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 ^UNION LEAGUE CLUB 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 
 ^ ^7~^^ry^^^ ^/ 
 
 PHOCEEDINaS 
 
 IN REFERENCE TO THE DEATH 
 
 OF 
 
 HON. JOHN A. KING, 
 
 JULY llTH, 1867. 
 
 CLUB HOUSE, UNION SQUARE, 
 No. 29 East Seventeenth Street. 
 
 1 8 fi 7 . 
 
 
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ONION LEAGUE CLUB 
 
 NEW YORK, 
 n 
 
 
 F» R O C E E D I IS^ a S 
 
 IN KEFEllENCE TO THE DEATH 
 
 OF 
 
 HON. JOtIN A. KING, 
 
 JULY llTH, 1867. 
 
 CLUB HOUSE, UNION SQUARE, 
 
 No. 29 East Seventeenth Street. 
 
 1867. 
 
h/ZS 
 
TRIBUTE 
 
 Hon. JOHN A. KING 
 
 At a meeting of the Union League Club, held at the 
 Club House in Union Square, on the evening of July 
 11th, 1867, the President, Mr. John Jay, in the Chair, 
 the following resolutions, prepared by Mr. Henry T. 
 TucKERMAN, Were offered by Mr. Fkedekic Prime : 
 
 Whereas, Ex-Governor John A. King, of Jamaica, L. I., was 
 stricken down on the Fourth of Julv, while in the act of giving 
 expression to the patriotic principles and the noble syrai:)athies 
 characteristic of the man and the citizen, and on the following 
 Sunday expired, full of years and of honors ; and 
 
 Whereas, He was one of the earliest members and most devoted 
 friends of this Club ; therefore 
 
 Resolved, That in the death of John Alsop King we have met 
 with a national bereavement, his example and character being of 
 the highest order of civic virtue and republican consistency. 
 
 Resolved, That his prompt and brave protest against the Fugi- 
 tive Slave Law, while a member of Congress, his faithful and intel- 
 ligent discharge of his duties as a State Legislator, a Governor of 
 New York, and a National Representative, his eminent courtesy 
 
4 TRIBUTE TO THE 
 
 and rectitude in private life, and his kindness and geniality in 
 domestic and social relations, endear his memory, and add new 
 lustre to the patriotic record of his family. 
 
 Resolved, That his efforts to save the countrj- from the horrors 
 of civil war, as a member of the Peace Convention of 1861, his 
 earnest loyalty to the Union when war became inevitable, and the 
 influeuce he constantly exerted in behalf of the national cause at 
 the most critical period of our history, render complete and har- 
 monious his long, honorable, and patriotic career, and entitle his 
 name and memory to our grateful and affectionate respect. 
 
 Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be sent to the family 
 of the deceased. 
 
 In presenting the resolutions, Mr. Pkime said that it 
 had been his privilege to enjoy during many years 
 a considerable intimacy with Governor King, and it 
 afforded him a melancholy satisfaction to testify to the 
 private vu'tues of one who throughout life had main- 
 tained with simplicity and dignity the character of an 
 American gentleman. Compelled in his youth, through 
 restricted means, to till with his own hands his little 
 farm on Long Island, he never allowed the amenity of 
 manners, which was one of the most pleasing features 
 of his character, to become blunted by such rough 
 experiences. The young man who, as a boy at Harrow 
 school, had sat at the same form with Byron and Peel, 
 felt it no disgrace to pursue an avocation which in pop- 
 ular estimation may not have seemed compatible with 
 his education or social position ; but by his cheerful 
 submission to circumstances lent dignity to his humble 
 labors. The speaker had in his youth seen " Gentle- 
 man George" at Ascot Heath in England, tricked out 
 with all the finery which Bnimmell's taste and the 
 
HON. JOHN A. KINO. 
 
 tailor's skill could supply, and surrounded with that 
 halo of royalty in which even the meanest nature must 
 assume some of the attributes of greatness ; and yet, 
 he declared, plain John A. King, coming in from his 
 daily labor, with the sweat of honest toil upon his 
 brow, was incomparably the greater, if not the finer, 
 gentleman of the two. 
 
 After briefly sketching Governor King's family his- 
 tory, he alluded to his political career, which, if less 
 distmguished than that of his honored father, Eufus 
 King, of whom he was the eldest sou, was marked by 
 high probity, consistency, and courage. For many 
 years of his Hfe a member of a party hopelessly in the 
 mmority, he never condescended to become a faction- 
 ist, or to oppose for the sake of opposition merely. He 
 contended for truth and principle, not victory, and knew 
 better than most men how to sustain an unwelcome po- 
 sition with patience, moderation, and magnanimity. 
 Born in 1788, contemporaneously with the birth of our 
 Constitution, of which his father was one of the chief 
 h-amers, John A. King lived to see that instrument sur- 
 vive every attack which political chicanery or audacity, 
 or open-mouthed treason could direct against it ; and 
 to him, also, was accorded the rare good fortune to see 
 the States which that Constitution formed into a Union, 
 pass through the furnace of civil strife, and become 
 welded into a mighty nation, more respected, more 
 feared, and of far grander domain than its foimders ever 
 dreamed of creating. 
 
 Mr. Prime was followed by Mr. Chaeles P. Kirklaub, 
 who spoke as follows : 
 
6 TRIBUTE TO THE 
 
 A personal acquaintance witli IMr. King of more than 
 thirty years justifies me in saying a few words on this 
 occasion, and in adding my humble but earnest tribute 
 of regard to his memory. We were both members of 
 the Harrisburg Convention of 1839, which nominated 
 General Harrison for the Presidency, each of us repre- 
 senting a district of this State ; and I deem this a fitting 
 opportunity to declare that, as a member of that body, 
 our departed fiiend exhibited the elevated and pure 
 patriotism for wliich, perhaps more than for any other 
 quality, he has been distinguished through hfe. He, 
 with a large majority of his fellow-members, came to 
 the Convention with a strong personal preference for 
 Henry Clay as the candidate of the party ; and Mr. 
 King, in addition, represented a district which was 
 warmly in favor of that eminent statesman, and which 
 had emphatically expressed to him its preference. 
 But after three days of anxious and fi'iendly consulta- 
 tion among the members (every Congressional District 
 in the Union being represented), the deliberate conclu- 
 sion, though reluctantly arrived at, was, that under the 
 existing circumstances the nomination of Mr. Clay 
 would result in defeat. It was deemed of vital import- 
 ance to the great interests of the nation, that the Whig 
 party should succeed in that canvass; and therefore that 
 personal feelings and preferences should be yielded to 
 the country. Accordingly, the fi'ieuds of Mr. Clay, in- 
 cluding Mr. King, with a patriotism rarely witnessed, 
 made the required sacrifice, and General Harrison was 
 nominated. I am induced now thus publicly to men- 
 tion these facts, because no longer ago than yesterday 
 a most worthy member of the Union party stated, in 
 
HON. JOHN A. KING. 
 
 my bearing, that Mr. King, at that Convention, faltered 
 in his duty, and disregarded the wishes, if not the in- 
 structions, of his immediate constituents. I am glad 
 of this opportunity of doing justice to his memory in 
 this particular, and of declaring that his conduct in 
 that Convention was marked by high moral coui-age, 
 and by a spirit of unselfish patriotism. He acted then, 
 as he never failed to act in all his pubhc transactions, 
 without regard to personal consequences, and with sole 
 reference to what he deemed the true interests of the 
 repubhc. 
 
 Indeed, in the severe and bitter party contests in 
 which, in various periods of his career, he was called 
 upon to participate, I do not believe that, however his 
 views may have been dissented from, any man of any 
 party ever questioned his purity or his patriotism. 
 
 In the numerous important official stations he has 
 filled, he has never on any occasion been known to 
 have acted, or been suspected of acting, under the 
 influence of any mercenary or unworthy motive, or of 
 seeking to advance his personal interests any further 
 than they would be advanced by an honest and honor- 
 able discharge of public duty. Had his pure spirit 
 pervaded our legislative halls for the last few years, 
 this club would never have been required, in the per- 
 formance of what it deemed its duty, to send its re- 
 monstrances and its memorials to the capitol of our 
 State. 
 
 Mr. King, by birth, education, and fortune, belonged 
 to our aristocracy, if indeed such a thing as aristocracy 
 can exist among us of the North, but his heart and his 
 sympathies were always with the people and with 
 
8 TRIB UTE TO THE 
 
 liberty ; and never for a moment did lie have a feeling 
 in common wdth the imperious, overbearing, and selfish 
 slave aristocracy of the South. While in Congress, he 
 incurred their dislike by his bold and manly attacks on 
 their cherished institution ; and as a member of the 
 " Peace Congress " of February, 1861, he avowed his 
 deep and enduring enmity to slavery and to the slave- 
 power, which had for half a century exercised so great 
 and so deleterious an influence in the national Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 In private life, among his associates, he was invaria- 
 bly the accompHshed gentleman, the genial friend, and 
 the loved companion, while to all who had not his 
 advantages of education and social position, his de- 
 meanor was uniformly characterized by courtesy, 
 benevolence, and gentle kindness. His fmieral, which 
 I attended yesterday, was an occasion of deep and 
 solemn interest ; the multitudes who crowded to it fi'om 
 the village of his residence and from the surrounding 
 country, testified the heartfelt sorrow and affection of 
 those among whom he had lived for more than a 
 quarter of a century : as one of them said to me, ex- 
 pressing the universal feeHng, " He has been a father 
 to us." 
 
 We may feel a just pride that he was one of the 
 fomiders of this club, and that he had continued in full 
 and hearty communion and sympathy with us. No 
 member of the club was more enthusiastic in approval 
 and admiration of our work in raising and sending to 
 the field our negro regiments in the gloomiest period 
 of the War of the RebelHon. 
 
 He was vouchsafed a long life, and one uncommonly 
 
HON. JOHN A. KING. 9 
 
 free from bodily disease ; indeed, up to the lioiir of the 
 attack wliicli so soon ended in death, he was in excellent 
 mental and physical health. His last pubhc appear- 
 ance was on the late anniversary of our nation's birth- 
 day, and, by a beautiful coincidence, his last words 
 were addi-essed, on that occasion, to the yoimg men of 
 his vicinity ; and they were emphatically the words of 
 a patriot and a Christian. 
 
 He has departed as full of years as of honors, and has 
 left to us who sur\ive the invaluable legacy of his ex- 
 ample. Let us study to follow it, and thus pay the 
 best and a continuing tribute to his memory. 
 
 Mr. Isaac H. Bailey spoke as follows : 
 
 Mr. President : It is a gTateful task to streAv flowers 
 upon the grave of a man whose life has been one long 
 career of pm-ity, mauHness, and usefril service to his 
 kind. Eulogies upon the dead are worse than valueless 
 if they are not tmthfril ; but what words in praise of 
 John A. King could be woven into a panegyric that 
 would exceed the measure of his great worth ? He was, 
 2Mr excellence, a gentleman— of the old school, so called 
 — of great personal dignity, of courtly bearing, of com- 
 manding presence ; but with his dignified address there 
 was blended so much geniality and kindness of heart 
 that, while he commanded the respect, he also won the 
 love of all who knew him. 
 
 He beheved in hlood ; and if that was a weakness, it 
 was ha his case a pardonable one, for in his veins flowed 
 the blood of an American patriot and statesman of 
 noble fame, and it did not degenerate in its transmission 
 
10 TRIBUTE TO THE 
 
 to his sons, all of whom have reflected honor upon their 
 heritage. 
 
 But while Mr. King belonged, by bhth, education, 
 and sympathy, to the aristocratic element of society, 
 he was a life-long and consistent advocate of human 
 rights. He espoused the doctrine of the equality of 
 man before the law, while it was too generally re- 
 garded as a " gHttering generahty " rather than as the 
 corner stone of our repubHcan system. 
 
 He was an early, steadfast, and determined opponent 
 of slavery and every form of oppression. In this 
 respect he was a Democrat in the best sense of the 
 term. He had no sympathy with that spurious democ- 
 racy which vented itself in wordy professions of devo- 
 tion to the welfare of the people, but denied not merely 
 justice but even common humanity to millions of them 
 because of a mere accident of complexion. Beautiful 
 as was the character of Mr. King in all respects, it is 
 from this point of view especially that I love to con- 
 template it. He seems to me to have realized the 
 highest ideal of citizenship in a republic, and to have 
 had that sublime faith in man on wdiich rests the hopes 
 of the world's future. No pride of lineage withheld his 
 sympathies from his fellow men, no surroundings of 
 wealth and luxury deafened his ear to the plea of the 
 humblest of his kind. His public life was marked by 
 a strict adherence to the principles of justice, his pri- 
 vate walk was one of generous philanthropy and mod- 
 est benevolence. He illustrated in his own person the 
 sovereignty that inheres in the individual man — the 
 peer of all his race — reared under a government of the 
 People, where privileged orders are unrecognized and 
 caste is unknown. 
 
HON. JOHN A. KING. H 
 
 His life was prolonged far beyond tlie period allotted 
 to mortality, as if a benignant Providence willed that 
 he should witness the fruition of his labors for fi'eedom 
 in the purification of his beloved country from that 
 hideous stain which made its professions of love for 
 liberty a mockery. He lived, too, to see the lowly race 
 he had befriended endowed Avith civil rights, and enter- 
 ing, under the sanction of national authority, upon all 
 the privileges and responsibilities pertaining to equal 
 citizenship in a reconstyntcted and regenerated Union. 
 
 The Hon. C. H. Peabody said : 
 
 Mr. President : At this late hour of the evening, 
 and after the pleasing remarks that have been 
 made, it will not become me to detain you and 
 this audience by protracted comment upon a sub- 
 ject even so worthy of extended consideration 
 as the life and character presented by the resolu- 
 tions before us. I am not willing, however, sir, to 
 allow the occasion to pass without adding a word to 
 what has been already so well said by the gentlemen 
 who have preceded me. Mr. King, whose death we 
 lament, has gone, full of years and honors, to be gath- 
 ered to liis fathers. We knew him as a brother 
 member of our body, and as a gentleman of much 
 general culture, of elevated moral tone and sentiment, 
 of great pmdty and integrity of character, and of 
 genial temper and manners. Born in the best circle of 
 society, he was blessed in early life with the most 
 favorable cu'cumstances of niu'ture and education. The 
 world, therefore, had a right to expect of him many of 
 
12 TRIBUTE TO THE 
 
 the -sTi'tues which all agree that he possessed in an 
 eminent degree, and he has, in those respects, fulfilled 
 all that could reasonably be expected from opportuni- 
 ties of a high order, well improved in practice. Spring- 
 ing, as he did, from a family occupying the best position 
 in the community, his life has been altogether credit- 
 able to his origin. He would have been recreant to 
 duty if he had failed to take a place, in reference to 
 circumstances dependent upon that fact, like the one 
 he did take and occupied through his long and useful 
 Hfe. The characteristic which, under these circum- 
 stances, was most attractive, was one which, unhappily 
 for the world, is not always the concomitant of elevated 
 birth and breeding, or of the most finished education. 
 Those circumstances do not insure, and, in the minds 
 of many, are supposed not necessarily to contribute or 
 tend to, a general philanthrop}', a catholic comprehen- 
 siveness of s^Tnpathy and benevolence in practical 
 life. It is often supposed that circumstances like 
 these tend, by elevating the individual above the 
 many, to remove him, in some measure, fi'om a 
 regard for and interest in them ; and certain it 
 is that instances are not few or of infi-equent 
 occurrence which seem to lend color to this theory. 
 But no such consequences were allowed to follow 
 in the case of our deceased friend. The circum- 
 stances to which I have alluded were not allowed 
 to create a distance between him and his fellow-man, 
 however situated in life. With aU the virtues so justly 
 attributed to him in the remarks already made, admit- 
 ted to be his, nothing in his character strikes me with 
 more force than his broad and genial sympathy with 
 
HON. JOHN A. KING, 13 
 
 humanity. He was eminently a man of comprehen- 
 sive benevolence and unfeigned interest in his fellow- 
 man. The humble and lowly found in him a fiiend 
 always studious of their welfare and anxious for their 
 advancement. The tribute paid to him by a humble 
 neighbor, and alluded to by one of the speakers a few 
 moments since, seems to me to suggest a trait in his 
 character not less attractive or less deserving of notice 
 than any other that has been alluded to. That neigh- 
 bor, a plaui and lowly man, said of him as he followed 
 him mournfully to the grave : " The Governor was a 
 father to me. He was always ready to aid me by his 
 counsel and encouragement, and I can never cease to 
 recollect my obligations to him." 
 
 This kind of practical benevolence, Mr. President, 
 to the unpretending and lowly around him, is evidence 
 of the intrinsic goodness of heart to which I would 
 specially dh-ect attention, and which, to my milid, is 
 the most meritorious and amiable trait, and the one on 
 which, on this occasion, we may with most propriety 
 and benefit remark. It gives me more pleasure, sir, to, 
 be able to say of him, " He loved and sympathized 
 with mankind generally, including those farthest re- 
 moved from him by the circumstances of birth, educa- 
 tion, and social position, and loved to comfort and en- 
 courage them, and support and cheer them on in their 
 efforts and anxieties in life," than to dwell on those 
 other traits more naturally flowing from the elevated 
 station in which he was placed ; and these, sir, are es- 
 pecially the traits on which we delight to dwell in con- 
 templating his character now that he has passed fi'om 
 the scenes of time and entered upon those of another 
 
14 TRIBUTE TO THE 
 
 life. How liappy for us who respected and loved liim, 
 and how much more so for those more nearly allied by 
 ties of family and kindred, that the long life whose 
 termination we deplore has furnished abundance of 
 matter for contemplation of this kind. 
 
 Mr. James Kelly spoke as follows : 
 
 Mr. President : I cannot permit this occasion to pass 
 without adding a slight token of respect to the memory 
 of so good a man as the Hon. John A. King. My ac- 
 quaintance with him was chiefly political. In 1849 I 
 first met that distinguished citizen in Syracuse, attend- 
 ing a Whig State Convention. In a preliminary meet- 
 ing, held m the attic of the Syracuse House, the night 
 before the meeting of the convention, and quite fully 
 attended, I had taken ground in favor of some of the 
 State officers being selected from the southern tier of 
 counties. This aroused the opposition of many lead- 
 ing Whigs from the canal counties, and a full discus- 
 sion took place. John A. King arose and took the side 
 of the minority, and with his commanding influence, 
 and the ingenuity displayed in his appeal to the dele- 
 gates, the minority at this meeting was found to be in 
 the majority when the convention met the next day. 
 
 In 1855, when the Whig party met in State Conven- 
 tion on the same day with the Free Soil Democrats, 
 but in a difi'erent hall, John A. King being Chairman of 
 the Whig Convention, and Judge Smith Chairman of 
 the Democratic Convention, a joint meeting was pro- 
 posed and agreed upon ; and I well remember Gov- 
 ernor King's proposing Judge Smith for presiding offi- 
 
HON. JOHN A. KING. 15 
 
 cer of the joint convention. To Judge Smith's credit, 
 be it said, he arose, thanked the convention for re- 
 sponding to the proposal, but stated it was more fitting 
 that he should name John A. King to wed the old 
 Whig party to the Free Soil Democrats. Then it was 
 that such men as Preston King, Martin Grover, Thui'- 
 low Weed, and Horace Greeley, jomed hands in the 
 good cause of freedom for all mankmd, and from that 
 time forward the Kepublican party became a mighty 
 power in the land. 
 
 I subsequently met Mr. King at various other State 
 and National Conventions, notably at Philadelphia 
 in 1856, and Chicago in 1860, and no man could 
 have been more earnest in the performance of 
 the important duties confided to him. Again I met 
 him in the autumn of 1860, in the electoral college 
 of New York, with Bryant, Wadsworth, and others. 
 Gov. King suggested Wadsworth for president of the 
 college, who decUned and nominated Bryant, who 
 also dechned. It was plain to me tliis high-minded 
 man, John A. King, was not thinking of self; the 
 noble and generous elements in his nature always 
 predominated. With the consent of Messrs. Wads- 
 worth and Bryant, I nominated him for this honorable 
 position, and he was unanimously chosen president of 
 the college. Gov. King's high tone and principle enno- 
 bled politics, and his course throughout a long and 
 useful life gives om- young men an example they may 
 well follow. I deem it an honor to have be«n associ- 
 ated with such a man, and regret that I cannot express 
 how deeply and sincerely I feel his loss. 
 
]6 TRIBVTE TO THE 
 
 The Hon. E, P. Cowles said : 
 
 Mr. President : At the hazard of being somewhat 
 tedious after the several eloquent tributes to the mem- 
 ory of our deceased friend and brother, to which we 
 have hstened with so much interest, I wiU nevei'theless 
 beg your indulgence for a few moments, while I call 
 attention to a single incident, indicating and illustrat- 
 ing his pohtical opinions and action, which occurred 
 on an interesting occasion in the history of the country, 
 and under my own personal observation. 
 
 It was my fortune, sir, to be a member, as a dele- 
 gate from this State, of the last National Convention 
 which was ever held by the old time-honored Whig 
 party. That convention assembled in Baltimore, in 
 June, 1852, and its object was the nomination of can- 
 didates for President and Vice-President of the United 
 States in the coming election. 
 
 With the close of the dehberations of that convention, 
 and the election thereafter ensuing, ended the career 
 of that great party. From that pohtical death, great 
 and momentous consequences followed. You "wdll re- 
 member, sir, that on the occasion of that convention 
 there were before it for nomination for the Presidency, 
 three candidates. They were Millard Fillmore, Daniel 
 Webster, and General Scott. Throughout the proceed- 
 ings of that convention the main contest among its 
 members — the question of all others which influ- 
 enced its action — was on the principles which should 
 be assumed in its declared platform upon the question 
 of slavery. Almost the entire delegation from New 
 York, with a large majority of the delegations from the 
 
HON. JOHN A. KING. 
 
 17 
 
 other Northern States, resolved to resist all attempts 
 to commit the Whig party, in fact or by imphcation, 
 to any dogma of a jDro-slavery character or tendency. 
 
 The deliberations of the convention were long and 
 anxious, and the feeling of its members mtense. The 
 South was ably represented by representative men. 
 She had sent there delegates of long experience in 
 public life, men of great intellect, of strong convic- 
 tions, and of stronger rule— men detennined to commit 
 the Whig party to Southern views upon that (to 
 them) one absorbing question of slavery. There were 
 present there the imperious and self-willed Toombs, 
 the cool, wily, and astute Jones, of Tennessee, and 
 many others, with national reputations, able in debate, 
 and of large parliamentary experience. On the other 
 hand, there were also there equally able men of the 
 North (among whom I may name Dayton, of New Jer- 
 sey, Evans, of Maine, and the then youthful Sherman, 
 of Ohio), sturdy lovers of fi-eedom, equally deter- 
 mined that the Whig party, as a national poUtical or- 
 ganization, should not bear a pro-«Glavery stamp. The 
 Southern delegations, with great unanimity, supported 
 Mr. Fillmore. The delegations of the North generally, 
 though not with equal mianimity, supported General 
 Scott. Some thirty delegates from both sections of the 
 country, holding the balance of power, supported Mr. 
 Webster. 
 
 In the long contest over the resolutions of the con- 
 vention, which preceded the nominations, and in the 
 anxiety to secure votes for then favorite, and affected 
 probably by the earnestness with which Southern men 
 urged their views, some of the Northern delegations 
 
18 TRIBUTE TO THE 
 
 failed to exhibit their early earnestness in support of 
 the general];/ accepted Northern views on the question 
 of the platform. Throughout the contest, however, all 
 but six or seven of the New York delegation, among 
 the majority of which were Granger, of Onondaga, and 
 Draper, and Talcott, and Raymond, stood firmly to the 
 very last with the majority from Ohio and New Jersey, 
 and with portions of other delegations, in resistance to 
 the platform of principles demanded by the South. 
 
 You can well imagine, sir, in the presence of these 
 facts, that the conferences of om" Northern friends dur- 
 ing that long and eventful week — a week of depressing 
 sultriness and heat, w^ere constant and anxious ; and how 
 at times there might be Gome who would be prone to 
 inquire w^hether our New York delegation should not 
 compromise on the platform, rather than remain a unit 
 to the end upon the ground it had assumed, to the 
 peril of our favorite nominee. It was here that the 
 particular chcumstances occurred to which I desh-ed 
 to call your attention. Our deceased fiiend was often 
 present at those conferences — occurring during the 
 recess of the convention ; and Avhenever indications of 
 doubt or faltering were exhibited, I well remember 
 how the strong v/ill, and courteous but firm and cheer- 
 inor words of John A. King, tended to reassm-e the 
 faltering, and confirm the doubting. His constant ad- 
 vice was, no wavering, no compromise — better pohtical 
 defeat than either. Through his personal influence as 
 much, if not more, as I believe, than through that of 
 any other one man, the unity of the large majority of 
 the New York delegation was preserved. And it is 
 my pride and pleasure now to recur to that unbroken 
 
HON. JOHN A. KING. 19 
 
 vote, during the three days' discussion upon the reso- 
 kitions, and to the subsequent three days' balloting:?, 
 with the fifty-seven ballots successively thrown for one 
 candidate, General Scott, before his nomination was 
 secured. Not one of those delegates faltered on a 
 single vote throughout, either upon the question of the 
 platform or the candidate. 
 
 The effect, sir, of that long and earnest struggle 
 between the Northern and Southern elements of the 
 Whig party, not alone upon the destinies of that party, 
 but upon the future of the nation, has been but 
 partially appreciated. Out of it, not intentionally 
 perhaps — certainly not entu'ely foreseen by the active 
 participants in that convention — but as a necessity and 
 natural sequence, grew that subsequent political organ- 
 ization which has ulthnately earned with it the down- 
 fall of slavery in these United States. 
 
 The Northern and Southern wings of the old Whig 
 party were at irreconcilable differences on the one sub- 
 ject of slavery. The South in that convention triumphed 
 in the platform, the North in the candidate. All un- 
 derstood, however, the inherent disagreement, and that 
 this disagreement must be perpetual. The North de- 
 rided the platform. The South deserted the candidate. 
 As a consequence, the sun of the succeedmg day of 
 election went down upon one of the greatest political 
 defeats which the country had ever witnessed. The 
 necessary and inevitable result was the dissolution of 
 the Whig party as a poKtical organization, and from 
 the ashes of its Northern wing, the resurrection, in 
 the Eepublican party, of a new and more loftily in- 
 spired pohtical aggregation, based upon resistance to 
 
20 TRIBUTE TO THE 
 
 tlie further extension of slavery, and its denationaliza- 
 tion as a controlling power in our national politics. 
 The successful assumption of that ground by that 
 party was made the occasion of war, and out of war 
 sprang freedom. 
 
 I do not intend to be understood as impl^dng, that 
 none but members of the old Whig party were em- 
 braced in the Kepublican ranks on the first formation 
 of that party — for such was not the fact ; much less to 
 assert that all those who, in the Baltimore Convention 
 of 1852, resisted the demands of then- Southern fi-iends, 
 intended or foresaw the vast pubhc consequences 
 which were to flow from their action ; but I do mean 
 to say that the political dissolution of one of the then 
 two gi-eat national parties was necessarily, in the des- 
 tiny of events, to precede any extended or controlling 
 organizations based ujion persistent antagonism to the 
 slave power ; that to the determined resistance of that 
 power in the Convention of 1852, is to be attributed 
 the breaking up of the Whig party, and the merging 
 of its almost entire Northern element in the Eepubhcau 
 ranks ; and that no one man exerted, in my judgment, 
 under a conscientious con"vdction of the right, a more 
 potent personal influence, in combining and keeping 
 up to the end that determined resistance in the Con- 
 vention of 1852, fi'om which all those vast conse- 
 quences to which I have alluded so largely flowed, 
 than our deceased friend John A. King, to whose 
 memory we are this evening paying the tribute of our 
 deep respect. 
 
HON. JOHN A. KING. 21 
 
 The Peesident spoke as follows : 
 
 Before putting the question upon the resolutions, 
 although it would seem unnecessary to add to the 
 tribute which has been so justly and eloquently 
 paid to the memory of our lamented associate, you 
 will allow me, I trust, to say a few words, for you 
 will appreciate my unwillingness to let this occasion 
 pass without a brief expression of my warm apprecia- 
 tion of the character and services of Governor King, 
 
 He was one of the few men of high social position 
 in New York whose sympathies and utterances during 
 our long struggle against the unconstitutional encroach- 
 ments of slavery, were uniformly on the side of free- 
 dom ; and for this alone we should have felt for him an 
 unusual degree of regard aud gratitude. Governor 
 King's love of liberty was an hereditary sentiment. 
 It had nought in common with the false idea of a de- 
 generate democracy which limits freedom to the white 
 race, granting them an unlimited area for slavery, and 
 an unstinted power to buy and sell and flog and work 
 then* black countrymen, but it was the true idea of 
 equal liberty, without regard to nationahty or race or 
 creed or color. 
 
 Rufus King, in 1785, moved a resolution in the Con- 
 tinental Congress, " that there be neither slavery nor in- 
 voluntary servitude in any of the States described in the 
 resolution of Congress of April, 1784, otherwise than 
 in punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have 
 been personally guilty ; and that this regulation shall 
 be made an article of compact, and remain a fimda- 
 mental principle of the Constitution between the origi- 
 
22 TRIBUTE TO THE 
 
 nal States and each of the States named in said re- 
 solve." 
 
 Governor King lived to see that suggestion of his 
 father, after more than eighty years, made an article of 
 constitutional compact and fundamental principle, not 
 only between the States then alluded to, but between 
 all the States that now compose our continental re- 
 pubhc. 
 
 I had the opportunity, during many years, of being 
 associated with Governor King. I often met him in the 
 Diocesan Convention of the Episcopal Church, which, 
 you remember, after a struggle of nine years, recog- 
 nized, in the admission of the parish of St. Philip, 
 the equal rights of their colored brethren, an ex- 
 ample which the National Government has followed 
 in recognizing the equal rights of our colored country- 
 men at the South. Again, I was intimately associated 
 with him in the progress of that gi'eat national move- 
 ment which we inaugurated in this city on the 30th 
 of January, 1854, at the meeting of citizens, without re- 
 spect to party, to protest against the tlu'eatened repeal 
 of the Missouri Compromise. That memorable gather- 
 ing, at which New York gave tone and expression to the 
 deep, loyal sentiment of the country, was followed by 
 others of scarcely inferior importance, and resulted in 
 the call of a State Convention at Saratoga on the fol- 
 lowing August, and an invitation to citizens of other 
 States to hold similar conventions, with a \iew to har- 
 monious and united action. 
 
 On the assembling of the enthusiastic and determined 
 multitude who met at Saratoga, Governor King was 
 appointed temporary chairman, and by that body was 
 
Hox. jonx A. Kixa. 23 
 
 put forth a declaration of those govermental j)rinciples 
 which have since been so gloriously vindicated by the 
 American people. The Saratoga Convention declining 
 to make nominations of its own, adjoiu-ned to meet at 
 Auburn the following month, to nominate the candi- 
 dates of the other parties who should be fully committed 
 to their views ; and when they met again at Syracuse 
 on the 27th September, 1855, the "Whig Convention, 
 which had met there on the same day, formally dis- 
 solved, and joined the ranks of the Eepublicans ; so 
 that to Governor King belonged the honor of being- 
 one of the fathers of that Repubhcan party which 
 saved our country from the disintegration to which it 
 had been devoted by the slave power of the South, 
 aided and abetted by Democratic leaders at the North, 
 and by an unfi-iendly aristocracy in Europe. 
 
 Governor King maintained with earnest enthusiasm 
 and power the Republican principles of Nationahty 
 and Freedom which a pseudo Democracy had fought 
 to emasculate and dwarf by that pitiful theory of 
 petty sovereignties which strikes at the heart of the 
 Constitution, denying the sovereignty of the American 
 people — denying the fact of their nationality, and leav- 
 ing no place for national pride or national affection. 
 
 In the so-caUed Peace Convention held at Washing- 
 ton, amid the first convulsions of the rebellion. Govern- 
 or King spoke but twice, and then briefly ; but his 
 plain words and manly dignity, with those of his asso- 
 ciates, General "Wadsworth and William Curtis Noyes, 
 whom he has now rejoined in a better world, vindicated 
 the sovereignty of the Constitution and the loyalty of 
 New York ; and though on the great question before 
 
24 TRIBUTE TO THE 
 
 the Convention the vote of our State was lost, their 
 testimony and example relieve the darkness of that 
 unpleasant page in our history. 
 
 The insolent and domineering tone assumed by men 
 prepared to rash into rebellion, was repelled by Gov- 
 ernor King with a spirit that was in strong contrast to 
 the servility exhibited by some of his associates. He 
 said, in reply to W. Wyckliffe : 
 
 " I am as old as the gentleman from Kentucky. 
 
 " I recognize no right in him to lectiu'e me on my polit- 
 " ical duties. I revere the Constitution of my country'. 
 " I was educated to love it. My own father helped to 
 " make it. I cannot sit still and hear such declarations 
 " as have been hourly repeated here for the last few 
 " days. * * The State of New York at all times, in 
 " peace or war, has been loyal to the Constitution ; and 
 " although some of her representatives here may un- 
 " dertake to make you think differently, she always wiU 
 " be : yes, loyal with all her strength and power ; and 
 " as one of her representatives, I shall yield nothing on 
 " her part to threats, menaces, or intimidations." 
 
 When the resolution denying the right of secession 
 was under discussion. Governor King said : 
 
 " We do not intend to be driven fi*om oui' position 
 " by threats or intimidation. We beheve that it is emi- 
 " nently proper for the Conference to express its decided 
 " convictions upon the question of secession. We are 
 " told here that secession is a fact. Then let us deal 
 " with it as such. I go for the endorsement of the 
 " laws passed in pursuance of the Constitution. I will 
 
HON. JOHN A. KING. 25 
 
 " never give up the idea that this is a government of 
 " the people, and possessing within itself the power of 
 " enforcing its own decrees. * * This Conference 
 " conld perform no nobler act than that of sending to 
 " the country the announcement that the Union of the 
 " States under the Constitution is indissoluble, and that 
 " secession is but another term for rebellion. * * I 
 " wish to live in peace and harmony with oui* brethren 
 " in the Slave States. But I wish to put upon the 
 " record here, a statement of the fact that this govem- 
 " ment is a government of the people, and not a com- 
 " pact of States." 
 
 Governor King hailed \di}i delight the early and 
 stern resolve of this club to maintain that fimdamental 
 doctrine of our nationality against the organized efforts 
 of the partisan leaders in our midst, who, after the 
 loudest professions of devotion to the Constitution and 
 the Union, deserted the National Government when 
 assailed by treachery and war, and who, in fm^therance 
 of the rebellion, sought to separate the city from the 
 State of New York, and in secret interviews with Lord 
 Lyons invoked British intervention in our American 
 affans. 
 
 No man rejoiced more heartilj^ when, a few months 
 after the murderous riots of July, 1863, we sent forth 
 from this club-house our first colored regiment to 
 assist in sa\ing the National Government, which the 
 Peace Democracy were assisting to destroy ; and when, 
 on that occasion, his generous-hearted and eloquent 
 brother, Charles King, the late President of Columbia 
 College, who is now, as we sadly fear, awaiting the last 
 
26 TRIBUTE TO THE HON. JOHN A. KING. 
 
 summons iii a foreign land, gave to the black soldiers, 
 on behalf of the club, a hearty greeting and an affec- 
 tionate God-speed, no breast swelled with deeper 
 emotion than that of our late associate. 
 
 His well-spent life was singTilarly beautiful in its 
 close. On the birthday of the country he had loved 
 and served, while touchingly commending the care of 
 its institutions and the culture of Christian princij)les 
 to the younger generation that crowded lovingly about 
 him, he received suddenly the announcement that his 
 work was ended. 
 
 His countrymen will cherish his memory. History 
 will do honor to his name, and we who have known 
 him so long and so weU, wdU affectionately recall the 
 personal graces that lent to his wtues so bright a 
 charm — the true heart, the kindly, earnest tone, the 
 frank speech, the animated look, the open hand, the 
 graceful courtesy — and, above all, the genial spirit 
 which enabled him, on the verge of eighty years, to 
 blend with the experience of venerable age the warm 
 sympathies and buoyancy of youth. 
 
 The question w^as then put by the President, and 
 the Resolutions were unanimously adopted. 
 
 L£ N '10 
 
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