Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 05.djvu/35

 HALE

HALE

the 29th congress with only three representa- tives. His etforts, however, defeated the Demo- cratic candidate for governor by a combination of Whigs and Independent Democrats and se- cured an opposition majority in the general court of the state. Mr. Hale was elected to the gen- eral court and was chosen speaker, June 3, 1846, and on June 5, the legislature elected Anthony Colby, the Whig candidate, governor. The same legislature elected Mr. Hale to the U.S. senate from March 4, 1847, and on Oct. 20, 1847, the National Liberty party convened at Buffalo, N.Y., nominated him for President with Leicester King for Vice-President and he declined the nomi- nation. He was a candidate before the Free-Soil Democratic convention at Buffalo, N.Y., Aug. 9, 1848, and received 183 votes and when Martin Van Buren was nominated Mr. Hale gave him his imqualified support. In the 80th congress, that convened Dec. 6, 1847, he was the only avowed anti-slavery advocate in the senate, being fol- lowed, Dec. 3, 1849, by Salmon P. Chase and William H. Seward, and on Dec. 1, 1851, by Charles Sumner. He served in the U.S. senate until March 4, 1853, when he was succeeded by Charles G. Atherton, Democrat. His six j-ears' service in the senate was marked by a gradual growth of the anti-slavery sentiment and his speeches and votes aroused the admiration of the friends of freedom and the bitter hatred of the conservative party, not only in congress, but throughout the United States. He alone voted against a resolution thanking Generals Scott and Taylor for their victories in Mexico. He also met and defeated Senator Foote in a debate which gave to the Mississippian the epithet "Hangman Foote." He also advocated the abolition of flogging in the navy and of spirit- rations to sailors and secured the passage of the anti-flogging law, Sept. 23, 1850, and the anti- spirit-ration law, July 14, 1862. In 1851 he was counsel for Shadrach, a fugitive slave rescued from the U.S. marshal in Boston, and in 1852, as the representative of the Free-soil party, received the nomination of the national convention at Pittsburg, Pa., for President, with George W. Julian for Vice-President. In the general election held in November, 1852, the ticket received 156,- 149 popular votes. On retiring from the senate on the accession of President Pierce, March 4, 1853, Mr. Hale determined to leave New Hamp- shire and find a broader field for his work as an agitator, and in the following winter he opened a law office in New York city. The overthrow of the Democrats in New Hampshire in 1853-54 determined him to return to his native state and on June 13, 1855, he was elected by the legisla- ture of the state to the U.S. senate to fill the four years' vacancy caused by the death of

Senator Atherton. In the Republican national convention of 1856 he failed to secure the sup- port his prominence had promised and he did not receive a single vote. He was re-elected to the U.S. senate in 1858 and on the expiration of his term, March 4, 1865, he was appointed by Presi- dent Lincoln U.S. minister to Spain, receiving his commission, March 10, 1865. In his diplomatic life he was less successful than in his political career, and serious disagreements with Horatio J. Perry, U.S. secretary of legation, resulting from the abuse of official privileges, into which Hale had been led by the craft of a designing commission merchant through the intiigue of Perry (as charged by Mr. Hale), led to his recall, April 5, 1869, and he left Madrid. July 29, I869! Mr. Perry was removed, June 28, 1867, before Mr. Hale left Madrid. Mr. Hale was one of the numerous victims to the poisoning at the National Hotel, Washington, in 1857, and from that time his health gradually failed. His physical decline was aggravated by two serious accidents and both his mental and physical powers finally gave way. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Dartmouth in 1861. A statue executed by Ferdinand von Miller, Jr., was erected to his memory at Concord, N.H., and presented to the state by his son-in-law, the Hon. William E. Chandler. He died at Dover, N.H., Nov. 19, 1873.

HALE, Lucretia Peabody, author, was born in Boston, Mass., Sept. 2, 1820; daughter of Nathan and Sarah Preston (Everett) Hale. She was educated at the celebrated schools of Elizabeth P. Peabody and George B. Emerson. She devoted her life to literature and served for two years on the Boston school committee. She became well known as a promoter of educational and chari- table associations, kindergartens and the intro- duction of the science of cooking and sewing in public schools. She is the author of : Hie Lord's Sapper and Its Observance (1866) ; llie Service of Sorrow (1867) ; The Struggle for Life (1867) ; The Wolf at the Door (1877); Seven Stormy Sundays (1879) ; Tlie Peterkin Papers (1882) ; Tit e Last of thePeterkins (1886) ; Stories for Children (1892). She died in Boston, Mass., June 12, 1900.

HALE, Matthew, lawyer, was born at Chelsea, Vt., June 20, 1829; the youngest son of Harry and Lucinda (Eddy) Hale; grandson of Col. Nathan Hale, who died while a prisoner in the hands of the British at New Utrecht, Long Island, Sept. 23, 1780; and a descendant from Thomas Hale, an English yeoman, who emigrated to America in 1635 and settled in Newbury^ Mass. Harry Hale was a leading merchant of Windsor, Vt., a captain of militia, represented Chelsea in the state legislature in 1828, 1832 and 1836; served as bank commissioner ; and was foremost in founding the Congregational church at Chelsea in