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AN ADDRESS 
 
 ^ife, (!iy;micttr anb Snbicts 
 
 WILLIAM HENRY SEWARD. 
 
 DELIVERED AT THE REQUEST OP 
 
 goth liott.SfSi of the ^rgi.slatuu of ITm "^oxU, 
 
 AT ALBANY, APRIL 18, 1873, 
 
 / 
 CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. 
 
 ALBANY: 
 
 WEED, PARSONS AND COMPANY. 
 1873. 
 
 rtS. 
 
hz.^) "^ 
 
 \^ 
 
 \^ 
 
|(n |%»toiiam. 
 
 PROCEEDINGS 
 
 legislature of the ^UU of ^t\v Uotfe 
 
 ON THE DEATH OP 
 
 ^x-^ovcriior ^illiitm ^. ^eiiaril. 
 
 State of Neto ©orfe: 
 
 On motion of Mr. Perry : 
 
 IN SENATE, 
 
 January 32, 1873. 
 
 Resolved, That a select committee of three be appointed, 
 on the part of the Senate, to meet witli a committee on the part 
 of the Assembly, to report resolutions expressive of the sense 
 of the Legislature, relative to the decease of ex-Governor 
 WILLIAM H. SEWARD, and that, if the Assembly concur 
 therein, the Senate will meet at 12 o'clock noon, on Friday, the 
 24th instant, for hearing the report of said committee. 
 
 The President appointed as, such committee, on 
 the part of the Senate, Senators Perry, Woodin 
 and Johnson. 
 
Legislative P 
 
 EGISLATIVE -PROCEEDINGS. 
 
 IN ASSEMBLY, 
 
 January 23, 1873. 
 
 Resolved, That the Assembly do concur in the resolution 
 adopted by the Senate, relative to the death of ex-Governor 
 SEWARD; and that Messrs. Clapp, Van Cott, Blackie, 
 Beebe and McGuiRE be appointed as such committee on the 
 part of the Assembly. 
 
 The joint committee, to which the subject was 
 referred, reported the following preamble and resolu- 
 tions, which were unanimously adopted : 
 
 Whereas, after the adjournment of the Legislature, at its last 
 session, the country heard, with the deepest sorrow, of tlie death 
 of WILLL^\M H. SEWARD, ex-Governor of the State of New 
 York ; therefore, 
 
 Rssoh'i'd. That the Legislature of the State of New York is pro- 
 foundly sensible of the great loss which the State and the Nation 
 have thus sustained. 
 
 Resolved, That while we lament such loss, we still experience 
 a mournful satisfaction and a loftv pride in recalling the varied 
 and invaluable services which he rendered to his country; tlie 
 acknowledged ability and patriotic zeal with which he, on all 
 occasions, maintained her rights and defended her honor ; the 
 purity of his character, the grandeur of his intellectual endow- 
 ments, the variety and extent of his learning, and the industry', 
 fearlessness and fidelity which ever marked his career, both in 
 public and private life. 
 
 Resflh'ed, That the Legislature of this State tender to the family 
 of the deceased its sincere condolence upon the sad bereavement 
 which has removed from the domestic circle its affectionate and 
 illustrious head. 
 
 T 
 
 t 
 
Legislative jProceedings. 
 
 Resolved, Tliat the joint committee be and they hereby are 
 authorized and requested to make such arrangements as they 
 may deem proper for the commemoration of the solemn event, 
 by the deHvery of an oration before the two Houses by some 
 distinguished citizen. 
 
 Resolved, That, as a testimony of respect, the two Houses of 
 the Legislature do now adjourn. 
 
 Committee on part of the Senate : 
 
 JOHN C. PERRY, 
 WM. B. WOODIN 
 WM. JOHNSON, 
 
 Committee on part of the Assembly : 
 
 W. S. CLAPP, 
 GEO. M. BEEBE, 
 CHAS. BLACKIE, 
 DAVID C. VAN COTT, 
 J. McGUIRE. 
 
 In pursuance of the foregoing resolutions, the 
 joint committee reported that they had tendered to 
 the Hon. Charles Francis Adams an invitation 
 to deliver the memorial address, and that he had 
 accepted the invitation. 
 
 The following is the correspondence : 
 
Legislative Proceedings. 
 
 Letter to Mr. Adams, 
 "state of new york: 
 
 " Senate Chamber, I. 
 
 " Albany, February 8, 1873. \ 
 " Hon. Charles Francis Adams: 
 
 ^^'^ Dear Sir — I have the honor herewith to transmit an authenticated copy of the 
 report of a select committee of our State Legislature, who were appointed under a 
 concurrent resolution of the Senate and Assembly, ' to report resolutions, etc., 
 expressive of the sense of the Legislature relative to the decease of ex-Governor 
 William H. Seward,' which report has been unanimously adopted. 
 
 " At a meeting of the two committees, held pursuant to the resolution contained in 
 the report, it was unanimously resolve(i to invite you to deliver an address at some 
 convenient time during the session, suitable to the occasion; and the undersigned 
 chairman of the joint committee was instructed to communicate such invitation. 
 
 " Aside from other considerations, the committee, in tendering this invitation, beg 
 leave to state that, inasmuch as the deceased, on the occasion of the death of your 
 honored father, delivered an oration to his memory before our State Legislature, the 
 committee feel that noth'uig could be more appropriate, and nothing afford the friends 
 of the honored dead a greater degree of satisfaction tban to have you, on lliis interest- 
 ing and solemn occasion, reciprocate the favor by accepting this invitation. 
 
 " Requesting the favor of an early reply, 
 " I am, 
 
 " Vours, very respectfully, 
 
 "JOHN C. PERRY, 
 " Chairman o/yoint Comntittee." 
 
 Mr. Adams' Reply. 
 
 " 57 Mount Vernon street, \ 
 " HosTON, February iz, 1873. ( 
 " Hon. J. C. Perrv, 
 
 " Ckairma7i^ efc. Senate oj" New Vork^ Albany : 
 
 '* Dear Sir —I have to acknowledge the reception, this morning, of your letter ol 
 the 8th instant, and of a copy of the resolutions adopted by the LegisHture of New 
 York, on the occasion of the decease of their eminent statesman, the late \Y. H. 
 Seward. 
 
 " On behalf of the joint committee authorized to act under one of those resolu- 
 tions, you, as their chairman, have been pleased to signify to me their wish that I 
 should deliver the address contemplated. 
 
 " Profoundly sensible of the honor conferred upon me, I feel as if I could not decline 
 the task, however unworthy to perform it. 
 
 •' In accepting it, however, it becomes of some importance to me to know what 
 period of time can be allotted to me within which to accomplish the work. As much 
 of the material which I should wish to gather for the purpose must be found scattered 
 
Legislative f'ROCEE dings. 
 
 far and wide, and the sessions of the Legislature are already considerably advanced, 
 this becomes a question upon which my absolute decision must turn. I should be 
 sorry to do a hurried or hasty thing upon so great an occasion. 
 " I am, verv truly, 
 
 " Your obedient servant, 
 
 " charles francis adams." 
 
 Second Letter to Mr. Adams, 
 "state of new york: 
 
 " Senate Chamber, i 
 
 " Albany, Febrttavy 13, 1873. / 
 " Hon. Charles Francis Adams, 
 
 Boston^ Mass. : 
 " Di-ar Sir — Your letter of the 12th accepting the invitation contained in my com- 
 munication of the 8th instant, to deliver an address on the late Wiluam H. Seward, 
 before the New York Legislature, was received this morning, and laid before the 
 joint committee. 
 
 " In reply, I beg leave to state that the committee have instructed me to tender 
 their very sincere thanks for your prompt and cordial acceptance of their invitation, 
 and to inform you that it is their opinion that the session of the Legislature will not 
 terminate before the 20th of April. 
 
 " The committee, therefore, will set apart for the memorial occasion any day prior 
 to that time, which you may be pleased to designate. 
 
 *' Very respectfully and obediently yours, 
 
 ''JOHN C. PERRY, 
 " Chairman of yoint Cotntnittee.'^ 
 
 The day finally fixed upon for the memorial pro- 
 ceedhigs was Friday, the iSth day of April — the 
 exercises to be held in the North Reformed Church. 
 
 On the day designated, the Legislature and invited 
 guests assembled at the Capitol, and, headed by his 
 Excellency, Governor John A. Dix, and staff, pro- 
 ceeded in a body to the church, where the follow- 
 ing exercises took place, his Excellency presiding, 
 assisted by Lieutenant-Governor John C. Robinson, 
 President of the Senate, and the Hon. A. B. 
 Cornell, Speaker of the Assembly. 
 
^.vcrcifjcfj at the ^hurtlt. 
 
 ORGAN. — IN TROD UCTOR Y. 
 
 Q UAR TETTE. — " How Sleep the Brave," - Rooke. 
 
 Arranged by J. R. Thomas. 
 
 PRAYER. — V-Y Rev. Rufus W. Clark, D.D. 
 
 Almighty Father, we adore Thee as the Sovereign of the 
 Universe, the source of our being, and the arbiter of our 
 destiny. We worship Thee as our King, and render thanks 
 to Thee for all the advantages and blessings of life. We 
 realize our entire dependence upon Thee, for every faculty 
 of our nature, and gifts of Thy providence ; and we seek Thy 
 guidance in our daily duties. We thank Thee for the gifts 
 of Thy Son, who brought with Him to earth, a heart that 
 beat in sympathy with every form of human sorrow. We 
 rejoice, that standing at the grave, He announced Himself 
 as the Resurrection and the Life, to all who believe. May 
 we have faith in Him, and in the power and fruits of the 
 Resurrection. May Thy Holy Spirit descend and rest upon 
 this vast assemblage; illuminating every heart, and making 
 of every soul a temple of the living God. Do Thou guide in 
 the services of this interesting and solemn occasion. While 
 we mourn the departure of Thy servant, whose death has 
 summoned us here to-day, we sorrow not as those who have 
 no hope. We thank Thee for His pure and elevated char- 
 acter; for the rigid integrity associated with his eminent 
 natural abilities ; for his devotion to human rights, and the 
 force and eloquence with which he defended them. We 
 
F 
 
 XERCISES. 
 
 bless Thee for his noble contributions to the cause of 
 national liberty, and that in the conflict which his prophetic 
 eye saw was " irrepressible," he was always found on the 
 side of justice, humanity, and God. Standing on the plat- 
 form of human rights and civil freedom, he publicly declared 
 that if necessary, he would stand alone ; and we thank Thee 
 that Thou didst stand with him, to sustain him. We are 
 grateful to Thee for his reverence for religion; for his faith 
 in the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour ; for his interest in 
 the church, in Christian education, and in all enterprises 
 that contribute to the extension of the Redeemer's King- 
 dom. We thank Thee that Thou didst comfort him in his 
 last hours, and that the hope of immortality dawned upon 
 his spirit, as he departed from earth to Heaven. 
 
 We commend to Thee the bereaved relatives and friends, 
 beseeching Thee that they may ever trust in Thee, and 
 exercise that faith in Christ, that will secure a reunion with 
 the departed, in the realms of the blessed. 
 
 We invoke Thy blessing upon all gathered here to-day, 
 that Thou wouldst aid them in the faithful discharge of 
 the duties of their several spheres. Grant that our rulers 
 may be enriched with divine grace, inspired with pure 
 patriotism, and be qualified to administer government for 
 the best good of the people and the honor of God. Bless 
 Thy servant, the President of the United States, and those 
 associated with him in authority ; our national Senators 
 and Representatives, and all holding positions of public 
 responsibility and trust. May our Government reflect the 
 principles of Thy divine government, that law and justice 
 may be maintained, liberty preserved, and the prosperity of 
 the nation secured. Bless Thy servant, the Governor of 
 this Commonwealth, and those connected with him in the 
 
^XERCISES. 
 
 administration of public affairs. We render thanks to Tliee 
 for their disposition and ability to maintain the laws against 
 crime ; and that while they would gladly extend mercy to the 
 penitent, they have revealed the strength of the Government 
 to protect the property, rights and lives of its loyal citizens. 
 
 Let Thy blessing rest upon our State Senators and 
 Representatives, that they may be inspired with the prin- 
 ciples of integrity and a pure, lofty patriotism. May all 
 realize that any advantage or gain, secured by the sacrifice 
 of principle, ceases to be an advantage. May they possess 
 the wealth of conscious uprightness, and the satisfaction of 
 having faithfully met and discharged every duty. 
 
 Bless Thy servant, providentially called to address us to- 
 day. We thank Thee for his sympathy with the principles 
 and character of the ilhistrious dead, and for his eminent 
 services rendered to the Nation. We bless Thee that, while 
 enabled to secure the rights of the American people, he 
 aided in promoting peace between two nations bound 
 together by the same language and religion, and by mutual 
 desires to advance civilization, and extend the Kingdom of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 We pray for Thy richest blessings to descend upon the 
 American Republic. We thank Thee for our free institu- 
 tions ; our pure religion ; our system of popular education ; 
 our social and domestic advantages, and the prosperity we 
 have received from Thee. Thou didst preserve the ship of 
 State in the tempest that threatened her destruction, and we 
 pray that divine wisdom may continue to guide us, and 
 Almighty Power continue to bless us. 
 
 And now we seek preparation to follow our departed 
 friend, whose virtues and services we are assembled to 
 commemorate. Help us so to live that death may be life. 
 
 [8] 9 
 
LXERCISES. 
 
 !May the music of angelic hosts and songs of the redeemed 
 welcome us to the Heavenly home. May we gaze with 
 delight upon celestial cities, and temples of divine beauty, 
 and meeting in the city of God, with a great multitude that 
 no man can number, we will ascribe blessing and honor and 
 glory and power unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and 
 unto the Lamb, forever and ever. Amen. 
 
 ORGAN SOLO. — '' Dead March in Saul," - Handd. 
 
 READING of the Memorial Resolutions of the Legislature. 
 By Charles R. Dayton, Clerk of the Senate. 
 
 RECITATIVE and ARIA.— ''T\\& Trumpet shall Sound." 
 Handel. J. R. Thomas. 
 
 INTRODUCTION OF THE ORATOR. 
 
 By Gov. John A. Dix, as follows : 
 
 A quarter of a century ago, this very month, and within 
 these walls, WILLIAM H. SEWARD delivered a memorial 
 discourse on the character and public services of John 
 Quincy Adams. And to-day the son of Mr. Adams is here 
 to pronounce a similar discourse on Mr. Seward. Thus, 
 with these two kindred ceremonies are associated the names 
 of three eminent statesmen, who have shared largely in the 
 confidence and respect of their countrymen, and who, by 
 tlieir distinguished talents and the purity of their lives, 
 have contributed as largely to their country's welfare and 
 reputation. I present to you the Hon. Charles Francis 
 Adams. 
 
 THE HON. CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS then delivered 
 the following Address : 
 
THE ADDRESS. 
 
 FELLOW-piTIZENS OF THE SENATE AND ^SSEMBLY 
 
 OF J^Ew York; 
 
 You have honored me by an invitation to perform 
 a duty, from the difficulty of which I shrink, the 
 closer I approach it. I undertake it only with an 
 assurance that, were my powers equal to my will, I 
 should erect a monument more durable than marble 
 or brass. 
 
 The subject is fascinating, from the wide views 
 which it opens of the noblest career of human life, 
 and the highest aspirations of mortal ambition. 
 Whatever may be the value of the modern specula- 
 tions touching the origin of man, it seems quite clear 
 that his intellectual stature has not essentially 
 changed since the era when we find, in Greece, the 
 most difficult social problems discussed with a pro- 
 foundness never since surpassed. It is in one of the 
 familiar dialogues reported by the philosopher Plato 
 as having been held by Socrates, with his disciples, 
 that the question is gravely presented whether such 
 
 11 
 
JHE / 
 
 DDRESS. 
 
 a union be possible, in one and the same individual, 
 as that of a philosopher and a statesman. What 
 this combination means is admirably rendered by the 
 latest translator in these words : " A man in whom 
 the power of thought and action is perfectly balanced, 
 equal to the present, reaching forward to the future." 
 The conclusion drawn from that conversation was 
 that such a person, ruling in a constitutional state, 
 had not yet been seen. More than two thousand 
 years have elapsed since this testimony was recorded, 
 and the solution of the problem, with the added 
 experience of an historic record, embracing the lives 
 of sixty generations of the race, far more widely 
 observed over the globe, is still to seek. 
 
 HAS THERE EVER BEEN SUCH A MAN. 
 
 Without attempting to enter upon such a topic, 
 demanding a life-time of research, it may, perhaps, be 
 permitted to me to observe that, from what we may 
 learn of the career of all those who have since been 
 competitors in this noblest of human pursuits, it is 
 possible for us to deduce some general laws of human 
 action valuable to bear in mind. Praying your 
 pardon for my boldness, I would, then, venture to 
 suggest that, by a comparison of the multitude of 
 examples, we may readily reduce them all to a classi- 
 fication consisting of three forms. 
 
 The first and lowest of these embraces all those 
 
The Address. 
 
 lives in which power has been exercised mainly for 
 personal ends, with little regard to the public good. 
 If called to give an example of this class, I should 
 name the noted Cleon, of Athens, as delineated so 
 forcibly by his contemporaries, Thucydides, the 
 historian, and Aristophanes, the dramatist. But 
 this type of a public man, called a demagogue in a 
 democracy, does not change its essence by transfer 
 to more absolute forms of government. The inter- 
 ested flatterer of the people simply puts on a laced 
 coat and becomes the courtier of a monarch or any 
 other sovereign power, one or many. Cleon, stimu- 
 lating the passions of the Athenians to the massacre 
 of the male population of Mitylene, was only work- 
 ing for his own influence, just as Ashley Cooper, 
 Lord Shaftesbury, stimulating the treacherous policy 
 of the Second Charles in Great Britain, 
 
 "The pillars of llie public safety shook ;" 
 
 and just as Manuel Godoy, the Prince of Peace, by 
 his selfish counsels precipitated the fall of the pitiful 
 Charles of Spain. 
 
 This, then, is the class which works the injury of 
 nations. 
 
 The next, and second division, includes those who 
 with pure motives and equal capacity address them- 
 selves to the work of maintaining the existing state 
 of things as it is. Their aim is to reenforce estab- 
 
 13 
 
The Address. 
 
 lished ideas, and confirm ancient institutions. Of 
 this type I would specify as examples, Cicero in 
 antiquity. Sir Robert Walpole, Cardinal Mazarin, 
 Prince Kaunitz, in later times. 
 
 2. This is the class which sustains nations. 
 
 The third and last division consists of those who, 
 possessing a creative force, labor to advance the con- 
 dition of their fellow-men. Of such I find a type 
 in Pericles, in Gregory I, and in Cartlinal Richelieu. 
 
 3. This is the class which develops nations. 
 Measuring the life of William Henry Seward 
 
 by this scale, I have no scruple in enrolling his name 
 in the third and highest class. In my mind his case 
 bears analogy to that of Pericles,* with this difference, 
 that the sphere of his action was one by the side of 
 which that of the other dwindles into nothing. 
 
 On this occasion it is not my design to follow the 
 common course of a purely chronological narrative. 
 It would absorb too much time ; besides which, that 
 work has been already well done by others who have 
 preceded me. It will suffice to state that Mr. 
 Seward was born with the century, and issued from 
 the college at Schenectady at the age of nineteen. 
 Three years passed in the customary probation of a 
 lawyer's office gave him his profession, and one year 
 
 * Any reader curious to know more of the grounds for tliis opinion is 
 referred to the character given of this statesman by Grote. History of 
 Greece, volume v, pp. 435-9. 
 
The Address. 
 
 more found him married. In the words of the 
 sagacious Lord of Verulam, he had " given hostages 
 to fortune," and very early "assumed impediments to 
 great enterprises, whether of virtue or mischief" 
 From that moment he could hope to enlarge the 
 basis of his imperfect education only by snatching 
 what he might out of the intervals of rest in a busy life. 
 Hence it becomes proper to assume that, in the just 
 sense of the word, Mr. Seward was never a learned 
 man. In the ardor with which he rushed into affairs, 
 the wonder is that he acquired what he did. To his 
 faculty of rapid digestion of what he could read, he 
 was indebted for the attainments he actually mastered. 
 
 For it should be further remarked that, though 
 he faithfully applied himself to his profession, it was 
 not an occupation congenial to his taste. On the 
 contrary, he held it in aversion. He felt in himself 
 a capacity to play a noble part on the more spacious 
 theater of State affairs. His aspiration was for the 
 fame of a statesman, and, in indulging this propensity, 
 he committed no mistake. 
 
 The chief characteristic of his mind was its breadth 
 of view. In this sense he was a philosopher study- 
 ing politics. He began by forming for himself a 
 general idea of government, by which all questions 
 of a practical nature that came up for consideration 
 were to be tested. This naturally led him to prefer 
 the field of legislation to that of administration. 
 
The Address. 
 
 though he proved equally skillful in both. Almost 
 simultaneously with his marriage, he appeared ready 
 to launch into the political conflicts of the hour. 
 Commencing in his small way, he rose by easy 
 degrees into the atmosphere of statesmanship. I 
 distinguish between these conditions, not to derogate 
 from either. In our past experience there have been 
 many politicians who have not become statesmen. 
 So, also, there have been many statesmen who were 
 never politicians. Mr. Seward was equally at home 
 in both positions. 
 
 But, inasmuch as this made up the true career 
 which he followed, I am driven to the necessity of 
 considering it almost exclusively. And, while so 
 doing, I am also constrained to plunge more or less 
 deeply into the Serbonian bog of obsolete party 
 politics. I am not insensible to the nature of the 
 difficulties under which I lalior in an exposition of 
 this kind. On the one side I run a risk of tiying 
 your patience by tedious reference to stale excite- 
 ments ; and on the other, of raking over the ashes 
 of fires still holding heat enough to burn. All I can 
 say in excuse is that, in my belief, no correct delinea- 
 tion of the course of this eminent leader can be 
 made without it. Permit me only to add a promise 
 that, in whatever I feel it my duty to say, it will be 
 my endeavor to be guided by as calm and impartial 
 a spirit as the lot of humanity will admit. Happily, 
 
The Address. 
 
 my purpose is facilitated at this moment, by the fact 
 that the passions which so fiercely raged during the 
 period I am to review are in a measure laid asleep 
 by the removal of the chief causes which set them 
 in motion. . 
 
 The political history of the country under its 
 present form of government naturally divides itself 
 into two periods of nearly equal length. The first 
 embraces the administration of the first five presi- 
 dents, and the settlement of the principles upon which 
 a policy was guided, as well at home as abroad. But 
 by reason of the almost continuous embarrassments 
 occasioned by the violent conflicts then raging over 
 the entire Continent of Europe, the agitation of 
 parties had its chief source in conflicting views of 
 foreign rather than domestic questions. Hence it 
 came to a natural end with the reestablishment of 
 a general peace. The foundation of parties having 
 failed, there followed an interval of harmony, which, 
 at the time, was known by the name of the " era of 
 good feelings." 
 
 Suddenly there sprang up a contest, wholly new 
 in its nature, the first sound of which the veteran 
 Jefferson, in his retreat at Monticello, Hkened to that 
 of a fire-bell at night. The territory of Missouri 
 wished to be organized, and admitted into the Union 
 as a State. An effort was made to affix a condition 
 that negro slavery should not be permitted there. 
 
The Address. 
 
 The line of division between the free and the slave- 
 holding States was at once defined, and, for a time, 
 the battle was fought in the halls of Congress with 
 the greatest pertinacity. With equal suddenness the 
 quarrel was appeased by the adoption of a proposal 
 denominated " a compromise," and matters seemed 
 again to settle down in the old way. 
 
 The general election for the presidency followed. 
 The evidence of the complete disorganization of 
 parties was made visible in the multiplication of the 
 candidates. Five aspirants were brought forward l)y 
 their respective friends, four out of the five from tlie 
 slave-holding States. In this state of distraction, it 
 was not unnatural that the single candidate from the 
 free States should have an advantage. He was elected. 
 
 But four years later appeared a very different state 
 of thinos. The slave-holdinsr States had then con- 
 centrated on their most popular candidate, and, 
 forming an alliance with a larw section of the 
 popular party in the North, they effected a complete 
 establishment of their power. Here is the origin of 
 the division of parties which prevailed for more than 
 thirty years. But it should be noted that this was 
 predicated upon the basis of what was called " the 
 compromise " estabhshed by the Missouri question, 
 and a consequent tacit understanding that the 
 subject of negro slavery was to lie as much excluded 
 from political discussion as if it did not exist. 
 
 18 
 
JHE /. 
 
 DDRESS. 
 
 The great State of New York had, by a division 
 of its electoral votes, contributed little or nothing to 
 the triumph. But, after the decisive result, an 
 organization followed, which, by pledging itself to 
 the fortunes of the new dynasty, succeeded in main- 
 taining its ascendency for many years. This claimed 
 to be the popular, or Democratic, party. In opposi- 
 tion were soon arrayed the class, in the free States, 
 leaning to conservative opinions in all questions 
 connected with the security of property ; and with 
 them were combined under the leadership of an 
 eminent statesman of the West, Henry Clay, so 
 much of the population of that section as could be 
 attracted to his banner. This was finally known as 
 the Whig party. It follows from this statement that 
 the issues made between these parties were mainly 
 confined to superficial questions of management of 
 the public affairs or the construction of Federal 
 powers. Hence it happened, singularly enough, that, 
 for a considerable period of time, the disputes were 
 turned in a direction which had no reference what- 
 ever to the most serious part of the policy upon 
 which the Government was secretly acting. That 
 policy was the extension of the slave-holding power 
 by gaining new territory over which to spread it. 
 
 For it should be observed that, while a profound 
 silence was observed at home, the new Administra- 
 tion had not been long settled in its place, before 
 
secret agencies were set in motion, through the 
 diplomatic department, to procure expansion in the 
 (.Hrectiiin in which this object could be the most 
 easily etfected. This pointed southwest to Texas, 
 a territory then forming a part of the Mexican 
 Republic. 
 
 Such being the state of things at the outset of 
 Mr. Seward's career, the first thing necessary for him 
 to do was to choose his side. Under his father's 
 roof the influences naturally carried him to sympa- 
 thize with the old Jeffersonian partv on the one 
 hand, while the relics of the slave-system remaining 
 in the family as house-servants, the least repulsive 
 form of that relation, seemed little likely to inspire 
 in him much aversion to it on the other. Neverthe- 
 less, he early formed his conclusicjns adversely to the 
 organization in New York professing to be the 
 successors of the Jefferson school, and not less so to 
 the perpetuation of slavery anywhere. The reason 
 for this is obvious. With his keen perception of the 
 operation of general principles, he penetrated at once 
 the fact that the resurrection, in this form, of the 
 old party was not only hollow, but selfish. It looked 
 to him somewhat like a close corporation, made for 
 the purpose of dealing in popular doctrines, not so 
 much for the public benefit as for that of the indi- 
 vidual directors. Moreover, it became clear that, 
 among those doctrines, that of freedom to the slave 
 
 20 
 
The Address. 
 
 was rigorously excluded by reason of the bond of 
 union entered into with his masters at the South. 
 In reality, he was, in principle, too democratic for 
 the Democrats. Hence, he waged incessant war 
 against this form of oligarchy down to the hour 
 when it was finally broken up. 
 
 On the other hand, the selection of the more con- 
 servative side, which he finally made, was one not 
 unattended with difficulty. The idea of a popular 
 form of government which he had built up in his 
 own mind was one of the most expansive kind. He 
 applied it to our system, and saw at once the means 
 of its development almost indefinitely. In the 
 variety of details as they passed before him, whether 
 it was legislation, education, immigration, internal or 
 external communication, personal or religious liberty, 
 social equalization, or national expansion, he viewed 
 the treatment of all in his large, generalizing way, 
 always subject, however, to the regulation of general 
 laws. In this he was conservative, that he sought to 
 change, only the better to expand on a wider scale. 
 Neither by liberty did he ever mean license. So far 
 as I can comprehend the true sense of the word 
 " democracy," I have never found my idea more 
 broadly developed than by him. It is far more practi- 
 cal than any thing ever taught by Jeflferson, and throws 
 into deep shadow the performances of most of his 
 modern disciples. The alternative to which he was 
 
JHE f. 
 
 DDRESS. 
 
 driven was not without embarrassments, which he 
 soon had occasion to feel. In allying himself with 
 a party in which conservative views had more or less 
 positive control, he could not fail to understand that 
 his doctrines would sometimes inspire many of his 
 associates with distrust, and some with absolute dis- 
 like, even though they might tolerate a union for 
 the sake of the obvious advantage of his eifective 
 abilities. In point of fact, he soon became a repre- 
 sentative of the younger, the ardent, and the liberal 
 division, wliich favored a policy more in harmony 
 with the nature of our institutions than suited the 
 adherents to long established ideas. Yet these were 
 not long in finding out that he was possessed of 
 powers to direct the popular sense, which, on the 
 whole, it was not expedient for them to neglect. 
 Presently an occasion made him prominent in the 
 State elections. The inconsistency, which he could 
 not fail to expose, of the power of secret societies 
 with popular institutions, as illustrated in the well- 
 known story of the abduction and death of Morgan, 
 made him, first, a member of the Senate of this 
 State, and afterward raised him to be the Governor 
 for two terms. In all this public service he is found 
 boldly adhering to his broad views, even when they 
 were so much in advance as actually to conflict with 
 popular prejudices. He led so far that few could 
 keep pace with him. Some even jeered, and many 
 
absolutely denounced him. The opposition was so 
 stubborn, at last, that he decided to withdraw from 
 the field. Yet the period soon arrived when the 
 wisdom of his course came to be fully recognized, 
 and the disputed points of his policy firmly estab- 
 lished. 
 
 I very much fear lest in this analysis I may have 
 much too seriously- fatigued your attention. Yet, 
 without it, I am convinced that I cannot illustrate 
 the various phenomena of Mr. Seward's public life, 
 or point out the difficulties through which he was 
 perpetually working his way. 
 
 Now begins to be felt beneath our feet the first 
 tremulous motion of what ultimately proved the 
 great earthquake that shook the party organizations 
 to pieces. I have already alluded to the first hidden 
 overture made by General Jackson to the Govern- 
 ment of Mexico, through the agency of Anthony 
 Butler. Failing in this intrigue to get the teiritory 
 desired by purchase, the next stroke was to endeavor 
 to steal it by the indirect process of colonizing 
 emigration. I have no time to dwell on the details 
 of that nefarious transaction, which, partially checked 
 by the prudent timidity of Martin Van Buren, 
 revived with vigor under the pseudo*-presidency of 
 
 *This word is intended to signif)' a doubt wliether the decision hastily 
 made in this case by irresponsible persons was a just one. It is much 
 to be regretted that the precise position of the Vice- President, in such 
 an emergency, had not been determined by the Supreme Court. In at 
 
 23 
 
The Address. 
 
 John Tyler, and was nltimately consummated with 
 the sanction ot James K. Poll-:. 
 
 But this daring- policv, however well covered at 
 its outset, did not fail yradually to fix upon it the 
 attention of numbers of the calmest and most 
 moderate thinkers of the country least bound by the 
 fetters of either political school. Taken in connec- 
 tion with the arbitrary spirit manifested by the efforts 
 to suppress by popular violence the proceedings of 
 a luunlful of enthusiasts, who only claimed their 
 unquestionable right to express in jiuijlic their objec- 
 tions to the whole swstem of slavery, whether at 
 home or abroad, their eyes began to open to the 
 realization ol how tar the action of the Government 
 and i)eople had drilled trom the original j)rinciples 
 with which it started. V'ery slowly at first, luit 
 steadily afterward, the public sentiment went on 
 gathering sufficient force to make itself an object of 
 attention to the leading men of the two parties. For 
 some years, the ordinary discipline, so thoroughly 
 estalilished among our habits, continued to resist 
 even the heaviest strain which the slave-holding 
 alliance thought proper to place upon it. But the 
 moment caniL- when the assumption of the right 
 absolutely to control the expression of the sense of 
 
 least one of the tluee contingencies provided by the Conslitiiliun, lie 
 could be only a temporary agent. It seems to me lie should have lieen 
 so regarded in all. 
 
The y^DDRESs. 
 
 the people, in the form of respectful petition to their 
 own representatives, proved a burden too heavy to 
 bear. The cord then snapped, and from that date 
 the disintegration of the old organization may be 
 observed steadily hastening to its close. 
 
 The sentiment of Mr. Seward on the subject of 
 slavery had been early expressed. Previously to 
 graduating at college, he had passed six months in 
 the State of Georgia, but he seems not to have been 
 converted by his experience to any faith in the sys- 
 tem. His first public demonstration was made in a 
 Fourth-of-July oration, delivered at Auburn, when 
 he was twenty-four years old. The passage is suffi- 
 ciently striking, in view of our later history, to merit 
 quotation here. Speaking of the Union : " Those, 
 too," he says, " misapprehend either the true interest 
 of the people of these States, or their intelligence, 
 who believe or profess to believe that a separation 
 will ever take place between the North and the 
 South. The people of the North have been seldom 
 suspected of a want of attachment to the Union, 
 and those of the South have been much misrepre- 
 sented by a few politicians of a stormy character, 
 who have ever been unsupported by the people there. 
 The North will not willingly give up the power they 
 now have in the national councils, of gradually com- 
 pleting a work of which, whether united or separate, 
 from proximity of territory, we shall ever be inter- 
 
ested — the emancipation of slaves. And the South 
 will never, in a moment of resentment, expose them- 
 selves to a war with the North while they have such 
 a great domestic population of slaves ready to em- 
 brace any opportunity to assert their freedom, and 
 inflict their revenge." In this passage, the deliberate 
 claim of a power in the Federal Government to 
 emancipate slaves by legislation is not less remarkable 
 than the miscalculation of the force of the passions 
 which led the South, in the end, to the very step 
 that brought on the predicted consequences. Yet 
 in his conclusion he proved a prophet. But he then 
 could little have foreseen the share he was to have 
 in controlling the final convulsion. 
 
 Mr. Seward terminated his career as a State poli- 
 tician with a very elaborate exposition of his views 
 of policy, presented with great ability. It was wise 
 in him to retreat, leaving such a legacy, for he thus 
 escaped complications with local interests and rival 
 jealousies, which render perseverance in purely local 
 struggles such a thankless labor. It was this error 
 which for a long time impaired the usefulness of 
 another great statesman of New York, De Witt 
 Clinton. From this date, Mr. Seward remained 
 several years in private life, steadily pursuing his 
 profession. The course of public affairs had not 
 proved propitious to his party. The gleam of light 
 shed by the success of General Hairison, in the 
 
 26 
 
JHE / 
 
 DDRESS. 
 
 presidential election, had turned to darkness by his 
 death, and the consequent succession of John Tyler. 
 Then followed the sharply-disputed election of 1844, 
 when, for the first time, was taught to the manipula- 
 tors of nominations a new precedent by which to 
 regulate their policy. The lesson was this : That 
 between a man of proved abilities, marked character, 
 and long services, like Henry Clay, on the one side, 
 and one comparatively unknown, with a brief, insig- 
 nificant career, like James K. Polk, as candidates for 
 the presidency, the majority of the people will prefer 
 the one against whom the least can be said. I shall 
 have to recur to this matter by-and-by in another form. 
 But there was another and still more significant 
 lesson taught to politicians on this occasion : This 
 was, that the party organizations founded upon a 
 compromise, excluding the vital issue affecting the 
 countiy, were about to meet with another shock. 
 The final accomplishment of the scheme of enlarging 
 the slave-holding region, by the acquisition of Texas, 
 was well understood to be certain, in the event of 
 the election of Mr. James K. Polk. On the other 
 hand, the course likely to be taken, should Mr. Clay 
 prove the victor, was left uncertain. A demand to 
 know his sentiments was made so imperative that it 
 was not deemed by him prudent to evade it. Yet, 
 a rent in the party was almost sure to follow, what- 
 ever might be his conclusion. The result was a weak 
 
 27 
 
attcniiit, in a letter, to reconcile opinions which had 
 become too discordant to permit of such treatment. 
 Mr. Seward, though he faithfulU' adhered to the party, 
 was too sagacious not to foresee the effect upon that 
 portion of it with which he most sympathised at 
 home. A defection of sixteen thousand voters in 
 New York turned the scale, and Mr. Polk was 
 elevated to jjower. This was the first considerable 
 fissure made in the existing parties, and it inured 
 to the benefit of the so-called Democracy. But 
 their turn came around ne.xt time, when they were 
 wrecked on the same rock. Such was the inevitable 
 consequence of persevering in the maintenance of 
 a division wholly superficial and evasive of the real 
 and true issue — the permanence of the slave-holding 
 supremacy. 
 
 The consequences of the election of Mr. Polk 
 were very serious. Not only was the State of Texas 
 introduced, but a war with Mexico followed, and a 
 much larger acquisition of territory at the peace than 
 had been originally contemplated. The engineer 
 had been " hoist with his own petard." The success 
 of the war had naturally brought into notice the 
 military leaders who most contributed to it. The 
 election of 1829 estalilished another precedent for 
 the guidance of parties, which had been confirmed 
 bv the experience of 1840. This was in effect that, 
 as between a civilian and a soldier, both of them of 
 
marked character, and of abilities proved by suf- 
 ficient service, the people prefer the soldier. General 
 Taylor had very much distinguished himself by his 
 Mexican campaign, and the Whig party seized the 
 earliest opportunity of enlisting him in its ranks. 
 All the old statesmen were set aside, to press him 
 into the arena, and, under a military banner, once 
 more to overcome the Democrats, as had been done 
 with Harrison. But, unluckily for the harmony of 
 the movement, it came out that Taylor was a planter 
 holding many slaves, in one of the richest cotton- 
 producing States. The notion of setting up such a 
 candidate in connection with an anti-slavery policy 
 advocated by numbers of the party, seemed at first 
 blush too preposterous to be countenanced for a 
 moment. Yet it must be conceded that Mr. Seward 
 undertook the difficult task of advocating the incon- 
 sistency. I will frankly confess that I was one 
 among many of his friends in New England who 
 could not become reconciled to the contradiction 
 apparent in this proceeding. We had reluctantly 
 acquiesced in the ambiguous policy of Mr. Clay four 
 years before ; but when it came to this, that we were 
 called to give even a tacit ratification of the series 
 of revolting measures that followed, including the 
 Mexican war, and still more to elevate to the highest 
 post of the country, as a reward for his services, a 
 slave-holder having every possible inducement to 
 
 29 
 
The Address. 
 
 perpetuate the evil of which we complained, it 
 proved a heavier load than we could bear. The 
 consequence was a very considerable secession from 
 the party, and an effort to bring before the public an 
 independent nomination. This was carried out in 
 what has ever since been remembered as the Buffalo 
 Convention. Simultaneously with this movement, 
 a similar one had been made in the Democratic 
 party, a section of which of considerable force in 
 New York, dissatisfied with the nomination of Lewis 
 Cass, ultimately consented to make a part of the 
 same assembly. The end was the nomination of Mr. 
 Van Buren, and a declaration, for the first time, of a 
 system of policy distinctly founded upon the true 
 issues agitating the country. 
 
 But, however the fact may be in the details of 
 ordinary life, it is quite certain that, in the conflicts 
 of politics, the persons who try the hardest to press 
 straight fonvard to their object not unfrequently find 
 themselves landed at the end of the opposite road. 
 The effect of the nomination of Mr. Van Buren was 
 to make us, his opponents, contribute to the triumph 
 of General Taylor, more decisively than if we had 
 voted for him directly. This it was that proved the 
 wisdom of Mr. Seward in holding back from our 
 action. 
 
 Yet, with the success of General Taylor, the posi- 
 tion in which Mi'. Seward found himself seems to 
 
 30 
 
The Address. 
 
 me, even now, to have been the most critical one in 
 his life. He had in the canvass allowed himself to 
 be freely used as an instrument to conciliate num- 
 bers of his friends, strongly tempted to secede. In 
 order to retain them he had to hold fast to his own 
 ground, and even to give assurance of his confidence 
 that it would be ultimately sustained in case of vic- 
 toiy. I have lately read with care such reports of 
 his speeches during that canvass as I could find ; and 
 from that perusal I am constrained to admit that, 
 much as I doubted his good faith at the time, I can- 
 not perceive any failure in consistency or in com- 
 mitting himself to any policy which might follow, 
 adverse to the expectations he held out. In other 
 words, he kept himself free to influence it favorably 
 if he could, or to disavow it if it should prove to be 
 adverse. It was an honest, though not altogether a 
 safe, position in case of success. General Taylor was 
 made President, and simultaneously Mr. Seward was, 
 for the first time, transferred from the field of State 
 to that of National affairs. He came into the Sen- 
 ate of the United States, not to leave it for tweh^e 
 years. He came under circumstances of no trifling 
 embarrassment. The new President was at the time 
 utterly unknown to the public men, and especially 
 to him. He had been elected by a party still greatly 
 divided in sentiment upon the grave questions about 
 to come up for a decision. The chance of the pre- 
 
 t 
 
ponderance of a policy favorable to freedom was by 
 no means Hattering. An inexperienced President is 
 obliged to consume much of his early days in office 
 in correcting the mistakes he commits, before he 
 gets to an understanding with his advisers. I am 
 very sure that Mr. Seward felt for some time quite 
 uncertain what the issue would be. Every thing 
 depended upon the natural powers of General Taylor 
 to distinguish the true from the false path. Happily 
 for Mr. Seward, he determined to be a-uided bv his 
 counsel. 
 
 A tract of territory had been acquired by the war 
 far more spacious than had been contemplated by 
 the originators of the policy, and now the question 
 came up whether all of the excess should be dedi- 
 cated to the use of freemen, or of masters and serv- 
 ants, as Texas had been. In other words, should 
 slavery be tolerated and extended indefinitely.? 
 Early measures had been taken to pave the way for 
 it, by abrogating such portions of the existing Mex- 
 ican law as might seem in confiict with it. But the 
 President determined to give no countenance to that 
 policy, and Mr. Seward was left at liberty to come 
 forward at once as an independent champion of 
 freedom. 
 
 It was a critical moment in the great struggle, 
 out of which the Government was to issue either as 
 an oligarchy, controlling all things in the interest ot 
 
 32 
 
The Address. 
 
 a class, or else in a fuller development in harmony 
 with the declared objects of its first construction. 
 A remarkable number of men of superior abilities 
 had been collected in the Senate just at this 
 moment, all of whom had grown gray under the 
 existing organization of parties, and were little dis- 
 posed to favor innovations. Mr. Calhoun and Mr. 
 Clay, though widely differing on other points, equally 
 relucted at the agitation of slavery. Mr. Webster, 
 on his part, never could make up his mind to meet 
 it fully in the face. All manifested a desire to resort 
 once more to some form of compromise, synony- 
 mous with a practical concession to the slave-holding 
 pretensions. The immediate question was upon the 
 admission of the newly-acquired Territory of Califor- 
 nia into the Union as a free State. The advocates 
 of slavery insisted upon tacking to it conditions 
 inuring to the support of their system in other 
 respects, as a consideration proper to be granted for 
 their acquiescence. In other words, it was another 
 bargain to uphold slavery. And now, for the first 
 time, Mr. Seward came forth on the great national 
 arena to try his strength against his formidable com- 
 petitors. Three successive speeches — one on the 
 I ith of March, the next on the 2d of July, and the 
 last on the nth of September, of the year 1850 — 
 displayed in the clearest light his whole policy on 
 this vital subject. At the very outset he declared 
 
 [5] 38 
 
 t 
 
The Address 
 
 himself opposed to a compromise in any and all the 
 forms in which it had been proposed; and he followed 
 up the words with a close argument against each of 
 those forms. He then went on boldly to grapple 
 with the oft-repeated threats of disunion, as a con- 
 sequence of emancipation, in a manner rarely heard 
 before in that hall. Casting off the shackles of party 
 discipline, he used these memorable words : " Here, 
 then, is the point of my separation from both of 
 these parties. I feel assured that slavery must give 
 way, and will give way, to the salutary instructions 
 of economy and to the ripening influences of human- 
 ity; that emancipation is inevitable, and is near; 
 that it may be hastened or hindered ; and, whether 
 it shall be peaceful or violent, depends upon the 
 question whether it be hastened or hindered: that 
 all measures which fortify slavery or extend it tend 
 to the consummation of violence ; all that check its 
 extension and abate its strength tend to its peaceful 
 extirpation. But I will adopt none but lawful, con- 
 stitutional, and peaceful means to secure even that 
 end ; and none such can I or will I forego" Pro- 
 phetic words, indeed, which it would have been well 
 had they been properly heeded at the time by the 
 besotted men who, ten years later, rushed upon their 
 own ruin. 
 
 It was in this speech, also, that he enunciated the 
 doctrine of a higher law than the Constitution, 
 
 04 
 
The a 
 
 DDRESS. 
 
 which gave rise to an infinite amount of outcry from 
 even a very respectable class of people, who were 
 shocked at the license thought to be implied by such 
 an appeal. But it seems to me that no truth is more 
 obvious than this, that all powers of government 
 and legislation are closely restricted within a limita- 
 tion beyond which they cannot pass without being 
 stripped of their force. This limitation may be 
 purely material, or it may be moral, but in either 
 case its power is similar, if not the same. 
 
 It is a familiar story, which is told in the books, 
 of Canute, the great Danish conqueror of Great 
 Britain, that once, when his courtiers were vying 
 with each other in magnifying their sense of his 
 omnipotence, he simply ordered his chair to be 
 approached to the advancing tide of the ocean, and 
 loudly commanded the waves to retire. The flatterers 
 understood the hint, and were abashed by this 
 withering illustration of the " higher law." 
 
 In the declaration of his policy in these three 
 speeches Mr. Seward was substantially supporting 
 what had been agreed upon as within the line of 
 the administration of General Taylor. And, so far 
 as it was successfully carried out under his auspices, 
 it must be admitted that it greatly contributed to 
 remedy the evils anticipated from the slave-holding 
 intrigues of twenty years. He was now, to all out- 
 ward appearance, on the top wave of fortune, not 
 
 88 
 
The Address, 
 
 unlikely to infuse into the national system a much 
 more consistent system of principles than it had been 
 its fortune to contain for many years. A single 
 stroke from the higher law brought all his castle- 
 building to the ground. A few days of illness, and 
 the President was no more. To cite the words of 
 an old poet : 
 
 "Oil, frail estate of human things, 
 And slippeiy hopes below ! 
 Now, to our cost, your emptiness we l;nnw. 
 Assurance here is never to be sought ; 
 He toiled, he gained, but lived not to enjoy." 
 
 Scarcely could a blow be more overwhelming. 
 The loss of the President was, in due course, supplied 
 by the accession of the Vice-President, Mr. Fillmore. 
 But with him came in the conservative section of 
 the party, which had never reposed confidence in 
 Mr. Seward. From tiiat moment he was reduced 
 once more to his old position as depending exclu- 
 sively on his own powers, and had, as before, nothing 
 to look for in official influence but opposition. The 
 turn of things was decisive. The leading advocates 
 of the policy of compromise freshened up to their 
 labors, and the result was the adoption of a series of 
 measures passing under that term, which the purblind 
 authors fondly hoped would indefinitely postpone the 
 earthquake, at the very moment rumbling under their 
 feet. This memorable compact, entered into by three 
 
JHE JK 
 
 DDRESS. 
 
 of the most eminent of our statesmen in the present 
 century — Mr. Calhoun, Mr. Clay, and Mr. Webster — 
 will forever remain as a proof of their own infatua- 
 tion, and of nothing else. They might just as well 
 have attempted to stop the toirent of Niagara with 
 a drag-net. 
 
 One effect of this proceeding was soon made per- 
 ceptible. It proved a death-blow to one of the party 
 organizations. At the succeeding presidential elec- 
 tion, the conservative section of the Whigs having 
 failed in securing a nomination of a candidate to 
 suit their views, rather than to vote for General 
 Scott, understood to represent other sentiments, 
 passed almost in mass over to the Democracy, and 
 voted for Franklin Pierce. The result was, that the 
 most insignificant and unworthy candidate ever yet 
 presented to the suffrages of the people, in a con- 
 tested election, was chosen by a greater majority 
 than ever was given to the best. 
 
 From this moment the course of things rapidly 
 assumed a more natural and consistent shape. The 
 new Administration was soon found to be entirely 
 under the control of the ultra slave-holders, and the 
 policy of forcing slavery into the unoccupied regions 
 of the West was unscrupulously pushed with their 
 connivance. With these proceedings began the 
 ofreat reaction in the North and West. At last the 
 election of 1856 displayed the fact that parties had 
 
The Address. 
 
 thrown off disguises, and were placing themselves 
 upon the real issues vital to the country. Although 
 the result still favored the slave-holders, and James 
 Buchanan was made to succeed Franklin Pierce, the 
 severity of the struggle indicated but too plainly the 
 beginning: of the end. From this moment the 
 Republican party became the true antagonist to 
 that domination. 
 
 Mr. Seward now, for the first time, enjoyed the 
 great advantage of being perfectly free from em- 
 barrassments springing out of a union with paralyzing 
 associates in the same party. He took the field with 
 all his vigor, and the speeches which he made, both 
 in the Senate and before the people, remain to testify 
 to his powers, and his success. The effects of the 
 new union, reenforced by the extreme policy adopted 
 by the opposite side, were made perceptible in the 
 steady increase of the minorities in both Houses 
 of Congress. The opening of the Thirty-sixth 
 Congress showed that in the popular branch the 
 Republican party counted a plurality of the members. 
 After a long-continued struggle, they succeeded in 
 electing their Speaker. It looked as if the hand- 
 writing would soon be visible on the wall. 
 
 Then came the moment when a candidate of the 
 party, at last thoroughly organized, was to be nomi- 
 nated for the presidency of 1861. Mr. Seward, in 
 his ten years of service in the Senate, had completely 
 
 88 
 
The Address. 
 
 developed his capacity as a great leader in difficult 
 times. With the singular mixture of boldness and 
 moderation which distinguished him from all others, 
 he had maintained his ground against all the assaults 
 made upon him by the ablest of the slave-holding 
 statesmen in their stronghold of the Senate. He 
 had known how to pursue that narrow path between 
 license in discussion on the one hand, and personal 
 altercation on the other, which is so seldom faith- 
 fully adhered to by public men, especially when 
 cunning fencers are ever lying in wait to entrap 
 them. He had also enjoyed the benefit of ex- 
 perience in his administration while Governor of 
 New York, which had made him familiar as well with 
 executive as with legislative forms of business. The 
 older men of great note had vanished, so as to make 
 his party prominence more marked than ever. As 
 a consequence, when the nominating convention 
 assembled at Chicago, the eyes of all were turned 
 toward him as the candidate, of all others, the most 
 distinguished by the qualities that recommend people 
 to high places. A large plurality had been chosen 
 as delegates friendly to him, and the general expec- 
 tation was that he would be nominated at once. 
 But it was remembered that, in 1844, Henry Clay 
 was defeated because he had a long record of public 
 service, from which many marked sayings and doings 
 might be quoted to affect impressible waverers, 
 
 39 
 
The Address. 
 
 and James K. Polk was elected because nobody 
 could quote any thing against him, for the reason 
 that he had never said or done any thing worth 
 quoting at all. Furthermore, the ghosts of the 
 higher law and of the irrepressible conflict flitted 
 about to alarm excited imaginations. Last but not 
 least came in the element of bargain and manage- 
 ment, manipulated by adepts at intrigue, which is 
 almost inseparable from similar assemblies. The 
 effect of all these influences united was to turn the 
 tide at last, and Mr. Seward, the veteran champion of 
 the reforming policy, was set aside in favor of a 
 gentleman as little known by any thing he had ever 
 done as the most sanguine friend of such a selection 
 could desire. The fact is beyond contradiction that 
 no person, ever before nominated with any reason- 
 able probability of success, had had so little of public 
 service to show for his reward. 
 
 Placing myself in the attitude of Mr. Seward, at 
 the moment when the news of so stranare a decision 
 would reach his ears, I think I might, like Amicus, 
 in the play, have moralized for an instant on man's 
 ingratitude, and been warned by the example of 
 Aristides, or even the worse fate of Barneveld and 
 the two De Witts, not to press further in a career 
 in which the strong were to be ostracized, because 
 of their strength, and the weak were to be pushed 
 into places of danger, on the score of their feeble- 
 
The Address 
 
 ness. To be elected for the reason that a person has V 
 
 never done any thing to display his powers of use- 
 fulness to bring about positive results, would seem 
 to be like making elevation to power the prize of 
 the greatest insignificance. Under such circum- 
 stances, a successful man might fairly infer that the 
 selection of himself implied, on its face, rather an 
 insult than a compliment. 
 
 But Mr. Seward, when he heard of it, did not 
 reason on this low level. That he deeply felt such a 
 refusal to recognize the value of his long and earnest 
 labors in a perilous cause, I have every reason to 
 believe. For it was precisely at this moment that 
 the intimacy with which he sometime honored me 
 dates its commencement. I had been long watchinaf 
 his course with the deepest interest, sometimes fearful 
 lest he might bend toward the delusive track of 
 expediency, at others impatient at his calmness in 
 moments fit to call out the fire of Demosthenes, yet, 
 on the whole, if I may be so bold as to confess it, 
 fastened to his footsteps by the conviction that he 
 alone, of all others, had most marked himself as a 
 disciple of the school in which I had been bred 
 myself In this state of mind I had indulged a 
 strong hope, not only that his splendid services 
 would meet with a just acknowledgment, but that 
 his future guidance might be depended on in the 
 event of critical conjunctures. 
 
 [6] 4.1 
 
JHE / 
 
 DDRESS. 
 
 I was at the time in tlie public service at Wash- 
 ington, and much cast down on hearing of the result. 
 Mr. Seward had been at Auburn, and was just 
 returned. I had not seen the answer to his friends, 
 written from that place on the 31st of May, signifying 
 his ready acquiescence in the result, and, if I had, I 
 might not have put entire trust in it as a full expres- 
 sion of his inmost heart. The day after his return 
 he called in his carriage at my door and asked me 
 to get in and drive with him to the Capitol. He 
 had never done this before, but I promptly accepted 
 his offer. Full of disgust at the management con- 
 trived to defeat his nomination, I did not hesitate in 
 expressing it to him in the most forcible terms. But 
 I found no corresponding response. I saw that he 
 had been grievously disappointed, and that he felt 
 the blow so effectually aimed at him. But he gave 
 no sound of discontent. On the contrary, he calmly 
 deprecated all similar complaints, and at once turned 
 my attention to the duty of heartily accepting the 
 situation for the sake of the cause. The declaration 
 of principles put forth by the convention was per- 
 fectly satisfactory, and it now became his friends to 
 look only to the work of securing their establish- 
 ment. 
 
 Such was the burden of the conversation for the 
 greater part of the way. The tone was just the same 
 as that in the public letter, while the language was 
 
 42 
 
The Address. 
 
 more simple and unreserved. To me it was a revela- 
 tion of the moral superiority of the man. I had 
 heard so much in my time of the management 
 attributed to New York politicians, from the days 
 of Aaron Burr to those of Martin Van Buren, that 
 I should not have been surprised to find him indulg- 
 ing in some details of the causes of his failure. But 
 there was not a word. An experience like this drove 
 me at once to the conclusion that, if such deportment 
 as this passed under the denomination of manage- 
 ment in New York, I should be glad to see its 
 definition of magnanimity. 
 
 Neither were these merely brave words followed 
 up by inaction or indifference. Mr. Seward entered 
 into the canvass in behalf of his rival with the 
 utmost energy. I was myself a witness and com- 
 panion through a large part of his journey in the 
 West. His speeches, made at almost every central 
 point, indicate, not simply the fertility of his powers, 
 but the fidelity with which he applied them to the 
 purpose in hand. They still remain with us to testify 
 for him themselves. 
 
 The election followed, making a new era in the 
 history of this republic. The slave-holding power, 
 which had governed for more than thirty years, had 
 at last ceased to control. No sooner was the result 
 known, than South Carolina lifted the banner of 
 secession, not having chosen to wait for any assign- 
 
 43 
 
JHE / 
 
 DDRESS. 
 
 able cause of liiicvance. Congress assembled at 
 Wasliinuton to hold the last session under the 
 administration of Mr. Buchanan. Tied hand and 
 foot bv the conditions under which he had received 
 his nomination four years before, his course had been 
 faltering and uncertain, meriting praise neither for 
 prudence nor patriotism. A strong appeal, immedi- 
 atelv put forth, to the sound sense and sterling 
 principles of the honest, independent citizens of the 
 countrv, without regard to party, backed up by an 
 immediate preparation, quietly made, of the means 
 at hand to maintain public order, in any contin- 
 gency, might even then have put in check the ten- 
 dency of multitudes to plunge into evil counsels. 
 It does not appear that any thing of the kind was 
 ever thought of Treason iiad crept into the very 
 heart of the cabinet, and a policy had been secretly 
 at work to paralyze ratiier than to fortify the re- 
 sources of the Executive. Every thing was drifting 
 at the mercy of the winds and waves. One single 
 hour of the will displayed by General Jackson, at 
 the time when Mr. Calhoun, the most powerful 
 leader secession ever had, was abetting active meas- 
 ures, would have stifled the fire in its cradle. But 
 it was not to be. The evil came from the misfor- 
 tune of a weak President in a perilous emergency. 
 Instead of taking this course, a message was sent 
 to Congress by Mr. Buchanan, lamenting the fact of 
 
The Address. 
 
 wliat he chose to call a secession of several States, 
 hut coupling with it a denial of any power to coerce 
 them. This was in its essence an abandonment ot 
 all right to control popular resistance in that form. 
 In the condition things were at that moment, with a 
 cabinet divided, and both branches of the Legislature 
 utterly without spirit to concert measures, the effect 
 was .equivalent to disintegration. Disaffection be- 
 came rife everywhere south of Mason and Dixon's 
 line. And, in the city of Washington itself, it became 
 difficult to find, among the residents, persons wholly 
 free from it. Rumors of some impending cot(p d'e^a^ 
 vaguely floated in eveiy breeze. From communica- 
 tions made to me by persons likely to know, I have 
 every reason to think such projects were entertained 
 by the class of more desperate adventurers. A plan 
 of attacking the Constitution in its weakest part, 
 the form of declaring the election of President in 
 the month of February, had been gravely con- 
 sidered. Happily for the public peace, there was no 
 leader at hand equal to the consummation of any 
 such enterprise, so that more moderate counsels, 
 based upon the not unreasonable confidence that 
 victory was more sure by letting matters take their 
 course, prevailed. 
 
 If such was the condition of the disaffected party, 
 it was scarcely better with the loyal side. The 
 President-elect was still at home in Illinois, giving 
 
 48 
 
The Address. 
 
 no signs of life, and there was no one of the faithful 
 men vested with authority to speak or act in his 
 behalf That something ought to be done to keep 
 the control of the capital, and bridge over the inter- 
 val before the 4th of March in peace and quiet, was 
 manifest. It was no time to go into consultations 
 that would inevitably lead to delays, if not to dissen- 
 sions. Neither was it wise to spread uneasiness and 
 alarm. In this emergency, I have it in my power to 
 speak only of what I know Mr. Seward effected on 
 his sole responsibility. Of his calmness in the 
 midst of difficulty, of his fertility in resource, of his 
 courage in at once breaking up the remnants of 
 party ties, and combining, as firmly as he could, 
 trusty men, whether in the cabinet, in the army, in 
 the municipal boards, or elsewhere, to secure the 
 object of keeping every thing steady, I had abun- 
 dant evidence. The hearty cooperation of Gen- 
 eral Scott, then Commander-in-Chief, although 
 suiTounded by less than even lukewarm assistants, 
 proved of the highest value. The day is, perhaps, 
 not yet come, if it ever does, when all the details of 
 these operations will be disclosed. But, if it should, 
 it will only add one more to the many causes of 
 gratitude due by the country to the memory of Mr. 
 Seward. 
 
 But, out of all the sources of anxiety and distrust 
 heaped up in this most fearful interval, that which 
 
 46 
 
The Address. 
 
 appeared to many the most appalling was the fact 
 that we were about to have, for our guide through 
 this perilous strife, a person selected partly on 
 account of the absence of positive qualities, so far 
 as was known to the public, and absolutely without 
 the advantage of any experience in national affairs, 
 beyond the little that can be learned by an occupa- 
 tion for two years of a seat in the House of Repre- 
 sentatives. The selection of Mr. Polk and Mr. 
 Pierce, on the same principle, though in a less 
 degree, for both of them had seen far more of serv- 
 ice, had been, in a measure, justified to the country 
 by their prompt recourse to the best-trained men of 
 the party, as supports and guides, in the cabinet. 
 But this was in times of profound internal quiet 
 when the State machinery moved almost of itself; 
 while, in this emergency, every wheel appeared 
 clogged, and even the tenacity of the whole fabric 
 was seriously tested. Neither was it any source of 
 confidence to find that day passed after day, and not 
 a syllable of intelligence came. It was clear, at least 
 to me, that our chances of safety would rest upon 
 an executive council composed of the wisest and 
 most experienced men that could be found. So it 
 seemed absolutely indispensable, on every account, 
 that not only Mr. Seward should have been early 
 secured in a prominent post, but that his advice, at 
 least, should have been asked in regard to the com- 
 
 { 
 
 47 
 
The Address. 
 
 plclion of Ihc organization. The value of sucli 
 counsel in securing harmony in poHcy is too well 
 understood lo need explanation. But Mr. Lincoln 
 as yet knew Htlle of all this. His mind had not 
 even opened to lln- nature of the crisis. From his 
 secluded al)ode in the heart of Illinois, he was only 
 taking the measure of geographical relati(Mis and 
 party services, and heginning his operations where 
 others comnionlv leave otf, at the; snialler end. 
 Hence it was not until some time in the session that 
 lie disclosed his intention to place Mr. Seward in 
 tlic most prominent place. So doubtful had some of 
 Mr. Seward's friends been made, by this proceeding, 
 of I lie spirit of the Presiilent, that they were dis- 
 posed to advise him not to assvmie any responsibilit}' 
 uniler him. At least, this was the substance of what 
 1 understootl him to sav, when he was pleased to ask 
 of me my sentiments. My answer was very short. 
 No matter what the manner of the offer, his duty 
 was to take the post. At the same time, it was quite 
 eli^ar to me that he stood in no need of my counsel. 
 1 should have mistaken his chai'actcr if he had 
 hesitated. 
 
 Let me not be undei-stood as desiring to say a 
 word in a spirit of derogation from the memory of 
 Abraham Lincoln. He afterward proved himself 
 before the world a pure, brave, capable and honest 
 man, faithful to his arduous task, and laying down 
 
The Address. 
 
 his life at the last as a penalty for his country's safety. 
 At the same time, it is the duty of history, in dealing 
 with all human action, to do strict justice in discrim- 
 inating between persons, and by no means to award to 
 one honors that clearly belong to another. I must, 
 then, affirm without hesitation that, in the history of 
 our Government down to this hour, no experiment so 
 rash has ever been made as that of elevating to the 
 head of affairs a man with so little previous prepara- 
 tion for his task as Mr. Lincoln. If this be true of 
 him in regard to the course of domestic administra- 
 tion, with which he might be supposed partially 
 familiar, it is eminently so in respect to the foreign 
 relations, of which he knew absolutely nothing. 
 Furthermore, he was quite deficient in his acquaint- 
 ance with the character and qualities of public men, 
 or their aptitude for the positions to which he 
 assigned them. Indeed, he seldom selected them 
 solely by that standard. Admitting this to be an 
 accurate statement, the difficulties in the way of Mr. 
 Seward on his assuming the duties of the foreign 
 department may be readily imagined. The imme- 
 diate reorganization of the service abroad was im- 
 1 eratively demanded at all points. The chief posts 
 had been filled before that time with persons either 
 lukewarm in the struggle or else positively sympa- 
 thizing with the disaffected. One consequence had 
 been the formation of impressions upon the repre- 
 
 'i 
 
 m 
 
 49 
 
JHE / 
 
 DDRESS. 
 
 sentativ'cs of foreign governments calculated in some 
 measure to mislead their policy Some were not 
 unwilling to assume the question as already prede- 
 termined, and to prepare to accommodate themselves 
 to the result of a divided sovereignty Others were 
 inclined only to watch the phenomena attending the 
 dissolution, in order to adapt their policy to the 
 variations, and take advantage of opportunities. 
 Besides which, the failure of the greatest ex- 
 periment of self-government ever made by a people 
 was not without its effect upon every calcula- 
 tion of possibilities nearer home. It may, then, 
 be easily conceived what an effect could be pro- 
 duced in all quarters by the equivocal, half- 
 hearted tone prevailing among the American 
 agents themselves. 
 
 Yet, assuming it to be indispensable that the 
 foreign seiTice should be reorganized, a very grave 
 difficulty forthwith presented itself. The Republican 
 party had been so generally in opposition that but 
 few of its prominent members had had any advan- 
 tages of experience in office. And, in the foreign 
 service especially, experience is almost indispensable 
 to usefulness. Mr. Seward himself came into the 
 State Department with no acquaintance with the 
 forms of business other than that obtained inciden- 
 tally through his service in the Senate. He had not 
 had the benefit of official presence abroad, an advan- 
 
 80 
 
The Address. 
 
 tage by no means trifling in conducting the foreign 
 affairs. A still greater difficulty was that, within the 
 range of selection to fill the respective posts abroad, 
 hardly any person could be found better provided in 
 this respect than himself Moreover, the President, 
 in distributing his places, did so with small refer- 
 ence to the qualifications in this particular line. It 
 was either partisan service, or geographical position, 
 or the length of the lists of names to commendatory 
 papers, or the size of the salary, or the unblushing 
 pertinacity of personal solicitation, that wrung from 
 him many of his appointments. Yet, considering 
 the nature of all these obstacles, it must be ad- 
 mitted that most of the neophytes acquitted them- 
 selves of their duty with far more of credit than 
 could have been fairly expected from the commence- 
 ment. I attribute this good fortune mainly to the 
 sense of heavy responsibihty stimulated by the peril 
 of the country, and the admirable lead given by their 
 chief The marvelous fertility of his pen spread 
 itself at once over every important point on the 
 globe, and the lofty firmness of his tone infused a 
 spirit of unity of action such as had never been 
 witnessed before. The effect of this was that, from 
 a state of utter demoralization at the outset, the 
 foreign service rapidly became the most energetic 
 and united organization thus far made abroad. The 
 evidence of this will remain patent in the archives 
 
 81 
 
The Address. 
 
 of the nation so long as they shall be suffered to 
 endure. 
 
 It may be questioned whether any head of an 
 executive department ever approached Mr. Seward 
 in the extent and minuteness of the instructions he 
 was constantly issuing during the critical period of 
 the war. While necessarily subject to imperfection 
 consequent upon the rapidity with which he wrote, 
 his papers will occasion rather surprise at their gen- 
 eral excellence than at any casual defects they may 
 contain. Exception has been taken to his manner 
 on some occasions as not in the best taste. And 
 wiseacres have commented on his failure of sagacity 
 in making over-confident predictions. But what 
 was he to do in the face of all the nations of the 
 earth ? Was it to doubt, and qualify, and calculate 
 probabilities } Would such a course have helped to 
 win their confidence? I trow not. In the very darkest 
 hour his clarion-voice rang out more sharp and clear 
 in full faith of the triumph of the great cause than 
 even in the moment of its complete success. And 
 the consequence is, that the fame of William H. 
 Seward as a sagacious statesman is more widely 
 spread over every part of the globe than that of any 
 other in our history. 
 
 But, great as were the services of Mr. Seward in 
 his own peculiar department, it would be a mistake 
 to infer that they were restricted within that limit. 
 
The Address. 
 
 I now come to a point where what appears to me to 
 have been one of his greatest qualities, is to be set 
 forth. It is impossible for two persons, in the rela- 
 tions of the President and the Secretary of State, 
 to go on long together without taking a measure 
 of their respective powers. Mr. Lincoln could not 
 fail soon to perceive the fact that, whatever estimate 
 he might put on his own acute judgment, he had to 
 deal with a superior in native intellectual power, in 
 extent of acquirement, in breadth of philosophical 
 experience, and in the force of moral discipline. On 
 the other hand, Mr. Seward could not have been 
 lonsf blind to the deficiencies of the chief in these 
 respects, however highly he might value his integrity 
 of purpose, his shrewd capacity, his vigorous ratioci- 
 nation, and his generous and amiable disposition. 
 The effect of these reciprocal discoveries could 
 scarcely have been other than to undermine confi- 
 dence, and to inspire suspicion in the weaker party 
 of danger from the influence of the stronger. He 
 might naturally become jealous of the imputation of 
 being led, and fearful lest the labors of his secretary 
 might be directed to his own aggrandizement at his 
 expense. On the other hand, Mr. Seward might 
 not find it difficult to penetrate the character of these 
 speculations, and foresee their probable effect in 
 abridging his powers of usefulness, and, perhaps, 
 unsettling the very foundation of his position, should 
 
 S3 
 
ambitious third parties scent the opportunities to 
 edge him out. 
 
 Whether all that I have here described did or did 
 not happen, I shall not be so bold as to say. But 
 one thing I know, and this was, that, in order to cut 
 up by the roots the possibility of misunderstanding 
 from such causes, Mr. Seward deliberately came to 
 the conclusion to stifle every sensation left in him 
 of aspiration in the future, by establishing a distinct 
 understanding with the President on that subject. 
 The effect of this act of self-abnegation was soon 
 apparent in the steady subsequent union of the 
 parties. Thus it happened that Mr. Seward volun- 
 tarily dismissed forever the noblest dreams of an 
 ambition he had the clearest right to indulge, in 
 exchange for a more solid power to direct affiiirs for 
 the benefit of the nation, through the name of 
 another, who should yet appear in all later time to 
 reap the honors due chiefly to his labors. 
 
 I am not going to touch upon the incidents of the 
 great war. It is enough to say that Gettysburg and 
 Vicksburg turned the tide ; and the Administration 
 had nothing more to fear from popular distrust. The 
 election confirmed it in power, and little was left to 
 do but to heal the wounds inflicted, and restore the 
 blessed days of peace and prosperity. Scarcely had 
 the necessary measures been matured, and Fortune 
 begun once more to smile, when the hand of an 
 
 B4 
 
The Address. 
 
 assassin, unerring in its instinctive sagacity, vented 
 all the rage of the baffled enemy upon the heads of 
 the two individuals, of all others, who most distinctly 
 symbolized the emancipation of the slave and the 
 doom of the master's pride. Then followed a suc- 
 cessor to the chair, sadly wanting in the happiest 
 qualities of his predecessor, but readily moulded to 
 the very same policy which had been inaugurated by 
 him. In his earnestness to save it, Mr. Seward sub- 
 ordinated himself just as before. But the change of 
 person proved little less disastrous to his hopes than 
 it had been sixteen years before in the case of General 
 Taylor. Nevertheless, he steadily and bravely ad- 
 hered to the chief, for the sake of the policy, to the 
 last, and quietly bore the odium of a failure he had 
 no power to avert. It would have been worth all 
 it cost, could he have succeeded. But, as it was, rarely 
 has it been the fate of the same statesman to meet 
 with two successive instances of such human vicis- 
 situdes. 
 
 In the spring of 1 869 he bade a last farewell to 
 public life. The veteran who had fought for years 
 for the establishment of the great principles of liberty, 
 clear of all hampering compromises, who bore on his 
 front the gash received because he had worked too 
 well — a scar which would have made a life-long 
 political fortune for any purely military man — was 
 permitted to repair in silence to his home, now 
 
 S3 
 
JHE / 
 
 DDRESS. 
 
 lonely from the loss of those who had made it his 
 delight, with fewer marks of recognition of his bril- 
 liant career than he would have had if he had been 
 the most insignificant of our Presidents. Such is one 
 more example of the fate that awaits "those who 
 hang on princes' favors," whether the sovereign be 
 one or be many. And now his native State having 
 bestowed on him all the honors within her gift during 
 his life, with the natural pride in the career of so 
 great a son, has sought outside of her borders for 
 one of the humblest of his disciples to cull a few 
 fleeting flowers and spread them on his grave. While 
 I do honor to this manifestation on her part, I trust 
 I may be pardoned for remembering that he did not 
 save the State alone — 
 
 HE SAVED THE NATION. 
 
 Let me turn from this subject to the more agree- 
 able task of pointing out to you some peculiar 
 qualities of Mr. Seward, which merit close attention 
 in any view taken of his character. Of these the 
 most marked was his indomitable courage. By 
 superficial observers among his contemporaries, the 
 breadth of his popular theory was set down as little 
 more than the agitation not unusual with most of 
 our ordinary demagogues. Hence the prejudices 
 more or less imbibed by many of his own party, and 
 others who knew nothing of him personally. Yet 
 
 B6 
 
The Address. 
 
 the fact is indisputable that very few pubhc men in 
 our history can be cited who have shown so much 
 iuditference, in running directly counter to the popu- 
 lar passions when highly excited, as he did. And in 
 such action it is clear that he could have been 
 prompted by no motive other than the highest of 
 personal duty. 
 
 Hitherto, I have treated only of his public life. 
 I now propose to touch on his professional career, 
 to which, though not attractive to him, he steadily 
 adhered so long as it was practicable. Had he 
 devoted himself to it exclusively, I have not a 
 shadow of doubt he would have attained a position 
 of the very first rank. I dwell on it now only in 
 connection with a single case which will serve to 
 illustrate as well his courage as his power. This is 
 the case of the miserable negro William Freeman. 
 The fact of his murdering at night all the members 
 of a highly-respectable family in the neighborhood 
 of Auburn, without any apparent motive, is too well 
 remembered here to this day to need repeating the 
 horrible details. It is sufficient to say that the 
 passions of the people in all the country round about 
 were fearfully but not unnaturally aroused. They 
 demanded immediate justice with so much vehemence 
 that, from fear of violence, extraordinary measures 
 were resorted to by the State authorities to hasten 
 the trial, in the very vicinity of the outrage. In the 
 
 18] 87 
 
The ^ddress. 
 
 State prison at Auburn it had so happened that, 
 shortly before, a white convict had killed one of 
 his associates. He had called upon Mr. Seward 
 to defend him at his trial, and he had consented to 
 appear. This act of his had not been viewed favor- 
 ably in the neighborhood. But, when the crime of 
 the negro was soon aftenvard divulged, the popular 
 indignation rose to such a height that it was with 
 much difficulty he could be conveyed in safety to the 
 jail. So great was the rage, that nothing but the 
 public declaration of one of the county judges, 
 made on the spot, not only that he must certainly 
 be executed, but also that " no Governor Seward 
 would interpose to defend him," availed to shelter 
 him from summary vengeance. Immediately after- 
 ward, the law partners of Mr. Seward assumed the 
 responsibility of confirming that promise of the 
 judge, without consulting him. 
 
 At that moment Mr. Seward had happily been 
 absent from home. But, when he was expected to 
 return, there was great anxiety among his friends 
 and relatives, lest he should meet with insult, if not 
 positive outrage, in his transit froiri the railway-station 
 to his house. The excitement had scarcely abated 
 when the two cases came up for trial. In the first, 
 Mr. Seward endeavored to procure a postponement, 
 but it was in vain. The popular feeling would not 
 submit to it. With the utmost difficulty were per- 
 
The Address. 
 
 sons found fitted to make a jury. The argument 
 rested on the insanity of the prisoner. But it carried 
 no weight. Within a month the convict was tried, 
 condemned, and executed. In this instance Mr. 
 Seward had performed his part in the regular course 
 of professional service. But, when the offense of 
 the wretched creature Freeman was about to be 
 submitted to the consideration of the court, it 
 immediately appeared that not a soul of the large 
 crowd present entertained the smallest sympathy for 
 him. He was told that he might have the assistance 
 of counsel if he would ask for it. His answer indi- 
 cated utter ignorance of the meaning of the words. 
 Under such circumstances what was to be done to 
 comply with forms of law 7 There was a solemn 
 pause in that thronged assembly. At last the silence 
 was broken by the judge, who, addressing the pro- 
 fessional men before him, asked, in a hopeless tone, 
 
 "WILL anyone defend this man?" 
 
 And here again was a breathless pause, broken at 
 last by a quiet movement of a solitary man, as he 
 rose in his place, who, in the face of the eager crowd, 
 briefly replied, " May it please the court, / appear as 
 counsel for the prisoner." 
 
 This volunteer was William Henry Seward, 
 the very man whom the excited multitude had 
 already warned not to interpose to defend him. 
 
 59 
 
The Address. 
 
 I know not what others may think of this simple 
 picture, but, in my humble view, it presents a scene 
 of moral sublimity rarely to be met with in the 
 paths of our ordinary life. At this juncture, had 
 William H. Seward been found anywhere at night 
 alone, and unprotected by the powerful law-abiding 
 habits of the region about him, his body would 
 probably have been discovered in the morning hang- 
 ing from the next tree. What motive could have 
 impelled him to encounter so much indignation for 
 this act ? He had been not at all insensible to the 
 pleasure of popularity in public life. Here he was 
 not only injuring his own interests, but that of the 
 party with which he was associated. In vain did it 
 labor to disavow all connection or sympathy with 
 him. The press on all sides thundered its denunci- 
 ations over his head. The elections all went one 
 way. The Democratic party came sweepingiy into 
 the ascendant. And all about the life of a negro 
 idiot } 
 
 I think I do not exaggerate in expressing an 
 humble opinion, that the argument in the defense is 
 one of the most eloquent ever made in the language. 
 I have no time to dwell on it, further than to quote 
 a few passages assigning his reason for his conduct : 
 " For William Freeman as a murderer, I have no 
 commission to speak. If he had silver and gold 
 accumulated, with the frugality of a Croesus, and 
 
The Address, 
 
 should pour it all at my feet, I would not stand an 
 hour between him and his avenger. But for the 
 innocent, it is my right — it is my duty — to speak. 
 If this sea of blood was innocently shed, then it is 
 my duty to stand beside him, until his steps lose 
 their hold upon the scaffold. 'Thou shalt not kill' 
 is a commandment, addressed not to him alone, 
 but to me, to you, to the court, and to the whole 
 community. There are no exceptions from that 
 commandment, at least, in civil life, save those of 
 self-defense, and capital punishment for crime in the 
 due and just administration of the law. There is 
 not only a question, then, whether the prisoner has 
 shed the blood of his fellow-man, but the question 
 whether we shall unlawfully shed his blood. I should 
 be guilty of murder if, in my present relation, I saw 
 the executioner waiting for an insane man, and failed 
 to say or failed to do, in his behalf, all that my abil- 
 ity allowed." 
 
 And again he says : " I am arraigned before you 
 for undue manifestations of zeal and excitement. My 
 answer to all such charges shall be brief When this 
 cause shall have been committed to you, I shall be 
 happy indeed if it shall appear that my only error 
 has been that I felt too much, thought too intensely, 
 or acted too faithfully." 
 
 But the significant and most eloquent passage is 
 this : " I plead not for a murderer. I have no induce- 
 
 61 
 
The Address. 
 
 ment, no motive to do so. I have addressed my 
 fellow-citizens in many various relations, when re- 
 wards of wealth and fame awaited me. I have been 
 cheered on other occasions by manifestations of 
 popular approbation and sympathy ; and, where there 
 was no such encouragement, I had at least the grati- 
 tude of him whose cause I defended. But I speak 
 now in the hearing of a people who have prejudged 
 the prisoner, and condemned me for pleading in his 
 behalf He is a convict, a pauper, a negro, without 
 intellect, sense, or emotion. My child, with an atfec- 
 tionate smile, disarms my care-worn face of its frown 
 whenever I cross my threshold. The beggar in the 
 street obliges me to give, because he says ' God bless 
 you ' as I pass. My dog caresses me with fondness 
 if 1 will but smile on him. My horse recognizes me 
 when I fill his manger. But what reward, what 
 gratitude, what sympathy and affection can I expect 
 here ? There the prisoner sits ; look at him. Look 
 at the assemblage around you. Listen to their ill- 
 suppressed censures and their excited fears, and tell 
 me where among my neighbors or my fellow-men, 
 where even in his heart can I expect to find the 
 sentiment, the thought, not to say of reward or 
 acknowledgment, but even of recognition. I sat 
 here two weeks during the preliminary trial. I stood 
 here between the prisoner and the juiy nine hours, 
 and pleaded for the wretch that he was insane, and 
 
 62 
 
The Address. 
 
 he did not even know he was on trial. And when all 
 was done, the jury thought — at least eleven of them 
 thought — that I had been deceiving them, or was 
 self-deceived. They read signs of intelligence in his 
 idiotic smile, and of cunning and malice in his stolid 
 insensibility. They rendered a verdict that 'he was 
 sane enough to be tried' — a contemptible compro- 
 mise verdict in a capital case — and then they 
 looked, with what emotions God and they only 
 know, upon his arraignment. The District Attorney, 
 speaking in his adder-ear, bade him rise, and, read- 
 ing to him one indictment, asked him whether he 
 wanted a trial, and the poor fool answered ' No.' 
 ' Have you counsel 7 ' 'No.' And they went 
 through the same mockery, the prisoner giving the 
 same answers, until a third indictment was thundered 
 in his ears, and he stood before the court silent, 
 motionless, and bewildered. Gentlemen, you may 
 think of this evidence, bring in what verdict you can, 
 but I asseverate before Heaven and you that, to the 
 best of my knowledge and belief, the prisoner at the 
 bar does not at this moment know why it is that my 
 shadow falls on you instead of his own. I speak 
 with all sincerity and earnestness, not because I ex- 
 pect my opinion to have weight, but I would disarm 
 the injurious impression that I am speaking merely 
 as a lawyer speaks for his client. I am not the pris- 
 oner's lawyer. I am, indeed, a volunteer in his behalf. 
 
 63 
 
JHE / 
 
 DDRESS. 
 
 But society and mankind have the deepest interests 
 at stake. I am the kivvyer for society, for mankind, 
 shocked beyond the power of expression at the 
 scene I have witnessed here, of trying a maniac as a 
 malefactor." 
 
 There cannot be a doubt that, in this statement of 
 his motives, Mr. Seward uttered nothing more than 
 the simple truth. It was to rescue from violation 
 tlie broad principle of morals, that guilt can only be 
 measured by responsibility in the reciprocal relations 
 of the human race. Yet, the jury brought in a ver- 
 dict against the prisoner, and the judge pronounced 
 the sentence of execution. Nothing daunted by all 
 this, Mr. Seward persisted in interposing every pos- 
 sible dilatory measure, until the evidence of the con- 
 dition of the man gradually forced itself so vividly 
 upon the conviction of the very judge who had tried 
 and condemned him, that, when officially called 
 upon to go over the work once more, he declined it 
 as impracticable. Mr. Seward was now clearly 
 proved to have been right, so far as his action had 
 gone before the law. But, when the time came for 
 the end of Freeman by a natural death, seven phy- 
 sicians of the vicinity were summoned to a post- 
 mortem examination of his brain, and the result at 
 which they arrived was that it displayed indications 
 of deep, chronic disease. Mr. Seward had been right 
 from the start. He had upheld a broad general 
 
 64 
 
The Address. 
 
 principle at enormous personal hazard, and he never 
 received the smallest return for it, excepting in the 
 satisfaction to his own conscience of a work faith- 
 fully performed. 
 
 I pass from this illustration of the resolute will 
 and courage of the man, to another of a wholly dif- 
 ferent and still higher kind. I shall not weary your 
 patience by going over the well-known details of the 
 seizure by our gallant countryman. Admiral Wilkes, 
 of the two rebel emissaries, Mason and Slidell, by 
 forcibly taking them from a British passenger- 
 steamer, then on her way over the high seas to a 
 British port. You can all remember how much 
 delighted every body was with the news. Few 
 stopped to think of the possible consequences as 
 affectinof the rio^hts of neutral nations. Some erro- 
 neous precedents were published in the journals 
 which quieted possible doubts. Admiral Wilkes 
 immediately received the official approbation of the 
 House of Representatives and the Secretary of the 
 Navy, and rose in a moment to the height of a 
 popular hero. Crowded public meetings everywhere 
 joined in their acclamations, proudly exultant at the 
 gallant deed. On the other hand, the effect of 
 the violent proceeding, when divulged in Great 
 Britain, no one had a better opportunity to under- 
 stand than I myself It was at once presumed to 
 have been authorized by the Government, so that 
 
 [91 63 
 
The Address. 
 
 no course was regarded as left to the ministry 
 other than to demand immediate satisfaction for the 
 insult. War was considered as inevitable ; hence 
 provision was promptly made by many to remove 
 American property out of the risk of confiscation, 
 The dock-yards resounded by night as well as 
 by day with the ring of the hammers, fitting out 
 the largest iron-clads, and orders went forth to 
 assemble the most available troops for immediate 
 embarkation to the points in America closest upon 
 our northern border. A cabinet council was 
 j)romi:)tly assembled. Four dispatches were drawn 
 up on the same day, the 30th of November, three 
 of them addressed to the British minister at Wash- 
 ington, Ltnd Lyons, and one to the Lords Commis- 
 sioners of the Admiralty. All of them distinctly 
 anticipated an immediate rupture, and made pro- 
 vision for the event. One of these, very carefully 
 prepared, instructed Lord Lyons to protest against 
 the offensive act, and, in case the Secretary of State 
 should not voluntarily offer redress by a delivery of 
 the men, to make a demand of their restoration. 
 The second directed Lord Lyons to permit of no 
 delay of an affirmative answer beyond seven days. 
 Should no such answer appear within that time, 
 his lordship was formally instructed to withdraw 
 with all his legation and all the archives of the 
 legation, and to make iht; best of his way to Lon- 
 
 66 
 
The Address. 
 
 don. The fourth letter, addressed to the Admiralty, 
 contained instructions to prepare all the naval 
 officers stationed in America for the breaking out 
 of hostilities. 
 
 Looking at these proceedings as calmly as I can 
 from our present point of view, it seems impossible 
 for me to doubt that the issue of this peremptory 
 demand had been already prejudged by her Majesty's 
 ministers. They did not themselves believe that the 
 men would be restored. Hence what seems to me 
 the needless offensiveness of these preliminaries 
 prompted, no doubt, by the violence of the popular 
 feeling, which would insist upon an immediate dis- 
 play of what would be called a " proper spirit." 
 Yet, had it been judged possible to await for a few 
 days the reception of official intelligence, then on its 
 way from Washington, these gentlemen would have 
 learned from Mr. Seward that they were precipitate 
 in their action at least, and wholly without a basis in 
 presuming evil intentions. Moreover, they would 
 have had the assurance that the act was without 
 authority, and that the Government was ready to 
 listen to any reasonable representation that might 
 be forthcoming. It thus appears that her Majesty's 
 Government had placed themselves at the outset in 
 a false position, needlessly offensive, and only prov- 
 ocative of war without a cause. For the peremp- 
 tory nature of the overture, however clothed in 
 
 67 
 
The Address. 
 
 moderate terms, merely complicated the difficulty 
 of responding in any tone that would at all quiet 
 the excited temper of the American people. 
 
 It was the writing of that preliminary dispatch 
 that saved the dignity of the country. Mr. Seward 
 could point to it to prove that his action, when 
 finally taken, had not been prompted by intimida- 
 tion. The precipitate British course had betrayed 
 the rudeness of distrust, and nothing more. He 
 had been ready to hear and discuss the question 
 impartially, end solely on its merits. But the people 
 of the Unitea States had thought of none of these 
 things. They were satisfied with the fancied glory 
 of the deed, and \'ery far from disposed to sanction 
 the smallest recantation. As to the demand for 
 the surrender of the men, the thing was not to be 
 thought of They must be retained at any hazard. 
 Such was the universal sense, and it is this which 
 generally controls the actions of those who hold 
 office in a popular government. Yet the fact was 
 to me clear from the first that the act was not 
 justifiable. Many of the most enlightened neutral 
 nations had signified as much in a friendly way, and 
 had wished to open to us some easy method of 
 retreat. A war with Great Britain to maintain an 
 unsound principle, merely because the people made 
 a hero of Admiral Wilkes, would probably have 
 ended in a triumph of the rebellion and a perma- 
 
The Address. 
 
 ,^ 
 
 nent disruption of the Union, furnishing ever after 
 a new example with which " to point a moral and 
 adorn a tale." When the time came for the assem- 
 bly of the cabinet to decide upon an answer to 
 Great Britain, not a sign had been given by the 
 President or any of the members favorable to con- 
 cession. Mr. Seward, who had been charged with 
 the official duty of furnishing the expected answer, 
 assumed the responsibility of preparing his able 
 argument upon which a decision was predicated to 
 surrender the men. Upon him would have rested 
 the whole weight of the popular indignation had 
 it proved formidable. If I have been rightly in- 
 formed, when read, it met with but few comments 
 and less approbation. On the other hand, there 
 was no resistance. Silence gave consent. It was 
 the act of Mr. Seward, and his name was to be 
 chiefly associated with it, whether for good or for 
 evil. That name will ever stand signed at the foot 
 of the dispatch. In my firm belief that act saved 
 the unity of the nation. It was like the fable of 
 the Roman Curtius, who leaped into the abyss 
 which could have been closed in no other way. 
 The people acquiesced rather than approved, and 
 to this day they have never manifested any sign of 
 gratitude whatever. 
 
 In 1869 Mr. Seward returned home to Auburn, 
 the wreck of his former self The continuous con- 
 
 es 
 
The Address. 
 
 flicts of twenty years, and especially those of the 
 last eight, with the assassin's knife, had told heavily 
 on his frame. That home, too, was no longer what 
 it had been, when the gifted partner of his life and 
 a beloved daughter spread over it sunshine and joy, 
 in peaceful times. Worst of all, the symptoms of a 
 subtle disease, creeping slowly from the extremities, 
 came to warn him that repose would be synony- 
 mous with decay. Nothing daunted, he determined 
 to fight the enemy to the last. He undertook the 
 laborious task of a journey around the globe. 
 What he modestly and yet sadly says of it himself 
 is found in the reply he made to the welcome given 
 him by his neighbors and friends on his return : " I 
 have had a long journey, which, in its inception, 
 seemed to many to be eccentric, but I trust that all 
 my neighbors and friends are now satisfied that it 
 was reasonable. I found that, in returning home 
 to the occupations which were before me, I was 
 expected to enjoy rest from labors and cares which 
 were thought to have been oppressive and severe. 
 I found, that, at my age, and in my condition of 
 health, ' rest was rust,' and nothing remained to 
 prevent rust but to keep in motion. I selected the 
 way that would do the least harm, give the least 
 offense, enable me to acquire the most knowledge, 
 and increase the power, if any remained, to do 
 good." The volume from which I quote, contain- 
 
The Address. 
 
 ing a very interesting account of the travels of Mr. 
 Seward, has been issued to the world since his 
 decease. The turn of his mind, ever induleine in 
 wide speculation upon the objects presented to his 
 observation, is as clearly marked in this as it is in 
 any of his earlier productions. Hence it is clear 
 that, however impaired may have been his tene- 
 ment of clay, the living principle within held out 
 firmly to the last. This book likewise shows, though 
 expressed in very modest language, that the fame 
 of the great statesman had reached the remotest 
 and most exclusive nations of the Eastern Hemis- 
 phere, and had won for him — a simple private 
 citizen — spontaneous recognitions such as hereto- 
 fore, in those communities, have been extorted only 
 by representatives of those sovereignties which they 
 fear. 
 
 And now the chief part of my work is done. I 
 have tried to test the statesman by the highest 
 standard known to mankind. His career covers 
 the whole of what I designate as the second period 
 of our history — that, pending which, the heaviest 
 clog to freedom, a perilous legacy from our fore- 
 fathers, was, after long and severe conflict, at last 
 liappily removed. In this trial Mr. Seward played 
 a great part. His mind, taking in the broadest 
 view of practical popular government, never failed 
 him in the useful application of his powers to the 
 
 71 
 
The Address. 
 
 removal of all adventitious obstructions to its 
 development. He was never a mere theorist or 
 dreamer of possibilities he could not reach. He 
 speculated boldly, but he was an actor all the while, 
 and effected results. It is in this sense that I think 
 my narrative has established for him a just claim to 
 the high position I assigned to him at my outset. 
 He may not, indeed, rise to the full stature of the 
 philosopher-statesman, " equal to the present, reach- 
 ing forward to the futuie," never seen even in the 
 palmy days of ancient Greece, or perhaps anywhere 
 else, but at least he stands in the first rank of those 
 admitted most nearly to approach it. 
 
 But thus far I have considered him exclusively in 
 his public life. The picture would scarcely seem 
 complete, if I omitted a word about him as a man 
 like all the rest of us. By nature he can scarcely 
 be said to have been gifted with the advantage of 
 an imposing presence, such as fell to the lot of Mr. 
 Calhoun and Mr. Webster. Neither in face nor 
 in figure would he have attracted particular notice, 
 and both his voice and power of articulation were 
 little favorable to the power of his elocution. Yet 
 he had in a remarkable degree the faculty of fixing 
 the hearer's attention — the surest test of oratorical 
 superiority. His familiar conversation rarely kept 
 in the dreary round of common-place, and often 
 struck into original and instructive paths. His 
 
JHE / 
 
 DDRESS. 
 
 personal address was easy and careless, sometimes 
 rather blunt. It lacked something of the polish of 
 the most refined society, but there was a simplicity 
 and heartiness in his genial hours that often brought 
 one close to him in a moment. At times, when in 
 good spirits, there seemed a superabundant glee, 
 which spent itself in laughter springing from his 
 own thoughts, more robust than could be wholly 
 accounted for by any thing expressed. And yet it 
 had a sympathetic power over the hearers almost 
 irresistible. In his domestic relations he was pure 
 and affectionate — ready to heed the monitions of a 
 gifted and refined partner, and profit by her prudent 
 counsel. Unhappily, her infirm health, breeding a 
 strong inclination for retirement from the bustle 
 and excitement of the society of Washington, ma- 
 terially detracted from the influence, as well as the 
 satisfaction, attending her husband's elevated posi- 
 tion. Our forefathers would marvel could they 
 imagine it possible for me to claim credit for Mr. 
 Seward on the score of his honesty as a public man. 
 Yet the time has come when we must honor one 
 who never bought nor sold a vote or a place, and 
 who never permitted his public action to be con- 
 taminated in the atmosphere of corporation influ- 
 ence. On that subject I had occasion to know his 
 sentiments more than once. Above all, he was 
 earnestly impressed with religious feeling, never 
 
 [10] 73 
 
The Address. 
 
 making parade of it, but never omitting every 
 proper occasion to make it suitably respected. One 
 of his finest traits was the calmness with which he 
 endured all the various political assaults made upon 
 him by opponents, and often by those of his own 
 side. Few persons of his time encountered more. 
 It is the nature of power always to raise a body 
 of resistance in a relative proportion to the force 
 of its own movement. Then came also the day of 
 complaints raised by the large class fated to be 
 aggrieved by disappointed hopes or imagined offen- 
 ses, the arrogant, the incompetent, the rapacious, 
 the treacherous, and the unscrupulous, always to be 
 found intrenched around every fountain of political 
 favors. Mr. Seward was never tempted to elevate 
 the position of such persons by controversy, or to 
 profit by opportunities for merited retribution, even 
 when clearly within his grasp. To his intimate 
 friends he was deeply attached. One of these who 
 survives him — may I say his fidus Achates — 
 
 " It comes et paribus curis vestigia figit," 
 
 whose singularly disinterested labor it has been to 
 effect the elevation of others to power, and never 
 his own, and to whose remarkable address I strongly 
 suspect Mr. Seward owed many obligations of that 
 kind, has been kind enough to submit to my 
 perusal numbers of his confidential letters, received 
 
 74 
 
The Address. 
 
 during interesting periods in the writer's life, which 
 have been collected and bound in volumes. I have 
 closely examined them, as laying bare the most 
 secret impulses of his mind and heart. Yet, highly 
 confidential as they appear on their face to be, I 
 could not detect a single passage which, for his 
 sake, " I could wish to blot." 
 
 The line of great statesmen in America may or 
 may not stretch out, 
 
 " In yon bright track that fires the western skies," 
 
 to the crack of doom. But the memory of him 
 who guided our course, through the most appalling 
 tempest yet experienced in our annals, can scarcely 
 fail to confront all future aspirants in the same 
 honorable career, as an example which every one of 
 them may imitate to his advantage, but which few 
 can hope to be so fortunate as to excel. 
 
Legislative Proceedings. 
 
 (2UARTETTE.~-"lnitgtx'V\ix:' ... Fleming. 
 
 BLESSING. — By Rev. Bishop CoxE. 
 
 Organ Dismission. 
 
 Subsequent to the address the following resolu- 
 tions, offered by Senator Perry, were unanimously 
 adopted by the Senate and concurred in by the 
 Assembly : 
 
 Resolved, That the thanks of the Legislature of the State of 
 New Yorli be tendered to the Hon, Charles Francis Adams, 
 for the eloquent eulogium on the Ufe, character and services of 
 ex-Governor William H. Seward, dehvered at the request 
 of the Legislature, on the i8th day of April, inst., and that a copy 
 of the address be requested for publication. 
 
 Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be forwarded to Mr. 
 Adams, signed by the presiding officers and clerks of the Senate 
 and Assembly. 
 
 An engrossed copy of the above resolutions, duly 
 authenticated, was subsequently forwarded to Mr. 
 Adams by the joint committee, accompanied by the 
 following letter: 
 
 Letter to Mr. Adams, 
 "state of new york: 
 
 *' Senate Chamber, \ 
 
 " Albany, May 12, 1S73. f 
 " Hon. Charles Francis Adams : 
 
 *^ Dear Sir — Herewith I have the honor to inclose the joint resolutions of thanks to 
 yourself, adopted by the Senate and Assembly on the 29th ult. In addition, I beg 
 leave, on behalf of the joint committee, to express to you their sincere acknowledg- 
 ments for your kind acceptance of their invitation, and for the very complete and 
 eloquent address delivered on the occasion. 
 
 76 
 
Legislative Proceedings. 
 
 '* Vou will observe that one of the resolutions contains a request that a copy of the 
 address be furnished for publication. Entertaining the hope that you may be pleased 
 to comply with this request, I have the honor to remain, 
 
 Gratefully yours, 
 
 *' JOHN C. PERRY, 
 " Chairman o/yoi?it Committee.''^ 
 
 The receipt of these resolutions was acknowledged 
 by Mr. Adams as follows : 
 
 Mr. Adams' Reply, 
 
 ** QuiNCV, May 14, 1S73. 
 " Hon. J. C. Perry, etc., etc. : 
 
 "" Dear Sir — I have to acknowledge the reception of your letter of the 12th instant, 
 and of the joint resolutions of the Senate and Assembly therein referred to. 
 
 " I pray you to accept, in their behalf, my grateful thanks for the manner in which 
 they have honored me. 
 
 " In compliance with their request, I beg permission to transmit to you herewith a 
 copy of the address revised for publication. 
 
 **I have the honor to be, 
 
 *' Your obdt. servt., 
 
 "C. F. ADAMS." 
 
 77 
 
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