATION of the line of frontier as may secure a direct commu-
nication betiveen Quebec and Halifax'' To this, on the twenty-
fourth of August, the American Commissioners replied that
they had " no authority to cede any part of the territory of the
United States," and could agree to no such line. The British
Commissioners, on the fourth of September, return to the sub-
ject, and say that they are " persuaded that an arrangement
on this point might easily be made, if entered into in a spirit of
conciliation, without any prejudice to the interests of the dis-
trict in question." From this, it would seem that England did

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 19

•

not ask for a clear title, but only for an easement, or right of
way. But, however this may have been, the American Com-
missioners, on the ninth of September, protested once more that
they had no authority to cede any part of the State of Massa-
chusetts, even for an equivalent." But this plain and decisive
answer did not silence the British Commissioners ; it, however,
led them to change their base and plan of attack. And so we
find them, on the eighth of October, replying that the British
Government " never required that all that portion of Massachu-
setts intervening between the Provinces of New Brunswick and
Quebec should be ceded to Great Britain ; but only that »mall
portion of unsettled country which interrupts the conununica-
tion between Quebec and Halifax, <^re being miich doubt whether
it does not already belong to Orea^ Britain"

It is curious to note that when at last the British Commission-
ers found themselves compelled to take a new departure, and
occupy a position inconsistent with all their previous claims,
and arguments and concessions, the new r61e was so strange,
that in opening it they could not avoid confessing, by their
language, that it was a false one. They spoke of a cession, i. e.,
of a grant, of a " small portion " of country that " interrupts the
communication between Quebec and Halifax." As that inter-
ruption was between the Grand Falls on the St. John and the
river St Lawrence, it results that at this time the American
title north of the former river was acknowledged, and a cession
of a small part of it only solicited.

This was the prelude to the doubt, raised for the first time in
the history of this question, as to the perfectness of the Ameri-
can title — a doubt not only unmentioned, but unexisting, until
after it had been discovered that no propositions for a new line
would be entertained by the Commissioners of the United States.
There was then no alternative for Great Britain but to lay the

20 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

foundation for a dispute, and see what would come out of it
But even then, she wa^ not prepared to claim as hers, by the
terms of the treaty, the territory which she had so persistently
urged, and still continued to urge the government of the United
States to cede to her.

Finding that no " variation," " cession," " revision," or " ar-
rangement " could be obtained through the American Commis-
sioners, a provision — ^being the 5th article of the Treaty of
Ghent — was agreed upon for running the line (not for making a
new one) in conformity with the treaty of 1783. It was further
stipulated that in case a failure to run the line by the Commis-
sioners, to be appointed for that purpose, the differences arising
between the parties should Be referred to the decision of a
friendly Sovereign.

Thomas Barclay, of whom we have heard more than once
before, as a Commissioner under the treaty, on the part of Great
Britain, and Cornelius P. Van Ness, on the part of the United
States, were appointed Commissioners to ascertain and run the
line. An actual survey was arranged, and surveyors appointed,
to wit : Charles Turner, Jr., on the part of the United States, and
Colin Campbell on the part of Great Britain. About twenty
miles of the line was surveyed, then the work was discontinued,
never to be resimied ; but an exploring survey was commenced
by Col. Bouchette, on the part of Great Britain, and John
Johnson, on the part of the United States. These gentlemen
made an exploring line in 1817, extending ninety-nine miles
from the monument at the head of the river St. Croix, and made
separate reports of their doings. In 1818, Mr. Johnson, with
Mr. Odell, who had taken the place of CoL Bouchette, finished
running the exploring line to the Beaver or Metis Eiver. It
was in this year that the opinion was first expressed by the
British agent, that Mars Hill, an isolated mountain south of

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 21

the Aroostook Eiver, might be the north-west angle of Nova
Scotia, and the north-eastern boundary of Maine. And he,
having given expression to this novel and preposterous concep-
tion, proposed to discontinue the survey along the highlands
south of the river St. Lawrence, return to Mars Hill, and ex-
plore thence westerly towards the sources of the Chaudiere and
Kennebec. The result was that the surveyors disagreed, the
British surveyor refused to go on and finish the exploring sur-
vey now almost completed, and the work was abanidoned.

From this time, Great Britain began to assert title in herself
to the country north of Mars Hill, hesitatingly at first, but more
positively afterwards. To enable her to do this, even to her
own acceptance, she was compelled to rely on the quibble here-
tofore mentioned, tihat a line due north from the source of the
St. Croix would, before reaching the north-west angle of Nova
Scotia, as claimed by the United States, and as laid down in all
the Provincial charters and commissions of royal Grovemors,
cross several streams that flow into the Bay of Chaleurs ; and,
therefore, these highlands would not divide waters that empty
themselves into the river St. Lawrence from those wliich fall
into the Atlantic Ocean.

And it signified nothing to her that it was answered, that the
plain meaning of the treaty was to find highlands which
divided rivers flowing into the St Lawrence from those falling
into the Atlantic Ocean directly, or through some bay or gulf.
It was in vain that it was replied that this new interpretation
defeats the treaty line altogether; for by it, even the river
St John does not fall into the Atlantic Ocean, but into the Bay
of Fundy. If these highlands are denied because they cannot
be reached before crossing the waters of the Eestigouche, neither
can they without crossing the St John, the Aroostook, the
Meduxnekeag and other rivers. The Penobscot Eiver does not

22 THE KORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

fall into the Atlantic Ocean upon this interpretation, but into
Penobscot Bay ; the Kennebec flows into the Bay of Sagadahoc,
and not into the Atlantic Ocean. There are, upon this view,
no rivers on our coast that fall into the Atlantic. It was in
vain that it was said that, upon the British contention, the line
does not divide any rivers that fall into the St Lawrence from
any other rivers whatever ; that it divides only those falling
into the St. John on the north and east from those falling into
the Penobscot and Kennebec on the south and west, and not
any that flow into the St. Lawrence on the one side from any
that flow into the Atlantic Ocean on the other ; that it was
pointed out that on the British construction, both the St.
Lawrence Eiver and the Atlantic Ocean were completely erased
from the treaty. And it availed nothing that the absolutely
unanswerable point was made, that the southerly Une of the
Province of Quebec ran along highlands which divided waters
that fall into the St Lawrence from those which flow into the
ocean through the Bays of Chaleurs, Fundy, Penobscot, &c., and
was a well-known and established line for many years, and that
where a line drawn from the head of the river St. Croix inter-
sected the south line of the old Province of Quebec, was the
north-west angle of Nova Scotia — ^the angle referred to in the
treaty. It was all irrelevant or unimportant ; Mars Hill, an
isolated peak, and no range at all, several miles west of a direct
north line from the source of the St Croix, and in no way
intersected by such a line, was the true angle. True, it was a
solitary peak ; it was not touched by the north line ; it divided
no rivers running into the St Lawrence from any that were
emptied into the ocean, or that had an outlet anywhere else !
An administration that should at the present day receive such
a pretension as this in any other light than as a deliberate aSront,
would be regarded as unworthy of the public respect, and be

THE NOBTH-EASTERK BOUNDABT. 23

speedily dismissed from its confidence. It was only in the hour
of the country's exhaustion, and absolute need of a season for
recuperation, that the provocation for plainness of speech or for
action, such as I am glad to say was in our own State not un-
worthily responded to, was restrained in the country at large
by what were regarded as the counseb of prudence.

Down to 1763, when by treaty with the French, Canada was
acquired by Great Britain, both New England and Nova Scotia
extended to the southerly shore of the St. Lawrence Eiver.
But, at this time, when it became necessary to establish the
Province of Quebec, the King extended its limits so as to include
the valley of that river on the south. The royal proclamation
of October 7, 1763, established the southerly boundary of the
Province of Quebec on the highlands which separated the rivers
running to the north or north-east into the St Lawrence from
those running to the south and south-east. In other words, the
Treaty of Peace of 1783 made this southerly boundary of
Quebec the northerly one of Massachusetts. Parliament, in
1774, confirmed the southerly boundary of Quebec as described
in the proclamation of the King in the previous year.

A map, on which these highlands were laid down, had been
made by John Mitchell, at the request of the Lords Commis-
sioners of Trade and Plantations, in 1755, and was the acknowl-
edged, authoritative map of the time. So far as this boundary
line is concerned it was, as we have seen, followed and adopted
by John Mitchell in his survey and plan in 1764. Whether the
John Mitchell who made the survey in the latter year was the
author of the map of 1755 or not, it is certain that the easterly
line of Massachusetts, as claimed by the United States, was
verified and authenticated by both the map of 1755 and the
plan of 1764 The former was produced by the British Com-
missioners at the negotiation of the treaty, 6^nd was adopted aud

24 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

used by both parties. It was the official map, and a part of the
record.

Eeferring to the point on which the British pretensions were
founded, to wit : that the St John Eiver does not fall into the
Atlantic Ocean, bi^t into the Bay of Fundy, and therefore the
dividing Une or highlands must be sought south of this river,
I am induced to quote a few paragraphs from a report made to the
Senate of the United States, July 4, 1838, by Mr. Buchanan,
afterwards President of the United States :

'' Now, what are the objections to this extraordinary pretensioui
as the committee are constrained to call it ?

"And, first, what is the Bay of Fundy, if it be not a part of the
Atlantic Ocean ? A bay is a mere opening of the main ocean into
the land — a mere interruption of the uniformity of the seacoast by
an indentation of water. These portions of the ocean have received
the name of bays, solely to distinguish them from the remainder of
the vast deep, to which they belong. Would it not be the merest
special pleading to contend that the Bay of Naples was not a por-
tion of the Mediterranean, or that the Bay of Biscay was not a part
of the Atlantic Ocean ?

"Again : the description of the treaty is, ' rivers which fall into
the Atlantic Ocean.' Can it be said, with any propriety, that a
river does not fall into the Atlantic, because, in reaching the main
ocean, it may pass through a bay ? And yet this is the British
argument. The Delaware does not fall into the Atlantic, because
it flows into it through the Bay of Delaware ; and, for the same
reason, the St. John does not fall into the Atlantic, because it flows
into it through the Bay qf Fundy. The committee know not how
to give a serious answer to such an argument. The bare statement
of it is its best refutation.

" But, like all such arguments, it proves too much. If it be
correct, this portion of the treaty of 1783 is rendered absurd and
suicidal ; and the wise and distinguished statesmen, by whom it

THE NORTH-BASTBBN BOUNDABT. 25

was framed, must be condemned by posterity, for affixing their
names to an instrument, in this particular, at least, absolutely void.
Although they believed they would prevent ' all disputes which
might arise in future, on the subject of the boundaries of the
United States,' by fixing their commencement at ' the north-west
angle of Nova Scotia,' and running from thence along ' the high-
lands which divide those rivers which empty themselves into the
river St. Lawrence, from those which fall into the Atlantic ocean,'
yet it is absolutely certain, that there was not a single river in that
whole region of country which, according to the British construc-
tion, did fall into the Atlantic ocean. They all fall into bays, with-
out one exception. Neither can we plead ignorance as an excuse
for these Commissioners ; because it is fully in proof, that they had
Mitchell's map before them, from which the fact clearly appears.
The Eistigouche does not fall into the Atlantic, because it has its
mouth in the Bay of Chaleurs ; nor does the Penobscot, because its
mouth is in the Bay of Penobscot ; nor do the Kennebeck and
Androscoggin, because, after their junction, they fall into the Bay
of Sagadahock. The same is true, even of the Connecticut, be-
cause it empties itself into Long Island Sound. All the rivers in
that region are in the same condition with the St. John. Thus it
appears, if the British argument be well founded, that the Com-
missioners have concluded a treaty, and described highlands, whence
stfieams proceed falling into the Atlantic, as a portion of the bound-
ary of the United States, when from the very face of the map be-
fore them, it is apparent no such streams exist.

"There is another objection to the British claim, which is con-
clusive. Wherever the highlands of the treaty exist, they must be
highlands from which on the north side streams proceed falling
into the St. Lawrence. This portion of the description is as es-
sential as that from their south side streams should issue falling
into the Atlantic. Now, the British claim abandons the former ,
part of the description altogether. Their line of highlands com-
mencing at Mars Hill, is at least a hundred miles south of the

26 THE NOETH-EASTEBN BOUNDARY.

highlands whence the tribntaries of the St. Lawrence flow. Be-
tween these highlands and those claimed by the British Gk)yem-
ment, the broad valley of the St. John spreads itself, watered by
the river of that name, and the streams which empty into it from
the north and from the south. The two points on the western line
of New Brunswick are distant from each other more than a hun-
dred miles ; and when you arrive at the British highlands, you find
that they divide the sources of the St. John and the Penobscot, and
not the sources of streams falling into the St. Lawrence and the
Atlantic Ocean, according to the description of the treaty.

*' But how is it possible ever to embrace Mars Hill in the line of
highlands running from the western extremity of the Bay of
Ghaleurs, and forming the southern boundary of the Province of
Quebec ? It is clear that in this, and in this alone, the north-
western angle of Nova Scotia is to be found. Mars Hill is one
hundred miles directly south of this line. You cannot, by any
possibility, embrace that hill in this range, unless you can prove
that a hill in latitude 46^ is part of a ridge directly north of it in
latitude 48 ; and this, notwithstanding the whole valley of the St.
John, from its southern to its northern extremity, intervenes
between the two. The thing is impossible. Mars Hill can never
be made, by any human ingenuity, the north-west angle of Nova
Scotia.''

Li closing the discussion of the question of right, Mr. Bu-
chanan's report employs this very emphatic language:

" Upon the whole, the committee do not entertain a doubt of the
title of the United States to the whole of the disputed territory.
They go further, and state that if the general Government be not
both able and willing to protect the territory of each State invio-
late, then it will have proved itself incapable of performing one of
its first and highest duties.''

The following resolution was passed unanimously by both
Houses of Congress :

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 27

^^Besolved^ That after a careful examination and deliberate con-
sideration of the whole controversy between the United States and
Great Britain, relative to the north-eastern boundary of the former,
the Senate does not entertain a doubt of the entire practicability
of running and marking that boundary, in strict conformity with
the stipulations of the definitive treaty of peace of seventeen
hundred and eighty-three ; and it entertains a perfect conviction
of the justice and validity of the title of the United States to the
fuU extent of all the territory in dispute between the two parties.''

Having thus described and explained the several and con-
flicting claims of Great Britain in respect to this territory, I
now proceed to give a brief history of negotiations and events
connected with the question subsequent to the treaty of Ghent,
and to the abandonment of the Odell and Johnson survey.

For twenty years after this treaty. Great Britain received
no new light, and made no new arguments ; but with these
alone she commenced making aggressions — gradually, quietly,
moderately at first, so as not too soon to arrest the atten-
tion of the United States — and after a series of acts of occu-
pation and jurisdiction, came at length to more open and
positive claims, such as should afford a pretext for proposing a
mutual or concurrent jurisdiction of the territory.

Following the course of events .after the erection of Maine
into a State, we find in the year in which that event happened,
the government of the United States taking the census of Mada-
waska, on both sides of the river St John, vrith no objection
from Great Britain.

Governor King, in his message to the first Legislature of
Maine, expresses his inability to inform that body what progress
had been made under the 5th article of the treaty of Ghent, in
settling the boundary, but he complains that the agent ap-
pointed on the part of the United States, in reference to this

28 THE NORTH-EASTEBN BOUNDABY.

question, had not been selected from Maine or Massachusetts.
The Legislature passed a Besolve requesting the federal govern-
ment to cause the line to be run and established.

Governor Parris, in his annual message in 1822, informs the
Legislature that he learns that the " claims of the British Com-
missioner cover a tract of country heretofore confessedly be-
longing to this State, and over which it has exercised jurisdic-
tion," and suggests that the attention of our Senators and
Eepresentatives in Congress be called to the subject, and the
more, as neither the Commissioner or agent, on the part of the
United States, belongs to this State. A Eesolve was passed by
the Legislature January 16, 1822, requesting our Senators and
Representatives in Congress "to collect all the information
which they can obtain, relating to the causes which have pro-
duced the difference of opinion between the American and
British Commissioners, * * * and the extent and nature
of the claims set up by the British Commissioner, and transmit
said information to the Executive of this State."

In his message for 1823, Governor Parris makes no reference
to this subject

In 1824, he returns to the question in these words : " In
consequence of the disagreement of the Commissioners ap-
pointed under the 5th article pf the treaty of Ghent, a proposi-
tion has been made by the government of the United States,
and accepted by the British Government, to endeavor to estab-
lish this boundary by amicable negotiation, rather than by the
decision of a foreign power, as provided by the treaty. This ar-
rangement is believed to be satisfactory to Maine, and we have
reason to feel a confidence that the negotiation will be so con-
ducted as to secure to this State its just rights."

But matters do not look quite so well in 1825, and we find
Governor Parris a Uttie impatient at the slow progress that is

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOTTNDARY. 29

being made towards an establishment of the boundary line.
He tells the Legislature, in his message to that body, that " there
is reason to believe that depredations to a very considerable
extent have been committed on our timber lands lying on the
Aroostook and Madawaska, and other streams emptying into the
St John. * * It is represented that these depredations are
committed by British subjects, and on that portion of the terri-
tory of the State which is claimed by the British government as
belonging to the Province of New Brunswick. This pretended
claim, it is understood, includes about one-third of our territory,
and comprehends a great portion of our best timber land and
large tracts of superior quality for cultivation and settlement"

A committee of the Legislature reported that they were sat-
isfied that the trespasses referred to by the Grovemor, were
committed under permits and licenses from British authorities,
and that it behooved the States of Maine and Massachusetts
" to adopt the most efficient measures to prevent further en-
croachments upon this territory, and to urge upon the national
government the necessity and importance of bringing to a
speedy and favorable termination the negotiation on this inter-
esting subject, which has been so long protracted."

On the twenty-sixth of February of this year, the Legisla-
ture passed a Eesolve respecting the settlers on the territory, of
which the following is a copy :

" Whereas^ There are a number of settlers on the undivided
public lands on the St. John and Madawaska Rivers, many of
whom have resided therein more than thirty years ; therefore,

"Eesolved, That the land agent of this State, in conjunction
with such agent as may be appointed for that purpose on the part
of the State of Massachusetts, be, and he is hereby authorized and
directed to make and execute good and sufficient deeds conveying
to such settlers in actual possession, as aforesaid, their heirs and

80 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

assigns, one hundred acres eacli of the land by them possessed, to
include their improyements on their respective lots, they paying
to the said agent, for the use of the State, five dollars each and the
expense of surveying the same."

Authority was given by another Eesolve to sell timber on
territory lying on or near the river St. John.

Massachusetts passed similar Sesolves to the above, and
during the year deeds virere executed and delivered by James
Irish and George W. CoflBn, land agents, to John Baker and
James Bacon, of the lands occupied by them on the north side
of the St. John Eiver, lying on the Mariumpticook Eiver, west
of the Madawaska River, and ten to fifteen miles above any of
the French settlements. As early as 1817, several families
from Kennebec County had settled in this neighborhood,
among virhom was Nathan Baker. Nathan died before 1825,
and his widow married his brother, John Baker, who occupied
the premises that had been taken up by Nathan, and on which
not only a dwelling house, but a saw mill and grist mill, had
been erected. There were several other American settlers in
this neighborhood.

Governor Parris called the attention of the Legislature to the
subject once more, in his annual message of 1826, and expresses
increased uneasiness in view of the condition of aflfairs, and
urges that measures be taken to procure copies of maps, reports
and other papers bearing upon the question. In the Legisla-
ture, a committee, of which Eeuel Williams was chairman,
reported a Eesolve, which was passed, requesting the Governor
to procure copies of maps, documents, publications, papers and
surveys relating to the boundary ; and also, if Massachusetts
should concur, to " cause the eastern and northern lines of the
State of Maine to be explored, and the monuments upon those

THE NOETH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 31

lines mentioned in the treaty of 1783 to be ascertained in such
manner as may be most expedient"

Another Eesolve passed by the Legislature this year, provided
for the opening and clearing of a road from Penobscot Eiver to
Houlton, and for marking a road from the mouth of the Matta-
wamkeag to the mouth of Fish Eiver in the river St. John.

In January, 1827, Enoch Lincoln, whose devotion to the
interests and honor of the State was so engrossing and complete
as to make his name a synonym for both, was inaugurated Gk)v-
emor.

Eeferring in his first message to the north-eastern boundary
question, he said —

" It becomes a community to be tenacious of its territorial pos-
sessions, when its relative political importance and its self-pro-
tecting powers are in a degree involved in them. But as we have
no reason to believe that the right or disposition anywhere exists
to cede our soil, under the pretext of adjusting a limit, which
would be an abuse in which neither the people nor the govern-
ments of the Union or the States would acquiesce, we may safely
anticipate that our landmarks will be held sacred, and that our
inalienable sovereignty will be respected."

Here were strong, clear, unmistakable words. The right,
which there were some grounds to fear might be asserted, was
denied — the right to cede our soil " under the pretext of adjust-
ing a limit" Our title was " inalienable."

It has been seen that the Legislature of the last year called on the
government of the United States for copies of maps and documents.
This request was not complied with, for reasons which appear
in the journal of President John Quincy Adams, under date of
August 14, 1826. Mr. Adams says : " Mr. Parris " — Governor
Parris of Maine, who had called upon the President — " spoke of
the deep interest which his State had in the controversy ; and

32 THE NOBTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

m

although he felt full confidence that the government of the
United States would consent to no stipulation injurious to the
rights of the State, yet he said they were not without appre-
hensions that New York might be vrilling to purchase Rouse's
Point at the expense of Maine " — ^a fear that was prophetic, for
it was literally realized in the Ashburton treaty in 1842. The
journal continues : " He manifested a wish to be furnished with
copies of the arguments of the agents, and reports of the Com-
missioners under the 5th article of the treaty of Ghent, which
we declined giving heretofore, from an apprehension that a pre-
mature disclosure of them might operate unfavorably upon the
negotiation. I told him that their great bulk was an obstacle
to the furnishing of copies, but that they had been, and would
still be, open to the inspection and perusal of the Representa-
tives and Senators from Maine, and would be equally so to the
Governor of the State, if present/*

Alluding to this refusal to give copies by the federal govern-
ment. Governor Lincoln, in his message for 1827, said : " My
immediate predecessor has solicited the documents contemplated
by a Resolve of a former Legislature relative to our boundary,
and I cannot but hope that the person applied to will find the
obligations of his situation so modified as to admit his furnish-
ing the proper officers of this State information by which it
may be prepared to judge correctly of the rights of the Union and
of a foreign nation, in connection with that independent Tight
which it ought to maintain, so far as the prudent application of
all its justifiable means will permit"

So much of this message as related to the boundary was
referred to a joint select committee, which made a brief report
through the Hon. John G. Deane, a gentleman who, with the
possible exceptions of Governor Lincoln and Mr. Daveis, under-
stood this question better than any man living.

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 33

" The State/' said the committee, " neither seeks nor claims
more than her own, but she has a deep interest in preserving
and retaining all to which she has a right ; and will not be
wanting in any proper exertion to preserve and maintain the
integrity of her territory." Again, " We can anticipate only
one class of events which would invest a right in the general
government to give up any such territory ; and those events are
such only which, from the application of external force, would
impair the national compact and destroy the present Union.
In any other case we deny the right of the government of the
United States to yield any portion of our territory to any other
independent sovereignty, unless by the consent of the State."

A Resolve was passed requesting the Governor to take all
measures he should deem expedient in acquiring information,
and procuring a speedy adjustment of the dispute according to
the treaty of 1783.

Full of the subject himself, sensitive to the honor of the Com-
monwealth, stung by the indignity done her by the seizure and
imprisonment of her citizens by a foreign power, impatient of
the trifling excuses and pretexts by which her rights and in-
terests had been kept in abeyance for forty years, and thus
armed and instructed by the Legislature, the Governor went to
work at once, in the most earnest and vigorous manner, to bring
the question to the front and secure its prompt and just settle-
ment

On the twentieth of March, he addressed a letter to the Sec-
retary of State at Washington, transmitting the above Beport
and Besolve, and asking for copies of the documents which had
been before denied. The Secretary (Mr. Clay) replied on the
twenty-seventh of March, and assured the Grovemor that the
President felt a most lively solicitude on the subject that Mr.
Grallatin was charged with, and had entered on a negotiation

3

34 THE NOETH-EAfiTEBN BOUNDAEY.

concerning it ; that the prospect was that there would be no
alternative but referring the difiference to arbitration according
to the provisions of the treaty of Ghent ; that copies of maps,
surveys, or documentary evidence would be furnished when ap-
plied for, but that copies of the reports and arguments of the
Commissioners could not be given ; that the British government
had abstained, under a promise given by her Minister at Wash-
ington, from any new exercise of sovereignty over the disputed
territory, and he hoped that Maine would, during the pendency
of negotiations, practice a like forbearance.

To this communication Governor Lincoln replied on the eight-
eenth of April, 1827, and, after assuring the President (in answer
to some unfounded report that State officials had been proposing
a change of boundary) " that Maine will never jeopardize the
common welfare by failing to insist on the justice ^nd inde-
feasible character of its claim, or by shrinking from a firm
assertion of it in any alternative," he continued, that it was
" with regret, not unmingled with mortification, that he con-
sidered the denial of the use of the reports and arguments of
the Commissioners under the treaty of Ghent » * * Maine
had sought information only as an interest vital to herself, as
well as important to the country, without any purpose calcu-
lated to excite distrust, with only such patriotic views as have
rendered the refusal to comply with her request a subject of
that species of surprise which a friend, predetermined to take
no oflfence, feels when he is not treated with correspondent confi-
dence/* The request for papers is renewed, under a promise
that they shall be used only before the Legislature, and under
the restrictions of confidential communications. The Governor
then reminds Mr. Clay that it is a proposition which has been
demonstrated by himself " so clearly as to have commanded
general respect, that the abstraction of the territory of the

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 35

United States cannot be made by the treaty-making or executive
power." Much more, then, he says, must the domain of a State
be sacred. Referring to an expression of Mr. Gallatin, that an
umpire, whether king or farmer, rarely decides on strict princi-
ples of law, and has always " a bias to try, if possible, to split
the difference," he protests against any arrangement which will
endanger the half from the circumstance of a wrongful claim to
the whole, imder the pitiful weakness which is liable to split
the difference between right and wrong.

Mr. Clay writes the Governor on the seventh of May, giving lists
of the papers and maps, copies of which would be furnished ;
and as to the others, he says they may be inspected by the
Governor, or any agent of the State, confidentially.

On the twenty-ninth of May, Governor Lincoln, after referring
to the discouraging character of his previous correspondence
with the Secretary of State, says, " that having learned that the
title of the State " to an extensive tract of country, " is involved
in the details of a diplomatic arrangement conducted under the
sanction of the executive department of the federal government,
Maine, although not consulted, yet bound from deference to pay
a due respect to reasons, the nature and force, of which she is,
from a studious and mysterious reserve, rendered unable to
comprehend, believes that she ought to present her expostula-
tion in regard to any measures threatening her injury." He
understands that the question is not to be limited in the submis-
sion to the treaty line of 1783, and that the Sovereign may de-
cide at pleasure on the whole subject, without being bound by
the obligations of an oath ; and that the Sovereign is one whose
feelings will be prejudiced against a Republic accused of inor-
dinate ambition. And he adds : " It is not in cold blood that I
can anticipate the committing the destinies of Maine to an irre-
sponsible arbiter to be found in a distant land, and necessarily

36 THE NORTH-EASTEKN BOUNDABY.

unqualified to act in the case. * * Suflftce it to say that the
proposed arbitration will jeopardize, without her consent and
against her will, the rights of Maine. And allow me to add,"
continued the Governor, in those grave and strong words which
stirred the blood of every true son of Maine to a boiling heat,
and, reaching the department of State, brought the federal
administration to a halt in what it had been apprehended
were its purposes, " that if called upon to make the required
sacrifice, she will he compelled to deliberate on an alternative
which will test the strictness of her priTudples and the firmness
of her temper"

He reminds the President that when Massachusetts entered
the Union " she yielded no right to dispose of her soil, or to ab-
stract any part of it from her jurisdiction, * * nor to ex-
pose, without her consent, her dearly purchased and sacred
rights to arbitrament.'' He warns him that the State of Maine
" will not observe any procedure by the United States and Great
Britain for the severance of her territory and the abrogation of
her authority, without a sensibility too serious to be passive.
She holds thai her domain is not the subject of partition'* He
puts the question in a paragraph : " No statesman will assert
that the treaty-making power is competent to an act trans-
cending the scope of the combined trusts of the government."

Eecurring, as he could not help doing, to the effrontery of the
British claim, with which our government permitted itself to
be trifled with, he declares that *' It may be confidently asserted
not only that the provision of the treaty of 1783 is imperative,
but that it describes our boundary with a precision which
shames the British claim, and, connected with the making of
that claim, casts a shadow over the lustre of the British charac-
ter." He closes this remarkable letter with an expression of
regret that the government should refuse the information con-

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 37

t^mplated by a resolution of the State, but says he shall con-
tinue to hope for the preservation, under the protecting care of
the government, of that now exposed territory, destined under
any proprietor to be soon occupied by a numerous population,
engaged in all the pursuits which sustain human life and adorn
human nature."

This letter is acknowledged by Mr. Clay on the ninth of
June, and the Governor is assured that the observations made
therein shall receive due attention and respectful consideration,
and that in no contingency is any arbitration contemplated of
the difference between the two countries, but that for which
provision has been solemnly made by treaty — ^that is, the ques-
tion to be submitted shall concern alone the treaty line of 1783.

September third, the Governor informs the Secretary of State,
that he has information of acts of encroachment and aggression
upon our territory by the authorities of New Brunswick ; that
American settlers holding lands, ui^er titles from Maine and
Massachusetts, are denied the right to hold real estate, are taxed
as aliens, and are refused the transmission of their products as
American, while acts of jurisdiction are constantly exercised,
by these authorities. He then proceeds to show the value of
this country to Maine and the United States, and the import-
ance of excluding British control and jurisdiction. He refers
to our right to the navigation of the river St. John by the law
of nations, as recognized in the case of the Missi?*-* ^i Eiver,
and to the vnrong that vrill !:«* done if this right -o allowed to
be successfully contested. He again inioiuis the Department
that Maine will never assent to the result of an arbitration un-
favorable to her interests and in derogation of her rights.

On the fourteenth of September, Mr. Clay informs Grovernor
Lincoln that he has advised the British minister that it is ex-
pected the necessary orders will be given on the part of the

38 THE NOETH-EASTEBN BOUNDABY.

British government to enforce forbearance from new acts tending
to strengthen its claims. It will be remembered that an under-
standing had been come to between these parties, that there
should be no " new " acts of this kind by either side.

Notwithstanding this agreement and notice, Governor Lincoln
had occasion, on the twenty-second of October, to write the
Lieutenant-Grovemor of New Brunswick, that he has informa-
tion that one of the citizens of Maine, by the name of John
Baker, while residing on its territory, has .been arrested and de-
tained in gaol at Fredericton, in that Province, and asks to be
advised concerning the facts. He informs the Lieutenant-Gk)v-
ernor that the attempt to extend the jurisdiction of New
Brunswick over this territory will compel counter action from
Maine. He says : " The arrest of our citizens on what we believe
to be a part of our State, will demand its utmost energies for
resistance."

The lieutenant-Govemo^f New Brunswick, on the fifteenth
of November, acknowledges the receipt of the above letter, but
declines to give any information, on the ground that he is not
permitted to give it except to those with whom he is directed
tci correspond, or under whose orders he is placed, and declines
to .have any further correspondence with the Governor of Maine.
The scarcely veiled insolence of this reply, especially when con-
sidered in connection with the correspondence between Gov-
ernor Fairfield and Lieutenant-Governor Harvey, hereafter re-
ferred to, is pjiPf ully appareiiit. , ..

The Governor of Maine, however, came into possession of an
official writ, by which it appeared that John Baker was ordered
to appear and answer for that he had entered and intruded upon
the lands of the King in the County of Kent, in the Province
of New Brunswick, and erected and built thereon a house and
other edifices, and cut and felled and carried away timber and

THE N0RTH-EA8TEBN BOUNDABY. 39

other trees, &c This was alleged to have been done on land
situated on the northerly side of the St. John River, and between
the rivers Madawaska and St Francis.

On the fifth of November, the Gk)vemor appointed Charles
Stuart Daveis, Esquire, of Portland, agent, with authority to act
in behalf of the State of Maine in obtaining information, either
informally or by authenticated statements, as to all subjects
relating to rights of property and jurisdiction ^between the
government of the State and that of New Brunswick. Mr.
Daveis took with him a letter from the Grovemor of Maine to
the lieut-Grovemor of New Brunswick, advising the latter
of Mr. Daveis* appointment, and its object, and stating that he
was authorized to demand the release of Baker.

On the sixteenth of November, the Governor acknowledges
the receipt of the documents (so long withheld) from the De-
partment of State, but expresses his regret that, from the con-
tents of the Secretary's letter of the tenth instant, he learns
that the objections he has offered to arbitration, without con-
sulting this State, have been unavailing. He adds, in a voice
almost choked with grief : ''At last we learn that our strength,
security and wealth are to be subjected to the mercy of a
foreign individual, who, it has been said by your minister,
' rarely decides upon strict principles of law, and has always a
bias to try, if possible, to split the difference.' I cannot but
yield to the impulse of saying, most bespectfully, that
Maine has not been tbeated as she has endeavoked to

DESEBVE."

He then informs the Secretary of the facts in the case of
John Baker.

By this time, the excitement in the State, occasioned by the
imprisonment of Baker and other acts by the Province of New
Brunswick, had grown to such a heat, that Governor Lincoln

40 THE NORTH-EASTSBN BOUNDABT.

found it necessary, in order to prevent premature collisions, to
issue a proclamation, in which he exhorted forbearance and
peace on the part of citizens suffering or threatened with wrong,
and those interested by sympathy and principle on account of
the violation of our territory, "so that the preparations for pre-
venting the removal of our landmarks, and guarding the sacred
and inestimable rights of American citizens may not be em-
barrassed by any unauthorized acts."

Mr. Clay writes Governor Lincoln, on the twenty-seventh of
November, that " the government of the United States is fully
convinced that the right of the territory in dispute is with us,
and not with Great Britain. The convictions of Maine are not
stronger in respect to the validity of our title than those which
are entertained by the President" But he reminds his corre-
spondent that the United States is under treaty obligation to
refer the question, and cannot refuse to carry out what it has
pledged itself to perform.

Mr: Daveis, of whose appointment notice has been taken,
visited Houlton and Fredericton this autumn. At the former
place he met persons who had come from above Madawaska, and
were enabled to report to him the condition of things in that
section so fully that he did not deem it necessary to visit it in
person. He gives, in a report made to the Gtovemor Jan. 31,
1828, a succinct history of the progress of the settlements on
the territory in dispute, by citizens of Maine and Massachusetts ;
of trespasses in the way of cutting timber by inhabitants of
New Brunswick under license from that Province ; of seizures
from, and impositions upon, American citizens by Provincial
authorities, by the service of precepts issued by magistrates in
New Brunswick, on American citizens within their own lines ;
and the removal of property from this State by virtue of levies
on executions issued by Provincial courts. New Brunswick

THE NOBTH-EASTERN BOUNDABT. 41

officials warned off American citizens from lands lying within
forty miles from Houlton and west of the boundary line. Amer-
ican citizens were driven, by fear, from occupying their own
houses to " lodging about in different places, in bams, or in the
woods, mustering together for the night in larger or smaller
parties, or separating for greater security/' Mr. Daveis gives
some account of the settlement of the Acadians on the river St.
John after the peace of 1783, whose number, by the American
census of 1820, was over eleven hundred. The first settlement
by Americans in this neighborhood was, he reported, in 1817,
and not far from the mouth of the river St Francis. This set-
tlement was made by several families from the County of Ken-
nebec, in this State. Among them were those of Baker and
Bacon, before referred to, who, in the year 1825, received
deeds of their possessions from the land agents of Maine and
Massachusetts, and who built a mill under the authority of
these States. These American families entered into a compact
between themselves, by which they agreed to submit aU disputes
and differences with each other to a tribunal of their own ap-
pointment This was done to avoid and deny all British juris-
diction. It was to last only one year, as the settlers expected
to receive, before the expiration of that time, from their State
government, the protection of its regular and constituted authori-
ties, for which they had petitioned. That this " home rule "
might be properly inaugurated, the Americans assembled at
John Baker's, and erected a staff and raised a rude representa-
tion of the American eagle, and they enjoyed a repast in the
evening at his house, at which there were music and dancing.
When these facts came to the knowledge of one Morehouse, a
provincial magistrate who had on many occasions given annoy-
ance, and inflicted injury and outrage upon citizens of this
State living on their own soil, and sometimes on grants made

42 THE NORTH-EASTEBN BOUNDARY.

by Maine and Massachusetts, he presented himself at John
Baker's and gave order for the removal of the American ensign,
which Baker — ^thenceforward called General Baker — declined
to obey. Morehouse then demanded the paper of agreement or
compact, which Baker refused to deliver. About this time it
so happened that Baker had made some inquiry of a French-
man, who was carrying a mail, in respect to that service, which
the latter misunderstood, and interpreted as indicating a purpose
to interfere with its performanca Thereupon, Morehouse
issued a warrant against Baker, and not him alone, but Bacon
and one Charles Stetson also, as connected with him in such
imputed interference.

Mr. Daveis continues his account in these words :

"Early in the evening of the twenty-fifth of September, soon
after their return " — ^from Portland, where Baker and Bacon had
been to report the state of affairs on the St. John, and to solicit aid
from the State — " and while Baker and his family were asleep, the
bouse was surrounded by an armed force, and entered by persons
of a civil character and others armed with fusees, &c., who seized
Baker in his bed, and conveyed bim, without loss of time, out of
the State. The particulars relating to this circumstance are de-
tailed in the statement of Asahel Baker, a nephew of John Baker,
who was first awakened by the entry. * ♦ The person conduct-
ing the execution proved to be of high official character and per-
sonal respectability in the Province of New Brunswick. He was
informed that papers were in the possession of Baker, justifying
him under the authority of the States ; but he replied that it was
not in his power to attend to any remonstrance. No resistance
was made by Baker, and no opportunity was afforded him to have
intercourse with any friends and neighbors, from whom it was
reasonable to suppose opposition might have been apprehended.
Mr. Baker was carried before Morehouse, in obedience to the war-
rant ; it does not appear that any examination took place, how-

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 43

ever, but that he was conveyed to Fredericton and there committed
to gaol. The letter from your Excellency to the American inhab-
itants at the upper settlement, was delivered by him to the author-
ity under which he was imprisoned, and after some detention
restored to him.

'^ The immediate impression produced among the inhabitants of
the settlement by this circumstance, may appear from the further
statement of Asahel Baker. He was the person employed to brin^
a representation from them of the arrest of John Baker, which
was deposited by him in the first post office he reached in Ken-
nebec. He was absent some days, and on his return found that
several of the inhabitants had departed. It appears that in the
interim the alien tax had been again demanded, and process had
been served upon the American settlers, generally, similar to that
which had been previously served on the Aroostook, indiscrimin-
ately, to appear at Fredericton in October, to answer to suits for
trespass and intrusion on Crown lands, under the penalty of one
hundred pounds. It is understood that the service of this process
was extended to the American settlers towards the St. Francis and
upon the Fish Biver, where the road laid out by the Legislatures
of the two States terminates. In consequence of these circum-
stances, it appears that three of the American settlers, Charles
Stetson, Jacob Goldthwait and Charles Smart have parted with
their possessions and removed from the settlement ihto the planta-
tion of Houlton, where they are at present seeking subsistence.
Stetson was a blacksmith, in good business, and was concerned in
the measure relating to Morehouse. The motives and particulars
of their departure are stated by them in their respective affidavits.

" In the precarious state of their affairs, it is probable that no
certain estimate can be formed of their sacrifices ; but it is evident
that the measures made use of towards the inhabitants in general,
for whatever purpose, have had the effect to expel a portion of
them, and to intimidate the remainder. * * It is evident that
a corresponding application of judicial proceedings has been made

44 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

from the Province of New Brunswick upon all the settlements
above and below the French occupation of Madawaska, tending to
their extermination ; and that the inhabitants are awaiting, in a
state of fearful anxiety^ the final execution, from which they see no
prospect of relief

These proceedings were justified and adopted, if not pre-
viously authorized, by Sir Howard Douglass, lieut-Govemor of
New Brunswick, and by Mr. Vaughan, the British Minister at
Washington, as appears by a letter from the latter to Mr. Clay,
November 21, 1827.

The results of these doings were summed up by Mr. Daveis
as follows :

*' Citizens of Maine, and others settled on lands surveyed and
granted by its authority, living within its ancient and long-estab-
lished limits, are subjected to the operation of foreign laws. These
are applied to them in the ordinary course of civil process, in
taking away their property, and also their persons. American
citizens in this State are proceeded against as aliens, for sedition
and other offences, and misdemeanors. against the Crown of Great
Britain ; and one of them, a grantee of Massachusetts and Maine,
seized on the land granted, remains in prison on charges of that
description."

When these facts became known to the people and the Legis-
lature of the State, there was a deep feeling of indignation at
the wrong and outrage ; and the only wonder to-day is, that it
could have been restrained to peaceable expressions and protests.
To us, the patience with which these encroachments and insults
were borne is simply incredible.

When the Legislature assembled in January, 1828, Governor
Lincoln had received the documents and papers, which he had
been unable to obtain before. He announced to that body the
fact that an arbitration had been entered into between the two

THE NORTH-EASTEEN BOUNDAET. 45

govemments, and he called its attention to the claim of tempo-
rary jurisdiction by New Brunswick, to the arrest and impris-
onment of Baker, and the report of Mr. Daveis. He declared :
*' Maine cannot abandon its obligations, its title deeds and its
rights. It cannot allow its citizens to be incarcerated in foreign
gaols. The State would shrink most dreadfully under the
shame of such a submission.'' In this arbitration, the King of
the Netherlands, was made the umpire.

The Legislature took up the subject in a manner that showed
that, while not immindful of its relations and duties to the
federal government, nor willing unnecessarily to embarrass it, it
had a painful sense of the wrong and injury the State had re-
ceived. Hon. John G. Deane, on behalf of a joint Select Com-
mittee, made a report so full, so accurate, so absolutely conclu-
sive of every question, as to leave nothing more to be said for
the vindication of our claims and of our interpretation of the
treaty of 1783. A Resolve was passed, demanding defence and
protection from the United States ; and, in case of new aggres-
sions, authorizing the Grovemor, if seasonable protection is not
afforded by the general government, to use all proper and
constitutional means to protect and defend our citizens ; and
calling for a demand upon the British government for the release
of John Baker ; also, providing for the relief of his family.

Governor Lincoln, in his last annual message, which he ad-
dressed to the Legislature in January, 1829, a few months
before his lamented death, refers to the vigorous action of the
preceding Legislature, from which he thinks some practical
results may have come, and he mentions, among these, its good
effect upon the nation. The President, he says, has yielded
every possible support ; a garrison has been established upon
our frontier, an agent from among ourselves has been appointed,
a military road has been provided for, and Baker's case has been

46 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

assumed by the United States ; and, besides this, the character
of the King of the Netherlands is such as to give ground of
hope that the decision will be a just one.

The Legislature passed an act " to prevent foreigners from
exercising acts of jurisdiction within this State, by serving civil
or criminal process."

In 1830, Jonathan G. Hunton was Governor, but nothing of
special interest relating to this question seems to have taken
place during his administration.

In 1831, Governor Samuel E. Smith refers to the delay that
has arisen in reaching a decision by the umpire, and suggests
that it may have occurred from the disturbances that had taken
place in his own kingdom, and which, by depriving hiTn of the
greatest portion of his kingdom, had made him a dependent on
Great Britain. He doubted whether under these circumstances
he ought to act, or could properly act, as umpire. He says :
" Whatever confidence may be put in the justice of our cause,
however clearly our right may be shewn in argument, we cer-
tainly could not be willing to submit it to the umpirage of a
sovereign who is not only the ally, but who, by the force of
circumstances, may have become, in some measure, the depend-
ent ally of Great Britain."

That England, after this event, should have insisted upon
proceeding with the arbitration, was scarcely less than an
indecency and an afifront, and one wonders at the good nature
and blindness to injury which still continued to mark the
temper and conduct of the United States.

The question submitted to the King of the Netherlands re-
mained to be decided by the King of Holland.

But the Governor takes encouragement after this protest,
from the appointment of a Minister, by whom the case was to

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 47

be presented to the umpire, from among our own citizens, 6t
one so able and well-informed as the Hon. William Pitt Preble.

Albert Gallatin, an experienced diplomatist, and a man of
historic reputation, and Judge Preble, of Portland, had been
designated during the administration of Mr. Adams, to manage
the case before the umpire; and when the appointment of
Judge Preble as Minister was made by President Jackson, the
valuable assistance of Mr. Daveis was secured to him by the
government

Grovemor Smith took leave of this subject in his message for
1831, by saying that he was not aware that anything at present
remained to be done by the Legislature that could facilitate the
inquiry, or aflfect the result

On the tenth of January, 1831, the King of Holland made
his report — award it could not be called. He found himself
unable or unwilling to decide where the line ought to be run,
but said :

" We are of opinion that it will be suitable (U conviendra) to
adopt as the boundary of the two States, a line drawn due north
from the source of the river St. Croix, to a point where it inter-
sects the middle of the thalweg (t. e. deepest channel) of the river
St. John, ascending it to the point where the river St. Francis
empties itself into the river St. John, thence the middle of the
thalweg of the river St. Francis to the source of its uppermost
branch, which source we indicate on the map A by the X^ authen-
ticated by the signature of our minister ^)f Foreign Affairs, thence
a line drawn due west to a point where it unites with a line claimed
by the United States of America, and delineated on the map A,
thence said line to the point at which, according to said maps, it
coincides with that claimed by Oreat Britain, thence the line traced
in the map by the two powers to the north-westernmost source of
the Connecticut Eiver.''

48 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

* The King further expresses the opinion that it would be suit-
able that the line from the C!onnecticut Biver to the St. Law-
rence should be so drawn as to include in the United States,
the fort at Bouse's Point, and its kilometrical radius.

It is abundantly certain from the whole report and proceed-
ings that the King could not adopt the British claim, and did
not wish to accept that of the United States, and so, to avoid a
decision, contented himself by making a recommendation. A
higher indirect concession to the American claim it would be
diflBcult to imagine.

On the twelfth of January, our Minister, Judge Preble, made
a protest against the proceeding, " as constituting a departure
from the power delegated by- the high parties interested."

Unofficial intelligence of the report of the King of Holland
was received in Maine during the session of the Legislature, and
occasioned much uneasiness. A joint-select committee made a
vigorous report, in which were no sounds of uncertainty or fear,
through CoL Deana It said :

" If the Government of the United States can cede a portion of
an independent State to a foreign government, she can, by the same
principle, cede the whole ; or if to a foreign government, she can,
by the same principle, annex one State to another until the whole
are consolidated, and she becomes the sole Sovereign and lawgivtr,
without any check to her exercise of power."

It is not to be answered that the treaty-making power has,
from the necessity of the .case, ample authority to decide dis-
putes between the nation and other nations, whether they refer
to boundaries or anything else. This nation has no right under
the treaty-making power to cede the territory of any State — ^the
title to which in the State, it affirms. In this case, the United
States, by Congress as well as by the Executive Department, as
had also the Legislatures of Maine and Massachusetts and of

THE NORTH-EASTERK BOUNDARY* 49

most the other States, declared repeatedly and in the most em-
phatic and unequivocal terms, that the right of Maine was " clear
and unquestionable." Her title was as clear to Madawaska as
to Portland, and a cession or sale of the latter would be quite as
objectionable and unconstitutional as a transfer of the former.

This committee reported Eesolves, which were passed, de-
claring "That the convention of 1827 tended to violate the
Constitution of the United States, and to impair the sovereign
rights and powers of the State of Maine, and that Maine is not
bound bj the Constitution to submit to the decision which has
been, or shall be, made under that convention." Also, that
whereas the submission was to the King of the Netherlands, an
independent Sovereign, exercising dominion over six millions of
people, and whereas, by the force of liberal opinions in Belgium,
he was deprived of more than half of his dominions, and his
dependence on Great Britain for holding his power, even in
Holland, was increased, and, inasmuch as he had made no deci-
sion before his kingdom was dismembered by his own consent,
and his public character changed, it was resolved that the
award " cannot and ought not to be considered obligatory upcMx
the government of the United States, either on the principles of
right and justice, or of honor." And further, " that no decision
made by an umpire under any circumstances, if the decision
dismembers a State, has or can have any constitutional force or
obligation upon the State thus dismembered, unless the State
adbpt and sanction the decision."

On the eighteenth of March, Mr. Van Buren, Secretary of
State, conmiunicated the report of the King of HoUai^d to the
Grovemor of Maine, with a request, in substcmce, that pending
its consideration at Washington, Maine should keep quiet and
behave herself.

Governor Smith transmitted the papers to the Legislature on

4

50 THE N0KTH-EA8TERN BOUin)ARY.

the twenty-fifth of March, with a message which endorsed and
commended the advice of Mr. Van Buren as to good behavior
on the part of the people of Maine and their representatives.
But the Legislature was scarcely in a temper to appreciate Una
advice in the sense in which it was given. It had yet some
sense of honor, duty and self respect ; and on the thirtieth
of March it made its answer to the President, in which it
plainly told him that " there are rights which a free people
cannot yield, and there are encroachments upon such rights
which ought to be resisted and prevented, or the people
have no assurance of the continuance of their liberties." The
report took up the opinion of the King, and the question
of lus right to act after he had ceased to be Sovereign of the
Netherlands, and by facts incontestible and by invincible logic,
showed that the opinion was in no sense binding either upon
the United States or the State of Maine, and declared that " if
the United States should adopt the document as a decision, it
will be in violation of the constitutional rights of the State of
Maine, which she cannot yield."

A copy of this report of the Legislature was ordered to be
sent to the President of the United States and to the Governors
of the several States.

Governor Smith, it will be remembered, had, in his annual
message a few weeks before, referred to the change which had
taken place in the relations of the umpire since the submission
was made, and expressed the imwillingness the State would
■ feel to submit the question to the decision of a sovereign who
was the aUy, and might become the dependent ally, of the con-
testing party. . The legislative report had but echoed this
opinion. Acting in its spirit, and in view of the whole situation,
and in full harmony, as was supposed, with the views of the
, Governor (for as yet he had not heard from Mr. Van Bur^),

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 51

the Legislature, on the fifteenth of March, 1831, passed an Act,
which received the approval of the Governor, to incorporate the
town of Madawaska, by which the inhabitants thereof were
declared to be " subject to the same duties and liabilities, and
vested with the privileges and immunities which other incorpo-
rated towns are within this Stata" Any Justice of Peace within
the County of Penobscot, or any Justice throughout the State,
was empowered to issue his warrant to any inhabitant of the
place, directing him to notify a meeting for the choice of officers.
In conformity to this Act, a warrant was issued by William D.
Williamson, Esquire, a Justice of the Peace throughout the
State, directed to Walter Powers, an inhabitant of Madawaska,
to notify the inhabitants of that town to meet at the house of
Peter Lezart to organize the town and elect town officers. The
meeting was duly called and held in August, but its proceedings
were interrupted and delayed by interference and threats on the
part of Leonard B. Coombs, a Captain of Militia, and Francis
Eice, a Justice of the Peace, holding commissions from the Prov-
ince of New Brunswick. But the inhabitants present, about fifty
in number, persevered in their work and elected town officers.
Another town meeting, at which eighty inhabitants were pres-
ent, was held on the second Monday of September, 1831, being
the day of the State election, at the house of Raphael Martin,
w^hen Peter Lezart was elected a representative to the. State
Legislatura Rice was present at this meeting, also, interrupt-
ing it, and using language of menace and abuse. He took
the names of the persons voting at the meeting. On the
twenty-fifth of the month, a military force was collected at the
chapel in Madawaska, by Provincial authority, and repaired to
the house of one Simon Herbert, further up the river, where
they were attended by the Lieutenant-Governor of New Bruns-
wick. This force succeeded in arresting Daniel Savage, Jesse

52 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

Wheelock, Barnabas Hunnewell, Daniel Bean and several others,
and held them prisoners for the oflfence of acting at the town
meeting. John Baker escaped to the woods, and finally came to
Portland, where, on the twelfth of October, he gave to the Gov-
ernor a detailed statement of the facts, to which he made oath
before Francis 0. J. Smith, Esquire, Justice of the Peace.
Wheelock and Savage, who were arrested as above stated, ad-
dressed a letter to Roscoe G. Greene, Secretary of State, in which
they informed him of the circumstances of their arrest They
said:

" His Excellency, Sir Archibald Campbell, Lieutenant-Governor
and Commander-in-Chief of the Province of New Brunswick, ar-
rived here on the twenty-third instant, with one Colonel, one Cap-
tain of the Militia, the Attorney-General of the Province and Mr.
McLaughlan ; also, by the Sheriff of the County of York. On the
twenty-fourth they directed warrants to be issued against all those
who had acted at said meetings. * * We were arrested on the
twenty-fifth. * * On the twenty-sixth the Sheriff and Captain
Coombs and some militia ascended the river to Mr. Baker's to
arrest those in that neighborhood ; thence to St. Francis Biver,
expecting to return to-day, when we are to be imipediately sent to
Fredericton gaol. When the rest of our unfortunate countrymen
arr\ye we will enlist tlieir names and numbers, together with what
other information shall come to our knowledge. The families of
them will be left in a deplorable situation unless their country will
immediately release them. * * We are now descending the
river, twenty miles above Woodstock."

Of these persons. Savage, Wheelock and Hunnewell were
arraigned before the Supreme Court of New Brunswick, and
sentenced to pay a fine of fifty pounds and be imprisoned three
months, and were accordingly thrown into prison at Fredericton.

Down to the period covered by these proceedings, with the

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 53

single exception, if such it may be regarded, of the Governor's
message in March, I find no blot on the history of this State,
nothing to be ashamed of, nothirig to hide the head for, but
a constant exhibition of elevated and dignified patriotism — a
proper regard for the integrity and honor of the Commonwealth.

But after this, succeeds a term which we might well desire
, to have expunged from our annals.

The Senate of the United States had rejected the recom-
mendation of the King of Holland, and new negotiations were
in contemplation at Washington, when the intelligence was
received there from the Governor of Maine of the proceedings
at Madawaska, and the arrest of Wheelock and others. The
administration was greatly disturbed, and communicated its
displeasure to Governor Smith. He, on the twelfth of October,
replied that:

''An Act was passed by the Legislature of this State at the last
session to incorporate the town of Madawaska, which is bounded,
in part, by the line of the State. By this Act and some others, I
understood it was intended by the Legislature to assert the claim
of the State to jurisdiction over that portion of the territory which
they knew to be within the limits of Maine ; and that it was not
to be carried into eftect until circumstances should render it proper
and expedient. This measure is said to have been adopted by the
inhabitants of that territory, voluntarily organizing themselves
into a corporation ; was unexpected by me, and done without my
knowledge."

What a spectacle is here ! The Secretary of State of the
United States had written the Governor of Maine a sharp letter,
reproving the State, in effect, for its independent and proper
action. And the Chief Magistrate, who but a few months
before had been so earnest, who had approved an act to incor-

54 THE NOBTH-EASTEBN BOUNDAEY.

porate the town, when the people thereof, in good faith, sup-
posing the act of the Legislature meant what it said — ^as indeed
it did, as everybody conversant with its history well knew —
went to work, and in conformity to its provisions organized
the town — instead of planting himself firmly upon the act of
the Legislature and the doings of his people, starts back, like
Fear in Collins' Ode,

^' E'en at the sound himself had made."

To this excuse and protestation, Secretary Livingston made re-
ply in a letter of such tone and language as no Governor of a State
should permit to be addressed to him, without indignant remon-
strance, to say the least. He told him that the President could
not " consider the continuance of the occupation " (of Maine)
" by the officers, dvil and military, of the British Province as an
invasion ; but will take all proper measures to procure the re-
lease of the ill-advised persons who have been the cause of this
disturbance."

Ill-advised persons ! Who gave them the ill advice ? The
Legislature of Maine and the Governor of Maine ! These and
no others, and in the most unequivocal and solemn manner.
Of the important facts the Secretary had learned enough to ren-
der his language as direct and pointed a rebuke to the Legisla-
ture and Executive authorities of the State, as it was possible to
make. How, may it be imagined, would Enoch Lincoln have
received words like these — words that should

" Kindle cowards, and steel with valor
The melting spirits of women " ?

But whatever the amount of reproof and insolence the Sec-
retary of State was pleased to visit upon the Governor of Maine,
he made ample amends for it in his disgraceful obsequiousness

THE NORTH-EASTEEN BOUNDARY. 55

to the British minister. To show the humiliation with which
the government was pleased to clothe itself, and, with the con-
sent of her Executive, the State of Maine, it is qply necessary
to quote from a letter of Mr. Livingston to Mr. Bankhead, the
British Minister, on the fifteenth of October, 1831. Transmit-
ting extracts from Governor Smith's letter, before referred to,
he says :

" You will perceive that the election of town officers in the settle-
ment of Madawaska, of which complaint was made in the papers
enclosed in your letter, was made under color of a general law,
which was not intended, by either the executive or legislative au-
thority, to be executed in that settlement, and that the whole was
the work of ineonsidercUe individuals"

One can hardly conceive a statement more crowded with
errors of fact than this. In the first place, as we have seen,
there was a gross error in the assertion that the incorporation
of the town of Madawaska was under a general law, and not by
a special act ; and that the action of the inhabitants was not
contemplated by the State, was an error equally manifest

If the Legislature of Maine, with the approval of the Gov-
ernor, set itself to the work of passing a special act of incorpo-
ration, was it in accordance with a proper respect for the honor
of the State, to assert that it was not intended that the power
should be exercised ; that it was simply a paper defiance from a
a safe distance — a mere brtUwm fvimen ? That while Judge
Williamson, the historian of Maine, was issuing his warrant to
Mr. Powers for the organization of the town, and the purpose
was being executed in the knowledge of the whole State, and
all the public journals were seriously discussing it, the State
itself was, after all, only playing the lion's part, after the man-
ner of Nick Bottom, the weaver ?

56 . THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

Instead of demanding, in a firm and becoming tone, the im-
mediate release of the citizens of Maine, who had been impris-
oned in a forpign gaol for the offence of acting in obedience to
the laws of their State, the Secretary says to Mr. Bankhead :
"/ respectfully suggest the propriety of your commending to the
Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick the release of the
prisoners."

Having, by these apologies and humble petitions from the
American Secretary, obtained what he assumed to regard as a
practical recognition of the provincial claim of exclusive juris-
diction, the British government graciously consented to the
release. This is not pleasant reading. It makes one neither
happy nor proud. The State made no protest — ^uttered no word
of grave remonstrance.

Upon the assembling of the Legislature of 1832, the Governor
recited at some length, in his message, the transactions of the
preceding autumn, and informed that body that, through the
intervention of the President, Wheelock and the other prisoners
had been released.

On the twenty-second of February, the Governor made a
communication to the Legislature, in secret session, in which he
said he had been informed by Judge Preble, the agent of the
State at Washington, that the award of the King would event-
ually be adopted by our government ; that Maine would re-
ceive pecuniary indemnity if she would cede her territory
lying outside of the line of the award. He urged promptness
of action on the part of the Legislature.

The President was anxious that some arrangement should be
made by which Maine would consent to abide by the line of
the King ; and the Congressional delegation from the State, with
the exception of Mr. Evans (who opposed the proposition in a
letter marked by the incisiveness and vigor which charac-

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 57

terized alike the forensic and political eflforts of this very
great man), wrote Judge Preble in favor of submitting the plan
to the Legislature.

The question was discussed by the Legislature, with closed
doors, and finally a resolution was parsed authorizing the Gov-
ernor to appoint three Commissioners to see what terms and
conditions could be arranged, and report to the Legislature for
its action. The commission was constituted by the appointment
of three eminent and able gentlemen — ^William Pitt Preble,
Reuel Williams and Nicholas Emery. The President appointed
on the part of the United States, as Commissioners to confer
with those from Maine, the Secretary of State, Edward Living-
ston ; the Secretary of the Treasury, Louis McLane ; the Sec-
retary of the Navy, Levi Woodbury. When our Commission-
ers reached Washington, they found there a public opinion that
demanded urgently and almost imperatively, a settlement of
the vexed and long-disturbing question. The commerce and
business of the country, — all its industrial,' commercial and
financial interests, in fact,— called for a removal of the causes
of apprehension that the peace of the country might be rup-
tured ; and New York, as Governor Parris had predicted years
before she would make known, wanted Eouse's Point. The
whole power of the administration, a nearly united South, and
the commercial interests of the North, were brought to bear
upon the Commissioners. They were warned that, if they did
not consent to the new line, the question would be submitted
to another arbitration. Thus pressed, they finally consented to
submit certain propositions to the Legislature of the State.
Perhaps they could have done no less under all the circum-
stances. It was not for them they considered, as I imagine, to
debar the State of an opportunity for considering, through its
Legislature, the propositions which the Commissioners of the

58 ^ THE NOBTH-EASTEEN BOUNDABY.

United States were prepared to maka These were in substance
a new line, which, if not entirely coincident with, was yet on
the basis of the King of Holland's recommendation, and one
million of acres of land in Michigan, which, at the Tninimum
government price, was worth $1,250,000, and probably much
more than this sum in fact If a conventional line, not involv-
ing an exchange of territory, were admissible at aU, these terms
should not probably be regarded as unreasonable in amount,
however humiliating in respect to the source from which they
proceeded.

But Maine had never ceased to feel an invincible repugnance
to the idea of selling her territory for cash, or cash equivalents,
still less of abandoning her citizens, exchanging them as well
as her soil for counters. And so when it was known, in the
winter of 1832, that the Legislature had resolved itself into
secret session to consider propositions for a settlement of the
question by a conventional line, the fears of the people were
aroused and an intense excitement was created. Reports, more
or less correct, of the doings in secret session were circulated
among the people and appeared in the newspapers. Startling
headings arrested .the eyes of the people. " Maine Sold Out ! "
" Maine in the Market ! " " Our Fellow Citizens Trans-
ferred TO A Foreign Power for Cash or Land ! ! "

An anonymous letter, evidently written by a member or
officer of the Legislature, indicating the passage of a Besolve
(such as was in fact passed on the third of March), was
printed in the Kermtbtc Journal, which, in connection with
the events growing out of its publication, inflamed still more
the public feeling. The name of the author was demanded of
the editor, Hon. Luther Severance, who, upon his refusal to
divulge it, was committed to the Augusta gaol for contempt/
from which, however, he was soon leleased.

THE NOETH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 59

In this excited condition of the popular mind, the Legislature
adjourned, and its members returned to their homes to meet
there alarmed and indignant constituencies. A speech from
Jacob Ludden, a Democratic representative from Canton, in
Oxford County, delivered in secret session, and published in the
Portland Advertiser of the twenty-seventh of February, had
touched the popular chord, and was quotQji everywhere. An
Honest Man, was the heading of the speech. Said Mr. Ludden :

'* Our agent at Washington says we can make a better bargain
if we take laud than if we trade for cash ! What, sir ! bargain our
American territory and American citizens for land or cash ? Sell
our citizens without their consent ! Sell them to the British, and
to become subjects of a British King! Sir, history informs us of
only one solitary instance in this republic where a bargain of this
kind was ever attempted; and that was at West Point, in the
secret session held by Benedict Arnold and Major Andr6. Our
title to the territory is indisputable. It was purchased for us.
The price was blood — ^the blood of our fathers. And shall we, sir,
like Esau, sell our birthright for a mess of pottage ? No sir !
heaven protect us from such disgrace. * * Sir, whoever this
day votes for this disgraceful bargain will, I trust, live to see the
time when the finger of scorn shall be pointed at him, and shall
hear the contemptuous expression, 'You are one of the number
who voted to sell a part of your country ! ' Yes, sir, we sell not
only a part of our country, but our fellow citizens with it ; and
among these citizens a member of this House, legally chosen by
order of the constituted authorities of this State, and who has as
good a right to his seat as any member on this floor. Sir^ I enter
my solemn protest against these whole proceedings.''

Public meetings were held in many of the towns — especially
in the country towns — of the State, indignantly and solemnly
protesting against and denouncing " these whole proceedings,"

60 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

calling upon the State authorities, upon our members of Con-
gress and the federal government to arrest them, and to take
prompt and vigorous measures to vindicate the honor of the
State and nation, and to preserve their territory in its integrity.

At a Fourth of July celebration, in Augusta, the sentiment,
"Owr brethren of Madawaska — a little too white to be sold ! " was
drunk with tremendous applause, was published in the news-
papers of the State, and of other States, was echoed in highway
and byway, and repeated in the homes of the people.

The result was, that the project fell through ; failed utterly,
not to say ignominiously. In the Legislature of the next year
a Eesolve was passed — on the fourth of March, 1833 — which
repealed so much of the Eesolve of the previous year under
which Commissioners had been appointed to arrange provisional
terms of adjustment, as provided for the submission of their
report to the Legislature, and passed another Eesolve to the
efifect " that no arrangement, provisional arrangement or treaty
already made, or that may hereafter be made, or in pursuance
of the Eesolve to which this is additional, shall have any bind-
ing force, effect or operation until the same shall have been
submitted to the people of this State in their primary assemblies,
and approved by a majority of their votes." And yet, within
ten short years, and without submission to a vote of the people,
this territory, " invaluable," as Governor Lincoln had declared
it, these fellow citizens of ours — " a little too white to be sold "
in 1832 — John Baker, holding title deeds from the two States,
wife and children — " all my pretty chickens and their dam " —
Wheelock, Bacon and their families, Peter Lezart, too, the repre-
sentative, and hundreds more, were transferred and conveyed to
a foreign Crown !

Nothing more of importance happened within the State in

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 61

1833, but at Washington, as will be seen, propositions of grave
and dangerous import were being considered.

When the Legislature of 1834 assembled, it was addressed by
Governor Dunlap, in a message which reminded that body of
the mistakes which had been made, and expressed a hope that,
since we had escaped the dangers impending therefrom, there
was " a way now open for the ultimate attainment of our rights."

How blind and devious was the way in which the State de-
partment at Washington was disposed to walk, Grovemor Dun-
lap did not then know. Subsequent to the rejection, in 1832, of
the advice of the King of Holland, the Senate passed a resolu-
tion advising the President to open a new negotiation " according
to the Treaty of Peace of 1783." Mr. Livingston was Secretary
of State, and he renewed the negotiation in a manner which
only an ascription of the grossest ignorance or stupidity on his
part could rescue from the imputation of infidelity to the cause
whose defence had been placed in his hands. He began by a
half admission that the treaty could not be executed. He
violated the express instructions under which he was acting, by
suggesting to the British Minister that Maine would probably
give her consent to a conventional line. On the thirtieth of
April, 1833, he wrote a letter to Mr. Vaughan, the British Min-
ister, in which he intimated that a line might be drawn from
the monument to the highlands, though these highlands should
not be found due north from the monument, and when the
British Minister objected, that such a line might reach highlands
east of the meridian of the St. Croix, Mr. Livingston hastens
to reply (the twenty-eighth of May), that " the American gov-
ernment can make no pretensions to go further east than that (a
due north) line ; but if, on a more accurate survey, it should be
found that the line mentioned in the treaty should pass each of
the highlands therein described, and that they should be found

62 THE NORTH-EASTEKN BOUNDAET.

at some point further west, then the principles to which I refer
would apply, to wit : that the direction of the line to connect the
two natural boundaries must be altered, so as to suit their ascer-
tained position." Well might a committee of the Legislature
of Massachusetts say, " It is with extreme mortification that we
contemplate this subject. We see, or think we see, that not only
the honor of the nation, but the sovereignty of Maine and the
interest of Massachusetts* have been totally disregarded."

During the years 1835, 1836 and 1837, matters remained
very much in statu quo, except that during all this time the
government and people of New Brunswick were gradually
pushing their claims to the occupation and jurisdiction of the
territory in dispute. The Zorulon Chronicle of the twenty-eighth
of May, 1831, had said : " The disputed territory is now in our
possession, and as we believe right is on our side, we would
recommend the government not to part with it. Besides, pos-
session is nine points of the law** This advice had not been
unheeded by the British authorities on either side of the At-
lantic. The object seemed to be to gain time and put oft' nego-
tiations until the British claims should be strengthened by
length of possession and renewed and multiplied acts of jurisdic-
tion and sovereignty. For, notwithstanding the covenants of
neutrality between the powers, they were constantly violated,
and with impunity, by the authorities and people of New
Brunswick.

So far had these encroachments extended before the close of
the administration of Governor Dunlap, that, in his annual
message for 1837, he felt constrained to address the Legislature
in these strong and earnest terms :

* It will be remembered that, at this time, MassachuBetts was joint owner
with Maine of the soil of the ondiTided wild lands of the latter State.

THE NOBTH-EASTEKN BOTJNDABT. 63

" It must be conceded that our people and their State gorern-
ment have exercised a mo»t liberal forbearance upon the eubject,
considering the series of years it has been agitated, and the suc-
cessive incidental circumstances calculated to excite and aggravate
popular feeling. Our soil and our sovereignty have been invaded.
Over a portion of domain of incalculable value, owned jointly by
this and our parei^t Commonwealth, an attempt has been made to
establish an adverse claim. The jurisdiction of the State has been
rendered inoperative, either for the protection of our soil or of our
injured inhabitants. Under color of authority from a foreign
government, our unoffending citizens, in time of peace, have been
forced from their rightful homes, and dragged beyond the limits of
the State. Trials for imaginary crimes have been instituted against
them, and, upon our brethren, guilty of no ofEence, and charged
with no wrong, the indignities of a foreign gaol have been imposed.
Our political system has lodged, in the first instance, the power
and the duty of protection with the federal government. To that
government we have appealed, but relief has not come. Our lands
are sequestered, our sovereignty. is insulted and our injured citizens
are unredressed. In this state of things, is it not due to our own
self-respect as well as to the cause of justice, that the State of
Maine should insist on being immediately placed by the govern-
ment of the United States into the possession of the invaluable
rights from which she has been so long excluded ? "

It is not easy to see how the case could have been presented
more cogently and eloquently than it was in these noble
words of Governor Dunlap. An earnest and able report was
made to the Legislature by the joint committee, to which the
question had been referred ; and the following Eesolves were
passed by the Legislature :

^^Besolved, That we view with much solicitude the British usur-
pations and encroachments on the north-easterly part of the terri-
tory of this State.

64 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

'' Resolved, That pretensions so groundless and extravagant in-
dicate a spirit of hostility which we had no reason to expect from
a nation with whom we are at peace.

" Resolvedy That vigilance, resolution, firmness and union on the
part of this State are necessary in this state of the controversy.

" Resolved^ That the Governor be authorized and requested to
call on the President of the United States to cause the north-
eastern boundary of this State to be explored and surveyed and
monuments erected, according to the treaty of 1783.

'' Resolved, That the co-operation of Massachusetts be requested.

'' Resolved, That our Senators be instructed and our Represent-
atives be requested to endeavor to obtain a speedy adjustment of
the controversy."

Copies of the Eeport and Resolves were ordered to be sent
to the President, the Governor of Massachusetts, to our Senators
and Representatives in Congress, and to the Governors and
Senators of all the other States.

Here was notice, at last, that could not be mistaken, that the
patience of the State was exhausted, and that the policy which
had prevailed for several years, could not be continued without
endangering the harmony of the relations heretofore subsisting
between the State and the nation.

The successor of Governor Dunlap was Edward Kent, and he
came to the office of Governor in 1838, charged with the spirit
which had been manifested by Governor Dunlap and the Legis-
lature of 1837.

In his annual message, he went over the essential points of
the controversy, as it then stood, with great clearness and force.
He said :

"It has required, and still requires, all the talents of her"
(England's) '^ statesmen and skill of her diplomatists, to render
that obscure and indefinite which is clear and unambiguous. I

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 65

cannot for a moment doubt that if the same question should arise
in private life, in relation to the boundaries of adjacent farms,
with the same evidence and the same arguments, it would be de-
cided in any court, in any civilized country, without hesitation or
doubt, according to our claims."

• But Great Britain desired, and was determined to have,
direct communication between her lower and upper Provinces,
and believed it to be obtainable only by way of the Madawaska
River and Temiscouata Laka She sought it for a long time as
a favor, that is, as a grant without an equivalent. She had
come to demand it, and with it about one-third of our territory,
as her right

Previous to (Jovemor Kent's term, in the year 1837, Ebenezer
S. Greeley, of Dover, had been appointed by the State authori-
ties to take the census of Madawaska, that the people living
there might receive their portion of the " surplus revenue," as
it was called, which, by an act of the Legislature, was to be
divided, per capita, among the people of the State. He was
arrested by the Provincial authorities while in the performance
of this duty. Referring to the case, the Governor said :

"A citizen of our State, Ebenezer S. Greeley, now lies imprisoned
at Fredericton, seized, as it is said, for exercising power delegated
to him under a law of this State. The facts connected with this
arrest are unknown to me, and I therefore forbear to comment at
this time upon them. But if the facts are that he was so seized,,
for such a lawful act, the dignity and sovereignty of the State
demand his immediate release."

Here, it will be observed, no humble request, such as was ad-
dressed to Mr. Bankhead, is contemplated, but a peremptory
demand. The Governor continues :

'' I am aware that we are met by the assertion that the parties
have agreed to permit the actual jurisdiction to remain, pending

5

66 THE NOKTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

the negotiation as it existed before. I have yet seen no evidence
that such an agreement was formally entered into by the .parties.
But certainly Maine was no party to such an understanding ; and
at all events, it never could have been intended to be perpetually
binding, or to extend beyond the termination of the then pending
negotiation. That negotiation is ended. The old ground of claim
at Mars Hill is abandoned ; a new allegation is made — that the
treaty cannot be executed and must be set aside. In the mean-
time this wardenship" — ^New Brunswick, it should be said, had
appointed one McLaughlan Warden of all this territory — " is estab-
lished, and all claim to absolute jurisdiction, not merely at Mada-
waska, but over the whole territory north, is asserted and enforced.
If this jurisdiction is to be tolerated and acquiesced in indefinitely,
we can easily see why negotiation lags, and two years elapse be-
tween a proposition and the reply."

Eeferring to the latest phase of the British contention, of
which Governor Kent makes mention, viz: "that the treaty
cannot be executed," it is curious to note the changes that had
taken place in the pretensions of Great Britain since the treaty
was made. At first, and until the Treaty of Ghent, the con-
ceded line was north of the river St. John, and upon the St
Lawrence water-shed. Subsequently to 1817, for some ten
years, it was at Mars Hill. After this, it was discovered that there
had been a mistake made in determining the source of the river
St. Croix; it was, in fact, at the head of the western branch,
and so the highlands contemplated in the treaty of peace were
those which divided the waters of the Penobscot and the Ken-
nebec, on one side, from those of the St. John on the other.
But- these claims were so palpably absurd and contradictory,
and were so thoroughly exploded by the Legislatures of Maine
and Massachusetts, by their Governors and statesmen, that Eng-
land was fain to abandon them, one after another, and rely
upon the assiunption that the treaty could not be executed, by

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 67

reason of the uncertain and contradictory character of its lan-
guage.

To return to the message of Governor Kent. -He urged that
tne first duty of the State was to claim the immediate and
efficient action of the general government ; said that her rights
must be vindicated and maintained, " and, if all appeals for aid
and protection are in vain and her constitutional rights are
disregarded, forbearance may cease to be a virtue, and, in the
language of the lamented Lincoln, Maine * may be compelled
to deliberate on an alternative which will test the strictness of
her principles and the firmness of ^er temper/ "

" I confess," said the Governor, in bringing his observations
on this subject to a close, " that my convictions are strong that
Maine has been wronged by a foreign government and neglected
by her own ; and I do not understand the diplomatic art of
softening the expression of unpalatable truths."

The earnest language of Governors Dunlap and Kent, and
the Eesolves of the Legislature, had the effect to awaken the
general government to a more vigorous effort than it had put
forth for a long time, towards effecting an adjustment of the
question. John Forsyth, of Georgia, had become Secretary of
State, and on the first of March, 1838, he addressed a long
communication to Governor Kent, enclosing copies of a pro-
tracted correspondence between him and Mr. Fox, the British
Minister, on the subject of the boundary, and requesting the
Governor to take the sense of the State as to the opening of
direct negotiation for a conventional line. He conceded that
such a line could not be established without the assent of the
State of Maine. This communication, with the accompanying
correspondence, was by the Grovemor transmitted to the Legis-
lature, with a message, in which he reviewed, to some extent,
the history of previous negotiations, and stated the objections

68 THE NORTH-EASTEEN BOUNDAEY.

which, to his mind, bore against any volunteering of proposi-
tions for a conventional line. He said : " I fear that if we
abandon the treaty language, so clear and so decided in our
favor, and so much at variance with their claim, we shall leave
a certainty for an uncertainty, and throw doubt, confusion and
embarrassment over our claim g^nd our course of action, and
yield to Great Britain the great obstacle we now present to her
grasping spirit — the solemn treaty of 1783."

The Legislature, concurring in opinion with Grovemor Kent,
on the twenty-fourth of March, 1838,

"Besolved, That it is not expedient to give the assent of the
State to the federal government, to treat with that of Great
Britain for a conventional line, but that this State will insist on
the line established by the treaty of 1783."

It also resolved, that, believing it to be a grave question
whether the treaty of Ghent, referring to arbitration, had not
done its office, and was therefore no longer in force, the State
was not prepared to give her consent to a new arbiter. Our
members of Congress were requested to urge the passage of the
bill before that body, providing for the survey of the north-
eastern boundary of the United States.

In the event that the bill should not be passed, and the fed-
eral government should fail, either in conjunction with that of
Great Britain, or alone, to make the survey before the next
September, it was declared to be " the imperative duty of the
Governor, without further delay, to appoint suitable Commis-
sioners and a surveyor for ascertaining, running and locating
the north-eastern boundary line of this State, and to cause the
same to be carried into operation."

Eesolves were passed at this session, calling upon Congress to
erect a strong fortification in the eastern section of the State.

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 69

It will be remembered that, pending the proceedings under the
convention of 1827 for an arbitration, there was an understanding
or arrangement, that during the arbitration each party was to
practice forbearance and moderation. The United States agreed
only to exercise its good ofl&ces, inculcating a spirit of modera-
tion in Maine, in tlie assurance that it would be reciprocated.
For this we have the explicit testimony of Mr. Clay, Mr. Van
Buren and other Secretaries. Mr. Forsyth, in a letter to Mr.
Fox, denies that there was ever any relinquishment of jurisdic-
tion, either express or implied, and affirms that " the United
States has, on every public occasion, asserted that both the right
to exclusive possession and the exercise thereof belonged to
Maine and the United States."

But this understanding in regard to mutual forbearance, so
far from being respected by the Provincial and British authori-
ties, was only made the pretext and excuse for steadily renewing
and increasing the claims of New Brunswick to ownership and
jurisdiction, and of denying all right of occupation and juris-
diction on the part of the State of Maine ; so that, within ten
years from this arrangement, we find Sir John Harvey, lieuten-
ant-Govemor of New Brunswick, claiming to have, under an
agreement of the two governments, the right to exclusive pos-
session of the territory imtil the time of a final decision in
regard to the boundary ; and that, to secure the political enjoy-
ment of such right, he had placed the entire territory, to a point
many miles south of the Aroostook Eiver, under the supervi-
sion and control of an officer called a " Warden." This insolent
and audacious claim was made known to the State and federal
authorities only to be denied and refuted, and it put the former
on the inquiry whether the State, by non-action in presence of
such claim, should yield to it a practical acquiescence. The result
was the appointment of a Surveyor, Dr. S. S. Whipple, of East-

70 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

port, to survey several townships of land on or near the Aroos-
took Eiver. While Dr. Whipple was engaged in the perform-
ance of this service, he received a communication from James
McLaughlan, " Warden of the Disputed Territory," as he called
himself, " protesting and warning " him forthwith to desist from
his proceedings. To which Dr. Whipple made answer — that
acknowledging no government or power but that of the State
under which he had the honor of acting, sufficient to control
his duty or countermand the ordto which governed his present
movements, he should continue to carry out the instructions
that had been given him.

In the meantime, Governor Kent had transmitted the report
and resolutions of the Legislature asking that the boundary line
should be run, to the President and to our Members of Congress.
He made representation of our unprotected frontier, and re-
quested that lines of defence and military posts should be estab-
ILshed ; and he invited Hon. Cliarles S. Daveis, of Portland, to
visit Washington in behalf of the State, to explain and urge
these requests.

Mr. Forsyth, the Secretary of State, seemed more deeply
impressed than his immediate predecessor had been with the
strength of the claims of Maine. He received these communi-
cations of the Governor in an appreciative spirit, and his agent
with the consideration due to his personal character, and with
the courtesy which distinguished the character and bearing of
the accomplished Secretary.

Among the results of these prompt and vigorous measures on
tlie part of the Governor of Maine, were (1) a letter from Major
General Macomb, advising him that Brigadier General John E.
Wool, Inspector General, would be instructed to repair to the
State of Maine, and make a reconnoissance with a view of ascer-
taining its military features and resources, project a plan for its

THE NOBTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 71

defence by the establishment of military posts and communica-
tions, arsenals, depots of arms, munitions, &c.,— duties which
were soon afterwards performed. (2.) In the language of
Governor Kent, " The question was rescued from the death-like
stupor in which it had so long rested ; a new impulse was given
to the cause. For the first time, the whole subject was made
the foimdation of a Congressional report, and elicited in investi-
gation and debate the talents and eloquence of some of our
ablest statesmen. * * * It Was assumed and treated as a
national matter which involved the vital interests of one mem-
ber of the confederacy, and the plighted faith and constitutional
obligations of the Union to make the controversy its own."
Eeferring to the able and decided report of Mr. Buchanan (from
which I have already quoted), the Governor says : " The Ee-
solves, finally adopted in both branches without a dissenting
vote, fully assert the unquestionable justice of our cause, and
the validity of our title."

Eemarking. upon the Senate debate, alluded to by Governor
Kent, Mr. Daveis, on his return to Maine, said in his report :
"Among the Senators most conspicuous in the part they took
in support of the views expressed in the report of the com-
mittee," were Mr. Eeuel Williams, Mr. Webster, Mr. John
Davis and Mr. Clay. Of Mr. Davis, he observes : " Without
derogation from the merits of any other honorable member of
that body, it may be due to say that he distinguished himself
throughout the debate as the inflexible and unflinching champion
of the rights of Maine, and of the position she had assumed,
and the principles she had maintained through circumstances
of great trial to her fortitude and forbearance."

The general government having neglected to take measures
for ascertaining and running the boundary line by the first of
September, the Governor, on the third of that month, appointed

72 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

John G. Deane, Milford P. Norton and James Irish, Esquires,
Commissioners to perform that duty, in pursuance of the pro-
visions of the Resolve of the twenty-third of March, 1838.

These gentlemen, of whom the two last named had been
land agents of the State, on the thirteenth of September, and
after a conference with the Governor, proceeded to the per-
formance of the service with which they had been charged, and
on the thirty-first of December made their report.

In communicating this report to the Legislature of 1839,
Governor Kent gives the substantial facts that appear in it
^He says:

" Their report, which I have the pleasure to transmit to you,
will be read with interest and satisfaction. By that it appears
that the exploring line was found marked to near the north-west
angle ; that the base of the country rises constantly and regularly
from the monument at the head of the St. Croix to the angle,
which is from two to three thousand feet above the level of the sea,
and more than five hundred feet above the Kedgwick, one of the
streams running into the Bay of Chaleurs, near the said angle and
the St. Lawrence waters ; that the due north line, if continued to
the valley below the north-west angle, actually strikes the St.
Lawrence waters, and that the country is high, and even mountain-
ous about this spot; and there is no difiiculty in tracing a line
westwardly along distinct and well-defined highlands, dividing
waters according to the words of the treaty."

And thus there was brushed away forever the flimsy and
worthless pretext which had formed of late years so prominent
a feature of the British case, viz : that it was impossible to
find a line that conformed to the language of. the treaty. Of
this fact there never had been any doubt in this State — indeed,
the proposition was one which was scarcely susceptible of doubt

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 73

•

But the energy and fidelity of our State government at this
time were not limited by these measures, necessary and im-
portant as they were.

It had come to the knowledge of the State Land Agent, the
Hon. Elijah L. Hamlin — and let me stop here to say that I cannot
mention the name of this admirable gentleman without some
allusion to the wisdom, pi'obity and genial humor by which his
life was so strongly marked, and which has made his memory
so pleasant to all of his surviving contemporaries, who had
the good fortune to be his intimate friends, — ^that trespassing
on our timber lands within the territory in dispute had been
carried on for several years, and Vras then being committed by
parties from the Province, and sometimes under license from its
authorities. Accordingly this officer, in concert with George W.
Coffin, Esquire, Land Agent of Massachusetts, on the fourteenth
of December, deputed George W. Buckmore, Esquire, to pro-
ceed to the territory, ascertain and report the facts, and remove
and sell, under the provisions of an act of the Legislature passed
in 1831, the teams and supplies of the trespassers. By the
report of Mr. Buckmore, made on the twentieth of January,
1839, it appeared that large numbers of men from New Bruns-
wick were trespassing on these lands, who not only refused to
desist from cutting timber on them, but defied the powers of the
State to stay their operations.

Thase facts were communicated to the Legislature by Gov-
ernor Fairfield (who had been elected as successor to Governor
Kent) on the twenty-third of January, 1839. With this mes-
sage, the "Aroostook War," an event not unfamed in history nor
unknown to song, may be properly said to have commenced —
a war which, notwithstanding the ridicule attached to some of
its episodes, and its tame conclusion, forms a chapter in the his-
tory of our State which does real honor to its border chivalry.

74 THB NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

The people of the State were thoroughly aroused — they had
risen to the height of the great argument, and were prepared to
do their duty to the State and country.

It should be said that this earnestness and unanimity of
feeling in Maine were, without doubt, aided by the position
which had been taken by the sister Commonwealth. Not only
had Massachusetts come to the rescue in 1831, 1832 and 1833,
when the rights of our State were in imminent danger, but in
1838, her Senators and Representatives in Congress had main-
tained in debate our claims and rights with power and effect ;
and in her Legislature, a report of a committee, of which Hon.
Charles Hudson was chairman, was made, in which the subject
was treated with conspicuous fullness and cogency, and resolu-
tions were passed, declaring that the British claim was totally
unfounded, and would, if persisted in, lead to a disturbance of
friendly relations between the two countries ; that the govern-
ment of the United States had no power, under the Constitution,
to cede to a foreign nation any territory lying within the limits
of any State ; that the proposition made by a late Executive of
the United States to the British government, to seek for the
" Highlands " west of the meridian of the St Croix, was a- de-
parture from the express language of the treaty, an infringement
of the rights of Maine and Massachusetts, and in derogation of
the Constitution of the United States ; that the proposition for
a conventional line was calculated to strengthen the claim of
Great Britain, impair the honor of the United States, and put
in jeopardy the interests of Maine and Massachusetts. The
Governor of the Commonwealth was directed to send copies of
the report and resolutions to the President of the United States,
the Governors of the several States and to the members of
Congress from Massachusetts, and request the latter to use all

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 75

honorable means to bring the controversy to a just and speedy
termination.

Governor Fairfield, in his annual message of 1839, following
closely in the footsteps of his predecessor, said :

'' If, however, the general government under no circumstances
should be disposed to take the lead in measures less pacific than
those hitherto pursued, yet I trust we are not remediless. If
Maine should take possession of her territory up to the line of the
treaty of 1783, resolved to maintain it with all the force she is
capable of exerting, any attempt on the part of the British govern-
ment to wrest that possession from her must bring the general
government to her aid and defence, if the solemn obligations of
the Constitution of the United States are to be regarded as of any
validity."

On the twenty-fourth of January, the Legislature passed a
Resolve directing the Land Agent to employ forthwith, a suflS-
cient force to arrest, detain and imprison all persons found
trespassing on the territory of this State, as bounded by the
treaty of 1783.

Under the authority of this Resolve, the Land Agent, with
two hundred chosen men, repaired to the Aroostook River,
where they understood weye some three hundred men from the
Province, armed and arrayed for the purpose of resistance. On
the approach of the Maine " Posse," as it was called, the Pro-
vincial force retired towards the New Brunswick line, followed
by the Land Agent, the Hon. Rufus Mclntire, and his assist-
ants, G. G. Cushman and Thomas Bartlett, Esquires, who went
to the house of one Fitzherbert, where they put up for the night.
This place was three or four miles in advance of the encamp-
ment of their company. In the night, the trespassers — ^who had
become acquainted with these f ewts — went, to the number of
fifty or more, to Fitzherbert's, seized the Land Agent and his

76 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

assistants, and transported them across the border, and thence
to Fredericton. Col. Ebenezer Webster, a prominent citizen of
Orono in this State, who was at Woodstock when the prisoners
were brought there, attempted to procure their releasa But hia
appeals to the authorities, so far from effecting the discharge of
the prisoners, led to his own arrest, and he was sent with the
others to Fredericton, where they were all thrown into prison.

When these facts became known at Augusta, Governor Fair-
field requested Hon. Jonathan P. Rogers, a distinguished citizen
of Bangor and a former Attorney General of the State, to visit
Fredericton and ascertain the facts, as understood there, in rela-
tion to the abduction of the Land Agent and his party, and to
demand their instant release. This mission of Mr. Rogers re-
sulted in the release of these gentlemen on their parole. The
Provincial "Warden," McLaughlan, had in the meantime been
arrested by the Land Agent's posse and sent to Bangor. He
was detained for a short time, and then released on parole, by
order of Governor Fairfield.

On the thirteenth of February, the Governor of New Bruns-
wick issued a proclamation, in which it was recited that he had
ordered a sufficient military force to proceed to the scene of
certain alleged outrages, to repel foreign invasion, &c.

This proclamation and the arrest of the Land Agent and
his assistants were made the subjects of a spirited message by
Governor Fairfield to the Legislature, on the eighteenth of
February.

" How long," he inquired, " are we to be thus trampled upon
— our rights and claims derided — our powers contemned — ^and
the State degraded ? * * We cannot tamely submit to be
driven from our territory, while engaged in the civil employment
of looking after and protecting our property, without incurring
a large measure of ignominy and disgrace."

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 77

«

The Legislature, on the twentieth of February, passed a
Eesolve providing for the raising and forwarding forthwith of a
military force to the territory to prevent further depredations ;
and the sum of eight hundred thousand dollars was appropriated
to carry out the purposes of the Resolve and of the Eesolve
of the twenty-fourth of January.

A Eesolve was passed on the twenty-second of February,
requesting the Governor to inform the President of the action
of Maine, and to request the aid of the general government in
support of the rights of the State. In transmitting these
Resolves and other documents to the President of the United
States, Governor Fairfield says :

'' In this state of things, I have to inform your Excellency that
our citizens now upon this territory, engaged in the service of the
State, will not leave it without accomplishing their object, unless
compelled so to do by a superior force ; that one thousand drafted
men will march to the Aroostook on Wednesday, the twenty-first
instant, to aid and assist the Land Agent in carrying into effect
the Resolve of the twenty-fourth of January. I shall forthwith
proceed to order a further draft of the militia of at least ten thou-
sand men, who will bold themselves in readiness to march. Such
further measures as may be found necessary to take and maintain
the rights of this State in the premises, I assure your Excellency
I shall not fail to take, and that with as much promptness as
circumstances will permit."

The Governor then makes a formal call upon the President
" for that aid and assistance which the whole States have guar-
anteed to each in such an emergency."

Orders were issued by the Governor and Commander-in-€^ief
for calling out and mobilizing the militia of the State. Major
General Isaac Hodsdon, of the Third Division, was placed in
command of the troops that were ordered out, and which con-

78 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

sisted of about eleven hundred men from the Third Division and
thirteen companies from the Second Division, embracing cavalry,
artillery, infantry and rifiemen. These troops were stationed at
different points on the frontier, from Houlton to the Aroostook*
Eiver. A detachment of three hundred and sixty-nine men
was quartered at Calais. It was under the conunand of
Major General Foster. Orders were issued for calling out three
companies of the Fifth Division, and eleven companies of the
Sixth. The men were rendezvoused at Augusta on the seventh,
eighth and ninth of March. A regiment from the Eighth
Division was ordered to rendezvous at Skowhegan ; but this
order was countermanded before the troops, or at least before all
of them, arrived at that place.

On the eighth of March, Governor Fairfield sent a message
to the Legislature, communicating sundry documents which had
been transmitted to him by Mr. Forsyth, and covering a message
to Congress from the President, a correspondence between Mr.
Forsyth and Mr. Fox, and a memorandum of an agreement
drawn up by these gentlemen. This agreement, which did
not claim to be binding on the State of Maine, recommended
that " Her Majesty's forces will not seek to expel, by military
force, the armed party which has been sent by Maine into
the district bordering on the Aroostook Eiver, but that the
government of Maine will voluntarily, and without unneces-
sary delay, withdraw beyond the bounds of the disputed territory
any armed force now within them ; and that if future necessity
should arise for dispersing notorious trespassers or protecting
public property from depredation, the operation shall be con-
ducted by concert, jointly or severally, a^ccording to agree-
ment between the governments of Maine and New Brunswick."
An arrangement better calculated than this to prolong the dis-
pute, and thicken its embarrassments, can scarcely be conceived.

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 79

It found no favor in this Stata After a clear and candid
review of the situation by the Governor in a message to the
Legislature which communicated the agreement to that body,
he expressed the opinion that it ought not to be accepted, and
gave strong and convincing reasons in support of that opinion.
But he said he would recommend the following :

" That when we are fully satisfied, either by the declaration of the
Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, or otherwise, that he has
abandoned all idea of occupying the disputed territory with a military
force, and of attempting an expulsion of our party, that then the
(jovemor be authorized to withdraw our military force, leaving the
Land Agent with a posaey armed or unarmed, as the case may
require, sufficient to carry into effect your original design, that of
driving out or arresting the trespassers, and preserving and pro-
tecting the timber from their depredations."

The Legislature, on the twenty-third of March, passed Reso-
lutions asserting that the right of this State to exclusive juris-
diction over all the disputed territory had been constant, and was
indefeasible, and that no agreement had ever been made which
could impair her prerogative to be the sole judge of the time
when, and the measure in which, that right should be enforced ;
that in view of measures recently adopted by the government
of the Union in relation to this question, and particularly the
provision made for a special Minister to the court of St. James,
and actuated by a desire for an amicable settlement, she would
forbear to exercise her jurisdiction over that part of her territory
now usurped by the Province of New Brunswick, so far as she
could consistently with the maintenance of the Eesolve of the
twenty-fourth of January last ; but that she had seen nothing
in recent events to cause her to doubt that it was her imperative
duty to protect her domain, and that no power on earth should
drive her from an act of jurisdiction so proper in itself, and to

80 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

which her honor was irrevocably committed ; that the action of
the Governor had their cordial approbation, and that they con-
curred in the doctrines and sentiments contained in his recent
message, and would authorize him to withdraw the troops on
the conditions therein set forth ; that the practicability of running
and marking the line, in conformity with the treaty, was beyond
a doubt, and that a crisis had arrived when it was the duty of
the general government to have the line run, either by a joint
commission or on her own authority. ,

It should be said that the action of the State at this time met
with the strong and general approval of the country, which
seemed at last to be thoroughly awakened to the gravity of the
situation, to a full recognition of the serious wrongs that had
been inflicted upon Maine, to her indisputable title and to her
long forbearance, and it pledged her its support. Maryland
and Alabama from the South sent, through resolutions of their
Legislatures, words of sympathy and proffers of co-operation, as
Virginia and Kentucky had done before; Massachusetts re-
peated her just appreciation of the rights of Maine and of
the wrongs she had suffered ; New York, Pennsylvania and all
New England had the year before signified their purpose to
stand for the defence of our soil, while this year Indiana joined
with Ohio in "a generous oblation of her whole means and
resources to the authorities of the Union, in sustaining our
rights and honor."

By an act of Congress, upon a report of a House Committee,
the President was authorized to resist and repel any attempt on
the part of Great Britain to enforce by arms her claim to exclu-
sive jurisdiction. The whole military and naval forces of the
United States were placed at his disposal, with such portions of
the militia as he might see fit to call out for our protection.

THE NORTH-EASTEEN BOUNDARY. 81

An appropriation of ten millions of dollars for the purpose was
made.

At this stage of the proceedings in Maine, Major General Win-
field Scott, U. S. A., appeared upon the scene. At the instance
of the President he visited Augusta, and after a conference with
Governor Fairfield and members of the State Legislature, and
reaching an understanding with Sir John Harvey, the Lieuten-
ant-Governor of New Bnmswick — between whom and himself
there had long existed a warm personal friendship — an arrange-
ment was eflfected by which the Maine troops were withdrawn
from the disputed lands, and peace restored.

This agreement is reported by Governor Fairfield, in his
annual message of 1840, as follows:

" Soon after the adoption of this resolution — March the twenty-
third — I received the written assent of the Lieutenant-Governor
of the Province of New Brunswick to the following proposition
made to him by General Scott, to wit :

" * That it is not the intention of the Lieutenant-Governor of her
Britannic Majesty's Province of New Brunswick, under the expected
renewal of negotiations between tlie Cabinets of London and Wash-
ington on the said disputed territory, without renewed instructions
to that efEect from his government, to seek to take military pos-
session of that territory, or to seek, by military force, to expel the
armed civil posse or the troops of Maine.'

" It appearing to me that the precise contingency contemplated
by the Legislature, had occurred, I could not hesitate to recall the
troops."

Orders for the return of the troops were issued on the twenty-
fifth of March, and by the thirteenth of May the last of them
were paid off and mustered out of service at Bangor. And so
ended the "Aroostook War," after an expenditure, I tliink, of
something more than a million dollars by the State, all of which,

6

82 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

it may be said, was re-imbiirsed by the general government. It
tested, at least, and not to their discredit, the patriotism and
martial temper of our people. If in any way unsatisfactory in
its results, it was not their fault. But something, Governor
Fairfield considered, had been accomplished by it. He said :

" The occurrences of last winter served to awaken the attention
of the country to the momentous importance of the question, and
to induce such an examination of it aa to result in a strong and
universal conviction that the pretence of claim set up by Great
Britain to the disputed territory is palpably unfounded and unjust,
and can be persevered in only through an utter disregard of the
plaiu and unambiguous terms of the treaty of 1783."

Not long after the withdrawal of the troops, a proposition
was submitted by the British government to the President for
a commission of exploration and survey, but it was coupled with
such conditions that one would think it must have been made
for the sole purpose of being rejected, with a view to gain-
ing time, and the advantages that might be expected from a
protracted " Wardenship " of the country. That time and its
accidents were considered, is rendered more than probable by
the steps taken by Great Britain concurrently with the negotia-
tion. She sent out a commission of her own — ^Messrs. Mudge
and Featherstonehaugh — to obtain, as she expressed it, topo-
gi-aphical information. Failing in all points as yet taken, or
imagined, she set herself to work to discover if there might
not be new ones more tenable or more plausible than the old,
at any rate, to gain time Nor was the quest a vain one in her
estimation, for this remarkable commission discovered and re-
ported that all previous surveys, reports and opinions were
•erroneous, and that the true line, the actual highlands, were far
south, not only of the river St. John, but of Mars Hill ! And
when it was answered that this line was not indicated by any

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 83

highlands such as were mentioned in the treaty as forming the
boundary, they replied, in substance, that there was every reason
to believe that once tJiere were highlands where their line was
drawn y which in the course of time — it may have been millions
of years — had been abraded and worn away. This position was
seriously taken by the British government, and urged upon the
United States. That government would seem to have believed
that no claim, no affront even, could arouse the temper of the
American government ; and certainly it is not strange that she
should have formed this opinion.

Edward Kent, who had been elected Grovemor for the second
time, addressed the Legislature of 1841, upon the assembling of
that body in January. Referring to the boundary question, he
said :

" It is universally conceded by every American, that the treaty
of*1783, fairly interpreted and honestly executed, would sustain all
our claim * * ; that the ready obedience with which our chosen
soldiery responded to the call of their commander, and the un-
shaken zeal with which they marched from their comfortable
homes, in the depth of winter, into the interior forests, and the
firm determination which was manifested by every man to sustain
the assertion of our rights, must have satisfied all that, although
Maine, for the sake of the peace and quiet of the country, * *
might forbear to enforce her extreme rights, pending negotiations,
there was yet a point beyond which she would not submit to en-
croachments * * ; that she has a right to ask, when she has
yielded so much, that her motives should be appreciated, and her
cause become the cause of the whole country. * * 'And that
the assumed line'of self-styled geologists, based on imaginary and
theoretical highlands which never had any existence save in the
fancies of these men, was unworthy of respect.' "

At this session of the Legislature, Mr. Daveis, who was a
member of the Senate, made, as chairman of the committee on

84 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

this question, a comprehensive and exhaustive report; and,
although a geutleinan of extreme moderation and rare courtesy,
he was moved, after some remarks in reference to the repoit of
Mudge and Featherstouehaugh, to say tliat the committee " are
only restrained from speaking of it further by the respect that
is due to the channel through which it comes, ratlier than to
the source from which it proceeds ; from speaking — they mean
to say as it deserves — of what otherwise might be termed its
impudence, its audacity and its mendacity ; of its sophistries and
evasions; of its assumptions as well as suppressions; of its
profligate perversions, and its presumptions and extravagant
pretensions."

If ever trifling and contemptuousness can be practiced by
one nation towards another so far as to become an affront,
which, by the laws of honor and the duties of self-respect,
as they are recognized among civilized nations, would justify an
appeal to arms, the making, publishing and offering as e^ddence
of title by tlie British government, of this impudent and insult-
ing report, furnished justification for a hundred declarations of
hostilities such as are settled only on the field of battle.

Governor Kent, in this message of 1841, refers to a proced-
ure on the part of Great Britain, which, if further illustration
were needed of the underhanded and offensive manner which it
seems to have been her policy and her purpose to practice
towards this government, would amply supply it.

It will be remembered that when our troops were withdrawn
from the Aroostook, in March, 1839, it was upon a written
proposition made by the Lieutenant-Governor of New Bruns-
wick, and submitted through General Scott to the Governor of
Maine, in which he agreed, among other things, in the absence
of renewed instructions from England, not to seek to take mili'
tary 2>osscssion of the territory. This promise was accepted as.

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 85

made in good faith. No renewed instructions were ever given ;
that would have been war. But the difficulty was avoided in
this way. Great Britain quietly transferred the jurisdiction of
this territory from New Brunswick to Canada, and within a
few months after this solemn agreement, in the inviolability of
which Maine and the federal government fully confided, a
portion of the British army was quartered by order of the Gov-
ernor General of Canada, at Lake Temiscouata, within the limits
of this State.

I make the following extract from the message of Governor
Kent:

"The correspondence which has recently been communicated to
you by my predecessor, discloses another movement on the part of
the British authorities, w^ill calculated to arrest attention and call
forth indignant remonstrance on the part of Maine and the Union.
If I am correctly informed, in a very short time after the conclusion
of the agreement by which it was, in effect, stipulated that the
British authorities should not take military possession of what is
termed by them * the disputed territory,' and during the existence
of that arrangement, a detachment of Her Majesty's troops was
stationed at Temiscouata Lake, within that territory, and has been
continued there ever since. And we are now informed that
another detachment has been moved to and stationed at the
Madawaska settlement, for the purpose of sustaining the jurisdic-
tion and supporting the exercise of authority on the part of the
British magistrates."

In 1842, Governor Fairfield was again in office. John Tyler
was President of the United States, and Daniel Webster was
Secretary of State.

In his annual message to the Legislature, the Governor said
that the State had " good grounds to believe a fair and reason-
able proposition on the part of our government, with a view to

86 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

a final and amicable settlement of the question, has remained
another year unanswered, if not unnoticed!^ He thought there
was no room for doubt or hesitancy as to the course which
the general government ought to pursue. He observed that
" national honor, as well as justice to Maine, clearly indicate
it — and that is, to purge the soil of this State effectually, and
without delay, of every vestige of British encroachment ; and
then, if there is to be further negotiation upon this subject, let
it be on the part of Great Britain to obtain what for more than
a quarter of a century she has refused to yield. When a
reasonable expectation can no longer be entertained that the
general government will adopt this, or some equally efficacious
course, if Maine is true to herself, she will take possession of
the whole territory, and, if need be, use all the means which
God and nature have placed in her hands to maintain it."

Eeferring to the exploration and survey which the general
government had at last undertaken, and which were understood
to have been nearly completed, he remarked that it was
believed that it would " add a confirmation of our title which
no ingenuity could avoid or effrontery deny."

On the seventeenth of January, resolutions were passed in-
structing our Senators to call on the President for information
as to the state of negotiations, to which Mr. Webster replied
that 710 correspondence had taken j^lace which, in his judgment,
could be made public without prejudice to the j^ublic interest.

A joint-select committee, of which Hon. Edward Kavanagh
was chairman, made a report on tlie seventh of March, in which
liberal extracts from the Governor's message were copied" in-
cluding those given herein, all of which received the full ap-
proval of the committee and of the Legislature. But in considera-
tion that it was understood a special minister had been appointed
by Great Britain to visit Washington, with full power to con-

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 87

sider and adjust all questions in controversy, it was not deemed
expedient at that time to do more than re-state the position of
Maine ; in doing which the committee took care to say that
" Maine, through her Legislature, has uniformly protested against
an arbitration ; and we hazard nothing in saying that the people
of this State will never consent that the inheritance derived
from their ancestors be committed to such a hazard."

On the eleventh of April, Mr. Webster wrote Governor Fair-
field that Lord Ashburton, a Minister Plenipotentiary and
Special, had arrived at Washington, with full powers to negoti-
ate and settle the different matters in discussion between the
two governments ; " that in regard to the boundary question he
had authority to treat for a conventional line, or line by agree-
ment, on such terms and conditions, and with such mutual
considerations and equivalents, as may be thought just and
equitable." He referred the Governor to the great losses of Maine
in the Aroostook War, and to the fact that the United States
had already paid one hundred thousand dollars towards an ex-
ploration ; and, in contempt of the declaration of Mr. Kavanagh's
committee, that Maine would never give her consent thereto,
told him that if the case were not settled now it would go to
another arbitration ! He then proposed that Maine and Massa-
chusetts should appoint Commissioners, with authority to give
the assent of those States to such a settlement as he and the
British Plenipotentiary might agree upon; and, to this end,
that the Governor should convene the Legislature in special
session, without unnecessary delay.

In accordance with this request, the Legislature was convened
by the Governor, at Augusta, on the eighteenth day of May, 1842.

When the Legislature came together, they were informed by
the Governor that " the British government is now prepared to
propose * * * what may be thought to be a just and

88 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

equitable equivalent for a portion of that which she has hereto-
fore claimed as her own." He denounced any agreement for
dividing tlie territory which did not afford an equivalent for the
part that should be ceded to Great Britain.

The question was debated with much spirit for several days.
Hon. Peleg Sprague, of Boston, Judge of the United States
District Court, formerly a Senator in Congress from Maine,
visited Augusta as the representative of Mr. Webster, and had
prolonged conferences with members of the Legislature, urging
the appointment of Commissioners, with liberal powers; and
Mr. Jared Sparks, the historian, was mentioned, confidentially,
by the knowing ones, as being at the Capital and holding pri-
vate interviews with certain members of the Legislature. Hon.
Albert Smith, a former member of Congress from this State, a
gentleman of large influence, alike from his distinguished ability
and his rare and genial humor, was also in attendance as an
organ of the State Department. Measui*es for the preparation
of public opinion for a conventional line were set on foot.
Leading newspapers — religious as well as political — were in
possession of new light and unwonted zeal upon this subject, to
the extent, in some cases, of being able to see things that had been
wholly obscured before — and the secret service fund of the State
Department suffered a shrinkage, the details of which, if I remem-
ber aright, Mr. Charles Jared IngersoU, with all liis pains, was
never able to obtain.

With all this effort, and notwithstanding the proposition was
only for the appointment of Commtssioners who, it was sup-
posed, would make equivalents in kind as the conditions of any
convention they might assent to, there was a respectable
minority of the Legislature, who were inflexibly opposed to the
appointment of Commissioners, upon any conditions. Some of
them believed that the State had no rightful power to sell or

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 89

transfer, for a consideration, any of its citizens. Mr. William
Frye, of Bethel, a member of the committee to which the subject
had been committed, made a minority report in mahitenance of
this position ; and I think there was not a member of either
house who had a thought or fear that any convention would be
entered into, under which, if the State surrendered land which
was hers by the treaty of 1783, she would not receive territory
in return, which was acknowledged to belong to New Bruns-
jvick. From the opportunity which I had of knowing the
feeling and expectation of members — having myself been one of
them — I believe I take no risk in saying that if it had been
understood that any line would be agreed upon that should not
give to Maine some portion of the acknowledged territory of
New Brunswick, in exchange for what the latter should receive
from Maine, the commission would never have been constituted.
I do not believe it would have received ten votes in both houses.
Indeed, one of the resolutions carried this idea, and it was
supposed that it would be regarded as conveying an implied
instruction, at least. It read as follows :

"Itesolved, That this State cannot regard the relinquishment, by
the British government, of any claim heretofore advanced by it to
territory included within the limits of the line of this State, as
designated by the treaty of 1783, and uniformly claimed by Maine,
as a consideration or equivalent, within the meaning of these reso-
lutions."

Four Commissioners — two from each political party — ^were
appointed by the Legislature. William Pitt Preble and Edward
Kavanagh represented the Democrats ; Edward Kent and John
Otis the Whigs. They proceeded without delay to Washington,
and were there joined by Abbot Lawrence, John Mills and
Charles Allen, Commissioners from Massachusetts.

The assent of Maine to the treaty, which was literally wrung

90 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

from her Commissioners, was given on the twenty-second of July,
1842. Massachusetts had given hers two days before. One
needs but to read the paper in which that of Maine was con-
veyed, or the report of the Commissioners to the Governor, to
discover that it was only through moral duress of the represent-
atives of Maine that the document was obtained. The grief
and the shame of it were expressed in words which cannot be
misunderstood.

The Commissioners said : •

"Considering, then, this proposition as involving the surrender
of more territory than the avowed objects of England require, as
removing our landmarks from the well-known and well-defined
boundary of the treaty of 1783, the crest of the highlands, besides
insisting upon the line of the arbiter in its full extent, we feel
bound to SB.yf after the most careful and anxious consideration, that
we cannot bring our minds to the conviction that the proposal is
such as Maine had a right to expect.

" But we are not unaware of the expectations which have been
and still are entertained of a favorable issue to this negotiation by
the government and people of this country, and the great disap-
pointment which would be felt and expressed at its failure. Nor
are we unmindful of the future, warned as we have been by the
past, that any attempts to determine the line by arbitration may
be either fruitless, or with a result more to be deplored."

And so they consent to say that if the judgment of the nation
shall demand the sacrifice, and the Senate of the United States
shall advise and consent to it, their assent will not be withheld,
although it will involve " a surrender of a portion of the birth-
right of the people of their State, and prized by them because
it is their birthright."

The fact is, Mr. Webster was determined that the question
should be settled at all events. He reasoned, he implored, he

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 91

threatened. He had connected tliis question with others —
questions which were indeed well settled by the terms of the
treaty, and which the whole country was anxious to see settled
— ^and thus had brought all these interests and influences to
bear on the Maine Commissioners. New York was to get
Eouse's Point ; there was the Caroline case ; the Creole case ;
and the right of search ; the suppression of the slave trade on
the coast of Africa — important matters, all, and all virtually
and wisely adjusted by the treaty or by the correspondence
and informal negotiations at the time. It was like the case of
making a general appropriation bill carry an obnoxious measure.
All these influences were brought into conspiracy against our
Commissioners. The business interests of the country needed
the assurance that there were to be no disturbances, no war —
an almost solid South demanded that the question should be
put at rest. For one, although I have never ceased to regret
that the Commissioners yielded, I have not had it jn my heart
to find fault with them, knowing, not only from the public
history of the affair, but also from many conversations with a
prominent member of the Commission, the straits into which
they were thrown and the force and character of the demands
that were made upon them.

In their letter to the Governor of Maine, in which they
reported their doings as Commissioners, they complain that they,
as well as the Legislature and people of the State, had been
misled by the assurances which had been given in respect to
the extent of the power intrusted to the British Plenipotentiary.
" Instead," they say, " of being clothed with full power to nego-
tiate a mutual exchange of contiguous territory for the purpose
of removing the acknowledged inconveniences resulting from
the treaty line of demarcation, we soon learned that he had no
authority to concede a single acre of British territory adjoining

92 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

Maine — nay, not even the smallest of her islands in Passama-
quoddy Bay."

Nothing is more certain than this — that if the Governor
had understood that the assurances made to him in the letter
of the Secretary of State were unauthorized by anything in the
instructions to the Minister, there would have been no special
session of the Legislature. That this was the opinion of the
Comjinissioners is manifest from their report. "The views
of the Legislature," they say, " so repeatedly expressed, were
opposed to any assent on the part of its agents," to a ratification
of tlie Hue of the King of Holland. Yet the line of 1842 was
less favorable to Maine than that. The pressure was such,
however, that the consent of the State was finally given, on the
condition, as the Commissioners inform the Governor, " that in
the opinion of the Senate of the United States, Maine ought,
under existing circumstances, to assent to so great a sacrifice of
her just claims for the peace and harmony and general welfare
of the Union."

The ratification of tlie treaty was vigorously opposed in the
Senate by Mr. Williams, of thi3 State, Col. Benton, Mr. Buchanan,
and others. Mr. Woodbury, of New Hampshire, criticised its
provisions with much severity, but intimated that, since Maine
had given her consent, he might not withhold his vote.

Col. Benton's speech occupied several hours, in whicli he
showed up, with a thoroughness that was as complete as it was
merciless, its imperfections and inconsistencies, and incompat-
ibility with the interests and honor of the nation. He spoke
of Maine as having been "victimized" and betrayed. "And
this," says he, " is her consent ! Pressed by the President of
the United States, pressed by the American negotiator — men-
aced— abandoned by her mother State — isolated from other
States — presented as sole obstacle to the general peace — warned

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 93

that it was the last chance ; thus situated, this devoted State so
far subdues herself as to say, through her Commissioners, that
she submits to the sacrifice if, upon mature consideration, the
Senate of the United States shall approve it." He said that
we surrendered our old natural mountain boundary, the crest of
the highlands, to which we had clung with a religious perti-
nacity from the beginning, and with it a strip of country one
hundred and ten miles long, containing eight hundred and
ninety-three S(j[uare miles, beyond and above what was assigned
to Great Britain by the King of Holland, and gave her the line
she had contrived for the purpose of weakening our boundary
and retiring it farther from Quebec.

Mr. Buchanan argued the question in detail and at great
length. He said :

"I have earnestly endeavored to keep my mind open to convic-
tion until the last moment ; but after all I cannot vote for this
treaty without feeling that I had violated my duty to the country,
and without forfeiting my own self-respect. In the emphatic lan-
guage of the Senator from Maine (Mr. Williams) I believe it to be
a treaty unjust to Maine, and dishonorable to the whole country ;
and thus believing, if it depended upon my vote, it should be re-
jected without regard to consequences."

He said he concurred with the opinion formerly expressed by
Mr. Webster, that the claim of the British government " does
not amount to the dignity of a debatable question." He de-
nounced Mr. Webster, as Col. Benton had done, in terms of
reproach, which would have had greater effect had they been
less sweeping and had they not indicated that personal feeling
may have had sometliing to do with barbing them. "That
man," he exclaimed, " of gigantic intellect, whose great powers
ought to have been taxed to the utmost to save Maine from dis-

94 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

memberraent, was the very man who urged them (the Com-
missioners) to consent to the dismemberment."

But the speech which, perhaps, of all the speeches that were
made, best reflected the attitude and feelings of Maine, was by
her own Senator, Hon. Reuel Williams ; it was dispassionate,
clear and dignified, but earnest and strong. While avoiding the
language of vituperation, it did not conceal the impression
that Mame had been misled into a position to which no power
could have brought her with her eyes open and her hands free ;
nor did it repress an expression of regret that the Commission-
ers, when they found, in direct conflict with their understand-
ing of the facts, and that of the Legislature, that the British
Minister had not full powers, had, indeed, no authority to cede
an acre of British soil for any consideration whatever — and
when limitations had been withheld from them, expressly on
the ground that none were imposed on Lord Ashburton, and
therefore that both sides should come together on the same
footing — did not return at once, instead of remaining at Wash-
ington to transfer the interest and the honor of the State from
their own hands into the sole keeping of the Senate of the
L^nited States. Mr. Williams said :

" I would go far, very far, to compromise this dispute upon
honorable terms, and I would not be particular as to the value of
equivalents. But I hold that Great Britain has contiguous terri-
tory, convenient to us, which she might and ought to give in
exchange for the territory belonging to us which she so much
needs, and ought to have for a just equivalent. This treaty does
not accomplish fairly either object ; it gives to Great Britaiu more
than is necessary^ and withholds from Maine what she ought to
acquire."

In closing, he said :

" I cannot agree to the ratification of the present treaty. It is

THE NORTH-EASTEBJN BOUNDARY. 95

unjust to Maine, and, in mj judgment, dishonorable to the nation.
I do not desire another arbitration, which may be more ruinous to
Maine than the present arrangement. I have no confidence in
further negotiation. What we have had has greatly weakened our
once perfect title ; and I see no other way of getting our right as
a nation and performing our high obligation to one of the States
of the Union, than by taking possession of what belongs to us and
holding it. In such a course we will have right and justice on our
side. If others interfere with us, it must be in their own wrong.
With these views, I send- to the Chair the following resolution,
and ask the yeas and nays upon its adoption :

"Mesolved, That the treaty and documents now under considera-
tion be re-committed to the Committee on Foreign Relations, with
instructions to report a resolution directing the President of the
United States to take immediate possession of the disputed terri-
tory, and to report such contingent measures as, in their opinion,
may be necessary to maintain the just right of the nation."

The resolution was not adopted.

When the treaty was before the Senate, similar tactics to
those which had been used in extracting the consent of the
State of Maine to its provisions were employed. Mr. Jared
Sparks, when in Paris, some time before the negotiation, had
found in the archives of the French government an old map,
with a red line, of this part of the country, a copy of which was
furnished by him to the Secretary of State, and by the latter
communicated to the Senate in executive session, with a flourish
of trumpets, sounding not \ictory, but defeat, to the claims of
the United States and of the State of Maine. The history of
the discovery of this map is told by Mr. Sparks in his letter to
Mr. Webster, from which I copy :

" While pursuing my researches among the voluminous papers
relating to the American Revolution in the Archives des Affaires

96 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

Etrangers in Paris, I found in one of the bound volumes an orig-
inal letter from Dr. Franklin to Count D'Vergennes, of which the
following is an exact transcript :

"'Passy, Dec. 6, 1782.
" * Sir : — I have the honor of returning herewith the map your
Excellency sent me yesterday. I have marked with a strong red
line, according to your desire, the limits of the United States, as
settled in the preliminaries between the British and American
plenipotentiaries. • ^

" With great respect, I am, &c.,

"'B. Franklin.'

" This letter was written six days after the preliminaries were
signed ; and if we could procure the identical map mentioned by
Franklin, it would seem to afford conclusive evidence as to the
meaning affixed by the Commissioners to the language of the
treaty on the subject of the boundary. You may well suppose that
I lost no time in making enquiry for the map, not doubting that it
would confirm all my previous opinions respecting the validity of
our claims. In the geographical department of the archives are
sixty thousand maps and charts, but so well arranged with cata-
logues and indexes that any one of them may be easily found.
After a little research in the American division, I came upon a map
of North America, by D' Anvil le, dated 1746, in size about eighteen
inches square, on which was drawn a strong red line throughout
the entire boundary of the United States, answering precisely to
Franklin's description. * * Imagine my surprise on discover-
ing thjit this line runs wholly south of the St. John, and between
the head waters of that river and those of the Penobscot and Ken-
nebec. In short, it is exactly the line now contended for by Great
Britain, except that it concedes more than is claimed. * * There
is no positive proof that this map is actually the one marked by
Franklin ; yet, upon any other supposition, it would be difficult to
explain the circumstances of its agreeing so perfectly with his

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 97

description, and of its being preserved in the place where it would
naturally be deposited by the Count D' Vergennes."

Mr. Rives, of Virginia, a prominent member of the Com-
mittee on Foreign Relations, and I think its Chairman, intro-
duced in the Senate this letter and the map which accompanied
it — a copy of the original in the French archives, and which
Mr. Sparks had marked with a black line — with these remarks :

''Is there no danger, in the event of another arbitration, that a
further research into the public archives of Europe might bring to
light some embarrassing (even though apochryphal) document to
throw a new shade of plausible doubt over the clearness of our title
in the view of a sovereign arbiter ? Such a document has already
been communicated to the committee, and I feel it to be my duty
to lay it before the Senate, that they may fully appreciate its
bearings and determine for themselves the weight and importance
which belong to it."

He adds, that it is due to Mr. Sparks, that an account of it in
his own words, in a letter to the Secretary of State be given. *
Mr. Sparks' letter was then read.

Here, then, was a brand new discovery, which one can scarcely
conceive of as not fatal to our claim, if Mr. Sparks* inferences
are to be relied upon, concealed from the other side, and sud-
denly sprung upon the Senate in secret session, to influence its
action, and which, it may have well been supposed, would place
the ratification of the treaty, notwithstanding the opposition of
our Senator, Mr. Beuel Williams, CoL Benton and others, be-
yond much doubt. The treaty was indeed ratified, but not
until the utter worthlessness of this evidence had been exposed
by Col. Benton, Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Woodbury. Tins red-
line map turned out to be no other than one of many red-line
maps of 1746, one of which, from Mr. Jefferson's collection, had
long been in the library of Congress, and had nothing whatever

7

98 THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

to do with the map used by the Commissioners, or with that
sent to the Count D'Vergennes.

The question was brought up at the next session, also, when
Col. Benton said (See Globe and Appendix for 1842-3, VoL 12,
p. Ill): "When he saw that the Senator from Virginia was
yet in the act of pressing the importance of the map referred to
by Mr. Sparks, he interrupted the Senator by calling, * Here is
the very same red line on Mr. Jefferson's map,' and on compaii-
son it was found to correspond exactly. He proclaimed the
red line loudly to prove tliat Mr. Sparks* secret was no secret at
all."

This speech by CoL Benton was made on the fourth of
January, 1843. Mr. Rives' speech, before quoted from, had
just been published, the injunction of secrecy having been re-
moved from the proceedings. Col. Benton took this occasion to
correct some errors, as he considered them, in this speech. On
the next day the question was brought up again, when CoL
Benton said " there was not one particle of evidence to be ad-
duced from the circumstance that the map, found by Mr. Sparks,
in Paris, had a broad, strong red line indicating some boundary
of Canada, was marked by Dr. Franklin ; because every French
map of the day had the same red line on it."

The fact seems to have been that this old French map, made
nearly forty years before the treaty of 1783, indicated merely a
French claim of boundary by just such a red line as was at that
time commonly used. Besides, the fact that in 1794, when
the subject was before the Commissioners, no such map or evi-
dence of boundary was referred to, should have convinced Mr.
Sparks that his version was not only untenable but preposterous.
But the testimony, showing the utter failure, so far as the
evidence was concerned, of this attempt to influence the Senate
in favor of the treaty, was not permitted to be closed here. On

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 99

the eighteenth of January, CoL Benton again brought the sub-
ject before the Senate, when he produced a letter from Dr.
Franklin, (the same already copied in this paper), dated the
eighth of April, 1790, — and the last letter ever written by him
— in which he says that the map used in tracing the boundary ,
was brought to the treaty by the Commissioners from Englandy
and that it was the same that was published by Mitchell twenty
years before, and further, that the American Commissioners in-
formed Congress of the fact at the time.

These revelations exploded and scattered, one would have
hoped, forever, this wretched red-line map performance. But
this was not to be ; and years afterwards its echoes came to us
from across the Atlantic. When, in 1861, the loyal country
was engaged in an effort to preserve the nation, it received, as
will be remembered, but small sympathy from the higher classes
in England, who were eager enough to find grounds of indict-
ment against the United States, and excuses for their own
unfriendly feeUngs and actions. And among other explanations
and excuses, they turned to this red-line map, took it up and
threw it at us. The newspapers used it, the clubs talked about
it, and one of the leading Quarterly Reviews, in an elaborate
argument defending England's attitude of unfriendliness towards
this country, referred, in justification, to the red-line map, its
discovery, its concealment, its use in secret session of the
Senate, and its exposition only after the treaty had been ratified,
when the fraud had done its work too completely to be made in-
effectual This was not pleasant reading to us at that time,
however groundless we knew the accusations to be; for we
knew, also, that those to whom they were chiefly addressed —
Englishmen, whom it was desired to see embittered against this
country— did not know the facts, nor were they remembered
by many even in our own country. The charge was well calcu-

100 THE NORTH-EASTEBN BOUNDARY.

lated to do us harm, and was, as against the nation, without a
shadow of reason. Mr. Edward Everett, writing me on the
twenty-eighth of February, 1862, said : " Of all the attempts in
England to raise a prejudice against us, this clamor about the
red-line map is the most unjustifiable."

Whatever of wrong there may have been in this transaction,
it was wrong against the United States, and not against Eng-
land. The latter had no right to complain of an expedient
employed in her behalf, and that might open the way to the
ratification of a treaty which she was so desirous to have
executed as this. The whole story being a fiction, or a mere
inference that was plainly without foundation, no evidence
tending to support the British claim had been suppressed. In-
deed, it is more than probable, from the language of one of
Lord Ashburton's letters to Mr. Webster, that he had seen this
very map ; and he must have known, or he would have made
other use of it, what it was designed to describe. This was
shown quite clearly, I think, in the Senate debate on the ratifi-
cation of the treaty.

The treaty having been attacked by many individuals, and
among others, by Senator Daniel S. Dickinson, of New York,

»

Mr. Webster made what he called a "Vindication of the treaty
of Washington," on the sixth and seventh days of April, 1846,
in which no reference is made to any danger we escaped by the
treaty, from the red-line map discovery. In truth, the red-hue
map theory never had the slightest respect in this country after
Colonel Benton's speeches in 1843.

The treaty line of 1842 commenced at the monument, at the
source of the St. Croix, as agreed by the Commissioners under
the treaty of 1794; thence it followed the exploring line that
was nm and marked by " the surveyors under the fifth article
of the treaty of Ghent, to its intersection with the river St.

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 101

John and to the middle channel thereof ; ^thenp e, up tiic jn^tjdl^ pf
the main channel of the said river St. John to the mouth of the
river St. Francis " (to which point it is identical with the King
of Holland's line) ; " thence up the middle channel of the said
river St. Francis, and of the lakes through which it flows, to the
outlet of Lake Pohenagamock ; thence south-westerly, in a
straight line to a point on the north-west branch of the river
St John, which point shall be ten miles distant from the main
branch of the St John, in a straight line in the nearest direc-
tion ; but if the said point shall be found to be less than seven
miles from the nearest point of the summit or crest of the
highlands that divide those rivers which empty themselves into
the St Lawrence, from those which fall into the river St. John,
then the said point shall be made to recede down the said north-
west branch of the river St John, to a point seven . miles in a
straight line to said summit or crest; thence in a straight
line, in a course about south, eight degrees west, to a point
where the parallel of latitude of 46° 25' north intersects
the south-west branch of the St John ; thence southerly by
the said branch, to the source thereof in the highlands, at the
Metxarmette portage ; thence down along the said highlands
which divide the waters which empty themselves into the river
St Lawrence from those which fall into the Atlantic ocean, to
the head of Hall's stream," etc.

Comparing this boundary with the line of the King of Hol-
land, it is painfully obvious how much the State of Maine lost
by refusing to accept the latter, as she indignantly did, in 1831.
Accepting that boundary, she would have saved in territory
571,520 acres, or 893 square miles (see Mr. Webster's Vindica-
tion), and would have received from the United States land in
the State of Michigan, of the value of two millions of dollars.

102 ".::'\ \ y4^ Jfefelfe-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

•_•

• • • •
• • • •

(^eUct^fllfr'tJilfiJMaide.'Cofl^issioners to Grovemor Fairfield,
•JalinfiCty 4, -IMS.) • •••

Maine received from the United States, in the way of com-
pensation for her assent to the treaty of Washington, the sum
of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Had she acquiesced
in the recommendation of the King of Holland, she would have
saved to herself a tract of country (given up by the Ashburton
treaty) as large as the counties of Androscoggin and Sagada-
hoc and a good part of Lincoln, and have received, under
Greneral Jackson's proposition, in 1831, land of the value of two
millions of dollars.

But it may be said, she acquired the free navigation of the
river St John. It has already appeared, and was shown in the
Senate debates, that by the law of nations she already possessed
that right, and more fully, as Col. Benton argued, than was set
down in the text of the treaty. But, waiving that point, she
had it practically, and would have enjoyed it. For the interests
of the city of St. John, and of the Province as a whole, would
have placed it on a satisfactory and permanent basis. So large
a proportion of the trade and commerce of that city depended
upon the trade in the lumber and other products of north-
eastern Maine, that the Province was under stronger than
treaty obligations to yield, and even to facilitate, the use of the
river for the transportation of these products by our people.
But even the treaty, under the construction put upon it, became
an embarrassment rather than a benefit. Instead of enjoying,
under its provisions, the rights which the people of Maine had
reasonably anticipated, they were restrained beyond all previous
experience. The treaty, by its terms, excluded manufactured
articles, and besides, contained the following clause : " When
within the Province of New Brunswick, the said produce shall
be dealt with as if it were the produce of said Province."

THE NOETH-EASTERN BOUNDABY. 103

This was a most unfortunate clause ; for in virtue of it the
Province assumed to collect, and in fact did collect, istumpage
on lumber and timber cut in Maine, in the same manner and
to the same extent that it would have done if they had been
cut in New Brunswick. This is the way in which it was
effected. New Brunswick levied an export duty, in lieu of
stumpage, on all lumber and timber cut in the Province on
which stumpage was due thereto, and as by the treaty, the
lumber and timber cut in Maine were to be dealt with, when
within the Province, as if they were the produce of the latter,
and since she levied an export duty on her own, she had, she
maintained, the same right to levy it on that which came from
Maine. She did levy it and collect it Making the duty high
enough to include her claims for stumpage, it covered, of course,
stumpage on the lumber and timber from the State. She col-
lected no other stumpage. But a Maine lumberman, who had
paid stumpage to the State, or to the proprietor at home, was
compelled to pay it again to the Province. Having lost her
pretended title to the soil, she yet contrived to hold and treat
its growth and products as her own. When earnest remon-
strance was made against this extortion and abuse of the treaty,
she only replied that the right was given by it and would be
exercised. And it was exercised until the treaty of Washington,
in 1871, when the right to tax American produce in transit to
an American market was taken away.

To the consideration, so urgently and so unceasingly pressed
upon the people of Maine, that the treaty as a whole was ad-
vantageous to the United States, and their State should there-
fore be willing to set aside her single interest and her sentiment
in deference to the general good, they always could answer,
ihat she had never been unready to do her duty to the Union-—
that she had been patient under injury and indignity from a

104 THE NORTH-EASTEEN BOUNDARY.

foreign power, such as had been visited upon no other State ;
and this/ too, when she had occasion to feel that her rights
were neglected, and, as at times it almost seemed, betrayed by
the national government, her constitutional protector. And
they remembered, and could further answer, that there had been
times and opportunities when a just and reasonable arrangement
could have been effected, if the authorities at Washington had
been as mindful of her interests and honor as they had never
failed to be of smaller concerns affecting other interests and
other sections of the country ; that a line from near the monu-
ment at the head of the St. Croix to Eel River ; thence to its
outlet in the river St. John, some twelve miles below the town
of Woodstock ; thence up the rivers St John and St Francis to
the crest of the highlands ; thence following the line recom-
mended by the King of Holland — ^was so well understood at one
time as being attainable, that large purchases of real estate were
made in the neighborhood of and above Eel river, upon the
advice of parties at Washington, who enjoyed the very best
means of knowing what might have been and was expected to
be accomplished.

This State well understood that Great Britain regarded the
right of way across the Madawaska country as a prime con-
venience, if not as a positive necessity ; and she was never
unwilling, with the consent of the people residing there (and
which for many years there would have been no difl&culty in
obtaining), to cede to her so much of the territory as was
needed for this purpose, and would have been content with a
reasonable equivalent for so considerable a concession. That
Great Britain overestimated the importance of this right of way,
has been manifest from her subsequent action. She has practi-
cally acknowledged it, by insisting that the railway which she
has aided in constructing, that connecte Halifax and St John

THE NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. 105

with Quebec and Montreal, should be built upon a route east
of the boundary line as always claimed by Maine.

Nor 18 it quite easy for this State to forget that the more
valuable the considerations moving to the United States in the
frontier changes of boundary in the country west of Maine, the
larger were the sacrifices to which she was called to submit.
For these better boundaries in the west something was neces-
sary to be paid, and it fell to the lot of Maine to make the
payment from territory to which Congress had declared her
title to be " clear and unquestionable."

For this large and uncalled for surrender of her soil, Maine
sought no money equivalent. She only sought compensation in
kind — land for land — privilege for privilega She always re-
fused to treat the question as one of pecuniary indemnity.
When, in 1831, she was asked to accept the line of the King of
Holland, and receive Michigan lands of the value of two
millions of dollars, she promptly, as has been seen, and not
without a feeling of just indignation, rejected the terms, regard-
ing them as unjust and derogatory. And when, in 1842, her
boundaries were so largely abridged, she declined to remember,
as against the miserable dcmceur with which she was then put
off, the greater compensation which she had spumed ten years
befora

There is no fact in the history of Maine, in which I take
greater satisfaction than this — ^that, while feeling keenly the in-
justice done to her, when once the sacrifice became inevitable,
she was too proud to higgle about the price.

The story which I have here so imperfectly told, honorable
as it is to the people of Maine, and for the most part creditable
to her authorities, forms an interesting and important chapter
in her annals, and if it be true, as we are told, that history is

106 THE NOKTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY.

philosophy teaching by example, it is one that may be read
with interest and profit by the present and by future genera-
tions.

CORRECTION.

la Section II, on page 15, it is said : "The Commissioners
having agreed upon the river, decided that its source was in
what is now known as Round Lake, the same, I suppose, that
is laid down as North Lake in Greenleafs map of 1815," &c.
This is a mistake. The Round Lake which the Commissioners
first agreed upon was the lowest of the western Schoodic Lakes.
It had been claimed by the British agent as the true head of
the St. Croix, in an elaborate argument based upon the belief
that it would give a line to the highlands so far to the west of
one starting from Lake Cheputnecook, as to leave the sources
of the rivers that fall into the Bay of Chaleurs within British
territory. But no sooner had he discovered that this was an
error, than he took steps to have the branch of the St. Croix,
against which he had been earnestly contending, adopted as the
true river. He seems to have had no difficulty in bringing about
this change. The " bad luck " in this case must be largely
ascribed to the ignorance of the American Commissioners.

There seems to have been, at first, a misunderstanding on
both sides, as to the effect of their respective claims. But the
British agent was soonest undeceived.

The line claimed by this agent, as originally understood and
contended for by him, would indeed have set aside " the plain
provisions of the treaty and its undisputed history." But as it
would have been run, it would have taken from New Brunswick
a strip of country ten miles wide by one hundred and fifty milas
in length. See letter of Robert Liston to Ward Chipman,
October 23, 1798.

At all events, the British appear to have had their own way

before the Commissioners. When they asked for Round Lake,

they received it ; and when they wanted Cheputnecook, they

had no difficulty in getting it.
[To face p. 106.]

ARTICLE II.

Col Arthur Noble, of Georgetown:

HIS MILITARY SERVICES AT CAPE BRETON
AND NOVA SCOTIA, AND HIS DEATH

AT MINAS,

BY

HON. WILLIAM GOOLD, OF WINDHAM.

Read befobe the Maine Histobical Societt, at

POBTLAND, MaBCH 22, 1877.

COLONEL ARTHUR NOBLE, OP GEORGETOWN.

One of the heroic men of Maine, serving in the French and
Indian wars of the last century, whose history has been n^-
lected, was CoL Arthur Noble, of Georgetown. His tragic
death, at Minas, N. S., is simply mentioned by Haliburton in
his history of that Province ; but neither his Christian name
nor place of residence are given. It adds much to the interest
in a man's history, to know his local habitation and his name.
Col. Noble's residence could only be ascertained by examining
the record of his military commissions and the York County
registry of deeds. I find the earliest mention of him in a
mortgage deed, dated at Boston, November 5, 1733,* in
which he refers to a deed to him of the same property by the
mortgagee two days previous, but of which I find no record.
The following extract will show the location of the property
named. It became his home until his death, and of his de-
scendants for many years :

"Arthur Noble, of Georgetown, on Arrowsic Island, trader, to
secure to James Minot, of Boston, merchant, the payment of 600
pounds," mortgaged " all that certain farm, or tract of land com-
monly known by the name of Pleasant Gove, with the houses,

♦York recorda, Vol. 16, p. 119.

•

110 COL. ARTHUR NOBLE, OF GEORGETOWN.

barns and fences thereon standing; which the said Koble^ by deed
bearing date the third current, bought and purchased of said
Minot, situated on Kennebec Kiver, and now in the occupation of
James Savage and Thomas Williams, being the same that was laid
out to Stephen Minot, father of said James, by the proprietors of
the Pejepscot Company, is bounded southerly by land of Adam
Winthrop, Esq., and easterly by Sagadahoc Eiver; to run up the
river about three-quarters of a mile in a straight line, which
reaches to, or nearly to Winnegance ; thence to strike over on a
course west by north, half northerly, to Casco Bay."

This mortgage was discharged by the mortgagee September
25, 1735.

On the twenty-ninth of December, 1737, Arthur Noble, of
Pleasant Cove, on Kennebec River, sold a part of this tract to
" William McLenichon, now of Prospect, on Kennebec River,
minister of the gospel, at Pleasant Cove." * One condition of
the sale was that " the said McLenichon is to allow the road as
it now runs to be open and convenient for foot and horsemen
to pass and repass to and from the ineeting Jiouse, or on any
other occasion." The location of Col. Noble's house is* referred

* The Key. Wm. McLenichon (I follow the spelling of the name in the regis-
try of deeds) was a noted Presbyterian clergyman from the North of Ireland,
where most of his congregation at Fiddler's Reach probably came from. He
was afterwards settled at Cape Elizabeth (1736). In 1742, he was again at
Georgetown. In 1746, Col. Noble obtained for him the chaplaincy of his
regiment in the Louisburg expedition. After Mr. McLenichon's return from
Loulsburg, he became a convert to the church of England. In 1756, Governor
Shirley and other influential men of that faith, recommended him to the
English " society for the propagation of the gospel in foreign parts " as a
suitable person for appointment as their missionary to the Kennebec — as the
Episcopalians residing on the river had petitioned the society to send them
one. Mr. Mcl^nichon received the appointment, and commenced his labors
in May, 1766, residing first at Fort Richmond, and officiating alternately at
Pownalborough and Georgetown, until 1768, when he removed to Pennsyl-
vania.

NOTE.

When this volume was nearly through the press, I discovered
among the Pejepscot papers the copy of a letter from Col.
Thomas Westbrook, of Falmouth, to Adam Winthrop, of Boston.
They were both members of the Pejepscot Company. This
letter and Col. Westbrook's deed fix the time of the building
of the meeting-house at Pleasant Cove, mentioned on page 111,
to be in 1735-6. In his letter dated June, 1735, Col. Westbrook
says he contributed to its erection. In his deed of land to the
minister, dated October 7, 1736, he describes him as minister
in the meeting-house now standing near the hotcse of Lieut.
Arthur Noble, The meeting-house must have been built between
the date of Col. Westbrook's letter and that of his deed.

[copy.]

" Harrow House in Falmouth,* June 30, 1735.

*^Sir: — I congratulate you in your recovery of Mereyconege
Neck (Harps well). I hope you will always recover what lands
belong to us in these parts.

" In my return from St. Georges I called at Kenneybeck and
went up to Left. Noble's farme. He told me that they had desier
to build a meeting-house on his farme near his garrason, on which
I redely give him my note for ten pounds towards it, and to give
the minister that belongs to it fifty acres of land, which I hope will
be agreeable to you, your farme being so nie."

♦ " Harrow House in Falmouth" was the residence of Col. Westbrook. It
stood on the southern shore of Fore River at Stroudwater. The cellar, with
two apple trees near, may yet be seen on the Broad farm.

w. o.
[To face p. 111.]

COL. ARTHUR NOBLE, OF GEORGETOWN. Ill

to in a deed dated seventh of October, 1736, as follows:
" Thomas Westbrook, of Falmouth, Esq., for and in considera-
tion of the love and affection I bear to my well-beloved friend
Wm. McLenichon, now minister on Kennebec Eiver, in the
meeting hottse* now standing near the house of Lieut Arthur

*This ancient meeting house, its location, the denomination that erected
it, and the date of its erection, have been subjects of considerable specula-
tion and controversy. From these deeds the location of Mr. McLenichon's
meeting house is fixed at " Pleasant Cove." From his well-known Presby-
terian belief at that time, and his license to teach it, this house of worship
was undoubtedly built by the Presbyterians who came here under the patron-
age of Capt. Robert Temple, soon after 1720. The town records of George-
town have a record of the births of the children of Michael Malcom, who
lived next on the west bank of the Kennebec, below " that farm commonly
known by the name of Pleasant Cove." The son William *' was bom in
Ireland, Nov. 7, 1720. John "bom in Boston, May 20, 1723." The next
child was bom in Georgetown in Nov. 1726. The space of time covered by
these dates included the time when Capt. Robert Temple was chartering
ships in successive years, to bring families of the better sort from Ireland to
settle his lands at Long Reach, at and above Bath. They probably arrived at
and remained in Boston until their habitations were ready. Many settlers
gathered round the garrisons, or fortified their own houses, during Lovewell's
war, and held their position for a while at least, and returned to their farms
at its close, in 1725. Their descendants are yet prominent citizeiy on the
Kennebec.

Col. Thomas Westbrook, who in his deed says " for and in consideration
of the love and affection I bear my well-beloved friend, Wm. McLenichon,"
is recorded as one of the founders of the Congregational church in Scar-
borough, in 1728. He removed to Falmouth soon after. He undoubtedly had
Presbyterian preferences, but like many others of that faith, he afiiliated
with Congregationalists. The record book at Georgetown shows tliat the
two denominations named had many adherents in that town, and com-
mittees were raised to effect a compromise, but all seemed ineffectual. In
1740 the town " voted to employ a Congregational minister, as well as James
Morton, Presbyterian."

It has been claimed that the meeting house at Pleasant Cove was built in
the interest of the Church of England ; but I have found no evidence of it
In " A Contribution to the History of Bath " (Me. Hist Coll., Vol. iii, p. 277)

112 COL. ARTHUR NOBLE, OF GEORGETOWN.

Noble on said river, fifty acres of land out of my tract fronting
three-quarters of a mile on Long Eeach." The same condition is
named about an open road, as was in Noble's deed to McLeni-
chon. By these documents we are enabled to fix the residence

' - _■_

the writer leans to this opinion. He says : " It could not have been built dur-
ing Mr. McLenichon's ministry." If the house of worship had been built by
the Episcopalians, it would have been called a church in the deeds. In 1757,
after Mr. McLenlchon had become a missionary at Frankfort and George-
town, in the employ of the Church of England society, he wrote to the
society that there was no church at Frankfort or Georgetown. This old
meeting house at Pleasant Cove was standing, according to Col. Westbrook's
deed, twenty years before the " venerable society " sent their first missionary
to the Kennebec. Rev. Mr. Wheeler, who was officiating as missionary of
the Church of England, at Georgetown, in 1769, wrote to the society in
England, that his people had erected the frame of a church, and in a petition
to the same society from " the inhabitants of Georgetown and Harpswell, on
the Kennebec River," they say they " have begun to build a church, which
is now in great forwardness." The site of this Episcopal church I leave for
future investigation. The Rev. Mr. Bailey, missionary on the river in 1760,
reported to the " venerable society " that he had seventeen communicants at
Georgetown.

In consideration of the absence of any mention of the meeting house in
the conveyance to Col. Noble in 1733, and that it stood in the midst of his
mowing ^Id, and that he gave liberty for horse and footmen to pass along
his private way, to and from it, I think it is a reasonable conclusion that
the meeting house was built largely by his interest and exertion — assisted, of
course, by the neighboring settlers on both sides of the river, which w^as the
highway for those coming from a distance.

The probability is, that the Presbyterians at Georgetown finally discon-
tinued their services at Pleasant Cove, and went to Long Reach to hear
Robert Gutch, of the same denomination, who went there in about 1766
(Me. Hist. Coll., Vol. ii, p. 206). His was probably the same name now
spelled " Gooch." It is also a reasonable supposition that Judge Lithgow,
who succeeded Col. Noble at Pleasant Cove, in his intimate relations with
Gov. Shirley, who was a warm Episcopalian, and in his long employment by
the government, had come to have a preference for the services of the Church
of England, and, after his removal from Fort Halifax to Georgetown, he
united with others in establishing Episcopal services in the old Presbyterian

COL. ARTHUR NOBLE, OF GBORGETOWN. 113

of Col. Noble at Pleasant Cove, three-fourths of a mile below
Winnegance Creek. On North's plan, made for the Plymouth
Company, in 1751, " Col. Noble's house," of two stories, with
something like watch boxes at the corners, is distinctly marked

meeting hoase on his farm. Rev. Mr. Wheeler, who was missionary of the
English Church at Georgetown, in 1768, accoixling to a letter of his to Rev.
Mr. Bailey, resided a while in the family of Judge Lithgow. If this supposi-
tion is correct, probably the Episcopal Church mentioned by Mr. Wheeler
was never finished as such, but was removed, or used for other purposes,
which would account for the lack of any tradition of its situation.

Except the church built by Popham's Colony in 1007, mentioned by
Strachey (he says, " October 6th, they built fifty houses therein (the fort)
and a church"), the Presbyterian church at Pleasant Cove was the first
Protestant house of worship erected on the Kennebec. Mrs. Morse, widow
of William Morse, who died in 1872, aged ninety-two, and who was a tenant
or employee under Judge Lithgow, and who finally purchased' the farm,
pointed out to me, in 1877, the site of the old meeting house and described
the building and the graveyard adjoining. It was standing long after she
went there. She described it as a building of good height and proportions,
with a double floor but no pews. It was finally used as a bam until a part of
it blew down in a gale, killing a domestic animal in the barnyard, when it
was taken down and some of the large timber was used to support the floor
in a new bam near. At my request, she pointed out to me the end of what
had been a cross-beam supporting the roof of the meeting-house. As good
evidence of the place it occupied in the original building, it was planed and
had on the two lower edges ornamental beading, which Mrs. Morse said all
the cross-beams had, and that this was the only ornamental finish of the in-
terior. The dimensions of this beam were fourteen by twelve inches. At the
time of the building of this church, and long after, all timber of public build-
ings was dressed and beaded. According to the books of the Plymouth
Company, in 1761, Gershom Flagg was paid for eight hands two days,
" planing and beading timber" for the town house at Pownalborough. The
timber in the old court house at the same place has the same finish. With a
saw, I obtained a block, showing the beading, from the remaining cross-beam
of this relic of the old meeting house, which I have deposited in the cabinet
of the Maine Historical Society. But there is none remaining of the " foot
and horsemen" who reverently "passed and re-passed to and from "this
ancient house of worship.

8

114 COL. ARTHUK NOBLE, OF GEORGETOWN.

at about half a mile below the bend of the river, at Fiddler's
Eeach, and one-eighth of a mile from the shore, although this
plan was made five years after his death. The cellar of the
house, with foundations yet in place, with the broken bricks of
the chimney, are yet pointed out. Its location on the high
bank gave it a commanding view of the river for a long distance.
Judge Lithgow probably occupied it after he left Fort Halifax,
until he erected his spacious house in 1766, which stood higher
up the slope and west of Col. Noble's house.

The descendants of Col. Noble have a tradition that he was
bom at Enniskillen, County of Fermanagh, and Province of
Ulster, Ireland, and that the family emigrated to that place
from ^Scotland. Arthur Noble is supposed to have come to
America in about 1720, with his brothers Francis and James.
There is a tradition that Eobert Lithgow, a Scotchman, came
with them.

Eobert Temple, a descendant of Sir John Temple, of Stanton-
Bury, England, came to Boston in 1717, with Capt. James Luz-
more, of Topsham, Eng. He visited the Kennebec in company with
some of the proprietors of the Kennebec purchase, and obtained
a grant of land on the west shore above Bath, with the intention
of establishing a colony there. In 1718 he chartered two ships,
and others during the following years, to bring protestant fami-
lies from Ireland to settle his patent. Lovewell's war, in 1722,
broke up the settlement for a time.* It seems to me very proba-

*Copy of a letter from Capt. Penliallow to the Governor of Massachusetts

Colony.

" Georgetown, June 16, 1722.

"About 5 of ye clock in the afternoon.

"May it please your Excellency: The common calamity of this part of the

country is such that the people on the river and Menymeeting Bay are all

flying for shelter, and that no arguments can persuade them to keep their

houses,. at least for the present The Indians began their hostilities upon

COL. ARTHUR NOBLE, OF GEORGETOWN. 115

ble that the Nobles, Lithgows and Malcoms came over in the
interest of Robert Temple, and in one of his ships. In his will,
executed only a few days before he sailed on his disastrous ex-
pedition, CoL Noble appointed his " good friend Capt. Eobert
Temple," one of his executors, which lends strength to the
supposition.

Arthur Noble, of Georgetown, was commissioned as Lieut-
Colonel of CoL Waldo's regiment (Col. Waldo acting as Briga-
dier General) for the expedition to Louisburg. His commission
by Gov. Shirley, as Lieut.-Colonel of the Second Massachusetts
Regiment, and also as Captain of the 2d Company, are dated Feb.
6, 1745, ten days only after the passage of the act. I find that
the commander of each regiment under Gen. Pepperell, was

nine or ten families, and took such a number of 'em as they thought fit
They used 'em very barbarously — burning their houses at midnight, haul-
ing 'em out of bed by the hair, and striped 'em of whatever was valuable.
Those they gave liberty to go away, they left hardly anything to cover them.
About thirty people they have already treated thus. Yesterday morning
they killed ten oxen belonging to Mr. Alexander Hamilton and Broens, and
some others of their cattle, and carried away only the fat of their inwards.
They make great spoil of cattle, and let their flesh lye on the ground.

" They have burnt Mr. Temple's house at the chops of the bay, and killed
some of his cattle—cut all the canoes to pieces that they met with there.
In short, they have done what they pleased in Merrymeeting Bay and upon
this river, and have endeavored for some days (which we have since dis-
covered) of surprising the whale boats that meet in Merrymeeting Bay to
give intelligences from place to place, and to discover the Indians. The
boats had parted but a few hours before they began their hostilities upon
the inhabitants. I trust your Excellency has express by land of this matter,
80 that I have only to enclose a letter I received from one of the captives by
one of the subscribers they set at liberty.

" We shall keep on our cruises with the whale boats ; am also sending out
about twenty men in two or three boats, to save what cattle the Indians had
left perishing on the ground.

" I am your Excellency's most dutiful, obedient and humble servant,

"Z. ^BNHALLOW."

116 COL. ABTHUR NOBLE, OF GEORGETOWN.

also a Captain of a company in his regiment The French
city of Louisburg, on the Island of Cape Breton, was the strong-
est fortification on the continent, and was particularly obnoxious
to the people of the New England Colonies, as it was a refuge
for the French cruisers, who very much annoyed their fishing
vessels, and the expedition for its reduction was entered into
with much spirit, although the project was unpopular in the Gen-
eral Court, when first proposed, but finally the act passed.
Governor Shirley's orders to (Jen. Pepperell showed a lack of
knowledge or experience in military afifairs. After a rendezvous
at Canso, and the building of a battery and block-house there,
the fleet, consisting of one hundred sail of all sizes, were
directed to proceed to " Cabarras Bay," within three miles of
Louisburg ; all to arrive in the evening, — to anchor in a pre-
scribed form, in an unexplored bay, in the darkness ; to land the
troops forthwith through the surf, and march these three miles
through the woods, and to cross a bog, pull down pickets, and
mount the walls of a well garrisoned fortress, thirty feet high,
(for such was the City of Louisburg) with scaling ladders,
which proved to have been made ten feet too short — all tliis in
one night.

Belknap, after giving a very full synopsis of Shirley's orders
to Pepperell, adds : " Such was the plan for the reduction of a
regularly constructed fortress, drawn by a lawyer, to be executed
by a merchant, at the head of a body of husbandmen and
mechanics, animated, indeed, by ardent patriotism, but destitute
of professional skill."

Gen. Pepperell's business establishment, at Kittery Point,
made him known and popular throughout New England.
To this fact he owed this opportunity to show his talent
as a military commander. He hesitated about accepting the
appointment* until Gov. Shirley assured him that his influence

COL. AKTHUE NOBLE, OF GEORGETOWN. 117

and reputation were indispensable in the enlistment of the
men and the success of the expedition, although he had
never been in active military service.* CoL Noble was un-
doubtedly selected to command the eastern regiment for the
same cause. It adds much to the brilliancy of the military
achievements of the officers and men engaged in the French
and Indian wars and of the Revolution, to know that they had
homes of their own to protect, and were not mere soldiers by
profession, nor simply adventurers. Col. Noble was known as
a trader on Arrowsic Island, and a farmer and large land holder
at Pleasant Cove, opposite; to which place he undoubtedly
transferred his trading establishment, supplying the neighboring
settlers and the Indians on the river, and receiving their furs
in retum-t This business made him known, and we may safely

♦The following note was sent from Boston to Gen. Pepperell, while he
was at Loulsburg, and was found among his papers : — " You were made gen-
eral, being a popular man — ^most likely to raise soldiers soonest. The expe-
dition was calculated to establish Sh , and make his creature W. gov-
ernor of Cape Breton, which is to be a place of refuge from his creditors.
Beware of snakes in the grass, and mark their hissing."

In his life of Pepperell, Parsons says: — "After his (PepperelPs) nomina-
tion. Governor Shirley, probably for the purpose of paying Governor Went-
worth, of New Hampshire, an empty compliment, and perhaps enlisting him
more heartily in the cause, addressed him a letter in which he says : ' It
would have been an infinite satisfaction to me, and done great honor to the
expedition, if your limbs would have permitted you to take the chief com-
mand,' undoubtedly supposing that the Governor's gout would make such a
proposition safe. But in this he was mistaken. Wentworth flung away his
crutches and offered his services, and Shirley had the mortification not only
to make an apology, but to tell him that any change in the command would
hazard the expedition/'

t Col. Noble probably had a tannery, and manufactured the leather into
shoes to supply his customers, as I find in Capt Minot's account book, who
was provincial truckmaster at Fort Richmond, he is charged in 1740 with
raw hides and is credited with invoices of shoes. The vats of a tannery last
many years after they are out of use. I have no doubt vats might now be
discovered at the landing in the cove.

118 COL. ARTHUR NOBLE, OF GEORGETOWN.

conclude that his reputation was good, from his appointment to
the command of the regiment, the limits of which extended to
Saco, as such an officer was necessary for the rapid filling up of
the regiment of 1,000 men, which was completed within eight
weeks from the passage of the Act of the General Court author-
izing it.

This act was passed on the twenty-sixth of January by a
single vote, and, as previously stated, CoL Noble's commissions
are dated February 5th, only ten days after, showing that
public opinion pointed unmistakably to him as the right man
for the command of the eastern regiment.

Col. Waldo, although his family resided in Boston, was a large
landholder, not only on the Penobscot but in Falmouth, where
he spent a large part of his time. In historical works of the pe-
riod he is often mentioned as of Falmouth. His son Samuel was
representative from that town to the General Court, and undoubt-
edly assisted in the passage of the unpopular act authorizing the
expedition. When Col. Waldo, who was a warm friend of
Gov. Shirley, was promoted to be a Brigadier General in the
expedition, he probably had the nomination of his Lieut-
Colonel, and selected Col. Noble, whom we have seen by West-
brook's deed to McLenichon was styled Lieutenant. But I find
no mention of him in any previous military service. He .was
probably only a Lieutenant of militia.

Col. Noble had a son James, of the age of about seventeen
years, who was commissioned February 8, 1745, as a " Lieu-
tenant of the second company of the Second Eegiment of the
Massachusetts line, bound for Louisburg." This was the com-
pany of which his father was Captain and of which the son
undoubtedly had the coihmand. Lieutenant Noble died at
Louisburg, of a fever, September 26, 1746, aged 18.* With-

•Boston News Letter, Oct. 17, 1746.

COL. ARTHUR NOBLE, OF GEORGETOWN. 119

in fifty-six days, the Provincial forces were raised and the entire
preparations completed. The whole of the troops numbered
4,300, of whom about one-fourth were, under the command of
CoL Noble. The only aid from Provinces out of New England
was the loan of ten cannon by New York, and some contribu-
tions of provisions by New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Some of
the armed vessels sailed as early as the middle of March, to cut
off any of the enemy's ships that should attempt to enter Louis-
buig. The Massachusetts troops sailed from Nantasket Eoads
on the twenty-fourth of March, and stopped three days at
Sheepscott, from whence (Jeneral Pepperell sent his first despatch
to Grovernor Shirley.* The fleet arrived at Canso, the place of
general rendezvous on the first of April. The New Hampshire
troops were already there, and those from Connecticut came ten
days after. The transports, carrying the army, sailed from Canso,
where they had been fortifying and waiting for the ice to leave
the shore, on the twenty-ninth of April, intending to arrive at
Cabarras Bay in the evening, as directed by Grovemor Shirley's
orders, but they did not enter the bay until the next morning.
So well had the secret of the expedition been kept, that its
arrival there was the first intimation to the garrison of the in-
tended attack. Of course, Governor Shirley's instructions could
not be carried out Instead of landing the 4,300 men and
storming the city in one night, the army was not all got on
shore until the third day after their arrival

*It is dated on board the Shirley galley, Sheepscott River, March 27, 1745.
It says, "Accidents delayed the fleet at Boston until the twenty-third, when the
fleet all sailed from Boston, and bad weather drove them into Sheepscott," from
whence they sailed on the thirtieth of the same month. [Vol. i, Mass. Hist. Col-
lections.] Many of Col. Noble's men were from Kennebec and Sheepscott,
and undoubtedly, during the three days while the fleet were wind-bound,
were allowed to visit their families, Col. Noble taking the same opportunity
to visit " Pleasant Cove."

120 COL. ARTHUE NOBLE, OF GEORGETOWN.

We cannot follow the besiegers through their hardships of
dragging cannon across the morass in the night, on huge sleds,
to prevent their sinking ; their attacks and repulses ; their suf-
ferings from cold and wet for want of suitable shelter, which
caused much sickness. . To Governor Shirley, Pepperell wrote
two weeks before the surrender, " we have one thousand five
hundred men sick." The frequent bursting of their largest guns
and their only large mortar,* their want of experienced gun-
ners— but it is sufficient for my purpose to say that by a vigor-
ous siege, which was pressed with enthusiasm for forty-seven
days, the garrison was forced to capitulate on the seventeenth
of June, by which 2,000 soldiers, besides the other inhabitants
of the city, and seventy-six cannon and mortars, fell into the
hands of the provincials, with other property to an immense
amount. The loss to the victors was 130 men, and of the
French 300 were killed within the walls.

Mrs. Hunt, the wife of Col. F. E. Hunt, of the army, is a
great-granddaughter of Col. Noble. She writes from Kansas
that she has an order to CoL Noble, in the handwriting of his
commanding officer, Brigadier General Samuel Waldo, directing
him to take a detachment of troops and storm the Island bat-
tery.f This Island battery -was a great source of annoyance to
the besiegers, preventing the ships from entering the harbor.

On the twenty-eighth of May, Gen. Pepperell received a letter
from Commodore Warren, the Commander of the fleet, in which

* On the second of June, Gen. PeppereU sent a vessel with a despatch to Gov.
Shirley at Boston, saying : " Our large mortar is burst, and also another
42-pounder in the advance battery. I beg for the large mortar in the castle
(William — ^now Fort Independence), with a good bed for it"

tCopy of an order from Brigadier General Samuel Waldo to Lieut-
Colonel Arthur Noble, during the siege of Louisbui'g. The original order is
in the possession of Col. F. E. Hunt, U. S. Army, given him by George Noble,
youngest son of Arthur Noble, Jr., whose daughter is the wife of CoL Hunt

COL. ARTHUR NOBLE, OF GEORGETOWN. 121

he pettishly asks : " Pray how came the Island battery nol,to be
attacked ? Please let me know." On the same day, Pepperell
replied to Warren thus : " In answer to yours of the twenty-
sixth, I beg leave to represent that it is now the twenty-ninth

There was, a lew years ago, a letter in the family from Gen. Waldo to Col.
Noble, commending his bravery in the execution of the order.

[Copy.]

BoTAL Battbkt of Cape Breton,

23d of May, 1745.
Dear Colonel : — Agreeable to general orders, you are to take upon you
the command of the detachment drawn out of several regiments for the
attack of the Island battery, and proceed with them accordingly at ten
of the clock this evening, or as soon after as possible. Before you put ofi
your boats, I expect an officer from Commodore Warren, who commands
about two hundred seamen, will be with you, and with him youll concert
the proper measures for joining your and his forces and carrying on the
attack with the utmost vigor and security to your and his men, and to pre-
vent the enemy from damaging your boats. The officers and their men are
strictly to observe your orders, and be it at their peril who refuse. Counter-
sign to be King George forever. May God succeed you in this enterprise
what will, in all probability, put a happy issue to the siege, and be for the
honour of His Majesty's arms, the great good of his American dominions,
and your own reputation ; and I doubt not, to your future satisfaction and
benefit
I am, dear Sir, your most assured friend and humble servant,
Lieut-Colonel Noble. S. Waldo.

In the Massachusetts 'archives are two rolls of volunteers to assist in the
attack on the Island battery. They were found among Gen. Waldo's papers.
The following are the conditions at the head of the list :

" Cape Breton, May 24," 1745 (one day after the date of Gen. Waldo's in-
structions). "We the subscribers do hereby voluntarily enlist ourselves
into His Majesty's service, to be under the command of Capt Daniel Bacon,
to go upon an attack against the Island battery."

The other list is similarly headed, except the provision that "Beamsly
Glazier is to be our Captain on said attack, and then we shall be ready at
half an hour's warning."

The roll of Col. Noble's regiment is not to be found.

122 COL. ARTHUR NOBLE, OF GEORGETOWN.

day ^ce the army invested Louisburg and drove in the inhab-
itants ; * * that in this time we have made five unsuccess-
ful attempts upon the Island battery, in the last of which we
lost 189 men and many of our boats/* Warren's letter to
Pepperell was written three days after the time fixed in the
order for CoL Noble's attack. This, probably, was the " last
one " mentioned by Gen. PepperelL The loss of 189 men shows
how persistent was the onset. It was only justice that prompted
Gen. Waldo to commend the bravery of CoL Noble and his
troops. The troublesome Island battery held out until the last,
and was only surrendered with the city.

The Provincial troops were detained at Louisburg as a garri-
son, contrary to promises at enlistment. They remained what
they thought a reasonable time to be relieved, and then asked
to be returned to their homes, as they were farmers and with-
out their help the necessary planting could not be done. To
quiet them until regular troops could be sent to take their place,
in the autumn of 1745, Admiral Warren sent the Hector man-
of-war to Boston, in which Governor Shirley embarked for
Louisburg, at the request of the House of Representatives. By
increasing the men's wages from twenty-five shillings to forty
shillings per month, they remained quiet until the Spring of
1746, when two regiments from Gibraltar g^rrived at Louisburg,
and the Provincial troops returned to their homes, and with
them, undoubtedly. Col. Noble.* This was his first campaign.
So many men being detained from their farms to garrison
Louisburg, until late in the season, there were not provisions
enough raised to supply the demand, and throughout New

* The History of Roxbury says that the soldiers from Looisbuig, to show
their respect for Grovemor Shirley, on their arrival voluntarily performed a
great labor in leveling his lawn at his residence in that town.

COL. ARTHUR NOBLE, OF GEORGETOWN. 123

England the prices in the next winter became unprecedentedly
liigh.

From a petition to the government of the Province, signed by
Col. Noble,* probably immediately after his return from Louis-
burg, it seems he had built a garrison on his farm some years
previous, for the protection of the neighboring settlers, which
had been manned by soldiers in the employ of the Province.

.With the records of the Plymouth company, in the library of
the Maine Historical Society, is a small engraved map of the
Kennebec River, from the sea to Norridgewock. There is no

* Petition to Governor Shirley, the Council and Hoose of Representatives,
1746:

" The petition of Job Lewis and Arthur Noble humbly showeth, That your
I>etitioner8, at their great expense, have built good defensible garrisons ; one
situated at the Chops of Merrymeeting Bay, so as to command the entrance
to said Bay, and the river of Kennebec, in the high road of the Indians from
Norridgewock, and of public benefit in order to curb and restrain the enemy.
The other situate in Georgetown, near the meeting house, so as to be a great
cover to the inhabitants of said town. That your Excellency and Honors,
out of your great goodness in compassion to the exposed state of said settle-
ments on said river, were pleased to allow a complement of men to be posted
there for the defence of said places, which, with the highest gratitude, we
would acknowledge, as an instance of your paternal care, and to which was
owing the continuance of said inhabitants. That since the declaration of
war with the Indians (August, 1746), these men have been withdrawn,
and said places are left exposed a prey to the enemy ; and the season of the
year is advancing for planting and so forth, which it is impossible for said
inhabitants to do anything towards raising bread for their subsistence,
unless some protection be afforded to said places as shall in your great wis-
dom seem meet, and may be consistent with His Excellency's pleasure, so
that the inhabitants may be encouraged to follow their husbandry in the

season of it"

(Signed,) Job Lewis,

Abthur Noble.

Endorsed on the back 1746. No month is mentioned, but the petition says
"The season of the year is advancing for planting."

124 COL. AKTHUR NOBLE, OF GEORGETOWN.

date of its publication, but it gives the dates of the surveys
from which it is copied, the last of which is 1752. It was evi-
dently prepared for the Plymouth Company. Its authenticity
is attested to by Thomas Johnson. I am enabled to fix the
date of its preparation by the books of the Treasurer of the
Company, where is this item :

" Kennebec Purchase to James Bowdoin, Dr.
" 1754, Nov. 17* Paid Thomas Johnson, for copper plates

to engrave the plan* on, 4 pounds!"

Col. Noble's fort is prominent on this map. It is represented
of two stories with a watch box on the conical roof, and with a
flag flying over all. Job Lewis, the other signer of the petition,
was a resident of Boston, and a member of the Pejepscot Com-
pany. He also had a house at the ancient town of "Augusta,"
at Small Point Harbor. His fort was on the eastern shore of
Merrymeeting Bay, where the Kennebec enters. It is marked
" Lewis' F " on the engraved plan.

These memoranda show that Col. Noble was the foremost
man .of his neighborhood, and had been looked to for protection
years before he went to Louisburg. He was one of the board
of five Selectmen at the organization of the town of Georgetovm,
in 1735.

The loss of Louisburg awakened the French nation to a sense
of the danger of losing Canada also, that fortress being the key
to the St Lawrence. The most powerful fleet that had ever

*This plan is fairly engraved, on a scale of eight mUes to an inch, and its
title is enclosed by ornamental scroll work. In the foreground of a landscape
stand the figures of two Indians with uncovered heads— one holds a war-
club and the other a musket. But, as if in irony, the engraver has made
scrolls leading from their mouths. On one is engraved the sentence " God
hath placed us here." The other figure is in the act of a significant gesture,
and is saying, " God decreed this land to us."

COL. ARTHUR NOBLE, OF GEORGETOWN. 125

been sent to North America, sailed from Brest for Cape Breton
and Nova Scotia. It consisted of seventy sail, eleven of which
were ships of the line, with twenty frigates, and 3,000 disci-
plined troops, and immense quantities of ammunition, cannon
and military stores. This whole fcrce was placed under the
command of the Duke De Anville,, a nobleman of great expe-
rience and ability. He was orde/ed to retake and dismantle
Louisburg ; he was then to proceed against Annapolis, which he
was to take and garrison. He was next to destroy Boston and
range along the whole coast, and finally visit the West Indies.

The news of the sailing of this fleet caused great consterna-
tion throughout the coast towns of New England, especially in
Boston. The castle was strengthened, and new batteries built.
One was placed on the end of Long Wharf, for the defence of
the town, while large bodies of militia came from the country
for the same purpose.*

The passage of the French fleet to America was unprecedent-
edly long, and on the first of September they experienced a very
severe storm, in which several of the ships foundered. After a
passage of more than ninety days, the fleet arrived at Chebucto,
now Halifax, too late to refit and execute any part of the
designed conquest that season. The troops had suflfered much
during the long voyage with sickness, and large numbers had
died.

The Commander of this once powerful armament was so
much affected by the disappointment that he died on the fourth
day after arrival, of apoplexy ; the English say, of poison.

The misfortuuQis of the fleet and the death of De Anville so
depressed the Vice Admiral that he was thrown into a delirious
fever, and in one of his paroxysms he ran his sword through his

* Douglas says 6,400 men, well armed, appeared on Boston Common to
oppose De Anyille.

126 COL. ARTHUR NOBLE, OF GEORGETOWN.

body and immediately expired. The fleet and army then went
into winter quarters, at Bedford Basin, but still suffered from
sickness, although they were supplied with fresh provisions by
the Acadians.

It was decided to abandon the conquest of Louisburg, But to
attack Annapolis in the spring, and a force of French and Indians
was sent from Canada to.ifcnas to co-operate with the fleet.
Soon after the fleet sailed from •Chebucto, in the spring of 1746,
for Annapolis, it was overtaken off Cape Sable by another violent
storm, which so much weakened it that it was decided to
abandon the enterprise and return to France.

The failure of this powerful armament was looked upon by
the colonies as a peculiar intervention of Divine Providence in
their favor, and a general thanksgiving W6ts proclaimed in Massa-
chusetts, and some of the sermons preached by the clergy on
that occasion have come down to us in print.

Governor Mascarene, of Nova Scotia, the inhabitants of which
at that time were all Acadians, except the English garrison of
Annapolis, made frequent representations of the state of the
Province to Governor Shirley, of Massachusetts, who had the
principal care of Nova Scotia, Col. Mascarene being Lieut-
Governor under him. He represented that 1,000 men, in addi-
tion to the three companies then in garrison at Annapolis,
would be sufficient to dislodge the Canadian force under De
Bamzay ; and that, by quartering the New England forces among
the Acadian inhabitants, they would eat out their substance,
which would leave the country destitute of the means to feed
an enemy, and that their presence and intercourse with the
Acadians would have a good effect in confirming them in their
allegiance. This was nine years previous to the forcible re-
moval of the Acadians from the Province.

Upon these assurances of Gov. Mascarene, the Massachusetts

COL. ARTHXJR NOBLE, OF GEORGETOWN. 127

House of Eepresentatives voted to raise 500 men, Ehode Island
300 and New Hampshire 200 men, for this service. To com-
mand this thousand men, Col. Noble was selected, having re-
mained at home only a few months after his arrival with his
regiment from Louisburg. By his appointment to the command
of this expedition, we are assured that, by his conduct at
the siege of Louisburg, he had shown that he was the best
qualified, all things being considered, of all the officers in the
Province for this service. If, for the Louisburg expedition, it
was necessary to have a popular commander to draw men to
his standard, it was doubly so now, as the best soldiers of the
Provinces had but just returned from Cape Breton, where they
had been detained many months more than was stipulated at
their enlistment We find that most of the officers of the Nova
Scotia expedition had been in that for the reduction of Louis-
burg, which makes it probable that most of the soldiers had
seen service there also. During the summer, there had been
enlistments for an expedition against Canada, and Eev. Thomas
Smith, of Falmouth, in his journal, thus notices the progress :
" June 20, 1746. The expedition to Canada goes on in this
Province but slowly ; our people being dispirited on account of
the sickness and their unfair treatment at Cape Breton."

Yet Col. Noble filled up his rolls, although it was for a winter
campaign in Nova Scotia. His will was executed in Boston on
the twenty-second day of November, 1746. In the commence-
ment he says, " being bound on an expedition against the enemys
of the King of Britain." It must have been nearly December
when his transports sailed.

At this season of the year the Bay of Fundy is filled with
floating ice, which is driven up and down by the tide and wind,
which makes the navigation very dangerous. The disasters
which befel some of the transports from the other provinces.

128 COL. ARTHUR NOBLE. OF GEORGETOWN.

show the inclemency of the weather at the time. At this time
there were no lighthouses, fog beUs, or even a beacon of any
kind, on the east shore of the Bay. Even now, with all the
modern safeguards to navigation, the contractors to carry the
mails between St. John, N. B., and Annapolis, Nova Scotia, to
insure any regularity after September, in crossing the Bay of
Fundy, were compelled to purchase in England a powerful
steamer, constructed of plates of steel, and having all her ma-
chinery under deck. This vessel was built to run across the
British Channel from Dover to Calais, and in answer to my en-
quiry as to her sea-going qualities, her commander said that " if
she rolled over, she was always sure to come right side up at
last."

These are the waters which Col. Noble was expected to navi-
gate in December, with his small vessels crowded with soldiers.
The vessels carrying the Ehode Island men were shipwrecked
near Martha's Vineyard. One New Hampshire vessel, a sloop,
arrived in Annapolis Basin, but did not land her troops ; she ran
out again in search of her consort, and meeting a French snow
or brig near St. John, mistook her for the transport, and sent a
boat with eight men on board, which were made prisoners ; and
the sloop, instead of returning to Annapolis, sailed for Ports-
mouth.

Col. Noble, with 470 men from Massachusetts, arrived at
Annapolis. Capt. Thomas Perkins, who was at Louisburg with
Col. Noble, sailed from Cape Neddick for Annapolis with his
company, and was shipwrecked at Mount Desert, losing a large
part of his force. On learning of Col. Noble's arrival at
Annapolis, De Ramzay fled from Minas to Schegneeto. After
waiting a while for Capt. Perkins* arrival. Gov. Mascarene de-
tached Capt. Howe, with a small number of men from the
garrison, to join CoL Noble, and this small part of the intended

COL. ABTHITE NOBLE, OF GEOllGETOWN. 129

number sailed for Minas. Not being able to reach Minas by
water, and there being no harbor on the eastern shore, Col.
Noble landed his force in the wilderness on the fourth of
December. The point of landing is now unknown ; but it is
said to have been twelve leagues north-west from Minas. Each
man was furnished with fourteen days' provisions, which he
carried on his back, and, with musket and ammunition, they
started for Minas. The snow was very deep, and the tradition
at Minas is, that they had no snow-shoes ; but I think this is
not true, as snow-shoes are mentioned after their arrival at
Minas, as we shall see.

To reach their destination they were obliged to immediately
ascend and pass diagonally over the " North Mountain," through
a dense forest, without a track or guide, or a tent for shelter.

The North Mountain is a ridge of land which would not be
called a mountain in New Hampshire. It reaches from the
south end of Digby Neck, which separates St Mary's Bay from
the ocean, to Cape Blomidon, at the Basin of Minas, about 120
miles. The only passage through this ridge is what British
surveyors call " St George's Channel," but the sailors call it
" Digby Gut" This passage is about half a mile wide, with
steep precipices on each side, reaching to the top of the moun-
tain, and seems to have been formed by some convulsion of
nature. On the south shore is now a light-house and fog-bell,
which, from the continual fogs at certain seasons, are very use-
ful in directing the mail steamer from St John to this entrance
to Annapolis Basin, which is eighteen miles long, and separated
from the Bay of Fundy by the North Mountain, which efifect-
ually shuts out the bay fog from Annapolis valley, making the
temperature in summer from ten to fifteen degrees warmer than
on the bay shore, three or four miles distant over the mountain.
This valley, for seventy miles to the Basin of Minas, is very

9

130 COL. ABTHTJB NOBLE, OF GEOKGBTOWN.

fertile, aboiuiding in meadows formed by diking out the sea
water.

In eight days from the time of landing, CoL Noble arrived at
Grand Pr^, a village of the Aq^dian settlement of Minas, having
marched about forty miles diagonally over a mountain range,
and through a trackless wilderness. Of the fatigue and suffer-
ing of this winter march, no authentic account has come down
to us.

By the following extract of a letter written by lieut-Grov-
emor Mascarene, I find that a small force had been sent to
occupy Minas immediately after De Eamzay, with his force of
Canadians and Indians, had retreated to Sch^necto, now Cum-
berland. The letter is dated Annapolis Royal, twenty-third of
January, 1746.

" The deputies of Minas came down in the mean time to acquaint
me with the departure of the Canadians^ telling me that their com-
mander, Mons. De Ramzay, on hearing of the preparation to go
and attack him, summoned the inhabitants, to know their inten-
tions, and tried to persuade them to join with him to repel the
force coming against Minas ; but, finding that his persuasions
could not prevail, and that the inhabitants declared they would
stand to the oath of fidelity they had taken to the King of Great
Britain, he embarked his provisions, ammunition and men on
board four vessels, one of them being a Snow, of 14 guns, and
retired to Chignecto. There had been a notion spread amongst
the French inhabitants of this province, that a great force was
coming from New England to transport or destroy them, on which
chiefly Mr. Ramzay founded his hopes of their revolt ; but Gov.
Shirley having sent a letter directed to me, and whereof he caused
many copies to be printed in French, at Boston, I immediately
distributed them, and thereby prevented any mischiefs occurring
from that notion, and defeated the hopes Mr. Bramzay might have
from it ; the inhabitants, from that letter, being assured that the

COL. ARTHUIt NOBLE, OP GEORGETOWN. • 131

forces did not come with any such intent ; and experience has
since convinced 'em ; for in the two months they have now heen
at Minas, these troops have kept orderly, and have cansed little or
no complaint to the inhabitants."

The two months mentioned that the troops had been at Mi-
nas, must have commenced on the twenty-third of November,
and the troops under Col. Noble did not arrive there until the
twelfth of December. Undoubtedly the troops mentioned by
Governor Mascarene were a part of the three companies pre-
viously sent from Massachusetts to Annapolis. The stone
house hereafter mentioned as the guard-house, was probably the
headquarters of tlus force, which had been sent from .^inapolis
as soon as Governor Mascarene learned that Be Bamzay had
left Minas. It must have been sent there by the way of the
Bay of Pundy, as they had several small cannon which could
not have been transported overland from Annapolis. CoL
Noble's transports must have worked their way to Minas after
he left them, or those that carried the previous detaj^hment re-
mained, as " their vessels" are mentioned in the account of the
battla

The "Boston Post Boy," of Monday, February 16, 1747,
contains the following :

''Boston. On the eighth instant, arrived here from Annapolis
Boyaly the Bev. Mr. Wm. McClenachan, Chaplain to Brigadier
General Waldo^s Regiment, who contradicts the common report
we have had in town, of the death of several ofBcers and many of
our soldiers at Annapolis ; hut informs us of the death of Lieut.
Spencer Phips, son of his Honor, our Lieut-Governor, a gentleman
who was loved and admired both by his brother officers, and the
soldiers under his command, and his death is much lamented by
all ; that all the rest of the officers belonging to Brigadier Gener-
al Waldo's Begiment are alive and well ; and but a few of the pri-

132 • COL. ARTHUR NOBLE, OF GEORGETOWN.

vate soldiers dead. That our forces marched from Annapolis to
Minas the beginning of last December, and were received in the
most affectionate manner ; and that the inhabitants of that place
provided plentifully for them. That Mons. Ramzay, with a small
number of French and Indians, being much affrighted, fled from
Minas as soon as he heard of the arrival of our forces at Annap-
olis. That all our army at Minas are healthy and in high spirits,
no distemper nor sickness raging amongst them. That Col. Koble,
who is Commander-in-Chief of that detachment, has determined
to pursue the Monsieur, and will doubtless soon have the pleasure
of conversing with him, and prevent his return to Canada."

Two days before the action happened at Minas, CoL Noble
wrote as follows :

" Grand Pre, at Minas, Jan. 28, 1746.

'' I have no account yet of Capt. Perkins and an hundred men
from the County of York, nor of three companies from Ehode
Island ; if we are so lucky as to have those troops arrive, then it
may enable our proceeding to Chignecto, and to distress and drive
the enemy from thence, as also to keep the inhabitants there in
due obedience to his Majesty. I am informed that it is impracti-
cable to march from hence by land to Chignecto thi^s season ; but
had I had the number of seven or eight hundred effective men, I
should have proceeded there before this time. The number of
troops, which Governor Shirley intended to have ranged this coun-
try, had we been so happy as that they had all arrived in due
season, it is my opinion that we should have been able to have
destroyed or distressed most if not all the French and Indian
enemy, as we should have had strength enough to drive the enemy
from among the inhabitants into the wilderness, and this hard
winter they must have either perished or surrendered themselves
prisoners. Major Philips, Quarter-Master to the several detach-
ments sent here, has with all possible activity and industry quar-
tered the troops in the best manner, as also obliged the inhabitants

COL. ARTHUR NOBLE, OF GEORGETOWN. 133

to furnish provisions for 'em. I keep detachments daily on the
scout to the neighboring villages round this place. Lieut. Lech-
mere is dangerously ill of a fever ; the other officers here are all
well, and the men, save about ten, and I hope not above two or
three of 'em are dangerous. The King's service requires Major
Philips home, and Gapt. How is come to supply his place, to man-
age civil a£Eair8 with the inhabitants, who behave with courtesy,
but say we shall eat them up."

The mention in this letter, of " Major Philips as Quarter-
Master of the several detachments " sent there, is further proof
that one detachiment, at least, had preceded CoL Noble to Minas,
and the Quarter-Master had billeted the troops among the
inhabitants as directed by (xovemor Mascarene, to consume
their provisions, so that there would be none left to support the
enemy if they should come after Col. Noble had left. The
newspaper account, as we shall see, says *' they were quartered
there, in the houses that lay scattered about a mile and a half s
distance from one end to the other."

In CoL Noble's letter just quoted, he says : " I am informed
that it is impracticable to march from hence by land to Scheg-
necto this season." Of course, if it was impracticable for Col.
Noble, it was considered equally so for De Bamzay with his
force. From the officers who had been there before him, he
must have obtained his information, so that CoL Noble's mili-
tary reputation will not suffer from the careless manner in
which his troops were quartered, as it was so done by order of
Governor Mascarene, who was a Lieut-Colonel in the British
Army. Major Philips, the Quarter-Master, had been there two
months, and knew of the coming of CoL Noble with his force,
and of course had the arrangements for bUleting the troops on
the Acadians all completed previous to their arrivaL

Col. Noble does not seem to have been to blame for any lack

134 CCfli. ABTHUR NOBLE, OF GEOBGETOWK.

of foresight in poeting pickets. The officers who were there
before him would be expected to attend to that CoL Noble
says in the same letter : " I keep detachments daily on the
scout to the several neighboring villages round this place."

Before we condemn Major Philips and the other officers
from whom Col. Noble obtained his information as to his safety,
let us examine the situation. The Basin of Minas, which is
filled and half emptied at each tide, by. the waters rushing
through the Bay of Fundy, is fifteen mQes wide at Cape Blom-
idon, and thirty miles long from east to west. This Basin is
the reservoir into which empty nineteen distiiftt rivers, and at
Schegnecto, at spring tides, the rise and fall is seventy feet
With the large volume of water from these nineteen rivers,
and the monstrous fall of the tide, which discharges itself
into the ocean through the Bay of Fundy, one hundred and
fifty miles distant, of course the current at half tide is fearfuL
The great fall loosens any ice that has formed at the mouths
of these rivers on top of the tide, and these ice floes are contin-
ually growing heavier from the excessive cold while being driven
up and down the bay, for they hardly reach the ocean with
a fair wind when they meet the flood and are forced back to
the starting point. Can we wonder that the officers at Minas
considered themselves safe from an attack by water from an
enemy on the opposite shore of the Basin ? And for the enemy
to reach Minas by land, he must march round the head of the
Basin, and cross each river far enough from its mouth to find
solid ice, which wotdd make the circuit one hundred and twenty
miles at least, over snow from two to three feet deep, and of
course without shelter in any weather. Shall we blame these
officers for their conviction of security, and in a driving snow
storm of thirty hours continuance ?

But the shock came, and to learn how those fearless men met

COL. ABTHUR NOBLE, OF GEORGETOWN. 135

it, I will give the accotint from the Boston Weekly Post Boy,
of Monday, March 2, 1747.

<' Boston. — On Thursday night last, Gapt. Benjamin Goldthwait
arrived here express in the Ordnance packet from Annapolis Boyal;
with the following advices :

** That on Saturday, the thirty-first of January, before daylight,
a party of Canadians, French inhabitants of the Island of St.
John's in Bay Verte [this is now " Prince Edward's " Island] and
some of the inhabitants of Schegnecto, between five and six hun-
dred in all, having made a march of three weeks from Schegnecto
in the excessive severity of the late season, and when the roads
were thought impassable, arrived at Grand Pr6 in Minas, and sur-
prised the detachment of our troops, consisting of about five hun-
dred, under the command of the late Col. Noble, which were quar-
tered in the houses there, that lay scattered about a mile and a
half 8 distance from one end to the other, and began their attack
upon 'em about two o'clock in the same morning, by surrounding
almost every officer's quarters within a few minutes of the same
time, and, after killing the sentrys, rushing into several of the
houses and destroying many in their beds, so that before day-light
they had killed about seventy, and taken upwards of sixty pris-
oners, and wounded others ; among the former of which was Col.
Noble, whose quarters were the first attacked, and who had the
night before unfortunately moved the main gu&rd from 'em to a
stone house * in the town at a small distance, and after having re-
ceived two wounds in his body, and returned the enemy's fire three
times in his shirt, was at last shot dead with a musket ball (which

» In Otis LitUe's '' State of Trade in the Northern Colonies, considered with
an account of their produce, and a particular description of Nova Scotia,"
London, 1748 — ^Boston, 1749, this house is said to have been proof against
small arms. '* This is built/' he says, " on an eminence that commands a
great part of the town, but being overlooked on three sides by high land,
would be greatly exposed in case of an attack." It was evidently written
before CoL Noble's expedition.

136 COL. AKTHUB NOBLE, OF GEORGETOWN.

entered his forehead). His brother, Ensign Noble, who was like-
wise killed fighting in the same honse, and Lient. Jones (who,
after a bray« resistance, by which he had rid himself of some of the
enemy, and in which he was much wounded), was at last run
thro' the heart with a bayonet, as he was endeavoring to escape,
and Lieuts. Lechmere and Pickering, who were both killed in their
beds, where they had been confined several weeks by a dangerous
sickness. However, during this attack, which continued from two
in the morning 'till twelve at noon, the enemy was repulsed at
several houses, and when it grew light, the remainder of our people
getting together in a body, being then about 350, to the stone
house where the main guard was kept, made so resolute a defence,
that the enemy about twelve o'clock sent a flag of truce, desiring a
surgeon might be sent to dress Capt. How, who was in their hands
and very much wounded, and proposing. a cessation of arms 'till
the surgeon's return, which was agreed to, as was also the enemy's
proposal, upon the return of the surgeon, to continue the cessation
of arms until the next morning.

" Upon the first meeting of our troops at the main guard, it was
proposed by 'em to issue out and attempt the recovery of Col.
Noble's quarters and their vessels (which were also in the enemy's
hands), where all their ammunition was lodged, except what each
man had about him ; but a snow storm of about thirty hours' con-
tinuance having happened just before the enemy's arrival, which
had occasioned a very deep light snow upon the ground that had
almost buried them and their arms, in their attempt to reach the
main guard, and being able to muster up no more of their snow-
shoes than eighteen pair, the rest being on board their vessels,
and the enemy (whose number they had then learnt) being all
provided with them, it was impracticable for 'em to succeed in such
an attempt, or to issue out of the stone house without the utmost
risque of being cut off by the enemy ; however, it was attempted,
but they were forced to desist upon finding themselves plunged so
deeply in the snow as to make their arms useless. Wherefore,

COL. ABTHUR NOBLE, OF GEORGETOWN. 137

upon examining into their stores and ammunition, and finding
that they had but eight charges of powder per man left, and as
many rounds of hall, to defend themselves with in case of an attack
after the cessation of arms should he expired, and not above one
day's provision in bread, they judged it most advisable to accept
of honorable terms from the enemy, which were most readily
granted 'em ; the substance of which we hear is as follows, viz :
' That they should have all their arms, accoutrements and clothing,
with six days' provision, a pound of powder and a portion of ball
for each man, and march out with their drums beating and colors
flying, and to proceed to his Majesty's garrison, at Annapolis
Boyal, without molestation ; that they should be restrained from
taking up arms for six months in the Bay of Minas, or Schegnecto ;
that all the prisoners taken by the enemy before the capitulation
should remain prisoners of war, among which are Capt. How,
Capt. Doane, Lieut. Gerrish and Ensign Newton. Our men (to
the number of fifty) who are sick and wounded, and not taken
prisoners, to remain with the enemy, in order to be cared for at
our charge, and sent back as fast as they recover.' After which
our troops marched out accordingly from Minas, and are arrived
and in perfect good health p,t Annapolis Koyal.

'' It must be confessed that this was a most bold and daring en-
terprise of the enemy, and which they can't be reasonably supposed
to have undertaken without the most particular intelligence of the
numbers, too great security and disposition of our troops, to whose
quarters (especially those of the officers) they must have been
conducted, and a dependence upon our want of intelligence and
even receiving wrong information, which it is evident Col. Noble
had received, concerning the impossibility of making a march be-
tween Minas and Schegnecto, at that season ; but, notwithstanding
these advantages, the enemy might probably have miscarried if
the snow storm had not happened immediately before their arrival
at the Grand Pr6. However, we find it is agreed on all hands
that our troops made a very resolute and brave defence under their

138 COL. AKTHUR NOBLE, OF GEORGETOWN.

surprise (a public testimony of which is contained in the following
letter of Lieut.-Goyernor Mascarene to 'em), and it seems certain,
from the terms of capitulation, that their behavior made the enemy
willing to part with them. This accident makes the miscarriage
of the Rhode Island troops, and Gapt. Perkins' company by ship-
wreck, and sickness, and the return home of the New Hampshire
forces, the greater misfortune ; all which, had they joined the de-
tachment of the Massachusetts troops at Minas, would undoubtedly
destroyed the enemy, or drove them out of Nova Scotia ; but it is
hoped it may still be retrieved by the spring.

" Of the enemy, upwards of twenty were killed and fifteen
wounded. Among the latter was their commanding officer.

*^ Col. Noble's servant, who was in the house with him during
the attack, says that the enemy, after he was wounded, called to
him by name from without, telling him if he would come out they
would give him quarter; but he refused, answering it that he
should defend himself to the last."

Governor Mascarene dispatched the following letter to the

defeated troops :

" Annapolis Royal, 7th of Feb., 1746.

^' Gentlemen : — I have received the news of your misfortune
at Minas, as one of those things to which we are liable in war. I
am sorry for the number of men we have lost, but as from all
hands I understand that you fought like brave men, I am the easier
under this misfortune. I send Col. Gorham to receive you, and
to acquaint you with what we have talkt over. I desire you will
follow his directions. I hope to see you soon. I need not tell you
to keep your people in heart, for I have this opinion of them,^ that
I believe that every one of them would be glad to meet his enemy on
even ground, and that it is nothing but the surprise that has given
them any advantage over you. I am, gentlemen, your most humble
servant, P. Masgabbne.

'^ To the Commander and all other, the officers of the party return-
ing from Minas."

COL. ARTHUE NOBLB, OF GEOEGBTOWN. 139

From the Boston Post Boy, Monday, March 9, 1747.

*^ Thursday last a vessel arrived here from Annapolis Royal, hy
whom we have a more particular and favorable account of the late
engagement between our troops and the French and Indians at
Minas, than that published in our last paper, viz : that the num-
ber of our killed and prisoners did not amount to more than 100,
and that 25 of our wounded men were recovered, and returned to
Annapolis ; the rest (about thirty) being at Minas under the care
of a surgeon.

''On the French side, their commander, Capt. Gaulin, and
another officer were dangerously wounded, and three other officers,
with forty men killed, besides several cart-loads wounded and
carried off during the action. The enemy stayed but a few days
at Minas, for having burnt one of the vessels, disabled the guns
by knocking off the trunnions, and burnt the frame of a block-
house, they withdrew the same way they came ; so that 'tis plain
they had very little to boast of, since they durst not stay to occupy
the advantageous post they had taken. They returned nine or
ten of our men who were prisoners of war, among whom is Ensign
Newton of this town, who has- arrived here, together with about
seventy of our men who were in the capitulation.

'' Several letters give great encomiums on the bravery of our men,
both officers and soldiers ; and we are well assured that the French
were the first that desired a parley, and offered our people honor-
able terms if they would capitulate."

The French account of the battle of Minas, translated from
the report to the French (xovemment, for the N. E. His. and
• Gren. Begister, by E. B. O'Calaghan, M. D., of Albany :

" Mr. De Ramezay being unable to march in consequence of a
severe bruise he received on the knee in his (former) journey to
Minas, the Canadian detachment of about 300 men, including
French and Indians, set out on snow shoes from Beaubassin [now
Lawrence] on the twenty-third of January, 1747, for Minas, under

140 COL. ARTHUK NOBLE, OF GEOEGETOWN.

the command of Capt. Goolon, for the purpose of driving oS the
English who had come to settle there. It arrived at Pegigaet,
[now Windsor] on the tenth of February. Capt. Coulon having
reconnoitered the enemy^s position, divided his force into ten sub-
divisions, so as to make a simultaneous attack on as many houses
in which the enemy was quartered to the number of 500, instead
of 250 as had been already reported. After marching all night, he
found himself on the morning of the eleventh,* in a position to
commence the attack, which he did. The enemy had sentinels at
each house and kept good watch.

'' Mr. De Coulon received, shortly after the first shock, a musket
ball in his left arm, which obliged him to retire, from the loss of
blood. The ten houses that were attacked were all carried, with
the exception of only one, which had cannon, and which had been
abandoned by the Micmacs, four of their men having been put
hors du combat by the first fire. The command having devolved
on Captain Chevalier de La Corne, he attacked and carried the
house occupied by Col. Noble and his brother and Mr. How, mem-
ber of the Council at Port Royal [Annapolis]. He remained in
the house and prevented the approach of the enemy, whom he
obliged to take refuge in a stone house in which they had some
cannon. The firing had been unceasing from the commencement
of the attack in the morning, until three o'clock in the afternoon,
when it terminated. In this space of time, the enemy have had
130 men, including six officers,! ^^l^d on the spot, 34 wounded and
63 taken prisoners. On our side we have lost 6 men, viz : 3
Canadians, a farmer belonging to Port Tolouse, and two Micmacs ;
had 14 wounded, including Capt. de Coulon, and Cadet de Lursig-

*The discrepancy in the dates of the English and French accounts, is ac-
counted for by the adoption of a new style, by Catholic countries, by order of
Pope Gregory XIII, in 1682. It was not adopted by Great Britain until
1762, when eleven days were dropped from the calendar.

t Haliburton says they were Col. Noble, Lieutenants Lechmere, Jones and
Pickering, and Ensign Noble. The name of the sixth does not appear.

COL. ARTHXJK NOBLE, OF GEORGETOWN. 141

Dan. Capt. How being dangeronsly wonnded, requested Gapt.
de La Come to send for an English surgeon to staunch his wound,
the French surgeon being at that time engaged in attendance
on Mr. de Coulon. This occasioned sending hostages on our part,
and a suspension of hostilities until the English surgeon was sent
back. It was then that two English oiBcers came out of the house
and advanced with a French flag towards the house where Mr. de
La Corne lay, who sent out to receive them. They proposed to
him a cessation of hostilities until nine o'clock the following
morning. He granted their request, but perceiving at an early
hour the next day that they were leaving their houses and col-
lecting the cattle, he sent to notify them that if they did not re-
turn to their houses at once, the armistice should terminate. Mr.
Groldthwait, the English commandant, came to see Mr. de La
Come, in company with another officer, and after having excused
himself, commanded all his men to go in again to their houses ;
asked to capitulate, and submitted his terms in writing. Mr. de
La Come, after consulting with his officers, agreed to a portion of
these terms, and told Mr. Goldthwait to make haste with his de-
cisions, as a prompt renewal of the attack had been determined on.
The capitulation was thereupon signed, and is as follows :

" Capitulation granted by his Most Christian Majesty's
Troops to those of his Britanig Majesty

at Grand Pre.

*' 1. A detachment of his Most Christian Majesty's troops will
form themselves into two lines in front of the stone house occupied
by his Britanic Majesty's troops, who will take their departure for
Annapolis Royal within twice twenty-four hours, with the honors
of war, six days' provisions, haversack, one pound of powder and
one pound of ball.

" 2. The English prisoners, in the hands of the French, will
remain prisoners of war.

'^3. The shipping seized by the troops of his Most Christian
Majesty cannot be restored to his Britanic Majesty's troops.

142 COL. ABTHUH NOBLE, OF GEORGETOWN.

'^ 4. As there was no pillage except by the Indians^ their booty
cannot be restored.

'^ 5. The sick and wounded belonging to the English, actually
in his Britanic Majesty's hands, will be conveyed to the river
Aux Canards, where they shall be lodged by order of the French
Commandant, and supported at his Britanic Majesty's expense
nntil they be in condition to be removed to Annapolis Boyal, and
the French Commandant shall furnish them with letters of protec-
tion, and they shall be at liberty to retain one of their surgeons
until they are restored to health.

" 6. His Britanic Majesty's troops actually at Grand Pr6, will
not be at liberty to bear arms at the head of the Bay of Fundy,
that is to say, at Minas, Cobequitte and Beubassin for the term of
six months from the date hereof.

*' On the acceptance and signing of these terms on the one side
and on the other, his Britanic Majesty's troops will bring with
them a flag, and march to-day from their guard house, of which
his Most Christian Majesty's troops will take possession, as well
as Grand Pr6, and of all the munitions of war, provisions and
artillery which his Britanic Majesty's troops now have.

"Done at Grand Pr6, the twelfth of February, 1747.

" (Signed,) Coulon Db Villier,

*' Commander of the French parti/,
Benjamin Goldthwaite,

Commander of the English.
Who hath signed with thirteen others,

" In consequence of the above, the King of England's troops
marched out, and the French took possession of Grand Fr6 and of
all the stores, provisions and artillery, consisting of two four-
pounders and three swivels."

The English and French accounts of the battle of Minas
differ in several particulars. The English account says that

GOL. ABTHUB NOBLE, OF GE0B6ET0WN. 143

the attack commenced at two o'clock in the night, and the
French account represents it to have been " morning." They
differ widely as to the number of the French force ; their ac-
count says that it was 300, including Canadians, French and
Indians, while the English put it at between 500 and 600.
They do not agree as to the number of killed and wounded on
either side, nor as to who first proposed the capitulation, but the
newspaper account of the terms agrees with the French official doc-
ument. The capitulation was undoubtedly brought about by the
French proposal of an armistice and a hostage, to allow an English
surgeon to go over to the French and dress Capt. How's wound,
" the French surgeon being engaged with Capt Coulon." That
the French had seen enough of fighting, is evident from the
terms granted.

That the French commander must have had a perfect knowl-
edge of the quarters of the Provincial officers, is shown by the
division of his force into ten parties, for the attack of as many
houses at nearly the same time, and the care taken to attack
CoL Noble's as soon as any of them. Undoubtedly this knowl-
edge was communicated by an Indian spy, whom the Acadians,
as was often the case, permitted to share their firesides. The
Acadians and Indians were always on good terms. Their re-
ligion was the same, and the same Bomish priests and mission-
aries had the care of both races, who occasionally intermarried.

At the large Acadian settlement at Clare, in the south part of
the Province, an aged Acadian gentleman of education told me
in 1874, that within thirty years he had seen from 400 to 500
Indians of both sexes encamped around St Mary's Church at
Church Point, St Mary's Bay, which was then in charge of the
aged Abb^ Segogne, a native of France, who had been sent
out to have the care of the Acadians, who were permitted
to return to Nova Scotia after their exodus in 1755. These

144 COL. AKTHUK NOBLE, OF GEORGETOWN.

Indians had come from all the lower Provinces to attend
a church festival, and to have their young people married by
the venerable Abb^, and to receive a blessing at his hands.
At the out-door dances in honor of the bridal day, the Acadi-
ans joined with the Indians in merry-making, while the aged
missionary occupied a chair in a conspicuous place, seeming to
enjoy the scene. This was the way that the early missionaries
won the savages to their religion. From the first settlement of
the Acadians in Nova Scotia, the Micmacs have been their
friends, and when, in 1755, the Acadians were cruelly trans-
ported and their buildings burned, those who escaped found a
home with the Micmacs. We all have heard of the manner in
which the English of the New England colonies tolerated the
presence of the Indians in their settlements, and even in their
houses in time of peace, and yet at the first note from Canada,
of a war, they invariably threw down their pile of stones, which
was a token of friendship, retired and joined the French. The
reason they gave for their sympathy with the French was, that
when their missionaries (like Easle, at Norridgewock), came
among them, they enquired about their spiritual affairs, and
taught them the story of the Saviour, while the English enquired
about their furs, and were not over honest in the traJBBc. Con-
sidering the social relations of the three races, we can see how
Indian spies could live weeks at Minas, mixing with both the
Acadians and the soldiers, without being suspected. The
Acadians had sufficient reason to wish the troops away, but
they had taken the oath of fidelity to the English, and I find
no suspicion of their treachery. They were notoriously an
honest, peaceable people.

It is evident, from the French account, that they depended
on spies, upon whose information they had commenced the
march, to lead them to the houses occupied by the Provincial

COL. AKTHUR NOBLB, OF GEORGETOWN. 145

officers, knowing that if they could kill or disable them at the
onset it would insure their success. Coulon, with his force,
remained one day at Pesiquid, now Windsor, ten miles from
Grand Pr^, undoubtedly to confer with his spies and to plan
the attack, but thought it best not to remain longer for fear
that CoL Noble would learn of his coming, which he knew
would be fatal to his plans, and further, the driving snow-storm
then in progress favored a surprise by keeping the sentinels
within doors, as no enemy was known to be within marching
distance.

It will be recollected that the French account says, " The
ten houses that were attacked were all carried, with the excep-
tion of only one, which had cannon and which had been aban-
doned by the Micmacs, four of their men having been put hors
du comibat at the first fire. The command having devolved on
Capt. La Come, he attacked the house occupied by CoL Noble,
his brother, and Capt How, of the CounciL" It is plain from
this account, that Coulon received his wound while directing
his Micmacs in the prolonged attack on Col. Noble's quarters.
His servant said that *' they called to him by name from with-
out, telling him that if he would come out they would give him
quarter, but he refused, answering it that he would defend
himself until the lasf Col. Noble knew how unreliable were
French promises when the most of the force consisted of sav-
ages ; and further, he was not that kind of a soldier to yield
while he had the power to defend his house, not knowing the
strength of the attacking party. This summons to surrender
and promise, probably, came after Coulon h£Ml been disabled by
a shot from the house, and when La Come assumed the com-
mand, who, failing in a parley, renewed the attack.

The English account says that, " After receiving two wounds
in the body, and returning the enemy's fire three times in his

10

146 COL. AETHUR NOBLE, OF GEOBGETOWN.

9

shirt, CoL Noble was sliot dead with a musket ball, which
entered his forehead." From this part of the newspaper ac-
count, one would conclude that the fighting at GoL Noble's
quarters occupied only a few minutes, but further on, it says
that about twelve o'clock a surgeon was sent for to dress Capt
How, who was wounded in the same house, and this was ten
hours from the first attack on this house, which must have been
resolutdy defended, when CoL Noble and Ensign Noble were
killed in it, and Capt How was severely wounded in it, ten
hours from the commencement of the attack. This Capt How
was afterwards treacherously and barbarously murdered at
Schegnecto, in 1757, by the same kind of an enemy, while under
the protection of a flag of truce. From both accounts, we learn
that the house occupied by CoL Noble was the first attacked,
and the lajst of the ten to be surrendered.

The march of the French force, under Coulon, from Schegnecto,
was unprecedented. Haliburton says of it :

"This enterprise of the French, if not well anthenticated, would
now (1829) be deemed incredible. * * * From Chignecto to
Pesiquid there were few settlements, and they were forced to carry
their provisions on their backs, and from thence to Gtand Pr6 to
submit to the same inconvenience. From the necessity of making
forced marches they had no time to construct camps, and they
%ivonacked on the snow without covering ; yet, with all these dis-
advantages, borne down with the weight of their arms, ammunition
and rations, did these intrepid and zealous people effect this ex-
traordinary march in the short space of twenty-three days."

This and much more of the same, which is all true ; but the
historian named has no word of commendation for his own
countrymen, CoL Noble and his party, for their efforts to reach
Minas under similar difficulties, although his march over the
North Mountain was not so long.

COL. AETHTJR NOBLE, OF GEORGETOWN. 147

These sketches show the obstmacy with which the contest
was pursued by the English and French for the possession of
the fine Province of Nova Scotia, and the sufferings of our
ancestors in the French and Indian wars.

We learn, from the memorandum of the capitulation, that the
Provincial troops marched out of the stone guard-house on the
day that the paper was signed, which was Sunday, the next
day after the battle, undoubtedly, " with drums beating and
colors flying," * and between open ranks of the French troops,
as these honors were granted in the capitulation. Of course
the Fnglish carried their arms at the " shoulder," and the double
ranks of the French presented arms, as military etiquette re-
quired. The martial array of the Provincials could not have
been long maintained, as to reach Annapolis they must march
eighty miles on snow shoes ; but, unlike their route over the
mountain, the fertile valley through which they now were to
pass had Acadian settlements for miles at each end.

The melancholy duty of the burial of the dead by the New
Englandmen, was probably performed during the armistice.
All but their lamented commander and his brother were buried
under an overlooking bank, like a terrace, below the guard
house ; CoL Noble and Ensign Noble were buried near, but
on higher land between two apple trees. The pathetic lines
descriptive of the burial of Sir John Moore, at Corunna, by
Bev. Charles Wolfe, would as well express the feelings of CoL
Noble's soldiers, many of whom were his neighbors at home,
and had shared with him the fatigues and honors at Louisburg
— perhaps had followed him in the van in his charge on the
Island battery.

* Notwithstanding the adverse circumstances, these were

" The droms that beat at Louisburg,
And thundered at Quebec."

148 COL. ARTHUR NOBLE, OF GEORGETOWN.

" Few and short were the prayers we said,
And we spoke not a word of sorrow.
But we stead^tly gazed on the face that was dead,
And bitterly thought of the morrow.

" We thought as we hollowed his narrow bed,
And smoothed down his lonely pillow,
How the foe and the stranger would tread o'er his head,
And we far away on the billow."

In August, 1874, 1 became one of those visiting '* strangers,"
and unwittingly walked over the scene of our hero's brave de-
fence, and the place of his burial I was thinking of the Aca-
dian village, but it did not occur to me that here the battle
took place, when, by accident, I met Mr Laird, the owner of the
fann, who called my attention to the site of the stone guard-
house, which he called a fort. The building has long since
been removed, but the outline of the foundation is plainly
visible ; and, nearer his own house, Mr. Laird pointed out the
place where the brothers Arthur and Francis Noble were
buried. No stone marks the spot, but undoubted tradition has
for more than a century and a quarter kept its locality fresh in
the memory of the neighboring farmers. The manner of Col.
Noble's death was so tragic and his defence so heroic, worthy
of the best days of chivalry, that an interest has been kept
alive in the history of his march over the mountain (as the
farmers affirm, without snow shoes), and the events of that fear-
ful night, when so many were killed in their quarters by the
Indians, before they could defend themselves, and I find on in-
vestigation that the tradition of the neighborhood is mainly
correct.

A Mr. Avery, who owns the adjoining farm, was at the time
I saw him eighty-six years old. His father came there from
Connecticut only eleven years after the battle, so that the mem-
ories of father and son reach back to the time when the events

COL. AETHUR NOBLE, OF GEORGETOWN. 149

of the battle were fresh and the graves plainly marked. Of
course there can be no mistake. If further evidence of the lo-
cation of Col. Noble's grave were necessary, I had it from Mr.
Laird. The two French apple trees, between which was the
grave, died many years ago ; but not long before my visit, Mr.
Laird removed the stump of the last one, and while doing so it
occurred to him to search for some evidence of the burial, when
with his spade he threw up what was evidently a human skull ;
but he made no further search, as he considered the tradition
verified.

The view from this spot is very fine, overlooking the Grand
Prairie, a dike meadow without division fences, two or three
miles wide. Beyond, rising in sublime grandeur, is Cape
Blomidon, an abrupt precipice of sand-stone, said to be 500
feet high, being the eastern end of the North Mountain, but
overlooking it and also the Minas Basin. In the foreground,
near the meadow, are remains of the French orchards — an occa-
sional giant apple tree yet bearing fruit, and rows of the mon-
strous trunks of decayed French willows yet covered with
thrifty sprouts. These mark the margins of the lanes that led
through the village to the church and to the meadows, as they
were when CoL Noble's troops were fed and warmed at the
Acadian firesides.

But the saddest thought of all is, that within ten years after
the simple-hearted Acadians entertained this host of strangers,
speaking another language, an army from the same New Eng-
land colonies, after performing the service for which they were
sent by capturing a fort at Schegnecto, and driving out a force
of armed intruders from Canada and Cape Breton, were com-
pelled by Gov. Lawrence, at Halifax, to force these honest
Acadian people on board of insufficient transports, to be exiled
for life among strangers, and to destroy their village — for no

150 COL. ARTHUR NOBLE, OF GEORGETOWN.

crime but for fear that their increasing numbers would lead
them to commit one. ,

The crest borne on the seal of the Nobles was a grey hound
transfixed by an arrow — ^the motto, translated, was "Death
rather than dishonor." This was probably granted to an an-
cestor for some gallant act. By his refusal to yield when sum-
moned, and defending his quarters at great disadvantage, CoL
Noble well sustained the sentiment of his family motto.

At the time of his death, Col. Noble could not have been past
middle age. Nothing more can probably be learned of his
eventful life. Through this we have followed him to his un-
marked grave among strangers. It is natural to feel an interest
in his children and their descendants.

When about to take command of the erpedition to Minas,
Col. Noble executed a will, which commences thus :

" In the name of Grod, Amen. I, Arthur Noble, of Georgetown,
in the County of York and Province of the Massachusetts Bay,
in New England, Esq., being in sound mind and memory, but
being bound on an expedition against the enemies of the King of
Britain, I make my will as follows : "

To his " well beloved brothers, Francis and James Noble," he
gave the sum of one shilling sterling each. To his daughter,
" Sarah Lithgoe, wife of Mr. Wm. Lithgoe," the sum of 500
pounds, old tenor, and all '' her dear mother's wearing appareL"

''As to the rest of my estate, both real and personal, Z give and
bequeath the same to my well beloved son, Arthur Noble, and his
heirs. And I do hereby nominate my well beloved brother, James
Noble, Esq.y and my good friends Henry Deering, Esq., Capt:
Kobert Temple and Charles Apthorp, merchants, Execotors of this
my last will amd testament, this 22 day of November, 1746.''

This will was proved on the twelfth of May, 1747.

COL. AKTHUE NOBLE, OF GEOBGETOWN. 151

These executors were among the first merchants of Boston.
Bobert Temple came to Boston from England in 1717» and, as
we have seen, founded an Irish Colony in the north part of
Bath, for the transportation of which he chartered five ships.
Charles Apthorp was a partner with Thomas Hancock. He
died in 1758. He has a mural tablet to his memory in King's
Chapel.

I have the official inventory of Col. Noble's personal estate,
comprising every article in a well-appointed household of the
time, besides 83 ounces of wrought plate, 309 ounces of silver
coin, 3,200 pounds in paper money, 350 pounds in bills of
credit, a part of two sloops, a scimitar, six firelocks, and a
pistol with a bayonet. Also ** a silver hilted sword, hroken!*
It is not improbable that this was the sword which Col. Noble
wore at Louisburg, and with which he defended himself at the
time he fell in his own quarters, and which was broken in that
struggle. The value of the personal estate was about 8,000
pound, old tenor.

In this will the only daughter, Sarah lithgow, receives " all
her dear mother's wearing apparel," showing that Col Noble's
¥rife was not living at this time.

In 1740, Arthur Noble and '' Sarah " his wife, deeded land to
Joseph Berry, of Georgetown. This is all I have been able to
learn of her. She was undoubtedly buried in the old burial
ground adjoining the meeting house at Pleasant Cove, the site of
which is now occupied by a barnyard — all marks of graves
having disappeared. The old people of the town say that there
were formerly skte stones with inscriptions there, but the
present occupants say that there were none there within theix
knowledge.

I have searched the old graveyards on Arrowsic Island oppo-

152 COL. ARTHTJK NOBLE, OP GEORGETOWN.

site, which are the most ancient, for some memento of Mrs.
Noble, without success.

William lithgow, to whom CoL Noble's only daughter Sarah
was married, was the only commander of Fort Halifax, and
afterwards Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Lincoln
County, when that County was established in 1760. He had a
residence near that which had been Col. Noble's, at what is now
Phipsburg. Their descendants are numerous and respectabla

Arthur Noble, the only son of CoL Arthur, after the death of
Capt James at Louisburg, became the heir of his uncle James,
who was a wealthy land-holder, living on Hanover Street, in
Boston, and owning all the lands joining Damariscotta Pond,
and on both sides of the river for six miles down, and sawmills
on both sides of the falls, which was his wife's inheritance from
her brother, Col. Wm. Vaughan; also lands in New Jersey,
Falmouth and Cape Elizabeth. He bequeathed all his property
after the death of his wife to his niece Sarah Lithgow, and his
nephew Arthur Nobla His will was proved Aug. 14, 1772.

Arthur Noble, Jr., moved from Boston to Damariscotta, on
the " easterly side of Damariscotta Fresh FaUs," in 1762, and
had the care of his uncle's large property. He lived there when
the town of Nobleborough was incorpojated, in 1788, and being
the largest proprietor, his uncle being dead, he named the town
in honor of his father and his uncle James. He removed to
Boston in 1795, and lived on Friend Street. He died in 1807,
aged 71. He was buried in the burying ground adjoining
King's Chapel, which place of worship he attended. He left
sons and daughters. One daughter married Samuel Devens, of
Boston. They were the parents of Mrs. Henry Rice, of New
York, of Mrs. S. R Lane, of Framingham, Mass., and others.
Another daughter married a Harrison. Jane, daughter of the
second Arthur Noble, married Thomas, son of Hopestill and

COL. AETHUR NOBLE, OP GEOEGETOWN. 153

Patience Capen. Of the four daughters of Thomas and Jane
(Noble) Capen, two died unmarried ; one married John Clark ;
Charlotte Harrison became the wife of John Sowdon, who died
in 1835. Their son, Arthur J. C. Sowdon, was a representative
from Boston, in the Massachusetts House, in 1879-80.

Arthur Noble, Jr., had a son Francis, whose son Edward
Noble now lives in the town of " Zara," Canada. He has a
large family of children, who are of the fifth generation in
descent from CoL Arthur Noble, and with their father are his
only descendants bearing the name of Noble. Col. Noble has
many and distinguished descendants through his only daughter
Sarah, who was the wife of Judge William Lithgow.*

*The Lithgow genealogy will be found in connection with the paper on
Fort Hallfaz, in this volume.

ARTICLE III.

Educational Institutions in Maine,

While a District op Massachusetts,

BY

EEV. J. T. CHAMPLIN, D. D., LLD.

Read befoee the Maine Historical Society, at

Portland, March 14, 1878.

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN MAINE,

WHILE A DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS.

It is the design of this paper to give some account of the
educational institutions in Maine before its separation from
Massachusetts. In 1691, at the permanent establishment of the
Province as a District of Massachusetts, under the charter of
William and Mary, it has been estimated that it could not have
contained more than 7,000 or 8,000 inhabitants of the English-
speaking race ; while at the first Federal census, one hundred
years later, it contained less than 100,000 white inhabitants,
and at the separation in 1820 not quite 300,000. Till near the
beginning of the year 1800, there were no means of education
in the district above the common school. There were, how-
ever, quite a number of educated men in the Province engaged
in the di£ferent professions, most of whom had obtained their
education at Harvard College. Courts of law were established
in the different Counties as fast as they were organized, and
parish churches in all the principal towns. Mr. Willis, in his
" Courts, Law and Lawyers of Maine," states that in 1770 there
were sixteen lawyers in the District, and in 1800, fifty-four, and
in 1820, at the separation, two hundred and seven. And the
Bev. Jonathan Greenleaf , in his '' Sketch of the Ecclesiastical

158 EUDCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN MAINE.

History of Maine," states that there were in the Province more
than one hundred clergymen of the congregational order, at the
time of the separation. Very few of these educated men, how-
ever, were natives of Maine. In the year 1800, according to
Mr. Willis, only three natives of Portland had received a col-
lege education, and of these two were sons of Parson Smith.

In pursuing the object which I have in view, I purpose to.
speak : 1. Of common schools and private schools ; 2. Of
academies ; and 3. Of professional schools and colleges.

As the District of Maine was under the laws of Massachusetts
after 1691, and under her influence even before that, we know
that some of the towns must have had common schools of some
sort from a very early period, since a general law of that Com-
monwealth, passed in 1647, required every town having fifty
families to employ a teacher, or teachers, to instruct all who
would attend in reading and writing ; and every town having a
hundred families to employ teachers of grammar schools to in-
struct all comers in the branches necessary for admission to
college, under a penalty of five pounds — increased to ten pounds
in 1691 — ^for n^lecting to do so. And the present Superin-
tendent of common schools, the Hon. Wm. J. Corthell, in his
report for 1877, shows from their records how tlus law was
applied in some of the older towns, as York, Wells, Kennebunk,
Portland, Buxton, Thomaston, New Gloucester, Machias, Canaan,
Norridgewock, Union and Castine, beginning back in the case
of York, about two hundred years ago. The same authority
also states, that ** at the beginning of the present century, one
hundred and sixty-one towns had been incorporated within the
present limits of Maine, and yet in only seven can any record
be found of a grammar school, there being, probably, only this
number which had over one himdred families." Willis* His-
tory of Portland and Williamson's History of Belfast give a fuller

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN MAINE. 159

acconnt of the operations of the law in these particular cities ;
from which local histories, and others of the same kind, it
appears that many of the educated young men, afterwards
etlainent in the professions, engaged temporarily in teaching
these public schools, or else opened private schools for a few
months at a time, which, indeed, were the only private schools
of which we have any account before 1820, the celebrated pri-
vate school of the Kev. Solomon Adams, in this city, having
been established some years later. The ''grammar school,"
required by the Massachusetts law, really included what is now
called the high school, though the r^ular gradation of schools
in the larger places in the State into primary, grammar and
high schools began only in 1823, and this first in our good city
of Portland.

Schools in those times being generally held but a few weeks,
or a few months in a year, and these very commonly by incom-
petent teachers, while school books and other means for in-
struction were equ^y defective, the system of education in the
province was evidently very imperfect and inefficient. There
was clearly a need of something better in kind and more perma-
nent in character. Phillips Academy, at Exeter, N. H., had
been the chief resort of such as aspired to a higher education,
till the establishment of academies of our own in different parts
of the District The movement in this direction commenced in
the last decade of the last century, in the establishment of the
Hallowell and Berwick Academies in 1791, and continued with
remarkable rapidity and persistence, bringing into existence, on
an average, more than one academy a year for the next sixty
years. The centers of population being distant from each other,
the demand could not be met by a few central schools, while the
extent and value of the unappropriated timber lands furnished
facilities for meeting the demand locally, at convenient points

160 EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN BIAINB.

throughout the province. Generally, a half township, and oc-
casionally a township, of the unappropriated lands was granted
to each academy at the beginning, and, in some cases, further
grants were made subsequently. Up to 1820, of course, the
academies were incorporated, and the grants of land made by
the General Court of Massachusetts. These academies were
twenty-five in number, of which alone I am to speak, presenting
such facts as I have obtained from a personal examination of
their records, or from those who have examined them.

In these days of abounding facilities for higher education, we
can hardly realize the importance of these early academies, or
appreciate the interest and enthusiasm manifested in their
founding and progress. Liberal contributions, considering the
general poverty of the people, were made by all around for the
building and the endowment of the school, the most eminent
citizens were incorporated as Trustees, and the opening of the
school, usually accompanied by a sermon by some eminent
clergyman, was a great gala day for all the region.

The first in the Ust was the Hallowell Academy, the act of
incorporation bearing date March 5, 1791, which was granted
in response to a petition headed by Thomas Rice and William
Lithgow, stating that there was no school for higher education
between Exeter Academy, New Hampshire, and the Eastern
boundary of the State, a distance of 300 miles, and having
100,000 inhabitants. The charter established a Board of Trus-
tees, with the usual powers of management, &c., for the purpose
of promoting piety and morality, and for the instruction of
youth in such languages, arts and sciences as they might di-
rect ; and granted them a half township of land, which was sold
in 1806, at two dollars per acre. A lot of land for the academy
building was given by Col. Dutton and John Blunt, and sundry
subscriptions in money — among them one of 81,000 by Eliza-

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN MAINE. 161

beth Bowdoin — were made by citizens for the benefit of the
school ; which was fonnally opened in May, 1795, with a ser-
mon by the Eev. Mr. Bradford, of Pownalboro', and a public
dinner for Trustees and friends. The first preceptor was a Mr.
Woodman, whose salary for the first six months was forty
pounds. In July, 1797, Samuel Moody, who proved a very
able and successful manager and teacher of the school, became
preceptor, and continued in the service till the burning of the
academy building in 1805. His salary at first was $300 a year,
and ten cents a week from each pupil ; at the close it was $500
a year, with the aid of an assistant at $300 a year. At the be-
ginning of his term of service, the Trustees voted to admitr
females to the school. In 1807, Mr. Einne (author, undoubt-
edly, of Kinne's Arithmetic, for many years used in the schools
of the State) became preceptor, and appears to have continued
till 1811, when he was succeeded by Jonathan Curtis till the
academy building was again injured by fire in 1817. After this
there is no account in the records of the appointment of another
preceptor till 1824 The school appears to have been a very
successful and useful one, so that in 1821, Mr. Daniel Coney,
President of the Board, said at a public examination of the
school, that more than eleven hundred children had received
instruction there. Of Mr. Moody, apparently the ablest of the
above named succession of teachers, we have a fine pen and
ink portrait, found in the Appendix of Mr. Willis' " Courts,
Law and Lawyers of Maine," taken from the autobiography of
John H. Sheppard, Eegister of Probate for Lincoln County,,
from 1817 to 1824 : — " I was seven years," says he, " under the
care of Samuel Moody, preceptor of Hallowell Academy, since
deceased, a thorough Dartmouth scholar and superior teacher.
I can see in the visions of the past, his tall, majestic form, like
an Admiral on the deck of a frigate, treading the academic
u

162 EDUCATIONAL IK8TITUTI0NS IN MAINE.

floor, arrayed in small clothes, the costume of the times, with
his bright blue eye watching over his one hundred pupils at
their desks. He was severe at times but affectionate, and used
the ferule as a scepter of righteousness. 1 loved him and was
a favorite, for he let me study the Eclogues of Virgil in school
hours under the groves of the Academy. His scholars turned
out well in the world. Among them were Gen. H. A. S. Dearborn,
Nathan Weston, Beuel Williams and others." This Academy
became in time the free High School of the village, and is now
merged in the Hallowell Classical and Scientific Academy.

Berwick Academy, ako, was incorporated in 1791, and
went into operation in 1793, two years before the opening of
Hallowell Academy, and that, too, under the care of Samuel
Moody, who four years later, as we have seen, became the
preceptor of Hallowell Academy. A township of land (now
the town^of Athens) was granted the school in the charter, and
Benjamin Chadboume, the first President of the Board, gave
a lot for the building, and 200 acres of land in the town
of Shapleigh. Mr. Moody continued in charge of the school
for three years, and was succeeded, in 1796, by Joseph McKeen,
afterwards the first President of Bowdoin College. From
1797 to 1800, inclusive, Benjamin Green was preceptor ; from
1801 to 1803, Joseph Willard; from 1804 to 1812, Josiah
Seaver; from 1813 to 1816, William A Thompson; and in
1817, Isaac Holton. From the end of this year to 1820, the
school was closed for the want of funds. No record of the
number of pupils in attendance was kept, but to 1817 only
boys were admitted to the school In 1815, the Hon. John
Lord left the Academy a fund of $500,* the income of which
was to be expended in presenting each student with a Bible,
which has resulted, up to the present time, in the presentation
of 2,263 copies. The school is still in operation, and since 1820

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN MAINE. 163

has received $2,000 from the State, and several scholarships and
prize funds from individuals. Among the early graduates of
the school were Eev. Dr. Nathaniel Lord, late President of
Dartmouth College, Hon. Bion Bradbury, Rev. Dr. Goodwin,
formerly Prof, of Modem Languages in Bowdoin College, John
Wentworth (Long John, so called), and the Hon. Charles Doe,
Chief Justice of New Hampshire.

Fryeburg Academy and Washington Academy, at Machias,
were both incorporated in 1792, the former February 9th,
the latter March 7th. Twenty-five citizens of Fryeburg, as
proprietors, had erected, in 1791, a building for a '* grammar
school," and opened it under the instruction of Paul Langdon,
with a salary of fifty-two pounds a year, the number of students
being limited to seventy-five, and tuition to be seven shillings a
term of eleven weeks' duration. When, a year later, the Acewi-
emy was incorporated, with a charter donating to it a half
township of wild land, the proprietors of the grammar school
building conveyed it to the Academy, and Mr. Langdon was
continued as preceptor till January, 1802, with the exception of
the year 1799, in which year John P. Thurston served as pre-
ceptor. In 1802, from January to September, Daniel Webster
served as preceptor with great eclat, with a salary at the rate
of $350 a year, of which sum, as we learn from Harvey's
** Seminiscences," he gave $100 to his brother Ezekiel, then in
Dartmouth College. On the retirement of Mr. Webster, Amos
Jones Cook became preceptor, and continued at the head of the
school till 1820, with the exception of the year 1808, when the
school seems to have been suspended for the want of funds, and
the year 1810, when Wm. Barrows, who was a native of the
town of Hebron and had previously taught for several years with
great success the Academy in that place, was the preceptor.
Mr. Cook introduced into the school vocal and instrumental

164 EDUCATIOKAL INSTITTTTIONS IN MAINE.

music, the musical instruments being the flute, the violin and
the bass viol, of which instruments the Trustees furnished him
with two of each kind, and authorized him to charge the pupil
from nine to twelve and a half cents a lesson for instruction in
each of these accomplishments. In the year 1806, a new, larger
and more commodious academy building was erected ; females
were admitted to the Academy, and a preceptress employed
during the summer months " to instruct the girls in needle work,
embroidery, reading, writing and English grammar." The
female department was supported by donations solicited from
friends, which were obtained partly in money, and partly in
tickets of the " Piscataqua Bridge Lottery," and of the "Amos-
keag Canal Lottery." In 1808, a museum of natural history
and other curio^ies was commenced in the Academy, in conse-
quence, apparently, of the interest in these matters excited by
the medical lectures, conducted by consent of the Trustees in a
part of the Academy building, by Dr. Alexander Ramsay. A
complete list of the names of each student for each of the four
terms of the year, down to 1808, is founfi in the records, from
which it appears that there were, during this time, some four
thousand entrances, of which, of course, a large proportion were
repetitions of the same names from term to term. The school,
evidently, was largely attended by all the region around, and
has continued to do important service in the cause of education
to the present day. The records, kept for many years by the
Eev. Wm. Fessenden, who was largely influential in founding
the school, are the fullest and most complete of any which I
have been permitted to examine. They would furnish most
valuable assistance in preparing a history of the town and the
surroimding country, which very much needs to be narrated.

Washington Academy, at Machias, although incorporated the
same year as the Fryeburg Academy, had in early times a

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN MAINE. 165

much less conspicuous history. It received by charter a town-
ship of land (No. 11), which was sold in 1796 for twelve
hundred pounds, and opened its school at West Falls, Machias,
in the year 1800, in a hired building, under the care of Daniel
P. Upton, who was allowed for his services $100 for the year,
and a shilling a week tuition from each pupil, the number of
which was not to exceed twenty. From the close of this year,
the Trustees allowed the school to be conducted as a High
School till 1823, when the Academy went into fuU operation, in
a building erected by the citizens, at East Machias, under the
charge of the Rev. Solomon Adams, afterwards well known as
the teacher of a private school in this city. Since then, the
school has been in successful operation, and has an invested
fund of $23,000.

Portland Academy was incorporated in July, 1794, and in
1797 received of the Greneral Court of Massachusetts a grant
of half a township of land (afterwards sold for $4,000), on con-
dition that a fund for the institution, of $3,000, was first pro-
vided, which was procured chiefly by the indefatigable efforts
of Samuel Freeman, and the school was opened in 1803, in the
second story of the Center Street school house, where it remained
till 1808, when it was removed to the new brick Academy
building, which had been erected near what is now Fluent
Hall, at an expense of $7,300. The first preceptor was Edward
Payson, who received a salary of $600 a year, and continued
his services for three years, till 1806. He was followed as pre-
ceptor by Ebenezer Adams for two years, then by the Rev.
Wm. Gregg, by Nathaniel H. Carter, Nathaniel Wright, and
then, in 1815, by Bezaleel Cushman, who held the place for
twenty-six years. In 1806, there were forty-three boy pupils
in attendance ; in 1807, girls were admitted to the school, and
the attendance was seventy of both sexes. The records of the

166 EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN MAINE.

Academy were destroyed by fire in 1816, and the subsequent
records July 4, 1866. The Academy building was finally sold,
and its funds (now about $33,000) allowed to accumulate till
1873, when the Trustees devoted the income from the same
thereafter to the Portland Public Library and the Portland
Society of Natural History, the children of the schools to enjoy
certain benefits of these institutions, gratis.

Lincoln Academy, at Newcastle, was incorporated in 1801.
The Board of Trustees was made up of eminent citizens from
eight towns, of whom Gren. Knox, of Thomaston, was one.
The charter granted the school a half township of land, which
was exchanged for the " Gore ** between the Plymouth and
Waldo Patents. Subscriptions to the amount of $3,000 were
obtained from citizens in the County, a building erected, and the
school was opened in 1803. It continued in the original build-
ing, at the turn of the road which led to Wiscasset, till 1828,
when it was destroyed by fire, and the present building erected.
The records of the Board having been destroyed by fire in 1845,
the succession of teachers, as well as other important facts, is
known only from tradition. The following are the names of a
few of the earlier teachers, as given without dates, by Gen.
Hall, in his Centennial Address at Damariscotta: Daniel
Haskell, Nathan Sidney, Smith Beaman, Harvey Talcot, Edward
Hollister and a Mr. Fisk, afterward said to have been a college
Professor in Connecticut G«n. Hall says that but little is
known of the earlier teachers, but that tradition relates of Mr.
Beaman, " That he was a young man of ability, with plenty of
temper, and high toned in his religion and politics. He was
injudicious in inflicting punishment upon a promising young
lady of the school, a daughter of one of the citizens of New-
castle, of Scotch-Irish descent, from whom he barely escaped a
caning. That he afterwards became an eminent divine and

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN MAINE. 167

Doctor of Divinity, in the State of New York," This was,
without doubt, the Rev. Dr. Nathaniel S. S. Beaman, of Troy,
N. Y., who was ordained in Portland, in 1810. The Hon. E. W.
Farley, of Newcastle, says that the attendance at the Academy
always has been, and still is, good, and even in early times must
have averaged at least thirty or forty a term.

Blue Hill Academy, Hampden Academy and Gorham Acad-
emy were all incorporated in 1803. Of these, the Bluehill
Academy received by its charter a half township of land (sold for
S6,252), and opened its school in November, 1803, in a building
erected for the purpose by a hundred shareholders, who were
to maintain the school for ten years. David Cobb was the first
President of the Board. The tuition was twenty cents a week
to 1815 ; after that ten cents a week, and the fee of a dollar at
the first entrance. Elias Upton was the first preceptor, from
November, 1803, to November, 1814. Miss Caroline Bowers
taught a female department in the Academy in 1810, and Miss
Ann Bowers in 1811 and 1812. After the close of Mr. Upton's ,
term of service, in 1814, the winter terms seem to have been
taught by different male teachers, and the summer terms by
female teachers. The attendance was good in each year, being
on an average, it is said, about sixty. The school is still in
operation.

Hampden Academy was opened in 1807. John Crosby and
others, in 1803, having subscribed 83,400 for erecting and sup-
porting an Academy, it was incorporated in that year, with a
grant of half a township of land, which was sold in 1805 for
85,740, and the building completed in 1807. The first preceptor
was Phineas Johnson, who continued in charge of the school
till August, 1810, with a salary of $450 for the first year, and
after that of $250 a year, with the tuition, which was at first a
shilling a week and afterwards twenty-five cents a week for

168 EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN MAINE.

each pupil He gave good satisfaction as a teacher, the school
averaging more than sixty pupils a term, four terms a year.
From 1810 to 1816, no regular preceptor was employed by the
Trustees, the Academy apparently having been occupied by
temporary private schools. At the last named date, the Trustees
having entered into arrangements with " The Maine Charitable
Society," of Bucksport (which had been chartered for establishing
a Theological Seminary, and in 1819 founded Bangor Theolog-
ical Seminary), the winter schools opened in the Academy in
October, under the care of Professor Jehudi Ashmun, afterwards
distinguished as Colonial Agent of the Colonization Society in •
Liberia. His services in the school were not very satisfactory,
and the Theol(^cal School removing to Bangor in 1819, a Mr.
Green was employed at the Academy for one term, and in
1820 was succeeded by the Rev. Otis Briggs, who conducted
the school with excellent success for several years, and in 1830
was followed by Asa Mathews for ten years, with like success.
The school, I believe, is still in operation.

Gorham Academy, the other institution incorporated in 1803,
received a half township of land by its charter (the town of
Woodstock), and was for many years one of the most efficient
and successful schools in this part of the State. It was opened
in September, 1806, under the charge of Reuben Nason as pre-
ceptor, who retained the position till 1810, and resumed it again
in 1815, and held it till 1834. The five years between his two
terms of service were occupied, first by Dr. Charles Coffin for
one year, then by Asa Redington, Jr., (the late Judge Reding-
ton, of the Middle District Court, I have no doubt), length of
service not known, and then by Wm. White. During the year
occupied by Dr. Coffin, Miss Rhoda Parker was the first pre-
ceptress employed in the school Mr. Nason, therefore, was the
principal teacher of the school during its best days. During

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN MAINE. 169

his iSrst term of service, i «., to the year 1810, only boys, and
none under ten years of age, were admitted to the school, and
the number limited to forty-five. At his second term of service,
the number of pupils allowed was seventy-five, of whom fifteen
might be girls. His salary at first was S600 a year, and Judge
Pierce thus speaks of him in his History of Gorham : " Mr.
Nason was a native of Dover, N. H., and graduated at Harvard
University in 1802. He was a thorough* scholar, especially in
the Latin and Greek languages, and Mathematics; he was an
able teacher — attentive and faithful to the duties of his voca-
•tion; somewhat severe, but never revengeful; and has been
called by one of his most distinguished pupils ' that sternly
kind old man' The Academy flourished under his guidance."
The Academy is still in operation, and is soon to become a
State Normal SchooL

Hebron Academy was incorporated February 10, 1804. A
half township of land was granted in the charter (afterwards
sold for forty cents per acre), and a lot of land for the building
and school premises given by Joseph Barrows. The building
was erected by shares, taken by seventy persons, and the school
opened September 10, 1805, with a sermon and oration. The
Eev. John Tripp and Wm. Barrows were the most influential
in originating the school, and Wm. Barrows, Jr., son of the
preceding, then in his senior year in Dartmouth College, became
the first preceptor, and remained such till 1809, when he was
succeeded for a term or two by a fellow townsman, Bezaleel
Cushman, so long preceptor of the Academy in Portland, and
then by a Mr. Fessenden in 1810. In 1812, Mr. Barrows re-
sumed his position as preceptor, and continued it till 1815,
when John Eveleth became the preceptor for 1815 and 1816,
under whom the number of pupils was about forty. After Mr.
Eveleth there seems to have been no regular preceptor appointed

170 EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN MAINE.

up to 1820, and only temporary teachers employed from year
to year. Mr. Barrows, it will be seen, was the principal teacher
of the school in these early years, and was evidently an excel-
lent teacher and a most estimable man. His salary was $425
a year, and it is recorded that, at the first opening of the school
under him, some sixty or seventy scholars of both sexes, from
nearly all the neighboring towns, presented themselves. Early
benefactors contributed some $1,500 for the benefit of the
school, including $500 from Andrew Craggie. In 1855, the
institution held its semi-centennial anniversary, with an histori-
cal address by the Eev..Dr. Adam Wilson, and short addresses
by the Hons. A. K. Parris, Elijah and Hannibal Hamlin, Jabez
Woodman and Stephen Emery, of the earlier graduates of the
school. Dr. Wilson, in his address, gives the following quaint
description of the first academy building: "The first public
building in the town was an illustration of the union of religion
and science. Some of us here can remember, and others can
imagine, a building somewhat peculiar in its form and appear-
ance. It was of wood, one-story, yet towering in its height
somewhat above the one-story buildings in the vicinity. Near
the center of the house was a single chimney with a fire-place
on each side. Front of the chimney was an entry, and back of
it folding doors ; when the doors were closed, we had two good
rooms for study and recitation ; when the doors were open, all
was one hall for declamation, and on the Sabbath one sanctuary
for worship." The Academy has been one of the most useful
ones in the State, and has lately beeii adopted as a fitting school
for Colby University, and is now in process of receiving an
endowment for that purpose.

Bath Academy was chartered in 1805, and Bath Female
Academy in 1808 ; but I have not been able to obtain anything
relative to the history of either of these schools, except that

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN MAINE. 171

they each received a half township of land, and that that of
the former was sold for $8,050. For some years they have
both been merged in the city High School, which, however, I
believe, admits pupils from out of town without charge for
tuition.

Farmington Academy was incorporated in 1807, but, as far as I
have been able to ascertain, was not opened for students till 1812,
and then under the care of the Eev. James Hall, as preceptor,
who continued in the office for two years, and was followed, for
the years 1814 and 1815, by Otis Briggs (afterwards preceptor
of Wiscasset Academy, as we shall see, and also of Hampden
Academy, as we have already seen) ; then by N. G. Howard, for
the year 1816 ; then by Joseph Caldwell, for 1817 and 1818 ;
then by Moses S. Moody, for 1819 ; and finally by the Eev.
Wm. A. Drew, for 1820. As to the attendance at the school, and
other particulars, I have no information. The Academy has
been merged in the State Normal School at that place.

Canaan Academy, also, was incorporated in 1807, and its
name changed toBloomfield Academy in 1819, at the setting off
of that part of Canaan as a distinct town. An academy build-
ing was erected and the school opened in 1814, under the care
of the Eev. James Hall, who remained the preceptor for twelve
years. Mr. Hall, as we have seen, had previously taught the
Farmington Academy for two years. He was a Scotchman by
birth, very rough and eccentric, but withal a good scholar and
thorough teacher. The school prospered under his management,
and attracted to it many young men from different parts of the
State — among them the celebrated missionary, Greorge Dana
Boardman. In 1820, his school numbered sixty scholars.
Within a few years the Academy has been merged in the High
School of the town.

Ko less than six Academies were chartered in 1808, one of

172 EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN ^MAINB.

which was Warren Academy, which received, by its charter, a
half township of land and $3,680 were subscribed for its en-
dowment by individuals. The school was opened Oct 9, 1809,
in Thatcher's Hall, and continued there, and in the upper story
of the Court House, till 1829, when an academy building was
erected, which was burned a few years ago. The teachers, in
succession, till 1820, were as follows : E. Morse, 1808-1810 ;
Josiah J. Fisk, 1811 ; Arnold Gray, 1812 ; Amos Whiting, 1813
and 1814 ; Benjamin Dudley Emerson, 1815 ; Chandler Robbins,
1816 ; John S. Freeman, 1817 ; Phineas Pratt, 1818 ; George
Starrett, 1819-1821. Mr. Morse, the first preceptor, is spoken
of, in particular, as an able, successful and popular teacher.
Indeed, the school ia said to have been generally successful
under all these teachers, and well attended, not only from the
town, but from all the region around.

Another Academy incorporated in 1808 was Belfast Academy,
which received the usual grant of half a township of land by
its charter. From Mr. Williamson's history of the place, I
gather the following facts in regard to the school The lot for
the Academy building was given by Capt Ephraim McFarland,
and $3,500 subscribed for the endowment by individuals. The
building was erected in 1811, and the school opened under
James Porter as preceptor, who continued his service for two
years, and was followed by Geo. Downs in 1813 ; then by John
Bulfinch in 1814; then by Henry Bulfinch (brother of the pre-
ceding) in 1815 ; by Ealph Cushman in 1816 and 1817 ; by
Wm. Frothingham in 1818 ; and by a Mr. Putnam in 1819.
The tuition was five dollars a term, the number of scholars not
to exceed thirty-five. In 1852, the Academy was merged in
the common school system of the place.

Wiscasset Academy, also, was incorporated in 1808, under
the patronage of a company of wealthy citizens of the place.

BDtJOATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN MAINE. 173

known as the " Wiscasset Academical Association," which had
been formed-a few years before, erected a brick building for the
school, and opened it for scholars in 1807, a year before the
charter was obtained. The village was then known as " Point
Precinct," or " West Parish of Pownalboro." The first teacher
of the school was the Rev. Dr. Packard, pastor of the Congre-
gational church of the parish, with a Miss Thompson in charge
of the female department, which she retained for several years.
In 1809, Dr. Packard was succeeded for a season by the Eev.
Otis Briggs, and he in turn by Capt. Jonathan E. Scate, who
retained the post for several years. Then followed in succession
A. S. Packard and Wm. Smyth. But the Academy in time de-
clined in reputation, and at length was merged in the common
school system of the place, in which the old Academy building
is still occupied by the scholars of the Primary Department.

Bridgton Academy, which was also incorporated in 1808, re-
ceived as endowment from citizens about $4,000, of which 8500
was subscribed by Samuel Andrews. The time of the opening of
the school I have not been able to learn, and indeed little else of
its history, except that among the teachers, prior to 1820, were
Bezaleel Cushman and Valentine Littla The institution is still
in existence, holdiug one or two sessions a year, and seems to
have husbanded its resources well, if it has not shown the
greatest enterprise as a school, as it has a good school building
and an invested fund of 816,000.

Limerick Academy, another Academy incorporated in 1808,
received a half township of land by its charter, on condition of
83,000 being subscribed for its endowment Th& Academy
building was dedicated and the school opened in 1810, under
the instruction of the Eev. Wm. Gr^ till 1815 ; from which
time, after a few months of service by the Eev, John Atkinson,
the school was under the care of Eandolph Codman, of Portland,

174 EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN MAINE.

till 1820. The school was highly successful in its earlier
years, and a great blessing to all that region ; but having, in
the course of its history, lost two fine academy buildings by
fire, with their apparatus, the school has not been able of late
to maintain itself, and is now not in operation.

Bath Female Academy, the sixteenth chartered in 1808, has
already been spoken of.

Monmouth Academy was incorporated by that name in 1809,
but had existed since the year 1800 as a body politic, under the
name of the " Monmouth Free Grammar School." The school
building was erected and occupied in 1803-1804, Lady Eliza-
beth Temple and others having subscribed some 81,500 for the
benefit of the school, and the State of Massachusetts having
granted it some ten thousand acres of land. The first preceptor
whose name has been preserved was Ebenezer Herrick, for one
term in 1810, who was followed by John BouteUe till 1812 ;
then by^James Weston till 1814 ; then by John Davis till 1816 ;
then by Joseph Joslyn from 1820 to 1824. The pay of the
early teachers was from $450 to $500 a year, and the school in
aU its early years was large and flourishing, numbering usually
about 100 pupils, many of whom fitted there for collega It
now has a fund of about $5,000, and maintains a school only
in the spring and fall terms. Among the early graduates of
the school were the Hon. George Evans, Judge Clififord, Hon.
S. P. Benson and others.

Saco Academy was incorporated Feb. 16, 1811, and a half
township granted in the charter, on condition that $3,000 was
raised for its endowment, within three years. The building was
erected, and the school opened Jan. 4, 1813, with forty-nine
scholars, under the charge of Asa Lyman as preceptor, who.
after October, had a salary of $800 a year. From 1815 to 1819
Ezra Haskell appears to have been the preceptor ; and in 1820,

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN MAINE. 175

P. Pratt, with a salary of S700 a year. In 1822, T. G. Thorn-
ton gave the Academy ten shares of the stock of the Saco Bank,
and the name of the institution was changed to Thornton
Academy. The school is no longer in operation, and its funds,
amounting to some $50,000, remain idle in the hands of the
Trustees, and which, it ia said, by the will of Mr. Thornton,
revert to his heirs if they give up their trust If this be so,
and they cannot profitably employ the funds there in promot-
ing the education of youth, there ought to be an enabling act
procured of the Legislature, by which they may be surrendered
to some other institution, or institutions, which will so employ
them.

North Yarmouth Academy was chartered February 4, 1814.
Sev. Francis Brown was the first President of the Board of
Trustees. The Academy building was erected by the citizens at
an expense of $1,675, and the school opened in March, 1815,
under the care of Eev. David M. Mitchell, as preceptor, who is
the only teacher to whom the records refer up to 1820. The
best days of this Academy occurred at a later period.

Coney Female Academy, at Augusta, Bangor Young Ladies'
Academy, and China Academy, are the last Academies chartered
prior to 1820, and these in 1818. They could not, of course,
have had much of a history in these two years. And, in regard
to them, I merely wish to remark, that two of these Academies
being for girls, indicate the change which was going on in regard
to female education. Nearly aU the earlier Ac6ulemies, it must
have been observed, did not admit girls at first — very few of
them prior to 1810 or 1815 — and then but sparingly, only
fifteen girls out of seventy-five scholars being allowed at Gorham
Academy, at the last named date. Such education, it was
thought, perhaps, was above their needs, or above their capaci-
ties, or that their attendance was indecorous or dangerous to

176 EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN MAINB.

morals — just as at the present day, one cannot help observing,
the like objections are made to the attendance of young ladies
at our colleges and universities ; and who will say that a few
generations hence these objections may not seem just as absurd
and ill-founded ?

It remains for me to speak of the colleges and professional
schools in those early times. Of collies, there was but one in
the District prior to 1820, and that was Bowdoin College, well
known to all present, and hence requiring but few words from
me. According to an instructive article by Prof. Packard, in the
November number of the Quarterly Register for the year 1835,
the institution took the name of Bowdoin, as that of one of the
most honored families of Massachusetts, and not on account of
any special benefaction, though the Hon. James Bowdoin, son
of the Grovernor, in response to the compliment for the name,
immediately after the granting of the charter, bestowed upon
the college money and lands to the yalue of $6,800, and at his
death, in 1811, left to it his extensive library, philosophical
apparatus, collection of paintings, lands, &c., to the value of
$15,000. The charter, also, which was passed June 24, 1794,
and bore the signature of Samuel Adams, granted the institution
five townships of land in the unsettled parts of Maine ; and,
subsequently, other lands were granted. It was not, however,
till September, 1802, eight years after the granting of the charter,
that the first college building, 40 x 50 feet and three stories
high, known as Massachusetts Hall, was ready for use, and the
college opened under the Presidency of the Eev. Joseph McKeen,
assisted by John Abbot as Professor of Languages, and, after
three years, by a tutor, and Parker Cleaveland as Professor of
Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. At the first Commence-
ment, in 1806, seven young men were graduated from the
college, and varying numbers followed in subsequent years,

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN MAINE. 177

making the whole number of graduates, previous to the separa-
tion from Massachusetts, 124. President McKeen died in July,
1807, and was succeeded in the Presidency by the Rev. Jesse
Appleton, who held the position till his death in November,
1819, just after the passage of the "Act of Separation " by
Massachusetts. During these seventeen years, the college had
done good service in the cause of education, and given fair
promise of the eminent position to which it has since attained.
Of Professional Schools there were two in the District at the
time of the separation, " Bangor Theological Seminary " and
" The Maine Literary and Theological Institution," at Water-
ville, which in time became Waterville College, and is now
Colby University. The Bangor Seminary did not go into opera-
tion in Bangor till March, 1820, and then under the care of the
Rev. John Smith, as Professor of Theology, and the Rev. Ban-
croft Fowler, Professor of Classical Literature. It had, how-
ever, been in partial operation, under the name of the " Maine
Charitable School,'* since October, 1816, in connection with the
Hampden Academy. There, as already stated in the sketch of
that Institution, it was at first under the sole care of the Rev.
Jehudi Ashmun, who, however, during the last three years of
its connection wi^^ that Institution, had for his colleagues, the
Rev. Abijah Wines, as Professor of Theology, and Mr. Ebenezer
Cheever, Preceptor of the Preparatory Department. In 1819,
a very desirable plat of ground in Bangor, of about seven acres,
having been presented to the Trustees, by Isaac Davenport, Esq.,
of Milton, Mass., as a site for the school, it was removed to that
place in 1819, and went into operation in the following March
as " Bangor Theological Seminary." The first impulse in the
movement for the establishment of the institution seems to
have proceeded from " The Society for Promoting Theological
Education," which was formed in Portland, in 1810, and in

13

178 EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN MAINB.

1814 procured the charter for the " Maine Charitable School,"
which became also the charter for the Seminary.

In like manner, the initial movement for the establishment
of " The Maine Literary and Theological Institution/* at Water-
ville, began in 1810, at a meeting of the Bowdoinham Baptist
Association, at Livermore, and a charter for it was obtained in
1813. Among its early promoters and Trustees were the Rev.
Caleb Blood and Gen. Alford Richardson, of this city, the Rev.
Sylvanus Boardman, of North Yarmouth, the Rev. Benjamin
Titcomb, of Brunswick, the Hon. James Campbell, of Cherry-
field, and the Rev. Daniel Merrill, of Sedgwick. The institu-
tion went into operation in a private house in Waterville, June,
1818, under the care of the Rev. Jeremiah Chaplin, of Danvers,
Mass., as Professor of Theology, who was joined, in October of
the following year, by the Rev. Avery Briggs, as Professor of
Languages. A house for Professor Chaplin, with accommoda-
tions for a number of students, was erected in the latter part of
the year 1819, on the site now occupied by the Memorial HalL
The institution was chartered as a college, at the first meeting
of the Legislature of Maine, in 1820, and went immediately
into operation under the same instructors, though Br. Chaplin
was not elected President till May, 1822. At the time of his
call to Waterville, Dr. Chaplin had charge of the Theological
students, aided by the Massachusetts Baptist Educational
Society, many of whom accompanied him to Waterville, and
formed the nucleus of his school. Professor Briggs, on his
arrival in Waterville, in 1819, reported to his brother, Otis
Briggs, whose name has occurred several times as teacher in the
academies, that there were from thirty to forty students in the
school Of the pupils in the school, most continued their
theological studies under Dr. Chaplin, even after he became
President of the College, and entered the Christian ministry,

JSDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN MAINE. 179

while a few, including the eminent missionary Greorge Dana
Boardman, took the College conrse, and were among the first
graduates. Dr. Chaplin was a clergyman of the old school, of
primitive style and manners, with a clear and penetrating mind
and ample scholarship for the times and for the work before
him. He was serious and somewhat stem in his ways, punctil-
ious in college etiquette* having been known, as it is said, to
remove his own hat, even in a rain, if a student addressed
him without removing his. He long since went to his reward,
while Professor Briggs, at last accounts, was still living in a
a western city.

There was no law school, nor medical school in exiBtence in
the District, at the time of the separation. Dr. Alexander
Ramsay for several years had given medical lectures in an
apartment of Fryeburg Academy, but the Medical School con-
nected with Bowdoin College was not established till the acces-
sion of President Allen, in 1820.

In 1820, therefore, there were in the District, besides well-
estabhshed common schools in most of the towns, twenty-five
Academies, two Theological Schools and one College in full
operation, with another College and a Medical School just
opened. Here were the beginnings of a grand educational
system, capable of being developed, and which has been de-
veloped into proportions of which we have no reason to be
ashamed.

As evidence of the hopeful condition of education in those
times, I might refer to its fruits in the form of books, pamphlets,
newspapers, &c., published in the District The press is the
pinion of knowledge, both tempting and enabling it to rise. A
printing office was first opened in Falmouth, in 1784 or 1785,
by Benjamin Titcomb, the pioneer of the craft in the State, the
first fruit of which was the Falmouth Gazette and Weekly Adver-

180 EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN MAINE.

tiser. Soon after this, we find the types at work at various
other points in the District, usually beginning, as in Portland,
with the local newspaper, but soon adding to their issues ser-
mons, public addresses, doctrinal discussions and the like.
Before this, such productions by Maine authors had occasionally
been issued through the Boston press ; but now that there was
a press at home, they became much more numerous, especially
from the clergymen of the District: as Drs. McKeen and
Appleton, of Brunswick ; Kiah Bailey, of Newcastle ; Alden
Bradford and Hezekiah Packard, of Wiscasset ; Caleb Bradley,
of Westbrook ; Francis Brown, of North Yarmouth ; Paul Coffin,
of Buxton; Eliphalet Gilbert, of Hallowell; and .Wm. Jenks, of
Bath. Besides such sermons and addresses, Thomas B. Wait,
of Portland, published a valuable edition of Blackstone's Com-
mentaries, in 1807; while the press of Ezekiel Goodale, of
Hallowell, was largely engaged, from 1800 to 1820, in publish-
ing school books, including Jonathan Morgan's and Lindley
Murray's English Grammars, Kinne's Arithmetic and other
books of the kind. But no religious newspaper was published
in the District till after the separation. There was little, of
course, in those early times to cultivate or even to tolerate
the spirit of poesy or of polite literature, and yet their stem
duties and realities were not sufficient to restrain the restless
and audacious muse of our late distinguished fellow citi^n,
John Neal, whose " Keep Cool," and " Battle of Niagara," were
among the first attempts in this line in the District.

ARTICLE IV.

The
Pemaquid Country under the Stuarts.

BY

H. W. EICHAEDSON.

Read before the Maine Historical Society, at

Portland, March 14, 1878.

THE PEMAQUID COUNTRY UNDER THE

STUARTS.

Three manuscripts, curiously illustrating the condition of the
Pemaquid people in 1686, have recently come to light, and de-
serve a place on the records, though the owner does not yet
surrender them for the archives, of the Maine Historical Society.*

•The Society is indebted for the discovery of these MSS. to R. K. Sewall,
Esq., of Wiscasset, who gives the following account of them :

" These Pemaquid papers came to my knowledge accidentally, in the course
of my professional duties, just before our field day at Sbeepscot in 1877.
Elbridge Chase, Esq., a very conscientious, respectable and aged resident of
Old Sheepscot, where he was bom, and a descendant of the Tappan heirs,
came to me for legal advice as to the boundaries of his farm lands, which he
claimed had been intruded upon by a recent purchaser of land from the
heirs of Thomas I<ennox. Chase held that one boundary of his homestead
was a town road laid out by Christopher Tappan, the purchaser of the Ma-
son and Walter Phillips estates. Among the ancient deeds and plans pro-
duced to sustain this claim, were found the papers specified. I have done my
best to secure them for the Historical Society, but Mr. Chase is unwilling
to part with them, though he freely consented to lend them temporarily.
The intrinsic evidence of their antiquity is beyond question, as you will see
by the chirography, the ink shades, the spelling and the texture of the paper.
They are undoubtedly relics of the Old Sheepscot Records, supposed to have
been lost or destroyed. Mr. Chase lives at Old Sheepscot, and his home-
stead is among the oldest lots on the site of the ancient Sheepscot Farms.''

184 THE PEMAQUID COUNTRY UNDER THE STUARTS.

It is well known that, in 1664, King Cliarlea II bestowed
upon his brother, James Stuart, Duke of York, by royal charter,
the territories of the New Netherland, since called New York,
and of Sagadahoc, now a part of Maine. The latter portion
of the grant was defined in the charter as " all that part of the
Main Land of New England beginning at a certain place called
or known by the name of St. Croix, next adjoining to New
Scotland in America, and from thence extending along the sea-*
coast into a place called Petuaquine or Pemaquid, and so up
the river thereof to the furthest head of the same as it tendeth
northwards, and extending from thence to the river Kinebequi,
and so upwards by the shortest course to tlie river Canada
northwards."*

This grant, though the boundary on the west is incorrectly
described, was intended to cover all that part of Maine between
the Kennebec and St. Croix Eivers, which had been purchased by
the Duke of York in 1663, for £3,500, from Henry, Earl of
Stirling, whose title was derived from a patent issued to William
Alexander, the first Earl, by the Great Council of New England
in April, 1635. The royal charter of 1664 simply confirmed
this purchase. The rest of Maine, from the Kennebec to the
Piscataqua, and a hundred and twenty miles inland, had been
held by Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his heir, since 1639, as a
County Palatine, under the name of the Province of Maine. Of
this Province, Massachusetts became Lord Palatine by purchase
in 1677, and in 1680 appointed Thomas Danforth President of
Maine-t

The Duke of York received at first a very unfavorable report
concerning his New England purchase. The royal commis-

* Pemaquid Papers (Maine Hist. Coll., Vol. v), p. 6.
t Chamberlain's Maine : Her Place in History, p. 62.

THE PEMAQUID COUNTRY UNDER THE STUARTS. 185

sioners appointed to visit the American colonies in 1665, ar-
rived at Sheepscot in September of that year, and held a court
at the house of John Mason, where twenty-nine persons ap-
peared and took the oath of allegiance to the King of England.
The commissioners reported that they found east of the Ken-
nebec three plantations. " The greater," they said, " hath not
more over twenty houses, and they are inhabited by the worst
of men. They have had, hitherto, noo government, and are
made up of such as to avoid paying of debts, and being punished,
have fled hither ; for the most part, they are fishermen, and
share in their wives as they do in their boats." * This does not
agree with the written statement of Captain Sylvanus Davis,
made in 1701, and still on file in Boston. Captain Davis lived
at Damariscotta from 1659 till 1676, and was there when the
commissioners visited that region, though he did not respond
to their proclamation calling upon the inhabitants to appear
and take the oath of allegiance. He says, in 1701, that he
knew, personally, of eighty-four families of fishermen at St
George's, and as many more farmers along the coast between
the Kennebec and Matinicus, and ninety-one families within
land, of which fifty were at Sheepscot, " some seventy and some
forty years since." t Forty years before the date of Captain
Davis's memorandum would have been about the time when
the royal commissioners were at Sheepscot. Seventy years
before would have been in 1631, when Williamson estimates
the population of Sagadahoc, Sheepscot, Pemaquid, St. Greorge*s
and the islands at 500. In thirty-four years this number might
reasonably be expected to increase to the ten or twelve hundred
indicated by Captain Davis's recollection. The commissioners
must have been misinformed. They named the country Corn-

•N. Y. Colonial Documents, Vol. iii, p. 101.

t Johnston's History of Bristol, Bremen and Pemaquid, p. 97.

186 THE PEMAQTJID COUNTRY UNDBR THE STUARTS.

wall, called the Sheepscot plantation New Dartmouth, appointed
three justices of the peace, a recorder and a constable, and went
their way and were forgotten.

Nothing was heard from the Duke's government, except a
friendly letter from Grovemor Lovelace in 1673, until after Pem-
aquid was attacked and burned by the Indians in 1676. There-
upon the New York Council sent a sloop to bring away as many
of the settlers as might choose to come, and offered them lands
within the territory of New York. Learning then that a large
number of the people of this neglected dependency had applied
some years before to the Massachusetts colony to give them a
settled government, and that Massachusetts had sent commis-
sioners to Pemaquid in 1674, and taken jurisdiction, the New
York Council decided to send a commission of their own to
assert the Duke's authority in Cornwall, make peace with the
Indians, and restore and protect the inhabitants. Fort Charles
was built at Pemaquid, and garrisoned under the direction of
the CounciL A custom house was established at Pemaquid,
and all vessels trading in the Duke's territories in those parts
were required to enter there. All trading with the Indians
was to be at Pemaquid, under strict regulations. The owner-
ship of the soil was claimed for the Duke under the king's
charter, without regard to previous patents, and the settlers were
required to pay a quit rent of one shilling per annum for a
hundred acres.*

In 1683, when New York was divided into counties, the
territory between the St. Croix and the Kennebec was desig-
nated as Cornwall County, and became entitled to one Repre-
sentative in the General Assembly at New York. The first use
which the inhabitants of Cornwall made of this privilege was

♦Maine Hist. Coll., Vol. vii, p. 167.

THE PEMAQUID OOUNTBY UNDER THE STUARTS. 187

to send to Governor Dongan, by their Bepresentative, Giles
Goddard, a petition asking for relief from the arbitrary rule of
the commandant at Fort Charles, and from the restrictions upon
trade and commerce mentioned above, and another asking for
the confirmation of certain grants of land by Grovemor Dongan's
predecessor. Sir Edmund Andros. These petitions are still pre-
served in the New York archives.* Such papers were usually
" referred untill the Govemo' go to Pemaquid," and he never
went. The Duke of York had not paid for his purchase in
America, but was then burdened with an annuity of £300,
which the Earl of Stirling received instead of the price origin-
ally agreed upon.t To wring a part of this annuity from
the county of Cornwall, the taxes and imposts were rigorously
maintained. The quit rents were strictly exacted. Trading ves-
sels were required to pay heavy fees. Even transient fishermen
on the coast were obliged to pay tribute to the Duke's govern-
ment— a decked vessel, four quintals of merchantable fish, and
an open boat two quintals.

Of course the rents were often in arrears ; smugglers from
Boston did a lively business in furnishing supplies to the settlers
and to the Indians ; and fugitive fishermen eluded the govern-
ment officers on the coast. The collectors and sub-collectors in
Cornwall County had no easy or pleasant task. The people
were beginning, not without reason, to share the fierce hatred
of the men of Massachusetts for the Stuarts and their repre-
sentatives. One of the most efficient and obnoxious of these
officers was John Palmer, who was sent to Pemaquid in the
summer of 1686, with " full power and authority to treate with
the Inhabitants for Takeing out Pattents and Paying the quitt

* Pemaquid Papers, pp. 81, 06.

t N. Y. Col. Documents, VoL iii, p. 606.

ARTICLE V.

Fort Halifax:

ITS PROJECTORS, BUILDERS AND GARRISON.

BY

HON. WILLIAM GOOLD, OF WINDHAM.

Read before the Maine Historical Society, at

Portland, March 30, 1876.

FORT HALIFAX,

As IT STOOD WHKK COMPLETED IN 1766. DRAW

FORT HALIFAX :

ITS PROJECTORS, BUILDERS ANl!) GARRISON.

[Unknown to each other, and aboat the same time, Mr. WilliamBon and
myself copied, in Boston, a portion of the official documents relating to Fort
Halifax. Some of the standing committee of the Maine Historical Society
have expressed doubts of the expediency of publishing them in this article,
as some of them were printed in Volume vii of this series, under the title
of " Materials for a History of Fort Halifax." To preserve the continuity
of this history it i» necessary that these documents should be given chro-
nologically, which was not done in Volume vii. w. o.]

The traveler who passes the old low wooden tower, with its
conical roof and projecting upper story, situated at the west
end of the railroad bridge that spans the Sebasticook at Wins-
low, when he is told that it is Fort Halifax, naturally supposes
that it is all there was of the fort originally — that it was simply
a timber house or camp to hide in from the Indians, not sup-
posing that it is less than one-tenth part of the buildings of
the strongest and most extensive fortress in Maine of the last
century, but such is the fact.

As the territory on which this fort was erected, and on which
the settlements it protected were made, was for forty years the
property of the Plymouth colony, it would seem proper here to
explain how and why they obtained it

200 FORT HALIFAX.

While the pilgrims in the Mayflower were on their perilous
passage to the new world, King James the first granted a char-
ter to " forty noblemen, knights and gentlemen " of England,
in which the company were styled " The Council of Plymouth,
in the County of Devon, for the planting, ruling and governing
New England in America." This charter bears date November
3, 1620, eight days before the combination was signed in the
cabin of the Mayflower. It granted to the council all the ter-
ritory between the fortieth and forty-eighth degrees of north
latitude, and " from sea to sea." A prominent member of the
council, and the prime mover of the enterprise, was Sir Ferdi-
nando Gorges.

The older Virginia company, then existing, opposed the
granting of this charter to the Plymouth company, alleging
that it infringed on theirs, and three times Gorges was sum-
moned and appeared at the bar of the House of Commons, to
defend the charter. It was finally confirmed, and became the
English authority for all the land titles of New England.

Before the pilgrims left Holland, the Virginia company had
offered them a patent of land at Hudson Eiver, which they
accepted. Some Dutch merchants had a plan of establishing a
colony on the Hudson, and, learning of the intention of the pil-
grims, they bribed the master of the Mayflower to deceive them
and prevent them from reaching their destination. Morton's
New England Memorial, written in 1669, is the authority for
this. He came to Plymouth only three years after the pilgrims
in the Mayflower. He was a nephew of (Jovemor Bradford, and
attained an honorable position in the colony, and of course he
is reliable authority. After mentioning the arrival of the pil-
grims at Cape Cod, he says :

" Nevertheless, it is to be observed, that their putting into this
place was partly by reason of a storm, by which they were forced

FORT HALIFAX. 201

in, but more especially by the fraudulency and contrivance of the
aforesaid Mr. Jones, the master of the ship ; for their intentions
and his engagement was to Hudson's Eiver, but some of the Dutch
having notice of their intentions, and having thoughts about the
same time of erecting a plantation there likewise, they fraudu-
lently hired the said Jones, by delays while they were in England,
and now under pretence of the shoals, &c., to disappoint them in
their going thither. Of this plot betwixt the Dutch and Mr.
Jones, I have had late and certain intelligence. * * Being
thus fraudulently dealt with, and brought so far to the northward,
the season being sharp, and no hopes of obtaining their intended
port, and thereby their patent being made void and useless, as ta
another place, &c."

They were set down on the barren sands of Cape Cod against
their will, and without any title to the inhospitable shore.
Their agent, John Pierce, a merchant of England, in 1623 ob-
tained of the Council of Plymouth a patent for one hundred
acres of land for each settler, but this was not satisfactory.
Gorges, in his " Brief Narration," thus alludes to this charter.
" They hastened away their ship with orders to their solicitor
to deal with me, to be a means that they might have a grant
from the Council of New England's affairs, to settle in the place,
which was accordingly performed." The Plymouth colonists
had made coasting trips to the eastward to obtain necessary
supplies from the fishing ships at Monhegan, and learned of
the furs which the natives brought to the mouth of the Ken-
nebec, and coveted that trade, but they had nothing to exchange
with the Indians until 1625. After harvest that year, they
found that they had raised a surplus of the new staple, Indian
com, and began to think how they should turn it to account,,
and settled upon this venture, as recorded by Governor Brad-
ford in his history of Plymouth. He says :

202 FORT HALIFAX.

"After harvest this year, they sent out a boat's load of come,
forty or fifty leagues to the eastward, at a river called Kennebeck ;
it being one of those two shallops which their carpenter had built
them y® year before, for bigger vessel had they none. They had
laid a deck over her midships, to keep y* corne dry, but y® men
were faine to stand it out in all weathers without shelter, and
that time of yeare begins to grow tempestuous ; but God preserved
them and gave them good success, for they brought home 700
pounds of beaver, besides some other furs, having little or nothing
else but this corne which themselves had raised out of y* earth.
This viage was made by Mr. Winslow and some of y® old standards,
for seamen they had none."

This is the first trading voyage of the many that the colonists
made to the Kennebec, and seems to have suggested to Governor
Bradford the plan of securing the entire trade.

In the spring of the same year, two ships came to Plymouth
for cargoes of fish ; one was very small. They were successful,
and in the fall were preparing to return to England, when
Winslow returned from the Kennebec. In the small ship the
colonists shipped their furs. Bradford gives this account of her
loss:

"The master was so careful, being so well laden, as they went
joyfully together, for he towed y* lesser at his stem all y^ way
overbound, and they had such fair weather as he never cast her off
till they were shot deep into the English channel, almost in sight
of Plymouth, and yet there she was taken by a Turk's man of war
and carried into Sally [bailee, a port in Morocco], where y^ master
and men were made slaves, and many of y^ beaver skins were sold
for fourpence apiece. Thus was all their hopes dashed, and y^
joyful news they meant to carry home turned to heavy tidings."

In the largest ship, the colony sent Capt Standish as their
agent, with letters to the Council of New England. These

POET HALIFAX. 203

letters undoubtedly contained a petition for a grant of territory,
"including the river Kennebec. Capt Standish returned the
next spring, not having obtained the grant.
In 1727, says Bradford:

'^They now sent over Mr. Allerton againe into England; he had
orders to procure a patent for a fit trading place in y® river Ken-
nebeck, for being emulated, both by the planters at Piscataqua and
other places to y* eastward of thera, and also by y^ fishing ships,
which used to draw much profit from y® Indians of those parts,
they threatened to procure a grant and shut them out from there,
especially after they saw them so well provided with commodities
as to carry the trade from them. They thought it but needful to
prevent such a thing ; at least, that they might not be excluded
from free trade there, where themselves had first begun, and dis-
covered the same and brought it to so good an efi^ect.

''Mr. Allerton having settled all things thus, in a good and
hopeful way, he made haste to return in y® first of y® spring. He
also brought them a patent for Kennebeck, but it was so strait
and ill bounded, as they were faine to renew and enlarge it the
next year, as also that they had at home. Having procured a
patent for the Kennebeck, they now erected a house up above in
y* river, in y^ most convenient place for trade as they conceived,
and furnished the same with commodities for that end, both in
winter and summer, not only with come, but with such other com-
modities as y^ fishermen had traded with them ; as coats, shirts,
rugs and blankets, pease, prunes, &c., and what they could not get
out of England they bought of the fishing ships, and so carried on
their business as well as they could."

Eussell's " Pilgrims' Memorials " says this trading house was
" at a place called Cushenac " (now Augusta).
This Kennebec patent describes the bounds thus :

'' Unto William Bradford, his heirs and associates, and assigns,
all that tract of land * * which lyeth within, or between, and

204 FOBT HALIFAX.

extendeth itself from y* utmost limits of Comaseconty, whicli ad-
joineth y® river Kennebeck, towards the western ocean, and a
place, y^ falls of Nequamkick, and y^ space of fifteen English miles
on each side of said river, and all y* said river Kennebeck that
lyeth within the said limits." *

* Robert Gardiner, in his History of the Kennebec Purchase, published in
Volume II, M. H. S. Coll., 1847, page 275, says : " What place was intended
by the falls of Nequamkike is not known to this day." The term falls led
I>eople to look for a perpendicular fall. Judge Lithgow's deposition, 1763,
points out unmistakably the intended boundary :

" The deposition of William Lithgow, of a place called Fort Halifax, on
Kennebec River, in the County of Lincoln, Esq., of lawful age, testifieth and
saith that the deponent has lived on Kennebec River ever since the year 1748,
till this present year 1763, and is well acquainted with the most remarkable
places on said river, by enquiring of the Indians of the Norridgewock tribe,
with whom I have traded on the province account for some number of years ;
and well knowing where Taconick Falls are, also where the falls of
Nequamke are, which last mentioned falls are about five or six miles below
said Taconick Falls, towards the sea ; and a little below said Taconick Falls
are two islands which are never covered or hid by any overflowing of the
river, as there are a number of trees on each island.

" The signification of said Nequamke, aa the Indians have described them
to me, is by scooping down and up their hands, and they said those falls
took their name from such a motion of the water. Said Nequamke Falls
does not anywhere fall perpendicular, but in rather a rippling which breaks
all times of the year, even when the river is flowed by the highest freshets.
There are a great number of other ripplings or foils, between said Taconick
Falls and Cushnock Falls, where Fort Western now stands, but Nequamke
is the most remarkable, as all the other ripplings run almost smooth when
the river is highest by the spring freshets. I am also well knowing to a con-
siderable stream which empties itself into Kennebec River on the western
side of said Kennebec River, and is about six miles below Cushnock, or Fort
Western, and I have often been told by sundry Indians that the very mouth
of the above stream has been always called Cobbesacontee, but only the
mouth of this stream as it emptieth itself into said Kennebeck river.

" 1 have enquired of the Indians the names of some of the i>onds which
are on the above said stream, and those names are as follows : Gumscook,

PORT HALIFAX. 205

The resident agent of the colony in England, in a letter, says
that

" Allerton got granted from ye Earl of Warwick, and Sir Ferdi-
nando Gorges, all that Mr. Winslow desired in his letters to me."

It has been said that Gorges opposed the interests of the
Plymouth colonists, as they were Puritans, and he was a mem-
ber of the church of England, but his dealings with them con-
tradict this assertion.

In a letter to Gorges, from Grovemor Bradford and others in
1628, they say :

^^ Honorable Sir: As you have ever been, not only a favorer, but
also a special beginner and furtherer of the good of this country,
to your great cost and less honor, we whose names are underwritten,
being some of every plantation in the land, deputed for the rest,
do humbly crave your worship's help and assistance,'^ &c.

I make these extracts for the purpose of defending the fair
fame of Maine's greatest benefactor.

This Kennebec grant was the center of the lands and waters
which were claimed and inhabited by the powerful tribe of

Maioonscook* and Annabescook. As the signification of Cobbasecontee,

the Indians have told me that it took its name from the sturgeons jumping

at the mouth of the above said stream. I have also heard the English call

the above said stream and x>ond8, for this twelve years, Cobbasecontee. This

stream is about eleven or twelve miles above Richmond Fort I also know

a small stream on the east side of Kennebeck River, called by the name of

Nahumkeag. This stream is below Cobbasecontee, about two or three miles,

and fmlher saith not, William Lithgow.

" Suffolk, 88., September 14, 1763. The within named William Lithgow

to the within written affidavit, taken at the request of James Noble, Esquire,

in perpetuam rememoriam, before B. Dana, Justice of the Peace and Quorum.

Belcher Noyes, J. P."

•This " Maroonscook " Ib the lake in Winthrop irhlch has lately been made attractire
aaa plaoe of resort, on the line of the Maine Central Bailroad.

206 FOET HALIFAX.

Canibas Indians, whose fighting men numbered fifteen hun-
dred. Of course their catch of furs was desirable, as they
could be obtained for goods which in this traffic paid an
enormous profit Bradford and his associates carried on this
trade in their own name until 1640, when they surrendered
the patent to " all the freemen of New Plymouth," after which
it was held and managed by the colony.

The Indians gradually sought other purchasers for their furs,
and the colony's revenue fell off so much that it was decided to
lease the river trade, with the houses, to a company of their
own people, of whom Governor Bradford was at the head, for
fifty pounds per year for five years. At the expiration of the
lease it was renewed for thirty-five pounds, and finally it went
down to ten pounds, and in 1661, the colony sold the patent to
four gentlemen, one of whom was Edward Winslow, who, in
1625, made the trading voyage to Kennebec, in command of the
shallop. He had been Governor of the colony in 1636. The
consideration paid for the patent was 400 pounds. From this
time these and their associates were called " The proprietors of
the Kennebec purchasa" For nearly ninety years the title lay
dormant, from the unsettled relations between the English and
the Indians.

Fort Richmond, at the head of Swan Island, was built by
Massachusetts Province in 1723, as a check upon the Indians.
It was garrisoned by the Province, and so continued until the
forts above were built

In 1749, there was a movement of the heirs of the four pur-
chasers of 1661, who were all dead, to look up the title to the
Kennebec lands, which were being settled by squatters, to as-
certain their bounds and value.* A meeting was held under a

* 1767, June 6, William Lithgow deposed that Fort Richmond was built in
about 1723. In 1748, he had command of Richmond Fort.

FORT HALIFAX. 207

warrant from " John Storer, Esq., one of His Majesty's Justices
of the Peace for the County of York," at the Eoyal Exchange

1760. "About this time the Plymouth gentlemen proclaimed their patent ;
for my part, I never heard anything of this patent until the latter end of the
year 1749, and then being in company with old Robert Temple, Esq., and
Major Noble (James), at said Temple's house, Capt. Temple told us he was
concerned in an old patent, by virtue of which he and four or five more
gentlemen were entitled to a tract of land lying between Nequamkee and
Cobiseconteague, and asked me where Nequamkee was. I told him that I
did not know, for that I had never been further up than Cobiseconteage.
Said Temple told us that he should be glad to have three or four more sub-
stantial partners to make the number seven or eight good men, and did not
know but in such a case they might be able to extend their bounds near as
low down as Richmond Fort, as he looked upon Clark and Lake's title to be
slighty. And further signified to us there were many heirs belonging to
said patent who would sell out for a trifle, and asked us if we would be con-
cerned, which we declined.

"About the year 1752, the Plymouth Company erected two blockhouses
about 24 feet square and two story high, and placed some cannon therein.
The above blockhouses at opposite angles of a picket work 200 feet square,
and a shed built about 40 feet long. The roof built lintow ways, which
building was called Fort Shirley, alias Frankfort

" Fort Western, above, was built by the Plymouth Company, the description
of which is as follows : Four blockhouses two stories high, two of which
were about 24 feet square, the others about 12 feet square. Those block-
houses stand at the four comers of the picket work, 150 feet square, com-
posed with a row of open pickets round two squares, within the above picket
work. The house about 100 feet long, and about 32 feet wide, built of
hewed timber, and two stories high. When this fort was built it was under
guard of the Province.

" The same year Fort Halifax was built, and the cannon and ironwork of
which were carried up with two scows or gundaloes, which drew about two
feet of water. The gunnels of which vessels were about a foot clear above
water, and were towed up to Fort Halifax by the assistance of the army that
guarded them."

Certified by Jonathan Bowman and Thomas Rice, Justices of the Peace,
June 6, 1767. At that time both these Justices resided at Pownalborough.

Vol. 24, H. Qen. Register, p. 21. The original is in the possession of Mrs.
Henry Rice, a great granddaughter of Col. Lithgow.

208 FORT HALIFAX.

Coffee House in Boston, on the first day of September, 1749.
Nine of the heirs attended. Soon the number was increased by
forgotten heirs and by those who had purchased rights.* The

* At a meeting held in October, 1750, it was voted that " In order to de-
termine the qualifications of voters and how votes shall be coUected for the
future, that every proprietor bring in his title or claim next meeting, and
the proprietors to be warned by advertising the same in the Evening Post."
The first tax was voted on the sixth of February, 1760, of one thousand
pounds, Old Tenor. In October, 1763, " All persons concerned in the Ken-
nebec purchase," were " desired to bring in their claims to the clerk of said
proprietee, showing how they came by their rights, and how they have
descended from Antipas Boyes, Edward Tyng, Thomas Brattle and John
Winslow, they being the first purchasers."

Finally, before the division, Nathan Dane, the distinguished lawyer of
Beverly, was employed to trace the pedigree of each claimant, or his pur-
chased right. He made a voluminous report, from which much can be learned
of the genealogy of ancient provincial families.

" The residue, be it more or less, of all the lands belonging to the Plymouth
Company, that have not been sold, granted or given away " were advertised,
and at tlie appointed time were sold " on the floor of the Exchange Coffee
House, Boston."

The sale commenced twenty-second of January, 1816. There were re-
maining lots in a large number of towns — ^ih some towns large tracts were
unsold, and were all sold by the acre. The principal purchasers were
Thomas L. Winthrop, Robert G. Shaw and John Hancock, of Boston, James
Bridge and Reuel Williams, of Augusta, and Robert H. Gardiner, of Gardiner.
The increase in value of these lands added largely to the estates of the three
Kennebec purchasers. The amount realized by the land company from this
sale was $40,160, aside from the securities held by them.

At an adjourned meeting of the Plymouth Company, held at the Royal
Exchange Tavern, King Street, Boston, on the thirteenth of April, 1761, the
following preamble and votes were passed :

" The Judges of the Superior Court of Common Pleas, and Justices of the
Court of Sessions for the County of Lincoln, by their letter to this pro-
prietee, bearing date Novem. 18, 1760, say that there is no convenient
place for holding said Courts in said County ; and, whereas, the said Judges
and Justices have signified their desire in their said letter, that this proprie-
tee will provide a convenient place for that purpose, within the parade of

FORT HALIFAX. 209

first recorded vote after the organization was the choice of
Samuel Groodwin, of Oharlestown, and Jabez Fox, of Falmouth,
to lay out a township.

In 1753, an act of incorporation was obtained with this title:

Fort Shirley, so called, situated on the west side of the town of Pownal*
borough, on Kennebeck River, and in case said proprietors will comply with
their desire, the said Judges and Justices will establish the same as the place
for holding the said Courts of Common Fleas and Courts of Sessions, for
the County of Lincoln, for the future.

" In consideration, therefore, of the said Judges and Justices engagement
aforesaid,

" Voted, That this proprietee will forthwith build, or cause to be built, at
their own cost and charge, a house forty-five feet long and forty-four feet
wide, and three stories high, and that one room on the second story, of forty-
five feet long and twenty feet wide in said house, shall be fitted with boxes,
benches, &c., needful for a Court House for holding such Courts of Common
Pleas and Courts of Sessions. And the standing committee of this proprie-
tee are hereby desired and empowered to erect, at the cost and charge of this
proprietee, the said house as soon as may be.

"Also Voted, That the eastermost blockhouse of said Fort Shirley, with
the land on which it stands, be appropriated as a goal for the use of said
County of Lincoln. Also the easterly part of the Barrack in which Major
Samuel Goodwin now lives, be appropriated as a house for the goal keeper for
said County ; and that said room be improved as a Court House together
with the blockhouse and easterly part of the Barrack aforesaid (to be im-
proved as aforesaid), be for the use of the said County for the term of twenty-
one years from this day.

"Voted the said County of Lincoln three lots of land containing three
acres each, in the town platt of said Pownalborough, * * * to be
chosen by the Judges, for erecting a Court House and goal.

"Present: — James Bowdoin, Moderator; Thomas Hancock, Esq. ; James
PittA, Esq. ; Benjamin Hallowell, Esq. ; Sylvester Gardiner, Esq.

" David Jbffribs, PropJs Clerk."

The construction of the Court House being of three stories, and only one
room appropriated to the County's use, indicates that it was intended also
for a tavern for the accommodation of those attending court and the proprie-
tors. The building is yet standing (1881), and occupied for a dwelling house
by Mr. Goodwin, grandson of Major Samuel Goodwin, who was the Com-
14

210 FORT HALIFAX.

" The proprietors of the Kennebec purchase from the late colony
of New Plymouth/' but the corporation was commonly known
as the " Plymouth Company." Their headquartere were fixed
at Boston, where aU the meetings were held and where their
records were kept* Duplicate plans and records of grants
were kept by their agents and surveyors at Kennebec.

pany's agent, and lived in the barrack of Fort Shirley, which was relinquished
to the jailer. The house with a hip roof is conspicuous on the east side of
the river, in Dresden, as seen from the Maine Central Railroad, above Rich-
mond. On a recent visit, I saw some of the original pine shingles which
covered the north, or then the back wall, and were removed after being on
one hundred and eleven years, and were then so sound, although they never
had been painted, that a part of them were relaid on a small building.

A few years ago Mr. Goodwin removed the foundation of the " eastermoet
blockhouse of Fort Shirley/' which was the jail. In so doing he found a
timber vault, built very strong— dovetailed at the comers, which he supposed
was the magazine of the fort As the building was last used for a prison,
I think it was the dungeon — ^perhaps it had been both. There is a tradition
that the first person hanged in the State was on a gaUows which stood on a
knoll north of this timber jail.

Another spot of interest in Dresden is the foundation and churchyard of
St. John's Episcopal Church, and the cellar and well of the parsonage — ^the
home of its only Rector, the Reverend Jacob Bailey, a graduate of Harvard
in 1756, having for classmates President John Adams, Governor John Went-
worth, of N. H., and several others of equal distinction. Like Wentworth,
and unlike Adams, Mr. Bailey took the side of the mother country in
l;he Revolutionary struggle, and was driven from his parish because he
insisted on using the full ritual of the English Church in the service, and
died in exile. The site of the church, parsonage and its laige garden is less
than a mile from the old court house. It is overgrown with trees and bushes,
and the inscribed headstones have been removed from tl;ie churchyard. An
aged lady of the vicinity remembers when the shrubs of the desolate garden
were sought to ornament others at a distance. The history of the reverend
gentleman's eventful life has been faithfully and pleasingly written by the
Bev. William S. Bartlett, in a volume entitled " The Frontier Missionary."

* Their meetings were usually held at " tiie Royal Exchange Tavern, King
Street," kept by Capt Robert Stone. In 1766, it was kept by Seth BlodgeU.

FORT HALIFAX. 211

At the commencement of the Spanish war of 1741, Governor
Shirley, who had just received his commission, enquired into
the state of the frontier defences of his Province. The strong
probability (which soon became a fact) that France would join
Spain, alarmed the people of Maine, as that would be sure to
include the Indians. In the twenty years of the existence of
Fort Bichmond it had become decayed, and in 1741 it was de-
cided to rebuild it in enlarged form.*

Meetings were sometimes adjourned to be held " at the Sign of the Royal
Exchange." In 1768, a meeting was held at the " British Coffee House, King
Street" A few years previous, one was held at the " Bunch of Grapes
Tavern."

*The government agent for the rebuilding was Capt. John Storer, of Wells.
The officers of the garrison were John Minot, of Brunswick, Captain ; Capt
Joseph Bean, Lieutenant, and Indian interpreter; "Rev. Stephen Parker"
was probably Chaplain, as goods from the truckhouse are charged to him,
and the Province is chaiged with a window put in his room. An armorer
was one of the garrison. The government was obliged to keep an armorer
at each of the principal frontier forts to repair the Indians' guns. There
was a truckhouse kept at the fort, in charge of a provincial officer, called a
truck-master, who was supplied by the Commissary Qeneral, at Boston, with
goods to barter with the Indians, for their furs — ^to pay the four or five
Indian pensioners, and to sell to the settlers. Capt Minot was also truck-
master. The late John McKeen, of Brunswick, obtained at Mare Point a
small account book kept by Capt Minot at the truckhouse, during the
years from 1737 to 1742. Parts of the book are missing, but the remainder
is valuable, as it shows the kinds of goods dealt in. The prices would have
an interest if they were not given in a depreciated currency, which was con-
tinually becoming more so. Captain Minot was afterwards a Judge of the
Court of Common Pleas. Rev. John Wiswell, minister of St Paul's Church,
Falmouth (1764), married his daughter Mercy. His account book contains
the names of the soldiers of the garrison, those of the Indian pensioners
(who were allowed, some ten and others fifteen pounds annually), one of
whom was Quinoius, the Norridgewock Chief, who spoke for his tribe in the
conference with the commissioners at St Geoige's Fort in 1762. Also the cur-
rent accounts with most of the settlers and business men on the river below.

214 FORT HALIFAX.

eastern side opposite Fort Richmond. " Voted that this pro-
prietee will build a defensible house 400 feet square, for the
greater security of the settlers/' " And whereas a number of
Grerman protestants are lately arrived from Grermany, that such
of them as will settle in the township aforesaid, have granted
them one hundred acres of land/* A vote was also passed to
supply them with provisions through the winter and spring, on
one year's credit, and that the township should be called
Frankfort On the thirteenth of December, 1751, it was
" voted '* that as soon as twenty men appear to go to settle in
the township of Frankfort, on the terms to be agreed upon, that
the committee (Dr. Sylvester Gardiner, Maj. Nathaniel Thwing
and Mr. William Bowdoin) get a vessel to carry said men down,
and begin to make the defensible house. This defensible house
was completed the next summer, and was afterwards named
" Fort Shirley " in honor of the Grovemor. It was called " the
defensible house "in the records until 1757, when the name
Fort Shirley occurs.*

* Boston, April 27, 1767.

To the Hon. John Wheelwright, Commissary G^nercU :

Sir : — We are informed you have appointed seveTal of the company destined

for the protection of the eastern country to march from Frankfort eastward

and westward, and as Fort Shirley, at said Frankfort, is a place of security

for the stores and provisions, and of security for the soldiers, we take this

opportunity to acquaint you that said Fort Shirley is at the government's

service for the uses aforesaid, reserving only two small apartments for Capt

Samuel Goodwin, who has the care of the affairs of this proprietee.

We are your humble servants,

Chakles Apthobp,

James Pitts,

Sylvesteb Gabdinbb,

Benj. Hallowell,

Thomas Hancock,

Wm. Bowdoin.

In 1757, 200 men were ordered by the General Court to be raised to aOoat

from Salmon Falls to St. Georges.

FOBT HALIFAX. 215

The Kennebec had for many years been a highway for the
Indians, between Canada and the seacoast. It interlocks with
the Chaudiere, which falls into the St Lawrence, with a carry-
ing place of about four miles between the two first-named
rivers. The Indians acknowledged allegiance to the civil ai;id
religious authorities at Quebec, and there all their councils of
war were held and their plans perfected. To reach Quebec,
the Penobscots came by a chain of ponds and streams from the
Penobscot to the head of the Sebasticook, and down that river
to the Kennebec, and thence over the same route, with the
Ganibas tribe to Canada. In troublous times, the scattered
settlements naturally looked for the hostile bands of savages to
come from that quarter. The Indians usually began hostilities
long before war was formally declared between England and
France, and continued their raids as long after peace was con-
cluded. Between 1675 and 1760, there were six Indian wars,
during which there were thirty-five years of war.

Fort Richmond was the principal fort on the Kennebec, and
all the territory comprised in the original Kennebec purchase
lay above that fort, and could not be settled unless a strong
fortress could be built, as an outpost, further up the river.*
Unless that could be obtained, the Indian war, then imminent,
would destroy all hopes of settling the Company's lands, which
the proprietors had for some time entertained.

In February, 1754, Grovemor Shirley, of the Massachusetts
Province received information from Capt. Lithgow, at Fort
Richmond, that the French from Canada were building a fort

*In October, 1750, the Plymouth Company voted "to petition the General
Court to remove Richmond Fort further up the river." •

In December, 1761, a petition gigned by the proprietors and inhabitants of
the Pljrmouth Company's patent, for the better defence of the inhabitants,
was presented to the Qeneral Court. .

216 FORT HALIFAX.

at the portage between the Kennebec and Chaudiere. The
Grovemor immediately ordered Capt. North, of the Pemaquid
fort, to proceed with an armed force to the portage, and in His
Britannic Majesty's name order ofif, as trespassers, any armed
party who might be there. Capt. North's instructions were
dated February 8th, in which he was urged to proceed with
expedition, so that he could return in season to lay the result
before the Greneral Court in March. About the same time a
large party of Indians appeared at Fort Eichmond, using threat-
ening language, which were suspected to be spies from Canada.
This served to increase the alarm, and the House of Representa-
tives declared their readiness to use force to break up any settle-
ment the French might attempt at the great carrying place,
and requested the Grovemor to proceed to the Kennebec with
500 men for that purpose, and also to erect a fort of about 120
feet square, as far above Fort Richmond as he judged expedi-
ent, and to dismantle Fort Richmond.

As a fort at Taconnet could not be safely erected and main-
tained, unless there was another at the head of the tide to store
the supplies, the Assembly, with the Governor, concluded to make
the Plymouth Company the following proposition, which, by the
company's records, appears to have been considered and agreed
upon two weeks previous :

« Boston, April 16, 1754

" Gentlemen : — The Great and General Assembly of this Prov-
ince, having in their present session, by their message to me,
desired that I would order a ' fort to be erected, of about one
hundred and twenty feet square, as far up the Kennebec, above
Richmond Fort, as I shall think fit ; ' and whereas the placing such
a new fort upon this occasion, near Taconett Falls, would con-
tribute more to the defense of the said river and protection of the
settlements which already are, or shall hereafter be made upon it,

FOKT HALIFAX. 217

than erecting a fort at or near Cushenac, but would be attended
with this inconvenience, that the depth of water in said river will
not admit provisions and stores to be transported in a sloop, higher
than Cushenac ; so that it is necessary, in case a fort shall be
erected at Taconett Falls, that a strong defensible magazine should
be built at Cushenac for the reception of the government stores and
provisions, in their carriage to the said fort. I think it proper to
acquaint jou, that in case you shall, forthwith, at the expense of
your proprietee, cause to be built, at or near Cushenac, upon said
river as I shall order, a house t>f hewn timber, not less than ten
inches thick, one hundred feet long, and thirty-two feet wide and
sixteen feet high, for the reception of the Province stores, with
conveniences for lodging the soldiers who may be placed there by
the Government ; and will piquet in the same, at thirty feet dis-
tant from every part of the house, and build a blockhouse, of
twenty-four feet square, at two of the opposite angles, agreeable to
a plan exhibited by you to me for that purpose, and furnish the
same with four cannon carrying ball of four pounds, I will cause
the workmen who shall be employed in building the said house to
be protected in their work until the same shall be finished, and
will give orders, as soon as may be, for erecting a new fort at the
charge of the government, of the dimensions proposed by the gen-
eral assembly in their aforesaid message to me, above Taconett
Falls, upon the above said river, for the protection of the settle-
ments made, or which may hereafter be made, upon the same, and
in the adjacent country, and use my best endeavors to cause the
same to be finished with the utmost expedition.

I am, gentlemen,

Your friend and servant,

W. SHIELEY.

^ To the proprietors of the Kennebeck purchase from the late colony
of New Plymouth."

This letter shows that the project of building a fort at

218 FOBT HALIFAX.

Taconnet originated in the Plymouth Company. The Gov-
ernor's language is conclusive evidence of it. He says, " agreear-
ble to a plan exhibited by you to me for that purpose."

The records of the Plymouth Company show that the follow-
ing vote was passed at a meeting of the Company, held on the
third of April, twelve days before " the general assembly " author-
ing the Governor to make the proposal to the land company :

^* Voted, That in case the General Court of the Province of
Massachusetts Bay shall, at their present session, come to a deter-
mination to build a fort at Taconnet, upon Kennebeck Biver ; that
then this proprietee will {if desired by the government), at the
time of their building of the fort above mentioned, build or cause
to be built, at or near Gushenock, as the Governor shall order, a
house of hewn timber not less than ten inches thick, one hundred
feet long, thirty-two feet wide and sixteen feet high, for the recep-
tion of the said Province's stores, with conveniences for lodging
the soldiers who may be placed there by the government ; and will
picquet in the same at thirty feet distance from every part of said
house, and build a blockhouse of twenty-four feet square at two of
the opposite angles, agreeable to a plan ready to be exhibited when
it shall be called for y the government protecting the people while
building said house."

A building committee of five were chosen at the same time,
of which Eobert Temple, Esq., was Chairman.

It will be noticed that the language used by the Governor in
the description of the house to be built by the Plymouth Com-
pany is the same as that of their vote of the third of April.

The Plymouth Company at this time consisted of some thirty
members, who owned a large or small number of shares. Several
of them were the most wealthy and influential men of the
Province ; some were officially connected with the government

FOKT HALIFAX. 219

Among its members were judges, merchants and baronets.*
In fact, this corporation might, with almost as much truth,
exclaim^as did Louis XIV, '' I am the State."

Sullivan, in his history of Maine (1795), says of the
Plymouth Company, " They had great influence with the Gov-
ernment ; to them Governor Shirley was very attentive."

The Company did not take much time to consider the Gov-
ernor's letter, proposing the erection of the forts, but at a meet-
ing of the proprietors the next day, they promptly accepted the
proposal, after re-considering the vote of April 3d, and voted
to erect the fort at Cushenoc, and chose a superintending com-
mittee, consisting of Thomas Hancock, Doctor Sylvester Gard-
iner, James Bowdoin and William Bowdoin, all of Boston.

On the twenty-fifth of April, the Governor, at the request of

•On the 24th of January, 1768,

" Voted unanimously. That this proprietee have a common aeal, and that a
seal cut by Mr. Thomas Johnson, representing an anchor with a codfish
across the same, with the following motto. Nee Trustra Dedit Bex, be the
seal, and kept by the clerk of this proprietee for the Ume being."

The Plymouth Company were continually in litigation, as the Court Records
of Cumberland and Lincoln and their own records show. John Adams,
afterwards President, and other leading lawyers of Massachusetts, were fre-
quently in attendance at these courts, to prosecute or defend the Company's
suits. Several cases were appealed to the " King in CouncU."

The case of JefEries against Col. Donnel, of York, was so appealed, in
which the Company was the actual plaintiff. Floientius VassaU was one of
the Company, and its Agent in London. Thomas Goosetrey, of London,
was their Attorney, and " Mr. Forester " his counsellor. The whole of the
papers were printed. The printing of the appendix alone, cost fifteen pounds
sterling. One bill of the Attorney against the Company contained 182
items, and amounted to 351 pounds sterling. The reading of this biU of
items gives one a good knowledge of the forms, petty fees 4nd delays of an
English Court of the time. The appeal was presented in 1767, but the
decision was not reached until 1770, which was in favor of the land com-
pany.

220 FORT HALIFAX.

the Company, ordered Capt North, of Fort Frankfort, to send a
well armed force to Taconnet Falls, to observe what timber may
be there suitable for building a fort A few days previous,
Capt. Joseph Bane, of York, had been ordered by the Grov-
emor to ascend the river and ascertain if the French were
fortifying at the carrying place between the Kennebec and
Chaudiere, and to observe the river, with the view of trans-
porting stores between Cushenoc and Taconnet

In compliance with the vote of the assembly, the Governor
decided to visit the Kennebec, but having a rupture with the
Indians, he invited the Norridgewocks and Penobscots to meet
him and the Commissioners of New Hampshire, at Falmouth,
in June, for a conference and a renewal of treaties. The real
object was to obtain their consent to the erection of the proposed
forts. The Governor at first decided that 500 men should com-
pose the force for the expedition, but from some reports from
Nova Scotia, he increased the number to 800. In the archives
of Nova Scotia is a letter from Governor Shirley to Sir Thomas
Kobinson, Secretary of State of England, which explains the
cause of this increase of the force. It is dated Boston, twenty-
third of May, 1754, and is as follows :

" I propose to set out for the eastern parts of this Province in
about seventeen days, with a party of 500 men, which is to proceed
up the river Kennebeck, in quest of the French fort or settlement
said to be erected there in the summer before last, of which I had
the honor to acquaint the Bt. Hon. the Earl of Holdemess, in a
former letter, and to cause a fort to be built about sixty miles up
the river, and to have an interview with the Norridgewock, Penob-
scot and Arregunticook Indians, at Falmouth, in Gasco Bay. But
if the advices are well founded which I have received this morning
from Halifax and Annapolis Boyal, that some of the rebel inhabi-
tants of Schiegnecto, together with the Indians of the Peninsula
and St. John's Biver, through the influence of the French garrison

FOBT HALIFAX. 221

at Beausejour, are engaged in an enterprise to break up all the
eastern settlements of this Province as far as the river Kennebeck,
where it is suspected they are gone, the force which is raised to
proceed with me will not be sufficient to execute the design I go
upon."

The Secretary replied under date, White Hall, July 5th. He
said : " I have the King's orders to repeat his Royal approbation
and encouragement already signified to you in my letter of the
twenty-first of June, not doubting but that you will continue
the same zeal and vigor, which you and the government under
your care have begun in defense of the just rights and posses-
sions of His Majesty's crown." This letter enclosed the copy
of an order to Lieut-Governor Lawrence, of Nova Scotia, to co-
operate with Governor Shirley, in removing the supposed
French encroachments, and not until the eleventh of November
did Governor Shirley inform the Secretary that the rumor was
unfounded, relating to the intentions of French and Indians of
Nova Scotia. He then takes only one line of a long letter to
the Secretary, concerning the French fort at the head of the
Bay of Fundy, to say " that the absence of the French and
Indians of Nova Scotia proved to be a mistake."

The falsity of both of these alarming reports — ^that of the
French settlement and fort at the great carrying place between
the Kennebec and the Chaudiere, and also that of an intended
invasion from Nova Scotia, would seem to imply that the whole
was a ruse of the land Company to induce the government to
build a strong fortress near their most remote boundary. If
this was a fact, Governor Shirley must have known of the de-
ception, and favored it, or was deceived himself months before
any action was taken. The probability of the latter his repu-
tation for sagacity contradicts.*

*The Plymouth Company's records show that on the eleventh of Decem-
ber, 1754, before Fort Halifax was completed, a proprietor in the Ck>mpany,

222 TORT nALIFAX.

That the House of Assembly should be easily deceived in
the matter is not improbable, as it had been long surmised, and
finally was proved to be a fact, that the French, whose colonial
seat of power was at Quebec, were preparing to make a desperate
effort to regain Nova Scotia, and to seize the eastern outposts
of Maine and prevent the English from invading Canada. To
accomplish this they had, almost unknown to the English colo-
nies, erected a chain of forts at strong points, from the head of

j_ II i__. -- — — — - — ""

who owned 3,200 acres of land immediately below the fort, of which he re-
ceived a grant from the Company the same day, and from which the usual
settling conditions were removed two months after, *'for great services done
this proprietee" as alleged in the vote, conveyed to Governor Shirley, eight
shares of the 192, in the Company's lands and securities.

Were these eight shares conveyed to Governor Shirley as attorney's fee ?
He was a practicing lawyer in Boston.

The extract below shows that the Governor had a fatherly care for the
interest of his children. It is from the Nova Scotia Archives.

Extract from a letter from Governor Shirley to Governor Lawrence of
Nova Scotia, relating to the expedition to drive the French out of that
Province. It is dated Boston, January 6, 1756 :

" Your Honor hath, I perceive, given Colonel Moncton (who was enlisting
men, ordering supplies and transports in Boston,) unlimited credit upon
Messrs. Apthorp and Hancock, and he looks upon himself confined by that
to those gentlemen for every article to be provided for this expedition.
* * * My kindness still remains for them, and we are upon exceedingly
good terms ; but as I have a daughter lately married to a merchant here, who
is a young gentleman of extreme good character, and for whose fidelity and
honor in his dealings I can be answerable, of some capital, and eldest son
to a merchant of the largest fortune of any one in Boston, I think I shall not
do anything unreasonable by Mr. Apthorp and Hancock, if I request youjr
Honour to let my son-in-law, Mr. John Erving, be joined with them in fur-
nishing money and stores for this expedition upon the same terms they do."

The register of King's Chapel shows that Robert Temple, son of the elder
Robert, who had deceased, was married to Harriet Shirley, daughter of the
Governor, one month after the movement in the House of Representatives
to build Fort Halifax. Young Robert Temple was by inheritance a large
proprietor in the Plymouth Company.

TOBT HALIFAX. 223

the Bay of Fundy along the frontier nearly to New Orleans,
several of which were on admitted English territory. To re*
move some of these encroachments, the next year Braddock's
expedition was set on foot, which so signally failed by his folly
of attempting to maintain English army tactics, in an Indian
fight in a wilderness, a large part of his forces being colonial
troops, used only to bush fighting. Bumors of this French
activity were brought to Boston, consequently the House,
many of whom were from the remote towns of the Province,
were ready to believe any reasonable report, cunningly invented
and judiciously circulated. I did not, at the commencement,
intend to unsettle colonial history which has been accepted for
a century and a quarter, but these possibilities, if not probabili-
ties, forced themselves upon my consideration as I proceeded,
that Fort Halifax was projected by the Plymouth Company to
further the settlement and add to the value of their lands.

Grovemor Shirley decided to give the command of the troops
and mechanics of the expedition to Capt John Winslow, who
was made a General of the Province. He was the great grand-
son of Edward Winslow, who came in the May-flower, and who
commanded the party who made the trading voyage to Ken-
nebec in the shallop, 130 years before. Edward Winslow, who
was one of the four who bought the Plymouth patent in 1661,
was a brother of General John Winslow. The family yet
owned a large interest in the Plymouth Company, and of course
Gen. Winslow was earnest in the erection of the fort, from
family interest Who and what he was can best be learned
from a letter on file at Halifax. It was written by Gov-
ernor Shirley to lieut-Governor Lawrence, of Nova Scotia.
It is dated at Boston, January 6, 1755, and relates to the in-
tended expedition for the reduction of the French Fort Beause-
jour, at the head of the Bay of Fundy. Shirley held a Colonel's

224 FORT HALIFAX.

commission in the British army, and had received orders to
recruit his regiment to the full number for that expedition.
He says : " I shall give the Lieut-Coloners command to Capt
Winslow, late of Phillips's regiment, who had the chief com-
mand of the late expedition upon the Kennebec river, under
me, and is extremely well qualified for the present service. He
hath the best reputation, as a military man, of any officer in
this province, and his character in every respect stands high
with the government and people, and he is peculiarly well
esteemed and beloved by the soldiery, so that I greatly rely
upon him for success in raising the men/'

Greneral Winslow was popular as an officer, and of course
was not long in enlisting the required force of 800 men for the
expedition. They embarked at Boston in transports for Fal-
mouth, now Portland. The Governor, with a quorum of the Coun-
cil, the Speaker of the House, with several of its members and
several other gentlemen connected with the colonial government,
also Col. Mascarene, Commissioner from Nova Scotia, all em-
barked at Boston, on board the Province frigate Massachusetts,
of twenty guns, for the same place. The industrious journalist.
Parson Smith, recorded their arrival and every day's movements
while there, and his own preparations to receive them. Of
course it was quite an event in the little town of not over 150
families. The reverend gentleman's first mention is :

''June 18. We have been painting and fitting up our house
for the treaty which is approaching.

" June 21. The Norridgewock Indians came here — ^forty-two in
all, and twenty-five men.

" June 24. Several transports that have the soldiers for Ken-
nebeck got in to-day.

'' June 25. Eight hundred soldiers got in and encamped on
Bangs' Island.

FORT HALIFAX. 225

" June 26. The Governor got in this morning. P. M. Came on
shore and lodged at Mr. Foxes."* •

" June 27. The government dined at the Court Chamber.

" June 28. Yesterday and to-day we had a vast concourse dined
us at our expense.

" June 29. The gentlemen yesterday met the Norridgewock
Indians, and to-day proposed to them the building of a fort at
Teuconic.

''June 30. Sunday, Parson Brockwell preached in the forenoon
and carried on in the church form.t

" July 1. The Norridgewock Indians gave their answer and
refused the fort's being built at Teuconic.

'' July 2. The treaty was signed between the Governor and the
Norridgewock Indians.

''July 3. The Indians had their dance; three of the Indians
went to Boston and the rest returned home.

" July 5. The Penobscot Indians came — fifteen men, and the
government met them in the meeting house.

" July 6. The treaty was finished ; seven gentlemen went up
the bay and the others to Boston." t

* Jabez Fox, who had been one of the Governor's Council three years. He
was the son of Rev. John Fox, of Wobum, whose wile inherited an interest
in the Plymouth Company from her father, Edward T3^ng, one of the four
purchasers of 1861. Jabez Fox had been employed by the Company as a
land surveyor. He was sick at the time of the Governor's arrival, and died
April 7, 1765, aged fifty. He occupied one of the best houses in the town, on
the west side of Exchange Street.

t Kev. Charles, Brockwell, assistant minister of King's Chapel, Boston,
where Governor Shirley worshiped. He came as Chaplain to the Governor
and Council.

X These treaties are preserved in the archives at Boston. They were drawn
on very large sheets of parchment, elaborately ornamented, and colored,
probably to impress the Indians with their sanctity. All the gentlemen con-
nected with the government, and the Commissioners from New Hampshire
and Nova Scotia, signed them. The Indian signatures are hieroglyphics, effi-

16

226 FORT HALIFAX.

July 8th, Rev. Mr. Smith mentions, " The ship sailed with
Mr. Danforth, Oliver, ^purn, and Hubbard from us, and the
whole body of representatives." The ship referred to was the
Frigate Massachusetts. Mr. Hubbard was Speaker of the

gies of some bird, beast or fish, with their Indian name annexed, writtea
probably by the Secretary of the Province, who was a clerk of the ConnciL
Sacred as these treaties were considered, they were soon broken.

The seven gentleman who went up the bay, as mentioned by Mr. Smith,
were probably Gen. Winslow and the committee of the Plymouth Company,
to build Fort Western. They undoubtedly went up New Meadows River,
and walked across to the Androscoggin, where a boat was waiting to take
them to Cushenoc, by the way of Merrymeeting Bay. It was by this route
that the express was established the next year.

Articles of agreement indented and made the sixth day of July, a. d. 1754,
between Capt. Isaac Hsley, of Falmouth, in Casco Bay, in the Province of Mas-
sachusetts Bay, carpenter, on the one part, and his Excellency, Wm. Shirley,
Esq., Governor of said Province, of the other part, as follows, vizt : The said
Capt. Isaac Bsley covenants, promises, and agrees to and with the said Wm.
Shirley, that he will, on the ninth day of July instant, proceed with twelve
other persons, all carpenters, whom he hath engaged for that purpose, to
Kennebec River in a schooner, or other vessel, to be hired by the said gov-
ernment, and there continue with the aforesaid twelve other persons, for the
space of two months, to be employed in helping to build a fort, to be erected
at or near Taconnet Falls, or such other place upon, or near said river, as
shall be judged most convenient by Ma]. General Winslow. The said Bsley
and his four apprentices, being five of the twelve, at the rate of 9 pounds old
" tenour" per day. Six others, 80 shillings old tenor each, and John Tomes
at the rate of 45 shillings, together with the Province's ordinary allowance of
provisions and drink. To commence on the ninth of July, to continue until

Jthey return to Falmouth.*

(Signed,) Wm. Shiklet,

Paul Mascarsne,

Joseph Calef.

Ilsley's bill, which is on file, is dated the twenty-eighth of September, being

82 days each for himself and twelve men, amounting to 1060 pounds, 10

shillings.

• Mr. Haley was often employed as Captain of scouting parties. He was the ancestor of
all of the name in Portland and vicinity. He was at the taking of Lonisburg, in 1745.
He died in 1781, aged 78.

FORT HALIFAX. 227

Housa The following letter by Governor Shirley to the Sec-
retary of State, explains why the ship returned to Boston. It
is dated at

" Falmouth, Casoo Bay, July 8, 1754

" Sib : — The Speaker, to whom I am much obliged for his assislr
ance in the public business here, and the pleasure of his company,
both of which I shall miss upon his leaving me, doth me the favor
to be the bearer of this.

" As he is able to give you a perfect account of the issue of the
conference with the Indians who met me here, and the result of
the interview, I refer you to him for it. It hath been, I think,
favorable beyond even our expectations, and may, I hope, have
good consequencys for the tranquillity of the Province, and the
general service. It certainly will if Indian faith may be in the
least depended upon. Mr. Danforth, Mr. Oliver, and Col. Bourn,
are to embark this day with the Speaker, and some other gentle-
men of the House, for Boston. Mr. Fox is extremely ill, so that
there will be wanting four gentlemen of the Council to make up a
quorum upon any emergency of public business. I must therefore
desire you to let Mr. Wheelwright, Mr. Chever, Cols. Minot,
Weston and Lincoln know that their attendance upon it here will
be requisite, and that I hope they will not fail of letting us see
them here as soon as may be. They will have an opportunity of
coming in the ship which I have ordered to wait upon the gentle-
men of the Council and Mr. Speaker, and the gentlemen of the
House who go up to Boston, and to attend upon Mr. Wheelwright
and the other three gentlemen, to bring them hither.

^' I hope you will transmit to me what public letters or accounts
of public affairs you shall judge proper to be communicated to me
here, from time to time, how matters go on, and to revive your
letters upon any subject.

*^ 1 am with truth, sir, your faithful friend and humble servant,

W. Shibley.
" To Hon. Secretary Willard."

228 FOOT HALIFAX.

July 14th, being Sunday, Parson Smith mentions :

"Mr. Brockwell preached; he gave great offence as to his doc-
trine. Our fishermen have all fled home, allarmed with the news
of a French war proclaimed at Halifax."

Parson Smith continues :

" July 19th. The ships returned. Mr. Wheelwright, Lincoln
and Minot of the Council, Hancock and others."

This was Thomas Hancock, chairman of the committee of the
Plymouth Company for the construction of the fort at Cushenoc.
The journal continues :

" July 23d. The Governor dined at Col. Gushing's — the rain
prevented me."

" 28th. Capt. Oshorn sailed for Boston, having paid me near
one hundred pounds for my house."

"August 30th. The Governor and the gentlemen with him
sailed in Saunders * for Kennebec."

Parson Smith records : " Sept. 3d. The Governor returned
from Kennebec." It will be well to note that Mr. Smith men-
tioned on the thirtieth of August that the Governor, and gentle-
men with him, sailed for Kennebec. The date of his return shows
that he had been absent only four days.

The Governor wrote the same day from Falmouth, to Secre-

*Thi8 Capt. Saunders deserves a special notice, as he had much to do in
supplying Fort Halifax in after years. His name appears on all occasions
where there is any freighting to be done for the Province. He commanded
the armed sloop Massachusetts, which was constantly in commission. Thos.
Saunders was an inhabitant of Gloucester, Cape Ann. His name appears in
the Province service in 1725. At the siege of Louisburg, in 1746, he commanded
the Province sloop of war, and received a special letter of thanks from Commo>
dore Warren. In 1761, he was sent by Governor Barnard to convey Prof.
Winthrop, of Harvard College, to New Foundland, to observe the transit of
Venus. We shall meet him often in this sketch. He died in 1774, aged 70.

FOKT HALIFAX. 229

tary Willard, " I finished my business at the two places, Cushe-
noc and Taconett, and arrived at this place last night, having,
for the sake of expedition, proceeded from Taconett to Fal-
mouth in the Castle pinnace * and left the sloop to follow me
with several of the gentlemen."

In the Governor's letter to Secretary Willard he referred him
to the Governor's son,! who had accompanied the expedition to
the head waters of the Kennebec, and was the bearer of his
father's letter. On his arrival in Boston, young Shirley com-

*The only "castle" within the Governor's jurisdiction was Castle Wil-
liam, Boston Harbor, now Fort Independence, and the " Castle pinnace," in
which the Governor came from Kennebec, was probably the smaU vessel
used by the officers of the garrison to go up to town. She would now be
caUed a yacht How the pinnace came to be at Kennebec, is, I think, ex-
plained by the following circumstance : The Council records mention the
sending of a dispatch by express to Governor Shirley, while he was in the
eastern country. Accompanying it was an order to Enoch Freeman, Cap-
tain of the fort at Falmouth, saying that, if the Governor was gone to Ken-
nebec, to forward the dispatch to him there. The Castle pinnace was prob-
ably a fast vessel, and as nearly all communication with Maine was then by
water, she was sent as a dispatch vessel. On her arrival at Falmouth, Capt.
Freeman undoubtedly thought the most expeditious way to convey the dis-
patch, was to send the same vessel to Kennebec with it We have seen that
the letter from Sir Thomas Robinson, Secretary of State, to the Governor,
was dated at London, July 6th, and it will also be recollected that the Gov-
ernor, in his letter of July 8th, directed Secretary Willard to forward to him
all dispatches of a public nature while he was absent. Probably Sir Thomas
Robinson's dispatch to the Governor was brought by the Castle pinnace to
Kennebec.

t From Council records, page 281 :

" Falmouth, August 29, 1754.

" The forces being returned from their march to the head of Kennebec River,
the result of which you will hear from my son, I shall be at Boston in less
than a fortnight.

"Joseph Willabd, Esq. Wm. Shikley."

If there is any necessity for issuing papers I will send power of attorney.

230 FORT HALIFAX.

municated the result of the march to the newspaper, by which
it is preserved for us.

From the Boston Gazette of Tuesday, September 8, 1754 :

" On Saturday last, John Shirley, Esq., son of His Excellency,
our Governor, arrived here from Falmouth in Casco Bay, by whom
we have the following account, viz : That the forces under General
Winslow set out from Teconnett with something more than 500
men and 15 battoes, on the eighth of August past, but after proceed-
ing two days up the river, the General was taken so ill that he
was obliged to return, leaving the command, with the instructions
to him, with Col. Preble, who on the lOth, at nine in the morning,
proceeded with thirteen battoes, one-half the men on one side, and
the other half on the other side of the river, and on Tuesday, the
thirteenth, arrived at Norridgewalk, which is thirty-one miles above
Teconnet, beautifully situated, near 400 acres of clear land, on
which the grass is generally five or six feet high. Here they
found six Indian men, three squaws and several children, who ap-
peared at first surprised to see such a number of men and battoes
so far advanced into their country, but after they were told by Col.
Preble that they had nothing to fear from him, that none of his
men should hurt the least thing they had, nor go into their houses,
and that Governor Shirley had ordered they should be treated with
civility and kindness, they appeared well satisfied and were kind
and friendly ; and Passequeant, one of their chiefs, present-ed him
with two fine salmon, and some squashes of their own produce,
and were all very free in drinking King George's and Governor
Shirley's health, and told him he was welcome there. They
camped that night half a mile above the town, and the next day>
leaving the battoes there with a detachment sufficient to guard
them, they proceeded on their march to the great carrying place
between Kennebec and the river Chaudiere, where the French
were «aid to be building a fort, and arrived there on the eighteenth,
which is thirty-eight miles and three-quarters above Norridgewalk,

FORT HALIFAX. 231

a few miles below wbich they met three birch canoes with eight
Indians in them, who had lately come over the carrying place, and
as they supposed from Canada. The Indians were much surprised
on discovering the party, and endeavoured to return up the river
with their canoes, but the rapidity of the stream prevented their
speedy flight, on which they run the canoes on shore, on the oppo-
site side of the river, catched one of them up and ran off into the
woods, leaving the other two on the spot, and made their escape to
the carrying place, and so returned to Canada, to carry intelligence,
as Col. Preble supposed, for he tracked them in his march across
the said carrying place ; the course of which from the head of the
Kennebec Biver is due west, and the distance three miles, three-
quarters and twenty-two rods, to a pond about two miles long and
one and a half miles wide ; beyond that there is another carrying
place of about one mile, which leads to another pond, that runs
into the Chaudiere.

" They returned from the first mentioned pond the same day,
and came to Korridgewalk the twenty-first of August, early in the
day, where they found Capt. Wright and the detachment under
his command all well, and thirty-five Indians, old and young, who,
upon the knowledge of Colonel Preble's return, dressed themselves
up in their way very fine, by putting on clean shirts and painting
and decorating themselves with wampum. They saluted him with
a number of guns and three cheers, and then a number of them
waited on him at the camp, welcomed him back, and seemed to
express a good deal of satisfaction at his return.

''After drinking King George's and Governor Shirley's health,
they invited him to their houses, and ten or twelve of their chiefs
desired a short conference with him ; and after having cleared the
house of young men, who diverted themselves, meanwhile, playing
ball, &c., told him that he had passed and re*pas^d through their
country, they were glad to see him come back, and he was heartily
welcome; and they had told him, before he went,' there was no
French settlement at the carrying place, and since he had been

232 FORT HALIFAX.

there and found it so, hoped he would now look upon them as true
men ; and that we were now all one brothers ; and if their young
men should get in liquor and affront any of the English, hoped
we should take no notice of it, that they were determined to live
in friendship with us ; and if the Canada Indians had any design
to do any mischief on our frontiers, they would certainly let us
know it ; and if any disputes arose betwixt the French and us,
they were determined for the future to sit still and smoke their
pipes.

" The Colonel told them the resolution they had taken would be
very pleasing to Governor Shirley, and as long as they kept their
faith with us they might depend on being treated as friends and
brethren, and be supplied with all the necessaries at Teconnet,
which would be much more convenient than at Richmond ; all of
which they told they liked very well ; and were sorry they had no
liquor to treat them with, but desired he would see their young
men dance and they ours, which they said was a token of friend-
ship, and was accordingly performed.

''Next morning, on the Colonel's taking his leave of them, they
wished him safe to Teconnet, and saluted him with thirty or forty
small arms, as faa^t as they could load and discharge.

" The army arrived at Teconnet on Friday, the twenty-third of
August, at five o'clock in the afternoon, having been sixteen days
on the march [History of Augusta says ten]. As to the course of
the river into the country, it must be referred until a plan of the
same, which has been taken by a skillful surveyor, shall appear.
The soil, for the most part, is extremely good and appears to be
fertile. There are many beautiful islands in the river, some of
which contain near a thousand acres of intervale ; but the land is
not plentifully supplied with timber.

" The navigation to Norridgewalk is considerably difficult by
reason of the rapidity of the stream and rippling falls, but 'tis
likely will be much easier when the water is higher. There is but
one fall above Teconnet Falls that is necessary to carry the battoes

FORT HALIFAX. 233

around before we come to Norridgewalk, betwixt wbich and the
carrying place the navigation is vastly better than below, there
being only two falls to carry round, one of which, notwithstanding
it is a mile in length, there is a plain beaten path ; the other is
not above thirty or forty rods."

Later historians all concur in the erroneous assertion that
Governor Sliirley accompanied the exploring expedition to the
head waters of the Kennebec. It was brought about a little at
a time, in this way.

Minot, 1803, ii, p. 186, says:

" The Governor then (that is, after the treaty) proceeded to the
building of the fort at Taconett Falls, and explored the river up
to the great carrying-place between the Kennebec and Ghaudiere."

Holmes, II, p. 202, three years later, says :

" The Governor proceeded to explore the Kennebec about forty
miles above Norridgewog."

Williamson's history, 1832, ii, p. 300, says:

'^He [Gov. Shirley] proceeded to Taconnet and ascended the
river as far as Norridgwock."

Parson Smith, in his journal, notes : "Aug. 30th. The Gov-
ernor sailed for Kennebec." In his revised edition of the jour-
nal, 1849, p. 229, Mr. Willis distrusts Mr. Smith's accuracy,
and, to make the journal harmonize with later historians, says :
" This date should be July 30."

In the History of Portland, 1865, p. 249, Mr. WiUis still
doubts the accuracy of Parson Smith, and asserts that " The
Governor continued in this neighborhood until Julij 30th, when
he sailed for the Kennebec, and proceeded to Teconnet and
marked out the site of a fort."

The " Materials for a history of Fort Halifax," in Vol. vii of
this series, contains an extract from Governor Shirley's message

234 FORT HALIFAX.

to the House, October 18th, which is correctly copied, until it
comes to the Governor's account of his visit to the forts on the
last days of August, when like Mr. Willis, the editor seems to
distrust the Governor's language and substitutes his own. He
says, p. 176:

" The Governor also states that with five hundred men he went
up the river seventy-five miles to the great carrying-place, and
explored both sides ; that the time occupied was ten days.''

To set this right, it is only necessary to note the G<)vernor's
letter to Secretary Willard on his return, the vote of the Council
advising his stay at Falmouth, and his message to the House,
on the eighteenth of October ; of all of which copies are here
given:

" Falmouth, Casoo Bay,* Sept. 3, 1754.

"Finding it necessary, too, for the public service upon which I
came down here that I should visit the two forts at Cushenoc and
Taconnet before I returned to Boston, I sent for Capt. Saunders
and embarked on board the Province sloop, on Friday, thirtieth of
August, about five in the afternoon ; finished my business at those
two places and arrived at this place (where I likewise have some
business to settle) about ten o'clock last night.

Yours,
Mr. Sec. Willajrd. W. Shirley.

Council records, 25th July, 1754 :

Council at Falmouth, County op York, 27th July.
Resolved unanimousli/y That His Excellency stay in Falmouth
until Major General WinsloWs return from his march up to the
head of Kennebeck River, and as long afterwards as His Excel-

*In the Provincial documents, when Falmouth, Maine, was mentioned,
" Casco Bay " was annexed to distinguish it from Falmouth, a seaport in
Barnstable County.

FORT HALIFAX. 235

lency shall judge proper upon the advice he shall receive from the
march to the head of Kenneheck River »

Grovernor Shirley's message to the House of Representatives
October 18, 1754, relating to the erection of Fort Halifax, and
the exploration of the river above :

"In compliance with a vote of the House, I raised eight hundred
men and went to Falmouth, where I had an interview with the
Penobscot and Norridgewock Indians, and caused the workmen to
proceed to Taconnett with orders for five hundred men to go up
the Kenneheck River and explore if there were any French settle-
ments between that river and the great carrying-place on the
Chaudiere.

" The place where I concluded to erect a fort was thirty-seven
miles above Richmond, on a fork of land formed by the Kenneheck
and Sebasticook, the latter emptying into the former about three-
fourths of a mile from Taconnett Falls. It is computed to be not
quite fifty miles from Penobscot and thirty-one from Norridge-
. wock by water, and twenty-two by land, as measured by a chain.

" The only known communication which the Penobscots have
with the river Kenneheck and the Norridgewock Indians, is through
the Sebasticook, which they cross within ten miles of Taconnett
Falls, and their most commodious passage from Penobscot to
Quebec is through the Kenneheck to the Chaudiere, so that a fort
here cuts off the Penobscots, not only from the Norridgewocks but
also from Quebec, and as it stands at a convenient distance to make
a sudden and easy descent upon their headquarters, is a strong
curb upon them, as also upon the Norridgewocks. As the river is
not navigable above Cushenoc, a storehouse must be erected there,
which the Plymouth Company proposed to build there as per plan.
The vote I accepted, and the Company have built such a store-
house, which will protect the public stores as well as offer induce-
ments to settlers. I caused a road of communication between

236 FORT HALIFAX.

Gushenoc and Fort Halifax to be cleared for wljeel carriages, and
transportation in one day will be rendered practicable.

"A plan of Fort Halifax shall be laid before you. It is capable
of containing four hundred men, and being garrisoned with one
hundred, is of sufficient strength to stand any assault which may
reasonably be expected to be made on it by Indians or French with
small arms.

"As it is overlooked by an eminence from behind within cannon
shot, I should have chosen and sent orders to have it placed there,
but finding, upon examination, that the carriage of stone sufficient
for the foundation of a fort of the dimensions proposed would
occupy three teams of oxen five months, and that it could not be
completed until next summer and would have cost double, and
considering the difficulty the French must have to transport can-
non and mortars by land to attack it, there is but little danger of
their attempting it. I ordered Major General Winslow to proceed
in carrying on the fort upon the point of laud where it is now
built. General Winslow and his officers, in a council of war, unan-
imously fixed it as the best plot of ground near Taconnet, and have
no doubt it will answer every purpose. In the meantime, to avoid
a surprise of this kind, I have caused a strong redoubt of twenty feet
square in the second story, and picqueted round, to be erected oa
that part of the eminence which overlooks the country round, and
mounted with two small cannon, two pounders, and one swivel, and
garri^ned with a sergeant's guard of twelve men. It is large
enough to contain five large cannon and fifty men.

"And after all this, and the opportunity I had of conferring with
the General at Falmouth soon after his return from the march, I
found it necessary for me to secure, in the most effectual manner,
the execution of some principal parts of the service ; to make a visit
to Fort Western and Fort Halifax, which I did : and I think every-
thing which could be proposed to be done within the time for
which the troops were raised, is executed in the best manner it
can be expected.

FORT HALIFAX. 237

"The General's journal, gentlemen, of the proceedings from the
day of the troops sailing from Casco Bay, being the Fourth of
July, to the time of their landing at Cushenoc, and his account of
their proceedings afterwards to the end of them, and the state in
which he left Fort Halifax, contained in his letter to me, dated on
the twenty-first of September (copies of which the Secretary shall
lay before you), will, I am persuaded, satisfy you how well the
troops employed their time ; and I should not do justice to the
officers in general if I did not express to you my approbation of
their behavior in the whole course of the service. But the ex-
traordinary vigilance, activity and good conduct of the Chief Com-
mander in every part of his command, and of the several officers in
performing the several parts of their duty under him, particularly
in the transportation of the cannon and military stores from
Cushenoc to Taconnett, and the march from thence to the middle
of the carrying-place and back to Fort Halifax merit an especial
regard.

**As to the nine days which the troops remained encamped on
Bang's Island, from the time of their arrival at Casco Bay to the
day of their embarcation for Kennebeck, I did not think it proper
that they should proceed to execute any part of the intended service
before I had finished the conference with Norridgewock Indians,
though I had determined to have the march made to the head of
Kennebeck Biver and half way over the carrying-place, and to have
the forts erected at Taconnett and Cushenoc, whether they gave
their consent or not ; yet that might have given them or the French
too much colour to have taxed us with stealing an opportunity to
march through the country of the Norridgewocks and build forts
upon the Kennebeck, whilst we had drawn them to Falmouth and
engaged them in a treaty with us there. Such a reproach would
have ill suited the honor of this government ; wherefore, now we
have obtained a formal treaty, not only to our doing this, but to
making new settlements upon the river, to all of which they were
ever before, and even at the beginning of the late conference,

238 FORT HALIFAX.

«

greatly averse. And besides, I am persuaded that this appearance
of the troops at Casco contributed not a little to our gaining this
consent from them. * * Though the troops, gentlemen, found
no French settlement to be removed, yet by their late march on
both sides of the river Kennebeck to the head of it, and to the first
pond on the carrying-place, you have probably prevented them from
attempts to make one there. * * *"

We see that the Grovemor remained at Falmouth during the
time occupied by Gen. Winslow and his troops in the building
of a part of the fort, the march to the portage and the making
of eighteen miles of wheel road between the two new forts, being
fifty-six days. With him was a quorum of the Council The
frigate Massachusetts was running as a dispatch and passenger
vessel between Falmouth and Boston, for the accommodation of
the Council and the other gentlemen connected with the gov-
ernment.

Governor Shirley also arranged an express route to Fort Hali-
fax by whale boats, by which dispatches could be transmitted
in twenty-four hours and return in twenty hours. This was
probably by the way of Casco Bay and New Meadows Eiver to
Brunswick, thence through Merrymeeting Bay to the Kennebec.
This became necessary, as the announcement was daily expected
of war between England and France, which Parson Smith
mentions as being already known at Halifax.

Before Governor Shirley left Fort Halifax, he appointed, as
commander of the garrison, Capt. WiUiam Lithgow, who had
for several years been in command of Fort Richmond, and had
long been in the employ of the Province.

Some writers have severely criticised the selection of the site
for Fort Halifax, but the Governor in his message gives good
reasons for it If it had been the work of the Governor, Lith-
gow would not have ridiculed it, as will after appear. General

FOET HALIFAX. 239

Winslow was an oflBcer of education and experience, and
much better qualified than Governor Shirley as a military en-
gineer. It will be recollected that the Governor said he had
the best reputation of any ofl&cer in the Province. As to the
mistake of erecting the fort where it was overlooked by a hill,
it was no mistake at alL It wotUd be now. Every fort on the
Kennebec was overlooked by higher land near. It was a part of
the original plan to have a redoubt on the hill, as shown by
Winslow's draft. Col. Montresor, yet to be spoken of, was an
educated European engineer, and would not probably look
favorably upon the work of any Provincial officer. It was con-
tempt for Provincial advice, given by Major Washington, his
aid, that cost Gen. Braddock his life, and the nation the loss of
60 officers and 600 men, killed and wounded; but British
officers finally came to respect the Provincial Major. After
speaking disparagingly of Fort Halifax, Montresor frankly
admitted that either of the blockhouses on the hill was " more
than sufficient for protection against an enemy who had no
other offensive weapons than small arms." Perhaps it would
have been possible to transport very small cannon from Quebec,
but no others. A besieging force by the way of the Kennebec,
could not bring large cannon by water within twenty miles of
Fort Halifax, and would be compelled to run the gauntlet of
Forts Eichmond, Shirley and Western, or capture them all in
succession, and then the game would not be worth the cost to
the French. Even Capt. Lithgow, after ridiculing the site
chosen, was at last compelled to admit that it was best to finish
it by the river. To find fault requires much less ability than
to originate. Undoubtedly Winslow thought that a garrison of
two hundred, which Lithgow said the fort would accommodate,
could not be supplied with water in case of being besieged, on
the top of a sand hill, 100 feet high, considering that a deep

240 FORT HALIFAX.

well was required near the river. The second blockhouse was
built to command a view of the river and to overlook the falls,
where much fishing was done, and where a fishing party from
the fort was attacked by the Indians. If the fort had been in-
tended to, or would be compelled to withstand a siege, Winslow
knew that with short notice a covered way could be constructed
between the several parts of the fortress ; this was a very com-
mon appendage to works for defence, at that day, especially
where a small garrison was to be maintained.

The wilderness of the Kennebec had never resounded to so
much bustle and activity as at the building of Forts Halifax
. and Western.* One condition required by the Plymouth
Company in their agreement with government to erect a " de-
fencible house " at Cushnoc, was that the Provincial forces
should protect tlie Company's workmen while they were engaged
in the building. To do this and shelter all, the timber and
other materials were prepared under the guns of Fort Shirley
at Frankfort, now Dresden. The fort was built by the Company
and garrisoned by the Province. When ready for being put in
place, the materials were built into rafts and floated up the
river with the tide, but of course they needed much towing.
Each raft must have an armed guard, for fear of an attack from
the Indians, who looked upon the erection of the forts as an ag-
gression, although some of the chiefs had reluctantly consented
to it.

It must have required a large force to make the eighteen

*Fort Western was erected on the site of the original Plymouth trading
house of 1620, and was a fortified stone house and dependence of Fort Halifax.
The first year it was under the care of Capt Lithgow. He enumerates it, in
his letter to Lieut.-Goyemor Phips, as one of the several posts he is obliged
to garrison.

FORT HALIFAX. 241

miles of wheel road between the two new forts.* Besides,
(Jen. Winslow erected five separate timber buildings in the few
weeks which he spent at Taconnet ; the center blockhouse of
his plan, two stories, and the four one-story buildings fronting
the comers of the center building, which were used for barracks.
These were each twenty feet square, and were moved, and joined
in a line for the same purpose the next year, by Captain Lithgow.
The center building became Lithgow's north flanker, where it
originally stood. There were 800 feet of palisades set to enclose
the main works. A blockhouse was also built on the hill and
similarly enclosed ; and yet Fort Halifax was not half built as
it stood when completed. Another wearisome toil was the
transportation of the cannon to arm the two blockhouses.
These were carried from the head of the tide in two gondolas
drawing two feet of water, and, according to Captain Lithgow's
deposition, "they were towed up by the army that guarded
them." The falls where is now the Augusta dam, and the falls
of Nequamkike, had to be surmounted by deeply-laden scows
towed by men, who had no other path but the shoal water near
the bank. To accomplish all this, and the time occupied in
going and returning to Falmouth, was but fifty-six days, sixteen
of which 500 men were absent on the exploration of the river,
for seventy-five miles.

The Grovemor remained at Falmouth from the third to the
eighth of September, when he sailed for Boston. His embarka-
tion is thus recorded by Parson Smith : " September 8th. The
Governor sailed with Col. Mascarene, Mr. Brock well, Mr. Wheel-
wright, Eichmond, Gerrish, Minot and Price. Thus ends a

*Although this road was cleared and graded at great expense of labor, it
was of little service for the transportation of stores. Capt Lithgow wrote
that the drifting snow filled the valley ten or fifteen feet deep, and that there
was not sufiicient passing over it to keep it open.
16

242 FOBT HALIFAX.

summer scene of as much bluster as a Cambridge Commencement^
and now comes on a vacation when our house and the town
seem quite solitary." We can readily imagine the change.
The town had, for ten weeks, been the headquarters of a laige
number of the dignitaries of the provincial government, with
the commissioners from New Hampshire and Nova Scotia;
these officials were then invested by the people with much more
dignity and splendor than now. The representatives of two
dreaded Indian tribes swelled the pageant, who closed the treaty
with a dance, in all their paint and feathers. AU this bustle
and parade in the little town of 1,000 inhabitants, unused to
such scenes ! A man-of-war was anchored in front of the town,
which, with the fort, announced every movement of the Governor,
as the custom then was, with guns and flags.*

Those Royal Governors were not like the modest, unostenta-
tious chief magistrates of our time. When they arrived at
Boston, from any distant official service, they first landed at the
Castle and waited for an enthusiastic reception to be arranged
for the next day, when they embarked under a salute of the
Castle guns and the men-of-war in the harbor, and landed at Long
wharf under another salute, where the " Governor's company of
Cadets " received and escorted them to the Province house. Grov-
-emor Shirley arrived at the Castle on the ninth of September,

* Before leaving Taconnet, the Governor went through some ceremony,
^ith a salute, and named the work " Fort Halifax," and had a complimentary
Inscription in Latin cut on a stone^ of which this is a translation : " For the
benefit of the Massachusetts Province, Wm. Shirley, her Governor, under
the auspices of the most nohle George Montague Dunk, Earl of Halifax, the
highly distinguished friend and patron of the British Provinces throughout
America, has reared this fortress September 6, 1754."

The Earl of Halifax was appointed " First Lord of Trade and Plantations/'
in 1748, and a Major General the following year. He died in 1771, when the
title became extinct

FORT HALIFAX. 243

and after all this parade took charge of the govemment the
next day.

The commanding General, and all the forces, received from
the Governor and House of Representatives, expression of ap-
proval, and in addition to 7,000 pounds previously raised, 600
pounds were voted hy the House to defray the expense and 300
pounds for presents to the Indians. Before the presents were
delivered, the Indians commenced hostilities, by attacking a
party of six persons who were engaged in hauling timber for
the fort One man was killed and scalped and four others were
carried off. An express arrived at Boston on the sixth of No-
vember with this intelligence, by the newly-arranged express
route. This outrage was a surprise to the govemment, coming,
as it did, so soon after the treaty was completed. The Indians
were displeased at the erection of the new forts, notwithstand-
ing their chief men had reluctantly consented thereto, after
being shown Indian deeds of the territory, which they con-
tended were obtained by making their chiefs drunk, as they had
never before heard of these deeds.

The House of Representatives became alarmed, and on the
eleventh of November voted to request the (Jovernor to send a
reinforcement to the garrison of Fort Halifax, and on the
twelfth passed an order directing the jCommissary General to
provide 100 paiiB of snow-shoes and as many pairs of moccasins
for the garrison. The* same day the Governor issued a warrant
to Captain Lithgow, who was in command, to impress men to
fill up the garrison, if he could not make up the established num-
ber by enlistment The Province sloop, with stores for the Ken-
nebec forts, and also the presents for the Norridgewock Indians,
was ready to sail from Boston ; but on the arrival of the express
she was detained, and an embargo of twenty-six days was laid

244 FOET HALIFAX.

on all vessels having supplies on board, for fear of their being
seized by the French cruisers*

In December, there was another alarm from Canada, which
is thus alluded to by Governor Shirley, in a letter dated Jan. 6,
1755, to Governor Lawrence, of Nova Scotia, which is now in
the archives at Halifax :

"Another circumstance which increases my apprehension, is
that I have undoubted intelligence by an English captive from
Montreal, that when he left that place the French were transport-
iug parties of soldiers (in all 400) Und 100 Indians from thence
to Quebec, with a design, as he conjectures, to attack Fort Halifax
on the Kennebeck."

The Governor did not take the same view, but thought they
might be intended for Nova Scotia, and so cautioned Governor
Lawrence. The House of Eepresentatives thought the captive's
apprehension a reasonable one, and on the twenty-third of De-
cember they voted " That the Captain General be desired to
appoint, as soon as may be, some suitable person to repair to
Fort Halifax, with special authority to strengthen the same, as
also the blockhouse or redoubt on the hill near the same, in
such manner as to make the same proof against small cannon
in such parts of the fortress as are exposed to the approach of
an enemy, and the said person be authorized to govern and con-
duct the whole affairs of said garrison during his stay there, and
that he be directed to employ the soldiers in scouting and garri-

♦Govemor Shirley, in a communication to the House of Representatives,
says, " I have stopped the Province sloop, with the Commander of Fort
Halifax on board, till it is determined what orders ought to be given on the
occasion. The sloop being loaded with the winter stores for the several
forts in the eastern parts, must go first to St. Georges and Pemaquid, to be
discharged of some part of her lading, before she will be able to go to Cushe-
noc with the stores for Fort Halifax^"

FORT HALIFAX. 245

son duty, also to do the labor necessary to strengthen said
fortress, at such moderate rates as he may agree with them. He
also ordered a draft of forty men to reinforce the garrison, from
the independent companies at the eastward, and that 450 more
be raised out of said companies of militia nearest said garrison,
to be held in readiness to march instantly for their relief on the
first advice of an attack, or the approach of an enemy." *

January 3d, the Governor wrote to Capt Lithgow that he
had appointed Jedediah Preble,t of Falmouth, to be commander

*The House of Representatives passed an order that "the Commissary
General forthwith provide twenty double beds and forty single blankets for
the use of the forty men ordered for the reinforcement of the garrison of
Fort Halifax." Also, on the twentieth of December, the House ''Voted, that
the Captain General be directed to give orders that there be five Cohom
mortars sent to Fort Halifax." These were small brass mortars, so named
for Baron Cohom, who invented them ; they were mounted on a wooden
block, between long handles, to be carried by men to any desired position.
The caliber of these mortars is indicated by bomb-shells found near the site
of the fort about twenty years ago, which were two and three-quarter inches
in diameter. When Gen. Nicholson, in command of the Provincial troops,
besieged Port Royal, now Annapolis, Nova Scotia, in 1710, he had twenty-
four Cohom mortars in position, and only two of the larger mortars.

t "Jedediah Preble, of Falmouth," who. Gen. Shirley wrote to Capt. Lith-
gow, had been appointed to strengthen the fort, was the Col. Preble who
ranked next to Winslow in the expedition to build the fort and explore the
river. As he wiU not again appear in this sketch, perhaps this is a proper
place for a notice of his previous and subsequent services.

He descended from the Preble family of old York. He was in Waldo's
regiment, under Gen. Pepperell, at the siege of Louisburg in 1746. He was
probably a subaltern, as he was commissioned as Captain in the same regi-
ment while there. He was commissioned Lieut-Colonel for the Kennebec
expedition. He removed to Falmouth about 1748. He acted as Major under
Monckton at the taking of the French forts in Nova Scotia^ and in the re-
moval of the Acadians in 1755, in which service he was slightly wounded at
Chignecto.

Col. Preble was again with Gen. Winslow, in the expedition against
Ticonderoga. He was next in command under Governor Pownal in the

248 FORT HALIFAX.

em will be hard to freeze, on account of the strong current that
runs there, and as to the cut road being of any service, it would
take fifty men and ten yoke of oxen two days to brake, and after
it was broken, it would choke up witli y^ first wind that blew ;
some of y^ gullies now are drifted ten or fifteen feet deep with
snow, and I think it never will be of much service to us for trans-
porting our provisions, till such time as y^ country is settled, and
more teams f reequent that road than what may be allowed for Fort
Halifax. But these dull complaints avail us but little to extricate
us out of our difficulties.

'* It remains to think of the best way by which that garrison can
be relieved, and I would, with submission, offer your Excellency
my humble opinion upon the matter, which is, that your Excellency
give the independent companies or other forces which may be
raised for the defence of the river, orders to provide or impress
oxen or other cattle, with provender, and sleds or carts, and those
cattle to be employed in hauling the stores and other supplies that
will soon be landed for this river — ^for the supply of Fort Halifax —
up to Fort Western, for further, I believe, cattle will be of no ser-
vice, on account of y^ river being dangerous for cattle to travel on,
as I have already observed, and that a proper number of good men,
with snow-shoes, may be employed in carrying up provisions from
Fort Western to Fort Halifax, and after y^ road is beaten well,
and y® invalids that may be able to travel after being shod, for
them to march down y^ river and tarry with y« provisions, which
will save a great deal of fatigue of carrying of y^ provisions to them,
and that there be good men placed at Fort Halifax in their room.

'^ I should now have dismissed some worthless fellows, who do
little other duty than eat their allowance, could they have
traveled home, for they never will do any service here or anywhere
else. This garrison, I think, has its full share of such creatures,
that resemble men in nothing but y^ human shape, but such will
do for forts where they have nothing to do but eat and sleep. * *

<< We want very much an assortment of herbs for the sick. Our

FORT HALIFAX. 249

doctor has left us^ and we have no one here that knows y^ use of
our medicines.

''A great many of our men have been sick and continue so, but
none of them have yet recovered to their former healthy nor will do
80y I believe, this winter. The men, in general, seem very low in
spirits, which I impute to their wading so much in y® water in y*
summer and fall, which I believe has very much hurt y® circulation
of their blood, and filled it full of gross humors, and what has
added to their misfortune is their being straightened for want of
room and lodgings. In y® spring of y® year, must be sent to Fort
Western ten loads of English hay for y* supply of y® oxen that
must haul the timber for y® buildings of Fort Halifax, otherwise we
cannot go on with the buildings there. I have employed three
carpenters this winter to prepare timber for these buildings. I
have agreed with two of them at thirty pounds per month till the
last of March, and after that thirty shillings per day till the last of
May. I would again recommend to your Excellency eight flat-
bottomed boats, carrying two tons each, which I mentioned in my
last letter, and that they be sent to Fort Western as early as possible
next spring to carry up our supplies to Fort Halifax, which I am
fully satisfied must be the way we must be supplied at the fort.

" I add no further than that we will do the best we can to subsist
till we have more help. With submission, I beg leave to subscribe
myself your Excellency's most dutiful, obedient servant,

" William Lithgow.

" Richmond Fort, January y© 9th, 1755."

From this letter we get a good idea of the hardships endured
by the builders of Fort Halifax.* Captain lithgow's letter to

*A petition, signed by General Winslow, is on file in the Massachusetts
arcfaives, which confirms what Captain Lithgow wrote concerning the ex-
posure of the troops. It is dated December 4, 1754, and directed to Governor
Shirley, Captain General. He asked to have ''blankets, knapsacks and
bandoliers (a belt to go over the shoulder to hold ammunition) issued to the
men of his expedition to the eastward, and said " theirs were worn out by

250 FORT HALIFAX.

the Governor was nine days in reaching Boston. Under date
of January 18, the Grovemor replied that ten days ago a vessel
was sent with stores, and that he had now sent another, with
provisions and clothing for the garrison, and had ordered Major
Denny and Gen. Watts, at Arrowsic, to impress horses and oxen
for the transportation, together with a guard of men, to get the
stores up to Fort Western. Tlje Governor expressed sorrow at
the state of the garrison and confidence in the commander's
ability and prudence.

This brought a more hopeful letter from Captain Lithgow, in
which he expressed great dissatisfaction with the plan of the
fort and proposed a plan of his own.

" BiOHBCOND, Eebruary 21, 1765.
*'Sir, may it please your Excellency :

" I have received your Excellency's letters of January 18, 1755,

the continual marches, and passing sometimes by water and sometimes by
land — ^lying on the ground, and transporting provisions, as well in their
blankets as knapsacks, and divers men entirely lost their blankets, as well
as arms, by oversetting their boats, &c. ; " and that the whole of these articles
are worn out and rendered unserviceable, and requests that they may not be
required to return them to the Conmiissary General. Which request was
granted.

On the thirtieth of October of the same year, Second Lieutenant Thomas
Lawrence, of Groton, petitioned the General Court for remuneration " for a
hurt I received in the expedition up the ' Cenebec ' River, and after my return
from the long march up the river was called upon to assist in raising a block-
house at Fort Halifax, which I did, and in laying down one of the plank,
which was too heavy for one, it gave me a sudden Rinch, which I often feel
the effects of, and shall, as long as I live, and soon after was taken with a
slow fever, and it is now five weeks next Saturday since I landed in Boston,
and was carried to Mrs. Sparrow's, where I have been ever since, but now,
through the goodness of God, am got so well as to endeavour to ride in a
chair, if I had one." The General Court gave him eleven pounds, ten
shillings extra compensation. This is a sample of many like petitions
received and continuing to be presented for two years after, most of which
were granted, showing that these men had the sympathy of the people.

PORT HALIFAX. 251

and have obserred y^ contents of them, which gives me grate satis-
faction to find your Excellency has been pleased in so generous a
manner to comply with my proposals respecting the boats and the
transportation of the supplies from '^Arousick " to Fort Western,
which supplies, I understand, is soon to be landed there. Also, I
would inform your Excellency, nothing gives me more pleasure
than that your Excellency is pleased to approve of any of my con-
duct (being sensible of my own incapacity for y® trust your Excel-
lency is pleased to repose in me), which I can but own is not
extraordinary. But this, your Excellency may assure yourself, so
far as I am capable, will do y^ best to answer your Excellency's
expectations in every particular.

'' Relating to my present station of life, which has given me no
■mail concern and care, I assure your Excellency I have not had
one day's rest in body or mind since I left your Excellency last
fall, which may seem extraordinary to any else but your Excel-
lency, who does not consider y® trouble we had with y® hay in y*
fall, which was landed at Richmond Fort, from whence we were
obliged to carry it in gundalows to Fort Western, and sundry
times drove ashore in our passage by ice, and had like to have lost
both hay and gundalows, which gave us considerable toyle, and all
on account of y^ hay's not being sent ^ timontou$ly,' as other
various circumstances of y^ situation of Fort Halifax. But I am
greatly encouraged for your Excellency's wisdom and goodness
that our present trouble will, in a short time (in some measure),
be abated here. I can inform your Excellency that I have received
the supplies sent last by Capt. Saunders, which were landed at
AroQsick, twenty miles below Richmond Fort, on account of y* ice,
from whence we gundalowed them to the chops of Merrjmieeting
Bay, and, after having lodged the above supplies there, the men
being much fatigued in this piece of service, occasioned me to apply
to Capt Hunter, of Topsham, and Capt. Dunning, of Brunswick,
two independent Captains, for their assistance to help me in the
transportation of y* above supplies, as also to assist in conveying

252 FORT HALIFAX.

the provision from Fort Western to Fort Halifax, which garrison
was almost destitute of provisions and clothing.

"My application to j® above Captains was before we had y* ac-
count of your Excellency's resolve of re-inforcement of the garrison
of Fort Halifax with forty men. ♦ * ♦ They came, and
brought with them nineteen men out of the several companies,
which continued twenty-one days in the Province service, and at
the expiration of those days they were discharged, in which time,
by their assistance and two horses which I impressed, we carried
to Fort Halifax all these supplies which were left at the chops of
Merrymeeting Bay ; and after I had distributed y^ above shoes and
stockings, blankets, beds, &c., which were exceedingly wanted
there, I then could muster forty efficient men at the above fort,
which I employed by turns with those of Oapt. Hunter and Dan-
ning's men, and have lodged entirely all y® supplies in Fort Halifax
that belonged there, so that we now have about two months and a
half of provisions for that fort.*

" Our next relief, I would inform your Excellency, will entirely
depend on the boats I proposed. If these be not sent before the
above provisions are expended, the fort may be lost for want of
supplies which we can't purchase no otherways without vast ex-
pence to the Province, and great hazzard of men's lives. On this
depends y^ preservation of Fort Halifax; and as y^ enemy will
have great advantage on account of y® difficulty of ye river, which
seems to invite them, as it were, to oppose our going up and down

* In a letter to Governor Shirley, without date, Captain Lithgow wrote that
in January, 1766, Captain David Dunning, of Bronswick, and Captain Adam
Hunter, of Topsham, " being joined with a few soldiers at Richmond, in yo
space of three weeks, hauled on handaleda on the ice from Arrowsic to Fort
Western, beds, blankets, shoes, &c., and about two hundred barrels of pro-
visions from Fort Western to Fort Halifax." In consideration of their
services. Captain Lithgow recommended them to the attention of the govern-
ment The History of Augusta says that it was a popular saying that
"Every biscuit sent to Fort Halifax cost the Province a plstareen."

FORT HALIFAX. 253

said river, which I make no doubt is their design ; and as we may
expect a powerful party of Indians, joined by the French, to oppose
the transporting of our stores, therefore I think those stores must
be guarded by a strong party of our side, in order to give the
enemy a smart repulse, if they should attempt us in this manner,
and I expect no other than they will.

" Now, in answer to the proposal of your Excellency and the Hon-
orable Court, namely, to fortify against the but of small cannon in
such parts as may be exposed most to the approach of the enemy, &c.,
and herewith great submission to all my superiors in judgment,
as well as on other accounts, I offer your Excellency my sentiments
on y* present fort under consideration.

'^ In the first place, Fort Halifax is so placed under a hill, which
rises near 100 feet higher than the ground where it stands, which
will render said fort very costly to fortify agreeably to your Excel-
lency's instructions ; and I must confess I know of no other way
to comply with the above instructions, than either to erect a wall
which must be cannon proof, and not less than sixteen feet high,
and 200 feet long, to encompass half the fort which is exposed to
the hill, or to cover those barracks already built, as well as those
to be erected for the officers and reception of the stores, by another
timber wall at a proper distance and fill between with clay, and
this must be done on all parts of those buildings that must be thus
secured, to answer any end against cannon. Now, if the height
of the hill be considered, I think it will be allowed that the wall
must be of the height I have proposed, and the houses to be forti-
fied up to the wall-plates, or eves, which eves are about eight feet
high. And as to there being a proper place for another redoubt on
the hill, which your Excellency desires to be informed of, I have
surveyed the ground and find there is. Now, considering the addi-
tional buildings, which can be no less than two houses of forty-four
feet long, for the officers and reception of stores, &c., and three
small blockhouses to be erected in the half-moons, or places of arms,
for the defence of a piquet work, as also for the sentrys to stand

254 FORT HALIFAX.

guard in, and all these to be fortified as aboye, witb that expense
of another redoubt on the hill, will be considerable ; and after it is
done in this manner, which is the best method I can think of, it
will be as irregular, ill-formed assemblage of buildings, on account of
their irregularity, as was ever huddled together to be called a fort,
and it will be hard to defend all those buildings on account of their
irregularity and the large circumference of the piquet work. Now,
as this fort has no defence by cannon, than a right defence, which
is next to no defence in fortification, I would, with submission,
ask your Excellency whether I might not entirely alter the present
Fort Halifax, and make a regular fortress of it, with either two or
four fiankers, agreeable to Colonel Mascareen's draft, which will
bee cheaper in the end to the Province, than to finish it as 'tis
begun; for this reason, because the vast number of piquets that
now encompass the present buildings, will forever want repair,
whereas, if it was made a compact fort of about 100 feet square,
with but two fiankers, it would afford five times the room it now
contains, and would be five times easier of being defended than
what it will be, if it is finished as 'tis begun.

" Now if this should be agreeable to your Excellency to have it
built in the manner I have proposed, the blocks of the present
buildings will be all serviceable — that there will be no considerable
waste in them. Now, as I know not what objections may be offered
against this proposal of mine, I cannot well answer them. ♦ * ♦
The cost will be but a trifie more in this way than to finish it as
begun. ♦ * ♦ I would pay no regard to the buildings called
Fort Halifax, but would at all adventure erect such a fort as I have
proposed on the eminence, which would save the cost of another
redoubt, and might be made, with very little cost, proof against
any cannon, or any attempts the French would ever make to
destroy it. Was it placed here, the flanks next the plain only
need to be made cannon proof, for in them would be room enough
to contain the soldiery which would be requisite to defend the fort.

" Thus I have given your Excellency my very best opinion how
this fort ought to be done, in three ways — either to finish it in the

FORT HALIFAX 255

form it 18 began, or to alter the present situation and make a reg-
ular fort of it, where it now stands, or build on the hill. * *
And as for your Excellency or the Court to suppose this fort could
be completed in two month's time, it is impossible, were it to be
attempted by a regiment of men, and the best officer in the Prov-
ince to head them, unless all the materials were on the spot, which,
to complete this work will require 450 tons of timber for the walls,
boards, plank, and so forth, forty or fifty thousand of shingles
and forty thousand brick. Kow as there is but very few brick,
they can't be burnt or made until the weather is seasonable. And
as we have no stone, but what must be fetched across the river,
which can't be done also, until the weather is warm and the river
fallen — ^had the forty recruits arrived at the time the Court pre-
scribed, our provisions would have been expended before we could
have possibly got more, for which reason I discharged Captains
Hunter and Dunning, with their men, who were willing to have
furnished me with their quota of men agreeably to your Excel-
lency's instructions, and Capt. Hunter was to have remained with
them during your Excellency's pleasure as their officer, as he is a
complete carpenter, and well skilled in log work. I then agreed
with Capt. Hunter that he should bring with him, out of Capt.
Dunning's and his companies, both their quotas of men of such as
are skilled both with the broad and narrow axe, * * * but
not to come until I had informed him I had got hay. * ^ Kow
I have appointed Capt. Hunter to be with me on the eighteenth of
February. ♦ * *

** Now, in answer to your Excellency's letter of January 31st, as
to the joinery and carpentry work inside of the buildings, floors,
cabins, window shutters for close quarters and the like, I have
constantly this winter employed three carpenters in the woods, and
in storms, when they could not go abroad to work, have employed
them in doing those sundry jobs, as your Excellency prescribed in
said letter. All I can say, I done the best in my power.

'^ February 14^ 1755. William Lithoow."

256 FORT HALIFAX.

" One thing I forgot to inform your Excellency, that I have been
obliged constantly to allow those men that hauled pine wood,
stores, &c., to Fort Halifax a certain quantity of rum, without
which it would have been impossible to have done anything." *

On the eighth of March the Governor replied to this long
letter, assuring Captain Lithgow that the fort should be completed
the coming season, with suitable accommodations to receive his
family.

Captain Lithgow again wrote to the Governor, changing his
previously proposed plan, which is as follows. The originals of
all these letters, in the Captain's plain business hand, are on file
in the office of the Secretary of State, Boston.

Governor Shirley wrote from Boston March 8, 1755, to Captain
Lithgow, that the flat-bottomed boats are about ready, two of
them, one building at Brunswick, and the two others will be
sent by Saunders on his next voyage, " and the commissary is
ordered to provide two more as soon as possible, and to have all
of them armed with four swivel guns each."

*The first officer under Captain Lithgow, at Fort Halifax, was a Captain
Lane, of whom Captain Lithgow complained to Governor Shirley as ineffi-
cient. In a postscript to his letter of the eighth of March, 1755, already
quoted, Grovemor Shirley says, " I have well weighed what you have men-
tioned concerning Captain Lane, and have determined to make some other
provision for him, and have directed him to come to Boston as soon as pos-
sible, and have thought proper to appoint a Second Lieutenant under you,
and now enclose to you a blank commission, to be filled up by you, with
Captain Duiming's or Captain Hunter's name, or some other person in whom
you may have the most confidence of his supplying your absence with the
best ability." Captain Lithgow replied on the twenty-second of March,
thanking the Governor for the provision he had made for Captain Lane, say-
ing that he was an object of pity, but did not say whose name had been in-
serted in the blank commission. He several times mentioned that both
Captain Dunning, of Brunswick, and Captain Hunter, of Topsham, were em-
ployed at the fort, but does not name either as an officer of the garrison.

FOBT HALIFAX. 257

A part of this letter relates to strengthening the fort tempo-
rarily, according to the Captain's suggestion. The Grovemor
adds, " I have thought proper to appoint a second Lieutenant
tinder you, and now enclose to you a blank commission to be
filled up by you with the name of Captain Dunning, or Captain
Hunter, or some other person in whom you may have most
confidence of his supplying your absence with the best ability."
A Captain Lane had been serving under Captain Lithgow who
was not efficient, and was ordered to Boston.

March 22, Captain Lithgow wrote to Governor Shirley " that
the inside of the buildings are ready to receive the soldiery ;
that he had made plank shutters to the windows and doors.''

The Captain continues :

^* I have on y« eminence 200 tons of hewn timber. I am de-
termined to erect another redoubt on the eminencei cannon proof,
that will be capable of containing a sufficiency of men to defend it
against any considerable army that may be furnished with grate
artillery. I have thought this can be of no disadvantage, for if
your Excellency determines to have y« fort built on y^ hill, I can
but join the fort to the redoubt, which will make a good fianker
for it. And if it should be continued where it now stands, there
must be a redoubt erected that will command the hill, otherwise it
will be in the power of an enemy to surprise it at their pleasure,
whenever they may think proper to make their approach with
cannon. I also have 100 tons of board logs, and bolts for shingles,
most of which I have gotten hauled by hand. I want the assist-
ance of oxen and hay prodigiously — had I that, I should have no
occasion to go into the woods for timber after the snow was off the
ground. Would pray the commissary to send ten tons of hay,

which must be delivered at Fort Western.

Wm. Lithgow."

We see by this letter that Captain Lithgow had procured one
hundred tons of board logs, which must have numbered 200

17

258 FORT HALIFAX.

logs, and these had been hauled by hand. To have a proper
idea of the immense labor performed, we must consider that
these board logs must be sawed with pit saws, worked by two
men each, one standing on top of the log, which must be rolled
on to a frame, with a pit below it for the lower man to stand
in. That the roofs were covered with boards and not with long
split clefts, as most bams were at that time, called long shingles,
we are sure, for in the Massachusetts archives is the original
bni of Captain (Jeorge Berry, a famous shipbuilder, and military
officer of Falmouth, for boarding " the great house at Fort
Halifax, 100 feet by forty," his Honor, Spencer Phips, suc-
cessor to Governor Shirley, being the debtor. This gives us the
size of the building used for officers' quarters, and for the store
house. Of course it was only the roof that was boarded, as
the walls were of hewn timber.

On the nineteenth of April, Capt Lithgow again reported to
the Governor, proposing another plan for completing the fort, as
follows :

"4fay it please your Excellency :

" I think I have timber sufficient to build a redoubt thirty-four
feet square and two stories high, cannon proof, which will command
the eminence against a considerable army that might be furnished
with cannon. I have determined to make the walls of said redoubt
five feet thick, of square timber, locked together with oak ties at
proper distances. This way will be less cost than a double wall
£lled with earth, which would soon rot the timber.

^^ I have also got timber sufficient to build a small square fort of
about eighty or ninety feet square, with the help of those small
blockhouses Gen. Winslow erected. I propose to join this fort to
the large blockhouse that now contains the cannon, which block-
house will answer for one of the flankers. This, with one flanker
more at .opposite angles, with the help of two watch boxes at the

FORT HALIFAX. 259

other two opposite angles, will afford a very good defense, a draft
of which I have enclosed jour Excellency, the incorrectness of
which I hope will he excused, as I had no scale but that of a car-
penter's square.

" The above redoubt, with this fort, is really the cheapest way I
can think of to finish those works, for a great many reasons. I
shall give your Excellency only one. The piquets that now en-
compass those buildings are composed of 800 foot in length, a great
many of which will soon fall, being in some places set scarcely in
the ground. They are considerably racked already, and I fear they
will fall this spring. Now, the repairing of those piquets, once
added to that of building houses for the officers and stores, will cost
more than the fort I have proposed, which fort will stand 100 years
if kept shingled or clapboarded, and will be vastly more defensible,
as it will be small, for certainly 320 foot in the compass. The
fort I propose is easier of being defended than that of 800 foot, as
it now stands piqueted, which will forever want repairing and no
way defensible. This small fort will upon occasion lodge 200 men
comfortably, as also y^ stores. I do not think it material to lay
the sundry apartments of the barracks in the inside, as also the
placing of chimneys and gateway, &c.

" My reason for placing this fort below, contrary to my opinion,
is in order to save those buildings already erected, which would be
lost were it placed on y^ eminence.

** I shall trouble your Excellency no further respecting this fort
at present, but say I have given my best opinion, and am fully
persuaded those methods I have here proposed will be far cheapest,
and answer the end of the government better than any other way
they can finish it in.

" I would beg your Excellency's opinion on this affair — am now
obliged, for want of instruction, and lest the carpenters should be
idle, to set them on the above redoubt, and should set them on the
lower fort had I your Excellency's opinion.

'' Our number at the fort does not exceed seventy-four, and, indud-

260 VOBT HALIFAX

ing officerSe out of whicb I can't muster upwards of forty effective
men. And as it will be highly necessary to hold possession of the
new redoubt, as the wall is raised four feet high, which will require
no less than twenty of our best men to assist and guard the work-
men, and as brick must be made and stone provided, all of which
I think will require a re-inforc^ment of good men, besides thoee
employed transporting the stores, for which service, agreeable to
your Excellency's instruction, I applied to the independent com-
panies, as also to Colonel Gushing, for 150 good men that are
capable of marching from Fort Western to Fort Halifax, as also
managing the boats that carry the provisions.

" I have appointed the first of May, old style, for those guards
to be at Fort Western, by which time most of the people will have
finished their planting, &c. If those guards should fail me at that
time, it will be out of our power afterwards to transport the pro-
visions, on account of the river will then be fallen so that the
boats will not have water to float them. The two boats come from
Boston will no ways answer the end, being vastly too big, so that
I now have to depend on but two built at Brunswick. I wanted
eight boats thirty feet long, two feet deep, and six feet wide, flat
bottomed. Kow out of this number I shall have but two— must
be obliged to press canoes. Though there were gentlemen enough
in Boston who were perfectly well acquainted with this river, who
could have directed the building of proper boats for this purpose-
had I not thought so, I should have shaped a piece of wood in the
form of one of these boats, and sent it for a pattern.

*' All of which I leave to your Excellency's wise consideratioOi
and pray a speedy answer respecting the fort.

'' With all submission, I beg leave to subscribe myself your

Excellency's humble servant.

Wm. Lithgow.

^'Fort Halifax, April 19. If your Excellency thinks proper to
retain a number of men at Bichmond Fort, I should think it a

FOBT HALIFAX. 261

great favor to be allowed to name the officer that commands those
men, on accoant of my stock and improvements most be left there.

Wm. LlTHGOW."

To avoid responsibility and not oflFend either of his two mili-
tary friends, Gren. Winslow and Capt. Lithgow, the Governor
laid the two plans of the fort before the Council, who referred
them, as the following extract from the Journal shows :

[Massachusetts Greneral Court Records for 1755, page 505.]

''June 22, 1755. Ordered, that the Committee of Wars take
into consideration the two plans of Fort Halifax, and report to his
Excellency, the Captain General or Commander-in-Chief for the
time being, which they judge the most advantageous to the Prov*
inee, and also what alterations (if any) they think proper to be
made in either of those plans.

'j In Council, read and concurred.

"June 26, (1755). The Committee of Wars report to the Gov-
ernor about Fort Halifax, viz:

" Jfay it please your Excellency: The committee to whom was
referred the two plans have perused the same, and beg leave humbly
to report that we are of opinion that the plan drawn by Capt. Lith-
gow, touching the alteration of Fort Halifax, if pursued, will be
most advantageous to the Province, and that we cannot find any
amendments to make thereon. Which is humbly submitted to

your Excellency.

John Osbobne, by order,^^

Gen. WinsloVs original plan is on file. It is thus endorsed.

''Boston, New England, Oct. 4, 1754.

''To his Excellency, Wm. Shirley, Captain General and Com-
mander-in-Chief, in and over His Majestie's Province of Massachu*
setts Bay, N. K

"This plan of Fort Halifax, at Ticonnett Falls, on Kennebeck
River, with a redoubt standing east 16^ degrees, north 61^ rods,

262 FORT HALIFAX.

on an eminence, is dedicated by your Excellency's most obliged,
most dutiful and most humble servant, John Winslow."

*^ N. B. The officers' apartments, guardhouse and armourer's
shop proposed to be built within the piquet, not yet erected. The
timber and brick sufficient provided for that purpose. And also an
order given for sinking a well, before we left the fort, and kent-
lings provided to secure it.

" Blockhouse on the hill square — upper story 27 feet, lower 20.
A, lower story of blockhouse, 20 feet ; B, upper story, 27 ; C, bar-
racks, 20 feet square ; D, proposed line, 120 feet square ; E, the flag
staff ; F, places of arms ; G, gate ; H, the close piquet."

A memorandum on the back of the plan says :

"Copy sent to Capt. Lithgow attested by the Secretary. The
Governor's letter sent — no copy taken by the Secretary, one by the
Commissary. Lithgow's plan also sent him."

There is no date to this memorandum, but probably it was
made when the copy was sent to Lithgow with his own plan.
The report of the Committee of War, deciding that Lithgow's
plan was best, is dated June 26, 1855.

We must now take leave of Governor Shirley, as connected
with the finishing of Fort Halifax. The submitting of the rival
plans to the Council was his last act in that direction. As he
was considered the projector of the enterprise for building that
fortress, and its dependence, Fort Western, the subsequent
career of this remarkable man claims our notice. He had
weightier matters on his hands than the defences of Maine.
He had, since November, been in correspondence with the
home government, and Governor Lawrence, of Nova Scotia,
concerning an intended expedition to reduce the French fort at
Chignecto, Nova Scotia, the building of which the English
claimed was an encroachment.

FORT HALIFAX. 263

In a letter to (rovemor Lawrence, at Halifax, dated December
14tli, he wrote : " 1 have for several days had an inevitable load
on my hands. It is now eleven at night, and I have been
writing ever since seven in the morning to dispatch a London
ship waiting for my letters, and can scarce hold my pen in my
hand."

During the winter, (Jovemor Shirley, with CoL Moncton, of
the British army, and Provincial Gren. Winslow, raised two
thousand New England troops for, and fitted out the Bay of
Fundy expedition against the French forts, which sailed from
Boston on the twenty-second of May. The Governor was also
raising and fitting out another expedition for Oswego, of which
he took command, after being commissioned a Major GreneraL
He left Boston for that place on the twenty-eighth of June.
Gen. Braddock was killed and his army defeated on the Monon-
gahela, on the ninth of Juiy. Among the officers killed in that
action was Wm. Shirley, son of the Governor, who was Brad-
dock's Secretary. By the death of Braddock, Gen. Shirley
became Commander-in-Chief of the army in America. He wets
an officer of great energy and perseverance, but having failed in
an expedition against Crown Point, in 1756, he was superseded
by Abercrombie, and was ordered to England. However, he
was finally cleared of the charges against him.

Grovemor Shirley's first wife (to whose family influence it is
said he owed his first advancement) was Frances Barker, bom
in London in 1692, and died in Dorchester, Mass., in 1746.
She was the mother of the Governor's four sons and five daugh-
ters. She has a mural tablet in King's Chapel, with her family
arms and a lengthy Latin inscription.

In 1749, Gk)vemor Shirley was appointed by the Crown, Com-
missioner to France, to settle the boundary of Acadia. While
he was in Paris, on the commission, he secretly married a young

264 FORT HALIFAX.

Boman Catholic, the daughter of his landlord. This injudicioas
alliance subsequently caused him much mortification and r^ret.
In 1759, he was made Lieutenant-General, and after long solici-
tation was appointed Governor of the Bahama Islands, in which
he was succeeded by his son Thomas. He was the author of
several pamphlets on the French Wars, and in 1748 devised
the scheme of establishing a British colony in Nova Scotia (the
inhabitants were then all French), which was carried out the
next year by the founding of the city of Halifax. Gtovemor
Shirley was bom in England, in 1693, where he practiced law,
came to Boston in 1735, and pursued his profession until his
appointment as Governor of the Massachusetts Province, in
1741. At the appointment of his son to succeed him in the
government of the Bahamas, he returned to Massachusetts, and
died at Roxbury in 1771, aged 78. He was buried with military
honors in his family vault, under King's Chapel, in Boston.
This church was re-built mainly by his exertions. The comer
stone was laid by him in 1752.

Minot says of Governor Shirley, " Although he held some of the
most lucrative offices within the gift of the Crown in America,
he left nothing to his posterity but a reputation, in which his
virtues greatly outweighed his faults."

The Suffolk Probate Court records show that he died in-
testate.

Governor Shirley's residence, erected in about 1748, was in
Eoxbury, and was called Shirley place.

F. A. Drake says, " It became, in 1764, the property of Judge
Eliakim Hutchinson, Shirley's son-in-law. Long afterwards it
became the home of Governor Eustis. Washington, Franklin,
Lafayette, Webster, Clay, Calhoun and Burr were numbered
among its diatinguiBhed guests."

FOKT HALIFAX. 265

It is now (1881) rented in several tenements. It is of wood,
two stories, with windows on the roof, and a cupola and vana
It rests on a high basement of dressed granite. The wide
veranda at the rear remains, but that formerly on the front has
been removed. The main entrance is reached by a long and
wide flight of freestone steps. The parlors have* been divided
by partitions, but the elaborate finish and original ample size
can be seen. The spacious entrance hall is the grandest of the
old suburban houses. The stair-case is of eosy circular ascent ;
the stair-rail, with a generous scroll at the bottom, is of the
richest St. Domingo mahogany, inlaid with various colored
woods, and the balusters are artistically carved.

On the eleventh of May, Capt Lithgow wrote from Fort
Halifax to Grovemor Shirley that he had not received answer
to his request about the two plans of the fort submitted. He
said he had several men sick, and had no doctor to dress a
wound in case of an engagement, and continues :

" For the want of your Excellency's instructions, and for what
your Excellency mentioned conceraing a redoubt beiug built that
would command the eminence, aud lest the workmen should be
idle, I have begun a redoubt in a suitable place, thirty-four feet
square, four feet and uine inches, the wall's thickness ; two-story
high, hip roof, watch box on top, to be surrounded at proper dis-
tance with open piquets ; this will be cannon proof. The first story
is raised, the wall square timber, tyed with oak duff tails.

'^ This redoubt will command the eminence, as also the falls. It
is erected on the highest knowl eastward of the cut path that
ascends the eminence. In this building, it will be very necessary
that two pieces of good cannon, carrying fourteen or eighteen
pound ball, be placed therein. These cannon should be well fortified
and as long as the wall is thick. We can make the carriages here^
which we can suit to the height of the embrasures.

266 FORT HALIFAX.

*' I would humbly pray your Excellency^fl wise consideration on

the above particulars, with an answer to your Excellences most

dutiful, humble servant.

"Wm. Lithgow.

" P. Script. Richmond, May 11, 1756.

'^Col. Gushing has given orders for the impressment of 100
men, some of which is this day arrived ; but I cannot proceed to
the transportation of the stores till the whole number be complete,
fearing an ambuscade, as I am persuaded the enemy design such a
thing."*

In the House of Representatives, Aug. 11, 1755, "voted that
a detachment of thirty men be made out of the several compa-
nies for the defence of the Eastern frontiers, that are destined to
march from New Boston to Frankfort, and from there to the
blockhouse on (Jeorge's River — and that they be employed in
guarding the provisions up to Fort Halifax, and in guarding the
workmen while at work, as the commanding officer of said fort
shall order."

New Boston is now Gray. This body of troops probably
marched through *what is now Pownal, Freeport and Bruns-
wick, and embarked on the Androscoggin, and thence by Merry-
meeting Bay to the Kennebec.

October 30th, the House also "voted that Fort Halifax
and storehouse at Cushenoc be garrisoned with eighty men and
no more."

* May, 1755. The Secretary laid before the Council a letter he had received
from Capt. David Dunning, addressed to his Excellency, dated April 2, 1755,
requesting that he may have two whale boats allowed him for transporting
his company from Brunswick to Fort Western, on the Kennebec River.
Whereupon, advised that the Commissary General give orders that two of
the Province whale boats be forthwith repaired, and that Capt. Dunning be
famished with them for transporting his company accordingly. — [Maasor
chusetta Council Records.

PORT HALIFAX. 267

The number of the garrisons of other forts was fixed by the
same vote.*

As the House fixed the number of the garrisons, we may
conclude that Capt. lithgow had completed his barracks and
officers' quarters. The winter passed without an attack, and
the next spring the garrison became discontented with their
long detention.

June 11, 1756, the House voted that His Honor, the Lieut-
(rovemor, be desired to give orders to Capt. Wm. Lithgow for
enlisting forty-three men to relieve those who have been posted
at Fort Halifax and storeh(fuse on Kennebeck Eiver for near
two years, and that they be paid three dollars bounty at the
end of twelve months.

May 13, 1755, Captain Lithgow wrote to the Governor, giv-
ing the particulars of the burning of a house at Frankfort, now
Dresden, and the killing of one " Tufts and Abner Macon," by
the Indians, and says further that " if orders do not arrive to
the contrary, I shall abandon Richmond Fort"

June 8th, he again wrote that he had part of the stores up
to the fort, sufficient for use until February. The redoubt (on
the hill) would be done, all to covering and chimney, in about a
week. He says, " the boats, of which I gave a pattern by form-
ing a piece of wood, built by Mr. Wood, of Brunswick, answer
the end very well ; but the two built in Boston may be recalled
as being of no advantage here, so that we have but three boats
instead of six, that would answer. Had we had the number
I prescribed, should have conveyed the whole of the stores as

*The same month the House voted "that His Honor, the Lieut-Governor
and Commander-in-Chief (Spencer Phips) be desired to give orders to the
chief officers in the towns of the Eastern and Western frontiers to oblige the
floldiers under their respective commands to go completely armed to their
several places of public worship on Lord's days, in this time of danger."

i

268 FOBT HALIFAX.

soon as what we did. I was obliged to get whale-boats at
Falmouth, and canoes. We had good success — never hurt one
of our boats nor wet one mouthful of the provisions."

Captain Lithgow wrote, on the fourteenth of June, 1755,
about furs he had shipped to J. Wheelwright, the Provincial
Commissary GreneraL At the bottom he says :

" The boats built at Brunswick answer exceedingly well j they
go as well as a whale-boat, and when loaded draw eighteen inches
of water, and will carry twenty-five barrels of pork and bread.
The York company, under Captain B^gdon, came just as we were
done and returned home. The cannon I will send up by the ves-
sels you order to fetch the goods belonging to the Province."*

*Tbe goods mentioned were probably those kept at Fort Richmond to 8ap>
ply the Indians, for which furs were received in time of peace. The camion
mentioned were the armament of that tort, and of small caliber, not suited
to the new fort. The building of Fort Halifax made that at Riclunond on-
necessary, and as it was in a dilapidated state it was dismantled. It was
standing in 1761. The Rev. Mr. Bailey, the Frontier Missionary, who was
located at Pownalborough, now Dresden, was allowed the use of the land
around the fort, and moved into the fort for a dwelling, as his people had not
provided one for him on the east side of the river. In their petition to the
society, for the propagation of the gospel, the people of Pownalboiougfa
represent that " in the mean time they can have Richmond Fort for an house
for the minister, and the chapel belonging to it for Divine service, and the
farm around it for a glebe." In 1766, Mr. Bailey concludes a letter to the
venerable society, with an account of Dr. Gardiner's liberality in " giving the
use of Richmond house and farm for the use of the minister for seven years."

In 1774, Rev. Mr. Bailey wrote in his journal, ** I have a wealthy parishioner,
Mr. Ayling, from England, who has purchased Richmond farm to the amount
of sixteen hundred and fifty acres, and is on the spot making great improve-
ments."

" Richmond Fort " stood near the bank of the river, a few rods above the
present ferry-house, on the western shore. In a recent visit, the traditional
site of the fort was pointed oat to me, but there is nothing remaining to
verify the tradition.

FOBT HALIFAX. 269

After Governor Shirley left for the western frontier, Lieuten-
antrGovemor Spencer Phips was at the head of the government
Phips's original name was David Bennet, but he took the surname
of his uncle. Sir Wm. Phips, by whom he was adopted.

July 18th, Capt. Lithgow addressed a letter to Governor
Phips in very diflferent phraseology from those directed to Gov-
ernor Shirley. Probably Lithgow knew the Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor when he was plain David Bennet, of Rowley. He
commences thus : " Let me beg, for (Jod's sake, I may have
assistance, so that the fort may be completed ; for till that time
I shall have no peace night or day." It will be noticed that
the Captain had received his instructions from Governor Shirley,
enclosing the decision of the Committee of War, recommending
the acceptance or adoption of his plan for finishing the fort
He continues : " Your Honor may remember my instructions
came but the other day, and with them orders to reduce the
garrison to eighty men, and with four distinct forts to be de*
fended, viz : at Teconnet, three (that is, two redoubts on the
hill and the main Fort Halifax) ; Cushnoc, one (Fort Western)."
He continues : " I suppose it is well known that Fort Halifax is
not compact, but built in three distinct parts, and would beg to
know if it may be reasonably thought that men can be spared
sufficiently out of those four distinct forts to guard the hauling
of timber and dragging stone at a distance from the fort, and
go up and down the river occasionally, as must be the case till
the thing be completed."

Capt Lithgow did not report progress to Governor Phips as
frequently as he did to Governor Shirley. If he did, his com-
munications have not been preserved. He undoubtedly pro-
ceeded with the utmost dispatch to complete the fortress, as he
was now the engineer as well as the constructor.

May 23, 1757, Capt Lithgow wrote to the Governor that —

270 FORT HALIFAX.

" Bafts were discovered drifting by the fort, which I suppose
the Indians used to ferry themselves across, and imagine they have
gone down the river among the inhabitants to do mischief. I have
duly warned the settlements of the approach, and the boat in which
I sent the intelligence was attacked in its return by seventeen
Indians, ten miles below the fort. Said boat contained an Ensign
and nine men. The Indians first fired within twenty yards of the
boat, and wounded two men — not mortally, only flesh wounds, one
in y^ side and one in y* head. The officer and crew behaved very
gallantly, and immediately returned the fire upon y^ enemy, who
were all in full view. They killed one Indian, who fell on y^ bank
and lay in full view during the action, which continued very
furious on the boat until she retreated to the other side of the
river, in which time several men discharged their guns three times.
After our men crossed the river, one hundred yards or less wide,
they sheltered themselves behind trees, and so continued till y« In-
dians retreated over a piece of cleared land, carrying y^ dead
Indian and one who appeared to be wounded."

1759, Nov. 7, the House of Eepresentatives voted pay and
subsistence for two Sergeants, two Corporals, one Armorer, one
Drummer and twenty-three privates at Fort Halifax ; and for
one Lieutenant and nine privates at Cushenoc. Also '' voted
that the Captain General give orders for discharging the sixteen
men who have requested it, and that five dollars be given to
three men each, who shall enlist into the service. If they can-
not be enlisted, to be impressed.**

In 1756, Capt Lithgow petitioned to have men sent to re-
lieve " those who have been more than two years at Fort Hali-
fax," saying that " men could not be enlisted for three dol-
lars bounty when they could get six dollars bounty to go to
Crown Point in the expedition." As these men could not be
enlisted, the House passed an order desiring the Lieut-Governor

PORT HALIFAX. 271

to issue his order for the impressment of forty-three effective
men from out of the lower regiment of the County of York, and,
on their delivery at Fort Halifax, that Gapt Lithgow be directed
to discharge the forty-three mentioned.

The Provincial government declared war with Indians on
the eleventh of Jime, 1755, and offered to volunteer companies
two hundred dollars for each Indian scalp, and two hundred
and fifty dollars for each captive.

In June, 1756, Great Britain declared war against France,
which was not ended until the fall of Quebec.

In the spring of 1756, two of the garrison of Fort Halifax
were fishing at the f aUs, and, notwithstanding they were in sight
from the nearest hill blockhouse, they were fired upon by a
party of Indians and mortally wounded. One, however, returned
the fire. The report of the guns aroused the garrison, who
sent relief so speedily that the Indians did not take the scalps
of the wounded men.*

It will be recollected that the Council "Coromittee of Wars '*
decided in favor of Capt lithgow's second plan for finishing the
fort. Unfortimately, no copy of his plan was preserved, but
from his minute description in his letters to the Governor, the
remains of the fort, and from several other sources, I am enabled
to reproduce the ground plan, and even the appearance of the
several buildings.!

* Williamson's History of Maine, Vol. ii, p. S23.

1 For a general ylew of the fortress as it stood when completed, see the
frontispiece at the commencement of this article.

272

FORT HALIFAX.

SEBASTICOOK RIVIR.

GROUND PLAN OF FORT HALIFAX.

Gen. WiNSLOw's plan of 1754 is representbi> bt the dotted lines.

The continuous black lines and squabbs bepbbsent thb

FOBT when completed bt Capt. Lithoow in 1756.

The cut is inserted to show how Lithgow's accepted plan differed from,
and what it included of Winslow's plan of 1754, which is represented by the
dotted lines. The continuous black lines and squares show the fort as it
stood when completed by Lithgow, in 1755. He used WinsloVs center build-
ing for his north flanker. It will be noticed that the palisade joined the
flankers in the center, permitting one gun from an embrasure on the outside
of the palisade to rake that side.

FORT HALIFAX. 273

CdL Montresor, an English officer of Engineers, came through
from Canada by the Kennebec route to Fort Halifax in about
1760, and kept a journal during his journey. The first leaf of
the manuscript, containing the date, is missing. This journal was
published in the first volume of the Maine Historical Society's
collections. This officer remained two days at the fort, and
thus describes it :

" We came to Ticonic Falls, which are immediately above Fort
Halifax. We left our canoes and went into the fort. Fort Halifax
was built by Mr. Shirley in 1754, to awe the Indians and cover the
frontiers of New England. It is square — its defence a bad palisade,
(flanked) by two blockhouses, in which there are some guns mounted;
but as the fort is commanded by a rising ground behind it, they
have been obliged to erect two other blockhouses, and to clear the
woods for some distance around. They are capable of making a
better defence, and it must be confessed that either of them is
more than sufficient against an enemy, who has no other offensive
weapons than small arms. The fort is garrisoned by a company of
New En glanders and supplied from the settlements below. The
tide brings sloops to Fort Western, six leagues below Fort Halifax."

CoL Montresor evidently thought it impossible to transport
even small cannon from Canada, and concluded that the block-
houses on the hill were stronger than the situation required.
This manuscript journal fell into the hands of CoL Benedict
Arnold, and suggested to him the expedition by this route
against Quebec, in 1775.

In 1852, Eev. T. 0. Paine, then residing at Wmslow, became
interested in the history of Fort Halifax, and made excavations
and a survey of the foundations, which were then nearly per-
fect The result of his investigations was published in the
" WatervUle Mail" one number of which came into my hands,
which I preserved. By the kindness of David Wing, Esq., one
18

274 PORT HALIFAX.

of the publishers of the Mail, I obtained the whole of Mr.
Paine's paper.* He had not seen the official documents relat-
ing to the building of the fortress, but his conclusions are mainly
correct, as to the plan, except that he concluded that there were
three blockhouses on the hill.

After being shown Montresor's description, he thought that
the third blockhouse might have been built after his visit, but
this is improbable, as there was no necessity for it French
power had become extinct in Canada the previous year.

Mr. Paine found the well which Gten. Winslow said he had
given orders to have sunk, and for which he had " kentlings
prepared to secure." These kentlings were probably narrow
planks, now called scantlings. As the ground was sandy, they
were used like the staves in a cask, to prevent the caving of the
sandy soil until it could be bricked up inside. In digging
among the stones and earth with which the well was filled, and
what he supposes was a vault, Mr. Paine found broken curved
bricks, which, when perfect, were twelve inches long, evidently
made for the purpose of walling up the welL He says there is
a tradition that the water proved bad, and the garrison was
supplied from a well 200 feet north of the fort, from which
water was then (1852) used. This last well was only five feet
deep, while the other is said to have been eighty feet deep,
which is evidently a mistake.

Mr. Paine mentions that there was a stone in the back of the
chimney of the fort house, on which was cut the name " Wheel-
wright," but it is missing. There was a Commissary General
of the Province named Wheelwright, who was with Governor
Shirley on his visit in 1754, but the large house was not built

* There is a revised copy of Mr. Faine's article in the newspaper, now in
the library ol the Maine Historical Society.

FORT HALIFAX. 275

until the following year. Judge Bourne, in his History of Wells
and Kennebunk, says that one of the six men who were sent
from Wells to guard Fort Halifax in 1756 was Daniel Wheel-
wright He undoubtedly cut his name on a stone of the broad
chimney-back. Mr. Paine found the place where the gates
were, by a waU of masonry, laid in a trench which was a con-
tiauation of the cellar wall of the main house. This was to
prevent an enemy from digging under the gate.

From Mr. Paine's description of several cannon shot and
sheUs which have been found near the site of the fort, we are
enabled to determine the size of the ordnance mounted there.
One ball was four cmd a quarter inches in diameter, which
would indicate a twelve pound shot when new. Also a bomb-
shell of two and three-quarters inches, which fixes the size of
the bore of the " Cohom mortars " already mentioned. A grape
shot, the barrel of a blunderbuss and a sword blade have been
dug up at different times and at different points. Many curious
people and treasure-seekers have repeatedly turned the soil over
in search of valuable relics.

At the time of Mr. Paine's investigation, there was living at
Winslow an old lady, Mrs. Elizabeth Freeman, who was bom
in 1778, at or near the fort She was the daughter of Ezekiel
Pattee, who was Ensign at the fort iu 1760, and afterwards
kept a store in the fort.* Mrs. Freeman had often heard her
father tell of the life they led, and of remarkable occurrences
at the fort One night some of the soldiers went up to " Fort

*The Howaxd Brothers' account books, kept at their trading bouse at
Fort Western, show that Ezekiel Pattee was in trade at Fort Halifax in 1778.
His credits on those books during that year show what he received of settlers
as pay for his assorted goods. As the prices are given in depreciated cur-
rency, they are of no interest He is credited by the Howards for barrel
staves, 46 moose skins, 7 barrels saknon, shingles, 24i lbs. of beaver, 2 sables,
and 4 muskrats. — [History qf Augwfta, p. 115.

276 FORT HALIFAX.

Hill " to get wood, and came running back, frightened at what
they supposed were Indians. They were up all night watching
the shadows of the yard pickets, which looked like Indians
stooping. This proves that the pickets were of unequal height
Mrs. Freeman said that the largest gun in the hiU redoubt was
often fired for an alarm gun,* and also on the receipt of good
news, and for sport A Catholic missionary among the Indians
lived at the mouth of the mile brook ; there was a Mass house
at the same place. His name was. Bethuna Mrs. Freeman's
father kept tavern in the fort house, after the fortress was dis-
mantled. He had many guests from Boston, and other places,
who were anxious to know about the fort, and her father's
replies and stories she recollected. At the time the officers'
quarters were used for a tavern house, the soldiers* barracks
were used for a stable. She recollects the sentry's walk on the

*The means adopted daring the Indian waxs to give settlers notioe of
danger were reduced to a system. To arm small forts in frontier towns,
small cannon and ** swivels " were used in the upper story of flankers. In
1744, the General Court authorized the purchase of long nine-pounder guna
for alarm guns, which were distributed to frontier settlements, as their re-
port could be heard at a greater distance. These were usually mounted on
the ground, and kept charged. In 1746, when Gorham was attacked by
Indians, the firing of a six-pounder brought relief from Falmouth, twelve
miles ofF. Every man and boy, and many females, were experts at discover-
ing signs of Indians ; even the dogs showed intelligence when they scented
or saw Indians. On discovering indications of the common enemy, three
discharges of smaU arms in quick succession communicated notice to the
neighborhood, when all fled within the gates of the nearest garrison or block-
house; and the long gun communicated the notice of danger to all within a
radius of ten or fifteen miles. Signals by smokes were sometimes agreed
upon, and piles of brush were kept ready for lighting. Williamson's Histoxy
says there was another expedient recommended, and to some extent tried,
as a security against the sudden and silent incursions of the savages. This
was the use of " staunch-hounds," which, by the scent of footsteps, could
detect skulking parties and rout or frustrate ambuscades.

FORT HALIFAX. 277

ridge-pole of the large house. When a child she was put up
there, hut was not allowed to walk far, as it was decayed. Mrs.
Freeman recollected all the buildings of the fort proper, but the
lull blockhouses were removed before her recollection. Her
father took down one of them and rafted it down river, and set
it up again at the lower part of the town. She said the large
house had very small glass in the windows, but the barracks
had no glass windows. She recollected what she had heard of
Arnold's expedition, which left part of their stores at the fort
Arnold and his staff were there several days. Dr. Senter, a
suxgeon in the expedition, in his journal, says they arrived there
on the twenty-seventh of September, 1775, and remained three
days. Aaron Burr was a volunteer with Arnold. Mrs. Freeman
heard that Burr made love to the fair Sarah Lithgow (daughter
of the Captain) and wrote sonnets on the bark of the silver birch,
which he sent to her by his servant, but she would receive
no attentions from him.

This is the first bit of genuine romance which has come to my
notice, during my investigation of this history. These scraps of
tender sentiment should be nursed by historians, and made to
pass for all they will bear. To the average reader they are re-
freshing, while poring over page after page of dry history.
They are " like the shadow of a great rock in a weary land."
As a truthful chronicler, I am sorry to be obliged to doubt the
authenticity of this narration. By consulting the genealogy of
the Lithgow family, I find the fair Sarah had, in 1775, been
married nine years, and was the joyful mother of children.
This does not, however, prove the story to have been without
foundation, as she may have been visiting Ensign Pattee's
family at the fort. Her father had removed to Georgetown.
It is well known that if Burr used rhymes in pursuing his
amours, he was not always governed by reason.

278 FORT HALIFAX.

Miss lithgow married Samuel Howard, son of the Captain of
Fort Western, and brother of Wm. Howard, who was Lieuten-
ant at Fort Halifax under Captain Lithgow. One who knew
Sarah Lithgow wrote that she was a woman " of pre-eminent
personal beauty."*

There were several aged people alive when Mr. Paine wrote,
who could remember the old buildings of the fort proper, but
they knew nothing more than Mrs. Freeman. There was a
tradition that after the treaty of Paris, in 1763, the fort was
dismantled and abandoned by the colony. It seems that there
was no garrison at Fort Halifax when Arnold passed up. He
does not mention any in his letters, nor does his surgeon, Dr.
Senter, in his diary. Mrs. Freeman, iu her narration, says,
" Burr came to the tavern" or fort house. This, of course, she
heard from her parents, as she was not bom until three years
later.

In 1764, Governor Bernard recommended that Forts Halifax
and Western be garrisoned, which implies that they were not
then garrisoned. The large building of Fort Halifax, after the
fort was dismantled, was used successively as a dwelling house,
a meeting house, tavern, for public dancing parties, town meet-
ings, and afterward as a dwelling again for poor families. It
was taken down by Mr. Thomas, who bmlt the Halifax House,
for a tavern in 1797. Mr. Paine foimd, by digging, the lower
ends of palisades or pickets of oak nine inches square and set
close together.

Mrs. Freeman, from whom Mr. Paine obtained many facts,
died February 6, 1866, aged eighty-eight years.

Of this fortress, so long a frontier post between civilization
and barbarism, only the south comer flanker, or blockhouse,

♦Daniel SewaU, of York.— [^ortA'» History q/* Augusta,

FOBT HALIFAX. 279

remains to show the manner of constructing these buildings for
defence, which were>so common a century ago. They stood at
the corners of all defensible garrison houses ; some were small
and were called watch boxes. This one of Fort Halifax is the
only one remaining in New England which was built previous
to the Revolution, to my knowledge. They are first mentioned
by Morton in the New England Memorial, written in 1669.

In his account of the settlement at Plymouth, he says the
Narragansett Indians sent to the Pilgrims a bundle of arrows
tied in a snake skin, to which they made a spirited reply, and
adds, " This made the English more careful to look to themselves,
so they agreed to enclose their dwellings with a good strong
pale, and made flankers in convenient places, with gates to
shut" Most of the dwelling houses two centuries ago, frame
as well as timber houses, were built with the second story pro-
jecting beyond the lower story, not particularly for defence,
but it was the fashion in large towns. I recollect them in
Boston, Salem and Ipswich, with turned or carved ornamental
drops on the lower end of the projecting posts. Some of these,
I think, are yet to be seen in each of the towns named. The
only remaining samples of this style of architecture in dwellings
in this State, I think, are the Mclntire and Junkins houses in
Scotland parish, old York. They are called garrison houses,
but there are no marks nor tradition of flankers or watch boxes,
as there must have been if they were built for defence or refuge.
There is a large blockhouse, similar to that at Winslow, at
Annapolis, Nova Scotia. It is in a good state of preservation.
The walls are covered with clapboards and the original plank
shutters to the cannon and musket port holes are yet in placa
It was probably built by Gen. Nicholson soon after the old
French fortress, then called Port Royal, surrendered to him in
1710. His last " traverse," a trench fifteen feet deep and thirty

FOBT HALIFAX.

feet wide, in the graveyard, within 100 yards of the fort, is as
perfect as when, 165 years ^o, he had twenty-four Cohom and
two large mortars mounted before it.

Tbe gouTH Flahkbr or Blockhodsb of Fobt Halifax, at Wixblow,
DlTSe. The

BBCDBB THB TI>HEU.

The remaining hlockhouse of Fort Halifax was the south
flanker, built by Captain Lithgow in 1755. It projected ten
feet beyond the east and south lines of the enclosure, and its
guns were intended to rake those sides if the fort was attacked ;
but the defences of this strong fortress, for those times, never
were tested. An attack from any force which the French and
Indians could have brought against it would have been hopeless.
This relic stands at the west end of the Maine Central Railroad
bridge, which spans the Sebasticook at Winslow.* The track

■It would be a graoefnl act for the SupermtendeDt ot the Railroad to
order those in cba^e of acconunodatioD traina to " alow up " at tbia point,
to allow posHengers to take a bssty look at this military relic ot a past age.
It would he equally graceful for the towD authorities to cause a plain inscrip-
tJon to be placed upon It, vitb name and date of its erection, for tbe inf0Tm&-
tion of travelen.

FORT HALIFAX. 281

crosses the foundation of the large house, which was the dwell-
ing of the officers and the store house. In the State House at
Augusta (placed there by Judge Bedington in about 1845) is an
irregular slate stone of about eighteen inches in height, which
bears an inscription, of which the accompanying tracing is a
reduced facsimile. The letters are one and one-half inches in
length. It was placed by Gen. Winslow in the foundation of
his center blockhouse, which became Captain Lithgow's north
flanker in the fortress when completed.

THISCORNT

5T0NE,LAiD
ByDiRECTiON

or GOVERNOR ^^

A memorial stone, with an inscription, was taken from the
fort to the Winslow residence, at Marshfield, by a son of Gen.
Winslow, whose name it bore.*

*Gexi. Winslow, who selected the site for Fort Halifax, drew the original
plan and commanded the expedition for its constmction, was the son of
Isaac Winslow, of Marshfield, and great grandson of Governor Edward
Winslow, of Plymouth Colony.

Gen. Winslow was a Captain in the unfortxmate expedition against Cuba
in 1740. In 1755, he was commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel in Shirley's
regiment, and was next in command to Colonel Monckton in the expedi-
tion which resulted in the surrender, In June, of the French forts Beausejour
and Gaspereux, at the head of the Bay of Fundy. While in Kova Scotia, it
was decided to remove the Acadians from their ancient homes, for no crimes
but for fear they would commit some overt act; and Colonel Winslow was

282 FORT HALIFAX.

There is also one building remaining of Fort Western — it is
a long, low, two-story tenement house, with the original massive
chimneys, and dormer windows. Its timber waDs are covered
with clapboards, and the windows have been enlarged and new
sashes put in. It was originally the officers' quarters and store-
house. The upper story does not project. There is nothing in
its exterior to indicate that it was ever enclosed by a doable
line of palisades with flankers, in which guns were mounted,
and which had watchboxes on top, but such was the fact In
these boxes the sentry looked up and down the river for
the coming of the Indians, or the Province sloop, Capt Saunders,
from Boston, with letters from the outside world, supplies for
Fort Halifax, and perhaps, as passengers, some of the officials of
the Land Company. It might be Dr. Sylvester Gardiner, who

sent with three hundred men to their chief settlement. Grand Pr€, on the
shore of the Basin of Minas, where he forcibly remoyed the entire popula-
tion, numbering 1,923 souls, who were crowded on board insufficient trans-
ports and sent to the several English Colonies. To prevent their return or
escape, their buildings containing their crops were burned, and their cattle
in November left to starve without shelter. In a letter to Governor Shirley,
Colonel Winslow said that it was " the most disagreeable piece of service in
which he was ever engaged.''

Gen. WinsloVs next service was as second in command of Shirley's expe-
dition against Niagara in 1756, which proved a failure for want of a sufficient
force.

He was a councillor of Massachusetts, and was employed by the Plymouth
Company to survey into lots the territory around ancient Cushenoc. His
plan, dated June, 1761, is yet the official authority for the settlement of
bounds.

He died at the ancient family seat of the Winslows at Marshfield, in 1774,
aged 71. His portrait and manuscript journals are in the libraiy of the
Massachusetts Historical Society. He left two sons, Pelham and Isaac, who
were Loyalists during the Revolution, but remained at Marshfield undis-
torbed. It was the son. Dr. Isaac Winslow, whom tradition says carried the.
other comer-ston^of Fort Halifax to Marshfield.

FORT HALIFAX. 283

was a generous benefactor of the thriving city below, which
bears his name. Or perhaps James Bowdoin, who became
Grovernor of his native State. Or the wealthy bookseller,
Thomas Hancock, who may have taken with him his nephew,
John Hancock, on whom he finally bestowed his wealth, and
who not only made his mark, but also wrote his name in an
unmistakable hand. Fort Western, originally built for a way
station for. freight and passengers bound to Fort Halifax, be-
came the nucleus around which gathered the hamlet, the
rambling settlement, the village, and finally the capital city of
the State, for a few weeks of ofl&cial residence in which, more
planning is done than was required for the erection of the forti-
fication.

It is remarkable that both Fort Halifax and Fort Western,
built the same year, should have only one military commander
each — ^Wm. lithgow* and James Howard, and that both should
become Judges of the Court of Common Pleas for Lincoln County.

Capt William Lithgow, who drew the second plan, and
erected the most of the buildings of Fort Halifax, was its only
commander after its completion' in 1755. His grandson, L. W.
Lithgow, of Augusta, wrote in 1857 that his great-grandfather's
name was Robert (Ma Hist ColL, VoL v.) " He emigrated

* WiUiam Howard was at one time Lieutenant under Capt. Lithgow. His
biographer says when he was but nineteen years old ; that would be in 1769.
That year Governor Pownal mentions in his journal of the Penobscot expe-
dition, the arrival at Geoi^'s Fort, of " young Lieut Howard, from Capt.
Lithgow, of Fort Halifax/' but does not explain his errand. He was the son
of Capt. Howard, who was in command at Fort Western, and brother of the
coasting Captain, Samuel Howard, who married Sarah Lithgow. They were
long in trade at Fort Western, under the firm name of S. & W. Howard.
Lieut. Wm. Howard was the first representative from the town of Hallowell,
to the General Court He was a Lieut.-Colonel in the Bagaduoe expedition,
in 1779, He died at Fort Western in 1810, aged 70 years.

284 FORT HALIFAX.

f^om Ireland, his ancestors having fled from Scotland at the
time of the rebellion. He came over to Halifax, and from
thence to Boston, where I understand his son William was
bom, but at what time I cannot state.'* Mr. L. W. lithgow is
mistaken about Halifax being the first place of arrival The
site of Halifax was a wilderness until the arrival of the fleet
carrying the colonists in 1749.

The son WiUiam deposed under oath, in 1767, that he was
then fifty-two years old, and that when he was about six years
old he lived with his parents at Topsham. That would have
been in 1721, twenty-eight years before Halifax was settled.
He further testified that he fled with his parents to Brunswick
Fort for safety from the Indians, on seeing " many settlers taken
prisoners and some murdered." This was probably in June,
1722, when the Indians made a descent upon the settlements
on JVf errymeeting Bay, as described by Capt Penhallow, page
114 of this volume.

In the Topsham records for 1741, against lot No. 20, is set
the name "Robert lithgood,'* so spelled in two, places, and has
the mark annexed indicating " those who built and inhabited
three years," and also the word " present," all of which indicates
that he took up his lot in 1738. Capt. Minot, the truckmaster
at Fort Eichmond, in his book, has goods charged to " Robert
Lithgow (so spelled), of Topsham," in 1739. In CoL Noble's
will the name is spelled " Lithgoe."

Probabilities indicate that Robert Lithgow came over in one
of Robert Temple's chartered ships to Boston, and from thence
to Temple's settlement, at or near Merrymeeting Bay, and that
the son William was then a child of three or four years of age.
Mark Langdon Hill, (Vol v. Me. Hist Coll) who was his
neighbor at Phipsburg, says, Colonel Lithgow " was by profes-

FOBT HALIFAX. 285

Bion a gunsmith/' an artisan who was sure to find employment
in those days, when every man was a skilled marksman and
trusted in his gun. At the conferences with the Indians prom-
ises were usually made that a gunsmith should be kept at each
fort to repair the Indians' guna Most of their fire-arms were
light hunting guns with brown barrels, not liable to corrode.
They were of French make and bore the crest of the Bourbons.
These French gun-barrels are now considered very valuable.
In the deposition already mentioned, Captain Lithgow says that
he ** first became acquainted with the Indian language by trad-
ing with them — ^first at St Greorge's Fort, and then at Eichmond
Fort, and at present at Fort Halifax, in behalf of the govern-
ment, for thirty years past" In 1754, he wrote to Governor
Shirley that he had been twenty years in the employment of the
government These assertions show that he was attached to
the garrison of St (Jeorge's Fort, in 1734, when he was only
nineteen years of aga In this same deposition he says he
" had command of Bichmond Fort in 1748." Captain Lithgow
was married to Sarah, only daughter of Colonel Arthur Noble,
of Georgetown, previous to November, 1746, as she and her
husband are named in her father's will, which was executed at
that time. She was bom in 1725.

Capt Lithgow and his wife reared in the wilderness a family
of nine children, several of whom became distinguished. On
the organization of Lincoln County in 1760, Capt Lithgow
was appointed, with three others. Judge of the Court of Common
Pleas, and was continued in the same office imder the revolu-
tionary government When he was first appointed he was in
trade at Fort Halifax, which he continued several years after, as
the salary of a judge at that time was small Judge Hill, in his
notice of Judge Lithgow, says his house at Georgetown was built
in 1766. Of course it must have been built before he left Fort

286 FOBT HALIFAX.

Halifax, as his deposition of 1767 says " at present of Fort
Halifax." He had retained and improved his wife's inheritance,
and the]^ had probably become sole owners of the farm at
Pleasant Cova That Capt Lithgow was carrying on the farm,
is shown by the town record of Greorgetown. In 1759, " CapL
William Lithgow's mark " for cattle and sheep is recorded as
the law required.

Judge Lithgow's house at Greorgetown was of two stories, with
high stud. Those who recollect, say that it was an imposing
structure as it appeared from the river for a long distance be-
low. It did not occupy the site of Col. Noble's house, but was
farther up the slope from the high bank. Some twenty years
ago, the present owners of the farm divided it and removed the
Lithgow house to another part of the farm, and it is now used
as a bam, but still showing the spacious outlines of the rooms.
The grounds surrounding the old foundations still have the
fruit and ornamental trees and shrubs. There is a group of
lilacs, some of whose trunks measure eight inches in diameter.

At the extremity of a field west from the old cellar, and
near the private road, is the Lithgow burial ground, with no
separate enclosura Each grave has an impretending head-stone
of slate, with a brief inscription. That of the Captain of Fort
Halifax reads thus :

In Memory of

Col. William Lithgow, Esq.,

who died Dec. 20, 1798,

Aged 86.

His age as given on the stone, we have seen, was an error,
according to his age as given in his deposition, which of course
was correct His age at the time of his death was but eighty-
three. His wife died November 11, 1807, aged eighty-two, but

FOBT HALIFAX. 287

I saw no monumental stona William and Sarah lithgow had
ten children, probably all bom at forts Bichmond and Halifax.
The oldest, Sarah, married Captain Samuel Howard, of Augusta.
Susanna married the Bev. John Murray, of Boothbay. Jane
died unmarried. Mary married James Davidson, of BatL
Jane died young. Charlotte died unmarried.

Bobert, the eldest son, was a sea captain. During the Bevo-
lutionary war, he sailed for the West Indies, in command of
his. father's vessel, and was never heard from afterwards.

James K, another son, resided at Dresden. His son, Llewellyn
W., died in' June, 1881, at Augusta. Another son of James,
Alfred 6., resides at Dresden.

Gen. William Lithgow, Jr., the most distinguished of the
Judge's sons, entered the Bevolutionary army as a Major, and
was wounded in the right arm at Ticonderoga, in 1777, for
which he received a pension. He was at the surrender of
Burgoyne, and his likeness is in Trumbull's painting at Wash-
ington. After the war, he commenced the practice of law at
Fort Western, having his office in a room of the fort Li 1789,
he was appointed, by President Washington, United States Dis-
trict Attorney for the District of Maine^ He was twice elected
State Senator. He died of disease of the liver in February,
1796, at the age of forty-six, unmarried. He was buried in the
family burial ground at Pleasant Cove. His plain slate stone,
which is broken, bears the following inscription :

In Memory of

Maj. Gen. William Lithoow,

WHO DIED Feb. 16, 1796,

AQED 46.

Arthur, the youngest son of Judge Lithgow, first engaged in
trade at Winslow. He was appointed SherifiP of Kennebec

288 FORT HALIFAX.

County in 1799, which office he held until 1809. He removed
to Boston and held an office in the Custom House. He married
Martha, daughter of Edmund Bridge, of Pownalborough ; by
her he had six children.

Their daughter Mary married Charles Devens, a merchant of
Boston. They were the parents of Gen. Charles Devens, who
was a distinguished officer in the army during the rebellion.
He was United States Attorney Greneral during the administra-
tion of President Hayes, and is now (1881) a Judge of Massa-
chusetts Supreme Court.

The younger daughter of Arthur Lithgow married John L.
Payson, formerly American Consul at Messina.

There are several descendants of Judge Lithgow not named in
this sketch.

In 1766, the territory now comprised in the towns of Wins-
low and Waterville was granted by the Plymouth Company to
Gen. John Winslow, who was a proprietor in the Company, and
five associates. Mr. North says : " It was the only township
granted by that Company, of which the title was confirmed to
the grantees in consequence of their performing their obligations
of settlement" Within four years they obtained fifty settlers,
twenty-five of whom had families. Their success was probably
owing to the security oflfered by the fort, and by the business
which sprung up there, which attracted settlers and caused some
soldiers, discharged from the garrison, to remain near.*

In 1771, all of that territory was incorporated as a town by
the name of Winslow, in honor of G^n. Winslow, who com-

* Williamson's History says, (ii, p. 330) "In 1768, it was proposed to
the Legislature by the Plymouth Company, that they would settle fifty &m-
ilies in each of the two townships in the yicinity of Fort Halifax, provided
fifty of the men could be employed and paid for garrison duty ; a project
which the Governor and others favored."

FORT HALIFAX. 289

manded the fort and who was one of the origmal grantees. To
his sagacity and skill as a military engineer and land surveyor,
the town is indebted for its prosperity, beyond its neighbors, in
the early years of its settlement In gratitude to the memory
of its distinguished founder, I hope the old town, and its thriv-
ing daughter Waterville, will keep in repair the remaining relic
of the fortress, which gave its name to the region round ancient
" Ticonnet " for many years.

The old blockhouse has recently had its roof covered with
shingles and the decayed timbers replaced with new, but its
walls should be protected from the weather by some covering,
which would preserve it for an indefinite period. Its structure
could be examined as well from the inside as the outside.
Captain lithgow wrote to (xovemor Shirley that the fort, prop-
erly built and clapboarded, would last a century. That has long
since passed, and although not clapboarded, one building yet
remains, a relic of the military engineering of a by-gone age,
and year by year increases in interest It is the last of its
kind and period in New England. These remains of the Ken-
nebec forts seem like mementoes of the Pilgrims of the May-
flower. They were the direct outgrowth of their enterprise,
and should be preserved as cherished relics of the French and
Indian Wars,

19

ARTICLE VI.

Col William Vaughan,

OP MATINICUS AND DAMARISCOTTA.

BT

HON. WILLIAM GOOLD, OF WINDHAM.

Bead befobb the Maine Histobical Society, at

POBTLAND, MaBCH 14, 1878.

.VI

COL. WILLIAM VAUGHAN,

OF MATINICUS AND DAMARISCOTTA.

It seems fitting and proper that the Maine Historical Society,
which has in time past received the fostering care and bounty
of the Stale, should, to deserve continued aid, rescue from ob-
Uvion, while they can, the unwritten history of the fathers and
mothers of the scattered homes and hamlets which phrystalized
into corporate towns of the Commonwealth ; those people who
first erected landing-places in her coves and islands, from which
they sailed out to take fish for food and traffic; those who
felled the forest and made fair plantations which attracted
others from the old countries ; those who sought out places to
set their wheels under the waterfall, to obtain power to grind
their com, and to saw up the trees that encumbered the fertile
soil, to make them into merchandise ; and those who built the
vessels and sailed them to carry their fish and lumber to other
countries to exchange for the necessaries and comforts of Ufe.
And especially should we seek out and record the acts of their
trusted leaders in defence of these homes, fishing stages, planta-
tions, mills and ships, their humble worshipings on the Sabbath
and on feast and fast days, which the pioneers were often com-
pelled to perform in secret, being, like the apostle, '' in perils by

294 COL WILLIAM VAUGHAN.

the heathen, in perils by their own countrymen," who thought
it a sin to say the Apostles* creed, the Lord's prayer and the ten
commandments, from the book of common prayer.* In accord-
ance with this obligation, what I have done for the Society has
been in this direction.

Hon. Gleorge Folsom, in addressing the Maine Historical
Society in 1846, said :

'^ If Historical Associations should do no more than point out
the resting places of departed merit, disencumbering the humble
tomb>8tone of its moss, and freshening the sod that lies upon the
grave of genius, they will perform a truly grateful, though it may
be humble office, and be the means of holding up to public view
examples worthy of imitation.'^

Colonel William Vaughan, the projector of the Louisburg
expedition, long had his home and business establifihments in
Maine, previous to that time. He was bom on the New Hamp-
shire bank of the Piscataqua, opposite Kittery, the birth-place
and residence of Gen. Pepperell, the commander of the army
in that expedition. Major Wm. Vaughan, the grandfather of the
Colonel, came from England and settled at Portsmouth about
the middle of the seventeenth century, where he became a
wealthy merchant In 1668, he married Margaret Cutt, daugh-
ter of Eichard Cutt, who, with his two brothers, John and
Robert, came from Wales previous to 1646. Bichard first

carried on the fishery at the Isles of Shoals, and finally removed

'■ ■ ' ■ ^ ■ ■ ■ ■ ' » ■ ■

* In 1060, Bey. Robert Jordan, a Church of England clergyman of Spur-
wink, was BTimmoned by the General Court of Massachusetts to appear
before them to answer for his irregular practices in baptizing the children of
Nathaniel WaUis, ^ after the exercise was ended on the Lord's day, in the
house of Mrs. Marworth, in the town of Falmouth."

The baptismal font brought from England by Mr. Jordan previous to 1640,
and which has, until within a few years, been retained by his descendants, is
now in the cabinet of the Maine Historical Society.

COL. WILLIAM VAUGHAN. 295

to " the Bank," now Portsmouth, where John had akeady settled,
and Eobert built ships at Kittery, near where the Navy Yard
now is. When New Hampshire was separated from Massa-
chusetts, in 1679, the King appointed John Cutt President
under the charter. This family of Cutt have latterly held a
prominent place in York County under the name of Cutts.
While Major Cutt, of the York County regiment, was at Louis-
burg, he met a British officer who spelt his name " Cutts," and
the Maine family adopted that mode of spelling the name.

At the time of his death, in 1690, Major William Yaughan
held the office of Eecorder of the Province. He left one son
and six daughters. His only son, Ceorge Yaughan, who was
bom in 1668, graduated at Harvard College in 1696. He soon
after went to London, where he was employed as agent for the
Province. By the influence of his father's friends in England,
he was appointed, by (Jeorge the First, Lieutenant-Governor of
New Hampshire. He arrived at Portsmouth with his commis-
sion in October, 1715. He held the office one year, when, after
an altercation with Governor Shute, he was removed. Lieu-
tenant-Governor George Yaughan died at Portsmouth in Decem-
ber, 1725, leaving two sons and five daughters.

William Yaughan, whose active career calls for this memoir,
was the eldest son of the Grovemor. He was bom in Ports-
mouth, N. H., Sept. 12, 1703. His mother's maiden name was
Elizabeth Elliot, of Newcastle, N. H., who was married to Grov-
emor Yaughan after the death of his first wife, Mary, a sister
to Grovemor Belcher, of Massachusetts Province. She died at
the birth of her first child, in 1699. Governor Yaughan died
in 1724, aged 44.

William Yaughan graduated at Harvard College in 1722, at
the age of nineteen. In the class of thirty-one, his name stands
third — ^the standard then being social position, and not personal

296 COL. WILLIAM VAUGHAN.

merit, and was entitled to the prefix of Mr. to his name, an
honor which six of his class were not considered entitled to.
Yaughan's first business, after leaving college, was that of a
merchant, in Portsmouth, in which he continued several years
after the death of his father, but this was not a field suited to
his active mind.

In about 1728, Mr. Yaughan established a fishing and trading
post, at the island of Matinicus, oif the entrance to Penobscot
Bay, where he employed a number of small vessels in the New-
foundland Bank Fishery. Here he set up his stages to dry his
fish, and built houses for himself and his men, the foundations
of which are yet remaining, and are poiiiited out as the remains
of " Squire Yaughan's " village. When CoL Dunbar arrived at
Pemaquid in 1729, with a commission from the Crown to
" settle and govern the Province of Sagadahoc, whose boundaries
were the rivers Kennebec and St. Croix," Yaughan's fishing
hamlet came within Dunbar's jurisdiction. Yaughan was then
twenty-five years of age, fearless and energetic, such a person as
Dunbar wanted to consult with in his plans for the settlement
of his Province.

Mr. Yaughan had undoubtedly explored the Damariscotta
Biver and the shores of the extensive pond of which it is the
outlet, where grew immense quantities of the pine timber which
was considered so valuable in Europe. Governor Dunbar also
held the office of " Surveyor of the King's woods," which, with his
commission to settle and govern the Province, gave him power
to make grants of land, and he undoubtedly granted these shores
of Damariscotta Pond and Biver to Yaughan, although I have
found no authentic record of the fact. There is a tradition that
Dunbar's records were burned in a dwelling housa It is not
surprising that, in the bitter controversy that sprang up,
these records should be missing, as many ^uatters were inter-

COL. WILLIAM VAUGHAN. 297

ested to put them out of the way, and the Indian enemy could
be made the convenient scape-goat to bear the crime. The titles
given by Dunbar were perpetual lease-holds, with a nominal
rent of ''a pepper-corn when demanded," after the antiquated
English custom. There are records of many deeds of purchase
to Vaughan from Indians and others, covering these same lands,
which Vaughan probably obtained to strengthen what he feared
would prove a doubtful title. In some of these deeds the cele-
brated oyster shell banks on the Damariscotta Biver are named.
Vaughan also conveyed several lots to others, probably to men
in his employ.

At the outlet of Damariscotta Pond there is a natural dam
or ledge, in which there is an opening of less than twenty feet,
through which the river flows and immediately commences to
fall, making a very large water power, by falling over fifty feet
in as many rods. On these falls Mr. Vaughan biult two double
saw mills and a grist miU (gang saws were not in use until
1799). The tide flows, bringing small vessels to within a few
rods of the falls, but Mr. Vaughan usually rafted his lumber
down to the Eddy, two miles below, to ship.

By the Massachusetts charter of 1691, all white pine trees of
two feet in diameter at one foot from the ground, were reserved,
under a penalty, for masts for the Royal navy. This reservation
must have included one-half of the pine timber if it was en-
forced ; therefore, it was for Mr. Vaughan's interest to take
Dimbar's side of the controversy, right or wrong, which finally
caused his transfer to the Province of New Hampshire as
^ Lieutenant-Governor, but retaini^jg the surveyorship of the
woods, still residing at Pemaquid, and at his splendid seat
on Damariscotta River. The commission as Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor of New Hampshire, Dunbar could not have obtained
without the assistance of Vaughan and his friends at Ports-

298 COL. WILLIAM VAUGHAN.

mouth, as Col. Samuel Waldo, Senior, who was a laige owner
in the Muscongus patent, was, by the opposers of Dunbar, sent
to England to obtain his removal from the government of Sag-
adahock, which was finally effected ; but instead of being neg-
lected at home, he received 200 pounds to resign his surveyor-
ship of the woods, and was in 1743 appointed Governor of St.
Helena. This shows that what has been written by the his-
torians of Massachusetts of the time, was in the interest of
Governor Belcher and his party, and is not entitled to full
credit.

The following extract of a letter from Mr. Vaughan to his
relatives at Piscataqua, gives an inside view of his lumbering
establishment and the life he led at Damariscotta, The letter
has no date, but from what he says about the hourly expecta-
tion to hear " that France has joined Spain in a war against
England," fixes the date at 1743 or the spring of 1744, as war
was declared by France in March of that year.

Mr. Vaughan says :

" We are all well^ though in other respects exceedingly unfortu-
nate. The times are likely to be dangerous in such a remote place
as this. The people are hourly expecting to hear that France has
joined Spain in a war against England^ and as the Indians are so
much under the French (a Jesuitical influence), that if there are
not some cautionary preparations made by the government to secure
these parts, it will be dangerous for them to tarry here. The
Irish people are not so much moved, as many of them have not
been acquainted with the barbarities of the Indians, but the people
in my concerns are mostly English, from Dover, Somersworth,
Oyester Kiver, Exeter, Kittery and Scarborough, and are actually
about seventy souls, men, women and children, that live in my
houses around me, and the men usually employed in my service.
Some of them have bad their fathers and mothers killed; some their

COL. WILLIAM VAUGHAN. 299

other relations ; others have been wounded in their own persons
by the Indians in the former wars. They are in a great uproar,
and say they will leave the place if some security is not procured
for it."

He goes on to state that the place was of great importance
to the government, and that it had been of considerable im-
portance to the Indians in time of war.

Whether Yaughan gave up his fishing establishment at Ma-
tinicus, when he moved to Damariscotta, is uncertain. He
owned the two islands at the time of his deatL He was undoubt-
edly curing and shipping, with his lumber, salmon, shad and ale-
wives at Damariscotta, as they then in the spring filled the
river, seeking a passage to the pond. The salmon have disap-
peared, but the annual catch of the other migratory fish is yet
valuable, and is yearly sold at auction for the mutual benefit of
the tovms pf Newcastle and Nobleborough, of which the river
is the boundary.

From a deposition given in 1812, in the controversy about
the title to lands in Lincoln County, we obtain more and
authentic information about Mr. Vaughan*8 Damariscotta es-
tablishment and the extent of his possessions, and of the de-
sired security against the Indians which he furnished to his
people.

Nathaniel Soilings, of Jefferson, deposed as follows :

" My father told me, at six years of age, that he removed to
Damariscotta, now Newcastle, at the request of Gapt. William
Yaughan, who also lived there. Yaughan had large ox teams,
which he let out to get logs. My father worked with one until
1745. Also assisted Yaughan in building a garrison to protect the
settlers against the Indians. This fort was 100 feet square, built
of hewed and sawed timber, about seven inches thick. Yaughan
owned all the land on both sides of the pond and on both sides of

800 COL. WILLIAM YAUGHAN.

the riyer, down to the ledges, which are ahont five miles helow the
toll hridge. I have worked for Vaughan, getting logs two miles
ahove the head of said pond. I am well acquainted with a meadow
about one mile above the head of said pond, called Yaughan's
meadow, which I knew persons to occupy under said Vaughan for
many years. There are sundry meadows on the westerly side of
said pond, about one mile distant therefrom, being within said
claim, all of which I have often mowed, under said Vaughan. He
put a considerable number of settlers on his claim on the east side
of said pond and river, and himself built a large house and lived
in it, on the east side of said pond, and made large improvements
there, set out an orchard, and built a large bam, and he used to
have twenty yoke of oxen at a time, and a large number of cows,
horses and other creatures. I remember once hearing said Vaughaa
and sundry old people at that time (now all dead) speaking about
the land said Vaughan owned at Damariscotta, and Vaughan said
his claim extended from the head of said pond down to ^ the ledges.'
I also remember hearing him say that he purchased a considera'ble
part of said lands of the Indians. And I know of and saw the
said Indians come to Vaughan and get their pay for land they had
sold him. And he delivered them eight quarters of beef at one
time, towards said purchase. After the death of said Vaughan^ I
recollect one Temple, who pretended title under the Plymouth
Company, came down and built on part of the Vaughan claim, and
an action was commenced by Elliot Vaughan and James Noble,
executors of Vaughan's will, against Benj. Hutchins, tenant of said
Temple, and a special court was holden in the garrison house, in
which I then lived, and the Vaughan claim prevailed.'^

In confirmation of the last part of this deposition, I find in
the account of James Noble, of Boston, executor of Vaughan's
will, these items :

** Oct. 1755. To the hire of schooner to carry the Justices and
Sheriff to Damariscotta to remove a person from the land of the

COL. WILLIAM VAUGHAN. 301

deceased. To their wages and fees, and wages of a gaard that
attended them, being a time of war, and their subsistence.
'' To my time on said a£Eair, 33 days."

Benjamin Jones, of Newcastle, in his seventy-first year, in
1812, deposed that he always understood from his father and
other old people that William Vaughan built the first mill
at Damariscotta, and that Damariscotta Pond was called
" Vaughan's Pond."

'^ My father died on said Vaughan's land, and I have always
lived thereon, under said Vaughan. There was a garrison or fort,
nigh said mills, which was said to have been built by WiUiam
Vaughan. When Elliot Vaughan came down as executor, he took
possession of said fort, and having a vessel at the Eddy, in Dam-
ariscotta, he sent down a raft of lumber to said vessel, with sundry
persons as guard, and on their return to said fort, Joseph Jones,
one of my brothers, and Plato, a negro of said Elliot Vaughan's,
were both wounded by the Indians. The negro was wounded in
three places and was ever after a cripple."*

In 1743, although Nova Scotia had no English inhal)itants,
except the garrisons at Annapolis Boyal, and at a fort at Canso,
which was a harbor of much resort by fishing vessels, the terri-
tory was the property of the Crown of Great Britain, and was
in the care of the government of Massachusetts Province, to
which it was joined by the charter of 1691. It was guarded
with zealous care by the Province, as the safety of their fishing
vessels depended upon its possession. March 15, 1744, war

*In Elliot Vaughan's account, as executor, on file at Alfred, are these
entries:
" Sept. 1750. To paid Dr. Winslow, for dressing Plato's wounds.

To Plato's lost time, six months.

To bis dammage, being doubly crii>pled.

To two gallons of rum, to dress Plato's wounds."

302 COL. WILLIAM VAUGHAN.

was declared by France against England, and before tbe news
could reach Boston, an armament was fitted out at Louisburg,
Cape Breton, which assailed the fort at Canso. The garrison,
consisting of ninety men, surrendered, and were carried to
Louisburg, where they were held a short time as prisoners, until
they were exchanged and arrived at Boston. Their arrival
caused much resentment against the^ French. The Canso gar-
rison, while at Louisburg, lost no opportunity to examine the
defensive works of that stronghold of the French, as it was the
key to the river St Lawrence. Capt Vaughan was at Boston
when the Canso men arrived, or he immediately went there,
where he met them and learned that, in their opinion, the place
might be taken.

Hutchison's history (1795) says, "Mr. Vaughan, who had
been a trader at Louisburg^ was very sanguine that the place
might be taken by surprise."

Except Parsons's life of Pepperell, about all that has been
written in this century concerning the inception of the Louis-
burg expedition has been taken from the account of that enter-
prise ^^tten by the polished historian of New Hampshire, Dr.
Belknap. He had uncommon facilities to learn the history of
the conception and progress of the siege. He was educated
under the ministry of the Kev. Thomas Prince, of the Old South
Church, of Boston, who had a large collection of original docu-
ments relating to the history of New England and Nova Scotia,
which he had been fifty years in collecting. At his death, in
1758, these manuscripts were left to the care of the Old South
Church, and were kept in an apartment in the church tower ;
but they were destroyed or scattered while the British soldiery
were in the occupation of that building, during the first year of
the Revolution. Dr. Belknap was familiar with Mr. Prince's
collection of manuscripts, and with all persons who took an

COL. WILLIAM VAUGHAN. 303

interest in the early history of New England in his time. His
account of the siege of Louisburg was written in 1784, only
thirty-eight years after that event, and while a large number of
those who took a part in it were alive : of course his account
may be received with confidence.

Most of the writers who depend upon Dr. Belknap for his-
torical authority, vary his language, and some pervert his facts.
As I cannot hope to improve his style, I give what he says re-
lating to Mr. Vaughan, in his own words. He says :

'' Vaughan was largely concerned iu the fishery, on the easterly
coast of Massachusetts. He was a man of good understanding,
but of a daring, enterprising and tenacious mind, and one who
thought of no obstacles to the accomplishment of his views. An
instance of his temerity is still remembered. He had equipped a
number of small vessels at Portsmouth, to carry on his' fishery at
Matinicus. On the day appointed for sailing, in the month of
March, though the wind was so boisterous that experienced mar-
iners deemed it impossible for such vessels to carry sail, he went
on board of one, and ordered the others to follow. One was lost at
the mouth of the river ; the rest arrived with much difficulty, but
in a short time, at the place of their destination.

''Vcfughan had not been to Louisburg, but had learned from fish-
ermen and others, something of the strength of the place, and nothing
being in his view impracticable, which he had a mind to accomplish,
he conceived a design to take the city by surprise, and even pro-
posed going over the walls in winter on drifts of snow. This idea
of a surprisal forcibly struck the mind of Shirley, and prevailed
with him to hasten his preparations, before he could have an answer
or order from England. Governor Shirley laid his matured plan
before the House in secret session. At the first deliberation the
proposal was rejected, but by the address of the Governor, and the
invincible perseverance of Vaughan, a petition of the merchants con-
cerned in the fisheries was brought into Court, which revived the

304 COL. WILLIAM YAUGHAN.

affair, and it was carried in the affirmative by one voice, in tlie absence
of several members who were known to be against it. Circular
letters were immediately sent to all the colonies, as far as Pennsyl-
vania, requesting their assistance, and an embargo on their ports.
With one of these letters Vaughan rode express to Portsmouth,
where the assembly was sitting. Governor Wentworth immediately
laid the matter before them, and proposed a conference of the two
houses, to be held the next day. The House of Representatives
having caught the enthusiasm of Vaughan, were impatient of
delay, and desired that it might be held immediately. It was
accordingly held and the committee reported in favor of the
expedition.

'^ In the army Vaughan was commissioned a Lieutenant-Colonel,
but refused to have a regular command. He was appointed one of
the council of war, and was ready for any service which the
Greneral might think suited to his genius. He conducted the first
column through the woods in sight of the city, and saluted it with
three cheers. He headed a detachment, and marched to the north-
east part of the harbor, where they burnt the warehouses contain-
ing a large quantity of wine and brandy, and the naval stores.
The smoke of this fire being driven by the wind into the Grand
Battery, so terrified the French that they abandoned it and retired
to the city, after having spiked the guns and cut the halyards of
the flagstaff.

'' The next morning, as Vaughan was returning wjth thirteen
men only, he crept up the hill which overlooked the battery, and
observed that the chimneys of the barracks were without smoke,
and the staff without a flag. With a bottle of brandy which he
had in his pocket (though he never drank spirituous liquors), he
hired one of his party, a Cape Cod Indian, to crawl in at an em-
brasure, and open the gate. He then wrote to the General these
words :

<< 'May it please your honor to be informed, that by the gprace of
God and the courage of thirteen men, I entered the Royal battery
about nine o'clock, and am waiting for a reinforcement and a flag.'

COL. WILLIAM VAUGHAN. 305

'* Before either could arrive, one of the men climhed up the stafE
with a red coat in his teeth, which he fastened by a nail to the
top. This piece of triumphant vanity alarmed the city, and im-
mediately an hundred men were dispatched in boats to retake the
battery ; but Yaughan with his small party on the naked beach,
and in the face of a smart fire from the city and the boats, kept
them from landing till the reinforcement arrived.

'^ In every duty of fatigue and sanguine adventure he was always
ready, and the New Hampshire troops, animated by his enthusiastic
ardor, partook of all the labors and dangers of the siege."

Such is Belknap's account of CoL Vaughan's services in the
si^e and its inception. CoL Yaughan opened the fight, and
fixed the standard of gallantry by his fearless resistance to the
landing of the enemy, who were ten times his own number, and
under a brisk fire from the city upon his little band standing
on the open beach. This fearless exploit of " holding the fort "
was the first success at Louisburg. It encouraged the troops in
landing their siege guns through a dangerous surf, and in
dragging them through a morass on timber sleds to prevent their
sinking. In this service the troops were engaged fourteen suc-
cessive nights in mud and water.

In the Grand battery were found twenty-eight 42 pound
cannon, two eighteens and 280 shells, with cannon balls and
other munitions of war. This acquisition weakened the means
of defence on the part of the French, and transferred to the
English a powerful means of protection in the erection of their
advanced batteries. This was an annoying, offensive work, all
built and armed, to their hands. The French fired briskly on
this battery from the citadel, with cannon and mortars, but
CoL Yaughan continued to drill the spikes from his guns, and
as fast as they were freed he turned them on the city wall with
success. And the Maine fisherman, millman and merchant^

30

306 COL. WILLIAM VAUGHAN.

who first conceived the plan to take Lotiisbuig, captured the
first guns, and was the first to batter its walls and gates.

This expedition was tinged with religious romance — ^in fact
it had the air of a crusade. It was Protestant against Papist
It is said that a very zealous clergyman carried on his shoulder
a hatchet for the purpose of destroying the images in the French
churches. Deacon John Gray, of Biddeford, wrote thus to Gen.
Pepperell : " 0 that I could be with you and dear Parson
Moody in that church, to destroy the images there set up, and
hear the true gospel of our Lord and Savior there preached." *

The Boman Catholic religion was viewed by New England
as the leading element of the almost continual strife in which
they had been involved with the natives. In the history of
Wells and Kennebunk, Judge Bourne, the author, says that the
ministers of York County were assembled together at York, on
the day of the capitulation, for prayer, that a blessing might
attend the expedition. The Eev. Joseph Moody, of York Up-
per Parish, son of the Chaplain with the army, led the suppli-
cations in a prayer of two hours in length, for the speedy re-
duction of the city. In the midst of his prayer he exclaimed,
" It is done. It is delivered into our hands," and went on
blessing God for his mercies. On the return of the troops, it
was verified that this remarkable exclamation was uttered at
the same hour with the signing of the capitulation. Judge B,
says : " Of the facts stated, there can be no doubt."

All are familiar with the result of this siege. The city capitu-
lated on the sixteenth of June, after a siege of forty-seven days,
which gave the captors two thousand French troops as prisoners,

* After the surrender of the city, the Provincials held a Thanksgiving ser-
vice in a French church within the waUs. From this church a metallic cross
was taken, which has been placed over the entrance to the library of Harvard
Collage.

COL. WILLIAM VAUGHAN. 307

seventy-six cannon and mortars, six months' provisions, and an
immense amount of other property. The loss to the besiegers
was 130, and of the French 300 were killed within the walls.
Gen. Pepperell threw into the city and batteries nine thousand
cannon-balls and six hundred bombs, which made a complete
wreck of the fortifications and city walls, which were thirty-five
feet high on the land side. On entering the city, the extent
and strength of its defences made it apparent that Yaughan
misjudged in his plan to take the city by surprise, although
many of the besiegers were of the opinion that, if the entire
army had been landed and ready to follow Colonel Vaughan in
the first movement, the city might have been taken at that
time by storm. Of Colonel Vaughan's services after his first
exploit, very little is said in the journal of the siege. Undoubt-
edly he was looked upon as a dangerous rival, and one
likely to reap his full share of the laurels. Subsequent events
seem to confirm this. Three days after the surrender of the
city, Colonel Vaughan wrote a letter to a friend in Portsmouth,
from which we can judge of his treatment, and his own feelings
thereon :

"LouiSBUBG, June 19, 1745.

" I have lived here in great bitterness of mind, and have cheer-
fully done my duty at the same time, despite those who chose to
fret me. I rejoice at the opportunity of wishing you joy of our
conquest of Louisburg. They surrendered the sixteenth and we
entered the seventeenth. I have reason to be thankful for what I
have done in this affair. I hope to sail to-morrow for London."

He received letters of introduction from his friends to some
gentlemen in London, and one of them paid him the following
handsome compliment, in a letter which was received by one of
Vaughan's relatives about a year after his departure :

308 COL. WILLIAM TAUGHAN.

'' I have seen your kinsman and his papers, and according to
what appears to me, he was not only the primum mobile^ but the
very thing in this grand affair. And were I to be judge and
rewarder of his merit, I should think him worthy of the utmost
notice, profit and honor. And yet I am afraid of the upshot of
his time, fatigue, bravery and expense. You may depend that
according to your desire, I will do him all the good and service I
honorably can, for I have a great value for his virtue in general,
and for his solid, firm, intrepid, persevering temper, but I suspect

has cut the grass under his feet, and set him in a languid

light here, lest he should otherwise eclipse his own lustre."

The name understood, and meant by this blank, was undoubt-
edly Grovemor Shirley, as he claimed to have originated the ex-
pedition, and received the same year, from the Crown, a com-
mission in the Eegular Army, as " Colonel of Foot," which was
an office of emolument and honor. Gen. Pepperell could not
be meant, as he was immediately created a Baronet of Great
Britain, by the King, who was in Hanover when he received
the news of the surrender, and the patent was sent from thence.
Sir William remained at Louisburg a year, and also received a
Coloners commission in the regular army while there.

Much is now said about the degeneracy of public men, but in
my investigations I find the same jealousy and intrigue crops
out in the history of ante-Eevolutionary times as we find now,
although perhaps not of such reckless character. The most
desired preferment at that time was that obtained from England.
Eoyalty presented the prize to the uplifted eye, and the coveted
position was to represent that Eoyalty in some way in the
colonies.

Undoubtedly, Gen. Pepperell was afraid to recommend Col.
Vaughan to the Duke of Newcastle, Secretary of War, as highly
as he deserved, as he himself was Looking for promotion^ and

COL. WILLIAM VAUGHAN. 309

was careful not to offend the other (Colonels. In a letter to
Gen. Walcot, of the Connecticut troops, dated at Louisburg,
December 10, 1745, Gen. Pepperell said :

" In my letter to the Duke, a copy of which I send you herewith,
I enclosed a list of all the officers in the campaign, and your name
in said list was entered next to my own, and every other officer in
the army according to his rank, and stated that they and the
soldiers had all behaved bravely."

Col. Vaughan remained more than a year in England, hoping
that his distinguished services would be acknowledged and re-
warded by his Sovereign, but undoubtedly there was a secret
influence operating against him. He unfortunately took the
small pox, and died in London, in December, 1746, aged forty-
three years. From the contagious disease of which he died, it
is probable that his relatives did not recover his body. His
will was dated at Boston, Feb. 24, 1744, the day that the Mas-
sachusetts troops sailed from Boston. This settles the point
that he sailed with the Massachusetts forces, as the New Hamp-
shire troops sailed and arrived at Canso a few days before them.
Gen. Pepperell's fleet harbored three days at Sheepscot Un-
doubtedly CJoL Vaughan took this opportunity to visit his home
at Damariscotta for the last time, and in passing Penobscot he
could see his fishing village at Matinicus Island. His will di-
rected that his large estate should be divided into five equal
parts, to his brother Elliot Vaughan, his sister Jane, who after-
wards married James Noble, of Boston (these two were ap-
pointed executors), and the heirs of three other married sisters.
He was a bachelor.* His will commenced thus: "I, Wm.

I

* An the historians of Maine, from Williamson down, make the erroneous
assertion that " Major James Noble married the toidoto of Vaughan." She
was his sUter Jane.

310 COL WILLIAM VAUGHAN.

Vaughan, of Darnariscotta" which fixes his place of residence
at the time, and the fact of his sailing with the troops from
Maine is good evidence that he was one of them.

In 1812, the Legislature of Massachusetts granted to his heirs
a half township of land for *' services performed and moneys
expended," which makes it more than probable that his com-
mission was from Gov. Shirley, although Dr. Belknap seems
to intimate that he served with the New Hampshire troops.*

It may be of interest to know that after the lapse of a
century and a half, since Colonel Vaughan established his busi-
ness and residence in Maine, that at both Matinicus and Damar-
iscotta are yet the remains of his dwelling houses and garrisons,
and a well defined tradition of his business operations and the
men whom he employed. Their children's grand-children speak
of him as " Squire Vaughan," as he was called, and point out
the locations of his dwellings and forts.

The Island of Matinicus, like all the Islands on the coast of
Maine which had a sheltered anchorage, was early occupied by
fishermen. In the journal of his coasting trip, in 1674, Henry
Josselyn says, "Pemaquid, Matinicus, Monhegan and Cape

*The unwieldy bulk of a silver currency is shown by the manner of re-
imbursement to the colonies for their outlay in this expedition. After three
years delay the money was repaid by the British government^ amounting to
183,700 pounds sterling. It was landed from a ship of war at Long Whaif,
Boston, in the fall of 1740, in the form of 663,000 ounces, or over 20 tons
of silver and ten tons of copper coin. Silver was then, and to the middle of
the present century, the common standard and regulator of values, but
it was required to be of honest weight Although the amount of the payment
was only $800,000, it was contained in 216 chests, and probably required
twenty-five two horse wagons to transport the silver alone from the ship to
the Province House. Except 16,000 pounds sterling, which went to New
Hampshire, the people of Massachusetts appropriated this money, with a
further sum of 76,000 pounds from the Province treasury, to redeem their
depreciated paper currency at its market value.

COL. WILLIAM VAUGHAN. 311

Newagen, are all filled with dwellisg houses and stages for fish-
ermen — ^have plenty of arable land and marshes." In 1704,
the celebrated Colonel Church, with 550 men, in 14 transports,
with three armed ships, made a cruise against the eastern Indians
and the French of Nova Scotia. He mentions his harboring at
Matinicus. This Island is seventeen miles south-east of Bock-
land, and the same distance east of Monhegan. It is two miles
in length and one in breadth, and contains eight hundred acres
of well 'Cultivated land and about two hundred inhabitants.
The harbor is formed by two other small islands on the east and
south-east There is a good depth of water. One of Colonel
Church's ships carried forty-eight and another thirty-two guns.
On the eastern side of the island, and near the head of the
harbor, there still exists the foundation of a building which has
been pointed out by father to son, as the location of the house
in which lived " Squire Vaughan." On the opposite side of the
narrow harbor is the remains of what is said to have been a
fort, built to protect the place against the French cruisers, and
near it are the ruins of stone houses, which tradition points to
as the houses occupied by Vaughan's men, and the fort was
probably his. The recollections of Colonel Vaughan's last place
of residence, at Damariscotta, are better defined. Some writers

m

have said that Vaughan's house was burned, but neither of the
depositions quoted mention such a catastrophe, which, if it had
happened in such a small settlement, would probably have
been spoken of.

Eollings says he worked for Vaughan when he went to
Louisburg, as did his father before him ; that he lived in the
fort ten years after Vaughan's death. He says, " Vaughan
built a large house on the east side of the pond and lived in it,"
but says nothing about its burning, nor of the burning of a pre-
vious ona There are men now living who recollect the house

312 COL. WILLIAM VAUGHAN.

in question, and of its being taken down, and point out the
cellar, garden, and the trees remaining of his orchard. Kear
the mills, and the place pointed out as the spot on which stood
the fort, are ledges which have been walled up to make th^n
level, on which are now the remains of chimneys. On these
are said to have been the houses alluded to in Yaughan's letter,
in which he says : " Actually about seventy souls, men, women
and children, live in my houses around ma"

Not only was the plan to reduce Louisburg projected by a
Maine man, but a native bom citizen of the district was selected
for the commander, and two entire regiments, with their officers,
were from the territory now forming our State. WiOiamflon,
in his history, says that Brigadier General Waldo lived in
Falmouth. This is not quite true, yet he was a very large
land holder in the town, and lived here more than in Boston,
where his family then resided. He long held a commission as
Colonel of the regiment, which included Falmouth, which town
had 500 militiamen, 50 of whom were at Louisburg. CoL
Waldo has often been confounded with his son, of the same
name and title, who was long a leading citiz^i of Falmouth.*
The same historian makes a similar mistake in saying that
Commodore Edward Tyng, who commanded the Provincial
squadron at the siege, was a resident of Falmouth. He was
bom there, and his father, of the same name, was a resident,
which undoubtedly led to the mistaka Commodore Tyng's son

* In a farewell address to the New England troops on the second of April,
1746, Admiral Warren, who had received his commission as Oovemor of
Louisburg, said : "Brigadier Waldo will go with you. On Wednesday next
we shall be able to land some more of the Gibraltar troops, who, with those
who have enlisted into [should he from] the American regiments will mount
all the guards and give you an opportunity to get yourselves ready to em-
bark on board the vessels now preparing for you." — [Paraona^ Life qf Pep-
perell

COL. WILLIAM VAUGHAN. 313

William, the .first sherifif of Cumberland, also was a resident of
Falmouth.

This reduction of Louisburg, the Gibraltar of America, was
the only important victory of the war, which closed in 1748,
by the treaty of Aix la Chapelle. The Island of Cape Breton,
including Lomsburg, passed again into the possession of the
French, much to the chagrin of the New England Provinces.

ARTICLE VII.

NORAMBEGA.

BY

JOHN E. GODFREY, OF BANGOR

Read before the Maine Historical Society, at

Portland, March 30, 1876.

A L

NORAMBEGA.

Between a line drawn due north from Pemaquid to the " Great
river of Canada "and the west line of the Province of New
Brunswick, lies the earliest occupied region of the State of
Maine and of New England. It averages about ninety miles
in breadth by about two hundred in length. It embraces the
Counties of Washington, Hancock, Penobscot, Waldo, Enox, and
a part of the Counties of Lincoln, Somerset, Piscataquis and
Aroostook, and contains a population of about 300,000 souls.

In the early history of the country this territory was under
the jurisdiction of the French, and, with Nova Scotia and New
Brunswick, bore the general name of Acadia, The occupancy
of the French, however, probably never extended westward of
the Penobscot, although they claimed to the Kennebec.

In the year 1605, two celebrated navigators were upon the
coast of New England. One was Samuel Champlain, a French-
man, the other, George Weymouth, an Englishman. The former
accompanied De Monts, who left France the year previous and
passed the winter upon the island near the mouth of the St.
Croix River, which has been known by the several names of
Neutral Island, Bosquet's Island, Big Island and De Mont's
Island, but left it in the summer and sailed along the costst

318 NORAHBEGA.

westward, as far as Cape Cod. In this voyage he explored
Penobscot Bay. Weymouth left England with a view to the
discovery of a north-west passage, and reached the island of
Monhegan May 17, 1605. From this point he explored a river,
by the middle of the succeeding June, which is supposed by
some to be the Penobscot, by others the Georges, and by others
still, the Kennebec.

That part of the territory which was occupied by the French,
between the Penobscot and the St. Croix, is not remarkable for
fertility, and its increase in population has not been so rapid as
that in the more westerly portion of the State ; but its people
are vigorous and intelligent, and destined to put all its resources
to use.

The indentations in the coast of this region are remarkable.
Beautiful and capacious bays and harbors quickly succeed each
other from Penobscot Bay to Passamaquoddy. The ever restless
waters have conveyed away the drift of a former age, and rage,
apparently, in vain against the granite walls of the shores.
From these, far inland, prodigious bowlders are scattered over
the face of much of the country. Mountains of rock, too, are
frequently to be seen. With such a surface, agriculture cannot
be supposed to be in a prosperous condition. But some people
strive to live in spots where nature has seemed to invite an
appeal to the soil, though the chief resources of the country are
lumber and fisL Ship building is much resorted to, but the
principal wealth of the region has been either hewn out of the
woods or fished out of the sea.

The people are full of loyalty to the republic, and hardy and
enterprising. The war of the Bebellion found no braver or
more enduring soldiers or sailors than swarmed from this hard-
featured country; no men of sterner determination, or more
open hands according to their possessions.

K0RAMBE6A. 319

For the lover of natural beauty, there is much in this region
to admire. The Trosach region of Maine may be said to lie on
the boundary between Hancock and Penobscot Counties. The
mountains are not so lofty, nor the lakes so extensive as those
in the Trosach region of Scotland, but there is very beautiful
scenery among them, as artists will inform the world by and by.

At Castine, formerly Pentagoet, the ocean and island scenery
is exquisite. Mt Desert, which is now a summer resort of
note, is becoming familiar through the pencil of the painter.
Sullivan and Gouldsboro will not remain many years unknown
to fame, nor the gems of Penobscot and Passamaquoddy.

It is said that the old Spanish and Portuguese sailors applied
the name of Norambega to all or a part of this region. The
navigator, Verarrani, gave it to the whole coast from Cape
Breton to Florida ; but it was confined, at last, to the territory
between Pemaquid and the St. Croix. The ancient cosmog-
rapher, Peter Heylin, thus describes it, with the countries con-
tiguous:

''Canada containeth in it the several regions of: 1. Nova
Francia, specially so called : 2. Nova Scotia ; 3. Norornheguey
and 4^ the Isles adjoining. * * Norumbega hath on the north-
east Nova Scotia, on the south-west Virginia. * * Nova Scotia
containeth that part of the country of Canada or Nova Francia^
that the French call Acadie or Cadie (being a peninsula or demy-
island)^ with so much of the main land as lieth between the river
Canada and the large bay called the Bay Fran9oise [Fundy], from
the river of St. Croix upon the west to the Isle of Assumption on
the east. * * Virginia, in the full latitude thereof, extendeth
from the 34th degree, where it joins with Florida, unto the 44th,
where it quartereth on Norumbega." *

«

* Cosmogiaphie, lib. it, part ii, ed. of 1662.

320 KOHAMBEGA.

Sullivan, the first historian of Maine, who wrote in 1795,
says:

^' In Acadia there was another territory, east of the County of
Newcastle, which was not comprehended in the duke's Province of
New York. This was, perhaps, the ancient Norumbegua. It ex-
tended from Pemaquid to St. Croix, comprehending Mount Mansel
or Mount Desert, and the territory of Penobscot." *

When Heylin wrote, the Atlantic coast of North America
had been repeatedly explored ; communication between Europe
and America had become frequent ; Plymouth and Massachu-
setts Bay were colonized ; localities had been, to some extent,
defined, and, with as much exactness as was in his power, he
described the country. He was cotemporary with John Milton,
and perhaps furnished him with the hint for the oft-quoted lines
beginning with :

" Now from the north
Of Norumbegua, and the Samoed shore.
Bursting their brazen dungeon, armed with ice
And snow," &c.

The first settlement in Norambega was before that of James-
town, or Popham, or Plymouth. It wets made upon the island
before mentioned, near the head of Passamaquoddy Bay. In
1604, the chevalier DeMonts established himself upon this
island, then about a half a league in circuit, but since reduced
by the action of the waves to a very small islet. Upon the
north side he built a fort He built a chapel, also, and lodgings,
workshops, store-houses, barracks and a magazine, besides a
spacious house for himself. Here, with his company of papist
and Huguenot priests, soldiers, artisans and laborers, he passed
the winter in constant dread of an attack from savages who

•Sul. Hist. Maine, 293.

irOBAMBEOiu 321

had never seen a matclilock or smelt gunpowder in tiieir lives.
But he found the climate more formidable than the savages.
Forts and cannon and gunpowder afforded no protection against
that Hi3 love of adventure received a severe shock from one
winter of fort and snow and scurvy. Of his company of seventy-
nine persons, only forty remained alive in the spring. In the
sunmier (of 1605) he left the island^ not to return to remain,
and sailed along the coast of Maine, touchiag at Pematiq, Pen-
tagoet, Pemquit, and thence to Malabar (Cape Cod), then back
to Port Eoyal, then to Franca His colony was transferred to
Port Boyal, and he never again made an attempt to colonize
any part of Norumbega. His friend, M. de Poutrincourt, to
whom he made over Port Eoyal, being captivated by the beauty
of the country, attempted to continue the colony there, but the
obstacles against which he had to contend converted the
romance of that pioneer life into too serious reality.

Loyola had, a few years before, instituted the society of Jesus,
and his followers were zealous in carrying out the projects of
the order. Every nation and tribe upon the earth were to be
brought under its dominion. Every opportunity, therefore, was
taken advantage of to establish its missions wherever there
were human beings to convert and there was water to baptize
with. The intelligence they received in regard to the heathenism
of the American savages prompted them to make wonderful
sacrifices in order to bring them under the saving influences of
the church of Eoma

In 1607, Henry IV had confirmed the transfer of De Mont's
right to Port Eoyal to Poutrincourt, who was then in France,
and while that gentleman was making his arrangements in
behalf of his colony, an order came to him from the King to
make preparation for a mission of the Jesuits there.

Notwithstanding the King had once expelled these religionists

91

322 KORAHBEGA.

from his kingdom, yet they had succeeded, not only in returning,
but also in obtaining an influence with that monarch. On
learning the design of Poutrincourt to found a colony, the
zealous Professor, Father Pierre Biard, conceived the scheme of
planting a mission at Port Eoyal. On receiving the order from
the King, Poutrincourt's ardor abated, and under one pretext or
another he delayed his departure until 1610. He then sailed
without the missionaries, and concluded, finally, that he would
leave the colony in charge of his son, young Biancourt

This individual was only nineteen years of age at this time-
Having been sent to France for supplies, he found the ship
containing them in the hands of two Huguenot merchants, as
security for advances. Fathers Biard and Enemond Mass^,
who had been waiting a long time, were elated by the supposi-
tion that Poutrincourt had made arrangements for their taking
passage with his son, but were again disappointed by the refusal
of the Huguenots to permit any Jesuit to embark in the vesseL
The Kmg had been assassinated, but Marie de Medicis ordered
the Governor of Dieppe to remove the obstacle to their em-
barkation. He could not. Whereupon, Antoinette de Pons,
wife of the Governor of Paris, Marchioness de Guercheville,
a religious lady of influence, procured funds from the lords of
the court, paid the claims of the Huguenots^ and sent the ship
on her voyage, with Biancourt and the Jesuits. They arrived
at Port Eoyal June 22, 1611, and within a month afterward
Poutrincourt sailed for France never to return.

The missionaries attempted to interfere with the affairs of
Port Eoyal, but Biancourt, who was a high-spirited yoimg man,
with little affection or reverence for them, would not permit
their intermeddling. This led .to ill-feeling and a separation.
^Gilbert du Thet, a lay-brother, who had afterwards come to

KOBAMBEGA. 323

Port Royal, returned to France and made a report of the dissen-
sions between the Governor and the missionaries.

The Marchioness de Guercheville had procured from De Monts
a transfer of his charter to her, and became proprietor of
all Acadia, excepting Port RoyaL It was in her power, and
she resolved, to establish a mission in another quarter where
there would be no danger of Biancourt opposing the work of
the missionaries.

Enlisting Mt^e de Medicis and other high personages in her
enterprise, after frequent disappointments, she procured a ship
of a hundred tons burthen in which to send out her colonists,
consisting of priests, artisans and laborers. Having fitted out
the vessel with supplies of every description necessary for such
an undertaking, she placed all under the charge of Sieur La
Saussaye, a gentleman whom she had selected for Grovemor of
the colony, and sent them with a view of establishing a mission
within the limits of her proprietorship. The place fixed upon
was Kadesquit — supposed to be Kenduskeag, the site of Bangor.
Forty-eight persons constituted the company. Charles Flory
de Hableville was master of the ship. Two Jesuits, Father
Quentin, a priest, and du Thet, were on board. The ship sailed
from Honfleur March 12, 1613, making first for Port Soyal,
which it reached on the twenty-second of June. The company
refreshed themselves there for five days, then, taking with them
Fathers Biard and Mass^, they set sail for the place of their
destination. When oflF the island of Menano [Grand Menan],
one of the dense fogs for which the Bay of Fundy is remark-
able shut down upon the voyagers, and for two days and nights
the ship was drifting upon that uncertain sea. Their dismal
forebodings during that time, the old historians left their readers
to imagine. People of our day, who are acquainted with the
treacherous currents of those waters, can well understand what

'324 NORAMBEGA.

must have been their suspense. The prayers of the Jesuits
must have been fervent and sincere. On the second night the
stars appeared, and on the morning of the third day the desert'
mountains of Fematiq lay before them.

In a harbor on the easterly side of the island, which during
the past two centuries has borne the name of Mt Desert, the
ship came to an anchor. In consideration of their providential
deliverance from the perils of the voyage, they gave it the name
of St Savior. The exact place of their landing is unknown,
but probably it was in the neighborhood of Bar Harbor.

It was the intention of the pilgrims to remain only a short
time at this place. Father Biard had an interview with the
natives for the purpose of obtaining information in regard to
the route to Kadesquit. The savages had met Biard two years
before at Pentagoet, and now urged him to settle in their island,
which they said was " quite as good a place as Kadesquit ** ;
that it was so healthy that it was the resort of invalids, who
regained their health there. Biard knew# that these people
^' were not more deficient than other people in putting a high
value on their possessions,'' therefore he was not moved by this
argument. They then uiged him to visit their chief, appealing
to his humanity and his religious sentiments. " It is important,"
they said, " that you should come, inasmuch as Asticou, our
Sagamore, is sick unto death, and if you do not come he will
die without baptism, and wiU not go to Heaven ; you will be
the cause. On his part, he wishes to be baptized/' Overcome
by this appeal, on learning that it was only three leagues to the
abode of the chief, he consented to go ; and with Sieur de la
Motte, and Simon, the interpreter, was taken thither in one of
their canoes.

The wily savages, by this device, accomplished what they de-
sired, which was to have the priest view the place where they

KORAMBEGA, 325

wished him to settle, believing that he would be tempted by its
attractiveness. He found the chief sick with a cold, but not
unto death, and he had abundant time to examine the locality
" so praised as better than Kadesquit for a French settlement,"
and was so struck with its desirableness as a place for the mis-
sion, that he persuaded the chief men of the expedition to ex-
amine it They did so, and all agreed to " stop there and seek
no further."

Father Biard describes the place as " a pretty colline, elevated
slightly above the sea, and bathed on its sides by two springs."
From twenty to twenty-five acres of it were cleared of trees and
bushes. Its aspect was toward the south and east The port
and haven were unsurpassed. The haven was " as safe as a
pond, for besides being separated from the large island of Mount
Desert, it is also separated from certain small islets which break
the winds and the waves and fortify the entrance. There is no
fleet for which it would not be sufficient, nor vessel which could
not approach the land to unload within a cable's length." *

This is a very close description of a tract of land at the
westerly entrance of Somes's Sound, called Femald's Point No
other upon the island answers to it. The tract consists of from
twenty to twenty-five acres between the hiU and the sea. The
two springs are at its sides. The haven is as described by Biard,
and is protected and fortified by the Cranberry Isles. The
late Hon. Elijah L Hamlin, a member of the Maine Historical
Society, directed attention to this spot, which, from personal
exploration, he wa3 satisfied was that fixed upon by the mis-
sionaries for the colony.

The ship, with its tender, was moored at this place, and the
supplies were landed. Then there came up a controversy be-

* Relations of the Jesuits, chap. 24.

326 KORAMB£GA«

twixt the Grovemor and the missionaries as to what should be
their first proceedings. ' La Saussaye would provide against
want; the Jesuits against attack. The former would plant
seed ; the latter fortifications. It was the time of planting, and
the Governor thought that it should be taken advantage of ; the
priests would have the laborers upon the erections. These dif-
ferences led to others, and little was accomplished. Neither
party prevailed, and they were unexpectedly interrupted in the
midst of their dissensions.

It was a practice of the Virginia colonists to send every year
a fleet into the waters of Pemaquid for fish. This year the fleet
was under the convoy of Samuel Argal, in a ship carrying sixty
men and fourteen guns. This Argal was a relative of Sir
Thomas Smith. He was enterprising and unscrupulous. He
came from England to Virginia to engage in sturgeon fishing,
which was an illicit business ; but he contrived, by means of
some choice wines he had brought with him, to stop the mouths
of the people, and was permitted to catch sturgeon without in-
terruption, until he became an influential man in the colony.

On this expedition he was intrusted with other business
besides protecting the fishermen. Sir Thomas Dale, then Gov-
ernor of Virginia, directed him to expel any French and Dutch
people he might find trading within his jurisdiction, considering
Acadia to belong to it

While cruising in the Gulf of Maine, some natives came on
board his vessel, in a fog, and very innocently told him that
some of his Norman countrymen were establishing themselves
at Pematiq. Whereupon, he took one of the savages for a pilot
and made his way into the " safe " harbor of the missionaries,
who were no less astonished by his appearance than was the
pilot to find that he had unwittingly brought an enemy amongst
his friends.

NORAMBEOA. 327

Argal acted promptly. He gave the French no time to pre-
^ pare for defense, but at once attacked them. The Jesuit thus
tells the story :

''Now we, beholding the vessel coming under fall sail from a
distance, did not know what to think, whether they were friends
or enemies, Frenchmen or foreigners, for this reason — tbe pilot
wei^t in advance in a long boat, to reconnoitre, while the others
armed themselves. La Saussaye remained on shore, and retained
there mo9t of his men. La Motte, Lieutenant, Bonfere, ensign,
and Joubert, sergeant, all the most resolute, went to the vessel.
Thus it was, then, that one could recognize men of value.

''The English vessel came more rapidly than an arrow, having
a good wind — all the soldiers clothed in scarlet, the English colors
flying, and three drums and three trumpets making a furious noise.
Our pilot, who had gone to make discoveries, did not return with
the vessel, because, he said, the English were to windward of him,
and, consequently, in order not to fall into their hands, he made
the circuit of an island. On this occasion, therefore, our vessel
was destitute of half its crew, and for the defense there were only
ten in all, and not any of them knew anything about sea fights,
except Capt. Flory, who was not wanting in ability and courage,
but he had neither sufficient time to prepare himself, nor sufficient
men ; on account of which he was not able to weigh anchor, the
sails being used for another purpose. As it was summer, and as
we remained in this harbor without fear, we had extended the sails
in the form of a bower, from the poop to the windlass, in order to
have a shade upon the deck, and there was not sufficient time to
bend them. But this misfortune was lucky for us, as our men
remained very well concealed during the combat, in such manner
that the English not being able to pick out any one during their
volleys, less of our men were killed and wounded.

"At the approach, as it is the custom to call and ask who one is,
our people cried out, according to the custom of mariners, ' 0 1

328 170RAMBEOA.

0 I ' Bat the English did not respond in this tone, but in another
more f arious, with heavy discharges of muskets and cannon. They
had fourteen pieces of artillery and sixty musketeers connected
with the ship, who came to the charge upon the sides, upon the bow-
sprit, upon the poop and wherever it was necessary, like a line of
soldiers and in order, as well as foot soldiers do upon the land.

" The first volley from the English side was terrible ; the whole
vessel was in Qre and smoke. From our side we responded coldly,
and the artillery was silent. Captain Flory cried loudly :

" ' Fire the cannon ! Let it go I '

^' But the gunner was not there. Now Gilbert du Thet, who
was never faint-hearted in his life, nor a coward, hearing this cry
and seeing no one obey, took the match and caused our cannon to
speak as loud as the enemy's. The misfortune was that he did not
take aim, and if he had done so there would have been, perhaps,
something more than noise.

*^ The English, after this first volley, laid their vessel alongside
and kept an anchor ready to hook the bits of our cable, which
stopped the enemy and caused him to cut o£E from our side, for he
feared in pursuing us to be drawn into shoal water ; then, becom-
ing re-assured, he again commanded to approach us with a volley of
musquetry as before. It seems, in this second attack, that Father
du Thet received a musket ball through the body and fell upon the
deck. Captain Flory was also wounded in the foot, and three others
elsewhere, which caused us to give the signal and to cry that we
would surrender, as certainly the match was not equal. At this
cry, the English jumped into our boat in order to come to our
vessel ; our men also, from an unlucky resolution, threw themselves
into their own to make for the shore, for they feared the arrival
of the victors. The conqueror was on board our vessel before they
had gone far, and prayed and called to them to return, and, to con-
strain them, fired upon them. Being frightened, two of our men
cast theoQselves into the water, by my advice, to gain the shore,
but they were drowned. Either they were wounded^ or, what is

NORAMBEGA. 329

more probable, they were stmck and killed in the water. These
were two young men of good expectations, one from Dieppe, called
Le Moine ; the other named Neveu, of the city of Beauvais.
Their bodies were not found until nine days afterward. They
were taken and religiously interred. Such was the capture of our
Tessel."'

After Argal landed, he charged La Saussaye with being a
trespasser, and justified his attack upon that ground. La Saus-
saye denied that he was a trespasser, and claimed to be acting
under commissions from the French Crown. Whereupon Argal
demanded that the commissions be produced, saying that if it
was as he represented, he would not be instrumental in break-
ing the friendship between France and England.

But the wily Englishm|ui had anticipated the justification
of La Saussaye, and surreptitiously obtained possession of the
commissions — ^having them at the moment of making his accu-
sation, as he afterwards acknowledged to the Governor of
Virginia, in order to save the lives of Biard and other prisoners,
whom the Qoyemor was about to hang as pirates, and for whose
safety Argal had pledged his honor.

> As La Saussaye could not produce his authority, he was de-
nounced as a pirate by Argal, who gave his men full liberty to
pillage the French ship and camp. They were not long in
making away with the gifts of the French Queen and Marquisa
Algal was severe with his prisoners. He caused two to be
flogged, and at length reduced all to subordination. Some he
took with him to Jamestown, and some were permitted to re-
turn to France. Among the latter were La Saussaye and
Father Mass^. Biard and Quentin went to Jamestown.

After Argal reached Jamestown and gave an account of his
proceedings, the Grovemor sent him north again, with orders to
destroy all the settlements of the French and other interlopers

330 NOSAMBEGA.

Taking with him Biard and Quentin, he proceeded to Mount
Desert and completed his work of destruction there. He then
went to St. Croix, and demolished the buildings that remained
on De Mont's Island. From there he sailed to Port Eoyal,
which he piUaged and burnt ; and Father Biard expressed the
hope, that it might please the Lord " that the sins therein com-
mitted might likewise have been consumed in that conflagra-
tion."

We have no account of any attempt to settle any part of the
territory designated as Norumbega, except that of De Mont's,
prior to 1613. And there was hardly any occupation of the
territory during the seventeenth century, except at Pentagoet,
(Castine), Mount Desert, Megeis (Machias) and Passamaquoddy.
In 1686. the population of those places was but sixteen, ex-
cluding domestics.*

At Pentagoet was the fort first erected by M. D'Aulney de
Chamisay, occupied by Baron St Castin and his servants. At
Megays were Martel, Dubreuil and some servants-f

A place called "Donaquek, near Mageis, of two leagues in
front on the sea, and two leagues deep inland, the island of
Monts Deserts, and other isles, &c., in front," was granted to
Sieur Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, in 1689.J " The river
which equally divided the depth of the tract was not included,"
whatever that may mean.

There were a few French people at Passamaquoddy. CoL
Church, in his fifth expedition east, in 1704, found some there,
but gives no account of any settlement.§

Korumbega does not appear to have been much used as an

• Murdoch's Nova Scotia, 1, 108.

t lb. 171.

t lb. 181.

S French and Indian Wars, 262, et aeq.

KORAMBEGA. 331

appellation of the country after the French and English occu-
pancy of the region bordering on the river, the French calling
it Fentagoet, and the English Penobscot, and both peoples desig-
nating the whole territory east — Nova Scotia included — Acadia.

How the name Norumbega came to be applied to the country
at all is not known. No traditions of the Indians respecting it
are preserved ; still, Verrazano, who applied it to the whole
coast from Florida to Cape Breton, must have obtained it from
the natives.

The author of the " Universal History of the West Indies,"
published in 1607, alleges that "Norombega is known well
enough by reason of a fair town and a great river, though it is
not known from whence it has its name, for the Barbarians do
call it Agguncia." Sullivan says of the inhabitants, that they
were supposed to be " an ancient people who lived on the river
Penobscott, then called Pentegovett, near to which was believed
a great city called Nopimbegua once stood." Ogilby said that
this city was nothing but a collection of wigwams, and called
Arambeck. From Indian lips, it would not be difficult to con-
found Arembeck with Norumbega. Heylin says, " Most have
agreed on Norumbegua, or Arempic, as the natives call it."
An aged Indian of the Penobscots, in 1864, stated that in the
old times there was a village of that name " back of Bucksport."
" n'Arambeck'r " was very good "Norombega" in his mouth*

The late Dr. Ballard, who had given some attention to the
language of the Penobscot Indians, in a note to the writer said :

" Nar or nor, I suppose, was nora — still, quiet — om or am from
wompi — white, clear; be from nebe — water in general, as of a lake ;
Latin aqua; ga^ termination denoting locality, 2for-omp-be^a ;
and its meaning would be stilUwater^lace. When the word nar
is used it is connected with the water below falls, as in Norridge-
wock and Narraganset."

332 K0RAMBE6A.

Father Vetromile, in his little work entitled '* The Abenakis,"
gives the orthography as " Nolumbega," and says it " means a
still-water between falls, of which there are several," in the
river Penobscot.*

Much may be found in relation to Norumbega in the first
volume of the second series of the Maine Historical CoUectiona
The first account of it appears to have been written by Pierre
Crignon, and is in Eamusio, under the title " Discourse of a
great French Sea Captain of Dieppe." This captain was Jean
Parmentier, who made a voyage to Sumatra and other countries,
in 152-9, five years after Verazzano's voyage. Oignon was a
companion of Parmentier, and, it is supposed, wrote the account
in 1539, though it was not printed until 1556. He thus de-
scribes the country first known as Norumbega :

''About the land of Nurumbega. Following on beyond Capo
Breton is seen land contiguous to that cape^ the coast of which
trends south south-westwardly, to the land called Florida, and for
500 leagues, which was land discovered fifteen years ago by M.
Giovanni da Yerrazano in the name of the French King, and of
Madame, the Regent, and even by the Portuguese themselves, and
its extreme toward Florida is in 78° long. W. and 30° lat. N. The
inhabitants of this country are docile people, friendly and good-
tempered. The land is most abounding in every kind of fruit ;
there grow the orange and the almond, truly wholesome, and many
various sorts of oderiferous trees. The country is called by its
people Nurumbega, and, between this land and that of Brazil, is
a Great Gulf, which extends westward to 92° long. W., which is
more than a fourth of the circuit of the earth, and in that Gulf
are the Islands of the West Indies, discovered by the Spaniards.
From the diametric line, at the upper end, this Gulf contains nearly
1,700 leagues, in continuous line around.''

*The Abenakis, 48.

ARTICLE VIII.

Memoirs

AND

Biographical Sketches.

MEMOIR OF

HON. REUEL WILLIAMS.

BY JOHN A. POOR, ESQ.

Read at a spbgial mbbtin« of the Society at Auousta,

Febbuabt, 1863.

Plutarch, in his Life of Solon, relates that after that great
law-giver had completed his labors and established a code of
laws for Athens, he resigned all his trusts, and for ten years
employed himself in foreign travel, in order the more impartially
to observe the workings of the laws he had framed, in the hands
of others, entirely uninfluenced by any participation of his own
in the administration of the government In these travels he
visited CrcBSus, the renowned king of Lydia, whose fabled wealth
has made his name familiar to modem times, who received Solon
with all the respect due to one so distinguished for wisdom and
virtue, showed him the extent of his riches and the countless
means of enjoyment thereby furnished, and then asked him who
he thought was the most fortunate man he had ever known.
" One Tellus, a fellow-citizen of mine," promptly replied Solon,
" who had been an honest man, had had good children, a compe-
tent estate, and died bravely in battle for his country." Piqued

336 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

at the gravity of Solon's manner, as also by his pungent sar-
casm, Croesus in another form renewed the inquiry, gravely in-
timating that a man's power of present enjoyment was certainly
a proof of the favor of the gods. "The numerous misfortunes
that attend all conditions," said Solon, " forbid us to grow inso-
lent upon present enjoyments, or to admire any man's happiness
that may yet, in the course of time, suffer change. He only to
whom Divinity has continued happiness unto the end, we call
happy?"

Philosophers and moralists have, in every age, speculated on
the problem of human felicity, and in almost every form of
language, put forth diverse theories as to the true measure of
happiness or good fortune amon^men. But it is difficidt to
find, in sacred or profane writings, a more full and satisfactory
definition of good fortune, of what constitutes the greatest good
in life, or the true end and aim of earthly existence, than that
given to us by the great Athenian teacher and law-giver. For
to be truly an honest man, requires the exercise of the highest
intellectual and moral qualities ; to have good children, has in
every age been held to be the fruition of earthly good ; to ac^
quire or possess a competent estate, places a man above the
necessity of those practices that tend to diminish self-respect ;
and to die in the public service has always been the great end
of earthly ambition. To die in battle, awakens that quick
sympathy of the multitude which assuages the grief of friends,
and inspires courage in one summoned to the other world from
this field of duty. To be wise to the last, to fulfil every private
duty, and be allowed to labor to the end of life for the public
welfare, which Solon regarded as the truest good, is the rarest
of earthly opportunities. To be a public benefactor, and to
escape the common infirmities of humanity, till the measure of
life is filled to fourscore, without any diminution of zecd in the

HON. SEUEL WILLIAHS. 337

public welfare, is as satisfactorj proof of virtue, as, in the flush
of youth and health, to fall bravely in battle.

At the departure from earth of one eminent in any of the
walks of life, the upright among those who knew him instinct-
ively review his life and history, in the exercise of unprejudiced
judgment, and assign to him his proper place in the list of the
illustrious dead, regardless of the popular prejudices of the
hour. The accidents of fortune, the distinctions of official station
are soon forgotten, and a man's character stands forth in its
true light before the world. Partisan prejudice, religious intol-
erance, the selfishness of unworthy minds, may for a while
prevent an impartial award, but in the end, every man will find
his true place in the world's regard. While most fall into
forgetfulness, and a few are held up as examples of warning to
survivors, the true benefactors of their race are finally enrolled
in the catalc^e of the wise and the good.

One year ago, our Society listened with enchained attention
to the memoir of one of its original members, whose life of
usefulness had led him on to that venerable age that left no
companion or contemporary behind him ; who seemed to glide
with such quiet grace among his fellow-men of a later genera-
tion, as to seem like one from the spirit land. That charming
memoir of John Merrick, from the classic pen of the Bev. Dr.
Goodwin, published for this Society, is eagerly sought for by
scholars and men of taste, as a fortunate and choice contribu-
tion to American biographical literature.

A duty equaUy grateful, but far more difficult, is imposed on
one of its members to-day, in speaking of another of its original
founders, whose life, long drawn out, was not so extended as to
lose its influence or hold on the men of his own time — ^whose
eminent ability, elevated character, social virtues, and distin-
guished public services, won for him the respect of his associate

8S

338 MEMOIKS AKB BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

members, and of the community in which he lived — and who,
always a leader among men, fell, finally, at his post, in the front
rank, on the busy battle-field of life, leaving the legacy of a
wide public reputation to his country, and the richer treasure
of a good name to distinguished inheritors of his fame and
fortune.

Eeuel Williams, the second of twelve children of Captain
Seth Williams and Zilpha Ingraham, was bom on the second
day of June, 1783, within the limits of that part of the ancient
town of Hallowell, which is now the city of Augusta. He
enjoyed the rare distinction of living, and dying, at a ripe old
age, in the place of his birth. His father, said to have been of
Welsh origin, bom December 13, 1756, was a man of character
and consequence among his fellow-men ; by occupation, both a
farmer and a tanner. He emigrated from Stoughton, Massa-
chusetts, in 1779, and married Zilpha Ingraham, bom April 16,
1761, the daughter of Benaiah and Abigail Ingraham, who were
among the early settlers of Augusta. Captain Seth Williams
died March 18, 1817, at the age of sixty-one years, enjoying to
the end of his life the respect of his feUow-townsmen, having
filled many offices of public trust His independent spirit and
upright conduct imparted their influence to his children and
others around him.

But, like most men of strikingly marked qualities, Beuel
Williams derived the peculiarities of his mind and character
mainly from his mother. Self-reliant, shrewd, firm, energetic,
and conscientious, she had unbounded alSection and every
motherly virtue ; and was, to the end of her life, an example of
every Christian grace. She died at Augusta, September 20,
1845, in the eighty-fourth year of her age. One capable of ap-
preciating her high qualities of mind and heart, with abundant
means of judging, described her, many years ago, as illustrating

HON. REUEL WILLIAMS. 339

every Christian virtue and every social excellence that can
dignify and adorn the family circle. She merited and received
the afifection and respect of all who knew her, and her example
and teachings bore fruit in the lives of her children.

Beuel had only the meagre advantages then afforded by the
common schoob of his native town till the age of twelve, when
he commenced his attendance upon Hallowell Academy, board-
ing at home in Augusta, and walking two miles, daily, each
way, to and from the schooL Here he acquired a classical
education, equal to the fitting of one for college, before he was
fifteen years of age. On returning from the Academy in the
evening, he usually went into his father's shop, and worked at
the shoemaker's bench, — for his father carried on the business of
a tanner and a shoemaker, — and Beuel often finished a shoe
before retiring for the night Yet he was so prompt in his at-
tendance at the Academy every morning that Judge Eobbins,
of Hallowell, used to say, " I must send my sons to Augusta to
board, so that they may get seasonably to school." For a short
time after he reached the age of fifteen, Seuel took the place of
toll-^therer for the Augusta Bridge, which was completed in
1798, and in this way aided his father in the support of his
large family, while his leisure time was carefully husbanded in
study. At this period he gained the attention and acquaintance
of Judge James Bridge, a gentleman distinguished for many
noble qualities of character, and at that time a most prominent
lawyer of the Kennebec Bar. By invitation of Mr. Bridge,
young Williams entered his office as a student at law, June 25,
1798, when only fifteen years old.

Faithful and industrious, he earned his support, while a stu-
dent, by writing, and accumulated in this way more than one
thousand dollars before he was nineteen years of age. Judge
Bridge then gave him an interest in the profits of his law busi-

340 IIEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

ness, though he was tx)o young to be admitted to the Bar. He
invested his student-life earnings in real estate, on the east aide
of the river, just above the bridge, most of which, with im-
provements on it, he owned at the time of his death.

From the age of nineteen to twenty-one, he busily pursued
his professional labors with Judge Bridge, and on reaching his
majority, in 1804, was admitted to the Bar, — an event to which
he had looked forward with all the pride and hope of youthful
ambition.

At this time two fellow-students invited him to join them in
their proposed expedition to Cincinnati, for the practice of the
law. The rising fame of this new city had already begun to
attract the attention of the enterprising young men of the
Eastern States. Mr. Williams held this matter carefully under
advisement, but finally declined the proposal, and deliberately
set himself down for life in the town of his birth ; — ^a decision
that forms a striking exception in the histqry of the pubUc men
of this country.*

It was fortunate for the city of Augusta, that Mr. Williams
determined to remain ; for to him, mainly, is the city indebted
for its political and commercial importance. In his early days,

* In his latter days, Mr. WiUiams was fond of making inquiries as to the
history of Cincinnati, and as to the particular causes of the extraordinary
growth of the Queen City of the West. He was of the same age as Nicholas
Longworth, now the wealthiest citizen of the great West, who, a lawyer by
profession, has shown an enlightened judgment worthy of his great success,
and to whom, more than any one else, Cincinnati owes that success in the
strawberry and grape culture which are among the attractions of that great
city, now so renowned for the wealth, refinement and public spirit of its
citizens. Had Mr. Williams established himself at Cincinnati at the age of
twenty-one, and experienced the same good fortune which attended him at
home, his wealth would have been equal to that of Astor.

Note. — Mr. Longworth died February 10, 1863, since the above was vorit-
ten, with a fortune estimated, by Mmselfin 1859, at twelve millions qf dollars.

HON. EEUEL WILLIAMS. 341

Hallowell was the chief town of the Kennebec ; but aided by
his exertions, Augusta, without any peculiar natural advantage,
became the exclusive seat of justice of the County, and finally
the State Capital, where the legislative sessions have been held
since 1832. In the train of these events came the location of
the Kennebec Arsenal, on which the United States Government
have expended, to June 30. 1860, $265,846.91 ; the establish-
ment of the Insane Hospital ; and the vast influence and power
which its central position, and this centralization of talent and
capital, have given to Augusta ; — a city of less population and
wealth than some others in the State, yet superior, in the ability
of its press, and the sagacious foresight of its public men, — ^in
many respects the leading place in the State, and second in all
these particulars to no capital city of the country, of similar re-
lations.

From the time of Mr. Williams's admission to the Bar in
1804, he became identified with Augusta, and his life forms a
part of its history. No work of public importance, and no en-
terprise aflfecting the Kennebec Valley, was carried forward
without his direct participation in it, from that time till his
death, extending over a period of nearly sixty years. His busi-
ness life comprised a period of more than sixty years, dating
from the time he became partner with Judge Bridge.

Judge Bridge had for years been the agent of the proprietors
of the Kennebec Purchase, an association of gentlemen of wealth,
who bought of the grantees of the Plymouth Company the tract
granted January 13, 1629, to William Bradford, by the Council
of New England, extending from the Cobbossee Contee to
Nequamkike (Hazard ColL, VoL i, p. 298). It was farmed out
by the Plymouth Company for many years, and quite fully
peopled in 1650 and 1651, when Father Dreuilletts came to
Cushnoc on his fruitless mission of peace to the New England

342 MEHOIBS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

Colonists. On the twenty-seventh of October, 1661, the Ply-
mouth Company conveyed their interests to one Thomas Wins-
low, through whom the title came to the proprietors of the
Kennebec Purchase.

The agency of this Company was itself a large business, in
the investigation of titles to real estate, in sales to be made, and
proceeds to be collected. The numerous decisions in the Massa-
chusetts and Maine Eeports show the great variety of difficult
and novel law questions affecting titles to real property, growing
out of this business, to which the attention of Mr. WiUiams
was directed.

" In 1807, when but twenty-four years of age," according to
the statement of one familiar with his/ life, " Mr. Williams was
brought to the notice of prominent men in Massachusetts, whQe
engaged with Nathan Dane, in Boston, for the Plymouth pro-
prietors, before the Commissioners of Eastern Lands. His
engagement occupied him six consecutive weeks ; and, although
he was junior counsel, he was highly complimented by the
Commissioners on his thorough and profound legal knowledge,
and the clearness and ability with which he presented and
managed his case."

On the nineteenth of November, 1807, Mr. Williams married
Miss Sarah Lowell Cony, daughter of the late Hon. Daniel
Cony, of Augusta, a man distinguished in his day for his, public
spirit, manly virtues, and great activity in promoting the sep-
aration of Maine from Massachusetts. Mrs. Williams still
survives him. Their golden wedding was celebrated more than
four years before his death, with that quiet grace and dignity
that always held sway in their happy home, where children
and grandchildren joined in pleasant festivities in the venerable
mansion, which had so long been the abode of domestic joy and
undiminished affection.

HON. BEUEL WILLIAMS. 343

Of their nine children, one son and eight daughters, five still
survive. The proprieties of this occasion forbid us from entering
the domestic circle, or anticipating any future eulogium.

In 1811, we first find Mr. Williams's name in the Massa-
chusetts Beports, as counsel in a law question, in opposition to
Judge Wilde, then one of the leading lawyers of the Kennebec
Bar, and subsequently, for many years a Judge of the Supreme
Judicial Court of Massachusetts. From 1811 onward, for nearly
thirty years, until he relinquished practice, on taking his seat
in the Senate of the United States. Mr. Williams's name con-
stantly occurs in the Beports, both Massachusetts and Maine,
in important law cases.

In 1812, Judge Bridge, having accumulated an abundant
fortune, retired from practice, leaving Mr. Williams in full
receipt of the emoluments of their large business. Up to this
time, the arguing of law questions had been chiefly performed
by Judge Bridge, — whUe the ofl&ce duties and labors devolved
mainly on Mr. Williams, who was compelled to throw his whole
strength into the work, in order to perform the routine of daily
business. His studies, therefore, necessarily ran to particular
questions and pending cases rather than to elementary works,
and his learning as a lawyer was more the result of a large
practice, calling for the investigation of points of law bearing
on his own cases, than any arranged plan of study. He was
not, therefore, a man of extensive law reading, beyond the in-
vestigation and preparation for argument of cases in court
This course of study gives great sharpness and clearness of
legal vision. He always argued closely and logically without
the forms of logic His power of analysis and of methodical
arrangement was remarkable, and contributed greatly to his
eminent success.
In addition to his large practice growing out of the agency of

344 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

the Kennebec Purchase, he had the charge of the Bowdoin
Lands, a very large and valuable property, which he managed
with admirable skill. He also had a large miscellaneous prac-
tice in which the faithful discharge of his duties was ever con-
spicuous. His addresses to the jury, as well as to the court,
were free from any attempt at rhetorical display, but remark-
able for power of condensation, concentration, and directness of
argument, and, though usually brief, were effective and con vino
ing. He was so intensely occupied in his professional labors for
many years, without time for study outside them, that he was
more a man of business than a man of books. But his reputa*
tion as a lawyer became widely known, and in 1815, when but
thirty-two years of age, he was honored by Harvard Collie
with the degree of Master of Arts. In 1855, the honorary
degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred on him by Bowdoin
College.

In 1816, in conjunction with Judge Bridge and Thomas L
Winthrop, of Boston, Mr. Williams became the purchaser of
the lands, property, and remaining interests of the Kennebec
Proprietors. This proved a very profitable investment, so rapid
at that time was the settlement of the country. All the papers
of the Proprietors, of very great historic value, came into his
possession, and since his death, in pursuance of his wishes, have
been placed in the archives of the Maine Historical Society for
safe keeping and use.

In 1818, Mr. Williams was one of the corporators named in
the charter of " The Lincoln and Kennebec Society for the Be-
moval of Obstructions in the Kennebec Eiver," approved Feb-
ruary 19, 1818, and it is in and by the Act made his duties to
call its first meeting, — showing him to have been the active
promoter of its objects. TMs matter of improving the naviga-
tion of the Kennebec was always an object of his thoughts,

HOK. RBUEL WILLIAMS. 345

before and while a member of the United States Senate. Ap-
propriations to the amount of S21,100 have been expended bj
the United States Government for removing obstructions in
Kennebec Eiver, at Lovejoy's Narrows ; $1,500 for a monument
at Stage Island ; and S5,750 for monuments in the Kennebec
River. The sum of $45,288.56 has been expended in the con-
struction of Seguin Light, in which is a first-class Fresnel Lens,
and S6,236 on Pond Island Light, at the mouth of the Kennebec.

The separation of Maine from Massachusetts was a question
in which, as is well known, Mr. Williams took an active part,
giving it his earnest and effective support. In 1822, he became
a member of the L^islature of Maine, and continued so for
seven successive years ; a member of the House in 1822-3-4-5 ;
and of the Senate in 1826-7-8 ; during which time he was the
active and efficient leader in the movement to make Augusta
the State Capital He was also a member of the House in 1829
and 1832, and eLgain in 1848. To him has always been awarded
the credit of the removal of the seat of government from Port-
land. Of the wisdom of the measure itself it is not my province
to speak. Many citizens of the State deemed the removal
premature and uncalled for. But the prevalence of this feeling
only enhances the credit due to his talent and industry, for its
achievement, against such odds. He r^arded the question of
the location of the seat of government as one addressed to the
common-sense and judgment of the Legislature, and labored for
it with a zeal and pertinacity that finally overcame every ob-
stacle.

In 1822, Mr. Williams was elected one of the Trustees of
Bowdoin College^ which office he retained for thirty-eight years.
He was ever one of the most faithful and devoted friends of the
Institution, and a constant attendant on the meetings of the
Board till his resignation in 1860. He always looked with re*

346 MEHOIBS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

gret on the effort to transform this ancient and honored Insti-
tution of learning, whose catholic spirit and liberal principles
had secured for it so much popular favor and such valuable aid
from the State, into a sectarian school, under the exclusive
control of one religious sect

In 1822, Mr. Williams was one of the forty-nine corporate
members of the Maine Historical Society, named in the Act
establishing it. He had little time to devote to historical
studies or pursuits, but he was always a faithful and consistent
member, favoring with his influence the liberal grant of aid from
the State, and paying his annual tax in early days, when a tax
on its members was the only means of keeping up the Society.

On the fifteenth of February, 1825, Mr. Williams was ap-
pointed one of the Commissioners of Maine to divide the Public
Lands, held in common with Massachusetts, under the Act of
Separation, a most arduous and delicate trust, which he dis-
charged with his accustomed intelligence and fidelity.

On the twenty-sixth of January, 1829, an event occurred
which deeply affected Mr. Williams, exerting no small influence
over his subsequent life — the death of his daughter, Susan
Curtis Williams, whose rare beauty, uncommon intelligence,
devoted affection and religious turn of mind, had made her an
object of unusual regard in their wide family circle. The death
of this daughter struck deeply to the very fountain of feeling,
and seemed to soften his very nature. At times, within the
last year of his Kfe, he seemed to enjoy the opportunity of
speaking of tlus child, describing her as possessing a purity of
nature and a religious principle higher than he had elsewhere
witnessed. An intimate friend of this daughter, of the same
age, between whom and herself one of those mutual attachments
had sprung up which sometimes appear romantic, survived her
many years ; and for her Mr. Williams always exhibited and

HON. REUEL WILLIAMS. 347

expressed great kindness and regard. After her death, he fol-
lowed with his good will the husband who survived her. He
has been heard to speak of this exhibition of friendship of these
young girls, as to him one of the most charming and delightful
of his memories. This was the more remarkable in him, from
his naturally reserved manner. He rarely spoke of himself,
had few confidants, and gave out sparingly the expression of
his feelings. His talent for silence, that rarest and most valuable
of all mental endowments, was seldom equalled.

On the twenty-seventh of March, 1831, Mr. Williams was
appointed Commissioner of Public Buildings, and superintended
the completion of the Capitol, till it was fitted for the use of
the State Grovemment and the legislative sessions. This chaste
and beautiful edifice is a monument to his taste and good
judgment. It is so constructed that, if the public exigencies
call for more ample accommodations, the hall of the House may
be appropriately given up to the State Library, and better rooms
for the Senate and the House provided, by extending wings in
the rear, which are said to be called for by architectural rules,
to give symmetry and proportion to the whole edifice. This
statement is due to Mr. Williams's reputation, and to the pro-
fessional experts under whose guidance it was originally planned.

On the tenth of May, 1832, Mr. Williams was appointed
Commissioner of Maine, with Hon. W. P. Preble and Hon.
Nicholas Emery, in reference to the Northeastern Boundary.
In the discharge of this trust, he made his first acquaintance
with President Jackson. Mr. Williams was originally a Fed-
eralist, and he naturally fell into the support of John Quincy
Adams in the campaign of 1825, and voted for him in 1829.
But on the election of General Jackson, he expressed his de-
termination to support his administration as far as consistent
with his own sense of right; and he became identified from

348 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

that time with the Democratic party down to the time of the
repeal of the Missouri Compromise, during the administration of
Franklin Pierce, which act he regarded as the commencement
of troubles, and openly and unqualifiedly condemned, though
an earnest supporter of Pierce's election.

In the discharge of the duties of this embarrassing Boundary
Commission, Mr. Williams found in General Jackson those
qualities of sincerity and frankness, that straightforward sense
of justice, that won his confidence and his heart When asked,
during his last visit to Washington, to give his impressions of
General Jackson, he invited the inquirer to walk to the Presi-
dent's Square and look at the statue of Jackson. '' That statue,"
said he, pointing to Mills's equestrian statue, " gives you a better
idea of Jackson than any portrait or any description you caa
find of him." In reply to the criticisms of a friend on Jack-
son's pubUc conduct, he used to say Jackson was about the only
person he ever knew who acted upon his own sense of right.
Admitting his rude education, and that lack of self-control
which can only be acquired by men of strong will in early life,
he said, " he saw that Jackson's desire was to do right" In
the negotiations, the Maine Commissioners, in 1832, spoke of
public opinion on the subject of this treaty. " Public opinion !
What is public opinion ? " said Jackson. " Bight is public
opinion. I am pubUc opinion when I do right"

Jackson was deeply anxious to effect, at that time, a settle-
ment of this boundary dispute, but he could not fail to see the
absurdity of the Dutch King's decision. But, said he, " what
can I do? The award is not right, but what will come of the
question if we reject it ? " As this matter ever after occupied
a large share of Mr. Williams's thoughts, and became the subject
of his principal speeches in Congress, it is needful to state the
question briefly, in detail, in order to show the manner in which

HON. REUEL WILLIAMS. 349

Mr. Williams presented it to Congress, and pressed the matter
to a final settlement.

The history of the Northeastern Boundary Dispute goes back
to the first occupation of the Continent by Europeans. France
and England claimed the whole of Maine, starting together in
1602, in plans of colonization. Both granted it, with other
territory, to their respective subjects, the French King, Novem-
ber 8, 1603, and the British monarch, April 10, 1606. The
French settled at St Croix in 1604, and the English at Sabino,
August 19, 0. S. 1607, from which time the Sagadahoc became
the recognized boundary, though the English established trading-
houses east of it. In Cromwell's time, he granted the country
east of Sagadahoc to Sir Thomas Temple, and the country was
^peopled by the English. The French held the country east,
under the name of Acadia, and the St. Greorge Biver became
practically the dividing line, after Sir Thomas Temple occupied
east ol Sagadahoc, as stated by Cardillac in his memoir of 1602.
But in 1697, at the Peace of Ryswick, the St Croix became
the boundary between Acadia on the west, and New England
on the east

There was no recognized dividing line for the interior, between
the French and English settlements. The French planting on
the St Lawrence, in 1608, pushed back but a short distance
from the river, and the English settlements were mainly along
the Atlantic shore. Between the St Lawrence and Lake
Champlain, and east of it to the Connecticut, the forty-fifth
parallel of latitude became the dividing line. The conquest of
Canada, in 1759, led to new colonial governments ; and, in 1763,
after the Definitive Treaty of Peace, the new District of Quebec
was established, and the line— designed to embrace the territory
acquired — ^followed the natural botmdary, the ridge, or rain-
shed, between the St Lawrence and the Atlantic Ocean. The

350 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

whole country then belonged to England, and the most simple
and natural boundary was established by her, between her
ancient possession, New England, and the newly-acquired terri-
tory of New France.

In the War of the Eevolution, New England feU into the new
Government of the United States, while New France remained
to England. In defining the line of boundary, the Treaty of
Peace of 1783 followed the line established in 1763. Before
the necessary work of running and marking this line was fin-
ished, war broke out between England and the United States,
and the value, for military purposes, of a line of communication
in the St John Valley, between the Upper and Lower Provinces,
was then made apparent Thereupon, England seized upon this
territory, and refused to further run or mark the line, as agreed.
In the Treaty of Ghent, a provision for arbitration was unfortu-
nately agreed to by our Government, and, after declining all
other proposals. Great Britain had the Dutch King appointed
umpire during the administration of John Quincy Adams. His
decision was, that there was no ridge^ or rain-^hed, separating
the waters flowing in different directions, and therefore advised
that the bed of the St John Biver be adopted for the boundary.
Jackson thought best, if possible, to induce Maine to consent to
this decision, by offering compensation. Subsequent results
have proved the wisdom of his proposal, for no State, prior to
the recent rebellion, h9.d ever been able to accomplish anything
in opposition to the power of the Federal Grovemment

The Maine Commissioners were made the medium of an offer
by Gen. Jackson, but the rejection of this award by the Senate
made their report valueless, and it remained unopened till the
change of parties in Maine, in 1838, led to its publication. Mr.
Williams saw this " involved question^' as it was called, in its
true and simple aspect, despite the accumulated mass of con-

HON. REUEL WILLIAMS. 351

fused diplomatic correspondence on the subject for so many
years. He took this simple position: "It is a question of
boundary ; run and mark the line, following out the words of
the Treaty.** This view of the question determined his future
course in the Senate, and his persistent adherence to that policy
forced a final settlement of the question.

It has been the fashion of the newspapers to echo the state-
ments of British diplomatists, that " the Treaty of 1783 left this
question of boundary involved in obscurity," and some pohti-
cians of our own and other States readily fell into this notion,
from indifference or an unwillingness to inves1;^te the question
itself. Any " obscurity " in the matter is much like that which
an intelligent traveler would fall into, in crossing the Alps from
France into Italy, in his efforts to discover a ridge on the way
where Hannibal and Napoleon made attempts to solve the
problem in the face of obstacles that made their exploits so
famous. And we can hardly refrain from giving utterance to
an expression of self-reproach, as we call to mind the timidity
of our own State, in finally consenting to so monstrous a folly
as the subsequent surrender of so invaluable a possession on
such a pretext.

The award of the Dutch King having been rejected by the
Senate, no call was then made on Maine for her assent, and no
progress made in the adjustment of the question, till after Mr.
Williams's election to the Senate of the United States.

On the twenty-second of February, 1837, Mr. Williams, then
in the fifty-fourth year of his age, was elected, by the Legislature
of Maine, to the Senate of the United States, for the term of
two years, to fill the unexpired term of Hon. Ether Shepley,
appointed one of the Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court of
Maine. Mr. Williams's term commenced on the fourth of
March, 1837. He took his seat in the Senate at the extra

352 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

session, on the fourth of September, 1837. He was placed on
the Committees of Naval Affairs and of Boads and Canals.

His senatorial career gives him his chief claim to a national
reputation. It was distinguished for its independence of party
and its devotion to the interests of the whole country, not for-
getting the claims of his own State. He entered Congress at
the most gloomy period of our history since the war with
England in 1812.

The exhaustion of individual and national resources, by the
War of 1812, brought, with peace, political quiet at home, till
in 1820 the slavery agitation, growing out of the admission of
Missouri into the Union, gave to the thoughtful men of that
time the first intimation of our present troubles, and this feel-
ing kept alive a spirit of alarm. The war with England had
stimulated party animosity throughout the country, and, under
the influence of that feeling, able, ambitious men came into
Congress, unschooled in the principles of the Revolutionary
period. After the Peace of 1815, a new direction was to be
given to public afifairs. The lack of foreign topics to engross
our public men, as heretofore, naturally directed their thoughts
toward the Presidency, making the gratification of personal am-
bition the chief object of statesmanship ; and the election of
1824 disclosed a number of candidates for the Presidency, with-
out any apparent difference of opinion upon public measures.
The personal preferences of Mr. Clay for John Quincy Adams
gave the country that untractable administration which sought
to govern without a policy, and to dispense with the ordinary
fidelity of party support The opposition united and elected
Gren. Jackson, and under his iron rule, during his eight years,
changed the administrative policy of the country: and the
nation seemed ready to pass from a Constitutional Bepublic to
a Democratic Despotism, in spite of the most powerful opposi-

HON. REUEL WILLIAMS. 353

tion under the combined leadership of Clay, Webster and
Calhoun. The contest was fierce and violent during Jackson's
administration. Clay, Webster, Calhoun, Preston, Berrien and
others contended for certain principles of constitutional govern-
ment, and for restraints upon executive power ; while Jackson
and liis supporters maintained the absolutism of the Presidential
will over all subordinate officers of the Government He re-
moved the deposits in opposition to the opinions of the Congress,
and retained his appointees against the recorded judgment of
the Senate as a part of the appointing power.

The popularity of Jackson swept over the most powerful
opposition ever organized imder our Government, and in 1836,
with Van Buren's election, there came into Congress an array
of talent unequalled in any other period of our history, in which
Mr. Williams was to act his part. The administration of Van
Buren placed its claims to support upon the question of finance
and currency, then the absorbiag topic of the day, and was soon
joined by Mr. Calhoun, who gave to the Independent Treasury
scheme his unqualified support The defection of Mr. Calhoun
and his followers from the opposition gave a more personal turn
to the debates of the Twenty-fifth Congress than before, and
the contests between Mr. Webster and Mr. Calhoun are un-
equalled for brilliant declamation, logical acumen and oratorical
power, in parliamentary history. As before remarked, the
traditionary policy of the country had been overturned by the
re-election of Andrew Jackson. The Secession troubles of that
period were temporarily healed or abated, under the enactment
of the Compromise Tariff of 1833, and the large importations of
1835 and 1836 aggravated the coming troubles — ending in the
wide-spread commercial revulsion of 1837. Individual and
national bankruptcy was staring every one in the face, and the
new President, Van Buren, summoned an extra session of Con-
23

354 MEMOIBS AND BIOGBAPHICAL SKETCHES.

gress, on account of the suspension of specie payments by the
banks, and the inability of the Administration to carry on the
Government, without further legislation by Congress.

The extra session accomplished but little or nothing in the
way of public legislation, for the opinion of a majority of
Congress was not in unison with that of the President on the
questions of Finance and the Independent Treasury. Mr.
Williams steadfastly supported the Administration in its finan-
cial policy, though, from his habits of mind and course of life,
strongly opposed to any sudden or radical change of measures.
At this time a man of wealth, having been many years interested
in a bank, and free from all sympathy with the vindictive
hatred of banks which characterized so many politicians in
Congress, he yet felt that the circumstances of the country
justified the plan of an Independent Treasury, dispensing alto-
gether with the aid of banks, providing a set of officers to take
charge of the pubUc money, and requiring, moreover, the pay-
ment of all public dues exclusively in specie.

As an original question, few men of high intelligence doubted
the wisdom of the measure, but the certainty that it must work
an entire revolution in the mode of conducting public business,
and largely diminish the value of property, excited the most in-
tense and powerful opposition, and it was only finally earned
through in 1840, after the most determined enforcement of
party discipline. A political revolution was the consequenca
But the country acquiesced in the measure, and the subsequent
attempt of Mr. Clay and his friends to change this policy, and
return to that of a United States Bank, alienated President
Tyler from the Whig party, and led to its subsequent defeat

Mr. Williams saw the practical results of this measure clearly,
and from the start, and advised and supported the Bill of the extra
session, and the Bill introduced on the twenty-sixth of January,

HON. REUEL WILLIAMS. 355

1838, by the Hon. Silas Wright, of New York, — between whom
and Mr. Williams the utmost cordiality always existed, — and
supported the Independent Treasury Act of 1840 which became
a law.

Mr. Williams's first act of importance in Congress was the
Resolution, submitted by him on the thirteenth of October, 1837,
in reference to the Northeastern Boundary, in the words follow-
ing:—

^'Resolved, That the Secretary of War be directed to submit to
the Senate, at as early a day as practicable, a plan for the protec-
tion of the northern and eastern frontiers of the United States,
designating the points to be permanently occupied by garrisons ;
the auxiliary stations for reserves, and deposits of munitions and
other supplies ; the routes to be established for the purpose of
maintaining a safe and prompt intercourse between the several
stations, and from these with the depots in the interior ; and finally,
the minimum force which, in his opinion, will be required to main-
tain the peace of the country."

His subsequent labors on this matter, hereafter referred to,
were abundant, arduous, and effective, and form no unimport-
ant part of our national history.

At the regular session of the Twenty-fifth Congress, on the
fourth of December, 1837, Mr. Williams was placed on the Com-
mittee on Naval AflFairs, and on that for the District of Colum-
bia. His invaluable labors on the latter committee are still
gratefully remembered by the people of Washington.

On the twentieth of December, 1837, he called for informa-
tion as to the survey of the Kennebec River.
. But the work of this session for which he is most gratefully
remembered, and in many respects the one most deserving of
praise in his whole public life, was his effort to provide for the
relief of the Insane. On the twenty-ninth of December, 1837, he

356 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

reported a bill, from the Committee on the District of Columbia,
for the establishment of an Insane Asylum for the District of
Columbia, and for the Army, Navy, and Revenue Service of the
United States ; and on the second of January, 1838, made that
brief but able and clear statement of the claims of this class of
unfortunates that satisfied the minds of Senators ; and on the
twelfth of January, 1838, the bill, appropriating S75,000 for the
purpose of its commencement, passed the Senate, and finally
became a law.

This plan of a Government Hospital, thus initiated, has been
carried into execution by one of the most worthy and accom-
plished of all the sons that Maine has sent forth into the field
of duty. Dr. Charles H. Nichols, a native of Vassalboro, in our
State, his father an old friend and client of Mr. Williams.
Nothing could be more gratifying than to observe the almost
filial devotion of Dr. Nichols to his faithful friend ; and Mr.
Williams, with equal gratification, witnessed his success, and
saw, in 1861, the completion of his plans for this great work.
The success of the Government Hospital for the Insane is
admitted to be due to the ability, prudence, fidelity and good
sense of its accomplished Superintendent, who has guided all
the expenditures, from the purchase of the ground to the erec-
tion and completion of the building — which is, undoubtedly,
more perfect in its structure, its architectural plan and internal
arrangements, than any similar one in the country. Its farm,
on the eastern shore of the Potomac, two miles south of the
Capitol, contains one hundred and ninety-five acres, and the
building is seven hundred and twenty feet in length. No in-
telligent stranger remains in Washington for a day without
visiting this noble institution.

Equally praiseworthy were Mr. Williams's exertions, in con-
junction with Benjamin Brown, Esq., of Vassalboro, for pro-

HON. EEUEL WILLIAMS. 357

viding relief for the unfortunate insane of our own State. He
made a donation of ten thousand dollars toward the foundation of
the Maine Insane Hospital, and ever watched its success with
parental care. In their late Report, the Trustees, under date of
December 4th, 1862, say :

" Since the last meeting of the Trustees, one of the early bene-
factors and founders of this institution has been called to his rest.
We owe it to the goodness of God that such a man as the Hon.
Keuel Williams has lived and labored amongst us. His name and
many worthy deeds will long be remembered with respect and with
gratitude by multitudes. The fact that the foundations of the
hospital were laid principally through his liberality, is too well
known to need any record here. But it may not be so widely
known that the success and prosperity of the hospital are largely
attributable to his constant care and watchfulness over its interests
from the time of its first establishment to the very close of his useful
life. For a long succession of years Mr. Williams was a leading
member of the Board of Trustees, and was unwearied in his labors
for securing the best means for the comfort and cure of all who
came within these walls. And even after he resigned his seat in
the Board, he did not cease to show his deep interest in the insti-
tution, and in whatsoever related to its prosperity. Often have
present members of the Board been favored with his judicious
suggestions and wise counsels, that have been of important assist-
ance to them in the responsible trust committed to their hands.
While, therefore, we would bow with reverent submission to the
All-wise Disposer of all things, in the bereavement which has
befallen us, we would also, with gratitude to the same great Being,
cherish the memory of our departed friend and councillor, and strive
to imitate his virtues."

The Superintendent, in his Eeport, uses the following lan-
guage :

358 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

^' It may be well to allude in this connection to the loss the hospital
has sustained in the death of one of its founders and largest private
benefactors. In the decease of Hon. Reuel Williams, a wide gap
has been made in the circle of friends of the insane. Early be
beheld the wretched condition of this unfortunate class ; his eye
pitied, and forth from his beneficence flowed that *which laid the
foundation-pillars of this noble structure. With a father's care he
watched over the interests of the hospital from its beginning, spend-
ing days of his valuable time in devising means to promote the
comfort and well-being of those who had fallen victims to this
worst of human ills, and had come hither for relief. For more
than fifteen years he was an active member of the Board of Trus-
tees, performing much of the heavy work which devolved upon
the Board, without ever receiving a dollar of compensation for his
labor ; and when advancing years admonished him that it was time
to lay aside the cares of public business, and he resigned the office
of Trustee, yet his interest in the institution did not abate. Often
his thoughts reverted to it, and his steps were directed hither,
where his counsel and advice were freely given to facilitate the best
good of the Asylum. And now, though he rests from his labors,
though his tongue lies silent in the grave, he yet speaks to us, say-
ing : ' Be kind to the unfortunate and afflicted.' "

On the second of February, 1838, Mr. Williams submitted
in the Senate the following resolution : —

^^Itesolved, That the President of the United States be, and he
hereby is, requested to communicate to the Senate, in such manner
as he may deem proper, all the correspondence recently received
and had between this and the Government of Great Britain, and
the State of Maine, on the subject of the Northeastern Boundary,
which, in his opinion, may be communicated consistently with the
public welfare."

This resolution was considered and agreed to, February 5th,
1838.

HON. BEUEL WILLIAMS. 359

He made his great speeches on this question on the fourteenth
of May, 1838, and on the eighteenth of June, 1838. These
speeches, and others on the same subject in 1842, are worthy of
republication, as specimens of eflFective public speaking. The
"Bangor Democrat," speaking of the speech of May 14th,
says : — '' Eeuel Williams delivered in the Senate a speech, evinc-
ing great research, perfect knowledge of the subject, and remark-
able power."

On the twenty-second of December, 1838, Mr. Williams sub-
mitted the following resolution, which was considered and
adopted : —

"Besolved, That the Secretary of War be requested to commu-
nicate to the Senate such informatioD as may be in his possession
in reference to the defence of the frontier of Maine, and the num-
ber of troops now employed within the State, and the posts at
which they are stationed."

He opposed the Treaty of Washington, and in secret session,
when its ratification took place, he moved its rejection, and that
our Government cause the line to be run and marked, accord-
ing to the stipulations of the former treaty.

The consummation of this treaty was to him a severe per-
sonal and political mortification, and his failure to prevent its
ratification was one of the regrets of his life. In reply to an
inquiry why he did not defeat it, he said : — ** I depended on
Judge Preble. He pledged to me his word that he would not
give his assent to it I thought I could depend on Judge
Preble, and I left Washington for a short visit to the Virginia
Springs, with an invalid daughter, thinking the matter safe, and
that the assent of the Maine Commissioners would not be given
to it On my^return to Washington, I found the Maine Com-
missioners, after preparing a statement of reasons for their

360 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL jSKETCHES.

refusal, had signed their names, consenting to the treaty, Preble
with the rest, and had left for home. The matter had then got
beyond the reach of any power of mine."

Mr. Williams's speech in secret session, in opposition to its
ratification, was only an indignant protest against a foregone
conclusion, and he bore in silence the imputation attempted to
be cast on him, of a want of frankness in relation to this
measure, rather than shield his reputation by a profitless attack
and discomfiture of those on whom the real responsibility rested.

But it is a credit to Mr. Williams that he saw in advance
what every one now so fully understands and admits, not ex-
cepting the geographers and statesmen of England — the entire
absurdity and falsity of the British claim.

Mr. Williams was re-elected to the Senate in 1839, for the
term of six years from the fourth of March, 1839, but he re-
tained his seat only six years in all, during the sessions of the
Twenty-fifth, Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh Congress, re-
signing in 1843, on account of the magnitude of his private
interests, and his indifference to the honors of public life.

It is the reproach of our system of government, in the estima-
tion of intelligent foreigners, that we have no statesmen in
public life, because men pursue politics as a trade, from motives
of personal ambition, or as a means of livelihood. It is said
that we have no retiring age for public men ; that, after going
through the routine of Congressional life, men turn up as candi-
dates for Door-keeper, or appear as lobbyists in the pay of
contractors, or turn contractors themselves.

It is pleasant to turn to the example of Mr. Williams, as a
reply to this satire. Although so many years in public life, in .
such varieties of service, he never sought office, and never
accepted it but in subordination to a sense of duty ; and he laid
down Ins office or surrendered his trust the instant the duty

HON. REUEL WILLIAMS. 361

* assigned him was performed. A public and a private trust he
considered equally sacred. In the National and State councils,
in the several commissions he held, and in the management of
the various public duties confided to him, his time and his best
efforts were as conscientiously and fully devoted, as when en-
gaged in an important lawsuit for an exacting client.

The character of this brief memoir, and the length to which
it is already drawn, forbid more extended comment on Mr.
Williams's senatorial career, which was distinguished throughout
by marked ability, and his accustomed fidelity and independence.
Some acts, however, deserve especial mention as indicating his
superiority to party. He opposed Mr. Calhoun's amendment to
the Enlistment Bill, which first prohibited the enlistment of
blacks in the naval service ; and he made a speech in favor of,
and voted for, the Tariff of 1842, the great Whig measure of
the Twenty-seventh Congress, which, but for his vote, would
have been defeated. To Senator Bagby, of Alabama, who made
a coarse and abusive speech, in the style of that time by the
extreme Southern men, against the people of New England,
Mr. Williams coolly replied, telling the Senator from Alabama
that, unfortunately, he knew nothing of the people against whom
he addressed his remarks, or he would not be guilty of such an
act of injustice.

Although a party man, Mr. Williams never threw a strictly
party vote, or in other words, he voted according to his convic-
tions of duty, and would not surrender his judgment to any
party. He did what he thought was right, and voted against
his party on all questions whenever, in his opinion, they were
in error. He fearlessly opposed the Annexation of Texas, and
predicted that it would result in a dissolution of the Union or
a protracted civil war, an event he lived to witness.

A good illustration of Mr. Williams's character is shown in

362 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

his course on the question of legislative instructions. On
accepting the Senatorship, he avowed his belief in the binding
force of instructions, and declared that in case he could not
obey the instructions of the Legislature, he would resign. In
1841, the Maine Legislature, being Whig in politics, passed res-
olutions referring to Mr. Williams's pledge, and instructing him,
in general terms, to vote for Whig measures or resign. Mr.
Williams presented these resolutions to the Senate, and in a
speech, distinguished for its clearness of statement and logical
precision, laid down the true rule as to instructions, and declared
his readiness to vote for any specific measure required of him,
or resign ; but he failed to find anything in the resolutions
sufficiently definite to act upon. This ended the matter of in-
structions, for no attempt to instruct him on any particular
question or measure was afterward made, and his exposition
may be fairly regarded as the admitted doctrine on that oft-
mooted question of former times.

In retiring from the Senate, Mr. Williams left it with the
cordial good-will of all its members. A distinguished con-
temporary, speaking to us of his Senatorial career, uses the fol-
lowing language : —

" I knew Mr. Williams well whilst he and I were together mem-
bers of the United States Senate. It was then composed of some
of the greatest minds that ever adorned that or any other legisla-
tive body. Clay, Webster and Calhoun were conspicuous in that
bright galaxy of talent by which they were surrounded. Mr. Wil-
liams held a rank and standing of which his constituents and
friends might well be proud. He was a member of some of the
most important committees, and discharged his duties with great
ability. He investigated a subject thoroughly, and in discussing
it was always listened to with profound attention.

'^ He was decided in his political views, but mild and amiable in

HON. BEUBL WILLIAMS. 363

presenting them. He commanded the respect of all parties, and no
man's opinions had greater weight than his on any question hefore
the Senate, when he was known to have brought to bear upon it
his great talent for investigation.

" In his private intercourse he was esteemed and respected bj
all. His political opinions were always so presented as to produce
no acerbity of feeling on the part of political opponents. He was
unobtrusive in his manners, conciliating in his general deportment,
and never failed to command the good opinion of those with whom
his personal or business intercourse brought him into contact."

Those only can have realized the true greatness of Mr. Wil-
liams, so quietly and unostentatiously did he move among his
fellow-men, who saw him in contact with other great men, at
the Bar, or in the Senate of the United States. Here he was
the peer of the greatest One of the last, if not the very last
cause he argued in Court, out of his county, was the celebrated
case of Yeazie versus Wadleigh, touching certain water and
shore rights at Oldtown, on the Penobscot, before the Supreme
Court at Bangor, in the fall of 1834, where, as counsel for
Wadleigh and Purinton, he argued their cause with ability and
success. He was of counsel for these parties in the subsequent
trial before Judge Story, in the Circuit Court of the United
States at Wiscasset, with Daniel Webster, Judge Shepley,
Jonathan P. Eogers and the writer of this memoir. On the
other side, Jeremiah Mason, Frederic Allen, and W. P. Fessen-
den appeared as counsel. The case involved important interests,
and excited great attention. More time was occupied in the
few days that this case was before the Court, in the consulta-
tions of counsel, than in the court-room. In these consultations,
the most noticeable &ct of all was the extraordinary deference
which Mr. Webster paid to Mr. Williams. Although one year
older than Mr. Williams, and at that time in the full flush of

364 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

success and in the zenith of his power as master of eloquence
and argument, he deferred to Mr. Williams's opinions or sugges-
tions as to a superior, although, by long and careful investiga-
tion and preparation, as fully conversant with all the facts, and
the law of the case. This high estimate of Mr. Williams, Mr.
Webster always retained, amid all their open conflicts, and their
subsequent collisions in public life, growing out of the North-
eastern Boundary Dispute and the party contests of the time.

One who knew him long and well says : —

'* He had a remarkably clear insight into character. Sometimes
he withheld his confidence, where apparently it might safely have
been given; but subsequent events rarely failed to show that what
was attributed to prejudice was due only to foresight. Frank,
honorable, and upright himself, he scorned indirection and trickery
in another ; never idle, and always truthful, he despised a sluggard,
and detested a liar. His temperament was remarkably calm and
equable. In the ups and downs of a long and busy life, he was
rarely elated by gains or depressed by losses. He seemed to view
the result of whatever he had deliberately undertaken with a philo-
sophical indifference."

Mr. Williams's superiority in public life was seen in his
elevation of purpose and freedom from all inferior or unworthy
motives. He never considered the effect of his vote, or of a
measure under consideration, upon his party or upon himself.
He had no anxiety to shape his policy to suit an existing preju-
dice, or to satisfy an unreasonable demand. He had no aspira-
tions for a higher place, and no desire to retain his seat in the
Senate beyond the time when he felt he had accomplished there
what good it was possible for him to achieve. As he entered
the Senate at a time when the most fearful and gloomy appre-
hensions overspread the nation, amid financial embarrassments
consequent on unwise tariffs ; with commercial credit at its

HON. REUEL WILLIAMS, 365

lowest point, and the insane cry against the introduction of
foreign capital echoed far and wide by the leaders of the Demo-
cratic party ; he knew that the only mode of sustaining public
credit was by the enactment of a Protective Tariff; and the only
method of giving value to property and diffusing prosperity
among the people, was by allowing unfortunate debtors to go
free under a General Bankrupt law, while proper encouragement
was given to home industry. He remained in Congress to vote
for these measures, in opposition to the popular feeling of his
party, and he boldly stood up for what he thought was right,
regardless of the clamor of the shallow politicians of the hour.
He left the Senate after these measures were consummated, with
the consciousness and the conviction that his duties in that field
of labor hsd been faithfully and fully performed.

The example of Mr. Williams, at a period when the possession
of a place was used as a mere stepping-stone to another and a
higher one, deserves to be held up for admiration in contrast
with the prevailing tendency of the times. No one, or scarcely
one, could be found in office, contented with the discharge of
its duties ; and we trace to this cause our political troubles, the
derangements of the currency, the slavery agitation, the repeal
of the Missouri Compromise, and its consequent evils culminat-
ing in the present civil war.

It will not be thought out of place to refer, in this connec-
tion, as in striking contrast to Mr. Williams's example, to a
contemporary statesman a few months his senior, who departed
this life only a few hours before Mr. Williams, and who, having
passed through all the gradations of public honors and offices
— Governor of the Empire State, Senator in Congress, Secretary
of State, Minister to the Court of St James, Vice-President, and
finally, President of the United States, left on record by his
will, dated January 18, 1860, this memorable confession :

366 MEMOIRS AKD BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

" I, Martin Van Buren, of the town of Kinderhook, County of
Columbia, and State of New York, heretofore Governor of the
State, and more recently President of the United States, but for
the last and happiest year of my life a farmer , in my native
town, do make and declare the following to be my last will and
testament," &c.

The fact of Van Buren's election to the Presidency gave him
no real satisfaction, for his joy was turned to sadness, and his
cup of happiness poisoned by subsequent defeats ; and never
did he find so much satisfaction as in the quiet of rural pursuits.
If we recall the history of other of Mr. Williams's contempora-
ries in the Senate — Clay, Webster, Calhoun, Cass and Benton,
leaders in those days who never reached the Presidency ; or
Pierce and Buchanan who did — we shall be struck with the
singular infelicity of their political career, from disappointments
like those of Van Buren, or worse results than defeat

We esteem it fortunate that an example like that of Mr.
Williams remains to us, that no feeling of unsatisfied political
ambition disquieted his subsequent life, and that he had the
good sense and self-respect to decUne a seat in the Cabinet, vir-
tually proffered him, for which, by his great experience on the
Committee on Naval Affairs in the Senate and his admirable
executive ability, he was so preeminently qualified. But
greater than all was the value of his example, in the healthful-
ness of its tone, in his freedom from those " infirmities of genius "
that regard imprudence in personal habits, extravagance, and
debauchery as the necessary conditions of public life. It was
the fault of the time to regard politicians as necessarily heed-
less and improvident, and that for them there must be pensions
and subscriptions, as if such men were not expected to foresee
the consequences of their own weakness and folly. Mr. Wil-
liams saw all this in its true light, — ^that the only true basis of

HON. BEUEL WILLIAMS. 367

political power and influence was a lofty independence that
scorned alike the thought that a pension was a mark of honor,
or that his party had any right to treat him as a hireling and a
mendicant. Simple in his habits, generous in his mode of
living, he made no concessions of his personal independence to
any of the arbitrary and capricious demands of fashion or of
party, and pursued the even tenor of his way, not only in the
Senate, but in all his private walks to the close of his earthly
career. His whole life in business, in the family circle, and in
public station, seemed, in a measure, mechanical, — ^like a well-
ordered machine, where each part, obeying its organic law, in
subordination to a higher principle, ran on, with an unvarying
and steady movement, till it fulfilled its mission, and the fine
frame that held the informing spirit ceased to move.

At the ripe age of sixty, in the full strength of his intellectual
and physical powers, without any unsatisfied desire, he resigned
his seat in the Senate, with two years more of his term before
him, in the full expectation of retiring altogether from public
service. But new labors awaited him. The country rapidly
recovered from its six years of exhaustion — from 1836 to 1842
— ^under the influence of the Tariff of 1842, and in 1844 the
spirit of improvement reached Maine, and her people began to
entertain the subject of railroads. The drain on its population
consequent on the building of railways and factories in Massa-
chusetts and elsewhere, with the tendency to emigrate West,
had begun to draw upon the strength of the State, and to excite
alarm ; and it was seen and felt that, in spite of the limited
amount of our realized capital, Maine must embark in these im-
provements or fall behind in the race.

Mr. Williams looked u^on these movements as premature ;
and in the winter of 1843-4, when the project of a railway
from Portland to Bath was acted on, he took very little if any

368 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

interest in it. In the western portion of the State, an intense
and bitter hostility to railways had been engendered, by the
course adopted in the construction of a line into Portland by
parties residing out of the State, in extension of the line from
Boston. This feeling had full sway in the Legislature of 1844,
and no satisfactory charter could be obtained. Legislation of
the most hostile character against existing lines of railway was
carried through, in sympathy with the feeling in New Hamp-
shire. The railway question had been made a political party
question, the Whigs favoring, and the Democratic party oppos-
ing. Mr. Williams had no sympathy with this party feeling,
but he knew the expensive character of railways, and saw no
means adequate to their immediate construction, and that their
first effect would be to carry off business from the State.

In the autumn of 1844, when the plan of a railway from
Montreal to the Atlantic was proposed, the design was to have
two outlets — one to reach the ocean at Portland, and the other,
embranching in the Androscoggin Valley at Kumford or Bethel,
to extend to Augusta, and from thence to Bangor eastward, and
to Bath.

The people of Portland promptly fell into the support of the
project ; those of Augusta disregarded the proposal The
Montreal Eailway project took immediate possession of the
public mind of the State. The " Eastern Argus," the leading
organ of the Democratic party, took the strongest ground in its
support, and its conductors made no secret of their design to
throw party overboard on the railway question, and, if need be,
break down their party in the State on it, ftither than longer
forego the advantages of railroads.

The result was not long doubtful The leaders of both parties
vied with each other in their zeal for railways ; and by a single
stride, with scarcely any opposition, Maine changed front on

HON. BBT7EL WILLIAMS. 369

the railway question, and adopted the most liberal policy of
any State in the Union. This unanimity of sentiment was
Maine's chief capital ; and thinking men foresaw the result, in
the sure accomplishment of the greatest public work of the
day, taking into account its international character, and its in-
fluence on the course of trade and of public opinion. The
geographical and commercial importance of Maine was in a
measure realized by the more intelligent of its people.

The putting of this project into execution led to the adoption
of another — the extension of a line in connection with the
Montreal Bailroad to Bangor and the East The development
of this plan roused the lower Kennebec, and her people came
forward with a renewal of their project — a line of railway from
Portland to Augusta, with a branch to Bath.

These rival movements aroused the whole State, including
Mr. Williams, who, from his great wealth, known' sagacity and
public spirit, was necessarily to become a leader in them. Yet
he held back rather than pressed forward at the start. But
events moved rapidly. An effort to unite all interests in the
State, by swinging the Trunk line to Montreal as far east as
Lewiston, an extension thence to Grardiner and up the Kennebec
Biver, with a branch to Brunswick and Bath, failed of success^
from the unwillingness of Mr. Williams and his associates to
desert the line of policy tmfortunately agreed on with the
leading citizens of Bath and Brunswick.

Two rival schemes went forward, soon involving a war of the
gauges, for the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Bailroad Company
and the Androscoggin and Kennebec Bailroad Company adopted
an independent gauge of five and a half feet, upon the fullest
consideration of its advantages, while the Kennebec and Port-
land Bailroad Company adhered to the plan of a narrow-gauge
line, in view of a connection with the line of railway to Boston.

34

J

370 MEMOIRS Am) BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

From the autumn of 1846, the war of rival interests was
fiercely waged, subordinating nearly aU, if not every other pub-
lic question in the State to this, till, on the completion of the
" Back Boute " to Waterville, in advance of the construction of
the narrow-gauge line to Augusta, Mr. Williams frankly admit-
ted their great error. He entered the Legislature in 1848, as
the Eepresentative from Augusta, and endeavored to break the
chain of charters that held in check all extension of railways
above Augusta, in connection with the narrow-gauge, but in
this he was for the time defeated. He had not over-estimated
his own power, so much as he had undervalued the strength of
his opponents. He saw clearly the disastrous consequences to
his own fortune of the policy of rival lines, and he frankly in-
quired for conditions of peace. Those agreed on were, an aban-
donment of any purpose to extend a rival line on the narrow-
gauge to Bangor, and the unanimous support of a broad-gauge
line from Waterville east, with suitable arrangements for con-
nection at the point of crossing of the narrow-gauge line from
Augusta up the Kennebec Kiver.

This arrangement, on his part, was faithfully observed and
kept ; the restriction on the right to extend a line from Augusta
up the Kennebec Eiver was taken off, and the broad-gauge line
was extended from Waterville, in connection with the Andros-
coggin and Kennebec Bailroad, to Bangor.

Mr. Williams took great interest in the project of the railway
from Bangor to St. John and Halifax, attended the celebration
at the breaking of ground on the European and North Ameri-
can Eailway, at St John, was a Director in the Maine corpora-
tion, and a party to the provisional contract for the construction
of the line through Maine, by Jackson and Betts, which fell
through from a failure to secure the necessary legislation in
Maine, on account of the opposition of parties interested in the

HON. REUEL WILLIAMS. 371

contract for building the line from Waterville to Bangor. The
Crimean War soon after followed, and the people of Bangor
discovered, when it was too late, their error in not allowing the
granting of a charter, adequate to the requirements of the en-
terprise. But for this short-sightedness, the entire capital for
the line from Waterville to Halifax would have been provided,
before the European war of 1853-4 had disturbed the money
market of England.

This railway war, in our State, has been the prolific cause of
disaster to many a private fortune, and embittered, for the time,
some sections against others. But such is the peculiar config-
uration of the State, and so great was the isolation from each
other of the various sections before the advent of railways, that,
from want of unity in purpose and plan, it may fairly be doubted
if a single line could so soon have gone forward and been ex-
tended to Bangor, or to the Kennebec, but for this rivalry.
The public, as a whole, were the gainers, but there was a pain-
ful loss entailed on the original stockholders and bondholders.
Of this class Mr. Williams was the largest loser. He invested
of his own fortune more than three hundred thousand dollars,
and sacrificed more than two-thirds of that sum in this railroad,
to say nothing of the indirect losses that followed, and the de-
votion of more than fifteen years of his life. But when the
sacrifice had been made, he looked philosophically at the result,
and said : " I do not, on the whole, regret it. I doubt if my
time and money could have accomplished so much good in any
other way." Some things had stung him deeply ; such as the
repudiation of original liability, pleaded by way of defence, on
a suit on coupons, upon certain city bonds which had been
issued to aid the construction of the Kennebec and Portland
Bailroad, of which he was the President ; as if the plea of pay-
ment was not sufficient, or all that an honorable defence would

372 MEMOIKS AND BIOGBAPHICAL SKETCHES.

justify. He also felt the injustice of the refusal, by his asso-
ciates, of that support which they had promised him in the
hour of the greatest pecuniary difficulties of the Eailroad Com-
pany, in case he gave out his own personal obligations, to avoid
the sacrifice impending over it. But he was too much a man of
the world to make private griefs public, and suffered in silence
the consequences of his own generosity and public spirit.

It is true Mr. Williams had, of necessity, kept a show of
courage amid the difficulties that surrounded the construction
of so expensive a line of railroad, or its ruin would have been
inevitable. But he refused to desert his post, or take any ad-
vantage to himself. He relied upon that good faith and that
sense of honor which he himself respected, and saw, in his old
age, the dropping out, one after another, of those on whose good
faith he had relied for agreed contributions towards his ad-
vances, with the same sort of feeling as one looks at the follies
of youth, " more in sorrow than in anger." Wearied with the
delays of the Court in deciding controverted points, he made
the best terms he could by amicable adjustment of his claims,
and philosophically gave his thoughts to other matters. Other
men contributed Uberally, some perhaps as freely as himself, in
proportion to their means, but it is not hazarding anything to
say that, but for Mr. Williams, the railroad could not so soon,
if ever, have been built to Augusta.

No man in our State, or in New England, ever passed
through such a trial of strength, both of character and fortune,
as Mr. Williams suffered for fifteen years, from the time of the
inception of the railroad enterprise till he closed his connection
with it in 1861. His hitherto unconquered will regarded no
labor too arduous, no effort of mind too great, no sacrifice of
private fortune too large, for the successful accomplishment of
what he deemed a necessary public work ; while he, at the saime

HON. EEUEL WILLIAMS. 373

time, realized what all men of true public spirit and of generous
natures know, that, for any great work done for the public, the
only present reward will be the ill-will of the sluggish, the envy
of the narrow-minded, and the hatred of all those most benefited
by his labors.

But death robs envy of its sting, and a wiser appreciation of
the value to themselves of the labor of another gradually eradi-
cates the hatred of compeers and competitors. De Witt Clinton
was deprived of his oflfice as Canal Commissioner, the emolu-
ments of which were esteemed by him as a means of support of
a large family, as he declined to profit from public employment ;
but a returning sense of justice has made his name renowned
and honored everywhere.

Having closed an agreement for the sale of his interest in the
railroad, in September, 1861, Mr. Willams again became free
of public cares. But new duties still awaited him. In the
month of October following, though then in the seventy-eighth
year of his age, he yielded to the earnest solicitation of Governor
Washburn, and accepted the appointment of Commissioner of
Maine to Washington, in response to the invitation of the
United States Government, to inaugurate a system of defences
for the loyal States. This Commission was dated the twenty-
third of October, 1861, and on the first of November, Mr. Wil-
liams reached Washington in the discharge of its duties — ^his
first visit since his resignation of the office of Senator, eighteen
years before. One only of the old employes of the Senate of
his time remained. Asbury Dickens, Secretary of the Senate,
had, a few months before, at the age of ninety-four, been
gathered to his fathers, and the Senate Chamber of 1843 had
been assigned to the Supreme Court, and new halls, with ample
apartments, were now occupied by the Senate and the House.
Elisha Whittlesey, the upright First Comptroller of the Treas-

374 MEMOIRS Am) BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

ury, of the same age with himself, was discharging, with his
accustomed vigor, the duties of his ofi&ce. But he, too, has
recently heen called away at the summons of death. A few
men of other days remained of those in office when Mr. Williams
left public life. But it was a pleasing sight to witness the
deference everywhere paid him, for no man ever left Washington
with a purer reputation.

Mr. Williams grew impatient, at times, at the delays conse-
quent on the absence of the public officials, but remained some
weeks, until an agreement was made with the Administration
that it would enter at once upon the defence of the State, and
accept the money needed therefor from the State Treasury, on
the issue to it, in return, of twenty years six per cent bonds.

On the receipt of the official note of the Secretary of War,
setting forth the terms %i the arrangement, Mr. Williams left
for Maine. But, before his departure, he joined in an applica-
tion to the Secretary of War for the putting in progress the
work on the fort at the mouth of the Kennebec, and another
for giving it the name it now bears, both of which were suc-
cessful.

This was the close of his public life. Up to this time, no one
could perceive any diminution of his powers of mind, and
scarcely any abatement of his physical activity, except a slight
defect in hearing and a more measured gait. At Washington,
he visited all the public places and military parades, regardless of
the weather ; climbed all the staircases and galleries of the new
Capitol, the Insane Hospital and the various public offices, with
apparent ease; and he received and returned calls from his
numerous friends of other days.

He had urged, as an objection to his acceptance of this Com-
mission from Grovemor Washburn, the fact of his age, and his
imwillingness to take a place calling for active service that

HON. REUEL WILLIAMS. 375

could be better performed by another and younger man. But
on learning fuUy Governor Washburn's poUcy. and perceiving
how deeply he felt the necessity of his acceptance of that trust,
he yielded his objections ; for he realized the importance of the
occasion, and the value of the opportunity afforded by this in-
vitation of the President for establishing the claims of Maine
upon the General Government, and of initiating a policy for the
State.

It proved what Governor Washburn intimated to him might
possibly turn out to be the case, — " his last public service, the
graceful rounding oJQT of a long life of public usefulness and
duty." The complete success of the Commission, and the
unanimity with which the Legislature of Maine adopted and
followed out the policy of Governor Washburn,* was to Mr.
Waiiams a grateful and satisfactory reward. He regarded the
policy thus entered upon as destined to final and full success,
requiring only the persistent efforts of the State Government to
this end.

Eetuming from Washington in November, 1861, he was taken
down with a severe attack of catarrhal fever, probably aggra-
vated, if not induced, by the excitements and exposures of his
long journey. For some time his recovery seemed doubtful
But his iron frame withstood the attack, and after some months
of confinement he regained sufficient strength to attend to busi-
ness,— a new call being made upon him to rebuild, on the site
of his former office, an elegant and more valuable block of
stores, in place of one swept away by fire. He went into this
work with his accustomed energy. He carried out, too, in June,
1862, his purpose of a business visit to Boston. On his return
from Boston, on the fourth of July, lus friends were, for the first
time, admonished of his failing strength. He soon perceived
this himself, and said : — '' I do not get any stronger ; and I do

376 MEMOIBS AND BIOGRAFHIOAL SKETCHES.

not know as I desire to.** But a day before his death, though
confined to his house, he seemed so well that his son went to
Portland on business, not deeming him so near his end.

On the twenty-fourth of July he sank rapidly, and was fully
conscious of the approach of death. Observing his only brother
near him, he quietly said, " You have come to see the last of me,
Daniel ; we may as well take leave of each other now," and
they shook hands.

To his grand-daughter, who was in the room at eleven o'clock
in the evening, and of whom he was very fond, he said, " You
had better go to bed, Anna," and he kissed her and sent her
away.

Calm and unruffled, as in the days of his manly strength, he
cheerfully awaited the summons of death with the dignity of a
philosopher and the meekness of a Christian. At one o'clock
on the morning of Friday, July 25th, 1862, the life of Beuel
Williams on earth was no more.

In this hurried and imperfect sketch of the more saUent
features of Mr. Williams's career, doubtless many things are
omitted which might have been appropriately referred to, had
the duty fallen on the writer of it in season for a f uUer prepara-
tion, or at a time when his thoughts could have been uninter-
ruptedly given to it. A sense of obligation to the illustrious
deceased, and a vivid appreciation of the eminence of his virtues
and the greatness of his character, alone justified this effort to
place in the archives of our Society some facts calculated to
perpetuate his memory. The task should have fallen on one
nearer his own age, more familiar with his early life, and better
fitted by habits of study, and as a writer, to do justice to so
noble a man.

Numerous, varied, and invaluable as were Mr. Williams's

HON. REUEL WILLIAMS. 377

public labors, they were far less deserving of praise than his
private life. Public employment sometimes destroys or unfits
one for the duties of a good citizen, often the most trying of alL
Mr. Williams's public and professional labors did not withdraw
his attention from the ordinary duties of daily life as a citizen,
a neighbor, and a friend. The care of schools, the education of
the young, the opening of highways, the establishment of lines
of communication by means of stage-coaches and of steamboats,
before the advent of railways, were among the matters carefully
looked after by him, as well as the building of churches, hotels,
and other public edifices. He -was an advocate, and an ex-
emplar, too, of the doctrine of " encouragement to home indus-
try," in the building of foundries, factories, and other works for
employing labor and capitaL He was the chief promoter, if not
the original projector, of that noble line of stages between
Augusta and Bangor, which had no superior in the United
States. He had a large interest in the Augusta Dam, built in
1837. Though slow to come into the plan of building it,— dis-
trustful, inasmuch as it had, at its inception, no secure ledge
foundation, — ^after it was once entered upon, he gave to it his
generous support, ^nd finally the whole rested on his shoulders.
When this dam was carried away in 1839, creating so much
consternation and alarm, he alone, of all the people of the city,
was calm and unruffled. An eminent lawyer of Ms own age,
speaking of him, says : " His firmness and immovability were
strongly tested in disaster as well as in success ; the reminiscent
saw him, immediately after the destruction of the Kennebec
Dam at Augusta ; when every one else seemed excited and agi-
tated, he alone was calm and tranquil."

Subsequently, when the ledge revealed itself on the western
shore of the river, Mr. Williams's confidence in the dam was
established. Valuable investments in the shape of factories and

378 MEMOntS AND BIOGRAPmOAL SKETCHES.

workshops are now planted there, in which he was largely in-
terested.

It has been shown by a recent writer that great vital power
is essential to eminent success ; that no man has reached the
highest attainments in science, art, law, politics, or arms, without
extraordinary vital force. Without this organic power, no one
can sustain that intense, long-continued application, that is
essential to the mastery of the more difficult problems in abstract
science, or the practical solution of the novel questions that
arise in public aJQTairs.

Mr. Williams, no doubt, owed much of his success to his
naturally fine, physical organization. Not large, or much above
the average of men in physical stature, he had a close-knit,
compact, sturdy, muscular frame!* The labors of early life
strengthened his bodily powers, which his cheerful temper,
upright life and industrious habits, kept free of all excesses, so
that he never wasted his life physically, nor his mind by any
indolence or neglect, while his moral sense had all the instinct-
ive quickness of a sensitive nature, rendered active by watchful
practice ; so that he had in early life the most extraordinary
self-reliance and self-control, and he seemed to those who knew
him far older than his years, and almost too precise and method-
ical for a man of ordinary impulses.

A striking trait in Mr. Williams's character was a habit of
early rising, commenced in boyhood, and continued through
life. He was always prompt at his post, whether at school, in
his office, or other position. He invariably took the earliest
hours of the morning for the performance of labor, and was
thus enabled to accomplish more than others. By systematic
use of time, he achieved more, in the fruits of labor, than any
one known to me. He could sustain the most exhausting in-
tellectual effort without apparent fatigue. He had extraordinary

HON. REUEL WILLIAMS. 379

powers of abstraction, so that he could give his mind fully to
the investigation of any required subject, withdrawing his
thoughts from other topics, till he mastered all its details of
fact and comprehended the principles involved ; and then turn
his mind upon another matter equally difficult, without any
confusion of ideas or loss of perceptive power. When his mind
had been called to examine a question, he held on to it till he
saw all its bearings and relations clearly and distinctly, and his
mind never wavered or hesitated as to its conclusions. These
traits were early developed, and by this means he could readily
dispose of a vast number of difficult questions, which ordinarily
would embarrass and perplex men of less clearness of percep-
tion and less strength of purpose.

But his great peculiarity was a habit of system and order.
He did one thing at a time, and finished it before he allowed
his mind to be distracted by other matters. It was this habit,
readily acquired and formed in early life, that enabled him to
accomplish so much, with such uniform success. He was an
accurate copyist in boyhood, a sagacious business man on his
entrance into the legal profession, a wise counsellor in the more
difficult cases that arise in practice, an apt conveyancer and
draughtsman — ^remarkable for the terse brevity of his legal
instruments — a skillful pleader in the days of technical practice,
and an efifective and successful advocate. To the jury and
before the court his arguments were able, logical and exhaustive.

This habit of doing a thing thoroughly and at the first, and
80 arranging all his books and papers as to lose no time in a
confused search for what he wanted, made him the remarkable
business man that he continued to be through life. He never
allowed himself to add a column of figures a second time,
and never found himself, or was found by others, to be mistaken.

To all who knew him well Mr. Williams's domestic life was

380 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

the most charming theatre of his virtues; for amid all the
activity of business, and the calls on his time in the public
service, he never neglected his own fireside, or forgot his parental
duties. Not his own children and household alone, but the
large family circle of which he became the recognized and
honored head, felt his influence, and the power of his teachings.
His own self-denying example, his even temper, his affable
manners, his fidelity to duty in all the minute details of daily
life, his readiness to aid those who were disposed to help them-
selves, and his silent but stem rebuke of all levity and extrava-
gance, exerted a powerful effect on all, especially on the young,
who came within the reach of his influence. His brothers and
sisters, his nephews and nieces alike, consulted him and leaned
on his advice with affectionate veneration and regard. He
threw himself into the sports of children with the same zest as
into business, always excelling in any of them. He was very
fond of children and young persons, and. yearly or oftener, as
occasion favored, even in his latest years, he would get an
omnibus, and, filling it with children, grand-children, and friends,
go off to Togus, or elsewhere, on a strawberry party, or on some
expedition of pleasure. He was also very fond of fishing, and,

«

when practicable, would give up his birthday, with a week's
time, to this sport.

Notwithstanding his naturally reserved manner and demeanor
to strangers, or those whose character he did not respect, he was
as mild and gentle as a child in disposition, and most cordial
and winning to those who appreciated his true character.

His professional life, as such, gave him no great opportunity
for wide notoriety or distinction out of his State, and probably
he had less pride in his profession merely as a profession, than
most men of his time of far less ability. His great success in
the early acquisition of an ample fortune through his own un-

HON. BETJEL WILLIAMS. 381

aided exertions, his large acquaintance with the leading men of
Massachusetts of that day, his annual visits of some weeks to
Boston, where he met, in the familiarity of friendship, the best
educated and most accomplished gentlemen of that city, seemed
to satisfy his ambition, without effort for public notoriety. But
he was widely known, in comparatively early life, as a man of
high promise ; while his entire self-possession, ease of manner,
and self-reliance, early led to his recognition as a perfect gentle-
man, though he never assumed to be one. His accurate knowl-
edge, clear judgment, unquestioned integrity, admirable busi-
ness qualities, and well-known success, inspired general confi-
dence at home and abroad, and gave him vast influence over
the people of the community where he dwelt; and his singular
freedom from all vanity, display, or affectation of superiority,
disarmed the natural jealousy evinced toward prominent men ;
and he was popular beyond example, for one possessing his
positive qualities. It may be doubted if any man can be
named who had in so great a degree, for so long a lifetime, re-
tained so fuUy the unqualified confidence of the entire commu-
nity in which he lived. He enjoyed, too, in an equal degree,
the confidence and good-will of his brethren of the legal pro-
fession,— the highest aim and end of a lawyer^s life.

Everything that Mr. Williams said or did, in public or pri-
vate, was the result of conviction. He was sincere in thought
and in act He did nothing for effect, nothing to excite atten-
tion or draw forth observation and remark. His desire was to
do his duty, to fulfill with scrupulous exactness every obligation,
whether arising from his own act or undertaking, or resulting
from that of others, in all the varied relations of life, whether
in the family circle, the neighborhood, the community, or the
world at large. He had an abiding faith in his own judgment,
for he sought to form^it by the pursuit and observance of every

382 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

honorable method to gain information, with the most conscien-
tious desire to reach the exact measure of justice to others.

It may be proper to say something m to his religious belief.
Educated in the Congregational order of early days, before its
division into Orthodox and Unitarian sects, he afterwards be-
came a member of the latter, and was a liberal supporter of that
denomination. In May, 1853, in the Unitarian Church, occu-
pied for the time by the Eev. Bobert C. Waterston, of Boston,
Mr. Williams was publicly baptized. This event following soon
after the death of his son-in-law, the Eev. Mr. Judd, a man of
rare genius and of deep religious feeling, for many years pastor
of that church, shows the influence that had gradually led him
to make a public confession of his faith.

To extraordinary energy, Mr. Williams united a large share
of conmion sense. He had a well-balanced mind, with excel-
lent judgment, without any brilliant qualities of any sort.
These gave him great success. His influence with the jury was
most remarkable, from the confidence felt in Ins sincerity and
the truth of his statements. He had the power of presenting
such arguments and reasonings as would satisfy the common
sense and ordinary understandings of men. His sense of justice
was always predominant In testifying to facts affecting his
own interests, no one could fail to see his exact regard for
truth, and his anxious desire to give full force to facts adverse
to his own side of the case. Instances of this sort are abundant
and familiar to our courts and lawyers.

He had no sympathy with persons infirm of purpose, or defi-
cient in energy and courage. He felt that success in this world
was open to all men alike, and he had no patience with a spend-
thrift or a sluggard, though ready to help the unfortunate and
the deserving.

HON. REUEL WILLIAMS. 383

A form of beneficence practiced by Mr. Williams, most valued
and most valuable, was the encouragement he gave to the
industrious and deserving, who had been fortunate enough to
gain his good will, giving them means of acquiring independence
by the judicious loan of his capital, in the form of permanent
rents at low rates, or advances made in view of contemplated
success in business. The proprieties of private confidence forbid
more than an allusion to this noble trait of Mr. Williams's
character.

Trained in the severest discipline in the daily duties of early
life, instinctively fond of order and method, he enjoyed to the
last the labors of business, the watchfulness of parental over-
sight and the care of his own property. In private, as in public
life, he was faithful and faultless ; as a legislator, cautious and
conservative. He had an instinctive regard for the common
law, and dreaded the innovations of sentimental theorists. All
changes of the law of descent, and the separation of the property
of husband and wife, he spoke of with disfavor, as tending to
disturb domestic tranquillity; and he regarded the sacredness of
pecuniary obligation as essential to the maintenance of good
morals.

But he never took advantage of the misfortunes, the weak-
nesses, or the mistakes of others. He never exacted a harsh
penalty, or claimed a forfeiture against an unfortunate or im-
prudent debtor, or took unlawful interest of others. His
fortune was largely due to sagacious investments in lands, at
an early day, but moite to his systematic industry and the
gradual accumulations of a long life of patient and productive
toil

Though occupied by so many and such multiform cares of
private and public business, he had abundant leisure for the

384 KEMOIRS AKD BIOGRAPHICAL BKETCHSa

gratification of eveiy wish, for he so arranged his business
matters that they never encroached upon one another.

Many acts of charity on the part of Mr. Williams were so
performed as to leave no feeling. of mortification in the recipi-
ents of his generosity; and he was ever careful to avoid all acts
that might in any way needlessly wound the pride of those less
fortunate than himself in the acquisition of wealtL His sense
of justice was the mainspring of his conduct, and he followed
the dictates of his judgment far more than any impulses of
feeling.

If we were called upon to determine in what aspect of his
life his example was of most value, we should say in the prac-
tical solution of that greatest social problem of this age, — ^the
proper uses of wealth, — a. question especially interesting to
Americans, from the comparative ease with which it is obtained,
and the laxity of morals which seems naturally to follow its
possession. For distinguished position or great wealth, un-
accompanied by that refinement and culture which insure their
direction to noble ends, is a positive evil to the possessor, as
well as to society at large ; and the man who has wealth with-
out generosity and public virtue, is an incumbrance if not a
nuisance in society. To treat with respect the opinions or the
memory of a man who has money, for that alone, but who fails
to fulfill the arduous and self-Klenying trusts which wealth
always and necessarily imposes, indicates a debasement in morals
as offensive as the worship of idols, or other practices that place
savage below civilized life. In any proper estimate of a man's
character, we must award praise or blame by that impartial
estimate that future times will recognize as the true one — the
amount of good or ill he has accomplished for humanity and
his race. Any standard of virtue drawn from a more limited
view of its nature than its adaptation to the general laws of

HON. REUBL WILLIAMS. 385

our well-being, would be unworthy of our assent ; and we esti-
mate a man's greatness in proportion to the conformity of his
life to these principles.

Upon any view of life, therefore, judging by the lowest
standard of virtue, few men are fortunate within the definition
of the uninspired Greek moralist, and still smaller the number
of those worthy of remembrance after death. Domestic infe-
licity, infirmity of body, a lack of the means of enjoyment in
early life of the aspirations of youthful ambition, the want of
opportunity to fall bravely in battle for one's country, or, by
some honorable sacrifice, win an honored name in death, are the
common allotments of humanity. It is only those whose life
has developed the persistent, self-denying principles of virtue,
that future ages can worthily honor.

As Mr. Williams recedes from the immediate view of his
contemporaries, his character will loom up to the eye of those
who come after us, and assume its true proportions among
his compeers. Men of more brilliant talent — in the popular
language of the day — or even more developed in a single quality
of mind, were around him, in the Senate and in our own State*
Others had more attainments in knowledge derived from books,
others still had more powers of oratorical fascination than he
ever put forth in action. But it is in vain to seek among them
all for one who united, in so eminent a degree, all the true
elements of manhood with so few defects ; who illustrated the
self-denying virtue of patient forbearance under trials the most
perplexing, of fidelity to duty under the greatest temptation to
self-aggrandizement, of generous magnanimity under the most
mortifying proofs of ingratitude. With every opportunity for
self-indulgence, he maintained to the last the virtues of an
almost austere simplicity, with the wisest private and public
generosity, realizing the measure of Solon's rule, that he to
whom Divinity continued happiness unto the end we call happy.

25

386 MEMOIBS AND BI06BAPHICAL SKETCHES.

MEMOIR OP

HON. EDWARD EMERSON BOURNE, LL.D.

1797-1873. '

BY HON. EDWIN B. SMITH.

Hepkintbd, bt consent, with additions, fbom thb Hibtoeical akb
Genealogical Reoistes for January, 1874.

The life of a lawyer in active practice is an anxious as well
as an exceedingly busy one. His engagements bring him in
contact with all classes, and with a large proportion of the
individual members of the community in which he lives. Identi-
fied in his own pursuits, either as adviser or as adversary, with
those of his neighbors and fellow-citizens, by his conduct of
their affairs he may acquire no inconsiderable professional
repute among them ; but, as the interests upon which this resls
are local and transitory, his reputation wUl be so too, unless it
be based upon something of wider scope, of more general, public
and permanent concern, than the ordinary contests of the l^al
forum.

He who, in the full possession and exercise of his powers, has
turned aside from occupations so personal in their character as

HON. EDWABD EMERSON BOURNE, LL.D. 887

those of the advocate, to seek a more extended field, and to
explore subjects connected with the early history of the State,
and the lineage of its founders, will obtain a wider and more
enduring recognition of his services, and especially deserves to
have some memorial of his life and labors preserved in the
archives of, a society established for the promotion of such
studies.! Such recognition the subject of this sketch requires at
our hands.

Edward Emerson Bourne was bom March 19, 1797, in that
part of the (then) town of Wells, which was afterward incorpo-
rated by the name of Kennebunk. Here, with inconsiderable
exceptions, his life was passed, and here he died, full of years
and of honors, on Tuesday, the twenty-third day of September,
1873.

He was the second son of John and Elizabeth Bourne. His
mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Perkins, and, at the time
she became the third wife of John Bourne, she was the widow
of Israel Wildes. There had been issue of each of these former
alliances, so that nine children were brought together by the
union of this couple, and six more were the result of their inter-
marriage. John Bourne certainly enjoyed the happiness of him
who " hath his quiver full of them." His first child, by his wife
Elizabeth, was Israel Wildes Bourne, bom December 25, 1795.
** In the days of his (Israel's) infancy," writes Judge Bourne,
" my father had ' nine small children and one at the breast ; '
those of husband and wife, under previous dispensations, having
been adopted and identified as one family." He adds, " We
have no specific account of the ages of the several children of
John Bogers. Yet it is not at all probable he could exhibit such
a rank growth of humanity as was developed under this roof.
Here were ten children, the eldest but nine years of age : olive
plants enough, one would imagine, to give life and cheerfulness

388 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

to any fireside. I cannot imagine any other method of taking
care of and feeding them than that of calling them together and
throwing food into their midst, as we do to a flock of chickens,
or as the Patagonians do to all the members of the household ;
counting them while in the operation, to see that all are safe,
and then, without further trouble, leaving them to take care of
themselves. I am inclined to think this must have been some-
thing like the modus operandi of the daily economy ; for it has
always been an attribute of the nature of these children to love
the out-door atmosphere and all the pastimes which the freedom
of earth provides for the children of men."

Beside the two already named (Israel and Edward), there
were bom to John and Elizabeth Bourne two other sons, Thomas
and George W., and two girls, Julia and Olive. All the sons
are now dead, but the daughters survive : Julia, as the wife of
Henry Kingsbury, Esq., of Kennebunk; and Olive, as the
widow of the late Capt. Ivory Lord, of the same town ; both
well-known and highly esteemed citizens.

These successive marriages of his parents connected Judge
Bourne, more or less remotely, with many of the families of his
native town, and added to his desire and facilities for obtaining
information of its early history. As Judge Bourne remarks, the
size of the family made it impracticable for any one child to
claim any very large portion of parental attention exclusively
to himself, while nothing peculiar in the circumstances demanded
it ; so these boys grew up in the open air, with love of field
sports, and with rugged constitutions which such a life in child-
hood would naturally superinduce. The rod and gun were
familiar to his hands in Judge Bourne's boyhood, and, when he
no longer cared to take the long tramps which indulgence in
these amusements necessitated, even to the last years of his life,
he delighted in sailing and deep-sea fishing, as well as fishing

HON. EDWAED EMERSON BOURNE, LL.D. 389

from the rocks upon the coast, and used to go to a house near
the beach for several weeks of every summer in order to gratify
this taste. His baptismal names were derived from the marriage
of his maternal grandmother, Susanna Perkins, with Edward
Emerson, of York, in 1794, three years before Edward's birth.
In his childhood, he encountered and safely passed the dangers
which threaten every active boy, from accident and disease,
having his hairbreadth 'scapes from the perils of flood and field ;
especially those which were naturally incident to his fondness
for gunpowder. After exhausting the advantages of the local
schools he was sent, in 1811, to the academy in South Berwick,
where he pursued his preparatory studies. He was admitted to
the freshman class of Bowdoin College at the September com-
mencement of the succeeding year, and was graduated from that
institution in due course in 1816, in the class with the late
Eandolph A. L. Codman, a lawyer of Portland, of brilliant but
erratic genius, whom he called " the most eloquent member of
the bar in this State " ; the late John S. Tenney, Chief Justice
of the Supreme Court of Maine ; Ebenezer ShiUaber, of Danvers,
Mass., and Prof. Alpheus S. Packard, of Bowdoin College, now
the sole survivor of this class. Kindred tastes, and associations
connecting them both with their alma mater, have continued
and strengthened during their long lives the friendship between
him and Prof. Packard. Immediately after his graduation, Mr.
Bourne commenced to study law in the oflBce of George W.
WalUngford, in Kennebunk. He prosecuted his studies there
and in the oflBce of Thomas Bigelow, of Philadelphia, till the
October term, 1819, of the Court of Common Pleas for the
County of York, when he was admitted to the bar. Acting,
doubtless, under the same motives which James Sullivan says
actuated him in the choice of locality, to wit, that as he had to
break into the world he could most easily do so in the weakest

/

390 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

place, the incipient attorney directed his steps to the little
town in the County of Kennebec, which, since its first organi-
zation, has been successively known as Freetown, Fairfax,
Lygonia and Albion. It was then called Fairfax, but, for the
time being, is called Albion, unless its fastidious citizens have
lately bestowed upon it some new appellation, not known to
the memorialist. This little town lies about twenty-seven miles
north-east of Augusta, the State capital, away from the line of
any railroad and the channels of business. In 1870 it had less
than fourteen hundred inhabitants, and a total valuation of only
$376,971 ; so it can well be believed that it did not offer a very
attractive field of labor, from a business point of view, in 1819 ;
and it was from such a stand-point that the young man then
looked at it, and became speedily dissatisfied with the prospect
Whatever other attractions the village, lying so near the fertile
valley of the Kennebec, and its citizens might offer, they were
not sufficient to overcome the paramount objection of lack of
employment. Indeed, it would have been strange if the com-
parison between the seaport town of Kennebunk, — ^then one of
the most wealthy and important in the province of Maine,
having considerable foreign and domestic commerce, and such
social and literary refinement as naturally follows abundant
means and extensive intercourse with the world, — and the in-
land, sparsely-populated, agricultural one of Fairfax, was dis-
paraging to the latter in the mind of the youth just entering
into his profession, and regarding the whole world as the oyster
his knife could easily open. Accordingly, Mr. Bourne, after a
very short trial, — constrained to decide quickly by the unex-
pected removal of an old lawyer from the adjoining town of
China to Fairfax between the times of Mr. B.'s first fixing upon
that as his future home, and his actually going there to reside,
—determined to return home, and did so on foot He proposed

HON. BDWABD EMEBSON BOUBNE, LL.D. 391

to open an office in his native town, although there were ahready
three lawyers there, two of whom, — ^Mr. Wallingford, and the
Hon. Joseph Dane, nephew of the Hon. Nathan Dane, whose
name and fame are associated with the '* ordinance of 1787," —
were prominent members of the bar ; but in March, 1820, Maine
became an independent State, and in the organization of its tri-
bunals Jeremiah Bradbury, of York, was appointed Clerk of
Courts for the County of York. Mr. Bradbury accepted the
position, and, to discharge its duties, was compelled to remove
to Alfred, where the courts had been held since the early part of
the present century, and which continues to be the shiretown.
About this same time, another of the York lawyers, Asa Free-
man, moved to Dover, N. H., and the third, Isaac Lyman, died.
These occurrences offered to the youthful aspirant for forensic
honors and emoluments, an advantageous opportunity, of which
he did not hesitate to avaU himself. In October, 1820, he went
to York, occupying the office vacated by Mr. Bradbury. The
situation here was agreeable to him, the town having con-
siderable commercial importai^ce, which the railroads had not
then destroyed, and great social advantages. York was then an
old town (for this new country), having been settled in 1624,
and called Agamenticus, a name still borne by a mountain in
its limits, well known as a landmark to coasting vessels. In
1641, Sir Ferdinando Gojrges endowed it with a city charter, by
the name of Grorgianna, and designated Thomas Grorges as its
first mayor. It was laid out regularly, with provision for the
anticipated rapid increase of population and business ; for which
it possessed the advantages of a commodious harbor for vessels
of the size then built, a river navigable to the village for craft
of 250 tons, and several miles further for those of lesser draught
But the still greater advantages of Portsmouth, N. H. — eight
miles distant — ^in these particulars, robbed York of its pros*

392 MEMOIRS AND BIOGBAPHIGAL SKETCHES.

pective wealth and population, to be carried to the banks of the
Piscataqua. It retained the name and organization given it by
Gorges for more than ten years ; but, in 1653, it was organized
into a town under its present name by the Commissioners ap-
pointed by Massachusetts- Though never attaining the degree
of prosperity and power which Goi^es contemplated it would
possess, the town is still attractive for its scenery and situation,
and for the cultivation of its society.

Mr. Bourne was a citizen of this ancient borough only for a
short time. At the first election of representatives of the new
State in the Seventeenth Congress of the United States, Mr.
Joseph Dane, of Kennebunk, was chosen from his district, and,
by his advice, Mr. Bourne returned once more, toward the close
of that year (1820), to his native village, then no longer a part
of Wells, having been the first town incorporated by the Legis-
lature of Maine and given the name of Kennebunk; but why
or wherefore so designated is a matter of conjecture. It has, at
least, the advantage of novelty, if not of euphony, over the
Salems, Springfields and Washingtons with which pages of our
gazetteers and postal directories are filled. Here Judge Bourne
remained till the day of his death.

He succeeded to the office and business of Mr. Dane, under
an arrangement between them, and had the use of his large
library. Under his auspices a " Literary and Moral Club," or
debating society, had been formed ; so that, by the office busi-
ness and these public disputations, Mr. Bourne improved his
capacity to discharge aU the duties of his profession. Mr.
Bourne was married October 31, 1822, by the Rev. N. H.
Fletcher, to Miss Mary H. Gilpatrick, bom November 1, 1799,
daughter of Mr. Richard Gilpatrick, of Kennebunk, who was
bom November 7, 1753, and died September 15, 1828. This
lady, like her husband, was of a very social, lively, hospitable

HON. EDWAED ^MEKSON BOURNE, LL.D. 393

disposition, though both possessed profound religious convictions
and feelings : faithful to these, and to every call of duty, Mrs.
Bourne was highly esteemed as well as beloved, by her husband
and by the community in which they occupied a conspicuous
position. Never possessing great physical strength, it con-
tinually decreased until she died at her home, March 23, 1852.
Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Bourne: Julia Maria,
bom June 15, 1825, died November 18, 1851 ; Edward Emerson,
bom July 12, 1831, and now living in Kennebunk, engaged in
the practice of law there, in partnership with Joseph Dane,
Esq.; Lizzie Green, bom June 20, 1833, died upon Mt. Wash-
ington, September 14, 1855 ; and Mary Olivia, bom July 6,
1842, died in September, 1843.

As is expected of every young lawyer in a small town, Mr.
Bourne took an active part in the municipal affairs of Kenne-
bunk from the time of his entering upon business there, though
frequently the predominance of adverse opinions excluded him
from official positions. From 1828 to 1833, he was one of the
Selectmen ; and from 1826 to 1831, inclusive, he represented his
town in the State Legislature. The sessions of 1830 and 1831
were stormy and prolific of debate. In the former, Mr. Bourne
was the sole dissentient from the course advised and pursued
by his political associates, and which proved fatal to the party
in this State. The Legislature met then, as now, on the first
Wednesday of January. When this day arrived, A. D. 1830,
Enoch Lincoln, late Governor, had been some time deceased,
dying in oflBce before the close of the preceding year. His .
elected successor, Jonathan 6. Hunton, had not qualified him-
self for the duties of the executive by taking the official oath ;
which, indeed, under the Constitution of Maine, can only be
administered by the President of the Senate, in the presence of
both houses of the Legislature ; hence, it is absolutely necessary

394 MEMOIRS AKD BIOGRAPHICAL SKETOHES.

•

that the Senate be organized before a Grovemor can be sworn
in. In the case of a vacancy in the executive chair, by death,
resignation, or removal, the President of the Senate becomes
Governor, and thereby (the Constitution declares) " his duties
as President shall be suspended and the Senate shall fill the
vacancy till his duties as Grovemor shall cease." On the first
Wednesday of January, 1830, the term of office of the presid-
ing officer of the Senate of 1829 had expired by limitation ;
only the officer chosen to preside over that of 1830 could act as
Grovemor, and it devolved upon him so to act until, in the pres-
ence of both houses, he had administered the qualifying oath
to the Governor-elect. But when the Senate met, January 6,
1830, it was found that but sixteen of the twenty Senators then
composing a full Senate had been elected, a major vote being
requisite to effect a choice; and those elected were equally
divided between the two then existing political parties ! San-
ford Kingsbury, of Kennebec County, was the candidate of
the national republicans for Presidency of the Senate, and
Eobert P. Dunlap, of Cumberland (afterward Grovemor), was
that of the democratic republicans. After balloting a week
unsuccessfully, each candidate receiving the eight votes of his
party, the national republicans made selection of a new candi-
date from the ranks of their opponents, giving the Rev. Joshua
Hall, of Freedom, Senator from Waldo County (a Baptist cler-
gyman, who had interest enough in temporal affairs to secure a
seat in the Senate) their eight votes, which, with his own, cast
in his own favor, elected him. According to the plain lan-
guage of the Constitution, above cited, and the constmction
given it by the Supreme Judicial Court, after elevating himself
to the chair of the Senate, Mr. Hall should have repaired to
the executive chamber and there exercised the duties of Gov-
ernor tiU Grovemor Huntou was qualified. This, of course.

HON. EDWARD EMSBSON BOURNE, LL.D. 395

those who elected him expected he would do; but instead
of this, he persisted in remaining in the Senate Chamber,
presiding there and casting his vote with his party. To fill
the four vacancies, it was necessary to have the two houses
go into joint convention, where the national republican ma-
jority would immediately have filled the Senatorial Board
with the candidates of their own party. Accordingly, the dem-
ocratic Senators, including Mr. Hall, voted against and defeated
every proposition to go into convention, the * nationals ' protest-
ing in vain» against the presence and voting of the man thej
had chosen to preside over the Senate, and who refused to
assume the discharge of gubernatorial duties. If by chance any
democratic Senator were absent, the other seven also retired, so
as to leave no quorum (eleven constituting a quorum), and their
adversaries were powerless to act This dead-lock continued
till the second of February, when, on motion of Mr. Kingsbury,
the eight national Senators voted to go into convention with the
House, filing a protest, to be spread upon the Senate and House
journals, against Mr. Hall's acting and voting, and declaring the
motion to go into convention carried by a clear majority of the
Senators entitled to vote upon it ; and, acting upon this theory,
the eight national Senators met the House that day and filled
the vacancies at the Senatorial Board. This course was adopted
by the national republicans with only one dissentient voice.
Mr. Bourne, though denouncing the conduct of their opponents,
in " blocking the wheels of legislation,'' advised his party asso-
ciates to continue voting and attempting to organize in the usual
manner, resorting to no extraordinary measures, and allow the
people to see who were responsible for the position of affairs.
When the opinion of the Supreme Court was taken, it was to
the effect that the convention was not legally holden, and that
those elected by it were not properly Senators according to the

396 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

terms of the Constitution. Upon this decision being made
known, the democrats used it as proof that the other party were
"trampling upon the Constitution," etc., etc, and thus the
nationals were defeated at the next State election and the dem-
ocrats came into full possession of the State, which they retained,
with the exception of two years, till 1853. We have referred
to these facts to show, that, though Judge Bourne was tenacious
of well-formed opinions, ardent in his feelings, and even fervent
in his zeal, he did not allow his judgment to be clouded ; and
that he could decide correctly upon law and facts although they
bore upon the welfare of the political party to which he was at-
tached, and though he was thereby constrained to condemn the
course it adopted.

He was elected in the fall of 1830, for the last time, to the
Legislature. As the election of 1831 approached, he had become
doubtful if his daring to be in the right alone was quite ac-
ceptable to his party, and declined to accept a re-nomination.
He devoted himself to his business, only varying it by lectures,
addresses and exertions in behalf of the temperance reform
which had just sprung into notice. Having acquired reputation
and confidence, he began to argue his own causes in court, and
soon had more litigated cases than any member of the bar in
the County of Yorl?, though others may have done more in
other branches of the law. His name first appears, so far as
we have seen, in the reports in the suit of Wells vs. Kennebunk,
8 Greenl., 200, in which he successfully defended the latter from
the action of the mother town.

At that time the Hon. Prentiss Mellen presided over the Court,
Simon Greenleaf, afterward Professor in Harvard 'Law School,
was its reporter, while Ether Shepley, then U. S. Senator and
afterward Chief Justice, now living in Portland, but then of
Saco, his brother, John Shepley, John Holmes, Daniel Groodenow,

HON. EDWABD EMERSON BOURNE, LL.D. 397

Nathan D. Appleton, Joseph Dane, Sen., John Fairfield, Amos
G. Goodwin, Nicholas Emery, and Moses Emery — who alone,
of all this illustrious company, still clings to the pursuit of his
chosen profession, — ^were conspicuous members of the York
bar ; and no other county of this or any State could show a
more brilliant array. No telegraph wires then served to sum-
mon parties and attorneys to the county-seat, and no cars ran
to carry them thither ; so, especially at the winter terms, all the
lawyers were accustomed to go to Alfred to remain, a jolly
company, during the entire session of the Court. This inter-
course strengthened the feeling of good will and the esprit de
corps which has usually characterized the relations of Jbhe mem-
bers of the legal profession in this county ; and its influence,
spread by the example of the elders, has favorably affected, we
hope, the present practitioners. The case upon which Mr.
Bourne particularly prided himself was one, — ^reported in 23
Maine Eeports, 527, — ^in which he successfully defended a local
magistrate, sued for acts done in discharge of official duty, in
enforcing the liquor law of that day ; though to prevail, Mr.
Bourne had to argue that an opinion of that '* giant of the law,"
Chief Justice Parsons, rendered in Com. vs. Cheney, 6 Mass.,
347, was erroneous ; and that it was so, he fully convinced our
Court, the opinion to that effect being drawn by Mr. Bourne's
old classmate, Tenney, who had become a justice of the Supreme
Court As a lawyer, Mr. Bourne was faithful to his clients in
every sense of the word ; not merely that he would not be cor-
rupted by his adversary — for such instances must be extremely
rare in the profession — but in that he spared no proper effort
for success. K he would not betray his cause to the enemy,
neither would he sacrifice it to ease, or indulgence, or by allow-
ing his attention to be diverted from it. Nor would he permit
one to prosecute, by his agency, a claim not well-founded in law

398 KEMOIRS AKD BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

or fact, as he viewed them ; if he prosecuted any such it was
because, in that instance, his judgment, and not his purpose,
was wrong.

In 1838, when the Whigs elected Edward Kent Governor,
Mr. Bourne was appointed State's Attorney for the County of
York, being superseded by a Democrat in 1839, but re-appointed
when Gov. Kent was again chosen, in 1841, and again yielding
the place to one with more popular political opinions the suc-
ceeding year. His discharge of the unpleasant duties of this
station was creditable to him, his indictments being carefully
and skillfully drawn, so as to leave no loop-holes for the escape
of rogues on mere technical objections ; and his prosecution of
offenders showed the proper tempering of justice with mercy.
When this ofl&ce was first made elective, a year or two after
he had vacated it, he was the Whig candidate for the place ;
but the ascendancy of the democracy in this County was then
so decided that its nominee, the Hon. John T. Paine, who after-
ward removed to Boston and died there, was easily elected.
The Whig nomination was merely complimentary, and valuable
only as showing that those tendering it were satisfied with his
conduct while he held the position and believed that it com-
mended itself to the popular judgment Very naturally, while
in full practice, his office was sought by students ; and his
cheerful, friendly disposition, willingness to impart information,
and the facility with which he did so, as well as his interest in
those about him, and the opportunity for observing the details
of legal business, rendered it a desirable school for the learner.

Among those who availed themselves of these advantages in
the outset of their professional studies were Mr. Bourne's cousin,
the Hon. Hugh McCulloch, late Secretary of the U. S. Treasury,
a native of Kennebunk ; the Hon. Increase S. Kimball ; M. M.
Butler, late law partner of Senator Fessenden and now associated

HON. EDWASD EMERSON B0X7RKE, LL.D. 399

with his sons; Joseph Dane, James M. Stone, Edward P.
Bumham, gentlemen well known to the people of this State
and County.

In 1856, when the office of Judge of Probate first became
elective, Mr. Bourne received the nomination for the place, and
was chosen by a large majority. The term of that office is four
years. He was four times elected, so he held the position from
the first day of 1857 to the last day of 1872, inclusive. In
Maine, rotation has generally been treated as the cardinal
doctrine of political faith, and ha& been rigidly observed in
practice ; but Judge Bourne's fitness for the place was so obvi-
ous, and his discharge of its responsible duties so preeminently
satisfactory, that no attempt was made to dislodge him, but he
retained his office till failing health and strength warned him
to retire. Those of the York bar who were brought most before
the Probate Court, and who had best known Judge Bourne,
gave a valuable gold watch to him, after his retirement, not
merely as a recognition of his judicial capacity, but as a tribute
of respect, and, especially, a token of the friendly relations
which had always existed. The position he occupied was
rather important than conspicuous. It did not offer the oppor-
tunities which the Supreme Bench does for establishing reputa-
tion, as Judge Davis has done in New York by the famous trials
there last November ; but the daily routine of Probate business
is of vast consequence to the community, and faithful labors to so
discharge them as shall best advance the public interest, are of
incalculable value, though they may not challenge popular ap-
plause. In the course of a single generation, almost all — cer-
tainly more than two-thirds— of the property of the County re-
quires the action of this Court ; and during more than half this
period Judge Bourne determined this action. The same funds
frequently present themselves to the Court several times, while

400 MEMOntS AND BIOGRAPfilGAL SKETCHES*

in the hands of an executor, of a Trustee, and of a guardian, in-
volving nice questions relating to the discharge of trust duties
and the property of beneficiaries whose dependent situation
commends their interest to the watchful care and consideration
of the Court.

A great deal more than mere accurate knowledge of the law
is requisite ; so much depends upon the peculiar circumstances
of each particular case, and of the parties thereto, that a correct
appreciation of the relations of life, of the requirements of social
position, of what is to be conceded to the conflicting claims of
those connected with the decedent by blood or marriage, and
of creditors of his estate, is demanded. In this tribunal, more
than any other, much has to be left, necessarily, to judicial dis-
cretion, which Lord Camden called " the law of tyrants ; " asj-
ing " it is always unknown ; it is diiBferent in diflferent men ; it
is casual, and depends upon constitution, temper and passion ;
in the best, it is oftentimes caprice ; in the worst, it is every
vice, folly and passion to which human nature is liable."

So to have exercised such power over the estates of his fellow-
citizens for sixteen years as to meet with imiversal approbation,
proves that caprice, temper and passion have not been allowed to
affect the decisions of the Court, but that reason has sat at the
helm, and a calm and deliberate judgment, taking counsel of
experience and common sense, has directed the course pursued.
Not only the substance of his official decrees, but his manner
of presiding, inspired confidence in Judge Bourne. Always
courteous, ready to hear, never (so far as the writer has ever
learned) in any single instance showing any sign of impatience,
temper, or dislike toward any practitioner, he did not hesitate
to decide any case as he thought right, without regard to the
relations which, out of Court, existed between himself and any
party or counsel Few men, indeed, have ever passed through

HON. EDWARD EMERSON BOURNE, LL.D. 401

SO long a life with so little hostile criticism bestowed upon his
conduct, and with scarcely the slightest imputation upon the
motives for any official act, or even for the expression of personal
opinions. In contested cases he must frequently have disap-
pointed one or the other, if not both, of the litigating parties ;
but no suitor ever appeared to suspect any more than that his
cause did not present itself to the judge in the same light that
it did to the party. Not more than one or two of the cases
appealed to the Supreme Court of Probate were decided in that
tribunal adversely to Judge Bourne's decision. The only ob-
jection we ever heard advanced against Judge Bourne's admin-
istration of justice was that he was usually too liberal in his
allowances to the widows of those whose estates were settled
in his Court This accusation, made by an heir or creditor, was
one Judge Bourne would hardly have cared to repel. Doubt-
less he was especially careful to protect the rights and interests
of those whose tender years, or inexperience in husiness, or un-
happy condition, seemed • especially to need protection. The
aged widow he thought more to be considered in the distribu-
tion of her husband's property than the athletic heir who looks
upon her continued existence as a wrong done to him in " with-
ering out a young man's revenue ; " and he would allow the
mother and little children something for their temporary sup-
port, even if he thereby reduced the creditors* dividend from
seventy-five per cent down to seventy per cent. Though his
own modesty would have shrunk from such a use of Scripture,.
we think the language of Job applicable to him :

''The young men saw me and hid themselves: and the aged
arose and stood up.

'' When the ear heard me, then it blessed me ; and when the
eye saw me, it gave witness to me :
26

402 ItTEMOiaS AND BI06BAPHIGAL 8KETGHS8.

'^ Because I deliyered the poor that cried, and the fatherless^ and
him that had none to help him.

" The hlessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me :
and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.

'^ I put on righteousness, and it clothed me : my judgment was
as a robe and a diadem.

*' I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame.

'^ I was a father to the poor : and the cause which I knew not
I searched out, and I brake the< jaws of the wicked^ and plucked
the spoil out of his teeth."

The true foundation of Judge Bourne's successful administra-
tion is found in the general conviction that in his decisions he
was guided solely by a sincere desire to do right, regardless of
all other considerations, and that he acted in the fear of Grod,
and under a constant, ever-felt sense of his responsibility to
Him. In early manhood, April 5, 1829, he became a commu-
nicant of the first parish (Unitarian) society in Kennebunk, of
which he was an active and zealous member ever after. In
1819 he became a teacher in its Sunday-school, and was con-
nected with it for fifty years, nearly all of that time as its
Superintendent ; having first taken charge of it in 1826, and
held it till his death, except a single year that he surrendered it
to his brother, Greorge W. Bourne. His life was an example to
the successive generations of his scholars of christian faith and
fidelity.

It is not merely in the legal, municipal or civic record of our
county that the name of Edward E. Bourne appears. Before
the military spirit, aroused by the last war with England, had
subsided, an artillery company was formed, of which Mr.
Bourne was lieutenant, and the late Barnabas Palmer, captain ;
and when a sufficient number of companies was formed to con-
stitute a batallion, of which Mr. Palmer was chosen commander.

HON. EDWARD EMERSON BOURNE, LL.D. 403

Mr. Bourne was appointed adjutant Thus it is seen that there
was nothing that concerned his fellow-citizens, in any depart-
ment, in which he did not take an interest. Nihil humani a
me (dienum puto. By all this experience, as well as by taste
for the work, he was better fitted than any other person to
write the history of the town. Such a book was first prepared
by him in 1831, and read to his Sunday-school children. He
has since written, at the request of the Maine Historical Society,
a full history of the old town of Wells down to 1820, when
Eennebimk was taken from it. This is an elaborate and ably,
as well as faithfully, written work, in two large volumes, now
ready for publication. Judge Bourne was greatly encouraged
in these labors by the interest manifested in them by others in
various parts of the country; but he attributed the disease
which ended his life, to his close application to the investigations

which the preparation of the earlier portion of this book neces-

«

sitated. The natural result of entering so long ago upon this
field of labor was to extend the area of research beyond the
limits originally contemplated. Mr. Bourne thus became in-
terested in the history of the earliest settlements of the State.

In his remarks before the New England Historic, Grenealogi-
eal Society, relative to the death of Judge Bourne, C. W. Tuttle,
Esq., thus refers to his interest in these themes :

^'His knowledge on this subject was extensive and accurate.
Concerning the Popham settlement, so-called, and its political and
historical significance, he bad very decided opinions. He con-
tended that it gave to Maine a precedence in the history of the
events of English colonization in America; that it secured this
territory to King James, and began the settlement of New England.
Nine years ago he delivered in Bath, on the occasion of the two
hundredth and fifty-seventh anniversary of this settlement, an
historical discourse, mainly devoted to the defence of the moral

404 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SEIETCHSS.

character of the colonists which had been assailed, and to the sup-
port of the position which had been taken in Maine in regard to
the historical and political significance of this event. This discourse
is marked throughout with candid reasoning, and is distinguished
for the thoroughness with which he examined facts bearing on the
issue which had been raised. Many things have come to light
since, strengthening and illustrating his arguments ; but he ex-
hausted the subject at that time. Judge Bourne was an occasional
contributor to the Historical and Genealogical Register, and to the
Historical Magazine. He kept pace with the progress of historical
investigation and discovery in all directions."

Of the address above referred to, Prot. Packard writes me
that it was learned and able, was received with much favor,
and was published by the committee of the celebration.

In 1834, he joined the Maine Historical Society, to which he
contributed valuable papers, many of which are preserved in the
archives of the Society. Upon the retirement of his old friend
and co-laborer, the Hon. William Willis, from the presidency of
the Society, Judge Bourne was elected his successor. Prot
Packard, speaking of his election to this position, writes : " He
entered upon the duties of the position with his accustomed
energy and zeal ; was uniformly present, though Uving at a
distance from the pla^ of meeting, and his opening addresses
contributed essentially to the interest and success of the occa-
sion. By personal effort in securing cooperation of others, he
did much to secure material for these meetings. If others
failed, he was found ready for any emergency, giving proof of
the diligence and scope of his studies in the history of his own
State as well as of New England."

He always prepared two or three addresses, in case others to
whom the duty was assigned were unable or omitted to perform
it, and several such were left unused at his death. The success

HON. EDWASD EMEBSON BOURNE, LL.D. 405

of the " field days ** of the society was, Prof. Packard informs
me, largely due to his agency ; and at the close of one of them
it was a common remark : " We owe our success and enjoy-
ment of the day to Judge Bourne." No man, probably, was
more familiar with the history of the County of York. He had
thoroughly explored its public records, as well as private sources
of information, to which his professional relations and his office,
as Judge of Probate for the County, gave him ready access.

The cheerfulness, and even youthfulness, of spirit which he
showed were not peculiar to, nor caused by, such occasions, but
were an attribute and marked characteristic of his daily life to
its close. The efiect of this was apparent in his countenance
and bearing, as is shown by the engraving prefixed to this
article, copied from a photograph taken only two years before
his death and representing him very accurately as he was at
that time. His liveliness of disposition was exhibited in his
writings ; and a gentleman whom he had never seen, but with
whom he carried on an extended correspondence, relative to
historical researches of interest to them both, expressed great
surprise on learning from an obituary notice the advanced age
of his correspondent From his letters, he had supposed Mr.
Bourne a young or middle-aged man.

In June, 1866, Judge Bourne was elected a member of the
New England Historic, Genealogical Society, and accepted
August 1, 1866. He was also one of the Trustees of Bowdoin
College, from which institution he received the degree of doctor
of laws in 1872.

Judge Bourne was married Feb. 16, 1853, to Mrs. Susan H.
Lord (n^e Hatch), widow of Capt Tobias Lord, of Kennebunk.
This lady survives. There has been no issue of this marriage,
but it proved a peculiarly happy one, as Mrs. Bourne sympa-
thized with all the feelings and opinions of her husband, and

406 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

shared his genial, hospitable disposition, to such an extent, in-
deed, that, in transmitting the testimonial before spokeHi of, the
committee of the bar felt it their duty, and a pleasure, to ex-
press their obligation for courtesies received at her hands as
well as those of Mr. Bourne. It was the deep, interest that
Mr. Bourne felt in every subject to which he thought it worth
while to give any attention at all, as well as that conscientious
discharge of every ofl&cial duty, which characterized him from
early life, that led to his being usually designated to important
positions in those associations of which he became a member,
from the time he presided over his literary society (the Athen-
eean) in college and after graduation, and over the Sunday-
school, till he was chosen President of the Maine Historical
Society.

The common expression, " he will be missed," has a peculiar
signification when applied to Judge Bourne. Not only as the
historian, the judge, the safe and prudent counsellor, shall we
miss him, but as the bright, cheerful christian gentleman. Per-
haps it was this quality, more than any other, that particularly
endeared him to his friends. His cheerfulness under aU the
dispensations of the Heavenly Father (and he was called to en-
dure severe afflictions in the removal of all, save one, of his
immediate family, to whom he was tenderly attached) was re-
markable It was a cheerfulness founded on full faith in
Divine Providence ; a faith which rendered the blessings of lite
more joyous, while it sent a bright gleam through the deepest
affliction. It did not fail him at the last. Contrary to the ex-
pectations of himself and of his friends (who had supposed a
sudden death probable), he was, for the last three or four weeks,
a great sufferer. He was obliged to sit in his chair most of the
time, day and night, and could get but little sleep. His disease
w£is of such a nature that some effort was required for respira-

HON. EDWABD EMEBSON BOUBNE, LL.D. 407

tion, and when for a moment he was overpowered by sleep, and,
losing consciousness, ceased to make the unusual effort requi-
site, he was immediately awakened by the most excruciating
pain, which he could only describe as " running all through
him," probably caused by partial strangulation. Yet, when he
was permitted to enjoy temporary relief, he waa inclined to talk,
and conversed with his friends in his old cheery way, seldom
alluding to himself or his sufferings, but showing the same in-
terest as formerly in others, their pursuits and enjoyments. He
kept up his participation in spirit in whatever interested the com-
munity. Only a day or two before his death, he reminded his
pastor that the one hundredth anniversary of the occupancy of the
old church, in which he had so long worshipped, would occur on
the second Sabbath of next January (1874). He thought
there should be some commemoration of the event, and remarked
that he had contemplated preparing an appropriate address for
the occasion. He referred his pastor to some minutes of facts
in his possession, compiled for that purpose, and requested him
to prepare the address. Judge Bourne seldom spoke of his
religious feelings, even to his most intimate friends. It was a
sacred subject to him ; too sacred to be talked about on ordinary
occasions. In his last hours, when suffering intensely, and
when he knew he could live but a few hours at most, he several
times expressed the wish that he might soon be released, but as
to the untried scenes upon which he was conscious he was
about to enter, he said but littla He felt no apprehension.
He merely said to a clerical friend, with whom he had lived on
terms of great intimacy for many years : " I have no anxiety
about the future."

" His was a faith sablime and sure."

It is very seldom, indeed, that the name of any citizen is so
closely and thoroughly identified with every interest— civil and

408 MBMOIBS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

miKtary, religions, moral, social, commercial, business and per-
sonal— of the community in which he lives, as Judge Bourne's
has been for the last half century with those of the town of
Kennebunk, where he spent a life useful and happy to its close,
without reproach, and where his death is universally lamented.
Within the past ten years the shafts of death have fallen
fast and thick among those who had long been known as con-
spicuous in the business pursuits, and highly esteemed and
beloved in the social circles of this people. Even while this
article is preparing for the press, another such gentleman, long
associated with Judge Bourne in the affairs of the church and
in commercial and social interests, greatly respected and beloved
for his kindly bearing and benevolent heart — Mr. William
Lord — ^has been removed from any further participation in our
joys, and sorrows, and cares.

" Nam nox nulla diem, neque noctem aurora aecuta est,
Qu8B non andierit mistos yagitibus SBgris,
Ploratos, mortis oomites, et funeris atrL"

HON. BTHEB SHEPLBT, LL.D.

409

MEMOIB OP

HON. ETHER SHEPLEY, LL.D

BY HON. ISRAEL WASHBURN, JR., LL.D.

Read bbforb thb Maine Hibtokical Socibtt at Fobtland,

Maboh 14, 1878.

In view of the long and useful life, the important services,
the pure and elevated character of Chief Justice Shepley, it will
be no injustice to any of his contemporaries to say that, in his
decease, Maine parted with its foremost citizen.

When such a man leaves us, it is due not merely to the con-
ventional usage of this Society (if he has been a member of it),
but also to a just regard for those who remain after he is gone,
to the interests of truth, of virtue, of good morals and religous
faith, that some notice of his life and work, some estimate of his
character and of his contributions to the good of his fellow men,
to society and the State, should be preserved. For there are no
lessons that take a stronger hold on the minds of men, and
especially of young men, that do more in the way of directing
their aspirations and shaping their distinctive lines of character,

410 MEMOIRS AlO) BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

than those furnished by the lives and achievements of the
eminent and the good, among whom, or within the range of
whose influence, they have lived.

The voice which should have performed the duty upon which
I enter with unfeigned difiBdence is now silent The eminent
citizen, the just magistrate, the accomplished jurist, the genial
companion and the true friend, to whom this service would have
most properly come, sleeps in the grave which holds the dust
of Edward Kent. For, after the death of Judge Shepley, a
few months only of time were allotted to his esteemed and
honored friend and unquestioned successor in the primacy of
our State worthies.

Of the original members of this Society who continued to
reside in the State, Judge Shepley was the last, and his only
survivor living elsewhere, was the Hon. Peleg Sprague, of
Boston.

The Maine Historical Society was incorporated February 5,
1822, and was organized April 11th of the s^tme year. It
included, among its forty-nine associates, names which would
alone keep that of the State respectable for many generations.
I need mention only such as Edward Payson and Ichabod
Nichols, in theology ; Prentiss Mellen, Benjamin Orr and Ashur
Ware, in law ; William King, John Holmes, Albion K. Parris
and Enoch Lincoln, in politics; Benjamin Yaughan (at one
time a member of the British Parliament) and Bobert Hallowell
Gktrdiner, in literature and general culture ; and scarcely, if at
all, below the highest of these names, were those of the two
latest surviving members. Mr. Sprague was for many years a
resident of Hallowell, in this Stata He was for three terms a
Bepresentative in Congress from the Kennebec District, a
Senator of the United States for nearly six years, and was, in
1834, a candidate of the Whig party for Governor. Soon after

HON. ETHER 8HEPLET, LL.D. 411

this date, he removed to Boston, and was, within a few years, ap-
pointed Judge of the District Court of the United States for the
District of Massachusetts; an office in which he acquired a
splendid and an enduring reputation.

Judge Shepley's last attendance at a meeting of the Society,
was in Portland, in February, 1875. It was a most impressive
scene, and one that will not soon be forgotten by any one who
was present As he came into the room the President rose, and,
interrupting the order of proceedings, said that we had with
us the only member, now living, of the Maine Historical Society
at the time of its organization, and that the members present
would be happy to have an address from their venerable and
distinguished associate. The entire assembly rose and remained
standing while Judge Shepley made a short and most interest-
ing address. He spoke of the separation of Maine from Massa-
chusetts, and said that those who had toiled and striven to
bring Maine into life as a State, became greatly attached to her
as a child of their own ; that after she had an established gov-
ernment, they became desirous to know her better, and to be
more thoroughly informed of what she was capable of doing,
and for this purpose, and to be more fully instructed in her past
history, to have a better knowledge of all that had been done
within her borders, this Society was formed. He congratulated
the Society on its past success, present prosperity and prospec-
tive usefulness, and closed by saying, "May the Society,
with the Divine blessing upon its members and their labors,
long continue to be increased with prosperity, success, useful-
ness and honor."

At a subsequent stage of the meeting. Judge Greorge F. Shep-
ley corrected the error into which the President had fallen, in
speaking of his father as the last survivor of the original mem-
bers, and offered the following resolution :

412 MEMOmS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

'[Eeaolved, That the Maine Historical Society, now in session^
sends its most respectful greeting to the Honorable Peleg Sprague,
one o£ its distinguished founders, and one of the two surviving
corporators of the Society."

The resolution was adopted unanimously, and a copy was
ordered to be communicated by telegraph to Judge Sprague.
By the death of Judge Shepley, Judge Sprague became, as has
been seen, the only surviving member of the Society, as origi-
nally constituted. He lives in Boston and has reached the ad-
vanced age of eighty-five years.*

Ether Shepley was born in Groton, Massachusetts, November
2, 1789, and was the secoAd son of John Shepley and Mary
(Gibson) Thurlow. Mrs. Shepley was a daughter of Deacon
Gibson, of Stowe, and widow of Capt. Thurlow, of the Eevolution-
ary army. The family from which Judge Shepley descended,
was established for several centuries in Yorkshire, England
As early as 1316, there appears a record in which John de
Shepley (John seems to have been a favorite name in the
family), signed a certificate as " Lord of the township of Shep-
ley, in the County of York." The earliest appearance of the
family in America, was at Salem, Massachusetts, about the year
1637. As early as 1700, the name of John Sheple is found at
Groton, and from him Judge Shepley was a descendant in the
sixth degree. It seems to have been one of those sturdy fami-
lies from which so much that is most vigorous and best in New
England life has proceeded. Its history shows that for many
generations the Shepleys of Groton, were prominent men, and,
in the quaint language of the times, " much used by the town.*
Of the father of Judge Shepley, Mr. Willis, in his " Lawyers of
Maine," writes, " He was an orderly sergeant and clerk of a

*Jadge Sprague died in BostOD, Oct 13, 1880, aged 87 years.

HON. BTHIB SHEPLET, LUD. 413

company in the Bevolution; he held several town offices in
Groton, was a farmer, fond of reading, and a man of general in-
formation/' The fact that he gave two of his sons a collegiate
education, goes far in support of the character ascribed to him
by Mr. Willis.

John, the eldest son, who lived in Saco for many years, is well
remembered by the older members of the bar of this State, as a
walking dictionary of the law, for he was, perhaps, the most
widely informed counsellor at this bar, in respect to the law as
interpreted and declared in the reports of cases heard and de-
cided by the courts. He was educated at Harvard, and before
coming to Maine (in 1825) practiced law in Butland and Fitch-
burgh, Massachusetts. While a citizen of Massachusetts, he
was a member of the Senate of that State, and of the convention
held for amending its Constitution. In this State he was, for
many years, in partnership with his brother Ether, and for
eleven years (between 1836 and 1849) was Beporter of the De-
cisions of the Supreme Judicial Court He died in 1858, leav-
ing two daughters and one son.

Depending largely, as I must, for details concerning the life
of Judge Shepley, upon the labors of the industrious and accu-
rate historian of the Maine Bar, the late Hon. William WilUs,
I should but mar the record were I to continue my sketch of
the leading incidents of his life in other than his own words :

'^Mr. Shepley received his elementary education at Oroton
Academy, under the instruction of Caleb Butler. Thence he pro-
ceeded to Dartmouth College, from which be took bis degree in
1811. Among his classmates were Prof. Nathaniel H. Carter,
Bezaleel Cushman and Nathaniel Wright, who were all instructors
in Portland, after leaving college ; Mr. Cushman, for thirty years,
having had charge of the Academy; Dr. William Coggswell;
Daniel Poor, the celebrated missionary ; Proi Parker, of the Law

414 MEMOIRS AND BI06BAPHICAL SKETCHES.

School at Harvard ; and Amos Kendall; Postmaster Greneral under
President Jackson.

" On leaving coUege, Mr. Shepley entered the office of Dudley
Hubbard, in South Berwick, where he remained two years, under
very favorable circumstances. The large, collection business of
Mr. Hubbard was suffering for want of attention. Mr. Shepley
took serious hold of it, and by his activity and intelligence, revived
it, and left it in a favorable condition. He was urged by Mr.
Hubbard to continue his services, but he preferred a change, and
successively read in the offices of Zabdiel B. Adams, in Worcester
County, and Solomon Strong, in Hampshire. On being admitted
to the bar, he came immediately to Saco, where he Commenced
practice in July, 1814. With the experience he had gathered,
and the habits of business he had acquired, he was more than
usually advanced over young practitioners in the knowledge of his
profession and in the use of its machinery ; and early entered upon
a successful and useful practice which his industry, close applica-
tion and practical ability made secure, and gave to him a prominent
place in the community in the midst of which he resided.

" In 1819, the subject of the separation from Massachusetts was
earnestly discussed in this State, and Mr. Shepley zealously en-
tered into it ; he was elected to represent Saco that year in the
General Court, and the same year was chosen a member of the
convention which formed the Constitution of Maine. In February,
1821, he was appointed United States Attorney for the District of
Maine, as successor to William P. Preble, who was placed on the
bench of the Supreme Court of the State. This office he held
until his election as one of the Senators in Congress from Maine,
in 1833. The duties of that office, in connection with his very
extensive practice, he discharged with great promptness and fidelity,
of which no better evidence can be adduced than the length of
time he was permitted to retain it — through the four closing years
of Mr. Monroe's administration, the whole of Mr. Adams's and four
years into General Jackson's, and left it at last only for a more ex-

HON. ETHER SHEPLEY, LL-D. 415

alted station. In 1833, he was elected to the Senate of the United
States, as successor to John Holmes. In this hodj he sustained
the administration of General Jackson, hy his rotes and his voice.
On the great and exciting question of removing the deposits from
the United States Bank, he made two earnest and ahle speeches
in January, 1834, vindicating the course and policy of the Presi-
dent. In one of these he paid a glowing eulogium to his class-
mate, Amos Kendall, who was then the agent of the government,
in relation to these deposits.

" But the office of Senator, however favorahle and agreeable, the
good opinion entertained by the government of Maine of his legal
ability did not permit him long to retain ; for in September, 1836,
a vacancy having occurred on the bench of the Supreme Court, by
the resignation of Judge Parris, who had been appointed second
comptroller of the treasury, he was immediately appointed to that
place. It was apparent, from the studies and habits of Judge
Shepley, that the quiet pursuits of professional duties, and es-
pecially in their highest forms as an expositor of the law, were .
more suited to his tastes than the turmoil of politics. As a judge,
both at nisi prius and in the law department, his ability, his in-
dustry and integrity fully justified the partiality and good judg-
ment of the administration of Governor Dunlap, by which the ap-
pointment was made. In 1848, he was appointed Chief Justice,
as successor to Chief Justice Whitman, with the general concur-
rence of the bar and public sentiment. His long experience as a
jurist and a judge, and the fidelity and legal acumen which he had
displayed in his long judicial service, placed him prominently be-
fore the public as a fit successor to the eminent judge who had pre-
ceded him. He continued in this high office until the Autumn of
1855, when his constitutional term of seven years having expired,
he retired from the Bench, his ermine unsullied, and closed his
long judicial life. "No judge more faithfully or more promptly dis-
charged the duties of the Bench than Judge Shepley ; and the
ability which characterized his judicial career is amply illustrated

416 MEMOIKS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

in the twenty-seyen yolumes of the Maine Beports, from the four-
teenth to the fortieth, inclusive. His opinions are drawn with
clearness, directness and force, and no one can mistake the point
which he endeavors to establish.

'^ That Judge Shepley was devoted to his professional and judicial
life, and clung with strong attachment to his domestic joys, we
can have no better proof than the firmness with which he resisted
the allurements held out to him to accept positions under the
general government. * *

" The last public office Judge Shepley was called to perform was
that of sole Commissioner to revise the public laws, to which he
was appointed by resolve of April 1, 1856, and, notwithstanding
the injudicious instruction to complete and cause his report to be
printed on or before the fifteenth of November following, he ac-
complished the almost herculean task, and prepared a very full
index of the whole body of the public statutes, which constitutes
what is now cited as the ' Bevised Statutes of Maine^' published
in 1867."

The reference by Mr. Willifl to Judge Shepley's unwilling-
ness to leave the bench in Maine to receive federal appoint-
ments, is sustained by many letters which he received from per-
sons in authority, among which is one from Silas Wright, the
great New York Senator, upon whose broad shoulders the ad-
ministration of Mr. Van Buren so largely rested — in which,
after the retirement, in 1838, of Mr. Butler from the office of
Attorney General of the United States, the acceptance of that
office by Judge Shepley was suggested in terms which plainly
implied that it would be gratifying to the President Not only
did Judge Shepley decline these federal honors, but it is known
that he did, also, that of the Governorship of Maine, for
which the leaders of his party, at a time when they felt the
necessity of bringing forward their strongest man, asked him to

• HON. ETHEK SHEPLEY, LL.D. 417

consent to be nominated. But his disinclination to hold politi-
cal office, and a fixed sense of the impropriety of Judges allow-
ing themselves to enter the domain of active party politics,
furnished, to his mind, convincing reasons why he ought not to
be a candidate.

A change, not for the better, it may be feared, has come
over the spirit of the times ; Senators in Congress are no longer
in the habit of resigning that office for a seat on the bench of
a State Court, and Judges seldom refuse to be tempted by a
place so exalted as that of the first law officer of the Federal
Government

But no sketch of Judge Shepley can be satisfactory or com-
plete which does not have emphatic reference to his religious
character and life ; and; in giving some account of these, it is an
inestimable privilege to be able to draw from the observation
and knowledge of one so well able to form a true and intelligent
judgment, as the learned and esteemed pastor of Judge Shepley,
during his latest years. From the sermon of the Eev. Edward
Y. Hincks, pastor of the State Street Congregationalist Church in
Portland, preached in that church, January 21, 1877, upon the
life and character of Judge Shepley, I make the following ex-
tracts:

*^ But the life of Chief Justice Shepley rose to its highest useful-
ness in the service which be rendered to the church of Christ. He
was an eminent member of a class of laymen who, during the past
generation, adorned the Congregational churches of New England ;
men of high station and eminent ability, who laid their gifts in
humble devotion at their Master's feet. The fragrance of their
piety was not more grateful to their Saviour than that of other dis-
ciples, because of the alabaster box in which it was enclosed, but
that costly vessel gave their fellow men a better appreciation of its
value. Their high endowments may not have given their service
27

418 MEMOIBS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKSTGHES.

in their Kedeemer's cause a more exalted character than that ren-
dered by believers whose gifts were humbler, but they certainly
made it more efficient. To the efficiency and the conspicuous value
of the services of this disciple we can all bear witness.

" He had no visionary conception of religion. He knew that
the principles of the Gospel must prevail, if at all, by finding em-
bodiment in an organization, and working through it for the over-
throw of the Kingdom of Evil and establishment of that of Christ.
And as he had consecrated his gifts to his Master, he freely gave
them to the promotion of his Master's cause. From the day of his
public profession, he was a zealous and efficient member of the

church."

* « * « * * *

'^ The devotion of this disciple to his Master's cause, was not
shown merely by the interest which he took in the church of
which he was a member. It went farther. Realizing that Christ's
Kingdom is world-embracing, consecration to the advancement of
that Kingdom, meant to him consecration to its advancement
through the earth. He was a zealous supporter of foreign and
home missions ; a cordial friend and active assistant of the Chris-
tian educational institutions of his own State. The temperance
reform found in him a prompt and efficient advocate. The leading
benevolent societies of the church received his generous and cordial
support.

^' So this eminent citizen and faithful Christian, patiently, earn-
estly and humbly served his Master. The routine work of the
church might seem too trivial to demand the attention of others, but
he never grudged it his time or strength. He showed the sincerity
of his consecration by the thoroughness of his service, and so made
us able to anticipate that approving voice which ere this has caused

his soul to thrill, ' Well done good and faithful servant' "

*******

'^ Corresponding to his strong hatred of moral evil, was an intense
love of the divine righteousness. It was a glorious thing to this

HON. BTHER SHEPLEY, LL.D. 419

man of vigorous moral nature that the beneficent and holy will of
God prevailed.

'' He loved the divine character because it was inherently good
and right; and he desired that its goodness and righteousness
should find expression in this moral system which God has created.

" Before the righteous will of the Almighty he bowed in absolute
submission.

'* He had the passionate love of righteousness, which was the
noblest element in the Puritan character, a love so absorbing as to
swallow up self-interest, and make the whole soul a free offering
to the majesty of eternal law. There is something noble in a
patriot's love of country; there is something august in a philan-

■

thropist's love of humanity ; but there is something grander and
nobler in such a Christian's supreme and forgetful love of that
divine law which is the source of all virtue and all purity ; it is
the voice of redeemed humanity, echoing the seraphic cry, ^ Holy,
holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.'

" But while we see in this character some of the nobler elements
which mark the Puritan, it is free from some defects which we are
accustomed to associate with that type of Christian manhood.

'^ The acerbity and asceticism which we think we find in our
New England fathers, are not discoverable here. The inflexible
principle of this servant of God was made winning by the sweetness
of his feeling and the gentleness of his manner. He was tender
and lovable in the home circle, modest and amiable in social life,
child-like and humble in the church of God. He loved young
people and drew them to him by his kindness. He joyfully wel-
comed young disciples to the church. He strengthened his young
pastor in the uncertainty and weakness of an opening ministry, by
words of cheer which will sound in that pastor's heart until his
ministry shall close."

Judge Shepley took a lively and intelligent interest in the
cause of education, and was an earnest and practical friend of

c

420 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

Bowdoin College. He was for more than thirty-seven years a
member of the Board of Trustees of the College. He was also
an active and useful member of the Portland Natural Histoiy
Society, and its first President ; an office which he held by suc-
cessive elections from 1843 to 1848.

Two years after Mr. Shepley settled in Saco, he married
Anna Foster, who was bom in Hanover, N. H., September 17,
1790. To this union, which continued in unbroken harmony
and affection until the death of Mrs. Shepley, April 1, 1868,
five children, all sons, and of whom three survive, were born :
John R, a graduate of Bowdoin College, class of 1837, for
many years a prominent and successful lawyer in St. Louis ;
George F.,* a graduate of Dartmouth College in the same year,
the learned and popular Judge of the Circuit Court of the
United States for the New England Circuit ; and Leonard D.,*
a merchant in Portland.

Chief Justice Shepley died at the residence of his son. Judge
George F. Shepley, in Portland, on the fifteenth day of January,
1877, Some ten days before this time he fell, while passing
from one room to another, and fractured one of liis hips.
Owing to his great age and infirm health, he was unable to
rally. He was buried from his son's house, which had been his
own residence for more than forty years, on the eighteenth of
January. The funeral services, which were appropriate and
impressive, were conducted by his ptistor, the Rev. Mr. Hincks,
and were attended by the Judges and officers of the United
States and State Courts, by the Cumberland Bar, the Cumber-
land Medical Association, pastors of the various churches in
the city, the President and officers of the Board of Trade, the
Mayor and officers of the City Government, and a large number

*Deceased since this paper was read.

HON. ETHER SHEPLEY, LL.D. 421

of citizens. The Judge's favorite hymn, "Asleep in Jesus," was
sung by the State Street Church choir.

The remains of Judge Shepley were interred in Evergreen
Cemetery.

On the subsequent Sunday, the sermon by Rev. Mr. Hincks,
from which liberal extracts have been made in this sketch, was
preached before a large congregation in the State Street Church.

On the eleventh day of April following, the Supreme Court
being in session in Portland, resolutions in honor of Chief Justice
Shepley, which had been adopted by the Bar of Cumberland
County, were read to the Court — Judge Barrows presiding — by
the Honorable Bion Bradbury, President of the Bar Association.
The resolutions, which were just, discriminating and eloquent,
closed by saying :

" He will live long in the memory of his brethren, and more
permanently in the recorded legal judgments which have stamped
his name indelibly upon our judicial records."

These resolutions were spoken to by Judge Howard, the
Nestor of the Bar, and the most loved and esteemed, perhaps, of
all its members, whose recent death cast a gloom over the city
of his adoption, such only as accompanies the departure of one
whose whole life has been sunny and helpful For seven years
he had been associated with Chief Justice Shepley on the Bench,
and had known him intimately for more than half a century.
He spoke of him as a man and a citizen, and as a lawyer ; of
his cogency, clearness and power as an advocate ; of his ad-
mirable example as a Judge, refusing to have anything to do
with party politics, going so far as to decline to vote at purely
political elections, and refusing to give recommendations for
political office, even in behalf of his best friends, so careful was
he to keep himself above the appearance or suspicion of bias or
prejudice. He said :

422 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

"His independence and impartiality were always refreshing.
Parties before his tribunal were but the representatives of prin-
ciples. There the Grecian and the Scythian were alike to him,
and there the rights of contestants were never imperiled by prefer-
ence, prejudice or chance. His decisions will stand the severest
judicial tests, and it is believed, that time will but deepen the paths
bravely marked out by him in the advancement of jurisprudence.^'

Judge Barrows, in responding to the resolutions, said :

"Were I to attempt here and now to delineate his character as a
Judge^ or to tell how he filled and adorned the position he held so
long, I should encounter the same difficulty to which Pericles refers
in his oration on the soldiers who fell in the first year of the
Peloponnesian War, where he says, in substance, ^ I have always
thought it a thing both difficult and superfluous to praise, in words,
those who are already exalted by their deeds.' "

It may assist to a better appreciation of Chief Justice Shep-
ley, if, prefacing the observations which I desire to make
concerning him in the threefold relations of statesman, judge
and citizen, some notice be taken of a quality or characteristic
by which T have always thought he was especially distinguished ;
this was loyalty to his intellectual perceptions — a loyalty quick-
ened and guided by an active moral sensibility. He was, above
most men that I have known, intellectually clear, direct and
uncompromising ; and so he was frank, positive, and, when there
was occasion, courageous, in his opinions and positions. His
judgments of men and things were formed by him by processes
of induction and verification which knew neither obstruction
nor oscillation. Of course he became known as a man of posi-
tive opinions. He was so because they were his own, reached
by steps every one of which he had felt out and measured. He
shrank as at a crime, from the idea of doing wrong to his con-
victions, dreading such a thought as if it were something akin

HON. ETHER 8HEPLET, LL.D. 423

to the sin that is of all sins the least pardonable. He had no
moral right to hide the truth as he had received it, to suppress
what had been verified to his understanding in a way to remove
doubt and establish conviction.

The men of this make and fibre are those who are most per-
ceptibly and permanently felt in our concrete public and private
life ; who mould and make opinion ; whose influence is positive
and enduring ; and who take the highest rank in the practical
leadership of men. There are men, I know, who are often and
loosely praised for their breadth, wisdom and liberality. They
are not unfrequently looked upon as models ; as types of suc-
cessful men. But, in my judgment, they are oftener — ^perhaps
unconsciously, but none the less certainly — ^impostors. They
have no firm convictions, no deep intuitions, and therefore hold
nothing with strong grip. They are hospitable to all opinions,
for the reason that they are really persuaded by none. They
can step from party to party, from church to church, from creed
to creed, without an effort or a pang. It costs them nothing to
change their associations and affiliations, for to their negative
natures strong attachments are impossible. All causes, all
opinions, all parties, they say, have in them much that is true
and good, unless, indeed, it be those which they profess to up-
hold or belong to. They fear to say as much of these, lest they
be thought partial and one-sided.

Mt. Shepley took his seat in the Senate of the United States
in 1833. It was a time of great party excitement and bitter-
ness. Mr. Clay had been defeated for the Presidency the year
before. Greneral Jackson was in the White House, and the
Jackson, or Democratic party, held full sway everywhere, except
in the Senate, where the National Bepublicans, or Whigs, as they
came to be called the next year, in connection with the fol-
lowers of Mr. Calhoun — ^wbo had become one of the most pro*

424 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

nounced opponents of the administration — ^had a majority, and
this majority was composed of such men as had never before
been seen in that body, since its organization. Among them
were Mr. Clay, Mr. Webster, Mr. Calhoim, Mr. Clayton, Mr.
Eives, Mr. Southard, Mr. Crittenden, Mr. Sprague, Mr. Ewing
and Mr. Mangum. Of the Democratic leaders may be men-
tioned Col. Benton, Mr. Silas Wright, Mr. Buchanan, Mr. Wood-
bury, Mr. Felix Grundy and Mr. Robert J. Walker, able, and
some of them great men, but, as a whole, quite unequal in de-
bate to the great Whig leaders. In this state of things, the
accession of a Senator to the Democratic side, who brought with
him a reputation for first-class ability, such as Mr. Shepley had
won, was hailed by the minority as an event of no small in-
terest and promise. Nor were their hopes destined to disap-
pointment In the new Senator they found a Democrat of the
strictest sect, a man who believed in the uses and functions of
party, and of the merit that attached to an intelligent allegiance
to party, and who was prepared to do manful battle for it when
necessity or occasion required such service. But when this has
been said, it must be added that Senator Shepley never per-
mitted his action to be controlled by his party ties in opposition
to his real convictions ; and, although no man was a stauncher
party man, in the best sense of that term, or was inclined to do
less to embarrass his political friends, the intellectual veracity,
of which I have spoken, refused to be divorced from whatever
was clearly vouched by his moral sense. He had no taste for
the rough and tumble, and the personalities of debate, as they
were allowed, and too frequently encouraged in those days, in
both Houses of Congress. His clear and logical mind would
be satisfied only with the orderly marshaling of facts, and the
sober and severe processes of dialectics. He participated but
seldom in the general debates, and only spoke at any consider-

HON. ETHER SHEPLEY, LL.D. 425

able length, on important and pressing questions. But on these
occasions he spoke with such lucidity and force as to make a
marked impression on the debate ; and at some times in such
manner as to leave the question to be seen in a different light
from that in which it had been viewed before.

At the time of Mr. Shepley's entering the Senate, the country
was distracted — it would scarcely be too much to say, convulsed
— ^by the action of President Jackson in ordering the removal of
the government deposits from the Bank of the United States,
where they had been long kept, to certain selected, or, as they
were termed, " Pet " Banks of the States. The act was held by
Messrs. Clay, Webster, Calhoun, and their friends, as arbitrary
and illegal, especially under the circumstances of its execution.

Samuel D. Ingham, of Pennsylvania, was Secretary of
the Treasury; and, believing' that the deposits could not prop-
erly be removed by a Presidential mandate, against the judg-
ment of the Secretary, declined to give the necessary official
order ; but President Jackson was not to be balked in this way,
and so he summarily removed Mr. Ingham from his Secretary-
ship, and called to that office Eoger B. Taney, his Attorney
Greneral (afterwards Chief Justice of the United States), by
whom the removal was immediately effected. This act was
vehemently condemned, for that by it the President had, it was
said, practically assumed to be himself the Secretary of the
Treasury, although the duties of that position had been pre-
scribed by law and assigned to the person holding the office of
Secretary, who had taken an oath to perform them faithfully,
and who was therefore placed beyond the mere sic volo, sic
jubeo, of the President.

It was into the midst of this debate, the ablest and most
exciting, perhaps, that ever took place in that body, that Mr.
Shepley came, almost directly from his constituents, to partici-

426 MEMOIBS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

pate, and to which he contributed a speech, which, for cabnneas
and power, for an intelligible separation of the vital from the
unimportant and irrelevant, and for exposing the true issues in
a light which, to say the least, did not "dazzle to blind,"
may be read, even at this day, with pleasure, for its exhibition
of these prime qualities of a senatorial speech, if not with entire
conviction of the strength of the positions attempted to be
maintained. This speech, which was commenced on the four-
teenth of January, 1834, was continued through so much of
three days as was allotted to the question. As furnishing an
example of Mr. Shepley's style as a speaker, and of the manner
in which he met the charge that the President had been guilty
of usurpation of power, I will make a short quotation from his
speech. Said he :

" Sir, I have one word more before I pass from this branch of
the subject. There can be no such irresponsible power, and there-
fore the whole argUTnent, with its epithets and reproaches of the
assumption of power, is all gone if this is the true construction of
the Constitution. It is provided in the Constitution that the ex-
ecutive 'shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.'
What does this power imply ? The Senator from Kentucky does
not regard it as granting the power which I consider that it does
grant. I regard it as a grant of power to the President to examine
into the manner in which the laws are executed. How can the
executive take care that the laws be faithfully executed without an
examination into, and a decision upon the manner of executing ?
Can he take care how they are executed, and yet not look into
the mode and manner in which they are carried into effect ? Sir,
he must look into the mode and manner of their execution, other-
wise he cannot tell whether they are executed or not. Sir, the
Constitution not only gives him the power to look into the mode
and manner, but further, it imposes it upon him as a solemn duty
— he shall look into the manner in which the laws are executed.

HON. ETHER SHEPLEY, LL.D, 427

To omit an inquiry of the manner in which an officer performs
his duty, is to omit to perform his own duty, to which the Consti-
tution, as well as his oath, enjoins and binds him. When the
President shall forbear to examine the manner and circumstances
of the conduct of a subordinate officer, he can no longer put his
hand on his heart and declare that he has conformed to his oath to
see that the laws are faithfully executed. All officers may go on
and disregard their duties ; they may omit all, and the President
has no power to examine into their conduct and to enforce obedi-
ence ; the whole government is divided in its responsibility ; the
officers are let loose to follow their own judgment, without either
guide or control ; the President cannot remove them, and there is
no remedy."

Granting the premises assumed by the speaker, and that they
are unaffected by their relation to the whole case, but which
many men, I imagine, would decline to do, his line of reasoning
is clean-cut and his conclusion irresistible.

It was in this speech that Senator Shepley made his well
known eulogium on Amos Kendall, the most feared and the
best abused man of his party, the "chief cook" of General
Jackson's " Kitchen Cabinet," and inventor of countless ma-
chines of wickedness. I frankly confess to my boyish prejudices
against this embodiment of political depravity, and how easily
they were dissipated when, several years later, it was my good
fortune to be a not unfrequent visitor at Mr. Kendall's hospita-
ble seat at " Kendall Green," near Washington, and to find there
a bland, cordial, white-headed gentleman, the personification of
serenity and cheerfulness.

I am inclined to think that the most cogent and thoroughly
conclusive speech made by Mr. Shepley, while in the Senate,
was on the French Spoliation bilL The question was admira-
bly suited to his learning and method of treatment It was

428 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

mainly a legal question. The claim by American citizens,
against the government, for spoliations by the French, prior to
A. D. 1800, has been often considered in Congress. A bill for
paying it has twice passed both Houses, and failed each time to
become a law, by reason of an executive veto, has passed one
or the other of the Houses not less than a dozen times, has
been favorably reported on by twice that number of commit-
tees, has never received an adverse report from a committee, and
yet has never become a law ! The question is in a nut-shelL
France made spoliations upon American commerce prior to the
year 1800. She admitted it and was ready to make indemnity.
But the United States was under onerous treaty obligations to
France, in consequence of the provisions of two conventions
made February 6th and 7th, 1778, obligations which might,
and almost certainly would, involve the former in the
wars of France, and which this country was most anxious to
escape from. And she did escape from them, but only by en-
gaging with France to make indemnity herself, to the citizens
of the United States for the losses which they had sufiTered from
the French. Our government pocketed the consideration and re-
pudiated the debt — a meanness and dishonesty, unsurpassed
in the undisputed history of any other civilized nation. The
obligation of the United States to pay these claims has been
maintained in speeches and reports by Daniel Webster, Ed-
ward Everett, Caleb Cushing, Henry Clay, John M. Clayton,
and many other eminent men, including the President of this
Society, but by none, I think, quite so compactly and conclu-
sively, as by Mr. Shepley in a speech in the Senate, on the
twenty-second of December, 1834, which he closed as follows :

'' Compensation has been secured by treaty for all, or nearly all,
the injuries which our citizens have suffered from other nations.
Can the high character of this nation for doing justice to all, at

HON. ETHER SHEPLEY, LL.D. 429

home and abroad, be maintained without making compensation for
these injuries, which have been the consideration of procuring for
her a discharge from very onerous obligations ? If the bill may
pass, the only great claim remaining may be satisfied, and the
duties of the government, to do justice to all, will have been
fulfilled. If these claims are just, all fear of evil consequences to
arise from their allowance may be dismissed. Things are rightly
80 ordered here, that to do jiistice to all others is to serve ourselves
best.''

It were well if these words of gold, with which the extract
closes, could never be forgotten.

The only purely political speech made by Mr. Shepley while
in the Senate, was, I think, the last one which he made during
his membership of that body. It was delivered February 18,
1836. E^ferring to some complaints by Mr. Calhoun, of the
press, as corrupt and abusive, he said :

" It is true that along the political highway we do find the
political slain ; they remain as memorials of the past, and as warn-
ings for the future ; but these were never slain by the slanders and
abuse of a corrupt press. Nor is it in the power of the press,
whether corrupt or pure, to destroy any man by general abuse or
general denunciation. All our past history teaches us, that among
all the numbers who have been politically destroyed, not one has
been so destroyed by general denunciations of the press, or by like
denunciations delivered either in legislative halls, or in public
assemblies of the people. They have been destroyed by their own

acknowledged sayings and doings."

•

I am inclined to make another extract from this speech, for
the reason that it shows, I think, that Mr. Shepley was getting
tired of the Senate, and would not be likely to refuse a position,
should it be tendered him, so much more in harmony with his
tastes, as that of Judge of the highest Court of his State ; and

430 MEMOIBS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHE&

also, because it furnishes evidence that there was in the Senator
a vein of humor, such as, until I fell upon this speech, I had not
supposed him to possess.

'^ Some occurrences here, he had noticed, seemed to amaze and
excite the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Wall), and if it would
not be unacceptable to him (Mr. W. assented) he would endeavor
to explain them. He supposed the Senator might have read the
Constitution, and have there learnt the duties of the Senate ; there
he might have learned that the Senate was a grave, deliberative
assembly, a legislative body ; that it also partook of the power of
the executive, and appeared as a great council in important matters
concerning the nation ; that it also partook of the judicial power,
and might be a high and dignified tribunal, bringing before it for
trial the highest officers in the country ; so viewing it, he would
regard it as sober, grave, deliberate, dignified.

'^ But there was one portion of its practical duties that he might
have overlooked ; it was the part in which we were engaged five
days out of six, or it may be four days out of five. It was only
about one out of four or five days that we were engaged in our
constitutional duties, and on the other days we were employed as
a grand electioqeering central committee ; and it was this part of
our duties which the Senator from New Jersey seemed to have
overlooked; not finding it in the Constitution, it might not have
occurred to him, and might have occasioned some surprise upon his
first appearance in the Senate. And if that Senate would further
indulge him, he would proceed to inform him, when in that grand
Committee of the Whole on political affairs, how political parts,
were apportioned out."

Mr. Shepley then proceeds to indicate, with great felicity and
point, the several parts assigned to Senators Calhoun, Webster,
Clay and others, and concluded by saying :

''In this grand electioneering committee, none of us are silent
partners, and some of us do not like political work ; and being of

HON. ETHER SHEPLEY, LL.D. 431

this last number himself, had taken very little part in it before
this time, and now proposed to leave it.''

But the Senate was not the true theatre for Mr. Shepley's
talents and tastes. He was, before all things and above all
things, a lawyer. This he felt and knew ; and when, in Sep-
tember, 1836, a vacancy on the Bench of the Supreme Judicial
Court of this State occurred, by the resignation of Judge Parris,
he did not hesitate long to accept the appointment, as his suc-
cessor, which was tendered by Governor Dunlap.

Here commenced the best work and the highest usefulness of
Mr. Shepley. Now he began to lay the foundations of a reputa-
tion than which nonQ more solid and enduring illustrates the
judicial annals of our State.

I have a distinct and vivid recollection of Judge Shepley's
accession to the Bench. I had but recently come to the Bar,
and was at an age when strong impressions are apt to be last-
ing ; and I doubt whether the effect produced, at the time, upon
my mind, by the advent of the new Judge — so able, so learned,
so clear, so calm, so prompt, and so dignified did he seem — has
been weakened in the lapse of the many years that have in-
ter\''ened. His first term of service was at Bangor. It com-
menced on the fourth Tuesday of October, 1836, and continued
till late in December. This was just after the culmination of the
great eastern land speculations, and the docket was crowded
with cases. It had been increasing in size for several years, and
there was a crying demand for a strong hand to reduce its bulk
and secure to suitors, if not a speedy trial, a trial at 807ne time.
In the quaint language of Judge Emery, the docket needed to
have " its back-bone broken *' ; and Judge Shepley was the man
who was sent to break it, and who did break it What fixed
the more strongly upon my mind the impression made upon the
Bar by Judge Shepley, was, perhaps, the fact that at this time

432 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

there came on fortrial the first case in which it fell to me to appear
in Court. I had the year before brought several suits in behalf
of Boston merchants, in which the question of the partnership of
the defendants was involved, and the action to be tried would
probably be decisive of all. I had labored for weeks, and I dare
say months, in preparing it for trial, and, as young lawyers
sometimes do, laid myself out quite largely in the opening.
The Judge was patient and attentive as if I had been one of
the veterans of the Bar, and by some questions which I hap-
pened to be able to answer, gave me much encouragement and
composure. The examination of witnesses had not proceeded
far before the leading counsel, George Evans for the defendants,
and Edward Kent for the plaintiffs, perceived that there was a
power on the Bench, which, although gracious and courteous,
was not to be trifled with, and that the facts were to be elicited
only after the rules of law. Their closing arguments were long,
ingenious and eloquent, but within thirty minutes after these
arguments were finished, the cause had been given to the jury
in a charge in which every legal point involved, as affected by
the testimony, was presented in such manner that not even the
dullest man on the panel could mistake the meaning of what
had been said. The Bar of the County had been very generally
interested in the case, from the eminence of the senior counsel
and their curiosity in regard to the new judge. And when the
charge was concluded there was a universal expression that a
more perfect address, both in matter and manner, had never
been given from the Bench of that Court, in Penobscot County.
All parties and all counsel were anxious to have their cases
tried before Judge Shepley, and during his protracted service
on the Bench, the announcement that the next term was to be
held by him never failed to be received by expressions of great
satisfaction.

HON. ETHER SHEPLET, LL.D. 433

Though SO impartial, even, and apparently impassive, during
the progress of a trial, Judge Shepley did not fail to have quick
and generally accurate perceptions of the real merits of the case,
but he never allowed any sympathies to warp his administra-
tion of the law. He held rigidly that justice was to be found
in a faithful adherence to legal principles and rules.

But there was no man who enjoyed more keenly than he the
excitement of a sharply and ably conducted trial. He would
watch the movements, the strategetic maneuvers, the dashing
onsets and the ingenious retreats of eminent lawyers, with a
zest that could not be more intense and hearty. I well remem-
ber his description of a contest of this kind between two law-
yers than whom Maine has never had superiors, (Jeorge Evans,
and Jonathan P. Rogers, then of Bangor, but afterwards of
Boston. To the Judge, who saw clearly every feint and move
by these matchless combatants, and understood their meaning,
the struggle was simply glorious, and he delighted in giving a
description of it, in all its details.

The essential kindness of Judge Shepley was illustrated in
his courtesy to and patience with the young and inexperi-
enced lawyers who appeared in his court, especially if he found
them to be ingenuous and ambitious. Many a member of the
Bar, says Judge Barrows, was indebted to him for not only
kindly words of encouragement, but for grave words of admoni-
tion and reproof as kindly meant

Upon the retirement of Chief Justice Shepley from the Bench
in 1855, many expressions of respect for his character, and re-
gret that his judicial career was closed, were made by the Bar
and people of the State. Among the resolutions that were
passed giving voice to these feelings, was the following, adopted
by the Cumberland Bar, October 23, 1855 :

28

434 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

"Eesolved, That we recognize with the liveliest sensihility the
debt which we and the whole State owe to Chief Justice Shepley
for his long-continued labors and services upon the Bench ; — we
bear testimony to the eminent learning and ability, the unbending
integrity, and untiring and conscientious devotion to duty, with
which he has discharged all the functions of his elevated and re-
sponsible station; and we look back with pride to his judicial
career, marked by a dignity which ever commanded respect, and
by a learning which ever justified confidence."

In forming a just estimate of Chief Justice Shepley, as a
citizen and a man, we shall do well to consider certain lessons
which he wrote and left for his children ; for they are the re-
sults of his long experience, observation and reflection, and
contain the principles and embody the rules by which his own
life was governed, and thus may be regarded as marking so
truly the prominent lines of his own character as to leave it
necessary for little more to be said.

1. Never forget that God rules, and that he does so in the
least of the events of life, as well as in the affairs of nations.

2. Never forget that you have entered upon an endless life,
and that it may be one of happiness or misery, as you comply
with the terms of the gospel by repentance and faith in Christ,
or refuse to do so.

3. Never despair of a reasonable share of success in life,
and never expect it without a diligent attention to the means
of obtaining it

4. Do not rest upon anything for success but your own
personal exertions.

5. Never grasp at a present success by any act that may
obstruct you in your future progress.

6. Let not disappointment dishearten you. It will often
prove to be more useful than success.

HON. ETHEE ' SHEPLBY, LL.D. 435

7. Never forget that truth, honesty and justice constitute
the only foundation for a character on which men can safely
rely for the perfonnance of a private trust or a public duty.
Every departure from this rule by a man or a party has a ten-
dency, by its disastrous effects, to confirm it.

8. The indulgence of passion is a great obstacle to success ;
whUe a calm self-possession is an element of power.

9. The practice of temperance in all things lightens the
burdens of life and tends to prolong it.

These precepts, enforced as they are by the character, ex-
ample and success of the late Chief Justice, are worthy of being
written in letters of light unfading and imperishable. They
are a legacy to the young men of the country, of priceless
value, if they will but accept and heed them.

After the labor of revising the Statutes of 1857 had been
performed, Judge Shepley was at liberty to enter more f uUy
than he had been able before, into the enjoyments of domestic
life, of the society around him which was most congenial, and
to give more of his time to contemplation and general reading.
He was a wide but discriminating reader. Works on religion
and theology had a special attraction for him, and books of
philosophy, science, history and biography made a strong de-
mand on his time and attention, as did also the best works of
our great writers of fiction, which formed the delightful occupa-
tion of many hours during his latest years.

His familiarity with periodical literature, and especially with
the newspapers, kept him abreast with the times, and thoroughly
informed and interested in what was going on in the world
about him. So, when the war of the rebellion broke out, it
was seen that the fires of patriotism were alive and burning in
the breast of this venerable statesman and jurist, and that all
his hopes, prayers and sympathies were in harmony with those

43*6 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

of his friends and compatriots of other days, — Cass, Dickenson,
Dix and others, who had never learned to interpret otherwise
than in its plain, literal sense, General Jackson's immortal sen-
timent, " The Union, it must be preserved." And so when
upon the appointment of Colonel Shepley to the command of
the 12th Eegiment of Maine Volunteers, in the Autumn of
1861, one of the largest and most lucrative law offices in the
State found itself in need of the oversight and direction of an
able and experienced counsellor, the Ex-Chief Justice tendered
his services to supply this want ; and during the time — ^three
or four years — that Colonel (afterward General) George F. Shep-
ley was detained by the President in discharge of such duties
and functions as pertained to his appointments as Military Gov-
ernor of Louisiana, of Eastern Virginia, and as the first Military
Governor of Richmond — he was prompt and patient in the per-
formance of services which would have tasked the energy and
endurance of much younger men.

But with the close of the war came relief from active work,
to be succeeded all too soon by the death of the beloved com-
panion of more than fifty happy years. Yet, in this affliction,
the resources upon which a truly Christian gentleman may
draw were not wanting to Chief Justice Shepley, as was seen
in the resignation, the undoubting trust and the pleasant com-
panionship which made him a comfort and delight to his family,
a source of enjoyment to his friends, especially those of " the
household of faith," and a benediction to the city upon whose
streets his well-known form was a vision of contentment,
serenity and peace. If, in the years in which his mind was
much occupied by the cares and responsibilities of official duty,
there was in his manner a sedateness bordering sometimes upon
austerity, it was in manner only. He felt sensitively the weight
that rested upon him, and was careful that in no way, through

HON. BTHER SHEPLEY, LL.D. 437

him, should there be any abatement of respect for the high
office, the upholding of which, in its integrity, purity and pres-
tige, had been committed to his hands. But, it will be remem-
bered with unfailing pleasure by his friends, how, when freed
from the burdens of official station, and under the mellowing
influences of time, and experience and meditation, during the
score of years in which he remained to us, these harsher lines
were worn away, leaving only a breadth of sympathy and catho-
licity, of charity of creed, party, social interests and aims, which
spread over the closing scenes of his life a vesper light of ex-
ceeding softness and beauty.

Happy is the community to whose daily observation is granted
an old age like this ; it exalts and ennobles human life ; it
enlarges human promise ; it encourages human faith ; it opens
and expands the human heart; it makes the whole world
bright ; it is at once an incentive and a solace, an education
and a blessing.

438 MEMOIKS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

MEMOIR OF

HON. GEORGE T. DAVIS.

BY HON. GEORGE F. TALBOT.

Read bbforb thb Maine Historical Sogiett at Tortijlkd,

March 14, 1878.

In no part of Maine, where my lifetime, a little longer than
the whole period of the State's existence, has been passed, have
I come in contact with that jealousy and resentment of Massa-
chusetts, imputed to our people on a late public occasion, by a
person only slightly conversant with our history. Eeared in a
community more intimately connected by business and social re-
lations with Boston, than with either the political or commercial
capital of our own State, I was connected with famihes that
claimed kinship with the Puritans, and that had steadily resisted
the separation as cutting them off from their share in the ancestral
glories of the colonial and revolutionary periods of which they
were proud. I was taught to honor and revere Massachusetts as
the beneficent parent, from whom had been inherited those price-
less institutions, the free church, the common schools and the
town meeting. It was to her liberality and wise forethought, too.

HON. GEOEGE T. DAVIS. 439

that we owed the opportunities for academic and collegiate edu-
cation, which enabled our foremost citizens, upon whom fell the
conduct of pqblic affairs, to acquit themselves of their respon-
sibilities with honor to themselves, and with the respect and
confidence of the people. The controversies, which during the
last generation so bitterly affected our social and political life,
divided the people of Maine, as they also did those of Massa-
chusetts. In the new State, as was to have been expected in a
community of working men who had their fortunes to make,
the democratic sentiment obtained a numerical majority ; but in
the new, as well as in the old State, the men of property, high
social standing and liberal culture, gravitated naturally to the
conservative side. The political controversy that was rife
when Maine was a district, continued after she became a State.
It was a controversy between opinions, and to a certain extent
between classes, but it never became a controversy between
sections, such as we have witnessed between the North and the
South, nor like that now beginning to show itself upon financial
questions between the East and the West

Nearly all the people of our own nationality, who settled
Maine, were emigrants from Massachusetts, and when that old
stock began to show rare qualities under the hardy training of
our rough life, Massachusetts received back our sons with larger
honor and more liberal bounty for their talents and genius, than
our narrow circumstances could afford. We certainly can feel
only gratitude for the distinction with which Massachusetts has
received and honored natives of our own State, who, emigrating
from us, have become eminent in the country and in the world,
in literature, in politics and in jurisprudence.

Only rarely has she repaid us in kind, and when (Jeorge T.
Davis, in the fullness of his powers, came to Portland to pass
the elegant leisure of his age, Massachusetts gave back to Maine

440 MEMOIRS AKD BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

a token of acknowledgment of the debt she owed us for the
genius of Longfellow and the statesmanship and integrity of
Andrew.

It is a grateful and appropriate office for this Society, of
which Mr. Davis was for several years an active and zealous
member, to pay some tribute to his character and worth.
Neither general history, nor family traditions, nor local annals
had been his special study. In a liberal culture, embracing the
most miscellaneous reading, and that made him an encyclopedia
upon all points of minute knowledge in history and literature,
it cannot be said that he had any special study. Men, dominated
by an idea, sitting down persistently to develop a historical
theory, a measure of public redress, or a scientific proposition,
are very apt to lose both their self-possession and their person-
ality. It seemed to be one of the canons of his conduct never
to make himself disagreeable, even to the most fastidious and
delicate sense. His rare powers of pleasing, due to a genial
wit, and cultivated to the highest style by the most favorable
social opportunities, prevented him from intruding his convic-
tion or opinion upon any question in any provoking or belliger-
ent way. So, if he brought not into this Society to enrich its
annals, stores of minute historical lore, nor the pen nor tongue
of a controversialist to sharpen its discussions, he brought what
he brought into every circle, however select or casual, his genial
manners, his large and liberal spirit, and a refined taste, that
invited everybody coming under his influence to do and say
only their best things.

In a life and character like that of Mr. Davis, there is very
little that is striking, and nothing to arrest the popular atten-
tion. In a youth never cramped by poverty, nor affronted with
the mean hardships and privations that try the spirits of men
destined to a great career, there is very little to make a popular

HON. GEORGE T. DAVIS. 441

or touching story. He passed by easy gradations from youth
to age in the achievement of professional, political and social
success, never conspicuous, but always adequate to a modest
self-estimation and a rational ambition. Notwithstanding some
severe and peculiar domestic sorrows, which his elastic spirit
and sincere faith enabled him to bear without repining or de-
pression, his life may be considered to have been, according to
the standard of an average experience, a happy and successful
one.

Mr. Davis was bom in Sandwich, Mass., January 12, 1810.
His father was Sheriff of hi^ County, and his uncle was for
many years Judge of the U. S. District Court of Massachusetts.
He was graduated at the age of nineteen, at Harvard College,
having among his classmates the late Chief Justice Bigelow,
Dr. 0. W. Holmes and Eev. James Freeman Clarke. Perhaps
there has been no college class in this country, up to this time,
more famous, imless it be that one graduated in our own State,
whose fiftieth anniversary Mr. Longfellow's Morituri Saiutor
mus so honorably celebrated. Kot a little of this celebrity may
be due to the strong class feeling those men of rare abilities
have cherished toward each other, and to the poetic splendor in
which the genius of Holmes has illuminated their names. Mr.
Davis pursued the study of law at Cambridge, and commenced
the practice of his profession at Greenfield, in Massachusetts,
where he continued to reside until 1865, when he removed to
our own State. Either during his college life or while studying
law, he became intimately acquainted with Margaret Fuller,
who was about his own age, and whose society and correspond-
ence seem very powerfully to have affected his character. That
intellectual and spiritual renaisM/Mie which affected the tenden-
cies of thought throughout New England, under the name of
transcendentalism, was already b^[inning to manifest itself in the

442 MEMOIBS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

new studies and profound speculations of several leading Uni-
tarian clergymen, and in the breaking away from conventional
opinions which characterized a few studious men and women.
The ideas which afterward obtained expression in sermons and
books, and of which the scheme of a new social life at Brook
Farm was an attempted realization, passed then from one
glowing face to another in daring speech, or from hand to
hand in fervent correspondence. Such high converse, prolonged
in a frank and confidential correspondence, seemed to have
brought these two persons into an intimacy which lasted some
years, and determined mental tendencies upon both sides. She
says of him in one of her letters :

''He was as premature as myself at thirteen — a man in the
range of his thoughts, analyzing motives and explaining principles,
when he ought to have been playing at cricket or hunting in the
woods. All his characteristics wore brilliant hues : he was very
witty, and I owe to him the great obligation of being the only per-
son who has excited me to frequent and boundless gayety. In
later days — ^for my intimacy with him lasted many years — be be-
came* the feeder of my intellect. He delighted to ransack the
history of a nation, of an art or a science, and bring to me all the
particulars. Telling them, fixed them in his own memory, which
was the most tenacious and ready I have ever known ; he enjoyed
my clear perception as to their relative value, and I classified them
in my own way."

This picture of his intellectual traits, drawn by a master hand,
shows how early and in what direction Mr. Davis' character
had developed.

A law practice in a country town could not entirely engage
faculties as active as those Miss Fuller so accurately describes.
Accordingly Mr. Davis, the second year of his practice in Green-
field, established the Franklin Mercury newspaper, and man-

HON. GEORGE T. DAVIS. 443

aged and edited it for three years. He interested himself, too,
in politics, was a member of the General Court, one year in the
House, two years in the Senate, and served one term, 1851 and
1852, as a Representative in Congress from the district in which
he lived.

His first considerable speech was in reply to an attack upon
him by his brilliant colleague, Robert Rantoul, Jr. It is a curi-
ous illustration of the beneficent change, which has taken place
in public sentiment within the last twenty-six years, that these
two leading Congressmen should stand up and formally accuse
each other before a public assembly, in which the proscriptive
and tyrannical pro-slavery spirit was almost supreme, of humane
and generous sentiments. For the benefit of their own fame, it
may now be said, that each antagonist made out a tolerably
clear case. While each asserted that he resolutely adhered to
those just and humane sentiments, each convicted the other of
having compromised them, at least, by suppression and silence
under the exigencies of his political relations. That natural
conservatism, which had drawn Mr. Davis away from the ag-
gressive radicalism of the inspired apostles of transcendentalism,
attached him more to the cautious and constitutional measures
of Mr. Webster, who had already largely lost his influence over
the popular heart, rather than to the fortunes of Charles Sum-
ner, just beginning his career as the uncompromising advocate
of freedom at all hazards. It is, perhaps, not time yet to sum
up and judicially determine the issue involved in that old con-
troversy. This much, however, may be said, that when the
terrible convulsion came, in which slavery suddenly fell, its
foundations dissolved in the blood and tears of a nation, the
catastrophe was as much due to the strong union sentiment
which Webster and Everett, Cass and Benton had cherished as
to the hatred of slavery, which Garrison and Sumner, Phillips
and Giddings had excited.

444 MEMOIBS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

Mr. Davis spoke at great length upon a contested election
case froin the State of Pennsylvania, showing himself an expert
in the comprehension and exposition of legal principles, and in
the discussion of the evidence applicable to those principles.
But the eflFort of his in Congress, which is most generally re-
membered, and which gave him almost a national reputation,
was the speech he made in reporting to the House resolutions
drawn by him on the occasion of the announcement of the
death of Daniel Webster. It is easy to understand how his
exquisite literary taste, and the stores of classic and poetic
learning his tenacious memory retained, enabled him to excel
all his peers in the grace and eloquence with which this affect-
ing tribute to the fame of the great statesman, his personal
friend, was performed.

Mr. Davis was not a candidate for re-election. He escaped
the mania for public life, with which a single session of Congress,
like an insane root, is very apt to infect all who have enjoyed
it ; and he never, in his later life, spoke of his Congressional
career as specially grateful to his memory, or one which he
cared to renew. He returned with considerable enthusiasm to
the practice of his profession, and for many years held the first
place at the Bar of his County.

Mr. Davis was twice married ; once to a daughter of Nathaniel
P. Bussell, of Boston, and again, in 1863, to an estimable lady of
this city, well known in an appreciating circle of friends for
mental traits and a brilliant wit not unlike his own, that
made them attached and congenial companions.

Mr. Davis died in this city on the seventeenth of June last
He had been for several years an invalid, and in a physical con-
dition that excited the solicitude of his friends. To those, who
knew him intimately, he had spoken calmly of himself, ashre-
prieved of the inevitable stroke only from day to day. The

HON. GEOKGE T. DAVIS. 445

end came happily without prolonged or considerable suffering,
and without that long clouding of the intellect, which both he
and his friends had dreaded much more than death.

It is not for his ability, or reputation as a lawyer, or as a
public man, that Mr. Davis will be the most widely remembered
and esteemed. He went out of the beaten path in which the
common American mind competes for distinction. He dis-
covered the high rewards that a private and social life have to
give to those men, who seduously cultivate the talents which
attract and please. He made conversation an art, and intro-
duced into the circles that surround a New England dinner
table, the gathering of a college class or the festive occasions of
an agricultural society, the high style, the copious anecdote
and the enlivening wit that distinguished the salons of Paris
in the early part of the century.

Mr. Bowles, late editor of the Springfield Sepublican, who,
after a laborious life, has himself gone, too early, to regain the
companionship of his admired friend, says of him:

*' His great distinction was in literary culture and his social
gifts. Here he was indeed a genius, so superior and so brillianty
that not only were all other men dwarfed in comparison, but eveiy-
thing else that he did or was, seems small and inadequate. His
knowledge was eclectic, yet universal. He knew something of
everything, and of many things much. His mind was all-devour-
ing, all-embracing, and seemed never to let go of anything it had
ever possessed. As a conversationalist indeed brilliant, suggestive,
deft to daintiness, sufficiently sympathetic to established personal
relations, but not too much so to interrupt the flow of his wit,
which was ever the dominant quality of his talk, it may fairly be
said that he had no peer in all America. For a generation he
made life in Greenfield famous by his presence, his social and liter-
ary leadership, and the circle of bright people that he drew out
and around him, at home and from abroad.

446 MEMOIRS AND BIOGEAPHICAL SKETCHES.

** Those who never saw him and listened to his conversation can
have no adequate idea of the marvelous brilliancy of his mind and
its rare stores of knowledge. Those who had such opportunity
will preserve a vivid memory of one of the most remarkable char-
acters that ever lived ; and those who had the good fortune to come
still nearer to him, and feel the added charm of his singularly frank,
confiding nature, its tender charity, its generous philosophy, its
great capacity for enjoyment of little things, will be somewhat at
a loss to decide for what their admiration is the most profound,
and their sadness that he is dead the deepest."

It is impossible to be more generous, and at the same time
more discriminating, than this sketch by a friend of a mind he
knew so welL

The advent to Portland of such a man, in the plenitude of
his powers, wtis an event of no little influence. It was some
time before we found him out, and learned to appreciate and
make him available. Had he come to us as the professional
advocate of some cause or theory, we should not have been long
in finding for him a platform, from which he could enlighten
or convince us. Had his severe taste and simplicity not made
all advertising and self-assertion abhorrent to him, we should
sooner have learned what he could do. A few did learn that
here was a man that had cultivated not the universal American
art of making speeches, but the unique and rare art, little known
in America, of talking. Here was a man who could bring an
unknown charm into social life, who could make an evening
repast not a dull clatter of knives and forks, and a racket of
voices expressing only animal satisfaction, but a feast of reason
and a flow of souL Happy in the memory of those who
enjoyed it will be those occasions, often casual, when they met
him for the first time and felt the coruscations of his wit flash like
summer lightning through the heaviness and dullness of small

HON. GEORGE T. DAVIS- 447

talk and commonplace. To him, as to his auditors, it was an
equal pleasure, since he found in their eager appreciation and
applause fresh fields and pastures new, wherein his playful spirit
could revel I have been with him at remote country inns,
when he has been introduced for the first time to people of
both sexes, who seemed to me to be utterly incapable of intel-
lectual appreciation, or to be the inspirers of wit or eloquence,
and have seen him open his repertoire of stories and narrate
them in lively sequence and profusion, stimulated by the delight
and amazement of his listeners, who seemed to regard him as a
visitant from some other world.

Unlike most great talkers, Mr. Davis was not arrogant ; he
never monopolized conversation, or showed the least annoyance
at interruption or indifference. Indeed, he seemed better pleased
to draw out other minds and put them in their best aspects,
than when he held the floor alone. He was the most sympa-
thetic man I ever knew towards all original fine thought. He
liked to tell the good jokes made by other people, and knew
no rivalry in his art He used to carry about in his porte-monnaie
little newspaper scraps of unconsidered good things gathered in
his universal reading. He would make occasions to bring out
and obtain notice for obscure young writers, who had attempted
something before quite finding the direction of their powers.
He gladly took the assigned part, however sujjordinate, in any
literary exercises, from which a refined pleasure could be derived,
or by which taste and culture could be improved ; and his society
was as much delighted in for the heartiness, with which he ap-
preciated good things said by others, as for the good things he
said himself. Hence his presence in this city was not only a
rare ingredient in our social pleasure, but it was also a great
stimulus to intellectual culture and to the elevation of the
standard of excellence in all literary and artistic work.

448 MEMOIBS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

As Mr. Bowles says, " Historical themes were always a great
pleasure to him, and much exercised his interest and his indus-
try in the later years of his life.** The members of this Society
will remember the interest he contributed to these meetings by
papers which he read, indicating his historical inquisitiveness,
his acute and critical faculty of weighing literary evidence, and
his sound judgment in the solution of historic questions. But
they will remember, with more affectionate interest, his hospi-
tality, his genial presence, and the wit and humor with which
he was wont to enliven their discussions.

HON. EDWARD KENT, LL.D. 449

MEMOIE OF

HON. EDWARD KENT, LL.D.

BY HON. JOHN E. GODFREY.

RbAD BBFOSS the MaIKB HlBTOBIGAL SOGIBTT AT POBTULND,

Mat 16, 1879.
With bbief Rbmarkb bt Israbl Washburn, Jr., and Gbo. F. Talbot.

No man ever died in Bangor more universally beloved and
respected than Judge Kent For half a century his face was
familiar to the people of that city, and it may be said, with
truth, that he died without an enemy.

In one of his early orations he recited with much feeling the
now familiar quotation from that great American poet,* who in
a few short weeks followed him " to that mysterious realm " :

" So live, that when thy stimmoiis comes to join
The innumerable caravan, which moves
To that mysterious realm, where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death.
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night.
Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave.
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams." t

* Wm. Cullen Bryant, died June 12, 1878, in his 84th year,
t Thanatopsis.
29

450 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

So he lived. Clearly that lesson never faded from his mem-
ory. All who knew him intimately during his life, and were
with him in his last davs, will bear witness that the " unf alter-
ing trust " was his to the end,

Edward Kent was bom in Concord, New Hampshire, January
8, 1802. He was the youngest son and sixth child of William
Austin Kent, a native of Charlestown, Mass., who settled in
Concord. His mother was a native of Sterling, Mass., and a
sister of Prentiss Mellen, the first Chief Justice of the State of
Maine. Their family consisted of four sons and four daughters.
Col. William Kent, the oldest child, is now about eighty-six
years of age, and living in Concord. He was educated a mer-
chant. The second child became the wife of Hon. James H.
Bingham, a graduate of Dartmouth College, and a classmate of
Daniel Webster. George Kent was the second son. He was a
graduate of Dartmouth College ; is a lawyer by profession, but
has devoted much of his attention to literature, and many of
his poetical gems have found a place in the publications of the
country. He has been an editor. Under President Lincoln,
he was Consul at Valencia, in Spain. Now, at about eighty-
two years of age, he is a Clerk in the Treasury Department, in
Washington. John, the third son, became a merchant in
Boston, and died in the twenty-sixth year of his age. The
second daughter became the wife of Eev. Samuel P. Newman, a
graduate of Harvard and a former professor in Bowdoin College.
The third daughter was married to Eev. Moses G. Thomas, a
graduate of Brown University, who became a Unitarian clergy-
man, and was settled in Concord. The fourth daughter and
youngest child was the wife of Eev. Charles Packard, a graduate
of Bowdoin College, an Orthodox Congregational clergyman,
who died in Biddeford, Maine, the place of his last settlement.

Edward was educated at Harvard College, and was graduated

HON. EDWARD KENT, LL.D. 451

in 1821, at the age of nineteen. That he stood well as to
scholarship, is indicated by the fact that he was a member of
the Phi Beta Kappa Society, which embraced less than a third
of the graduating class, numbering fifty-nine. Among his class-
mates were Ealph Waldo Emerson, Josiah Quincy — a former
Mayor of Boston — Eobert W. Barnwell, once a member of
Congress and President of the principal college of his State,
(South Carolina), Charles W. Upham, a former member of
Congress from Essex District, Mass., and Judge Edward G.
Loring.

He was qualified in the law under Benjamin Orr, one of
Maine's most eminent lawyers, and under Chancellor Kent,
and entered the profession well grounded in its principles.

In 1824, he,visited Bangor, with a view to establishing him-
self there if sufficient inducements offered. He found it a
thriving town, with about 2,500 inhabitants, at the head of ship
navigation on the Penobscot Eiver, the outlet of a great lumber
region, and promising to be the center of the business of a large
portion of the State. He had a keen sense of humor, and on
his visit met with some amusing incidents. One he was fond
of relating. In taking a stroll, he reached the Kenduskeag
bridge, then an unpretentious structure of wood about thirty
feet in width, having sidewalks, upon which he saw people
passing freely. Upon proceeding to follow their example, he
was brought to a stand by a shout :

" Hollo ! Gk)ing to run your toll ? "

Looking in the direction of the voice, he found it proceeded
from a bellicose looking person across the street, standing in a
door-way. To avoid a scene, he went towards him and learned
that, as he was a stranger, he was required to pay tribute to
the extent of one cent for the privilege of passing over the

452 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

structure, while to citizens the passage was free. He conchided
to become a citizen !

The next year he returned to Bangor, and in September,
1825, opened a law-oflSice, and became the seventh member of
the profession in the place; the others were Allen Gilman,
Samuel E. Dutton, Jacob McGaw, John Grodfrey, William D.
Williamson and Thomas A. Hill.

His fine personal appearance and agreeable manners soon
made him friends, especially among the young men, who, the
next year, elected him to the position of foreman of a new fire
engine which the town had purchased, and they had named
" Washington." One would hardly suppose that Mr. Kent was
the quality of person to " run with the machine " ; but he did
The position was deemed one of honor by the young men — and
he honored the position while he held it, which was not long.

He loved his profession for the intellectual labor it involved.
He disliked its drudgery. He was not fond of pursuing poor
debtors, and devoted some of the time, which might have been
given to that business, to writing occasional political articles for
the newspaper, or engaging in the discussion of political ques-
tions. In the autumn of 1826, public notice was given that
the " Debating Society " would assemble at his office to debate
the question " Whether it is commendable, in a candidate for
office, to be active in promoting his own election ? " The only
record we have of the part he took in the debate — ^that of his
life — is, that he advocated the negative.

In the spring of the following year, much interest prevailed
in regard to the Greek struggle, and a public meeting was held
in Bangor in behalf of that people. Mr. Kent was the Secretary
of the meeting and did much efficient work. The people, gen-
erally, became so absorbed in the cause of the patriots that every
one felt it his duty to contribute something. The devotion of

HON. EDWAED KENT, LL.D. 453

a colored barber, by the name of Hanson, who advertised his
intentions of giving a certain day's services in his vocation, for
the cause, and actually giving them, without requiring compen-
sation from his customers, afforded the Secretary considerable
amusement

At that time it was a rule of the Supreme Court, that no per-
son should be admitted as Counsellor in the Court, until he had
practiced two years as an Attorney in the Court of Common
Pleas. Mr. Kent was admitted as counsellor in 1827.

In the same year he was appointed, by the Gk)vernor of the
State, Chief Justice of the Court of Sessions. He held the
office from the April term, 1827, through the December term,
1828.

About this time he entered into co-partnership with Jonathan
P. Eogers, a distinguished member of the Bar. The connection
continued two or three years. Mr. Eogers was Attorney Gen-
eral of the State.

Soon after, their co-partnership was discontinued — in 1831-2,
Mr. Kent formed a business connection with Jonas Cutting,
who was afterward a Justice ol the Supreme Court. The con-
nection continued about eighteen years. The style of the firm
was Kent & Cutting. Judge Cutting, many years afterward,
facetiously remarked, that it was an improper arrangement of
the names ; but it would not have been so if he had discovered
in season that he was a year older than Mr. Kent He sup-
posed that he was a year younger.

Mr. Kent's popularity is shown by the fact that he was
repeatedly elected to many subordinate offices of the town —
Moderator of meetings ; Town Agent ; a member of the Super-
intending School Committee from 1828 for four consecutive
years, and Bepresentative to the Legislature from the Bangor
District, which comprised the towns of Bangor, Orono (of which

454 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

Oldtown^was then a part), Button (now Glenburn) and Sunk-
haze (now Milford), for the years 1828 and 1829. Gorham
Parks was his Democratic opponent.

He was twenty-six years old when he entered the Legislature.
He made himself conspicuous by resisting, against strong party
opposition, the incorporating Argyle, as a town, and its annexa-
tion to the Bangor District, urging that the township was owned
by Waterville College and contained only two freeholders ; that
but thirty persons prayed for the incorporation, whereas forty
remonstrated against it, on the ground that they would be
subjected to ruinous taxation if the incorporation took place ;
that the district was already probably the largest in the State,
and that the town could not be annexed to it, as the Constitu-
tion prohibited the alteration of the established representation
until the next general apportionment. His opponents, with
much bitterness, charged him with resisting the annexation for
the reason that it would change the political complexion of the
district — a reason which would have justified him as a partisan
— ^but he triumphed as a lawyer ; the Supreme Court afterward
sustained his position. ♦

In 1829, Mr. Kent was selected for the Fourth of July ora-
tor in Bangor. The leading democrats made arrangements for
a partisan celebration, but the citizens, who thought the day
should be celebrated with a view to stimulating patriotic friend-
ship rather than partisan hate, made much effort to have a
general celebration of unusual excellence. Several officers and
soldiers of the Revolution, and distinguished strangers, partici-
pated. The prayer was made by Dr. John Smith, Senior Pro-
fessor in the Theological Seminary ; the Declaration was read
by Eev. Prof. Geo. E. Adams, and a hymn, written for the
occasion by B. B. Thatcher, the poet, was sung. It is recorded
that Mr. Kent's oration was listened to " with gratified atten-

HON. EDWARD KENT, LL.D. 455

tion"; that it was" a chaste and eloquent production, and
breathed the sentiments of enlightened patriotism, unsullied by
the bitterness of party spirit — and was worthy of the day,"

Bangor became a city in 1834. The fibrst Mayor was Allen
Gilman, a pioneer lawyer of the town, a native of New
Hampshire, who migrated in 1800, two years before Mr. Kent
was bom. Mr. Kent was his successor as Mayor two years
after Mr. Oilman's first election. Until this time, (1836), Mr.
Kent had more or less connection with the public affairs of the
place. When candidate for the mayoralty, he was opposed,
politically, by the democrats — Amos M. Roberts, recently de-
ceased, being his opponent ; but, having many strong personal
friends in their party, he was elected by a large majority. In
1837, he was re-elected by an increased majority. He gave
great satisfaction as Mayor. His voice was always in favor of
education and good morals, and he received the ready support
of his fellow citizens whose names were identified with those
objects. He had no hobby, but when he felt that he could say
a word effectively in behalf of a good cause, he did not hesitate
to say it. Thus, in his second inaugural message, he gratified
the friends of temperance by this language :

" The subject of pauperism leads to the consideration of its pro-
lific source, intemperance. As a municipal corporation, we are
interested in this subject, for oar burdens and taxes are swelled by
the crime and misery attendant upon this destroyer of human life
and human happiness. As the constituted guardians of the public
weal, it is our duty to do what we can to restrain its ravages. ' I
trust that the resolution adopted by the Board of last year will be
adhered to, and that no legalized and licensed drinking will be
found in our limits. In my view, the sanction or influence of legal
authority should never be given to a traffic which fills our jails
with criminals and almshouses with paupers, and our whole land
with want and misery."

456 MEMOIBS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

In 1836, the Whigs nominated Mr. Kent as their candidate
for Governor. The Democrats nominated Robert P. Dunlap, of
Brunswick, who was elected.

In 1837, Mr. Kent was again nominated by the Whigs.
Grorham Parks, his old competitor in the Bangor District for the
ofi&ce of Representative, was the nominee of the Democrats.
Mr. Kent was elected.

Maine had for many years been a Democratic State, and Mr.
Kent's election was a shock to the leaders of that party. They
could not be reconciled to it, and in the Legislature, they put
every obstacle in the way of his inauguration. The committee
to whom the question of the election was referred, made an able
report, declaring Mr. Kent elected. Then was commenced a
war upon the returns. It was frankly admitted that Mr. Kent
had a majority of the votes, but it was alleged that there were
informalities in the proceedings connected with the election in
several towns, which would invalidate the certificates of the elec-
tion returned to the Secretary of State's office, and that there-
fore the votes of those towns should not be counted, and the
Democrats proposed to introduce testimony to invalidate theuL
This was vigorously resisted by the Whigs, and the controversy
became so violent and protracted, that it appeared as if there
might be no Governor at alL At length, however, the disaster
was averted by an agreement to refer the question to the
Supreme Court That tribunal was composed of Nathan Wes-
ton, Nicholas Emery and Ether Shepley — a tribunal of which
the State might weU be proud — ^who, disregarding party predi-
lection, promptly returned an opinion sustaining the position
of the Whigs, that it wtis not competent for the two branches
of the Legislature to admit evidence to prove that a return of
the vote for Gk)vemor given in any city, town or plantation, to
the office of the Secretary of State, is not what it purports to

HON. EDWARD KENT, LL.D 457

be. Thus was the controversy settled, and the Legislature
passed a resolve declaring Edward Kent elected Governor ; and
made arrangements for his inauguration, having consumed the
lai^er portion of the month of January in altercation.

A committee, consisting of Mr. Dumont, of the Senate, and
Messrs. Codman and Parris, of the House, was despatched to
Bangor, to notify Mr. Kent of his election and to escort him to
Augusta.

On January 18, 1838, he tendered his resignation as Mayor
of Bangor. The city journal of that day recorded the fact that
he departed from the town in the afternoon, " amidst the roar
of artillery and the cheers of his fellow citizens." His inaugu-
ration took place on the nineteenth. He read his message. In
regard to this paper, the organ of the Whigs said that it was
" a matter of just pride and congratulation to the Whigs, that
the first paper issued by the Chief Magistrate of their choice
should be one of so high character ; so able in its style ; so en-
lightened and comprehensive in its views; so liberal in its
policy ; so firm and so moderate in its tone."

Specie payments had been suspended by the banks in conse-
quence of the pressure of the times. He alluded to the fact,
and excused it on the ground that it was occasioned by necessity ;
opposed legalizing it, however, and urged resumption at the earli-
est possible day. He referred to the North-Eastem Boundary
question, and insisted that the line should be run as authorized
by Congress, without delay ; and recommended that the General
Grovernment should be called upon to bring the controversy to
a close and free our soil from foreign jurisdiction, and protect
us from invasion, as it was bound to do by the Constitution.

Governor Kent thoroughly investigated this question, which
had now become one of absorbing interest in the State, and at
the opening of the next session of the Legislature he made a

458 MEMOIKS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

communication in which he stated that he had taken measuies
tending to its settlement — detailing them.

He was succeeded, as Governor, by Mr. Fairfield during the
two following years, in which occurred the "Aroostook War,"
which brought the controversy to a crisis.

In 1840, he was again a candidate against Governor Fairfield,
and there was no election by the people.* The four highest
candidates were John Fairfield, Edward Kent, F. O. J. Smith
and Hannibal Hamlin. From these, the House sent to the
Senate the names of John Fairfield and Edward Kent A
majority of the latter body being Whigs, Mr. Kent was elected
Governor by a vote of 16 to 8 for Mr. Fairfield. Of his message
this year the Kennebec Journal said: " We can imagine nothing
we could wish were added to it, and we see nothing in it that
should have been omitted."

♦This was the year of the memorable musical campaign, in which General
Harrison and Mr. Van Buren were the opposing candidates for the Presi-
dency. Among the numerous doggerel songs, with which the coimtry was
inundated, was one in which the name of Mr. Kent was glorified in the fol-
lowing stanzas of the fifteen to twenty of which it was composed :

"Now, who shall we have for our

Governor, Governor?
Who ? tell me, who ?
Let's have Edward Kent, for he's a team
For Tippecanoe and Tyler, too;

Tippecanoe and Tyler, too ;
And with them we'll beat little Van, Van :
Van is a used up man ;
And with them we'll beat little Van !

" Oh, have you heard the news from Maine ?

Maine, Maine ?

All honest and true.
She is all for Kent, and seven thousand gain.
For Tippecanoe and Tyler too I

Tippecanoe, &c."

HON. EDWARD KENT, LL.D. 459

Governor Kent held the oflSce during the year 1841, in which
year Governor Fairfield was re-elected. This gentleman re-
sumed the gubernatorial chair in 1842.

The troubles between Maine and New Brunswick having
been arranged by their respective Governors, through the inter-
vention of General Scott, acting in behalf of the United States,
the Aroostook war was brought to a close, with the boundary
question still under discussion. In 1842, the discussion ma-
tured in a convention between the British minister. Lord Ash-
burton, and Daniel Webster, the American Secretary of State
under President Tyler. Mr. Kent was made a commissioner by
the Legislature to confer with the Secretary in regard to the
interests of Maine. His colleagues upon the commission were
William P. Preble, Edward Kavanagh and John Otis. In the
negotiation he urged the maintaining of the integrity of the
territory of the State inviolate, but was not successful. The
surrender of a portion of this territory in the settlement, against
his protests, was the occasion of much feeling in the State.

Governor Kent resumed the practice of his profession in Ban-
gor, with Mr. Cutting, with whom he continued until he was
appointed Consul to Eio de Janeiro, by President Taylor, in
1849. Tlie duties of this office he performed efficiently and
satisfactorily for four years, and until President Pierce relieved
him by appointing to the office his ancient opponent. Col.
Parks. He then returned to Bangor, and again resumed his
practice. In this he continued, having associated with him his
brother George, until the year 1859, when he was appointed by
Governor Lot M. Morrill to a seat upon the Bench of the Su-
preme Court. Among his colleagues was his old co-partner
Cutting, who was appointed in 1854. Judge Kent was re-ap-
pointed in 1866, by Gtovernor Cony, and held the office until
1873. He was in the full vigor of his powers when his term

460 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

expired, and, in the opinion of many, should have been re-ap-
pointed. His ability was unquestioned, and the manner in
which he had performed his judicial duties was eminently and
universally satisfactory. It was supposed that he would not
accept a re-appointment.

After he left the Bench, he spent a year with his family in
travel in Europe. He was for some time in London, and then
upon the continent, and visited Italy and Greece. He saw
much to interest and amuse him, but was glad when he found
himself again among his friends in Maine.

In 1874, he again resumed the practice of the law in Bangor.
He would not permit himself to rust out, and was engaged in
several important cases between 1874 and the time of his death.
He was a careful student, and, until he finally left his office,
was constantly examining the authorities.

The last public position held by him was that of President of
the Convention for the amendment of the Constitution of the
State, in 1875.

At the time of his death, he was a member of the Maine
Historical Society, to which he was elected in 1831.

Judge Kent was twice married. His first wife was Sarah,
daughter of Nathaniel Johnston, Esq., of Hillsborough, N. H.
His family, when he went to Eio, consisted of this wife, one son,
James, and two daughters, Charlotte and Kitty. James died
in Eio ; Charlotte married an English gentleman in Bio, and
died there of yellow fever, leaving an infant — since dead. Hia
wife and Kitty returned with him to the United States. Mrs.
Kent died soon after their return, in 1853, and Kitty survived
her about two years.

Mr. Kent was overwhelmed with grief by his successive
afflictions. His philosophy, however, would not permit him to
succumb, and, with the lapse of time, he brought himself to

HON. EDWAED KENT, LL.D. 461

submit to the inevitable. His chief happiness had been in
domestic life, and this he determined to renew. In 1855, he
married Miss Abby A, Eockwood, daughter of Rev. Otis Rock-
wood, of Lynn, Massachusetts, a lady whose vivacity, intel-
lectual and other personal qualities were well calculated to aid
him in recovering the social pleasures of which he had been so
unhappUy deprived. She, and their only son and child, bearing
his father's name and of fine promise, are still living.

One who knew Judge Kent intimately all his life, furnishes
the following notes, which afford a correct idea of one phase of
his character :

" In estimating aright the character of Judge Kent, certain
salient points, not prominent, though not wholly ignored in his
official relations, should not be overlooked. They go far, indeed,
in making up the well-rounded life of our departed brother and
friend. The most prominent of these traits were the openness of
his nature, the amenity and kindness of his disposition from his
youth up, and his capacity for and appreciation of wit and humor.
It may be truly said, without detracting from the weightier points
of his character, that he ^ was not only witty himself, but the cause
of wit in others.' It was, perhaps, humor rather than wit that he
indulged in himself and appreciated the most in others — humor of
a chastened kind, rather than that boisterous wit which would ' set
the table in a roar.' A quaint conceit, or happy turn of expres-
sion, a play i^pon words or verbal pun, would go farther with him,
dwell in his memory the longer, and be recalled with more satis-
factory enjoyment, than the ribald jest or the coarse and vulgar
anecdote.

" He often noticed, and indulged himself in relating, the pecul-
iarities of his professional brethren, without a spice of envy or ill-
will towards them — ' with charity towards all, and malice towards
none.' As to clients, or witnesses in Court, any of their out-of-the
way expressions would afford him frequent and long amusement.

462 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

One instance he used often to relate of a client who had left with
him a note for collection, with somewhat indulgent directions, at
first, as to its enforcement. A dunning letter, which was ordered
to be written, failed to procure the money. A suit was next in
order, but the client still felt disposed to be merciful, He gave,
however, on his second calling, the definite instructions that, if the
debtor did not pay by a certain further given time, some 'corrosive '
measures should then be adopted.

" The guileless simplicity of one or more of his well-known
Bangor neighbors was occasionally adverted to— and the case of
one was often enjoyed in the narration, who had felt himself and
family somewhat annoyed by the singing and shouting of boys
near and about his house. He complained of the grievance to the
Police Court, or some officers of the peace, who failed to perceive
any real ground for their interference, unless the complainant could
show that the assembling together and the conduct of the boys
was riotous, or profanely vulgar in its character. On questioning
him as to this, he said that he could not exactly say as much as
that, for he did not hear all they said or sung — ^but, as near as he
could catch the words of one of their songs, it was ^ about a Mr,
Daniel Tucker who would not come to his tea.'

'' An instance is given of one of the many off-hand replies of
Judge Kent, in case of a former well-known apothecary in Bangor,
a rather latitudinarian thinker and talker, who, in a somewhat pub-
lic harangue on board of one of the river steamers, was advancing
sentiments on religious subjects which shocked a plain and thought-
ful farmer from one of the back towns, who did not know the
speaker. Coming up to the Judge, who was on board, and whono.
he knew, he expressed his astonishment at the talk, and asked the
Judge if he knew the man, and if he wasn't a 'fatalisV ' Oh,
he's a druggist I ' was the curt and quaint reply.

" In illustration of the thoughtful kindness of Judge Kent, his
accustomed consideration of the claims of the young, and his ready
concession to them, the Hon. Sam'l P. Benson, Secretary of the

HON. EDWARD KENT, LL.D. 463

State of Maine, under the Judge as Gt)vemor, used to relate the
following anecdote. The Governor and Council were in session,
and about to fix a time for the annual Thanksgiving. A day was
named by one of the Councilors, in which the others of the Coun-
cil Board seemed readily to acquiesce. The Governor did not so
readily concur in the day — ^but, calling for an almanac, sought out
in it the time of the full inoon about the last of November — ^re-
marking that it was usually, by that time, sleighing in Maine,
which he had enjoyed when young, and he wanted to give the girls
and boys a fair chance for such Thanksgiving enjoyment, with a
good moonlight night.

'^ While well known as unwavering in his political faith, and
true to the essential principles of the party with which he was
identified, Judge Kent was never a bitter partisan or intolerant of
the honestly entertained views of his political opponents. He
could give as well as take, in good humor, a cut or thrust hit, in
wordy warfare with his antagonists.

*'Soon after he had been elected Governor, but not having
entered upon his official duties, was still in his law practice ; and
during the professional and Democratic days of the Hon. Hannibal
Hamlin, the occurrence between them of the following incident
has been related, I think, by the Ex-Vice President himself :

"They had been attending Court together, at Norridgewock,
and left quite early one morning on their return in the old stage
coach, riding some miles to breakfast. Mr. Hamlin had finished
the meal, obtained and lighted his accustomed cigar, and taken his
seat in the coach on the first announcement of the stage being
ready. The late Governor Kent was a little behind-hand, and, in
his final haste to reach the coach, had taken his seat in it without
thinking of his cigar. Seeing Mr. H. puffing away, he spoke to
the only man — ^a dirty looking hostler — standing by, and gave him
the change to procure and bring him a cigar, intending to light it
by Mr. Hamlin's. The hostler soon came back, puffing a cigar
which he had already liglited and well slobbered over, saying,

464 MEMOIBS AND BIOGBAPHICAL SKETCHES.

' Here it is, 'Squire, going full blast.' The Governor gave a signifi-
cant look at the man, saying, ' Well, friend, as yon have taken so
much trouble, and got so far along with the cigar, I think you had
better keep and finish it.' Then turning to his personal, though
not then political, friend, Hamlin, he remarked, ' I might, perhaps,
have gone it a few weeks ago, before the election, but it is a little
too democratie for me now;'

'' In addition to other instances of Judge Kent's appreciation of
humor, the case may be mentioned of a practitioner of the Maine
Bar, in conducting a suit in Court, when it was deemed important
to establish, by evidence, the ancient bounds of certain lands in
question, introducing an aged witness, and frequently mentioning
him as 'an old cerUurionJ "

There are many anecdotes of the Judge, some of which are
perhaps apocryphaL The following is characteristic enough to
be true :

A fellow was indicted for burglarizing a lumberman's camp,
taking clothing and money. The witness for the government
testified that he saw the prisoner's head, right arm and shoulder,
thrust through an opening he had made in the camp, and the
articles disappear with them. Here the government stopped.
Whereupon the prisoner's counsel went to the jury, gravely pro-
testing that there was no case ; that to make out a case of
burglary the prosecution must show an entrance of the whole
man — ^at least the larger part of him ; the feet as well as the
head must have been within the camp. In this case only a
small portion of the prisoner's body was within the camp, and
the charge of burglary was absurd ; and for the honor of the
State and the credit of justice, he trusted the Court would so
instruct the jury !

The^ Judge, with a grim smile, said to the juiy. that if they
were in doubt as to the guilt of the whole person, they might

HON. EDWARD KEKT, LL.D. 465

render a verdict of guilty to the extent the evidence would
warrant.

After a brief absence, the jury returned a verdict of guilty
against the prisoner, to the full letter of the indictment, as to
his right arm, right shoulder and head ! and the Judge sen-
tenced the arm, shoulder and head to State Prison for two years.
The prisoner might do with the remainder of his body aa he
pleased.

An old offender had been convicted before him of bigamy.
When asked if he had anything to say why sentence should
not be pronounced, he appealed to the clemency of the Court ;
he hadn't intended anything wrong ; his wife had abandoned
him, and he had no home. This woman ofifered him a good
home, and gratefully he had accepted it, not meaning the least
harm ; he had been in jail some time, and he thought his sen-
tence should be light

The Judge said pleasantly, " You want a home ; you have
some acquaintances in the State Prison; have resided there,
have you not ? "

" Yes, your Honor."

" As you want a home and have some acquaintances in the
State Prison, I think that you had better go there for eighteen
months." There was no further parley.

In his early practice, Mr. Kent became acquainted with a
poor debtor, who took the burthen of his lot with such equanim-
ity that he felt for him a sort of admiraticm. This man was
frequently in possession of a good horse, and about as frequently
in gaol, but always apparently happy. He had traveled much
in the Provinces, and had become acquainted with the poor
debtor laws there, as well as in his own State, and managed to
get the benefit of their most comfortable provisions. When
constrained to take lodgings in prison, he took pleasure in the

30

466 MEMOIRS AND BIOGHAPHICAL SKETCHES.

tEought that he would be safe from the persecutions of sheriffs,
and that a tolerable bed and a satisfying meal were furnished
him gratis. He had a kind of humor that amused the counselor,
and he was wont to wake up the jury with one of the replies
of this man to a possible customer, who he thought might be a
sheriff in disguise, in regard to the proprietorship of a horse in
his possession that was understood to be for sale. " It depends
upon what you want of the animal. If you want to buy him,
he is mine ; if you want to attach him, he belongs to old Jim-
merson " [a person supposed to be able to maintain his title].

Soon after the Judge went upon the Bench, at a law session,
a case came up in which a former enterprising business man.
occupied the position of a town pauper. Turning to the Judge,

one of his colleagues said : '* Is it possible that D has come

to this ? Why, he used to be one of my clients ! " " That
accounts for it ! " said Judge Kent, with a significant smile.

On one occasion, a counselor appealed to the Judge in regard
to a difference between him and the Clerk, in the casting of
interest, and he " wanted it right."

" Wherein do you disagree ?"

" He makes it less than I make it."

" What is the difference ? "

m

" Six cents, your honor."

" Here is the difference. This court can be better employed
than in going over that long account for six cents." And the
Judge handed him the money.

"I don't want the money," said the counselor, "I want it
right"

" Oh, that makes it right," said the Judge pleasantly, and then
turned his attention to other business. •

Of his literary productions, there is one to which he referred
in his later years with playful satisfaction.

HON. EDWARD KENT, LL.D. 467

In 1848, several benevolent ladies of Bangor, who were en-
gaged in the establishment of an asylum for orphans, conceived
the project of publishing a book containing original contributions
from Bangor writers. The Judge was applied to, and con-
tributed a humorous paper, entitled "A Vision of Bangor in the
Twentieth Century." The book was published under the title
of " Voices from the Kenduskeag."

He said that he was amused to find that the predictions of it
were already so far realized. His office [occupied by him and
the writer for three years before his decease] was opposite a
well-known locality called " Taylor's Corner." In 1848, there
stood upon it an ordinary two story building of wood. It has
now been occupied, for many years, by a superb block of build-
ings. Pointing to this, he quoted from the article, a colloquy
between an old man and a young man of the future. The
former inquired of the latter : " ' Where is Taylor's Comer ? *
* There,' said the latter, pointing to a splendid block, covered with
signs of Banks, Insurance offices and Brokers." This is a pretty
correct description of the " Wheelwright Block," as it is called.

The Judge particularly mentioned the prediction involving
the improvements in telegraphic communication ; the increase
of States, abolition of slavery, etc. An idea may be had of the
article from the following extracts :

" I took up the paper of the day, Sept. 10, 1978, and called the
' Bangor Daily News.' * * A paragraph headed ' Presidential
Election,' attracted my attention. It contained a cohimn of States,
fifty-six in number, and, at the bottom, * we have partial returns, by
telegraph, of the voting yesterday in Oregon City. One of the
candidates, residing in that region, gives great interest to the votes
of the Pacific States.' The editor, who was evidently a little of an
antiquarian, had hunted up an old file of newspapers, and had
copied, as curiosities, some of the notices of the year 1848, of the

468 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

Whig, Democratic and Liberty' parties, and their stirring ap-
peals— and the editor adds, 'Can it be believed, that in 1848 men
were actually held as chattels, and sold at auction like oxen ? We
yesterday saw a shipmaster, who told us that he had seen and
talked with black men in the South, who were once slaves, and
they and their children had been sold by an auctioneer ! Thank
Heaven, we have seen the last of that horrid system.' "

In the next extract is a specimen of the Judge's humor.

" In an adjoining building was the telegraph oflBce. I looked
and saw that instead of wires they had, near the ground, rails of
a small size. I asked, why this change ? and was told that they
sent passengers on them, driven by electricity, to Boston in four
minutes. 'But how can the human system stand such velocity? '
' Oh, we sfMH them,' the fellow said, with the Letheon, and then
tie them in boxes on little wheels, and they go safely and come out
bright. There are rival lines,' he continued, ' and great efforts are
being made to bring the passage within three minutes. We put
on a rather large dose of the Letheon when we attempt this, but
the passengers all say they will run the risk of never waking
again rather than be beat. We have had to bury a few, but what
is that to save a minute, and beating the rascally opposition line?
The people all say " go ahead." ' "

Judge Kent was possessed of a splendid physique, of a benign
and attractive countenance, and an agreeable manner. He had
a clear blue eye, which was undimmed by age ; consequently,
his sight never required artificial aid. He hated drudgery of
all kinds, and was disposed to keep all disagreeabilities at a
distance. Having had one experience of housekeeping, he never
returned to it a second time. The refinements, the sociabilities
and the sweets, 6i life he craved and enjoyed. In his later years,
he loved the companionship of acquaintances with whom he
could revive old recollections. His old partner, friend and

HON. EDWARD KENT, LL.D. 469

colleague, Judge Cutting, was his frequent visitor after he left
the Bench, and the relation of their reminiscences was a source
of great pleasure to them and to others who chanced to be in
their company. The death of Judge Cutting was a severe shock
to him. By it one of the last links that made life enjoyable to
him was broken. " When I heard he was dead," he said in his
eulogy before the Penobscot Court and Bar, " I felt that the
world would have less of sunshine for me hereafter. I felt that
I had lost, not an associate, but a brother, who had so long been,
indeed, *very pleasant' to me."

Judge Kent abhorred meanness and covetousness. The accu-
mulation of money was of subordinate importance to him. An
honorable life and the love and respect of his fellow men he
preferred to all pecuniary riches. Speaking of one notorious
for his devotion to the accumulation of money, he said, with an
expression almost of hate : " Miser is written in every linea-
ment of his countenance." A modest competency only was the
pecuniary recompense of his long, industrious and useful life.
No truer tribute could be paid to his memory, than that he paid
to Judge Cutting.*

''He was actuated by higher motives than a mere love of money
or reputation ; he felt, as every true and high-minded lawyer must
feel, that there are higher rewards and higher motives than those
that are merely mercenary, which should move and control him in
action. The upright lawyer, who has spent his days and nights in
preparation and has mastered his profession in its principles and
in its details, and stands up as the advocate of his fellow-man,
when his interests or his character or his liberty are at stake,
always feels that he has assumed a responsibility which mere money
can never adequately compensate."

• Eulogy. Maine Reports, Vol. 66, page 603.

470 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

When Judge Kent pronounced these words (Nov. 11, 1876),
he was in possession of his full health and faculties, and appar-
ently took as much interest in business as he had ever taken,
and bade fair to become at least an octogenarian in his profession,

but

" The hour concealed and so remote the fear,

Death still draws nearer, never seeming near."

On the eighth day of January, 1878, to a remark made in
his presence in regard to the rapidity of time, he replied with
an expression and manner indicating a sudden and painful con-
viction, " Yes, and I am seventy-five years old to-day ! " Not
long afterward, it was rumored that he had occasional attacks
of illness at his lodgings ; his visits to his office were gradually
discontinued, until after a month or two they ceased altogether.
It was then understood that he was laboring under fatal disease.
He maintained his equanimity, however, until the last, seeing
callers until the evening before he died. During that night his
breathing became so painful that he sat with his head bowed
upon the back of a chair for relief, and in this manner he passed
the hours, under the watch of his dearest friends. Having
given verbal directions in relation to his aifairs of most interest
to him (which afterwards were sacredly obeyed), as the sun
was rising on the nineteenth day of May, 1878, he went to his
rest.

This notice cannot be more fittingly closed than by quoting
from the proceedings of the Bar of Penobscot County, on the
occasion of his death ; a report of which may be found in VoL
66 of the Maine Reports.

A. W. Paine, Esq., who was selected by the Bar to present
the resolutions, said of him :

"As a politician, though firm and decided in his preferences, be
knew no party prejudices ; no man was his enemy, or even under-

HON. EDWARD KENT, LL.D. 471

valued because of them ; and, on the other hand, none lost confi-
dence in him because of any difference of political creed or party
alliance. As in all other departments of life, so in politics, people
gave him credit for honesty and trusted him accordingly.

" In religious matters he was deeply imbued with the doctrines
of liberal Christianity, in the best meaning of the term — free from
all sectarianism. He respected all religious creeds and convictions
in others, when seen to be honestly entertained and carried into
life, but no man more thoroughly despised all cant, hypocrisy and
bigotry. He held that faith alone had no saving efficacy, except
as its genuineness was supported, by the evidence of good works.

" As a lawyer, he was kind and affable in his intercourse with
his clients ; he entered with heart into their cause, and won their
confidence as one who would be faithful and reliable. And such
they always found him. If he gave them encouragement, the re-
sult generally justified his advice ; if his judgment was unfavorable,
he was frank to say so, and discourage litigation. He studied his
cases, and left no stone unturned, no decisions unexplored, so that
the truth might be vindicated and justice done.

" As a Judge, Mr. Kent was by general consent regarded as
signally fitted to the place. By nature, he was eminently endowed
with the personal qualifications which the place demands. Of
commanding form, his very presence inspired respect, nis habits of
life seconded the impression, and his calm and deliberate manner
fitted him for a patient hearer. Well read in the profession,
familiar with the principles of the law and with the authorities, he
added to all these traits a warm devotion for the place, an integrity
which knew no faltering, and a rigid impartiality. To these he
united a bland and winning dignity, free from all superciliousness,
which commanded the acquiescence and the confidence of every one.
The sixty volumes of the Maine Reports, after the fifth Greeuleaf,
afEord abundant proof of all I have said.''

Win. H. McCrillis, Esq., said :'

472 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

•

''Of commanding form and presence and of great physical
strength, he was the gentlest of men ; of rare talents, he was the
most unassuming and modest of men. No person, even his most
intimate friend, ever heard him claim any merit for himself.

'' Engaged in the strifes of men, during a long and laborious pro-
fessional life, he maintained, amidst the excitement of a judicial
trial between fierce and contending parties, an amiable and urbane
equanimity, and never uttered a harsh or unkind word to his
opponent.

" He was fond of society and conversation ; cheerful, imparting
cheerfulness to others ; dignified, but abounding in humor, a charm-
ing companion, and a favorite at the social circle.

" He loved his fellow-men. His heart was full of benevolence
toward all. He knew that all men were equal in the sight of their
Creator, and in the sight of our deceased brother all men were
equal before man."

Hon. S. H. Blake said:

'' Of Socrates, Plato thus speaks, in his account of his trial and
death: 'Thus died the man, who, of all with whom we were ac-
quainted, was in death the noblest, in life the wisest and most
just.' These historic words that commemorate the virtues of
Plato's friend— do they not truthfully describe the nobleness and
wisdom and justness of our friend as we have seen them in his life,
as Plato had seen them in the life of Socrates ? Or, if this may
be too warm commendation, those who knew him best in the in-
timacy of friendship and the companionship of years, will hardly
care, I think, to tone down this coloring."

Hon. A. G. Jewett said :

"You can say of him what can be said of few men living, that
no unfavorable influence ever issued from him. The atmosphere
that surrounded Judge Kent was pure, in the highest sense of that
term. His influence with the young men of the Bar was worth

HON. EDWARD KENT, LL.D. 473

everything ; and I never saw him in any place where that influence
was not exerted for good."

Mr. Jewett had known him as townsman, at the Bar and on
the Bench since 1829.

General Charles Hamlin, who was admitted to the Bar about
the time that Judge Kent was elevated to the Bench, said:

" It seems to me that more prominence could be given to some
other trait in addition to those already so kindly mentioned, and
which go to make up and round out the grand judicial success in
the career of our lamented friend. We remember, fondly, his
benevolent face — his bold and dignified manners, as well as his
just and firm administration of the whole learning of the law. We
all concur in nominating him the Good Judge — profound in all the
learning of the law; no respecter of persons in judgment; as the
crowning glory of his judicial success, I think we might claim,
that besides being the good judge, Ae would be believed by the
community to be such.

"He also possessed the rare quality — ^rarer than is generally sup-
posed— the power to hold the judicial mind in perfect equilibrium."

Judge Eice, a former associate of Judge Kent upon the
Bench, wrote from Augusta :

" The prominent characteristic of Judge Kent was a desire that
equity, in its broadest sense, consistent with the fundamental rules
of the law, should prevail in all cases between man and man. To
reach this result, he would labor with the utmost assiduity ; and if
at times he appeared to hesitate in coming to a conclusion, it was
from a determination first to ascertain the law and the right, and
then to decide in conformity therewith ; not the shuffling hesitancy
of the falterer, seeking to ascertain the popular whim of the hour,
that he might conform his judicial action to that standard. In
short, he was not only a man of extensive information in the

474 MEMoncs and biographical sketches.

affairs of life, and of high literary reputation, but an able lawyer, a
good citizen and a conscientious and upright judge."

Judge Howard, formerly upon the Bench, wrote from Port-
land:

*' Of this dear and noble Judge Kent, I have the most charming
and exalted recollections. I loved him for his many and great ex-
cellencies. Among lawyers, and with men, he stood among the
first ; and with faith and hope and the doings of life, that made
his character eminently grand and beautiful."

Hon. Frederick A. Pike, a former member of Congress, wrote
from Calais :

" He was considerably older than Cicero when the Senectute was
written, and older than the correspondent to whom its words of
consolation were addressed, and yet he fulfilled all the conditions
the great orator set out as necessary to the highest and best devel-
opment of old age. And quite appropriate is the line of the an-
cient poet that Cicero applies to Titus :

" Hie vir haud magna cum re sed plenu, fideL"

''An honor to his profession that holds him the foremost, and an
honor to the State, that will esteem him among its greatest char-
acters."

Chief Justice Appleton said :

" The friend of my youth, the companion of my mature years,
the associate in judicial labor, is no more ; and in him is severed
almost the last link connecting the past with the present. * *

" With learning, and with industry, ability and integrity added
thereto, he at an early day rose to the highest rank at the Bar.
As a counselor, no one was more safe, judicious and reliable.
Cautious, prudent — his advice to his clients, always replete with
sound sense and judgment, predominating elements in his char-
acter— was ever preventive rather than advisory of litigation.

HON. EDWARD KENT, LL.D. 475

"As an advocate, he was earnest, fluent, a thorough master of
the facts to be discussed, omitting nothing which could conduce to
the result sought to be attained. Judicious, frank and open,
scorning all artifice and concealment, despising all trickery, he
addressed himself to the merits of his cause and to the calm judg-
ment of the jury. His commanding presence, the recognized
purity of his life and the integrity of his character, gave force and
strength to an argument, in itself forcible and strong without the
weight of those great accessories. His success as an advocate was
marked and distinguished.

"As a jurist, his written judgments will ever command the
respect of the profession. While respecting authority, he respected
more the great principles upon which authority rests. His mind
was singularly free from bias and prejudice. His great purpose
was to rightly apply legal principles to existent facts. He spared
neither time nor labor in his legal investigations. He discussed
legal questions with a clearness of illustration, a strength of argu-
ment, a fullness and variety of learning rarely equalled and still
more rarely surpassed. Occasionally, he was fond of enlivening
the somewhat arid discussions of legal principles with flashes of
wit and humor in which his genial nature so much delighted.

" In social life he was eminently popular. Cheerful and happy
himself, he radiated happiness upon those around him. Calmly,
with no disturbing fear, with his intellectual vigor neither dimmed
by age nor weakened by disease, trusting in the loving kindness of
God, he met the fate predestined from the beginning for us all ;
and we cannot douht that to him there was the joyful greeting,
" Well done, good and faithful servant ; thou hast been faithful
over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things ; enter
thou into the joy of thy Lord."

Mr. Washburn said :

476 MEMOIRS AND BIOGEAPHIGAL SKETCHES.

In submitting to the Society, for Judge Godfrey, this inter-
esting paper, I am unwilling to forego the opportunity of adding
a word of my own in memory of an old, a valued and a very
dear friend. It was my privilege and happiness to enjoy the
friendship of Judge Kent from a period as early as 1835 to the
time of his death; and such was the force and dignity of his
character, the evenness of his temper, his uniform charity for
others, the purity of his life and the delightfulness of his dis-
course, that my respect and admiration for him was never, that
I can remember, abated for a single moment. If he had limita-
tions or faults, they were so purely human, so inherent even to
the best type of manhood, that one could scarcely notice them
without thinking the more poorly of himself for doing so. If
it should be thought that our friend has dwelt at unnecessary
length on the humorous side of Judge Kent's character, those
who best knew the latter will understand how much the sketch
would have wanted in completeness if he had said less than he
has on this strong characteristic of the subject of his notice. In
the unflagging good nature of Judge Kent, in his broad sympa-
thies, in his wit, overborne only by a humor as genial and un-
affected as that of Thomas Hood or Charles Lamb, there was a
perennial charm. What Hood said of Allan Cunningham,
might, with equal truth, have been applied to him — "he would
rise to a joke like a trout to a fly."

There were at the Penobscot Bar, during the mature years of
Judge Kent, two gentlemen in whose society he found unfail-
ing pleasure. They were like him in liberal culture, in love of
anecdote and facetiae, and in wearing always, and without abuse,
the " grand old name of gentleman." I refer to Thornton McGaw,
a friend of Daniel Webster, and a prized companion of Louis
Gay lord Clarke, to whose Knickerbocker Magazine he contributed,
in its best days, many of the rare things which appeared in the

HON. EDWARD KENT, LL.D. 477

editor's iDimitable gossip, and to Elijah L. Hamlin, the soul of
truth and honor, and the humauest of men, in whose memory
was garnered up tales and humors of his native county (Ox-
ford), of its original and eccentric characters at the most pic-
turesque period of its history, which never flagged, and to the
listener never seemed to fail in portraying country human
nature in its most genuine moods and aspects.

What gave to this intercourse an especial value, was the proof
it furnished to others that the brightest fun and the most en-
joyable humor are not incompatible with the absence of envy,
ill-nature or coarseness.

But, after all, the permanent and essential renutation of Judge
Kent will depend upon his character and career as a lawyer and
judge, as a statesman, and as a citizen. Want of time and of
preparation will prevent my speaking of him at length in these
relations. I remember him as a lawyer, rather indolent, perhaps,
in the early preparation of his cases, but, when fairly engaged
in them, earnest, forcible, comprehensive, and sometimes, when
the occasion had aroused him to the exercise of his fullest
powers, surpassingly eloquent.

His earnestness and candor, the obvious sincerity of his con-
victions, in which there was a power of moral pathos, with
the weight of his great character, secured to his addresses,
whether to court or jury, the most favorable and friendly con-
siderations. These qualities, when transferred to the Bench,
added strength, steadiness and acceptance to its deliberations
and to the performance of its duties.

Judge Kent was, however, in his studies and tastes eminently
a statesman ; his true place would have been in the Senate of
the United States, and he would have shed an added and un-
fading lustre upon that august body. His breadth of thought,
his grasp of great questions, his habit of judging them by the

478 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

reasons upon which they stood, and not by their trifling or per-
sonal relations or accidents, supported by his noble and manly
presence, would have made him a distinguished and honored
member of that body. His adlninistration as Governor was
dignified, faithful and honest, and irradiated by a love for his
adopted State, which showed how deeply it had become to him
an object of affection and pride. His interest in the question
of the Northeastern Boundary was intelligent and absorbing,
and, since the time of Enoch Lincoln, it may not be too much
to say that it had scarcely been upheld by any other hand with
equal devotion and chivalry. But it is as a citizen and as a
man that — especially in the Penobscot valley, where he lived
so long and was so well known — his memory will be cherished
with the deepest affection and the most profound respect.
Upon another occasion, I have spoken of him before this Society
as the foremost citizen of the State, and this primacy was
founded most of all in the citizen, the neighbor, the friend, the
man and the Christian. We shall long remember him, and
those who knew him best will not hesitate to say, borrowing
(with a single change) the language of Thomas Carlyle, in his
memorable article upon Walter Scott, *'No sounder piece of
manhood has been put together in this nineteenth century of
time."

Mr. Talbot said :

I first became personally acquainted with Judge Kent, when,
soon after his appointment to the Bench, he came to hold a term
of the Supreme Court at Machias, where I resided. He brought
with him to the judicial oflBce a considerable prestige, gained in
a very successful political career. He was the only candidate
of the Whigs who had been able to break the ascendency the
Democrats had held in Maine since 1830. Once in 1837, and

HON. EDWARD KENT, LL.D. 479

again in 1840, he had been elected Governor. In the famous
campaign of the latter year, famous for the wild and somewhat
fantastic popular enthusiasm that accompanied it, and whose
memory is perpetuated in song better fitted to inspire a mass
meeting gathered about a stump, or for the march of a torch-light
procession, than for volumes to ornament a centre-table. Judge
Kent found a conspicuous place along with "Tippecanoe and
Tyler too"

When he came to Washington County, under these circum-
stances, he was everywhere warmly welcomed. In no country is
the judicial office more honored than in New England. People
flocked to the Court House, who had heard of him as a popular
chief magistrate and an eminent lawyer, to look upon his impos-
ing figure and handsome, majestic face. At that time his resem-
blance to the best portraits of Washington were very generally
marked. The citizens \aed with each other in extending towards
him their courtesies and hospitalities. At a private house, one
evening, tableaux vivants were improvised for the entertainment
of the company. Judge Kent, whose fine powers of conversation,
ready w^it and copious repertory of anecdotes, made him every-
where, out as well as in the State, a most desirable table com-
panion, entered genially into the amusement He consented to
sit behind a large picture frame draped in fine lace, as a portrait
of the father of his country, and the resemblance, patent to the
casual observer, was brought out with marked effect, through
the adjuncts of scenery, drapery and light.

His manner of discharging the duties of his high office, the
mental and moral qualities that gave him an aptness for it,
have been already too well set forth by a discriminating jurist,
who had the best opportunity to observe his career, to require
any recapitulation from me.

The only other time that I came personally in association with

480 MEMOIES AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

him, was when, full of years and honors, retired from the Bench,
he came to Augusta as one of the Commissioners to consider and
recommend amendments to the State Constitution. His asso-
ciates gladly availed themselves of his political and judicial ex-
perience, and while he presided over their coilncils they felt
that his presence gave dignity to their assembly and weight to
their recommendations. While he was ready to acquiesce in
all proposed changes that would give strength and symmetry to
the Constitution, he shrunk with a conservative feeling, due
alike to his age and his political training, from every innovation
that threatened to disturb existing institutions, or to weaken
the sanctions of established usages, and that popular loyality
that, among law-abiding races like the English and the Ameri-
cans, clings to wonted methods of administration and long-
established magistracies.

I think that this was the last of his public services, and
closed a career as full of service to the State as honor to himself ;
and when, soon after, he passed away from among the Uving, he
left a reputation for integrity, amiability and public usefulness,
which it is the duty as well as the pleasure of this Society
to commemorate and perpetuate in history.

REV. LEONARD WOODS, D. D., LL.D. 481

REV. LEONARD WOODS, D.D., LL.D.

A DISCOURSE,

BY PROF. CHARLES CARROLL EVERETT, D.D.,

Bepore Bowdoin College akd the Maine Historical Society,

Wednbsdat, July 9, 1879.

During the last year has died one who, forty years ago this
summer, became the President of Bowdoin College, an office
which he held for twenty-seven years. He was for many years
the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Maine Historical
Society, and one of its most efficient workers. It is fitting, then,
that this College, with its Alumni, and the members of this
Society, should unite to do honor to his memory. But while
his relation to institutions justifies this public service, it does
not fully explain it. The tribute that we bring is less official
than personal It is most of all the offering of loving and
bereaved hearts.

Our late President, Leonard Woods, was bom at Newbury,
Massachusetts, November 24, 1807. A few months after his
birth, his father, whose name he bore, removed with his family
to Andover, where he became the first Professor of the Theological
Seminary, in the foundation of which he had been largely

31

482 MEMOIBS AND BIOGBAPHIGAL SKETCHES.

instrumental. The father was known to the world as a keen
disputant, a strong reasoner, a profound and somewhat dogmatic
theologian. To his family, he was known as one of the tenderest
of fathers and the most genial of companions. He possessed
a keen wit, which made him both prized as a friend and dreaded
as an opponent.

The mother of the President was a daughter of Eev. Joseph
Wheeler, of Harvard, Massachusetts. She was a woman of
marked character and great sweetness of disposition, and an
enthusiastic lover of the beauties of nature.

The family consisted of ten children, of whom Leonard was
the fourth. This large family included many varieties of dis-
position and character, but was affectionate and harmonious.
If any little difference did arise between the brothers, Leonard
was the peace-maker.

His intercourse with his sisters, especially, perhaps with those
nearest his own age, was tender and confidential. He interested
himself in their studies and reading, and in whatever concerned
them. This relation could not have been without influence
upon his character, and may have prepared the way and furnished
the ideal for those intimacies with ladies of talent and culture,
that formed so marked a feature of his after life. A classmate,
who had admired the purity of his tastes, and the elevated tone
of his character in college, writes, that he learned the secret of
these when, later, he became familiar with the home in Andover,
from which he went forth to meet the temptations of college life.

His surroundings in his childhood tended also to quicken his
intellectual growth. There is a family tradition that the first word
he uttered was, characteristically enough, the word Theology.
We may assume, then, that this was at least among the earliest
words he spoke. This shows not merely the capacity of the boy
to seize the larger words, but still more the nature of the con versa-

REV. LEONARD WOODS, D. D., LL.D. 483

tions that were held about his cradle. The group of theologians
that used to gather at his father's house, Porter, GriflBin, Stuart,
and others, — ^the discussions that they carried on together in
regard to the great themes that were interesting the religious
world, must have done much to stimulate his thoughts and to
direct them to theological inquiry. They would seem to have
done more to stimulate and direct his thought than to mould
his opinions. Questions were started in his mind, the solution
of which he sought in his own way. One might almost say,
indeed, that an independent solution of them came to him
without his seeking. It seems as if he were born to a certain
course of thought and study, so early does he enter upon it.
Here, if anywhere, we might almost accept the theory of pre-
existence, or might believe that his spirit had been appointed to
enter into life amid the courtesies and reverent religious thought
and study of some mediaeval court, so early do we meet that
gracious presence and that peculiar mental tendency which
characterized him in after years.

He was fitted for college at Phillips Academy, and entered
Dartmouth College in the spring of 1824. He remained there,
however, less than one term, and afterwards entered Union
College as a Sophomore. The change was an important one,
for it brought him into relations with President Nott, traces of
whose influence will meet us as we proceed. At this college
he graduated in 1827.

His college associations must have been very pleasant and
helpful to him. Professor William Thompson, of Hartford,
was his room-mate ; President Wayland was a member of his
class; and Bishop Potter of New York, though not a classmate,
belonged to his more intimate circle of college friends.

When we try to picture him to ourselves as he was at this
time, we need do little else than 'take off from the presence so

484 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

familiar to us the traces that the fleeting years had left. The
light, spare form, and almost feminine softness of features which
seemed to bespeak forbearance and sympathy from comrades of
a more robust physique, were soon found to be allied with
manly firmness, resolution, and capacity for rather uncommon
muscular performances. He was fond of solitary musing, but
courteous and affable to all ; while in his more intimate circles,
his literary acquisitions and sparkling humor were greatly prized.
He was marked, at the same time, by a certain unconventionality
which perhaps added to the charm of his intercourse. As a
scholar he excelled in all branches. The professors liked to test
his knowledge by out of the way questions, and he was always
equal to the emergency. In Greek, his classmates consulted
him with a confidence equal to that with which they turned to
their teacher. In debate he stood supreme. Ethical questions
in the discussions of the college literary society, had a special
attraction for him. He often threw light upon many obscure
points. As a poet he showed such promise that many of his
friends have believed that poetry was his true vocation. The
influence of Byron was then in the ascendant, and his class-
mates thought that there was something a little Byronic in his
poems.

The time which his facility in acquisition gained for him, he
devoted to a higher culture than the college routine could offer.
His favorite authors were the older and graver English writers,
such as Isaac Barrow and Jeremy Taylor. It is interesting to
know that he had begun his patristic studies even before he
entered college; and that what became later known as his
medievalism, manifested itself even in his college days.

On his graduation he delivered a poem, somewhat singularly
entitled "The Suicide." Chatterton was its hero. It is an
illustration of the methods of the time, or at least of the methods

REV. LEONARD WOODS, D. D., LL.D. 485

of Dr. Nott, that both the subject and the metre were assigned to
him. He protested against the latter as unsiiited to the theme,
but no change was permitted. In spite of the cramping effect
of this requirement, the poem showed indications of power, and
was very warmly received. He closed the exercises of the day
by a valedictory address to the class.

President Nott pronounced him, on his graduation, better
educated than is usual in this country, and believed that, with-
out having any defect to supply, or habit to change,, he might
become a distinguished linguist or mathematician, or a man of
general literature ; at the same time, he feared that he might be
somewhat lacking in practicality.

With avenues to distinction opening all about him, he chose,
as it would appear, without hesitation, the profession of the
ministry. The same year that he graduated from college, he
entered the Theological Seminary at Andover. His life in the
seminary was but a repetition, on a higher plane, of his life in
college. I may mention a single incident, to show that the
sweetness of disposition by which he was always marked, was a
matter of culture with him, as well as of temperament. Some
one entering his room one day, found him and his companion
with a somewhat fixed and stem expression upon their faces.
It seems they had formed a resolution to speak ill of no one.
They had, however, just been unmercifully bored by a caller,
and as he went out they began to express their feelings towards
him, when they remembered their resolution; and at the
moment of the second interruption, they were in the act of
setting a guard upon their lips.

Among his seminary friends were Prof. Thompson, of Hart-
ford, his room-mate here as at college. Dr. Schauffler, Dr. Cheever
and Prof. Park. To those familiar with his later habits, it may
be interesting to know that while iu the seminary he was in

486 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

the habit of rising summer and winter at five o'clock, and of
walking with the friend last named an hour, returning for
prayers at six o'clock. Through mud or snow, through storm
or sunshine, these walks were taken. " Our controversies were
deepest," writes his companion in these strolls, " when the mud
was most profound. One of us was commonly lost in an argu-
ment when the other was buried in a snow drift." With some
of these student friends, who like himself roomed in the upper
story of his father's house, he kept up for awhile the habit of
talking only in Latin. A debating club was also held in these
upper chambers.

He was at this time a brilliant skater; and took delight in
teaching the young ladies of his circle to guide themselves upon
the ice. His great passion, however, was for study.

He graduated from the Theological Seminary in 1830. He
still pursued his work at Andover, however, where he was for
a short time an assistant teacher. With rare energy for one
so young, he set about a very important work, the translation
from the German of Knapp's Theology. This he enriched with
an introduction and notes. This achievement secured him at
once a prominent position among the scholars and theologians
of the country.

He was licensed to preach by the Londonderry Presbytery,
in 1830, and ordained by the Third Presbytery of New York,
at the Laight Street Church, in the year 1833. He preached in
New York for some months, in the place of Dr. Cox, who was
absent in Europe.

In 1834 he became the editor of the New York Literary and
Theological Review, a publication which was just established.
Besides his general editorial work he contributed to it several
very important articles, which retain their interest to the present

REV. LEONARD WOODS, D. D., LL.D. 487

time. He also contributed various translations from the Ger-
man.

In 1836 he became Professor of Biblical Literature in the
Theological Seminary at Bangor. His inaugural dwelt chiefly
upon the importance of the study of the Bible, which grows out
of the Protestant doctrine of the right of free interpretation of
it The duties of this new ofl&ce unhappily interfered with his
work as editor. His original contributions became more rare,
and his connection with the Review was given up after four
years of servica

The duties which crowded out his editorial work must have
been very congenial to him. He showed a wonderful fitness
for the office of teacher. In this he was helped by his great
conversational powers, and by his exhaustive reading in con-
nection with the subjects taught. He met the students in the
class room as if they had been his equals. He won their confi-
dence, so that they expressed their own thoughts with the ut-
most freedom- If their views were crude and ill-formed, they
discovered it by no word or intimation of his, but by the light
which he threw upon them.

His residence in Bangor must have been in many respects
very pleasant to him. In that gay little metropolis of the east
there was probably, then, more culture in proportion to the
population than in any other city of our country. Especially
were there many cultivated ladies, familiar with society as well
as with books. The Unitarian influence afiPected largely the
tone of society in the place, and at that time this implied a dis-
tinction which we of this generation cannot wholly understand.
There was an ease and a brilliancy in the social relations into
which he was brought with which he had hardly been familiar.
We need not say how eagerly the young Professor was welcomed
to this social life, or what a charm he found in it

488 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

In Bangor we meet, if not more real, yet more marked traces
than before of that reactionary tendency which seemed at times
to separate him so widely from those about him. His life there
was very important, in his intellectual development, if, as would
seem to be the case, he there for the first time became familiar
with the writings of DeMaistre, an author who exerted a marked
influence upon his thought

He remained at Bangor but three years. In 1839, at the age
of thirty-two, he became the President of Bowdoin College.
That was a proud day for Bowdoin on which he was inaugu-
rated. His very youth, which under other circumstances might
have weighed against him, when viewed in connection with the
results that he had already accomplished, gave a new prestige
to his position. He appeared before the congregation slight
and graceful A large pile of manuscripts lay before him, but
at these he did not glance. For nearly two hours he held the
assembly entranced by his rich eloquence. The crowd that
thronged the aisles forgot the weariness of their position as they
listened to his words.

He spoke of the cheering fact, that after years of strife, periods
at length arrive in which conflicting tendencies are reconciled.
" The pendulum of opinion, after swinging back and forth from
one extreme to another, comes at last to hang in the just medium."
After a few minor illustrations, he proceeded to speak of the
interests springing from religious faith on the one side, and the
scientific instinct on the other. For the first fifteen centuries
of the Christian era, revealed religion engrossed the attention of
the general mind of Christendom. Then came the ages in which
all things were secularized. Science usurped the interest and
the authority which religion had before held as her right. But
now we are living in a moment of happy augury, in which
these two conflicting elements of our intellectual life are be-

REV. LEONABD WOODS, D. D., LL.D. 489

coming reconciled. Their influence, which in their separation
has sometimes beeen disastrous, in their imion will become most
potent for good.

He painted the glory of these earlier ages of faith. Especially
did he pay to the mediaeval church the honor so often withheld
from it. He spoke of the singular perfection the fine arts ob-
tained under its influence — ^the cathedrals solemn and magnifi-
cent, the music of the old composers, and the paintings of the
old masters. He spoke of the science that grew up under the
intellectual stimulus which religion gave to the minds of men.
He denied that the church ever opposed the advance of science,
as such, save by presenting to the thoughts of men objects of
more absorbing interest; and he justified this denial by the
most ingenious arguments. He rebuked the pride of Bacon,
who speaks of himself as kindling a torch in the darkness of
philosophy. " If it was night when Bacon was bom, it was
certainly a night brilliant with constellations."

Leaving this theme, so congenial to him, upon which he had
brouglit to bear all the wealth of his learning and of his genius,
he turned to the ages of secularization by which these ages of
faith were followed. He recognized the many beneficent effects
of purely human science, but he spoke with a sublime scorn of
the lowness of its aims. It was bound to the earth instead of
facing the heavens. It sought the bodily welfare of man rather
than his spiritual exaltation. It brought with it a spirit that
sought to undermine the very foundations of faith, and that had
introduced the most baleful social and political disorders. Our
modern science " had come to us like ships from the Levant,
richly laden, indeed, but concealing the pestilence beneath its
choicest treasure." Then he dwelt upon the signs of promise.
These signs were few, but were like a clear spot that is some-
times seen in a cloudy sky, which, however small it may be.

490 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

assures the sailor that the storm is past and fair weather is at
hand.

In this address, at the general course of which I have barely
hinted, there may have been some unconscious exaggeration in
regard to the past. There was, perhaps, too little recognition
of the higher aspects of modem science. Certainly the con-
summation which it prophesied was not so near as the speaker
dreamed. That little spot of blue was to become lost amid the
freshly gathering clouds ; and while discoveries were to be
reached which, then, even science herself would not have dared
to prophesy, the popular thought was to sink to what would
have seemed to him a lower depth of materialism than it had
yet reached. But still, I believe that the discourse was sub-
stantially true, and it was wholly uplifting. His colleagues, of
whom only one honored form remains to unite the college of
the present to the college of the past, congratulated one another
on this brilliant accession to their ranks. While it came to all
as a word of strength and cheer, it was especially welcomed by
the students of the college, and to many of them it must have
been like the creation of a new universe. The past, which had
seemed so dark, shone suddenly with a great light. The future,
which had stretched before them vague and meaningless, was
filled suddenly with a definite and inspiring promise ; while the
present was the happy moment in which the peaceful gains of
years of strife were to be theirs. Others had fought and labored,
and they were to receive the full fruition.

When the ceremonies of his inauguration were completed, he
entered seriously upon the new duties to which he had been
called. He approached them, as he did everything, by methods
of his own. There had been more or less disorder in the col-
lege. The leaders in the disturbances were good-hearted fellows,
of ability and promise, but somewhat wild. They found them-

REV. LEONARD WOODS, D. D., LL.D. 491

selves suddenly summoned, one after the other, to appear before
the new president. The call was a surprise, for, as one of them
quaintly puts it, " all the old scores had been wiped off, and
there had been no time to run up new ones." They went, how-
ever, at the call There was nothing said about old scores or
new ones. The president met them with that kind and grace-
ful courtesy that was peculiar to him. He talked to them of
the opportunities of college life, and made them feel, as though
it had been their thought rather than his, the obligation that
such opportunities impose.

This simple conversation, held with one as he sat with him in
his study, with another as he walked with him among the pines,
was sufficient to transform these young men. He saved them
to themselves, to the college, and to the world. One of them,
not only as a minister of the church has brought like aid to
many a wandering soul, but became in a special manner the
helper of the president in the work of rescuing from entangle-
ment in evil courses young men who were tempted as he had
been.

In 1840, after a year's experience of college life, the young
president, according to a plan formed when he entered upon his
duties, made his first visit to Europe. It is very unfortunate
that the note-book which detailed his experience abroad has
disappeared, perhaps lost in the fire which consumed so much
that was of value to him and to the world. There remain only
a few scattered remembrances of its story, which give us
glimpses of him, here and there, and make us long more than
ever for the whole.

We find him at Oxford, adopted into relations of intimacy
with some of the Fellows, living with them, entering into their
habits with the zest with which he always entered into the life
of those among whom he was thrown ; only here, from the

492 MEMOIBS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

nature of his companions and their surroundings, all must have
had a peculiar charm for him. Thus he walked with them, and
conversed with them. He shared their simple meals, toasting
his bread with them over the fire in their rooms, or entering
into their more elaborate festivities. Among those whom he
met at Oxford were Stanley and Pusey and Newman. Some
whom he there met, remember him now with interest

It is supposed by many — perhaps it is the first thought of all
who know how closely he was thus brought into relation with
the founders of the movement with which Oxford has been
identified — that it was here our president received his direction
towards what has been called his mediaevalism. On the con-
trary, we have found that he carried the germs of it with him
to college, expressed it freely while at Bangor, and embodied it
in his inaugural at Brunswick. He would seem to have con-
tributed as much to the incipient movement at Oxford, as he
received from it. At a dinner where sentiments were in order,
he proposed " The Middle Ages." Knowing his habit in regard
to the use of his old material, we may conjecture that the speech,
with which he supported his toast, contained some brilliant
passages from the Inaugural.

We next hear of him in Paris, as the guest of Louis Philippe.
He and a companion * had neglected to answer their invitation
to a dinner at the Tuileries, and were, moreover, a little late.
The king came forward to meet them, intimating that not having
heard from them he was not sure that they would come. The
companion of the president happily replied that they had sup-
posed that no response was necessary. The invitation of a king
they had believed left to the recipient no choice. This happy
turn changed their defeat into a victory. In the success of the

*The late Hon. Martin Brimmer, of Boston.

REV. LEONARD WOODS, D. D., LL,D. 493

evening, we may be sure that our president had his full share.
Especially did he, as his manner was, win the heart of the
queen, who took him to her apartments, and showed him, among
other things, the embroidery of her daughters, and introduced
him to the room where they were at their work. Our president
made himself thoroughly at home, as he did everywhere ; and
we find him seated among them and holding a skein of worsted
for one of the princesses to wind, at once as much at his ease
and as welcome, as if he had been a guest at some New England
farm-house.

He was in Paris when the remains of Napoleon were brought
there. He was fortunate in obtaining a place near the royal
family where he could see all, and the pageant deeply moved
him.

We find him also at the Vatican, where he had a long con-
versation with the Pope, Gregory XVI. The question first arose
in what language they should converse. Our president suggested
French, German or Latin, though he would prefer the last.
Here the advantage of those Latin talks, in the chamber of
the Professor's house in Andover, was felt in a way that was
little dreamed of at the time. When, after some hours' talk
in Latin with the Pope, he had taken his leave, the Holy Father
expressed his admiration of him. He had conquered the Vati-
can as he had the halls of Oxford and the Tuileries.

It may be added, that on a steamer while he was abroad, he
met, and had a long conversation with, Bunsen. This chance
meeting led to a friendship maintained by correspondence.

On his return from Europe, the young president entered per-
manently upon the duties of the oflSce for which all his previous
experience had been a preparation. At this point we may in-
terrupt our story to ask what characteristics and qualifications
he brought with him to his work, what was the position that

494 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

he held in regard to some of the great questions that had occu-
pied his thought ; in a word, what manner of man it was with
whom we have to do.

The charm of his intercourse I have thus far taken for
granted. He was in some respects singularly unconventional ;
yet, one could not meet him without feeling himself in the
presence of a cultured gentleman. It is impossible to analyze
fully the elements of genius in conversation. Like all genius,
it involves a something that cannot be expressed. It is the
saying of the best thing in the best way. In the conversation
of our president his richest gifts made themselves felt. The
play of his wit, the originality of his thought, the wealth of his
resources, the delicacy of his tact, the kindliness of his heart,
united to lend a charm to his conversation such as is rarely
met. Above all, were his unaffected modesty, and his power of
drawing out the best in his companion, who for a moment
found himseK wiser and wittier than his wont, and was sur-
prised to see his own thoughts expanded and enriched till they
came back to him with a fullness of meaning which he had not
believed that they possessed. AH this, which seemed like the
art of the master, was, I believe, yet more the simplicity of the
child. It was the manifestation. of a nature at once rich and
sympathetic. If as a boy he had something of the gravity of
the man, as a man he showed often the gaiety of the child.
He loved, on a Thanksgiving evening, for example, to throw
aside his presidential dignity, and join iu " blind man's buff,"
or some other romping game, and no child of the company was
merrier and mora alert than he.

In his disposition, he was singularly tender and magnanimous,
but he had also a strong will, and was not to be moved from a
course that he judged to be the best.

In his intellectual constitution, our President was remarkable

REV. LEONARD WOODS, D. D., LL.D. 495

for the universality of his gifts. Whatever he did seemed the
one thing that he was made to do. Poet, scholar, editor, pro-
fessor, president, to the work of each calling he came as to his
own. In a lawsuit which sprang out of the conditions of the
will of Governor Bowdoin, he showed a most unusual legal
talent. The case was originated, and, to a large extent, worked
up by him. He possessed himself so fully of the literature that
bore upon the case that but few lawyers were so well posted as
he became in that special department of professional study.
The money that his legal skill had won, his taste knew how to
use ; and it took form in the beautiful chapel of the college.
We know what capacity he showed later for original investiga-
tion in history ; while an article on Goethe in the " Literary
and Theological Eeview" shows that if he had been content to
be a mere literateur, as such he would have been unsurpassed.

In all his tastes and habits of mind he was a conservative.
Conservatism may be of three forms. It may be an instinct of
the nature that shrinks from change ; it may be a matter of
sentiment, or it may be the result of thought. In the conserv-
atism of our president were united these three types. He
shrank from change ; but this instinct enlarged itself into a
sentiment. His affection clung to the past and his imagination
adorned it with its choicest flowers. But this sentiment was
thoroughly self-conscious. He knew just what it was that he
loved and honored in the past ; what it was that it possessed
but which we have lost. He believed in progress and reform ;
but he saw the peril that there is in laying rash and irreverent
hands upon forms of faith and political institutions, whose very
existence is a presumption in favor of their substantial worth.*

What it was that he chiefly reverenced in the past, his In-

*See Lit. and Theol. Rev., Vol. ii, pp. 344, 622 and 706.

496 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

augural has shown us. The past had faith. It had faith in
Gk)d and in the universe as filled with his wisdom. It had faith
in the institutions of society, in the church, the State, and the
family, as divinely appointed. We have science ; but science
without faith, a godless science, he felt was unworthy of the
name.

It does not follow from this that there has been no gain in
history. The man has much that the child has not. We could
not be children again if we would, and we would not if we
could ; but there is something in the child that is worth more
than all the gain of manhood. If this be kept at the heart of
all, then there has been real advance ; but if it be lost, all is
lost. If this has been lost, the man must become again as a
little child and enter thus afresh the kingdom of heaven. Such
was the view that our president took of the past in its relation
to the present.

He honored the Catholic churcL He honored it, because
for centuries it alone had represented the highest spiritual faith.
He honored it because it uttered the fullest and most conscious
protest against the individualism of our day ; because it em-
bodies in itself the two forms of authority which he reverenced :
the authority of revelation and that of historical development.
He loved, too, its pomp of service. It may be asked, as it was
often asked, " Wliy was he not, then, a Catholic ? *' It would
be sufficient to suggest the common sense reply, that because he
admired certain principles in that church, it does not follow that
its whole doctrine and method would have been acceptable to
liim. The question, however, admits of a more definite answer.

He believed that we are largely the products of the past, that
our beliefs and our position in the world are largely determined
for us in advance. It is not for us to settle, each one for him-
self, the great questions whose answer is shaped in the course of

REV. LEONABD WOODS, D. D., LL.D. 497

ages. The fancy that we can do this is one of the marks of
our modern individualism. He believed that the struggle to do
this is in vain. When we fancy that we are settling for our-
selves the vexed questions of the universe, the answer that we
give is not the voice of the absolute reason, but of our own ca-
price, or prejudice, or even, sometimes, of our self-interest He
felt that he belonged where he was placed, that he owed a sacred
allegiance to the church of his fathers. Should he desert this
and seek for himself a church, he would be himself an illustra-
tion of that individualism from which he shrank. He was then
honestly, unswervingly and contentedly a Congregationalist of
of the old New England type.

Of course, all this reasoning about authority holds good only
80 long as one is at ease under the authority. It is like the
belief in the divine right of rulers, which is apt to lose its force
with a change of dynasty. Had our president cherished a
single real doubt in regard to any one of the fundamental
doctrines of his church, all his fine reasoning would have gone
to the winds. He would have been driven out of it by that
obligation higher than all others, that of absolute sincerity. But
so far as the Orthodox creed is concerned, he believed more
rather than less than those about him. His orthodoxy was of
the older and higher type, and was never, I believe, seriously
questioned.

Those who ask why he was not a Catholic, fail in atiother
point to understand him. One thing that he loved in the old
Catholic church was its catholicity. The faith in the one church
was strong within him. " The churches," once said a student
in the recitation-room. The president pleasantly corrected him,
saying, " Not * the churches,' but ' the church.' " The church of
which he dreamed had no longer an embodiment in the external
world. The early christians were wont to compare the church

32

498 MEMOIRS AND BIOGBAPHICAL SKETCHES.

to a ship. The vessel which bore the hopes of humanity had
sufifered partial wreck. Those who had been united beneath its
flag were scattered. Some had taken boats ; some had made for
themselves rafts. Those who stood by the old ship were but a
fragment like the rest. Had he gone back to them, he would
have passed from one limitation to another ; and limitation was
precisely what he was longing to escape.

I think that he was fundamentally a poet At least, he had,
in regard to whatever interested him, an ideal of perfection, of
wholeness, to which it was his longing to attain. This made
itself felt in his ecclesiastical relations. The member of a sect,
he longed to escape from its narrowness and feel himself a
member of the whole. Had he been born a Catholic, a Catholic
he would doubtless have remained, as how many of us would
not; but he would have been, I think, a more troublesome
Catholic than most of us. He would still have stretched beyond
the conditions in which he found himself, toward the complete-
ness of the whole. The ecclesiastical unity which he loved in
the past, he knew could not furnish the type for the future.
The differences that have been developed cannot, suddenly, at
least, be done away. The spirit and methods of the " United
Brethren," suggested to him, at least at one time, the nearest
approach to the manner in which ecclesiastical unity could now
be possible.* He had in his thought the ideal of a imion in
which the denominations that are in substantial agreement
should each be true to its own convictions, and yet co-operate
with others as parts of one common church.

While he cherished such ideals, he was not a man to waste
his life in idle regrets and longings. As he reproduced in his

* Lit. and Theol. Rev., Vol. in, pp. 140, 311 and 696. Compare, in legard
.to the whole subject. Vol. iv, p. 253.

REV. LEONARD WOODS, D. D., LL.D. 499

own nature the reverence, the faith, the loyalty which he honored
in the past, so he anticipated in his own heart the ideal church
of the future. True to his own belief, and glorying in it, true
also to his own church, he yet took into his loving sympathy
churches which were most widely separated from his own.
Sectarian bitterness was his abhorrence. The introductory article
to his Review is very suggestive on this matter. He first urges
the importance of the doctrines of Christian faith ; then growing
more earnest, he urges the importance of defending these ; then
he speaks of the spirit in which this should be done, and rises
to the climax of his eloquence in denouncing sectarian harshness
and bigotry.

We have seen his feeling towards the Catholic church. He
took much interest in the old Catholic movement in Europe.
He loved and honored, also, in a special manner, the Episcopal
church. Notwithstanding radical differences in belief, he could
take pleasure in the genial breadth of the Unitarian, and all the
while he could remain true to his own position. Of course, he
was misunderstood. Some members of other churches believed
that at heart he belonged with them; members of his own
doubted whether he belonged to them. Some, in despair of
anything more fitting, marked him as probably a Jesuit in
disguise. So rare, so difficult to comprehend, is a simple life of
mingled breadth and earnestness.

AVhat added to the difficulty of understanding him, was the
fact that he reached and held his views by methods of his own,
at least by methods not common in our age. He would express
an opinion, and people would argue, " He who believes this
ought to believe also this and that" They would construct a sys-
tem for him. They would put him in their cabinets, classified
and labeled according to their taste. I will give one or two ex-
amples of cases in which such mistakes might have occurred,

500 MEMOIES AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

to illustrate the manner in which such mistakes did occur. He
had once been reading an article that sought to prove that the
texts which are supposed to establish the doctrine of the Trinity
had been misinterpreted. He not only praised the article to
me, but he said that it was wholly correct. Here would have
been an opportunity to show a case of double dealing. Either
he was a Unitarian, professing to be Trinitarian, or he was a
Trinitarian wanting to appear for the moment as a Unitarian ;
but he added at once, " The dogma of the Trinity does not rest
on such arguments as are referred to here." Later in his life he
was found by a graduate engaged in historical investigations.
He looked up, in his pleasant way, and exclaimed how pleasant
it was after all the uncertainties of metaphysical speculation,
to find oneself on the firm ground of history. This might have
been understood as implying doubt in regard to what he had
held most strongly ; but he would have spoken thus of philoso-
phy at any time. He believed that Divine revelation on the
one hand, and the human heart on the other,, furnish the only
solid basis for belief. Out of the heart grow creeds and insti-
tutions. Philosophy has its rightful place when it bases its
systems upon it. When it seeks to lay foundations of its own,
it lays them in the clouds.

The love of completeness, of which I spoke, followed him
everywhere. Nowhere could he rest content in what seemed to
him a partial statement. In regard to methods of reform, this
tendency showed itself. When he heard the shrill treble of the
popular chant, he could not join in that, but could only utter
the complemental bass. Those who had more ear for difference
than for harmony, could find in him only an opponent Never
would he keep back a thought or a feeling lest it should make
him unpopular. While he was gentle, he was also fearless.

I remember one of those marvellous Baccalaureates in which

REV. LEONAKD WOODS, D. D., LL.D, 501

he urged the importance of " duties of imperfect obligation."
He seemed to place honor above duty. He glorified the lie of
Desdemona as better than a truth. Of course, this called forth
a storm of criticism. Not only did this doctrine endanger all
morality, but especially was this glorification of honor danger-
ous in the presence of college students. But some years after,
when he had occasion to repeat such an address, he selected
this. Again was honor magnified, and the lie of Desdemona
pronounced better than a truth. The same tendency was illus-
trated in the temperance movement. This was one that en-
gaged his most earnest sympathy. But he could not place the oc-
casional drinking of wine among the things wrong in themselves,
and he could not make of total abstinence anything more than
a practice temporarily expedient. Thus many placed him
among the opponents of this reform which he had so much at
heart.

He was very patient under misconception. If a word could
explain his course, that word he often had to be urged to speak,
often he would not speak it.

It is sometimes wondered why, with all hia learning and
genius, he has not left more permanent works behmd him.
Perhaps a native indolence, especially physical indolence, had
something to do with this. But the traits we have been consid-
ering, I believe had also much to do with it His idea of perfec-
tion was so high that he was critical with himself. It was not
that he would not, he could not, do anything that was incomplete.
Our rough-and-ready American ways he could not conform to.
Then, too, he lacked the spur of ambition. As he would not
put himself out of his way to avoid blame, neither would he to
win praise. He was the most modest and at the same time the
most self-contained of men. Perhaps, also, the isolation of his
position had much to do with this lack of outward activity.

502 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

He scorned our modern individualism ; but, whether in refuta-
tion or confirmation of his theories I know not, there are few
men more individual than he was. Even Emerson does not
exceed him in this respect. So individual was he that he stood
alone, with perhaps none wholly to sympathize with him, with
few even to comprehend him. His individuality was largely in
his universality, it is true, yet none the less did it separate him
from those about him. This individuality he prized. Nothing
did he find it so hard to forgive as the attempt to convert him
to any other form of faith. He would sympathize with you,
but you must not lay hands upon him. He would work with
you, but it must be in his own way. As he was situated, he
may have felt that he could not speak for himself alone, and
thus kept silent. Wliatever may have been the reason, he ap-
peared little before the public, in the way of authorship or
speech.

But there was a duty to which he devoted himself with all
the more earnestness. This was his work as president In
this, all his characteristics found their best expression. Though
he would gladly have made more marked the religious aspect of
the college, extending its religious services and adding to them
a greater pomp of worship, yet in what concerned the business
of education he was as truly in advance of his times as in certain
speculative opinions he may have seemed behind them. It is
an easy thing, now that the liberal position of the college is es-
tablished, to say that a man's fitness to teach any branch of
secular learning does not depend upon his theological belief; yet
the application of this principle to the management of the col-
lege caused one of the hardest and most painful battles which
our president was called to fight.

It was, however, in his direct relations with the students that
his character showed itself in its most pleasing light. When

REV. LEONARD WOODS, D. D., LL.D. 503

he was called to his oflftce there arose in his mind the ideal of a
college pt^ident It was not that of the conventional president,
not that, perhaps, of those who called him to the placa He
believed that in every young man's heart is a principle of honor.
If that can be touched, the young man is safe ; if it is not, no
matter how correct his course, his education is a failure. Two
things he may have learned from his own president. Dr. Nott,
namely, distrust of what is technically known as college disci-
pline, and faith in personal influence. His views became en-
larged and confirmed by his knowledge of the methods used in
the Jesuit college at Eome, which was thrown freely open
to his inspection, and by his observation of the methods employed
at Oxford. Yet his course was so much the expression of his
own nature that we need hardly look abroad for its source.

We have already seen one or two examples of his method.
Others may be given. It had once been the habit of the students
to have a bonfire at the end of the Freshman year. This had
been forbidden by the Faculty. The fire would, however, be
lighted ; the Faculty would turn out to arrest the offenders.
There would be a chase among the pines, highly amusing, no
doubt, to the boys, but neither dignified nor wholly safe for the
professors. The president adopted a new policy. There was
nothing wrong, he thought, in a bonfire, but there was a little
danger. He learned the names of the committee of students
having the thing in charge ; he sent for them, and made them
responsible for its proper and safe management. The fire was
lighted, but a large part of the fun was gone. There remained,
indeed, the excitement of rivalry between one class and another ;
but when this could be carried no further — ^for there is a limit
to the height to which tar barrels can be conveniently piled —
the practice was, at least for a season, dropped. Many will
remember the " college training." At that time such fantastic

504 MEKOIBS AND BIOGBAPHICAL SKETCHES.

shows had more novelty than now. Here, too, instead of fight-
ing against a thing that seemed to him harmless, th6 president
contented himself with seeing the commander-in-chief, and
making him responsible for the propriety of the parade. At
one time he joined with certain students of intemperate habits
in taking the pledge of total abstinence for a period extending
over their residence at college. Thus, by tact, by personal
influence, did he accomplish results which the clumsy methods
of ordinary college discipline were wholly unable to reach.
Many to-day are grateful to him for what they have been and
still are. He was very sympathetic with the peculiar circiun-
stances of college life. He distinguished in his heart between
depravity and the love of fun. He was always straightforward.
I think no student ever suspected him of double-dealing. He
knew how to meet the young men. He had a quick wit, that
with a word would show up the folly of their excuses. He
had a dignity that made itself always felt I think that no
student was ever asked to sit down in the president's college
room, and no student ever felt himself aggrieved by the neglect
He said once, that every act of college discipline hurt him more
than it did the student The student felt this. Of course, the
danger was that he would err on the side of leniency. I would
not afi&rm that he never did this. I can only say that the more
closely I was able to study his methods, the more did I admire
them. When a case was to be worked up, his legal powers
guided him to the truth. When he felt that discipline should
be enforced, he was firm ; but he loved better to save a man
than to punish him.

I think that under President Woods, Bowdoin College offered
means of education, in some respects, unequalled in the country.
Students found themselves at once in the presence of a culture
that might have been the product of the best universities and

REV. LEONARD WOODS, D. D., LL.D. 505

the most polished courts of the old world. They received from
their president an influence such, as has been well remarked,
men go abroad to seek ; such as breathes in the aisles of old
cathedrals. They learned from him what reverence means,
and loyalty. They learned that society is not a mere human
invention. They felt the divinity that is behind the family and
the State.

His private influence was made powerful by the genius that
made itself felt in his public addresses. None who ever heard
them will forget his Baccalaureates. They were given without
notes, generally in the gathering twilight. As the shadows
fell, the arches of the church seemed to rise and to dilate, while
the rich music of his voice and the thoughts that he uttered,
more rich and mellow even than it, all united to place the
listener in a world which was very foreign to our every-day
life, and from which he could not fail to go forth quickened and
elevated.

As a teacher, he had charge of the studies relating to morals
and religion. His exercises formed a fine mental drill for the
students, and interested many of them in these high themes of
thought. He sometimes held a Bible class for such students as
might care to attend, on Simday, in his room. He also con-
ducted evening prayers at the college chapeL

He was very faithful and regular in his college duties. That
he might be within easy call, should he be needed, he never
went farther from home than Portland during term time, and
was rarely, if ever, absent from his appointed place.

The students brought to their president a chivalrous love and
reverence that I think rare. When in after life they came into
relations with him, they sometimes expected the illusion to be
done away. But there was no sham or tinsel about him. The

506 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL 8EETGHES.

more closely they knew him the more did they admire the
wealth of his resources and the beauty of his spirit.

But at last there came that terrible moment in our country's
history. The nation was under martial law. Hearts, also, were
under martial law. Our president, having little faith in the
power even of college discipline, shrank from the bloody dis-
cipline inflicted by the nation. He did not believe that hearts
could be won and patriotism created by the bayonet and the
cannon. Whatever may have been the causes that influenced
him, and whether his reasoning were right or wrong, you may
be very sure that his motives were as patriotic as those of any
who joined most eagerly in the great impulse of the moment.
Our president felt, doubtless, that he stood, as he so eloquently
described Webster as doing, when changing front he faced " a
sturdy and multitudinous Northern constituency." He stood as
firmly and fearlessly as Webster, and like him he found himself
separated from some most dear to him. His influence was for
the moment lessened. He felt that the battle he was waging
against a narrow interpretation of the denominational position
of the college, could be better carried on by other hands.

In 1866 he resigned the office he had held so long and so
honorably. This step, I may remark, he had for some time
been intending to take so soon as he could do it without injus-
tice to himself and to l^is work. He went forth to new triumphs.
Never before did his spirit show itself in its full beauty. No
word of jealousy ever escaped his lips. To his successors he
was all kindness and helpfulness. He rejoiced in their successes,
and sorrowed in their trials ; and if they were criticised he de-
fended them. He won to himself the hearts that had been
most estranged.

He found occupations that were most congenial to him. He
was made a delegate to the Democratic Convention at Philadel-

REV. LEONARD WOODS, D. D., LL.D. 507

phia, and one of its vice-presidents. This was an experience
very novel to him, and one which he greatly enjoyed.

had long been interested in the work of the Maine Histor-
ical Society, and now this engrossed a large part of his strength.
In 1867, as he was preparing for another year abroad, he re-
ceived a commission from the State authorizing him to procure
materials for the early history of Maine. The same charm that
opened hearts and homes to him on the occasion of his first
visit, opened to him now the treasures that he sought Of the
results of this commission, one was a work of the late Dr. John
G. Kohl, of Bremen, which was published as the first volume
of the " Documentary History of the Maine Historical Society."
He also procured a copy of an important unpublished work of
Eichard Hakluyt. On his return he attended to the publication
of the first named of these works, and after that he devoted
himself to preparing an introduction and notes to the second.

I like to think of him as engaged in these historical labors.
His conservative instincts and his love of authority were satis-
fied. He was brought into congenial relations with others of
like spirit with himself, working with them for a common end
and by common methods.

His preparations for the publication of his foreign prize, it is
supposed, were nearly completed, when a large part of his re-
sults was suddenly lost in a misfortune which broke up the en-
tire course of his life. He had just built for himself a new
library. It was fitted up with all the elegancies and conven-
iences that he could desire. For the first time he had all his
books about him. Suddenly, in January, 1874, this took fire,
probably from the wadding of a gun carelessly fired in the
neighborhood. It was wholly consumed, and with it nearly all
his books and papers. Happily, the precious Hakluyt manu-
script was elsewhere.

I

508 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

Our president, aa we know, was very conservative in his
nature ; but by this accident all those lines of activity that
bound him to his past were broken. The books that he had
studied, the works upon which he was engaged, the materials
he was collecting towards the life of his father, and in connec-
tion with this, towards the early history of the Seminary at
Andovef, his unfinished historical work all disappeared at a
flewh. By a strange irony of fortune, this most conservative of
men found himself suddenly, in his advanced years, starting
afresh, " a seeker with no past at his back." He had already
felt premonitory symptoms of the disease which was to shadow
his later days, and I think that after this fire he was never
wholly what he was before. Not, however, till June, 1875,
did he receive the first of those shocks that were to batter down
his life. Henceforth the slow beclouding of his faculties re-
minds us of the gradual settling down of the mist about some
mountain height. The clouds lift a little now and then, and
reveal a grassy slope or a rocky precipice, and then sink again
deeper and darker than before.

He had never been married. His home at Brunswick had
given him both comfort and rare companionship. Now in his
shattered health it extended to him the tenderest and most
watchful care ; until a sister in Boston claimed her nearer rights,
and took him to the guardianship and the affection of her home.

The change that was taking place with him seemed rather a
beclouding than a loss. It was sad to see him, to whom
language had been a willing slave, trying in vain to summon to
his aid the most common word, looking helplessly to the affec-
tion that had provided all else for him, as if that could divine
and bring to him the phrase he sought ; but this command of
language seemed long his greatest difficulty.

He loved to meet his friends and talk with them. Nearly to

REV. LEONARD WOODS, D. D., LL.D. 509

the last he loved to listen to reading. He would follow it in-
telligently ; would correct the pronunciation of foreign words
and define them, and would explain the meaning of theological
terms that might occur. His spirit, except for a brief period
after his first attack, was as sweet, as loving, and as tractable
as that of a child.

On the last Sunday of liis life his words showed that he knew
what was before him, and that he longed to cling till the last
to the human companionship he loved. He repeated after
loving lips the prayer of his childhood, and the sacred offices of
the church. The next day his laugh was heard once more, in
its old sweetness, and on the third, Tuesday, December 24th,
1878, he died. Just at the last, the clouds that had been
settling about his spirit lifted for a moment, and his features
shone with that strange after-glow that sometimes brightens the
faces of the dying when all earthly light has passed. Then the
mists sank more thickly than before, and their shadows deepened
into the night of death. A simple burial service at Andover,
where his body rests, ended his earthly history.

Such was our president, as nearly as I can picture him, in
his character and in his life. Can we call his a successful life ?
If he had been less endowed, we should not hesitate in our
reply. His life itself would, for many, be enough. He occupied
honorable positions in the world. He received the highest
college dignities. Harvard gave him her doctorate of Divinity
in 1846 ; Bowdoin her doctorate of Laws in 1866. He lived an
honored and useful life. But we think of these superb talents,
of which achievement is the only fitting crown. We think of
his precocious literary and theological accomplishments, and
then wonder that so little remains to us. We have one volume,
— a translation, — a few scattered articles, two or three pamphlets,
the eulogies on Webster and on Cleaveland, each perfect in its

510 MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

way, but these are all. Can we then grant to this life the final
glory of success ? I answer, Yes. Of all the gifts with wliich
a man may be endowed, the best is that mysterious something
that we call personality. Even though the shelves of the libra-
ries may groan with a man's printed works, we regard this as
worth more than alL This highest gift of God to man our
president possessed. It migh have won him an honored place
among the most brilliant circles of Christendom. This gift he
used not for himself. He consecrated it to the one ambition of
his life. This ambition was to quicken what was best in the
hearts of the young men entrusted to his care. Once, after a
grand success had been accomplished in this work, to one who
had been his helper in it he exclaimed, " The salvation of one of
these young men repays for the expenditure of very much labor,
anxiety and patience." This was the one ambition of his life ;
all his genius was not too much to be used, as it was used, for
this. He could have had no higher aim, and the loving grati-
tude of many a heart to-day testifies of his attainment.

The influence that came from him I can compare to nothing
else than that which comes from the music of an organ. I do
not mean that he was always grave. No one could tell a story,
or turn a jest with more grace and point than he. Even an
organ will sound light and merry airs, but it gives to them all
a character of its own. This organ-music is something that is
very rare in our life to-day. Even in the pulpit, where we
might expect it with most reason, we have too often the senti-
mentality of the flute, or. the harshness of the clarion, too
happy if it be not the noisy and petulant emptiness of the
drum.

There are many ways in which our president presents him-
self to our memory. Perhaps we may picture him most readily
in his seat in the chapel that he loved, there, where most others

REV. LEONARD WOODS, D. D., LL.D. 511

seemed strangely modem and out of place, but where he seemed
in fitting hannony with his surroundings. The voice of the
organ ceases, he rises, and in his richer tones utters the common
prayer and thanksgiving. I know what college " Prayers " are,
at their best Many light and wandering hearts are there.
But I think that heart must have been very empty and very
light that never at these hours had any sense of the thrill and
the lofty peace of worship.

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