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SAMUEL E. SEWALL
ET
NINA MOORE TIFFANY

BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
1898

COPYBIGHT, 1898, BT NINA MOOBE TUTANT
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

SAMUEL E. SEWALL
Like that ancestral judge who bore his name.
Faithful to Freedom and to Truth, he gave,
When all the air was hot with wrath and blame,
Mis youth and manhood to the fettered slave.
And never Woman in her suffering saw
A helper tender, wise, and brave as he ;
Lifting her burden of unrighteous law,
Me shamed the boasts of ancient chivalry.
Noiseless as light that melts the darkness is,
Me wrought as duty led and honor bid,
No trumpet heralds victories like his, —
The unselfish worker in his work is hid.
JOBN QBEENLEAF WEITTIBB.

PREFACE
So few of Mr. Sewall's contemporaries are now
living that the material for a memoir of him has
necessarily been Umited. Moreover, immersed as
he was in the conduct of affairs, he could never be
a voluminous letter-writer. His daughter, Mrs.
Cabot, has coUected such survivals of his corre
spondence as she has been able to procure, and has
chosen from among the family letters those which
can be given to the public. If by these an impres
sion of his character and personality is given, her
main desire with regard to the volume wiU have
been fulfiUed.
Valuable preUminary notes and information have
also been gathered together by Mr. Francis Jackson
Garrison. His kind care of the memoir from first
to last, and the indispensable daily coUaboration,
through aU parts of the book, of Francis Buchanan
Tiffany, are gratefuUy acknowledged.
Especial thanks are also due to Mr. George A.
Dary for many facts, records, and documents gener
ously supplied, and to Mr. George T. Angell, Dr.
M. E. Zakrzewska, Mrs. Abby Morton Diaz, and
others.
N. M. T.
St. Paul, October 15, 1898.

CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. Ancestbt and Bibth  1
II. Youth  12
m. Mabbiagb  21
rV. AntI-SlAVEKT BEGrNUINGS  33
V. Slave Cases  62
VI. Domestic Lifb  82
Vn. Sekvice in the Senate  93
Vm. EMANCaPATION  101
IX. Habeiet Winslow Sewall .... 118
X. The Dependek of Women  127
XI. Lateb Years  147
ApPENDrS A. Letter from Sberman Hoar  167
B. A Partial List of Cases argued by Samuel E.
Se-wall before tbe Supreme Judicial Court of
Massachusetts  169
Index  173

SAMUEL E. SEWALL

CHAPTER I
ANCESTRY AND BIRTH

Stately and slow, witb thongbtf ul air.
His black cap bidiug his whitened hair,
Walks the Judge of the great Assize,
Samuel Sewall the good and wise.
His fafie with lines of firmness wrought,
He wears the look of a man unbought.
Who swears to his hurt and changes not ;
Yet, touched and softened nevertheless
With the grace of Christian gentleness,
The face that a child would cHmb to kiss !
True and tender and brave and just,
That man might honor and woman trust.
Whittibb, The Prophecy of Samuel SewaU.
" You have often desired that I would give you
some account of the family of which you are,"
wrote Samuel SewaU, the old chief justice, to his
-son in 1720. "And although I am much less
able to doe anything of this nature now when I
have been left of my dear Parents very near
Twenty years, yet, considering the longer I stay
the more unfit I shaU be, take what I have to say
as foUows :

2 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
" Mr. Henry SewaU, my great Grandfather, was
a Linen Draper in the City of Coventry in Great
Britain. He acquired a great Estate, was a pru
dent Man, and was more than once chosen Mayor
of the City.
" Mr. Henry SewaU, my Grandfather, was his
eldest Son, who out of dislike to the English
Hierarchy sent over his onely Son, my Father,
Mr. Henry Sewall, to New England in the year
1634, with Net Cattel and Provisions sutable for
a new Plantation. Mr. Cotton would have had
my Father settle at Boston ; but in regard of his
Cattel he chose to goe to Newbury, whether my
Grandfather soon followed him.
..." In the year 1667 my father brought me
to be admitted [to Harvard College]. ... I was
admitted by the very learned and pious Mr.
Charles Chauncey, who gave me my first Degree
in the year 1671. . . .
" In 1674 I took my 2'^ Degree and Mrs. Han
nah HuU, my dear Wife, your honoured Mother,
was invited by the Dr. [Dr. Hoar, then President
of Harvard College] and his Lady to be with them
a while at Cambridge. She saw me when I took
my Degree and set her affection on me, though I
knew nothing of it tiU after our Marriage ; which
was Feb. 28'''' 1675-6."

ANCESTRY AND BIBTH 3
In this letter the most renowned of the SewaUs ^
tells us all that we shaU be likely to know of the
direct descent of his branch of the famUy. His
great-grandfather, Henry Sewall, mayor of Coven
try, was the founder of the SewaUs and Sewells
of the United States and Canada.
The name is an ancient one, probably derived
from the-Sasualo, who. Sir William Dugdale thinks,
must be conceded to have been " no lesse than a
thane in the Saxon's time ; " and whose descend
ants, SewaUs, SewaeUs, SeweUs, and Shewells,
were plentiful in Warwickshire. Henry Sewall,
in writing his name, adhered to its simplest form,
and to the a found in the Latinized Sewallus.
The " dislike to the English hierarchy," which
drove Judge SewaU' s father and grandfather to
New England, argues individuality and independ
ence to have been family traits at the outset.
His own career was marked by two other charac
teristics which have come to be associated with
the name, — conscientiousness and a deep religious
ness. These pervaded his daily life and his deal
ings with men; these, nothing less, goaded him
' He does not mention his own worldly honors. He was the
first of a long series of distinguished SewaUs. Out of the period
of one hundred and twenty-two years, from 1692 to 1814, eighty-
four saw some member of the Sewall family in the highest court
of Massachusetts.

4 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
on to fatal zeal in the days when he wrote in the
margin of that imperishable diary, — " Vae, vae,
vae witchcraft." Moreover, as his judgments in
the days of witchcraft were stern, so, when the
delusion had passed, was his sense of error deep.
Public confession alone could restore peace within ;
and he is at no time more lovable than when he
is seen waiting at the Old South Meeting-House,
the confession of error in his hand, — that "biU"
in which he " desires to take the blame and shame "
of his part in the matter upon himself, — giving
the paper to Mr. Wilson as he passes by, " stand
ing up at the reading of it, and bowing when
finished." Mistress Hannah HuU, who, as Judge SewaU
says, saw him when he took his degree and " set
her affection " on him, was the daughter and sole
heir of John Hull, Esq., a goldsmith and princi
pal merchant in Boston, master of the colonial
mint from 1652 for many years, treasurer of the
Colony of Massachusetts in 1676, one of the ear
liest benefactors of Harvard College, and one of
the assistants of the colonial government of 1683.^
1 Family Memorials, by Edward E. Salisbury. " Hannah HvJl's
dower is mythically said to have been her weight in Pine-tree
shillings." (Ibid.) Her mother was Judith, daughter of the first
American Edmund Quincy. John HuU named for his wife the
headland known as Point Judith, which was part of his posses-

ANCESTBT AND BIRTH 5
The second son of the first chief justice and
Hannah Hull was Joseph, minister for fifty-six
years of the Old South Congregational Church
of Boston, and known as the " good Dr. SewaU." ^
He married Elizabeth WaUey, and had but one
son who lived to maturity, Samuel, a merchant
of Boston and a deacon in his father's church.
Samuel married Elizabeth Quincy, and left a num
ber of chUdren, among them Joseph, who became
treasurer of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
and who was the father of the subject of this
memoir. Joseph Sewall, the treasurer, was born in 1762.
He was early left an orphan. At the beginning
of the Eevolution, the relatives under whose care
he was placed sent him out of Boston, and he was
for some time at Dummer Academy in Newbury.
The turbulent days of the Eevolution over, he
returned to Boston to begin his training for mer-
cantUe life with his brother-in-law, Samuel Salis
bury, and later established himself in business at
Marblehead. It happened that at this time the
1 On the Ilth of May, 1724, he was chosen President of Har
vard CoUege, another candidate being Cotton Mather, who solaced
himselE for his own disappointment by this sarcastic record in
his diary : " ' This day Dr. SewaU was chosen president for his
piety.' " Dr. SewaU declined the ofSce. In 1731 he received the
Doctorate of Divinity from the University of Glasgow. — Family
Memorials.

6 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
wife and daughter of Thomas Eobie,^ a royalist
refugee, were visiting relatives or friends in Mar
blehead ; and, an inherited tradition of friendship
between Eobies and SewaUs having paved the way
to acquaintance, Joseph SewaU applied to Thomas
Eobie for his daughter's hand.
JOSEPH SEWALL. TO THOMAS EOBIE.
Makelehead, July 29, 1788.
Sir, — Letters by this conveyance wiU introduce
me to your notice as a person aspiring to the
Honor of a Connection with your Family. On
this important occasion, the Character and Circum
stances of the Person soliciting are, I conceive,
Sir, the principal objects which claim a Parent's
attention. . . .
^ Thomas Eobie was the son of Thomas Kobie who graduated
from Harvard in 1708, and who was afterwards a tutor there, as
weU as Ubrarian and feUow, and died in 1729. The son fled at
the time of the Eevolution to Halifax, and returned to this coun
try only after the lapse of several years. He was a SewaU by
descent, his father having married Mehitable, daughter of Stephen
SewaU. A warm affection existed between his first cousin, Jon
athan SeweU, and himself, aa is shown by their correspondence,
carried on through many years. This Jonathan SeweU was John
Adams's intimate friend. It wUl be noticed that Samuel E. Sew
aU was descended from the first chief justice and also from his
brother Stephen; and that he inherited a double share of the
Quincy strain, through Judith (Quincy) HuU and Elizabeth
(Quincy) SewaU.

ANCESTRY AND BIRTH 7
In Nov. 1785 I came to this place with a smaU
assortment of Goods which I had taken on credit —
the amount did not exceed X300 — my own right
in them was short of £50. . . .
My Property at present may be estimated at
£900. To this estimate permit me to add, what
in your mind may be of more essential importance,
a Knowledge of Business and a Habit of Industry,
obtained by a regular Education in the mercantile
Une. But do not consider this. Sir, as the dictate
of vanity or affectation ; for in soliciting you to
approve of a Connection in which I feel that my
happiness is deeply interested, I shoiUd wrong
myself to omit the smaUest circumstance which
might tend to reconcile you to the absence of an
amiable Daughter. — I confess. Sir, that all which
I can offer appears to me very inadequate to my
purpose, and I shall always feel sensible how much
I am indebted to your benevolence and to her
Condescension, if I am so fortunate as to succeed
in this attempt.
I shoiUd not have presumed. Sir, to make this
application, if I had not met with some degree of
encouragement from Mrs. Koble, for whom I shaU
ever entertain the most grateful regard; by her
and by your amiable Daughter I am refer'd to you
for a decisive answer : I cannot easily express how
much my happiness depends on that decision.

8 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
With Sentiments of the highest Esteem and
Eespect, I remain, Sir, Your most ob't Serv't,
Joseph Sewall.
Thomas Eobie, Esq.
To which Thomas Eobie replied : —
" I cannot express my own Mind on the Occasion
better than by quoting the words of Mrs. Eobie' s
Father ^ to me in answer to an AppHcation of the
same kind, which was to this purpose —
" ' My concern for my dear child is principaUy
that she may so pass through life as that she may
finally attain that complete Felicity which awaits
the Pious and Virtuous in the next World.' "
The marriage took place, and Mrs. Joseph SewaU
wrote to her father, December 22, 1788, "Ever
since my union with Mr. Sewall I have found my
regard for him daily increase, as I every day dis
covered in him some good and amiable qualities
which proved him more worthy of my esteem. As
I think this will give you satisfaction I am induced
to mention it, and further to add, that as far as
1 Thomas Eobie married Mary Bradstreet, great-great-grand
daughter of Simon Bradstreet, Governor of Massachusetts. Thus
Samuel E. SewaU was a descendant on his mother's side of Gov
ernor Bradstreet, and of his wife, Anne, who was celebrated as
the first poetess of New England, and who was the daughter of
Thomas Dudley.

ANCESTRY AND BIRTH 9
depends upon him, I make no doubt but I shall
be happy — yet as happiness below is always
imperfect, I dare not promise myself too much."
The minor key in this fragment of a letter came
rather from a gentle self-distrust than from any
gloom ; for although the succeeding years brought
to the wife and mother many sorrows, — of her
eleven chUdren only two survived her, — she could
yet write at the age of sixty-five : " When I look
back on my past life and reflect how much I
Lave to be grateful for, the kind and affectionate
friends who have traveUed with me the journey of
life, a journey diversified with many changes, but
in which enjoyment has predominated, in which
my hope has never failed, ... I have sometimes
felt as iE I had had more than a common portion
of enjoyment, and have asked myself. How have I
deserved all this ? and how shaU I prove my grati
tude ? " This spirit of unfailing cheerfulness she
bequeathed to her son.
During the years of the married life of Joseph
and Mary SewaU in Marblehead six children were
born to them, namely, Mary, who died in 1816,
Thomas, destined with Samuel to survive all the
other members of a large family, two little girls
named successively Elizabeth, and two boys bear
ing in turn the name Joseph. The last four died
in infancy.

10 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
In 1799 Joseph Sewall removed to Boston. Here
Le went into partnership with his nephew, Samuel
Salisbury, Jr., under the name of Sewall & SaUs
bury, as importers of dry goods. Other partners
were afterwards added to the firm, and the busi
ness was prosperous and considered large in those
days. On the 9th of November, 1799, in a house in or
near Sudbury Street, Samuel Edmund SewaU was
born. Younger brothers and sisters of Samuel
who were also born here were Edward, Martha,
EUzabeth, and Frances.
The mother's letters show Samuel in his progress
through early childhood, — as a fine baby, "fat as
a beach bird ; " as a prospective victim for inocu
lation with " kine-pox," which was " quite the
rage ; " as a lisper demanding his Aimt Hannah
and, in her absence, missing her good government ;
as going every day at four years of age to " Aunt
Louisa's school," and always saying when he came
home that he had " been a good boy ; " and as
being very fond of his black nurse. Flora.
Flora, indeed, was the first of her race and of
Ler sex whose cause the young defender espoused.
Some one caUed her black. " Flora 's not brack,
she 's b'own," he insisted. There was a tradition
that as a small boy he had a very quick temper,
and that when this same nurse would say to him,

ANCESTRY AND BIRTH 11
" Sam, swaUow your temper," he would succeed in
doing so. StiU, on occasion, even in after years,
a sudden reaUy furious burst of wrath at some
wrong-doing would break out, startling those who
knew him to be habituaUy tranquil and composed.

CHAPTER II
YOUTH
Samuel E. Sewall was prepared for coUege at
PhiUips Exeter Academy, and in 1813, when not
yet fourteen years of age, entered Harvard CoUege,
from which, since the graduation of the first chief
justice with his class of ten, no fewer than seventeen
SewaUs, descendants of the Mayor of Coventry,
had received their degrees.
Of the lad's career in college we have few
records. His was a noteworthy class, numbering,
as it did, among its representatives, George Ban
croft, the historian, Caleb Cushing, whose path was
to diverge so far from Mr. SewaU's as to lead him
into Pierce's cabinet, David Lee Child, Samuel A.
Eliot, George B. Emerson, Samuel J. May, Stephen
H. Tyng, Paul Willard, and Alva Woods. Samuel
J. May, who was Mr. SewaU's cousin, and after
the first year his chum, as weU as in later years
his companion-in-arms in the struggle against sla
very, says of him that he was " a diligent student
and a distinguished scholar." In that class of

YOUTH 13
sixty-seven his rank on graduation was seventh or
eighth, and in the August commencement he had
a part, a thesis in Latin on the Science of Logic.
Of his writings while in college an exhibition exer
cise " De Literis Eerum Publicarum " survives, as
does an essay on " The Improvement in Composition
since the Eelgn of Queen Anne." One other extant
essay, on the advisabUity of using English instead
of Latin for the triennial catalogue, indicates that
even at that early day he had begun to suggest
improvements in the existing order of things ;
though it was not until 1890 that this change was
accomplished, and he was never able to read his
name in the roU of baccalaureates as plain Samuel
Edmund instead of Samuel Edmundus.
In 1817, when the Harvard Law School was
newly established, SewaU entered its first class
and remained two years, receiving his degree of
L/L. B., when such degrees were first conferred,
in 1820. During his vacations he studied in the
office of John GaUison, a connection of the family
and a lawyer of great promise.
For the few personal touches that have been
Landed down concerning this period, we are in
debted to his aimt. Miss Hannah Eobie. An
inmate of the SewaU household, she was devotedly
attached to him, and her letters are enlivened by
frequent allusions to " Sam." She describes him

14 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
as being " the general favorite of the house and of
everybody who knew him ; " always the one to be
called on for errand-running and small helpful
nesses. On one occasion, it is true, being asked to
step to the market and bring home a melon, the
young law student looked somewhat scandalized.
The request was immediately withdrawn, but he
appeared a few minutes later with the desired
purchase under his arm, remarking laughingly that
Le had " tried to make it look as much like a book
as possible."
In the autumn of the year in which he finished
his studies at the law school he made a journey
with six companions, including May, Emerson, and
Cushing, to the White HiUs, then hardly so acces
sible as is the Yellowstone Park to-day. " On
Monday morning," he writes to his mother, " we
left Kennebunk . . . and on Wednesday evening
arrived at the house of a Mr. Crawford, who was
our guide to the top of the White Hills. The dis
tance we had gone over was only eighty-one miles,
the greater part of which I was on horseback.
The next day at twelve o'clock we set out for the
mountains and stopped at a house about six miles
off [the Willey House], where we left our horses
and wagon. This is the only house in a distance
of twelve miles. We then set off on foot with our
blankets and provisions on our backs. We followed

YOUTH 15
the road for two and a half mUes tUl we came to
what is caUed the notch. . . . Just after we passed
this, we turned off into the mountain and began
to ascend it by a narrow path, which has lately
been made through the forest. . . . After labor
ing for two hours we arrived at what Crawford
caUs his camp. ... At five o'clock the next day
we set off. ... At last we arrived at the foot
of Mount Washington, the highest land in the
United States. . . . We erected on the top a pyra
mid of stones to immortalize our ascent."
A year later he spent August and September
with his kinsfolk in Halifax, from which place the
young Puritan wrote : " The people here think so
much of rank and titles ; " and " visiting and dissi
pation is here made too much the business of life."
But after a fortnight his Puritanism seems some
what to have relented. " My manner of living here
is very different from what it was in Boston.
Visiting and riding about are my most serious occu
pations, and I read, write, and study a little by way
of recreation. I find dining at five and six o'clock
agrees very weU with me. ... I hope the custom
wiU soon be introduced into Boston. The more I
see of this place, indeed, the better do I like the
whole style of living here. The people of Halifax
certainly understand the art of society better than
my own countrymen. As I am living with so dis-

16 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
tinguished a personage as the SoUcitor General, I
Lave had an excellent opportunity of seeing the
most important characters in the place, and being
introduced among the most fashionable. society."
In Boston, indeed, his social life was chiefly that
of the large family circle. His sisters were delicate
and shy, his mother retiring by nature. Aunt
Hannah and her favorite nephew were evidently
the leading spirits in such gayety as they could
create. " We have got almost sick of the great eat
ing family parties," she wrote to her sister, " and
Sam and I were head conspirators in trying to do
something about it. . . . We aspired to something
much greater than we accomplished, but aU par
ties are much gratified in what was finaUy decided
on. Mr. May's, Mr. Greele's and our famUy meet
at each other's Louse regularly once a week, . . .
and we allow no corporeal food but one kind of
cake with tea, and in the evening only bread and
cheese and a basket of apples. We depend on
reading for part of our entertainment. Some new
publication or some pleasing poem or essay is
generaUy selected and recommended by one of the
company." Miss Eobie also speaks of fortnightly meetings
with Dr. Channing, whose church the family
attended. " They are pleasanter than ever, as
there is more freedom in conversation than there

YOUTH 17
used to be." Eeferring to these meetings and to
the family parties, she says, a Uttle on the defen
sive : " They shew some of our sources of what we
consider rational enjoyment," and adds philosophi-
caUy, " You wiU not at least doubt that they are
an innocent substitute for more showy and expen
sive recreations and that it is happy for us we can
enjoy them, as the one is within our reach and the
other is not."
Upon SewaU's admission to the bar in 1821,^ he
was about to enter into partnership with Mr.
GaUison, but the plan was frustrated by the latter's
death. He then formed a connection with Willard
PhiUips. The basis of this partnership was the
same as that proposed by Mr. GaUison, and was
that the junior partner should attend to office busi
ness and should receive one half of the net profits,
with a guarantee of five hundred doUars a year for
two years. They continued in partnership from
1821 to 1826, with offices in Eogers Building.
During the early years of practice, while the
young lawyer was at Lis desk with more or less
legal work on hand, he yet found or made leisure
for various experiments in writing. He was for a
time editor of the "American Jurist ; " and in it he
published articles on Damages on BiUs of Exchange,
1 He was admitted in the Court of Common Pleas January 5,
1821, and in the Supreme Judicial Court March 5, 1823.

18 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
on Manufacturing Corporations, on Literary Prop
erty, and on Bankrupt and Insolvent Laws. In
1836, in connection with Mr. Phillips, he prepared
a second American edition of Sir John Bayley's
book on " BiUs of Exchange and Promissory
Notes." A review of children's books, sent to the " Chris
tian Examiner," was probably an outgrowth of his
interest in educational matters as a teacher in Dr.
Channing's Sunday-school. This interest, as might
Lave been expected, leaned toward the progressive
side. In "The North American Eeview" for
AprU, 1830, appeared an article by him on Cath
erine Beecher's " Suggestions respecting Improve
ments in Education," of which he heartily approved.
"Much of the existing evil in the world," the arti
cle says, — and the sentence reveals the mainspring
of his actions, — " may be removed by human
agency. Perhaps," he continues, "that heavy
mass, the public, which is oftentimes so difficult
to move, but whose momentum is so irresistible
when once it is set in motion, may be forced into
action by this and simUar pubUcations."
A number of years of anxiety and sorrow for
Lis father's family began with the misfortunes of
some relatives in New York, for whose debts Lis
fatLer's firm, now SewaU, Williams, & Co., Lad
become responsible. In 1826 tLe firm made an

YOUTH 19
assignment of tLeir property for the benefit of
their creditors. "The partners readily obtained
a fuU discharge from all their debts," says Samuel
E. SewaU, "and the creditors had a large divi
dend. 1 am happy to say also that both Joseph
SewaU and John Williams afterwards succeeded
in paying their shares of all the debts which had
not been fuUy paid under the assignment. From
this, however, I believe must be excepted debts
where they were merely sureties for others." ^
Almost immediately after this honorable fail
ure Joseph SewaU was chosen by the legislature
treasurer of the commonwealth, and continued
to fiU the office during the five years aUowed by
the constitution. " His being chosen to an office
of so great responsibility immediately after his
personal financial embarrassment, showed the high
confidence which his f eUow-citizens entertained of
Lis integrity and business capacity. He experi
enced no difficulty in finding sureties on the heavy
official bonds which the law required of him." ^
Financial reverses were but forerunners of heav
ier trials. In 1828 Samuel's sister Elizabeth feU
a victim to consumption ; and her death was fol
lowed within a year by that of his dearly beloved
brother Edward. In the next year died Frances,
1 Memorial Biographies of the New England Historic Genealogi
cal Society, vol. i. p. 253. ^ Ibid.

20 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
and in 1832 Martha. Finally, in 1834, his mother
passed away, leaving to survive her of her eleven
children only Thomas and Samuel.
Six months before the death of Frances, Miss
Eobie went with her to the South, in the hope that
the climate of Florida might avert the disease to
which aU the sisters finaUy feU victims. Samuel
accompanied them, and remained at St. Augustine
long enough to see them settled as comfortably as
the accommodations of the place at that time would
permit. In his letters to his mother he described St.
Augustine, with its roses, green grass, and birds
in February ; but it Is easily seen that his thoughts,
which were hereafter to be occupied so much with
the question of slavery, were already turning
toward the problem presented by the condition of
the negro race. " What strikes a stranger from
the North more than anything Is the number of
blacks which he sees everywhere. In the streets
we meet at least six blacks to one white. They
generally look like Idle, good-for-nothing vaga
bonds. They are universaUy lazy, doing the least
possible quantity of work with which they can
escape punishment. . . . They moved so very
slowly that at first I was often on the point of
asking if anything was the matter with them."

CHAPTER III
MARRIAGE
In the summer of 1835 Mr. SewaU spent some
days in New York for the purpose of attending
the anti-slavery convention held there. In the
house at which he stopped were Mr. and Mrs.
Nathan Winslow, of Portland, Maine, and their
daughter Louisa. At the close of the convention
the Winslows and Mr. Sewall returned together
to Boston, and during a visit of three or four
weeks paid by the family in the city, the young
people saw each other frequently. Miss Eobie
wrote : " The young lady is a Quaker and about
nineteen years old. . . . Sam was afraid to let her
return to Portland without securing her. He has
made two visits of several days to Portland since.
. . . The engagement is not known among the
Quakers, and Sam has not been introduced to her
connections generaUy; they wish for the present
not to have it known, as a Quaker marrying one
of the world's people is disowned, as it is termed,
by them. The engagement here is pretty well

22 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
understood. . . . Her father is very weU off, but I
suppose this is a consideration that never occurred
to Sam. The liberal disposition of aU the family is
a much stronger recommendation. Eeport speaks
weU of [her] as being the finest girl in Portland."
The young girl was an enthusiastic abolitionist,
and ardently ready for the other new gospels
preached in that heyday of reform.
Mr. SewaU's proselyting, if proselyting it may
be called, was very gentle. He was himself so
thoroughly imbued with the spirit of tolerance and
with respect for the convictions of others that he
could not have urged upon her a belief toward
which she showed no inclination. Yet, when he
found her eager to receive ideas which were of
supreme value to himself, he shared them freely
with her.
The influence of Channing and Unitarianism
had become a prominent factor in the reUgious
life of the day. Mr. Sewall, as a foUower of
Channing, gave her a volume of his sermons ; the
foUowing fragments from their correspondence
show with what result.
SAMUEL E. SEWALL TO LOUISA M. WINSLOW. July 28, 1835.
I am very glad to find you have so good an
opinion of Unitarianism. On my part, my respect

MARRIAGE 23
for Quakerism has very much increased since I
knew you. I have been reading, as I told you,
Clarkson 's " Portraiture of Quakerism." I am not
going to become a convert to the theological doc
trines of Quakerism, but the Quakers have cer
tainly done more than any other sect to maintain
the pure morality of the gospel, both by their
opinions and their conduct. . . . There are some
things in their discipline which do not please me,
particularly their disowning persons who marry
out of the society.
LOUISA M. WnsrSLOW TO SAMUEL E. SEWALL.
October 18, 1835.
The committee have called again, but I did
not see them. They talked a great deal with
mother, and asked her if she did not think I might
be induced to change my mind. She told them
"she did not think It Impossible." She does not
know me so well as I know myself. . . . The more
I know of Unitarianism, the better I like it. That
faith appears to me much the most rational, and I
cannot bear to hear the Unitarians condemned as
infidels by those who have never read any of their
works. ... It is a great task for me to attend
their [the Quakers'] meetings now, and I only do
it because mother thinks It necessary to prevent
them from excommunicating me immediately.

24 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
S. E. S. TO L. M. W. October 29, 1835.
The great error in most, if not all. Christian
denominations has been to give an undue impor
tance to speculative opinions or to forms of worship
and church government. But how unimportant
are these things compared with a heartfelt beUef
in the essentials of Christianity. Whether a per
son believes or disbelieves in the doctrines of the
Trinity, original sin, or the eternity of future pun
ishments, he is a good Christian if he loves God,
believes in the divine mission of Jesus, and con
forms his life to the moral teachings of the gos
pel. So it seems to me of very little consequence
whether a person prefer a form of prayer with the
Episcopalians or not ; whether he is opposed to a
salaried clergy, a clerical dress, and ornamented
places of worship, like the Quakers, or not. . . .
These are not the points which Jesus Christ urged
in his preaching. The great object of his instruc
tions was to inculcate love to God, an expansive
benevolence towards our feUow-men, and a pure
and exalted morality. . . . Though I have no
doubt that the opinions of some sects have a more
favorable influence on character than those of
others, yet I believe that exemplary Christians
may be found in all. It has been easy in all ages

MARRIAGE 25
for men to find subjects to dispute about, and It
has been natural for them to exaggerate the Im
portance of their own peculiar sentiments, and thus
be led to quarrel with those who differed from
them. These contests have too often made them
lose sight of the real spirit of their religion.
L. M. W. TO S. E. S. November 28, 1835.
Lucy EUen and Harriet ^ Lave become quite
Unitarians as weU as myself. Lucy EUen says
she Las derived more consolation from Dr. CLan-
nlng's discourses than from any book she ever
read. February 29, 1836.
Since I commenced this letter grandmother
Las been in. SLe wished to see aU the family
together, as she had something very Important to
say to us. Poor woman, she Is greatly concerned
about us. Last week I lent Ler Dr. CLannlng's
discourses, and she says she has hardly given sleep
to her eyes or slumber to her eyelids since she
Las read It. SLe thought it a most deceiving, per
nicious book, and believed it was a snare which
the enemy of souls had laid for us, seeing we had
departed from the straight and narrow way. She
brought up aU the passages of Scripture which she
1 Her sisters.

26 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
thought would [refute] the Unitarian doctrine. . . .
I should not wonder If we had aU the Quaker
preachers in the country to visit us.
Even the " isms " of the day were not allowed to
pass unheeded. Phrenology roused Louisa Wins-
low's lively curiosity : Grahamism found her a
ready disciple. With simplicity and earnestness
Mr. SewaU bent his attention upon these subjects,
since they were of Importance to her. He was
somewhat concerned lest the reports made of him
by the phrenologists should cause her uneasiness.
" I believe I promised to let you see Jones's re
port on my Lead," he wrote ; " I therefore enclose
it. He represents my organization so unfavorably
on some points (though perhaps he has flattered
me on others) that I should feel seriously alarmed
if I did not feel confident that you would rather
judge me by your own observation than by the
representations of a phrenologist. ... I know
you will be distressed by the charge which seems
brought against me of being deficient In attach
ment to my friends. . . . Do not think me vain,
therefore, for what I may say In my own praise.
. . . Attachment to my friends has always been
one of the most active principles of my nature."
To which she replied : " I wish Le had given
you more adhesiveness. But I believe, notwith-

MAPRIAGE 27
standing what he says, that you possess that organ
large. You say that you love me with your whole
soul, and I am sure that Is the language of adhe
siveness." S. E. S. TO L. M. w. October 14, 1835.
If I were sure that I should enjoy a clearer
mind and a healthier body by adopting the system,
I would become to-day as faithful a Grahamite as
you are. I found that I lost part of the lecture
in consequence of my thoughts wandering to Port
land. Do you suppose my becoming a Grahamite
would make me more attentive to what Is going on
about me ? November 30, 1835.
Your friend Graham has played a curious trick
upon his admiring auditors here, which does not
seem to me at aU to his credit. He advertised at
first a course of lectures, I think upon the Science
of Life. But no matter what he called them,
everybody expected them to contain a develop
ment of what is caUed the Graham system. He
finished his course last Wednesday evening, but
Lad given very little information on tLe subjects
of diet and regimen wLIcL we Lad all gone to
Lear about. But at the end of his last lecture he
informed his audience that he was going to deliver
another series of lectures, in which he would teU

28 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
them aU they wanted to know. In other words,
Le was not going to disclose Lis grand mysteries
untU Lis Learers would pay Lim anotLer fee. This
manceuvre has lessened my opinion of the creature
very much. His views may be very correct, but I
am afraid there Is more love of money than phi
lanthropy in his lecturing. However, I have been
so much interested in his lectures, though they
abound in repetition and circumlocution, to say
nothing of his stupendous seK-conceit, that I mean
to attend the other series. I mean for your sake
to give myself a fair chance of becoming a Gra
hamite. And again : —
" If you should succeed in making a Grahamite
of me, you wiU be fairly revenged for what I have
done towards making a Unitarian of you."
L. M. W. TO S. E. S.
We have placed several of those hyacinths you
gave us in November in water, and have given
them names. Yours is the most flourishing. Lucy
Ellen says it is because I selected the best root
for your name. January 27, 1836.
The abolitionists are generaUy kindred spirits.
It seems as if they were surrounded by a purer

MAMRIAGE 29
moral atmospLere tLan tLe rest of tLe world, and
it is almost impossible to be near tLem without
feeling its elevating influence. It seems that Dr.
Channing's work has been referred to several
times in Congress. One of the Southern members
thought it would do more hurt than anything the
aboUtlonists had ever written. ... I am glad they
Lave begun to discuss tLe subject at last.
Mr. SewaU's estimate, in tLe foUowing letter,
of Lis own power, or lack of power, upon tLe plat
form is probably a just one. In argument Le was
always forcible ; in public speaking Le was some
times, wLen stirred by his finely passionate indig
nation, touched to eloquence ; but more frequently
the deliberateness of his manner and an habitual
length and fulness of exposition forbade effective
ness. s. E. S. TO L. M. w. April 12, 1836.
I am much obliged to you for thinking so weU
of my speech. You have a most delightful way
of praising me. You must take care not to make
me vain by paying too much attention to what I
write or speak. I confess your approbation de
lights me — not, I think, from idle vanity — but
as a mark of the interest which you feel in me.
You wish to hear me speak in pubHc. You would

30 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
be sadly disappointed if you should. ... I shall
never be an orator. Do not, my dear Louisa, in
dulge your imagination one moment with the idea
that you are going to marry one. You wiU not
find me a worse husband because I am an ordinary
speaker. In this may be seen also the sensitive conscien
tiousness of the man who wiU not be loved for
gifts which he does not possess.
He is editing his law-book, and groans to Ler
over its tedlousness.
"I am glad to Lear tLat you are so busy."
(This was in April, when she had confided to him
that she was much occupied with sewing.) "It
seems to me a very good omen. I hope your busi
ness is more agreeable than writing law-books. I
think a few days wUl finish aU the labor on my
book, except looking over a few proofs. I shaU
feel light enough to jump to the moon, or to Port
land, when this load Is removed from my shoul
ders." Toward the end of the period of waiting the
letters become more personal. There is one, half
playful and whoUy earnest, which pleads in thirty
arguments for a shortening of the time. Others
inclose, rather diffidently, verses which he says are
bribes to obtain more frequent replies.

MARRIAGE 31
S. B. S. TO L. M. W. May 11, 1836.
It is exactly a year to-day since I left Boston
to attend the anti-slavery meeting in New York.
I little thought when I left here that that visit
was to produce so agreeable a change in all the
prospects of my future Ufe. Little did I think
that I was to meet one who would appear to me
to combine more attractions than my imagination
Lad ever painted — one who would fascinate and
intoxicate me at first sight — and yet seem more
worthy of my devoted love the longer I should be
acquainted with her. I lived in a strange state of
agitation and excitement, of hopes and doubts and
fears, from the first moment I was introduced to
you, tiU I began to feel in Boston that I had won
an interest in your affections. But I do not know
why I am repeating this old story, which I have
told you I do not know how many times.
The 8th of June, 1836, was finally set for the
wedding day. Louisa wrote, " Mother has had our
wedding cake made of anti-slavery sugar ; I think
it ought to be Graham bread."
But lest the Quakers should suspect that the
ceremony was about to take place and should take
some action which might mar the tranquillity of

32 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
the event, Mr. SewaU was requested not to arrive
before the day itself. He therefore made arrange
ments to take the boat on the evening of the 7th.
Fate and fog, however, prevented the steamer from
saiUng on the 7th, and the marriage had to be
postponed, though probably only until the next day.
During their wedding journey, upon which her
sister, Lucy Ellen Winslow, accompanied them,
Mr. and Mrs. SewaU visited Springfield, Albany,
and Trenton FaUs. Early in July they arrived
in Boston, where they made their home with Mr.
SewaU's father, in Morton Place.

CHAPTER IV
ANTI-SLAVERY BEGINNINGS
For the origin of Samuel E. SewaU's interest
in the cause of the slaves, it would be no more
than fair to go back to the year 1700, when his
great -great -grandfather, the first chief justice,
published "The Selling of Joseph," which was
nothing more nor less than a vigorous anti-slavery
pamphlet. " OrlglnaUy and naturaUy," this pamphlet de
clares, " there is no such thing as slavery." This
was precisely the position taken by the anti-slavery
men of a later day, who never allowed themselves
to use the term " owner " in speaking of the master
of a slave.
" These Ethiopians," said Judge SewaU further,
" as black as they are, seeing they are the sons and
daughters of the first Adam, the brethren and sis
ters of the last Adam, and the offspring of God ;
they ought to be treated with a respect agreeable."
For sentiments such as these, " frowns and hard
words " were his reward. The same reward awaited

34 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
his descendant, when, more than a hundred years
later, he raised his voice against slavery, now grown
a hundred times more formidable.
It Is probable that from childhood he had recog
nized the evils of slavery. Certainly In the twen
ties, which were alike his and those of the century,
he was ready to put his hand to the plough. One
who had taught his sisters told Miss Eobie, in
after years, that it had always seemed to her " as
if Martha and Sam were the originators of the
anti-slavery movement," as they were undoubtedly
" among the first [anti-slavery] writers."
Of Martha's writings no traces remain. An
article by her brother entitled " Eemarks on Slavery
in the United States " was printed In 1827 in the
" Christian Examiner," and the same periodical
accepted In 1831 his review of Stephen's " West
India Slavery."
Those were the days when the Union was stUl
young, and the new nation held its restive ele
ments with a tense and anxious grasp. Concilia
tion was the motto of those who had assented to
the compromises of the constitution, and a tradition
handed down by them to the next generation. In
the South, although the tragic complications arising
from the system of slavery had made many a slave
holder groan under the load he carried, a sUence on
the subject both tacit and enforced prevaUed. At

ANTI-SLAVERY BEGINNINGS 35
the North, hardly less peremptory was the finger
on the lip. Men knew that in the situation Itself
disaster lay colled : to agitate it, however cautiously,
was to let destruction loose.
Thus dreading any action, Massachusetts in
dulged in a lethargy sanctioned by public interest,
quieting her conscience with languid deprecation
of the irremediable evil. There was the Coloniza
tion Society for the removal of free negroes ; bene
volence could aid that without incurring reproof,
if benevolence were sufficiently blind. There was
even the occasional word of commiseration printed
in some obscure paper. Articles decidedly con
demning slavery, if published, made a temporary
stir ; but they were soon forgotten.
Then, precursor of the coming storm, a storm
which was to gather force until it culminated In
civU war, thundered forth the voice of Garrison.
It is of not infrequent occurrence that a man
arises who has the vision of things as they might be
laid open before him. Such men, and Samuel E.
SewaU was one of them, have a genius for Infinite
hope. Fortunately for the world, the necessity of
their nature concentrates their powers of sight
upon the future, and they ignore the difficulties by
the way as completely as a child whose mind takes
cognizance only of his one great desire. Of this
type Garrison was a transcendent example.

36 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
To the first lecture given by Garrison in Boston
Mr. SewaU went, with A. Bronson Alcott ^ and
Samuel J. May. " Truer men," as May afterwards
said ^ of his companions, " could not have been
found." The three kinsmen went to Mr. Garrison
after the lecture was over, introduced themselves,
and asked him to go with them to Mr. Alcott's
house for further conversation. " He went," says
Mr. May, " and we sat with him until twelve that
night, listening to his discourse. In which he showed
plainly that immediate, unconditional emancipa
tion was the right of every slave, and could not he
withheld by his master an hour without sin."
Mr. SewaU's conversion, like that of the others,
was complete. He entered warmly Into Garrison's
plans, secured for him a better haU In which to
repeat the first lecture, afterwards helped him to
establish the " Liberator," and through aU the dif
ferences of opinion as to methods that inevitably
arose between them, remained his fast friend.
A letter written by Mr. SewaU in AprU, 1831,
and printed a few years ago in the " Springfield
Eepublican," Is Interesting as giving his early
impressions of the strong personality in whose
presence he stood. It is in part as foUows : —
^ Mr. Alcott was Mr. SewaU's cousin by marriage. His wife
was AbigaU May, Samuel J. May's sister.
^ Recollections of 8. J. May.

ANTI-SLAVERY BEGINNINGS 37
" I agree most cordlaUy in aU your wishes for
the Improvement of our colored population. The
complete restitution of this Injured race to all their
rights as human beings is, I am afraid, far distant.
Yet I do not think we ought, on that account, to
relax our exertions. Every one whose views on
this subject are sound becomes a centre from which
light is diffused through the community. Mr.
Garrison has established a paper here called the
' Liberator,' expressly to advocate the rights of the
people of color, whether bond or free. He has
received a liberal patronage from the blacks In aU
parts of the country, but not so much from the
whites. . . . His paper I believe will exert a pow
erful Influence in correcting those unchristian pre
judices against the African race, which now more
than anything serve to perpetuate its slavery and
degradation. He has one great fault, however,
wLicL weakens very much the good effects his
paper would otherwise produce. I refer to the vio
lent and abusive language which he is constantly
pouring out, not only upon slaveholders and the
advocates of slavery, but also upon all who differ
with him in their views of the best mode of remov
ing the great evil. He uses too much newspaper
slang, calling aU slaveholders thieves and robbers,
declaring that no slaveholder can be a Christian,
and accusing every one who does not think exactly

38 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
as he does of wilful blindness and want of prin
ciple. I am sorry to say that his violent and rude
clamor has given great offence to many persons
whose views of slavery coincide very nearly with
his own. Notwithstanding aU this, his paper is
doing good."
" Such was the equity and moderation of his
[Mr. SewaU's] character," says the publisher of
this letter, " that he saw In Garrison the defects of
Lis LIgh qualities." It would, perhaps, be more
just to both men to say that Mr. Sewall, though
recoiling from what then seemed to him unnecessary
and repellent violence, could yet look beyond his
own preferences and trust those " high quaUties "
with which he was truly at one.
This earnest support of Garrison's work bears
testimony to Increasing belief In Garrison himself.
" Had It not been for Samuel E. Sewall," Mr.
Garrison said in a speech on the twentieth anniver
sary of the establishment of the " Liberator, " "I
never should have been able to continue the paper.
He was the man who gave money again and again,
never expecting and never asking for the return
of It."
The possibility of concentrating the scattered
abolitionists of New England into an organized
working force was next considered. Mr. Sewall
wrote to Mr. May in July, 1831 : " If the enemies

ANTI-SLAVERY BEGINNINGS 39
of oppression throughout our country can once be
brought to act In concert on this subject, the whole
system of slavery wIU fall to pieces with a rapidity
which wIU astonish even those who are expecting
this consummation."
It was decided that If twelve persons could unite
upon some plan of organization, a meeting should
be caUed and a constitution presented. On the
13th of November fifteen men assembled at Mr.
SewaU's office to consult as to the basis of the
proposed society. Only nine could bring them
selves to agree, and the gathering broke up without
having come to any decision. Another attempt
was made In the same place about a month later.
Matters then looked more propitious, and Mr.
SewaU, David Lee Child, and Ellis Gray Loring,
representing the more conservative element, with
Mr. Garrison and Oliver Johnson, representing the
more uncompromising, were appointed to draw up
a constitution. At first It seemed as If the mUder counsels would
prevail. " They are trying again to get up an
anti-slavery society," wrote Miss Eobie to her
cousin. Miss Hetty Higginson, of Salem, " and had
a meeting of ten at Sam's office and chose a com
mittee of five to draft a constitution, Sam and
Garrison being two of them ; but Mr. Garrison
troubles them considerably, he is so furious. Sam,

40 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
however, has got a majority of the moderate ones
on his side. Can you help them to a name?
Philo-Afiican, . . . Negroes' Friend, Friend of the
Blacks, etc., have been thought of."
The stumbling-block was not any question of
objective aim. Garrison had won them all, as
Mr. Sewall declares, " to a belief In the principle
of immediate abolition." It was rather the question
of the attitude to be presented to the world. Mr.
Sewall and some others felt that nothing would
be gained, but much lost, by a violence in tone
and an extreme point of view, which must excite
hostility. At the next meeting the constitution prepared
by the committee of five, after undergoing some
change, was accepted. The proposed title, " Philo-
Afrlcan," was struck out, and " New England
Anti - Slavery Society " substituted. With the
constitution was a preamble which stiU caused
dissension, and this was given to a committee,
consisting of Mr. Sewall, Mr. Garrison, and two
others, for revision. In Its revised form it be
came : " We, the undersigned, hold that every
person, of full age and sane mind, has a right
to immediate freedom from personal bondage of
whatsoever kind, unless imposed by the sentence
of the law, for the commission of some crime. . . .
We hold that whoever retains Lis fellowman in

ANTI-SLAVERY BEGINNINGS 41
bondage is guilty of a grievous wrong. . . .
While we advance these opinions as the prin
ciples on which we intend to act, we declare that
we wiU not operate on the existing relations of
society by other than peaceful and lawful means,
and that we will give no countenance to violence
or Insurrection."
This definite stand upon Immediateness counted
as a direct defeat for Mr. SewaU, who had urged
that the prominence given to so startling a doctrine
would cripple the young organization.
At the fourth preliminary gathering, which was
held, in spite of a fierce northeaster, on January 6,
1832, in a room under the African Baptist Church
in Belknap Street, the preamble was adopted, and
the constitution was signed by the requisite twelve ;
and though Mr. SewaU, Mr. Loring, and Mr.
ChUd at that time refused their names, it was not
long before they yielded themselves heart and soul
to forwarding the work of the society. In the
following July Mr. Sewall became one of the
Board of Managers, and in November, 1833, Le
was enroUed as a life member.
In mucL of tLe work of the society he was able,
by reason of his profession as a lawyer, to render
services of peculiar value. This work Included
such matters as Increasing the educational facili
ties for colored chUdren, placing colored lads at

42 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
trades, and procuring the liberation of persons who
Lad been kidnapped. In these matters he was kept
busy drafting petitions, remonstrances, and resolu
tions, preparing arguments, and outlining defences.
In addition to his legal services, his pen was con
stantly in demand. The second and third annual
Eeports of the Society were prepared by him, and
he frequently wrote articles fox the " Liberator "
and other papers.
So much was he occupied In these and other ways
that he could not spare time, in 1833, to attend the
convention at Philadelphia, called to form a na
tional anti-slavery society. Instead of going him
self, he defrayed the expenses of John Greenleaf
Whittier, destined to become his Ufe-long friend as
weU as co-worker in the cause.
The ceaseless activity of the aboUtlonists Lad, by
1834, drawn upon them the enraged attention of
a large portion of the American people. Their
societies multiplied, recruits came flocking to their
standard, the doubters of one year were their staunch
supporters in the next. Every section of the
country was Invaded by their publications, alike
unwelcome to the Northern merchant and to the
planter of the South.
To add to the ferment, George Thompson, who
Lad done so mucL in England toward securing
West Indian emancipation, came over to aid tLe

ANTI-SLAVERY BEGINNINGS 43
abolition movement in the United States. This
was more than could be endured. Mobs gathered
to sUence Lim ; pubUc feeling against tbe aboli
tionists rose to a LigL pitcL. From a gatLerIng
of Southern men In New York In 1835, and from
another in Eichmond, came appeals to the North to
put the abolitionists down ; their denunciations gave
fresh Impetus to the spirit of vindlctlveness through
out the country.
In Canaan, New Hampshire, Noyes Academy
became a point of attack. As one of the trustees
of this academy, Mr. Sewall had been instrumen
tal in throwing open Its doors to colored students.
In retaliation the citizens caUed a town-meeting,
and voted to drag the building from Its site. With
a hundred yoke of oxen they pulled it through
the streets, and finally dropped it near a Baptist
meeting-house amid the cheers of three hundred
spectators. This was but a faint echo of the per
secution that two years before in Connecticut had
lodged Prudence CrandaU in jail for persisting In
her efforts to educate young colored girls.
" In New York," wrote Mr. Sewall to Louisa
Winslow in August, 1835, " the excitement against
the abolitionists is greater, even, than in Boston.
They are in great fear of personal violence. It
is said that a large reward has been offered on
'Change by the Southerners for the head of Arthur

44 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
Tappan. Mr. Wright ^ has barricaded the win
dows of his house for fear of an attack. I hope no
personal violence wIU be attempted. But whether
it is or not, those who believe In the benevo
lence of the Deity who presides over the world,
and that He has Implanted in his children a love
of goodness and justice which cannot be eradi
cated, wUl not doubt that the final issue of the
present struggle must be favorable to the friends
of freedom and humanity."
This letter was written before the August meet
ing in Faneuil HaU, a meeting caUed for the pur
pose of rebuking abolitionists, and countenanced
by such men as Abbott Lawrence, Harrison Gray
Otis, Peleg Sprague, Theodore Lyman, then mayor
of Boston, and Eichard Fletcher, who afterwards
became a supporter of anti-slavery measures, and
was also associated with Mr. SewaU in the prac
tice of law. Peleg Sprague denounced George
Thompson as " an avowed emissary " and " a pro
fessed agitator." Harrison Gray Otis affirmed
that to debate the expediency of abolishing slavery
was the same as to debate that of abolishing the
Union. When, therefore, the Boston Female Anti-
Slavery Society advertised a meeting to be Leld
October 21, In tLe LaU at 46 Washington Street,
^ Elizur Wright, Jr., one of the officers of the American Anti-
Slavery Society.

ANTI-SLAVERY BEGINNINGS 45
at which it was rumored that George Thompson
would be one of the speakers, popular indignation
vented ItseK in the outburst which has become
known In history as the " Garrison mob."
Accounts of this mob have often been given,
but Mr. SewaU's description of it in the following
letter has value as a contemporaneous document,
SAMUEL E. SEWALL TO LOUISA M. WTNSLOW.
Boston, October 22, 1835.
My dear Friend, — You have probably already
seen accounts of the riot In this place yesterday.
By the way, the account in the " Advertiser " is
very incorrect as weU as very mean - spirited. I
wiU give you an account of the disturbance, chiefly
of what I saw myself. The ladles had caUed a
meeting of their anti - slavery society at three
o'clock in the afternoon. When I approached
the entrance to the haU I found the street choked
up with people. I succeeded, however, in press
ing tLrougL tLe crowd wLIch filled the stairs.
When I got to the door of the hall, I found the
mayor there, and the mob pressing violently to
get into the room where perhaps thirty ladies
were assembled. The mob had prevented many
others from entering. The mayor requested the
ladles to adjourn their meeting. They accordingly
agreed to adjourn to Mrs. Chapman's house. He

46 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
then called out to the mob to make way for the
ladies. With some difficulty a passage was cleared.
I walked down with the two ladles who came out
first, and escorted them through the crowd without
molestation. I then pressed back through the mob
to the outer door of the building, where I found
tLe rest of the ladles going out, and the crowd
hissing them, but offering no other molestation.
After the ladles had retired, the mayor suc
ceeded in clearing the house of the mob and
guarded the outer door with constables. I re
mained on the outside. At first they cried out
very loudly for Thompson. The mayor and others
assured them that Thompson was not In town.
For a long time they persisted in declaring that
Thompson was in the building, but at last they
seemed to be satisfied that he was not to be found,
and began to caU out for Garrison. Every now
and then there was a general yeU of " Garrison,
Garrison," and a rush towards the door of the
building, which, however, the police officers pre
vented them from entering. The faces of these
wretches while making these assaults seemed trans
formed with malice and passion. I never recollect
seeing such a diabolical exhibition. After a while
the attention of the crowd was directed to the sign
Laving the words " Anti-Slavery Office " on it.
They roared out to have it thrown down to them.

ANTI-SLAVERY BEGINNINGS 47
The sign was soon taken down, either by the con
sent, or without objection, of the mayor. As soon
as the large sign was thrown down, they rushed on
it and broke it to pieces almost Instantaneously,
and many of them carried about fragments of it,
waving them In the air as trophies of their prow
ess. One feUow, who had a splinter, said he
meant to send it for a toothpick to a slaveholder
of his acquaintance.
After this the violence of the mob seemed to
abate a little, and It was proposed among some of
them to send in a committee to search the build
ing to see if Garrison was there, and then report
to their comrades. About this time I went into
the building. Upon looking out of the second
story at the back, we found a shed with a box on
it, to which Garrison might reach by letting him
self out of the window. I then went and found
Garrison in the upper story of the building. He
seemed more agitated than I had ever seen him.^
He had been in the building ever since the ladles'
meeting. By their advice he went into the office.
^ No one could suppose the ^^tation to be that of fear. He
was only deterred from going out to the mob by the earnest en
treaties of his friends. When Mr. SewaU saw him, he was prob
ably annoyed at being in hiding, which he had protested against.
AU eye-witnesses agree in speaking of his perfect courage and
his high composed demeanor in the most trying moments of the
occurrence.

48 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
While there, when the mob was in the building,
they broke through the panel of the door, and some
of them, Le said, looked through and cried out,
" There he is, there he Is." Burleigh then went
out and defended the door of the office as long as
the crowd was In the building. Garrison afterwards
went Into the upper story, where I found him.
Before Garrison got out of the window, John E.
Cambell went out and reported that they could get
through into Wilson's Lane. Garrison then got
out, and I was very much rejoiced, supposing he
would escape. Soon after this. Sheriff Parkman
went to one of the front windows and said that he
had made diligent search for the body of William
Lloyd Garrison through the building and could
not find him, and that if he had a precept against
him he should return upon It that he was not to be
found. He therefore requested the people to dis
perse. Some of them cried out for him to let them
Lave some of tLe tracts. Parkman replied, " We
have no tracts for dissemination."
Supposing that Garrison had got off safe, I now
went down to his house. A black girl came to the
door, and said that Mr. and Mrs. Garrison were
both out attending a meeting, and would not be
back till five or six o'clock. The girl said this in
the most quiet manner, and seemed as unaware of
the excitement which prevailed in the city as if she
Lad been living in tLe moon.

ANTI-SLAVERY BEGINNINGS 49
On returning to tLe scene of action, I found
scarcely any one near the Anti-Slavery Office. But
I found a great crowd collected round the City
HaU. I soon ascertained that Garrison was still
in great perU. After escaping from our building,
he went into a carpenter's shop fronting on Wil
son's Lane. But before he and Cambell could get
into the lane, a mob was rushing into it, so that
escape was impossible. The carpenters were very
kind. They conducted him into the second story
and concealed him among some boards, contrary
to his own wishes. The mob, however, to whom
his attempted retreat had been betrayed by some
rascal, soon burst Into the shop. They at first
seized Cambell, mistaking him for Garrison, but
soon discovered Garrison and tied a rope round
Lis body. Some proposed to throw him out of the
window upon the pavement. He was conducted
downstairs,^ and dragged through the street by
the rope. The mob were very violent in their
language and conduct. After a while a truckman
named Cooley seized on him and protected him
in a great measure from the violence of the mob.
They proposed to carry him to the Common, in
tending probably to tar and feather him there.
One wretch struck a blow at Garrison with a club,
which would probably have klUed him. If Cooley
^ A ladder was raised and he descended upon that.

50 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
had not warded It off with his arm. As they were
dragging Garrison by the City HaU, the mayor
rushed out, seized him, and tore him from the
arms of the crowd, and carried him to the mayor
and aldermen's room. Garrison thinks he owes his
Ufe to the mayor's interposition on this occasion.
The mayor went out on the portico in front of
the haU and addressed the crowd. He told them
that he was bound to preserve the peace and good
order of the city, and that he was determined to
protect the lives and property of the citizens, if he
died on the spot where he stood. The multitude
cheered him, though a few hissed. ,
It was soon after this that I got back. I found
the stairs to the mayor's office guarded by con
stables. I went up and found Garrison. I have
seldom seen him in such hIgL spirits, tLougL he
had just escaped from the hands of ruffians, and
the same bloodthirsty wretches then surrounded the
LaU and were only waiting for tLe darkness of
night, which was rapidly approaching, to make a
general assault on the building and wreak their
vengeance on him.
It was thought very important to convey Garrison
to some place of security before dark. The mayor
accordingly had a coach driven to the door of the
LaU. Into this they succeeded In putting Garrison
with a constable. The hack seemed to me to be

ANTI-SLAVERY BEGINNINGS 51
completely wedged in by a dense mass of people,
some wishing to tear Garrison out and impede its
motion, and some evidently pressing it forward.
For some moments I felt very doubtful whether
Garrison would not again be In the hands of the
wild beasts who surrounded the carriage. At last
the wheels started, but very slowly, but after get
ting forward a hundred feet they began to move
more rapidly, the crowd running on, some before
and some after the carriage. Whenever the coach
attempted to turn a corner, people would spring on
the horses and endeavor to stop them. The coach
at last arrived at the jail, where Garrison was
safely deposited. I saw him in the evening. He
seemed very cheerful. He was not at all injured,
though Lis clothes were very much torn, when he
was in the hands of the mob, and his hat lost.
The excitement here has been tremendous. The
city officers were very anxious that Garrison sLould
leave town for a short time. His friends also,
thinking that he might be exposed to violence, were
of opinion that he had better not be seen for a few
days. He has therefore gone to Brooklyn with
his wife. The feeling, however, against Thompson
Is much stronger than that against Garrison. If
Thompson had been in town at the ladies' meeting,
Garrison would not have been thought of. The
brutes, being disappointed in not finding the grand

52 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
object of their malice, naturally looked round for
some one else on which to exercise their evil
passions. One thing was very observable in the riot, that
is, that most of the persons engaged In it were well-
dressed people. The poor and laboring classes had
little hand in it. The merchants connected by
business with the South were undoubtedly the chief
instigators of the movement. October 23.
You can judge a little of the agitation of our
community by the foUowing circumstance. Yes
terday Dr. Codman, the owner of the building in
which our Anti-Slavery Office is situated, and two
of the tenants who occupy shops In the lower part
of the building made the most urgent entreaties to
the managers of our society that we should evacuate
our office that very day, as they were apprehensive
if we continued there the building would be burnt
or sacked and their property destroyed. It seemed
to me a groundless panic. We replied that we
were willing to leave our office when we could have
another found for us suitable for our purposes.
This of course they could not do, and so we remain
in our office. . . . Farewell,
S. E. Sewall.i
^ For a subsequent letter (October 27, 1835) from Mr. SewaU to
Mr. Garrison with further comments on the mob, see Life of W. L.
Garrison, ii. 42.

ANTI-SLAVERY BEGINNINGS 53
Harriet Martlneau, who was visiting Boston
about this time, incurred a share of the public dis
pleasure. Mr. Sewall wrote of her in November
to Miss Winslow : —
" I shaU send by mail to-day's, ' Advertiser.'
... It contains a very rude and mean-spirited
attack on Miss Martlneau for having dared to
attend the Ladles' Anti-Slavery meeting here. . . .
Miss Martineau's indiscretion in going to this
meeting has created quite a sensation, I am told,
among some of our most fashionable people, and
it is said she will not be received Into the best
society. I am reaUy grieved that Miss Martlneau
shouldbe subjected to this low persecution of the
press. As to being excluded from high life in
Boston, I suppose she will bear the punishment,
should it be inflicted, with due meekness."
FoUowing hard upon the unofficial condemnation
of the abolitionists in New York, Eichmond, and
Boston came resolutions from Southern legislatures
asking the non-slaveholding States to suppress
aboUtionism within their limits; and Edward
Everett, then Governor of Massachusetts, called
attention to the matter in his message for 1836.
The Massachusetts legislature, nothing loath, ap
pointed a committee to consider the subject ; and
the cominittee, at the request of Samuel J. May,
granted the abolitionists a hearing. Of this hear-

64 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
ing, which holds its place in anti-slavery chronicles
as one of the victorious defeats, Mr. SewaU wrote
to Miss Winslow : —
" A good many ladies were present. Dr. Chan
ning was also there. The chairman of the com
mittee, named Lunt, was exceedingly supercilious
and captious. He said a number of times that we
were heard as a matter of favor and not as a matter
of right, as we had not presented any remonstrance
to the legislature. Mr. May, Mr. Loring, Mr.
GoodeU, Mr. Garrison, and Dr. FoUen addressed
the committee. . . . Mr. May and Mr. GoodeU
were interrupted a number of times, and their
speeches cut short, by the chairman's insisting that
their arguments were Irrelevant. Soon after Dr.
FoUen began to speak, he grew quite animated. He
said if the legislature passed any censure of abo
litionists, it would be a signal for the mob to attack
them, as the Faneuil HaU meeting had been the
cause of the mob in Boston. The chairman Lere
interrupted Lim and intimated tLat wLat Le said
was disrespectful to tLe committee and tLe legis
lature. Dr. FoUen said Le meant no disrespect.
['Am I tLen to understand tLat speaking dlsrespect-
f uUy of mobs is disrespectful to tLIs committee ? '
said Dr. FoUen.] . . . The scene was very excit
ing ; . . . the ladies enjoyed it very much.
" We sent in a remonstrance this morning against

ANTI-SLAVERY BEGINNINGS 55
the resolutions of the Southern legislatures, and
we shaU probably have another hearing before the
committee as a right. I expect to have to address
them. I feel in as much trepidation about it as
if I were a girl."
The next letter continues the story : —
" We had a second hearing before the committee
of the legislature yesterday. The committee acted,
if possible, worse than before. I shaU send you a
newspaper giving an account of the proceedings.
Mr. May spoke with a great deal of warmth and
eloquence. ... I send you the ' Atlas,' which con
tains a very imperfect though not an unfair sketch
of what I said. ... I do not think It does me any
credit. It Is the mere shadow of a shade. For
what I said was but the shade of what I intended
to say."
The second hearing was even more stormy than
the first, and ended in a second dismissal and an
angry informal breaking up of the session of the
committee, George Bond, Gamaliel Bradford, and
others defending the right of the abolitionists to
be heard, and Mr. Lunt refusing to listen further.
The report brought In by Mr. Lunt declared the
conduct of the abolitionists to be " not only wrong
in policy, but erroneous in morals," and main
tained that the charges brought against the aboli
tionists by the South were strictly appUcable to

56 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
them. His report, however, was laid upon the
table. Dr. Channing's open support counted strongly
for the abolitionists. His book on " Slavery,"
published In 1835, made many converts, and his
" Letter to the Hon. Henry Clay," the printing and
distribution of which Mr. SewaU superintended,
was widely disseminated and helped to form pub
lic opinion. Nor, whUe he hated controversy and
" aU passionateness," did Le fail to give tLe needed
Lelp at a critical moment. WLen tLe Alton riot
aroused tLe indignation of the community, his de
cisive action set on foot the FaneuU Hall demon
stration. Mr. Sewall Las Limself, in a letter written in
1880, reviewed tLe incidents wLich connected Dr.
Channing with the Lovejoy meeting.
" His eloquence and weight of character," says
this letter,^ "rendered him a great power in the
anti-slavery movement. At its very outset, he
spoke with perfect freedom against slavery from
his pulpit to a congregation, many and probably
most of whom did not sympathize with him. Dur
ing the rest of his life, his thoughts dwelt much
on the subject, and he spoke, wrote, and published
1 Eeport of the memorial services held in Brooklyn, New
York, AprU 7, 1880, in honor of the one hundredth anniversary
of the birth of WiUiam Ellery Channing. Boston, 1880.

ANTI-SLAVERY BEGINNINGS 57
abundantly upon it. I weU remember a sermon
which he preached in his own church, in which he
said emphatically : ' Man cannot have property In
man.' A very respectable lawyer, on our leaving
the church, at this time said to me: 'I do not
know what Dr. Channing meant. Slavery Is legal
in aU the Southern States.'
" One or two circumstances, though very fuUy
related In Dr. Channing's Life, by his nephew,
are so imprinted on my recoUection that I venture
to refer to them briefly. When Elijah P. Lovejoy
was murdered at Alton, Illinois, for attacking
slavery in his paper. Dr. Channing proposed that
a meeting should be held in Faneuil HaU to ex
press the sentiment of Boston on this crime against
the freedom of the press. A petition was accord
ingly prepared, headed with his name, asking the
mayor and aldermen to grant the use of the haU
for this purpose. A counter petition was Imme
diately sent in to them ; and they, yielding to the
pressure of what seemed to them public opinion,
refused the haU. Without delay or hesitation. Dr.
Channing published an address to the citizens of
Boston, in the ' Daily Advertiser,' vindicating his
course and appealing from this decision. This
appeal was seconded by a meeting In the court-
Louse. A new petition for the haU, again headed
by Dr. Channing, was granted, and a great meet-

68 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
ing held there. Dr. Channing was the first speaker ;
others foUowed, and resolutions drawn by Dr.
Channing were adopted.
" It was at this meeting that WendeU PhiUips
first surprised and charmed his hearers by his
eloquence, and established his reputation as a
great orator. I make no comment on Dr. Chan
ning's course on this occasion. The bare state
ment of the facts Is the highest eulogy." . . .
Hearings, remonstrances, pamphlets, speeches,
meetings, resolutions, — such was, to the super
ficial observer, the tedious round circled by Mr.
SewaU in his work of reform. But the inner
history of this apparently dry routine Is aUve
with human interest. The sufferings of men came
in very concrete guise to his door; appeal after
appeal importuned him, and his daily Ufe was in
reality a warm outpouring of his abundant sym
pathy and good-wiU.
There were, for example, in the single field of kid
napping, imprisonment, and maltreatment of free
negroes, many cases brought to him for redress.
Letters like this came into his hands : —
Baton Eouge, September 19, 1836.
Mrs. Hannah Smith: I wish to inform you
that I was taken up as a runaway slave and sent
to the Jail of the Parish of St. Martin in the State

ANTI-SLAVERY BEGINNINGS 69
of Louisiana, and remained tLere for three months,
and am now in the Depot to remain two years, and
then wiU be sold out as a slave to pay expenses
unless I can obtain papers to prove my freedom.
. . . Please get the papers for me as soon as you
can and forward them to me. . . . Your com
pliance wiU obUge your son, James Smith.
A darker story of abuse, which is in his own
handwriting, was probably taken down as it came
from tLe narrator : —
" Francis was foremast man [of tLe Brig NaLant] .
He was left at Norfolk. He and Capt. Lad some
difficidty. He never spoke a cross word to Capt.
He was carried on sLore in irons. He was supposed
to be put in jaU. TLe Capt. said Le was put in
jaU and died there. When the list was caUed
on the return of the vessel the mate winked at
the white man to answer to Francis's name. The
custom-house officer said he was black man. The
mate then said that he had run away. . . . We
none of us saw Francis after he went on shore.
The Capt. has sold his clothes. Nothing was ever
said of his being sick tUl we heard he was dead.
The mate on being asked said he did not know
what was the matter with him. He was beat before
being set on shore — I heard mate stamp on him.
Was beat very severely."

60 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
Efforts to protect free citizens of Massachusetts
from maltreatment of this kind received slight
encouragement. The hearings and petitions which
Mr. Sewall and others pushed year after year
finally resulted In the appointment of Samuel Hoar
as special agent for obtaining relief and redress for
imprisoned seamen and others. His immediate and
almost forcible expulsion from South Carolina has
passed into history.
Even from distant places came urgent caUs for
help. The underground railroad was not without
its disasters. Charles T. Torrey died in a Southern
prison while undergoing sentence for assisting
slaves to escape ; Drayton and Sayres were pro
secuted and Imprisoned for taking seventy-eight es
caping negroes down the Potomac in the Pearl;
WiUiam L. Chaplin evaded death only by forfeit
ing his nineteen thousand dollars bail. And In
aU these cases the appeals to the Massachusetts
abolitionists for money were received and circulated,
as well as generously responded to, by Mr. SewaU.
As a foil to these graver occurrences came inci
dents like the following.
SAMUEL E. SEWALL TO LOUISA M. WESTSLOW.
Boston, AprU 6, 1836.
A few days ago a black man named Joshua
Lewis . . . engaged passage in the stage for Salem ;

ANTI-SLAVERY BEGINNINGS 61
. . . his trunk was carried to the stage office . . .
he jumped into the stage, but was soon told that he
could not ride inside, though there were only three
or four other passengers. He got out, but refused
to ride on the outside. He was then going off
with his trunk, but was told that he must pay
25 cts. for bringing his trunk there. He refused
to submit to this Iniquitous extortion, and then
came to me. I went with him to the bar-room and
asked the bar-keeper for the trunk. He said his
orders were not to give up the trunk unless 25 cts.
were paid. ... I told him we should sue him for
the trunk. ... I soon got a writ of replevin and
sent for a sheriff to serve it. • . . The Sheriff was
very unwiUIng to go, and thought it would be
much better to pay the quarter of a doUar. Seeing
him so reluctant, and also enjoying such scenes as
I expected, I went with Lewis, the Sheriff, and Mr.
KImbaU, who happened to be here, to the bar-room.
As soon as we got there, there was a visible excite
ment among the rabble there. But the stage agent,
as soon as he understood our business, gave up the
trunk and waived aU further claim for the 25 cts.
Having thus obtained the victory, I did not think
it advisable to sue the stage owners for damages
for not carrying Lewis on the inside. . . .

CHAPTER V
SLAVE CASES
Information of any difficulties into which escap
ing slaves had fallen was quickly passed to the offi
cers of the Anti-Slavery Society, who were prompt
in taking measures for relief. The demands upon
Mr. SewaU's time were unremitting.
SAMUEL E. SEWALL TO COMPORT H. WINSLOW.
Boston, July 31, 1836.
. . . We had been talking aU the week of go
ing to Portland on Saturday, but a case in which
I was engaged yesterday rendered our going last
evening out of the question.
Some colored people here ascertained yesterday
that two colored persons were on board the brig
Chickasaw, just arrived from Baltimore, who were
evidently kept under restraint by the captain, as he
had anchored the vessel in the stream instead of
bringing her to the wharf, and would not aUow any
colored men to go on board. Application being
made to me, I went to the chief justice and suc
ceeded in getting a habeas corpus to bring the

SLAVE CASES 63
women before him. I went in a boat to the vessel
with a sheriff. The mate refused to let us come on
board, but on being Informed that It was a sheriff
made no further opposition. The girls were very
much frightened when they first saw us, but when
they understood what our errand was, they were
frantic with joy. One of them, a very pretty and
intelligent mulatto, burst into tears and said that
she had been thinking the Lord would deliver them.
. . . The case wiU be heard before Judge Shaw
on Monday. ... A constable from Baltimore Is
here on behalf of a Mr. Morris, who claims these
girls as his slaves. . . .
Monday, Aug. 1. You wUl be glad to hear that
the poor women have escaped. After the chief
justice this morning had given his opinion that
they must be discharged, but before actually giving
the order for their discharge, the agent of the owner
asked if he could take them without a warrant.
Upon this all the colored people rushed to the door
with the women, thinking probably that they were
actuaUy discharged and no time was to be lost.-^
They were soon placed In a carriage and conveyed
out of town. I hope they wiU get clear, though
1 An old colored woman, of great size, who did the scrubbing in
Mr. Sewall's office, was present in court; she threw her arms
about the neck of one officer, and efEectuaUy prevented his inter
ference with the fugitives.

64 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
I am sorry for the disorderly proceedings of the
colored people.
Diligent search was made for the fugitives, but
they were safely forwarded to Halifax. Nathan
Winslow wrote to Mr. SewaU with manifest enjoy
ment: "Mr. Turner is now in this city [Port
land], and with the Marshal of Maine has made a
thorough search in my house for the YeUow Girls.
They had a guard round my house before they
entered it. I was not in the house at the time, but
was perfectly wiUing they should beUeve I had
secreted them or sent them away."
Upon Mr. SewaU fell most of the blame. " Peo
ple have got very angry with Sam," wrote Miss
Eobie, " and very abusive things have been said
about him in the papers."
Abusive letters also came. " I never saw you,
nor do I wish to," runs one of them, signed " A
Member of the Baltimore -Bar." " Should you,
however, put your countenance inside tLe limits of
the city of Baltimore, I trust you wiU be received
with that hospitality for which our city is pro
verbial, and that your distinguished efforts in the
cause of abolition, as displayed on Monday last, be
properly appreciated."
And another : —

SLAVE CASES 65
Manchestek, Va., August 9, 1836.
Samuel E. Sewall, Esq.
Sir, — By a communication in the " Eichmond
Enquirer " I see that your honour took a conspic
uous part in the rescue (aUas) the stealing of Mr.
Morris's two negro slaves — runaways from the
city of Baltimore. Now, sir, this conduct was ex
tremely reprehensible In you — your name is held
up to the public as aiding the above negroes to
escape from their lawful master — and, sir, I beg
leave to Inform you that If you are ever discov
ered within the limits of this or any other slave
State, your neck wIU be apt to pay for your temer
ity. Sir, why do you stay at the North where
your services are not needed to advocate the hell
ish and damnable doctrines of Tappan, Garrison,
& Co., — fiends " whose hands are clotted with the
gore of earth and whose hearts are festering with
the fires of heU " ? Why ... do you not come
to the South, where the evil which you pretend to
remedy exists in its most perfect state ? . . .
The usual threats foUow, with aUusions to Judge
Lynch. This letter has the merit of being signed
with the writer's name, but the name may be al
lowed to rest in oblivion.
Nor were threats aU. A belligerent sympa
thizer with the South attacked Mr. SewaU In his

66 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
office, intending to horsewhip him. Mr. SewaU's
slight build and gentle, courteous manner made
him appear a not formidable antagonist ; but In
one of his sudden and rare transports of rage Le
seized Lis assailant, ran Lim back against the waU,
and knocked his head there until he was quite
wlUIng to be aUowed to take himself away.
The little slave child, Med, became in that same
August, 1836, the centre of interest, whUe her
fate and an important point of law were being
decided in the famous case of Commonwealth v.
Aves.i She had come from New Orleans to Boston in
attendance on Aves's daughter, Mrs. Slater, and
at the instance of the Boston Anti-Slavery Society
was brought before one of the justices of the Su
preme Court. Her case, conducted by Mr. SewaU
and EUIs Gray Loring, assisted by Eufus Choate,
finaUy came before the fiJl bench. It was ably
argued by Mr. Loring and Mr. Choate. An out
line of the points to be made is among Mr. SewaU's
papers, and is a fair example of the solid ground
work furnished by him to those who stood more
fuUy in the public view. Portions of his notes
are as foUows : —
" We contend that this child is free by the law
of Massachusetts. . . . The constitution of Massa-
1 18 Pickering, 193.

SLAVE CASES 67
chusetts . . . declares that aU men are born free
and equal and have certain InaUenable rights,
among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness. . . . By these words it is weU known
that aU the slaves in Massachusetts were made
free. Our courts did not consider any statute
necessary to give efficacy to the declaration of a
great principle, but boldly acted upon it and de
stroyed the slave property of thousands of slave
holders in this State. ShaU not the same princi
ple be applied with equal courage to the property
of a stranger ? ... It Is admitted that this child
does not come within the provision of the Consti
tution of the United States, which acts upon the
case of runaway slaves. ... It Is not disputed
that the Constitution makes no provision for the
case of this chUd. There is no other fountain of
obUgation on the States except the law of nations,
which, as already shown, rejects with indignation
the claim of Mrs. Slater."
In delivering the opinion of the court. Chief
Justice Shaw took substantlaUy the same grounds.
He remarked upon the importance of the case, as
the first of its kind In the Commonwealth. Law
yers commonly believed, he said, that a slave com
ing into Massachusetts became free, but no decided
case had been reported.
It may be said, in parenthesis, that Judge Shaw

68 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
had previously expressed himself with regard to
slaves brought Into Massachusetts In the case of
Francisco, for whom Mr. Sewall was counsel. The
supposed owner of Francisco, a Mrs. Howard, had
exj)ressly disclaimed holding him as a slave, but
she so worked upon the boy's feeUngs that he
declared himself quite willing to go with her.
It was decided that he might do as he pleased,
the chief justice saying, " If Mrs. Howard In her
return to the writ had claimed the boy as a slave,
I should have ordered him to be discharged from
her custody. The boy, by the laws of Massachu
setts, Is In fact free." ^
In the Med case the court declared it to be the
law of Massachusetts that an owner voluntarily
bringing a slave into the State had no authority to
detain him against his wIU, or to carry him out of
the State against his consent.
This decision caused a widespread sensation at
the South. Warned by it, masters coming into
Massachusetts with their slaves tried to evade
proof of ownership, or were prepared to set up as
a defence that their charges were willing to return.
An instance of this occurred In 1841. A Mrs.
Taylor came to Massachusetts from Arkansas,
bringing with her a negro boy eight years old.
Upon being brought before the court on a writ of
1 Pamphlet case of the slave chUd, Med.

SLAVE CASES 69
habeas corpus procured by Mr. SewaU, sLe dis
claimed aU intention of taking the boy back with
her unless with his consent, but it appeared that
she had fuU belief that he would consent, and that
she intended to carry him back with his consent.
The court was unable to distinguish the case from
that of Med, and held that the consent of so young
a child would not authorize his removal into a state
of slavery.!
In another case Mr. SewaU was not so successful.
He tried to free from her master a young girl
named Amy ; but it was proved that she " appeared
happy and contented and was acting under no
visible restraint," and the judge held that her
master might carry her back to the South. " This
owl-like decision," says Mr. SewaU, In one of his
letters, " made me very angry, — as If a child could
not laugh and play without its being proof of a
wish to go as a slave to New Orleans."
In contradistinction to the Med case came, in
1842, that of George Latimer, in which Mr. SewaU
again acted as counsel. Latimer, unlike Med, was a
fugitive. He was, therefore, distinctly under United
States jurisdiction, and his master. Grey, had merely
to prove ownership before a United States court
to be able to carry him away. During the delay
granted to Grey for obtaining proofs, Latimer was
1 Commonwealth v. Taylor, 3 MetcaH , 72.

70 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
confined in the county jail. Here was an advantage
for those who were defending him, for the jaUer
had no right to detain him. They asserted that
he must instantly be discharged from custody, and
in this dilemma his master was glad to close with
an offer of purchase which came from some philan
thropists. Mr. SewaU wrote on November 27 : —
" Latimer is free. We paid four hundred dol
lars for him, which about pays one half what his
master had expended in the pursuit. The sheriff
has prohibited the jailer from receiving slaves into
the jail again under such circumstances. I have
never known the people so much roused before. I
do not believe we shall ever have a slave-hunter in
Massachusetts again. I have no doubt Latimer
would have been freed by some means or other,
and I only consented to the money being paid for
fear of riot and bloodshed, and a little apprehension
that he might be smuggled away by Grey. A
Latimer journal was published In Boston for two
or three weeks every other day, to fan the public
excitement, edited by Dr. Channing's son and Dr.
Bowditch." The rescue of Shadrach was a break In the clouds ;
but In 1850 the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law
made the position of the negroes In Boston more
uncertain than ever. To Massachusetts came the
added pain of Webster's support of the measure.

SLAVE CASES 71
His 7tL of March speech was to many of Lis
admirers a sudden reversal of all that they had
conceived him to be. Mr. Sewall, however, had
perceived the change In Webster years before. In
1838 he had written to Mrs. Sewall : —
" It seems wonderful that the enthusiastic and
Idolatrous veneration with which I formerly wor
shipped Webster should have changed into the
most complete Indifference. I wIU not call him
unprincipled, and I cannot deny his great services
to his country, but yet I cannot help believing that
he is the slave of a selfish ambition. I remember
very weU the time when I could not speak to him
without my voice trembling and my face flushing
from the excess of my admiration. It is not
pleasant to have the god we have worshipped thus
metamorphosed into a common mortal. I wonder
how I should have felt in regard to Webster, if I
had not become an abolitionist."
As to the Fugitive Slave Law itself, Mr. SewaU
believed that the courts might well hold it to be
unconstitutional. " The opponents of the act should
take," he said, " the impregnable ground that sla
very cannot be legalized by statute or constitution."
What he and many others hoped from the judiciary
of the country Is indicated by his comment on the
action of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin In the
case of Sherman W. Booth. That court set Booth

72 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
at liberty on a writ of habeas corpus upon the
ground of the unconstitutionality of the Fugitive
Slave Law, when he had been sentenced by the
federal court for rescuing from the marshal a
captured slave. In a letter to Samuel J. May, in
February, 1855, Mr. Sewall wrote : " The Supreme
Court of Wisconsin, by discharging Booth when
committed by the United States Court, has done
more to protect the rights of the people of the free
States than has been done for fifty years. If other
courts wiU only follow, the Fugitive Slave Law is
effectually nullified."
The question as to how far Massachusetts would
support the law was raised in 1851 by the seizure of
Thomas Sims. In this case Mr. Sewall was actively
engaged in the legal proceedings, which, however,
in the language of the " Boston Daily Courier,"
" terminated in the peaceful triumph of the law
over aU the obstacles which professional Ingenuity
and fanatical philanthropy could Interpose."
Sims had escaped from Savannah by hiding in a
Boston-bound vessel. He was not discovered until
the vessel came inside of Boston harbor, when he
was taken from his hiding-place and locked In the
cabin. At night he unscrewed the hinges of the
door, lowered a boat, and rowed ashore. Agents
from the South were sent after him, and on the
3d of April, whUe he was talking with another

SLAVE CASES 73
colored man near his lodgings, he was arrested.
Both men resisted the officers, and Sims, In his
desperation, stabbed one of them in the thigh ; but
he was finaUy captured and taken to the court
house, where he was confined in a room which was
under the jurisdiction of the United States.
News of the capture reached Mr. SewaU that
same evening. Hastening to Court Square, with
a good deal of impetuosity he commanded an officer
whom he met to tell him where Sims was Imprisoned.
The officer refused. " You must teU me," thun
dered Mr. Sewall. " I have a right to know ; I am
Lis attorney." WLereupon the officer arrested him
for making a disturbance In the street and took him
to the watch-house. He was Immediately released,
but the incident is significant, for without the
support of a public opinion adverse to abolitionists
the officer would never have ventured to arrest on
so flimsy a pretext a man of Mr. SewaU's standing.
Sims was taken before the United States commis
sioner, George T. Curtis, on Friday morning,
April 4. Seth J. Thomas appeared for the claim
ant, and Eobert Eantoul, Jr., Charles G. Loring,
and Mr. Sewall for Sims. The following letter,
from one who was connected with Mr. Sewall's
family, wiU serve as an Introduction into the court
house, which was guarded by soldiers and fenced
about with chains.

74 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
Boston, 4th Mo. 17th, 1851.
My DEAR Sister : . . . I wish thee could have
been here to go with me to hear the trial before the
commissioner. I was one of four who obtained
admittance. I went with Mr. Sewall and Mrs.
Alcott, as none were admitted without they went
with a lawyer, who had to obtain a permit from the
marshal, while Southern men were admitted by
merely saying they came from the South. ... It
would have done thy heart good to hear the earnest
Eantoul and the calm and logical Loring before
the wicked commissioner, and the depth of feeling
and solemnity of Sumner ^ and SewaU before the
more than wicked Judge Woodbury.
At the close of the claimant's proofs, which occu
pied two days, the defence was forced to admit
that it had no evidence to produce. This was
inevitable, for by an Iniquitous provision of the act
the evidence of the alleged fugitive was inadmis
sible. An adverse decision by the commissioner
upon the questions of law involved was virtuaUy a
foregone conclusion ; and well-nigh the only hope
lay in obtaining a postponement, during which
Sims might possibly be aided by a writ of habeas
1 On the evening of Sims' s arrest appUcation was made to Judge
Woodbury for writ of habeas corpus, Charles Sumner and Eichard
H. Dana arguing in support of the petition.

SLAVE CASES 75
corpus, or by some other device, which should take
him out of the hands of the federal authorities.
Every effort was made, therefore, to gain a few
days' or even a few hours' time. These efforts
cannot be described here. It is sufficient to say
that, directly or indirectly, the friends of Sims
invoked in his behalf, during the days of the trial,
not only the federal courts and the courts of the
State, including the Supreme Court, the Court of
Common Pleas, and the Municipal Court of Boston,
but also both branches of the legislature. Even
the chief executive of the Commonwealth and the
attorney-general were forced to take a hand In the
proceedings. ;
Not untU Tuesday, April 8, did Mr. Eantoul
complete his famous argument on the constitution
ality of the Fugitive Slave Law. Then, after an
argument from Mr. Loring, Mr. Thomas, speaking
briefly in reply, announced that he had closed.
All reasonable grounds for delay had been ex
hausted. But Mr. Sewall could not give up.
With the pertinacity of one who will not acknow
ledge himself beaten even in the face of defeat,
he asked for further postponement on the strength
of an affidavit of Sims to the effect that he had free
papers at Savannah, — an affidavit which had al
ready beeu excluded because of Sims's incapacity to
testify, and which was again refused consideration.

76 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
But there was a telegraphic dispatch, Mr. SewaU
said, from Mr. Dana, one of tLe advising counsel.
Postppnement was desired on tLat ground. TLe
commissioner said the defence had had ample time
to prepare, and the prisoner had had a full and
fair hearing. He could Usten to no motion for
postponement. Once more Mr. SewaU arose.
There was a United States warrant against Sims
for an assault upon an officer. This might have
detained Sims in the State a few days longer. The
commissioner, however, refused to know anything
about the process judicially, as no complaint had
been preferred before him. He would give his
decision, he said, on Friday.
Accordingly, on Friday morning he announced
his decision, in which he upheld the constitutional
ity of the law, and found that Sims was the slave
of Mr. Potter. StUl the abolitionists clutched at
one last straw. On Friday afternoon Mr. SewaU,
in behalf of Sims, presented to Judge Woodbury,
of the United States Circuit Court, a writ of
personal replevin against the marshal, and moved
the court to appoint some person to serve the writ.
It was useless. Mr. Thomas objected to Mr.
SewaU's acting In this new case as counsel for Sims,
and claimed, as the attorney for Mr. Potter, to be
also admitted as counsel for Sims, Lis servant.
TLe judge granted the validity of this claim, and
refused Mr. SewaU's motion.

SLAVE CASES 77
" And here," closes tLe " Courier," " ended tLe
legal traverses attempted by tLe counsel for Sims."
Here, indeed, did end the legal traverses. The
futUIty of contending by a mere appeal to the
courts against the Fugitive Slave Law had been
too plainly demonstrated. But here only began
the determined attempts of Mr. Sewall and his
feUow workers to cripple the act by means of
legislation which should at least throw obstacles in
the way of its execution.
So fierce had been the excitement created by
the surrender of Sims that it seemed as if he must
be the last slave remanded from Massachusetts ;
that the slaveholders themselves must refrain from
pressing the matter further. But there was to be
one more contest. In May, 1854, two days after
the final passage by the House of the Kansas-Ne
braska bill, whUe the abolitionists and even non-
abolitionists at the North were stiU In the heat of
their resentment, came the arrest of Anthony
Bums. He was confined, as Sims had been, in the
court-house, and the trial ran the easily foreseen
course. During the short delay granted to the defence,
the executive members of the Vigilance Committee,
which had been formed Immediately after the pas
sage of the Fugitive Slave Law, met for consulta
tion. The whole legal equipment of Massachusetts

78 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
had been too weak to save Sims. It was not to
be doubted that the commissioner would arrive at
an adverse decision with regard to Burns. Under
these circumstances, the committee could do no
less than discuss the possibility of rescue. Every
plan proposed, however, was thought Impracticable,
and no definite result was reached. Mi-. Thomas
Wentworth Higginson, in his " Cheerful Yester
days," has given an account of the late maturing
of Martin StoweU's plan after the session of the
committee was over. It was, as he has said, " one
of the best plans that ever failed." Its chance of
success was based on the fact that on that evening,
the 26th of May, a great Burns meeting, caUed
to order by Mr. SewaU, was held In FaneuU HaU.
While the meeting was In progress, Mr. Higginson,
with a small band of foUowers, attacked the court
house. They expected the immense audience from
Faneuil HaU to stream to their support. Through
some misunderstanding, or lack of concert, or diffi
culty of egress from the hall, the audience, though
informed of the attack, faUed to arrive in time to
second the attacking party, who had battered in the
door, but who then, while waiting for reinforce
ments, had been scattered by a posse of poUce.
Before morning a force of marines from Charles
town had marched Into Boston. United States
troops from Fort Independence and the state miUtia

SLAVE CASES 79
were called out ; and the streets and the court
house were strongly guarded. On the other hand,
from the country towns, men poured into the city ;
women, even, could not stay in their houses. " Can
nothing be done ? " was the question in every face.
From moment to moment outbreak was apparently
imminent, though the soldiers held the crowds at
their mercy with cannon and armed patrols.
Whittier, the man of peace, trembled for the
result. JOHN G. WHITTIEB TO SAJiTUBL E. SEWALL.
Amesbtjkt, 29th 5th mo. 1854.
My dear Friend, — I do earnestly hope and
pray that no violence or brute force may be re
sorted to by the friends of freedom. I would die
rather than aid in that wicked law ; but I deplore
all forcible resistance to it. I know the case is an
aggravated one, but in the end forbearance wUl be
best for all parties : I feel sure that thy influence
will be on the side of peace ; and I beg of thee
to take especial pains with our colored friends to
keep them from resort to force. May God in his
mercy keep us from evU, in opposing evil !
Thine ever,
John G. Whittier.
Mr. SewaU must Lave felt tLe futUity of any

80 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
further attempt to rescue Burns. He was evidently
unaware of the plan for the first attempt even, for
he left the Burns meeting early and went home to
Melrose. Miss Eobie wrote that same evening :
" Sam has just got home, about ten o'clock, having
been detained in a meeting at Faneuil HaU. It was
crowded to overflowing, and the feeling very strong
against his [Burns's] being aUowed to be carried
away as a slave, and quite unanimous. We cannot
teU how it will end to-morrow, but I hope without
bloodshed, of which there is danger. Sam says
he shaU have nothing to do with the rescue, but
I think he is very willing It should be done, and I
am sure I hope it will."
His opinion of rescues In general he had ex
pressed three years before In a letter to Mr. May.
" Much as I abominate bloodshed, I think it far
better that two or three slaveholders and their
assistant slave-hunters should be kUled than that
a man should be dragged back into slavery. . . .
I cannot blame a man for fighting for his liberty,
or any one else for fighting for him. I have not
advocated attempts to rescue in Boston, but it
has been simply on the ground that the attempts
woiUd probably fail and Involve too great a risk. I
do not believe that there are many places In Mas
sachusetts, out of Boston, from which the people
would not prevent a fugitive from being carried."

SLAVE CASES 81
The trial of Anthony Burns ended by another
triumph for the Fugitive Slave Law. As soon as
possible after the adverse decision of the commis
sioner. Burns, surrounded by a special body guard,
was carried between close ranks of soldiery to the
vessel that waited to bear him South. And though
buUdings were draped with mourning, and the bells
of the city toUed, whUe at every cross street along
the route stood angry crowds groaning and hissing
as the marshal and his charge passed by, the threat
ened outbreak did not occur. So strong, however,
was the demonstration of popular resentment that
public opinion found almost judicial utterance from
the conservative Ups of Chief Justice Shaw when
he said, " No law can stand another such strain."

CHAPTER VI
domestic life
Through aU the hardest years of that struggle
to arouse his country's conscience Mr. SewaU found
in his wife sustaining confidence and support.
Louisa SewaU was a woman of great earnestness
and high ideals. Her energy and practical ablUty
relieved him of many cares, while her vivacity and
charm as a companion made his home life always
bright and cheerful.
" I am sure you. If any one," she wrote to him,
" weU deserve the gratitude of the slaves. . . .
There are but few among the abolitionists who
have done or risked so much for them. You at
least have the satisfaction of knowing that you
have not labored in vain, and that many of your
feUow creatures are indebted to your exertions for
their dearest rights."
With appreciation from her he could endure
disapproval from others. Yet It cannot be said
that he would under any circumstances have suf
fered acutely from the cold looks bestowed upon

DOMESTIC LIFE 83
him. The ehiU of an adverse public opinion could
not penetrate his sunny, well-attempered soul.
On April 9, 1837, a new joy came to them In
the birth of their little girl, Lucy Ellen Sewall.
Mrs. SewaU's frequent visits to Portland and a
longer enforced absence were the cause of a corre
spondence which gives glimpses of their married
life, of the child, and of the other Interests which
they had in common. L. M. S. TO S. E. S.
Dearest and best beloved of poets, I am much
obliged to you for the verses you have sent me.
Of course I need not tell you that they are beau-
tlfiU, but I must say that they gave me more
pleasure than any I have ever read ; for though
you have addressed verses to me before, yet It was
when you did not know me so well as you do now,
and I feared your imagination might be loving an
object of Its own creation. But I do not see as
familiarity has at all diminished your affection,
and I am sure it has only increased mine. June 17, 1837.
Did you read that article In the last " Liberator "
on the rights of women ? I think the law there
proposed would be an exceUent one. I hope the
men of Massachusetts wIU be disinterested enough
to pass such a one, not on my account, but on that
of my sex.

84 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
S. E. S. TO L. m. s. June 29, 1837.
Mr. Fletcher, our representative in Congress,
wishes me to take charge of his law business, as
he is to be so much at Washington. It wIU be a
great opportunity for me, as he has done more
business, I think, than any lawyer in Boston for
several years. July 3, 1837.
I am going to-day to Mr. Fletcher's office. I
anticipate a considerable increase of business and
income from the arrangement. He very liberally
puts all his business and clients into my hands as
far as he can. I do not enter into any partner
ship with him. He wiU be away from Boston
three quarters of the year, and wishes to have
nothing to do with the common run of business.
When he is in town, I shaU employ him to argue
important cases, as I always Lave done, if I Lave
occasion. PerLaps you may think I am delighted
with such an opportunity to increase my business,
but in truth I am not. I want to make myself in
dependent of my profession as soon as I can, and
then retire from it to spend my time and money
in what may not only be more agreeable to you
and me, but more useful to our feUow creatures
than practising law. I think if I had leisure and

DOMESTIC LIFE 85
property I should not make a bad use of them, but
this may be a mere delusion.
Mr. SewaU's association with Eichard Fletcher
continued for many years. In 1848 Mr. Fletcher
was appointed one of the justices of the Supreme
Judicial Court. Mr. George T. AngeU, with
whom Mr. SewaU formed a partnership in 1852,
records that Judge Fletcher at that time, speak
ing of his late associate, stated that there was no
lawyer In Massachusetts In whose legal opinion he
would have greater confidence.
S. E. S. TO L. M. S. July 18, 1838.
How I wish that I were rich, that I might
breathe the sweet air of the country with you In
summer, instead of being pent up in this prison
of a city, seeing nothing but bricks and mortar, and
inhaling nothing but dust and poisonous vapors.
Then Instead of tolling at the duU drudgery of the
law (I do not mean that It is worse than most
other employments) I could engage more actively
in benevolent pursuits and literary occupations. August 8, 1838.
Nothing would reconcile me to your absence
but the belief that you and little darling are prob
ably better in Portland than here, during the

86 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
intolerable hot weather we have had here this
summer. . . . Something occurs to me almost
every day In the course of my business so ludi
crous, queer, or interesting that I long to have
you here to teU It to. ... I think a lawyer has
remarkable opportunities of seeing the varieties
of human character, and therefore could make a
most Interesting diary.
s. E. S. TO L. M. s. June 20, 1837.
The Sunday before last a notice was read from
Dr. Channing's pulpit that the Miss Grimkes
would address a meeting of ladles on the sub
ject of peace at the Spring Street Chapel on
Wednesday afternoon. The Standing Commit
tee of the Parish were very much Incensed, and
blamed the sexton for carrying up such a notice.
... I suppose the Standing Committee thought
that Peace and the Miss Grimkes savored of aboli
tionism. It appears, however, that they claim the
right to determine what notices shall be read in
the pulpit.
Last Sunday a notice was sent me to be read
in our church, of a meeting of the Ladles' A.-S. So
ciety, at which the Miss Grimkes were to speak,
on Monday. I was directed to give the notice to
the minister myself. I accordingly, just before

DOMESTIC LIFE 87
the services commenced, posted myself in the entry
of the church to await the arrival of the minis
ter, Mr. Stetson, of Medford. Soon after I had
stationed myself,  , one of the Standing Com
mittee, came into the entry, and stood there like
a great dragon to keep watch of the portal. Pre
sently Mr. Stetson came up. I handed him the
notice and requested him to read it.  imme
diately stepped up and said that the Standing
Committee had passed a vote that no notices
should be read except such as had been approved
by the Committee, and wished that I would sub
mit . . . the notice to the Committee. I replied
that I denied the authority of the Committee to
act In the case, and said that they had no more
right to dictate what notices should be read by the
minister than I had. . . .
Mr. Stetson said that his feelings were entirely
with me, that he should read such a notice from
his own pulpit, and should be glad to read It from
any other, but under the circumstances thought it
would not be proper for him to Interfere. . . .
After this he shook hands with me and passed
into the church. After meeting, the two Chap-
mans, father and son, and I had a warm contro
versy for a few minutes with some of the Com
mittee and others on the sidewalk; but, seeing
tLat a great crowd was coUectIng, we thought it

88 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
advisable to disperse. It is a great piece of im
pertinence in the Committee to pretend to dictate
what notices the minister shaU read. ... I should
not wonder If the Committee in their inquisito
rial capacity should attempt to eject me from the
Sunday-school for preaching anti-slavery to the
chUdren. It happened that last Sunday, before
I received the notice, I had, in addressing the
children, spoken to them of the Broad Street riot.
I spoke of the prejudices against the Irish as
having been the cause of the cruel treatment they
received, and then said the prejudices against the
slaves, on account of the color, etc., occasioned
their being much worse treated every day than
the Irish were. ... I then stated a number of
particulars in regard to their treatment, etc., etc.
Aunt Southwick had an abolition party last
evening. The Miss Grimkes were there. . . . We
had a very pleasant time. I talked a little with
Angelina and liked Ler very mucL. Should not
you like to have an abolition party at our house
when you get back ?
In 1842 Mrs. Winslow became IU. Mrs. SewaU,
who was herself far from strong, consented to go
with her mother to Madeira, where Mrs. Wins-
low's death occurred. Mrs. SewaU wrote in
February, 1843, just after her great loss : " You

DOMESTIC LIFE 89
cannot imagine how dreary and desolate I feel,
how I long to fly home for sympathy, but uncle
will not hear of my going. He says it would be
madness to go into a cold climate when by staying
two months longer I might return well." She did
not return until March. S. E. S. TO L. M. S. June 1, 1843.
I have been hard at work practising law. I
go to my office in the morning and work tiU din
ner time, and then again in the afternoon and
work untU half past six; then I usuaUy go to
see Mr. Fletcher, who has been sick, and then
home and put baby to bed and have my supper
about eight. OccasIonaUy I have some writing
to do in the evening, but not more than once or
twice a week.
In the above letter and in the following we have
a gUmpse of his devotion to his little girl.
February 11, 1843.
Do not feel anxious about me and baby. . . .
She has been writing you a letter this morning,
which I shaU send if I can. She is like you, full
of love and affection. ... I can see much more
of her than I could at Eoxbury, as I come to the
Louse every day at dinner. . . . SLe is very affec-

90 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
tlonate, and now you are away seems to give me
as many kisses as she did us both when you were
here. ... It seems to me I never saw a child so
fuU of life and spirits. I fancy she must be very
much what you were at her age. I do not think
she has the fear of me which most children have
of their fathers. This I like. I know that she is
not governed by fear, but when she behaves weU
that she has learned to govern herself.
After the birth. In 1846, of his second daugh
ter, Louisa Winslow, Mr. SewaU left Eoxbury and
made his home farther out in the country, near
the village of Melrose, on land which was then
part of Stoneham. Here he had, besides his gar
den, some thirty acres of woodland ; and the happi
ness of outdoor leisure on his return from his office
in the city was added to the days.
In Melrose, with occasional returns to the city,
life flowed tranquUly on untU 1850. Then came
the shock and break. In the autumn of that year
Mrs. SewaU died.
SAMUEL E. SEWALL TO HANNAH BOBIE.
Melrose, November 10, 1850.
I have been too much depressed since the loss
of Louisa to write letters or do anything else.
The suddenness of her death was a dreadful shock.

DOMESTIC LIFE 91
What made it worse was that I did nqt see her
before aU was over. . . .
I am going to board at Mrs. Southwick's this
winter. ... I cannot bear to spend the winter
here. By living in Boston I shall have the chil
dren more in my sight. . . . Next spring I expect
to return to Melrose. ... I had always hoped
that you would make my house your home. I
should not urge you to leave Uncle Eobie, but
if you prefer to live in this country I stIU hope
you wiU consider Melrose as your home.
... I shaU say nothing about my feelings. I
have suffered a great deal, and am stiU weak and
depressed. I am going to the office to-morrow, and
shall try to do a little business, though I cannot
do much. I know I ought not to let my mind
dwell altogether on one sad subject. The sooner
I force myself Into active life the better. As it
respects Louisa herself, the suddenness of her
departure was a blessing, as she was spared the
pain and anxiety of lingering sickness. This
ought to mitigate the anguish which I feel. I
Lave no doubt sbe is Lappy now, and Ler removal
from tLIs earth Is directed by a higher power which
does aU things right, however mysterious they seem
to us.
After a time, with Miss Eobie and the chUdren,

92 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
he reopened the Melrose house. There he busied
himself with his daughters and with his garden.
His letters to his children, written when they were
away from home, show how intimately they were
interwoven with his life.
Three years after his wife's death he wrote : " I
believe death is always a blessing to every one it
comes to. But no beUef wIU prevent grief for the
loss of those we love."

CHAPTER VII
SERVICE IN THB SENATE
After the death of his wife, Mr. SewaU threw
himself more earnestly than ever Into work.
"He spent almost half his time," says Mr.
George T. Angell, who was for fourteen years his
partner, " in endeavoring to protect the weak and
defenceless. His private office was headquarters
for nearly all the abolitionists and Free-SoU men
in the Commonwealth, — John Brown and a multi
tude of others. He frequently had there Sumner,
WUson, Andrew, Garrison, and WendeU PhiUips.
I should think that almost a peck measure of keys
intended to open prisons and jails for the freeing
of aUeged slaves were kept at his office by the
committee of safety."
A colored youth who wished to study law was
hospitably taken Into this office, a kindness so un
usual that even Dr. Henry I. Bowditch confessed
himself struck with Mr. SewaU's moral courage in
permitting the young man to be there.
In 1840 he had definitely joined hands with

94 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
those anti-slavery men who beUeved in poUtical
action. His Indorsement of the Liberty party,
afterward absorbed by the Free-Soil party, was
a marked divergence from the Garrisonian aboli
tionists. Garrison hoped everything from the
spread of ideas untrammelled by association with
politics ; Mr. SewaU believed that the political
party must give force and weight to ideas, if they
were to find expression in concerted action. The
differences of opinion on this and other practical
points made a split In the abolition ranks, painful
to those who had long been close comrades, but
inevitable from the growth of the movement and
the number and variety of individuals engaged
in it.
In the only bit of autobiographical writing ever
wrung from Mr. SewaU, — a letter written to Eev.
Edward G. Porter in 1884, in response to a
request for some personal details, — he said : " I
did not follow Garrison in beUeving in non-re
sistance, in refusing to vote, and in recommending
a dissolution of the Union. I always voted, and
joined the Liberty party as soon as it was formed.
From this I became in due course a member of the
Eepublican party."
The Liberty party made Mr. SewaU Its candidate
for governor of Massachusetts yearly, from 1842
to 1847. In 1842, indeed, the office came very

SERVICE IN THE SENATE 95
near being thrust upon him. " I have narrowly
escaped being governor," he wrote to his uncle,
Simon B. Eobie, In Halifax. " At one time there
seemed to be quite a possibility that I should be
chosen by the legislature in consequence of the
two great parties in the legislature being nearly
equaUy balanced. It would have been very un
comfortable to have come in under such circum
stances." At an earUer date he had written to his wife : —
Boston, November 27, 1842.
The Liberty party have defeated the election
for governor. Our vote is nearly doubled since
last year, being not much, if any, short of 7000
in the State. We have defeated the election of
seven out of ten representatives to Congress, and
thrown both parties into great confusion. Every
day people teU me I shaU be chosen governor by
the legislature. I think, however, the prospect is
that the Democrats wiU have a majority in the
House, and so fiU the vacancies in the Senate with
their own men, and then choose Morton governor.
Father Is terribly afraid I shaU be chosen. . . .
You would ask, I suppose, " What are your own
wishes on the subject ? " I can hardly tell. I am
rather Indifferent about it. If any other Liberty
man were a candidate, I should take a deep inter-

96 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
est In the result. But now there are so many
disagreeable things about being governor, that
though I should enjoy the triumph of the party,
I think I had quite as lief be excused from being
the successful candidate myself.
And again in December : —
" You know that I have never been very desir
ous of the office. But now there seems some dan
ger of it, I like the idea less than ever. The only
thing that could reconcile me to it is the belief
that it would promote the anti-slavery cause, which
it certainly would."
Mr. SewaU was not elected governor, but in
1851 he was chosen to the Massachusetts Senate
as a Free-Soil candidate. This was the year in
which the coalition of the Free-Soil and Demo
cratic parties proved so disastrous to the Whigs,
a coalition which scored as one of its victories the
election of Charles Sumner to the Senate of the
United States.
While In the Senate Mr. SewaU held the posi
tion of chairman of the judiciary committee, and
was therefore enabled to mould legislation on a
number of Important subjects.
One blU which he introduced was often referred
to by him in after years as the shortest ever made
into an act by a Massachusetts legislature. It

SERVICE IN THE SENATE 97
read : " Aliens may take, hold, convey, and trans
mit real estate." Always in favor of simplicity,
he was desirous of doing away with many of the
technicalities of court procedure, and modified
and Improved a report already before the legis
lature for that purpose.
Among reports made by him of biUs which did
not at that session pass, but which were embodied
in or affected subsequent legislation, was one to
amend the law of evidence so that witnesses should
not be debarred from testifying because of disbe
lief In a God or on account of their religious opin
ions. Another was a minority report on the ex
pediency of amending the law of divorce, a reform
of which he was then and In after years an earnest
advocate. His biU made extreme cruelty and ha
bitual intemperance grounds for divorce from the
bond of matrimony, and not merely from bed and
board ; it also reduced the time of desertion neces
sary to justify a divorce from five to three years,
and permitted re-marriage. He drew up a long
report In favor of the aboUshment of capital pun
ishment. " I am glad to remember," he wrote In his letter
to Mr. Porter, " that while I was In the Senate I
introduced a blU to protect the property of married
women, which, though I now see that It was very
defective, was the first In this State that proposed

98 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
to make a wife the legal owner of her property.
It was largely used, both In substance and form,
as the basis of the important law on the same
subject passed in 1855. My biU, I think, passed
the Senate, but failed In the House."
An effort to obtain aid from the State for the
Female Medical College was without success. It
was but the beginning of his exertions in behalf of
medical education for women.
For the benefit of fugitive slaves a biU was
reported, which faUed of passage at that time,
but which was substantially enacted In 1855, as
part of those Personal Liberty Laws which caused
so much discussion in 1859-60. A speech which
he delivered in the Senate in urging this blU states
forcibly his grounds for holding the Fugitive
Slave Law to be Invalid. A few extracts wiU
illustrate the point.
Mr. President : — The blU on your table intro
duces no new principle of law. The object of It
Is merely to aid the operation of the writ of habeas
corpus, by giving new officers power to issue it,
and giving a jury trial in favor of liberty. . . .
In this country . . . beside the United States
Constitution, we have one fundamental law of the
whole nation, — the Declaration of Independence.
This celebrated instrument was not a mere mani-

SERVICE IN THE SENATE 99
festo . . . but a law adopted with unusual solem
nity by the national Congress, and adopted and
ratified substantlaUy, If not formaUy, by aU the
States. . . . No one. Indeed, can dispute that it is
a law for some purposes.
. . . Whatever view may be taken of the legal
bearing of the Declaration of Independence, . . .
there is one impregnable position which every
lover of justice ought to take on this subject. It
is this : that the extradition of a fugitive slave Is
a great crime ; that no constitution or statute can
make such a crime legal; and that consequently
the Fugitive Slave Act is as void in law as it is In
thfe forum of conscience. . . .
Humanity is outraged when it becomes neces
sary to argue these questions. . . . Justice, the law
of God, the law of reason, the moral law, the law
of nature, by whatever name It may be caUed, is an
essential, inherent part of the law of the land. . . .
This justice, . . . implanted in us by our Creator,
is of necessity a higher law than any human enact
ment. The statute must be submitted to it, must
be measured by It. And it seems to me as clearly
the duty of the judge to measure the statute by the
higher law as to measure it by the Constitution.
If I have not entirely failed in my object, I
have shown that slavery is iUegal at aU times and

100 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
in all places. . . . Sooner or later the courts will
declare It so. Let us pass this law, and give our
court an opportunity of deciding this great ques
tion. His single-hearted devotion to legislative duties
Involved a sacrifice of health and of private busi
ness which he could ill afford. " Sam Is very much
worn out with all his labors," Miss Eobie wrote,
" and looks so miserably that one person who had
not seen him since last summer said she should not
have known him, he was so much altered. . . . He
admits he is much fatigued, but seems very glad he
has accomplished so much In the legislature." He
was obliged to refuse to be a candidate for reelec
tion. " I found," he said, " my business would not
be likely to support my famUy, if I gave up six
months in the year to the business of the State."
But his successful term of service was a som-ce of
keen pleasure to him, and even late in life he
often referred with satisfaction to the events and
results of his short career as a senator.

CHAPTER VIII
EMANCIPATION
The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska biU in
1854 united the North in a firm front of resist
ance to Southern encroachments, and was foUowed
by a rapid massing of the contending forces.
"I believe we Lave at last come to the point
where the slaveholders must be driven back,"
Mr. Sewall wrote to Samuel J. May in the sum
mer of that year. " I cannot doubt that the
triumphs of freedom are about to commence, and
that they wiU be as rapid as those of slavery have
LItLerto been. I always feel most Lopeful wLen
tLere seems tLe best reason for despair."
TLe Fremont campaign seemed almost a justi
fication of tLese Lopes.
" TLe issue of tLe presidential contest,"' Le then
wrote to Mr. May, " is now distinctly for the first
time liberty or slavery. If Fremont is elected,
Uberty is triumphant. And although the Eepub
lican party has not as its avowed object the abo
lition of slavery, yet It is plain that when the

102 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
Northern party has once gained acendency in the
national government, it must inevitably retain It ;
and that when the influence of the national gov
ernment Is on the side of liberty, it wIU be even
more potent than It has been while on the side
of slavery."
He was, however, severely tried by the actual
result of the election, and by the Dred Scott
decision. SAMUEL E. SEWALL TO SIMON B. EOBIE.
Boston, March 8, 1857.
We have not much to hope from our new Presi
dent, Buchanan. He has been a mere self-seek
ing poUtlcian all his life, and has never done any
single good thing that I have heard of. He
seems likely to be a mere crouching slave governed
by Southern masters. The Supreme Court of the
United States has just decided that a negro is not
a citizen of the United States, and that Southern
slaveholders can carry their slaves through the free
States without making them free. I feel ashamed
of living In a coimtry where there is such a con
temptible President and judges.
TO SAMUEL J. MAT. April 9, 1857.
I am sorry I have no time to let loose a little
indignation on the judges of the Supreme Court

EMANCIPATION 103
of the United States for their infamous decision
in the Dred Scott case. Is It not remarkable that
Judge Curtis has come out on the right side In
a very able opinion, but with no more moral feel
ing than an iceberg? StIU he deserves credit for
what he has done.
Mr. SewaU never lost courage. "It seems to
me," he wrote a year later, " the slave system is
going to pieces very rapidly, notwithstanding aU
appearance of prosperity." And In 1859 : " I
cannot see clearly and exactly how slavery is to
be brought to an end. But I trust we are now
witnessing Its death struggles."
At intervals during the warfare that had al
ready begun In Kansas, John Brown came to the
Massachusetts men for aid. Mr. SewaU had fre
quent talks with him. He was acquainted with
Brown's history and appreciated his character.
He knew vaguely that his efforts to run slaves
off to freedom were to be continued, but probably
was as ignorant as the majority of the abolition
ists concerning the means which Brown meant to
employ. The news of the seizure of Harper's Ferry came
as a shock. Few acknowledged on the instant, as
Garrison did, the hero and martyr. Mr. Sewall
never felt, even in after years, that the heroism

104 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
of the attempt entirely obliterated its f oUy. But
Le was deeply moved by the self-sacrificing spirit
of John Brown, and sympathized to the utmost
with his devotion to the slaves.
After Brown's conviction, an attempt was made
by his friends to bring his case before the Su
preme Court of Virginia for review. Many law
yers believed that the indictment was bad, and a
petition for a writ of error was prepared, which
received the support of two eminent Southern
lawyers, Samuel ChUton and WiUiam Green.
Brown's counsel and the Attorney-General of
Virginia agreed that the case should be fuUy
argued at the time when the petition was pre
sented. If the Supreme Court would consent. For
this proposed hearing Mr. SewaU, In connection
with John A. Andrew, actuaUy prepared an able
and elaborate argument in Brown's defence ; but
the Supreme Court refused to give the case fur
ther consideration, on the ground that the judg
ment of the county court was " plainly right," and
the argument was never used.
Mr. SewaU had also busied himself in rais
ing money for the relief of Brown's family, and
as treasurer of the fund received the foUowing
letter : —

EMANCIPATION 105

Chakubsiown, Jefferson County, Va.,
November 29, 1859.
S. E. Sewall, Esq., Boston:
My dear Sir, — Your most kind letter of the
24th instant Is received. It does indeed give me
" pleasure " and the greatest encouragement to
know of any efforts that have been made in be
half of my poor and deeply afflicted family. It
takes from my mind the greatest cause of sadness
I have experienced during my Imprisonment here.
I feel quite cheerful and ready to die. I can only
say for want of time. May the God of the oppressed
and the poor In great mercy remember all those
to whom we are so deeply Indebted !
FareweU ! Your Friend,
John Brown.
" At the time of Brown's execution," says Mr.
George A. Dary, " a small company of friends
gathered at Mr. SewaU's office, and spent an hour
In commemoration of the event then taking place."
On the evening of the same day Mr. SewaU pre
sided over that impressive meeting in Tremont
Temple at which Garrison read to his deeply
moved audience John Brown's "Address to the
Court."

106 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
Nor did Mr. SewaU's connection with the Har
per's Ferry affair end here. When the United
States Senate constituted Itself a court of In
quiry, and Thaddeus Hyatt was summoned before
its committee to give an account of his deaUngs
with John Brown, Mr. SewaU and John A.
Andrew were again co-workers in preparation of
an argument showing why Mr. Hyatt should not
be compeUed to testify. But in spite of their
efforts and the weighty support of Charles Sum
ner and John P. Hale, Hyatt was thrown into
jail, and confined there three months, for refus
ing to testify in obedience to the Senate's de
mand; or, as Mr. Sewall put it, was punished
" not for any crime, not for any real contempt
of the Senate, which he might have felt, but for
a technical contempt of that most contemptible
body." Great Indignation on the part of anti-
slavery men greeted the action of the Senate ; and
Mr. SewaU, happening to be In New York at the
time of the May meetings, expressed himself on
the subject with more fire and bitterness than he
was wont to reveal.
SAMUEL E. SEWALL TO LUCV E. SEWALL.
New York, May 13, 1860.
We have been in a complete whirl ever since
we have been here, attending anti-slavery, wo-

EMANCIPATION 107
men's rights, and Thaddeus Hyatt meetings every
day till yesterday, and exchanging greetings with
old and new friends. . . . There seems no end
to the people we have seen, — Garrison, Phillips,
S. May, Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson, Mr. and Mrs.
Elchards, Mrs. Stanton, Oliver Johnson, etc.
... I doubt whether the meeting to express
sympathy for Hyatt would have taken place If I
had not been here. I send you a copy of the
" Herald," which has a fuUer report of the meet
ing than the " Tribune." . . . Though much that
I said is omitted, and much Inaccurately and
imperfectly reported, yet they have taken pains to
put in two blackguardisms very exactly, one call
ing the Senate " a most contemptible body," the
other caUIng Mason " a wretch." These expres
sions sUpped out by accident. I do not believe
there is any use in such abuse. More effect would
be given to the same charges if expressed in milder
terms. It wiU be remembered that in 1852 Mr. SewaU,
whUe In the Senate, Introduced a blU In extension
of the existing Personal Liberty Law, designed
practically to nullify the Fugitive Slave Act.
His unsuccessful bill, doubtless the work of
many hands, was in 1855 substantlaUy embodied
in an act which was passed by the legislature.

108 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
The old law, enacted in 1843, after the Latimer
case, forbade judges and justices to take part in
the capture of fugitive slaves, and sheriffs, jaUers,
and constables to detain them. The new law,
among Its provisions, secured habeas corpus to
the aUeged fugitive ; declared his confession in
admissible against him, excluded ex-parte affi
davits, and cast the burden of proof upon the
claimant ; forbade state officers to Issue warrants
under the Fugitive Slave Act, attorneys to assist
the claimant, and the mUItla to be caUed out in
his aid ; and required the governor to appoint
commissioners to help defend fugitives and to
secure them a fair trial. This law stIU stood, In
a somewhat modified form, on the Massachusetts
statute-book, and similar laws existed in other
States ; but, not content with the measure of pro
tection already secured to fugitives, the abolition
ists did not cease to besiege the legislature for
more radical enactments. As late as the winter
of 1859, Mr. Sewall appeared before the Commit
tee on Federal Eelations to ask for an act, which
he had prepared, in the foUowing terms : —
" Section 1. Slavery cannot exist In Massachu
setts. Every person living In this Commonwealth
is free. Every person who may hereafter come into
this Commonwealth, or be born In it, shall be free.
" Section 2. Any person who shaU arrest, im-

EMANCIPATION 109
prison, or carry out of this Commonwealth, any
other person, for the alleged reason that such other
person Is a slave, shaU be punished by imprison
ment In the State Prison not exceeding ten years."
It Is not to be wondered at that these Personal
Liberty Laws were a special grievance to the se
ceding States, and that South Carolina placed
them in the forefront of her grounds for seces
sion. When the country found itself threatened
with disruption, many of the Northern leaders,
appaUed by the magnitude of the crisis, were
ready to offer any concessions to avert civil war,
and even Seward in the Senate spoke in favor of
repeaUng the Personal Liberty Laws. A strong
effort was made In Massachusetts to secure the
repeal of certain of the provisions of her laws on
this subject, and in particular those which were
thought to be either unconstitutional, because they
directly Interfered with the Fugitive Slave Act, or
pecuUarly offensive to the South.
No man had done more than Mr. Sewall, as the
" Nation " declared after his death, to promote these
laws ; and when he saw them in danger, he has
tened to their defence. In a series of four articles
in the " DaUy Atlas and Bee," he vindicated their
necessity and constitutionality.
The last article sets forth In broad lines his
position on the underlying question of slavery

110 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
itself, and the concessions he was willing to make
to it.
After stating from what grounds he derives his
authority, he concludes : —
"But though it is agreeable to have my argu
ment sustained by authority, I do not rest on it, —
I appeal to the conscience of the legislature of
Massachusetts. . . .
" State after State is seceding. Their aUeged
grievances are hollow pretences. The border
States are claiming the right to extend slavery
through the Territories, and demanding new guar
anties for their Inhuman Institution. Is this the
time for Massachusetts, Instead of standing firmly
and resisting these taskmasters, to kneel down and
worship the golden image ? . . .
" If we ever wish to have a harmonious Union,
we must deal with the South in a far different
spirit. We must tell them plainly how we regard
their Institution : that we mean to protect the Ter
ritories from it; that the power of the national
government shall be thrown into the scale of
Uberty; that, though we claim no authority for
Congress to aboUsh slavery as It exists in the
States, yet we shaU labor for such amendments
to the Constitution as wUl enable the national
government to aid those States that desire to
remove it. . . .

EMANCIPATION 111
" Those who talk of repealing our liberty laws
seem not at all to reflect on the nature of the
struggle in which we are engaged. It is the old
elemental contest between right and wrong, which
has been going on from the beginning of time. . . .
" But we entertain no hostility to the slave
States. And while we should exhibit an unwaver
ing detestation of their system of oppression, we
should be ever ready to aid them In relieving
themselves from this Intolerable burden. . . .
"We should Insist on the clause relating to
fugitives from service being struck from the Con
stitution, as one incapable of being successfully
enforced If held to relate to slaves, and a source
of perpetual Irritation and strife between the two
sections of the country. In return for this con
cession we could agree to pay the Southern States
from the national treasury such a sum as would
make them great pecuniary gainers. . . .
" Whenever any of the slave States show a
readiness to listen to any proposition looking to
an abandonment of their system, an amendment
of the Constitution might be proposed by which
Congress should have the power of giving a cer
tain sum to any State abolishing slavery, in pro
portion to the number of its slaves by the last
census. There is no reason for paying the full
market price of the slaves ; for the value of the

112 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
lands In every State abolishing slavery would In
stantly mcrease very rapidly, and each State ought
itself to bear a share of the cost of removing
its own burden. But It Is hardly necessary to
pursue this topic. It is too plain for argument
that slavery Is the only source of the dissensions
between the different parts of our nation. No
thing but the removal of this cause wiU restore
harmony between them. . . . The perpetual foun
tain of discord would remain. Why should we
sacrifice our principles to gain a beggarly truce,
and postpone the contest which must inevitably
come ? The war of opinion must go on. Happy
indeed will the nation be If It can be determined
without bloodshed, in the only way in which a ter
mination Is desirable or possible.
" Will the repeal have the smallest tendency to
bring back the seven seceding States? No one
in his senses pretends it. WIU it concUiate the
border States, and preserve their fidelity to the
Union ? It is plain enough these laws are a very
insignificant part of the causes of complaint which
the South makes against the North. . . . The real
ground of complaint at the South Is not of our
liberty laws, but of the love of liberty which dic
tates them.
" To repeal any part of these laws would be
a virtual falsehood, a profession of the love of

EMANCIPATION 113
slavery, which we do not feel. We never can
satisfy the South, unless we can repeal the moral
sentiment of Massachusetts. It is this against
which the South is now warring. If we can
change our opinions, then we can live in har
mony with our Southern neighbors. When we
can hunt slaves as cheerfuUy in Massachusetts as
they do In Carolina, then, and not tiU then, shaU
we find Southern hostility to us cease.
" Thank God, that day can never come. Let
the North only stand firm, and yield not one inch,
not one hair's breadth, to the arrogant demands of
the slave power ; and then as surely as omnipotent
justice reigns, order wiU rise out of disorder, peace
out of discord, and freedom from the grave of
slavery." With his defence of the Personal Liberty Laws
Mr. SewaU's active career as an abolitionist neces
sarily closed. He could but wait and watch in
anxious suspense the course of the rebellion, ever
hopeful that events were rapidly shaping them
selves to that final solution which he had long be
lieved was the Inevitable outcome of " the old
elemental contest between right and wrong."
His letters to his daughter Lucy, then pursuing
her medical studies In Europe, reverted continu-
aUy from personal interests to public affairs.

114 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
November 30, 1862.
I can see a number of reasons why the aris
tocracy of England sympathize with the South.
They do not like republics, and especially one so
powerful as ours, and therefore desire to see it
divided and weakened. Then they see it is the
North which, by blockading the Southern ports,
has cut off the supply of cotton, and thus produced
the greatest distress among the laboring popular
tion of Lancashire and elsewhere. Beside these
permanent causes, the Trent affair aroused a very
bitter and indignant feeling among aU English
men, who very generally supposed Captain WUkes,
in capturing Mason and SlldeU, was acting under
the orders of our government and endeavoring to
bring on a war with Great Britain. This feeling
rankles In the breasts of many, though the cause
was long since removed. Some of our own foolish,
not to say vlUalnous, newspapers are always labor
ing to Increase the IU feeling between the two na
tions. AU this is very unfortunate, as weU as the
scandalous course of the " Times " and other Eng
lish papers. I hope Calrnes's book ^ and MiU's
article in the " Westminster " will have a good
influence. It is said that the President will defend his
emancipation policy and his proclamation In his
message expected to-morrow.
^ The Slave Power, by J. E. Caimes.

EMANCIPATION 115
December 14, 1862.
The state of the country produces a constant
feeling of oppression. But the opinion Is gaining
ground that nothing but the extermination of
slavery wIU end the war, and also that the disso
lution of the slave system is going on rapidly. I
look forward with confident hope, though not with
out anxiety. I hope the end of the war Is coming
quickly, but I do not dare to prophesy. The Presi
dent on the 1st of January will proclaim freedom
throughout the rebeUIous States. After that I
believe it wiU be Impossible to keep them [the
colored people] as slaves.
The eagerly awaited emancipation proclamation
was greeted In Boston by a jubilee concert at
Music Hall in the afternoon, and in the evening
by a large and enthusiastic meeting. Mr. SewaU
was present at the concert, and witnessed the
demonstration caused by the news that the pro
clamation was then passing over the wires. The
whole audience broke into tumultuous applause,
and then united In rousing cheers for Lincoln
and for Garrison. In the evening he was one
of a party of old friends, Including Garrison,
PhiUips, Alcott, Julia Ward Howe, Samuel Long
fellow, Frank Sanborn, and the sculptor Brackett,
invited to the house of George L. Stearns, at Med-

116 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
ford, in honor of the arrival of Brackett's bust
of John Brown, modelled at the request of Mr.
Stearns. PhiUips celebrated the instaUatlon of
the bust by a short speech, and Emerson read
again his " Boston Hymn," which had been but
imperfectly heard in the afternoon at Music Hall.
It was in the foUowing year that Whittier, pub
lishing his volume of stirring poems, " In War
Time," dedicated it " To Samuel E. Sewall and
Harriet W. SewaU, of Melrose," with these Unes :
" Olor Iseanus queries : ' Why should we
Vex at the land's ridiculous miserie ? '
So on his Usk banks, in the blood-red dawn
Of England's civU strife, did careless Vaughn
Bemock his times. O friends of many years !
Though faith and trust are stronger than our feais,
And the signs promise peace with liberty.
Not thus we trifle with our country's tears
And sweat of agony. The future's gain
Is certain as God's truth ; but, meanwhUe, pain
Is bitter and tears are salt : our voices take
A sober tone ; our very household songs
Are heavy with a nation's griefs and wrongs ;
And innocent mirth is chastened for the sake
Of the brave hearts that nevermore shaU beat.
The eyes that smile no more, the unreturning feet I "
"We ought to rejoice," wrote Mr. SewaU to
Mr. May after the passage of the thirteenth
amendment to the Constitution, " when slavery is
absolutely and unconditionally aboUshed. But we

EMANCIPATION 117
Lave been so long sure of tLe event tLat we are
not so mucL Impressed with Its greatness. For
with aU its sad drawbacks, owing to the diabolical
feeling of the Southern States and their Northern
tools, still the abolition of slavery by the United
States is the most important event in all history."

CHAPTER IX
HARRIET WINSLOW SEWALL
The three daughters of Nathan Winslow aU pos
sessed distinctive charm of personality. Against
the sober background of a Quaker ancestry their
figures stand out f uU of brightness and color, whUe
each carried with her among the world's people
somewhat of the sincere simplicity of the Friends'
Society. Harriet, whose Ufe was the longest, became
most widely known. She was early married to
Charles List, a staunch abolitionist, whose death
occurred not many years after that of Mrs. SewaU.
In the desolation of Mr. SewaU's life and the
loneliness of her own, the relation between them,
always cordial, deepened, and in 1857 culminated
in their marriage. From that time onward his Is
never again a solitary figure. Actively associated
as she was with all his interests, philanthropic
as weU as personal, she was ever at his side, and
those who best remember him in the later years
instinctively picture him to themselves in compan
ionship with her.

HARRIET WINSLOW SEWALL 119
" In her," a friend has said, " were united the
dreamy poetic nature of an artistic temperament
and the practical ability which was a marked
characteristic of her father's family." Expres
sion in verse was spontaneous with her. She
never cared to be known as a writer, but many
of her stanzas echo still in the memory of numer
ous readers who have forgotten or, it may be,
never knew the author's name. Her best known
poem is that beginning —
" Why thus longing, thus forever sighing,
For the far-off, unattained, and dim,
WhUe the beautiful, aU round thee lying,
Offers up its low, perpetual hymn ? "
Nor did the artistic faculty confine itself to her
writings. It permeated her daUy life, her friend
ships, her activities abroad. The delicate grace
wLIch characterized her seemed to set everything
about her in harmony, and she had the delightful
faculty of imparting to others her own spirit of
gladness and bright enjoyment of the passing
hour. Her generous hospitality kept the Mel
rose house fuU. Miss Eobie, who had since 1850
considered it her home, remained there still, beau
tiful In her age, and as devoted as ever to the
nephew whose head was now as white as Ler own.
TLomas Sewall and Lis family found it easy to
make their short journey from Boston to Mel-

120 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
rose. Bronson Alcott came from Concord with
his wife and daughters, including the well-known
author of " Little Women." At rare intervals
Samuel J. May visited them, and other relatives
from more distant places kept up the cousinly in
tercourse. Members of the old anti-slavery circle were not
lacking. At one time came WendeU PhiUips with
his genial courtliness, at another Samuel Longfel
low. Again, and more frequently, Sarah Grlmke
and Angelina Grlmke Weld, gentle heroines of
hard-fought fields, with Theodore D. Weld, famous
in educational as weU as in anti-slavery annals.
Then there were those cherished friends and old
comrades, Whittier, Lydia Maria and David Lee
Child, the PItmans, and the Garrisons.
Perhaps the most picturesque visitors of the
earlier days were Mr. and Mrs. Elizur Wright
and their round dozen of children, who came
sometimes from the dusty city to spend a long
day at Melrose. Later, when the Wrights Uved in
Medford, the famUies joined In private theatricals
and other amusements.
The social life of the SewaU household was al
ways of the simplest. None of its members cared
for merely conventional society, but they loved to
see frequently their chosen friends. SmaU in
formal gatherings, especiaUy those in which yoimg

HARRIET WINSLOW SEWALL 121
people were to be entertained or strangers wel
comed, would tempt them from their own hearth
stone, even when the distance to be traversed was
long ; and June after June their lawn parties, when
the guests might explore the wood paths, and re
turning be served from the tables spread beneath
the trees, called together one circle of acquaint
ances or another to share In the beauty of some
perfect day.
At such times Mrs. SewaU's slight figure, which
never lost its girlish lightness, the beautiful gray
hair encircled with her favorite blue ribbon, glided
about among the guests, while Mr. Sewall was
often seen with youthful alertness springing up
and down the ascent between lawn and house, as
shawl or cushion or footstool was thought of to
add to the comfort of friends. An unusual inti
macy united the little circle of Mrs. SewaU's
own cousins, the Southwicks, of WeUesley, Emily
Winslow Taylor, of Philadelphia, and Eebekah
Northey Buffum, of Melrose. To them aU Mr.
SewaU was the kindest of cousins, ever ready with
his most cordial welcome, so that one of them said
she never met or parted from him without long
ing to exclaim, ' O king, live forever ! '
One of their neighbors says, " How much we
enjoyed seeing Mr. Sewall before breakfast In the
summer mornings, always w;ithout a hat, clipping

122 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
his vines and shrubs and culling his sweet peas or
roses, which we knew were to grace the plate of
wife and guest ! And what a home it was to greet
the tired lawyer after office cares in the dusty
city! In the long afternoons there was always
time for a game of croquet, which husband and
wife entered into with equal zest, and onlookers
delighted In watching the two picturesque figures,
neither hat nor bonnet on the silvery hair, wield
ing their maUets with youthful enthusiasm.
" An equally charming picture they presented
when the cool autumn evenings came on, in the
ruddy glow of the firelight, before the lamps were
lighted and ushered in the reading of some favor
ite author."
Eeading was, indeed, the greatest of all their
pleasures, and they loved to share with the even
ing circle the book in which they were interested.
Their tastes and judgments were in the main the
same. Among the novelists George Eliot ranked
first with both, though Scott was also one of Mr.
SewaU's favorites. Thackeray he took with a re
gretful shake of the head : " He has a great deal
of wit," but " his Ideal of men and stIU more of
women is low." Emerson stood foremost. Burns
he was fond of. Of Browning Le must speak for
Limself. " On Friday evening we Lad a meeting
of the Browning Club. I do not know whether

HARRIET WINSLOW SEWALL 123
you are an admirer of Browning. But there are
evidently two classes among them : one to which
Hatty and I belong, who can admire all Brown
ing's beauties which are apparent, and at the same
time can see obscurities and defects. The other
class regards Browning as inspired, and believes
that everything he has written Is the best pos
sible, and that no amount of labor is wasted in
discovering the hidden meaning of an oracular
passage. Each class looks down a little on the
other ; and I feel obliged to any one who wIU let
me share in the gold he has discovered." And
again, I " cannot regard it as a special merit In a
poem that It requires to be studied like a riddle."
The house was seldom long without the sound
of children's voices. Little grand-nieces and
grand-nephews and far-away cousins came to
spend long holidays with Mrs. Sewall. Then the
youngest daughter, Louisa Winslow SewaU, after
her marriage to Mr. Edward C. Cabot, made fre
quent visits to Melrose with her husband and chil
dren. "Little Sewall," writes his grandfather,
"has grown quite fascinating. He is not much
of a speaker yet, but can say ' guanma ' quite dis
tinctly, and whispers ' guanpa ' to me like a young
lover learning to pronounce his mistress's Chris
tian name. The Uttle baby [Norman] is pretty,
and good and fat, and his eyes fuU of wonder."

124 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
The light-heartedness with which Mr. and Mrs.
Sewall met the smaU adverse occurrences of the
day is Illustrated by his humorous acceptance of
the loss of a trunk, the actual value of whose con
tents he estimated at one hundred dollars. " There
Is always," he wrote to her, " some compensation,
as Emerson says, for every misfortune," and he
made out his account as follows : —
Pleasure of having new coat  $5.00
" " " new thin coat  3.00
" " " " trousers  2.00
" " " 5 new shirts at 50 cts. each . 2.50
Pleasure of telling story of loss 1,000 times at
1 ct. a time  10.00
Pleasure of never seeing old trunk  I.OO
" " thinking loss no worse. . . . 10.00
$.35.00
I had forgotten part of my compensation : —
Saving hack hire in Phil  .93
" " " " N. T  90
" » " Boston  50
Pleasure of having no care of baggage from
PhU. to Boston  5.00 7.33
Brought over  35.00
Total compensation  $42.33
When the Boston Women's Club was founded
in 1868, and Mrs. SewaU joined It, Mr. SewaU

HARRIET WINSLOW SEWALL 125
was made an honorary member. Both were regu
lar attendants at its meetings. After a few years
she was made Its treasurer. " She managed Its
finances with great skiU," says Mrs. Ednah D.
Cheney, in the memoir which introduces the
volume of Mrs. SewaU's poems collected and
published In 1889, " and by her tact and economy
put them on a firm footing." Mr. SewaU had
great admiration for the varied abUities of his
wife, and as some fresh proof of them confronted
Lim would exclaim, " Hatty can do anytLIng, sLe 's
a genius." Her own beautiful dependence upon Lim sLe
Las acknowledged in tLe poem " To S. E. S. : " —
"I please myself in lonely hours
By fancying what sweet joy 't woiUd be,
Oh, dearest friend, could I requite thee
For aU that thou hast been to me.
" Not only for sweet favors given,
For care and counsel sweeter far.
For love that Ufts the veU of heaven.
And shows us what its glories are, —
" Oh, not for these alone I thank thee ;
I bless thee from my inmost heart,
Not only for what thou hast given,
But even more for what thou art.
" My faith in goodness is made firmer.
My hopes of what mankind may be

126 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
To loftier soarings are encouraged.
Beloved, when I think of thee.
" And if my faith a moment faU me,
When outward wrongs my credence claim,
And doubts and weaknesses assail me.
They vanish if I breathe thy name.
" And how could sorrow be surmounted,
Beloved, unless shared by thee.
By thy endearing love surrounded
And thy sustaining sympathy.
" Oh, love may spring in sunny weather.
In smiling bowers may bloom and grow,
But only those who weep together
Its sweetest, holiest speU can know.''

CHAPTER X
THE DEFENDER OP WOMEN
Each year, with zeal and courage unabated.
Thy struggle was renewed against the wrong ;
No faUure could discourage or embitter
A heart and wiU so hopeful and so strong.
With such unwavering trust and patience gifted.
Oh, what to thee were laurels and renown ?
By foresight of the future good uplifted.
Thy faith and zeal were both reward and crown.
In Memory of S. E. S., by H W. S.
Freely as Mr. SewaU had given himself to the
cause of the slaves, his special work, and that for
which he wiU perhaps longest be known, was his
championship of women.
By nature chivalrous, tender, just, he could not
see suffering without trying to relieve it, or wit
ness the crowding of the strong against the weak
without interposing a warding arm. Women were
to him, even more truly than to the knights of old,
objects of unselfish devotion. Nor was his regard
for them less courtly for being based on absolute
faith in their high worth. The character and

128 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
ability of the women engaged with him in the
anti-slavery cause, women like Lucretia Mott,
Lydia Maria ChUd, Harriet Beecher Stowe, — In
deed, of the women of his own household, which
embraced his aunt Hannah, his sister Martha, the
daughters of Nathan Winslow, — were a powerful
impetus to his desire to clear from the path of aU
women every obstacle of law or custom that hin
dered their progress. Through all the disabilities
under which women struggled, he discerned the
latent capacities which would be developed in
them under wider opportunities.
A " modern knight-errant," as he has been
happily characterized, lance in rest against every
form of injustice, he not only entered upjza a ..cru
sade to obtain for women equality with men before
the law, but in countless instances he took upon
himself to succor individual distress. The case of
Mrs. Denny is an example.
Mrs. Denny, who had come to Mr. SewaU to
obtain a divorce, was thereupon accused by her
husband of being insane. She was seized and
confined in the McLean Asylum. Needless
LarsLness in tLe treatment of patients Lad not
yet entirely disappeared from tLIs asylum, or from
most Institutions of tLe kind in tLIs country.
Under tLe generally prevailing system, many
abuses failed to come to the knowledge of the

THE DEFENDER OF WOMEN 129
inspectors who at intervals visited the asylum.
Mrs. Denny was subjected to much unnecessary
suffering, and was cut off from communication
with her friends. By secreting scraps of paper,
she was finally able, at the risk of severe punish
ment in case of detection, to write a series of notes
to Mr. SewaU as the one person who would be will
ing to come to her assistance. These she dropped,
unobserved, from the carriage In which she was
occasIonaUy taken to drive ; several of them were
picked up and reached their destination. They
brought Mr. SewaU to her rescue, and to the aid
of all victims of similar oppression in the State.
Through his persistent efforts In and out of court
she was released, and at his instigation laws were
enacted which secured to aU Massachusetts insti
tutions for the insane proper regulations for clas
sification of patients and for communication with
friends, as weU as efficient visiting boards. By a
later law, though this was not accomplished until
after many years, women were added to the corps
of attending physicians.
Twenty years before he entered the lists for
Mrs. Denny, he had stood at the side of Lucretia
Mott, Angelina and Sarah Grlmke, and Abby
KeUey, when prejudice would have driven them
from public life. For It was with the awakening
of the modern world to philanthropy that women

130 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
first felt themselves called to the front. The
Grlmke sisters, speaking for the slaves, soon dis
covered that they had a double mission to per
form; and thus was initiated that broad move
ment for the vindication of women as persons
entitled to a choice of vocation and to rights of
citizenship which has ever since been steadily press
ing onward.
" I feel," said Angelina, " that it is not tLe
cause of tLe slave only that we plead, but the
cause of woman as a moral, responsible being;
and I am ready to exclaim, ' Who Is sufficient for
these things?'" When they timidly ventured to
speak before a few women only, murmurs of dis
approval were heard ; but when at last they stood
upon the platform to address a mixed audience,
condemnation fell heavily upon them. They were
expostulated with, ridiculed, denounced, threat
ened; their own Society of Friends almost came
to the point of disowning them ; the General As
sociation of Congregational Ministers of Massa
chusetts issued their famous " pastoral letter," a
warning to the faithful against heretical abolition
ists and preaching women. Even among the anti-
slavery men, many at first, like Samuel J. May,
felt their sense of propriety disturbed. Others,
and among them such warm friends as Theodore
D. Weld, whom Angelina eventually married, and

THE DEFENDER OF WOMEN 131
John G. Whittier, urged that the introduction
at that time of the new reform must handicap
and retard the emancipation of the slave. But,
undaunted, Angelina continued to plead for the
freedom of the negro, while Sarah was unde
terred from publishing her letters " On the Pro
vince of Woman," or her other writings defending
the claims of women to be heard.
The question of the admission of women to anti-
slavery conventions on equal terms with men In
1840 widened the schism in the anti-slavery forces.
Mr. SewaU, who could see nothing unwomanly In
the persuasive eloquence of Angelina Grlmke, and
nothing unnatural In the admission of women as
accredited delegates, stood with the Garrisonian
abolitionists in favor of Abby KeUey, when the
struggle for control of the American Anti-Slavery
Society turned on the acceptance or non-accept
ance of her name ; and in the defeat of the objec
tors one of the first victories for women was won.
He had absolutely no prejudices to overcome.
Of higher or specialized education for women he
was one of the earliest promoters. He was the
first subscriber to the first hospital for women
carried on by women physicians in New York,
an institution much needed by those who were
studying or beginning the practice of medicine.
He was one of the directors of the New England

132 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
Female Medical CoUege, and in 1860 was instru
mental in calling Dr. Marie E. Zakrzewska to
Boston, to establish there a hospital department
of the college.
Dr. Zakrzewska writes : —
" When I first saw Mr. SewaU in 1856, It was
in the house of his brother, Mr. Thomas SewaU,
in Boston. His aunt. Miss Eobie, a beautiful old
lady of about sixty-five years, was enthusiastic con
cerning the advancement of women in any direc
tion. It was chiefly she who made inquiries of me
concerning my plans for practical education for
medical students. Mr. Sewall, in his serious, quiet
manner, looked at me with his piercing, beautiful
eyes and made few remarks, yet I felt that he was
profoundly interested in the subject and kindly
disposed towards me. This impression was after
wards confirmed by my receiving an invitation
from his daughter, Lucy, who later became well
known as Dr. L. E. SewaU, to spend an afternoon
and night at Melrose. After my removal to Bos
ton in 1859, I had direct dealings with him, as
I was connected with the New England Medical
College, In which he was one of the most promi
nent directors. He resigned his post when I felt
obliged to disconnect myself with that Institution,
and at once became director and legal adviser
of the New England Hospital for Women and

THE DEFENDER OF WOMEN 133
ChUdren. He served the cause for the education
of medical women when this was so unpopular as
to call forth ridicule upon any man who openly
avowed It."
Dr. Zakrzweska recaUs his expression of satis
faction and pride when his eldest daughter de
clared her intention of entering on the study of
medicine, a satisfaction which only Increased with
the years of her successful career.
By far the greatest step which has yet been
made towards establishing the legal equality of
the sexes has undoubtedly been the removal of
the disabilities of married women. " TLe last fifty
years," wrote Mr. SewaU in his tract entitled
" Legal Condition of Women In Massachusetts in
1886," ^ " have done more to Improve the law for
married women than the four hundred preceding."
This was literaUy true. When he began his
work in their behalf, married women In Massa
chusetts, and In most of the States of the Union,
stUl rested under aU the ancient disabilities of the
common law. Marriage conferred on the husband
the absolute ownership of aU the personal property
which his wife had previously owned, and of aU
^ Boston, 1886. This tract was originaUy prepared in 1868. A
second edition containing notices of the changes in the laws was
issued in 1870, and subsequent changes led to a third edition in
1875. The edition referred to is the fourth and last.

134 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
which might after marriage come to her. He
might by his will deprive her of every cent of
this property except her clothing and personal
ornaments. He was entitled to the rents of her
real estate, and In case of her death he might re
tain it during his Ufe if any chUd had been born
to them. She, on the other hand, if she survived
him, had no absolute right to any part of his es
tate, except a life Interest In one third of his lands.
Her earnings were his. She could not make a
gift or a wiU, bind herself by a contract, or bring
an action In any court without his joining in the
suit. The first act which endowed married women
with the power of holding property was passed in
1845. This act was followed In 1855 by what Mr.
Sewall In his tract calls " the great act," which
gave the wife sole ownership of her real and per
sonal property, notwithstanding her marriage. It
is not necessary to quote the language of the act,
which he reproduces in his pamphlet both in Its
original form as found in the General Statutes,
and in the briefer form In which it was afterwards
embodied In the Public Statutes of 1881 ; but his
comments are too characteristic of his zealous
championship to be omitted.
" I confess," he observes, " I prefer the language
of the General Statutes. . . .

THE DEFENDER OF WOMEN 135
" The poet teUs us that, striving to be brief, he
becomes obscure. So I cannot help fearing that
the compilers, aiming at brevity, may have let slip
some protection to women. I admire the very
redundancy of the earlier act, which gives blow
after blow, to make certain that the old enemy,
the common law. Is so beaten out of the territory
conquered by the new law that It can never claim
any part of it again. Is it certain that if ' a wife
may receive and hold property in the same man
ner as if she were sole,' there is no conceivable
way in which property may come to her in which
the common law claim of the husband cannot be
interposed ? I trust my fears may prove illusive.
But every syllable of the great charter emancipat
ing wives ought to have been held sacred."
This is not the place to trace the successive
enactments for the benefit of married women.
Later acts conferred on them powers of convey
ance and of contract equal to those of their hus
bands, gave them power to maintain their rights
in the courts, and to dispose of their property by
will. StIU other acts secured for the widow a
more liberal share of her husband's estate upon
Lis deatL. Eadical reforms were also made in
the law of divorce. So sweeping were the changes
that even Mr. Sewall, uncompromising reformer
that Le was, could write in 1886 of the law con-

136 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
cerning husband and wife in Massachusetts : "Al
though there still remain very serious defects In It,
some of them bearing unfairly on both sides, and
although the just equality of the two spouses is not
acknowledged in all respects, yet we must admit
that within little more than forty years a great
revolution in the law respecting this relation has
been effected, and aU of it favorable to wives,
recognizing and enforcing their rights to their
property, their persons, and their chUdren."^
It was ever Mr. SewaU's habit, both as a lawyer
and as a law reformer, to give little weight to pre
cedent and mere tradition, and to insist upon broad
principles which he applied with unhesitating logic.
This was shown In his position in regard to the
true interpretation of the Constitution In its bear
ing on the Fugitive Slave Law; and it is strik
ingly illustrated by his stout exception to the only
vestige of the old law which remains in the acts
conferring on wives the right to contract and to
sue. The law still forbids contracts between hus
band and wife, and as a rule prohibits suits be
tween them. " How difficult it is," he says, " to
eradicate all the roots of a great tree after the
trunk is cut down." ^ And, speaking of the Umi-
tatlon on the right of suit : " To say that a woman
shall never bring a suit against her husband is just
^ Legal Condition of Women, p. 54. 2 jjjjf.^ p. 31.

THE DEFENDER OF WOMEN 137
as improper an interference with personal rights
as It would be to prohibit suits between parents and
children or brothers and sisters. Public exhibitions
of famUy quarrels are to be regretted. They are,
however, not the causes of quarrels or iU feeling,
but usuaUy the result of injustice on one side or
the other." ^
With the same logic he maintained the right of
women to hold office, unless expressly prohibited
by the Constitution or by statute. In 1871 he
wrote to Mrs. SewaU : —
" The judges of the Supreme Court, you recoUect,
gave an opinion, just before you left Boston, that
women could not be justices of the peace. The
opinion was very weak and certainly wrong. But
they have been so buffeted with ridicule and abuse
for this absurd performance, that I should begin
to pity them, if I did not know they were clothed
in official mail, which is proof against aU such at
tacks. I am writing a review of the opinion,
which, if not so rough, wiU I believe be quite as
conclusive as any of the others."
Nor could he acquiesce even in the disability or
the exemption, in whichever light it might be re
garded, of women from serving on juries. "It Is
very clear," he says, " that there are cases in which
women ought to be required to serve as jurors.
1 Legal Condition of Women, p. 35.

138 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
Where one of the parties to a suit is a woman, a
portion of the jurors ought always to be of her
own sex. . . . Female jurors would be likely to
judge better of the truth, intention, character, and
sanity of female parties to actions and of female
witnesses, than men." ^
An Impressive appendix to his tract is a Ust of
nearly one hundred and fifty statutes especiaUy
affecting women passed since 1841. He is sUent
upon the part which he himself played in bringing
about their passage, and it is impossible in detaU
to supply his omission. Only those who were en
gaged with him in the great task know how untir
ing he was with word and pen, and how persist
ently year after year he importuned the committees
of the legislature In the interest of those whose
cause he had made his own. The acts which Le
tLus Lelped to procure would certainly include a
large part of tLose wLicL Le enumerates, and tLe
biUs wbicL Le urged witLout avaU would make per-
Laps an even longer roll of honor.
Above and beyond aU these separate advances
in bettering the social, inteUectual, and legal status
of women, he maintained the importance of gain
ing for them the suffrage. "The denial of this
franchise," Le says, in the pamphlet already
alluded to, "is the most serious wrong done to
^ Legal Condition of Women, p. 13.

THE DEFENDER OF WOMEN 139
women, since granting them the baUot would, no
doubt, lead eventuaUy to the redress of their other
wrongs." In 1868 he was one of the signers of the caU
for the convention at which the New England Wo
man Suffrage Association was formed. Shortly
before the convention he wrote to Samuel J.
May: —
" I have seen slavery abolished, and now I do
not despair of seeing women vote. We shaU not
Lave so long a fight for the latter object as we
did for the former ; for we have now only preju
dices to contend with, and no great interests to be
attacked." In maintaining the right of women to vote, as
in the anti-slavery conflict, he sought his weapons
of attack In the Declaration of Independence and
the Massachusetts Declaration of Eights.^
" The Declaration of Independence proclaims
that 'aU men are created equal' and have inal
ienable rights. We all admit this. And It is
conceded that the word ' men ' here includes per
sons of both sexes, and the word ' equal ' means
equaUty of rights, not of capacity. When Jeffer
son wrote these words, which Lave been cited
many tLousand times and are still wortL citing,
Le was, no doubt, far from tLInkIng of all tLe
1 See Legal Condition of Women, pp. 4, 5, 6, 56, 57.

140 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
applications of tLe trutL Le was publlsLIng. TLe
Constitution of Massachusetts, foUowing the De
claration, says, ' AU men are born free and equal,'
and have 'unalienable rights.' The Constitution
of Massachusetts denies suffrage to woman, and
thus Is inconsistent with itself, and also violates
the great principle of the Declaration of Inde
pendence, the organic law of the nation, by giv
ing man this great right and refusing it to her
who is entitled to it as his equal. . . .
"This refusal of the ballot perpetuates the
stigma of inferiority on more than one half of
the whole population of the State. The effect Is
obvious. We look upon the baUot as one of the
great educators of male citizens, because it inter
ests them in public affairs, and leads them to con
sider and discuss important questions of legisla
tion. Our Constitution not only shuts out this
great avenue of education from our female citi
zens, but the legal inferiority tends in every direc
tion to produce the mental inferiority which it
presupposes. It cramps thought and paralyzes
effort. " The secondary effects of this inferiority are
equally if not more disastrous. Men fall short
of the higher character which would be infused
into them through the superior moral and intel
lectual power which women would acquire in con-

THE DEFENDER OF WOMEN 141
sequence of gaining the great franchise. Our
legislation is degraded, and our society debased,
because the two sexes do not associate as equals
in the most important business of the nation.
" It is hardly necessary to add, that to deprive
any class of persons who pay taxes of the right of
voting violates the principle for which our fathers
contended during the Eevolution, that taxation
without representation Is tyranny. . . .
" In Boston, In 1873, women paid nearly thir
teen hundred thousand doUars of the taxes levied
by the city, being more than one tenth of the
whole amount. The taxes paid by women now
are, no doubt, much larger than they were in 1873.
Yet women have no voice in directing the ap
propriation of their money, are compelled to
submit to enactments from which their moral
instinct revolts, and have no power to urge,
effectuaUy, reforms which they believe to be aU-
important. . . .
" The great difficulty to be overcome in effect
ing the complete emancipation of women Is, not
that most men are unwilling to do complete jus
tice to the sex, or that the majority of women
care nothing for this object, but It Is simply a
superstitious dread lest a change so radical should
unsettle aU the foundations of society, and bring
down the whole fabric in ruins. The history of

142 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
the great legal reforms which Lave been accom
plished In our generation shows how idle is this
fear. We need never doubt the practical opera
tion of a great reform In a community like ours,
where it Is based on a sound principle. . . .
" The next steps which are to relieve woman
from aU remains of feudal oppression, and restore
her to the equaUty with man with which nature
endowed her, are far less difficult than the ones
already taken.
" When men and women are made equals in the
eye of the law, and not before, shaU we complete
the foundations of a just commonwealth, which
were laid by the Puritans, strengthened by the
Declaration of Independence, and consolidated by
the abolition of slavery. Then we may hope, by
the united action of both sexes, to regenerate the
republic and make it an example for the world
and future ages. The experiment of a repubUc
based on equal rights can never be fairly tried
while one haU of the adult population remains
an inferior caste, with no voice in the laws which
are to govern them."
Each year the agitation for the suffrage went
on; each winter Mr. Sewall, with Lucy Stone,
Henry B. Blackwell, and others, appeared before
the legislature with their demands which would
take no denial; each year he pubUshed in the

THE DEFENDER OF WOMEN 143
" Woman's Journal " ^ a clear-cut, lawyer-like
presentation of the work accomplished and to be
done. From the first the career of the " Wo
man's Journal " was a more prosperous one than
that of the struggling " Liberator ; " but there
were many times, as its editor has attested, when
Mr. SewaU's purse was opened to supply some
deficiency in its treasury. When the legislature
finaUy passed an act enabling women to cast their
votes for school committees, he was ready to in
struct the novices In the performance of their
somewhat dreaded duty. His circular of instruc
tions carefuUy prepared for the Inexperienced, and
presenting the several points of law in relation to
the new right, was like a friendly hand guiding
to the poUs.
That he himself regarded his work for women
as the most Important part of his public life is
seen in the so-caUed autobiographical letter already
aUuded to, which disposes of what he has to say of
personal matters in the first few sentences, gives
a short space to anti-slavery history, and devotes
all the remaining portion, at least three fourths of
the whole letter, to a recapitulation of the advance
of women.
1 In 1870 he became a stockholder in the Woman's Journal
Corporation, of which he was president from that time untU his
death.

144 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
" Our crowning aim," the letter says, " has been
to procure suffrage for women, which is to make
them the legal equals of men; while at the same
time we endeavor to reform aU laws and customs
that are unjust and oppressive to their sex.
" We have not yet gained f uU suffrage except in
Wyoming and Washington territories. But school
suffrage has been acquired quite extensively.
Meanwhile the opportunity for common, higher,
classical, and professional education of women has
strikingly increased. Women, too, have become
professors in colleges and teachers of the higher
branches of knowledge, and some have become
public speakers, many physicians, some clergy
men, and, a very few, lawyers. Others are artists
and authors and editors and correspondents of
newspapers. Many avenues of employment too,
in lower spheres, have been opened to many thou
sands. The improvements of the laws affecting
women during the last thirty years in most, if not
in aU, our States have been wonderful.
" That aU this improvement has been owing to
the labors of professed suffragists is not claimed.
But everywhere the suffragists have been an active
and powerful force in effecting this great reform.
" To return to Massachusetts and myself. She
is at this day one of the foremost States In legis
lation for women. A great revolution has been

THE DEFENDER OF WOMEN 145
going forward in our midst with one irresistible
momentum, but yet so quiet and unattended by
violent opposition that few people, even those
most directly benefited by it, realize its nature
and extent.
"Not only have women gone Into the service
of the State In humbler capacities, but they now
may be elected members of school committees,
and appointed members of the State Boards of
Health, Lunacy, and Charity, and must be ap
pointed Commissioners of Prisons, Trustees of
the Primary and Eeform Schools, Trustees of the
State Alms House and State Workhouse, and
Trustees of the State Lunatic Hospitals. An act
passed this year also requires each of the Lunatic
Hospitals to have a female physician. Women
Lave gained the right of voting for members of
school committees.
" The labor in obtaining improved laws for wo
men of late years has been great and continuous.
Much of my time, especiaUy during the sessions
of the legislature, has been devoted to this work.
I cannot teU how many petitions, acts, and resolves
I have drafted, how many hearings before legisla
tive committees I have attended, and how many
I have spoken before, and how many hours I have
spent In preparing and revising a little tract on
the legal condition of women in MassacLusetts.

146 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
As already said, all the laws favorable to women
have not been gained by the suffragists, though
the Influence of their exertions In this direction
Las been Invaluable, and I am far from claiming
for myself tLat I Lave worked more tLan, or
even as much as, some others for this cause. It
would be doing great injustice to valuable co
workers, whose names I need not mention In a
letter not intended for publication, except my
friends Lucy Stone and Henry B. BlackweU, who
Lave for many years devoted their Uves to secur
ing the rights of women at great pecuniary sacri
fice to themselves. So I end this perhaps too long
story." 1
^ Mr. SewaU did not lack evidence of the gratitude felt by
Massachusetts women for his knightly devotion to their interests.
In the Cary Library in Lexington, Massachusetts, stands a bust
of him executed in 1884 by Miss Anne Whitney, and presented
by a woman citizen of the town. Below the bust, on a brass
tablet, are engraved the lines of Whittier which are prefixed to
this volume.

CHAPTER XI
LATER TEARS
" One who never turned his back but marched breast forward.
Never doubted clouds would break,
Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong would
triumph ;
Held we f aU to rise, are bafSed to fight better.
Sleep to wake."
With accumulated honor, with undiminished
power to enjoy his own life and to add to the wel
fare of others, Mr. SewaU made of advancing age
only another triumph. " His long life had no
failures." ^ No one could be with him without
perceiving the serenity of the heights upon which
he dwelt. " Those blue eyes of his," said Julia
Ward Howe,^ " had seen through many a storm-
cloud the glory of the firmament beyond, and
principles were always clear to him, however the
heathen might rage together and the people Im
agine a vain thing." Never had life seemed to
him fuUer of opportunity; his imagination stUl
1 John G. Whittier, Woman's Journal, December 29, 1888.
2 Ibid.

148 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
ranged ahead. "I believe," he said In 1888,
" that the Inventions and discoveries of the nine
teenth century will sink Into insignificance when
compared with those of the twentieth. We are
only just beginning to find and make our tools.
In the next century we shall use them, and what
may we not expect? "
" These words of Emerson," says Mrs. Cabot,
" were quoted many times by my father, with en
thusiasm, and with strong emphasis on the last
line. They always seemed to me written of his
own spirit : " —
" The archangel, Hope,
Looks to the azure cope.
Waits thro' dark ages for the mom.
Defeated day by day, but unto victory born.''
Since 1870, or even earlier, he had succeeded in
giving up, to a large extent, court practice, and
had occupied himself with trusts of properties,
particularly those of women. It is interesting to
note that among his clients of former days were
Harriet Beecher Stowe, at the time when she
was publishing " Uncle Tom's Cabin," and Haw
thorne. Other cUents were the Ticknors, the
Tappans of New York, and the Boston Tudors.
He was the legal adviser of some large corpora
tions, and he was, as late as 1888, treasurer of
the Nahant Land Company and president of the

LATER YEARS 149
SomerviUe Horse Eailroad. For many years he
served as one of the Harbor Commissioners, hav
ing been appointed by Governor Andrew. In the
management of trusts he had with him as co-trus
tee Mr. George A. Dary.
Mr. Dary's description of him at his office
desk is so vivid that he must be quoted at some
length : —
" He was always in the midst of antique furni
ture, old bookcases, and dusty books, and the
old-fashioned simpUcity of his dress and manner
weU accorded with his surroundings. Attached to
old associations, he made but one change of office
in forty years, that from 46 Washington Street to
6 Pemberton Square. Most of his writing was
done at a high standing desk, and he rarely sat
during office hours, except at consultations. His
working window always faced the east, character
istic of the man who never looked backward, ex
cept for encouragement, to measure the distance
traversed, and to count the goals that had been
reached. . . .
" At this old desk were drafted the arguments
and briefs of a multitude of cases for human
rights and for justice. Here were drawn with
laborious care, year after year, the acts for the re
lief of women from the hardships of the common
law. . . . Here also were written the numerous

150 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
kindly letters bearing comfort to the troubled,
contributions to the needy, advice to the inquirer,
and carefuUy prepared statements of accounts and
business affairs. . . .
" But although these matters required close ap
plication and earnest thought, they were not accom
plished without frequent interruption. The won
der was that they could be accomplished at aU, as
the stream of visitors was constant, and apparently
' ran on forever.' Unvarying kindness was shown
to aU, from the highest to the lowest. The wealthy
lady from Beacon Street waited tlU her black sister
from the lower end of Joy Street had finished her
interview. Long drawn-out stories were heard
with patient attention, and the little grain of real
value extracted from the chaff and acted upon.
Discordant elements at committee meetings were
harmonized, business quarrels adjusted, famUy
differences smoothed over, the hopeful solution of
perplexing difficulties discovered, and wise and
helpful counsel always given. WItL aU tLIs,
tLere was time also for social intercourse, and
tLe coUege classmate or tLe old friend wLo merely
caUed for a pleasant cLat or to revive old stories
of tLeir youtL always received a cordial welcome.
And so Lis busy office life continued, notwith
standing advancing years, tiU the end came." ^
1 Woman's Journal, December 29, IS88.

LATER YEARS 151
Of the time which he had devoted to his pro
fession, much Lad always been freely given with
out pecuniary recompense. " So long as he Uved,"
writes Mr. BlackweU, " no woman ever appealed
to him In vain for advice or guidance." The
poorer the client the more valid would appear
to him her claim. Not only was his office over
run, even his home was invaded, by the needy.
He gave freely to organizations and to individu
als. " Now there Is no reason why I should ask
you to contribute," wrote Mr. May, In asking for
money for some charitable purpose, "except that
you are S. E. S. ; " and many another applicant
considered that a sufficient reason for his demands.
Of course such generosity was sometimes imposed
upon. Mr. Dary was one day surprised by seeing
on Mr. SewaU's desk a number of boxes of cigars.
As Mr. SewaU never smoked, the object of this
large supply was asked. " They were cigars," Mr.
SewaU replied, " of a foreign brand, left as security
for a loan of fifty dollars made by him to an un
known man that morning." The foreign brand
proved upon investigation to be " VUlage Street,
Boston," and the borrower, it need hardly be said,
never came back to reclaim his property.
The affection and appreciation of friends rose
towards him in an unebbing tide. This letter
speaks for itself : —

152 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
CHAKLES SUMNBK TO SAMUEL B. SEWALL.
Washington, 6th July, '73.
Dear Mr. Sewall, — Your friendly letter of
May 8th rises before me unanswered. But you
wIU kindly receive the excuses of an invalid.
I am grateful for your constant friendship, which
from my entry Into public life has been to me a
support and encouragement. While many howled
and hissed, you were sympathetic and kind. Next
to such friendship, and even before it, was the
prompting of my own conscience, which has al
ways been for me a final judge. Never have I
acted except with a view to the pubUc good ; and
never has this rule [been] more supreme with
me than in these latter days when former sup
porters have turned against me.
Accept my best wishes always and believe me,
dear Mr. Sewall, Sincerely yours,
Charles Sumner.
People were wont to approach him on personal
matters with the same confidence which inspired
Mrs. Child to write, " I want to consult with you
as a friend whom I can trust." One of her letters
ends, " Give my true love to your as good half. I
will not say your better half, for that would be too
niucL to say of mortal woman."

LATER YEARS 153
Another addressed to them both runs : —
Watland, AprU 30, 1879.
I suppose my dearly beloved friends will like to
know how their old companion Is getting on.
The transit from city to country was a rather
severe experience. . . .
I have felt greatly excited about the poor exiled
f reedmen. The practice of slavery teaches human
beings nothing good, not even enlightened self-in
terest. How I have wanted to let out my Indigna
tion ! But not a mortal In this sleepy town cares
a button what becomes of the negroes. I console
myself with the thought that their forced exodus
may. In the end, prove a benefit to their much in
jured race. But, I tell you, if the Devil don't get
our government, " there might as weU be no Devil
at aU." It has expended all Its energies In efforts
to conciliate the oppressors, and has given no
thought to the protection of the oppressed. Gar
rison's trumpet blast to the FaneuU HaU Meeting
sounded like the old times. I myself, though
tamed by age, felt ready to rush Into the fight
again. Trumpet tones will stir the blood of an
old war-horse, however long he may have been
dragging round his cart-load of stones.
I haven't got used to doing without my Park
Street Sundays; but I suppose time will render

154 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
the loss more bearable, as it does with all losses.
How curiously time lengthens or shortens, accord
ing to our moods ! It seems as if the last Sunday
I spent with you In Park Street was at least a year
ago. Swedenborg says there is no time or space
in the spiritual world ; there are merely states of
mind. If so, you and I won't have to travel much
in order to be together there. . , .
With a heart fuU of love for you both, I am your
affectionate old friend,
L. Maria Child.
This was written only a year and a half before
her death.
In quick succession old friends were passing
away. Samuel J. May had died In 1871, Garri
son in 1879 ; in the same year went Angelina
Grlmke and, five years later, WendeU PhUUps.
Mr. SewaU became one of a very few survivors
In the old anti-slavery corps.
Death, except as a temporary parting, held for
him no sadness. His faith and religious Lope
were as deep as ever.
He was not, for a number of years after Dr.
Channing's death, distinctly associated with any
particular church, although he had a profound
admiration for Theodore Parker, and went often
to Music HaU to hear his sermons. The leaders

LATER YEARS 155
of the Free EeUgious movement probably repre
sented his own attitude toward the liberal thought
of the time. He listened with pleasure to such
men as Octavius B. Frothlngham, John Weiss,
Samuel Longfellow, Samuel Johnson, and, later,
WiUiam C. Gannett. While his catholic habit of
mind and openness to new ligLt led Lim to Inves
tigate tLe pLenomena of spiritualism, Le was never
fully convinced tLat tLe manifestations of tLe
mediums Le visited were what they claimed to be ;
though he was inclined to think there were many
inexplicable things, and did beUeve in instances
of clairvoyance and mesmerism.
For many years, in the absence of any Unltar
rian church in Melrose, he occasionally attended
the Universalist church in the village, and had
a pew there ; but as soon as the Unitarian society
was organized he transferred his interest to it, and
derived great pleasure from the ministry and friend
ship of the minister, Eev. John H. Heywood.
In this age of restless curiosity and world-en
circling travel, it is almost startling to note that
Mr. SewaU never journeyed farther westward than
Minnesota, and that Nova Scotia furnished his
only experience of a foreign land. Yet Lis keen
dellgLt In Lis own Umited range leaves little to
be regretted for Lim. At tLe Isles of SLoals, at
tLe Centennial ExLIbition in PLIladelpLia, at Lis

156 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
nephew's home in St. Paul, his interest in every
thing about him was unflagging. From MagnoUa,
at the age of eighty-four, he wrote : —
" Almost all the people here seem like a pack
of boys just let out from school, determined to ex
tract the greatest amount of pleasure from every
moment of their freedom. I confess I am one of
them." Though the days crept on toward the close of
the century, this wonderful enthusiasm and bodily
and mental vigor in no wise abated, nor did he
ever lose that wise discrimination and balanced
judgment which marked every step of his career.
Although he had been an ancient Free-SoUer,
and a supporter of the Eepublican party from its
inception, in the days when he was accustomed to
regard the Democratic party as the embodiment of
aU that was most evil In the national life, he yet
had the quick perception to note the moment when
the party names had ceased to represent the poU-
cies for which they had formerly stood; and In
the presidential campaign of 1884 he threw the
weight of his name and record in favor of the
Democratic nominee. As an Independent Eepub
lican, or Mugwump; he wrote to the Independent
Eepublican Committee of Melrose a strong letter,
which was widely circulated as a campaign docu
ment throughout the State : —

LATER YEARS 157
" In reply to your letter of the 25th inst., I am
very wiUing to give you my opinion in respect to
the duty of Eepublican s who consider Mr. Blaine
an unfit man to be President of the United States.
" No great issue now divides the Eepublicans
and Democrats. The most interesting question
at present before the people is, what changes
ought to be made in the tariff. On this subject
we find a great variety in opinions. In both par
ties we meet high protectionists and low protec
tionists, and a few theoretical free traders, but not
one, probably, who desires to legislate with entire
disregard of the Immediate injury which any pro
posed measure might have on industries now pro
tected. "So we might go on with other subjects, like
civil service reform, which has active friends
among both parties. And we do not find one
party more desirous than the other to stop the ex
pensive and impolitic, not to say stupid, policy of
buying and coining silver and heaping up doUars
in the Treasury vaults ; or to save the nation from
the disgrace which must befaU It, If silver be left
a legal tender, whenever the day comes, as come
it must, when our gold shaU take wings and fly
to Europe, and our debts abroad and at home wUl
have to be paid In a depreciated currency.
" So much has been written and spoken to show

158 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
Mr. Blaine's unfitness for the presidency that I
shaU only refer to some of the facts which seem
to me fully to justify this opinion. He is charged
with having claimed a reward and received a large
amount from a private corporation, on account of
his having, when Speaker of the House, made
a ruling which benefited the corporation. This
charge appears so weU proved that it has damaged
seriously his reputation as a public man.
"His conduct as Secretary of State, especiaUy
in his dealings with the affairs of ChiU, exhibits
a lamentable want of statesmanship, whUe Lis
recent recommendation of distributing tLe surplus
revenue of tLe Union among tLe States is so mon
strous as of itself alone to prove Lim unsuited
for the presidency. This single act places him
at once among the political charlatans, who seek
for popularity without caring for the welfare of the
people. While the nation Is laboring under the
weight of heavy taxation, this man comes forward,
not to propose a measure to make this burden
lighter, but to offer a nostrum which is to con
tinue the injustice and oppression. The poor men
who have paid the taxes which create the surplus
revenue are not reUeved. But the funds coUected
to pay the expenses of the national government
are to be perverted for other purposes, in open
defiance of justice and the Constitution.

LATER YEARS 159
" But the unfitness of Mr. Blaine for the high
office which he seeks being proved, what course
ought the Eepublicans who are satisfied on this
point to pursue? ShaU they vote for a man
who they believe ought not to be elected; shaU
they refuse to vote ; or shaU they vote for Cleve
land? " Certainly no aUegiance to party requires us to
vote for Blaine, at a time when there is no vital
question at issue between the parties. I feel at
tached to the Eepublican name, as that of the
party which carried the country safely through
the crisis of the rebellion, and rendered invaluable
services to the nation both before and since the
war. But without deserting this great party, we
can rebuke its errors by withholding our ballots
from Blaine, and showing its supporters that it
must be reformed or broken In pieces. We can
stIU vote for Eepublican members of Congress,
governor, and other state officers.
" Thus it seems to me we are driven to the
alternative of not voting, or of voting for Cleve
land. If Blaine ought not to be President, true
men who think so should not be contented with
the half-measure of not voting, but ought to do
aU in their power to defeat his election. For
tunately, the Democrats offer us a man who, in
every pubUc office that he has Leld, Las exLibited

160 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
qualities most needed in a President, fidelity to
duty and administrative capacity. He has not
only been honest Limself, but Las appointed only
Lonest and capable men to office. On aU occar
slons Le has shown himself independent and cour
ageous. He has refused to be governed by parti
san motives, he has vetoed bad laws urged by
Democrats, and signed good ones which his party
opposed. He has always been the friend of re
form in the government. The man who, as
Mayor of Buffalo and Governor of New York,
has bid defiance to his own party, cannot fail as
President to show the same love of justice and
force of character.
" I know that great fears are entertained, if the
Democrats succeed, that the spoUs system wiU
rage with violence, good men wIU lose their offices
and be replaced by others whose only merits are
their political services, and that fraud and cor
ruption wiU become rampant in aU departments
of the government. To this I can only reply that
the new civil service regulations wiU do much to
abate the evils of the change of our rulers ; and
that the principles which have guided Mr. Cleve
land while Governor of New York wiU continue
to lead him while President, and so prevent much
of the evils which are feared. At any rate, the
Ul consequences likely to foUow from Cleveland's

LATER YEARS 161
election seem to me much less than those which
would be sure to foUow in the train of Blaine. I
might say much more, but this Is enough.
Yours very truly,
S. E. Sewall."
July 27, 1884. •
It wIU be seen from this letter how warmly he
sympathized with civil service reform. "Tariff
reform," has said one weU able to speak for him,^
"to the extent of unqualified free trade rejoiced
in his hearty support." To the last absorbed in
the questions of the day, even during his last Ill
ness he wished to have President Cleveland's
message read to him; and although he was dis
appointed in the result of the recent national elec
tion, he predicted the election of a tariff reform
congress two or four years thence.
The celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth
anniversary of Harvard College found him at the
head of the procession of the Law School Alumni,
the oldest living graduate of the first class of the
school. Erect and vigorous, with movements aU
alert, a fresh color and keen eye making the
silvery hair no badge of age but only a fitting
frame for the spiritual beauty of that finely
chiseled face, his was a striking figure. Three
1 WUliam Lloyd Garrison, Jr.

162 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
cheers were given for him as the procession
formed, and as it moved forward to the Hemen-
way Gymnasium applause foUowed him. Lifting
his hat in response, he marched firmly on, " one
of the finest and sweetest specimens of the result
of simple Uving and high thinking that we have in
aU this repubUc."
At the dinner again an enthusiastic welcome
greeted him when, " crowned with serenity and
peace," he rose in his place next President Eliot
to make the caUed-for speech. In which most fit
tingly he chose for his theme the improvements
effected in legal procedure since his entrance upon
the profession. The absence of any reference to
what the law has done for women in his Ufetlme,
or to any of his own hard-won battles, is oiUy what
might weU have been expected from a man of his
extreme modesty.
The New England Woman Suffrage Associa
tion, In 1888, made the evening session of their
annual meeting the occasion of doing special
homage to him. Two other reunions awaited him
in that year, which proved to be his last. As the
oldest living Free-Soiler he was caUed upon to
speak at a gathering of the old elan in the Parker
House, and did so most acceptably, not upon the
issues of the past, but on the living reform of the
Lour. " I take the liberty to recommend to you,"

LATER YEARS 163
he said, " a cause which, though not the same as
that we celebrate, is quite akin to it, and not less
important, — the emancipation of women. Old
Cato, whenever he was finishing a speech In the
Senate, whatever the subject, always added : ' This
I say, and Carthage must be destroyed J ' So I
conclude, 'The emancipation of women must be
carried ! '" ^
He never despaired of the success of his long-
wished-for reform. A lady once said to him that
she did not expect to live to see the fuU suffrage
given to women. He was then in his eighty-seventh
year, but he unhesitatingly replied, " I expect to
see it."
His part in the anniversary meeting of the New
England Hospital for Women and CLUdren is tLus
described by an eye-witness : ^ —
"TLe presiding officer asked Lim as Le sat
yonder to come forward ; and it was not she alone
who asked him to come, but every heart of those
that fiUed the house joined in the request. We
watched him as he came forward. He walked
slowly. He came quietly on : and when he stood
upon the platform and straightened himself up,
and threw back that brow with the flowing hair,
raising his Lead and looking on the audience, —
1 Henry B. BlackweU, in Woman' s Journal, December 29, 1888.
2 Rev. J. H. Heywood.

164 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
then, as his voice, clear and distinct — no speaker
of aU the speakers of that day spoke so distinctly
and so audibly as he — rang out, his words, fuU of
cheer, gave utterance to his great hopes."
It was In the spring of that year that he appeared
for the last time before the Judiciary Committee
of the legislature. Year after year he had tire
lessly drafted and passed In and argued in favor
of measures intended to reform one injustice or
anotLer. Year after year in the "Woman's
Journal " he had published his report of the
results accomplished. At this time he presented
the following six bUls : —
1. To equalize the descent of real estate between
husband and wife.
2. To equalize the descent of personal property
between husband and wife.
3. To equalize the custody of minor children.
4. To legalize conveyances, gifts, and contracts
between husband and wife.
5. To provide for testamentary guardians for
wives as weU as widows.
6. To repeal the act limiting the right of mar
ried women to dispose of real estate by wiU.
On aU these matters the petitioners had leave to
withdraw. "It was instructive to see him," said
Lucy Stone, " standing, with the dignity of age.

LATER YEARS 165
before a committee of young lawyers, pleading for
such protection as his long experience had shown
him was greatly needed, and after aU to find his
plea rejected." ^ Nevertheless, his report for 1888
closes thus : " Party objects and inborn prejudice
may delay, but they cannot defeat us. The legal
and social position of women in the United States
is rising higher and higher every year. Every
educational, literary, business, official, and politi
cal advantage gained by them In any one State
improves their political prospects in all the others.
One must be blind indeed who cannot see the ris
ing sun."
On his eighty-ninth birthday Dr. Zakrzewska
went to the Park Street rooms to carry him her
usual gift of flowers. He was not at home, but
after leaving the house she met him upon the
street. "I congratulated him," she says, "and
told him that I would not return with him then,
but meant to come next year. He replied, ' I shaU
try to be at home and not like to-day waste time
over a research of laws which are really dead let
ters and ought to be abolished ; women are treated
therein like idiots.' "
It was little more than a month after this, on
December 20, 1888, that a fatal attack of pneu
monia brought to an end his long and beautiful
1 Woman's Journal, December 29, 1888.

166 SAMUEL EDMUND SEWALL
service. Eloquent words were spoken of him
then, praise and love did what they could to ac
knowledge the debt the world owes him and to
express its sense of the elevation of his life and
character. Yet no comment can equal the last
connected sentence which this same friend heard
from his lips. "I saw him," she says, "about
three days before his death; when, quite clear
in mind stUl, he remarked, ' After I recover my
strength from this prolonged Ulness, I shall go be
fore the legislature and see to the aboUshing of
those obsolete laws.' "

APPENDIX

The following tribute to Mr. SewaU from one
of the younger members of the profession which
he so long adorned derives an added interest from
the sad and untimely death of the writer as these
pages are passing through the press : —
Waltham, December 31, 1888.
Mt dear Mes. Sewall, — I do not want to let the
year end before I place my tribute at the shrine of
your husband's memory. To the survivors of his co
workers of the old anti-slavery days his loss must be
very great, and yet I do not think that even they would
wish that he had been kept from the perfect peace and
rest which he so thoroughly earned by his constant and
earnest work and love for humanity. These older peo
ple must consider him as one of their saints, and their
tributes of gratitude and love must be many. My trib
ute is, however, that of a younger person, who has had
good cause to learn to love and respect your husband.
His interest in my beginning my professional life, his
kindly assistance in sending me cases that would help
build up my practice, his cheerful and affectionate wel
come to me at his office, and his useful advice, given so

168 APPENDIX
modestly and quietly that one must have foUowed it
without any other reason than love of the adviser, — all
these made me think of Mr. SewaU' as of a friend and
with perfect veneration. He had chosen my grand
father, my father, and my brother Samuel to use their
more aggressive natures in his court cases, and I cannot
tell you how it pleased me when he first confided in me
a like trust. A long and pure life that must have been
which has kept the love and respect of three generations
of men. I have always heard my father say that your
husband's unassuming and retiring disposition alone
kept him from receiving the fuU public applause and
recognition which he deserved so well. However, 1 am
rather glad that that applause was neither sought nor
given, for I like to think of him cherished in the quiet
of the private homes and the heart of hearts of those
he loved and labored for, rather than in the less sacred
shrines of pubhc fame and station.
I know how little anything human can do to lessen
your sense of loss, but I know that the sympathy of
those who have respected and loved the one that is
taken is not devoid of comfort. Although I have never
known you, dear madam, I wanted you to have what
comfort there may be in the knowledge that young peo
ple as well as old have loved your husband, and wiU
miss him now he is gone. Yours very sincerely,
Sherman Hoar.

B
A PARTIAL Ust of cases argued by Samuel E.
SewaU before the Supreme Judicial Court of Mas-
sachusetts.iWilson V. Nevers, 20 Pickering, 20.
Foss V. Crisp, 20 Pickering, 121.
Orrok v. Commonwealth Insurance Co. 21 Pickering, 456.
Driscoll V. Fiske, 21 Pickering, 503.
Washington Bank v. Lewis, 22 Pickering, 24.
Fiske V. Witt, 22 Pickering, 83.
White V. Franklin Bank, 22 Pickering, 181.
Reed v. Pacific Insurance Co. 1 Metcalf, 166.
Dedham Bank v. Richards, 2 Metcalf, 105.
Perry v. Harrington, 2 Metcalf, 368.
Commonwealth v. Taylor, 3 Metcalf, 72.
Washburn v. SewaU, 4 MeteaM, 63.
Washburn v. Sewall, 9 Metcalf, 280.
Holm V. Low, 4 Metcalf, 190.
Commonwealth Insurance Co. v. Crane, 6 Metcalf, 64.
Winslow V. Goodwin, 7 Metcalf, 363.
Atkins V. Chilson, 7 Metcalf, 398.
Atkins V. Chilson, 9 Metcalf, 52.
Atkins V. Chilson, 11 Metcalf, 112.
Sewall V. Raymond, 7 Metcalf, 454.
Proprietors of Hollis St. Meeting House v. Pierpont, 7 Met
calf, 495. 1 Prepared by Mr. George A. Dary.

170 APPENDIX
Foster v. Mackay, 7 Metcalf, 531.
Tillinghast v. Cook, 9 Metcalf, 143.
Ward V. Jenkins, 10 Metcalf, 583.
Furuess v. Fox, 1 Cushing, 134.
Whiton V. Brodhead, 3 Cushing, 356.
Bay ley v. BaUey, 5 Cushing, 245.
Parker v. May, 5 Cushing, 336.
May V. Breed, 7 Cushing, 15.
Norris v. Breed, 7 Cushing, 44.
Thomas Sim's Case, 7 Cushing, 285.
Follansbee v. Bird, 8 Cushing, 289.
Sewall V. Eastern R. R. Co. 9 Cushing, 5.
Mann v. Boston & Worcester R. R. Co. 9 Cushing, 108.
Weld V. May, 9 Cushing, 181.
Cummings v. Barrett, 10 Cushing, 186.
Harbach v. Boston, 10 Cushing, 295.
Somerset Potters' Works v. Minot, 10 Cushing, 592.
Derby v. Hall, 2 Gray, 236.
Lucas V. Lucas, 3 Gray, 136.
Holland v. Cruft, 3 Gray, 162.
Holland v. Adams, 3 Gray, 188.
Jaques v. Hall, 3 Gray, 194.
Bell V. Josselyn, 3 Gray, 309.
Smith V. Chandler, 3 Gray, 392.
Hancock v. Carlton, 6 Gray, 39.
Gassett v. Gilbert, 6 Gray, 94.
Lewis V. Bolitho, 6 Gray, 137.
Eaton V. Melius, 7 Gray, 566.
Tremlett v. Hooper, 10 Gray, 254.
Mintburn v. Manufacturers' Insurance Co. 10 Gray, 601.
Henshaw v. Bank of Bellows FaUs, 10 Gray, 568.
Kuhn V. Webster, 12 Gray, 3.

APPENDIX 111
Gookin v. New England Mutual Marine Insurance Co. 12
Gray, 501.
Mansur v. New England Mutual Marine Insurance Co. 12
Gray, 520.
Johnson v. SomerviUe Dyeing & Bleaching Co. 15 Gray,
216.
Williams v. Jackman, 16 Gray, 514.
Bradlee v. Appleton, 16 Gray, 575.
Sewall V. Chamberlain, 16 Gray, 581.
Alger V. Thompson, 1 Allen, 453.
Cary v. Holmes, 2 AUen, 498.
Denny v. Tyler, 3 Allen, 225.
Howe V. Alger, 4 AUen, 206.
Sewall V. Boston Water Power Co. 4 Allen, 277.
Jewett V. Phillips, 5 Allen, 150.
Gwynn v. Globe Locomotive Works, 5 Allen, 317.
Bums V. Lynde, 6 AUen, 305.
Lerow v. Wilmarth, 7 Allen, 463.
Lerow v. Wilmarth, 9 Allen, 382.
Denny v. Denny, 8 Allen, 311.
Shearer v. Paine, 12 Allen, 289.
WUde V. Baker, 14 Allen, 349.
Jackson v. PhUlips, 14 Allen, 639.
Shearer v. Shearer, 98 Mass. 107.
Lilley v. Fifty Associates, 101 Mass. 432.
Simonds v. Simonds, 112 Mass. 157.
New England Hospital for Women and Children v. Sohier,
115 Mass. 50.
Sewall V. Roberts, 115 Mass. 262.

INDEX

Alcott, Abigail [May], 36.
Alcott, Amos Bronson, 36, 115, 120.
Alcott, Louisa, 120.
Alton Riot, 66.
Amy, case of, 69.
Andrew, John Albion, 93, 104, 106.
Angell, George T., 85, 93.
Atlas and Bee, Daily, 109.
Bancroft, George, 12.
BlackweU, Henry B., 142, 146, 151,
163.
Blaine, James G., 157.
Bond, George, 55.
Booth, Sherman W., case of, 71.
Boston Female Anti-Slavery So
ciety, 44.
Boston Women's Club, 124.
Bowditch, Henry IngersoU, 70, 93.
Bradford, Gamaliel, 55.
Bradstreet, Anne, 8.
Bradstreet, Mary, 8.
Bradstreet, Simon, 8.
Brown, John, 103-106, 116.
Buchanan, James, 102.
Bufflum, Eebekah Northey, 121.
Burleigh, Charles C, 48.
Bums, Anthony, case of, 77-81.
Cabot, Edward C, 123.
Cabot, Louisa Sewall, 90, 123, 148.
Cabot, Norman, 123.
Cabot, Sewall, 123.
Cambell, John B., 48.
Chaplin, William L., 60.
Channing, William Ellery, 16, 22,
25, 64, 56-58.
Ohauneey, Charles, 2.
Cheney, Ednah D., 125.
Child, David Lee, 12, 39, 41, 120.
Child, Lydia Maria, 120, 128, 152,
153.
Chilton, Samuel, 104.
Choate, Eufus, 66.
Cleveland, Grover, 159.
Courier, Boston, 72.
OrandaU, Prudence, 43.
Curtis, George Ticknor, 73.
Cushing, Caleb, 12, 14.

Dana, Eichard Henry, 76.
Dary, George A, 105, 149, 151.
Denny, Mrs., case of, 128.
Drayton and Sayres, case of, 60.
Dred Scott decision, 102.
Dudley, Thomas, 8.
Eliot, Samuel A, 12.
Emerson, George B., 12, 14.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 116, 148.
Everett, Edward, 53.
Fletcher, Eichard, 44, 84, 85, 89.
Flora, 10.
FoUen, Charles Theodore, 54.
Francisco, case of, 68.
Frothingham, Octavius B., 155.
Gallison, John, 13, 17.
Gannett, William G, 155.
Garrison mob, the, 44-52.
Garrison, William Lloyd, 35-40,
44-52, 54, 93, 94, 103, 107, 115, 120,
154.
Garrison, William Lloyd, Jr., 161.
GoodeU, WilUam, 54.
Graham, Sylvester, 27.
Green, WilUam, 104.
Grlmk6, Sarah, 86, 88, 120, 129, 130,
131.
Hale, John P., 106.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 148.
Heywood, Kev. John H., 155, 163.
Higginson, Hetty, 39.
Higginson, Thomas Wentworth,
78.
Hoar, Samuel, 60.
Howe, JuUa Ward, 115, 147.
HuU, Hannah, 2, 4.
Hull, John, 4.
Hyatt, Thaddeus, 106.
Jolmson, Oliver, 39, 107.
Johnson, Samuel, 155.
Kelley, Abby, 129, 131.
Latimer, George, case of, 69, 108.

174

INDEX

Lawrence, Abbott, 44.
Legal Condition of Women, tract,
by S. E. S., 133.
Liberator, the, 36-38, 42.
Liberty Party, 94, 95.
Loring, Charles G., 73, 74, 75.
Loring, EUIs Gray, 39, 41, 54, 66.
Longfellow, Samuel, 115, 120, 155.
Lovejoy, Elijah P., 57.
Lovejoy meetmg, 56, 57.
Lunt, George, 64, 65.
Lyman, Theodore, 44, 50.
Martlneau, Harriet, 53.
May, Samuel J., 12-14, 36-38, 53-
55, 101, 116, 120, 130, 139, 151, 164.
Med, case of, 66.
Mott, Lucretia, 128, 129.
New England Anti-Slavery So
ciety, 40.
New England Female Medical
CoUege, 131, 132.
New England Hospital for Wo
men and Children, 132.
New England Woman Suffrage
Association, 139.
Noyes Academy, 43.
Otis, Harrison Gray, 44.
Parker, Theodore, 154.
Personal Liberty Laws, 98, 107-
113.
Phillips, WendeU, 68, 93, 107, 115,
120, 154.
PhiUips, WUlard, 17.
Pitman, Isaac, 120.
Pitman, Harriet Minot, 120.
Porter, Eev. Edward G., 94.
Quincy, Edmund, 4.
Quincy, Elizabeth, 6.
Eantoul, Eobert, Jr., 73, 75.
Eobie, Hannah, 10, 13, 16, 20, 21,
34, 39, 64, 80, 91, 100, 119.
Eobie, Simon B., 95.
Eobie, Thomas, 6, 8.
Salisbury, Edward E., family me
morial, 4.
Salisbury, Samuel, 5.
Salisbury, Samuel, Jr., 10.
Sanborn, Frank B., 115.
SewaU, Edward, 10, 19.
Sewall, EUzabeth, two infants
named, 9.
Sewall, Elizabeth, 10, 19.
Sewall, Frances, 10, 20.

Sewall, Harriet Winslow, 116,118-
126.
SewaU, Henry, mayor of Coven
try, 2.
Sewall, Henry, emigrant, 2.
Sewall, Dr. Joseph, 5.
Sewall, Joseph, two infants
named, 9.
Sewall, Joseph, treasurer of Mas
sachusetts, 5-10, 18, 19, 32.
Sewall, Louisa Maria [Winslow],
21-32, 82-92.
SewaU, Dr. Lucy EUen, 83, 89, 90,
132.
SewaU, Martha, 10, 20, 34.
Sewall, Mary, 6-10.
Sewall, Mehitable, 6.
Sewall, name of, 3.
Sewall, Samuel, chief justice, 1, 2,
4,33.
Sewall, Samuel, deacon, 5.
SewaU, Samuel Edmund [1799-
1888], ancestry, 1-9; birth, 10;
childhood, 10, 11; in Harvard
CoUege, 12 ; ra the Law School,
13; described by Miss Eobie,
13; letter from White Moun
tains, 14 ; in Halifax, 15 ; social
life, 16; admission to bar, 17;
partnership, 17 ; early writings,
17, 18 ; visits St. Augustine, 20 j
engagement, 21; tTnitarianism,
22-25; correspondence with L.
M. W., 22-31 ; marriage to L. M.
W., 31 ; anti-slavery beginnings,
33-36 ; meets Garrison, 36 ; early
impression of Garrison, 36-38;
support of Liberator, 38 ; meet
ings to organize Anti-Slavery
Society, 39-41 ; trustee of Noyes
Academy, 43 ; account of Garri
son mob, 45-52 ; Of Harriet Mar
tlneau, 53 ; before the committee
Of the legislature, 54r-56 ; writes
of Dr. Channing, 66-58; aids
colored seamen and others, 58-
61; escape of two colored wo
men, 62-64; receives abusive
letters, 64, 65 ; attacked, 66, 66 ;
medical case, 66-68; Francisco
case, 68 ; case of boy, 68 ; case of
Amy, 69 ; Latimer case, 60, 70 ;
comments on Webster, 71 ; on
Fugitive Slave Law, 71, 72 ; case
of Thomas Sims, 72-76 ; case of
Anthony Burns, 77-81; domes
tic life, 82; birth of L. E. S.,
83; correspondence with L. M,
S., 83-90 ; birth of L. W. S., 90 ;
death of Mrs. SewaU, 90; letter

INDEX

175

to Miss Eobie,90 ; return to Mel
rose, 92 ; service in the senate,
93 ; Liberty party, 94 ; candidate
for governor, 94-96; chosen to
the Senate, 96; chairman of
judiciary committee, 96 ; bUls
mtroduced, 96-100 ; Fremont
campaign, lOl ; comments on
Buchanan, 102; on Dred Scott
decision, 102, 103 ; John Brown,
103-106 ; Thaddeus Hyatt meet
ing, 106; Personal Liberty Laws,
107-113 ; letters to L. E. S., 114,
115; celebrates emancipation,
115; comment on Thirteenth
Amendment, 116 ; second mar
riage, 118 ; fondness for reading,
122; comments on Browning,
123 ; gi'andohildren, 123 ; loss of
trunk, 124; member of Boston
¦Women's Club, 124 ; the defender
of women, 127 ; case of Mrs.
Denny, 128; advocates admis
sion of women as delegates, 131 ;
higher education for women,
131; director of N. E. Female
Medical College, 131 ; director of
N. E. Hospital for Women and
Children, 132; tract on Legal
Condition of Women, 133-139; the
sufflrage for women, 138-142 ; the
Woman's Journal, 143 ; letter to
Eev. E. G. Porter, 143-146 ; bust
in Cary Library, 146 ; later years,
147; letter from Charles Sum
ner, 152 ; from L. M. Child, 153 ;
reUgious beUef , 154, 156 ; support
of Cleveland, 156-161 ; reunions
and celebrations, 161-163 ; at the
State House, 164; iUness and
death, 165, 166.
Sewall, Thomas, 9, 20, 119, 132.

Seward, William Henry, 109.
SeweU, Jonathan, 6.
Shadrach, rescue of, 70.
Shaw, Lemuel, C. J., 67, 81.
Sims, Thomas, case of, 72-77.
Southwick, Mrs., 91.
Sprague, Peleg, 44.
Steams, George L., 115.
Stetson, Eev. Mr., 87.
Stone, Lucy, 142, 146, 164.
Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 128, 148.
StoweU, Martin, 78.
Sumner, Charles, 93, 96, 106, 152.
Tappan, Arthur, 43.
Taylor, Emily Winslow, 121.
Thompson, George, 42, 44.
Torrey, Charles T.', 60.
Tyng, Stephen H., 12.
Walley, Elizabeth, 6.
Webster, Daniel, 70, 71.
Weiss, John, 155.
Weld, Angelina Grirnkfe, 86, 88, 120,
129, 130, 154.
Weld, Theodore D., 120, 130.
Whitney, Anne, 146.
Whittier, John Greenleaf, 42, 79,
116, 120, 131.
Willard, Paul, 12.
Williams, John, 19.
Winslow, Comfort H., 21, 62, 88,
89.
Winslow, Lucy EUen, 25,32.
Winslow, Nathan, 21, 64.
Wilson, Hemy, 93.
Wright, EUzur, Jr., 44, 120.
Woman's Journal, the, 143.
Woods, Alva, 12.
Zakrzewska, Dr. Marie E., 132,
133, 165, 166.

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