SONG OF THE PILGRIMS. WRITTEN FOR THE SECOND CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION AT DOVER, 1823. THE breeze has swelled the whitening sail, Homes, and all we loved before. The deep may dash, the winds may blow, From that shore we 'll speed us fast. For we would rather never be, Blasts of heaven, onward sweep! O see what wonders meet our eyes! Here at length our feet shall rest, As long as yonder firs shall spread Their green arms o'er the mountain's head; Shall those cliffs and mountains be Now to the King of kings we 'll raise More loud than sounds the swelling breeze, SKETCH OF JOHN LANGDON. BY JACOB B. MOORE. THE circumstances attending the early settlement of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, though generally supposed to be similar, were in some respects widely different. The planters of the old Bay State left their native country, for the sake of enjoying here a degree of freedom in religion, of which they were deprived in the land of their fathers. The settlers of Piscataqua were actuated by a very different purpose. The pursuit of gain was uppermost in their thoughts, and they embarked at once in the fisheries and trade, which they followed with success, until many of the first settlers became men of opulence in the new country. The great importance of the fisheries seems not to have escaped the attention of Captain Smith, the discoverer of New Hampshire; for in his account of New England he thus addresses his countrymen: "Therefore, honorable and worthy countrymen, let not the meanness of the word fish distaste you, for it will afford you as good gold as the mines of Potosi and Guiana, with less hazard and change, and more certainty and facility." A reverend divine, in 1690, was preaching in Portsmouth, on the depravity of the times, and said: "You have forsaken the pious habits of your forefathers, who left the ease and comfort which they possessed in their native land, and came to this howling wilderness, to enjoy, without molestation, the exercise of their pure principles of religion." One of the congregation immediately rose, and interrupted him thus: Sir, you entirely mistake the matter; our ancestors SKETCH OF JOHN LANGDON. 23 did not come here on account of their religion, but to fish and trade." A better illustration of the pursuits of the early settlers of New Hampshire, perhaps, it would be difficult to give. The people of Portsmouth, wealthy and enterprising as they are, have followed the advice of Captain Smith, and have never suffered "the word fish to distaste them," but have made it indeed "a mine of gold" to that ancient and flourishing town. Among the citizens of New Hampshire, educated as merchants, who have risen to public distinction, no one, perhaps, occupied a wider space than JOHN LANGDON of Portsmouth. He was born in 1740, and received his early education in the celebrated grammar school of Major Samuel Hale. The father of young Langdon, who was a thrifty farmer, intended his son should engage in the same occupation; but the latter, looking upon commerce as the grand highway to wealth, set his heart upon becoming a merchant, and accordingly made the necessary preparations to enter a counting-house. One of the most extensive and successful mercantile houses at that time in Portsmouth, was that of Daniel Rindge, a counsellor under the provincial government, and to him young Langdon made application, and was admitted to his counting-house, and soon became thoroughly versed in commercial transactions. After completing his apprenticeship with Rindge, he made several successful and very profitable trading voyages, with the view of ultimately establishing a commercial house of his own, in his native town. But the dark clouds that preceded the Revolution began to skirt the horizon, and his mind was suddenly turned in a new direction. Naturally of a bold and fearless disposition, he entered at once into the feeling of the colonists; and, possessing in a remarkable degree the power to win over multitudes, he became the acknowledged leader of the sons of liberty" in that little Province, as much so as Samuel Adams and John Hancock in Massachusetts. Langdon was a leader exactly suited to the crisis. He took a conspicuous and active part in the struggle, and soon 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. 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. The 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. |