Part 37

Not only does the call for the convention, and the practice and precedents of the party in one unbroken line, indicate and secure the right of single district representation, but every consideration of the reason of the practice tends to confirm its wisdom. The purpose to be secured in nominating a President is the selection of a candidate the most likely to be accepted by the people; and the nearer we get to the popular feeling, in the manner of selecting delegates, the wiser and safer will be our nominations. If a state convention called to choose delegates to a national convention can, by a bare majority, over-rule the choices of the congressional districts and select delegates residing within the districts who do not represent its sentiments, they might as well he allowed to select all the delegates from one congressional district. Residence within a district, coupled with misrepresentation of its sentiments, is a mockery. The delegates thus selected by a state convention will not fairly represent the masses of the Republicans of the state, but frequently will misrepresent them. Nominations made by conventions of such delegates will not be so likely to be ratified at the polls; and, in the opinion of the committee, it is the duty of the convention emphatically to disapprove these attempts to over-ride time-honored customs of the party, and to vindicate the right of every congressional district to be represented in a national convention by two delegates of its own selection, and expressing its own sentiments.

When his favorite candidate was withdrawn in the convention, he supported General Garfield, and during the campaign which resulted in his election was a member of the national committee and served on the executive committee.

On March 23, 1881, he was nominated, by President Garfield, as solicitor-general in the Department of Justice; but his confirmation was opposed by Attorney-General MacVeagh, and also by all the Democratic senators, on account of his extreme radicalism on the southern question. The Republicans, with Vice-President Arthur's vote, would have had one majority; but the whole Democratic vote, the absence of the New York senators, the abstention of Senator Mitchell, and the adverse vote of Senator Cameron of Pennsylvania, caused his rejection, on May 20, by five majority.

Mr. Chandler had been, in November, 1880, elected a member from Concord in the state legislature, which assembled in June, 1881, and he took a leading position. He favored stringent legislation against bribery at elections, and against the issuing of free passes by railroads, and was in favor of controlling by law the regulation of freight and fares upon all railroads within the state. After the close of the session of the legislature, when consolidation was effected between certain Massachusetts and New Hampshire railroads without the consent of the proper authorities, and against the law, he contended against their action in the courts, in the press, and in all legitimate ways. Its success would have placed the whole railroad interest in the lines running through the center of the state and their branches under the control of Massachusetts capital and Massachusetts corporations. His legal positions have been sustained by the court, and the custody and control of the roads ordered to be taken and exercised by their rightful owners.

The latest honor conferred upon Mr. Chandler was his selection by President Arthur as a member of his cabinet. He was nominated, April 7, 1882, for Secretary of the Navy, and confirmed April 12, by a vote of twenty-eight to sixteen; he qualified and took possession of the office, April 17, 1882.

In closing this sketch of a busy and useful life, I must add a few words appreciative of the character of one whom as a boy and man I have known for forty years. In his personal habits Mr. Chandler is above reproach,--pure in speech as in action,--with a mind quick to perceive, prompt to execute, and comprehensive in its scope. He is a man with convictions and the courage to express and maintain them. He has never sought advancement by flattery or pandering to prejudice. Those who know him best have the most faith in his integrity. The best evidence of it is the fact that in twenty-five years of aggressive political life, while occupying positions of temptation, and criticising freely the action of men who forgot their moral obligations or were shirking their official duties to the detriment of the public good, no one of them has been able to connect him with personal dishonesty, corrupt practice in official life, or political treachery or double-dealing. His methods are direct, positive, systematic, exact, and logical. The positions he has held have all come to him in recognition of his ability and earnest efforts in serving the cause he espouses.

Mr. Chandler has been twice married,--in 1859, to a daughter of Gov. Joseph A. Gilmore, and in 1874, to a daughter of Hon. John P. Hale. He has three sons,--Joseph Gilmore, born in 1860; William Dwight, in 1863; and Lloyd Horwitz, in 1869. Mr. Chandler's father died in 1862. His mother is still living in Concord. He has two brothers,--John K. Chandler, formerly a merchant in Boston and the East Indies, now residing on a farm in Canterbury, N. H.; and George H. Chandler, who was first adjutant and afterwards major of the Ninth New Hampshire regiment, and is now a lawyer in Baltimore. Mr. Chandler's father was a Whig, a man of great intelligence and firmness of character. His mother is a woman of equally positive traits, and has contributed much to the formation of the character which has given success to her sons.

HON. WILLIAM C. CLARKE.

Among the public men of New Hampshire who have lately passed away, none was more widely known in the state, or more sincerely respected, than Hon. WILLIAM COGSWELL CLARKE, of Manchester. He was born in Atkinson, N. H., December 10, 1810, being the eldest son of Greenleaf and Julia (Cogswell) Clarke. His father was a farmer and master-mason, the constructor of many fine business buildings in the neighboring town of Haverhill, Mass., and a highly esteemed citizen of Atkinson, where he served as selectman and justice of the peace. He was descended from Nathaniel Clarke, a merchant of Newbury, Mass., who died in 1690, and from Capt. Edmund Greenleaf, of that place, an officer of repute in the wars of the early colonists with the Indians. The wife of Greenleaf Clarke was a daughter of Dr. William Cogswell, of Atkinson, who was a surgeon in the Revolutionary army, and at one time chief of the Military Hospital at West Point.

William C. Clarke pursued his early studies at Atkinson Academy, of which his maternal grandfather was one of the founders, and then entered Dartmouth College, at the age of eighteen years. He was graduated with high honors in the class of 1832, which included Professors Noyes and Sanborn, of Dartmouth, and the late Samuel H. Taylor, LL.D., the noted instructor at Andover, Mass. Immediately becoming principal of Gilmanton Academy, he held the position for one year, while beginning the study of law. He continued his legal studies in the Harvard Law School, in the office of Stephen Moody, at Gilmanton, and in that of Stephen C. Lyford, at Meredith Bridge, now Laconia, N. H. On his admission to the bar, in 1836, he began practice in the latter town, and on the creation of Belknap county, at the close of 1840, he was appointed county solicitor. He held this position until the spring of 1844, when he removed to Manchester, and continued the practice of his profession. Two years later he was one of a committee of seven chosen by the town to petition the legislature for a city charter, and at the first city election, in August, 1846, was the Democratic candidate for mayor. There being two other candidates, there was no choice, and he withdrew his name before the second ballot, in September. In the same year, however, he consented to act as chief engineer of the fire department of the young city, and he retained this position till the close of 1848, having a number of leading citizens as his assistants.

In 1849 he was elected to the office of city solicitor, which he held for two years, and in 1850 he served as a member of the state constitutional convention. Appointed the judge of probate for Hillsborough county in 1851, he obtained the judicial title which clung to him thereafter. In 1854 he was again the Democratic candidate for mayor, but the Whig ticket was successful. A year later Judge Clarke was tendered, by Governor Metcalf, an appointment to the bench of the supreme court, but declined the position. As judge of probate he discharged his duties with high public approval, but his removal from this office, in 1856, was included in the sweeping political changes which began in 1855. In 1858 he served as a member of the Manchester Board of Aldermen. Soon after the death of the Hon. John Sullivan, he was appointed, in 1863, to succeed him as attorney-general of the state; and, receiving a re-appointment in 1868, he continued to fill the office until his death in 1872.

From the time of his admission to the bar until he became the chief prosecuting officer of the state, Judge Clarke was actively engaged in private legal practice. He early acquired the reputation of a sound and able lawyer, and obtained an extensive clientage. As attorney-general he was highly successful in the performance of his duties, to which he devoted himself with conscientious faithfulness. Recognizing the semi-judicial character of his office, he did not allow the zeal of the advocate to outweigh more important considerations, and, in cases where a minor offense had been committed for the first time, he frequently caused indictments to be suspended, so as to give the culprit both a chance and a stimulus to reform. Hardened or flagrant criminals he pursued with the rigor demanded by the interests of justice, leaving no stone unturned in his efforts to secure their conviction. He drew all his indictments with the greatest care, and it is said that no one of the number was ever set aside. He took equal pains with the preparation of evidence and of his arguments in all important causes. These cases included a number of murder trials which attracted wide attention when in progress, and which afforded marked proof of his legal skill. His sense of duty being above all other considerations, he was unmoved by all attempts to affect his official course by private appeals or by any species of personal influence.

Judge Clarke had a marked distaste for ordinary politics and the arts of the politician. On the few occasions when he consented to be a candidate for an elective office, he did not seek the nomination, but accepted it at the request of his friends. Firmly believing, however, in the original principles of the Democratic party, he often gave his voice and pen to their support, and was long a prominent member of that party in New Hampshire. When the rebellion broke out he did not hesitate a moment in regard to his political course, but was among the foremost of those who urged all citizens to sink minor party differences and rally to sustain the imperiled government. During this crisis he was active in calling and addressing many public meetings, which pledged aid to the most vigorous measures for the defense of the Union. At the great war mass-meeting held in Concord, N. H., on the 17th of June. 1863,--which was attended by thirty thousand people, from all parts of the state, and was addressed by men of national eminence, including a member of President Lincoln's cabinet,--Judge Clarke called the assembly to order, and read the call, after which he was chosen the first vice-president. Being dissatisfied with the attitude toward the war assumed by many of the leaders of the Democratic party, he was largely instrumental in organizing the zealous War Democrats of the state into a third, or "Union," party, which nominated a separate ticket for state officers in 1862 and 1863. This organization was not maintained after the latter year, and Judge Clarke thenceforward voted with the Republican party; but, after the early years of the war, he refrained from any active participation in politics, which he regarded as inconsistent with the nature of his duties as attorney-general.

He was one of the original directors of the Manchester Bank, serving from 1845 till 1849, and of the City Bank, with which he was connected from 1853 till 1863. He was also a trustee of the Manchester Savings Bank from 1852 until his death. For many years he was a trustee of the Manchester Atheneum, and when this was succeeded by the City Library, in 1854, he was chosen a member and clerk of the board of trustees of the latter institution, retaining both positions during the rest of his life. He was the first treasurer of the Manchester & Lawrence Railroad Company, holding that office from July 31, 1847, till his resignation took effect, February 8, 1849; and he was the clerk of that company from February 28, 1854, until he died, being also its attorney when engaged in private legal practice. He was a trustee of Gilmanton Academy, and in 1854 was a member of the National Board of Visitors to the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Judge Clarke was one of the earliest members of the Franklin-street Congregational church in Manchester, and one of the original officers of the society, to both of which he rendered valuable service.

Some mention of his personal appearance should not be omitted, as he was a man of unusually distinguished presence, having a large, finely proportioned figure, with a handsome, dignified head and face. Without undue formality, his manners were invariably courteous and refined. With excellent literary tastes, he possessed much general information, and was very attractive in conversation. Though rigid in his sense of right and wrong, he was eminently charitable in his views of others, having a broad tolerance of opinions which differed from his own. His disposition was genial, and his kindness of heart unfailing.

He was married, in 1834, to Anna Maria Greeley, only daughter of the late Stephen L. Greeley, Esq., of Gilmanton, N. H. His wife survives him, with four children,--Stephen Greeley, Anna Norton, Julia Cogswell, and Greenleaf.

The death of Judge Clarke occurred at his home in Manchester on April 25, 1872, and was the cause of wide-spread sorrow. At his funeral there was a large attendance of prominent citizens from many parts of the state. Resolutions of regret and eulogy were adopted by the city bar, the Hillsborough-county bar, the Manchester Common Council, and various other bodies with which he had been connected. In the resolutions of the common council he was spoken of as "one who, as a former member of the city government, and its legal public adviser, served it with marked fidelity and ability, and who, by his many virtues, had won the confidence and esteem of his fellow-citizens." His associates of the Manchester bar declared that "he was a faithful officer, a wise counselor, a respected citizen, and a Christian gentleman. He was courteous in manner, efficient in duty, upright in character, and an ornament to his profession." In the resolutions adopted by the bar of Hillsborough county, and entered upon the records of the supreme court, Judge Clarke was described as "a public officer faithful and upright, discharging his official duties with signal ability; a lawyer of large experience in his profession, of well balanced judgment and discretion, well read in the principles of the law, and faithful alike to the court and his client; a citizen patriotic and public-spirited; in his private relations, a gentleman of unblemished reputation, distinguished for his high-toned character, affable manners, and uniform courtesy; and illustrating in his public and private life the character of a Christian gentleman, governed by the principles which he was not ashamed to profess."

HON. ARCHIBALD HARRIS DUNLAP.

BY REV. W. R. COCHRANE.

Mr. Dunlap comes of strong, sturdy, Presbyterian stock and Scotch ancestry, of which he is a characteristic and worthy representative.

Archibald Dunlap came from the Scotch settlement in Ireland and located in Chester, N. H., in 1740, or a little earlier. He married Martha Neal, whom he found in Chester. She was of Scotch race, and her father, Joseph Neal, was among the Presbyterians that petitioned the legislature, in 1736, to be freed from paying a second tax to support a Congregational minister. The third child of Archibald was Maj. John Dunlap of Revolutionary memory. Maj. John was born in Chester in 1746; married Martha Gilmore; settled in Bedford; was a farmer on a large scale; was a manufacturer of furniture; and acquired a large property. He was a famous military man in his day; and on one occasion entertained his entire regiment at his house, at his own expense. One of the incidents of the day was the rolling out of a barrel of _New England rum_ and setting it on end, staving in the head, and the soldiers were allowed to help themselves to their heart's content.

John Dunlap, son of Maj. John, went to Antrim when a young man, and built at the North Branch village in that town. He married Jennie, daughter of Dea. Jonathan Nesmith, of Antrim, June 26, 1807. He carried on the cabinet-making business at the Branch village many years. About the year 1812 he introduced the manufacture of ladies' and gentlemen's knit underclothing, and made looms for that purpose; and it was probably the first thing of the kind ever known in this state, and was considered a great curiosity. In 1835, Mr. Dunlap put up a factory in South Antrim,--now known as the "silk-factory." He died December 15, 1869, in ripe old age.

Hon. ARCHIBALD HARRIS DUNLAP, son of John and Jennie (Nesmith) Dunlap, was born in North Branch village, Antrim, September 2, 1817. He passed through the usual routine of country boys in that day,--hard work the year round, except a few weeks at school in the winter. April 8, 1831, in company with his oldest brother, the late Robert N. Dunlap, of Zanesville, O., he left Antrim to strike out in the world for himself. With a small bundle of effects in one hand and a pilgrim's staff in the other, these two boys started out in the dim light of the early morning for a journey on foot to Nashua,--nearly thirty-five miles. "Harris," as every one then called him, was only thirteen and one half years old when he thus turned his back upon his pleasant cottage home and faced the battle, come as it might. This shows the stuff he was made of. The Scotch grit and zeal and powers of endurance were manifest in that first journey. Painters and poets have dwelt upon subjects far less worthy of remembrance than that boy's march of thirty-five miles, inspired only by the determination to succeed in spite of poverty and toil.

As the weary hours of the forenoon wore away, and they began to feel the strain upon their physical strength, the boys consulted together as they walked, as to what refreshments they could afford. The arguments of the occasion are not handed down; but it was decided, considering the low state of the treasury, that a "_glass of brandy apiece would do the most good for the money_." (The temperance reform had not reached the people then!) So at the next tavern, just above Mont Vernon, they called for the brandy,--which was brought out in _one glass_,--and they divided it as fairly as they could. Then they passed on to Amherst, and taking a little _solid_ refreshment, such as a country store ordinarily affords, _without_ brandy, and spending an hour for rest, then they started on the eleven dreary miles that lay between that place and Nashua. The younger boy said he "thought the last five miles never _would_ come to an end;" but they _did_ end, and Nashua was reached late in the afternoon. I have heard Mr. Dunlap say, that, however many better and wiser boys may have reached that city, certainly a more tired one never did than he! Saturday, April 9, his first day in Nashua in which he was to be so prominent, he spent in looking over the place. On the Sabbath, having been brought up to go to meeting and to the Sabbath-school, he attended Mr. Nott's church, of which he had heard in Antrim. He was turned into a side gallery with a lot of boys; but the solemnity of years was upon him as he looked on that large, strange audience on his first Sabbath of absence from home. The impression made upon him will never be forgotten. That day he cast his anchor in with that people, and it has held ever since. The strange country boy that looked and listened with so much feeling that day is now, after fifty years, one of the leading spirits in that church, while nearly all the vast audience he looked upon have passed away! The poor boy reached the highest place! He early became a member of the church; was deacon in the Olive-street church from 1855 till its recent union with the Pearl-street church; was then chosen deacon in the united or Pilgrim church; and was chairman of their building committee in the erection of the new and stately edifice of 1881.

About that time (1831) "Nashua Village" had begun to attract attention. The Nashua Manufacturing Company and the Indian Head Company were completing cotton-mills. In one of those erected by the latter company, Col. William Boardman was setting up the heavy machinery; and for him the boy of whom we write went to work for his _board_ until he could do better. The colonel gave him his dinner, and that was the price of his first half-day's work in Nashua. But that afternoon (Monday, April 10,) Ziba Gay, Esq., manufacturer of machinery, sent for him and engaged him for the summer. The boy of thirteen years, and stranger to all, had found a place in the great machine-shop! Here he staid till the fall of the same year, when he left to enter Franklin Academy, under Prof. Benjamin M. Tyler. Remaining at this institution till the spring of 1832, he returned to Nashua and entered the service of the Nashua Manufacturing Company, where he continued till the fall of 1834. Then, being disabled from active labor by an accident, he left, and entered Francestown Academy, under charge of Prof. Benj. F. Wallace. At the close of the fall term he went home to his native town and attended the winter district school, taught by Edward L. Vose, Esq. Here, in a small unpainted school-house on the southward slope of "Meeting-house Hill," he "graduated" in the early spring of 1835. Whether the "graduating exercises" were of a "high order" the record does not say; but certainly they were as rich with promise as some of greater sound and name. And now, after all this varied and often rough experience, A. H. Dunlap was only seventeen years old! Large in body, sound in mind, fearless, independent, upright, and tested by hard discipline, he was just the man to succeed. At once he returned to Nashua and resumed his place in the mills of the Nashua company, where he remained three years. Then at the age of twenty he was made an overseer in the Indian Head mills. In this business he remained till the spring of 1847, when he was compelled to abandon it on account of failing health. Then he was in trade two years in Franklin, N. H. Then (1849) he returned to Nashua and commenced the garden-seed business, in which he has been very successful, and which he still continues under the firm name of A. H. Dunlap & Sons. "Dunlap's Garden Seeds" are known all over the land.