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ELIJAH WARD

[OF NEW YORK.]

A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

BY

ROBERT HADFIELD.

NEW Y O RK :
W. CARLETON & CO., PUBLISHERS.
LONDON : S. LOW, SON & CO.
M.DCCC.LXXV.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, bT
G. W. CARLETON <fc CO.,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.

John V. 1 row & Son,
Printers and Book binders^
£05-213 Itast izt/t St.,
NEW YORK.

TO THE

CONSTITUENTS OF THE
HON. ELIJAH WARD, M.C,
EIGHTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT, NEW YORK,
THIS SKETCH
OF HIS PUBLIC SERVICES IS RESPECTFULLY
DEDICA TED.

TO THE READER.

rpHE honorable career of Elijah Ward, his earnest support of the
Government during the late civil war, and his sound views on
leading financial, commercial and other questions, would seem to render
a sketch of his public services not inappropriate. His recent re-election
to the House of Representatives of the United States, affords a suitable
occasion on which to present to his constituents and the public, the accom
panying record of his Congressional career.

ELIJAH WAED.

©HE name of "Ward is of Scandinavian origin, and passed
with the Northmen to Normandy. Two of the principal
* ™ chiefs, " de la Warde," and " "Warde," accompanied "Wil
liam the Conqueror into England, and were engaged in the Battle
of Hastings.
The Honorable Andrew Ward, from whom the Wards of West
chester County, in the State of New York are descended, migrated
from Suffolk, in England, to New England, in 1630, in company
with a number of families of that county, including that of Mr.
(afterwards Governor) Winthrop. He first settled at Watertown,
Massachusetts, -where, five years afterwards, he, with others, was
appointed by the General Court to form a government in Connecti
cut. In the following year, he and his associates held the first
court ; and " he made the first law, and tried the first cause in it."
He was for several years a judge or magistrate, and, at different
periods, a deputy or member of both branches of the General Court
of that colony. The historian of Connecticut, referring to him and
his colleagues, says : " They were the civil and religious fathers of
the colony, who assisted in forming its free and happy constitution •
were among its legislators, and some of the chief pillars of the
church and commonwealth, who, with many others of the same
excellent character, employed their abilities and their estates, for the
prosperity of the colony."
In 1641, differences of opinion arose on certain questions of civil
and religious bberty, and the views of Mr. Ward, as to its value, be-

ing more consistent than those of the constituted authorities of the
day, he, with several of his friends, removed to Stamford, and, in
1643, purchased the town of Hempstead, L. L, then a part of the
colony of NewAmsterdam. The following year they formally landed
at Hempstead Harbor, now Eoslyn, L. I, and founded the village of
Hempstead; but, having some difficulty with the Dutch authorities,
Mr. Ward returned to Connecticut, was appointed a magistrate, and
closed a long and useful life in 1659.
Some of his children removed to Westchester County, and to
them the Wards of that region owe their origin. The name is one
of the most distinguished in the annals of the county, and many
members of the family have held prominent positions in the state
and nation.
Elijah Ward was born at Sing Sing, Westchester County, and is
about fifty-six years of age. He is the son of Israel Wardj now
deceased, who married a daughter of the late John Kossel, of the
same county. Young Ward was sent to the village academy,
where he received an academic education, and at an early age
developed a taste for books and the acquisition of knowledge.
, He was interested in many subjects ; but, pobtical economy,
history, and biography, were his favorites, more especially the latter,
wherein youth can trace the progressive steps by which men attain
high pubbc, pobtical and social eminence ; and, if ambitious, may
learn to follow successful and illustrious examples. His industry
and perseverance in self-culture, gave him, in addition to the results
of his academic studies, a large fund of general information of much
use to him in after life. Having an early predilection for the legal
profession, he decided upon adopting it. His kinsman, Major
General Aaron Ward, then a representative in congress, and a lead
ing member of the bar in Westchester County, proposed taking him
into his office. Tho offer was peculiarly favorable, and was warmly
appreciated ; but, with the spirit of self-rebance which has been the
main spring of his success, young Ward resolved that, as such a step

would make him somewhat dependent, he would rely upon his own
efforts, until he should thus be enabled to pursue his intended
studies. In the spring of 1833, he went to the city of New York to
seek employment. On the day after his arrival, he was engaged
by Mr. John S. Mclvibben, then a prominent and much respected
merchant, with whom he remained up to the time when he was
enabled to direct his attention exclusively to his chosen profession.
Meanwhile he became thoroughly conversant with business trans
actions, thus acquiring knowledge which was afterwards of great
value to him in the practice of the law, and developing the deep
interest in mercantile affairs and men, which has always been an
animating principle of his public hfe. So long as he was with
Mr. McKibben, he devoted his time, after tlie hours of business,
to mental improvement. Under competent instructors he unremit
tingly pursued a course of classical, philosophical and practical
.studies ; thus laying the foundation of much that was useful and
characteristic in his future successful career. He kept steadily in
mind the profession he had marked out for himself, — and, in 1838,
while yet a clerk, attended the Law School in the University of
New York, then numbering among its professors tho Honorablo
William Kent, the Honorable Benjamin F. Butler, and David Gra
ham. Jn January, 1839, Mr. Ward was elected President of the "Mer
cantile Library Association," an institution then, as now, contribut
ing much to the advancement of the intellectual character of the
merchants of New York, — and of no little utility to the community
of the city at large. Even at that time it numbered more than 5,300 .
members. During the term of his office, it attained a higher degree
of prosperity than in any preceding year of its existence. He was
tendered a nomination for re-election, but declined it in conse
quence of the intended change in his occupation.

In February, 1840, he entered, as a student, the law office of tha
Honorable William W. Campbell. In May, 18-1-3, having completed
the prescribed term of legal study, he was admitted to practice in
the Supreme Court and Comt of Chancery. Immediately after his
admission he became the law partner of Mr. Campbell. In 1848, he
was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the United States.
During the partnership, Mr. Campbell was counsel to the Alms
House Commissioners, held the office of Commissioner in Bank
ruptcy, was appointed a Master in Chancery, and was elected to
Congress as representative from the city of New York. The prin
cipal part of tho business, therefore, necessarily devolved upon Mr.
Ward. Through tbe advantages derived from his former commer
cial pursuits, an extensive acquaintance among merchants, and a
steady and earnest devotion to his profession, together with the
high character and eminent ability of his associate, the firm, in a
few years, attained a most lucrative and successiul practice ; and, on
the elevation of Mr. Campbell to the Bench nf the Superior Court of
the City of New York, in 1850, Mr. Ward succeeded to the busi
ness. In May, 1845, he received a commission as Judge- Advocate of
the Second Brigade, with the rank of major. In May, 1848, he
became Judge-Advocate of the First Division, N. Y. S. M., with
the rank of colonel ; and, in January, 1853, was appointed by Gov
ernor Horatio Seymour, Judge-Advocate General of the State, with
'die rank of bricadier-o-eueral.
Upon his promotion to the position of Division Judge- Advocate,
the Second Brigade Staff, on the 4th of July, 1848, presented to
him, through General George P. Morris, a beautiful gorget of rold,
with appropriate ceremonies, at the quarters of General Sandford,
in the presence of the field staff officers of the First Division.
When he was advanced to the position of Judge Advocate
General, the division staff " being unwilling to close their military
relations without testifying, in some suitable manner, their esteem

for him as an officer," presented him with a costly and handsome
sword, " as evidence of the cordial and friendly regard of those
who had the best opportunity of witnessing General Ward's devo
tion to the military service of the State."
Soon after the incorporation of Texas into the American Union,
open hostilities between the United States and Mexico ensued
The acquisition of New Mexico and California, by the treaty of
peace with Mexico led to the proposal in Congress that " no part of
the territory acquired shall be open to the introduction of slavery."
No such proviso was necessary, as slavery there was already prohib
ited by the laws of Mexico, and could not be instituted until the
existing laws had been repealed, and special enactments provided
for its estabbshmeut were passed. The proviso was not adopted,
but it led to a violent "sectional agitation that distracted and divided
the country, until the passage of the Act of 1850, known as the com
promise bill.
For several years during these dissensions, General Ward con
tinued to devote himself to the practice of the law, and, although
always a democrat, kept aloof from the divisions in his party, and
deplored their existence ; but when, in 1853, schism again arose,
the prominence of his position rendered it necessary that he should
take one side or the other, and he identified himself more fully with
the National Democracy, whose principles were most in conson
ance with his own. At this time, his active pobtical career began.
Hitherto he had neither sought, nor desired pobtical advance
ment; but had often refused the sobcitations of his personal friends,
to enter upon the arena of pubbc life, bebeving that the bar itself
afforded a sufficiently wide field for distinction, and that the faithful
performance of his professional duties admitted of no other concur
rent pursuits. Now, the dangers which arose from bitter sectional
and partizan sentiments and have since culminated in war, began
more and more forcibly to command his attention, and soon secured

his earnest and active services in behalf of his country. Educated
in the revolutionary and national traditions of his family, he deemed
the welfare of the whole Union, the proper object of his best
efforts as a citizen, and believed that the federal constitution, loyally
and intelbgently administered, amply provided abke for (security and
progress. The expediency of repealing the laws which prohibited the admis
sion of new slave States, north of the Missouri line— thirty-six de
grees and six minutes of north latitude — into the Union, was much
doubted by many prominent Democrats, among others General
Ward ; but as Congress, under tbe lead of the Honorable Steuben
A. Douglas, had, in 1S54, repealed the prohibition, .it was
deemed advisable to regard the measure as a fact already deter
mined. In June of that year, General Ward, being desirous
of enabling Senator Douglas to give a full expression of h't
opinions on the state of pubbc affairs, and of uniting the National
Democracy in the support of his views, gave a complimentary enter-
tainment to him, at which a large number of the leaders of that
party were present.
In addressing Senator Douglas, General Ward bore emphatic
testimony to the progressive characteristics of the Democratic party,
and the fidebty of it, and the people at large, to the Union. He
Said: " The great success of the Democratic party in times past, Is attributable to its
rigid adherence to a strict construction of the constitution, its national character
in regarding all parts of the country as equally entitled to the rights and priv
ileges provided by the constitution, and its sympathy with, and devotion to, the
interests of the people. It is a party of rational and sound progress, and keepa
pace with the advancement of mankind. It believes tbe people may be safely en
trusted with power; that man is approaching to a state of greater perfcctability,
and that even ancient laws may be modified to meet tbe progressive spirit of the
•age. '
"The, people are devoted to the Union ofthe States, and they are determined that
nothing shall destroy tbe beauty and harmony of the whole. They regard the
Government as having been placed here by an all wise Providence, for an example
that is gradually to spread its influence until tbe people, everywhere, are impressed
with tbe great fact, that they should be tbe true source of power, and that
Government is constituted for all, and not for privileged classes. They believe

9
that our country has a great mission to accomplish,, and that its great destiny can
only be attained through union, that in union is the source of its commercial and
political grandeur and power, and that all minor questions sink into insignificance
compared with its great future."
The Legislature of the State of New York, by an act passed the
17th of June, 1853, authorized the Commander in Chief ofthe State
to confer brevet rank upon the officers of the New York regiment
of volunteers who served in the war with Mexico. The duty of
presenting the commission devolved upon General Ward. The
ceremony took place on the 29th of July, 1854, at the Astor House,
in the presence of Major-General Quitman, the commander of the
volunteers, and the first American Governor of Mexico, together
with several other distinguished officers and civilians. After refer
ring in high terms to the bravery of the gallant New York regi
ment, General Ward availed himself of this opportunity of express
ing his views as to the inexpediency and danger of maintaining a
large standing army, and in favor of the American volunteer system,
in the following terms :
" Our volunteer service always has been, and is one of Ihe most important and
interesting features of our political system, and deserves all possible encourage
ment from our General and State governments. The citizens of tbis country en
tertain a deep-seated prejudice against a large standing army. The sentiment has
arisen from the admonition contained in the history of other nations ; it dates
from the earliest period in our history as a government, and bas grown and been
strengthened with its rapid and unparalleled growth. Our distant position from
tbe powerful nations of the Old Yforld, and tbe ready and cheerful obedience of
our citizens to the laws, render a large permanent army unnecessary. In its place,
however, we have all tbe elements necessary to create at any moment an army
adequate to tbe greatest emergencies of the government. These elements are to be
found among tbe brave, skillful and scientific officers now in our regular service,
many of whose names are already high on tbe scroll of fame.in the military acade^
my, tbe nursery of the highest order of military science, tactics and knowledge, and
in the patriotic devotion of our citizens. The commencement of each war in
which our country bas been engaged has witnessed a large body of our citizens, of
all classes and professions, and of every business, leaving tbeir ordinary avocations
for the public service ; and tbe return of peace bas witnessed tbeir retirement to
tbe quiet and peaceful pursuits of private life."
In August, 1855, General Ward was a delegate to the State Con
vention of the National Democracy, then held at Syracuse, and was

10
appointed Chairman of the Committee on Eesolutions. The resolu
tions reported by him, and adopted by the convention, were com
prehensive ; embraced the leading principles for which the
National Democracy were contending; reflected dignity upon the
convention ; and met the approval of his party and conservative men.
In October of the same year, he was elected President of the
Young Men's National Democratic Club, composed of a large num
ber of the influential, active and energetic young men of the party,
and which did most effective work in the pobtical campaigns of that
period. In 1856, he was a delegate to the Democratic Convention at
Cincinnati, which nominated the Honorable James Buchanan, for
President, and the Honorable John C. Breckenridge, for Vice-
President. In the great contest which took place in that body, be
tween the rival divisions of the New York Democracy, bis efforts in
favor of a harmonious and honorable settlement of the differences,
with a view to the unity of the party in the coming struggle,
did much to produce the satisfactory result that ensued.
The same year he was chosen by a large plurality, a representa
tive in Congress, from the VIIth Congressional District, composed
of the ninth, sixteenth, and twentieth wards of the city of New
York, which then, and during the time he represented it, had a
republican majority. His competitors were the Honorable Georo-e
Briggs, of the " Native American " party, and General James
W. Nye, a Eepublican. Pursuant to Ins election, he took his seat
as member of the XXXVth Congress, on the first Monday of
December, 1857.
During his first term in Congress, no member made a more desira
ble reputation as a legislative statesman; or, more and warmer friends.
No other became so familiar with public men of all parties, and
from every part of the United States. His speeches were upon sub
jects of substantial interest, and such important points as were
immediately before Congress. All of them were characterized by

11
much condensed and solid information, followed by a terseness and
accuracy of reasoning which carried conviction to the minds of those
who heard him.
Strongly impressed with the knowledge that slavery would never
permanently exist in the territories, then owned by the United
States ; that by the simple laws of climate, and of profit and loss,
slaveholders, and the institution of slavery, could only remain in re
gions more congenial to it ; Gen. Ward earnestly bent his best efforts
toward securing a peaceful solution of the question, on which so
embittered a controversy had arisen. Nothing but the silent opera
tion of natural causes, for so long a period of time, was needed to
insure the triumph of freedom without injury to either race, or the
people of either part of the Union. He saw the dangers inseparable
from pressing the decision to an immediate issue by congressional
enactments, and beheved the dictate of sound policy was that legisla
tion, the cause of such constant sectional agitation, and fraught
with so serious consequences to tbe peace and harmony of the Union
should, so far as possible, be left to the people of the territories,
and of the new states to be formed out of them. He lamented the
sectional and pobtical excitement, engendered by the angry debates
and frequent misrepresentations of parties not always disinterested
on a subject in itself so simple and easy of settlement, and saw that
the bond of fraternal intercourse and sentiments, which should
always exist between the residents in the different parts of our
common country, was already weakened. He believed the Demo
cratic party to be the only one that properly appreciated and
guarded all the great purposes for which our government was
founded, that while it sought to protect individuals in the full enjoy
ment of their personal privileges, and to preserve and extend civil
and religious liberty, it maintained a strict observance of constitu
tional rights and obligations, and wisely fostered the great com
mercial, agricultural and mechanical interests of the nation.
Holding these views, he addressed the House of Eepresentatives on

12
the 31st of March, 1858, on the " Nationality of the Democratic
party and its importance to the Union." He urged the necessity of
investing the people of Kansas with the power of exercising the
functions of a State government, so that Congress might be relieved
from further interference, and the people be left "perfectly free
to form and complete their domestic institutions in their own way,
subject only to the Constitution of the United States."
The citizens of Kansas, had an opportunity of voting for delegates
to form the constitution; but many of them refused to exercise that
right, or be bound by the reciprocal obligation of the trust reposed
in them. The character of the Constitution was as democratic as
that of other States. One of the provisions was, that the people
should " at all times, have an inalienable and indefeasible right to
alter, reform, or abolish their form of government in such manner -
as they may think proper." Opposition to such a Constitution,
seemed to him an omen of evil. He called on the Anti-Lecompton
Democrats to pause in the step they were about to take, warning
them — bow wisely subsequent events demonstrated — that the sec
tional triumph they were striving to accompbsh, might bring in its
train, such calamities as could only be conjectured. He said :
" The public welfare, the repose of the nation, and, indeed, every consideration
that can influence tbe patriot and lover of bis country, demand that tbis subject
should be promptly dismissed from tbe balls of Congress. Kansas admitted, the
people of tbe territory will then adjust tbeir own internal affairs, peace be restored,,
a more natural and healthful flow ot immigration than that sent forward by the
emigrant aid societies will occur, and peaceful pursuits will be cultivated, instead
of the warlike amusements now threatened. If Kansas should not be admitted,
the excitement now pervading the country will be continued ; tbe subject will
again be presented to Congress, impeding all legislation during the next sessibn,
and perhaps in the one following it; the waves of anger and embittered feeling
rolling higher and higher. It does not require a prophetic spirit to foretell the dis
astrous consequences that may ensue."
Confident that slavery in the territories, left to the operation of
natural causes, would soon perish, General Ward hoped that by
pursuing the calm and magnanimous course which is so often the
best policy in great affairs, the people in all parts of our country

13
might avoid the calamities of the war, through which they have
since passed. He said :
" Once firmly established and acted upon in good faith, slavery will be left to
the law of climate and soil to control it. This law, which bas been silently work
ing since the adoption of tbe constitution, bas caused tbe abolition of slavery in
six of tbe original states, and either abolished or prohibited it in nine of tbe new ¦
states since admitted, and which bas now brought to us two, if not more, free
states for admission into tbe Union, thereby destroying tbe equilibrium between
tbe slave and free states, imposes, h: my judgment, a higher duty upon tbe national
democracy of tbe north than has hitherto existed, to see that the compromises of
tbe Constitution are maintained, and tbe rights of tbe states secured. Its action
in tbe past is a guarantee for tbe future."
In conclusion, General Ward used the following words :
" I love my whole country: it is with regret that I see contrasts presented, at
tempting to show the greater prosperity of one section or class over another. We
are one aggregated whole — what adds to one part strengthens tbe other. Our
power and greatness as a nation result from combination, ahd from that alone'
must it increase and be carried on in tbe fulfillment of its great future."
When he became a member of the House of Eepresentatives, the
historical case of Judge Watrous, of the United States District
Court in Texas, had engaged its attention during several sessions.
The questions involved in it were those of the independence and in
tegrity of the judiciary, and due regard to the sacred right of
petition. The State of Texas, through its legislatures, had made
ample examination into the charges against Judge Watrous, and,
being fully convinced that he had been corruptly interested in the
results of various suits in his court, asked a just investigation from
Congress, and that, if the guilt of the accused were estabhshed, he
should be removed from the high office, of which he had abused the
trusts. He was charged with having endeavored, for Ins personal
profit, to give vahdity, through the court in which he presided, to
certificates of title covering nearly twenty-four millions of acres of
land, and with being directly or indirectly interested in the chief
suits brought before him.
On the 4th of December, 1858, General Ward addressed the
House, presenting a full, effective and impartial statement of the
acts of Judge Watrous, and strenuously urged the necessity of main-

14
taining honesty and purity in the national courts, and of holding
corrupt judges to due responsibility. He insisted that the right of
petition should be maintained, and that the exercise of tins essential
institution of republicanism should be treated with proper consider
ation by those who are elected to represent the rights and interests
of the people. The sources whence the charges emanated were such
that a fair investigation into then character was due, not only to the
dignity and purity of judicial position, and to the people at large;
but also to the accused, who, if innocent, should be allowed an op
portunity of vindication and acquittal. " Until that is done," said
General Ward, " his usefulness as a" judge is gone, his honor tar
nished, and his integrity impeached."
The importance, to this country and the world, of a ship canal to
connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, has for many years en
gaged the attention of General Ward, and, on the 15th of February,
1859, he debvered an elaborate speech upon it, in the House of
Representatives. After referring, with great warmth, to the inter
est, he, personally, and as the representative of a constituency, to
which the progress of commerce was of vital importance, felt in in
creased facilities for the transfer of property, and the intercourse of
mankind by means of railroad and canal communications, he ex
plained the magnificent project of a ship canal across the Isthmus,
between the two great American continents, at such a cost as would
yield a reasonable profit.
Having shown that the chief nations of the world had, from the
earliest historical period, desired to participate in the trade of the
East, and that the country controlling it had for that time held a
commercial supremacy over all others, he specified the advantages
the United States would gain in the contest for this great and in
creasing trade, by cutting a canal from ocean to ocean, and thus
placing our country in a central position between the commercial
nations of Europe and those of the Orient.
Entering into a minute calculation, he demonstrated that, accord-

15
ing to the official statistics of the United States for 1857, the saving
to our trade for that year would, if the canal had been completed,
have been $35,995,930, and that the annual saving to the world
during the next ten years would be $99,060,416, with a certainty of
continual additions. The estimated cost of the canal was $73,687,-
141, by way of the Atrato and Truanclo Rivers. He showed, by
valuable tables, the great economy that could be effected in every
voyage from New York to various important ports by the proposed
work, in comparison with the present routes. San Francisco alone
would then be nearer to the commercial metropolis by fourteen
thousand miles, than by way of Cape Horn ; and on every outward
voyage, an average saving of at least ten thousand miles would be '
made to China, India, Japan, the Sandwich Islands, British Aus
traba, the Dutch, Engbsh and French East Indies, New Zealand,
Alaska, the Eussian possessions on the Pacific, the western coast of
Mexico, Chile and Peru. Including the return trip, the saving
would be doubled. The attainment of such great results would give
an' extraordinary impulse to the commerce of the United States and
other nations.
Important and remunerative as the work would be, he thought it
was of a magnitude too vast to be assumed without the aid of the
government. He, therefore, proposed that, if necessary, Congress
should guarantee the payment of interest on the capital, from
year to year, as required for completion of the undertaking, and pre
sented calculations, based on the amount of trade at the date when
he spoke, showing that the saving to the United States alone, during
the first year, when the canal was in operation, would be $8,500,000
more than the whole interest on the expenditures for twelve
years. He presented computations proving that the yearly saving to
England would be $9,950,348, to France, $2,183,930, to the United
States, $35,995,930", and to other countries, $1,400,000— an aggre
gate of $49,530,208 annually. Hence there were good reasons for
believing that England and France would be desirous of being as-

16
sociated with the United States in solving this 'great problem of the
age. Thus the cost and responsibibty to each would be moderate j
no international jealousy or exclusive pobcy would interfere with it;
and the leading nations of the world would consult their own inter
ests by guaranteeing its neutrality and safety in time of war.
He urged that the work would be a sound and proper investment
for the United States to make, even if double the estimated cost
were needful, in consequence of the increased benefits the new means
of transit would confer upon commerce — the great lever which con
quers and maintains peace, and tends to bind the nations of the earth
in perpetual amity.
The speech was pecubarly instructive. It initiated in Congress a
movement of vast moment to the national prosperity, and became
the daily talk among thinking men, especially in mercantile and
diplomatic circles. The events of the war diverted attention, but
the stupendous undertaking was delayed, not abandoned. It is
acquiring increased interest in the pubbc mind, and renewed official
investigations, as to its cost and practicability, have recently been
made. During his first term in Congress, General Ward devoted himself
to the consideration of several other practical and important ques
tions. Upon his return home he was cordially welcomed by his
friends and constituents, who assembled in large force to testify their
esteem and respect for him, and tender their congratulation upon
his fidelity to their interest, and the various trusts confided to his
care. In October, 1858, he was nominated for re-election. His
competitor was the Hon. George Briggs, who united the Native
American, and Eepublican nominations, by the withdrawal of Augus
tus F. Dow, the candidate of the latter organization. At the elec
tion in the following November, the vote for General Ward
exceeded that of 1856, when he was first elected ; but tbe perfect
union of the two other parties in favor of his opponent, made the
odds too great to be overcome, and he was defeated.

17
Soon after the expiration of the first congressional term in 1859,
President Buchanan tendered General Ward a foreign mission, a
distinction which, while cordially appreciated, was respectfully de-
cbned in consequence of an intention to engage more actively in his
professional career, which had been partially interrupted by the
pressure of pubbc duties. His relations with the President were
of a most friendly and agreeable character, and he gave to the ad
ministration during the XXXVtk Congress, a personal devotion and
disinterested support which was at all times duly recognized.
In 1860, General Ward was nominated for Congress, by the Mo
zart and Breckenridge organizations, Udolpho Wolfe by the Tam
many Hall branch of the party, the Hon. George Briggs, by the sup
porters of Bell and Everett, and Augustus F.Dow by the Eepublicans.
General Ward and Mr. Wolfe, submitted to a conference committee,
mutually chosen, the question, which of the two should remain in the
field. The decision was in favor of General Ward, and Mr. Wolfe,
'withdrew from the canvass. Mr. Briggs then also withdrew from
the contest, and his friends united in support of General Ward, who
was chosen over Mr. Dow by a majority of 2,397.
In 1S62, he was again nominated for re-election by the democratic
party. His competitors were the Hon. Frederick A. Conkling,
radical repubbcan, and Orison Blunt, conservative repubbcan
General Ward was elected by a large plurality, and had a majority
of 1,107 over both opponents.
From his earhest study of the history of his country, General
Ward had beheved the decisive course taken in 1833 by Andrew
Jackson, in reference to the ordinance of nullification, passed by a
convention assembled in South Carobna, was the true precedent for
action whenever any attempt to dissolve the Union might be made.
He held with Jackson, that " the rights of a people of a single State
to absolve themselves at will, and without the consent of other
States, from their most solemn obbgations, and hazard the liberties
of the milbons composing this Union, cannot be acknowledged;"

18
that, " compared to disunion, all other evils are hght, because that
alone brings with it an acciunulation of all ; that, if by the offensive
act of, any State, the crime of shedding of a brother's blood should
fall upon our land, the unanimity with which the decision of the
people would be expressed in favor of the Union, would be such as
to inspire new confidence in repubbcan institutions, and that the
prudence, the wisdom, and tbe courage, which it would bring to
their defence, would transmit them unimpaired and invigorated to
our children." General Ward, held that these views constituted the
only reliable rule of pobcy for tbe democratic party and the nation
at large, and hoped that the happy sequel to the bold and merciful
action of President Jackson, would safely guide President Buchanan
to hke. results. Hence he deeply deplored, as encouraging to seces
sionists, and fraught with tlie utmost danger to the people in all
parts of the country, the declaration of Buchanan, in his message of
December, 1860, and in advance of the momentous occasion, that
Congress had no power, by force of arms, to compel a State to re
main in the Union. Mr. Buchanan was among the last of the sur
vivors of a race of men, who iu tbeir day, regarded themselves as
faithful guardians of the Constitution and the Union. As a member
of tbe House of Representatives, a Senator, Minister to England,
• Secretary of State and President, he was entitled to the highest con
sideration of his countrymen. When many other eminent men in
the North, wavered as to the course of action proper to adopt in the
then existing crisis ; with his constitutional advisers divided upon the
issues of the day, it is perhaps, not surprising that he erred in his
views, from a desire for a peaceful preservation of the Union. Gen
eral Ward, was of tbe opinion that if the President had pursued a
similar course to that of General Jackson, and appealed to Congress
to give him men and money, for the coming emergency, it would
not only have checked the seditious acts of the Southern men ; but
closed his administration with a popularity rarely equalled.
General Ward promptly recognized the facts that the Govern-

19
ment did not begin the war, and that the seceded States, at the time
the rebelbon was inaugurated, had nothing of which they could
complain, that none of their prerogatives had been interfered with ;
none of their citizens had been burthened by taxation, and all their
rights and institutions were under the protection of the United
States. He held that they had gone out from among us under the
pretense that they foresaw in the future, they should lose their just
pobtical power and influence in the Union ; and, acting upon this
seff-imposed delusion, had drawn the sword wantonly and willfully
upon the Government and loyal people of the United States.
Deeply impressed with these convictions, he took bis seat in the
XXXVIIth Congress, at the extra session beginning on the 4th of
July, 1861, and gave a firm and consistent support to all well-
devised efforts to crush the rebeUion. This session was entirely
devoted to placing the army and navy in the requisite condition and
supplying the other urgent necessities created by the war.
The injustice of -withholding from New York those rights of
coinage, which were granted to places so remote from the channels
of trade, and so seldom named as Dahlonega and Charlotte, is one
of the most flagrant wrongs existing under the Government of the
United States. General Ward, who when in Congress was pre
eminently the commercial representative of the National emporium
of trade, strenuously exposed this costly grievance, and urged the
needful reform. In 1862, the Chamber of Commerce of the State
of New York, presented to Congress a memorial, setting forth the
imnortance of conferring upon the United States assay office in the
City of New York, the privilege of coining with the national cur
rency, such portions of gold and silver bullion, as may be deposited
, with the Treasurer at New York for that purpose ; and on the 15th
of May, General Ward from the Committee on Commerce, made to
the House of Representatives, a report in favor of the prayer of the
memorial. He submitted also an act for carrying out his recom
mendations. Before impartial judges the opening paragraph of the

20
report, would by itself, have been sufficiently convincing. He said •
" It should require no argument to prove that tbe most convenient place, for the
purpose of coinage by tbe government of tbe United States, is tbe commercial cen
tre towards which the chief lines of communication tend, bringing from various
places, and more than to any other point, tbe precious metals, and distributing
them again in pursuance of tbe natural and inevitable laws of trade. To send any
article some hundreds of miles for tbe purpose of receiving a stamp or mark, as -a
guarantee that it is genuine, and returning it again to tbe place whence it was
sent, and where it is to be sold or used, is so self-evidently an useless and improper
expenditure of public money that little more is deemed necessary than to state tbe
facts of tbis case in tbe form of accurate statistics. Tried by the plain rules guid
ing men of common prudence in every day life, tbe singular extravagance of the
present plan is manifest. No individual would tolerate a similar wastefulness in
bis own business."
In the year before the report was presented, the cost of carrying
gold and silver from New York, to be coined at the mint in Phila
delphia had been more than $71,755, without including the loss of
time to the depositor, or the risks which, under the most favorable
circumstances, are attached to the frequent transfer of large stuns,
sometimes amounting to $1,000,000 at a single time. Thus the
injury sustained by the public in that one year alone, was fairly
estimated at $100,000, the full amount of the appropriation named
in the bill under consideration, and enough to put the present assay
office in complete order for coining all the gold and silver that will
probably be offered for that purpose by owners and depositors at
New York for several years to come.
The report contained brief statements of tbe increase of the trade
of New York, its proportion to that of the other trade of the coun
try, and of the amounts of bulbon annually received in that city.
The whole amount of coinage at the two mints of Dahlonega and
Charlotte, since their commcement in 1838 to 1861, was only $11,-
039,034, bttle more than two-thirds of the average amount sent, at
great expense, from the assay office in New York, for coinage each
year of its existence.
In the seven preceding fiscal years, the amount of gold mined in
the United States, and received at the assay office in New York was
some twelve times greater than that received at the mint in Phila-

21
delphia ; while the amounts of foreign coin and bullion received at
the ports of New York and Philadelphia respectively, during the
six years ending June 30, 1860, were more than ninety-eight times
as large at New York as at Philadelphia. Those who have paid
most attention to the subject will best understand the significance of
the following suggestions :
" The full importance of coinage at New York, the central focus for trade in tbe
precious metals on this, the chief continent for their production, may never be
perceived until tbe leading commercial nations of tbe world have adopted a uni
form system of decimal coinage, a project which is already regarded with much
favor by many thoughtful and philanthropic individuals in various countries, and
would conduce greatly to tbe advantage of mankind, by facilitating commerce, and
rendering tbe common representative of value in every nation intelligible to every
civilized man. A greatly increased proportion of tbe bullion arriving at New
York would then be coined there, if tbe desired facilities for that purpose are
granted, and would become a universal currency throughout tbe globe."
Few propositions were ever more clearly estabbshed than the one
announced at the conclusion of the report, that " a faithful perform
ance of the trusts confided to Congress by the Constitution of the
United States, requires that necessary facibties for coinage should be
estabbshed in the City of New York, where bullion can be coined
with the greatest degree of economy to the government, and the
greatest degree of convenience to the largest number of our citi
zens." It is one of the most striking instances of the favoritism of our
times, and of tbe power exercised by local or special interests at
tbe expense of the nation at large, that Congress did not comply
with the reasonable recommendations made, and incontrovertibly
supported through General Ward. The war intervened, and re
course to a paper currency, rendering coinage less necessary for the
time, gave to unjust legislators a power with which the reformers
were unable to cope. On a return to specie payment, the subject
will attract renewed attention. The statistical facts enumerated in
the report were generaUy copied into the metropolitan papers. The
comments were unanimous, and theh" character may be mferred

22
from the apt and humorous illustration given in the Independent.
It said :
" General Ward, M. C, from New York, bas reported from tbe House Commit
tee on Commerce, a bill, authorizing tbe coinage of gold and silver in this city, the
spot where nine-tentbs of tbe bullion and foreign coin are first received. No busi
ness man would think of opposing such a movement, if it related to. bis own per
sonal affairs ; but politicians-, it is now generally supposed, sometimes legislate as
though tbey bad neither talent nor brains. Our Government, in tbis special mat
ter, acts like tbe man who built a saw-mill on tbe prairie, and then drew all bis logs
twenty-five miles to saw them."
The early connection of General Ward with mercantUe life, and
his residence and associations in the city of New York, had led him
to give to commercial subjects an attention which was not excelled
by any member of either House of Congress. In connection with
this tendency, his legal career had not only taught him to reflect
> much on the proper provisions of a uniform bankrupt law through
out the United States, but had filled him with sympathy for the
honest sufferers with whom he had been brought into communica
tion, and enabled him to see that what was a measure of mercy to
such debtors, would almost invariably be also a source of quick
justice to creditors. His exertions in favor of such a measure
began in 1858, as soon as he entered Congress ; and in 1859, when
not a member, he had personally endeavored to induce the con
gressional committee, to winch the subject had been referred,
to lose no time in recommending this valuable legislative reform.
It was owing to his efforts that the committee did not report
adversely. The number of those who were unable to pay their debts, and
whose lives were as hopeless for themselves as for their creditors,
had for many years increased gradually ; but, soon after the rebel
lion began, additional thousands of men became insolvent, from
the pressure of a national calamity as unexpected by them as if it
had been a sudden conflagration. The leading merchants of New
York and Boston, through their commercial associations, expressed
their opinion that measures of rehef would be peculiarly in harmony

23
with the beneficent institutions of a wise and liberal republic.
General Ward was one of the foremost among those who advocated
such a law as would give to each creditor a fair proportion of the
assets of the bankrupt, and sharply and decisively define how first
settlements between debtors and creditors should be made.
A sketch of his pubbc career can be bttle more than a record of
efforts to bring every day life and national affairs into legitimate
harmony with reasonable and humane sentiments. Full of faith
in this rule of life, he unremittingly served the cause of a bankrupt
law with even more than his usual zeal. It commended itself to
him, no less through his impartial judgment, than his earnest sym
pathies. In 1862, much disappointment was felt at the postponement, by
Congress, until December in that year, of all consideration of the
biU reported by the special committee, " to establish a uniform sys
tem of bankruptcy throughout the United States;" and he deemed
it his duty to bring forward the chief points of the question to a
fair and just consideration of the representatives of tbe people.
In a speech debvered in the House of Representatives on the 3d
day of June, 1862, he illustrated the subject by bis customary
use of statistics, so comprehensive, that they could not mislead.
He traced the ruinous effects of the various expansions and con
tractions of the currency, and argued that, as the causes of- the
then recent insolvencies were for the most part entirely political,
the rmfortunate men " who have thus been ruined should no more
be punished for these misfortunes than for any of the numerous ac
cidents to which mankind are liable."
He briefly presented the chief facts of the case in the following
paragraph, saying :
" Tbe present indebtedness of tbe southern to tbe northern states is carefully es
timated to be about $300,000,000, of which $159,000,000 are due to the City of New
York; $24,000,000 to Philadelphia ; $19,000,000 to Baltimore; and $7,600,000 to
Boston. By tbe losses thus incurred, many men of honor and integrity, whose
means of meeting all tbeir pecuniary engagements were as little doubted by them-

24
selves as by all who knew them, are undergoing the slow torture of mercantile
failure— hopeless and lifelong, if tbey be not relieved by the government of tbeir >
country. In not a few cases, tbe amount of then- debts is many times less than
that due to tbem by tbeir former customers in tbe southern states. Last year, in
tbe City of New York, nine hundred and thirteen mercantile bouses became in
solvent, whose separate liabilities were in no case under $50,000, and in some
instances, amounted to several millions. Out of two hundred and sixty-six leading
dry goods bouses reported sound when tbe rebellion began, only sixteen remain,
and tbeir condition is precarious. These firms cannot well be spared from our
commercial circles at tbis present crisis. Tbe common rules of humanity require
our sympathy in tbeir behalf, and no less do justice and a regard for tbe interests
of tbe republic, require that, after a strict examination of tbe affairs of each insolv
ent, if be uprightly and honorably surrenders bis property for the benefit of his
creditors, be shall be permitted to begin tbe world anew."
Tbe following extract is a fair illustration of his characteris-
tic reasoning, in which the facts of statistics and deductions from
the principles of humanity and justice are harmoniously blended.
He said :
" It is estimated that throughout our great commercial cities, in ordinary times,
five per cent, of tbe persons engaged in business fail every year. Ninety-five per
cent, of our chief business men become insolvent at least once in tbeir life-times,
and most of those who ultimately succeed, have, at some time, passed through the
same ordeal, and been dependent upon tbe leniency or indulgence of tbeir cred
itors. In many, perhaps in most cases, tbe honest debtor is met by bis creditor in
tbe spirit of justice. Creditors who adopt tbis line of action will surely not com
plain of a law making tbe course tbey pursue obligatory upon other creditors, thus
preventing fraudulent and preferential assignments, and much expensive litigation
and delay."
Having stated the result of his own observation to be that in
ninety cases out of a hundred where compromise had been offered
immediately after failure and repelled, the creditors would after
wards be glad if tbey could compromise tbe debt on less favorable
terms, but usually fail to reahse anything — the debt becoming a
total loss, he said :
" An attempt to settle with their creditors is usually one of tbe first efforts on
the part of those who become insolvent. If the debtor fails in tbis, through the
want of concurrence among bis creditors, and tbe claims against him are pressed,
be foresees long years of thraldom and embarassment, and bis next impulse is to
secure provisions for himself and family. In bis despair of meeting with justice,
be often bas recourse to many subterfuges, few of which ever reach tbe public ear;
but tbe common course is to make a preferential assignment, permitted by law,
thus placing bis assets in tbe bands of one or more friends, from whom be hopes to

25
obtain employment or assistance in business, or, perhaps, support and money from
the actual proceeds. Tbe remainder of bis creditors remain unsatisfied, and be
bids them defiance. Creditors, ou tbe other hand, fearing assignments of tbis
kind, often submit to compromises which tbey know to be unj ust. A proper bank
rupt law, prohibiting these assignments, would diminish, if it did not destroy, such
dangers, and thus befriend tbe creditor. In many cases, through these assign
ments, or by other means, the debtor is tempted to keep all be can until some such
terms as be thinks favorable, can be effected. From tbis time be leads a surrep
titious and demoralizing life. Perhaps one creditor alone objects to the offers
made. Tbe debtor is determined not to pay one unless be( can pay all. It is
necessary bis family should be maintained. Time passes, and bis assets are dimin
ished. Often tbe creditor fearing preferential assignments, hesitates to use legal
measures. Tbe only dividend that can now be offered seems paltry. Tbe debtor
finding that neither tbe world nor tbe world's law befriend bim, and believing that
tbe bondage of debt will be perpetual, not unfrequently sets aside tbe common re
straints of prudence and morality, and becomes an incubus and injury to society;
instead of devoting bis intellect and energies to its benefit. If of a nature too
scrupulous and honorable to yield readily to temptation, bis sufferings are severe
and constant. He endeavors to provide for those dependent upon bim ; but their
respect for bim is diminished by bis own loss of conscious independence, and tbe
change experienced in tbe social position of them all ; arising not from tbe neces- '
sity of proper retrenchment — this be and tbey can meet — but, because society always
attaches a certain degree of odium to tbe insolvent, who is thereby bumilated, and
often so far depressed, as to cause bim to resort to dissipation as a means of obtain
ing a temporary forgetfulness. He feels weak and degraded in tbe eyes of that
little domestic circle of bis wife and children, of those whom be is bound by every
honorable and sacred instinct of his nature to maintain and defend, at all legiti
mate hazards, by tbe daily labor of bis life, receiving in return, as his natural right,
the cherished equivalent of tbeir affection and respect. He can bestow upon them
nothing more than a temporary subsistence, taking care at best that be never has
at bis command more than tbe savings of a limited number of days. Tbe law bas
done all it can to make honesty no longer tbe best policjr for bim, and the only
hope be bas of worldly prosperity, or of competence, consists in practicing dis
honorable concealments."
The concluding words of his speech were :
" Society, itself, has at all times an interest in the subsequent life and exertions
of the bankrupt. Tbe hope or expectation of future acquisition by conducing to
the industry, honesty and morality of tbe unfortunate debtor contributes to the
welfare of the community. A due regard for tbe public good demands that the
future acquisitions of the debtor who has faithfully surrendered all be owned for
the benefit of his creditors, should be placed under bis own control, aud fully jus
tifies prudent and careful enactments for that purpose."
At the present time it is difficult to realize how, in a Congress of
Representatives 6f the American people, the passage of a bankrupt
law could have been so long delayed ; but the people of the agricul
tural districts, in whose pursuits there is little hazard, then under-

26 ,
stood less thoroughly than they-now do, the sudden monetary
revolution by which men of the best intentions, and of good business
habits, are sometimes ruined. The imperfect operations of the pre
vious temporary enactments had also their influence. Congress
postponed the further consideration of the subject.
In the following session of Congress General Ward again took
his place in the. foreground in the House of Representatives as an
advocate of a permanent bankrupt law, tending to prevent the
waste of assets, both by its compulsory clauses and by opening out
avenues of future, and hopeful employment to every debtor who
passes through the ordeal with an unblemished reputation. He
ably maintained that while such an enactment would be abke more
profitable to the creditor, and more humane to the debtor than the
customs already prevailing, it would also tend to " create and
maintain a high standard of mercantile integrity and honor — a
possession of inestimable value to the nation."
The importance of the commercial relations of the United States
with the other nations on this continent early engaged tbe attention
of General Ward. He saw in the free developement of the material
interests they have in common, the natural path to those friendly
sentiments, and that homogeneity of institutions, which are essential
to the most successful admission of such large populations into the
Union, or to whatever other mutually beneficial arrangement may be
most suitable to the occasion, when prejudice is disarmed and the in
fluence of commerce has brought the people on both sides into profit
able intercourse, aud woven the powerful bands of such an alhance
between them.
The treaty providing for a reciprocal trade in certain articles
between tbis country and British North America was, for several
years, mutually satisfactory ; but the Canadian authorities raised
the duties on manufactured goods to such an extent as to destroy
its natural effects in promoting many branches of the industry
of our people. In some cases the results of the new legisla-

27
tion were so decided that manufacturing establishments, with their
machinery, capital and men, were removed from this country to
Canada. In this state of affairs, the legislature of the State of New
York passed concurrent resolutions, demanding a revision of the
treaty, expressing approval of the principle of reciprocity, and a
, desire for an extension of its apphcation. It was seen that unre
stricted trade between the United States and Canada must be no less
mutually beneficial than that between New York and Pennsylvania,
Hlinois, or any of the other states of the Union.
In 1861- General Ward presented to the House of Representatives,
and ably supported the concurrent resolutions passed by the legis
lature of the State of New York, in favor of " the co-operation and
expansion of the commercial relations between the United States
and British Provinces," and declaring, that although much restrictive
legislation in Canada since the enactment of the treaty had modi
fied its natural operations, "free commercial intercourse between
the United States, and the British North American Provinces' and
Possessions, developing the natural, geographical and other advan
tages of each, for the good of all, is the only proper basis of our
intercourse for all time to come."
The House referred the resolutions to the Committee on Com
merce, in whose behalf he prepared and presented in 1862 a more
elaborate report than had ever before been made on the same topic.
It was no less comprehensive in principle than accurate in detail. He
saw that our commercial relations with the British Provinces were
worthy of the closest investigation, not only from the importance of
' their territory and population, but for the yet more weighty consid
eration that the principles and plans necessary to a mutually satis
factory adjustment of the existing impediments to the natural devel
opment of trade with them, would have a valuable influence on the
- future pobcy of the United States, by forming the nucleus for such
a system of exchanging the products of the industries of our people
with other nations on this continent, as would be no less beneficial

28
than that ofthe citizens of our different states with each other; thus
regarding the adoption of just measures of reciprocal trade with Can
ada, as the proper precursor of yet more comprehensive arrange
ments. He sketched the characteristics of the men of the north, '
and announced in the foUowing paragraph the principle which
should animate the policy of tlie United States towards them. He
said: " The climate and soil of these provinces and possessions,seemingly less indulgent
than those of tropical regions, are precisely those by which the skill, energy and
virtues ofthe human race, are best developed. Nature there demands thought and
labor from man, as conditions of his existence, but yields abundant rewards to wise
industry. Those causes, which in our age of the world, determine the wealth of
nations.are those which render man most intelligently industrious; and it cannot
be too often or too closely remembered in discussing subjects so vast as these, where
tbe human mind may be misled if it attempts to comprehend them in their boundless
variety of detail, that sure and safe guides in the application of political economy,
and tfo our own prosperity, are to be found in tbe simple principles of morality
and justice, because they are true alike in minute and great affairs, at all times,
and in every place. Tbey imply freedom for ourselves, and those rules of frater
nity or equality, which enjoin us to regard, our neighbors as ourselves. We can
trust in no other policy."
He demonstrated, and by irrefutable statistics, not only the in
consistency of their recent legislation in Canada in comiection with
the treaty, but also the magnitude of the benefits which would accrue
to both countries from actual reciprocity in trade ; and took decided
ground in favor of a zollverein or customs' union, as being the only
way of attaining it, unless the people of Canada should voluntarily
desire annexation to the United States. He was thus the first to
introduce to the House of Representatives this project, which has
since received much consideration from the press and thoughtful
men in both countries.
Tbe report attracted attention from nearly all the leading journals
of the Union. It was reviewed with approbation in New York
Buffalo, Oswego, and the north western states, and met with much
consideration in Canada, where, although it occupied thirty ei°ht
octavo pages, it was printed at full length in the most widely circu
lated newspaper of the province, accompanied by the recommenda-

29
tion that " it should be read and understood by every man of intel
ligence in Canada." The general sentiment of the Canadians at
that time may be inferred from the expressions of the same journal,
that "although they could live and prosper without reciprocal trade,
they preferred freedom of intercourse with their American neigh
bors." It adopted the spirit of the report so far as to say that
" apart altogether from tho dissatisfaction of the Americans with the
treaty, there is a desire on the part of Canadians to see it improved
and extended, and therefore our government ought to be prepared
to receive any proposition which the Americans may make, and
consider it with respect, and a desire to come to an arrangement
satisfactory to all parties." The Canadian Minister of Finance
officially published, and caused to be extensively circulated, a long
but ineffectual reply to the charges of the report.
The House of Representatives ordered fifteen thousand copies of
the report to be printed, in addition to the usual number, and Mr.
Layard, in the British House of Commons, in answer to enquiries,
stated that several copies of it had been procured and would be laid
upon the table, for the information of the public. It elicited favorable
comments from several members of the liberal party in Great Britain.
In the following Congress the various memorials, relating to the
treaty, having been referred to the Committee on Commerce, Gen
eral Ward, on its behalf, made another report, exhibiting such
additional facts and statistics as showed the state of trade between
the United States and Canada, down to that time. He recommend
ed that the president should be authorized to give notice of the
abrogation of the treaty as soon as it might be legally clone, unless,
before that time, further arrangements, mutually satisfactory to both
governments, should be made ; and that the president be also auth
orized to appoint three commissioners, by and with the advice and
consent of the Senate, for the revision of the treaty, and to confer
with other commissioners, duly authorized therefor, whenever it
6haE appear to be the wish of the government of Great Britain to

30
i
negotiate a new treaty, based upon these principles of reciprocity,
and for the removal of existing difficulties.
The subject again excited much interest throughout the country,
and on tbe 18th of May, 1864, in the same year, a joint resolution in
accordance with the recommendation of the committee being under
consideration, General Ward addressed the House. He urged that
it was more reasonable and beneficial to remove whatever objection
able features then existed in connection with the trade, than to
disturb tbe industry and investments of tbe large number of our
citizens engaged in it, and rebuked the pretentious interference of
arbitrary and compulsory legislation with the common affairs of the
people, in words which, although they arose naturally from the sub
ject, may well be regarded as a philosophical enunciation of the
great general principle of trade. Lie said :
"Upon the plainest' principles of human nature, it is clear that tbe individual
transactions constituting tbe vast aggregate of this trade since 1855, and amount
ing to more than fifty millions of dollars in 1863 alone, must, year after year have
been sufficiently profitable, to remunerate those who produced tbe substantial
materials ofthe exchanges, and those wbo were engaged in the traffic, wbo in their
turn, could not have continued tbeir business if tbey had not found in the people
at large consumers or customers, who were benefited by the purchases they made."
The subject was not discussed in a merely partisan spirit. The
manner in which it was presented by General Ward ensured a more
than usual exemption from this danger. He said :
" I have the satisfaction of knowing that tbis is no party question, and that
many gentlemen on tbe other side of tbe bouse unite with me in efforts to establish
or extend such a liberal policy towards the provinces, as shall mutually benefit
both countries, uniting us together by tbe bonds which are the most powerful of
all; those of mutual interest, well judged in necessary conformity to higher princi
ples. I am less desirous of an union of tbe Government, than of an union of the
people. I do not wish to admit into our family of states, any who are not im
bued with the spirit of our institutions, and do not appreciate, as we do, the bene
fits resulting from them, or the principles on which tbey are established."
He deplored such a course as would again impose duties on
many of tbe articles exempted by the treaty, and which are the sim
plest materials for the use of our ship builders and manufacturers
aud necessaries for tbe support of human life. The mutual exports

31
and imports of coal furnish one of the best possible illustrations of
the principle ; and he said :
" Among the most important of these materials which should be supplied to our
manufacturers and people, at as low a price as possible, is coal, an essential ele
ment of household life and comfort, and the chief producer of the great labor-sav
ing power of steam. The exports from Ohio and Pennsylvania to Upper Canada,
are nearly of the same value as those of the New England States and New York,
from the Lower Provinces. In Canada West, tbe coal from the United States has
superceded that brought from Liverpool and tbe Lower Provinces; and, at Mon
treal, the anthracite of the easterly portions of Pennsylvania also competes with
coal brought from Liverpool and Nova Scotia. These minerals are not found in
the geological formations of Upper Canada, and, as the forests disappear, and
wool becomes too valuable to be used as fuel, that part of tbe Provinces will ulti
mately depend exclusively upon the United States, for the most economical supply
ot this necessary article.
" Anthracite coal, although found abundantly on the eastern slope of the Alle
ghanies, is found no where in tbe colonies, and will always be imported by them,
while for many purposes of fuel, in the eastern states, economy dictates tbe use of
the coal of Nova Scotia. Bituminous coal, of the kind most commonly used in
the manufacture of gas, is not found in our territory east of the Alleghany moun
tains, within an available distance from our chief Atlantic cities. It would be
needless to say that a trade of this kind is mutually beneficial. Under a system of
free trade in coal, tbe people of each country are supplied more cheaply than they
otherwise could be with necessary light and fuel ; and both save, throughout large
regions, tbe expense and labor of carrying a heavy and bulky article for several
hundreds of miles."
He gave timely and prophetic warning of the course which has
been taken by Canada in consequence of the exclusive course Con
gress thought fit to adopt. Including the union of the provinces,
the construction of intercolonial railroads, the rapid progress in
home industry, by which she has become independent of our manu
factures, and our competitor in neutral markets, and the liberal
policy by which so large a share of our western products has been
diverted over her railroads and down the St. Lawrence. He closed
his speech in the following words:
"We are considering the commercial relations of one-eighth ofthe habitable sur
face of tbe world. Of tbis vast region, the United States and tbe people of the
colonies, subject to a beneficent providence, control the present condition, and
shape the future history. It bas been given to us in the advanced condition of
human civilization, as a new parchment, on which we may inscribe whatever
characters we choose; and the opportunity will never return again in all tbe plen
itude of tbe present time. With nations, as with individuals, those habits and

32
tendencies are easily formed in youth which are afterwards developed, and control
the career through long years or centuries of tbe future. We may differ from the
people of the provinces in opinion as to the best form of government ; but other.
nations can judge better for themselves than we can for them, as to their own
method of legislation. A prohibitory or exclusive system would be no less un
natural and injurious as to every commercial, political and moral result, than if
we separated New York from Massachusetts, and both of them from Ohio, Illinois,
or Iowa. Let us then regulate our intercourse, not by mutual fear or destruction,
but by creating, or rather developing, reciprocal benefits, in accordance with Ihe
manifest designs of Him who made tbe world, and who should never be mentioned
except upon occasions worthy of Him. Such a system is doubly beneficial.
' It droppeth, as the gentle dew from Heaven,
Upon the place beneath ; it is twice blessed.
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes.'
Under its influence, assisted by a wise application of tbe reason with which man
is endowed, old animosities will be forgotten, and, in days to come, the people of
both countries, seeing plainly that tbe social body of mankind, like the material
body of the individual, is provided with a healing power, will find additional rea
sons to reverence Him by whom tbe universe itself was formed."
One of the most interesting debates known in Congress, on any
financial subject^ ensued.
Messrs. Morill, Washburne, Winter Davis, Baxter, Pike, and *
others, opposed the resolution, and General Ward was ably sup
ported by Messrs. Sweat, of Maine ; Eliot, of Mass. ; Arnold, of Ilb-
nois; Pruyn, Littlejohn, Davis and others, of the State of New York.
But the chief burden of the debate, on the liberal side, feU upon
him. Mr. Sweat said that he hoped every gentleman in the House,
who had not heard the speech of General Ward, would read it, for
in his judgment, the views " therein set forth, are not only correct
and sound, but just and wise, and worthy the careful consideration
¦of all who would look at the subject dispassionately." To his mind
it was the most exhaustive treatment given to any subject that had
come before the House in that session. " And in this respect "
added Mr. Sweat, " I cannot forbear saying, that it presents as«rery
wide contrast to the remarks which have been made by other gen
tlemen upon this question, and which, I say it in no offensive sense
have savored more of prejudice than of statesmanship."
It was the duty of General Ward to sum up the debate, and correct ,

33
not a few. extraordinary and erroneous statements which had been
made by the ultra-protectionists in the course of the debate. He
fulfilled his part with conscious rebance on the uncontroverted
facts and principles he had brought to notice, and without descend
ing to retaliation or invective.
An amendment submitted by Mr. Arnold, of Illinois, with a view
to enlarge the basis of the present treaty, was decisively negatived.,
Mr. Morill, of Vermont, then offered, as a substitute for the reso
lution reported by General Ward, another, merely authorizing the
President to give notice of the termination of the treaty, without
providing for any amelioration of it. The substitute was negatived
. by a vote of 82 to 74.
The preamble to the resolution presented by General Ward,
asserted that commercial intercourse between the United States and
, the British North American Provinces, should thereafter be so
conducted as to be reciprocally beneficial to both parties. It was
adopted, thus showing that a majority of the members of the House
were in favor of the principle. The resolution also would have
been carried if a few members, who, together with their constitu
ents, were conspicuously in favor of, and especially interested in,
the utmost possible freedom of exchanges between the two coun
tries, had not been induced to believe that they would obtain better
terms by postponement to the next session of Congress. But the
postponement was only adopted by a majority of five out of one
hundred and fifty-nine votes.
Just before the time for reconsideration arrived, the war feeling
had attained increased intensity, and the exigencies and temper of
the occasion threw all commercial considerations temporarily aside.
As in the House of Representatives at Washington, so also in the
pubbc press, the course suggested by General Ward, as to the
- proper commercial relations of the American continent, won many
golden opinions from advocates of the most discordant partisan pol
itics. The New York World, in several editorial articles, support-

34
ed his views as to the establishment of a zollverein with Canada,
and urged "the Chamber of Commerce and our merchants, who
are at all times desirous of information which may lead to an in
crease of foreign trade," to give their careful attention to his sug
gestions, "inasmuch as our national debt and heavy taxation
render it prudent, perhaps imperative, to exercise a wise forethought
in stimulating the productive energies of our people, by opening up
new outlets in foreign countries." The Times pointed out the
new and instructive information he presented, and his careful
avoidance of " that hostile spirit which has so often led further and
further from the proper objects of discussion, until the simple
questions really at issue become hidden under heaps and incrusta
tions of prejudice, accumulated by the errors and hatred of many
generations." The Tribune said that " great and pressing as the
domestic questions are at this hour, it is no time to overlook mat
ters of extrinsic but enduring interest," and that " the country owes
its thanks to him for bringing so much industry and judgment to
bear upon our treaty relations with Canada." The Evening Post
commended the report to the perusal of the ultra-protectionists ;
and the Journal qf Commerce testified that " it labors earnestly
and honestly to promote that enlightened bberality of sentiment
and mutual good-will, which it is for the interest of both parties to
inculcate," adding that " its free circulation cannot fail to do good
on both sides of the border ; and we hope that it will be widely
distributed for that purpose." The Economist, after alluding to his
exertions in behalf of a sound bankrupt law, and an American Zoll
verein, said it would be unjust to General Ward and some other ca
pable and laborious representatives and senators, not to acknowledge
the fidelity and practical abUity with which they applied themselves
effectively to the business of the nation ; and added :
" The speech of the Honorable Elijah Ward, on the commercial relations between
the United States and the British North American Provinces and Possessions is a
model of statesmanly discussion. Its unpartizan spirit and breadth of view pre-
Bent a welcome contrast to the narrow party animus with which the great fiscal

35
and commercial questions of tbe day are now treated in Congress. Mr. Ward
rises far above the common Congressional level, and in the treatment of a question
that affects the interests of the whole country, discards the clamor of local inter
ests, rebukes petty international jealousies, and calmly inquires what arrangement
ofthe treaty can be made yielding the greatest advantages and the amplest justice
to both nations concerned."
Throughout his career in Congress General Ward boldly main
tained the same opinions on financial subjects as are held by that
intelligent and progressive class of men who are now known to the
pubbc as Revenue Eeformers. From the beginning of the monetary
changes introduced in consequence of the war, he advocated such
measures as it is now seen would have been most expedient for the
country, and the adoption of which would have rendered present
reform unnecessary. He firmly opposed the "Legal Tender " pol
icy of Secretary Chase, and others of the party in power. The
Secretary of the Treasury was led so far by the temporary pressure
of the times, and the difficulties of his position, as to support by his
official authority the pernicious doctrine that tho decrease on the
value of fictitious money, as compared with gold, was neither wholly
nor for the greater part owing to the large volume of paper prom
ises to pay.
While General Ward opposed the pernicious errors thus enunci
ated in high places, he fully shared in the deep anxiety with which
the condition of our financial affairs, and the regulation of the cir
culating medium, were regarded by thoughtful people throughout
the north, from motives of then- own personal interest, and yet more
from patriotic devotion to the cause of unity in the great struggle
for national existence ; and he knew that, with a large inflation of
national cmrency, not only would tho cost of war be immensely
increased, and be repaid in a monetary medium of greater value,
but lavish and careless expenditures would engender prodigal cor
ruption, and the nation would be subjected to innumerable disasters,
against which no human forethought could guard. Yet he did not
underrate the difficulties of the occasion. When speaking on this

¦so
subject in the House of Representatives, on the 15th January, 1,863,
he said :
" When it was decided to adopt the principle of ' legal tender ' there was no doubt
that the majorities of both Houses, wbo voted for it, did so because tbey considered
it the least objectionable of tbe measures under consideration. Here, permit me to
say, that I know of no greater trial for a statesman or legislator than this, — to be
compelled to choose between two measures when his judgment condemns them
both ; when bis only course is that laid down in the common maxim of life, to
' choose the least of any number of evils.' Tbe whole question is full of difficulties
arising out ofthe mutations of commerce, as well as the exigencies of nations, nu
merous theories and suggestions have been presented by prominent citizens in
various parts of the country, but all experience bas demonstrated the impossibility
of securing lasting prosperity for any country which persistently adheres to the use
of a legalized but irredeemable paper currency."
He showed clearly and forcibly the evil effects then already pro
duced by irredeemable issues of paper money, and that they would
be further increased by additional expenses. He illustrated by the
following figure, the fallacies of those who were so hardy as to say
that the currency had not decreased in value :
" It is in vain to affirm that gold has risen, but paper money has not fallen. Tbe
man who is in a sinking boat might as well say that the water is rising and his boat
is stationary. Let him, if he is not out of sight of land, not get engulfed above bis
eyes ; look at the shore while be can, and see whether the water is flooding its
banks. Tbe markets of the world where we sell our products, and buy many ar
ticles in return, are the true land-marks as to the value of our currency, and they
are, and must be as I have already shown, faithfully indicated by tbe rise and fall
ofthe precious metals."
He entered into a careful analysis of our own financial affairs,
and of various historical precedents in other countries. The result
of the irredeemable paper system had then by no means reached
the height it subsequently attained, but the reflecting reader will
- recognize in the following paragraphs a faithful photograph of the
time at which General Ward spoke. He said:
" The merchant and contractor in making sales or agreements charge profit not
only on the actual value of tbe articles they furnish, but on the value in paper
money. The Government, at tlie present time, pays for all il uses a premium of at least
forty or fifty per cent, above Us actual value, equivalent in effect, to a corresponding de
preciation in our national securities.
" The dealer, who a few months ago, sold bis goods at a fair profit on time, finds
himself when he is paid unable to replace his stock. From tbe uncertanity

37
attending the future, business is thrown more and moro into the bands of tbe few
who are able to buy and sell for cash. The country is suffering from tbe demoral
izing effects of financial doubt and uncertainty, already so great that ordinary
mercantile investments are losing tbeir legitimate character of efforts to supply tbe
demands ofthe people, and are becoming guesses or chances like those in a lottery1-
— dependent upon the unknown and secret will of the officers and advisers of the
Government, and tbe influence they exert in tbe price of that which is given and
received as tbe standard of value. Tbe relation between debtor and creditor on
all previously existing pecuniar}' contracts bas been arbitrarily changed. Each
merchant, jobber and retailer, charging a percentage on the increased price of the
article which passes through his hands, the continued and progressive accumula
tion of prices presses with peculiar hardship and severity upon the laboring man,
whose wages, in times like these, are the last of all things to rise. The clerk
who has agreed to work for a salary, and has arranged bis expenses in accordance
with his means, finds himself unexpectedly, and from no fault of bis own, unable
to meet bis daily expenses. The family of him who has spared from bis income a
small sum for life insurance, finds the result of bis bard earnings reduced by these
deplorable laws, upon the death of a father, more than one third, nearly one half
of the just amount. By the practice of constant economy, the parent of many vir
tues, numerous day laborers and other persons have deposited in savings' banks a
sum estimated as amounting to at least two hundred and fifty millions dollars in
the free states. The depreciation in these frugal savings of the most industrious
classes is already more than one hundred millions of dollars. It contrasts
strangely with the sums realized by fraudulent contractors, and with the enormous
fortunes made by tbe speculators who know beforehand the intentions of the
administration. The motive for industry and economy is thus impaired among
one of the most deserving classes of tbe people by abusing tbeir confidence, and
destroying their sense of security. The state fares ill, indeed, when favorites
thus flourish ; when the industrious are deprived of their earnings by the Govern
ment which should protect them, and tbe idle and rapacious are enriched from the
spoils of the better part ofthe community.
"The soldier and sailor of the regular army and navy, together with those, wbo
in the hour of our peril, have nobly come forward to give their lives, if need be, to
tho service of tbeir country, thus lose nearly half of their pay by the act of that ad
ministration whose commands they loyally obey, however repugnant the ruling
policy may be to their convictions regarding the welfare and true honor of tbe
nation. Where men enlisted under a stipulation that their pay should be thir
teen dollars, they receive considerable less than eight dollars in actual value.
Pensions for tbe maimed and wounded are reduced in the same proportion. He
who dies upon tbe field, and leaves behind bim a widow and orphan children
depending upon the bounty of bis country, who^e gratitude ho so well merits, and
in whom he had confided with the proud love of bis heart, knows that the cold
charity of a pension thus unjustly diminished, is all that will be doled outto them;
but he knows not what will be the end of these curtailments now already so far ad>
yanced. "I leave the legal questions arising as to the obligations of contracts and tbe con
sistency or conflicts of recent enactments with the constitution of our country, to
be decided in those courts of law, where I trust the zeal and blindness of party,

38
strife, and politics may never enter. My purpose in tbis place at present, is to dis
cuss the tendency and effects of law — not their constitutionality."
At the beginning of the war, he had urged upon Congress the
importance of a prompt and judicious system of taxation, adequate
to meet the coming demands on the government, aud maintain its
credit. Now, as other temporary expedients had been adopted, but
had not received the unanimous support of the country, he suggest
ed that the Secretary of the Treasury should be relieved from a
portion of the solemn responsibilities that devolved upon him, by
the appointment of a Commission to enquire, with his co-operation,
into the best method of arranging our financial affairs. It would
have been a special part of the duty of such Commission to call be
fore it, without any regard to party, the wisest and most distin
guished bankers and commercial men of extended experience.
Thus the odium and partialities which it is difficult to separate from
private conferences, would have been avoided.
All such leading periodicals of that time, as represented the views
now commonly entertained by those who have studied the financial
affairs of the nation, hailed with high enconium the exposition given
by General Ward — the New York World saying :
" Mr. Ward's speech in Congress, on the finance bill before the House, is tbe
most able speech yet delivered on this subject during tbe existence of this hapless
Thirty-ninth Congress. It is replete with official statistics, facts and sound rea
soning on the same, illustrated by parallels drawn from history, which are so ar
ranged as to force conviction upon the reader, by the irresistible logic of truth ane
common sense, and in this respect it forms a pleasing contrast to the misstatements
and absurdities of some other honorable members. General Ward reviews in de
tail the advance in prices, caused by excessive issues of legal tender notes, and
exhibits in a practical manner the Secretary of the Treasury's misstatements
respecting prices, the premium on gold, and the redundancy of paper money. Mr
Ward records his earnest protest against further issues of legal tender notes. His
speech ought to be read by every citizen, as it gives an intelligent exposition ol
this currency question."
The hfe-long character of General Ward was so well understood
that even during the political debates of the most excitino- times the
purity and loyalty of his motives were never questioned. He saw
that, if secession were permitted to triumph, further disruption

39
would be the logical and natural result. He always recognized the
desire of the people to sustain the government, and to bear the just
burdens resulting from it. AU honorable members, even those
whose opinions were not in accordance with his own, appreciated
his deshe that the necessary taxation should be so arranged as to be
as bttle burdensome as was possible.
He always regarded tbe revolt as " an attempt on the part of the
few to create a revolution against the wishes of the many." And
always maintained the full force of the great argument, stated in liis
own words, that " if we admit the right of secession there is an end
to the Government ; and if We cannot put down the rebellion, this
repubbc whl cease to occupy its proper position among the nations
of the world."
In the running debates on tbe details of the tariff, in June and
July, 1862, when the excited condition of the public mind was
seized by interested parties, as the opportunity of unreasonable tax
ation, and the theory of ultra-protection was carried to its utmost
extent, he took such a part as might have been expected from one
who was never carried away by the furore of the day. He demon
strated that, on many articles, addition of duty would lead to a
diminution of revenue, and maintained that revenue for the rehef of
the people, and to furnish the sinews of war, was the proper object
of the changes in the tariff at that time.
When unjust discrimination in taxation was the order of the day,
and popularity, emoluments and official position were the rewards
of those who stimulated extravagant expenditures, and professed be
lief that " a national debt was a national blessing," he told the
House that, for generations to come, the laboring men of the
United States would be compeUed to labor for several additional
hours daily, and to stint themselves and their families in necessary
comforts • not to speak of accustomed, and almost necessary luxu
ries, in order to repair the combined results of the deplorable war,
and of an unnecessarily burdensome financial pobcy.

40
In subsequent debates on the tariff be took a leading part. In a
speech made on the 2d of June, 1864, he was already enabled to
appeal to experience in proof of the opinions he had formerly ex
pressed as to financial affairs of the nation. He said :
"A fundamental error was long ago committed, in creating the system of legal
tender, and tbe earnest conviction of many wbo knew better than to depart from
the truth and reality, have been changed into faint scruples, and then entirely
overcome. Tbe spectral doctrine that we can make money by printing it, bas
superseded the dissolving views of specie payment. Tbe effect of all the redun
dancy of paper is that $100 in gold will buy national securities to the amount of
$190. We must 1reat the public debt as something to be actually paid. We must
treble our revenue by a well considered system of taxation, pressing as lightly as
possible upon the working and producing classes ; and we must cease to inflate
the currency by fictitious values. There is no subject so important to tbe people
as tbis collective indebtedness. ' One dollar saved by taxation is,' as has been said
by tbe Secretary of the Treasury, ' of more real value to tbe county, than two made
as money is now supposed to be made ; and tbe tariff should be so arranged as to
yield the largest possible revenue to tbe country, with the least possible inconve
nience to the people.' "
He drew the attention of Congress to the valuable financial re
forms, by which the statesmen of Great Britian had so greatly
relieved the people of that country, and pointed out that we, with
much benefit to the masses of our own citizens, might limit taxation
to fewer articles. He showed that, of the $120,000,000 derived
from customs in the United Kingdom, the year before he spoke,
ninety per cent, was obtained from six articles only ; and he pre
sented to the .House a short but complete analysis of the revenue
system of that country, setting forth that of the whole income of
$355,000,000, spirits contributed $63,000,000, or 17 1-2 per cent. ;
beer, $30,000,000, or 8 1-2 per cent. ; tea and coffee, $30,000,000,
or 8 1-2 per cent.; tobacco, $28,000,000, or 8 per cent.; sugar, $33,-
000,000, or 9 per cent.; wine, $5,000,000, or 1 1-2 per cent.; stamps,
845,000,000, or 12 1-2 per cent ; income and property, $55,000,-
000, or 15 1-4 per cent. ; a land tax, $6,000,000, or 1 1-2 per cent. ; ex
cise taxes, exclusive of spirits, $10,000,000, or 2 1-2 per cent. ; the post
office, $18,000,000, or 5 per cent. ; assessed taxes, $9,000,000, or 2 1-4
per cent. ; and sundry other articles, $23,000,000, or 6 1-2 per cent.

41
He declared the duty of the representatives of the people in Con
gress to be to legislate, not as partizans, but as statesmen, coihpre-
hending aU the great interests of the country, and defined the proper
object of a tariff bill to be to realize as large an amount as is practi
cable, on articles of luxury, to simplify the whole system, to dimin
ish the expense of coUection, prevent smuggling or illegal trade, and
subject the pubbc to as little vexation and inconvenience, as few
unnecessary burdens as possible, and to relieve the masses of the
people from any increased price in the necessary articles of bring.
But tbe House had passed from one extreme to another ; from a
disposition to postpone, indefinitely, the enforcement of the neces
sary revenue, it rushed to inordinate and ^discriminating taxation.
At this time, the absence of proper information as to disburse
ments on behalf of the nation, became a subject of grave interest to
many thinking men, and General Ward, for the purpose of keeping
the capitabsts and people weU informed as to the condition of the
public finances, introduced into the House a resolution, directing
the Secretary of the Treasury to furnish to Congress, every fort
night, an account of the receipts, expenditures and estimates of the
various departments of the government. IBs motion did not, at
first, produce the desired effect ; but tbe jilstice and desirability of
the object he had in view were so obvious, that the Secretary of the
Treasury, who, from the beginning, admitted the soundness of the
principle impbed, soon afterwards began to issue the monthly state
ments, which yet continue to be made.
On the 4th day of April, 1864, when "the National Bank BiU"
was under discussion in the House of Representatives, Mr. Hooper,
who had charge of the bill, announced that the only bmit to the
banking capital employed under it was the amount of the national
debt as it was then, or might be in future, and that the capital might
be three times the amount of any such debt. As tbe debt then ex
ceeded $1,500,000,000, the amount of the capital thus authorized
was $4 500,000,000. General Ward showed that the currency of

42
the whole nation never before, except in 1857, when the ten south
ern states were with us, and we were a unit, reached its maximum
of $214,778,822, and expressed his belief that the issue of mere
promises to pay, called paper money, instead of the adoption of
prompt, vigorous aud adequate measures of taxation, has from the
first been no less injurious to the pecuniary interests of the nation
than to a just appreciation of the political crisis and revolution in
which we are involved. He said :
" I have never shrunk from voting all such supplies as the government con
sidered necessary to overcome the rebellion, yet I have always desired that while
tbe citizens ofthe United States are growing poorer and poorer every day, as long
as tbe war continues, they should be deluded by no fictitious appearance of pros
perity, but these truths which the)!- are here to learn at last, should be brought
practically home to their minds and pockets from the beginning. Under such a sys
tem of taxation as I have advocated, great economy would have been practiced ;
our securities would have commanded in a greater degree, the confidence of capital
ists, and the people : our national counsels would have been more deliberative, and
we should have been stronger in the end."
By a series of important historical facts and statistics he showed
the dangers incident to a large and sudden expansion of the cur-
rencj'. The views he advocated are those of which the truth is
now strongly felt by progressive thinkers, and is rapidly becoming
popular ; but when he had the boldness to utter them, they were
voted down by the financial neophytes of the day. In less than a
year from the time when he spoke, the reaction against extreme
and precipitate measures had attained such power that he was en
abled to say in the House of Representatives, without contradiction :
" Some of my friends on the other side of the House, who looked on tranquilly
at the time the mischief was being done, have now become alarmed, and call for a
suspension of the issues of the national banks, and for measures against state
banks, which, in their operations, will be equivalent to tbe extinction ofthe latter
institutions. As is the case with all panic-stricken people, they want now to
run from the point of extreme inflation, to that of extreme compression, and ad
minister a course of heroic remedies, which may cure tbe disease at the expense
of what little life remains in tbe patient."
Throughout the period when General Ward was a member of
Congress, he was regarded as being especiaby the commercial rep
resentative of the city of New York, and many memorials on sub-

43
jects connected with trade and navigation were intrusted to his
charge. A petition was presented by the New York Chamber of
Commerce to Congress, in January, 1864, asking for subsidies to a
first class bne of American steamers to make regular trips from New
.York to Liverpool, and also to the ports of our continental neigh
bors upon the South American and Pacific shores. They stated
that: " Our steamers have been driven from the ocean until now ; not a solitary one
carries our flag to any European port. Not because our mechanics are not as skill
ful — witness tbe triumphs of the Collins side- wheel, and recently the triumphs of
the Pacific screw steamers ; not for want of enterprise on the part of her citizens,
for the steamers already built cannot bold tbeir own upon the seas for want of that
aid and fostering legislation which other Governments so liberally supply, and
without which competition is ruin."
The petition was referred in the House of Representatives, to the
Committee on Commerce, a majority of which was adverse to any ac
tion at that time ; but consented that General Ward make a report, in
which the cardinal interests of the country, on this important branch
of industrial enterprise, were ably advocated. In a series of admira
bly arranged tables, he showed that the steady and gradual increase
of the commerce of Great Britain over our own, even with our
neighbors on this continent, has followed closely from a quick per
ception of the effects oceanic steam navigation would have upon
commerce, and from appropriate legislation in accordance with this
wise foresight. He proclaimed it the duty of the Government, in
view of its own financial interests, and of the commercial, agricul
tural and industrial prosperity of the people of the United States to
give such reasonable encouragement, by subsidies and postal con
tracts to hues of steamships running from our own to foreign ports,
as would enable the owners of American steam vessels to compete
on fair terms with those of the leading commercial nations, on the
great highways of the world. His positions as to our trade with
South America and China, were presented with great force, and
subsequent events have confirmed their accuracy. He said :
" In borrowing so largely as tbe Government has done from tbe nation, it has

44
assumed duties of a new class— the duty of rendering that burden as light as possi
ble to the people who have assumed it. As the rebellion wanes, and tbe dawn of
national prosperity again brightens, the energy ofthe people of tbe United States
will be aroused to the renewal of the struggle for commercial prosperity, and it
will not surely be expecting too much, that some additional debt be incurred to
develop that branch of industry, which the experience of all nations bas shown to
present the readiest and most equal method of meeting the expenses of Govern
ment, and interest on its obligations.
" Wherever steam communication has been introduced by Great Britain, it has
been followed by an immediate and rapid increase of her trade with the country
with which she has increased her commercial facilities. This continued increase
threatens to diminish our own commerce. These results, in relation to Brazil, are
everywhere manifest. It is the same in Mexico, Central America, and the West
Indies, countries rich, fertile, capable of vast productions ofthe most valuable
character, such as coffee, sugar, cotton, tobacco, the prime necessities and the most
prized 1'jxuries of modern civilization.
" But more than all important is tbe proposed communication with tbe east.
By it, the Atlantic seaboard cities will receive tbeir letters in fifty to fifty-five days
from Hong Kong, Shanghae and Niphon ; and information will pass by telegram,
¦via San Francisco, in twenty-five to thhty days. When the projected railroad
across the continent is complete, communication by letter may be made in thirty-
five days, or thereabouts. A large trade will grow up between the eastern and the
western shores of the Pacific. The circle of commerce will be complete ; all na
tions, and tribes, and races, will be brought into close and intimate relation, and
all that is physical having been subordinated to the comfort and happiness of man-
kind.'the world will await, with awe and wonder, what new development of its
progress is yet reserved for the human mind, under the inspiration of the Author
and Ruler of the universe."
In 1S64, General Ward was, for the fifth time, nominated for
Congress by the democratic party. His opponents were the Honor
able Henry J. Raymond, on the part of the republicans, Colonel
Rush C. Hawkins, an irregular repubbcan, and Eli P. Norton, the
candidate of a few disaffected persons who disliked the patriotic
support given by General Ward to the war measures of the Govern
ment. The vote in his favor was as large as in the canvass of 1862,
but the constituency had increased, and Mr. Norton chew away a
sufficient number of votes to defeat him. Thus, by a majority of
386, Mr. Raymond was elected.
From the earliest moment of his public life General Ward had
foreseen bow destructive of tbe hfe and property of his fellow citi
zens a war between the northern and southern states must be and
had conscientiously done his duty in endeavoring to avert it. He

45
understood the subject too thoroughly to suppose such a contest
would be terminated in sixty days, as was confidently asserted by
some who ought to have known better, and he sought none of the
popularity, with its accompaniments of emoluments, power, and
political honors, which, at one time, were at the service of those
who deluded the people with this flattering and pernicious expecta
tion ; but, when the crisis came, he desired nothing more earnestly
than that all the resources of the nation should be economically,
vrisely, and speedily applied to crush out the rebellion.
He held that the doctrine of secession was that of perpetual dis
integration, but he also believed that if pure patriotism and a desire
to maintain the supremacy of the Constitution, had been the con
sistent rule of action, throughout the different branches of the gov
ernment, the struggle would have been kept within narrower limits,
and have soon ended. In his speech on " the true policy of tbe
government relative to the conduct of the war, with a view to the
restoration of the Union," delivered in the House of Representatives
on the 9th of January, 1865, when it had under consideration a
resolution submitting to the legislatures of the several States a prop
osition to amend the Constitution of the United States, so that all
persons should be equal under the law in all tho States, without
regard to color, and that no person should thereafter be held in
bondage ; he said :
" It is not my intention to discuss, at this time and place, the causes which have
inaugurated tbe terrible rebellion which bas already cost the republic such a
frightful waste of lite and treasure. It is enough for me to know that a death-blow
has been aimed at tbe heart of tbe American Union, to feel indignant at the out
rage, and solicitous to avert it. It is enough for me to know that a sacrilegious
attempt has been made to break up tbe wisest form of government that human
wisdom ever devised, to feel it my duty to join in the effort to chastise the perpe
trators of so great a crime. I have not approved of all that bas been done under
the sanction of the war power. I have deemed it proper to protest, in the name of
tbe loyal and law-abiding constituency I have the honor to represent on this floor,
against certain acts of tbe Executive and Congress, which, in my opinion, have
been the means of prolonging this sanguinary war ; but I am settled in the convic
tion that secession is treason, and that, as such, it must be put down at all hazards,
and at any cost. If secession succeeds, republican liberties are lost forever, and the

46
government, failing to vindicate its power, would forfeit the consideration and
respect of every civilized nation on earth. If the heresy of secession were to be
recognized as a canon of our political faith, there would be an end to our govern
ment. Let Louisiana secede unhindered, and then, when that act has been accom
plished, what is to prevent her from handing that State over to England or any
other power, commanding, as she does, the mouth of the great Mississippi ? This
she most assuredly bas a right to do, if she has a right to secede, thus closing up
the " Father of Waters," and excluding all the states on its borders from a market.
The same rule would apply to any other seceded state. Hence tbe duty of every
American patriot, whatever his station or condition, to uphold the government in
its efforts to compel the seceded states to respect the Constitution and the laws ot
tbe country. Upon this conviction of duty I have ever acted since the first insult
to our flag was offered. Tbe same abiding sense of tbe responsibility which rests
upon me as a representative of tbe people in Congress will, I trust, carry me un
flinchingly through whatever phase may yet remain undeveloped in the fearful
drama which has been so long in process of action.'-
He explained the solemn convictions from wliich he had consis
tently advocated the war pobcy of President Lincoln, with whom he
was on terms of warm personal friendship, and had devoted all his
strength " to the support of the Government, the Constitution and
the Union, looking upon secession as eternal war, and recognizing
this great principle — that we are one people, that one we wiU re
main, and one we will die." He alluded to the various proclama
tions of Generals Fremont, Hunter and Phelps, all of winch the
President had revoked, declaring again and again that he had no
right, under the Constitution, to emancipate the slaves, and to the
instructions under which Governor Stanley and many others had
spoken in every part of the country, declaring that President Lin
coln was no abobtionist, but was the best friend the south ever had,
and that all the administration wanted was peace. The expression
of these sentiments produced a strong feeling of reaction in the bor
der states, and added thousands upon thousands to the bsts of
recruits. In advocating the views thus taken by the President,
General Ward said :
" I am well aware, sir, that my course in sustaining the war policy of tbe Presi
dent has subjected me to considerable animadversion, and that my motives of
action have frequently, and sometimes wickedly, been misconstrued by those who
either could not understand tbe emergencies of the occasion, or who preferred see
ing this great republic split up into fragments, rather than yield one iota of their

47
prejudices. But, sir, there is one tribunal to which I appeal with feelings of pride
and confidence from tbe judgment of disunionists : it is the tribunal of my con
science. The verdict which I find recorded there will sustain me under all calum
nies and vituperations. When tbe day shall come for me to render an account ot
my stewardship to my constituents, I shall be able to show them that, in denounc
ing treason, and in sustaining the government in its efforts to put clown rebels in
arms, I have been true to myself, to my country, and to the sternest requirements
of tbe democratic creed. How much the democratic party, acting as a party,
through its organization, may do to bring back peace to the country, it is impossi
ble to predict. It will depend upon the steadiness with which- it adheres to what
are admitted to be democratic principles. To expect to return to sound practices
in the government, through the medium of a party which, from any suggestions ol
expediency, however plausible, departs from its principles, is, of all expectations,
the most irrational. Peace will return ; the war fury is a passion which exhausts
itself. But however desirable peace may be, we ought to be united in the deter
mination, that when it comes, it should bring with it the union of the states under
the federal constitution. Those who fail to recognize this national exigency are
not imbued with tbe true spirit of democracy ; they have read the signs of the
times to veiy little purpose. Tbe democratic party is essentially a party of pro
gress, and those who aspire to be its leaders ought, at least, to have sense enough
to know that we are in tbe midst of a great revolution, and that revolution is
progress." He deplored the existence of causes injurious to the unanimity
with which, at the beginning of the war, the people of the whole
north had raUied to the support of the administration, and- showed
that the unanimity had continued until the prosecution of the war
was diverted from the original object, the restoration of the Union,
and a series of measures, such as confiscation, suspension of the writ
of habeas corpus, and others of similar nature, were inaugurated,
thus dividing the north and uniting the south.
Confident that negro servitude could take no firm root in the ter
ritories, but would be naturally .and surely destroyed by the laws of
cbmate and soil, which rendered it unprofitable therein, and there
fore could be bttle affected by any provision embodied in the Con
stitution, and that the war would end slavery in the Southern
States; he opposed the amendment on the ground that such
changes should never be made without grave and adequate cause.
Each such infraction of the Constitution, under which the people
have so far and so gloriously prospered, opens the door wider for
Others  a contingency which the people and statesmen of the

48
United States had, for wise reasons, always endeavored to avoid.
He said :
" Slavery has always been and is regarded as a domestic question. The right to
abolish it does and ought to rest with the states in which it exists. Since the or
ganization of the government, the law of climate and soil has controlled the sub
ject, and has caused the abolition of slavery in six of tbe original states, and either
abolished or prohibited it in all but nine of the new states since admitted This
government is one of delegated powers, and those not conferred are reserved to the
states respectively, or to tbe people. In regard to slavery, tbe constitution is
silent, and, therefore, no power exists to amend it in the respect indicated ; and in
addition, in my judgment, that instrument contemplated that all the states should
participate in any amendment thereof. Sir, I do not stand here as the apologist of
-slavery, but merely to insist Uial we have no right to incorporate the proposed
amendment, and that even if the right exists, it is a most injudicious time for the
exercise of the power, when wo should desire to bring back tbe seceded states to
loyalty and obedience."
While he regarded all such legislation as practically worse than
useless, he was one of the first to recognize fully that slavery was
destroyed by the war, and he announced in terms no less strong and
explicit, that he was resolutely opposed to the re-admission of any
state which was then, or had been, occupied by our armies, into the
Union, with the legal right of property in slaves. On this pob#
he used the following decisive terms :
"I am as strongly opposed as any of my compeers on the other side of thf>
House, to the re-admission into the Union, wilb the right of slave property, of any
state where slavery has been swept away by tbe onward march of our armies.
Whatever may be the object of the war, the pract;cal result is tbe sam;-, and that is,
tbe overthrow of slavery in all those portions of slaveholding territory which our
armies subjugate ; in these tbe relation of mastsr and slave coase to exist. The
masters retreat as our forces advance, and carry with them a portion of their slaves,
but the greater part remain behind and take refuge within our lines ; aud tbe ques
tion is, what shall become of them, and what are our du'.ies in regard to them ?
The American people have behaved admirably since this war broke out Tbey
have shown an energy and elasticity of sphit, a power of organization and combi
nation, a readiness to make sacrifices, a patriotic devotion, worthy of the hi°'h?st
praise. Let us not forget the claims of those unhappy freedmen whom we °have
deprived of their masters, their natural guardians and protectors."
During a debate in the House of Representatives, on the 27th of
February, 1865, on the bill then known as the "Loan Bill," or "the
bill to provide ways and means for the support of the government "
General Ward took the ground that the people are vitally interested"

49
in maintaining the pubbc credit, and in the adoption of the course
of pobcy best calculated to promote that end. " Difference of opin
ion should," he said, "only exist as the mode of attaining such a
result." By this time the inflation of the currency, had begun to
excite general alarm, and the Comptroller of the Currency, in a
circular addressed to the national banks, had already gone so far as
to say that "the apparent prosperity of the country will be proved
to be unreal when the war is closed." He opposed the increase of
inflation which, in spite of the warning, was permitted by the bill,
and strenuously urged the early adoption of some plan for funding
•the pubbc debt. He laid down the following rule of taxation:
" The foundation of our national prosperity rests on tbe remunerative character
ofthe labor ofthe working classes, while the safety of our political institution lies
m the contentment of that part of our population. Let the savings of the sinewy
masses be swallowed up in taxation, and the growth of our wealth is arrested by a
disease at its root. Let the working people, wbo constitute a large majority of ihe
population, be taxed beyond their share in the material interests of the country,
and in paying the expenses of one revolution, wc sow the seeds of another. The
only method of avoiding the creation of class distinction, and escaping an aristoc
racy of capital, is to see to it, that the citizen is taxed as nearly as possible in pro
portion to bis means. Any system of taxation that does not draw revenue chiefly
from the classes best able to pay, is inconsistent with republican institutions, and
must ultimately be overthrown by the vote of the masses, or itself overthrow the
democratic constitution of society."
He again drew attention in detail to the simplicity of the system
of taxation, then recently adopted by Great Britain for the relief of
her people, showing, among other things, that the interest on the
national debt of that country, — nearly $4,000,000,000, — is paid en
tirely by the duties on two articles, spirituous liquors and tobacco ;
and said, at the conclusion of his remarks :
" We must, at the earliest moment, return to a sound system of finance ; tbe
great excess of paper issue must be withdrawn ; the expenses of the government
diminished, and the debt funded and placed in process of liquidation, or the crisis
will culminate in general bankruptcy and, perhaps, in repudiation. While the
resources ofthe country are not adequate to meet the present and accruing liabili
ties, still upon the return of peace, we may hope for such a rapid development of
the vast wealth of the country as will enable the people to bear lightly the gigan
tic debt that will be created during the war between contending states, whose
greatness and power depend upon unity."

50 '
The latter years of the service of General Ward in Congress in
cluded the whole period of the great civil war, an epoch of vast
import in the history of the United States, and such an one as may
not again be witnessed for many generations. The republic of the
United States, comparatively young among the nations of the world,
called into the military service, within four years, more than two
millions of men to preserve its existence, and developed the mar
vellous financial and material resources required to meet an expen
diture of about $3,000,000,000 in support of the government, and
to maintain its vast army and navy. Never before did any people
so voluntarily and successfully assert their attachment to the insti
tutions of their country; and not the least of the inspiring results
to the friends of republicanism was the gradual, natural and com
plete return of the victorious citizen-soldiers to the peaceful pursuits
of industry.
When in Congress, General Ward served upon the Committee
on Commerce, on that of Roads and Canals, and of the District
of Columbia. In addition to the demands made upon him by his
legislative duties, much of his time was occupied by special appeals
arising out of the war. It was, perhaps, the unavoidable result of
the great pressure of public business that the summary dismissals
from the army, and the hasty action of court martials, often did
great injustice to officers. In these cases his friendly aid was often
solicited. Frequent applications were made to him by parents, for
passes and other facilities, to enable them to visit their sons, when
wounded, or to recover their remains. He was ever ready to give
his time, and sympathizing attention to these calls ; and his ready
access to, and influence with President Lincoln, the members of his
Cabinet, and the heads of the departments, were such that none in
any just case, ever departed without the desired relief or action.
By these means many an officer is enabled to recollect with o-rati-
tude the substitution of the word " honorable " for that of " dishon
orable" in his discharge; others were promptly restored to their

51
commands ; and many who were wounded and dying had the con
solation of being attended by their relatives and friends.
In May, 1865, he sailed for Europe. After visiting England,
Scotland, Germany, France, Italy and Switzerland, he returned to '
the United States in the autumn of the same year. ;
On the 28th of August, 1866, he was married to Mrs. Ellen E.
Stuart, widow of the late Robert Stuart of the United States navy,
a lady of high culture;and of a truly benevolent and christian charac
ter. They sailed for Europe on the following day, and remained
abroad until September, 1868, having in the meantime made an
extensive torn- through Egypt, the Holy Land, Turkey, and all the
European countries.
In October, 1868, two of the democratic organizations in his old
district tendered him a nomination for re-election to Congress.
While appreciating this renewed evidence of esteem he respectfully
decbned being a candidate.
In pursuance of an invitation, General Ward, on the 9th of
March, 1870, addressed a meeting of the members of the Chamber
of Commerce, Commercial Union, New York Produce Exchange,
Ship Owners' Association, and Citizens' Association, all of the city of
New York, taking as the subject of his discourse : " Our Inland
Commerce — a free canal pobcy the best guarantee for its preserva
tion and increase."
He is weU known as having always been a warm friend of such
a bberal administration of the affairs of the State, as would best pro
mote the commercial relations between New York and the Great
West, and on which so much of the prosperity of each depends.
He deems the proper rule in all taxation to be, to take a small por
tion of that which men seek as the end of their labor, rather than
to impair the means by which they gain their subsistence, and is an
open enemy of the narrow and mistaken policy of high tolls on the
pubbc works of tbe state. He observed with deep regret the di
minished proportion of western products, received at New York,

52
and the diversion of this valuable trade through other states and .
Canada, and saw that it could only be regained by such a reduction
in the cost of transportation as would enable us again to offer in
ducements superior to those of other routes, by underselling our
rivals, while leaving a fair profit to those engaged in the business.
He fully appreciated the importance to laboring men, mechanics,
merchants, manufacturers, and to the farmers of our state, of being
enabled to purchase grain, food, lumber and other raw materials at
low prices, and saw that the state itself could do much towards the
attainment of this desirable object, by reducing the rates of tolls on
the great thoroughfares of which it is the owner.
The high rates had proved a double failure, and had not only
driven trade away, but had decreased the revenue, and the real
question at issue, was not merely whether the revenue of the state,
from the articles whence it had chiefly been derived, should be less
or greater; but, whether on the transit of these articles with its
valuable employment of a large number of our citizens, the reve
nue thus received should be entirely lost by high charges or retained
and increased by a moderate tariff of tolls.
In describing the national advantages of the harbor of New York,
General Ward having referred to the suggestive fact, that railroads
" cover our country with a net work, and lead from the north-west to
many cities on the Atlantic coast, but, of all the sisterhood of states,
New York alone, possesses a good water route from the lakes, and
the great granary of the interior to the ocean ; " added as the result
of his observations in the old world, that although railroads are pre
ferred as the means of carrying passengers, and transact an enorr
mous and increasing business in freight, the canals aud natural
water courses compete successfully with them, in the carriage of
heavy and bulky articles, such as form almost exclusively the mass
of the exports from the west to the Atlantic.
He briefly described the topography of the continent ; referred
especially to the Appalachian or Alleghany range of mountains

53
reaching from Georgia to the northern extremity of Gaspe, driving
the water from the great lakes far to the north, but leaving an
opening in the Catskills, made when the mountains were formed,
through which the Hudson flows, affording those facilities for tran
sit which, in connection with the almost unrivalled harbor at its
mouth, and the level surface of the land route, chosen for the canals
between Schenectady and the lakes Ontario and Erie, give to New
York her inland and foreign commerce.
In this connection he alluded to the present and future condition
of the immense areas north-west. " The rich wheat plains of the
Red river of the north, and those of the yet greater valley of the
Saskatchewan, well named the Mississippi of the north, which are
ready to pom- millions of tons of grain into the cars of the railroads,
almost as soon as its passenger trains afford an opportunity, for the
industrial army of settlers to make war upon the yet primeval wil
derness." He said :
" Thus the great course of the inland trade of this continent is to and fro between
the east and the west. Before the Erie Canal was opened, the difficulties of car
riage between these two portions ofthe union were so great as almost to constitute
an embargo ; but no sooner was this public work in operation than the cost of
transportation from Buffalo to Albany was reduced from $100 to $10, and after
wards to $3 a ton. Until the canal was made, the productions of the west were
of little commercial value ; there were few inducements for the emigrants to settle
on the new shores of lakes Erie and Michigan, while the country beyond them
was a yet more unbroken wilderness. The opening of the canal had an electrical
effect, not only in our own country, but also in stimulating the immigration of the
laboring population of Europe ; and the development of the west was accompa
nied by a corresponding increase of business in the City and State of New York •
and New England."
No speech he ever made was characterized more decidedly by his
habit of condensing important statements, and yet presenting them
with such simplicity, that the laborious investigation they required
is not at first perceived, and he who runs may read and understand
them. From this excellence arises tbe difficulty of giving a more
brief analysis of his ideas than was made by himself. He showed
that, as long ago as 1860, the total income from the Erie Canal
had been more than $41,000,000 over all the expenditures for it,

54
and that by its suitable enlargement, the total cost of bringing a ton
of grain from Chicago to New York need not exceed $3 75.
" Thus," he said, " we should give tbe grain producers of our country unprece
dented facilities for successful competition in foreign markets. The benefits cre
ated would extend to purchaser and consumer everywhere. There can be no doubt
that, by attracting trade through a judicious and liberal system of low tolls, the
revenue directly derived by the state treasury itself, from the canals, would be far
greater than if we continue the absurd and unbusiness-like policy of gradually
driving trade away by exorbitant charges."
Ofthe profits from the canal, he. said:
" We are to estimate them by the increase of individual wealth throughout the
community, the rise in real estate, both hi city property and in farms, and by the
multiplication and prosperity of our people. It would not be difficult to show
that by opening out the west to settlement the canal contributed more than any
other single cause to tbe preponderance of tbe power of the north."
In concluding his speech, he said :
"I rejoice to know that the interests of our city are those ofihe Union at large,
and that, in finding or making a way to develope the natural advantages of our
position, we not only benefit ourselves and the northwest, but, by increasing profit
able shipments of our productions to other countries, enable our people more easily
to pay interest on the large and increasing amount of our national, and other
securities, held in Europe.
" The canal is both locally, and, in a cosmopolitan sense, an important division
ot that yet more comprehensive subject — the commercial intercourse — which is
materially the main-spring of modern triumphs over the forces of nature, the ad
vancement of civilization, and the increase of human welfare. In a familiar
photograph of the travelling and carrying system of bis time, Shakespeare pleas
antly suggests bow recent is the progress of our race on these points. We remem
ber how the company of eight or ten persons assembled at Gad's Hill, and traveled
together for protection against common danger, and how, ofthe two strictly .profes
sional carriers, one bad on his solitary horse, a ' gammon of bacon and two razes
of ginger,' and the other bad 'turkeys in his panniers.' Having thirty miles to travel,
the members of tbe cavalcade rose at two in the morning, that tbey might perform
the journey before night. In those clays, not only was there no railway and no
canal, but even good wagon roads had no existence. When estimating what the
future will be, we properly compare the past with the present, as it is, not only in
Great Britain and throughout Europe, but in this country — a wilderness iu Shake
speare's time. Instead of a couple of carriers owning two horses, laden with one
piece of bacon, two 'razes' of ginger and half-a-dozen turkeys, tbe modern substi
tutes in the United States alone have a capital measured by thousands of millions
of dollars, and theh traffic is estimated to be worLh as many millions annually.
" The United States, to a greater extent than any other country, either of ancient
or modern times, possess alike the unprecedented appliances of modern science to
the production of all that is desirable for tbe material welfare of man with un
limited natural resources, and no limits can be assigned to our progress if to a

55
.sound and decisive -policy on subjects directly financial, commercial and educa-
tional, we add due attention to the material advantages obviously within our
reach." The statistics and facts adduced by General Ward were both
curious and striking, and his speech attained an extensive circula
tion and popularity. The question of low tolls had for many years
been the foot ball of parties, but in 1871, the pobcy, of which he
demonstrated the expediency, was fully adopted by both. All good
and thoughtful citizens will hope that this unanimity wiU be per
petual. When General Ward ceased to be a member of the House, no
representative remained who was willing to devote the requisite
attention to our relations with Canada ; and the enemies of reve
nue reform, knowing well what was never absent from his mind
throughout his discussions on this subject, that it is impossible to
arrange our commercial intercourse with Canada on a permanent
basis, unless we first apply to our own affairs, in a yet unattained
degree, the principles of common sense, and of pure government;
have been more than willing to avoid investigation, and let the
mutual interests of our own citizens and the Canadians remain un-
consulted. Those who are not the friends of mankind profit by
dissensions and divisions among the people.
Every new railroad in the United States and Canada, leading
towards their respective territories, is steadily an antagonist, working
day and night to the frontier custom houses. Mutual rights of free
import, export and transit throughout the two countries must exist
before many more years have elapsed. General Ward treated the
subject upon the ground that the legitimate interests of the people
on both sides are harmonious, and that magnanimity, mutual
respect and accurate statements are better elements for American
diplomacy, than unscrupulous bargaining, and a vain, absurd and
unworthy attempt, nominally to, coerce the Canadians ; but intended
less to effect that object than to excite the tumid tuous approval of

56
the unreflecting portion of our own citizens. The representatives
of the .old high tory principles in the New Dominion, who desire to
prevent her annexation to this country, advocate the same policy as
that of the' adversaries of revenue reform in the United States, and
strive to prevent the free commingbng of the people of the two
countries in the friendly and profitable pursuit of their mutual and
respective interests.
The growing importance of our commercial relations with Can
ada was not unperceived by thoughtful men in tbe House of Rep
resentatives ; the unsettled state of our affairs with Mexico, and the
serious injuries sustained by the revenue of the United States from
the estabUshment of the Libra Zona, on the Mexican frontier, in
creased their interest in the subject, and soon after the return of
General Ward from Europe, several leading members, without dis
tinction of political parties, believing that the time had come for
the adoption of such measures as will ensure the largest possible
extent of mutually beneficial intercourse between the various nations
of this continent, requested from him " an expression of his opinions
as to the commercial system most worthy of consideration by the
people of the United States and Canada, at this important crisis."
The pith of his letter in reply is indicated by the words he used
as a motto : " A free continental system, the best means of increas
ing our agricultural, manufacturing and commercial prosperity."
He deemed the opportune time had arrived when it was incumbent
upon the Government of the United States at least, to ascertain by
open inquiries, whether it is possible to give tbe people of both
countries the power of profitably exchanging the productions of
tbeir industry. The provinces had become united, and made Can
ada more independent of European protection and control. This
novel position and the evident wilbngness of Great Britain to en
trust to the Canadians the principle of self-government to a yet
greater extent, as well as the increased deshe of many of her lead
ing statesmen to promote friendly relations with this country, occu-

57
pied a large portion of his letter. His views were in substance
the same as those afterwards adopted by the Commercial Con-
• vention at Detroit. Advanced enbghtenment is producing a quiet
revolution. General Ward wrote :
" In the present condition of Canada much depends upon the sentiments of the
people of the United States and the action of our Government towards her. A
friendly and liberal policy will insure her independence, churlish isolation and
ill-will would drive her to seek a hew and closer, but temporary connection with
Great Britain, less advantageous to the Dominion, tho mother country, and man
kind, than such an arrangement as would fully secure tbe political liberty of Canada
and establish free commercial relations with the vast confederation of the Celto-Teu-
tonic States of our Union.
" Tbe relative geographical positions of the Dominion and the United States are
such that reasons tending to a closer union with this country than with Great
Britain, must continually make themselves manifest ; but there is no reason why
we should postpone mutual benefits, and, discarding a policy of attraction , persevere
in repelling the Canadians from us. In this aspect I believe the discussion of our
commercial relations with Canada is both opportune and important."
He again explained and urged the adoption of the principles of
German Custom's Union, comprehensively defining it to be " the
association of a number of states for the establishment of a common
customs' law aud customs' line with regard to foreign countries, and
for the suppression of both in the intercourse of the states within
the border bne." Experience of the benefits created by this system,
was " so satisfactory, that the best pubbcists of Europe, believed
that Prussia thus conferred upon the German people advantages
scarcely inferior to those she initiated by the diffusion of education
and intelligence." He showed that it not only promoted the indus
try and prosperity of the allied states more than any other measure
or sets of measures, that their government could have devised, but
that it was found that the increase of wealth and population thus
arising, created an additional demand for foreign products.
Reasoning from this analogy, he drew the novel but truthful
conclusion, which forms perhaps the most telling point in his letter,
yet confined his remarks to economical or commercial views, with
out defining' too sharply the boundaries between this obvious and

material profit, and the yet stronger element of higher principles.
He said:
" The interests of the British people would ultimately be promoted by tbe applica
tion of the zollverein principle on this continent. It would be an important ac
knowledgment ofthe great natural law that whatever territories nature has joined
together and made mutually dependant, should not be kept asunder by artificial
arrangements. It would be opposed in Great Britain by those who have not
learned wisdom from experience, and formerly thought the mother country would
be ruined by granting permission to the colonies to import goods on equal terms
from all countries. But as it could not fail to increase the prosperity of the states
which would become parties to it, it would enlarge tbe power of their people to
purchase abroad. It would bring, almost palpably and by personal perception be
fore their minds, and indirectly force upon the attention of the rest of the world,
the truth, that although tariffs for revenue are necessary, the profit or loss attend
ing the exchange of industrial products among men is as independent of their
various allegiances as it is of party fealty or religious faith among the individual
members of each single state."
The project of purchasing San Domingo gave a pointed applica
tion to his remarks. He held that the material and other benefits
of reciprocal trade with Canada would soon become so obvious, and
our diplomatic and commercial power be so much augmented, that
negociations with other American countries would be greatly facili
tated. He said:
" Instead of buying territory or paying people to enter into our political union,
we might include Mexico, Cuba, and tbe Central American States, in one zoll
verein. " Our commercial relations with these countries have long been unsatisfactory.
We should acquire the chief benefits of actual ownership without its disadvanta
ges. Additional capital would be attracted to Mexico and Central America. La
bor in those countries would meet with more remunerative and regular employ
ment. Thus an antidote would be provided to restless insubordination and want
of steady industry. Personal intercourse among the inhabitants of tbe different
portions of the continent would be incalculably promoted. The attrition would
destroy mutual prejudices. Migration would take place to and fro between distant
regions. As tbe industry of the inhabitants of every part would be more amply
remunerated, they would be enabled to buy more largely from each other. As the
most advanced manufacturers on this continent, the chief share of increase in the
sale of manufactured articles would accrue to us : but all would be benefitted. The
cost of articles of tropical origin to the people of the United States and Canada
would be diminished. Thus the cost of living and of production would be re
duced ; industry throughout the continent would be encouraged by tbe extension
of our markets, and would be enabled better to compete abroad with other conn
tries. No other course, so readily adopted, would tend so much to diffuse the ideas
and industrial habits ofthe northern and most advanced nations ofthe world.

59
" The inhabitants of Canada are nearly homogeneous with those of the Northern
States, and are accustomed to laws, traditions and institutions closely resembling
our own ; but Cuba, Mexico and Central America have populations unlike ours in
race, language and education. Mexico lias deplorably failed in attempts to copy
our institutions, and the annexation of all these countries with the admission of
their people, without preliminary training, to equal influence with our own citizens
in the management of our own affairs is, at least, of questionable policy. But re
ciprocal trade with them stands upon a totally different basis, and could not fail
to be beneficial to all tbe parties concerned."
He demonstrated that such a treaty with Spain as would ensure
free admission into Cuba for our flour, other provisions, and various
articles of manufacture, would be worth more than the fee simple
of the island itself to the farmers and manufacturers and merchants
of the United States ; and that the commerce created by a similar
arrangement with Mexico would benefit the manufacturers of New
England and Pennsylvania far more than the conquest or purchase
of half the Mexican territory.
The agricultural productions of Canada are almost identical with
those of the Northern States, but would be exchanged for otu- own
manufactures, and for the products of warmer cbmates, in part
those of our Southern States, and in part of regions yet further
South, whose products would thus be brought through our territory,
and afford employment and profit to our people.
Not a few narrow economists regard the prosperity of the United
States as, in some way, a profit made at the cost of other nations, and
of which they are naturaUy and reasonably jealous. General Ward
clearly exposed the folly of this, the doctrine of the old Tory school
of Great Britain, transplanted to the United States. He ranged
himself on the side of those who, in this country, represent Cobden,
Bright, Gladstone and other Liberal statesmen of the more grand
and modern school, and showed that the bberal prosperity of the
United States would continually react favorably in the nations of
Europe, and not the least upon Great Britain, whose people are the
most commercial of all. By such a customs' union as he advocated
we would obtain aU the material benefits of complete annexation,
without the annoyances and dangers inseparable from admitting the

eo
people of Mexico, Cuba and San' Domingo to a participation in
making the laws for governing us, or forcibly obtruding our ideas-
and institutions, where they would not yet be welcomed, might not
be advantageous; but the frequent intercourse necessarily arising
from free commerce with them, and the mutual migrations between
us and them would tend to increased friendship among the people,
and a gradual assimilation of ideas and institutions.
In October, 1874, a week before the election, General Ward
was nominated by the Democratic and Liberal parties for re-election
to the House of Representatives, in the Eighth Congressional
District, against John D. Lawson, Republican. In 1872, the
District, as then constituted, gave Mr. Lawson 3910 majority, and
' the last Legislature of New York State added n portion of another
Assembly District to it, to render more certain the election of a
Republican member of Congress ; but General Ward overcame
tbis large opposition majority, and was elected by 881 votes over
bis opponent, notwithstanding that General Dix, the Repubbcan
candidate for Gjvernor, received 280 majority.
The success ef General Ward is primarily, owing to a spirit of
self-reliance and decision, strengthened by obstacles, moderated by
an unfailing generosity not ostentatious, but springing from the
heart, and aided by a ready tact acquired through early and famil
iar intercourse with men of every vocation. He has the advantages
of a clear judgment, and a self-control seldom disturbed. None
know better than he the wondrous power in seeming trifles, how
much the right word, look, or tone can accomplish. There is no effort
in his courtesy ; all his manner is easy, unaffected, ardent, and in
marked contrast with that of the many men of distinction, who are
conscious that the best security for tbeir reputation and imaginary
greatness consists in keeping others at a safe distance. Endowed
by nature with rapid, acute and accurate perceptions, he is one of
the best judges of character, and, while despising pretentions, bas
in an unusual degree, the rare and happy power of bringing out
the best qualities of those with whom he is associated. He has few

61
enemies, and many warm personal and pubbc friends. The causes
which laid the foundation of his personal popularity, furnish also
the key to the characteristics which led him to further distinction.
He always deprecated dissensions in his own party, and strove to
moderate the strife between it and its opponents, so as to establish
a common ground on which al. well-meaning and reasonable men
might meet.
Although, when he was a member of Congress, he was often in
the minority, and opposed to the administration of the time, he
never ceased to have, with the leading officers of state, a personal
influence, which he freely used on behalf of his constituents, with
out inqiuring too closely into their relations as partizans. Tins
liberahty has been honorably reciprocated towards bim, both by
individuals and tbe press. Educated in business pursuits, he keeps
closely to the point under discussion, and deals with facts, not
merely with theories. At all times he is ready to exert himself in
urging legislative rehef for the sufferers ; and, throughout his many
speeches on financial reforms and commercial subjects, he uses the
results of his varied experience and study in constant application of
the principle, that all legitimate interests are harmonious. Few
have done more to guide aright the opinions of thinking men. In
pubbc as in private hfe, he shrinks from nothing more than false
hood or equivocation in word or spirit. Whenever time permits,
his speeches are carefully prepared, and characterized by a candid
condensation of sobd and comprehensive information, expressed in
language at once simple and forcible. If it is not his peculiar gift
to rouse, agitate, and control the passions of his hearers, none of
his compeers in Congress excelled him in such persuasive presenta
tions, even of the most intricate subjects, as carry conviction to the
¦ mind, and bear the test of reflection, in the conscientious discharge
of the duties of a thoroughly practical statesman, or in vigilance
aud devotion to the true and permanent interests of his constituents
and Ins countrymen.