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same distinction in 1766. in 1766. It seems to have signified little except the good graces of the academic powers.

Mr. Livius very much wished to be elevated to the head of the provincial judiciary and to be despatched to New Hampshire in 1774. But Lord Dartmouth kept him waiting many months. Then came word that he was to go to Quebec as a judge of the Court of Common Pleas. Thither he sailed in the summer of 1775, arriving safely "after

mately settled in favor of Governor the
Wentworth in August, 1773. The
writer has discovered no document
proving that Livius's intention was
to gain the governorship of New
Hampshire for himself; but is it like-
ly that merely his penchant for mak-
ing trouble for others induced him
to go to England and to give the
prosecution of the case his personal
attention? There are strong indi-
cations, though no absolute proof,
that he fully intended to supplant
John Wentworth in the governor's
chair. The amazing thing about the
controversy is that he all but suc-
ceeded. Almost as astonishing, un-
less one is conversant with the men-
tality of Lord Dartmouth, was the
decision of the Colonial Secretary to
send Mr. Livius back to New Hamp-
shire to be chief justice of the pro-
vince, after Wentworth had been
vindicated by the Privy Council.
Dartmouth actually signed the war-
rant directing Governor Wentworth
to make the appointment; "but this,"
wrote Wentworth in after years,
"upon more mature consideration
was thought likely to produce trouble,
and he [Livius] had a more lucra-
tive office in Canada."

Livius seems never to have return-
ed to New Hampshire, although his
wife and children still resided there.
Instead he read law at the Middle
Temple, and was admitted to the
English bar in 1775. He
1775. He had a
good head for the law. Even hist
enemies in New Hampshire admitted
that his decisions as a judge were
excellent, when none of his friends
was directly or indirectly concerned
in the cases brought before him. He
must have given the impression of
unusual intelligence in other branches.
of learning, too, for he was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society in April,
1773. Not long after this he receiv-
ed the honorary degree of Doctor of
Civil Law from Oxford University.
John Wentworth had been awarded

tedious, difficult, and dangerous voyage of one hundred and twentysix days." He found the province in great confusion. An army of American rebels was threatening Montreal, and it was not at all certain that the Canadians would not join them in opposition to the rule of the mother country. In November Montreal surrendered. In December the invaders under Montgomery and Arnold appeared before Quebec and laid siege to it. Then came the desperate assault and the defeat of the Americans. "During the siege of Quebec by Mr. Arnold," wrote Wentworth to Belknap, "part of his house, being properly situated, was used as a guard-house. On the attack, his servant was in action; and when over, Mr. L. himself appeared. He also sometimes before the assault walk [ed] up to the walls. Upon the repulse of the Americans, he wrote home a pompous account of his services. 'His house a guardhouse, he himself often at the wheelbarrow in repairing the fortifications, and at all other times with a brown musquet doing duty with & encouraging citizens.' These things were artfully told to the K. just in the moment of joy for the defeat of the enemy and safety of the city, which was much apprehended; and it being suggested that the Chief Justiceship of Quebec was vacant, it was immediately given to him. The

fact was, that he was remarkably shy on all the active business, as I was to'd by a gentleman present thro' the whole, and only appeared to save appearances, which he afterwards so well improved."

Among the Americans captured at Quebec was a New Hampshire captain, Henry Dearborn of Nottingham. Mr. Livius befriended him, and he was given leave to go home on parole. In return for this courtesy the revolutionary authorities allowed Mrs. Livius and her four children to leave New Hampshire and join the head of their family at Quebec. In July, 1776, they boarded the schooner Polly and departed from Portsmouth in peace.

Almost a year later Livius interested himself in the welfare of another American soldier, but this time he took care not to be so open in his altruism. The object of his solicitude was General John Sullivan of the American Army. To him he wrote. a long letter, dated June 2, 1777. From the revolutionists' point of view this was not the most encouraging period of the war. Howe was in possession of New York City, and Burgoyne was descending from Canada. The bearer of the letter seems to have been an authorized envoy sent to General Sullivan on other business. What became of him we do not know, but on June 16th Livius's letter was removed from the false bottom of a canteen and was read by General Schuyler at Fort Edward. The letter is much too long to quote in its entirety,* yet parts of it surely must find a place in any paper on Peter Livius.

and estate from this imminent destruction." "It is, in plain English, to tread back the steps you have already taken, and do some real, essential service to your king and country." Nor did Mr. Livius hesitate to suggest what immediate form this "essential service" might assume. "In the meanwhile," he wrote, "endeavor to give me all the material intelligence you can collect (and you can get the best), or if you find it more convenient you can convey it to General Burgoyne, and by your using my name he will know whom it comes from without your mentioning your own name.” For Sullivan to explain away his recantation would be an easy matter. "That you embarked in the cause of rebellion is true; perhaps you mistook the popular delusion for the cause of your country (as many others did who have returned to their duty) and you engaged in it warmly; but when you found your error, you earnestly returned, you saved the province you had engaged for from devastation and ruin, and you rendered most essential services to your king and country: for which I engage my word to you, you will receive pardon, you will secure your estate, and you will be further amply rewarded."

At this point Peter Livius drops. out of New Hampshire history. But the glimpses we get of him in Quebec show him to have been consistent throughout his career. He was appointed chief justice of the province in 1776, and his appointment carried with it membership in the Council. One of the first questions. that came before the Council was that of issuing an ordinance that would establish a reasonable and uniform schedule of fees. The salaries of most of the Canadian office-holders had recently been bountifully increased, and to General Carleton,

After dwelling upon the hopelessness of the American cause, "the futility of all hopes of effecutual foreign assistance," and the certainty of Sullivan's personal ruin, the writer of the letter proposed a method whereby he could save his "family *It is printed in full in Farmer and Moore's Historical Collections, 11, 204-207.

the governor, it seemed only right that the people should benefit thereby. The salary of the chief justice was £1200 plus £100 as a member of the Council and £200 as judge of the vice-admiralty court, making a total of £1500. It seems as if this amount supplemented by a low schedule of fees, ought to have been sufficient income for even a chief justice living in Quebec in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. But Mr. Livius thought otherwise. A letter from the governor tells the story.

"I have had the pleasure to perceive that there are some who require no law but their own integrity to keep them within the limits of justice and moderation; unfortunately it is far otherwise with many, and in this province there is now no rule. of regulation of fees of office, but each man for himself is guided by his own desire for gain, which of late has broke out with greater keenness than heretofore,

"Many of the gentlemen of the Council saw the necessity of an Ordinance, which, at the same time that it authorized what was reasonable, awarded proper punishments to deter those whose avarice might induce. them to disregard or elude it. This business, so reasonable and necessary, was continually intercepted by motions and speeches quite new in this province, and more suited to a popular assembly of the Massachusetts than to the King's Council for Canada.

"Mr. Livius, Chief Justice, took the lead, greedy of power, and more greedy of gain, imperious and impetuous in his temper, but learned in ways of eloquence of the New England provinces, valuing himself in his knowledge how to manage governors, well-schooled, it seems, in business of this sort."

Livius's opposition to the governor was not confined to this one instance. Carleton was a military man and he

ruled Canada accordingly. In the early years of the Revolution the province of Quebec was permeated with insurgency, which, after the surrender of Burgoyne, became once more a real danger to the British government. In order to make his administration as efficient as he could, the governor-general had appointed an executive committee of the Council, which virtually took the place of the larger board. With the help of this committee-a sort of privy council-Carleton carried the province safely through a critical period. But Livius was not included in its membership. In April, 1778, the chief justice attacked the legality of the executive committee, and demanded immediate remedy, Carleton's patience was exhausted. On May 8, 1778, he dismissed Livius from the head of the judiciary, and hence from the Council. Inevitably another Livius controversy appeared in Downing Street. Carleton, in disgust, declined to defend his course before the Privy Council. Livius presented his side of the case, was sustained, and the office of chief justice was restored to him with extended powers.

But Peter Livius did not return to Canada. On one pretext or another he remained in England, enjoying the salary of his office while its duties were performed by others. This agreeable arrangement, due largely to the indulgence of Lord George Germain, continued until 1786, a period of eight years. Then not only was Livius superseded, but General Carleton, who had been out of civil office since 1778, returned to Canada as governor of Quebec and with the title of Lord Dorchester. Nine years later the Gentleman's Magazine, under date of July 23, 1795, recorded among other recent deaths-"On his way to Brighthelmstone, Peter Livius, Esq., late Chief Justice of Canada."

T

The Heart of Monadnock BY ELIZABETH WESTON TIMLOW Boston, B. J. Brimmer Company

HE only justifiable way to review this book is to take a cue from the jeweller's art and string pearls-quotations-but, paradoxically, it can't be done in the space which even the most generous editor would allot to a review. Besides, one can't "review" a prose poem like, "The Heart of Monadnock."

In the spring of 1918 a certain “dollar a year" man in Washington, dropped out, and was no more seen for months. Being on the inside, he knew how little really had been done. He knew that after a year at war the United States had but three hundred thousand troops of all branches in France; he knew that Germany was about to launch that great thrust towards Amiens. He pleaded and preached in vain, and then, instead of going mad, he slipped away to the Adirondacks. The mountains saved. him from dying, like "Bobs," of a broken heart. That man's overwrought condition is still with us today. Thousands of generous souls and knightly minds are daily agonizing over conditions which they cannot alter, cannot alleviate, and which only time can better.

For these, "The Heart of Monadnock" was written. You don't need to go to Monadnock alone of mountains to correct your mental or moral astigmatism; any good mountain will do. But you should take along "The Heart of Monadnock" in one pocket, to balance Selden's "Table Talk" or Bacon's Essays or a copy of Emerson or an Atlantic Monthly with one of William Beebe's articles in the other.

Speaking of Beebe reminds one that the author has, like him and like

John Burroughs, an equal interest in every living thing. Of the two eagles which have made their home for years on Dublin Ridge, driving their young each year to nest in some less-favored spot, she happily voices the thought of their "swimming in the sapphire ocean of space."

Never have I read a finer or grander description of a thunder-storm than that contained in the seven pages beginning on page 72; none of the morbid horror and stage bogeyisms of a Poe, unhappy when not in a perpetual state of goose-flesh. Rather the healthy thrill and urge that come over so many of us at the breaking out of heaven's warfare. Read her storm tale to the accompaniment of the storm-music in "William Tell," and your eye will flash, your nerves tingle, and the old berserker that yet dwells in us all will long for a part in the combat, to be borne off at last to Valhalla by the watchful Valkyrie.

The inside Covers of the small volume have plans drawn to scale, of every path, pinnacle, and viewpoint on and about Monadnock and his five five giant sons-those great shoulder-buttresses that are the steps of "The Wise Old Giant's" throne. These paths and views are dwelt upon and amplified in the text, and that makes the book a guide to better acquaintance.

People who are mucking about in the mire of 'realistic' novels will be

glad to know about "The Heart of Monadnock" it is one book they won't have to buy to keep up with Greenwich Village.

ERWIN F. KEENE.

T

JUDGES FOR THE BROOKES MORE

POETRY CONTEST

HE interest shown by our readers and our contributors in the Brookes More Poetry contest which ended with the December, 1922, issue has been very gratifying. It is not going to be an easy matter for the judges to pick out the winning poem. We are fortunate, however, in having secured as judges. three persons who know poetry both from a practical and from a critical standpoint: all three write poetry; two of them are teachers of literature, and the third is an editor on a magazine whose reputation for excellent verse as well as prose is unequalled. These three judges are:

Miss Florence Converse, one of the
editors of the Atlantic Monthly,
Mr. Carl Holliday, professor of
English at the University of
Toledo,

Mr. Frank Prentice Rand, professor

of English at Amherst College. Miss Converse is known as the author of several books, mainly on devotional and social subjects. Her last volume is a book of miracle plays, "Garments of Praise." Mr. Holliday numbers among his books. a volume on "Woman's Life in Colonial Days" which, though published a number of years ago, still has a steady popularity. Mr. Rand's friends who enjoyed his volume of poems entitled "Garlingtown" will be glad to know that a new book of verse, "Weathervanes," is announced for early publication by the Cornhill Publishing Company.

These judges are now at work and we hope next month to be able announce the winner and print again the winning poem.

to

OUR CONTRIBUTORS

In This Issue

The political ambitions and struggles of other days were not so far different from those which fill our newspapers today. Peter Livius the Trouble Maker has his modern incarnations. Therefore, his story, written by LAWRENCE SHAW MAYO, who is well known to New Hampshire readers as the author of the biographies of Jeffrey Amherst and John Wentworth, is of interest to those whose study is human nature as well as to historians. Mr. Mayo tells us that he came upon the material about Peter Livius while he was working on the Wentworth biography.

When GEORGE B. LEIGHTON presented to the Legislature in 1919 the report of the commission appointed in 1917 to study

New Hampshire's undeveloped water powers, much interest was created throughout the state. This interest, however, was not as productive of action as it should have been. In the article which Mr. Leighton has written for the GRANITE MONTHLY this month, he sets forth again the plea that New Hampshire shall realize the potential power of her streams and conserve it and use it to run her mills.

HENRY B. STEVENS is Executive Secretary of the Co-operative Extension Work at New Hampshire College. To use his own figure, he is one of the superintendents in the Education Plant and the article which he has written is a personally conducted tour through the factory.

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