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supremacy of the laws. (Applause.) He believed that, if we could have statesmanship in the cabinet equal to the valor of our soldiers in the field, the time was not far distant when all the states would again be united, and the old condition of harmony and prosperity restored.

The majority report was adopted by the House, and the ratification of the amendment voted at the forenoon session of June 29, by a vote of 216 to 97, the Republican members voting solidly for it, and most of the Democrats against it.

On June 30, the day of final adjournment, the committee on national affairs reported a series of resolutions. Messrs. Bingham and Hibbard failed to agree with the balance of the committee and presented the following

MINORITY REPORT:

The undersigned, a minority of the committee on national affairs, to whom was referred so much of the message of His Excellency, the Governor, as relates to national affairs, have considered the same, and ask leave to report the accompanying resolutions, and recommend their passage.

HARRY BINGHAM,
E. A. HIBBARD.

Resolved, That we hail with profound pleasure the peace which closes the bloody strife of the last four years, and warmly welcome to their homes the brave survivors of the war, with many tears for their less fortunate but equally brave comrades, who now sleep in death, and that we proffer our kindest regards, and pledge to them our steadfast friendship in the future.

Resolved, That the government of the United States is of a limited character, and is confined to the exercise of powers expressly granted by the Constitution, and such as may be proper for carrying the granted powers into full execution, and that powers not granted or necessarily implied, are reserved to the states respectively, and to the people.

Resolved, That the state governments should be held secure in their reserved rights, and the general government sustained in its constitutional powers, and that the Union should be revered and watched over as the palladium of our liberties.

Resolved, That the federal and state governments are parts. of our system, alike necessary for the common prosperity, peace and security, and ought to be regarded alike with a cordial, habitual and immovable attachment. Respect for the authority of each, and acquiescence in the just constitutional measures of

each, are duties required by the plainest considerations of national, state and individual welfare.

Resolved, That upon the return of peace and submission to the laws there can be nothing to interfere with the supremacy of the civil authority, and military trials for civil offenses cease to have any warrant or justification.

Resolved, That those states which have been in rebellion and have now submitted to the Constitution and the laws, ought to be permitted to resume their original rights as states in the Union; that punishments ought to be inflicted and pardons granted, according as one or the other will best serve to pave the way for the full and perfect restoration of all the states to their original rights and position in the Union; that any interference by federal authority with matters and things by the Consitution subject exclusively to the control of the states, being illegal, is without any justification whatsoever.

Resolved, That we hope and trust that the present national executive is endowed with strength and wisdom equal to the magnitude and difficulty of the work now before him; that we have reason to believe, and do believe, that the principles set forth in the foregoing resolutions are the principles by which he proposes to be guided in the performance of that work, and so believing, we hereby pledge to him our earnest sympathy and steadfast support.

Mr. Bingham moved to substitute the minority for the majority report, but the motion was lost, 60 to 151, and the majority report was adopted.

Mr. McNeil

of Hillsborough moved to add the following to the majority report:

Resolved, That we cordially and earnestly endorse the declaration of the chief executive of this nation that "the states that have been in rebellion are still states, or, in other words, that the governments of those states were only in abeyance, and that when the rebellion was suppressed, and the laws and the Constitution revived, neither the president nor Congress has any

*Col. John McNeil, a son of Gen. Solomon and Nancy M. (Pierce) McNeil, was born in Hillsborough, November 6, 1822. He was a nephew of President Franklin Pierce, and served as an inspector in the Boston custom house during the administration of the latter, and that of President Buchanan. Resuming his residence in Hillsborough, he represented that town in the Legislature in 1864 and 1865. He later removed to Concord where he was a companion of the ex-president, but after his death, removed to Chelmsford, Mass. He was a cultivated gentleman, of refined manner and scholarly tastes. He died at Winchester, Mass., April 7, 1888.

authority to prescribe the qualification of electors of those states."

A great deal of excitement was precipitated by the presentation of this resolution and a sharp debate followed, remarks in opposition being made by Messrs. Wheeler, Stearns, Flint, Bean, Upham and Blaisdell, while it was earnestly supported by Messrs. Bingham, Smith, Cate and Page. It was rejected by a vote of 65 to 144.

At the close of the session on the following day, July 1, Mr. Bingham, as the leader of the minority, being among those who supported the customary resolution of thanks to the speaker, spoke briefly, as follows:

So far as my own judgment is concerned, I cheerfully agree to the resolution now before the House. It is certainly true that the discharge of the duties of the office of speaker of a legislative body is no light and trifling task. The responsibility resting upon the presiding officer for the proper discharge of his duties is great. In the first place, it is his duty as the presiding officer, so far as his official action is concerned, to know no party and no clique in the House. All he has to do is to enforce the will of the House, and the will of the House as expressed in its written rules, and as it may be expressed by the votes rendered in accordance with its written rules.

Any person who is able to put himself into that state of fairness and impartiality that he is able to discharge this duty agreeably to the requirements of the position is obliged to have a mind capable of appreciating what justice is and to have the rules before him, and observe them strictly.

Unless he do this, and if he permits himself to go wandering off with a desire to please this party or that party, this clique or that clique, he will most certainly fail to discharge the duties required of him.

It is with great pleasure that I feel authorized to say, so far as my judgment goes, that our speaker, during the present session, has been able to come up to the standard of what a presiding officer should be, as I consider that standard to exist.

Therefore, it is with the greatest pleasure that I announce my purpose to vote for the resolution.

After five successive years of service in the Legislature 1865 being the last - Mr. Bingham was not again elected till 1868, and then only as an additional representative, two others having been chosen, upon the assumption that the town had

ratable polls enough to entitle it to three members of the House, under the constitutional provision as it then existed. Partisan feeling was still running high and the Republican leaders in the town threatened to contest his right to a seat should he attempt to take it. With an overwhelming Republican majority in the House, and the usual course of such a majority in mind, whenever a contest was made, Mr. Bingham deemed it inexpedient to engage in any controversy over the matter, especially as he then held the office of United States treasury agent, by appointment of President Johnson, and was also purposing to attend the Democratic National Convention, then about to be held, and at which he was subsequently selected as the New Hampshire mem ber of the Democratic National Committee. He, therefore, failed to qualify as a member that year, or to make any attempt in that direction; but devoted himself to the service of his party in other directions, so far as the demands of his profession would permit.

It was not until 1871 that Mr. Bingham was again engaged in legislative service. In that year he commenced a period of continuous service in the House, covering eleven years, being elected by the people of Littleton at each successive election from 1871 to 1880, inclusive, at the latter for the biennial session opening in June, 1881.

In 1871 he had as his colleagues in the House, from Littleton, Col. Cyrus Eastman and Ellery D. Dunn. This was the first year, after their accession to power in 1855, that the Republicans failed to control the state government. There had been no choice of governor at the March election. Six Democratic and five Republican state senators had been chosen and there was a failure to elect in the first district, no candidate having a majority of the votes cast. Moreover, the senator-elect in the tenth district Hon. Samuel P. Thrasher of Plainfield - had died after the election and before the meeting of the Legislature, so there were two senatorial vacancies to be filled by ballot in the legislative joint convention as well as a Governor to be chosen. Everything, therefore, depended upon the control of the House of Representatives, in which neither the Democrats nor Republicans had a straight majority, the balance of power being

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held by a few men elected as "Labor Reformers," which party had a ticket in the field at the March election and cast 760 votes for governor. These "Labor Reformers" were, mostly, men who had broken away from the Republican party, for some reason or other, and who might naturally be expected to ally themselves more readily with the opposition than with their former associates. Conferences were held between representative Democrats and Labor Reformers and a plan of union arranged, by which, although the latter got the lion's share, considering their relative strength, Republican discomfiture was insured.

The Legislature convened on June 6, the representatives-elect being called to order by the clerk of the preceding House, Josiah H. Benton, Jr., and the first action taken being the election of Hon. George W. Nesmith of Franklin as temporary chairman, upon Mr. Bingham's motion. The House then proceeded to ballot for speaker, with the result that James O. Adams of Manchester, Republican candidate, received 162 votes, and William H. Gove* of Weare, Labor Reformer, who was the Democratic candidate, had 164, and was elected.

Immediately after the speaker-elect had taken the oath of office, assumed the chair and briefly addressed the House, Mr. Bingham, as the recognized leader on the Democratic side, offered the following resolution, moving its passage and calling for the yeas and nays on the question:

Resolved, That James R. Jackson of Littleton be elected clerk, and James H. Colbath of Barnstead assistant clerk for the ensuing year.

Mr. Fowler of Concord, who with Wadleigh of Milford

*William Hazelton Gove, born in Weare, July 10, 1817, died there March 1, 1876. He was educated in the common school, but himself engaged in teaching, and for a time studied law. He soon became interested in the anti-slavery cause, and became a public speaker in its advocacy, attaining celebrity for his forceful eloquence. He was a member of the first National Convention of the Free Soil party at Buffalo, N. Y., in 1848. He represented the town of Weare in the Legislature in 1851, 1852 and 1855, and acted with the Republican party from its organization. He was postmaster at Weare under Presidents Lincoln and Johnson, but became dissatisfied with the party and was active in the "Labor Reform" movement of 1871. He was a delegate to the National Liberal Republican Convention in 1872, and a Democratic state senator in 1873 and 1874.

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