JOSIAH BARTLETT.
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��that his name had been erased from the commission of the peace for the County of Rockingham. He also had a letter, of the same date, from the deputy secretary, acquainting him that the governor with the advice of the council had dismissed him from his colonelcy in the militia. Other patriots were treated in the same way.
In May, 1775, the royal governor left the province, having sometime previously sought refuge on board a man of war in the harbor, and it was governed by a convention.
In the summer of 1775, Dr. Bart- lett was chosen a delegate to the con- tinental congress, and he set out for Philadelphia in the following Septem- ber. Those were not the days of rapid transit in comfortable parlor cars. The journey had to be made by stage coach, or else on horse-back. He preferred the latter method, taking a servant to accompany him. They were exposed to robbers — or highway- men, as they were called in those days — as they had to pass through forests infested by them. He returned from Philadelphia in the following March, and after making a short stay, went thence again, where he remained until the 17th May, 1776.
When congress decided to take a vote on the subject of independence, they begun with the northernmost col- ony, New Hampshire. Dr. Bartlett's name was called first, and he voted in the affirmative. The other mem- bers were then appealed to in rotation until they came to Georgia, the south- ernmost colony. The president of congress, John Hancock, was the first to sign the Declaration of Indepen- dence. Josiah Bartlett was the second
��who did so. He then left for his home, being worn out with constant application and ill-health. He failed to attend congress again until 1778. But he did not remain idle meanwhile, for he occupied himself with public duties at home, and also helped pro- vide for Stark's expedition to Ben- nington.
In May, 17 78, Dr. Bartlett resumed his seat in congress, which sat this time at Yorktown, as the British troops occupied Philadelphia. In Novem- ber he repaired to his home to look after his private affairs, which had suf- fered greatly in consequence of his close attention to public business.
In 17S0, he was appointed chief justice of the court of common pleas. He was also appointed muster-master, about the same time, to raise troops.
In 17S2, he was appointed a justice of the supreme court, and he held that position until i 7S8, when he was made chief justice of the supreme court.
It does not appear that he had any special legal training for the bench, but few of the judges had in those days. But he had many of the re- quisites that generally go far to- wards the making of a sound justice, viz. : honesty, good sense, and a large knowledge of books and men. In the somewhat unsettled state of the colonies, judges were not so much called upon to resolve fine points of law as they are at the present time. Of course his signing the Declaration of Independence is considered the crowning feature of his life. But it was an unenviable thing to do, to state it mildly ; for had King George pre- vailed — and surely the probabilities
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