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 Ji STOK, B 3 . HUS SELli , 
 
THE 
 
 LIFE AE"D PUBLIC SEEVIOES 
 
 OF 
 
 HENRY WILSON, 
 
 LATE VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 BV ^. 
 
 Rev. ELIAS NASON, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "life OF CHARLES SUMNER," "GAZETTEER OF 1VLA.SSA- 
 CHL' SETTS," ETC., ETC. 
 
 AND 
 
 Hon. THOMAS RUSSELL, 
 
 LATE COLLECTOR TORT OF BOSTON. 
 
 "I have striven ever to be true to my country in peace and war; to main- 
 tain the cause of equal, impartial, and universal liberty; to maintain a 
 policy that tended to enlighten our countr>'men, lift burdens from the toiling 
 niillions. and make our country what we wish it should be, — a grand dem- 
 ocratic republic, the admiration of all the world." Uenby Wilson. 
 
 BOSTON: \^ 
 
 PUBLISHED BY B. B. RUSSELL, 55 COROTtlLL. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: QUAKER CITY PUBLISHING HOUSE. 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO: A. L. BANCROFT. 
 
 PORTLAND: JOHN RUSSELL. 
 
 1876. 
 
Ea 
 
 5 
 
 •U)gI\1 
 
 z 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, 
 
 By B. B. RUSSELL, 
 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
 
 Boston : 
 J? and, Avery, <Sr» Co., StereotyJ>ers and Printers, 
 
TO 
 
 THE WORKING-MEN OF AMERICA 
 
 LIFE OF A WORKING-MAN 
 
 IS 
 RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED. 
 
PEEFACE. 
 
 A STATESMAN eminent for patriotism and integrity is a 
 national instructor. The record of his life, his services, 
 and his opinions, is, to some extent, an exposition of the spirit 
 and progress of the people whom he represents ; and the people 
 have the right to claim it, not only as a memorial of the past, 
 but as an inspiration for the present, and a light for times to 
 come. 
 
 Pre-eminently may this be asserted in regard to the distin- 
 guished man whose biography we now purpose to write. 
 
 Holding himself steady to his noble purposes, he was so 
 prominent an actor in the remarkable events of the last twenty 
 years, he was so identified with the life of the republic, 
 that an account of his official career becomes, in some respects, 
 the key to the history of the country for that period ; while in the 
 development of the principles of freedom which he made, in 
 the consistent life he led, and in the counsel he imparted, we 
 have our hopes in the permanency of popular government bright- 
 ened, and our steps directed as we rise to national strength and 
 
 grandeur. 
 1* 
 
6 PHEFACB. 
 
 In making a register of his life, the authors have had access 
 to original sources of information, and have availed themselves 
 of every aid within their reach for the verification of their state- 
 ments as to matters of fact. They have endeavored to present 
 opinions frankly and fau'ly, and to render this biography as com- 
 plete as the allotted time and space would permit. 
 
 If this book, in spite of any errors, tends to do justice to the 
 character and course of one of the representative men of the 
 present times, to give dignity to labor, to inspire working-men 
 with confidence in themselves, and stronger love for our country, 
 the end for which it is written will be attained. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Colbaths. — Farmington People In 1812. — Mr. Winthrop Colbath and 
 Wife. — Introduction of Son to Mrs. Guy's School. — School-Books of those 
 Days. — Change of Residence. — Visit to Mrs. Eastman. — Testament. — 
 Hard Times in the Family. — Young Colbath goes to live with Mr. William 
 Knights. — His Labors on the Farm. — Kindnessof Mrs. Eastman. — Young 
 Colbath's Love of Books. — His Reading. — Faithfulness to his Employer. 
 — His Frugality. — Freedom. — Compensation. — Change of Name. — Char- 
 acter. — Search for Labor. — Resolves to go to Natick and become a Shoe- 
 maker 13 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 Journey to Natick. — Visits Bunker Hill and the Office of " The North-Ameri- 
 can Review." — The Town of Natick. — Shoemaking. — Lets himself to 
 learn the Trade. — Makes Forty-seven Pairs and a Half of Shoes without 
 Sleep. — Forms a Debating Club. — Improves in Speaking. — Deacon Cool- 
 idge. — Health impaired. — Visits Washington in 1836. — Opposition to 
 Slavery. — Williams's Slave-Pen, — His Own Account of his Visit. — At- 
 tends Academies in New Hampshire. — School-Teaching. — Studies. — 
 Attends an Antislavery Convention at Concord, N.H. — Loss of Funds. — 
 Returns to Natick. — Improvements in the Village. — He begins to manufac- 
 ture Shoes. — Character as a Business-Man. — Amount of Business done. — 
 His Regard to Principle 22 
 
 CHAPTER m. 
 
 The Rev. E. D. Moore: his Views, and Regard for Mr. Wilson. — The Rev. 
 Samuel Hunt: his Influence. — Bible-Class.- Presentation of a Watch. — 
 Marriage. — Mrs. Wilson's Character. — Her Influence over her Husband. — 
 Their House and Home. — Birth of a Son. — Mr. Wilson's Regard for Tem- 
 perance. — Speech. — Candidate for General Court. — Defeated on the Fif- 
 teen-gallon Law. —Enters the Harrison Campaign. — General Enthusiasm 
 of the People. — He makes his first Political Speech. — Addresses more 
 than Sixty Audiences. — His Manner. — Elected to General Court. — Story 
 of the Farmer. — His Industry. — His Views of Slavery. — Advocates Re- 
 peal of Law against Intermarriage of Blacks and Whites. — Defeated as 
 
 7 
 
O CONTENTS. 
 
 Candidate for Senate. — Elected to that Body the Next Year, and for 1845. 
 
 — Contends for the Right of Colored Children to a Seat in the Public 
 Schools. — Remarks thereon. — Advance in Public Sentiment. — Mr. Wil- 
 son's Mission .......38 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 His Military Turn of Mind. —Reading. — Views of War. — Views of the Mili- 
 tia System. — Election as Major, 1843. — Colonel and Brigadier-General, 
 1846. — Regard for Discipline. —Popularity with Soldiers. — Speech in the 
 Senate. — Peace and War. — Preparations for more Important Duties, — His 
 Regard for Temperance. — Speech at Natick, 1845. — A Citizen at Home.— 
 Appreciated by his Townsmen 61 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Southern Efforts to annex Texas to the United States, — Mr. Wilson's Amend- 
 ment to Resolutions against Annexation in the Senate adopted. — Call for a 
 Convention. — Opposed by Whigs.- Held in Faneuil Hall, Jan. 27. — Ad- 
 dress to the People.- The True Reformer. — Meeting at Waltham. — Mr. 
 Wilson's Views. — Convention at Concord, 1845. — Mr. Hunt. — Meeting at 
 Cambridge, Oct. 21, — Address of Mr. Wilson. — Persistent Efforts. — Car- 
 ries Petitions to Washington. — Refuses to take Wine with Mr. Adams. 
 
 — State Representative in 1846. — Introduces Resolution on Slavery. — Elo- 
 quent Speech thereon.- Mr. Garrison's View of it. — Regard for the Con- 
 stitution 60 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Regard of the People. — Delegate to the National Convention. — Withdraws 
 from that Body. — Origin of the Free-soil Party. — " Boston Republican." 
 
 — Editor of. — Its Principles and Influence. — Chairman of Free-soil State 
 Committee. — Member of the House, 1850. — Mr. Webster's 7th-of-March 
 Speech, — The Coalition. — Election of Mr. Sumner to the United-States 
 Senate, 1851. — Mr. Sumner's Letter. — Mr. Wilson made Chairman of the 
 Senate that Year. — Address on taking the Chair. — A Contrast. — "The 
 Liberator." — Hai-vard University. — Thanks of the Senate, and Closing 
 Address. — Delegate to Pittsburg. — Candidate for Congress, 1852. — Chair- 
 man of the Senate, 1852. — His Course in the Senate.— Welcome to Kos- 
 suth.- Sympathy between them.— His Punctuality.— Gold Watch . . 88 
 
 CHAPTER Vn. 
 
 A Friend of his Pastor. — Hard Study. — Temperance. — Books and Authors. 
 
 — The Source of Civil Liberty. — No " Back-BIows."- Cheerful Spirit.— 
 Home. — Gift to his Minister. — Revision of the State Constitution. — Elected 
 by Natick and Berlin. — Punctuality. — His Course. — How he looked at a 
 Legal Question. — Chairman pro tern. — Speech in Favor of Colored Troops. 
 
 — On the Death of Mr. Gourgas of Concord. — On the Course of Harvard 
 College in Respect to Prof. Bowen. — Address to his Constituents.- Reason 
 
 for Defeat of the Amendments.- Cost and Influence of the Convention , 103 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER Vm. 
 
 Candidate for Governor. — Defeated. — Not disheartened. — Visit to Washing- 
 toD. — Ilis Grand Idea. — Ready to surrender Party for Principle. — Con- 
 vention at "Worcester, 1854. — Again nominated for Governor, and defeated. 
 — State goes into tlie American Organization. — His Views. — Southern 
 Domination. — Antislavcry Sentiment increasing. — Sumner. — Mr. Wilson 
 nominated United-States Senator. — His Firmness. — His Election. — United- 
 States Senate-Chamber. — His Fitness for the Place. — His Personal Appear- 
 ance. — His First Speech. — Letter from Mr. Aahmun. — Extract from Mr. 
 Parker's Sermon, and Letter from the Same .••.•■* 116 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Defection of the American Party. — Southern Influence. — "Wilson's Resolution. 
 Interesting Letter. — Address in New York. — Antislavery Cause in Peril. — 
 Brattleborough, Vt. — Delegate to American National Council, June, 1855. 
 
 — Stand for Freedom. — Protest. — Defiant Speech. — Letter from Amasa 
 Walker. — Remarks of " The Tribune." — Activity in forming a New Party. 
 
 — Speech at Springfield. — Twenty-one-Years Amendment. — Opposes 
 it. — Friendly to Foreigners. — Letter to Francis Gillette. — Catholic 
 Spirit . 129 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Troubles in Kansas. — Slave and Free Labor Antagonistic. — Reply to Mr. 
 Toucey . — Mr. Douglas. — Assault on Mr. Sumner. — Aided by Mr. Wilson. 
 
 — Scene in the Senate-Chamber, — Challenge of P. S. Brooks. — Reply. — 
 How received. — Letter of Mr. Harte. — Reply to Mr. Butler of South Caro- 
 lina. — Letter from Whittier. — Labors in the Senate. — Views on Sla- 
 very.— Speech July 9. — Musket-Ball.— Speech against sending Military 
 Supplies to subjugate Freemen in Kansas ........ 149 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Philadelphia Convention, 1856. — Platform. — The Campaign. — Sons of New 
 Hampshire. — South for the Dissolution of the Union. — Kansas and Nebras- 
 ka Bill. — Speech on the Republican Party. —Opening of the Grand-Trunk 
 Railroad. — Speech at Montreal. — Activity in the United-States Senate. — 
 Measures proposed. — Speech on the Lecompton Constitution. — Letter from 
 the Hon. George T. Bigelow; also from the Hon. G. R. Russell . 
 
 CHAPTER Xn. 
 
 Character of his Reply to Mr. Hammond. — "Cotton is King." — Southern 
 Institutions. — A Contrast. — Social Condition of the North and South. — 
 Mud-sills. — Free Labor of the North. — Conclusion of his Argument. — 
 Reply to Mr. Gwiu's Challenge. — The Affair amicably adjusted . . • 
 
10 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER Xm. 
 
 Re-elected by a Large Majority. — Reasons for it. — His Industry. — Patronage. 
 — Advocates Central Route for the Pacific Railroad. — Extract from his 
 Speech. — A Radical Southern Party. — A Personal Interview. — His 
 Course. — Temperance Meeting. — Printers' Banquet. — Paul Morphy. — 
 Fourth of July at Lawrence. — His Address. — His Course in respect to the 
 Raid of John Brown. — Meeting at Natick. — Reply to Mr. Iverson. — Vote 
 of Thanks by the General Court. — Speech on the Slave-Trade . , , 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln nominated. — Mr. "Wilson's Energy in his Support. — Speech a. 
 Myrick's. — East Boston.- Free and Slave Labor. — Letter of Mr. Packard. 
 — Secession of the Southern States. — Mr. Wilson Fearless, — Speech in 
 the Senate. — Labors in the Military Committee with Mr. Davis. — He fore- 
 Bees a tremendous Contest. — His Position. — Great Speech on Mr. Critten- 
 den's Compromise. — Letters from Mr. Whittier, Mr.s. L. M. Child, Gerrit 
 Smith, Amasa Walker. — Vote of Thanks 
 
 CH.APTER XV. 
 
 The Beginning of Hostilities. — His Advice to the President. — Activity.— 
 Labors as Chairman of Military Committee. — Bills introduced by him. — 
 Letter from Gen. Scott. — The Soldier's Friend. — Battle of Bull Run, July 
 21. — He raises nearly Twenty-three Hundred Men. — Made Colonel of the 
 Twenty-second Regiment. — Goes with it to Washington. — Character of 
 this Regiment. — Aide-de-camp to Gen. McClellan. — Letter of Gen. Wil- 
 liams. — Receives no Compensation for Service. — Unfounded Charge of Mr. 
 Russell. — Mr. Wilson's Letter. — His Record. — Rebellion strengthens. — 
 Character of the Republican Leaders. — Measures introduced and carried 
 through Congress by Mr. Wilson. — Letter of Mr. Cameron. — Emancipa- 
 tion in the District of Columbia. —An Early Aspiration realized. — Letters 
 from Lewis Tappan and John Jay . , 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 The Conflicting Powers. — The Army and Congress. — Position of Mr. Wilson. 
 
 — Bill for Sutlers. — Signal Service. — Pay to Officers. — Medical Depart- 
 ment. — Volunteers. — Seniority of Commanders. — Storekeepers. — District 
 of Columbia. — Medals. — Pay in Advance. — Abolition in District of Co- 
 lumbia. — The Confederates. — Militia Bill. — President's Proclamation. — 
 Rosecrans. — Bureau of Emancipation. — Enrolment Bill. — Remarks. — 
 Colored Youth. — Wounded Soldiers. — Corps of Engineers. — Letter of Dr. 
 Silas Reed. — Fall of Vicksburg. — Conference with the Cabinet. — Battle 
 of Gettysburg. — Gen. Grant. — Address before the Antislavery Society. — 
 Thanks to the Army. — Bounties. — Ambulances. — Colored Soldiers Free. 
 
 — Thirteenth Amendment. — Speech. — Appropriation Bill. — Wives and 
 Children of Colored Soldiers Free. — Fourth of July at Washington.- Gen. 
 Grant. — "New-Bedford Mercury." — A Letter 
 
CONTENTS. 11 
 
 CHAPTER XVn. 
 
 Mr. Wilson returned to the United-States Senate. — Notice of Election by "The 
 Boston Journal.'' — Freedmen's Bureau. — Military Appointments. — Visit 
 to Fort Sumter. — Death of Mr. Lincoln. — Mr. Wilson's View of him. — 
 Speech at Washington July 4. — Mayor Wallach. — Advice to the Colored 
 People. — The Course of the Executive. — Silver Wedding. — Description 
 of. —Articles presented. — Respect of his Townsmen. — Record of Anti- 
 slavery Measures in Congress. — Character of the Work. — Opinion of " The 
 Atlantic Monthly." — Summary of the Work. — Slaves used for Military 
 Purposes made Free. — Fugitives. — District of Columbia. — '• Black Code." 
 
 — Witnesses. — Schools. — Railroads. — Territories Free. — Emancipation. 
 
 — Captives of War. — Rebel Claimants of Slaves. — Hayti and Liberia. — 
 Slaves in Military Service. — Fugitive-slave Acts. — Slave-Trade. — Courts, 
 Testimony in. — Reconstruction. — United-States Mail. — Wives and Chil- 
 dren of Slaves. — Bureau of Freedmen. — Amendment of the Constitution. 
 
 — The Negro a Citizen. — Colored People indebted to the Labors of Mr. 
 Wilson J38 
 
 CHAPTER XVin. 
 
 Course of the President. — Reconstruction Difficult. — Mr. Wilson's View. — 
 No Desire to degrade the South. — Bill to maintain the Rights of the Freed- 
 men. — Supports Mr. Trumbull's Bill to enlarge the Freedmen's Bureau. — 
 What he means by Equality. — Honorable Sentiments. — Joint Resolution 
 for disbanding Military Organizations. — Speech on the Resolution of Mr. 
 Stevens against the Admission of Southern Representation. — The Nature 
 of the Struggle. — Condition of Freedmen. — Mistake of the President. — 
 Gen. Grant. — Legislative Labors. — Speech in Boston. — Natick. — Defec- 
 tion of the President. — Massachusetts. — Congress a Co-ordinate Branch 
 of the Government. — Tour through the West. — Speech at Chicago. — Elec- 
 tive Franchise in the District of Columbia. — Corporal Punishment. — Buy- 
 ing and selling Votes. — Address on Religion. — Testimony of Statesmen to 
 Christianity. — An Admonition. — Death of his Son. — Monument. — Ad- 
 dress at Quincy. — Good Advice. — His Work on Military Legislation in 
 Congress. — Its Character 353 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Peonage. — Wliipping. — Colored Persons in the Militia. — Bill to facilitate 
 Restoration — Speech thereon. — Feelings toward the Rebels. — Temperance 
 in Congress. — Hon. Richard Yates. — Reception at Tremont Temple. — Re- 
 marks of W. B. Spooner. — Mr. Wilson's Address. — Mr. Yates's. — Liquors 
 banished from the Capitol. — Enforcement of the Law. — Visit to the South. 
 
 — At Richmond, Va. — Petersburg. — Animosity of Goldsborough, N.C. — 
 Reception at Wilmington. — Mr. Robinson. — At Charleston May 2. — 
 Now Orleans. — Gen. Longstreet's Opinion. — Declines going to Europe. — 
 Bill vacating Offices. — Appointing Civilians incorporated in Mr. Trumbull's 
 Bill. — Remarks on its Passage. — President of Convention at Wcrcester. — 
 Speech. — Gen. Slioridan. — Hopeful View of the Republic — Speech at 
 Marlborough. — EflFects of Intemperance. — Who are Weak? — Strong Ap- 
 
12 CONTENTS. 
 
 peal.— Speech at Bangor.— Gen. Grant. — Speech in FaneuU Hall.— Friend 
 of Working-Men.— Reconstruction Measures. — Style and Subject-Matter. 
 
 — A Wedding 374 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Mrs. "Wilson's Death and Character. —Mrs. Ames's Opinion. —Visit to Europe. 
 —American Missionary Society. —Rise and Fall of the Slave-Power.— 
 Extract. — Nomination as Vice-President. — Letter of Acceptance. — Ad- 
 dress at Boston. — Regard for the Memory of Mrs. Wilson. — Visit to North 
 Carolina and Virginia. — Regret for One Expression. —American Party and 
 Credit Mobilier. — Mr. Sumner's Course regretted. — Election as Vice-Pres- 
 ident. — His Poverty ......•••••• 386 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Mr. Wilson presiding over the Senate. — His Industry. — Declension of his 
 Health. — His Retirement from Labor. — Visit to New Hampshire. — Letter 
 to "The Springfield Republican." — The Bounty Bill. — Death of Charles 
 Sumner. — Health Improving.— The Second Volume of " The Rise and Fall 
 of the Slave-Power in America." — His Back Pay as Senator. — His Ophiion 
 of President Grant. — His Tour to the South-west. — Summer at Saratoga, 
 
 — The Republican Convention at Worcester. — His Last Sickness and Death. 
 
 — The Autopsy 417 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 The National Grief at the Death of Mr. WUson. — President Grant's Order. 
 
 — Honors paid to the Remains at Washington. — Dr. Rankin's Address.— 
 The Baltimore Fifth Regiment. —Honors at Philadelphia; New York.— 
 Announcement of Gov. Gaston. — Remarks of Mr. Stebbins; of Judge 
 Clark. — Reception of the News at Natick. — Meeting in Faneuil Hall. — 
 Address of Gen. Banks. —The Remains in Doric HaU. — Memorial Services 
 in the House of Representatives.— Dr. Manning's Eulogy. — Services at 
 Natick.— Address of the Revs. E. Dowse and F. N. Peloubet. — The Burial 
 
 at Dell Park Cemetery. — Mr. WUson's WiU. — His Character . . .427 
 
LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. MR. WILSON's FAMILY, BIRTH, BOYHOOD, 
 
 APPRENTICESHIP, AND EDUCATION. 
 
 The Colbaths. -— Farmington People in 1812. —Mr. Winthrop Colbalh and 
 Wife. — Introduction of Son to Mrs. Guy's School. — School-Books of those 
 Days. — Change of Residence. — Visit to Mrs. Eastman. — Testament. — ■ 
 Hard Times in the Family, — Young Colbath goes to live with Mr. William 
 Knights. — His Labors on the Farm. — Kindness of Mrs. Eastman. — Young 
 Colbath's Love of Books. — His Reading. — Faithfuhiess to his Employer. — 
 His Frugality. — Freedom. — Compensation. — Change of Name. — Charac- 
 ter. — Search for Labor. — Resolves to go to Natick and become a Shoemaker. 
 
 ONE of the essential benefits of liberal institutions is 
 the opportunity afforded by tliera for developing the 
 mental energies of the masses of the population. Freedom 
 is the fosterincf mother of the intellect and intellio-ence of 
 the entire people. 
 
 The voice of civil liberty, like that of Christianity, is, 
 " Ho ! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters ; and 
 he that hath no money; and whosoever will, let him 
 come." Hence America is the best country in the world 
 for men to make themselves. 
 
 " Sometimes," remarked an intelligent Japanese, " we 
 express our feelings in Japan : opinions we have none." 
 
 2 13 
 
14 LIFE OF HENBY WILSON. 
 
 Here we entertain opinions ; we express tliem freely ; 
 and, through the clashing of opinions, make advancement. 
 Our destiny is placed in our own hands ; and every man is 
 rated, as he ought to be, according to his worth. There is 
 the goal, the prize : the track is clear, and the best cham- 
 pion wins. 
 
 Thus from the bosom of the people came up Washing- 
 ton, Jackson, Clay, and Lincoln ; and thus arose the legis- 
 lator whose career we now attempt to trace. 
 
 Henry Wilson is the son of Winthrop and Abigail 
 Colbath ; and was born in Farmington, N.H., on the 
 sixteenth day of February, 1812. His father was the 
 son of Winthrop Colbath ; and was born in that town on 
 the seventh day of April, 1787; and died in Natick, Mass., 
 on the tenth day of February, 1860. His mother was 
 born on the twenty-first day of March, 1785 ; and died 
 on the eighth day of August, 1866. They rest side by 
 side in the cemetery at Natick, where the son has erected 
 marble headstones to their memory. 
 
 The Colbath family, originally, as supposed, from 
 Argyleshire in Scotland, emigrated to the north of Ireland 
 in the troublesome times of James the First ; thence to 
 Ameiica, and settled at Newington, N.H., early in the 
 eighteenth century. 
 
 At the time of Mr. Wilson's birth, his parents were 
 livlncr in a small cottao;e on the rio;ht bank of the Cocheco 
 River, about one mile south of the " Dock," as the village 
 of Farmincrton was then called. The site of the cottacre 
 is on a gentle eminence commanding a pleasant prospect 
 of the river and surrounding country. 
 
 Farmington, which is In Strafford County, and about 
 thirty-five miles north-east from Concord, and seventeen 
 north-west from Dover, contained, at this period, about 
 
INTEODUCTION. 15 
 
 twelve hundred inhabitants ; and thej were mostly enoao-ed 
 in agricultural pursuits. They earned their livelihood by 
 the sweat of the brow. They had but slender educational 
 advantages ; and their style of speech, of dress, of build- 
 ing, and of life in general, was plain and unpretending. 
 They generally spun and wove their own garments from 
 wool of their own raising. They stored their barns with 
 hay in summer, their cellars with apples and cider in the 
 autumn. They spent the long winter evenings around the 
 ample fireplace in shelling corn, making brooms, crack- 
 ing nuts, singing songs, and telling stories of the times gone 
 
 Mr. Winthrop Colbath was a poor daj^-laborer, engaged 
 for many years in running a saw-mill on the river below 
 his house. He was rather tall, good-looking, agile, brave, 
 and quick at repartee. His wife Avas handsome, fond of 
 reading, sensible, and industrious. Her eyes were very 
 keen and piercing. For his father and mother Mr. Wilson 
 ever entertained and cherished the most affectionate and 
 kind regard. 
 
 Like other indigent and hard-working people of New 
 England, Mr. Wilson's parents saw the value of the pub- 
 lic school, and early introduced their bright-eyed son to 
 the tuition of Mistress Guy, who quickly taught him how 
 to read and spell, from Perry's " Spelllng-Book " and 
 " The Primer," in the old wooden schoolhouse. 
 
 He was a studious and obedient pupil, improvinor well 
 the opportunities he had for learning in his boyhood. 
 
 The school-books at that time in Farmington were 
 Welch's and Adams's " Arithmetics," " The English 
 Reader," "The American Precc'ptor," and ''The Colum- 
 bian Orator." Over these this boy spent many an hour 
 in the long seats of the unpainted district schoolhouse ; 
 
16 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 and whatever entered his retentive memory remained as 
 in a vice, — fixed and unchangeable. 
 
 When he was about seven years old, his father built a 
 small house in front of an old grove of pines, just where 
 the Cocheco River makes a beautiful bend to the right, 
 and to this place removed his little family. Nothing now 
 remains to indicate the spot except the cellar, and some 
 peach and cherry trees growing in the enclosure. 
 
 When he was eight years old (1820), a little inci- 
 dent took place which had some influence upon his 
 future course of life. Mrs. Anstress (Woodbury) East- 
 man, wife of the Hon. Nehemiah Eastman, and sister of 
 the Hon. Levi Woodbury, seeing him pass her house, 
 called him to her, gave him some clothes of which he was in 
 need, and inquired if he knew how to read. " Yes, pretty 
 well," he answered her. " Come, then, and see me at my 
 house to-morrow," she replied with kindness. Early the 
 next morning he presented himself before the lady ; when 
 she said to him, ''I had intended to give a Testament to 
 some good boy that would be likely to make a proper use 
 of it. You tell me you can read : now take this book, and 
 let me hear you." He read a chapter in the Testament. 
 " Now carry the book home with you," said she, "read it 
 entirely through, and you shall have it." 
 
 Gladly he accepted the condition ; for a book he had 
 never owned, and to him it was a golden treasure. He 
 hurried home to read it. After seven days he called again 
 at Mrs. Eastman's house, and said to her that he had read 
 the book from bemnnino- to end. 
 
 " It cannot be ! " said Mrs. Eastman with surprise. 
 " But let me try you." So, calling him to her side, she 
 carefully examined him till she was fully satisfied that he 
 had read tlie Testament entirely through, and fairly won 
 the prize he coveted. 
 
INTEODUCTIOK. 17 
 
 Mr. Wilson has publicly declared that the reading of 
 this Testament, which he still keeps, together w^ith the 
 subsequent examination, was the starting-point in his intel- 
 lectual life. 
 
 The times, especially for the working-men, were very 
 gloomy at this period. The war wdth England had im- 
 poverished the country. Money was scarce ; wages were 
 low. Want and sickness entered the Colbath family. 
 Three of the little children died, and were buried in the field 
 opposite the house. In reference to these days of trial, 
 Mr. Wilson once, in public, said, " I was born in poverty : 
 Want sat by my cradle. I know what it is to ask a 
 mother for bread when she has none to cjive." 
 
 So, in his reply to ^Ir. Hammond, who had characterized 
 working-men as " the mud-sills of society," he thus 
 touch ingly alluded to these early days of trial : — 
 
 " Poverty cast her dark and chilling shadow over the 
 home of my childhood, and Want was fhere sometimes an 
 unbidden guest. At the age of ten years, to aid him 
 who gave me being in keeping the gaunt spectre from the 
 hearth of the mother who bore me, I left the home of my 
 boyhood, and went to earn my bread by * daily labor.' " 
 
 This active boy, nurtured in adversity, had a vigorous 
 constitution : above all, he had an inspiration ; and a boy 
 with an inspiration is far better than a boy with a great 
 fortune. 
 
 In the summer of 1822 he was bound by indenture to a 
 hard-workincp farmer of the neicrhborhood to serve him 
 on his farm until the age of twentj^-one. By the terms 
 of the indenture, he was to have one month's schooling in 
 the winter, food and raiment, with six sheep and a .yoke of 
 oxen to be delivered to him at the expiration of his time 
 of service. He went to live with Mr. Knight upon the 
 
 2* 
 
18 LIFE OF HEKKY WILSON. 
 
 seventh day of August, being then a little more than ten 
 years old, and began at once the hard work of the farm. 
 As he increased in age, his toil became more steady and 
 severe. In summer he swung the scythe, or handled the 
 sickle, till the evening stars appeared : in winter he cut 
 timber in the forest. 
 
 But while thus laboring uncomplainingly, and develop- 
 ing by incessant toil his physical system, he was also 
 turning every moment he could save from house and 
 iarm work to the improvement of his mind. He read 
 with intense avidity whatever books came in his way ; and 
 he remembered what he read. 
 
 " I believe," says Walter Scott, " one reason why such 
 numerous instances of erudition occur among the lower 
 ranks is, that, with the same powers of mind, the poor 
 student Is limited to a narrow circle for indulging his pas- 
 sion for books, and must necessarily make himself master 
 of the few he possesses ere he can acquire more." 
 
 This poor boy had, at first, no books except his Testa- 
 ment and the text-books of the district school. He read 
 them over and over again, committed many parts of them 
 to memory, and longed for more. Mrs. Eastman, as a 
 kind of guardian angel, still watched over him. She 
 noticed his regard for books : she kindly made selections 
 ^or him from her husband's library, and lent him volume 
 after volume. This was a godsend to him. Every mo- 
 ment he could now steal from toil was spent in reading. 
 This was his pastime and his recreation. Some of the 
 happiest moments of his lite were spent in running, when 
 work was over, to the dwelling of his benefactress for 
 another book. By the light of tlie kitchen-fire — for he 
 had no money to purchase oil — he went through volume 
 after volume ; sometimes reading on, unconscious of the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 19 
 
 flight of time, until the morning broke. In this way he 
 perused the leading works of the British and American 
 statesmen and historians, the fascinating pages of Irving, 
 Cooper, and Scott, all the then published numbers of *' The 
 North-American Review," and many other current pubh- 
 cations of the day. 
 
 Judge Whitehouse of Farmington also lent him many 
 books, and directed him in his course of reading. It was 
 fortunate that he met with such intelligent guides, and 
 that the best works in English and American literature 
 thus fell into his hands ; for it is the quality rather than 
 the quantity of the material received into the mind that 
 yields valuable increase. 
 
 So industriously had this hard-working boy availed him- 
 self of these means of culture, that, at the expiration of 
 his time of service (February, 1833), he had read, and then 
 held in mind, nearly a thousand volumes of history, biog- 
 raphy, philosophy, and general literature. Thus he bore 
 away from that hard farm more sohd information, and a 
 heart better prepared to toil and to achieve, than many 
 bear away with the diploma from the university. 
 
 To the interests of his employer he was ever faithful. 
 His eye was quick, his judgment clear ; his health was 
 good ; his habits were correct ; and hence his services 
 were valuable. 
 
 On closing them he received the promised compensation, 
 — six sheep and a yoke of oxen, all of which he sold imme- 
 diately for the sum of eighty-four dollars cash. So poor 
 had he been up to this period, that he had never possessed 
 two dollars ; and a single dollar would cover every penny 
 he had ever spent. 
 
 Having now arrived at the age of twenty-one, he, by an 
 act of the legislature, had his name changed from Jeremiah 
 
20 LIFE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 Jones Colbath to Henry Wilson. This was done by the 
 advice of the family he had lived with, and with the ap- 
 proval of his parents. 
 
 The question now before Mr. Wilson was, *' Hew shall 
 I obtain a livelihood, and assist my father and his family?" 
 He set himself at once to seek employment ; and the 
 struggles which it cost him to obtain it will forever keep 
 alive his sympathies for the working-people. 
 
 He hired himself for several months in Farmington ; but 
 the compensation was so. trivial, that he soon resolved to 
 leave his native town, and find work elsewhere; He 
 packed up his clothes and visited several places, seeking 
 for it, but in vain. He himself shall tell the story. Ad- 
 dressing the citizens of Great Falls last February, he 
 said, — 
 
 " I know what it is to travel weary miles, and ask my 
 fellow-men to give me leave to toil. I remember, that, in 
 1833, I walked into your village from my native town, 
 and went through your mills, seeking employment. If 
 anybody had offered me eight or nine dollars a month, 
 I should have accepted it gladly. I went down to Sal- 
 mon Falls, I went to Dover, I went to Newmarket, and 
 tried to get work, without success ; and I returned home 
 weary, but not discouraged, and put my pack on my back, 
 walked to the town where I now live, and learned a 
 mechanic's trade. I know the hard lot that toiling men 
 have to endure in this world ; and every pulsation of my 
 heart, every conviction of my judgment, puts me on the 
 side of the toiling men of my country, — ay, of all coun- 
 tries. I am glad the working-men in Europe are getting 
 discontented and want better wages. I thank God that a 
 man in the United States to-day can earn from three to 
 four dollars in ten hours' work easier than he could, forty 
 
INTEODXJCTION-. 21 
 
 years ago, earn one dollar, working from tv^elve to fifteen 
 hours. The first month I worked after I was twenty-one 
 years of age, I went into the woods, drove team, cut mill- 
 logs, rose in the morning before daylight, and worked 
 hard until after dark at night ; and I received for it the 
 magnificent sum of six dollars ! — and, when I got the 
 money, those dollars looked as large to me as the moon 
 looks to-nio-jit." 
 
 Unsuccessful in obtaining employment in New Hamp- 
 shire, Mr. Wilson finally determined to seek his fortune 
 in the State of Massachusetts. He had heard of the 
 prices paid for making shoes in the enterprising town of 
 Natick : hence he resolved to go there, and to try a new 
 vocation. He had learned to endure hardship without 
 murmuring. His hand and eye were well trained ; his 
 head Avas clear; his heart was honest; his store of knowl- 
 e<lge large ; he had a sound mind in a sound body. His 
 purpose was to work : what, then, coukl be expected of 
 him but success ? 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 MR. WILSON LEAVES NEW HAMPSHIRE. HARD WORK AT 
 
 NATICK. DEBATING SOCIETY. VISIT TO WASHING- 
 TON. STRUGGLES FOR AN EDUCATION. MR. 
 
 WILSON AS A MANUFACTURER. 
 
 Journey to Natick. — Visits Bunker Hill and the Office of " The North-Ameri- 
 can Review." — The Town of Natick. — Slioeraaking. — Lets himself to learn 
 the Trade. — Makes Forty-seven Pairs and a Half of Shoes without Sleep. — 
 Forms a Debating Club. — Improves in Speaking. — Deacon Coolidge. — 
 Health impaired. — Visits Washington in 1836. — Opposition to Slavery. — 
 Williams's Slave-Fen. — His Own Account of his Visit. — Attends Acade- 
 mies in New Hampshire. — School-Teaching. — Studie?. — Attends an 
 Antislavery Convention at Concord, N.H. — Loss of Funds. — Returns to 
 Natick. — Improvements in the Village. — He begins to manufacture Shoes. 
 — Character as a Business-Man. — Amount of Business done. — His Regard 
 to Principle. 
 
 IN December, 1833, Mr. Wilson packed up his slender 
 wardrobe, bade liis friends farewell, and set out on 
 foot for the town of Natick. He had but little money in 
 his pocket ; and he resolved to make tlie journey with as 
 little expense as possible. On the first day he travelled as 
 far as Durham, where he obtained lodging with a farmer ; the 
 next night he reached Salisbury, on the Merrimack River ; 
 and in the morning following visited Newbury port, where, to 
 ease his blistered feet, he purchased for twenty-five cents a 
 pair of slippers, in which he more comfortably pursued his 
 way. Arriving at night at Saugus, he found entertainment in 
 
 22 
 
ism. WILSON LEAVES KEW HAMPSHIEE. 23 
 
 a private family ; and his waking dreams were of the famous 
 city of Boston, which he was to see, for the first time, on 
 tlie morrow. Tiie two points of special interest to him 
 were Bunker Hill, whose story had so often thrilled his 
 imagination ; and the office of " The North-American 
 Review," which had sent forth so many learned articles to 
 instruct him, and to lighten the burden of his toil at 
 Farmington. 
 
 Rising early, and paying twent3^-five cents for his lodg- 
 ing, he recommenced his journey, and in a few hours stood 
 upon the celebrated spot where Warren fell. His quick 
 eye swept over the whole scene ; his imagination pictured 
 forth the first grand action on behalf of freedom in Amer- 
 ica. It was to him an inspiration. 
 
 On leaving this memorable spot, he inquu'ed the way to 
 the office of " The North-American Review," which he 
 found to be at 141 Washington Street, and something less 
 than he anticipated. ''Can so much good," thought he, 
 " come out of Nazareth ? " and so, havino- seen what he 
 considered worthy of consideration in the city, he inquired 
 the^way to Natick. Some one misdirected him, and sent 
 him. by a detour of several miles, throuf^h the town of 
 Dedham. On arriving about midnight at his point of 
 destination, he stopped at the old tavern on the turn- 
 pike in the western part of the village, and found, on ex- 
 amining his exchequer, that he had spent just a dollar 
 and five cents in travelling the whole distance of about a 
 hundred miles from Farmington to Natick. Such Spartan- 
 like endurance and economy were no mean elements in 
 the training of the future statesman. 
 
 Natick, which in the Nipmuck lan^uao-e sio-nifies "a 
 place of hills," is seventeen miles south-west of Boston, 
 and, as the name would indicate, has its full share of 
 
24 LIFE OF HENBY WILSON". 
 
 scenic beauty. From the suiruuits of Fiske and Pegan 
 Hills the eye enjoys enchanting prospects, sweeping from 
 Fiske Hill over the waters of Cochituate Lake and the 
 handsome buildings of the village ; while from Pegan it 
 follows the meanderings of Charles River through the 
 valleys of Needham and of Dedham, and rests upon 
 the distant spires of Boston and the monument on Bunker 
 Hill. 
 
 In passing through the southern section of the town, 
 Washington once remarked, " Nature seems to have been 
 lavish of her beauties here." It was at the point where 
 the celebrated John Eliot had an Indian church, and taught, 
 beneath the shade of an outspreading oak, the principles 
 of the gospel to the aborigines. 
 
 At the time of Mr. Wilson's arrival, tlie town contained 
 about a thousand people, mostly farmers ; and at the cen- 
 tral village there was a Congregational church, of which 
 the Rev. Erasmus D. Moore, who became an earnest friend 
 and counsellor of Mr. Wilson, was the pastor. There was 
 then no lawyer in the place, nor any need of one. There 
 was but little culture, enterprise, or aspiration. Less than 
 eight hundred dollars annually were appropriated to the 
 support of public schools; and the buildings in which they 
 were tauo-ht were rude and comfortless. 
 
 But that branch of industry for which this town has 
 since become so celebrated had already gained a foothold 
 here. A few enterprising men had began to manufacture 
 shoes, yet on a very limited scale and capital, for the 
 Southern market. Division of labor, machinery, and those 
 various arts and appliances which render this business at 
 the present day so lucrative, had found no entrance into 
 the workshop. 
 
 Then, instead of working on a single part, each w^ork- 
 
HARD WORK AT NATICK. 25 
 
 man made the entire shoe. It was called a " brogan,'* 
 and was sold by wholesale at the rate of about a dollar 
 per pair. The process of making was slow ; the teamino- 
 to Boston was expensive ; and hence the business was not 
 specially remunerative nor inviting. Mr. Wilson was, 
 however, glad to find employment. Any thing was better 
 than the exhausting drudgery of the farm he left, which 
 afforded him very little leisure either for recreation of 
 the body, or- cultivation of the mind. He hired himself 
 at once to Mr. William P. Legro, who agreed, for the 
 consideration of five months' labor, to teach him the art 
 of making shoes. With his knife and hammer he set 
 to work with several laborers in a little shop in ' the 
 western part of the town to learn his trade ; but, ere 
 many days had passed, perceived that he had bargained 
 away his time incautiously ; and therefore he agreed 
 with his employer, for the consideration of the sum of 
 fifteen dollars, to release him from his obligation. At 
 the end of seven weeks, he beo;an workino- for himself. 
 Anxious to obtain money for an education, he now applied 
 himself to shoemaking with unflinching assiduity. The 
 very first day after leaving Mr. Legro, he made eight 
 pairs of shoes ; and very soon outsped the fastest work- 
 man in rapidity of execution, making sometimes two 
 shoes to his one. He used to labor sixteen hours a 
 day ; and *' not unfrequently," says one of his compan- 
 ions, " he worked all night and two days in succession 
 without sleep." 
 
 "He is a very good young man ; we like him much," 
 said Mrs. William Perry, with whom he boarded : " but he 
 keeps us all awake by his continual pounding through the 
 night." 
 
 Once he determined to make fifty pairs of shoes without 
 
 8 
 
26 LIFE OF HENBY WILSON. 
 
 taking any sleep. This usnally required the labor of a 
 week ; but his hand and eye, as we have said, are quick, 
 and therefore he attempted this surprising feat. Forty- 
 seven pairs and a half he actually made without reposing ; 
 when he found, in spite of his resistance, sleep at length 
 would overpower him in the interim between the raising 
 and striking of the hammer on the shoe in hand ; and so, 
 reluctantly, he yielded to its influence. 
 
 There is something touching in this scene, — the youth, 
 smitten " by the wild delight of knowing," sunk in sleep 
 over that last shoe. Was it not an earnest of that in- 
 domitable energy he has since exhibited in the halls of 
 Congress ? 
 
 On the 19th of April, 1835, Mr. Wilson heard for the 
 first time the eloquence of Edward Everett in his masterly 
 oration on the battle of Lexington, and was inspired by 
 it with fresh ardor to obtain an education : he also went 
 on foot to Boston to hear Daniel Webster on the presenta- 
 tion of the vase at the Odeon, and listened with admiration 
 to the voice of that distinguished statesman. His aspira- 
 tions were awakened ; but what hopes had he — an un- 
 known, friendless shoemaker — any right to entertain? 
 He returned to his hard toil, to think and to work on even 
 to the very limit of his power. 
 
 In the summer of 1835 the Boston and Worcester Rail- 
 road was opened through the central village of Natick. 
 The coming of the locomotive engine gradually broke up the 
 old modes of thinking and of manufacturing. It brought 
 in life, light, enterprise. New firms were soon estab- 
 lished, new buildings erected, and new societies organized 
 Among these was one, which, although limited as to the 
 number of its members, had, nevertheless, a lasting in- 
 fluence over the intellectual character of the community. 
 
DEBATrN"G SOCIETY. 27 
 
 It bore the name of " The Natick Debating Society." It 
 ^vas formed in the winter of 1835, and originally had but 
 thirteen members. Prominent" among these were Heiny 
 Wilson, Alexander W. Thayer (now United-States con- 
 sul at Trieste), George M. Herring, J. B. Mann, Dr. James 
 Whitney, and Wlllard A. Wight. The design of the 
 association was to discuss, either in speaking or In writing, 
 the current literary, scientific, or political questions of 
 the day. The meetings were held in the old schoolliouse 
 in the village, generally once, and sometimes twice, a week. 
 They were continued nntil 1840, when the society was 
 merged in the Natick Lyceum. 
 
 To this little assembly of disputants Mr. Wilson resorted 
 when the arduous toils of the day were ended ; and here 
 he engaged most heartily in discussing the various questions 
 of the times, especially that of slavery, which was then, 
 through mobs, and acts of violence, to some extent, receiv- 
 ing the attention of the public. Here, in this debating 
 society, he learned to "think upon his feet;" to arrange his 
 thoughts In logical order; to detect and expose the sophis- 
 try of an opponent ; to settle questions by solid argument 
 based on fact instead of theory. Here he acquired skill 
 in parliamentary practice, and in a measure qualified him- 
 self for a seat in the deliberative assemblies of the state 
 and nation. This debatlno; club was his political tralnino-- 
 field : In it he went through the drill for coming conflict; 
 to it he owes, in some degree, that cleverness and that 
 steadiness in debate for wdiicli he Is distinguished. His as- 
 sociates were not unfrequently surprised to see him exhibit 
 such familiarity with the history of his country ; and al- 
 though he trembled when he spoke, and sometimes deviated 
 from the principles of Lindley Murray's Grammar, they 
 felt and said that he had power to command the attention 
 
28 LIFE OF HENEY WILSON 
 
 of Iiis fellow-men on a broader field, and to render signal 
 service to his state and nation. 
 
 On one evening lie had spoken but indifferently on a 
 certain question, and incurred the ritlicule of his oppo- 
 nents. This aroused him ; and, rising again, he broke 
 into a strain of eloquence which electrified his hearers. 
 They proposed that the question should be taken up again 
 at the next meeting; and he then discussed it in a style so 
 masterly, that his opponents ever afterwards made their 
 attacks with more consideration, and admitted that '' the 
 fire and the force " to do great things were slumbering in 
 his soul. 
 
 As to himself, so to the other members, this society 
 proved to be of signal service. Almost every person who 
 belonged to it has attained distinction in his chosen sphere 
 of life, and now exercises healthful influence over the 
 destinies of his fellow-men. Some have been senators ; 
 some have written useful books ; some adorn the liberal 
 professions : all are intelligent, honorable, and progressive 
 men. May not this debating club be cited as an example 
 deserving the attention of the working -people of our 
 country ? 
 
 On coming to live at Natick, Mr. Wilson felt at once 
 the need of books. There were no libraries in the place 
 like those he left at Farmington, whereby he might gratify 
 his appetite for reading; and he had not the means to pur- 
 chase what he wanted. 
 
 There was, however, an old town-library of about two 
 hundred volumes, then in the keeping of Deacon William 
 Coolidge, a man of great simplicity of manner, heart, and 
 doctrine. His wife was of the same spirit, pious, kind, 
 obliging. Of the old Puritanic style of people they were 
 models; rigorous in opinion, yet indulgent in respect to 
 
VISIT TO WASHINGTON. 29 
 
 those who disagreed with them, and ever ready to encour- 
 age sucli as had an aspiration for improvement. In order, 
 then, to gain access to the books in this old librarj^ and to 
 enjoy the society of these good people, Mr. Wilson pre- 
 vailed on them to receive him as a boarder in their family. 
 Here he found generous sympathy, wise religious counsel, 
 and a happy home. With them he attended church 
 and social meetings ; by them he was treated as a son. 
 Amongst his firmest friends at this period Mr. Wilson 
 doubtless reckons Deacon William Coolidge and the Rev. 
 E. D. Moore, who ever took the livehest interest in 
 his welflire ; who clearly saw, that, though he was the 
 son of toil, he was the son of genius also ; and, by kind 
 advice, encouraged him to bring out the manhood of his 
 nature. 
 
 By his incessant labor in the workshop, supplemented 
 by his hterary toil at night, Mr. Wilson's health became 
 so much impaired, that it seemed to him imperative that he 
 should take some relaxation. The laws of health Avere 
 not well understood by him, and he had continued working 
 on unseasonably, until his strength gave out, his color fled, 
 and hemorrhage of the lungs commenced. He had laid by 
 several hundred dollars, with which he hoped to acquire such 
 an education as would enable him to enter on the practice 
 of the law. But, his health continuing to decline, his medi- 
 cal adviser recommended, that, before commencino- on his 
 studies, he should make a journey to the South. He there- 
 fore, in the month of jMay, 1836, set out for Washington. 
 The changing scenes, the rest from toil, the thought that 
 he was soon to look upon the Capitol and the lawmakers 
 of the nation, was the very medicine which he needed. 
 
 Passing through Maryland, he for the first time saw 
 slaves of both sexes toiling half-naked in the fields, and 
 
 3* 
 
 \ 
 
30 LITE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 expressed his opinion to a gentleman in the cars that 
 slavery was an evil. The gentleman replied to him with 
 some severity, that " he could not be permitted to express 
 such sentiments in the State of Maryland." 
 
 The thought was startling, that, in a land of free- 
 dom, his own tongue was fettered as was the bondman's 
 body. 
 
 On arriving at Washington, May 15, he entered the Capi- 
 tol, listened to the stormy debates in Congress, and saw 
 the petitions of the philanthropic men and women of tlie 
 country against the traffic in human flesh and sinews laid 
 upon the table. He saw Mr. Pinckney's infamous resolu- 
 tion against the right of petition forced through the House 
 of Representatives under the pressure of the previous ques- 
 tion, and Mr. Calhoun's Incendiary Publication Bill pass 
 one of its stages in the Senate by the casting vote of Mr. 
 Van Buren, the vice-president. He saw the subserviency 
 of Northern politicians to the domination of the South. 
 He grasped at once the commanding question of Ameri<'a. 
 Mr. Wilson remained at Washington until about the mid- 
 dle of June, boarding on Capitol Hill, and sitting at table 
 with Senator Morris of Ohio, who fearlessly opposed the 
 advocates of human servitude. 
 
 He visited Williams's notorious slave-pen on the corner 
 of Seventh and B Streets; he saw the poor people sold, 
 manacled, separated, and marched away to toil and suf- 
 fering beneath the whip of unfeeling taskmasters at the 
 South. His sympathies for the bondmen, his indignation 
 against the cruel system of human traffic carried on hard 
 by the Capitol of a nation boastful of its freedom, were 
 re -awakened, so that he then and there determined, 
 that, come weal or woe, the powers which God had given 
 him should thenceforth be devoted to the destruction of 
 
VltSiT TO WASHINGTON. 31 
 
 an institution so revolting to every instinct of liumanity, 
 so inconsistent with the declaration of our national inde- 
 pendence, and so antagonistic to the whole teaching and 
 spirit of the gospel. 
 
 This is the key to Mr. Wilson's political career ; and by 
 it his public acts must be interpreted. To this principle 
 of human freedom, deeply embedded in his heart and run- 
 nino; throuo-h every fibre of liis intellectual character, he 
 has held, through all the political changes in the state and 
 nation, with unflinching steadiness : so that, as one has 
 trulv said, " He floated into power upon the wave of 
 princl})le ; while others timorously declined to take that 
 wave, and now lie strewn as wrecks along the barren 
 strands of compromise and expediency." 
 
 Alluding to this memorable visit to Washington, the 
 scenes then witnessed, and the resolution formed, Mr. 
 Wilson, in an address at Philadelphia, 1803, observes, — 
 
 " I saw slavery beneath the shadow of the flag that 
 waved over the Capitol. I saw the slave-pen, and men, 
 women, and children herded for the markets of the far 
 South ; and at the table at which sat Senator Morris of 
 Ohio, then the only avowed champion of freedom in the 
 Senate of the United States, I expressed my abhorrence of 
 slavery and the slave-traffic in the capital of this democratic 
 and Christian republic. I was promptly told that ' Senator 
 Morris might be protected in speaking against slavery in the 
 Senate ; but that I would not be protected in uttering such 
 sentiments.' I left the capital of my country with the 
 unalterable resolution to give all that I had, and all that I 
 hoped to have, of power, to the cause of emancipation in 
 America ; and I have tried to make that resolution a Uv- 
 ing faith from that day to this [applause]. My political 
 associates from that hour to the present have always been 
 
32 LIFE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 guided by my opposition to slavery in every form, and they 
 always will be so guided. In twenty years of political life 
 I may have committed errors of judgment ; but I have 
 ever striven ' to write my name,' in the words of William 
 Leojorett, 'in ineffaceable letters on the abolition record.' 
 Standing here to night in the presence of veteran anti- 
 slavery men, I can say in all the sincerity of conviction, 
 that I Mould rather have it written upon the humble stone 
 that shall mark the spot where I shall repose when life's 
 labors are done, ' He did what he could to break the fetters 
 of the slave,' than to have it recorded that he filled the 
 highest stations of honor in the gift of his countrymen." 
 
 On returning home from Washington, Mr. W^ilson, hav- 
 ing then about seven hundred dollars in cash, went to 
 Strafford in New Hampshire, and, on the first day of July, 
 began upon a course of study in the academy at that place, 
 then under the tuition of Mr. Dickey. He was induced 
 to go to Strafford because it was near his early home, and 
 also because one of his early friends, W. W. Roberts, a 
 young man of remarkable ability, was then a student 
 there. These two scholars were of congenial tastes and 
 aspirations ; and the death of Mr. Roberts in his first year 
 at Dartmouth Colleo^e was an event of which Mr. Wilson 
 speaks to this day with sorrow and regret. 
 
 In delightful sympathy with this fine scholar, Mr. Wilson 
 made the most of his time and privileges at this academy, 
 pursuing such a course of study as would enable him to 
 eno;ao;e in teachino; school in the comino; winter. At the 
 clt/se of the scholastic term, he, at the public exhibition, 
 spoke in the affirmative on the question, " Ought slavery to 
 be abolished in the District of Columbia ? " 
 
 It demanded courao;e in New Eno;land even then to ex- 
 press such views on slavery as he was known to entertain. 
 
STKUGGLES TOE, AN EDUCATION. 31 
 
 To be called an abolitionist was a reproacli which few could 
 bear. The antislaveiy student met the question boldly, 
 presenting cogent arguments for the immediate emancipa- 
 tion of the bondmen at the seat of o-overnment. 
 
 " That man," said some of the good people who then 
 heard the speaker, " will make a minister." 
 
 It is remarkable that he himself, after a stru^-o-le of a 
 
 ' OCT? 
 
 quarter of a century, should have introduced the measure 
 into Congress which realized the aspirations he expressed 
 in his first effort on the stage of the academy, in the first 
 public speech he ever made. In February, 1872, it so 
 happened that Mr. Wilson addressed tlie citizens of Straf- 
 ford assembled on the very same spot where he made his 
 maiden speech in 1836 ; and some were present who re- 
 membered it, and congratulated him on the fruition of his 
 hopes. 
 
 Anxious to avail himselip of the instruction of Miss 
 Eastman, daughter of his benefactress at Farmington, Mr. 
 Wilson entered, in the autumn, the academy at Wolfs- 
 borough, on Winnlplseogee Lake ; and, pursuing his studies 
 here one term with unabated zeal, he engaged and taught 
 in the winter one of the district schools in that deliaht- 
 ful town. The schoolhouse was situated on Mink Brook, 
 and was about a mile and a half from the village. This 
 term of teaching served to bring his literary acquisitions 
 into practice, and to fix the rudiments of learning indeli- 
 bly in memory. His leisure moments were devoted to the 
 prosecution of his studies. The Rev. Thomas P. Beach, 
 afterwards imprisoned at Newburyport for disturbing a 
 religious meeting, was of signal service to him while a resi- 
 dent of this town. In the spring following (1837), Mr. 
 Wilson commenced study at the academy in Concord, then 
 under charge of the Rev. T. P. D. Stone, a gentleman of 
 
34 LIFE OF HEITPwY WILSON. 
 
 ability, who had given much attention to the art of elocu • 
 tion. Here Mr. Wilson's principal recitations were in 
 Euclid's "Geometry," Newman's "Rhetoric," "Mental 
 Philosopliy," Butler's " Analogy," and " The Geography 
 of the Heavens." These and kindred branches he pur- 
 sued with the same untiring assiduity he had manifested 
 in the workshop when toIHng for money for his education. 
 Study with him meant business ; and, with his quick per- 
 ceptions and retentive memory, he soon left his fellow- 
 students far behind. His special forte was extemporane- 
 ous speaking and debate ; and here he found in Mr. Stone 
 an excellent instructor. When in debate, he seemed to. 
 hold the whole history of the country in his memory ; and 
 woe to his opponent who had not power to wield the same 
 effective weapon ! 
 
 ■ The principles advocated In " The Liberator " were now 
 slowly gaining favor with the young men of New Hamp- 
 shire, and a State antislavery convention was held by 
 them this year at Concord. Mr. Wilson was chosen a 
 delegate to this body ; and here he made an earnest and 
 able speech on behalf of human freedom, characterizing 
 slavery as an infraction of the laws of God and man, a 
 national dishonor, and an impediment to the peace and 
 prooTess of the people. 
 
 While pursuing his studies at Concord In the summer 
 term of 1837, a gentleman in Farmlngton, to whom he 
 had loaned the money he had earned by such incessant 
 toil at Natick for the expenses of an education, failed, and 
 left him penniless. This was a bitter disappointment 
 He must give up his cherished plans ; the workshop must 
 again be his academy, and hard toil his teacher. 
 
 At this crisis in his affairs he found a sincere friend in 
 Mr. Samuel Avery of Wolfsborough, who kindly offered 
 
MR. WILSON AS A IMANUFACTTJllEB. 35 
 
 to board him on credit just as long as he might wish to 
 attend the academy in that town. Accepting his friend's 
 proposal, he returned to the academy at Wolfsborougb, 
 where he spent the autumn of 1837, closing in with study 
 just as if his final opportunity for it had come. At the 
 expiration of the term he started once more for the town of 
 Natick, and, on his arrival, had less money than when first 
 he came to it on foot four years before. His integrity and 
 ability had, however, gained him many friends ; and he 
 was at once appointed teaclier of the centre district school 
 for the ensuing winter. He taught successfully ; for he 
 had tact to govern, information to impart, and glowing 
 words to render it acceptable. To inspire is to instruct ; 
 and this he could not fail to do. The meetings of the 
 debating club he faitiifolly attended, and as faithfully 
 employed the evenings not so spent in study. On finish- 
 ing his school, and paying off his debts, he had twelve 
 dollars left ; and on this capital he began to manufacture 
 shoes for the Southern market. In this business he con- 
 tinued steadily employed, except when public duties drew 
 him away, for ten consecutive years. At first he occu- 
 pied Mr. David Whitney's shop ; but afterwards removed 
 to one on Central Street, where his dwelling-house now 
 stands. 
 
 Durinor the ten years which cover Mr. Wilson's business- 
 life, the town of Natick made remarkable advancement in 
 respect to population, wealth, and enterprise. Division 
 of labor, and machinery to some extent, were introduced 
 into the manuflictories, and goods of a. better quality and 
 finish were sent forth. In these improvements, as well as 
 in the general prosperity of the village, Mr. Wilson took 
 an active part. He attended the social gatherings of the 
 people, identified himself with them in their joys and sor- 
 
3(3 LITE OF HENKY WILSON. 
 
 rows, and lent a helping hand, as well as word, to every 
 scheme for the promotion of the public good. 
 
 As a business-man he was upright, courteous, fair, and 
 manly, ever taking sides and sympathizing with the work- 
 ing-people. He paid his laborers promptly ; he encour- 
 ao-ed them with friendly words, and made them feel that 
 they, as well as he himself, had rights to be respected. 
 He had their confidence and esteem ; for every one of them 
 knew that Mr. Wilson would share with him his very last 
 dollar before seeing liim come to real want. In one year 
 (1847) Mr. Wilson manufactured a hundred and twen- 
 ty-two thousand pairs of shoes, employing a hundred 
 and nine workmen ; and the whole number of pairs of 
 shoes made by him while engaged in business was six 
 hundred and sixty-four thousand. In general, he sold 
 these shoes to Southern dealers, who sometimes visited him. 
 at Natick to make their purchases. One of them once 
 wrote to him, that, having failed in trade, he was unable to 
 pav him more than fifty cents on a dollar. On looking 
 over his creditor's assets, and seeing that they included 
 several slaves that would be put into the market, the 
 honest manufacturer immediately sent him word that he 
 could not consistently take any money coming from the 
 sale of his fellow-men ; and thus, by his adherence to his 
 principles, he lost seven or eight hundred dollars in this 
 failure. 
 
 Generous and obliging to a fault, Mr. Wilson never 
 stooped to questionable means for making money ; nor was 
 he, either by his taste or temperament, well adapted to the 
 turns and tricks of trade. He had no wish, no faculty, to 
 hoard up gold. He went into the shoe-business by neces- 
 sity : his thought was running along another plane. His 
 aspiration was to transact business on a broader scale ; to 
 
ME. WILSON AS A MANUFACTUREE. 37 
 
 grapple with questions that bore upon the vital interests 
 of the working-men tliroughout the country. Hence he 
 closed the manufacture of shoes without much gain or 
 much regret, and entered on that broader sphere of action, 
 for which Nature, bj her liberal gifts, had evidently in* 
 tended him. 
 
 4 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 MR. Wilson's pastors. — an address. — his marriage.— 
 
 HIS HOME. — TEMPERANCE. HARRISON CAMPAIGN. 
 
 HIS COURSE IN THE GENERAL COURT. 
 
 The Rev. E. D. Moore: his Views, and Regard for Mr. Wilson. — The Kev. 
 Samuel Hunt : his Influence. — Bible-Class. — Presentation of a Watch. — 
 Marriage. — Mrs. Wilson's Character. — Her Influence over her Husband. — 
 Their House and Home. — Birth of a Son. — Mr. Wilson's Regard for Tem- 
 perance. — Speech. — Candidate for General Court. — Defeated on the Fif- 
 teen-gallon Law. — Enters the Harrison Campaign. — General Enthusiasm of 
 the People. — He makes his first Political Speech. — Addresses more than 
 Sixty Audiences. — His Manner. — Elected to General Court. — Story of the 
 Farmer. — His Industry. — His Views of Slavery. — Advocates Repeal of Law 
 against Intermarriage of Blacks and Whites. — Defeated as Candidate for 
 Senate. — Elected to that Body the Next Year, and for 1845. — Contends for 
 the Right of Colored Children to a Seat in the Public Schools. — Remarks 
 thereon. — Advance in Public Sentiment.- Mr. Wilson's Mission. 
 
 BY the dismissal of Rev. E. D. Moore from bis pasto- 
 ral office at Natick, and by liis consequent departure 
 from tbat town, Mr. Wilson lost the daily counsel and en- 
 couragement of a sincere and valuable friend, who sympa- 
 thized with him in his political views, and had confidence 
 in his ultimate success. The kindest social relations still 
 subsist between these two gentlemen ; and it is doubtless 
 gratifying in a high degree to Mr. Wilson's earliest living 
 pastor to see his expectations in regard to one of his society 
 in Natick so fully realized. 
 
 88 
 
]ME. Wilson's pastoes. 39 
 
 The Rev. Samuel Hunt, an able minister and a steady 
 advocate of human freedom, succeeded Mr. Moore in July, 
 1839, and contmued as Mr. Wilson's pastor until 1850. 
 He also felt a profound regard for the spiritual welfare of 
 his distinguished parishioner, and aided him in his research- 
 es. He rejoiced in the noble stand which his friend took 
 ao-ainst the aggressions of proslavery power, and labored 
 \-\ith the clergy and the churches of his association to 
 sustain him. He was well aware of j\Ir. Wilson's intel- 
 lectual energy and growth, of his integrity, of his sincere 
 devotion to the cause of freedom ; and he predicted his 
 political success. He endeavored so to guide him as to 
 make it sure. 
 
 Under the fliithful ministry of Mr. Hunt, the mind of 
 Mr. Wilson became seriously impressed with the moment- 
 ous relations between himself and his Maker, so that he not 
 only listened with profound attention to the instructions 
 of the sacred desk, but sometimes took an active part in 
 religious meetings. He taught for several years a Bible- 
 class in the sabbath school with great acceptance ; and the 
 members of that class are now, for the most part, intelli- 
 gent and progressive members of the church. 
 
 On his part, Mr. Wilson encouraged and supported 
 Mr. Hunt in the arduous labors of his ministry : he sym- 
 pathized with him both in joy and sorrow ; and the tie 
 that early bound their hearts together still remains un- 
 broken. On the presentation of a watch to Mr. Hunt at 
 his retirement from his pastorate at Natick, Mr. Wilson 
 made the following beautiful and affectionate address : — 
 
 " Respected Friend, — The relations which have ex- 
 isted between us for eleven years having now been dis- 
 solved, we have assembled here to-night to express our high 
 appreciation of your services as a pastor, our profound re- 
 
40 LIFE OF HEXRY WILSON. 
 
 spect for your character as a man, and our personal regard 
 for you as a friend. We are here also to pass a few fleeting 
 moments in your society ; to exchange with you a few 
 parting words ; to take you once more by the hand ; and, 
 with hearts overflowing witii emotion, to bid you farewell. 
 
 " Could these friends have controlled events, the chain 
 that bound us together in the relation of pastor and people 
 would have remained unbroken : you would have contin- 
 ued with us and of us. Having passed your days with us 
 in the performance of your duties, participating in our joys 
 and sharing in our sorrows, when your ' race of existence 
 was run,' we would have you repose in the bosom of our 
 mother-earth with the people of your early choice, — in 
 yonder spot, hallowed and consecrated as the last resting- 
 place of this people and their children. 
 
 " But it has been ordered otherwise. We must acqui- 
 esce in an event we could not avert. You are to leave us 
 to seek other fields of labor, to form new relations, to 
 gather around you other friends. But, sir, wherever you 
 may go, be assured that you will bear with you our warm- 
 est wishes that Heaven will shower upon your pathway its 
 choicest blessings. , Wherever in the providence of God you 
 may be summoned to labor, may friends — true-hearted, 
 steadfast friends — cluster around you to cheer you onward 
 in every beneficent effort to advance the cause of religion 
 and humanity ! 
 
 " You will leave behind you, sir, in retiring from the place 
 you have so long filled, many evidences of your deep and 
 abiding interest in our present prosperity and future welfare. 
 The recollection of your many acts of kindness will be cher- 
 ished by us with unabated affection until the hearts upon 
 which these acts are engraved shall cease to beat forever. 
 
 " Desirous that you should carry with you some parting 
 
ME. WILSON'S PASTOES. 41 
 
 token of our friendship, your friends have purchased the 
 watch I hold in my hand, and have commissioned me to 
 present it to you. In their behalf I beg you to accept it. 
 Take it, sir ; cherish it, not for its intrinsic worth (for it is 
 of slight value), but as a trifling tribute to your worth, and 
 a memento of the respect, esteem, and affection of its 
 donors. As a memorial of our friendship, I trust you will 
 not consider it altoo-ether valueless. It will not beat more 
 accurately the passing moments than will the pulsations 
 of our hearts ever beat responsive to the friendship we 
 entertain for you. 
 
 "We fondly indulge the hope, sir, that in after-life, 
 amid its pressing cares and duties, it will sometimes remind 
 you of the friends of those 
 
 * Earlier days and calmer hours, 
 When heart with heart delights to blend/ 
 
 In the calm and quiet of your study, where the world and 
 its cares are shut out, as the ear shall hear it beat the fleet- 
 ing seconds, or the eye see it mark the passing hours, may 
 it recall to mind reminiscences of the past ! — recollections 
 of these scenes ; of this place, where were passed the first 
 vears of your ministry ; where were spent so matiy years 
 of your early manhood, — that portio^i of existence when 
 impressions are most indelibly engraved upon the mind and 
 heart ; where your children were born ; and where your 
 home was blessed and made joyous by the grace, love, and 
 ])iety of the wife of your bosom, — the pure and gentle 
 being, the loved and lost one, who now sleeps far away amid 
 the scenes of her youth, but whose memory will ever be 
 fondly cherished by this peo])le ; for 
 
 ' None knew her but to love her, 
 Nor named her but to praise.* ** 
 4» 
 
42 LIFE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 On the twentv-elglith clay of October, 1840, Mr. Wilson 
 was united in marriage, by the Rev. Mr. Hunt, with Miss 
 Harriet Malvina Howe of Natick. Slie was the daughter 
 of Mr. Amasa and Mrs. Mary (Toombs) Howe, and was 
 descended on her mother's side from Mr. Daniel Toombs, 
 an early settler of the town of Hopkinton. She was a 
 lady of good education, refined in sentiment, gentle in 
 manner, and remarkable for the sweetness of her disposi- 
 tion. By her unostentatious way of doing good, she made 
 religion lovely. Her thoughts were noble ; and her influ- 
 ence upon the society in which she moved was like the 
 fragrance of flowers. She could not but make her home 
 happy ; and her husband had a just appreciation of her 
 excellence. To him, in his toils and trials, her clear voice 
 was an inspiration. . In her he beheld a pattern of true 
 womanhood, and for her sake he longed to deserve well of 
 his country. To her sweet influence over him may be in 
 part attributed that delicate and profound respect which he 
 entertains for woman, that sincere regard which he maui- 
 fests for her intellectual and social elevation. Plis ideal of 
 womanly virtue and devotion was realized in her pure and 
 lovely life of trust and duty. 
 
 Three or four years subsequent to his marriage, Mr. Wil- 
 son built on Central Street, in Natick, the neat and commo- 
 dious dwelling-house which he has since occupied. It is 
 furnished with republican simplicity, yet with elegance 
 and taste. To its hospitalities his friends and neighbors 
 always find a cordial w^elcome ; and the absence of luxuiy 
 and parade is more than compensated by smiles of cheer- 
 fulness, and words of good will. On the eleventh day of 
 November, 1846, the hearts of the parents were gladdened 
 by the birth of a son, whom they named Henry Hamilton. 
 He was their only child. 
 
TEMPERANCE. 43 
 
 In principle and in practice, Mr. Wilson has always been 
 opposed to tlie use of intoxicating liquors as a beverage ; 
 and to his strictly temperate habits may in part be ascribed 
 that robust health and physical strength which he now so 
 eminently possesses. As early as 1831 he joined a tem- 
 perance society in Farmington ; and in public and in private 
 he has e^er exerted his influence to dissuade his fellow-men 
 fiom tlie use of stimulating drink. 
 
 In a speech in Tremont Temple, Boston, April, 1837, 
 he said, — 
 
 *' I shall strive ever and always to promote and advance 
 that great cause of our common iiumanity. It is no merit 
 in me that has made me a life-long friend of temperance. 
 God in his providence gave me no taste, no desire, for in- 
 toxicating liquors ; and every day of my life, as I grow older 
 and see the measureless evils of drunkenness, I thank my 
 God that he gave me no desire for that which degrades 
 and levels down our common humanity. 
 
 " From my cradle to this hour I have seen, felt, realized 
 the curse of intemperance. When my eyes first saw the 
 light, when I came to recognize any thing, I saw and felt 
 some of the evils of intemperance ; and all my life long 
 to this hour, and now, my heart has been burdened with 
 anxieties for those of my kith and kin that I loved dearly. 
 With no desire for the intoxicating cup, with the evils of 
 intemperance about and around me, and with a life bur- 
 dened with anxieties for dear and loved ones, it is no 
 wonder, ladies and gentlemen, that I have abhorred drunk- 
 enness, while I have loved and pitied its victims." 
 
 Aware of his regard for temperance, and having confi- 
 dence in his ability as a thinker, his friends in Natick, ad- 
 vocating what was known as the '' Fifteen-gallon Law," 
 presented his name in 1839 as a candidate for the General 
 
44 LIFE OF HENEY WILSOK. 
 
 Court. He failed by ca very few votes of an election, and 
 continued quietly manufacturing shoes, and studying the 
 condition of his country. No representative was sent that 
 year from Natick ; and the party in opposition to that law 
 placed Marcus Morton in the executive chair of the State. 
 
 In 1840 occurred the celebrated presidential campaign, 
 in which William Henry Harrison, ^' the hero of the 
 Thames and the Tippecanoe," was brought forward by 
 the Whigs in opposition to Mr. Van Buren, then president. 
 The experiments of the government upon the currency 
 had embarrassed the financial operations of the country ; 
 had seriously affected the industrial interests of the North, 
 and reduced the wages of the working-people. Hard times 
 came on. The laboring-classes murmured against the 
 measures of the government, and keenly criticised the 
 course of the president and his cabinet. Mr. Wilson, ever 
 on the side of the working-men, felt the pressure, and saw 
 the ruinous tendency of Mr. Van Buren's financial policy ; 
 and, although he had hitherto sympathized with the Demo- 
 cratic party, now came prominently forward with the 
 Whigs, and espoused the cause of Mr. Harrison. '' Hav- 
 ing entered life on the working-man's side," says the au- 
 thor of " Men of our Times," " and having known by his 
 experience the working-man's trials, temptations, and hard 
 struggles, he felt the sacredness of a poor man's labor, and 
 entered public life with a heart to take the part of the toil- 
 ing and the oppressed." 
 
 Up to that period, no political campaign in this country 
 had so aroused the enthusiasm of the people. Mass-meet- 
 ino-s were held in churches, halls, and o;roves ; loo--cabins 
 were erected, and sometimes mounted on wheels, and drawn 
 from town to town ; banners with mottoes were unfolded, 
 and immense processions of all ranks and classes bearing 
 
HAEEISON CAMPAIGK. 45 
 
 torclillghts were formed. The ablest speakers took the 
 stand ; and eloquence and patriotic songs set forth the vir- 
 tues and exploits of " the hero of Nortii Bend " before the 
 people. 
 
 '* Tippecanoe and Tyler too " rang as a war-cry through 
 the Union. Mr. Wilson shared in the enthusiasm. He 
 studied well the course of legislation as presented in " The 
 Washington Globe," and made his first campaign-speech 
 in the Methodist meeting-house at Natick in opposition to 
 Mr. Amasa Walker, who was an advocate of a specie cur- 
 rency and of the general policy of the national adminis- 
 tration. The ability of Mr. Wilson as a public speaker 
 was at once acknowledged. He was invited to discuss 
 the questions of the day in many other places ; and, dur- 
 ing the campaign, made more than sixty speeches in the 
 neighboring towns and cities. In Charlestown, Cambi'idge, 
 Roxbury, Lowell, Lynn, Taunton, and other towns and 
 cities, he addressed large and enthusiastic audiences with 
 telling effect ; so that the general exclamation was, " How 
 came this Natick shoemaker to know so much more than 
 we do on national questions ? " 
 
 The answer might have been, *' This Natick shoemaker 
 was studying ' The Federalist ' and the proceedings of 
 Congress while you were asleep. 
 
 In some instances, attempts were made to interrupt 
 him in his speaking ; but holding himself steadily to the 
 point in question, and to his good nature, of which the fund 
 seemed inexhaustible, he manfully mahitained his ground, 
 and carried his audiences with him. He spoke extem- 
 poraneously, but never without careful preparation. He 
 read the best models of American eloquence, — sucli as 
 Adams, Everett, Otis, Channing, Webster ; and, after com- 
 mitting parts of his speeches to memory, he would some* 
 
46 LIFE OF HENBY WILSON. 
 
 times retire to Deacon Coolidge's old oak-grove, and there 
 rehearse them to himself alone. He is remembered by 
 those who heard him in this campaign as a young man of 
 lithe and affile form, of an intellectual cast of countenance, 
 clear complexion, earnest, searching voice, and sparklijig 
 eyes. He usually bent over the desk in speaking, as if to 
 come as closely in contact with his audience as he could. 
 His object seemed to be to reveal the thought of his hearer 
 to himself; and herein lies one secret of a. speaker's power. " 
 He also defended his positions by a very frequent appeal to 
 facts ; and one who well remembers him at that time avers, 
 *' He had a very winning way in presenting them." 
 
 At the close of the campaign, he had the pleasure of 
 seeino- Mr. Harrison, for whom he had spoken so many 
 times, elected to the presidential chair by a large majority, 
 — two hundred and thirty-four to Mr. Van Buren's sixty 
 electoral votes, — while he himself was chosen a representa- 
 tive from the town of Natick to the General Court of Mas- 
 sachusetts. The legislative hall is now his academy ; the 
 constitution is his text-book, and liberty his teacher. 
 
 When he entered the House of Representatives, he ob- 
 served that an honest farmer, twenty years his senior, had 
 drawn one of the most eligible seats in the hall ; and he at 
 once offered him three dollars for an exchange. The ftirmer 
 gladly took the money ; for one seat to him who never 
 spoke was just as good as another. But, some time after- 
 wards, he referred to the circumstance as revealing the 
 pride of the young member. '-No," said one who better 
 knew his spirit : '' it reveals his foresight. He gave you 
 three dollars for your seat in order that he might be in the 
 best position to hear the arguments of other members, and 
 also to present his own with most effect. This style of 
 doing things, if carried on, will give him influence here." 
 
HAERISON CAINIPAIGN. 41 
 
 It was carried on. H*e entered upon his legislative career 
 with tlie determination of bestowing his wliole time and 
 attention upon the business coming before him. With sleep- 
 less vigilance he watched everj transaction, listened to 
 every speaker, and followed every question. He was a 
 Avorking-man ; he entered the legislative hall to work ; he 
 did not fail to work ; and workers win. 
 
 It is noticeable that his first legislative speech was in 
 favor of the working-man. It was delivered Jan. 25, 
 1841, on a bill to exempt laborers' wages from attachment 
 in certain cases. He said the honest poor of the State 
 would deprecate the passage of such a law : it would pro- 
 tect dishonesty. The class of men who lived upon the 
 earnings of others were daily increasing. There were 
 many men, too, who judged of morality by law alone. 
 Such a law would impair the credit of the poor man. He 
 hoped this bill would be considered on its merits alone, with 
 no intermixture of party-spirit. He sympathized with the 
 poor men with whom he had been reared, and with whom 
 he now was. He moved to strike out the enacting clause. 
 
 Inured as he had been to hard and unremitting labor, 
 and with sympathies alive to human suffering, it was nat- 
 ural that Mr- Wilson should be opposed to the whole sys- 
 tem of domestic servitude. His mind revolted at the 
 wrongs the bondman bore in a boasted land of liberty : he 
 keenly felt the cruelty of that code of laws that held him 
 subject, and without redress, to the caprice of an insolent 
 and hard-hearted master. The instincts of a noble nature, 
 the teachings of the gospel, the training he himself had 
 undergone, the philanthropic spirit of the age, the opinions 
 of the founders of the Constitution, all conspired to lead 
 him to abominate the traffic in human blood, and the 
 tyranny of subjecting innocent men and women to servilo 
 
48 • LIFE OF he:n:ry wilson 
 
 labor. The more he thouglit upon it, the more iniquitous 
 appeared the system : it despoiled the slave of his just 
 rights; it demorahzed the master; it impoverished his 
 country. At the same time, he saw that the slave-power, 
 ever intolerant and exacting, had long held ascendency in 
 Congress ; had by the craftiest plans extended its territory 
 so as to maintain that ascendency ; and, while menacing 
 the North, had contaminated tlie source of political power, 
 and brouglit the free States, to a great extent, into subser- 
 viency to its schemes of aggression. 
 
 Such, it is believed, were Mr. Wilson's views and senti- 
 ments at tliis period ; and, if he did not enter the abolition 
 ranks, it was not because he was opposed to their leading 
 principles, but because he hoped to exert a stronger influ- 
 ence towards the ultimate redemption of the slave by act- 
 ing with the progressive men in the Whig party. In the 
 legislature his voice was ever heard, his vote was ever cast, 
 on behalf of the rio-hts of those in bondao;e. In the House 
 of Representatives, in 1841, he advocated the repeal of the 
 law, which has been termed the last of the slave code in 
 this State, forbidding the intermarriage of blacks and 
 whites; and, in the next session, made another strong 
 speech in opposition to the law, maintaining that it was 
 founded on inequality and caste. He declared "that the 
 bill was not inspired by political, but by humane motives ; 
 and, though it might be defeated then, it would ultimately 
 be enacted. It was only a question of time." This 
 obnoxious law was repealed at the next session of the 
 legislature. In November, 1842, Mr. Wilson was a can- 
 didate for the State Senate ; but the Whig party was that 
 year defeated in his county, as it was in the State. There 
 being no election of governor by the people, the legisla- 
 ture, in January, 1843, elected Marcus Morton for a second 
 
HIS COURSE IN THE GENERAL COURT. 49 
 
 term. In 1844 Mr. Wilson obtained a senatorial seat, and 
 took an active part in the deliberations of that body, ever 
 ranging himself upon the side of progress and reform. He 
 made an elaborate report on military affairs, and carried it 
 through the Senate. 
 
 He was again a member of the same body in 1845, where 
 he again labored successfully for the improvement of the 
 military system of the State, and also to improve the con- 
 dition of the colored people. He strenuously advocated 
 the right of negroes to seats in the railroad-car, from which 
 they had in several cases been insolently ejected ; and also 
 their right to admission to our public schools, from which 
 prejudice had excluded them. 
 
 A bill reported to the Senate, providing that any child 
 unlawfully excluded from the public schools should be en- 
 titled to recover damages, had been rejected. Moving 
 the next day a reconsideration of this vote, Mr. Wilson 
 made an able speech in behalf of the bill, in which he said 
 that he considered it the most important one which had 
 come up that session. " It concerned," said he, '' the 
 rights and feelings of a large but humble portion of our 
 people, whose interests should be watched over and cared 
 for by the legislature ; whose imperative duty it was, when 
 complaints were made of the invasion of the rights of the 
 poorest and the humblest, to provide a remedy that should 
 be full and ample to secure and guard all his rights." He 
 said the common-school system, the pride and glory of 
 Massachusetts, was based upon the principle of perfect 
 equality, and that the distinction set up at Nantucket aimed 
 a blow at its very existence. The colored people said, 
 and rightly, that their feelings were trifled with, and their 
 rights disregarded. Denouncing the spirit that excluded 
 colored children from the full and equal benefits of com- 
 6 
 
50 LIFE OF HENKi WILSON. 
 
 mon schools, he said, '^ It is the same wliich has drenched 
 the world with bh)od for six thousand years, made a slave- 
 holder in South Carolina, and a slave-pirate on the coast of 
 Africa." He said that those whose rights he wished to 
 guard and secure liad but little influence or power ; while 
 those who opposed them had both, and were only too will- 
 ing to use them for their own aggrandizement. It was 
 more popular to keep along with the current of prejudice, 
 than, by resisting it, to be denounced as a '* radical or abo- 
 litionist." " In retiring from the legislature," he said, " I 
 am sustained by the consciousness that I have never uttered 
 a word or given a vote against the rights of any human 
 beino;. I had far rather have the warm and generous 
 thanks of one poor orphan-boy down on the Island of Nan- 
 tucket, that I may never see, nor even know, than to have 
 the approbation of every man in the Commonwealth, whe- 
 ther in this chamber or out of it, who would deny to any 
 child the full and equal benefits of our public schools." 
 
 Such sentiments are creditable to the senator's heart. 
 They had their effect on the Senate. Mr. Wilson's 
 motion was adopted by a large majority: the bill was com- 
 mitted to the judiciary committee, which reported a simi- 
 lar bill that became the law of the State. Thus slowly, 
 through the influence of the friends of freedom, Massa- 
 chusetts came to see and to acknowledge the rights of a 
 long-abused and shamefully-neglected race of people. 
 Between the lofty and the lowly there was need of a medi- 
 ator, who by his intellect could reach the one, and by his 
 band of toil the other ; and such was Henry Wilson. 
 
 " Then on 1 for this we live, — 
 To smite the oppressor with the words of power ; 
 
 To bid the tyrant give 
 Back to his brother Heaven's allotted hour." 
 
CHAPTER lY. 
 
 MILITARY SERVICES. ADDRESS OX TEMPERANCE, 1845. 
 
 INFLUE^'CE AT HOME. 
 
 His Military Turn of Mind. — Reading. — Views of War. — Views of the Militia 
 
 System. — Election as Major, 1843. — Colonel and Brigadier-General, 1846. 
 
 Regard for Discipline. — Popularity with Soldiers. — Speech in the Senate. — 
 Peace and War. — Preparations for more Important Duties. — His Regard 
 for Temperance. — Speech at Xatick, 1845. — A Citizen at Home. — Appre- 
 ciated by his Townsmen. 
 
 BY nature ]Mr. Wilson possesses the endowments requi- 
 site to success, not only as a political, but also as a 
 military leader. Rapid in his combinations, quick to dis- 
 cover the weak point in an opponent, fertile in expedients, 
 fearless and far-seeing, he has elements both of mind 
 and body for a commander. His thoughts were early 
 turned towards military life ; and, durino; his minority, 
 he took deligJit in reading the history of the campaigns 
 of Marlborough, Wolfe, Washington, Wellington, Napo- 
 leon, and other eminent generals. He drew in his 
 mind the plans of celebrated battles, and criticised, as he 
 could, the movements of distinguished leaders in the 
 iieKl. He first api)eared upon the training-field in Farm- 
 ington, where he was appointed to an inferior military 
 office. On coming to Natick, he continued to take a lively 
 interest in military affairs. He abominated war, viewed 
 simply as a means of attaining personal glory ; but he felt 
 
 61 
 
52 LIFE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 that it was sometimes indispensable to self-protection, and 
 that the military system of Massachusetts needed revision 
 and support. 
 
 This opinion he privately and publicly expressed as 
 opportunity occurred. In the State Senate, 1844, he 
 was appointed chairman of the Military Committee, and 
 made a strong speech on the 14th of February of that year 
 in favor of increasing the pay of soldiers doing military 
 duty. 
 
 In 1843, without his knowledge or consent, lie was 
 elected major of the first regiment of artillery, of which 
 William Schouler was then colonel. He knew nothing of 
 his election until he saw the announcement of it in the 
 public papers. His duties as a major he faithfully dis- 
 charged, and thereby won the confidence and respect of 
 the soldiers under him. In June, 1846, he was elected as 
 colonel of the same regiment ; and, six weeks later, briga- 
 dier-o;eneral of the third brIo;ade of the Massachusetts vol- 
 unteer militia, in which office he continued for the next 
 five years. During this period he studied military tactics 
 carefully, and by his skill and industry brought his brigade 
 up to an admirable state of dlsci[)llne. His soldiers loved 
 him and obeyed him, carrying out his orders with alac- 
 rity, and priding themselves upon the bearing and ability 
 of their commander. He had the reputation of drill- 
 mg his brigade with greater thoroughness than any other 
 ofiicer in the State, and of being, at the same time, 
 liighly popular with his men. By his strenuous exer- 
 tions in the legislature, much was done to revive the mili- 
 tary spirit in Massachusetts, and to put her Into position 
 for a struggle which some prophetic eyes discovered even 
 then to be Impending. In a defence of the integrity of 
 the soldiers at the polls, Mr. Wilson, referring to his own 
 
MILITAEY SERVICES. 53 
 
 connection with the mihtia of the State, said in the Con- 
 vention of 1853, — 
 
 " I may speak from some Httle experience, having been 
 a member of the volunteer mihtia of Massachusetts for 
 nine years, and liavinnj during tliese years held the offices 
 of mnjor, lieutenant-colonel, colonel, and brio-adier-o-eneral. 
 I held the command of a brigade of more than eiglit hun- 
 dred men for five years ; and during these nine years I 
 made many acquaintances and formed many friendships I 
 sliall ever fondly cherish. Not one unkind word ever 
 ])assed between me and any officer or private of tlie 
 brigade during my nine years of connection with it. I 
 received from many of my comrades many acts of kind- 
 ness I liope never to forget. During these years I was 
 five times a candidate for senator of Middlesex, the 
 county where the members of my brigade resided ; and I 
 can truly say that I do not know or think that I ever 
 received a single vote owing to my connection with the 
 brigade. Four of the five gentlemen who were members 
 of my staff were of a different political faith from mine ; 
 and I have no reason to think they ever sacrificed their 
 opinions on account of our personal relations as members 
 of a military family. The members of the volunteer 
 militia of Massachusetts are generally men of intelligence 
 and character, who are not won from their political alle- 
 giance by the plume and epaulet." 
 
 So in the same sj)eech he thus eloquently expresses his 
 views of peace and war : — 
 
 " I am not one of those men who cry peace when there 
 is no peace without slavery, injustice, and wrong. I may 
 be in error ; but I have sometimes thought that the song 
 which the peace-movement has hymned into the ear of 
 Europe during the past five years has made far easier the 
 
 5* 
 
64 LIFE OP HENEY WILSON. 
 
 march of the legions of Russia and Austria upon Hungary 
 and Italy, and the march of the legions of France — 
 of apostate republican France — upon Rome. While the 
 people have listened with softened hearts to the songs of 
 peace, their masters have disarmed them, and sent forth 
 their increasing standing armies to crush every manifesta- 
 tion of freedom, progress, and popular rights. When 
 tyranny is overthrown, and freedom established ; when 
 standing armies are disbanded, and the people armed for 
 their own protection against arbitrary power, — then 1 would 
 write ' Peace ' on the banners of the people, and send them 
 forth to make the tour of the world. My motto is, 
 ' Liberty first ; peace afterwards.' " 
 
 By these fliithful military services in his own State, 
 Mr. Wilson was unconsciously making preparation for the 
 intelligent performance of the important duties which de- 
 volved on him as chairman of the Military Committee of 
 the United-States Senate during the Rebellion. For that 
 post, not only comprehensive views, and industry that fears 
 no task, but large experience and information gained by 
 actual practice, were demanded; and these Mr. Wilson 
 had. 
 
 In regard to temperance Mr. Wilson's record has ever 
 been clear, decided, and consistent. AVith profound sorrow 
 he early saw the havoc produced among his fellow-men by 
 the use of stimulating drink; and with unwavering steadi- 
 ness he has ever used his tongue, his pen, and his vote, to 
 dissuade and to restrain them from the sale and from the 
 use of any thing which intoxicates the brain. Next to 
 slavery, he has considered intemperance as the tremen- 
 dous evil of this nation ; and therefore, as a friend of 
 humanity and a lover of his country, he has ever striven 
 most earnestly to arrest its progress. His views on this 
 
ADDRESS ON TE^IPERANCE. OC 
 
 question in 1845 appear in an animated address delivered 
 on belialf of the Young Men's Temperance Society in 
 Natick on the presentation by a lady ot a beautiful banner 
 to that body. It will be read with interest : — 
 
 "Madam, — In receiving at your hands this beautiful 
 banner from the ladies of the Martha Washington So- 
 ciety, ])ermit me, in return, in behalf of my associates, to 
 tender to you, and the ladies whose organ you are, our 
 sincere and grateful acknowledgments for this expression 
 of vour favor. For this evidence of zeal in our cause, 
 and regard for our success, you have the thanks of many 
 warm and generous hearts, that will ever throb with 
 frrateful recollection of your kindness till they shall cease 
 to beat f trever. We receive, madam, with the deepest 
 and liveliest sensibility, the kind sentiments you have 
 expressed in behalf of our society. Be assured that these 
 sentiments are appreciated and reciprocated by us. 
 
 "You have this day, ladies, consecrated and devoted 
 this banner to the great moral movement of the age. We 
 accept its guardianship with mingled feelings of jn'ide, 
 hope, and joy. It is indeed a fit and noble tribute, an 
 offering worthy of the cause and of you. May its fair 
 folds never be stained or dishonored by ajiy act of ours ! 
 Tasteful and expressive in design and execution, we prize 
 it hiiihiy for its intrinsic worth ; but we prize it still higher 
 as a manifest and enduring memorial of your devotion to 
 }irinciple and duty. Ever proud shall we be to unroll its 
 gorgeous folds to the sunshine and the breeze ; to gather 
 round it, and rally under it, and guard and defend it, as we 
 would defend from every danger its fair and generous 
 donors. It was not intended that the eye should feast 
 alone on its splendor, but that, so often as the eye should 
 
56 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 gaze upon it, a quick and lively appreciation of the tran- 
 scendent magnitude of the cause to wliich you liave 
 devoted it should live in our understanding, and affect our 
 hearts. 
 
 " Ours is a peaceful reform, a moral warfare. We are 
 not called upon to leave our homes and the loved ones 
 that cluster around our domestic altars to go to the field 
 of bloody strife on an errand of wrath and hatred. Our 
 battles are bloodless ; our victories are tearless. 
 
 " Yet the contest in which we are engaged is a fearful 
 one ; for it is a struggle with the vitiated and depraved 
 appetites and passions of our fallen race, — foes that have 
 triumphed over earth's brightest and fairest, over all that 
 is noble in man and lovely in woman. These foes have 
 gathered their victims from everj^ clime and every age. 
 No ao-e, sex, or condition, has escaped. Heroes who have 
 led their mailed legions over a hundred fields of glory and 
 renown, and planted their victorious eagles on the capitals 
 of conquered nations ; statesmen who have wielded the 
 destinies of mighty empires, setting up and pulling down 
 thrones and dynasties, and stamping the impress of their 
 genius upon the institutions of their age ; orators who have 
 held listening senates in mute and rapt admiration, and 
 whose eloquence has thrown a halo of Imperishable light 
 and unfading glory over their age and nation ; scholars 
 who have laid under contribution the vast domains of 
 matter and mind, grasping and mastering the mighty 
 problems of moral, intellectual, and physical science, and 
 lett behind them monuments of toil and wisdom for the 
 study and admiration of all ages, — have been the victims, 
 the slaves, of these foes, — foes which we have pledged 
 ourselves to conquer. In this fearful contest w^e will bear 
 aloft this banner ; and when the conflict thickens, when 
 
ADDRESS ON TEMPEEANCE. 57 
 
 trials, doubts, and temptations come around us like tlie 
 floods, may it glitter through the gloom like a beacon- . 
 light over the dark and troubled waste of waters, a sign 
 of hope and promise, to which may come, in the hour of 
 loneliness, sorrow, and penitence, some erring and fallen 
 brother! You can sustain us by your prayers, and cheer 
 us by your approving smiles. You can visit, as you have 
 done, the drunkard's home of poverty, destitution, and 
 misery, and by offices of kindness and charity do some- 
 thing to dry up the tears and alleviate the wants of its 
 neglected and sorrowing inmates. 
 
 ^' Every great struggle for humanity has been blessed 
 by woman's prayers, and aided by her generous toil. The 
 history of our country, of our own renowned common- 
 wealth, is full of the noblest instances of her constancy 
 and devotion. She trod with our fathers the deck of 
 'The Mayflower.' She sat beside them in unrcpining 
 and uncomplaining constancy as they gathered in council, 
 houseless and homeless in mid-winter, to lay in prayers 
 and tears the foundations of a free Christian common- 
 wealth. In the long, perilous struggles with the wild 
 sons of the forest, she shared without complaint their 
 privations and dangers ; and, in the great struggle for 
 independence, she counselled the wise, infused courage 
 into the brave, armed fathers, husbands, sons, and bro- 
 thers, and sent them to the held where freedom was to be 
 won by blood. In the great struggle in which we are 
 engaged to free our native land from the blighting, 
 withering, soul-destroying curse of intemperance, our fair 
 country-women have shown that they inherit the virtues 
 of our patriotic mothers. 
 
 '' Ladies, you have this day given us substantial evi- 
 dence of your friendship, sympathy, and co-operation. 
 
58 LIFE OF HEKEY WILSON. 
 
 May we not, then, indulge the hope that our societies will 
 move along in union and harmony, each in its approprif.te 
 sphere of duty, laboring to hasten on the day when every 
 drunkard shall be redeemed, and restored to his manhood 
 and to society ? 
 
 " Friends and associates, we shall doubtless, in the 
 changes and mutations of life, be called to separate. 
 Wherever we may go, on the land or on the sea, in 
 our own or other climes, may a deep and abiding sense 
 of duty go with us ! May the influences of this hour 
 be ever upon us ! May this banner, the gift of those 
 near and dear to us, ever float in our mind's eye, inciting 
 us to duty, and guarding us in the hour of temptation ! 
 And when life's labors are done, its trials over, and its 
 lienors won, may each of us have the proud consciousness 
 that we have kept the pledge inviolate ; that we have done 
 something in our day and generation for our race, — some- 
 thing that shall cause our names and memories to be 
 mentioned with respect and gratitude when ' the golden 
 howl shall he hrokeyi and the silve?' cord loosed,^ when our 
 * hodies ' shall have mouldered and mino;led with the dust, 
 and ' our spirits have returned to God who gave them '" ! 
 
 Thus at home, among his own Immediate friends and 
 acquaintances, Mr. Wilson's words and example were 
 from the outset unchangeably on the side of sobriety, civil 
 order, social progress, and reform. If any thing beneficent 
 was to be attempted, his friends knew^ where to find him. 
 His hand and heart were ready. On the young people 
 of the village his Influence was ever salutary and inspir- 
 ing. His friendly counsel was ever given for a higher, 
 nobler course of life. In the social circle, in the shop, 
 the lecture-room, or in the street, he was always on the 
 
INFLUENCE AT HOJME. 59 
 
 right side. Very many of his companions can trace their 
 success in life mainly to the elevating influence he exerted 
 over them. The steady vote of Natick in his favor, and 
 the public demonstrations of joy which that town lias 
 made on his advancement to political power, evince the 
 estimation in which he is held as a townsman, friend, 
 and neighbor at home. Those who know him best appre- 
 ciate him most highly as a citizen and as a man. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 OPPOSITION TO THE ANNEXATION OF TEXAS. CARRIES 
 
 PETITIONS TO WASHINGTON. SPEECH IN THE 
 
 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 1846. 
 
 Southern Efforts to annex Texas to the United States. — Mr. Wilson's Amend- 
 ment to Resolutions against Annexation in the Senate adopted. — Call for a 
 Convention. — Opposed by Whigs. — Held in Faneuil Hall, Jan. 27. — Ad- 
 dress to the People. — The True Reformer. — Meeting at Waltham. — Mr. 
 Wilson's Views. — Convention at Concord, 1845. — Mr. Hunt. — Meeting at 
 Cambridge, Oct. 21. — Address of Mr. Wilson. — Persistent Efforts. — Car- 
 ries Petitions to Washington. — Refuses to take Wine with Mr. Adams. — 
 State Representative in 1846. — Introduces Resolution on Slavery. — Elo- 
 quent Speech thereon. — Mr. Garrison's View of it. — Regard for the Con- 
 stitution. 
 
 ON the death of Mr. Harrison, April 4, 1841, the slave- 
 power found in Mr. Tyler, his successor, a will- 
 ing advocate of its extension ; and then brought forward 
 with unblushing front the gigantic scheme of annexing 
 Texas to the Union. This, said Gen. Hamilton, would 
 "give a Gibraltar to the South." "The Madisonian," 
 the organ of the administration, declared that it would 
 have the most salutary influence upon slavery, and 
 that " it must be done soon, or not at all ; " and Mr. Up- 
 shur asserted in January, 1844, that, " if Texas should not 
 be attached to the United States, she cannot maintain that 
 institution [slavery] ten years, and probably not half that 
 time." Stormy debates occurred in Congress on the 
 
 60 
 
OPPOSITION TO THE ANNEXATION OF TEXAS. 61 
 
 question ; the Whigs, in general, opposing the annexation , 
 while " Texas, or disunion ! " became the watchword of 
 the South. The question was carried into the presidential 
 election of 1844 ; and James K. Polk thus came into the 
 chief executive chair. 
 
 In the State Senate Mr. Wilson took an active part 
 ao-ainst the Texan scheme. He moved an amendment to 
 the resolutions against annexation, " requesting Massachu- 
 setts senators in Congress to prevent, if possible, the con- 
 summation of that slaveholding scheme." The resolution 
 im})hed a rebuke for their timid action ; and he commented 
 freely on what he characterized as their want of spirit. He 
 wished to call their attention to the fact, that, upon the ques- 
 tion of slavery, the legislature was in sober earnest; that 
 it wished "them to fetd, to tliink, and to act as Massachu- 
 setts men, who have bocn reared under the institutions of 
 the Pilgrim Fathers, should think, feel, and act." His 
 amendment was unanimously adopted by the Senate ; and, 
 th()Uij[;h amended in the House by the insertion of the words 
 "representatives in- Congress," it had the desired effect 
 upon our senators in that body. Mr. Wilson spoke elo- 
 quently and earnestly in the Senate-chamber against annex- 
 ation, maintaining that, " if Texas should be admitted by a 
 legislative act, that act could and ought to be repeakd at 
 the earliest possible moment." In .order to develop and 
 concentrate public sentiment on this question, he drew up 
 a paper calling a convention of the State. Man.y eminent 
 men of the Whig party in the General Court declined 
 to sign the })aper. This was the entering wedge in the 
 division of the Whig party of Massaclmsetts in respect 
 to slavery, which i-esulted in open rupture three years 
 afterwards, and, finally, in complete extinction. Gloryi 
 ing in its past record, and intimidated by the effrontery." 
 
62 LIFE or HENEY WILSON. 
 
 the South, that party failed to see tlie '-logic of evontii," 
 and wore awa}^ until it received from its distinguished 
 leader, Daniel Webster, in his speech on the seventli day 
 of INIarcli, 1850, its final death-blow. The world was 
 movino" : not to move with it was to perish. 
 
 The State convention was held in Faneuil Hall upon 
 the 29th of January ; and its discussions were character- 
 ized by earnestness, vigor, and determination. An ad- 
 dress, in part drawn up by Mr. Webster, and declaring 
 that " Massachusetts denounces the iniquitous project 
 [of annexation] in its inception, and in every stage of 
 its progress, its means, and its ends, and all the purposes 
 and pretences of its authors," was unanimously adopted, and 
 widely circulated. "Thoughtful men," says Mr. Wilson, 
 "filled the hall; speakers and hearers partook of a common 
 sentiment : they realized as never before the imminence 
 of the imi)ending calamity, the gravity of the occasion, and 
 the pregnant issues of the hour." 
 
 " The true reformer," says some writer, '' is the man 
 upon whose mind the light of great truths has fallen before 
 it has reached the mass of his fellow-men, and who feels 
 called of God to shed it abroad in the darkness." The 
 declarations of Mr. Wilson at this period show that he dis- 
 tinctly saw the " impending crisis," the upheaving of the 
 moral power of the nation, and the downfall of the deep- 
 rooted institution of human servitude. 
 
 Although a treaty of annexation had been signed by 
 the president, and Texas had accepted the conditions, she 
 was not yet a State of the Union. Efforts were therefore 
 strenuously made by antislavery men against her admis- 
 sion as a State. On the anniversary (Aug. 1, 1845) of 
 . the West-India emancipation, a large meeting was held at 
 " ""tham, Mass., where eloquent speeches were made by 
 
OPPOSITION TO THE ANNEXATION OF TEXAS. 63 
 
 William Henry Chaniiing, Ralph Waldo Emerson, John 
 Weiss, and Heniy Wilson, in which the usurpations and 
 iniquities of the slaveholding power were forcibly set forth. 
 
 " The calamity and disgrace of annexation," said Mr. 
 Wilson, "had come upon the country through the treachery 
 of Northern men : even the representative of Concord and 
 Lexington had proved recreant." To the question, '' What 
 sliould be done ? " he said, " Act. Hold meetings in every 
 district, town, and county in the State. Oppose the admis- 
 sion of Texas into the Union as a slaveholding State, and 
 a})peal to the people of the free States to arrest the con- 
 summation of the great iniquity. Say to the men of the 
 South, ' You are warring against civilization, against human- 
 ity, against the noblest feelings of the heart, the holiest 
 impulses of the human soul, and the providence of God ; 
 and the conflict must ultimately end in your defeat.' " 
 
 Mr. Wilson soon after obtained the siiinaturcs of a lariie 
 number of influential men for a convention to be held at 
 Concord on the twenty-second day of September, 1845, 
 which, as set forth in the call, was to " take into consider- 
 ation the encroachments of the slave-power, and recom- 
 mend such action as justice and patriotism shall dictate to 
 resist those encroachments, and arrest the progress of events 
 so rapidly tending to that fearful consummation when slavery 
 shall have complete control over the policy of the government 
 and the destinies of the country. " Men of all parties, sects, 
 and pursuits, were invoked to " devote one day to the coun- 
 try and the oppressed." "• Let old age," he said, " with its 
 garnered treasures of wisdom and experience, be there, 
 let mai.ihood in its maturity and vigor be there, let youth 
 with its high hopes and aspirations be there, to devise 
 such measures and awaken such a spirit as shall free the 
 country from the dominion, curse, and shame of slavery." 
 
64 LIFE OF HENEY AVILSON. 
 
 Mr. Wilson had the pleasure of seeing a large, enthusi- 
 astic convention, and of reporting a })reamble and resolu- 
 tions ; the former of which had been prepared by his pas- 
 tor, the Rev. Samuel Hunt, who, he observes, '' had always, 
 in the pulpit, in rehgious and political organizations, and 
 at the ballot-box, acted for the slave, and against the domi- 
 nation of his master." 
 
 " We solemnly announce our purpose to the South," 
 said the resolutions ; '' and to the execution of that purpose 
 we pledge ourselves to the country and before Heaven, 
 that, rejecting all compromise, without restraint or hesita- 
 tion, in our private relations and in our political organiza- 
 tions, by our voices and our votes, in Congress or out, we 
 will use all practicable means for tlie extinction of slavery 
 on tlie American continent." Letters were received from 
 Charles Francis Adams, and John G. Whittier the poet ; 
 and eloquent speeches were made by William Lloyd Gar- 
 rison, Stephen C. Phillips, and other antislavery men. The 
 resolutions were unanimously adopted. 
 
 At an adjourned meeting of the convention, held in 
 Cambridge on the 21st of October, Mr. Wilson presided, 
 and, on taking the chair, made an earnest appeal for prompt 
 and fearless action ; in which he said, " Let us at once 
 take an advanced step against the slave-power. Let us act, 
 and, as far as we have the constitutional right, go in favor 
 of emancipation. Let us make it the cardmal doctrine of 
 our creed, the sun of our system. Let us inscribe, in let- 
 ters of light, emancipation on the banners under which we 
 rally. Let us go to the country on that issue. We shall 
 reach the heart and conscience of the people. They will 
 come to the rescue, and we shall lay the foundations of an 
 enduring triumph." 
 
 A committee appointed at this convention prepared an 
 
CAKRIES PETITIONS TO WASHINGTON. 65 
 
 address to tlie people, and received in response peti- 
 tions, signed by sixty-five thousand names, against the 
 admission of Texas as a State into the Union. Mr. Wil- 
 son and John G. Whittier were chosen to present this 
 remonstrance of the people of this State to Congress. 
 On the tenth day of December, Mr. Adams laid these 
 petitions before the House of Representatives, and moved 
 that they be referred to a select committee ; but the Hon^^e 
 by a large majority laid them on the table, and Texas 
 soon became a State of the Union. But, thougli the 
 Southern power was thus augmented, there were forces 
 rising and combining which portended " irrepressible con- 
 flict." 
 
 While at Washino;ton, Mr. Wilson was invited to dine 
 with John Q. Adams ; and, when wine was urged upon 
 him at table, held himself, as did Daniel at the court of 
 Babylon, to his principles of temperance, and declined to 
 taste it. Surrounded by fashion, and moved by the exam 
 pie of the great and gifted, as he was, he has since spoken 
 of this as one of the strongest temptations, in respect to 
 total abstinence, of his life. Mr. Adams afterwards heartily 
 commended him for his consistency. 
 
 In 1846, Mr. Wilson, who had declined being a candi- 
 date for the State Senate, held a seat in the House of Rep- 
 resentatives, and, as usual, took a leadiiig part in the de- 
 liberations of the session ; ever casting the weight of his 
 influence upon the side of humanity and progress. He 
 introduced a resolution on the third day of February, declar- 
 ino- ''the unalterable hostility of Massachusetts to the tur- 
 ther extension and longer existence of slavery in America, 
 and her fixed determination to use all constitutional and 
 legal means for its extinction." This resolution he sup- 
 ported in a speech of signal power, evincing profound 
 
 6* 
 
QQ LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 research and a complete mastery of his subject. He met 
 with stern opposition from some leading men of the 
 Whig party, with which he was still acting ; though none 
 coulcl answer his strong and lucid argument. Of this 
 speecli '' The Liberator " said, " This is unquestionably 
 the best antislavery speech that has ever been delivered in 
 any legislative assembly in this country, — more direct, 
 more comprehensive, more important ; " and '* Tlie Boston 
 Courier" truly averred that "the spirit of independence 
 is manifest in every paragraph." Inasmuch as Mr. Wil- 
 son, in this appeal for freedom, fearlessly discloses liis 
 opinions as a legislative champion of antislavery, clearly 
 states the issues between the parties, ably answers the 
 objections to his own position, marks out his future course, 
 and prophetically announces coming events, we introduce 
 it, with few omissions, to the reader : — 
 
 SPEECH ON SLAVERY IN THE MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE 
 OF REPRESENTATIVES, 1846. 
 
 " I am not, sir, a political abolitionist ; or, rather, I am 
 not a Liberty-party man. I have no connection whatever 
 with that party as a party. I am an abolitionist, and have 
 been a member of an abolition society for nearly ten years. 
 I am proud of the name of ' abolitionist : ' I glory In it. I am 
 wllllno- to bear mv full share of the odium that mav now 
 or hereafter be heaped upon it. I had far rather be one 
 of the humblest in that little band which rallies around the 
 glorious standard of emancipation than to have been the 
 favorite marshal of Napoleon, and have led the Old Guard 
 over a hundred fields of glory and renown. I have, here 
 and in the other branch, always advocated and supported 
 all measures that tend to the freedom and elevation of the 
 
SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OF EEPEESENTATIVES. 67 
 
 colored portion of our countrymen. At all times and on 
 all occasions, in public and in private, I liave endeavored, 
 according to the convictions of my judgment, to advance 
 the cause of emancipation. I have been a candidate for 
 seven years in succession for this House or the Senate, and 
 have never, to my knowledge, received the vote of a soli- 
 tary political abolitionist ; and, shotdd I ever again- be a 
 candidate for pubhc office (which I do not anticipate), never 
 expect to receive from one a vote. I hope, therefore, that 
 no more insinuations will be thrown out that I only v,dsh 
 to court and please a ' a little knot of political abolition- 
 ists' At any rate, I shall not shrink from the perform- 
 ance of duty from any such insinuations here or else- 
 wheie. I have said that I have no connection with the 
 Liberty party ; yet I am free to say that I am ready to 
 forget the past, to let bygones be bygones, and to act with 
 any set of men — Whigs, Democrats, Liberty men, or old 
 organizationists — in ail lawful and constituti(mal measures' 
 that shall tend to arrest the extension, and overthrow the 
 entire system, of slavery in America. It is time for the 
 friends of freedom to bury minor differences of opinion, 
 and march shoulder to shoulder, with lock-step, against 
 the slave-power. How stands INLissachusetts at this time ? 
 What is her position in reference to slavery ? As long ago 
 as 1838, during the presidency of Mr. Van Burcn, an ef- 
 fort was made to bring Texas into the Union. The subject 
 was brouo-ht before the leo;islature ; and the late lamented 
 -James C. Alvord of Greenfield, then a member of the Sen- 
 ate, made a very able report on the subject, concluding 
 with resolutions against the admission of Texas, which 
 were unanimously adopted as the sense of the people of 
 the Commonwealth. And in 1843, when the Democratic 
 party had the control of the State government, a resolution 
 
68 LITE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 was likewise unanimously passed, setting forth the evils of 
 annexation, and declaring that under ' no circumstances 
 whatever would Massachusetts consent to it.' In 1844, 
 when rumors were rife that the administration of John 
 Tyler, — which has been aptly called a ' gigantic joke,' — 
 casting about for popular themes which should give it 
 a chance for a renewed term, had pitched upon this 
 project of annexation, the legislature, by nearly a unani- 
 moas vote, passed resolutions tliat such annexation would 
 be a ' palpable violation of the Constitution, a deliberate 
 assault upon its compromises.' I know very well, and 
 everybody knows very well, that the Democracy have 
 abandoned the position we all then assumed. . . . But 
 the deed has been done. The last act in this great drama 
 of national guilt and infamy has been performed. Texas 
 has been admitted. She is now a sister State. She has 
 been admitted in violation of the Constitution, and under 
 circumstances which leave but little doubt that the measure 
 was carried by corruption, — by a free use of the patron- 
 age of the executive. Men who had committed themselves 
 against it, and whose constituents were strongly opposed to 
 it, also voted for it, and have since received their reward 
 by appointment to places of honor and emolument. 
 
 " We must now act. We are in a position where we can- 
 not stand still with honor and dignity. We can a J opt 
 three courses of action, — say and do nothing; stand just 
 where we now are, and win, as win we should, the unenvi- 
 able reputation of talking loud beforehand ; and, when the 
 act is finally accomplished, shutting our mouths in silence, 
 and submittino- to the wrono- without a murmur. Such a 
 position is one of shame and Immiliation, unworthy of old 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 " We may declare that this gross outrage of the General 
 
SPEECH I^T THE HOUSE OF REPRESENT ATIVES. 69 
 
 Government is an entire revolution, wliich will justify Mas- 
 sachusetts in dissolving all connection with the govern- 
 ment. We may declare our independence, withdraw 
 our delegation from Congress, exercise exclusive jurisdic- 
 tion over our territory, and maintain it by force. Very few 
 will recommend such a course of action. Such a step 
 would doubtless lead to bloodshed, which few can contem- 
 plate without horror. Were the people ready and pre- 
 pared for it, the circumstances would not, could not, jus- 
 tify such action. What, then, can we do ? We can pledge 
 all the moral, social, and political power of the Common- 
 wealtli against slavery, and for freedom. We will remain 
 in the Union ; but we remain there to fight the battles of 
 freedom. We will stand by the Constitution : but we 
 stand by it to rescue and defend it from the slave-power ; 
 to exercise all its just powers for the overthrow of slavery. 
 We can dedicate ourselves to freedom, and wage eternal 
 hoslillty to slavery and its power. This is, in my judg- 
 ment, the only true course for Massachusetts to take. Her 
 duty to the country, and her own honor and dignity, de- 
 mand that she should take that position, and maintain it 
 with unfaltering devotion." 
 
 Having forcibly discussed the allegations of the pream- 
 ble to the resolution, he continued : — 
 
 " Sir, this republic was based upcm the grand idea of 
 the freedom and equality of all men; and yet now, in 
 the middle part of the nineteenth century, — in this age 
 of light and knowledge illuminating our pathway, — it has 
 committed itself against freedom, and for slavery. And 
 so it stands committed before all nations, and before Him 
 wdio has declared that ' righteousness exalteth a nation^ and 
 sin is a reproach to any people' Our position before the 
 world is now one of disgrace and shame ; and there is no 
 
70 LIFE OF HENEY WELSON. 
 
 true American, who cares any thing for tlie fame and glory 
 of liis country, that doc^s not blush for his native land. 
 We are drawing upon ourselves the scorn and derision of 
 the universe. With the friends of freedom abroad we 
 are fast losing sympathy and character. It is the universal 
 sentiment all over the civilized world, that we are fialse 
 and recreant to the principles of our own Constitution. 
 Even tlie great and good Lafayette declared, a short time 
 before his death, to Clarkson, that lie never tvoidd have 
 dratvn his sivord for America if he had known he ivas aid- 
 ing to found a slaveholding re^nihlic. 
 
 "At the present time, Mr. Speaker, slavery governs the 
 country : it holds possession, of the government, and its 
 vast power is everywhere seen and felt. Its eye is fixed 
 upon California, ami turned towaixls Cuba; and Mr. Cal- 
 houn has even gone so far as to send a secret and special 
 agent to Hayti to stir up a rebellion for the purpose of 
 crushing the negro republic. Slavery has its sleepless 
 eye upon the rich provinces of the Mexican republic. 
 Our own iiifted Prescott mav yet live to write a<iain * The 
 Conquest of Mexico,' not by the Spanish, but by the 
 Anglo-Saxon race; and for what? Simply, .solely, and 
 singly, for the extension of negro slavery over those fair 
 and rich fields. 
 
 " The effects of slavery upon tlie whites and the blacks, 
 upon the moral, social, and intellectual condition of the 
 people, "are visible to the most casual observer. It has left 
 its impress upon man, upon institutions and societ}^, and 
 upon the face of Nature. Like the fabled upas-tree, it blasts, 
 withers, and consumes all of life that comes within the cir- 
 cle of its influence. Of the five millions of white population 
 in the slave States, only about three hundred thousand are 
 slaveholders ; the great mass of the population being poor, 
 
SPEECH IN THE HOtJSE OF EEPEESENTATIVES. 71 
 
 iVnorant, and degraded, many of them but little, if any, 
 above the slaves : and slavery has reduced them to that 
 condition. The soil is cut up into vast estates, owned by 
 a few aristocrats who disdain labor, and despise the laborer. 
 Common schools, the glory of New England, hardly exist; 
 and education is almost unknown by the mass of the peo- 
 ple. It is our boast in New England that our soil is divided 
 into small estates ; that its cultivators stand upon their own 
 acres, wdiich they till ; and that education is accessible to all 
 oui people. These are the main supports of our republi- 
 can institutions. What are the results of the two systems ? 
 One system has, for example, made Massachusetts the pat- 
 tein State of the Union : the other has made old Virginia, 
 the mother of States and of statesmen, a poor and drivel- 
 ling commonwealth, with a broken-down and proud aris- 
 tocracy (mere pensioners upon the government for menial 
 and petty offices), and a helpless and dissipated peo])le. 
 Such is the legitimate result of slavery everywhere ; and 
 nothing can be more preposterous than the idea of sustain- 
 ing republican institutions in a land of slavery. It has 
 ever been the bane of empires. It corrupted and destroyed 
 the ancient republics. It has retarded the progress of the 
 race. It destroyed the Roman republic ; it corrupted her 
 aristocracy ; it annihilated the democracy, impoverished 
 the masses, and converted them into paupers that were 
 fed from the public crib. We talk of Caesar's crossing \\\e 
 Rubicon, and prostrating the liberties of his country : Ro- 
 man liberty had perished forever before Caesar returned 
 iunn his Northern conquests. When Tiberius Gracchus, 
 seei'^o; and comprehending the tendencies of slavery, at- 
 tempting to arrest its corrupting influence by dividing the 
 public domain into small estates, — thus creating an inde- 
 pendent yeomanry that should preserve and perpetuate 
 
72 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 the liberties of the commonwealth, — fell with three hun- 
 dred of his followers in the Forum beneath the blows of the 
 slave holding aristocracy, and his body was thrown into 
 the Tiber, that day the liberties of Rome went down, to 
 rise no more forever. We talk of the Northern barbari- 
 ans despoiling Italy. Before the Scythians left their rude 
 huts in the North, and crossed the Alps, the rich fields of 
 Italy had been converted into barrenness and desolation by 
 the barbarism of slavery, so that those once fertile fields 
 would only yield one-third as much as our own cold, sterile 
 soil of New England. Look at the once proud monarchy of 
 Spain. For three centuries the gold and the silver of the 
 New World were poured Into her coffers. It seems now that 
 the hand of God was upon her, avenging the wrongs of the 
 black and red man. 
 
 " The issue is now clearly made up. Slavery assumes 
 to direct and control the nation. The friends of freedom 
 must meet the Issue. Freedom and slavery are now 
 arrayed against each other. We must destroy slavery, or 
 it will destroy liberty. The path of duty is plain. We 
 are bound to exert our utmost efforts to restore our govern- 
 ment to its original and pristine purity. The contest is a 
 glorious one ; and let us be cheered by the fact that the 
 bold and daring efforts of the slave-power to arrest the 
 progress of free principles have awakened and aroused 
 the country. True, that power has won a brilliant victory 
 in the acquisition of Texas ; yet it is only one victory in 
 her series of victories over the constitution and liberties of 
 the country. Other fields are to be fought ; and if we 
 are true to the country, to freedom, and to man, the future 
 has yet a Waterloo in store for the supporters of this unholy 
 system. The tendencies of the age we live in are all against 
 slavery ; the progress of literature and science is against it ; 
 
SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES . 73 
 
 every thing that is beautiful and holy in the works of God 
 is against it ; God himself is against it ; and, sooner or later, 
 fall it must. Let us not be the last to en^jaoje in the o-ood 
 work. 
 
 "Sir, I wish for the adoption of this resolution, because 
 thereby Massachusetts would take an entirely new and 
 noble position. It is clear, distinct, and plain in its terms, 
 and is based upon the aggressions of slavery itself upon 
 freedom, the liberties, the rights, of the people of the coun- 
 try. It pledges Massachusetts to resist to the utmost all 
 extension of the accursed institution, and to use all her just 
 powers for the entire extinction of the whole system. Let 
 her adopt this sentiment, and act in accordance with it. I 
 wish that it could be written, in the words of Daniel Web- 
 ster, ' in letters of light on the blue arch of heaven, be- 
 tween Orion and the Pleiades,' so that every one might 
 see and read it, and ponder upon it. But I am not one to 
 believe that our whole duty will have been discharged by 
 the adoption of a resolution of this character. We must 
 make its principles a living faith. We must sustain it at 
 any cost and at any sacrifice. We must send to the halls 
 of Congress men ready and willing at all times to support 
 it. We must carry it into every department of our govern- 
 ment, and bring the whole moral force and power of the 
 State to bear in favor of it ; and in doinoj this we shall at 
 last inevitably succeed. 
 
 " It is asked what we of the North can do. Sir, we 
 can prevent slavery from ever gaining a foothold in the 
 vast Territories of the republic ; and we can abolish it in 
 the District of Columbia. And, in regard to this point, we 
 of Massachusetts are just as responsible for the existence 
 of slavery there as are the people of any State in the 
 Union : and are more guilty than some ; for we sin against 
 7 
 
74 LITE OF HENKY WILSON. 
 
 our own convictions. In that District tlie prisons of our 
 own government are converted into slave-pens ; and side 
 by side with our national public edifices are private prisons, 
 where our fellow-beings are immured, and kept for sale like 
 cattle. I have visited one, and have seen crowds of slaves 
 awaiting purchasers, thence to be sent to the cotton-fields 
 and sugar-plantations of the far South-west. One of our 
 own representatives told me that he saw at the railroad 
 d^p6t a poor negro woman torn away from her children, 
 shrieking in the bitterness of her agony, and reproaching 
 her owner for the violation of his promise that she should 
 not be separated from her offspring. A distinguished mem- 
 ber of Congress from South Carolina was his companion at 
 the time, and exclaimed, ' Great God ! what a sight is here I 
 no wonder that you of the North are abolitionists ! ' We 
 can stop this in the District of Columbia, and abolish 
 throughout the country this vile inter-state slave-trafiic ; 
 and the world and God will hold us to a fearful responsibil- 
 ity until we do it. 
 
 " Then the revenue force of the government is now 
 used to prevent the escape of fugitive slaves ; the garrisons 
 are used for prisons, and the army is the mere body-guard 
 of slavery ; the navy, if not created, is used almost wholly 
 (at least the home squadron), for the protection of the do- 
 mestic slave-trade. The General Government can correct 
 all this ; and, were that government to exercise its consti- 
 tutional right and power, slavery would die. The free 
 States, and Massachusetts among them, are responsible for 
 this ; for they have the power to do it, and do not exercise 
 it. They can bring the whole force and power of the gov- 
 ernment to bear in favor of liberty. They can change the 
 provisions of the Constitution and the laws which now pro- 
 tect slave-property. As the Constitution now stands, a 
 
SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OF RBPHESENTATIVES. 75 
 
 slave escaping here lias no refuge, no protection ; and the 
 soil of our own State has long been the slaveholder's hunt- 
 ing-ground. The panting and fleeing fugitive, with blood- 
 hounds at his heels, may enter Faneuil Hall, and he is still 
 a slave. He may cast himself down under the shadow of 
 yonder monument, and he is still a slave. He may come 
 into this very chamber, or penetrate to the council-chamber 
 of the executive for protection, and he is still a slave, and 
 his master can drag him away into bondage. The law and 
 the Constitution that allow this can be changed, as well, 
 also, as that provision which allows a representative of slave- 
 property in the national councils. This subject was once 
 acted upon by this legislature ; and, though then unsuccess- 
 ful, repeated and constant effort will enable us to accom- 
 plish the end. But we are met with the assertion that tlia 
 slaveholders have rights under the Constitution, and that 
 the existence of their property was guaranteed by that 
 instrument. Now, I undertake to say that the Constitu- 
 tion was made for a free people. The whole history of 
 the country from 1774 to the adoption of the Constitution 
 proves this. The first Congress which met in 1774 de- 
 clared, — 
 
 " ' That they would not import or purchase any slaves ; 
 that they would not be concerned in the trade themselves ; 
 and that they would neither purchase slaves, use ships in 
 the slave-trade, or sell their commodities and manufactures 
 to those eno-ajied in that traffic' 
 
 " The Conoress of 1774 declared, ' God never intended 
 a part of the human race to hold an absolute property in, 
 and an unbounded power over, others.' 
 
 " The ordinance of 1787 for the government of the 
 North-west Territory, drawn up by a distinguished son 
 of Massachusetts, expressly and forever prohibited sla- 
 
76 LIFE OF HENBY WILSON. 
 
 very throughout that vast region. From 1TY5 to 1789, 
 six of the States aboUslied slavery within their Ihnits. If 
 we look at the Madison papers, and into the debates of the 
 several State conventions for the adoption of the Con- 
 stitution, we shall find it established as clear as noonday 
 Ught, that the framers of the Constitution never enter- 
 tained the idea of the long continuance, far less tlie spread, 
 of this great wrong ; but the universal opinion was that 
 slavery would soon die out, and be forever extinguished. 
 Such was the opinion of the Washingtons, JefFersons, 
 Madisons, Henrys, Masons, and Martins of the South ; of 
 the Jays, Gerrys, Hancocks, Rushes, Adamses, Franklins, 
 and Hamiltons of the North. They thought that every- 
 where the institution would soon pass away under the 
 influence of our higher civilization and larger liberty. 
 The whole concurrent testimony of all these great men, 
 some of whom were among the purest and best characters 
 the world has ever produced, proves that they all held 
 this opinion and held this belief. We had no statesmen 
 then who believed that 'slavery was the corner-stone of 
 the republican edifice.' 
 
 " But, say some, the abolition of slavery and the agitation 
 of the subject will lead to dissolution of the Union. Now, 
 sir, I profess to be, and am, as strongly attached as any 
 man to the union of these States. From boyhood I have 
 been taught to recrard disunion — in the words of Daniel 
 Webster — as plunging the country into 'the gulf of fire 
 and blackness.' I wish to see the whole country, from 
 North to South, from the shores of the Atlantic to those 
 of the Pacific, one country, great, glorious, and free, — 
 an example for all the nations. I am for ' liberty and 
 union ; " but it must be ' liberty and union.' At all 
 events, I am for liberty ; and if dissolution of the Union 
 
SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OF EEPEESENTATIVES. 77 
 
 must be the result of the abolition of slavery, or of lawful 
 and constitutional action, why, then, let that dissolution 
 come. Let the Union go ; the sooner, the better. Better 
 have liberty without union than union without liberty. 
 But let me ask of these grave and conservative gentlemen 
 who deprecate the agitation of this question, who would 
 keep the subject of slavery out of siglit forever, lest its 
 discussion should hazard the perpetuity of the Union, oi 
 change or modify existing institutions, would they, if 
 livino; at the time, have been found amonor the small flock 
 gathered around Brewster and Robinson on the wild, 
 barren heaths of Lincolnshire ? Would they have been 
 on board ' The Mayflower ' ? Would they have gathered 
 with them in council to lay in prayers the foundation 
 of a Christian commonwealth ? Would they have been 
 among the choice spirits rallying around and support- 
 ing Adams and Hancock? Would they have followed 
 Warren to Bunker Hill ? No, sir ; no ! They would 
 have preached moderation. They would have kept aloof 
 from the contests, if possible ; have left the country 
 ratlier than meet the crisis ; and, if compelled to take 
 a decisive part, would probably have been found arrayed 
 against liberty, and on the side of the stronger power. 
 They worship tlie past, gild their fathers' sepulchres, but 
 crucify all that is noble of the present. Such men as 
 these now call themselves conservators of our institutions, 
 and oppose all attempts to agitate the momentous ques- 
 tion of the abolition of slavery. Away with such stuff ! 
 I am sick of it. He alone is the true conservative who 
 takes his stand on the foundation of justice and right, 
 and maintains that position to the last. 
 
 " Our opponents seek to portray in vivid colors the ter- 
 rible dangers that would attend the abolition of slavery. 
 7* 
 
78 LIFE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 But look at this a moment. Elo-ht of our States liave 
 emancipated all the slaves within their borders, and no 
 difficulty whatever has followed. None of these dreadful 
 evils have occurred ; but, on the contrary, every thing has 
 worked well, and to the greatly-increased prosperity of 
 such States. And we have a more recent example in the 
 British West-India islands, where circumstances were 
 infinitely more unfavorable to the success of emancipation 
 than they are with us ; where the planters to a man 
 were deadly opponents of the scheme ; where the blacks 
 and slaves were as nearly ten to one of the whites free. ' 
 Yet the project was carried out, and no harm has been the 
 result : so far from it, indeed, that, whereas nearly all the 
 planters were bnnkrupt before the abolition, their condition 
 is now vastly more prosperous ; and whereas the slaves 
 were then dying off at the rate of five thousand per year, 
 under the pressure of the lash, to save the island from 
 bankruptcy, the health and condition, moral, social, and 
 intellectual, of the colored race, now free, has greatly, 
 almost wonderfully, improved. All this is established by 
 irrefragable testimony ; and it far outweighs all the argu- 
 ments and fears, real or pretended, of the opponents of 
 emancipation. 
 
 " This emancipation of the West-India slaves was con- 
 ceived and carried out, not by the planters and owners of 
 the slaves, but by England. This very act is the brightest 
 gem in her diadem of glory. It will live forever in the 
 remembrance of mankind, even if the memory of her 
 arms, literature, and arts, the achievements of her 
 Nelson and Wellington, the works of her Shakspeare 
 and Milton, should pass away into oblivion. If her 
 power should be broken forever, and if she should to- 
 morrow sink beneath the ocean, and the waves of the 
 
SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OF EEPRESEXTATIVES. 79 
 
 Atlantic roll over the place where she now stands, still the 
 renown of this great work, by w^hicli she taxed her own 
 people a hundred millions of dollars, and gave liberty to 
 eight hundred thousand men three thousand miles away 
 sunk in the lowest depths of degradation, will endure 
 through all time, and be quoted and commended by the 
 lovers of freedom. Sir, it was the saying of a famous 
 Athenian that the glory of his rival would not permit 
 him to sleep. I trust that the glory England has acquired 
 by this measure will not suffer us of America to slumber 
 till we have emulated her example. I love not England ; 
 I am not dazzled by her power : but I envy her the glory 
 of that great achievement. 
 
 " But we are ao-ain met with the argument that we are 
 a commercial people, and cannot afford to disturb our rela- 
 tions with the rest of the country. Now, it is a notorious 
 fact that the slave States do not pay dollar for dollar what 
 they purchase from us. I know what I say ; for I have 
 examined the subject. There are many manufacturing 
 towns and villaoes in our State that have lost hundreds of 
 thousands of dollars by their dealings with the South : my 
 own town has large business-connections there, and has 
 been one of the sufferers. Our prosperity, so universally 
 diffused among us, is the result of ceaseless and untiring 
 industry. Slavery, sir, cannot support itself The slave- 
 holding power draws its living from the heart's blood of 
 the slave, and the toil and the sweat of the hard-handed 
 free laborer of the North. Our maiiners brave the dan- 
 gers and endure the tempests of the deep ; our farmers 
 till a hard and barren soil for a scanty subsistence ; our 
 mechanics and artisans labor all their days at their forges 
 and in their work-shops ; and a great part of the fruit of 
 their honest toil is drawn from them to support the slave 
 
80 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 aristocracy of the Southern States. What they cannot whip 
 out of their negroes they cheat out of us. I would rather 
 that our noble ships that now whiten every sea should go 
 down to their graves beneath the dark rolling billows of the 
 deep, and our manufacturing villages be levelled with the 
 dust, so that a squadron of cavalry could gallop over them 
 unimpeded as the wild steeds sweep over the ruined cities 
 of the desert, than that Massachusetts should forget her 
 duty, forsake her principles, and bow down and crawl and 
 grovel at the feet of the slave-power. Better, far better, 
 that her sons should till her cold and barren soil, and cast 
 their nets into the deep for a poor subsistence, than that 
 her coffers should be filled with siold soiled and dimmed 
 by the blood and tears of the bondman. 
 
 " We are often told, sir, that this agitation of slavery 
 can do no good ; that it has thrown back emancipation for 
 half a century. This is all sheer nonsense. Emancipation 
 is not only nearer in point of time, but it is nearer in 
 point of preparation. We often hear the same sage and 
 profound observations upon the great and kindred cause of 
 temperance, and with just as much reason. The press, at 
 least in the free States, now often utters its voice for the 
 slave ; faint and feeble, it is true. Ten years ago it was 
 dumb, or sided with the oppressor. Religious societies and 
 associations are discussing and deciding upon it. The 
 cause of the slave is now advocated in most of our North- 
 ern pulpits : the religious sentiment of the land is setting 
 in favor of the poor bondman, recognizing him as a man 
 and a brother. The friends of freedom can utter their 
 sentiments now without being beaten down by mobs of 
 * gentlemen of property and standing.' A great change 
 has also taken place in the slave States. Ten years ago it 
 was dangerous to utter a word against slavery in the 
 
SPEECH IX THE HOUSE OF REPRESENT ATIYES. 81 
 
 capital of tlie nation : now one can speak of slavery out 
 of the lialls of Congress with freedom. It can be estab- 
 lished by the records and reports of the religious societies 
 of the Southern States that more has been accomplished for 
 the improvement of the slave than at any similar time in 
 our history. We are told that we shall stand alone. I 
 have no objection to that if we stand in the right. Massa- 
 chusetts is used to standincr alone. The o-entleman from 
 Stockbrldge (Mr. Bjn'ngton), upon another question the 
 other day, said that Massachusetts exerted a vast influence 
 on the new States of tlie confederacy, and that manv of her 
 sons went forth to mould and fashion her institutions. It 
 Is all true : and yet, notwithstanding she has long been the 
 pattern State of the Union, she is under the ban of the 
 empire ; she is regarded with a jealous eye, and as little 
 better than a conquered province. Her people are almost 
 ostracized by the government. An occasional sop is now 
 and then thrown out to some of them if they are false to her, 
 and true to the peculiar iyistitution ; and, for one, I wish 
 that not a single individual of her people could be found 
 willlncr to take office under the National Governtnent while 
 wedded to slavery. Let us have one of Cromwell's self- 
 denvino; ordinances while the o;overnm-ent remains as it now 
 is. If it be her destiny to stand alone in support of the right, 
 alone let her stand, — alone, sir, in the language of one of 
 her sons who now sleeps by the banks of the Connecticut, — 
 
 ALONE LET HER STAND IN SOLITARY GRANDEUR. When 
 
 the passions of the hour shall be hushed, I desire that tlie 
 historic pen that shall record in letters of liglit for the 
 study of after-a^es the acts of this cr^'eat struorcrle shall 
 record the glorious fact, that there was one State, one free 
 Commonwealth, that was faithful among the faithless to the 
 teachings of the founders of the republic. 
 
S2 LIFE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 *' But she will not stand alone if she does her duty. Look 
 at the present condition of affairs in the former Gibraltar 
 of the slave-power of the North, and behold a proof of this. 
 Not Georgia, nor even South Carolina herself, has ever 
 been more subservient and obsequious to the will of the 
 slaveholding portion of the country than has New Hamp- 
 shire ; yet her granite hills are shaking and trembling to- 
 day to the earthquake-voice of her citizens, aroused at last 
 to a conviction of their duties and their rights. So will it 
 be elsewhere. 
 
 " Let Massachusetts but do her duty, and other States 
 will rally round her, and she will lead them on to the 
 rescue of the constitution and the government from the 
 slave-power. Her high and lofty principles, her stern and 
 lofty purposes, may be sneered at and derided ; timid 
 friends may chide her : but the stout-hearted and true all 
 over the land will gather round her. Standing on the 
 broad and elevated platform of equal rights, living out 
 and illustrating her own great principles, she will speak to 
 her sister States with a thousand tongues. She will come 
 to the rescue. She will be the standard-bearer in the 
 contest. She led the van in the great struggle for inde- 
 pendence: then the post of danger was hers. She has a 
 right to lead now. Her descent from the sturdy old Puri- 
 tan stock, her free labor and her free schools, all point 
 her out as the leader in the great struggle between freedom 
 and slavery. South Carolina has placed herself in ad- 
 vance as the leader of the cohorts of slavery. Let the 
 descendants of the old Cavaliers and Puritans meet 
 once more, not as their fathers met on the fields of 
 Naseby and Worcester, but in the stern conflict of opin- 
 ion. I have no fears for the issue. Every thing wall 
 be with us ; the free impulses of the age w^ill be with 
 
SPEECH m THE HOUSE QE REPBESENTATITES. 83 
 
 US ; civilization will be with us ; the wild and generous 
 impulses of the human heart will be with us ; and God will 
 be with us. Cassius M. Clays will arise in all the slave 
 States, pointing them to our example. 
 
 " Our country was the child of hope and expectation 
 When our fathers launched our government upon the tide, 
 the prayers, hopes, and sympathies of the friends of liberal 
 institutions throughout the globe were with us. The 
 oppressed began to hope for self-government ; and they 
 looked hither with trembling anxiety to see how we should 
 carry out in practice our sublime declaration of the equality 
 and freedom of all men. We liave not, perhaps, lived in 
 vain. Had America been true to herself, to her own 
 sublime principles, the friends of religious, social, and 
 civil liberty everywhere would have taken courage from 
 her example, and the oppressors of our race would have 
 loosed their hold upon unjust power : there is hardly a 
 thi'one upon the globe but would now be tottering to its 
 fall. Ours is the duty, be ours the glory, to rescue our 
 country from the * dominion, curse, and shame of slavery, 
 and make her great and glorious among the nations.* 
 The past with its crowded memories of the tears and labors 
 of the martyrs of truth who have perished on the field, 
 the scaffold, and in the dungeon, the present with its warm 
 and generous sympathies, and the future with its high 
 hopes and brilliant expectations, all cheer us onward in the 
 path of duty and of glory. 
 
 '' I do not wish to ' allude to parties ; ' and yet I cannot well 
 avoid it. I have recommended that the State should take 
 a bold stand against slavery ; and lam willing that the 
 majority here shall be held responsible for it, as they will 
 surely be. It is alike undeniable and notorious, that, during 
 the struggles of the last ten years, the party now in the 
 
84 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 majority here has generally been arrayed on the side of 
 liberty on all the incidental questions that have arisen. It 
 has gone just far enough to lose the confidence and sym- 
 pathy of the South, and to encounter defeat in almost 
 every thing ; but it has not gone far enough to gain the 
 entire confidence and obtain the support of the free im- 
 pulses of the North. On the other hand, our opponents, 
 the party here in the minorit}^, it is equally notorious 
 and undeniable, have usually sided with the slave-power 
 on all the questions connected with the interests of slavery ; 
 and they stand in that posture to-day, committed — fully 
 and entirely committed — to slavery and the slave-power. 
 
 " Thus far they have reaped all the advantages of such 
 subserviency ; but hereafter, when, in the contests of the 
 future, a day of retribution shall come, — as come it surely 
 will, — they will find themselves by their own folly placed 
 in a position of shame, defeat, and disgrace, as opponents 
 of the progress of liberty, enlightenment, and civilization. 
 
 " Sir, I wish to have ' Emancipation ' inscribed on the ban- 
 ners under which we rally, in characters of living light, 
 and also that we go for ' the protection of man.' We go 
 for the protection of his labor : let us give security, first 
 to himself, and afterwards to his labor. That is the true 
 ground we must take ; and, if it be taken boldly and man- 
 fully, I am willing to risk myself, and all that I have or 
 hope for, on the issue, confident that in five years our 
 cause will sweep through the country like a tornado. We 
 shall carry every free State with a whirlwind : it will go 
 like the fire over the prairies of the West. If not, we are 
 accustomed to defeat ; and it is far better to be in the right 
 than to hold the reins of government, and roll in wealtli 
 and power. I say without hesitation, that the stand I have 
 spoken of we must take. We cannot resist so doing if 
 
SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OF REPEESENTATIVES. 85 
 
 we would. It is our * manifest destiny.' Even were we 
 base enough to desire it, we could not regain our influence 
 with the slaveholding South bj any means; no, not by tlie 
 veriest servile and wretched trucklino; to all her arrot^ant 
 demands. I would not regain it if we could. Then, in 
 Heaven's name, let us go on in the right. If victory come, 
 let us hail and improve It : if, on the contrary, defeat be 
 our lot, it will be a glorious defeat ; for we shall have 
 been right, and shall have deserved success. At any rate, 
 we shall do something for our race, something for liberty, 
 which will secure for us the confidence and the respect of 
 the good and the true. A single word, Mr. Speaker, of 
 -a personal character, and I shall have done. I have ever 
 been and am a party man ; and I shall always go with my 
 party in what I think right and best: but I am de- 
 termined never to be either driven or kicked out of any 
 party with which I may choose to act ; and it Is my pride 
 to believe that four-fifths of the party now in the majority 
 in this State concur in the view I take of this subject, and 
 are anxious that we should commit Massachusetts against 
 slavery. It is so especially with regard to the young men, 
 
 — those who are shortly to hold the reins of power. The 
 city influence is, I know, the other way ; but, sir, ' the 
 gods of the valleys are not the gods of the hills.' 
 
 *' For one, I am ready to stand with any man, or set of 
 men, — Whig, Democrat, Abolitionist, Christian, cr Infidel, 
 
 — who will go with me In the cause of emancipation. 
 
 " It is unpleasant to me to say what I have now said ; it 
 is painful to differ from esteemed and respected friends 
 whose good opinion we value. I know the feelings of 
 many who hear me. All sorts of unworthy motives will 
 be ascribed to me, and my judgment and discretion ques- 
 tioned. Sir, I have no personal motive : I see nothing to 
 
86 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 be gained, and something to be lost. At any rate, I know 
 I shall lose the good opinion of some friends, who will 
 doubtless regard me as a fanatic. But I have made up 
 my mind, after some little reflection, that we must either 
 destroy slavery, or slavery will destroy our government 
 and our libei'ties ; and I had far rather act according to 
 the dictates of duty and of patriotism than to receive the 
 approving smiles of friends. I shall go for the abolition 
 of slavery at all times and on all occasions, now and 
 hereafter. I loathe, detest, and abhor it. It is at war with 
 Nature and Nature's God. 
 
 " I have no apologies to make for it ; and no hope of 
 political reward, no fear of ridicule or reproach, shall ever 
 deter me from using all the moral and political influence I 
 possess, in such a manner as my judgment shall approve, 
 to accomplish the entire extinction of slavery, and to make 
 my native land, which I love with the affection of a son, 
 what it should be, — glorious and free, and an example to 
 all nations." 
 
 This resolution, so ably advocated, was, after much dis- 
 cussion and excitement, adopted in the House by ninety- 
 three majority : in the Senate, which was more conserva- 
 tive, it was lost by four votes. In the minds of the people 
 it lived, inspiring noble hearts, and calhng to the rescue 
 of the bondman. 
 
 Mr. Wilson was no revolutionist, except through 
 constitutional and legal means. He loved the Union : he 
 had no desire in any event, as an aggressor, to appeal to 
 arms. He believed, that, under the Constitution, Southern 
 men had no riglit to extend slavery over our territorial 
 domains ; and on that ground he would meet the question. 
 When, on the 3d of March, he presented to the House a 
 
SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 87 
 
 memorial from Francis Jackson for the withdrawal from 
 Cono-ress of the Massachusetts delectation, and the conse- 
 quent dissolution of the Union, he declared that he held 
 the right of petition sacred ; that he was for the abolition 
 of slavery : but, continued he, " it must be accomplished 
 under, by, and through the Constitution ; " not by violence, 
 but by '' sovereign law," the " collected will " of the peo- 
 ple, which 
 
 " O'er thrones and globes elate, 
 Sits empress, crowning good, repressing ill,** 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 POPULARITY WITH THE PEOPLE. FORMATION OF THE 
 
 FREE-SOIL PARTY. COURSE IN THE STATE LEGISLA- 
 TURE. ADDRESS OF WELCOME TO GOV. KOSSUTH. 
 
 Regard of the People. — Delegate to the National Convention. — Withdraws 
 from that Body. — Origin of the Free-soil Party. — " Boston Republican." 
 
 — Editor of. —Its Principles and Influence. — Chairman of Free-soil State 
 Committee. — Member of the House, 1850. — Mr. Webster's 7th-of-March 
 Speech. — The Coalition. — Election of Mr. Sumner to United-States 
 Senate, 1851. — Mr. Sumner's Letter. — Mr. Wilson made Chairman of the 
 Senate that Year. — Address on taking the Chair. — A Contrast. — " The 
 Liberator." — Harvard University. — Thanks of the Senate, and Closing 
 Address. — Delegate to Pittsburg. — Candidate for Congress, 1852. — Chair- 
 man of the Senate, 1852. — His Course in the Senate. — Welcome to Kossuth. 
 
 — Sympathy between them. — His Punctuality. — Gold Watch. 
 
 IN the autumn of 1847 Mr. Wilson declined being a 
 candidate for the leo^islature ; but through his generous 
 sympathies, temperate habits, and uprightness as a man, 
 Ins intelUgence and sagacity as a legislator, and his steadj^ 
 adherence to the principles of human freedom and the 
 interests of the working-classes, he was still gaining the 
 respect and confidence of the people. Even those who 
 looked contemptuously upon him as rising from the work- 
 shop of a shoemaker w^ere obliged to admit his eminent 
 ability as a speaker and leader. His bold, direct, and 
 logical speech, in the House of the last year, on slavery. 
 
POPULABITY WITH THE PEOPLE. 89 
 
 Iiad turned the thoughts of the abolitionists to him as their 
 legislative champion. 
 
 The laboring-peoplej from whom he had sprung, and of 
 whose opinions he was, perhaps, the best exponent in tlie 
 State, were proud of his success, and entertained for him 
 increasing admiration and esteem. They held even then 
 — for in this country they liave always had the clearest 
 vision of impending crises — that we were on the eve of 
 great political events, and that he would be the man for 
 the occasion. 
 
 On the death of Jolin Quincy Adams in February, 
 1848, and the consequent vacancy in the House of Repre- 
 sentatives, a Whig convention was held in Dedham to 
 select a candidate to supply his place. The three leading 
 men for whom that body had a preference were Henry 
 Wilson, William Jackson, and Horace Mann. After the 
 third balloting, Mr. Wilson withdrew his name in favor 
 of Mr. Mann, who was nominated. The convention then, 
 by an almost unanimous vote, appointed Mr. Wilson 
 delegate to the Whig National Convention to be held in 
 Philadelphia in the ensuing month of June. He sup- 
 ported Mr. Webster for };resident in that convention on 
 account of his principles in favor of liberty; yet he had 
 misgivings In regard to this statesman's position on this 
 question, which were sadly realized in 1850. He had 
 previously declared in public and in private, that if 
 Gen. Taylor should receive the vote of the Whig party in 
 that convention, unpledged to the Wilmot Proviso, he not 
 only would not support him, but would do all In his power 
 to defeat him. The convention nominated Gen. Taylor 
 for the presidency. Mr. Wilson, and his colleague Mr. 
 Charles Allen, denounced the action of the convention, 
 and, retiring from it, held a meeting of a few Northern 
 
 8* 
 
90 LIFE OF HENSY WILSON. 
 
 men, and appointed a committee, who, with others, called 
 the Bufflilo Convention, where Mr. Van Baren received 
 the nomination. 
 
 Returning home, Mr. Wilson and his associates held a 
 convention in the city of Worcester on the 28th of June. 
 It was large and enthusiastic. The subserviency of the 
 Whig party to the interests of the South was fully dis- 
 cussed, and its inadequacy and unwiUingness to meet the 
 demands of freedom and the progressive spirit of the age 
 were most eloquently set forth. For the vindication of 
 free labor, for the maintenance of freedom in the Ter- 
 ritories, for resistance to the aggressive policy of the 
 South, which boh Northern Whigs and Democrats, though 
 to some extent in words opposing, still accepted in acts, 
 the organization of the Free-soil party was begun. " A 
 few^ days after," Mr. Wilson said, '' 1 called on Mr. Web- 
 ster at his own request; and. he expressed his cordial 
 assent to the principles of the convention." Untiring in 
 his endeavors to arouse the North to a sense of the 
 nation's injustice towards the slave, Mr. Wilson in Sep- 
 tember purchased " The Boston Republican," which he 
 edited with signal ability from the autumn of 1848 to 
 January, 1851, defending steadily the principles of free- 
 dom, and holding an advanced position in civil, social, and 
 political reform. It was the chief organ of the Free-soil 
 party, of which he was the acknowledged leader ; and 
 it was continued one year as a daily paper. The articles 
 of agreement between Mr. Wilson and the publishers of 
 the paper are dated Boston, Nov. 11, 1848; " The sub- 
 scribers, Henry Wilson of the first part, William S. Dam- 
 rell of the second part, and Curtis C. Nichols of the third 
 part, have this day formed a copartnership, to be known 
 as the firm of Wilson, Damrell, and Co., for the purpose of 
 
foe:mation of the feee-soil paety. 9] 
 
 publishing ' The Daily Republican,' ' Semi-weekly Repub- 
 lican/ and ' Weekly Emancipator and Republican.' " The 
 political creed of the paper was, " No exten.sion of slavery 
 over the Territories ; no more slave territory to be added 
 to the Union ; no more slave States to be admitted into 
 the Union ; no compromise with slavery must be made."- 
 Mr. Wilson wrote most of the original articles, including 
 the book-notices, for the paper; but was sometimes assisted 
 by Mr. William S. Robinson and other political and literary 
 friends. On retiring from the paper, he found that he had 
 lost something like seven thousand dollars in the enter- 
 prise ; yet it had been of essential service to the Free-soil 
 party, and he cheerfully submitted to the pecuniary dam- 
 age. It was an effective educator of the people in respect 
 to the cardinal doctrines involved in that irresistible con- 
 flict between free and slave labor which is now forever 
 settled on this continent. 
 
 Appointed chairman of the Free-soil State Committee 
 in 1849, he most industriously labored, by the circulation 
 of pamphlets and by delivering addresses in various sec- 
 tions of the State, as well as through the columns of " The 
 Republican," for the advancement of the party. Four 
 years he spent in this capacity ; and they were years of 
 ceaseless vigilance and toll : yet by these exertions he was 
 not only deepening the antlslavery sentiment of the State, 
 but also gaining wisdom and experience for sterner effort 
 and severer conflict. When Heaven has somethinop great 
 and good for any man to do, it prepares and proves him 
 for the occasion. 
 
 In 1&50 Mr. Wilson was again a member of the lower 
 branch of the State Legislature, where he labored with his 
 accustomed zeal and energy. The Free-soil members gave 
 him their votes for the speakership ; but he was not 
 
92 LIPE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 elected. He had been urged bj his own party and the 
 Democrats in union to become a candidate for the Senate ; 
 but he preferred a seat in the more popular body, as hav- 
 ing broader influence. 
 
 It was during the session of this legislature that Mr. 
 Webster made his 7tli-of-March speech on Mr. Clay's 
 resolutions in the Senate of the United States. The senti- 
 ment of the North was deeply wounded by it. Mr. Wilson 
 fearlessly declared to the House that the people would 
 repudiate that speech and those who should indorse it ; 
 and that, at the next election, the deserters from the cause 
 of freedom would surely find themselves deserted. His 
 words, though meeting the defiance of many of the leading 
 Whigs, proved true. By the famous coalition of the 
 Free-soil and the Democratic parties, the Whig party of 
 Massachusetts, once so strong and so triumphant, was 
 defeated. This coalition, Mr. Wilson, for the most part, 
 oroanized. Calling together the State Committee and 
 about seventy members of his own party at the Adams 
 House in Boston in the summer of 1850, he declared to 
 them that Mr. Webster's speech and Mr. Fillmore's timid 
 administration could be condemned ; that a member of the 
 Free -soil party could be sent to the United-States Senate 
 to take the place of Mr. Webster (made secretary of 
 state) for the long term, and a member of the Democratic 
 party for the short term ; and that thus antislavery men 
 could be brought to control the policy of the State. After 
 a long and animated discussion, the meeting refused to 
 form the coalition : but Mr. Wilson and his friends laid 
 the scheme before the people, who accepted it, and, 
 through the legislature, elected George S. Boutwell as 
 governor ; and the General Court, after a long and bitter 
 contest and many ballotings, in 1851, sent Charles Sum- 
 
rOBMATION OF THE FREE-SOIL PABTY. 93 
 
 ner to the United-States Senate for the long term, choos- 
 ing also Robert Rantoul, a Democrat, for the other terra. 
 
 Many causes — such as the persistent labors of antislaver}' 
 men through public addresses and the press, the general 
 awakening of the people to the insolent aggressions of the 
 Southern demagogues, and the course of Mr. Webster — 
 conspired to aid this triumph of the friends of freedom ; 
 but all admitted that it was largely due to the sagacity, the 
 organizing power, and the unremitting activity, of Mr. 
 Wilson. Perhaps no political movement had ever so 
 aroused the people of Massachusetts, or had been so sig- 
 nificant of her advance in liberal ideas. Hard and insult- 
 inn- names were freely bestowed upon the leader; but he 
 had no time nor wish to strike " back-blows." 
 
 The agency which he had in the election of Mr. Sum- 
 ner to the Senate is recognized in the following frank 
 
 - avowal : — 
 
 Cragie House, Cambridge, April 25, 1851. 
 
 My dear Wilson, — I have this moment read your re- 
 marks of last night, which I think peculiarly happy. You 
 touched the right chord. I hope not to seem cold or 
 churlish in thus withdrawing from all the i)ubllc manifesta- 
 tions of triumph to which our friends are prompted. In 
 doing so, I follow the line of reserve which you know I 
 have kept to throughout the contest ; and my best judg- 
 ment at this moment satisfies me that I am right. 
 
 You who have seen me flimillarly and daily from the 
 beginning to the end will understand me, and, if need be, 
 can satisfy those, who, taking counsel of their exultation, 
 would have me mingle in the display. But I shrink from 
 imposing any thing more upon you. 
 
 To your ability, energy, determination, and fidelity 
 our cause owes its present success. For weal or woe, you 
 
94 LIFE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 must take the responsibility of having placed me in the 
 Senate of the United States. 
 
 I am prompted also to add, that, wliile you have done al 
 this, I have never heard from you a single suggestion of a 
 selfish character, looking in any way to any good to your- 
 self: your labors have been as disinterested as" they have 
 been effective. This consideration increases my personal 
 esteem and gratitude. I trust that you will see that Mr. 
 B.'s resolves are passed at once as they are^ and the bill as 
 soon as possible. Delay will be the tactics of the enemy. 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 Charles Sumner. 
 
 The Hon. Henry Wilson. 
 
 This coalition sent Mr. Wilson to the State Senate for 
 the session of 1851 by a majority of twenty-one hundred 
 votes ; and he was then made president of that body. On 
 taking the chair the first day of January, he made the 
 following appropriate address: "Senators, I tender to 
 you my sincere and grateful thanks for this expression of 
 your confidence. In return, I promise to bring to the 
 chair an earnest determination to perform its duties with 
 fidelity and impartiality. Conscious of a want of experi- 
 ence, I solicit your indulgence. I feel that. I occupy this 
 j)lace under the disadvantage of having been preceded by 
 some of the most eminent men who have illustrated the 
 legislative history of the Commonwealth. Relying, how- 
 ever, on your friendly co-operation, I enter upon the per- 
 formance of the task to which your partiality has called 
 me. My hope is, that we shall so conduct our delibera- 
 tions as not only to secure harmony among ourselves, but 
 also to sustain those great principles which are conducive 
 to the glory and the prosperity of the Commonwealth. 
 
COUESE IN THE STATE LEGISLATUIIE. 
 
 95 
 
 Having done this, we shall give back to the people the 
 power they delegated to us, with the proud consciousness 
 of having done something to advance the ideas of freedom 
 and progress, — something to promote the renown of the 
 republic, and to cement that union which makes us one 
 people." 
 
 Eighteen years before, he was a friendless youth, home- 
 less and penniless, seeking the privilege to toil for his 
 daily bread ; but through untiring industry, undeviating 
 steadiness to principle, through an unshaken' confidence in 
 human progress, and self-denying sacrifice for the relief of 
 the oppressed, he raised himself, against persistent op- 
 position, to this honorable post. It is the fortune of 
 but few men to make such advancement in so brief a 
 period ; yet his success, so nobly merited and won, may 
 serve as an encouragement to those, who, under adverse 
 circumstances, are aspiring per virtutem ad gloriam. 
 
 On the 21st of January, 1851, the anniversary of the 
 twentieth year of the existence of " The Liberator " was 
 held in Cochituate Hall ; when Mr. Wilson thus again 
 expressed his views and hopes upon " the irrepressible 
 conflict : " — 
 
 ''Sir, allusion has been made to-night to the small be- 
 ginning of the great antislavery movement twenty years 
 ao-o, when ' The Liberator ' was launched upon the tide. 
 These years have been years of devotion and of struggles 
 unsurpassed in any age or in any cause. But, not- 
 withstanding the treachery of public men, I venture to 
 say that the cause of liberty is spreading throughout the 
 whole land, and that the day is not far distant when 
 brilliant victories for freedom will be won. We shall arrest 
 the extension of slavery, and rescue the government from 
 the grasp of the slave-power ; we shall blot out slavery 
 
96 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 in the national capital ; we shall surround the slave States 
 with a cordon oF free States ; we shall then appeal to the 
 hearts and consciences of men ; and in a few years, not- 
 withstanding the immense interests combined in the cause 
 of oppression, we shall give liberty to the millions in bond- 
 age. (Hear, hear.) I trust that many of us will live to 
 see the chain stricken from the limbs of the last bondman 
 in the republic ; but, sir, whenever that day shall come, 
 living or dead, no name connected with the antislavery 
 movement will be dearer to the enfranchised millions than 
 the name of your guest, William Lloyd Garrison." (Pro- 
 longed applause.) 
 
 During this session of the Senate, Mr. Wilson took a 
 leading part in obtaining an act for a third convention 
 for revising the Constitution of the State ; in carrying 
 the Homestead Exemption Bill, which reserved to the 
 family of the insolvent debtor five hundred dollars from 
 the hands of creditors ; in the fiercely-contested election 
 of Mr. Sumner, carried in April over Mr. Winthrop ; and 
 in securing: the act for the re-oro;anization of the board of 
 overseers of Harvard University, by which they were to be 
 chosen by joint ballot of both branches of the legislature, 
 so that all sects and parties might be represented by their 
 most competent men. 
 
 On the 15th of May he vigorously defended the princi- 
 ples of the Free-soil party, claiming it to be a Union con- 
 stitutional organization, and in forcible terms rebuked the 
 course of Mr. Webster. 
 
 At the close of the session (May 23, 1851), it was or- 
 dered that the " thanks of the Senate be presented to the 
 Hon. Henry Wilson for the able, impartial, and satisfactory 
 manner in which he has discharged the duties of the 
 chair." 
 
COXJESE IN THE STATE LEGISLATURE. 97 
 
 In reply, lie said, — 
 
 '* Senators, this expression of your approbation excites 
 in my bosom the liveliest emotions of gratitude. The 
 uniform courtesy and, kindness you have all, individually 
 and collectively, extended to me through this protracted 
 session, and the kind words now spoken, give me the most 
 ample assurance that this vote is no formal or unmeaning 
 compliment. Be assured, gentlemen, be assured, I shall 
 ever fondly cherish the recollections of your many acts of 
 kindness, until the heart upon which they are indelibly 
 encjraved ceases to beat forever." 
 
 *' Knowledge of human nature," said one of the daily 
 journals of tliis season, and the art of winning the con- 
 fidence of men, are among the chief elements of political 
 efficiency; and, in addition to these. Gen. Wilson possesses 
 a more powerful element of success in the whole-souled 
 devotion with wdiich he supports the cause of freedom." 
 
 He was this year chosen vice-president of the Legisla- 
 tive Temperance Society, and industriously availed himself 
 of every occasion to promote the temperance cause. 
 
 Appointed delegate to the Natioual Convention of the 
 Free-soil party, held at Pittsburg, Penn., in 1852, he was 
 elevated to the chair of that body, when he made an 
 eloquent address : he w^as also made chairman of the 
 National^ Free-soil Committee, in which ca[)acity he 
 served with fidelity and acceptance. During this year 
 he was supported by the Free-soil men of the Eighth Dis- 
 trict tor a seat in Congress, but failed of an election by less 
 than a hundred, votes, although there was a heavy majority 
 against his party in that district. He was also urged by 
 his political associates and by many Democrats to become 
 candidate for the gubernatorial chair ; but, in a public 
 letter, he peremptorily declined a nomination. 
 
 9 
 
98 LIFE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 Again he was a member (1852), and was again .elected 
 president of the Massachusetts Senate by sixteen out of 
 twenty-seven votes. During the session, he assisted vigor- 
 ously in obtaining the act for a constitutional convention, 
 and for a law prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors ; 
 on behalf of which he made a strong speech in February, 
 wherein he said, " Heretofore we have tried to regulate 
 the sale of ardent spirits. This bill will stop it." 
 
 He was appointed chairman of the legislative com- 
 mittee to welcome President Fillmore to Massachusetts, 
 and also to extend a reception to Gov. Louis Kossuth, 
 the dlstino-uished Hunojarian exile to our State. In 
 company with twenty-one senators, he met this noble 
 advocate of freedom and humanity on his arrival at 
 Springfield, April 26, 1852, and, in the presence of a vast 
 multitude of people who had gathered to greet the heroic 
 opponent of Austrian despotism, gave him a cordial wel- 
 come to the hospitalities of Massachusetts in the following 
 eloquent and appropriate words : — 
 
 " Gov. Kossuth, in the name and in behalf of the 
 government, I bid you welcome to the Commonwealth of 
 Massachusetts, to the hospitalities of the authorities, and 
 the sincere and enthusiastic greetings of the people. I 
 welcome you, sir, to a Commonwealth which recognizes 
 the unity of mankind, the brotheihood of men and of 
 nations, — a Commonwealth where the equality of all men 
 before the law is fully established ; where ' personal free- 
 dom is secured in its completest individuality, and common 
 consent recognized as the only jast origin of fundamental 
 laws.' 
 
 " Welcome, sir, to the soil consecrated to the tears and 
 prayers of the Pilgrim exiles, and by the first blood of the 
 Revolution. Welcome to the halls of council, where Otis 
 
ADDRESS OF WELCOME TO GOV. KOSSUTH. 99 
 
 and Hancock and the Adamses breathed into the nation 
 tlie breath of life ; to the field of battle, where Warren and 
 his comrades fell fighting for freedom and the rights of 
 man, and where the peerless chieftain to whose tomb you 
 have just made a pilgrimage first marshalled the armies of 
 the republic. Welcome to the native State of Franklin, 
 who pleaded the-cause of his country to willing and unwilHn<T 
 ears in the Old World as you are pleading the cause of your 
 country in the New World. Welcome to the acquaintance 
 of a people who cherish your cause in their hearts, and 
 who pronounce your name with affection and admiration. 
 Welcome to their free institutions, — institutions of relio-ion 
 and of learning and of charity, reared by the free choice 
 of the people for the culture of all and the relief of all, — 
 institutions which are the fruits of freedom such as you 
 strove to give to your fatherland, for which crime you are 
 this day a homeless and persecuted exile. 
 
 " To-day you are the guest of Massachusetts. Sir, the 
 people of Massachusetts are not man-worshippers. They 
 will pay you no unmeaning compliments, no empty honors. 
 But they know your history by heart. Your early conse- 
 cration to freedom; your years of persecution and im- 
 prisonment ; your sublime devotion to the nationality and 
 elevation of your country ; the matchless eloquence and 
 untiring industry with which at home you combated the 
 Austrian despotism, with which in exile you have pleaded 
 the cause of Hungarian liberty, the cause of universal dem- 
 ocratic freedom and of national right ; the lofty steadiness 
 of your purpose, and the stainless purity of your life, — 
 these have won their sympathy^ and command their pro- 
 foundest admiration. Descendants of Pilo-rlm exiles, we 
 greet you warmly. Sons of Revolutionary patriots, we hail 
 you as the exiled leader of a noble struggle for ancient 
 
100 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 rights and national independence. We receive you as the 
 representative of Hungary, as the champion of republican- 
 ism in Europe. We welcome you as we would welcome 
 your gallant people into the sisterhood of republics, into 
 the family of nations. 
 
 *' The people of this Commonwealth, sir, watched the 
 noble struggle of your nation with admiration and with 
 hope. They felt that the armies which you organized and 
 sent into the field were fighting the battles, not of Hungary 
 alone, but of the world, because they were fought for 
 freedom and for progress. Your victories were our vic- 
 tories ; and when, by the treachery of Gorgey, Hungary 
 fell before the armed intervention of Russia, they felt, and 
 still feel, that the czar had not only violated the rights of 
 Hungary, but had outraged the law of. nations and the 
 sentiment of the civilized world. On tliis subject the mes- 
 sao-e of his Excellency the governor, and the resolutions 
 pending before the legislature, utter the sentiments of the 
 people of Massachusetts. 
 
 " The wave of re-action has swept over Europe. The 
 high hopes excited by the revolutions of 1848 are burled in 
 the graves and in the dungeons of the martyrs of freedom ; 
 are quenched in the blood of the subjugated people. The 
 iron heel of absolutism presses the beating hearts of the 
 nations. The voice of freedom is heard only in the threat- 
 ening murmurs of the down-trodden masses, or in the sad 
 accents of their exiled leaders. But all is not lost. God 
 lives and reigns. The purest, the noblest, the most power- 
 ful impulses of the great heart of humanity are for right 
 and liberty. Glorious actions and noble aims are never 
 wholly lost. The 
 
 ' Seed of generous sacrifice, 
 Though seeming on the desert cast, 
 Shall rise with flower and fruit at last.' 
 
ADDBESS OF WELCOME TO GOY.. KOSSUTH. 101 
 
 *' When you quit the sliores of tlie republic you will 
 carry with you the prayers of Massachusetts that the days 
 of your exile may be few, and the subjugation of your 
 people brief; that your country may speedily assume her 
 proper high position among the nations ; and that you may 
 give to her counsels in the future, as you have given in the 
 past, the* weight of your character and the power of your 
 intellect to guide her onward in the career of progress and 
 of democratic freedom. 
 
 *' Again, sir, in the name of the government and people 
 of Massachusetts, I welcome you to our hearts and to our 
 homes. I welcome you to such a reception as it becomes 
 a free and democratic people to give to the most illustrious 
 living leader and champion of freedom and democracy."* 
 
 Mr. Wilson afterwards in an appropriate manner wel- 
 comed the illustrious exile to the Senate, and was highly 
 gratified with tlie brief interviews which he held with 
 him ; for their opinions on the great questions of civil lib- 
 erty were in harmony, and their experience in endeavoring 
 to maintain it brouglit them into immediate personal 
 sympathy. Mr. AVilson ])resided over the deliberations of 
 the Senate with dignity, impartiahty, and acceptance. But 
 once only was a question raised on his decision during the 
 time he occupied the chair, and then but five Voted against 
 him. At the close of his State senatorial career in the 
 spring of 1852, he took leave of his associates in an appro- 
 
 * In a letter of Mr. Sumner to Mr. Wilson, dated Senate-cliam'bcr, April 29, 
 1852, he sa3'S, " Seward has just come to my desk ; and his first words were, ' What 
 a magnificent speech Wilson made to Kossuth 1 I have read nothing for months 
 which took such hold of me.' I cannot resist telling jou of this, and adding the 
 expression of my sincere delight in what you said. It was eloquent, wise, and 
 apt. I am glad of this grand reception. Massachusetts does honor to herself in 
 thus honoring a representative of freedom." 
 9* 
 
102 LIFE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 priate address ; and a gold watch was presented to lilm by 
 his friends in token of his faithfulness and courtesy as the 
 presiding officer. 
 
 It bears this inscription : — 
 
 " Hon. Henry Wilson, from Members of the Massachusetts 
 
 Senate, 1852." 
 
 During the sessions of the legislature in 1850-1-2, he 
 was absent from his seat but one day, and that was to at- 
 tend the funeral of a friend. As was said of Mr. Adams, 
 one might as soon expect to see a pillar of the Capitol ab- 
 sent from its place as Mr. Wilson from his seat. 
 
CHAPTER VIL 
 
 MR. WILSON AT HOME. THE STATE CONSTITUTIONAL 
 
 CONVENTION. HIS PART IN IT. SPEECHES. 
 
 RESULT OF THE CONVENTION. 
 
 A Friend of his Pastor. — Hard Study. —Temperance. — Books and Aiathors. — 
 The Source of Civil Liberty. — No " Buck-BIows." — Cheerful Spirit.— 
 Home. — Gift to his Minister. — Revision of the State Constitution. — Elected 
 by Natick and Berlin. — Punctuality.— His Course. — How he looked at a 
 Legal Question. — Chairman pro tern. — Speech in Favor of Colored Troops. 
 — On the Death of ^Nlr. Gourgas of Concord. — On the Course of Harvard 
 College in Respect to Prof. Bowen. — Address to his Constituents. — Reason 
 for Defeat of the Amendments. — Cost and Influence of the Convention. 
 
 IN May, 1852, the Rev. Elias Nason was settled as pas- 
 tor of the Congregational church at Natick, where he 
 continued until the autumn of 1858. During his pastorate 
 at Natick he found in Mr. Wilson a firm and cordial friend, 
 ever prompt and liberal in the support of the institutions 
 of reli<i-ion and of benevolence, and ever aiding with heart 
 and hand in the promotion of the welfore of the community. 
 On the sabbath he was usually in his seat in church, and 
 an attentive listener. He was always frank and open in 
 the expression of his opini(ms upon every subject, whether 
 political, social, or religious ; and he loved to have other 
 people speak with the same freedom. Plain and unaffected 
 in his manner and his dress, he associated freely with the 
 working-people ; and the very humblest found a welcome 
 
 103 
 
104 LIFE OF HENXtY WILSON. 
 
 at Ills open door. In the social circle the sight of his fresh 
 and smilincr countenance was indeed a benediction. 
 
 He pursued his studies with untiring energy, sonietimes 
 reading or writing — as he had once labored in the shop — 
 fifteen or sixteen hours in succession. Wlien he com- 
 menced upon a tlieme, he loved to finish his investigations 
 ere he left it ; and this often carried his labors far into the 
 night: yet still he came forth as bright the following 
 day as if he had spent the night in repose. His 
 physical as well as mental system always seemed to be in 
 splendid working-order. By looking at his clear com- 
 plexion and his vigorous frame, one had an argument for 
 temperance more eloquent than any orator could present. 
 In his reading he was rapid and select. He chose the best, 
 — of foreign writers, Macaulay, Hal lam, Carlyle, De 
 Tocqueville ; of American, Sparks, Bancroft, Prescott, 
 Everett. History was his favorite reading ; yet now and 
 then he spent an hour with Emerson's '' Essays," Haw- 
 thorne's "Scarlet Letter," "Uncle Tom's Cabin," "Jane 
 Eyre," and " David Copperfield." 
 
 In his interviews with his pastor he often expressed his 
 profound sympathy for the slave and for the working-peo- 
 ple, and said that his brightest hope was that he might do 
 something in his life towards breaking the fetters of the 
 bondman. Constitutional and civil liberty, he frequently 
 asserted, came from the principles of the New Testament : 
 by those principles every human being ought to'be a free- 
 man, and on those principles aggression against the slave- 
 liolding system must be made. His forecast as to the turn 
 of the impending contest seems surprising ; and, on being 
 asked in 1867 how he came to be so " good for guessing," 
 he replied, " By looking, not at one point only, but ovel 
 the whole field of action." 
 
STATE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION. 105 
 
 Tliongli not then a communicant of the church, he helcl 
 the cliurch in high regard ; complaining only now and 
 then that the clergy moved too tardily in matters of re- 
 form. 
 
 " Men misunderstand my motives, and malign my char- 
 acter," he often said ; " but I have no time nor wish to strike 
 back-blows. I desire to advance upon the line of right 
 and duty, and to make every one as happy as I can along 
 the way." 
 
 This course of action gave him a cheerful spirit, and 
 maHe others cheerful in his presence. His home, enlivened 
 by the smile of an amiable wife and sprightly boy, was 
 happy ; and surrounded by affectionate friends and neio-h- 
 bors,who well knew his worth, and were proud of his ad- 
 vancement, he was considered as one of the most useful 
 and most enviable' men in that community. 
 
 When his pastor left Natick, Mr. Wilson, with a tear 
 in his eye, came up to him, and said, " I am a poor man ; 
 but take this in remembrance, and I wish it were a hun- 
 died times as much." 
 
 On the fourth day of May, 1853, the convention for 
 the revision and amendment of the Constitution of the 
 State assembled in the State House, Boston. This in- 
 strument, framed in . 1780, was revised in 1820 ; and 
 through successive changes in legislation, and the progress 
 of liberal ideas among the people, evidently needed re- 
 examination, and, in respect to some of its articles, improve- 
 ment. The act of the legislature for holdincr this con- 
 vention was obtained by a hard struggle on the part of 
 the ])rogressive members ; and, to form it, some of the 
 ablest legislators in the State — as Rufus Choate, George 
 S. Boutwell, Benjamin F. Butler, George S. Hillard, N. P. 
 Banks, and Benjamin F. Hallett — were elected. Mr. 
 
106 . LITE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 Wilson was chosen by tiie town of Natick, and also by the 
 town of Berlin. " On Monday last," he pleasantly said 
 in the convention, " I visited the people of that town for 
 the first time in my life (perhaps, if they had known me 
 better, they would not have elected me) ; and I told the 
 people that I would serve them to the best of my ability, 
 if they desired it ; but, under the circumstances, I should 
 be under great obligations to them if they woukl allow 
 me to resio-n as deleo-ate from their town : and I obtained 
 their unanimous vote to that effect." He was appointed 
 chairman of the committee for the best mode of proceed- 
 ing in the business of the convention, and also chairman 
 of the committee on that part of the Constitution relating 
 to the Senate. He set himself at work in this body with 
 his usual zeal and industry : he took a leading part in its 
 debates, and made many able and effective speeches. 
 During the whole session, running through ninety days, 
 he was not absent from his seat more than thirty minutes ; 
 and every paper, every motion, every speech, received the 
 attention of his observant eye or ear. True to the sen- 
 timents he had so frequently expressed, his voice was 
 always heard in the defence of equal rights, of the cause 
 of human freedom, and of the working-people. He met 
 the conservative element in the convention courteously, 
 but fearlessly ; and by standing firmly to his point, and 
 supporting himself by quick appeals to the principles of 
 equity, to present need or past experience, he often gained 
 the victory. 
 
 On being asked one day why he ventured, ignorant as 
 he was of law, to meet on certain legal questions gentle- 
 men eminent for their knowledge of the law, his charac- 
 teristic answer was, " Such men mystify things by their 
 abstractions and their technicalities ; whereas by using 
 
STATE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION. 107 
 
 common sense, and looking at things fairly, fearlessly in 
 the face, we generally come out right." 
 
 During the illness of Mr. Banks, the speaker of the 
 convention, he was appointed to the chair, and presided 
 ably over the deliberations. Among his speeches in this 
 body, that in favor of election by the majority instead of 
 the plurality vote, that against an elective judiciary, that 
 ao-ainst the limitation of the State credit, as also that in 
 opposition to the tax qualification of the voter, may be 
 cited as evincing marked ability. In regard to the admis- 
 sion of colored persons into the military service of the 
 State, he nobly said, " The first victim of the Boston 
 massacre, on the 5th of March, 1770, which made the 
 fires of resistance burn more intensely, was a colored man. 
 Hundreds of colored men entered the ranks, and fought 
 bravely on all the fields of the Revolution. Gray don of 
 Pennsylvania, in his Memoirs, informs us that many of the 
 Southern officers disliked the New- England regiments 
 because so many colored men were in their ranks. At 
 Red Bank they received the commendation of their com- 
 mander for their gallant conduct. A colored battalion was 
 
 orn-anized for the defence of New Orleans, and Gen. Jack- 
 et 
 son publicly thanked them for their courage and con- 
 duct. When the country has required their blood in days 
 of trial and conflict, they have given it freely, and we have 
 accepted it ; but in times of peace, when their blood is not 
 needed, we spurn and trample them under foot. I have 
 no part in this great wrong to a race. Whenever and 
 wherever we have the power to do it, I would give to all 
 men of every clime and race, of every faith and creed, 
 freedom and equality before the law. My voice and my 
 vote shall ever be given for the equality of all the children 
 of men before the laws of the Commonwealth of Massa- 
 chusetts and the United States." 
 
108 LIFE OF HENBY WILSON". 
 
 His remarks on the death of his friend Francis R. Gour- 
 gas, which occurred on the twelfth day of July, are beau- 
 tiful as they are just : " The death of a member of this con- 
 vention," said he, " could not but be received with mournful 
 sadness by us all. But, sir, he who has fallen was a friend 
 of many years. In 1842, eleven years ao^o, it was my 
 privilege to meet him upon the floor of this House. Then 
 I formed a personal acquaintance with him, — an acquaint- 
 ance which ripened into a personal friendship which has 
 been continued from that day to this. I have ever found 
 
 him a man 
 
 ' Of soul sincere, 
 In action faithful, and in honor clear.' 
 
 " During the last five years, it has been my peculiar for- 
 tune to meet him on many occasions connected with public 
 affairs ; and, sir, I can truly say, that, among all my ac- 
 quaintances and friends, I know of no one among the liv- 
 ing who excelled him in ripe and sound judgment, in 
 discretion and prudence. He was a man of inflexible 
 purpose, of integrity undoubted. He entertained his own 
 opinions with the tenacity of sincere conviction ; and at the 
 same time, in carrying out those opinions, he always 
 exercised the greatest prudence, discretion, and wisdom. 
 It was his fortune, years ago, to enter upon the duties of 
 editor of a leading political journal in the town of Con- 
 cord. In the severe political conflicts of those times, he 
 doubtless had many strong opponents ; but in his own 
 town of Concord he enjoyed the confidence, the respect, 
 and the affection of men of all parties. His townsmen 
 and neighbors loved and honored him ; for they knew his 
 
 worth. 
 
 Having a family of three children, an accomplished, 
 intelligent, and faithful wife, he has, during the past few 
 
SPEECHES. 109 
 
 years, devoted himself, when not engaged in the duties of 
 pubhc life, to the welfare of his family, and to the cultiva- 
 tion of his beautiful garden. His library, for which he had 
 recently fitted up an appropriate room, reflected the refine- 
 ment of his taste and the cultivation of his mind. He 
 was surrounded by every thing to make life agreeable and 
 desirable. But, sir, he has fallen, — fallen in the vigor and 
 maturity of his manhood, — mourned by all his neighbors, 
 and deeply regretted by all his associates and friends in 
 political life. In him I have lost an associate and friend 
 whose name and memory I shall ever cherish with affec- 
 tion until my heart shall cease to beat. 
 
 " A comrade has fallen. We may pause for a moment, 
 and drop a tear of affection to his memory ; but duty com- 
 pels us to close up the ranks, and hurry on in the perform- 
 ance of life's labors." 
 
 His speech on the course pursued by the friends of 
 Harvard College in resi)ect to Prof. Francis Bo wen, 
 who had been set aside from his professorship, as Mr. 
 Wilson stated, for " misquoting, misstating, and garbling 
 historical authorities," is marked with manly force. 
 
 " I do not, sir, mean to charge it " [the restoration of 
 Mr. Bowen], " directly or indirectly, to the corporators 
 of that institution. I charge it upon a certain class of indi- 
 viduals, who seem to think, that they own the institution, 
 president, corporators, overseers, and all, — a class of indi- 
 viduals who assume it to be their mission to keep Harvard 
 College from the influences of the outside barbarians. I 
 v»'ould not, if I could, take Harvard College .from one sect 
 of religionists, and place it under the control of another 
 sect. I would not take it from the control of one })olitical 
 party, and place it under the control of another political 
 party. I would introduce into its government men of all 
 
 10 
 
110 LIFE OF HENItY WILSON. 
 
 religious sects and of all political parties ; men of genius 
 and knowledge ; men devoted to the cause of sound learn- 
 ing and literature ; men of liberal ideas ; men who would 
 bring that institution, founded by our fathers in their days 
 of weakness, abreast of the progressive march of the age, 
 and within the circle of popular sympathy. 
 
 " Mr. President, in 1850, Francis Bowen, editor of 
 ' The North- American Review,' was nominated professoi 
 of history by the corporators of Harvard College. On the 
 sixth day of February, 1851, his nomination came up for 
 confirmation before the board of overseers in the Senate- 
 chamber. A majority of the board of overseers of tliat 
 year believed that he entertained sentiments and opinions 
 whicli unfitted him to be a teacher of history in that uni- 
 versity, or anywhere else in America ; and he was reject- 
 ed, ignominiously rejected, — rejected for sentiments and 
 opinions that disqualified him to be the teacher of American 
 youth ; and rejected, also, for tlie historical ignorance he 
 had shown ; for the perversions, misquotations, and blunders 
 he had made, in defending his obnoxious sentiments and 
 opinions. 
 
 " Sir, I ask the gentleman from Boston (Mr. Lothrop) 
 if the nomination of Francis Bowen to the professorship 
 of history by the corporation of Harvard College, in 1850, 
 was an evidence of the desire of the men who control that 
 institution to keep it along with the wants of the people 
 and the spirit of the age. Are such sentiments and opin- 
 ions as Bowen has expressed for years through ' The North- 
 American Review ' such sentiments and opinions as fit him 
 to teach tlie young men of Massachusetts and of the 
 country ? Are such historical mistakes, blunders, and 
 perversions, as he has exhibited in his Hungarian con- 
 troversy, evidences of qualifications to teach the young 
 
SPEECHES. • 111 
 
 men of Harvard ? Is such dishonesty as he lias shown In 
 garhUng historical authorities an evidence of fitness for 
 the chair of the professorship of history in the oldest 
 university of the country ? Is such a temperas he has 
 manifested in the controversies growing out of his historical 
 discussions an evidence of bis fitness, of his impartiality? 
 His sentiments, opinions, historical ignorance, mistakes, 
 perversions, blunders, plagiarisms, and garbling of authori- 
 ties, were not unknown to the corporators when his name, 
 in January, 1851, was submitted to the board of overseers. 
 AVhen, on the 6th of February, his nomination came up 
 for confirmation, they were there, not to withdraw the 
 nomination in obedience to the almost united voice of the 
 American press and the American people, who loathed and 
 abhorred his sentiments ; but they, and the peculiar 
 friends of the college, were there to sustain the man whom 
 the voice of. the people had pronounced unfit to be the 
 teacher of American youth. And, sir, when the majority 
 of the board of overseers had rejected their nomination, 
 that board of corporators, sustained by the self-constituted 
 friends of the college, seized the first accidental opportunity 
 which turned up to place that man in the chair of the pro- 
 fessorship of moral philosophy. 
 
 " These men knew Bowen's sentiments ; they knew he 
 had been proved ignorant of the subjects he professed to 
 understand ; they knew he had been convicted of dishon- 
 esty In garbling, perverting, and misquoting historical 
 authorities ; they knew that the public, with a voice 
 approaching unanimity, demanded his rejection : yet they 
 pressed his nomination ; and, when that nomination was 
 rejected, they seized the first opportunity to obtain a snap- 
 judgment for him, and placed him in a professor's chair. 
 Does the member from Boston (Mr. Lothrop) think this 
 
112 LIFE OF HENRY "WILSON. 
 
 an evidence of liberality, of a desire to keep along with 
 popular opinion ? 
 
 '- Mr. President, the men who have thus, in defiance 
 of the popular voice, sustained Francis Bo wen, cannot 
 plead ignorance of his sentiments and opinions. For sev- 
 eral years he has edited ' The Nortli-American Review,' — 
 a journal which claims to be the leading literary organ of 
 the country, but which, in comparison with the English 
 reviews, in ability, learning, and scholarship, is like a 
 Cape-Cod fishing-smack compared to a line-of-battle ship. 
 Through the columns of this journal, for years, he has 
 avowed sentiments and opinions which show that what- 
 ever passes through his mind is perverted ; that it is 
 impossible for him to give a truthful and philosophic view 
 of the events of history in the Old World or in the New, 
 — of the events of the past, or of the events of the 
 present day. Narrow, bigoted, intolerant, he, and the class 
 of which he is the head, have converted ' The North- 
 American Review,' — once graced by the genius and learn- 
 ing of Edward Everett, and the ripe scholarship and 
 comprehensive views of Alexander H. Everett; a journal 
 once presided over by that liberal and true-hearted scholar, 
 John G. Palfrey ; by Jared Sparks, who has done more for 
 American history than any other man in the country ; and 
 by other eminent men, who made ' The Review ' worthy 
 of the country and of its rising literature, — he, and the 
 class of which he is the head, have converted that Review 
 into a narrow, intolerant, bio-oted oro;an of that conservatism 
 which shrinks from every thing progressive at home or 
 abroad. Could- the spirit of William GifFord — who battled 
 with such ferocious vigor and ability through ' The London 
 Quarterly Review ' against tlie spirit of progress, against 
 the rights of the many, and for the exclusive privileges of 
 
SPEECHES. 113 
 
 the few — come back to earth, he would be delighted with 
 its tone of fanatical conservatism, if he did not feel utter 
 contempt for its want of power, vigor, learning, and ability. 
 Through the columns of that journal, Francis Bowen has 
 poured out his slanders and libels upon the great leaders 
 of European republicanism. Men illustrious for genius, 
 ability, learning, eloquence, and self-sacrificing patriotism ; 
 men who have perilled all for the cause of republicanism ; 
 men whahave been driven into exile for their devotion to 
 popular rights, — are sneered at, libelled, and slandered by 
 this professor of history, this teacher of moral philosophy, 
 through the pages of his journal. 
 
 " When the re-actlon of 1850 overran Europe ; when 
 the high hopes excited by the popular revolutions of 1848 
 were bui'ied in the graves and dungeons of the martyrs 
 of freedom, quenched in the blood of the people y when 
 the voice of freedom was heard only in the murmurs of 
 the down-trodden masses, or in the sad accents of their 
 exiled leaders; when Hungary went down before the 
 armed intervention of Russia ; when the hopes of Italy 
 fell before the soldiers of Louis Napoleon ; when the hopes 
 of the friends of republicanism in France, Italy, Ger- 
 many, Hungary, and on all the continent, had failed ; when 
 the. prisons were crowded with patriots; when banish- 
 ment was the sad fate of some of the noblest men of the 
 age ; when Kossuth was languishing in his Turkish exile, — ■ 
 Francis Bowen placed ' The North-American Review ' on 
 the side of the oppressor, and falsified and garbled even 
 tlie oppressor's historical authorities, in order to blast the 
 names of the champions of freedom. When Kossuth was 
 in a Turkish prison, Francis Bowen sneeringly called him 
 * a renegade,' ' a fanatic and ultraist,' ' a demagogue and 
 radical of the lowest stamp.' Such were the epithets 
 
 10* 
 
114 LIFE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 applied to one whom so many now here have welcomed 
 to tliis Commonweakh, where he wOn all hearts by his 
 noble qualities of mind and character. Mazzini, Gari- 
 baldi, and the Italian patriots, are denounced as ' conspi- 
 rators ' and ' brigands.' And, sir, this man, this libeller 
 of European republicanism, this narrow, bigoted advocate 
 of a conservatism that shrinks from all change, is the map 
 selected by the corporators of Harvard College to teach 
 the young men of that university history and moral 
 philosophy ! " 
 
 After the close of the convention Mr. Wilson published 
 an address to his constituents, in which he explains with 
 remarkable clearness the nature, and recommends the 
 adoption, of the {)roposed amendments. The State, how- 
 ever, refused to sanction them by its vote ; and the reason 
 for it appears in the concluding part of his remarks : — 
 
 *' Ardent friends of constitutional reform may have felt 
 a degree of disappointment at the action of the conven- 
 tion upon some questions deemed by them of the first 
 importance. These friends of reform should remember 
 that Massachusetts is an old Commonwealth ; that she has 
 a history, a glorious past, full of recollections and memo- 
 ries. They should remember that her people cherish with 
 affectionate regard the works and memories of their 
 glorious ancestry : they will not touch with irreverent 
 hand the works achieved by their fathers. They should 
 remember that the people of Massachusetts instinctively 
 shrink from all untried experiments. They should also 
 remember that the first proposition for a convention to 
 revise the Constitution was lost in 1851, and that in 1852 
 it was carried by immense efforts. Recalling to mind 
 these facts, they cannot fail to realize the profound wisdom 
 
EESULT OF THE CONVENTION. 115 
 
 of that policy by which the convention was guided, — a 
 poHcy winch refused to peril wise and beneficent measures 
 of reform by the adoption of untried and hazardous ex- 
 periments, or radical changes which the people were not 
 prepared to sustain. The men of the majority of the 
 convention, the men whose untiring efforts had carried 
 tjie convention before the people against powerful combi- 
 nations and great interests, the men whose efforts had 
 secured more than a hundred majority of reformers in 
 the convention, clearly saw that the hope, the last and 
 only hope, of the leaders of the opposition, who had denied 
 the constitutionality of the act calling the convention, who 
 had voted against it two years in the legislature, opposed 
 it before the people, and demanded its repeal by the legisla- 
 ture of 1853, depended solely upon the adoption of untried 
 experiments and radical changes. When the chiefs of the 
 opposition saw that the men who had proposed and car- 
 ried the convention, and were a controlling majority in it, 
 were masters of their work, they showed unmistakable 
 signs that the last hope to which they clung had forever 
 vanished, and that the battle was lost. 
 
 '^ The oro-ans of that conservatism which has, to use 
 the words of Rufus Choate, '•a morbid^ unreasonin(/, and 
 regretful passion for the past ^' are now making unwonted 
 efforts to rally, steady, and marshal the reeling columns 
 and oscillating ranks of the opposition." 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 MR. Wilson's endeavor to unite conflicting parties 
 ON the slave-question. — the sentiment of the 
 
 STATE UPON aggressions OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 election to the united-states senate. 
 
 speech in the senate. 
 
 Candidate for Governor. — Defeated. — Not disheartened. — Visit to Washing- 
 ton. — His Grand Idea. — Ready to surrender Pai'ty for Principle. — Con- 
 vention at Worcester, 1854. — Again nominated for Governor, and defeated. 
 — State goes into the American Organization. — His Views. — Southern 
 Domination. — Antislavery Sentiment increasing. — Sumner. — Mr. Wil- 
 son nominated United-States Senator. — His Firmness. — His Election. — 
 United-States Senate-Chamber. — His Fitness for the Place. — His Personal 
 Appearance. — His First Speech. — Letter from Mr. Ashmun. — Extract 
 from Mr. Parker's Sermon, and Letter from the Same. 
 
 ALTHOUGH Mr. Wilson received in September of 
 this year (1853) all but three of the six hundred 
 votes of the Free Democratic Convention as their candi- 
 date for governor, he failed of an election. This was 
 owing mainly to a letter of Mr. Caleb Cushing, denoun- 
 cing, on behalf of the administration, the union of the 
 Democrats with the Reform party, and to the animosity 
 of the Whigs, arising from the active part Mr. Wilson took 
 in support of liberal principles in the Constitutional Con- 
 vention. In spite of this combination, however, over 
 thirty thousand votes were thrown for him ; and neither 
 116 • 
 
ENDEAVORS TO UNITE ON SLAVE-QUESTION. 117 
 
 he liimself, nor his supporters, wavered in their purpose or 
 their hopes. Defeat was, to them, the signal for renewed 
 vigilance and exertion. The Southern Congress -men 
 were pressing their proslavery measures with more and 
 more audacity; while the Northern members, Charles 
 Sumner and his few compeers excepted, anxious for 
 personal power, and intimidated by the constant threat- 
 ening of a dissolution of the Union, presented but a feeble 
 opposition. It was not the time for the friends of the 
 slave, though defeated, to fall back, or to be disheartened. 
 " The principles of civil freedom," said Mr. Wilson, 
 " spring from the New Testament ; and the word of the 
 Lord will stand. Let us, then, go forward." 
 
 In the following year (1854) the attempt to abrogate 
 the Missouri Compromise (carried into effect May 31), 
 and thus extend the blight of slavery over the vast 
 domains of Kansas and Nebraska, threw the country into 
 intense excitement. Mr. Wilson went to Washino-ton in 
 May, and held a consultation with the opponents of the 
 Kansas and Nebraska Bill, then pending, in the hope 
 of uniting men opposed to slavery into one solid organ- 
 ization against its further extension over the States and 
 Territories of the Union. His g-rand idea was free 
 labor for the whole continent of America. For party, 
 or for name or men, he had but little care, provided he 
 could in any way arrest the encroachments of the slave- 
 p()W(ii', and make advancement towards the consummation 
 of his puipose. His thought was one, — it was earnest and 
 sincere, — and that was, "death to human servitude." 
 He would not, unless compelled, resort to force, but was 
 ready to unite with any organization for the overthrow of 
 a system which he deemed indefensible either by the laws 
 of God, of nature, or humanity, opposed to civil progress, 
 
118 LIFE or HENB"E WILSOE". 
 
 barbarous and cruel, and a disbonor and disgrace to tbe 
 American name. He was called an agitator : be bad no 
 time to answer, but moved onward. Finding tbat tbe 
 Free-soil party bad not strengtb to meet tbe exigency, be 
 avowed, in a convention of tins body beld in Boston on 
 tbe last day of tbe montli (May), tbat tbey were ready to 
 abandon every tbing but principle, and unite witb men of 
 any political standard for tbe sake of union in resisting tbe 
 aggressive policy of tbe Soutb. Tbey were wilbng to 
 place any men in power wbo would stand faitbful to tbe 
 cause of freedom and of buman rigbt. " They were 
 ready," be declared, " to go to tbe rear. If a forlorn bope 
 was to be led, tbey would lead it. They would toil : otbers 
 migbt take tbe lead, bold tbe offices, and win the honors. 
 The hour bad come to form one great Republican party, 
 which sliould bereafter guide tbe policy and control the 
 destinies of tbe republic." 
 
 For tbe purpose of uniting political parties on tbe slave- 
 question, a convention was beld in Worcester on tbe tenth 
 day of August, 1854 ; and there, again, Mr. Wilson and 
 bis associates urged witb great force and ability tbe fusion 
 of tbe different organizations into one grand body for tbe 
 effectual resistance of the aggressive policy of tbe Soutb. 
 " The Free-soil party would concede every tbing but prin- 
 ciple : all tbey demanded was the acceptance of tbeir doc- 
 trines of perpetual bostility to tbe slave-power." These 
 overtures were steadily rejected by tbe Wbig element in 
 tbe convention ; yet, witb unabated energy, Mr. Wilson 
 continued to press tbe importance of merging every 
 political (5reed in one. In bis desire to combine tbe 
 antislavery elements in tbe State, be accepted the nomi- 
 nation of the Republicans for governor, and was again 
 defeated at tbe election. For enterino; into the American 
 
ENDEAVOBS TO ITNTTE ON SLAVE-QUESTION. 119 
 
 organization this year, his course was criticised by many : 
 but the people, finding union under the Whig leadership 
 impossible, went into that party ; and he, helieving that it 
 might be so liberalized and" broadened in its principles as 
 to advance the cause of freedom, decided (March, 1854) 
 to cast in his influence with them. Personally he is, and 
 ever was, a friend to the foreigner, and ever bids him 
 welcome to the ri<2;hts and priviIeo;es of this free country : 
 but then the slave-power was triumphaut in the passage of 
 the repeal of the Missouri Compromise ; and he deemed it 
 advisable to array, as far as possible, the powerful Ameri- 
 can organization against the proslavery propagandists. In 
 his expectations he was not disappointed ; for this union 
 resulted in the election of several liberal men as represen- 
 tatives to Congress, and " of the most radical antislavery 
 State leo-islature ever chosen in America^*" 
 
 In a letter dated April 20, 1859, he thus presents the 
 course of policy which he has undeviatingly pursued ; and 
 in it we may discover the reason of his union with the 
 American party : — 
 
 *' For more than twenty years I have believed the anti- 
 slavery cause to be the great cause of our age in America, — 
 a cause which overshadowed all other issues, state or na- 
 tional, foreign or domestic. In my political action I have 
 ever endeavored to make it the paramount question, and 
 to subordinate all minor issues to this one strand and com- 
 })rehensive idea. It seems to me that the friends of a cause 
 so vast, so sacred, should ever strive to save it from being 
 burdened by the pressure of temporary interests and local 
 and comparatively immaterial questions. With the issues 
 involved in the solution of the slavery question in America, 
 with the lights I have to guide my action, I should feel, if 
 I put a burden on the antislavery cause by pressing the 
 
120 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 adoption of measures of minor importance, that I was com- 
 mitting a crime against millions of hapless bondmen, and 
 should deserve their lasting reproaches and the rebuke of 
 all true men who were tolling to dethrone that gigantic 
 power which perverts the National Government to the in- 
 terest of oppression." 
 
 Mr. Wilson, as an acknowledged leader, evinced the 
 skill of a practised engineer in so blendmg and combin- 
 ing political parties as to form a legislature of an anti- 
 slavery character. But it will be remembered that the 
 sentiment of the State as^ainst the at^o-i'essions and" the 
 insolence of the South had for several years been steadily 
 gaining strength. The passage of the Fugitive-slave Act, 
 1850, by which the North became a vast slave-hunting 
 field; the trial and rendition of Anthony Burns in 1854; 
 the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, by which the Mis- 
 souri Compromise was virtually repealed ; the border-ruf- 
 fianism and the reign of terror in Kansas, in which many 
 people from Massachusetts lost their property or their lives, 
 — these with other acts and outrages of the slaveholding 
 party, whose policy was to select for leaders Northern men 
 with Southern principles, awakened more and more the 
 indignation of this State. The pulpit began to speak upon 
 the theme ; the press proclaimed the iniquity ; the work- 
 man in his workshop talked of the Missourian barbarities in 
 Kansas ; and the statesman showed the suicidal policy of 
 the South : so that the anti-servile leojlslature of 1855 was 
 but an exponent of the spirit of the State ; and Mr. Wil- 
 son, as he himself declared, " instead of controlling cir- 
 cumstances, was, by the force of circumstances," led into 
 success. 
 
 While the heart of the Commonwealth was throbbing 
 under the arrogant assumption of the slavocracy, now 
 
SENTIMENT OF THE STATE. 121 
 
 triumpliing in the reclamation of the fugitive, in the atro- 
 cities of the Missourians in Kansas, and the subserviency 
 of a Northern president, Mr. Edward Everett, on account 
 of failing health, sent in his resignation to the Senate. Mr. 
 Sumner was making great efforts to resist Southern influ- 
 ence, and dealing gallant blows in defence of freedom. 
 Now, who shall be sent to stand by him ? Who shall take 
 the place of the accomplished orator, four years of whose 
 term were unexpired, and face with an unfaltering front 
 the issues on the floor of Congress ? Who has the historical 
 knowledge, the legislative skill, the statesmanship, the hon- 
 esty, the unconquerable will, the force, and the backbone, 
 to meet the exigency ? Who can best represent the prin- 
 ciples, the spirit, and the fire of Massachusetts in the Sen- 
 ate-chamber ? The answer of the State was, " Henry 
 Wilson." On the first ballot in the caucus he was nomi- 
 nated, notwithstanding strenuous opposition, by a majority 
 of more than a hundred votes. Pending the election, 
 several gentlemen in favor of nationalizing the American 
 party solicited him to write a letter modifying his avowed 
 opinions on the slavery question, that they might, consist- 
 ently with their political principles, give him their support. 
 They might as easily have moved the granite hills from 
 which he came. He assured them that his opinions on the 
 slavery question were the matured convictions of his life, 
 and that he would not qualify them to win the highest 
 position on earth ; that he had not travelled one mile * nor 
 uttered one word to secure his nomination ; that, if elected, 
 he should carry his opinions with him into the Senate ; and, 
 if the party with which he acted proved recreant to freedom, 
 he would shiver it, if he possessed the power, to atoms. 
 
 * In a letter to Hon. Gilbert Pillsbury, dated Natick, March 10, 1855, he says, 
 " You also know that I never travelled a single mile to secure a vote, or asked a 
 flingle member of the House or Senate to vote for me." 
 11 
 
122 LIFE (>F HENRY WILSON. 
 
 He was elected by two hundred and thirty-four to a 
 hundred and thirty votes in the House, and tiventy-one 
 to nineteen votes in the Senate ; * and took his seat in the 
 Senate of the United States on the tenth day of Febru- 
 ary, 1855. It was a time of wild and stormy debate in 
 Congress on great questions between the friends and 
 foes of slavery. The Southern men were combining with 
 a section of the American party of the North, and pre- 
 senting an unbroken front against the advocates of free- 
 dom. They seemed to menace and to fight, as if the crisis 
 and the doom of their inhuman domination had arrived. 
 The great " Northern hammer," wielded by the stalwart 
 arm of Giddings, Hale, or Sumner, was descending with 
 effect; and the cry of "No more slave States" was peal- 
 ing through the land. 
 
 The halls of Conorress rano; with fierce invective, threats 
 of violence, and oaths of condign punishment. "To me," 
 said Mr. Giddincrs, " it is a severer trial of human nerve 
 than the facing of cannon and bullets on the battle-field." 
 
 Mr. Wilson was now forty-three years old : f he had 
 arrived at the full vigor of manhood ; his health was per- 
 fect ; his principles were fixed, his plans matured ; his 
 heart and hand were ready for the contest ; and, on enter- 
 ing that tumultuous assembly, he took position at once, 
 and stood firm as a rock for truth and liberty. Though 
 he had not the grace or rhetoric of his predecessor, he had 
 the knowledge, the tact, the working-power, the dauntless 
 
 * N. F. Bryant of Barre and J. A. Rockwell were the principal opposing candi- 
 dates in the House, and E. M. Wright in ihe Senate. 
 
 t The following description of Mr. Wilson's personal appearance was written at 
 the time: "The senator froQi Massachusetts is about five feet ten inches high; and 
 weighs, I should think, about a hundred and sixty-five pounds. He has a small 
 hand and foot, and seems built for agility. His complexion is Acrid, his hair brown, 
 and his eye blue. His ample brow indicates ideality and causation; his voice is 
 strong and clear. He is, on the whole, decidedly good-looking; and seems fearlesi 
 and good-aatured in the performance of hia senatorial duties." 
 
SPEECH m THE SENATE. 123 
 
 heroism, which come to the front when mighty interests 
 are at stake. 
 
 In his first speech in the Senate he announced his deter- 
 mination fearlessly to stand with his antislavery friends in 
 the defence of the rights of the colored race. It was upon 
 the bill of Mr. Toucey of Connecticut, " to protect persons 
 executing the Fugitive-slave Act from prosecution by State 
 courts." '' Now, sir,'' said Mr. Wilson, " I assure senators 
 from the South that we of the free States mean to change 
 our policy. I tell you frankly just how we feel, and just 
 what we propose to do. We mean to withdraw from these 
 halls that class of public men who have betrayed us and 
 deceived you, — men who have misrepresented us, and not 
 dealt frankly with you ; and we intend to^ send men into 
 these halls who will truly represent us, and deal justly with 
 you. We mean, sir, to place in the councils of the nation 
 men who, in the words of Jefferson, ' have sworn on the 
 altar of God eternal hostility to every kind of oppression 
 of the mind and body of man.' Yes, sir, we mean to place 
 in the national councils men who cannot be seduced by the 
 blandishments, or deterred by the threats, of power, — men 
 who will fearlessly maintain our principles. I assure sen- 
 ators from the South that the people of the North entertain 
 for them and their people no feelings of hostility ; but they 
 will no longer consent to be misrepresented by their own 
 representatives, nor proscribed for their fidelity to freedom. 
 This determination of the people of the North has mani- 
 fested itself during the past few months in acts not to be 
 misread by the country. The stern rebuke administered 
 to faithless Northern representatives, and the annihilation 
 of old and powerful political organizations, should teach 
 senators that the days of waning power are upon them. 
 This action of the people teaches the lesson, which I hope 
 
124 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 will be heeded, that political combinations can no longer be 
 successfully made to suppress the sentiments of the people. 
 We believe we have the power to abolish slavery in all the 
 Territories of the Union ; that, if slavery exists there, it 
 exists by the permission and sanction of the Federal Gov- 
 ernment, and we are responsible for it. We are in favor 
 of its abolition wherever we are morally or legally respon- 
 sible for its existence. 
 
 " I believe conscientiously, that if slavery should be 
 abolished by the National Government in the District of 
 Columbia and in the Territories, the Fugitive-slave Act 
 repealed, the Federal Government relieved from all con- 
 nection with or responsibility for the existence of slavery, 
 these angry debates banished from the halls of Congress, 
 and slavery left to the people of the States, the men of 
 the South who are opposed to the existence of that insti- 
 tution would get rid of it in their own States at no dis- 
 tant day. I believe, that, if slavery is ever peacefully 
 aboHshed in this country, — and I certainly believe it 
 will be, — it must be abolished in this way. 
 
 " The senator from Indiana (Mr. Pettit) has made a long 
 argument to-night to prove the inferiority of the African 
 race. Well, sir, I have no contest with the senator upon 
 that question ; but I say to the senator from Indiana, that 
 I know men of that race w^ho are quite equal in mental 
 power to either the senator from Indiana or myself, — men 
 who are scarcely inferior, in that respect, to any senators 
 upon this floor. But, sir, suppose the senator from Indiana 
 succeeds in establishing the inferiority of that despised 
 race : is mental inferiority a valid reason for the perpetual 
 oppression of a race ? Is the mental, moral, or physical 
 inferiority of a man a just cause of oppression in republican 
 and Christian America ? Sir, is this democracy ? Is it 
 
SPEECH IN THE SENATE. 125 
 
 Christianity ? Democracy cares for the poor, the lowly, 
 the humble. Democracy demands that the panoply of 
 just and equal laws shall shield and protect the weakest of 
 the sons of men. Sir, these are strange doctrines to hear 
 uttered in the Senate of republican America, whose politi- 
 cal institutions are based upon the fundamental idea that 
 ' all men are created equal.' If the African race is infe- 
 rior, this proud race of ours should educate and elevate it^ 
 and not deny to those who belong to it the rights of our 
 common humanity. 
 
 " The senator from Indiana boasts that his State imposes 
 a fine upon the white man who gives employment to the 
 free black man. I am not surprised at the degradation of 
 the colored people of Indiana, who are compelled to live 
 under such inhuman laws, and oppressed by the public 
 sentiment that enacts and sustains them. I thank God, 
 sir, Massachusetts is not dishonored by such laws ! In 
 Massachusetts we have about seven thousand colored peo- 
 ple. They have the same rights that we have ; they go to 
 our free schools ; they enter all the business and professional 
 relations of life ; they vote in our elections ; and, in intelli- 
 gence and character, are scarcely inferior to the citizens of 
 this proud and peerless race whose superiority we have 
 heard so vauntingly proclaimed to-night by the senators 
 from Tennessee and Indiana." 
 
 Mr. Wilson's uncompromising attitude in the Senate 
 drew forth many expressions of admiration, even from his 
 political opponents at home. The following frank letter 
 from the late Hon. George Ashmun indicates the spirit 
 with which many, who then disagreed with him, regarded 
 his consistent action : — 
 11* 
 
126 LIFE OF HENKY WILSON. 
 
 Springfield, Feb. 28, 1855. 
 
 Dear Sir, — Tliis world lias many seemingly queer 
 changes. It seems queer to see you in the United- States 
 Senate, and perhaps more queer for me to say to you an 
 approving word. But I have a short memory for wrongs 
 which are merely personal to myself, and am quite ready 
 to do justice in spite of some needless abusive things which 
 the newspapers have formerly reported from you. I 
 therefore sit down for a moment to say that your letter to 
 " The Organ," and some brief speeches in the Senate, have 
 given me entire satisfaction. It is not very important for 
 me to say it, nor for you to hear it : but, having myself cut 
 loose from all party alliances for the present and the 
 future, I can afford to do what a party man cannot ; i.e., 
 teU the truth of friend or foe. 
 
 Your demonstrations thus far show two things : 1st, 
 That, when a man of sense finds himself in a national 
 position, he is quite sure to throw off the slough of pro- 
 vincialism ; and, 2d, That, whatever your antecedents may 
 have been, you have the courage to take ground which men 
 of sense at home will sustain you in. 
 
 I mean to see In you nothing else than a Massachusetts 
 senator, and hope to see in your course nothing else than 
 a vindication of Massachusetts honor. You have, by the 
 present confusion of all old parties, a clear field, and am- 
 ple room to conquer all the prejudices which the low and 
 miserable strife of factions at home may have given life 
 to ; and you will find but feeble and fickle support in the 
 mere appliances of party. You cannot conform to the 
 narrow and exacting spirit of a local party ; but you can 
 deserve and command the respect and confidence of those 
 whose eyes look beyond a village or a provincial horizon. 
 
 It is and has been too much the habit of our people to 
 
LETTERS FROM ASHMUN AND PARKER. 127 
 
 abuse their senators and representatives at Washington for 
 any nonconformity to every article in their several and 
 individual creeds. Your predecessors have been shamefully 
 treated in this respect ; and the consequence has been that 
 their hands have been weakened, and Massachusetts has 
 lost nearly all its ancient influence. 
 
 I hold to a different doctrine, and feel that a liberal confi- 
 dence in advance is due alike to ourselves and our servants. 
 Therefore, while I should not by my vote have placed you 
 in the Senate, and while I cannot agree to some of your 
 heresies, I feel moved to send you this expression of my 
 sincere gratification at the ground on which you have placed 
 yourself at the outset of your career. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 Geo. Ashmun. 
 Mr. Wilson. 
 
 In a sermon delivered July 1, 1855, the Rev. Theo- 
 dore Parker thus, in his plain way, refers to Mr. Wilson's 
 advancement and his brave defence of freedom : — 
 
 " When a noble man rises in the State, how much we 
 honor him! when a mean man, how we despise him! 
 Massachusetts, within a few months, has taken a man from 
 a shoemaker's bench, and placed liim in the Senate, in the 
 very chair left vacant by the most scliolarly man, who had 
 fallen from it, and rolled wallowing in the dust at his feet ; 
 and, when the senatorial shoemaker speaks brave words of 
 ri(Tht and justice (and in these times he speaks no other), 
 thli people, not only of Massachusetts, but of all the North, 
 rise up, and say, 'Well done! here are our hands for 
 
 you.' " 
 
 The following letter also shows Mr. Parker's estimation 
 of his senatorial course : — 
 
128 lilFE OF HENKY WILSON. 
 
 Boston, July 7, 185 > 
 My dear Wilson, — I cannot let another day pass by 
 without sending you a line — all I have time for — to thank 
 you for the noble service you have done for the cause of 
 freedoirf. You stand up most manfully and heroically, and 
 do battle for the right. I do not know how to thank you 
 enough. You do nobly at all places, all times. If the rest 
 of your senatorial term be like this part, we shall see 
 times such as we only wished for, but dared not hope as yet. 
 There is a North, a real North, quite visible now. God 
 bless you for your services, and keep you ready for more ! 
 Heartily yours, 
 
 Theodore Parker. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE AMERICAN PARTY. — • SPEECHES. — PHILADELPHIA 
 
 CONVENTION, 1855. CONTEST. SPEECH 
 
 AT SPRINGFIELD. 
 
 Defection of the American Party. — Southern Influence. — Wilson's Resolution. 
 
 — Interesting Letter. — Address in New York. — Antislavery Cause in PeriL 
 
 — Brattleborough, Vt. — Delegate to American National Council, June, 
 1855. — Stand for Freedom. — Protest. — Defiant Speech. — Letter from 
 Amasa Walker. — Remarks of " The Tribune." — Activity in forming a 
 New Party. — Speech at Springfield. — Twenty-one- Years Amendment. — 
 Opposes it. — Friendly to Foreigners. — Letter to Francis Gillette. — Cath- 
 olic Spirit. 
 
 THE favorable attitude toward slavery wliich the 
 National American party assumed in the council 
 assembled at Cincinnati in November, 1854, led Mr. Wil- 
 son to fear that the Southern element might soon obtain 
 entire control of it; and his experience at Washington 
 during the ensuing spring served to convince him that his 
 fear was far from being groundless. 
 
 Indeed, strong efforts were made by leading men 
 immediately on his arrival as senator in tliat city to secure 
 his aid and influence in the organization of a great Amer- 
 ican party which should ignore the slavery issue, and 
 sanction the assumptions of the South. His honest heart 
 rebelled against such recreancy to principle ; and he unhes- 
 itatingly avowed his determination to maintain the stand 
 
 129 
 
130 LIFE OF HENKY WILSON. 
 
 he had ah'eady made for freedom during his entire political 
 career. 
 
 Speaking of this Southern influence in a speech before 
 the State Council at Springfield, Mass., he said, — 
 
 " On my arrival at Washington, I saw at a glance that 
 the politicians of the South, men who had deserted their 
 Northern associates upon the Nebraska issue, were resolved 
 to impose upon the American party, by the aid of dough- 
 faces from New York and Pennsylvania, as the test of 
 nationality, fidelity to the slave-power. Flattering words 
 from veteran statesmen were poured into my ears ; flat- 
 tering appeals were made to me to aid in the work of 
 nationalizing the party whose victories in the South were 
 to be as brilliant as they had been in the North. But I 
 resolved that upon my soul the sin and shame of silence 
 or submission should never rest. I returned home, and 
 determined to baffle, if I could, the meditated treason to 
 freedom and to the North." 
 
 Again, in a noble reply to a letter from a friend, he 
 most frankly speaks of his course at Washington, and 
 prophetically announces the character of the coming ses- 
 sion of Congress : — 
 
 Natick, July 23, 1855. 
 
 Dear Sir, — On my return from a trip to the West, I 
 found your very kind note ; and I need not tell you that I 
 read it with grateful emotions. Your approbation — the 
 approbation of men like yourself, whose lives are devoted 
 to the rights of human nature — cannot but be dear to me. 
 I only regret that I have been able to perform so little for 
 the advancement of the cause our hearts love and our 
 judgments approve ; that I have not ability to do all that 
 my heart prompts. I hope, however, my dear sir, to be 
 able to do my duty in every position I may be in, if not 
 
THE AMERICAN PARTY. 131 
 
 with the ability the occasion demands, at least with an 
 honest heart that shrinks not from any danger. 
 
 Sometimes I read over the letter you were so kind as 
 to send to me when I first took my seat in the Senate. You 
 dealt frankly with me in that letter, and I thank you for it ; 
 and I hope to be the better and wiser for it. I shall 
 endeavor while in the Senate to act up to my convictions 
 of duty, — to do what I feel to be right. If I can so labor 
 as to advance the cause of universal and impartial liberty 
 in the country, I shall be content, whether my action meets 
 the approbation of the politicians or not. I never have 
 sacrificed, and J never will sacrifice, that cause to secure 
 the iri^ere^sts of any party or body of men on earth. The 
 •a^i^lause of political friends is grateful to the feelings of 
 any man in public life, especially if he is bitterly assailed 
 by political enemies ; but the approbation of our own con- 
 sciences is far dearer to us. 
 
 Last year, after the attempt was made to repeal the 
 prohibition of slavery in Kansas and Nebraska, the people 
 of the North began to move ; and, from March to Novem- 
 ber, the friends of freedom won a series of victories. The 
 moment the elections were over in the North, I saw that 
 an effort was to be made to assist the antislavery move- 
 ment by the American movement. When I arrived at 
 Washington, I was courted and flattered by the politicians ; 
 even told that I might look to any position if I would aid 
 in forming a national party. I saw that men who had 
 been elected to Congress by the friends of freedom were 
 ready to go into such a movement. I was alarmed. I 
 saw that one of three things must happen, — that the anti- 
 slavery men must ignore their principles to make a na- 
 tional party ; or they must fight for the supremacy of their 
 principles, and impose them upon the organization, which 
 
132 LIFE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 would driv^e off the Southern men ; or they must break up 
 the party. I came home with the resolution to carry the 
 convention if I could ; to have it take a moderate but 
 positive antislavery position : if not, I determined that it 
 should be broken at the June council, so that the friends 
 of freedom might have time to rally the people. Since my 
 return in March, I have travelled more than nine thou- 
 sand miles, written hundreds of letters, and done all I 
 could to bring about what has taken place. But the work 
 is hardly begun. Our antislavery friends have a mighty 
 conflict on hand for the next sixteen months. It will de- 
 mand unwavering resolution, dauntless courage, and cease- 
 less labor, joined with kindness, moderation, and patience. 
 The next Congress will be the most violent one in our 
 history : it will try our firmness. I hope our friends will 
 meet the issues bravely ; and, if violence and bloodshed 
 come, let us not falter, but do our duty, even if we fall on 
 the floors of Congress. At Philadelphia, for eight days, I 
 met the armed delegates of the black power without shrink- 
 ing ; and I hope to do so at the next session of Congress if 
 it is necessary to do so. We must let the South under- 
 stand that threats of dissolving the Union, of civil war, and 
 personal violence, will not deter us from doing our whole 
 duty. Yours truly,' 
 
 H. Wilson. 
 
 In an address before a large audience In the Metropoli- 
 tan Theatre, New York, delivered on the 8th of May, 
 1855, and repeated in many towns and cities in New 
 England, he traced the growth of the antislavery senti- 
 ment in America for the last twenty years, and warned 
 his hearers that any party ignoring this rising power 
 would be overthrown by an indignant people. 
 
SPEECHES. 133 
 
 *' He owed it to truth," he said, "to speak what he 
 knew, — that the antislavery cause was in extreme peril ; 
 that a demand was made upon us of the North to ignore 
 the slavery-question, to keep quiet, and to go into power in 
 1856. If there were men in the free States who hoped 
 to triumph in 1856 by ignoring the slavery-issues now 
 forced upon the nation by the slave propagandists, he 
 would say to them that the antislavery men cannot be 
 reduced or driven into the organization of a party that 
 ignores the question of slavery in Christian and republi- 
 can America. Let such men read and ponder the history 
 of the republic. Let them contrast antislavery in 1835 
 and antislavery in 1855. Those periods are the grand 
 epochs in the antislavery movement ; and the contrast 
 between them cannot fail to giv^e us some faint conception 
 of the mighty changes that twenty years of antislavery 
 agitation have wrought in America. Antislavery in 1835 
 was in the nadir of its weakness : antislavery in 1855 is 
 in the zenith of its power. Then a few unknown, name- 
 less men were its apostles and leaders : now the most pro- 
 found and accomplished intellects of America are its chiefs 
 and champions. Then a few proscribed and humble 
 followers rallied around its banner : now it has laid its 
 grasp upon the conscience of the people, and hundreds of 
 thoiisands rally under the folds of its flag. Then not a 
 single statesman in all America accepted its doctrines or 
 defended its measures : now it has a decisive majority in 
 the national House of Representatives, and is rapidly 
 changing the complexion of the American Senate. Then 
 every State in the Union was arrayed against it; now it 
 controls fifteen sovereign States by more than three hun- 
 dred thousand popular majority. Then the public press 
 covered it with ridicule and contempt : now the most 
 
134 LIFE OF HENRY WILSOK. 
 
 powerful journals in America are its instruments. Then 
 the benevolent, religious, and literary institutions of the 
 land repulsed its advances, rebuked its doctrines, and per- 
 secuted its advocates : now it shapes, moulds, and fashions 
 them at its pleasure, compelling the most powerful benevo- 
 lent organizations of the Western World, upon whose mis- 
 sion-stations the sun never sets, to execute its decrees, and 
 the oldest literary institution in America to cast from its 
 bosom a professor who had surrendered a man to the 
 slave-hunters. Then the political organizations trampled 
 disdainfully upon it : now it looks down with the pride of 
 conscious power upon the wrecked political fragments that 
 float at its feet. Tlien it was impotent and powerless : 
 now it holds every political organization in the hollow of 
 its right hand. Then the public voice sneered at and 
 defied it: now it is the master of America, and has only 
 to be true to itself to grasp the helm and guide the ship 
 of state hereafter in her course. 
 
 " This brief contrast," continued he, " would show the 
 men who hoj^ed to win power by ignoring the transcendent 
 issue of our age in America how impotent would be the 
 efforts of any class of men to withdraw the mighty ques- 
 tions involved in the existence and expansion of slavery on 
 this continent from the consideration of the people. 
 
 '' . . . Now, gentlemen, I say to you frankly, I am the 
 last man to object to going into power (laughter), and 
 especially to going into power over the present dynasty 
 that is fastened upon the country. But I am the last man 
 that will consent to go into power by ignoring or sacrifi- 
 cing the slavery question. If my voice could be heard by 
 the whole country to-night, by the antislavery men of 
 the country to-night of all parties, I would say to them, 
 Resolve it, write it over your door-posts, engrave it on the 
 
SPEECHES. 135 
 
 lids of your Bibles, proclaim it at the rising of the sun 
 and the going-down of the same, and in the broad light 
 of noon, that any party in America, be that party Whig, 
 Democratic, or American, that lifts its finger to arrest the 
 antislavery movement, to repress the antislavery senti- 
 ment, or proscribe the antislavery men, it surely shall 
 begin to die (loud applause) ; it would deserve to die ; it 
 will die ; and, by the blessing of God, I shall do what little 
 I can to make it die." 
 
 In an address on the " Position and Duty of the Ameri- 
 can Party," delivered at Brattleborough, Vt., on the 
 16th of the same month, he still points out in stirring 
 words the only course by which it can escape destruc- 
 tion. 
 
 " He had," he said, *' no sympathy with that narrow, 
 bigoted, intolerant spirit that would make war upon a race 
 of men because they happen to be born in other lands, — a 
 dastardly spirit that would repel from our shores the men 
 who sought homes here under our free institutions. Such 
 a spirit was anti-American, devilish : he loathed it from 
 the bottom of his heart. He knew there were men who 
 called themselves Americans who would abolish the natu- 
 ralization laws altogether, who would forever deny the 
 right of suffrage to men for the fault of being born out of 
 America. He had no sympathy with that class of men 
 whose opinions were at war with the spirit of American 
 institutions and the laws of humanity. Such anti-Ameri- 
 can sentiments had brought dishonor upon the American 
 movement ; and, unless they received the rebuke of the 
 American party, they would defeat the real reforms con- 
 templated, and cover the movement with dishonor. 
 
 " He regretted to say that there were some members 
 of the American party in favor of excluding by constitu* 
 
136 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 tional amendments all adopted citizens from office. Kc 
 deeply deplored the action of the legislature of Massa- 
 chusetts in proposing an amendment to the Constitution 
 embodying this doctrine. He hoped the gentlemen who 
 had given their votes for this proposition — a proposition 
 that would not permit Prof. Agassiz, one of the first living 
 scientific men of the age, to fill, under State appointment, 
 an office even of a scientific character — would see their 
 error, and retreat at once from a position which justice, 
 reason, and religion condemned. What little influence he 
 possessed would be given with a hearty good-will to defeat 
 the proposition. He had no sympathy whatever with the 
 spirit that would send out of the country the sons and 
 daughters of misfortune, who, by the storms of life, were 
 thrown upon us for support. Whenever the authorities 
 of the Old World sent their poor here to be relieved 
 themselves of their support, he would promptly redress 
 the imposition ; such an abuse ought to be immediately 
 corrected : but when a poor man lands upon our soil, 
 and by the misfortunes of life is thrown upon tlie public 
 cliarity for support, he would as soon send a poor fleeing 
 bondman back to the land 
 
 ' Where the cant of democracy dwells on the lips 
 Of the forgers of fetters, and wielders of whips/ 
 
 as to banish such a man from the land he has sought. 
 There is a kind of native Americanism far more alien to 
 America than are the adopted sons of the Old World it 
 would degrade into servile races. True genuine Ameri- 
 canism rebukes bigotry, intolerance, and proscription ; 
 reforms abuses ; adopts a wise, humane, and Christian 
 policy towards all men, — a policy consistent with the idea 
 that all men are created equal. 
 
SPEECHES. 137 
 
 " If the American party is to achieve any thing for 
 good, it must adopt a wise and humane policy consistent 
 with our democratic ideas, — a policy which will reform 
 existing abuses, and guard against future ones ; which shall 
 combine in one harmonious organization moderate and 
 patriotic men who love freedom and hate oppression. 
 
 " Upon the grand and overshadowing question of 
 American slavery the American party must take its posi- 
 tion. If it wishes n speedy death and a dishonored grave, 
 let it adopt the policy of neutrality upon that question, or 
 the policy of ignoring tliat question. If that party wishes 
 to live, and to impress its policy upon the nation, it must 
 repudiate the sectional policy of slavery, and stand boldly 
 upon the broad and national basis of freedom. It must ac- 
 cept the position that ' freedom is national, and slavery is sec- 
 tional.' It must stand upon the national idea embodied in 
 the Declaration of Independence, that 'all men are created 
 equal, and have an inalienable right to life, liberty, and 
 the pursuit of happiness.' It must accept these words as 
 embracino- tlie sreat central national idea of America, 
 fidelity to which is national in New England and in South 
 Carolina. It must recognize the doctrine that the Con- 
 stitution of the United States was made ' to secure the 
 blessing of liberty ; ' that Congress has no right to make 
 a slave or allow slavery to exist outside of the slave States ; 
 and that the Federal Government must be relieved from 
 all connection with and responsibility for slavery. 
 
 " In their own o-ood time the Americans of Massa- 
 chusetts have spoken for themselves. They have placed 
 that old Commonwealth face to face to the slave oligarchy 
 and its allies. Upon their banner they have written in 
 letters of livino- licrht the words, ' No exclusion from the 
 public schools on account of race or color ; ' ' No slave 
 
 12* 
 
138 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 commissioners on the judicial bench ; ' ' No slave States 
 to be carved out of Kansas and Nebraska ; ' ' The repeal 
 of the unconstitutional Fugitive-slave Act of 1850 ; ' ' An 
 Act to protect Personal Liberty.' The men who have 
 inscribed these glowing words upon their banner will go 
 into the conflicts of the future like the Zouaves at Inker- 
 mann, ' witli the light of battle on their faces ; ' and, if 
 defeat comes, they will fall with their ' backs to the field, 
 and their feet to the foe.' " 
 
 When Mr. Wilson saw" the national American party 
 hopelessly committed to slavery, he abandoned it. In 
 the American National Council, assembled in Philadelphia 
 in June, 1855, he manfully held his ground, and nobly 
 repelled the assaults upon freedom and the State he repre- 
 sented. " When Massachusetts," said he in reply to an 
 attack, " pleads to any arraignment before the nation, she 
 will demand that her accusers are competent to draw the 
 bill." 
 
 An attempt was made, for sentiments he had expressed, 
 to deprive him of a seat in the council ; but the delegation 
 from his State stood firmly by him, and he was admitted. In 
 the exciting debates of that council, which sat for many days, 
 he came to the front as the unterrified champion of the 
 friends of freedom, and defiantly repelled the charges made 
 against them. To a delegate from Virginia, who, approach- 
 ing with a pistol, denounced him as the leader of the 
 antislavery party, he replied, that his threats had no terrors 
 for freemen ; that he was then and there ready to meet 
 argument with argument, scorn with scorn, and, if need 
 be, blow with blow ; for God had given him an arm ready 
 and able to protect his head. It was time that cham- 
 pions of slavery in the South should realize the fact, that 
 the past was theirs, the future ours." 
 
SPEECHES. 139 
 
 Here was tlie fire of the dauntless MIrabeau in the 
 French National Assembly when he said, " Go tell your 
 king we are here by the will of the people ; and nothing 
 but the point of the bayonet shall expel us." 
 
 His speech on the 12th of June is characterized by 
 masculine vigor. In regard to the proslavery platform 
 he defiantly declared, " The adoption of this platform 
 commits the American party unconditionally to the policy 
 of slavery, to the iron dominion of the black power. I 
 tell you, sir, I tell this convention, that we cannot stand 
 upon this platform in a single free State in the North. 
 The people of the North will repudiate it, spurn it, spit 
 upon it. For myself, sir, I here and now tell you to your 
 faces, that I will trample with disdain on your platform. 
 I will not support it. I will support no man that stands 
 upon it. Adopt that platform, and you carry against you 
 every thing that is pure and holy, every thing that has 
 the elements of permanency in it, the noblest pulsations of 
 the human heart, the holiest convictions of the human 
 soul, the profoundest ideas of the human intellect, and 
 the attributes of Almighty God. Your party will be 
 withered and consumed by the blasting breath of the 
 people's wrath. There is an old Spanish proverb which 
 says that ' the feet of the avenging deities are shod with 
 wool.' Softly and silently these avenging deities are ad- 
 vancing upon you. You will find that ' the mills of God 
 grind slowly ; ' but they grind to powder. 
 
 " When I united with the American or<yanIzation in 
 March, 1854, in its hour of weakness, I told the men with 
 whom I acted that my antislavery opinions were the 
 matured convictions of years, and that I would not mod- 
 ify or qualify my opinions, or suppress my sentiments, for 
 any consideration on earth. From that hour to this, in 
 
140 LIFE OF HEl!aiY WILSON. 
 
 public and in private, I have freely uttered my antislavery 
 sentiments, and labored to promote the antislavery cause ; 
 and I tell you now that I will continue to do so. You 
 shall not proscribe antislavery principles, measures, or men, 
 without receiving from me the most determined and unre- 
 lenting hostility. It is a painful thing to differ from our 
 associates and friends; but, when duty — a stern sense of 
 duty — demands it, I shall do so. Reject this majority plat- 
 form, adopt the proposition to restore freedom to Kansas 
 and Nebraska, and to protect the actual settlers from 
 violence and outrage, simplify your rules, make an open 
 organization, banish all bigotry and intolerance from your 
 ranks, place your movement in harmony with the humane, 
 progressive spirit of the age, and you may win and retain 
 power, and elevate and improve the political character 
 of the country; adopt this majority platform, commit 
 the American movement to the slave perpetualists and the 
 slave propagandists, and you will go down before the burn- 
 ing indignation and withering scorn of American free- 
 men." These words had the flaming spirit of James Otis 
 and of Patrick Henry. They were the death-knell of the 
 American party. On the adoption of the platform, Mr. 
 Wilson and his associates uttered their protest against the 
 proceedings of the council, and formally withdrew from the 
 American organization. 
 
 One of Mr. Wilson's early political opponents thus ad- 
 dresses him on the manly stand he took in the conven- 
 tion : — * 
 
 N. Brookfield, June 22, 1858. 
 
 Dear Sir, — I have just read your speech at Philadel- 
 phia. You had a splendid opportunity to annihilate the 
 Northern dough-faces and hurl defiance at the Soiithern 
 slave propagandists, and you availed yourself of it fully and 
 
MR. walker's letter. 141 
 
 handsomely. I thank you for what you have done so 
 bravely and well. You met the crisis nobly, and have 
 placed yourself at the head of the political antislavery 
 movement : that is a settled matter. I am glad you had 
 health and strength and courage to do the work which so 
 many Northern men have shrunk from in times past. 
 
 You have nothing to do now but to go ahead. TJie 
 North looks to you. A great responsibility rests on your 
 shoulders ; but I have the utmost confidence that you will 
 meet it, and can assure you that every true man of all 
 parties in the free States will rally around the standard of 
 freedom. 
 
 I have no advice to give : you need none. My only 
 object is to thank you for what you have done, and assure 
 you of my confidence in the future. 
 
 Ever and truly yours, 
 
 A MAS A Walker. 
 Hon. Henry Wilson, U. S. senator, Natick, Mass. 
 
 Referring to Mr. Wilson's bold and independent course, 
 " The New-York Tribune " truly said, '' The anteced- 
 ents of Mr. Wilson naturally made him the particular 
 object of hostility to the slave-drivers in the convention ; 
 and one of the earliest displays after the body was organ- 
 ized was a grossly personal attack upon him by a delegate 
 from Virorinia. But the assailants had now met with an 
 antagonist who was not to be cowed or silenced ; and the 
 response they received was of a character to induce them 
 not to repeat their experiment. We have the unanimous 
 testimony of many Northern members to the signal gal- 
 lantry and effect of Mr. Wilson's bearing, and to the bold, 
 virile, and telling eloquence of his speeches. While all 
 have done so well in bringing about results so gratifying, it 
 
142 LIFE OF HENBY WILSON. 
 
 may be invidious to particularize ; but a few names among 
 the Northern members, who were devoted from the start 
 to the work of creating a unity and a strength of Nortli- 
 ern backbone, should justly be exposed to the public 
 appreciation and honor that they deserve. First stands 
 Henry Wilson of Massachusetts, pre-eminent as the leader 
 in the whole movement. He was handsomely sustained 
 by all his associates ; and the numerous insidious efforts 
 of the enemy to separate them from him only attached 
 them the more closely to his side. He has the highest 
 honor in this contest, exhibited the greatest political ability, 
 and broke down many strong prejudices against him, both 
 among Massachusetts men who were witnesses to his con- 
 duct, and among the delegates of the other States North 
 and South. No man went into that council with more 
 elements of distrust and opposition combined against him : 
 no one goes out of it with such an enviable fame, or such 
 an aggregation to his honor. He is worthy of Massachu- 
 setts, and worthy to lead the new movement of the people 
 of that State which the result here so fitly inaugurates." 
 
 Returning home from this council, Mr. Wilson spent 
 the summer and autumn in strenuous efforts to effect a 
 fusion of the parties into one grand organization, which 
 might bear the standard of progress and freedom, and con- 
 trol the councils of the nation. He travelled thousands 
 of miles, visited thirteen different States, conversed with 
 many leading men, and addressed immense audiences in 
 towns and cities East and West. 
 
 On the 7th of August he made a strong speech in the 
 State Council of the American party, at Springfield, " On 
 the Necessity of the Fusion of Parties," in which he 
 urged the members to unite with other organizations in 
 forming a great Republican party, with strength to meet 
 the important issues of the day. 
 
SPEECH AT SPRINGFIELD. 143 
 
 " The gathering hosts of Northern freemen of every 
 party," said he, " are banding together to resist the 
 aggressive policy of the black power. Freedom, patriot- 
 ism, and humanity demand the union of the freemen of 
 the republic for the sake of liberty now perilled. Reli- 
 gion sanctions and blesses it. How and where stands 
 Massachusetts? Shall she range herself in the line, 
 front to the black power, with her sister States? or ehall 
 she maintain the fatal position of isolation ? Here and 
 now, we, the chosen representatives of tlie American 
 party, of this Commonwealth, are to meet that issue, to 
 solve that problem. 
 
 " The American party of Massachusetts, dashing other 
 organizations into powerless fragments, had grasped the 
 rehis of power, placed an unbroken delegation in Con- 
 gress pledged to the policy of freedom, ranged this ancient 
 Commonwealth front to front with the slave-power, and 
 written with the iron pen of history upon her statutes 
 declarations of principles, and pledges of acts, hostile to 
 the aggressive policy of the slaveholding power. When 
 the black power of the imperious South, aided by the 
 servile power of the faltering North, imposed upon the 
 national American organization its principles, measures, 
 and policy, the representatives of the American party of 
 this Commonwealth spurned the unhallowed decrees, and 
 turned their backs forever upon that prostituted organi- 
 zation ; and their action received the .approving sanction 
 of this State Council by a vote approaching unanimity. 
 The American party, as a national organization, is broken, 
 and shivered to atoms. By its own act the American 
 party of Massachusetts has severed itself from all con- 
 nection with that product of Southern domination and 
 Northern submission. 
 
144 life' OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 " The American party of Massachusetts has, during its 
 brief existence, uttered true words and performed noblo 
 deeds for freedom. The past, at least, is secure. What- 
 ever may have been its errors of omission or commission, 
 the slave and the slave's friends will never reproach it. 
 Holding as it does the reins of power, it has now a glo- 
 rious opportunity to give to the country the magnanimous 
 example of a great and dominant party in the full pos- 
 session of consummated power, freely yielding up that 
 power for the holy cause of freedom to the equal posses- 
 sion of other parties who are willing to co-operate with it 
 upon a common platform. Here and now, we, its repre- 
 sentatives, are to show by our acts whether we can rise 
 above the demands of partisan policy to the full compre- 
 hension of the condition of public affairs, to the full 
 realization of the obligations which fidelity to freedom 
 now imposes upon us. 
 
 " If the representatives of the American party reject 
 this proposition for fusion, I shall go home once more 
 with a sad heart. But I shall not go home to sulk in 
 my tent ; to rail and fret at the folly of men : I shall 
 go home, sir, with a resolved spirit and iron will, deter- 
 mined to hope on and to struggle on until I see the lovers 
 of universal and impartial freedom banded together in 
 one organization, moved by one impulse. For seven 
 years I have labored to break up old organizations and 
 to make new combinations, all tending to the organiza- 
 tion of that great party of the future which is to relieve 
 the government from the iron dominion of the black 
 power. 
 
 " Sir, gentlemen may defeat this proposed fusion here 
 to-day ; but they cannot control the action of the people. 
 A fusion movement will be made, under the lead of gen- 
 
THE AMERICAN PAETY. 145 
 
 tlemen of the Whig, Democratic, and Free- soil parties, of 
 talents and character. The movement will be in har- 
 mony with the people's movements in the North. Sir, 
 snch a movement will put a majority of the men who 
 voted with you last autumn in a false position before the 
 country, or drive them from your ranks. I cannot speak 
 for others : but I tell you frankly that I cannot be placed 
 in a false position ; I cannot, even for one moment, consent 
 to stand arrayed against the hosts of freedom now prepar- 
 ing for the contest of 1856. I tell you frankly, that, when- 
 ever I see a formation in position to strike effective blows 
 for freedom, I shall be with it in the conflict ; wlienever I 
 see an organization in position antagonistic to freedom, 
 my arm shall aid in smiting it down." 
 
 On the proposed amendment of the Constitution, re- 
 quiring foreigners to reside here twenty-one years before 
 being allowed to vote, he said, — 
 
 " Sir, the American movement is not based upon big- 
 otry, intolerance, or proscription. If there is any thing 
 of bigotry, intolerance, or proscription, in the American 
 movement, if there is any disposition to oppress or 
 degrade the Briton, the Scot, the Celt, the German, or 
 any one of another clime or race, or to deny to them the 
 fullest protection of just and equal laws, it is time such 
 criminal fanaticism was sternly rebuked by the intelligent 
 patriotism of the state and country. I deeply deplore, 
 sir, live adoption of the twenty-one-years amendment. 
 It will weaken the American movement at home and in 
 other States, especially in the West, and tend to defeat 
 any modification whatever of the naturalization laws. I 
 warn gentlemen who desire the correction of the evils 
 growing out of the abuses of the naturalization laws 
 against the adoption of extreme opinions. I tell you, 
 
 13 
 
146 LIFE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 gentlemen of the council, that this intense nativism kills ; 
 yes, sir, it kills, and is killing, us ; and, unless it is 
 speedily abandoned, will defeat all the needed reforms 
 the movement was inaugurated to secure, and overwhelm 
 us all in dishonor. Every attempt, by whomsoever made, 
 to interpolate with the American movement any thing in- 
 consistent with the theory of our democratic institutions^ 
 any thing inconsistent with the idea that ' all men are 
 created equal,' any thing contrary to the command of 
 God's holy Word, that ' the stranger that dwelleth with 
 you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou 
 shalt love him as thyself,' is doing that which will 
 baffle the wise policy which strives to reform existing 
 evils and to guard against future abuses." 
 
 With such strong, liberal, and statesman-like views, 
 ever holding the question of slavery paramount, he 
 labored to enlighten public sentiment, and prepare it for 
 the day of universal freedom. Towards the foreigner he 
 entertained fraternal feelings ; and his only aim in going 
 into the American party was to turn its power to the 
 extinction of a system which was coming rapidly to under- 
 mine the liberties of the Northern people. 
 
 " I loathe," said he in a speech at Indianapolis in July, 
 1855, " the idea of opposition to foreigners as foreigners ; " 
 and in a letter on the two-years amendment, written to 
 Mr. Gillette in 1859, he says, — 
 
 " I have ever declared that I would support no measure, 
 even to reform these abuses, which would in the slightest 
 degrade any man, or class of men ; that I would give to 
 every human being equal rights, — the same equality I 
 would claim for myself or my own son. 
 
 " No power on earth could force me to vote for any 
 proposition which fair-minded and intelligent men felt to 
 
liETTER mOM MB. WILSON. 147 
 
 be unequal or personally degrading. Never have I sup- 
 ported any measure inconsistent with the equal rights of 
 man ; but, if I had ever unintentionally made such a mis- 
 take, I have nothing of that pride of consistency in regard 
 to mere measures which would induce me to continue in 
 the wrong because I had been wrong once. Better be 
 right in the lights of to-day than be consistent with the 
 errors of yesterday." 
 
 The following characteristic letter clearly states his posi- 
 tion on this question : — 
 
 Natick, Mass., July 29, 1872. 
 
 J. O. Culver, Esq., State Journal, Madison, Wisconsin. 
 
 My dear Sir^ — The mail has just brought me your 
 note, and extracts chpped from newspapers, purporting to 
 be speeches made by me. In answer to your queries, I 
 Lave to say, that they, and all thoughts and words of like 
 chai-acter which have appeared in the papers, are pure in- 
 ventions, wicked forgeries, and absolute falsehoods. Never 
 have I thought, spoken, or written those words, nor 
 any thing resembhng those words, nor any thing that 
 tlie most malignant sophistry could torture into those 
 words. I could not have done so ; for they are abhor- 
 rent to every conviction of my judgment, every throb 
 of my heart, every aspiration of my soul. Born in 
 extreme poverty, having endured the hard lot the sons of 
 poverty are too otteu lorced to endure, I came to man- 
 hood passionately devoted to the creed of human equality. 
 All my life I have cherished as a bright hope, and avowed 
 as a living faith, the doctrine, that all men, without distinc- 
 tion of color, race, or nationality, should have complete 
 liberty and exact equality, — all the rights I asked for my- 
 self. My thoughts, my words, my pen, my votes, have 
 been consecrated for more than thirty-six years to human 
 
148 LIFE OF HEKRY WILSOK. 
 
 riglits. In tlie Constitutional Convention of Massachu- 
 setts, in eight years' service in her legislature, in mora 
 than seventeen years' service in the Senate of the United 
 States, in thirteen hundred public addresses, in the press, 
 in speeches and writings that would fill many columns and 
 make thousands of pages, I have iterated and reiterated 
 the doctrines of equal rights for all conditions of men. Is 
 it not, my dear sir, passing strange, then, that partisanship 
 should so blind men to a sense of truth, justice, and fair 
 play, that they will forge and print abhorrent sentiments 
 insulting to God and man, and charge them upon one 
 whose life has been given to the cause of equal rights at 
 home, and whose profound sympathies were ever given to 
 the friends of liberty of all races and nationalities abroad ? 
 Yours truly, 
 
 Henry Wilson. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 AFFAIRS IN KANSAS. ASSAULT OX MR. SUMNER. RE- 
 PLY TO MR. BUTLER, AND RESULT. NO SUP- 
 PLIES FOR SUBJUGATING KANSAS. 
 
 Troubles in Kansas. — Slave and Free Labor Antagonistic. — Reply to Mr. 
 Toucey. — Mr. Douglas. — Assault on Mr. Sumner. — Aided by Mr. Wilson. 
 
 — Scene in the Senate-Chamber. — Challenge of P. S. Brooks. — Reply. — 
 How received. — Letter of Mr. Harte. — Reply to xMr. Butler of South Caro- 
 lina. — Letter from Whittier. — Labors in the Senate, — Views on Slaveiy. 
 
 — Speech July 9. — Musket-Ball. — Speech against sending Military Sup- 
 plies to subjugate Freemen in Kansas. 
 
 THE collisions between the free people and the slave- 
 holders in Kansas, consequent on the passage of the 
 Kansas-Nebraska Act in Mav, 1854, were becomincr more 
 and more violent and sanguinary. On that broad and dis- 
 tant field the defenders of slavery were committing the 
 most barbarous atrocities upon the settlers from the North, 
 and substantiating practically the truth, that free and slave 
 labor cannot harmoniously co-exist in the same State. 
 Antagonist in their nature, the success of one is the de- 
 struction of the other. The outrages of the border ruffians, 
 who were murdering unoffending men and carrying the 
 polls by force for slavery, roused the Northern people to 
 great excitement ; and they demanded speedy and decisive 
 action on the part of the national executive. Instead of 
 extending protection to the injured party, the adminis- 
 
 13* 149 
 
150 LEFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 tration fanned tlie fire of t^ie aojorressors. Mr. Wilson 
 now came grandly up to the occasion. 
 
 A message from the president to the Senate, enclosing 
 an iniquitous report of the secretary of state on the exist- 
 ing state of affairs in Kansas, drew forth from him in the 
 Senate, Feb. 18 and 19, 1856, one of the boldest defences 
 of the outraged people, one of the sternest rebukes of 
 border violence, which had yet been made. *' Mr. Presi- 
 dent," said he, '' the senator from Connecticut (Mr. 
 Toucey) closes his speech with the assumption that there 
 may be those in the country who do not wish the presi- 
 dent to preserve order ; and he is pleased to say, that, if 
 the executive does so, their ' vocation ' Avill be gone. 
 Let me say to the senator from Connecticut, that the 
 ' vocation' of those to whom he alludes is not fawning, 
 abject servility to power. No, sir : they do not 
 
 * Bend to power, and lap its milk.* 
 
 " If the senator from Connecticut alludes to those who 
 have opposed the nncalled-rfor and wanton repeal of the 
 Missouri prohibition ; if he alludes to those who condemn 
 the policy of the administration in Kansas ; if he intends 
 to charge the intelligent, patriotic men who sympathize 
 with the wronged and outraged people of Kansas, bravely 
 struggling to preserve their firesides and altars, their prop- 
 erty and lives, against the armed aggressions of lawless 
 invasions from Missouri, with a disposition to violate or 
 resist the laws of the country, or to cherish sectional ani- 
 mosity and strife, — he makes a charge unsupported by even 
 the shadow of truth ; and here and now, to his face, and 
 before the Senate and the country, I pronounce the charge 
 utterly unfounded. If he intends to insinuate a charge of 
 that character against me, I promptly meet it ; and before 
 the Senate I brand it as it deserves. 
 
AFFAIES IN KAKSAS. 151 
 
 *' The senator from Connecticut, with an air of confident 
 assurance, calls for facts. Evidently possessed with the 
 vast knowledge embodied in these documents sent here by 
 the executive, the senator assumes the air and tone of one 
 entitled to speak by authority ; and he invites us to deal in 
 facts. Sir, he shall have facts ; for it so happens that the 
 friends of those who are struggling in Kansas to protect 
 their lives, their property, their all, against unauthorized 
 power and lawless violence, know something of the facts 
 which have transpired there. All knowledge, sir, of affairs 
 in Kansas, is not in the keeping of the executive and his 
 senator from Connecticut. Tlie tree of knowledge, sir, 
 was not planted in the executive garden ; and I some- 
 times think, if it had been, its forbidden fruit would have 
 been more secure than were the fruits of that tree plucked 
 by our first parents. 
 
 " The senator from Connecticut commends us to the 
 consideration of this correspondence ; and the senator 
 from California (Mr. Weller) asks us to print ton thou- 
 sand extra copies of it to be scattered broadcast over the 
 land. I now say — and I can establish what I say before 
 any committee of investigation, so that no man can 
 question the declaration — that this correspondence 
 utterly and totally misstates and misrepresents the state 
 of affairs in Kansas. These documents, sir, are made up 
 of telegraphic despatches, of letters, of statements, of 
 orders, written by Gov. Shannon and others, on the rumors 
 of the hour, in a large territory, at a time when the 
 people were deeply agitated by all sorts of reports that flew 
 over the land in rapid succession. We are called upon now 
 to publish these rumors, — rumors that turned out to be 
 exaggerated or false, — rumors recognized and admitted 
 to be false by the governor of the Territory in his con- 
 
152 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 versation and in his treaty with the citizens of Lawrence. 
 Yes, sir, the Senate is now called upon to print and send 
 over the country, as official documents, these stnpendous 
 misrepresentations of facts. They will carry a gigantic 
 falsehood to the American people. He who reads only 
 these documents has no accurate knowledge, no true 
 conception, of the actual condition of affairs in Kansas at 
 the time covered by them. 
 
 " The year 1854 opened upon a vast territory lying 
 in tlie heart of the continent, extending from thirty-six 
 degrees thirty minutes on the south to the possessions 
 of the Britisli queen on the north ; from the borders of 
 Missiouri, Iowa, and Minnesota, on the east, to the sum- 
 mits of the Rocky Mountains on the west. Over that 
 territory, larger than the empire of Napoleon, when, at 
 the head of the grand army, he gazed upon that ' ocean 
 of flame' that wrapped the minarets, turrets, and towers 
 of the ancient capital of the czars, the republic, on the 
 6th of March, 1820, engraved in letters of living light 
 the sacred words, ' Slavery shall be and is forever pro- 
 hibited.' Slavery, with hungry gaze, glared upon the 
 forest and prairie, hill and mountain, lake and river, of 
 that magnificent region it was forever forbidden to enter. 
 Fixing its glittering eye upon that paradise, consecrated 
 by the nation to -freedom and free institutions for all, hal- 
 lowed forever to free men and free labor, the slave-power, 
 in the person of the late president of the Senate, the soul 
 of these border aggressions, demanded that this heritage 
 of free labor should be opened to the withering foot- 
 steps of the bondman. Sir, with hot haste you grasped 
 tliis domain of freedom, and flung it to the slave propa- 
 ganda. Your administration, in answer to the stern 
 protest of the free laboring-men of the country, whose 
 
AFFAIES IN KANSAS. 153 
 
 heritage it was, mocked them with the delusive promise 
 that the actual settlers were to shape, mould, and fashion 
 the institutions of Kansas and Nebraska, Two years 
 have passed, and your ' squatter sovereignty' is proved a 
 delusion and a cheat. Laws more inhuman than the 
 code of Draco, forced upon the actual settlers of Kansas 
 by armed invading hosts from Missouri, are now to bo 
 enforced by United-States dragoons. The Constitution, 
 framed by a convention of the people, is spurned from 
 the halls of Congress ; the convention that formed it is 
 pronounced ' spurious' by the senator from Connecticut ; 
 and the people who ratified it are branded as traitors by 
 the administration and its subalterns. 
 
 " By the theory of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Mr. Pres- 
 ident, the actual settlors were to decide the transcendent 
 question, whetlier freedom should bless, or slavery curse, 
 the virgin soil of those vast Territories lying in the central 
 regions of the continent. The sons of tlie free States, 
 of Puritan New England, of the great central States, and 
 of tlic North-west, — men who call no man master, and 
 who wish to make no man a slave, — were invited to plant 
 upon the soil of Kansas those institutions that have 
 blessed, beautified, and adorned the homes of tlieir 
 childhood. The sons of the South — from regions once 
 teeming with the rich fruits of fields now blasted, 
 blighted, and withered by the sweat of untutored and 
 unrewarded toil — were invited to plant, if they could, 
 the institutions that had dishonored labor in their own 
 native States upon the unbroken soil of Kansas. Sir, 
 the people of the North and the people of the South had 
 a legal and moral right to go there when they pleased, 
 how tliey pleased, and with whom they pleased ; in com- 
 panies, or in single families ; under their own direction, 
 
154 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 or under the auspices of emigraut-aid societies in the 
 North or the South. 
 
 ^' Sir, the honorable senator from Missouri (Mr. 
 Geyer), in his remarks the other day upon the resolu- 
 tion of inquiry submitted by me, made the extraordinary 
 declaration, that the ' disorders ' which he admits have 
 existed on the borders ' are to be attributed to an extraor* 
 dinary organization, called an 'Emigrant-aid Society,' — 
 the first attempt in the history of this country to take 
 possession of an organized Territory, and exclude from 
 it the inhabitants of other portions of the Union.' I am 
 amazed that the senator from Missouri should make 
 such a declaration on tlie floor of the Senate. When 
 and how did the Emigrant-aid Society ' attempt to take 
 possession of an organized Territory, and to exclude 
 from it the inhabitants of other portions of the Union ' ? 
 Will the senator tell us when that ' attempt ' was made ? 
 Will he tell us where it was made ? Will he tell us 
 how it was made ? I challenge the senator to give 
 us one single fact to sustain the declaration he has so 
 unjustly made against men of stainless purity. The 
 senator avows that men from his State ' have passed over 
 the borders ; ' but they have done so, he tells us, ' to 
 protect the ballot-box from the attempt of armed colo- 
 nists to control the elections there.' When and how were 
 the ballot-boxes assailed by ' armed colonists ' from the 
 North ? I call upon the senator from Missonri, I chal- 
 lenge any senator, to furnish one fact, one single authen- 
 ticated fact, to sustain this assumption. 
 
 " Sir, the Emigrant-aid Society of New England has 
 violated no law, human or divine. Standing here 
 before the Senate and the country, I challenge the sen- 
 ator from Missouri, or any other senator, to furnish to 
 
AFFAIRS IN KANSAS. 155 
 
 the Senate one fact, one authenticated fact, to show that 
 the Emigrant-aid Society has performed any illegal act, 
 any act inconsistent with the obligations of patriotism, 
 morality, or religion. The President of the United 
 States has arraigned before the country these emigrant- 
 aid societies ; the organs of the administration have 
 assailed them ; and now the senator from Missouri here, 
 on the floor of the Senate, renews the assault. Sir, 
 I defy any supporter of the administration, any apolo- 
 gist of Atchison, Stringfellow, and their followers, to 
 give us one act of the directors of tlie New-England 
 Emigrant-aid Society hostile to law, order, and peace. I 
 know most of these gentlemen thus wantonly assailed ; 
 and I know them to be law-abiding, order -loving, 
 conservative men. I defy the senator from Missouri, 
 the senator from Connecticut, or the chief magistrate 
 at the other end of the avenue, to show, here or else- 
 where, that the Emigrant-aid Society ever violated a law 
 of this country, or performed an act which could not 
 receive the sanction of the laws of God and man. They 
 have sent no paupers or criminals to Kansas : they 
 have simply organized a system by which persons wish- 
 ing to go to Kansas may go in small companies ; and by 
 going together, and starting at a particular time and 
 place, may have the cost of their fare reduced about 
 thirty-three per cent. This company has built a hotel 
 in Kansas ; has sent some saw-mills there ; has aided in 
 establishing schools and churches. That is the extent of 
 offence, — no more, no less. 
 
 " Mr. President, on the 29th of July, 1854, within 
 sixty days after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, 
 a meeting was called at Weston, Mo., by the ' Platte- 
 county Self- defensive Association.' Resolutions were 
 
156 LIFE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 adopted, declaring that the association, whenever called 
 upon by any of the citizens of Kansas Territory, will 
 hold itself in readiness to assist in removing any and all 
 emigrants who go there under the auspices of the North- 
 ern emigration-aid societies. 
 
 " Before tlie feet of the first emigrants who went there 
 under the auspices of the Emigrant-aid Society pressed 
 the soil of Kansas, this ' Platte-county Self-defensive Asso- 
 ciation,' under the guidance of B. F. Stringfellow, pro- 
 claimed to the world its readiness to cross into Kansas and 
 remove actual settlers from their new homes. Under the 
 lead of this lawless association other meetings were held 
 in Western Missouri, and resolutions adopted in favor of 
 carrying slavery into Kansas, and in denunciation of 
 emio^rants from the free States who should 2:0 there under 
 the auspices of the emigrant-aid societies. 
 
 '' On the 9th of August, more than two months after the 
 Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed, a few persons went into 
 that Territory from the East. They went there under the 
 auspices of that society referred to the other day so unjustly 
 by the senator from Missouri. Early in the autumn of 
 1854 the Missouri guardians of Kansas crossed over into 
 the Territory, and, by force of arms, endeavored to drive 
 from their homes the few persons who had begun the little 
 settlement at Lawrence. But these Platte-county-Associ- 
 ation heroes found a little band of about thirty New- 
 England men, under the lead of Charles Robinson, — the 
 Miles Standish of Kansas, — ready to meet the issue with 
 powder and ball ; and they retreated to their homes, pre- 
 ferring to live to fight another day. 
 
 " The senator from Connecticut referred with an air of 
 triumph to the election which took place on the twenty-ninth 
 day of November, 1854. On that day Mr. Whitfield was 
 
AFFAIKS IN KANSAS. 157 
 
 elected — and triumphantly elected — a delegate from that 
 Territory. No one ever questioned the fact that he had 
 a majority of the legal voteis of the Territory on that day ; 
 but, in addition to that fact, men flimiliar with the Terri 
 tory declare that he received the votes of more than a 
 thousand inhabitants of Missouri who crossed the hne and 
 voted on that occasion. 
 
 " I liokl in my hand, sir, a paper drawn up and signed by 
 Gen. Pomeroy, — -a gentleman of intelligence, of personal 
 honor, whose veracity no man who knows him can ever 
 question. From this memorial, addressed to Congress, I 
 quote the following words concerning the election of the 
 29th of November, 1854 : — 
 
 '-'• ' The first ballot-box that was opened upon our virgin 
 soil was closed to us by overpowering numbers and impend- 
 ing force. So bold and reckless were our invaders, that they 
 cared not to conceal their attack. They came upon us, 
 not in the guise of voters to steal away our franchise, but 
 boldly and openly, to snatch it with a strong hand. They 
 came directly from their own homes, and in compact and 
 organized bands, with arms in hand, aud provisions for the 
 expedition, marched to our polls; and, when their work was 
 done, returned whence they came. It is unnecessary to 
 enter into the details^ it is enough to say, that in three 
 districts, in which by the most irrefragable evidence there 
 were not a hundred and fifty voters, — most of w^hom 
 refused to participate in the mockery of the elective 
 franchise, — these invaders polled over a thousand votes.' 
 
 '' An examination of details will reveal the extent of this 
 fraud. In the seventh election district of Kansas, six 
 hundred and four votes were cast on the 29th of Novem- 
 ber, 1854 : of these Whitfield received five hundred and 
 ninety-seven, — all but seven. Three months afterwards 
 
 14 
 
158 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 the census was taken, and there were only fifty-three 
 voters in the seveuth district. Who went there to vote ? 
 Organized, armed, disciplined men from the State of 
 Missouri ; and all the votes but seven in that district 
 were given for Mr. Whitfield. Does the senator from 
 Missouri call that ' protecting the ballot-box against 
 armed colonists ' ? In the eleventh district, on the same 
 day, two hundred and thirty-seven votes were given. In 
 February following, when the census was taken, there 
 were but twenty-four voters in that district, which, three 
 months before, had given Wliitfield two hundred and 
 thirty-seven votes, — all but tliree of the whole number 
 cast; and, within thirty days after the census was taken, 
 three hundred and twenty-eight votes were given in tliis 
 district having only twenty-four voters. Yet the senator 
 from Missouri gravely informs the Senate that Missouri- 
 ans only crossed over the borders ' to protect the ballot- 
 boxes against armed colonists ' sent there under the 
 auspices of emigrant-aid societies. That these Missou- 
 rians crossed the line and voted on that day for Whitfield, 
 no one doubted ; but he had a majorit}^ of the voters of 
 tlie Territory, and for that reason his election was not 
 contested. That is the answer to the senator from Con- 
 necticut, who has built his argument on that fact. 
 
 " The character of this invasion will appear in an ex- 
 tract from a speech made by one of these modern heroes 
 (Gen. Stringfellow), who, according to the senator 
 from Missouri, crosses over into Kansas ' to protect the 
 ballot-boxes from the armed colonists ' from the free 
 States. This speech was made just before the elec 
 tion of Nov. 29, 1854, to which the senator from 
 Connecticut has referred with so much confidence, at St. 
 Joseph; Mo. In that speech, Gen. Stringfellow said, — 
 
AFFAIRS IN KANSAS. 159 
 
 " * I tell you to mark every scoundrel among you that 
 is the least tainted with free-soilism or abolitionism, and 
 extermina^a him. Neither give nor take quarter from the 
 damned rascal. I propose to mark them in this house, 
 and on the present occasion, so tliat you may crush them 
 out,'' 
 
 " ' Crush them out ' is the language. You will remem- 
 ber, sir, that the Attorney-General of the United States 
 — a man who spent the dew of his youth and the vigor 
 of his early manhood in assailing democratic statesmen, 
 and who is. now giving the mature years of his life to 
 undermining and perverting democratic principles — sent 
 an edict to Massachusetts, pending the election in 1853, 
 that the president ' was up to the occasion,' and intended 
 ' to crush out the element of abolitionism.' Gen. 
 Stringfellow, like the president, is ' up to the occasion.' 
 He has caught up the word of the attorney-general. 
 He is going to mark tlie free-soilers, he says, that you 
 may ' crasli tliem out.' I think his success, sir, will be 
 about equal to the success which followed the efforts of 
 the president and Gen. Gushing in ' crushing out the 
 element of abolitionism.' Tlie elections of the last two 
 years have shown who is the crusher and who is the 
 crushed. Gen. Stringfellow continues : — 
 
 " ' To those who have qualms of conscience as to violat- 
 ing laws, state or national, the time has come wlien such 
 impositions must be disregarded, as your rights and 
 property are in danger; and I advise you^ one and all, to 
 enter ever?/ election district in Kansas, in defiance of Reeder 
 and his vile myrmidons, and vote at the point of the bowie- 
 knife and revolver. Neither give nor take quarter, as our 
 cause demands it. It is enough that the slaveholding 
 interest wills it, from wliich there is no appeal. What 
 
160 LIFE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 right has Gov. Reeder to rule Missourians in Kansas? 
 His proclamation and prescribed oath must be repudiated. 
 It is your interest to do' so. Mind that slavery is estab- 
 lished where it is not prohibited.' 
 
 " ' Qualms of conscience as to violating laws, state or 
 national.' No, sir, that will never do ! ' Such impo- 
 sitions must be disregarded.' ' Every election district 
 in Kansas must be entered by one and all,' and they 
 must ' vote at the point of the bowie-knife and revolver.' 
 Is that the way these border gentlemen pass over the line, 
 according to the senator from Missouri, ' to protect the 
 ballot-boxes against the armed colonists ' ? 
 
 " ' Qualms of conscience about violating laws, state or 
 national,' were given up ; and they ' entered into every 
 election district in Kansas, in spite of the proclamation 
 of Reeder,' and made the election of Whitfield doubly' 
 sure. The Senate will remember that the senator from 
 Missouri assures us that Missourians only crossed the 
 borders to ' protect the ballot-boxes against the armed 
 colonists' from the East. Sir, I commend to the 
 especial consideration of the senator from Missouri the 
 advice of Gen. Stringfellow, to give up all ' qualms of 
 conscience as to violating laws, state or national,' and to 
 ' enter every election district in Kansas.' Is that the 
 way Missourians ' protect the ballot-boxes over the bor- 
 ders '? 
 
 " I proceed now with the facts. The census of Kan- 
 sas was taken, by the direction of Gov. Reeder, in 
 February, 1855 ; and then there were eight thousand five 
 hundred inhabitants, and two thousand eight hundred 
 and seventy-seven legal voters, in the Territory. At the 
 ensuing election, — on the 30th of March, 1855, — four 
 thousand voters from the State of Missouri passed into 
 
AFFAIRS m KANSAS. 161 
 
 that Territorj and gave their votes. Lawrence, accord- 
 ing to the census, was entitled to less than five hundred 
 votes. But, sir, nine hundred and fifty were cast ; 
 although nearly one-half the legal voters of Lawrence, if 
 we are to believe the testimony of some of their most 
 respectable citizens, refused to vote on that day. More 
 than eight hundred Missourians, armed to the teeth, led 
 by Col. Young, a lawyer of Western Missouri, went to 
 Lawrence, the home of the New-Eugland men so often 
 assailed and so m'uch misrepresented in the documents 
 before us. Col. Young made a speech declaring that 
 he would vote, or would shed his blood. He took the 
 precaution, however, to swear in his vote. He had more 
 regard for his life than he had for his conscience. 
 
 *' ' In the Lawrence district, speeches were made to them 
 by leading residents of Missouri, in which it was said that 
 they would carry their purpose, if need be, at the point of 
 the bayonet and bowie-knife ; and one voter was fired 
 at as he was driven from the election-crround. Finding'- 
 they had a greater force than was necessary for that j)oll, 
 some two hundred men were drafted from the number, and 
 sent off, under their proper ofiicers, to another district ; 
 afier which thuy still polled from this camp over seven 
 hundred votes.' 
 
 '' Gen. Pomeroy says that in the fourth and seventh dis- 
 tricts, along the Sante Fe road, — 
 
 *' ' The invaders came too-ether in one armed and ori2:an- 
 ized body, with trains of fifty wagons, besides horsemen, 
 and, the night before election, pitched their camp in the 
 vicinity of the polls ; and having appointed their own judges 
 in place of those who, from intimidation or otherwise, failed 
 to attend, they voted without any proof of residence. In 
 these two election-districts, where the census shows one 
 
162 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 hundred voters, there were polled three hundred and four- 
 teen votes.' 
 
 " In the Leavenworth district, hundreds of men break- 
 fasted in Missouri, voted in Kansas, and returned on the 
 same day to Missouri. While the votino- was ^oino- on, one 
 of their leaders made a speech, in which he told the Platte- 
 couiity boys that they must stand aside, and let the Clay- 
 county boys vote first, because they had the farthest to go 
 in returning to their homes ; and the Platte-county boys of 
 Missouri stood aside, and allowed the Clay-county boys 
 of Missouri to vote first and go home. 
 
 " This memorial declares that 
 
 " ' Hundreds of men came together in the sixteenth dis- 
 trict, crossing the river from Missouri the day before elec- 
 tion, and encamping together, armed and provisioned, made 
 the fiercest threats ao-ainst the lives of the iudo-es, and durino* 
 the night called several times at the house of one of them 
 for the purpose of intimidating him, declaring in the pres- 
 ence of his wife that a rope had been prepared to hang 
 him : and although we are not prepared to say that these 
 threats would have been carried out, yet they served to 
 produce his resignation, and give these hivaders, in the sub- 
 stitution, control of the polls ; and, on the morning of the 
 election, a steamboat brought from the town of Weston, 
 Mo., to Leavenworth, an accession to their number of sev- 
 eral bundled more, who returned in the same boat after 
 depositing their votes. There were over nine hundred and 
 fifty votes polled, besides from a hundred to a hundred and 
 fifty actual residents who were deterred or discouraged 
 from voting ; while the census returns show but three hun- 
 di-ed and eighty-five votes in the district a month before. Not 
 less than six hundred votes were here given by these non- 
 residents of the Territory, who voted without being sworn 
 
AFFAIES IN KANSAS. 163 
 
 as to their qualifications, and, immediately after the elec- 
 tion, returned to Missouri ; some of them being the incum- 
 bents of important public offices there.' 
 
 *' I will now, sir, quote what Gen. Pomeroy says of the 
 election in the eIo;hteentli district ; and I ask the attention 
 of the senator from Missouri to this statement : — 
 
 '"In the eighteenth election district, where the popu- 
 lation was sparse, and no great amount of foreign votes 
 was needed to overpower it, a detachment from Missouri, 
 from sixty to a hundred, passed in with a train of wagons, 
 arms, and ammunition, making their camp the night 
 before the election near Moorestown, the place of the polls, 
 without even a pretext of residence, and returning imme- 
 diately to Missouri after their work was done ; their leader 
 and captain being a distinguished citizen of Missouri, but 
 late the presiding-officer of the Senate of the United States, 
 and who had bowie-knife and revolver belted around him, 
 api^arently ready to shed the blood of any man who refused 
 to be enslaved. All these facts we are prepared to establish, 
 if necessary, by proof that would be considered competent 
 in a court of justice.' 
 
 " Gen. Pomeroy expresses the opinion 
 
 " 'That not less than three thousand votes were mven 
 by these armed invaders, who came organized in bands, with 
 officers and arms, and tents and provisions, and munitions 
 of war, as tliough they were marching upon a foreign foe 
 instead of their own unoffending fellow-citizens. Upon 
 the principal road leading into our Territory, and passing 
 several important polls, they numbered not less than twelve 
 hundred men ; and one camp alone contained not less than 
 six hundred. They arrived at their several destinations 
 the night before the election, and having j^itched their 
 camps, and placed their sentries, waited lor the coming 
 
164 LITE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 day. Baggage-wagons were there, with arms and Amin-u- 
 nition enough for a protracted fight, and among them two 
 brass field-pieces ready charged. They came with drums 
 beating, and flags flying ; and their leaders were of the most 
 prominent and conspicuous men of their State.' 
 
 " How very considerate it was, Mr. President, in tliese 
 * prominent and conspicuous men,' with their baggage-wag- 
 ons and cannons and rifles and drums and flying flags, to 
 lead the men- of Western Missouri over into the forests and- 
 prairies of Kansas to protect the ballot-boxes from those 
 dangerous men, the armed colonists of New England ! 
 
 " Sir, the gentleman from Connecticut wishes to know 
 why the seats of the legislators elected by the Missourians 
 were not contested. I will tell him. Mr. Phillips, a young 
 lawyer of Leavenworth, not himself a candidate, took meas- 
 ures to have the seat of the member from the sixteenth 
 district contested ; and what was the result ? He was 
 taken over into Missouri and lynched, because he dared, 
 simply on patriotic grounds, to dispute the riglit of the 
 member to his seat, into which he had been voted by these 
 armed men from Missouri. 
 
 " Sir, the whole power and patronage of this govern- 
 ment, from the time when the Kansas and Nebraska Act 
 went into operation to this hour, has been given to crush 
 out the freemen of Kansas, and to plant the institution of 
 slavery upon that virgin soil. 
 
 " The officers of the United States in the Territory of 
 Kansas — the judges, the district-attorney, the secretary, 
 and the marshal — are all slave-State men ; and tlieir influ- 
 ence has been given in favor of makino- Kansas a slave 
 State. Gov. Reeder, who undertook to protect the people 
 in their legal rights, was stricken down under the pretence 
 that he had been speculating in the public lands. Of twen- 
 
AFFAIRS IN KANSAS. 165 
 
 ty-one officers of the Federal Government in tlie Terri- 
 tory, nineteen are slave-State men, and one is a free-State 
 man ; but already lie is marked by Atchison, and another 
 designated for his place. Within the last ten days, men 
 from Kansas have called upontlie executive to remonstrate 
 against this striking-down of a public officer simply for the 
 crime of being in favor of free institutions. 
 
 " When I yielded the floor yesterday for an adjourn- 
 ment, I was speaking of the election of the 30th of March, 
 1855. The result of that election was, that the nineteen 
 districts in Kansas were carried by the proslavery party, 
 and that more than six thousand- votes were given in that 
 Territory, where, thirty days before, there were less than 
 three thousand voters. 
 
 '' The question w^as put yesterday by the honorable sen- 
 ator from Connecticut, why the governor gave certificates 
 of election on that occasion. I will simply say, that Gov. 
 Reeder, in the cases brought before him, did refuse to de- 
 liver the certificates ; that he made the refusal in the pres- 
 ence of the men wlio claimed them with bowie-knives and 
 revolvers in their belts, and amidst threats of his life ; and, 
 while he read the statement, he held a cocked revolver in 
 his hand for necessary self-defence. There were a few 
 devoted friends around him, expecting to see him murdered 
 on that occasion. In the cases not at the time contested 
 in the cases where at the time no one dared to raise a ques- 
 tion, in the cases where at the time a contest was neglected, 
 the certificates were given. A new election was ordered 
 in those cases where the certificates were set aside ; and, in 
 pursuance thereof, the people elected representatives and 
 councillors, and commissions were issued to them. They 
 met on the second day of July at Pawnee ; and both 
 branches of the legislature, without examining the facts, 
 
166 LIFE OF HENRY "WILSON. 
 
 and positively refusing to do so, voted out the men chosen 
 by the people of Kansas, and voted in the men originally 
 chosen by the Missouri invaders. This legislature thus 
 chosen moved the place of meeting from Pawnee to Shaw- 
 nee Mission against the consent of the governor, who re- 
 fused afterwards to recognize it as a legislature. They 
 went on, and passed the laws which are now brought he e. 
 Some of those laws are as inhuman as any code ever pre- 
 sented for the government of a conquered people. 
 
 " When the legislature assembled, when it turned out 
 the men who had been legally chosen, when it brought in 
 the men imposed on the Territory by armed invaders from 
 a neio-hborins: State, when it removed to the Shawnee 
 Mission, when it was repudiated by your governor sent 
 there by this administration, then it was that the freemen 
 of Kansas assembled in their primary meetings, and de- 
 clared against the legality of this legislature and its acts. 
 A convention of the people was called. That convention 
 assembled, and framed a constitution ; the people ratified it ; 
 and that constitution is now submitted for the action of 
 the Concrress of the United States. The senator from Con- 
 necticut denounces it as a ' spurious convention.' Sir, this 
 convention was the act of the people of Kansas in their 
 sovereign primary capacity. They accepted the doctrine 
 of squatter sovereignty. They accepted the doctrines laid 
 down by Madison, by Marshall, by Story, by Judge Wilson, 
 by Buchanan and Wright, and the chiefs of the Democratic 
 party, in the days when the Democratic party paid some 
 little regard to the principles of popular government. 
 
 " Sir, the senator from Connecticut denounced this 
 act of the people as a ' spurious convention.' In 1836, 
 the freemen of Michigan, disregarding the action of their 
 legislature, came together in their primary capacity, 
 
AFFAIRS IN BLAI^SAS. 167 
 
 framed a constitution, sent that constitution to Congress, 
 and that constitution was carried through the Senate by 
 the votes of Benton, Buchanan, Wright, and the chiefs of 
 the Democratic party ; but that was in the days of Andrew 
 Jackson, when it was supposed the people of this coun- 
 try had retained the riglits guaranteed to them by the 
 fundamental laws of tlie country. Sir, Andrew Jackson 
 did not denounce the movement as an insurrectionary 
 one, although they refused to receive the officer whom 
 lie sent to them. The Congress of that day did not 
 denounce those men as traitors to the country, as the 
 men of Kansas are denounced in the documents before 
 us, ten thousand extra copies of wliich we are asked to 
 publish. No, sir ; no ! This is the first time in the 
 history of this country when the people have assembled 
 in their primary capacity, and exercised their right — 
 their inborn, natural right — to change their government 
 at their pleasure, and have, for such an act, been held up 
 as traitors by tlie g<jvornment of the country. 
 
 " Sir, the Democracy in both branches of Congress 
 sustained the doctrines maintained by the suffrage party 
 in Rliode Island ; and it so happens, that, when Gov. 
 Dorr took refuge in the old Granite State, among the 
 first who recognized the doctrines which he maintained 
 was the man who is chief magistrate of the United 
 States, and who now denounces the freemen of Kansas, 
 and holds up to the country, as violators of the law, men 
 who are, on the 4th of March next, to be arrested if they 
 dare assemble in their legislative capacity and choose 
 two United-States senators to come and implore us to 
 receive Kansas into this sisterhood of States, and thus 
 save this fair Territory from bloodshed and ruin. Yes, 
 sir, this man, who now characterizes as ' revolutionary ' 
 
168 LIFE OF HENRY WrLSON". 
 
 what has ah-eady been done by the people of Kansas, 
 and warns them that further action ' will become treason- 
 able insurrection,' welcomed Gov. Dorr to the capital of 
 New Hampshire on the 14th of December, 1842, in a 
 series of resolutions, declaring, that, ' when the people 
 act in their original sovereign capacity, they are not 
 bound to conform to forms not instituted by themselves ;' 
 that ' the day of free government would never dawn upon 
 the eyes of oppressed millions if the friends of liberty 
 should wait for leave from tyrants to abolish tyranny.' 
 
 " Sir, in pursuing this history, I have followed the 
 order of time ; and I am now brought to speak of another 
 invasion from Missouri, — an invasion which took place 
 on the 1st of October last, when Gen. Whitfield was 
 elected. I state here — on the authority of gentlemen, 
 some half-dozen of whom are within the sound of my 
 voice, and who will prove it under oath before your 
 committee if you will permit them to do so — that hun- 
 dreds of men went over from Missouri, and voted in that 
 election. 
 
 " Tlie invasion — the fourth invasion, of which we 
 have heard so much in these papers from the executive 
 department — grew out of the cold-blooded murder of a 
 man by the name of Dow, at Hickory Point, by one 
 Coleman. Mr. Branson and his neighbors took the mor- 
 tal remains of the murdered Dow from the highway, 
 where he had lain for hours, and consigned them to liis 
 last resting-place. The murderer has never been tried 
 nor arrested. Branson, with whom Dow had lived, was 
 arrested on a peace-warrant by Sheriff Jones, and 
 rescued by some fifteen of his neighbors and friends. 
 Then it was that the stories were manufactured, that a 
 thousand men were organized at Lawrence, armed with 
 
ATFAIES IN KANSAS. 169 
 
 Sharpe's rifles and cannon, ready to resist the authori- 
 ties. There were not then more than three hundred 
 Sharpe's rifles in Lawrence, and not one cannon. There 
 was no armed soldiery in Lawrence when these charges 
 were made : there were armed men tliere ; hut they were 
 not embodied. Of the men who aided in the rescue of 
 Branson, — an act whicli might take place in any State, 
 at any time, witliout any governor thinking of calling- 
 out the armed militia, much less the forces of the 
 United States, — only two ever lived in Lawrence ; and 
 they were not in Lawrence at that time. The reports 
 mentioned in these despatches about burning buildings 
 have turned out to be exaggerated and misrepresented. 
 
 "On the strength of these reports, however. Gov. 
 Shannon sent his letter of the 28th of November to the 
 president ; and on the next day he issued that fatal proc- 
 lamation, which fomented, at the time, the invasion from 
 Missouri ; and tliis was followed by his telegraphic 
 despatch of the 1st of December. Here let me say, that 
 in this letter, proclamation, and despatch, Gov. Shannon 
 shows that he is not a man who compreliends his position 
 or his duties. He was excited and frightened by the 
 reports and rumors he relied upon. During this period, 
 when he ordered out the militia and telegraphed the 
 president, despatches, founded on rumors, were sent into 
 Missouri : and the result was, that from one thousand to 
 two thousand armed men came from Missouri into Kan- 
 sas ; and they were incorporated into that ' little force 
 of less than four hundred men,' spoken of in these 
 despatches from Kansas, which rallied to the call of the 
 officers of the militia. Sir, if the people of Kansas had 
 been with the governor, if they had sympathized with 
 him in his ill-starred movements, if they had believed 
 
 15 
 
170 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 that law and order were in danger, would they not 
 have rallied to his support ? On that occasion, the 
 arsenal of the United States in Western Missouri was 
 hroken open ; arms were stolen, and carried into Kansas. 
 Nothing is said about this robbery in these reports. Mis- 
 sourians broke open this arsenal, and stole cannon, 
 ammunition, and muskets, for the purpose of going on a 
 marauding invasion ; and the late president of the Senate 
 was com|3elled — so great was the danger- — to hasten 
 after them to keep them from hurting somebody ! Yet 
 not a word is said about it in these despatches. Sir, if 
 the fi-eemen of Kansas had broken open that arsenal, and 
 had stolen even a gun-flint, you would have had a proc- 
 lamation from your governor and your president, and 
 the army of the United States would have been called 
 out to put them down. But it was the organized men 
 of the blue lodges in Western Missouri who did it. 
 They have been, and now are, permitted to violate all 
 law with impunity. Woodson, the secretary of Kansas, 
 urged on these lawless men from Missouri by assuring 
 them that * there is no doubt in regard to having a fight ; 
 and, if we are defeated this time, the Territory is lost to 
 the South.' 
 
 " The invading hosts from Missouri encamped on the 
 Wakarusa, within about six miles of beleaguered Law- 
 rence. In marked contrast to the inconsiderate folly 
 of Shannon was the prudent, firm, and heroic bear- 
 ing of* Gen. Robinson. Throughout the whole con- 
 test his prudence was signally manifested; and, in the 
 opinion of many, the country was saved from bloodshed 
 and civil war by his action. On the 7th of December 
 your governor tells you he went to Lawrence ; but he 
 does not tell you the whole story. He did go to Law- 
 
AFFAIES IN KANSAS. 171 
 
 rence, and he met the Lawrence men, and the Lawrenco 
 women too ; and he saw the inflexible determination of 
 the one, and the cahii devotion of the other. He told 
 gentlemen who directed the affairs of Lawrence, that 
 they had been misrepresented ; that they misunderstood 
 each other; and then, after two days of conference and 
 negotiation, he made a treaty. The first sentence of the 
 treaty acknowledges that the governor and the people of 
 Lawrence had not understood each other. Here is a 
 man who asked the president for the army of the United 
 States; who ordered out the militia, and incorporates 
 into the militia of Kansas, by the showing of these papers, 
 from a thousand to fifteen hundred Missourians ; and 
 then, after doing this, he went to Lawrence. And what 
 did he find ? People who flew to arms simply to protect 
 their homes and their firesides against an armed invasion 
 of two thousand men who were threatening with oaths 
 to burn their city and to blot them out from existence. 
 I say, Gov. Shannon made a treaty with Gen.' Lane 
 (known to some senators here) and with Gen. Robinson 
 (a man who, I hope, is hereafter to be known to sena- 
 tors) : and this treaty closes with tlie agreement, on the 
 part of Gov. Shannon, that he ' will use his influence to 
 secure to the citizens of Kansas remuneration for any 
 damages sustained by the sheriffs posse in Douglas 
 County ; that he has not called upon persons residents of 
 any otlier States to aid in the execution of the laws ; 
 and that he has not any authority or legal power to do 
 so, nor will lie exercise any such power; and that he 
 Avill not call on any citizen of another State who may be 
 here.' In these negotiations he agreed to waive the 
 question of the validity of the laws of the Territorial legis- 
 lature. Then he issued an order to Lane and Robinson 
 
172 LITE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 to incorporate into the service of Kansas the militia of 
 Lawrence, and directed them ' to use the enrolled force 
 for the preservation of the peace, and the protection of 
 Lawrence and vicinity' against the armed men on the 
 banks of the Wakarusa. 
 
 '' Mr. President, this treaty, which Shannon signed 
 with Lane and Robinson on Sunday, the 9th of Decem- 
 ber, 1855, will stand a perpetual confession of his inca- 
 pacity and folly ; this order, giving Lane and Robinson 
 authority ' to use the enrolled force ' — with those famed 
 Sharpe's rifles — 'for the preservation of peace, and the 
 protection of Lawrence and vicinity ' against the armed 
 bands his fatal proclamation had summoned, will stand a 
 living testimony that the men of Lawrence were the 
 guardians of law. Yes, sir, that treaty and that order 
 will stand, an eternal expression at once of error and 
 repentance. 
 
 " After signing these evidences of his own humiliation, 
 he returned to the camp on the Wakarusa, and then, 
 to the leaders of the crew he had drawn together, pro- 
 claimed his truce with the men of Lawrence. Back to 
 their homes in Missouri sauntered these baffled bands of 
 lawless deperadoes, cold, sullen, dispirited. They came 
 to the banks of the Wakarusa big with threats of ven- 
 geance upon the free-State men of Lawrence : they 
 returned with bitter curses upon the imbecile governor 
 whose proclamation had drawn them from their homes. 
 Gen. Stringfellow, whose pure taste the senator from 
 SDuth Carolina can vouch for, denounced the treachery 
 of Shannon. Capt. Leonard, the leader of one of these 
 gangs of border banditti, through the columns of ' The 
 St. Joseph Gazette ' declares that your governor ' raises 
 a storm; and then, to quell it, Judas-like professes his 
 
AFFAIRS IN KANSAS. 173 
 
 special friendship, first for one party, and then, I con- 
 jecture, for the other. But, however tliis may be, he 
 descends to the despicable position of. a common liar 
 both to the one party and the other.' 
 
 " You may search the records of the country from the 
 settlement at Jamestown to this day, and you can find no 
 instance of such incapacity, folly, and superadded crimi- 
 nality, as Wilson Shannon displayed on that occasion, 
 or such an utter disregard of the rights of the people as 
 was manifested by the border settlers of Missouri. 
 
 " This administration has now clothed Wilson Shannon 
 — whose incompetency has been made manifest to tlio 
 world — witli the civil and military authority, and with 
 all tlic power of tlie government to execute the laws and 
 to maintain order in the Territory. The duties assigned 
 this officer in tlie present critical condition of affairs on 
 your .frontiers are of the gravest and most weighty char- 
 acter. Sir, your administration — by the wanton repeal 
 of the Missouri prohibition, by the failure to protect the 
 actual residents of Kansas in their rights, and by the 
 blundering acts and criminal remissness of the official 
 authorities — has brought the nation to the perilous edge 
 of civil strife. Sir, this administration owes it to the 
 country, whose peace is in danger this day, to intrust the 
 resj)onsible and delicate duties of governor of Kansas 
 to a prudent, judicious, sagacious statesman, — a man 
 of individual honor and personA .character, in whom 
 the people can place the fullest confidence. Wilson 
 Shannon is not that man. The man who could de- 
 scend to degrading companionship around the gamiiig- 
 tables of those saloons, of San Francisco (described 
 by that experienced traveller, Madame Ida Pfeiffer, 
 as the most dissolute she had ever seen in her tour 
 
 15* 
 
174 LITE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 of the globe) with Mexican greasers, tlie escaped 
 convicts of the British penal colonies, and the des- 
 peradoes of tlie Old World and the New ; the man 
 who conld — while Kansas was overrnn by armed bands 
 summoned around Lawrence by his own reckless letters, 
 despatches, and proclamations ; while civil war lowered 
 over the people intrusted to his care ; while an honored 
 citizen, stricken down by the assassin, lay cold in death, 
 and a devoted wife was weeping over his mortal remains — 
 make himself the humiliating object of the derision of his 
 enemies, and of the pity of his friends, by an exhibition 
 of gross intoxication, — is not the man to whom the 
 American people would intrust the affairs of Kansas. 
 
 " I call the attention of the Senate, Mr. President, to 
 another forray over the borders, — to the fifth Missouri 
 invasion : I mean the irruption into Kansas on the 15th 
 of December, when the people were called upon to vote 
 upon the constitution framed by that convention the 
 senator from Connecticut is pleased to pronounce ^ spu- 
 rious.' Along the Missouri border the people in several 
 of the voting precincts were overawed by threats of im- 
 pending violence, and meetings were not liolden. At 
 Leavenworth the election was broken up by the lawless 
 brutality of men, many of whom had been ordered to 
 Leavenworth on that day to be formally discharged from 
 service in the Kansas militia, into Avhich they had been 
 incorporated. At the dinner-hour, while most of the 
 jDCople were absent from the polls, these ' border ruffians ' 
 rushed upon the officers, broke up the meeting, beat to 
 the earth Witherell the clerk, whose life was saved by 
 the heroic daring of Brown, since foully murdered, who 
 rushed to his rescue at a moment when the uplifted axe 
 of the assassin was about to descend upon his prostrate 
 form. 
 
AFFAIRS IN KANSAS. 175 
 
 " On tlie 22d of December another forray was made 
 upon freedom at Leavenworth ; and the press of Mr. Del- 
 ahay, which barely escaped on the 15th, was destroyed. 
 Mr. Delahay is a native of Maryland, and has been a 
 slaveholder in his native State, in Alabama, and in Mis- 
 souri, — a man who has little sympathy with antislavery 
 men. He is simply one of those moderate, conservative 
 men who believe tliat ' free labor is honorable, and slave 
 labor is dishonorable,' and that the permanent interests 
 of Kansas would be promoted by making it a free com- 
 monwealth. 
 
 *' On the 15th of January the people of Kansas were 
 called upon to elect officers under the constitution adopt- 
 ed on the 15tli of December. Another assault upon the 
 freedom of the ballot-box was made at Easton by armed 
 men. The people attempted to resist the destruction of 
 the ballot-boxes by these marauding squads that were 
 prowling over the country, insulting the people, and 
 robbing them of their means of defence. Peaceable, 
 law-abiding citizens were hunted down, "fired upon, and 
 their lives put in imminent peril. Some of them had to 
 flee to Lawrence, as to a city of refuge, to save them- 
 selves from the vengeance of the prowling assassins. A 
 party of these lawless desperadoes captured Mr. Brown 
 — who so bravely rescued Witherell at Leavenworth — 
 and several others ; robbed them of their arms ; and then, 
 with hatchets and knives, they fiendishly hacked and cut 
 Brown to pieces, flung him in a dyin'g condition into 
 a carriage, and bore him to his home to breathe out his 
 life in the arms of his distracted wife, another sacrifice to 
 the dark spirit of slave propagandism. 
 
 " To-day, sir, unless they are on their march, there are 
 arming and organizing in Westera Missouri, in the blue 
 
176 LIFE OF he:ntiy wilsok. 
 
 lodges, in the secret camps, hosts of men for another 
 invasion. Sleepless eyes are upon these movements 
 organized by Atchison and his subalterns. Gen. Lane 
 and Gen. Robinson sent to tlie president, on the 21st of 
 January, a telegraphic despatch. Gen. Lane — a man 
 who trod the battle-field of Buena Vista ; a man who 
 knows something of what war is ; who knows something 
 of the threats that have been made, and the preparations 
 that are now making, on the borders of Western Mis- 
 souri, for another lawless invasion of Kansas — has ap- 
 pealed to the president for protection. He is no fanatic. 
 Sir, you cannot call him an abolitionist ; at least, not 
 yet. 
 
 " The senator from New Hampshire (Mr. Hale) says 
 he will be one soon. The scenes through which lie is 
 passing are calculated to abolitionize men made of the 
 hardest natures. John Quincy Adams once said that a 
 man ' has the right to be an abolitionist ; and, being an 
 abolitionist, he violates no law, human or divine.' Gen. 
 Lane may be an abolitionist ; but, sir, he is not one now. 
 On the 21st of January he asked the president to send 
 the military force stationed at Fort Leavenworth to pro- 
 tect the people of Kansas against an invasion which is 
 'organizing on our border, amply supplied with artillery, 
 for the avowed purpose of invading our Territory, de- 
 molishing our towns, and butchering our unoffending 
 free-State citizens.' 
 
 "Two days after, — on Jan. 23, — Gen. Lane and 
 Gen. Robinson asked the president to issue his procla- 
 mation forbidding this lawless invasion of their Territory. 
 The senator from Connecticut flatters himself that those 
 of us who do not approve the course of the adminis- 
 tration will be greatly disapoointed to find that the lead- 
 
APFAIRS IN KANSAS. 177 
 
 ers of the free-State movement in Kansas have implored 
 the executive to issue his proclamation. Let not the 
 senator from Connecticut lay tiie flattering unction to 
 his soul that we arc chagrined by the disclosure of this 
 correspondence. Robinson and Lane, in behalf of the 
 imperilled people of Kansas, asked the president to issue 
 ' his proclamation immediately, forbidding the irxvasion, 
 which, if carried out as planned, will stand forth without 
 a parallel in the world's history.' They did not ask the 
 president for his proclamation against the wronged and 
 oppressed people of Kansas. They asked for bread ; 
 the president gave them a stone : they asked for a fish ; 
 the president gave them a serpent. 
 
 ^' The president, sir, has issued his proclamation ; but 
 that proclamation is chiefly and mainly directed against 
 Lane and Robinson, and the liberty-loving, law-abiding 
 free-State men of Kansas. Like his annual message, in 
 wliich he softly spoke of the long series of outrages you 
 will scarcely find paralleled in the history of Christian 
 States as ' irregularities ; ' like that special message, in 
 which tlie aggressive acts of the Missouri invaders were 
 covered over with mild and honeyed phrases, and the 
 defensive measures of the actual settlers treated as insur- 
 rectionary acts, demanding executive censure, — this proc- 
 lamation will be received on the Western borders, by the 
 men who by their votes and by their resolves have dic- 
 tated law to Kansas, with shouts of approval. Sir, this 
 proclamation will carry no terror into the blue lodgr^ and 
 secret clubs of Western Missouri. 
 
 '• But, sir, we were congratulated yesterday Ijy the 
 senator from Connecticut that the laws were to be exe- 
 cuted, and order preserved. I call the attention of the 
 Senate and of the country to the order of the secretary 
 
178 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 of war. What does this order say to Col. Sumner? 
 Does it clearly and expressly command him to arrest, at 
 all hazards, any aggressive movement upon Kansas from 
 Missouri ? The secretary of war informs Col. Sumner 
 that 
 
 " ' The president has, by proclamation, warned all per- 
 sons combined for insurrection, or invasive aggression, 
 against the organized government of the Territory of 
 Kansas, or associated to resist the due execution of the 
 laws therein, to abstain from such revolutionary and law- 
 less proceedings.' 
 
 '' Does the secretary, then, direct Col. Sumner to defend 
 Kansas against ' invasive aggression ' ? No, sir ; no I 
 The secretary then issues the orders of the government 
 to Col. Sumner in these terms : — 
 
 " ' If, therefore, the governor of the Territory, finding 
 the ordinary course of judicial proceeding and the pow- 
 ers vested in the United-States marshals inadequate for 
 the suppression of insurrectionary combinations, or armed 
 resistance to the execution of the law, should make requi- 
 sition upon you to furnish a military force to aid him in 
 the -performance of that official duty, you are hereby 
 directed to employ for that purpose the forces under your 
 command.' 
 
 *' Sir, this is not a direction to Col. Sumner to use his 
 forces against the armed Missouri invaders. The secre- 
 tary tells tlie colonel that the president has sent out his 
 pr«>Qlamation against those movements ; but, when he 
 comes to direct the commander of the force of the United 
 States what to do, he does not order him to use that 
 force if there sliall be an invasion from the State of 
 Missouri. The secretary shrinks from putting himself 
 against the lawless men who represent a power in this 
 
AFFAIRS IN KANSAS. 179 
 
 country that sustains them in their aggressive acts. Sir, 
 the secretary bends to that power ; he bows to these men, 
 who have no ' quahns of conscience as to viohxting laws, 
 state or national ; ' and we have had nothing but bows to 
 these men for the last eighteen months from the other 
 end of the avenue. 
 
 " The reason why the government has not used its 
 proper legitimate influences in Kansas for peace, for 
 order, and for liberty, is the same reason which origi- 
 nally snatched that four hundred and fifty thousand 
 square miles of free soil, — consecrated forever to the 
 laboring millions of this country, — and flung it open to 
 the slave-extending interests. 
 
 " Sir, I know that men in the confidence of the admin- 
 istration have expressed the idea that the administration 
 intends, if the people's legislature meets on the 4th of 
 March, to arrest the members the moment they take 
 the oath of office. It is a well-known fact, sir, — known 
 by those who know any thing about affairs in Kansas, — 
 that they do not intend to pass laws, or interfere in any 
 way with the legislation of the country ; that they intend 
 merely to assemble, state their grievances to the country, 
 and choose senators to come here to implore us in God's 
 name to carry out the wishes of the people, and allow 
 Kansas to take her place in tliis Union of free com- 
 monwealths. I understand these to bo the inten- 
 tions of the tried and trusted leaders of the free- 
 State men in Kansas. You may arrest Gov. Robinson 
 and the leaders of the free-State party ; you may im- 
 prison them if you will ; you may shed the blood of tbo 
 actual settlers of Kansas : but you cannot break their 
 spirits, or crush out their hopes. The peoole of Kansas 
 are for a free State ; and, if it is made a slave State, it 
 
180 LIFE OF HENBY WILSON. 
 
 will be by the criminal remissness or direct interposition 
 of this administration. Leave the people of Kansas free, 
 uninfluenced by your slave-State ofiicials you have thrust 
 ■upon them, uninfluenced by foreign interposition, and 
 tliey will bring her here clothed in the white robes of 
 Freedom. 
 
 " The senator from Missouri said to ns the other day 
 that the colonists from the East wished to keep others 
 out ; that they wished to get possession of the Territory. 
 Armed men, he said, had crossed from Missouri to protect 
 the ballot-boxes against the armed colonists sent there by 
 the Emigrant-aid Society. Did they protect the ballot- 
 boxes on the 29th of November, 1854, when they went over 
 and gave fifteen hundred votes ? Did they protect the 
 ballot-boxes when they marched into Kansas on the 30th 
 of March, with cannon, with revolver, and with rifle, dis- 
 placed the election of officers, and delivered their hundreds 
 of votes, and, in a place where there were but fifty-three 
 voters, cast over six hundred ? Did they protect the 
 ballot-boxes when they went there on the 15th of Decem- 
 ber, and broke up the meeting at Leavenworth ? Did 
 they protect the ballot-boxes on the 15th of January, 
 when Brown was murdered in revenge for standing by 
 the ballot-boxes and protecting them against tliem ? 
 
 " Sir, men aided to go there by the Emigrant-aid So- 
 ciety have never — no, sir, never — at any time, or on 
 any occasion, interfered with the freedom of voting. 
 
 * Whatever record leaps to light, 
 They never can be shamed.* 
 
 " Sir, I see that in the South there are movements from 
 ail quarters to get up emigrant-aid societies. The sena- 
 tor from Mississippi (Mr. Brown), always frank and manly 
 
AFFAIES IN KANSAS. 181 
 
 on these questions, proposes that Mississippi shall send 
 three hundred of her young men and three hundred of 
 her bondmen into that Territory to plan and shape its 
 future. I say to the honorable senator from Mississippi, 
 Send your Mississippi young men and your Mississippi 
 bondmen : you will never find, on the part of the men 
 who went tliere from the North under the auspices of 
 emigrant-aid societies, one single unlawful act to keep 
 you out or rob you of one of your lawful rights. The 
 men who charge the emigrants from the North with ag- 
 gressions upon the men of other sections of the country 
 utter tliat wliich has not the shadow of an element of 
 truth in it ; and they know it, or they are grossly igno- 
 rant of Kansas affairs. This proposition of the senator 
 from Mississippi was followed by a letter from a represen- 
 tative from South Carolina (Mr. Brooks), offering to give 
 a hundred dollars, — one dollar for every man they will 
 send from his section. I say to the senators from South 
 Carolina, that if the offer of their colleague in tlie other 
 House is accepted, and if tlic hundred men go from South. 
 Carolina to Kansas, tliey will never be interfered with 
 in the exercise of their legal rights by tlie men who have 
 gone tliere from New England or from the North. 
 
 " Atchison, the organizer and chief of those border 
 movements, thus appeals to the citizens of Georgia to 
 come to the rescue; for 'Kansas must have slave in- 
 stitutions, OR Missouri must have free institutions.' 
 
 '' Sir, to appease the unhallowed desires of the slave 
 propaganda, you complied with Atchison's demands, and 
 repealed the Missouri prohibition. You then told the 
 laboring-men of the republic, whose heritage you thus put 
 in peril, that they could sliape, mould, and fashion the 
 institutions of those future commonwealths. Animated 
 
 16 
 
182 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 by motives as pure and aims as lofty as ever actuated 
 the founders of any portion of the globe, the sons of the 
 North wended their way to this region beyond the Missis- 
 sippi. These emigrants did not all go there under the 
 auspices of emigrant-aid societies : for it is estimated 
 that not more than one-fourth of the settlers of Kansas 
 are from New England and New York ; that nearly one- 
 tialf of the dwellers in that Territory are from Pennsyl- 
 vania and the North-west. 
 
 " Only about one-fourth of the actual residents of Kan- 
 sas are from the slaveholding States ; and many of these 
 settlers from the South, perhaps a majority of them, are 
 in favor of making Kansas a free State. That many of 
 these emigrants from the South are in favor of rearing 
 free institutions will surprise no one who understands 
 their condition. Most of these emigrants are poor men, 
 and have felt in their native homes the malign influences 
 which bear with oppressive force upon free labor. Thirty- 
 five per cent of the emigration of the slave States has 
 sought homes in the free States ; while less than ten per 
 cent of the emigration from the free States and from the 
 Old World find homes in the slave States, although those 
 States embrace the largest as well as the fairest regions 
 of the country east of the Rocky Mountains. 
 
 " Coming from fields blasted by the sweat of artless, 
 untutored, unpaid labor ; from regions once teeming 
 with the products of a prolific soil, now ' exhibiting,' to 
 quote the language applied ' with sorrow ' to his native 
 country by the senator from Alabama (Mr. Clay), • t\\Q 
 painful signs of senility and decay apparent in Virginia 
 and the Carolinas ; ' witnessing the prosperity of free, edu- 
 cated labor, — many of these sons of the South meet the 
 men of the North, and stand with them, shoulder to 
 shoulder, in upholding the institutions of freedom. 
 
AFFAIRS IN KANSAS. 183 
 
 "Within the Territory, the men of the North and the 
 men of the South meet together in council. Northern 
 and Southern men stood side by side in those assemWages 
 of the people that put the brand of condemnation upon 
 the acts of the legislature imposed upon them ; North- 
 ern and Southern men sat in council in that Constitu- 
 tional Convention the senator from Connecticut now pro- 
 r. ounces ' spurioas ; ' and Northern and Southern men 
 stood side by side in the trenches of beleaguered Law- 
 rence. 
 
 " Leave these men now in Kansas free from Missouri 
 forrays and administration corruption, and, in spite of the 
 inhuman, unchristian, and devilish acts to be found in 
 the past legislation of the Territory, they will bring Kan- 
 sas here, as they have done already, robed in the gar- 
 ments of Freedom. Men of the South ; you who would 
 blast the virgin soil of Kansas witli the blighting, witlier- 
 ing, consuming curse of slavery ; you who would banish 
 the educated, self-dependent, free laboring-men of the 
 North, to make room for the untutored, thriftless, depend- 
 ent bondmen of the South, — vote down the free-State 
 men of Kansas, if -you can; but do not send 'border 
 ruffians' to rob or burn their humble dwellings, and mur- 
 der brave men, for the crime of fidelity to their cherished 
 convictions." 
 
 Replying, April 14, to Mr. Douglas, who had stigma- 
 tized Mr. Wilson and his party as " black Republicans," 
 lie uses these heroic, telling words : — 
 
 "The senator from Illinois may denounce us as black 
 Republicans, as abolition agitators, if he thinks such 
 language worthy of the Senate or of himself; but the 
 issue is being made up in the country between the peo- 
 ple and the slave propaganda. He told us the other day 
 
184 LIFE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 that he intended to subdue us. I say to that senator, Wo 
 accept your issue. Nominate some one of your scarred 
 
 veterans ; some one who is committed, fully committed, 
 to your policy. You want a candidate that is scarred 
 with your battles. Well, sir, if he goes into the battle 
 of 1856, he will not come out of it without scars. You 
 liave made the issue: put your chieftains at the head. 
 No man fitter to lead than the honorable, senator himself 
 in this contest ; for his position has the merit at least of 
 being bold ; and I like a bold, brave man who stands by 
 his declarations. Now, I say to senators on the other 
 side of the chamber. We will accept your issues. You 
 may sneer at lis as abolition agitators. That may have 
 some little effect in some sections of the North, but very 
 little indeed. We have passed beyond that. The people 
 of this country are being educated up to a standard 
 above all these little sneering phrases. We will accept 
 your issue ; but you will not, can not, subdue us. I tell 
 the honorable senator he may vote us down, but subdue 
 us never. We belong to a race of men that never were 
 subdued ; and, if anybod}'- undertakes that work, he will 
 find he has taken a rather costly contract. Subdue us ! 
 subdue us ! Sir, you may vote us down ; but we stand 
 with the fathers. Our cause is the cause of human 
 nature. The star of duty shines upon our pathway ; 
 and we will pursue that pathway, looking back for in- 
 structions to the great men who founded the institutions 
 of the republic, looking up to Him whose ' hand moves 
 the stars and heaves the pulses of the deep.' I tell the 
 senator that .this talk about subduing us and conquering 
 us will not do. Gentlemen, you cannot do it. You 
 may vote us down ; but we shall live to fight another 
 day. (Laughter.) 
 
AFFAIES IN KANSAS. 185 
 
 Mr. Douglas. — 
 
 " He -who fights and runs away 
 May live to fight another day." 
 
 Mr. Wilson. — " We shall not run away to live : we 
 shall live to run. (Laughter.) We shall go into the 
 conflict in the coming contest like the Zouaves at Inker- 
 mann, ' with the light of battle on our faces.' If we fall, 
 we shall fall to rise again ; for the arm of God is beneath 
 us, and the current of advancing civilization is bearing 
 us onward to assured triumph. 
 
 " Now, I will tell you what we intend to do. We 
 shall stand here and vote to defeat the bill reported by 
 the senator from Illinois, because we believe, by the pro- 
 visions of that bill, Kansas can be and will be invaded 
 and conquered. Wo shall vote for the admission of this 
 petition, for the admission of all petitions, from the peo- 
 ple of Kansas ; we shall vote for the admission of Kansas 
 into this Union as a free State. If we fail, if you vote 
 us down, we shall go to the country with that issue. We 
 shall appeal to the people, to the toiling millions whose 
 heritage is in peril, to come to the rescue of the people 
 of Kansas, struggling to preserve their sacred rights. 
 Madness may rule the hour; the black power, now 
 enthroned in the National Government, may prolong for 
 another Olympiad its waning influence : but we shall 
 ultimately rescue the republic from the unnatural rule 
 of a slaveholding aristocracy. Before the rising spirit 
 of liberty this domination will go down. 
 
 " A quarter of a century ago the conquest and sub- 
 jugation of the republic was complete. Institutions of 
 learning, benevolence, and religion, political organiza- 
 tions, and public men, ay, and the people themselves, 
 
 16* 
 
186 LIFE OF HENBY WILSON. 
 
 all bowed in unresisting submission to the iron dominion 
 of the slave-power. Murmurs of discontent sometimes 
 broke upon the ear of the country : here and there a 
 solitary voice uttered its feeble protest against the domi- 
 nation of a power which had inthralled the heart, con- 
 science, and intellect of the conquered North ; but the 
 overshadowing despotism of that power was complete. 
 Twenty-five years have not yet closed since a few heroic 
 men raised the banner of impartial liberty. Then we 
 had not a single member of the Senate or House of 
 Representatives. Not a single State legislature was 
 with us. The political press of the country covered the 
 humble movement with ridicule and contempt ; always 
 excepting ' The New- York Evening Post,* then con- 
 ducted by that inflexible Democrat, William Leggett, who 
 went to a premature grave cheered by the assurance that 
 he ' had written his name in ineffaceable letters on the 
 abolition record.' 
 
 " Twenty years ago the public sneered at and defied 
 the few proscribed and hunted followers who rallied 
 around the humble leaders that inaugurated the move- 
 ment, which, within two years, has secured a popular 
 majority in the free States of more than three hundred 
 thousand. We have an overwhelming majority there to- 
 day against your policy ; and, if that majority is united, 
 we can control the policy of the country. We shall 
 triumph ; we shall enlarge this side of the chamber ; 
 we shall thin out the other. (Laughter.) We have 
 done some of that work recently in New England. We 
 shall have a majority in this chamber yet ; we shall 
 have a majority in the other House ; and we shall have a 
 juan at the other end of the avenue. We shall take the 
 government of this country, and we shall govern the 
 country as the true Democratic party. 
 
AFFAIRS IN KANSAS. 187 
 
 " Now, sir, I have told the senator from Illinois what 
 we intend to do ; and we have no doubt of doing it. If 
 the honorable senator wishes, through the coming weelcs 
 of this debate, to throw on this side of the chamber the 
 taunting epithets of ' black Republicans ' and ' abolition 
 agitators,' he may find that it is a game that two can 
 play at. I think he and I and others had better dis- 
 cuss these grave questions without the application ^of 
 taunts and epithets." 
 
 On the twenty-second day of May, 1856, Preston S. 
 Brooks, member of the House from South Carolina, came 
 into the Senate-chamber and made a dastardly assault on 
 Mr. Sumner, who iell prostrate, under the repeated blows, 
 upon the floor. This act of violence was occasioned by 
 the senator's able speech, entitled ." The Crime against 
 Kansas," on Mr. Seward's bill for the admission of the 
 State of Kansas into the Union. Mr. Wilson, at that 
 moment in the room of Mr. Banks, immediately came into 
 the Senate-chamber, where he found his colleague stricken 
 down, and weltering unconscious in his blood. He aided 
 in carrying him to his chamber, placing him upon his 
 couch, and alleviating his pain. The next day he appro- 
 priately called the attention of the Senate to the assault 
 upon his colleague. 
 
 On motion of Mr. Seward, a committee was appointed : 
 and on the morning of the 27th instant, the floor and 
 galleries being filled with anxious listeners, Mr. Wilson 
 rose, and in a few fearless words characterized the assault 
 upon his colleague as " brutal, murderous, and cowardly ; '* 
 when 
 
 Mr. Butler of South Carolina, with whose family 
 Brooks the assailant was connected, rudely interrupted 
 him ; and cries of " Order, order ! " rang through the 
 
188 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 tumultuous assembly. Threats of personal violence arose 
 in the confusion ; but they had no terror for him who 
 knew no fear. In the evening he went to Trenton to 
 speak before the State Convention ; and on the morning 
 of the 29th inst. he received, by the hand of Gen. 
 Joseph Lane of Oregon, a challenge from Mr. Brooks. 
 Taking up his pen, he at once replied in words which 
 are memorable as embodying the views of Northern mei> 
 upon duelling. 
 
 Washington, May 29, half-past ten o'clock. 
 Hon. P. S. Brooks. 
 
 fSlr^ — Your note of the 27th inst. was placed in my 
 hands by your friend Gen. Lane at twenty minutes past 
 ten o'clock to-day. 
 
 I cliaracterized on the floor of the Senate the assault 
 upon my colleague as brutal, murderous, and cowardly. 
 I thought so then : I think so now. I have no qualifica- 
 tions whatever to make in regard to those words. 
 
 I have never entertained or expressed, in the Senate 
 or elsewhere, the idea of personal responsibility in the 
 sense of the duellist. 
 
 1 have always regarded duelling as the lingering relio 
 of a barbarous civilization, which the law of the country 
 has branded as a crime. While, therefore, I religiously 
 believe in the right of self-defence in its broadest sense, 
 the law of my country and the mature civilization of my 
 whole life alike forbid me to meet you for the purpose 
 indicated in your letter. 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 Henry Wilson. 
 
 This reply to Brooks, so firmly, so tersely, and so 
 serenely expressed, touched the very key-note of public 
 
LETTEB FROM 'MR. HAETE. 189 
 
 sentiment, and was most enthusiastically received through 
 the whole Northern country. While the right of self- 
 defence was not yielded, the unlawful practice of duel- 
 ling was condemned as the remains of barbarism, and 
 tlie tliree strong, pointed words of rebuke, " brutal, mur- 
 derous, and cowardly," sent back fearlessly to the chal- 
 leiiger. The press, the pulpit, and men of every political 
 complexioii, at the North, indorsed the action ; and those 
 few words, written in a moment from the impulse of an 
 honest heart, have done something to drive the idea of 
 duelling from the mind of the nation. 
 
 The "cowardly conclave" still beset the steps of Mr. 
 Wilson, as the following letter indicates; but they had 
 not the courage to strike : — 
 
 Hon. 11. Wilson. Washington, June 2, 1856. 
 
 Sir, — A gentleman in constant association with the 
 South-Carolina members sent to my house last night to 
 inform me that it was intended to attack you this 
 morning. 
 
 Brooks did not leave town on Friday evening, but was 
 parading among the groups at the president's house on 
 Saturday afternoon. He probably does not intend to 
 leave until after the action of the House upon the out- 
 rage. I mention these facts for your information, and to 
 say that you had better be on your guard. 
 
 Very truly, E. Harte. 
 
 On the 13th of June Mr. Wilson made a brave and 
 manly reply to Mr. Butler's speech of the two preced- 
 ing days assailing Mr. Sumner and the State of Massa- 
 chusetts. The passages we present will show its spirit 
 and its forensic power: — 
 
190 LtFE OF HENUT WILSON. 
 
 " Mr. President, — I feel constrained by a sense of duty 
 to my State, by personal relations to my colleague and 
 friend, to trespass for a few moments upon the time and 
 attention of the Senate. 
 
 " You have listened, Mr. President, the Senate has 
 listened, these thronged seats and these crowded gal- 
 leries have listened, to the extraordinary speech of the 
 honorable senator from South Carolina, which has now 
 run through two days. I must say, sir, that I have 
 listened to that speech with painful and sad emotions. 
 A senator of a sovereign State, more than twenty days 
 ago, was stricken senseless to the floor for words spoken 
 in debate. For more than three weeks he has been 
 confined to his room upon a bed of weakness and of 
 pain. The moral sentiment of the country has been 
 outraged, grossly outraged, by this wanton assault, in the 
 person of a senator, on the freedom of debate. The in- 
 telligence of this transaction has flown over the land, and 
 is now flying abroad over the civilized world ; and where- 
 ever Christianity has a foothold, or civilization a resting- 
 place, that act will meet the stern condemnation of man- 
 kind. 
 
 " Intelligence comes to us, Mr. President, that a civil 
 war is raging beyond the Mississippi ; intelligence also 
 comes to us, that, upon the shores of tlie Pacific, lynch law 
 is again organized ; and the telegraph brings us news 
 of assaults and murders around the ballot-boxes of New 
 Orleans, growing out of differences of opinion and of 
 interests. Can we be surprised, sir, that these scenes, 
 which are disgracing the character of our country and 
 our age, are rife, when a venerable senator — one of the 
 oldest members of the Senate, and chairman of its Judi- 
 ciary Committee — occupies four hours of the important 
 
EEPLT TO ISm. BTTTLEE. 191 
 
 time of tlie Senate in vindication of and apology for an 
 assault unparalleled in the history of the country ? If 
 lawless violence here in this chamber, upon the person 
 of a senator, can find vindication, if this outrage upon 
 the freedom of debate finds apology, from a veteran 
 senator, why may not violent counsels elsewliere go un- 
 rebuked ? 
 
 " The senator from South Carolina, through this debate, 
 has taken occasion to apply to Mr. Sumner, to his speech, 
 to all that concerns him, all the epithets " — 
 
 Mr. Butler. — "I used criticism, but not epithets." 
 Mr. Wilson. — " Well, sir, I accept the senator's 
 word, and I say ' criticism.' But, I say, in his criticism 
 he used every word that I can conceive a fertile imagi- 
 nation could invent, or a malignant passion suggest. He 
 has taken his full revenoje here on the floor of the Senate 
 
 — here in debate — for the remarks made by my colleague. 
 I do not take any exception to this mode. This is the way 
 in which the speech of my colleague should have been met, 
 
 — not by blows, not by an assault. 
 
 " The senator tells us that this is not, in his opinion, an 
 assault upon the constitutional rights of a member of the 
 Senate. He tells us that a member cannot be permitted 
 to print, and send abroad over the world, with impunity, 
 his o})inions ; but that he is liable to have them questioned 
 in a judicial tribunal. Well, sir, if this be so, — he is a 
 lawyer ; I am not, — I accept his view ; and I ask. Why not 
 have tested Mr. Sumner's speech in a judicial tribunal, 
 and let that tribunal have settled the question whether Mr. 
 Sumner uttered a libel or not ? Why was it necessary, 
 why did the ' chivalry ' of South Carolina require, that for 
 words uttered on this floor, under the solemn guaranties 
 of constitutional law, a senator should be met here by 
 
192 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 violence ? Why appeal from the floor of the Senate, from 
 a judicial tribunal, to the bludgeon ? I put the question 
 to the senator, to the 'chivalry' of South Carolina, ay, to 
 * the gallant set,' to use the senator's own words, of ' Ninety- 
 six,' why was it necessary to substitute the bludgeon for the 
 judicial tribunal ? 
 
 " The senator complained of Mr. Sumner for quoting 
 the Constitution of South Carolina ; and he asserted over 
 and over again, and he winds up his speech by the decla- 
 ration, that the quotation made Is not In the Constitution. 
 After making that declaration, he read the Constitution, 
 and read the identical quotation. Mr. Sumner asserted 
 what is in the Constitution ; but there Is an addition to It 
 which he did not quote. The senator might have com- 
 plained because he did not quote It ; but the portion not 
 quoted carries out only the letter and the spirit of the por- 
 tion quoted. To be a member of the House of Represen- 
 tatives of South Carolina, It Is necessary to own a certain 
 number of acres of land and ten slaves, or seven hundred 
 and fifty dollars of real estate free of debt. The senator 
 declared with great emphasis — and I saw nods. Demo- 
 cratic nods, all around the Senate — that 'a man who was 
 not worth that amount of money was not fit to be a repre- 
 sentative.' That may be good Democratic doctrine, — It 
 comes from a Democratic senator of the Democratic State 
 of South Carolina, and received Democratic nods and 
 Democratic smiles, — but It Is not In harmony with the 
 democratic Ideas of the American people. 
 
 " The charge made by Mr. Sumner was, that South 
 Carolina was nominally republican, but In reality had 
 aristocratic features In her constitution. Well, sir, Is not 
 this charge true? To be a member of the House of 
 Representatives of South Carolina, the candidate must 
 
EEPLY TO lym. BUTLEE. 193 
 
 own ten men, — yes, sir, ten men, — five hundred acres of 
 land, or have seven hundred and fifty dollars of real estate 
 free of debt ; and, to be a member of the Senate, double is 
 required. This legislature, having these personal qualifi- 
 cations, placing them in the rank of a privileged few, is 
 elected upon a representative basis as unequal as the rot- 
 ten-borough system of England in its most rotten days. 
 That is not all. This legislature elects the o-ov'ernor of 
 South Carolina and the presidential electors. The people 
 have the privilege of voting for men with these qualifica- 
 tions upon this basis ; and they select their governor for 
 them, and choose the presidential electors for them. The 
 privileged few govern : the many have the privilege of 
 being governed by them. 
 
 " Sir, I have no disposition to assail South Carolina. God 
 knows that I would peril my life in defence of any State 
 of this Union if assailed by a foreign foe. I have voted, 
 and I will continue to vote while I have a seat on this 
 floor, as cheerfully for appropriations, or for any thing that 
 can benefit South Carolina or any other State of this 
 Union, as for my own Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 
 South Carolina is a part of my country. Slaveholders are 
 not the tenth part of her population : there is somebody 
 else there besides slaveholders. I am opposed to its system 
 of slavery, to its aristocratic inequalities, and I shall con- 
 tinue to be opposed to them ; but it is a sovereign State of 
 this Union, — a part of my country, — and I have no dis- 
 position to do injustice to it. 
 
 '• Sir, the senator from South Carolina has under- 
 taken to assure the Senate and the country to-day that 
 he is not the aggressor. I tell him that Mr. Sumner 
 was not the aggressor ; that the senator from South 
 Carolina was the aggressor. I will prove this declara- 
 
 17 
 
194 LIFE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 tion to be true beyond all question. Mr. Samner is not 
 a man who desires to be aggressive towards any one. 
 He came into the Senate ' a representative man.' . His 
 opinions were known to the country. He came here 
 knowing that there were but few in this body who could 
 sympathize with him. He was reserved and cautions. 
 For eight months here he made no speeches upon any 
 question that could excite the animadversion even of the 
 sensitive senator from South Carolina. He made a brief 
 speech in favor of the system of granting lands for con- 
 structing railways in tlie new States, which the people 
 of those States justly applauded ; and I will undertake 
 to say that he stated the whole question briefly, fully, 
 and powerfully. He also made a brief speech welcom- 
 ing Kossuth to the United States. But, beyond the pres- 
 entation of a petition, he took no steps to press his earnest 
 convictions upon the Senate ; nor did he say any thing 
 which could by possibility disturb the most excitable 
 senator. 
 
 " On the twenty-eighth day of July, 1852, after being in 
 this body eight months, Mr. Sumner introduced a propo- 
 sition to repeal the Fugitive-slave Act. Mr. Sumner and 
 his constituents believed that act to be not only a viola- 
 tion of the Constitution of the United States and a viola- 
 tion of all the safeguards of the common law which have 
 beeji garnered up for centuries to protect the rights of 
 the people, but at war with Christianity, humanity, and 
 human nature, — an enactment that is bringing upon this 
 republic the indignant scorn of the Christian and civil- 
 ized world. With these convictions he proposed to re- 
 peal that act, as he had a right to propose. He had 
 made no speech. He rose and asked the Senate to give 
 him the privilege of making a speech. ' Strike, but 
 
EEPLY TO IVm. BrTLEB. 195 
 
 hear/ said he, using a quotation. I do not know that 
 he gave the authority for it. Perhaps the senator from 
 South Carolina will criticise it as a plagiarism, as he 
 has criticised another application of a classical passage. 
 Mr. Sumner asked the privilege of addressing the Senate. 
 The senator from South Carolina, who now tells us that 
 ho had been his friend, an old and veteran senator here, 
 instead of feeling that Mr. Sumner was a member stand- 
 ing almost alone, with only the senator from New York 
 (Mr. Seward), the senator from New Hampshire (Mr. 
 Hale), and Gov. Chase of Ohio, in sympathy with him, 
 objected to his being heard. He asked Mr. Sumner 
 tauntingly if he wished to make an ' oratorical display,' 
 and talked about ' playing the orator ' and ' the part 
 of a parliamentary rhetorician.' Tlicse words, in their 
 scope and in their character, were calculated to wound 
 the sensibilities of a new member, and perhaps bring 
 upon him what is often brought on a member who main- 
 tains here the great doctrines of Liberty and Christianity, 
 — the sneer and the laugh under which men sometimes 
 shrink. 
 
 " Thus was Mr. Summer, before he had ever uttered a 
 word on the subject of slavery here, arraigned by the 
 senator from South Carolina, not for what he ever had 
 said, hut for what he intended to say; and the senator 
 announced that he must oppose his speaking, because he 
 would attack South Carolina. Mr. Sumner quietly said 
 that he had no such purpose ; but the senator did not 
 wish to allow him to ' make the Senate the vehicle of 
 communication for his speech throughout the United 
 States to wash deeper and deeper the channel through 
 whicli flow the angry waters of agitation.' 
 
 *' Now, I charge here on the floor of the Senate, and 
 
196 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 before the country, that the senator from South Carolina 
 was the aggressor ; that he arraigned, in language which 
 no man can defend, my colleague before he ever uttered 
 a word on this subject on the floor of the Senate, and in 
 the face of his express disclaimer that he had no purpose 
 of alluding to South Carolina. This was tlie beginning." 
 
 After citing other instances of personal insult and 
 abuse with wliich Mr. Butler sought to blacken Mr. 
 Sumner, Mr. Wilson says, — 
 
 *' He again talks about ' sickly sentimentality ; ' and he 
 charges that this ' sickly sentimentality now governs the 
 councils of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.' Yes, 
 sir, the senator from South Carolina makes five distinct 
 assaults upon Massachusetts. Massachusetts councils 
 governed by sickly sentimentality 1 Sir, Massachusetts 
 stands to-day where she stood when the little squad as- 
 sembled on the 19th of April, 1775, to fire the first gun 
 of the Revolution. The sentiments that brouglit those 
 humble men to the little green at Lexington, and to the 
 bridge at Concord ; Avhich carried them up the slope of 
 Bunker Hill ; and which drove forth the British troops 
 from Boston, never again to press the soil of Massachu- 
 setts, — that sentiment still governs the councils of Mas- 
 sachusetts, and rules in the hearts of her people. The 
 feeling which governed the men of that glorious epoch 
 of our history is the feeling of the men of Massachusetts 
 of to-day. 
 
 " Tiiose sentiments of liberty and patriotism have pen- 
 etrated the hearts of the whole population of that Com- 
 monwealth. Sir, in that State, every man, no matter 
 wliat blood runs in his veins, or what may be the color 
 of his skin, stands up before the law the peer of the 
 proudest that treads her soil. This is the sentiment of 
 
EEPLY TO MR. BUTLEB. 197 
 
 the people of Massachusetts. In equality before the law 
 tliey fmd theh* strength. They know this to be riglit if 
 Christianity is true, and they will maintain it in tho 
 future as they have in the past; and the civilized world, 
 the coming generations, those who are hereafter to give 
 law to the universe, will pronounce that in this contest 
 Massachusetts is right, inflexibly right, and Soutli Caro- 
 lina and tlic senator from South Carolina wrong. The 
 latter are maintaining tlie odious relics of a barbarous 
 age and civilization, — not the civilization of the New 
 Testament, not the civilization that is now blessing and 
 adorning the best portions of the world. 
 
 " ' We cannot be hurt by attempted assassination ! ' ex- 
 claims the senator from South Carolina. 
 
 " Attempted assassination ? 
 
 " It ill becomes the senator from South Carolina to uso 
 these words in connection with Massachusetts or the 
 North. The arms of Massachusetts are Freedom, Justice, 
 Truth. Strong in these, she is not driven to the ne- 
 cessity of resorting to ' attempted assassination ' cither 
 in or out of the Senate. 
 
 " But the whole story is not yet told. I wish to refer to 
 another assault made by the senator, which I witnessed 
 myself a few days after I took a seat in this body. On 
 the 23d of February, 1855, on one of the last days of 
 the last session, to the bill introduced by the senator 
 from Connecticut (Mr. Toucey) ^Ir. Summer moved an 
 amendment providing for the repeal of the Fugitive- 
 slave Act. lie made some remarks in support of that 
 proposition. The senator from South Carolina rose and 
 interrupted him, saying, ' I would ask him one question, 
 which he perhaps will not answer Jionesthj.'' Mr. Sum- 
 ner said, ' I will answer any question.' The senator went 
 
 17-* 
 
198 LIFE OF HENKY WILSON. 
 
 on to ask questions, and received his answers ; and then 
 he said, speaking of Mr. Sumner, ' I know he is not a 
 tactician, and I shall not take advantage of the infirm- 
 ity of a man who does not know half his time exactly 
 what he is about.' This is indeed extraordinary lan- 
 guage for the senator from South Carolina to apply to 
 the senator from Massachusetts. I witnessed that scene. 
 I then deemed the language insulting : the manner was 
 more so. I hold in my hands the remarks of ' The Louis- 
 ville Journal,' a Southern press, upon- this scene. I shall 
 not read them to the Senate ; for I do not wish to present 
 any thing which the senator may even deem offensive. 
 I will say, however, that his language and his deport- 
 ment to my colleague on that occasion were aggressive 
 and overbearing in the extreme. And this is the senatoi 
 who never makes assaults ! But, not content with as- 
 saulting Mr. Samner, he winds up his speech by a taunt 
 at ' Boston philanthropy.' Surely no person ever scat- 
 tered assault more freely. 
 
 " Thus has Mr. Sumner been, by the senator from 
 South Carolina, systematically assailed in tliis body from 
 the 28th of July, 1852, up to the present time, — a 
 period of nearly four years. He has applied to my col- 
 league every expression calculated to wound the sensi- 
 bilities of an honorable man, and to draw down upon him 
 sneers, obloquy, and hatred, in and out of the Senate. 
 In my place here, I now pronounce these continued 
 assaults upon my colleague unparalleled in the history 
 of the Senate. 
 
 " I come now to speak for one moment of the late 
 speech of my colleague, which is the alleged cause of the 
 recent assault upon him, and which the senator from 
 South Carolina has condemned so abundantly. That 
 
EEPLY TO MH. BUTLEE. lOS 
 
 speech, — a thorough and fearless exposition of what 
 Mr. Sumner entitled the ' Crime against Kansas,' — from 
 beginning to end, is marked by entire plainness. Things 
 are called by their right names. The usurpation in 
 Kansas is exposed, and also the apologies for it, succes- 
 sively. No words were spared which seemed necessary 
 to the exhibition. In arraigning the crime, it was 
 natural to speak of those who sustained it. Accordingly, 
 the administration is constantly held up to condemna- 
 tion. Various senators who have vindicated this crime 
 are at once answered and condemned. Among these 
 are the senator from South Carolina, the senator from 
 Illinois (Mr. Douglas), the senator from Virginia (Mr. 
 Mason), and the seuator from Missouri (Mr. Geyer). 
 The senator from South Carolina now complains of Mr. 
 Sumner's speech. Surely it is difiicult to see on what 
 ground that senator can make any such complaint. The 
 speech was indeed severe, — severe as truth, — but in all 
 respects parliamentary. It is true that it handles the 
 senator from South Carolina freely ; but that senator had 
 spoken repeatedly in the course of the Kansas debate, 
 once at length and elaborately, and at other times more 
 briefly, foisting himself into the speeches of other sena- 
 tors, and identifying himself completely with the crime 
 which my colleague felt it his duty to arraign. It was 
 natural, therefore, that his course in the debate, and 
 his position, should be particularly considered. And in 
 this work Mr. Sumner had no reason to hold back, when 
 he thought of the constant and systematic and ruthless 
 attacks, which, utterly without cause, he had received 
 from that senator. The only objection which the senator 
 from South Carolina can reasonably make to Mr. Sumner 
 is that he struck a strong blow. 
 
200 LIFE OP HENRY WILSON. 
 
 *'Tlie senator complains that the speech was printed 
 before it was delivered. Here, again, is his accustomed 
 inaccuracy. It is true that it was in the printers' liands, 
 and was mainly in type ; but it received additions and 
 revisions after its delivery, and was not put to press till 
 then. Away with this petty objection ! The senator 
 says tliat twenty thousand copies have gone to England. 
 Here, again, is his accustomed inaccuracy. If they havo 
 gone, it is without Mr. Sumner's agency. But the 
 senator foresees the truth. Sir, that speech will -go to 
 England ; it will go to the continent of Europe ; it has 
 gone over the country, and has been read by the Ameri- 
 can people as no speech ever delivered in this body was 
 read before. That speech will go down to coming ages. 
 Whatever men may say of its sentiments, — and coming 
 ages will indorse them, — it will be placed among the 
 ablest parliamentary efforts of our own age, or of any 
 age. 
 
 "The senator from South Carolina tells us that the 
 speech is to be condemned ; and he quotes the venerable 
 and distinguished senator from Michigan (Mr. Cass). I 
 do not know what Mr. Sumner could stand. The sena- 
 tor says he could not stand the censure of the senator 
 from Michigan. I could; and I believe there are a great 
 many in this country whose powers of endurance are as 
 great as my own. I have great respect for that vener- 
 able senator; but the opinions of no senator here are 
 potential in tlie country. This is a Senate of equals. 
 The judgment of the country is to be made up on the 
 records formed here. The opinions of the senator from 
 Michigan, and of otlier senators here, are to go into the 
 record, and will receive the verdict of the people. By 
 that I am willing to stand. 
 
EEPLY TO MR. BUTLEE. 201 
 
 " The senator from South Carolina tells us that tha 
 speech is to be condemned. It has gone out to the 
 country. It has been printed by the million. It has 
 been scattered broadcast amongst seventeen millions of 
 Noutliern freemen who can read and write. The senator 
 condemns it; South Carolina condemns it. But South 
 Carolina is only a part of this Confederacy, and but a 
 part of the Christian and civilized world. South Caro- 
 lina makes rice and cotton ; but South Carolina contrib- 
 utes little to make up tlie judgment of the Cln-istian 
 and civilized Avorld. I value her rice and cotton more 
 than I do her opinions on questions of scholarship and 
 eloquence, of patriotism or of liberty. 
 
 "Mr. President, I have no desire to assail the senator 
 from South Carolina, or any other senator in tliis body ; 
 but I wibh to say now, that we have had quite enough of 
 tliis asserted superiority, social and political. We were 
 told some time ago by the senator from Alabama (Mr. 
 Clay), that those of us who entertained certain senti- 
 ments fawned upon him and other Southern men if tliey 
 permitted us to associate with them. This is strange 
 language to be used in this body. I never fawned upon 
 that senator. I never sought his acquaintance ; and I do 
 not know that I should feel myself honored if I had it. 
 I treat him as an equal here ; I wish always to treat him 
 respectfully : but, when he tells me or my friends that we 
 fawn upon him or his associates, I say to him that I have 
 never sought, and never shall seek, any other acquaint- 
 ance than what official intercourse requires with a man 
 who declared on the floor of the Senate that he v/onld do 
 what Henry Clay once said ' no gentleman would do,' — 
 hunt a fugitive slave. 
 
 '' The senator from Virginia, not now iu his seat (Mr. 
 
202 LIFE OF HENKY WILSOK. 
 
 Mason), when Mr. Sumner closed his speech, saw fit to 
 tell the Senate that his hands would be soiled by contact 
 with ours. The senator is not here : I wish he were. I 
 have simply to say tliat I know nothing in that senator, 
 moral, intellectual, or physical, which entitles him to use 
 such language towards members of the Senate, or any 
 portion of God's creation. I know nothing in the State 
 from which he comes, rich as it is in the history of the 
 past, that entitles him to speak in such a manner. I am 
 not here to assail Virginia : God knows I have not a 
 feeling in my heart against her or against her public men. 
 But I do say, it is time that these arrogant assumptions 
 ceased here. This is no place for assumed social supe- 
 riority, as though certain senators held the keys of culti- 
 vated and refined society. Sir, they do not hold the 
 keys, and they shall not hold over me the plantation- 
 whip. 
 
 *' I wish always to speak kindly towards every man in 
 this body. Since I came here, I have never asked an 
 introduction to a Southern member of the Senate ; not 
 because I have any feelings against them (for God knows 
 I have not) ; but I knew that they believed I held opinions 
 hostile to their interests, and I supposed they would not 
 desire my society. I have never wished to obtrude my- 
 self on their society, so that certain senators could do 
 with me as they have boasted they did with others, — 
 refuse to receive their advances, or refuse to recognize 
 them on the floor of the Senate. Sir, there is not a 
 couly in the guano islands of Peru who does not think 
 the Celestial Empire the whole universe. There are a 
 great many men, who have swung the whip over the plan- 
 tation, who think they not only rule the plantation, but 
 make up the judgment of the world, and hold the keys 
 
EEPLY TO MB. BUTLER. 203 
 
 not only to political power, as tliey have done in this 
 country, but to social life. 
 
 " The senator from South Carolina assails the :reso- 
 lutions of my State with his accustomed looseness, as 
 springing from ignorance, passion, prejudice, excitement. 
 Sir, the testimony before the House committee sustains 
 all that is contained in those resolutions. I know Mas- 
 sachusetts ; and I can tell him, that, of the twelve hun- 
 dred thousand people of Massachusetts, you cannot find 
 in the State one thousand, administration affice-holders 
 included, who do not look with loathing and execra- 
 tion upon the outrage on the person of their senator and 
 the honor of their State. The sentiment of Massachu- 
 setts, of New England, of the North, approaches unani- 
 mity. Massachusetts has spoken her opinions. The 
 senator is welcome to assail them, if he chooses ; but 
 they are on the record. They are made up by the verdict 
 of her people ; and they understand the question ; and 
 from their verdict there is no appeal." 
 
 After this speech of Mr. Wilson, Mr. Butler indulged 
 in some discursive remarks, and ended by saying, — 
 
 " As I suppose the senator (Mr. Wilson) is to be con- 
 sidered, in some sense, the historian of his State, I desire 
 to ask him how many battles were fought in Massachu- 
 setts during the Revolutionary war." 
 
 Mr. Wilson. — "I will answer the senator. The bat- 
 tles fought in Massachusetts during the Revolution were 
 few, because they were not necessary. Our Massachu- 
 setts men met the enemy at Lexington, at Concord 
 Bridge, at Bunker Hill, and on the heights of Dorchester. 
 They w^ould have met them on every spot in Massachu- 
 setts ; but the enemy took good care right early to get 
 and keep out of that State. 
 
204 LIFE OF HKN^RY WILSON. 
 
 " The senator said yesterday, as I understood him, that 
 * South Carolina had shed hogsheads of blood where 
 Massachusetts had shed gallons ' during the Revolution." 
 
 Mr. Butler. — " On the battle-fields of the two States." 
 
 Mr. Wilson. — " I heard no such limitation. I under- 
 stood the senator to mean that South Carolina had con- 
 tributed hogsheads of tlic blood of her sons, where Massa- 
 chusetts had only contributed gallons, to the Revolution. 
 Sir, South Carolina furnished five thousand five hundred 
 soldiers ; Massachusetts, sixty-nine thousand ; and they 
 drove the enemy, and followed the enemy, and met the 
 enemy on the battle-fields of the Revolution j_ from the 
 northern to the southern boundaries of the republic, from 
 the St. Lawrence to the St. Mary's. There were but few 
 battles fought on the soil of Massachusetts, for the reason 
 that the enemy thought it was safer to leave Massa- 
 chusetts, and go to South Carolina. The British army 
 thought it was not safe to be very near the battle-fields of 
 Concord, of Lexington, and of Bunker Hill ; and it left 
 Massachusetts, and took good care to keep out of a Com- 
 monwealth where friends always find a welcome, and foes 
 are apt to find a grave. 
 
 " During the Revolution, a portion of the people of 
 South Carolina — the Gadsdens, the Rutledges, the Lau- 
 renses, the Sumters, the Marions — made as great sacri- 
 fices for the cause of independence as any patriots in any 
 portion of the land ; but the fact cannot be denied, — and 
 all these patriots, including even Marion, convict South 
 CaroUna of the fact, — that she had a large lot of Tories. 
 There was a civil war in tliat State ; and, more than that, 
 thousands and tens of thousands of her sons sought pro- 
 tection under the British flag. When the army of Greene 
 was starving, the British army in Charleston was receiving 
 
EEPLY TO ME. BUTLER. 205 
 
 all that the fertile valleys of South Carolina could pro- 
 duce, carry into Charleston, and exchange for British 
 gold. When Greene and his patriot army wanted oxen 
 and horses to carry supplies, they were hustled off int(r 
 the forest by people who had, to quote the words of 
 Gen. Greene to Gen. Barnwell, ' far greater attachment to 
 their interests than zeal for the service of their country.' " 
 
 Mr. Butler. — "Let me ask the gentleman who fed 
 Greene's army at that time." 
 
 Mr. Wilson. — '''Wlio fed Greene's army?' That 
 army was hardly fed at all : at any rate, it was but poorly 
 fed, and scantily clothed. I apprehend, sir, that Greene's 
 army — like the schoolboy's whistle, that whistled itself — 
 fed itself. 
 
 " I have no disposition to assail the senator's State. I 
 sliould blush if I could say aught against the patriots of 
 South Carolina, or even cease to feel gratitude for their 
 efforts, their prompt response to the patriots of my own 
 State, in the early days of the Revolution. But, su*, Gads- 
 den, Burke, Marion, Ramsay, Barnwell, and the patriots 
 of that period, have borne this evidence, — that South Car- 
 olina was weakened in that contest by the existence of 
 slavery. That was what Mr. Sumner charged, and, on a 
 former occasion, demonstrated ; and that, I take it, no 
 man here or elsewhere can deny. 
 
 " The senator tells us that he has complimented the 
 battle-fields of Massachusetts, — the fields of Lexington, 
 Concord, and Bunker Hill. That senator, and the con- 
 stituents of that senator, can stand upon those sacred 
 spots, and breathe something of the spirit of liberty that 
 makes ihem immortal; lie can utter his sentiments, — 
 sentiments so little in harmony with the gallant dead 
 that sleep beneath those hallowed sods, or the living who 
 
 18 
 
206 LITE OF HEISTKY WILSOl^. 
 
 now guard them under the protection of law and a pub- 
 lic sentiment nurtured and sustained by free speech. I 
 should be proud to tread the battle-fields of South Caro- 
 lina, hallowed by patriot blood. Yes, sir, it would afford 
 me intense gratification to stand upon those stricken 
 fields, so dear to every true American heart ; but I do 
 not know that I could do so without suppressing those 
 clierished sentiments of liberty, for the vindication of 
 which patriot blood was poured out at Camden, Guilford, 
 Eutaw, and Hobkirk Hill. 
 
 " But all these allusions and reflections upon the his- 
 tory of the past afford me no gratification. I say to the 
 senator from South Carolina, that he and I and all of 
 us had far better turn from the past, cease to reflect 
 upon the services of our States in the Revolutionary era, 
 and deal with the living questions which we must meet 
 in this age, — questions that have great issues, involving 
 the interests of our common country and the rights of 
 human nature. lie and I and all of us here ought to 
 strive to settle these great issues for the good of our com- 
 mon country, and the whole people of the country, bond 
 and free." 
 
 Many letters of congratulation were received after the 
 delivery of this speech, and among them one from the 
 patriotic poet J. G. Whittier, in which he says, — 
 
 " Thy reply to Butler after the outrage upon our noble 
 friend Sumner was eminently ' the right word in the 
 riglit place.' " 
 
 The departure of Mr. Sumner from the Senate (from 
 which he was absent several years) left a heavier burden 
 upon Mr. Wilson ; yet with dauntless vigor he pressed 
 on, meeting the Southern members with a clear head and 
 lion heart on the great questions then at issue, and repel- 
 
KANSAS. 207 
 
 ling by unanswerable arguments the assaults upon the 
 North. 
 
 He would not interfere with slavery in the Southern 
 States ; but with invincible determination he stood op- 
 posed to its extension over the Territories of the West, 
 and to the doctrine of the " squatter sovereignty " ad- 
 vanced by Mr. Douglas, and maintained by the pro- 
 slavery propagandists. 
 
 In a noble spcccli, July 9, on a report for printing twen- 
 ty tliousand extra copies of the bill to enable Kansas to 
 form a constitution, he said, — 
 
 " Sir, for framing this constitution, this free consti- 
 tution, for organizing under it a State government, and 
 choosing senators to urge its adoption here, the people of 
 Kansas have been denounced as ' traitors ' by the senator 
 from Illinois and those who follow his lead in and out of 
 the Senate. This chamber has rung with your words of 
 rebuke, denunciation, and reproof of the people of Kansas, 
 whose only crime is devotion to freedom, resistance to 
 the monstrous tyranny of usurped power. I charge upon 
 the administration the crime of abandoning the people of 
 Kansas to the merciless rule of their conquerors. Ay, 
 sir, I go farther, and I charge upon the administration 
 and upon its supporters here the crime of aiding and 
 abetting their conquerors in their unhallowed deeds. 
 
 " Mr. President, the administration and its supporters — 
 the senators from Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Georgia — 
 snatched Kansas from the exclusive possession of the free 
 laboring-men' of the republic. North and South, and flung 
 it open to the footprints of the slave and his master. You 
 deluded the people with the idea of popular sovereignty : 
 you have seen that sovereignty cloven down by invading 
 hordes of armed men ; you have seen the people robbed 
 
208 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 of their rights, and oppressed ; you have seen them strug- 
 gle to recover their lost rights ; and in all their wrongs 
 and struggles you have basely abandoned them ; ay, you 
 liavc joined their oppressors, and aided them in the enforce- 
 ment of their usurped powers and unhallowed decrees. 
 Sir, I hold the administration, I hold the majority here, 
 I hold the Democratic party, up to the stern verdict of the 
 civilized world for this abandonment of the people of 
 Kansas, this collusion with tlieir oppressors. 
 
 " The people of Kansas, Mr. President, have not only 
 been defrauded of their legal and political rights, op- 
 pressed by laws imposed upon them by foreign force, and 
 denied all redress, but they have been invaded, hunted 
 down, by armed bands of thieving marauders, their dwell- 
 ings burned, their property stolen, and many of their 
 number treated with personal violence, and some of them 
 brutally murdered. Dwellings have been battered with 
 cannon, houses have been fired, presses destroyed, oxen, 
 horses, and other property, stolen, and men foully mur- 
 dered ; and the administration and its officials in the 
 Territory have no time to si)are from the infamous work 
 of subduing the friends of free Kansas for the arrest and 
 punishment of the men who have illumined the midnight 
 skies with the lurid light of sacked and burning dwellings 
 of the people, — men who have inaugurated the era of 
 robbery, violence, and murder." 
 
 In enumerating the outrages committed upon tho 
 peaceable citizens of Kansas, he held up a musket-ball to 
 the Senate, and touchingly said, — 
 
 "The ball I hold in my hand was shot through a boy 
 eighteen years old, the son of a widow. On his way 
 home from Westport, Mo., he was stopped by these gentry 
 who keep guard over the passes' into the Territory, and 
 
NO SUPPLIES FOR SUBJUGATING KANSAS. 209 
 
 required to give up what he had. He gave up his arms. 
 They then required him to give up his horse ; but he told 
 tiiem he would not do it. For that he was shot down ; 
 and this ball was taken out of his lifeless body by a friend 
 of mine." 
 
 In an effective speech in the Senate, Aug. 27, against 
 sending military supplies to subjugate freemen in Kansas, 
 he said, — 
 
 " Let the army be disbanded forever rather than enforce 
 those infamous enactments or uphold the usurpation in 
 Kansas. Almost every township of the North has furnished 
 actual settlers to Kansas. Are senators on the other side 
 infatuated enough to believe that the people will sustain 
 tliem in their career of madness in forcing down the 
 throats of tlieir kindred and friends, with the sabre and 
 bayonet, these enactments ? When the brutal boast of 
 the British officer, that he would cram the stamps down 
 the throats of our fatliers with the hilt of his sword, is 
 applauded by their descendants, then, and not till then, 
 will the people of the free States applaud your efforts to 
 cram these unchristian, inhuman, and fiendish laws down 
 the throats of their brethren in distant Kansas with the 
 sabre of the dragoon, — enactments which the senator 
 from Delaware (Mr. Clayton) declares would send even 
 John C. Calhoun to the penitentiary." 
 
 18* 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 NOMINATION OF MR. FREMONT. NORTHERN SENTIMENT. 
 
 DEFENCE OF REPUBLICAN PARTY. VISIT TO CAN- 
 ADA. CONGRESSIONAL CAREER, 1857. LETTERS. 
 
 Philadelphia Convention, 1856. —Platform. — The Campaign. — Sons of New 
 Hampshire. — South for the Dissolution of the Union. — Kansas and Nebras- 
 ka Bill. — Speech on the Eepublican Party. — Opening of the Grand-Trunk 
 Railroad. — Speech at Montreal. — Activity in the United-States Senate.— 
 Measures proposed. — Speech on the Lecompton Constitution. — Letter from 
 the Hon. George T. Bigelovv; also from the Hon. G. R. Kussell. 
 
 JOHN C. FREMONT was nominated as the Republi- 
 can candidate for president in the convention held at 
 Philadelphia, June 17, 1856, on a platform opposing the 
 repeal of the Missouri Compromise, the extension of 
 slavery into the free Territories, the policy of the pro- 
 slavery administration of Mr. Pierce, and in favor of a 
 railroad to the Pacific, and the admission of Kansas as 
 a free State into the Union. Mr. Wilson, though not a 
 delegate, was present at the convention, where he was 
 most cordially received, and where he brought forward 
 Mr. Dayton for vice-president. On his return from Con- 
 gress, he went into the presidential contest with his usual 
 ardor, delivering powerfnl speeches before immense 
 audiences, in which he rebuked the aggressive spirit 
 of the South and the pusillanimity of the administra- 
 
 210 
 
NOETHERN SENTIMENT. 211 
 
 lion, and developed the principles of the Republican 
 party. 
 
 In a festival of the Sons of New Hampshire, held at 
 Natick Aug. 18, he was greeted with tremendous ap- 
 plause, and his senatorial course commended. The in- 
 dignity cast on Massachusetts by the dastardly assault on 
 Mr. Sumner, and the arrogance of the border ruffians, 
 were converting rapidly her conservatives to Republi- 
 canism ; and great enthusiasm for the liberal candidates 
 was manifested, especially by the working-people. 
 
 It was generally admitted that Mr. Fremont would bo 
 elected; and mutteriiigs were heard, that, in such event, 
 the South would dissolve the Union. Senator Butler 
 said, " If he should be chosen, I shall advise my legisla- 
 ture to go at the tap of the drum ; " and Mr. Toombs of 
 Georgia, that " the Union would be dissolved, and ought 
 to be dissolved." 
 
 But the action of the third party in the nomination of 
 Mr. Fillmore brought James Buchanan into the execu- 
 tive chair. The large vote cast, however, for the Republi- 
 can candidate, revealed the strength of the party, the 
 sentiment of the North, and abundantly repaid the exer- 
 tion which the contest cost. 
 
 On entering Congress in December, Mr. Wilson intro- 
 duced a bill to organize the Territory of Kansas and 
 Nebraska on the 16th inst. ; and on the 19th made a 
 speech of masterly ability in defence of the acts and 
 principles of his organization, which had an immense cir- 
 culation through the country, and fully sustained his 
 reputation as an orator, a statistician, and a statesman. 
 In it he said, — 
 
 " On the 4th of November last, more than thirteen 
 hundred thousand men, intelligent, patriotic, liberty* 
 
212 LIFE OF HENBY WILSON. 
 
 loving, law-abiding citizens of Now England, the great 
 Central States, and of the North-west, holding with our 
 republican fathers that all men arc created equal, and 
 have an inalienable right to liberty ; that the Constitution 
 of tlie United States was ordained and established to 
 secure that inalienable right everywhere under its exclu- 
 sive authority; denying ' the authority of Congress, of a 
 Territorial legislature, of any individual, or association of 
 individuals, to give legal existence to slavery in any Terri- 
 tory of the United States while the present Constitution 
 shall be maintained,' — pronounced through the ballot-box 
 that ' the Constitution confers upon Congress sovereign 
 power over the Territories of the United States ; and that, 
 in the exercise of this power, it is both tlie right and the 
 duty of Congress to prohibit in the Territories those 
 twin relics of barbarism, polygamy and slavery.' Boiiev- 
 ing with Franklin, that ' slavery is an atrocious debase- 
 ment of human nature ; ' with Adams, that ' consenting to 
 slavery is a sacrilegious breach of trust ; ' with Jefferson, 
 that ' one hour of American slavery is fraught with more 
 misery than ages of that which we rose in rebellion to 
 oppose ; ' with Madison, that ' slavery is a dreadful calam- 
 ity,' — that ' imbecility is ever attendant upon a country 
 filled with slaves ; ' with Monroe, that ' slavery has preyed 
 on the vitals of the community in all the States where 
 it has existed;' with Montesquieu, 'that even the very 
 earth, which teems with profusion under the cultivat- 
 ing hand of the free-born laborer, shrinks into barren- 
 ness from the contaminating sweat of a slave," — they 
 pronounced their purpose to be to save Kansas, now in 
 peril, and all the Territories of the republic, for the free 
 laboring-men of the North and the South, their cbi'dven, 
 and their children's children, forever. 
 
DEFENCE OF EEPUBLICAK PAETT. 213 
 
 " Accepting the Declaration of Independence and the 
 Constitution of the United States as tlicir political charts ; 
 avowing their purposes to be to maintain the Constitu- 
 tion, the Federal Union, and the riglits of the States; 
 proclaiming everywhere their purpose not to make war 
 upon tlie South, not to interfere with the legal and con- 
 stitutional rights of the people of any of the States, — 
 they gave tlieir votes with the profoundest conviction that 
 they were discharging the duties sanctioned by humanity, 
 patriotism, and religion." 
 
 He thus denied the charges of the president : — 
 "Assuming, Mr. President, that his policy has been 
 sanctioned by the election, the president proceeds to 
 accuse more than thirteen hundred thousand Ameri- 
 can citizens of an attempt to organize a sectional party, 
 and usurp the government of the country. He pro- 
 ceeds to arraign more than thirteen hundred thousand 
 citizens of the free North, and to charge them with 
 forming associations of individuals, * who, pretendhig to 
 seek ohly to prevent the spread of slavery into the pres- 
 ent or future inchoate States, arc really inflamed with a 
 desire to change the domestic institutions of existing 
 States ; ' with seeking ' an object which they well know 
 to be a revolutionary one ; ' with entering ' a path which 
 leads nowhere, unless it be to civil war and disunion ; ' 
 with being ' perfectly aware that the only path to the ac- 
 complishment' of the change they seek * is through burn- 
 ing cities and ravaged fields and slaughtered populations ; ' 
 with endeavoring Ho prepare the people of the United 
 States for civil war, by doing every thing in their power to 
 deprive the Constitution and the laws of moral autliority, 
 and to undermine the fabric of the Union by appeals to 
 passion and sectional prejudice, by indoctrinating its peo« 
 
'214 LITE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 plo with reciprocal hatred, and bj educating them to stand 
 
 face to face as enemies.' 
 
 <' Sir, I deny each, every one, ay, all, of these charges. 
 
 There is not the semblance of truth in them. If tho 
 
 serpent that stole into Eden, that beguiled our first mother, 
 
 which the angels 
 
 < Found i 
 
 Squat like a toad at the ear of Eve,* ^ 
 
 had glided into the executive mansion, that serpent could 
 not have hissed into the president's ear words more skil- 
 fully adapted to express the precise and exact opposite of 
 truth. Sir, these accusations against as intelligent and 
 patriotic men as ever rallied around the standard of Free- 
 dom are untruthful and malignant, showing that the 
 shafts hurled in the conflict through which we have just 
 passed rankle in his bosom." 
 
 Of the issues and the real agitator he said, — 
 " Surely senators cannot be surprised at the discussion 
 of questions so vast as those which grow out of the slavery 
 of nearly four millions of men in America. American 
 slavery, our connections with it, and our relations to it, 
 and the obligations these connections and relations impose 
 upon us as men, as citizens of the States and the United 
 States, make up the overshadowing issu.es of the age in 
 which we live. Philanthropists, who have sounded the 
 depths and shoals of humanity ; scholars, who have laid 
 under contribution the domain of matter and of mind, 
 of philosophic inquiry and historical research ; statesmen, 
 who are impressing their genius upon the institutions 
 of their country and their age, — all are now illustrat- 
 ing, by their genius, learning, and eloquence, the vast 
 and complicated issues involved in the great problems we 
 of this age, in America, are working out. The transcend- 
 
DEFENCE OF REPUBLICAN PARTY. • 215 
 
 ent magnitude of the interests involved in the existence 
 and expansion of the system of human bondage in Ameri- 
 ca is arresting the attention of the people, and stirring 
 the country to its profoundest depths. 
 
 "The senator from Tennessee (Mr. Jones) quoted a 
 remark of mine, to the effect that this agitation of the 
 slavery question would never cease while the soil of the 
 repubhc should be trod by the foot of a slave. That sen- 
 timent I repeat here to-day. I believe it. God is the great 
 agitator. While his throne stands, agitation will go on 
 until the foot of a slave shall not press the soil of the East- 
 ern or Western continent." 
 
 Of the Union sentiment of his party he remarked, — 
 " Then we are charged in the message with having en- 
 tered upon a path which has no possible outlet but dis- 
 union. When the Republican party was organized, the 
 avowal was made that the Union must be maintained. 
 The declaration of Mr. Webster, ' Liberty and Union, 
 now and forever, one and inseparable ; ' the declaration of 
 Andrew Jackson, 'The Union must be preserved,' — were 
 borne throughout the canvass on all our banners. In the 
 public press, and before the people everywhere, the doc- 
 trine was maintained that we were for the Union ; and if 
 any men. North or South, laid their hands upon it, they 
 should die, if we had the power, traitor deaths, and leave 
 traitor names in the history of the republic." 
 
 He thus rebuked the sneer of " bleeding Kansas : " — 
 " Sir, the senator from Texas spoke sneeringly of 
 * bleeding Kansas.' Throughout the canvass, our efforts 
 in favor of making Kansas a free State, and protecting the 
 legal rights of the people, were sneered at as ' shrieks for 
 Freedom ' and for ' bleeding Kansas.' I remember that 
 on the evenmg when the news came to New York that 
 
216 LIFE OF HEKEY WILSON. 
 
 Pennsylvania was carried, in October, the Empire Club 
 came out with cannon, banners, and transparencies. The 
 Five Points, where the waves of abolition fanaticism have 
 never reached, — the inhabitants of that locality, like the 
 people of the Lower Egypt of the West, stood fifty to one 
 by the Democracy ; the Five Points and the Sixth Ward 
 were out ; and upon a transparency, borne through the 
 streets of the great commercial capital of the Western 
 world, was the picture of three scourged black men ; and 
 on that transparency were the words, * Bleeding Kansas.' 
 I thought then that it was a degradation which had 
 reached the profoundest depths of humiliation ; but even 
 that degradation has been surpassed here in the national 
 capital. In that procession which passed along these ave- 
 nues but a few evenings before we came here — a proces- 
 sion formed under the immediate eyes of the chiefs of the 
 executive departments of the government, and filled with 
 their retainers, led by government officials — was borne 
 upon a transparency the words, ' Sumner and Kansas, — 
 let them bleed ! ' 
 
 " The senator from Texas may sneer, and others may 
 sneer, at ' bleeding Kansas ; ' but I tell him one thing, — 
 that the next day at ten o'clock, after the presidential 
 election, there was an assemblage of men, continuing 
 through two days, in the city of Boston, from several 
 States, and from ' bleeding Kansas,' — men, some of whom 
 you guarded through tlie summer months for treason, — 
 assembled together to take measures to save Kansas ; and 
 I assure that senator, and others who may think this 
 struggle for Kansas is ended with the election, that more 
 money has been contributed since that election than dur- 
 ing any three months of the whole controversy. Thou- 
 sands of garments have been sent to clothe that suffering 
 
DEFENCE OF REPUBLICAN PAHTY. 217 
 
 people. We have resolved, — and we mean to keep that 
 resolution, — that if by any lawful effort, any persona] 
 sacrifice, Kansas can be saved to Freedom, it shall be 
 saved in spite of your present administration, or any 
 thing that your incoming administration can do." 
 
 Respecting freedom of speech, he spoke as follows : — 
 " But we are charged by the president with inculcating 
 a spirit which would lead the people of the North and 
 South to stand face to face as enemies. Sir, I repel that 
 charge as utterly and wholly false. There is no such 
 feeling in the Northern States towards the people of the 
 Sou til. But a few months ago, the senator from Georgia 
 (Mr. Toombs), whose views upon this question of slavery 
 are known to be extremely ultra, went to the city of Bos- 
 ton, and lectured before one of the most intelligent audi- 
 ences that ever assembled in that section of our country. 
 He was received by all with that courtesy and that kind- 
 ness of feeling which every Southern man who visits that 
 section receives, and to which they bear testimony. Mr. 
 Benton is in tlie North now, lecturing in favor of the 
 Union, — ' carrying coals to Newcastle.' He is every- 
 where sought after, everywhere listened to, everywhere 
 treated kindly, althougli he holds views in regard to sla- 
 very that not one man in ten thousand in that section 
 approves. 
 
 " Can we utter in the South the words which the 
 fathers of the South taught us ? Could the senator from 
 New York (Mr. Fish), whose father fought at Yorktown, 
 go to that field, and utter the sentiments which were upon 
 the lips of all the great men of Virginia when Cornwallis 
 surrendered ? Could the senators from New Hampshire 
 stand on that spot once baptized by the blood of Alexan- 
 der Scammell, and there utter the sentiments of Henry, 
 
 19 
 
218 LITE OF HENllY WILSON. 
 
 or of Jefferson, or of Mason? Could one of us go clown 
 to Mount Vernon, which slavery has converted into a sort 
 of jungle, and there repeat the words of Washington, — 
 ' No man desires more earnestly than I do to see slavery 
 abolished : there is only one proper way to do it, and 
 that is by legislative action ; and for that my vote shall 
 never be wanting ' ? Could we go to Monticello, could 
 we stand by the graves of Jefferson, of Madison, of Henry, 
 of the great men of Virginia, and utter the sublime 
 thoughts which they uttered for the liberty of the bond- 
 men ? Could we stand by the grave of Henry Clay, and 
 declare, as he declared, slavery to be ' a curse,' ' a wrong,' 
 a ^ grievous wrong to the slave, that no contingency could 
 make right 'V 
 
 " In the slaveholding States, free speech and a free press 
 are known only in theory. A slaveholding, slavery-ex- 
 tending Democracy has established a relentless despotism. 
 We invited you of the South to meet us in national con- 
 vention to restore the government to the policy of the 
 fathers. Mr. Underwood of Virginia did go to Philadel- 
 phia. He united with us in our declaration of principles ; 
 lie united with us in the nomination of John C. Fremont: 
 and for this offence he was banished from Virginia. He 
 TCturned a few days since, and was notified, that, if he 
 remained, he must run the risk of being dealt with by an 
 indignant community. • He has left there, and I believe is 
 now here in the city of Washington. When the Fremont 
 flcT^ was raised in Norfolk, the civil authorities took it 
 down. Mr. Stannard, a merchant of Norfolk, a native of 
 Connecticut, went up to the ballot-box, and quietly handed 
 ill his vote for Fremont. It was handed back to him. 
 They would not receive it. He was driven from the polls, 
 ftnd compelled to hide himself for days, until he could fmd 
 
DEFENCE OF REPUBLICAN PAHTY. 219 
 
 an opportunity to escape from the State to presc rve his 
 life." 
 
 Of the despotism of slavery he said, — 
 
 " Sir, I have said that you have no freedom of speech at 
 the South. Senators have denounced us as sectional 
 because we have no votes in the South. That reminds me 
 of the Dutch judge in old democratic Berks, who kicked 
 the defendant out of doors, locked the door, and then en- 
 tered a judgment for default. (Laughter.) Your native 
 sons stand on electoral tickets, or vote our principles, at 
 the peril of life. Then, when you are able with your iron 
 despotism to crush out all there who would go with us, 
 you turn round and tell us we are getting up a sectional 
 party. I assure you, there are tens of thousands of men 
 in the South whose sympathies are with us ; but they have 
 no opportunity so to vote. In the city of St. Louis, nearly 
 three thousand Germans, to show their devotion to lib- 
 erty, went to the ballot-boxes, when they could get up no 
 State ticket for Fremont, and voted for Millard Fillmore, 
 the Know-Nothing candidate, with the word 'Protest' 
 printed on their ballots, — an act which illustrates your 
 despotism, and shows that these men, who were true to 
 liberty in the Old World, will not be false to their cher- 
 ished convictions in the New. 
 
 " Even here in the national capitol, that vacant seat 
 (pointing to Mr. Sumner's chair) is an evidence that 
 freedom of speech is not always tolerated, — not always 
 safe." 
 
 To the charge of fanaticism he replied, — 
 
 " If you believe that the people are fanatics, or that 
 their leaders deceive them, remember one thing, — that, in 
 1850, there were in the United States nearly eight hun- 
 dred thousand free persons above twenty years of age who 
 
220 LITE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 could not read or write. Only ninety-four thousand out 
 of this eight hundred thousand happen to live in the 
 States which Fremont has carried. Remember another 
 thing, — that the State of Massachusetts, which you con- 
 sider so ultra, — a people so easily deluded, — prints within 
 a few thousand, and circulates, more newspapers within 
 the State than all the fifteen Southern States of the Union. 
 Remember, they have more volumes in their public libra- 
 ries than all the slave States. Remember, they give away 
 more money to the Bible and Missionary and other benevo- 
 lent societies, every year, than the entire slaveholding 
 States ; and they have done so during the last quarter of 
 a century. 
 
 *' I tell you, sir, that the people are ahead of us ; and 
 that is what you fear. You say that they are deceived by 
 us ; and then you turn round and declare that you cannot 
 rely on our disclaimers, because tlie people will pass be- 
 yond the direction and control of political leaders. The 
 people understand this question, sir : tliey know their 
 responsibilities, their powers, and their duties." 
 
 He closed by these brave words : — 
 
 " I give you notice to-day, gentlemen, what we intend 
 to do. If the incoming administration sends into this 
 body the nomination of a single man who ever threatened 
 the dissolution of the Union, we intend to camp on tliis 
 floor, and to resist his confirmation to the bitter end. 
 I give you notice now, that we shall resist the coming into 
 power of all that class of men, as enemies of the Consti- 
 tution and the Union. 
 
 " We go farther. We mean to hold the incoming ad- 
 ministration responsible if it gives confidence or patronage 
 to your ' Richmond Enquirers ' and ' Examiners,' your 
 ' Charleston Mercuries ' and ' Standards,' your ' New- 
 
DEFENCE OF EEPUBLICAN PAETY. 221 
 
 Orleans Deltas ' and your ' South-side Democrats,' or any 
 Democratic journal in the United States which threat- 
 ened the dissolution of the Union in the event of our 
 success. We intend here in our places to defend that 
 Union which makes us one people agahist the men of 
 your party who have threatened to subvert and destroy it. 
 We intend to go a little farther. Your slave propagandist 
 journals have denounced the independent laboring-men 
 of the North as ' greasy mechanics,' ' filthy operatives,' 
 ' small-fisted farmers,' ' moon-struck theorists.' We mean 
 to hold you responsible if you bestow your confidence 
 and patronage upon journals which maintain that ' the 
 principle of slavery is itself right, and does not depend 
 on difference of complexion.' 
 
 '' Senators have told us they want peace ; they want 
 repose. Well, sir, I want peace; I want repose.. The 
 State I represent wants peace ; wants repose. Tens of 
 millions of our property are scattered broadcast over the 
 Southern States. The business-men, the merchants, the 
 manufacturers, of my State want peace as much as you 
 can want it. You can have it. But you cannot have it 
 if you want to extend slavery over the free Territories. 
 You cannot have it if you continue your efforts to bring 
 Kansas here a slave State. If you want peace, abandon 
 your policy of slavery extension. Cease all efforts to 
 control the political destinies of the country through the 
 expansion of slavery as an element of political power. 
 Plant yourselves upon your reserved constitutional rights, 
 and we will aid you in the vindication of those rights. 
 Turn your attention from the forbidden fruits of Cuban, 
 Central-American, or Mexican acquisitions, to your own 
 dilapidated fields, where the revegetating forests are 
 springing up, and where, in the language of Gov. Wise, 
 
 19* 
 
222 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 < you have the owners skinning the negroes, the negroes 
 skinnhig the land, until all grow poor together.' Erase 
 from your statute-books those cruel laws which shock 
 the sensibilities of mankind. Place there humane and 
 beneficent legislation, which shall protect the relations 
 of husband and wife, parent and child; which shall open 
 darkened minds to the elevating influence of Christian 
 culture. You will then have the generous sympathies, 
 the sincere prayers, of men who reverently look to Him 
 whose hand guides the destinies of the world. You will 
 have the best wishes of the friends of liberty all over the 
 globe. Humanity and Christianity will sanction and bless 
 your efforts to hasten on that day, though it may be dis- 
 tant, when freedom shall be the inalienable birthright of 
 every man who treads the soil of the North- American 
 continent." 
 
 Mr. Wilson visited Canada for the first time in the 
 autumn, and was present at the banquet in Montreal at 
 the opening of the Grand-Trunk Railroad, where to the 
 third toast, which was to the chief magistrate of the 
 United States, he made this admirable response : — 
 
 " Mr. Mayor and Fellow-Citizens, — I thank you, 
 in behalf of the citizens of the United States who have 
 come to join you on this great festival, for the sentiment 
 you have given for the chief magistrate of the United 
 States. (Cheers.) I am sure, sir, that I speak the sen- 
 timents of every American here to-day, when I say that 
 we not only thank you for proposing a sentiment to the 
 chief magistrate of our country, but I thank you for say- 
 ing that you trust that the people of the United States 
 and the people of British America will always meet as 
 friends. (Cheers.) Difficulties have arisen, have fre- 
 quently arisen, between Great Britain and the United 
 
VISIT TO CANADA. 228 
 
 States. These difficulties, sir, between our governments, 
 we all trust, are in process of settlement, so that })eace, 
 perpetual peace, may be preserved between Great Britain 
 and America. (Great applause.) Let me say here to- 
 day, — what I know every son of New England, New York, 
 and, in an especial manner, the sons of the mighty West, 
 will sustain me in saying, — th.at we witness the develop- 
 ment and the prosperity of the British Colonies in North 
 America (clieers) not only without jealousy, but we wit- 
 ness them with pride and admiration. (Cheers.) Go 
 on, brethren ; improve and develop all the mighty 
 resources of British America. Your prosperity is our 
 prosperity. (Applause.) We are bound together by 
 a thousand associations of blood and of kindred. We 
 are connected together by those mighty improvements 
 which we are met here to-day to commemorate. We 
 arc bound together by a treaty of reciprocity, mutually 
 beneficial to you and to us. We are beginning to under- 
 stand each other, to value each other, to be proud of 
 each other's prosperity and success ; and may God grant 
 that the sons of British America and the sons of the 
 North-American republic may never meet again on the 
 banks of the St. Lawrence, on river, on lake, on land, in 
 any other way than that in which we are all met to- 
 day, — to grasp each. other's hands in friendship, and to 
 aid, to encourage each other in the development of the 
 resources of the North-American continent ! (Great 
 applause.) Sir, the governor - general has alluded to 
 Lord Durham, — a statesman in whose premature grave 
 were buried many of the high hopes of the reformers of 
 England. He uttered a sentiment that every statesman, 
 whether in the service of England or America, should 
 respond to ; and that was this, — ' that lie never saw an 
 
224 LITE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 hour pass over recognized and unreformed abuses without 
 profound regret.' (Cheers.) Gentlemen, I give you in 
 conclusion this sentiment : * Prosperity to the people of 
 the Canadas, and success to their government.' " (Great 
 applause.) 
 
 Mr. Wilson's Congressional career in 1857, though char- 
 acterized by no striking effort in debate, was nevertheless 
 marked by incessant and effective labor. We find him, in 
 addition to his arduous duties in the Military Committee, 
 always abreast of the questions of the times, and vigorously 
 advocating liberal and progressive measures. This may 
 be seen from a brief record of his doings in the Senate 
 for the month of February, here presented : On the 4th 
 inst. he spoke in favor of disposing of the alternate 
 sections of land along the railroads aided by the govern- 
 ment, not to speculators, but to actual settlers on the lines. 
 Twenty-one millions of acres had been granted to the 
 States for railroad-purposes : by selling to the cultivators 
 of the soil, a population would arise to support the roads, 
 and make them really serviceable to the country. On the 
 10th he presented a resolution against the repeal of the 
 fisliing bounty ; on the 12th, a resolution to inquire into 
 the cause of the failure of the mails at Washington, this 
 having occurred thirty-eight times within seventy-two 
 days ; on the ITth inst. he spoke in favor of increasing 
 the pay of officers of a rank lower than lieutenant-colonels 
 in the army ; on the 18th he advocated the introduction of 
 a bust of Chief Justice William Cushing, as an offset to 
 that of Mr. Rutledge ; on the 21st he made an argument 
 in favor of admitting Minnesota, " clothed," as he said, 
 "■ in the white robes of Freedom," into the Union ; on the 
 2Gtli he declared himself in favor of a sub-marine tele- 
 graph ; on the 27tli he spoke in favor of a telegraphic line 
 
CONGRESSIONAL CABEEE. 22f 
 
 between the Atlantic and Pacific States ; and on the 28tli 
 he introduced a bill for the erection of a court-house in 
 the city of Boston. Such were some of his labors for the 
 month ; and, by a reference to " The Congressional Globe," 
 it will be seen that the interests of the Commonwealth he 
 represented did not suffer in his hands. 
 
 On the Lecompton Constitution, and the admission of 
 Kansas into the Union under it, Mr. Wilson declared his 
 sentiments in forcible language on the 3d and 4th of 
 February, 1858. Replying to Mr. Brown, he asks, — 
 
 " Wliy is this act to be consummated, when we know, 
 that, on the 4th of January, twelve thousand men of that 
 Territory voted against this constitution ; and that there 
 were ouly six thousand votes cast for it on the 21st of De- 
 cember, of which three or four thousand were unques- 
 tiouably fraudulent ? 
 
 " There is only one power on this continent which 
 could thus control, direct, and guide men : and that is 
 that gigantic slave power which holds this administration 
 in the hollow of its hand ; which guides and directs the 
 Democratic party ; and which has only to stamp its foot, 
 and the men who wield the government of this country 
 tremble, submit, and bow to its will. Senators talk about 
 the dangers of the country. Great God ! what are our 
 dangers? The danger is that there is such a power — a 
 local, sectional power — that can control this government, 
 can ride over justice, ride over a wronged people, consum- 
 mate glaring and outrageous frauds, and trample down 
 the will of a brave and free people. That is the danger. 
 The time has come when the freemen of this country, 
 looking to liberty, to popular rights, to justice to all sec- 
 tions of the country, should overthrow this power, and 
 trample it under their feet forever. The time has come 
 
226 LIFE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 when the people should rise in the majesty of conscio-Jis 
 power, and hurl from office and from places of influence 
 the men who thus bow to this tyranny. 
 
 '' Senators are anxious about the Union. The senator 
 from Delaware (Mr. Bayard) to-day thought it was iu 
 peril. Well, sir, I am not alarmed about it. 1 am in the 
 Union ; my State is in the Union : we intend to stay in it. 
 If anybody wants to go out, Mexico and Central America, 
 and the valley of the Amazon, are all open to emigration : 
 let them start. I shall not hold them back, nor mourn 
 over their departure. But all this continent now in the 
 Union is American soil, and a part of my country ; and 
 my vote and my influence, now and hereafter, will be 
 given to keep it a part of my country." 
 
 The following letter from the late Hon. George T. Bige- 
 low indicates the spirit with which liberty-loving men 
 responded to the sentiments which the Massachusetts sena- 
 tor expressed : — 
 
 Boston, Feb. 22, 1858. 
 
 Dear Sir, — I had read a report of your remarks in 
 the Senate in reply to Messrs. Brown and Green before 
 I received your pamphlet edition of them. I trust that 
 you will not think it intrusive in me to say that I was 
 highly gratified by the matter, as well as by the tone and 
 temper which pervade them. They are manly and digni- 
 fied ; sufficiently bold and resolute, without being vitu- 
 perative or personal ; maintaining the truth fearlessly, and 
 resisting the disposition of the Southern men to overawe 
 and browbeat in the right spirit. The South will soon 
 learn that their bastard chivalry is worth but little when 
 opposed to such courageous assaults. 
 
 I suppose that there is but little, if any, hope of success- 
 fully resisting the admission of Kansas under the Le- 
 
LETTERS. 227 
 
 comptoii Constitution. There is no sclieme of fraud and 
 riolence which the South will not adopt to secure their 
 ends, and which the Northern Democracy will not subser- 
 viently support. I cannot doubt, however, that the fla- 
 grant wrong and injustice of the whole proceeding wiD. 
 arouse the spirit of the North and North-west to a united 
 effort against the slavery propagandism of the party in 
 power. The great danger is that the enthusiasm of the 
 people of the free States will expend itself in electing a 
 Republican majority in the next Congress, and will then 
 die away, so that we shall lose the presidential election of 
 1860. However this may be, the only way is to fight on 
 in the confident hope that the day of triumph will surely 
 come. 
 
 I am, with great respect, 
 
 Your friend and servant, 
 
 G. T. BiGELOW. 
 
 Another letter, dated Feb. 22, says in relation to this 
 speech, — 
 
 " It adds to your laurels ; and I congratulate you on 
 your successful encounter with our enemies in the Senate. 
 Your whole course since you have been a member of the 
 Senate has been highly honorable to you, and gratifying to 
 the great body of your constituents. You have manifested 
 not only the most distinguished ability, but a fearlessness 
 that has raised you amazingly in the good opinion of 
 Northern men. I hear but one sentiment expressed in 
 regard to you ; and that is friendly and respectful. You 
 never held so elevated a position as you do at the present 
 time. We all feel proud that we have at least one repre- 
 
228 LIFE OF HENP.Y WILSOIsr. 
 
 Bciitative who is both able and willing to take a defiant 
 stand against the tyranny which is making our country 
 worthless to us and a mockery to the world. 
 " Yours very truly, 
 
 " G. R. Russell." 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 REPLY TO MR. HAMMOND. — CHALLENGE FROM MR. GWIN. 
 
 Character of his Reply to Mr. Hammond. — " Cotton is King." — Southern 
 Institutions. —A Contrast. — Social Condition of the North and South. — 
 Mud-sills. — Free Labor of the North. — Conclusion of his Argument.— 
 Reply to Mr. Gwin's Challenge. — The Affair amicably adjuste':'. 
 
 r\^ the 20th of March (1858) following, Mr. Wilson 
 ^^ made a most eloquent speech in reply to Mr. Ham- 
 mond of South Carolina, who had proclaimed that " Cotton 
 was king," and most insolently characterized the Northern 
 workhig-men as " mud-sills " and " essentially slaves." In 
 Mr. Wilson's array of facts, his cogent arguments, his 
 bold invective, he confounds this chivalric defender of 
 the servile institution, and presents the noblest plea for 
 the Northern laborer ever uttered in the halls of Con- 
 gress. By all his sympathies, by the whole training of 
 his life, he was prepared for the contest. In some respects 
 this speech is a model of invective eloquence, and has en- 
 deared its author to the hearts of millions of the work- 
 ing - people. We regret that but a few extracts can be 
 given here. 
 
 To his vaunting assertion that " Cotton was king," he 
 says, " The senator, filled with magnificent visions of 
 Southern power, crowns Cotton 'king;' and tells us, 
 
 20 229 
 
230 LITE OF HENKY WILSON. 
 
 that, if they should stop supplying cotton for three years, 
 'England would topple headlong, and carry the whole 
 civilized world with her, save the South ' ! What pre- 
 sumption ! The South, — which owns lands and slaves, 
 tlie price fluctuating with the production, use, and price 
 of cotton, — having no other resource or means of support, 
 would go liarmless ; while the great commercial centres 
 of the world, with the vast accumulations of capital, the 
 products of ages of accumulation, with varied pursuits 
 and skilled industry, would ' topple ' to their fall. Sir, 
 I suppose the coffee-planters of Brazil, the tea-growers of 
 the Celestial Empire, and the wheat-growers on the shores 
 of the Black Sea and on the banks of tlie Don and the Vol- 
 ga, indulge in the same magnificent illusions. I would 
 remind the senator that the commercial world is not 
 governed by the cotton-planters of the South, the coffee- 
 planters of Brazil, the tea-growers of China, nor the 
 wheat-producers of Eastern Europe. I tell the senator 
 that England, France, Germany, Western Europe, and 
 the Northern States of the Union, are the commercial, 
 manufacturing, business, and monetary centres of the 
 world ; that their merchants, manufacturers, and capital- 
 ists grasp the globe ; that cotton and sugar and tea and 
 coffee and wheat, and the spices of the isles of the Orien- 
 tal seas, are grown for them. Sir, the cotton-planters of 
 the South are their agents. I would remind the senator 
 tliat the free States in 1850 produced eight hundred and 
 fifty million dollars of manufactures, and that only fifty- 
 two million dollars of that vast production — about one- 
 scventecnth part of it — was made up of cotton. Our 
 manufactures and mechanic arts now must exceed twelve 
 hundred million dollars ; and cotton does not make up 
 more than seventy million dollars. Does the senator 
 
BEPLY TO ME. HAMMOND. 231 
 
 think the free States would ' topple ' down if they should 
 lose one-seventeenth part of their productive industry ? 
 
 " The productive industry of Massachusetts, a State that 
 manufactures more than one-third of all the cotton manu- 
 factured in the country, was, in 1855, three hundred and 
 fifty million dollars : only twenty-six million dollars, one- 
 thirteenth part of it, was cotton. Does the senator be- 
 lieve that a State which has a productive industry of three 
 hundred and fifty million dollars — about two hundred and 
 eighty dollars per head for each person — would perish if 
 she should lose twenty-six million dollars of that vast 
 production ? 
 
 " It is no matter of surprise that gentlemen who live 
 away off on cross-roads, where tlie cotton blooms, should 
 come to believe that cotton rules the world ; but a few 
 months' association with the great world would cure that 
 delusion. ' You are our factors,' exclaims the senator; 
 ' you bring and carry for us. Suppose we were to dis- 
 charge you ; suppose we were to take our business out 
 of your hands : we should consign you to anarchy and 
 poverty.' Sir, suppose, when the senator returns from 
 this chamber to his cotton-fields, his slaves should in 
 their simplicity say to him, * Massa, you only sells de 
 cotton : we plants ; we hoes ; we picks de cotton. 'Spose 
 we discharge you, massa ! ' The unsophisticated ' mud- 
 sills ' would be quite as reasonable as the senator. The 
 senator seems to think that the cotton-planters hold us 
 in the hollow of their hands : if they shake them, we 
 tremble ; if they close them, we perish." 
 
 To his boasting of the excellence of Southern social 
 and political institutions Senator Wilson replies, — 
 
 " The senator from South Carolina, after crowning Cot- 
 ton as king, with power to bring England and all the civ- 
 
232 LIFE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 ilized world ' toppling ' down into the yawning gulfs of 
 bankruptcy and ruin, complacently tells the Senate and 
 the trembling subjects of his cotton-king that ' the great- 
 est strength of the South arises from the harmony of her 
 political and social institutions ; ' that ' her forms of soci- 
 ety are the best in the world ; ' that ' she has an extent 
 of political freedom, combined with entire security, seen 
 nowhere on earth.' The South, he tells us, ' is satisfied, 
 harmonious, and prosperous : ' and he asks us if we ' liave 
 heard that the ghosts of Mendoza and Torquemada are 
 stalking in the streets of our great cities ; that the Inquisi- 
 tion is at hand ; and that there are fearful rumors of con- 
 sultations for vigilance committees.' Sir, this self-com- 
 placency is sublime. No son of the Celestial Empire can 
 approach the senator in self-complacency. That ' society 
 the best in the world ' where more than three millions of 
 beings created in the image of God are held as chattels, — 
 sunk from the lofty level of humanity to the abject con- 
 dition of unreasoning beasts of burden ! That ' society 
 the best in the world ' where are manacles, chains, and 
 whips, auction-blocks, prisons, bloodhounds, scourgings, 
 lynchings, and burnings ; laws to torture the body, shrivel 
 the mind, and debase the soul ; where labor is dishonored, 
 and laborers despised ! ' Political freedom ' in a land 
 where woman is imprisoned for teaching little children to 
 read God's holy Word ; where professors are deposed and 
 banished for opposing the extension of slavery; where 
 public men are exiled for quoting in a national conven- 
 tion the words of Jefferson ; where voters are mobbed 
 for appearing to vote for free territory ; and where book- 
 sellers are driven from the country for selling that mas- 
 terly work of genius, ' Uncle Tom's Cabin ' ! A land 
 of ' certain security,' where patrols, costing, as in 
 
REPLY TO MR. HAMMOND. 238 
 
 Old Yirginia, more than is expended to educate her 
 poor children, stalk the country to catch the faintest 
 murmur of discontent ; where the bay of the bloodhound 
 never ceases ; where, but little more than a year ago, 
 rose the startling cry of insurrection ; and where men, 
 some of them owned by a member of this body, were 
 scourged and murdered for suspected insurrection ! 
 ' Political freedom ' and ' certain security ' in a land 
 which demands tliat seventeen millions of freemen 
 sliall stand guard to seize and carry back fleeing bond- 
 men ! " 
 
 Contrasting the desolation of the South with the pros- 
 perity of the North, he says, — 
 
 " De Bow's ' Resources of the South,' from Fenno's 
 * Soutlicrn Medical Reports,' speaks of ' decaying old 
 tenements ' in Georgia ; ' red old hills, stripped of their 
 native growth and virgin soil and washed into deep 
 gullies, with here and there patches of Bermuda grass 
 and stunted pine-shrubs struggling for subsistence on 
 what was once the richest soil of America.' Millions of 
 acres of the richest soil of the Western world have been 
 converted into barrenness and desolation by the untutored, 
 unpaid, and thriftless labor of slaves. This exhaustion 
 of Southern soil tilled by bondmen ; this deterioration, 
 decay, and desolation, now visible in what was once the 
 fairest portion of the continent, — stands confessed by the 
 most eminent writers of the South. These descriptions 
 of the decay and desolation of some of the fairest por- 
 tions of the sunny South remind us of the desolating 
 effects of slavery upon the rich fields of classic Italy in 
 the days of Tiberius Gracchus, as described by the brilliant 
 and philosophic pen of Bancroft in his masterly article 
 on Roman slavery. 
 
 20* 
 
234 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 " Turning, Mi\ President, from this contemplation of 
 the desoUuions of slavery to the rugged soil and still 
 more rugged clime of the free North, we shall see that 
 the farms tilled by free, educated men are annually 
 blooming with a fresher and richer verdure ; that they 
 annually wave with larger harvests of the varied products 
 which find markets in the cities and villages which com- 
 merce, manufactures, and the mechanic arts, create, beau- 
 tify, and adorn. While the plantations of the South 
 echo the sound of the lash by which unpaid toil is driven 
 on in the blighting process of exhausting the richest 
 soils, the farms of the free States are increasing in value, 
 fertility, and beauty : they are nursing a race of noble 
 and independent men, where 
 
 ' The lowliest farm-liouse hearth is graced 
 With manly hearts, in piety sincere ; 
 Faithful in love, in honor stern and chaste, 
 In friendship warm and true, in danger brave ; 
 Beloved in life, and sainted in the grave.' " 
 
 In respect to the comparative educational and literary 
 and scientific condition of the two sections of the Union, 
 he remarks, — 
 
 " In the slave States, laws forbid the education of nearly 
 four millions of her people : in the free States, laws encour- 
 age the education of the people, and public opinion up- 
 holds and enforces those laws. In 1850 there were sixty- 
 two thousand schools, seventy-two thousand teachers, two 
 million eight hundred thousand scholars, in the public 
 schools of the free States : in the slave States there were 
 eighteen thousand schools, nineteen thousand teachers, 
 and i\vQ hundred and eighty thousand scholars. Massa- 
 chusetts has nearly two hundred thousand scholars in her 
 
EEPLY TO MR. HA3OI0ND. 235 
 
 public schools, at a cost of a million three hundred thou- 
 sand dollars. South Carolina has seventeen thousand 
 scholars in her public schools : seventy-five thousand dol- 
 lars is paid by the State ; and the governor in 1853 said, 
 that, ' under the present mode of applying it, it was the 
 profusion of the prodigal rather than the judicious gene 
 rosity which confers real benefits.' New York has more 
 scliolars in her public schools than all the slave States 
 together. Ohio has five hundred and two thousand 
 scholars in her public schools, supported at an expense 
 of two million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. 
 Kentucky has seventy-six thousand scholars, supported at 
 an expense of a hundred and forty-six thousand dollars. 
 " The free States had, in 1850, more than fifteen thou- 
 sand Ul)raries, containing four million volumes : the slave 
 States had seven hundred libraries, containing six liun- 
 dred and fifty thousand volumes. Massachusetts, the land 
 of ' hireling operatives,' has eighteen hundred libraries, 
 which contain not less than seven hundred and fifty thou- 
 sand volumes, — more libraries and volumes than all the 
 slave States combined. The little State of Rhode Island, 
 a mere patch of thirteen hundred square miles on the 
 surface of New Eugland, has more volumes in her libra- 
 ries than have the five great States of Georgia, Florida, 
 Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. De Bow — good 
 Southern authority — says, that, in every country, the 
 press must be regarded as a great educational agency. The 
 free States had, in 1850, eighteen hundred newspapers, 
 with a circulation of three hundred and thirty-five mib 
 lion: the slave States had, at that time, seven hundred 
 newspapers, with a circulation of eighty-one million. The 
 free States have seven times as many religious papers, and 
 twelve times as many scientific papers, as the South. Mas- 
 
236 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 sacluisetts has more religious papers than all the slave* 
 holding States of the Union. She has a circulation of 
 two million for her scientific papers : the South has but 
 three hundred and seventy-two thousand. The ' hireling 
 operatives, mechanics, and laborers,' the very ' mud-sills' 
 of society, read five times as many copies of scientific 
 papers as the entire South, including that class which, 
 the senator tells us, leads ' progress, civilization, and 
 refinement.' Nine-tenths of the book-publishers of the 
 United States are in the free States. ' The Charleston 
 Standard' — good authority with the senator — tells us ' that 
 their pictures are painted at the North, their books pub- 
 lished at the North, their periodicals printed at the North ; 
 that should a man rise with the genius of Shakspeare or 
 Dickens or Fielding, or all three combined, and speak 
 from the South, he would not receive enough to pay 
 the cost of publication.' That class, that favored class, 
 which leads, as the senator tells us, ' progress, civihza- 
 tion, and refinement,' forces the literary talent to the 
 North, the home of hireling operatives, to find not only 
 publisliers, but readers also. 
 
 " Of the authors mentioned in Duyckinck's ' Cyclopas- 
 dia of American Literature,' eighty-seven were natives of 
 slave States, and four hundred and three were natives 
 of the free North, — the land of the ' hireling laborers.' 
 Of the poets mentioned in Griswold's ' Poets and Poetry 
 of America,' seventeen were natives of the land where 
 they have that other class, which leads ' progress, civiliza- 
 tion, and refinement,' and a hundred and twenty-three 
 were natives of the land of ' hireling operatives,' — the 
 ' mud-sills ' of society. Of the poets whose nativity is 
 given by Mr. Reed in his 'Female Poets of America,' 
 eleven are from the South, seventy-three from the North. 
 
EEPLY TO ME. HAMMOND. 237 
 
 Nine-tentlis of all the books written in America fit to be 
 read, nine-tenths of all the books published in America 
 fit to be published, are written and published, not in 
 the land of that privileged class of which the senator 
 boasts, but in the free States, unblessed by that privileged 
 class. Nearly all the authors whose names grace and 
 adorn tlie rising literature of America, whose names are 
 known in the literary and scientific world, find their homes 
 in the free States of the North. Irving, Ticknor, Sparks, 
 Bancroft, Prescott, Hildreth, and Motley, whose contribu- 
 tions to the historical literature of America are recognized 
 by the literary world ; Dana, Bryant, Halleck, Longfellow, 
 Sprague, Whittier, Lowell, and Willis, the recognized 
 poets of our country ; Hawthorne, Emerson, Curtis, Mel- 
 ville, and Mitchell, whose names grace the light literature 
 of our times ; and Silliman, Agassiz, and Peirce, names 
 associated with American science, — find their homes, not 
 in the land of the privileged class that the senator from 
 South Carolina tells us leads ' progress, civilization, and 
 refinement ; ' but they dwell in the land of ' small-fisted 
 farmers, greasy mechanics, and filthy operatives,' — the 
 'mud-sills' of society. The sculptors and the painters 
 and the artists — they, too, find their homes, not in the 
 sunny South, but in the free land of the North. In liter- 
 ature, in science, in the arts, the superiority of the North 
 is beyond all question. Men who have been, or who now 
 are, ' hireling laborers,' in some forms, in the North, have 
 contributed more to the arts, the science, the literature 
 of America than the whole class of slaveholders now 
 living in the South. 
 
 " I would not, Mr. President, underrate the influence 
 of the slave States in the councils of the republic. Bound 
 together by the cohesive attraction of a vast interest, from 
 
238 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 which the civilization of the age averts its face, the privi- 
 leged class have won the control and direct the policy of 
 the government. In the council and in the field, the 
 representatives of this privileged class have assumed to 
 direct and to guide ; but in accumulating capital, in com- 
 merce, in manufactures, in the mechanic arts, in educa- 
 tional institutions, in literature, in science, in the arts, iu 
 the charities of religion and humanity, in all the means 
 by which the nation is known among men, the free States 
 maintain a position of unquestioned pre-eminence. In all 
 these the South is a mere dependency of the North. 
 India and Australia are not more -the dependencies of 
 England than are the slaveholding States the dependen- 
 cies of the free States. Sir, your fifteen slave States are 
 but fifteen suburban wards of our great commercial city 
 of New York. Beyond the political field this dependency 
 is everywhere visible, even to the most blind devotees of 
 ' King Cotton.' Mr. Perry, in an address before the South- 
 Carolina Institute in 1856, says of the State represented 
 by the senator, ' The dependence of South Carolina upon 
 the Northern States for all the necessaries, comforts, and 
 luxuries which the mechanic arts afford, has drained her 
 of her wealth, and made her positively poor.' " 
 
 Mr. Wilson thus nobly speaks of the condition of free 
 labor at the North : — 
 
 " Mr. President, the senator from South Carolina tells 
 us that ' all the powers of the world cannot abolish 
 the thing' he calls slavery: 'God alone can do it 
 when he repeals the fiat, " The poor ye have always with 
 you." For the man who lives by daily labor, and your 
 whole class of hireling manual laborers and operatives, 
 are essentially slaves. Our slaves are black, happy, con- 
 tent, unaspiring : yours are white ; and they feel galled 
 
REPLY to ism. HAMMOND. 239 
 
 by tlieir degradation. Oar slaves do not vote : jours do 
 vote ; and, being the majority, they are the depositaries 
 of all your political power ; and if they knew the tre- 
 mendous secret, that the ballot-box is stronger than " an 
 army with banners," and could combine, your society 
 would be reconstructed, your government overthrown, 
 and your property divided.' 
 
 '' ' The poor ye have always with you.' This fiat of 
 Almighty God, which Christian men of all ages and lands 
 have accepted as the imperative injunction of the common 
 Father of all to care for the children of misfortune and 
 sorrow, the senator from South Carolina accepts as the 
 foundation-stone, the eternal law, of slavery, which ' all 
 tlie powers of the cartli cannot abolish.' These precious 
 words of our heavenly Father, 'The poor ye have always 
 with you,' arc perpetually sounding in the ears of man- 
 kiud, ever reminding them of their dependence and their 
 duties. These words appeal alike to the conscience and 
 the heart of mankind. To men blessed in their basket 
 and their store they say, ' Property has its duties as well 
 as its rights.' To men clothed with authority to shape 
 the policy or to administer the laws of the State they say, 
 ' Lighten, by wise, humane, and equal laws, the burdens 
 of the toiling and dependent children of men.' To 
 men of every age and every clime they appeal by the 
 divine promise, that ' he that giveth to the poor lendcth 
 to the Lord.' Sir, I thank God that I live in a Common- 
 wealth which sees no warrant in these words of inspira- 
 tion to oppress the sons and daughters of toil and poverty. 
 Over tlie poor and lowly she casts the broad shield of 
 equal, just, and humane legislation. The poorest man 
 that treads her soil, no matter what blood may run in his 
 veins, is protected in his rights, and incited to labor by 
 
240 LIFE OF HEKRY WILSON. 
 
 no other force than the assurance that the fruits of hia 
 toil belong to himself, to the wife of his bosom, and the 
 children of his love. 
 
 '' The senator from South Carolina exclaims, * The 
 man who lives by daily labor, your whole class of man- 
 ual laborers, are essentially slaves : they feel galled by 
 their degradation.' What a sentiment is this to hear 
 uttered in the councils of this democratic republic ! 
 The senator's political associates, who listen to these 
 words which brand hundreds of thousands of the men 
 they represent in the free States and hundreds of their 
 neighbors and personal friends as ' slaves,' have found 
 no words to repel or rebuke this language. This language 
 of scorn and contempt is addressed to senators who were 
 not nursed by a slave ; whose lot it was to toil with their 
 own hands ; to eat bread earned, not by the sweat of 
 another's brow, but by their own. Sir, I am the son of a 
 ' hireling manual laborer,' who, with the frosts of seventy 
 winters on his brow, ' lives by daily labor.' I, too, have 
 lived by daily labor ; I, too, have been a ' hireling man- 
 ual laborer.' Poverty cast its dark and chilling shadow 
 over the home of my childhood ; and Want was there 
 sometimes, an unbidden guest. At the age of ten years, 
 to aid him who gave me being in keeping the gaunt 
 spectre from the hearth of the mother who bore me, I 
 left the home of my boyhood, and went to earn my bread 
 by ' daily labor.' Many a weary mile have I travelled 
 
 * To beg a brother of the earth 
 To give me leave to toil.' 
 
 " Sir, I have toiled as a ' hireling manual laborer ' in 
 the field and in the workshop ; and I tell the senator from 
 South Carolina that I never ' felt galled by my degra- 
 
EEPLY TO ME. HAMMOND. 241 
 
 dation.' No, sir ; never ! Perhaps the senator who 
 represents that ' other class, which leads progress, civili- 
 zation, and refinement,' will ascribe this to obtuseness 
 of intellect and blunted sensibilities of the heart. Sir, I 
 was conscious of my manhood : I was the peer of my 
 employer. I knew that the laws and institutions of my 
 native and adopted States threw over him and me alike 
 the panoply of equality : I knew, too, that the world was 
 before me ; that its wealth, its garnered treasures of 
 knowledge, its honors, the coveted prizes of life, were 
 within the grasp of a brave heart and a tireless hand ; 
 and I accepted the responsibilities of my position, all un- 
 conscious that I was a ' slave.' I have employed others, 
 — hundreds of 'hireling manual laborers.' Some of 
 them then possessed, and now possess, more property 
 than I ever owned ; some of them were better educated 
 than myself, — yes, sir, better educated, and better read 
 too, than some senators on this floor ; and many of them, 
 in moral excellence and purity of character, I could not 
 but feel, were my superiors. 
 
 " I have occupied, Mr. President, for more than thirty 
 vears, the relation of employer or employed ; and, while I 
 never felt ' galled by my degradation ' in the one case, in 
 the other I was never conscious that my ' hirehng laborers' 
 were my inferiors. That man is a ' snob ' who boasts of 
 being a ' hiieling laborer,' or who is ashamed of being a 
 ' birring laborer ; ' that man is a ' snob ' who feels any 
 inferiority to any man because he is a ' hireling laborer,' 
 or who assumes any superiority over others because he is 
 an employer. Honest labor is honorable ; and the man 
 who is ashamed that he is or was a ' hireling laborer ' has 
 not manhood enough to 'feel galled by his degradation.' 
 
 " Having occupied, Mr. President, the relation of either 
 
 2] 
 
242 LIFE OF HENBY WILSON. 
 
 employed or employer for the third of a century ; having 
 lived in a Commonwealth where the 'hireling class of 
 manual laborers ' are ' the depositaries of political power ; ' 
 having associated with this class in all the relations of life, 
 — I tell the senator from South Carolina, and the class he 
 represents, that he libels, grossly libels them, when he de- 
 clares that they are ' essentially slaves.' There can be 
 found nowhere in America a class of men more proudly 
 conscious or tenacious of their rights. Friends and foes 
 have ever found them 
 
 * A stubborn race, fearing and flattering none.* 
 
 " But the senator from South Carolina tells us, that, if 
 the hirelins: laborers knew the ' tremendous secret ' of the 
 ballot-box, our ' society would be reconstructed, our gov- 
 ernment overthrown, and our property divided.' Does not 
 the senator know that an immense majority of the ' hire- 
 ling class of manual laborers ' of New England possess 
 property ? Does he not know that the man who has ac- 
 cumulated a few hundred dollars by his own toil, by the 
 savings of years, who has a family growing up around him 
 upon which his hopes are centred, is a conservative ? 
 Does not the senator know that he watches the appropria- 
 tion-bills in the meetings of those little democracies, the 
 towns, as narrowly as the representative from Tennessee 
 in the other House (George W. Jones) watches the money- 
 bills on the private calendar? I Uve, Mr. President, 
 in a small town of five thousand inhabitants. Nearly 
 half of the population are employed as operatives and me- 
 chanics for the manufacture of shoes for the Western and 
 Southern markets. In 1840 we had thirteen hundred in- 
 habitants, and the property valuation was about three hun- 
 dred thousand dollars. Last May we had fourteen hun- 
 
BEPLY TO MK. HAMMOND. 243 
 
 dred names on our poll-list, two-thirds of them ' hireling 
 mechanics,' and a property valuation of over two millions of 
 dollars. Those ' hireling laborers,' on town-meeting days, 
 make the appropriations for schools, for roads, and for all 
 other purposes. Do they not know ' the tremendous secret 
 of the ballot-box ' ? Have they proposed to divide the 
 property they themselves created ? No, sir ; no ! But I 
 will tell the senator what they have done. Since 1850 
 they have built seven new schoolhouses, with all the mod- 
 ern improvements, at an expense of about forty thousand 
 dollars ; one house costing more than fourteen thousand. 
 They have established a high school, where the most ad- 
 vanced scholars of the common schools are fitted for admis- 
 sion to the colleges, or for the professions, the business, 
 and the duties of life. They have established a town- 
 library, freely accessible to all the inhabitants, contain- 
 ing the choicest works of authors of the Old World and the 
 New, of ancient and modern times. The poorest ' hirehng 
 manual laborer,' without cost, can take from that library to 
 his home the works of the master-minds, and hold com- 
 munion with 
 
 * The dead but sceptred sovereigns, who rule 
 Our spirits from their urns/ 
 
 " The senator tells us, Mr. President, that their slaves 
 are ' well compensated.' South Carolina slaves ' well 
 compensated ' I Why, sir, the senator himself, in a speech 
 made at home for home consumption, entered into an esti- 
 mate to show that a field-hand could be supported for from 
 ' eighteen to nineteen dollars per annum ' on the rice and 
 cotton plantations. He states the quantity of corn and 
 bacon and salt necessary to support the ' well-compensated ' 
 slave. And this man, supported by eighteen dollars per 
 
214 LIFE OF HENHY WILSON. 
 
 annum, with the privilege of being flogged at discretion, 
 and having his wife or children sold from him at the neces- 
 sity or will of his master, the senator from South Carolina 
 mforms the Senate of the United States, is ' well compen- 
 sated ' ! Sir, there is not a poor-house in the free States 
 where there would not be a rebellion in three days if the 
 inmates were compelled to subsist on the quantity and 
 quality of food the senator estimates as ample ' compensa- 
 tion' for the labor of a slave in South Carolina. 
 
 " Turning from his ' well-compensated ' slaves, the sena- 
 tor tells us that our ' hireling laborers,' our ' mud-sills,' are 
 scantily 'compensated.' Mr. Clingman of North Caro- 
 lina, in urging the establishment of cotton manufactories 
 in the South, says the wages of labor at the North are one 
 Imndred per cent higher than wages in the same pursuits 
 in the South. The wages of labor in iron mills in South 
 Carolina were thirteen dollars per month in 1850 .: in Mas- 
 sachusetts they were thirty. Sir, these hands of mine have 
 earned, month after month, two dollars per day in manual 
 labor ; and I have paid that sum to ' hirehng manual labor- 
 ers ' month after month, and year after year. Financial 
 and commercial revulsions sometimes come upon us, and 
 press heavily upon all branches of the mechanic arts 
 and manufactures ; but labor is generally well employed 
 and well paid. At any rate, the laboring-men of the free 
 States have open to their industry all the avenues of agri- 
 culture, commerce, manufactures, and the multifarious 
 mechanic arts, where skilled labor is demanded, and where 
 they do not have to maintain, as the senator in his address 
 before the institute of his own State tells us the white 
 men of South Carolina have to maintain, ' a feeble and 
 ruinous competition with the labor of slaves.' 
 
 " Borrowing, Mr. President, an idea found in a speech 
 
EEPLY TO MR. HAI^IMOND. 245 
 
 made in the other House hy Mr. Pickens of his own State 
 more than twenty years ago, in which he threatened to 
 preach insurrection to Northern laborers, the senator asks 
 'how we woukl hke for them to send lecturers and agitators 
 to teach our hireling laborers ' the ' tremendous secret of the 
 power of the ballot-box,' and ' to aid in combining them 
 and to lead them.' Sir, I tell the senator we would wel- 
 come him, his lecturers and agitators ; we would bid them 
 welcome to our hearth-stones and our altars. Ours are 
 the institutions of freedom ; and they flourish best in the 
 storms and agitations of inquiry and free discussion. We 
 are conscious that our social and political institutions have 
 not attained perfection ; anil we invoke the examination and 
 the criticism of the genius and learning of all Christen- 
 dom. Should the senator and his agitators and lecturers 
 come to IMassachusetts on a mission to teach our ' hire- 
 ling class of manual laborers,' our ' mud-sills,' our ' slaves,' 
 the ' tremendous secret of the ballot-box,' and to help 
 ' combine and lead them,' these stigmatized ' hirelings ' 
 would reply to the senator and his associates, ' We are 
 freemen ; we are the peers of the gifted and the wealthy ; 
 we know the " tremendous secret of the ballot-box ; " and 
 we mould and fashion these institutions that bless and adorn 
 our proud and free Commonwealth. These public schools 
 are oui-s, for the education of our children ; these libraries, 
 with their accumulated treasures, are ours ; these multitu- 
 dinous and varied pursuits of life, where intelligence and 
 skill find their reward, are ours. Labor is here honored 
 and respected, and great examples incite us to action. All 
 around us, — in the professions ; in the marts of commerce; 
 on the exchange, where merchant-princes and capitalists do 
 cono-reiiate ; in these manufactories and workshops, where 
 the products of every clime are fishioned into a thousand 
 
 21* 
 
246 LIFE OF HENBY WILSON. 
 
 forms of utility and beauty ; on these smiling farms, fertil- 
 ized by the sweat of free labor ; in every position of pri- 
 vate and of public hfe, — are our associates, who were but 
 yesterday " hireling laborers," " mud-sills," " slaves." In 
 every department of human effort are noble men, who 
 sprang from our ranks, — men whose good deeds will be 
 felt, and will live in the grateful memories of men, when 
 the stones reared by the hands of affection to their honored 
 names shall crumble into dust. Our eyes glisten and our 
 hearts throb over the bright, glowing, and radiant pages 
 of our history, that record the deeds of patriotism of the 
 sons of New England, who sprang from our ranks, and wore 
 the badges of toil. While the names of Benjamin Frank- 
 lin, Roger Sherman, Nathanael Greene, and Paul Revere, 
 live on the brightest pages of our history, the mechanics 
 of Massachusetts and New England will never want illus- 
 trious examples to incite us to noble aspirations and noble 
 deeds. Go home : say to your privileged class, which, you 
 vauntingly say, " leads progress, civilization, and refine- 
 ment," that it is the opinion of the " hireling laborers" of 
 Massachusetts, if you have no sympathy for your African 
 bondmen, in whose veins flows so much of your own blood, 
 you should at least sympathize with the millions of your own 
 race, whose labor you have dishonored and degraded by 
 slavery. You should teach your millions of poor and igno- 
 rant wliite men, so long oppressed by your policy, the '* tre- 
 mendous secret, that the ballot-box is stronger than 'an army 
 with banners.' " You should combine, and lead them to the 
 adoption of a policy which shall secure their own emanci- 
 pation from a degrading thraldom.' " 
 
 He concludes his aro;ument with these stronor and earnest 
 "words of counsel : — 
 
 " Duty to the government now prostituted and polluted, 
 
EEPLY TO -^m. HAINIMOND. 247 
 
 to the country now dishonored in the face of the civilized 
 world, summons the Hberty-loving and patriotic men of the 
 repubhc, of every name and creed, to ' forget, forgive, and 
 unite,' and rally to the overthrow of this venal, cringing, 
 and inglorious administration, and to the utter annihilation 
 of the oligarchic Democracy. To the men of the North, 
 ay, and the men of the South, who loathe fraud, paltry 
 trickery, venality, and servility, who believe that ' right- 
 eousness exalteth a nation,' this summons alike appeals. 
 But to no men does this summons appeal with such irresisti- 
 ble and imperative force as to the ' whole hireling class of 
 manual laborers and operatives,' now disdainfully stigma- 
 tized as the ' slaves,' the ' very mud-sills,' of that society 
 upon which that privileged class assumes to rest which now 
 claims to control this government, and ' to lead progress, 
 civilization, and refinement ' in America. It appeals to 
 them to repel the libellous aspersions cast upon the toiling 
 milHons of America, by taking, through the ballot-box, the 
 reins of power from the grasp of the slaveholding aristoc- 
 racy of the South and their servile alHes of the North ; 
 rebuking the arrogance of the one by banishment from 
 usurped power, and the servihty of the other by putting 
 upon their breasts the ' Scarlet Letter ' of dishonor. It 
 appeals to them to place in every department of the Federal 
 Government statesmen who cherish a profound reverence 
 and an inextinguishable love for humanity ; who are ani- 
 mated by lofty motives, aims, and purposes ; guided by 
 wise, comprehensive, and patriotic counsels ; and who will 
 put the republic in harmony with the sacred and inaliena- 
 ble rights of mankind." 
 
 Durinor this session Mr. Wilson received a challeno;e 
 from Mr. Gwin of California for some words spoken has- 
 tily in debate. He replied to it, as he had done to that 
 
248 LITE OF HENBY WILSON". 
 
 of Mr. Brooks, by saying, that, while he held to the right 
 of self-defence, he did not, as was ^vell known, accept the 
 code of the duellist. He was willing to refer the difference 
 between Mr. Gwin and himself to any three members of 
 the Senate, and abide by their decision. Messrs. Seward, 
 Crittenden, and Davis were selected, who on the 12th of 
 June drew up the following agreement : — 
 
 Washington, June 12, 1858. 
 
 Gentlemen, — We have made ourselves acquainted 
 with the circumstances and facts involved in the case sub- 
 mitted to us. 
 
 The remarks of Mr. Gwin, imputing unworthy motives — 
 namely, those of demagogism — to Mr. Wilson, although 
 general, certainly were objectionable and unparliament- 
 ary ; and yet they by no means justified or warranted 
 Mr. Wilson in using the very opprobrious epithet with 
 which he retaliated. Mr. Gwin's rejoinder in contumer 
 lious terms is to be regarded as a passionate expression, 
 naturally provoked b}^ the offensive language of Mr. Wil- 
 son. We think, therefore, that Mr. Wilson ought to 
 regard himself in fact as havino- committed the first real 
 personal offence; and therefore he should make such 
 reparation as is now in his power. We are possessed of 
 the fact, — which, indeed, is apparent on the face of the 
 reported debate, — that Mr. AVilson, in using the epithet 
 employed, did not impute any want of personal integrity 
 or honor to Mr. Gwin, but merely reflected upon his course 
 in legislation in reo-ard to California, which Mr. Wilson 
 deemed extravagant and wasteful ; although the expression 
 is obviously liable to an offensive and dishonoring con- 
 struction. With this disclaimer adopted by Mr. Wilson, 
 we hold that Mr. Gwdn is bound to withdraw the re- 
 
MUTUAL RETRACTIOIT. 249 
 
 proacliful language in which he replied to IMr. Wilson. 
 The disavowal required of Mr. Wilson, and the withdrawal 
 demanded from Mr. Gwin, shall be deemed to have been 
 made by them, respectively, when they shall have expressed 
 in writing their assent to this report. 
 
 J. J, Crittenden. 
 
 Wm. H. Seward. 
 Jeffn. Davis. 
 To Messrs. Wilson and GwiN. 
 
 I assent to tlie above. 
 
 Henry Wilson. 
 
 I assent to the above. 
 
 Wm. M. Gwin. 
 
 The parties were satisfied with the mutual explanation 
 and concession ; and thus the matter ended. Duelling 
 belono-s to the mediaeval ages : and so this Northern senator 
 again decided. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 RE-ELECTION TO THE UNITED-STATES SENATE. PACIFIC 
 
 RAILROAD. ORATION AT LAWRENCE. THE JOHN 
 
 BROWN RAID. THE SLAVE-TRADE. 
 
 Ke-elected by a Large Majority. — Reasons for it. — His Industry. — Patron- 
 age. — Advocates Central Route for tlie Pacific Railroad. — Extract from 
 his Speech. — A Radical Southern Party. — A Personal Interview. — His 
 Course. — Temperance Meeting. — Printers' Banquet. — Paul Morphy. -:- 
 Fourth of July at Lawrence. — His Address. — His Course in respect to the 
 Raid of John Brown. — Meeting at Natick. — Reply to Mr. Iverson. — Vote 
 of Thanks by the General Court. — Speech on the Slave-Trade. 
 
 IN January, 1859, the General Court re-elected Mr. 
 Wilson to the United - States Senate for six years 
 from the 3d of March in that year ; the higher branch 
 giving him thirty- five out of forty votes, and the lower 
 a hundred and ninety - nine out of two hundred and 
 thirty-five votes. His record had been clear, his labors 
 arduous ; his legislative experience now was large ; his 
 courage had been tested. The times demanded men of 
 steady nerve ; and lience this strong majority was given 
 to him. The expectation was not disappointed ; for he is 
 one of the very few whom life at Washington does not 
 corrupt. 
 
 In lookinjT over the files of " The Cono-ressional Globe," 
 we find him with tireless industry taking part in the dis- 
 
 250 
 
PACIFIC EAILEOAD. 251 
 
 cusslons on the questions of tlie day, advocating retrench- 
 ment in postal, naval, and every other department of 
 the government. 
 
 In respect to patronage he truly said, " I think it should 
 be the interest of all parties to get clear of patronage ; for 
 patronage is only weakness, if you have any principles to 
 carry." 
 
 Of the projects for internal improvement at that time 
 before Congress, one of the most important was the con- 
 struction of a railroad across the continent. Mr. Davis had 
 caused extensive explorations to be made, and three routes 
 for the road were indicated. The Southerners advocated 
 the line through Arizona, called the " Disunion route," 
 because some senators had avowed that they should own 
 it on the dissolution of the Union. The administration 
 favored them ; but, on the eleventh day of January, Mr. 
 Wilson, in a speech displaying vast research and great abil- 
 ity, clearly pointed out the impracticability of that line, and 
 advocated the adoption of the central route, which was 
 finally agreed upon, through Nebraska and Nevada. Econ- 
 omy, freedom, and the business of the country, alike de- 
 manded that the road should run in this direction; and 
 the gigantic scheme could not be carried into effect, he 
 said, without the liberal aid of government. From the 
 array of facts which he presented, one might have thought 
 that " railroading " had been the principal study of his hfe, 
 and travelling in the "Far West" his diversion. This 
 speech turned the attention of the public more directly to 
 the central line, and greatly encouraged the friends of prog- 
 ress in the East to enter upon the construction of the 
 road. The Hon. A. A. Sargent of California, who, hke 
 Mr. Wilson, is a self-made, practical man, subsequently 
 pressed with the same energy the construction of the Cen- 
 
252 LITE OF HENHY WILSON. 
 
 tral Pacific road ; and, after years of persevering effort, 
 the driving of the golden spike connecting the Union 
 Pacific Avith that road gave tliese two gentlemen inex- 
 pressible delight. We regret that we can give but a 
 single extract from Mr. Wilson's admirable speech : — 
 
 " I think," said he, *' the course I have proposed is that 
 suimested by sound policy ; and I should like to recommit 
 this bill, or in some way put it in such a shape, that we 
 shall, as a government, undertake the construction of a 
 railroad startincr between the mouths of the Big Sioux and 
 Kansas Rivers, crossing the continent to San Francisco on 
 a line nortli of the thirty-fifth or thirty-sixth parallel, and 
 south of the forty-third parallel. Let that be a great na- 
 tional work : for the idea of the country is to go to San 
 Francisco, where there is population ; not to Puget Sound, 
 where there is none ; and not to San Diego, where there 
 never can be any. Then let us give our Southern friends, 
 those gentlemen who want a road on which they can go to 
 the Pacific Ocean when they dissolve the Union, all the 
 lands they want south of the thirty-fourth parallel, and let 
 them make the most of them. I hope they may make 
 a hnndred million dollars out of them ; for I should rejoice 
 in their prosperity. Then let us give lands on the northern 
 line, and carry out the ideas suggested by the senator from 
 Minnesota and the senator from Wisconsin. What they 
 want in that vast northern region is a people. They want 
 settlers : and a policy of this kind will carry settlers from 
 Lake Superior a thousand miles to the Rocky Mountains ; 
 and, if the engineers who went over this route are to be 
 believed, even in the Rocky Mountains is to be found good 
 land. Beyond the Rocky Mountains, to Puget Sound, 
 there will be found not only a great country, but across 
 that Hue, in time, I do not doubt we are to have a great 
 
PACIFIC EAILEOAD. 253 
 
 commercial route connecting the northern lakes with 
 Puget Sound. 
 
 '* These are my views. I am for a Pacific railroad ; but 
 I do not believe in the idea of attempting to construct a 
 road to the Pacific Ocean merely by grants of land within 
 any reasonable period. If we make a grant to the north- 
 ern line, I do not expect a road to be built there for some 
 time. I do not even expect it to be commenced at once. 
 I know it cannot be done in earnest in the present 
 financial condition of the world. Neither do I expect any 
 such thing over the southern line. But we want a cen- 
 tral road ; we want it begun now ; w^e want it completed 
 as speedily as possible ; and, to do that, let us take the 
 money of the government, and build it as cheaply as cash 
 can build it, and keep the lands, reserving their pl'oceeds 
 as a sinking fund to meet the bonds, wdiich may be made 
 due thirty or forty years hence. We shall then have 
 seventy or eighty million people ; and their redemption 
 will be but a hVht tax on such a nation. Durino; that 
 period, in my judgment, it will have added hundreds of 
 millions to the wealth of the country ; and the addition it 
 will make to the power and strength of the Union is 
 beyond the calculation of the human intellect." 
 
 On the 18th of February he thus referred to the exist- 
 ence of a party, little thought of at the time, which was 
 ready to dissolve the Union : — 
 
 " I am glad to hear the declarations made by the senator 
 from South Carolina ; and I have no doubt they are sub- 
 stantially correct. No doubt, a large portion of the people 
 of the Southern States are opposed to the African slave- 
 trade : but that there is a party, young, vigorous, and 
 active, that wishes to open the slave-trade ; a party 
 that wishes to extend the country into the tropics ; a 
 
 22 
 
254 LIFE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 party that believes not only in compulsory labor in the 
 tropics, but everywhere else ; a party that wishes to 
 govern this country under that policy, and, failing to do 
 that, to establish a Southern confederacy, and dissolve this 
 Union, — there is evidence. There is such a party. Now, 
 I want the Senate, I want Congress, to sustain the contract 
 made by the president : and let it be understood in the 
 North and in the South, by all parties, that this country 
 has branded the slave-trade ; that it can never be opened ; 
 that the power and influence of this nation shall be used to 
 put it down ; and that we will go to the full extent, not 
 only of the letter of the law, but the spirit of the law, to 
 sustain this policy." 
 
 In a personal interview with one of his friends, April 
 25, 1859, Mr. Wilson, speaking of the members of the 
 Senate, said, " Mr. Collamer of Vermont knqws the most 
 of politics, but has no oratory ; Fessenden of Maine is the 
 best debater, but has no facts ; Seward is very able, and 
 may run for president ; Toombs is indomitable ; Davis is 
 high-spirited ; Yulee and Gwin are mercenary ; and John 
 P. Hale is wide-awake, but not sufficiently industrious. 
 The Senate of to-day is abler than the Senate of twenty 
 years ago : few then entered into debate ; but all at 
 present take a part, and evin-ce ability. My own course 
 for the last sixteen years has been one and straight : my 
 constant aim has been to do the very best thing I could 
 against slavery. In every party I have used my influence 
 for this purpose. I aim to move straight forward in the 
 Senate ; and my highest ambition is to have it said, when 
 my career is over, ' He acted for the good of humanity 
 and tlie rights of man.' I am no orator ; but my memory 
 is retentive, and facts and principles I try to state with 
 accuracy and clearness." He was then in the best of health 
 
TEIVIPEEANCE FESTIVAIi. 255 
 
 and spirits, and preparing speeches — one on Cuba, an- 
 other on the District of Columbia — for the coming session. 
 
 Although Mr. Wilson was so profoundly occupied in 
 national affairs, he still took time to attend the gatherings 
 and to mingle in the innocent diversions of the people. Of 
 ceaseless activity, he seemed sometimes almost ubiquitous. 
 Now we find him addressing the people at a picnic, now 
 present at the examination of a school, and now telling 
 stories at a temperance festival ; never seeking pleasure, 
 but imparting it to multitudes of his fellow-men as he went 
 along. 
 
 We meet him in May at a temperance festival at the 
 Adams House, where to this sentiment, " Our country, 
 — with wisdom in her councils, and temperance among 
 her people, she shall command the respect and admiration 
 of the world," — he is thus reported to have respond- 
 ed:— 
 
 " The hand of intemperance had, from his childhood, 
 been laid upon him, and very early in life he had resolved 
 to be temperate himself at all times. Twenty-seven years 
 ago he signed the pledge, which he had ever since kept. 
 He alluded to the intemperance which prevailed among 
 the statesmen of the country, and said many of those men 
 were sinking under the baleful and withering curse. He 
 wished that the words of the sentiment to which he had 
 been called upon to respond had been reversed, and that 
 it had read, ' wisdom among her people, and temperance 
 in her councils.' He spoke in the highest terms of the 
 Sons of Temperance in general, and the Crystal-fount 
 Division in particular." 
 
 Now we see him in the same month at the printers' 
 banquet held at the Revere House, where to the senti- 
 ment, "The National Legislature, — the right arm of 
 
256 IJtFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 the American people," — he made this appropriate re 
 spouse : — 
 
 " Tlie National Legislature deserved all that was said of 
 it in tliat sentiment. If there was a class of men who 
 voted long speeclies a bore, it was printers. He would, 
 tlierefore, be short. He spoke of his knowledge of printers 
 as gathered from his connection with a newspaper nine or 
 ten years ago. There was no class of men that toiled with 
 more fidelity, or should receive more support from every 
 citizen. He saw here men from all parts of the country, 
 and especicilly the men from other States who often set up 
 very unpleasant allusions to him (laughter) : he welcomed 
 them warmly, one and all, and closed with, — 
 
 "The National Printers' Union, — May its laudable 
 efforts to promote the interests, elevate the position, and 
 improve the characters, of the printers of the United States, 
 be crowned with abundant success I " 
 
 A few days afterwards (June 1) he was present at a 
 meeting in honor of Mr. Paul Morphy, the American 
 chess-player, at the same hotel, where, on the announce- 
 ment of the tenth regular toast, " Our national repre- 
 sentatives, — their position gives them a special interest in 
 national success," — he most fittingly rephed, " I suppose we 
 all feel proud of the achievements of our American repre- 
 sentatives in the Old World. We all unite to do honor 
 to him who has achieved lienor for the American nation 
 abroad. As we have read of his brilliant achievements 
 with pride and admiration, we have loved him because he 
 has been throughout a modest and (Juiet American gentle- 
 man. Surrounded as Mr. Morphy has been by royalty, 
 learning, and genius, in all his splendid triumphs he has 
 borne himself with modesty, and he ought to be welcomed 
 by every American. We have witnessed here to-night 
 
OEATION AT LA^VIRENCB. 257 
 
 his modest demeanor and noble carriage with pleasure. In 
 conclusion, he gave this sentiment : " The modest bearing 
 of jour guest, — worthy the imitation of American schol- 
 ars, artists, jurists, and statesmen, who uphold the intellect- 
 ual character of America among the nations." 
 
 Among other labors in the summer of this year, Mr. 
 Wilson delivered an eloquent oration on the celebration 
 of the 4th of July by the civil authorities and people 
 of the city of Lawrence, Mass. The preparations for 
 the occasion were extensive, the expectations of the vast 
 throng of people high ; but they were more than realized 
 in tlie patriotic fervor and the manly eloquence of the 
 speaker. His introduction breathes the very spirit of the 
 founders of our civil liberty. In it he says, — 
 
 " To-day, fellow-citizens, the golden light of the eighty- 
 third anniversary of 'the day of deliverance' is above 
 and around us ; to-day ' the rays of ravishing light and 
 glory,' which gladdened the soul of the impassioned ' Co- 
 lossus of independence ' amidst the storm and blood of 
 civil war, flash upon the glowing faces of twenty-five mil- 
 lions'of American freemen, whose hearts swell with patri- 
 otic pride on the return of this anniversary of the birthday 
 of the republic. Over this broad land, from the shores 
 which first welcomed the weary feet of the Pilgrims to 
 the golden sands which have lured their descendants to 
 the distant shores of the Pacific, throughout the vast 
 breadth of our ever-expanding republic, age with its 
 ripe and rich experiences, manhood in the maturity and 
 vigor of its powers, and youth with its fresh hopes and 
 glowing aspirations, are joyfully mingling in the scenes, 
 associations, and memories of this 'anniversary festival' 
 of the ' most memorable epoch in the history of America.' 
 To-day the teeming millions of America, in her cities, vil- 
 
 22* 
 
258 LIFE OF HENBY WILSON". 
 
 lages, and hamlets, on her broad prairies, rich valleys, and 
 laughing hillsides, and by her mountains, lakes, and rivers, 
 welcome with exultant hearts this day, on which we give 
 a truce to the strifes of sentiment and opinion, passion 
 and interest, and remember only that we are all Ameri- 
 cans, tlie citizens of the foremost republic of the world." 
 
 Having described the spirit which prompted the Declara- 
 tion of Independence, he proceeds : — 
 
 " These sublime ideas of the Declaration of Independ- 
 ence express the whole creed of the equality of humanity, 
 the basis of government, and the rights of the people. They 
 speak to the universal heart of mankind. They declare to 
 kings and princes, and nobles and statesmen, ' Govern- 
 ments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers 
 from the consent of the governed, to secure the inalienable 
 rights of men to liberty ; ' they proclaim to toiling millions, 
 * Whenever any form of government becomes destructive 
 of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish 
 it; ' they utter in the hungry ears of lowly bondmen, 'All 
 men are created equal,' and ' endowed with the inalienable 
 rights of liberty and the pursuit of happiness.' These 
 'self-evident truths' may. be hated and spurned by the 
 monarch, in the arrogance of unrestricted power; they 
 may be scoffed at and jeered at by the noble, hedged about 
 with ancient privileges ; they may be limited, qualified, or 
 denied, by the ignoble politician, whose apostasy is revealed 
 and rebuked by the brilliancy of their steady light ; they 
 may be sneered at as ' glittering generalities ' by the nerve- 
 less conservative, who ' has ever opposed every useful re- 
 form, and wailed over every rotten institution as it fell : ' 
 but they live in the throbbing hearts of the toiling mil- 
 lions, and they nurse the wavering hopes of hapless bond- 
 men amidst the thick gloom of rayless oppression. When 
 
ORATION AT LAWEENCE. 259 
 
 the Christian shall erase from the book of life the precious 
 words, ' Do unto others as ye would that others should do 
 unto you,' ' Love thy neighbor as thyself,' then may the 
 sincere lover of human freedom blur, blot, and erase from 
 the language of humanity these immortal words embodied 
 by our fathers in the Declaration of the 4th of July, 1776. 
 These words, these ideas, which underlie the institutions 
 of the republic, associate the name of America with the 
 cause of universal freedom and progress all over the globe. 
 We may be recreant to these ideas ; we may ignobly fail: 
 but the incorporation of these sacred ideas with the char- 
 ter of national independence will bear the name of the 
 North-American republic down to coming ages, and win 
 for it the grateful homage and lasting remembrance of 
 mankind." 
 
 Announcing his theme as " Our country at that period 
 and our country of to-day," he said, — 
 
 ''How wonderful the contrast! The thirteen colonies 
 of that day have expanded into thirty-three sovereign 
 commonwealths, — ghttering constellations that revolve in 
 their orbits round the great central sun of the North- 
 American Union. The two and a half millions of British 
 colonists tliat timidly clung to the shores of the seas have 
 multiplied into twenty-five millions of freemen, who have 
 crossed the ridges of the Alleghanies, spread over the broad 
 basin of the Great Lakes, the Mississippi, and the Missouri, 
 and passed through the defiles of the Rocky Mountains to 
 the golden shores of the Pacific. The weak confederacy of 
 dependent colonies has developed into a central Union, — 
 a National Government, — whose name is knowm to the 
 nations, and whose power is acknowledged by all mankind. 
 Upon the soil where stood two and a half millions of colo- 
 nists to meet the shock of battle in defence of perilled lib- 
 
260 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 erty stand two and a lialf millions of enrolled men, ready to 
 leap at the summons of patriotism, to hurl into the seas any 
 force that shall press the soil of the republic with hostile 
 feet. 
 
 " The territory embraced in the thirteen colonies on the 
 Atlantic slope of the Alleghanies on the 4th of July, 17T6, 
 contained less than three hundred thousand square miles : 
 to-day the territory embraced within the boundaries of the 
 Union exceeds three millions of square miles. The boun- 
 daries of the republic are to be still farther extended. 
 Unroll the map of North America, trace out upon that 
 map the boundaries of other powers, study their position, 
 and comprehend their condition and character, and the 
 conviction will flash upon the mind that expansion is the 
 destiny of the United States. God grant that this inevi- 
 table expansion may be in harmony with justice, with a 
 scrupulous regard for the rights of other nations and races, 
 and with the equal rights of mankind ! 
 
 " Great as has been the extension of the limits of the 
 country, population has kept abreast of that extension. 
 The sun of the 4th of July, 1776, went down on less 
 than two and a half millions of freemen: to-day the sun 
 casts his beams on twenty-five millions of freemen i-n 
 America. The accumulation of wealth has more than 
 kept pace with the extension of territory and the increase 
 of population. The wealth of the thirteen colonies in 1776 
 did not exceed the wealth of the young Commonwealth of 
 Oliio in 1859 : the value of the real and personal property 
 in the United States is now estimated at eleven thousand 
 millions of dollars. Under the restrictive and repressive 
 colonial policy of England, the annual productive industry 
 of the colonies was small indeed : now it is estimated at 
 three thousand millions of dollars, five hundred millions 
 
ORATION AT LAWEENCE. 261 
 
 of which are exchanged between the States, and three hun« 
 dred millions exported to foreign lands. This extension of 
 territory, this increase of population, this accumulation of 
 wealth, far transcends all the most comprehensive minds 
 ever conceived, and baffles even the predictions of enthu- 
 siasts. 
 
 " At the dawn of the Revolution, agriculture Avas the 
 chief occupation of the people ; but the condition of the 
 colonies limited the quality and value of production : now 
 more than three hundred millions of acres are devoted to 
 agriculture; these farms and plantations are valued at 
 four thousand millions, tilled by four millions of men, and 
 produce nearly eighteen hundred millions of products. 
 
 " The narrow colonial and commercial policy of England 
 limited the variety, checked the production, and depressed 
 the value, of manufactures and the mechanic arts in 
 America. British manufacturers demanded the monopoly 
 of the colonial markets ; British navigation demanded the 
 monopoly of the carrying-trade of the colonies. Manufac- 
 tures and mechanic arts, commerce and navigation, lan- 
 guished under the depressing effects of British legislation. 
 The ships the mechanics of New England and New York 
 launched upon the deep were not permitted to carry to their 
 markets the rice, indigo, and tobacco of the South ; and 
 these ships were forced to seek the products of Continental 
 Europe, of Asia, and the Orient, in the storehouses of 
 England. 
 
 " In 1850 the capital invested in more than a hundred 
 thousand establishments was five hundred and thirty 
 millions, the number of persons employed more than a 
 million, and the value of the production more than a 
 thousand millions. In 1776 the cotton-plant bloomed un- 
 gathered, and its manufacture was hardly known : now 
 
262 LIFE OF HENBY WILSON. 
 
 more than seven hundred thousand acres, tilled by nearly 
 nine hundred thousand persons, are devoted to its culture ; 
 and the capital invested in its manufacture is more than eighty 
 millions, the number of persons engaged in its manufac- 
 ture a hundred thousand, and the value of the production 
 seventy millions. At the opening of the war of independ- 
 ence, the imports and exports, burdened by the repressive 
 commercial policy of England, did not exceed the trade 
 with the British Provinces on the north at this time ; and 
 these imports and exports were chiefly monopolized by 
 British navigation : now our imports and exports amount 
 annually to six hundred millions of dollars ; and the annual 
 arrivals and clearances are forty thousand, with an inward 
 and outward tonnao-e of eleven millions of tons. The 
 tonnasce of the United States is more than five millions of 
 tons, — equal to the tonnage of the Britsh empire. 
 
 " When the Declaration was sent abroad over the land, 
 the means of transportation, communication, and travel, were 
 of the most limited description. Beyond the shores of the 
 seas and the banks of the streams, mere bridle-paths, 
 often following the trails of the sons of the forest, 
 were the avenues of travel. Now the avenues of trans- 
 portation have multiplied almost beyond comprehension. 
 Five thousand miles of canals, thirty thousand miles of 
 railway, forty-five thousand miles of telegraph, five million 
 tons of shipping, fifteen hundred steamers, which annually 
 transport forty millions of passengers, afford the amplest 
 facilities for rapid communication. '. . . 
 
 '' Then relimous strifes, srowlncr out of the conflicting 
 
 C5 "too O 
 
 claims of rival sects for supremacy in some of the colonies, 
 and the poverty and scattered condition of the people in 
 others, limited the means of moral instruction : now reli- 
 gion is wholly divorced from the corruptions of power ; all 
 
OEATION AT LAWEENCE. 203 
 
 forms of faith are protected by equal laws ; and forty thou- 
 sand churches — costing nearly a hundred millions of 
 dollars, in which fifteen millions of people may be seated, 
 and in which more than thirty thousand clergymen instruct 
 the people in the duties of life — point their spires toward the 
 skies. Religious and philanthropic associations annually 
 scatter among the people millions of publications for the 
 moral culture of the people. Humane institutions, al- 
 most unknown when the nation commenced its independ- 
 ent existence, have been founded, where the children of 
 misfortune, the blind, the deaf, the dumb, the insane, and 
 the sons and daughters of toil, find shelter from the storms 
 of life. . . . 
 
 " When independence was proclaimed, less than forty 
 newspapers spread the immortal words among the people ; 
 and these journals were small in size, and of limited circu- 
 lation : on this eighty-third anniversary, nearly three 
 thousand newspapers are printed in America, having a 
 circulation of six millions, and annually scattering broad- 
 cast nearly six hundred millions of copies, — more copies 
 than are printed by the two most powerful nations of the 
 globe, France and England. At the dawn of the Revolu- 
 tion, periodical hterature was hardly known : now two hun- 
 dred periodicals, devoted to literature, science, and art, to 
 religion, law, politics, manufactures, commerce, agriculture, 
 mechanics, and the moral, intellectual, and material interests 
 of society, are published ; and the circulation of these peri- 
 odicals is immense, amounting to many millions annually. 
 These three thousand periodicals and journals, which the 
 prolific press of America scatters among the people, give 
 to them the ideas, inventions, discoveries, arts, facts, and 
 events, at rates so low as to bring them within the reach 
 of the toihng masses. 
 
26-1 LIFE OF HENBY WILSON. 
 
 "At the opening of the Revolutionary contest, books 
 were rare and dear, — beyond the reach of the masses of 
 the people ; only a few small libraries had been created : . 
 now the public libraries, exclusive of those of schools 
 and institutions of learning, contain more than six millions 
 of volumes. The rarest and choicest works find a place 
 in the private libraries which the increasing wealth, taste, 
 and refinement of the people are creating. The American 
 press, hardly a power at the opening of the contest for 
 national existence, now annually publishes more than a 
 thousand new works, and more than nine millions of vol- 
 umes. The works of the profoundest and the ripest 
 intellects in the Old World and the New, in ancient and 
 modern times, are now, by the ceaseless activity of the 
 American press, placed before the people at prices so low, 
 that all can hold communion with" the mighty minds of the 
 living and with the dead. The great living authors of 
 England and of France are read hardly less in America 
 than in their native lands. Before the Revolution, there 
 were a few scholars of research and learning, of genius and 
 taste ; but they had contributed little to hterature, science, 
 or art. America has achieved a position in the republic 
 of letters which mves assurance of a brilliant future ; and 
 she has given to the world some of the noblest names that 
 grace the literature, science, and art of the age. 
 . " These statistics of wealth, of production, of material 
 advancement, of churches, schools, libraries, and journals, 
 give us some idea of the vast resources and abounding 
 means now possessed by the people of America for moral 
 and intellectual culture and physical well-being. 
 
 " This rapid advancement of the republic in all the 
 elements of power, this lofty position achieved within the 
 brief space of one human life, this consummated result, 
 
OEATION AT LAWEENCE. 265 
 
 wliich places America among the foremost powers of the 
 globe, make the hearts of our countrymen, wherever they 
 may be, on the ocean or on the land, throb with patriotic 
 joy and pride ; and they give this day to memory, exul- 
 tation, and hope." 
 
 Referring to the subject ever uppermost in his mind, he 
 said, — 
 
 " But to the thoughtful patriot who loves his country, 
 who would make that country an example to the nations ; 
 to the lover of human freedom, who would extend its sway 
 over the globe; to the Christian philanthropist, whose 
 heart ever throbs for the welfare of the chiHren of men, — 
 this hallowed anniversary, so glorious in its memories of 
 the past, its realities of the present, and its hopes of the 
 future, is not one of unmingled joy. Within the limits of 
 the repubhc, four milh'ons of mankind are bending to-day 
 beneath the nameless woes of perpetual servitude ; and, 
 while the self-evident truths of the great charter of riorhts 
 
 o to 
 
 are upon our Hps, the humiliating consciousness flashes 
 upon our souls, that fleeing bondmen are shrinking away 
 in the glens and forests from the echoes of the glad voices 
 of general rejoicing, watching for the going-down of the 
 sun, so that their weary eyes may gaze upon the north 
 star, whose steady light they anxiously hope will guide 
 their aching feet to that land beyond the Great Lakes and 
 tlie St. Lawrence, where the shackle falls and the voice 
 of the master is not heard. 
 
 '' This ' odious and abominable trade,' this ' inhuman 
 and accursed traffic,' which Daniel Webster summoned the 
 country to ' put beyond the circle of human sympathies 
 and human regards,' now flourishes in defiant mockery of 
 the laws of the country and the public opinion of the 
 Christian and civilized world." 
 
 23 
 
266 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 He closed his eloquent address with these hopeful 
 words : — 
 
 " Though deeds of injustice, inhumanity, lawlessness, 
 and oppression, darken our horizon, casting their saddening 
 influences over the festivities of this anniversary, the les- 
 son of this day is the lesson of hope, not of despair. Upon 
 America, our country, and, with all her faults, the land of 
 our affections and pride, are centred the best hopes of 
 mankind. To what portion of the globe, to what land 
 under the whole heavens, can the friend of human prog- 
 ress, of equal and universal liberty, this day turn with 
 more of hope and confidence than to this magnificent 
 continental empire, this broad land of wondrous fertility, 
 where Providence has garnered illimitable resources to be 
 developed for human prosperity, power, and happiness ; 
 this democratic republic, with achieved free institutions 
 based upon the rights of human nature, with millions of 
 people trained in self-government, and in full possession 
 of the citadel of consummated power, — the ballot-box; 
 where the loving heart, the enlightened conscience, the 
 unclouded reason, of man, can utter their voices for humane 
 and equal laws, and for their wise and impartial adminis- 
 tration ? ' Our country,' said that illustrious supporter of 
 the rights of mankind, John Quincy Adams, ' began her 
 existence by the proclamation of the universal emancipa- 
 tion of man from the thraldom of man.' In support of 
 that glorious proclamation, our fathers were summoned to 
 walk the path of duty ; and they obeyed the call, though 
 it was swept by British cannon, darkened by the storm of 
 battle, and sprinkled with the blood of falling comrades. 
 "We ho/ior their sublime devotion ; we applaud their heroic 
 deeds. Their bright example of devotion to principle, and 
 fidelity to duty, should incite us of this age in America to 
 
THE JOHN BEOWN RAH). 267 
 
 accept joyfully and bravely the responsibilities of our posi- 
 tion, and, like them, be ever ready 
 
 * To take 
 Occasion by the hand, and make 
 The bounds of freedom wider yet.' '* 
 
 To the raid of John Brown into Virginia in October 
 (1859), causing wild excitement through the South, and 
 terminating in the death of the invader, Mr. Wilson was 
 from principle opposed. He had often made the declara- 
 tion, that even Congress had no right to interfere with 
 slavery in the slave States ; and in this position he firmly 
 stood. An attempt was made in the Senate, Dec. 6, to 
 prove that he was in sympathy with those who would 
 resort to force for the liberation of the slave, by showing 
 that he was present at a meeting of the citizens of Natick 
 on the 29th of November, in which was passed, without 
 0[)position on his part, the resolution, " That it is the right 
 and duty of the slaves to resist their masters." To this 
 imputation he replied : — 
 
 '' During the canvass in New York, I spent two weeks 
 there, and addressed tens of thousands of people ; and my 
 speeches were reported in full two or three times. In 
 those speeches I expressed my views in regard to this raid 
 of John Brown at Harper's Ferry fully and explicitly. I 
 returned to my home on the day preceding the election in 
 my State ; and I addressed a very large meeting of the 
 citizens of my town for two hours on general political 
 topics, and fully on this matter in regard to the Harper's- 
 Ferry affair. ... In the town where I live we have 
 more than a thousand voters. We have some ten or 
 twenty men who are radical abolitionists. Some of them 
 were present. They did not interrupt me nor the meeting. 
 
268 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 When the meeting had ended, they said to their neigh- 
 bors and friends, and some of them came to me and said, 
 that they disagreed with me entirely, and would have 
 somebody tliere to put the other side of the question. A 
 sliort time afterwards, Mr. Henry C. Wright, a Garrison 
 aboHtionist, who is a professed disunionist, a no-govern- 
 ment man, a non-resistant, came to speak in my town. 
 The population of the place went to hear him, and crowded 
 the hall. Most of the active Democrats in the town were 
 present. The postmaster was present, and sat close by 
 me. The resolutions were offered by Mr. Wright ; and he 
 made a non-resistant speech in favor of resistance. 
 (Laughter.) He went on to explain how the thing could 
 be done. He said he would not shed a drop of human 
 blood to free every slave in the country. 
 
 '' After he closed his speech, the question was put, and 
 perhaps fifteen or twenty persons in that meeting of seven 
 or eight hundred voted for the resolution. All the rest, 
 feeling that Mr. Wright's friends had paid for the hall, and 
 got up the meeting for him and for themselves, took no 
 part for or against him. They did not interrupt the meet- 
 ing ; believing as they did, and as we do in our part of the 
 country, in the absolute right of free discussion of all 
 questions. When the meeting adjourned, the general ex- 
 pression was that the resolution was a very foolish one, 
 and for which Mr. Wright and his friends were alone re- 
 sponsible. Nine-tenths of that meeting took no part in it. 
 They did not wish to interrupt the meeting, or interfere 
 with it in any way whatever, or be responsible for it. 
 Tliere were present gentlemen as sound on the slavery 
 question as the senator from Mississippi could desire. The 
 postmaster of that town is as sound on the slavery ques- 
 tion as the senator from Mississippi, and often manifests his 
 
THE JOHN BEOWN EAH). 269 
 
 zeal in defence of the policy of the slave power ; but he 
 did not say a word, nor did those who act with him, be- 
 cause nobody wished to interfere with those who had 
 invited the speaker there, and who agreed with him in his 
 general opinions. Senators should remember that the 
 right to hold meetings, and to utter opinions upon all 
 matters of public concern, is an acknowledged right in my 
 section of the country. They should remember, also, that 
 the people in that section often attend meetings where 
 subjects are discussed in a way they do not sanction ; but 
 they do not think it becomes gentlemen to interrupt such 
 meetinofs, or interfere with those who differ from them. 
 Often do I attend such meetings, and listen to what is said, 
 without feeling myself in any way responsible for what is 
 said or done : so do the people of my State. I wish the 
 people of other sections of the country would thus cherish 
 the sacred right of free discussion." 
 
 So, in reply to the remarks of Mr. Iverson, he said 
 in the Senate, Dec. 8, — 
 
 " The sentiment in my State approaches unanimity in 
 condemnation of the raid of John Brown. If there be 
 any man in Massachusetts, especially any Republican in 
 Massachusetts, who upholds or justifies that act, he has 
 my unqualified opposition and condemnation. But, sir, 
 I wish to deal frankly with senators on the other side, and 
 to say that the sentiment of my State approaches una- 
 nimity in sympathy for the fate of the leader of that invasion. 
 It springs mainly and chiefly from what happened after 
 that event, during his imprisonment, his trial, and his 
 execution. His words, his letters, his bearing, every thing 
 about him, extorte.d admiration from friends and foes." 
 
 Such had been Senator Wilson's steady, able, and con- 
 sistent defence of the rights of the Northern people and >£ 
 
 23* 
 
270 LIFE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 those in bondage, that on the twelfth day of June, 1860. 
 both branches of the General Court of Massachusetts passed 
 a resolution honorable alike to the sentiment of the repre- 
 sentatives of the people and to him : — 
 
 ^'Resolved, That the thanks of this legislature, acting as 
 the agents of the people, be and are hereby tendered to the 
 Hon. Henry Wilson for his able, fearless, and always 
 prompt defence of the great principles of human freedom 
 while acting as a senator and a citizen of the Old Bay 
 State." 
 
 " Approved June 16, 1860 : 
 
 " Nathaniel P. Banks." 
 
 On his amendment to the Naval Appropriation Bill for 
 the purchase of three steam-vessels for the suppression of 
 the African slave-trade, Mr. Wilson, true to his noble 
 record, made on the 18th of June, 1860, a strong speech, in 
 which he presents a mass of startling facts in respect to the 
 re-opening of this iniquitous business. " The senator from 
 Virginia (Mr. Mason) asks how it is," says he, " that the 
 slave-trade has been revived in the cities of the North. He 
 does not understand why this traffic in men should be re- 
 renewed at this time by persons residing in this country. 
 I think, sir, it is all very plain. We have had in this 
 country during the past six years an immense pressure for 
 the extension of slavery into the Territories, and for the 
 supremacy of slavery in the councils of the government. 
 To extend slavery, to secure its controlling influence over 
 the government, ancient restrictions have been abrogated, 
 and lawless violence and frauds have been resorted to by 
 unscrupulous men ready to sacrifice every right that stood 
 in the way of their schemes of expansion and dominion. 
 
THE SLAYE-TEADE. 271 
 
 The senator from Virginia himself proclaimed on this floor 
 that the slaveholding States had the right to the natural 
 expansion of slavery on this continent as an element of 
 political power. Does the senator suppose that these efforts 
 to expand human slavery over this continent for the 
 avowed purpose of strengthening the power of slave- 
 masters over the National Government have no influence 
 over men ever ready to do any work of inhumanity or 
 crime to fill their coffers with gold ? 
 
 " Sir, these efforts to extend human slavery in America, 
 these attempts to increase the power of slavery in the 
 councils of the nation, these discussion sin these halls and 
 in the public journals, these deeds of fraud and violence, 
 have had their demoralizing effects upon the country. 
 When the senator from Viro-inia finds that men eno-a^ed 
 in this inhuman traffic cannot be convicted, that juries 
 fail, that judges pervert the laws, that public journals and 
 public men demand the abrogation of treaty stipulations 
 and the modification or repeal of all laws branding the 
 slave-trade as piracy, why should he be surprised that in 
 Northern commercial cities, in the great city of New York, 
 there should be found men to invest capital to fit out ships, 
 to send vessels to the coast of Africa, to engage in a traffic, 
 which, if successful, fills their purses with coveted gold ? 
 Why should not men be found in that great commercial 
 city as ready to violate law, the rights of human nature, 
 and feelings of humanity, to win gold, as to aid in the 
 woik of slavery expansion and dominion in America for 
 tlie poor boon of official patronage? Surely the ex- 
 perienced senator from Virginia cannot be surprised at the 
 readiness of men to do mean and wicked deeds for slavery. 
 Tlie senator has often seen how ready men are, even in 
 these c:hambers, to do whatever slavery requires of them. 
 
272 LIFE OF HEKRY WILSON. 
 
 The senator, the other day, reported In favor of returning 
 to my colleague a petition presented by him of colored 
 citizens of Massachusetts. In this the senator had the 
 ready support of the senator from Indiana (Mr. Fitch). 
 When the honorable senator from Virginia finds the 
 senator from Indiana not only ready to engage in an act 
 like that, — an act which violates the constitutional rights 
 of men and the rights of a senator of a sovereign State, — 
 but willing to make an insulting motion, accompanied by 
 impertinent remarks toward the senator who, in the dis- 
 charge of public duty, presented the petition, why should 
 he not suppose that other men can be found willing to do 
 any work in the interests of slavery ? When the senator 
 from Virginia sees the pliancy and alacrity of the senator 
 from Indiana in this work of suppressing the petitions of 
 the colored citizens of a sovereign Commonwealth, why 
 should he not suppose that men may be found in other 
 Northern States ready to engage in the slave-trade ? 
 
 " It cannot be matter of surprise to senators that men 
 in our great commercial cities, especially New York, should 
 eno-as^e with renewed zeal in the slave-trade. Men ever 
 ready to clutch at every opportunity to fill their purses 
 with gold, no matter how it is to be won, could not 
 fail to be influenced to embark in the unlawful and inhu- 
 man slave-trade by the change which has been going on 
 in the public mind in regard to this traffic in men. We 
 cannot disguise the fact, that a great change of sentiment 
 has been going on in this country with regard to the slave* 
 trade." 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE NOMINATION OF MR. LINCOLN. THE PARAMOUNT 
 
 QUESTION BETWEEN THE PARTIES. HOW SHOULD 
 
 WORKING-MEN VOTE ? HIS COURSE IN THE EVENT 
 
 OF DISUNION. HIS RELATIONS TO MR. DAVIS. 
 
 THE CRITTENDEN COMPROMISE. LETTERS. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln nominated. — Mr. Wilson's Energy in his Support. — Speech at 
 Myrick's. — East Boston. — Free and Slave Labor. — Letter of Mr. Packard. — 
 Secession of the Southern States. — Mr. Wilson Fearless. — Speech in the 
 Senate. — Labors in the Military Committee with Mr. Davis. — He foresees 
 a tremendous Contest. — His Position. — Great Speech on Mr. Crittenden's 
 Compromise. — Letters from Mr. Whittier, Mrs. L. M. Child, Gerrit Smith, 
 Amasa Walker. — Vote of Thanks. 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN was nominated for the presi- 
 dency by the Republicans in convention at Chicago 
 in the month of May, 1860 ; and Jolm C. Breckinridge in 
 April following, at Charleston, S.C., by the proslavery 
 Democrats. The other candidates were John Bell and 
 Stephen A. Douglas. The main question between the two 
 leading parties was freedom, or slavery, in the immense 
 Territories of the Union ; or, in other words, shall free, or 
 servile, labor have the ascendency in this country ? Long 
 and carefully, both in and out of Congress, had Mr. Wilson 
 studied this question under every form and bearing ; long 
 had he contemplated the tremendous interests involved 
 in the issue of the question ; and he therefore threw him- 
 
 273 
 
274 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 self into the contest with unfaltering energy, addressing 
 vast and enthusiastic audiences in many States with elo- 
 quent and effective words of warning, counsel, and en- 
 couragement. In an address at Myrick's Junction, Mass., 
 on the 18tli of September, in reference to the paramount 
 question of the parties, he said, — 
 
 " Issues growing out of the existence of human slavery 
 in America are now the paramount issues before the nation. 
 Shall slavery continue to expand ? shall it continue to guide 
 the counsels of the republic ? or shall its expansion be 
 arrested, its power broken, and it forced to retire under 
 the cover of the local laws under which it exists ? These 
 issues loom up before the nation, dwarfing all other issues, 
 and subordinating all other questions. Public men and 
 political organizations are forced to accept the transcendent 
 issues ffrowino- out of the existence of slavery in America. 
 
 " The American Democracy, which for twenty-five years 
 has borne the banners of slavery, won its victories, and 
 shared in its crimes against humanity, though broken into 
 frao-ments, strufrMes on, faithful still to the interests of sla- 
 very. Breckinridge and Lane accept the creed of slavery 
 expansion, slavery protection, and slavery domination ; 
 Douglas ' don't care whether slavery is voted up or voted 
 down ; ' and Johnson, commended by the Massachusetts 
 Democracy at Springfield for his ' honest and fearless prom- 
 ulgation of Democratic truth,' proclaims that it ' is best 
 that capital should own labor.' Tlie American Democracy, 
 demoralized by slavery, has ceased to speak of the rights 
 of man : it now speaks only of the rights of property in 
 man. The Republican party, brought into existence by 
 the aggressions of slavery upon freedom, cherishing the 
 faith of the founders of the republic, and believing with 
 their chosen leader, Abraham Lincoln, that ' he who would 
 
THE PAEAT^IOUNT QUESTION. 275 
 
 be no slave must consent to have no slave,' pledges itself, 
 all it is, all it hopes to be, to arrest the extension of slavery, 
 banish it from the Territories, dethrone its power in the 
 National Government, and force it back under the cover of 
 State sovereign ty." 
 
 After giving the proslavery record of Mr. Bell, he closed 
 by these strong vrords : — 
 
 " Men of old Puritan and Revolutionary Massachusetts, 
 upon whose pathway the star of duty casts its radiant and 
 steady light, — you who believe with Benjamin Franklin, 
 that ' slavery is an atrocious debasement of human nature ; ' 
 with John Adams, that ' consenting to slavery is a sac- 
 rilegious breach of trust;' with John Quincy Adams, 
 that ' slavery taints the very sources of moral principle ; ' 
 with Daniel Webster, that 'slavery is a continual and 
 permanent violation of human rights,' ' opposed to the 
 wliole spirit of the gospel and to the teachings of Jesus 
 Christ,' — reject, I pray you, reject with loathing, the false 
 and guilty doctrine, that, in this crisis of the republic, ' it 
 is tlie part of patriotism and duty to recognize no political 
 principle ; ' turn from a candidate whose record is blurred, 
 blotted, and stained with words and deeds for human sla- 
 very ; spurn with scorn all affiliation with men who in 
 the South are vying with the slave-code Democracy in 
 fealty to the slave propagandists, — who in the North are 
 scoffing and jeering at the sacred cause of liberty, organ- 
 izing Democratic-aid societies, peddling and dickering with 
 Democratic factions, to defeat men whose only offence is 
 their unswerving fidelity to the cause of human nature 
 now in peril in America, and ' consecrating,' in the words 
 of Whittier, 
 
 < their baseness to the cause 
 Of Constitution, Union, and the Laws.' 
 
276 LITE OF HENRY WILSON". 
 
 " Rally, men of Massachusetts, to the standard of a party 
 that proclaims its principles and its policy, — a party that 
 would engrave in letters of living light upon the arches of 
 the skies, so that the nations might read it, its undying hos- 
 tility to the domination and extension of slavery in Ameri- 
 ca. Kally to the support of a candidate for the chief 
 mag stracy of the republic who penned these noble words : 
 ' This is a world of compensations; and he who would he 
 no slave must consent to have no slave. Those who deny 
 freedom to others deserve it not for themselves ; and, un- 
 der a just God, cannot long retain it.' " 
 
 On the question, " How ought working-men to vote ? " 
 Mr. Wilson said, contrasting free with servile labor, in a 
 speech of signal force delivered at East Boston on the 24th 
 of October, — 
 
 " Self-interest, self-respect, the love he bears his wife, 
 and the hopes centred in those who inherit his blood and 
 bear his name, all urge, press, command, the poor man, the 
 mechanic, the laboring-man, to rush to the ballot-box on 
 the 6th of November, and vote to take the government of 
 his country from the unhallowed grasp of men, who, by 
 word and deed, have proved themselves the mortal enemies 
 of free labor and free-laboring men, and to place that gov- 
 ernment in the hands of statesmen who will maintain the 
 rights, interests, and dignity of free labor. 
 
 " Glancing over this assemblage of the freemen of East 
 Boston, I see before me the manly forms of toiling men, 
 who, through weary days and sleepless nights of personal 
 toil, have won for themselves positions of independence, or 
 who now, by the scanty wages of manual labor, support 
 themselves and the dear and loved ones of their household. 
 And I say to you, men of Massachusetts, slavery is the 
 unappeasable enemy of the free laboring-men of America, 
 
HOW SHOULD WORKING-I^IEN VOTE? 277 
 
 of the North and of the South. Ay, I repeat, sla- 
 very is the unappeasable enemy of the free laboring-men 
 of America, of the North and of the South. The party 
 that upholds slavery in America, that would extend its 
 boundaries, increase its influence and its power, is the mor- 
 tal enemy of the free white laboring-men of the United 
 States. I declare to you, men of Massachusetts, and, if I 
 could be heard, I would proclaim it in the ear of every 
 laboring-man in America, the slavery of the black man 
 has degraded labor and the white laboring-man of the 
 South, and dishonored the white laboring - man of the 
 North. Some writer (I think it was Carlyle) has said that 
 the Indian away on the shores of Lake Winnipeg cannot 
 strike his dusky mate but the world feels the blow. Put 
 the brand of degradation upon the brow of one working- 
 man, and the toiling millions of the globe share in that 
 degradation. Slavery makes labor dishonorable, puts the 
 brand of degradation upon the brow of manual labor, free 
 as well as slave, blights the homes of the free laboring 
 white men of the South, and casts its baleful shadows over 
 the homes, the fields, and the workshops of the laboring- 
 men of the North. 
 
 " In 1620 — : two hundred and forty years ago — freedom 
 and slavery came to the shores of America. Freedom 
 took the rugged soil and still more rugged clime of the 
 North : slavery took the genial clime and sunny lands of 
 the South. Freedom, starting from Plymouth, has ad- 
 vanced with steady step westward, crossed the Rocky 
 Mountains to the shores of the Pacific seas, founding com- 
 monwealths which recognize the eternal laws of man's 
 being : slavery, starting from Jamestown, has advanced 
 westward and southward into the depths of the continent, 
 
 24 
 
278 LIFE OF HENEY WILSOK. 
 
 founding States of privilege and caste. The results of these 
 two antao-onistic systems are plain to the comprehension of 
 all men. 
 
 " Here, in these free commonwealths, are twenty millions 
 of freemen, with free speech, free press, free schools, free 
 churches, and free institutions. Here all questions that 
 concern humanity are examined and discussed by the un- 
 fettered press and the free thoughts and words of men. 
 Here ' labor,' in the words of Daniel Webster, ' looks up 
 and is proud in the midst of its toil.' Here the laboring- 
 man, who daily goes forth with a brave heart to toil for his 
 loved ones, wins not only bread by the sweat of his face, 
 but the applauding voice of men who honor labor, who 
 believe the laborer is worthy of his hire. Here the toil 
 of the working-man is lightened by ennobling motives, by 
 aspirations which expand the mind and elevate the soul. 
 The toil which wearies his arm is to make glad the home 
 of wife and children ; to smooth adown the declivity of 
 life the steps of parents to wdiom he owes his being ; to lift 
 the burdens of life from brother, sister, or friend ; or to win 
 for him competence, independence, positions of power, the 
 lofty and glittering prizes of ambition. Here the laboring- 
 men in all the fields of manly toil are w^orking out a con- 
 dition of societv for the toilino; masses more elevated than 
 can be found in any other portion of the globe. Here 
 agriculture, commerce, manufactures, the mechanic arts, 
 churches, schools, libraries, the institutions of a renning 
 civilization, flourish in vicror and streno^th. Such are the 
 magnificent results of freedom in the North. 
 
 " The results of slavery in the South glare upon us from 
 every rood of the land stained by its existence. The 
 fruits of slavery are bitter to the taste, and sickening to the 
 
HOW SHOULD WORKING-MEN VOTE? 279 
 
 soul of man. There are auction-blocks, where man made 
 in the image of God is sold like the beasts that perish ; 
 there are chains and fetters for human limbs, whips to 
 scourge and torture the body, and laws to debasr and bru- 
 talize the mind and soul of man. There labor is dishon- 
 ored, laborers degraded, despised. ' To work,' said Wil- 
 liam Ellery Channing, ' in sight of the whip, under menace 
 of blows, is to be exposed to perpetual insult and degrading 
 influences. Every motion of the limbs wliich such a men- 
 ace urges is a wound to the soul.' To work beside the 
 bondmen urged on to toil by the menace of blows de- 
 grades the poor white laborer to the abject condition of 
 the slave. To continually eat the bread of enforced and 
 unrequited toil, to look upon labor extorted by the menace 
 of the lash, u})on the laborer thus degraded, excites in the 
 bosom of the slave-master that scorn for manual labor, 
 and that contempt for laboring-men, now so manifest in 
 the slave States of republican America. 
 
 The deterioration, exhaustion, and desolation of the soil 
 of tlie South, under the culture of unskilled, untutored, 
 unrewarded slave-labor, stands confessed by even the 
 champions of that cleaving curse. Thousands of square 
 miles, milhons of acres of the best soil of the Western 
 world, have been bhghted, blasted, desolated, by the pohut- 
 ing footsteps of the bondman. Tlie champions of slavery, 
 men who would eternize it, extend its boundaries and its 
 dominion over the National Government, have borne testi- 
 mony to the desolating effects of the Southern system of 
 agriculture, which means the Southern slave-labor system, 
 upon the most prolific soil of the continent. . . . 
 
 " Breckinridge," lie said, " bears aloft the banner of sla- 
 very expansion, slavery protection, and slavery domina- 
 tion ; and around that black flag ralHes the Democratic 
 
280 LIFE OF HENRY WILSOK. 
 
 masses of the South, and the men of the North who believe 
 with Mr. Buchanan tliat ' the master has the right to take 
 his slaves into the Territories as property, and have it pro- 
 tected there under the Federal Constitution ; ' that ' nei- 
 ther Congress nor the Territorial legislature, nor any- 
 human power, has any authority to annul or impair that 
 vested right.' Benjamin F. Hallett tells the assembled 
 Breckinridge Democracy of Massachusetts that there can 
 never be a successful Democratic party in the free States : 
 so he goes with the slave-code Democracy of the South. 
 There can never be a successful Democratic party in the 
 North ! What an admission is this ! There can never be 
 a successful Democratic party in the land of free speech, free 
 press, free schools, free labor, and free educated working- 
 men trained in self-government ! Successful Democracy 
 buds and blooms only in the land of bondage, where the 
 right to think, to discuss, to act, is not recognized ; where 
 labor is dishonored, and laboring-men despised ! Surely 
 the working-men of the North can not, will not, sustain by 
 their suffrages that false, foul, profane Democracy which 
 draws its life, its soul, from slavery. 
 
 " Douglas ' don't care whether slavery is voted down or 
 voted up.' To him it is a matter of supreme indiffer- 
 ence whether a million and a half of the square miles of 
 America shall be gladdened by the footsteps and beautified 
 by the hands of freemen, who acknowledge no man master ; 
 or whether they shall be seared, blasted, desolated, by 
 
 The old and chartered lie, 
 
 The feudal curse, whose whips and yokes. 
 
 Insult humanity.' 
 
 " The laboring-men of the North, ay, and of the South 
 too, should never forget nor forgive that heartless decla- 
 
HOW SHOULD WOEKESTG-MEN VOTE? 281 
 
 ration. The peerless Washington cared whether slaver)? 
 was voted down or voted up in the Territories ; for he 
 ' trusted we should have a confederacy of free States,' and 
 he deemed the ordinance of 1787 ' a wise measure.' The 
 working-man who votes the Douglas and Johnson ticket 
 votes for a president who ' don't care whetlier slavery is 
 voted down or voted up,' and for a vice-president who 
 ' believes capital should own labor.' Can a working-man, 
 wlio eats his bread in the sweat of his face, give such a 
 vote ? Such a vote would be a betrayal of the cause of 
 the toiling masses of America, an act of self-humiliation 
 which should bring the blush of conscious shame to the 
 cheek. 
 
 " The Republican party, brought into being by the neces- 
 sities of the country and the needs of the age, rejects the 
 wicked dogma, that slaves, the creatures of local law, are 
 recognized by the Constitution as property, that the Con- 
 stitution of republican America carries slavery wherever 
 it goes, and that the national flag protects slavery wherever 
 it waves. The Republican party ' cares whether slavery 
 is voted down or voted up ' in the Territories, rejects with 
 horror the idea that ' capital should own labor,' disowns the 
 craven declaration that ' it is the part of patriotism and of 
 dutv to recognize no principle,' and bravely and hopefully 
 accepts the duties now imposed upon the people of tlie 
 United States by the providence of Almighty God. The 
 Republican party proclaims its living faith in the self-evi- 
 dent truths of the Declaration of Independence, now scoffed 
 at and jeered at by the leaders of the slave Democracy as 
 ' rhetorical flourishes,' ' glittering generalities,' ' self-evident 
 lies,' ' farragoes of nonsense,' pronounced by Breckinridge 
 ' abstractions,' which, if carried into practice, would ' lead 
 our country rapidly to destruction,' and declared by Doug- 
 
 24* 
 
282 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 las to mean only that ' British subjects on this continent 
 were equal to British subjects born and residing in Great 
 Britain.' 
 
 " The Republican party believes with its chosen leader, 
 Abraham Lincoln, that ' these expressions ' of apostate 
 Democratic politicians, ' differing in form, are identical in 
 object and effect, — the supplanting of the principles of free 
 government, and restoring those of classification, caste, and 
 legitimacy ; ' that ' tliey would delight a convocation of 
 crowned heads plotting against the people ; ' that ' they 
 are the vanguard, the sappers and miners, of returning 
 despotism.' The Republican party believes too, with its 
 noble candidate, that the ' abstract truth ' of the Declara- 
 tion is ' applicable to all men and all times ; ' that ' to-day, 
 and in all coming days, it shall be a rebuke and a stum- 
 bling-block to the harbingers of re-appearing tyranny and 
 oppression.' -Accepting as its living faith the creed of the 
 equality of mankind, the Republican- party recognizes the 
 poor, the humble, the sons of toil, whose hands are hard- 
 ened by honest labor, whose limbs are chilled by the blasts 
 of winter, whose cheeks are scorched by the suns of sum- 
 mer, as the equals, before the law, of the most favored of 
 the sons of men. 
 
 " Believing with the republican fathers of the North 
 and of the South, with Washington and Franklin, Adams 
 and Jefferson, Henry and Jay, Morris and Mason, Madi- 
 son and Hamilton, King and Munroe, Pinckney and Mar- 
 tin, and their illustrious associates, that slavery is ' a sin of 
 crimson dye,' ' an atrocious debasement of human nature,' 
 ' a dreadful calamity,' which ' lessens the sense of the equal 
 rights of mankind, and habituates us to tyranny and 
 oppression ; ' believing with Henry Clay, that ' slavery is a 
 wrong, a grievous wrong no contingency can make right,' 
 
HOW SHOULD WORKING-MEN VOTE? 283 
 
 — the Republican party is opposed to slavery everywhere. 
 Recoo-nizino; the rio;hts of the States, it does not claim 
 power to abohsh slavery in the States by Congressional 
 legislation : but it claims the power to exclude slavery 
 from the Territories ; and, by the blessing of God, it will 
 use every legal power and make every honorable effort 
 to expel slavery from every rood of the territory of the 
 republic. 
 
 " Working-men of Massachusetts, you who eat your 
 bread in the sweat of the face, would you make the self- 
 evident truths of the charter of independence again the 
 active faith of America ; would you weaken the influences 
 of slavery and the power of the slave-masters over the 
 National Government ; would you expel slavery and its 
 degrading influences from the Territories ; would you bring 
 Kansas as a free commonwealth into the Union ; would you 
 suppress the reviving African slave-trade, now dishonoring 
 the nation ; would you erase from the statutes of New Mex- 
 ico the inhuman slave-code, an-d the more infamous code 
 authorizing employers to degrade white laboring-men with 
 blows, while it denies all means of protection by closing 
 the courts against their appeals for redress ; would you set 
 apart the public domain for homesteads for the landless ; 
 would you construct a railroad across the central regions 
 of the continent to the Pacific ; would you adjust the reve- 
 nue-laws so as to incidentally favor American labor; would 
 vou win back our lost influence with the nations south of 
 us on this continent, and thus increase and develop our 
 manufacturing and commercial interests ; would you reform 
 existing abuses, strengthen the ties of interest and affec- 
 tion which bind these sister States together, and put the 
 republic in the van of advancing nations, — then commit, 
 fully and unreservedly commit, yourselves to the cause of 
 
284 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 republicanism, to the support of the Republican party and 
 its tried and trusted candidates. Born in the ranks of the 
 toiling masses, reared in the bosom of the people, trained 
 in the hard school of manual labor, Abraham Lincoln 
 and Hannibal Hamlin are true to the rights, the inter- 
 ests, and the dignity of the working-men of the republic ; 
 worthy to lead their advancing hosts to victory for the 
 vindication of rights as old as creation, and as wide as 
 humanity." 
 
 Mr. Schuyler Colfax and .many others wrote to the 
 author, thanking him for this speech ; and the general 
 tenor of the letters may be seen from this : — 
 
 BiDDEFORD, Me., Nov. 19, 1860. 
 
 Dear Sir, — You have made but very few political 
 speeches during your life that I have not read. No one 
 appreciates more than I do the herculean labors that you 
 and your noble colleague and associates have made in 
 enlightening the national mind and heart upon the aggres- 
 sions of the slave-power. What a glorious triumph you 
 have achieved ! What a revolution has been effected, and 
 how peacefully ! I have many times expressed to my 
 family and friends the thought so eloquently enforced by 
 our mutual friend, Henry Ward Beecher, in his recent 
 sermon on the times (which I think is the greatest speech 
 lie has ever made), — that hereafter the 6th of November, 
 1860, will be ranked by the historian as an era of equal 
 importance with the 22d of December, 1620, and the 4th 
 of July, 1776. 
 
 I subscribe myself, with high respect and regard, 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 Charles Packard. 
 
HIS COURSE IN THE EVENT OF DISUNION. 285 
 
 On the triumph of the Republicans in Mr. Lincohi's 
 election in November, the South, led on by Messrs. 
 Mason, Hammond, Davis, Floyd, and other kindred spirits, 
 who foresaw that freedom, so persistently resisted, w^as 
 now coming into the ascendant, inconsiderately passed, 
 State after State, the ordinance of seccession, and gradually 
 withdrew its representatives from Congress. 
 
 Mr. Wilson clearly saw the magnitude of the proceed- 
 ing and the tremendous stake at issue : he knew the 
 strength of the North in numbers, wealth, and principle ; 
 he knew the weakness of the South ; and hence he had no 
 fear for the ultimate result : but from the unity of senti- 
 ment, from the animus of the South, he openly avowed to 
 his associates that the struggle would be desperate and 
 terrible. 
 
 With calm and manly earnestness he performed his 
 senatorial duties, ever protesting that his party had no 
 design to interfere at all with the domestic institutions of 
 the States, and that, if they fell, it would be in conse- 
 quence of their impetuous action, and upon their own 
 responsibility. 
 
 He had already fearlessly expressed his mind in a speech 
 in the Senate on the 25th of January preceding, in which 
 he refers to the followino; remark of Mr. CHno;man of 
 North Carolina: "As from this Capitol so much has gone 
 forth to inflame the public mind, if our countrymen are 
 to be involved in a bloody struggle, I trust in God that 
 the first-fruits of the collision may be reaped here." He 
 said, — 
 
 " Tliis lanfruase, Mr. President, admits of but one in- 
 terpretation. Gentlemen from the South who are in favor 
 of a dissolution of the Union do not intend, in so doing, to 
 secede from this Capitol, nor surrender it to those who 
 
286 LIFE OF HENKY WILSON. 
 
 may remain within the Union. Having declared, that, if 
 hves are to be sacrificed, it will be poetically just that they 
 should be sacrificed here on this floor ; and that, as so 
 much has gone forth from this Capitol to inflame the public 
 mind, it is but proper that the first-fruits of the struggle 
 should be reaped here, the senator gives us, therefore, 
 distinctly to imderstand that there may be a physical 
 collision, ' a bloody struggle ; ' that the scene of this con- 
 flict is to be the legislative halls of this Capitol. To 
 simply say, in rei)ly to this threat, that Northern senators 
 cannot thus be intimidated, is too tame and commonplace 
 to meet the exigency. Therefore I take it upon myself 
 to inform the senator from North Carolina that the people 
 of the free States have sent their representatives here, not 
 to fight, but to legislate ; not to mingle in personal combats, 
 but to deliberate for the good of the whole country ; not 
 to shed the blood of their fellow-members, but to maintain 
 the supremacy of the Constitution, and uphold the Union : 
 and this they will endeavor to do here, in the legislative 
 halls of the Capitol, at all events and at every hazard. In 
 the performance of their duties they will not invade the 
 rights of others, nor permit any infringement of their own. 
 They will invite no collision ; they will commence no 
 attack : but they will discharge all their obligations to their 
 constituents, and maintain the government and institutions 
 of their country in the face of all conceivable consequences. 
 Whoever thinks otherwise has not studied either the 
 history of the people of the free States, or the character of 
 the men dwelling in that section of the Union, or the i)hi- 
 losophy of the exigency which the senator from North 
 Carolina seems to invoke. The freemen of the North have 
 not been accustomed to vaunt their courage in words : they 
 have preferred to illustrate it by deeds. They are not 
 
HIS COURSE IN THE EVENT OF DISUNION. 287 
 
 fighting-men by profession, nor accustomed to street broils, 
 nor contests on tiie * field of honor' falsely so called, nor 
 are they habitual wearers of deadly weapons. Therefore 
 it is, that when driven into bloody collisions, and especially 
 on sudden emergencies, it is as true in fact as it is sound in 
 ])hilosophy, that they are more desperate and determined, 
 and more reckless of consequences to themselves and to 
 their antagonists, than are those who are more accustomed 
 to contemplate such collisions. The tightest band, when 
 once broken, recoils with the wildest power. So much for 
 the people of the free States. As to tlieir representatives 
 in this Capitol, I will say, tliat if, while in the discharge of 
 their duties here, they are assaulted with deadly intent, I 
 give the senator from North Carolina due notice here 
 to-day, that those assaults will be repelled and retaliated 
 by sons who will not dishonor fathers that fought at 
 Bunker Hill and conquered at Saratoga, that trampled the 
 soil of Chippewa and Lundy's Lane to a bloody mire, and 
 vindicated sailors' ricrhts and national honor on the hiixh 
 seas in the second war of independence. Reluctant to 
 enter into such a contest, yet, once in, they will be quite as 
 reluctant to leave it. Though they may not be the first to 
 go into the struggle, they will be the last to abandon it in 
 dishonor. Though they will not provoke nor commence 
 the conflict, they will do their best to conquer when the 
 strife beo-ins. So much their constituents will demand of 
 them when the ' bloody struggle ' the senator contemplates 
 is forced upon them ; and they will not be disappointed 
 when the exigency comes. I say no more : I wait the 
 isnue, and bide my time." 
 
 Mr. Wilson for a long period had been serving on the 
 Military Committee of the Senate, of which Mr. Jefferson 
 Davis was chairman ; and had thus become familiar with 
 
288 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 his schemes for strengthening the miUtary condition of the 
 South : he had not, however, anticipated that secession 
 from the Union was so close at hand. Though opposed to 
 eacli other in principle, the personal relations between him- 
 self and Mr. Davis were at that time pleasant ; and once 
 at least, when Mr. Wilson closed a strong speech in the 
 Senate, the Mississippi senator came across the floor, 
 and thanked him cordially for the manly expression of 
 his views. It was while on the Military Committee that 
 Mr. Wilson, in opposition to the chairman, carried the 
 '* Signal-service Bill " through Congress, and thus con- 
 ferred a lasting benefit upon the country. It is not proba- 
 ble that Mr. Davis himself, until the election in November, 
 imagined the secession of the slave States very near. South 
 Carolina had always led the van in opposition to the North ; 
 and now, in the culmination of the long argument, it was 
 for her to cast the fatal die. Mr. Wilson, with his North- 
 ern friends, deplored her folly ; but he foresaw that her 
 first shot would break the cham of the slave, and that, in 
 spite of the tongues of soothsayers, the Union and the 
 Constitution still would stand. 
 
 He knew, perhaps as well as any man, the comparative 
 strength of the contending parties. He saw in Mr. Lin- 
 coln's overwhelmino; vote in the electoral coUeo-e the senti- 
 ment of the nation. He well understood that the struggle 
 was, and had been, whether free, or servile, labor should rule 
 the country ; and that his party, which had arisen from a 
 small band branded by the name of Abolitionists in 1840 
 to place by such a vast majority a president in the chair 
 in 1860, had grown too slowly, fought too steadily on 
 the line of sacred principle, to be intimidated by an or- 
 dinance, or even by the cannon of seceders from the 
 Union. He pointed out the impending danger, yet hoped, 
 
289 
 
 that, by the pohcy of the incoming president, some recon- 
 ciliation might be made without recourse to arms. 
 
 But the vantaoje-ojround now reached must be main- 
 tained. An indignant people had at the polls declared that 
 slavery most not be extended. By that declaration he 
 must stand. He would not interfere wdth the '' peculiar 
 institution " in the States ; he would exhibit courtesy, for- 
 bearance, and fraternity to the South : but the vast Ter- 
 ritories of the Union must not be surrendered to the 
 domination of the slaveholding power. In this position, 
 he, with his associates, stood intrenched : so that when 
 Mr. Crittenden's compromise, which made concessions to 
 the South, came up in the Senate, he opposed it in a 
 manly speech delivered on the 21st of February, 1861. 
 With the clearest apprehension of the situation, with the 
 history of the whole struggle fresh in memory, with the 
 ominous prospect of disunion rising up before him, and with 
 a spirit fired by the love of human freedom, he meets the 
 question in a strain of fervid eloquence, vindicates the 
 friends of liberty, and unfolds the iniquity of the offered 
 compromise. 
 
 After an eloquent introduction, he thus describes the 
 distracted state of the nation : — 
 
 '' One year ago these chambers rang with passionate and 
 vehement menaces of disunion. Statesmen to whom were 
 committed the destinies of United America, with the oath 
 of fidelity to the Constitution fresh upon their lips, inso- 
 lently, scornfully, defiantly threatened to shiver the no- 
 blest edifice, the fairest fabric, of free government ever 
 erected by the toil or blessed by the hopes and prayers 
 of humanity, if the people, the people of the free North, 
 dared throuiih the ballot-box assume the control of the 
 affairs of the republic. These disloyal avowals were 
 
 25 
 
290 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 flashed over the wires, scattered broadcast over tlie land. 
 Timid conservatives shrank appalled before these angry 
 mutterings of meditated treason, and, with ' bated breath 
 and whispering humbleness,' counselled submission. But 
 these treasonable menaces unnerved not the souls of the 
 ever loyal freemen of the North : they fired the hearts 
 and rekindled the patriotism of the unselfish masses, — of 
 the farmers who till their own fee-simple acres, unpolluted 
 by the foot of the bondman ; of the mechanics whose 
 hands are skilled by art ; of the laborers who recognize 
 no master but Almighty God. Impelled by the fervid and 
 unextinguishable impulse of freedom, by the purest and 
 most unselfish patriotism, the unseduced, unpurchased, 
 unawed freemen of the North calmly thronged to the 
 Iballot-box, and struck from faithless, corrupt, and disloyal 
 hands the reins of power. 
 
 " The treasonable words of last year have now hardened 
 into deeds. Madness and folly rule the hour. Treason 
 holds it carnival here in the national Capitol. . Men high 
 in the national councils plot conspiracies against the gov- 
 ernment they are sworn to defend, and clasp the hands 
 of the assassins of the Union. Men to whom have been 
 intrusted official duties and responsibilities talk of the 
 dismemberment of the republic, not in the sad accents 
 of patriotism, but with the gleeful' chuckle of an irrepressi- 
 ble joy. States vauntingly proclaim their withdrawal from 
 the Union made by the fathers, recall their representa- 
 tives in these chambers, capture the fortresses of the 
 nation, insult, dishonor, and fire upon the flag of the re- 
 public, seize the public property, and even erase from their 
 festive days the hallowed anniversary of national inde- 
 pendence, with all its glorious associations and thrilling 
 memories. Never, no, never, since the morn of creation, 
 
MK. Crittenden's coMPEOivnsE. 291 
 
 has the historic pen recorded a conspiracy against the 
 rights of man and democratic institutions so utterly cause- 
 less, so wicked in its purpose, so regardless of the judg- 
 ment of the civilized world and the approval of Almighty 
 God." 
 
 He makes this reference to Mr. Benton's views : — 
 
 " But, sir, this wicked plot for the dismemberment of 
 the Confederacy, which has now assumed such fearful pro- 
 portions, was known to some of our elder statesmen. 
 Thomas H. Benton ever raised his warning voice against 
 the conspirators. I can never forget the terrible energy 
 of his denunciations of the policy and acts of the nullifiers 
 and secessionists. During the great Lecompton struggle 
 in the winter of 1858, his house was the place of resort 
 of several members- of Congress, who sought his counsels, 
 and delighted to listen to his opinions. In the last conver- 
 sation 1 had with him, but a few days before he was pros- 
 trated by mortal disease, he declared that ' the disunionists 
 had prostituted the Democratic party;' that ' they had com- 
 plete control of the administration ; ' that ' these conspirators 
 would have broken up the Union if Col. Fremont had 
 been elected ; ' that ' the reason he opposed Fremont's 
 election was that he knew these men intended to destroy 
 the government, and he did not wish It to go to pieces in 
 the liands of a member of his family.' " 
 
 Repelling the reiterated charge that "Massachusetts 
 hates the South," he said, — 
 
 "In the halls of Congress, In the public journals, before 
 the people, everywhere, the Christian people of the North 
 are accused of hatred towards their countrymen of the 
 South ; and these oft-repeated accusations have penetrated 
 the ears and fired the hearts of the men of the South to 
 madness. The people of Massachusetts, of New England, 
 
292 LITE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 of the Nortli, hate not their countrymen of the South. I 
 know Massachusetts ; I know something of the sentiments 
 and feelings of her people. During the past fifteen years 
 I have traversed every portion of the State, from the sands 
 of the capes to the hills of Berkshire ; spoken in nearly 
 every town ; sat at the tables and slept beneath tlie roofs 
 of her people. Around those tables and beneath those 
 roofs I have heard prayers to Almighty God for blessings 
 on slave and on master. From thousands of Christian 
 homes in Massachusetts, New England, tlie North, tens 
 of thousands of men and women daily implore God's bless- 
 ing upon the whole country, — upon the poor slave and 
 his proud master. Around the firesides of the liberty- 
 lovino;, God-fearincr families of Massachusetts, I have often 
 heard the men, stionnatized as ' malio;nant, unrelentino; 
 enemies of the people of the South,' on their bended knees, 
 with open Bible, implore the protection and blessing of 
 Almighty God upon both master and slave, upon the peo- 
 ple of the whole country. Gentlemen of the Soutli visit- 
 ing Massachusetts on pleasure or business are ever treated 
 by all her people with considerate kindness and fraternal 
 regard. Tiie public men of the South are ever welcomed 
 to Massachusetts, treated with courtesy by all, and some- 
 times with ' complimentary flunkeyism ' by the few. I 
 assert positively, without hesitation or qualification, that 
 the people of Massachusetts, ay, of New England, manifest 
 more kindness and courtesy towards their fellow-country- 
 men of the South sojourning among them than they do 
 towards their fellow-countrymen of the central States and 
 of the West. Yancey, Henry, Hilliard, and other distin- 
 guished sons of the South, were, during the late canvass, 
 listened to in New England with attention and the utmost 
 coui'tesy ; and that, too, when quiet citizens of Massachu- 
 
MB. Crittenden's coi^iPROivnsE. 293 
 
 setts were, in portions of the South, subjected to the great- 
 est indignities. ... 
 
 " Not one, no, not one, in a thousand of the men who 
 voted for Abraham Lincohi, cherishes in his heart a feehng 
 of hatred towards the South, or tlie wish to put the Brand 
 of inequahty or degradation upon the brow of his country- 
 men of that section of the Union. They would as gener- 
 ously contribute of their treasure, they would as freely 
 pour out their blood, for the defence of the South, as they 
 would for the protection of their own Northern homes. 
 Believers in that Christianity which unites all men as 
 brethren, whicli makes man unutterably dear to his fellow- 
 man, which impels its disciples to raise the fallen, and to 
 labor for the elevation of the poor and the lowly of the 
 children of men, oppose the wrong, yet hate not the wrong- 
 doer." 
 
 He thus defends his constituents from the imputation 
 of fanaticism : — 
 
 " The distinguishing opinion of Massachusetts concern- 
 inn- slavery in America is often flippantly branded in these 
 halls as wild, passionate, uni-easoning fanaticism. Sena- 
 tors of the South, tell me, I pray you tell me, if it be 
 fanaticism for Massachusetts to see in this age what your 
 peerless Washington saw in his age, — 'the direful eifects 
 of slavery.' Is it fanaticism for Massachusetts to believe 
 as your Henry believed, that 'slavery is as repugnant 
 to humanity as it is inconsistent with the Bible and de- 
 structive to liberty ' ? Is it fanaticism for her to believe as 
 your Madison believed, that ' slavery is a dreadful calam- 
 ity ' ? Is it fanaticism for her to beheve with your Mon- 
 roe, that ' slavery has preyed upon the vitals of the Union, 
 and has been prejudicial to all the "States in which it has 
 existed'? Is it fanaticism for her to believe with your 
 
 25* 
 
29^ LITE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 Martin, that ' slavery lessens the sense of the equal rights of 
 mankind, and habituates ns to tyranny and oppression ' ? 
 Is it. fanaticism for her to believe with your Pinckney, that 
 'it will one day destroy the reverence for liberty which is 
 the vital principle of a republic ' ? Is it fanaticism for 
 her to believe with jout Henry Clay, that ' slavery is a 
 wrong, a grievous wrong ; no contingency can make it 
 rio-ht'? Surely senators who are wont to accuse Mas- 
 sachusetts of beino; drunk with fanaticism should not for- 
 get that the noblest men the South has given to the 
 service of the republic in peace and in war were her 
 teachers. 
 
 " Massachusetts in her heart of hearts loves liberty, 
 loathes slavery. I glory in her sentiments ; for the heart 
 of our common humanity is throbbing in sympathy with 
 her opinions. But she is not unmindful of her constitu- 
 tional duties, to her obligations to the Union, and to her 
 sister States. Up to the verge of constitutional power she 
 will o-o in maintenance of her cherished convictions ; but 
 she has not shrunk, and she does not mean to shrink, from 
 the performance of her obligations as a member of this 
 confederation of constellated States. She has never sought, 
 she does not seek, to encroacli by her own acts, or by the 
 action of the Federal Government, upon the constitutional 
 rights of her sister States. Jealous of her own rights^ she 
 wiU respect the rights of others. Claiming the power to 
 control her own domestic policy, she freely accords that 
 power to her sister States. NConcedIng the rights of others, 
 she demands her own. Loyal to the Union, she demands 
 loyalty in others. Here and now, I demand of her ac- 
 cusers that they file their bill of specifications, and pro- 
 duce the proofs of their allegations, or forever hold their 
 peace." 
 
MR. Crittenden's compromise. 295 
 
 Thus grandly he speaks of the spirit of the State he 
 represents : — 
 
 " In other days, when Adams, Webster, Davis, Everett, 
 Gushing, Choate, Winthrop, Mann, Rantoul, and their 
 associates, graced these chambers, Massachusetts was then, 
 as she is now, the object of animadversion and assault. I 
 have sometimes thouglit, Mr. President, that these con- 
 tinual assaults upon tlie Commonwealth of Massachusetts 
 were prompted, not by her faults, but by her virtues rather; 
 not by the sense of justice, but by the spirit of envy and 
 jealousy and uncharitableness. Una wed, however, by 
 censure or menace, she continues to move right on, up- 
 ward and onward, to the accomplishment of her high 
 destinies. She is but a speck, a mere patch, on the surface 
 of America, hardly more than one four-hundredth part of 
 the territory of the republic, with a rugged soil, and still 
 more rugged clime. But on that little spot of the globe 
 is a Commonwealth where common consent is recognized 
 as the only just basis of fundamental law, and personal 
 freedom is secured In its completest individuality. In 
 that Commonwealth are a million and a quarter of free- 
 men, with skilled hand and cultivated brain ; with nine 
 hundred millions of taxable wealth, and an annual pro- 
 ductive industry of three hundred and fifty millions ; with 
 mechanic arts and manufactures on every streamlet, and 
 commerce on the waves of all the seas ; with institutions 
 of moral and mental culture open to all, and art, science, 
 and literature illustrated by glorious names ; with benevo- 
 lent institutions for the sons and daughters of misfortune 
 and poverty, and charities for humanity the wide world 
 over. The heart, the soul, the reason of Massachusetts 
 send up perpetual aspirations for the unity, indivisibility, 
 and eternity of the North-American republic : but if 
 
296 LIFE OF HENRY VVILSOK. 
 
 it shall be rent, torn, dissevered, she will not lose her 
 faith in God and humanity ; she will not 'go down with 
 the falling fortunes of her country without making a 
 struggle to preserve and perpetuate free institutions. So 
 long as the ocean shall roll at her feet, so long as God shall 
 send her health-giving breezes and sunshine and rain, she 
 will endeavor to illustrate, in the future as in the past, 
 the daily beauty of freedom secured and protected by 
 law." 
 
 On the money question he truly says, — 
 
 " But the senator from Texas tells us that money is the 
 sinew of war ; that we of the North have no money ; that' 
 they gather gold in hundreds of millions from the stalk of 
 the cotton-plant. They send the negro, he says, to the 
 field : he gathers cotton from the stalk, brings it to the gin- 
 house, puts it through the necessary process, and rolls out 
 a bale of five ten-dollar gold-pieces. But the senator did 
 not tell us that it might have cost six ten-dollar gold-pieces 
 to get this bale of five ten-dollar gold-pieces. The senator 
 seems to belong to that class of political economists that 
 never count the cost of maintaining * King Cotton.' I 
 would remind the senator that we of the North take this 
 bale of cotton the negro picks, pay the five ten-dollar gold- 
 pieces, stamp upon it our skill, art, civilization, send it 
 back, and they of the South promise to give five bales of 
 the next crop for it ; but I regret to say, sir, we are often 
 forced to take fewer than are promised. I would remind 
 the boastful senator that the people of the cotton con- 
 federacy are in debt to the amount of millions ; that they 
 are not paying fifty cents on the dollar of their indebted- 
 ness ; that the proceeds of the last cotton-crop will not 
 extino-ulsh that indebtedness. I would remind the senator, 
 who tells us we of the North have no money, that they pick 
 
]\m. Crittenden's coMPEOi^nsE. 297 
 
 it by millions from- the stalk of the cotton-plant, that the 
 working-men of Massachusetts, whom gentlemen of the 
 South predicted would be in a state of starvation and insur- 
 rection ere this, have on deposit, in the savings-banks alone, 
 forty-five millions of dollars, — millions more than are de- 
 posited in all the banks of the seven seceding States by mer- 
 chants, bankers, planters, and all classes of their people.'^ 
 
 Of the compromise he remarks, — 
 
 " The senator proposes to amend the Constitution so as 
 to provide that ' in all the territory now held or here- 
 after acquired, situate north of latitude thirty-six degrees 
 and thirty minutes, slavery or involuntary servitude is 
 proliibited ; and, in all territory now held or hereafter 
 acquired south of that line of latitude, slavery shall be 
 recognized as existing, and shall be protected by the terri- 
 torial lecrislature durino; its territorial existence.' This, 
 sir, is called a compromise of the slavery question in the 
 Territories of the United States. A compromise ! — a 
 compromise of the slavery question in the Territories !• It 
 is, sir, a cheat, a delusion, a snare. It is an unqualified 
 concession, a complete surrender of all practical issues con- 
 cerning: slaverv in the Territories, to the demands of slave 
 propagandism." 
 
 He closes this masterly effort in these comprehensive 
 words : — 
 
 "But the senator from Kentucky asks us of the North, 
 by irrepealablo constitutional amendments, to recognize 
 and protect slavery in the Territories now existing or here- 
 after acquired south of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes ; to 
 deny power to the Federal Government to abolish slavery 
 in the District of Columbia, in the forts, arsenals, navy- 
 yards, and places under the exclusive jurisdiction of Con- 
 gress ; to deny to the National Government all power to 
 
298 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON". 
 
 hinder the transit of slaves through one State to another ; 
 to take from persons of the African race the elective fran- 
 chise ; and to purchase territory in South America or Africa, 
 and to send them, at the expense of the treasury of the 
 United States, such free negroes as the States may desire 
 removed from their limits. And what does the senator pro- 
 pose to concede to us of the North ? The prohibition of sla- 
 very in Territories north of thirty-six degrees thirty min- 
 utes, where no one asks for its inhibition ; where it has been 
 made impossible by the victory of freedom in Kansas .and 
 the equalization of the fees of the slave commissioners. 
 And this — this plan of concession — is called a com- 
 promise, — the Crittenden Compromise, — to be supported 
 by the representatives of millions of Northern freemen, 
 on pain of having tlieir fidelity to the Union questioned by 
 the senator from Illinois, and his confederates in and out 
 of this chamber. 
 
 " Such, Mr. President, are the propositions of the senator 
 from Kentucky, which we of the North are asked to put 
 into the Constitution of the United States beyond the 
 power of the American, people ever to change or repeal. 
 The unclouded reason, the enlightened conscience, the 
 love of country and of our race, — all, all, forbid that 
 Northern freemen should commit these crimes a^xainst 
 mankind, our country, and the cause of popular freedom 
 and republican institutions. We can not, no, sir, we dare 
 not, do so. We fear — should we consummate . these 
 wrongs to our country, to our race — the perpetual re- 
 proaches of insulted reason and violated conscience, the Ir- 
 reversible judgment of earth and of heaven. We fear 
 that our names will be enrolled, not with the benefactors 
 of mankind, but with those who have betrayed the cause 
 of the people. We fear — should we assent to this eter- 
 
LETTERS. 299 
 
 nizatlon of slavery In tlie Constitution our fathers framed 
 to secure the blessings of liberty — that we shall sink, ' after 
 life's fitful fever,' into dishonored graves, amid the curses 
 of a betrayed people ; and that our names will be consigned 
 to what Grattan, the great Irish orator, called ' oppression's 
 natural scourge, — the moral indignation of history.'" 
 
 This speech drew forth expressions of admiration from 
 all sections of the country, which appeared in the public 
 jom-nals, or in resolutions, or in private letters. Mr. Whit- 
 tier the poet wrote as follows : — 
 
 Amesbury, 23d 2d mo., 1861. 
 My dear Wilson, — I have this moment finished 
 reading thy admirable and timely speech. It is as I wished 
 it, — manly, frank, and dignified. Especially I was gratified 
 by the portion of it directed to Crittenden's plan. The 
 tribute to the colored citizens is a very noble and eloquent 
 "one, and ought to shame every Massachusetts man whose 
 name is on the Crittenden petitions. 
 
 Very truly thy friend, 
 
 John G. Whittier. 
 
 The gifted Mrs. L. M. Child wrote thus : — 
 
 Medford, March 10, 1861. 
 Dear and Honored Representative of the Free 
 Old Commonwealth, — I have just finished reading 
 aloud to my husband your speech on Mr. Crittenden's 
 proposed amendment to the Constitution ; and I cannot 
 refrain from writing to thank you for it with my whole 
 heart. Eloquent, able, true, brave words, such as the . 
 times need. I had seen extracts from your speech which 
 made my heart throb with a generous joy. I was almost 
 afraid to read the entire speech, lest some word, meant for 
 
800 LIFE OF HENHY WILSON. 
 
 conciliation, but which would be compromise, sliould abate 
 somewhat my exultation in the honest and true expression 
 of Massachusetts feeling ; but, as I proceeded, the reading 
 was only interrupted by exclamations of " Well done, Wil- 
 son ! " " That is manly ! " " Tliafs a good hit ! " &c. You 
 have made many able speeches ; and I have often felt 
 grateful to you for true, manly utterance. In your speech, 
 "Are working-men slaves?" I greatly admired the digni- 
 fied frankness with which you announced yourself a work- 
 ing-man ; for no feeling in my soul is stronger than respect 
 for labor. The physical courage and moral bravery you 
 manifested on the subject of duelling commanded my un- 
 qualified respect. You stood firmly in your j)osition, took 
 back no word you had uttered, but simply said, '* Duelhng is 
 a barbarism ; my conscience and reason are opposed to it ; 
 the conscience and reason of my constituents are opposed 
 to it ; and no force of example shall degrade me to its level." 
 That is what I liave always wanted Nortlierners to say. 
 If all Northern men would manifest the same moral cour- 
 age, slaveholders would be compelled to respect freedom 
 of speech, or resort to assassination. They could no 
 longer murder their opponents, or threaten it, under the 
 painted mask of " laws of honor." 
 
 But, much as I have admired several of your former 
 speeches, you liave never so completely gained my heart 
 as in this last one. I have so often closed the reading of 
 Republican speeches with the remark, " Ah ! they think 
 only of the interests of white men : they ignore the mon- 
 strous and perpetual wrongs that we are helping the South 
 to inflict upon the colored race." 
 
 Yours with great respect and gratitude, 
 
 L. Maria Child. 
 Hon. H. Wilson, U. S. Senator. 
 
LETTERS. 301 
 
 From Gerrit Smith the foUowino; latter was received : — 
 
 o 
 
 Hon. Henry Wilson. Princeton, Feb. 26, 1861. 
 
 My dear Sir, — I have just finished reading your man- 
 ias bold, strong, and eloquent speech of the 21st instant. 
 Heaven bless you for it ! Let there be no compromise with 
 men whilst they are in the attitude of rebels. When they 
 shall have returned to their allegiance, then deal with them 
 not only justly, but generously. If the people of the slave 
 States — not merely the politicians — shall tell us that 
 they wish to leave us, then let them go, if they will go 
 peaceably and decently. But we can never consent to 
 their going in a way that will disgrace us, demoralize and 
 destroy our government. Nor can we consent to a small 
 secession on any terms. We cannot let the Gulf States 
 go unless most of the other slave States go with them. 
 AVe cannot consent, for the gratification of a few States, to 
 lose the mouth of the Mississippi, and to leave ourselves 
 comparatively defenceless on the south. 
 
 Give my love to dear Sumner, and tell him that I hope 
 to read a grand speech from him before the session closes. 
 With great regard, your friend, 
 
 Gerrit Smith. 
 
 Mr. Amasa Walker wrote as follows : — 
 
 North Brookfield, Marcli 11, 1861. 
 Dear Sir, — I have received your speech on the Crit- 
 tenden Compromise, and read it with great satisfaction. 
 
 You have met the true issue fully and ably, and will 
 receive the approbation of all your constituents, and, I 
 doubt not, of the Republican party generally. 
 Your friend and servant, 
 
 Amasa Walker. 
 Hon. Henry Wilson, U. S. Senator, Wasliington, D.C. 
 
 26 
 
302 LIFE OF HENBY WILSON. 
 
 But perhaps, of a\\ the testimonials of gratitude which 
 the senator receive'd for his great speech, none was more 
 acceptable than the following from an association of that 
 race whose wrongs he had been so long struggling to 
 remove : — 
 
 At a regular meeting of the Union Progressive Asso- 
 ciation, — a literary society composed of young colored 
 men, — held at their rooms Feb. 27, the following vote of 
 thanks was unanimously adopted : — 
 
 Wliereas^ The adoption by Congress of that monstrous 
 proposition known^ as the Crittenden Compromise would 
 extend, perpetuate, and give the sanction of law to that 
 infernal system which keeps four miUions of our brethren 
 in bondage, and would deprive us young colored men of 
 Massachusetts of prospective rights, the enjoyment of 
 which we have looked forward to with the most ardent 
 anticipations ; and 
 
 Whereas, In this hour of our peril, when there are so 
 few men occupying places of trust who have the moral 
 courage to plead our cause and defend our rights when 
 they are assailed, we should be recreants to our race and 
 to ourselves did we not recognize the value and importance 
 of words spoken in our behalf by our friends at this- time : 
 therefore 
 
 Resolved, That the grateful thanks of this association 
 are tendered to the honorable senator from Massachu- 
 setts, Henry AVilson, for his able analysis and lucid expo- 
 sition of the enormities of the " Crittenden Surrender," 
 and also for his manly recognition and eloquent enumera- 
 tion of the services of our patriot fathers in the war for 
 American independence. We shall ever hold his name in 
 
VOTE OF THANKS. 303 
 
 grateful remembrance for the noble and generous words 
 
 uttered on that occasion, worthy as they are of a son of old 
 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 William C. Nell, President, 
 
 R. Z. Greener, Secretary/, 
 
 To the Honor ahle Senator from Massachusetts, Henry Wilson. 
 Boston, Feb. 27, 1861. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE OPENING OF THE WAR. MR. WILSOn's ENERGETIC 
 
 ACTION. HIS MEASURES IN CONGRESS. 
 
 OPINION OF HIS SERVICES. THE MASSACHU- 
 SETTS TWENTY-SECOND REGIMENT. HIS 
 
 UNSELFISH PATRIOTISM. HIS LA- 
 BORS IN THE SENATE. 
 
 The Beginning of Hostilities. — His Advice to the President. — Activity. — 
 Labors as Chairman of Military Committee. — Bills introduced by him. — 
 Letter from. Gen. Scott. — The Soldiers' Friend. — Battle of Bull Run, 
 July 21. — He raises nearly Twenty-three Hundred Men. — Made Colonel of 
 the Twenty-second Regiment. — Goes with it to Washington.. — Character 
 of this Regiment. — Aide-de-camp to Gen. McClellan. — Letter of Gen. 
 Williams. — Receives no Compensation for Service. — Unfounded Charge 
 of Mr. Russell. — Mr. Wilson's Letter. — His Record. — Rebellion strength- 
 ens. — Character of the Republican Leaders. — Measures introduced and 
 carried through Congress by Mr. Wilson. — Letter of Mr. Cameron. — 
 Emancipation in the District of Columbia. — An Early Aspiration realized. 
 — Letters from Lewis Tappan and John Jay. 
 
 THE inaugural of Mr. Lincoln was conciliatory, but 
 decided. It echoed the sentiment of the Republican 
 party, declaring that the Constitution should be faithfully 
 regarded, and the rights of Southern men respected. It 
 served, however, but to inflame the animosity of the seces- 
 sionists ; and, on the afternoon of April 12, the fearful 
 drama opened by the cannonade upon Fort Sumter. 
 " Those guns proclaim the doom of slavery," said. Mr. 
 
 304 
 
ENEEGETIC ACTION. 305 
 
 Wilson; "but a tremendous conflict is befoie us." He 
 and Mr. AValbridge of New York advised the president 
 (May 1) to call for three hundred thousand instead of 
 seventy-five thousand men ; and, persuading the secretary 
 of war to double the number of men apportioned to the 
 State he represented, he telegraphed immediately to Gov. 
 Andrew, requesting that one brigade be sent at once to 
 Washington. Returning home, he received intelligence 
 that the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, under Col. Edward 
 F. Jones, liad been fired upon while passing through the 
 streets of Baltimore. Spending a sleepless night, he 
 started on the following day for Washington. Learning 
 that communication with that city had been closed, he left 
 New York on April 21, and went by water with the troops 
 to Annapolis. On finding Gen. Butler here in want of 
 cannon to defend the place, he returned immediately to New 
 York, obtained some heavy pieces of artillery, and then, 
 as soon as possible, went to Washington, where he continued 
 laboring day and night in making preparations for the 
 coming conflict. In the hospital, the camp, the cabinet, 
 his cheerful voice was heard encouraging and counselling ; 
 and, by his earnest exhortations, many persons in those 
 dark days of doubt and indecision were induced to ignore 
 minor differences, and to stand fast by the Union. As the 
 rebellion strengthened, Mr. Lincoln saw that more efficient 
 measures must be taken to subdue it ; and he therefore 
 called an extra session of Congress, which assembled on the 
 fourth day of July, and at once proceeded to important 
 business. 
 
 As chairman of the Military Committee of the Senate, 
 Mr. Wilson entered on a course of ceaseless toil and vigi- 
 lance. It was a post of vast responsibility, demanding 
 clear conception, solid judgment, great executive ability, 
 
 26* 
 
306 LIFE OF ECENHY WILSON. 
 
 and a practical knowledge of military affairs. An army 
 was to be raised, equipped, and officered ; supplies and hos- 
 pitals were to be provided, and funds for carrying on the 
 war obtained. It was fortunate that the government found 
 in Mr. Wilson one who, by long experience in legislative 
 and miUtary life, by comprehensive views, by good sound 
 common sense, and by celerity of execution, was qualified 
 to meet the occasion. 
 
 With an energy unparalleled in the annals of legisla- 
 tion, he engaged in making preparations for the coming 
 conflict. 
 
 On the 6th of July he introduced into the Senate the 
 important bill authorizing the president to call for five hun- 
 dred thousand volunteers, which on the 21st of that month 
 became a law ; also the bill to " increase the military estab- 
 hshment of the United States," which was approved by the 
 president on the 29th of July ; and the bill providing for 
 the " better organization of tho. military establishment." 
 It contained twenty-five sections, and received the signa- 
 ture of the president on the tlii'rd day of August. . 
 
 Of the last bill Mr. Wilson said, " I have labored night 
 and day for many days and nights to fit and prepare this 
 bill to meet the actual wants of the country ; and, in doing 
 so, I confess that in eveiy step of it I have had to meet 
 the interests, the jealousies, or the prejudices of men con- 
 nected with the army of the United States : but, in framing 
 it, I have endeavored to be governed wholly by the public 
 interest." 
 
 On the 22d of July he introduced the bill authorizing 
 the president " to accept of the services of volunteers, either 
 as cavalry, infantry, or artillery, in such numbers as the 
 exigencies of the public service might in his opinion 
 demand." This bill became a law on the 26th of the 
 
EKEEGETIC ACTION. 307 
 
 same month. On the 29th be brought forward a bill to 
 provide for the purchase of arms, ordnance, and ordnance- 
 stores, which was approved by the president on the third 
 day of August ; and on the last day of July he presented 
 the bill for the appointment of additional aides-de-camp, 
 which was enacted on the 5th of August. By a provision 
 of this act, the barbarous custom of flogging was abolished 
 in the army. On the first day of August he introduced 
 the bill for making an appropriation of a hundred thou- 
 sand dollars for contingencies for fortifications, and on the 
 next day the " bill to authorize an increase in the corps of 
 engineers and topographical engineers." 
 
 On the 5th of the same month he introduced an im- 
 portant bill to increase the pay of privates in the army 
 from eleven to thirteen dollars per month ; also to extend 
 the provisions of the act " fov the relief of the Ohio volun- 
 teers and other volunteers " to all volunteers, no matter 
 for what term of service they might have been accepted. He 
 also added an amendment to the bill, that all the acts, proc- 
 lamations, and orders of the president after the 4th of 
 March, 1861, respecting the army and navy, be legalized 
 and made valid. This received the approval of Mr. Lincoln 
 on the 6tli of August. 
 
 To frame, explain, and defend these various bills, which 
 called into being, organized, and provisioned a vast army, 
 demanded an extent of information, a constructive ability, 
 and a rapidity of execution, such as but few law-makers 
 possess. In view of these herculean labors. Gen. Scott 
 remarked that "Senator Wilson had done more work 
 in that short session than all the chairmen of the military 
 committees had done for the last twenty years." He 
 afterwards addressed to him the following note of 
 tlianks : — 
 
308 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 Washington, Aug. 10, 1861. 
 Dear Sir, — In taking leave of you some days ago, I 
 fear tliat I did not so emphatically express my thanks to 
 you, as our late chairman of the Senate Committee, as my 
 feehngs and those of my brother-officers of the army (with 
 whom I have conversed) warranted, for your able and 
 zealous efforts to mve to the service the fullest war devel- 
 opment and efficiency. It is pleasing to remember the 
 pains you took to obtain accurate information, wherever it 
 could be found, as a basis for wise legislation ; and we hope 
 it may be long before the army loses your valuable services 
 in the same capacity. 
 
 With great esteem, 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 WiNFiELD Scott. 
 Hon. H. Wilson, Chairman Senate Military Committee. 
 
 Such strenuous action for the soldier in the Senate-cham- 
 ber, camp, and hospital, such cordial sympathy with hini 
 in his toils and suffi^rings, gained for Mr. Wilson the envi- 
 able name of "The Soldier's Friend." 
 
 Mr. Wilson was personally present at the disastrous bat- 
 tle of Bull Run, July 21, aiding and encouraging officers 
 and privates as he had opportunity. Attempts were made 
 by the confederates to secure his person ; but he returned 
 to Washington in safety. Undismayed by the repulse, he 
 said to one of his friends on Monday following, " This is 
 our chastisement for fio;htinoj on the sabbath. But we are 
 right in principle : God is on the side of right ; and we shall 
 win if we obey him. We want more men ; we must go 
 to work for them ; and, just as soon as possible, I intend to 
 raise a reo;iment in Massachusetts." 
 
THE TWENTY-SECOND EEGIMENT. 809 
 
 On the adjournment of Congress, the president was 
 desirous that Mr. Wilson should be appointed brigadier- 
 general of volunteers ; but, as this would compel the 
 resignation of his seat as senator, he preferred to carry out 
 his original design of raising a regiment of men at home. 
 Obtaining authority for this, he returned to Massachusetts, 
 issued an address, held an enthusiastic meeting in Faneuil 
 Hall, and commenced recruiting. Such was his popularity, 
 that, in the space of forty days, he raised nearly two 
 thousand three hundred men. They were strong, in-j 
 telligent farmers, mechanics, and tradesmen, from th^ 
 good families of the Commonwealth. Out of them wer4 
 formed the Twenty-second Regiment, a part of the Twenty- 
 third Regiment, one company of sharpshooters, and two 
 batteries of artillery. The first company went into camp 
 at Lynnfield on the second day of September ; and on that 
 day Mr. Wilson received his commission from the governor 
 as colonel, wdth the distinct understanding, however, that 
 liis senatorial duties would permit liim to remain with the 
 regiment only for a brief period ; and that he would, on 
 leavino- it, endeavor to find some able commander to 
 assume his place. On the eighth day of October, the 
 regiment, with full ranks, and armed w^tli Enfield rifles, 
 together with the company of sharpshooters and the third 
 battery of light artillery, left for Washington. Previous 
 to his departure, Mr. Wilson received as a present from 
 some friends a fine Morgan horse, with saddle and hous- 
 ings, as a testimonial of their confidence and regard ; and 
 a si)lendid flag was presented by Robert C. Winthrop to 
 the regiment on Boston Common. On their way to Wash- 
 ington, these troops were most enthusiastically greeted 
 by the peo])le. In New York a banquet was prepared for 
 
310 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 them, attended by eminent men of every party. A beau- 
 tiful flag was presented to the regiment by the late dis- 
 tinguished lawyer, James T. Brady. They arrived at 
 Washington on the eleventh day of October ; and two days 
 later, crossing the Potomac, went into camp with Gen. 
 Martin dale's brigade in Fitz-John Porter's division at 
 Hall's Hill in Viroinia. His duties in connection with the 
 Senate rendered it necessary for Mr. Wilson to leave his 
 fine regiment : and he therefore gave up his commission on 
 the 28th of October ; and the accomplished Jesse D. Gove 
 (killed June 2T, 1862, at Gaines's Mills, Va.) was ap- 
 pointed to fill the vacancy. 
 
 When the recviment, after the unfortunate battle of 
 Ball's Blufi", Oct. 29, was expected to advance to an en- 
 gagement with the enemy, Mr. Wilson ofiered to share 
 the danger ; but, as circumstances changed, his personal 
 presence was not demanded. 
 
 This regiment, and especially the third battery under 
 the command of the able and heroic Augustus P. Martin, 
 performed effective service in many warm engagements 
 during the Rebellion. " The valuable and efficient service 
 you have rendered your country," said Gen. Charles 
 Griffin in a letter to the commander of the regiment at the 
 expiration of its term of service in October, 1864, " during 
 the past three years of its eventful history, is deserving of 
 its gratitude and praise." 
 
 Mr. Wilson always took the liveliest interest in tlii; 
 regiment, and provided for the intellectual and moral ad 
 vancement, as w^ell as for the personal comforts, of tlif 
 men ; for he believed that *' bayonets which think figh* 
 best." The manner in which its officers and men regardeJ 
 him may be seen from the following letter, dated — 
 
THE TWENTY- SECOND REGIMENT. 311 
 
 Hall's Hill, Ya., Oct. 21, 1861. 
 
 My dear Sir, — I know not what I am going to 
 write : but I know what is in my heart ; and that is, a 
 deep respect and affection for yourself. 
 
 My father died more than four years since ; and I have 
 not met, until I knew you, one whom I coukl look up to 
 with that mingled respect and affection which is due to a 
 father. You have chidden only when it was for our good, 
 and have exhibited a kindness and benevolence of heart 
 which no man shall ever dare to deny to you before me. 
 
 Be assured, sir, that I fully appreciate your acts of kind- 
 ness to me'; and they have been many, — so many, indeed, 
 that I have come slowly to the conclusion that a man 
 may, even in these days, occupy a high position witliout 
 abandoning his good qualities. May God prosper you in 
 your labors for our beloved country ! I tremble when I 
 think what power is in your hands to do our country good 
 or evil, and only pray that you may never be swerved 
 from that bright pathway along which you are now 
 journeying. Wm. S. Tilton. 
 
 On resigning his position as colonel of the Twenty- 
 second Regime'Jit, Mr. Wilson, by the pressing invitation 
 of the secretary of war, took position for a brief period 
 as an aide-de-camp on Gen. McClellan's staff, in order that 
 he might, by practical observation of the condition of the 
 army, ''increase its power and efficiency by his labors in the 
 legislative hall. The organization of fresh forces on so 
 va'st a scale demanded practical knowledge of the art of 
 war ; and the best place to obtain it was at head-quarters 
 on the field. But senatorial duties soon compelled him to 
 return to Washington ; and, in. the letter accepting^ his 
 resignation as an aide-de-camp, Gen. Williams said, " The 
 
312 LIFE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 reasons assigned in your letter (Jan. 9) are such, that 
 the general is not permitted any other course than that of 
 directing the acceptance of your resignation. He wishes 
 me to add that it is with regret that he sees the termina- 
 tion of the pleasant official relations which have existed 
 between you and himself, and that he yields with reluc- 
 tance to the necessity created by the pressure upon you of 
 other and more important public duties." 
 
 He cheerfully bore his own expenses while raising his 
 regiment, and received no pay whatever for his services as 
 colonel or as Gen. McCleHan's aide-de-camp. 
 
 To the infamous charge of W. H. Russell of '' The Lon- 
 don Times," that Senator Wilson was interested in large 
 shoe contracts, and had taken better care of himself and 
 his fortunes than of a suffering nation, he made the foUow- 
 mg distinct and unequivocal reply ; — 
 
 "Natick, Nov. 9, 1861. 
 « To tlie Editor of ' The Boston Journal : * — 
 
 " I ask you, and other conductors of public journals iri 
 Massachusetts willing to do me a personal favor, to pub- 
 lish this explicit denial of the truthfulness of the story 
 some person or persons have invented and put in circula- 
 tion, that I have a government contract for a million 
 pairs of shoes, by which I am to realize the sum of a 
 quarter of a million of dollars. This story, in all its parts 
 and in every form, is utterly false ; and the person or 
 persons originating it knew it to be a false and wicked 
 slander. I have no contract, I have had no contract, with 
 the government, either directly or indirectly, for shoes, or 
 for any thing else ; nor have I now, nor have I had, any 
 interest in any contract of any person whatever with the 
 government. I not only .have no contract with the 
 
HIS PATEIOTISM. 313 
 
 government, nor interest in the contracts of others, but 
 no man now has, nor has had, any contract with the gov- 
 ernment through any agency or influence of mine. The 
 government, since the 4th of March, has made no contract 
 with any man, for any purpose whatever, through any 
 agency or influence of mine ; and it never will make con- 
 tracts through any agency or influence of mine. As a 
 senator of Massachusetts, mindful of her interests, I have 
 sometimes reminded the department of the manufacturing 
 and mechanical skill of her people ; of their losses by this 
 wicked Rebellion ; of their readiness to furnish men and 
 money to sustain the national cause ; of their capacity to 
 furnish the army, at the lowest rates, needed articles : and 
 I have expressed the hope that the agents of the govern- 
 ment, in their purchases, would not forget the people of 
 my State. This much I have said ; this much I felt I had 
 a right to say ; and this much I felt it my duty to say. 
 But to all men, who have asked me by word or letter to 
 aid them in obtaining contracts of the government, I have 
 said that my sense of propriety would not permit me to 
 have any thing to do with contracts ; that I could not, in 
 any way, aid in procuring contracts ; that no man ever 
 had, or ever would have, contracts through my agency or 
 influence. This has been, now is, and will ever be, my 
 position." 
 
 While many men in power most shamefully enriched 
 themselves and families by " the spoils of war," the record 
 of Henry Wilson is absolutely clean and clear. " I am 
 not worth enough," said he in one of his addresses, " to 
 buy a pine coffin for my burial." Immaculate as an old 
 Roman patriot, he stands unscathed by any charge of 
 bribery, venality, or corruption. 
 
 2T 
 
514 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 Eleven States were now in open rebellion against the 
 government. A Southern confederacy had been formed, 
 with Jefferson Davis at the head ; many forts and arsenals . 
 had been seized, and a vast confederate army was in the 
 field. Old landmarks had been broken down, and a new 
 order of things had begun. Four million slaves were 
 panting to be free. The capital of the nation had become 
 a camping-ground, and open war was the order of the day. 
 It was forced upon the government : the South must 
 take the consequences. The president had, on the six- 
 teenth day of August, declared a state of insurrection ; 
 and the leading questions were, " How shall the Union be 
 preserved ? " " How increase and officer, and impart 
 efficiency to, the army?" "What shall be done with 
 slaves and rebel property?" "How, at the least ex- 
 pense of blood, crush the Rebellion ? " 
 
 Rapid, efficient, and decisive legislation was demanded 
 for the exigency ; and it was fortunate for the country that 
 strong men were in the halls of Congress. For the most 
 part they were true reformers, educated in. the school of 
 freedom, and prepared for the tremendous issue. Among 
 them Henry Wilson stood prominent. He had studied 
 America, her spirit and her institutions ; he saw distinctly 
 where the merit of the question lay ; and, though he 
 shuddered at the sacrifice, he felt certain of the ultimate 
 result. 
 
 Enterhig with indomitable Industry upon business at 
 the second session of the Thirty-seventh Congress, he 
 introduced, and carried to enactment, many bills and 
 resolutions which had an immediate bearing on the effi- 
 ciency of the army and the government. Among the 
 more important measures was a bill providing for the ap- 
 pointment of persons to procure from volunteers their 
 
HIS MEASUBES m COJ^GBESS. 315 
 
 respective allotments of pay for their families, which was 
 enacted Dec. 24, 1861 ; a bill regulating courts-martial in 
 the army ; " a bill to provide for the better organization 
 of the signal department of the army," approved on the 
 twenty - second day of February, 1862,; a bill for the 
 " appointment of sutlers in the volunteer service ; " a bill 
 " to increase the efficiency of the medical department of 
 the army ; " a bill to facilitate the discharge of enlisted 
 men for physical disability ; a joint resolution providing for 
 " the presentation of medals of honor to the enlisted men 
 of the army and volunteer forces who may distinguish 
 themselves in battle ; " a bill, introduced on the eighth 
 day of July, " to amend the act calling forth the militia to 
 execute the laws, suppress insurrections, and repel inva- 
 sions," which became a law on the 17th of July, 1862. 
 
 By this important act the president is authorized to 
 receive persons of African descent for any military service 
 for which they are competent; and all Africans rendering 
 such service shall be free. This act authorized, for the 
 first time, the drafting of negroes, and their regular intro- 
 duction as soldiers into the service of the United States. 
 
 Mr. Wilson also, on the 23d of December, introduced 
 the bill into the Senate, dismissing from the service offi- 
 cers guilty of surrendering fugitive slaves to their masters. 
 After much discussion, it became a law March 13, 1862. 
 
 It was framed to protect those slaves, who, as our armies 
 advanced into the rebel States, fled to them fcir refuge, 
 and wdio offered, in the words of Mr. Wilson, " to work 
 and fight for the flag whose stars for the first time gleamed 
 upon their vision with the radiance of liberty." 
 
 On resigning his office as secretary of war during this 
 session, Mr. Cameron addressed to him the following 
 letter ; — 
 
316 LIFE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 Washington, Jan. 27, 1862. 
 
 My dear Sir, — No man, in my opinion, in the whole 
 country, has done more to aid the war department is 
 preparing the mighty army now under arms than your- 
 self; and, before leaving this city, I think it my duty tc 
 offer to you my sincere thanks as its late head. 
 
 As chairman of the Military Committee of the Senate, 
 your services were invaluable. ♦At the first call for troops, 
 you came here ; and up to the meeting of Congress, a 
 period of more than six months, your labors w^ere inces- 
 sant. Sometimes in encouraging the administration by 
 assurances of support from Congress, by encouraging 
 volunteering in your own State, by raising a regiment 
 yourself when other men began to fear that compulsory 
 drafts might be necessary, and in the Senate by preparing 
 the bills, and assisting to get the necessary appropria- 
 tions, for organizing, clothing, arming, and supplying the 
 army, you have been constantly and profitably employed 
 in the great cause of putting down the unnatural Re- 
 bellion. 
 
 For the many personal favors you have done me since 
 the beginning of this struggle I shall ever be grateful. 
 Your friend truly, 
 
 Simon Cameron. 
 Hon. Henry Wilson. 
 
 On the 16th of December, 1861, he introduced a bill 
 " for the release of certain persons held to service or labor 
 [that is, for the abolition of slavery] in the District of 
 Columbia." " If it shall become a law of the land," said 
 Mr. AVilson, " it will blot out shivery forever from the 
 national capital, transform three thousand personal chattels 
 into freemen, obliterate oppressive, odious, and hateful laws 
 
LETTER FROM MR. TAPPAN. 317 
 
 and ordinances which press with merciless force upon per- 
 sons, bond or free, of African descent, and reheve the na- 
 tion from the responsibihties now pressing upon it. An 
 act of beneficence like this will be hailed and applauded 
 by the nations, sanctified by justice, humanity, and religion, 
 by the approving voice of conscience, and by the blessing 
 of Him who bids us " break every yoke, undo the heavy 
 burden, and let the oppressed go free." 
 
 This bill met with bitter opposition from the secession 
 element in Congress, but was finally passed ; and the 
 president gave it his approval on the sixteenth day of April, 
 1862. The freedmen tlien assembled in their churches, and 
 ofiPered thanks to God for their deliverance. 
 
 In the enactment of this law Mr. Wilson saw the 
 realization of those hopes which he had expressed in his 
 first public speech, made a full quarter of a century before, 
 in Strafford (N. H.) Academy. He surely had been 
 led in a way he knew not to the accomplishment of a 
 part in rending the chain of the bondman, for which his 
 name will ever be held by the friends of freedom in grate- 
 ful remembrance. 
 
 The following letters from two eminent philanthropists 
 express the general sentiment of the North in respect to 
 Mr. Wilson's course : — 
 
 New York, April 28, 1862. 
 Hon. Henry Wilson, Senator in Congress from Massachusetts. 
 
 My dear Sir, — I have to day read your speech of March 
 27, " On the Bill to abolish Slavery in the District of 
 Columbia," for the second time, and must drop you a line 
 to say that it deserves to be written in letters of gold, and 
 be put into the hands of every citizen of the United States. 
 To you, especially, is the country indebted for the passage 
 of this bill. May the country ever be grateful 1 and may 
 
 27* 
 
318 LITE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 the blessing of the God of tlie oppressed rest upon you ! 
 As a native of Massachusetts, and the son of a Massachu- 
 setts mechanic, I feel thankful that one of her senators has, 
 under the divine blessing, accomplished such a humane 
 deed. 
 
 Although it will at all times give me pleasure to hear 
 from you, I do not expect, that, amidst your arduous labors, 
 3'ou can acknowledge the receipt of the many letters 
 addressed to you. My object is not now, more than here- 
 tofore, to draw from you a response, but to assure you of 
 the very grateful sense I have of your successful services 
 in the case to which I have alluded, and of the eminent 
 services rendered to your country throughout your whole 
 senatorial career. 
 
 Respectfully and truly yours, 
 
 Lewis Tappan. 
 
 The Jay Homestead, Katouch, 
 l^.Y., April 17, 1862. 
 
 My dear Gen. Wilson, — I must thank you, and con- 
 gratulate you that our National Government sits, at last, in a 
 free capital. Your part in the accomplishment of this great 
 triumph of national justice and national dignity will be 
 long remembered by a grateful people ; and, if you had not 
 done so much else for the country, you might safely rest 
 your historic fame on that single act and your sturdy efforts 
 to crown it with success. 
 
 For myself, I can hardly recall without emotion my 
 boyish efforts to arouse attention to the atrocity of slavery 
 in Washington, commenced nearly thirty years ago, and 
 those of my father, which I find, from one of his petitions, 
 commenced in 1826, as I read the record of the vote in 
 the House, and the president's message, and thank God that 
 
LETTER FROM ME. JAY. 319 
 
 the work of abolition has begun, and the first great step 
 boldly taken towards the position of a free republic. 
 
 I trust the good work will be pushed speedily. Slavery 
 is doomed ; and it is worse than useless to prolong the agony 
 of dissolution. 
 
 Always faithfully yours, . 
 
 John Jay. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE REBELLION. SENATORIAL LABORS. SPEECH IN 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, 1863. DEATH OF SLAVERY THE 
 
 LIFE OF THE NATION. HIS PERSISTENT 
 
 EFFORTS TO CARRY ON THE WAR. 
 
 The Conflicting Powers. — The Army and Congress. — Position of Mr. Wilson. 
 
 — Bill for Sutlers. — Signal Service. — Pay to Officers. —'Medical Depart- 
 ment. — Volunteers. — Seniority of Commanders. — Storekeepers. — District 
 of Columbia. — Medals. — Pay in Advance. — Abolition in District of Co- 
 lumbia. —The Confederates. — Militia Bill. — President's Proclamation.— 
 Rosecrans. — Bureau of Emancipation. — Enrolment Bill. — Remarks. — 
 Colored Youth. — Wounded Soldiers. — Corps of Engineers. — Letter of Dr. 
 Silas Pteed. — Fall of Vicksburg. — Conference with the Cabinet. — Battle 
 of Gettysburg. — Gen. Grant. — Address before the Antislavery Society. ~ 
 Thanks to the Army. — Bounties. — Ambulances.— Colored Soldiers Free. 
 
 — Thirteenth Amendment. — Speech. — Appropriation Bill. — Wives and 
 Children of Colored Soldiers Free. — Fourth of July at Washington. — Gen. 
 Grant. — " New-Bedford Mercury." — A Letter. 
 
 AT the commencement of the year 1862 the Union 
 was coming slowly and steadily up to bear the tre- 
 mendous strain of the Rebellion ; and the moral grandeur 
 of the scene has never been surpassed in any crisis of a 
 distracted nation. On the one hand were dissolution and 
 anarchy ; on the other hand, the Constitution and the lib- 
 eration of the slave. The destinies of unborn millions 
 were in the conflict. Will the government meet the exi- 
 gency ? Yes; for, while our loyal soldiers were bravely 
 
SENATORIAL LABOES. 321 
 
 gathering to roll back the tide of war upon the field, our 
 loyal Congress-men were as bravely toiling to sustain them, 
 and to break the chains of servitude in the halls of legisla- 
 tion. Here, indeed, the battles are really fought. The 
 army is but an exponent of power : the power itself is in 
 the principles that move the army ; and these are settled by 
 the action of the people's representatives. As one of those 
 noble men whose doings will render the Thirty-seventh 
 and Thirty-eighth Congresses ever memorable, Mr. Wilson 
 exhibited clear-sightedness which no intricacies could baf- 
 fle, hope which no disasters could repress, courage which 
 no danger could appall, and patriotism which no bribe could 
 bend. 
 
 In the full confidence of the government, he gave his 
 whole energies of heart and hand to its support, and still 
 brought forward measure after measure for the prosecu- 
 tion of the war, and for the overthrow of a system, which, 
 recognizing the right of property in man, had caused the 
 war. But little more than a bare enumeration of the meas- 
 ures which he introduced can here be given. 
 
 On the 2d of January, 1862, he presented the bill ap- 
 pointing sutlers and defining their duties in the volunteer 
 service ; which, after several amendments,- became a law on 
 the 19th of the following March. On the 9th of January 
 he introduced a bill for the better organization of the sig- 
 nal department of the army, which was approved on the 
 22d day of February ; and on the 28th of January a bill 
 to define the pay and emoluments of certain officers of the 
 army, and for other purposes, which, after a long discus- 
 sion, became a law on the 17th of July, 1862. On the 
 7th of February he brought forward a bill to increase the 
 efficiency of the medical department of the army, which, 
 after several amendments, became a law on the sixteenth 
 
322 LIFE OF HENRY WTLSON". 
 
 day of April, 1862. A joint resolution for the payment of 
 the moneys of any State to its volunteers was introduced 
 by him on the 11th of March, and became a law on the 
 nineteenth day of April following ; and also another, on the 
 14th of March, assigning command in the same field or 
 department to oflScers of the same grade without regard to 
 seniority, which was enacted on the 4th of April, 1862. 
 On the 7th of May his bill for the appointment of medical 
 storekeepers was brought forward, and approved by the 
 president on the 20th of the same month. Ever anxious 
 for the improvement of the colored people in the District 
 of Columbia, Mr. Wilson, on the 8th of May, moved, as 
 an amendment to Mr. Grimes's educational bill, that all 
 persons of color in that District shall be amenable to the 
 same laws, and tried in the same manner, as the fi-ee white 
 people, which received the approval of the president on the 
 eleventh day of July, 1862 ; and thus the " black code " was 
 abolished forever in the national capital. Ever mindful 
 of the services of the soldier, he reported, on the thirteenth 
 day of May, a joint resolution for the preparation of two 
 thousand medals of honor, " with suitable devices, to be 
 presented to such non-commissioned officers and privates as 
 should distinguish themselves by gallantry in action and 
 other soldier-like qualities ; " and this became a law on the 
 twelfth day of July, 1862. For the further encouragement 
 of enlistments, he introduced a joint resolution on the 4th 
 of June (enacted on the 21st of the same month), that the 
 soldier who enlisted might receive one month's wages in 
 advance ; and on the 12th of June he brought forward an 
 additional bill for the abolition of slavery in the District of 
 Columbia, which, after being amended, received the signa- 
 ture of Mr. Lincoln on the twelfth day of July, 1862. 
 The activity of the rebels in Tennessee, the retreat of 
 
SENATORIAL LABORS. " 323 
 
 Gen. Banks upon the Potomac, and the indecisive battles of 
 Gen. McClellan in front of Richmond, all conspired to dis- 
 hearten loyal men, and to fill the government with gloomy 
 apprehensions. Mr. .Wilson urged upon the Senate 
 prompt and decided action. Of the confederates he said, 
 '•' They liave appealed to their people, — to their passions, 
 to their prejudices, to their hate ; they have organized their 
 people;- they have issued their conscriptions, using every 
 man who could do any thing, — no matter how halt or 
 maimed he might be, if he could strike a blow ; they have 
 carried on their military operations with great administra- 
 tion and military ability. We are in one of the darkest 
 periods of the contest ; and we had better look our position 
 in the face, meet the responsibilities of the hour, rise to the 
 demands of the occasion, pour out our money, summon 
 our men to the field, go ourselves if we can do any good, 
 and overthrow this confederate power, that feels to-day, 
 over the recent magnificent trium})hs, that it has already 
 achieved its independence. Bold and decisive action alone 
 in the cabinet and in the field can retrieve our adverse 
 fortunes, and carry our country triumphantly through the 
 perils that threaten to dismember the republic." 
 
 Actuated by such sentiments, he introduced on the 
 twelfth day of July his effective bill into the Senate, 
 authorizing the president to call forth the militia of. the 
 country ; enrolling all able-bodied men between the ages 
 of eighteen and forty-five years; to accept a hundred 
 tliousand volunteers as infantry for nine months, and vol- 
 unteers for twelve months, with fifty dollars bounty ; to 
 fill up the old regiments : also to establish army corps, 
 and to receive into the army persons of African descent 
 to perform any service for which they may be competent ; 
 and providing that persons performing such service shall 
 
324 LIFE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 be forever free, and also the mothers, wives, and children 
 of such persons as may be owing service to any men 
 engaged in the Rebellion. This important measure, after 
 strenuous opposition by Messrs. Davis of Kentucky, Sauls- 
 bury, Powell, and others, was enacted July 17, 1862, and 
 was another heavy blow to that institution which had 
 brought the country into such a bloody contest. 
 
 But why stop with the emancipation of the colored sol- 
 diers in the army ? Are not three millions longing to be 
 free ? Will not the streno-th of the confederates be les- 
 
 o 
 
 sened by their manumission ? Will not such an act serve 
 to harmonize the feelings of the North ? Has not the 
 South, by its revolt, invited it ? The president saw the 
 situation, and the readiness of Congress and the army to 
 sustain him, and on the first day of January, 1863, sent 
 forth his glorious proclamation, which declared '' forever 
 free " the slaves in the Confederate States. Of the rep- 
 resentatives at Washington, none hailed that grand 
 announcement with more joy than Henry Wilson : none 
 had labored for it more persistently ; none saw with 
 clearer vision the encouraging' effect it would produce upon 
 the spirit of the people, and the aid whicli it would render 
 in the prosecution of the war. 
 
 At the commencement of the year (1863) the hopes 
 of the Union men were brightened by the victory of 
 Gen. Rosecrans over the rebel forces under Gen. Bragg 
 at Murfreesborough, Tenn. ; and on the 8th of January 
 Mr. Wilson introduced a resolution tendering thanks to 
 the general and his army for their distinguished gal- 
 lantry in that action, and it received the signature of the 
 president on the third day of the following March. On 
 the twelfth day of January he presented in the Senate 
 a memorial of the Emancipation League of his State for 
 
SENATORIAL LABORS. 325 
 
 a bureau of emancipation, and entered into the discus- 
 sions upon this philanthropic measure, which was to 
 aid, protect, and elevate " the children of the govern- 
 ment." . 
 
 To bring up the power of the republic to meet the 
 exigencies of the war, Mr. Wilson, on the ninth day of 
 February, introduced his great bill for enrolling and call- 
 ing out the national forces, and for other purposes. It 
 consisted of thirty-six sections, the first of which declared 
 that *' all able-bodied male citizens in the United States 
 (with certain exceptions) between the ages of eighteen 
 and forty-five shall constitute the national forces, and be 
 liable to military duty at the call of the president." By 
 the eighteenth section, a bounty of fifty dollars was given 
 to present volunteers who re-enlist for one year. This 
 important measure was framed with great administrative 
 ability ; and, in defence of it, Mr. Wilson said, " I am 
 confident the enactment of this bill, embodying so many 
 provisions required by the exigencies of the public service, 
 will weapon the hands of the nation, fire the drooping 
 hearts of the people, thrill the wasting ranks of our legions 
 in the field, carry dismay into the councils of ti'eason, and 
 give assurance to the nations- that the American people 
 have the sublime virtue of heroic constancy and endurance 
 that will assure the unity and indivisibility of the republic 
 of the United States. We have endeavored to frame this 
 bill so as to bear as lightly as possible upon the toiling 
 masses, and to put the burdens, so far as we could do so, 
 equally upon the more favored sons of men." 
 
 On a motion of Mr. Gcwan of Pennsylvania to exempt 
 members of Congress from the law, he said, " Its adoption 
 would weaken the moral force of the law. He wanted every 
 
826 LIFE OF HENPwY WILSON. 
 
 one to feel that this measure was a necessity forced upon 
 us by the needs of the country ; that to be drafted to carry 
 this country through the impending struggle was the most 
 honorable thing that can fall upon an American citizen : " 
 and the motion was not carried. After several amend- 
 ments, this great measure was approved by the president 
 on the third day of March ; and the army was thus 
 brouglit into order for the reception of the confederate 
 forces on the field of Gettysburg in July following. 
 
 On the 17th of February he brought forward the bill to 
 incorporate " the institution for the education of the colored 
 youth " in the District of Columbia, which was approved 
 by the president on the 3d of March ; and on the 10th of 
 February a bill to increase the number of major and 
 brigadier generals in the army, which became a law on the 
 second day of March. His resolution " to facilitate the 
 payment of sick and wounded soldiers," and also his bill to 
 promote the efficiency of the corps of engineers and of 
 the ordnance department, and for other purposes, were 
 approved by the president on the third day of March, 
 1863. . ' 
 
 At this period, Mr. Wilson, following up the proclamation 
 of the president, entered warmly into the senatorial de- 
 bates on the question of rendering aid to Missouri and 
 other semi-loyal States for the liberation of their slaves. 
 In response to Mr. Henderson of Missouri, he said, " Let 
 us stamp upon her now war-desolated fields the words, 
 ' Immediate emancipation ; ' and these blighted fields will 
 bloom again, and law and order and peace again will bless 
 the dwellings of her people." 
 
 The following letter from a prominent citizen of that 
 State will indicate how his services were there regarded: — 
 
LETTER FROM DR. REED. 327 
 
 United-States General Hospital, 
 
 Jefferson Barracks, Mo., Feb. 24, 1863, 
 Hon. H. Wilson, U. S. Senate. 
 
 Sir, — Excuse the liberty I take in expressing my grati- 
 • ficatlon at the manner in which you treat the traitors in 
 the Senate. 
 
 I have also to thank you from the bottom of my heart 
 for the interest and zeal you have manifested in securing 
 compensated emancipation for Missouri. 
 
 With this measure successful, this State, in a year or 
 two, miglit almost thank the rebels for their efforts to ruin 
 us ; but without it we must sink almost as low as Vir- 
 ginia in financial woe and general desolation. 
 
 All good men in Missouri pray daily that Congress may 
 see the wisdom of perfecting this aid to loyal slave-owners 
 of the State. It is not material, perhaps, what sum Con- 
 gress appropriates, if the maximum be three hundred dol- 
 lars for the best slaves, and graduated in proportion for 
 females, children, and aged persons. 
 
 I feel the utmost confidence that it will not take ten 
 milHon dollars to pay all loi/al owners, if three hundred dol- 
 lars is tlie highest price to be paid, and a proportionate 
 price for the young, aged, and all other classes. I know 
 of no slave in Missouri now that would command at private 
 sale three hundred dollars, unless the purchaser were misled 
 by an impression that he might obtain more by virtue of 
 the proposed act of Congress. 
 
 Emancipation in Missouri would soon make it one of the 
 greatest States in the Union, and the disinthralment of her 
 antislavery population would enable us to show the traitors 
 in the old free States whether New England is ever to be 
 severed from the States of the West. Congress is on the 
 right war-path this winter ; and Crod he praised for the 
 
328 LIFE OF HENJRY WILSON. 
 
 bright prospect of soon crushing out the hfe of the Rebel* 
 lion. 
 
 I am, dear sir, very truly, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 Silas Keed, M.D. 
 
 During the recess of Congress, Mr. Wilson labored with 
 ceaseless activity to sustain the administration in the prose- 
 cution of the war. Moving from point to point, he was 
 now assisting the Sanitary Commission, now writing letters 
 to the spldiers, now examining the claims of rival officers 
 to promotion, now suggesting more vigorou^i measures to 
 the cabinet, now urging moneyed men to aid the govern- 
 ment, and now addressing vast audiences in support of 
 the Union cause. In the great rejoicings at Washington, 
 July 7, on the surrender of Vicksburg, he participated, 
 and addressed a vast multitude in front of the presiden- 
 tial mansion. On the same day, with Senators Fessenden 
 and Morrill, he had a conference with the cabinet, which 
 resulted in the ordering of five vessels to protect the sea- 
 board from Nantucket to the British Provinces. 
 
 Mr. Wilson also shared with the administration in the 
 profound anxiety for the issue of the bloody conflict at 
 Gettysburg (July 1, 2, and 3), and put forth his best 
 efforts to assuao:e the sufferino;s of wounded soldiers. 
 
 The delay of Gen. Meade in following up his victory 
 led the government soon to turn attention to the vic- 
 torious Grant as the man to lead the army on to Rich- 
 mond ; and Mr. Wilson urged his nomination as com- 
 mander. 
 
 On his way to resume his seat in Congress in December, 
 on the 9th of July, he took part in the celebration of the 
 thirtieth anniversary of the American Antislavery Society . 
 
ADDRESS AT PHILADELPHIA. 329 
 
 and made an address remarkable for its earnestness and 
 vigor. Contrasting the antislavery cause at the institu- 
 tion of the society with what it was in the closing month 
 of 1863, he eloquently said, — 
 
 " Then a few unknown and nameless men were its 
 apostles : now the most accomplished intellects in Auierica 
 are its champions. Then a few proscribed and hunted 
 followers rallied around its banners : now it has laid its 
 grasp upon the conscience of the nation, and millions rally 
 around the folds of its flag. Then not a statesman in 
 America accepted its doctrines, or advocated its measures : 
 now it controls more than twenty States, has a majority 
 in both Houses of Cono^ress, and the chief mao-istrate of 
 the republic decrees the emancipation of three millions of 
 men. (Applause.) Then every free State was against 
 it: now West Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, and Missouri 
 pronounce for the emancipation of their bondmen. Then 
 the public press covered it with ridicule and contempt; 
 now the most powerful journals in America are its organs, 
 scatterinor its truths broadcast over all the land. Then the 
 religious, benevolent, and literary institutions of the land 
 rebuked its doctrines, and proscribed its advocates : now it 
 shapes, moulds, and fashions them at its pleasure. Then 
 political organizations trampled disdainfully upon it: now 
 it looks down in the pride of conscious power upon the 
 wrecked political fragments that float at its feet. Then it 
 was impotent and powerless : now it holds public men and 
 political organizations in the hollow of its hand. (Ap- 
 plause.) Then the public voice sneered at and defied it : 
 now it is master of America, and has only to be true to 
 itself to bury slavery so deep that the hand of no return- 
 ing despotism can reach it. (Great applause.) 
 
 "The way to triumph," he continued, "is to assume 
 
 28* 
 
330 LIFE OF HENUY WILSON. 
 
 that the proclamation of Abraham Lincoln, emancipating 
 three million three hundred thousand slaves in the ten 
 rebel States, is the irrepealable law of this land ; that this 
 Christian nation is pledged to every slave, to the country, 
 to the world, and to Almighty God, to see that every 
 one of these bondmen is free forever and forevermore. 
 (Great applause.) Let the loyal men of America assume, 
 as the eternal law of the land, that slavery does not now 
 exist in the disloyal States ; that every black man there is 
 free ; that the President of the United States has pledged 
 the physical power of all America to enforce the proclama- 
 tion of freedom ; that seven hundred thousand loyal 
 bayonets bear that proclamation upon their glittering 
 points." (Applause.) 
 
 He thus referred to Gen. Grant : — 
 
 " Sir, I saw the other day a letter from Gen. Grant, 
 who has fought so many battles for the republic, and won 
 them all (enthusiastic applause), — the hero who hurled his 
 legions up the mountains before Chattanooga, and fought a 
 battle for the Union above the clouds. (Applause.) The 
 hero of Vicksburg says, ' I have never been an anti- 
 slavery man ; but I try to judge justly of what I see. I 
 made up my mind when this war commenced that the 
 North and South could only live together in peace as one 
 nation, and they could only be one nation by being a free 
 nation. (Applause.) Slavery, the corner-stone of the 
 so-called confederacy, is knocked out ; and it will take 
 more men to keep black men slaves than to put down the 
 Rebellion. Much as I desire peace, I am opposed to any 
 peace until this question of slavery is forever settled.* 
 That is the position of the leading general of our 
 armies. ... 
 
 '' The crimes of two centuries have brought this terrible 
 
SENATORIAL LABORS. 831 
 
 war upon us ; but if this generation, upon whom God 
 has laid his chastisements, will yet be true to Hberty 
 and humanity, peace will return again to bless this 
 land now rent and torn by civil strife. Then we shall 
 heal the wounds of war, enlifihten the dark intellect of 
 the emancipated bondman, and make our' country the 
 model republic, to which the Christian w^orld shall turn 
 with respect and admiration." 
 
 " The speaker retired," says " The Chronicle," " amid 
 the deafening plaudits of the audience." 
 
 In the Senate, on the 14th of December, Mr. Wilson 
 introduced resolutions expressing the thanks of Congress to 
 Gens. Hooker, Meade, Howard, and Banks, their officers 
 and men, for gallantry at Gettysburg and Port Hudson ; 
 which received the signature of the president. He also 
 introduced at the same time a bill " to increase the bounty 
 to volunteers, and the pay of the army ; " and also, on the 
 23d of the same month, the bill " to establish a uniform 
 system of ambulances in the United States," which was 
 indorsed by eminent generals, commanders in the army, 
 and became a law on the 11th of March, 1864. 
 
 Among the numerous measures introduced by Mr. 
 Wilson into Congress in 1864, we may cite as of great 
 importance an amendment in the bill enacted on the 24th 
 of Februar}^ declaring that every colored soldier, on being 
 mustered into the service, should, not by the act of his 
 ■master, but by the authority of government, be made for- 
 ever free.. By this provision, more than twenty thousand 
 slaves in Kentucky alone received their freedom. 
 
 In the exciting debates on the Thirteenth Amendment 
 of the Constitution, the first article of which is, " Neither 
 slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment 
 for crime whereof the party shall have been duly con- 
 
332 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 victeel, sliall exist within the United States, or any place 
 subject to their jurisdiction," Mr. Wilson most earnestly 
 engaged. . His speech in the Senate on the 28th of March 
 has in it the ring of a clarion. In some respects, it is a 
 master-piece of eloquence. Intensely earnest, fervid, fear- 
 less, it grasps the question with Websterian vigor, and 
 strikes tlie fated institution with gigantic blows. The 
 speech, as circulated, has for its significant title, " The 
 Death of Slavery is the Life of the Nation ; " and 
 this the nation now believes. It closes with these grandly- 
 impressive words : — 
 
 " But, sir, the crowning act in this series of acts for the 
 restriction and extinction of slavery in America is this 
 proposed amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting the 
 existence of slavery forevermore in the republic of the 
 United States. If this amendment shall be incorporated 
 by the will of the nation into the Constitution of the 
 United States, it will obliterate the last lingering vestiges 
 of the slave system — its chattelizing, degrading, and 
 bloody codes ; its dark, malignant, barbarizing spirit ; all 
 it was and is ; every thing connected with it or pertaining 
 to it — from the face of the nation it has scarred with moral 
 desolation, from the bosom of the country it has reddened 
 with the blood and strewn with the graves of patriotism. 
 The incorporation of this amendment into the organic law 
 of the nation will make impossible forevermore the re- 
 appearing of the discarded slave system, and the returning 
 of the despotism of the slave-masters' domination. 
 
 '' Then, sir, when this amendment to the Constitution 
 shall be consummated, the shackle will Ml from the limbs 
 of the harmless bondmen, and the lash drop from the 
 weary hand of the taskmaster. Then the sharp cry of 
 the ao:onizin2 hearts of severed families will cease to vex 
 
HIS EFFOETS TO CAERY ON THE WAE. 333 
 
 the weaiy ear of the nation, and to pierce the ear of Him 
 whose judgments are now avenging the wrongs of cen- 
 turies. Then tlie slave-mart, pen, and auction-block, 
 with their clanking fetters for human limbs, will disappear 
 from the land thej have brutalized, and the schoolhouse 
 will raise to enlighten the darkened intellect of a race 
 imbruted bj long years of enforced ignorance. Then the 
 sacred rights of human nature, the hallowed family rela- 
 tions of husband and wife, parent and child, will be pro- 
 tected by the guardian spirit of that law which makes 
 sacred alike the proud homes and lowl}^ cabins of freedom. 
 Then the scarred earth, blighted by the sweat and tears 
 of bondage, will bloom again under the quickening culture 
 of rewarded toil. Then the wronged victim of the slave 
 system, the poor white man, the sand-hiller, the clay-eater, 
 of the wasted fields of Carolina, impoverished, debased, 
 dishonored by the system that makes toil a badge of dis- 
 grace, and the instruction of the brain and soul of man a 
 crime, will lift his abashed forehead to the skies, and begin 
 to run the race of improvement, progress, and elevation. 
 Then the nation, * regenerated and disinthralled by the 
 genius of universal emancipation,' will run the career of 
 development, power, and glory, quickened, animated, and 
 guided by the spirit of the Christian democracy that ' pulls 
 not the highest down, but lifts the lowest up.' 
 
 " Our country is now floating on the stormy waves of 
 civil war. Darkness lowers, and tempests threaten. The 
 waves are rising and foaming and breaking around us and 
 over us with ingulfing fury; but, amid the thick gloom, 
 the star of duty casts its clear radiance over the dark and 
 troubled waters, making luminous our pathway. Our 
 duty is as plain to the clear vision of intelligent patriotism 
 
334 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 as though it were written in letters of light on the bending 
 arches of the skies. That duty is, with every conception 
 of the brain, every throb of the heart, every aspiration of 
 the soul, by thought, by word, and by deed, to feel, to 
 think, to speak, to act, so as to obliterate the last vestiges 
 of slavery in America, subjugate rebel slave-masters to tlie 
 authority of the nation, hold up the weary arm of our 
 struo-o-linor oovernment, crowd with heroic manhood the 
 ranks of our armies that are bearing the destinies of the 
 country on the points of their glittering bayonets, and thus 
 forever blast the last hope of the rebel chiefs. Then the 
 waning star of the Rebellion will go down in eternal night, 
 and the star of peace ascend the heavens, casting its mild 
 radiance over fields now darkened by the storms of this 
 fratricidal war. Then, when ' the war-drums throb no 
 longer, and the battle-flags are furled,' our absent sons, with 
 the laurels of victory on their brows, will come back to 
 gladden our households and fill the vacant chairs .around 
 our hearthstones. Then the stars of united America, now 
 obscured, will' re-appear, radiant with splendor, on the fore- 
 head of the skies, to illume the pathway and gladden the 
 heart of struggling humanity." 
 
 Ever intent on justice, and earnest for equal rights, 
 Mr. AVilson succeeded in introducing into the appropria- 
 tion bill enacted on the fifteenth day of June, 1864, a 
 provision to the effect that '' all persons of color v/ho had 
 been or might be mustered into the military service should 
 receive the same uniform, clothing, rations, medical and 
 hospital attendance, and pay," as other soldiers, from the 
 beginning of 1864. He fought persistently to obtain 
 justice for the colored troops of Massachusetts ; and 
 finally succeeded, in face of stanch opposition, in carry- 
 
SOLDIEES' WIVES Am) CHILDREN. 335 
 
 ing through Congress his important and humane meas- 
 ure, making the wives and children of tho3e whose hus- 
 bands and fathers were fio-htinoj for the Union forever 
 free. 
 
 In support of this resolution he said, " It is estimated 
 that from seventy-five to a hundred thousand wives and 
 children of these soldiers are now held in slavery. It is a 
 burning shame to this country. .. . . Wasting diseases, 
 weary marches, and bloody battles, are now decimating our 
 armies. The country needs soldiers, must have soldiers. 
 Let the Senate, then, act now. Let us hasten the enact- 
 ment of this beneficent measure, inspired by patriotism and 
 hallowed by justice and humanity, so that, ere merry 
 Christmas shall come, the intelhgence shall be flashed over 
 the land to cheer the hearts of the nation's defenders and 
 arouse the manhood of the bondman, that, on the forehead 
 of the soldier's wife and the soldier's child, no man can 
 write ' Slave.' " This measure became a law on the third 
 day of March, 1865 ; and, six months afterwards. Gen. 
 Palmer estimated that by its operation nearly seventy-five 
 thousand women and children had, in Kentucky alone, 
 been made free. 
 
 At the celebration of the 4th of July by the freedmen 
 in the District of Columbia this year, he was present, 
 and made an encouraging address. " I predict," said he 
 to them, " that, before five years have rolled around, you 
 will be allowed to vote, and right here in Washington 
 too." Scarcely half that time passed before his hopeful 
 words were realized. 
 
 Mr. Wilson's policy, from the beginning of the war, was 
 to crush the Rebellion just as quick as possible. He dep- 
 recated the delay of the generals in command, and ever 
 
336 LIFE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 ursed a forward movement. He voted for the confirma- 
 tioii of Gen. Grant, March 2, in the Senate, because he 
 felt assured that he would allow the enemy no time to rally 
 from his re})ulses ; and yet his motives were continually 
 misiivterpreted. To a statement in " The New- York 
 Herald," that he had been to Washington to urge an 
 armistice, he made this distinct reply in a letter dated 
 Natick, Aug. 20, 1864 : — 
 
 " There is not the slightest foundation for the report, as 
 I never entertained for a moment any other thought than 
 that of conquering a peace by the defeat of the rebel 
 armies." 
 
 At this time *' The New-Bedford Mercury " said of, 
 him, " Henry Wilson has, from the day he entered the 
 Senate to the present moment, in our judgment, and we 
 believe in the judgment of the great body of the people 
 of the State, been an able public servant. No man has 
 been more laborious in the committee-room, more ready 
 in the Senate-chamber, and we believe more single-hearted 
 and unselfish in purpose to sustain the government in its 
 trial-hours, than Henry AVilson." 
 
 The following, among hundreds of letters received from 
 all parts of the country, will also indicate how the soldiers 
 and the people viewed his senatorial course : — 
 
 " I cannot close this letter, my dear sir, without thank- 
 ing you for the upright and manly course you have pur- 
 sued all through this terrible war ; for your grand, good 
 words, and the strong blows you have given to the cause 
 of all our woe, — slavery. At last your efforts and those 
 of your noble colleagues are telling, and the government 
 seems about to act justly towards our colored soldiers. 
 
A LETTER. * 3UJ 
 
 God grant this tardy justice may help to prevent more 
 massacres ! 
 
 " I am, sir, with profound respect, very truly yours.'* 
 
 His friends urged Mr. Wilson to accept the nomination 
 for vice-president this year ; but he declined to be a candi- 
 date. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 RE-ET>ECTION TO UNITED-STATES SENATE. — HIS VIEW OF 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. ADDRESS AT WASHINGTON. 
 
 SILVER WEDDING. — ANTISLAVERY MEASURES IN 
 CONGRESS. 
 
 Mr. Wilson returned to the United-States Senate. — Notice of Election by " The 
 Boston Journal." — Freedman's Bureau. — Military Appointments. — Visit to 
 Fort Sumter. — Death of Mr. Lincoln. — Mr. Wilson's View of him. — Speech 
 at Washington July 4. — Mayor Wallach. — Advice to the Colored People. 
 
 — The Course of the Executive. — Silver Wedding. —Description of.— 
 Articles presented. — Respect of his Townsmen. — Record of Antislavery 
 Measures in Congress. — Character of the Work. — Of^inion of " The Atlan- 
 tic Monthly." — Summary of the Work. — Slaves used for Military Purposes 
 made Free. — Fugitives. — District of Columbia.. — "Black Code." — Wit- 
 nesses. — Schools. — Railroads. — Territories Free. — Emancipation. — Cap- 
 tives of War. — Rebel Claimants of Slaves. — Hayti and Liberia. — Slaves in 
 Military Service. — Fugitive-slave Acts. — Slave-Trade. — Courts, Testimony 
 in. — Reconstruction. — United-States Mail. — Wives and Children of Slaves. 
 
 — Bureau of Freedmen. — Amendment of the Constitution. — The Negro a 
 Citizen. — Colored People indebted to the Labors of Mr. Wilson. 
 
 IN February, 1865, Mr. Wilson was re-elected United- 
 States senator for the term of six years. There was some 
 delay in the election on the part of the conservative branch 
 of the General Court, instigated, said " The Journal," "by 
 a few eminently respectable parties who cannot forget that 
 Mr. Wilson was once a shoemaker. We should like to see 
 them," it continued, " go before the people on that issue. 
 They would hear such a response as would convince them 
 
 838 
 
DEATH OF MR. LINCOLN. 339 
 
 that Massachusetts esteems the sterling quahties of a self- 
 made man, an astute statesman, and an active patriot, over 
 the finest strain of blood or the most eminent respecta- 
 bility." 
 
 In March of this year, Mr. Wilson, from the Committee 
 of Conference, reported a new bill for the establishment 
 of a freedman's bureau, whose object was the supervision 
 and relief of the freedmen and refugees. This important 
 bill was carried through both Houses against strenuous 
 opposition, and received, immediately on its passage, the 
 president's approval. 
 
 As, by the Constitution, the appointment of officers by 
 the president must receive the confirmation of the Senate, 
 it was called to act upon ten thousand eight hundred and 
 ninety-one military nominations, ranging from second 
 lietitenants up to Lieut.-Gen. Grant, during the four years 
 of tlie Rebellion ; and this vast amount of labor fell upon 
 that small Military Committee of which Mr. Wilson was 
 and still is chairman. 
 
 In the crowning of the Union arms with success by the 
 surrender of Gen. Lee in April, Mr. Wilson saw with 
 inexpressible gratitude the realization of his hopes and 
 labors carried on twenty years for the overthrow of the 
 gigantic slave power in America ; and he left Washington 
 to be present at the raising of the Union flag once more to 
 float above Fort Sumter. While on board the boat off 
 Hilton Head, he heard the startling news that the president 
 of the nation, Abraham Lincoln, had been stricken down 
 by the ruthless hand of J. Wilkes Booth ; and he imme- 
 diately hastened back to Washington to assist in the 
 emergency, and to share in the sorrows of the afflicted 
 people. With Mr. Lincoln his relations had been intimate, 
 and for his honesty and ability he entertained profound 
 
340 LIPE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 respect. In an address (May 3) before the New^England 
 Historic-Genealogical Society, of which he became a member 
 in 1859, he said of Mr. Lincoln, that '' he would pass into 
 history as the foremost man of his age. He was a genuine 
 product of our democratic institutions, and had a living 
 faith in their permanency. His sympathy for the poor and 
 the oppressed was hearty and genuine. Of his mind, one 
 characteristic was the power of stating an argument clearly, 
 and of quickly detecting a fallacy. He had also a felicity 
 of expression. There were many phrases of power and 
 beauty in his letters." The speech at Gettysburg was 
 instanced as containing some of the noblest utterances of 
 any age. 
 
 He also said of him in his address in Chicago, Septem- 
 ber, 1866, "Abraham Lincoln was always patriotic, always 
 true to liberty, justice, humanity, and Christian civiliza- 
 tion. He was true to his friends, and always considerate. 
 If he moved slowly, he always moved. His face was 
 always in the right direction." 
 
 Mr. Wilson attended the colored people's celebration in 
 the presidential grounds at Washington, July 4, 1865, and 
 said in his address to them, — 
 
 " I am not here to find fault with the government, how- 
 ever ; though I fear that the golden moment to secure jus- 
 tice, and base our peace on the eternal principle of right, 
 was not taken. I have faith in the motives and purposes 
 of the administration, and shall keep my faith, unless it 
 shall be broken by future deeds. I have faith in the mo- 
 tives and purposes of Pres. Johnson, who told the colored 
 men in the capital of his own Tennessee that he would be 
 their Moses. Andrew Johnson will, I am sure, be to you 
 what Abraham Lincoln would have been had he been 
 spared to complete the great work of emancipation and 
 enfranchisement. 
 
ADDEESS AT WASHINGTON. 841 
 
 " Pardoned rebels, and rebels yet unpardoned, flippantly 
 tell us that they hold in their hands, yet red with loyal 
 blood, the rights of loyal colored men, of the heroes scarred 
 and maimed beneatli the dear old flag. I tell these repent- 
 ant and unrepentant but conquered and subdued rebels, 
 that, while they hold the suffrage of the loyal black men in 
 their hands, we, the loyal men of America, hold in our 
 hands their lost privilege to hold office in the civil service, 
 army, or navy. The Congress of the United States has 
 placed upon the statute-book a law forever prohibiting 
 any one who has borne arms against the country, or given 
 aid, comfort, and countenance to the Rebellion, from hold- 
 ing any office of honor, profit, or emolument, in the civil, 
 mihtary, or naval service of the United States. . . . 
 
 " You, sir, invited Mayor Wallach to be here to-day ; 
 but I don't see him. I have a sort of dim idea, that, if you 
 held the right of suffi'age. Mayor Wallach, and perhaps 
 the whole city government, would be here. (Cheers.) 
 To insure the attendance of the Mayor of Washington next 
 year, I would suggest that you early send your petitions to 
 Congress asking for the ballot. (' We will .') I am a 
 Yankee, and have the right to guess ; and I guess you will 
 get it." (Great applause.) 
 
 But from the appointments of the president for the South, 
 from his sympathy for the men so recently engaged in the 
 Kebellion, and from his treasonable declarations, the senator 
 saw that the question of slavery was by no means settled, 
 and that the great impediment in the way of settlement 
 was in the executive chair. 
 
 His fears were openly expressed in an eloquent speech at 
 the Academy of Music, Brooklyn, N.Y., Oct. 25, wherein 
 he describes the recent rapid growth of insurrectionary 
 
 29* 
 
342 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 sentiment in the Confederate States under the fostering 
 patronage of the president. 
 
 '' Let the late slave-masters, from the Potomac to the 
 Mexican line, fully understand that you are amenable to the 
 same laws as themselves ; that you are to be tried for their 
 violation in the same manner, and punished in the same 
 degree. (Cheers.) Let them know that henceforth you 
 will utter your own thoughts, make your own bargains, 
 enjoy the fruits of your own labor, go where you please 
 throughout the bounds of the republic, and none have the 
 right to molest or make you afraid. (Applause.) If my 
 voice to-day could penetrate the ear of the colored men of 
 my country, I would say to them, that the intelligence, 
 character, and wealth of the nation imperatively demand 
 their freedom, protection, and the recognition of their rights. 
 I would say to them, ' Prove yourselves, by patience,- 
 endurance, industry, conduct, and character, worthy of all 
 that the millions of Christian men and women have done 
 and are doing to make for you — that Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, read here to-day — the living faith of United 
 America.' " (Loud and prolonged cheering.) 
 
 On the twenty-fifth -anniversary of their marriage, Oct. 
 27, 1865, the friends and neighbors of Mr. and Mrs. 
 Wilson assembled at their house in Natick for the celebra- 
 tion of their " silver wedding." Althouglr the night was 
 stormy, a large number of ladies and gentlemen from their 
 own and from the neighboring towns were present ; and 
 with mutual congratulations, speeches, poetical recitations, 
 instrumental music, and the singing of songs, a bountiful 
 collation, and the outflow of good will, the festival was full 
 of life and pleasure. Among those present were Messrs. 
 Hannibal Hamlin, Charles Sumner, Anson Burlingame, 
 Oakes Ames, William Claflin, Ginery Twitchell, Charles 
 
SILVEK TTEDDDTG. 343 
 
 W. Slack, and Mrs. Julia Ward Howe. Mrs. Wilson 
 received her guests with her usual unaflPected grace and 
 courtesy, and received a purse of four thousand dollars, 
 presented by the hand of William Claflin. An address 
 was made by the Rev. C. M. Tyler, Mr. Wilson's pastor 
 at that time ; and a poem by Mrs. Julia Ward Howe was 
 sung, from wiiich we cite the following stanza ; — 
 
 ** But Wil-on from the lowlier base, 
 Tli<; silver vanta;;e gaining;, 
 Climbs ever towards the golden grace, 
 With ialwr uncomplaiuiug." 
 
 Another ffoet, referring to Mrs. Wilson, wrote: — 
 
 " Thus every wish his heart eoulvl frame 
 In lier reality heeame : 
 Aflcetion, undiminished still 
 By elmidi'd brow or wayward will; 
 An<l that still lovelier, holier graee 
 Th;it bt'ams upon a mother's face, — 
 TJM'se ntund his path have shed a light 
 Mild a^J tlie m<x>n ot" summer's night." 
 
 Many elegant articles of silver were presented to Mr. 
 and Mrs. Wilson, among which was a very beautiful silver 
 tea-service from the citizens of Natick. On subscribing 
 
 o 
 
 for this, one of them characteristically said, " That is for 
 the MAX, not for iiis principles." As a man, Mr. Wilson's 
 townsmen, even those bitterly opposing his political opin- 
 ions, have always lieKl him high in their regard and 
 honor. His son, Lieut. -Col. Henry Hamilton Wilson, 
 was at this time in command of the Hundred-and-fourth 
 Ri'giuient of United-States colored troops at Beaulort, 
 S.C. One of his friends on the occasion truly said or 
 sunn, — 
 
844 LIFE OF HENBY WILSON. 
 
 * A silver wedding claims a silvery verse ; 
 And WiLSON^ well deserves a poet's lay : 
 But I in humbler measure must rehearse 
 How fairly earned the honors of this day. 
 For friendship here puts on more public guise : 
 The man we love has been the people's friend : 
 Not wedded faith more sacred in his eyes 
 Than Truth to champion, and the poor defend." 
 
 Mr. Wilson gave the world this year a work of great and 
 permanent value, bearing the title of '' History of tlie Anti- 
 slavery Measures of the Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth 
 United-States Congresses, 1861-65. By Henry Wilson." 
 It contains four hundred and twenty-four pages octavo, and 
 most lucidly exhibits tlie course of national legislation on 
 the slave question, from tlie opening of the Rebellion until 
 the overthrow of the system by the adoption of the anti- 
 slavery amendment to the Constitution of the United States. 
 The work is written with great candor by one who, as we 
 have seen, took part in the legislation, framing several 
 of the most important measures, and carrying them, against 
 persistent opposition, through Congress. The style is dig- 
 nified and manly ; the speakers present their views in their 
 own lanojuao-e ; and the grounds on which the bills are 
 framed are very ably and distinctly stated. The abstract 
 of the work accomplished by the fearless* advocates of 
 . freedom in the closing pages- gives with clearness the 
 results accomplished, and a just idea of the burden taken 
 by this legislation from the bondman and the Union. 
 
 " This volume," says <' The Atlantic Monthly," " is a 
 labor-saving machine of great power to all who desire or 
 need a clear view of the course of Congressional legislation 
 on measures of emancipation ; " and Mrs. Stowe character- 
 izes it as "exhibiting the magnificent morality, the daunt- 
 
ANTISLAVERY ME.VSUEES IN COXGEESS. 345 
 
 less couranre, the unwearied faith, hope, and chanty, that 
 are tlie crown jewels of tlie republic." 
 
 The closinf^ summary of the achievements of the friends 
 of freedtjm given in this work is so well made, and is such 
 a valuable historical record, that we think it wortliy of 
 transcription. 
 
 *' The annals of the nation," says the author, "bear the 
 amj)li'st evidence that the patriots and stiitesmen who 
 Citrric'd the country throui^h the Revolution from colonial 
 dc'[)en(lence to national independence, framed the Con- 
 stitution, and inaugurated the Federal Government, hoped 
 and behevt-d that jslavery would pass away at no distant 
 jK'riod undi'r th^' influonces of the institutions they had 
 founded. Hut those iUustrious men tasted death without 
 witnessing the realiz-ition of their hopes and anticI|)atH)n.s. 
 The rapid development of the resources of the country 
 under tlie protection of a stable government, tlie opening- 
 up of new and rich lantls, the expansion of territory, and 
 perhaps, more than all, the wonderful growth and impor- 
 tance of the cotton culture, enhanced the value of labor, 
 and increased many-fold the })rice of slaves. Under the 
 slinuilating intiiiences ot an ever-increasing pecuniary 
 interest, a political power was speeilily developed, which 
 early manifested itself in the National Government. For 
 nearlv two generations, the slaveholding class, into whoso 
 power the government early passed, dictated the policy of 
 the natu)n. But the presiilential election of 18G0 resulted 
 in the deteat of the slaveholding class, and in the success 
 ot men who religiously believe slavery to be a grievous 
 wrong U) the slave, a blight upon the prosperity, and a 
 Htain upon tlie name, of the country. Defeated in its aims, 
 broken in its j)ower, humiliated in its pride, the slave- 
 holdmir class raised at once the bainiers of treason. Ue- 
 
346 LIFE OF HENEY WTLSON. 
 
 tiring from the chambers of Congress, abandoning the seats 
 of power to men who had persistently opposed then' ag- 
 gressive pohcj, they brought to an abrupt close the record 
 of half a century of slavery measures in Congress. 
 Then, when slavery legislation ended, antislavery legis- 
 lation began. . . . 
 
 " When the Rebellion culminated in active hostilities, it 
 was seen that thousands of slaves were used for military 
 purposes by the rebel forces. To weaken the forces of 
 the Rebellion, the Thirty-seventh. Congress decreed that 
 such slaves should be forever free. 
 
 " As the Union armies advanced into the rebel States, 
 slaves, inspired by the hope of personal ft-eedom, flocked 
 to their encampments, claiming protection against rebel 
 masters, and offering to work and fight for the flag whose 
 stars for the first time gleamed upon their vision with the 
 radiance of liberty. Rebel masters and rebel-sympathizing 
 masters sought the encampments of the loyal forces, de- 
 manding the surrender of the escaped fugitives ; and they 
 were often delivered up by officers of the armies. To 
 weaken the power of the insurgents, to strengthen the 
 loyal forces, and assert the claims of humanity, the Thirty- 
 seventh Congress enacted an article of war, dismissing 
 from the service officers guilty of surrendering these 
 fugitives. 
 
 " Three thousand persons were held as slaves in the 
 District of Columbia, over which the nation exercised 
 exclusive jurisdiction : the Thirty-seventh Congress made 
 these three thousand bondmen freemen, and made slave- 
 holding in the capital of the nation forevermore im- 
 possible. 
 
 " Laws and ordinances existed in the national capital 
 that pressed with merciless rigor upon the colored people : 
 
ANTISLAVEEY MEASURES IN CONGEESS. 347 
 
 the Thirty-seventh Congress enacted tliat colored persona 
 should be tried for the same offences in the same manner, 
 and be subject to the same punishments, as white persons ; 
 thus abrogating the ' black code.' 
 
 " Colored persons in the capital of this Christian nation 
 were denied the ri^ht to testify in the judicial tribunals; 
 thus placing their property, their liberties, and their lives, 
 in the power of unjust and wicked men : the Thirty-seventh 
 Congress enacted tliat persons should not be excluded as 
 witnesses in the courts of the District on account, of color. 
 
 *' In the capital of the nation, colored persons were 
 taxed to suj»port schools from which their own children 
 were excluded ; and no public schools were provided for 
 the instruction of more than four thousand youth : the 
 Thirty-eighth Congress proviiled by law that public schools 
 should be established for colored children, and that the 
 same rate of appropriations for colored schools should be 
 made as are matle for schools for the education of white 
 chiMren. 
 
 *' The railways chartered by Congress excluded from 
 their cars colored persons, without the authority of law: 
 Congress enacteil that there should be no exclusion from 
 any car on acc«)unt of color. 
 
 *' Into the Territories of the United States — one-third 
 of the surface of the country — the slaveholding class 
 claimed the right to take and hold their slaves under the 
 protection of law : the Thirty-seventh Congress prohibited 
 shivery forever in all the existing territory, and in all 
 territory which may hereafter be acquired ; thus stamping 
 freedom for all, forever, upon the public domain. 
 
 ** As the war progressed, it became more clearly appar- 
 ent that the rebels hoped to win the border slave States; 
 that rebel sympathizers in those States hoped to join thg 
 
348 LIFE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 rebel States ; and that emancipation in loyal States would 
 bring repose to them, and weaken the power of the 
 Rebellion : the Thirty-seventh Congress, on the recom- 
 mendation of the president, by the passage of a joint 
 I'esolution, pledged the faith of the nation to aid loyal 
 States to emancipate the slaves therein. 
 
 " The hoe and spade of the rebel slave were hardly less 
 potent for the Rebelhon than the rifle and bayonet of the 
 rebel soldier. Slaves sowed and reaped for the rebels, 
 enabling the rebel leaders to fill the wasting ranks of 
 their armies, and feed them. To weaken the military 
 forces and the power of the Rebellion, the Thirty-seventh 
 Congress decreed that all slaves of persons giving aid and 
 comfort to the Rebellion, escaping from such persons, and 
 taking refuge within the lines of the army; all slaves 
 captured from such persons, or deserted by them ; all 
 slaves of such persons, being within any place occupied by 
 rebel forces, and afterwards occupied by the forces of the 
 United States, — shall be captives of war, and shall be for- 
 ever free of their servitude, and not again held as slaves. 
 
 "The provisions of the Fugitive-slave Act permitted, 
 disloyal masters to claim, and they did claim, the return 
 of their fugitive bondmen: the Thirty-seventh Congress 
 enacted that no fugitive should be surrendered until the 
 claimant made oath that he had not given aid and comfort 
 to the Rebellion. 
 
 " The progress of the Rebellion demonstrated its power, 
 a.id the needs of the imperilled nation. To strengthen 
 the physical forces of the United States, the Thirty-seventh 
 Congress authorized the president to receive into the 
 military service persons of African descent ; and every 
 such person mustered into the service, his mother, his 
 wife and diildren, owing service or labor to any person 
 
ANTISLAYERY MEASUEES IN CONGRESS . 349 
 
 who should give aid and comfort to the Rebellion, was 
 made forever free. 
 
 '^ The African slave-trade had been carried on by slave 
 pirates under the protection of the flag of the United 
 States. To extirpate from the seas that inhuman traffic, 
 and to vindicate the sullied honor of the nation, the ad- 
 ministration early entered into treaty stipulations with the 
 British Government for the mutual right of search within 
 certain limits ; and the Thirty-seventh Congress hastened 
 to enact the appropriate legislation to carry the treaty into 
 effect. 
 
 "The slaveholding class, in the pride of power, per- 
 sistently refused to recognize the independence of Hayti 
 and Liberia ; thus dealing unjustly towards those nations, 
 to the detriment of the commercial interests of the coun- 
 try : the Thirty-seventh Congress recognized the inde- 
 pendence of those republics by authorizing- the president to 
 establish diplomatic relations with them. 
 
 '* By the provisions of law, white male citizens alone 
 were enrolled in the militia. In the amendment to the 
 acts for calling out the militia, the Thirty-seventh Congress 
 provided for the enrolment and drafting of citizens, without 
 regard to color; and, by tiie Enrolment Act, colored per- 
 sons, free or slave, are enrolled and drafted the same as 
 white men : the Thirty-eighth Congress enacted that 
 colored soldiers shall have the same pay, clothing, and 
 rations, and be placed in all respects upon the same footing, 
 as white soldiers. To encourage enlistments, and to aid 
 emancipation, the Thirty-eighth Congress decreed that every 
 slave mustered into the military service shall be free for- 
 ever ; thus enabling every slave fit for military service to 
 secure personal freedom. 
 
 " By the provisions of the fugitive-slave acts, slave- 
 so 
 
350 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 masters could hunt their absconding bondmer, require the 
 people to aid in their recapture, and have them returned 
 at the expense of the nation : the Thirty-eighth Congress 
 erased all fugitive-slave acts from the statutes of the 
 republic. 
 
 " The law of 1807 legalized the coastwise slave-trade : 
 the Thirty-eighth Congress repealed that act, and made the 
 trade illegal. 
 
 " The courts of the United States receive such testi- 
 mony as is permitted in the States where the courts are 
 holden ; several of the States exclude the testimony of 
 colored persons : the Thirty-eighth Congress made it 
 legal for colored persons to testify in all the courts of the 
 United States. 
 
 " Different views are entertained by public men relative 
 to the reconstruction of the governments of the seceded 
 States and the validity of the president's proclamation of 
 emancipation : the Thirty-eighth Congress passed a bill 
 providing for the reconstruction of the governments of the 
 rebel States, and for the emancipation of the slaves in those 
 States ; but it did not receive the approval of the president. 
 
 *' Colored persons were not permitted to carry the United- 
 States mails: the Thirty-eighth Congress repealed the pro- 
 hibitory legislation, and made it lawful for persons of color 
 to carry the mails. 
 
 " Wives and children of colored persons in the military 
 and naval service of the United States were often heM as 
 slaves ; and, while husbands and fathers were absent fight- 
 ing the battles of the country, these wives and children 
 were sometimes removed and sold, and often treated with 
 cruelty : the Thirty-eighth Congress made free the wives 
 and children of all persons engaged in the military or 
 naval service of the country. 
 
ANTTSLAVERY JVIEASURES IN CONGRESS. 351 
 
 " The disorcranization of tlie slave system, and the exi- 
 gencies of civil war, have thrown thousands of freedmen 
 upon the charity of the nation : to reUeve their immediate 
 needs, and to aid them through the transition period, the 
 Thirty-eighth Congress estabUshed a bureau of freedmen. 
 
 " The prohibition of slavery in the Territories, its abo- 
 lition in the District of Columbia, the freedom of colored 
 soldiers and their wives and children, emancipation in 
 Maryland, West Virginia, and Missouri, and, by the re- 
 organized State authorities, of Virginia, Tennessee, and 
 Louisiana, and the president's Emancipation Proclamation, 
 disorganized the slave system, and practically left few 
 persons in bondage ; but slavery still continued in Dela- 
 ware and Kentucky, and the slave codes remained unre- 
 pealed in the rebel States. To annihilate the slave system, 
 its codes and usages ; to make slavery impossible, and 
 freedom universal, — the Thirty-eighth Congress submitted 
 to the people an antislavery amendment to the Constitu- 
 tion of the United States. The adoption of that crowning 
 measure assures freedom to all. 
 
 "Such are the ' Antislavery Measures' of the Thirty- 
 seventh and Thirty-eighth Congresses during the past four 
 crowded years. Seldom in the history of nations is it 
 given to any body of legislators or lawgivers to enact or 
 institute a series of measures so vast in their scope, so 
 comprehensive in their character, so patriotic, just, and 
 Immane. 
 
 "But, while the Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth Con- 
 gresses were enacting this antislavery legislation, other 
 agencies were working to the consummation of the same 
 end, — the complete and final abolition of slavery. The 
 president proclaims three and a half millions of bondmen 
 in the rebel States henceforward and forever fr?e. Mary- 
 
352 LIFE OF HENEY WILSOK. 
 
 land, Virginia, and Missouri adopt immediate and uncon- 
 ditional emancipation. The partially re-organized rebel 
 States of Virginia and Tennessee, Arkansas and Louisi- 
 ana, accept and adopt the unrestricted abolition of slavery. 
 Illinois and other States hasten to blot from their statute- 
 books their dishonoring ' black codes.' Tiie attorney- 
 general officially pronounces the negro a citizen of the 
 United States. The negro, who had no status in the Su- 
 preme Court, is admitted by the chief justice to practise 
 as an attorney before that "august tribunal. Christian men 
 and women foHow the loyal armies with the agencies of 
 mental and moral instruction to fit and prepare the en- 
 franchised freedmen for the duties of the higher condition 
 of lifie now opening before them." 
 
 In these labors Mr. Wilson bore a prominent and honor- 
 able part ; and to no man living are the colored people of 
 this country under higher obligation for their liberty. 
 
CHAPTER XYIII. 
 
 contest berween the president and congress. mr, 
 
 Wilson's views of reconstruction. — reply to mr. 
 
 COWAN. speech on MR. STEVENs's RESOLU- 
 TION, ETC. RELIGIOUS VIEWS. MILITARY 
 
 MEASURES IN CONGRESS. 
 
 Course of the President. — Reconstruction DifBcult. — Mr. Wilson's View. — 
 No Desire to degrade the South. — Bill to maintain the Rights of the Freed- 
 men. — Supports Mr. Trumbull's Bill to enlarge the Freedmpn's Bureau. — 
 What he means by Equality. — Honorable Sentiments. — Joint Resolution 
 for disbanding Military Organizations. — Speech on the Resolution of Mr. 
 Stevens against the Admission of Southern Representation. — The Nature of 
 the Struggle. — Condition of Freedmen.— Mistake of the President. — Gen. 
 Grant. — Legislative Labors. — Speech in Boston. — Natick. — Defection of 
 the President. — Massachusetts. — Congress a Co-ordinate Branch of the 
 Government. — Tour through the West. — Speech at Chicago. — Elective 
 Franchise in the District of Columbia. — Corporal Punishment. — Buying 
 and selling Votes. — Address on Religion. — Testimony of Statesmen to 
 Christianity. — An Admonition. —Death of his Son. — Monument. —Ad- 
 dress at Quincy. — Good Advice. — His Work on Military Legislation in 
 Congress. — Its Character. 
 
 'YX'THEN, by the death of Mr. Lincoln, Andrew Johnson 
 VV came into the executive chair, the senators of our 
 State had strong hopes that liewould carry out the pohcy of 
 their pai'ty, and maintain tlie vantage-ground so nobly won 
 by the untiring valor of the national army. The States 
 lately in rebellion were now prostrate, their governments 
 dissolved, and their military organizations demoralized and 
 
 80* 363 
 
354 LIFE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 disbanded. The Union flag was floating over them ; and 
 the leaders were ready to accept such terms of reconstruc- 
 tion and restoration as the president and Congress might 
 deem advisable. It was a golden opportunity for the 
 friends of freedom. The power of re-organization was in 
 their hands : but the work to be accomplished was of no 
 small magnitude ; and from the peculiar relations between 
 the loyalists, the freedmen, and the confederates, it was as 
 delicate as it was difficult and great. 
 
 Forgetting that his province was to execute, not frame, 
 the laws, and assuming that the power of reconstruction 
 was in his hands alone, the president began the work 
 by what he termed an " experiment ; " which, during the 
 recess in Congress, became a settled governmental policy. 
 By his unwarrantable course, he so revived the hopes of 
 the disloyal States, that on the opening of the Thirty-ninth 
 Congress in December, 1865, a demand was made for 
 the immediate admission of senators and representatives 
 holdino; rebel sentiments from the disaffected States. This 
 demand, encouraged by Mr. Johnson, the Republicans per- 
 sistently resisted ; and the struggle between the legislative 
 and the executive branches of the government thence be- 
 came intensely earnest, and so continued till the term of 
 the experimenting president expired. 
 
 • In the reconstruction of the States, Mr. Wilson's counsel 
 was for a generous yet decisive course of action. Let 
 loyal men alone assume control ; let freedmen be protect- 
 ed; let the governments be constructed on the basis of 
 equal rights for every citizen, and loyalty to the Union. 
 He desired not to crush, but to elevate and improve, the 
 Southern people ; asking only security for the future of 
 the nation. Congress alone has the power to reconstruct 
 the States ; and, when so reconstructed, they may have, 
 
REPLY TO ^lE. COWAN. 355 
 
 and not till then, a representation in this body. In sup- 
 port of his bill to maintain the freedom of the inhabitants of 
 the States lately in rebellion, he said in the Senate on the 
 13th of December, 1865, " I have never entertained a 
 feeling of bitterness or of unkindness to the Southern peo- 
 ple. Notwithstanding all that has taken place, I have 
 always regarded those persons as my countrymen; nor do I 
 wish to impose upon the many things that worM be degrad- 
 ing or unmanly : but I wish to protect all the people there, 
 of every race, the poorest and the humblest ; and, while 
 I would not degrade any of them, neither would I allow 
 them to degrade others. ... To turn these freedmen over 
 to the tender mercies of men who hate them for their fidel- 
 ity to the country is a crime that will bring the judgment 
 of Heaven upon us." 
 
 Two days after the announcement that the States had 
 ratified the constitutional amendment aboHshing slavery, 
 Mr. Wilson introduced, Dec. 21, 1865, another bill, — " to 
 maintain and enforce the freedom of the inhabitants of the 
 United States ; " which was nearly the same in substance as 
 Mr. Trumbull's Civil-rights Bill, enacted over the veto 
 of the president on the 9th of April, 1866. 
 
 On the 22d of January, 1866, he made an effective 
 speech in support of Mr. Trumbull's bill for the enlarge- 
 ment of the Freed men's Bureau, which was also vetoed by 
 the president. Replying to Mr. Cowan, — a Republican in 
 name, but Democrat in action, who had insolently demanded 
 what the honorable senator from Massachusetts meant in 
 saying that " all men in this country must be equal," — 
 he said, "Does he" (the senator from Pennsylvania) "not 
 know that we mean that the poorest man, be he black or 
 white, that treads the soil of this continent, is as much 
 entitled to the protection of the law as the richest and the 
 
356 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 proudest man in the land ? Does he not know that we 
 mean that the poor man, whose wife may be dressed in 
 cheap cahco, is as much entitled to have her protected by 
 equal law as is the rich man to have his jewelled bride 
 protected by the laws of the land ? Does he not know 
 tliat the poor man's cabin, though it may be the cabin of a 
 poor freedman in the depths of the Carollnas, is entitled 
 to the protection of the same law that protects the palace 
 of a Stewart or an Astor ? He knows that we have advo- 
 cated the rights of the black man, because the black man 
 was the most oppressed type of the toiling men of this 
 country. The man who is the enemy of the black labor- 
 ing-man is the enemy of the white laboring-man the world 
 over. The same influences that go to crush down and 
 keep down the rights of the poor black man bear down 
 and oppress the poor white laboring-man. . . , I tell the 
 senator from Pennsylvania that I know we shall carry 
 these measures. God is not dead, and we live ; and stand- 
 ing upon the eternal principles of his justice, with a Chris- 
 tian nation behind us, with God's commands ever rlnoflno- 
 in our ears, we shall in the future, as we have In the twen- 
 ty-five years of the past, march straight forward to battle 
 and to victory over all opposition." 
 
 Such sentiments the State which Mr. Wilson represents 
 indorses. They accord with Solon's high conception of 
 true liberty, — " A commonwealth where an injury to the 
 meanest member is an injury to the whole." 
 
 As some new military organizations in the insurrec- 
 tionary States were commanded by veterans in the Rebel- 
 lion, and refused to carry the Union flag, Mr. Wilson, on 
 the lOtii of February, 1866, introduced a joint resolution 
 l)roviding that they should be forthwith disbanded, and 
 such organizations prohibited in the future. This became 
 
SPEECH ON JVIE. STEVENS'S BESOLUTIOK. 357 
 
 a law, preventing that exhibition of disloyal purpose, and 
 protecting peaceable citizens from abuse. 
 
 On the resolution of Mr. Stevens against the admission 
 of senators and representatives from any rebel State until 
 Congress shall have declared such State entitled to such 
 representation, he made, March 2, an elo*quent speech, in 
 which his views on many points of reconstruction are pre- 
 sented. On the nature of the strucfo-ltJ he asserted that 
 
 " A loyal people instinctively see, amid the turmoil and 
 excitement of the present, that this is not a struggle for 
 the re-admission of the rebel States into th-e Union, but a 
 strun;<de for the admission of rebels into the legislative 
 branches of the government ; not a struggle to put rebels 
 under the laws of the country, but a struggle to enable 
 rebels to frame the laws of the country. A loyal people 
 see that the Confederate States, reconstructed since the 
 surrender of the rebel armies, are as completely in the 
 hands of rebels now as on the day Jefif. Davis was incar- 
 cerated at Fortress Monroe." 
 
 Of the condition of the freedmen under the new ordei 
 of things he remarked, — 
 
 '^ The poor freedmen, who a few months ago were leap- 
 ing and laughing with the joy of new-found liberty, in- 
 voking the blessings of Heaven upon the government that 
 had stricken the galling manacles from their limbs, are 
 now trembling with apprehension, everywhere subject to 
 indignity, insult, outrage, and murder. During the past 
 four months, in Alabama alone, fourteen hundred cases 
 of assault upon freedmen have been brought before the 
 Freedmen's Bureau. Thousands and tens of thousands 
 of harmless black men, from the Potomac to the Rio 
 Grande, have been wronged and outraged by violence, 
 and hundreds upon hundreds have been murdered. The 
 
358 LIFE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 offices and the agencies of the Freedmen's Bureau, of the 
 officers of our armies, and the office of Judge- Advocate 
 Gen. Holt, are filled with the records of outrage and 
 murder. The local authorities screen the murderers ; the 
 people protest against the punishment of white men for 
 the murder of black men ; and the murderers go unpun- 
 ished." 
 
 Of the great mistake of the president he said, — 
 " Thoughtful men, anxious to heal the wounds of civil 
 war, and burj in forgetfulness the memories of old con- 
 tests, were speaking for universal amnesty and universal 
 suffrao;e, for foro-ivino; and restoring; all. The nobler senti- 
 ments of the liberty-loving men of the country at that 
 time are caught and expressed in the verse of Whittier : — 
 
 * From you alone the guaranty 
 
 Of union, freedom, peace, we claim : 
 We urge no conquerer's terms of shame. 
 
 -Alas ! no victor's pride is ours, 
 
 Who bend above our triumphs won 
 Like David o'er his rebel son. 
 
 Be men, not beggars ; cancel all 
 By one brave, generous action ; trust 
 •Your better instincts, and be just. 
 
 Make all men peers before the law ; 
 
 Take hands from off the negro's throat ; 
 Give black and white an equal vote. ' 
 
 Keep all your forfeit lives and lands, 
 But give the common law's redress 
 To labor's utter nakedness.' 
 
 " If the President of the United States had seized that 
 golden moment, — that grand opportunity then vouchsafed 
 by Providence to weapon the hand of the new-made free- 
 
SPEECH ON IVm. STEVENS'S EESOLUTION. 359 
 
 man with the ballot, — these sectional controv^ersies would 
 have perished forever ; the representatives of the rebellious 
 States would, ere this, have filled these vacant chairs ; and 
 the heavens would be raining their choicest blessings upon 
 the nation for a deed so wise and so just. But the presi- 
 dent, though frankly avowing himself in favor of qualified 
 suffi'age, declined to asssume the responsibility which the 
 condition of the country imposed upon him ; and the great 
 opportunity God gave the nation to destroy caste, to clothe 
 tlie emancipated race with power to guard their own lib- 
 erties, rights, and interests without a struggle, passed by, 
 perhaps forever. . . . 
 
 " Tlie loyal people of the United States, who have 
 poured out so much blood and given so much treasure for 
 its preservation, are in favor of fully protecting the people 
 of the rebellious States, white and black, loyal and dis- 
 loyal ; but they have the right to demand, and they 
 should demand, before intrusting the legislation of the 
 country to the framers and administrators of confederate 
 governments, and to the soldiers who have met their 
 sons on bloody battle-fields, ample security for the rights 
 of loyal men of every race, and for the money loaned 
 the country in its hour of need to arm, clothe, feed, equip, 
 and i)ay the defenders of the republic." 
 
 In the closing paragraph of this spirited speech he thus 
 prophetically pointed to Gen. Grant as the next president. 
 He said, — 
 
 " Two years ago, in a trying hour of the country, we 
 placed a great soldier at the head of all our armies ; and 
 he led those armies to victory, and the country to peace. 
 Perhaps a patriotic and liberty-loving people, if disap- 
 pointed in their aspirations and their hopes, may again 
 turn to that great captain, and summon him to marshal 
 them to victory." 
 
360 LIFE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 In addition to various resolutions, reports, and private, 
 bills which he brought forward during the Thirty-ninth 
 Congress, Mr. Wilson spoke on the bills for the admission 
 of Nebraska and Colorado, for which he voted ; also in ad- 
 vocacy of the protection of the national cemeteries, of the 
 establishment of a department of education, of the incorpo- 
 ration of the orphans' home, of appropriations for soldiers* 
 bounties, and for other important measures. He was never 
 idle ; yet he often said, as in the war, that he was not ac- 
 complishing what he would or could. 
 
 Such is a brief outline of some of the legislative labors 
 which Mr. Wilson performed in that series of Congressional 
 measures which culminated in the suppression of the Rebel- 
 lion and the liberation of the slave ; and which, for wisdom, 
 efficiency, and humanity, will ever command the admira- 
 tion of the world. Since that period Mr. Wilson has been 
 steadily at his post in Congress, battUng for the rights of 
 the freedmen and for restoration of tranquillity to the Union 
 on the basis of the Declaration of Independence and the 
 Constitution. The pages of ^' The Congressional Globe " 
 bear ample witness to his unremitting industry, as well as 
 to the practical views he entertained and the manly senti- 
 ments he expressed upon the various questions which arose 
 in Congress. 
 
 His views of the policy of the president Mr. Wilson 
 expressed in a large meeting in Tremont Temple, Boston, 
 on the 6th of August. 
 
 After alluding to what had been accomplished the last 
 six years, he said we had yet work to do. Of the honor- 
 able men who, in November, 1864, re-elected Abraham 
 Lincoln president, and Andrew Johnson vice-president, 
 ninety-nine out of a hundred were to-day bowing their 
 heads in disappointment and sorrow. This was because the 
 
SPEECH AT NATICK. 361 
 
 vice-president, who became president by an act that needed 
 not naming, lias disappointed our expectations, turned his 
 back upon the men wlio elected him, upon the principles 
 he then professed, and is to-day the inspiration of wrong 
 and outrage upon loyal white men and upon loyal black 
 men South. 
 
 In the same month, by an invitation signed by a hundred 
 and fourteen of the citizens of Natick, he addressed the 
 people of that town, who always throng the hall to hear 
 him, upon the variance between the president and Congress; 
 and urged his hearers in words of glowing eloquence to vote 
 for the amendment to the Constitution, as essential to the 
 liberties of the people and the rights of the unprotected 
 freed men. 
 
 " After the surrender of Lee," he said, " the rebels were 
 absolutely under the control of the military authorities of 
 the government. They were then ready to accept any 
 terms the nation chose to give. But to-day the rebels 
 have possession of Virginia, of its government, of North 
 Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mis- 
 sissippi, Louisiana ; and on Thursday next they will take 
 possession of the government of Texas in the person of 
 their rebel governor. Gen. Throckmorton. How came this 
 so? Andrew Johnson, elected by the votes of loyal men 
 who carried the country through the fire and blood of four 
 years of war, has put these States In the hands of rebels. 
 
 '' And what have the legislatures elected under his pol- 
 icy done ? That of Virginia inaugurated no State officers 
 unless they were well-known rebels. North Carolina has 
 elected a delegation to Congress, that, with one exception, 
 are rebels. South Carolina has elected a rebel delegation, 
 and has a rebel governor, — one of the leading men in 
 establishing the confederacy. Georgia has elected Alexan- 
 
 31 
 
362 LIFE OF HENEY WILSOK. 
 
 der H. Stephens to the Senate of the United States, and 
 an unbroken rebel delegation to the House. Florida has 
 a rebel o-overnor, one rebel and one loyal senator, whose 
 term will expire on the 4th of next March ; and there is 
 no prospect of his being re-elected. Mississippi and Ala- 
 bama have sent to Congress men who cannot take the 
 oath. . . . 
 
 '' These States want admission into Congress ; and for 
 what purpose? To take part in the government of the 
 United States ; and not only to govern these States, but 
 to direct and control the pohcy of the nation. And they 
 present themselves with the declaration, that they acquiesce 
 in their defeat because they cannot help it. They are not 
 sorry for their revolt against the country, and that they 
 murdered more than three hundred thousand men fighting 
 to uphold the old flag. We should never consent to sur- 
 render into rebel hands the government for which these 
 loyal soldiers died." 
 
 He closed by paying an eloquent tribute to the patriot- 
 ism of Massachusetts. 
 
 " He had no doubt that Massachusetts would be all right : 
 she had always been. Among the first and foremost has 
 she been for the rights of man, and in the bloody Kebellion 
 through which we have just passed. The bones of her 
 sons lie upon many a battle-field ; her maimed heroes are 
 here amono- us ; her brave men who have come from 
 battle-fields forever made immortal are here. I believe 
 they will vote in the future as they have fought in the past. 
 I believe that the loyal men who carried the country 
 through the war will stand by this constitutional amend- 
 ment, — stand by the action of Congress now, and elect 
 one that will be true to them and that in 1868. The unity 
 of the country will be assured, and the liberties of all races 
 and conditions of men forever established in America." 
 
ADDRESS AT PRTLADELPHIA. 868 
 
 Senator Wilson spoke an hour and a half, and was fre- 
 quently applauded. 
 
 Addressing a vast assembly at Philadelphia, Sept. 4, — ■ 
 for we find him ever moving, ever speaking, in defence of 
 human rights, — he said he "could tell the president and 
 his cabinet that Congress was not a subordinate, but a 
 co-ordinate branch of the government (cheers) ; that 
 backed up by the counfry, as it bad been, now was, and 
 would be, it would speak for itself, and fix the time and 
 conditions in which it would admit the representatives of 
 rebel constituencies to the Senate and House of Representa- 
 tives. (Cheers.) It wanted the rebel States represented 
 at the earliest possible moment, not by such men as had met 
 here a few weeks ago, but by such men as were in the city 
 to-day (cheers), and who were true to the country and to 
 hberty." 
 
 Referring to the assertion that the president was pursu- 
 ing the policy of Mr. Lincoln, which Mr. Wilson pro- 
 nounced as black a falsehood as ever fell from human lips, 
 he said, "Abraham Lincoln sought to put the rebel States 
 into the hands of loyal men ; but Andrew Johnson put 
 them back into the hands of rebels ; and loyal men were 
 under the hoof of those rebels as much now as when Jeffer- 
 son Davis was President of the Southern Confederacy." 
 
 In the autumn of this year Mr. Wilson made a tour 
 throucrh the West, where he met with most cordial 
 receptions, and addressed many large and enthusiastic 
 audiences in six Western cities on the questions then at 
 issue. In this journey he travelled over three thousand 
 miles, and in one instance spoke to a throng of about 
 thirty thousand people. In his speech at Chicago on the 
 twenty-eighth day of September, he said, — 
 
 " You will remember that army after army surrendered, 
 
364 LIFE OF HENKY WILSON. 
 
 and those composing each one hastened to their homes ; 
 that the rebels were humlHated, subjugated, conquered, 
 and powerless at our feet, ready to accept any policy the 
 government chose to impose upon them. We all know 
 that these conquered rebels in every portion of the country 
 were ready and willing to accept at the hands of this gov- 
 ernment just such a policy as the government believed 
 the good of the country required. 
 
 " You will remember how kind, humane, and generous 
 our people were. We did not wish their lands, money, or 
 blood ; but we desired security for the future. We wanted 
 that the fruits of the war should be gathered : that was 
 all. Our capitalists were ready to send their money there. 
 Our young men were ready to go there and develop that 
 portion of the country. Our noble women, who rushed to 
 the hospitals and bound up the wounds of our soldiers, 
 were ready to go there and instruct the darkened intellects 
 of qn emancipated race. All over the loyal States there 
 was a desire, not to punish, to crush out, or to crush 
 down, this people, but a desire to lift up and improve that 
 section of the country, and to demand only security for 
 the future of the nation. 
 
 " Now, this was the feeling in the spring of 1865 ; but 
 what is the condition of that portion of the country now ? 
 These men, then humble and penitent, and making ex- 
 cuses for their actions, are now boasting of their deeds 
 against the country, and are scornfully defiant. Why ? 
 Who is responsible ? I say that Andrew Johnson alone 
 is responsible for this change in the condition of affairs. 
 Our brave soldiers struck the weapons from the rebel 
 hands, and Andrew Johnson has restored them to them. 
 Every one of the States which lie has reconstructed has 
 passed into the hands of unrepentant rebels. The other 
 
SPEECH AT CHICAGO. 365 
 
 day, after ho had put the government of Texas into the 
 hands of a rebel general, he issued a proclamation declar- 
 ino- that peace had come. Order reigned in Warsaw 
 then. Peace come, wlien the last great rebel State wag 
 put back again into the hands of the rebels ! And these 
 States are in rebel hands to-day. 
 
 "The president demands the admission of their repre- 
 sentatives into Congress. Now, only five of the men 
 elected in those ten rebel States can take the oath of office. 
 Five only ! The others are unrepentant traitors, though 
 some of them are pardoned ones. Now, it is demanded 
 that they shall be admitted into the Congress of the United 
 States. They went out when it pleased them to go out: 
 they shall come back when we please to let them back. 
 They went out against our pleadings. We almost went 
 upon our knees and implored them to remain with us, to 
 follow the old flag, and stand by the common country ; 
 but they turned their backs upon us, and went out under- 
 taking to establish a government. They said they would 
 go out, and we said they should not. They fought to go 
 out, and we fought to keep them in ; and, thanks be to 
 God, they are to-night part and parcel of our common 
 country, within the Union, and under the authority of the 
 laws. The old flag is there waving over them. The boys 
 in blue are there to maintain the authority of the govern- 
 ment. They have to pay their taxes and obey the laws. 
 They are subject to the authority of the nation. All there 
 is about it is this : their senators and representatives are 
 not yet permitted to go into Congress and legislate for the 
 country ; and we mean, when we have taken ample secu- 
 rity for the future, to let them in, and not until we have 
 taken it. 
 
 ''This b«ly of men, 'calling itself a Congress,' that 
 
 31* 
 
3G6 LTPE OP HEKRY WILSOl^. 
 
 Andrew Jolinson says ' is hanging on tlio verge of the gov- 
 ernment,' — this body of men has framed a constitutional 
 amendment. We have submitted it to the people : and I 
 tell you that this nation has resolved it; it has proclaimed 
 it ; it is recorded that that amendment shall be incorpo- 
 rated into the Constitution of the country, aiid the repre- 
 sentatives of these traitors shall sit no more in the Con- 
 gress of the United States. If they want to be repre- 
 sented, let them adopt that constitutional amendment ; let 
 them choose men who believe in it, who are for it, and who 
 will guard it ; let them choose men who will in the fu- 
 ture be with their country and for their country, — men 
 who give all they have, and all they hope to be, to the 
 cause of unity and a free country, — a country that recog- 
 nizes the equality of all men, and the equal privileges of 
 all men ; and then the seats are ready for them in the 
 Senate and House of Representatives, and not until that 
 day. 
 
 " You have recently had a visit from the chief magis- 
 trate of the country. Let me say that I think that chief 
 maoiistrate has gone back to Washington a sadder, if not 
 a wiser man. He believed that he could do what he 
 started to do in May, 1865 ; ay, before Abraham Lincoln 
 had been laid in his grave at Springfiekl : and that was, to 
 buikl up a great personal party ; that he should be the 
 founder of a great political party, as were Jefferson and 
 Jackson. He has labored from May, 1865, until the pres- 
 ent time, to create, build up, organize, and develop such 
 a party in America ; and what is the result ? He has the 
 whole power and patronage of this government brought 
 to bear. He has shaken in the face of the loyal people 
 of the land the vast patronage of the government. I told 
 them in the Senate last winter, that a nation that had 
 
"THE POOR lyL^'s FRIEND." 367 
 
 buried tliree hundred thousand of its children to save the 
 country was in no temper to be bought off by patron- 
 age." 
 
 The bill for extending; the elective franchise to the freed- 
 men of the District of Columbia received Mr. Wilson's 
 cordial support during its tardy progress through the 
 Senate. Speaking on one of the amendments to the bill, 
 he thus declared (Dec. 13, 1866) his views on the right of 
 suffrage : " Sir, I believe in the right of suffrage for my 
 country. I believe in it far more for the poor, igno- 
 rant man. I believe that he is more of a man when he 
 has it, and that he will use it in the future as he has in the 
 past, — generally for the elevation and the protection of the 
 poor and lowly and dependent. No loyal man who has 
 the right of suffrage shall ever have it taken away or 
 abridged by me, unless for crime. No poor laboring-man 
 shall ever accuse me before the bar of man or of God of 
 voting against giving him the same right that I possess to 
 go to the ballot-box." 
 
 Ever espousing the cause of the oppressed, Mr. Wilson, 
 in the Senate, on the 20th of December, 1866, introduced 
 a joint resolution authorizing the president to prevent the 
 infliction of corporal punishment in the States lately in 
 rebellion. Its object was, especially, to defend the freed- 
 mcn in their helplessness from a mode of punishment 
 which he considered barbarous in its infliction, and de- 
 m-adino; in its tendencies. 
 
 Surely such sentiments — and they are the rule of the 
 heart and the life — entitle the senator to his honored 
 name of "the poor man's friend." 
 
 An amendment by Mr. Wilson, making it unlawful to 
 buy or sell votes, was incorporated in the bill, which, over 
 the veto of the president, became a law on the eighth day 
 
368 IJn?E OF HENEY WILSON-. 
 
 of January, 1867; and was the first of these great m^jas- 
 ures crivin(>" the elective francliise to the entire nation. 
 
 Although upright and honorable in his dealings with his 
 fellow-men, consistent in his walk and conversation, a 
 reo'ular attendant on the services of the sanctuary, and a 
 supporter of the institutions of religion, Mr. Wilson did 
 not, until the autumn of 1866, avow himself a follower of 
 the Saviour. But, in a large assembly held in the Congre- 
 gational cliurch in Natick on the 28th of October, he de- 
 clared in a very touching address, that, within a few past 
 weeks, he had come to a knowledge of his own personal 
 salvation through the merits of the Redeemer. All who 
 knew him felt tliat he would stand firmly to the position 
 he had taken ; and many pra3^ers ascended to the seat of 
 mercy that the richest blessings of our heavenly Father 
 might attend the future course of the beloved senator. 
 
 On his return from Washington, he addressed, Dec. 23, 
 the Younor Men's Christian Association of Natick on " The 
 Testimonies of American Statesmen and Jurists to the 
 Truths of Christianity," which was afterwards published in 
 a tract for general circulation. He said, — 
 
 " God has given us existence in this Christian republic, 
 founded by men who proclaim as their living faith, amid 
 persecution and exile, ' We give ourselves to the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and the word of his grace, for the teaching, 
 ruling, and sanctifying of us in matters of worship and 
 conversation.' • Privileged to live in this age, when the 
 selectest influences of the relio;ion of our fathers seem to 
 be visibly descending upon our land, we too often hear the 
 providence of God, the religion of our Lord and Saviour 
 Jesus Christ, the inspiration of Holy Writ, doubted, ques- 
 tioned, denied. With an air of gracious condescension we 
 are sometimes reminded that this relision of the crucified 
 
BELIGIOUS VIEWS. 86 S 
 
 ReJeemer may do for women, for cliildren, for weak- 
 minded men, but not for men of experience, observation, 
 reflection. Men who see not God in our own history have 
 surely lost sight of the fact, that, from the landing of ' The 
 Mayflower' to this hour, the great men whose names 
 are indissolubly associated with the colonization, rise, and 
 progress of the republic, have borne testimonies to the 
 vital truths of Christianity. 
 
 " These utterances, not of the great teachers of Chris- 
 tianity, but of men of varied and large experience, ac- 
 customed to the classification and comparison of facts, the 
 sifting and weighing of evidences, cannot pass unheeded 
 by the young men of the land who cherish their names 
 and revere their memories." 
 
 After citino; the testimonies of the distino-uished states- 
 men of America to the truth and value of the Scriptures, 
 he closed his beautiful address by these admonitory 
 words : — 
 
 " Young men of this Christian association, remember, 
 ever and always, that your country was founded, not by 
 ' the most superficial, the lightest, the most unreflective of 
 all the European races,' but by the stern old Puritans, who 
 made the deck of ' The Mayflower ' an altar of the living 
 God, and whose first act, on touching the soil of the New 
 World, was to offer on bended knees thanksgiving and 
 prayer to Almighty God. Remember, too, that the great 
 men of your country — Washington, Franklin, Jeflerson, 
 the Adamses, Hamilton, Jay, Marshall, Kent, Webster, and 
 their illustrious compeers — possessed the intellectual 'force 
 and severity necessary to carry far and long the greatest 
 conception of the human understanding, the idea of God.' 
 Never foro-ettino; the reho-ious character of our national 
 origin, and the humble and pious recognition of the hand 
 
370 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 of God in our affairs by the immortal statesmen and jurists 
 Avho moulded and fashioned the institutions of our country, 
 we will continue to indulge tlie hope that it sliall never be 
 said of any considerable portion of our countrymen, by 
 jDoet, philosopher, or statesman, of our country, that their 
 minds are too superficial, too light, too unreflective, to con- 
 ceive ' the profoundest and weightiest idea of whicii the 
 human intelligence is capable.' " 
 
 A few days afterwards, the sad intelligence of the death 
 of his only son, Lieut.-Col. Henry Hamilton Wilson, which 
 occurred in Austin, Tex., on Dec. 24, came to fill his home 
 with sorrow, which nothing but an abiding trust in Him 
 *' who doetli all tlilnois well " was able to assuao-e. The 
 remains of this brave young soldier were brought home, 
 and with many tears consigned to their final resting-place 
 in Dell-pai-k Cemetery, where a marble monument has 
 been raised over them, bearing this inscription. On the 
 front, — 
 
 " LiEUT.-CoL. Hexry Hamilton Wilson. 
 
 Born in Natick, Nov. 11, 184G ; died at Austin, Tex., Dec. 24, 1866. 
 
 Army of the Potomac." 
 
 On the reverse, — 
 
 *' He the young and strong, who cherished 
 Noble longings for the strife. 
 By the roadside fell and perished, 
 Weary with the march of life. 
 
 Department of the South. 
 Department of the Gulf." 
 
 Addressing a Christian convention at Quincy soon after 
 his bereavement, he gave some account of the Congres- 
 sional prayer-meeting, and then said, " In military life it 
 
DUTY OF CHEISTIANS. 371 
 
 is the duty of the soldier to be on the alert at all times, 
 and always to be present at the roll-call : so should Chris- 
 tians always be present at prayer-meetings. It is said that 
 prayer-meetings are sometimes dull ; but, if all Christians 
 attend who can, they never will be dull. With the room 
 well filled, and all engaged in one cause, there will be no 
 lack of interest. 
 
 " Christians should act from principle and deep con- 
 viction. They should forsake all that tempts others away 
 from duty, should abandon all that will leads others astray. 
 If a glass of wine leads the young to stumble. Christians 
 should throw it away. If going to theatres leads others to 
 wrong, Ciiristians should keep away from theatres. If a 
 Christian feels that his staying away from prayer-meeting 
 causes others to stay away, then he should go, even if he 
 only expected to meet his God there. Nothing but sick- 
 ness should keep a man from the sabbath-meeting ; and all 
 should go to the prayer-meeting who could. 
 
 " Christians should not neglect their duty because they 
 are depressed in spirit: they should always be up and doing. 
 They should always act from principle, and always do 
 right. He said he looked to the young men as the hope 
 of the country ; and they should catch the spirit of the 
 ao;e, and carry it forward. They should act now as they 
 did in the war. The gigantic evil which had overspread 
 the South had been overcome ; and now that region is a 
 missionary field for Christian young men. Tiie next 
 thirty years has a mortgage on the efforts of every Chris- 
 tian young man and woman. • 
 
 '' Although that gigantic evil had been overcome, here 
 in Massachusetts there was a greater evil than slavery had 
 ever been : that was intemperance. 
 
 " The church wants the same earnestness that the coun- 
 
372 UFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 try carried into the war ; wants men and money to enroll 
 in the ranks, and be ever ready to respond to the call, 
 morning, noon, or night." Alluding to the death of his 
 son, an only child, who had been brought home a corpse 
 from Texas, he said, with much feeling, that he would give 
 his life to-day if he had been able to say to his dear boy 
 what he was now able to say to young men ; and he begged 
 of them, as they loved their parents, as they loved their 
 country, to love their Saviour also. They knew not when 
 they might be brought back to their friends as his son had 
 been. In conclusion, he urged, that no matter what base 
 motives might be charged, no matter what might be said, 
 all should do their duty, and serve their Master, and in 
 life and death have the proud consciousness of having 
 done right. 
 
 In 1866 Mr. Wilson found time to enrich the legislative 
 history of his country by the publication of a very valuable 
 work, under the title of " Military Measures of the United- 
 States Congress, 1861-1865. By Henry Wilson, Chair- 
 man of the Committee on Military Affairs." It is printed 
 in double columns royal octavo, contains eighty-eight pages, 
 and forms a part of Frank Moore's " Rebellion Record." 
 It presents a clear and connected view of the course and 
 character of Congressional legislation in respect to the 
 calling-forth and organization of the grand army of the 
 republic. It is ^ record of what our patriotic Congress- 
 men accomplished, in a military point of view, for the salva- 
 tion of the State, when imperilled by the most tremendous 
 conflict ever known. The heart of the nation was on fire ; 
 the actors were in earnest ; most momentous interests were 
 at stake ; vast plans and movements were inaugurated ; 
 gigantic blows were struck, and hundreds of thousands 
 bravely fell. The organizing and constructing power was 
 
]ynLIXABY MEASURES IN CONGRESS. 378 
 
 Congress : hence the history of its herculean labors through 
 that memorable period will ever command the attention of 
 the world ; and it is fortunate that one who shared those 
 labors, and who knew their magnitude, was led to make of 
 them such an impartial, vivid, and distinct record. The 
 work is worthy of the subject and the man. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 REPLY TO MR. NYE. CONGRESSIONAL TEMPERANCE 
 
 SOCIETY. WELCOME TO BOSTON. SOUTHERN TOUR. 
 
 CONVENTION AT WORCESTER. SPEECH AT 
 
 MARLBOROUGH. BANGOR. FANEUIL 
 
 HALL. WORKING-MEN. HISTORY OF 
 
 THE RECONSTRUCTION. MEASURES 
 IN CONGRESS. 
 
 Peonage. — Whipping. — Colored Persons in the Militia. — Bill to facilitate Resto- 
 ration. — Speech tliereon. — Feelings toward the Rebels. — Temperance la 
 Congress. — Hon. Richard Yates. — Reception at Tremont Temple. —Re- 
 marks of W. B. Spooner. — Mr. Wilson's Address. — Mr. Yates's. — Liquors 
 banished from the Capitol. — Enforcement of the Law. — Visit to the South. 
 — At Richmond, Va. — Petersburg. — Animosity of Goldsborough, N.C. — 
 Reception at Wilmington. — Mr. Robinson. — At Charleston, May 2. — New 
 Orleans. — Gen. Longstreet's Opinion. — Declines going to Europe. — Bill 
 vacating Offices. — Appointing Civilians incorporated in Mr. Trumbull's 
 Bill. — Remarks on its Passage. — President of Convention at Worcester. — 
 Speech. — Gen. Sheridan. — Hopeful View of the Republic. — Speech at 
 Marlborough. — Effects of Intemperance. — Who are Weak? — Strong 
 Appeal. — Speech at Bangor. — Gen. Grant. — Speech m Faneuil Hall. — 
 Friend of Working-Men. — Reconstruction Measures. — Style and Subject 
 Matter. — A Wedding. 
 
 rr^HE system of peonage, or servitude, for debt, was 
 -L in force in the Territory of New Mexico, and 
 about two thousand persons were held in tliraldom. Mr. 
 Wilson saw that it was inconsistent with the spirit of our 
 liberal institutions, and therefore introduced a bill on the 
 
 374 
 
EEPLY TO ]Vm. NYE. 375 
 
 twenty-sixth day of January, 1867, for its abolition, which, 
 on the 2(1 of the following March, became a law ; and 
 thus was the last vestige of human servitude in this land 
 obliterated. 
 
 On the twelfth day of February, 1867, he reported two 
 bills in the Senate, — one of which, in its eleventh section, 
 prohibited whipping in the reconstructed States ; and the 
 other, that the word " white " should be stricken from the 
 militia-laws, so that colored persons might become a part 
 of the militia of the United States. 
 
 In order to carry into effect the measures of reconstruc- 
 tion already passed, Mr. Wilson, on the 7th of March, 1867, 
 introduced an important bill supplementary to the act pro- 
 viding for " the more efficient government of the rebel 
 States, and to facilitate restoration ; " which, after long dis- 
 cussion in both Houses, became a law over the veto of the 
 president on the twenty-third day of the same month. In 
 a sharp encounter during the progress of this bill w^ith 
 Mr. Nye of Nevada, who was very severe in denouncing 
 the rebels, and thought Mr. Wilson was extending his 
 Christian charity too far towards them, he thus, in the 
 spirit of wise and liberal statesmanship, replied : — 
 
 "I remind that senator in the outset that this nation 
 has been engaged in a mighty contest of ideas, a bloody 
 struggle, in which all the passions of this people, South 
 and North, have been aroused. That bloody struggle 
 is ended ; that contest of ideas is closed. Patriotism, hu- 
 manity, and Christianity bid us of the North and of the 
 South subdue, hush, and calm the passions engendered by 
 the terrific conflicts through which we have passed, and to 
 call the dews of blessing, not the bolts of cursing, down 
 upon each other. We should remember the words of one 
 of our own poets of freedom and humanity : — 
 
376 LIFE or HENRY WILSON. 
 
 * Always lie who most forgiveth 
 In his brother is most just.* 
 
 " Whatever the champions of the lost cause in tlie South 
 may do, we of tlie North, whose cause Is triumphant in tlie 
 fields of war and of peace, should appeal, not to the passions 
 and prejudices and hatreds of the people, but to the heart 
 and conscience and reason. Unreasoning passion may- 
 applaud violent appeals to-day ; but unclouded reason will 
 utter its voice of condemnation to-morrow. 
 
 " The honorable senator from Nevada is pleased to tell 
 me that I am anxious to welcome rebels here. I do not 
 propose to welcome rebels here ; but I do desire to wel- 
 come tried and true men of the South, the representatives 
 of the seven hundred thousand enfranchised black men, 
 the ever-loyal white men of the South, and the men com- 
 promised by the Rebellion, whose affections are again given 
 to their native land, and who would now peril their lives 
 for the unity of the republic and the triumph of the old 
 flag. I believe that the enfranchised black men of the 
 rebel States, the men who have ever been loyal, and the 
 men reluctantly compromised by the Rebellion, who are for 
 their country, and many fiery, generous, deluded young 
 men of the South, who have seen their political ihusions 
 vanish in the smoke of lost battle-fields, can immediately 
 take the direction and control of these rebel States. I be- 
 lieve these States must pass into the hands of patriotic men, 
 who comprehend in their affections the whole country ; of 
 liberty-loving men, who believe in the sublime creed of 
 human equality. I believe these States will soon pass into 
 the hands of radical and progressive men who are true to 
 country, true to the equal rights of man, true to the laws 
 of human development and progress. I would facilitate 
 that great work ; I would welcome these men into these 
 
ItEPLY TO ]\m. NYE. S71 
 
 chambers with heart and hand. Does the senator from 
 Nevada wish to keep such men out of these chambers ? . . . 
 The honorable senator from Nevada, and tliose who agree 
 with him, fear our enemies, and distrust our friends. I do 
 not fear our enemies, and I have confidence in our friends. 
 This is the difference between the honorable senator from 
 Nevada and myself. 
 
 " The honorable senator from Nevada deems it matter 
 of reproach, now the bloody contest is over, the rebds 
 beaten, and their cause lost forever, that I should not enter- 
 tain and express toward my defeated and fallen countrymen 
 of the South the same stern condemnation, the same senti- 
 ments of censure and reproach. They are not alien ene- 
 mies ; they are not of another lineage and language : they 
 are our countrymen. These States must continue for ages 
 to come to be a part of our common country ; and these 
 people, their children, and their children's children, must 
 continue to be our countrymen. I do not consider it either 
 generous, manly, or Christian, to nourish or cherish or ex- 
 press feelings of wrath or hatred toward them. At this 
 time, when these misguided and mistaken countrymen of 
 ours have been conquered, when we have absolutely estab- 
 lished our ideas, which must pervade and be incorporated 
 into their system of public policy, it seems to me to be a 
 duty sanctioned by humanity and religion to heal the 
 wounds of war. Sir, I have fought the battle for the coun- 
 try, I have fought this battle for the equal rights of man, 
 not to pull down anybody, nor to be the personal enemy .of 
 anybody on earth. That is my position now, and it will 
 be my position hereafter. Our words should not rekindle 
 the jn-ejudices, passions, and hatreds engendered by the 
 bloody struggles of civil war ; but our words should be fitted 
 
 32* 
 
878 UFB OF HENEY WILSOK. 
 
 to the changed condition of affairs and the needs of our 
 countiy." 
 
 Anxious to save some of his associates at Washington 
 from the baleful influence of strong drink, Mr. Wilson, 
 early this year (1867), instituted the Congressional Tem- 
 perance Society, of which he was chosen president. At 
 the first meeting the hall of the House of Representatives 
 was densely crowded, many standing in the aisles and at 
 the doors. On taking the chair, Mr. Wilson said, — 
 
 " Several senators and representatives, mindful of the 
 numerous evils and sorrows of intemperance, had formed 
 a society, in which they had pledged each to the other, 
 and all to the country, to put away from them forever 
 the intoxicating cup, and to commit themselves and 
 all they have to the holy cause of temperance. They 
 humbly trusted in the providence of Almighty God that 
 they might contribute to arrest the evils of intemperance 
 which were sweeping over our land." 
 
 Among those who spoke was Senator Yates of Illinois, 
 who had been, like many others, reclaimed by the kind 
 efforts and example of the president of the society. His 
 remarks were very touching, and were listened to with 
 sincere delight. A noble man had come to his right mind. 
 He ascribed his taking the pledge to Mr. Wilson, who came 
 to him " in the kindness and goodness of his big heart," and 
 said to him, '' Governor, I want you to sign a call for a 
 temperance meeting." He replied, '' With all my heart," 
 but did not wait for the meetino; before he sio-ned the 
 pledge. He had now "promised the State, and all who 
 loved him, Katy, and the children, that he would never 
 more touch, taste, or handle, the unclean thino-." 
 
 For his eloquent words and earnest efforts on behalf of 
 temperance at Washington the citizens of Boston tendered 
 
WELCOME TO BOSTON. 379 
 
 Mr. Wilson a public reception, on the fifteenth day of April, 
 at the Tremont Temple. The building was crowded, and 
 the utmost enthusiasm prevailed. On taking the chair, 
 the president (William B. Spooner), said, — 
 
 " You have been invited to come here this evenino- to 
 
 o 
 
 give a cordial welcome to Mr. Wilson, and to receive words 
 of encouragement and wisdom from one who has always 
 been true to this subject, to this cause, as he has always 
 been true to the cause of the weak, suffering, and down- 
 trodden, on all occasions. (Applause.) 
 
 *' He has never forborne to speak his mind on this sub- 
 ject, whenever occasion called ; he has never failed, in low 
 places or in high places, wherever he has been, to give his 
 example in favor of temperance. I have known him thirty 
 years. When quite a young man, I used then to be with 
 hlui in the tem[)erance movement. He was always ready, 
 and did not stop to ask whether the cause were popular. He 
 asked whether it were right (applause). He asked, ' Can I 
 do any good ? Can my example, my word, in favor of the 
 cause, benefit my fellow-man ? ' That it has done good is 
 manifest. His example is one which in this State, if a man 
 wishes for promotion, he had better follow ; that is, do 
 whatever is right under all circumstances. (Applause.) He 
 asked only the questions, ' Is it right ? Can I do any good ? * 
 His recent efforts at the capital of the country in forming 
 a total-abstinence society among the members of Congress 
 and the other officers of the government have turned the 
 attention of his state and of the country anew to him as 
 an advocate of temperance." Mr. Wilson was introduced 
 amid the most enthusiastic applause, and then made an 
 address of remarkable force and fervor. In the course of 
 his speech, he said, — 
 
 " You have made mention to-night, sir, of the organiza* 
 
880 LIFE OF HENBY WILSOK. 
 
 tlon of tlie Congressional Temperance Society. Sir, I 
 claim no honor for tliat. At the last session of Congress 
 we organized a Congressional Temperance Society, com- 
 posed of some of our ablest, truest, and best men ; and I 
 thank God to-night that it lives in the strength of its pur- 
 pose and its power. (Applause.) Judging from the 
 words that come to us from all parts of the country, it has 
 contributed something to advance the holy cause of tem- 
 perance througliout the land. I say to you to-night, what I 
 believe to be true, that there is no city of the Union where 
 there are, in proportion to the numbers, more true, earnest, 
 and devoted temperance men than in the city of Wasliing- 
 ton. (Applause.) There are more than six thousand 
 members of temperance organizations in that city (ap- 
 plause) ; and such men as Gen. Howard (applause), one 
 of our noblest, bravest, and best, are giving their influence 
 to advance the cause. More than seven hundred liquor- 
 shops have been closed in that city, not by law, but starved 
 out by the people ; and there are hundreds of other shops 
 that are eking out a precarious existence. . . . 
 
 " The prairies of Illinois are all aflame in favor of the 
 cause, following in the grand movement their loved and 
 honored senator, Richard Yates. (Applause.) He has 
 been one of the victims of the curse of intemperance. 
 Every man and woman and child in his State knew it. 
 Last winter he came to me, or rather I went to him, 
 and asked him if he would sign a call for a temperance 
 meeting to organize a Congressional society ; and he said 
 he would do it with all his heart. Before I could get up 
 the meeting, he became earnest in the matter, and com- 
 mitted himself to the cause ; and, by the blessing of 
 Almighty God, I believe he will stand to it. He goes 
 home in a few days, and will be welcomed at Chicago as 
 
LIQUOR BANISHED FROM THE CAPITOL. 381 
 
 you welcome me liere to-niglit. (Applause.) His influ- 
 ence will tell with powerful effect in that State, where he is 
 honored and loved for his devotion to his country, to 
 freedom, and for his generous personal qualities. 
 
 '' Two years ago, after the humiliating scene of the 
 inauguration, I secured the passage of a resolution in the 
 Senate, forbidding the sale of intoxi'^ating liquors in 
 the Capitol. In spite of that resolution, liquors were 
 brought into the committee-rooms and into other places. 
 Again I introduced the subject of banishing liquors from 
 the Capitol ; and Congress adopted a joint rule forbidding 
 the sale, and empowering the sergeants-at-arms of the 
 two Houses to keep all kinds of liquors out of the Capitol 
 of the nation. (Applause.) No more can intoxicating 
 liquors be brought into, sold, or given away in, that mag- 
 nificent edifice. This banishment of liquors has been fol- 
 lowed by the adoption of a rule requiring the members of 
 the Capitol-police to sign the total-abstinence pledge ; and 
 they all have done it (applause), and more than four- 
 fifths of the Senate employes have signed the pledge.'* 
 (Applause.) 
 
 He closed his grand address by saying, — 
 
 *' I thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for this generous 
 welcome and these applauding voices ; I thank you, Mr. 
 Chairman, for your words of kindness and approval: and 
 I close with the expression of the hope that the hallowed 
 cause of temperance will be advanced in the state and 
 nation. In this hour of trial let us invoke upon it the 
 blessing of Almighty God, and the prayers of all whose 
 hearts throb in sympathy with tempted and struggling 
 humanity." (Prolonged applause.) 
 
 In order to examine the condition of the South, encour- 
 age the colored people, and defend the policy of his party, 
 
382 LIFE OF HENBY WILSON. 
 
 Mr. Wilson made, in the spring of 1867, a tour tlirougli 
 the Southern States. At Richmond, Va., he addressed 
 some six thousand people from the steps of the Capitol. 
 He was introduced to them by Gov. Pierpont, and assured 
 his hearers that the Reconstruction Bill had in view the 
 highest good of the whole country, and advised all classes 
 to uuite on the basis of the Republican party. " The 
 RIclimond Times " announced him as " a Puritan radical 
 under the shadow of the monument of the o-reat Virginia 
 rebel." 
 
 At Petersburg, April 4, he spoke as openly as he 
 would have done on Bunker Hill. The mayor presided 
 at the meeting, which numbered several thousands. In 
 respect to the war, he said, — 
 
 '' It had to come ; it was unavoidable. It came, and we 
 fought it out ; and, when the last gun was fired, I was in 
 favor of forgetting all the bitterness engendered by the 
 contest, and of marching with you shoulder to shoulder 
 in favor of a united country. . . . There was only one 
 cause of the war, — human slavery in America." To the 
 colored people he said, " Go for the scho£)lhouse and the 
 church. Get homes and lands, however humble they 
 may be. Touch not the bowl whose contents degrade 
 humanity." 
 
 At Goldsborough, N.C.,the white people manifested signs 
 of animosity ; and one rebel declared that he should like 
 to put a bullet through his head. He spoke, however, 
 with fearlessness, and no violence was attempted. 
 
 At Wilmington, N.O., which he reached on the first 
 day of May, he met with an enthusiastic reception. The 
 public buildings were decorated with the national flag, 
 streamers, <fec. ; and mottoes were suspended across the 
 streets in many places. A procession of the colorod 
 
SOUTHEEN TOUE. 383 
 
 men was formed with music, and marched to Dudley's 
 Grove, a short distance from the city, whore a public 
 meeting Avas held. Among the mottoes noticed upon the 
 banners borne in the procession was the following: 
 " Equal rights before the law : we will ask no more ; we 
 will take no less." 
 
 Gen. Estes was president of the meeting. Resolutions 
 were adopted, thanking Congress for passing the Military 
 Reconstruction Bill ; promising to reconstruct North 
 Carolina with loyal men ; to give colored men the right 
 to sit on juries ; and to secure rights and privileges for 
 the poor white men by establishing a Republican party 
 in the State. 
 
 Mr. Wilson spoke about two hours. He declared that 
 the Republican party was not responsible for one life lost 
 in the war ; but, before God and history, the supporters 
 of slavery were responsible for every life sacrificed and 
 every dollar spent in it. He invited the colored people 
 to vote with the Republican party, declaring it vitally 
 important that there should be no black party or white 
 party formed. 
 
 In reply to Mr. Robinson, editor of " The Despatch,'' 
 who endeavored to throw the responsibility of the war 
 upon antislavery agitators, Mr. Wilson declared that the 
 abolition of slavery by the General Government was the 
 result of the Rebellion. He congratulated Mr. Robinson 
 upon the change already effected in bis views by his 
 willingness to have the colored people educated ; and 
 thouglit, tliat, iij a few months more, Mr. Robinson would 
 be fully affiliated with the Republican party. 
 
 As to colored men not holding commissions in the 
 colored army, he declared that his own son, who died 
 recently, served as a lieutenant, captain, and lieutenant- 
 
384 LITE OF HENRY WILSON.. 
 
 colonel ill a regiment whose major was as black as any 
 man in the audience. 
 
 Ho arrived at Charleston, S.C, on the second day of 
 May, where he was cordially received by many distin- 
 guished citizens. He addressed a vast audience on Cita- 
 del Green, and was serenaded in the evening. He visited 
 and addressed the citizens of Savannah and Augusta, 
 Ga., Montgomery, Ala. (May 11), and New Orleans ; and, 
 although he was sharply questioned by the disloyal men, 
 he was, in general, heard with attention, and treated with 
 courtesy and respect. In a letter dated New Orleans, 
 June 3, 1867, Gen. James Longstreet said of him, " I 
 was mucli pleased to have the opportunity to hear 
 Senator Wilson, and was agreeably surprised to meet 
 such fairness and frankness in a politician whom I have 
 been taught to believe uncompromisingly opposed to the 
 white people of the South." 
 
 Mr. Wilson's impressions of the South were favorable ; 
 and, on arriving home, he spoke hopefully of the future 
 prospects of the Southern people. 
 
 His friend Mr. Pierce had invited him to embark for 
 Europe on the nineteenth day of June ; but the con- 
 tinued illness of Mrs. Wilson led hina to postpone his 
 foreign tour. 
 
 Still distrusting the policy of the president. Congress, 
 after taking a recess, assembled on the third day of July, 
 1867 ; when Mr. Wilson introduced a bill vacating the 
 offices held under the pretended State governments, and 
 for other purposes, which was not carrie^. His amend- 
 ment authorizing district commanders to appoint civil- 
 ians^ to perform the duties of persons removed from 
 office was, however, incorporated in Mr. Trumbull's bill, 
 which became a law over the veto of Mr. Johnson on the 
 
CONVENTION AT WORCESTER. 385 
 
 19th of July, 1867. " The passage of the bill," said 
 Mr. Wilson, " would complete the work of restoration. 
 I rise now," continued he, '' to express the hope, that, 
 tlu'oughout that part of our country, men of all parties 
 and of all sentiments and feelings will clearly under- 
 stand, that, if they comply with the terms and conditions 
 of these three reconstruction laws honestly and faith- 
 fully, all obstacles will be removed, and they will be 
 admitted into these chambers." 
 
 On tlie 11th of September Mr. Wilson was chosen 
 president of the Republican Convention at Worcester, 
 and, on taking the chair, presented his views of the con- 
 dition of the country in an earnest and felicitous speech, 
 during which he paid the following compliment to the 
 gallant Gen. Sheridan : — 
 
 '• Not appeased by striking down the great war 
 secretary, Andrew Johnson has laid his hand of violence 
 on that brilliant, honored, and loved soldier, Philip H. 
 Sheridan, whose record in the field glitters with glorious 
 achievements, whose record in the fifth military district 
 is instinct with patriotism and justice. This brilliant 
 hero of the Yalley of the Shenandoah, and of battle- 
 fields made immortal by his" genius and valor, is sent 
 from his department, hurried away to the distant plains, 
 to the gorges of tlie Rocky Mountains, to chase the wild 
 Indian, with an admonition that his energies will there 
 find a fitting field for action. Time, it is said, brings 
 about its revenges. Perhaps it may so happen that an 
 outraged nation, that is master of presidents, congresses, 
 and generals, may bid this man — drunk at least with 
 unreasoning passion — descend from that lofty position 
 from which he smites down her honored statesman and 
 her brilliant general, and go back to that famous Teu- 
 
 83 
 
386 LIFE OF HENRY WILSOiT. 
 
 iiessee village, where liis abilities will find an appro- 
 priate sphere of action in filling once again the office of 
 village alderman. It is not given to men of the capacity 
 or character of Andrew Johnson, however lifted up to 
 exalted positions, to behttle Edwin M. Stanton or Philip 
 H. Sheridan. The illustrious commander of our army, 
 who is now enduring the burden imposed by patriotism > 
 as did his predecessor through weary months, uttered the 
 voice of loyal America when he expressed his apprecia- 
 tion of the ' zeal, patriotism, firmness, and ability ' with 
 which Edwin M. Stanton had discharged the duties of 
 secretary of war. I remember, too, — for I could not for- 
 get it, — the generous tribute the same great commander 
 paid a few weeks ago to the genius of Sheridan. ' The 
 people,' he said, ' do not fully appreciate Sheridan. I 
 think him the greatest soldier the war developed. Were 
 we to have a great war, and to call out a million of men, 
 I think Sheridan the best fitted to command them. 
 Some persons say I have done a great deal for him ; but 
 I never did any thing for him : he has done much for 
 me.' Such is the statesman and such is the general 
 Andrew Johnson has thrust from posts of duty, and 
 striven to disgrace." 
 
 He closed by this hopeful view of the republic : — 
 " If the Republicans of Massachusetts and of other 
 States subordinate minor issues, personal ambitions and 
 interests, and rise to the full comprehension of the high 
 duties now imposed upon them, the complete unity of 
 the country, and the perfect equality of the rights of the 
 people, will speedily come. Then the republic, redeemed 
 and purified, the people free to run the race and win the 
 glittering prizes of life, will daily illustrate the power 
 and beauty of free institutions. Then the people of the 
 
SPEECH AT MAKLBOEOUGH. 387 
 
 North and the people of the South will vie with each 
 other ill fidelity to the country, and devotion to liberty. 
 Then the bitter memories of the stern conflicts of civil 
 war will fade away in the prosperity and renown of the 
 great republic. Then the sons of patriots and the sons 
 of rebels, whose fathers fought and fell on bloody fields, 
 will glory in the name and fame of their common coun- 
 try, and cherish, honor, and love their countrymen. 
 Inspired by these lofty purposes, animated by these 
 exalted hopes, we, the Republicans of old Massachusetts, 
 here and now call the battle-roll anew, and move for- 
 ward to the conflicts of the future with the light of 
 victory on our faces." 
 
 Tiiougli detained at home considerably this season to 
 watch at the bedside of his sick wife, Mr. Wilson made 
 many public speeches on behalf of temperance in various 
 towns and cities of this State. In a grand address at 
 Marlborougli in November, he said, — 
 
 " I was born in a section of tlie country where New- 
 England rum was used at births and at funerals; used to 
 keep out the heat of summer and the cold of winter ; 
 sold openly at the cross-road groceries, where too many 
 of the companions of my boyhood were wont to assemble, 
 instead of going to lyceums and associations for mental 
 and moral improvement, and spend tlieir evenings in 
 drinking poor rum. I have seen the effects of the use 
 of intoxicating liquors on the farm, in the workshop, and 
 in the hails of legislation. I have found that in the 
 field in the heats of summer, in the forests in winter, hi 
 the mechanic's shop, in our own State legislature, m 
 the Congress of the United States, everywhere, the 
 men who use intoxicating drinks are the first to fail m 
 the performance of duty. During fourteen sessions in 
 
388 LIFE OF HENBY WILSON. 
 
 the Senate of the United States I have witnessed many 
 severe contests, histiiig through the hours of the night 
 until dayhght streamed into tlie windows ; and I have 
 always found that the men who resorted to intoxicating 
 liquids for strength found weakness, — were always the 
 first to retire to their rooms or their homes." 
 
 During the summer and autumn of 1868, Mr. Wilson 
 heartily advocated the election of Gen. Grant and the 
 course of the E-epublican party. On the 27th of August 
 he spoke to a vast throng in Bangor, Me., on what the 
 Republican and Democratic parties have done, and what 
 they propose to do. Referring to what the former organi- 
 zation had accomplished, he said, — 
 
 " It was said of Wilberforce that he went to God with 
 the shackles of eight hundred thousand West-India 
 slaves in his hands. The Republican party enters the 
 forum of the nations with four million and a half of 
 riven fetters in one hand, and four million and a half of 
 title-deeds of American citizenship in the other. These 
 broken fetters, these title-deeds, it holds up to the gaze 
 of the living present and the advancing future. In the 
 progress of the ages, it has been given to few generations, 
 in any form or by any modes, to achieve a work so vast, 
 so grand, so sure to be recorded by the historic pen, or 
 flung upon the canvas in enduring colors. Defeat and 
 disaster may come upon the Republican party ; it may 
 perish utterly from the land it saved and made free : 
 but its name will be forever associated with the emanci- 
 pation of millions of a poor, friendless, and hated race, 
 their elevation to the heights of citizenship, their exalta- 
 tion to equality of civil rights and privileges, and, crowji- 
 ing act of all, the prerogative ^ to vote and to be voted 
 for.' Tliese beneficent deeds will live in the hearts of 
 
SPEECH AT BANGOR. 889 
 
 coming generations, and ' brighter glow and gleam im- 
 mortal, unconsumed by moth or rust.' " 
 
 Speaking of the coming contest, he said, — and his 
 prediction time and events have verified, — 
 
 " In November there is to be another struggle between 
 these two parties for the control of the national adminis- 
 tration. The Republican party met at Chicago, re- 
 affirmed its policy of reconstruction, pronounced against 
 all forms of repudiation, for the reduction and equaliza- 
 tion of taxation, for the equal protection of American 
 citizens, for the recognized obligations to our soldiers 
 and to the widows and orphans of the gallant dead, and 
 for the removal of restrictions imposed upon rebels as 
 rapidly as the safety of the loyal people will admit. Tho 
 convention than presented the name of Gen. Grant, 
 the great captain wlio has so often marshalled our 
 armies to victory ; and Schuyler Colfax, a statesman of 
 pure life, stainless honor, and commanding influence. 
 If success crowns its efforts, if the administration shall 
 be intrusted to Gen. Grant, with a House of Repre- 
 sentation to sustain that administration, the policy of 
 reconstruction will be perfected, the States will all be 
 speedily restored to their practical relations to the Gen- 
 eral Government, equal rights will be assured and dis- 
 abiUties removed, the nation's faith will be untarnished, 
 its currency and credit improved, and ' Peace,' in the 
 language of Mr. Lincoln, ' will come to stay.' Then the 
 blood poured out like autumnal rains will not have been 
 shed in vain ; for then united and free America, with 
 liberty for all and justice to all, will enter upon a career 
 of development, culture, and progress, that shall insure a 
 ' future grand and great.' " 
 
 His speech in Faneuil Hall on the 14th of October most 
 
 33* 
 
390 LITE or HENEY WILSON. 
 
 clearly exhibits him as an earnest, strong, and sensible 
 defender of the interests of the working-people. He stands 
 upon the side, as he has ever done, of those who bear the 
 heat and burden of the day. He said, — 
 
 " To provide for the expenses of that Democratic re- 
 belHon, the Republican party were compelled to take the 
 responsibility of arranging a system of taxation ; and they 
 so adjusted that taxation as to make the burden bear as 
 lightly as possible on the productive interests of the coun- 
 try and upon the working-men of the country. More 
 than one-half of the duties levied on imports are assessed 
 on wines, brandies, silks, velvets, laces, and other articles 
 of luxurj^ chiefly consumed by the more wealthy portion 
 of our countrymen. The duties imposed on the neces- 
 saries of life — upon tea, coffee, sugar, and other articles 
 entering into the consumption of the masses of the people 
 — are made as low as possible ; and discrimination is made 
 in favor. of our mechanical and manufacturing industry. 
 
 " The Republican party spurns this Democratic doc- 
 trine of taxing every species of property according to its 
 value. It believes in discriminating in favor of poor, 
 toiling men, and of putting the burden of taxation on 
 accumulated capital and large incomes. In time of war, 
 when the nation needed money so much, the Republi- 
 cans exempted nineteen out of every twenty dollars of 
 the incomes of the people. This was done to relieve the 
 working-men, whose small incomes were required for the 
 support of their families and the education of their chil- 
 dren. We exempted all incomes under six hundred 
 dollars ; and this exemption included the incomes of 
 nearly all the laboring-men, mechanics, and small farm- 
 ers, of the country. We taxed all incomes from six 
 hundred to five thousand dollars five per cent, and all 
 
SPEECH IN FANEUIL HALL. 391 
 
 incomes over five thousand dollars ten per cent. That 
 was not equal taxation : but it was just taxation ; for 
 it was based on the sound policy of putting the burden 
 upon capital, and taking the burden from labor. Now 
 we have taken the tax from all incomes leas than a 
 thousand dollars, and we tax all incomes above a thou- 
 sand dollars five per cent, thus relieving the work'ng- 
 men and nearly all the mechanics and farmers from 
 taxation on incomes. We Republicans intend to stand 
 or fall by this policy, which discriminates in favor of the 
 poor, the mechanics, the small farmers, and the working- 
 men, of the country. We serve notice on the Democratic 
 party, on all the supporters of this anti-democratic doc- 
 trine of the equal taxation of every species of property 
 according to its value, that we Republicans will never 
 agree to the taxation of the little earnings of working- 
 men at the same rate we tax the incomes of the Stewarts 
 and the Astors, the great corporations and capitalists, of 
 the country. We give the Democracy notice that we 
 will never tax sugar, coffee, and tea at the same rates 
 we tax silks and wines and brandies ; that we will never 
 tax a gallon of milk as high as we tax a gallon of 
 whiskey. We give the Democracy notice that we will 
 not tax the tools of the mechanic, the horse of the dray- 
 man, the little homes and farms of the poor, and the 
 incomes of working-men needed for the support of them- 
 selves and the support of their households. We Repub- 
 licans will never consent to the putting of the burdens of 
 the government equally on the small accumulations of 
 the poor and the great capitals and large interests of tho 
 country. That is the position of the Republican party ; 
 and it is a position in favor of the productive interests of 
 the nation and the interests of the working-men : and we 
 
892 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 Republicans mean to stand by it, or fall by it ; live by it, 
 or die by it. Every laboring-man in America, every 
 mechanic, every farmer, and every business-man, who 
 desires to develop the mighty resources of this country, 
 and carry it upward and onward in a career of power and 
 prosperity, should trample upon this democratic doctrine 
 of equal taxation, which is against labor, and in favor of 
 capital ; against the loyal, and in favor of the disloyal, 
 portions of the land." 
 
 Inured to steady and persistent intellectual labor, 
 Mr. Wilson finds in it his chief delight. To him idle- 
 ness is misery. He is a working-man, who believes in 
 actual work : and his system being, by his temperate 
 habits, always in good working-order, he turns off work 
 with astonishing ease and celerity ; work, too, tliat has 
 a meaning and a purpose, — guiding legislators in their 
 course, and enriching the historical literature of his 
 country. In addition to his official and public labors 
 this year (1868), he published a handsome volume of 
 four hundred and sixty-seven pages, entitled " The His- 
 tory of the Reconstruction Measures of the Thirty-ninth 
 and Fortieth Congresses, 1865-1868. By Henry Wil- 
 son." In this important work the author traces vividly 
 the course of legislation during those eventful years 
 which followed the collapse of the Rebellion, and tho 
 contest between Congress and the president on the vari- 
 ous questions growing out of the reconstruction of the 
 Confederate States. '' My purpose in this work," the 
 autlior says, " has been to narrate with brevity and im- 
 partiality this legislation of Congress, and to give the 
 positions, opinions, and feelings of the actors in these 
 great measures of legislation." In the treatment of his 
 subject he brings forward in propria persona the differ* 
 
EECONSTKUCTION MEASUBES. 393 
 
 ent speakers, — Sumner, Trumbull, Fessenden, Wilson, 
 Davis, Hendricks, Howe, and others, — and preisents 
 them as they introduced, opposed, or advocated meas- 
 ures in the legislative chambers. The very words of the 
 disputants are given, which imparts dramatic interest to 
 the subject, and makes interesting what otherwise might, 
 except to a statesman, prove dull reading. The com- 
 batants stand forth prominently on the canvas : the blow 
 of every champion is made manifest. When the author 
 himself speaks, the style is manly, clear, and forcible,— 
 an evident advance upon his former record as a writer. 
 To the student of our political history this book is in- 
 valuable, bringing the subject-matter on the great 
 questions before the Tiiirty-ninth and Fortieth Con- 
 gresses, which runs through several thousand pages of 
 " The Congressional Globe," into the compass of a single 
 portable volume. The reconstruction of the Confederate 
 States demanded comprehensive views of the condition 
 of the country, generous sympathies, and decisive action ; 
 and strong men who took the lead in legislation through 
 the war came np with fearless front to resist the policy 
 of the executive, and save the nation from the rule of 
 rebels. As an impartial record of this struggle by one 
 who himself bore no unimportant part in it, Mr. Wil- 
 son's book will doubtless ever hold a prominent place in 
 legislative history. 
 
 The home of Mr. Wilson was enlivened on the 25th of 
 December, 18G8, by the marriage of Lieut. Alexander 
 L. Smith, who was in Gen. Sherman's army when ho 
 made his grand march to the sea, and Miss Annette 
 Howe, a daughter of one of Mrs. Wilson's brothers, and 
 an estimable young lady. 
 
 During the Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses Mr. 
 
394 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 Wilson was steadily engaged in framing and carrying 
 important measures for the public good. Among them 
 may be mentioned a bill to amend the elective franchise 
 of the District of Columbia ; a bill for the reduction 
 of the army ; a bill to equalize distribution of banking 
 capital ; a joint resolution as to the management of the 
 Freedmen's Bureau, — of the Fortieth; and bills to 
 establish a Ihie of steamships ; to appoint a commission to 
 examine claims of loyal persons for supplies ; to grant two 
 million acres of land for education in the District of Co- 
 lumbia ; to remove disabilities from persons engaged in 
 the Rebellion ; to grant increase of pensions to widows 
 of officers; and joint resolutions granting Lincoln Hos- 
 pital to Columbia Hospital for women, and respecting 
 pay of enlisted men, — of the Forty-first Congress. On 
 these and many other measures Mr. Wilson made remarks 
 evincing great legislative experience and ability. The 
 pages of " The Congressional Globe " bear constant 
 testimony to his senatorial industry and efficiency. His 
 eyes were ever open to watch, his tongue was ever 
 ready to defend, the rights of the injured and op- 
 pressed. No senator ever framed and carried .so many 
 bills through the Senate of the United States as Mr. 
 Wilson ; and some of them are the most important 
 ever enacted in this country. In his management of 
 measures- in tlie Senate he has shown the practical good 
 sense of a sound and accomplished statesman. When 
 he has found it impossible to carry a measure as 
 first presented, he has been willing to accept such modi- 
 fication or substitute as might secure its passage ; 
 consenting willingly that another should receive the 
 credit, if by any change or compromise the end could bo 
 obtained. His idea has been, that one step in advance 
 
HIS SUCCESS AS A STATESMAN. 395 
 
 is better than no progress : so that, while others have in- 
 sisted on the whole or nothing, he has accepted the best he 
 could at the time secure ; and, gaining that, he has often 
 found himself in a position to gain the whole. His bill 
 for the soldiers' bounties finally appeared in another form, 
 under another name, and for a lower sum than he pro- 
 posed ; but he rejoiced that eighty millions were secured, 
 though his original measure was defeated. 
 
 His method is to throw himself out of the question, 
 and to support a measure on its own merits : and this, in 
 part, accounts for his success ; for a statesman attempting 
 to carry himself with his measures generally finds him- 
 self overborne by the burden. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 DEATH OF MES. WILSON. — VISIT TO EUEOPE. — 
 WRITII^rGS. — NOMINATIOIT. — ELECTIOIT. 
 
 Mrs. "Wilson's Death and Character. — Mrs. Ames's Opinion. — Visit to 
 Europe. — American Missionary Society. — Eise and Fall of the 
 Slave-Power. — Extract. — Nomination as Vice-President. — Letter 
 of Acceptance. — Address at Boston. — Regard for the Memory of 
 ISIrs. Wilson. — Visit to North Carolina and Virginia. — Pegret for 
 One Expression. — American Party and Credit Mohilier. — Mr. Sum- 
 ner's Course regretted. — Election as Vice-President. — His Poverty. 
 
 IN May, 1870, Mr. Wilson was brought into profound 
 affliction bytlie decease of his beloved wife, who for 
 many months had been sinking under an incurable dis- 
 ease. At the close of the 28th she passed peacefully 
 away ; and those who stood around her dying-bed then 
 realized the meaning of the words, " He giveth his 
 beloved sleep." 
 
 An address was made at her funeral in the church by 
 the Rev. Edmund Dowse ; and her remains, in a casket 
 covered with flowers, and followed by a long concourse 
 of sincere mourners, were borne to the Dell-park Ceme- 
 tery, where they repose beside those of her only son. 
 
 Mrs. Wilson was a woman of rare gentleness, earnest 
 in purpose, unassuming in manner, ever blessing those 
 around her by her words and deeds of love. Early in 
 life she became a Christian ; and she united with the 
 Congregational church at Natick on the fifth day of 
 December, 1852. Whether moving in the fashionable 
 
CHARACTER OF MES. WILSON. 397 
 
 society at Washington, or in the quiet circle of hor home, 
 she was ever a bright ornament of the doctrines she pro- 
 fessed. Her sufferings, though severe, she bore without 
 a murmur or complaint, and shed the light of a sanctified 
 and loving heart upon her friends and kindred to the last. 
 In her elevation, she did not cast off, as many do, the 
 companions of early days ; and they will always bear 
 among tlie richest treasures of the memory the smile and 
 the tear of her sympathy and affection. 
 
 " Into the sacred privacy of that wifely devotion which 
 she always manifested," says one who knew her ex- 
 cellence, " we may not intrude : but it can at least be 
 said, that she was all that the heart could desire a 
 Christian wife to be ; and eternity alone can reveal how 
 great was her influence upon the companion of her life, 
 whose feet she, more than any other human instrumen- 
 tality, led to the cross of Christ." 
 
 Another writer said of her, " For thirty years she has 
 been of rare service to her husband in all sweet and 
 wifely qualities. Of true instincts, unobtrusive piety, un- 
 tiring benevolence, and equa"! temperament, ever a lover 
 of justice, she was alike gui(| 3 and inspirer to her hus- 
 band, whose long, distinguish d, and honorable career is, 
 in no small degree, due to er discreet and loving co- 
 operation." 
 
 Her character is thus portrd 'ed by Mrs. Mary Clemmer 
 Ames : — ' 
 
 " Within the last week, the body of one has been laid 
 in her native earth whose lovely presence will long be 
 missed in Washington. Mrs. Wilson, the wife of Senator 
 Wilson, went out from among us in the fair May days ; 
 and the places which have known her here so long and so 
 pleasantly, will know her, save in memory, no more for- 
 
398 LIFE OF HENEY WILSOX. 
 
 ever. Slie was a gentle, Christian woman. I have never 
 yet found words rich enough to tell all that such a woman 
 is. My pen lingers lovingly upon her name. I would 
 fain say something of her who now lives heyond the meed 
 of all liuman praise that would make her example more 
 beautiful and enduring to the living. For, in profounder 
 intellectual development resulting from wider culture and 
 larger opportunity, are we in no danger of losing sight of 
 those graces of the spirit, which, however exalted her fate, 
 must remain to the end the supreme charm of woman? 
 There is nothing in all the universe so sweet as a Chris- 
 tian woman ; as she wlio has received into her heart, till 
 it shines forth in her character and life, the love of the 
 divine Master. 
 
 " Such a woman was Mrs. Wilson in this gay capital. 
 When great sorrow fell upon her, and ceaseless suffering, 
 the light from the heavenly places fell upon her face : 
 with an angel patience, and a childlike smile, and an un- 
 faltering faith, she went down into the valley of shadows. 
 She possessed a keen and wide intelligence. She was 
 conversant with public questions, and interested in all 
 those movements of the day in which her husband takes 
 so prominent a part. Retiring by nature, she avoided 
 instinctively all ostentatious display ; but, where help and 
 encouragement were needed by another, the latent power 
 of her character sprang into life, and then she proved 
 herself equal to great executive effort. No one can praise 
 her so eloquently as he who loved her and knew her best. 
 To hear Senator Wilson speak of his wife when he taught 
 her, a little girl in school ; when he married her, ' the 
 loveliest girl in all the county ; ' when he received into 
 his heart the fragrance of her daily example ; when he 
 watched over her dying, only to marvel at the endurance 
 
CHAHACTEH OF IVmS. WILSON. -399 
 
 and sweetness and sunshine of her patience, — is to learn 
 what a force for spiritual development, wliat a ceaseless 
 inspiration, was this wife to her husband. Precious to 
 those who live is the legacy of such a life." 
 
 Mr. Wilson regarded his wife and always spoke of her 
 witli most affectionate tenderness. He fully appreciated 
 and revered her excellences. To him her word and her 
 wishes wore sacred. Her departure filled his heart with 
 unutterable grief; and the dark cloud of that bereave- 
 ment still casts its shadow over his pathway. But he has 
 the hope of the Clu'istian, which alone can give the cloud 
 a " silver lining." 
 
 In a letter in response to an invitation to the " Gather- 
 ing of the Howe Family," held in Framingham, Aug. 31, 
 1871, he thus touchingly alludes to her : — 
 
 " I regret, and shall long continue to regret, that I was 
 not permitted on that occasion to mingle with those who 
 bear the name of one endeared to me by the holiest and 
 tenderest ties of earth ; of one of the purest and loveli- 
 est spirits that ever blessed kindred and friends by her 
 presence, or left, in passing through death to a higher life, 
 more precious memories." 
 
 In the memorial of that meeting the author says, " Mrs. 
 Wilson was a lady of unusual mental and personal attrac- 
 tions, blending grace with dignity in manner, and orna- 
 menting, both in private and in public life, the doctrines 
 of her Lord and Master." 
 
 None but him that has followed the light of the house- 
 hold to the silent grave can know the desolation of a de- 
 serted home. To relieve his mind irom the sad memo- 
 ries which every object tended to awaken, Mr. Wilson 
 decided to spend the summer of 1871 abroad. Leaving 
 New York in " The Scotia " on the 7th of June, he 
 
400 LITE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 had a prosperoue voyage across the Atlantic, anil was 
 somewhat " lionized " by the passengers, as one ol ihem 
 has written, on the way. The writer adds, " He spolte to 
 me with feeling of the virtues of one whom he had lost, 
 of her sickness and her death ; showed me the picture 
 of her face ; and expressed the hope that he should meet 
 her in the skies." 
 
 Mr. Wilson did not visit Europe to study art, to gain 
 receptions, or to hunt for kings. He was, however, 
 kindly received by Mr. Gladstone, Thomas Hughes, and 
 other eminent men. He liad the pleasure of spendnig 
 several days in the British Parliament, as well as in 
 the French National Assembly, and of listenmg to the 
 debates. The plain and sensible style of speaking of 
 the former body he admired. With the exception of the 
 strong and fervid Spurgeon, the English preachers did 
 not please him, their manner being too monotonous and 
 scholastic. 
 
 He travelled over six tlioiisand miles in Europe, visiting 
 Amsterdam, Berlin (where he was cordially received), 
 Vienna, and many other cities ; noticing tlie manners and 
 customs of the people, and, as far as possible, the working 
 of the different educational, religious, and political sys 
 terns. 
 
 Never had the liberal institutions of America appeared 
 more glorious to him than when, after this survey of 
 foreign life, he breathed again tlie air of freedom. Dur- 
 ing his absence he wrote, once a week to Mrs. Howe, 
 the mother of his departed wife, who now, thougli over 
 eighty years of age, presides over his household with 
 dignity and grace. 
 
 This was the memorial-year of the American Missionary 
 Association ; and at the meeting in Hartford, Oct. 24, Mr. 
 
AJVIERICAX MISSIONAHY ASSOCIATION. 401 
 
 Wilson made a brief and vigorous address, in which he 
 presented his belief in our common brotherhood, and his 
 view of the work to be done by the philanthropists of 
 America : — 
 
 " God has given us the care of this magnificent conti- 
 nental empire, broad and grand. It is ours, — ours to 
 develop and improve : the responsibility is with us, — with 
 the people of these United States. These poor black men 
 at the South need our prayers and our labor ; they need 
 education, moral culture, and elevation. And they are 
 not the only ones who need it: there are thousands 
 of others, who have been referred to in the admirable 
 address to which we have just listened, — others coming 
 from the Eastern world. Our gateways are open on the 
 Atlantic and on the Pacific coast; and people will come 
 here. I would bind my heart and hand, and what little 
 I have of property, and the aspirations of my soul, to 
 elevate humanity. Every human being who steps on 
 the soil of the North-American republic, — no matter 
 where he c'omes from, nor what blood runs in his veins, 
 nor what language he. speaks, — he is a man: God 
 made him, and our Lord and Master Jesus Christ died 
 for him as .well as for us ; and it is our duty to lift 
 him up. It is our duty to elevate all classes and con- 
 ditions of men who come to our shores. God knows to- 
 night there is a mighty work to do. Look over the broad 
 land to-day, and what do we see ? It is not alone the 
 poor negro, whose mind for long centuries has been closed 
 against education and culture. Look at the poor white 
 people of the South, who were trampled down when the 
 black men were trampled down. Look at the master 
 class; look at the Ku-Kluxes : they dishonor liuman 
 nature to-night. I tell you, friends, we have a work to 
 
 34* 
 
402 LUTE OF HENP.Y WILSON. 
 
 do in the South, not only for the black race, but for ouf 
 own white race. Slavery is gone : but it has left passions, 
 prejudice, and ignorance ; and it is for us to remove 
 them. 
 
 " Look at our own country, — whole sections of it dis- 
 honored every day. Men abuse public stations, dishonor 
 their names, and degrade their country. We have exam- 
 ples of this before us to-day that astonish the world. Edu- 
 cation will not cure this entirely. We want, with our 
 education, a great deal of moral culture. We want the 
 heart cultivated as well as the head. This is the great 
 want of the times. 
 
 " I would make this republic an honest example to 
 all nations. To every pliilanthropist, to every humble 
 Christian, — I would say to all such, that, among all the 
 benevolent associations of our country, tliis is one of the 
 best, and should have our contributions, our generous 
 support, and our prayers in our closets on bended knees." 
 
 In the early part of this present year (1872) Mr. Wilson 
 publislied the first volume, containing six hundred and 
 seventy pages in royal octavo, of " The History of the 
 Rise and Fall of the Slave-Power in America." 
 
 It is indeed refreshing, now that the clamor of war has 
 subsided and the smoke of the battle-fields rolled away, to 
 sit calmly down in the sunlight of peace, and trace the 
 progress of that malignant power which grew with the 
 nation's growth ; which fastened on the body politic, 
 until it perished in the very wounds it had itself in- 
 flicted. Human servitude was the cause of our calamity 
 as a nation ; and, in rising up from those calamities, 
 we look back upon them as upon some fearful dream. 
 With consummate ability, Mr. Wilson, in this portion 
 of his work, presents the origin, progress, domination, 
 
THE SLAVE-POWER IN AMERICA. 403 
 
 of this power in America, up to its Texan victory in 
 1844 ; and in the two succeeding Yohuues, to be pub- 
 lished in 1873-4, will describe its arrogant assumptions 
 up to 1861, and then its mighty struggle for existence, 
 till its final overthrow and extinction in the surrender of 
 the rebel arms, and reconstruction of the rebel States. 
 No man living has higher qualifications for such a work 
 than Mr. Wilson. With accurate knowledge of our na- 
 tional history ; with more than thirty years' experience 
 as a legislator ; with an intimate personal acquaintance 
 with the prominent political leaders of that period; with 
 views enlarged by years of meditation on the theme, — 
 he biings to the execution of this great work accom- 
 plisluiients whicli must render it, when completed, one 
 of the most valuable contributions to American history 
 ever made. Through the first volume the hand of the 
 master is visible on every page ; and, although the mas- 
 ter is of necessity a partisan, he has, in general, risen 
 above the spirit of partisanship, and ascribed honor to 
 whom honor is due. 
 
 "Of the living and of the dead," he says, "I have 
 written as though I were to meet them in the presence 
 of Him whose judgments are ever sure." To the Chris- 
 tian patriot the author's constant reference to the hand 
 of God in the evolution of our national destiny is as 
 satisfactory as it is in itself just and philosophical. This, 
 he says, in closing his first volume, should be " a per- 
 petual inspiration in the darkest hour, a perennial source 
 of faith and hope, of consolation and of courage." " This 
 work," says an able writer, " must take first rank among 
 the historical productions of the nineteenth century; and 
 it will give to the author an additional claim upon the 
 consideration of his countrymen that he has written so 
 
404 LITE OF HENBY WILSON. 
 
 well of that work in which ho was one of the chief actors, 
 thus winning for himself the position of the scholar and 
 tJie historian, in addition to that of the politician and the 
 statesman. He and others have done that which deserves 
 to he well told ; and he has told it well. His words, like 
 his works, will he immortal, — the just reward of the ex- 
 cellence of hoth." 
 
 As an example of the author's imaginative power, and 
 vigor of his style, the closing page of his chapter on 
 " The Amistad " captives may be cited. It will be re- 
 membered that in 1839 these Africans, fifty- two in 
 number, rose upon the captain and the crew of " The 
 Amistad," took the vessel, and then, through their igno- 
 rance of navigation, were landed and imprisoned at New 
 London. The administration would have returned them 
 to the hands of the slave-trader ; but, through the hu- 
 mane exertions of Mr. Lewis Tappan and his friends, 
 the captives, after a sharp contest in the courts, were 
 set free. After stating the whole case with perspicuity 
 and force, the author says, — 
 
 " In all the acts of slavery's grim tragedy, there have 
 been few scenes which presented more elements of in- 
 terest than that of ' The Amistad ' captives. With two 
 continents and the wide Atlantic for a theatre ; with tlie 
 robber-chiefs of Africa, the slave-pirates of the ocean, the 
 representatives of a European monarchy and an Ameri- 
 can republic, for actors, seemingly engaged in a common 
 cause, and inspired by a common spirit, — it presented 
 through the whole, with dramatic variety and force, the 
 strangest contrasts and the most unlooked-for and con- 
 tradictory combinations. It presented barbarism in its 
 most repulsive and rudest aspect, and Christianity in 
 its most attractive and lovely attitude. It began with the 
 
NOMINATED AS VlCE-PEESIDENT. 405 
 
 midnight hunt for captives in the wilds of Africa : it 
 closed by Christian men and women sending and accom- 
 panying these captives back to Africa to plant churches 
 and schools among their benighted countrymen. Through 
 the whole, however, the one dark and hideous fact stands 
 out, — that slavery is essentially the same, its adherents 
 substantially alike. A system of violence impatient of 
 all restraints, whether of reason or of conscience, human- 
 ity or religion, the laws of the heart or the laws of the 
 State, it seems mainly intent on compassing its own ends 
 by whatever means and at whatever hazards. It was the 
 same in Africa and in America ; in the barrdcoon and in 
 the middle passage ; under a monarchy or in a republic ; 
 in a Pagan, Protestant, or Catholic country." 
 
 At the Republican Convention held in Philadelphia last 
 June, Mr. Wilson received the nomination for vice-presi- 
 dent of the United States. Mr. Colfax, who was a 
 personal friend of Mr. Wilson, had, in a private letter, 
 signified his intention of declining a renomination, when 
 the latter allowed his name to be presented. The vote 
 for these gentlemen in the convention was very close ; 
 when Virginia changed twenty of her votes from JohnF. 
 Lewis to Mr. Wilson, and made sure his nomination. On 
 the reception of the despatch announcing it in the Senate, 
 Mr. Colfax came forward and heartily congratulated his 
 friend on the result. Among many congratulations, the 
 following was received from Philadelphia, which doubt- 
 less is the general sentiment of the people ot color, for 
 whom Mr. Wilson has labored so long and effectually : — 
 
 Philadelphia, June 6, 1872. 
 The colored working-men of the country send you 
 their congratulations, and second your nomination ; and 
 
406 LIFE or HENRY WILSON. 
 
 will march in solid columns to the polls in November, 
 and cast their votes for the representative laboring-mau 
 of the American nation. 
 
 (Signed) Isaac Myers, 
 
 Pres. Colored National Labor Union. 
 
 Speaking of the nomination, "The New- York Trib- 
 une " said, — 
 
 " Henry Wilson is a working-man, and life-long Re- 
 publican, who has passed through thirty years of political 
 contests without a question of his devotion to principle, 
 or a stain upon hi3 integrity." 
 
 His letter of acceptance points briefly to the leading 
 features of the past, present, and future policy of the 
 Republican party. 
 
 HON. HENRY WILSON'S LETTER ACCEPTING THE 
 NOMINATION. 
 
 Washington, June 13, 1872. 
 To the Hon. Thomas Settle and others. President and Vice- 
 Presidents of the National Republican Convention held at Phila- 
 delphia on the 5th and 6th of the present month. 
 
 Gentlemen^ — Your note of the 10th instant, convey- 
 ing to me the action of the convention in placing my 
 name in nomination for the office of Vice-President of 
 the United States, is before me. I need not give you 
 the assurance of my grateful appreciation of the high 
 honor conferred upon me by this action of the Fifth 
 National Convention of the Republican party. Sixteen 
 years ago, in the same city, was held the first meeting 
 of the men who, amid the darkness and doubts of that 
 hour of slaveholding ascendency and aggression, had as- 
 sembled in a national convention to confer with eacli 
 
LETTER ACCEPTING HIS NOMLN^ATION. 407 
 
 other on the exigencies to which that fearful domination 
 liad brought their country. After a full conference, the 
 highest point of resolve they could reach, the most they 
 dared to recommend, was the avowed purpose to pro- 
 hibit the existence of slavery in the Territories. Last 
 week the same party met by its representatives from 
 thirty-seven States and ten Territories at the same great 
 centre of wealth, intelligence, and power, to review the 
 past, take note of the present, and indicate its line of 
 action for the future. As typical facts, headlands of the 
 nation's history, there sat on its platform, taking an hon- 
 orable and prominent part in its proceedings, admitted 
 on terms of perfect equality to tbe leading hotels of the 
 city, not only the colored representative of the race 
 which were ten years before in abject slavery, but one of 
 the oldest and most prominent of the once despised abo- 
 litionists, to whom was accorded as to no other the 
 warmest demonstration of popular regard and esteem ; an 
 ovation not to him alone, but to the cause he had so ably 
 and so many years represented, and to men and women, 
 living and dead, who toiled through long years of obloquy 
 and self-sacrifice for the glorious fruition of thai. hour. 
 It hardly needed the brilliant summary of its platform to 
 set forth its illustrious achievements. The very presence 
 of those men was alone significant of the victories 
 achieved, the progress already made, and the great dis- 
 tance which the nation had travelled between the years 
 1856 and 18T2. But, grand as has been its record, the 
 Kepublican party re«ts not on its past alone : it looks to 
 the future, and grapples with its problems of duty and 
 of danger. It proposes, as objects of its immediate 
 accomplishment, '" complete lil)erty and exact equality for 
 all;" the enforcement of the recent amendments to the 
 
408 LIFE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 National Constitution ; the reform in the civil service ; 
 the national domain to be set apart for homes for the 
 people ; the adjustment of the duties on imports, so as to 
 secure remunerative wages to labor ; the extension of 
 bounties to all soldiers and sailors who in line of duty 
 became disabled ; the continual aud careful encourage- 
 ment and protection of voluntary immigration, and 
 guarding with a zealous care the rights of adopted citi- 
 zens ; the abolition of the franking privilege, and the 
 speedy reduction of the rates of postage ; the reduction 
 of the national debt and rates of interest, and resump- 
 tion of specie payment ; the encouragement of American 
 commerce and of ship-building ; the suppression of 
 violence, and the protection of the ballot-box. It also 
 placed on record the opinions and purposes of the party 
 in favor of amnesty ; against all forms of repudiation ; 
 and indorsed the humane and peaceful policy of the 
 administration in regard to the Indians. But, while 
 clearly defining and distinctly announcing the policy of 
 the Republican party on these questions of practical 
 legislation and administration, the convention did not 
 ignore the great social problems which are pressing their 
 claims for solution, and which demand the most careful 
 study aud wise consideration. Foremost stands the 
 labor question. Concerning the relations of capital and 
 labor, the Republican party accepts the duty of so 
 shaping legislation as to secure full protection and the 
 amplest field for capital, and for labor, the creator of 
 capital, the largest opportunities, and a just share of 
 mutual profits of these two great servants of civilization. 
 To woman too, and her new demands, it extends the 
 hand of grateful recognition, and proffers it a most 
 respectful inquiry. It recognizes her noble devotion to 
 
LETTER ACCEPTING HIS NOMINATION. • 409 
 
 the country and freedom, welcomes her admission to 
 wider fields of usefulness, and commends her demands 
 for additional rights to the calm and careful considera- 
 tion of the nation ; to guard well what has already been 
 secured, to work out faithfully and wisely what is now 
 in hand, and to consider the questions which are looming 
 up to view but a little way before us. The Republican 
 party is to-day what it was in the gloomy years of 
 slavery, rebellion, and reconstruction, — a national neces- 
 sity. It appeals therefore, for support, to the patriotic 
 and liberty-loving; to the just and humane ; to all who 
 dignify labor ; to all who woidd educate, elevate, and 
 lighten the burdens of the sons and daughters of toil. 
 With its great record and the work still to be done under 
 the great soldier whose historic renown and whose suc- 
 cessful administration for the last three years begat such 
 popular confidence, the Republican party may confi- 
 dently, in the language of the convention you represent, 
 start on a new march to victory. Having accepted 
 thirty-six years ago the distinguished doctrines of the 
 Republican party of to-day ; having, during the years 
 of that period, for their advancement, subordinated all 
 other issues, acting in and co-operating with political 
 organizations with whose leading doctrines I sometimes 
 had neither sympathy nor belief; having labored inces- 
 santly for many years to found and build up the Repub- 
 lican party ; and having, during its existence, taken a 
 humble part in^its grand work, — I gratefully accept the 
 nomination thus tendered; and shall endeavor, if it shall 
 be ratified by the people, faithfully to perform the duties 
 it imposes. 
 
 Respectfully yours, 
 (Signed) Henry Wilson. 
 
 36 
 
410 LDTE OF HBNEY WILSON. 
 
 At a grand ratification meeting held in Fanenil Hall 
 on the 22d of June, 1872, in which ahlc speeches were 
 made by Judge Hoar and Gen. Butler, Mr. Wilson, 
 being presented amidsl; a storm of cheers and applause, 
 in substance said, — 
 
 " Mr. Chairman and Fellow-Citizens, — I thank you 
 for this kind welcome, and will not detain you at this lata 
 hour by any remarks of mine. I hardly know why I was 
 invited here. The doctrines of your platform I have pro- 
 claimed to hundreds of thousands of men in nearly thirty 
 States of the Union. I gave an unhesitating support to 
 Gen. Grant during the war, and I have given an unhesi- 
 tating support to his^dministration during the past three 
 years (applause) ; and I assure you to-night, if you 
 need the assurance, that I shall give an unhesitating sup- 
 port to his re-election to the presidency. (Applause.) 
 As for myself, I leave it to my friends, personal and 
 political, in Massachusetts and in the country ; and I am 
 sure, whatever my friends may say, that those who do 
 not agree with me politically will not accuse me of any 
 want of fidelity to myself. I only say to you at this 
 hour, that I trust you, men of Boston and of Massachu- 
 setts, will this year, and in the future, be as true as you 
 have been for the past twelve years for the cause of the 
 country and the cause of liberty. No matter who may 
 be the candidate at Baltimore, — whether it be Horace 
 Greeley or any other man, — you will meet in this canvass 
 the Democratic party of the United Stages. You have 
 met the party before ; you have defeated it before. You 
 can, and I have no doubt whatever you will, defeat it in 
 the coming election. Listen to no voice. You remem- 
 ber Republicans said a few years ago in Virginia, ' We 
 will put up a Republican for governor, and we will have 
 
ADDRESS IN FAITEUIL HALL. 411 
 
 a Itbpublican administration with the support of tho 
 Democratic party.' He went into power. The Repub- 
 licans were defeated ; and he became — what he knew ho 
 was before — the mere instrument of the Democratic par- 
 ty in Virginia. Republicans in Western Virginia joined 
 the Democratic party; and to-day the question is submit- 
 ted in a constitutional convention, whetlier the black men 
 shall have the right to vote or not. Republicans joined 
 Democrats, and restored the Democracy to power, in 
 Tennessee ; and the school system, under which there 
 were a hundred and ninety tliousand children in the 
 schools in that State, was broken down. Republicans 
 joined the Democrats in Missouri ; and Frank Blair, who 
 represents Democracy, sits in the Senate of the United 
 States. The experiment made shows, that, when they 
 join issue, the Republicans go to the Democratic party : 
 that party would never come to them. Stand, then, I 
 say, by the Republican platform, by the Republican can- 
 didates. (Applause.) Continue and hold and secure 
 what we fought for in war ; and, in addition to all, march 
 with events, keep pace with human progress, bearing the 
 flag of Republican civilization and improvement in our 
 country, and our efforts will be blessed for the good of 
 our country and the world." (Applause.) 
 
 Of his title to the suffrage of the colored people of 
 America, Mr. Garrison thus, in a recent letter, speaks : — • 
 
 '' During thirty-six years of public life he has made 
 the freedom of the race, so long peeled and trodden 
 down, paramount to all other political considerations. 
 Instead of persistently shunning antislavery meetings, 
 he was a frequent attendant upon them, and freely par- 
 ticipated in their proceedings. Now that he has been 
 deservedly nominated by the Republican party for the 
 
412 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 vice-presidency of the United States, and, if elected, 
 may possibly, in the turn of events, he the acting presi- 
 dent, it should be a matter of pride and gratitude on 
 the part of colored voters to give him their united 
 suffrages." 
 
 When the news of his nomination to the vice-presi- 
 dency was telegraphed to him by his friends in Natick, 
 his touching reply was, " Place a bouquet of flowers on 
 my wife's grave." She ever shone as a benignant star 
 in his memory. In July he visited North Carolina 
 and Virginia, and made effective speeches at Wilming- 
 ton, Richmond, and other cities, aiming ever to concili- 
 ate the disaffected Republicans, to induce them to 
 return to the ranks of the regular party, and to stand 
 true to the principles for which they had so manfully 
 contended on the field of battle. The meeting at 
 Wilmington continued seven hours; and great enthu- 
 siasm was manifested by the white as well as colored 
 citizens. He returned in excellent health, and with 
 hopeful views of the condition of the States he had 
 visited. He observed to a friend, on his return, that, 
 during thirty-two years of political life, he had made 
 about thirteen hundred speeches that had appeared in 
 print ; and that, so far as he could remember, he had 
 uttered but one sentence that he regretted, and that 
 because of misapprehension : it Avas in reply to Mr. 
 Benjamin of Louisiana, when he charged him with 
 treason to a country " which even secured freedom to 
 the race that stoned the prophets, and crucified the 
 Redeemer of the world." 
 
 In August following, he made a Western tour, and 
 was everywhere received with great enthusiasm by the 
 people. 
 
THE PEESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN. 413 
 
 At Ricliinoncl, Incl., lie addressed an audience of ten 
 thousand persons ; and liis earnest and eloquent appeals 
 for the maintenance of the integrity of the Republican 
 party met with hearty and prolonged responses from the 
 vast multitude. Returning home (Aug. 13), he spoke to 
 an enthusiastic meeting in Natick ; and a banner bear- 
 ino' the names of Grant and Wilson was unfurled in the 
 westerly part of the town, near the spot where he had 
 arrived, penniless and unknown, in 1830, and where ho 
 commenced making "brogans" in the little shop of 
 Mr. AYilliam P. Legro. He then, in September, visited 
 several cities in Maine, where he met with a most 
 cordial reception, and spoke with his wonted fire 
 and wisdom before many enthusiastic audiences. As 
 many as fifteen hundred people, for instance, received 
 him in Columbia Hall, Bath ; and hundreds were 
 unable to gain admittance. Thus moving with untiring 
 activity from State to State, and city to city, he con- 
 ducted, as a veteran understanding well the strategy of 
 the opposing forces, this exciting presidential campaign. 
 
 It was urged against liim, that he had once belonged 
 to the Native American party; and he, of course, 
 admitted it. " But," said he, " in 1854, there were a 
 million men in this movement. I, with the rest, went 
 into it, as the people went into the Union leagues, 
 to break up the old parties. The antislavery friends, 
 then, out of this, formed the Republican party. In the 
 National Convention at . Philadelphia, I told them, that 
 if they adopted that narrow, intolerant, bigoted plat- 
 form, I would use my influence to crush it to atoms. 
 They adopted it. I left it ; and we crushed it to atoms." 
 Attempts were also made to implicate hinl in the ques- 
 tionable transactions of the Crecht Mobilier, by which 
 
 35* 
 
414 LIFE OF HENRY WILSOIT. 
 
 the fair fame of several congressmen was tarnisLed; 
 but he most emphatically and truly denied that he 
 ever received any of its bonds, shares, or stocks ; and, 
 though some property belonging to his wife had been 
 therein invested, it was immediately withdrawn when 
 it appeared that such investment might not be legal, 
 just, and right. 
 
 Of the departure of his colleague, Mr. Sumner, from 
 the ranks of the old Republicans, he spoke with un- 
 feigned sorrow. " I have," said he to a friend, " most 
 earnestly expostulated with him on his course. I 
 believe that he is wrong : I have frankly told him so ; 
 but, Avithout resenting my appeal to him, he stands im- 
 movable. I am sorry for him." Then, in reference to 
 himself, Mr. Wilson said, "My own course has been 
 as straight as that of a cannon-ball ; and men will yet 
 acknowledge it." It is worthy to be noted, and alike 
 honorable to both, that political differences produced no 
 personal animosity between these eminent statesmen. 
 Though diametricall}^ opposite in mental temperament 
 and habits of thought, they well understood each other's 
 worth and power, and had labored too long, shoulder to 
 shoulder in the great struggle for human freedom, to 
 allow any place for personal resentment. And so they 
 continued to speak kindly to and of each other, the 
 ties of friendship remaining bright, until severed by Mr. 
 Sumner's death. 
 
 Though the most strenuous efforts were made by the 
 opposition, so effective were the arguments of Mr. Wil- 
 son and his coadjutors, such were the memories and 
 convictions of the soldiers who had imperilled their lives 
 for the maintenance of the Union, and such v/ere the 
 popular traits and characteristics of the candidates, 
 
ELECTED VTCE-PKESIDENT. 415 
 
 proclaimed by the press, the platform speakers, and set 
 forth in the campaign melodies, such as 
 
 *' A song and a chant 
 For Wilson and Grant, 
 Who rose from the lowhest station; 
 The tried and the true, 
 Wlio whate'er they may do 
 Will be done for the good of the nation. 
 
 Chorus: Then work for our leaders, 
 AH good men. 
 For they are men of leather, 
 And raise the chant 
 For Wilson and Grant, 
 And we'll vote them in together," 
 
 and received with wild enthusiasm in the vast assemblies 
 of the people, that the Grant and Wilson ticket became 
 triumphant in November ; and the " Natick cobbler " 
 reached the second position in the government of the 
 nation. Well, indeed, had he, by his long and faithful 
 services, by his eminent abilities, and his life of immacu- 
 late integrity, earned this high distinction ; yet his 
 noble soul was not in anywise elated by the honor. 
 He even expressed regret to his intimate friends at his 
 elevation, inasmuch as it deprived him of the opportu- 
 nity of discussing great national questions in the 
 chamber of the Senate, where he had so long effectually 
 served his country. 
 
 President Grant and Senator Wilson received on 
 the popular vote a majority of 762,991 over Horace 
 Greeley and B. Gratz Brown, and 300 to 66 electoral 
 votes thrown for various candidates ; and so on the 
 4th of IMarch, 1873, Mr. Wilson took his seat as pre- 
 siding officer of the United-States Senate, where he 
 
416 LIFE OF HENEY WILSON". 
 
 had most manfully defended, for almost twenty years, 
 the principles of the Constitution and of civil freedom. 
 So poor was Mr. Wilson at the time of his inauguration, 
 that, on the evening previous to that ceremony, he 
 called, says Mr. F. B. Carpenter, on Mr. Sumner, and 
 said, — 
 
 " Sumner, can you lend me a hundred dollars ? I 
 have not got money enough to be inaugurated on." 
 Mr. Sumner replied, "Certainly. If it had been a 
 large sum, I might not have been able to help you ; but 
 I can always lend a friend a hundred dollars." He 
 then gave Mr. Wilson a check for the amount; and, 
 after the latter had retired, Mr. Sumner, turning to 
 Mr. Carpenter, remarked, " There is an incident worth 
 remembering, — such a one as could never have occurred 
 in any country but our own." 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 ME. WILSON AS PEESIDEXT OF THE SENATE. — HIS 
 HEALTH DECLINING. — HIS SECOND VOLUME 
 OF THE BISE AND FALL OF THE SLAVE- 
 POWER. — HIS LAST SICKNESS. — 
 HIS DEATH. 
 
 Mr. Wilson presiding over the Senate. — His Industry. —Declension 
 of his Health. —His Retirement from Labor. —Visit to New Hamp- 
 shire. — Letter to " The Springfield Republican." —The Bount^^ Bill. 
 — Death of Charles Sumner. — Health Improving. — The Second 
 Volume of "The Rise and Fall of the Slave-Power in America." — 
 His Back Pay as Senator. — His Opinion of President Grant. — Hi3 
 Tonr to the South-west.— Summer at Saratoga.— The Republican 
 Convention at Worcester. — His Last Sickness and Death,— The 
 Autopsy. 
 
 C COMMANDING in person, quick in perception, and 
 ^ well versed in parliamentary practice, Mr. Wilson 
 presided with dignity and great acceptance over the 
 Senate ; and his decisions were respected by the members 
 of both parties. His earnest desire, expressed on every 
 suitable occasion, was conciliation between the factions m 
 the Republican party, and the restoration of fraternity 
 and friendliness between the North and South. 
 
 Although his elevation to the office of vice-president 
 lessened his senatorial labors, he still allowed himself 
 no rest. Every leisure moment was devoted to the com- 
 position of his great work on " The Rise and Fall of the 
 Slave-Power in America," for which the consultation of 
 
 417 
 
418 LIFE OF HEKRY WILSON. 
 
 numberless authorities, and an extensive correspondence, 
 were demanded. His arduous labors were often ex- 
 tended late into the night ; and he observed to a friend, 
 at this period, that he seldom laid aside his pen until 
 the clock struck two in the morning. " My mail comes 
 in late," he said; "the journals must be read; my let- 
 ters must be looked over, some of them answered ; and 
 so I am obliged to steal an hour or two from the ccming 
 day before retiring." 
 
 But though strictly temperate, and early inured to 
 toil, his constitution was not adequate to the strain of 
 such incessant industry. His health began to yield to 
 this habitual transgression of hygienic law. His first 
 fearful warning was a sudden, but only partial, paralysis 
 of a facial nerve, in 1873, by which his countenance 
 was slightly altered, and his utterance somewhat im- 
 paired. The usual remedies were prescribed ; and, 
 above all, the physicians imperatively enjoined repose 
 from labor : but how could a mind of such intense 
 activity obey the injunction ? This very monition of the 
 uncertainty of life incited the desire in the Vice-Presi- 
 dent to complete his book, which he considered the most 
 valuable legacy he could leave to his countrymen. He, 
 however, yielded somewhat to his medical advisers, and 
 spent the summer, — seme time at the house of his 
 friend, ex-Gov. Claflin, some time at his home in Natick, 
 some time in profound retirement, endeavoring to rest 
 from labor, and to recuperate his health. On one occa- 
 sion, a friend, calling at the house where the Vice-Presi- 
 dent was living very quietly, inquired of the servant 
 for Mr. Wilson ; when she replied to him, " There's 
 no such person here : I never heard of such a man." 
 On being further questioned, she responded, " Yes, sir, 
 
ANTI-SLAVERY REUNION. 419 
 
 there is an invalid stopping here ; but I don't know who 
 he is, and he is out to-day." She reported this to hei 
 mistress, and was not a little surprised to learn from her, 
 that, for several weeks, she had been waiting on the 
 Vice-President of the United States. 
 
 In September, Mr. Wilson made a journey to the 
 White Mountains, stopping, on the way, to visit the 
 spot where he was born, near the Cocheco River, in 
 Farmington ; and, on returning, found his health im- 
 proved, and thought, if the papers would but let him 
 alone, he might hope for a complete recovery. In 
 November, however, he excused himself from speaking 
 at the Massachusetts Club, on account of illness ; and 
 although he rei)aired to Washington, and took his seat 
 in the chair of the Senate at the opening of Congress, 
 he was soon obliged to retire from it, and seek repose 
 in his peaceful home at Natick. 
 
 Early in January, 1874, he greatly enjoyed a re-union 
 at No. 13 Chestnut Street, Boston, with Ralph Waldo 
 Emerson, Wendell Phillips, Charles Bradlaugh, and 
 other celebrities ; and, on the 16th of the same month, 
 addressed a letter on the political situation to " The 
 Springfield Republican," in which he hopefully says, 
 " I believe the Republican party has it in its power 
 to recover what is lost, and to elect the next Presi- 
 dent." And he also expresses his earnest desire for 
 reconciliation between the conflicting elements in the 
 party, and the return of those who had abandoned it. 
 In another letter, written about this time, he assigns his 
 reasons for voting for the Bounty Bill, very sensibly 
 avowing that " the nation is bound in honor to be as 
 liberal now towards the men Avho fought its battles as 
 it pledged itself to be in the time of danger." 
 
420 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 Mr. Wilson was profoundly affected at the death of 
 Charles Sumner, who had fought with him so many 
 hard battles in the senate-chamber ; and shed over his 
 grave at Mt. Auburn the tear of sad regret, observing, 
 as he took his farewell look of the distinguished states- 
 man, " I soon shall follow him." 
 
 In April ensuing, a passage was engaged for him for 
 a second trip to Europe, under the hope that a change 
 of scene, and foreign medical advice, might restore him 
 to his wonted vigor ; but, feeling soon that his health 
 was gradually improving, he abandoned this design, 
 and spent the summer in recreation at various watering- 
 places along the shore, and in carrying through the 
 press the second volume of his great work on " The 
 Else and Fall of the Slave-Power in America," which 
 was published this year, in superior style, by James 
 R. Osgood & Co., Boston. In it Mr. Wilson, with the 
 hand of a master, analyzes and describes the leading 
 national events through that stirring period extending 
 from the admission of Florida to the election of Mr. 
 Lincoln ; and fully sustains the reputation for candor, 
 for profound research, for classification of facts, for 
 logical reasoning, and for force, clearness, and dignity 
 of style, which the first instalment of this important 
 contribution to our political history gained for him. 
 His chapters on the origin of the Republican party, and 
 the assault on Mr. Sumner, are most ably Avritten ; and 
 the whole work, coming as it does from an actor in the 
 events recorded, is worthy to be profoundly studied by 
 the American people. 
 
 At the opening of the session of Congress at the 
 close of the year, the Vice-President had so far regained 
 his health as to be able to preside over the Senate with 
 
TOUR IN THE SOUTH-WEST. 421 
 
 his usual ability. His back pay as a senator lie nobly 
 returned to the treasury ; and, though differing in many 
 points from the policy of the President, he lived on the 
 most friendly terms with him, and entertained, as ever, a 
 high opinion of his executive wisdom. To a friend he 
 said, one day, " The third-term movement is all non- 
 sense. President Grant is a singularly able man ; and 
 the country hardly knows any thing about him person- 
 ally. He is immensely underrated. The President is 
 reticent ; but, in reference to the third term, I do not 
 really tliink that he himself desires it." He also men- 
 tioned Mr. Blaine and Mr. Washburne as probable 
 Republican candidates for the next presidential canvass. 
 In the spring of 18T5, he made a tour in the South- 
 western States, where he examined the condition of the 
 schools, and spoke, in no less than twenty-nine pubhc 
 addresses, words of fraternity and encouragement to 
 the people. He visited the graves of Jackson, Clay, 
 Taylor, Polk, Crittenden, Bell, and Benton, for the 
 latter of whom he ever entertained the most profound 
 respect. In the streets of Memphis he spoke a moment 
 with Mrs. Jefferson Davis. He saw with delight the 
 loyal demonstrations of the people, and returned with 
 renewed hope and vigor for the prosecution of his lite- 
 rary labors. After the centennial celebrations at Lex- 
 ington and Boston, in which he took an active part, he 
 repaired to Saratoga, where his physician gave him 
 permission to spend the morning in writing on hia 
 book, on condition that he would rest for the remainder 
 of the day. Here he made two effective addresses 
 on behalf of temperance to large audiences, and 
 re-affirmed the principles by which his whole life had 
 been guided. 
 
422 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 In September, lie was called to preside over the 
 Republican Convention at Vv^orcester. His address on 
 that occasion was strong, but conciliatory, advising 
 union on the part of all Republicans, and predicting the 
 triumph of their principles, and the election of Alexan- 
 der H. Rice to the gubernatorial chair. To this, and to 
 his letters written at this period, the success of the 
 party at the last election is, no doubt, largely due. 
 There is something of sublimity in the course of a man 
 standing thus steadily to the principles of his party, 
 which so many in times of trial had deserted, and, by 
 his inflexible integrity and judicious counsel, rallying it 
 again to victory. 
 
 But the days of this wise political guide were num- 
 bered. Dininof at Young^'s Hotel a short time after- 
 wards, he suddenty received another paralytic attack, 
 and Avas immediately carried to the residence of his 
 friend, Mr. Webster, where the usual restoratives were 
 applied. His speech was again affected, and his face 
 somewhat distorted. He then said to a friend beside 
 him, " I have received my mortal blow ; but I greatly 
 desire to remain a few years longer to finish up my 
 work." 
 
 Convalescing rapidl}^ he repaired to Washington 
 early in November, subjecting himself, on the way, to 
 the same severe trial by fire which Mr. Sumner received 
 from Dr. Brown-Sequard. He was, however, after 
 talking a warm bath (Nov. 10), again prostrated by 
 another and still more serious paralytic shock. The 
 most effective remedies were prescribed ; and, though 
 greatly suffering, such was the vigor of his constitution, 
 that he rallied under their effect, and, on the 13th of 
 November, was pronounced convalescent by his physi- 
 
SICK AT THE CAPITOL. 423 
 
 cian. " If I could arrange my cleatli," said lie to one 
 of his attendants, " I would die quietly in my home, and 
 have the privilege of saying good-hy to my friends, 
 and be laid quietly away. But I have a premonition 
 that I shall die suddenly ; be snuffed out like a candle, 
 without an opportunity to say good-by to any one." 
 These were prophetic words. 
 
 On the night of the 17th following, he slept so 
 soundly, and felt so well in the morning, that he desired 
 to leave his room at the Capitol, but was restrained by 
 his physician, who was constantly compelled to combat 
 the intense activity of his nature. In a conversation 
 w^itli a friend on the day following, he said, "Every, 
 body has been very kind to me during my illness. See 
 here," he continued, turning to a splendid basket of 
 flowers, — " see what the wife of the President has sent 
 me ! " And, pointing to a superb lil}^ in the centre, he 
 remarked, " This is a fit emblem of the purity which sur- 
 rounds the world of immortality, which we all hope 
 some day to reach." He then added, "The doctors 
 think that I am getting better, and I believe so myself. 
 They say that I shall be able to go North on Monday : 
 we will see." In reference to politics, he said, " The 
 Democrats will have to improve a great deal before the 
 people will intrust them with the government ; and they 
 will never put one into the presidential office, if he ever 
 had any connection with the Rebellion." On Sunday, 
 21st, he was not quite as well, but received a number 
 of visitors, among whom were Messrs. Burt and Cross- 
 man.. So little apprehension was felt, that Dr. Baxter, 
 his physician, having given directions to his attendants, 
 Messrs. S. H. Boyden and F. A. Wood, to administer 
 his medicines, left him early in the evening with the 
 
424 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 hope that he might be able to ride out the next day. 
 Soon afterwards Mr. Wilson said, " If the doetor were 
 here, I would have a blister put on the back of mj' 
 neck ; but it is not worth while to send for him ; " and, 
 after his limbs had been rubbed, observed that he felt 
 unusually well, and fell asleep. Awaking about mid- 
 night, he arose, walked around his room, and then, going 
 to his table, took up a little treasured volume of poems, 
 called " The Changed Cross," containing photographs of 
 his wife and son, whose memories he most tenderly 
 cherished, and read from it three stanzas, one of which 
 formed the burden of his daily prayer : — 
 
 " Help us, O Lord, with patient love to bear 
 
 Each other's faults ; to suffer with true meekness: 
 Help us each others' joys and griefs to share ; 
 But let us turn to thee alone in weakness." 
 
 Having laid down the book, he spoke of the kindness 
 of his friends, and, returning in a pleasant mood to bed, 
 soon fell asleep. At three o'clock he again awoke, re- 
 quested Mr. Boyden to rub his breast ; v/hen he again 
 fell into a prof6und sleep, which continued until seven 
 o'clock in the morning. On awaking, he expressed 
 himself as feeling very well, and, on being informed of 
 the death of Senator Ferry, said, " Poor Ferry, he has 
 been a great sufferer: that makes eighty-three dead 
 with whom I have sat in the Senate. What a record ! 
 If I live to the end of my present term, I shall be the 
 sixth in the history of the country who have served so 
 long a time." He then, referring cheerfully to his im- 
 proved condition, drank some bitter water, turned over 
 on his left side, and in a few moments, without any 
 apparent pain or struggle, ceased to breathe. 
 
DEATH. 
 
 425 
 
 ** So fades a summer cloud away; 
 
 So sinks the gale when storms are o'er ; 
 So gently shuts the eye of day; 
 
 So dies a wave along the shore. 
 Triumphtint smiles the victor's brow, 
 
 Fanned by some guardian angel's wing: 
 Where is, O Grave! thy victory now? 
 
 And where, insidious Death, thy sting? '* 
 
 Thus in liis room at the Capitol, where he had spent 
 so many years in the defence of civil liberty, with but 
 
 The Capitol at Washington. 
 
 one attendant at his bedside, the Vice-President of the 
 United States departed, at twenty minutes past seven 
 o'clock on the twenty-second day of November, 1875, 
 in the sixty-fourth year of his age. Thus the brain 
 that had devised so many measures for the good of his 
 country ceased from its throbbings ; thus the heart that 
 had so magnanimously beaten for the sons of toil and 
 suffering became cold and still ; and, as Judge Hoar 
 observed, no cleaner hands were ever folded on a truer 
 breast. 
 
 An autopsy of the body of Mr. Wilson disclosed 
 
 36* 
 
426 LIFE OF HEKRY WILSON. 
 
 black fluid blood in the sinuses of the brain, which 
 weighed forty-nine ounces and a half, and thus made it 
 manifest that the immediate cause of his death was 
 apoplexy. His body was then embalmed, and laid out on 
 Tuesday morning in the room where he expired, dressed 
 in the black suit which he wore on state occasions, 
 with a wreath of white flowers at his head and a floral 
 cross at his feet. Rich bouquets of flowers, sent by Mis. 
 Grant and others, also decorated the apartment. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE NATIONAL BEREAVEMENT. — OBSEQUIES AT WASH- 
 INGTON AND OTHER CITIES. — BURIAL AT 
 NATICK. — MR. WILSON'S CHARACTER. 
 
 The National Grief at tlie Death of Mr. Wilson.— President Grant's Order. 
 
 — Honors paid to the Remains at Washington. — Dr. Rankin's Ad- 
 dress. — Tlie Balthnore Fifth Regiment. — Honors at Philadelpliia; 
 New York. — Announcement of Gov. Gaston. — Remarks of Mr. 
 Stebhins; of Judge Clark. — Reception of the News at Natick. — 
 Meeting in FaneuilHall. —Address of Gen. Banks. —The Remains 
 in Doric Hall. — Memorial Services in the House of Representatives. 
 
 — Dr. Manning's Eulogy. — Services at Natick. — Address of the 
 Revs. E. Dowse and F. K Peloubet. — Tlie Burial at DeU Park Ceme- 
 tery. — Mr. Wilson's Will. —His Character. 
 
 THE intelligence of the death of the Vice-President 
 was received with profound emotion by the whole 
 country. Flags were displayed at half-mast ; minute- 
 guns were fired; bells were tolled; the United-States 
 courts were adjourned ; and men of all parties, from 
 Maine to Texas, united in expressions of sorrow. In 
 the afternoon of the day on which Mr. Wilson died, 
 President Grant called a meeting of his cabinet, and 
 issued the following order : — 
 
 ExEcuTi\'E Mansion', 
 
 Washington, Nov. 22, 1875. 
 
 It is with profound sorrow that the President has to 
 announce to the people of the United States the death 
 of the Vice-President, Henry Wilson, who died in the 
 
 427 
 
428 LIFE OF HEXRY WILSON. 
 
 Capitol of the nation this morning. The eminent 
 station of the deceased, liis high character, his long 
 career in the service of his State and of the Union, his 
 devotion to the cause of freedom, and the ability which 
 he brought to the discharge of every duty, stand con- 
 spicuous, and are indelibly impressed on the hearts and 
 affections of the American people. In testimony of 
 respect for this distinguished citizen and faithful public 
 servant, the various departments of the government will 
 be closed on the day of the funeral; and the executive 
 mansion, and all the executive departments in Washing- 
 ton, will be draped v\^itli badges of mourning for thirty 
 days. The Secretary of War and Secretary of the 
 Navy will issue orders that appropriate military and 
 naval honors be rendered to the memory of one whose 
 virtues and services will long be borne in recollection 
 by a grateful nation. 
 
 U. S. Grant. 
 
 By the President, 
 
 Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State. 
 
 On Thursday, the body of Mr. Wilson in a costly 
 casket, resting on the catafalque which bore the remains 
 of President Lincoln, Chief Justice Chase, and Senator 
 Sumner, lay in state in the Rotunda of the Capitol, and 
 was visited by thousands, who bent over it with tearful 
 emotion and profound respect. On the day following, 
 the remains were removed to the senate-chamber, where 
 at half-past ten, a.m., the nation, through its highest 
 officers, performed the solemn obsequies in honor of the 
 dead. The day was ushered in by the firing of cannon 
 and the tolling of bells ; and, though dark and rainy, 
 every seat in the galleries was occupied long before the 
 
OBESQUIES IN THE SENATE-CHAMBEE. 429 
 
 services commenced. The senate-chamber draped in 
 mourning, the President and Cabinet, the Justices of 
 the Supreme Court in their bhick gowns, the meinbers 
 of the diplomatic corps (at the head of which was Sii 
 Edward Thornton), the officers of the army and navy in 
 uniform, and the committee of arrangements with white 
 silk sashes, and black-and-white rosettes, presented a 
 most solemn and impressive scene. The chair of the 
 Vice-President was arrayed in crape. Senator Ferry 
 occupying another seat. When the casket, borne by 
 twelve soldiers, and followed by Mr. Colbath and wife, 
 with other relatives of the deceased, was brought into 
 the chamber, the entire audience arose ; and Dr. Sunder- 
 land, chaplain of the Senate, pronounced the passage : 
 " Lord, make me to know mine end," &c., with great 
 solemnity and impressiveness. Dr. J. E. Kankin, whose 
 church the Vice-President attended, then delivered an 
 appropriate eulogy, in the course of which he made this 
 just distinction between the character of Mr. Wilson 
 and that of his co-worker in the Senate, Mr. Sumner : — ■ 
 " It is beautiful to see how these two great men of 
 Massachusetts, born one year apart, starting so differ- 
 ently in life, educated so differently, supported and 
 complemented each other. The one, a man of books ; 
 the other, a man of men : the one, a man of -ideas ; the 
 other, a man of facts : the one, a man of the few ; the 
 other, a man of the many : the one sometimes almost 
 losing himself in his distance of advance before the 
 nation ; the other always keeping step with the grand 
 movement of the people, going forward only so fast 
 as his true popular instinct taught him that people 
 were ready to follow. In these two men, so unhke, 
 and yet so representative of the extremes in American 
 
430 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 society, was the New-England idea enshrined and 
 represented on this floor." 
 
 At the conclusion of the services in the senate-cham- 
 ber, the procession attended the funeral-car, drawn by 
 six white horses caparisoned in black, with solemn 
 dirges, and with cannon pealing, to the station of the 
 Baltimore and Potomac Railroad, where Senator Thur- 
 man delivered the remains to the charge of Massa- 
 chusetts Committee of Arrangements, which left for 
 Baltimore early in the afternoon. The Fifth Regiment 
 of that city, which Mr. Wilson had addressed, and 
 which had received many courteous attentions on its 
 late visit to Boston, tendered its services as an escort 
 of the body to its final resting-place; but, inasmuch 
 as many other military organizations had done the 
 same, it was thought advisable to decline the offer. 
 The rotunda of the new City Hall in Baltimore was 
 draped in mourning for the reception of the remains ; 
 and demonstrations of sorrow everywhere prevailed. 
 In Philadelphia, funeral-honors were imposingly ren- 
 dered to the body of the beloved statesman in Inde- 
 pendence Hall, on Saturday, where as many as ten 
 thousand people passed in tearful silence by the beau- 
 tiful casket. The hearse was drawn by ten black 
 horses ; the chime of St. Stephen's Church pealed forth 
 the "Dead March;" and business was generally sus- 
 pended along the streets through which the solemn 
 cortege passed. The remains were escorted through 
 the city of New York by a military force, consisting 
 of several regiments, followed by representatives of 
 the State and City authorities, the Board of Trade, 
 the Republican Central Committee, and the New-Eng- 
 land Society. Guns were fired, and expressions of 
 public sorrow manifested in all sections of the city. 
 
ANNOUNCEMENT OF HIS DEATH IN BOSTON. 431 
 
 While the death of Mr. Wilson, who was perhaps 
 personally known by more people than any other states- 
 man of his time, produced a deep impression of sorrow 
 through the entire country, Avhich might be said to be 
 all arrayed in mourning, it was in Boston and vicinity, 
 where he had spent so many of his days, and where 
 his sterling virtues were best understood, that the 
 national loss was most profoundly felt, and the mani- 
 festation of grief the most prolonged and touching. 
 On the reception of the sad intelligence of Mr. Wilson's 
 death, Gov. Gaston made the announcement : — 
 
 COiniONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS, 
 
 Executive Depahtment, Boston, Nov. 22, 1873. 
 
 It becomes my most painful duty to announce to 
 the people of this Commonwealth the death of Vice- 
 President Wilson, which occurred at the Capitol at 
 Washington, this morning, at twenty minutes past 
 seven o'clock. 
 
 The loss of this pure and distinguished statesman 
 and honest man Avill be the cause of great mourning 
 throughout the country, and especially in the State in 
 which he resided, where he was best known, and there- 
 fore most highly honored. 
 
 William Gaston. 
 
 A meeting of the Board of Aldermen was held; 
 resolves were passed, and addresses made, in the course 
 of which ]Mr. Stebbins said, — 
 
 " For a period of nearly forty years, his struggles, 
 defeats, and labors, which were crowned in his later 
 years with reward and honor, have closely identified 
 the name of Henry Wilson with the history of Massa- 
 chusetts and of our country. His life has ever been 
 
432 LIFE or HENEY WILSON. 
 
 an incentive to tlie common joeople in their aspirations 
 by honest personal labor to reach a higher level. His 
 death will teach the lesson and value of personal 
 integrity, which enabled him to withstand the tempta- 
 tions which ever surrounded his years of public service. 
 His labors in behalf of the oppressed will endear his 
 memory in their hearts ; and on the memorial which 
 will mark his last resting-place should be engraved, 
 ' He served his imperilled country faithfully, withstood 
 temptations, and died an honest man." 
 
 " The good and true never die, never die: 
 
 • They live in our hearts, ever nigh, ever nigh.' " 
 
 The United-States District Court was adjourned ; and, 
 in his address, Judge Clark appropriately said, — 
 
 " There is a beautiful prayer of Eastern poetry, ' May 
 you die among your kindred ! ' The Vice-President has 
 died, not among his kindred in the ordinary sense, nor 
 in the land of his nativity, but in the broader sense, — 
 among the American people, who were his kinsmen, at 
 the nation's capital, at the place of his highest useful- 
 ness, and the scene of his greatest activities. Fortunate 
 in his life, fortunate in his death. Eminently fit it 
 is that we pause, and recognize the solemnity of the 
 occasion. . . . When a public servant falls by death, it 
 is a public loss ; and the nation mourns. But when a 
 person so eminently active, wise, honest, and good, as 
 was Henry Wilson, dies, the. public heart is well-nigh 
 crushed. The Court has no inclination to proceed with 
 the business of the day ; and sure it is that Massachu- 
 setts, called so lately to bury her illustrious senator, 
 will pause, and let fall bitter tears, as she receives to the 
 bosom of her soil the remains of the late Vice-President 
 
RECEPTION OF THE NEWS IN NATICK. 433 
 
 to rest in fit companionship with him by whose side he 
 struggled so heroically in the nation's peril. 
 
 " The Court will now adjourn until to-morrow." 
 
 On the reception of the mournful news at Natick, the 
 bells were tolled, a public meeting was held, at which 
 eulogistic speeches were made ; and this among other 
 resolutions was unanimously adopted : — 
 
 " Resolved^ That, in the death of Henry Wilson, our 
 town has lost a valued and beloved citizen; and as 
 a people, without regard to sectarian or party lines, 
 we unitedly mourn the loss of one whose character and 
 career have reflected so much honor upon the town of 
 his adoption." 
 
 A committee, consisting of Messrs. Dunn and Turner 
 of the Executive Council, and Cols. Wyman and Camp- 
 bell of Gov. Gaston's staff, were appointed to convey the 
 remains of the Vice-President to Massachusetts ; and on 
 Saturday, Nov. 27, a large memorial meeting was held 
 in Faneuil Hall, in which eloquent tributes of respect 
 were paid to the dead by Mayor Cobb, Gov. William 
 Gaston, Gen. N. P. Banks, Hon. E. R. Hoar, Hon. 
 Charles F. Adams, and George L. Ruffin, Esq. The 
 hall was festooned in black and white ; and the white 
 bust of Mr. Wilson stood upon the platform. In the 
 course of his remarks, Gov. Gaston most truly said, — 
 
 "A statesman has gone to his rest, and a nation 
 mourns. The benediction of a people grateful for his 
 services will follow him to his grave. Such, under the 
 providence of God, even in this world, are the final 
 rewards of an honest and well-spent life. By his energy, 
 his ability, and his merit, he trod the various paths of 
 honor, until he reached almost the highest office in the 
 gift of forty millions of people. From his example and 
 
 37 
 
434 LIFE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 success, the humblest boy in the nation may learn that 
 in this republic there are no summits upon which his 
 eyes may not rest, or upon which his feet may not 
 stand." 
 
 In his eloquent eulogy, Gen. Banks paid this noble 
 tribute to his lamented friend : — 
 
 " It was the choice and the privilege of every man in 
 this country to fashion his own career. Mr. Wilson 
 made his choice, and worked out his own career. It 
 was a majestic, a multitudinous constituency, of which 
 he became at once the distinguished representative. It 
 was for the poor and the oppressed that he gave his life- 
 long services, in the same category with Messrs. Burlin- 
 game, Rantoul, Sumner, and others, among whom he was 
 entitled to a distinguished position. There may have 
 been momentary departures ; but he always returned to 
 duty with unfailing fidelity and with undaunted hero- 
 ism. It was necessary for such men to work constantly 
 among the masses of the people, whom he represented. 
 As a practical man, he stood one of the first and fore- 
 most of the time. In all that information which was 
 more necessary for government than all the learning of 
 the schools, he was one of the leaders of the age. 
 
 " Added to this, he had an unceasing activity, an exu- 
 berance of strength, and a determination of personal 
 character, that enabled him fully to acquaint himself 
 with the wants and feelings of the people. He had left 
 behind him, through his energy, and his devotion to prin- 
 ciple, a reputation second to none in our day, and which 
 entitled him to the respect, the love, the enduring remem- 
 brance, of all his fellow-men in this and in coming j'cars." 
 
 The funeral train, draped in mourning, arrived in Bos- 
 ton at half-past ten o'clock on Sunday morning, Nov. 
 
THE BODY IN DOKIC HALL. 435 
 
 28, where it was awaited by a vast concourse of sincere 
 mourners, who felt that they had lost a personal friend. 
 Amid the tolling of bells and other signs of general 
 lamentation, the casket was escorted by the Independent 
 Cadets to the Doric Hall in the State House, where 
 Col. Wyman, delivering it to Gov. Gaston, spoke as 
 follows : — 
 
 " YouE Excellency, — In obedience to your orders, 
 we proceeded to Washington, where we received from 
 the National Committee the remains of the late Vice- 
 President ; and we have escorted them to this place." 
 
 To which his Excellenc}^ replied : — 
 
 " Massachusetts receives from you her illustrious 
 dead. She will see to it that he whose dead body you 
 bear to us, but whose spirit has entered upon its higher 
 service, shall receive honors befitting the great office 
 which in life he held ; and I need not assure you that 
 her people, with hearts full of respect, of love, and of 
 veneration, will not only guard and protect the body, 
 the coffin, and the grave, but will also ever cherish his 
 name and fame. Gentlemen, for the pious service 
 which 3^ou have so kindly and tenderly rendered, ac- 
 cept the thanks of a grateful Commonwealth." 
 
 Doric Hall was heavily draped in black, the battle- 
 flags being looped with crape, and covering the can- 
 nons ; while Mr. Wilson's monogram rested on a black 
 curtain at the head of the catafalque. A harp com- 
 posed of white roses and other flowers rested on the 
 casket ; while a cross and crown of violets and roses, 
 and of elegant design, stood at the head, and an anchor 
 of funereal-flowers at the foot, of the casket. A single 
 
436 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 soldier, immovable as a statue, guarded the remains, 
 as the vast throng, amounting, it might have been, to 
 twenty thousand, filed in silence through the hall, and 
 gazed for the last time on the pallid features of the 
 beloved advocate of civil progress, freedom, and fra- 
 ternity. 
 
 Eloquent memorial discourses were pronounced in 
 many of the churches during the day ; among which 
 those of Dr. D. C. Eddy, Dr. George C. liorimer. Dr. 
 S. F. Upham of Lynn, of the Revs. M. J. Savage, J. 
 B. Dunn, and Henry A. Cooke, evinced a just appre- 
 ciation of the exalted worth of the deceased Vice- 
 President. 
 
 On Monday, Nov. 29, the citizens of Massachusetts, 
 through the State officers, performed the obsequies of 
 the Vice-President in a style of grandeur and solemnity 
 that evinced the depth of sorrow in the bosom of the 
 Commonwealth. The public buildings generally were 
 closed ; flags were placed at half-mast ; mourning- 
 emblems were displayed on many private residences ; 
 and half-hour guns were fired. The Hall of Repre- 
 sentatives was most elaborately decorated with festoons 
 of smilax intwined with delicate white flowers. The 
 speaker's desk, draped with black cloth, was almost 
 covered with flowers ; while on that of the clerk was 
 placed a stately shaft composed of tuberoses, camellias, 
 and wliite pinks, and resting on a base of ferns and 
 other graceful leaves. The catafalque opposite the 
 speaker's desk was decorated with tender vines and 
 roses. The pall-bearers, ex-Govs. Boutwell, Banks, 
 Gardner, Washburn, Bullock, Claflin, together with the 
 Hon. A. H. Rice, the Hon. Carl Schurz, and Frederick 
 Douglass, entered about twelve o'clock, followed by 
 
MR. manning's discourse. 437 
 
 other dignitaries of the State, and friends of the de- 
 ceased. The services were opened by the solemn 
 strains of the anthem, "I heard a voice saying unto 
 me. Write," from a quartet of Dr. Eben Tourjee. 
 Dr. A. A. Miner then followed with an impressive 
 prayer. Dr. W. F. Warren presented selections from 
 the Scriptures. The Rev. Phillips Brooks read a chant, 
 " Lord, let me know mine end, the number of my 
 days," to which the choir responded; and Dr. J. M. 
 Manning then delivered a discourse from the words, 
 '' Thy gentleness hath made me great," which was 
 worthy of the man and of the occasion. Of the many 
 eloquent passages we can cite only the following, the 
 former referring to Mr. Wilson's almost superhuman 
 labors in the Senate, and the latter to his departure 
 from the scenes of earth : — 
 
 " At length the gathering cloud burst. It could not 
 be averted: the storm must come. God foreknew this 
 as we did not ; and the men whom his gentleness had 
 been lifting up were ready, each for his solemn part. 
 To Henry Wilson fell the chairmanship of military 
 affairs ; and the prodigious capacity for work which he 
 showed in that place is known to all who saw him there. 
 What president or cabinet ofQcer, what general in the 
 field, what governor, or regiment, or patient in the hos- 
 pital, or soldier's widow, ever had occasion to complain 
 o£ him ? The general-in-chief at the opening of the war 
 said that his daily task was equal to the strength of ten 
 men. Thus he toiled till the forces of the Rebellion 
 were spent. And in the clear dawn of peace, during 
 the weary efforts at reconstruction, which were finally 
 successful, the problem of his life was solved. We all 
 saw for what God had made and endowed him, in the 
 
 37* 
 
438 LIFE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 light of the terrible exigency which had been his grand 
 opportunity. . . . 
 
 " ' You will ride out to-day, Mr. Vice-President,' said 
 his attendant, just as his last earthly dawn was fading 
 into the everlasthig morning. He did ride out, but not 
 in any material vehicle. The chariot of God was in 
 waiting for him. He rode out of death into life, out 
 of the shadow into eternal sunlight, out of corruption 
 into incorruption." 
 
 At the conclusion of the eulogy, the vast audience 
 united in singing Mrs. Adams's beautiful hymn, — 
 
 " Nearer, my God, to thee." 
 
 Dr. R. H. Neale offered an appropriate prayer; the 
 choir sang with touching effect, — 
 
 " Unveil thy bosom, faithful tomb; " 
 
 and the Rev. Phillips Brooks pronounced the benedic- 
 tion. 
 
 A procession, consisting of a long array of military 
 forces, — among which was the Twenty-second Regi- 
 ment, of which Mr. Wilson was the original commander, 
 government officials, and civic organizations, — attended 
 the remains, while guns were pealing, bells were tolling, 
 and bands performing dirges, to the station at Cottage 
 Farm, from which the casket was conveyed, under a 
 special guard, to Natick for the final obsequies. Here 
 it was received at Concert Hall, which was tastefully 
 draped in funereal emblems, by Mr. C. H. Perry, on 
 behalf of the mourning citizens, who came with tear- 
 ful eyes to view the sacred dust of their distinguished 
 and beloved townsman. On the day following, private 
 
FD:tTERAL SERVICES AT NATICK. 439 
 
 funeral services were held at the house of the Vice- 
 President, on Central Street, on account of the in- 
 ability of Mrs. Howe,* his aged mother-in-law, to be 
 present at the Hall. They were conducted by the 
 Rev. A. E. Rej^nolds and the Rev. Edmund Dowse, 
 the latter of whom, a long and intimate friend of the 
 departed, said, in substance, — 
 
 '' We are to-day gathered in the home of Henry 
 Wilson. Here he lived for many years. Here he 
 enjoyed the sweets of domestic hfe. Here he watched 
 over a loving wife in sickness, and, when her spirit 
 passed away, with loving hand bore her remains to a 
 resting-place in yonder cemetery. Here he rested from 
 his labors, and, could he have had his wish, he would 
 have closed his eyes in this house upon the world and 
 its cares, amidst friends and relations. But God decreed 
 otherwise. We feel to-day that darkness is around and 
 about us ; yet we have full faith in the saying, that light 
 dwelleth with the righteous. Here in this house, 
 though the former occupant sleeps in dust, is the holy 
 Bible ; here is the family altar he created ; and from all 
 these sources comes to us to-day comfort, preparing us 
 to say, 'Even so, Father : thy will be done, not mine.' " 
 The minister closed with a touching allusion to the 
 great kindness manifested by Mr. Wilson to his aged 
 mother-in-law. 
 
 The remains were then carried back to the Hall, 
 from the ceiling of which was suspended a large black 
 canopy having a beautiful wreath of flowers beneath, 
 
 * Mrs. Mary (Toombs) Howe, relict of Mr. Amasa Howe, is the daughter of 
 Joseph nnJ Blary (Homer) Toombs of Hopkinton. He was born in 1750, and was 
 the son of Daniel Toombs, who married Mary CoUen, Oct. 3, 1739. They were of 
 Scotch-Irish descent, and among the early settlers of Hopkinton. Amasa Howe 
 (son of Perley Howe, and his wife Anna HUl of Medway) was descended from 
 Hezekiah Howe, who married Jane Jennison of Sudbury, Oct. 31, ITiG. 
 
440 LIFE OF HENEY WILSON. 
 
 that sent forth a white dove with unfolded wings, directly 
 over the coffin, which was also covered with flowers. 
 The services were opened by singing, — 
 
 " God is our strength; " 
 
 when the Rev. A. E. Reynolds offered a tender 
 prayer ; the Rev. J. S. Whedon read selections from 
 the Scriptures ; the response, " Abide with Me," 
 was sun^ ; and admirable addresses were made by the 
 Rev. Edmund Dowse and the Rev. Francis N. Peloubet, 
 pastor of the church of which Mr. Wilson was a mem- 
 ber. In the course of his eulogy, Mr. Peloubet said, 
 " He needs no monument to show where he died ; for 
 he built his own monument here, by which men shall 
 remember where he lived. We are surrounded by his 
 labors as by a great clond of witnesses. 
 
 "Is there a work-bench that is not made more sacred 
 and honorable and hopeful, because Henry Wilson for 
 years worked at one, and while there gained his educa- 
 tion, and grew into larger powers ? Is there a young 
 man whose heart does not expand, and hopes grow 
 brighter, because Henry Wilson contended with the 
 same difficulties, fought the same temptations, encoun- 
 tered the same trials, and came off conqueror ? 
 
 " We look at our beautiful library, and remember that 
 Henry Wilson was the first, or one of the first, sub- 
 scribers to the fund from which the town library grew. 
 We think of our schools, and remember that he was 
 once a teacher in them ; and more, under what hard 
 schoolmasters, after what hard days' works, by what 
 light of the kitchen-fire, he gained his education. 
 
 " We look at our thriving churches, and remember 
 that he was a Christian, and took a deep interest in all 
 
MR. peloubet's address. 441 
 
 that pertains to the kingdom of Christ. His voice was 
 heard in the prayer-meeting. He helped found, and was 
 one of the most hberal supporters of, the Young Men's 
 Christian Association. 
 
 " Henry Wilson made many speeches ; but the best 
 speech was his life and character at home. He longed 
 to finish the book he was writing ; but Natick itself is 
 his best book, known and read by all. 
 
 "To us, his fellow-townsmen, man}" lessons come from 
 yonder coffin. His spirit seems to come back from the 
 mansions of the blest, and, taking us each by the hand, 
 points to the lessons he has lived, written in letters as 
 bright as the light on the emblems of mourning. Let 
 us read them : Religion, temperance, industry, patriot- 
 ism, courage, principle, character. He shows how we 
 may gain an education. He shows us the way to true 
 success. He shows us the possibilities of good before us 
 all, — what we can be, and what we can do, if we will 
 trust God, and do the right; that the circumstances 
 which would hinder us may be made stepping-stones 
 of success ; that the enemies Avhich bar our way may 
 be made soldiers to fight our battles for us ; that the 
 burdens which would crush us may become the eagle's 
 wing to bear us upward." 
 
 At the close of Mr. Peloubet's address, the audience 
 united in singing, — 
 
 " Nearer, my God, to tkee ; '* 
 
 and the Rev. B. R. Gifford pronounced the benediction. 
 At three o'clock, P.M., the long procession, in which were 
 the officers of the Maryland Fifth Regiment, moved 
 with slow and reverent step to the Dell Park Cemetery, 
 a charming eminence that overlooks Cochituate Lake 
 
442 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 and the town of Natick ; and there, in tearful silence 
 were deposited, just as the sun was sinking in the west, 
 the mortal remains of the illustrious dead in their final 
 earthly home. The lot of Mr. Wilson, in the north-east 
 corner of the burial-ground, is tastefully ornamented 
 with shrubs and flowers, and contahis a marble sarcoph- 
 agus, surmounted by a hat, feather, sword, belt, and 
 sash, and having the inscription given on p. 370 of this 
 biography. At the right of this stands a well-wrought 
 marble headstone, bearing these words : — 
 
 *' Harriet M. Ho^e, born in Xatick, Nov. 21, 1824; married to 
 Henry Wilson Nov. 2,8, 1840; died May 28, 1870. She made 
 home happy. 
 
 *' But oh for the touch of a vanquished hand. 
 And the sound of a voice that is still ! " * 
 
 Beside this grave the body of the late Vice-President 
 reposes. 
 
 * A beautiful white lily cliiselled on this monument, and intwincd by an ivy 
 planted by the bereaved husband, is noticed in these graceful lines, which appeared 
 In the Traveller iu September, 1S72 : — 
 
 A lily on the marble slept, 
 
 Emblem of one whom many wept. 
 
 Chiselled by the .sculptor's care, 
 
 It lay iu graceful beauty there. 
 
 While flowers blooming iu the ground 
 
 Shed a sweet fragrance all around. 
 
 A iittlc ivy planted there. 
 
 And fostered by a husband's care, 
 
 Had with its clhiging tendrils sought 
 
 The flower on the marble wrought, 
 
 Then 'mid the lily's leaves so fair. 
 
 It wove its green ones closely there, 
 
 As to the emblem it would cling 
 
 And a rich, leafy tribute bnng. 
 
 To show that love still fondly turned 
 
 To her whose form was there iauxned. — E. W. S. 
 
PROPERTY AND RELATIVES. 443 
 
 ** No monument a broader base sustains 
 
 Than thine must have, — on equal rights and laws: 
 No memory the continent retains 
 
 Truer to God's will and manhood's holy cause." 
 
 At a little distance, in the same lot, stands the twin 
 headstone of his father and mother. It is of beautiful 
 d ssign ; and on it is inscribed : — 
 
 *' Winthrop Colbath, born April 7, 1787; died Feb. 10, 1860; and 
 Abigail Colbath, born March 21, 1785; died Aug. 8, 186G." 
 
 In his will, dated April 21, 1874, Mr. Wilson be- 
 queathed all his property of whatever kind to his 
 nephew, W. L. Coolidge, to be held in trust for the 
 benefit of his venerable mother-in-law, Mrs. Mary 
 Howe, for the support and education of his adopted 
 daughter, Eva Wilson, an intelligent girl, now about 
 ten years old, and under the charge of Mrs. Fifield ; and 
 for other minor purposes, leaving it all to the " friend- 
 ship, discretion, and sense of right" of Mr. Coolidge, 
 who is constituted the sole executor. The whole prop- 
 erty will not exceed 810,000. The life of the testator 
 was insured for 83,500. The third and last volume of 
 Mr. Wilson's " Rise and Fall of the Slave-Power," of 
 which about sixteen chapters are written, will, it is 
 supposed, be completed by the Rev. Samuel Hunt, an 
 intimate friend, and, for the last seven years, private 
 secretary, of the Vice-President. Mr. Wilson left four 
 brothers, all of whom are younger than himself; and all 
 are mamed, and have had children. John Colbath, the 
 oldest, is a farmer, living in Compton, Canada; Charles 
 H., who married Eliza Newcomb, is a stone-cutter, 
 r-siding in Hingham, i\Iass. ; Samuel is a doorkeeper at 
 the United-States Senate; and George Albert is an 
 inspector at the Custom House in Boston. 
 
444 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 In person, Mr. Wilson was robust and Avell propor- 
 tioned. He was five feet, ten inches in height, and 
 weighed about one hundred and eighty pounds. With 
 a light complexion and a clear skin, his whole counte- 
 nance glowed with health and vigor. His eyes Avere 
 quick and clear: his forehead, broad and high. The 
 portrait by Mi\ Butro, from a photograph by Mr. Black, 
 in this volume, presents his features with correctness ; 
 but the marble bust of the sculptor Milmore, intro- 
 duced by a resolution of the General Court into the 
 State Library in May, 1872, exhibits something more 
 of the ideality and the lofty spirit by which his counte- 
 nance was in his happiest hours irradiated. His frame 
 was compact and solid, and, even to the last, bore little 
 indication of the eventide of life. In dress and manner 
 he was plain and unpretending, and, when at leisure, re- 
 markably frank, open, and confiding in his conversation. 
 
 Note. — His family, as has been stated, belonged to that excellent 
 stock, the Scotch-Irish, who eniij,a-ated to New England in the begin- 
 ning of the last century. The earliest form in which his family name 
 appears in this country is Colbreath ; evidently the same as Calbreath, 
 a name of respectability in Scotland. James Colbreath was baptized 
 Sept. 19, 1725, at Newhigton, N.H. ; and from him is descended, tbrough 
 AVinthrop, and Winthrop, jun., the subject of this memoir. The chil- 
 dren of James and Olive Colbreath were Leighton, Independence, Win- 
 throp, Hunking, Benning, Keziali, Deborah, and Amy. His son Winthrop 
 married Hannah Rollins of Newington, N.H., and they removed to 
 llochester, now Farmington, about 1783, or a little anterior to the birth 
 of Winthrop, Mr. Wilson's father. The name Colbreath is among those 
 Scottish emigrants who petitioned Gov. Shute for permission to settle in 
 this State. They were largely from Argyleshire in Scotland. The coat- 
 of-arms of the Colbreath family is, " Bendy of six argent and azure on 
 a chief sable, three crosses pattee or." — Burke's Encyclop.53dia op 
 Heraldry. 
 
 • As an orator, Mr. Wilson was strong and vehement, 
 rather than bland and graceful. He cared but little 
 
RECORD AS A SPEAKER. 445 
 
 for the rules of the rhetorician, and seldom turned 
 aside in search of ornament : still he studied the best 
 English and American models, — Pitt, Burke, Sheridan, 
 Adams, Wirt, Webster, — and used elevated, or Avhat 
 might be termed forensic diction. Grasping his subject 
 firmly, he presented his propositions with distinctness, 
 and defended them by a constant appeal to facts. His 
 memory was an inexhaustible magazine of facts ; and 
 out they came as solid shot from a columbiad, to break 
 up the intrenchment of his enemy. 
 
 His great speeches in reply to Mr. Hammond, in 
 reply to Mr. Butler, as well as those on the Pacific Rail- 
 road, the Lecompton Constitution, and the Crittenden 
 Compromise, consist mainly of statements, or citations 
 of matters of fact. With some speakers, such a liberal 
 use of facts would be intolerable ; but with Mr. Wilson 
 they were so pertinently selected, and so earnestly 
 presented, that they, in general, commanded profound 
 attention. 
 
 With kindly sympathies and an earnest purpose, 
 with an open countenance, a clear, strong voice, and 
 animated gestures, Mr. Wilson always secured the 
 attention of a popular assembly ; and his words, where 
 more finished speakers failed, were greeted with ap- 
 plause. He found the way to the heart of the people ; 
 and that is something higher than any studied elo- 
 quence. 
 
 He made his loftiest record as a speaker in the 
 senate-chamber. In most of the stirring debates that 
 agitated the country during its most tremendous strug- 
 gle, he took a leading part. He measured blades with 
 most of the veteran champions of the South, — Toombs, 
 Davis, Benton, Hammond, Butler, Breckenridge, — and 
 
446 LIFE OF HENKY WILSON. 
 
 often gained the mastery. Many of his brief speeches 
 here are models of forensic eloquence ; and parts of 
 some of them have found their way into our reading- 
 books. Of his speaking and his influence in the Senate, 
 a letter-writer at Washington, March 16, 1867, said, — 
 
 " But yesterday he rose to speak in the middle of 
 the protracted debate on the Supplementary Recon- 
 struction Bill ; and at once the great indifference dis- 
 appeared. Senators on every side turned from their 
 papers and letters to listen ; and what Mr. Wilson had 
 to say was attended to with a greater degree of interest 
 and respect on the floor of the Senate than had been 
 given to any thing which had fallen from the lips of. 
 Mr. Sumner, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Fessenden, or, in fact, 
 of anybody else, since I have been an observer in the 
 galleries. Such a phenomenon must mean something; 
 and, listening to the remarks of the Massachusetts sen- 
 ator myself, I found the explanation in the fact that 
 he talked more directly to the matter in hand, with 
 more of fact, and less of theory, more of substance, and 
 less of ornament, than any other speaker who had taken 
 part in the debate ; and so I concluded that Congress, 
 if not also the country, on this subject of reconstruc- 
 tion at any rate, has had enough of rhetoric, and enough 
 of orator}^, and has an appetite only for those plain 
 facts of the need of the day, which Mr. Wilson so 
 forcibly urged." 
 
 Had Mr. Wilson read more of the classic poets, his 
 stjde might, indeed, have had more finish, but not, per- 
 haps, more force. Great national crises demand of 
 leaders, not smooth, rounded periods, and rhetorical 
 flourishes, but substantial facts, strong argumentation, 
 and honest purpose ; these Mr. Wilson had, and hence 
 the Senate and the people heard him gladly. 
 
VIEWS AS A states:man. 447 
 
 His reasoning was sustained by the grand argument 
 of a consistent life: hence it came home to the con- 
 science, and was fraught with power. No man of his 
 time, perhaj)s, addressed so many people in America as 
 Henry Wilson ; and none, perhaps, spoke so few words 
 that he, if living, would wish to have unsaid. On 
 rising to speak before an audience, his manly form, his 
 honest, open, florid face, and sympathetic voice, bespoke 
 for him a generous reception. The people saw at once 
 that "honesty, poverty, and politics had agreed with 
 him, and that a congressman might ignore crime, keep 
 a clean palm, hold his Maker in remembrance, and yet 
 wear a rosy, unclouded face." Thus he moved the 
 masses to accept his counsels, and translate them into 
 joractice ; and, if this be not eloquence, it is something 
 above eloquence : it is, in the words of Webster, " Ac- 
 tion, — noble, sublime, Godlike action." 
 
 As a statesman, Mr. Wilson's views were broad and 
 comprehensive, and at the same time eminently practical. 
 The works of the immortal sages — Washington, Ham- 
 ilton, Adams, Jefferson, Jay, Marshall, and others who 
 laid the foundation of this government — were his life- 
 long study: in their spirit and opinions, his political 
 education was perfected. His inspiration came indeed 
 from a still higher source, — the instructions of the Son 
 of Mary. The great principles of equality, fraternity, 
 civil and religious freedom, and social progress, formed 
 the basis of his political system ; and, having confidence 
 in the stability of popular government so administered, 
 he labored with invincible determination to defend 
 those principles. Because he apprehended with such 
 clearness the extent and bearing of a present exigency, 
 so quicldy saw the tendency and drift of things, some 
 
448 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON". 
 
 thought that his political views were superficial rather 
 than profound ; but a rapid river may be also deep and 
 strong. Mr. Wilson was a thinker, grasping as easily the 
 broadest principle as the most restricted precept ; and 
 he had the power to examine them either under the light 
 of past experience, of present utility, or of future good. 
 His view of the slavery-question from the outset, his 
 forecast of the final issue, his legislation for the conduct 
 of the war, and his conviction of the grand result, most 
 clearly manifest the scope, as well as the accuracy, of his 
 vision. While he was a sound, sagacious statesman, he 
 at the same time possessed great administrative ability. 
 He framed a bill with remarkable precision, and carried 
 it through its various stages up to its final passage with 
 surprising speed and skill. It has been said that more 
 than half the legislation in Congress during the civil 
 war was done by Massachusetts, and certainly enough 
 of that by the military senator to entitle him to a grand 
 historic position in the annals of the nation. 
 
 As a writer, Mr. Wilson's style is characterized by 
 perspicuity, force, and dignity. His figures, when they 
 do occur, are strildng ; his quotations from the poets, 
 apt and pertinent ; his pictures, strongly drawn, and 
 sharp in outline. He had no turn for wit or humor : 
 indeed, the subjects on which he wrote do not demand 
 it. His periods are, in general, well rounded and har- 
 monious. His last work is his best ; and this, in point 
 of diction, as well as in respect to accuracy of statement, 
 cogency of reasoning, scope of vision, and unity of con- 
 struction, will rank with the writings of the best histo- 
 rians of America. 
 
 As a man, Mr. Wilson was ir.tensely earnest and sin- 
 cere. He had a wonderfully quick conception of what 
 
HIS BRAYEEY AND KINDNESS. 449 
 
 was just and right : he dared to act on his convictions, 
 and this was one secret of his power. He had no fear 
 of his antagonist : he never cowered in front of danger. 
 In every trjdng crisis of his life, he stood a hero, un- 
 daun!;ed and unterrified. At the first National Repub- 
 lican Convention in Philadelphia, when an assault was 
 anticipated, he came upon the " platform with a stout 
 hickory cane in his hand, and, after the protracted ap- 
 plause which greeted him had subsided, commenced 
 very deliberately and emphatically as follows : ' I learn 
 that there is much apprehension existing here and at 
 the North in regard to the peril which your senators 
 and representatives are supposed to be in at the national 
 capital, in consequence of their non-combative princi- 
 ples. Gentlemen, I beg you to dismiss your fears. 
 Your public servants there have made up their minds, 
 and know how to defend their persons, whenever, how- 
 ever, by whomsoever, attacked.' A storm of the wild- 
 est cheers told how accurately the senator had read the 
 temper of the convention." 
 
 So when a musket-ball was fired into the assembly 
 which he was addressing in New Orleans, and struck 
 into the ceiling near his head, he manifested no emotion, 
 but proceeded with his address as steadily as if nothing 
 had occurred. 
 
 He was large-hearted, self-sacrificing, and liberal to a 
 fault. He was a friend of the friendless, and a com- 
 passionate comforter of the poor and needy. Here is a 
 sinde instance amoncr thousands that could be cited. 
 An Irish boy was killed by the cars, while his mother, 
 for drunkenness, was an inmate of the House of Correc- 
 tion. She had an intense desire to see her son's re- 
 mains ; but no one could remove her. Mr. Wilson then 
 
 38* 
 
450 LIFE OF HENRY WILSON. 
 
 went himself to Cambridge, gave bonds for her return, 
 took her in the cars to Natick, gave her his arm, and 
 escorted her to the house, and, when the funeral services 
 were over, went back with her to the prison. Though 
 having it in his power to hoard millions, he lived and 
 died comparatively poor. He was ever in liveliest sym- 
 pathy with the working-classes. From them he sprang ; 
 with them he fought the battle for free labor ; and for 
 their rights, their social, moral, and intellectual elevation, 
 he spent with cheerful heart his time, his money, and 
 his mental energies. He believed in human progress, 
 and in the power of the people to perpetuate republican 
 institutions. The means for doing this he clearly indi- 
 cated, in an able article on " The New Departure of the 
 Republican Party," in " The Atlantic Monthly," Janu- 
 ary, 1871, to be the education and unification of the peo- 
 ple. He saw with hopeful eye the prospective grandeur 
 of the United States, yet felt, that, to attain it, we must 
 have a nobler educational system, a broader knowledge 
 of the principles of our civil and political institutions, 
 a better understanding, and a closer application of the 
 teachings of Christianity to our public, social, and pri- 
 vate life. 
 
 He was, therefore, the earnest friend of the public 
 school, the university, the pulpit, and the press. Pro- 
 foundly acquainted with the genius and the spirit of 
 ills nation, from the workshop to the halls of Con- 
 gress, he labored wisely and persistently to make the 
 nation what it is : hence his opinions are entitled to pro- 
 found respect. Among the self-made men of the times, 
 he stood pre-eminent as a man magnificently made. 
 Though reared among the intemperate, his tongue 
 was never contaminated by the touch of alcohol • 
 
HIS CHAEACTER. 451 
 
 though wielding immense patronage, his palm was nev- 
 er stained by bribery ; though breathing for so many 
 years the infected atmosphere of politics, his heart still 
 beat fresh and free for human sorrow ; though rising 
 by indomitable energy and integrity from a low posi- 
 tion to the yice-presidency of the United States, his 
 spirit remained subdued and humble. His life, so 
 marked by manly struggle, earnest words, and noble 
 deeds, is a model for the young men of America to hold 
 before them for encouragement and imitation. It was 
 developed and guided by the solid principles of a Book 
 which he received in childhood, and which sustained 
 him in his conflict with the world, and gave him full 
 assurance, when the scenes of earth were fading, of a 
 more resplendent life to come : hence above the states- 
 man, patriot, and historian, he stood, and will ever 
 stand, before the world, as the devoted and aspiring 
 Cheistian. 
 
 It is not by any means desired to present him as a 
 perfect man, nor to claim for him any thing more than 
 is justly due ; but so far as those grand elements which 
 form true manhood go, fo far as a living sympathy with 
 man as man, so far as a life unselfishly devoted to the sons 
 of toil and suffering, so far as the daily exemplification 
 of the ennobling principles of Christianity, may be re- 
 garded, he made a record that will hold its brightness 
 when the memories of men more brilliant in exterior 
 graces shall have passed into oblivion. He was an in- 
 tensely practical and earnest working-man; but work finds 
 little room for outward graces: yet the times demanded 
 working-men strong and fearless. He had the Avill to 
 work; and, as we said in the beginning, woekees win. 
 
452 LITE OiT HENRY WILSON. 
 
 From boyhood, he sought wisdom as most men seek 
 gain. He stood firm for human right in defiance of 
 power. He bore an honorable part in guiding this 
 nation through the perils of war, through the equal 
 perils attending peace. He spent his life in giving liberty 
 to the slave, and in opening this continent to free labor. 
 He evinced an integrity which no temptation could 
 corrupt, no threat intimidate, no danger shake ; a con- 
 fidence in God, which triumphed over death itself: and, 
 having so lived and died, he deserves well of his coun- 
 try. His character, as a star of serene, benignant ray, 
 will shine the brighter as men shall examine it the more. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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