Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 10.djvu/221

 Hon. William E. Chandler

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��than any other outside his own state. It was the opening election of the year following a depressing defeat, and he felt that to lose it at such a criti- cal time would be as disastrous in its effects upon the army and the country as the loss of a great battle. It was his interest in this election which first brought Mr. Chandler to his atten- tion, and there is no doubt that he noted when, in the New Hampshire Republican state convention, in 1864-, Mr. Chandler offered the following resolution, which was unanimously and by acclamation adopted :

Besolved, That Abraham Lincoln, by the exercise, during the severest and most dangerous crisis in the nation's history, of unequalled sagacity and statesmanship, and that moderation and prudence which ex- perience has shown to be the highest wis- dom ; by his spotless integrity of personal character, above reproach and above sus- picion ; and by his slowly formed yet un- alterable determination that the triumph of the constitution and the Union over seces- sion and rebellion shall be the final triumph of liberty throughout the nation, — has re- ceived and merited the abiding confidence of the people to an extent never awarded any other public man since Washington ; that the best interests of the country de- mand that the complete destruction of the Rebellion and the restoration of peace, prosperity, and the Union, should be achieved under his administration of the government ; and that we therefore declare Abraham Lincoln to be the people's choice for reelection to the presidency in 1864.

"The adoption of the resolution, and the conduct of the canvass in the spring of 1864, on the basis of Mr. Lincoln's renomination, resulted in a very large Republican majority ; and Mr. Chandler, who had been a mem- ber of the legislature of 1862, and, at the age of twenty-seven, had been elected speaker of the house of representatives in 1863, was again

��chosen speaker; and in August, 1864, presided over the legislature in which occurred the eventful conflict and riotous disturbances over the veto by Governor Gilmore of the bill allowing soldiers in the field the right to vote. Mr. Chandler gained his earliest rep- utation for persistency, coolness, and moral courage in this celebrated con- flict, so well remembered by the Re- publicans of the state."

Mr. Chandler has been twice mar- ried, — in 1859, to a daughter of Gov. Joseph A. Gilmore, and in 1874, to a daughter of Hon. John P. Hale. He has four sons, — Joseph Gilmore, born 1860 ; William D wight, in 1863 ; and Lloyd Horwitz, in 1869 ; also, John P. Hale Chandler, born March 22, 1885. Mr. Chandler's father died in 1862. His mother died in 1883, in Concord. His two brothers, — John K. Chandler, formerly a merchant in Boston and the East Indies, now re- sides on a farm in Canterbury, N. H. ; and George H. Chandler, who was first adjutant and afterwards major of the Minth New Hampshire regi- ment, was, till his death, a lawyer in Baltimore. Mr. Chandler's father was a Whig — a man of great intelli- gence and firmness of character. His mother was a woman of equally posi- tive traits, and contributed much to the formation of the character which has given success to her sous.

Mr. Chandler's popularity is con- fined to no one section of the state. With the sturdy rank and file of the Republican party, from Cheshire county to the upper Coos, from the Connecticut river to the ocean, he has staunch and enthusiastic friends.

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