THE SEWALL MONUMENT AT WISCASSET, MAINE Sprague's Journal of Maine History VII NOV. DEC. 1919, JAN. 1920 No. 3 pages 115-118 THE SEWALL MONUMENT AT WISCASSET, MAINE There has stood for a century and more, in the town of Wiscas- set, a monument erected to the memory of the Honorable Samuel Sewall, once chief justice of the supreme judicial court for the commonwealth of Massachusetts when the district of Maine was a part of that jurisdiction. A year or more ago, the Honorable Leslie C. Cornish, chief jus- tice of the supreme court of Maine, while presiding at a nisi prius term of the court in the historic old Wiscasset Court House, discov- ered that this monument had for a long time been sadly neglected. He at once took measures to restore and preserve it so that it may ever remain as an important historical New England landmark here in Maine. The Honorable Arthur P. Rugg, chief justice of the Massachusetts supreme court, upon learning of these facts begged the privilege of sharing with him the expense of the restoration of this monument. Thus its preservation for future generations in entirely due to the patriotic efforts of these gentlemen. And we cannot here refrain from adding that Chief Justice Cornish is one of the cultured men of Maine who are appre- ciative readers of Maine history; who believe that it should be taught to the youth of Maine in our public school; and that the state should pursue a broad and liberal policy in encouraging the publication of literature relating to it. He appreciates and ever encourages all efforts in this direction and his counsel and assist- ance to those working in this field are always inspiring and valuable. Samuel Sewall was born in Boston December, 1757, being a grandson of Dr. Joseph Sewall, a distinguished divine among the churches of New England. He was prepared for college at the Dummer school and graduated at Harvard in the year 1776. He began his professional life in the town of Marblehead, and continued to practice in the county of Essex until he became known as one of the most eminent lawyers at the bar. For several years he represented Marblehead in the legislature of Massachusetts. This period in his life is referred to by Judge Parker in "A Sketch of the Character of the late Chief Justice Sewall, "published in Mass. Law Reports, eleventh vol. p. 556, as follows: In the times when talents and moral worth were passports to popular favor he was chosen, for a succession of years, to represent the town of Marblehead in our legislature. There he soon acquired the influence due to his talents. It was a time of innovation and visionary experiment. On more than one occasion, when a learned but eccentric statesman attempted to introduce a popular but dangerous change into the criminal code of our state, and seemed to carry the multitude along with him, the forcible and unanswerable argu- ments of Sewall arrested the course of experiment, and preserved thing in tried and safe channels. In a foot note the Judge states that the "learned but eccentric statesman" referred to was a Maine man, John Gardiner of Pow- nalboro in Lincoln county. The fact that he was practicing law in that remote town of the lower Kennebec, may emphasize the suggestion of eccentricity on his part. William Willis in his "His- tory of the Lawyers and Law Courts of Maine," p. 121, says that "it is difficult to conceive the motive that should have induced him to fix his residence there." He had not lived there very long before the people of that vicinity elected him to represent them in the Massachusetts Legislature. At The time referred to by Judge Parker he was one of the Dis- trict of Maine representatives from that town. Thus it becomes of interest to know more of who and what this man was, not only because he was from Maine, but also for the reason that the story of his legislative controversy with Judge Sewall is an interesting side-light on the progress of events and changes in public opinion in New England during the past century. He was the son of Dr. Silvester Gardiner for whom the city of Gardiner was named. Dr. Gardiner was Maine's most famous loyalists at the time of the revolution, and fled to England where he lived until its close. Hence John was educated there and had practice law before Lord Mansfield prior to his adventure in Pownalboro. He was a lawyer of ability and a brilliant public speaker. It is interesting to note that his opponents, in their labors in "preserving things in tried and safe channels" unsuccessfully opposed Gardiner's efforts in abolishing the law of primogeniture according to Willis (supra) p. 122. Another one of his daring attempts in his "course of experiment" was a bill to abolish special pleadings. In this he was such a long distance in advance of his compeers --- Willis says forty years --- that he was necessarily defeated. As he was about a half century ahead of his time in most of these matters, his greatest accomplishment was his noted forensic en- counter with Mr. Sewall. Both were among the intellectual leaders of that day. As their points of view regarding such questions were entirely opposite, their debates attracted attention throughout New England, gave them much fame and, in point of ability, were credit- able to both. And yet as much as we may admire Gardiner's ability and fear- lessness, it must be admitted that some of his "law reforms" appear impracticable if not dangerous as contended by Judge Parker in his sketch; and some have never been adopted. In the year 1787, Mr. Sewall was elected to Congress for the South Essex district and re-elected for the next term. In the year 1800, while a member of Congress, he was appointed to a seat on the bench of the supreme judicial court. In 1813, he succeeded the Honorable Theophulus Parsons as Chief Justice of this court. He had served in this office but little more than a year, when he was stricken by death while holding a nisi prius term of the court at Wiscasset. Upon the east side of the monument above referred to is this inscription: Erected by the members of the bar, practising in the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth, to express their Veneration of the Character of the Hon. Samuel Sewall, late Chief Justice of the said Court, who died suddenly in this Place on the 8th of June, 1814, Et. 56. Upon the north side is the following: The remains of Chief Justice Sewall having bee here interred, afterwards were removed, and deposited in his family tomb at Marblehead. (c) 1998 Courtesy of the Androscoggin Historical Society ************************************************* * * * * NOTICE: Printing the files within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. * * * * The USGenWeb Project makes no claims or estimates of the validity of the information submitted and reminds you that each new piece of information must be researched and proved or disproved by weight of evidence. 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