innnTinuniiiHiiiini -^ iiiiiniiiiiiiiiiinjiniuiiiimiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiiiii: lililimUlUllii^'ilil Qass. Book. STATUE OF NATHANIEL P. BANKS. A RECORD DEDICATION OF THE STATUE OP MAJOR GENERAL NATHANIEL PRENTISS BANKS September - 16 - 1908 BOSTON: PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL : WRIGHT AND POTTER PRINTING COMPANY STATE PRINTERS : : : NINETEEN HUNDRED AND NINE D. OF D. SEP 2 f910 CONTENTS Resolve of the General Court 7 Orders of the Governor's Council ] ] Programme 15 Address by Hon. Seward W. Jones 19 Address by His Honor Eben S. Draper, Lieutenant Governor, Acting Governor 23 Address by Hon. Herbert Parker 29 RESOLVE OF THE GENERAL COURT DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE Commonwealth of Massachusetts CHAPTER 79. RESOLVES OF 1897 RESOLVE TO PROVIDE FOR THE ERECTION OF A STATUE TO MAJOR GENERAL BANKS T3ESOLVED, That there be allowed and paid out of the treasury of the Commonwealth a sum not exceeding twenty thousand dollars, to be expended under the direction of the gov- ernor and council for the erection of a statue of Major-General Nathaniel Prentiss Banks, in the state house or on the grounds of the state house ; and the governor and council are authorized to take such steps as are necessary to cause such a statue to be pre- pared, to select the position in which the same is to be placed, zind cause the same to be erected. Approved May 28, 1897 ROGER WOLCOTT, Governor ORDERS OF THE GOVERNORS COUNQL DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE Commonwealth of Massachusetts COUNCIL CHAMBER Boston, Jan. 2, 1902 /^RDERED, That the model and pedestal in plaster of a ^"•^ statue of Major-General Nathaniel Prentiss Banks, submitted by Henry H. Kitson, be approved; the statue to be cast in bronze and placed upon a foundation otherwise provided for, not to exceed the sum of $18,000. It is understood that during the construction of the VN^orking model the sculptor will invite the co- operation and criticism of the Conunittee on State House of the Executive Council before the work has been finished. Adopted in Council, Jan. 2, 1902 EDWARD F. HAMLIN, Executive Secretary DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE Commonwealth of Massachusetts COUNCIL CHAMBER In Council, Aug. 5, 1908 \ 70TED, To unveil and dedicate the statue of General N. P. ' Banks on Wednesday, September 16, at 2 P.M. Also to engage Hon. Herbert Parker to deliver the address on that occasion. Adopted EDWARD F. HAMLIN, Executive Secretary 12 PROGRAMME DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE PROGRAMME THE UNVEIUNG OF THE STATUE ON THE STATE HOUSE GROUNDS AT 2 P.M. 1 March. " General Banks " fifth regiment band of waltham 2 Presentation of the Statue to the Commonwealth by hon. seward w. jones Chairman State House Committee 3 Unveiling of the Statue by paul sterling, jr. Grandson of General Banks 4 Acceptance of the statue by his honor eben s. draper Lieutenant Governor, Acting Governor 5 Prayer by rev. paul sterling 6 Music, " America " BY fifth regiment band of waltham EXERCISES IN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AT 2.30 P.M. 1 Selections by fifth regiment band of waltham 2 Oration by hon, Herbert parker 3 Music. "General Banks March" fifth regiment band of waltham 4 Benediction by rev. paul sterling 15 ADDRESS BT Hon. Seward w. Jones Chairman Committee on State House of the Executive Council \ HON. SEWARD W. JONES, CHAIRMAN, STATE HOUSE COMMITTEE. ADDRESS By Hon. Seward w. Jones Elxecutive Councillor OUR Honor — The Great and General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, by ^ chapter 79 of the Resolves of the year 1897, approved by Gov. Roger Wolcott, and chapter 291 of the Acts of the year 1900, approved by Gov. Winthrop Murray Crane, provided an appropriation for the erection of a statue of the statesman and soldier, which we dedi- cate to-day. By these resolves the execution of the work and the selection of the site were intrusted to the Governor and Council, and in accordance therewith a contract was entered into with the artist on Jan. 15, 1902, and this site selected. I have the honor, as chairman of the State House committee of the Honorable Council of this year, offi- cially to report to you, sir, the completion of the work intrusted to our care, and, further, to deliver to you, as Acting Governor of the Commonwealth, this memorial, erected by the people of Massachusetts to one of our 19 DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE most highly honored citizens, who in time of war served his country with distinction, and in time of peace served the Commonwealth and the nation in high positions of trust, — Governor, Major General, Nathaniel Prentiss Banks. 20 ADDRESS BY HIS HONOR EBEN S. DRAPER Lieutenant Governor, Acting Governor / HIS HONOR EBEN S. DRAPER, LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR, ACTING GOVERNOR. ADDRESS BY HIS HONOR LIEUT. GOV. EBEN S. DRAPER |R. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen — In accepting for the Commonwealth the statue of General Banks, I desire to express my appreciation of the services of the committee who have carried this work to a successful conclusion. There are very few men in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts who have had a longer, more varied or conspicuously successful career than did Nathaniel P. Banks. Born in Waltham on the 30th of January, 1816, he had only the advantages of a common school edu- cation. He worked in a cotton mill of the city of Lowell, of which his father was superintendent, and because of the work he did there he was afterward frequently called the "bobbin boy of Massachusetts." In 1849 he was elected to represent his town in the Massachusetts Legislature. At this time the power of the Whig party was waning in New England, and the Free Soil party was beginning to have considerable in- fluence. Mr. Banks advocated a coalition between the Free Soil party and the Democrats, and as a result of this coalition he was elected speaker of the Massa- 23 DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE chusetts House of Representatives in 1851, and re-elected in 1852. At this time he was elected a delegate to the Massa- chusetts constitutional convention, and in 1853 he was elected to Congress as a coalition Democrat. Soon after he withdrew from the Democratic party and identified himself with the American party, and was re-elected to Congress by an overwhelming vote. At this time he was nominated for speaker of the national House, and after a contest, which lasted more than two months, he was finally elected speaker on the one hundred and thirty-third ballot. Political parties at this particular time were becoming much split up and new parties were being formed rapidly, and at about this period he severed his connection with the other parties and became a Republican, and was elected to the thirty-fifth Congress by a larger majority than he had received before. Preceding the Presidential election of 1856 the Amer- ican party held a national convention, from which a substantial number of delegates seceded, and General Banks of Massachusetts and William F. Johnson of Pennsylvania were nominated by these seceders as candi- date, respectively, for President and Vice-President. It was in this year that Fremont was nominated by the Republicans as their first candidate for the Presidency, and Buchanan was the Democratic nominee. General 24 DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE Banks declined this nomination for the Presidency from one section of the American party. In 1857 he was elected Governor of Massachusetts, and was re-elected in 1858 and 1859. After he had finished his term as Governor of Massa- chusetts, he accepted the Presidency of the Illinois Cen- tral Railroad, in 1860, but when the Civil War began he resigned his office there and was commissioned as a major-general of volunteers in the army, and was assigned to the command of a corps in the Army of the Potomac. He served for several years in the army, and took part in many severe battles. At one time he was in com- mand of the department of New Orleans, and at another time was in command of the department of Washington. He was not relieved of his command until 1864, and returning to Massachusetts he was re-elected to Congress, and was continuously re-elected until 1877, except in 1872, when he was active in the support of Horace Greeley for the Presidency. He was later elected to the fifty-first Congress, from 1889 to 1891. I have given this statement of the various offices and positions of great responsibility to which he was elected and filled to recall to the minds of the people the great and varied services which he rendered to his State and to the nation. I shall not attempt any estimate of his character or ability; this will be done, much more ably than I could do it, by the distinguished gentleman who 25 DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE is the orator of the day ; but any citizen of the Com- monwealth of Massachusetts who had been so contin- uously honored by her people must have been worthy, and it is proper and fitting that such a one, who received great honors from the people while living, should be honored and commemorated in a lasting way by the citizens of the Commonwealth when dead. It therefore seems to me most appropriate that this splendid statue should have been erected by the citizens of the Commonwealth to commemorate the memory of Nathaniel P. Banks, and as Acting Governor I consider myself honored, and take pleasure in accepting this statue. 26 ADDRESS HON. HERBERT PARKER HON. HERBERT PARKER, ORATOR. ADDRESS By Hon. Herbert Parker HE grateful affection of Massachusetts does not suffer the memory of her distinguished sons, or their high service in her nzune, to fade and perish in her heart; nor will she permit the laurels she has proudly set upon their uplifted brows to wither in the dust of forgetfulness. This stately memorial ceremony, this assembly of her people, declare that she holds in tenderest thought and remembrance an honored son whose achievements have become a part of her own enduring fame. No spoken word of eulogy is needed to breathe life into those deeds and that service, for they live and move and have their being in the peace, the power and the glory of our Commonwealth and nation. History shall have eternal care of the record of his works ; her vigilance shall keep the letters she has herself inscribed bright as the stars which mark the pathways of the immortal; his name shall live upon the lips of all who shall love the Com- monwealth, and cherish and revere the lessons of her citizenship. Yet love ever seeks some visible remem- brance of a presence that has faded from the sight. The 29 DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE poet is minister to the soul, but the divine genius of sculptor and painter can best give expression to the loving memories of the heart. And novyr again the figure of a statesman, tireless in his service to the State, rises before the sight of the gen- erations w^ho knev/ him, and the generations yet unborn shall knovsr the ever-living presence of a great past, made visible inspiration of their ow^n days. To such high pur- pose the memorial bronze which wdth reverent hand we unveil to-day shall speak to the coming ages. This hour, when our nation is secure in impregnable power, serene in universal peace and honor, might lead us to question the recitals of the historian, to distrust the annals of those days of doubt and darkness through which our nation came to its own redemption; for living lips no longer sustain the fierce debate, the threats of impending conflict, the outbursts of implacable controversy that stirred the thought and tried the souls of men when Nathauiiel Prentiss Banks, son of the soil of Massachu- setts, and by virtue of her spirit bom leader of men, had commanding part in making our country what it is, — in its constitution and in truth a nation of free men. The impressive story of this life engages and holds our present thought, gives purpose to these ceremonies that shall far outrun the brief hour that they occupy. The life of General Banks is the lesson of the splendid possibilities and perfect realization of American citizenship, 30 DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE for no fortuitous advantage of birth or opportunity raised him to an eminence to which any American may not aspire. Senator Hoar, wisest and kindliest philosopher of our time, has said he was "an example of what a gen- erous ambition can accomplish for the humblest child of the republic." He was bom at Waltham, in the county of Middle- sex, on the 30th of January, 1816, the eldest of seven children, his father a competent mechanic, but without means to provide educational advantages for his son other than those of the elementary schools, not then developed to the high standards of to-day. From his early boy- hood the gaining of a livelihood was the first necessity of his thought, and this period of his life challenges our careful observation, — a time of great influence, it is said, in the formation of character ; but it were more in accord with the truth if we say that such circumstances do but reveal real qualities which can only be manifested by the trial of enviroimient and the tests of self-reliance, in most cases postponed until years of maturity. Dom- inating the limitations of his youth, he gave assurance of that great future which he already grasped in making himself master of opportunities which he made possible through constancy of purpose and ceaseless and intelligent study and industry. With his parents he sought employment in the factories of Lowell, and this first labor gave him that sobriquet 31 DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE of affection which the people adopted, and half in earnest, and half in kindly jest, the name of the " bobbin boy '* followed him through life. His youthful tasks were long, spent in joint servitude with the mechanism of loom and spindle, but they con- stantly sang to his prophetic ear of the limitless possibil- ities of labor, of industry, of self-reliance and of courage. Scant were his moments for the study of books, after twelve hours of laborious service, but in all ages the fitful evening firelight and dim Hame of the rush taper have made luminous the pages of learning, and have cast their rays forward and far over the pathway that leads upward to the heights of exalted fame. With an earnestness that knew no fatigue in the quest he sought the enlightenment of good books, and spent such hours as he might call his own in the company of the great teachers of all ages. The English classics were his delight, and he acquired such knowledge of Latin as to enable him to read wdth some facility the great authors of that tongue. He diligently studied Spanish, and with a curious prescience declared that the day would come when America must have intimate association with the people of that race. His early and constant study of the poets, of the historians and philosophers doubtless gave him, by the aid of his retentive memory, that mental equipment, that fullness of knowledge, that admirable style, which have given his State papers and his public ad- 32 DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE dresses an assured place with the best that our Elnglish literature preserves. By the kindness of friends he had access to the stores of learning in the Boston Athenaeum, and there his few holidays were passed in studious delight, and his long journeys homeward in the evening after days of such enlightenment were, in truth, in the company of the stars which shone above and before him. The stern necessities of life kept his hands as closely occupied as his mind ; apprenticed as a machinist he be- came an expert journeyman. In 1 839 he assumed the proprietorship of the " Mid- dlesex Reporter," and as editor prosecuted this first literary venture with success for three years. He read law, and was duly admitted to the bar, but never engaged in practice. Other occupations, more congenial to his taste and for which he was doubtless better fitted, fully engaged even his intense intellectual energies. The lecture plat- form gave him earliest opportunity to try his forensic powers, and it was manifest that limitations in education had been more than compensated by industry and mental attairmient; his speech was graceful, natural, vigorous, and adorned by that versatility and accuracy of phrase that can be acquired only by vsdse and appreciative acquaint- ance with the best authors. It is related that after the delivery of a lecture at Salem a delighted auditor inquired from what university he had been graduated, to which 33 DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE with apt humor he replied, "From a college with a water wheel in the basement." His genial, candid nature, the enthusiasm of his youth, his energy and evident talents gained him the confidence and regard of men of influence, and among the most fortunate of these associations was the friendship of the Hon. Robert Rantoul, collector of the port of Boston, afterwards United States district attorney, and later sen- ator. This eminent scholar and lawyer offered the young student free access to his private and professional library, encouraged and aided him in his literary studies, and by example and conversation taught him much of that refine- ment of thought and diction which was afterwards the marvel of those admiring critics who knew the meagre- ness of the school education which he had enjoyed. His intensely virile voice was of extraordinary charm, of mar- velous compass, sweeping an audience to exalted enthu- siasm in a resistless torrent of stirring eloquence ; again, captivating all opposition by the spell of persuasive argu- ment or moving appeal that no auditor could resist; and this power survived all the infirmities of age. Even in the chill of decrepitude which enfeebled all his physical energies, when he rose before an audience the fire of youth rekindled, and Pale flashes seemed to rise As when the northern skies Gleam in December. 34 DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE Talents such as he possessed proved his aptitude and justified his ambition for public service, and now the field of the great achievements of his life aw^adted him, — a field of future trial and conflict, where no man might dare to enter £uid hope to survive without the courage of conviction; nor could one expect to be sustained by party name or party prestige, for in the great moral issue then impending the bonds of political organization were to be dissolved and fused in the fires that consumed all but the elemental principle upon which the nation was divided, however the fact might be concealed by specious assurance, conciliatory statute or party platform. At the outset of his career he resolutely determined upon that line of conduct which he declared had con- trolled his every public act, when in answer to inter- rogatories put to him when candidate for speaker of the national House he said : — In my brief period of public life, not altogether a quiet one, I have relied upon myself alone, and 1 have done that under cJl circumstances which my convictions taught me to be right. He first appeared as party advocate in support of the candidacy of Van Buren, thus allying himself with the Democracy, which in Massachusetts was tending toward a temporary affiliation with the Free Soil Party, which ultimately formed the coalition by which the old Whigs were driven from a power so long restraining, by its 35 DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE prestige and the mighty name of Webster, the irresistible sentiment of the people of Massachusetts against any ex- tension of the curse of slavery to new States and terri- tories, or any further recognition of an institution now become detestable and abhorred, especially through the enactment of the fugitive slave law. In 1848, in his thirty-third year, after repeated cam- paigns, he was elected to the State Legislature, and was returned almost without contest for three further terms. Through the coalition in 1 85 1 , Henry Wilson, as a Free Soiler, was chosen president of the Senate, and Banks, as a Democrat, speaker of the House, and re-elected in 1852. This coalition and transitory alliance of expe- diency, in large part consisting of men of little other prominence or station, incongruous in its past, and with no hope of the future, had rendered an important and essential service to the country in the election of Sumner to the Senate. It was looked upon, nevertheless, without confidence or respect by all who knew its true con- stituents. Banks himself, with shrewd humor, sciid to Governor Boutwell : — It is almighty queer that the people of this Commonwealth have put their government into the hands of men who have no last and usual place of abode. As speaker of the House he gained new prestige and respect; impartial, courteous and firm, he displayed an 36 DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE exact and exhaustive knowledge of parliamentary law, and his administration was universally conceded to be that of an ideal presiding officer. y Another political organization gained quick and extraor- dinary ascendency in the State, adding further embar- rassment to the disintegrating political parties of the times. So insidious was the power of this secret organization, known in name as the Know Nothing party, that the Free Soilers dared not openly oppose it; indeed, many, from motives of policy, surreptitiously — sometimes avowedly — joined its ranks. It cannot be doubted that Banks and Henry Wilson, forced by the exigency of the times and in the hope of ultimately aiding the Free Soil cause, became members of the organization, or per- mitted themselves to be so considered. They certainly realized that an organization founded upon intolerant religious proscription was so false and hostile to the spirit of our American government that it could not survive ; its disintegration was inevitable, and after a brief supremacy it passed from all participation in the government, and scarce an apologist for its existence can now be found. General Banks himself, by his own leadership, finally redeemed the State from a reign of bigotry unworthy of our annals, and now happily forgotten. His choice as president of the constitutional convention of 1853, when thirty-seven years of age, he rightly esteemed to be the most gratifying incident of his life, 37 DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE replete as it was with evidences of public confidence rarely in a full lifetime accorded to any one man. Con- stitutional conventions of Massachusetts have always assembled her most learned and most eminent citizens; the cunning politician has found there no fruitful field for his small ambition, no opportunity for those rewards which are the objects of his self-seeking efforts ; and so the determination, or modification in form or tenor, of the organic law of the State has been left to those who have recognized the necessity of preserving its wise restraints, and have not suffered them to be relaxed be- cause of ill-considered or injudicious popular desire. In this convention, which has been designated as the ablest body of men that ever met in Massachusetts, there sat, among the many of great learning and scholar- ship, Richard H. Dana, Jr., George S. Hillard, Marcus Morton, father and son, Simon Greenleaf, Rufus Choate, Charles Sumner, Caleb Cushing and the elder Robert Rantoul. To be given preferment over them, and by their choice, was a signal honor and a gracious recog- nition of character and ability, — peculiarly gratifying to this self-taught man, who, in spite of his success, felt the want of that generous education which had been denied him. With perfect dignity, with a manner befitting the grave proceedings, he marshalled the brilliant and power- ful arguments of the ablest and most leamed lawyers and laymen of the State in such a manner that each had the 38 DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE fullest and fairest display and consideration. " The col- lege of the mill wheel " found her graduate sitting as equal among equals with the doctors of law and philosophy, who wore the gowns of our most ancient university. The extension of slavery in the west, the arrogant demand of the slaveholder of the south, open threats of secession, fitful flashes of the fires of war, flamed across the dark clouds of sectional and party controversy, as, long before the storm, one may note its approach in the heavens. Webster, by force of his overwhelming expo- sition of constitutional rights and obligations, had reassured the south and restrained the north. Now the Missouri Compromise was repudiated ; its provisions spurned and cast aside; the Supreme Court had held it to be a void compact, by which neither party was bound. Massa- chusetts saw the wretched slave seek sanctuary under the shadow of Bunker Hill, only to be dragged from his refuge, and with fetters upon his limbs delivered over to his vengeful and merciless master, to be returned to a hopeless captivity. The sentiment of Massachusetts could not longer be repressed. Whittier sang to her of the pathos and horror of slavery, and appealed to her mercy, her love of liberty and her courage. Lowell, with ex- quisite irony, in prose and verse laid bare the fatal fallacy of the original constitutional evasion of the truth, and the later political subterfuges and compromises, which per- petuated a crime which outraged the law of man and God. 39 DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE In her inmost heart Massachusetts knew that the nation itself must perish if the infection which corrupted the very bonds of the Union was not utterly cast out by legis- lation or by war. Sumner, who had dared to utter the dread truth, was stricken down by the shameful blow of a coward, who had thought that the dawning of the day might be stayed if only he might stifle the voice that proclcdmed its coming. Bravely, with a purpose now irrevocable, but without its open avowal, Massachusetts looked forward, anxious, depressed, but without fear to the inevitable conflict. Emerson had said: "The fugitive slave law did much to unglue the eyes of men, and now the Nebraska bill leaves us staring." With careful forethought she selected her champions, hoping against hope that her battles might be fought to victory in the peaceful halls of legislation, but determined that there, or on bloody fields, the battle must be fought. Champion such as she sought she found in her own son, Nathaniel P. Banks. True to every duty she had cast upon him, she called him to that of graver moment than he yet had essayed, and confident she sent him her representative to the thirty-third Congress, there, in the words of one of his later utterances, to maintain that "for a State inflexibly determined to submit to nothing wrong there is no safer rule of action than to ask nothing that is not right." 40 DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE In such spirit he went forth from Massachusetts to gain that ascendency in the federal councils that he had won among associates and rivals in his own State. Con- flicting sentiments and opinions had wrought utter con- fusion in party policy ; party names had lost influence, even significance ; in such a chaos only individual con- science, courage and capacity could survive. He was elected on a Know Nothing ticket, but made no pretense of his own sympathy or affiliation with that party ; on the contrary, in the campaign of 1855 he presided over the Massachusetts Republican convention. In the contest for speaker in the thirty-fourth Congress, Banks of Massachusetts, tried and proved by his first term, — the most notable incident of which was his oppo- sition, though elected a Democrat, to the Kansas-Nebraska bill, — was offered as a candidate, not by party caucus, but because of recognized courage without arrogance, and a spirit that demanded and conceded only what was right. Breathless interest attended the election ; upon its dec- laration was to be determined whether antislavery senti- ment was to find aggressive expression in Congress, or whether laws dictated by sectional policies were further ^to enslave the very conscience of the nation. In the intensity of the excitement, prolonged through months of balloting, and requiring no less than one hundred and thirty-three roll calls, Banks never for a moment lost his 41 "N DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE self-poise, courage and candor. Frankly and fearlessly answering interrogatories as to his conduct if elected, he answered that no party dictation should control his action, — that his duty as he saw it should be his only guide. Of Kansas and Nebraska he declared, with thrilling em- phasis, that there must " be made good to the people of the United States the prohibition for which the southern States contracted and received a consideration. I am," he said, " for the substantial restoration of the prohibition as it has existed since 1820." New adherents gathered to his support as other can- didates failed and fell under the fierce struggle of faction, prejudice, passion, wrath and fear. At the end, the advocates of slavery, and their associates who hated the system but feared secession or war, had united upon Aiken of South Carolina, known as the greatest slave- holder of the south. Truly it was an impressive spec- tacle. With bated breath the country looked upon this final conflict between Banks on the one side, who had dignified labor by the service of his own hand, had glorified it by the inspiration of intellect and eloquence, and, on the other hand, Aiken, born to a condition and sentiment that made the sweat and blood of humcui beings the capital and substance of his personal and political fortune. North and south and west the tidings sped, that this man of northern sentiment and of northern courage, the 42 DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE "iron man" of Massachusetts, had been chosen to direct the policies of the people's tribunal in the House of Congress, where the wildest outbursts of resistless enthu- siasm were manifest in spite of bitter denunciation, sullen murmurs, even hisses of the mortified and defeated auto- crats of the south. But let no American forget to hold in honor and respect the magnanimous conscience of Aiken himself. Victim of a curse to which he had been born, the soul of a patriot broke from the bondage which held him as he rose and stilled the shameful tumult about him by declaring that the will of the people's representatives was supreme; that the election commanded the obedience of all, and that he first de- manded the honor and right to lead the chosen ruler of the House to the chair of his rightful authority. Under such auspices, under auguries of such reassuring promise, — the first real victory of Republican antislavery sentiment, — the new speaker assumed the duties of an office in responsibility and power, under our system of congressional government, second only to those of the President himself. A great victory had been won, and the students of that stormy period of our history unite in the avowal that by no other hand could the standard of the great cause have been borne to its triumph. With just and equal recognition of leaders of each policy of public opinion he made appointments to his corrunittee; with that tact 43 . DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE which always characterized him he consulted Senator Benton of Missouri, then in Washington, and advised him that he should appoint General Quitman of Missis- sippi upon the committee of military affairs ; to which the rugged old politician, pleased by the confidence of this young man, said of Quitman : " He is a fire-eater; put him on, put him on, but see that he is mighty well guarded." The speaker blandly replied that he had already taken that necessary precaution. As speaker he presided with such courtesy, dignity, incomparable knowledge of the laws of deliberative assemblies, with such inflexible courage and perfect fair- ness, that never was a ruling reversed by the House; he ruled not by any " magic of the gavel," but by virtue of force and fairness, which commanded respectful assent ; and when he resigned his authority to the power that gave it, he departed from among his associates with their universal ciffection, admiration and confidence. His administration marked the first incident of that momentous period described by Breckinridge of Ken- tucky, high-souled, generous patriot of the southland, in his feeling eulogy of General Banks when in the capitcJ at Washington he said : — When Massachusetts stepped to the front, and, as the begin- ning of the leadership in the tremendous struggle, Nathaniel Prentiss Bauiks became speaker of the House of Representatives, — practically from 1855 to 1875, — the House of Representa- 44 DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE lives registered the decrees of Massachusetts, and the Republic of America followed the lead of the old Bay CommonwecJth. I do not exaggerate, Mr. Speaker, I think, when I say that from 1855 to 1875, whether it was for weal or woe, whether it was wisely or unwisely done, — men differ and historians may dispute, — but as a matter of fact Massachusetts led America, emd led her with an audacity, an aggressiveness, with a skill and eloquence, with a power and force which have never been sur- passed, in all the tide of time, in the leadership of a great people. In this supreme apostrophe there is nothing of the exaggeration of rhetoric ; it is historically true that Banks of Massachusetts had stayed the tide, and that around him there crystallized positive hope of the triumph of the new party of freedom, whose elemental principle of faith was the repression of slavery, if not its extermination. The seceders from the convention that had nominated Fillmore, calling themselves the North Americans, de- clared Banks their nominee for the Presidency. This he declined, and they then nominated Fremont. An acute and profoundly learned American historian has said : — Never in our history, and probably never in the history of the world, has a more pure, a more disinterested, a more intelligent body of men banded together for a noble political object than these who now enrolled themselves under the Republican banner. From the cloisters of study and college, Felton and Silliman, Emerson, Longfellow, Bryant, Curtis, Irving and 45 DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE Willis, upon platform and in the market place, exhorted their fellow citizens to join the cause of Fremont and freedom. The religious press adjured the people to " Vote as you pray, and pray as you vote " in a holy cause. In the fervor of such exalted enthusiasm the Republican party entered upon its first national cam- paign. Banks, sagacious leader, perfectly in touch w^ith the popular sentiment, looking to the ultimate victory which he knew must now be postponed, recalled from Congress, became a candidate for Governor against the invincible Gardner in his last battle for his dead cause. Banks realized that nomination under the Republican name would arouse too many hostilities, excite too much apprehension, alienate too many associates, to bring success. In purpose and in ardent faith an antislavery Republican, and fighting for their cause, his nomination carried only the prestige and power of his ovm popu- larity and his own national and State renown. His election silenced the last whisper of the Know Nothing councils, and, in fact, established the Republican party triumphantly in the State. Again in him the hope of the people of the north found realization. And now the second epoch of his memorable public service began. Chief executive of the State which was pre-eminently the leader of the new cause, he had need to be wise in counsel, discreet in conduct, fearless in thought, inflexible of purpose, — else the great destiny 46 DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE of the State might be subverted. His administration in this troublous time was conducted with a calmness, stability of judgment, that proved him a true statesman. He foresaw, and beyond all other men prepared for, that armed rebellion of desperate and wrathful southern States which finally broke in all its awful terrors upon a nation, for the most part, ill-prepared to sustain its shock. His first inaugural address, in words of prophecy, courage and patriotism, declared that — The preservation of the Union is among the highest of politi- cal duties; the vitality of the Union is in the recognition of the rights of the States; the affirmation of their existence may become the surest means of perpetuating the Union itself. These are privileges that are worth a contest ; such at least has been the immortal example of immortal men. His message announcing the removal of Judge Loring from his office as judge of probate, while it stated a sufficiently sound technical ground, was nevertheless due to popular condemnation of a positive official duty in his rendition, as a federal magistrate, of the fugitive slave Burns. But Governor Banks was far from being the mere creature of the popular will; he knew well how to lead it, but he did not fear to oppose it in the discharge of his public duty. In his message he forci- bly reminded the Legislature of the exclusive jurisdic- 47 DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE tion of the federal law within its constitutional province, and pointed out the error and evil consequences of futile or unjust State legislation in conflict with national authority. He urged with unanswerable justice and logic that the ill-considered proscriptions of the act of May, 1855, intended to prevent the execution of the fugitive slave law, should be modified so that they should recognize the federal law and yield a necessary obedience to it. The Massachusetts statute providing that any person who shall "act as counsel or attorney for any claimant of any alleged fugitive from service or labor shall be deemed to have resigned any commission from the Commonwealth that he may possess, and he shall there- after be incapacitated from appearing as counsel or attorney in the courts of this Commonwealth," — this the Governor declared to be "inconsistent with the dignity, as it is vydth the professional traditions, of the State, with which, in this connection, the illustrious names of Adams and Quincy are inseparably associated." The statute further provided that any member of the volunteer militia who should in any manner act or aid in the seizure, detention or rendition of a person claimed as a fugitive from service or labor should be punished as a felon. The obvious conflict of duty thus confront- ing a Massachusetts soldier was pointed out in emphatic terms of condemnation, the Governor declaring that 48 DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE "every order issued from this department of the gov- ermnent to the military force of the State must be obeyed." He defined the dignity and character of judicial serv- ice in a message rising in sentiment to the lofty judicial ideals of Choate, which had inspired the constitutional convention : — Fixed compensation for public service is one of the important features which distinguish the Republiczin from despotic forms of government ; to no class of public service does it apply with so much force as to judicial officers ; the just determination of judicial causes requires the union of rare ability and the highest integrity, great intellectual capacity and extended and varied mental culture. They are invested with life tenures of office, and are expected chiefly to abstain from active participation in business transactions. It is not possible nor expedient to pay the most competent men as much for such service as would be received by them in suc- cessful professional life, but they have a right to demand, accept- ing judicial positions, that such compensation shall be made for their services as will enable them to maintain, with economy, the dignity of their position and the honor of the State. I make this recommendation, not so much for the judges as for the people, in order that they may select for their servants the best men, whether with or without fortune, and who when thus selected and strengthened by experience and study for the discharge of their duties may be able, without injury to themselves, to continue in service and in the enjoyment of official honors with which they have been invested, with their own consent and the choice of the people. 49 DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE Other subjects with which he dealt in inaugurals and messages were those of the constitutional restrictions upon executive pardon, presenting a commentary which displayed wide legal learning, and a masterly discussion of the administration of the criminal law. He con- sidered at great length the restoration of the Lyman Reformatory School, and outlined and forecast all the humane and protective features of the probation laws now enacted, and in operation, with universal approval. He was ardently interested in the advancement of the public schools and of the higher education, and gave intimate and constant influence to every such cause, by force of his own enthusiasm procuring a just appropria- ation from the State that established the Agassiz Mu- seum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard, and the creation of a fund to aid the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He advocated the maintenance of a State training ship, saying, " there is no surer avenue to indi- vidual and national prosperity than that which lies in the direction of an extension of commerce." The internal interests of the State were in his con- stant thought and care, and none escaped his considera- tion or suggestion, but his ears were not deaf to the angry murmurs, to the challenges, that were cast like hostile arrows from south to north, and again cast back in anger. He knew too well the temper of the time, and the effect almost certain to follow if a Republican 50 DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE President should be elected in succession to Buchanan. With prudence, but without exciting alarm or encourag- ing a spirit of war, he provided an equipment for the militia unapproached in perfection by that of any other loyal State. As Commander-in-Chief he reviewed the greatest muster of the troops of the State then held, near the field of the Concord fight, believing that uncon- sciously the citizen soldiers would there breathe a spirit of which the State might stand in need again. The first blood shed on that new 19th of April justified both his apprehension and his faith. Andrew, first to sustain the armed authority of the government with an energy and patriotism beyond the measure of our praise, sent from Massachusetts troop upon troop of our militia equipped with every necessary weapon or munition of war; but for the wise forethought of Governor Banks this efficient body of soldiers had not been the first to give assurance to President Lincoln of that loyalty which was to endure to the end. Retiring from the office of Governor, he delivered a valedictory address of singular dignity, wisdom and just comment on the trend of public affairs ; something of melancholy apprehension tinged its phrase, but a confi- dence in his State and the preservation of the Union was manifest in its every sentence. He warned his fellow citizens of the dangers that threatened the repub- lic, but no fear was in his heart, full of love and ven- 51 DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE eration for the State he had served so faithfully and so well. In tender farewell he said : — To whatever part of the country I may go, I shall stand within the circle of her influence ; the enduring monuments of her fcir-reaching sagacity, her enterprise and capital will everywhere surround me, to remind me of my origin and her fame and power. Retiring from office he assumed important duties with the Illinois Central Railroad, whose franchise rights had been the subject of litigation in that State, where Abra- ham Lincoln had appeared as counsel for local interests and Robert Rantoul for the corporation, whose son relates that upon his first visit to the White House President Lincoln recalled, with respect and admiration, his first acquaintance with a Massachusetts lawyer. Last of all men would Governor Banks have per- mitted private interest, or opportunity for pecuniary bene- fit now open to him, to withhold his offering a patriot's life to his country's cause. The flag of Sumter had been hauled down by its defenders with the ominous beat of war drums, that was never to cease, until that flag rose again, triumphant emblem of a reunited nation. Almost with the first call to arms there came from the hand of the President a commission as major general of volunteers. It is certain that Governor Banks, realiz- ing his want of military training or experience, would have declined the tendered honor, but the President 52 DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE insisted, for he well knew that no name in Massachu- setts would rally so many of her citizens to her battle flags. Whatever were the misfortunes or successes that attended General Banks, there was no hour so dark, no discouragement so overwhelming, that his stirring voice and unfaltering courage fciiled to arouse a new hope, or to restore shaken confidence. On battle field, as in forum, his inspiring voice reanimated the broken ranks, urged for- ward the charge, and none were laggards where he led. His first command was upon the upper Potomac and in the Shenandoah valley, fated to be the debatable ground of the war, swept by the varying fortunes of battle, desolated by fire and sword. In 1862 he held command of the Fifth Corps of the Army of Virginia, where he met the swift and sudden attack of Jackson, — most resourceful, most audacious of captains, — and here he sustained the shock of unequal battle at Cedar Mountain. Later he was assigned to the command of the Second Army Corps and in charge of the defences of Washington, and in these anxious days the glamour of his name availed more to restore popular confidence in the north than parks of artillery or regi- ments of men. The President himself, sorely tried by anxieties, the like of which no man ever bore, sought constant conference with this man of Massachusetts, and the midnight hours were witness of the trust and reliance of Lincoln, whose judgment of men never erred. 53 DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE He was sent with the expedition to New Orleans, relieving General Butler. In April, 1863, his army in- vested Port Hudson, memorable scene of determined defence, — its plains and heights hallowed by the blood of bravest men, made glorious by gallantry unsurpassed in the dread recitals of war. Vicksburg yielded to in- exorable and relentless siege and assault. The surrender of Port Hudson followed, and the soldiers of General Banks, as victors, first saw the waves of the " Father of Waters flow unvexed to the sea." The President, in a personal letter, wrote : — The final stroke in opening the Mississippi never should and never will be forgotten. The calamitous Red River expedition was undertaken without General Banks's approval. As a soldier, unwa- vering, he obeyed the orders he received ; without fear or hesitation he marched to what he himself deemed inevi- table defeat. Grant, in his final authoritative analysis of the war, has said : — It is but just to Banks, however, to say that his expedition was ordered from Washington, and he was in no way responsible, except for the conduct of it. I make no criticism on this point. He opposed the expedition. Upon his return from this ill-starred campaign he con- tinued in command of the Department of the Gulf. 54 DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE Armed rebellion in Louisiana had been overthrown; scarce a desultory shot of skulking guerrilla could be heard within its borders, but grave problems confronted him in the inextricable difficulties, almost impossibilities, of the restoration of a State government within the Union; a confusion of civil and military authority v\dthout parallel in history, conditions without precedent of constitutional guidance, were about him. No human sagacity could then have evolved a plan that would insure representation of true public sentiment, or could at that time have estab- lished and secured a just civil goverimient. At last he sought release from duties that calmer judgment and time alone could discharge. He returned to his own Commonwealth, which, in triumph and in misfortune, had followed and sustained him with a confidence and love that never abated. At times when his people were in doubt, verging upon despair, his return to Massachusetts had been welcomed by eager thousands of his fellow citizens. His voice lifted up the faint hearted, the multitudes who assembled to hear of repulse sustained, of hope long deferred, went from his presence with tumultuous cheers, confident of ultimate victory, howsoever long it might be stayed in its coming. Again at home, the repose of private life was not to be his. Doubtless he would not then have wished it. He was presented as candidate for Congress, and, without serious opposition, re-elected until 1877, excepting the canvass of 1 872, when even his loyal and admiring con- 55 DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE stituency faltered and would not follow in his support of Greeley's dangerous and mischievous opposition to Grant. Again, in 1888, he was elected against Colonel Hig- ginson, under conditions of very great and peculiar political interest. With the term of this election his service in the national House came to its close. During these later periods he was constantly recognized as one of the members of greatest distinction. From the galleries his figure was among the first to be sought out; were he to speak, again the throngs that knew the spell of his eloquence crowded chamber and corridor and hung breathless upon his words. In debate he yielded place to no man. He had lived and acted in the mighty onrush of events that had threatened to sweep a nation to its destruction, but instead had borne it upward to an inviolable Union, an impregnable security and power; in the times when the bonds of common patriotism were reuniting, he strove earnestly, with thought and effort, to establish that per- fect concord of heart, faith and hope, closer than con- stitution or treaty can bind or compel, wrought out by an awful trial, that had taught once warring brothers that the conscience, virtue and valor that had animated them all were the very essence of their kinship. As chairman of the committee on foreign affciirs, he advocated the extension of our territory into the icy waters of the Pacific, where the vast immeasurable re- 56 DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE sources of Alaska have become tributary to the wealth of our people. He reported from his committee that aggressively American bill, which declared the right of every citizen to renounce all foreign allegiance, and, in case of its denial, authorized the President to suspend commercial relations vsdth, and to arrest and detain any citizen of, such government, in reprisal. His energies, his talent and his service had been given to his country ; without fortune of his own, he accepted, not without consideration of the livelihood it afforded, the honorable and responsible office of United States marshal, willingly and gratefully conferred upon him by Presidents Hayes and Arthur. He was elected to the Massachusetts Senate of 1874, and there ardently supported the repeal of the vote of censure upon Sumner for his just and magnanimous reso- lution that led to the restoration of the captured confed- erate battle flags, which had declared that "national unity and good-will among fellow citizens can be assured only through oblivion of past differences," — and Massa- chusetts, in contrition, renounced an act as unjust to her illustrious son as it was unworthy of her better impulses, and repugnant to her generous fame. Thus the last sentiment of his public life was that of its beginning, — the maintenance of a great nation of free men, bound together by a common love of country and justice, without taint of bitter memory, without thought of enmity or distrust. 57 DEDICATION OF BANKS STATUE His advancing years were blessed by the universal affection and respect of his people; his loved presence was the pride and joy of his townsmen; their regard was reflected in reverent devotion of little children. His footsteps, when they grew enfeebled, were guided •with. tenderest attention to his home, which was in the hearts of the people of the place of his birth, the sanctuary of his perfect and constant happiness. His power to sway the minds of men, to lead them wheresoever his voice might call, was almost without example in New England, and might have raised him to dizziest heights of personal ambition and aggrandizement, but he sought no renown, he craved no reward, save that which might be part of the fame and glory of his State and nation, and there his memory is secure, im- mortal in the lofty ideals which Massachusetts has con- ceived, and to which her future days are committed. Lowell has told us that — The hero — the wise man, the artist, all build their own monuments, broad based as continents, lasting as love eind rever- ence. Columbus has a hemisphere for commemoration. The obedient planets write forever in the sky the epitaphs of Coper- nicus and Newton. As our flag shall lift on the viands that proudly bear it, its stars shall flash from sea to sea, through the still watches of the night; and each returning day shall for- ever renew the lustrous memory of its defenders. 58 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 010 732 853 1