The SEWARD HOUSE Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign http://www.archive.org/details/sewardhouseOOfoun The Seward House The Seward House as it appears today THE SEWARD HOUSE MilM— /S-^Uv^w Copyright 1955 by THE FOUNDATION HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION AUBURN, NEW YORK William Henry Seward from an original negative ', c . /S6j, by Mathew Brady The Seward House the seward house in Auburn, New York, was for nearly half a cen- tury the home of William Henry Seward, New York State Senator, Governor of New York, United States Senator, and Secretary of State during the administrations of Presidents Lincoln and Johnson. The house was built in 1 8 16-17 by Seward's father-in-law, Judge Elijah Miller, who employed such artisans in its construction as Brig- ham Young, then a sixteen-year-old journeyman painter and car- penter, who later became a pillar of the Mormon Church. The young Seward, a graduate of Union College, "conceived a par- tiality" for Miss Frances Miller, his sister's classmate at school and the younger daughter of Judge Miller. Seward moved to Auburn as the Judge's junior law partner in 1823 and the following year married the Judge's daughter and moved into the house which was to be his home for the remainder of his life. He died there in 1872, after a bril- liant career which attracted to his home such distinguished visitors as Henry Clay, General Grant, General Custer, Admiral Farragut, and Presidents John Quincy Adams, Van Buren, and Johnson. Much of that career was spent in Albany, in Washington, D. C, and in travels around the world. Wherever he went, Seward acquired or was presented with objects which now, a century later, remain in the old house: the secretary chair he used in Albany, in his State De- partment office, and in the library of his home in Auburn; a set of delicate, gold leaf furniture, formerly used in the Seward parlor in Washington; a large copper samovar, presented by Baron Edward Stoeckl, Russian Minister to the United States, with whom Seward negotiated the purchase of Alaska ("Seward's Ice-Box"), and Emanuel Leutze's famous painting of this transaction; a gallery of other paint- ings by Henry Inman, Thomas Cole, and other artists; a set of crested 04MH ■H8 HBB K ■ I A IK? j V 4 1 "^ SRk ' ■ HUH William H. Seward II William H. Seward III china from Prince Napoleon, nephew of the Emperor, and other china from Maximilian, Austrian Emperor of Mexico; a slim mahogany desk used in 1789 by a member of the first Constitutional Congress; an alabaster Buddha from Siam, a Chinese woodcarving from Canton, and other curios from all over the world. The very ivy which grows along the paths and walls came from Sir Walter Scott's home at Abbotsford, Scotland, given to Seward by Washington Irving. After Seward's death, his third son, General William Henry Seward II, lived in the Seward Mansion until his death in 1920. Its last occu- pant, William Henry Seward III, who died in 1951, left the property as a memorial to his father and grandfather. The original dimensions of the Seward House were considerably smaller than they are today. On July 25, 18 16, Judge Elijah Miller, a widower with two daughters, bought four acres of land "on the tri- angle" between South Street and William Street, and set about build- ing a new brick house. It consisted of only the northeast section of the house as it stands today : The large halls on each story formed the south 6 wall, and off them were the parlor and library, four bedrooms, with the kitchen and dining room in the basement. This was the house which the 21-year-old William H. Seward first visited late in the year 1822. The north tower and rear wing were added in 1847. The large drawing room, dining room, and bedrooms on the south side of the house were all built in 1870, when Seward had completed his long career of public service. This career had modest beginnings, in the little village of Florida, Orange County, New York, which Seward described in his Autobiog- raphy as consisting of "not more than a dozen dwellings." "My father, Samuel S. Seward," his account continues, "was educated a physician, and during my minority practised his profession, to which occupation he added those of the farmer, the merchant, the county politician, The Seward House — an early print magistrate, and judge. ... I was the fourth of six children, and the third son, born in 1801, May 16th. I have been told that the tenderness of my health caused me to be early set apart for a collegiate education, then regarded, by every family, as a privilege so high and so costly that not more than one son could expect it." Accordingly, Seward entered Union College, in Schenectady, in 18 16. He was pronounced "more than qualified" to enter the junior class in every respect but one: his age. Only fifteen, "I was duly matriculated as sophomore; and these two large words signified, for me, a great deal, because I had not the least idea of the meaning of either." His progress was rapid. In 18 17, when a chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Society was established at Union College — the first charter granted to any college in New York State — Seward was among the first students to be elected. However, a curious episode, described in the Autobiography ', caused a year's delay in his graduation. "My entire failure to bring my expenses to an equation with the parental allowance," brought about a "financial misunderstanding with my father," who "declined to pay for me bills which he thought unreasonable." The largest bills were from Schenec- tady tailors, and rather than "submit to the shame of credit impaired," Seward left college in the middle of his senior year, "resolved upon independence and self-maintenance." Hearing of a new academy in Eatonton, Georgia, Seward set out for that distant spot on January 1 , 1 8 19. Travelling by stagecoach, schoon- er, wagon, and on foot, he arrived at his destination with only "eighteen pence in my pocket." After an examination by the trustees of the new academy, the seventeen-year-old Seward was offered and accepted the position of Principal. But his new career was cancelled out of regard for his parents, who entreated him to return and take his degree. For six months he studied law in an attorney's office, then returned to Union College and graduated with highest honors in 1820. After two more years of law study in Goshen and New York City, Seward passed his legal examination in 1822 and was admitted to the bar. He had two offers of legal partnership in Auburn, and chose to join Judge Elijah Miller. "I had, in the spring of 1821, while on a visit to Florida," Seward relates in his Autobiography ', "met there my sister, who was a pupil in Mrs. Willard's popular seminary at Troy, and was 8 then at home, accompanied by her schoolmate, Miss Frances A. Miller, of Auburn. A partiality that I conceived for her was my inducement to stop at Auburn when afterwards exploring the West." Soon after join- ing Judge Miller's law office, Seward joined his daughter in "an engage- ment of marriage." The engagement was fulfilled on October 20, 1824. Seward notes that his bride was then "nineteen years of age, of fine natural parts, with modesty almost approaching to timidity, thought- ful but cheerful. . . . Her father had been, from her infancy, a widower, and his consent to the union was given on the condition that she should not leave her home while he should survive. I thus became an inmate of her family." And thus Seward took up residence in the house which now bears his name. A successful, popular, and civic-minded young lawyer, Seward first ran for public office in 1830 and was elected to the State Senate on the Anti-Masonic ticket. Four years later he made an unsuccessful race for Governor as the candidate of the new Whig party, a combination of Anti-Masons and National Republicans united in opposition to An- drew Jackson's Democratic Administration. Running again in 1 838, he became the first Whig Governor of New York State, serving two terms. Governor Seward championed, against much opposition, the causes of highway and canal improvements, aid to schools, equal rights for mi- nority groups, and the modernization of legal procedure. Although he declined to run for a third term in 1842, preferring to resume his law practice in Auburn, he did not relinquish his interest and influence in politics. With other Whig leaders, he campaigned successfully in the fall of 1848 for the election of General Zachary Taylor as President, and in February, 1849, the New York State Legislature elected Seward to the United States Senate. In Washington, he rapidly became an influential advisor to the Presi- dent, supplanting Clay and Webster. His eloquent Senate speeches in favor of admitting California to the Union as a "free" State succeeded despite the opposition of the slave-holding South, and one of them, in which he invoked "a higher law than the Constitution," established him as the acknowledged leader of the anti-slavery group in the Senate. He also became a founder of the new Republican party, and might have been its first presidential candidate in 1856. But he would not, then or ever, seek the nomination, preferring to leave such activity in his behalf to political associates. His friends, chief among them Thurlow Weed, felt that he should wait until 1 860, when the new party's chances would be stronger. Seward was the leading Republican candidate for President in i860, and received 173^2 votes on the first ballot, to Lincoln's 102. He, rather than Lincoln, might well have been nominated and elected, to lead his country through the Civil War. That he lost the nomination was due partly to the opposition of his former political associate, Horace Greeley, who that summer had published an announcement in the Tribune oi "the dissolution of the firm of Seward, Weed, and Greeley." Denied the nation's highest office, Seward accepted Lincoln's invitation to serve as his chief Cabinet officer and principal adviser. At the end of this booklet appears an authoritative estimate of Seward's political career, written by Professor Dexter Perkins of the University of Rochester, who is also the author of the article on Seward in the Dictionary of American Biography. 10 The spiral staircase in the Seward House . . .from the California '49-ers TOUR OF THE SEWARD HOUSE In walking through the storied rooms of the old SewardHouse, which still retain so much of the character of its several inhabitants, the thoughtful observer sees not merely a beautiful piece of early American furniture, a valuable oil painting done by a famous artist, several hand written letters and a framed commission bearing the signature "A. Lincoln," and the normal bric-a-brac picked up in travels abroad. More important than any of these is the sense of history which pervades the house. Each room in it recalls incidents in Seward's long career. 1 1 The Parlor . . . the fireplace woodwork carved by Brigham Young 12 THE PARLOR the parlor or gold room, containing the fragile, gilded furniture from Seward's Washington home, was used as his bedroom towards the end of his life, when failing health made stairs impossible for him. The Brigham Young fireplace and mantel remind us of the house's first owner. The piano, Judge Miller's present to his daughter Frances, was made by Robert Nunns, Clark & Co. of New York City. The pictures in this room include Mrs. William H. Seward II riding a horse in the garden with two of her children; Dante visiting the Inferno; and por- traits of Admiral Farragu t, Thomas Jefferson, and John Quincy Adams. President Adams was Seward's political idol and the subject of his first published work, Life of John Quincy Adams, Sixth President of the United States (Auburn, 1849). It is interesting to note how some of these pictures came to be here. In a letter to Mrs. Seward, dated September 20, 1848 from Boston, Seward wrote: "[Chester] Harding is staying in town. We met at break- fast. I have engaged him to paint me a good picture of John Quincy Adams for our parlor." Seward was in Boston with other W 7 hig leaders campaigning for that party's presidential candidate, Zachary Taylor. The speeches were largely devoted to the tariff, public lands, the Mexi- can War, and the Democratic maladministration, but when Seward's turn came, he argued, as was his custom, for the abolition of slavery. And it was on this occasion that he first met the Whig member of Con- gress from Illinois, "a tall, gaunt man, whose speech, if plain in manner and diction, was forcible and logical, and had several telling hits." Afterwards, lodged in the same hotel, Abraham Lincoln said: "Gover- nor Seward, I have been thinking about what you said in your speech, and I reckon you are right. We have got to deal with this slavery ques- tion, and got to give much more attention to it hereafter than we have been doing." This first meeting made a lasting impression on both men — though when they met again in i860 Lincoln remarked that it had probably made a stronger impression on his memory than on Seward's — and from then on Lincoln paid increasing attention to "this slavery question." Ten years later, in 1858, his stand against slavery in the de- bates with Stephen A. Douglas gained him national prominence. 13 THE NORTH LIBRARY once judge miller's sitting room, the North Library still con- tains his law books, but now seems more Seward's than any other room in the house. Here, for nearly half a century, he worked, seated usually in the secretary chair which he also used in the Governor's mansion in Albany and throughout his twenty years in Washington as Senator and Secretary of State. When he retired in 1869, and returned home to Auburn, he assigned President Lincoln's bust "to a place of honor in my library." Most of Seward's own working library remains on the shelves in this room, together with his father-in-law's books and those of his youngest son, General William H. Seward II, totalling some 2,500 vol- umes in all. In the southwest corner is his daughter Fanny's collection: children's books, autograph albums, and fashion magazines included. The portraits of Seward and his wife were painted by Nathaniel Jocelyn shortly after he began his first term as Governor in 1839. The picture of the Mexican Cathedral in Pueblo was presented to him in 1 869, in Mexico City, by the Academy of Design. The globes and com- passes he acquired in Albany, the beautifully fitted smoking chest, in Havana. The bas-relief of Christ was placed in the west wall by Mrs. Seward. In this room, Seward spent most of his last year, dictating the mem- oirs of his life and travels. When a visitor asked him, "How do you feel this morning, Governor Seward?" he replied: "I can answer you much as John Adams once answered Mr. Webster: 'I am living in a very old house; and as near as I can learn, the proprietor isn't going to make any repairs.' ' He died on the couch in this library on the afternoon of October 10, 1872. Two views of the North Library: in Seward's time {above), and as it appears today H J 5 THE DRAWING ROOM the south side of the Seward house, including the drawing room, was added in 1870, after Seward's long career of public service was completed and he could spend most of his time travelling around the world. Where the new brickwork joins the old can still be seen a few feet south of the front doorway. Most of the 2,300 books in the drawing room belonged to Seward and to the son and grandson who bore his name and succeeded him as principal occupants of the house. Publication dates in these books range from 1698 to 1950. The paintings in this room form a family gallery. Flanking the en- trance to the dining room are Seward's father and mother, Samuel S. Seward and Mary Jennings Seward. On the north wall are Seward and his wife, painted in Auburn in 1843, after his second term as Governor, by Henry Inman. The larger canvas between them is of Frances Adeline Seward, their beloved daughter Fanny, completed by Emanuel Leutze in 1867, a year after her death at the age of twenty-one. Their three sons follow in order: In the northeast corner, Augustus Henry Seward, who died in 1876, four years after his father; and at either end of the south wall, Frederick William Seward, who was Assistant Secretary of State, 1861-69 and 1877-81, and died in 191 5, and William Henry Seward II, a brigadier general in the Civil War, who headed the Auburn banking firm of William H. Seward & Co. until his death in 1920. Be- tween the last two portraits and above one of Henry Steinway's earliest American pianos hangs the largest canvas in the house, Thomas Cole's view of Portage Falls, painted in 1839 and presented to Seward during his administration as Governor. The well-worn but still beautiful Oriental carpet was made in Turkey especially for the new drawing room, and has remained here since 1 870. The large Swiss clock above the east bookcase was carved by hand by a soldier in Switzerland and given to Seward during his service as U.S. Senator. The ancient Greek amphora in the southeast corner of the room was found on the island of Cyprus, and is estimated to be nearly two thousand years old. The statuette of Mrs. Seward, the Secretary's wife, seated at a small writing table in the garden, was made by the 16 The Drawing Room . . . the portraits form a family gallery American sculptor, John Rogers, and for nearly a century has been placed at the foot of the casket during services for every member of the Seward family. Mrs. Seward died in Washington in 1865, two months after her hus- band barely escaped assassination in the plot which succeeded against Lincoln at Ford's Theatre. Seward, critically injured nine days earlier in a carriage accident, was in bed the night of April 14, when he was at- tacked by a confederate of John Wilkes Booth. The assailant tried to shoot Seward's son, Frederick. When the gun misfired, it was used as a club and fractured his skull in two places. The assassin then slashed 17 the helpless Seward's face and throat with a knife, inflicting severe wounds also on the invalid soldier assigned to guard him, on a messen- ger from the State Department, and on Seward's eldest son, Augustus, roused by the cries of Fanny, who was nursing her father and so wit- nessed the attack. Mrs. Seward, who had been ill in Auburn when sum- moned by her husband's accident, never recovered from the shock of his attempted assassination. A year later, Fanny also died, and this per- sonal tragedy, added to his own injuries, contributed to Seward's resig- nation in 1869, at the close of President Johnson's administration. The Dining Room . . . the Napoleon china would serve sixty 18 THE DINING ROOM the dining room was added to the original house in two sec- tions: the north end in 1840, with the kitchen and servants' quarters; the south end in 1870. The Sewards used the square dining table in Albany and Washington, and nearly all of the other furnishings in this room, including the lace curtains, are from those periods. A sixty-place set of china, part of which is displayed in the southwest corner cabinet, was the gift of Prince Napoleon Joseph Charles Paul Bonaparte, the Emperor's nephew, who visited the Sewards in Washington in 1861. The gift was made to Seward's daughter-in-law Anna, Frederick's wife, who acted as hostess on such occasions, due to the poor health of the Secretary's wife and daughter. A painting of the gracious Anna Whar- ton Seward, also done by Leutze in 1867, hangs on the north wall. To the left of it is the Goodwin portrait of Thurlow Weed, influential editor of the Albany Evening Journal, strategist of the Whig and Republican parties, and Seward's chief political mentor and lifelong associate. The third portrait in this room is of Seward's only sister, Cornelia Canfield Seward, whose death in 1 839 was a deeply felt "dreadful bereavement" to the young Governor just starting his first term in Albany. THE HALL the hall, part of the original house, contains other mementoes of Seward's career. The bust of Seward in the southwest corner was done in 1930 by Daniel Chester French, who evidently worked from the Mathew Brady portrait. Over the mantel hangs the painting of the Kearsarge sinking the British-built gunboat Alabama, whose deprada- tions on Union shipping resulted in the "Alabama Claims," prosecuted by Seward against Great Britain. The spiral staircase, installed in 1870, is made of manzanita and laurel wood sent to Seward by the California Pioneer Society in gratitude for his successful efforts on the Senate floor in 1850 to have California admitted to the Union as a free state. Hang- ing on the north wall of the stairwell is a Chinese geneological tapestry showing Seward in the center, his three sons above him. 19 The Main Hall— an early view above, and as it appears today . . the Swiss-carved bear held the walking sticks and umbrellas 20 THE DIPLOMATIC GALLERY the diplomatic gallery on the second floor contains many of the portraits of the world's rulers acquired by Seward during his ad- ministration of the State Department. The Gallery itself corresponds to the "yellow parlor" in Seward's Washington residence, where the portraits he acquired as Secretary of State were hung. Standing there one evening in 1 869, shortly before his retirement, Seward pointed out to a guest how many of the world's sovereigns and ministers represented in this diplomatic gallery had "passed from office or from earth in the brief period of eight years." "It is a sermon on the instability of human greatness," his guest re- marked. "Perhaps so," Seward replied with a smile. "I can only hope that they all enjoyed the prospect of getting out of office as much as I do!" The Diplomatic Gallery . . . portraits presented by the world's rulers 21 'Signing the Alaska Treaty" by Emanuel Leutze, i86j The place of honor in the Diplomatic Gallery is given to Emanuel Leutze's oil painting of the signing of the Alaska purchase treaty. This transaction, which cost the U.S. Treasury but $7,200,000, took place by gaslight at four o'clock on the morning of March 30, 1867. Seward, pen in hand, prepares to sign the treaty held by the chief clerk at left. Edward Stoeckl, the Russian Minister, indicates "Russian America" (soon to be rechristened by Seward) on the State Department globe. Aides compare French and English versions in the background, while at right sit Senator Sumner, chairman of the Foreign Relations Com- mittee, and Frederick W. Seward, Assistant Secretary of State. 11 THE MILLER BEDROOM perhaps more than any other part of the house, the Miller Bed- room seems like another, earlier world — now a century and a half old. The delicate old rocking chair belonged to the Judge's mother. The andirons, fire screen and bedwarmer were purchased for the new house in 1 8 17. On the four-poster bed are the original canopy and quilts. The portrait of Judge Elijah Miller over the fireplace was painted by Ches- ter Harding in 1 843, and the old lantern on the mantel was used by the Judge for excursions after nightfall. His low-seated fireside chair has Judge Elijah Miller s bedroom . . . another world, a century and a half old x tf &> &> M *<}}.'. 23 been recovered with material once used as a summer linen rug. His gold- rimmed spectacles lie on the little tripod table. His last beaver, and its hatbox, remain in the room as he left them more than a century ago. THE NURSERY the nursery may have been used by Seward and his bride as their bedroom, when he first joined Judge Miller's household in 1824. It was larger then, for the adjoining bathroom had not yet been installed. The little cradle dates from Colonial times, having been originally used by Judge Miller's mother. The other furniture was used by the whole suc- cession of Seward children, as were the toys, which date from 18 10 to 1885 and were donated by Mrs. Frances Seward Messenger, younger daughter of General Seward and the Secretary's granddaughter. Among the toys is a jigsaw puzzle of Uncle Tom's Cabin, c. 1855. Portraits of William H. Seward II and his sister Frances hang over the mantel. Their brothers, Augustus and Frederick, are shown on the east wall. William H. Seward III and his sister Cornelia are in the oval frames. The Nursery . . . where generations of Seward children played 24 THE VICTORIAN BEDROOM the Victorian bedroom's furnishings are typical of the Civil War period. On the south wall is the Gohl portrait of Janet Watson Seward, the wife of General W T illiam H. Seward II, painted from an i860 photograph of her in her wedding dress. On the west wall are paintings of General and Mrs. Seward, done by George Clough in 1867. In the closet are dresses, shoes, and bonnets worn by the Secretary's wife and the wife of General Seward. THE CIVIL WAR ROOM the civil war room, in the southwest corner of the second floor, contains Seward's certificate of appointment as "Secretary of State of the United States" (signed by A. Lincoln on March 5, 1861, the day after his inauguration as President), several of Lincoln's handwritten letters, and many articles associated with General William H. Seward II: his uniform as a lieutenant colonel of the Ninth Heavy Artillery Regiment (New York State Volunteers) ; the field desk he used in 1 863— 64, filled with the original field documents and reports; his commissions as lieutenant colonel, colonel, and brigadier general, the latter signed by President Andrew Johnson; old field maps used by the Army of the Potomac; a Civil War musket and carbine; and a large blue silk banner, bearing the names of Civil W 7 ar battles, which was made by the women of Auburn in 1862 for General Seward's regiment. THE DISPLAY ROOM the display room, in the rear of the house on the first floor, holds many other notable Seward possessions, including his uniform as Gov- ernor, the gowns pictured in several of the Seward family paintings, the gold cane and the gold-inlaid Winchester repeating rifle given to Seward in 1869 by California's Pioneer Society ("the '49-ers"). Also chain ar- mor, helmet, shoulderpiece and gauntlet dating from the Crusades, and a Mongolian armored jacket found in Alaska; the Biblical widow's mite ("pronounced undoubtedly genuine by the donor"); and a valuable collection of American political symbols. Here too is perhaps the most interesting piece of furniture in the 25 house: the slender mahogany desk used by a member of the first United States Congress, which assembled in New York City's Federal Hall in 1789, before George Washington's inauguration as this country's first President. The handwritten letter displayed with the desk explains how it came to be presented to Seward: His Excellency Wm. H. Seward Albany New York Dear Sir. N Y. Sept. 2d. 1842 I sent by the Steam Boat, S. America the Desk of the First Constitutional Congress. I hope it came safely to hand. This desk is among the rarities that may have been preserved of that famous body. I cannot say whether Ames, or Williamson or Sherman or who occupied it. But your history will tell you how sacred was its occupation. You are more entitled to be its possessor than any other man of our State. I know you will cherish it. Will you let me know if you receive it; and dare I ask you for the first 4to of the Geological Survey. God bless you & yours J. W. Francis 26 WILLIAM HENRY SEWARD BY DEXTER PERKINS {The following article was written for the University of Rochester Library Bulletin, Autumn 1951, and is reprinted here by permission^) The study of American politicians of the past is one of the best ways of understand- ing the politics of the present. For the nature of the game has changed but little, and the same mixture of idealism and practical expediency prevails in the maneuvers today that characterized the maneuvers of a century ago. There are few people who better repay study from this point of view than William Henry Seward. Seward never became President of the United States. But he entered politics early in life, played an active role for more than a quarter of a century, was probably the most prominent member of the Republican party in the fifties, and, as Secretary of State in the Lincoln and Johnson administrations, was one of the most significant figures in the history of these years. He was, moreover, by the judgment of specialists, one of the greatest figures that ever conducted American foreign policy, ranking second, perhaps, in his career at the State Department only to John Quincy Adams. It is, therefore, a matter for gratification that through the bequest of Seward's grandson the papers of this great statesman have come to the University of Rochester. There has been no biography of Seward in many years. The reinterpretation of his life will be an interesting task for some historian, and the papers will also throw a flood of light on the times in which he lived and on the politics of the State of New York. The purpose of this brief article, however, is not to indicate the importance of the Seward manuscripts in detail but rather to sketch in brief fashion the outstanding facts in Seward's political career, and to show how and why he deserves both more attention and more admiration than he has yet received. Seward's early political faith was contrary to his political upbringing. The members of his family were Democratic Republicans, but Seward, when he began his career as a young lawyer at Auburn, allied himself with the Clintonians and with those ele- ments in New York politics which supported the candidacy of John Quincy Adams for President of the United States. His choice of a political allegiance seems to have been based in large measure on principle, on devotion to the cause of internal improve- ments, and on distrust, even then, of some of the southern elements in the ranks of the Jeffersonians. But Seward early made one of those important political contacts which may count so much in a man's advancement. As early as 1824 he came into casual acquaintance with Thurlow Weed, destined in time to be the dominant political figure in the Whig party in New York. The association grew with time and was a very fruitful one. Weed delighted in the mechanics of politics; Seward was bold and even reckless in the espousal of causes. The two men supplemented each other and were destined to become close friends. 27 Seward's early political career culminated in his election to the governorship of New York State in 1838 and 1840 on the Whig ticket. The mixture of politician and idealist is clearly seen in his acts during this period. In the campaign of 1838 he dodged some embarrassing questions on the rising issue of the Negro question as candidates from time immemorial have dodged unpleasant inquiries. But he showed much boldness once he was elected. He courageously advocated a policy of public spending to relieve the distress caused by the depression which had hit the country; he championed the cause of public education; he refused to surrender three sailors who had instigated the flight of a fugitive slave to New York when the extradition of these men was demanded by the state of Virginia; and the humane and generous side of his nature was reflected in all these decisions. Indeed, on the slavery question he seems to have felt himself in advance of public opinion and this had something to do with his declination to run for re-election in 1842. It was the slavery question that brought Seward back into political life and con- tributed to his election to the Senate in 1849. There Seward resisted the Compromise of 1850 and spoke brilliantly against it. In this debate he made the prescient declara- tion that the slave system would either be removed "by gradual voluntary effort and by compensation" within the framework of the Union or the Union would be dis- solved and civil war ensue, bringing on violent but complete and immediate eman- cipation. It is in this same debate that he declared that there was a "higher law than the Constitution." But the New Yorker's radicalism was often diluted with political expediency. The "higher law speech" Seward attempted afterwards to explain in rather shuffling phrases, and in 1852 Seward and his friend Weed were influential in bringing about the nomination on the Whig ticket of General Winfield Scott who represented virtually nothing whatsoever in the way of principle. The slavery question was temporarily laid to rest with the Compromise of 1850. But it revived with the Kansas-Nebraska bill of 1854, and in the years that followed Seward represented the anti-slavery forces as much as any man. He was not always completely consistent; he had his moments of equivocation like many a politician before and after him; but he was, on the whole, a leader, and the foremost candi- date for the Republican nomination for the presidency when the Republican con- vention met at Chicago in i860. Seward's failure to be nominated was due to factors which in part reflected credit upon him and which in part did not. His bold language on the slavery question made him vulnerable; so, too, did his outspoken opposition to "nativism" and his obvious and oft expressed sympathy with the immigrant. In both of these matters he commands our sympathy. But his alliance with Thurlow Weed and the rather crass methods of the New York Republican organization militated against him, and here we can understand why he was the subject of criticism. The convention turned to a less conspicuous candidate and nominated Abraham Lincoln. Seward accepted his defeat with the cheerfulness that was a part of his nature and campaigned loyally for the ticket. Before the year was out, on the victory of the Republicans, he had accepted Lincoln's invitation to serve as Secretary of State of the United States. In the crisis of the winter and spring of 1 861 he certainly showed something less than the best of judgment. We may view sympathetically his desire to compromise as expressed in his speech of January 12, 1861; but it is impossible to assess other than harshly his famous circular of April 1, "Some Thoughts for the President's Consideration," in which he urged President Lincoln to embroil the United States with Europe as a means of preserving the Union, and egotistically suggested that the President abdicate his power to the Secretary of State. Nor is it easy to justify the machinations behind the back of the President by which the re- 28 3. /PCI <% y , ^^x id £}*^~»«* fr^~S ■ tf*-^ ^ — a-o ^L-t— ^u- y*=^T f-n /Z-*-^ /£>*-w, <