Why sigh we not for softer climes?
Why cling to that which bore us?
'Tis here we tread on Freedom's soil,
With Freedom's sunshine o'er us!

This is her home-this is her home,
The dread of the oppressor;
And this her hallowed birth-day is,
And millions rise to bless her!
'Tis joy's high sabbath; grateful hearts
Leap gladly in their fountains,

And bless our God who fixed the home
Of freedom in the mountains!

VINDICATION OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.

EXTRACT FROM A SPEECH DELIVERED AT FANEUIL HALL, BOSTON, OCT. 19, 1841.

BY GEORGE BARSTOW.

I SHALL pass no eulogium upon New Hampshire. I shall spread before you the page of history, and rest her defence there. If the dead could speak, if the slain could rise from Bunker Hill and Bennington, and all the hard-fought fields of the Revolution, there would be a cloud of witnesses to tell you, that in generous sacrifice of blood and treasure for the cause of AMERICAN LIBERTY, New Hampshire was not behind her sister States. She had but little commerce, and was naturally the favorite and pet of the mother country. Notwithstanding this close alliance and strong favoritism from the crown, she entered into the contest with a whole soul; and never stooped to the vile calculation of her interest in the result. Of the burdens of the revolutionary war, she bore one thirty-eighth part; while her proportionate share was but one forty-seventh. When the humble navy of the Revolution consisted of but seven ships, New Hampshire furnished one.* Have her calumniators forgotten that she gave brave M'Clary to die side by side. with Warren? Do they forget McNeil, who bears about your streets the wounds and scars of Chippewa? Have they never read of Stark and his militia? Nor of Langdon and Sullivan, Gilman and Thornton, - Cilley and Scammel, - Poor and Dearborn, -Reid and Whipple, and Miller? Are they unmindful of the services of New

*The Raleigh, launched at Portsmouth, May 21, 1776.

Hampshire regiments in the brilliant victory at Trentonbeneath the burning sun of Monmouth- and at Stillwater and Saratoga? Do they overlook the New Hampshire troops amidst the sanguinary scenes of Bridgewater? Search the annals of either war, and you will find that the sons of New Hampshire have contributed their full share to fill up the measure of the country's glory.

While such is the testimony of history, if any son of New Hampshire can be found recreant enough still to say that he is ashamed of the State, the State may well be ashamed of him. For my own part I glory in such a country. I wish for no prouder satisfaction than to be permitted to stand before this vast assembly and plead the cause of my native land. I claim for New Hampshire a share of all that constitutes our national character and honor. If we are known in foreign lands as a gallant, intelligent and powerful people, a part of that reputation belongs to New Hampshire. Memorials of the courage

and prowess of her sons are scattered throughout America, and the world. Monuments of her genius adorn every department of learning and invention.

If I were to speak of talents alone, throwing aside all party distinctions, it would be sufficient to mention the names of Webster and Woodbury and Cass. If I were called upon for evidences of hardy enterprise, they abound every where. They have passed into proverbs. They may be traced from the winter encampment of the eastern lumberman to the hut of the western pioneer. Go to the army, the halls of Congress, and the learned professions. Is New Hampshire silent there? Follow, if you please, the wildest track of navigation into the polar seas. A New Hampshire mariner has been there before you. But it is unnecessary to wander abroad. Look around here. Call up in long array the fair merchants of Boston. Question them from whence they came. Select only those who are known as upright and generous dealers. Is New Hampshire unrepresented among them? No. And where were

VINDICATION OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.

385

the characters of these men formed? Not in the city of their adoption. Character is always formed in youth; and theirs was formed and completed in all its energy, brightness and purity, before they left their native hills. They brought it here with them. It was perhaps their only capital.

With what justice is New Hampshire stigmatized as an "ignorant and benighted region?" Enter the public schools. Examine the journals of legislation. You will find that no State has made more judicious and thorough provision for the education of the entire people. She furnishes fifteen common schools, with six hundred scholars; three students in college, and forty students in academies, for every two thousand inhabitants. If there be a log cabin in that State, I assure you it does not stand beyond the reach of public instruction. The poorest boy that comes forth from its rustic portals, enjoys all the advantages of a free school. I have said nothing of seminaries and higher institutions, for I would not dwell upon this subject in de

But this charge of "ignorance and benightedness" has been rung in our ears till it can be borne no longer. It is a false, unfounded charge. It is time that it be silenced forever.

The State of which I speak knows little of the splendors or the miseries of crowded cities:

""T is a rough land of earth, and stone, and tree,
Where breathes no castled lord nor cabined slave."

It is inhabited chiefly by husbandmen who till their own fields with their own hands; whose debts and obligations are mainly due to the Power that rules the varied seasons; whose simplicity of manners and genuine social intercourse might be quoted as an instance of that happy state of society which is the constant theme of poetry. It is true they lead not a life of bloated ease. Their life is one of industry and frugality. But the virtues are all theirs; for these are companions of toil. Theirs too is freedom of

thought and of action. Who is independent if not the husbandman? He feels not the vile tyranny of patronage. No lordly dictator can withhold from him the rains and dews of Heaven. However unpopular his opinions may be, the earth will not yield less on that account; and he fears not to utter his whole mind. Of such men the population of that State is chiefly composed. They are fearless and free. They love freedom. And should the time ever come when Liberty is driven from the shores of Commerce, she will find a refuge and a resting place among the fastnesses of the granite hills. New Hampshire was one of the first States to aspire to freedom, and will be among the last to yield it up. A mountainous country, full of narrow defiles and rugged steeps, is the last to be stamped by the heel of Conquest. Liberty makes her last stand in mountain passes, and when vanquished in the final contest, ascends towards heaven, and is seen taking her last flight from the summits of the mountains.