His Excellency Jonathan Belcher, governor of His Majesty’s provinces of
Massachusetts and New Hampshire, must have many times realized what a
very difficult and disagreeable task it is to drive an ill-matched team,
especially when one of them is to all appearances possessed of the Evil
One, and the pole is loose and not to be depended on. Such a team the
governor had in his two provinces, and he was a very busy man.
Massachusetts kept well in the traces and gave him comparatively little
trouble. He lived in Boston, and was thus able to maintain a more
intimate knowledge of the people of that State and the trend of public
opinion than was possible to do in respect to more distant New
Hampshire, where he was relatively a stranger. Though not popular as a
man or as a Crown official, his personal presence in Massachusetts as
governor, with the miniature court, the sumptuous appointments, and the
dignity which accompanied the King’s commission, necessarily had some
effect in steadying the progress of government there.
But in New Hampshire he had many serious problems. A small province both
in population and resources, it had for many years stood between
Massachusetts and the savages, who were continually hovering about the
frontiers, and in this almost constant warfare, and by the costly
vigilance which was necessary even in times of nominal peace, the
province had incurred debts which were a heavy burden on the sparse
population. During the time in which New Hampshire was considered by the
Crown not of sufficient size, wealth, and importance to maintain a
governor of its own, and accordingly yoked with Massachusetts, the power
of granting townships in New Hampshire was, of course, vested in the
governor, and exercised by him under the same royal instructions as in
Massachusetts. The plans and purposes of the government in locating
these grants in New Hampshire are easily seen by their peculiar but
systematic location. They were largely laid out in lines, each line of
towns answering a specific purpose. One line followed the Merrimack
river, Amherst, Bedford, and Goffstown, guarding the west bank of the
main inland waterway of the two provinces. Another line, Concord,
Hopkinton, Henniker, Hillsborough, Warner, and Bradford, formed a
northern frontier, and connected the Merrimack with Washington and
Lempster the most northerly of another line, the Monadnock townships,
which, nine in number, established a perfect connection back to the
Massachusetts line. Still another line, Chesterfield, Westmoreland,
Walpole, and Charlestown, guarded the east bank of the Connecticut. All
these established and maintained a protection for the whole of central
Massachusetts against any incursions of the Indians from the north, and
enclosed large tracts of very valuable land.
The burden of the taxation necessary to pay the expenses of Indian
warfare and maintain the government rested heavily on the people of New
Hampshire, while they were engaged in conflict with the wilderness,
planting the standard of civilization step by step further north and
west. Therefore, when the governor in his recurring messages constantly
besought the Assembly to raise money—to supply funds for repairing Fort
William and Mary, for building a new prison or repairing the old one,
for the expenses of carrying on the boundary line controversy with
Massachusetts—he did not always meet with a cordial reception or a
courteous reply. Money for current expenses and paying old obligations
as fast as possible the Assembly was willing to provide, but little was
to be had for other purposes which did not appear to its members
absolutely and urgently necessary.
A strong opposition to the administration sprang up in New Hampshire,
and manifested itself in an intrigue to procure the governor’s recall.
The opposition was headed by Lieutenant-Governor Dunbar, a pugnacious
Irishman, and Theodore Atkinson and Benning Wentworth, who had been
appointed councillors through the efforts of Dunbar, but whose admission
to the council board Governor Belcher prevented for two years. It was a
strong combination. Dunbar was not possessed of great influence with the
home government aside from that which pertained to his office, but
Wentworth and Atkinson had powerful friends and connections in England,
who were not slow to take advantage of Governor Belcher’s increasing
unpopularity both in America and England. So successful were they, that
when, in 1741, the royal decision on the boundary line was carried into
effect, and New Hampshire finally freed from union with Massachusetts,
Wentworth was commissioned governor of the province and Atkinson became
secretary of the council, equivalent to the present office of secretary
of state.
Governor Belcher was not, however, without friends in New Hampshire, and
the chief of these, perhaps, was Richard Waldron, then secretary of the
council. They were intimate friends, both officially and personally, and
maintained a lively correspondence. Entirely different in character and
disposition, the oddities of each attracted and amused the other. The
governor’s peppery temper gave Waldron many a chance for a jest or a
clever and good-natured retort. But his friends were too few, and the
opposition too strong, and the settlement of the long-disputed boundary
line gave the home government an opportunity too attractive to be lost
for reestablishing the governments of the two provinces on a basis of
complete separation, intended to result in a lasting peace, and the
relief of the Board of Trade and Plantations from continual complaints
and the burden of discussion and decision of what, to them, were but
petty provincial squabbles.
This was, in brief, the general atmosphere of the provinces when
Governor Belcher went to New Hampshire to meet the Assembly in the
winter of 1733–4, and there delivered his regular speech and scolded on
his regular subjects. That he was not considered seriously by all the
inhabitants was not due to any lack of earnestness on his part. The
author of the poetical reply has not yet been ascertained. Suspicion,
however, points to Richard Waldron. The handwriting resembles his, but
cannot be certainly identified.
During the first century of the life of the province no family was more
prominent or carried a larger influence in the public affairs of New
Hampshire than the Waldrons. Whatever may be said of peculiar
characteristics which were displayed by some members of the family, the
early Waldrons were, as a rule, strong, hard-headed pioneers, the type
of men most needed in subduing a hostile wilderness. Later generations
became wealthy, and wealth brought to them education and refinement, as
brains brought distinction, both civil and military.
Secretary Richard Waldron, whom we assume to be the author of the reply
to Governor Belcher’s message, was the son of Richard, and grandson of
Major Richard, who was killed by the Indians at Dover in 1689, and was
born Feb. 21, 1693–4. He was graduated from Harvard in 1712, and soon
removed from Dover to Portsmouth. He was a member of the Governor’s
council, Secretary of the province, and Judge of Probate. It is to the
burning of his house in 1736 that we may charge a considerable loss of
the early New Hampshire archives and records, and the breaks in the
records which were thus created are serious obstacles to the historian
of the present day.
The friendship of Governor Belcher kept Waldron in his office of
Secretary until the end of the Belcher administration, but Governor
Wentworth suspended him from the council, and removed him from the
offices of Secretary and Judge of Probate. In 1749 he was elected
Speaker of the House, which the Governor refused to allow, and a
controversy was created which lasted three years. He died soon after,
August 23, 1753.
The original manuscript of his “Scrub Poetry” is on file with the
Governors’ messages in the archives in the office of the Secretary of
State at Concord, N. H.
On the second day of January, 1733–4, the governor thus addressed the
Council and House of Representatives:
Gen^t of the Council & House of Representatives.
By the last ships from London I have received an account of the French
King’s Declaring War against the Empe^r of Germany with whome his
Brittanick Maj^{tie} is in alliance & how far this unhappy Rupture may
lead to a Gen^{ll} War in Europe is uncertaine, however I think it a
faire Alarm to all his Maj^{ties} Dominions to put themselves in a
Posture of defence & you cannot but be sensible how naked & Exposed
this Province is both by Sea and Land. Fort William & Mary at the
Entrance of this River (the only Fortifications his Maj^{tie} has in
this Province) you know Lyes in a miserable condition nor are you
ignorant how often I have prest the Repaire of this Fortress upon the
Assembly here altho it has forty Guns yet it has for a long time had
only a Capt a Gunner and two Centinels belonging to it. I hope your
own Safety as well as his Maj^{ties} Hon^r (at this Critical juncture)
will put you upon doing what is absolutely necessary in this Important
affaire.
I have Gen^t frequent Complaints of the ruinous condition of the Gaole
of the Province which will Require a large Repaire or Rather
Rebuilding as soone as may be their being Continual Hazards of Escapes
thro’ its present Deficiency.
Gen^t of the House of Representative.
you very well know there has been no money in the Treasury of the
Province for neare three years past which has greatly Exposed and
dishon^d the Kings Goverm^t and has been a Publick Injustice &
oppression—this with the threatening Aspect abroad (I have no doubt)
will lead you to make Ample Provision for what I have now mentioned as
well as for all the other Exigencies of the Goverm^t.
Gen^t of the Council, & House of Representatives.
Upon my meeting of the Ass^m of the Mass^{ts} Bay in April last I
earnestly recommended to them the passing an Order (agreeable to what
had been done in this Province) for putting a stop (at present) to any
process in the Law ag^t the Borderers on the disputed Lines of the two
Provinces. But the Publick Prints have long Since told you it had not
the desired Success.
In January Last, I wrote verry fully to the Right Hon^{ble} the Lords
of Trade praying them to Represent this long unhappy Dispute to his
Maj^{tie} that there might be an End put to the Contention to which
letter I have rec^d the Hon^r of their Lordships Answer, Saying they
hope upon the return of my answer to their Letter no further delay may
be occasioned to the accomplishing a matter of so much advantage to
both Provinces and my answer to their Lordships Letter is Long Since
gone forward and I shall rejoyce in Seeing this troublesome affaire
bro^t to a happy conclusion.
Gen^t In whatsoever you can project for his Maj^{ties} Hon^r & Service
and for the Prosperity of his good Subjects in this Province you Shall
have my hearty assistance and Consent.
Jan^r 1^t 1733–4.