Revolution


 


 

ELIAS BOUDINOT (1740-1821), eminent American lawyer, patriot, philanthropist, and public servant—and the first president of the independent United States under the Continental Congress—was born in Philadelphia, of Huguenot ancestors. He received a classical education and studied law, graduating from Yale. Admitted to the New Jersey bar in 1777, he was a delegate to the Continental Congress, in 1778-1779 and 1781-1783, of which body he was elected president in 1782.

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As such Boudinot signed the treaty of peace with Great Britain at the close of the Revolutionary War, and was thus really the first brief president of the United States as a recognized, independent nation. 29 From 1789 to 1795 he represented New Jersey in the newly formed Congress. He was a director of the College of New Jersey (Princeton) from 1772 until his death, and received the degree of Doctor of Laws from Yale in 1780. Then, from 1795 to 1805, he was director of the mint at Philadelphia. But he resigned from this to devote himself most earnestly to the study of Biblical literature, and in particular to Bible prophecy. (Portrait appears on p. 61.)


Boudinot made liberal gifts to various charitable institutions. He was the actual founder and first president of the American Bible Society,  to which he gave ten thousand dollars. He was also a member of the Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions, to which he also contributed substantially. He likewise helped the department of natural history at Princeton College, and was greatly interested in the work for the Cherokee Indians and the deaf-mutes and in relieving suffering among the poor. He bequeathed a large estate for charitable uses. Boudinot was author of several historical and biographical works and was also joint translator into the Cherokee of the Gospels of Matthew, Luke, and John, the


Epistle of James, of the Acts of the Apostles, and of a Cherokee hymnbook.


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The Boston Transcript, says:


"The superficial area of the Union amounts to two millions nine hundred and thirty-six thousand one hundred and sixty-six square miles. At the close of the Revolutionary war in 1783, the limits of the United States did not exceed 820,680 square miles. Louisiana, purchased in 1803, had an extent of 899,579 square miles, or more territory than was included in the original States. By the addition of Florida, Texas and New Mexico, more territory was secured than the whole original extent of the United States, so that since the peace of

 1783 the country has increased in size more than three fold. The American Republic has a territorial extent nearly ten times as large as that of Great Britain and France combined."  

1858 MEC, FT 54


 


 


The period immediately preceding his birth was the most critical of any period in the history of our country; and was, probably, the most distinguished by its perils, the sublimity of its events, the noble development of character it furnished, and its commanding interpositions of Providence, of any period since the departure of Israel from the land of Egypt. If the English colonies were the only ones that were capable of bettering their condition, and that of the world, by asserting and obtaining their liberty, the colonies of our country, now the United States, furnish the only instance of successful rebellion against the power of the English throne.

 


What effect the events of this period had on the fortune, the character, and the history of the subject of this memoir, we may be unable fully to determine; but it will be readily seen, that the most fondly cherished memorials of his family, as of his country, could not fail of making a deep impression on his mind, at an early age. That the embarrassed condition of his early life was the direct result of the great sacrifices made by his progenitors, in the struggles and sufferings which they nobly shared with their contemporaries, is equally evident.

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William's father, Captain William Miller, was in the army of the Revolution. At the time of the evacuation of New York by order of Washington, on the invasion of that city by Lord Howe, in August, 1776, he was confined, sick with fever, in the hospital. By rallying all his strength, and the assistance he obtained from his fellow-soldiers, he succeeded in leaving the city with the continental troops. The effort, however, proved almost fatal. When his companions, in the retiring movement, sought shelter in a barn, during a storm, he was left helpless under the drippings from its roof, until his sad condition moved the compassion of a fellow-soldier, in better health than himself, to come to his relief. This true soldier entered the barn; he crowded together those who filled the already crowded floor, and thus made room for his almost dying comrade, Miller; and then

he bore him gently to the rude place of repose he had prepared for him. Under such circumstances, the poorest accommodations are enjoyed with a soul-inspiring sense of comfort, of which those who are in health, among friends, secure from danger, and surrounded with the luxuries of life, can form no conception.

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With our suffering soldier the point of danger appears to have been passed, by this timely assistance of his friend. How much he was afterwards indebted to the same, or some other generous heart, we have no recorded or traditionary testimony to inform us. He returned to Pittsfield, and was married to Miss Paulina Phelps, on the 22nd day of March, 1781. The family records inform us that he was born December 15th, 1757; and that Miss Phelps was born May 1st, 1764.



Five years after their marriage, they removed to Hampton, in the State of New York, where the survivor of the dangers and hardships of the revolutionary struggle was promoted to the office of captain in the militia of that state. In the last war with England, he was a member of the company called the Silver Grays, a volunteer body, to whose protection the public stores and other property at Whitehall were intrusted, on the approach of the British army along the shores, and of the British fleet on the waters of Lake Champlain. As a citizen, the character of Captain Miller was irreproachable. He never made a public profession of religion; but his house was often the place to which the neighbors gathered to hear the preaching of the gospel. He was taken away suddenly, with one of his daughters, by the pestilence which broke out in the army at Burlington, Vermont, and swept over a considerable portion of the country, with the most terrible fatality. He died December 30th, 1812, three days after his daughter.


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About a mile west from the centre of Pittsfield village, one of the most pleasant in western Massachusetts, there is a noble and fertile swell of land, which rises from the west bank of Pontousooc river - the western branch of the head-waters of the Housatonic - and is of sufficient extent to constitute several large farms. The summit of this fine elevation embraces what is familiarly known in the neighborhood as "the Miller farm." It takes its name from a family by the name of Miller, who came from the vicinity of Connecticut river, in or near Springfield, Massachusetts, about a hundred years ago.


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Family tradition uniformly connects this branch of the Miller family with Obadiah and Thomas Miller, of a previous generation; undoubtedly the persons of these names who are mentioned in the history of Springfield and Westfield, two hundred years since.


 


The surrounding country, as seen from the Miller farm, furnishes one of the most interesting prospects afforded by the natural scenery of New England. On the north, Saddle Mountain, the highest elevation of land in the state, towers far above all the other barriers of the valley; and while its "Gray Lock" will ever cause it to be regarded as the venerable and natural guardian of the adjacent portion of the world, it is pointed out as the site of Fort Massachusetts, so memorable for the scenes connected with its history during the French and Indian wars. The Washington Mountains form the strong background of the view on the east; the Hancock Mountains, a section of the Green Mountain range,

 of which Saddle Mountain is the climax, bound the view on the west; and some isolated mountainous elevations, through which the branches of the Housatonic river and railroad pass, are the prominent items in the prospect to the south.


 


On this commanding spot, the family of early adventurers erected their primitive dwelling; and, although their history is unknown to the world, the strong features of their character, as preserved in the memory of their descendants, were, the most daring contempt of danger, great love of independence, great capability of endurance, and whole-souled patriotism. The head of this family was the grandfather of William Miller, whose life these pages record. The name of the grandfather was William; his son, who was born and resided here, was named William; and here also was born the one who has just passed away, and whose world-wide fame demands that his history should now be written. This William Miller was born February 15th, A. D. 1782. He was the eldest of sixteen children, five of whom were sons and eleven were daughters.


 


The lot of ground on which the ancient dwelling stood is designated, on the new map of Pittsfield, by the name of "Dr. J. Leland Miller." The building itself is no more. The remains of the cellar are still visible; and the ruins are marked by an ancient gooseberry bush, a hardy specimen of the wild thorn, and an elm of the age, perhaps, of twenty years.


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The period immediately preceding his birth was the most critical of any period in the history of our country; and was, probably, the most distinguished by its perils, the sublimity of its events, the noble development of character it furnished, and its commanding interpositions of Providence, of any period since the departure of Israel from the land of Egypt. If the English colonies were the only ones that were capable of bettering their condition, and that of the world, by asserting and obtaining their liberty, the colonies of our country, now the United States, furnish the only instance of successful rebellion against the power of the English throne.


 


What effect the events of this period had on the fortune, the character, and the history of the subject of this memoir, we may be unable fully to determine; but it will be readily seen, that the most fondly cherished memorials of his family, as of his country, could not fail of making a deep impression on his mind, at an early age. That the embarrassed condition of his early life was the direct result of the great sacrifices made by his progenitors, in the struggles and sufferings which they nobly shared with their contemporaries, is equally evident.


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William's father, Captain William Miller, was in the army of the Revolution. At the time of the evacuation of New York by order of Washington, on the invasion of that city by Lord Howe, in August, 1776, he was confined, sick with fever, in the hospital. By rallying all his strength, and the assistance he obtained from his fellow-soldiers, he succeeded in leaving the city with the continental troops. The effort, however, proved almost fatal. When his companions, in the retiring movement, sought shelter in a barn, during a storm, he was left helpless under the drippings from its roof, until his sad condition moved the compassion of a fellow-soldier, in better health than himself, to come to his relief. This true soldier entered the barn; he crowded together those who filled the already crowded floor, and thus made room for his almost dying comrade, Miller; and thenhe bore him gently to the rude place of repose he had prepared for him. Under such circumstances, the poorest accommodations are enjoyed with a soul-inspiring sense of comfort, of which those who are in health, among friends, secure from danger, and surrounded with the luxuries of life, can form no conception.

 


With our suffering soldier the point of danger appears to have been passed, by this timely assistance of his friend. How much he was afterwards indebted to the same, or some other generous heart, we have no recorded or traditionary testimony to inform us. He returned to Pittsfield, and was married to Miss Paulina Phelps, on the 22nd day of March, 1781. The family records inform us that he was born December 15th, 1757; and that Miss Phelps was born May 1st, 1764.


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Five years after their marriage, they removed to Hampton, in the State of New York, where the survivor of the dangers and hardships of the revolutionary struggle was promoted to the office of captain in the militia of that state. In the last war with England, he was a member of the company called the Silver Grays, a volunteer body, to whose protection the public stores and other property at Whitehall were intrusted, on the approach of the British army along the shores, and of the British fleet on the waters of Lake Champlain. As a citizen, the character of Captain Miller was irreproachable. He never made a public profession of religion; but his house was often the place to which the neighbors gathered to hear the preaching of the gospel. He was taken away suddenly, with one of his daughters, by the pestilence which broke out in the army at Burlington, Vermont, and swept over a considerable portion of the country, with the most terrible fatality. He died December 30th, 1812, three days after his daughter.


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Captain Miller's wife was the daughter of Elder Elnathan Phelps, a minister of the Baptist church, and well known, in his day, for the plain, scriptural character of his preaching, through the whole section of country extending from western Massachusetts, along the line of Vermont and New York, to Lake Champlain. She was one of the earliest members of the Baptist church formed at Low Hampton, then a branch of the church at Orwell,

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Vermont, where Elder Phelps resided. We have the most convincing evidence of the sterling character of her piety; and shall find, as we progress, another instance to add to the long list, which the church of God keeps among her choicest memorials, to illustrate the power of a Christian mother's deportment and prayers, in recovering a gifted son from a dangerous position, and bringing him where his powerful natural energies, after being renewed by the spirit of God, would be devoted to the defence of the faith, and the edification of the church. Her death will be noticed in another place.


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Thus were blended in the parents of William, as their strongest traits of character, the highest virtues which heaven and earth can confer on man - piety and patriotism. If patriotism became most conspicuous to the public eye, by its exhibition on the field of danger and suffering, where the husband moved, its claims on the comfort of the wife, in her retirement, were felt to be sufficiently heavy. And if the mother, by her public but appropriate profession of faith, made her piety the most

 noticeable, the father yielded, at least, his assent and respect to that name and service which had won the heart and added to the graces of William's mother. The soldier of the Revolution was to lead his son into scenes, and bring him under a worldly discipline, which would add to his efficiency; and the camp, for a time, would feel as sure of his permanent attachment as it was to be proud of his soldierly honor; but the disciple of the cross would, at last, see that son enlisted under a different banner, to become a leader of other ranks to a different warfare, and a different kind of glory!


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The calling of William's grandfathers was entirely different; but there was a remarkable similarity in their end. Elder Phelps was suddenly attacked, while on a journey from Orwell to Pittsfield, by the army epidemic; he was found in a dying state by the wayside, in Pownal, Vermont, where he soon after died, and was buried by the side of their pastor's grave, all unknown to his friends at home, till these last acts of respect and affection had been completed. He is mentioned in "Benedict's History of the Baptists," (p. 485,) among "the first Baptist ministers who settled in Vermont." This took place "about the year 1780." He died in peace January 2nd, 1813. Of his grandfather Miller, but little more is recollected than his escape from death at the hands of the Indians, almost by miracle, to find a grave among strangers, on his return from the wars of our colonial history; probably from some one of the ill-advised and unsuccessful attempts on Canada, at the commencement of the Revolutionary War.


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The traditionary form of his Indian adventures is to this effect:- Somewhere in the western part of Massachusetts, when every exposed white settlement was protected by a rude fort, the grandfather and several companions were going to one of them, probably to strengthen the garrison, and must travel several miles by the road, or take a nearer route through the wilderness. Mr. Miller chose to take the shorter route, alone. He had come within hearing of the fort without harm, when a sudden stirring of the bushes awakened his fears, and he started to run. At the same instant the Indians fired their muskets, and several balls passed through the skirts of his heavy coat. He had proceeded but a few steps before he stumbled and fell to the ground; but his fall saved his life, for the hatchets of the Indians passed at the instant directly over his head. His self-command now returned; he arose to his feet, took aim at the spot where the savages were concealed, fired, turned and fled. The report brought some of the garrison, including several friendly Indians, to the spot. These Indians had already decided that the last gun heard was that of a white man, and that he had killed an Indian, for they heard his death-yell. On repairing to the spot, marks of blood were seen; and these were traced to a pond near by, into which it was supposed the dead Indian was thrown by his brethren.



It is thought by Deacon Samuel D. Colt, an aged, highly intelligent, and respected gentleman of Pittsfield, where he has resided since he was a child, that this incident is connected with the history of "Hutchinson's Fort," so called from the man who built it, during "the second French war." It was located about two miles west of the village. Its site is now covered by a brick dwelling-house. None of the other forts were then occupied.


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The few inhabitants of Pittsfield nearly all left the place at the time, on which account there is an omission in the town records for several years. Deacon Colt remarked, on referring to the adventure, that "this Miller was a courageous fellow." Mr. Miller afterwards fell a victim to the small-pox, as before stated. 


Such, then, were the family recollections and public events which were to make the first and deepest impression on the strong intellect and generous heart of the subject of this memoir. 


When William's parents removed from Pittsfield, in 1786, the section which embraced what is now known as Low Hampton was an almost uninhabited wilderness.  The village of Fairhaven did not then exist. And the town of Whitehall, now one of the familiar and important centres of trade and travel, was marked only by a few rude dwellings, the inhabitants of which were in danger of being crushed by the trees impending from the mountain sides over their heads. Half a dozen, or possibly half a score, of farm-houses were scattered over the country, between the southern extremity of Lake Champlain and Poultney, Vermont. But it was naturally a much more fertile and inviting country than the western part of Massachusetts. William was then about four years of age.


 


The farm selected by Mr. Miller consisted of about a hundred acres. It was taken on a lease, for which twenty bushels of wheat were to be paid annually. The farm was located near the bank of Poultney river, about six miles from the lake. After a suitable clearing had been effected, the logs of the felled trees were converted into a dwelling, and farming life in the wilderness, with its toils, privations, and hardships, was fairly begun. This was the condition of things to which young William's lot consigned him. The difficulties with which he had to contend need not all be enumerated.


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In his early childhood, marks of more than ordinary intellectual strength and activity were manifested. A few years made these marks more and more noticeable to all who fell into his society. But where were the powers of the inner man to find the nutriment to satisfy their cravings, and the field for their exercise?


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Besides the natural elements of education, the objects, the scenes, and the changes of the natural world, which have ever furnished to all truly great minds their noblest aliment, the inspiring historical recollections associated with well-known localities of the neighboring country, and the society of domestic life, there was nothing within William's reach but the Bible, the psalter, and prayer-book, till he had resided at Low Hampton several years. But were ever such natural scenery and such historical associations before blended together in so confined a circle? 


A few rods behind and west of the log house, the level which began at the bank of the river was broken by one of those natural terraces which mark so often the long slopes of the outspread valleys of our country. From this beautiful elevation, a forest scene might be witnessed, at the return of every autumn, that was so rich in its variegated beauties, and covered so extended a field, that it could not fail to entrance the soul of even an ordinary lover of nature, on beholding it. 


From the summit of the sharp mountainous ridge, half a mile further west, there was spread out before the eye a view as captivating by its grandeur as that from the lowlier position was by its beauty. The extent of country seen from this higher point was not less than fifty miles from north to south, while it stretched away easterly to the Green Mountains, the distant outline of which, including some of the higher peaks, seemed to rest against the sky. 


Sometimes a dense, motionless sea of vapor spread over the low plain, through which the hill-tops rose up like islands, and to which the neighboring mountain sides seemed to form the coast. From the wide-spread surface of this mimic sea, the smoke of the scattered farm-houses arose, and, as it became chilled in the air above, turned and sunk into the vapory bed, very much in the form, but not with the force, of the water spouted by a whale in the ocean. Again, the rising smoke from the farm-house, the coal-pit, and from masses of burning wood, when it reached an atmospheric line the temperature or density of which refused it an upward passage, slowly formed itself into an upper cloudy stratum, which connected the higher hill-tops as by an extended magic bridge. And sometimes the storm clouds swept along these mountain sides in their wildest and most imposing grandeur, the sure precursors of a sudden squall or tempest; and perhaps the spell-bound observer would not have time to reach the warm but rude cabin-door before the descending rain or snow would shut out every object but the ground beneath his feet.


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Bears, wolves, and other dangerous wild animals, which had formerly abounded through the whole region, at this time usually kept among the unfrequented recesses of the mountains. But occasionally, during the severity of winter, when the wolves were pressed by hunger, their howlings disturbed the repose of the settler, if they did not inflict a more serious injury, by the destruction of his flock. And, one night, William's mother was out near their residence, and seeing what she supposed was one of their domestic animals, she approached it, and, as she was about extending her hand towards it, was very soon informed of her mistake, by the frightful growl of a bear.

 


From the earliest times reached by history or tradition, Lake Champlain, and the natural landing-places which open into the country on its southern extremity, seem to have been the chosen thoroughfare for the native savages in their migrations, for the savages and the French in their warlike expeditions against the English colonists on the Atlantic, and afterwards for the British in their wars with the revolutionary colonies and the United States. The scenes of savage cruelty, of patriotic daring and ordinary war, which have marked the face of the earth along that chosen highway, had well-nigh ended when William was born. But nearly every mile between Quebec and Albany had been a battle-ground; and many a spot, from Canada along the mountain passes of northern New York, Vermont, and western Massachusetts, was known as the scene of some terrible Indian tragedy.


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Only about two miles below his father's residence, on the river near the banks of which it stood, are "Carver's Falls," one of the most romantic localities in our country. Directly below the falls is a broad, oblong basin, which connects with the lake, the precipitous sides of which were formerly hung with a thick growth of hemlocks. Some of the most fatal expeditions of the savages, against the frontier settlements of New England, were carried on by parties who ascended the river from the lake to this basin, there secreting their canoes under the dark evergreen branches of the hemlock trees; and then, threading their way secretly to the dwellings of the English, would seize their captives, or take the scalps of the murdered inhabitants, and return to their canoes. Here, in this secluded hiding-place, the danger was all over.


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Just across the lake were Ticonderoga, Crown Point, and Lake George. Within the limits of the view before mentioned, to the south, were Fort Edward and Fort William Henry; and, a little further distant, were Saratoga and Bennington. Of these names we need not speak.


 


This is the scenery, and these are the recollections, which entered largely into William's early education. He was not, however, entirely destitute of other resources.

 


In a newly settled country, the public means of education must necessarily be very limited. This was the case, at the time here referred to, in a much greater degree than it usually is with the new settlements of the present day. The schoolhouse was not erected in season to afford the children of Low Hampton but three months' schooling in winter, during William's schoolboy days. His mother had taught him to read, so that he soon mastered the few books belonging to the family; and this prepared him to enter the "senior class" when the district school opened. But if the terms were short, the winter

nights were long. Pine knots could be made to supply the want of candles, lamps, or gas. And the spacious fireplace in the log house was ample enough as a substitute for the schoolhouse and lecture-room. But even the enjoyment of these literary advantages subjected the zealous student to a somewhat severe discipline.


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The settlers generally on our frontiers are under the necessity of exercising the most stringent economy in the use of everything which takes money out, or brings money in. The most moderate liberality in the scale of living is often as ruinous to their prospects as indolence, intemperance, disease or death, could be. Many a hardy farmer, or his widow and children, have been compelled to give up their claim to the spot on which they had settled, just as it began to afford a comfortable subsistence, simply because they had not the means at command to lift the mortgage. There are always human sharks enough to devour all they can. And woe be to those who are at the mercy of the common mortgage-holder! Such were the circumstances of William's parents that they had a plain question to settle: with health, hard labor, sobriety and economy, the farm they had cleared might become their own, to leave to their children; the absence of any one of these items in the condition of success, was sure to make it otherwise. It was on this view of the case that William's parents declined to provide him with candles to read by; and this led to the expedient of the pine knots. 


There is an amusing and truly affecting incident connected with his application of this means for getting light, which shows how deeply his soul was bound up in his books, since an offence on that interest only could arouse his combativeness to commit an overt act. He was accustomed to select pine stumps of the proper quality for his candle-wood, chop them into a size and shape convenient for use, and then put these pieces into a place he had appropriated for that purpose, so that, when his hours for reading came, he would have nothing to do but light up. One day, when a sister of his, who is now living, had some of her little friends to visit her, she had some difficulty in kindling the fire, and, as William's pitch-wood was handy, she made use of that. The trespass was soon discovered by him; and so great was the provocation, he lost all self-command, and gave her a smart blow. It was the only one that sister ever received from him. 


Another difficulty called for another expedient. As soon as William's age and strength rendered him able to assist his father about the farm, it was feared that his reading by night might interfere with his

efficiency in the work of the day. His father insisted, therefore, that he should retire to bed when he retired himself. But the boy could not be kept in bed. When the other members of the family were all asleep, William would leave his bed, then find his way to the pitch-wood, go to the fireplace, cast himself down flat on the hearth, with his book before him, thrust his pitch-wood into the embers till it blazed well, and there spend the hours of midnight in reading. If the blaze grew dim, he would hold the stick in the embers till the heat fried the pitch out of the wood, which renewed the blaze. And when he had read as long as he dared to, or finished his book, he would find his way back to bed again, with as little noise as possible.


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But he came near losing even this privilege. His father awoke one night, and seeing the light of William's burning stick, he supposed the house was on fire. He hurried from his bed, and when he saw his son's position and employment, he seized the whip, and pursuing his flying son, cried out, in a manner which made it effectual for some time, "Bill, if you don't go to bed, I'll horsewhip you!"

 


The reader may wish to be informed where the books were obtained under such embarrassments. The first addition made to those belonging to the family, already named, was the History of Crusoe! The remains of this volume are still preserved. Its title-page reads as follows:-  


"The Wonderful Life and Surprising Adventures of the Renowned Hero, Robinson Crusoe, who lived twenty-eight years on an uninhabited island, which he afterwards colonized. Albany: Published by C. R. and G. Webster, State Street. MDCCXC." 


It is evidently an imitation or abridgment of Defoe. But how many longings of soul, how many plans, and entreaties, on the part of the boy, preceded the possession of that book! At length, his father granted him permission to purchase the book, if he would earn the money by chopping wood during his leisure hours. The prize was soon in his hands. The second book he possessed was The Adventures of Robert Boyle. Other books were loaned him by gentlemen in the vicinity, who had become interested in his improvement; among whom were Dr. Witherill 1 and Col. Lyon, 2 of Fairhaven, and Esquire Cruikshanks, 3 of Whitehall. 


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All this, however, only afforded a partial gratification to the inward desire for knowledge. But what could he do? His father could render him but little aid if he had been disposed to aid him. And, if he felt that his son must be denied even the trifling accommodations we have noticed, it must be seen that he would not readily favor a more liberal outlay for that son's benefit. There were then no amply endowed literary institutions, or zealous educational societies, standing with open doors and open arms to receive every promising or unpromising young man who might aspire to the honors, or the substantial benefits, of a liberal education. Was there any source then from which help might come? Some, no doubt, would consider it a cause of grief that more ample means were not within the reach of young William Miller. Viewing the case in some of its bearings, we could sympathize with them. In another view, we might not. Nothing could have been more gratifying to him than the attainment of means for an education; and his gratification, or that of any other, in itself, we should approve. And certain it is, that a more promising or worthy subject of the most generous appropriations could rarely be found. 


He possessed a strong physical constitution, an active and naturally well-developed intellect, and an irreproachable moral character. He had appropriated to his use and amusement the small stock of literature afforded by the family, while a child. He had enjoyed the limited advantages of the district school but a few years, before it was generally admitted that his attainments exceeded those of the teachers usually employed. He had drunk in the inspiration of the natural world around him, and of the most exciting events in his country's history. His imagination had been quickened, and his heart warmed, by the adventures and gallantries of fiction, and his intellect enriched by history. And some of his earliest efforts with the pen, as well as the testimony of his associates, show that his mind and heart were ennobled by the lessons, if not by the spirit and power, of religion.


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What, now, would have been the effect of what is called a regular course of education? Would it have perverted him, as it has thousands? or would it have made him instrumental of greater good in the cause of God? Would it have performed its appropriate work, that of disciplining, enlarging, and furnishing the mind, leaving unimpaired by the process its natural energies, its sense of self-dependence as to man, and its sense of dependence and accountability as to God? or would it have placed him in the crowded ranks of those who are content to share in the honor of repeating the twaddle, true or false, which passes for truth in the school or sect which has "made them what they are"? We think it would have been difficult to pervert him; but where so many who have been regarded as highly promising have been marred by the operation, he would have been in great danger. He might have become externally a better subject for the artist; but we doubt if he would have been a better subject to be used as an instrument of Providence. There are those who survive the regular course uninjured. There are those who are benefited by it so far as to be raised to a level with people of ordinary capacity, which they never could attain without special aid. And there is a third class, who are a stereotype representation of what the course makes them: if they raise a fellow-man out of the mire, they never get him nearer to heaven than the school where they were educated. 


Whatever might have been the result of any established course of education, in the case of William Miller, such a course was beyond his reach: he was deprived of the benefit, he has escaped the perversion. Let us be satisfied. But still we must record the fact, that it would have been extremely gratifying, if something of the kind could have been placed at his command.


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He desired it. He longed for it with an intensity of feeling that approached to agony. He pondered the question over and over, whether it was possible to accomplish what appeared to him to be not only a desirable gratification and honor, but almost essential to his existence.


It should be noticed, however, that his circumstances became somewhat relieved as he advanced in years. The log house had given place to a comfortable frame house; and, in this, William had a room he was permitted to call his own. He had means to provide himself with a new book, occasionally, and with candles to read at night, so that he could enjoy his chosen luxury, during his leisure hours, in comparative comfort. 


It was on one of those times of leisure that an incident occurred which marked a new era in his history, though it did not introduce fully such an era as he desired. 


There was a medical gentleman in the vicinity of his residence, by the name of Smith, who possessed an ample fortune, and was known to be very liberal. In the plans which had passed through the mind of William, to secure the means of maturing his education, he had thought of Dr. Smith. At any rate, it could do no harm to apply to him. The plan was carried so far as to write a letter, setting forth to that gentleman his intense desires, his want of means to gratify them, his hopes and his prospects, if successful. 


The letter was nearly ready to be sent to its destination, when William's father entered the room, which we may properly call his son's study. Perhaps it had not occurred to the son to consult his father in the matter; and to have it come to his notice in so unexpected a manner somewhat disturbed him for the moment. But there was the letter in his father's presence. He took it, and read it. It affected him deeply. For the first time, he seemed to feel his worldly condition to be uncomfortable, on his son's account. He wanted to be rich then, for the gratification of his son, more than for any other human being. There were the irrepressible yearnings of his first-born, which he had treated in their childish development as an annoyance, now spread out in manly but impassioned pleadings to a comparative stranger to afford him help. There were plans and hopes for the future, marked by an exhibition of judgment and honor that could not fail of commanding attention! All that was tender in that father's heart, all that was generous in the soldier, and all that could make him ambitious of a worthy successor, was moved by that letter. The tears fell, and words of sympathy were spoken; but the plan was impossible.

1853 SB, MWM 15


The letter of William was never sent. It had the effect, however, of changing his father's course towards him, so that he was rather encouraged than hindered in his favorite pursuits. 


By this time, the natural genius and attainments of young William Miller had distinguished him among his associates. To the young folks, he became a sort of scribbler-general. If any one wanted "verses made," a letter to send, some ornamental and symbolic design to be interpreted by "the tender passion," or anything which required extra taste and fancy in the use of the pen, it was pretty sure to be planned, if not executed by him. 


Some of these first-fruits of his genius are still in existence; and, although it requires no critic to discover that he had never received lessons of any of the "great masters," still these productions would compare very favorably with similar efforts by those whose advantages have been far superior to his.


The facts connected with the early life of Mr. William Miller, and the incidents in his personal history, now spread before the readers of this work, will enable them to see, in the boy, a type of the future man. The most embarrassing circumstances of his condition could not master his perseverance. And if he could not accomplish all he desired to, the success which attended his efforts, in spite of great discouragements, was truly surprising. The position he had won opened to him a fairer prospect, though still surrounded with serious dangers. But the features of the next step in his history must be the subject of another chapter.


1853 SB, MWM 16


 


CHAPTER 2


 


MARRIAGE AND PUBLIC LIFE


 


THE successful military operations in behalf of the northern colonies of our country resulted, at the close of the Revolutionary War, in opening the whole territory along the northern frontier of the New England States and New York, for the occupancy of the immigrant; and gave security in prosecuting the business of peaceful life. The desire of possessing a home in this new, healthy, and fertile region, which led so many families from western Massachusetts - the Miller family among them - induced other families from the Atlantic settlements, particularly in Rhode Island and Connecticut, to try their fortunes in the same region. 


Among the families which came from Connecticut about the time that the Miller family came from Pittsfield, there was one by the name of Smith. This family settled in Poultney, Vermont, some half a dozen miles from the residence of Mr. Miller. The Smiths were related to families in the Miller neighborhood, and this brought the members of the two families into each other's society. It was in this way that the subject of this memoir first met with Miss Lucy Smith, a young woman of about his own age, who afterwards became his wife.


There certainly is no relation which two human beings can sustain to each other, on which their mutual welfare so much depends, as that of husband and wife. To a great extent, their history, and that of their children, are determined by the fitness of the parties for each other, and the manner in which the relation is sustained. If the wisdom and goodness of God are seen in the institution of marriage, these attributes are quite as manifest in the philosophical, inartificial, and religious manner in which he requires the institution to be honored. We


 


shall see, by and by, that the importance of the duties growing out of this relation was a principal consideration in fixing Mr. Miller's purpose to become a Christian. 


As Mrs. Lucy Miller is now living, all that might be said to her praise may not be said here. It is sufficient to state, that she was remarkably endowed, by nature and by her industrial and economical habits, to make domestic life highly agreeable, and to favor Mr. Miller's promotion and success in the departments of public life in which he was called to move. And few men could be better adapted to enjoy, or better qualified to honor, the office of a husband, than Mr. Miller. His warm-hearted and tireless sociability gave itself full play in the domestic circle; and his confidence was unbounded towards those whom he had decided to be worthy of it. The discernment which led Miss Smith to accept the offer of his hand was never called in question by a disappointment of her expectations. They were united in marriage June 29th, 1803. 


By comparing dates, it will be seen that the subject of this memoir had passed his minority but a few months when this important change in his condition in life took place. Shortly afterwards, the new-made family settled in Poultney, Vermont, where the young wife's parents resided.


1853 SB, MWM 17-18


 


 


IT is never safe to view current events and determine the character of a movement they represent, without the light that can be thrown upon them from history. "History repeats itself," and "the things written aforetime, were written for our instruction and admonition." To ignore the lessons of history is to invite the companionship of error and disaster. 


The following passages from the history of the American Revolution, by Sir George Trevelyan, an English writer, are suggestive of the way in which history is repeating itself to-day. They present a parallel between what was then the cause of patriotism, and what is now declared to be only dishonor and treason:—   


"The drop scene of the impending American drama as presented to British eyes, was a picture of the New England character daubed in colors which resembled the originals as little as they matched each other. The men of Massachusetts were sly and turbulent, puritans and scoundrels; pugnacious ruffians and arrant cowards. This was the constant theme of the newspapers and the favorite topic with those officers of the army of occupation whose letters had gone the rounds of clubs and country houses. The archives of the Secretary of State were full of trite calumnies and foolish prophecies. Bostonians, so Lord Dartmouth was informed, were not only the worst of subjects but the most immoral of men. . . . If they could maintain the state of independence they would be at war among themselves. (Italics ours.) 


And the following expresses the views of the Tory refugees after the evacuation of Boston€” 


"In their view congressmen in committeemen were a set of rascals, who only sought to feather their own nest and not to serve their country. According to the theory in the circles Otis started the agitation, which started everything, because his father missed a judgeship. Joseph Warren was a broken man who sought to mend his

 fortunes by upsetting those of others. John Hancock, too rich to want a place, suffer from wounded vanity, because compelled to walk behind his betters in the order of precedence. Richard Henry Lee had been balked of an appointment as distributor of stamps under the Act which then, and only then, he came forward to denounce. John Adams turned rebel because he was refused a commission of the peace, and Washington never forgive the British war office for having treated him with the neglect which was the natural portion of provincial military officers." 


Then there was much in appearance at that time to justify these views. The United States was then far from being this strong, compact Government which the world beholds to-day. Events were constantly happening which were suggestive of anarchy and approaching political dissolution. Life and property were nowhere safe under the law. Congress moved about from place to place to avoid the invasions of British troops, and if there were enemies of the patriot cause who were pleased to scoff at the American "portable government," they dad facts upon which to base their ridicule. Even after victory had crowned the American arms, Congress, though nominally a body of 91 members, was rarely attended by a third of that number. "It degenerated to a mere debating club; was menaced by mutinous, unpaid troops, and forced to wander from town to town to find an abiding place. It possessed no national weight would ever."   


Those who had confidently asserted that the colonies, independent, would be at war among themselves—just as confidently as the like assertion is made with reference to another people to-day—soon found much to justify their prediction. Another authority says:—


January 18, 1900 ATJ, AMS 39


"The various States, as soon as peace was made with England, were involved at once in territorial disputes, the most serious of which occurred between Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Both claimed the valley of the Wyoming, but the majority of the settlers were from Connecticut. The award was finally made to Pennsylvania, and no further trouble was apprehended. During the winter of 1784 snow was deep and remained well into spring; went off rapidly and flooded the smiling, fertile valley of the Wyoming, burying the farms under a blanket of pebbles and sand. The people were starving. President Dickenson urged the legislature to send prompt relief; but, incredible as it may seem, it refused to help the accursed Yankees; they deserved all they got for settling on Pennsylvania territory. 'The flood was the hand of God punishing trespassers!' A scheme was launched to drive out the starving settlers and apportion their lands among a clique of speculators, so instead of food and raiment being given, a company of militia was sent ostensibly to preserve and restore order. That body stole what it could find, insulted women and beat defenseless men. When the settlers resented such action the cry went up: 'The troops are being resisted!' Then Patterson, the militia captain, said dispatches to Dickinson accusing the farmers of sedition, and forthwith attacked the settlement, turned about 500 men, tender women and delicate children out of doors and set fire to their homes! They were driven in the wilderness at the bayonet's point and told to find their way back to Connecticut: Many died from hunger and exhaustion. Of course this was going further than the Pennsylvania government desired; all Connecticut sprang to arms, and civil war was only averted by a meeting of the Pennsylvania censors who made tardy reparation to the despoiled settlers."


"Consider that this was nearly three years after the surrender of Yorktown, which virtually ended the Revolutionary war. It seemed to Europe when this affair, other boundary disputes not so serious, and the commercial war which New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts were waging against each other, came to its notice that anarchy must surely come. Public opinion in England thought that what English arms had failed to do would be accomplished by the internecine strife of the colonies, and they would return one by one to their old allegiance." 


And yet all this represented the sacred cause of liberty and justice to human rights. Out of all this spring order, peace, and the freest and best government on the face of the earth. The colonists were right and their detractors were wrong. The cause of self-government was just, and that of foreign rule unjust. And the cause of self-government is no less just to-day.


January 18, 1900 ATJ, AMS 40


 


Now, the Constitution does not limit the power of Congress in this respect to white persons. And they may, if they think proper, authorize the naturalization of anyone, of any color, who was born under allegiance to another government. But the language of the law above quoted shows that citizenship at that time was perfectly understood to be confined to the white race, and that they alone constituted the sovereignly in the government. 


Congress might, as we before said, have authorized the naturalization of Indians, because they were aliens and foreigners; but, in their then untutored and savage state, no one would have thought of admitting them as citizens in a civilized community. And, moreover,


 


the atrocities they had but recently committed, when they were the allies of Great Britain in the Revolutionary War, were yet fresh in the recollection of the people of the United States, and they were even then guarding themselves against the threatened renewal of Indian hostilities. No one supposed then that any Indian would ask for, or was capable of enjoying, the privileges of an American citizen, and the word "white" was not used with any particular reference to them. Neither was it used with any reference to the African race imported into or born in this country, because Congress had no power to naturalize them, and, therefore, there was no necessity for using particular words to exclude them.


1895 ATJ, ROP 321


It would seem to have been used merely because it followed out the line of division which the Constitution has drawn between the citizen race who formed and held the government, and the African race, which they held in subjection and slavery, and governed at their own pleasure. 


Another of the early laws of which we have spoken is the first militia law, which was passed in 1792, at the first session of the second Congress. The language of this law is equally plain and significant with the one just mentioned. It directs that every "free, able-bodied white male citizen" shall be enrolled in the militia. The word "white" is evidently used to exclude the African race, and the word "citizen" to exclude unnaturalized foreigners, the latter forming no part of the sovereignty, owing it no allegiance, and, therefore, under no obligation to defend it. The African race, however, born in the country did owe allegiance to the government whether they were slave or free; but it is repudiated and rejected from the duties and obligations of citizenship in marked language. 


The third act to which we have alluded is even still more decisive. It was passed as late as 1813 (2 Stat. 809), and it provides "that, from and after the termination of the war in which the United States are now engaged with Great Britain, it shall not be lawful to employ on board of any public or private vessels of the United States any person or persons except citizens of the United States, or persons of color, natives of the United States. 




Here the line of distinction is drawn in express words. Persons of color, in the judgment of Congress, were not included in the word "citizens," and they are described as another and different class of persons, and authorized to be employed if born in the United States.   


And even as late as 1820 (chap. 104, sec. 8), in the charter to the


 


city of Washington the corporation is authorized "to restrain and prohibit the nightly and other disorderly meetings of slaves, free negroes, and mulattoes," thus associating them together in its legislation, and, after prescribing the punishment that may be inflicted on the slaves, proceeds in the following words: "And to punish such free negroes and mulattoes by penalties not exceeding twenty dollars, for any one offense; and, in case of the inability of any such free negro or mulatto to pay any such penalty and cost thereon, to cause him or her to be confined to labor for any time not exceeding six calendar months." And in a subsequent part of the same section the act authorizes the corporation "to prescribe the terms and conditions upon which free negroes and mulattoes may reside in the city."


1895 ATJ, ROP 322



   


 


The act of Congress, upon which the plaintiff relies, declares that slavery and involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, shall be forever prohibited in all that part of the territory ceded by France under the name of Louisiana, which lies north of 36 30' north latitude, and not included within the limits of Missouri. And the difficulty which meets us at the threshold of this part of the inquiry is whether Congress was authorized to pass this law under any of the powers granted to it by the Constitution; for, if the authority is not given by that instrument, it is the duty of this court to declare it void and inoperative, and incapable of conferring freedom upon anyone who is held as a slave under the laws of any one of the States.  


The counsel for the plaintiff has laid much stress upon that article in the Constitution which confers on Congress the power "to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States," but, in the judgment of the court, that provision has no bearing on the present controversy, and the power there given, whatever it may be, is confined, and was intended to be confined, to the territory which at that time belonged

to, or was claimed by, the United States, and was within their boundaries as settled by the treaty with Great Britain, and can have no influence upon a territory afterwards acquired from a foreign government. It was a special provision for a known and particular territory, and to meet a present emergency, and nothing more. 


A brief summary of the history of the times, as well as the careful and measured terms in which the article is framed, will show the correctness of this proposition.   


It will be remembered that, from the commencement of the Revolutionary War, serious difficulties existed between the States in relation to the disposition of large and unsettled territories which were included in the chartered limits of some of the States. And some of the other States, and more especially Maryland, which had no unsettled 

lands, insisted that as the unoccupied lands, if wrested from Great Britain, would owe their preservation to the common purse and the common sword, the money arising from them ought to be applied in just proportion among the several States to pay the expenses of the war, and ought not to be appropriated to the use of the State in whose chartered limits they might happen to lie, to the exclusion of the other States, by whose combined efforts and common expense the territory was defended and preserved against the claim of the British Government.


1895 ATJ, ROP 334


These difficulties caused much uneasiness during the war, while the issue was in some degree doubtful, and the future boundaries of the United States yet to be defined by treaty, if we achieved our independence.   


The majority of the Congress of the Confederation obviously concurred in opinion with the State of Maryland, and desired to obtain from the States which claimed it a cession of this territory, in order that Congress might raise money on this security to carry on the war. This appears by the resolution passed on the 6th of September, 1780, strongly urging the States to cede these lands to the United States, both for the sake of peace and union among themselves, and to maintain the public credit, and this was followed by the resolution of October 10, 1780, by which Congress pledged itself that, if the lands were ceded, as recommended by the resolution above mentioned, they should be disposed of for the common benefit of the United States, and be settled and formed into distinct republican States, which should become members of the Federal Union, and have the same rights of sovereignty and freedom and independence as other States.   


But these difficulties became much more serious after peace took place, and the boundaries of the United States were established. Every State, at that time, felt severely the pressure of its war debt; but in Virginia, and some other States, there were large territories of unsettled lands, the sale of which would enable them to discharge their obligations without much inconvenience, while other States, which had no such resource, saw before them many years of heavy and burdensome taxation, and the latter insisted, for the reasons before stated, that these unsettled lands should be treated as the common property of the States, and the proceeds applied to their common benefit.

1895 ATJ, ROP 335


The letters from the statesmen of that day will show how much

this controversy occupied their thoughts, and the dangers that were apprehended from it. It was the disturbing element of the time, and fears were entertained that it might dissolve the Confederation by which the States were then united.

 

1895 ATJ, ROP 335


These fears and dangers were, however, at once removed when the State of Virginia, in 1784, voluntarily ceded to the United States the immense tract of country lying northwest of the river Ohio, and which was within the acknowledged limits of the State. The only object of the State, in making this cession, was to put an end to the threatening and exciting controversy, and to enable the Congress of that time to dispose of the lands, and appropriate the proceeds as a common fund for the common benefit of the States. It was not ceded because it was inconvenient to the State to hold and govern it, nor from any expectation that it could be better or more conveniently governed by the United States.


 


The example of Virginia was soon afterwards followed by other States, and, at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, all of the States similarly situated had ceded their unappropriated lands, except North Carolina and Georgia. The main object for which these cessions were desired and made was on account of their money value, and to put an end to a dangerous controversy as to who was justly entitled to the proceeds when the lands should be sold. It is necessary to bring this part of the history of these cessions thus distinctly into view, because it will enable us the better to comprehend the phraseology of the article in the Constitution so often referred to in the argument. 



Undoubtedly the powers of sovereignty and the eminent domain were ceded with the land. This was essential, in order to make it effectual and to accomplish its objects. But it must be remembered that, at that time, there was no government of the United States in existence with enumerated and limited powers. What was then called the United States were thirteen separate, sovereign, independent States, which had entered into a league or confederation for their mutual protection and advantage, and the Congress of the United States was composed of the representatives of these separate sovereignties, meeting together, as equals, to discuss and decide on certain measures which the States, by the Articles of Confederation, had agreed to submit to their decision. But this Confederation had none of the attributes of sovereignty in legislative, executive, or judicial power. It was little more than a congress of ambassadors,
authorized to represent separate nations in matters in which they had a common concern.


1895 ATJ, ROP 336


 


There is no danger of monarchical usurpation by a victorious general, although it is well worthy of remembrance that even here in the United

 States of America, at the close of the Revolutionary war, at the very threshold of our history as a republic, a large part of the Revolutionary army, 'turned by six years of war from militia into seasoned veterans,' and full of that overbearing esprit de corps characteristic of standing armies, urged George Washington to make himself a dictator, a monarch; that, as one of his biographers expresses it, 'it was as easy for Washington to have grasped supreme power then, as it would have been for Cæsar to have taken the crown from Anthony upon the Lupercal;' and that it was only George Washington's patriotic loyalty and magnificent manhood that stamped out the plot. However, usurpation of so gross a character would now be rendered infinitely more difficult, not only by the republican spirit and habits of the people, but also by our federative organization, dividing so large an expanse of country into a multitude of self-governing States.  


"But even in such a country and among such a people it is possible to demoralize the constitutional system, and to infuse a dangerous element of arbitrary power into the government without making it a monarchy in form and name. One of the most necessary conservative agencies in a democratic republic is general respect for constitutional principles, and faithful observance of constitutional forms; and nothing is more apt to undermine that respect and to foster disregard of those forms than warlike excitements, which at the same time give to the armed forces an importance and a prestige which they otherwise would not possess.


 


1899 PTM, PRUS 127