Sketches of Successful New Hampshire Men
governor always alluded to this service as the saddest of his life,--to
encourage and send forth to almost certain death the young men of the
state whom he loved as a father. This was his last prominent office in
state affairs; and so faithful was he in it, that, although nearly
seventy years of age, he went often to the front to acquaint himself
with the condition of the soldiers and share their hardships with them.
In 1850 he received from Dartmouth College the degree of A. M., and the
same year was chosen one of the trustees of the college. He was
interested in the best possible educational advantages of the young, and
in every way promoted them. Through his energy, in a great degree, the
academy in New London has arisen to its present flourishing condition.
His son-in-law, James B. Colgate, of New York, has generously endowed
it, and aided in placing it upon a solid basis. The trustees have
conferred upon it the name of Colby Academy.
Gov. Colby's second wife, Eliza Messenger Richardson, of Boston, by her
accomplishments and true Christian character embellished and enlivened
his declining years, while the devotion of his children cheered the
seclusion of his last days.
Said an illiterate woman, to strangers discussing his character in the
cars, "Governor Colby carries the very _demon_ of honesty in his face."
It was his unfailing sense of duty and trust in God that won for him the
vast respect of the public, and esteem of a large circle of private
friends.
Sunday evening, July 20, 1875, he died, peacefully, in the home of his
father, at the age of eighty years, and was buried in the cemetery of
his native town, by the side of his parents.
SECRETARY WILLIAM E. CHANDLER.
BY HON. JACOB H. ELA.
WILLIAM E. CHANDLER, the second son of Nathan S. and Mary A. Chandler,
was born in Concord, N. H., December 28, 1835, and educated in the
public schools of that city and the academies of Thetford, Vt., and
Pembroke, N. H. He began the study of the law in the office of George &
Webster and George & Foster in 1852; graduated from the Harvard Law
School as LL. B. in 1855; and in 1856, before coming of age, began
practicing in Concord with Francis B. Peabody, Esq., now of Chicago.
Mr. Chandler has, from early childhood, fulfilled all the expectations
of his friends. At the Harvard Law School he was librarian, and
graduated with prize honors for an essay on "The Introduction of the
Principles of Equity Jurisprudence into the Administration of the Common
Law." He developed an early taste for policies, and a desire to aid in
philanthropic movements. He delivered an address, in 1857, before the
Concord Female Benevolent Association, in the Unitarian church, which at
once proved him a clear and vigorous writer and thinker. The writer's
first recollection of him as a lawyer was in the management of an
election case before the state legislature, for the Republicans of
Moultonborough, when it seemed imprudent to employ one almost a boy to
manage a case such as was generally committed to lawyers of large
experience; but the result justified the selection. In June, 1859, he
was appointed, by Gov. Ichabod Goodwin, law reporter of the New
Hampshire supreme court, and published five volumes of the reports. He
entered the service of the Republican party with great earnestness at
its beginning, in 1856, and gave much of his time in the office of the
state committee, to assist the movement during its early campaigns,
becoming secretary first, and afterwards chairman in 1864 and 1865. The
election of 1863 took place during the darkest period of the war,
following the battle of Fredericksburg, when gloom and almost despair
overshadowed every town in the state. It was evident to all that a draft
was impending, and it seemed as though the ability of the towns and the
state had been exhausted, and no more money could be raised or
volunteers be found to enlist. All those opposed to the war were united
and active in the Democratic party, and were aided by those Republicans
who were alarmed by the burden of debt, and by those who would
compromise the safety of the Union sooner than expose themselves to be
drafted to save it. It was the most important political campaign ever
conducted in the state, and brought the executive ability of Mr.
Chandler prominently into view, and led to his future advancement. It
was the first campaign in which a woman took a leading part. Miss Anna
Dickinson was employed as one of the speakers in the canvass, and there
commenced her career on the platform. She had before often spoken in
anti-slavery meetings. President Lincoln watched this campaign more
closely, probably, than any other outside his own state. It was the
opening election of the year following a depressing defeat, and he felt
that to lose it at such a critical time would be as disastrous in its
effects upon the army and the country as the loss of a great battle. It
was his interest in this election which first brought Mr. Chandler to
his attention, and there is no doubt that he noted when, in the New
Hampshire Republican state convention, in 1864, Mr. Chandler offered the
following resolution, which was unanimously and by acclamation
adopted:--
"_Resolved_, That Abraham Lincoln, by the exercise, during the
severest and most dangerous crisis in the nation's history, of
unequaled sagacity and statesmanship, and that moderation and
prudence which experience has shown to be the highest wisdom; by
his spotless integrity of personal character, above reproach and
above suspicion; and by his slowly formed yet unalterable
determination that the triumph of the constitution and the Union
over secession and rebellion shall be the final triumph of
liberty throughout the nation,--has received and merited the
abiding confidence of the people to an extent never awarded any
other public man since Washington; that the best interests of
the country demand that the complete destruction of the
rebellion and the restoration of peace, prosperity, and the
Union, should be achieved under his administration of the
government; and that we therefore declare Abraham Lincoln to be
the people's choice for re-election to the presidency in 1864."
The adoption of the resolution, and the conduct of the canvass in the
spring of 1864 on the basis of Mr. Lincoln's renomination, resulted in a
very large Republican majority; and Mr. Chandler, who had been a member
of the legislature of 1862, and, at the age of twenty-seven, had been
elected speaker of the house of representatives, in 1863, was again
chosen speaker; and in August, 1864, presided over the legislature in
which occurred the eventful conflict and riotous disturbances over the
veto by Governor Gilmore of the bill allowing soldiers in the field the
right to vote. Mr. Chandler gained his earliest reputation for
persistency, coolness, and moral courage in this celebrated conflict, so
well remembered by the Republicans of the state.
In November, 1864, he was employed by the Navy Department as special
counsel to prosecute the Philadelphia navy-yard frauds, and on March 9,
1865, was appointed, by President Lincoln, the first solicitor and
judge-advocate-general of that department. On June 17, 1865, he was
appointed first assistant secretary of the treasury, with Secretary Hugh
McCulloch, and held the office over two years, resigning November 30,
1867. After his resignation, he practiced law in New Hampshire and in
Washington, and was solicitor of the National Life Insurance Company,
and counsel and one of the proprietors of the Washington-Market Company,
and engaged in some mining and railroad enterprises.
It has been at various times falsely charged that Mr. Chandler received
large fees for prosecuting cotton claims before the department in which
he had been an officer. This charge is entirely false. He has never
prosecuted, before any forum, any such claims, and the following letter
to him, written at a time when Hon. George G. Fogg made such charges
against him, proves the correctness of his conduct:--
WASHINGTON, D. C., January 25, 1868.
HON. HUGH MCCULLOCH, _Secretary of the Treasury_,--
MY DEAR SIR:--It has been stated in public prints and otherwise,
in a form designed to injure me, that since leaving the Treasury
Department I have taken employment against the government as
agent or attorney for cotton claims.
As you know that such statements are false, I desire that you
will be kind enough to inform me in writing of the understanding
that exists as to my relation to such cases.
Very truly yours,
WM. E. CHANDLER.
TREASURY DEPARTMENT, January 28, 1868.
DEAR SIR:--Your favor of the 25th instant is received. It was
arranged between us, before you resigned your office of
Assistant Secretary, that you were not to act as counsel or
otherwise against the government in relation to cotton claims,
either at this department or before the court of claims. The
arrangement was entirely voluntary on your part, and was
considered prudent and judicious in view of your connection with
this class of claims in the department. I regarded it as a very
honorable one as far as you were concerned, as it was
unaccompanied by any retainer or employment of yourself as
counsel for the government in such cases, and was without any
assurance on my part, or, as I supposed, any expectation on
yours, that you should be so employed.
The understanding has not been, so far as I am advised, directly
or indirectly violated by you.
Very truly yours,
HUGH McCULLOCH, _Secretary_.
HON. WM. E. CHANDLER, Washington, D. C.
Mr. Chandler did not keep out of politics, but was elected as a
delegate-at-large from New Hampshire to the national convention of 1868,
and subsequently was chosen secretary of the national committee. He held
this position during President Grant's administrations, and devoted
himself to the successful conduct of the campaigns of 1868 and 1872. In
1876 he declined to occupy the position longer, but still contributed
much of his time to assist in the conduct of the canvass. He had, during
this time, become the owner of the largest interest in the _New
Hampshire Statesman_ and the _Monitor_, the leading weekly and daily
Republican papers in the state, at Concord, and he was elected, in
November, a member from Concord to the constitutional convention which
amended the constitution of the state.
After voting in Concord at the presidential election in 1876, Mr.
Chandler left for Washington, reaching the Fifth-Avenue Hotel, New York,
in the early hours of the morning. The other managers of the national
campaign had retired for the night, believing they were defeated; but,
coincident with Mr. Chandler's arrival, news reached the committee-rooms
that Oregon had been carried by the Republicans, which would elect Hayes
and Wheeler by one vote. Mr. Chandler at once comprehended the situation
and the points of danger, and, without waiting for consultation, sent
dispatches warning against defeat by fraud, to Oregon, Florida, South
Carolina, and Louisiana. At the urgent solicitation of prominent members
of the party, he was prevailed upon to start immediately for Florida, to
protect the interests of the Republican party. He there became counsel
for the Hayes electors before the canvassing board of the state, and it
is universally admitted, by Republicans and Democrats alike, that to him