war, with the knowledge possessed by the enemy of their military des. tination, was rather considered as increasing than diminishing the danger of that portion of the state. Commodore Hull had been ordered there, by the national government, the latter part of the year 1813; and in the following March, he call. ed the attention of Governor Gil. man to the defenceless situation of the harbour of Portsmouth; communicating his serious apprehensions of the operations of the enemy, who had appointed one of their most active commanders to that station, against the town and country. In April, a further representation was made by Commodore Hull to Governor Gilman, stating, that from the information he had received, he had no doubt that Portsmouth would be attacked, and that the destruction of the 74 and other vessels, would be their object; and that neither the fortifica. tions, nor the force stationed there, were adequate, in his opinion, to the defence. The same month a town, meeting was held in Portsmouth, which manifested a great anxiety on account of the exposed and endangered condition of the place, and made a request of the governor, for a further military force to be detached, for the defence of the town and harbour, in addition to the guards already stationed by his predecessor, Governor Plummer, to keep watch at Little Harbour and other places. This was followed, by a further application from Commodore Hull, in May, stating that he had received such information as he relied on, that an immediate attack on Portsmouth was intended by the enemy; and that if militia were ever wanting

for the defence of any place, they were then wanting for the defence of Portsmouth.

To these earnest representa. tions, prompt and personal atten. tion was immediately paid by Governor Gilman. On the receipt of the last from Commodore Hull, accompanied by a despatch from Major General Storer, enclosing the letter of advice which Commo. dore Hull had received relative to the intended attack on Portsmouth, he adjourned the council, then in session at Concord, with their consent, and immediately repaired to Exeter, to attend to the subject of these communications. He first addressed a request to General Cushing, who had visited the scene of alarm, for a detachment of United States troops, then stationed at Concord; which General Cushing not being able to comply with, Go. vernor Gilman, on the 20th of May, ordered an immediate detachment of eight companies for a service of sixty days, unless sooner dis.. charged, for the protection of Portsmouth. Of this measure, together with the pressing occasion presented by the importunate instances of the inhabitants, and Commodore Hull, he immediately advised the secretary of war; acquainting him also with the defi. ciency of force existing in the United States forts in the harbour, and suggesting the expediency of an immediate re-enforcement of United States troops. Orders were also issued for a number of militia companies, to be marched within five days to Portsmouth. The militia troops thus detached, were also authorized by him to march with their own consent to any points of defence, without the

jurisdictional limits of the state, which might be judged advisable for the safety of the town and har. bour of Portsmouth. Comfortable accommodations were provided for them; the requisite supplies of ammunition and equipments were procured; proper arrangements were directed, through the commissary department, for provisioning the detached troops; and his active and immediate attention as commander-in-chief, was bestowed upon the duties and details of the service, which belonged to him, and in concert with the United States naval commander.

The legislature assembled in June, and, approving what had been done by the governor, made an ap. propriation of fifty thousand dol. lars toward defraying the expenses, necessary for the defence of the state, and passed the requisite votes to carry the arrangements into execution. Two companies of United States troops being ordered to reinforce the garrison, and these, with the seamen under Commodore Hull, and a company of seafencibles, authorized by the secretrary at war, to be raised for the further defence of the sea coast of New-Hampshire, being considered by General Armstrong, able, with the artillerists, to make a good defence against the only mode of attack in his view to be apprehended, the principal portion of the militia detached in May was dismissed, and the residue retained for a limited service, to expire in July. Before the expiration of this period of service, however, a request was received from Major General Dearborn, by Governor Gilman, for a specific detachment of militia to be placed in the service of the Uni

ted States, for the purpose of aug. menting the military force in the harbour of Portsmouth for the term of three months, which was com plied with by Governor Gilman in an order of July 25th, recommend. ing voluntary engagement as preferable, but requiring absolute obe. dience to the requisition.

At the approach of autumn, the alarm, which had prevailed in Portsmouth, was revived with additional strength by the recent incursions of the enemy upon the sea coast, and the sudden and successful march upon Washington. A new request was received from General Dearborn for a further military force; a committee was appointed by the town of Portsmouth, composed of Jeremiah Mason, Daniel Webster, and Jno. F. Parrot, with others; and this committee addressed an appli cation to Governor Gilman, to assume the command of the militia detached and assembling by his authority at that place; stating their impression of the imminent danger which threatened the place, and expressing their confidence that his presence would facilitate the speedy organization of the force, and give a greater efficiency to the measures of defence. Detachments were made from a number of regi. ments in pursuance of the application from General Dearborn, and ordered to march immediately to Portsmouth; and the whole militia of the state were holden to be in readiness to march at a moment's warning. An appeal was made with confidence to the patriotism and exertions of the citizens for the protection and defence of the country, in the general orders issued on the occasion, and answered by the spirit of the state, with a zeal and

alacrity corresponding to the summons, and warranting that well merited reliance, which the experience of the revolution had inspired, on the ready and hardy sons of New-Hampshire.

The emergency on which the militia was called out, contemplating but a short period of service, limited in the first place to fifteen days after their rendezvous, a special request was made by Major General Dearborn, for an additional body of militia, to rem in in the ser. vice of the United States for the term of two months, if so long re. quired, for the defence of Portsmouth, with the public ships and property in the harbour. Two regiments of infantry and a battalion of artillery were detached, and formed into a brigade, and placed in the service of the United States, for the residue of the season. These details are preserved in the present shape, for the purpose of historical remembrance; the preparation for defence having probably been the means of averting the danger and the record of these facts being fit to be made for future reference, as a memorial of the character and conduct of the chief magistrate of New-Hampshire, and the spirit of the people of the state, on that in. teresting occasion.

:

On the return of peace, Governor Gilman was re-elected for the third year of his second term of office, in 1815, when he declined again to stand as candidate, and carried into effect his intention to withdraw from public service, though strongly so. licited to continue a candidate. He met the legislature for the last time at their annual session in June: and, exchanging his congratulations with them on the fortunate event of peace, received the farewell ex

pressions of their favourable regard and approbation. In offering to his reflection the grateful testimo. ny of these sentiments, repeatedly afforded by "a community of enlightened freemen, who well know their rights, and in whose hands they may safely intrust them," the senate of New Hampshire, in their address to him on this occasion, observed, "the history of the Uni ted States will perhaps afford no example since the establishment of our federal government, where any person has, so long as your excellency, enjoyed the confidence and support of the people in the highest office within the gift of their suf. frage. The duties of the past year," they remark, "have been more numerous, complex, and ar duous, than in any former year of your administration. Permit us to express our entire approbation of the manner in which the respective duties have been discharged."

The house of representatives, in recognising the services rendered by him to the state, upon the same occasion, expressed themselves in the following manner: "The ex posed situation of Portsmouth made the requisitions of your excellency on the militia since the last session of the legislature, for the protection and defence of its inhabitants, and national and individual property in its harbour and vicinity, indispen sably necessary. The conduct of the troops, while in service, and the organization of so many companies of exempts, show with what union, alacrity, and promptitude, people of every description would resort to arms in case of actual invasion: and give us the most convincing evidence of our ability to defend our families and soil against the attack of an invading enemy. The

attention of your excellency," they add, to the state of the troops, your care to relieve their various wants, when suddenly called into service, the measures adopted in defence of our maritime frontier; your earnest and varied endeavours to advance the pay to those called out under the authority of the Unted States, immediately on their discharge, all deserve and receive the approbation and gratitude of your fellow-citizens."

It is natural to infer that Governor Gilman cherished a deep interest in every thing concerning the proper consideration belonging to the public character of this patriotic member of the confederacy. Hav. ing been for thirty years from the commencement of the revolutiona. ry conflict, almost constantly enga. ged in public duties assigned to him, either in its service or as one of its citizens, his own reputation, as well as the credit of those with whom he had acted or associated throughout his long period of public life, as faithful servants of the community, and witnesses of his own official conduct, became identified with the value of those testimonials, which had been conferred on him and them, by the voice of his native state.

He held it to be a safe maxim for a republican government, that "the greatest things, and the most praise. worthy that can be done for the public good, are not what require great parts, but great honesty." Believing the state to abound with men of greater abilities, he had no original wish to undertake the office of chief magistrate; and he would cheerfully have declined to continu a candidate had he been left at liberty but the circumstances of our national affairs with foreign

:

governments, strong attachment to our federal government, and a firm belief that it had been administered with as much wisdom and integrity in its primitive stages, as there was reason to expect it ever would be, made it incumbent, in his sense of public duty, to contribute that support to the whole system, which might consist in equal accordance with the laws of the state and the union: believing that he was there. by best promoting the prosperity and happiness of his fellow citizens. Something may be conceded to the ancient faith and high feeling of a federalist, as he pronounced himself, of the Washington school, and to the profound conviction from which he never departed, that those principles upon which the federal government was put in operation, were best calculated for maintaining the honour and dignity of our country; for preserving the union of the states, and the peace, liberty and safety of its citizens; and the obligations which he conceived to be thereby enjoined on him to promote those principles so far as he consistently might in strict conformity to the constitution and laws of our national and state governments. With these sentiments, which underwent no change with that of the federal administration, and with an unabated force of conviction and fidelity on his part, he advised the representatives of the state in congress to give the same support to government which they had ever done; and although, in the change which afterwards took place, and continued for a period, in the po litical sentiments of the state, when he was called upon by the form of the resolutions adopted by the le gislature for an expression of unlimited confidence in the existing

administration of the national go. vernment, and "in the justice, benevolence, and wisdom of the president of the United States," he declared himself to be unprepared to unite with the two branches in the whole extent of what, on their part, he was willing the resolutions should impart; still he declared his perfect readiness to co-operate with them in all constitutional measures for correcting the evil tendency of licentious and disorganizing sentiments, communicated, as they complained, through the medium of the press, and to do all in his power for the preservation of the union, and support of such measures as should be best calculated to promote the general welfare. Without compromising these principles by any act or expressed opinion of his, he retired from office, avoiding any sacrifice of consistency or selfrespect, to cherish the consciousness of having discharged his duty. On his re-accession to the chair, after the declaration of war, without professing any gratuitous confidence, in the then administration of the federal government, he avowed himself to be a zealous supporter of our national and state systems of government, and regarding the duties of the office to which he was recalled, sufficient, even in common times, to fill with anxiety the mind of one who had no object in view but the public welfare, he recurred to the rule and standard of the administration of Washington, for those principles of public policy, which, being stamped with the same dignity and energy of conduct exhibited at that period, would not fail to insure to our government proper respect abroad, and establish the country in the full enjoyment of peace. The integrity of these prin.

In

ciples, were uncompromitted by him during the final period of his administration; and while he was, by constitutional traits of cha. racter, as well as the rectitude of his moral judgment, incapable of adopting any measures that should tend to bring damage or discredit to the state; and while the prudence and independence of his former administration of affairs continued to be pledges of those determined qualities, which the condition of the times and the occasion requir. ed, at the head of the state; the peculiar circumstances under which he was called to act during the latter part of his second period of office, enabled him to render to the state a yet more important and efficient service, in the constitutional capacity with which he was invested. formation originally existing, and circumstances afterward transpiring, warrant the persuasion, so strongly entertained at the time of peace, that by the spirited, and judicious arrangements adopted for defence on that occasion, in harmonious concert between the state and national powers, and by the compact front presented to the enemy, by their united forces, the territory of New-Hampshire saved from violation by a foreign foe, its blood and treasures pre served, and the property of the Uni ted States protected from destruc. tion. Although happily there was no occasion to try the final test to the virtue of those principles, upon which the state was aroused to action; the example stands forward in the history of the Union to hold out no encouragement to the common enemy, to profit by any sus pected vice in our constitutions; and to illustrate to the satisfaction of every lover of American law and

was