Litchfield enquirer., 1879-05-01
WHOLE NO. 276O

new ideas, are the sort of people who win the admiration of young men. At this time-the summer of 1S24-there were several men of this sort looming up as candidates for the presidency. There were Adams, Clay, Cal houn, and De Witt Clinton-all men of bril-
 liant qualities. It was probably with these in | his mind-in fact, we were talking of them that Governor Wolcott said to me, in sub stance: ''You don't want a man of genius for | president. You want plain, practical man. | There is old Sitgreaves, of Pennsylvania, will make as good president as any other" Now, Sitgreaves was a member of congress, full of statistics and political economy l have thought since that the American people had realized Wolcott's idea of getting man with out genius, but had often failed in getting one ] equal to Sitgreaves. Just look in the calm 1 light of history upon the administrators of | Polk, Pierce and Buchanan Of genius no human being would accuse them. Of anything | like broad and sagacious statesmanshlp, just little. Clinton, Calhoun Webster, ,Clay-all rejected; and Polk, Pierce, and Buchanan accepted! What a record for great and en- 1 frightened nation to make!
 | Governor Wolcett was elected governor as the candidate of the Dem. cratic party, which had never at any time been able to elect a can | didate The manner of it was curious, and as | it involves a chapter of political history which | will probably never be written, will notice 1t l here. Connecticut had always been governed by the old Federal party, which contained un- questionably four fifths of the good and great men of the state In these times Jefferson and | Madison, the Democratic party, to which my father belonged, was small minority, which probably never would have come into power | but for certain laws peculiar to that state. Connecticut had, in fact, coming down from ! Puritan times, a sort of state church. It con- sisted in this, that tax was levied for the sup port of religion, and paid to the churches. believe only to the Congregational for that
 was for a long time the only church in the state. But in the meantime the Episcopal Church, largely founded by my great uncle,
 Richard Mansfield, had grown up to be a large
 body. Then came in the Methodists and Bap-
 lists, and with them all, some able men who
 were Deists. Then came complaints against
 the dominant influence of the Congregational ists and the imposition of a tax for religious
 purposes. This question came to he tolerated.
 Then the Democrats took advantage of It, and
 uniting with these discontented elements form ed what was called the Federation" party. Wolcott, whose family were Federalists, ard
 who had been a member of the Federal admin
 istration of Washington, was the candidate of
 this Federation party, and was thus elected
 governor By this combination Connecticut
 became for many years Democratic state, and | was by no means improved III either the quail
 ty or caiber of it's public men. There was some reaction in after years, when such men
 as Huntington and Buckingham came into the
 United States Senate. But, as a whole, the
 political changes in Connecticut have been for
 the worse, as l fear they have in the whole
 country. It is a sad and ominUus thing for a
 great country, when it can be truly said;
 ''The post of honor is private station."
 Let me now turn to some other characters. On the North street was the residence of Colo
 nel Benjamin Tallmadge. He was one of the gentlemen of the old school, with the long queue white-tOpped boots, and brooches He
 had been an officer inguard over Andre at
 the time he was ordered to execution. After
 the war he had retired to Litchtield, and was
 one of the most marked as well as dignilied
 men who appeared in that arstOCratic town. | When the Western Reserve of Ohe was set
 off to Connecticut and sold for the school fund,
 he became large owner of lands there, and 8 l township was named after him. One of his
 daughters married into the distinguished Dela-
 field family of New York, and was herself
 noted lady.
 At the upper end of North street, and near
 where boarded, was the unpretending and home-li like house of Dr. Daniel Sheldon. He | was my physician to an attack of sickness, and
 one whom always regarded with great re- spect. When he had just graduated from a medical college, he had very bad attack and was supposed to be fast going into consumption and was saved by what may be called heroic treatment. He went to Litchfield to practice medicine, which involved much riding on | horseback, and he began taking opium, until he took incredible quantities. Nevertheless it cured him aud he recovered from the habiC | of taking opium as resOlutely and bravely as he had began it. He survived all danger of early death, and lived to be eighty-fO years of age, quietly and peacefully declining, until he passed from this life as gently as the setting l star. One of his sons was secretary of legation | in France, and one was a very successful mer- chant in New York. 1 was indebted to him | for the comforting assurance, when we stu | dents were charged with being uncOmnOnly | ''fast." There were more than fifty law stu | dents boarding in Litchfeld many of them of l wealthy families, and many of them from the | South. Of course, there must be some amuse- ment and often the midnight air resounded the songs of midnight rioters, and sometimes | stories were circulated to the students disad- 1 vantage. After hearing some remarks on the fast" students, 1 met Dr. Sheldon walking | and said to him.
 ''DOctor, they say we are the worst students ever were in Litchfeld." "Pooh pooh v said the doctor, 'they are not half as bad as | they were in my day" So 1 was ComfOrted with the idea that we were not casting shame on those venerable Puritans, who had conde- scended to become our ancestors. Be this as it may, greatly enjoyed those evening rides, and those country suppers, when we would ride off to Goshen, or Harwinton, or other vil- | lage, and order our turkey and oysters, served | up with pickles and cake and then set Black Cesar to play jigs on cracked fiddle. But l the grand occasions was something beyond this, when we got sleighs with fine horses, and buffalo robes, and foot-s owes, and invited the l bellies of Litchfeld, who never hesitated to go and set off to the distant village to have sup per and dance. l seldom danced, and some of the girls did not, but there were always some who did, and we had jolly times. Sc passed my days in Litchfield, doing great deal of good work in study, enjoying much of good society, and passing it's hours in innocent amusements.
 Perhaps, before l close, l ought to notice two or three ether families, not so much on their account, as by way of Illustrating how Connecticut, in that generation, became the great hive of the teachers and leaders of the country. l do not exsggerate whenl say that at that time, when the country had not one third of it's present population, Connecticut, in proportion to it's own population (which was then 300 00O) sent out three-fold as many as any other state of those who became eminent in wealth. literature, law, or politics. If any one shall deny this, it can be proved by the recorded history of the country. One of the peculiar characteristics of Litchf1eld was, in popular phrase, that they ''stuck to their men, and that is good characteristic of any coun- try. Ltchfcld elected two represeptaiivesta to 3. the legislature and for nearly century two or three names made up four ffths of all he representatives. This certainly is one of the reasons which gave Connecticut the s.l,riquet of ''the land of steady habits" One of the common names iu the township was that of Bnell. was well acquainted with Dr. Rucll. who lived on South street. and one of whose daughters married law stndent,a Mir Frank lin, of Pennsylvania, and was the mother of General Franklin, in the ar,nv of :he Potomac Another noted man in Litchield was Julius Deming. This gentleman was a merchant and eminently successful No man in the county was more hOnored and respected for integrity sf character than this iiichticld merchant