Life of William Plumer

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LIFE

WILLIAM PLUMER,

BY HIS SON,

WILLIAM PLUMER JUNIOR.

EDITED,

WITH A SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR'S LIFE,

A. P. PEABODY.

BOSTON:
PHILLIPS, SAMPSON AND COMPANY,

CLAREMONT: ALVIN KENNEY.
185 7.

Wl^lc^l

fco Act of CongresB,\ iff i

Entered according to Act of CongresB,\ ilf the year 1856, "by

PHILLIPS, SAMPSON & CO.,

In tlie Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

PRXaa OF THE

Corner of Franklin and Hawley Streets,

PREFACE.

This work was left, by its lamented author, nearly complete in a
first draught. It was his design to append a closing Chapter, and
materials for this were found among his papers. These would have
been wrought mto something resembling the form and dimensions
originally designed, had not the length of the Memoir rendered it
inexpedient. On this account, the Editor has contented himself with
adding to the Thirteenth Chapter, as it came to his hands, a very
small portion of what would have constituted the Fourteenth. In
preparing this volume for the press, our limits have obliged us to
omit numerous incidents, letters, and memoranda, of equal interest
with those inserted, but less essential to the continuity and perfect-
ness of the narrative.

As regards the opinions expressed or implied in this work, the
Editor can hardly need to say, that he has, in no case, suppressed
or modilied them, when they differed from his own. Having been
bom and educated in the very heart of Massachusetts Federalism,
while he cannot for a moment doubt the authenticity of the state-
ments of fact here recorded, with reference to the Federal party, he
is not always prepared to assent to the inferences drawn from them.
He deems them, however, worthy of the most respectful considera-
tion, as the deductions of one, whose position gave him opportunities
of keen insight, and whose calm, dispassionate, candid habits of
thought, speech, and writmg, impart added weight of probability to
his views of men and measures.

CONTENTS.

Prepacb

Sketch of the Author's Life and Character,

CHAPTER I,

THE YOUTH,

Mr. Plumer's ancestry.— Parentage.— School education.— Home train-
ing-— Removal to Epping. — Eagerness in the pursuit of knowledge, 1

CHAPTER II.

THE PBEACHEK AND THE SCEPTIC.

Mr, Plumer becomes strongly interested in religion. — His baptism. —
His career as a preacher. — His scepticism. — His resignation of a
preacher's oifice 24

CHAPTER III.

THE LAW STUDENT AND LEGISLATOR.

Battle of Bunker Hill. — Mr. Plumer's iirst essay as a writer. — Select-
man of Epping. — Commences the study of law with Joshua
Atherton. — Abandons it discouraged. — Becomes a land-holder and
farmer. — Elected to the Legislature. — Resumes the study of law
with John Prentice. — Mode and extent of study. — Legislative
labors. — Insurrection threatened. — Convention to discuss griev-
ances.— Armed resistance to the government in Rockingham
County. — Admission to the bar, — Marriage 43

VI CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IV.

THE LEGISLATOE.

PAGE.

Adoption of the Constitution of the United States. — Parties under it. —
New Hampshire Convention for ratifying it. — Legislature of 1788. —
Mr. Plumer's coiirse as to the choice of United States Senators. — As to
the choice of Electors. — As to the taxing of state notes. — Debate on
the punishment for blasphemy. — John S, Sherburne. — Mr. Plumer
chosen Speaker of the House. — Incorporation of the New Hampshire
Bank. — Convention for revising the Constitution. — Religious free-
dom.— Religious test for office-holders. — Constitution of the Legis-
lature.— Organization of the Judiciary. — Results of the Conven-
tion.— Mr. Plumer again Speaker. — His action on the subject of
official salaries, — Collision with Prentice. — Death of his mother. —
Petition for a new bank. — Severe illness. — Chosen United States
Senator 92

CHAPTER V.

THE LAWTEB.

Condition of the Law in New Hampshire. — The Colonial Judges. —
Judges after the Revolution. — Meshech Weare. — Samuel Liver-
more. — Josiah Eartlett. — John Pickering. — Simeon Olcutt. — John
Dudley. — Timothy Farrar. — Special pleading. — Anecdote of Jere-
miah Mason. — Principal lawyers in Rockingham and Strafford
Counties. — Modes of practice. — Mr. Plumer's activity and energy. —
Theophilus Parsons. — Jeremiah Smith. — Salaries of Judges. — Paine
Wingate. — Mr. Plumer's advocacy of religious freedom 149

CHAPTER VI.

THE LAWTEK. — (CONTINUED.;)

Mr. Plumer as a counsellor. — A conveyancer. — A jury lawyer. — An
orator at the bar. — Samuel Dexter. — Character of the Rockingham
bar. — George Sullivan. — Jeremiah Smith. — Daniel "Webster. — Rem-
iniscences of Mr. Plumer as a lawyer, by Peyton R. Freeman. —
John Porter. — Nicholas Emery. — Moody Kent. — George Sullivan. —
Jeremiah Smith. — Arthur Livermore. — Jeremiah Mason. — Daniel
Webster. — Extent of Mr. Plumer's business 191

CHAPTE R VII.

THE SENATOB.

State of parties under Jefferson. — Journey to Washington. — Introduction
to the President. — Thomas Paine's intimacy with Jefferson. — Dinner
at the President's house.— Political letters.— Refusal of the right of

CONTENTS. Yii

PAQE.

deposit at New Orleans.— John Randolph.— Aaron Burr.— liillhouse,
of Connecticut. — Purchase of Louisiana. — Amendment of the
Constitution as to the choice of Electors. — Mr. Plumer's speech
against it. — Impeachment of Judge Pickering. — Radical notions in
the Republican party as to the tenure of judicial oiEce. — Doubts as to
the permanence of the Union. — Extracts from letters as to plans of
disunion in 1803-4. — Letter from Mr. Plumer to John Quincy
Adams. — Controversy ensuing from that letter. — Alexander Hamil-
ton's relation to the movement 239

CHAPTER VIII.

THE SENATOR. (CONTINUED.)

Mr. Plumer's address to the Federalist Electors of New Hampshire. —
Impeachment of Judge Chase. — Aaron Burr's demeanor as presid-
ing officer of the Senate. — His farewell to the Senate. — Details of
a journey to "Washington in 1805. — Indian treaties. — Secret service
money. — Non-intercourse with England. — Relative strength of
parties in the Senate. — Seditious movements of Aaron Burr. —
Henry Clay's first appearance in Congress. — Leaders in Wash-
ington 313

CHAPTER IX.

NEW POLITICAL RELATIONS.

Mr. Plumer plans a History of the United States. — British Orders in
Council, and Berlin and Milan Decrees. — Embargo. — Mr. Plumer
joins the Republican party. — Fears for the Union. — Letter from
John Quincy Adams. — Mr. Plumer is elected to the New Hamp-
shire Senate. — Chosen President of the Senate. — Nominated candi-
date for Governor 357

CHAPTER X.

THE CHIEF MAGISTRATE.

Mr. Plumer is elected Governor in Convention of the two Houses. —
Escorted to the seat of Government. — Message to the Legislature. —
Orders out companies of militia for defensive service. — Appointment
of judges. — Correction of abuses in the Council. — Choice of United
States Senator.— Erection of the State's Prison.— Reform of the
criminal code.— Federalist opposition to the General Government.—
Mr. Plumer defeated, and Gilman elected Governor.— Abolition and
re-construction of the Courts.- Mr. Plumer's address to the Clergy
of New England.— Hartford Convention.— " Era of* good feeling." 387

Vlll CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XI.

THE CHIEF MAGISTBATE. — (CONTINUED.)

Visit to Judge Story. — Mr. Plumer is again elected Grovemor. — Courts
again re- constructed on the old model.— Re- organization of Dart-
moutli College. — Letter from Mr. Jefferson. — Appointment of
Judges. — Location of the new State House. — Treasury notes. —
Letter from John Quincy Adams. — Decision in the case of Dart-
mouth College. — " Advocate " party 430

CHAPTER XII.

CLOSE OE POLITICAL i.IPE.

Legislative discussion of the polity of the Shakers. — Mary Dyer. — Presi-
dent Monroe's visit to New Hampshire. — Correspondence with
him. — Extracts from Journal. — Mr. Plumer's re-election. — He rec-
ommends the amelioration of laws for the imprisonment of
debtors. — Correspondence with Jeremy Bentham. — Mr. Plumer
declines re-election. — Death of his daughter. — Farewell message. —
Retirement from office. — Vote as Elector for John Quincy Adams. .464

CHAPTER XIII.

OLD AGE.

Essays under the signature of Cincinnatus. — Biographical sketches. —
Laborious literary life. — Letters on the Missouri question. — Support
of Adams's administration. — Answer to an invitation to the second
centennial anniversary of the settlement of Newburyport. — Answer
to an invitation to the festival of the Sons of New Hampshire. —
Extracts from Journal.— Personal habits. — Decline of health. —
Decay of Memory. — Dangerous illness. — Death of his youngest
son. — Last illness. — Death. — Funeral. — Proceedings of New Hamp-
shire Constitutional Convention. — Personal appearance and general
character 497

SKETCH

or THE

LIFE AND CHARACTER OF THE AUTHOR,

William Plumee, the oldest child of "William and Sally
Plumer, was born in Epping, N. H., on the 9th of Februaiy,
1789. His childhood was marked by the love of books, and
the self-formed habit of study, and equally so, by modesty,
quietness, and docility. At the age of thirteen, he entered
PhilHps Exeter Academy, to be prepared for college. "While
here, he gained, at the outset, the reputation of being a great
reader, but a poor scholar, — ^was regarded by his companions
as their infallible authority in matters of history and litera-
ture, while, for the first two years, he permitted them to take
precedence of him on the class roll. During his last year at
Exeter, he applied himself to study with great diligence,* so
that, at the commencement of 1805, he was among the foremost
of the successful candidates for admission to Harvard College.
While in college, he devoted a lai-ge portion of his time to
general reading, yet without detriment to his academic rank.
He acquired, during his collegiate life, a good degree of
facility and grace as a writer, and maintained his place among
the highest scholars of his class.

Immediately after taking his degree, he commenced the
study of law with his father. But, while by no means
unmindful of the demands of his chosen profession, he com-
prehended, in his preparation for it, a much wider scope than

X SKETCH OF THE AUTHOE.

is usually assigned to it, speaking in his journal of " an inti-
mate acquaintance with History, Belles-Lettres, Moral Philos-
ophy and Politics," as " necessary to the education of a
lawyer." In all these departments he was early a diligent
student, and it is belieTed that few of his co-evals became
more thoroughly conversant with ancient or modern history,
or with the classics of English literature in every age.

In 1812, he returned to Cambridge, to take his second
degree, on which occasion he delivered the English Oration.
He had formed very strong college friendships ; but the most
intimate of them hardly survived this period, except in his
regretful memory, an unusual mortality having more than
decimated his class within the first five years. In the autumn
of 1812, he made his first public appearance as a political
orator, at a Republican Convention in Kingston. During this
same autumn, he was admitted to the bar. The greater part
of the four following years he spent at Epping, engaged in
study, occasionally writing for the public journals, and some-
times appearing, with credit to himself and advantage to his
cause, at political meetings. He projected a History of the
Foreign Intercourse of the United States, but abandoned the
plan, on the appearance, in Boston, of a prospectus for a sim-
ilar work, from another hand. On the close of the war with
Great Britain, he commenced writing an elaborate History of
the "War, and had made considerable progress in it, when the
crowded occupations of public life suspended a work which
he never afterwards resumed.

In the summer of 1816, he received from the United
States Government an appointment as Commissioner of Loans
for New Hampshire, and removed to Portsmouth to enter
upon his new duties. He held this ojffice seventeen months,
when it was abolished, and he returned to Epping.

In 1818, he was elected to represent his native town in the
Legislature. He at once became a leading member, bore a
prominent part in the principal debates, and took the initiative

SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR. xi

in several important measures. At that session he was nom-
inated as a Representative to Congress, was elected in the
following spring, and re-elected for the two subsequent terms,
thus serving in three successive Congresses.

During his first session at Washington, the question of the
admission of Missouri as a slave state was agitated. He stood
firm on the side of freedom ; and among the speeches delivered
at the various stages of the debate, it is doubted whether any
surpasses one of his, which we have now before us, in politi-
cal wisdom, in legislative dignity, and in explicitness as to
the principles to which, had the North remained true, the
agitation of the last few years would have been happily super-
seded, and the area of freedom would have exchanged pro-
portions with that of slavery. In the seventeenth Congress,
he served as Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary.
In 1824, he was chosen United States Senator, on the part of
the New Hampshire Senate ; but in the House of Representa-
tives there was no choice, and in the next Legislature, the
two Houses united on another candidate. While in Congress,
he formed an intimacy, which lasted through their respective
lives, with John Quincy Adams and Daniel Webster. With
the inauguration of Mr. Adams, his life at Washington
terminated.

On the 13th of September, 1820, he was married to Miss
Margaret F. Mead, and, shortly afterward, built a house, near
his father's, and in the midst of his kindred, which was thence-
forward his home.

In 1827 and 1828, he was a member of the New Hamp-
shire Senate, but declined being a candidate for a third term.
In 1827, he unexpectedly received from President Adams a
commission as District Attorney for New Hampshire. But
he had never been very actively engaged in the practice of
his profession, had, for several years, been entirely withdrawn
from it, and had no disposition to resume it. He was, how-
ever, greatly gratified by the appointment, and especially

xii SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR.

by its having been made without solicitation or suggestion
from any one, as Mr. Adams wrote to him, " a personal
knowledge of your qualifications superseding the necessity
for any recommendation." Little as he had appeared in' the
courts, the general opinion of his friends as to the thorough-
ness of his professional attainments may be inferred from his
having been repeatedly solicited to suffer himself to be placed
upon the bench of the Supreme Court of his native State.

On leaving the Senate, he considered himself as having
retired from public life. He, indeed, not infrequently took
part in political meetings, sustained various important trusts,
and was always ready to devote his time and talents to the
general good. But his life was, for the most part, that of
literary industry and enjoyment. His home was pre-
eminently happy ; his hospitality drew many friends around
him ; and his domestic felicity, so firmly established that inev-
itable affliction alone could disturb it, was clouded only by
the death of an infant child. He might, perhaps, have
sought a residence, where he would have had easy access
to other libraries than his own and his father's, and have
enjoyed more of the society of literary men ; but, during
his father's lifetime, filial piety and community of tastes and
pursuits determined his continued residence near the paternal
mansion, and, when these motives existed no longer, he had
survived the period when change is easily made.

He had early developed a poetical vein, and, while in col-
lege, had acquired considerable reputation by writing several
of his themes in verse. In his domestic retirement, he
rekindled the youthful flame, and became the author of not a
few poems, some of which were printed, — we can hardly say
published, — ^while many more remain with his family, their
precious memorial of his genius and culture. Among these
poems were three collections of Sonnets, under the common
title of " Personal Sketches," and the specific heads of
" Youth," " Manhood," and " Age." Of the first two, he

SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR. xiii

printed, chiefly for distribution among his friends, small
editions, in 1841 and 1843 respectively. The sonnets in
these volumes are admirable specimens of, euphonious versi-
fication, chaste imagery, and affluent thought. Calm, quiet,
contemplative, introspective, they are rich and beautiful in
themselves, and meet the sympathy of those of kindred mood
with the author ; but there is in them little of the stirring,
none of the spasmodic element, which characterizes so much
of the literature of the present generation. In 1845, he
published " Lyrica Sacra ; or, "War-Songs and Ballads
from the Old Testament," — a felicitous versification of those
portions of the poetry of the Bible which fall under the
description of the title. In 1847, he published a Pastoral,
founded on the biblical story of Ruth. In this, he displays
a deep insight into the history and spirit of the times, and a
highly creative imagination in grouping subsidiary ideas and
incidents around the prominent personages and leading events
of the scripture narrative. If the poem has any fault, it is in
its subject. It was, perhaps, hardly safe to choose for artisti-
cal re-creation a story in itself so fully fraught with all the ele-
ments of poetry ; and the most smoothly flowing anapaests of
English verse can hardly replace, with lovers of the Bible, the
almost rhythmical prose of the Book of Ruth in our common
version.^

His quiet home-life was broken in upon, not infrequently,
by the claims of various public occasions, and the attractions
of travel. He represented New Hampshire at the Centen-
nial Celebration at Cambridge. He officiated as Chairman of
the Committee for the Abbott Festival, at Exeter. He
responded, in behalf of the invited guests, to Mr. Webster's
greeting, at the first Festival of the Sons of New Hampshire.
In 1850, after an absence of a quarter of a century, he revis-
ited Washington, where he was received with great cordial-
ity by such of his early associates as remained in Congress,

XIV SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR.

and was met with many gratifying tokens of high regard by
those who then first made his acquaintance.

For several of the last years of his life, he was President
of the Trustees of the New Hampshire Insane Asylum, and
devoted a large amount of time and labor to that philanthropic
service. Indeed, duties of this description never found him
backward. He was eminently a humane man, and entered
with profound interest into whatever enterprise was adapted
to relieve the suifering and raise the depressed. In this
spirit, he took an active, though not a partisan, interest in
the great reforms of the age. From his determined opposi-
tion to the Missouri Compromise, thenceonward, he was
always ready, with tongue and pen, to deprecate the exten-
sion of slavery, and to advocate such elections and measures
as augured well for the cause of freedom.

In the autumn of 1850, he took his seat as a member of
the Convention for revising the Constitution of New Hamp-
shire, and it is believed that no member exerted a stronger
influence than he, or was regarded as his superior in political
experience and wisdom, in conversance with constitutional
history and precedent, or in weight of argument as a debater.
Probably the leading speech of the session was one by him
against the proposal to make the Judiciary dependent on the
popular suffrage.

During the winter of 1850 — 51, he was afflicted with a
local disease, at first supposed to be a stubborn ague, but
which was subsequently found to be an afiection of the mem-
branous covering of the jaw-bone. From this he suflfered for
many months, and his friend and classmate, Dr. Hayward,
feared a fatal termination. His recovery, however, seemed
entire, though undoubtedly his constitution was impaired, so
as to render him the easier prey to the illness which termi-
nated his life. The leisure of his latter years was principally
devoted to the preparation of the volume now given to the
public.

SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR. XV

His last Illness — an inflammation of the bowels — seized him
on the night of September 8th, 1854. He was at once greatly-
enfeebled, but was not regarded as in danger till the 18th.
During the greater part of that day, he was speechless and
unconscious, and sank in the afternoon, in painless dissolution.

His was a character which most impressed those who knew
him best. Modest and unambitious, he shrank from notoriety,
and was seen in public only when sought out, and drawn
from his retirement. The writer, who long enjoyed his inti-
macy, has seldom been conversant with a mind so rich and
full, so accurate in fact, so sound in opinion, so weighty in
inference, so suggestive and instructive to one of kindred
tastes and congenial pursuits.

His moral tastes and sensibilities were eminently true, pure,
and delicate. From youth to age, his life was governed by
the severest principle, and might have challenged the closest
scrutiny. His friendships were strong, and he cherished no
enmities. None knew him but to respect him ; none shared his
intimacy without holding him in the most affectionate regard.
As a neighbor and a citizen, he was a peace-maker, a steadfast
friend of improvement and progress, a counsellor and helper
in every good work, a consistent and judicious advocate of
whatever could make those around him happier and better.

We have never known a more perfect embodiment than in
him, of all the graces and amenities of domestic life. Sig-
nally blessed in his domestic relations, he found his chief joy
in his family, and in the exercise of the most ample and
cordial hospitality, eq^ually to those whose intellectual com-
munion gave refreshment and stimulus to his own mind, and
to those who derived from his kindness solace in their deso-
lation, or relief in their straitnesses. Disinterested and self-
forgetting in his loving offices for those around him, he
unconsciously made himself the cynosure of their assiduous
and devoted attentions, — the light and joy of the favored

Xvi SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR.

circle, who felt that the larger half of life was taken from
them, when he was removed.

He was a Christian, in belief, practice, and spirit. He
loved the Scriptures, and was not only a daily reader, but a
dihgent and critical student, of the Divine Word. His theo-
logical scholarship was extensive and accurate, and it was a
profound heart-interest in religious truth, that preceded and
guided him, as he sought its sources, and traced out its foun-
tains. His life was closely conformed to the precepts of the
Gospel, and he lost no opportunity of expressing his profound
reverence for the doctrines of Christianity, and the character
of its Founder. His trust in Providence was entire and
implicit, and combined with his natural temperament, to
impart a peculiar serenity to his speech, and his whole man-
ner of life. He had clear and happy views of death, and of
the life beyond death ; and, though the last change stole upon
him without warning, we could not, on his account, regret its
suddenness. His work was done, and well done. His
departure was as tranquil as had been the even current of his
pilgrimage. The shadow fell, indeed, on what seemed the
meridian of his industry and usefulness ; but, hardly resting
upon his consciousness, we doubt not that it was merged in
the dawning of a brighter day.

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

CHAPTER I.

THE YOUTH.

William Plumer was the fifth in descent from
Francis Plumer, who took the freeman's oath at
Boston, May 14, 1634. Francis came to Massachu-
setts with a company of emigrants from the west of
England, and settled, in 1635, at Newbury, of which
town he was one of the original grantees. He is the
common ancestor of all the Plumers in this country,
whose descent I have been able to trace ; and was
himself descended from the ancient family of the
Plumers in England, which, from the period of the
Barons' wars, has always maintained a respectable
standing among the gentry of that country. The
Plumers of Georgia, the two Carolinas, and Mary-
land, are of the same stock. George Plumer and
Arnold Plumer, late members of Congress from Penn-
sylvania, and Franklin Plumer, late member from

2 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMEE.

Mississippi, are descendants of Francis Plumer, as are
also the Plumers of New Hampshire, Maine, and the
other New England States. The land in Newbury,
where Francis originally settled, and on which a
house, SEiid to have been built by him, was, a few
years since, standing, and perhaps still is, has remained
in the family since its first acquisition ; and is now
held, in the eighth generation, by a direct descendant
of the original proprietor. Such contiaued possession
of the same property is not uncommon in Europe ;
but, in this country of emigrant habits and restless
adventure, the Plumers of Newbury form a rare excep-
tion to that general love of change, which has filled
every State in the Union with New England men,
and has left at home few of the original possessions
of the Pilgrims in the hands of their immediate
posterity. Except that one of the family now and then
represented his town in the Legislature, they neither
sought nor received any public distinctions, and were
chiefly known among their neighbors as honest men,
good citizens, and industrious cultivators of the soU.

Of this quiet and unambitious family, the fourth
in descent from Francis, was Samuel Plumer, who
was born, Jirne 14, 1722. He was married, April 8,
1755, to Mary Dole, a descendant of one of the
families which originally settled, and stiU cluster in
patriarchal simplicity, round the Green, on the Parker
river, at Newbury Old Town.

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMEK. H

Samuel and Mary were the parents of six children
—three sons and three daughters— of whom, William,
the subject of this memoir, bom June 25, 1759, was
the oldest. His father had removed on his marriage
to what is now Newburyport, and entered largely, for
the time and place in which he lived, into the business
of shoe-making. He was successful in business, and
happy in his family and his social relations. The
shoe-manufacturers of that day sent the products of
their labor to the southern colonies, and received in
return corn and tobacco from Virginia and North
Carolina. The disposal of these goods gave them
something of the character of traders, especially in
their transactions with their own journeymen.

My grandfather having acquired what, with his
moderate desires, he considered a decent competency,
purchased a farm in Epping, New Hampshire, and,
removing thither in the autumn of 1768, devoted
himself thenceforth to agricultural pursuits. Of the
personal appearance of my grandfather at this time
I received, some fifty years later, from an old man,
who saw him at Newburyport, a description, which
may be worth repeating here, as exhibiting, in the
dress at least, a contrast sufficiently striking with any-
thing which is now to be seen in the same, or indeed in
any other place. My informant met him one Sunday
morning, going with his family to church. He was
dressed in a large full-bottomed wig, curled and pow-

4 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

dered, and surmounted by a three-cornered hat, a
scarlet broadcloth, coat, an embroidered vest, buckskin
breeches, silk stockings and velvet shoes, with large
silver shoe and knee buckles, and an ivory-headed
cane. But what most struck my informant, who was
a stranger to him, was the tall and commanding figure,
the athletic strength, and manly beauty of the person
whom he met, the noblest looking man, as he said,
whom he had ever seen. That Samuel Plumer was
a man of great bodily strength and activity, many
stories, still current, sufficiently testify. Of his fine
personal appearance, even in old age, I retain myself
a distinct recollection. In his younger days, and even
at a later period, he excelled in all manly exercises,
and neither in Newburyport, nor in Epping, did he
find any superior, and seldom an equal, in the sports
then common at raisings, trainiags and Thanksgivings,
of pitching quoits, shooting, lifting at the bar, running,
leaping, and wrestling. At Epping, his chief compet-
itor in these hardy sports, was Henry Dearborn,
afterwards a member of Congress from Maine, Secre-
tary of War under Jefferson, and Commander-in-Chief
on the northern frontier in the war of 1812. Dear-
born possessed uncommon strength and activity, and
was, besides, a much younger man ; but, with even
these advantages, he was seldom successful against
the practised skill and unimpaired strength of his
older, but not less robust and sinewy antagonist. In

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 5

their last wrestling match, on the occasion of raising
a new meeting-house in Epping, Dearborn brought his
opponent once upon his knee, but was himself twice
thrown, first forward on his side, and, at the last trial,
fairly on his back, leaving his rival victorious in the
ring, with no one disposed to dispute with him the hon-
ors of victory. It was in these rustic, but heroic games,
that the youth of New England acquired the strength,
the dexterity, and the courage, which swept before
their onset the disciphned valor of the British soldiery,
and gave independence to their country. This great
bodily strength of my grandfather did not descend
to any of his sons, unless, indeed, some portion of it
might have come to them in the form of an unusual
strength and tenacity of life ; the average age of the
three brothers being about eighty-six years.

His oldest son possessed, with his length of days, a
power of application and of endurance, which enabled
him, though often in feeble health, and never strong,
to perform a greater amount of labor, manual and
intellectual, continued for many years in succession,
through more hours every day, till he was past his
eighty-fifth year, than any other person I ever
knew. Young as he was when the removal to
Epping made him thenceforth an inhabitant of
New Hampshire, he ever after retained a grateful
recollection of the place of his birth, and a strong
attachment to his native state. Of events which

6 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

occurred before lie left Newburyport, little is now
known concerning his early life, which is worth relat-
ing here. A few circumstances may, however, be
mentioned, as either characteristic of the times, 'or
of the individual.

He was so feeble an- infant, that there seemed, at
first, little hope of his reaching manhood; but he
gained strength with advancing years, and was soon
distinguished as a lively, quick-witted boy, full of
sprightliness and activity, observant of passing events,
and ready alike for study and for play. His public
instructor, noted in the history of Newburjrport for
his long and faithful service in his avocation, was
Stephen Sewall, an old man, whom he described as
precise and formal in his manners, but of great kind-
ness of heart, and wholly devoted to his pupils. He
learned of Sewall to read, write, and spell, but was
not taught grammar either then, or at any subsequent
period. Sewall advised his father to give him a col-
legiate education. This advice was earnestly enforced
by the clergyman of the parish, who said that the boy
would pay well for any expense in that line which
might be bestowed upon him. But his father, who,
though a man of strong sense, was little aware of the
value of a good education, said, that besides the
expense, which was greater than he could bestow on
all his boys, such a course would unfit his son for
the agricultural pursuits to which, in his own mind, he

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEB. 7

had, even then, already devoted him. Another ans-W^er
which he sometimes gave, when pressed on the sub-
ject, was, that William had wit enough to find his way
in- the world, without the help of college guides,
not reflecting that the stronger his native powers,
the more worthy they were of being improved by the
best culture they could receive. It is the more to be
regretted that this advice was not followed, as we may
be sure that he would have improved to the utmost
whatever advantages the college might have aflforded
him.

These, indeed, at the time when he would have
been there, were not great. Inter arma silent musce.
The college buildings were, about the time when the
youth would have been prepared to seek their shelter,
turned into barracks for the soldiers of Washington,
then encamped at Cambridge, for the siege of Boston.

The clergjnnan whose advice was thus rejected was
Jonathan Parsons, a divine distinguished for classical
attainments, theological learning, and great power as
a preacher. My father used to tell of a discourse
which he delivered against one Smith, a Baptist
preacher, who came from Haverhill, to make prose-
lytes among Parsons's parishioners. The text was, " I
have created the Smith that bloweth the coals." The
doctrine deduced was, that " all things, utterly worth-
less as many of them are, proceeded from the Lord,
even," added he, raising his voice and pointing to his

8 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLDMEB.

opponent, who was present, ^ the Smith who bloweth
the coals of strife, and heresy, and all ungodliness
among us." Smith replied the next Sunday with
some text equally quaint, and, no doubt, equally to
the purpose, though I do not now remember what it
was. These turns of Puritanical wit were then com-
mon in the pulpit, and much admired by the audience.
They were scarcely less common among lawyers at
the bar, and with judges on the bench. Mr. Plumer,
at a later period, excelled in them, and was never at
a loss for apt quotations from the Scriptures.

Another incident of this period carried with it a
lesson of high moral import. A boy of his acquaint-
ance persuaded him to buy a bird of him, and told
him, as he was without money, that there would be
no harm in taking the pistareen, which was the price,
from his father's desk, as the bird was worth much
more than the money. His desire to possess so
tempting an object gave such an appearance of truth
to this juvenile sophistry, that he went to the desk,
took the money, and was soon on his way home with
the bird. The joy which this acquisition gave him
was however turned, as he approached the house, into
doubt and apprehension ; and, carrying the bird to
his mother, he told her the whole story, and asked
what he should do. She took him at once to his father,
who explained to him, in no gentle terms, the guilt
which he had incurred, and the punishment, as well

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 9

as the disgrace, which such conduct must bring upon
him. He then ordered him to carry back the bird to
the boy who had been his tempter. This he did
though with some reluctance* mortified by the ridicule
he knew he should incur, and shedding tears at the
loss of his beautiful bird. When he returned and
reported that, though he had given up the bird, he
could not get back the money, his father said, " So
much the better, William, so much the better ; this
will teach you that dishonesty never prospers." " I
was only six years old," said Mr. Plumer, in relating
this incident, " when this took place, but it fixed too
deeply in my mind the distinction between mine and
thine, the meum and tiium of the law, to make any new
light necessary for me from Blackstone or Paley,
from lawyer or divine, on that subject ; and if in after
life, no man ever charged me with dishonesty in any
money transaction, it was owing not a little to this
early lesson on the rights of property, which my
father impressed upon me so effectually in this matter
of the bird and the pistareen."

One more incident, and we shall be prepared to
accompany the boy to the quiet seclusion of his
country life in Epping. Among things which in after
life he remembered to have seen before leaving New-
buryport, was the passage of John Wentworth, the
last royal governor of New Hampshire, through that
place, on his way to Portsmouth. This was in June,

10 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

1767. Wentworth had landed at Charleston, South
Carolina, and had made the tour of the colonies, as
Surveyor General of the King's woods in America.
When he reached Newburyport, the whole town
thronged his way, as, accompanied by the chief inhab-
itants, he rode on horseback through the main street,
with his hat in his hand, bowing gracefully to the
salutations of a loyal and admiring people. The sight
was one which a boy of eight years old was not likely
to miss, or, when once seen, to forget. Yet the child,
who, with eager curiosity, climbed the fence that he
might have a better view of the great man as he passed,
could hardly have foreseen that the Province of New
Hampshire, of which he then perhaps heard for the
first time, would within ten years become an inde-
pendent State J and that, in a few years more, he
would himself be chosen to this same office of Gover-
nor of New Hampshire, and be conducted to its
capitol with more parade, and a larger escort than
now attended the honored representative of the maj-
esty of England.

The characters of men depend so much upon the
circumstances in which they are placed, and the state
of society around them, that without some knowledge
of these we cannot do justice to their motives, or
judge fairly of their conduct. Among the essays
which my father proposed to write, but forwhich he did
not find time, was one on the changes which had taken

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 11

place in the world within the period of his recollec-
tion. " Where " says Young, " is the world in which
a man was born ? " The proposed essay, if written,
would have exhibited the world, into which the sub-
ject of this memoir was born, in strong Contrast with
that very different world in which he closed his days.
It would lead us too far from our present theme to
attempt any such exhibition. A few facts only will
be here noticed, which may serve to remind the reader
of.£ome of the most important changes which hap-
pened within the period of Mr. Plumer's hfe, and of
the influences which, whether for good or evil, bore
upon him from the times, and the society in which he
lived. I The ninety years of his life were perhaps the
most eventful period in the history of mankind j and,
though his agency in these great transactions may, on
a large scale, be said to be little or nothing, the
influence on him was not the less real of events which
transformed the whole aspect of society. It was his
fortune to live in an age of unprecedented change
and revolution ; of hope, expectation, and alarm ; of
progress, demolition, and reconstruction ; in which the
elements of society were convulsed, and the foundar
tions of long established opinions shaken, or over-
thrown. The strongest minds did not escape the
agitation of the storm ; the weak were swept help-
lessly before it. It is enough to say that American
Independence, and the French Revolution, the empire

12 LIFE OF -WILLIAM PLUMEE.

of Napoleon, and the emancipation of Spanish
\ America, occurred within this period.

Epping, then, as now, a small country town, was
originally a part of Exeter, from which it was sepa-
rated in 1741. With one thousand four hundred and
ten inhabitants, it was the fifth town in population in
the province. The inhabitants were devoted almost
exclusively to agriculture and the lumber business.
They sent their lumber either to Exeter or New
Market, and thence through Portsmouth to the West
Indies, or to England ; whence they received in return
the few foreign commodities which their simple hab-
its required, and the little money necessary to pay
their taxes. On one occasion, the collector gave
notice that he would receive the taxes in lumber, if
delivered by a given day in March. On the day
appointed, the lumber came in from all parts of the
town ; and the collector started with it for Exeter,
with forty teams, and more than a hundred yoke of
oxen, with drums beating, colors flying, and with a
small cask of West India rum mounted conspicuously
on the foremost load. Cornet Perkins and Ensign
Rundlett, who, as military men, were more honored
in their day than major-generals of militia are in ours,
headed the procession, and, after astonishing the good
people of the parent town with this rustic display,
brought back their whole company, as Deacon
Wheeler said, in very decent order. Some of the

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 13

men, indeed, found it convenient to ride on their
sleds, holding on manfully, but laboriously, by the
chains, instead of walking briskly by the side of their
oxen, as in the morning. But for this, the labors of
the day might have seemed some excuse, if the cask,
now empty and dangling in the chains, had not sug-
gested a more obvious reason. This excursion was
not, however, an ordinary occurrence ; and, in gen-
eral, the prudence, sobriety, and frugality of this
hardy and industrious people were worthy of all
commendation.

Of many interesting topics, which now occupy the
village gossip, they knew little ; of some, nothing.
Politics seldom disturbed their quiet. They had,
indeed, occasionally to choose a member of the
Assembly ; and this was not always very easily done,
as it was sometimes hard to persuade one of the two
or three who were alone thought fit for the place to
accept the trust.

With religious discussions, growing out of the ex-
istence of different sects in the town, they had, thus
far, been little troubled. There were a few Quakers
on the south-western border of the town, and one of
them had been once sent to jail for refusing to pay
the parish tax, but, with this slight exception, the
whole people attended the Congregational Church,
whose minister was supported by a town tax.

The clergyman, who thus united the town under

14 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

Ms charge, was the Rev. Josiah Steams, a graduate
of Harvard College, a worthy pastor, and, in general,
very acceptable as a preacher. His orthodoxy was,
however, so strict as sometimes to give offence, even
in those days of ready acquiescence, and of deferential
respect for the clergy ; nor did it always show itself,
as some of his parishioners thought, on the most
appropriate occasions. At the funerals of infants, for
instance, he took especial care to remind the parents
that the penalty of Adam's sin rested as heavily on
children as on adults, and that there were thousands
of infants in hell who had died so young that they
could not " discern their right hand from their left."
This expression, which my father heard him repeat-
edly use, was characteristic, not so much of the man
as of the times.

The inhabitants of Epping generally were on a
footing of great equality as to property ; none rich,
and none very poor. Nearly every head of a family
was a land owner. Money was scarce, but provisions
were cheap, and labor always in demand.

It was to this quiet country town that Samuel
Plumer retired with his family in the autumn of 1768,
to spend the remainder of his life in those agricul-
tural pursuits to which his youth had been devoted,
and to which his thoughts had always fondly turned.
His eldest son was, at this time, in his tenth year ;
and, as the farm was to be the scene of his exertions,

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 15

he was early trained to its labors. Of this period of
his life, little is now known which it would be of
interest to relate. Boys of his age, however, learn
much from those around them, and receive impres-
sions which influence largely and lastingly their
future characters and conduct.

His situation was in many respects favorable. Few
temptations to idleness or immorality were thrown in
his way, and the parental influences were all on the
side of virtue, of regular industry, steady habits, and
quiet and orderly demeanor. His mother was a
woman of great good sense, of a serene and cheerful
disposition, and of the tenderest maternal solicitude.
His father, who was regular in his habits, assiduous
in business, and strict in all rehgious; observances,
was prompt to notice any impropriety, and checked
at once the slightest deviation from the right in his
children. AH the reasonable wants of his son were
anticipated by provident forethought, while his way-
ward humors and his idle griefs, his childish sorrows
and his boyish disappointments (for even he sometimes
tasted " that root of bitterness wherewith the whole
fruitage of our life is mingled and tempered,") were
soothed and relieved, and ofteii changed into pleas-
ure, as dark clouds grow bright as they approach the
moon, by the cheerful disposition, the earnest good
will, and unwearied assiduity, of a pious and loving
mother. This imion of authority with indulgence — of

16 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

the father's regularity with the mother's tenderness —
early formed him to habits of industry and self-control
on the one hand, and on the other, to kindness, liber-
ahty, and thoughtfulness for the wants g-nd the
wishes of others. In the rough and gregarious sports
of youth he took little part ; yet his temper was
social, and with a chosen few he was intimate and
familiar. With little variety of incident, or change of
pursuit, passed the first few years of his life in Epping.
Labor in the open field, regular but not excessive,
gave strength to his bodily frame, whUe the simple
diet of his father's table left his mind clear and
unclouded for his hours of study, and free and cheer-
ful in his moments of relaxation.

Yet even in this happy seclusion, and at this early
period, he felt, with daily increasing force, one want
not easily supplied, — that thirst for knowledge, in his
situation unattainable, and in none ever perfectly
obtained, which is characteristic of all active and
inquisitive minds, and without which little real
progress is ever made. His eager desire to under-
stand whatever fell under his notice, or occurred to
his thoughts, found no adequate gratification in the
knowledge or the capacity of those around him. He
was never tired of putting questions, which they
could not answer. Questions indeed there are without
number, questions as to man's origin and his destiny,
his rights and his duties, which youth in its ignorance

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 17

can ask, but which even age in its wisdom cannot
answer. With some of these, involving high consid-
ei-ations of a metaphysical, moral, and religious nature,
he early puzzled himself and embarrassed others.
Even the minister, looked up to with awe as an oracle,
could not always solve the doubts of the young
inquirer, but sought to repress by authority, rather
than to satisfy by facts and reasonings his pertinacious
inquisitiveness. His father had few books of much
value, except the Bible and the Morals of Epictetus.
The Bible, reaxi through and through in the daily
service, suggested thoughts that often brought him
home from the fields with a string of doubts and
queries, which there was no commentator at hand to
explain. The study of Epictetus, early and assidu-
ously pursued, while he had as yet few other books
to read, gave, by its lessons of severe virtue and stern
endurance, something of a stoical turn, heathen
rather than Christian, to his cast of thought, strict-
ness of moral principles, and an energy and decision
of character, which remained with him to the close
of Hfe.

It cannot be doubted that these two books, long
and almost exclusively studied, entered largely into
the formation of his moral character, and moulded
strongly the peculiarities of his mind.

In the mean time, his instructidn at the town
school could have added little to the knowledge

18 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

which, he brought with him from Newburyport. The
ample list of arts and sciences which our town
schools now profess to teach was unknown to the
pedagogues of that day. Their curriculum embraced
little more than the elements of reading, writing, and
arithmetic, and in these their promise of instruction
went far beyond any adequate performance.

The school was not kept more than ten or twelve
weeks in the year, and, even then, the labors of the
field, in seed time and harvest, were deemed of more
value than what the schoolmaster could impart.
" My father," he said to me many years after, " was a
careful and indulgent parent, but he thought more of
money than of knowledge." Yet under all these
disadvantages, as the young student brought with him
a ready apprehension, and a keen appetite for knowl-
edge, bis progress was gratifying to himself and
pleasing to his friends. I conversed some years since
with an old man who remembered him when they
were scholars together in the schoolhouse, on Red
Oak HiU. He represented my father as learning
faster and more easily than any of his mates, and
as going far before them in aU that was taught
there. He excelled in arithmetic, and would some-
times carry up to the master, who prided himself on
his ciphering, a sum of his own stating. The teacher,
after looking at it for a while, would say, " I am busy
now, but will show you how it is done some other

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 19

time." As this other time never came, and the hoy-
was himself able to do the sum, his companions were
not long in coming to the conclusion that he knew
more than the master.

The vanity, which this might have fostered in him,
was checked by a deep sense of the Httle, after aU,
which he knew, and the much which was beyond his
reach. AU knowledge is comparative, and his was
not great. His ciphering book, (a quarto of ninety-six
pages,) is now before me. It begins with notation,
and ends with the square root. It is written in a
strong, plain hand, free from blots, and carefully fin-
ished in every part, but with no attempt at ornament
and no unnecessary flourish. In these respects, it not
inaptly represented the character of its author's
mind, which was strong, clear, well defined, without
ostentation or parade, useful in its aims, and practical'
in its results. His old school-mate said to me, on the
occasion of this conversation: "Your father had the
five talents of Scripture parable, and he was never
charged with hiding one of them in a napkin."

He ceased going to school when he was in his sev-
enteenth year, and was afterward his own instructor.
Books had now become the great objects of his desire,
and were, from that time, his never-failing compan-
ions. He soon exhausted the scanty supply of his
neighbors and friends, and " whate'er the minister's
old shelf supplied." Newspapers were then hardly

20 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

known in the circle where he moved. Pamphlets
were scarce, and confined mostly to religious topics,
the occasional sermon, the controversial tract, or the
painful experience of some Christian professor ; or,
what was more attractive, the narrative of some
Indian captivity, or wild sea adventure, or shipwreck,
the capture of a Spanish galleon, or the death of Capt.
Kidd. Bound volumes were still more rare ; and of
those which he could obtain few were of much value.
He used, however, to say that no book is so poor but
some good may be drawn from it — some fact for the
memory, or some stimulant to thought. The meanest
flower has a drop of honey, if the bee can but find
it. He was indefatigable on the wing in search of
such sweets. If he heard of a book, within many
miles of his home, he could not rest till he had visited
its privileged owner, and obtained the loan of it.
He often went great distances on foot to borrow a
book, of which he had heard, perhaps, only the title,
from a person he had never seen.

It is easy to imagine the appearance on such
occasions of the earnest and inquisitive youth, as,
travel-soiled and weary with long walking, he pre-
sented himself to the stranger whom he visited, with
an ingenuous countenance, and a manly address,
stating the object of his call, and soliciting the favor
which, though trifling in itself, was more dear to him
than the richest gifts could have been. He often

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 21

obtained more than the single volume he sought ; and
these loans, besides making him acquainted with
their owners, gave him more real and lasting pleasure
than the wealth or honors which afterwards came to
reward his labors. Many were the long walks which
he took for this purpose ; and he remembered with
gratitude, to the close of Ufe, these early benefactors.
Such was his impatience that he could not always
wait till his return to examine his treasures. Night
more than once surprised him, while seated in some -
retired spot by the wayside, reading the book he had
borrowed. This first hasty perusal was not, however,
the last that he gave it. Books obtained with such
difficulty were read with attention, and thoroughly
digested, till, when he returned them, all that was
worth noting in them had fixed itself in his memory.
He retained to the close of life many facts and
ideas which had been thus early and indelibly
impressed on his mind. The scarcity of books led him
involuntarily to practise on the old maxim of read-
ing much, rather than many things. Want of variety
and comprehensiveness was probably more than
compensated, in this case, by the precision and accu-
racy which he thus attained. What he knew at all
he knew well and thoroughly, so far as his means of
information went. ( Suffering, as we do, in this age of
repletion, from the multitude of books, loading every
shelf and table, and pressing with importunate clamor

22 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

on our attention, it is not easy for us to understand
the difficulties which he encountered, or sufficiently
to admire that passionate love of learning, that noble
avarice of books which made him deny himself any
possession rather than miss those rare treasures of the
mind which Milton has so nobly described, " as the
precious life blood of a master spirit, embalmed and
treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life."J) Few
indeed were the works of master spirits to which he
had at this time access, but he sought them far and
wide, and used diligently whatever he could obtain.
When he had read all within his reach, he went back
agaiu to reperuse and analyze what he had acquired,
and to compare other men's thoughts with his own.
As the advantages of a liberal education were denied
him, it is not perhaps much to be regretted that he
had access to so few books. A greater number might
have led to more careless reading, and impaired per-
haps the originaUty, if not the vigor of his powers.
Hobbs said, somewhat arrogantly, that " if he had
read as much as other men he should have known as
little." As his other occupations left him little time
for study, my father early formed the habit, which he
preserved through life, of having a book always with
him, and of reading at those leisure moments when
others were waiting, impatiently perhaps, for their
meals, or fretting on trivial occasions at inevita-
ble delay, or engaged, at best, in idle conversation.

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 23

He never found these moments so short but lie could
open a book, and draw from it some fact to be remem-
bered, or some thought for reflection. That this read-
ing was not a mere passing of the time, a dreamy-
pleasure without improvement, as is often the case,
appeared from the result of his studies, and the turn,
eminently practical, of his mind. The habit thus
early formed of reading when not otherwise employed
continued with him through life. He took a book
with him whenever he went from home ; and many/
were the volumes which he read on horseback. At
a later period, when I used to ride with him in his
chaise, he would give me the reins, and read aloud
from some volume of history, biography, or morals,
mingling with his reading remarks for my instruction.

CHAPTER II.

THE PREACHER AND THE SCEPTIC.

Morals and religion, the duties of man to Ms Cre-
ator, to himself, and to his fellow-men, have relations
so extensive with character and conduct, that no
man's life can be considered complete which does not
contain some account of him in reference to this sub-
ject. I have made, in the preceding chapter, some
sHght reference to rehgious opinions, as held in Mr.
Plumer's younger days, in the circle of his more
immediate acquaintance.

With his eager thirst for knowledge of all kinds,
religion could not but attract a share of his attention,
and on this, as on other subjects, he early displayed
that boldness of thought, which, in the pursuit of
knowledge, is regardless of consequences, and intent
only on the acquisition of truth, as the reward of
inquiry. His boyish curiosity, however, soon sub-
sided into comparative indifference. But, in the
spring of 1779, he experienced a new and more pow-
erful religious emotion. His father had joined the
Baptist Society in Epping, and it was here that his
son now attended meeting. The pastor of this church,

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 25

Samuel Shepherd, united in his person the characters,
then not uncommon, of physician and divine. He
was the third Baptist preacher ever ordained in
this state, and his church, estabhshed in the three
towns of Epping, Brentwood, and Stratham, in each
of which he had a meeting-house, and preached suc-
cessively, is said to have been the largest ever col-
lected under one pastor in New Hampshire. Through
a wide region of country Dr. Shepherd was followed
and admired by multitudes, and, everywhere, revivals
and conversions attested the power of his preaching.
Among others, Mr. Plumer, then in his twentieth
year, attended these revival meetings, and became a
convert to his doctrines. He was baptized by Shep-
herd, in May, 1779, in company with twenty others,
by immersion in the river at Nottingham. From a
convert he became first an exhorter, and then a
preacher, though never regiJarly ordained. But this
ministry was not destined to be of long continuance.
In about a year and a half from his conversion,
a change in his religious belief brought him back
once more to the farm, and led ultimately to the
adoption of the law as his profession. Of this part
of his life, he has left among his papers an interesting
account, the greater portion of which I copy here,
as likely to be more satisfactory to the reader than
any abstract of it which could be given.

26 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

" Early in the spring of 1779, there was in the vicinity
what was called a reformation. Eeligious meetings were fre-
quent ; the people were deeply and zealously engaged ; enthu-
siasm and superstition pervaded the assemblies, and spread
from mind to mind like a contagious disease, or like a fire in
a forest impelled by a strong wind. I attended one of these
meetings with a disposition to consider it as under the influ-
ence of a supernatural spirit. On entering the house, the
noise and confusion of the worshippers, their cries and
contortions, seemed to me to be the mere ebullition of the
passions. But such is the force of example, and the contagion
of feeling, that, before I was well aware, I too shared in their
emotions, was affected deeply by their fears, and alarmed and
agitated beyond measure by the apprehension of that ever-
lasting misery which the preacher set before us, in such lively
colors, as the inevitable doom of every unconverted sinner.
Though before conscious of no peculiar turpitude or depravity
of nature, I now felt that my heart was the seat of all
impurity, and that I deserved the punishment which seemed
about to fall upon me.

" In this distress of mind, I could neither sleep, nor eat,
and my strength utterly failed me. I remained in this state
of anxiety and alarm for the space of ten days ; when, on a
sudden, I was strongly impressed with the idea that God had
forgiven my sins. This at once relieved my distress, and
filled me with transports of joy. Though I had been baptized
by sprinkling in infancy, I was now baptized by immersion
in the river, making, at the same time, a public declaration
of my creed and my experience ; and was soon after
admitted a member of the Baptist church, in full communion.

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 27

I now deyoted from four to eight hours a day to the study
of the Bible, to prayer, and to the reading of religious books.
In the frequent religious meetings which I attended, I
generally took a part, either in prayer, or in an address or
exhortation to the people.

" Early in the spring of 1780, I entered upon the work of
the ministry, by becoming a preacher of the Baptist denom-
ination— not by the advice of any man or church, but from a
conviction that it was my duty. In the latter part of that
season, and the first of the summer, I travelled through the
counties of Rockingham, Hillsborough, Strafford and Grafton,
— ^four out of the five counties then in the State. This tour
occupied more than six weeks. There was scarcely a day but
I delivered one, and often two sermons. My discourses,
though not written, were studied and methodical, and deliv-
ered with ease and animation. I preached to others what I
believed myself, and recommended religion to their consid-
eration with zeal and pathos. My hearers were numerous,
attentive, and serious ; and many of them, in consequence of
my preaching, became professors of religion. After my
return, I preached in Epping and the vicinity ; occasionally
travelling into the seaports and the neighboring towns.

"In these discourses, I addressed myself chiefly to the
understanding, and touched the passions so far only as was
necessary to gain the hearers' attention. I had larger audiences
than any other preacher in the same places, a circumstance,
doubtless, owing to my great youth, my earnest zeal, and the
manifest sincerity of my convictions. I was not only sincere
in my belief, but disinterested in my conduct ; for I can truly
say that, during the whole time that I ofiiciated in the min-

28 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

istry, I never received to the value of a single cent from any
person except my food and lodging in tlie houses I visited,
and that only when it was necessary. 1 set apart, and strictly
devoted one day in every month to private fasting and prayer
in my chamber. This was always to me a season of real
enjoyment. These fasts, besides theit religious uses, invig-
orated the mind, by relieving the stomach from the pressure
of heavy meals, and gave me better health than I should oth-
erwise have enjoyed. This practice of occasional fasting I
have, indeed, continued through life, as a sure remedy against
many bodily complaints. A fast of one or two days has often
relieved me from diseases, which it might have taken a phy-
sician a month to cure. It was, however, for health of mind
rather than of body, that I now resorted to these monthly
fasts.

" Not a doubt existed as yet, in my mind, as to the truth
and the reality of the religion which I had thus adopted. My
faith was strong, and my sincerity equal to my zeal, and
both were great. The first scruples which I had on this sub-
ject occurred to me in September of this year. They did not
proceed from books or conversation, but from my own
thoughts and reflections. These doubts gave me much pain
and disquietude. I made great efforts to banish them from
my mind, and redoubled my application to prayer, and to
reading and studying the Bible ; but all in vain. A spirit of
inquiry had arisen which I could not stifle nor control. I '
sought in vain to reconcile the character of the Supreme
Being, and the reason of man, with the principles of the
religion which I had embraced. What greatly increased my
embarrassment was, that there was no one to whom I could

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 29

impart my doubts with any hope that he could remove them.
I found it a most painful task to question opinions which I
considered so important, and which it might be even impious
for me to reject. I had never read any book or pamphlet
written against Christianity ; and, as I was resolved to pre-
serve my religion, I procured and read such writings as I
could find in defence of Christianity, and against Deism. But
these arguments, though in some points satisfactory, added,
on the whole, greatly to my doubts.

" The more I examined my religious creed, the more It
seemed to me opposed to the character of God, and to that
faculty in man which distinguishes him from the inferior
animals, and enables him to discover truth. No man, unless
he has been in my situation, can realize the anxiety which I
suffered. I knew there were men who preached religion for
money ; and others who taught doctrines which they did not
believe ; but that was not my case. I had been sincere in
my belief, and was now equally sincere and unhappy in my
doubts. It could not but wound my feelings to abandon a
system which I had so warmly advocated. Yet this I could
bear ; but my fears were alarmed lest I should plunge into
error, and expose myself to everlasting destruction.

" After being, some time, in this painful state of anxiety
and suspense, I communicated a portion of my doubts to the
Rev. John Allen, a Baptist preacher from England, who was
then preaching in New Hampshire. He assured me that my
doubts proceeded from the devil, said that he had often been
afflicted with them himself, and that the only safe and effect-
ual course was, by a resolute effort of the will, to banish them
from the mind, repelling all assaults of the adversary by the

30 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

impenetrable shield of implicit faith. ' The more you reason/
said he, ' the worse it will be with you. Eesist the devil,
and he will flee from thee.' I endeavored, in all sincerity and
good faith, to follow his example ; but I could not long
silence the voice of reason, nor close my eyes to self-evident
propositions, or to what seemed necessary deductions from
principles which I could not deny. Having at length satis-
fied myself that free inquiry could not be a crime, and that
God would not punish an upright man for the errors into
which he might fall in the search after truth, I resolved
fully, fireely and impartially to investigate the doctrines and
the requirements of religion, as taught in the Bible, and to
retain or reject the whole system, as it seemed to me to cor-
respond with, or be opposed to, the reason and moral nature
of man. The result of this inquiry, conducted with all the
ability and the candor I possessed, terminated in deism.

" I contiuued to preach occasionally for four or five weeks,
while these doubts and inquiries were rising in my mind.
But my discourses were very difierent from those which I
had formerly delivered. I now dwelt chiefly on the nature
and perfections of the Deity, on his providence and his works,
and on the use and importance of the moral and social virtues.
This diflerence was soon perceived. The saints were alarmed.
I was summoned before a church meeting, and admonished to
abandon my errors. I met with the church several times on
the subject, without their coming to any definite decision. I
finally told them that, if they desired it, I would state pub-
licly before the congregation my opinions, and the reasons on
which they rested. To this Dr. Shepherd strongly objected.
I then withdrew from further connection with them, and

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 31

returned once more to my labors on the farm with my father,
■where I was free to think for myself, and to practise what
seemed to me to be the religion of reason and nature."

This remarkable narrative exhibits its author
unfavorably indeed in one point of view, as alter-
temately an enthusiast and an unbeliever, — yet in
both characters as sincere, and earnest in his inquiries,
ready, at whatever hazards, to follow truth, wherever
she might lead, and anxious only for her instructions
as the reward of his labors and his prayers. The
treasure of religious truth, which, " with transports of
joy," he had received for himself, he was eager to
impart to others, not scantily, or imperfectly, or with
any mercenary aim, but fully, freely, without fee or
reward, as an offering of good will, and an oblation of
duty to his fellow men. • This idea of unpaid service
was indeed a part of his enthusiasm. It sprang from
a noble motive, and was worthy of the native gener-
osity of his unselfish mind.

To the preceding account, given by himself, I am
able to add, from other sources, various circumstances
which throw further light on this part of his history.
The tour of preaching, to which he refers in the
above extracts, was undertaken with the concurrence,
if not on the suggestion of Dr. Shepherd. Many
parts of the country which he visited were then but
recently settled ; and among the rude, but intelligent

32 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER.

inhabitants of the frontier towns, in the log-cabins of
the hardy settlers, he became acquainted with modes
of life, and habits of thought and action with which
he was before but little conversant. His long jour-
nies, over bad roads, and through gloomy forests,
were cheered by the deep sense of duty which had
sent him forth on this errand of love; and the
natural buoyancy of youth gave the color of hope,
and often of exultant joy, to his thoughts, amidst the
wild and magnificent mountain scenery through
which, full of bright fancies, chastened and solem-
nized by deep religious feeling, he travelled alone,
often pursuing his journey late into the evening
before reaching the humble habitation, where, a
stranger, yet welcome, he was to rest for the night,
and preach on the morrow to the neighboring
inhabitants. He visited in this way many portions
of the State, and became extensively acquainted with
the people. It was indeed to him a season of varied
pleasure and severe exertion, of fatigue of body and
labor of mind ; yet cheered by the excitement of
perpetual novelty, and dignified by the sense of duty
performed and service rendered to others. He began
to be aware too, on this tour, more than he had ever
been before, that there was in him a power of mind
not yet called forth, — a capacity to impart knowledge,
and to exert influence over others, which, if it gave
pleasure, imposed also responsibilities. This conscious-

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 33

ness of power is one of the first, and often of tlie
severest trials of character, to which men of genius or
talent are exposed. He determined that, whatever
his capacity might be, it should be devoted to useful
purposes, and exerted under the control of an abiding
sense of moral duty.

In the course of this tour he met with many
adventures, some of them sufficiently annoying, others
amusiag and even ludicrous. Of this latter character
was the following. He had been preaching at Canaan,
in Grafton county, when, at the close of his discourse,
he was assailed by the clamors of some half a dozen
of his hearers, who charged him with being a tory,
upon the ground that in his sermon he had spoken of
war as anti-Christian, and that in his prayer he had
besought the Lord "to overturn and overturn, tUl
He should come whose right it is to reign." " Now
who," said these sagacious objectors, "can rdgn but a
king? and what overturn can there be but of the present
republican government, that the king of England,
who claims a right to reign over us, may come in
and exert his former authority here?" It did not
occur to these worthy patriots that King Emanuel,
and not King George, was in the thoughts of the
preacher, and that his language, drawn from Scrip-
ture, had no reference to the vocabulary of tory
politics. If this account seems incredible, its improb-
ability will be perhaps somewhat lessened when I add

34 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

that the text was, "Little children, love one another,"
and that he found in it no warrant for the violence
and injustice in which war generally originates. He
succeeded, however, in convincing those who had at
first expressed so much anger at his discourse, that
there was really no treason in it, and they departed,
amidst the laughter of the bystanders, with the
uncomfortable reflection that their zeal had, on this oc-
casion, outrun their discretion. The anecdote would
not have been worth relating here, but for the revival,
thirty-six years afterward, when he was a candidate
for the ofl&ce of Governor, of this Canaan story, with
an entire perversion of the facts. The charge then
made was, that he was a tory in the time of the
revolution, and had been arrested as such on the
occasion here referred to. There was in fact no
arrest or attempt to arrest in the case, no toryism
preached, and nothing unusual beyond the ludicrous
mistake of a few of his hearers.

As a preacher, he was eminently successful wher-
ever he went. He had a ready command of apt,
lively and idiomatic language; and his use of words, if
not elegant or scholar-like, was never low or vulgar.
His voice was strong and clear, and its tones varied
and harmonious. His reasoning was close and logical,
fortified by Scripture quotations and analogies ; and
his appeals to the passions were strong, and often
overpowering. His zeal and enthusiasm, genuine and

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER, 35

unaffected, animating his discourses with the fervor
of his own convictions, carried his hearers easily and
entirely with him. I have heard many old men
speak with admiration of his performances on such
occasions. With the usual partiality of the aged for
the favorites of their youth, they all agreed in the
declaration that they had never since seen or heard
any one who exerted such power over his audience,
as this young and eloquent Baptist preacher — a boy,
as one of them said, with the tongue of an angel.
Arthur Livermore, who heard him at Holderness,
when he was fourteen years old, was so strongly
impressed by him, that he told me, seventy-two years
afterward, that he still remembered distinctly his
look and manner, and the text and the tenor of his
discoiu'se. The turn of his mind was at all times less
to declamation than to reasoning, which, as the main
ingredient, gave strength and body to his discourses;
yet then, as in after life, the warmth of his feelings
added always a touch of passion to his coldest reason-
ing. The strength of his earnest and confiding faith
filled, while it lasted, all his thoughts, and directed
the whole energy of his mind to the inculcation of
his religious opinions, and with them to the promotion,
as he believed, of the highest happiness of his fellow-
men. But this confiding faith and more than mission-
ary zeal were not destined long to continue. A new
train of thought and feeling had now arisen, which

36 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

mastered him as effectually as his former mood, with
results more lasting, and, in some respects, less
fortunate. Unwilling to hold his religion on trust,
he felt it to be his duty to subject it to the test of
free inquiry and rational conviction. It was, indeed,
not to have been expected, still less was it desirable,
that his strong and clear mind should have wedded
itself permanently to the entire system of somewhat
narrow theology which he had embraced. But the
revulsion of thought and feeling was as far or farther
on the other and the wrong side of a just balance of
opinion and sentiment. Driven into the extreme of
fanatical belief, under the excitement of fear and the
contagion of example, he was carried, by a natural
but unfortunate reaction, into the opposite extreme.
The horrors of his first conviction, the nervous terrors,
the everlasting burnings which opened before him, in
this fever of the brain, which at times approached
almost to insanity, — the whole series, in short, of his
religious experiences and trials, became thus asso-
ciated in his mind with the very name of rehgion, and
produced in him a loathing and aversion, at times
almost unconquerable, for the whole subject. Impos-
ture, fanaticism, madness rose before him like a cloud,
and hid from him the wisdom of God in the folly of
man. It is easy for us to relate, in cold and measured
'terms, the process of these fiery religious changes.
We may regard them with indifference, or dismiss

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 37

with pity or contempt. It was not so with him. In
the most susceptible period of youth, the excitement
of an enthusiastic religious feeling passed, with the
force and rapidity of lightning, through the whole
frame of his moral and intellectual nature, shaking
the deepest foundations of thought and feeling —
laying bare the intellect, which it roused, however,
rather than subdued, and scathing, and for a time
blighting, some of the purest and warmest affections
of the heart. These recovered, indeed, from the first
violence of the shock, but he could hardly be said ever
to have renewed, in their pristine purity, the beauty,
the simplicity, and the warmth of his early faith.
Some impressions, burned into him by the fire of that
first fever of the mind, were too deeply imprinted
ever to be utterly effaced. The wound healed, but
the scar remained ; and some portion of beauty, if not
of strength was lost in the operation. Yet, in this
shipwreck of his early hopes, he held fast to his belief
in a future state, and in the existence of a Supreme
Being, wise, good and provident in . all his dispen-
sations. (However doubtful on other points, on which
we could have earnestly craved for him the full
assurance of Christian faith, his understanding was
never clouded by the delusion of those who hold that
this universal frame is without an Intelligent Cause,
or this maze of human nature without an Author, an
object and a plan.

38 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER.

When his father first perceived his change on these
subjects, he endeavored, by reasoning with hira, to
restore him to his former religious belief But he
was no match for his son, either in command of
language, in quickness of thought, or force of reason-
ing ; still less in zeal and ardor in debate. If not a
better theologian, the young sceptic could at least
put questions and state objections which no previous
study or reflection had prepared the parent to
obviate or remove. After many vain attempts to
convince him of his errors, his father, who was a
strong-minded, though uneducated man, finally said
to him: "Well, WiUiam, we shall not convince each
other, and may therefore as well be silent on this
subject for the future. Let me only advise you to
think more and talk less. You will thus come in
time to answer your own objections, which will be
better than if I could do it for you. Keep your love
of truth, and your reverence for God, and you will
come out right in the end." His mother, who, from
his infancy, had devoted her first-born to the altar,
and had seen with a mother's pride and gratification
the crowds that followed him, and the great good
which he seemed to be doing as a preacher, was propor-
tionably disappointed at his relapse, and grieved and
mortified at this sudden, and, to her, inexplicable
eclipse of her fondest hopes and expectations. She
reasoned, remonstrated, entreated, and wept over him.

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 39

He was moved indeed by her persuasions, and
softened by her tears; but while no ill will was
engendered and no love lost between them, they
retained severally their own convictions.

He drew up, about this time or perhaps a little
later — I do not know the exact date — a statement
of his reasons for dissent from Christianity. I saw this
paper many years after it was written. It was
written with great force of reasoning, precision of
force and clearness of style, abounding in acute
remarks, and new and striking views of the subjects
which he discussed. Yet at the same time he seems
to have had some doubts as to the correctness of his
summary of Christian doctrine, especially as he found
nothing to which, rightly understood, he could object
in the teachings of Jesus Christ, but much which he
even then most gladly embraced.

His letters, during 'this period, are largely occupied
with the discussion of questions in morals and the-
ology, and show how strong a hold these subjects had
taken on his mind. The character and attributes of
God, his moral government, the nature of man, his
rights and his duties, his freedom and consequent
responsibility, are themes on which he frequently
enlarged. He nowhere argues against the truth of
Christianity itself, but often against the then cur-
rent dogmas, as in his regard inconsistent with the
character of God and the nature of man.

40 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

. In June, 1782, he visited the Shakers, at Harvard,
Massachusetts, where Ann Lee, the founder of the
sect, then resided, and had much conversation with
her. She was a woman of great shrewdness, ready
wit, and aptness in her Scripture quotations. She
claiming for the church the power to perform mira-
cles, he told her he would become her disciple if she
would perform one in his sight. "A wicked and
adulterous generation," was her prompt reply, "seek-
eth a sign, but no s^ign shall be given them." Her
followers spent the night he was there in dancing,
singing and praying, whirling on one foot, leaping,
shouting and clapping hands. One of the sisters took
him out into the middle of the room, and began
whirling and dancing round him with wild gestures,
and wilder incantations, till at length, feeling himself
growing dizzy, and half inclined to join in it, he seized
the mad bacchante in his arms and was carried by her
across the room.

In the first ardor of his change, he sought for a
time to make converts to his new opinions. He was,
as Mackintosh says of himself, "probably the boldest
heretic in the county." But he soon relinquished
the vain ambition of settling the opinions of others,
while his own were in a state of so much uncertainty.
His feelings were those of an inquirer, in doubt as to
truth, and anxious, chiefly, for the solution of that
doubt. When he spoke upon the subject, it was,

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLXJMER. 41

therefore, not with levity or sarcasm, but with the
respect due to long-established opinions, and in the
tone of inquiry, rather than of dogmatic defiance and
disbelief

I have dwelt at the greater length on this part of
his early history, not only as interesting in itself, but
because of its great influence on his subsequent life
and character. It was with him the stage of doubt
and uncertainty, of internal strife and self-conflict,
through which most men who thinli for themselves
are compelled to pass on their way to the repose of
truth, if they ever reach it, in the assurance of settled
opinion.

The leading views, thus early developed in his
mind, were in later life essentially modified by wider
reading, larger experience, and more mature reflec-
tion. His rejection of Calvinism was final and
irreversible; and when, at a later period, he felt his
heart opening to the influences of a milder faith, it
was not so much through any formal process of
abstract reasoning, or by the open and direct reversal
of former conclusions, as through the sure instincts of
the moral nature, the vis medicatrix of his maturer
mind, the result of feeling ripening slowly into
thought, and showing itself in deed rather than in
word or profession, in life and character more than
in creed or speculation, — a feeling of the heart pass-
ing gradually into a conviction of the understanding.

42 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

The subject of this chapter will be resumed when
we come, in the progress of our narrative, to that
period of life in which inquiry, if not disniissed as
fruitless, settles into belief, and opinion takes the
form in which the mind is content finally to repose.

CHAPTER III.

THE LAW STUDENT AND LEGISLATOR.

Prom his labors as a preacher, my father returned,
at the close of 1780, with unabated ador, to his old
pursuit of knowledge, through the medium of books.
But books were no longer the sole companions of his
leisure. For the last eighteen months he had been
almost constantly in contact, and occasionally in
collision, with the world of living men; and, without
losing his hold on the past, he came thenceforth to
feel a more lively interest in the passing events of the
day, and especially in the two great events of his
time, the war of Independence, and the assumption
of self-government which that war devolved upon
the people of the United States.

His father had been a Whig while the object sought
by the colonies was a redress of grievances. But
when the question of Independence arose, he doubted
both as to the policy and the practicability of the
measure. He thought the people not yet ripe for
self-government ; or, if so, not strong enough to set
at defiance the power of the British empire. " Let us
wait," he said, " till we are stronger, before setting up

44 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

for ourselves. Remonstrate and petition, if you will,
and adhere to your non-importation acts, but let
there be no fighting in our day. Our sons, or, at the
farthest, their sons, will be strong enough to have
their own way in this matter ; and their way will be
a better one than any we can now take in that
direction." In a word, he was a Whig of the John
Dickinson, rather than of the John Adams school.
These cautious counsels were, however, ill-suited to
the ardent temper of the times ; and, finding them of
no avail, he submitted, with his usual prudence, to the
popiilar decision, paid his war-taxes promptly, and
discharged readily all the duties of a good citizen,
though he had small hope of a successful issue to the
war, and doubted, to the end, as to its policy. This
did not prevent his signing, in 1776, among the first
in Bpping, together with two hundred and nine of his
townsmen, " the solemn pledge, at the risk of their
lives and fortunes, with arms, to oppose the hostile
proceedings of the British fleets and armies against
the United American Colonies." This was prior to
the Declaration of Independence.

His son was of a more sanguine temperament, and,
from the moment when the decline of his religious
fervor left him leisure and inclination to consider the
subject, " he became," as Charles H. Atherton said in
a letter to me, "eminently a son and preacher of
liberty ; ready to suffer as a martyr in the cause, and

LIFF OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 45

glorying in chains and imprisonment, if such should
be his lot." To no such lot, however, was any New
Hampshire man exposed. There was no considerable
tory party here ; and it is worthy of remark, that no
hostile foot of civUized man, except, perhaps, in the
first settlement of the State, some Frenchman in an
Indian excursion from Canada, ever left its print on
the soil of New Hampshire. Neither during the
Revolution, nor in the war of 1812, was there any
invasion of our territory. But, thoiigh not actually
invaded, its inhabitants were within hearing of the
sounds of war. ( My father showed me, many years
after, the spot where he was hoeing corn, June 17th,
1776, when he heard the cannon of the British, at
the battle of Bunker HiU. The distance was nearly
fifty miles, on a straight line, yet the report was
distinctly heard, and the cause readily divined. At
the second discharge he left his work, and was
among the first to join his townsmen at the meeting-
house, where they assembled the same afternoon, in,
anxious consultation as to the probable issue of the
day.

The next morning several of them marched for
Boston, ignorant of the event, but ready to meet the
danger, whatever it might be, which awaited their
advance. My grandfather had assisted at the consul-
tation, but refused leave to his son, then not quite
sixteen, to join the marching party. The first clash

46 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER,

of arms at Lexington had filled Mm with fearful
forebodings as to the probable result of this rash
adventure, as he called it. His son, wlio had no
such fears, was sanguine, perhaps, in proportion to his
ignorance of the dangers and trials of the contest.

Political subjects engaged much of my father's
attention at this time ; yet his regular occupation was
not that of a student, or a politician, but of a farmer,
working daily in the fields with his father and his
brothers. These labors of the farm were, however,
distasteful to him, not so much on their own account,
as from the infirm state of his health, which required
some less toilsome occupation. Work all day on the
farm, and study continued far into the night, were
too much for his slender frame ; and it became daily
more apparent that one or the other must be, if not
adandoned, at least greatly restricted.

An accident, which confined him for some weeks to
the house, strengthened his desire for some other
employment than that of manual labor. Of the three
learned professions, medicine seemed to him, at this
time, on the whole, to be preferred. He accordingly
read several medical works, particularly those of the
eminent Dutch physician, Boerhaave,. from whom he
derived much useful information on diet and regimen,
Avhich made him ever after, to a considerable extent,
his own physician. He, however, soon abandoned
this new pursuit, to which the accident of his wound

LIFE OF "WILLIAM PLUMER. 47

had perhaps first drawn his attention. The want of
firm health and a robust constitution seemed to
disqualify him for the fatigues and exposures which
a country physician in an extensive practice must,
night and day, and in all weathers, encounter ; and
he had not then confidence enough in his own powers
to suppose that he could make his way in a city,
against the better educated and powerfully connected
members of the profession whom he would there
have to meet. It may be suspected, too, that medi-
cine had less attraction for a mind like his, than the
more congenial pursuits of the law, which readily
connects itself with public affairs, on which, by this
time, his thoughts had become strongly fixed.

It was during the confinement above referred to,
occasioned by a cut in the foot with an axe, that he
produced, December, 1781, almost the only verses, —
poetry it could hardly be called, — which he is known
to have written. Almost every man finds himself, at
some period of his life, a poet. The slender vein of his
inspiration exhausted itself, on this occasion, in a
poem on " Adversity and its Remedy." The remedy
here proposed is the usual one of patience under
suffering ; and its use, to which the poem is chiefly
devoted, is declared to be to teach us compassion for
the sufferings of others, and to rouse us to active
exertions for their relief This poem, which consists
of about three hundred lines in blank verse, has the

48 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

merit of good sense and just feeling, but it is written
without harmony of numbers, with little flow of fancy,
and no strength of creative imagination. It is, so far
as I know, his only poem, except a copy of verses,
written in 1785, on the marriage of one of his friends,
and of somewhat higher merit. But his judgment \
was too sound not readily to perceive the broad |
distinction between that nice sensibility to beauty |
which is necessary to the due appreciation of poetry, j
and that much rarer power of genius which is essen- /
tial to its production. "I found," he says, "that
nature had not intended me for a poet, and, though
fond of reading poetry, I have never since attempted
to write it."

But, though not a poet, he had by this time secured
the command of a good prose style ; and he was not
slow in turning it to account. His first publication
in the newspapers, for which he afterwards wrote
so much, was made about this time, February 18th,
1782, in the New Hampshire Gazette, printed in
Portsmouth. It was on a branch of the great sub-
ject of religion, which had long occupied so largely
his attention; not, however, on the peculiarities of
religious doctrine, but on the rights of conscience, and
the protection of religious freedom.

The revolution had thrown the colonies, in the
midst of their other d-angers, upon the untried perils
of self-government. Next to the demands of the

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 49

war, and, indeed, essential to its success, was the call
on the civil wisdom of the country for local institu-
tions, and new forms of government. The epoch of
the revolution was the epoch, also, of written consti-
tutions. The old governments were dissolved, and,
in this sudden resolution of society into its fast
elements, when every man had his Utopia, or his
Oceana, it is not strange that many crude notions
should have been advanced. The people of New
Hampshire were the first on the continent to adopt,
on this occasion, a written constitution. It went into
operation January 5th, 1776, before the Declaration
of Independence ; and its title bears proof, not to be
mistaken, of the unsettled state of public feeling in the
colonies at this time. It was entitled, "A form of
government to continue during the present unhappy
and unnatural contest with Great Britain." It imposed
no restriction on the right of suffrage, and left the
•highest offices open to all. In 1779, a new constitu-
tion was formed, by a new convention, called for that
purpose. The government, proposed by this instru-
ment, was to consist of a Council and House of
Representatives; and it was provided, that all the
male inhabitants of the State, of lawful age, paying
taxes, and professing the Protestant religion, shall be
deemed lawful voters, in choosing councillors and
representatives, — these latter to have the same quali-
fications as the voters, and also an estate of three

50 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

hundred pounds. This constitution was not adopted
by the people. It is worthy of remark, that this
rehgious test, then first proposed, was nearly contem-
poraneous with the alliance with France, which,
however beneficial in other respects, was thought by
many likely to favor the introduction of popery
among us. The only real danger from the French
alliance, to the religion of the country, was not from
the Primate of Rome, but from the philosopher of
Femey, whose disciples in the French army were
much more numerous and more zealous than the
priests.

Another convention was called in 1781 ; and the
constitution proposed by it, after various alterations
and amendments, went finally into operation in 1784.
One of its clauses declared that "Every individual
has a natural and unalienable right to worship God
according to the dictates of his own conscience and
reason." Yet, as a sort of compromise between
the new spirit of religious freedom and the old
intolerance, "the protection of the law" for this
"unahenable right" was, by another article, confined
to " Christians; " leaving all others out of the pale of
such protection. By other clauses it was provided,
that no person should hold the ofl&ce of governor,
councillor, senator, delegate, or member of Congress,
unless he were of the "Protestant religion." It was
in opposition to these intolerant restrictions, and in

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 51

defence of religious liberty, that this first essay was
written. In it, the broad principle is laid down, that
aU men are equally entitled to the protection of the
laws, who demean themselves peaceably, as good
members of civil society, without reference to their
religious opinions; and, that any man should be
eligible to office who possesses the ability necessary
for the discharge of its duties.

This communication, which went the full length,
not of toleration merely, but of religious freedom, as
now understood by its most liberal advocates, was far
in advance of the times. "The printer," my father
writes, "thinking the religion of the country required
such a provision as I opposed, refused to publish
what I had written, until I paid him three dollars for
doing it." The articles of the Constitution, thus
opposed, were adopted by the people, and still remain
a part of that instrument. Such, however, was the
justice of his strictures, and such the advance of public
sentiment on this subject, that these provisions soon
became practically obsolete. Men, not Protestants,
nor even Christians, have been repeatedly chosen to
offices which, under these provisions, they were not
entitled to hold; and no attempt was ever made
to exclude them on the ground of this religious dis-
qualification. These and other amendments of the
Constitution being still before the people, he wrote
another address, which was published in 1783, and

52 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER.

brought the matter before the town of Bpping, in
September of that year, as chairman of a committee,
in a written report made on the subject. The Con-
stitution, as amended, did not go into operation till
June 10th, 1784.

In March, 1783, he was chosen one of the selectmen
of Bpping, and his first public employment was in
the humble, but not unimportant offices of his adopted
town, whose affairs he managed with prudence and
sagacity for many years, much to the satisfaction of
his townsmen. "We will hold the candle, squire, and
you must do the work," was the remark of one of his
colleagues, indicating, not untriily, the relation in
which they stood towards each other, and which,
as he put forward no pretensions, they willingly
acknowledged. As a sample of the moderate emolu-
ments of those times, it may be mentioned, that he
charged three shillings a day for his services, and
half that sum for half a day; and this, too, when
the pay was in town orders, at a discount of from
twenty-five to fifty per cent. He never, however,
regarded as lost or misapplied the time devoted to
these services. They made him acquainted with the
people, gave him business habits, and prepared him
for more important duties.

This first official appointment raised in his mind,
or rather brought to a practical decision in his own
case, the question as to the lawfulness and propriety

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 53

of taking official or other oaths. He considered this
appeal to the Deity, in the ordinary transactions of
life, as unnecessary and improper. " Swear not at all,"
was his text, on this subject; and he adhered to it to
the letter. No man ever heard him utter an oath,
whether seriously before a magistrate, or profanely in
conversation. Aside from the religious aspect of the
subject, he was averse, on principle, to the use of
intense or violent language. He employed few adjec- ^
tives, and still fewer superlatives in his speech, and
never added to the force of his thoughts by exple-
tives or adjurations.

Anxious to engage in some pursuit which should
task his mind more than his body, and feeling, no
doubt, within him the stirrings of powers, which some
public profession could alone develop or employ, he
at length determined to commence the study of the
law. After applying to Theophilus Bradbury, of
Newburyport, who advised him to study law in the
state where he intended to practice, and to John
Pickering, of Portsmouth, who declined to take him,
upon the ground, that, having already two students,
he could not do justice to a third, he entered in May,
1784, the office of Joshua Atherton, of Amherst, who
was at that time a lawyer of good standing at the
bar, and was afterwards Attorney General of the
state. In going to Amherst, he was accompanied on
the journey by his brother Samuel. Mounting their

54 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

horses after dinner, they rode to Londonderry, where
they passed the night at the house of their aunt
Alexander, and the next morning left that place for
Amherst. On reaching the Merrimae, at Thornton's
ferry, the younger brother, leading one horse and
riding the other, turned his face homeward, while the
elder taking his bundle of clothes in his hand, leaped
lightly into the boat, crossed the river, and made his
way on foot to Amherst. He was kindly received by
his new instructor, who had already two students
with him ; to one of whom, William Coleman, after-
wards distinguished as the editor of the New York
Evening Post, and a leading Federalist in that state,
the young student became much attached, and kept
up with him, for many years, a friendly correspond-
ence. Coleman soon formed so high an opinion of
his fellow-student's talents, that he wrote to him two
years later : "Ere many years you will so fully gain
the esteem of your state, as you have already of your
town, as to give me the opportunity, when I shall
hereafter write you, to subscribe myself ' Your Excel-
lency's most obedient, etc' " This rather remarkable
prediction failed only by the death of Coleman, before
the event happened which he had foreseen.

Atherton gave him Coke upon Littleton, as his first
initiation into the mysteries of the law ; and it is not
strange that the ardor of the young aspirant was
somewhat cooled by this selection of masters, so quaint,

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 65

austere and forbidding. After digging, for some three
or four weeks, in the rugged soil of the feudal tenures,
and beginning, as he thought, to get some glimpses of
its hidden treasures, he was told by his instructor that
he must suspend his legal studies, and commence with
the Latin grammar. He must read Virgil and Cicero
before he could understand Coke and Littleton. This
was a new and, to him, most unwelcome labor. He,
however, laid aside his law, and took up Lily's Latin
grammar, probably the jfirst grammar he had ever
seen, certainly the first he had ever attempted to
study. Its strange sounds and, to him, unmeaning
rules, were even more distasteful than the quaint
language, the remote analogies, and subtle distinctions,
into which he had with difficulty entered, in those
ancient sages of the law, on whose words he had been
so recently intent. This new and repulsive study —
what Lord Brougham calls "the tediousness, the
intricacies, and the labors of grammar" — coming thus
suddenly on the back of the other, was too much for
his patience. Spelman, under less trying circum-
stances, tells us that he had felt his heart sink within
him. Few students have escaped the same feelings
at their first entrance on the study of the law. After
a brief trial, he threw down the Latin grammar, and,
bidding a farewell to Amherst, returned, not with-
out some mortification and regret, to his father's
house ; where he found his friends delighted with the

56 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK.

idea of his renouncing the law, though he told them
he should soon resume it under a different instructor.
The letter already quoted, of Charles H. Atherton,
who was the son of the Attorney General, contains a
description of the young student as he then appeared,
which is interesting as compared with what is known
of him in later life. "I have," he says, "\ vivid
impression of your father's appearance at that time.
He wore a snuff-colored coat, was thin and spare, and
had much the appearance of a Methodist preacher. I
remember that he talked in regular-built sentences,
like a book; and that young as I was, being only
twelve or thirteen years old, I was very much struck
with the precision and good sense of his conversation."
On this description, I may remark, that the com-
parison of the "Methodist preacher" could not have
been suggested at the time, as no such preachers
were then to be seen in New Hamshire. It is not
improbable, however, that he still retained something
of the clerical aspect, which at an earlier period he
must have worn. He had at this time seen little that
could be called polite or polished society, and had
mingled not at all in its lighter and gayer circles.
Later in life, his manners were remarkable for their
ease and simplicity; polished without being formal
or affected; and, though lively and animated, never
rude or boisterous. /* He had the graceful and
deferential politeness, especially towards women, of

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 57

the old school, which won favor without losing self-
respect. \What is said of his talking " in regular-bnilt
sentences, like a book," was not true of his conver-
sation at a later period, though it may have been
when he was young, and had derived his knowledge
more from books than from men. " The precision and
good sense " with which young Atherton, was so "much
struck," remained with him to the close of life. Yet
he was precise in no other sense than that of being
accurate in his use of language, and cautious in
the statement of facts. There was no affectation of
elegance or precision in his conversation, which, on
the contrary, was distinguished for its variety and its
freedom, never running into discussion, or speech-
making, nor roughening into controversy and contra-
diction. He was frank and fearless, yet modest, in
the avowal of his own opinions, and courteous, though
explicit, in his treatment of others.

Though, in leaving Amherst, he had not intended
to abandon the law, he found in the wishes and
prejudices of his parents a barrier to its farther pros-
ecution, which was not easily surmounted. Their
aversion to the law, as a profession," strong at first,
seemed to have increased with time. "After spend-
ing," he says, "more than a month with my parents,
emljarrassed and perplexed with doubts what course
to pursue, my father, with a view to fix me to the
cultivation of the soil, proposed to purchase for me a

58 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

house, and about sixty acres of land, called the Dear-
born place, in the centre of the town. In July, the
bargain was made, and on the 4th of September, I
received a deed of it." This was the homestead,
afterwards greatly enlarged, on which he went to
live in the succeeding spring, boarding with his
tenant, and superintending his operations, and where
he continued to reside till his death. On it his
remains now repose in the family cemetery.*

The strong aversion of his parents to the law, and
his somewhat advanced age, made him doubt whether
some other employment might not, on the whole, be
as well for him. In the meantime, his being drawn to
serve on the jury brought the law again more forcibly
to his mind. This service, as a juror, gave him an
insight into the modes in which juries proceed, the
view they take of witnesses, the motives which

* One day, while in doubt on the subject of his future pursuits, he ^TSS
overtaken, as he was walking from Epping Corner to his father's house, by
Arthur Livermore, afterwards Chief Justice of the state. As they came
opposite the D&rbotto place, my father said, "What do you think of this
situation ? " Livermore replied, " It is a beautiful one." " Well," said his
companion. " my father offers to buy it for me on condition that I will give
up the law, and turn farrner; what would you do?" "Take it," said
Livermore : " It will make you at once an indepeaident man. If you still
prefer the law, your father will not be so unreasonable as finally to withstand
your wishes." "But I will not deceive him," said my father; "he shall
have the farm back again if I study law." " In the meantime take the
laud," said Livermore laughing, as they parted. Livermore, in telling
me this anecdote, more than sixty years afterwards, added, "This was the
second time I had seen your father. The first was at Holderness, when he
preached to a roomfull of earnest and excited hearers, and there are old men
still alive, who have not forgotten the occasion' any more than I have."

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 59

influence them, and the ease with which the majority
yield to the opinions of one or two controling minds
on the panel, which was, he said, of great use to him
in understanding their humors, and in managing cases
before them, when, in after life, he had himself to
address a jury.

In March, 1785, he was elected to represent his
town in the legislature. His religious opinions had
been urged against him in the canvass; and he was
told that his seat would be contested on the ground
that he was not " of the Protestant religion." But
no such objection was made to him, and he retained
his seat during the three sessions, which the legisla-
ture held that year. "In the first," he says, "I took
little part in debate, but was attentive to every
transaction ; formed my opinions, and acted from my
own judgment of things. At the second session, I
entered my protest, singly and alone, against the bill
for the recovery of small debts in an expeditious
way and manner ; principally on the ground that it
was imconstitutional. The courts so pronounced it,
and the succeeding legislature repealed the law."
This protest, thus made, " singly and alone," is worthy
of notice, as a specimen of that fearless discharge of
duty according to his own sense of right, uninfluenced
by numbers, and unmoved by threats or flattery,
which distinguished him through life, and of which
many examples wiU be found in this narrative.

60 LIFE OF WILLIAS: PLUMER.

He now returned once more to the subject of a
profession, and resolved, late as it was in life, to
commence the study of the law, "if," he says, "the
consent of my parents could be obtained. After
many applications and remonstrances, that consent,"
he adds, " was reluctantly yielded." This deference to
parental authority, which had so long held him back,
is worthy of remark, as showing the character of the
man. He was now in his twenty-seventh year; a
landholder ; one of the fathers of the town, its repre-
sentative in the legislature, and, as such, a lawgiver
and ruler in the land ; yet he was submissive to the
parental yoke, even when it bore heavily on his
dearest wishes and most cherished desires. His father,
partaking largely in the prejudices of the times,
hardly believed there could be an honest lawyer;
and the simple piety of his mother still hoped to win
back her favorite son to the service of the altar.
These prejudices and this desire gave way, however,
at length, to Avhat they could not but perceive was
the steady bent of his mind. The mother yielded
first, and his father finally said, " Go then, William, if
you must; it is a bad company you are going into —
the lawyers; but I can trust you, even there. They
may not," he added, "be so bad after all. There are
dishonest farmers, and even dishonest Christians; why
not then, honest lawyers?" In a word, having made
up his mind that his son must be a lawyer, the old

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 61

gentleman began to look on the profession with some
complacency, and lived long enough to feel proud
of his son's success in it.

The only obstacle to his wishes being now removed,
he entered, on his return from the autumnal session
of the legislature, November 14th, 1785, the office of
John Prentice, Londonderry. "If I had remained in
Atherton's office," he says, in a letter to Coleman, "I
should now have been eighteen months nearer an
admission to the bar, which, to a man as old as I
am, is a matter of some importance. But I am now
reading law with my parents' approbation, and in
some other respects I have lost nothing by the
delay." By the terms of the contract, he was to
remain two years with Prentice, do the business of
the office, and pay him five hundred dollars for his
board and tuition; and two hundred more if he
took the profits of the justice business. This last he
soon determined not to take. The income from
this source was likely to exceed the two hundred
dollars; but he was fearful it would tempt him to
encourage this species of petty litigation, at a time
when, from his poverty, the temptation could not but
be strong, and might betray him into disreputable
practices. Considerations of this nature induced the
bar, some years later, to prohibit, on his motion,
students from receiving any emoluments from this
source.

62 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

His new instructor, a graduate of Harvard college,
though probably not a well-read lawyer, possessed a
respectable standing at the bar ; and, like Atherton,
was afterwards Attorney General. His law library
consisted at this time of Blackstone's Commentaries;
Wood's Institutes of the Laws of England; Hawkins's
Pleas of the Crown; Jacobs's Law Dictionary; Salkeld;
Raymond and Strange's Reports; the New Hamp-
shire Statutes, and a manuscript volume of Pleas and
Declarations. If the reader is disposed to smile at
this scanty library, he may be reminded of the
anecdote of Patrick Henry, who, on applying for
admission to the Virginia bar, and being asked by
INIr. Jefferson, what books he had read, replied with
entire confidence in the extent of his legal acquire-
ments, "Coke upon Littleton, and the Virginia
Statutes." A New Hampshire lawyer, of the same
period, was probably not much deeper in book learn-
ing than the Virginia orator. "In the simple and
happy times of Edward I," says Lord Campbell,
" Glanville, Bracton, and Fleta composed a complete
law library." In the sixteenth century the books of
the common law might, according to Howell, be
carried in a wheelbarrow. They now go by cartloads,
and heavy at that.

My father resumed his legal studies with the read-
ing of Blackstone, and, though the attractive style
and clear method of the great commentator made the

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 63

task easier than he had found it at Amherst, it was
still so difficult as to bring his parents' wishes some-
times to his mind. But he soon became familiar
with his author's manner, saw the subjects discussed
in their true bearings, and relished daily, more and
more, the science whose principles he was now begin-
ning to comprehend. He read the whole of Blackstone
rapidly through, in the first instance, to acquire, in
this way, a general idea of its contents ; and then
went over it, more carefully, a second time, with a
view to its more thorough comprehension. He devoted
at least ten hours a day to this study, though he
seldom read more than forty or fifty pages in that
time. But these were carefully studied, or, if not
fuUy understood, at least, examined with his best care
and attention. His instructor was not much inclined,
nor indeed always able, to answer the questions
which he asked ; and the few books within his reach
often failed to furnish the desired information. Under
these circumstances his practice was, after reading a
portion of Blackstone, to trace the subject through
other books ; and then, taking a walk in some retired
place, to review in his mind the substance of what he
had read, examining the relations of one part with
another, and of the whole with what he had learned
before, till he felt himself master of the lesson, and
prepared to go farther. These walks, extending
sometimes several miles from his home, gave him the

G4 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

advantage at once of exercise, and of study and reflec-
tion. Thus he went slowly, but surely and regularly,
through the Commentaries, connecting them, as he
proceeded, with whatever he could gather on each
subject from other sources ; till the whole system of
the English law stood at length before him, with a
clearness of outline, and distinctness of parts, which
never afterwards faded from his memory, and which
subsequent study, aided by long-continued and assid-
uous practice, enabled him finally to fill out with
great accuracy and precision in its minor relations
and minute details.

On the important subject of Pleas and Pleading,
Prentice had no books, except a manuscript volume
of forms, said to have been collected by Theophilus
Parsons. This the student copied, and added to it,
in the course of his practice, such other pleas and
declarations as he thought worthy of preservation,
whether drawn by himself, or derived from other
sources. He, at the same time, took copious notes of
his reading, and formed abstracts and digests of the
law under separate heads, thus reducing his knowledge
to a regular system.

In these assiduous labors, the period of his legal
studies passed rapidly away. Every day added some-
thmg to his knowledge, and more to the pleasure
which his studies gave him. He had found, at length,
his true destination ; and he labored in it with zeal.

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 65

heightened by regret at the thought of the years spent
by him in less congenial persuits. These years had not,
however, been lost upon him. Besides the severe
mental discipline through which he had passed, they
had made him acquainted with many aspects of
society, and brought before him, for keen inspection,
the minds and the manners of men in the various
walks of life, and their modes and motives of action.
Nor was this kind of experience likely soon to fail
him.

In February, 1786, he took his seat once more in the
legislature, which met at Portsmouth, and continued
in session till early in March. He bore an active part
in the business of the House, and began now to dis-
play something of those talents and attainments
which gave him, at a later period, a commanding
influence in the state. He cultivated the acquaint-
ance of the leading men, both in and out of the
legislature ; and came to understand better than
before the characters of public men, and the interests
and the feelings which prevail in the political and
the civil walks of life.

After an absence of six or seven weeks, he returned
with fresh alacrity to his legal studies. Alternately
a law-student and a law-maker, his thoughts were
turned to practical results, rather than to abstract prin-
ciples, or theoretical deductions ; and this predilection
was ever after the marked characteristic of his mind,

66 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

which was little given to speculation, and not at all
to untried experiments in pursuit of imaginary good.

As he no longer resided in Epping he was not, this
year, a candidate for re-election to the House. He
however attended the Legislature at its June session
in Concord, where he was employed in draughting
bUls, and supporting petitions before committees of
the two houses J extending in the mean time his
acquaintance with public men, watching the' progress
of public measures and, in some instances, influencing
their course.

The aspect of the times was indeed dark and
gloomy, and had been so for several years. The
period from the termination of the war to the estab-
lishment of the general government, if not so stirring
as the preceding, was one of the most important and
trying in the history of the country, — a period of
depression and distress such as had hardly been
felt in the sharpest crisis of the war itself The
close of hostilities with England brought with it
no rehef to the sufferings of the people, but seemed
for a time rather to augment them. A feeling of very
general discontent pervaded the public mind, no
longer held in check by a foreign foe. The govern-
ment was weak and inefficient, the people poor and
in debt, credit both public and private impaired, or
rather well nigh destroyed. A depreciated paper
currency took the place of specie ; tender-laws and

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 67

the furtlier issues of paper were loudly called for
by the discontented and debtor party, as the only
remedy for the great and acknowledged evUs of the
times; and the courts of law were more than ever
surrounded by mobs, whose avowed purpose was to
prevent the judges from proceeding in the trial of
cases. An incident of this kind had occurred a few
years earlier, which impressed Mr. Plumer deeply
with a sense of the necessity of a more energetic and
ef&cient government; and which was followed at a
later period, by a similar outbreak of popular feeling,
in suppressing which he was himself actively engaged.
In October, 1782, as the Judges of the Superior
Court, accompanied by John Sullivan, then Attorney
General, were approaching the town of Keene, where
the general uneasiness was augmented by the contro-
versy with Vermont, they were informed that the
village was full of people, whose object was to compel
the court to adjourn without trying any cases. On
the receipt of the information, the cavalcade halted
in a small wood, to consult as to the course proper to
be adopted in this emergency ; and the result was that
Sullivan undertook to get the court, with as little loss
of dignity as might be, out of the hands of the mob,
who, if resolute, must, it was foreseen, have very
much their own way, as the court had no armed
force at' its command, and the posse comitatus would in
vain have been called to their aid, in the then excited

68 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

state of the public mind. Taking from the portman-
teau of his servant his regimentals, which it seems
he had with him, Gen. Sullivan arrayed himself in his
full mihtary attire — ^the blue coat and bright buttons
which he had worn in the retreat from Long Island,
the cocked hat whose plume had nodded over the
foe at Brandywine, and the sword which at Grerman-
town had flashed defiance in the front of battle. Thus
equipped, he mounted the powerful gray horse which
he usually rode, and, preceding the court, conducted
them into the town. A portion of the people mounted
on horseback had come out to meet them. These he
ordered to faU in, two and two, behind the court,
Arthur Livermore, then a youth of sixteen, acting as
Ms volunteer aid on the occasion. The grounds sur-
rounding the court-house were filled with men, many
of them armed, who, though giving way to the court
as they entered, were sullen in their aspect, and reso-
lute in their purpose to prevent the transaction of
business.

The judges having taken their seats, the court was
opened in due form by the crier, while the crowd
rushed tumultuously in, and filled the house. In the
meantime, SulHvan, who was a man of fine personal
appearance, dignified aspect, and commanding deport-
ment, was seen standing erect in the clerk's desk,
surveying the crowd calmly, but resolutely. In it
were many who had recently served under him in

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. • 69

the war. Turning slowly from side to side he recognis-
ed among them here perhaps an officer, and there a
soldier ; and returned with a slight nod or motion of
the hand their respectful salutations. This mutual sur-
vey and recognition continued for some time, amidst
the profound silence of aU around ; while the instinct
of obedience was working strongly in the mass, who
felt the presence, and involuntarily obeyed the mo-
tions of their old commander. Slowly and with
composure he now took off his cocked hat, disclosing
a profusion of white powdered hair, and laid it
deliberately on the table. Looking round again with
an air of authority, he next unbelted the long staff-
like sword from his side, and laid it by the hat. Per-
ceiving, at this moment, some stir in the crowd, he
hastily resumed the sword, drew the blade halfway
from the scabbard, as if for immediate use, and then
replaced it deliberately on the table. All eyes were
now fixed intently on him, as he addressed the
assembly, and demanded of them why they had come
in this tumultuous manner before the court. A cry
at once arose of " The Petition, the Petition," and a
committee stepped forward with a huge roll of paper,
which they were about to present, when Sullivan told
them, if they had anything to offer to the court, he
would lay it before them. He accordingly received
it, and, after looking it over, presented it to the court,
saying that it contained matter of grave import, .which

70 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

he recommended to their honors' careful considera-
tion. The court ordered it to be read by the clerk,
and Sullivan then addressed the people, courteously,
but firmly, on the impropriety of any attempt to influ-
ence, even by the appearance of violence, the delib-
erations of that high tribunal ; and, telling them that
their petition would, in due time, be considered by the
court, he directed them to withdraw. Some hesita-
tion being at first shown, he repeated, more sternly,
and with a repellent gesture, the command to with-
draw, which was obeyed, though not without some
reluctance among the leaders. The court then ad-
journed to the next day, in the hope that the mob
would leave the town. In the afternoon Sullivan
addressed them on the subject of their complaints,
and advised them to return to their homes.

On the opening of the court, on the next morning,
the house was full of people impatient for the
expected answer to their petition. Sullivan, now in
his citizen's dress, rose, and, with mingled grace and
dignity, said that he was instructed by the court to
inform them, that, finding that they should not be
able to go through with the very heavy civil docket
before them in the short time which they could alone
devote to it before going to another county, they
would continue all causes in which either party was
not ready for a trial. On receiving this announce-
ment the people withdrew, amidst loud shouts of

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 71

hurrah for Gen. Sullivan," with here and there a faint
cheer for the court, which seemed on this occasion
to act quite a subordinate part in the scene. The
mob thus carried in effect' their main point, that of
postponing the transaction of business; but the
presence of mind and authority of the Attorney
General prevented their breaking out into open
violence, and saved the court from any personal
indignity.

I received the above account from Mr. Webster,
a short time before his death ; when, though occu-
pied with current events, he seemed to have lost none
of his interest in the past. He added, "Put this into
your book ; it will show the character of the times,
and the kind of men your father had to deal with."
I repeated the story, soon after, to Judge Liver-
more, who supplied the part relating to himself, and
seemed inclined to give less prominence to Sullivan,
and more to the court, than Webster had done. He
retained, however, in extreme old age, a lively recol-
lection of his youthful adventure, and of the skUl and
eloquence of Sullivan. " I thought," he said, " if I
could only look and talk like that man I should want
nothing higher or better in this world."

In Massachusetts a similar condition of things, in the
autumn of 1786, produced the rising called Shays's
rebellion ; and in this state, at an earlier period of
that year, events seemed fast tending to a like danger-

72 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMBE.

ous issue. Town and county conventions were held
in various places, to petition the Legislature for a
redress of grievances, and delegations from some of
these conventions were sent to Concord, in June of
this year, to present these petitions, and to carry out
the objects of their appointment.

Satisfied from the character of the men and the
temper of the times, that reasoning would be lost
upon them, my father, who, as already stated, was at
Concord, though not a member, conceived the idea
of turning their proposed convention of delegates
into ridicule, and thus rendering its pernicious pur-
pose harmless. He was aided in the project by
several active young men, some of whom were after-
wards distinguished in the service of the state. The
plan was for these persons to join the convention, to
take part in its proceedings, and ultimately to expose
the folly and absurdity of its measures and pretensions.

On entering the convention they were received
without question, as delegates from their respective
towns, and took at once the lead in its proceedings.
After a debate of several hours, in which the pre-
tended delegates, eleven in number, vied with the true
ones in their zeal for reform, taking different sides,
however, to avoid an appearance of concert, a series
of resolutions was adopted by the meeting, and a
committee, of which my father was chairman, was
appointed to report a petition to the Legislature.

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 73

This petition, which was reported the next morning,
embodied the substance of the resolutions, and was
unanunously adopted by the convention. It requested
the Legislature, among other things, to abolish the
Court of Common Pleas, to establish town courts, to
restrict the number of lawyers to two in a county,
and to provide for the issue of state notes to the
amount of three millions of dollars, the same to be
a legal tender in payment of all debts.- These were
the favorite measures, especially the last, of the dis-
contented and debtor party, through the state; and
they went not at all beyond the popular demand.
The mock members, indeed, with all their disposition
to render the convention ridiculous, could hardly keep
pace with the real ones, in the extravagance of their
suggestions. , Dr. Jonathan Gove, of New Boston, who
represented ten towns in Hillsborough County, said,
"While we are money-making, 'tis best to emit as
much as will discharge all our debts, public and
private, and leave enough to buy a glass of grog
and a quid of tobacco, without being dunned for
them twenty tim^s a day. For these purposes I
move that the amount be twelve millions of dol-
lars." It was on my father's motion that the
sum was finally fixed at "only three millions ! "
The convention went in a body to present their
petition to the Legislature, which received them very
gravely, and laid their memorial on the table. The

74 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

speaker and some of the leading members had been
informed of the character of the convention, and
received its visit with ceremonious attention, or, as
one of the delegates said, " with superfluous respect."
On returning to their place of meeting, my father
remonstrated with them warmly on their proceedings,
and avowed his opposition to their whole system of
measures. This sudden change of tone, in one who
had been the chairman of their committee, and the
draughtsman of their memorial to the Legislature,
created not a little surprise, and some indignation, in
those who did not understand the trick which had
been put upon them. After allowing these feelmgs to
explode, in some rather free remarks, from two or
three of the more earnest reformers, one of the mock
members, who thought the joke might be carried a
little further, rose, and said with great grayitj, that
as doubts had arisen in some minds, whether the
convention was sufficiently m earnest in what they
had said and done, this movement of the worthy
member from Derry was intended to put their cour-
age to the test ; to see, in short, if they were indeed
men of true pluck, or cowards who could be driven
from their purpose by a show of opposition. If he
found they could stand fire, he was ready to pro-
pose to them more energetic measures, which would
compel the Legislature to comply with their wishes.
This speech was received with loud applause by the

IIFF OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 75

more ignorant and zealous; but the greater part
began now to understand the true state of the case,
and the convention broke up in disorder, amid the
jeers of the spectators, and to the sore mortification
of its original projectors. Gove left Concord without
presenting the petition with which he was charged,
and others disavowed their connection with the con-
vention. The ridicule which this brought upon them,
checked their activity for a time, and prevented their
success with the Legislature, where they had many
friends, and had felt great confidence of success. " The
whole afiair," writes the author of this clever strata-
gem to his brother, June 9th, 1786, "was so farcical
that the very name of a convention is here a term of
reproach."

But the evil was too deeply rooted to be thus easily
removed. New conventions were called in different
parts of the State, and among others, one in London-
derry, where my father then resided. In the Rock-
ingham convention, held in Chester, it was resolved
to send to Exeter, where the Legislature was to meet
in September, a body of armed men to enforce their
claims. On the 20th of that month about two hun-
dred men, under the command of Joseph French of
Plampstead and James Cochrain of Pembroke, some
armed with muskets, and others with clubs, marched
into Exeter, and sent in their petition to the General
Court, for a redress of grievances, declaring their

76 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

intention, if it was not granted, to do themselves
justice. They surrounded the house in which the
Legislature was in session, and, placing sentinels at
the doors and windows, demanded an immediate
answer to their petition. The House appointed a
committee on the petition ; but the Senate, under the
influence of Sullivan, who was now President of the
State, and as such, had a seat in the Senate, refused
to act on the subject, while they were thus besieged
by the mob, and proceeded with their ordinary busi-
ness. In the mean time a party of the friends of
order, among whom my father was one, armed them-
selves, and called upon all good citizens to disperse
the mob, and thus set the members of the Legislature
at liberty. General Sullivan came out, accompanied
by Nathaniel Peabody, who was supposed to favor
their designs, Ebenezer "Webster, and other officers
of the revolution and friends of government, and,
addressing the mob, ordered them to disperse. The
armed citizens in their rear, pressing on them at the
same time, and calling for the artillery to advance,
though in fact there was no artillery at hand, the mob
began to disperse, and French, finding that the Legisla-
ture could not be frightened into compliance with his
demands, ordered his men to withdraw, and retired
with them for the night to a distance from the village.
Sullivan, no longer compelled, as at Keene, to yield
to the wishes of the mob, dispatched orders to the

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 77

militia, who came in the next morning to the
number of nearly two thousand men. My father
with five others had, in the meantime, arrested
one of the leaders of the insurrection, Captain
John McKean, of Londonderry, who had come into
town to obtain inteUigence for the insurgents. On
being discovered, he drew a pistol and threatened to
shoot whoever should approach him ; but my father
closed in upon him and made him prisoner. A party
sent to demand his release was at once seized and put
under guard. The troops, under Maj. Gen. Joseph
Cilley, now marched against the insurgents, who made
some show of resistance, but, on being ordered by
Major Cochrain to fire, they broke and fled in disor-
der. " We took," says my father, " thirty-nine prison-
ers, who, after marching through our columns with
their heads uncovered, and hats under their arms,
the music playing the Rogue's March, were lodged in
jail." In Parker's History of Londonderry it is said,
that the troops were under the command of General
George Reed ; my father says, under that of General
CUley. Reed may have been present^ and Cilley led
the charge. Cilley was Major General at this time,
and Reed Brigadier. Whiton says, " General Cilley
with a troop of horse made a rapid charge on them."
The question now arose as to what should be their
punishment. They had been guilty, perhaps of
treason, certainly of some high offence. The leaders

78

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER.

were brought before the two Houses in convention.
French, who seems to have been an honest, but delud-
ed man, made very humble supplications for his life.
Cochrain, who had been a soldier in the revolution,
plead for pardon with some self-respect, urging his
past services, and stating, as did French, that he had
been encouraged ia the course he had taken, by men
of high standing in the state, some of them members
of the Legislature, who, when the hour of trial came,
had kept out of sight, and now denied all connection
with them. " I was now as anxious," says my father,
in a letter to his friend John Hale, (Sept. 26th, 1786,)
" to have these men discharged, as I had been busy
on Wednesday in capturing them. As usual ia such
cases, those who were forward ia taking them were
iaclined to mercy, while those, who in the hour of
danger were in the background, were the most violent
against the deluded prisoners. They will, I trust, be
dismissed, reserving a few only of the leaders for
punishment." This was accordingly done. Those
who were church members were dealt with by their
churches ; those who were officers in the militia were
dismissed from the service. Most of them were
indicted, but allowed, at the next term of the Court,
to escape without punishment. It was deemed good
policy, as no blood had been shed, to treat this first
attempt at armed resistance to the government with
lenity ; yet so as to vindicate the violated authority

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 79

of the law, thus attacked at the fountain head. French,
the Wat Tyler of this rebellion, was a well-meaning,
but vain and conceited man, whom the agitations of
the times had thrown upon the surface, as the largest
bubble amid the froth and feculence of an uneasy
and restless populace. On leaving home with his
partj'', he had told his townsmen who staid behind,
that he was going on an important public mission, in
which he might himself make no mean figure, and
that they must not be too much surprised if, within a
week, they should hear that he, whom they had hith-
erto known as plain Joe French, was no longer their
neighbor and equal merely, but President and Com-
mander , in Chief of the State of New Hampshire !
These visions of power and of glory had, in the brief
space of three days, vanished from his sight, and he
found himself a despised prisoner and a suppliant
for his life.*

This was the only occasion on which my father ever
bore arms, or made any approach to the character of
a soldier. He entered into the contest with the more
zeal, as he looked on mob-law as subversive of the
first principles of a free government, and was jealous
of all interference with the constituted authorities.
" If the Legislature," he wrote to Hale, while the con-
test was stiU undecided, " will maintain their dignity

* I had this anecdote of the speech of French to his townsmen, from
Daniel Webster, whose father was at Exeter at the time.

80 LIFE OP IflLLIAM PLUMER.

within their own walls, they will receive ample sup-
port and reverence without. They ought to give the
tone, and not receive it from the people. The few, and
not the many, are the wise, and ought to bear rule."

On his return to Londonderry, he was told that his
activity in suppressing the insurrection had exasper-
ated the people of the town, many of whom had
been out with French and Cochrain; and that it
would not be safe for him to show himself among
them. On hearing these threats, he mounted his
horse the next morning, and rode leisurely and alone
through the infected district, stopping to converse
with those he met, and calling on several whom he
had seen among the insurgents at Exeter. He was
received by some with congratulations on his courage
and activity, and with jests on their own ill-luck and
folly ; by others with abject fawning and humility, or
with awkwardly assumed respect ; but by none with
menace, reproach, or disrespect. They felt that the
day for violence had gone by, and that he was not a
man whom they could insult with impunity. Many
of them afterwards acknowledged that he deserved
their respect far more than those cunning and cow-
ardly men, Avho had urged them on in the first
instance, and then deserted and denounced them.

From this excursion into the field of politics, I
might almost say of war, he gladly returned early in
October to the quiet of his legal studies, and to the

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 81

duties of the office. Prentice, who was indolent and
careless, willingly left him to manage the business in
his own way, which he as willingly imdertook.

He had a natural aptitude for business ; thraking
nothing of the labor, or rather seeming to love it on
its own account. Eor the ensuing year, 1787, there-
fore, he continued to reside with Prentice, pursuing
with great assiduity and with increasing pleasure his
legal studies ; attending the courts while in session,
and doing the office and now also the justice business,
which last was then an extensive branch of practice.

He had not expected to be admitted to the bar
tiU February of the next year, as he had been absent
nearly three months out of the two years then requir-
ed. But, he being at Exeter in November, 1787, the
bar, without any previous examination, and without
his knowledge, recommended him to the court, by
which he was at once admitted to practice. John
Hale, of Portsmouth, and Jonathan Steele, of Peter-
borough, were admitted at the same time. With
Hale, who was a man of fine talents, he was on terms
of great intimacy, and they corresponded till the
death of Hale. Steele was afterwards a Judge of the
Superior Court On being admitted to the bar, my
father returned to Epping, went to live on his farm,
and opened an office there. His business was con-
siderable from the first, and soon became extensive.

The time which he had passed at Londonderry had

82 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER,

been pleasantly and profitably employed, and he had
many reasons ever after to remember it with satis-
faction. Young, and ambitious of distinction, origr
iaal and peculiar in many of his views, eager in the
pursuit of knowledge, and ready alike to impart and
to receive information, he entered earnestly into what-
ever he undertook, and felt himself equally happy
and well-employed, whether in study, in action, or ia
society ; finding in each fuU occupation for aU his
powers, now first conscious of their appropriate sphere
of activity and exertion.

The Scotch Irish of Derry were a people distiu-
guished from their neighbors by many peculiar
customs and striking traits of character. Combining
the broad humor of the Irish with the canny shrewd-
ness of their Scottish ancestors, they were a deeply-
marked, strong-willed, and eccentric people. Their
originahty, energy, and decision of character were
akin to his own, and led to mutual respect and esteeni ;
though on many subjects he differed widely from
them. I was told, many years ago, by the noted sur-
veyor and mathematician, John McDuffee, who was
a Derry man, that my father made a very strong
impression on all who knew him at that time ; that
he was full, to overflowing, of life and activity, —
a life which seemed ever happy and joyous, and an
activity which pushed itself out in every direction ;
prompt in business, and ready in debate ; a great stu-

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 83

dent, and (a lively and original talker, whose sharp say-
ings were in every body's mouth, and whose heterodox
opinions brought down on him the censure of the old
and the rigid, while they excited the wonder and
the admiration of younger and more inquisitive
minds.

In the spring or early sinnmer of this year, lt87,
he formed the acquaintance of one who was thence-
forth to be the companion of his leisure, the mother
of his children, and the sharer, for good or evil, of his
hopes and his fears, his prosperous and his adverse for-
tunes. This was SaUy Fowler, the only daughter of
Philip Fowler, a respectable farmer of New Market.
He had seen her some years before, at the house of
her father, whom he had visited on business. On
returning home he told his mother that he had seen
the person whom he should choose for a wife, if he
should ever entertain serious thoughts of marriage.
Time and change passed over him, and as years
advanced, and the want of some object on which his
affections might repose began to be deeply felt, it is
not strange that on meeting again with Miss Fowler,
who was now on a visit to her friends in Londonderry,
his old feelings towards her should revive with more
than their original force. It was during the Derry
Fair, which brought together people from all the
neighboring towns, and at a mock coilrt in which he
and several other young men took part, that she first

84 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

witnessed the display of his oratorical powers. On
leaving the house the girls were discussing the merits
of the several speakers, and most of them gave the
preference to the ready wit and handsome person of
Moses L. Neal. " A lucky girl is she," said her cousin,
" who gets that bonny bairn for a husband." " Ay,
ay," was the ready response of several voices. "No,"
said my mother ; " if I were to choose, it would be
that Epping lawyer, clearly before all the rest."
" What," said her lively cousin, " with his lean figure,
long nose, and dark complexion ?" " Yes," was the
prompt answer, " with his manly face, and his bright,
beautiful eyes ; and what is more," she added, "with
bis good sense, and his right feeling. I think he is
•superior to any of them." The preference thus cas-
ually expressed, followed soon by an avowal of like
feelings on his part, ripened into an attachment which
lasted in both to the close of life.

She is described as being at this time of a singu-
larly fair complexion, fine person, possessing great
►sweetness of disposition, pleasing manners, sound sense,
and good judgment. That she was all this, even to
the fair complexion and fine person, those who knew
her in old age will readily believe.

It was not tiU after full acquaintance that they
were finally and formally engaged to each other. In
►this most important step of life Mr. Plumer had, as
.usual with him, the severe check of reason over his

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 85

affections. He made no formal proffer of himself till
lie was satisfied in his own mind that the attachment
was, on his part, not the mere impulse of hasty passion,
but a deliberate purpose, moved by feeling indeed,
yet guided by reason; and that on her part too it
was equally sincere and deep-rooted. Satisfied of
the depth and sincerity of their mutual attachment,
he gave himself to this new passion with his usual
directness, and with even more than his usual ardor.
Between the excitements of hope, love and ambition,
study and busuiess, he felt the old vigor and warmth
of his intellect and his heart, which had been first
roused and excited by the fever of his religious enthu-
siasm, and then perplexed and cooled by the disgust
of his subsequent disappointment and unbelief, come
back to him in their pristine strength and purity, in
brighter prospects, in purer hopes, and nobler aspi-
rations of enjoyment for himself, and usefulness to
others.

The year which followed this engagement was
among the happiest of his life. The vague feeling of
a want of object no longer remained. His doubts,
fears and anxieties were relieved, his ambition was
excited, and his scheme of life was shaping itself into
definite purpose, with a steady aim to speedy action-
Love and fortune-telling have been immemorial-
ly connected, and they were so in this case. Just
before my mother went to Derry, an old woman came

86 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEB.

in, one day, who offered to tell her fortune. This
proposal she at first declined, but consented at the
request of her mother. After examining her hand,
and inspecting the dregs of a cup of tea, the sibyl
proceeded with her prediction : " You are courted,"
she said, " by a widower. He is young and handsome,
of a light complexion, and dressed in black." " You
have been inquiring of the neighbors," said my
mother, who had in fact received the addresses of a
person answering to this description, whom on nearer
acquaintance she had determined to reject. "But
you will not marry him," added the fortune-teller.
Here the mother, who favored the match, began to
look serious, and said, " None of your nonsense." She,
however, went on, " You will not marry him. Here,"
pointing to another part of the cup, " is your hus-
band,— this taU, dark complexioned man, with black
^yes and black hair. He will carry you into a new
house painted red, with a number of old houses near
it. These wiU be pulled down and new ones built.
You wUl have six children. Your husband will be-
come rich, and arrive at great honors ; and you will
both live to a good old age." In telhng me this story,
my mother added, " I did not then believe a word
that she said, except what I supposed she had learned
from the neighbors ; nor do I now know what to think
of it. One thing is certain, that all she told me has since
come to pass. You may call it a lucky guess, or what

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 87

you will ; but the facts are as I have told you." The
old woman left the house immediately; and, on
inquiry, they could learn nothing of her in the
neighborhood. No one had seen her, and she never
came to see them again. My father, who had no faith
in such stories, said that the old woman was doubt-
less some friend of his, (though he knew nothing of
her,) whose good opinion of him was the secret of her
divination. Yet, while laughing at my mother for
her credulity in this case, he admitted that the circum-
stances were remarkable ; and said that he had himself,
more than once, seen and heard things, apparently su-
pernatural, which he could neither doubt or explain
away. In these days of clairvoyance and spiritual
revelations, the facts in this case seem worth relat-
ing, as adding something authentic to the mass of
evidence, out of which a consistent theory may in
time be constructed on the subject. There are already
facts too well authenticated to admit of doubt, and too
numerous to be set aside on the score of improbability,
pointing to conclusions strange and most unexpected,
which it is the part of wisdom neither blindly to
reject, nor rashly to admit.

After her return to New Market my mother met
with an accident which threatened to deprive her of
the use of one of her hands, and, with the high spirit
of a woman who felt that she ought not to be a
burden to the man whom she loved, she told him, with

88 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

tears but with fixed purpose, that she could never
consent to go maimed or a cripple into his house, and
that he must therefore consider their engagement as
now at an end. He remonstrated strongly against
this decision, and said that however it resulted she
would be equally dear to him, and he would take no
denial on such grounds. She gave him, however, no
hope, except in the event of recovery. He returned,
full of sorrow, with the sad news to his mother, who
prepared and sent back by him a prescription which
in due time effected a cure. The lame hand, or
rather the well hand, then returned gladly where the
heart had gone before. The impatient lover was,
indeed, at this time, in no condition to support in idle-
ness a helpless wife ; for, though he owned a half-
finished house, and some land, he was five hundred
doUars in debt for his education, and had as yet httle
business on which he could rely. Neither of them,
however, felt much anxiety, provided only that their
health was good, and they had strength to labor. They
were accordingly married without further delay, Feb-
ruary 12th, 1788, and, as soon as the necessary arrange-
ments could be made, commenced house-keeping,
April 1st, on the spot and in the mansion where they
ever after resided.

In carrying home his bride, he obtained the use
of the only chaise then owned in Epping. This
belonged to his cousin, Enoch Coffin, who, being orig-

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 89

inally a Newbury man, had been the first to introduce
into the town what was then a rare luxury, and, as
his ruder neighbors thought, an item of unnecessary
expense and unjustifiable extravagance. Riding on
horseback was then almost the only mode of travel-
ling. Horses were trained to pace, or rack, which
was much easier to the rider than trotting. In
this way the longest journeys were performed —
often over roads which hardly admitted of any
other mode of conveyance. When the distance
was short, as to the meeting house, or to a
neighboring town, the same horse often carried the
good man and the wife, with a child in her arms, on
the pillion behind. I was carried once in this way,
from Epping to New Market, and back the same day.
Our more ordinary mode of conveyance was for the
father and chUd to be mounted on one horse, and the
mother on a second. This was for some years our
only resource. When pressed by business, and impor-
tuned by the children for a ride, my father would
sometimes say to us, "Wait a while, till I get more
money, and we will then have a coach of our own,
and leisure to ride as often as we please." The coach,
however, never came, and not so much of the leisure
as we could have desired ; but the enjoyment was
none the less real when we rode out together, the
children, one in the lap, and two in front, in the old-

90 LIFE OF -WILLIAM PLUMEE.

fasMoned, square-topped chaise, wliicli he found
himself able, in due time, to own. This, however,
was at a later period. In the meanwhile, prudence,
industry, and temperance brought with them their
usual rewards of health and enjoyment, followed
first by competence, and finally, by what, in a
country town like this, at least, was accounted
wealth. The sibyl's prophecy of the six children was
also beginning to be fulfilled, first, in the birth of
a son, the author of this Memoir, February 9th, 1789,
then of a daughter, followed by that of four sons —
one of whom died in infancy, another just before his
parents, while the others still survive.

Fortunate, indeed, was he in the partner of his
life. A piety sincere, but without ostentation or
display; an afiectionate regard, and even reverence
for her husband ; the most unwearied care of her
children ; a steady supervision and control of her
household affairs ; prudence, economy, good sense, and
sweetness of temper, were among the virtues of her
daily life. Though not young when married, they lived
together for sixty-three years, not only without the
slightest jar or discord, but with a tenderness always
warm, and increasing to the close of life, — a rare
example of maternal fondness and fatherly care,
which their children alone could fully appreciate,
though known to, and remarked by the wide circle of

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 91

their friends and acquaintance. The wife differed
indeed from her husband, in having httle taste for
Hterature, yet her knowledge, derived principally
from conversation, was extensive, and, for all practi-
cal purposes, fully adequate to her needs.

CHAPTER IV

THE LEGISLATOE.

' The year 1787 is memorable as that in wHch the
constitution of the United States was formed. Highly
as that instrument is now prized, it was not received
with much favor by the people on its first promulga-
tion. It met, in all the states, with many opponents ;
and in several it was adopted only after repeated
trials, and by small majorities. In more than half
the states, its ratification was accompanied by pro-
posed amendments, some of them of a character
materially affecting its essential provisions. Without
these proposals of amendment it would probably have
been rejected by a majority of the states. A gov-
ernment, in the proper sense of that word, was by this
constitution, for the first time, proposed for the Union.
It is not strange, therefore, that there should have
been differences of opinion, not only as to its necessity,
but, that admitted, as to the nature and extent of the
powers to be delegated. The votes of the revolu-
tionary congress had no legislative authority. They
were recommendations, to which a sense of common
danger alone gave the force of laws. Even the arti-

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMEE. 93

cles of confederation, which, did not go into operation
till 1781, merely formed a league or alliance betAveen
independent states. What was now proposed was, not
a compact between sovereign communities, bound only
by treaty stipulations, but a frame of government for
the people of the United States ; acting not on state
legislatures, but on individuals ; a government limit-
ed' in its powers, but supreme within its own sphere
of action, and dependent on its own agents alone for
the execution of its purposes. Whether such a gov-
ernment should be adopted was the question now
presented to the people for their decision. By some
it was contended that the separate states could, in
ordinary times, best govern themselves ; that their
interests were in many respects different, and in some
adverse; and that a general government must favor
some at the exjDcnse of others, and might end in
oppressing all. In time of peace, said they, let each
state govern, as best it can, its own citizens ; entering
into such compacts with its neighbors as their mutual
interests may require. These leagues will form, by
degrees, clusters of contiguous states, one at the
north, another in the centre, a third at the south, and
in due time, others in the west. A war with any
great European power, if such an event should occur,
would lead, as in the revolution, to the union of
the whole; the union lasting while the danger from
abroad pressed upon them, and leaving them, at its

94 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

close, separate and independent. Others, who did not
go this length, thought that little was wanted by the
congress of the confederacy beyond what it already
possessed, except the power to regulate commerce
with foreign nations, and to decide, in the way of
arbitration, questions of boundary, and other disputes
which might arise between the states. These latter,
no less than the former, were opposed to the estab-
lishment of any general government. Even among
those who admitted the necessity of such a govern-
ment, many thought that its powers should be much
more limited than those contained in the new constitu-
tion, which in their view had, in the language of Pat-
rick Henry, "an awful squinting towards monarchy."
They looked with apprehension on its most impor-
tant provisions, and saw danger to the liberties of the
people in its vast, undefined, and, in many respects,
undefinable powers. They held that the proposed
constitution should be rejected, and another formed
with powers more limited and better defined.

On the other hand, so various were the shades of
opinion, and so differently did men, equally intelligent,
think on the same subject, that there were not want-
ing those who held that the great defect of the new
constitution was its want, rather than its excess, of
power for the purposes of its institution. The danger
which they feared was, not tyranny in the head, but
anarchy in the limbs ; and they predicted that, in any

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 95

serious contest between the general government and
the states, the latter would be found the stronger of
the two. Washington, Hamilton, Jay, and probably
Madison, were of this opinion. They, however, gave
to the constitution their cordial support, as the best that
could then be obtained, and as likely, if adopted, to
lead, in time, to something better. Hamilton had pro-
posed in the convention, as expressing his idea of what
was desirable, an executive, judiciary and senate, to
hold their offices during good behavior, and a house
of assembly to be chosen for three years. Madison's
first plan for preserving the subordination of the states
to the general government was either to give congress
a veto on the state laws, or to vest the appointment
of the governors of all the states in the President and
Senate. "Real liberty," said Hamilton, "is neither
found in despotism, nor in the extremes of democracy,
but in moderate governments. Those who mean to
form a solid republican government ought to proceed
to the confines of another government," that is, mon-
archy.

We have, in these facts, a clew to the origin of the
two great parties which have since divided the coun-
try ; and which were not long in drawing into their
vortex the various local parties and associations, that
had before disturbed the states, without being broad
enough to embroil the continent in their action. The
friends of the new form of government took the name

96 TI-FE OP WILLIAM PLUMER.

of Federalists, or supporters of the Federal consti-
tution; their antagonists that of anti-Federalists, or
opposers of the constitution. After its ratification,
the friends of the first two administrations retained
the name of Federalists, while their opponents took
that of Republicans. To these first party names
have succeeded those of Whigs and Democrats. It
would, however, be a mistake to suppose, that either
party has been, at all times, true to its avowed prin-
ciples. The Republicans in ofl&ce were often liberal,
and the Federalists out of office strict, in their con-
struction of the constitution ; and claimed or denied
authority, in many cases, very much as the one party
was to gain or the other lose by its exertion. In
general, however, the Federalists were in favor of a
liberal construction and exercise of the powers of the
general government ; and the Republicans, in theory
always, and to a considerable extent in practice, were
for narrowing down those powers to their least possible
extent. The former deemed a strong central author-
ity necessary to the welfare of the whole ; the latter,
dreading such authority in the general government,
leaned strongly to state rights and state power, as
paramount to all others. Men equally honest and in-
telligent have belonged to both these parties. Even
the same individual might, as in fact many did, act
with little or no inconsistency, at different times, with
either party, as he thought the one or the other

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 97

pushing its doctrines, in any given case, into an
extreme injurious to the public interests. Other
marked differences have, at all times, existed between
the two parties ; but this showed itself from the first,
and may be regarded as fundamental. In a case of
delegated power, the first question always is. Does it
exist ? and the second, Shall it be exercised in this
case ? Such is the united influence of interest and
feeling over the mind, that the decision of the second
question very generally carries the first with it.
Those who think the power beneficial, have Httle
difficulty in finding it in the constitution j while
those who, for any cause, do not wish to use it, read-
ily persuade themselves that it is not there. Public
opinion overrides constitutional barriers ; and finds,
perhaps, its only effectual control, in an adverse
public opinion, equally fixed and unyielding. "Paper
and parchment bind not hearts and hands."

The question, however, was not, on this occasion,
as to the value of constitutions in general, but as to
the poKcy of adopting the one now proposed. On
this point my father had no doubts. He was a Fed-
eralist, in the sense of being in favor of the new
constitution, and he used his utmost exertions to
secure its adoption in New Hampshire. He was a
candidate for a seat in the convention, but was not
elected, the town of Bpping being decidedly anti-
Federal. In a letter to Daniel Tilton (Dec. 10th,

98 IIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

1787,) Ke says: "The constitution is opposed here
by many, because they think it a grant of too much
power. My fears are all the other way. In my
opinion, the executive is not strong enough; and the
powers delegated to the Congress, though in some
respects ample, are in others too much restricted."

The convention, which met at Exeter (Feb. 13th,
1788,) to consider the new constitution, adjourned,
after a session of ten days, in which it was ascer-
tained that a majority of the members would vote
against it, if the question was then pushed to a deci-
sion. They met again at Concord, and agreed to
ratify it, (June 21st, 1788,) by a vote of fifty-seven
yeas to forty-seven nays ; but not without proposing
several amendments. The ratification of niue States
was required to put the new government into operar
tion, and the accession of New Hampshire completed
that number. The amendments proposed had for
their general object to restrict within narrower limits
the powers of the federal government, and to define
more precisely the rights of the people. The debates
in this convention were never reported. A speech
of Joshua Atherton against the clause of the consti-
tution which allowed the importation of slaves prior
to 1808 has been published; and tradition has also
preserved a remark made by him on the slave rep-
resentation. " If property," he said, " is to be repre-
sented in Congress, and in the electoral colleges, our

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 99

neat stoch is as well entitled to be counted as tlie
hlacJc cattle of the South. By this slave representation
you put the yoke on your own necks, and make- the
slaveholders masters, at the North as well as at the
South." This subject did not then attract much of
the popular attention ; but sagacious men, whose
miuds were sharpened to faultrfinding by dislike of
other parts of the constitution, saw in it, even then,
the germs of evil, which have since been largely
developed.

My father's federalism did not prevent the people
of Eppiag from sending him (March, 1788,) to the
Legislature. ' In going to Concord to attend the
November session, (for there were three during the
year,) he met with an adventure, which could hardly
occur in the present state of the country. It was
after the adjournment of the court at Exeter, in the
afternoon, that he left that place to take his seat, the
next morning, in the House at Concord. He reached
home about dark, filled out several writs on demands
which had been left in the ofl&ce during his absence,
and, mounting his horse, pursued his journey towards
Concord. At Deerfield, his friend Mills urged him to
stay with him tUl the next morning ; but, though
faint from recent iUness, and fatigued with his labors
in court, he left Deerfield between eleven and twelve,
and was soon lost in the Allenstown woods. He now
heard the howling of wolves, and perceived that

100 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

he was followed by them. It was dark, his horse
became frightened, and he was obliged to stop. The
wolves howled, whined, and rushed forward close
upon him, without daring, however, actually to attack
ihe horse. After a while he succeeded in urging his
horse on, still followed by these unwelcome attend-
ants. It was not tUl the moon came out, as he
emerged from the woods, that they ceased the pur-
suit ; and he heard, for some time, their long howl
dying by degrees on his ear, as he traversed the open
plain. It was daylight when he reached Pembroke,
where, as he rode up to the tavern, he met President
Langdon, just coming from his chamber. Langdon
was surprised to find him mounted so early in the
morning, and more so on learning the adventures of
the night. They rode together to Concord, and he
was in his seat when the speaker called the house to
order. It was by this disregard of personal conven-
ience in the discharge of duty, this promptness and
■celerity of movement, that he often delighted his
friends, and surprised his opponents, by the seeming
ubiquity of his presence ; the night being spent in
.solitary and, sometimes, dangerous rides, because
every hour of the day was pre-occupied with other
■engagements, and this, too, when the state of his
health was such as would have been deemed by most
jnen a sufficient excuse for inaction.

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 101

He early acquired a decided influence in tlie House.
" I spoke often," he says, " but never long, and con-
fined myself strictly to the busiaess in hand ; taking
care to avoid aU personal reflections, except on one
occasion, when the nature of the case seemed to
require a diS*erent course." His conduct on the
occasion alluded to was too characteristic to be here
omitted. It was in the choice of senators to the first
Congress under the new constitution. That instru-
ment, in directing that senators shall be chosen by
the State Legislatures, does not designate the mode
in which the choice shall be made. By some it was
contended that the Senate and House, meeting in
convention, should there, by joint ballot, make the
election. By others it was held that the election
should be by the separate, but concurrent action of
the two houses. This was my father's opinion ; and,
as the Senate refused to go into convention, it was
also the mode finally adopted by the House. On
proceeding to a ballot in the House, (Nov. 11th,
1788,) it appeared that John Langdon had received
aU but three of the votes. My father then ofiered a
resolution, which, after reciting the previous ballot,
provided " that John Langdon be, and he hereby ia,
appointed a senator, on the part of this State, to the
Congress of the United States," and called for the
yeas and nays on the question of its adoption.
Nathaniel Peabody, who was himself a. candidate for

102 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLtMBR.

the Senate, and had friends who did not wish to have
it known how they voted, objected to the resolution
as inconsistent with the principle of the choice by
ballot, or secret vote. My father replied with some
warmth that he could not beUeve that any man, wor-
thy of a seat on that floor, wished to conceal, either
from the public or from his constituents, his vote on
a question of so great importance ; but that, however
this might be, he could not forego his right to have
the yeas and nays entered on the journal in this case.
As there was, in fact, no one who wished to conceal
his vote in the case of Langdon, the resolution passed
without further opposition, and was on the same day
concurred in by the Senate. The next day the
choice of the second Senator came on in the House.
The candidates were Josiah Bartlett and Nathaniel
Peabody. Peabody was a man of talents, an active
poHtician, but of doubtful integrity, and unscrupulous
in the use of means to effect his objects. He had
been a member of the revolutionary Congress, a
member of the Committee of Safety, and for many
years an influential member of the Legislature. He
was an anti-Federalist; but, as national politics had
hardly yet assumed a permanent influence in the
state, he received the support of many Federalists in
the House, and of some out of it who were leaders in
the party. When, on taking the ballot, it appeared
that Peabody had a majority of the votes, the same

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 103

resolution was offered as in tlie case of Langdon, and
the yeas and nays called for. Tlie object of these
calls was now apparent. It was, in the first instance,
to establish a precedent ; and, in the second, to make
it bear on Peabody. When the clerk was about to
call the roU, my father rose and addressed the House,
with great force and plainness, on the relative claims
of the rival candidates ; and denounced Peabody,
who was present, as morally, politically and person-
ally unfit for the place, and unworthy of the public
confidence. On taking the question by yeas and
nays, Peabody was found to have a majority of two
votes, a support much short of what he had received
on the trial by ballot. But the attack, though unsuc-
cessful in the House, was not made in vain. The
Senate rejected the nomination, and sent down the
name of Bartlett, which was concurred in by the
House. He declined the appointment, and Paine
Wingate was afterwards chosen in his place. Pea-
body felt mortified and provoked at the result, talked
loudly of his violated honor, and threatened to chas-
tise his assailant. A prompt intimation that more
and worse would be said if he moved farther in the
business, put an end at once to his threats, though
not to his hostility.

At the session in December, held at Exeter, my
father was prevented by sickness from attending in
the House, tOl the second week of the session. It

104 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK.

appeared that, at the recent election, no choice of
electors of president and vice-president had been
made by the people. The law of the state provided
that the Legislature should, in case there was no
election by the people, choose the five electors
required, out of the ten persons having the highest
number of popular votes ; but the mode of doing this
was not prescribed. Here, then, was another ques-
tion of procedure to be settled ; and in this, as in the
former case, he was in favor of the separate action of
the two branches of the Legislature. The House
voting to meet the Senate in convention, and then
to make the choice, the latter body non-concurred
this vote, and a committee of conference, of which
he was one, was appointed. They reported in favor
of the separate action of the two Houses. This report
was accepted by the Senate, but rejected by the
House. The contest continued tUl towards midnight
of the last day (Jan. 7, 1789,) in which electors could
be chosen. As the Senate was at length about to yield,
he went to their door, and, calling out Col. Tappan,
urged them, through him, not to recede from the
ground they had taken till he had made one effort
more to change the vote of the House. This, after a
stormy debate, was effected ; though under a protest,
on the part of the House, that their present action
should not be used as a precedent against them on
any future occasion. President Sullivan, who had

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 105

violently opposed the claim of the Senate, now rose
and said that, as the member from Epping seemed to
know the way to the Senate-chamber, he moved that
he be a committee to inform that honorable body that
their perseverance, aided by their allies in the House,
had won for them the victory. This was said in
tones of mock solemnity, and with a very respectful
bow to the individual thus designated. He rose at
once, on being so selected, thanked the Hou^e for
the honor of the appointment, and, followed by half
the members, went with his message to the Senate.
It was delivered and received with all due gravity ;
and this timely pleasantry cleared the brows of many
angry politicians, and closed, in good feeling, an
exciting and angry controversy.

The prominent part which the young Epping
member took in these transactions, the most impor-
tant of the session, gave him a standing in the House
which he never afterwards lost. He was about the
same time (Jan. 9, 1789,) apppinted a justice of the
peace, which was his first executive commission. He
lived to be the oldest justice in the State.

But politics, though always interesting to him,
were not, at this time, his chief occupation. His
business, as a lawyer, took precedence in his mind,
alike of the calls of ambition, and the allurements
of pleasure. To neither of these would he listen to
the neglect of his professional pursuits. Omitting,

106 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK.

however, for the present, any accoimt of his labors as
a lawyer, I propose, in the remainder of this chapter,
to follow him in his public employments to the period
of his election to the Senate of the United States in
1802. In 1789, Bpping sent no member to the
Legislature; but, in March, 1790, he was unanimously
elected to the House. He had been proposed by
many of his friends for a seat in the Senate; but he
preferred the House as a better field for the exertion
of his talents. The old clerk. Judge Calfe, being
absent on account of sickness, he consented to serve
as clerk till Calfe was able to take the place, and then
resigned in his favor. At the commencement of the
session he objected to John S. Sherburne's taking his
seat as a member, on the ground that he was a pen-
sioner of the United States, and held the office of
District Attorney under the general government.
" Sherburne, who was," he says, " present when the
question was discussed, shed many tears, and even
cried aloud like a child. Unmanly as this conduct
was, it had a powerful effect on many members; and
he was allowed, almost unanimously, to hold his seat.
The part I acted on this occasion, instigated by no
unfriendly feeling, made him, for many years after,
my personal bitter enemy." Sherburne had been,
like himself, first, a preacher, and then a lawyer. He
was for a short time in the army, where he lost a limb,
and thence derived the soubriquet of cork-leg. He was

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 107

a man of talents, gentlemanly in his manners, and
insinuating in his address. He was afterwards elected
to Congress, and held for many years the office of
District Judge. The state constitution, established
three years later, settled the question thus raised, by
excluding from both houses all persons "holding any
ofl&ce under the United States."

It was the practice at that time for members of the
Legislature, who were lawyers, to appear as counsel,
and argue cases before committees, and before the
House in which, as members, they were themselves
bound to act and decide. Besides the undue advan-
tage which this gave their clients, the practice was
fatal to their own impartiality of judgment and inde-
pendence of action. My father refused to put himself
in the position of an advocate, where he was bound
to be a judge, and endeavored to procure the passage
of an order prohibiting the practice. He faUed, how-
ever, in this ; but, following up the effort, in the
convention of 1791, he obtained the insertion of a
clause in the constitution, providing that "No mem-
ber of the general court shah, take fees, be of counsel
or act as an advocate before either branch of the
Legislature." Both these prohibitions, inserted on
his motion, were adopted by the people, and now
form a part of the constitution of the state.

The subject, which, during this and the next year,
occupied largely the attention of the Legislature, was

108 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER.

the impeachment of Woodbury Langdon, for neglect
of duty, as one of the judges of the Superior Court.
My father was opposed to this impeachment, which
he thought proceeded from private pique and per-
sonal interest, rather than from a regard to the
public good ; and he refused, on that account, to act
as one of the managers on the part of the House.
After much ineifectual action, and many delays, the
impeachment was finally dropped; the judge having,
in the mean time, accepted an office under the United
States, and resigned his seat on the bench. The
House passed a vote of censure on him, denying his
right to resign whUe under impeachment, in which,
however, the Senate refused to concur.

" During these debates," says my father, " I was assailed
by two or three of the members, with a degree of rudeness,
discreditable to a deliberative assembly. I replied calmly to
their arguments, but took no notice of their abuse. It has
ever been my object in debate not to let the angry passions
rise, and never to make even the slightest allusion to anything
personal in the remarks of others. Besides the higher advan-
tages of such a course, I have found this, by long experience,
the most effectual mode at once of mortifying an opponent,
and of keeping with me the favor of the audience. If the
attack is, in any case, well-founded, I suffer less by submitting
in silence to the rebuke, than by showing anger, in addition
to being in the wrong. If unjustly abused, the hearers have
seldom failed to show by their looks and their actions that the
assailant had hurt himself more than he had injured me."

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 109

This coolness and self-possession it was not always
easy for him to preserve ; yet, by careful discipline,
early commenced and long continued, he had acquired
such mastery over his passions, that he seldom suf-
fered from their violence. When he found himself
angry, he kept his seat and refused to speak, whUe the
excitement contiaued. When at length he did rise,
whatever of warmth manifested itself went into the
argument, and not into personalities. No bitterness
of retort showed that he felt the venom of the attack,
or diverted him from the point at issue to any merely
personal altercation. The arguments of an opponent
were often assaUed with unsparing severity, while
his character and motives were treated with uniform
respect. He thus imited great plainness of speech
with a courteous address and a rigid abstinence from
personal invective. Though sometimes, in the heat
of debate, assailed with rudeness, he was generally
treated with much respect, even by those who dif-
fered most widely from him. The motto on his signet
ruig, adopted about this time, was " Respect thyself,"
a precept, which, as he seldom failed to observe it,
few were disposed to disregard in their intercourse
with him. This self-respect savored nothing of vanity;
but was rather " that pious and just honoring of our-
selves," which MUton describes as "the radical mois-
ture and fountain head from which every laudable
and worthy enterprise issues forth."

110 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

" Ofttimea nothing profits more
Than self-esteem, grounded on just and right,
"Well managed."

Of other measures of tlie session, in -wliicli he took
a part, I may mention here the grant of fifty pounds
to Dr. Belknap towards the expenses of his History
of New Hampshire. He was in favor of a larger
sum, but thought himself happy in being able to get
even this small appropriation through the House,
which prided itself very little on its patronage of
literature. He was successful in defeating, after a
severe struggle and by a single vote, the attempt to lay
a state tax which had been warmly recommended by
the treasurer, but which he considered unnecessary at
that time. It was suspected that the treasurer used
the funds of the state for his own emolument, when
not needed by the public. This charge seemed half
admitted, in the ground assumed by his friends, that
the public had no concern in the matter, except to
see that his bondsmen were good. This business of
the state tax was the first of several occurrences,
which, happening from time to time, gradually alien-
ated my father from the leading Exeter politicians,
while agreeing with them in general politics, and
made him ultimately a centre of anti-Exeter influ-
ence. That town was in effect, for many years, the
political capital of the state. The three Gilmans —
John Taylor, Nicholas, and Nathaniel — Oliver Pea-

LIFE or WILLIAM PLUMER. Ill

body, Samuel Tenney, Benjamin Abbott, George Sul-
livan, and, at a later period, Jeremiah Smith, — not to
mention several less known, but able men, who lived
there, especially Benjamin Conner, who was a great
party manager, — possessed an aggregate of talents and
information, and a weight of character and influence,
which could be equalled in no other part of the state.
My father, though on friendly terms personally with
all these men, was not one of their political circle.
He gave great. offence to some of them at the next
session, 1791, by a bill which he introduced to tax
state notes, in which they were largely interested.
"Your influence," said one of them to him, "may
carry the bill through an ignorant House, as you can
carry anything else there, but it wlU be rejected by
the Senate." " We shall see," was the quiet reply.
The bill accordingly passed the House, and was sent
to the Senate, which, a few days after, sent a mes-
sage to the House, informing them that the bill had
been taken from their files, and could not be found.
The House immediately passed it a second time, and
sent it to the Senate, by whom it was enacted and
became a law. It is a curious illustration of the kind
of men sometimes found in public life, that a mem-
ber of the House (not from Exeter) afterwards
boasted that he had pocketed the first bill, and came
near getting the second. It will readily be believed
that he wa,s a holder of state notes.

112 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

The winter session of 1791 was devoted chiefly to
a revision of the statutes, with a view to a new edi-
tion of the laws. Among the bills introduced was one
for the punishment of blasphemy. The committee
had reported, in substance, the old law, but a Mr. Wel-
man, who had been a preacher, moved as an amend-
ment, that any person " convicted of speaking disre-
spectfully of any part of the Bible should have his
tongue bored through with a hot iron." Sherburne
seconded this' motion in a vehement speech, declaring
that he should have been better pleased if the rever-
end gentleman had proposed death as the penalty for
so atrocious an offence. Sherburne labored under the
imputation of being himself an unbehever, and was,
at any rate, free in his remarks on scripture, and his
ridicule of the clergy. Whipping, branding, and
other mutilations of the body were punishments then
inflicted by the penal codes of most of the states, and
the zeal of a Christian community saw nothing revolt-
ing in their application to the support of religious
truth.

" I was aware," says my father, " of the strong prejudices
of some of the members against me, on account of my re-
ligious tenets ; and I doubted whether my opposition would
not aid, rather than defeat, the proposed amendment. But
perceiving, from the temper of the House, and the conduct of
such men as Sherburne, that there was danger of its adoption,
I could not remain silent. I rose, therefore, to oppose it ;
and, though deeply affected, and, at first, agitated with the

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 113

strength of my emotions, I delivered one of the best speeches
I ever made on any subject. I endeavored to show that this
amendment was not only barbarous, impolitic, and unjust, but
contrary to the spirit of Christianity. For this purpose I
made more than twenty appropriate C[uotations from the
Bible ; contrasting the severity of the Jewish law, which was
appealed to in support of sanguinary punishments, with the
mildness of the Christian dispensation ; and closed with a
strong appeal to the more liberal and generous feelings of the
human heart."

The motion was rejected, though not by a large
majority. This speech was spoken of, by those who
heard it, as having been highly eloquent and impres-
sive. It vindicated, on the broadest principles, the
right and the duty of free inquiry, and denounced,
with keen satire and indignant invective, the attempt
to substitute authority in the place of reason, the
branding-iron and the halter for the persuasive force
of argument and the corrective influence of example,
— combining, in one odious character, the hypocrite
and the persecutor, the bigot and the unbeliever.
Sherburne made no reply, and was not even present
when the final vote was taken. He may have acted
in this case, either iu bad faith, with a view to popu-
larity, or, as might be more charitably surmised, with
the covert design to lead the House, by the very
extravagance of his argument in support of the
amendment, to its rejection. This latter supposition

114 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

is consistent with his usual finesse and iadiretion.
But his own account of the matter, afterwards; was
that his aim had been to force Plumer, whom he
disHked, into the avowal of opinions which he knew
would be unpopular. If this was his object, he was
but partially successful. He brought out, indeed,
his intended victim, but not to be sacrificed. Many,
who voted for the amendment, were loud in their
praises of the boldness and ability with which it was
opposed ; especially in contrast with the zeal of one
who, after advocating the measure, refused to vote
for it.* ,

My father was, the next year (March, 1791), again
elected to the House, and chosen Speaker of that
body, " by a fuU vote." The session in June was a
short one. That in November was held at Ports-
mouth. Its most important business was the incor-
poration of a bank. There was, at this time, no
bank in New Hampshire, and but three state banks
in the Union, — one in Philadelphia, one in New

* It was of this same Sherbiinie that Judge Smith, reversing the apostolic
injunction, said, "I hate him with a pure heart, fervently." The letters of
Smith abound in sallies of this kind, amusing, at once, and sarcastic. This
quaint humor seldom spared even his friends, and was not likely to fall with
less severity on those whom he regarded as his enemies. " You wiU make,"
he says, in one of those letters, " the necessary allowances for my painting.
I lay no claim to impartiality. I have not learned to blame measures with-
out censuring men." This latter expression may be taken as the apology
for some ha»sh judgments and uncharitable expressions, in which other men,
besides Smith, occasionally indulge.

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 115

York, and one in Boston. My father's idea was that
the Bank of the United States, then recently incor-
porated, would establish branches wherever the busi-
ness of the country might require them, and that no
more state banks ought to be created. He thought
this general bank should be owned by the govern-
ment, and managed as a public concern, which might,
in this way, be made useful to the business of the
country, valuable as a fiscal agent, and a source,
under certain circumstances, of income to the treas-
ury. With these views he opposed the incorporation '
of the New Hampshire Bank ; which, however, passed
both Houses by small majorities, and became a law.

In the meantime, a convention having been called
to revise the constitution of the state, he was elected,
in August, a member of that body. The importance
of the object drew together many of the ablest men
of the state. The discussion, not of laws merely, but
of constitutional provisions, and the fundamental
principles of- government, gave to the debates an in-
terest not often' felt in legislative proceedings. These
debates, though long and able, were never published ;
and the journal of the convention furnishes but an
imperfect account of what was done, and still less by
whom it was done. Even the yeas and nays, except
in two or three cases, are not given. I am able,
however, partly from the journal and other docu-
ments connected with it, and partly from my father's

116 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

papers, to give some account of the proceedings of
this convention, and especially of his course in it.
The convention met at Concord, September 7th,
1791. The old constitution was taken up by sec-
tions, and its. provisions altered, or amended, and
new clauses added, or old ones stricken out, at the
wiU of the convention, till the whole was passed
through in this manner. This occupied the first ten
days of the session. Among the subjects in which
he felt the strongest interest, and took an active part
in debate, were the provisions on the subject of reli-
gion, the organization of the executive department,
the judiciary, and the basis of representation in the
House.

On the subject of religion, he proposed, instead of
the former provisions, an article securing to every
person in the state " the inestimable privilege of wor-
shipping God in a manner agreeable to the dictates of
his own conscience," and prohibiting the Legislature
from compelling any person either to attend any
place of public worship, or to pay taxes for the
building of churches, or for the support of religious
teachers, except in pursuance of his own free act and
agreement. This amendment was wide enough to
embrace the Roman Catholic on the one hand, and
the Deist on the other. As a substitute for this arti-
cle another was proposed, subjecting all the inhabi-
tants of the state to a town tax for the support of the

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 117

clergyman wliorQ the majority of tlie legal voters
should, in each, case, select as their pastor. The two
opposite systems, the voluntary and the compulsory,
were thus brought before the convention, and led to
an animated debate on the subject. But neither
party was strong enough to carry its proposed amend-
ment ; and the constitution of 1784 remains, in this
particular, unaltered to the present time. The old
system, in its rigor of universal compulsory taxa-
tion, though it had stiU its advocates, had lost much
of its hold on the public favor ; while the voluntary
system had not yet acquired the support of any
considerable portion of the religious community.
The Quakers, few ia numbers, were allowed to escape
the tax for the support of religious teachers; the
Baptists claimed the same exemption; the Metho-
dists were, as yet, little known in the state-; — ^but
there were many persons who, belonging to no
known denomination, could, in general, plead no
scruples of conscience on the subject, yet were
unwilling to be driven, by compulsion of law, into
any religious fold. They wanted the appearance of
going freely, if they went at all.

A motion, made by my father, to abohsh the
religious test for oflfice-liolders, who were required by
the Constitution to be " of the Protestant religion,"
though at first rejected, was finally adopted by the
Convention. It failed, however, with the people;

118 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

receiving a majority of the votes in its favor, but
not the two-thirds necessary for its adoption. This
test still forms a part of the Constitution. The
convention of 1850 twice proposed, almost unan-
imously, its repeal ; but the people refused, by very
large majorities, to make the proposed alteration.

The mode in which the House of Representa-
tives should be constituted was a matter of too
great importance not to receive the early notice of
the convention. The amendment proposed by my
father was that the Legislature should divide the
state into sixty districts, making the number of rat-
able polls in each as nearly equal as they could be
made without dividing towns ; and that each district
should have one member. This would have been,
substantially, a representation according to niimbers.
But the small towns were unwUling to give up their
disproportionate representation; and many even of
the large towns disliked the district system. The
limited number of the districts was also an objection
with those who preferred a numerous House as safer
than a small one. The proposition was, therefore,
rejected by a strong majority. The theory of repub-
lican equality requires, no doubt, this system of
single districts, having an equal number of voters in
each ; and any departure from this is, so far, a de-
parture from the representative principle, on which
the whole government rests. The practice of town

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 119

representation is, however, coeval with the introduc-
tion of legislative assemblies in New England ; and
it is not strange that those little republics, the town
municipalities, should have adhered tenaciously to
their ancient privileges. The most, therefore, that
could be expected, under these circumstances, was
that the principle of equality should be as nearly
attained as was consistent with preserving town
representation. The attempt, in the convention of
1850, to give the small towns an advantage even
greater in this respect than they before possessed, by
lessening materially the representation of the large
towns, led, more than any other cause, to the rejection
by the people, not only of this, but of aU the amend-
ments proposed by that convention.

The constitution of 1776 had proAdded no Execu-
tive Department, separate from the Legislative. That
of 1784 had organized such a department, but made
it a portion of, and dependent on, the Legislature.
The amendments under this head, moved by my
father, and adopted by the convention, consisted in
separating the governor from the Senate, and giving
him a qualified negative on the Legislature. To
secure a like independence in the Senate, he pro-
posed to enlarge the number of senators to fifteen,
one for every four representatives ; and to make a
plurality of votes alone necessary for a choice by the
people, so that the Senate should not, in any case,

120 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEB.

depend upon the House for the election of any of its
members. The former motion failed in the conven-
tion, and the latter with the people.

In organiziag anew the judiciary department, the
plan supported by him had for its object, by lessen-
ing the number of the courts, and increasing their
power, to secure a more speedy and less expensive
administration of justice. The chances of protracted
Htigation, as the law then stood, were very great;
and the consequent duration of law-suits was almost
interminable. A suit, commenced before a Justice of
the Peace, might be carried to the General Sessions,
thence to the Common Pleas, thence to the Superior
Court, and thence to the Legislature ; to be by that
body sent back to the Superior Court for final
decision, with the further chance of a new trial on
a writ of review. Add to this, that the verdict
might be repeatedly set aside by the court, and that
the disagreement of the jury often prevented any ver-
dict being rendered ; and it wiU readily be believed
that suitors seldom got what the bill of rights prom-
ised them — "Justice freely, without being obliged to
purchase it; completely, without denial; and promptly,
without delay." The remedy for these evils, as finally
proposed by the convention, was to empower the
Legislature to abolish the Courts of Common Pleas
and General Sessions, and to extend the jurisdiction
of Justices of the Peace to sums not exceeding four

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMEE, 121

pounds. It was further proposed that no person
should have a writ of review after the case had been
decided against him twice by a jury, but that the
court might, in other cases, grant a new trial where,
in their opinion, justice had not been done at the
former trials. Provision was also made for estab-
lishing equity jurisdiction, where an adequate remedy
did not exist at common law. It was believed that
this system would produce a more speedy despatch
of business, and greatly reduce the costs of litigation.
But its effect, in the first instance, would have been
to throw twenty judges out of ofl&ce, and to destroy,
in a hundred other influential men, the hope of
obtaining judgeships, to which, under the old system,
they might have aspired. Those lawyers too, who,
in organizing the courts, looked chiefly to their own
interests, were not likely to favor a plan whose pro-
fessed object was to diminish litigation. The only
part of the scheme which met with no opposition, was
that which extended the jurisdiction of justices of the
peace. That rather numerous class of men found
both their respectability and their emoluments in-
creased by the proposed change, and they were not
slow to appreciate its merits. The other proposed
amendments were all rejected by the people. My
father had been deeply impressed with the evils of
the system which he thus sought to reform, — the
litigious spirit which it engendered among the

122 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK.

people, its expense, its injustice, and its delays —
"the law's delay"— which, from the tune of Shak-
speare, not to speak of the complaints of earlier
days, had been the bane and the opprobrium of
Enghsh jurisprudence, and which had been repeated
here with such fatal facHity of imitation.

After having, in this way, discussed the various
amendments proposed, the convention appointed a
committee, of which my father was one, to reduce
them to form; and when this was effected, another
committee was raised of two from each county, of
which he was also a member, to take the whole
subject into consideration, and report at a future
meeting the amendments proper to be submitted to
the people. The convention then adjourned to meet
again in February of the next year. The committee
of ten met repeatedly, and was long in coming to
any definite conclusions.

"The chief labor and responsibility," says my father, "fell
on me. Peabody, who was chairman, was disposed to perplex
and embarrass, rather than aid the business. Atherton acted
almost uniformly with Peabody. Freeman was opposed to all
amendments. The infirmities of age made Payne inactive.
Page was able and well disposed, but indolent and inattentive.
The others gave me little trouble and no assistance. The
task, thus thrown upon me, of controlling perverseness and
rousing indolence into action was equally laborious and per-
plexing. But I felt my reputation concerned in bringing the

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 123

business to a successful issue ; and, by steady perseverance, I
finally surmounted all tlie obstacles thrown in my way. After
much discussion, and many changes and delays, we agreed
upon amendments, which I reduced to form, and transcribing
the whole constitution, introduced them into their proper
places. On the meeting of the convention, February 8th,
1792, our report was assailed from various quarters ; but.
Page and Atherton joiniag me in its defence, (for the latter no
longer adhered to Peabody,) we succeeded, after long debates,
from the 9th to the 23d, in carrying it through, though not
without some important modifications. I was req^uested, by a
vote of the convention, as all the amendments had been drawn
by me, to arrange them in their proper places, and to assist
the clerk in. making a copy for publication."

The convention then adjourned to meet again in
May, to receive the answer of the people to the pro-
posed amendments. On coming together again, my
father was appointed chairman of the committee to
ascertain what amendments had been adopted, and
what rejected; and to report such further amend-
ments as might be necessary to bring what remained
of the old constitution into harmony with such
provisions of the new as had been adopted by the
people. This being done, the subject was again
submitted to the people; and the labors of the
convention were closed by another short session
in September. The constitution, thus formed, still
remains in force without alteration, nor was there any

124 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEB,

attempt at chaBge for nearly half a century. Of this
convention of 1791, he was the sole survivor, when
that of 1850 met, and he did not Hve to see its close.
Though there were, in the convention of 1791,
many older, and, at that time, more distinguished
men than he, there was no one who took so active
a part, or who had greater influence in that body.
By his industry and perseverance, his energy and
decision, and, above all, by the force and accuracy of
his discriminating mind, he acquired, before the close
of the convention, a weight and authority in that
body which no other man possessed. "He was,"
said Judge Livermore to me, "by all odds, the most
influential man in the convention ; so much so, that
those who disliked the result, called it Plumer's con-
stitution, by way of insinuating that it was the work
of one man, and not the collective wisdom of the
whole assembly." From the journal of the convention,
it appears that he was on nearly all the most import-
ant committees, and chairman of several of them.
Several reports made by others, were drawn up by
him. The amendments were all submitted to him for
revision, and such of them as he favored received
from him their most effective support. In the man-
uscript volume, which remains of the papers and
documents relating to the convention, there is httle,
except the journal, which is not either in his hand-
writing, or in that of Jeremiah Smith — about three

LIFE or WILLIAM PLUMER. 125

times as mucli of the former as of the latter. Both
these men were at this time comparatively young,
ambitious of distinction, hard workers, prompt in
action, and ready and willing alike with the tongue
and the pen. They concurred for the most part in
their general views of pohcy, though occasionally
differing on questions of minor importance. But in
concert or opposition, it was hard to say whether,
aside from the strength of their arguments, the House
most admired the broad humor, the Scotch-Irish
drollery and shrewdness of Smith, or the keen retort,
the ready resources, and strong practical common
sense of Plumer. Smith, being at that time a member
of Congress, was present only during the first session
of ten days, and bore no part in the subsequent pro-
ceedings. Plumer was present to the end, and busy
from the first. They had served together in the
Legislature, as weU as in the convention, and con-
tracted a friendship for each other, which was long a
source of mutual satisfaction, though not destined
to survive the vicissitudes of pohcy and opinion, of
feeling and interest, which, in the progress of events,
placed them ultimately at the head of opposite parties
in the state.

My father did not fail on this occasion of the usual
accompaniment of eminence — the envy and abuse of
rivals and opponents. The proposed amendments
were assailed with great zeal and violence in news-

126 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMEB.

papers and in pamphlets 5 in wMcli he came in for
his full share of calumny and detraction, as their
author and most prominent defender. To some of
these strictures he replied in the public papers, but,
with his usual reserve in this respect, he took no
notice whatever of anything in them which was
personal.

If the object of these attacks was indifferent to
them, he was not so to the loss of time which the
labors of the convention occasioned him. He had
this year spent nine months out of the twelve, in the
Legislature, of which he was speaker, in the conven-
tion, where his labors were unremitted, and in the
courts of law, where his business was limited in
amount only by his power of performance. This
long absence from home was unpleasant to his feel-
ings ; and his fatigue of body and anxiety of mind
seriously affected his health. He was confined, after .
his return from the convention, for some time, to his
bed, by a severe attack of illness. " Finding," he says,
" my constitution too feeble to support such iucessant
exertion, I resolved to abandon public life, and, con-
fining myself to my profession, to enjoy, more than
I had of late done, the comforts of home and family,
the society of my friends, and the solace and
improvement of my books. There was no ofl&ce that
I desired. I commenced public life with a resolution
that I would attach myself to no party or faction,

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 127

but perform my duty, regardless of consequences to
myself. I have thus far pursued this course; and
I am not conscious of having done anything con-
trary to my judgment, at the time, of what was
right and proper." It was with these feelings and
intentions that he declined an election to the
House, in 1792, and devoted himself, thenceforth,
with fresh alacrity to the law. He had, as yet, ac-
quired but little property, and he felt that the first
claims on him were those of his family. " I do not
care," he said, "how hard the path is, so it leads
finally to independence. This I can and will achieve,
if life is spared me a few years longer. Wealth I do
not expect, nor, indeed, much desire. Competence
is my aim ; and I labor to make my wants few, that
I may the more easily supply them."

But though, for the next six years, he held no
public ofl&ce, and devoted himself chiefly to his busi-
ness as a lawyer, he lost none of his usual interest in
the political events of the day. The hostility to
Washington's administration, showing itself so strongly
in opposition to the proclamation of neutrality, and
to Jay's treaty, which, at one time, it seemed prob-
able would be defeated, and the subsequent troubles
under Adams, ending in the quasi war, as it was
called, with France, warmly interested his feelings,
and made him, in the end, more of a party politician
than he had ever been before. He considered the

128 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

Federalists as essentially right, through the whole of
these transactions, and the Republicans as blinded to
the true interests of the country by their hostility to
England, their admiration of France, and their devo-
tion to party leaders who looked more to their own
advancement than to the public good. He had, him-
self, no foreign partialities or predilections ; having,
he said, as little confidence in the good will of Eng-
land as in the fraternal affection of France. " On
reviewing these subjects, after a lapse of thirty years,
I still think," he says, " that my opinions on these
great national questions were correct. But, on read-
ing copies of the letters I then wrote, I find them
too censorious of those who differed with me, and too
eulogistic of those with whom I then thought and
acted. I have since learned to be more charitable
to my opponents, and to confide less blindly in poht-
ical associates."

Writing to his friend Smith (March 15, 1796), he
says, " 1 might have been elected to the House, from
this town, but I dechned. My services would have
borne no just proportion to the loss I should have
sustained in my business ;■ and the state of affairs
here did not seem to demand the sacrifice." His
feelings, however, became by degrees so much inter-
ested in the political action of the two great parties
which then divided the country, that, when his
townsmen elected him, in his absence, once more to

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 129

the Legislature (March, 1797), lie could no longer
resist the call; though his inclination, he says, no
less than his interests, still bound him to his profes-
sional pursuits. In a letter to Mr. Gordon, then in
Congress (May 29th, 1797), he writes:

** I am pleased with the President's speech, which mani-
fests, in strong terms, his love of country. This is what we
most want ; not love nor hatred towards other countries, but
attachment to our own. I wait with anxiety for the answer
of your House. I trust it will be in language worthy of
freemen, firm and federal. Some think that, after the insults
and injuries we have received from France, it would be dis-
honorable to attempt further negotiation. I am not of that
opinion. I would not sacrifice the peace and prosperity of
my country to resentments, however just, on the one hand,
nor to the etic[uette of state ,on the other. But if a minister
is to be sent, I presume it will not be Madison or Gallatin, —
we have suffered enough already, from such characters, in
the person of Monroe. I hope you will not lay an embargo
on our vessels, as I see is proposed by sonje. It would
injure our commerce much, and our revenue more ; or rather
totally destroy both, without affecting materially the French.
It is folly to talk of starving France. Let each merchant,
judging for himself, embargo his own property, if he will,
or hazard the danger of French piracy, if he prefers that
course."

On the meeting of the Legislature in Jime, my
father was elected speaker. "The ballots being

9

130 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

counted," he says in a letter to Smith (June 11,
1797), " it appeared that John Goddard had three,
Woodbury Langdon seven, Russell Freeman forty-
one, and that I had seventy-three votes. Considering
that Freeman was speaker last year, and had behaved
well in the ofl&ce, and that I had not been in the
House for the last six years, and was personally
known to but few of the members, I was, I confess,
disappointed as well as gratified at the result. The
governor has given us a moderate, but firm, federal
speech. We shall have an answer, the sentiments
and composition of which will not make you blush
for New Hampshire. The mail going from this place
(Concord) but once a week, is a sufficient excuse for
my not writing you sooner." Between a mail once
a week, and ten mails a day, which is about the
present supply of Concord, there is a difference sig-
nificant of the times, and the progress of events.*
Among other proofs how entirely the new speaker
possessed the confidence of the House, it may be
mentioned that they gave him the nomination of all
committees, which had never, I believe, been done
before. " The House," he says, " appointed every
man whom I nominated ; so that, in fact, I had the

* My father's letters -were usually ten or twelve days in reaching him
from Philadelphia. There -was then no post-office at Epping, and he sent
nine miles to Exeter for his letters and papers, which, at a later period, were
brought to him by a post-rider, once a week.

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEB. 131

appointment of all the committees." The second
session was held at Portsmouth, in November and
December. Though it was a long and busy session,
there was nothing done which need be here noticed.
At its close, the speaker received the unanimous
" thanks of the House, for his candid, impartial, and
indefatigable services." Such votes are now matters
of course ; yet some inference may, perhaps, be
drawn from the terms used as to the kind of service
rendered. Industry and impartiahty were qualities
in which he was not likely to be deficient. He
found, however, the labors of the chair too much for
his health ; and, in other respects, he did not much
like his position. Though not debarred from taking
part occasionally in debate, he felt that a seat on the
floor would have been more pleasant to him, and at
times, perhaps, more useful to the public.

He was, the next year (March, 1798,) re-elected to
the House. His old law-instructor, Prentice, was
chosen speaker. My father was told, by many of his
friends, that his services on committees, and on the
floor, would be more important than any he could
render in the chair. This agreed so well with his
own views and feelings on the subject, that he yielded
readily to them, though aware that some, who used
this civil language towards him, were not willing
that the influence which he had acquired at the
former session, should be increased by a second term

132 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

of service as speaker. He was chairman of the com-
mittee on the governor's speech, and drew up the
answer of the House. He did the same at the
November session. In both these papers, as well
as in the Address to the President of the United
States, the most entire confidence was expressed in
the wisdom and integrity of the general govern-
ment ; and the people of the state were pledged to
support its measures in defence of the rights and
honor of the country, even should they terminate in
a war with France. This was his own view of the
case. He felt strongly, where the question was
between his own and a foreign country; and was,
on this occasion, equally indignant at "the insults
and encroachments of the terrible republic," and
-angry with "those degenerate Americans, who take
part with a foreign power against their own govern-
ment." The Address was adopted with only four
-dissenting votes in the House, and passed the Senate
unanimously.

A motion to increase the governor's pay, by an
■extra allowance, gave him occasion to express his
views on the subject of salaries generally. He was
■opposed, upon principle, to the high payment of
public officers. " The true rule is," he said, " to hold
out such inducements, and such only, as will obtain,
in any given case, the services required. In employ-
jnents, such as clerkships, where there is much labor

LIFE OF -WILLIAM PLUMEE. 133

and little honor, money is the chief, if not the only
inducement ; and of this, enough should be given to
secure faithful and efficient officers. Let the labor be
paid for, like other labor, at the market price. But
in offices of higher character, other considerations
come into the account. Not to speak of patriotism,
or public spirit, there are other allowable, if not
generous motives of action, such as ambition, the
love of power, the thirst for distinction, and on these
we may rely largely, to secure the services of the
best men for offices of high honor and responsibility.
Yet, as few are so wealthy as to be altogether above
pecuniary considerations, there must be something in
the way of emolument attached to offices, even of the
highest power and distinction. But this should not
be such as to make the pay, in any case, other than a
secondary consideration. He is unworthy of any high
office, who, in accepting it, thinks chiefly of the salary,
and that salary is, for the same reason, too high, which
induces men to regard office as desirable chiefly on
account of it. Ambition brings men of noble feel-
ings and generous natures into competition with one
another for the public favor ; but the love of money
is felt chiefly by men of baser natures, who resort to
ignoble means to obtain their objects, and who, whea
in office, promote men like themselves, looking only
to the narrow purposes of party policy, or, lower still,
to their own sordid interests. High salaries have thus

134 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK.

a tendency to bring into the lists men who are unfit
for office, and who, but fi)r the scent of prey, would
leave the field to the competition of better and more
deserving men. Pay those with money then, who
can earn only money. But let honor, power, the.
consciousness of duty well performed, be the chief,
as it must ever be the highest reward of meritorious
exertions in the public service. It will be time
enough to give more, when good men cannot be
obtained on these terms. At present, there is no
lack of candidates for political offices among our best
and ablest men." On these grounds he was the advo-
cate of low salaries for high offices. These opinions
were not now advanced by him for any temporary
purposes, but were adhered to, when he, himselJ^
many years after, filled the office whose salary he
now sought to keep within its former bounds.

A striking instance occurred, near the close of the
session, of his moderation and command of temper
under very trying circumstances. In the choice of
a Senator to Congress, the Speaker, Prentice, was a
candidate, but did not succeed, the old Senator Liver-
more being re-elected. Prentice imputed his failure
to a severe attack made on him in a Concord news-
paper. Believing this to have been written by his
former pupil, he brought the subject before the
House ; and, after denouncing the writer as a mis-
creant and a viper, he turned suddenly on my father.

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 135

and, foaming with rage and stamping with his foot,
defied him, with oaths and imprecations, to deny-
that he was the author of the infamous libel on his
character. The House, astonished at this indecent
ebullition, remained for some time silent, yet with
looks of shame and rebuke, at the indignity thus
inflicted, not less on itself than on one of its mem-
bers, by the presiding ofiicer of the assembly. AU
eyes were turned toward the object of this unpro-
voked attack, who, however, sat quietly in his place,
unmoved amidst the tumult of passion, and not even
condescending to inform the House, as he might truly
have done, that he did not know the author, and had
never seen the article in question till it appeared in
print. Having vented his passion in this manner,
without even the poor consolation of provoking a
reply, the speaker left the chair and withdrew from
the House. It afterwards appeared that the offensive
article was written by a son of the successful candi-
date. This self-command under insult was not the
effect of insensibility, but grew out of principle ; and
the anger which he could not but feel, was tempered,
in this case, by pity for his old instructor, degrading
himself in the vain attempt to disgrace his former
pupil. By some, it may be thought that he ought to
have made it what is absurdly called an affair of
honor, or, if not, that he should have shown at least
as much passion in repelling the attack in words, as

136 LIFE OF -WILLIAM FLUMER.

Prentice had shown in making it. But he deliber-
ately rejected the use of all such means. The pistol,
the club, and the fist were, in his opinion, not only-
unworthy of him, but he did not even hold it expe-
dient to return railing for railing in this case. "FoUy,"
he said, "is best answered by silence. If we do but
respect ourselves, we need not much fear the disre-
spect of others." Of an ardent temperament, he made
the government of his passions an object of unre-
mitting care, and with such success, that he might be
justly called a man of strong passions under strong
control. What the House thought of "the miscre-
ant and the viper" may be inferred from their unani-
mously choosing him speaker joz-o tern, in the absence of
Prentice ; from his being selected to preside over the
convention, when both Houses met in that form, to
discuss the proportion of taxes ; and from his being
put on not less than twenty-nine committees, and
prevented from being on more by his claiming the
benefit of the rule excusing any member from serv-
ing on more than three committees which had not
already reported. When he met Prentice again,
which was not tiU the next year, the latter was
particularly attentive and even obsequious to him.
He took such changes, whether of servility or of
abuse, more quietly than most men are disposed to
do. " Thrice happy he who tempers so his blood."

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 137

He was not, the next year, a member of the
House. In a letter to Mr. Gordon (February, 1799),
he says, " My attention to business, to company, to
the General Court, and to the Courts of Law, has so
much injured my health, that I am determined, in
future, to work less and to live easier. I shall begin
by relinquishing politics, or, in other words, not going
this year to the Legislature. My professional labors
are as much as, with my feeble health, I can well
endure. At my time of life, with a young family,
and not much property, 1 cannot retire from busi-
ness; though I hope to do so before many years, —
certainly as soon as I feel myself independent." His
interest in public affairs was, however, too strong to
allow him long to withdraw from public life. On
the apparent return of better health, he was, the
next year, (March, 1800), again elected to the
House.

In April, he lost his mother. Her sudden and
unexpected dissolution produced a sicknesss which
confined him, for some days, to his bed. " She was,"
he says, " one of the best of mothers, and I loved her
tenderly. No woman ever possessed a sweeter dis-
position, or discharged the duties of her station with
more prudence, or greater fidelity."

In June, he was again so ill as to be unable to
attend the Legislature till its second week, though
urged to it by letters and messages from many of his

138 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

friends. The great question of the session was on
the memorial of certain persons, asking for the estab-
lishment of another bank in Portsmouth. Soon after
the estabhshment of the New Hampshire Bank, a
company was formed in that town, which issued bills
and transacted the ordinary business of a bank,
though unincorporated. The old bank was in the
hands of the Federalists ; the new one, established by
Langdon, Sherburne, Goddard, and other Republicans,
was not a mere money concern, but was intended as
an engine of political power. They had, the year
before, applied for an act of incorporation, which was
denied them; and a law was passed, making all such
unincorporated banking associations unlawful. The
state had, also, become a stockholder in the old bank.
The March elections had turned mainly, in many
places, on this bank question ; and the Republicans
had gained largely by the votes of men who regarded
the old bank as a monopoly, the state subscription as
a bribe, and the new bank as the only sure remedy
for the financial evils of the times.

The question came up in the House on a memorial
of the new bank, praying for the repeal of the prohi-
bition on unincorporated banking associations, the
law not having yet gone into operation. The Feder-
alists were opposed to the request, chiefly on party
grounds. My father had opposed the old bank on
considerations of general policy, and was equally

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 139

ppposed, on the same grounds, to the new. The
committee had reported against the prayer of the
memorialists ; and, the question coming up for dis-
cussion immediately on his taking his seat, he moved
its postponement till the afternoon, having left some
notes, which he had made on the subject, at his
lodgings. This motion, however, did not prevail ;
and Goddard, who was one of the petitioners, and
the ablest debater on the Republican side, strenu-
ously opposed the acceptance of the report. " After
he sat down," says my father, "I addressed the
House, vindicating the report of the committee, and
assigniag reasons why it should be accepted. Though
weak from ill health, I occupied the floor more than
an hour, and suffered no inconvenience for the want
of my notes. I had the satisfaction of being listened
to by the House, and the crowded galleries, with an
attention which would have done honor to Dexter or
Ames. The report Was accepted." The session closed
on Monday, Jmie 16th. So much of the old strict-
ness of opinion prevailed with the governor, that he
refused to adjourn the Houses on Saturday, lest some
of the members might travel towards their homes on
the Sabbath.

In the selection of Representatives to Congress, he
was urged by his friends to become a candidate, but
refused on the ground of ill health. He was also
proposed as a candidate for the Senate, but declined

140 LIFE OF WILLIAM tLUMER.

in favor of Ms friend Sheafe, who was elected, though
not by a large majority. The Federalists were evi-
dently losing ground, and the new bank was gaining
friends in every part of the state. This was sensibly
felt, among other places, in Epping, where many of
my father's old federal friends insisted on a pledge
from him not to oppose the incorporation of the
Union Bank. This he refused to give them, though
they told him that without it he could not, and, some
said, he should not, be re-elected. He told them at
once that, if civilly asked to decline, he should have
willingly done so; but that, since they had threat-
ened him, he should put himself before the people
for their verdict. He accordingly argued the ques-
tion of the bank in the town meeting, and was
re-elected (March, 1801), on the third trial, by a
majority of three votes, against two popular candi-
dates, a Federalist and a Republican, both friends of
the Bank. When the House met at Hopkinton, in
June, 1801, though the Federalists had a decided
majority, John Langdon, the Republicans' bank can-
didate, wanted but two votes of being elected
speaker. Prentice owed his majority of one to my
father's reluctant vote. He used afterwards to say
that this vote was the strongest proof he ever gave
of the influence of party over his conduct; since
Prentice had not only never made an apology for
the gross insult he had, on a former occasion, offered

XIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 141

"him, but was really much, inferior as a presiding
officer to Langdon. If, in this case, party spirit
proved paramount to all other considerations, it came
in the disguise of duty, and with a feeling of magna-
nimity, to which he was ever ready to yield. " A
sense of personal injury never," he says, at another
time, "influenced my public conduct; and I trust
my life wUl not be protracted to receive so foul a
stain." " In taking revenge," says Bacon, " a man is
but equal to his enemy ; in passing it over, he is
superior." He now had cause to feel this. Prentice
was grateful for the favor so unexpectedly received,
and acknowledged his fault.

The proprietors of the Union Bank renewed, at
this session, their application for an act of incorpora-
tion. The Federalists being divided in opinion as
to the policy of granting this request, the biU passed
the House, but was rejected by the Senate. My
father opposed this application to the end, both on
the ground originally taken by him against all state
banks, and, more strongly, on the peculiar circum-
stances of the present case. At the next session,
when he was not a member, they succeeded in
obtaining a charter. The Republican party had, in
the mean time, by the election of Mr. Jefferson to the
Presidency, gained the ascendency in the General
Government ; but the party in New Hampshire was
stiU in the minority, and the accessions which it

142

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

received were owipg more to this local question of
the Union Bank than to any considerations of national
policy. The system of paper money, except in the
old form of state notes, which had everywhere proved
disastrous to the public credit, was at that time a
novelty in this state ; and my father had early made
up his mind against its introduction, and was still
opposed to its extension. Yet there is little doubt
that it has proved, on the whole, beneficial to the
public interests ; and, one bank being established, it
was obvious that a second could not long be refused.
For years the Union Bank confined its loans to its
political friends, or to those whom it hoped to make
such. The old bank wag, probably, not more liberal
in its policy. In the mean time, the system of state
banks has spread in all directions, and has ultimately
superseded the original design of a Bank of the
United States, which, after agitating for years the
public mind, and influencing deeply more than one
presidential election, has become at length, in the
words of a late distinguished New Hampshire states-
man, " an obsolete idea."

The day after the adjournment, my father thus
took leave of public life, in a letter (June 18, 1801,)
to one of his friends. "As a legislator, I now
bid you adieu. I have served eight years in the
General Court, and one in the convention. I have
spent no inconsiderable portion of the best years of

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 143

my life in the public service ; and may now, I trust,
fairly claim my discharge, for the present, at least, if
not forever." To another, he soon after -wrote : "My
attention to business for the last fifteen years has
much impaired my health, and injured my consti-
tution, which, at the best, was never strong. I am
now, for a great portion of my time, a feeble invalid.
This has induced me of late to think seriously of relin-
quishing, not only my public life, but my profession ;
and of devoting myself in future, wholly to my
family, my friends, and my books. These have
always been the great sources of my purest enjoy-
ments, and I feel the need of no other."

In the preceding account, I have not attempted a
full history of his services in the legislature; but have
confined myself to such parts only as were impor-
tant in themselves, or calculated to throw light on
his character and opinions; without descending to
the petty detail of personal jealousies and political
intrigues, by which, in the warfare of party, most
pubUc men are so often assailed and annoyed, if not
degraded and disgraced. One thing is particularly
observable in this review, — the fearless independence
of his conduct, from his first protest, "single and
alone," against the justice trial bill, to his persevering
opposition to the Union Bank, when many of the
party leaders thought it prudent to desist. In several

144 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK.

cases, not here recorded, he came into bold, and some-
times sharp colHsion with some of the most influential
Federalists of the state, on points where he thought
them wrong. His support of party was the action of
an independent mind, governed by its own sense of
right; not the bhnd submission of a slave to the com-
mands of a master. A letter written about this time,
(June, 1801,) to his old acquaintance, Henry Dear-
born, then Secretary of War, shows the feelings with
which he regarded the new administration, — doubtful
of its policy, but disposed to judge it fairly by its
acts. "My political opinions do not accord with
those of the President ; but I am of no faction. I
am neither attached to the English, nor prejudiced
against the French. My sentiments are American ;
and my disposition is to support the administration of
my country, so far as it appears to me not positively
injurious to her best interests. I have seen things
in Mr. Adams's administration, which I could not
approve ; and I doubt not that I shall see measures
adopted by Mr. Jefferson, that will meet with my
cordial support."

In September, while attending the Superior Court,
at Dover, he was seized with so severe an attack
of cohc, that it was with difficulty he reached his
home. Much as he had often before suffered, he was
tiU then, he writes, "ignorant of extreme pain." "My

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 145

suffering," he continues, "was so intense that I wished
relief, though at the expense of life. My physician
pronounced my case desperate, and said he could
afford no relief. At this moment, I felt a strong incli-
nation to drink cold water. The physician thought
this hazardous ; but, convinced that I could not long
live in that condition, and absolving him from all
blame in the case, I drank more than a pint of cold
water at once. The severity of my pain immediately
abated. I fell into a calm sleep for half an hour; and
awoke with the feeling that the crisis of the disease
was past. I was confined fourteen days to my
chamber, and most of the time to my bed."

The determination, produced by the state of his
health, to vnthdraw from pubhc life, was, the next
year, put to a test which he had not foreseen. After
serving one session in the Senate of the United States,
Mr. Sheafe resigned his seat in that body, and my
father was chosen (June 17, 1802,) to fill the vacancy
thus created. So Uttle had this event been antici-
pated, that he says, in a letter to Smith, (June 23,
1802,) "I had not even a hint that Mr. Sheafe
intended to resign, till I was informed of my own,
election. My friends studiously concealed it from
me ; no member of the Legislature had any reason to
believe that I should accept ; and it is certain, had I
been consulted, I should have declined being a candi-

146 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

date." A seat in Congress, and especially in the
Senate, is, on many accounts, so desirable, that,
taking a lively interest in public affairs as he did,
and not unambitious of distinction, it is not to be
supposed that he felt averse to its honors, or indif-
ferent to its attractions. He had, however, long
regarded the practice of the law as his true voca-
tion ; and he looked with jealousy upon whatever
interfered with his profession. He had, indeed,
served eight years in the Legislature j but even this
service he declined, when, from the state of his
health, he found himself unequal to the claims upon
him, at once, of the lawyer and the politician. He had
more than once declined being a candidate for a seat
in Congress, either in the House or Senate. Both
these places were desirable ; but it was, in his view,
more desirable by the steady pursuit of his profes-
sion, now more than ever lucrative, to secure such an
amount of property as should place him above want,
and at ease with respect to his family, before the
state of his health, already impaired, shoidd render
labor, once a pleasure, thenceforth a burden, or worse,
an impossibility. Believing that public office would
be always within his reach, or, if not, that there was
little to regret in its absence, he felt no impatience
to grasp at the first chances of success. " The state
of my health," he wrote, "is bad; my wife is an

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 147

invalid ; my children are young, and their education
demauds my attention. My pecuniary affairs are
unsettled, and require much of my time to put them
in order. The office of senator is, indeed, as high and
honorable as my ambition ever prompted me to wish,
and before I was elected to it, its honors and advan-
tages seemed inviting ; but, now that it has come, the
privations to which it will subject me, diminish its
value in my estimation, and, instead of flattering my
pride, it excites in me fears that I shall not suitably
perform its duties, and sustain the rank my country
has assigned to me. On the whole, I have accepted
the appointment with pleasure on some accounts, but,
at the same time, with apprehension and regret."
Mr. Webster, about three months before his death,
informed me that he was at Concord at the time of
this election, and well remembered the opinions
expressed by the leading men there; that the new
senator was by aU odds the ablest man in the Fed-
eral party; that it was thought a great object to
have secured his election, though it was doubted
whether he would accept ; that his superiority was
acknowledged even by those who disliked him on
account of some favorite measure of theirs which he
had defeated; that the opposition nominated Nicholas
Oilman, who, though not an avowed Republican, was
less Federal than his brother, the Governor ; but that

148 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

Mr. Plumer was elected on tlie first trial by a strong
vote in both. Houses.

Before proceeding to the scene of his service in
the Senate, some account should be given of his
professional life, during the fifteen years which had
elapsed since his admission to the bar. This will
form the subject of the next chapter.

CHAPTER V.

THE LAWYER.

Mb, Plumer was admitted to the bar in 1787. The
state of the law was, at that time, very different from
what it afterwards became. Under the colonial gov-
ernment, causes of importance were carried np, for
decision in the last resort, to the governor and
council, with the right, in certain cases — a right sel-
dom claimed — of appeal to the king in council. As
the executive functionaries were not generally law-
yers, and the titular judges were often from other
professions than the legal, they were not much influ-
enced in their decisions by any known principles of
established law. So much, indeed, was the result
supposed to depend upon the favor or aversion of
the court, that presents from suitors to the judges
were not uncommon, nor, perhaps, unexpected. On
one occasion, the chief justice, who was also a mem-
ber of the council, is said to have inquired, rather
impatiently, of his servant, what cattle those were
that had waked him so unseasonably in the morning
by their lowing under his window ; and to have been
somewhat mollified by the answer that they were a

150 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMEK.

yoke of six-feet cattle, which Col. had sent as a

present to His Honor. " Has he ? " said the judge ;
"I must look into his case, — it has been in court
long enough." Under date of June 24, 1771, John
Adams says, "Mr. Lowell, who practised much in
New Hampshire, gave me an account of many strange
judgments of the Superior Court at Portsmouth."
He, however, here refers to erroneous, not to dis-
honest, opinions of the court, — erroneous, if judged
by the principles of the English common law ; but,
forming, probably, a part of that system of local law
to which the circumstances of the country and the
genius of the people had given birth, and which had
become binding by the gradual process of judicial
decision, in the absence of statutory provisions.

The revolution brought with it new men, but no
increase, in the first instance, of judicial science.
From 1776 to 1782, Meshech "Ware, who had studied
theology, but did not preach, was chief justice of the
state. His associates were Matthew Thornton, a phy-
sician, and John Wentworth, of Somersworth, who,
though a lawyer, was not distinguished in the profes-
sion. Nathaniel Peabody and Jonathan Blanchard
discharged, each during a part of the same period,
the duties of attorney general, " in a manner satis-
factory," we are told, "to the government, and advan-
tageous to the people," though they were neither of
them lawyers. From 1782 to 1790, Samuel Liver-

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 151

more was cHef justice ; but, though bred to the law,
he was not indined to attach much importance to
precedents, or to any merely systematic or technical
rules of procedure. In a manuscript report, which I
have, of one of his charges, I find him cautioning the
jury against "paying too much attention to the
niceties of the law, to the prejudice of justice," — a
caution of which juries do not ordinarily stand much
in need. He was himself governed little by prece-
dents. When once reminded of his own previous
decision, in a similar case, he made no attempt to
reconcile it with his present ruling; but dismissed at
once the objection, with the famiUar proverb, "Every
tub must stand on its own bottom." If he paid little
attention to the decisions of his own court, he was
not likely to defer much to those of other tribunals.
The question was once argued before him as to
the authority of the English law reports; and he then
decided that those of a date prior to the Declaration
of Independence might be cited here, not as author-
ities, but as enlightening by their reasonings the
judgment of the court; but that with those of a later
date we had absolutely nothing to do. The salary of
the chief justice at this time was six hundred dollars.
Livermore was succeeded as chief justice by Josiah
Bartlett, a physician. Of him we are told, that "when
the law was with the plaintiff, and equity seemed to
him to be on the other side, he was sure to pronounce

152 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

in favor of the latter." The object of the law being
in all cases to do justice, as between the parties, that
must, he said, be law which, in any given case, con-
duced to this end. It was, at any rate, better to be
governed by a right principle, than by a wrong
decision. The next chief justice, from 1790 to 1795,
was John Pickering, who was a well-read lawyer. His
successors have all been of the same profession;
though one of them, Simeon Olcutt, who held the
office from 1795 to 1801, was more distinguished for
the uprightness of his intentions than for his knowl-
edge of law. "In his office of judge," says his
biographer, "he manifested less regard for the letter
of the law than for the spirit of equity." This is a
mild way of saying what was often true, that he made
the law to suit the case.

While such were the chief justices, it may well be
imagined that the side judges were not lawyers.
John Dudley, of Raymond, a trader and farmer,
was judge from 1785 to 1797, Woodbury Langdon,
a merchant of Portsmouth, at different periods, from
1782 to 1791, and Timothy Farrar, of New Ipswich,
originally designed for the pulpit, from 1791 to 1803.
Farrar had been appointed to the Common Pleas
during the revolution, on which he procured a copy
of Blackstone's commentaries, which he read, he said,
"with more avidity than any girl ever read a novel."
These judges were men of strong powers of mind, of

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 153

Jarge acquaintance with, business, and superior in
talents and information generally to the second-rate
lawyers, who, with the salaries then given to the
judges, could alone have been induced to take seats
on the bench. " There are now," said Judge Smith,
writing under date of April, 1796, "two lawyers on
the bench ; but I think they are by no means the
two best of the four. Farrar and Dudley, in my
judgment, greatly overmatch them."

The half-learning of an ill-read lawyer of ordinary
capacity was indeed no match for the keen sagacity,
long experience, and strong common sense of such a
judge as Dudley. This extraordinary man, who was
for twelve years judge of the Superior Court, had not
oniy no legal education, but little learning of any
kind. But he had a discriminating mind, a retentive
memory, a patience which no labor could tire, an
integrity proof alike against threats and flattery, and
a free elocution, rude indeed, and often uncouth, but
bold, clear and expressive, with a warmth of honest
feeling which it was not easy to resist. His ideas of
law may be inferred from the conclusion of one of his
charges to the jury, which I once heard my father
repeat. It was somewhat in this style : "You have
heard, gentlemen of the jury, what has been said in
this case by the lawyers, the rascals ! but no, I wiU
not abuse them. It is their business to made a good
case for their clients ; they are paid for it ; and they

154 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK.

have done in this case well enough. But you and I,,
gentlemen, have something else to consider. They
talk of law. Why, gentlemen, it is not law that we
want, but justice. They would govern us by the
common law of England. Trust me, gentlemen, com-
mon sense is a much safer guide for us, — the common
sense of Raymond, Bpping, Exeter and the other
towns which have sent us here to try this case
between two of our neighbors. A clear head and
an honest heart are worth more than all the law of
all the lawyers. There was one good jjMng said at
the bar. It was from one Shakspeare, an English
player, I believe. No matter. It is good enough
almost to be in the Bible. It is this: 'Be just and
fear not.' That, gentlemen, is the law in this case,
and law enough in any case. 'Be just and fear not.'
It is our business to do justice between the parties,
not by any quirks of the law out of Coke or Black-
stone, books that I never read, and never will, but by
common sense and common honesty as between man
and man. That is our business; and the curse of
God is upon us, if we neglect, or evade, or turn aside
from it. And now, Mr. Sheriff, take out the jury ;
and you, Mr. Foreman, do not keep us waiting with
idle talk, of which there has been too much already,
about matters which have nothing to do with the
merits of the case. Give us an honest verdict, of
which, as plain, common sense men, you need not

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 155

be ashamed." I have made the judge speak good
English, which he did not often do. "This 'ere plain-
tiff," and "that 'are defendant," "them lawyers," and
"these 'ere witnesses," were expressions that fell
often from his lips ; yet, it was observed that, when
warmed by his subject, his language, always forcible,
became suddenly accurate and even elegant, so
naturally is correctness, as well as eloquence, the
result of clear thought and earnest feeling. It will
not excite surprise that such a judge carried the jury
with him. Indeed, when fairly under way, there waS'
no stopping him. He trampled down and ran over
everything that stood before him, and came out
always first at the goal. He had been, from 1776 to
1784, during the whole period of the revolution, one
of the committee of safety, the most efficient member
of that most efficient of governments. Quick to feel
and prompt to act, he was a resolute, strong-minded
man, intent on doing substantial justice in every case,,
though often indifferent to the forms and require-
ments of law. "You may laugh," said Theophilus
Parsons, who practised for may years in our courts,,
"at his law, and ridicule his language ; but Dudley is,
after all, the best judge I ever knew in New Hamp-
shire." To have received this praise from Judge
Parsons, Dudley must have been, on the whole, not
ignorant of law, nor inattentive to its substantial
requirements. "Justice," said Arthur Livermore,

156 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

speaking to me of Dudley, before whom he had him-
self practised, "was never better administered in
New Hampshire, than when the judges knew very
little of what we lawyers call law."

The scene of Dudley's charge, above quoted, was
in Rockingham County. An incident which occurred
in Cheshire County, will give some idea of the prac-
tice in that part of the State. At a court, held at
Charlestown, soon after Jeremiah Mason was admit-
ted to the bar, he put in a plea of demurrer, in a
case in which Benjamin West was employed for the
plaintiff. West, who was the oracle of the law in
that region, told the court that he did not know much
about demurrers. He rather doubted whether they
formed any part of the New Hampshire law; at any
rate, it was of evil example, — this attempt of his
brother Mason, to introduce so unusual a mode of
procedure here. The Chief Justice said, "Demur-
rers were, no doubt, an invention of the bar to pre-
vent justice, — a part of the common law procedure,
but he had always thought them a cursed cheat.
They had not been much used in our courts." Parrar
said "that the effect of a demurrer, if he understood
it, was to take the case from the jury, to be decided
on some question of law by the court." "If that is
so," said Judge Dudley, «I am clean against it as
being fatal to the rights of the jury." "But, your
honor," said Mr. Mason, "there are, in this case, no

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 157

facts for the jury to find." "So much the better,"
said Dudley, "they will all the sooner bring in their
verdict, if the facts are undisputed. Let me advise
you, young man," he added, "not to come here with
your new-fangled law; and above all, not to suppose
that you know how to conduct a suit better than Mr.
West. You must try your cases as others do, by the
court and jury." The question had, by this time,
become so intricate that the court continued it for
advisement. How it was settled at the next term is
not quite certain. Daniel "Webster told me that, as
he heard the story, the question on the demurrer,
instead of being decided by the court, was put to the
jury for trial. Another account is that West, now
satisfied that his declaration was bad, moved for
leave to amend, which the court granted, not without
wonder that a man of such established reputation
should be found at fault by this young man from
over the river. In telling the story afterwards, Mason
used to add, that, though he suffered at the time from
the censure of the court for his presumption in intro-
ducing new practices, and pretending to know more
than his seniors, his success in this case gave him
confidence in himself; and that, if he had since
acquired reputation as a lawyer, it was not a little
owing to this trifling incident in his early practice.
If the non-professional reader should, like Judge
Dudley, inquire the meaning of a demurrer, he may,

158 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

perhaps, be satisfied by the definition given of it by
Judge Harrington, of Vermont, another common-
sense, but most unlearned, judge. "A demurrer,"
said Harrington, "why, a demurrer, if I understand
it, is where, one party having told his story, the other
party says, what then?"

The custom at this time was for all the judges
present to charge the jury, at least in all important
cases ; and there was often as much difference in the
law, as expounded from the bench, as there had been
contradiction in the testimony on the stand, or in the
inferences drawn from it by counsel at the bar. The
result was that the verdict was an expression of the
passions or the prejudices of the jury, and their good
or ill wiU towards the parties litigant, quite as often
as the apphcation of any known rules of law to the
case in hand. It was, perhaps, still oftener secured
by the superior skill, talent or adroitness of the
attorney employed by the winning party. Yet such
justice was not unacceptable to the people, who re-
garded good sense and upright intentions as of more
importance than mere book-learning, which might
be possessed by men ignorant of human nature and
unacquainted with the business of life. As, however,
the science of jurisprudence came to be more
regarded, and precedent and authority took the
place of vague notions of right and equity, these
unprofessiona,! judges were found unequal to their

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 159

places. Richard Evans, appointed in 1809, and
removed in 1813, was the last judge, not a lawyer,
who sat on the bench of the Superior Court. This
practice of making judges of men who were not law-
yers was general in New England. It has been stated,
I know not upon what authority, that Paul Dudley
was the first person, regularly bred to the law, who
ever sat on the bench in Massachusetts. He was
appointed in 1718, eighty-eight years after the first
settlement of Boston.

When my father came to the bar, though the law-
yers of the whole State did not exceed thirty in
number, (I find in the Register of 1788 the names of
twenty-nine lawyers,) many of them were able and
distinguished men. The most prominent in Rocking-
ham and Strafford Coimties, where he chiefly prac-
tised, were John Pickering, afterwards Chief Justice
and Judge of the District Court; John SidKvan,
Major-General in the army of the revolution, Attor-
ney-General, President of the State and District
Judge; John- Prentice, Speaker of the House and
Attorney-General; John S. Sherburne, member of
Congress and District Judge ; William K. Atkinson,
Attorney-General and Judge of Probate; Jonathan
M. Sewall, the poet; William Parker, Register, and, I
think. Judge of Probate ; Oliver Peabody, Treasurer,
Sheriff, Judge of Probate and Judge of the Common
Pleas ; and Daniel Humphries, preacher, poet, gram-

160 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

marian and District-Attorney. Edward St. Loe
Livermore and Arthur Livermore, both of them
afterwards Judges of the Superior Court, became
somewhat later members of the Rockingham bar, the
one estabhshed at Portsmouth, the other at Chester.
Joshua Atherton, who was Attorney-General from
1793 to 1801, also practised in our courts. Besides
these, there were some distinguished lawyers, residents
in other States, who practised occasionally here, such
as Bradbury of Portland, Dexter of Boston, and
Parsons of Newburyport. It was in this school of
jurists and politicians that the character of the young
lawyer was first formed, and his powers developed
and put to proof, in alternate co-operation and contest
with these leaders and sages of the law. Not to fall
behind, in the struggle with them, was no mean dis-
tinction; to surpass the ablest of them was what he
did not presume to hope.

The division of professional labor, which prevails in
older and richer States, was then little known in New
Hampshire. The lawyer was supposed to be familiar
with every branch of his profession, as attorney,
counsellor, conveyancer, advocate, and to be equally
expert in the drafting of instruments, in instituting
suits, in special pleading, and in advocating cases
before the court and jury. Agents out of court,
of whom there are now so many, whose business it is
to procure testimony, and bring the witnesses on to

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 161

the stand, were then little known. The lawyer in
immediate contact with his client, who was often
ignorant of what he wanted, had to do everything of
this^ sort himself; to prepare the testimony ont of
court, to examine the witnesses in court, and to argue
both the law and the facts to the judges and to the
jury. All this was to be done by one person, who
had, at the same time, a multitude of other cases on
hand ; for it was not the practice to employ more
than one lawyer on a side, except occasionally in
important cases. The promptness, energy and decis-
ion, the learning, the labor, and the versatility of
talent, which such a course of practice required,
tasked, to the utmost, the powers both of body
and mind of the much-employed and over-worked
lawyer. For such labor my father was prepared by
his general habits of order, industry and persever-
ance in whatever he undertook. Benjamin Thomp-
son, for many years Clerk of the Common Pleas in
Straflford County, speaking of these traits of his char-
acter, said that he was the most industrious man he
had ever known ; that, after laboring all day in court,
and, at night, with his clients, in his chamber, till
every body else had retired to rest, he would turn
with fresh alacrity to the reading of any new book
which chanced to fall in his way, and continue at his
study, unconscious of the lapse of time, tiU the burn-
ing out of his candle reminded him of his need of
11

162 LIFE or WILLIAM PLUMER.

repose ; that lie would be up again early in the morn-
ing, bright and cheerful, busy with his clients, prompt
at court, attentive to whatever was said or done there,
and ready whenever his cases were called for trial.
Business, thus assiduously followed, left him little
time that he could call his own. Besides the regular
terms of the court, (six in each county, for the Com-
mon Pleas sat four times a year,) there were Probate
Courts, references and arbitrations, hearings before
commissioners, the taking of depositions, and justice
trials, which carried him almost daily from home. It
is not, therefore, strange that with his fondness for
books, he came to read on horseback, in taverns,
and, when from home, in bed.

To meet his various engagements, often required
the exertion of uncommon activity of body as weU as
of mind. No external circumstance of labor or incon-
venience deterred him. Neither wind nor rain, heat
nor cold, prevented his presence at the appointed
time and place, or, if absent, it was through no fault
or neglect of his. Many instances of his accustomed
punctuahty, and of the celerity of his movements
might be mentioned. One, which my mother used
to relate, may suf&ce. While attending court at
Exeter, he had engaged to meet a client at his house,
at seven o'clock, one warm summer evening. The
man was on the spot at the time, and, as the clock
struck seven, he rallied my mother on her husband's

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 163

want of punctuality. She paused a moment, and
then exclaimed, "Hark, I hear him coming now."
They hastened to the door, and heard the clattering
hoofs of his powerful black horse as he swept over the
bridge on the Exeter road, a mile from where they
stood. The sounds waxed louder as they listened ;
and in a moment, he dismounted at their side ; apolo-
gizing for being late, by stating that the inn-keeper
had neglected to bring his horse to the court-house
door at the time appointed. He had ridden nearly
nine miles in thirty-six minutes ; and was ready to
enter, without delay, on the business which his client
had well-nigh forgotten in surprise at his sudden
appearance.

An instance of equal activity, in the depth of
winter, he used himself to relate. It was a Monday
forenoon, in the winter term of the Superior Court
at Dover. There had been a heavy snow storm, and
the weather was cold and boisterous. On the opening
of the court, Mr. Atkinson moved a postponement of
one of his causes, on the ground that his client could
not attend in this inclement weather. Judge Olcott,
who listened to him with some impatience, at length
exclaimed, " Stop, Mr. Atkinson, here is our brother
Plumer coming into court, after having travelled
eighteen or twenty miles this morning in the storm ;
and your client, who lives within two miles of the
court-house, cannot venture out. Crier, call the

164 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK.

plaintiff." As my father entered the bar, flushed
■with the cold, and shaking the snow from his locks,
Atkinson resumed his seat, and his client was
defaulted. My father good-naturedly moved the
court to take off the default ; saying, that though he
had come from Epping that morning, as indeed he
was bound to do, the weather was really very rough,
and hardly fit to be out in. " Well, well," said the
Judge, "we know that you are no rule, Mr. Plumer,
for others in such cases ; so brother Atkinson may
have till to-morrow to bring in his witnesses. The
clerk will take off the default."

Punctuality was with him not only a habit, but
a duty ; and while making large allowance for the
want of it in others, he never subjected those with
whom he had business to the evils or the vexa-
tions of unnecessary delay. Railroads were then
unknown, stages not in use where he had to travel,
and the common roads were often well-nigh impass-
able. Many were the journeys which he performed,
through forests, by short cuts and bridle paths, which
led through quagmires and over log-bridges, where
mere skill seemed inadequate, without that good luck
which the skilful seldom want, to escape from foun-
dering in the mud or falling into the stream. On
one such occasion, in returning from the court at
Rochester, through an extensive oak forest in Bar-
rington, he fell from his horse in a fit of vertigo, to

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 165

whicli he was occasionally liable, and on coming to
himself, he found his horse standing by him, with a
huge black snake at his side; the horse watching the
motions of the reptUe, which had probably been
attracted by the sight of a man lying apparently dead
on jthe ground. He mounted his horse with some diffi-
culty, and soon reached the hospitable mansion of his
friend, Judge Hale, where he passed the night. Such
adventures are not unusual in new countries; but,
with our present modes of travelling, they are not
likely often to occur to New Hampshire lawyers.

With these preliminary statements and remarks,
we may now introduce some extracts from his letters
and journals — arranged in the order of their dates —
which throw light on this portion of his history.
Under date of 1785 he says : " Inchnation, not less
than the state of my finances, has made me adopt a
system of strict economy, both of time and money.
I studiously avoid all expensive and unnecessary
company. The one I cannot afford; the other
encroaches upon time which I can better employ."
This extract well describes what was, at this period,
hi^ usual course of life. Economical in his mode of
living, and studious in his habits, he sought health in
change of occupation, rather than in relaxation and
amusement; and he preferred, in the intervals of
necessary labor, the society of his books to any
living companions with whom he could then asso-

166 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMBR.

ciate. These unsocial habits wore off, as business
brought him into connection with men, often his
equals, sometimes his superiors, with whom he felt
that conversation was not that loss of time or
dissipation of thought, which he had often found
it. It was probably this excessive devotion to study,
with little exercise and no amusement, which pro-
duced the frequent Ulnesses, of which he complains
in his letters of this period. In July, 1786, he had
a severe attack of the bilious colic, which threat-
ened, for a time, his life. "I bore," he says, "the
extreme pain with fortitude, and the apparent
approach of death did not alarm me. I felt troubled
indeed and as it were disappointed; for I seemed
to myself not to have done what I was sent into the
world to do, and thence there arose, even at the
worst, a feeling that I should recover, and go about
my work again."

In a letter to his former fellow-student, William
Coleman, under date of May 31st, 1786, he says,
" The aspect of public affairs in this state is gloomy.
Money is scarce ; business dull, and our feeble gov-
ernment is unhinged. Yet, even in these degenerate
days, our courts of law are firm, and dare to be honest.
If our elective government is to be long supported, it
will owe its existence merely to the wisdom and the
independence of the judiciary." The high value
thus attached to an independent judiciary marks

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 167

the conservative character of his mind at this time.
The weakness of the state authorities, and the dis-
contents of the people, ending soon after in open
insurrection, made him anxious for a strong general
government, and gave him what were afterwards
called high Federal notions on this subject. " The
people," he said, " mean well, and wUl do right if
they are not misled; but I doubt their ability to
resist the arts of demagogues, and I fear that wis-
dom will too often cgme to us in the unwelcome
form of bitter experience; in other words, in the
shape of evils felt and not avoided."

He entered upon his profession with a high sense
of its importance, and a fixed determination to dis-
charge faithfully all its duties. Writing to a friend
soon after his admission to the bar, he says : —

" The lawyer's oath contains nothing which I do not intend
religiously to observe. It is in substance, that I will do no
injustice, nor consent to any ; will not institute or aid any
false or unlawful suit ; nor delay any man for lucre or malice ;
but will conduct in all respects according to my best knowl-
edge, with all fidelity to the court and to my client. This is
promising much, but not more than I intend to do. It shows
that its authors placed high the standard of professional duty.
How different from the base idea, common among us, that it
is the lawyer's business to circumvent and overreach, to flatter
and deceive both court and jury for the benefit of his client ;
and above all to stir up suits, and promote litigation, that he

168 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

may thereby make money for himself! Does this popular
notion represent truly the character of our lawyers ? If so,
God forbid that I should be one of them. I have already left
one profession because, with my views, I could not honestly
remain in it ; and I will not submit to defilement in any other.
But it is not necessary. To meet adequately the requirements
of his vocation, the lawyer must have the virtues, as well as
the talents, which go to make the wise and perfect man. It
shall be my study then to -press forward towards the marT<:,for
the prize of this high calling, however far I may fall below it."

In the winter of 1787-8, he methodized and trans-
cribed into a book, with an alphabetical arrangement,
his legal notes and extracts; which he afterwards
enlarged, and from time to time corrected, as his
knowledge increased, till the whole formed a very tol-
erable outline of law and practice, — a vade mecum,
which he carried with him to court, and often found
useful as an epitome of principles, and an index to
authorities. There were, at this time, no reports of
judicial decisions, published by authority, in any of
the states. Of such decisions only eight volumes, so
far as I have been able to ascertain, were printed before
1802, when he ceased regularly to attend the courts.
Five hundred such volumes, perhaps a thousand, now
offer the rich treasure of their abundant learning
and research to the labor, if I may not rather say, to
the despair, of the American student. He also about
this time copied from the manuscripts of Theophilus

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMEK. 169

Parsons brief notes of cases decided in Massachusetts,
and added to them, from time to time, others decided
in our own courts. This practice of reporting cases
he continued for some years ; but, as his business in-
creased, he lacked the time, or perhaps the patience,
necessary to continue these reports.

Under date of 1788, he writes, "My practice as a
lawyer increases. My habit, early formed, of not
deferring till to-morrow what can be done to-day,
renders business easy to me. I manage my client's
case as if it were my own, never consenting to con-
tinuances for the sake of augmenting costs; but
obtaining judgments as soon as I can. When money
collected is once in my hands, no man has to call for
it a second time. This, you may say, is a matter of
course. Not so. When money is worth ten or
twelve per cent., it is often harder to get it from the
attorney than it was from the original debtor. As to
my fees, they are moderate, never exceeding the
lowest charges for the same services by others."

In 1789, he was admitted to practice at the Supe-
rior Court. Before this, his friend Parsons had taken
care of his cases, when carried up from the Common
Pleas. From this time his business gradually, but
steadily increased. He was now evidently a grow-
ing man, and he had none of the impatience which
makes so many uneasy that they do not grow
faster. It was, the next year, proposed to make

170 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

him Judge of Probate for Rockingham county. In
a letter to his friend Smith, July 6, 1790, he says,
"I once thought I should be glad of this office.
When contemplated at a distance, it pleased me;
but, on a closer examination, I dislike it. My ambi-
tion soars higher. There are but few offices I
wish to hold, and these I cannot, at present, obtain."
His business had, by this time, become so considera-
ble that we find him complaining that it left him
" little time for reading anything but law, and not
enough even of that."

Under the colonial government an appeal was
allowed from the ordinary tribunals, in certain cases,
to the governor and council. During the revolution,
the same practice of going beyond the courts of law
for redress was continued ; and the form which it took,
under the constitution of 1784, was that of a special
act of the Legislature, "restoring the party to his
law," as it was called, that is, giving him a new trial
in the Superior Court, after his case had come to its
final decision in the ordinary course of law. Against
such an act, in favor of a person to whom it was thus
attempted to give a new trial, in the case Mc Clary
vs. Oilman, my father contended that the law was
unconstitutional, and therefore void, on the ground,
that, if it reversed the former judgment, it was repug-
nant to the bill of rights, and the constitution of the
state ; and that, if it did not reverse it, the court

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 171

could not render another judgment in the same case,
"while the first remained in force. At the Septem-
ber term, 1791, (Pickering, Chief Justice ; Dudley,
Oicott and Farrar, Justices,) the court sustained the
objection, dismissed the action, and ordered execu-
tion on the former judgment. This, though not the
first, was by far the most important instance in which
the court had pronounced a law of the state unco!a-
stitutional. It was the exercise of a high and
delicate act of power, which struck, in this case, at a
long established and cherished usage. The supposed
interest of lawyers in the multiplication of suits, the
litigious spirit of parties, ever eager to grasp at new
chances of success, and the love of power, natural
to legislative bodies, all combined to render this
irregularity in the administration of justice not unac-
ceptable to the public. But though it required some
courage in the attorney to take the exception, and
more, perhaps, in the court to sustain it, the good
sense of the people acquiesced in the decision. Some
clamor was indeed made against the judges, as put-
ting themselves above the Legislature ; and attempts
were made at subsequent sessions, generally without
success, by disappointed litigants to get laws passed
granting them new 'trials. In 1817, such a law was
passed; but the Superior Court, in an elaborate
opinion, pronounced it unconstitutional. No attempt
has been since made to reverse this decision. The

172 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

true interests of the public were greatly promoted by
this decision of 1791 j and the law" itself made, on
that occasion, an important step in the progressive
improvement, which, for the good of all parties, it so
much needed. It would be interesting to know by
what arguments this decision was advocated at the
bar, and sustained on the bench. But beyond the
brief notice of it among my father's papers, I am not
aware that any report of the case is to be found.

Other points of law, more or less important,
which were first decided by our courts on his motion,
might be here stated ; but some of them were tech-
nical merely, or without general interest ; and others
I could state only from memory, without reference to
time or place, or the names of the parties, and might,
perhaps, give them incorrectly. His share in settling
such cases, during the fifteen years of his active
practice, was not inconsiderable. From 1797, Smith
and Mason brought largely the weight of their learn-
ing and their talents into the same worthy service.
When five years later. Smith was advanced to the
bench, he gave the authority of judicial decisions to
opinions elaborated at the bar, by minds equal, and
in some cases, superior to his own; while Mason,
during the forty years of his practice in the New
Hampshire courts, brought to the development of
legal principles, and the defining of judicial practice,
the resources of a mind never surpassed, and equalled

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 173

only, and, in its law merely, not equalled, by the pre-
ponderating intellect of Webster; who, a few years
later, gave the full force of his youthful zeal and vigor
to the same generous and ennobling tasks. Their
united labors, aided by many other able lawyers — able
but inferior to these — gave to New Hampshire a body
of judicial decisions, of which, as well as of the judges
by whom they were pronounced, she may be justly
proud. Under their influence the law worked its
way gradually out of the uncertainty and confusion,
— I wish I could say out of the procrastination and
delay, — in which I have described it as involved at
an earlier period. The date at which we have arrived,
was, however, but the commencement of this great
reform. We proceed with our extracts.

The state of my father's health at this time,
(February, 1792,) compelled him to abandon aU
business which he could well avoid. At the Supe-
rior Court at Portsmouth, "1 was," he says, "too sick
to transact business ; and found it difficult to return
home to my family. In this low state I remained for
several weeks. The General Court, the courts of law,
and the Convention, coming so close upon each other,
were too much for me." Under date of February 5,
1793, he says, "I am here attending the Common
Pleas; and have more business than I can well
despatch. It increases upon me daily." Towards the
end of the year, he says, "I attended the Legislature

174 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK.

several days, during eacli of their sessions, and advo-
cated more cases before them than any other lawyer."
Though the practice of restoring men to their law, by
acts of special legislation, no longer prevailed, public
hearings, either before large committees, or before
the House, and sometimes before both branches, were
still, not uncommon. The subjects thus discussed,
often involved questions of law, politics and political
economy, forming the most attractive and important
business of the session. This legislative practice, in
which he was largely engaged, kept up his acquain-
tance with public men, and gave him much influence
on the course of public events, even when he held no
ofl&ce. In 1794, he says, "Most of my time was
devoted to business. I attended the Legislature only
to advocate causes that were depending before them."
In April, 1794, he writes: "The fatigues of court
are forgotten when in the company of that incom-
parable genius, Theophilus Parsons. The more I see
and know of this great lawyer, the more I esteem and
admire him." Parsons, who was the most learned
lawyer of his time, had long practised in our courts.
My father was employed, either with, or against him,
in many of his cases. When on the same side, he
usually argued the'facts to the jury, and Parsons the
law to the court. Parsons had the reputation with
juries of being cunning, of knowing too much, and
therefore not to be trusted by them. This suspicion

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 175

impaired his influence witli the jury ; and even the
court admired his learning and his ingenuity more
than they followed his law. " It was here," says my
father, "that I formed and cultivated an acquaintance
with him, and received from him more useful informa-
tion, not only on legal, but on almost all other subjects,
than from any other man." Of the " other subjects"
on which he conversed with Parsons, one was religion.
With both of them morals and theology were favorite
subjects of inquiry; and their love of these was
equalled only by their devotion to the law. In these
respects their tastes were congenial; and their pleas-
ure in such discussions was mutual and long con-
tinued. Judge Story speaks of Parsons as a "man
who belonged not to a generation, but to a century —
the greatest lawyer of his time." My father, among
other reminiscences of him, used to mention an
instance of his extraordinary strength of memory.
He had argued, at a previous term, a case in the
Circuit Court, at Portsmouth, without obtaining a
verdict. It now came on again for trial in his
absence; and the counsel for the defendant was
closing his argument, when Parsons unexpectedly
entered the court. His client insisted that he should
address the jury in reply, though he had heard no
part of the trial. After inquiring of his colleague as
to the new testimony introduced, and finding that it
was immaterial, he rose, and, to the astonishment of

176 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

both court and jury, entered at once into all the
details of the case ; stated minutely the testimony on
both sides, including that now first introduced ; and,
more successful than before, won a verdict for his
client. It may help to explain his power of recol-
lection in this case, withoiit lessening our surprise at
his general practice, to be told that, in jury trials, he
took no notes of the testimony, and that his recollec-
tion was so accurate, and his statements from it so
impartial, as to be often appealed to, even by the
opposing counsel. In questions of law, he would refer
to book, chapter and section; and would quote from
memory passages so apposite to the case in hand, that
his opponents were sometimes tempted to suspect that
he made the law, which he pretended to recite. The
book, however, when consulted, showed that he had
drawn on his memory, and not on his invention, for
citations so much in point. "It is not remembered,"
says William Sullivan, "that he ever used a brief;
his memory was his brief, and the best one a lawyer
can use."

Under date of 1795, I find only this entry to
transcribe. "This year, like the last, I was almost
entirely engaged in attending my professional busi-
ness. I spent no portion of my time in idleness ;
none in the pursuits of pleasure. The hours not
devoted to business or to sleep, were occupied in
reading and studying, principally law, history, and

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLTJMER. 177

politics." February 4, 1796, he says, "For this fort-
night I hAve not been able to command a leisure
moment. I am now at Portsmouth, attending the
Common Pleas, quite jaded out with the drudgery
of its servile business. The court sat late this eve-
ning. It is now twelve o'clock, and my exhausted
spirits require the aid of sleep." March 25, 1796,
he says, "The Superior Court failed to sit at Dover
for want of a quorum. The Chief Justice, consulting
an almanac, instead of the law, to know when his
court was to meet, came a week after the time. This
is his second failure, and both for the same cause.
You may believe that clients complain of the delay,
lawyers no less of their loss of fees ; and the people,
of both court and bar ; though I do not well see how
the latter is to blame in this case." Under date of
1797, he says, "In March and February, I attended
the Superior Court, two weeks at Portsmouth, and
five at Dover, in succession. At both these courts I
was constantly engaged at the bar, during the two
sessions of each day ; and in the morning from light
till breakfast, and in the evening till twelve o'clock
at night, either in conversing with my clients, or in
preparing their cases for trial. In these seven weeks
I felt no fatigue ; and .enjoyed each night six hours
of sound repose. But the very evening the business
closed, exertion being no longer necessary, my mind
relaxed ; and I was so much fatigued, that for several

12

178 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

successive nights I was unable to obtain quiet sleep."
There is no doubt that this seyere labor, and these
midnight vigils bore hard upon his health, though his
spirits never failed, nor did his resolution falter, while
there was occasion for exertion, or opportunity for
improvement.

For the most strenuous exertions there was now
more than usual opportunity and occasion. In July
of this year, Jeremiah Smith came to reside at
Exeter, where George Sullivan was already in the
practice, and in the following autumn, Jeremiah
Mason removed to Portsmouth; and they both
entered at once on the practice of law in this
county. Smith was five months younger than my
father; Mason nearly nine years younger. They
were both in the vigor of manhood, and the pride
of conscious power ; Smith, with an industry which
set no bounds to its labors ; and Mason, with powers
of mind, a capacity for toil, a devotion to business,
and an intenseness of purpose, which made him ulti-
mately the most accomplished common-law lawyer,
that this country has yet produced. If to Plumer,
Smith, Mason, and Sullivan, we add the name of
Webster, who came to Portsmouth a few years later,
it will readily be believed that the Rockingham bar
was well denominated, at this period of its greatest
strength, "the arena of giants." It, indeed, often
witnessed the strife of Titans; weak men did not

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEB. 179

mingle in it ; strong men felt the need of all their
strength. K, to change the comparison, my father,
from age or character, was the Nestor or Ulysses of
this assembly ; Smith, the Menelaus, with a touch of
the Thersites humor ; and Mason, the Ajax or Aga-
m.emnon, towering head and shoulders above the rest;
the youthful vigor of Webster, in this first exhibition
of his unrivalled power, " the flash and outbreak of a
fiery mind," stamped itself boldly on all beholders,
as the AchUles, impiger, iracundus, inexorabilis, aeer, of
the scene. To strangers, such language may seem
extravagant. Perhaps it is so. But one who wit-
nessed, always with admiration, sometimes with awe-
and reverence, the encounters of these extraordinary
men, cannot speak of them in language appropriate
to the ordinary routine of practice in an obscure
country court. Judge Story, who occasionally prac-
tised before our judges, listened, when he came
afterwards to preside here, in the Circuit Court,
with undissembled admiration and delight, to what
he called "the vast law learning, and the prodigious
intellectual power of the New Hampshire bar." That
bar, though destined to lose some of its brightest
ornaments, was not without its strong' men, (witness
Woodbury and Bartlett,) even after Plumer and
Smith had withdrawn from the practice, and Mason
and Webster had gone to assume, with the easy confi-
dence of assured success, the same marked superiority,

180 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

in the metropolis of New England, which they had
held in this original seat of their power. Neither
Mason nor Webster ever forgot their early associates;
and the latter, after practising in the first courts of
the Union, told Choate that "he never met any where
else abler men than some of those who initiated
him in the rugged discipline of the New Hampshire
courts."

In anticipation of Smith's coming to Exeter, my
father wrote to him, under date of January 12, 1797.

" I am glad you have eventually fixed upon Exeter as the
place of your permanent residence. I now calculate upon
having a real friend near me ; which I consider a prize of
inestimable value. I am sensible you will take numbers of
my clients, and of course lessen my business. I am perfectly
willing you should. It has been for some time my fixed
determination to relinquish the practice of law within four
years of this time. If no misfortune should overtake me, the
income of my property will, by that time, afford me and my
family a decent support. I am not ambitious of acquiring a
fortune. I am now harassed and fatigued with business, in
attending courts and references, and taking cai-e of my own
private affairs. I have no time to write you, except what I
take from my pillow."

March 23d, 1797. " I have just returned from Dover, after
seven weeks constant attendance on the court in two counties.
The court is now more respectable than the salaries of the
judges would warrant us to expect. But I fear, if the Legis-

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 181

latui-e do not, at the next session, raise the salaries, the judges
will resign. My townsmen in my absence have elected me a
member of the House. I hope I shall have the pleasure of
seeing you in the second week of our session. Previously to
my election, I was of counsel, in some public hearings assigned
for that week. I shall take the liberty to recommend my
clients to your patronage."

Writing to William Gordon, (June 18, 1797,) he
says, " We have passed a vote, 73 to 62, giving the
chief justice $850, and the puisne justices $800 each.
It is not enough ; but is as much as we can obtain.
I am for giving such salaries as wiU secure the right
men, not a cent more, nor a mill less. You may call
such salaries high, or low; I call them adequate ; that
is, sufficient for the purpose for which they are given.
If we can get the best men, (nothing else ought to
satisfy us,) for the old salaries, |500 a year, so be it;
if for not less than a thousand or fifteen hundred, I
would give the larger sum just as freely as the
smaller." In 1792, the salary of the chief justice was
$600 ; in 1797, it was raised to $850, and in 1802, to
$1,000 per annum. His letters and those of his cor-
respondents at this period, are full of complaints on
this subject. Lawyers fit for the office were unwilling
to leave a lucrative practice at the bar for a seat,
however honorable, on the bench; while the latter
was so inadequately remunerated. Early the next
year, two vacancies occurring on the bench of tha

182 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER.

Superior Court, Paine Wingate and

were appointed to fill them. Wingate had been
senator in Congress, and was by profession a clergy-
man. , though a lawyer, did not hold a high

rank in the profession. The appointment was con-
sidered an unfortunate one; and my father was
selected by his brethren of the bar to tell the new
judge that he ought not to accept it. This ungrar
cious task he performed so successfully that the
judge sent back his commission to the Governor, and
even thanked his adviser for his unwelcome coun-
sel. " When I left him," says my father, " he seemed
troubled, but not offended; mortified at the truths
I had told him, but conscious that they were truths ;
and told to him, though plainly, in no unfriendly
temper." In reply to a letter, giving an account of
this interview, Arthur Livermore, afterwards Chief

Justice, says, "My sentiments respecting , accord

perfectly with yours. To express them to him as
forcibly and as freely as you did, would require more
courage, I fear, than I possess." He adds, in a strain
quite characteristic of the man, "What few of us
there are here, (Holdemess,) are perfectly Federal,
ready to sign addresses, pay taxes, fight the French,
.or do any thing else that is clever." Those earnest
old men, (young men then), were alternately lawyers
and politicians ; equally zealous in the one case, and
active in the other.

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLTJMEE. 183

To William Gordon, lie writes, (February 6, 1798,)
"Late, very late, last night, I borrowed, from the
sleepy god, time to write thus far. I am now, late in
the evening, at my lodgings again, relieved from my
teasing clients." To' the same, (April 2d,) " What a
court we have to judge of special pleadings, and
decide nice and abstruse questions of law ! The Chief
Justice is incapable of close reasoning. Farrar is a
better judge, but is not a lawyer. Wingate, who
has just been appointed, has talents too; but a
clergyman, put upon the bench at sixty, is too old
to enter with success on a new career. These are
your eight hundred dollar judges, worth, no doubt,
what they cost; but is not the state entitled to better
men; and can she have them while she refuses to
pay for their services ?" He afterwards wrote "Win-
gate was a man of integrity, of a strong mind, and
a retentive memory, but ignorant of law. In trying
causes, he looked to what he called the equity of
the case; not what the law calls equity; but his
own individual opinion of what was right as between
the parties before him. The court and jury became,
under this notion of equity, not a legal tribunal, but
a board of arbitrators who made the law for the case,
rather than applied to it a law already made. Their
law came, in the phrase of Bacon, from their own
brains, not from other men's books. Yet, it cannot
be denied that Dudley, Farrar, and Wingate were, on

184 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

the whole, better judges, because abler men, than
Neweomb, Olcott, and Claggett, though the latter
were lawyers by profession." " Farrar," said Judge
Smith, "is more of a lawyer than Olcott, and more
of a judge than Newcomb." Their decisions were
often just, and even legal, when the reasons which
they gave for them were such as no lawyer could
approve. Content to dispose of the cases before
them, according to their notions of right, they paid
little attention to the decisions of former judges ; and
were as little anxious to furnish precedents which
should be binding on their successors.

" I could have the office of judge," writes my
father, June 20th, 1798, "if I would accept it; but.
its duties are too laborious for my feeble constitution;
and the salary is inadequate. If my property were
sufficient, no situation would have so many charms
for me as a strictly private life, in which 1 could have
leisure for society, and time for study. Business,
pressing day and night, wears upon my health, and
sometimes, I fear, upon my temper." He, however,
accepted, about this time, the appointment of County
Solicitor, which, being in the line of his profession,
he consented, at the request of Governor GUman, to
hold for the present, with an understanding that he
should resign it when he pleased. "I am determined,"
he says, " to quit the bar, as soon as I can settle my
business, and perfonn the engagements already made

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 185

with my clients. I have been too careless of my
health, and have suffered severely by my devotion to
business, which is becoming daily more irksome. I
have little time for reading or study, except what
ought to be given to sleep." It should be recollected
that he was, at this time, in full practice at the bar, a
member of the Legislature, and, though holding no
high office, the acknowledged and efficient leader of
his party in the state.

A branch of business which now gave him much
trouble, and made him, along with some warm friends,
many enemies, was connected with the great interests
of religious freedom, which he had always so much
at heart. The Congregational clergy in the state had
been originally settled by the towns or parishes where
they preached j and the inhabitants were all taxed
for their support. But many individuals of their
congregations, having now become Baptists, Metho-
dists, or Universalists, were no longer wUling ta pay
for preaching which they did not attend. Property
had been taken in many cases, on distraint, for taxes
so assessed, and suits were commenced to ascertain
the rights of the parties. He refused, in such cases,
to be of counsel for any town or parish, which sought
to compel men to pay taxes, contrary to their will,
for religious purposes; but offered his services readily
to those "who claimed exemption from such taxes.
Suits of this kind were now tried, which excited

186 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

much interest in the community j and in some of
them he won verdicts of the jury against the charges
of the court. In one such case, where the party
resisting the tax was a Universalist, the decision
was against him. Judge Wingate charged the jury
that, if the party claiming the exemption, did not
prove himself, in the words of the Constitution, to
belong to "another persuasion, sect, or denomination,"
he was bound to pay his tax for the support of the min-
ister of the town ; and that, to make him such, the
difference must be something more than that which
separated Calvinists from Universalists ; in other
words, that a person who believed in universal salva-
tion might, in the eye of the law, be of the same
persuasion with another, who believed that not one
in ten would be saved. They agreed, said the judge,
in more points than they differed in. They were
both Christians; and the inference, somewhat harshly
drawn, was that they were both bound to support the
same preacher. Wingate's zeal, in this class of cases,
was probably political rather than religious, for he
was not himself quite orthodox in his belief But
the sectaries were nearly all Republicans; while the
Congregationalists, especially the clergy, were gener-
ally Federalists.

Wingate did not confine himself, on this subject, to
charges from the bench. "During the session of the
Superior Court at Dover, (February, 1799,) Judge

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 187

Livermore privately informed me," says my father,
"that his brethren, Parrar and Wingate, had expressed
to him a decided disapprobation of my constancy and
zeal in supporting those who claimed exemption from
taxes for the maintenance of clergymen. I replied,
I was sorry that any of the court were so much in
favor of supporting a privileged order ; but that this
circumstance, instead of checking, would increase my
exertions; and so long as I remained at the bar, the
court would find me a persevering and determined
advocate for the rights of conscience and of property,
both involved in these issues." The Constitution of
1792 was intended to secure to all religious de-
nominations the most perfect religious freedom, and
to prevent the "subordination of any one sect or
denomination to another." But much was yet to be
done, both with courts and juries, and especially with
the great mass of the religious community, before
this equality of all sects in the eye of the law,
and their independence of one another, could be
brought home to the understandings of the people,
and carried out in courts of law, to its practical results.
These religious prosecutions were among the most
important means, though not so designed, for effecting
this desirable object. It was not, however, till the
Toleration Act of 1819, that full effect was given to
those principles of religious freedom, for which my
father had so early and earnestly contended. Pie

■188 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

always regarded with complacency the influence he
had exerted in bringing about this salutary change.

In connection with this subject, though having no
relation to it, he mentions another rule of practice,
which he early adopted, that of affording his aid to
the poor, for the maintenance of their rights, without
fee or reward. "I never withheld," he says, "on
account of his poverty, my services, or the money
necessary to carry on his suit, from any man who
applied to me, if his cause appeared to be just.
Though I lost by this class of persons thousands of
dollars, either in money actually advanced, or ser-
vices performed, I never regretted the sacrifice. It
increased my labor, and made some hard, unprinci-
pled men, my enemies; but even they felt for me
more respect than hatred; and it interested the
feelings of better men in my favor."

In 1800, I do not find much among his papers
respecting his professional business, except, indeed,
complaints of its pressure beyond his power of
endurance, and declarations of his intention not to be
much longer the slave of other men's business to the
neglect of his own, and the injury of his health.
The statute of limitations, as it respects actions on the
case, took full effect this year. " This circumstance so
much increased," he says, "my professional labors,
that, added to my ordinary business, and my attend-
ance on the Legislature, there was little time left

LIFE OF WILLIAM PL0MER. 189

me for reading, study, or amusement of any kind."
Sickness prevented his attending, tlie next year, the
September term (1801) of the Superior Court at
Exeter. " This was," he says, " a serious injury to
me, and to many of my dients, who could not readily,
without previous notice, supply my place in their
causes. As this ill health seemed likely to continue,
I determined, as soon as previous engagements would
permit, to relinquish my profession, to which my
strength was no longer equal. I accordingly began
in earnest to settle my accounts, collect my debts,
and invest my money where it would be safe, and
give me a reasonable return, without requiring much
of my time or attention."

In June, of the next year, he was elected Senator
in Congress; and his accepting this appointment
may be considered as virtually putting an end to
his practice as a lawyer. "In August," he says,
" I resigned my ofl&ce of Solicitor, my determination
being to relinquish the profession of the law alto-
gether. My duty as Senator will prevent my
attending nearly half the courts in the year, unless I
neglect the public service for my own private emolu-
ment, ^hich I have no right to do." Though for
several years after this he attended some of the
courts, and argued cases, either under previous
engagements, or occasionally for some of his old
clients, he never afterwards gave himself wholly up

190 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMEB.

to the business, or returned regularly to the profession.
He was forty-three years old when elected Senator,
and had not yet seen half his days. But his health
was seriously impaired, and he seems to have consid-
ered his life as drawing to a close. Considering the
great age which he finally attained, it is remarkable
how often he was attacked, and almost mastered, in
early aiid middle life, by diseases which, at the time,
seemed well-nigh fatal. It is not less remarkable that
so slender a constitution should have been capable of
such severe and long-continued labor. But he was
abstemious in his diet, regular in his habits, and
generally careful not to exceed the measure of his
strength, though never sparing of his exertions when
the occasion required.

I have given these extracts from letters, and
fragments of journals, as presenting, with the accom-
panying commentary, a better view, on the whole, of
his labors in the profession, than any more general
description could convey. There remains to be given,
in the next chapter, some account of his character,
practice and attainments as a lawyer, and of the
opinions entertained of him by his principal associates
at the bar.

CHAPTER VI.

THE LAWYER.— (CONTINUED.)

The life of a successful lawyer, though full of inter-
est to himself and others, has ordinarily few inci-
dents which can be made the subject of protracted
narrative. The labors of years shrink in the recital
into a few pages. Particular cases of more than
ordinary interest, might, indeed, be made to fill
chapters, and even volumes. The subject of this
memoir was engaged in some such, which, if properly
reported, would have been characteristic of the man,
and illustrative of the times. But such reports were
not then made, and cannot now be procured. Proba-
bly in no department of life is there displayed so
much talent which leaves no record, as in the trial of
cases in courts of law. Shrewd management and
ready wit, the keen retort, the deep learning, and the
impassioned eloquence of the accomplished lawyer,
aU come into play, and tell strongly on the result.
But they do their work, and are seen no more. Felt
and admired at the time, they go to make up the
contemporary estimate of character, living on the
spot, and in the memory of those who witnessed

192 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

them, but not to be reproduced for other times, and
other admirers. However good in themselves, and
effective in their original connection, they are essen-
tially of the things which perish with the using. No
attempt will therefore be here made to give any
account of particular trials in which my father was
concerned — the causes celhhres of his time. They are
lost in the obscurity of the past, and with them much
of the reputation which they helped to build up,
carent quia sacro vate. " They had no poet, and they
died ; " no stenographer, and they are unreported.

There was, in my father's time, so little division of
labor in the profession, that he had, from the first,
to sustain the various characters of an adviser, a
conveyancer, a special pleader, an examiner of wit-
nesses, a narrator of facts to the jury, and an arguer
of law to the court — barrister, attorney, solicitor,
advocate, in regular and rapid succession. An account
of him in these different relations will give us some
further insight into his professional character, and his
standing at the bar. As a counsellor, in his office, he
was patient in hearing the stories of his clients, and
searching in his inquiries as to the true merits of
their cases, before giving them his advice. They
were often surprised to find, after a few pertinent
inquiries, that he understood their cases better than
they did themselves. He was slow to advise the
commencement of suits, and he never did so where

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 193

he liad any reasonable doubt as to the result. His
judgment was so sound in this respect, that he seldom
misled his clients. After the first three or four years
of his practice, he had no temptation to plunge men
into uncertain litigation from the desire to increase
his own emoluments. He had business enough ; and
it was often less a favor to him to be employed, than
it was an advantage to his client to secure his services.
He had, first and last, sent away, he said, a regiment
of men; many of whom, though dissatisfied at the
time, came back when their passions were cooled, to
thank him for keeping them out of the law, ofiering
to pay him for not doing what they were before eager
to have him do. But though slow to begin in doubtful
cases, when once engaged, no repulse ever discouraged
him. A first, or even a second verdict did not pre-
vent his trying again, when he felt that his cause was
a good one ; and his perseverance often won, on the
final trial, causes which more timid or less resolute
men would have abandoned in despair.

In the drafting of legal instruments, in the profes-
sion of the conveyancer, and its kindred employments,
he was peculiarly happy. He saw clearly, in such
cases, what was wanted, .and he knew how, in precise
and accurate phraseology, to express it. The need-
less verbosities, the repetitions, and involutions with
which legal instruments are usually so much encum-
bered, found little favor with him. He expressed, in

13

194 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

a few words, plainly and directly, the intention of the
parties \ and as to "the rest, residue, and remainder,"
the boundless eontigxiity of unnecessary or unmeaning
words, in which such intention is often not so much
manifested as concealed, he left that to those who
took delight in the darkness of these time-honored
ambiguities. Among the legal improvements which
he recommended, was the publication, by authority,
of a book of forms for the ordinary business purposes
of life ; in which clearness, brevity and simplicity
should be studied, and certainty secured, instead of
the obscurity, tautology, redundancy and circumlo-
cutions often found in such instruments. Akin to
this business of preparing instruments of conveyance,
bond, and obligation, is that of drawing writs and
declarations, and the science of special pleading.
With the elaborately artificial, yet to the eye of the
initiated beautiful system of English special pleading,
he was less acquainted than with some other branches
of the common law. " My preceptor Prentice was,"
he says, "profoundly ignorant on this subject; and I
never acquired that thorough knowledge of it, which
is necessary to make a finished lawyer. Though I
do not recollect a single plea, or declaration, in the
course of my practice, which I lost, for want either
of form or substance, my difl&dence, arising from
imperfect knowledge on this subject, often gave me
uneasiness, and occasioned loss of time in studying

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 195

particular cases, which a more extensive knowledge
would have enabled me at once to comprehend."
Special pleading was not much in use when he first
came to the bar, as may be readUy understood by
the anecdote of Mason and West in the last chapter.
It did not indeed become a matter of much attention
till towards the close of his practice ; so that, if he
was not learned in this part of his profession, he had
less occasion than he would have had, at a later
period, for such learning. But with Sullivan, Smith
and Mason for opponents, if he never lost a plea or
declaration for defect of form or substance, it may be
inferred, notwithstanding his modest disclaimer, that
he was not, even in this branch of the law, very
deficient. In the art of special pleading, Parsons, we
are told, had no competitor; it was Parsons's book of
forms which he had copied in Prentice's office ; and
with Parsons he was often engaged as junior counsel,
and sometimes as opponent.

His action once in court, and the pleadings fairly
closed, the lawyer's next care is to bring his case
favorably before the jury. The' examination of wit-
nesses is one of the severest tests of his capacity,
requiring, often, in no ordinary degree, alternate
boldness and caution, skill, judgment, promptness
and self-possession. In the discharge of this difficult
part of his professional duty, my father was much
distinguished. While seemingly intent only on the

196 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

discovery of the exact truth in the case, he knew
how to bring out from the witness just what he
wanted to prove by him; and to bring out no
more, when more would be prejudicial to his client.
Assuming in his inquiries the position of the jury, he
seemed himself as one of them, acting as their fore-
man, asking questions for them, solely with a view to
elicit the truth of the case ; and not as the advocate
of one of the parties, whose aim it might be to mis-
lead and deceive them. The witness, on his part,
felt that, though he had a friend in his examiner,
it was one who could not be deceived, and would
not accept less than he had a right to require. The
timid witness grew confident under the influence of
his cheerful tones and encouraging smiles; the stupid
brightened into sense in the clearness of his perti-
nent inquiries; the hostile was disarmed by his
kindness ; the cunning thrown off his guard by his
ease of manner, and the apparent harmlessness of
the questions asked. In cross-examination, his man-
.ner was cautious and conciliatory; but keen and
persevering in the pursuit of truth ; quick to- detect
error or contradiction; and when concealment was
attempted or falsehood uttered, it was no ordinary
man who could stand unmoved the indignant flashes
of his angry eye, or meet, without shrinking and
confusion, the storm of searching questions, plied in
rapid succession, and coming in unexpected variety

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMEE. 197

and force from every quarter of the horizon, with
which he bore down and swept before him the
baffled, self-convicted, and, to all eyes, perjured wit-
ness. The snarl of contradiction and improbability,
in which he wound him up, and threw him indig-
nantly from him as unworthy of further notice, left
the opposing counsel little hope of ever smoothing
out again the tangled skein of falsehood and self-
condemnation. Such a witness required no new
dissection in arguing the case to the jury. His fate
had been settled on the stand ; and with it perhaps
the case itself, already well-nigh won by the triumph-
ant cross-examination. This, however, was not his
usual manner. In general, he won the reluctant
witness by mildness rather than by force ; and drew
from him slowly, by indirection, the truth which he
had come prepared to conceal, but which the adroit
questioning of the quiet and civil examiner had
drawn from him imawares. While by apt questions,
skilfidly apphed, he led his own witnesses to tell
what they knew, in the order best calculated to
give effect to their testimony, he drew with equal
skill, from the witnesses on the other side, what
his opponent had purposely kept out of sight, as
adverse to his cause. What questions may be
safely asked, when to press a reluctant witness, and
when it is better to forbear, are points in practice
which it is not always easy to decide; but which

198 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEB.

must be settled promptly on the spot, and sometimes
at the risk of losing the case by a single rash ques-
tion. His rare sagacity served him well on such
occasions; and he seldom received, even from the
most unfriendly witness, an answer which left his
case the worse for the asking.

Witnesses under the pressure of this close cross-
examination are often tempted to turn on their
pursuer with some impertinent inquiry or remark,
either to relieve their embarrassment, or to dis-
concert the examiner by turning his attention to
his own defence. Mr. Webster told me that he once
saw my father so assailed. He was examining a
noted quack doctor, whom he had pressed rather
hard, and from whom he could, at last, get no other
answer to his inquiries than, "I do not know, sir."
After this had been several times repeated, the ques-
tion came, "Can you say. Doctor, that, as a physician,
you know any thing?" Changing at once the tone
of pretended ignorance, with which he had answered
the former inquiries, he drew himself up to his full
height, and said, with great confidence, "I know,
Squire Plumer, as much of medicine, as you did of
divinity, when you were a Baptist preacher." This
sally drew a smile from the court and bar, and
seemed to the audience a very fair hit. His exam-
iner said very quietly, "When I found that preach-
ing was not my proper business, I had sense enough

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 199

to leave it. If you, Doctor, had possessed as much,
you would have left off the practice of medicine
years ago, and saved me the trouble of exposing
your ignorance and presumption in this case." The
laugh was now on the other side ; and the Doctor,
who no longer affected ignorance, but showed it
more than ever, was pressed home with yet closer
and more searching questions, and finally dismissed
crest-fallen and discredited from the stand.

My father never allowed any collateral issue to
draw him for a moment from the question before the
court. No temptation to show his wit, his eloquence,
or his learning prompted him to ask questions, make
points, or indulge in remarks, which did not bear
clearly and directly on the case under consideration.
To be told that he had made an eloquent speech
gave him less pleasure than to find that he had won
his cause, or, if he had lost it, to know that no faiilt
in its management could be imputed to him. He ac-
cordingly made no speeches for display, no eloquent
declamation to be admired by the audience ; but put
himself closely and resolutely down to the precise
question before him, the facts in the case, and the
law that should govern it. He had in this way no
occasion for long speeches. An hour, an hour and a
half, or, in a few intricate cases, two hours at the
most, sufficed for all that he had to say. He left
speeches, he said, of four or five hours, to those who

200 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK.

could not make them shorter. His style of speaking
was adapted to his audience. He never spoke over
the heads of his hearers. There were no nice law
distinctions for jurors ; no refinements of thought for
plain farmers; but strong sense, and familiar but
striking illustrations, level to their comprehension,
and accordant with their tastes.

His skill in telling his story was so great that his
narration of facts was often the whole of his address
to the jury. He had the happy faculty of conveying
an argument in a narrative form, and could half
refute an opponent by merely stating his positions.
The jury went along with him in his facts, and before
him in his conclusions, wondering how facts so plain
could be doubted, or conclusions so obvious denied,
on the other side. Omitting all that was unimportant
in the testimony, he dwelt only on the strong points
of the case, and made as few of these as possible ;
aware that a few strong points are better tha^ many
weak ones. The clearness of his mind, which saw at
once the true position and relative weight of the
facts, infused itself gradually into the minds of the
jury, and whatever of indistinctness or confusion
hovered at first over the case, soon disappeared
before the simplicity of his statement, and the force
and precision of his reasoning. The facts fell natu-
rally into their proper places, or at least into the
places best suited to his purposes, converging steadily

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 201

to the same point, and all leading to the desired
conclusion. He used to say that before speaking five
minutes, and often while examining the witnesses, he
had felt the pulse of the jury, and knew how they
stood affected towards his client. If he found an
individual hostUe or indifferent, he fixed his eye
upon him, drew his attention to the strong points of
the case, and did not leave him till his looks showed
that his attention was secured, his doubts removed,
and his hostility softened, if not overcome. His saga-
city was seldom at fault in discovering the character
of men in their looks; and his intercourse with
all classes was so extensive, that few entered court,
whether as parties, jurors, or witnesses, whom he
did not know, and to whom he could not speak
with the advantage of some personal acquaintance
with their characters, interests, and feelings. He
possessed, in an eminent degree, that nice tact of
the orator, which reveals to him, as he advances, the
impression he is making on his hearers; and tells
him, at once, when he has gone far enough, when he
has touched on too tender a point, when he has
made a happy hit, and, above all, when it is time to
stop. He was, therefore, never tedious to his hearers;
nor "thought of convincing, while they thought of
dining."

He had the dramatic faculty of throwing himself,
by turns, into the position of his client, his opponent,

202 LIFE OF WILLIAJI PLUMEE.

his witnesses, the court, and the jury ; and, whatever
might be the case in hand, he seemed to feel the
passions which it was his object to inspire. Yet this
warmth of feeling took nothing from the coolness of
his judgment, or the skill with which, while choosing
his own positions, he repelled the attacks of his
opponent. The power of his eloquence was not in
studied language, in artificial arrangement, or in
pomp of declamation, of which he had nothing, but
in the fervor of the feelings to which he gave utter-
ance, and the force and clearness of the thoughts
which sprang, as if spontaneously, from the convictions
of his own mind, — an impulse which, it seemed, he
could not himself resist, and to which others, there-
fore, the more readily yielded. The contagion of
passion spread from his own to other bosoms; the
ardor of conviction from the advocate to his hearers.
It seemed less the zeal of professional duty, than the
energy of truth, which inspired him. The power of
entering, not with apparent fervor, merely, but, for
the moment, with the true warmth of genuine sym-
pathy, into the merits of his client's case, yet without
losing the self-possession necessary to judicious advo-
cacy, is the rare attribute of the accomplished and
successful advocate. When, from the nature of the
case, this warmth of feeling was unnecessary, or would
have been out of place, his coolness, promptness,
sagacity, and strong practical common sense, left

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 203

nothing unattempted which could secure success.
SuUivan, Smith, Mason and Webster, were employed
against him ; yet no client of his ever complained
that his cause sufiered, either from want of talent or
information in his attorney, from indifference to his
interests, or inability to maintain them, against even
such opponents.

That such men put his powers to the proof cannot
be doubted. Speaking of his own training, in the
same severe school of practice, Mr. Webster said, on
the occasion of Mr. Mason's death, " I must have been
unintelligent, indeed, Tiot to have learned something
from the constant display of that power, which I had
so much occasion to see and feel." No man of ordi-
nary talents or attainments could hold his ground in
these struggles, or come out of them uninjured.
Yet, in the severest competitions of the bar, — the
conflict of mind with mind, in which learning and
skill, wit and eloquence, promptness and audacity,
were all in turn required, — there was an intenseness
of life and enjoyment, an excitement of feeling, an
enlargement of heart, and a power of intellect
exerted, which made such encounters at once delight-
ful to my father, and dangerous to his health. His
frame was not equal to the labors of his vocation ;
and he seldom returned from court without being
confined for days, by illness, to his room, and some-
times to his bed. More than once, these attacks

204 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

produced such utter prostration of strength, as to
threaten, for a time, to end his labors with his Hfe.

It only remains to speak of his mode of arguing
questions of law to the court. The practical turn of
his mind was here conspicuous. He indulged in none
of those nice, wire-drawn distinctions, which, though
the delight of subtUe intellects, are too refined for the
coarse business of ordinary life. He rested his case
mainly on broad views of justice, on that compre-
hensive common sense which leads by obvious steps
to practical results, — to those precise and definite
conclusions with which life and daily practice can be
alone conversant. He had habitually little reverence
for authority, and was more fond of appealing to the
reason of the law than to the weight or number of
adjudged cases. Regarding jurisprudence as a science,
resting on general principles of right and justice, he
labored to make himself master of those principles;
and trusted to his own strong reasoning powers to
carry them out, in practice, to their legitimate con-
clusions. He was, therefore, a sound reasoner on
questions of law, rather than a deep-read or bookish
lawyer ; and prided himself less on the learning of
cases, than on his acquaintance with the reason, the
nature, and the objects of the law ; arguing mainly
from elementary principles and acknowledged truths
to the conclusions which he sought to establish.
When these were reached, if he added a few strong

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 205

cases, in confirmation of his doctrines, it was for the
satisfaction of others, rather than because they seemed
necessary to his own mind.

In this, as in some other respects, he resembled
Samuel Dexter, of Boston, who came sometimes into
our courts, rather than Theophilus Parsons, who prac-
tised for many years, regularly, in them. These
distinguished lawyers being, on one occasion, opposed
to each other, Dexter, who had comparatively httle
law learning, said, in the conclusion of his argument,
" The law in this case is as I have explained it ; and
it lies, as your Honors see, in the compass of a nut-
shell. My brother Parsons has here a basket full of
law books ; and he will endeavor to show from them
that it is all the other way. But one plain dictate
of common sense, one clear maxim of the common
law, is worth a cart-load of such rubbish." This
was said as a taunt, perhaps; but it marked, to
a certain extent, the character of the man. Some-
thing of the same kind is told of Judge Marshall,
who, in consultation with the Judges of the Su-
preme Court, is said, on some occasion, to have laid
down the law, as deduced by him from acknowl-
edged legal principles, in a train of powerful
reasoning, and to have concluded by saying, " Such
appears to me to be the law in this case ; though I
have not, I confess, looked much into the books in
reference to it. If I am correct, our brother Story,

206 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLTJMEK.

here," turning with a benignant smile to that learned
jurist,- " can give us the cases, from the Ten Tables
down to the latest term-reports." Something of the
same difference of mental habit existed in the case of
Smith and my father. Smith was learned in law
books, and elaborate in cited cases. My father dealt
less with authorities, and more with the reason of the
law. While the one sought the rule among conflict-
ing precedents, the other found it in the immutable
principles of truth and justice.

Not that my father despised authorities, or faUed
to use them when they served his purpose, as with a
certain class of minds they always do, better than
abstract reasoning, or an appeal to general principles.
The authorities sometimes cited by him, though quite
effective, were not always %uch as would be deemed
pertinent at the present day. He used to tell, with
great glee, of having, in his early practice, carried a
point of law against Parsons, who relied on English
authorities, by a quotation from the law of Moses,
which seemed to the court, and especially to Judge
Dudley, entitled to more weight than any citation
which Parsons could make from Coke, or Hale, or
my Lord Mansfield. " Ma,nsfield," exclaimed Judge
Dudley, " that is the cunning Scotchman, who, with
Lord North and George the Third, would have made
slaves of us all." It was not, however, for law to the
court, so much as for argument and illustration with

•LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 207

the jury, that his scriptural knowledge was useful to
hini in such cases. A text from the Bible would, at
the present day, be lost on the court, and might,
perhaps, avaU little with the jury. It was not so in
the latter half of the eighteenth century, when both
court and jury knew more of the Bible than of
law-books. The men who then filled the jury-box
had read their Bibles, and many of them little else.
A scriptural quotation was often more effective with
them than an argument from any other source. In
this way, the former eloquent preacher, and present
sagacious lawyer, came down upon his opponents
with a weight of authority, and an aptness of illus-
tration, which seldom failed of its intended effect.
The law of the case, as laid down in the books, was
of course argued and explained ; but it never seemed
so strong to the jury as when enforced by some
precept of the Mosaic law, some shrewd saying of
the wise, King of Israel, or some fervid injunction of
the apostle of the Gentiles. The habit of scripture
quotations, which came to us from the Puritan
fathers, and which is now getting a little obsolete,
was, at that time, much in accordance with the
popular taste. It was to my father what the Greek
and Latin poets are to the classical scholar. With
the classics of our own language, with the exception
of Pope, whose terse and brilliant couplets he often
quoted, he was, in the early part of his career, but

208 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

little acquainted. It was not till his fiftieth year that
he read the entire works of Shakspeare ; and he
expressed to me his regret that, for the purposes of
the bar, as well as on so many other accounts, he had
not been earlier conversant with the wit and the wis-
dom, the depth and the universality of Shakspeare's
knowledge of human nature, his familiarity with
every phasis of life and action, and his mastery of
all the passions and emotions of the soul.

I mentioned, in a former chapter, the names of the
principal lawyers at the bar, with whom Mr. Plumer
had to act when he was first admitted to the practice.
As the older among them were gradually withdrawn
by death, or other causes, from the forensic strife,
the younger Sullivan, Smith, Mason, and Webster,
came successively on, not to take their places merely,
but to give new power and a higher interest to the
generous and ennobling competition. To compare
my father with these great lawyers would be a
difficult task in itself, and certainly one of some deh-
cacy for the present writer. It will not be here
attempted ; yet a few traits in the character of each,
as contrasted with his, may not be out of place in
this estimate of his character and standing at the
bar. George Sullivan was for forty years in full
practice at Exeter ; and, as Attorney-General, which
office his father had filled before him, and his son has
since filled, he rode the circuit of the State, and

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 209

practised in all the counties. He was a classical
scholar, and professed to have formed himself on the
model of the great Roman orator. He was well
read, according to the standard of law learning in
that day ; a good special pleader, quick to perceive
the bearings of his case, and ready of resource in
new emergencies. In addressing the jury, he was
master of an easy and harmonious flow of ready
elocution, which, though little varied, was the delight
of jurors, and the admiration of crowds of eager
listeners, who were never tired of praising his hand-
some person, his fine attitudes, and elegant attire, and
who hung with rapture on the soft sounds of his
silver voice. His peculiar style of measured and
almost rhythmical speaking, he is said, by Judge
Smith, to have caught from Samuel Dexter. If he
was in this an imitator, his son is not less so, — it was
more probably natural in both. With his mildness
and decorum of manner, there was in his tempera-
ment a keen sensibility of feeling which contrasted
strongly with the contemptuous power of Mason,
and, when occasion demanded it, with the withering
scorn of "Webster. The anger of Sullivan flashed,
indeed, like gunpowder ; but the puff was as quickly
overblown. No man was, in general, more courteous
and gentlemanly in his bearing, or stood better with
his brethren of the bar. My father's manner was, in

many respects, the reverse of that of Sullivan. With
11

210 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

none of his pomp of oratory, he had more variety of
expression, and more force of thought, and was less
liable to be thrown suddenly from his track by the
impulse of passion.

With Smith, he had many points of agreement.
Lawyers by profession. Federal in their politics, and
liberaj in their religious views; regular in their
habits, and indefatigable in business ; fond of books,
and devoted to letters, at a time when such devotion
was less common than at present, they had been for
many years warm friends and constant correspond-
ents. There were, however, quite as many points in
which they differed. The one was grave, thoughtful,
direct and earnest ; the other quaint, full of humor,
and addicted to irony. The turn of the one was to
original thought ; that of the other to accumulated
learning. The one was brief, pointed, sententious;
the other copious and diffusive, going over the ground
in repeated excursions, heaping up facts and law,
arguments and illustrations, till he seemed sometimes
lost in the superfluity of his abundance. In several
important cases, after Smith's removal to Exeter, in
which they were opposed to each other, the one made
his clear, forcible, and well reasoned speech of forty
minutes or an hour, and won his cause ; the other his
brilliant and witty harangue of two or three hours,
and lost it. Not that Smith was an unsuccessful advo-
cate ; but the result of many trials proved that he

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 211

was stronger with his law for the court, than with his
facts for the jury. In 1802, he took his seat on the
bench of the Superior Court, where, as Chief Justice,
he acquired eminent reputation by his learning, his
industry, and his high legal attainments.

Mr. Mason came to the Rockingham bar in 1797;
and it was at once felt that his Titanic bulk and
elephantine movement were but the due accompani-
ment and emblems of a mind as gigantic, standing-
intellectually, as well as physically, above other men.
Cool, wary, devoted to his client, and prompt to seize-
every advantage, whether of form or substance, which
could aid his cause ; in knowledge of the law, in abil-
ity to bring its remotest analogies and most subtile
distinctions to bear strongly on the question, before
the court, in legal acumen, and cumulative power of
close reasoning, he had no equal at the bar, or on the
bench. If he was sometimes too refined and minute
in his distinctions, it was because he saw clearly him-
self, and co-uld make palpable to others shades of
difference in eases, which, to ordinary minds, seemed
identical. In the examination, of witnesses he was
not less distinguished. Woe to the dishonest witness
who fell under the grasp of his unsparing hand. No
engine of torture ever made joints snap, and nerves
and sinews strain and crack, with more merciless
severity, than did the questions with which he plied
the reluctant or perjured witness, wrench from him

212 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

the facts which he sought in vain to withhold, or
disjoint and dismember the specious falsehoods put
forward by him under the guise of truth. No accu-
mulation of cunning was too deep for him to pierce
it. He bored the strata in every direction, and to all
imaginable depths, till, if there was a vein of false-
hood in the mass, his rod reached it, and it spouted
up, at once, in sight of all beholders. He had not,
in speaking, the advantage of a good voice ; nor was
his manner graceful. He made no pretence to elo-
quence, or ornament of speech, and he sneered at all
appearance of feeling, or emotion, as affected, or out
of place, in an advocate at the bar. But he seized,
as with a giant's grasp, on the attention of both court
and jury, and bore them forward, with irresistible
force, to the conclusion of his argument. The hearer
was not so much persuaded, as compelled to go along
with him. The argument was one connected chain
of clear statement and strong reasoning, — a chain in
which there was no weak link, and which bound the
premises, however remote, or apparently disconnected,
with the desired conclusion, — a conclusion which the
hearer felt, long before it was reached, that he could,
by no possibility, avoid, or stop short of, or turn
aside from. In all this there was no declamation,
and no appeal to the passions. The only passion,
indeed, which he ever seemed to feel, was that of
contempt ; contempt for his opponent, his client, and

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 213

Ms witnesses ; contempt, even, for the court and the
jury which he was addressing; a feeling which those
who were its objects in vain strove to resist, and
which was, in fact, one of the strong agencies by
which he wrought them to his purpose. Speaking of
the terrible power of his sarcasm, Mr. Webster said it
was " not frothy or petulant, but cool and vitriolic."
This latter epithet shows that he had himself felt at
times its caustic severity. With Smith, both before
he went upon the bench, and after he left it. Mason
had frequent contests, degenerating sometimes into
personalities more amusing to the spectators than
agreeable to the parties concerned. There was, on
these occasions, between them no child's play, no
sparring with blunt foils ; but cut and thrust, with
sharp steel, in sincere and earnest encounter. The
New Hampshire bar, at this period, according to
Chief Justice Parker, inculcated on its members
" great fidelity to the interests of the client, rather
than great courtesy towards the opposing counsel."
Yet no permanent ill-will, or personal rancor, wks
engendered by these ebullitions of professional zeal.
Bach knew the power of his antagonist, and admired,
as kindred' to his own, the vigor of the blow, even
while reeling under it. Smith, in these struggles,
showed, perhaps, more adroitness; Mason certainly
more strength. At a later period, both of these came
often in contact with the ready wit and acrid humor

214 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

of Ichabod Bartlett, who was one of the remarkable
members of what was then a very remarkable bar.

A greater man than even Mason, though not
a greater lawyer, showed himself when Webster
came to Portsmouth, in 1807, to take his share in
these hardy contests. My father first tried the
strength of the new combatant in a road case of
some interest and notoriety ; and, though he felt and
acknowledged his extraordinary power, he neither
shrank from, nor lost credit in, the encounter. He
won his case, and impressed on his opponent a high
sense of his skill and resources, — an opinion which,
on all suitable occasions, Mr. Webster was ever after
ready to express. My father considered the manner
of the young advocate, on this occasion, as too excur-
sive and declamatory; and predicted that his direction
would be to politics rather than to law, — a judgment
only partially verified by the event. For, though
pre-eminent as a statesman, he was hardly less so as
a lawyer ; giving, in this respect, a rare example of
the highest distinction obtained by the same person
in these two great departments of thought and action.
I was once present when they were arguing against
each other some question of evidence to the court^
and was much struck with the manner in which
Webster commented on a passage read by my father
from Peake's Law of Evidence. After criticizing it
severely as bad law, he ended with pronouncing the

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 215

book itself a miserable two-penny compilation, throw-
ing it with an air of contemptuous disdain on the
table, and adding, " So much for Mr. Thomas Peake's
Compendium of the Law of Evidence." The manner
alone seemed sufficient to settle the point forever,
and to place Thomas Peake henceforth below the
notice of court or bar. My father made no answer
whatever to his comments on the passage quoted,
but quietly handed up to the Chief Justice a vol-
ume of Burrow's Reports, open at the place where
Lord Mansfield lays down the law in the very
words used by Peake, and requested him to read
it. When he had done so, Webster took the book,
looked some time at it, and then laid the volume
on the table, with no attempt to answer it. It
was now evident that Peake, backed by Mansfield,
stood once more rectus in curia. Mr. Webster's lan-
guage, at this early period of his practice, was often
austere and unceremonious, not to say rude and
overbearing, not to the bar merely, but sometimes
to the court; and this "abruptness of expression"
was, according to Judge Parker, "rendered more
marked by the volume of his voice," and, he might
have added, by the glow of his cavernous eyes, and
the curl of his scornful lip. At a later period, he
was seldom deficient in the courtesy towards his
opponent, and the deference to the court, which were
due not less to his own character than to theirs. The

216 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

first impression which Mr. Webster made on Mr.
Mason, was thns related to me by the latter, many
years after: "He broke upon me like a thunder-
shower in July, sudden, portentous, sweeping all
before it. It was the first case in which he appeared
at our bar ; a criminal prosecution, in which I had
arranged a very pretty defence, as against the Attor-
ney General, Atkinson, who was able enough in his
way, but whom I knew very well how to take.
Atkinson being absent, Webster conducted the case
for him, and turned, in the most masterly man-
ner, the line of my defences, carrying with him all
but one of the jurors, so that I barely saved my
client, at the last moment, by my best exertions. I
was never more surprised than by this remarkable
exhibition of unexpected power. It surpassed, in
some respects, anything which I have ever since
seen, even in him." My father did not remain long
enough at the bar to witness much of Webster's
subsequent career there. He had been long accus-
tomed to the ready elocution and Milesian blood of
Sullivan, the elaborate learning and quaint humor
of Smith, and the proud superiority with which
Mason maintained his sway over court and bar, jury-
box and witness-stand. Into this arena of intellectual
contest Webster brought his cold, unimpassioned
power of close logic and unyielding argumentation ;
his intuitive perception of the strong points of his

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 217

case ; his ready command of precise and perspicuous
language; his severe taste; and, above all, when
hard pressed and roused by opposition, that warmth
of passion and fire of emotion, which, fusing the
rugged metal of his harsher nature, poured the
mingled mass of thought and feeling, hot and glow-
ing from the furnace of an excited mind, into forms
of beauty and structures of grandeur, admirable
alike for graceful proportions and colossal strength.

I have dwelt so long upon the keen encounters of
these adverse, and sometimes angry wits, that the
reader may perhaps conclude that these remarkable
men were great only in what Lord Eldon calls " the
war of words, the battle of lawyers' tongues" on this
theatre of forensic disputation. They were, however,
all of them distinguished politicians as well as law-
yers. In the more private relations of life they were
equally remarkable. Smith, in his old age, even
more, perhaps, than at an earlier period, was the
delight of both young and old, by the rare gift of his
extraordinary conversational powers. WMle his good
sense and his industry made him an able lawyer,
there was high originality, true genius, in his humor.
"What gaiety, what waggery and exuberance of
youthful spirits in this arch and facetious old man, so
bent on sport, and indifferent to the decorous observ-
ances of grave society ! What a rare vein of satire
and piquant raillery, always sprightly and amusing,

218 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

and, if not always harmless and inoffensive, yet
"wholly free from the venom of malignant misan-
thropy! In his graver moods, Smith was equally
interesting, with the stores of his learning, and his
reminiscences of Washington, Hamilton, Madison,
Marshall, Ames, and other great men with whom he
had become acquainted while in Congress. Mason's
conversation was of a different character. He had
none of Smith's wit or humor, but a style of sarcasm
peculiarly his own, growing out of the severely prac-
tical turn of his mind, which scorned aU affectation
of feeling, and had little charity for that in others
of which he had none himself Grave, suggestive,
fall of original thought and curious information, he
seemed equally familiar with history, government,
morals, science, the concerns of common life, and the
occupations and pursuits of men. He was fond of
conversation, and wanted only a patient listener,
who should stir him occasionally with pertinent
inquiries, to draw forth, for hours together, the rich
treasures of his accumulated knowledge, and the yet
richer resources of his curious and original thought.
No man ever left him, after such an interview, with-
out carrying with him facts to be remembered, and
material for reflection, meditation and inquiry. Of
Mr. Webster, it is enough to say that he was as
attractive in conversation as powerful in debate.
He, too, had with his profound veins of original

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLTJMEE. 219

thought a rich fund of anecdote, and hoards of
learning deposited in a memory which held every-
thing it had ever grasped; and he was always as
ready to communicate, as eager to acquire. The
condescension of his manner, when disposed to
unbend, was all the more delightful, as contrasted
with his usual dignity of deportment, and gave to
his smile a kindly welcome, and his few but expres-
sive words of compliment and commendation a power
of fascination which few could resist.

It may well be doubted whether any other county
bar in the Union could have matched the three or
four remarkable men to whom I have thus briefly
adverted — two of them, certainly, second to none of
their times. Distinguished, however, as they were,
the subject of this memoir played among them no
subordinate part. Unequal in mere law learning to
Smith, with less acuteness of metaphysical discrim-
ination than Mason, and yielding, as all others have
done, to the massive intellect of Webster, he was
equal to either of them in his knowledge of human
nature, in promptness of resource, in dexterous adapt-
ation of means to ends, in clearness and precision of
statement, in aptness of illustration, and in that ready
command of popular eloquence, which, springing
evidently from warmth of conviction, carried with
it the sympathies of his hearers, and won for him
the favor of the court, and the verdict of the jury.

220 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

It was this verdict, which, in all his efforts, he kept
steadily in view ; and when this came he felt that
he had attained his object, which was not to make a
great speech, or a learned argument, but to win his
client's cause. It was his devotion, in every stage' of
the case, to the business in hand, his never deviating
to any collateral issue, or stopping to scatter flowers
of rhetoric, or indulging in flights of fancy or pomp
of declamation, which brought him so frequently
and so surely to the desired termination of his labors,
and acquired for him the reputation of the most suc-
cessful advocate of his time. " Clearness, force, and
earnestness," says Mr. Webster, "are the qualities
which produce conviction;" and these were the
elements of success in this, as in other cases, — a
perspicuous statement of facts, a severe style of close
reasoning, and a force and earnestness of manner,
springing, if not always from conviction of the just-
ness of his cause, yet in all cases from a feeling
that it was his duty to his client to put his full force
into the cause he had undertaken to advocate.

1 was a school-boy in the academy at Exeter dur-
ing the latter part of his active practice at the bar,
and had therefore an opportunity sometimes to hear
him speak. I remember one case in particular, which,
possessing some local interest, and being argued on a
Wednesday afternoon, 'nearly all the academy boys
attended. We were delighted with the arguments;

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 221

and, on coming out, I found myself suddenly the
object of more than usual attention, not at all on my
own account, but as my father's son. During vaca-
tion he sometimes took me with him when he had a
ease before a justice, or before referees. One such
case, which I attended at Hampton Falls, fur-
nished me an example of the boldness and severity
with which, fearless of consequences, he spoke, when
occasion required it, of the conduct and character of
men. In this case, he felt himself called upon to
dispense his censures in no measured terms, holding
up the conduct of the party to which he was opposed
to the ridicule and the contempt of the referees,
and of the numerous audience of his neighbors
that filled the house. This he did with such force
and heartiness, that he seemed to me to have made
the man forever his personal enemy. When the
hearing was over, he called for his horse, and we
were already in the chaise, when the person so
assailed was seen approaching us. He was a large,
stout man, of no very inviting looks ; and, as he had
shown by his gestures and exclamations, while under
the lash, that he felt keenly the blows inflicted, my
first thought was that he was coming with some pur-
pose of personal violence, or, at least, of abusive
language. As soon as my father saw him, he stopped,
turned his horse towards him, and looked him steadily

222 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

in the eye. " Well, Squire," said he, after a moment's
pause, "I have been a good deal in the law, but I
was never so abused in my life before. It was too
bad." " Not a whit, not a whit," was the ready reply.
" You deserved it all, and more too." "Well, well,"
said the man, a little staggered at this fresh assault,
" It was rather hard play, though, at any rate. But I
like' you all the better for it ; and what I want now
is to engage you in a suit I have with another of my
neighbors ; and whether I win or lose, I shall be con-
tent, when the case comes to trial, if you will but put
it on to him as you have on to me to-day." " Do not
doubt it," said my father, laughing, "he shall have
twice as much if he deserves it half as well." The
man now -laughed in his turn, and handing him a
retaining fee, went off quite satisfied. " Now, here,"
said my father, as we rode away, " is a man who
thinks all the better of me for the castigation I
inflicted on him ; and is my friend for life, if I will
but treat his neighbor as severely as I did him. Yet,
after all, he is not half so bad as he appears to be.
He is always in the law, and cannot content himself
without a suit in court. A dozen such clients would
make a lawyer's fortune. But he has many good
qualities. No man would do another, even his oppo-
nent, a kindness sooner than he would. If the law
turns up some dark sides of human nature, it shows

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 223

US also many bright ones. I have not, on the whole,
learned to think the worse of mankind for what I
have seen in- courts of law."

Other reminiscences of my own respecting his
character as a lawyer, might be introduced ; but they
would be of less value than the views of older men,
who were with him at the bar. With many such I
have conversed, and the remarks of some of them
will be here given. Peyton R. Freeman, of Ports-
mouth, told me " that he had often heard my father
speak at the bar; that he had much business, and
was remarkably successful with the jury. With the
court, though not ostentatious of his law, he betrayed
no want of the legal knowledge pertinent to his case.
What he knew, he had no difficulty in making others
understand."

Another member of the bar, John Porter,, of
Derry, told me, not long since, that he remembered
hearing my father once at the bar, soon after he was
admitted to practice. It was in a case of much intri-
cacy of detail in the facts, and some nicety in the
law. But the facts were told with such clearness and
animation, the law laid down so plainly, and there
was so much precision, strength, and continuity of
aim and execution in the whole, that he remembered
nothing, hd said, in his fifty years' practice, which
had ever pleased him more.

In a letter -dated January 12, 1854, from. Nicholas

224 XIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

Emery, a New Hampshire man by birth, late Judge
of the Supreme Court of Maine, he writes : " Your
father's style of speaking at the bar was very delib-
erate, methodical, cogent, convincing and impressive.
Whether, as a lawyer, he was much versed in black
letter learning, which indeed was not then much in
use, I cannot say. There was a minute correctness
in his mode of doing business — nothing unnecessary,
nothing deficient, nothing out of place. He was
very successful. Shrewd, sagacious, forelaying and
calculating the effect of every move, he seldom
missed his aim. Of a high order of intellect, he
"understood human nature."

"My first acquaintance with him," says Moody
Kent, in a letter to me, dated March, 1853, "was in
1805, when he was a member of the Senate, and
sometimes came into the Common Pleas sitting at
Exeter, in August. After his term of office expired,
he attended that court, both at Exeter and Ports-
mouth, and was engaged in the trial of cases. His
appearance and manner were perfectly plain and
simple, respectful to the court, gentlemanly in his
demeanor to the senior members of the bar, and,
more than others, affable and courteous to those of
us who were his juniors. In his addresses to the
court and jury he was fluent, plain, and always intel-
ligible, never energetic in trifles, or earnest out of
place. His speeches were full of good sense and to

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEH. 225

the point. At our boarding-house lie made himself,
by his conversational powers, entirely pleasing to
those of us who gathered around him to hear him
talk. To gratify us, he would frequently talk of
what passed in Congress, of the character and history
of the most prominent members, of their sayings and
doings, and of their success or failure. Although he
was so well listened to that he must have been aware
that we thought he talked remarkably well, yet he
was not an ambitious talker. If others chose to con-
verse, he listened patiently and respectfully to aU
that was said, and never talked himself, except to
willing listeners."

George Sullivan was established at Exeter as early
as 1794, and continued in practice there till his death,
in 1838. He said to me, in substance; "Your father's
statement of facts to the jury was admirable, — clear,
precise, and consistent; giving such prominence to
the circumstances favorable to his client, and throw-
ing so artfully those of an opposite character into the
shade, that the opposing counsel sought in vain to
make the jury see them in any other light. Another
characteristic of his speeches was their brevity. Yet
he found in them tune for the facts, the law, and the
morals of the case. For with the facts of the law
he always mingled a high sense of moral obligation
and responsibility ; dwelling strongly on the merits
of the parties, and the duty of the jury to do justice,

IS

226 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMEE.

exact and impartial, between them. It was a temple
of justice, high and holy, wherein they stood, into
which no feeling of favor or aversion, prejudice or
partiality, should ever enter. From the plainest facts
and the driest law, he rose insensibly into the higher
region of social duty and moral obligation ; and
thence, as naturally, into the yet more elevated do-
main of the emotions. If he stirred these in others it
was because he seemed himself moved. It was not (so
it seemed) that he sought artfully to inflame others,
but that he gave an utterance to what they already
felt even more strongly than he could excite it. In
all this there was no elaborate oratory or premed-
itated eloquence. But brief, energetic, unexpected,
these flashes of feeling came, because, apparently,
they could not but come; and having done their
ofl&ce, they passed as quickly away. There was no
attempt to make the most of a bright thought or
striking expression, as a reiteration of a blow which
had already gone home to the mark. It was this
simplicity and naturalness which gave the charm to
his manner. If there was art in this, it was that
perfection of art which conceals itself. No idea of
affectation or insincerity ever attached itself to any-
thing which he said or did."

Judge Smith gave me something like the following
account : ' " Your father made little display of mere
legal learning ; and we sometimes suspected that he

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 227

had not much of it to spare. But he had always
enough for the occasion, and it would have been by
no means safe in an opponent to presume upon his
ignorance. Semper far negotiis, nee supra. He had
the command of much more law than some others
who had laid va. larger stocks, but had less faciUty in
its use. What he did know he knew thoroughly.
Another trait was his promptness and self-possession.
Of the many good things which occur to most men
only when it is too late to utter them, he had very
few. His good things were all on hand ; his knowl-
edge ready for use, and always at his command. He
said, at once, aU. he had to say, and said everything;
at the right time and place. He examined witnesses
with great skUl, and put his case in the best possible-
shape to the jury. He made no long harangues ; but
his brevity was obtained, not by omitting matter per-
tinent to his case, but by rejecting from it everything
which was immaterial. Your friend Woodbury goes
over what he has to say three or four times ; your
father knew how to leave off when he had done.
He was fond of quoting Pope ; and what Swift says
of Pope was true, in some sense, of him i

< he can in one couplet fix

More sense than I can do in six.'

Not that we were either of us guilty of framing
couplets or perpetrating rhymes. We left that to

228 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK.

Mitchell Sewall, who made epigrams and acrostics
on us all. But he had, in rare perfection, the happy
art of saying much in a few words. This talent of
clear, concise and connected narrative, was best seen
when he had a good cause to state ; but he told even
a bad story so well, that scarcely any case seemed
desperate under his management."

Judge Arthur Livermore said to me: "Your father
had as much law, when I came to the bar, as any man
then in practice in Rockingham or Strafford. He had
more than any other man, if Lord Coke's maxim be
true, that the common law is common sense, or com-
mon reason ; for he had more of that than any other
man I ever heard address a court or jury. He
seemed always right in his law, as if he could not
be otherwise. Everything was so clear in his mind,
and so well defined in the utterance, that he had no
occasion to repeat, or to enlarge upon what he had
once said. His manner was quiet, yet lively, with
no pomp or swell of language ; respectful to the
court and confiding towards the jury. He won their
confidence by giving them his own. He never seemed
to think they could go wrong. They gave him in
turn more than he asked, as he often seemed to claim
less than he was entitled to. This caution on his
part, as if afraid of stating his case too strongly, was
one of his arts of oratory. It won for him, by this
modest diffidence, the good will of his hearers ; and

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 229

when he assumed a positive tone, in relation to
matters which were more doubtful, his previous
moderation gave the greater weight to his present
confidence ; and he carried the jury over the weak
parts of his case with wonderful ease and dexterity.
There was not much law in those days among us, as
law is now understood, but cases were tried quicker,
and, I thinlc, quite as well. I lived at Chester then,
and we were often opposed to each other, sometimes
not without angry feelings. But they seldom out-
lasted the day. We often slept in the same room,
whUe at court ; and, after talking tUl almost morning,
he would say, ' Enough of this, Livermore, it is time
to say your prayers, and go to sleep ; ' and he would
be himself asleep before he had time to repeat & pater
nosier. He was sometimes treated rudely at the bar,
as happens to all men occasionally, but his coolness
gave him generally the advantage j and when pro-
voked, which was not often, to indulge in angry
reply, the retort was so rapid, and the repulse so
manifest, that the assailant seldom came a second
time to the charge." Judge Livermore, at this time,
December, 1852, was in his eighty-seventh year, a
remarkable old man, his memory stiU retentive, and
his early liveliness of manner and vivacity of expres-
sion but little impaired.

Mr. Mason's account, given to me in more than on,%
conversation on this subject, was somewhat after ttws

230 LIFE OF WILIilAM PLUMER.

manner: "Your father was not a thorough-bred
lawyer, in the sense of having read everything writ-
ten on the subject. But he understood thoroughly
the great principles of the law, and had read care-
fully, and digested well, the elementary treatises, the
standard authorities, and the best of the old reporters.
This was, I think, the extent of his law learning. He
supplied the want of more minute subsidiary learning
by an understanding at once clear and logical, which
readily saw the consequences of an admitted princi-
ple, and seldom failed to apply it justly; so that
when others quoted authorities, it was but to support
conclusions to which he had already arrived. I
sometimes surprised him by a point of law which
was evidently new to him ; but, if a little puzzled at
first, he soon saw its bearings, what it was worth, and
how it should be applied. It was surprising to see
how readily the new law-matter thus furnished, fell
into its true place in his mind, and became at once a
part of his knowledge. This knowledge was not so
much an accumulation of dead matter, as it was an
organized body, compact, homogeneous, informed
with life and motion. He was the best jury lawyer
I ever knew. His relation of facts, which might
be called his historic style, was inimitable; plain,
accurate, and direct; free alike from coldness and
unnecessary warmth; adding nothing unimportant,
and omitting nothing material to the case. He made

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 231

no pompous enunciation of self-evident truths, and
was at no pains to prove what he knew the jury
would take for granted without proof He seemed
sometimes to admit even more than his opponent
could prove. This apparent candor told largely with
the jury in his favor; and the admission generally
turned out, before the close of the trial, to be either
something which he could not weU deny, or which,
though apparently aiding the opposite party, made
in fact, when rightly considered, in his favor. His
line of defence exposed the least possible front to an
opponent; and he was as prompt to seize on an
indiscretion in others, as careful to avoid one himself
"With others at the bar I felt," added Mr. Mason,
" pretty much at my ease ; but your father and Judge
Smith compelled me to be more on my guard. Web-
ster had not then come among us. Smith had the
greater learning ; your father the more availing use
of what he knew. The point in which they most
resembled each other, was the industry with which
they prepared their cases. Your father was always
ready for trial; or, if he asked for delay, it was
because some material witness was unavoidably
absent, or some paper missing which he had in vain
sought to obtain ; never because he was not himself
master of his case."

With Mr. Webster I had several conversations on
this subject ;' the last at Franklin, where I went to

232 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

see him, July 16, 1852, a few months before his
death. On that occasion he said: "I first heard
your father named when I was quite a boy, in 1794
or '5. A cousin of my father's was taken as a de-
serter, by order of Major Jonathan Cass, the father
of Lewis Cass, and carried a prisoner to Exeter,
where Cass then resided. The charge was a false
one, and my father hastened to the relief of his
kinsman. On reaching Nottingham, he called on his
friend, Gen. Joseph Cilley, and telling him his story,
said that he was going to Oliver Peabody, of Exeter,
for a writ against Cass. ' Not so,' said CiUey, ' if you
go to Peabody, his dog will run over to Cass's dog and
tell him what you are doing, and your cousin may
be hurried over the line into Massachusetts before
your writ is served. Go to Mr. Plumer, at Epping,
and he will do your business for you with no risk of
failure.' My father told us this story when he came
back with his cousin ; and this was the first time I
ever heard of the name of Plumer. What most
excited my curiosity, however, and puzzled me at the
time, was to know how the dogs could talk over their
masters' business together, and what they had to do
with it. I had not then read Burns's Tale of the Two
Dogs, nor do I suppose that Cilley, who was not a book-
ish man, had seen it when he gave this quaint turn
to his shrewd suggestion as to the probable concert
between Cass and Peabody, in the case of the sup-

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 233

posed deserter. I first saw your father in 1801, at
Judge Peabody's, in Exeter, where he took the lead
in a table conversation upon the subject of 'Gibbon's
Roman Empire,' which he greatly admired, yet with
a due mixture of fault-finding. I remember his also
speaking of the Edinburgh Review, and of Mr. Jeffries,
both just then becoming conspicuous. Your father
was supposed to be good at taxing bills of cost. In a
case where he and Mason, both on the same side, had
at last won a long contested suit, the bill, taxed by
your father, and allowed by the clerk, was objected
to by the opposing counsel. Mason, who had a law-
yer's liking for fees — ^I do not dislike them myself
— stoutly defended the taxing ; and, when the court
struck out some of the items, he lost his temper, and
abused them roundly for it. Your father, seeing that
this was no way to secure the bill, whispered to
Mason to keep cool, and said aloud, 'Perhaps I can
explain this better.' Addressing himself to the court,
he put them at once into good humor by some slight
reflection on his brother Mason's loss of temper, and
not only succeeded in preventing any further abate-
ment of the bill of costs, but restored the items
already stricken out, and even got in one or two
new ones. This, though a small matter, was not a
bad sample of his usual coolness, sagacity, and power
of setting whatever he took in hand in the clearest
possible light. The same qualities were shown by

234 LIIE OP WILLIAM PLUMEK.

him on more important occasions. In the manage-
ment of his cases before the jury he displayed great
skill, in other words, great knowledge of human
nature. Indeed, I never knew a man who put his
case better, or who was more uniformly successful,
where there was any tolerable chance for success.
There was a concentration of purpose in him which
contributed greatly to this result. He never sacri-
ficed the safety of his client to oratorical display;
nor indulged his resentments at the expense of his
cause, nor turned indeed for a moment from the
great object in view, the winning of his verdict from
the jury. He put no questions to witnesses which
were not calculated to bring out a favorable answer,
and used no argument which was not at once seen to
bear directly on the point to be established. Neglects
ing all minor objects, he struck boldly at the heart
of the matter; told his story without repetition, or
exaggeration, and so clearly, that nobody could mis-
take or misunderstand him. Once stated, indeed,
his case was already, by the mere statement, well
argued. When the occasion required it, he could
touch powerfully the chords of feeling in the breasts
of the jury, with the slightest apparent effort on his
own part, — sometimes with the thrilling intonation
of a single word, a look, a gesture, the cast of his eye,
suffused with tears at the misfortunes of his clients,
or fired with anger or indignation at the injustice.

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 235

the tyranny, the insuflferable baseness of his oppo-
nent and oppressor. It was the eloquence of feeling,
rather than of the fancy or imagination; — of the
latter, except as connected with feeling, he did not
seem to me to possess much. "

Wit is often among the lawyer's most successful
weapons. My father could hardly be said, in the
ordinary sense of the word, to be a man of wit. Yet
he said things which no wit could improve, and no
humor render more effective. In those keen retorts,
those pithy and pointed sentences, which strike home
and admit of no reply, which rouse the feelings while
they convince the understanding, he was always
ready. On such occasions the flash of his eye showed
whence the lightning had parted, and the smile,
which curled his lip, evinced his perception that the
bolt had not missed its aim. If, in such cases, the wit
was less observed, the argument was the more strongly
felt. The power thus to condense a long speech into
a brief sentence, — to coil up, as it were, a whole argu-
ment into a single word, and send that word home to
its mark, where it shall explode in a charge from the
court, or a verdict from the jury, — is the rare attri-
bute of the eloquent and effective speaker. This
felicity of speech and concentration of thought, were
at the farthest possible remove from that vague and
indefinite utterance, that copious effusion of words
without ideas, with which so many pubhc speakers

236 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

seem afflicted. It rested, in his case, on the firm
basis of accurate knowledge, and thorough previous
preparation. He did not think it sufficient to have a
general idea of his cause, and trust to chance, or a
happy flight of oratory to carry him through ; but he
made himself master of its details, and familiar with
the law applicable to it. This he did in cases even
the least important. If they were worth carrying
into court, he thought them worth the best attention
he could bestow upon them.

The practice of the law in his earlier days was cal-
culated to make able advocates, rather than learned
jurists. Both court and jury were, as I have already
remarked, more inclined to make than to find the
law of the case. My father was among the first to
perceive the necessity of a closer adherence to
established rules. He left the courts, however,
while the change was as yet but imperfectly accom-
plished. But a revolution was in progress, which
ended in establishing more precise maxims of
practice and strict principles of law in New Hamp-
shire, than prevailed, perhaps, in any state of the
Union. Mr. Webster, after having practised in the
courts of many states, said, "that he had never
found any place where the law was administered
with so much precision and exactness as in the
County of Rockingham." "Special pleading had not
then,'' says Chief Justice Parker, in commenting

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER 237

on t"his remark, "been shorn of its honors, by bri.ef
statements and informal answers." At one time,
indeed, there was a strictness of practice here, hardly
compatible with the ends of justice; but the ten-
dency has since been to that happy medium in
which fixed rule takes the place of arbitrary dis-
cretion, while justice, though regular, is yet not
tangled in the net of form.

Of the extent of my father's business while at the
bar, and the consequent amount of his emoluments,
it is not easy now to form an accurate estimate. His
account-books of this period were destroyed by him
many years ago, with a multitude of other papers,
which he considered it no longer necessary to pre-
serve. In the counties of Rockingham and Strafford,
then embracing the business of more than half the
state, he was for many years concerned in more suits
than any other lawyer. But lawyers' fees were then
much lower than at present. Even now they are not
considered by the profession as high, and certainly
are not so, when compared with those in some other
states. Webster, after his removal to Boston, received
in single cases, probably, more than his net income
for a year of labor in New Hampshire. Mason once
said to me : " The Boston people pay well for pro-
fessional services. It is not a bad trait in their
character, and I rather encourage them in it. Your
father and I did business enough in our day to make

238 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLXJMEK.

US rich ; but, in New Hampshire, much is done for a
little money. No man gets rich there by professional
services." My father, though he owned a half-finished
house and some land, was in debt when he was admit-
ted to the bar. He told Judge Livermore, in 1797,
that his business was then worth four thousand dol-
lars a year. To have earned this, Livermore supposed
he could not have made less than five hundred writs
annually. The courts sat four times a year, and he
once told me that he had entered a hundred actions
at a term. He was not indifferent to money ; for he
knew that no man could be truly independent with-
out it, and that without independence there is little
security for happiness, and not much for virtue. Yet
he had sb little of the miser in his disposition, that,
for the last forty years of his life, he did nothing in
the way of money-making. He took care of what
he had already earned, but felt no desire to increase
it, — so that at his death his property was no greater
than when he left the bar. His habits of living were
prudent, but not parsimonious; free from profusion
on the one hand, and meanness on the other. There
was no ostentatious display of wealth in person,
equipage, or attendance ; but use, comfort and con-
venience were consulted in his arrangements; and
the friend, or the stranger, who visited him, found a
ready hospitality, a simplicity, an abundance, and a
cordiality of welcome, which supplied every want,
and left no doubt of the host's sincerity.

CHAPTER VII.

THE SENATOR.

The civil revolution, -which gave the power of the
general government to the Republican party, was
consummated by the inauguration of Thomas Jeffer-
son as President, and Aaron Burr as Vice President,
on the 4th of March, 1801. The leading measures
of the Federal party, — ^the funding system, the bank,
the proclamation of neutrality, Jay's treaty, the inter-
nal taxes, the army, the navy, the alien and sedition
laws, — had all of them been more or less unpopular.
The strong personal popularity of "Washington alone
secured to the measures of his administration a major-
ity in either House of Congress. While nearly all
professed unbounded admiration for the person of the
President, a strong and increasing opposition mani-
fested itself to his leading measures ; many of which
were carried by small majorities, often by the casting
vote of the Vice President in the Senate, and in the
House, on several occasions, on nearly as close a
division. On the retirement of Washington, the great
abilities, high public spirit, and patriotic services of
his successor were unequal to the task of opposing

240 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

successfully the current of public opinion, setting
strongly in favor of the doctrines and the policy, the
men and the measures, of the Republican party. The
inaugural address of Mr. Jefferson was, indeed, so
moderate in its tone, and so well received by all
parties, that the whole Senate went in a body, har-
monious, in appearance at least, to pay their respects
to the President and Vice President, and were re-
ceived, says Mr. Bayard, " with very decent respect,"
the Federalists professing their willingness to support
the government, if administered upon the principles
of that address. But though Mr. Jefferson had said
in his address, " We are all Republicans, we are all
Federalists," it was not possible that parties so hostile
in feeling, and so adverse in opinion and practice,
could act harmoniously together. Both were too
earnest and sincere) the one to withhold the expres-
sion of their opinions, the other to forego the exer-
cise of their power in the line of their opinions.

The first session of Congress, under the new rule,
had been signalized by some reduction of the army
and the n^vy, the repeal of the internal taxes, an
increased provision for the public debt, a return to
the naturalization law of 1795, and the repeal of the
late jvidiciary act. This last was regarded as the
great measure of the session, involving questions of
constitutional power, as well as of expediency. These,
with the removal of some Federalists from ofiice, and

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE, 241

the appointment of Republicans in their places, were
the chief changes which had yet followed the election
of the new President. A second session was now
about to commence.

The journey from New Hampshire to Washington
was not usually performed, at this time, in less than
ten or twelve days. In the feeble state of my father's
health, this journey excited in his mind apprehen-
sions, which we should hardly have expected in one
of his resolute temper and active habits. For fifteen
years he had been nearly half his time away from
home ; but never for more than a week or two at a
time ; and seldom so far off, but that he could return
in a single day. A service of three or four months,
five hundred miles from home, put his local attach-
ments and domestic feelings to a severe test. My
mother, who was still more domestic in her habits,
would have thought the leaving of five children to
the care of strangers for so long a period, little less
than a crime. " On leaving my family," he says, "and
parting with my oldest son, then at Exeter, I was
much affected. The length of the journey, the uncer-
tainty how the climate and mode of living would
agree with me, and what changes might happen in
my family, produced feelings I never before experi-
enced." He left Bpping on the 18th of November,
and reached Washington on the second of the follow-
ing month. In a letter to Judge Smith, (December
9th, 1802,) he says,

16

242 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

"1 arrived here last Friday, much, less fatigued than I
expected. The journey was easy, and gave me the pleasure
that results from eating with the appetite of a hungry man —
a pleasure to which till then I was a stranger. The next day
after my arrival I visited the President, accompanied by some
Democratic members. In a few moments after our arrival, a
tall, high-boned man came into the room. He was dressed,
or rather undressed, in an old brown coat, red waistcoat, old
corduroy small clothes much soiled, woollen hose, and slip-
pers without heels. I thought him a servant, when General
Varnum surprised me by announcing that it was the President.
I tarried with him about twenty minutes. He was easy of
access, and conversed with great ease and freedom. While I
was there, Thomas Paine entered, seated himself by the side
of the President, and conversed and behaved towards him
with the famiharity of an intimate and an equal ! Can virtue
receive sufficient protection from an administration which
admits such men as Paine to terms of intimacy with its
chief?"

This intimacy of Jefferson with. Paine seems to
have struck him very unfavorably. He adverts to it
in several of his letters. To T. W. Thompson, he
speaks of him as, "that outrageous blasphemer." To
D. Lawrence, he writes, (December 27th,) "The
President, in his message, informs us of our quiet
enjoyment of our religion ; at the same time that he
has had the effrontery to invite that infamous blas-
phemer, Thomas Paine, from France to this country,
and even to give him a passage in a national vessel.

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 243

He admits him freely and frequently to his house
and his table." To Jeremiah Mason, he wrote, "Brad-
ley (as Vice President joro tern.,) is giving dinners;
and in imitation of the President, admits that mis-
creant Paine to his table. Neither Jefferson nor
Bradley invites Federalists to dine with Paine. In
this they show their prudence." Paine's merits, in
the eyes of his admirers, were supposed to be two-
fold; his attacks on Christianity, and his abuse of
Washington. My father, admitting the force of some
of Paine's objections, had read his "Age of Reason"
with unqualified disapprobation of its tone and'
temper, its coarse vulgarity, and its unfair appeals
to the passions and the prejudices of his readers.
With his attacks on "Mr. Washington," he had, if
possible, less sympathy. Hence the surprise and
indignation with which he saw such a man courted
by the President, and received with distinction as a
guest at the presidential mansion. It deepened his
prejudices against Mr. Jefferson, already sufficiently
strong. Bred a Federalist, in the school of Wash-
ington, he had been taught to regard Mr. Jefferson
as a man of loose morals and erroneous pohtical
opinions, and looked with great distrust on the
measures and policy of his administration.

He took his seat in the Senate on the firsfc day of
the session, (December 2d, 1802,) but was not able
to take the affirmation of office, tUl the 14th, when

244 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

the two Houses were organized, CoBgress not having
then acquired that habit of punctuality, which now
always secures a quorum of both Houses the first
day of the session. The leading Republicans in the
Senate were Clinton of New York, Nicholas of Vir-
ginia, Baldwin of Georgia, and Breckenridge of
Kentucky; the leading Federalists, Tracy and Hill-
house of Connecticut, Morris of New York, and Ross
of Pennsylvania. The administration had a decided
majority in both houses, and was able therefore to
carry any measure on which its friends were imited.
The strength of the executive department was chiefly
in three men, — Jefferson, the President, Madison, the
Secretary of State, and Gallatin, Secretary of the
Treasury, — a combination of talent, power, and popu-
larity, not often surpassed in the administration of
the government.

The slow progress of business through the Senate
left my father much leisure, which, with his usual
industry, he employed in making himself acquainted
with the new scenes into which he was introduced,
and the distinguished actors on this more extended
theatre. He began with exploring the city itself and
its environs. Washington was then " a little village
in the midst of the woods." " It contains," he said,
" many fine sites for buildings, but comparatively few
houses, and those not compact." This city of magni-

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 245

ficent distances was indeed then little better than a
wilderness ; with few of the conveniences, and hardly
all the necessaries of civilized and refined life. He
explored with greater eagerness the congressional
library ; which, though not large, contained many
valuable works in history, politics and international
law, to which he had not before had access. He de-
voted much time, during this and the succeeding
sessions, to the reading of books which he found here,
making copious extracts, and, in some cases, abstracts
of their contents. He did not however neglect, for
books, the acquaintance of men. The violence of
party spirit made the members, at this time, unsocial,
and even uncivil to one another. Federalists and Re-
publicans not only boarded in different houses, but
seldom visited or associated together. "Men," said
Jefferson, speaking of an earlier period, " who have
been intimate all their lives, cross the street to avoid
meeting, and turn their heads another way, lest they
should be obliged to touch their hats." He had not
himself been able to introduce a better state of feel-
ing. This social intolerance was very distasteful to
my father. In a letter to my mother, (Dec. 25th,)
he says :

" Yesterday, I dined with the President. His rule is to
have about ten members of Congress at a time. We sat down
to the table at four, rose at six, and walked immediately into

246 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

another room, and drank coffee. We had a very good dinner,
with a profusion of fruits and sweetmeats. The wine was the
best I ever drank, particularly the champagne, which was
indeed delicious. I wish his French politics were as good as
his French wines ; but to me, at least, they have by no means
so exquisite a flavor. At these dinners, the President has
always a select company ; all federalists one day, all demo-
crats another. He ought to invite them without regard to
their political sentiments. The members of both parties,
meeting at the President's, would be under the necessity of
being civil to each other there, and would thence learn to treat
each other with more decency and respect in congress than
they now do. The more men of good hearts associate, the
better they think of each other, notwithstanding their differ-
ences of opinion." '

Having himself little of the party rancor, out of
"which such alienation had grown, he labored to break
through these unsocial barriers. Before the close of
the session, he was upon speaking terms with nearly
aU the members of both houses, and intimate with
many of the most distinguished of both parties. His
mind could not fail to be improved, and his views
modified and enlarged by this enlargement of his
sphere of vision and range of thought. Pie was a
Federalist, with a full share of party feeling. But he
was not a mere party man ; and would not follow
blindly any party leader. In the case of private
claims, " I am not sensible," he writes, " that party

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 247

considerations had any influence on my mind. On
these I voted as often with, the Repubhcans as with
the Federalists." He acted indeed in this, as in other
cases, under a sense of moral obligation.

He wrote many political letters, during this session,
to his friends in New Hampshire, with too close
a party reference and purpose, as he afterwards
thought. " Being in the minority, I was," he says,
" too much inclined to find fault with the measures
of the majority, and thought the principal service I
could render my country was to prevent the adoption
of their measures." Extracts from some of these
letters may be interesting, either for the facts they
contain, or the opinions they expresss.

To D. Lawrence of Bpping, December 27, 1802 :

" The southern Democrats fear New England Federalism.
Though our numbers are small, we are both feared and
respected. We can seldom carry any measure; but we pre-
vent the ruling party from doing much mischief. I consider
the steady habits and Federalism of the Eastern states as the
sheet anchor and political salyation of the nation."

To T. W. Thompson of Salisbury, January, 1803 :

" Though few, we are a check upon the ruling party. The

longer I am here, the more sensibly I feel the necessity of

preserving, if possible, the Federalism of New England, as a

• restraint upon Southern Democracy. The good sense and

steady habits of the Eastern states will be the means of pre-

248 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE

serving our liberties, if they are to survive the violence of
parties."

He wrote, during this session, frequently to
Thompson ; and Daniel Webster, who was then a
student in his office, told me, many years after, how
eagerly he himself awaited the arival, once a week,
of the post, in hope of a letter from Washington, and,
when it came, how earnest the little knot of village
politicians were to learn its contents. Thompson was
afterwards himself Senator in Congress.

To Nicholas Emery of Parsonsfield, afterwards
Judge of the Supreme Court of Maiue, January,
1803:

" The Democratic party want an acknowledged, bold and
determined leader in the House. Giles is sick at home. John
Randolph, a pale, meagre, ghostly man, has more popular and
eifective talents than any other member of the party ; but
Smith, Nicholson, Davis and others are unwilling to acknowl-
edge him as their file-leader. The Federalists, though in a
minority, are yet in talents, industry, and respectability, supe-
rior to their opponents. I think the session will end without
violent measures."

To Mr. Mason, under the same date :

" Griswold of Connecticut, is at the head of the Federalists
in the House. He is a man of talents, industry, and apphca-
tion, and of a most amiable disposition. Bayard has not yet
arrived. The Democrats feel the absence of Giles. Eandolph

LIFE OF 'WILLIAM PLUMEE. 249

has more talent than any other man of that party ; but they
are unwilling to own a leader, who has the appearance of a
beardless boy more than of a full grown man. The session is
wasting away, and, though we have done no good, we have
not committed much evil. The little Burr has not yet
appeared."

To John Taylor Gilman, January 18th, 1803 :

" The President has nominated James Munroe, Envoy Ex-
traordinary to the Courts of Paris and Madrid, to treat, in
conjunction with our ministers there, upon the navigation of
the Mississippi, and the purchase of Louisiana. To this
appointment there was a serious but unavailing opposition in
the Senate. The vote was fifteen to twelve. The Senate do
not decide whether the mission is necessary. The President
alone is considered responsible for that. They decide only
on the qualifications of the man, not on the propriety of the
measure. Yet the man whom Washington, after a full trial,
thought it necessary to recall from France, is again appointed
to the same court, a court which holds in contempt the
Jacobins to whom he was then so much attached. But the
measures of Washington are to be reviled, his admirers
wounded, and a new order of things established. The more
I see and know of these men, the more I am confirmed in the
opinion that the Federalists are the real friends of their
country, and their measures the best calculated so secure its
peace and prosperity."

The most important subject which came before
Congress this session, was the refusal of the right of

250 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

deposit at New Orleans, by the Spanish authorities
there. By the treaty of 1795, with Spain, it was
stipulated that the United States should be allowed
'' to deposit their merchandise and effects in the port
of New Orleans, and export them thence, without any
other duty than a fair price for the hire of stores."
The Spanish Intendant had issued a proclamation
(October 16, 1802,) taking away the right till then
possessed, and assigning no other place of deposit on
the river. The uneasiness produced by this measure
among the people west of the mountains, who, from a
few inconsiderable settlements, had increased to half a
million of inhabitants, was great and universal ; and
it was evident that some remedy for the wrong sus-
tained must at once be supplied. The remedy pro-
posed by the Federalists was to seize at once on New
Orleans, by force of arms, before it should be taken
possession of by France, to whom the country had
just before been ceded by Spain. "France," said
Morris, " will not sell this territory. If we want it,
we must adopt the Spartan policy, and obtain it by
steel, not by gold." The President, on the contrary,
was in favor of the more pacific policy of negotiation,
and purchase of territory. The House passed resolu-
tions expressing their determination to maintain the
rights secured by the treaty, and referring the whole
subject to the action of the President. In the Senate,
Ross of Pennsylvania offered resolutions (February

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 251

10, 1803,) authorizing the President to take posses-
sion of New Orleans, and for that purpose to call
out, if necessary, fifty thousand of the militia of the
adjoining states ; to pay the expenses of which, he
proposed that five millions should be appropriated.
As a substitute for these, Breckenridge of Kentucky
moved resolutions, February 23d, referring the sub-
ject to the President, with authority to call on the
Governors of the states for eighty thousand volun-
teers, to be held in readiness to march at the order of
the President. After an animated debate, Ross's
resolutions were stricken out, by a strictly party
vote, and those of Breckenridge were then unani-
mously adopted. A law was soon after passed to
carry them into efiect. By another law, passed in
secret session, two millions were appropriated for the
extraordinary expenses of the foreign intercourse,
with a view to the purchase of the island of New
Orleans and West Florida.

The following extracts of letters show my
father's views on this subject. To Jeremiah Smith,
January 9th:

" On the 4th of December, the President stated to me per-
sonally the fact of the violation of our treaty with Spain, but
in his annual message of the 15th to Congress, he takes no
notice of it. The truth, if exhibited in this case, would have
disfigured the beauty of his picture of peace and prosperity,

252 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMEK.

and presented some things to excite our fears as -well as our
hopes. Congress ought to publish a declaration that Spain
has violated her plighted faith ; to authorize the President to
raise a provisional army, and tci man and equip our little
navy ; and, in case negotiation should not succeed, to take
possession of New Orleans. Indeed, I think we should be
justified in immediately seizing on that city. But the ruling
party are alarmed, and have not resolution to act. They fear
the approaching election. Eandolph said the other day in
the House, ' The Federalists wish to drive us into a war, to
dissipate our treasures, and obtain for themselves the direction
of the government.' This declaration is strong proof of the
fears of the administration. They fear that bold and decisive
measures will produce war, and that taxes, increased duties,
and new loans will follow. How contemptible and wretched
is the man, who, at the expense of honor and conscience,
obtains an office, and cannot then pursue his own course, but
must adopt such measures as will please the unthinking pop-
ulace ! From such a disposition, and from an office thus
obtained. Good Lord deliver me ! "

To the same, February 16 :

" Mr. Ross introduced his resolutions to the Senate in a
speech of nearly two hours, far exceeding anything I ever
witnessed in a deliberate assembly, not abounding in tropes
and figures, and the flowers of rhetoric, such as flow with so
much ease and grace from the lips of Governeur Morris, but a
continued chain of reasoning, forcibly addressing itself both to
the heart and the understanding."

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 253

To T. W. Thompson, February 18th:

" You have seen an account of the weak and feeble meas-
ures that the administration have adopted, respecting the
violation of the Spanish treaty. The Federalists were for
taking immediate possession of New Orleans, and using it, as
our treaty provides, for a place of deposit. Enclosed are Mr.
Ross's resolutions. His introductory speech was one of the
ablest I ever heard. I have reason to believe that the admin-
istration is divided upon this subject. From the chief, a man
of weak nerves, we have no right to expect energetic action.
Wavering, indecisive, half-way measures will probably be the
result. The measures debated and adopted in conclave would,
if known, alarm considerate, reflecting Democrats. A Com-
mittee of the House has this day reported that Judge Pick-
ering, of New Hampshire, be impeached of high crimes and
misdemeanors in office. In conversation with the President,
this day, he said to me : ' It will take two years to try this
impeachment. The Constitution ought to be altered, so that
the President should be authorized to remove a Judge from
office, on the address of the two Houses of Congress.' "

Speaking at a later period on this subject of the
right of deposit at New Orleans, my father wrote :
" After hearing the arguments on both sides, and con-
sidering the subject, I had some doubts of the pro-
priety of adopting Ross's resolutions ; but my pride
was enlisted in their support ; for I had early written
to some of my correspondents that I was in favor of

254 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEB.

them. Party considerations had also an influence on
my mind ; and I reluctantly voted against striking
them out." This was the first very important matter,
during the session, in which a strong party feehng
manifested itself in the Senate, and though on the
main question he had hardly independence enough
to break at once from his party, and from his own
previous declarations, he showed, on an incidental
question, that he could act, as well as think, inde-
pendently of party dictation. After two or three
days spent in debate, the Federal Senators had
agreed, at eight o'clock in the evening, not to vote
for an adjournment till the question was taken.
Mason of Virginia, stating that he wished to speak,
but from ill health could not do it, at that late hour,
moved an adjournment.

" I thought," wrote my father, '< the request reasonable,
and voted for it. Governeur Morris yvas offended, and
privately censured me for my vote. I told him I had acted
towards Mason as I should have wished him to act towards
me ; and that, on so important a subject, I was willing to
spend another day. He replied : 'When a man has resolved
to act only according to the convictions of his own mind, the
party to which he belongs can never depend upon his sup-
port ; and I shall not be surprised, if, in a few years, you act
more like a Eepublican than a Federalist.' I replied, that I
could not say what I might hereafter become ; but I trusted
I should never act contrary to my own judgment, to support

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 255

either party. He said, ' No man can maintain in political
life sucli an independent course.' I replied, 'I shall fail
then as a public man, and return again to private life.' "

Federal in his opinions, he acted generally with
his party; but, independent in his judgments, he
allowed no one to think for him, where it was his
duty to think and act for himself. Time showed that
the President's plan of securing New Orleans by
purchase was safer than the Federal one of seizing it
by force. Yet there was great weight in the idea
that, if it passed into the hands of Napoleon, it could
be obtained from him only at the expense of a war
with France. Its possession by either France or
England would have seriously endangered the secu-
rity and essential interests of the United States. The
President was keenly sensible to the danger from
this quarter ; as his views of policy required, above
all else, a good understanding with France. "There
is," said he, " one spot on the globe, the possessor of
which is our natural and habitual enemy. That spot
is New Orleans. France, placing herself in that door,
assumes to us the attitude of defiance." On my
father's presenting to him (February 26th), as Chair-
man of the Committee on Enrolled BUls, the act
intended to authorize the purchase of New Orleans,
he said : " A great point is now gained ; a new pre-
cedent estabhshed in our government — the passage

256 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEB.

of an important law by Congress, in secret session.
They ought to have passed, some years since, the law
respecting Algiers in the same manner."

Two or three other extracts will bring ns to the
close of this session. He wrote often to his wife and
children ; and I had myself many letters from him
during the session. February 22d, he says, in a letter
to me : —

" The members of the House sit with their hats on, but
take them off when they speak. It has rather an odd appear-
ance to see the House covered, and the Senators, and Heads
of Departments, who frequently go in to hear the debates,
with their hats in their hands. Mr. Randolph goes to the
House booted and spurred, with his whip in his hand, in
imitation, it is said, of members of the British Parliament.
He is a very slight man, but of the common stature. At a
little distance he does not appear older than you are ; but
upon a nearer approach you perceive his wrinkles and grey
hairs. He is, I believe, about thirty. He is a descendant in
the right line from the celebrated Indian princess, Pocahontas.
The Federalists ridicule and affect to despise him ; but a
despised foe often proves a dangerous enemy. His talents
are certainly far above mediocrity. As a popular speaker, he
is not inferior to any man in the House. I admire his inge-
nuity and address ; but I dislike his politics."

To Judge Smith, February 23d :

" Burr presides in the Senate with great ease and dignity.
He always understands the subject before the Senate ; states

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 257

the question clearly, and confines the speakers to the point.
He despises the littleness and meanness of the administration ;
but does not distinctly oppose them, or aid us. It is his
object to detach from the two parties enough to constitute a
majority in his favor. He frequently touches a subject in
conversation with the skill of a master. But, with all his
cunning, he will find it a difficult task to inspire confidence
or esteem. His arts have alarmed the fears and awakened the
jealousies of the President."

February 26tli :

" The dark complexion, and something in his look and
manner, gives one the impression that Mr. Hillhouse of Con-
necticut has Indian blood in his veins. He and Wright of
Maryland have frequent collisions. The latter said to-day : ' I
would not repine at being stricken down by the thunder-bolts
of Jove (looking towards Morris), but I will not submit
tamely to be mangled by the tomahawk of this son of Alno-
mac,' pointing to Hillhouse. The latter, by a sudden motion,
seemed as if springing on his foe, who dropped as suddenly
into his seat, amidst the suppressed laughter of the Senate,
to which the straight, up-drawn gravity and assumed uncon-
sciousness of the Connecticut Senator gave full eflfect."

Hillhouse had acquired at home the title of the
Sachem ; and his son has since, with great good
taste, given to his beautiful paternal seat, in New
Haven, the name of the Sachem's Wood — a name
referring at once to his father, and to the tradition of

17

258 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK.

an early Indian residence on the spot consecrated to
fame by Ms own gifted pen.
Marcli 3d :

" A severe indisposition would have excused me from the
Senate this day ; but pride and a sense of duty induced me to
attend. The House had passed the bill to reduce the marine
corps ; and to-day was assigned for its third reading in the
Senate. More than one of my Democratic friends took occa-
sion to inform me that the weather was peculiarly unpleasant,
and that my chamber was better suited to so sick a man than
the Capitol. But, regardless of their friendly monitions, I
tarried ; and, at six in the evening, the bill was postponed to
the 4th of March next. This is a triumph to the Feder-
alists."

To his wife, March 3d :

" To-morrow morning I shall begin my journey to Epping,
and hope to reach home in about a fortnight. There is one
circumstance attending my departure from this place which
sensibly affects me, and has very much depressed my spirits.
It is that I am to part from friends that I shall probably never
see again. Not to mention others, I shall not find, if I retui'n
to this place in November, Morris and Ross in their seats, —
Morris, the greatest orator I ever heard ; E,oss, the logical
reasoner and impressive speaker. No more will their in-
structive conversation inform my mind, nor their gentleman-
like conduct polish my manners. They are men of great
talents, of much and varied information, and of strict integrity.
I shall ever consider it one of the fortunate circumstances of

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 259

my lifcj tliat I have liad an opportunity to connect myself
■with them. What a pity that the rage of party should
exclude such men from our national councils ! The injury
done is to the country, and not to my friends. I have only
time to add that I am well, and shall hasten to your presence
with increased pleasure, after so long an absence."

Another strong motive for a speedy rettirn was '
the ill health of his father, whom he hardly expected
to find alive.

" Congress adjourned," he writes, " at midnight, on the
3d of March ; and early the next morniag I took the stage
for home, which I reached safely and in good health on the
13th at noon. My father was alive ; and I hastened imme-
diately to visit him. On my entering the room he revived.
His mental faculties were clear and strong ; and after con-
versing with me for some time, inquiring how I had enjoyed
my health, and what were our national prospects, he wished
me, as night approached, to retire and take some rest, as I
had travelled day and night. I had been in bed but a little
time^ before I was sent for, and again visited him. Just
before the day dawned, on the 14th of March, 1803, in full
possession of his reason, with calmness and fortitude, he
expired without a struggle, in the eighty-second year of his
age. It afforded me some consolation, though a melancholy
one, to be present at his dissolution."

His conduct towards his parents had always been
that of the most respectful tenderness. He never
ceased to express for them the utmost filial reverence

260 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

and love. Years after, on reading the touching line
of Cowper,

"The son of parents passed into the skieSj"

he paused, closed the book, and said feelingly: "My
case, that is truly my case — 'The son of parents
passed into the skies,'" repeating the line with an
emotion which brought tears into his eyes.

During the recess he spent his time pleasantly in
the society of his friends, visiting and being visited,
and devoting his leisure, in the intervals of study, to
rural occupations. On the first of October, he again
set out for Washington, which city he reached on the
14th. The President had summoned Congress to
meet on the 17th, on account of the treaty which had
been formed for the purchase of Louisiana. The
treaty and conventions were at once laid before the
Senate for their action. The two millions, appropri-
ated at the last session, had been intended for the
purchase of the territory east of the Mississippi, com-
prehending the island of New Orleans, and as much
of the Floridas as could be obtained. The times were
peculiarly favorable for the success of the negotiation.
France was on the eve of a war with England, whose
naval superiority gave her easy access to Louisiana,
and made the reduction of it by that power, in the
event of war, almost certain. Napoleon was glad to
find for his newly acquired territory a purchaser, who

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 261

would not only keep it from his enemy, but pay him
for it besides. Instead, therefore, of the small portion
which alone the President sought to acquire, he
offered the whole territory for fifteen millions, —
a sum which, though it seemed large to those who
were opposed to the purchase, and was at the time
made the subject of much ill-founded clamor, was in
truth a mere trifle compared with the value of the
country ceded. The treaty was signed, April 30,
T803. It now came before the Senate for ratification;
and here difficulties, not altogether imaginary, rose
in the way of its adoption. As to the title, the Fed-
eralists contended that the treaty was a mere quit-
claim of the right of France; and that it did not
appear that France had complied with the condition
on which alone Spain had agreed to cede it to her.
The treaty of St. Ildefon'so was not in itself a cession,
but an agreement to cede under certain circum-
stances. In point of fact, the country was still in
the possession of Spain; and the Spanish minister
here had entered his caveat or protest with our
government against the transfer, as invalid. There
were also provisions in the treaty, respecting the ad-
mission of French and Spanish vessels into the terri-
tory, and the rights of the inhabitants under it, which
were thought by many to be contrary to the Consti-
tution. But the great objection was to the acquisi-
tion by the United States of any territory whatever,.

262 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

under the obligation to admit it as a state into the
Union. The Constitution, it was contended, was
formed for the government of a certain known and
defined territory, called the United States, and could
not be extended to any other territory, without an
amendment of that instrument, providing for such
extension, nor, as some contended, without the con-
sent of each of the states. These objections did not,
however, prevent the ratification of the treaty (Oc-
tober 20th) ; yeas 24, nays 7. The nays included
all the Federalists present. My father was among
them. He held that the treaty contained virtually
a stipulation to admit the territory as a state into the
Union ; and that. Congress having no right to do this,
the Senate could not ratify a treaty which the gov-
ernment itself had no power to execute. This
unconstitutional character of the treaty was admitted
by many in the debate, and particularly by Taylor of
Virginia, who " confessed that the treaty was a vio-
lation of the Constitution, but declared that he would
ratify it, and throw himself on the people for pardon,
and on Heaven to absolve him from the violation of
a trust he had sworn to maintain."

" While the q^uestioa was depending in the Senate," says
my father, « I called upon Mr. Jefferson, and had an hour's
free conversation with him. In the course of it, he inquired
what my opinion was respecting the treaty. I answered, I

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 263

thought we had no constitutional authority to make and
execute such a treaty. He said that was precisely his opinion ;
but that after it was ratified the Constitution could be altered,
so as to authorize Congress to admit the country into the
Union. ' The Constitution,' he said, in a letter to one of his
friends, ' has made no provision for our holding foreign terri-
tory ; still less for our incorporating foreign nations into our
Union. Congress will be obliged to ask from the people an
amendment of the Constitution, authorizing their receiving the
province into the Union, and providing for its government.'
The draft of such an amendment was prepared by Mr. Madi-
son ; but, as it was doubtful whether it would be adopted by
the requisite mumber of states, it was never formally proposed,
though still talked of as necessary."

When the subject came before the House, the same
objections were made to the treaty as in the Senate.
"The union of the states," said Roger Griswold of
Connecticut, "is formed on the principle of a copart-
nership, and it would be absurd to suppose that the
agents of the parties, the general government, who
have been appointed to execute the business of the
compact, in behalf of the principals, the states, could
admit a new partner, without the consent of the
parties themselves. The treaty, therefore, so far as it
stipulates for such an incorporation, is void."

This violation of the Constitution, acquiesced in
from its apparent utihty in the present case, was
regarded, in 1819, as a sufficient authority for the

264 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

acquisition of Florida, by treaty ; of Texas, by resolu-
tion of annexation, in 1845; and of large portions of
Mexico, by conquest and purchase, in 1848 ; till it
seems to be now settled as constitutional law that
any extent of foreign territory may be acquired by i
the general government, and must, when so acquired,
be admitted into the Union upon an equal footing
with the original states. It is among the instructive
lessons of our history that this claim of an unlimited
power to acquire territory and admit states, is the act
of those who pride themselves on being strict con-
structionists ; and that under it they have added to
the Union territories much more extensive than the
whole of the original states. This has been done by
those who deny the right of Congress to establish a
bank, to make internal improvements, or to enact
a protective tariff. The undeniable importance of
possessing the outlet of the Mississippi made the
acquisition of a portion of Florida and Louisiana
desirable; and this was the extent of Mr. Jefferson's
original design. But the prize was too dazzling to be
rejected when half a continent was offered to his
cupidity; and constitutional objections had, in this
case, little weight with the mass of the people. Saga-
cious men, indeed, looked forward to the day when,
by the filling up of this territory, the balance of
power would be transferred from the original states to
this once alien country, and both the North and the

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 265

South would sink into subjection to tlie power thus
created. My father regarded it as a virtual dissolu-
tion of the Union, and held that it was optional
with any of the old states to say whether they
would longer remain in the present confederacy, or
form new ones more to their liking. Twenty-five
years later, he said, "I still think the ratification of
that treaty was the most direct and palpable viola-
tion of the Constitution, of which Congress has ever
been guilty." Yet, when it had been thus ratified,
he thought himself bound to vote for the stock cre-
ated to pay for the territory, as provided by the
treaty. In this he differed from his Federalist friends,
■ who all voted against the bill, except John Quincy
Adams. He had just then taken his seat as a Senator
from Massachusetts, and with him my father con-
tracted a friendship which ended only with their
lives. They voted together on this occasion, as on
many others which followed. They both voted
against the bill for taking possession of the terri-
tory, as containing provisions which they deemed
not only inexpedient,. but unconstitutional.

The last presidential election had, in the opinion
of many, revealed a defect in the Constitution, which
required amendment. The Constitution provided that
each Presidential elector should vote for two persons;
the one having the highest number of votes to be
President, and the one having the next highest to be

266 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

Yice President; and in case there was no choice by the
people, the President was to be chosen out of the five
highest candidates, by the House of Representatives,
voting by states; and the Vice President, by the
Senate. .At the last election, no person having
received a majority of all the votes, the two high-
est candidates were Jefferson and Burr, who had
each received the same number of electoral votes.
The choice of President thus devolving on the House,
it was not till the thirty-sixth ballot, at the end of a
seven days' session, that Jefferson was chosen Presi-
dent; the Federalists having voted at all the previous
ballotings for Burr. An amendment of the Consti-
tution was now proposed, designating the office for
which each person was intended by the electors,
and providing, in case there was no choice by the
electors, that the President should be chosen by the
House, out of the three highest candidates. Though
at first some doubts had been expressed by individ-
uals on both sides, as to how they should vote, it soon
became a party question, all the Republicans but one
voting for, and all the Federalists against, the pro-
posed amendments. After various alterations had
been proposed, some of them adopted, and others
rejected, the resolutions took their final form, and the
debate on the main question commenced. My father
delivered his sentiments on the subject in a speech of
nearly two hours. An abstract of this speech would

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 267

occupy too much room here ; but some portions of it
may be noticed, either as important in themselves,
or from their connection with the author. After
explaining the only modes by which amendments
could be made, and drawing from the difficulty of
the operation a caution against hasty action, he con-
tended that "the two-thirds of both Houses of Con-
gress" required, to propose an amendment, meant,
"not two-thirds of those who may happen to be
present and vote on the question ; but two-thirds of
all the members of each House, whom all the states
have a right to elect." To sustain this construction
he quoted several other clauses in which the expres-
sion, "two-thirds of both Houses" had evidently this
meaning, while in cases where the meaning is differ-
ent, the phrase is changed to " two-thirds of those
present." "If two-thirds of those present can pro-
pose amendments to the Constitution, it follows that
twelve Senators, when only a quorum is present,
may propose them against the will of twenty-two
Senators." This distinction was a material one in
the present case, and, if sustained, would have been
fatal to the success of the measure ; as it was well
understood that no such majority could be obtained
in either House. He denied the right of the state
Legislatures to instruct Congress on this subject.

"We are not sent here," he said, "for the purpose of
registering the public opinion. Our duty is to obtain the

268 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

best information we can, and then to act according to our
own judgment of what is right and proper. I do not say
that the states may not, in some cases, instruct their Senators
and Eepresentatives. I only say that it is improper, in this
case, that those who are to ratify the amendments proposed
should instruct us in the first instance what amendments to
propose. It is the j^ssumption of power, and not the exercise of
right. As well might a petit jury instruct a grand jury to
find a bill against a particular individual, and send it to them
for trial. It is judging before the time, and under improper
influences. See too in what a vicious circle it involves us.
We are called upon to propose the amendments, because some
four or five state legislatures, my own among the rest, have
so instructed us ; and when we have done it, the legislatures
throughout the Union will be told that they must adopt
them, because Congress, in its wisdom, has seen fit to propose
them. We, because they have done it ; they, because we
have ; with no independent action in either case. Thus the
measure is to be carried by this irregular influence of one
body on the other. If such instructions are obligatory, we
are mere machines ; and our votes must be governed, not by
the convictions of our own minds, but by the sovereign man-
dates of state legislatures. I do not so understand the nature
of my ofiice, nor my duty in it. The people themselves
established the Constitution, giving us certain rights under it,
and these we are bound to exercise, according to our own
judgment, without interference from others. In so doing M'e
obey, in the highest possible sense, the voice of the people.
Any other expression of that voice may be a true or a false
one ; this only is authentic and obligatory, the ofiicial and
sole constitutional expression of the public will,"

LIFE OF AVILLIAM PLUMER. 269

Another position taken by him was that, though
minor matters in the Constitution, such as the forms
and modes of proceeding — the agencies by which
certain great objects are to be affected — may be
changed, the essential principles of that instrument
— the great compromises on which the whole rests —
cannot, in good faith and honesty, be disturbed, with-
out the consent of all the partners to the compact, a
compact formed by each individual state separately,
with each of the other states.

"Amendment means the improvement of what already
exists, not a new creation ; a change in form, not in sub-
stance ; in modes of action only, and not in the principles of
action. If a change is made in the essential principles of the
compact, — if new principles are introduced, and a new order
of things established, — it is a question whether the states
dissenting from such changes are bound by them. " The prin-
ciples of the confederacy being changed, without the consent
of the partners to that confederacy, is not this in fact a disso-
lution of the Union ? Are gentlemen disposed to go thus far ?
The Constitution is a matter of compromise, as between the
North and the South — ^the free and the slave states, and as
between the large and the small states. These compromises
are fundamental, and cannot in good faith be altered but by
unanimous consent. "Would the Southern States submit to an
alteration depriving them of their slave representation ? This
partial, unjust, and unequal representation already gives the
slave states eighteen votes in the House, and as many in the

270 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK.

electoral colleges, whicli is equal to the united votes in the
House of six whole states, thus rendered powerless by this
slave representation. And why should property, (for such
you consider your slaves,) give an increase of representation in
one portion of the Union, and property in other portions be
not at all represented ? With the exception of Massachusetts,
which must soon be divided, the Northern States are all small
states ; and they are supposed to have received some com-
pensatory advantage in this choice of a President and Vice
President. But you take this away by the proposed amend-
ment ; which secures to the large states both these important
offices. When, under the present provision, the choice
devolves upon the House, the small states stand some chance
to elect a President, the choice being made out of the five
highest candidates. By the present amendment this choice is
reduced to the three highest ; and their choice is still further
diminished by the designating principle. Will gentlemen
who, by their negro votes alone, outnumber the votes of six
entire states of this Union, seek to render the unjust advantage
which they already possess still greater by this amendment ?
And have they considered what the effect of this new injustice
may be on the minds of our people ? There is a degree of
sufferance to which men will submit ; but beyond that, even
cowards become desperate. The people of the Eastern States
are not insensible to the indignity thus offered them. They
are a brave and hardy race, who know their rights, and will
not tamely submit to be reduced to a state of insignificance.
They will see that no equivalent is given them for the injury
this amendment inflicts on them, in the increased weight
which it gives to the Southern and Western States, at their

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEB. 271

expense. "What effect this change may produce in New
England, time alone can show. One thing is certain, that it
will not strengthen the Union."

He dwelt further on the danger to the Union of
thus disturbing the compromises of the Constitution,
already seriously affected by the purchase of Louisi-
ana ; which would bring several new states into the
confederacy, and throw the balance of power, origin-
ally adjusted with so much care, wholly in favor of
the South and Southwest. Other objections were
urged ; some of them not unimportant ; all going to
show that the proposed amendment would make the
strong states still stronger, and the weak states,
already too weak, yet weaker. The oflBce of Vice
President ought, in his opinion, to be abolished, and
the Senate left, like the House, to choose its own pre-
siding ofl&cer.

" If the present amendment is adopted, the Vice President
will ordinarily be a man of moderate but popular talents ;
who will be supported because he can bring the votes of a
large state to aid in the election of a President from another
large state. He will seldom be a very able man ; for the
President, like the jealous Turk, will bear no brother near the
throne. Having the casting vote, when the Senate is equally
divided, the Vice President gives an undue influence to his
own state ; and this has happened oftener on important ques-
tions than those who have not examined the journals for that
purpose would suspect."

272 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

For these reasons he was willing to abolish the
office of Vice President, but opposed to any other
change of the Constitution.

On closing his speech, he was congratulated by his
friends on the abiUty he had shown in it. But he
complained that he had not felt his usual animation
in speaking, and he doubted whether he should again
attempt a set speech in the Senate. The debate was
continued till ten o'clock in the evening. Tracy
closed it with great ability on the part of the oppo-
sition. The amendments passed ; yeas 22, nays 10.
It was objected that twenty-two Senators were not
two-thirds of the Senate ; but the President joro tern.
pronounced it a constitutional majority. A desultory
conversation ensued, but no vote was taken. In the
House a majority of two-thirds of those present and
actually voting was obtained only by the casting vote
of the Speaker. The amendments were approved by
just the requisite number of states for their adoption,
and are now a part of the Constitution. It did not,
however, receive the vote of New Hampshire, so that,
though my father voted against instructions in this
case, his constituents came round and voted with him
in the end against the amendment. No other amend-
ment of the Constitution has since been adopted.

The House of Representatives had, at the previous
session, voted to impeach John Pickering, District
Judge of New Hampshire, and the case now came on

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 273

for trial before the Senate. The hypochondria, as it
was called in 1794, of Judge Pickering, had in 1803
been developed into a condition, bodily and mental,
which rendered him incompetent to the discharge of
his official duties. How to get rid of him was now
the question. The Constitution knows no mode of
removing a judge except by "impeachment for high
crimes and misdemeanors." That his mental powers
were impaired or deranged, no one doubted. The
New Hampshire Senators were both examined as wit-
nesses as to his character, and testified to the high
moral worth of the Judge, so long as he retained the
use of his reason. Under these circumstances it was
with difl&culty that a sufficient number of votes could
be obtained to convict him. The Federal members
were all opposed to the impeachment, and three of
the Republicans absented themselves. The final vote
was, yeas 19, nays 7, and he was accordingly removed.
The case was a difficult one, in every aspect. Pick-
ering's removal was desirable ; but to make insanity
a misdemeanor was to confound all distinctions of
law and justice, and to pervert the constitutional
provision of impeachment for crime into an uncon-
stitutional mode of removal from office without crime,
thus changing the tenor of judicial office from " good
behavior" to that of the good pleasure of Congress.
The success of this impeachment furnished a new
proof of the ease with which constitutional provisions

18

274 LIPE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

are made to yield to the supposed necessities of the
public service, and to the interests, often urgent, of
party leaders. In this case, it gave the administration
an opportunity of rewarding partizan services with
the spoils of office. John S. Sherburne, Jonathan
Steele, Michael McCleary, and Richard Cutts Shan-
non were the principal witnesses against Pickering.
Sherburne was appointed Judge; Steele, District
Attorney; McCleary, Marshal; and Shannon, Clerk
of the Court. Steele, expecting to have been Judge,
refused to accept his appointment, assigning as the
reason his agency in the removal of Pickering.

During the discussions which grew out of this
impeachment, and those which soon after followed
respecting Judge Chase, many of the leading Repub-
licans evinced a determination to render the judges
dependent, for the tenure of their offices, on the will
of Congress. William B. Giles contended that a judge
might be removed, though guilty of no crime, for
mere error in judgment, or because he differed in.
political opinion from the President, or from Con-
gress; and that either of these was a sufficient
ground of removal, on impeachment. Randolph
said, that the provision that the judges should hold
their offices during good behavior was a provision
against removal by the President only; but that
whenever the people, by their representatives, re-
quest him to remove a judge, he is bound to do it,

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 275

and that the House may impeach, and the Senate
convict and remove, for any cause which they may
deem sufficient. The dominant party was already in
possession of every department of the government,
except the judiciary. They had abolished the Cir-
cuit Courts at the last session, and seemed now
determined, by their movements against Chase, and
their threats against some of the other judges, to
drive their opponents from their only remaining
stronghold, the Supreme Court — "a battery," said
Jefferson, " by which aU the works of Republicanism
are to beaten down and erased." My father had
high notions of the importance of an independent
judiciary; and this apparent determination to dis-
place the judges, or, by the threat to do so, to bend
them to the will of the party in power, filled him
with gloomy apprehensions for the safety of our free
institutions. These he regarded as depending for
their permanence, more on constitutional restraints
and the stability of established law, than on any
vague notions of democratic virtue and popular
infallibility. "I once thought," he says, February
10th, 1803, "our judiciary would be a permanent
defence against the encroachments of power ; but I
presumed too much in favor of Republicanism. There
are no bounds that can be set to the popular will."
The people would, he thought, be right in the long
run, and they must, at any rate, have their way in the

276 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

end ; but they often go wrong under the excitement
of passion, and there should be somewhere placed a
stiff curb on the first impulsive movement. This is
the true use and design of checks and balances, and
constitutional restrictions, — ^a veto power, in some
department of the government, to give time for the
better sense and sound judgment of the people to
correct their first hasty and erroneous impressions.
The judiciary and the Senate are the only conserva-
tive powers in our system, and if these are broken
down, or betray their trust, there is no longer any
barrier remaining against the despotism of party, or
the sudden madness of popular delusion.

It was with these apprehensions, and at this period,
that Mr. Plumer began first to entertain doubts as to
the permanence of the Union, and to regard its dis-
solution as not improbable, and under certain cir-
cumstances, not undesirable. His opinions on this
subject had much influence on his subsequent career,
and shaped, to a great extent, his course of action, in
some of the most interesting periods of his public
life. It may be proper, therefore, to examine the
state of public feeling on this question of a dissolu-
tion of the Union, and the establishment of separate
confederacies, as manifested, more or less strongly, at
different periods, in all parts of the country.

The union of thirteen independent states under
one general government was an experiment of which

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 27T

many, from the first, doubted the expediency, and
more the success. Diversities of interest and feehng
had shown themselves strongly, even under the pres-
sure of force from without ; still more strongly, after
the peace with England ; and with even greater
prominence in the convention by which the Constitu-
tion was formed. Attachment to the Union was by
no means universal or general. Writing to Washing-
ton, David Stewart said, "A spirit of jealousy, which
may become dangerous to the Union, towards the
Eastern States, seems to be growing fast among us.
Colonel Lee tells me, that many who were warm sup-
porters of the government, are changing their senti-
ments, from a conviction of the impracticability of
union with states whose interests are so dissimilar to
those of Virginia." "That there is a diversity of
interests in the Union," says Washington, in reply,
(March 28, 1790,) "none has denied; yet it does not
follow that separation is to result from the disagree-
ment. If the Eastern and Northern States are dan-
gerous, in union, will they be less so, in separation ?
What would Virginia and such other states as might
be inclined to join her, gain by separation ?" Writing
to Washington, three years later, (May 23, 1793,) Jef-
.ferson said, that opposition to the Union was origin-
ally so extensive at the South, and had been recently
so much increased, that " a small number only was
wanting to place the majority on the other side ;" to

278 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

prevent whicli his continuance at the head of affairs
was of the utmost importance. " North and South
will hang together, if they have you to hang on.
Otherwise, there is reason to fear the breaking of the
Union into two or more parts." Edmund Randolph
took the same ground. " The Union seems to me to
be now on the eve of a crisis. The man alone, whose
patronage secured the adoption of the Constitution,
can check the assaults which it will sustain." Ham-
ilton urged Washington's continuance in office, (July,
1792,) from the same apprehension of danger to the
Union from his retirement at that time.

From that period to the present time, whenever
any part of the country has felt dissatisfied with the
measures of the government, this idea of a separa-
tion of the states has presented itself to the disaf-
fected as a remedy for the oppressions under which
they have thought themselves to labor. Even before
the adoption of the Constitution, while Louisiana be-
longed to Spain, intrigues were carried on, with the
authorities of New Orleans, for the separation of the
Western country from the Union, and the establish-
ment of more intimate relations with Spain. The
latter country had its agents in the West, and, for a
long time, paid pensions to certain prominent men
there. " From the period of our independence," said
Mr. Pope, of Kentucky, in the Senate of the United
States, (Dec. 27, 1810,) " Spain has been intriguing to

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 279

separate the Western from the Atlantic States." In
1794, the Legislature of Kentucky, in a remonstrance
to the President and to Congress, threatened a dis-
memberment of the Union, if the navigation of the
Mississippi was not secured to them. During the
Whiskey Insurrection in Western Pennsylvania,
Hamilton writes to Washington, (August 5th, 1794,)
that the opposition "has matured to a point that
threatens the foundations of the Union." " If," said
Fisher Ames, (December 12, 1794,) "fortune had
turned her back upon us in August last, this Union
would have been rent. The spirit of insurrection had
tainted a vast extent of country besides Pennsylvania."
"Separation," said Jefferson, (December 28, 1794,)
" is now near and certain, and determined in the mind
of every man." This expression is doubtless exagger-
ated, growing out of his own heated opposition to
what he calls " the infernal excise law ;" which would,
he said, be made the instrument of dissolving the
Union, and "set us all afloat to choose what part of
it we would adhere to." Among the means used to
prevent tljie ratification of Jay's Treaty, in 1795, was
a threat from Virginia, " to recede from the Union, in
case the treaty should be ratified." These threats
were not lost on the mind of Washington. The dan-
gers of disunion form one of the most prominent
topics of his Farewell Address (September 17, 1796),
to the people of the United States. In it, he states.

280 lilFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK.

at great length, the advantages of the Union to the
North and the South, the East and the West ; and
Calls earnestly on the people " to frown indignantly
upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate
any portion of our country from the rest."

These warnings, often quoted with salutary effect,
have not, however, prevented the formation of plans
of disunion, even in the native state of their author.
The opposition to Adams's administration was so
strong in the South and West, that threats of dis-
union were loudly uttered, and measures adopted,
particularly in Virginia, having evidently that result
in view, in the event of his re-election. Writing to
Patrick Henry, (January 15, 1799,) Washington says
that, though he believes the mass of the people are
well affected to the general government, yet " mea^
sures are systematically and pertinaciously pursued "
by the state authorities, "which must eventually
dissolve the Union," if not put down by force. " The
views of men can only be known, or guessed at, by
their words or actions. Can those of the leaders of
opposition be mistaken, if judged by this rule ? The
tranquillity of the Union, and of this state, in par-
ticular, is hastening to an awful crisis." " The late
attempt of Virginia and Kentuckj^," says Hamilton to
Dayton, (1799,) " to unite the state legislatures in a
direct resistance to certain laws of the Union, can be
considered in no other light than an attempt to

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 281

change the government. It will be wise, then, to act
on the hypothesis that the opposers of the govern-
ment are resolved, if it shall he practicable, to make
its existence a question of force."

When Spain denied the right of deposit at New
Orleans, threats were again uttered, that the western
people would join the Spaniards, and "make the
Alleghany Mountains the western boundary of the
United States."- "Would it be indecorous," said
Wilkinson lo Hamilton, "that I should express my
apprehensions that we repose in false security; and
that if we are not seasonably aroused, the dismem-
berment of the Union must be put to hazard ?" Mr.
Ross said in the Senate, (February 14, 1803,) that
if the western people had not justice done them, in
the business of the Mississippi, they would separate
from the Union, and make the best terms they could
with the power, whoever that might be, which com-
manded the mouth of the river. "Put France," said
Governeur Morris, on the same occasion, "in possession
of New Orleans, and the time will soon come, when
those Avho cross the mountains, will cross the line
of your jurisdiction." White of Delaware predicted,
from the same event, " one of the greatest evils that
can befall us, the dismemberment of the Union."
Three years later, a series of articles was published
in Ohio, in favor of a separation of the Western States
from those on the Atlantic ; and the same measure

282 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK.

was proposed in western Pennsylvania. This was at
the time of Burr's conspiracy, and there is little
doubt that the project of a western confederacy was
then extensively entertained by many able, active,
and disaffected men, who, "tired of the dull pursuits
of civil life," looked to Burr to lead them out of the
old confederacy into a " new empire of wealth and
glory." The pretence was a war with Spain, and an
attack on Mexico. Andrew Jackson favored Burr,
while he believed this to be his object ; bi5t, when he
discovered the true design, he wrote to Claiborne :
" I hate the Dons, and would delight to see Mexico
reduced ; but I would die in the last ditch, before I
would see the Union disunited."

Other and not a few more recent instances of anti-
union feeling and action, at the South and in the
West, might be given; but these are sufficient for
our purpose. They show that such designs were of
almost perpetual occurrence in our early history. It
will excite little surprise, therefore, if we find, in
the progress of this narrative, that similar move-
ments, having the same object in view, have occurred
also at the North. With some of these Mr. Plumer
was connected ; and it is on this account that the sub-
ject is hei^e introduced.

In 1793, Timothy Dwight, President of Yale Col-
lege, and like most of the eminent New England
divines of the day, a leading politician, wrote thus to

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 283

a friend : — " A war with Great Britain we, at least,
in New England, will not enter into. Sooner would
ninety-nine out of a hundred separate from the Union,
than plunge ourselves into such an abyss of misery."
In the letters of Oliver Wolcott, Lieutenant Governor
of Connecticut, to his son, then Secretary of the Treas-
ury, this idea is repeatedly advanced. " If," says he,
(November 21, 1796,) "the French arms continue to
preponderate, and a governing influence of this nation
shall continue in the Southern and Western cotmtries,
I am confident, and indeed hope, that a separation will
soon take place." " Such an event," he says, (Novem-
ber 28, 1*796,) " will be unhappy for us ; but much less
so, than to be under the government of a French
agent." " Though I am sensible," he says, (December
12, 1796,) "by our late revolution, of the evils of one,
I sincerely declare that I wish the Northern States
would separate from the Southern, the moment that
event [the election of Jefferson] shall take effect."
This plan of disunion, thus rife in Connecticut in
1796, may not improbably be regarded as the germ
of that which appeared at Washington, in 1803-4, at
Boston in 1808-9, and which shoAved itself, for the
last time, where it was first disclosed, in the Hartford
Convention of 1814.

That the acquisition of Louisiana would lead to the
dismemberment of the Union, seems to have been, at the
time of its purchase, a not imcommon opinion. " Our

284 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

country," said Fisher Ames, (October 6, 1803,) " is too
big for Union." In the House of Representatives,
Roger Griswold, of Connecticut, said, (October 25,
1803,) " The vast and unmanageable extent, which the
acquisition of Louisiana will give to the United States,
the consequent dispersion of our population, and the
destruction of that balance, which it is so important
to maintain, between the Eastern and the Western
States, threatens, at no very distant day, the subver-
sion of our Union." In the Senate, James Hillhouse,
of Connecticut, spoke, (January 26, 1804,) of the
country as being divided by geographical lines. " I
am," he said, "an eastern man; but while I am the
representative of a state which is yet a member of
the Union, I hope I shall have as much influence, as
if I were a southern man." Jackson, of Georgia,
said, (February 1, 1804,) "The settlement of Louisiana
wiU effect, what I much deprecate, a separation of
this Union." Drayton, of New Jersey, said, (February
2, 1804,) "If Upper Louisiana is settled, the people
there will separate from us ; they will form a new
empire, and become our enemies." Stone, of North
Carolina, said, (February 16, 1804,) "The acquisition
of Louisiana will produce one of two things, either a
division of the Union, or a very different govern-
ment from what we now have."

Mr. Plumer had, even earlier, expressed himself to
the same effect.

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLtTMER. 285

" The ratification," he says, (October 20, 1803,) " of this
treaty and the possession of that immense territory will
hasten the dissolution of our present government. The Con-
stitution never contemplated the accession of a foreign people,
or the extension of our territory. Our government may be
compared to a company in trade. With as much propriety
might a new partner be admitted, and the firm changed,
without the consent of the old partners, as a new state, formed
from without the limits of the original territory, be admitted
into the Union, without the preconsent of each of the present
states. Adopt this western world into the Union, and you
destroy at once the weight and importance of the Eastern
States, and compel them to establish a separate and indepen-
dent empire."

On this subject lie wrote, during the session, many
letters to his friends in New Hampshire. To Brad-
bury Cilley, he wrote, January 5, 1804 :

" I fear we are rapidly approaching a great crisis in our
aifairs. My hopes rest on the union of New England. That
portion of our country will, and must unite, and become firm
and determined in their measures. I am willing to own to
you that I have spent many gloomy hours in contemplating
this subject. The subject, at first, filled me with horror and
disgust."

To Oliver Peabody, (January 19, 1804,) he gives a
glowing picture of the evils suffered by New Eng-
land, and then asks:

286 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

" What do you wish your Senators and Representatives to
do here ? We have no part in Jefferson, and no inheritance
in Virginia. Shall we return to our homes, sit under our
own vines and fig trees, and be separate from slaveholders ?
These are serious questions. What is your opinion, and that
of the few in whom you can confide ?"

To Thomas W. Thompson, he writes, in February,
1804:

" Our affairs rapidly approach an important crisis. The
government is Virginian. New England must soon feel its
degraded condition, and I hope will have energy to assert
and maintain its rights ; and it will be of infinite importance
that the necessary changes should be effected under the forms,
and by the authority of the existing state governments. What
think you of this ? Must the inheritance be secured ? I
hope the necessity of preserving our state governments, as a
security against the approaching storm which may rend the
Union, will induce men of sound minds, who have property,
as well as reputation and life at hazard, to exert themselves in
the March elections."

To this Thompson rephed, (February 27th,) "I have
no idea that the season for action is near. The mass
of our people do not reflect. They must be made to
feel. In the meantime, we are all covetous of time
and money, and nearly all too poor to contribute
much of either for public purposes." To this his
disheartened correspondent rejoins, (March 10,) "In

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 287

New England I see but too little of national charac-
ter or public spirit. The love of money will be our
ruin. Oh ! that the Eastern States knew, in this their
day, the things that belong to their peace ; but they
are hidden from their eyes. If New England will not
come out, and separate from this mass of Southern
corruption, she must partake of their plagues." At
an earlier date, (February 22d,) he had written to
his predecessor in the Senate, James Sheafe, making
the inquiry, "Will the Eastern States think of a sepa-
ration? What is your opinion on the subject?" To
this Sheafe replied, (March 7th,) "On the subject
you hint at of separation, as a commercial man, I
should dread such an event. Our consequence abroad
would be lowered to nothing. I do not believe that
a separation can be made, before half a century is
past, without consequences ruinous to all the states."
To Jeremiah Smith, Mr. Plumer wrote, in March :

" If we ■wish for security to persons, property, or reputa-
tion, we must introduce a new order of things. How mutable
is the state of things ! A few years since, our fairest hopes
rested on the wisdom and integrity of the General Govern-
ment, to protect us against the ignorance and frauds of state
legislatures. I fondly hope I shall live to see the righteous
separated from the wicked by a geographical line. True
policy demands it."

Smith had written to him, (March 9th, 1796,) «I

288 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

wish, with all my heart that Virginia was out of the
Union. These overgrown states are always trouble-
some." And later, (Dec. 22, 1803,) "I feel, I freely
confess, no affection for the general government. It is
Virginian all over; and you may depend upon it, this
sentiment daily gains ground in New Hampshire.
We feel that we are Virginia slaves now, and that we
are to be delivered over to Kentucky and the other
Western States, when our Virginia masters are tired of
us. Is it possible that we can long stick together, as
a nation, when there is so little cement, and so much
repelling force in this heterogeneous mass ? Man is a
gregarious animal, it is true; but nature leads to
small herds ; and herds are not gregarious."

Other passages, of the same import with the pre-
ceding, might be quoted from Mr. Plumer's letters of
this session ; but these are sufficient to show that he
was not mistaken, when, at a later period, he said
that he was himself, at this time, a disunionist. The
answers which he received, in reply to his letters
on this subject, expressed universally a concurrence
of opinion as to the evils of the times ; but did not
generally respond favorably to the hints of disunion
thus thrown out. Some of them, however, did thus
respond. One, from a distinguished divine and poli-
tician of Massachusetts, Jedediah Morse, expressed,
very distinctly, a feeling then beginning to show
itself among certain ardent politicians of that state.

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 289

"I cannot but hope/' he says, (February 3d, 1804,) "that
New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut will outride
the storm that threatens the ruin of our country. If we were
peaceably severed from the rest of the United States, with
perhaps some other states joined with us, and left to manage
our own affairs in our own way, I think we should do much
better than we now do. Our empire is growing unwieldy ;
and must, I think, ere long break iu pieces. Some think the
sooner the better."

To this Mr. Plumer replied, (March 10th :)

" I hope the time is not far distant, when the people east
■ of the North River will manage their own affairs in their own
way, without being embarrassed by regulations from Virginia ;
and that the sound part will separate from the corrupt."

The preceding extracts are from speeches and let-
ters written at, or near the time of the events to
which they refer. But the subject came unexpect-
edly before the public in 1828, in consequence of
certain statements of John Quincy Adams, then
President of the United States, in relation to this
project of 1803-4. In explanation of a statement
made by Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Adams alleged, (October
21st, 1828,) that the object of "certain leaders" of
the Federal party in Massachusetts, in 1808, "was,
and had been for several years, a dissolution of the
Union, and the establishment of a separate confeder-
acy." This "he knew from unequivocal evidence,

19

290 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

though not provable in a court of law." This design,
he said, (December 30th, 1828,) "had been formed in
the winter of 1803-4, immediately after, and as a con-
sequence of, the acquisition of Louisiana. It had gone
to the length of fixing upon a military leader for its
execution. The author of the written plan was
named to me, — a distinguished citizen of Connecticut.
I was told it had originated there, and had been
communicated to individuals at Boston, at New York,
and at Washington." These statements of Mr. Adams
were assailed from various quarters with great vehe-
mence, and their truth denied, with many injurious
imputations on their author. Under these circum-
stances, Mr. Plumer wrote to Mr. Adams the follow-
ing letter :

« Epping, N. H., December 20, 1828.
"During the long and eventful session of Congress of
1803 and 1804, I was a member of the Senate, and was at
the city of Washington every day of that session. In the
course of the session, at different times and places, several of
the Federalists, Senators and Representatives, from the New
England States, informed me that they thought it necessary to
establish a separate government in New England, and if it
should be found practicable, to extend it so far south as to
include Pennsylvania ; but in all events to establish one in
New England. They complained, that the slave-holding states
had acquired, by means of their slaves, a greater increase of
Eepresentatives in the House than was just and equal ; that too

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 291

great a portion of the public revenue was raised in the North-
ern States, and too much of it expended in the Southern and
Western States ; and that the acc[uisition of Louisiana, and
the new states that were formed, and those to be formed in
the West and in the ceded territory, would soon annihilate
the weight and influence of the Northern States in the
government.

" Their intention, they said, was to establish their new
government under the authority and protection of state gov-
ernments ; that having secured the election of a governor
and a majority of a legislature in a state in favor of a separa-
tion, the legislature should repeal the law authorizing the
people to elect Representatives to Congress, and the legisla-
ture decline electing Senators to Congress, and gradually with-
draw the state from the Union, establish custom-house officers
to grant registers and clearances to vessels, and eventually
establish a Federal government in the Northern and Eastern
States ; and that if New England united in the measure, it
would in due time be eflfected without resorting ..to arms.

" Just before that session of Congress closed, one of the
gentlemen to whom I have alluded, informed me that
arrangements had been made to have, the next autumn, in
Boston, a select meeting of the leading Federalists in New
England, to consider and recommend the measures necessary
to form a system of government for the Northern States, and
that Alexander Hamilton, of New York, had consented to
attend that meeting.

" Soon after my return from Washington, I adopted the
most effectual means in my power to collect the opinions of
well-informed leading Federalists in New Hampshire, upon
the subject. I found some in favor of the measure, but a

292 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

great majority of them decidedly opposed to the project ; and
from the partial and limited inquiries I made in MassachusettSj
the result appeared to me nearly similar to that -in New
Hampshire.

"The gentleman who, in the winter of 1803 and 1804,
informed me there was to be a meeting of Federalists in the
autumn of 1804, at Boston, at the session of Congress in the
winter of 1804 and 1805, observed to me that the death of
General Hamilton had prevented that meeting ; but that the
project was not and would not be abandoned.

"I owe it to you as well as myself, to state explicitly,
that in the session of Congress, in the winter of 1803 and
1804, I was, myself, in favor of forming a 'separate govern-
ment in New England, and wrote several confidential letters
to a few " of my friends recommending the measure. But
afterwards, upon thoroughly investigating and maturely con-
sidering the subject, I was fully convinced that my opinion in
favor of separation was the most erroneous that I ever formed
upon political subjects. The only consolation I had was that
my error in opinion had not produced any acts injurious to
the integrity of the Union. "When the same project was
revived in 1808 or 1809, during the embargo and non-
intercourse, and afterwards, during the war of 1812, I used
every effort in my power, both privately and publicly, to
defeat the attempt then made to establish a separate inde-
pendent government in the Northern States.

" You are at liberty to make such use of this communica-
tion as you shall consider proper.

" Accept the assurance of my high respect and esteem.

WILLIAM PLUMER."

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 293

The publication of this letter led to some abusive
attacks on its author, and to denials, more or less
explicit, on the part of several persons who were
members of Congress from Connecticut in 1803-4,
as to their knowledge of any such design. One of
these, Calvin Goddard, says, "I never did, during that
or any other period, know, hear of, or suspect the
existence of any such project." Another, Simeon
Baldwin, says, that he "never heard from any Feder-
alist, then or at any other time, the suggestion of a
plan to dissolve the Union, or an intimation of a wish
that such an event might take place." A third, John
Davenport, says, that he does not "believe in the
existence of any such plan, excepting only in the
brains of Mr. Adams and Mr. Plumer." A fourth,
John Cotton Smith, says, that he does " not believe
that any plan of a division of the Union was ever
contemplated, even for a moment, by any Federalist,
in or out of Congress, distinguished for either talents
or influence." James Hillhouse's statement runs thus :
"I can with confidence say that during the session of
Congress (of 1803-4,) or at any other time, either
before or since, I never heard or knew of any com-
bination or plot, among Federal members of Congress,
to dissolve the Union, or to form a northern or eastern
confederacy." Harrison Gray Otis and his eleven
associates, in their controversy with Mr. Adams, say,
(January 28, 1829,) "we solemnly disavow aU knowl-

294 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

edge of such a project, and all remembrance of the
mention of it, or of any plan analogous to it, at that
or any subsequent period."

To those famihar with the history of the country
from 1803 to 1805, these statements, high as is the
character of their authors, will be received with many
grains of allowance. To some it will seem that they
must have been framed in accordance with the
maxim, held good among lawyers, "to deny every-
thing and call for the proofs." The denials were
such as we have seen ; the proofs were loudly called
for. These, so far as the subject of this memoir is
concerned, it is my business to present. It is, how-
ever, with no wish to revive controversy on this sub-
ject, and, least of all, to cast censure on any one, but
in justice to the memory of a man who could not be
mistaken in the facts which he related, and whose
veracity those who knew him best would be the last
to question, that the subject has been here introduced,
and will be further considered in other parts of this
work. The extracts already given from Mr. Plumer's
letters, show that he was at this time himself in favor
of disunion. Those which follow will show that he
was not the only disunionist of that day. I begin
with his own statements, arranged in chronological
order, some of them made before, others at the time
of the controversy of 1828-9.

Under date of November 23, 1806, in his journal.

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 295

the following statement occurs, in a notice of Aaron
Burr. It is given as an instance of Burr's art in pro-
ducing an impression on others, without committing
himself by an express statement of his own opinions.

" In the winter of 1804, Timothy Pickering, James Hill-
house, myself and others dined with him (Burr) one day.
Mr. Hillhouse unequivocally declared that it was his opinion
that the United States would soon form two distinct and
separate governments. On this suhject, Mr. Burr conversed
very freely ; and the impression made on my mind was, that
he not only thought such an event would take place, but that
it was necessary that it should. To that opinion I was myself
then a convert. Yet, on returning to my lodgings, after crit-
ically analysing his words, there was nothing in them that
necessarily implied his approbation of Mr. Hillhouse's obser-
vations. Perhaps no man's language was ever so apparently
explicit, and, at the same time, so covert and indefinite."

This extract relates principally to Burr, whose
character was the subject of remark, and yet indi-
rectly to Mr. Hillhouse, yet it shows what was his
opinion on the subject, at that time. Another con-
versation with the latter, on the same day, will be
noticed in a subsequent extract. Under date of
February 6th, 1809, he says : "When the late Samuel
Hunt intimated to me the necessity of receding from
the Union, he observed that the work must com-
mence in the state legislatures; so that those who.

296 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK.

acted should be supported by state laws. This he

said was the opinion of , of Uriah Tracy and

of many others." I omit the name of one person
here introduced, as Mr. Plumer had no personal
intercourse with him, and knew his opinions only
as reported by others. It is the name, however, of
an individual, for many years prominent in the
politics of Massachusetts, and whose known opinions
and conduct render his views on this question very
little doubtful. Speaking of the Essex Junto, under
date of March 10th, 1810, he says, "Their prime
object is the dissolution of the general government,
and a separation of the states." (October 20th, 1812,)
"They are anxious to prevent Mr. Madison's having
a single electoral vote in New England, that they
may promote their favorite object, — a dismemberment
of the Union." Under date of August 6th, 1812, he
says, "The last time I saw Mr. Griswold, which was
while I was in Congress, he was a zealoiis advocate —
privately, but not publicly — for the dismemberment
of the Union." Under date of July 21st, 1827, he
says that "long and frequent conversations with
Roger Griswold, Uriah Tracy, Samuel Hunt, Calvin
Goddard, and others induced me, at length, to believe
that separation was necessary for the security and
prosperity of the Eastern States." He mentioned to
Mr. Griswold, as an objection to the project, the
■danger to which its advocates might be exposed.

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 297

Griswold said that this difficulty might be obviated.
His plan was "to do every thing under authority of
the legislatures of the states." We see here the
origin of Mr. Plumer's idea, in the letter to Smith,
of " the infinite importance of preserving the state
governments, as a security against the approaching
storm." This mode of withdrawing from the Union,
under authority of the state legislatures, was, indeed,
too obvious to escape notice. "It is," said Randolph,
(January 31st, 1824,) "in the power of the states to
extinguish this government at a blow. They have
only to refuse to send members to ■ the other branch
of the legislature, or to appoint electors of President
and Vice President, and the thing is done." Under
date of January 15th, 1828, Mr. Plumer says, "In
1804, he (Roger Griswold) was in favor of the New
England States forming a Republic by themselves,
and receding from the Union. This opinion he com-
municated to several of his friends, of whom I was
one." These extracts are all of a date earlier than
that of the Adams and Otis controversy, and could
not, therefore, have been written in reference to it.

Commenting on that controversy, under date of
March 9th, 1829, Mr. Plumer says: "I was satisfied,
when I wrote my letter to Mr. Adams, and gave him
liberty to publish it, that I should be vilified in the
newspapers, and in conversation ; but a sense of duty
to my injured friend moved my pen, and I do not

298 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

repent my writing." This remark is in accordance
with his usual disregard of consequences to himself,
where he thought it his duty to act. It could not
have been pleasant to him to make this avowal of
what he regarded as the greatest error of his public
life, — an error known to so few that, if not thus
avowed, it might have passed unnoticed by the
public. But he saw his friend unjustly assailed;
and it was not in his nature to withhold the testi-
mony which it was in his power to give. A timid
man might have stood by, in silence ; a selfish one,
with secret satisfaction that he was not himself so
assailed. But neither timid, nor selfish, he had no
hesitation in speaking out, when his doing so seemed
to him a duty. Under date of May 11th, 1829, he
says:

" There is no circumstance in these publications that sur-
prises me so much as the letter of James Hillhouse. I
recollect, and am certain that, on returning early one evening
from dining with Aaron Burr, this same Mr. Hillhouse, after
sajring to me that New England had no influence in the gov-
ernment, added, in an animated tone, ' The Eastern States must,
and will dissolve the Union, and form a separate government
of their own ; and the sooner they do this the better.' I
think the first man who mentioned the subject of dismember-
ment to me was Samuel Hunt, a Representative from New
Hampshire. He conversed with me, often and long, upon
the subject. But there was no man with whom I conversed

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 299

so often, so fully and freely, as with Roger Griswold. He
"was, without doubt or hesitation, decidedly in favor of dis-
solving the Union, and establishing a northern confederacy.
He thought it might be effected peaceably, without a resort
to arms ; and entered into a particular detail of the mode
of effecting it. Next to Griswold, Uriah Tracy conversed
most freely and fully upon this subject. It was he who
informed me that General Hamilton had consented to attend
a meeting of select Federalists at Boston, in the autumn of
1804. I do not recollect that he said Hamilton was in favor
of the measure ; but I know he said Hamilton had consented
to attend. Tracy said the day for meeting was not appointed ;
nor were the persons who were to attend, selected ; but that I
should be notified of the time, and invited to attend. It was
Tracy, who, in the session of 1804—5, informed me that the
death of Hamilton had prevented the meeting in Boston ; but,
he added, the plan of separation is not abandoned. The three
men last named, Tracy, Griswold, and Hunt, were the men
with whom I principally conversed on that subject.

"One day, in the session of 1804-5, I distinctly recollect
walking, about two hours, with Timothy Pickering, round the
northerly and easterly lines of the city of Washington ; and
on that walk no other person accompanied us. I perfectly
recollect his conversing with me at that time, as if he were
desirous of saying something to me, which he hesitated to
communicate. His manner made such a strong and deep
impression on my mind, that I shall never forget it. At
length, he said, that he thought the United States were too
large, and their interests too vai'iant, for the Union to continue
long ; and that New England, New York, and perhaps, Penn-

300 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

sylvania, might and ought to form a separate government.
He then paused, and, looking me fully in the face, awaited my
reply. I simply asked him, if the division of the states was
not the object which General "Washington most pathetically
warned the people to oppose. He said, ' Yes, the fear of it
was a ghost, that, for a long time, haunted the imagination of
that old gentleman.' I do not recollect that he afterwards
mentioned to me the subject of dismemberment."

It should be here observed, that before the date of
this conversation, Mr. Plumer had himself ceased to
be a disunionist. Of Hunt, Mr. Plumer, under date
of July 31st, 1831, says: "His object was to divide
the United States into two separate independent gov-
ernments; the states easterly of Maryland to unite
and form a government more energetic and more
favorable to commerce, than the one which then
existed. To effect this object, he corresponded with
a considerable number of influential Federalists in
various states." Under date of June 4, 1840, he says,
that Tracy told him, in the winter of 1804, "that he
was in favor of the Northern States Avithdrawing
from the Union."

On reviewing this testimony, it may be remarked
that there is no direct contradiction between the state-
ments of Messrs. Hillhouse and Plumer. The former
says, that he knew of no combination or plot to dis-
solve the Union. The latter, that Hillhouse told him
the Eastern States must and would dissolve the Union,

LTFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 301

and the sooner they did it the better. The one is the
avowal of an opinion merely ; the other, the denial
of any plan formed to carry that opinion into effect.
It is observable that Mr. Pickering, though alive at
the Adams controversy, took no part in it. He was
not the man to deny any well considered opinion
which he might have entertained, because it would
subject him to reproach. Mr. Plumer believed, on
evidence which he deemed conclusive, that some
other prominent men, several especially in Massa-
chusetts, were concerned in this design, or approved
of it ; but they are not named here, as he had no
direct personal communication with them on the sub-
ject. As to the proposed meeting for consultation, at
Boston, in 1804, it should be remarked, that to consult
on a project does not necessarily imply that the per-
sons consulting have made up their minds in its favor;
and stUl less, that they are prepared, if so decided, to
follow up their opinions with correspondent action.
It does, however, imply that the project was one
deserving serious consideration, when such men as
Hamilton, the acknowledged leader of the Federal
party, Griswold, its leader in the House, and such
Senators as Tracy, Pickering, Hillhouse and Plumer
were to be members of a meeting of " select Fed-
eralists," by whom it was to be discussed, and, if found
feasible, adopted.

302 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

With respect to Hamilton's views on the subject of
disunion, Mr. Plumer affirmed nothing in his letter to
Adams, as he knew nothing of them at that time. He
was afterwards satisfied that, if Hamilton had attend-
ed the proposed meeting, it would have been to dis-
suade his friends from the project. On this subject,
De Witt Clinton made the following statement, Janu-
ary 31, 1809, in the Senate of New York:

" It is perhaps known to but few, that the project of a dis-
memberment of this country is not a novel plan, growing out
of the recent measures of the government, as has been pre-
tended. It has been cherished by a number of individuals
for a series of years. A few months before the death of a
distinguished citizen, 'whose decease so deeply excited the
public sensibility, it was proposed to him to enlist his great
talents in the promotion of this most nefarious scheme ; and
to his honor be it spoken, it was rejected by him with abhor-
rence and disdain."

This testimony of Clinton, to the existence of the
project of 1803-4, and to Hamilton's disapprobation
of it, is independent of that of Adams and Plumer,
from neither of whom did he derive any information
on this subject. It agrees perfectly with what Rufus
King told Adams, at the time, thus adding a fourth
witness to the fact, each independent of the others.
On his way home from Washington, Adams called on
King, (April 8th, 1804,) at New York.

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 303

" I found," lie says, " there sitting, Mr. Timothy Pickering,
who, shortly after I went in, took leave and withdrew. Mr.
King said to me, ' Colonel Pickering has been talking to me
about a project they have for a separation of the States, and
a northern confederacy ; and he has also been, this day, talk-
ing of it with General Hamilton. Have you heard anything
of it at Washington ?' I said I had — much — ^but not from
Colonel Pickering. [Adams and Pickering, though colleagues,
were not friends.] 'Well,' said Mr. King, '1 disapprove
entirely of the project ; and so I have told him ; and so, I
am happy to tell you, does General Hamilton.' "

The preceding extract is from a pamphlet, written
by Mr. Adams, in 1829, but not yet pulalished. The
following extracts are from his letters to Mr. Plumer,
the first dated December 31, 1828 :

" Much of my information, at the time, was collected from
Mr. Tracy, the Senator from Connecticut, who disapproved
the project, but was, I believe, made acquainted with it in all
its particulars. I think, though I am not sure, that it was he
who named to me the writer of the plan by which the sepa-
ration was to be effected, with three alternatives of boundary.
1. If possible, the Potomac. 2. The Susquehanna. 3. The
Hudson. That is, the northern confederacy was to extend,
if it should be found practicable, so as to include Maryland.
This was the maximum. The Hudson, that is. New England
and a part of New York, was the minimum. The Susque-
hanna, or Pennsylvania, was the middle term. There were
moments of weariness and disgust in my own mind at the

304 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

errors and vices of Mr. Jefferson's administration^ when I
almost despaired of the Union myself. That it affected you
to the extent at one time of contemplating with favor the sub-
stitution of another and more compassable system of confed-
eration, can be no disparagement to your understanding or
your heart."

It may be here remarked, that Adams says, that
Tracy " disapproved the project," and Plumer, that he
" was in favor of the Northern States withdrawing
from the Union." Tracy, finding Adams averse to
the project, may have conversed with him so cau-
tiously, as to leave on his mind the impression that
they did not differ materially in this respect ; while
to Plumer, who was in favor of it, he may have
expressed directly his approbation of the plan. With
the plan itself, they both agree that he was ac-
quainted. Or, it may be, as is not unusual in such
cases, the plan might have appeared to him, at times,
feasible and even necessary, and under other aspects
impracticable, and, therefore, to be disapproved. To
determine whether it was so or not, would seem
to have been, in his view, the object of the proposed
meeting in Boston. In March, 1829, Mr. Adams
writes :

" Mr. James A. Hamilton, a few days since, called upon
me, by order of the President, upon certain matters of public
concern. He said that, in confirmation of the view I had

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEB. 305

taken of his father's opinions, at that time, upon the dis-
union project, there was a letter from him to Mr. Cahot,
protesting, in the most urgent manner, against it.

" He called upon me again upon certain business of the
department. I asked Mr. Hamilton if he could give me the
date of that letter, which he had mentioned to me, from his
father to Mr. Cabot. He said he believed he had made a mis-
take about that letter. It was not from his father, but from
Mr. Wolcott, giving his father's views upon the subject. He
then took from his pocket a letter, which he said he had
received that morning from his younger brother, (John,) and
from which he read me three or four lines, to this effeot, —
that he had obtained fcom Mr. Woleott a Tery full statement
respecting Plumer's charge against their father, which it fully
refuted. I said, I supposed by the term ' charge,' the letter
meant your statement, that (as you had been inforined) Alex-
ander Hamilton had consented to attend the autumnal meet-
ing at Boston, in 1804. He said it did. He also said there
was a letter from his father, written not more than three days
before his death, to Mr. Sedgwick, urging, with great ear-
nestness, every consideration in favor of preserving the
Union."

It is wortlay of remark, that if this statement of Wol-
eott refuted "Plumer's charge," as it is here called, it
could only be by showing thaf Hamilton had refused
to attend the proposed meeting. This would prove
that Tracy was misinformed as to Hamilton's answer ;
but it would also prove that an application had been
made to him to attend ; and, consequently, that such

20

306 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

a meeting was to be held — a conclusion pregnant of
much which is pertinent to the present inquiry. On
applying to John C. Hamilton, for a copy of Wolcott's
statement, he informed me, (December 17th, 1853,)
that " he neither has, nor knows of any communica-
tion, or memoir, from Mr. Wolcott, on the subject
referred to." What has become of this statement
does not appear. It is difficult to imagine that Mr.
Adams, whose letter was written the day after his
interview with James A. Hamilton, could have been
mistaken in his account of what the latter read to
him. In the seventh volume of General Hamilton's
works, (published in 1851,) there is an article pub-
lished by him, early in 1804, with a view to dissuade
the Federalists from voting for Aaron Burr as Gov-
ernor of New York, in which he says that, in New
England, " causes are leading to an opinion that a
dismemberment of the Union is expedient •" and he
argues that Burr, if elected, might be disposed to put
himself at the head of this movement, and thus
become " the chief of the Northern portion." Whe-
ther this was written before or after Hamilton's inter-
view with Pickering in April, does not appear. The
reader may perhaps consider the conversation above
noticed, of Burr with Pickering and Hillhouse, in the
preceding winter, as some confirmation, however
slight, of Hamilton's conjecture as to Burr's designs.

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMEB. 307

His own opinion of the project appears in a letter,
dated July 10, 1804, to Theodore Sedgwick.

"I have had on hand," he says, "for some time, along
letter to you, explaining my views of the course and tendency
of our politics, and my intentions as to my own future con-
duct. But my plan embraces so large a range that, owing to
much occupation, some indifferent health, and a growing dis-
taste to politics, the letter is still considerably short of being
finished. I will here express but one sentiment, which is
that dismemberment of our empire will be a clear sacrifice of
great positive advantages, without any counterbalancing good ;
administering no relief to our real disease, which is Democ-
racy, the poison of which, by a subdivision, will only be the
more concentrated in each part, and consequently the more
virulent. King is on his way to Boston, where you may
chance to see him, and hear from himself his sentiments."

We here see Hamilton and King opposed to dis-
union, as Adams had found them to be in the pre-
ceding April. It also appears that what Hamilton
deemed most important in the long letter to Sedg-
wick, to which his son James seems, in the conversa-
tion with Adams, to refer, was this very subject of
" the dismemberment of our empire." Fearful that
he should not live to complete that letter, he could
not withhold from his friend his opinion on this most
essential point. The disease, which they both lamented,
was Democracy. This, not being confined to any part

308 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMEK.

of the country, could not be removed by excision.
Fisher Ames said, a little later, (January, 1805,) " It
is the opinion of a few, (but a very groundless opin-
ion,) that the Union wUl be divided, and the Northern
confederacy compelled to provide for its own liberty."
In his opinion, the evil was incurable. " Our disease,"
he said, (March 10th, 1806,) "is Democracy. Our Re-
publicanism must die ; and I am sorry for it." The
letter of Hamilton to Sedgwick is dated two days
only before his death. That a knowledge of this
design was among the causes which influenced him in
accepting the challenge of Burr, is not improbable,
from what he says of the necessity of preserving
unsuUied his reputation for courage, that he might
be useful " in those crises of our public affairs, which
seem likely to happen." With the pistol of Burr
already at his breast, can we imagine that Hamilton
invented this plot of " the dismemberment of our
empire ?" Or, rather, can we doubt that he believed
in its reality and its imminence ; and that he felt it to
be his duty, before going forth to the field of blood,
where one of his sons had perished before him, and
where he was himself so soon to fall, to dissuade his
friends from taking part in it ? Other facts in rela-
tion to the project of 1803-4 might be here adduced ;
but my object is answered, if I have shown that it
had an existence, real and palpable, other than " in the
brains of Mr. Adams and Mr. Plumer ;" and that the

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 309

latter, when he spoke of a design to dissolve the
Union, as being entertained by certain leading men
in New England, spoke not at random, or from con-
jecture, but from his personal knowledge of their de-
signs. Honest in his own approbation of the plan,
he never doubted that others were equally honest iu
its adoption, though, as he soon afterwards came to
believe, mistaken in their policy.

The project of 1803-4 is an instructive incident
in the history of the country, — a design, formed with
deUberation, by able,, virtuous and patriotic men,
which, though never carried into effect, was not with-
out its influence on the conduct of its projectors and
the course of pubhc measures. The acquisition of
Louisiana was so decidedly popular, even at the
North, that no effective apposition could be made to
it. Pleased with the purchase, the people gave them-
selves no trouble to inquire wh&ther it violated the
Constitution, or might ultimately change the balance
of power among the states. The advantages were
present and undeniable; the evUs remote, and, it
might be, imaginary. This the authors of the dis-
union scheme would have seen> and have forborne,,
perhaps, even to plan and project, if they had not
been smarting, at the time, under the sore mortifica-
tion of that signal defeat, which had dashed to the
earth all their most cherished hopes, and seemed,, in
" the full tide of successful experiment " which fol-

310 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMEK.

lowed Jefferson's advent to power, to be sweeping
before it, not their hopes and fortunes only, but all
which they esteemed as best in the government and
most sacred in the institutions of the country. " Our
wisdom," said Fisher Ames, " framed a government,
and committed it to our virtue to keep ; but our pas-
sions have engrossed it, and armed our vices to main-
tain the usurpation." " The election of Mr. Jefferson
to the Presidency was," says John Q. Adams, " upon
sectional feelings, the triumph of the South over the
North ; of the slave representation over the free.
On party grounds, it was the victory of professed
Democracy over Federalism, of French over British
influence. The party overthrown was the whole
Federal party. The whole Federal party was morti-
fied and humiliated at the triumph of Jej0ferson."
Hence the reason, at once, and the apology for the
earnest opposition which they waged to the leading
measures of his administration. Unsuccessful in this
opposition, it is not strange that, in the shipwreck of
their fortunes, some able men among them, pro-
foundly impressed with the value of the great
interests at stake, and seeing no hope of relief by a
change of measures, while the South, with its slave-
holding influence, continued to govern the country,
should have regarded disunion as, in the last resort,
the only sure deliverance from the evils which they
already felt, and the yet greater which they feared.

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 311

That they mistook the remedy, we may well believe;
but history, in recording their error, will do justice to
their motives. History, indeed, is full of such mis-
taken remedies for real or imaginary evils, — the
impracticable schemes of honest, but disappointed,
and thence short-sighted politicians, — " fears of the
brave and follies of the wise." Though, now that
the feelings and the apprehensions which gave rise
to such designs have passed away, we may regard
them with disapprobation, or with regret, we can
neither doubt their existence, nor disbelieve the
accounts of those who were acquainted with, or con-
cerned in them.

The subject of these latter pages has been, in cer-
tain respects, an unpleasant one to me, as it may be
to some of my readers. But it could not be avoided.
The path of duty was plain before me. The charac-
ter of Mr. Plumer had been most vehemently assailed
in this matter, and the truth of his statements loudly
denied ; and that, too, with an imposing array of
names, and a weight of character, which demanded
and even challenged reply. It was not for his biog-
rapher, under such circumstances, to shrink from an
exposition of the facts, which repel that assault, and
place his veracity, in this case, as it justly is in all
others, beyond question or reproach. This exposition
has been made in no unfriendly spirit towards the

312 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

living or the dead^ and with no imputation on any
one of ungenerous or unmanly motives. The same
spirit will be preserved in what follows, in subsequent
chapters, on this subject of disunion. I have here,
as in other cases, quoted, and shall continue to quote,
though at the expense of some prolixity, the words
of the persons whose opinions I would represent,
rather than run the risk of mistaking their meaning,
by attempting to express it in toy own language.
Nor have I, by detaching them from the context,
knowingly given them a meaning, in any case, differ-
ent from that which they were intended to express.
I have here, as elsewhere, added the dates, both as
furnishiag references, and as connecting the words
quoted with contemporaneous events, often necessary
to their full understanding.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE SENATOE.— (CONTINTTEDO

Returning from the heated atmosphere of Wash-
ington, in the spring of 1804, with the excited
feelings of an eager politician, Mr. Plumer felt sensi-
bly the indifference of many of his Federal friends
to the course of public events. Governor Gilman
had been re-elected in March ; but a majority of both
Houses was Republican, and that party looked with
confidence to the next trial of strength to give them
the entire control of the state. Under these circum-
stances, many Federahsts were disposed to give up
the contest in despair ; but Mr. Plumer attached too
much importance to the questions at issue, to allow
any doubt of success to relax his efforts. Members
of Congress were to be chosen in August, and Elec-
tors of President and Vice-President, in November.
He thought it of great importance that New England
should preserve its Federalist representation in Con-
gress, and retain the party supreme in the state gov-
ernments. He took the most active measures, there-
fore, to bring out the whole Federalist strength at the
August elections. Associating with himself five other

314 LIFE OF "WILLIAM PLUMER.

persons, one from each county, he organized them
into a self-constituted State Committee. Under this
committee, of which he was chairman, county com-
mittees were formed, and under these, town and
school district committees, whose duty it was to bring
every Federal voter to the polls, and secure, as far as
possible, the wavering and doubtful to their ranks.
Similar political arrangements have since become not
uncommon; but this is believed to have been the
first instance, in this state, in which a systematic
attempt was made to bring the whole force of a
party, thoroughly organized, to bear with undivided
weight on the result of an election. Newspapers
were provided for gratuitous distribution ; and post-
riders employed to distribute them in every part of
the state. Among other things, it was voted by the
central committee, to have an address written and dis-
tributed, in a pamphlet form, among the people, and
the chairman of the committee and Judge Smith were
requested to prepare it. Smith, however, declined
writing any part of the address, on the ground, that,
it was necessary for him, as Chief Justice of the Su-
perior Court, whatever might be his real feelings, to
preserve an appearance, at least, of impartiality,
which, he said, he could not do if known to have
written an electioneering pamphlet. This threw the
labor of the address on the chairman of the com-
mittee ; who, though accustomed to public speaking,

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 315

liad never written any thing for publication, beyond
an occasional newspaper paragraph. He, however,
set himself to the task with his accustomed zeal and
activity ; and six thousand copies were printed, and
distributed in every town of the state, on the 18th of
Augvist, a few days only before the election. This
address was republished in many Federal papers, both
in and out of the state, and was undoubtedly among
the chief agencies in deciding the election in favor of
the Federalists, by an average majority of eight hun-
dred votes.

It is easy, in looking at this document, to see that
the subject uppermost in the mind of the author was
the unequal, and, he thought, unjust operation of the
measures of the general government, as then admin-
istered, on the rights and the interests of New Eng-
land. After a brief, but able examination and defence
of the Federalist administrations of Washington and
Adams, and a comparison of them with the Republican
one of Jeflferson, not at all to the advantage of the
latter, he proceeds to point out the unequal burdens
imposed on the Northern States, by the measures of
the party then in power ; and traces all the evils suf-
fered to the existence of slavery in the South, and
its representation in Congress. This slave representa-
tion, equal to that of six whole states, had made
Jeflferson President ; and had carried, by its vote in
Congress, almost every measure of which the free

316 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER.

states could justly complain. Banish the slave repre-
sentation from the government, and Federalists would
still be in the majority. That this slave power favors
the South, at the expense of the North, is shown, by
an examination of the leading measures of the
administration, in respect to the army and navy, the
duties on foreign goods, the navigation acts, the policy
pursued towafds the Indians, the purchase of Louisi-
ana, the post office, the hospital money, and the
appointments to office. " The voice of New England
is not now heard in Congress," he says. " Virginia
influence directs every measure of the government.
It has broken down and destroyed every man who
has been opposed to it, whatever his polities may
have been." While the author disavows any design
to dissolve the Union, the whole strain of his argu-
ment goes to show that such a measure would be for
the advantage of the Northern States. This obvious
tendency of the address, though disclaimed by the
writer, was so strongly felt by others, that the answer
which the ablest of his opponents made to it, was
introduced by extracts from Washington's Farewell
Address, on the value of the Union.

Encouraged by his unexpected success in the Con-
gressional election, the author entered with equal
zeal into the Presidential canvass. The same machin-
ery was again put in operation, and he wrote and
published in the newspapers six numbers, under the

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 317

signature of " Cato," on the character of Mr. Jeffer-
son and his pretensions to the Presidency. They
were made up largely of extracts from the writings
of Jefferson ; and their object was to show, that little
reliance was to be placed on his judgment, or his sin-
cerity, since he had, at different periods, advocated
the most opposite and contradictory opinions. The
subjects, respecting which his conduct and opinions
were thus examined, were the naturalization of for-
eigners, the encouragement of domestic manufac-
tures, commerce, the navy, the judiciary, religion, the
Presidential election of 1801, and his appointments
to of&ce. In all of these, he found the usual, and, as he
thought, much more than the usual inconsistencies of
unscrupulous politicians, professing in theory, or while
in opposition, opinions which, in practice, or while in
of&ce, they renounce or disregard. He thought ill of
Jefferson's politics, and worse of his morals. His
efforts were, however, of little avail with the public.
The opposition was daUy losing ground. New Hamp-
shire voted, by a majority of five or six hundred, for
Jefferson's re-election. Massachusetts did the same ;
and the Federal candidate, Charles Cotesworth Pinck-
ney, received only fourteen electoral votes out of one
hundred and seventy-six in the whole Union.

This triumphant re-election of Mr. Jefferson, pro-
duced a great change in my father's mind, not as to
the measures of the President, but as to the policy of

318 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLTJMER.

further combined opposition to them. Connecticut
alone, of the Northern States, had voted against
Jefferson's re-election. Her nine votes, with the three
of Delaware, and two from Maryland, constituted, on
this occasion, the whole strength of the opposition.
Was it good policy in the Federal party, any longer
to keep up its feeble and unavailing opposition ?
As to dissolving the Union, with Democracy ascend-
ant in every state but one at the North, there was
of course nothing more, at this time and under these
circumstances, to be said or done. He had, even
before the result of this election was known, become
convinced that, however desirable such a measure
might be, it was, at this time, impracticable ; and
he was not long in reaching the yet more important
conclusion, that the design itself was founded on a
mistaken view of the true interest of even the
Northern States, and, therefore, ought never to be
entertained. From this time, without changing ma-
terially his general views of policy, as to the measures
of the government, he felt no longer the strong
directing motives, which had before governed his
procedure, and came by degrees to look, first with in-
difference, and afterwards with aversion, on projects
which had before seemed to him important, as means
for the attainment of objects which he no longer
regarded as desirable. The first effect of this dis-

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 319

appointment was to lead him to despair of the per-
manency of a free government.

" More than half my time," he writes, " since the adjourn-
ment of Congress, has been devoted to the elections. Can a
government 'which requires so much, and such unremitted
attention to support it, long continue ? I feel weary ; but I
consider it my duty to continue my efforts. I have ever con-
sidered the existence of freedom here, as depending on the
prevalence of Federalism. Perhaps I may have been, in this
respect, in an error. Must we travel, as other states have done
before us, through Democracy to despotism ? But I will not
despair — too much wisdom is painful — it conjures up too
many evils which, after all, may be but imaginary. I write
this at the moment, (October 32, 1804,) of packing my clothes
for Washington."

It was with these views that he once more took
his seat (November 5th, 1804,) in the Senate. The
state of his feelings in this respect may be inferred
from a letter (November 20th,) which he wrote to
me:

" I feel less interest in politics than I did the last year.
The decline of Federalism in the East convinces me that
Democracy must overrun us. As I can do little good by
being active, in the present state of parties, I think I ought
to be more quiet ; and that this will have a tendency to cool
down the rage of party, and thereby bring our people to a

320 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLFMER.

state of reflection and consideration. I do not mean that I
have, in the least, changed my political creed. I am still a
Federalist. I shall, on all occasions, when I am obliged to
act, act openly, and according to my opinions. But I think,
when I return home, if I find New Hampshire revolutionized,
as I fear it will be in March, that I shall avoid the subject of
politics, and not furnish, by my conversation, fuel for the fire
of Democratic rage. Let them rule without opposition ; they
will the sooner divide ; and the sooner be prepared for a better
state of things, in which virtuous men will again be called to
office."

Though the violence of his Federalism had passed
its culminating point, and he saw both the folly of dis-
union, and the hopelessness of Federalist ascendency,
his opposition to the JefFersonian policy was not at
this time sensibly abated. The leading measure of
the session, the impeachment of Samuel Chase, one
of the judges of the Supreme Court of the United
States, touched him at a tender point. He had always
attached great importance to the independence of
the judiciary; and the avowed object of the admin-
istration, was to render the judges dependent on the
popular will. Mr. Giles, the administration leader in
the Senate, said to him, in conversation : " We are to
sit in this case as a Senate, not as a court, and to
use the same discretion in the trial, as we do in legis-
lation. We have authority to remove a judge, if
he is disagreeable in his office, or wrongheaded, and

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 321

opposed to the administration, though not corrupt in
conduct. Judges ought not to be independent of the
co-ordinate branches of the government ; but should
be so far subservient, as to harmonize with them in
all the great measures of the administration." He
avowed substantially the same opinions in debate in
the Senate. This was saying, in effect, that if a judge
delivered an erroneous opinion — erroneous in the
view of the Senate — ^he might be impeached and
removed from office, as guilty of high crimes and
misdemeanors. Samuel Chase was one of the signers
of the Declaration of Independence, and is said to
have been the man who first startled the ear of
Congress, still fearful of extremes, with the daring
declaration that he no longer owed allegiance
to the British king. Bold, resolute and decisive,
alike in conduct and in language, he knew no com-
promises of opinion; and had little regard for the
feelings or the wishes of his opponents. A sound
lawyer and an able judge, he carried the prejudices
of the party politician with him to the bench, and
had thus made himself peculiarly obnoxious to the
dominant party, by what they regarded as error of
opinion, aggravated by insolence of demeanor. The
impeachment now brought against him was founded
on his conduct in the trial of Fries, for treason,
and Callendar, for a libel, in 1800, and on one of
his charges to a grand jury, in Maryland, in 1803.

21

322 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMEK,

In these cases the judge, who was a zealous Feder-
alist, was accused of having allowed party feelings to
pervert his judgment and govern his decisions, " to
the subversion of justice, and the disgrace of the
character of the American bench." The trial com-
menced on the 9th of February, and continued, with
little intermission, till the 1st of March. It was
remarkable, alike for the importance of the principles
involved in the issue, the dignity of the court, the
high standing of the accused, the power of his
prosecutors, and the learning and ability of his coun-
sel, not less than from the singularity of the fact, that
the President of the Senate, who presided with such
mingled ease, grace and authority at the trial, was
himself then under indictment for murder, and was
afterwards tried for his life on a charge of treason
against the United States, — the very crime for which
Chase had tried Fries, and in which trial he was
accused of having committed some of the offences
for which he was himself now arraigned. Mr. Plumer
took great interest in the trial of this impeachment ;
and his letters, journals and memoranda contain a
full account of the proceedings. A few extracts are
all we have room for in this place.

" Though, during the trial, I did not visit Judge Chase,
yet, on my accidentally falling in company with him, he said
that, if this impeachment had been brought against him twenty

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 323

years ago, lie should liave considered it the most fortunate
event of his life. It would have made him President of the
United States. But he was now old, and grievously afflicted
with -the gout, and he feared the prosecution would break
him down. Yet, conscious of his innocence, he defied the
Senate to convict him on any of the charges brought against
him by the House. The trial was about half through, when
he was seized with a fit of the gout, and obtained liberty of
the Senate to return home. His counsel were vastly superior,
in talents and legal attainments, to the managers appointed by
the House. I took full notes of the testimony, arguments
and authorities on both sides. Though the trial was long and
fatiguing, yet, from its novelty and importance, it was very
interesting. It engrossed my unremitting attention for more
than twenty days. The public felt a deep interest in the
result. Our galleries were crowded with gentlemen and ladies
of distinction, not only from the vicinity, but from distant
parts of the country. The Senators, during the trial, did
not converse much with each other respecting its merits ; but
each appeared to form an opinion for himself, without attempt-
ing to influence others. There was a full Senate, when the
final vote was taken ; and each Senator voted separately on
each article. Uriah Tracy, of Connecticut, after hearing the
testimony, was taken sick, and confined to his chamber. The
mode of proceeding being settled, the Vice-President requested
the Senate to wait a moment- for one of its members. Mr.
Tracy was brought in on a couch, and led to his seat, where
he continued for two hours, till every question was decided.
The appearance of a sick man, with a very pale countenance,
added to the solemnity of the proceeding, and made a deep

324 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEB.

impression on the Senate, the House and the crowded specta-
tors of the scene. Though I considered Judge Chase as hav-
ing, in some few instances, been guilty of intemperance of
language, and imprudence of conduct, unbecoming the char-
acter of a Judge, his conduct, even in these cases, would
not have prevented my voting for his appointment as a Judge,
if that had been the question before us ; much less would it
justify his conviction, as guilty of high crimes and misde-
meanors. My vote, therefore, was, on each article, not guilty.
On one of the articles, every Senator voted not guilty ; on
four others, a majority acquitted him ; and on the other three,
a majority found him guilty. But, as it required two-thirds
■to convict him, the President pronounced him acquitted on all
the charges; and the court adjourned without day. This
acquittal of Judge Chase was a great point gained in support
of the Constitution, and the independence of the Judges. A
prosecution commenced in the rage of party, and impelled by
the whole influence of the administration, was arrested ; and,
to the honor of the accused, he owed his acquittal to the votes
of his political enemies. Immediately after the Senate had
pronounced judgment in the case, Randolph, in the House,
made a violent harangue against both the Judge and the
Senate, and moved to amend the Constitution, so as to make it
the duty of the President, on the address of Congress, to
remove the judges from office. Nicholson, another of the
managers, proposed that the Legislature of each state should
have authority, at any time, to recall its Senators. But the
administration, and a majority of the House, disapproved of
these violent measures, and they were rejected."

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMBK. 325

My father attached the more importance to the
result of this trial from the belief, then general with
the Federalists, that the attack on Chase, if success-
ful, would have been followed by other impeach-
ments, which would have ended, either in removing
all the judges, or, if they remained on the bench,
in rendering them subservient to the wishes of the
administration. He considered the impeachments
of Pickering and Chase as " parts of a vicious sys-
tem, which extends to the removal of every Federal
judge from both the Supreme and inferior Courts."
But the acquittal of Chase, the most obnoxious and
assailable of the judges, put an end to all such de-
signs. " Impeachment," said Mr. Jefferson, " is a farce
which will not be tried again." He had, while the
trial was still pending, (January 5th, 1804,) told Mr.
Plumer, " that he regarded impeachment as a bung-
ling way of removing judges." With reference to this
trial, my father wrote to me, (March 3d, 1805) :

" You will hear before this reaches you, that the greatest
and most important trial ever held in this nation has termin-
ated justly ; and that the venerable judge, whose head bears
the frosts of seventy winters, is honorably acquitted. I never
witnessed, in any place, such a display of learning and elo-
quence as the counsel for the accused exhibited. They con-
veyed correct sentiments, and pure principles, in so impressive
a manner, to intelligent minds from all parts of the Uniori,,

326 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLTJMEE.

as must have a salutary effect on the public, in relation not
only to the Judiciary, but to the Constitution generally."

(March 10th, 1805.) " At Baltimore, I spent an evening
■with Judge Chase and his family. Neither of his sons was
. present ; but three of his daughters were there, the youngest
perhaps eighteen. The strong, yet tender attachment they
manifested for him, and the joy they exhibited at seeing me,
who was at once the friend and the judge of their father,
made a deep impression on my feelings. The righteous judg-
ment of the Senate has made the judge and his family as
happy as such an event can render those who prize reputa-
tion above life."

Though still a Federalist, my father was no longer
anxious to keep up party distinctions. " I did," he
says, " everything I could, during the session, to re-
strain and destroy the spirit of party. With this view
I opposed, and hy my opposition prevented, the cele-
bration of Washington's birth-day by the Federalists,
who had made it on former occasions a mere party
festival. This I thought peculiarly imprudent at that
time, from the unhappy influence it would have on
the trial of Judge Chase, which was then depending."

To his wife he wrote, (December, 1804) : " Yester-
day, I dined with the President, and was seated by
his side. He has improved much in the article of
dress. He has laid aside the old slippers, red wais1>
coat and soiled corduroy small-clothes, and was
dressed all in black, with clean linen and powdered

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 32T

hair. He is very sociable and easy of access, and
puts his company perfectly at their ease."

Massachusetts had, about this time, proposed an
amendment of the Constitution, depriving the Slave-
holding States of their slave representation. This
amendment had been postponed by the Legislature
of New Hampshire. In a letter to Wm. A. Kent,
(December 31st, 1804,) he says, "I was in hopes the
Court would have decided the amendment proposed
by Massachusetts. Nothing but gross misrepresenta-
tion, and the force of party rage, can induce the
Free States to acquiesce in this negro representa-
tion."

To me, speaking of some falsehood reported of him,
he wrote, (January, 17, 1805 :)

" In times like these, and indeed at all times, and in all
nations, those who hare discharged their duty to their country
and their God, have been calumniated. It is unreasonable to
expect an exemption from the common lot of man. I seek
the approbation of the well-informed and Yirtnous ; and I
know that so long as I act faithfully and prudently, I shall
enjoy their confidence. But, beyond this, the honest man
has a reward which the malice of demons cannot touch, — the
consciousness of having done his duty. So live, and so con-
duct, my dear son, as to enjoy the approbation of your own
mind, and that of high heaven."

328 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

To J. Smith, (February 7, 1805): "The Senate is
less divided by the line of Federalists and Democrats
than I ever knew it before to be. Our divisions
now arise from other sources, from the merits of par-
ticular measures, and from local attachments, — from
Free States and Slave States, commercial and anti-
commercial." The Senate passed at this session a
bill providing for the government of the Orleans
territory. " I voted against it," he says, (February,
1805,) " because it provides that the territory, when
it has sixty thousand free inhabitants, shall be
admitted as a state into the Union, upon the foot-
ing of the original states. This provision appears
to me unconstitutional. I think we cannot admit
a new partner into the Union, from without the ori-
ginal limits of the United States, without the con-
sent, first obtained, of each of the partners compos-
ing the firm." This opinion he had avowed on the
first purchase of Louisiana, and he never afterwards
saw reason to change it.

With this session expired the term of service of
Aaron Burr, as Vice-President. I find among Mr.
Plumer's papers, many notices of this extraordinary
man. Burr lost, by his conduct in the presidential
election of 1801, the confidence of the Republican
party, without gaining the Federalists. In the New
York election of 1804, he was a candidate for the
office of Governor; and, by the aid of the Federalists,

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 329

most of whom voted for him, he came near being
elected. Alexander Hamilton had used his influence
against him, and Burr imputed his defeat to this
opposition. This led to the fatal duel, and the death
of Hamilton sealed the destiny of Burr. Desperate
in his private fortunes, hated by the Federalists, and
feared and distrusted by the Republicans, he had no
longer a home in New York, nor a party in the
Union. He took his seat, however, in the Senate,
contrary to the usual practice, on the first day of the
session. " This," said Mr. Plumer, (November 7,
1804,) in a letter to John Norris, of Salem, " is the
first time, I believe, that ever a Vice-President ap-
peared in the Senate the first day of a session ;
certainly, the first (God grant it may be the last)
that ever a man indicted for murder presided in
the American Senate. We are indeed fallen on evil
times. To a religious mind, the aspect of public
afiairs is veiled in darkness. The high ofi&ce of Pre-
sident is filled by an infidel ; that of Vice-President
by a murderer." To me, he wrote, November, 1804 :

" Colonel Burr seems determined to browbeat and cajole
public opinion. The Federalists treat him with very great
coldness. Those from New England do not visit him. In
the Senate chamber, I make a very formal bow as he passes
me, but hold no conversation with him. His manners and
address are very insinuating. Mr. Jefferson has shown him

330 lilFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER.

more attention, and invited him oftener to his house, within
the last three weeks, than he ever did for the same time
before. Mr. Gallatin has waited upon him often at his lodg-
ings, and one day was closeted with him more than two hours.
Mr. Madison, formerly the intimate friend of Hamilton, has
taken his murderer into his carriage, and accompanied him
on a visit to the French minister. Mr. Giles, the present
ministerial leader in the Senate, has drawn up a paper
addressed to Governor Bloomfield, of New Jersey, stating
that in killing his antagonist in a fair duel Burr was not
guilty of murder, and requesting the governor to direct a
nolle prosequi to be entered on the indictment now depending
in that state. This address was not shown to New England
Senators. Mr. White of Delaware, to whom it was presented,
declined signing it. It was signed by many, if not all the
Democratic Senators present. The Democrats of both Houses
are remarkably attentive to Burr. What oiEce they can or
will give him is uncertain. Mr. Wright, of Maryland, said in
debate : 'The first duel I ever read of was that of David kill-
ing Goliath. Our little David, of the Republicans, has killed
the Goliath of Federalism, and for this I am willing to reward
him.' They know their man, and will not choose to trust him
unnecessarily."

To James Sheafe, he writes, (January, 1805) :

"When Judge Chase appeared before the Senate, Burr
would not suffer a chair, which had been provided for him,
to remain, but ordered it away. The judge was obliged to
solicit a seat, and was interrupted, and treated with a degree

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 331

of rudeness, not to have been expected from so courtly a man
as the Vice-President. His anxiety to please the Democratic
party certainly made him, on this occasion, overact his part ;
not at all to the satisfaction of the more moderate among
them."

To Ms wife, he writes, (March 2d, 1805) :

" Mr. Burr has taken his final farewell of the Senate. His
address would have done honor to a better heart. It was
delivered with great force and propriety, and, as he bowed
and retired^ we were all deeply affected, and many shed tears.
The Senate passed unanimously a vote of thanks, approving of
his official conduct as Vice-President. I condemn as cordially
as any man living his fatal rencontre with Hamilton, on the
Jersey shore, in July last ; but his official conduct in the Sen-
ate, for the last three years, has fully met my approbation.
To acknowledge this, in my public capacity, was a debt justly
due from me, and I have paid it cheerfully. To-morrow, at
half-past ten in the evening, I shall take my departure from
this place. Anxious, as I am, to embrace again my family
and friends at home, I part with regret from dear friends
here, many of whom I shall probably never behold again.
May He whose tender mercies extend to the lily of the valley,
and the feeble sparrow of the field, protect you and our dear
ofispring."

Mr. Plumer found, on his return, that the Repub-
licans had carried the state, at the March elections.

332 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEB.

as he had predicted they would. To, Uriah Tracy,
he writes, (May 2d, 1805) :

"Democracy has obtained its long expected triumph in.
New Hampshire. John Langdon is Governor elect. His
success is not owing to snow, rain, hail, or bad roads, (the
usual excuses for Federal failures,) but to the incontrovertible
fact, that the Federalists of this state do not compose the
majority. Many good men have grown weary of constant
exertions to support a system, whose labors bear a close affinity
to those of Sisyphus. They feel disposed to attend to their
own affairs, and leave those of the state to philosojjhers, who
can dissect the wing of a butterfly or the proboscis of a
mosquito, and are, therefore, well qualified to make and
administer the laws. In Massachusetts, Strong will be
re-elected ; but Sullivan presses hard in his rear. That Com-
monwealth must soon follow New Hampshire. It will be
reserved for Connecticut to preserve her steady habits yet a
little longer. Mutability is one of the ])ermanent laws of
nature ; or, as our learned friend from South Carolina says,
' man is man.' And now a word as to my dear self. I have
discontinued most of my newspapers, and devote my time and
money to more useful works, principally history. I labor
with my hands on my farm as much as four hours a day, and
spend the residue in reading, writing and conversation. This
change of studies is productive of more substantial pleasure
than a knowledge of the fleeting events of the day can afford.
The exercise is necessary to my health, which, thank Heaven,
continues good."

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 333

The last of his children was born about this time.
He thus states the fact in his Register : " On the fifth
day of the fifth month, in the fifth year of the nine-
teenth century, I had a fifth son born. These cir-
cumstances induced me to call his name Quintus."
The next entry on this subject, is, (May 29th, 1805,)
This day my son Quintus died in my arms, having
lived only five times five days." This remarkable con-
concurrence of fives in the incidents of his birth and
death, is commemorated on his gravestone, in an
inscription which, from its singularity, has found its
way into several collections of epitaphs.

Mr. Plumer passed the summer and autumn in the
society of his friends, and in the labors of the farm, to
which he was always attached. The approaching ses-
sion of Congress called him again to Washington.
Under date of November 17th, 1805, he says:

" Late in the afternoon I left my house for the seat of gov-
ernment. The regret, accompanied with tears, which my
family showed, made the parting very painful. My wife was
so much affected that she could not dine with us. 18th. I
was the only passenger in the stage from Exeter to Haverhill.
The melancholy occasioned by leaving my family still clouds
my mind. 19th. I walked to Cambridge, three miles, to
visit my son. My children now engross my affections. Every
month affords me new proofs of my attachment to them. I
converse with William as with a companion ; and he, in turn,
makes me his confidant. I felt sad at parting with him. In

334 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK.

the evening I walked back to Boston. 20tli. Took my seat
in the mail stage, crowded with passengers, among whom
were Nelson, Thompson, and Tenney, all members of Con-
gress. "We arrived at Providence early in the evening. My
spirits were much animated by meeting my friends Bourne
and Hunter of Ehode Island. 21st. Eode to New London,
22d. Arrived at New Haven. ?3d. Stage so much crowded
as to be very uncomfortable. Early in the evening arrived at
Rye. 24th. Arrived at the City Hotel in New York. I
immediately entered my name in the mail stage for Philadel-
phia ; and having dined, I stepped into the ferry boat, and, in
ten minutes, crossed the North Eiver. No one was with me
in the stage, till I arrived at Brunswick, and then only a
young Briton. The day and night Were stormy ; but I had
not a wet thread. 25th. At 8 o'clock, A. M., I arrived at
Philadelphia but little fatigued. 26th. I was the only person
who took the mail stage at 9 o'clock, A. M., for Baltimore.
At half-past ten, P. M., passed, in a small boat with the mail
only, the Susquehannah, and supped at eleven at Havre de
Grace, in Maryland. There is only one other line of stages
on this road. 27th. At 7 o'clock, A. M., arrived at Balti-
more. At ten, took my seat with two other passengers for
"Washington, where I arrived at seven, P. M. In thirty-four
hours I have safely performed a journey of more than one
hundred and fifty miles, much less fatigued than I had reason
to fear."

Here is the story of ten days' hard travel, in the
mail stage, from New Hampshire to "Washington,
some of the way with one passenger, once or twice

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMEK. 335

crowded, there being on the route only one other
line of stages!

The battle of Trafalgar had given England, at this
period, the undisputed dominion of the sea; while the
successes of Napoleon made France no less formidable
on the land. The effect of this sudden accession of
strength was to render both these powers indifferent
to the good wUl of other nations, and ready, on
the slightest pretence, to violate their rights. The
encroachments of both on the neutral and other
rights of the United States, together with the difficul-
ties with Spain growing out of the Louisiana treaty,
formed the chief objects of attention with the govern-
ment at this time. Many of the proceedings of Con-
gress on these subjects were in secret session. I find
frequent allusions to them in the letters and journals
of this period. The extracts which follow relate prin-
cipally to these subjects.

December 1st, 1805 :

" The Eastern States have an interest different from that of
the Southern, and I really wish we might support that inter-
est ; not, indeed, in such a way as would endanger the peace
and happiness of the Union. In Virginia, a Federalist is still
a Virginian ; but in New England, a Federalist does not feel
or act as a New Englander."

December 3d, 1805 :

336 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

" The President's message is more energetic and warlike
than any he ever before sent to Congress. The state of the
nation seems to demand it."

December 15th :

" 0. Cook, a member from Maine, told me that he had seen
a private letter from James Bowdoin, our minister at Madrid,
in which he writes that the French court would persuade
Spain to settle our differences with that nation, to our full con-
tent, if we would make a present of a handsome sum of money
to France. Samuel Smith, Senator from Maryland, told me
in confidence, that our government would purchase of France
and Spain their title to the Floridas. Our Federal gentlemen
generally decline visiting the Republican members, and so
vice versa. I visit my political opponents freely, converse
with them, avoid disputes, and obtain much useful information
from them. My rule is to ask many questions, to converse
cautiously and negatively on important subjects, and to dis-
play, on subjects not important, much frankness. Whenever
I answer a c[uestion, I do it correctly ; for I abhor duplicity.
But a politician is bound to act cautiously, and not less to be
on his guard in conversation with his opponents."

He took strong ground in opposition to purchasing
lands of the Indians ; both in justice to the Indians
themselves, whom he considered as generally defraud-
ed in these treaties, and from a desire to prevent the
too rapid extension of our settlements, and the con-
sequent dispersion of our people. He voted, during
his whole term of service, against nearly all Indian

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 337

treaties ; and on that with the Cherokees, ratified at
this time, (December lOth, 1805,) his vote was the
only one in the negative. To John Langdon he
writes, December 16th:

" Against Great Britain we have serious complaints for the
spoliations committed on our commerce. It will be difEcult
to adjust these ; for the measures of that nation are parts of a
premeditated system, to which she tenaciously adheres. Spain
refuses to make compensation for spoliations committed on
our commerce; and we have even more serious difficulties
with her respecting the boundaries of Louisiana. Spain is
weak, and her colonies in America are very accessible to us.
But, in case of a war, I have no doubt France would support
Spain against us.

To Thomas Lowndes of South Carolina, he writes,
December 30th :

" The President's message is more bold and manly than
what we have been accustomed to hear from this administra-
tion. The spirit of the people demands energetic measures.
It is confidently asserted that the administration is divided
upon the measures which we ought to pursue both with Great
Britain and Spain. In this desert city we have little company.
The Tunisian ambassador, and the chiefs and warriors of some
Indian tribes, who are now here, serve to attract curiosity for
a day ; but we want society, which cannot be obtained in
this place."

22

338 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

January 1st, 1806 :

" The Federalists generally declined calling on tke Presi-
dent to-day ■with the compliments of the season, on the ground
that they have not been invited to dine with him this session.
I thought it a respect due from me to him as President, and
therefore went. Mr. Adams, General Chittenden, and Mr.
Taggart, were the only Federalists who attended the levee.
I will never yield implicit obedience to the will of any man
or party. I see much to approve, and much to condemn, in
all parties. The course which I pursue must, and shall be,
one that my judgment approves. I am determined, as a pub-
lic man, to support every measure which to me appears right,
let the party, or the motives of the man, who brings it forward
be ever so wrong."

The House had passed, in secret session, a biU
granting the President two millions of dollars for the
extraordinary expenses of the foreign intercourse, in
other words, for the purchase of the Floridas ; and
this bill was now before the Senate. It was opposed
by the vote of every Federal Senator, and did not
receive the support of all the RepubHcans. Bradley
of Vermont denounced it as intended to purchase
men in Europe, rather than a province in America.
Mr. Plumer's Register contains reports of the secret
debates in the Senate, on this and other subjects con-
nected with the foreign intercourse of the country.
But their discussions belong to the history of the

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 339

country, rather than of the individual, and are there-
fore not quoted here. January 2d, 1806, he says :

"Mr. Jefferson intends to purchase the Florldas. The
present clamor for warlike preparations, and the publication
of supposed aggressions committed three years since, are made
now to prepare the public for the purchase of the Floridas.
I am assured, from high authority, that France will sell and
guarantee both the Floridas to us for seven millions of dollars.
At present I do not see any cause either for war or the pur-
chase of more territory."

On the resolution requesting the President to open
negotiations with Great Britain on the subjects of
dispute between the two countries, Mr. Plumer voted
in the negative, on the ground that it is the duty of
the President, and not of the Senate, to institute
negotiations with foreign powers; and that, if the
request is to be regarded as a command, it is an
encroachment on the rights of the executive, while if,
on the other hand, the President is at liberty to dis-
regard it, the act is not merely useless, but exposes
the Senate to contempt by the assumption of an
authority which it has no means or ability to enforce.

" I have full evidence," he adds, " that Mr. Jefferson has
no wish or desire to involve the country in a war. It is, and
has long been, his intention to negotiate. But he wished to
remove from himself to the Senate, the responsibility of form-

340 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

ing a commercial treaty with Great Britain. He knew that
the old one (Jay's,) occasioned much clamor, and had rendered
a former administration unpopular. He, therefore, wished the
Senate to place him in a situation that would not only justify,
but render it necessary for him to treat. Many of his friends
in the Senate were brought with difficulty to vote for the reso-
lution. The Federal gentlemen, on the contrary, were all
zealous for the measure. I was the only Federalist who
voted against it. They wished to place the President in a
situation where he would be bound not only to treat, but to
adopt Jay's treaty, — a treaty which he and his friends had
formerly branded with every odious epithet."

February 20th :

" I voted against the bill interdicting the trade with St.
Domingo. I am not willing, as a Senator of this free and
sovereign nation, to receive orders from Napoleon. I will
never legislate under his threats. The laws and usages of
nations justify the trade. Our interests urge us to pursue it.
But a majority of the Senate decided otherwise. Several
southern Senators said that the only thing which reconciled
them to the bill was the fatal influence which the independence
of the Haytiens would have on their own slaves."

March 5th:

"Mr. Randolph, long the administration leader in the House,
has been for some time disaffected ; and he came out yester-
day and to-day, in a most bitter philippic against the President
and the Secretary of State, in the debate on Grey's resolution

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 341

to prohibit intercourse with Great Britain. He has fairly
passed the Rubicon. Neither Jefferson nor Madison can,
after this, be upon tei-ms with him. He has set them and
their measures at defiance. The attention of crowded gal-
leries was fixed upon him. The Senators left their chamber
to listen to his eloquence. I heard him for nearly two hours
with very great pleasure. He is certainly a man of very great
talents, and by far the best speaker in the House. I have,
from my first acquintance with him, ever considered him as a
man of strict integrity. But his pas sions are strong, his pre-
judices violent and inveterate; and he wants that plain common
sense, which renders a man at once safe and useful to himself
and to others."

March 12th :

" I have for some time been convinced that long speeches in
the Senate have, in most cases, very little influence on the
vote. Our number is small, thirty-four when the Senate is
full. The documents are printed and laid upon our tables ;
and those of us who examine for ourselves, and do not vote
on the faith of others, form from them our opinions. Con-
versation follows, and a free exchange of sentiments. This
either confirms or changes our previous opinions ; and fixes
the votes of others, who never give themselves the trouble of
examination. Some are implicitly led by the administration ;
others have their file leaders. When a Senator is making a
set speech, there is seldom a quorum within the bar ; the
chairs are deserted; and the question is, in the meantlnie,
settled in conversation at the fireside. This conversation is
often so loud as to interrupt the speaker. Under these cir-

342 LIFE OF WIILIAM PLUMEB.

cumstances, it is difficult for any man to make an eloquent
and eiFective speech, when he knows he is not even listened
to. Add to this that we have no stenographers, and seldom
any hearers in the galleries. I therefore make no long and
not many short speeches. Yet, my influence is hy no means
confined to my own vote. I am industrious in all private
circles, expressing openly and frankly my opinions, and
assigning my reasons ; and I have frequently full and
satisfactory evidence that my brother Senators, of all parties,
have much confidence in my opinions ; for they know that I
am not governed by party views."

March 16th, 1806 :

" It seems now to be agreed that Mr. Jefferson is not to be
a candidate at the next Presidential election. The disclosure
of this fact, thus early, is an unnecessary and imprudent letting
down of his importance. It lessens greatly his influence on
the government. Most men seek the rising rather than the
setting sun. The more impartially I examine the character
and conduct of Mr. Jefferson, the more favorably I think of
his integrity. I have, I am inclined to think, done him
injustice in this respect. INot that he is a model of wisdom
or goodness. He has too much cunning for that, and, I
suspect, no very nice or high sense of moral duty. A man
of science, an infidel in religion, he is in everything else
credulous to a fault. He has muchjf?»e sense, yet little of the
plain common sense, so necessary for the practical statesman.
Yet he has been, as a politician, eminently successful. How
is this ? More, it seems to me, by the popularity of his

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 343

doctrines, than by his strength of personal character, or by
the practical wisdom of his public measures. These doctrines
are, some of them, sound, more of them specious, and all of
them addressed to the self-esteem and pride of the masses.
He is, ill theory, at least, eminently democratic, and such
our people are fast becoming. Federalism has passed away.
Kepublicanism is now the favorite designation ; but Democ-
racy is the true name for the direct, unbalanced, and unlimited
rule of the many. This is not the government contemplated,
either by the constitutions of the states or by that of the
United States. But this is what we are coming to ; and it is
owing more to Mr. Jefferson than to any other man. How
far this unmitigated power of the major vote will prove a
blessing remains to be seen. In the meantime, this possession
of all power by the people is true only in appearance. The
real power here, as every where else, is in the hands of a few.
Jefferson wishes Madison to be his successor. Randolph is
against Madison, and in favor of Monroe."

March 28th :

" This day a bill passed the Senate in favor of the Yazoo
speculators. I was the only Senator from New England who
voted against it. But, though deserted by every man from
New England and every Federalist in the Senate, I never
gave a vote with a more thorough conviction of its propriety
than that against this bill."

April 8th :

""With John Quincy Adams I am intimate. He is a

344 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

man of much information, a correct and animated, speaker, — '■
of strong passions, and of course, subject to strong prejudices,
but a man of strict, undeviating integrity. He is not the
slave of party, nor influenced by names ; but free, inde-
pendent, and occasionally eccentric."

April 13th :

" The ratification of the treaty with Tripoli depended upon
my exertions, and without them would have failed. By
those exertions more than one vote was obtained for the
treaty, which, after all, was barely carried. The Federalists,
except Mr. Adams and myself, opposed it. Under the
influence of Eaton's statements, I, at one time, thought the
treaty a bad one, but subsequent inquiry convinced me that
it ought to be ratified."

Against the leading measures of the session, the
two millions of secret service money, and the partial
non-intercourse with England, he had indeed, voted,
but in no spirit of indiscriminate or factious oppo-
sition. There were only seven Federalists in the Sen-
ate, and of these neither Adams nor Plumer could be
considered as a reliable party man. Yet even this small
number gave some trouble to the President. "Seven
Federalists," he says, "voting always in phalanx,
and joined by some discontented Republicans, some
oblique ones, some capricious, have so often made a
majority as to produce very serious embarrassments."
rbi the House the opposition was not relatively

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 345

stronger, though aided by the accession of Randolph.
He had, indeed, more talent as a debater, than any
other member; but he ultimately carried with him
not more than six or seven Republican votes, — so
entire was the control which Mr. Jefferson retained
to the last over the movements of the party. Ran-
dolph was denounced as a Federalist; and the
powerful administration leader became thenceforth
the brilliant and sarcastic, but powerless opposition
orator, fighting, however, always on his own ground,
with very little concert with others. Four years on
the administration side were preceded and followed
by a life of opposition. He had, as I heard him say,
many years after, as great an alacrity in getting into
an opposition as FalstaflF had in sinking. This was,
indeed, his true vocation, that of a fault-finder ; and
there was seldom a time in which his peculiar talent
in that respect was not in full requisition. Like
Swift, he had

' ' too mueli satire in his vein.
And seemed determined not to starve it,
Because no age could more deserve it."

The session closed on the 21st of April, and Mr.
Plumer reached home on the 30th. May 15th, he
writes :

" Visited this week, my friends and acquaintances at Ports-
mouth, by whom I was received with much kindness and

346 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

attention. Called, among others, upon Governor Langdon,
who treated me with much politeness. He is re-elected
•without any real rival, and a large majority of the legisla-
ture is of his party. All is now calm and quiet in the state.
The Federalists are silent and submissive. The Democrats
are obliged to own that the change of men has produced
little change in public measures. A few men have got offices
under Langdon, who would not have obtained them under
Oilman ; and that is all, — much indeed to some of them, even
a justice's commission, but little to any body else. I was
never much of a party man, and am becoming less of one
every day."

The Republicans were now in full possession of
the state government; and in June they elected
Nahum Parker to the United States Senate, for the
next Congress. Mr. Plumer was not a candidate for
re-election. "I am," he said, in noticing this event, "too
much of a Federalist to have Republican votes, and
too much of a Republican deeply to interest Feder-
alists in my favor." " At the election of members of
the tenth Congress, August 25th, I attended," he
says, "the meeting, and voted for a ticket of my own,
selecting two Democrats and three Federalists — hon-
est men and true, moderate, but firm in their opinions
— men that I should not be ashamed to meet in the
councils of the nation." This vote for two Democrats
and three Federalists, though determined chiefly by
the merits of the individuals selected, was a not inapt

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 347

representation of his feelings at this time. He had
ceased to feel any strong party attachment, and
looked to the merits of measures, more than to
their authors, for the degree of favor with which
he should regard them.

His last session in the Senate was now approach-
ing. It need not detain us long. He took his seat
on the first day of December, 1806; and his term of
service closed with the session, on the 3d of March,
1807. The first measure of the session was an act to
suspend the operation of the non-importation law of
the last session. This was on the recommendation of
the President, who announced the probable conclusion
of a treaty with England. This treaty was received
about the close of the session ; but, not being satisfac-
tory to the President, it was rejected by him, without
being communicated to the Senate. On this subject
I find the following entry in my father's Register,
March 4th, 1807 :

" I called upon the President this morning. He told me
he had not received the treaty with Great Britain ; but that Mr.
Erskine, the British minister, had received a copy of it, and
had politely sent it to him. The President said he disap-
proved of it, for it contained no stipulation for the protection
of American seamen ; and that, had he received the treaty ten
days ago, he should not have laid it before the Senate."

The movements of Aaron Burr formed, during this

348 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK.

session, the most prominent object of curiosity and
attention, — of alternate wonder, incredulity and
alarm. What was then doubtful, as to the designs of
this mysterious conspirator, the lapse of nearly
fifty years leaves still in obscurity. He had not at
first despaired of obtaining, from the hopes or the
fears of the administration, some appointment, which
should imply his possession of the public confidence.

"This evening," says Mr. Plumer, (January 15th, 1807,)
" my colleague, Nicholas Gilman, told me that Mr. Jefferson,
a few days since, informed him that, the last winter. Burr
made several visits to him, and requested, as he was out of
employment, that the President would give him some appoint-
ment, as that of minister to some foreign court ; that at the
last visit. Burr pressed the subject ; and that the President
then replied, ' You once had my confidence, but the people
and myself have now lost the confidence we once had in you.
I cannot, therefore, gratify you with an appointment.' Burr
then intimated to the President that he would find that he
had the power to do him much injury."

He afterwards talked of offering himself for a seat
in Congress from Tennessee, where it was supposed
he could be elected. His aims, however, evidently
pointed at something higher. Desperate in his for-
tunes, his irregular ambition was now apparently
seeking its outlet in schemes of conquest and revo-
lution in the West. His own account of the matter

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMEE. 349

was, that he was building boats, and enlisting men,
with a view to take possession of a tract of land on
the Red River in Louisiana, and to form a settle-
ment there. By others, including the President, it
was believed that his object was a dismemberment of
the Union, and the establishment of an empire in the
South West; and that with this view he would first
seize on New Orleans, and thence push his fortunes
against the Spaniards in Mexico. "He meant," said
Jefferson, July 14, 1807, "to separate the Western
States from us, to add Mexico to them, place himself
at their head, and establish what he would call an
energetic government." Of this long-dreaded expe-
dition not much that was tangible ever appeared,
beyond a few men floating in flat boats down the river
towards New Orleans. These boats were seized by
order of the government, and the men were dispersed.
Burr was afterwards tried in Virginia, before Chief
Justice Marshall, on a charge of treason, and acquitted
for want of proof of any overt act. And thus ended an
enterprise, which was thought for a time to threaten
the safety of the Union. The subject of this memoir
was slow to believe in the many rumors which were
circulated on the subject.

" We have many reports," he said, December 9th, 1806,
" but very little correct information, respecting Burr's move-
ments. I do not knovr enough of his late conduct to form an

350 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

opinion as to what are his objects in the Western States.
But I am too well acquainted with the man to believe him
guilty of half the absurdities ascribed to him. He is capable
of much wickedness, but not of such folly as fhey impute
to him."

Yet such is the contagion of example that, under
the excitement of these rumors, he voted, (January
23d,) for the bill to suspend for three months the
privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, which passed
the Senate almost unanimously, but was rejected
with almost equal unanimity by the House. Sub-
sequent events showed that there was no occasion
for this suspension, and he expressed, before the
close of the session, his surprise and regret at
having voted for it.

The most permanently important measure of the
session was the act prohibiting the importation of
slaves into the United States, after the first of Janu-
ary, 1808. Two other measures, of this session, then
little regarded, have since led to important results, —
the one an act to provide for surveying the coasts of
the United States, a survey which, involving great
expense, and requiring much time, is not yet com-
pleted; the other, a call of the Senate on the Secre-
tary of the Treasury to report at the next session a
system of internal improvements for the United
States. This latter was the first step in a series of

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 351

measures, which have since entered largely into the
civil history of the country, and the course of its
politics. Mr. Plumer voted for all these acts, fore-
seeing as little as others the final results to which
the two latter measures would lead, but deeming
them clearly within the constitutional powers of the
government, and conducive to the public good.

Henry Clay came, for the first time, this session,
into Congress. I find in Mr. Plumer's papers several
notices of him.

December 29th, 1806 :

" This day, Henry Clay, the successor of John Adair, was
qualified, and took his seat in the Senate. He is a young
lawyer. His stature is tall and slender. I had much conver-
sation with him ; and it afforded me much pleasure. He is
intelligent, and appears frank and candid. His address is
good and his manners easy."

January 2d, 1807 :

" Mr. Clay in the Senate. He appears to be an easy, elo-
quent and graceful speaker."

January 12th:

" " Mr. Clay is a young lawyer, of considerable eminence.
He came here as Senator, for this session only. His

352 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMEK.

clients, who have suits depending in the Supreme Court,
gave him a purse of three thousand dollars to attend to
their suits here. He would not he a candidate for the next
Congress, as it would materially injure his business. But it
was a convenient and money-making business for him to
attend this session. This day Henry Clay, and Matthew
Clay, his uncle, joined the pai'ty at our lodgings. They are
Republicans, and I am glad they have come. I dislike this
setting up of partition walls between Members of Congress,
because some are Federalists and others Eepublicans. The
more we associate together, the more favorably shall we think
of each other."

It had been early an object with Mr. Plumer, to
bring about this social union at the same boarding-
house between members of the different parties ; and
he succeeded, this session, in forming a mess of this
character, of liberal minded men from both parties,
much to his satisfaction. Clay came readily into it.

January 23d :

" Henry Clay told me he thought there was no occasion
for suspending the writ of habeas corpus ; but the delicate
situation in which he stood, as late counsel for Burr, would
not only prevent him from opposing it, but oblige him to
vote for it, which he did."

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 353

January 29th:

"On the second reading of the bill to erect a bridge
over the Potomac, Henry Clay made an eloquent and forci-
ble speech against the postponement. He animadverted
with great severity on Tracy's observations. As a speaker.
Clay is animated, his language bold and flowery. He is
prompt and ready at reply, but he does not reason with the
force and precision of Bayard."

February 13th :

" Henry Clay is a man of pleasure ; fond of amusements.
He is a great favorite with the ladies ; is in all parties of
pleasure ; out almost every evening ; reads but little ; indeed
he said he meant this session should be a tour of pleasure;
He is a man of talents ; is eloquent, but not nice or accu-
rate in his distinctions. He declaims more than he reasons.
He is a gentlemanly and pleasant companion ; a man of honor
and integrity."

The following extract shows a state of things differ-
ent from any which has since existed among the high
officers of the government at Washington :

March 1st:

" The Heads of Departments visit few members of either
House. Mr. Madison, for two or three years past, has

23

354 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

entirely omitted even the ceremony of leaving cards at
tlieir lodgings. He invites very few to dine with him.
Mr. Gallatin leaves no cards, makes no visits, scarcely ever
invites a member to dine, or has even a tea party. General
Dearborn and Eoljert Smith, Secretaries of War and the
Navy, leave cards with all the members, but invite few to
tea, and scarcely any to dine. Mr. Clinton, the Vice-Presi-
dent, comes to the city in his own carriage, accompanied by
one of his daughters and a servant; but lives out at board,
like a common member ; keeps no table, nor invites any one
to dine. These gentlemen do not live in a style suited to the
dignity of their offices."

After the close of his senatorial service, though he
lived more than forty years, Mr. Plumer never re-
visited the seat of government. He, however, always
looked back with satisfaction and pleasure to the time
which he spent there. With his habits of vigilant
observation, and his keen insight of character, he had
acquired a fund of curious anecdotes, and rich stores
of information, respecting the distinguished men of
the times, the prominent lawyers and politicians of
the country, which added, in after years, fresh charms
to his conversation, abounding, as it often did, with
curious facts and instructive remarks on life and man-
ners, derived from this source. Though he found
there no lawyers whom he deemed superior to his
old friends and opponents, Parsons, Dexter and Ma-
son, he formed the acquaintaince of jurists, such as

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 355

M^/rshall, Patterson and Chase, on the bench, and
Martin, Harper, Lewis and Hopkinson, at the bar,,
with others, then noted, but now little known, who
represented not unworthily the legal profession in the
courts of the Union. If lawyers are unknown, or
soon forgotten, the race of politicians is perhaps not
much longer lived. Yet he associated with many
there who are not yet quite forgotten, and with some
whose memory will not wholly perish. He witnessed,
at his first session, the departing glories of Ross and
Morris, and, at a later period, the rising splendors
of CHnton, Clay and Adams. Randolph was at the
height of his power and popularity, and in the prime
vigor of his peculiar and eccentric genius. Tracy,
Griswold, Bayard, Taylor, Giles and Smith were able
public men, though not brilliant debaters. In the
Cabinet, Madison was learned in all questions of the
law of nations ; modest and unassuming, with a fem-
inine grace of manner ; yet firm and, at times, almost
stubborn in his opinions ; strong in the powers of a
clear, discriminating mind, improved by study, and
enlightened by experience ; yet less expert in the
arts of policy than his able and adroit colleague of
the Treasury Department. Sagacious in design^ and
persuasive in manner and address, Mr. Gallatin had
few equals in his knowledge of human nature, or
the skill with which he combined the means neces-
sary for the accomplishment of his designs. In Mr.

356 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

Plumer's opinion, the President owed much of
the success of his administration to the counsels
of these two able ministers. Without their restrain-
ing influence, his brilliant, but less balanced mind
might have betrayed itself more freqiiently in such
vagaries as his scheme of gun-boats and dry-docks,
or his vision of salt mountains, and in the rancor of
his personal and political animosities.

CHAPTER IX.

NEW POLITICAL RELATIONS.

Retiring from the public service at the age of forty-
eight, Mr. Plumer did not feel that the labors of his
life were yet ended. The vigor of his mind was
unimpaired, and its activity had never been greater.
"Labor," he said, "is not irksome to me, and I well
know that the busiest life is also the most happy."
He did not, however, wish to return to his profession
as a lawyer. He went, indeed, occasionally into court,
at the request of an old client ; but he declined busi-
ness from other persons. His health, though better
than it had been five years before, was not, in his
opinion, equal to the labors and the excitements of a
lawyer in full practice. He had, while at Washing-
ton, collected a set, nearly complete, of the public
documents of the government; and this collection,
which ultimately extended to four or five hundred
volumes, was, probably, for the period which it
embraced^ the most nearly complete in the United
States. So assiduous were his labors in this respect,
spending days and nights in selecting and sorting his
materials, from cartloads of useless lumber, piled in.

358 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER.

obscure vaults, and rotting in damp and mlventilated
chambers, that scarcely a paper published by Con-
gress had escaped his research. This collection of State
papers suggested to him the idea of writing a history
of the government, from the Declaration of Indepen-
dence to the close of Mr. Jefferson's administration.
He afterwards enlarged the plan, so as to embrace a
general history of the country from its first discovery
to his own time ; a work, which he justly regarded as
affording ample occupation for the longest life which
he could hope to enjoy. He had, however, from the
first, many misgivings as to his competency for the
task. " I am," he said, " no scholar. Hardly master
of my own language, I can read no other. It requires
much time for me to express my ideas on paper, so
as to satisfy myself, though I find that I now compose
with greater facility than formerly." He began with
drawing out a sketch, or plan of what his work should
contain. This extended to seventy-two pages, and
embraced such a variety of topics as showed that
little or nothing, deserving notice, had escaped his
attention. It was evident, however, that he looked
to law, politics, the civil institutions of the country,
and the lives and characters of its statesmen and law-
givers, more than to the movements of armies and
the incidents of war.

He had gone so far, before leaving Washington, as
to converse on the subject with the President, and

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 359

other oflficers of the government, from whom he
received promises of assistance, and permission to
examine the public archives. He now determined
to devote himself to the work, and to allow no other
pursuit to interfere permanently with its prosecution.
The spirit in which he entered on this important
undertaking was well expressed in a letter (May 1st,
1807,) to Mr. Jefferson. "It is my first determina-
tion, like a faithful witness in court, to tell the truth, the
whole truth and nothing hut the truth, regardless of the
applause or the censure of existing parties. This
year I shall devote to the settling of my pecuniary
affairs, to arranging my documents and manuscripts,
and making indexes and references to them. The
next year I hope to commence my work, and to
spend the winter at Washington, in procuring further
information from the public offices."

To John Q. Adams, (July 11,1809,) he writes:
" My leisure hours are now devoted to my history of
the United States. I have made but little progress
in the composition, the rough sketch of my introduc-
tion being not yet finished. To this work I intend
sedulously to devote the remainder of my days."

To tell the truth with the conscientious fidelity of
a witness under oath, it was, above all things, neces-
sary that he should first know the truth. With this
view he entered on a comprehensive course of careful
and critical reading in American history; resorting

360 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

to the original authorities, in all cases where they
were within his reach; taking nothing for granted,
or at second hand, comparing adverse statements,
sifting authorities, and thus deducing historic truth as
the slow result of patient investigation. It was not
till he had gone, in this way, through all the early
writers, and compared them with the original docu-
ments, so far as these could be obtained, that he
commenced the labor of composition. In several
preliminary chapters, he unfolded, first, the state of
society in Europe, at the period of the discovery of
America; and then traced the progress of naviga-
tion and settlement along the coast, from Canada to
Florida, down to the first permanent lodgement effect-
ed by the English in Virginia. He then entered on
the early history of that colony ; but had made little
progress in it, when his labors as an historian came
finally to a close. He had written what would make
about half a volume of the ordinary octavo size.
But, while intent upon this history of the past, he did
not altogether lost sight of the present. His interest in
passing events grew daily stronger, with the increasing
aggressions of France and England on the commerce
and maritime rights of the United States. To explain
his return to public life, and to trace the new connec-
tions into which he now entered, we must go back to
the close of his senatorial term, and thence follow

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 361

down the course of events to the period of his elec-
tion as Governor of New Hampshire.

The administration of Mr. Jefferson, so prosper-
ous at its commencement, was clouded and overcast
towards its close, by the injustice of foreign powers to
the United States. This rendered necessary, in the
opinion of the government, a system of non-inter-
course and embargo laws, and led finally to a war
with England. The British order of blockade of May
16th, 1806, was the cause alleged by Napoleon for
issuing his Berlin Decree of November 21st, 1806.
This was followed by the British Orders in Council of
January 7th, and November 11th, 1807. The Milan
Decree of Napoleon was dated December 17th, 1807.
The effect of these British orders and French decrees
was well-nigh to destroy all neutral commerce, of
which the largest portion was, at this time, in the
hands of American merchants. More than a hundred
millions of American property were swept from the
ocean, or confiscated in port. With England there
was the additional question of impressment of seamen
from American vessels, complicated. by the attack on
the Chesapeake, which took place June 22d, 1807.
The question presented by this state of things to
the people of the United States, was, whether they
should submit in silence to these unjust aggressions ;
and, if not, in what manner they should be met, and
repelled. Mr. Plumer's views and feelings on these

362 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

subjects will be seen in the following extracts from
his letters and other papers written at the time.

In a letter to' Thomas Cogswell, August 3d, 1807,
he says :

"The conduct of Humphries, the Captain of the Leopard,
in attacking the Chesapeake, and taking from her, by force, four
of our seamen, was a direct assault upon our sovereignty. Even
if they were British subjects, instead of American citizens, that
would not justify an attack upon the national flag. If the
British government justifies the conduct of Humphries, we
ought, and, I trust, shall, declare war against her. I love
peace ; I would suffer much to preserve it ; but war, with all
its horrors, is preferable to degradation. One insult, meanly
submitted to, will necessarily produce another. The conduct
of Great Britain towards the United States, for some years
past, has been hostile. It is sound policy in our government
to demand an explicit stipulation that our flag, mercantile, as
well as national, shall protect those who sail under it. If this
is refused, and war should grow out of our present embarrass-
ments, I trust we shall maintain it with a spirit worthy of
freemen."

To Martin Chittenden, a member of Congress from
Vermont, and afterwards Governor of that state, he
wrote, December 5th, 1807 :

" If the honor and dignity of our nation can be preserved,
I hope we shall avoid war. I would sooner abandon commerce,
for a time, than jnvolve our country in the calamities insepa-
rable from war. Our merchants, in that case, would clamor ;

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMES,. 363

but I would leave them to protect their property by voluntary
embargoes. If they send their ships to sea, let them do it at
their own risk, and not look to the government to be their
insurers. Yet, as much as I deprecate war, I should prefer
it to national degradation."

This idea of letting commerce take care of itself
was at the time extensively entertained. The mer-
chants preferred it to an embargo. Trade embar-
rassed, but not altogether destroyed by orders and
decrees was, at this time, a game of hazard, in which,
if the losses were frequent, the gains were' enormous.
War was, indeed, the obvious, almost inevitable
result of the state of things which then existed;
but for this measure the country was not prepared,
either morally, by a belief in its necessity, or physi-
cally, by the armaments necessary to carry it on with
success. The measure adopted was, therefore, that of
an embargo. This act, December 22d, 1807, was
defended by its friends on various grounds ; first, and
most successfully, as a precautionary measure, to se-
cure our shipping and produce from the grasp of the
belligerents, till we could prepare for war ; secondly,
as the best means of compelling France and England
to respect our rights ; and thirdly, as a withdrawal
from the scenes of European contest, till the nations
of Europe should return once more to their wonted
relations of peace and commerce. Those who sup-
ported it upon this latter ground, held that the war

364 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMES.

in Europe would not be of long continuance ; and
that while it lasted it was our true policy, though at
the loss of some property, and perhaps of some repu-
tation for the time, to keep " out of the wind of such
commotion," — safe at least, if inglorious, within our
own borders. At an earlier period, Fisher Ames had
said, (January 27, 1794,) "Though America is rising
with a giant's strength, its bones are yet but carti-
lages. By delaying the beginning of a conflict, we
insure the victory." The great majority, however, of
those who supported for years the policy of the
embargo and non-intercourse laws did it upon the
ground that they would compel both France and
England ultimately to do us justice; our commerce
being desirable to the former, and essential to the
latter. Mr. Plumer's opinions on this subject were
expressed in a letter, (dated January 26th, 1808,)
to Samuel M. Mitchell, a member of Congress from
New York.

" Our merchants complain, of the embargo as a serious
evil ; it oppresses our seamen, many of whom are in want of
bread, and our farmers feel its pressure in the reduced price
of the produce of their lands. When Congress imposed it,
they possessed, I presume, information, which it was then
improper to disclose, but which, if known, would have pre-
vented prudent men from hazarding their ships on the ocean.
When, from any source, this danger shall be known to our
merchants, will the embargo be continued ? Or is it designed

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMBE. 365

to operate against other nations ? If the latter is the object,
I fear, while we are chastising others with whips, we shall
be scourging ourselves with scorpions."

In August, 1808, Mr. Plumer voted for the Eepub-
liean ticket for members of Congress, and in Novem-
ber, for the Madison electors for President. " Though
Madison was not," he says, " the man I should have
selected for President, had I possessed the sole power,
I thought him the best man that could be chosen,
and therefore used my influence, and gave my vote
for him." In the mean time, the opposition to the
restrictive policy of the government had become so
strong, particularly in New England, that Congress,
at its next session, repealed the embargo, and adopted
in its place a system of non-intercourse with France
and England. " The alternative," said Mr. Jefferson,
" was repeal or civil war." " Congress," said Mr.
Plumer, "apprehended, not without reason, that, if
they did not repeal the embargo laws, some, if not all
of the New England States, would recede from the
Union,"

Though, as we have seen, Mr. Plumer did not
much Uke the embargo and non-intercourse, or, as it
was then called, the restrictive system, he thought
himself bound to support his own government
against the hostile aggressions of foreign powers;
and would, therefore, no longer go with his old asso-

366 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

ciates of the Federal party, in their indiscriminate
opposition to all the measures of the administration.
Unsuccessful ,in their party movements, and exasper-
ated by their long exclusion from office, they had
acquired, with the feelings of a minority, the usual
faults of an opposition. The Republicans, on the
contrary, had silently withdrawn from many of the
untenable positions which they had originally occu-
pied ; and, under the burdens of government, with
the responsibilities of office upon them, were saying
and doing many things which they had formerly con-
demned, when said or done by the Federal party then
in power. Amidst these changes of conduct and
opinion in the two great political parties, Mr. Plumer
found himself once more, what he had originally
been, a supporter of the government; and, above all,
a ready opponent of every foreign aggression on the
rights of his country. It was this duty of supporting
the government in its action against unjust pressure
from abroad, which formed the chief tie between him
and the party with which he now acted. Another
motive, however, perhaps equally strong with him,
was his belief that certain leading Federalists of New
England still cherished their old design of a separa-
tion of the states. He saw much in the spirit of the
times and the course of events, calculated to give
encouragement, if not success, to their exertions in a
cause, which he had himself once favored, but the

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 367

success of which he now regarded as the greatest
misfortune which could befall the country. That
there was danger of this he firmly believed. Nothing,
indeed, seemed so likely to drive the people of the
north to the despair which precedes revolt, as the
annihilation of their commerce, produced by the
embargo, non-intercourse and other kindred measures.
The embargo had been pronounced by the highest
Federalist authorities, legal, executive and legislative,
to be unconstitutional and void ; and resistance to it
was alternately threatened and predicted. Threats
of disunion and civil war were loudly uttered, in
many quarters, by men of high standing and wide
influence in the community ; and they were received
with apparent favor by many, who, in ordinary times,
would have shrunk from them with abhorrence. Mr.
Plumer saw, therefore, in the success of Federalism, as
then organized and directed, great danger to the
union of the states ; and he believed that this danger
could be averted only by the triumph of the Repub-
lican, or, as he now regarded it, the national party.
In the party sense of the word, he had ceased to be a
Federalist; and, as no man can act with effect in
public affairs, except in connection with others, he
soon found himself acting with the Repubhcans,
against his old associates of the Federal party. In-
stead, however, of an increased faith in the popular

368 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

wisdom or virtue, his old doubts seem, at this time,
to have come over him with fresh force.

" It is a question," he writes, " which I often contemplate
with gloomy apprehensions, whether a government, founded
upon town meetings, can be permanent. I hope a Republic
will always exist in this country ; but I fear that our govern-
ment, like others which have preceded it, will terminate, if
not in monarchy, at least in one of more energy, and less
freedom, than the present. Much I fear that a system of
pure republicanism is too pure, too liberal, and too good for
human nature. All other republics have ended first in
anarchy, and then in despotism. What right have we to
expect an exemption in our favor ?"

To Nicholas GUman, then Senator from New
Hampshire, he wrote, January 24th, 1809 :

" At no period of my life have I felt more anxiety for my
country than the present. I apprehend more real danger
from our own internal divisions than from the belligerent
powers of Europe. In New England, and even in New
York, there appears a spirit hostile to the existence of our
own government. Committees of safety and correspondence,
the precursors of revolution, are appointed in several towns
in Massachusetts. Numbers who, a few months since, would
have revolted with horror at the fatal idea of the dissolution
of the Union, now converse freely upon it, as an event rather
to be desired than avoided."

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 369

This fear for the safety of the Union was by no
means peculiar to Mr. Plumer. The opinion of John
Q. Adams has already been noticed. Joseph Story,
then a member of Congress, and afterwards Judge of
the Supreme Court, thus writes to a friend, (January
4th, 1809,) "If I may judge from the letters I have
seen from the various districts of Massachusetts, it is
a prevalent opinion there, and in truth many friends
from the New England States write us, that there is
great danger of resistance, and great probabihty that
the Essex junto have resolved to attempt a separa-
tion of the Eastern States from the Union ; and that,
if the embargo continues, their plan may receive
support from our yeomanry." "The New England
States," said Lieutenant Governor Lincoln to the
Massachusetts Legislature, "have been represented
as ripening for a separation from the Union. Such
suggestions, we trust, are unfounded. It is to be
lamented that any color has ever been furnished for
such alarms. If we must have conflicts, let them
be with foreign enemies." To this latter suggestion,
the House of Representatives replied, "Let Con-
gress repeal the embargo, annul the Convention
with France, forbid all intercourse with the French
dominions, arm our public and private ships, and
unfurl the Repubhcau banner against the Imperial
standard." November 21st, 1808, Mr. Lloyd said in
the United States Senate, that if "the embargo was

24

370 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

not repealed, the spark of present discontent would,
he feared, be fanned into a flame of rebellion."
November 30th, 1808, speaking of the embargo, Mr.
Pickering reminded the Senate that the revolution, of
which Boston was the cradle, began in New England ;
and that " one of the reasons assigned for the Decla-
ration of Independence was the cutting off our trade
with all the world." This was during the embargo, " an
act," said Mr. Hillhouse, December 21, 1808, in the
Senate, "containing unconstitutional provisions to
which the people are not hound to submit, and to which,
in my opinion, they will not submit." " A storm seems,"
he says, "to be gathering, which portends, not a
tempest on the ocean, but domestic convulsions."
The Massachusetts Legislature followed up this opin-
ion, February, 1809, declaring the embargo, "unjust,
oppressive, and unconstitutional, and not legally binding
on the citizens of the state." They did not, however,
recommend forcible resistance to it. In view of these
movements in New England, De Witt Clinton said,
(January 31st, 1809,) in the Senate of New York:
" The opposition in the Eastern States bids defiance
to the laws, and threatens a dissolution of the Union.
The match appears to be now lighted to produce an
explosion which will overwhelm us with all the
horrors of a civil war." September 27th, 1808, John
Adams wrote to Benjamin Rush: "The Union I
fear, is in some danger. If we can preserve it

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 371

entire, we may preserve our Republic ; but if the
Union is broken, we become petty principalities,
little better than feudatories, one of France, the
other of England."

Nor was it among heated partizans alone, that
these views were entertained. "A dissolution of the
Union," writes Mr. Brskine, the British minister at
Washington, to his government, (February 15th,
1809,) "has been for some time talked of, and has,
of late, as I have heard, been seriously contemplated
by many of the leading people of the Eastern divis-
ion." It appeared afterwards that John Henry, a
British agent from the Governor of Canada, was, about
this time, at Boston, watching the progress of events,
and fomenting the popular discontents. As the result
of his inquiries, he stated to his employers, (March
7th, 1809,) that, in case of a war with England, Massa-
chusetts would give the tone to the neighboring
states, " invite a Congress to be composed of delegates
from the Federalist States, and erect a separate
government for their common defence and common
interest." But this, he says, is " an unpopular topic,
the common people still regarding the Constitution of
the United States with complacency." Writing from
Boston, he afterwards, (April 13th, 1809,) speaks of
" the men of talents and property there who now
prefer the chance of maintaining their party by

372 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

Open resistance, and a final separation, to an alli-
ance with France and a war with England."

This may be the most convenient place for intro-
ducing the following characteristic letter from John
Quincy Adams to Mr. Plumer :

"August leth, 1809.

" My Deae Sir, — ^Among the letters which I received a
few days before my departure from Boston, and which the
precipitation with which I was obliged to hasten it prevented
me from answering, I am almost ashamed to acknowledge, was
yout very kind favor, of July. I say, ashamed to acJcnowIedge,
because in examining rigorously the causes which occa-
sioned this omission, I cannot but say to myself, and am
sensible you will have reason to think, that, however short my
time was, I ought to have made an hour, at least, for the
expression of grateful sensibility to the obliging attentions of
friendship.

" To repair as much as remains within my power the fault
from which I cannot altogether discharge my own mind, I
take at least the earliest opportunity after my embarkation to
do what ought to have preceded it, and to assure you that
while absent from our country I shall feel myself highly in-
debted to you for the benefit of your correspondence, when-
ever your own convenience, and the opportunities of a
navigation, so restricted as I am afraid ours will too long
continue to be, may permit. And, in telling you how much I
shall prize your correspondence, independently of the gratifi-
cation which you will readily conceive an exile from his native
land must derive from every token of remembrance coming

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 373

from those whom he most highly values in it, I may add,
that the confidence with which I shall receive from you either
intelligence or opinions, will be founded on a sentiment very
deeply rooted in my experience and observation, that you see
more clearly and judge more coolly of men and things relating
to our political world, than almost any other man with whom
it has ever been my fortune to act in public life. The spirit
of party has become so inveterate and so virulent in our
country, it has so totally absorbed the understanding and the
heart of almost all the distinguished men among us, that I,
who cannot cease to consider all the individuals of both par-
ties as my countrymen, who can neither approve nor disap-
prove in a lump either of the men or the measures of either
party, who see both sides claiming an exclusive privilege of
patriotism and using against each other weapons of political
warfare which I never can handle, cannot but cherish that
congenial spirit, which has always preserved itself pure from
the infectious vapors of faction ; which considers temperance
as one of the first political duties ; and which can perceive a
very distinct shade of difference between political candor and
political hypocrisy.

" It afibrds me constant pleasure to recollect, that the
history of our country has fallen into the hands of such a man.
For, as impartiality lies at the bottom of all historic truth, I
have often been not without my apprehensions, that no true
history of our own times would appear at least in the course
of our age ; that we should have nothing but Federalist
histories or Republican histories, New England histories or
Virginia histories. We are, indeed, not over stocked with
men, capable even of this, who have acted a part in the public

374 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER.

affairs of our Union. But of pien, who unite both qualifica-
tions— ^that of having had a practical knowledge of our affairs,
and that of possessing a mind capable of impartiality in sum-
ming up the merits of our governments, administrations,
oppositions, and people — I know not another man, with whom
I have ever had the opportunity of forming an acquaintance,
on the correctness of whose narrative I should so implicitly
rely.

" Such an historian, and I take delight in the belief, will
be a legislator without needing constituents. You have so
long meditated upon your plan, and so much longer upon the
duties of man in society, as they apply to the transactions of
your own life, that I am well assured your work will carry a
profound political moral with it. And I hope, — though upon
this subject I have had no hint from you, which can ascertain
that your view of the subject is the same as mine, — but I hope
that the moral of your history will be the indissoluble union
of the North American continent. The plan of a New Eng-
land combination more closely cemented than by the general
ties of the Federal government, — a combination, first to rule the
whole, and, if that should prove impracticable, to separate from
the rest, — has been so far matured, and has engaged the studies,
the intrigues and the ambition of so many leading men in
our part of the country, that I think it will eventually pro-
duce mischievous consequences, unless seasonably and effect-
ually discountenanced by men of more influence and of more
comprehensive views. To rise upon a division system is
unfortunately one of the most obvious, and apparently easy
courses, which plays before the eyes of individual ambition, in
every section of the Union. It is the natural resource of all

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLTJMEE. 375

the small statesmen, who, feeling like Csesar, and finding that
Rome is too large an object for their grasp, would strike off a
village, where they might aspire to the first station without
exposing themselves to derision. This has been the most
powerful operative impulse upon all the disunionists, from the
first Kentucky conspiracy down to the negotiations between
Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire, of the last
winter and spring. Considered merely as a purpose of ambi-
tion, the great objection against this scheme is its littleness.
Instead of adding all the tribes of Israel to Judah and Benja-
min, like David, it is walking in the ways of Jeroboam, the
son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, by breaking off Samaria
from Jerusalem. Looking at it in reference to moral con-
siderations, it is detestable, as it certainly cannot be accom-
plished by open and honorable means. Its abettors are
obliged to disavow their real designs, to affect others, to
practice continual deception, and to work upon the basest
materials, — ^the selfish and dissocial passions of their instru-
ments. Politically speaking, it is as injudicious, as it is con-
tracted and dishonorable. The American people are not
prepared for disunion, far less so than these people imagine.
They will continue to resist and to defeat every attempt of
that character, as they uniformly have done ; and such pro-
jects will still terminate in the ruin of their projectors. But
the ill consequences of this turbulent spirit will be to keep
the country in a state of constant agitation, to embitter the
local prejudices of fellow citizens against each other, and to
diminish the influence which we ought to have, and might have
in the general councils of the Union.

376 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK.

"To counteract the tendency of these partial and foolish
combinations^ I know nothing so- likely to have a decisive
influence as historical works, honestly and judiciously executed.
For, if the doctrine of Union were a new one, now first to be
inculcated, our history would furnish the most decisive argu-
ments in its favor. It is no longer the great lesson to be
learned, but the fundamental maxim to be confirmed, and
every species of influence should be exerted by all genuine
American patriots to make its importance more highly esti-
mated and more unq^uestionably established. I should have
been glad to see a little more of this tendency in Marshall's
Life of Washington than I did find. For Washington was
emphatically the man of the whole Union ; and I see a little
too much of the Virginian in Marshall. Perhaps it was una-
voidable ; and perhaps you will find it equally impossible to
avoid disclosing the New England man. I have enough of
that feeling myself most ardently to wish, that the highest
example of a truly liberal and comprehensive American politi-
cal system may be exhibited by New England men.

" I regret that 1 could not have the pleasure of a full and
confidential personal interview with you before my departure.
My father, I am sure, will be happy to see you at Quincy,
and to furnish you any materials in his power. He has been for
the last three months publishing papers, which I think will
not be without their use to your ixndertaking.

" Adieu, my dear sir. I write you^his letter on the Grand
Bank of Newfoundland, after passing the night in catching'
cod, of which, in the interval of a six hours' calm, we have
caught upwards of sixty. In the association of ideas, there

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 377

is no very unnatural transition from cod fishing on the Grand
Bank to the History of the United States. No man will, I
trust, be better able than yourself to supply the intermediate
links in this singular copcatenation. Let me only hope that
it will appear to you as natural a transition, as that from any
subject whatsoever, to the assurance of the respect and attach-
ment, with which I subscribe myself your friend, and humble
servant,

" John Quincy Adams."

In the divided state of public opinion in New
Hampsliire, the position of a man of Mr Plumer's
talents and standing was not a matter of indifference
to either party. His new friends were anxious to
bring him once more into public life. They accord-
ingly nominated him (Feb. 15, 1810,) as the Republi-
can candidate for Senator, in the district where he
resided. He was unwilling again to enter on the
field of party politics, and had taken some pains to
secure the nomination of another person ; but the
imanimous call of the nominating convention over-
came his reluctance ; and, having once assumed his
ground, he entered with his usual activity into the
contest, and contributed more, probably, than any
other person in the state, to the success of the party
in the March elections. His old friend, Judge Smith,
between whom and himself a personal difference had
occurred, heightened, probably, on both sides, by

378 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEB.

party feeling, had, the previous year, been elected
Governor, and was now a candidate for re-election.
But the RepubUcans carried the state ; and Langdon
was restored to his old office, with Republican major-
ities in every branch of the government. Mr.
Plumer's district was considered a doubtful one ; and
the attack of the Federalists on their new opponent
was of the most unscrupulous and envenomed char-
acter. He received, on this occasion, as his successor
in the Senate, Nahum Parker, said, " as many curses
as a scape-goat could wag with." He was sustained,
however, by the Republicans with equal zeal, and
was elected by a very decided majority. The rival
candidate was George Sullivan.

In announcing his election to his friend Adams, he
said, (May 18th,) " Much against my inclination, I was
constrained to be a candidate ; and am elected a
member of the State Senate. This has, and will, too
much divert my attention from my historical pur-
suits, which, however, I shall not long neglect.
I bring to that work a mind purely American,
devoted to neither of the parties which now unfortu-
nately agitate and divide the country, in both of
which I see much to censure and condemn." He had
not yet given up the hope to proceed with this work.
He had recently written on the subject to Mr.
Jefferson, who said in reply, July 12th, 1810 :

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 379

" I am happy to hear you have entered on a work so inter-
esting to every American as the history of our country. That
of the last thirty or forty years admits, certainly, of much im-
provement on any thing which has yet appeared ; and when-
ever it shall be written with truth and candor, and with that
friendship to the natural rights of man, in which our revolu-
tion and constitution are founded, it wUl be a precious work.
The only fund for information, which I can avail you of, is
my memory as to facts which have occurred within my own
time — say from the dawn of the revolution, aided by my
letters, written at the time, a recurrence to which will refresh
my memoiy. With respect to any facts within that period,
which you may suppose to have passed under my observation,
if you should, at any time, wish information, I will with
pleasure and promptitude communicate what I know."

On the meeting of the Legislature, in June, Mr.
Plumer was chosen President of the Senate, — an
office whose duties he discharged to the entire satis-
faction of that body, from which he received, at the
close of the session, a unanimous vote of thanks.
There was little business of importance transacted
during this session of the Legislature. His part in it
was that of an intelligent and independent legislator,
voting according to his own sense of right, now with
one side and now with the other, with very little
reference to party views or policy. More than once
his solitary nay was recorded, where he thought both
parties wrong ; and his new friends found that his old

380 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMEB.

habit of independent action had lost none of its force
by his change of party associations. " As President
of the Senate/' he says, June 16th, 1810, "I promptly
discharge my duties, speaking and acting my mind
with great freedom. I examine studiously every
question which I am bound to decide, and act as my
judgment dictates, without fear or partiality. My
influence is increasing. The Federalists court my
favor ; some sincerely, others to excite distrust in the
Republicans against me." He was appointed Chair-
man of two Committees, to meet in the recess ; the
one, to report a Judiciary system for the state ; the
other, to publish a revised edition of the laws. But
he declined both these appointments, as interfering
too much with his literary pursuits. " Nature," he
said, " and the course of events indicate private and
literary life; and to that my inclination tends. I
hope I shall pursue it steadily." Though acting, in
the main, with the Republicans, he was not the slave
of party. A person having been nominated to an
important office, for which he thought him unfit, and
his aid being asked to secure his election, he declined
giving it, in a letter dated July 26th, 1810, to John P.
Parrot, Chairman of the Central Committee. " There
is no error," he said, "more fatal than that of selecting
improper men for office. Men of this character I
cannot support. Of men and measures, I have from
early life been in the habit of thinking and speaking

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 381

freely. This right I cannot consent to sacrifice either
at the shrine of party, or on the altar of popularity."
There was, in this, little of " the zeal of a new convert,"
or the cool calculation of the " apostate politician," —
terms applied to him, at the time, by men who could
as little appreciate his motives as imitate his conduct.
The candidate whom he had thus opposed, hearing
of this letter, declined the nomination.

Governor Langdon being desirous, from the infirm-
ities of age, to withdraw from public life, Mr. Plumer
was mentioned, among others, as a candidate for the
succession. In reply to a formal application from
some of his friends in Hillsborough county, he said,
" We must persuade Governor Langdon to be, once
more, our candidate;" and he accordingly set himself
to bring about this result.

"Having," he writes, (October 25th,) "received two mes-
sages from Governor Langdon, I paid him a visit. He said
that office was burdensome to him ; that he was desirous of
retirement, and anxious that I should be his successor. I
replied that I preferred private to public life ; and that office
would be unwelcome to me ; and that the diversity of opinion
among Eepublicans was such that, unless he consented to be
a candidate, we should endanger the election. I left him
with assuring him that he must be Governor one year."

December 6th, 1810. "Visited Governor Langdon. He
is averse to being a candidate ; and, at the same time, appre-
hensive, if he should decline, and the Eepublicans fail, that

382 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER.

he would be severely censured. He said that at his advanced
age, he could neither bear these reproaches, nor the burdens of
office. I advised him to submit with cheerfulness to the will
of the Republicans. He replied that, if they would release him,
he would give them two thousand dollars to aid my election.
His situation is indeed unpleasant. He is desirous of retire-
ment, but afraid to insist upon it. ■ He must, however, be our
candidate for the next year. T have not seen him for some
time display so much resolution, judgment, and vivacity as he
did this evening."

This desire of the veteran politician to decline
office, and even to pay for being excused from its
labors, was, perhaps, as natural at seventy, as his
fondness for it had been at an earlier date. He
finally consented to remain a candidate, and was
re-elected in March, 1811, against his old opponent,
Oilman, the Federalists having dropped Smith, as
less likely to succeed. Mr. Plumer was, at the same
time, re-elected to the Senate, against Oliver Pea-
body, supposed to be the most popular Federalist in
this doubtful district. At the meeting of the Legis-
lature, in June, he was again chosen President of the
Senate.

June 10th, 1811. " A general Republican caucus unani-
mously nominated John Langdon as candidate for Governor
next year ; and appointed a committee to wait upon him,
and receive his answer ; which answer was that his age made
it necessary for him to decline.

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 383

17th. "In the evening the caucus met again ; heard the
report of the cornmittee, and appointed a committee of ten
to nominate a new candidate.

19th. "I had two questions, to-day, to decide in the
Senate, in which the earnest requests of my friends were op-
posed to what I thought my duty. In both, I voted according
to my own judgment. I cannot consent either to acquire, or
hold office, by so base a tenure as the sacrifice of my opinions ;
and those who expect it from me will be disappointed. It,
in general, requires less information to discover our duty, than
firmness to perform it. In the evening there was a meeting,
say of one hundred and twenty Republicans. The commit-
tee unanimously reported me as a candidate for Governor,
next year ; which report was unanimously accepted. They
appointed a committee, with the Speaker as chairman, to
inform me of their proceedings, and request my answer.
After General Storer had made the communication, I observed
to the committee, that I was sensible of the honor conferred
upon me ; that my wishes centred in retirement ; that the
■state of my health, and my pursuits in life required it; and
that I should have been pleased if they had nominated a man
better qualified for that high trust, and more ambitious of
obtaining it ; but that considering the state of public affairs,
and the unanimity of their choice, I did not think myself at
liberty to decline. This nomination was made without my
privity, and unsought by me. I have taken no measures,
direct or indirect, to influence any man ; but have, on every
occasion, while in office, done what I thought right and proper,
regardless of the consequences to myself. When first informed
of the vote of the Republicans to support me, a consideration

384 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK.

of the effects an election will necessarily produce on my
family and my mode of living, the frequent interruptions it
will occasion in my literary pursuits, the high responsibility of
the oiSce, the raised expectations of my friends, the inveterate
opposition of my political enemies, and the anxiety I must
feel in office, depressed my spirits, and made me regret that
my name had been mentioned. But sufficient for the day is
the evil thereof.

20th. " I have had a fatiguing day in the Senate, where I
sat twelve hours, and did much business."

21st. " The Legislature met at five o'clock, and adjourned,
sine die, between ten and eleven in the forenoon. In seven-
teen days, Sundays included, we have performed the legislative
business of the state for the year."

This session was the last which he attended as a
member. He had served eight years in the House,
and two in the Senate ; which, with his five years in
Congress, made fifteen years of service in legislative
assemblies.

He still continued occasionally to attend the courts
of law. Under date of August 26th, 1811, he writes:

" I attended the Court of Common Pleas, in Eockingham.
I was treated with much respect by the Court and Bar. The
Federal lawyers were distinguished for their attentions ;
Mason and Webster particularly so, though they will both
vote against me in March. I inquired of Mason whether, in
rase Evans should die, or Steel resign — both of them probable
events, he would accept office under Livermore. He replied.

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 385

he could not, but discovered no aversion to the office. He
said the Federalists of Massachusetts ■would make a great
effort at the next spring elections ; and, if they failed, they
would forciby resist the laws of Congress. I replied, that I
did not doubt that some of them intended to do so ; but I
thought they would be disappointed. He said that he was re-
solved to have but little to do with politics ; and that he was
censured by his friends for his inactivity."

This opinion of Mr. Mason, that the laws wotild be
resisted, was founded, probably, among other things,
upon the proceedings of the Federalist Convention,
held March 31st, 1811, in Boston, which resolved that
the non-intercourse law, just then passed, " if persisted
in, must, and will be resisted." " llesistance," said Dr.
Parish, (April 11th, 1811,) is our only security." The
bill providing for the admission of Louisiana, as a state,
into the Union, had given occasion at the previous
session, (January 14th, 1811,) for a strong expression
-of feeling in Congress on this subject, by a distin-
guished member from Massachusetts, Josiah Quincy,
afterwards President of Harvard University. " If this
.bill passes," said Mr. Quincy, "it is my deliberate
opinion, that it is virtually a dissolution of this Union;
that it will free the states from their moral obliga-
tions ; and, as it will then be the riffht of all, so it will
be the duty of some, to prepare definitely for a separa-
tion,— amicably, if they can, violently, if they must.
The bill, if it passes, is a death blow to the Consti-

25

386 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

tution. It may afterwards linger ; but lingering, its
fate will, at no very distant period, be consummated."
"I have known," wrote John Quincy Adams to
Elbridge Gerry, at this time, (June 30th, 1811,)
"now more than seven years, the project of the Bos-
ton faction against the Union. They have ever since
that time, at least, been seeking a pretext and an
occasion for avowing the principle. The people, how-
ever, have never been ready to go with them." " If,"
wrote Allen Bradford to Elbridge Gerry, (October
18th, 1811,) " our national rulers continue their anti-
commercial policy, the New England States will, b}'
and by, rise in their wonted strength and, wdth the
indignant feelings of 1775, seve7' themselves from that
part of the nation which thus wickedly abandons their
rights and interests." " There is no state of parties,"
writes Mr. Plumer, (December 30th, 1811,) to Charles
Cutts, Senator from New Hampshire, "so much to be
deprecated as that designated by geographical lines.
It is with deep regi-et that I find the terms Northern
and Southern parties and interests, so often used in
the debates of Congress.. Your present course is, you
may rely upon it, highly grateful to certain Federal
characters in New England, who have long privately
favored a division of the states."

CHAPTER X.

THE CHIEF MAGISTRATE.

The office of Governor of New HampsMre had, at
this time, an importance attached to it in the public
estimation, which it hardly possesses now. The office
had been, for many years, confined, with the excep-
tion of a single term, to two men, — John Langdon,
and John Taylor Gilman. Langdon, the leader of the
Democracy, was, perhaps, the most perfect gentleman
in the state ; dignified, yet easy in his deportment,
urbane and courteous, with a native grace, which
won the good will and respect of all who approached
him. Gilman, the representative of less popular
opinions, was also a man of good personal appearance
and refined manners, and wore the old-fashioned
cocked hat of the revolution with an ease and dignity
not unbecoming his high station. I remember him
fifty years ago, when I Avas a student in the Academy
at Exeter, bowing courteously to us boys, and regarded
by us as, next to the Principal, Dr. Abbott, the
greatest of men. The unpopularity of the embargo
had made Judge Smith Governor in 1809 ; but he
was turned out to pasture, according to his own

388 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

expression, a yearling; and -when, in 1812, Langdon
declined being a candidate, Gilman was again brought
forward as the man most likely to retrieve the fallen
fortunes of his party.

The contest was urged, on this occasion, with great
zeal on both sides ; and, on the part of the Federalists,
with no little bitterness towards Mr. Plumer. Their
feelings were sharpened to acrimony by his former
and present relations with them, as a leader in their
ranks, and now their most formidable opponent.
Along with many insinuations and much reproach
thrown out, as usual on such occasions, two specific
personal charges were brought against him; — the
first, that he had formerly been a Baptist preacher,
and was now, probably, (for no proof was offered,) an
unbeliever ; and the second, that, from being once a
zealous Federalist, he had now become as zealous a
Republican ; — in other words, his change of opinion
in religion and in politics. The first of these charges,
that of infidelity, was relied on as likely to injure
him with the religious portion of both parties. Yet
such is the general indisposition to connect religious
belief with political conduct, that he lost very few
votes by his supposed opinions on this subject. His
known exertions at the bar in favor of equal justice
to all sects had secured for him the zealous support
of the Methodists, Baptists, and other minor sects
who felt the preponderance of the Congregational

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 389

clergy as unfavorable to their success. These last
were almost all Federalists, as the former were very
generally Republicans. His real crime, if crime it be
to serve the state rather than a party, was that he no
longer acted with his old associates. That he had
been a Federalist, was readily admitted by his new
friends ; and his opponents were reminded that, as
there was no office which they once thought too good
for him, they could not wonder that the Republicans,
now that he acted with them, should think equally
well of him. Aside, however, of these merely per-
sonal considerations, the great question between the
two parties was in relation to the nneasures of the
general government. On counting the votes, in June,
it appeared that there was no choice of Governor by
the people. Of the eight or nine hundred votes
thrown for other than the regular candidates, some
were by Federalists, who thought that Smith had not
been fairly dealt with in throwing him aside for Gil-
man; and some by Republicans, who remembered
Plumer chiefly as a Federalist. In the convention of
the two Houses, he was elected Governor, (June 4th,
1812,) by one hundred and four votes against eighty-
two for Oilman. All branches of the government,
including the Council and the Judiciary, were now
Republican.

The Governor elect was waited upon, at his house

390 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

in Epping, by a Committee of the Legislature, and
officially informed of his election.

" After taking breakfast, he writes, June 5th, I rode with
them on horseback to Concord. At Nottingham we were
met by Gen. Butler and Col. Cilley, [Cilley was one of his
old Federalist friends,] with about twenty gentlemen, who
escorted us to Deerfield. There I was importuned to wait
for a company of cavalry ; but my time was not my own, and
duty forbade delay. About a dozen gentlemen escorted me
from thence to Epsom, where I met Gov. Langdon. When
he took leave of me, he was much affected ; tears filled his
eyes, and impeded his utterance. Having dined at my sister's,
I mounted my horse, accompanied by some twenty gsntle-
men. Two miles from thence, I was met by about eighty
more on horseback. The first six were mounted on gray
horses, followed by the Marshal of the day, and the Sheriffs
of Strafford and Rockingham. I came next to these, with
two Captains of the United States' army, one on each side, and
after me the remainder of the escort. On passing the bridge
at Concord, we were met by an additional escort. The pro-
cession proceeded to Barker's tavern, where we arrived at
four in the afternoon. I ordered refreshments for all who
attended. The day was favorable to the journey ; and though
I had not, for many years, rode so far in one day on horse-
back, I was less fatigued than I had expected.

June 6th. " At nine o'clock in the morning, I took my
seat in the Council chamber ; and soon after, a Committee
from the Legislature conducted me, with the Council, to the

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 391

Representatives' hall, where the two Houses were assembled.
After making a short address, I took and subscribed the
affirmation of office, and, after being seated a few moments, I
rose and read my speech, which occupied about twenty min-
utes. I was agitated ; my hand trembled ; and, before I had
read through the second paragraph, I was apprehensive that
I should be obliged to stop. But my confidence increased ;
and I pronounced the remainder with ease and propriety."

Ease is not, however, the word to express properly
the manner in which this speech was delivered. His
momentary embarrassment — the not ungraceful
deference of the orator to his audience — was followed
by a reaction of imusual power and animation, which
gave new force to his delivery, and produced a
marked effect, both on the convention, and on the
crowds in the lobbies and galleries. There was some-
thing in his look and manner, in his tones and
srestures, as well as in the words he uttered, which
lifted men, at times, from their seats, as by an electric
transfusion of thought and feeling, but which the
words, as we now read them, seem hardly adequate
to produce. He received from both friends and
opponents many compliments on the ability displayed
on this occasion ; and the speech itself was regarded
by the public, both in and out of the state, with much
favor. It was delivered a few days only before the
declaration of war with England, and it struck in
happily with the prevailing tone of the public feeling

392 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

on that subject. The answers of both Houses
responded fully to the sentiments of the speech ; but
they were adopted by a strictly party vote. The
Governor's old correspondent, Thomas W. Thompson,
offered, in behalf of the Federalists of the House, to
return a general complimentary answer to the speech,
condemning the conduct of both France and Eng-
land, and speaking vaguely and in general terms,
without censure or approbation, of the policy of the
administration. But the Republicans were too
strong, and too decided in their opinions, to admit of
any such compromise or concealment. I have not
room to quote this speech entire, and am unable
to give extracts that would adequately represent its
views and reasonings.

The Legislature adjourned on the 19th of June, to
meet again m November. The following is from Mr.
Plumer's diary :

June 20th. " At eight o'clock in the morning, I mounted
my horse for home, and was escorted the whole distance by a
large and increasing military escort and cavalcade ; till,
between two and three o'clock in the afternoon, I reached
my house, where liberal refreshments were furnished to the
people."

June 23d. " In the evening I received by an express a let-
ter from IMajor-General Dearborn, stating that he was official-
ly informed that the government of the United States had
declared war against Great Britain, and requesting me to order

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 393

out one company of artillery, and one of infantry, of the
detached militia, and place them under the command of Major
Upham of the United States army, at Portsmouth, for the
defence of the sea-coast."

June 24th. " I issued orders to General Storer to order
out the troops in conformity with this requisition."

July Tth. "Last evening I received a requisition from
General Dearborn to send one company of detached militia to
defend the northern frontier of this state. To-day, I issued
orders to General Montgomery to call them out from his
brigade, and station them at Stewartstown and Errol."

July 21st. "I issued an order to General Storer, requir-
ing him to send one company of the detached infantry of his
brigade to Portsmouth harbor, and to detach a suitable Major
to take the command of the troops at Forts Constitution and
McClary ; and also to General Robinson to send one company
of the detached artillery from his brigade to the same place,
for the defence of the sea-coast."

August 6th. " I met the Council at Concord. I requested
their attention to the appointment of a Judge of the Superior
Court, which was the occasion of our meeting. After a free
conversation, in which I stated my opinion of the importance
of the office, and the necessity of selecting a man of talents
and integrity, who had a thorough knowledge of the law,! pro-
posed Samuel Bell, as a person well qualified by his talents, his
attainments, his business habits, and his decision of character,
to discheirge with dignity and propriety the duties of the
office. His connection with the Plillsborough Bank would
render the appointment at first unpopular ; but I was willing
to take the responsibility on myself, and had no doubt his

394 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

good conduct 'would soon remove those prejudices. The
Councillors gave no opinion, except Chase, who declared in
favor of the appointment. In the evening, Hall, Upham, and
Smith, the three Eepublican Councillors, came to my chamber,
to converse on the appointment of a judge. The result was
that Hall aiid Smith positively refused to agree to the nomi-
nation of Bell ; and Upham said, if Franklin and Chase were
in favor of Bell, he could not unite with those two Federal
Councillors. As they had thus virtually negatived the man
whom I considered best qualified for the office, I requested
them to name a candidate. They proposed Clifton Claggett.
I said, I thought him honest, but that his talents and legal
attainments were not above mediocrity. I wished a man of
superior qualifications ; but I would consider of it."

June 7th. " In the morning I met the Council. Hall
named Claggett. Chase observed that he could not vote for
him till he knew the opinion of the Executive respecting
Caleb Ellis, whom he wished to propose. I said, I considered
Mr. Ellis an honest man and a sound lawyer. Chase and
Franklin voted for, and the other three against him. Before
we rose from our seats, Mr. Fj'anklin said, he wished to ask
me a question, but had doubts of the propriety of it. I
requested him to proceed. He said it was reported in the
newspapers, that I had declared the present war premature
and unjust, and he wanted to know whether this was true.
I replied that it was not true, that I believed the war both
just and necessary, and considered it my indispensable duty to
support it."

The assertion that Governor Plumer had declared

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 395

the war "premature and impolitic" was first made
in an Exeter paper, distinguished for the virulence of
its abuse of the Governor ; and though contradicted
at the time in the Concord Patriot, it was repeated
in the Federalist papers, in this and other states ; and,
seventeen years after, found its way into Bradford's
History of Massachusetts. On seeing it there he wrote
to the author, contradicting the statement, and
received from him a promise to correct the error
in his next edition. As no such edition has yet
appeared, I have thought the report worth noticing
here. To proceed with the journal :

"In the afternoon, the question was taken on the nomina-
tion of Claggett for Judge. Three of the council made it,
and I reluctantly consented. As he is Judge of Probate, and
must resign that oiHce, to accept the other, I named John
Harris as his successor. Mr. Chase said he was in favor of
nominating Mr. Smith. I observed that I could not agree
to appoint any Councillor to an office which would vacate
his seat at the Board, and that I dissented from the former
practice."

This former practice, which had of late become very
common, was for one Councillor to nominate another
for some office, in the well-founded expectation that
the favor would be returned; and the result often
was, that, at the end of the year, several of the Coun-
cillors, sometime a majority, had secured to them-

396 LIFE Of WILLIAM PLUMER.

selves good offices, virtually by their own appoint-
ment, though, perhaps, no one had directly voted for
himself. Governor Plumer set his face resolutely
against this abuse of the appointing power ; and no
such appointment took place, while he was in office,
though the attempt was made to force several upon
him. With the selection of Claggett for Judge of the
Superior Court, he Avas not satisfied ; and afterwards
reproached himself with not having more resolutely
opposed it. Livermore, the Chief Justice, though a
strong man, felt the need of abler associates. Evans,
who was not a lawyer, had been prevented, by ill
health, from sitting on the bench more than one day
for the last eighteen months. On applying in person
for an order for his quarter's salary, the G overnor ad-
verted delicately to the condition of the court, when
Evans said that he had some thoughts of resigning,
but that he was poor as well as sick, and wanted the
emoluments of the office for his support. "To remove
a sick man," says the Governor, in his journal,
"oppressed with poverty, is a hardship to him; to
continue him in office is a greater hardship to the
state. The Legislature must decide." They had
decided, in June, not to request his removal ; and
without such request, the Governor could not act
in the case.

On the 18th of November, he again met the Legis-
lature. His speech, on this occasion, was occupied,

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 397

as the previous one had been, mainly with the war,
and circumstances growing out of it. Both Houses
returned answers to the speecli, approving of the
war, and of " the prompt and patriotic manner in
which the call of the President respecting the mili-
tia was complied with." The Federalists, in both
branches, voted against the answers, and, in the
House, entered their protest on the journals. This
protest pronounced the war unjust and inexpedient ;
but its chief argument was directed against the power
claimed by the President of calling out the militia, and
placing them under officers of the United States. The
Federalist Governors, Strong of Massachusetts, and
Griswold of Connecticut, had refused to comply with
the requisitions of General Dearborn, on the ground
that, having a right to judge for themselves whether
the call was necessary, they saw no occasion for its
exercise at the present time. It was further held in
^Massachusetts and Vermont, that, though the Presi-
dent, when himself in the field, might command in
person the militia of a state called into service, he
could not put them under the command of any other
than tlaeir own state officers. Governor Gore of Mas-
sachusetts, said in the Senate of the United States,
December, 1814, "The President is commander in
chief of the militia when in the actual service of the
United States ; but there is not a tittle of authority
for any other officer of the United States to assume

398 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

the command of the mUitia." It was only in the
Federahst states of New England that these doctrines
were maintained. In the other states the power of
the President over the militia was not contested. It
is a curious fact, overlooked at the time by both
parties in this controversy, that the Legislature of
New Hampshire, (in June, 1794,) by a resolution, still
in force, had authorised the Governor to call out the
militia whenever required by the President.

The choice of a Senator of the United States occur-
ring at this time, many attempts were made, but
without success, to elect one. The Republicans had
a majority of only one in the Senate ; and Sanborn
of Epsom, one of that majority, would vote for no
man whom the others were willing to elect. Among
those proposed, was the Governor, but Sanborn
refused to vote for him, on the ground, avowed in
the Senate, that the Republicans had no other man
whom they could run as Governor with any chance
of success, and that to elect him was to ensure their
own defeat in March. The Governor being consulted
on the subject, said that he preferred his present
office to that of Senator, and private life to either ;
and hoped, therefore, that no votes would be thrown
for him. It was generally supposed that Sanborn's
vote might have been obtained, if he had desired it.
But he felt that a hard battle was to be fought by
the Repubhcans in the March elections, and that his

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 399

proper place was here in the front of that battle.
Defeat was probable ; but this was no reason why he
should shun the contest.

On most of the subjects recommended by him to
the attention of the Legislature, they had acted in ac-
cordance with his wishes. He had, however, during
this year, returned one law and two resolves, with his
objections to them. It is a singular proof both of his
personal influence and of the facility with which
improper measures are often adopted, that each of
the acts on which he thus imposed his veto, was, on
being returned, unanimously rejected; not a single
vote being given for laws which a majority of both
Houses had just before passed. In one of these cases,
private rights were injuriously affected, and important
public interests sacrificed, by the proposed enactment.
So important is often the final supervision of a vigi-
lant Executive, in the judicious use of an independent
veto. Here were bills which had been read three
times, at different hours, in each House, and passed
by both, which yet, on revision, every one saw ought
not to become laws. Among the measures of the
3'^ear, which were of permanent importance, were the
building of the State's Prison, or Penitentiary, and
the consequent revision of the Criminal Code. There
were, at this time, eight offences punishable with
death; they were now reduced to two, treason and
murder ; the former an offence, of which no one has

400 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

ever been convicted in New Plampshire. Instead of
the old punishments of the whip and the pillory,
formerly used for minor offences, imprisonment in
the State's Prison, or in the County Jail, was now
substituted.

A few extracts from letters and journals of the
year will give a sufficient expression of the feelings
and opinions of the period.

To Samuel D. Mitchell, a Senator from New York,
(January 1st, 1812 :)

" Shall we have war with Great Britain ? If we persist in
our preparations, will she repeal her Orders in Council, per-
mit us the exercise of our rights on the ocean, and cease
from impressing our seamen ? If she does not, are we to
proceed from words to deeds — from acts of Congress to feats
of arms ; or are we, by tamely submitting to new injuries, to
provoke fresh insults ? The nation has grown tired of the
exercise of its Restrictive energies in the shape of embargoes
and non-intercourse, and calls loudly for more active and
efficient measures."

To John A. Harper, a Representative, from New
Hampshire, (May 18, 1812 :)

" There are numbers of Federalists who wish a separation
of the states ; but I believe none of them have hardihood
enough to come out now, and take publicly on themselves the
responsibility of the measure. It is a settled plan with them,
whenever a dismemberment of the Union is to be attempted.

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 401

that it be declared by some State Legislature ; and this year
even Massachusetts has a Republican Senate."

The Federalists, despairing of electing to the Presi-
dency any candidate of their own, had concluded, at
this time, to support De Witt Clinton, of New York,
who was nominated by a portion of the Republicans
against Mr. INIadison.

Sept. 11th. " Read the address of the jSTew York Com.-
mittee in favor of Clinton. In a state of war, it is an im.-
proper time to talk about Virginia influence, or, indeed, the
influence of any other state. Our united energies should be
directed against the common enemy of our country. I shall
vote for Madisonian electors."

Oct. 20th. " The Essex junto are not so miich anxious to
secure Clinton's election as to prevent Mr. Madison's having
a single electoral vote in New England, that they may
promote their favorite object, the dismemberment of the
Union."

Madison was, in fact, re-elected under a strong
sectional influence, having received all the Southern
and Western votes, and none north of Pennsylvania,
except six given him by the Legislature of Vermont,
at a time when the people, if allowed to vote, would
have given them to Clinton.

The subject of the right of the State Legislatures
to bind, by mandatory instructions, their Senators
in Congress, excited at this time much attention.

26

402 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

William B. Giles, of Virginia, who denied this right,
had sent a copy of his speech on this subject to Gov-
ernor Plumer, who (Dec. 28th,) said, in reply :

" I most cordially approve of your opinion ; and thank you
for the manly and able stand you have made in supporting
the rights and independence of the Senate. Encroachments
on the rights of public functionaries are as fatal to freedom,
as if made on the people themselves. Both must be steadily
resisted, or a free government cannot be supported. The
public interests suffer more from an inordinate love of office,
and a servile dependence on popular opinion, than they can
do from any undue exercise of independent self-will in public
men. Such independence is all too rare in our country."

" It gives me great pleasure," said Giles, in reply, (March
3d, 1813,) "to learn that you concur in opinion with me ;
because the confidence I feel in your judgment can but serve
to confirm me in that opinion. I have read, with great atten-
tion and interest, your able and patriotic speech to the
Legislature of New Hampshire. If such sentiments actuated
every bosom in the United States, there could not exist a
doubt of a speedy and honorable termination of the war."

The Governor had received similar commendations
of his speech from other quarters — among the rest,
one from John Adams. " I thank you," said the Ex-
President, " for your eloquent and masterly speech,
which I read with much satisfaction." He received
soon after, (Jan. 10th, 1813,) another letter from Mr.
Adams, in which he says:

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 403

" I know not when, or where, I have ever received a more
luminous letter than yours of the second of this month. It
is a misfortune to an old man to receive a good letter ; be-
cause it springs a mine in his memory, and disposes him to
write a volume, which his life could not be lo ng enough to
finish. Hence the proverbial garrulity of age. You have
consolidated the causes of change in the Northern States ; or,
at least, your observations coincide with mine. Our two
great parties have crossed over the valley, and taken posses-
sion of each other's mountain. The coalition of North and
Fox, in 1783, was modest in comparison with that between
Clinton and the Federalists. To Jay, King, Koss and
Pinckney, the pill was too bitter. A gentleman of greater
talents and higher rank than Rufus King, asked him, at New
York, ' Do you intend to vote for De Witt ? ' Eufus replied,
' No ; could you vote for Ben Austin ? ' I can say little of
Mr. Clinton ; for I know nothing but by hearsay, having
never seen him. But one thing I know. The state of New
York has become a great state, and De Witt Clinton a great
man, good, bad, or indifferent. The generous horse. New
England, will be ridden as hard by New York as it ever has
been by Virginia.

" The clergy of this country are growing more and more
like the clergy of all other countries. Osgood, Parish,.
Gardiner, are but miniatures of Lowth, Sacheverel, Laud,
and Lorain ; and in that rank I leave them."

The division here indicated among leaders of the
Federal party was not confined to the question of
supporting Clinton for the Presidency. Many emi-

404 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

nent Federalists, though originally opposed to the
war, held that, once declared, it should be vigorously-
prosecuted; and they would do nothing unnecessarily
to embarrass the government in its prosecution. But
the majority of the party, looking mainly to party
objects, saw only in the difficulties and embarrass-
ments of the times the means of effecting their own
advancement to power. Such of them as deemed
disunion desirable, were, of course, anxious to increase
these embarrassments, as sure to accelerate the crisis.
Among the Federalists of New England, Avho protested
loudly against this policy of their former associates,
one of the most distinguished was Samuel Dexter,
of Boston, formerly a Senator in Congress, and after-
wards Secretary of War under John Adams, who
as a lawyer now stood at the head of his profession in
the Union. In a speech at a town meeting in Faneuil
Hall (Aug. 6th, 1812,) he denounced the measures of
the party with great force and earnestness, as leading
inevitably to a separation of the states. So deep,
indeed, had his convictions on this subject become
before the end of the war, that, though having little
sympathy with the Republicans, he suffered himself to
be run against Strong, as their candidate for Gov-
ernor, lie was, he said, utterly unable to reconcile
some of the leading measures of the Federalists with
the indispensable duty of every citizen in every
country, and especially in the American Republic, to

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 405

hold sacred the union of his country. " Why," said
he, "make publications and speeches to prove that
we are absolved from allegiance to the national
government, and hint that an attempt to divide the
empire might be justified?" Dexter, the greatest
lawyer, and Gray, the greatest merchant of the
United States, both previously Federalists, were now

the Republican candidates in Massachusetts, as .

Plumer was^iiiT^ew Hampshire; men whose opinions
had undergone little change as to past measures, but
who felt it their duty to support the administration
of their country against a foreign power, in opposition
to the mistaken policy of their former friends. Dis-
tinguished Federalists out of New England regarded
the subject much in the same light. William Pinck-
ney, Rufus King, James A. Bayard, and Robert G. Har-
per were of this number. The latter said, speaking of
the war, (Oct. 31st, 1812,) "The Eastern States will
soon relieve themselves from a burden which they
will consider as no longer tolerable, by erecting a
separate government for themselves. Thus the dis-
solution of the Union, and all the direful evils
attendant upon it, must, as we believe, be the last
and necessary consequence of continuing the present
war." It was impossible, indeed, not to see that
there was, at this time, a great body of men of
talents, wealth, and political influence, who were sys-
tematically employed in prejudicing the people of

406 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

New England against the Southern and Western
States, sowmg discord and distrust between them,
and thus weakening the Union. Many who labored
to this end were ignorant of the purpose they were
subserving ; there were others who acted under no
such mistake as to the tendency of their measures.

It was a great, and, as the result proved, a fatal error
of the Federal party, in the latter stages of its exist-
ence, that it allowed its feelings of opposition to the
Republicans to determine the course of its foreign
policy to an extent which, in the popular estimation
at least, identified it, in the end, with the enemies of
the country. In the successes of England they saw
not so much the defeat of an American by a British
force, as the overthrow of their political opponents,
and their own consequent advancement to power.
They considered England as excused, if not justified,
in her measures, by the necessities of her position,
and by the previous acts of France, to which hers
were, as they said, little more than a just retaliation.
Under the influence of such feelings many worthy
citizens were seen to rejoice over British victories,
and to mourn over those of their own country. Pas-
sion, prejudice, personal interests, and the disappoint-
ments consequent on reiterated party defeats, had
so embittered their feelings, that the foreio-n foe
seemed less obnoxious to them than the domestic
rival and opponent. The rancor thus engendered on

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 40T

the one side, was met, on the other, with equal
warmth of feeling by the friends of the administration.
The seceders from the Federal party, in particular,
felt that their first allegiance was, not to party, but
to their country ; and that, as the Republicans were
upholding, in this war, the essential rights of the
United States against foreign aggression, they were
entitled to their earnest support, as against the
foreign foe. Mr. Plumer was not of a temperament
to be cold or indifferent in such contests ; and he
came ultimately to regard the success of his old asso-
ciates of the Federal party, acting as they now were
under the triple influence of devotion to England,
hatred of France, and hostility to their own govern-
ment, as utterly unworthy of the public confidence,
and their success as fatal to the best interests of the j
country. The more violent of them differed, indeed,
in his opinion, little in feeling or conduct, from those
furious Jacobins who, taking part with a foreign
power against their own government, had, under
Washington and Adams, justified the worst aggres-
sions of France on the United States. He condemned
such conduct then, and he saw no reason to approve
it now.

The spring elections of 1813 were conducted with
great zeal and vigor on both sides, but with less per-
sonal abuse of the Governor than in the preceding
year. His dignified and impartial conduct in office

408 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

had inspired even his opponents with a respect for
him, which was apparent on this occasion. "No
part," he says, (March 9th, 1813,) "of my official
conduct has been condemned, but that of ordering
out the detached militia. The great accusation is,
that I support the war, and vindicate the national
government." The result of the canvass was' the
election of Gov. Gilman, by a majority of about two
hundred and fifty votes, out of more than thirty-five
thousand thrown. So well was each party satisfied with
its own leader, that there were few or no scattering
votes. " The recent elections in New Hampshire," said
Mr. Plumer, in a letter to President Madison, (March
27th,) "have terminated, by small majorities, in favor
of the Federalists. Had our Republican citizens, who
are absent in the army, been at the polls, we should
have succeeded. I trust that our failure will not, in
the least, influence the administration to relax in their
measures to prosecute the war, or induce them to
conclude a peace on unfavorable terms." Under
date of May 12th, he writes : " Met the Council at
Concord. I have not to-day had a moment's leisure
— company the whole day and late at night — office-
seekers and their friends have been importunate, and
some of them tedious. This bargaining for office I
heard with silent indignation."

He could not, however, always conceal his contempt
for such baseness ; and his plain-spoken indignation

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 409

made him enemies, who showed themselves after-
wards in his contest with the Advocate party in
1816-17. Of one such individual he says: "His
application gave me pain. He has been very atten-
tive and obliging to me; and I am disposed to reward
him liberally ; but not by conferring on him public
office : that I cannot barter for personal or private
favors. It is a degradation of which I am not capa-
ble." One of his last official acts was the stationing
of a watch or guard of thirty men, (May 20th) at
Little Harbor, for the defence of Portsmouth. He
writes, (June 2d :)

" In the morning I administered the necessary oaths to the
members of the two Houses. The majorities in both are
Federal. In the afternoon I sent a message to the Legis-
lature, stating certain measures which I had adopted since the
last session. This was my last official act. I leave office
without disgust, or regret. I am conscious that I have dis-
charged its duties faithfully and impartially, without doing,
or omitting, a single official act with reference to a re-election,
or from any improper motive. Had my information and
experience been the same, when my office commenced as
when it terminated, my conduct, in a few things, would have
been different. I should have made a more strenuous effort
to have Bell appointed Judge of the Superior Court ; and
should not have consented to the appointment of Claggett."

June 4th. " I left Concord at five in the morning, having
declined an escort, and reached home at two in the afternoon."

410 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEB.

This brought him to the close of his first term, as
Governor of New Hampshire. The war with England
had added greatly to his labors and responsibilities;
but the punctuality, industry, and method to which,
in his own affairs, he was accustomed, carried him
cheerfully and safely through. Easy of access, and
prompt in action, he was always at his post ; neglect-
ing no duty, and throwing into each the vv'hole force
of his active and energetic mind. His public papers
were prepared with great care, both as to the matter
and the manner ; and they did him much credit with
the public. Among these, his proclamations for Fast
and Thanksgiving Avere characteristic productions;
scarcely less so than his speeches. They excited
much attention, both in and out of the state. In
Massachusetts they were, in some cases, read from
the pulpit, by Republican preachers, in the place of
those of Governor Strong. Strong, in one of his, had
condemned the war ; spoken of England as " the biil-
wark of the religion we profess ; " and prayed that
" God would hide us in his pavillion, until these
dangers be past." Plumer, on the contrary, exhorted
the people to pray to God "that he would inspire
them with patriotism and love of country ; teach their
hands to tvar, and their fingers to fight ; turn the counsels
of their enemies into foolishness ; and so unite the hearts
of all our people, as even to make our enemies to he at
peace ivith us." These proclamations, political rather

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 411

than religious, express truly the sentiments, not of
their authors merely, but of the two great parties to
which they respectively belonged.

June 25th. " This is my birth-day ; the last, I was Gov-
ernor of the state ; to-day, Governor Gilman was escorted
through the town, within half a mile of my house. How
uncertain is public life ! How unstable public opinion ! Yet
the reflection costs me no pain ; nor the change any uneasi-
ness. I never wanted the office ; but yielded to it as a duty."

June oOth. " Perez Morton, the Attorney-General of
Massachusetts, told me that Mr. Thorndlke, an influential
Federalist of Boston, was, a few days since, in company with
a select number of that party, who declared themselves in
favor of separating the New England States from the Union.
He asked them if that was their real object. They answered,
'Yes.' He then said, ' If so, I am decidedly opposed to you.
I am willing to pass resolutions, to talk loud, and thus intimi-
date the government, so as to bring them, if possible, to make
peace with England ; but I could not consent to a separation,
if they would freely grant it. As a merchant, I know that
it would render New England poor.' ' This,' said Mr. Mor-
ton, ' is the opinion of many other Federalists of Boston.' "

The accession of the Federal party to power in
New Hampshire was signalized by a new organization
of the courts of law. The Judiciary Act of June 24th,
1813, abolished the Superior and Inferior Courts;
turned out all the old judges; and established a
Supreme Court, and a Circuit Court of Common Pleas

412 LIFB OF WILLIAM PLUMEK.

in place of the old courts. Of this new Supreme
Court, Jeremiah Smith was appointed Chief Justice,
and Arthur Livermore and Caleb Ellis, Associate
Justices. By the Constitution of the state, judges
hold their offices during good behavior, till they
reach the age of seventy years, subject tg/remoYal,
on impeachment for crimes and misdemeanors, and
by the Governor and Council on address of the Legis-
lature. As the judges, in this case, v/ere removed in
neither of these modes, the act was, in this respect,
clearly unconstitutional. Such it was held to be by
the Republicans generall}^, and by many Federalists,
including some of the first lawyers in the state. It
was in striking contrast with the Federalist doctrine,
as held throughout the Union, in the case of the Cir-
cuit Judges of the United States, of vdiom Smith had
been one, nor was it less inconsistent with their
favorite doctrine of the independence of the judi-
ciary. Livermore, who held the first court under
the new law, at Dover, in September, pronounced
it unconstitutional, so far as it removed the old
judges from office; and denounced, with great sever-
ity, the legislature by which it Avas passed. Smith,
though he avowed his opinion less openly, was
equally decided in his disapprobation of the law
by which twenty-one judges were at once removed
from office, in a way unknown to the Constitution,
and contrary to its express provisions. " A very bold

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 413

step," he said, (July 26tli,) writing to Judge Farrar,
" has been taken, in Avhich I had no agency. It is a
step, too, which I should not have advised." To Mason,
he wrote the same day, "The General Court are
most piteously frightened. I sincerely believe that,
if they could get back the act, they would see the
devil have it, before they would pass another such."
He and Livermore, however, both accepted their
appointments, and held the courts; not without
interruption and protest from the old judges. In
the counties of Strafford, Rockingham, and Hills-
borough, the old judges attempted to hold courts at
the same time with the new ones. In the two latter
counties, the sheriffs, Butler and Pierce, who were
Republicans, took part with the old court. Governor
Gilman, on this, called together the Legislature ; and
the refractory sheriffs were removed, in November,
from their offices. Evans and Claggett held no more
courts; and ihe new judges met with no further
obstructions. TheyAvere able men, and good judges;
their administration gave strength to their party, and
the courts were improved by the change. The sub-
ject, however, of the new judiciary continued to oc-
cupy the public attention, and, next to the war, was
the main issue between the two parties. This was
one of the many cases in which Governor Plumer
adhered to his old opinions, while his Federal friends
were changing theirs. In 1813, as in 1802, he con-

414 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

tended that judges, who held their offices by the
tenure of good behavior, could not constitutionally be
removed by the repeal of the law under which they
were appointed.

The pressure of the war, now becoming daily more
severe, gave the Federalists a small majority in the
March elections of 1814. Governor Gilman Avas re-
elected by a constitutional majoritj^ of but little more
than one hundred votes, out of nearly forty thousand
thrown. The House and Senate were also Federal ;
but in the Council there were three Republicans to
one Federalist.

" The Federalists," wrote Mr. Plumer, " made my calling
out the militia in 1813, the rallying point against me; and
said that, if re-elected, I should persue the same course again.
That I lost votes enough from this cause to have elected me,
is probably true ; but to sacrifice duty to personal aggran-
dizement, is what I have not done, and never vs^ill do. I had no
personal wish to gratify in being re-elected. I enjoy more
ease and satisfaction in private, than I ever did in public life."

May 25th, 1814. "Governor Gilman has called out eight
companies for the defence of Portsmouth. This excites much
murmuring among his partizans, who say that he has not only
followed my example, but gone greatly beyond me in the
number of troops ordered out. They should consider that
more are necessary now than in 1812."

Governor Plumer had been early in the habit of
writing for the newspapers j and the excited state of

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 415

the public mind, for the last four or five years, had
given more than usual activity to his pen. Among
the essays which he published, was a series of num-
bers, in the winter of 1813-14, entitled "An Address
to the Clergy of New England, on their Opposition to
the Rulers of the United States, by a Layman." The
Congregational clergy of New England had, from the
first settlement of the country, taken an active part
in politics. During the Revolution, they were zealous
Whigs; under Washington and Adams they Avere Fed-
eralists, which they continued very generally to be
under Jefferson and Madison. In New England their
influence, as politicians, was much relied upon by the
leaders of the Federal part}^. Many of them, besides
their daily conversation among their parishioners,
made it a matter of conscience to preach political dis-
courses on Fast and Thanksgiving days, and often on
other occasions. Many of their Republican hearers felt
this as a grievance, the more offensive to their feelings,
as there seemed no remedy for the evil, but by with-
drawing from their societies, and joining the Baptists,
Methodists, and other sectaries, who were principally
Republicans. Some of them did this, and more
threatened to do so. "I was unwilling," says the
author, "to undertake this task; but the conduct of
the clergy, and the state of the nation impelled me.
My object is to serve my country, which, I think,
they are injuring." In the preface, noticing some

416 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEPw

attacks which had been made upon him, he says:
"I have only attempted, and that in the spirit of
friendship, to reclaim the clergy from intermeddling
with degrading contentions, about which they are
too ignorant to decide, and with which they have
no concern. A clergyman preaching party politics
merits less attention than the meanest of his hearers..
If he will wallow in the mire of factious opposition, he
cannot expect his cassock and band to protect him
from the filth and slander which he delights in hand-
ling." He adds, in a quotation from Burke, " Surely
the church is a place where one day's truce ought
to be allowed to the disputes and animosities of
mankind." Instead of justifying England, and con-
demning their own country, if they must preach
politics, he commends to them the fervent patriotism
of the Psalmist: "If I forget thee, 0, Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget its cunning. If I do not
remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of
my mouth, if I jorefer not Jerusalem above my chief
joy." Feeling sensibly the injustice, as well as the
indecorum of the more outrageous of the attacks on
the government, he pushed too far, perhaps, the
scripture doctrine of submission to rulers, and the
consequent interdict on the clergy against preaching
political discourses. Political questions are often
moral questions, and as such fall clearly within the
domain of the pulpit. To discuss these temperately,

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 417

in the spirit of Christian candor, is not, therefore, to
step beyond the line of clerical duty. But it was not
with calm reasoning, or moral suasion, that he had in
this case to deal, but with rude denunciation, and
even with false statements. As against Osgood and
Parish, the most prominent of these preachers, he
had only to quote their former discourses, during the
quasi-war with France, to prove that they were as
inconsistent with themselves, as violent in their
denunciations of others. It was in reference to these
that he quoted the text of Malachi: "Ye have
departed out of the way, ye have caused many to
stumble; therefore, have I made you contemptible
and base before all the people." The whole address
was a eoncio ad clenim on the text, " Thou shalt not
speak evil of the ruler of thy people." Besides the
newspaper circulation of the address, three thousand
copies of it were circulated in a pamphlet form, and
attracted much attention. An answer was attempted
to it, by Dr. McFarland, of Concord; but it was in its
general strain an attack on the administration, rather
than a defence of the clergy.

The correspondence of Governor Plumer, at this
period, far from any abatement of zeal in the public
cause, shows an increased confidence in the ultimate
success of the war; notwithstanding the change of
affairs in Europe, which enabled England, on the
downfall of Napoleon, to throw, most unexpectedly

27

418 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

to her enemy, the victorious armies of Wellington on
the shores of America, to meet, as unexpectedly to
herself, at the two extremes of the Union, the repulse
by McDonough at Plattsburgh, and the defeat by
Jackson at New Orleans. To Elbridge Gerry, the
Vice-President, he wrote :

March 5tli, 1814. "I should prefer a continuance of the
' war till we can obtain the Canadas. Our possession of those
provinces is the only real security which our northern and
western frontiers can have against the Indians, and the best
guaranty that England will keep peace with us, on fair terms,
in future, as it will render her West India dominions depend-
ent on us for subsistence. The war, even in New England,
1
j is daily becoming more popular. If we fail in our elections,

I next Tuesday, in this state, it will be mainly owing to the
1 belief that a Republican governor would order portions of the
militia into the service. This is enough to turn against us
many timid men, who yet call themselves Republicans."

" We are told," he writes to Mr. Gerry, (May 2d,) " that
there are but few of our seamen impressed ; yet, one fact is
incontrovertible : during the whole war, we have not cap-
tured a single British public ship, but we have found native
American seamen on board, who had been impressed, and
forcibly detained, and, in some cases, made to fight against
their countrymen. The number, then, is great ; but suppose
it small, a single seaman, unjustly detained, is such a wrong
as would justify a resort to arms. Yield one, and you may as
well a thousand ; and there is no end to insult and injuries,
if you tamely submit to them. Allegiance and protection are

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER, 419

correlative terms ; you claim the one of your citizens, you are
bound to give them the other.

" Though the Republicans have succeeded neither in New f
Hampshire nor in Massachusetts, they have received acces-
sions of strength in both of these states ; and in New York,
they have obtained a triumph. I ardently desire an honorable
peace ; but I hope and trust the government will not be so>
much in haste to obtain peace, as to sacrifice any great advan-
tage or any essential right of the country. No nation can.
long survive the loss of honor, or the sacrifice of its rights.''

To Jolin Adams he writes, (November 25tL)

"You ask my opinion whether New Hampshire is pre-
pared to adopt the measures of the Massachusetts Legislature.
I think not. Though dismemberment has its advocates here,,
they cannot obtain a majority of the people or their repre-
sentatives to adopt or avow it. How far their covert proceed-
ings, aided by the imposition of taxes, and the adoption of
other measures necessary to carry on the war, may eventually
influence our people to aid them in their projects, time alone
can disclose. Before Governor Strong's letter reached Gov-
ernor Gilman, inviting New Hampshire to send delegates to
Hartford, our Legislature was adjourned to June. The
Governor cannot convene thein without the advice of the
Council ; and, fortunately, a majority of the Councillors are
staunch Republicans. This has prevented his even asking
their opinion on the subject."

It appears, however, that the Governor, at a later
period, did consult the Council on the subject ; that

420 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

the two Federal Councillors advised him (Jan.
25th, 1813,) to call the Legislature together; and
that the three ReiDublicans refused to sign this advice.
This would have been too late to send delegates to
the convention, but not too late to act on the meas-
ures which they recommended.

To Jeremiah Mason he writes, (Dec. 29, 1814.)

" You ask what will be the result of the Hartford Conven-
tion. I expect no good, but much evil from it. It will
embarrass us, aid the enemy, and protract the war. Their
prime object is to effect a revolution, — a dismemberment of
the Union. Some of its members, for more than ten years,
have considered such a measure necessary. Of this I have
conclusive evidence. I think, however, they have too much
cunning, mixed with fear, to proceed further, at their first
meeting, than to addresses, remonstrances, and resolves. But
the spirit they have excited in the minds of the more violent
of their party will not, I fear, be satisfied with mere words,
but will, should the war continue, lead to more violent
measures."

The Massachusetts House of Representatives had,
at the preceding session, declared that " the time has
arrived at which it is incumbent on the people of
this state to decide whether these burdens [the war
and embargo, the latter of which they pronounced
unconstitutional,] are not ioo grievous to he home and
to prepare themselves for the great duty of protect-

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 421

ing, hy their own vigor, their unalienable rights." They
now (Oct., 1814,) declared that the Constitution, as at
present administered, had "failed to secure to the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and to the Eastern
section of the Union, those equal rights and benefits,
which were the great objects of its formation." "It
is vain to talk about the Union," said Mr. Saltonstall,
in the Massachusetts Senate, on the appointment of
delegates to the Hartford Convention, (Oct., 1814,)
" if our rulers pursue a course much longer which is
teaching us all to look to the general government as
the cause of our ruin. Unless an effort is made, the
states will soon as naturally fall asunder as ripe fruit
is now falling from our trees."

The Convention which met at Hartford, Dec. 15thj
1814, consisted of delegates appointed by the Legis-
latures of I Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode
Island, and of members appointed by two County
Conventions in New Hampshire and one in Vermont.
Its proceedings were conducted with closed doors;
and among its rules was one " that the most inviolate
secrecy shall be observed by every member of thia
Convention, including the Secretary, as to all the
propositions, debates and proceedings thereof" This
injunction was removed at the close of the session, so
far only " as relates to the report finally adopted."
This report, which was made to the State Legislatures

422 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEB.

by which the members were appomted, was approved
and published by them. In it the question of dis-
solving the Union was discussed at some length.
"To prescribe patience and firnmess to those who are
already exhausted by distress, is sometimes," they
say, "to drive them to despair; and the progress
towards reform by the regular road is irksome to those
whose imaginations discern, and their feelings prompt
to a shorter coursed This shorter course is direct and
open violence. " A sentiment prevails to no incon-
siderable extent, that the time for a change is at
hand. Those who so believe, regard the evils which
surround them as intrin&ic and incurable defects in the
Constitution. They yield to the persuasion that no
change, at any time, or on any occasion, can aggravate
the misery of their country. This opinion may ulti-
mately prove to be correct." " But as the evidence on
which it rests is," they say, " not yet conclusive," they
recommend, for the present, the adoption of a more
moderate course, which, if it does not avert the evil,
will, " at least, secure consolation and success in the
last resort." " If," they add, " the Union be destined
to dissolution, it shoiild, if possible, be the work of
peaceable times, and deliberate consent. Events may
prove that the causes of our calamities are deep and
permanent. Whenever it shall appear that these
causes are radical and permanent, a separation, by

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 423

equitable arrangement, will be preferable to an
alliance by constraint, among nominal friends, but
real enemies." They refer to Washington's farewell
address, and conclude from all these premises — not
against dissolving the Union under any circumstances
— but against "precipitate measures," since "a sever-
ance of the Union, by one or more states, against the
will of the rest, and especially in time of war, can be
justified only by absolute necessity," which necessity,
they argue, does not now exist. In the mean time,
after pronouncing certain measures then before Con-
gress to be unconstitutional, the report adds : " In
cases of deliberate, dangerous, and palpable infractions
of the Constitution, affecting the sovereignty of a
state and the liberties of the people, it is not only the
right, but the duty of such a state to interpose its
authority for their protection, in the manner best
calculated to secure that end. When emergencies
occur, which are either beyond the reach of the
judicial tribunals, or too pressing to admit of the
delay incident to their forms, states, which have no
common umpire, must be their own judges, and exe-
cute their own decision." This is, in its strongest
form, the Virginia and South Carolina doctrine of
nullification. "If," they say, "a different poHcy from
the present should prevail, our nation may yet be
great, our union durable. But should this prospect

424 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

be \itterly hopeless, the time will not have been lost,
which shall have ripened a general sentiment of the
necessity of more mighty efforts to rescue from ruin
at least some portion of our beloved country." They
then recommend, as their more moderate course, an
application to Congress by the New England States,
to enable them to assume their own defence, and for
that purpose, that they may receive into their own
treasuries a portion of the United States' revenue col-
lected within their limits. They also propose seven
amendments to the Constitution of the United States;
the first, abolishing the slave representation ; the
second, providing that no new state shall be admitted
into the Union without the concurrence of two-thirds
of both Houses of Congress; the third, that no embargo
shall be laid for more than sixty days ; the fourth, that
no non-intercourse law be passed but by a two-thirds'
vote ; the fifth, no war declared but by the same vote ;
the sixth, no naturalized citizen to hold any civil office;
and the seventh, that no President be elected a second
time, and no state furnish two Presidents in succession.
Such were, in substance, the proceedings of the
Hartford Convention, which closed its session by
providing for a new Convention to meet in Boston,
in June, in case the war should continue, or for the
old one to meet sooner, if the committee appointed
for that purj)ose should see fit to convene it.

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 425

The Treaty of Ghent not only brought peace with
England, but put an end to nearly all the recent
causes of party differences in this country. Impress-
ment, claimed as a belligerent right, ceased with the
European wars ; French decrees and British orders
in Council had the same termination ; and the non-
intercourse, embargo, and war in America, which had
grown out of these, expired with their causes. There
were, therefore, no longer the old grounds of quarrel
between the two parties ; and that which underlay
them all, the charge of foreign influence, ceased
thenceforth to have any foundation on either side.
The Federalists had charged the Republicans with
being under French influence ; and the Republicans
retorted the charge, by imputing their conduct to
British influence. Both these charges were, to a cer-
tain extent, true. Not that French or British gold
was employed to make partizans here, for either of
those nations, though something may perhaps have
been paid for the support of party newspapers ; but
the popular feeling itself had fallen in/o a semi-
Colonial dependence on Europe. Sympathy wiih
England and abhorrence of France were motives
powerful with the one party ; and attachment to
France, admiration of Napoleon, and hatred to Eng-
land, were hardly less powerful in the other. "Every
Frenchman," said Governeur Morris, "bears with him
everywhere a French heart. I honor him for it. 0 !

426 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER.

that Americans had always an American heart!"
" All will end without any shedding of blood," said
Washington, "if, instead of being Frenchmen or Eng-
lishmen in politics, our citizens would be Americans."
It was not till after the war of 1812, that a truly
American feeling, superior to all foreign attachments,
obtained the entire ascendancy in our national
councils.

The Federal party, as a national organization, may
be considered as having expired with the war. Pat-
riotic in its original purposes, and wise in its early
measures, it was never a popular party ; and when,
after its final loss of power, in 1801, it fell insensibly
into the ordinary vices of an opposition, it lost, by
degrees, its nationality of character, became sectional
in its objects, and, ultimately, during the war, to a
considerable extent, anti-national in its admiration of
England, its dread of France, and its abhorrence of
the war and its authors. Fisher Ames had at an
earlier period expressed, in one brief but pregnant
sentence, the opinions in which many of them
indulged. " Our country is too big for union, too
sordid for patriotism, and too democratic for liberty."
Southern Federalists ceased to feel their former unity
of purpose with those of the north; local jealousies
were engendered, local objects pursued ; and the
final explosion of these angry feelings, in the impo-
tence of the Hartford Convention, brought such

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 427

general odium on the expiring efforts of Northern
Federalism, that men, -who had once borne it with
pride, grew, at last, ashamed of a name which, in
its earlier use, was illustrated by the wisdom and the
virtue of Washington and Adams, of Hamilton, Jay,
and a host of other revolutionary worthies. What
was good in the principles of the party had been, to
a great extent, adopted by the Republicans; and
the evil of its original views had been sufficiently
exj)osed.

But if the Federal party expired with the war, the f
Republican had, at the same time, well nigh lost its '
original identity. It had gradually eliminated some
of its worst errors, both of theory and practice, and
as gradually absorbed into itself much of what was j
best in the policy of its opponents.

" The era of good feeling," which commenced with
Mr. Monroe's administration, led to a speedy oblivion
of old feuds ; and, for the eight years which followed,
it was not easy, by anything which any man said or
did, to determine to which of the old parties he
belonged, or whether, indeed, there was, at that time,
any party in the country. When, at a later period, *
parties once more emerged from the quiet of Monroe, :
into the turbulence which ensued under Adams and :
Jackson, many of the old Federal leaders Avere found j
to be Democrats, and as many old Republicans took b
rank as Whigs. The division turned mainly on new

428 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

issues, and on interests little felt in the earlier days
of the Republic. The funding system, the army, and
the navy, had lost their interest in the questions of
the tariff and internal improvement, and in the first
stirrings of that yet deeper and more important
question of the extension or the restriction of
slavery.

Mr. Plumer early saw the change of parties which
this change in the affairs of the country was about to
produce, and felt it his duty to accelerate, as far as
in him lay, the oblivion of past controversies, and to
aid in the introduction of a policy more liberal and
more comprehensive, in relation both to men and to
measures. While party feelings had degenerated
with iriany into personal animosities, he had kept up
his social relations with his old Federalist friends, both
by correspondence and by personal intercourse. He
knew the good men of both parties, and the good
points in both their creeds ; and his aim was to bring
them together in combined action for the public good.
The old party feelings were, however, still strong on
both sides ; the Federalists exasperated by defeat,
the Republicans warm with the excitement of recent
strife. The heat of the contest had, indeed, as yet,
very little abated. The antagonist muscles required
time to soften and relax from the extreme tension of
earnest and long-continued action. This relaxation
did not come in season for the March elections in

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

New Hampshire ; and Governor Gilman was accord-
ingly re-elected. So doubtful, however, was the
contest, that, counting all the votes thrown; his
majority was found to be only thirty-five. It was
his last year. During the whole period from 1812 to
1817, neither party was strong enough to feel confi-
dent of victory, and neither so weak as to despair of
success.

CHAPTER XI.

THE CHIEF MAGISTRATE.— (CONTINUED.;)

I Fi>fD little among Mr Plumer's papers in the year
following the peace, which need be here introduced.
Two extracts from his journal may be given, as
touching upon subjects either already noticed here,
or which will come up at a later period.

September 16th, 1815. " On the 7th instant, I set out with
my wife on a visit to our friends in Massachusetts, and to-day
returned home. My visit to Newbuvyport, where I was
born, and to Newbury Old Town, the orighial seat of the
Plumer family, was productive, in my mind, of many inter-
esting remembrances and reflections. In this ten days' excur-
sion, I have been everywhere treated with great respect and
attention ; but the journey, and my long and frequent
conversations, fatigued me. At Salem, I spent an afternoon
with Joseph Story, one of the Judges of the Supreme Court
of the United States. He said, the judges of that court had
informally considered the question whether the Governor of
a state was bound, on the requisition of the President, to
order the militia into the service of the United States. He
could, he said, discover no diversity of sentiment among them ;
he believed they were unanimously of opinion that the Gov-
ernors were bound to obey the requisition ; and regretted that

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 431

neither the President nor Congress had required their opinion
on the subject. He complimented me on my speech to the
Legislature in November, 1812, upon the question of ordering
out the militia ; and said that my reasoning appeared to him
conclusive. He mentioned, of his own accord, that he had
considered the law of New Hampshire, of 1813, establish-
ing the new judiciary, and was of opinion that it was
unconstitutional."

September 30th, 1815. "I spent an hour in social, free
conversation with Governor Oilman. He condemned, with
great frankness, the rem((Val of John Wheelock from the
Presidency of Dartmouth College. He said it was injudici-
ous and improper."

This removal of Wheelock brought the affairs of
the college, before the Legislature, and led to a vigor-
ous, but finally unsuccessful attempt to remodel and
improve that important institution.

The spring elections of 1816 resulted in the entire
success of the Republican party in New Hampshire.
Governor Oilman, from the increasing infirmities of
age, and, probably, from a conviction that he could
not again be elected, declined being a candidate. His
place was supplied by James Sheafe, — a respectable
merchant of Portsmouth, probably, at that time, the
richest man in the state. He had been imprisoned as
a Tory, during the revolution; but, like many other
honest loyalists, he had found this circumstance not
incompatible with the possession, at a later period, of

432 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK.

the public favor. The people, though zealous in the
cause of independence, were not vindictive or intol-
erant in their feelings; and Avhen the danger was
past, they looked to men's present conduct, rather
than to their former opinions on a subject respecting
which men might fairly differ. Sheafe had been
elected Senator in Congress, in 1802, but had held his
seat only one session. His opposition to the war of
1812 was now urged against him, as a |)roof that the
Tory of the revolution was still the devoted partizan
of the mother country. It Avas, perhaps, as an offset
to this charge of toryism in Sheafe, that the story
was told respecting Governor Plunier's being arrested
for the same offence, during the revolution, as related
in a former chapter. This story was at once contra-
dicted; and the facts respecting Sheafe, though
known, probably deprived him of very few votes.
Of the vvhole number thrown, he had 18,326, and
Mr. Plumer 20,652. This was the largest popular
vote ever thrown in the state. It is curious to
observe the increasing interest taken in politics by
the mass of the people, as shown by the yearly
increase of the votes. In 1790, the whole number
thrown for chief magistrate was in the proportion
of one vote to seventeen of the inhabitants ; in
1800, one to eleven; in 1810, one to seven; and
in 1816, one to less than six. This augurs well of
the people, as it shows an increasing interest in

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER, 433

their own affairs, and a determination not to lose
their rights by a neglect of the elective franchise.
When the result of the election was known, the
Governor received many congratulations from his
correspondents on his success; and among others,
March 22d, 1816, the following from Richard Rush,
then Attorney-General of the United States, after-
wards Secretary of the Treasury, and Minister to
England :

"I beg leaye to offer to you my cordial congratulations
upon the happy issue of the election in New Hampshire. May
the great cause of Republicanism go on thus to triumph in the
states about you. May Massachusetts be so fortunate, in her
turn, as to get her Dexter ; thereby serving more and more to
disappoint all the efforts and the hopes of those who know not
how to value our noble institutions."

This aspiration respecting Dexter was not answered,
as he died. May 4th, 1816, soon after it was made.

April 17th, 1816. " Spent the day at Portsmouth ; received
much attention from men of both parties. My rival, James
Sheafe, took an early opportunity of calling upon me at my
lodgings, and politely urged me to dine with him ; but my
engagements prevented me." ^

It may be here added, that he kept up, during life,
a friendly intercourse with many worthy men who
were his political opponents ; and that his personal
respect for them was never impaired by the warmth

28

434 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

of these party contests. He wielded boldly and
unsparingly against them all the weapons of political
warfare ; but it was without malice or personal ill-will.

May 18th, 1816. « I have been requested to be a candi-
date for Senator in Congress, but have refused. I want no
office whatever ; but if I am to be in the public service, I
j)refer that of Governor."

June 4th. " Perceiving, from the applications made to me
by gentlemen from various towns, as to when I should set out
for Concord, that measures were preparing for a numerous
escort, I resolved to proceed thither without waiting to be
officially informed of my election. Early in the afternoon I
arrived at Concoi'd."

5th. " Spent the day at my lodgings, without making any
visits, except one of ceremony to Governor Gilman, whom I
found afflicted with the gout. He received me with polite-
ness, and appeared in good spirits. The calls upon me were
many ; and among others was one from the Reverend Dr.
Parish. The moment his name was announced, my writing
the ' Layman ' occurred to my recollection. His attachment
to President Wheelock, and his belief of my aiding Dartmouth
College, gave him pleasure in visiting me, though he knew I
had zealously supported the late war, to which he was out-
rageously opposed. On telling him that my health was good
for one of my slender constitution, he replied, with an empha-
sis, ' In that we harmonize.' He is man of strong passions,
governed by feeling more than reason."

6th. " At twelve o'clock, I met the two Houses, in the
Representatives' Hall, and found the galleries and avenues

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 435

crowded. After I had taken the affirmation of office, I
delivered my speech, -which occupied about twenty minutes.
After dinner. Dr. Parish spent two hours with me very
pleasantly."

Parish was warmly interested in behalf of Dr.
Wheelock, and wrote afterwards to Judge Woodward:
" We rejoice, we exult, in the firmness, constancy and
success of Governor Plumer, to whom I pray you to
give my thanks for the noble part he has taken in
defence of our venerable friend."

Among the subjects recommended by the Gov-
ernor to the attention of the Legislature were the
encouragement of manufactures by exempting them,
for a limited period, from taxes; the districting of
the state for the choice of electors and members of
Congress ; the reduction of salaries ; and the subject
of jury trials. The first of these recommendations
was adopted, and had the effect, with other liberal
provisions of the laws, to draw much foreign capital
into the state, greatly to the benefit of its industry,
wealth, and population. The districting recommended
by him has since been adopted, as to members of
Congress, but not as to electors. The reduction of
salaries was a more popular measure ; and the rare
example of a Governor recommending the reduction
of his own salary, was sure to find favor with the
Legislature. He had attempted the same reduction.

436 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

without success, in 1797; and, now tliat it affected
Ms own remuneration, he was not less disposed to
urge it. Writing to John Quincj Adams, (July 30th,)
he said: "The great anxiety that too many of our
countrymen discover for office, as the means of
acquiring money — a motive too sordid to exist with,
much less to cherish, patriotism — induced me to
recommend a system of economy in relation to
salaries. It was a feeble effort to inspire the people
with more noble motives and more exalted views,
than pecuniary rewards produce; to allure them with
the love of fame and of the public good." His ideas on
this subject were well responded to in a letter, which
he afterwards received from Mr. Adams, (July 6th,
1818.) "I am convinced," says Mr. Adams, "that
it is just and patriotic to make all offices of high
trust and honor rather burdensome than lucrative.
Real patriotism will cheerfully bear some pecuniary
sacrifice ; and the appetite of ambition for place is
sufficiently sharp-set, without needing the stimulant
dram of avarice to make it keener."

With respect to trials by jury, there had, in his
opinion, been too great a disposition, of late, in the
courts to set aside verdicts, and thus to arrogate too
much authority in the trial of cases ; but it may be
doubted whether the limitation he recommended of
the power of the court to set aside verdicts, to cases of
bribery or corruption, would contribute to the stabil-

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 437

ity or the uniformity of the law, by making it depend
practically for its rules of action on the feelings or
the opinions of jurors, instead of the knowledge and
experience of the judges. No law was passed on the
subject.

The Governor's care for the rights of conscience
and of private judgment in matters of religion, was
evinced by his recommendation to grant acts of
incorporation to religious societies, in all cases, and
to all sects who applied for them.

But the two most important topics of the Gov-
ernor's speech were those relating to Dartmouth
College, and to the judiciary acts of 1813. The
latter were considered by the Republicans as un-
constitutional, and, as such, to be repealed without
delay. This repeal passed, by a strictly party vote,
in the House, yeas 97, nays 83 ; in the Senate, yeas
8, nays 4. It was signed by the Governor, June
27, 1816. Several important questions were at once
raised by this act. The first was as to the effect of
the repeal on the judges of the courts so abolished.
By some, it was contended that, the law under which
they acted being unconstitutional, they were, from
the beginning, usurpers, and that no action need be
had in relation to them. But the safer opinion seemed
to be that, being judges dc facto, if not de jure, they
were "entitled to the same rights, immunities and
privileges in their office as other judges ; " and, there-

438 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLTTMER.

fore, that, if they were removed, it must be under the
constitutional provision, on address of the Legisla-
ture, by the Governor and Council. This was accord-
ingly done. The next question was as to the judges
of the old courts ; and it was thought advisable to
remove them also. When this was done, the state
presented the singular spectacle of a Commonwealth
without judges. The next step proposed was the turn-
ing out of the Federalist sheriffs, appointed on the
removal of Messrs. Pierce and Butler. An address to
that effect passed the Senate, but was postponed in
the House, on an intimation of the Governor that
the measure would be, in his opinion, illegal.

The law respecting Dartmouth College grew out of
difficulties between the Trustees of that institution
and its President, John Wheelock, which had resulted
in his removal from office. The subject was noticed
in the speech of the Governor, who, after referring to
Avhat he regarded as defects in the charter of the
college, recommended to the Legislature to "make
such further provisions as will render this important
institution more useful to mankind." The act passed,
June 27th, 1816, in pursuance of this recommenda-
tion, changed the name of the institution from College
to University ; increased the number of the Ti'ustees
from twelve to twenty-one ; and created a board of
Overseers, consisting of twenty-five members. These
latter were to be appointed by the Governor and

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 439

Council; as were also, in the first instance, the new
Trustees. "My object," said the Governor, "is not lim-
ited to the restoration of Wheelock. It is to establish
the authority of the Legislature over the institution, so
far as to secure to the people the objects for which it
was founded, and to form a useful connection between
the government and the college." In the appoint-
ment of Trustees and Overseers he introduced men of
both political parties, and of all the prominent relig-
ious sects. The college government had been hitherto
Calvinistic in its religion, and Federalist in its politics.
His appointments brought both political parties into
each board, without giving any one religious sect the
preponderance in either. Dr. Parish having written
to him, expressing the hope that a man's being a
Federalist would not prevent his being elected an
officer of the institution, he said, in reply, "It has
been a subject of deep regret to me that the cause of
Dartmouth University has been considered a party
question. My political opponents made it such, in
hopes of obtaining support to their party politics.
But, had I the power of appointing the officers of the
University, I would select those men only for office
who are best qualified, without regard to the religious
sect or political party to which they are attached."
The act itself provided that perfect freedom of relig-
ious opinions should be enjoyed by all the officers and
students of the University ; and that no officer or

440 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

student should be deprived of any honors, privileges,
or benefits of the institution, on account of his religious
creed or belief It was an essential part of his plan
that the state should extend a liberal patronage to
the University, and make it, what it had never yet
been, a well-endowed institution. Into the private
feuds of Hanover, or the quarrel between "Wheelock
and the old Trustees, he felt no disposition to enter ;
but the occasion seemed to him a fit one, to give to
the college a less sectarian character, and to plant it
firmly on the broad ground of Christian liberality,
sound learning, and Republican polity.

The following letter from Mr. Jefferson was in
acknowledgment of a copy of the Message, contain-
ing the above-named recommendations.

"MoNTicEixo, July 31st, 1816.
" I thank you, sir, for the copy you have been so good as
to send me of your late speech to the Legislature of your
state, which I have read a second time with great pleasure,
as I had before done in the public papers. It is replete with
sound principles, and truly Republican. Some articles, too,
are worthy of notice. The idea that institutions, established
for the use of the nation, cannot be touched nor modified,
even to make them answer their end, because of rights gratu-
itously supposed in those employed to manage them in trust
for the public, may, perhaps, be a salutary provision against
the abuses of a monarch, but it is most absurd against the
nation itself. Yet our lawyers and priests generally incul-

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 441

cate this doctrine ; and suppose that preceding generations
held the earth more freely than we do ; had a right to impose
laws on us, unalterable by ourselves ; and that we, in like
manner, can make laws, and impose burdens on future gen-
erations, which they will have no right to alter ; in fine,
that the earth belongs to the dead, and not to the living. I
remark, also, the phenomenon of a chief magistrate recom-
mending the reduction of his own compensation. This is a
solecism of which the wisdom of our late Congress cannot be
accused. I, however, place economy among the first and most
important of Republican virtues, and public debt as the great-
est of the dangers to be feared. "We see in England the con-
sequences of the want of it, — their laborers reduced to live on
a penny in the shilling of their earnings, to give up bread,
and resort to oatmeal and potatoes for food ; and their land-
holders exiling themselves to live in penury and obscurity
abroad, because at home the government must have all the
clear profits of their land. In fact, they see the fee-simple of
the island transferred to the public creditors, and all its
profits going to them for the interest of their debts. Our
laborers and landholders must come to this also, unless they
severely adhere to the economy you recommend. I salute
you with entire esteem and respect.

"Thomas Jefferson."

On the adjournment of the Legislature, the Gover-
nor and Council proceeded to appoint the Judges of
the Superior Court and Common Pleas. It had been
easy to turn out the old judges, but it was not found
so easy to appoint new ones in their places. The

442 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

removed judges were Federalists; and the Republican
Councillors, flushed with their recent party victory,
felt called upon to retaliate on the intolerance of
their opponents, by appointing none but Republicans
to office. But the Governor told them, at their first
meeting, that the minority had rights, which it
became him to respect, however little others had
done so ; and that he could not consent to have all
the judges selected from one political party.

July 1st, 1816. "Early in the morning, I met the Coun-
cil ; and, after spending some time in talking upon the sub-
ject of appointments, we proceeded to make nominations of
Judges of the Superior Court. I named Jeremiah Mason,
William M. Richardson, and Samuel Bell. The Council
unanimously agreed to nominate Richardson. The Republi-
cans nominated Bell ; but the Federalists opposed him on
account of his conduct as President of the Hillsborough
Bank. A majority declined nominating Mason. I then
proposed George B. Upham, a Federalist, a good lawj^er, and
a man of an irreproachable moral character. The two Fed-
eral Councillors zealously supported, and the three Republi-
cans as decidedly opposed him. We then endeavored to fix
upon a Chief Justice for the Eastern District. Clifton Clag-
gett and Daniel M. Durell were named. The question
being taken on nominating Claggett, two of the Council were
for him, and three against him. A majority could not be
obtained for Durell, or any other man. William H. Wood-
ward was unanimously agreed upon as Chief Justice of the
Western District."

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER, 443

2(1. " Met the Council early in the morning ; urged the
nomination of Upham ; but the Republican Councillors de-
clined agreeing to him. We then conversed on a candidate
for Chief Justice of the Common Pleas for the First Dis-
trict ; and it was agreed to nominate Durell. A majority
of the Council finally agreed to nominate Upham for the
Superior Court. We then signed the nomination of all the
seventeen judges, the number necessary to be appointed.
Some of them were not such as I should have nominated, if
I had possessed the sole power of appointment ; but they
were the best I could induce the Council to agree to."

3d. " A majority of the Board agreed upon the lot upon
which the State House should be erected."

4th. " Fixed the site for the State House."

5th. " Met the Council, and appointed those we had
nominated for judges, and also a Committee to build the
State House. After breakfast, I rode to Epsom, to see my
sister."

6th. " In the morning, I pursued my journey home on
horseback. At Deerfield line, I was met by an escort, which
continued to increase till I reached my own house, there
being more than five hundred gentlemen on horseback. The
concourse of people was great, more than fifteen hundred at
the house. They behaved very well ; and by eight in the
evening they all left me."

The appointment of Federalists to office by a Re-
publican Executive was an act of justice and liberal-
ity, which neither party knew how duly to appreciate.
The leaders of the Federal party had not given over

444 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

the hope of regaining their lost ascendency in the
state ; and they saw that if, co-operating with the
liberal policy of the Governor, some of their ablest
men took seats on the bench by his appointment, it
would not be easy, under any local issues Avhich they
could raise, now that the old national ones were
closed, to rally the party strength for a new contest.
Upham, who was appointed to the Superior Court,
told me, many years after, (June 4, 1847,) that he
had, at first, determined to accept the office; but, on
coming to Concord, he was advised by Thomas W.
Thompson and other Federalists not to do so ; that,
on his way to Portsmouth, to consult Mr. Mason on
the subject, he was told by Roswell Stevens, of Pem-
broke, that Amos Kent, of Chester, had, on the advice
of Daniel Webster, declined the judgeship offered
him ; and that other Federalists appointed would do
the same. On hearing this he returned home, and
notified the Governor that he declined the appoint-
ment, though he should, he said, have been happy,
under other circumstances, with the concurrence of
his friends, to accept it. The Federal party could
hardly have made a greater mistake than to reject
the olive branch thus offered to them, at a time when
their power was, practically, at an end, not in the
state only, but throughout the Union. Yet such was
still the inveteracy of feeling with many, that the
Governor was, soon after, informed that one Federal-

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 445

ist whom he had appointed a judge, not content with
declining the office, had nailed up his commission in
a grog-shop ; thus exposing it to the derision of its
inmates, and himself hardly less to the pity, or the
contempt, of all moderate and reflecting men. Wil-
liam H. Woodward was the only Federalist, out of
seven appointed judges, who accepted the office.
" Though in making these appointments, I have been
directed," says the Governor, "by what I consider
the public interest, I am sensible I have made per-
sonal enemies. The disposition of offices makes
many enemies, and but few friends. What is worse,
I am held responsible for all appointments, but have
not the power to appoint, in all cases, those whom I
consider best qualified."

Not discouraged by his ill success thus far. Gover-
nor Plumer made one more attempt to exclude
politics from the temple of justice, and thus to
secure the confidence of all parties in the impartial-
ity, as well as in the ability of the courts of law, — an
object which he justly regarded as second to none
which he could accomplish in the appointments
which he had to make. For this purpose, he sought
to place his old friend Jeremiah Mason, as Chief
Justice, on the Bench of the Superior Court. Rich-
ardson, who held that office, offered to resign, and
take a side-seat under Mason. When applied to m
person by the Governor, Mr. Mason seemed, at first,

446 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

not displeased with the offer, but doubted whether he
could be appointed. "Your views," he said, "are too
liberal for your party. Your Council will not con-
sent to my appointment." The Governor afterwards
wrote to him on the subject. "It is an office worthy
of your ambition ; and one which I hope you will
hold, till you are removed to the Bench of the Su-
preme Court of the United States." In his answer,
(August 18th, 1816,) Mr. Mason said :

" I am sensible of the honor which you do me in your
letter of the 7th instant. Could I flatter myself with the be-
lief of possessing the necessary qualifications, the proposed
office would certainly satisfy my highest ambition. There
would, however, still remain two objections, which to me
appear insuperable. The salary allowed by the present law
appears to me wholly inadequate. My other objection arises
from the late organization of the Court. After thus stating
the reasons which prevent my complying with your proposal,
I trust it is unnecessary to add that political considerations,
which, in these times, are often supposed to determine every-
thing, have, with me, on this subject, no influence."

In a pecuniary point of view, the decision was
undoubtedly correct, the salary bearing no compari-
son with what he received for his services at the bar.
But had he accepted the office, besides the service
rendered the state, he could have built up for himself,
in the twenty-two years for which he might have

LIFE OF WILLIAM ELUMER. 447

held it, a judicial reputation such, as no New England
judge has ever yet attained. As Mason declined
going upon the Bench, Richardson remained Chief
Justice ; and the place which Upham had refused,
was ultimately conferred on Levi Woodbury. Wood-
bury, called in derision, at the time, "the baby judge,"
was not quite twenty-seven years old. He was then
Secretary of the Senate, and thought of by nobody
as judge, perhaps not even by himself But the keen
eye and quick discernment of the Governor, with
whom he boarded, at the house of Isaac Hill, had
seen enough, during the session, to satisfy him that
he was qualified for the place, and would do no dis-
credit, in later life, to his early patron. Nor did
Woodbury disappoint these expectations. He was
afterwards Governor of the State, Senator in Con-
gress, Seci-etary of the Navy and of the Treasury,
and died Judge of the Supreme Court of the United
States, with the near prospect, had he lived a year
longer, of being President. Thirty-five years after
this first appointment, on occasion of Woodbury's
death, the Attorney General, Walker, spoke of " the
venerable Plumer," and characterized him as " that
great and unerring judge of the heads and the hearts of
men," — terms, in their full import, inapphcable to man,
but, in a lower sense, not ill describing the knowledge
of human nature, for which he was distinguished.

448 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

After filling this and other vacancies in the courts,
the Governor says, in his journal:

" These appointments have relieved me from much anxiety.
Our courts of law were never before filled by men so well
qualified for their places as are the present judges. I have
had great trouble, and incurred great odium ; but the intol-
erance of others has been, and shall be, no rule for me. My
liberality gains me no credit with either party. But I will
do my duty ; and when I retire to private life, I shall enjoy a
richer reward than that of office."

October 3d, 1816. "I am informed that, before my elec-
tion in March, the President had determined to appoint me
Commissioner, under the late treaty with England, to run
the line between the United States and Canada ; but my
election made this improper. This was an office unsought,
and unthought of by me. I have recently been requested
to nominate an agent fi-om this state to attend the Com-
missioners."

It appears, too, from a statement of Mr. Mason, that
he was, about this time, spoken of as likely to succeed
his friend, Adams, as minister to Russia. But this
was an oflBce for which, with his ignorance of French,
he would have thought himself unfit.

To Judge Woodward he wrote, (August 10th,
1816:)

" I intend to be in Hanover in season ; but you must ex-
cuse me from meeting an escort. It has been an object with

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 449

me, through, life, to avoid parade. It is troublesome to my
friends, and painfal to me, as ill according with my views of
the simplicity of a Republican government. I feel a grateful
sense of the value of public approbation. But to enjoy the
consciousness of having merited it, is to me a sufficient
reward for the toils of office, and the calumnies of the ignorant
and the designing. You will, therefore, be so obliging as to
make my comphments to Colonel Poole and my Hanover
friends, and dissuade them from taking the trouble to meet,
me on the road."

In his speech to the Legislature, (November 20th,.
1816,) the Governor confined himself chiefly to the
affairs of the State, those of the Union not requiring
from him, since the return of peace, more than a;
passing notice. The strict notions of economy in the
public expenditures, which, on a former occasion, had
prompted him to recommend the reduction of salaries,
including his own, now showed itself in various sug-
gestions made by him in relation to the fees of
sheriffs, treasurers, clerks, and other county officers.
These were, in part, adopted by the Legislature, and
led to some useful improvements in the laws on this
subject. Among other matters adverted to in the
speech were the building of the State House, the
funding of the treasury notes received from the Gen-
eral Government, and the affairs of the University.
It soon appeared that, in relation to the two former

29

450 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

of these, and indeed, with respect to his administra-
tion generally, the Governor was now to encounter,
among his own party, an opposition more envenomed,
if possible, than he had before experienced from his
FederaUst opponents. Messrs. Morrill, Pierce, Claggett,
Quarles, and Butler, the very leaders of the Republi-
can party, were, for various reasons, unfriendly to
him. Morrill, at that time Speaker, was afterwards
Senator in Congress, and Governor of the State;
Pierce and Quarles were members of the Coimcil,
and the former was afterwards Governor. Claggett
had been judge of the Superior Court; and both he
and Butler were members of the House, and after-
wards elected to Congress. These acknowledged
leaders of the party might reasonably be expected,
in any given case, to be too strong, by their united
force, for any individual who refused submission to
their will. Morrill, as Speaker, appointed Committees
on the State House and the Treasury Note business,
who reported unfavorably to the action of the Gov-
ernor in both these cases. He had received from the
General Government forty thousand dollars in treasury
notes, bearing an interest of 5|- per cent., on account
of military services in the late war, and had funded
the sum at the loan ofl&ce, receiving United States
six per cent, stock for the amount due on the notes.
The committee thought he ought to have sold the
notes, which were at a great discount in the market,

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 451

and put the proceeds in the treasury, or bought
United States stock with it. This notion of turning
broker, and speculating with the public funds, had
never occurred to the Grovemor, who disposed of the
United States notes, as Governor Gilman, with the
approbation of the Legislature, had, the year before,
done with those received by him.

The location of the new State House, whether
north or south of a given line, on the Main Street in
Concord, was a question in which it might have been
thought few would take much interest, except the
dwellers on that street. Yet it excited a furious
contest, not only in the town, but among the mem-
bers of the Legislature, and through the state. As
the spot selected by the Governor and Council was
at a considerable distance south of the old State
House, the people at the north end, with whom
nearly all the members of the Legislature had
hitherto boarded, were likely, by the new location,
to lose thenceforth this monopoly. The clamor
which they raised was in proportion to their sup-
posed interest in the question; and it was soon
found that many of the members were deeply
infected with the feelings and the prejudices of
their landlords on this subject, — "representatives,"
as Toppan, of Hampton, said, " of their respective
boarding houses, rather than of the state." The spot
selected was denounced as " a quagmire, and a frog-

452 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK.

pond ; " and Colonel Prescott, of Jaffrey, amused the
House with an account of the frogs he had seen
leaping about in the cellar, which might be ex-
pected, at some future session, should the court be
held there, " to make as much noise in it," he said,
"as I do now." The Council had been divided on the
location; and as the Grovernor's influence was sup-
posed mainly to have settled the question, the odium
of the measure, with those who disliked it, fell chiefly
on him. The report of the committee was, however,
rejected by the House, yeas 73, nays 84 ; and it is '
now generally admitted that no better spot could
have been selected.

Many timid Republicans were alarmed at these
divisions in the party. "But difficulties," said the
Governor, in a letter to me at the time, " neither
embarrass, nor discourage me ; and I seldom despond.
I have always found that what people call dangers
appear greater at a distance, than when near at
hand." It was in the midst of these excitements,
increased as they were by the Governor's putting his
veto on a bill which had just passed both Houses by
very strong majorities, and when, by many, it was
believed that his popularity was gone forever, that
he received the most convincing proof that, however
certain leaders might be disaffected, the great mass
of the party did justice to his motives, and had lost
none of their confidence in his integrity.

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 453

Under date of December 17tli, 1816, he says:

" The Republicans met this evening, to nominate a candi-
date for Governor for the next year. Ninety-three members
attended, — a larger number than at any other caucus this
session. General Pierce, in the chair, opened the meeting by
observing that the Republicans were much divided, and
would not probably be able to agree upon a candidate. He
therefore proposed that the subject be postponed. Claggett
seconded the motion, and was followed by Butler on the same
side. Two or three other members replied, and the motion
was negatived. On counting the ballots for a candidate, there
were, for David L. Morrill, one ; for Levi Bartlett, seven ; and
eighty-five for me. The two Councillors and the Speaker,
with Butler and Claggett, could get only three other members
to vote with them. They want a Governor whom they can
govern. I am not altogether such a one."

It was not without pleasure that, amidst the vio-
lence of these factious discontents, he received the
following letter from his friend, John Quincy Adams,
at that time Minister to England :

" His Excellency "William Plumee, 'i
Governor of New Hampshire. 5

" Ealing, near London, January 17th, 1817.
" My Dear Sir, — I am yet to acknowledge the receipt of
your two obliging favors of 6th March and 30th July last,
the latter enclosing a copy of your speech to the Legislature.
During the whole time that I have enjoyed the happiness of
an acquaintance and friendship with you, there has been so

454 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEH.

general a coincidence of sentiment between us npon all the
objects of concernment to our country, -which have succes-
sively arisen, that I can ascribe it to no other cause than to
the similitude, or rather the identity, of our political and moral
principles. It was, therefore, not possible for me to read
your excellent speech without great pleasure, and I was much
gratified to see that its merits did not escape public notice,
even in this country. It was republished entire in one of the
newspapers of the most extensive circulation ; not as, during
our late war, some of our Governors' speeches were repub-
lished, to show the subserviency of the speakers to the hulwarJc
of our holy religion, and to the press-gang, but professedly
for the pure, and patriotic, and genuine Republican sentiments
with which it abounded. It has been a truly cheering con-
templation to me to see that the people of New Hampshire
have recovered from the delusions of that unprincipled faction,
which, under the name of Federalism, was driving them to the
dissolution of the Union, and, under the name of Washington,
to British recolonization, — to see them returning to the coun-
sels of sober and moderate men, who are biased by no feelings
but those of public spirit, and by no interests but those of
their country. Such a person, I well knew, they had found
in you, and such, I hope, you will find in your present and
future coadjutors. Although the progress of reformation
has not been so rapid and effectual in our native state as it
has been with you, yet the tendency of the public opinion has
been steadily, since the peace, in that direction, as it has been
throughout the Union ; and, as that faction cannot fail to sink
in proportion as the country prospers, I do not despair of

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMBR. 455

seeing the day -when the policy of all the state governments
will be in unison with that of the nation.

" We have lately received what may be termed President
Madison's valedictory message to Congress ; and grateful
indeed must it be to his feelings to compare the condition of the
country, at the close of his administration, with the turbulent
and perilous state in which it was at the period of his first
election. It will be the great duty of his successor, and of
the Congress with which he is to operate, to use diligently
the days of peace to prepare the nation for other trials, which
are probably not far distant, and which, sooner or later, cannot
fail to arise. Your speech most justly remarks that the late
war raised our public character in the estimation of the other
nations ; but we cannot be too profoundly impressed with the
sentiment that it has by no means added to the number of our
fiiends. In this country more particularly, it is impossible for
me to disguise to myself that the national feeling of animosity
and rancor against America and the Americans, is more uni-
versal and more bitter than it was before the war. A con-
siderable part of the British nation then despised us ; and
contempt is a feeling far less active in spurring to acts of
hostility than hatred and fear, which have taken its place. No
Briton of any party ever imagined that we should be able to
maintain a contest against them upon the ocean. Very few
among ourselves expected it. Our victories, both by sea and
land, though intermingled with defeats and disasters, which
we ought to remember more studiously than our triumphs,
have placed our character, as a martial nation, upon a level
with the most respectable nations of Europe ; but the effect
here has been to unite all parties in the conviction that we are

456 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

destined to be the most formidable of the enemies and rivals
of their naval power. Now the navy is so universally the
idol of this nation^ that there is not a statesman of any descrip-
tion or party, who dares befriend anything opposed to it, or
look with other than hostile eyes to anything that threatens its
glory or portends its downfall. The opposition party, and its
-leaders before the war, were much more liberally disposed
towards America than the ministerialists ; but, after the war
commenced, they joined the ministers in full pack ; and, since
the peace, their party tactics have constantly been to cavil
against any liberality or concession of the ministers to America.
The issue of the late European wars has been to give for the
moment, though it will not last long, to the British govern-
ment, an ascendency of influence over the whole continent
of Europe, which they will naturally use to inspire preju-
dices and jealousies against us. There is already, in all the
governments of Europe, a strong prejudice against us as
Republicans, or as the primary cause of the propagation of
those political principles, which still make the throne of every
European monarch rock under him, as with the throes of an
earthquake.

" With Spain we are, and have been for years, on the verge
of war. Nothing but the impotence of the Spanish govern-
ment has hitherto prevented the explosion, and we have so
many collisions of interest as well as of principles with Spain,
that it is not only the court, but the nation, which hates and
fears us.

" In France, the government, besides being in tutelage
under Britain, have feelings against America, more venom-
ous even than the British. The mass of the French nation

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 457

liave no such feelings, but they have no attachment to us, or
friendship for us. Their own condition absorbs all their
feelings, and they would delight at seeing us at war
with Great Britain, because they flatter themselres that
would operate as a diversion in their favor, and perhaps
enable them to break the yoke under which they are
groaning.

" We have claims for indemnities against the governments
of France, Spain, the Netherlands, Naples, and Denmark, the
justice of which they do not admit, and which nothing but
necessity will ever bring them to acknowledge.

"The very pursuit of those claims has a tendency to
embroil us with those nations, as has been fully exemplified in
the result of Mr. Pinkney's late mission to Naples, and yet,
as the claims are just, they ought not to be abandoned. The
states of Barbary owe us a heavy grudge for the .chastise-
ments we have inflicted upon all of them, and for the example
first set by us to the European nations, of giving them battle
instead of tribute, and of breaking up their system of piracy.
We have, therefore, enemies in almost every part of the world,
and few or no firiends anywhere. If there be an exception,
it is in Russia ; but even there the shameful misconduct of
the Russian Consul-General at Philadelphia, and the infamous
manner in which he has been abetted by the minister, Dasch-
kofi'j'have produced a coldness on the part of the Emperor
which endangered at least the harmony of the relations
between the two countries.

" Add to all this that there is a vague and general senti-
ment of speculative and forecasting jealousy against us pre-
vailing all over Europe. We are considered not merely as an

458 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMEE.

active and enterprising, but as a grasping and ambitious people.
We are supposed to have inherited all the bad qualities of
the British character, without some of those of which other
nations in their dealings with the British have made their
advantage. They ascribe to us all the British rapacity, with-
out allowing us the credit of the British profusion. The
universal feeling of Europe, in witnessing the gigantic growth
of our population and power, is that we shall, if united, be-
come a very dangerous member of the society of nations.
They therefore hope, what they confidently expect, that we
shall not long remain united ; that, before we shall have
attained the strength of national manhood, our Union will be
dissolved, and that we shall break up into two or more
nations, in opposition against one another. The conclusion
from all which that we must draw is, to do justice invariably
to every nation, and, at the same time, to fix our military, naval,
and fiscal establishments upon a foundation adequate to our
defence, and enabling us to obtain justice in return from
them.

" I have not yet been able to procure for you Adair's
History of the Indians, but I have found, at a very moderate
price, a complete set of the Remembrancer, including the
prior documents, all in eleven volumes, which I propose to
send you by the Galen, to sail about the first of March.

" I remain, with great respect and attachment, dear- sir,
your friend and humble servant,

"John Quincy Adams."

The Trustees of the University were required by
the law under which they were appointed to meet

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 459

on the 26tli of August ; but as they failed at that time
to form a quorum, it was not till the Legislature in
November authorized them to meet at a different
time, that they were organized as a board. Nine out
of twelve of the old Trustees declined accepting the
new law, and refused to act under it. They continued
to act imder the old charter ; and instituted a suit
against Judge Woodward, the Treasurer of the Uni-
versity, to try the validity of the new law. This
suit was decided against them in November, 1817,
by the Superior Court, which pronounced the law
constitutional, in an elaborate and ably reasoned
opinion delivered by Chief Justice Richardson. The
case was carried up to Washington, and finally
decided, in the Supreme Court, in favor of the old
Trustees ; upon the ground that the law was a viola-
tion of that clause of the Constitution of the United
States, which provides that "no state shall pass any
law impairing the obligation of contracts." The
court held that, the college being a private eleemosy-
nary corporation, the original charter was a contract
between the royal government on the one hand, and
the Trustees on the other, which could not be altered
by the state, without the consent of the Trustees.
Such consent not having been given, the act was
invalid. This decision terminated, at once, the brief
existence of Dartmouth University. It was not
made till after Governor Plumer had retired from

460 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

public life. He was slow to believe that this clause
of the Constitution respecting contracts was intended
to apply to a case like that of the University. In
this doubt he was sustained by Judge Marshall, who
said that, though the framers of the Constitution had
not probably foreseen its application to this class of
cases, their words were broad enough to embrace it.
However that might be, and without setting up his
opinion, supported as it was by that of the State
Court, against the judgment of Marshall and Story,
Governor Plumer regarded it as unfortunate for all
parties, that the decision should have been such as to
withdraw the college at once from the control and
from the patronage of the state. Considering it as
essentially a public institution, he held that the
authority of the state ought rightfully to extend over
it, and that this would be equally for the benefit of
the college and of the community.

The opposition which the Governor had encoun-
tered among his own party in the Legislature was
transferred to the people, in the canvass for the
March elections. A paper, called "The People's
Advocate," established in Portsmouth in opposition
to Messrs. Livermore and Parrott, in the preceding
November election, was now turned upon Governor
Plumer, with a virulence of personal abuse seldom
equalled in party contests. Some honest, but over-
zealous Republicans, who could not pardon the

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 461

appointment of a few Federalist judges, joined this
opposition ; but the clamor came chiefly from men
whose resentments were inflamed by the sting of per-
sonal ambition, disappointed of its aim, by the refusal
of the Governor to give them or their friends the
offices they claimed. With these it was not so much
that he had been liberal to his political opponents, as
that he was insensible to their own individual merits.
This factious opposition made, however, little impres-
sion on the public mind, beyond the disgust excited
by the violence of its abuse, and the manifest false-
hood and injustice of its charges. This feeling of
condemnation grew so strong, before the close of the
campaign, that Butler, Bartlett, and other leading
men, who were supposed to favor the movement,
came out, one after another, in the public journals, to
deny all connexion with it.

When the votes came to be counted, (June 5th,
1817,) it was found that out of thirty-five thousand
five hundred and eighty-five cast, the Advocate candi-
date had received only five hundred and thirty-nine.
The Federalists were divided between Mason and
Sheafe ; and Governor Plumer received a majority
of more than three thousand votes over all the
other candidates. This signal failure of the Advocate
party put an end to all further opposition to him
among the Republicans; and his firmness g,nd im-
partiality had secured him so much credit among

462 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

enlightened men of all parties, that he met thence-
forth no serious personal opposition from any quarter.
The treasury note stock, about which so much
clamor was made, had, meantime, risen above par,
and had been sold to meet the war expenses ; the
appointment of the judges was no longer a question
in dispute ; the State House, which, it was predicted,
would sink out of sight in the quagmire, was rising
gradually to completion, in the Doric simplicity of
its granite strength ; and the frogs, which, during the
November session, had croaked so dismally in its cel-
lar, were no longer heard under the bright sun of
the succeeding June.

Two brief extracts from letters of this period will
close the present chapter; one respecting the
Colonization Society, then just founded, the other
respecting the University.

In a letter to the Rev. Thomas C. Searle, of Mary-
land, (Jan. 13th, 1817,) he says:

" I rejoice that measures are taking in the south to ameli-
orate the sufferings of the negroes. I have some doubts
whether free blacks will consent to form a colony in a distant
land. If they do not, will our laws justify compulsion ?
Perhaps sufficient numbers may be liberated, on condition of
their forming such a colony. I should prefer that it should
be in Africa, rather than on the shores of the Pacific. If on
the latter, they may hereafter prove troublesome neighbors to
us, when we shall extend, as we soon shall, our settlements

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 463

to that ocean. But, in all events, I -will afford my feeble aid
and influence to rid the country of slaves and of black men, —
a blot upon our character, an obstruction to our prosperity,
and a severe scourge to the nation."

To the Rev. Elijah Parish, he writes, (April 21st,
1817:)

" It affords me pleasure to hear that the measures I have
adopted in relation to Dartmouth University meet your
approbation. On that subject, as on others, I have done
what I considered my duty, and nothing more. It gives me
great satisfaction to reflect that I had an agency in restoring
the worthy Wheelock to the office from which he was unjustly
removed. But it has pleased Heaven to remove him thence.
He is gone where the wicked cease from, troubling, and the
weary are at rest. I have no doubt that the University will
yet become prosperous, if its friends do their duty. In the
mean time, we must wait, in patience, the issue of the suit
now depending in the Superior Court."

CHAPTER XII.

CLOSE OF POLITICAL LIFE.

Governor Plumer met the Legislature, and took the
affirmation of office on the 5th of June, 1817. His
message contained many useful suggestions, and
recommended various amendments of the law, hut
none which require special notice here. A resolu-
tion, which had passed the Legislature, was returned
by him with his veto, and rejected by the House,
yeas 4, nays 143.

On the eve of the adjournment, the Legislature
sent him a bill, making the fact of joining the Shakers,
and living with them six months, a cause of divorce.
As he had not time to return it with his objections,
and did not sign it, it failed to become a law. It
grew out of the case of Mary Dyer, who, with her
husband Joseph, had, some years before, joined the
Shakers, at Enfield. He remained with themj but
Mary came away, and now applied for a law giving
her the possession of her children. She was a woman
of great energy and decision of character. She kept
up an interminable warfare with the society in memo-
rials to the Legislature, and publications against them.

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 465

Thirty-five years after her first petition, she was still
an applicant to the General Court on this subject.
"Mary," said her husband, in the hearing before the
Legislature in 1818, "is a capable critter. "We got
along very well together while I let her have her
own way in every thing ; but she won't bear contra-
diction. Her tongue is an unruly member, with a,
world of iniquity in it, if you cross her." I was, at
that time, a member of the House, and had abundanrt;
proof that Mary's sharp tongue and shrewd wit were;
more than a match for Joseph and his ferethren,,
though some of the latter were shrewd enough too..
Her statements about Shaker practices were suffi-
ciently piquant; and some of her repartees and retorts,
were such as could hardly have been surpassed in;
keenness and efficiency. She carried the House
strongly with her, and the popular feeling was
much excited. The committee to whom the sub-
ject was referred visited, with other members, the
Shakers at Canterbury; but we returned without
making any very alarming disclosures. " Our Legis-
lature," said the Governor, in a letter to Joseph?
Hawley, of Rochester, New York, "passed no law vox
relation to the Shakers; though the subject was fully
and ably discussed. I consider that, sect, and some-
others in our country, as being wild and enthusiastic ;
but I fear that legislative interference with them,
would produce more evil than good to society. Per-

466 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK.

secution, or what, by its objects, can, in any way, be
considered such, seldom fails to build up the sect
against which it is directed ; hence, the proverb ' Tlie
Hood of the martyrs is the seed of the church! Nothing is
more fatal to enthusiasm than toleration and neglect."
Soon after the adjournment of the Legislature,
President Monroe came to New Hampshire on his
tour through the Northern States. He was every-
where received with the most flattering attentions,
by all parties, and by all classes of the people. "The
era of good feeling" was happily inaugurated on this
occasion of the first visit, since the time of Washing-
ton, of a Southern President to New England. The
leaders of the Federalist party, aware of the altered
temper of the times, and feeling that their old role
of opposition was now out of date, were foremost in
their demonstrations of respect for the chief magis-
trate of the Union. In Massachusetts, he was received
by the Governor with the highest civil honors ; and
a military escort was assigned him, under a vote of
the Legislature, in his passage through the state.
Governor Plumer was applied to, by a committee
from Portsmouth, to call out the militia for the same
purpose here ; but he declined it on the ground of
want of power. He wrote to the President on the
subject, (July 18th, 1817,) expressing his regret at
not being able, consistently with his sense of duty, to
order out an escort of honor, on this occasion.

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 467

" So cautiously is my power restricted, by the prudence,
or tlie jealousy of our State Constitution, that I have authority,
at no time, to order out the militia, except for certain known
objects, designated by the Constitution and the laws enacted
under it. Among these, there is none, which, by fair con-
struction, can be extended to the present case. I have
thought proper to make this statement, in justice both to
myself and the state over which I preside. You were
informed, while at Portsmouth, of my severe indisposition ;
and I am now obliged to add, that I am still confined to my
bed, by an attack of the typhus fever, which has not yet, I fear,
reached its crisis. This unfortunate event has deprived me
of the satisfaction of a personal interview with you, and pre-
vented me from receiving a visit at this place, with which I
had flattered myself you would have honored me. This letter
will be delivered to you by the Secretary of State. Had my
health permitted, I should have taken great pleasure in wait-
ing on you, in person, during the time you remained in the
state, and in suggesting some subjects of inquiry, which might
have merited your attention, in this part of our common
country."

The President wrote in reply, (July 21st, 1817:)

" Meeting your son at Portsmouth, I begged him to assure
you that I should be distressed and mortified, if you suffered
any uneasiness on my account, since it would delay the resto-
ration of your health. More attention could not have been
shown to me, than has been, since I entered New Hampshire.
In yielding to it, I have consulted the wishes of my fellow-
citizens, rather than my own."

468 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

From Mr. Plumer's journal, about tMs time, we
quote the following extracts :

July 3d, 1817. " My son "William came from Portsmouth,
and urged me to issue orders for an escort to tlie President.
He said, Eichardson, Mason, and otliers, were surprised at my
doubts. They consider the power as incident to the office.
This does not satisfy me. The opinions and advice of men,
who are not responsible for the act to be performed, are not to
guide me, who have examined the subject, and am responsible
for what is done. I must act on my own sense of right, and
not on theirs."

12th. " Yesterday and to-day, I have been confined by a
typhus fever to my chamber, and, the greater part of the time,
to my bed."

14th. " I am much debihtated ; but my spirits are good.
My physician told me that I was not sensible how sick I was.
I assured him that, as the fear of death did not terrify me, I
could examine calmly the state of my disease ; and, though
weak, I was satisfied that I was not dangerously ill j that for
some days I had expected the attack, and prepared to meet
it, by doing all the business of a public or private nature,
which I thought necessary. This had fatigued me, and hast-
ened, but not caused, the disease."

24th. " I am so weak that a little business fatigues and
oppresses me. My present state exhibits much of the infirmity
of age. Though not old, I have survived all my first friends,
and a great portion of my early associates. Of the lawyers, at
the bar when I was admitted, only six remain. There is not
a single judge of any court, or clerk of a court, that was in

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 469

office when I commenced public life ; nor a member of either
House, treasurer, or secretary, that was such when I first
entered the Legislature; Of justices of the peace, not one in
twelve is now living, who was in commission when I was first
appointed. Indeed, I have survived most of the officers with
whom I began public life."

August 26th, 1817. "The ill state of my health prevents
my attending the Commencement at Hanover."

October 13th. " Travelled to Concord in my chaise, ac-
companied by my son George. As I dislike parade, I
thought a servant unnecessary."

14th. " In the afternoon, met the Council, and stated to
them the business necessary to be done at the present session."

15th. "The Council were unanimously in favor of ap-
pointing my son William, judge ; but I informed them that
I could not consent to nominate any of my sons to office, and
that, if appointed, I was confident he would not accept."

December 21st. "1 have recently devoted a considerable
portion of time to reading some works of Jeremy Bentham,
which he sent me. In many things my opinions accord with
his ; for example — ^he disapproves of oaths. I have never
taken an oath."

February 12th, 1818. "I had yesterday a long and close
conversation with Judge Bell upon several important subjects
of jurisprudence. It, in a great measure, deprived me of sound
sleep, for the night. I have experienced, several times,
within a year or two, similar efiects from mental exertion. Is
this evidence of decay in the mental faculties, or does it pro-
ceed from other causes ? "

March 21st. "I do not recollect ever feeling so sensibly

470 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

tlie influence of the weather on my mind, as I have to-day.
Easterly winds were always disagreeable to me ; but I now
became uneasy, peevish, and. fretful ; till ultimately it pro-
duced pain in my limbs, and languor and sluggishness in my
mind. How much of our paia and our enjoyment is dependent
on external causes, many of which are beyond our control ! "
May 12th. " Met the Council at Concord. I nominated
Amos A. Brewster as sherifl" of Grafton county; and the
Council unanimously signed the nomination. Isaac Hill com-
plained to me of this nomination ; saying that Brewster was a
Federalist, and that it would injure my popularity. I told
him, that I neither sought ofEce, nor desired it ; that, in
following the dictates of my own judgment, in cases where I
was responsible for the measures adopted, I might meet
reproach from others ; but I should, at least, avoid the
reproaches of my own mind. I could not consent to incur
these for the sake of popular favor. If this is lost, by an
upright discharge of duty, I am willing to lose it. He said
it would destroy the Republican party, if it was understood
that Federalists could be appointed by a Republican Governor ;
and, in language not very courtly, he urged me to negative
the nomination, and appoiat Edson. My reply, though iu a
moderate tone, was severe and pointed."

The March elections of 1818 were conducted with
much less than their usual zeal and acrimony. The
Advocate party attempted no organized opposition.
Many Federalists voted for the Republican candi-
date ; others for Jeremiah Smith, or William Hale.
Governor Plumer was re-elected by a majority of

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 471

more than six thousand votes over all other candi-
dates. His message to the Legislature, June 4th,
1818, contained, as his previous ones had done, various
recommendations for the amendment of the laws,
chiefly with a view to lessen the number of suits, to
expedite the trial of causes, and to diminish the costs
of litigation. He also recommended an increase of
the salaries of the judges of the Superior Court, which
was accordingly made, and the establishment of a law
term for the trial of law questions. In this message
occur the following recommendations as to the then
existing law of imprisonment for debt.

" There is another subject^ connected with the amelioration
and improvement of the condition of our fellow citizens,
which merits your consideration. I mean that of the im-
prisonment of debtors. Their confinement within the walls
of a prison pays no debt, and, instead of increasing, diminishes
the means of payment. The loss of the labor, industry and
talents of useful citizens, thus deprived of their liberty, not
only depresses their ambition, but often subjects towns to the
charge of maintaining their families, made destitute by the
absence of those who usually provided for them. In ancient
times, and in countries less civUized than our own, the
power of the creditor over the body of the debtor was
almost unlimited. Even in New Hampshire, in the early
stages of our government, the debtor was strictly confined
within the walls of the prison. The laws, at that time,
afforded him no relief; he was imprisoned for life, unless he
paid the debt, or was liberated by the humanity of his creditor.

472 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

A long period elapsed before a prison yard was established, in
whicli the debtor, by giving bond, was permitted to breathe
the common air without the limits of the prison house ; or
before indigent debtors were authorized, in any case, to make
oath that they were unable to pay their debts. Even then,
an unfeeling creditor had authority to retain his debtor
during life, by paying a small sum for his weekly support.
To the honor of the state, this power of the creditor over
his debtor, has been recently annulled ; and certain portions
of his property, requisite to support life, exempted from
attachment.

" Great as these improvements are, the cause of humanity
and of natural justice requires further legislative aid. We
are bound, not only to protect the rights of creditors against
the frauds of debtors, but to shield the latter against the
unjust severity of the former. Our laws still authorize the
creditor, after taking the greatest part of the debtor's prop-
erty, to deprive him of his liberty by confining him in
prison, without affording him the means of subsistence ; and,
if poor and friendless, he will be unable to obtain even the
liberty of the prison yard. I would therefore recommend
that no debtor should hereafter be committed to prison, either
upon mesne process or execution, unless the creditor, at the
time of commitment, shall pay the cost of commitment, and
give to the gaoler ample security for the comfortable support
and maintenance of the prisoner so long as he shall be
detained by him. If creditors will resort to the severity of
depriving debtors of their personal liberty, it is reasonable
that they, and not the public or the gaoler, should support
them. I also recommend that persons committed, either on

LIFE or WILLIAM PLUMER, 473

mesne process or execution, should have the liberty, as soon
as they are imprisoned, of taking the poor debtor's oath, after
giving reasonable notice to the creditor of their intention. I
can see no necessity for a poor man, imprisoned on mesne
process, to suffer confinement till judgment is rendered and
execution levied on him.

" The time appears to be approaching, when imprisonment
for debt will no longer exist in any case, but creditors will
consider the industry, fidelity and property of their debtors,
and not the power of depriving them of liberty, as their only
real and sufficient security. To make so great a change at
the present time, might be attended with serious inconven-
iences. Keform, to be useful and permanent, must be gradual.
As many persons are imprisoned for small debts, and in such
cases where payment is enforced by that means, it is usually
obtained, not from the debtors, but from the humanity of their
friends and neighbors, I would, therefore, recommend that
the bodies of debtors should not be liable, for any debt here-
after contracted, to be arrested on any process issuing from a
justice of the peace. Let frauds in concealing property sub-
ject the offender to punishment, but preserve, as far as may
be, the personal freedom of the citizen ; for every unneces-
sary restraint on his natural liberty is a degree of tyranny,
which no wise Legislature will inflict."

It will be observed tbat the reasoning here goes
the full length of the total abolition of imprisonment
for debt in all cases ; while the recommendation is of
a much more limited measure. When reminded of
this apparent inconsistency, he replied to the

474 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

objector, who was a clergyman, with the text of
Solomon, "A prudent man concealeth knowledge;"
and to another he repeated, without condemning,
what Dugald Stewart calls the fine and deep saying
of Fontenelle, that the wise man, if he had his hand
full of truths, would often content himself with opening his
little finger. "They will runout," he said, "through
even this small aperture, faster than men wUl gather
them up." He added : " If you only move in the
right direction, though slow at first, you will soon
find that you are going fast enough." The event
showed that he was not mistaken in this case. I was
at that time a member of the House ; and the hard-
est battle we had to fight, during the session, was on
this bill " for the relief of poor debtors." It was with
the utmost difficulty that even the moderate measure,
which he had recommended, was carried ; and yet it
was a few years only before the total abolition of
imprisonment for debt was enacted with the entire
approbation of the people. It has since been abol-
ished in nearly all the states.

Another subject brought by the Governor before
the Legislature was the proposal of Jeremy Bentham
" to submit to their examination, for the use of the
state, a complete code of laws, founded upon enlight-
ened principles of legislation." " The great import-
ance," he added, " of the object, and the peculiar
talents of the author, render the subject worthy of

LIFE OF "WILLIAM PLUMEE. 475

your mature consideration." This offer of Mr.
Bentham was not confined to New Hamsphire, but
was extended to all the states. The very modest
request made by him, which was merely that the
state would receive and examine his proposed code,
and, when so examined, adopt or reject it at its
pleasure, with the express declaration that he would,
in no event, accept any compensation for his labors,
seemed to entitle him, at least, to a respectful hear-
ing. But the idea that an old man in London, whose
name not one in ten of the members had ever
heard, should be employed to prepare a code of laws
for the state, struck most of them as a thing so
strange, not to say ridiculous, that the proposal was
dismissed, almost without debate. Along with the
official letter from the Governor, informing him of
the fact, I sent him a letter, explaining, with as much
delicacy as I could, the action of the Legislature, and
the probable causes of the rejection of his disinter-
ested and generous offer. I suggested to him, at the
same time, the propriety of giving to the world
the results of his labors in jurisprudence, without
waiting for any such invitation from a Legislative
Assembly, as he had, in this case, sought to obtain.
Mr. Bentham, in reply, invited me to come and
spend with him, « at his -. hermitage in London," six
months, or as many more as I had to spare, in digest-
ing and drawing out such a code. This invitation I

476 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER.

respectfully declined ; not only because I was, at that
time, otherwise occupied in the public service, but
as not feeling myself competent to a task of so much
delicacy and importance.

Before meeting the Legislature in June, Governor
Plumer had made up his mind not to be a candidate
for re-election.

" The cares and the anxieties of the oifice of Goyemor," he
writes, (May 30th, 1818,) "oppress, at times, my mind, and
injure my health. Placed at the head of the government, it
is my indispensable duty to attend to all its concerns, and, in
a great measure, to move and direct its operations. This
requires a degree and constancy of watchfulness and attention,
which my feeble health is, at times, not able to sustain. In
thus declining a re-election, I have consulted no one, except
my sons, who, for months, have advised me to it."

Our advice, in this case, was founded upon the
visible injury which his health suffered from his
extreme anxiety to do every thing, and more than
every thing, which the duties of his office seemed in
the remotest degree, to require of him. He left
nothing to subordinates, but did every thing himself.
Sick or well, he would do the business of the day
within the day ; for to-morrow would bring also its
duties, which he might then be less able to perform.
When he went to bed, early or late, his table was
always clear, the letters all answered, the commissions

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMEE. 477

signed, the orders issued. At the same time his love
of reading, study and retirement, was unabated;
and he felt restless and dissatisfied, if he could not
devote some portion of each day to his books. What
troubled, however, his frank and manly nature more
than the mere labors of his place, was the unceasing
importunity of oflBce-seekers. He was wearied and
disgusted at the daily visits of men, whom he must
treat civilly, while he could not but despise them in
heart for their meanness and servility. Offices for
themselves or their friends, schemes of personal
advancement, how to raise one man, and keep down
another, were the frequent topics of long discussions,
in which he was bound to hear, if not answer, persons
with whom he had little sympathy, and for whom he
had less respect. When he was well, such things gave
him little trouble ; but, in ill health, they wore upon
his spirits, and disturbed his equanimity. Under these
circumstances, his family felt that, while his continu-
ance in oJBfice could confer on him no increase of
honors, its labors were manifestly impairing his
health, and wasting hours, which might be more
pleasantly, if not more profitably, employed.

June 5th, 1818. " This evening, Samuel Bell spent two
hours with me in my chamber. I told him that I had come
to the resolution not to be again a candidate for the office I
now hold. He said he was sorry to hear it ; that the confi-
dence of the great body of the people was daily increasing in

478 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEB. .

my administration ; and lie hoped I should long continue to
be the chief magistrate. I replied that the state of my
health could not permit me to hold an oiEce, that required
my personal attendance at particular times and places, and
whose duties claimed from me such unremitted attention. I
told him, I hoped the Eepublicans would unite on him as
their candidate ; though I was sorry to lose his services on
the Bench. After much conversation, he said finally, if the
Eepublicans should generally agree to support him, he would
consent. I told him that this declaration relieved me from
much anxiety. He then said that it was now his turn to
make a request, which was that I would consent to be Sen-
ator in Congress. I replied that no office pleased me better
than that of Governor ; and, in decHning that, I decliried
all other offices."

I may here add, that, at the request of many of his
friends, I urged him, at this time, to be a candidate
for the Senate. His reply was: "It is well enough to
have been once at Washington. There is much to be
learned there which can be nowhere else acquired ;
but a second term would give me less pleasure and
less profit than the same time devoted to my books.
As a matter of duty, I have already taken my turn ;
as an honor, I do not covet it. You m.ay go if you
will, but I would not advise it now. Law first, and
politics afterwards, is my advice to every young man,
who would be either lawyer or politician, in this coun-
try." I need hardly add that this sage advice was

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 479

lost on me. A seat in Congress is seldom declined
by a young man, to whom it comes unsolicited as
unexpected.

June 13th, 1818. "A committee informed me that, at a
full meeting of the Eepublicans, I was unanimously nominated
as a candidate for re-election as Governor. I answered them
that the ill state of my health obliged me to decline the honor,
at which they expressed great regret."

June 23d. "The Republicans met in caucus. After
nominating Bell for Governor, they balloted for a candidate
for Senator. Butler, Livermore, Storer, and I were voted
for. I had the highest number ; and, at the third ballot,
received a majority. This makes it necessary for me to settle
the course that it will be proper for me to pursue. The
office I do not want ; and, if elected, I cannot accept it. But,
if I withdraw my name, Parrott will be the most prominent
Republican candidate, and as the Federalists will unite with
the Republican minority, he cannot in that event be elected.
My object is to defeat Butler. I shall, therefore, be silent."

June 24th. "The House balloted for a Senator. The
• Federalists voted for Jeremiah Smith ; the Eepublicans were
divided between Parrott and myself I had, at the first vote,
the highest number, but not a majority. At an after ballot,
Parrott was elected ; the Federalists voting, as I supposed
they would do, for the minority candidate."

Though he had, as he says, remained for a time
silent, it was generally known that he had dechned the
office, or he would undoubtedly have been elected. It

480 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

is to be regretted that he was not chosen; as it would
have added to his life six years of interesting public
service, without injury probably, in the mild climate
of Washington, to his health. In a letter, after the
adjournment, to Salma Hale, he says, " I sincerely
rejoice that I was not elected a Senator to Con-
gress; but I do not regret my being considered a
candidate, as it prevented a man less qualified than
Parrott from being elected."

June 26th, 1818. "I was so ill that I was obliged, about
ten. o'clock, to take my bed, and was unable to meet the
CouncU."

27th. " In the morning I was too sick for business. The
Council met at my lodgings, in an adjoining chamber. I
alternately met with them, and retired and reposed on my bed.
Nominated Moses C. Pillsbury for the office of Warden of the
States' Prison, and Roger Vose for Chief Justice of the second
judicial district. The labors of the day fatigued me ; but I
was able to drink tea with the boarders, and to sleep tolerably
well in the night."

28th. "My health is feeble, and the pain in my limbs
severe. Mr. Vose called upon me. He said he was gratified
at being nominated as judge. I told him, that, though I had
a friendship for him, I had not nominated him on that
account, but because I thought the public interest req^uired
his services."

29th. " Rose early ; debility and loss of appetite great ;
but all my business is done, and, I hope, as correctly as if
my health had been good."

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 481

30th. "The Council met me at my lodgings, at five
o'clock in the morning. "We completed our appointments ;
and I signed all the commissions. I approved the bill
exempting the bodies of debtors from arrest on executions
issued from justices of the peace, though it is in some respects
very defective. It is a point gained in favor of the liberty of
the person; and its defects may be remedied by a future
Legislature. The lawyers in the House were unitedly opposed
to it. Second and third rate lawyers, as many of these are,
make bad legislators. At ten o'clock in the forenoon, at the
rec[uest of the Legislature, I adjourned the two Houses. In
the afternoon rode to Epsom ; and the next day to my own
house."

Among other acknowledgments of his message to
the Legislature, received by the Governor, was the
following from Mr. Jefferson, dated June 21st, 1818 :

"Thomas Jefferson presents his compliments to Governor
Plumer, and his thanks for the copy of his message, received
yesterday. It is replete, as usual, with principles of wisdom.
Nothing needs correction with all our Legislatures so much as
the unsound principles of legislation on which they act gener-
ally. The only remedy seems to be in an improved system of
education. He is happy in every occasion of saluting Gov-
ernor Plumer with friendship and respect."

Mr. Madison wrote on the same occasion, August
10th:

31

482 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

"I cannot doubt that the motives to which you have
yieldedj for discontinuing your public labors, are such as
justify your purpose. In anticipation of the epoch of your
return to private life, I offer my best wishes for the health
and repose necessary for its enjoyments, and for the well
chosen pursuits to which you mean to consecrate it ; to
which, permit me to add assurances of my high esteem
and cordial respects."

The following is from Mr. Plumer's Diary, under
date of July 21st:

" Returned from Portsmouth, where I spent four days on
a visit to my daughter. Her disease will, I am convinced,
prove fatal. Yet she is in good spirits, and exhibits much
patience and fortitude under sufferings which are severe. I
visited, and was visited by, a number of the gentlemen of
Portsmouth. Among these was Jeremiah Mason. He said
that Bell would be elected Governor ; but, that the Superior
Court would thereby lose its backbone. He did not think
Bell would be able to manage the General Court; if he,
(Mason,) were Governor, he should quarrel with them in a
week, they were so impracticable, Nothing, he said, had
more surprised him than the influence I had acquired over
them, while, at the same time, I preserved my own inde-
pendence. He said many of the appointments I had made
reflected honor on the state, as well as on myself; that three
more men, so well qualified as the present judges, and who
would accept the ofiice, could not be found in the state ; and
that the late appointment of Vose was equally judicious. He

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 483

had not expected that I should abandon public life^ when my
popularity was increasing, and a re-election depended on
myself alone. I repUed that the state of my health required
the repose of private life ; and that, in peaceable times, like
the present, the public had no claim on the service of a man
of sixty."

These opinions of Mr. Mason, years afterwards:
repeated as his deliberate judgment, at a period'
when he could have no motive to flatter or deceive,,
were regarded by Governor Plumer as among the
best proofs which he could receive, that he had not
labored in vain in the public service ; and that while
he knew, better than any one else could, that his
motives were pure, others saw that his measures
were beneficial, and his course of policy liberal
and judicious. This was the only reward which he
desired, — the deliberate approbation of an enlight-
ened community. He used to say, that he cared
little about present popularity, except as it enabled
him to act with more effect for present purposes ; in^
other words, except as it was an instrument of power
in his hands for the public good. Ultimate approba-
tion could rest on merit only. In the long run, men
would judge him fairly ; in the mean time, nothing
was more uncertain, or more worthless, than the cen-
sure or applause of the day. First or last, every man
considerable enough to be remembered after his
death, would be duly appreciated, and dealt with by

484 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

the world according to his deserts. This conviction
made him indifferent to the censures of the ignorant
■who mistook him, and of the malicious who purposely
misrepresented or maligned him. In a letter to Silas
Betton, who wished to be re-appointed as sheriff of
Rockingham, he said, " In the various oflBces I have
held, I have sought more to serve, than to please the
people ; and I trust that when the sod is green over
my grave, those who survive me wiU say that in aU
cases, I preferred the man of merit to the political
partisan. Such, at least, has been my purpose, from
which I have never knowingly departed." It was in
this calm confidence of ultimate justice, that he had
lived down calumny and abuse, and, in his old age,
drew around him, in respectful attendance, many
who, at an earlier period, had been loud in their
disapprobation of his course.

September 31st, 1818. " On the 18th, my daughter died —
I was present — without a groan, ora sigh. From the time
that I considered her disease incurable, I have not wished her
life to be protracted ; because it was to her but an increase of
suffering ; and I am now reconciled to the event."

This was a child most tenderly loved by both
parents, and was mourned tiU the close of their lives.
She inherited her father's literary taste and talents
to a great degree. Her peculiar sweetness of temper
and many endearing traits made her the idol of her

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 485

family, and rendered her loss irreparable. She was
the dearest and most affectionate of friends to me ;
onr thoughts, our studies, and our feelings were inter-
woven with each other. If I felt pleasure in any-
new acquisition, it was because I hoped to share it
with her. If I read a new book with delight, that
delight was repeated, and redoubled in reading it
again to her. I cannot express how much I have
lost by her death. Many of my most pleasing recol-
lections are connected with her. The sympathy that
subsisted between us was so perfect, that her pleasures
were mine, my joys were hers ; our griefs and our
regrets were common, our sentiments, our opinions,
our tastes ; what one felt the other reciprocated.

Governor Plumer met the Legislature, for the last
time, at the close of his oflBcial year, to assist in
organizing the two Houses, and to see his successor
inducted into oflQ.ce. Before finally retiring from his
post, he sent a message, June 2d, 1819, to the Legis-
lature, giving a brief account of his official conduct,
and of the principles on which he had administered
the government. We quote a few characteristic
paragraphs from this message :

" In making the appointments of the various officers, which
the constitution and laws vest in the Executive, I have been
frequently embarrassed and perplexed. The greatest imper-
fection in all governments arises from not having men of

486 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEB.

virtue and talents to carry the laws into execution. Laws
founded in wisdom and justice require men of knowledge and
integrity for their correct and impartial administration. From
the nature of human affairs there must be a portion of discre-
tion vested in executive officers ; and this discretionary power
will often be abused^ by weak men from ignorance, and by
bad men from design. Hence my object was to appoint those
men to office who were best qualified. To make such a
selection was difficult. I was not, in all cases, acquainted
with the persons best qualified for places of trust ; and there-
fore, in some instances, was obliged to act upon the information
of others. That information, in general, consisted not of facts,
but of opinions, and those often formed under the influence of
interested motives, the partiality of friendship, personal hos-
tility, slight acquaintance, or the spirit of party ; and of course
they often proved incorrect. Recommendations and petitions
in favor of candidates for particular offices have frequently
been made ; but in many instances it afterwards appeared,
that those who subscribed the recommendations did not con-
sider themselves responsible for the character and conduct
of those whom they recommended. Indeed, instances have
occurred when those who recommended the successful can-
didates, have been the first to join the disappointed expectants,
in censuring the Executive for making such appointments.
The candidates for office themselves, in too many instances, not
satisfied with pkocueing recommendations, have personally
importuned for office ; but I have found that oJjice-seeJcers
were not always the best qualified, that they were usually
more anxious for the honors and emoluments of office than to
promote the interest of the public, and that men of modest.

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 487

unassuming merit ought to be preferred. To my regret,
some men whom I considered well c[ualified, declined ofEce.
To increase these embarrassments, a difference of opinion, in
a few instances, existed between myself and a majority of the
Council, respecting the qualifications of certain individuals for
office. AVTien this happened, as it was necessary to fill the
vacancy, if the Council declined to agree with me, I thought
myself bound to consent to their nomination. In such cases
I was considered by the people responsible for appointments,
which I should not otherwise have made.

" During the time I was in office, an unusual number of
appointments were to be made, including all the judges of
the courts of law, those of probate excepted ; the sheriffs of
four counties ; most of the justices of the peace, and nearly
all the militia officers of the state.

"In appointing judges, it was my sole object to select
men of talents, of legal information, of strict integrity, and
such as I deemed best qualified for those important trusts.
And with a view to exclude, as far as practicable, the spirit of
party from the temple of justice, and to inspire a general con-
fidence in the courts of law, in which every citizen has a deep
interest, I appointed men of different political principles.

" As offices are created for the benefit of the people, and
not for the honor and emolument of the officers, and as their
unnecessary increase has a tendency to impair the responsi-
bility of the officer, and render the office less respectable, it
has been my object not to increase the number of justices of
peace beyond the limits which the public interest required.

"As some towns appeared to have a greater number of
justices than was either necessary or useful, soon after I came

488 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

into office I declined renewing some of their commissions ; but
reflection and experience convinced me that this course would
be injurious, as the commissions of some of the justices who
were best qualified expired first, and if not renewed, the com-
munity would be deprived of their services. On maturely con-
sidering the subject, I came to the resolution to renew the com-
missions of all justices whose term expired, except those who,
by infirmity of age or mental derangement, were incapable of
performing the duties of the office, those who encoiiraged and
promoted litigation, were intemperate or guilty of gross
immorality; sheriff's, and recently their deputies; persons
who had removed into a town in which there were before a
sufficient number ; and those the certificate of whose oaths of
office had not, during the preceding five years, been returned
to the Secretary's office.

" The Constitution seems to imply that, if the judges of the
Superior Court were justices of the peace, they should be
throughout the state, and I accordingly appointed them such.
But during the last three years I declined appointing any
others of that grade, except the Chief Justices of the Courts of
Common Pleas, and renewing those whose commissions
expired ; because I could discover but little duty for them
to perform, and the number already in office was sufficient
for that purpose.

" In the appointment of new justices of the peace, I made it
a riile not to appoint in any town more than one to three
hundred inhabitants, except where peculiar circumstances
rendered it necessary. Though this rule leaves the num-
ber greater than what is requisite, I considered that reform,
to be permanent, must be gradual ; I was, therefore, content

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 489

■with diminisliiiig an evil which I could not wholly remove.
On the first of June, 1816, the numher of justices of the
peace in the state was nine hundred and eighty-four; it is
now reduced to eight hundred and three.

" As the Constitution excludes a person holding the office
of judge, attorney-general, or sheriff from a seat in the Coun-
cil, there appeared to me an impropriety in appointing Coun-
cillors to either of those offices. Such an appointment would
deprive the state of a member of the Executive board, or
subject the people to the expense of new meetings to elect
another, and the state to the charge of an extra session of the
Legislature to receive and count the votes. On that account,
and, as far as I was able, to preserve the Independence of the
Council, I have uniformly declined appointing a Councillor to
any office which, if accepted, would have excluded him from
the board.

''Upon the subject of granting pardons to persons con-
victed of public offences, I never considered myself at liberty
to revise, or question the propriety of the opinion of the
court which rendered the judgment. The courts of law
are the only tribunals competent to pronounce upon the
innocence or guilt of the accused ; and their decision ought to
be conclusive. As our currency consists principally of -pa-per
bills, as much of our property depends upon the vaHdity of
written iastruments, and as forgery is a crime which neces-
sarily includes much turpitude of heart, and is attended with
serious evils to society, I have uniformly declined pardoning
any of that class of offenders. I have granted pardons but ia
a few cases ; and those only to convicts who were insane, or
approached a state of idiocy ; and to those who, being impris-

490 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

oned for theft, were, before their term had expired, visited
with sickness, which, for want of free air and better accommo-
dations, it appeared probable would terminate in death — a
punishment which the law did not intend to inflict.

"By the law of the 27th of June last, the concerns of the
State Prison were committed to the Governor and Council,
and provision made that they should have a suitable compen-
sation for those additional services. In relation to myself, I
request that you would make no grant to me on that account.
I am satisfied with the reward I have received ; it is adequate
to the services I have rendered. I never accepted oiEce for
t"f-e sake of its emoluments. The great object of my ofiicial
labors has been to promote the interest and prosperity of the
state, not those of any religious sect or political party. I
have, whenever they came in collision, preferred the public
to my private interest ; and been more anxious to serve than
to jilease the people. But how far my efforts have succeeded,
it is for others to decide. I am satisfied with the honors of
oflSce, without being disgusted with its duties ; and having
rendered this account of my administration, I retire to private
life, to share, in common with my fellow-citizens, the effects,
prosperous or adverse, of my official measures.

June 2, 1819. "WILLIAM PLUMER."

The frequent use of the veto power, fourteen times
in four years, grew out of his deep sense of personal
responsibility. That a bill had passed both Houses of
the Legislature by a unanimous vote, was, with him,
no reason why he, as Governor, should, by signing it,
make it a law. Plis duty was, if it did not approve

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 491

itself to his own judgment as right, to return it with
his objections. It was for him no sufficient reason
that others thought it right. He must act on his own
responsibiUty, as they had done on theirs. There
was, therefore, in these veto messages, no arrogant
assumption of superiority, on the one hand, as if he
knew more than they ; and, on the other, no affected
humility, in the exercise of an acknowledged right,
or rather ia the discharge of a duty which required
no apology for its performance.

June 4tli, 1819. "I attended the Council, and adminis-
tered the oath to the two remaining Councillors. This is my
last ofEcial act. Samuel Bell is elected my successor by a
majority of about sixteen hundred votes."

June 5th. " I parted with the Governor, and the gentle-
men with whom I had been for some time associated, with
regret. It required an effort to suppress my feelings, and
preserve the natural tone of my voice."

His friends had requested leave to form an escort,
to accompany him to his home ; but he declined this
honor, as undesirable to him while in office, and
improper now that he was a private citizen. He
could not, however, prevent the leading men of both
pohtical parties from accompanying him a short dis-
tance out of the town. On riding out of sight of
these kind friends, from whom he did not part with-
out strong emotions, he congratulated himself on his

492 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

final escape from the cares and anxieties of public
life, and adverted with jnst satisfaction to the general
good will and respect with which he was now
regarded, even by those who had, at first, treated
him with rudeness and contumely. He claimed no
other merit than that of good intentions ; and desired,
he said, no other reward than the consciousness,
which he then felt, of having done, in aU cases, what,
at the time, he regarded as his duty. In this quiet
ride, on that beautiful June morning, along the
plain, and through the dark pines which border the
Merrimack, he dwelt, with glowing enthusiasm, on
the peaceful retreat, where, in the society of his
friends, in the study of his books, and the use of his
pen, he hoped to pass the evening of his life, undis-
turbed by the storms which had darkened its morning
and mid-day course. As I sat silent at his side, in
deep sympathy with his feelings, I had never seen
him more buoyant in thought, or happier in his antic-
ipations of the future. We reached home to a late
dinner, and amidst the smiles and caresses of his wife
and children, the veteran soldier felt that, after more
than thirty years' service, he had received an honor-
able discharge, and might now hang up his arms, and
repose in peace, no longer to be roused by the daily
reveille, nor summoned needlessly to the onset at the
call of party leaders. Life to him was indeed thence-
forth to be a march, with ported arms, along the

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 493

region which, leads silently downwards through the
valley of the shadow of death, — awful to many, but
which had in it no terrors for him.

" I might," he 'writes, (June 7th,) " if I had wished it,
have continued longer in oiSce ; but its cares and anxieties
would have worn down and enfeebled my mental powers, and,
without my perceiving their decay, my measures would have
become more timid, less vigorous, less useful ; and my repu-
tation, as a public man, would have declined. I have, there-
fore, seasonably exchanged the duties of a sentinel for those
of a private citizen."

From the retreat, so early selected and so long
cherished, he was only once, and that for a single
day, afterwards withdrawn. In 1820, he was chosen
one of the Electors of President and Vice President
of the United States. His name had been placed at
the head of the list, without his being consulted as
to whether he would serve, or how he would vote.
It was on the occasion of Mr. Monroe's second elec-
tion. Governor Plumer did not regard himself in
this, more than in other acts of his life, as the tool of
a party, or the mere exponent of other men's
opinions. By the provisions of the Constitution, the
people choose the Electors; and it is the duty of those
Electors to choose the President. In the exercise of
this duty, he voted for John Quincy Adams, instead
of James Monroe, who received every other electoral

494 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER.

vote in the Union. This single vote against Monroe
(for it was regarded chiefly in that light) excited
much wonder, and some censure, at the time. It,
however, created no surprise in those who knew him,
as it was the natural result of his general rule of
independent action, combined with his avowed
opinions respecting some of the leading measures of
Mr. Monroe's administration. His first legislative
act, thirty-five years before, had been the signing of
a protest, which no one else signed, against an act,
which the court soon after pronounced unconstitu-
tional ; and now, at the close of his public life, his
last ofl&cial act was the voting, as an Elector, for a
man, for whom no one else then voted, but who was
at the next election chosen President. He thought
Mr. Monroe's capacity by no means equal to the
place. "We mistake," he said, "if we suppose that
any but the ablest men are fit for the highest place.
The government of weak men must always be disas-
trous. ' Wo to thee, 0 land, ivhen thy hing is a child.' " He
was influenced in part, perhaps, by a desire to draw
attention to his friend Adams, whom he thus first
nominated for the Presidency ; but more by his dis-
approbation of what he regarded as the wasteful
extravagance of the public expenditure, during Mon-
roe's first term of service ; which, instead of paying
the public debt, had compelled a resort to loans in a
time of peace. " I see," he said, in a letter of an

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 495

earlier date, to Salma Hale, " the same spirit of pro-
fusion and waste in granting the public money here,
as in England. The expense of our army and navy,
in proportion to numbers, exceeds that of any nation
on the earth. The expense of our Legislature has no
parallel in any other country ; and our pension sys-
tem seems intended as a bounty to encourage idleness
and want of economy."

This dissatisfaction with the course of public events
was by no means confined to Governor Plumer. I
was in Congress at the time, and saw much of it in
that body. I received many congratulations on this
vote of my father, from such men as Randolph,
Macon, and other Republicans of the old school. Not
that they liked Adams, (Randolph assailed him with
the fury of hereditary hate) ; but they disliked Mon-
roe, whom they regarded as having adopted, chiefly
under the influence of Calhoun, some of the worst
heresies of the old Federal party. Randolph said in
the House, with his usual felicity of sarcastic expres-
sion : " They talk of the unanimity of his re-election.
Yes, sir ; but it is the unanimity of indifference, and
not of approbation. Four years hence, he will go
out, with equal unanimity ; and the feeling will then
be, not indifference, but contempt." This bitter proph-
ecy was, in some measure, verified, by the almost
total oblivion into which Mr. Monroe fell, amidst the
din of the contest which preceded and followed the

496 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

election of his successor, rorgotten even before he
left the White House, he was remembered afterwards,
for a moment only, as an humble suppliant for the
bounty of Congress, on one of whose most important
acts he had, just before, put his veto.

CHAPTER XIII.

OLD AGE.

The remaining thirty years of Mr. Plumer's life fur-
nish, few incidents for biography. They were passed
in study rather than in action. After a few weeks of
relaxation, he began to cast about him for some new
employment. He thought at first of resuming his
historical labors ; but the reasons which had formerly
seemed conclusive against the further prosecution of
that design, were now strengthened by the considera-
tion of his feeble health and his advanced age. He
was unwilling, however, to leave wholly unused the
materials collected, and the stores of knowledge
which he had accumulated. Abandoning, therefore,
the idea of writing a History of the United States, he
determined to devote his leisure to the composition
of a work which he entitled " Sketches of American
Biography."

"While prosecuting these inquiries, and as a relaxa-
tion from them, he wrote and pubUshed in the news-
papers, a series of Essays, under the signature of
Cincinmtus, which had a wide circulation, and
attracted much attention. They amounted in all to

498 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMEE.

one hundred and eighty-six numbers, furnishing
matter sufficient for two or three volumes, and
extending, in point of time, from May 10th, 1820, to
August 6th, 1829. Among the subjects treated of in
these Essays, were the Freedom of the Press, Hard
Times, Speculation, Intemperance, Industry and Idle-
ness, Virtue and Happiness, Gaming, Lotteries,
Extravagance in Dress, Furniture and Living, Insanity,
Education, Agriculture, Roads, Government, Com-
merce, Manufactures, Banks, Paupers, Slavery, Taxa-
tion, Public Debts, "Wars, the Army, the Navy, the Mili-
tia, Pensions, Schools and Colleges, the Professions of
Law, Medicine, and Divinity. In answer to the
inquiries which a reader naturally makes as to an
anonymous writer, he says, in his first number :
" My name can neither add to, nor detract from, the
authority of my writings. My politics are Republi-
can, and my religion liberal. My motive is the
public good." He was not, however, studious of con-
cealment. His style, indeed, and his tone of thought
and feeling, were so peculiarly his own, that he seldom
published any thing, which was not at once recog-
nized by those who took an interest in his produc-
tions. He gave, on this occasion, as the reason for
his mode of publication, that a hundred read a news-
paper for one who examines either large pamphlets,
or ponderous volumes; and that, his object being to
reach the mass of the people, and not the learned

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 499

few, he had sought his audience where alone he was
sure to find it. His main purpose was indeed to
impart useful information and practical wisdom, — to
recommend prudence, economy, integrity, and the
social virtues, to the great mass of the people, in all
conditions and occupations of hfe. Like Franklin, in
writings having the same object, he often descends,,
in these essays, to minute details and homely objects,
certain that he could not be ill employed in the-
pursuit of useful knowledge, or too precise in its
communication. Some of the essays, especially those
on education, agriculture, and government, are full
and elaborate, and may almost aspire to the dignity of
finished treatises on these subjects. Others, less
extended, contain, in many cases, comprehensive sur-
veys of their subjects, and abound in acute remarks,
in plain statements of important facts, and in well
considered opinions, clearly and strongly expressed.
The essays on agriculture embrace nearly the whole
circle of our New England methods, and are equal>
if not superior, to any thing since written on the
subject, except so far as the application of chemistry
to agriculture, then hardly made among us, has
enabled later writers to give a reason, in some cases,
for practices whose utility he could support only by
an appeal to experience. The essays on government
contain an account of our American forms of govern^
ment, state and national, and, to a considerable extent,

500 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER.

a history of their administration, with remarks on the
errors and abuses to which they are exposed, and
suggestions for their correction and improvement.
The essays on education are practical in their charac-
ter, and sagacious in their views and suggestions.

The plan of his biographical work, to which he
now devoted himself, was to give, not in the form of
a dictionary, but chronologically arranged according
to the date of each man's death, a sketch of dis-
tinguished Americans, in every department of life and
action, from the first settlement of the. country to his
own time. It was not his object to supersede (if
that could have been done) the separate lives of
eminent men which we already possess, but to give,
in a clear and succinct narrative, the facts and dates
relating to all persons considerable enough to fill a
place, however humble, in the history of the country.
A reader, for example, finds, in some work he is
examining, mention made, perhaps incidentally, of
an individual respecting whom he wishes to know
more than is there told. He turns to the Sketches ;
and he finds, in a few pages, unincumbered with use-
less details, the facts and dates of his life, all, in
short, that is known respecting him, chronologically
arranged, with a brief sketch of character, drawn up,
as he said, "without eulogy on the one hand, or
detraction on the other." In such a work, some
men's lives would furnish matter for forty or fifty

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 501

pages ; others, for a few lines only. No date, which
could be settled, was to be left unascertained, and no
fact bearing on the history of the United States, unre-
corded. The work was to embrace the whole country
within the limits of the Union, and the entire period
from its first discovery to the time of publication. To
every reader of biography, or student in history, such
a work, if adequately executed, would be an invalu-
able assistant, — a methodical abstract and compen-
dium of American history and biography.

As early as 1808, he had sketched, for his own
amusement, the characters of some public men with
whom he was personally acquainted ; but it was not
till 1819, that he began to devote his leisure from
other occupations to preparing for the work here
described. He began by collecting materials from
all quarters, writing letters to the friends of deceased
public men, and examining and making references to
all the books, pamphlets, public documents, news-
papers, and other sources of information within his
reach. His own collection of such materials was
probably the largest in the country. The earliest
of these sketches, which I find among his papers,
bears date November 28th, 1827; the latest, April
24th, 1843. Their whole number is one thousand
nine hundred and fifty-two. They would form, if
published, seven or eight closely printed octavo

502 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER.

volumes. He had selected the names of many
himdred individuals . more, respecting whom he had
made references and gathered materials, but had
made no further progress in their biographies. These
references, and this mass of materials, embrace the
■whole circuit of American history and biography ;
and it would have required many years of industrious
application to fill up even their modest outlines. It
was, indeed, the labor of a life, and should have been
commenced only in the first vigor of manhood. With
his industry and perseverance, it would, if so begun,
have ended in the production of a work of compre-
hensive information and enduring value. As it is, it
wants the hand of some competent compiler to put it
into shape, and to complete the original design. To
the author it was, for years, an object of pleasing
contemplation, and of unexhausted and inexhaustible
occupation. With this work before him, time never
htmg heavy on his hands. The calls of company,
the society of his friends, the circle of his domestic
avocations, found him ever ready for the duty or
the business of the day, whatever that might be ;
but equally ready to turn from these to his books
and his pen, for the piling up, month after month,
and year after year, of these memorials of the past,
and mementos for the future. Happy in his em-
ployment, he viewed the swelling heap with more

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 503

than the miser's pleasure in his hoarded gold, and
looked forward to its completion as the crowning
achievement of his life.

His own approach to old age having drawn his
attention to the subject, he published, (July 18th,
1823,) a short essay on Longevity, in which he gives
many interesting statements respecting the causes of
long life, the effects of climate, occupation, and profes-
sion, labor and exercise, temperance in meats and
drinks, the habit of early or late rising, temper,
country or city residence, and other conditions con-
nected with health and longevity. He continued
his inquiries on this subject, and had collected, before
his death, the names and some account of about six
hundred persons, who had reached the age of ninety
years and upwards. A portion of them were pub-
lished by Dr. J. E. Worcester, in the " Memoirs of the
American Academy."

Mr. Plumer also wrote, February, 1824, and pub-
lished, in the New Hampshire Historical Society's
Collections, "Remarks on the Authenticity of the
Wheelwright Deed," which had become a subject of
■dispute among New England antiquaries. On this
subject, he wrote, (March 19th, 1824,) to John
Farmer :

" I still think there is more evidence of its authenticity
than that it was forged. Objections may be stated to ancient
documents, which it is impossible, after the lapse of two cen-

504 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

turies, to obviate, and yet the papers may be genuine. The
Declaration of Independence purports to have been signed at
Philadelphia on the 4th of July, 1776, by those who were
then delegates in Congress. Yet it bears the names of seve-
ral persons, who, as appears by the Journals, were not, till
many months after, members of Congress ; and a recurrence
to the records of the states to which these persons belonged
will show that they were, at that time, in office at home, and
not present in Philadelphia. Suppose, two centuries hence,
it should be said that the names so affixed were forged, it
might, at that distant time, be difficult to disprove the allega-
tion. The Journals of Congress do not contain the informa-
tion necessary to explain the facts ; but many who are now
living know that, for some time after the 4th of July, new
members of Congress were required, on taking their seats, to
sign the Declaration, though it had been issued previous to
their appointment. This is a fact which I do not recollect to
have seen stated ia any history of that period. Ancient deeds
so far prove themselves, that they throw the burden of proof
on those who deny them. There axe objections to this Indian
deed, which cannot, perhaps, be fully explained ; but I think
the evidence, on the whole, preponderates ia favor of its
authenticity."

These remarks led afterwards to an elaborate
examination of the question by Savage, in his first
edition of Winthrop's Journal. On reading this article,
Mr. Plumer said, in his Journal, (Aug. 16th, 1825 :)

" His observations upon my remarks on the Indian deed to
"Wheelwright are written with more asperity than the occasion

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 505

required. Some of his arguments are more specious than
substantial, and may be easily refuted. At this distance from
the date, it is difficult to settle conclusively the question
whether the deed is genuine or not. Much may be said on
both sides ; but I have neither time nor inclination further to
investigate the subject."

Some of Mr. Savage's arguments are certainly very-
strong, and seem not easy to be refuted ; yet it is
said that certain documents, recently discovered, go
to establish, the authenticity of that much disputed
deed. I have not seen them.

To John Q. Adams, Mr. Plumer writes, (February
13th, 1829 :)

"I have long been convinced that the great secret of
human happiness is not to suffer our energies to stagnate.
Our pleasure consists in action more than in rest. I never
enjoyed life better than I now do, in a state of retirement
from the world. I feel a deep interest in my literary under-
takings ; and if they should not prove useful to others, they
will have served at least to smooth for me the passage down
the vale of declining years. It would, indeed, be a gratifica-
tion, if I could live to complete and publish the work ; but
this is not probable."

It would be easy to multiply from his papers
evidences of the unwearied perseverance with which,
under the weight of increasing years, Mr. Plumer

506 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER,

continued to pursue his literary labors. The last Life
which he attempted, and which, if completed, would
have been one of the most elaborate of the series, was
that of Thomas Jefferson. His own personal recol-
lections furnished him with many interesting facts
and traits of character; and he had gone carefully
over the wide range of his books, pamphlets, news-
papers and public documents, to collect materials for
the intended memoir. But the labor of preparation
seems to have well-nigh exhausted whatever of
strength remained to him for the task. After writing
eight or ten pages of the biography, he dropped the
pen, (April 24th, 1843,) never to be again resumed
in the same service. He continued, indeed, as if by
the force of a habit too firmly fixed to be easily dis-
continued, to take minutes of his reading, and to
make references, as late as November 28th, 1848, and
perhaps later ; but he attempted no more Sketches
of American Biography.

In looking back on the long years of labor which
he devoted to this work, we cannot but regret that, by
beginning so late in life, and by spreading himself over
so wide a surface, he failed to complete what, within
narrower limits and with longer time, would have
been a very useful work. The articles, too, are most
of them first sketches, rather than finished papers
The toil of revision, addition, and correction, remains
to be performed. In their present state, they are a

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 607

vast accumulation of interesting facts in American
history and biography ; but they lack the harmony
and artistical perfectness which longer time and
greater elaboration could alone give them, and which
the author's age, when he commenced the undertak-
ing, left little reason to hope that he could live to
supply. Whether, under such circumstances, any
portion of these writings is in a condition to see the
light, is a question reserved for farther consideration
after the present memoir is completed. In the
author's will, written nearly thirteen years before his
death, he provided, on the supposition that the work
would be finished by him in his lifetime, for its pub-
lication after his death ; but, ' at a later period, he
expressed doubts whether it should, in its then
imperfect state, be given to the press. That the
work was never completed, though a loss to the pub-
lic, was no injury, perhaps, to its author, — none, at
least, to his personal comfort and enjoyment.
" Happy," it has been well said, " is the man who has
a 'magnum opus' on hand! Be it an 'Excursion'
by Wordsworth, or Southey's ' Portugal,' or a Nean-
drine 'Church History' — to the fond projector there
is no end of congenial occupation ; and, provided he
never completes it, there will be no breach in the
blissful illusion." This is surely a juster and more
consoling view of the concluding labors of an author's
life, than that taken by De Quincey respecting a

508 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

projected work of his, which he regards as " a memo-
rial to his children of hopes defeated, of bafled
efforts, of materials uselessly accumulated, of founda-
tions laid that were never to support a superstructure,
of the grief and ruin of the architect." In the present
case, there was to the architect no grief and no ruin;
but, on the contrary, a steady succession of pleasing
occupations, of daily enjoyment, and cheerful antici-
pations of usefulness to others, when he should him-
self cease to act or to enjoy. Occupation in the
present, and hope for the future, are among the
essential elements of human happiness. With both
of these, his declining years were abundantly fur-
nished in the quiet seclusion of the domestic circle,
by the gentle companionship of his books, and the
assiduous but unexhausting labors of the pen.

It may be here mentioned that his literary pur-
suits brought him into connexion with many learned
societies; and that among others to which he
belonged were the Massachusetts Historical Society,
the Statistical Association, the Academy of Lan-
guages and Belles Lettres, the American Antiquarian
Society, and the Danish Royal Society of Northern
Antiquities. His last two journeys to Concord were
to assist at the organization, in 1823, of the New
Hampshire Historical Society, in which he took much
interest, and of which he was the first President.
They requested him to deliver the first annual

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 509

address before the society, which he declined, on the
ground of feeble health. He gave to the society
some two or three hundred volumes, principally the
earlier and more valuable of his state papers.

A few further extracts, containing the expression
of opinions, or notices of facts, wiU lead us, by a dif-
ferent route, over the same period to the close of his
Journals and his correspondence. January 29th,
1820, he writes to Daniel D. Tompkins, Vice Presi-
dent of the United States :

" On the subject of the Missouri restriction, I indulge the
fond hope that the friends of liberty will prevail, and that
slavery will be kept within its present limits. On this sub-
ject I have read and reflected much ; and have never doubted
the right, or the policy of admitting new states, subject to the
condition that they shall not enslave their fellow men. Nor
have I any doubt that the power to hold slaves will eventually
prove a cuj'se, and not a blessing, to the state to which it may
be granted. It is an immutable principle of the laws of
nature that those who violate those laws do, by that very vio-
lation, lay a foundation for their own punishment, which,
sooner or later, must and will be inflicted. The strength of
any state must be impaired, and its danger from insurrections
increased, in proportion as slaves increase within its limits.
Slavery is not only a reproach to our character as a nation,
but its extension to new states adds deeply to that reproach
and disgrace. It increases, too, the existing inequality, in
the apportionment of representatives and electors, in violation
of the principles of right and justice ; and will, I fear, give

510 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

rise, in its consequences, to a new state of parties, marked by
geographical lines, described as slaveboiding and non-slave-
holding states, — a condition of parties more dangerous to our
system of government, than any that has yet existed
among us."

On this subject of slavery, lie entered warmly into
the feeling, then universal in the free states, against
its further extension ; and predicted the overthrow of
the Union from the moment that the slave states
should acquire an acknowledged and uncontrollable
preponderance in the government of the Union. He
wrote me, (February 20th, 1820 :)

" The Missouri question has lost, in my mind, none of its
interest or importance. I could not consent to any compro-
mise, Avhich the slave-holders may offer. I consider the
extension of slavery as a crime in those who permit it, — an
evil fatal to the interests of the free states. If it prevails, it
will, I fear, eventually produce the calamity, which I have so
long deprecated, — a dismemberment of the states. If, to obtain
this extension, its advocates in the Senate can be guilty of
such an outrage upon all parliamsntary proceedings, as to
couple in one bill Missouri with Maine, what may we not
expect from them, when, by their slave representation, they
shall have gained the ascendency in the halls of Congress ?
In wealth and in physical force, the free states will maintain a
decided superiority ; but, in legislation^ the slave states will
rule. The great interests of the free states are agriculture,
commerce, and manufactures ; but, in the slave states, agricul-

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 511

ture constitutes tlieir principal employment^ — not an agricul-
ture like ours, but the planting interests of cotton, tobacco,
rice, and sugar. It will be, therefore, natural for those states,
when all power is Tested in their hands, to neglect to provide
for the protection and encouragement of commerce and manu-
factures. A series of measures may be expected to follow,
fatal to the integrity of the Union."

To Jonathan 0. Moseley, he writes, (March 3d,
1820:)

" On the question of admitting new states formed from
without the limits of the old thirteen, I have never had a
doubt either of the constitutionality or the expediency of
requiring such states to stipulate that they will not hold slaves,
as a condition requisite for their admission. I hope you will
agree to no compromise on this subject with the slave-holding
states. If your House will act with firmness, you will yet
save the nation, preserve the rights of the free states, and
eventually the new states of the west, though against their
will, from a curse more grievous to them than war and pesti-
lence united. The longer I have considered the subject, the
more important it becomes in my view."

The following passages are extracted from his
Diary :

June 18, 1821. "Of foreigners, we have already in our
country more than enough. They, in general, consist of the
poor, the discontented, the restless and unquiet, who diminish
rather than increase our strength and our wealth. Their habits

512 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

and their opinions are unfavorable to our government and
our institutions. A slower but sounder growth is more
to be desired."

Dec. 14th, 1821. " I have read the President's Message. As
a writei:, he is vastly below some of his predecessors ; and, in
point of talents, at a still greater distance from them. There
is no one act of my official life on which I reflect with more sat-
isfaction than that of withholding from him my vote as an
Elector."

Dec. 15th, 1823. " The President's Message is the best
communication he has ever made to Congress. The senti-
ments are manly and independent. As an individual, I am
proud of such language from the Chief Magistrate of the
nation to its Legislature. Though the Holy Alliance — the
despots of Europe — may consider it made in defiance of their
claims and conduct, and be irritated by it, we have nothing
to fear from them. They have enough to do, in their own
kingdoms, to keep their own people in slavery ; and however
they may wish the destruction of our free government, they
understand too well their own position, and ours, to make
war on this country."

This was the remarkable message, in which the
doctrine was first advanced that no European power
should, in future, be allowed to establish a colony in
America. It is now understood that the tone of this
message, so bold and energetic, if not its very lan-
guage, was that of John Quincy Adams, then Secre-
tary of State, rather than of President Monroe.

Mr. Plumer entered warmly into the support ot

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLTJMER. 513

Ms friend Adams, who had been elected President in
1824, and was met, from the beginning, by a most
violent and envenomed opposition. Among his
opponents in this State was Levi Woodbury, who,
elected as an Adams man, very soon took his stand in
the Jackson ranks, and became, ultimately, a promi-
nent leader in the party. Of the kind of opposition
which Adams had to encounter, a sample appears in
the following extract from one of Woodbury's letters
to Mr. Plumer, (April 23d, 1826 :)

"It has been a subject of mortification to Mr. Adams's
Mends, and must have astonished you, I think, that ' a
billiard table, $50.00,' 'billiard balls, |6.00,' 'chess men,
$33.00,' etc., etc., should compose a part of the articles pur-
chased by him, with the public fund, and should go down to
our posterity as a part of the furniture for the P resident's me,
in this virtuous stage of our country's growth and history."

The virtuous indignation of the worthy Senator at
this misapplication of the public funds, seems not to
have been felt so strongly by his correspondent, who
wrote in reply, (May 8th, 1826:)

" As to the President's purchasing a biUiard table, balls,
and chess men, out of the money granted him to furnish his
house, I consider it a trivial object, and of Kttle importance
to the public. If nothing more substantial is alleged against
the President, his opponents ought to feel more ' mortifica-
cation' than his friends. A predisposition to find fault too

33

514 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK.

often induces men to strain at a gnat and swallow a camel.
There is useless expenditure enough of the public money ;
but, in this case, if the House or Senate charge the President
with waste or extravagance, he may well reply to the accuser.
Physician, heal thyself. I am glad your session is to close in
a few days ; for I think the nation and its treasury will be
safer in the necess. The present session has been distinguished
for debating much and doing little ; the mountain has been in
labor, and produced .a mouse."

The following is from a letter of John Quincy
Adams, dated April 24th, 1827:

" Your approbation of the leading measures of the present
administration, if not more than a counterbalance to all the
obloquy with which it is visited, is among the most cheering
incidents which sustain me in the discharge of my duties.
That I endeavor to discharge them according to the best of
my ability, is the sum of all the defence I can make against
those who think they have an interest in passing censure upon
me. I confidently rely upon the good sense of the people to
correct the mischief which results from the present state of
things, though I cannot flatter myself that it will be remedied
within the term of my public service."

June 17th, 1827, to Levi Woodbury, who had
expressed the hope " that there was no such radical
difference between them in politics as to alienate old
friends," Mr. Plumer wrote :

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 515

"Though "we differ in opinion on some principles and
measures, -which I consider of vital importance to the interests
of our common country, that difference will never, I trust,
alienate me from you. I have, through a long life, enjoyed
the satisfaction of preserving my friendship and attachment to
men whose religious and political opinions have been opposed
to mine ; and as long as I think a man preserves his integrity,
his opinions will not impair my confidence, or diminish my
friendship for him."

From the Diary for July 4th, 1828, we quote the
foUowmg entry :

" I presided at a public dinner, in Epping, where more
than a hundred gentlemen from this and the adjacent towns
celebrated the anniversary of our independence. I bore the
fatigues of the day, and performed my duty with more ease
than I expected. "We parted before the day closed in good
humor and fine spirits."

To Samuel Bell Mr. Plumer wrote, (December
9th, 1828 :)

« I consider the late election of President [that of Jackson]
one of the most unfortunate events that ever happened in this
country. A man who, I think, has not a single qualification for
the office has triumphed over one pre-eminently well qualified,
and that by a great majority. A mania has seized the public
mind ; the people have been deceived and infatuated. Is not
this strong evidence that our government is in danger of ter-

516 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

minating, like others that have preceded us, in monarchy, or
despotism ? Still we ought not to despair of the republic.
' It can never be too late to own a conqueror, and sue for
chains.'"

Mr. Plumer, having been nominated as an Elector
of President and Vice-President, on the anti-masonic
ticket, declined, October 26th, 1832, in favor of the
National Republican candidates, stating, at the same
time, that he was an anti-mason, and had always
been one, on the ground of opposition to all secret
societies, whatever might be their objects.

In reply to an invitation to attend the celebration
of the second centennial anniversary of the settlement
of Newbury, he wrote, (May 16th, 1835:)

" Newburyport is the place of my nativity. With the poet,
I can truly say, ' Scenes of my youth ! once you were dear
to me ! ' Not once only ; but still do the recollections of
Newburyport aiford me real pleasure. In youth, we form
attachments to the places wh^re we were bom, and where we
have spent our juvenile years. In manhood, the reflecting
mind extends those attachments to other places, and finally
to the whole country. These attachments, thus extended,
constitute that noble passion — ^love of country. If I live
to the 25th of next month, I shall then be seventy-six years
of age. It has never been my lot to enjoy, at any time, a
high state of health. During the last three years, it has
been so much impaired, that I have hardly ridden five

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 517

miles in a day. Though it would afford me much pleasure
to attend your celebration, the want of health obliges me to
decline the honor."

He had now a new source of interest, pleasure and
amusement, in the society of his grand-children, of
whom he was very fond, and who visited him daily,
while they were at home, and corresponded with hiin
when they were absent at school. Their letters, how-
ever imperfect, afforded him great pleasure ; and he
never failed to answer them, giving them the same
kind admonitions and wise counsels which he had,
years before, lavished on their fathers.

The last letter which he wrote, or rather signed, (for
I was his amanuensis on this occasion,) was in answer
to an invitation to attend the meeting of the Sons of
New Hampshire, in Boston, in November, 1849 :

" Epping, November 3d, 1849.

" Gentlemen, — I have received your invitation to attend
the festival of the Sons of New Hampshire, to be holden at
Boston, on the seventh instant. It would give me great pleas-
ure, if the state of my health would permit, to be with you
on that occasion. But the infirmities of age press heavily upon
me ; the penalty, which few escape, who much outlive the
threescore years and ten, fixed by the Psalmist as the ordinary
period of human life. Even the fourscore years, which he
pronounced to be labor and sorrow to the few by whom they
are attained, I have not only reached, but have left them, long

518 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

since, behind me in my progress of life. Age, then, and its
consequent debihty, must be my excuse for not attending the
meeting, to which you invite me. I do not the less sympa-
thize with you in the objects of that meeting. Born in Mas-
sachusetts, I feel for the old Bay State the veneration of a
true son for a worthy parent ; and it is among your best
claims on my regard, that you, gentlemen, and those for whom
on- this occasion you act, have, in various ways, and in many
walks of life, done such high honor, and rendered such true
service, to the State of your adoption, and of my nativity. But
though born in Massachusetts, I have been for more than
eighty years an inhabitant of New Hampshire ; and you may
well believe that I cherish for her the respect to which her
many virtues entitle her, and feel, far more strongly than I
can express, the deep gratitude which her favors, shown to
me in years now long departed, have written on my heart.
For her hardy, virtuous, and intelligent sons, whether remain-
ing in their native homes, or seeking fame and fortune in
other regions, I can indulge no better wish, than that they
may prove their true descent from a noble stem, by conduct
worthy of their birth and nurture in the Granite State.
" I remain, gentlemen, with great respect,

" Your obedient servant,
"WILLIAM PLUMEE."
" To the Committee of Invitation."

In introducing this letter, the President of the
meeting, Mr. Webster, said :

" Governor Plumer is a man of learning and of talent. He
has performed important service in the Congress of the United

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 519

States. He lias been many years Governor of the State of
New Hampshire. He has lived a life of study and attain-
ment, and, I suppose, is, among the men now living, one of
the best informed in the matters pertaining to the history of
his country. He is now more than ninety years of age. He
expresses the pleasure he should feel to be here, if his
advanced life would permit. Gentlemen, I propose the
health of Governor Plumer of New Hampshire, the oldest
living member of the Congress of the United States."

This speech of Mr. Webster was received with
great applause, and the toast drunk with hearty
and long continued cheering. This warm reception
of his name, after a retirement of more than thirty
years from the public sight, by so distinguished an
assembly of the sons of New Hampshire, the older
among them contemporaries of his manhood, and
most of the others, sons and grandsons of his former
friends and opponents in public life — gave him great
pleasure, when reported to him by me, as it seemed
to indicate, to some extent at' least, the estimate
which would ultimately be formed by the public
judgment of his life and character, — a verdict ren-
dered, with the impartiality of a succeeding gener-
ation, on the transactions of the past.

Many indications of his declining health have been
given in the preceding extracts ; many more are to
be found in his letters and journal. He was in the
habit of noting down, chiefly on his birthday, or at

520 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEB.

the close of the year, the changes which time and
disease had made, and were making, in his ]30wers
both of body and of mind. These he was himself
the first to perceive ; and he has recorded them, not
in a spirit of querulous discontent, but with calm
resignation to the order of nature, and a ready
acquiescence in the necessary course of inevitable
events. A few extracts of a more personal charac-
ter will bring us to the period when our record
must close.

June 25thj 1820. " It is more than a year since I retired
from the government of the state to priyate life. I neyer
spent a year of greater ease and happiness. I hare had too
much of office and public life to wish for more. Though not
wealthy, I have property enough to supply my reasonable
wants, and I have no inclination to acquire more. I seldom
neglect exercise for a single day. It consists principally in
superintending my farm. My sleep is sound and refreshing,
and I preserve the habit of early rising. My diet is regular,
simple and plain. My thirst for information is strong, and
the only thing I regret, is the shortness of time."

July 10th, 1820. " Reading, study, and writing afford me
the purest pleasure and the highest satisfaction which I enjoy.
It exceeds the pleasures and the enjoyments of the prime of
life. I pity the man of threescore who cannot read with
ardor. His life is a barren wilderness. In politics I am not
bound by the shackles of party, nor in religion by the chains
of sectarianism ; truth alone is the object of my pursuit.
Every subject I consider, every book I read, appears different

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 521

from what it formerly did. As my mind is independent, and
my circumstances easy, I give free scope to my inquiries. If
I discover an error, which I have long cherished, I relinquish
it with pleasure, nay, even with pride ; but I do not change
my opinions on important subjects without mature and delib-
erate consideration."

June 25th, 1821. " I am now sixty-two years of age. I
feel the effect of age on my feeble constitution, though I bear
it better than I expected. The period of life to which I have
arrived has a natural tendency to limit the objects of my
attention, and to make me reflect on approaching dissolution,
which I often do, calmly, and without fear. The events of
the past, books of history, science, literature, and morals,
afford me more information and greater pleasure than passing
events, and the politics of the day."

June 25th, 1822. " I have passed my climacterical year.
At this period of life, it is natural to expect that every year
will render me more infirm. In some constitutions, decay
commences before sixty-three, in others later. I perceive no
particular change in mine. My mental powers have been as
sound and vigorous as they were the preceding year."

December 31st, 1826. "As I advance in years, I more
sensibly feel the importance of forming correct habits in early
life. I now receive the benefit of two habits which I con-
tracted when very young ; one is that of industry, the other,
that of waiting on myself My industry, instead of decreasing,
as I descend the vale of years, is rather increased. I rise in
the morning, at all seasons, before the sun ; and, in the
winter, bring in my wood, and kindle my fire myself I feed
my hogs and poultry, and visit my barn, in winter, twice a day."

522 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

This habit of feeding his swine was an early and
inveterate one. On one occasion, w^hile he was
Governor, a committee from Portsmouth, who called
upon him on business, found him with his basket of
corn in his hand, feeding his pigs. These city visitors
were at first a little disconcerted by the homely occu-
pation of their Chief Magistrate ; but he entered, at
once, into conversation with them on the merits of
the various breeds of swine, and enlarged on their
habits and their attractions, with a relish and good
hiimor, and a knowledge of the subject, which could
hardly have been surpassed by that "prince of
men," as Homer calls him, "the divine swine-herd,"
Eumasus himself This incident might remind the
classic reader of the Samnite deputies, who, when
sent on a solemn embassy to Marius Curius Den-
tatus, found the Roman Consul at his Sabine farm,
sitting by the fire, with a wooden platter beside him,
roasting turnips in the ashes for his dinner. A some-
what similar uacident, nearer home, and equally
characteristic of the man and of the times, was
that with which Lafayette used to amuse the French
court, when he described his call on President Weare,
of New Hampshire, in 1784. The Legislature was
in session at Exeter; and on calling at the President's
lodgings, he was told that he had stepped into an
adjoining room. Impatient to pay his respects to the
Chief Magistrate, the vivacious Trenchman rushed

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 523

forward, in spite of the friendly interposition, which
would have staid his steps, till he came suddenly and
unexpectedly on the venerable President, whom he
found seated quietly in the kitchen corner, eating —
not a piece of Christmas pie, but the humble repast
of a bowl of hasty pudding and milk.

February 18tli, 1829. " If the old would be happy, they
must not suffer the energies of their minds to stagnate. They
must continue those pursuits of which their declining age is
capable, and exercise their powers on such subjects as most
deeply interest and engage their attention. Indolence,
whether of body or mind, is injurious in every stage of
life; but, in old age, it never fails to break down the
intellect, and degrade the moral powers."

May 31st, 1829. "My health has, this spring, consider-
ably declined. My memory is still retentive, except as to
names. These are often recollected with difficulty. My
imagination begins to fade ; and, though I cannot perceive
that my judgment is much impaired, it rec[uires more time
for me to form an opinion on particular subjects. My habits
of industry remain in full force. I am uneasy when not
employed. The prospect of approaching dissolution does not
disturb the quiet tenor of my course to the grave ; but it
doubles my diligence to perform my appointed task."
/" December 31st, 1830. "I have long had but little con-
fidence in physicians, and have seldom employed them.
Between a good and a bad physician there is a great differ-
ence ; but' very little between a good one and none at all.

524 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

'Thro-w physic to the dogs/ says Shakspeare; and I am
much of his opinion." J

December 31st, 1833. " My eyes begin to fail. I cannot,
without an effort, read after sunset, or by candle-light. The
loss of sight would be to me a great calamity. I fear I shall
be obliged to abandon reading and writing in the evening.
Last May, I was apprehensive that my taking snuiF was injuri-
ous to my health. In weaning myself from it, which it took
me several months to do, I suffered much ; but I now feel
no inclination to return to it."

June 25th, 1835. " I require a longer time to form an
opinion than I formerly did ; but, when formed, my resolu-
tion to adhere to it is still strong and decisive."

January 1st, 1837. " The writing of letters I have almost
abandoned. It is nearly nine months, since I have made a
note in my journal respecting the books I read. In a word,
my time and thoughts are devoted to a single subject, my
biographical sketches."

June 25th, 1837. " For the last twenty years, I have set
every evening a bowl of water at the foot of my bed, and in
the morning washed my feet in it, and wiped them dry. In
winter I have sometimes to break the ice in the bowl. I have
found this practice very beneficial. My appetite is good, and
I sleep well at night. I rise, in summer, before five in the
morning, and retire between nine and ten at night. My hair,
which, in early life, was thick and very black, has become
thin and grey, but not white. I am not so erect as formerly,
but am now five feet and ten inches high. There is one habit
which I formed in early life, which I have constantly prac-
tised, that of waiting on myself. It is in general easier for me

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMBR. 525

to do this than to require a servant to wait on me. I speak
here of the thousand little things, which occur in daily life,
which I can do for myself easier and hetter than a servant
can. By waiting on myself I avoid the vexation occasioned
by his delay or his carelessness, and profit by the exercise
which it gives me."

February 7th, 1838. " It requires more time and labor to
perform as much as usual ; and, what is worse, when done, it
is more feeble and imperfect than formerly. But I still pre-
serve my former habits of industry and application."

To Professor Rafn, of Copenliagen, he wrote, (July
9th, 1838 :)

" I fear that I shall not be able to contribute much, if any,
assistance to your Society. I am too far advanced in life,
being now in my eightieth year, to collect information, or
investigate the facts relating to the early history of my
country. I feel sensibly the debility which accompanies
old age ; but, I thank God, I bear it with equanimity."

In September, 1839, he had a severe attack of
cholera morbus, which it was thought for some time
would terminate fatally. The physician— the first he
had employed for many years— pronounced him in
danger. He thought so himself "My mind," he
says, "though feeble, was calm; and I felt as wil-
ling to die, as to sleep, or rest when weary." He
gradually recovered his strength, and returned again
before the close of the year to his usual avocations.

526 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

June 25th, 1840. " I have this day entered the eighty-
second year of my life. The infirmities, deprivations and
evils of age have increased upon me. My mental powers are
diminished. My decision of character is still strong and
vigorous. I am habitually industrious, and 'temperate in all
things.' "

November 9th, 1840. " I thought it my duty to attend
the town meeting, and vote for the Harrison Electors of
President and Vice-President. I am now older than my
father was when he died. I have freq^uent attacks of rheuma-
tism, and almost daily pain. My mental faculties have
suffered a gradual decay. I hope I shall not survive the
use of them. Their loss would render life useless to me,
and burdensome to my wife and children."

June 25th, 1842. " I have this year suffered more pain,
and experienced more languor and debility, than in any pre-
ceding year of my life. I contemplate the prostration of my
mental faculties with regret, but my death with entire
resignation,"

His health, always delicate, seemed, on the whole,
nearly as good at eighty as it had ever been. His
eye was not dimmed, nor his natural force abated ;
nor was the alacrity of his spirit, or his extraordinary
conversational ability, at all impaired. Though he
sometimes forgot the name of a person, or a place,
his memory of events, whether recent or more
remote, was still ready and accurate ; and his quick-
ness of repartee, and his unlimited command of lan-
guage and illustration, excited the admiration even

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 627

of those who knew Mm the best. His seasonable
retirement from business had given a long and serene
evening to the close of life, after the laborious occu-
pations of its earlier hours : and the studies in which
he had then engaged saved him from the listlessness
which creeps over the declining years of men of
active habits, retired from business with no taste for
reading. He had still the same quickness of percep-
tion, rectitude of judgment, and vivacity of manner,
which had given such force to his character ia earlier
life.

But the infirmities of age now began to steal upon
him, by a gradual but sure advance — painful at times.
At the age of eighty-five, his memory had lost its
hold on recent occurrences, though still accurate as to
earlier events. This failure of memory did not, as yet,
affect his judgment, or his perceptive faculties. It was
curious, indeed, to remark with what force and acute-
ness he would discuss any subject proposed to him,
and yet half an hour afterwards not perhaps recol-
lect that it had been even mentioned in his hearing.

As months passed on, it was painful to watch this
gradual overclouding of the intellect, the light of
memory fading from the mind, and leaving, finally,
only flashes of former recollections— the embers of
decaying fires. He was himself conscious of the mel-
ancholy change ; and, on the occurrence of some
unexpected failure of memory, or confusion of ideas.

528 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

an expression of mingled surprise and regret would
escape liim, followed by the utterance of a resigna-
tion at once striking and pathetic. The decay, how-
ever, was so gradual, that he felt it perhaps less
sensibly than we who witnessed it. Body and mind
shared the same decline, each growing weaker to
the close. After he had ceased to write, he con-
tinned for gome time to read. But it became appar-
ent, by degrees, that his reading was to little
purpose, other than to pass away the time. His
mind, though still inquisitive, had lost its power
to retain what he readj and at length even this,
the last, as it had been among the earliest and
most cherished of his employments, failed to interest
or to amuse him. He had now ceased to labor; and, as
life and labor were with him synonymous, he soon
ceased also to live. The brief interval of inaction
which followed, was but the composing of the limbs
to rest, — the relaxation which precedes sleep. Full
of years and honors — satisfied with life — he was now
ready for his departure. Some extracts from entries
made by me, at the dates respectively named, wiU
bring us to the period of his death.

June 25th, 1847. "He is eighty-eight years old to-day.
Though infirm, he is able to go about the house, and extends
his walks occasionally to the garden, or the barn. I visit him
twice a-day. His appetite is good, and his bodily health not
bad for his time of life. But his memory is much impaired.

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 529

He will sometimes talk of old events with accuracy j but
more frequently times, places, and persons are confounded ;
and what is true of one is told of another, with circumstances
belonging perhaps to a third. Yet he often speaks, and even
reasons, on particular subjects, with a good deal of his old
vivacity and acuteness. He is quick to mark the fallacy of
any remark made in his presence, and will often draw the line
of distinction between truth and error as clear and sharp as in
his best days ; so that strangers, who converse with him for a
short time only, go away with admiration at this unim-
paired vigor of mind in so old a man. His hold on life is
apparently very slender, — sometimes it seems all but gone.
Yet, like a withered leaf which has hung trembling all winter
upon the tree, there seems no reason why one breeze should
detach it more than another."

March 4th, 1848. " My father is much affected by the
death of his old friend, John Quincy Adams. I found him
this morning in tears, with the newspaper in his hand, reading
the account of the death, and of the last honors paid to his
distinguished friend. He repeated several times very emphati-
cally : ' He was a great man — a good man — an excellent
man.' He was so much affected by it, that we endeavored,
though in vain, to keep the accounts from him."

Dec. 28th, 1848. " On my return from Boston, last week,
I found my father much altered in his appearance, and much
indisposed. Thursday, the 21st, while conversing with the
family, he suddenly stopped, turned pale, and seemed about
to fall from his chair. He was immediately removed to his
bed, and it seemed, for the moment, as if life had departed.
He, however, revived with a sudden start, as if from a fit.

31

530 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE.

His physician thought that he had no disease upon him,
beyond the natural debility of old age. He did not think that
he could continue long. Since that, he has been growing
weaker, yet with occasional improvement. At times, his
mind seems bright and clear, and he indulges in his usual
acute and lively remarks, not without an occasional touch of
humor or sarcasm. I sat up with him on the night of the
23d, and again on the 26th, when it seemed hardly probable
that he would live till morning. Till about midnight, he
was very restless, and talked much and earnestly, but inco-
hereAtly at times. "When more calm, he spoke, among other
things, of his long accustomed labors, the materials he had
collected for his Biographical Sketches, and the lives he had
yet to write. He said he had written with freedom and
impartiality of men and measures, telling, in every case, what
he believed to be the truth. He hoped some of the sketches
might be found fit for publication. This morning, he seemed
better than he had been. He got up, and was able to sit in a
chair for fifteen minutes. While he was sitting, my mother
offered him a pinch of snufF. He stretched out his hand, but
withdrew it again, and said, smiling : ' The woman which
thou gavest me tempted me.' He added, smiling again : ' But
Adam was a weak man to yield to temptation.' He after-
wards quoted a passage from St. Paul, on the immortality of
the soul ; spoke of dreams, and said that the phenomena of
dreaming seemed to show a state of being, of which we had
no other experience. He soon after became exhausted, and we
restored him to his bed. His habitual kindness of disposition,
and his desire to be as little burdensome as possible, appear
in the frequent apologies which he makes for the trouble he

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 531

gives us. ' I thank you,' uttered in the kindest tones, is one
of his most frequent expressions."

Dec. 31st. " It is touching to remark, how, in the decline
of the understanding, his moral powers seem to retain their
rightful supremacy. The intellect has no longer its accus-
tomed strength ; but the kindly affections, the moral feelings,
come out in yet stronger relief. He seems better to-day, or
at least stronger. He was dressed and sat in his chair the
greater part of the day."

Jan. 5th, 1849. " He has been gradually gaining strength
for several days past, and seems now Ukely to get over this
attack, though still very weak."

He did accordingly recover; and seemed, for a
time, to be quite as well as he had been for some
years before. The death of his youngest son, (May
1st, 1849,) moved him greatly, and with a stunning
effect. The funeral was from his house, and he
seemed, at times, at a loss to understand why the
house was so full of strangers, and what they were
about. After supper, he said to me that he wanted
to go home, evidently thinking that he was in some
strange place ; but this was a momentary illusion ;
and he soon after talked with his usual self-possession
and equanimity. " It is," he said, " all for the best.
Jay has gone before ; but I shall not be long in fol-
lowing. This is a good world ; but there is a better
one where he is gone."

532 lilFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

Aug. 6th, 1850. " For the last month or two, my father
has been gradually losing his sight. It is a year or more
since he complained that he could not find glasses that suited
him. It now appears that cataracts are growing over one, if
not both of his eyes. He walks but little, and steps slowly
and with caution, as if afraid of falling. Two or three months
ago, he set out alone to come up to my house, but was met
half way, and persuaded to return. About a month ago, he
rode up to see his brother Daniel, who was sick. Weakened
as his mind is, it seems to have lost none of its activity. It
is not the torpor, but the debility, of the brain ; nor is this
weakness perpetual. He often reasons correctly, and makes
sound and sensible remarks. His language, too, is accurate,
and his use of words pure. If at any time he uses a word or
expression which is improper, he pauses to correct himself,
and shows by the phrase finally selected that the idea was in
the mind, though the word proper to express it had at first
escaped him. It is not, therefore, the parrot-like repetition of
words not understood, but the deliberate utterance of compre-
hended thought, and of a purity of taste and accuracy of
expression, which survive the knowledge to which they were
once auxiliary."

On the third of December, he was suddenly taken
ill, having been, for some time previous, as well as
usual. He, however, rallied in a few days; and
seemed to be recovering his wonted strength, so much
so, that I went to Concord on the 9th to attend the
Constitutional Convention, of which I was a member,

LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 533

thinking him, though feeble, in no immediate danger.
He was, the next day, strong enough to sit up in his
bed, and it seemed probable that he would regain his
usual state of health. The following account of the
closing scene is from the diary of one of his grand-
daughters.

Dec. 15th. " He is very mild and pleasant, characteristic-
ally afraid of giving trouble to others, and thanking every one
who does him the slightest service. If giving way for a
moment to any impatient feeling, he checks himself, and says
— ' But it is all right.' He is so patient and uncomplaining,
he seems so calm, and looks so peaceful, that it is a comfort to
be with him. His mind often wanders back to his youthful
days. As his sight is nearly gone, I asked him, on coming in
to-day, if he knew me. He said : ' Yes ; you are my sister ;'
and he afterwards asked me if I thought he could do anything
to make his father and mother more comfortable in their old
age. Even when not recognizing others, he knows grand-
mother's voice, and answers her with great tenderness. He
repeated to-day passages from Scripture, hymns, and other
poetry. His quotations seemed to have reference mostly to
his own situation."

16th. " One of his grandsons, who had been absent about
two years, came home. He knew him, was glad to see him,
and made some inquiries respecting his travels."

20th. " There was an evident change for the worse ; and
he continued to grow weaker."

22d. "We were all with him through the day; and,
when the others went home, I staid, to sit up with him

534 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK.

through the night. He was quiet, and seldom spoke ; but
his breathing was faint and irregular. At length, as I sat
listening anxiously to every breath, I heard him suddenly
breathe a little harder and quicker than before. I sprang to
the bed-side in time to see his last gasp. He died without a
struggle or a groan, or the slightest movement, except of his
lips. As I stood over him, he looked so calm — ^it was so
much like sleep — that I could not believe he was gone. I
held my breath to listen, and watched anxiously for some
sign of life ; but none came. It was eight minutes past eight
in the evening of the 22d of December when he left us. I
was the only member of the family present at the time. I
sent immediately to call the others. When my uncles came,
the question was, how we should communicate the event to
grandmother, who had been much agitated on leaving him a
few hours before. It was decided that I should do it, which
I accordingly did. I found her prepared for the event, and,
though much afflicted, she bore it better than we feared."

At the time of his decease, I was at Manchester, on
my way home from Concord, having received notice
of his increasing danger. A storm, which rendered
all travelhng impossible, prevented my reaching
Epping till two days later. He was already in the
coffin when I arrived. There was still a faint smile
around his lips, a tranquillity of expression, a serene
composure, which seemed, in its mysterious silence,
full of that peace which passeth understanding. But
there was more than the serenity of death in his

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 535

countenance, — a look at once overawing and attrac-
tive, calm, placid, yet noble beyond what the living
form had recently worn — as if the spirit, in departing,
had left that imprint of the soul stamped in the
lineaments of the face, — a serene and pathetic beauty
imparting to the beholder something of the beatitude
into which it was itself about to enter. It seemed
not so much the sleep of death, as of a higher life, — a
light as of the dawning of a brighter day. As I stood
over him in awe and reverent admiration of that
benign and venerable face — venerable at once and
lovely — ^with its silent, unchanging, and inexplicable
expression, as of a new and a holier life, I felt, while
laying my hand on his smooth, broad and tranquil
brow, the truth of that saying of Novalis, " We touch
heaven when we lay our hands on a human body."
Grief for his departure was succeeded by a deep feel-
ing of resignation — a solemn joy at this happy trans-
formation from pain and suffering, from the cloud and
darkness which hang over the valley of the shadow
of death to the repose and the splendors of a purer
and happier day.

The funeral was on the twenty-seventh, five day^
after his decease ; and, though the roads were still
blocked with snow, it was attended by a great con-
course of his friends and neighbors. The Eev.
Andrew P. Peabody preached on the occasion a ser-
mon on Old Age, presenting consoling views of the

536 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER.

happy termination of a long life of public service and
private virtue, "so successful in its active days, so
serene and happy in its retirement, so richly favored
in its domestic relations, so tenderly cherished even
to its latest hours." He was then borne by eight of
his neighbors from the house where he had lived for
sixty-two years, to the family cemetery hard by.

Fifteen months later, we followed, with affectionate
sorrow, to the same retreat, the companion of his
manhood, and the solace of his old age, who came at
length in silence to repose by his side, in a union,
indissoluble in death, as it had been happy in life.

A granite column has been since erected by the
filial piety of their sons, to mark the spot where they
rest.

The death of Governor Plumer called forth inter-
esting notices of the event from various parts of the
country, showing that, though he had long withdrawn
from the public view, his character and his services
were still fresh in the minds of the people.

The Convention for revising the Constitution of
New Hampshire was in session at the time of his
decease. The following extracts from its proceedings
will show the notice which they took of the event.

" On Friday, the 27th of December, 1850, the Honorable
Ichabod Bartlett rose in his place and announced the death of
the late Governor Plumer, as follows :

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 537

"Mk. President:— Fifty-eight years ago, an assembly of
one hundred of the most distinguished statesmen and patriots
of New Hampshire met here and formed that Constitution
under which our government has been so admirably adminis-
tered, and our people so eminently prospered for that long
period ; and we are now gathered to reply, if possible, to the
yet unanswered question, whether any alteration or change
can now be made in that venerable instrument, better to adapt
It to the lapse of time. When we came here, on the 6th of
November, all the members of that Convention, save one
alone, had passed from the scenes of time. Since that period,
the last survivor of that august assembly has descended to the
tomb, and given to us another admonition that even ' the path
of glory leads but to the grave.'

" The Honorable "William Plxjmee died at his residence
in Epping, on the 22d of December instant, in the ninety-
second year of his age. This event cannot fail to make a
deep impression upon the mind of every citizen of New
Hampshire, and especially demands from us a public recog-
nition of the solemn dispensation of Divine Providence.
Governor Plumer had, for a very long period, filled a wide
space in the regard and affections of his fellow men.

"He was born in Newbury, on the 25th of June, 1759.
At about the age of eight years, he removed with his father
to Epping, where he resided till his death. At an early age,
he was elected Representative to the Legislature from that
town, and held that office for eight years ,• for two years of
which time he occupied the Speaker's chair. He was after-
wards elected to the Senate of this State, in which body he
held the office of President.

538 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER.

" In 1793, he was chosen a delegate to the Convention to
revise the Constitution of the state, and by the imperfect
journal of that Convention, which has been in our hands, we
see with what diligence and success he labored to leave the
impress of his patriotic mind upon that instrument, which,
after the lapse of more than half a century, we find it so
difficult if not impossible to amend. In 1802 he was elected
to the Senate of the United States, where he served till 1807.
In 1812, 1816, 1817, and 1818, he was chosen and served as
Governor of New Hampshire ; and in 1820 was chosen an
Elector for this State of President and Vice-President. In
1787 he was admitted a member of the Bar, and for twenty
years practised his profession with high reputation for legal
learning, integrity, and talent. In all his various public
offices he watched with such vigilance, and labored with such
perseverance, for the interests and welfare of his constituents,
as to secure their high esteem and lasting gratitude.

" As an humble expression of our regard for his memory,
I ask for the adoption by the Convention of the following
resolutions :

"Resolved, That in the death of the Honorable William Plumer the
state has lost an eminent statesman, a patriotic citizen and an honest man.

" Resolved, That for his long and faithful public services and exemplary
virtues as a citizen, the whole people should cherish his memory vfith
affectionate regard.

" The members of the Convention passed the resolutions by
unanimously rising in their seats ; and as a public mark of re-
spect, on motion of Mr. Atherton, the Convention adjourned."

Governor Plumer was one of the few remaining
survivors of the revolutionary period, — a sample of

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 539

the kind of men by whom that crisis, and the scarcely
less dangerous one which immediately followed the
revolution, were encountered. Debarred in early life
from the advantages of education, he was essentially
a self-made man. Deriving his knowledge from
observation more than from books, though he was
ultimately a well-read English scholar, he showed
always the freshness of an original observer, and he
never failed to express clearly the truth which he
had himself seen and verified. It was his sincerity of
conviction, added to a fearlessness of temper which
never shrank from the expression, on all suitable occa-
sions, of his real opinions and sentiments, which gave
uncommon weight to what he uttered, and left no
one who heard him without the strongest conviction
of his earnestness.

His attention was ever on the alert, and nothing
passed in his presence which he did not inquire into,
and, if possible, understand. This steady, unremitted
pursuit of knowledge was strong in him to the last,
quickening liis ear, and strengthening his memory.

His humanity was ever active. Nothing offended
him more than wanton cruelty to man or beast, and,
though careless of his own exposure to danger or to
toil, he was tenderly regardful of the labor and the
sufferings of others. His politeness, understanding
by that word a courteous regard for the feelings
of others, was uniform and enduring. Even his

540 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLTJMEE.

children, who visited him every day, were helped
by him to a chair, and were not permitted to depart
without his waiting upon them to the door. This he
did, and would do, with affectionate assiduity, not-
withstanding their remonstrances, almost to the very
close of life. The old man of more than fourscore
had forgotten none of the amiable attentions of his
younger years.

He was fond of society, and the visits of his friends
were always acceptable. They seemed to rouse him
to new life, and he conversed as if conversation were
his only pleasure. "Dr. Ripley," says Emerson,
"knew every body's grandfather." This was true
of my father. In early life he sought the company
of the aged, and in age he was fond of the young.
The company must have been more than commonly
select, into which his entrance did not bring some
new element of enjoyment or instruction, not by
loud or obtrusive demonstrations, but by the extent
of his information, the readiness and vivacity of his
discourse, and the unstudied ease and urbanity of his
manners.

Utility was the great object of his pursuit, and he
showed some impatience of studies which seemed to
have no relations with life. His own knowledge was
all of the practical kind. He seemed to reject from
it whatever could not be turned to some practical
purpose. Matters merely curious had for him very

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 541

little attraction. This indifference was, perhaps, car-
ried by him sometimes too far, as it is not always
easy to foresee to what uses knowledge, apparently
useless, may, in the progress of events, be put.

In person, he was tall and erect, his complexion
dark, his face rather long and thin, his hair black,
and his eyes black and sparkling, with a look and a
smile — when he was pleased himself, or would please
others — expressive of the most winning good will and
kindness. In old age, his thin grey locks, the mild
fire of his eye, and the smile on his lips, gave him a
beauty and grandeur, at once conciliatory and com-
manding. His eye was, perhaps, his most expressive
feature. It seemed on fire when he was engaged in
debate, or in earnest conversation. Yet there was a
gentleness about it, which made it as attractive in his
milder moods as it was terrible in his anger.

His voice was clear, strong, and flexible. He was
one of the best readers, if not the very best, I ever
knew, putting the writer's meaning into his tones, and
making the hearer forget all but his subject. On
Sunday afternoons he was accustomed to read to us a
sermon from some old English divine, — Barrow or
Taylor. On such occasions, he did ample justice to
his author ; and " truths divine came mended from
his tongue." We were then required to read a chap-
ter from the Bible. On this he would question us
as to its meaning, and accompany his inquiries with

542 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER.

remarks and information, often curious and original,
and always evincing a knowledge of Scripture, and a
power of comparing one passage with another, and of
thence eliciting its meaning, which I have never seen
surpassed. These Sunday evening recitations, which
were kept up till the family circle was broken by the
marriage of my sister, and by my own removal to
Portsmouth, were always regarded by us with great
interest, and were equally pleasant and instructive.
His remarks were not so much the result of deep
learning, which he did not possess, as of a rare
sagacity which revealed to him what profounder
study made known to others.

I close this labor of filial piety with mingled feel-
ings of pleasure and regret, — of pleasure that it is
accomplished, of regret at the manner in which it is
performed. I commit it, with its many imperfections,
to the charitable construction of friends, who know
under what discouragements, in sickness and suffer-
ing, it has been pushed steadily, but slowly, forward
to its present imperfect completion. To others, the
author and his theme are alike indifferent, and can
have no claim to attention or regard beyond what
the theme itself may possess, as presenting a picture,
more or less perfect, of a true man — a man of head,
heart, and hand, — of thought, feeling, and action — a
man not great, in the sense in which some three or four

LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 543

in. a century are, who leave tlieir stamp on their age
or country — -not perfect, as being, even in his own
opinion, never in the wrong ; but yet clear in intel-
lect, warm in affection, upright in purpose, and active
and indefatigable in exertion. Such a life, if well-
written, might be an encouraging example to youth
toiling in poverty and under privation ; to manhood
tasked with labor and tried by temptation ; to old
age, cheerful amidst suffering, and tranquil in its
pilgrimage, amid the splendors of departing day,
down the long valley of the shadow of death.

Fortunate in life, and in death unfortunate only,
parent revered, in this most inadequate portraiture
of thy many virtues !