nection it is our purpose to give a brief biography of Mr. Bartlett, and we are indebted to Mr. Lossing for the facts we shall use.

Josiah was born in Amesbury, Massachusetts, in November, 1729. His mother's maiden name was Webster: she was a relative of the family of the great statesman of that name, of our times, but who has recently deceased. Young Bartlett lacked the advantage of a collegiate education, but he improved an opportunity for acquiring some knowledge of the Greek and Latin, which was offered him in the family of a relative, the Rev. Dr. Webster. He chose for a livelihood the practice of the medical profession, and commenced the study of that science when he was sixteen years old. His opportunities for acquiring knowledge from books were limited, but the active energies of his mind supplied the deficiency, in a measure, and he passed an examination with honor at the close of his studies. He commenced practice at Kingston, in New Hampshire, and proving skillful and successful, his business soon became lucrative, and he amassed a competency. Mr. Bartlett was a stern, unbending Republican in principle; yet, notwithstanding this, he was highly esteemed by Wentworth, the Royal Governor, and received from him a magistrate's commission, and also the command of a regiment of militia. In 1765 he was elected a member of the Provincial Legislature of New Hampshire. It was at the time when the Stamp Act was before the British Parliament, and Mr. Bartlett soon became a prominent leader of the party that opposed the various oppressive measures of the home government. Through

Wentworth, magnificent bribes were offered him, but his patriotism was inflexible.

In 1776 he was appointed a member of the Committee of Safety of his State. The Governor was alarmed when this Committee was appointed, and to prevent the transaction of other business of a like nature, he dissolved the Assembly. They reassembled in spite of the Governor, and Dr. Bartlett was at the head of this rebellious movement. He was soon after elected a member of the Continental Congress, and in 1775 Governor Wentworth struck his name from the magistracy list and deprived him of his military commission. Still he was active in the Provincial Assembly; and the Governor, despairing of reconciliation, and becoming somewhat alarmed for his own safety, left the Province. The Provincial Congress assumed the reins of government, and immediately reappointed Dr. Bartlett Colonel of the Militia.

In August, 1775, he was again chosen a delegate to the Continental Congress, and was again re-elected in 1776. He was one of the committee appointed to devise a plan for the confederation of the States, as proposed by Dr. Franklin. He warmly supported the proposition for Independence, and when, on the second of August, 1776, the members of Congress signed the Declaration, Dr. Bartlett was the first who affixed his signature, New Hampshire being the first State called.

In 1778, he obtained leave from Congress to visit. his family and look after his private affairs, which had become much deranged. He did not resume his seat again in that body. In 1779 he was appointed Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas of New Hamp

shire, and the muster-master of its troops. He was afterward raised to the bench of the Supreme Court. He took an active part in the Convention of his State, in favor of the Constitution of 1787, and when it was adopted, he was elected a member of the Senate that convened under it in the city of New York. But he declined the honor, and did not take his seat there. He had been previously chosen President of New Hampshire, and held that responsible office until 1793, when he was elected the first Governor of that State, under the Federal Constitution. He held the office one year, and then resigning it, he retired to private life, and sought that needful repose which the declining years of an active existence required. He had served his country faithfully in its hour of deepest peril, and the benedictions of a free people followed him to his domestic retreat. But he was not permitted long to bless his family with his presence, nor was he allowed to witness his country entirely free from perils of great magnitude that threatened its destruction, while the elements of the new experiment in government were yet unstable, for in 1795 death called him away. He died on the 19th of May, of that year, in the 66th year of his age, regretted by a large circle of warm friends, and lamented as a national loss. Thus passed away from the scenes of active life, not only in the private walks of duty, but in the discharge of onerous political labors, one whose whole life was devoted to the good of his country. And would it not be but a very small mark of respect, and yet befitting in every sense of the word, for some patriotic body, or individual, to procure a lifelike portrait of JOSIAH BARTLETT, to hang in "Inde

pendence Hall," where the relics connected with those brave old heroes should all be placed? Let us see who will first move in the matter. His native State should possess sufficient liberality to perform such an act of justice.

CHAPTER XV.

SAMUEL ADAMS.

His history too embraces much

That Freedom's heroes won.

THIS eminent man and distinguished patriot of the Revolution, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on the 22d of September, 1722. He was of pilgrim ancestors, and had been taught the principles of Freedom from his infancy. His father was a man of considerable wealth, and was for a series of years a member of the Massachusetts Assembly, under the Colonial government. It was his aim and pride to give Samuel a liberal education, and after a preparatory course of study, he entered him at Harvard College, Cambridge, where, in 1740, at the age of eighteen years, he took his degree of A. B. He was uncommonly sedate, and very assiduous in the pursuit of knowledge while a pupil. Mr. Lossing, and other biographers say that his father destined him for the profession of the law, but this design was relinquished, and he was placed as an apprentice with Thomas Cushing, a distinguished merchant of Boston, and afterward an active patriot. His mind, however, seemed fixed on political subjects,* and the mercantile profession presented few

* In connection with a genial companion, he wrote a series of political essays for a newspaper called the "Independent Advertiser." They incurred the nickname, by way of derision, of the "Whipping Club."