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JOHN P. HALE

John P. Hale comes of good old New England stock. His ancestors were the men who founded those New England institutions which are alike the glory of that section of the country and the whole nation. The grandfather of Mr. Hale – Samuel Hale – was a lawyer of ability and success, and he educated his son John – father of the present Mr. Hale – to the same profession. The father of Mr. Hale married a Miss O'Brien, daughter of Capt. Jeremiah O'Brien. Of this ancestor Mr. Hale is justly proud. The following true story is told of his gallantry at the beginning of the Revolutionary War:

"When the news of the struggle with the mother country reached Machias, in Maine (then a province of Massachusetts), on the 9th of May, 1775, an armed British schooner, the Margaretta, was lying in port, with two sloops under her convoy, loading with lumber in behalf of the king's government. An attempt was made to capture the officers of the Margaretta while they were at church, but they escaped on board, weighed anchor, and dropped down the river. On the 11th, a party of thirty-five volunteers was hastily collected, and, taking one of the lumber sloops, they made sail. The Margaretta, on observing their appearance, weighed and crowded sail, to avoid a conflict; the sloop proved to be a better sailor. As she approached, the schooner opened a fire with four light guns and fourteen swivels, to which the sloop replied with musketry, and soon the Americans boarded and captured the Margaretta. The loss of life in this affair was not very large, though twenty men on both sides are said to have been killed and wounded. It was the first blow struck on the water in the Revolutionary struggle, and it was characterized by a long chase, a bloody struggle, and a triumph.

"There was originally no commander in the sloop, but previously to engaging the Margaretta, Jeremiah O'Brien was selected for that station. Transferring the armament to a sloop, he engaged separately, and captured two English cruisers sent out from Halifax expressly to take him, and carried their crews as prisoners to Watertown, where the provincial Legislature of Massachusetts was assembled. His gallantry was so generally admired, that he was appointed a captain in the marine of the colony, and afterward distinguished himself as a continental officer. Two of his brothers, uncles of Mrs. John P. Hale, senior, were also noted for their nautical bravery."

Mr. Hale, the subject of this sketch, was born on the 31st of March, 1806, at Rochester, New Hampshire. When a boy he, like most New England boys, attended the common district school of his neighborhood. When he grew up to be a young man, he was sent to Phillips Academy, at Exeter, where the well-known Dr. Abbott also educated Daniel Webster, Edward Everett, Lewis Cass and other distinguished men. In September, 1823, Mr. Hale entered Bowdoin College, and graduated with high honors in 1827. Among his associates in college were Hawthorne, Longfellow, Franklin Pierce, Prof. Stone, and S. S. Prentiss. In 1828, Mr. Hale selected his home, the town of Dover, where he now resides. There he went to study law in the office of D. M. Christie. He was admitted to the bar in 1830, and in 1834 his clients had become so numerous that he was obliged to take a partner. He was never so distinguished as a law-student, as for his popular argument with a jury. His forte was then, as now, in appealing directly to the hearts of men. By common sense, humor, pathos and sarcasm he won his cause. Mr. Hale was, we presume, a little more inclined to politics than to law, and if we may judge at all from his looks to-day, he was never over-fond of severe application, mental or physical, to labor.

In 1832, Mr. Hale was elected to represent Dover in the New Hampshire Legislature, and was a staunch Democrat. In 1834, General Jackson appointed him U.S. Attorney for the district of New Hampshire, an office which he filled creditably to himself. Mr. Van Buren continued him in this office, and he filled it till John Tyler removed him. This was a turning point in his history. He fell back to his old practice of the law; but in 1843, he was nominated and elected to Congress, to take his seat in the House of Representatives. A struggle was at that time beginning between the North and the South, and Mr. Hale, apparently to his certain defeat and humiliation, for New Hampshire was then overwhelmingly Democratic, took side with the North and freedom. He was renominated for Congress, but soon afterward he had the courage to come out in a letter denouncing the annexation of Texas. This, as a matter of course, brought down upon him the enmity of his old companions. The State Democratic Committee called a new convention in his district, set his nomination aside, and nominated John Woodbury in his place. It was at this juncture that Mr. Hale showed his nerve, and it is said that his spirited wife sustained him through the campaign with a courage and spirit second only to his own. Suffice it to say, that after an arduous campaign, Mr. Hale triumphed so far as to prevent his competitor from being elected. A majority was required to elect, and no candidate could get that majority. The next year Mr. Hale was sent again to the State Legislature to represent the town of Dover, and he was chosen Speaker of the House of Representatives. He presided so fairly and won so much upon the members, that before the adjournment took place, the Legislature elected Mr. Hale to represent the State, in part, for six years in the United States Senate! This was a great triumph. The man who had been set aside for his faithfulness to his own convictions of right, by party managers, was taken up by the State at large, and sent to represent New Hampshire in the Senate of the United States. His new position was an extraordinary one. He was about to take his seat in the Senate backed by no party, utterly alone, sent there for his individual merits, and not to advance the interests of any party.

A writer not agreeing or sympathizing with Mr. Hale in his peculiar anti-slavery views, speaks of this period of Mr. Hale's history in the following language:

"When Mr. Hale took his seat he was almost alone, and had to combat, single-handed, the political 'giants in those days.' Sometimes he was met with labored arguments, then subjected to bitter reproaches; at times those who were but 'his peers' would affect almost to ignore his presence, and again they would mercilessly denounce him as advocating doctrines dangerous to the liberties of the Republic. But the senator from New Hampshire was not to be intimidated or diverted from what he considered to be his duty. Adopting the guerrilla tactics, he manfully held his ground, and with felicitous humor, pungent retort, or keen sarcasm, made an impression upon the phalanx against which he had to contend. So high were his aims, and so conciliating were his manners, that before the close of his senatorial term, Mr. Hale had beaten down the barriers of prejudice, and fairly conquered sectional discourtesy. He was thus not only the standard-bearer, but the pioneer of the North in the Senate."

In 1853, the Democracy were in the ascendency in New Hampshire, and Mr. Atherton took Mr. Hale's seat in the Senate. Mr. Hale was persuaded at this time to locate himself in the city of New York, to practise his profession. Luckily, he did not give up his house at Dover, his family remaining there, and he paying his poll tax there.

In 1855, he was again elected to serve New Hampshire for an unexpired term; and in 1859, was reëlected for another whole term of six years. The same writer from whom we have just quoted, remarks further:

"Senator Hale is especially attentive to his constituents, and never neglects their interests for practice in the Supreme Court or other private business. He is, nevertheless, ever ready to address public assemblages on subjects in which he takes an interest. The sailors will never forget his efforts in procuring an abolition of flogging in the United States navy, in commemoration of which they presented him with a gold medal.

"From the commencement of Senator Hale's career up to the present time, he has been the untiring advocate of whatever he viewed as powerful for good, as calculated to meliorate the condition of man, or as likely to advance the general interests of the American Union, without prejudice to the rights of the section which he represents. He has ever firmly refused to bow before counterfeited images, or to scramble for place in the arena of party, but he has never declined to assume whatever burden of duty his friends counselled him to bear.

"In person, Senator Hale is burly, bluff-looking, with a clear eye, and a hearty grasp of the hand for his friends. His colloquial powers are of a splendid order, and he is a rare humorist, genial, sunshiny and kindly. He laughs with the foibles and shortcomings of the world – not at them; and his laugh is pure and silvery. Married in early life to Miss Lucy H. Lambert, of Berwick, Maine (a lady who combines rare attainments of mind, beauties of character, and personal charms), he has ever found his highest happiness in his own domestic circle, which is now graced by two accomplished daughters, just budding into womanhood. An evening spent with this estimable family is an event to be remembered with pleasure."

Mr. Hale has long been a favorite in the Senate with men of all parties. Whenever it is known beforehand that he is going to speak – no matter what the subject may be – he is sure to gather a crowded audience. He is one of the most popular men in the country, for his satire has never a spice of cruelty in it. His jolly humor, everlasting good nature, and natural love of fair play, make him friends wherever he is, no matter if he be among his bitterest southern enemies.

To gain any idea of the change which has taken place in the Senate since Mr. Hale took his seat in it, we must remember that then he stood up alone the champion of anti-slavery – unless we make an exception in favor of Mr. Seward – while now more than twenty Republican senators sit with him on the "opposition benches." To get a faint idea of the condition of the Senate when Mr. Hale entered it, let us go back to the 20th of April, 1845. The famous Drayton and Soyers slave case had just occurred, and Dr. Bailey and his paper, the "National Era," had been at the mercy of a mob for three days. Mr. Hale introduced into the Senate a bill relating to riots and unlawful assemblages in the District of Columbia. We will abridge the debate which ensued:

Mr. Foote, of Miss., made a very long speech on the general subject of slavery, and especially slavery in the District of Columbia. The attempt to legislate indirectly – that is, to sustain freedom of discussion in the District – against slavery, was an outrage upon the rights of the South. If any man gives countenance to this bill, he said, I pronounce him to be no gentleman – he would, upon temptation, be guilty of highway robbery on any of the roads of the Union. He charged that the abduction of the Drayton-Soyer slaves was instigated or countenanced by a member of the United States Senate – meaning Mr. Hale. This bill is intended to cover negro-robbery. The New Hampshire senator is endeavoring to get up civil war and insurrection. Let him go South. Let him visit the good State of Mississippi. I invite him there, and will tell him beforehand, in all honesty, that he could not go ten miles into the interior before he would grace one of the tallest trees of the forest, with a rope around his neck, and if necessary, I should myself assist in the operation!

Mr. Hale. – I did not anticipate this discussion, yet I do not regret it. Before proceeding further, let me say that the statement that I have given the slightest countenance to the recent "kidnapping of slaves is false."

Mr. Foote. – It had been stated so to me and I believed it. I am glad to hear the senator say he had no connection with the movement – some of his brethren doubtless had.

Mr. Hale. – The sneer of the gentleman does not affect me. While I am up, let me call the attention of the Senate to a man, who I am proud to call my friend, the editor of the "National Era." Mr. Hale read a card of Dr. Bailey's in the "Intelligencer," declaring his entire ignorance of the abduction of the slaves till they were returned.

Mr. Calhoun. – Does he make denunciation of the robbery?

Mr. Hale. – He had quite enough to do in defending himself, and it was no part of his duty to denounce others.

Mr. Calhoun. – I understand that.

Mr. Hale went on to refer to Mr. Foote's invitation of hanging in Mississippi, and would, in return for the hospitality, invite the senator to come to New Hampshire to discuss this whole subject, and he would there promise him protection and rights. He defended his bill as containing simply the plainest provisions of the common law; yet the South Carolina senator was shocked at his temerity.

Mr. Butler. – Will the senator vote for a bill, properly drawn, inflicting punishment on persons inveigling slaves from the District of Columbia?

Mr. Hale. – Certainly not; and why? Because I do not believe slavery should exist here.

Mr. Calhoun. – He wishes to arm the robbers and disarm the people of the district… I will take this occasion to say, that I would just as soon argue with a maniac from Bedlam as with the senator from New Hampshire.

Mr. Hale went on calmly to reply to all these personalities by defending his bill. Mr. Foote again got the floor, and began to defend his threat of assassination. He never deplored the death of such men. The senator from New Hampshire will never be a victim. He is one of those gusty declaimers – a windy speaker – a —

Mr. Crittenden. – I call the gentleman to order – and Mr. Foote was called to order by the presiding officer.

Later in the day, Mr. Douglas rose and congratulated Mr. Hale on the triumph he had achieved. The debate would give him ten thousand votes. He could never have represented a State on that floor but for such southern speeches as they had just listened to, breathing a fanaticism as wild and reckless as that of the senator from New Hampshire.

Mr. Calhoun. – Does the gentleman pretend to call me and those who act with me fanatics? We are only defending ourselves. The Illinois senator partially apologized. Mr. Foote was restive, however, and said that he must repeat his conviction, that any man who utters in the South the sentiments of the New Hampshire senator, will meet with death upon the scaffold – and deserves it.

Mr. Douglas. – I must again congratulate the senator from New Hampshire upon the accession of five thousand more votes! and he is on for honors? Who can believe that now walks into the United States Senate, that such things could have been within so few years?

It would be easy to fill this volume with extracts from exciting and interesting debates in the Senate, in which Mr. Hale participated, but we have room only for a few paragraphs, to show his style and manner.

Jan. 19 and 21, 1857, Mr. Hale delivered one of his longest and ablest senatorial speeches upon Kansas and the Supreme Court. We subjoin a few extracts:

"I aver here that the object of the Nebraska bill was to break down the barrier which separated free territory from slave territory; to let slavery into Kansas, and make another slave state, legally and peacefully if you could, but a slave state anyhow. I gather that from the history of the times, from the character of the bill, from the measure, the great measure, the only measure of any consequence in the bill, which was the repeal of the Missouri restriction.

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"I say, then, sir, that the rule by which to judge of the intent, the object, the purpose of an act, is to see what the act is calculated to do, what its natural tendency is, what will in all human probability be the effect. Before the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska act, there stood upon your statute-book a law by which slavery was prohibited from going into any territory north of 36° 30'. The validity and constitutionality of that law had been recognized by repeated decisions of the courts of the several States. If I am not mistaken, I have a memorandum by me, showing that it had been recognized by the Supreme Court of the State of Louisiana. So far as I know, the constitutionality of that enactment was unquestioned, and the country had reposed in peace for more than a generation under its operation. By and by, however, it was discovered to be unconstitutional, and it was broken down. The instant it was broken down, slavery went into Kansas; but still, gentlemen tell us they did not intend to let slavery in; that was not the object. Let me illustrate this. Suppose a farmer has a rich field, and a pasture adjoining, separated by a stonewall which his fathers had erected there thirty years before. The wall keeps out the cattle in the pasture, who are exceedingly anxious to get into the field. Some modern reformer thinks that moral suasion will keep them in the pasture, even if the wall should be taken down, and he proceeds to take it down. The result is, that the cattle go right in; the experiment fails. The philosopher says; 'Do not blame me; that was not my intention; but it is true, the effect has followed.' I retort upon him; 'You knew the effect would follow; and, knowing that it would follow, you intended that it should follow.'

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"This brings me to another part of my subject, in answer to a question which the honorable senator from Illinois (Mr. Douglas) propounded, when he asked if he was to be read out of the party for a difference on this point. I have great regard for the sagacity of that honorable senator, but I confess it was a little shaken when he asked that question; is a man to be read out of the party for departing from the President on this great cardinal point? Why, sir, he asks, is a man who differs from the President on the Pacific railroad to go out of the party? Oh no, he may stay. If he differs on Central America, very good; take the first seat if you please. You may differ with the President on anything and everything but one, and that is this sentiment, which I shall read; Mr. Buchanan shall speak his own creed. On the 19th of August 1842, in the Senate, Mr. Buchanan used this language:

"'I might here repeat what I have said on a former occasion' – (you see it was so important he must repeat it) – 'that all Christendom' – (mark the words) – 'is leagued against the South upon this question of domestic slavery.'

"All Christendom includes a great many people. If that be true, and if you have got any allies, it is manifest they must be outside of Christendom, because Mr. Buchanan says all Christendom is against you; but still he leaves you some allies, and you will see – it is as plain as demonstration can make it – that your allies are not included in Christendom. Where are the allies? I will read the next sentence:

"'They have no other allies to sustain their constitutional rights except the Democracy of the North.'

"There is a fight for you: all Christendom on one side, and the Democracy of the North on the other. That is not my version; it is Mr. Buchanan's. That is the way he backs his friends; for he went on, after having made this avowal, to claim peculiar consideration from southern gentlemen, and intimated that he might speak a little more freely, having previously indorsed them so highly as this. Well, sir, when all Christendom was on one side, and the Democracy of the North on the other, and the Democracy of the North growing less and less every day – a small minority in the New England States – how could the senator from Illinois be so unkind, or how could he doubt, if on this vital question he deserted the Democracy and went over to Christendom, as to how the question would be answered whether he was to be read out of the party? Read out, sir. That question was settled long ago. On this great vital question he is out of the party.

"I would not say anything unkind to that senator, nor would I say anything uncourteous in the world; but my experience in the country life of New England does present to my mind an illustration which I know he will excuse me if I give it. A neighbor of mine had a very valuable horse. The horse was taken sick, and he tried all the ways in the world to cure him, but it was of no avail. The horse grew worse daily. At last, one of his neighbors said: 'What are you going to do with the horse?' 'I do not know,' was the reply; 'but I think I shall have to kill him.' 'Well,' said the other, 'he does not want much killing.' You see, in ordinary times, and on ordinary questions, a little wavering might be indulged; but when it is on one question, and a great vital question, and all Christendom is on the one side, and the northern Democracy on the other, to go over from the ranks of the Democracy to swell the swollen ranks of Christendom, and then ask if he is to be read out!

"This omission to submit the constitution to the people of Kansas is not accidental. I am sorry to find, as I have found out this session, that the omission to put it in the original bill was not accidental. We have a little light on this subject from a gentleman who always sheds light when he speaks to the Senate – I mean the honorable senator from Pennsylvania [Mr. Bigler]. He says that this was not accidental, by any means. He has spoken once or twice about a meeting that was held in the private parlor of a private gentleman. There was a good deal of inquiry and anxiety to know what sort of a meeting that was. The gentleman who owns the house said he did not know anything about it. That is not strange. The hospitable man let his guests have the use of any room they chose. The honorable senator from Pennsylvania said this meeting was 'semi-official.' I do not know what kind of a meeting that was. I have heard of a semi-barbarous, a semi-civilized, and a semi-savage people; I have heard of a semi-annual, and semi-weekly; but when you come to semi-official, I declare it bothers me. What sort of a meeting was it? Was it an official meeting? No. Was it an unofficial meeting? No. What was it? Semi-official.

"I have never met anything analogous to it but once in my life, and that I will mention by way of illustration. A trader in my town, before the day of railroads, had taken a large bank bill, and he was a little doubtful whether it was genuine or not. He concluded to give it to the stage driver, and send it down to the bank to inquire of the cashier whether it was a genuine bill. The driver took it, and promised to attend to it. He went down the first day, but he had so many other errands that he forgot it, and he said he would certainly attend to it the next day. The next day he forgot it, and the third day he forgot it; but he said, 'to-morrow I will do it, if I do nothing else; I will ascertain whether the bill is genuine or not.' He went the fourth day, with a like result; he forgot it; and when he came home, he saw the nervous, anxious trader, wanting to know whether it was genuine or not; and he was ashamed to tell him he had forgotten it, and he thought he would lie it through. Said the trader to him, 'Did you call at the bank?' 'Yes.' Did the cashier say it was a genuine bill?' 'No, he did not.' 'Did he say it was a bad one?' 'No.' 'Well, what did he say?' 'He said it was about middling – semi-genuine.' I have never learned to this day whether that was a good or a bad bill. They used to say, in General Jackson's time, that he had a kitchen cabinet as well as a regular one. This could not be a meeting of the kitchen cabinet, because it sat in a parlor. It was semi-official in its character also."

The speech closes with the following language in reference to the Dred Scott decision of the Supreme Court:

"If the opinions of the Supreme Court are true, they put these men in the worst position of any men who are to be found on the pages of our history. If the opinion of the Supreme Court be true, it makes the immortal authors of the Declaration of Independence liars before God and hypocrites before the world; for they lay down their sentiments broad, full, and explicit, and then they say that they appeal to the Supreme Ruler of the universe for the rectitude of their intentions; but, if you believe the Supreme Court, they were merely quibbling on words. They went into the courts of the Most High, and pledged fidelity to their principles as the price they would pay for success; and now it is attempted to cheat them out of the poor boon of integrity; and it is said that they did not mean so; and that when they said all men, they meant all white men; and when they said that the contest they waged was for the right of mankind, the Supreme Court of the United States would have you believe that they meant it was to establish slavery. Against that I protest, here, now, and everywhere; and I tell the Supreme Court that these things are so impregnably fixed in the hearts of the people, on the page of history, in the recollections and traditions of men, that it will require mightier efforts than they have made or can make to overturn or to shake these settled convictions of the popular understanding and of the popular heart.

"Sir, you are now proposing to carry out this Dred Scott decision by forcing upon the people of Kansas a constitution against which they have remonstrated, and to which, there can be no shadow of doubt, a very large portion of them are opposed. Will it succeed? I do not know; it is not for me to say, but I will say this, if you force that, if you persevere in that attempt, I think, I hope the men of Kansas will fight. I hope they will resist to blood and to death the attempt to force them to a submission against which their fathers contended, and to which they never would have submitted. Let me tell you, sir, I stand not here to use the language of intimidation or of menace; but you kindle the fires of civil war in that country by an attempt to force that constitution on the necks of an unwilling people; and you will light a fire that all Democracy cannot quench. Aye, sir, there will come up many another Peter the Hermit, that will go through the length and the breadth of this land, telling the story of your wrongs and your outrages; and they will stir the public heart; they will raise a feeling in this country such as has never yet been raised; and the men of this country will go forth, as they did of olden time, in another crusade; but it will not be a crusade to redeem the dead sepulchre where the body of the Crucified had lain from the profanation of the infidel, but to redeem this fair land, which God has given to be the abode of freemen, from the desecration of a despotism sought to be imposed upon them in the name of 'perfect freedom' and 'popular sovereignty!'"