Page images
PDF
EPUB

became obnoxious to the government and many of the loyal citizens, who feared the total annihilation of their trade, and looked upon disloyalty as a crime of the deepest dye. In the fall of 1774, after it had become apparent that the crisis must come, Langdon gathered around him a band of choice spirits, and together they proceeded in silence to the king's fort at New Castle, seized upon all the powder and military stores, and removed their booty to a place of concealment, whence it could be called into use in case of emergency. This bold act produced at once an intense excitement. Gov. Wentworth stormed, and issued proclamations, but not a voice uttered or a thought whispered the secret. This was in December, four months before the battle of Lexington.

In the spring of the year 1775, John Langdon was chosen a delegate to Congress, and attended the session which commenced in May, at Philadelphia. In January, 1776, he was re-appointed a delegate, but was not present on the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. He commanded a company of cadets soon after the commencement of the war; and at the time of the surrender of the British army under Burgoyne, he was a volunteer at Bennington. He was also at Rhode Island with a detachment of his company, at the time the British troops had possession of the island, and when General Sullivan brought off the American troops. No man had a higher popularity with the people, at this time, than John Langdon. He was elected repeatedly to the legislature, and was for several years Speaker of the Assembly.

The

When the news of the fall of Ticonderoga reached New Hampshire, the provincial legislature was in session at Exeter. It was at a period when the resources of the patriots were almost exhausted, the public credit was gone, and the members of the Assembly were disheartened. men of New Hampshire had already exerted themselves to the utmost for the good of the cause. John Langdon was Speaker of the Assembly at the time. He rose in his place, on the morning after the intelligence was received,

SKETCH OF JOHN LANGDON.

25

and addressed the house to the following effect: "My friends and fellow-citizens: I have three thousand dollars in hard money; I will pledge my plate for three thousand more. I have seventy hogsheads of Tobago rum, which shall be sold for the most it will bring. These are at the service of the State. If we succeed in defending our firesides and homes, I may be remunerated; if we do not, the property will be of no value to me."

This noble proposal infused new life into the Assembly; and in the course of a few days, by means of the funds advanced by John Langdon, a brigade was assembled, and on its march to the frontiers, and to victory, under the gallant Stark. During the whole of the revolutionary struggle, Langdon was ever active and constant in his labors for the good cause. A man of the people, in the emphatic sense of the term, he was always popular with the great mass, whose interests he made it a point to sustain on all occasions. Possessing a handsome address, and being open, obliging, and generous in his general conduct, he was calculated to gain the public esteem, and was among the few who were fortunate enough to retain it through life. He was honored with the highest offices the people could bestow. He was twice President of the State, under its first constitution; was a member of the convention which formed the federal constitution; was twelve years Senator in Congress, and subsequently, for six years Governor of the State. In 1811, he retired from public life, although urgently pressed to accept the Vice-Presidency, an office to which he might have been elected, had he not preferred the quiet and repose of private life. In the enjoyment of domestic relations, in his family, and a wide circle of friends, he chose to pass the evening of his days remote from the cares and bustle of public life. He was religious, without being obnoxious to the charge of bigotry; and was liberal of his ample means, for charitable and benevolent purposes. He died at Portsmouth, in September, 1819, universally lamented by a people, in whose service he had spent the greater portion of his active life.

3

LA FAYETTE'S RETURN.

BY PHILIP CARRIGAIN.

NORTH and South, and East and West,
A cordial welcome have addressed,
Loud and warm, the Nation's Guest,
Dear son of Liberty;

Whom tyrants cursed, when Heaven approved,
And millions long have mourned and loved,
He comes, by fond entreaties moved,
The GRANITE STATE to see.

Our mountains tower with matchless pride,
And mighty torrents from them glide,
And wintry tempests, far and wide,
Ridge deep our drifts of snow;
Yet does our hardening climate form
Patriots with hearts as bold and warm,
At social feast, or battle storm,
As e'er met friend or foe.

Bliss domestic, rank, wealth, ease,
Our guest resigned for stormy seas,
And for war's more stormy breeze,
To make our country free;
And potent Britain saw, dismayed,
The lightning of his virgin blade
To Freedom flash triumphant aid,
But death to Tyranny.

Now, in his life's less perilous wane,
He has re-crossed the Atlantic main,
Preserved by Heaven, to greet again

The land he bled to save,

And those who with him, hand in hand,
Fought 'neath his mighty sire's command,-
Alas! how thinned that gallant band,
Band of the free and brave!

Angels, 't is said, at times have stood
Unseen among the great and good,
For country's rights who shed their blood,
Nor has their influence ceased;

LA FAYETTE'S RETURN.

For party feuds far off are driven,
Foes reconciled, and wrongs forgiven,
And this green spot of earth made Heaven,
For these old heroes' feast.

They 've met in war, to toil and bleed,
They 've met in peace, their country freed;
And unborn millions will succeed

To their dower, the Rights of Man;
The Patriot of both hemispheres,

Though first on earth, deems all his peers,
Who joined his war-cry with their cheers,
Where raged the battle's van.

Such were the men our land did save,
Nor e'er can reach oblivion's wave,
(Though booming o'er the statesman's grave,)
Our deep, redeemless debt.

No! Merrimack may cease to flow,
And our White Mountains sink below;
But nought can cancel what we owe

To them and La Fayette.

27

VINDICATION OF NEW ENGLAND.

FROM A SPEECH IN REPLY TO MR. HAYNE OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

BY DANIEL WEBSTER.

THE eulogium pronounced on the character of the State of South Carolina, for her revolutionary and other merits, meets my hearty concurrence. I shall not acknowledge that any man goes before me in regard for whatever of distinguished talent, or distinguished character, South Carolina has produced. I claim part of the honor, I partake in the pride of her great names. I claim them for countrymen, one and all. The Lawrences, the Rutledges, the Pinckneys, the Sumpters, the Marions Americans all whose fame is no more to be hemmed in by state lines, than their talents and patriotism were capable of being circumscribed within the same narrow limits. In their day and generation, they served and honored the country, and the whole country; and their renown is of the treasures of the whole country. Him, whose honored name the gentleman himself bears- does he suppose me less capable of gratitude for his patriotism or sympathy for his sufferings, than if his eyes had first opened upon the light in Massachusetts, instead of South Carolina? Does he suppose it in his power to exhibit a Carolina name so bright, as to produce envy in my bosom? No, increased gratification and delight rather. I thank God, that if I am gifted with little of the spirit which is able to raise mortals to the skies, I have yet none, as I trust, of that other spirit, which would drag angels down. When I shall be found, in my place here, in the Senate, or elsewhere, to sneer at public merit,

« PreviousContinue »