123 
 
 I .~Bsz 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
SPEECH OF HON. ER1STUS BROOKS, 
 
 IN THE 
 
 Senate, Feb. 7th, 8th, and 13th, 1855, 
 
 The Lemmon Slave Case and Slavery — Secret Societies and Oaths — Grounds 
 of Opposition to Mr. Seward — The Common Schools of New York — The 
 Bible in our Schools — The Pure Franchises — A Better System of Naturali- 
 zation — American Ambassadors Abroad — American Rulers at Home. 
 
 Wednesday, February 7. 1855. 
 Mr. President: — The interest of the occasion 
 has passed. The election of Wm. H. Seward has 
 been consummated, and in the common phrase 
 of the day, I suppose we are to congratulate our- 
 selves that "the country is safe !" The electric 
 wires have borne the news from Albany to tho 
 National Capitol and the roar of cannon has 
 proclaimed the result throughout the State. I 
 would not, if I could, mar f he joy of those whoso 
 hearts have been made glad by the occurrence of 
 yesterday. So far as that act has been consum- 
 mated in the exercise of a generous friendship I 
 can esteem the sentiment. So far as men are 
 sincere in the avowed conviction that no other 
 man is so fit to represent the State, I can appre- 
 ciate the feeling which prompts such a discharge 
 of duty, however much I may fail to respect the 
 conviction which prompts such conduct. But so 
 far as men have consented to become the pas- 
 sive instruments of any body, and to sacrifice 
 their own self-respect, and duty to their consti- 
 tuents, they are unworthy of any mau's confi- 
 dence or respect. So far also, as the seductions 
 of flattery and the threats of power have contri- 
 buted to the end achieved, they who have acted 
 from such considerations carry the deepest pun- 
 ishment in their own bosoms. If such men can 
 be happy, let them rejoice. It seemed to mo 
 amidst the riot and revelry of the night past over 
 this election, that there was something like a bit- 
 ter sarcasm in the music employed to congratu- 
 late some of those chiefly instrumental in this re- 
 sult. If music and wine, cheers and the roar 
 of artillery, can satisfy those who turn their backs 
 to their constituents, or if such midnight revelry 
 can stifle the consciences of men, let them be hap- 
 
 It was my wish that the public judgment could 
 have met this question in regard to Mr. Seward's 
 election upon its naked merits. I endeavored to 
 persuade those in power here to allow the peo- 
 ple to pass their verdict upon the man, and failing 
 in persuasion, I endeavored to provoke his friends 
 in a spirit of defiance to allow the question to go 
 over another year. They had neither nerve nor 
 courage to submit the question to the people of 
 New York. They trembled in remembrance of 
 the popular verdict as it has been demonstrated 
 among the farmers of Orleans, Ontario and Liv- 
 
 ingston, since the election of the present Legisla- 
 ture. They knew that this body was elected 
 with but little reference to the U. S. Senatorial 
 question, and that Governor, Lieutenant Govern- 
 or, all the State Officers, all public questious and 
 all private considerations, had been sacrificed to 
 secure men favorable to Mr. Seward. They knew, 
 too, that men here had been guilty of deep deceit 
 and treachery, that they had proclaimed them- 
 selves hostile to Mr. Seward before their election 
 and during the canvass, and that they betrayed 
 the confidence of those who supported them. 
 
 The means resorted to, to secure the result 
 which has made many so happy, are such as well 
 may make many blush. A species of political 
 magnetism had pervaded the atmosphere. Men 
 have been tracked from door to door, and house 
 to house, to give a vote which would not have 
 been given, but for the use of such appliances. 
 The political Goths and Vandals, have made a 
 rush upon the Capitol. They have followed men 
 to their chambers. They have feasted them, 
 dined them, supped them, lodged them, coaxed 
 them, and begged, and threatened until many 
 gentlemen, who if they had been left to act upon 
 their own private judgments or upon the will of 
 their constitutes have acted in disregard of both. 
 Never in all my life have I seen so humiliating a 
 spectacle as the scenes acted in and around this 
 Capitol within the past few days. Caucus dicta- 
 tion has influenced some. Others who fled from 
 the caucus, were drawn back to the nomination 
 made in caucus. Every one sees, feels, and 
 knows the pressure, and there are those so lost 
 to all self respect, and independence that they 
 have made confession of their weakness. Alas, 
 that party tyrany and discipline should carry 
 men so far. 
 
 THE QUESTION BEFORE THE SENATE. 
 
 I desire, now, to bring the Senate to the res- 
 olutions under consideration. They propose to 
 employ State Counsel upon the Lemmon case. — 
 Will ary Senator tell me the precise condition of 
 this suit, or why this resolution is here 1 I pause 
 for a reply — I receive none. In my judgment, 
 it is here in order to keep up the agitation upon 
 the slave question. The Slaves are free and 
 paid for. The judgment of the court which set 
 them free, is the judgment of the State. The 
 
2 
 
 ?« 
 
 % 
 
 act was doue in accordance to law, and the act 
 could not have been left undone after the repeal 
 of the nine months' law of 1817, by the act of 
 1841. The case is not pressed by the State of 
 Virginia, and has bardly been heard from, ex- 
 cept for political purposes, since 1852. Why 
 then, I ask again is it here, and action urged 
 upon it from day to day. I have sought infor- 
 mation from the highest executive authority of 
 the State, and from the highest judicial authori- 
 ty of the State, and I can learn nothing in the 
 way of the reason or necessity of passing upon 
 such a resolution. The purpose then, which has 
 brought the subject here, is a partizan and po- 
 litical one, and the hope is to keep the com- 
 munity perpetually inflamed upon Slavery is- 
 sues. In the discussion of Private Bills, of 
 Church Property Bills, and of this Resolve, we 
 have heard but little else from the other side, 
 except what Wm H. Seward has done for the 
 North. He is the only true man Senators can 
 find among all who have represented this State 
 or the free States. Rulus King was placed be- 
 side him, among those who have passed from 
 the stage of action, but the Senator, naming Mr. 
 King, forgot that when Mr. Webster proposed 
 a recommendation in Congress, to get rid of the 
 free blacks of the South — the same proposition 
 for which Rufus King urged an appropriation of 
 &80,000,0G0— it was opposed by Mr. Seward. — 
 We have had, therefore, if all we hear is true, 
 but one just man in the United States Senate, in 
 the entire history of the State of New York. 
 
 But let us see if the North has really been so 
 destitute. Mr. Seward is specially commended 
 for his opposition to the extension of Slavery. — 
 This has been the general sentiment of the 
 North, always. Mr. Webster, a score of times 
 and in a score of places, opposed the extension of 
 Slavery. His opposition may be found in his 
 famous 7th of March speech, so eminently Na- 
 tional and Constitutional, but yet strongly 
 against the extension of Slavery. That speech 
 covers the views uttered by Mr. Webster at 
 Niblo's Garden in 1837, where he said "that Sla- 
 very was a great moral, social and political evil, 
 and where, on account of Slavery, he opposed 
 the annexation of Texas." Ten years later, at 
 Springfield, Mass , he said " We aro to use the 
 first, the last and every occasion which offers to 
 oppose the extension of the Slave power." Simi- 
 lar sentiments were uttered during Mr. Webster's 
 last tour through New York and ?11 the way 
 from Lake Erie to the Hudson. His speeches, 
 whenever he addressed the Senate or public 
 bodies upon the subject, have been in favor of 
 freedom. I acknowledge Mr. Webster to be my 
 teacher upon this subject, and especially in all 
 his Constitutional views upon it. His views aro 
 mine. I would give all the guarantees which 
 the Constitution gives, and no more and no less. 
 The Senator from the 26th (Mr. Dickinson), de- 
 sires some one to rise here and declare " Slavery 
 a National Institution !" He would like, he 
 says, to present such a Senator to Mr. Barnum, 
 and make a public exhibition of him as a living 
 curiosity ! Trme certainly could be but one 
 greater curiosity than this, to be placed at the 
 •service of Mr. Barnum, and that would be the 
 
 ?>A 
 
 honorable Senator himself, who, rising in his 
 place, calls upon his associates to defend so ab- 
 surd a proposition. Who, any where, at any 
 time, in the Carolinas, in Georgia, Alabama, 
 Texas, or elsewhere between the Delaware and 
 Rio Grande, has called Slavery a National In- 
 stitution ! No Southern or Northern man, has 
 ever given utterance to a i roposition so ridicu- 
 lous, and yet it has an utteranco here, and is an- 
 swered here, as if somebody defended such an 
 absurdity as a great political truth. No sir, 
 Slavery is a State question and a local question. 
 It has always been treated so in the United 
 States, in Ei gland, in France, by jcrists at 
 home, by the standard writers on International 
 law, as abundant authorities before me show. — 
 The words Slave and of \ roperty in Slaves, were 
 omitted in the Constitu'ion by design, and on 
 appeal from one of the most distinguished of the 
 Virginia delegates (Mr. Madison), in order to 
 avoid the angry discussions which Senators love 
 to create, and I fear for no good purpose. Why 
 sir, what greater regard have these men for the 
 welfare of the negroes than the rest of us 1 Why 
 do they argue against Slavery here in New 
 York, where there are no Slaves, and upon a 
 proposition which nobody opposes 1 They put 
 up a man of straw and beat him with wind, in 
 order to agitate and agitate this subject of Sla- 
 very, and if possible, more and more to irritate 
 the North against the South and the South 
 against the North. 
 
 Mr. President : — If I entertained towards the 
 South, sentiments which have had utterance in 
 the two branches of this Legislature, I would not 
 live in a country where there was Slavery or a 
 South. I would exile myself from my native 
 land forever. I would seek some spot like Rob- 
 inson Crusoe's Island, or the rock of St. Helena, 
 some solitary spot of earth in mid-ocean, or 
 some mountain top, and there, brooding over 
 the country I had left, and in which I could not 
 live, I would sigh myself away. The golden 
 grains of a Southern harvest, its sheaves of 
 wheat, rich in the fruits of the earth, would pre- 
 sent themselves to me only in th-j sombre 
 hues of Slavery. The tobacco of Virginia, North 
 Carolina and Kentucky, should never pass my 
 lips nor cross my threshold. The rice fields of 
 South Carolina and Georgia, would bring to me 
 a malaria worse then the certain death of those, 
 who, unacclimed, fall asleep and die upon a rice 
 plantation. The sugar of Louisiana, Texas and 
 Florida, would be to me, as acid as vinegar, and 
 as bitter as gall and wormwood. I would go to 
 bed sheetless and shirtless, before I would lie 
 between, or wear apparel or covering made 
 from cotton which grew on a Southern planta- 
 tion. The South should be to me, not the land 
 of the rice and cane, of the fig and orange, but of 
 the upas tree, aud with nothing but deep Cim- 
 merian darkness above and below. If I could 
 entertain in my own heart, even for a moment, 
 the thoughts which have utterance here, I would 
 have, if not a country of my own, at least a flag 
 of my own, and there should be no star upon its 
 ground-work to represent the States of Washing- 
 ton, Marion, Oglethorpe or Jackson. It amazes 
 me, that gentlemen in whose breastB must flow 
 
kindly sympathises, can entertain sentiments so 
 hostile tow .rds brethern of their own country, 
 and in a spirit of charity towards these general 
 accusers, I desire to believe they do not, mean 
 •what they say. I have rarely seen a pro-Sla- 
 very man of any party at the North, and I have 
 met with many Ami-Slavery men at the South. 
 You have retarded the Ami Slavery sentiment 
 South. The repeal of the Missouri Compromise, 
 I confess, to have felt as a deep wound upon 
 the country aud the whole country, not because 
 of its effect upon Slavery, for I do not believe it 
 will have any eftect favorable to that insti.ution, 
 but because it was, in my judgment, an act of 
 bad faith. 
 
 SLAVERY AND KNOW NOTHINGISM. 
 
 Now, sir, to touch upon another subject, what 
 resemblance or alliance, can there be to warrant 
 the declaration of the Senator from the 27th 
 (Mr Bishop) that there is an alliance between 
 Slavery and "Know Nothingism," as it is called. 
 The most ultra Administration presses of the 
 South, the Richmond Enquirer and Washington 
 Union, for example, are united with the extreme 
 presses of the JNorth in denouncing the great 
 American movement of the day. Aud whyl — 
 They fear that this country may become har- 
 monised, united, and one in feeling as it is one ge- 
 ographically and under the Constitution. Cease 
 to agitate for Southern Slavery at the South and 
 against Southern Slavery at the North and their 
 vocation is gone. 
 
 The Senators from the 26th aud 27th, delight to 
 picture forth the horrors ot '•Know-Nothingism," 
 secresy and Slavery. Vitality is given to a Vir- 
 ginia law, which is a dead letter, and repealed I 
 believe, because unconstitutional. Let me tell 
 both of these Senators that the election of Mr. 
 Seward eives more joy to the friends of the Ad- 
 ministration in Virginia, to-day, than any other 
 event which has transpired within a twelve- 
 month. And why 1 Not because Mr. Seward is 
 loved there, but because his uame is used by po- 
 liticians as a bugbear to frighten men from their 
 propriety, and because Mr. Seward being elected 
 here, the hope is that that event may help to se- 
 cure the vote of Virginia for Mr. Wise in the 
 month of April. 
 
 We are told, too, and most exultingly here, 
 that there is no Whig party South ! No sir, uot 
 even such men as John Bell and Mr. Cullom of 
 Tenessee, Col. Hunt of Louisiana, and a score of 
 as true men as ever breathed the breath of life, 
 and who stood by the Missouri Compromise to 
 the bitter end, are Whigs in our estimation. — 
 They are loyal to the Government, National in 
 sentiment, just to the North, and yet not Whigs 
 I because not Abolitionists. Noboby is deemed a 
 ! Whig, nowadays, whose song is not heard in 
 the paraphrase of 
 
 SlavtryXhe woods, 
 Slavery the floods. 
 Slavery the aollow mountains ring. 
 
 SECRET SOCIETIES AND OATHS. 
 
 Mr. President: — I come now to speak of other 
 matters which have been made prominent during 
 i this discussion. 
 
 Gentlemen profess to be alarmed at the ex- 
 
 istence of secret societies, and particularly at 
 what are called these " Know-Nothing Associ- 
 ations." Well, sir, if what we hear be true, 
 what secrets have they which have not been 
 promulgated to the four winds of heaven. Is 
 there any thing hidden which has uot been re- 
 vealed 1 The principles are as well developed 
 as the light of the sun. Every bod> knows them, 
 and if need be, every body may know their de- 
 fenders. And who have been among the chief 
 assailants of these organizations'? The very men 
 who entered them, who deliberately and 
 voluntarily took upon themselves the obliga- 
 tions of secrecy and of honor, who received their 
 places in this very Legislature as members of 
 these orders, who received support and confi- 
 dence by meau.s of their pledges, who claimed 
 support on the very ground oC these pledges, are 
 the first to break their vows. They betray their 
 constituents without a blush, break their bonds 
 wittingly' and purposely, and thus commit the 
 double offence of ingratitude and dishonor. The 
 man, in my judgment, who would violate a 
 pledge thus taken, and held for a long time 
 with profit 'o himself, would not hesitate to break 
 bis oath to support the Constitution. But whence 
 this new born zeal in regard to secret societies'? 
 It comes from men who have nothing to say 
 adverse to systems of political caucusing, who 
 belons: to central, c junty, town, ward, and execu- 
 tive political committees, all of whose proceed- 
 ings are in secret.and all of whose action is purely 
 political. One may be a free and accepted Ma- 
 son, an Odd Fellow, belong to the Order of 
 United Americans, or Irishmen, or one of the 
 Scotch, Irish, German, French, or other of the 
 secret foreign societies of the country, Orange- 
 men or Riubonmen, Jacobin or Jesuit, and it is 
 all well. But for native Americans to resist any 
 of the combinations against their country, or to 
 unite upon common measures for the defence of 
 their countrymen, or to seek to reform abuses 
 in the franchise, or to purify the ballot-box, or 
 to inculcate a pure Protestant faith, is looked 
 upon as treasonable. We forget that we, our- 
 selves, are ail members of a secret political so- 
 ciety, and that on every Wednesday, when the 
 sun is at meridian, as on this day, we exclude 
 the public from our doors, and among ourselves, 
 discuss the characters of men, and receive or 
 banish them from the public service at our own 
 good will and pleasure. Their reputation for 
 life, may depend upon our action here. The 
 Senate of the United States exercises the same 
 power and in the same way, and the additional 
 power of acting with the President of the United 
 States in regard to all treaties among the Indian 
 tribes and with foreign nations. The whole in- 
 terior exercise of power, with all the State Gov- 
 ernments and in the Federal Government, is 
 nearly a sealed book to the public. Every ad- 
 ministration from the days of Washington has 
 had voted to it a secret servici fund, which is 
 generally used exclusively by the President of 
 the United States, aud employed upon secret 
 missions abroad or at home. But Ameri- 
 cans may not belong to a secret organization for 
 the protection of their country. Why, sir, 
 George Washington thought it no dishonor to 
 
belong to such an organization, and his oath, 
 ■written in the word of God, is sacredly preserved 
 in England to-day, as among the most precious 
 memorials of the survivors of the secret order of 
 which he was a member. Yes sir, and he kept 
 his oath of secrecy. When the 28th regiment of 
 the mother country was in the United States, a 
 regiment at one time commanded by the gallant 
 Wolfe, at the siege of Quebec, George Washing- 
 ton held some small command in it. There was 
 a secret order in the regiment, and Washington 
 was one of that order. The war of the revolu- 
 tion separated him from his companions, but 
 not from his oath. He found himself opposed 
 to the very troops with whom he had formerly 
 served. The British were defeated, and the 
 emblems of the lodge were taken in a chest 
 among the trophies of the battle. The biblo 
 was there on which he had sworn lis masonic 
 oath, and chest, emblems, bible, and all, wero 
 promptly returned by him to the foe, with all 
 the honors of war. The chest was a second 
 time captured by him, and a second time re- 
 turned in the same handsome and delicate man- 
 ner. Washington kept his oath, and "the lodge of 
 virtue" loved him for it as a friend and brother, 
 and they revere his memory as tenderly to-day, 
 as their predecessors honored it when Washing- 
 ton was alive. But Senators here are alarmed 
 upon the subject of oaths. Let them be as- 
 sured that no true American would ever take 
 any political oath, except to serve his country 
 with fidelity. Let them rather be alarmed for 
 those whose obligations, like a certain class of 
 marriage vows, have " proved as false as dicers' 
 oaths." The Constitution makes provisions for 
 the punishment of treason against the State and 
 for the .manner of conducting the trial. But 
 there is no written law for the punishment of 
 moral treason. Yet in the sight of God and 
 man, the offence is the same. It seems to me, 
 sir, that the man who would voluntarily take an 
 obligation, knowing what it was, receiving 
 marked and positive benefits from it, elevated 
 perchance, to high official position by his very 
 association in, and support from such an organiza- 
 tion, nominated by it for public office, elected by 
 it to public office, receiving still higher benefits 
 when in public office, by silence, acquiesence or 
 positive assurance that he was true to his origin- 
 al faith, and would be true to those who had re- 
 posed confidence in him as a man, as a friend 
 and a brother, and who would then break all 
 these solemn vows from fear or favor, or other- 
 wise, has reached the highest degradation and 
 the lowest disgrace. He is ready to commit the 
 unpardonable sin of ingratitude, and among all 
 honorable men, there can be no greater offence 
 than this. 
 
 There is no danger, Mr. President, that the 
 measures of any secret political organization ia 
 this country, will not be known, and the de- 
 bates of the present session abundantly testify 
 to the truth of this. Still less is there any dan- 
 ger that Americans will prove unfaithful to 
 America. They will never take an oath of en- 
 mity to their country or in violation of the Con- 
 stitution of the State they serve, or the Govern- 
 ment of which they are citizens. They will nev- 
 
 er do injustice to men of any faith or country. — 
 I imagine, sir, that those who make and give 
 pledges in these organizations are without 
 coercion, and just as free to retrace their steps, 
 a« they were to take them. I suppose the door out 
 is as plain as the door in, but they cannot enter 
 to betray, and if they remain they must be true 
 to those to whom they are bound, and if they 
 leave they cannot, as honorable men, betray 
 those whom they leave behind, and whose se- 
 crets they have secured. 
 
 GROUNDS OP OPPOSITION TO MR. SEWARD. 
 
 Mr. President : — My opposition to Mr. Sew- 
 ard arises, not mainly or materially from his ex- 
 treme Anti-Slavery opinions, nor alone from the 
 dangerous doctrines to the civil law and Consti- 
 tution which have been the fruits of his higher 
 law sentiment as uttered in Ohiband in the Unit- 
 ed States Senate. There are other and older 
 offences, some of them personal towards public 
 men and private citizens, and some of them of- 
 ficial and beating upon the great public ques- 
 tions of the country. Towards Mr. Seward per- 
 sonally, I have no feelings of animosity. I ad- 
 mire his abilities. I have been instructed by his 
 labors, and I wish him in all good works all hon- 
 or and all prosperity. I war against many of his 
 opinions and I remember with regret and con- 
 demnation many of his public services and pri- 
 vate acts as the Governor of this State. Sena- 
 tors here would censure almost any other public 
 man holding the precise views of Mr. Seward 
 upon the Slave question. They have declared 
 for the abridgment of Slave territory without 
 qualification. They have indulged in unsparing 
 censure towards all those entertaining any opin- 
 ion short of this. They would be horrified if I 
 were to tell them in my place here to-day, as I 
 shall, that Mr. Seward declared his readiness, 
 under certain contingencies, to admit even Cal- 
 fornia as a Slave Slate, California without Slaves 
 under the Mexican law, and free territory by the 
 local law ; but it is true nevertheless. I read 
 from Mr. Seward's revised speech delivered in 
 the Senate of the United States on the 9th of 
 March, 1850, and headed "California, Union and 
 Liberty." On the 4th page, 2d column, of this 
 speech I read : — 
 
 Mr. Seward— * * * California ought to come in, be- 
 ing a f.ee Slate ; and under the circumstances of her con- 
 quest, her compact, her abandonment, her justifiable and 
 necessary establishment of a Constitution, and tne inevit- 
 able dismemberment of the empire, consequent upon her 
 rejection, 1 should have voted for her admission, even if she 
 had come as a Slave State. 
 
 Mr. Foote, of Miss. — Will the honorable Senator allow 
 me to ask him if the Senate is to understand him as saying 
 that he would vote for the admission of California, if she 
 came here seakink admission as a Slave State. 
 
 Mr. Seward — I ieply as I said before, that eveD if Cali- 
 fornia had come asa Slave State, yet coming under the ex- 
 traordinary circumstances I have described, and in view of 
 the consequences of a dismemberment of the empire con- 
 sequent upon her rejection I should have voted for her 
 admission, even thoush sh ■ had come as a Slave State. — 
 Jiut I would not have voted.for her admission otherwise." 
 
 Here then, , Mr. Seward is upon the record, in a 
 certain contingency, for the admission of a Slave 
 State and for the extension of Slavery. What 
 does the Senator from the 27th think of that 1 
 
 Mr. Bishop — Mr. Seward meant if the people 
 came with a Constitution having Slavery. 
 
 Mr. Brooks — Precisely so. Now I am not con- 
 demning Mr. Seward's course in this matter and 
 
 
5 
 
 upon this subject, but the inconsistency of his 
 advocates here. They would not support any 
 man, or repose confidence in any man, who, un- 
 der any contingency, would consent to vote for 
 the admission of a Slave State. But behold how 
 re;ulv (hey are to excuse their Northern Idol 
 now, when out of their own mouths he condemns 
 their own faith ! 
 
 The same admission is distinctly made again 
 and again, on the 7th page of the same speech. 
 "When the States are once formed," he say3, 
 "they have a right to come in as Free or Slave 
 States, according to their own choice." And 
 again in reply to Mr. Foote, he remarks, "I said 
 / would have voted for the admission of California, 
 even as a Slave Stale, tyc." Again, on the 9th 
 page, last paragraph, he says, very inconsistent- 
 ly it appears to me,, considering what has gone 
 before, "Congress may admit new States ; and, 
 since Congress may admit, it follows that Con- 
 gress may reject new Stales." That is, Congress 
 may reject a State, but not for Slavery ! 
 
 Now sir, I commend Governor Seward's doc* 
 trine on this point, to some of his over zealous 
 supporters in this Chamber. I commend his 
 moderation, also, as set forth in a letter written 
 to James Watson Webb, six years ago, when Mr. 
 Seward was before the Legislature for his first 
 election to the United States Senate. There, he 
 pledged himself to Col. Webb, and through him 
 to the Legislature, that he would not enter upon 
 a useless agitation of the subject of Slavery. — 
 He says, and I especially commend what he says 
 to the Senator from the 26th: 
 
 "The Union of these States is indispensable, in 
 my judgment, to the accomplishment of any 
 good, even in regard to the institution of Slave- 
 ry, * * * I am m f a vor, as I think ev- 
 ery Whig is, of circumscribing Slavery within its 
 present bounds. * * * I shall labor by 
 free and kind and peaceful discussion to form 
 public opinion and direct it to a Constitutional, 
 careful, and peaceful removal of it. But that 
 removal must be through the agency of those 
 only to whom its responsibilities belong, and the 
 Constitutional barriers which protect the Slave 
 States, in the exclusive right to discharge those 
 responsibilities will be as sacred in my regard 
 as those which protect the Free States in their 
 rights." 
 
 This, sir, was a letter written to secure the 
 votes of National Whigs, but I commend its tone 
 and spirit to the peculiar disciples of the author. 
 Sir, my opposition tc Mr. Seward has been ar- 
 dent and consistent for fourteen years, and I have 
 found many reasons, 1 am sorry to say of 
 a public character, for persevering in it without 
 abatement to the end. I have regarded him as 
 a man of large influence and as one who has not 
 hesitated to use it in disseminating very low 
 principles of political morality. I have thought 
 that he took pleasure in arraying class against 
 class and in the inculcation of opinions of a rad- 
 ical aud dangerous character. Whatever his ul- 
 timate views or ends, he has not hesitated to 
 level downward and to burrow low in order to 
 upheave the slumbering masses and to excite 
 their deepest passioDS. He has had no high 
 mark and standard for men to point to as the 
 
 pole star of truth and duty, but with artful 
 words, and I fear with no elevated ideas of what 
 a public man eight to do in the way of example, 
 he has addressed himself to classes and castes. — 
 He has not hesitated to put shame upon his own 
 countrymen, aud honor to those of foreign birth, 
 and to believe and promulgate calumnies against 
 Americans, in order to show his partiality for 
 Irishmen. I refer to his Auburn k-tter, dated 
 June 28th, 1844, and addressed to John Kilcher, 
 Dennis Halpin, and P. McQuade, wherein he 
 charges "Native American citizens" with having 
 fired dwellings, Libraries, Hospitals, Churches oc- 
 cupied by a community of Irishmen, and Irish- 
 women, and Irish children, and in the night time 
 and with sword and bayonet in hand! It was a 
 libel upon his countrymen, and such an one as 
 ought to crimson the cheek of every man who 
 supports him within the sound of my voice, and 
 hear how easy he can extenuate the wrongs 
 of Irishmen, while so ready to send sporting 
 upon the wings of the wind, these cruel assults 
 upon " Native American citizens. " They 
 "tell me," he says, "that in Philadelphia some 
 "Irishmen fired on a meeting assembled for po- 
 litical discussion. It may be so, but I suspend 
 "my judgment ; it is the strong who accuse the 
 "weak. If however, Irishmen did so invade the 
 "rights of citizens they committed a crime against 
 "Liberty and law, which not even their just com- 
 "plaints against Native Americans intolerance and. 
 "proscription can in the least degree palliate or 
 "excuse." 
 
 Then follows a renewed assault of harsh epi- 
 thets upon Native Americans, in the full and 
 willing belief that all that has been said against 
 them is true, and finally those "young friends of 
 Ireland," as they are addressed are told: — 
 
 "Whoever else fails you, be assured that I am 
 firm, and true, and faithful. Hold on still to the 
 truthes asserted in the Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence, that all men are born free and equal, and 
 to the consequent truth that all men have an in- 
 alienable right to free suffrage, as a condition of 
 submission to authority. 
 
 * * * "The ruins of St. Augustine will 
 prove the grave of intolerance in America. The 
 blackened walls which remain bear an appropri- 
 ate epitaph: "The Lord seeth." The voice of 
 O'Connell will gather tones, and the velocity of 
 electricity coming through the gates of Newgate. 
 We shall yet see the Liberator of Ireland upon 
 the wool sack in College Green," &c. 
 
 His letter to St. Patrick's Society in this city 
 in 1844, declaring all to be equal in natural 
 rights — and declaring that any where, in church 
 and in state and in the political arena, in favor 
 and in reproach he was the friend of Ireland, 
 was of the same anti- American character. 
 
 With such sentiments from such a source, no 
 one need wonder at the remark made in this 
 Chamber that Americans alone are the authors 
 of all the mobs in the United States. Prophecy 
 and appeal seem, however, in this case of no avail; 
 but what a voluntary record of shame to Ameri- 
 cans to win favor from Irishmen. No wonder 
 that the author of such a letter could cry shame 
 to Ireland for erecting a monument to William 
 Prince of Orange. Let me quote once more from 
 
his public speeches, wherein he volunteers to 
 assail the American movement and to speak as 
 he did ten years before, for Ireland against 
 America. lie says : — 
 
 " Emboldened by popular forbearance the 
 spirit of proscription lias approached Congress 
 with a demand for the full disfranchisement in 
 America, of all men not born on Hie American 
 Soil. I say disfranchisment, for 21 years re?i- 
 den -e, which is now insisted on as a condition of 
 naturalization, would be virtual disfranchisement. 
 Exiles of Ireland for freedom and for coucience 
 sake you are justly alarmed and grieved by such 
 wrongs in the land to which you were invited as 
 an Asylum." 
 
 I wish now to give another reason for my op- 
 position to Mr, Seward. I do not think he was 
 a true friend to Henry Clay, or that he gave him 
 an honest, hearty and generous support when 
 before the people in 1844, as the Whig candi- 
 date for President of the United States. It was 
 a support of a cold, heartless and indilferent 
 kind on his part, and that coldness and indif- 
 ference was participated in by many of Mr. Sew- 
 ard's friends in New York, and was among the 
 chief causes which lost him the vote of this 
 Slate, and the majority of the electorial votes of 
 the country. I repeat, sir, in answer to the in- 
 quiry of the Senator from tho 26.h, that Mr. 
 Seward was no true friend of Mr. Clay, and that 
 nobody understood this better than Mr. Clay 
 himself, for with many others, who could be 
 named, in his life time, he spoke freely to me of 
 Mr. Seward's policy and of his dislike to the 
 man. 
 
 Nor can I forg't Mr. Seward's conduct as 
 Governor of New York, to Hiram Ket'dium, one 
 of my constituents, and my friend, a gentleman 
 of intelligence and honor, and respected by all 
 who know him. He had been a Whig from the 
 start. He had served his party with all the 
 fidelity of a loyal partisan. Ho had also been a 
 faithful member of the Public School Society of 
 New York. He had, for many years, served 
 that great interest with marked ability and 
 great discretion. His fello.w citizens had the 
 utmost confidence in his integrity and capacity, 
 and some few of them petitioned Gov. Seward to 
 nominate Hiram Kctchum to the office, then 
 much more lucrative than at present, of Circuit 
 Judge. »Mr. Ketchum was told by Gov. Sew- 
 ard, in person, in the executive chamber, un- 
 solicited and unasked, that there was his ap- 
 pointment, pointing to a sealed package, and 
 that it would be sent to the Senate. Well, sir, 
 it was sent to the Senate. In the meantime, 
 Mr. Ketchum, who was always too much of a 
 man to be a wily politician, came to Albany to 
 oppose the attempted innovations upon the 
 schools of New York. He was heard before a 
 select committee of the Senate. He spoke in 
 opposition to the report, and bill prepared by 
 the then Secretary of State, and that bill, mainly 
 under Mr. Ketchcm's influence, was defeated 
 here in the Senate. For this act, executed in 
 accordance with public sentiment in the city 
 and State, for this free speech from a Trustee of 
 one of the Public Schools for twenty five years, 
 for this attempt to prevent a division of the 
 
 School Funds, and the destruction of all that 
 was mainly useful and beneficial in our Common 
 School system, Mr. Ketchum was struck down 
 by Gov. Seward ! His nomination was withdrawn, 
 from the Senate by Gov. Suward in obedience to 
 the demand of the Romish Hierarchy, and no 
 reason was ever given him or his friends for tho 
 act. If it was done under. this instigation of 
 Roman Catholic influence, as I believe, or for 
 party purposes, it was a most unmanly and un- 
 generous act. It was punishing a man for doing 
 that, for all the children of New York, and all 
 the parents of New York, which Bishop Hughes 
 was doing or desired to bo done for the Catho- 
 lics alons. It was striking at a Protestant for 
 his American opinions, and gratifying and re- 
 warding a Catholic for sectarian opinions. From 
 that day and that act, opposition to Gov. Sew- 
 ard, has grown with my growth and strengthened 
 with my strength, 
 
 But the end is not yet. The whole political 
 element of the Seward party proper and of its 
 leader, has been one of political depression and 
 corruption. It has had a central power here, at 
 tho seat of Government as bad, and as potent 
 for evil, as that of the old Albany Regency. It 
 has pensioned presses supported by the Legisla- 
 ture, and pensioned partizans paid in public of- 
 fice, and the latter have swarmed here like lo- 
 custs pendiug the discussion of this Senatorial 
 question. The work of corruption commenced 
 years ago, when Gov. Sevrard attempted to de- 
 feat, and as I have understood, actually drew 
 up a veto message to the Registry Law, a law 
 which he opposed vehemently, and because it 
 bore hard upon foreigners who were not willing, 
 even to show themselves to be naturalized citi- 
 zens und°r the liberal law of a five years' resi- 
 dence in the United States. That law aimed at 
 an honest franchise and a pure ballot-box, and 
 without a Registry Law, we could not havo 
 either in New York. 
 
 These are my reasons, in part, for opposing 
 Gov. Seward ; but I hav^ a still longer and more 
 important record against him. I might allude 
 to the double part acted by his confidential 
 friends towards Gen. Taylor, when the latter was 
 a candidate for the Presidency. I might allude 
 to a public meeting called in the city of Albany, 
 in the summer of 1848 for that vt ry purpose. 
 
 Mr. Dickinson. It was a meeting of Silver 
 Grays. 
 
 Mr. Brooks. No sir. 
 
 Mr. Dickinson. Yes sir. John A. Collier was 
 the man. 
 
 Mr. Brooks. The Senator has lost his reck- 
 oning. He is in error, as I can show, and just 
 as unjust to " the Silver Grays," as he was when 
 yesterday he called Mr. Ullmaun " a pirate" and 
 " a hypocrite." Suoh epithets sounded most 
 harshly upon my ears. Mr. Ullmann received 
 the votes of more than 122,000 of the freemen of 
 New York, for the highest office in the gift of 
 the people of the State. Such epithets applied 
 to him. are a reflection aud assault upon their 
 good sense And honesty. But I suppose tho 
 Senator spoke in a Pickwickian sense, for he 
 told us afterwards that Mr. Ullmann might be a 
 gentleman in private life. " A pirnte and 
 
hypocrite," and 3*et a gentleman ! It is written 
 by somebody, that " the Prince of Darkness is a 
 gentleman," ami I suppose the Senator only 
 meant that Mr. Ulltnann was a devil. 
 
 But to go on with my record in regard to 
 Gov. Seward ; let me quote the following from 
 his published works : — 
 
 SCHOOLS FOR THE CHILDREN OF FOREIGNERS. 
 
 "The children of foreigners, found in great 
 numbers in our populous cities, and towns, and 
 in the vicinity of our public works, are too of- 
 ten deprived of our system of public education 
 in consequence of prejudices arising from dif- 
 ference of language or religion. It ought never 
 to be forgotten that the public welfare is as 
 deeply concerned in their education, as in that 
 of our own children. I do not hesitate, there- 
 fore, to recommend the establishment of schools iu 
 which they may be instructed by teachers, speaking 
 the same language with themselves and professing 
 ti>-u same faith" 
 
 OPINIONS UNCHANGED. 
 
 "Whatever may have been thougLt hereto- 
 fore, I can afford now, at least, to be frank and 
 honest. I re-affirm all I have before promulga- 
 ted concerning the policy of this country, in re- 
 gard to foreigners, and the education of their 
 children. Moreover, I invite all who may take 
 the trouble to look through the records of my 
 public action and to institute an inquiry into my 
 private correspondence and conversation, and if 
 a word or thought inconsistent with the public 
 opinions I have expressed, shall bo produced, I 
 shall cheerfully acknowledge the justice of thoso 
 who temporally delay the accomplishment of the 
 great public measures I advocate, by question- 
 ing the sincerity with which they have been 
 recommended." 
 
 THjC right of suffrage to all who ask it. 
 
 " I am of opinion that it would be wise to re- 
 move this and other obstructions to naturaliza- 
 tion and believe it would be better for the per- 
 manent interest of the country to confer the 
 right of suffrage upon ail who ask it, and who 
 have not rendered themselves unworth of it, by 
 crime, after a period of residence less than that 
 prescribed by the naturalization laws." 
 
 Upon these topics, but mainly upon the Com- 
 mon School System of New York, I propose to 
 address the Senate briefly to-morrow. 
 
 Thursday, February 8th. 
 
 The special order having been announced at 
 12 o'clock, 
 
 Mr. Brooks said : When I was upon the floor 
 yesterday, Mr. President, in the course of some 
 general remarks upon State politics, I alluded to 
 the conduct of certain leading politicians in this 
 city, so called Whigs, who endeavored to defeat 
 General Taylor, after his nomination at a public 
 meeting in this city. My motive was to contrast 
 that act of hostility towards the Whig Candidate 
 for the Presidency, with the flattery and fawning 
 which followed the President in person after he 
 was inaugurated and clothed with high executive 
 power and patronage, and I should be glad to 
 
 picture some of the scenes iu this Senate which 
 transpired at Washington during the brief, but 
 eventful months of General Taylor's public ser- 
 vice. Suffice it, for the present, that I offer proof 
 here as to the truth of all I did assert. I said 
 thai a public meeting was caked in this city by 
 that class of Whigs known as Mr. Seward's pecu- 
 liar friends, and that it was called by them from a 
 feeling of hostility to General Taylor. The Sen- 
 ator from the 26th said " No;" I said " Yes," and 
 there the question was left for the night. Now, 
 Sir, in the Evening Journal of August 28th, 1848, 
 there is the correspondence of Wm. Bull Pringle, 
 President of a South CarolinaConvention tender- 
 ing General Taylor a Domination, and General 
 Taylor's acceptance of the same. The comments 
 of the editor of the Journal will be found with 
 the correspondence. 
 
 In the same number of the Journal this also 
 appears : 
 
 "It is due to Mr. Fillmore to say that the 
 meeting on Saturday evening, (over which Judge 
 Parmelee presided,) was called without his ad- 
 vice or approval. * * * And finally, to pre- 
 vent misapprehension, it should be known that 
 u-e alone are responsible for the meeting of Sat- 
 urday evening." 
 
 The Tuesday following, August 29th, 1848, an 
 adjourned meeting was had at the Hail of the 
 Capitol, Judge Parmelee, the present Mayor, 
 presiding. Mr.Collier chairm \n of the committee 
 on Resolutions addressed the meeting for half 
 an hour deprecating hasty action, and stated he 
 could not hesitate between General Taylor and 
 General Cass, who was a Loco Foco of the worst 
 caste, and Martin Van Bur en " 
 
 Sir, This is the record, and it answers the re- 
 mark of one of Mr. Seward's friends hero that 
 Silver Grays had any thing to do with getting up 
 this Albany meeting to defeat General Taylor's 
 election. 
 
 But, Sir, the end is not yet. This Anti-Taylor 
 Meeting originated in the Journal office of this 
 city. One of its Editors was busy in circulating 
 the posters or circulars for such a meeting on 
 the Saturday afternoon of the evening on which 
 the meeting was held. The Editer-in-chief had 
 prepared Resolutions opposed to General Taylor, 
 and they were in more than ona man's hands 
 during the evening. The meeting was attended 
 by Mr. Collier and some other National Whigs in 
 order to prevent the execution of the purpose 
 for which it was called. In the mean time the 
 originator of the meeting went to Troy, and was 
 there upon the Sabbath, as I have been assured, 
 begging the Whigs of Troy, one of them I think 
 now in Congress, and one of them an ex-Speaker 
 of the Assembly, to get up a meeting opposed 
 to General Taylor! "it was the Silver Gray 
 Whigs of this and of that city, who opposed this 
 nefarious scheme to defeat General Taylor, and 
 with him of course Mr. Fillmore. 
 
 the common schools. 
 
 Mr. President. — I come now as promised, to 
 our Public Schools. The Common Schools of 
 the United States are the glory of our land, and 
 the chief corner stone of the Republic. The 
 Pilgrim Fathers after they had formed their 
 
8 
 
 Constitution on board the May Flower and made 
 provisions for the inculcation of a pure Protes- 
 tant faith on the basis of the Bible, made pro- 
 vision for the establishment of Common Schools. 
 They left, the old world where the Church and 
 State were one, to secure both the freedom of 
 religious worship, and the blessings of civil lib- 
 erty. On the banks of the Kennebec, at Plym- 
 outh, on the Connecticut, the Narraganset, all 
 over New England, they made provision for a 
 Common School in every town and for a Grammar 
 School in every County In both the Old Col- 
 onies of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay, the 
 decree was that if a child over sixteen and under 
 twenty one years committed a certain capital of. 
 fencebe should beallowed toarrest judgment upon 
 himself, by showing that his parents had neglect- 
 ed his education. Even in Ireland, from which 
 Country it has been said by some, the Red men 
 first found their way to this Continent, the Courts 
 made provision that when a child committed an 
 otfence, judicial investigation should be had as to 
 the fact whether it hart received ,-t proper edu- 
 cation, and if not, the chi'd was set free and par- 
 ents delivered up to punishment. 
 
 I see before me the Pilgrim Band in old Mas- 
 sachusetts, us they are pictured in the beautiful 
 song of Mrs. Hemans. I see the breaking waves, 
 the rock bound coast, the stormy sky and 
 amidst the music of the roaring spray I hear 
 their anthems of praise to Almighty God. 
 
 " Amidst the st' rms they ^antr, 
 
 And i he stars heard and the sea, 
 
 And the sounding aisles ol the dim woods rang. 
 
 To the an hems of thr free." 
 
 The Bible was their oracle, the Church their 
 shrine, and the School House their secular sanc- 
 tuary. The face of Mature was bleak and for- 
 bidding, but their hearts were warm, and devot- 
 ed to religion and learning. In the full freedom 
 to worship God they found compensation for all 
 the hardships of winter and the solitude of exile. 
 
 New York has copied much of her school sys- 
 tem from New England, until to-day it is unsur- 
 passed, and the brightest jewel in the crown 
 which constitutes her civic glory. If for one 
 thing more than another, she deserves to be 
 called the Empire State, and to wear upon that 
 escutcheon the proud word Excelsior, it is for 
 her Free Schools. Her political history upon 
 this sul ject has been almost a continued tributo 
 of praise. Education was among the subjects 
 considered by the first Legislature under the 
 Constitution. George Clinton, one of our most 
 honored public men, in the name of the Supreme 
 Being, asked the Legislature to aid in the revi- 
 val and encouragement of Seminaries of learning. 
 In 1795, and sixty years ago next April, an act 
 was pa^ed for the encouragement of Public 
 Schools, and twenty thousand dollars was ten- 
 dered annually as the first State offering for the 
 education of the poor children of the State. — 
 The laiv provided that they should be educated 
 in whatever branches of useful knowledge 
 were necessary to complete a good English edu- 
 cation. Secular knowledge, as distinguished 
 from sectai>an knowledge was the germ of our 
 present bemficent system of education. In 1801 
 the State resorted to Lotteries and four were 
 established in the State, and in the name of lite- 
 
 rature in the expectation that streams of knowl- 
 edge would freely flow from this impure foun- 
 tain. In the mean time Governors Clinton, and 
 Lewis, and Tompkins, each in the name of Re- 
 ligion, and Liberty, for the sake of good Govern- 
 ment and good morals, and on behalf of the wel- 
 fare of the rising generation entreated the 
 Legislature to deliberate wisely and act prompt- 
 ly for the free diffusion of knowledge all over 
 the State. Fifty years ago next April the system 
 found ft platform to stand upon and the founda- 
 tion has been made broader and stronger from 
 that day to the present. In 1805 the proceeds 
 from the sales of half a million of acres of public 
 land were devoted to school purposes, and around 
 this nucleus has been gathered and added the 
 proceeds of Lotteries, fees from courts, stocks of 
 banks and various aggregations until the $20,- 
 000 appropriated in 1795 have become a fund of 
 several millions of dollars. In 1811 Governor 
 Tompkins, acting upon the idea of Montesquieu 
 that in a republic education must be national- 
 ized, pressed the subject honje still more earnest- 
 ly upon the Legislature, and then in the midst of 
 the war, was passed the act appointing five com- 
 missioners for the establishment of Common 
 Schools. One year later their report was adopt- 
 ed and New York commenced the improvement 
 of a system which now seems to be almost per- 
 fect. These commissioners urged the employ- 
 ment of Teachers prepared for the inculcation 
 of truth and virtue and gifted with all other qual- 
 ifications which would enable them to act the 
 part of good instructors. Upon the subject 
 of books they suggested in language which has 
 my hearty concurrence, that the reading of the 
 Bible iu Schools might be salutary. "It, should 
 be regarded," say they, "as a book intended for 
 literary improvmentnot merely, but as inculcat- 
 ing great and indispensable moral truths also." 
 It was then the custom of the New York Free 
 School iu my own city to have select chapters 
 read at the opening of the School in the morn- 
 ing and at the close of the School service in the 
 afternoon - "This," say the Commissioners "is 
 deemed the best mode of preserving the religious 
 regard which is due to the sacred writings." 
 May the day never come when in New York it 
 shall be deemed unlawful to read the Bible iu 
 our Pubic Schools. From 1812 to 1824 our 
 School system went on improving. New York 
 city was not only ready to meet the tax imposed 
 for School purposes, but she even petitioned to 
 have additional taxes imposed upon her citizens 
 for the education of her poor, when permitted to 
 dispose of her own School revenues. A diiect 
 tax was laid for school purposes, and in 1814 a 
 law passed compelling all the towns and coun- 
 ties of the Stale to impose a tax upon themselves 
 equal to the amount received from the School 
 fund. New York, under the act of 1824 raised 
 in 1838, $140,000 for the city Schools, $34,000 
 of which was paid under the compulsory system 
 she had voluntarily imposed upon herself for a 
 good purpose. 
 
 But the law of 1824 did not suit the Roman 
 Catholic Bishop of New York, and it did not suit 
 Mr Seward, and hence the difficulties which 
 arose in 1840. Under the previous state of things 
 
 
9 
 
 in the city as administered by the Public School 
 Society, composed of the Clintons, the Bleeck- 
 ers„ the Trimbles, the Rutgers, the Ketchums, the 
 Grinnells, and some of the best men in the city, 
 the funds had been appropriated to the African, 
 Economical and Orphan Asylum Schools of the 
 city, and to such of the incorporated religious 
 societies in the city as should establish religious 
 societies which schools shold receive in proportion 
 to the number of scholars between the ages ofjl4 
 and 17 years, and taught therein without charge. 
 The Bethel Baptist church by a special act, pas- 
 sed in 1817, received special benefits, aid there 
 was under that act good cause for apprehending 
 that the fund would be used for sectarian 
 purposes. The law on this ground was repealed 
 and the Catholics joined in the call for repeal, 
 which was effected in 1823. The discussion in 
 New York and Albany resulted in an act giving 
 the disposal of the city School fund to the Com- 
 mon Council of the city. The Common Council 
 heard all sides, and very wisely, in my judg- 
 ment voted in 1824 to exclude all religious cor- 
 porations. 
 
 Then came the struggle of 1840, when the Ro- 
 man Catholic Bishop entered the arena to make 
 open war upon our schools. He and his associ- 
 ates first appeared before the Commou Council, 
 and then at Albany. They were beaten in 
 both places, and in this city especially, not- 
 withstanding the exertion used by Governor 
 Seward against the Public School society, and 
 in behalf of Bishop Hughes Both the city and 
 State authorities were appealed to, to destroy 
 one ot the most beneficial systems of free and 
 equal education that ever honored and exalted 
 a public body. I propose to consider what these 
 measures were; and begin with the following 
 extracts from the memorials of the School socie- 
 ty to the New York Legislature, which represen- 
 ted the state of things which existed prior to 
 1«40. 
 
 CONDITION OP THE CITY SCHOOLS IN 1852. 
 
 * * * « The Free Schools under our 
 care are open to all religious denominations. — 
 No distinction of sect or name is known in ad- 
 mitting scholars. The government of the State, 
 in a spirit of wisdom and munificence, has made 
 a liberal annual allowance towarda sustaining 
 the expenses of their education, and if our in- 
 come exceeds the expenditures, the surplus is 
 appropriated towards erecting buildings for 
 Schools, which are the property of the public, 
 for the perpetual reception of indigent children. 
 Five houses have already been constructed, 
 principally by the aid of private donations, in the 
 different parts of the City of New York. They 
 constitute a real estate which will be held in 
 perpetuity for the benefit of the lower classes of 
 the community, and what may be estimated at 
 the value of sixty thousand dollars."' 
 
 * * * "About three years ago, the Society 
 for the prevention of Pauperism in the city of 
 New York, made an Annual Report, in which it 
 was stated, among other things, that there were 
 about eight thousand pocr children in this Me- 
 tropolis, who were growing up destitute of in- 
 struction," 
 
 * * * " Your memorialists deem it 
 proper to state, that the Free School Society of 
 New York, is composed of more than six hun- 
 dred of the most respectable citizens, and that 
 religious distinctions are unknown in their con- 
 stitution. For seventeen years have they prose- 
 cuted the grand design of their institution with 
 ardor and succets. They have contracted debts 
 and incurred heavy responsibilities on many oc- 
 casions." 
 
 We come now to the opposition to the School 
 law. 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC PRAYER TO THE NEW YORK COM- 
 MON COUNCIL. 
 
 * * * " Your petitioners, therefore, 
 pray that your Honorable Body wjll be pleased 
 to designate as among the Schools entitled 
 to participate in the Common School Fund upon 
 complying with the requirements of the law, 
 and the ordinances of the corporation of the 
 city, or for such other relief, as to your Honora- 
 ble Body shall seem meet. St. Patrick's School 
 St. Peter's Cchool, St. Mary's School, St. Jos- 
 eph's School, St. James's School, St. Nicholas' 
 School, Transfiguration Church School, and St. 
 John's School." 
 
 REMONSTRANCES TO THIS PRAYER PROM THE TRUS- 
 TEES OP THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SOCIETY. 
 
 * * * « With ths religious opinions oj 
 the denomination of christians referred to, your 
 remonstrants have nothing to do. • In opposing 
 the claims of the Roman Catholic, and several 
 other Churches, to the School money, they have 
 confined their remarks to the broad general 
 grounds, alike applicable to all." 
 
 * * * "It will thus be seen, that the 
 charge made in the petition of the Roman Cath- 
 olics, that such of their children as have attend- 
 ed the Public Schools are generally, and at 
 an early age, imbued with a principle, which 
 they impute to a portion of the Trustees, falls to 
 the ground, and is proved to be unfounded, as it 
 is illiberal and ungenerous." 
 
 * * * "The subject of objectionable 
 matter in the books used in the Public Schools, 
 is so fully discussed in the papers, now submit- 
 ted to your Honorable body, that little more 
 would seem to be called for under this head. — 
 Finding their strenuous and long continued ef- 
 forts to induce the Catholic clergy to unite in an 
 expurgation of the books unavailing, the Trus- 
 tees commenced the work with them, aDd it is 
 now nearly completed. If anything remains to 
 which the petitioners can take exception, no cen- 
 sure can, by possibility, attach to your remon- 
 strances; and the Trustees assert with confidence, 
 that if any has escaped them, there is new less 
 matter objectionable to the Roman Catholics, to 
 be found in the books usc»d in the Public Schools, 
 than in those of any other Seminary of learning, 
 either public or private, wiihin this State." 
 
 Here was the petition, and open to the Common 
 Council, and which resulted in the defeat of the 
 petitioners. Then came the appeal to the Leg- 
 islature in a Sectarian form, and in a petition 
 which said: — 
 
 "Your memorialists being members of the 
 
10 
 
 Catholic Church, and connected with the several 
 Catholic congregations in the city of New York, 
 would respectfully represent to your Honorable 
 body, &c." 
 
 The complaints were the same as in the city, 
 and resulted in the following 
 
 PROPOSITION ON BEHALF OF THE SCHOOL SOCIETY. 
 
 "In compliance with the request of the Com- 
 rnittet. of the Board of Aldermen, the under- 
 sigued, Committee of the New York Public 
 School Society, submit ihe following proposi- 
 tions as a basis of a compromise with their Ro- 
 man Calhoiic fellow citizens, on the subject of 
 the Public Schools, which propositions they are 
 willing to support before the Trustees of the So- 
 ciety, and which they btlieve will be sanctioned 
 by that Boaru. 
 
 The Trustees of the New York Public School 
 Society will remove from the class-books in the 
 school: , all matters which maybe pointed out as 
 offensive to their Roman Catholic fellow citizens, 
 should anything objectionable yet remain in 
 
 them." 
 
 * * * ***** 
 
 " Every effort will be made by the Trustees of 
 the Public School Society, to prevent any occur- 
 rences in the schools which might be calculated 
 to wound the feelings of Roman Catholic children 
 or to impair their confidence in, or diminish their 
 respect for the religion of their parents. Anx- 
 ious to keep open every avenue to such an ar- 
 rangement as will lead to a general attendance 
 of the Roman Catholic children at the Public 
 Schools, and fully aware that some things may 
 have escaped their observation which might be 
 modified without violation of the conscientious 
 rights of others, the undersigned wish it to be dis- 
 tinctly understood, that in offering the foregoing 
 propositious, as the basis of an arrangement.it is 
 not intended to exclude other propositions which 
 the Roman Catholics may make, provided they 
 do not interfere with the principles by which the 
 Trustees feel themselves bound." * * * * 
 
 All this was not satisfactory. There had been 
 all this expurgation of books, and aftei a fashion 
 which ought to have satisfied the most relentless 
 censor of the Press, and the most bigoted devo- 
 tee of the Pvomish Church. Books had been 
 banished from the Libraries, and black lines 
 drawn around objectionable passages in school 
 books, after the fashion of the expunging resolu- 
 tions in the United States Senate. Pages were 
 pasted together and stars inserted, and history 
 made a blank of, and a lie, in order to satisfy 
 the complaints and bring the Irish children 
 within the 1 ublic Schools. Even a passage from 
 one of the brilliant speeches of Lord Chatham 
 was blotted out because it alluded to Papal ty- 
 ranny, as in this country and England freemen 
 are accustomed every day to speak of the des- 
 potism, wickedness or imbecility of their public 
 servants. But all this was struck out in a spirit 
 of compromise, and in the hope of persuading 
 the Irish Catholics to seed their children to the 
 Public Schools, as most of them would have done 
 but for the tyranny of their Priests. 
 
 And what was the ground of complaint 1 It 
 was that the Bible was read in our Schools, — 
 
 that children of all denominations were taught 
 under the same roof, — that American and For- 
 eign born boys and girls, and boys and girls of 
 American and Foreign born parents were placed 
 on an equality, taught by the same teachers, in- 
 structed from the same books, supported from 
 the same School Fuud. What was good enough 
 for a poor American boy was not good enough 
 for an Iiish child. He must have a School of 
 his own, or as Governor Seward in his message 
 6ays, " Teachers speaking the same language 
 with themselves, and professing the same faith !" 
 What would such a School be but a Romish 
 School, a^Sectarian School, an Irish or a German 
 Catholic School, and that supported by Ameri- 
 can Protestants. No, Sir. The law of perfect 
 equality, forbidding sectarianism, and which 
 knew no sects, no creeds beyond the plain letter 
 of the Bible, was not satisfactory to Bishop 
 Hughes Children were taught their command- 
 ments : "Thou shalt not lie," " Thou shalt not 
 Bteal," " Thou shalt not bear false witness," &c, 
 and this, in 1840-'41, was called sectarianism. 
 The Bible was offensive iu itself, and the wish 
 was to bauish it from the presence of children, 
 as it is now banished even from Catnolic Sabbath 
 echools.under the plea that the teachings of the Bi- 
 ble cannot be comprehended. Abstruse science 
 ,ind frivolous fiction could be comprehended, but 
 not the simplest truths of love, repentance, for- 
 giveness and faith. 
 
 Rather than have no Bible in our Schools, I 
 would see the Douay Catholic Bible there in the 
 hands of judicious teachers, even with all the 
 marginal notes concerning feasts, fasts, penance, 
 transubstantiation, &c. In the hands of true 
 Christian Teachers, obliged to decide between 
 no Bible and the detested Rhemish Testament, 
 which I am glad to see disowned by Arch Bish- 
 op Hughes, I would accept the latter, and seek 
 to remember the good of the text and forget the 
 superstitious aud brutalities of the comments. 
 All that Protestants have ever asked for is the 
 reading of the Bible in our schools without note 
 or comment, and the inculcation of such general 
 religious truths of love to God and man, obedi- 
 ence to duty, respect for the truth and integrity 
 as are accepted by members of every denomina- 
 tion of Christians and even by nearly all practi- 
 cal unbelievers in religious truth. 
 
 I repeat, Sir, it was for defending this great 
 idea of a free and equal Education for all and 
 for tree speech and a manful discharge of duty 
 to the Free Schools of the City of New York 
 that Hiram Ketchum was personally and public- 
 ly wronged by Governor Seward here in the 
 Senate of New York. He had been largely in- 
 strumental in saviDg the Schools in the city. He 
 had resisted the innovations attempted here 
 and sanctioned by high Executive authority. He 
 had defeated the Bishop of New York who had 
 threatened -to overthrow the Whig party unless 
 one of its most distinguished members was pun- 
 ished. The sacrifice was demanded from Gover- 
 nor Seward and it was made, and without one 
 word of apology or explanation to the man se- 
 lected as a victim to priestly vengeance. 
 
 It was then Bishop Hughes used both the al- 
 tar and the forum to conduct the strife against 
 
11 
 
 the Free School System of New York. He be- 
 came a Politician and night after night harangu- 
 ed the Irish Catholics against Protestants, 
 and all men who were advocates of our Public 
 Schools. He wooed his People with the zeal of 
 a Loyola and threatened them as a Pontiff. 
 
 Let me recall some of the occurrences which 
 transpired at Carroll Hall and throughout the 
 city in 1811. We were on the eve of an import- 
 ant election. The Roman Catholics had their 
 anti-School candidates, and from an extra of the 
 Freeman's Journal, dated November 1, 1841, I 
 read the following specimen of Bishop Hughes' 
 speech and of the audience whom he addressed : 
 
 EXTRACT FROM BISHOP HUGHES. 
 
 " I will now require the Secretary to read the 
 names placed on the ticket, of that ticket I have 
 approved. It presents the names of the only 
 friends we could find already befo-e the public, 
 aDd those whom not bein^ so prominently befoie 
 i the public, we have found to ourselves. 
 
 The Secretary then read the following list: — 
 
 Senators. 
 Thomas O'Conor, I G Gottsberger, 
 
 Assembly. 
 
 I Tigbe Davey, David R F Jones, 
 
 (Daniel C Peutz, Solomon Townsend, 
 
 JGeoige Weir, John L O'Sullivan, 
 
 Paul Grout, Auguste Davezac, 
 
 Conrad Swackhammer, William McMurray, 
 William B Maclay, Michael Walsh, 
 
 Timothy Daly. 
 
 Each name was received with the most deaf- 
 ening and uproarious applause, and their teirific 
 cheers were giveu at the close on the subsidence 
 of which the Bi>kop proceeded : 
 "You have now, gentlemen, heard the names of 
 men who are willing to risK themselves in sup- 
 port of your cause. Put these names out of 
 view, and you can not, in the lists of our politi- 
 cal candidates find that of one public man, who 
 is not understood "to be pledged against us. 
 What then is your course! 
 
 " You now, for the first time, find yourselves 
 in the position to vote at least for yourselves. — 
 You have often voted for others, and they did 
 ont vote for you, but now you are determined to 
 uphold with your own votes, your own rights'; 
 (Thunders of applause which lasted several min- 
 utes,) will you then stand by the rights of your 
 offspring, who have for so long a period, and 
 from generation to generation, suffered under 
 the operation of this injurious system 1 (Re- 
 newed cheering) Will you adhere to the nomi- 
 nation made! (Loud cries of "we will" "we 
 will" and vociferous applause.) Will you be 
 united ! (Tremendous cheering — the whole im- 
 jmenso assembly rising en masse, waving of hats, 
 [handkerchiefs, and every possible demonstration 
 jof applause) Will you let all men see that you 
 are worthy sons of the nation to which you be- 
 long ! (Cries of "never fear — we will!" "we 
 will till death !" and terrific cheering.) Will 
 you prove yourselves worthy of friends ! (Tre- 
 mendous ohuering) — will none of you flinch! — 
 (The scene that followed this emphatic query 
 ' ts indiscribable, and exceed all the enthusiastic, 
 
 and almost frenzied displays of passionate feel- 
 ing, we have sometimes witnessed at Irish meet- 
 ings. The cheering, the shouting, the stamping 
 of feet the waveiDg of hats and handkerchiefs, 
 beyond all powers of description.") 
 
 * * * "You will have nothing to do 
 with men who go to the Senate and Assem- 
 bly, pledged to act against you. (Loud cries of 
 "no, no. no," "that we won't," and great cheer- 
 ing.) They may find votes enough to send them. 
 (A voice, "no they sha'nt !" let them go.1 But 
 they will, in that case be obliged to confess that 
 they were sent by your enemies. Let them do 
 the work of their masters. (Laughter and 
 cheers.) 
 
 Now, Sir, I a?k if such an exhibition was be- 
 coming the ofrhjij of Bishop, or even the Church 
 of Rome. And it was to exclude the Bible from 
 cur schools, or to secure the School monies in 
 order to establish Schools where the Bible would 
 be excluded, that the Tigbe Daveys, the Paul 
 Grouts, the Timothy Daleys, &c, were to be sent 
 to the Legislature. 
 
 The blind by the delicate touch of their fin- 
 gers spread ove: the raised letters which some 
 good angel has directed the genius of man to 
 prepare for their special service, are enabled to 
 read, and rejoice to read the promises of God 
 from His own Book. There is more true melody 
 in such an inspired sensation of touch than iu 
 the music of a thousand ^Eoliau harps, for it is 
 the harmony that reveals the ways of God to 
 man. The deaf and dumb quick as motion and 
 thought can trace and conceive an idea, see, 
 comprehend and utter all the truths recorded 
 Epon the sacred page. They know and feel 
 what the psalmist meant when he said. "There 
 is no speech, uov language where their voice is 
 not heard." 
 
 I must recall here as most worthy of remem- 
 bi "iuca an occurrence in our State Institution for 
 educating the deaf and dumb, and one which 
 every man ought to cherish and sustain as 
 the apple of his eye. It was an event growi:);< 
 out of an unpremedidated examination of a child, 
 as to the Creator, the Saviour, and that mysteri- 
 our providence which gives to one the blessings 
 of voice, and speech, and sight, and to another 
 the absence of all these gifts. Not in all the 
 books of the deepest philosophy, not even upou 
 the pages of inspiration can we find a brighter 
 example of christian power and religious resig- 
 nation. I read from the address at the laying of 
 the corner stone of the new edifice at Fanwood, 
 near Fort Washington. 
 
 "Who made the world!" was the question 
 once propounded to a little boy in the Institution. 
 Without an instant's delay, the chalk had rapid- 
 ly traced the answer : 
 
 "In the begining God created the Heavens and 
 the Earth." 
 
 " Why did Jesus come into the World!" was 
 the next question proposed. With a smile of grati- 
 fication, the little fellow wrote in reply: 
 
 •'This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all 
 acceptation, thai ^Christ Jesus came into tho 
 world to save sinners," The astounded visitor, 
 desirous of testing the religious nature of the pu- 
 pil to the utmost, ventured to ask, 
 
12 
 
 "Why were you born deaf and dumb, wher. I 
 can both hear and speak V With the sweetest 
 and most touching txpression of meek resignation 
 on the face of the boy, the rapid chalk replied: 
 
 "Even so, Father, for so it seemethgood in thy 
 sight." 
 
 Need I say more to show that the Bible ought 
 to be read in all our Schools, or give additional 
 reasons why every child, Protestant and Roman 
 Catholic, American and Irish, German and Swede, 
 should be instructed from its pages. I shall re- 
 joice when all, of every clime, no matter where 
 born, or whence they came, or what their condi- 
 tion, shall be educated free and by the aid of the 
 State. 
 
 Mr. Dickinson. — Little nigger children too 7 ? 
 
 Mr. Brooks. — Yes, negro children too. I 
 t' ank the Senator lor this new born demonstra- 
 tion of his, in regard to negroes, a class of people 
 who are used, and traded in as merchandize, by 
 half the politicians of the State. Oh, the 
 disiateresteness of these lovers of negro freedom 
 at the South ! Why do they not let their 
 charity begin at home! Why do they not begin 
 with our own State Constitution, which imposes 
 peculiar hardships upon the free negroes of the 
 State, and among them a property qualification 
 of $250, before they can enjoy the right of fran- 
 chise 1 What a commentary is this great tact 
 upon your zeal for the rights and freedom of the 
 Southern negro! 
 
 Mr. Dickinson. — Is the Senator aware that the 
 Hon. Wm. II Seward was opposed to the pro- 
 petty qualification clause 1 ? And will the Sena- 
 tor vote for expunging that clause! 
 
 Mr. Brooks. — I may or may not. It will be 
 time enough to answer that question when we 
 are required to act on the subject. I do not 
 think Wm. H. Seward a Judas Iscariot. I be- 
 lieve there are a great many men in this country 
 worse than Mr. Seward. 1 am not personally op- 
 posed to that gentlemen. It is his principles, his 
 radicalism, his sectionalism, his appeals to low 
 passions, his spirit of demagogueism, that 
 awakens my opposition. I do not like his past 
 war against our Protestant School system, — and 
 he boasts that he has not changed, — nor his zeal 
 for foreign Schools with Irish or German 
 teachers, and of a Sectarian faith. 
 
 Nor do I like his course in regard to foreign- 
 ers generally, especially since so many foreign- 
 ers have come into this country, with a disposi- 
 tion to become its masters, and to rule, rather 
 in accordance with the red republican principles 
 of Europe, than according to our ideas of a sov- 
 ereignty founded upon the intelligence of the 
 people. I see a world-wide difference between 
 the Lafayettes, the De Kalbs and the Kosciuskos 
 of the American Revolution, and the swarms of 
 men who now people our shores from the old 
 world. Then they came with religion, with ed- 
 ucation, with capital, with a knowledge of the 
 country, with a desire to be Americans at heart 
 and in principle. If poor, they did not seek to 
 pauperise the country. If criminals, they were 
 punished for their crimes. It was not the fash- 
 ion then to send here criminals from European 
 prison-houses, nor paupers from European pest- 
 houses. Five and ten thousand of the best cit- 
 
 izens of the old world come annually among us. 
 Now two hundred, three hundred, and three 
 hundred and fifty thousand come every year. — 
 The 120,000 immigrants between 1790 and 1800 
 swelledto 1,542,850 between 1840 and 1850 Every 
 wind and every tide brings them among us, and 
 while we bid God speed and a warm welcome to 
 all who are of us and among us in heart, to all 
 who are poor, industrious and honest, to all who 
 are exiled by oppressors for their love of liberty 
 and truth, we do not welcome the debased in 
 character, the degraded in habits of thought or 
 life, nor those who are of the bloody revolution- 
 ary stamp, or in any way red republican in their 
 principles. Albert Gallatin and Alexander Ham- 
 ilton, were born abroad, but they were no such 
 men as these. I honor the lives of such civili- 
 ans, whose services adorn so many pages of our 
 civil history. I honor, also, the memory of the 
 brave men whose hands and hearts were devo- 
 ted to our service in the field in the war of In- 
 dependence. How different from the Soules, the 
 Belmonts, and De Leons, who now represent 
 this Government in Europe. It is hardly possi- 
 ble that men born and educated abroad, can 
 represent the Government as well as those born 
 and educated at home. I should respect tbem 
 less, if they had no love for their father land. — 
 They would be more or less than men, to be 
 thus indifferent to their birth places. Even 
 Gallatin was so timorous of our success in arms, 
 as to advise against the employment of the very 
 navy which contributed so much to our renown 
 in war, and nothing but the repeated and earnest 
 entreaties of Bainbridge and Stewart could per- 
 buade President Madison to pass unheeded the 
 advice of the then Secretary of the Treasury. — 
 Washington never spoke more like the Father 
 of his Country, than when he declared that the 
 civil and military arm, should both be in the 
 hands of Americans. 
 
 Is there any hardship in such a rule ! I mean 
 in its general principles, forall rules, for special 
 reasons, may have their exceptions. I do not 
 ask that foreign born citizens shall be denied 
 the American franchise. But let me ask what 
 illiberality there would be in saying to the immi- 
 grant — " You are welcome to our shores, you 
 shall have protection in person and property, 
 you shall be our equals in everything but the 
 franchise, your children shall have this privilege 
 and enjoy all the rights and honor given to the 
 children of native born citizens tor all genera- 
 tions from the foundation of the Government." 
 Or if we were to declare that a twenty-one year 
 residence in the country would be necessary to 
 the enjoyment of the privileges given to Ameri- 
 cans at that age, who can say that such a restric- 
 tion would be uniust 1 
 
 The American feeling which pervades the 
 country to-day has been forced upon us by the 
 ignorance, impudence and audacity of many of 
 the multitudes who have come among us. In 
 my own city as elsewhere, many of these new 
 comers are making open war upon Institutions 
 as old as the country. They do noj like our 
 Sabbaths as days for religious observances, they 
 do not like the order, sobriety and restrictions 
 which prevail even in this very free country. In 
 
13 
 
 one of these " Platforms," and the same is in 
 circulation North and South, East and West, they 
 say : I deem it important to give them their 
 Reform Record in full. 
 
 Reform in the laws op the General Govern- 
 ment, AS WELL AS IN THOSE OF THE STATES. 
 
 " We demand : I. Universal suffrage. 2. The 
 election of all officers by the people. 3. The 
 abolition of the Presidency: 4. The abolition of 
 Senates, so that the Legislatures shall consist of 
 ODly one branch. 5. The right of the people to 
 call their Representatives (cashier them) at their 
 . pleasure. 6. The right of the people to change 
 ' the Constitution when they like. 7. All lawsuits 
 to be conducted without expense. 8. A department 
 of ihe Government to be set up for the purpose of 
 protecting immigration. 9. A reduced term for 
 acquiring citizenship." 
 
 Reform in the foreign relations of the Gov- 
 ernments. 
 
 r "1. Abolition of all neutrality. 2. Intervention 
 in favor of every people struggling for liberty." 
 
 Reform in what relates to religion. 
 "1. A more perfect develcpement of the prin- 
 ciple of personal freedom and liberty of con- 
 science ; consequently an Abolition of laws for 
 the observance of the Sabbath ; b. Abolition of 
 prayers in Congress; c. Abolition of oath upon 
 the Bible ; d. Repeal of all laws enacting a re- 
 ligious test before taking an office. 2. Taxation 
 of church property. 3. A prohibition of incor- 
 porations of all church property in the name of 
 ecclesiastics." 
 
 Reform in the social Condition. 
 
 "1. Abolition of land monopoly. 2. Ad valo- 
 rem in taxation of property. 3. Amelioration of 
 the condition of the working class— a. By less- 
 ening the time of work to eight hours for grown 
 persons, and to five hours for children ; b. By in- 
 corporation of mechanics' associations and pro- 
 tective societies ; c. By granting a preference to 
 mechanics before all other creditors ; d. By es- 
 tablishing an asylum for snperanuated mechanics 
 without means at the public expense. 4. Edu- 
 cation of poor children by the State. 5. Taking 
 possession of the railroads by the State. 6. The 
 promotion of education — a. By the introduction 
 of free schools, with the power of enforcing the 
 parents to send their children to school, and pro- 
 hibition of all clerical influence ; b. By instruct- 
 ing in the German language ; c. — By establish- 
 ing a German University. 7. The supporting of 
 the slave emancipation exertions of Cassius M. 
 Clay by Congressional laws. 8. Abolition of 
 the Christian system of punishment, and intro- 
 duction of the humane amelioration system. 9. 
 Abolition of capital punishment." 
 
 To correct some of the abuses incident to all 
 these innovations I have proposed here 
 
 To sustain our Common Schools in their purity. 
 
 That the Bible shall be read in our Schools. 
 
 That the Naturalization Laws shall De admin- 
 istered by our Judges and without fraud. 
 
 That we shall maintain a pure franchise. 
 
 That our foreign Ambasadors shall be Ameri- 
 can. 
 
 And that Americans shall rule America. 
 
 These are subjects which enlist our sympathy 
 and which have my entire heart. I am not in- 
 different to other evils. If it was in my power 
 I would meliorate the condition of the wholo 
 human family, but charity begins at home, and 
 mine begins in the United States. If I were an 
 Irishmau I would defend an Irish Nationality, 
 and if I were an Italian, I would pray for the in- 
 dependence of Italy. As a Huugarian, Hungary 
 should have my whole heart, and so, too, if 
 Switzerland, Poland or Germany were my native 
 land. I wish well to them all, and regard them 
 all in that spirit of broad philanthropy which 
 declares that God has made of one blood all the 
 nations of men who dwell upon the face of the 
 earth. Senators on the other side have sought 
 for no good purpose, and in no true love for 
 Slaves, to identify some of us here with a de- 
 fence of Slavery because we could not vote for 
 Wm. H. Seward. I have only to say for myself 
 in conclusion that I have no attachments to any 
 kind of servitude mental, physical, or partisan. 
 More than thirty years ago, when a small boy, 
 upon a tomb stone in the grave yard of Old 
 Concord, Massachusetts, I learned my first lesson 
 in the cause of true freedom, and I have not 
 forgotten it from that time to the present. 
 
 "Man wills us slaves, 
 God wills us free. 
 I will as Godwills, 
 God's will be done." 
 
 Rejoinder to Mr. Dickinson. 
 
 In Senate, February 13. 
 Mr. President: — I do not propose to repeat 
 what I have said upon the General Politics of 
 the State, or to enlarge upon the reasons which 
 prompted me to vote against Wm. H. Seward. I 
 do mean, however, to clinch fas 1 as a well driven 
 nail, the reasons and facts before given for my 
 vote. To Recapitulate then let me say that 
 Mr. Seward was not only untrue at heart to Mr. 
 Clay, but that he was largely responsible for his 
 defeat in 1844. He went over the State during 
 the canvass with Mr. Clay upon his lips, and 
 something else his heart. He denounced slavery 
 and slaveholders with unsparing severity. He 
 pictured the slaveholder in all the deformities of 
 a Tyrant and an oppressor, and a Plantation life as 
 the concentration of all that was corrupt and 
 horrid. Throngs of excited people were told 
 that Mr. Clay was the owner of ninety slaves, 
 that he lived upon a large plantation, and then, 
 with their passions aroused against slavery and 
 slaveholders, and the dark picture drawn against 
 s'avery they were asked to vote for Mr. Clay as 
 the Whig nominee for the Presidency. This 
 support was ungenerous and unkind, and like 
 that of the vuliure to the lamb. It made thou- 
 sands of votes for Mr. Birney and took thou- 
 sands from Mr. Clay. Such support was of a 
 piece with the invitation to Mr. Clay to visit 
 New York as a guest. He came and those who 
 had invited him turned their backs upon him af- 
 ter he had entered the territory as he supposed 
 of friends. Mr. Clay was told at Geneva at the 
 house of Gideon Lee, and by Solomon Van Ren- 
 sellaer, a name and memory always to be hon- 
 
14 
 
 ored, that the professions of friendship towards 
 him by Mr. Seward were hollow, and that Mr. 
 Seward would not see him. 
 
 I must now recall, said Mr. B., a new incident 
 or a forgotten incident in the History of the 
 Compromise Measures, as they have been allud- 
 ed to to-day in defence of Governor Seward's 
 course in 1850. I wish here in reply and de- 
 fence to make the letter of Senator Rusk, of 
 Texas, a part of the History of the country in 
 order to show the double part which was played 
 upon the Ten Million Texas Bill at Washington 
 in 1850. National Whigs have been deuonuced 
 all over the Stale for that measure. Let us see 
 where Mr. Seward stood upon it, or upon a mea- 
 sure like it. 
 
 LETTER FROM MR. RUSK. 
 
 Washington. Sept. 11, 1850. 
 
 Dear sir:— I have received your note of thin data making 
 enquiry in relation to certain propositions made to me by 
 Mr. Seward, of New York. Some months s.nce, whiie the 
 Bill reported by the (Jonimittee of thirteen, usu lly called 
 tho Omnibus Bill, w»« before the Senate, Mr. iseward called 
 upon ma and said be thought Texas was in tad company — 
 tnat he was disposed to treat her kindly — that he did not 
 believe she had a gool title to New Mexico, but, he be ieved 
 theUuitcd States wcie bound to pay her debt— that he 
 would vote to do so, at any time, if Texas would relinquish 
 her claim to New Mexico— that all his triends would do so, 
 and that it I would draw hira up a Bill to that effect, he 
 would have it introduced into the House of Representatives 
 and had i.o doubt it would pass. He said he was a better 
 friend to Texas than many of those who were supporting the 
 Omnibus Bin ano, that, it would be better for Texas 10 dis- 
 connect herself from the liiil before the Senate, 1! listen d 
 to all this but did not draw up any Bill at tue time, nor fop 
 severa days afterward. He asked me, 1 think, four or five 
 times, whethei I had drawn up the Bill, to which I au- 
 swered that I had not. lie then left fir home and was gone 
 several days. When he retui ncd, he again sskedme wheth- 
 er 1 had yetdrawn upthat Bill, I repi' d that 1 had not, 
 wh-n he again ure-arae to do so .". then learned from 
 him, that he had spoken to another member of the Senate 
 upon tue subject. I concluded to draw up a Bill and did so, 
 fixing the liue at 34 degrees of North latitude and inserting 
 twvlve millions of doll us, as the compensation. To this he 
 object d, but propo edaBMto pay t.e debt of Texas, pro- 
 vided it did not • xceed i«n millions. Texas relinquishing 
 h~r claims to New Mexico proper, as she stood previously, 
 under the organization of Mexico. He said this was a 
 ground upon which h«< and hs friei ds could sustain them- 
 selves, and that, il I would draw such a Bill, he would have 
 it introduced into tue House of Representatives. I there- 
 upon caused a Bill to be drawn by one of the clerks of the 
 Senate, which I handed to him. Sometime af'erwatd, the 
 Omnibus Bill was de eated. Mr. Pearce's Bill was then in- 
 troduced and, ou its passage, Mr. Seward voted against it. 
 Sometime alterwards, Mr. S, approached me and said he had 
 no objection to th; ten millions but did n»t 11- e the word 
 '"cede," iutheBih. Heremarked that he had voted aga DSt 
 it. I told him I i ad or-served the fact and was astonished 
 at it, alter what he had said tome. I said that tbe iiJl 
 conceded mo e territory to New Mexico than her former 
 limits, to which he answered, that tno word '"cede" gave 
 rise to his on"y objection to the measure and that he saw 
 there were enough vote* withont his, <kc. 
 
 toon after the Bill went to the House, I learned from a 
 highly respectab e source, that Mr. S. was exerting himself 
 to defeat it, and^immediaiely called upon him and remind- 
 ed him ot his previous coi ver-at on with me on the sutject. 
 I theu told him that atter what he bad said id the Senate, 
 I had no disposition to assail a man who had declared "he 
 would not detenu himself," tut when !:• hid sought ma 
 and made dec'aiatiii.s which were cf culated to deceive 
 and mislead me, iu a matter of vital i.nrortauce to Texas 
 and the whole country, he assumed a different position, of 
 which bo should not avail hiujse f with ■ puuity, and that 
 1 desired then, to know whether he had t -e.i exeitmg liim- 
 se.f to defeat the Bui. lie replied that he had heard the 
 charge — that it was untrue — thatitwas male byMr.Fill- 
 more and his friends, to get voies for the BUI — that, so tar 
 Jiom attempting todefi-at toe bill, he had advised his friends 
 who could sustain themselves at home, in i-uch a course, to 
 vote for the gilt — that there was no danger of its not pas 
 King — that he was in bad health and wa.-> going heme, . ot 
 txpeetitig to rie back nutil after the final vote upon the Bi I, 
 Od the following day he left the city and was absent du- 
 ring several days, but I do not remember how long. 
 
 This is. iu substance, what passed beiween us. I enclose 
 you a copy of the Bill which 1 handed tuhio 1 . 
 
 1 must, injustice to myself, s«y. tha , if Mr. Seward did, 
 as is stated, . xert hisinlluence to defeat '.he Bill, he did not 
 deceive me for I placed no reliance up >u hi* statem«nn 
 lrom the begiuiing, and did not, in the s.lghtest degie«, 
 alter cay course, iu consequence of what he said to me 
 
 Yours truly. ISO. J. BUBS. 
 
 So much for Mr. Seward's consistency uport- 
 the compromise measures. 
 
 The anti-Taylor meeting held in' Albany we 
 will consider next. The Senator from the 26th, 
 (Mr. Dickinson,) insists that Mr. Fillmore was 
 privy to it, and a counsellor of it. I read from 
 the Albany Journal evidence to the contrary, but 
 the charge is reiterated, and to vindicate the 
 memory of an old and distinguished friend not 
 here to defend himself, and to vindicate the 
 truth of history which has here been assailed, I 
 feel called ujion to do that which I would have 
 gladly avoided if I could, and to bring Mr. Fill- 
 more himself to answer the unjust imputation 
 upon his honorable associations with General 
 Taylor. Here is his let'er in answer to one from 
 me, written after the imputation had been made 
 and repeated. 
 
 mr. fillmore's letted: 
 
 Buffalo, N. Y.. Saturday, Feb. 10, 1855. 
 Mt Dbar Sir— I have yours of the 9th iust., iu which yon 
 inquire '"woetber 1 was privy to and adviser! any resolutions 
 drawn by Mr Weed or o'hers, to be acted upon at the Al- 
 bany meeting in August, 1848, (26th,) to defeat Oeueral Tay- 
 lor;" to which I beg leave to reply, that I neither drew, nor 
 advised the drawing, of any such resolutions: that on enter- 
 ing Mr. Weed's printing office just at dusk, I found him en- 
 gaged in drawing such resolutions for the meeting which 
 had then been called. He read them to me, which was the 
 first knowledge i hf>d of them, and I protested against them 
 and-themeeting, and on my remonstrence, as I understood. 
 Mr. We> d consented not to present them, but to have the 
 meeting po tpoued. The«e are thefac's but in my retire- 
 ment I would choose to avoid all notoriety, and especially 
 such as arises from political controversy; nevertheless, if it 
 be essential to the truth of history that y^u should nia-e 
 known the contents of this letter, you are at libertvto do 
 so. lam truly yours. MILLARD FILBM"HE. 
 
 I come now to Mr Seward s official injustice to 
 Hiram Ketchum, also denied by the Senator 
 from the 26lh That Senator asserted that Mr. 
 Ketchum's nomination was "several weeks in the 
 Senate Chamber, before it was withdrawn." The 
 Senator is in error. Mr. Ketcbnm's nomination 
 was sen*, in not before the 11th of the month, 
 and the Senate adjourned on the 26th. It was 
 alledged that the nomination was withdrawn, 
 also at the instance of Mr. Tallmadge of N. Y., 
 Erastus Root and Mr. Dickinson. Mr. Root, is 
 dead, and there is no voice from the j*rave to 
 confirm or deny the allegation in regard to his 
 acts. Mr. Tallmadge, however, denies the act, 
 and writes to me that he was neither a Senator 
 nor in Albany at the time in question. The 
 Senator himself, here to defend Govornor Seward, 
 is the witness left, and I am convinced that even 
 he errs in regard to the fact he states. Let me 
 read the letter from Mr. Tallmadge. 
 
 February 10, 18.15- 
 
 Messrs. Editors: — I perceive by the :eport of proceed- 
 ings iu the Senate of New York, in your paper o) last even- 
 ing, Mr. Die iusun is reported to hnv-- said that Governor 
 Seward withdrew the nomination of Hiram Ketchum from 
 the Senate, for the office of Judge of tue euuieme Court, to 
 which he had been nominated, in.-m representations made 
 to hnn, by Governor Root, Mr. Ijicki^son and myself. 
 
 My liieni. Mr. Dickinson, must be in error in re ard M 
 myself, as the nomination was made to the Senate in April 
 1811. and my term of office as atnator expired on the 1st (if 
 January. 10 d. 
 
 At the timeof presenting the nomination of Mr. Ketchum 
 I wis not a member of the Senate, and could not, therefore, 
 have adviset the witndrawal of his name. 
 
 I may be pei mil ted to add that ;n arqnaintanco with Mr. 
 Ketchum, in, both hispriva e and professional character, lor 
 more than 3d yea' s, has ioepired in me the gratfst regard 
 for his private worth, and th ' highest respct for his eleva- 
 ted protessiooal position. Respectfully yeurs, 
 
 f. a, tallmadge. 
 [Mr. Brooks read a similar letter to himself.] 
 And I have by me Mr. Ketchum's own letter 
 
15 
 
 which injustice to his Dame and his wrongs as 
 well as my own vote, I desire to read to the Sen- 
 ate. 
 
 Letter from Mr. Ketchum. 
 
 No. 31 Wall Streee. Feb. 12, 1855. 
 Dear 8ir— You have seen fit *o introduce in the debate 
 $n tb<> Senate, the school question and ray nomination to 
 the office of Circuit Judge.in May. 1S4I, and the withdrawal 
 of that nomination by Governor Seward. Since these topics 
 have beeu brought belore the Senate, I am desirous that 
 the facts should truly appear. Senator D CKioson says my 
 nomination was before the Senate For weeks. It was sent 
 to the Senate May 11, 1841 — certainly not before that date, 
 and the senate adjourned May 26. He says also. Ihat Gen. 
 Root, Mr. 'i'allmauge and himself made a representation to 
 the Governor triat my nomination would not be confirtntd, 
 and that he withdrew it. It appears that Mr. Tallma ge 
 was not at that time, a member of the Sena-e, and denies 
 the transaction, i-o far as he was concerned, The other wit- 
 T'ess, Gen Hoot, is dead. Ineverhtard of the facts stated 
 by Mr. Dickinson, before he made the statement. The facts 
 relating to the whole subject are briefly these: In the year 
 1824, the Legislature gave to the Corporation of the City of 
 >ew York, power to distribute the portion of th- School 
 Fund assigned to and raised for that City, among such in- 
 stitutions and schools, as it should by or iinauce desiccate. 
 Unler this iaw the Common Council txclnded from a par- 
 ticipation in this fund, all religious denominations, includ- 
 ing, ot course, the Romau Catho,ic schools. In 1840, the 
 Koman Catholic schools pet'tioned the Corporation for a 
 participation in this lund In Uctober of that year they 
 were heard before a lull Couoc ; l, through Bishop Hughes, 
 at great length. Others were heard. I appeart-d on that 
 occasion. The Corporation investigated the subject, with. 
 ca>-e and patience, and many of its members visited the 
 schools, and then rejected the petition, with, I think, en- 
 tire unanimity. The Koman Catholics then applied to the 
 Legislature; their petitions were referred to the Secretary 
 of state, Hon, John C. Spencer. In 1841, he made an elab- 
 orate report, suggesting a pian which allowed the formation 
 of voluntary associatons for the establishment of schools. 
 These associations when formed, would have been corpora- 
 tions quite as close as the Public School Society. They 
 wonld, moreover, have allowed Roman Cathol cs to form 
 •SKociations'among themselves, establish sjhools lor their 
 own children, appointing tbeirown clergy as teachers, and 
 these clerg» would have Qiawn their salary from the School 
 Fund, It is believed the plan was submitted to, and had 
 the entire approval of Bishop Hughes- 
 Alter this report was drawn, Gov. Seward came to the 
 City of Mew Y rk and requested an interview with the 
 Trusteesof the Public School Snci-ty. Ihe interview was 
 held, the plan was urged by the Governor, the Trustees were 
 not convinced, and they opposed it. On the 30th April, 1841, 
 the'Trusteeg sent to the Legislature a remonstrance against 
 this report, and prayed to be htard. This remonstrance 
 was referred by the Senate to the Committee on Literature 
 composed of Gen. Root, Mr Verplanck and Mr. Hunt-r — 
 This Committee he'd a meet'ng to hear parties in the Capi- 
 tol on the 8th of May, 1841 This meeting was attended by 
 a number of Roman Catuclics from the City of New Kirk, 
 repri-Sfnting the schools of this d nomination. They wera 
 heart through two gentlemen of the bar — Wright 
 Haivkes, Esq ,3and the late Mr. McKeon. I was heard on be 
 hxlf of the Public School Society at some length. Ontbe 
 11th of the same minth, Tuesday following, the Committee 
 reported a bill. On the same day, I uudeistand my nomi- 
 nation was sent to the Senate On the 22d of May on mo- 
 tion of Mr Verplank, the bid was considered in Committea 
 On the 25th of May, the Senate proceed-d to a further con- 
 sideration of the report, and Senator Nich'.das moved that 
 the further consideration be pos'poned to the first Tuesdav 
 ol Jauuary next, ensuing. On this motion the Yeas and 
 Nays were ta^en, there were eleven in the affirmative and 
 two in the negative. The bill was. therefore, lost. On the 
 published list of the Yeas and Nays, neither the name of 
 of Senator Root nor Senator Hunter appeals. 
 
 After this vote, d,s 1 was inforned. the Governor with- 
 drew my nomination. j,On the 26th— the next day — tha 
 ilouse ad|ourn>'d. 
 
 Now, irom that day to this, I have been of opinion that 
 Governor Seward— who was very anxious for the passage of 
 this bill, and i xpressed to me on th« 8th ot May his full be- 
 ne! that it would pass — withdrew my nomination because 
 his favorite measure failed, and to show his entire sincerity 
 to the tri.-nds of that measure, Bishop Hughes, and the Ro- 
 man Catholics of the city vf New York. 
 
 I was. theiefore.sicrificed upon the soil of raynative State, 
 not thirty miles from ,mr birth-place, to please those ot 
 another religion and not born in my country I know I shall 
 be pardoned for saying that I did not contemplate this trans- 
 action with complacency in this view of it, but Senator Dick- 
 inson puts a new fac on the whole affair. According to hia 
 statement, my withdrawal was from kindness and delicaey 
 to n e. What a pitty that such kindness should have lain 
 concealed from the publij f>r fourteen years. 
 
 Yours, very respectfully and truly. 
 
 HlRAM KETCHUM. 
 Now sir. have I or have I not made out my 
 own case? Cut it is said I have been inconsis- 
 
 tent to my obligations to the Whig Party, be- 
 cause I did not vote for Mr. Seward, and my 
 last words to the Young Men's Whig General 
 Committee of New York, are quoted against me, 
 because I am not upon the record as the Senator 
 would have me. 
 
 I was for three years the Chairman of this 
 Committee and one year at the head of its Ex- 
 ecutive Committee, and only during those four 
 years a member. In all that time the Senator 
 cannot find one word or thought of mine or of 
 the Committee sustaining Mr. Sewards course. 
 It was a National Whig Committee. It knew no 
 North, no South, no East, no West, and nothing 
 but the country. It was conservative, tolerant, 
 national, and I was proud to be its officer. I 
 stand here to-day where I stood then, and 
 through the Administration of General Taylor 
 and Mr. Fillmore, and I defy the Senator, or 
 those who are filling his quiver full of arrows 
 against me, to point to even one inconsistency of 
 mine. The friends of Mr. Seward did all in 
 their power to oppose my elevation there,and my 
 election to the place I hold, I felt the force of 
 this hostility all the way from this Capital, and 
 all because as a Whig and a citizen I chose to be 
 no man's man, and would not sustain the cor- 
 rupt and corrupting dynasty here in Albany. 
 
 Nor will I ever be a sectional politician, or 
 square my political allegiance by geographical 
 metes and bounds. All this side of the Mason 
 and Dixon line, and all this side of the Potomac 
 are dear to me as a northern man, but there is 
 something beyoDd, also, which I regard as a 
 part of my country. I know no difference as a 
 public man, attached to a national party faith, 
 between a brother on the banks of the" Missis- 
 sippi or the Savannah, and one on the shores of 
 the Kennebec or Hudson. I would embrace 
 them all as of "one country, one constitution, and 
 one destiny." In the sentiment of a pure and 
 patriotic affection I would hng them all to my 
 bosom as of one national family. I would span 
 the whole continent from ocean to ocean with 
 the bow of promise, and girdle the continent 
 with more than a belt of steel. I would be tol- 
 erant and just to all men, regardless of what the 
 North said against Slavery or the South said for 
 Slavery. The Constitution of the country is the 
 only legal arbiter between North and South, and 
 whatever that demanded I would be as ready to 
 give as to exact, and if I could not do this, I 
 would disown my birthright. 
 
 There are as good Whigs South as North, and 
 there are men there M'hom I have named by 
 scores who have stood by the Constitution, and 
 its compromises, and by us, with all the Zealand 
 friendship of those who love their country with 
 a holy affection. Let us, Mr. President, cease to 
 hate one another. Above all, do not let us use 
 our public places and influence here in the Sen- 
 ate of this graat Stale to arouse enmities against 
 men living under the same constitution, the same 
 flag, and destined, for good or evil, a to the 
 same end. We can maintain our own ri hts and 
 discharge our own duties to the North, without 
 warring upon the constitutional rights of any 
 other people. 
 
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