374 DANIEL WEBSTER 



engaged in prolonged controversy with that famous 

 representative of the strictest Congregationalism, Dr. 

 Joseph Bellamy. In 1793, Bellamy's pupil, Nathaniel 

 Niles, became a trustee of Dartmouth, and between 

 him and John Wheelock the old controversy was 

 revived and kept up with increasing bitterness for 

 several years, dividing the board of trustees into two 

 hostile parties. At length, in 1809, the party opposed 

 to President Wheelock gained a majority in the board, 

 and thus became enabled in various ways to balk and 

 harass the president, until in 1815 the quarrel broke 

 forth into a war of pamphlets and editorial articles that 

 convulsed the whole state of New Hampshire. The 

 Congregational Church was at that time the estab- 

 lished church in New Hampshire, supported by taxa- 

 tion, and the Federalist party found its strongest 

 adherents among the members of that church. Natu- 

 rally, therefore, the members of other churches, and 

 persons opposed on general principles to the estab- 

 lishment of a state church, were inclined to take sides 

 with the Republicans. In 1815 President Wheelock 

 petitioned the legislature for a cofnmittee to investi- 

 gate the conduct of the trustees, whom he accused of 

 various offences, from intolerance in matters of reli- 

 gion to improper management of the funds. Thus the 

 affair soon became a party question, in which the 

 Federalists upheld the trustees, while the Republi- 

 cans sympathized with the president. The legisla- 

 ture granted the petition for a committee, but the 

 trustees forthwith, in a somewhat too rash spirit of 

 defiance, deposed Mr. Wheelock and chose a new 

 president, the Rev. Francis Brown. In the ensuing 

 state election Mr. Wheelock and his sympathizers 



