Chapter IX: Part 9

"Now, sir, I assure senators from the South, that we of the free
States mean to change our policy--I tell you, frankly, just how we
feel and just what we propose to do. We mean to withdraw from
these halls that class of public men who have betrayed us and
deceived you; men who have misrepresented us, and not dealt
frankly with you. And we intend to send men into these halls who
will truly represent us and deal justly with you. We mean, sir, to
place in the councils of the nation men who, in the words of
Jefferson, 'have sworn on the altar of God eternal hostility to
every kind of oppression of the mind and body of man.' Yes, sir,
we mean to place in the national councils men who cannot be
seduced by the blandishments, or deterred by the threats of power;
men who will fearlessly maintain our principles. I assure senators
from the South that the people of the North entertain for them and
their people no feelings of hostility; but they will no longer
consent to be misrepresented by their own representatives, nor
proscribed for their fidelity to freedom. This determination of
the people of the North has manifested itself during the past few
months in acts not to be misread by the country. The stern rebuke
administered to faithless northern representatives, and the
annihilation of old and powerful political organizations, should
teach senators that the days of waning power are upon them. This
action of the people teaches the lesson, which I hope will be
heeded, that political combinations can no longer be successfully
made to suppress the sentiments of the people. We believe we have
the power to abolish slavery in all the territories of the Union;
that, if slavery exists there, it exists by the permission and
sanction of the Federal Government, and we are responsible for it.
We are in favor of its abolition wherever we are morally or
legally responsible for its existence.

"I believe conscientiously, that if slavery should be abolished by
the National Government in the District of Columbia, and in the
territories, the fugitive slave act repealed, the Federal
Government relieved from all connection with, or responsibility
for the existence of slavery, these angry debates banished from
the halls of Congress, and slavery left to the people of the
States, that the men of the South who are opposed to the existence
of that institution, would get rid of it in their own States at no
distant day. I believe that if slavery is ever peacefully
abolished in this country--and I certainly believe it will be--it
must be abolished in this way.

"The senator from Indiana [Mr. Pettit] has made a long argument
to-night to prove the inferiority of the African race. Well, sir,
I have no contest with the senator upon that question. I do not
claim for that race intellectual equality; but I say to the
senator from Indiana that I know men of that race who are quite
equal in mental power to either the senator from Indiana or
myself--men who are scarcely inferior, in that respect, to any
senators upon this floor. But, sir, suppose the senator from
Indiana succeeds in establishing the inferiority of that despised
race, is mental inferiority a valid reason for the perpetual
oppression of a race? Is the mental, moral, or physical
inferiority of a man a just cause of oppression in republican and
Christian America? Sir, is this Democracy? Is it Christianity?
Democracy cares for the poor, the lowly, the humble. Democracy
demands that the panoply of just and equal laws shall shield and
protect the weakest of the sons of men. Sir, these are strange
doctrines to hear uttered in the Senate of republican America,
whose political institutions are based upon the fundamental idea
that 'all men are created equal.' If the African race is inferior,
this proud race of ours should educate and elevate it, and not
deny to those who belong to it the rights of our common humanity.

"The senator from Indiana boasts that his State imposes a fine
upon the white man that gives employment to the free black man. I
am not surprised at the degradation of the colored people of
Indiana, who are compelled to live under such inhuman laws, and
oppressed by the public sentiment that enacts and sustains them. I
thank God, sir, Massachusetts is not dishonored by such laws! In
Massachusetts we have about seven thousand colored people. They
have the same rights that we have; they go to our free schools,
they enter all the business and professional relations of life,
they vote in our elections, and in intelligence and character are
scarcely inferior to the citizens of this proud and peerless race
whose superiority we have heard so vauntingly proclaimed to-night
by the senators from Tennessee and Indiana."

Returning home at the close of the session, he warned his personal friends and political associates that the American organization, which had acted with the anti-Nebraska men in the North, was to be seduced by the South, and betrayed by men in the North, who assumed to control its actions. On the 8th of May, he delivered an address before a large assemblage in the Metropolitan Theatre in New York, upon the development of the anti-slavery sentiment in America for twenty years, from 1835 to 1855. On this occasion he declared that:

"He owed it to truth to speak what he knew--that the anti-slavery
cause was in extreme peril--that a demand was made upon us of the
North to ignore the slavery question, to keep quiet, and go into
power in 1856. If there were men in the free States who hoped to
triumph in 1856 by ignoring the slavery issues now forced upon the
nation by the slave propagandists, he would say to them, that the
anti-slavery men cannot be reduced or driven into the organization
of a party that ignores the question of slavery in Christian and
Republican America. Let such men read and ponder the history of
the Republic; let them contrast anti-slavery in 1835 and
anti-slavery in 1855. Those periods are the grand epochs in the
anti-slavery movement, and the contrast between them cannot fail
to give us some faint conception of the mighty changes that twenty
years of anti-slavery agitation have wrought in America.
Anti-slavery in 1835 was in the nadir of its weakness;
anti-slavery in 1855 is in the zenith of its power. Then, a few
unknown, nameless men were its apostles and leaders; now, the most
profound and accomplished intellects of America are its chiefs and
champions. Then, a few proscribed and humble followers rallied
around its banner; now, it has laid its grasp upon the conscience
of the people, and hundreds of thousands rally under the folds of
its flag. Then, not a single statesman in all America accepted its
doctrines or defended its measures; now, it has a decisive
majority in the national House of Representatives, and is rapidly
changing the complexion of the American Senate. Then, every State
in the Union was arrayed against it; now, it controls fifteen
sovereign States by more than 300,000 popular majority. Then, the
public press covered it with ridicule and contempt; now, the most
powerful journals in America are its instruments. Then, the
benevolent, religious and literary institutions of the land
repulsed its advances, rebuked its doctrines and persecuted its
advocates; now, it shapes, molds and fashions them at its
pleasure, compelling the most powerful benevolent organizations of
the western world, upon whose mission stations the sun never sets,
to execute its decrees, and the oldest literary institution in
America to cast from its bosom a professor who had surrendered a
man to the slave hunters. Then, the political organizations
trampled disdainfully upon it; now, it looks down with the pride
of conscious power upon the wrecked political fragments that float
at its feet. Then, it was impotent and powerless; now it holds
every political organization in the hollow of its right hand.
Then, the public voice sneered at and defied it; now it is the
master of America and has only to be true to itself to grasp the
helm and guide the ship of State hereafter in her course."

"This brief contrast," he said, "would show the men who hoped to win power by ignoring the transcendent issue of our age in America, how impotent would be the efforts of any class of men to withdraw the mighty questions involved in the existence and expansion of slavery on this continent, from the consideration of the people." To the idea of going into power by sacrificing the anti-slavery cause, he replied:

"Now, gentlemen, I say to you frankly, I am the last man to object
to going into power [laughter], and especially to going into power
over the present dynasty that is fastened upon the country. But I
am the last man that will consent to go into power by ignoring or
sacrificing the slavery question. [Applause.] If my voice could be
heard by the whole country to-night--by the anti-slavery men of
the country to-night of all parties, I would say to them, resolve
it--write it over your door-posts--engrave it on the lids of your
Bibles--proclaim it at the rising of the sun and the going down
of the sun, and in the broad light of noon, that any party in
America, be that party Whig, Democratic, or American, that lifts
its finger to arrest the anti-slavery movement, to repress the
anti-slavery sentiment, or proscribe the anti-slavery men, it
surely shall begin to die--[loud applause]--it would deserve to
die; it will die; and by the blessing of God I shall do what
little I can to make it die."

This address was repeated in Boston, Worcester, Springfield, Lowell, Dorchester, and other places in Massachusetts, and General Wilson was branded as an agitator, traitor, and disorganizer, by men who had been for six months secretly and darkly intriguing to betray the liberty-loving men who had given the American organization power in the free States. This feeling of hostility was heightened by the publication of his speech, delivered on the 16th of May, at Brattleborough, Vt., "On the position and duty of the American party." In this speech he said that

"The time has come for the advocates of the American movement
distinctly to define their principles and their policy.

"If the American party is to achieve anything for good, it must
adopt a wise and humane policy consistent with our Democratic
ideas--a policy which will reform existing abuses and guard
against future ones--which shall combine in one harmonious
organization moderate and patriotic men who love freedom and hate
oppression. Upon the grand and overshadowing question of American
slavery, the American party must take its position. If it wishes a
speedy death and a dishonored grave, let it adopt the policy of
neutrality upon that question or the policy of ignoring that
question. If that party wishes to live, to impress its policy upon
the nation, it must repudiate the sectional policy of slavery and
stand boldly upon the broad and national basis of freedom. It must
accept the position that 'Freedom is national and slavery is
sectional.' It must stand upon the national idea embodied in the
Declaration of Independence--that 'all men are created equal, and
have an inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness.' It must accept these words as embracing the great
central national idea of America, fidelity to which is national in
New England and in South Carolina. It must recognize the doctrine
that the Constitution of the United States was made 'to secure the
blessing of liberty,'--that Congress has no right to make a slave
or allow slavery to exist outside of the slave States, and that
the Federal Government must be relieved from all connection with,
and responsibility for slavery.

"In their own good time the Americans of Massachusetts have spoken
for themselves. They have placed that old Commonwealth face to
face to the slave oligarchy and its allies. Upon their banner they
have written in letters of living light the words, 'No exclusion
from the public schools on account of race or color.'--'No slave
commissioners on the judicial bench.'--'No slave States to be
carved out of Kansas and Nebraska.'--'The repeal of the
unconstitutional fugitive slave act of 1850.'--'An act to protect
personal liberty.' The men who have inscribed these glowing words
upon their banner will go into the conflicts of the future like
the Zouaves at Inkermann, 'with the light of battle on their
faces,'--and if defeat comes, they will fall with their 'backs to
the field, and their feet to the foe.'"

Early in June, 1855, the American National Council assembled at Philadelphia. General Wilson was a delegate, and his position in the Senate, and his avowed sentiments, opinions and policy, brought him at once into conflict with the men in and out of the council, who were intriguing to make the American organization an instrument of the slave power. An attempt was made to keep him out of the council, on account of the sentiments he had expressed, and to draw off the Massachusetts delegation from him; but they stood by him, and thus baffled the designs of the plotters. On taking his seat in the council, he was at once recognized by friends and foes as the leader of the North--the representative of the anti-slavery men of the free States. The National Council sat for more than one week, and during that time it was the scene of stormy, exciting and angry discussion upon the slavery question. Early in the debate, a delegate from Virginia made a fierce personal attack upon him, quoting from his speeches, and denouncing him as the leader of the anti-slavery men of the North, who had come into the council to rule or to destroy. General Wilson promptly replied to this assault, and defiantly told the delegate from Virginia and his compeers, that "his threats had no terrors for free men--that he was then and there ready to meet argument with argument--scorn with scorn--and if need, be, blow with blow, for God had given him an arm ready and able to protect his head! It was time the champions of slavery in the South should realize the fact, that the past was theirs--the future ours." The debate went on, and on the 12th of June, General Wilson made an elaborate speech in reply to the assaults made upon the North and upon the anti-slavery men, by both southern and northern delegates. To the assaults made upon Massachusetts by some of the delegates from New York, he said: "When Massachusetts pleads to any arraignment before the nation, she will demand that her accusers are competent to draw the bill." To the men of the South who had denounced the action of Massachusetts, he replied:

"But gentlemen of talents and of character have undertaken here to
arraign Massachusetts. To those gentlemen I have to say, that
Massachusetts means to go to the very verge of her constitutional
powers, to protect the personal rights of her people! She means
to exercise her constitutional rights, for the security of
the liberties of her people, against what she deems to be
unconstitutional, inhuman and unchristian legislation; and I tell
you frankly, if any constitutional powers are in doubt, she will
construe them in favor of liberty; not in favor of slavery. In the
future, if she errs at all, in the interpretation of her reserved
rights, as a sovereign State, I trust she will go a little beyond
the limits of State sovereignty, rather than fall short of
marching up to those limits. The personal liberties of her people
demand that she should do so.

"Massachusetts has the right, if she chooses, to remove from her
judicial bench, any officers who shall consent to perform the
duties imposed upon United States commissioners. She denies your
right, gentlemen, to arraign her here or elsewhere for the
exercise of her own constitutional powers. By the decision of the
Supreme Court of the United States, Massachusetts has a right to
forbid the use of her prisons--she has a right to forbid her
officers from engaging in the extradition of fugitives from labor.
She believes that every human being within her limits, has a right
to the benefits of the writ of _habeas corpus_, and to a jury
trial. She proposes to test the question by the judicial
authorities. Her 'offence hath that extent, no more.'
Massachusetts stands upon the State rights doctrines of Virginia
and Kentucky, of 1798 and 1799. She raises no standard of
nullification or rebellion--she will submit to the decisions of
those tribunals authorized to expound the judicial powers of the
Government.

"The gentleman from Alabama (Judge Hopkins), has hinted to us that
the Southern States may find it necessary to protect themselves
against this action of Massachusetts, by legislation that shall
touch her material interests. Threats of that kind, sir, have no
terrors for Massachusetts. Her people will laugh to scorn all such
idle threats, by whomsoever made. Massachusetts, with one million
of intelligent people, with free schools, free churches, free
labor, is competent to take care of her own material interests.
'Her goods are for sale--not her principles.' If gentlemen from
the South expect to intimidate Massachusetts by such threats, I
tell them here and now, that we scorn, spurn and defy your
threats."

Of the proposed national platform he said:

"The adoption of this platform commits the American party
unconditionally to the policy of slavery--to the iron dominion of
the Black Power. I tell you, sir, I tell this convention, that we
cannot stand upon this platform in a single free State of the
North. The people of the North will repudiate it, spurn it, spit
upon it. For myself, sir, I here and now tell you to your faces,
that I will trample with disdain on your platform. I will not
support it. I will support no man who stands upon it. Adopt that
platform, and you array against you everything that is pure and
holy--everything that has the elements of permanency in it--the
noblest pulsations of the human heart--the holiest convictions of
the human soul--the profoundest ideas of the human intellect and
the attributes of Almighty God! Your party will be withered and
consumed by the blasting breath of the people's wrath! There is an
old Spanish proverb, which says that 'the feet of the avenging
deities are shod with wool.' Softly and silently these avenging
deities are advancing upon you. You will find that 'the mills of
God grind slowly, but they grind to powder.'

"When I united with the American organization in March, 1854, in
its hour of weakness--I told the men with whom I acted that my
anti-slavery opinions were the matured convictions of years, and
that I would not modify or qualify my opinions or suppress my
sentiments for any consideration on earth. From that hour to this,
in public and in private, I have freely uttered my anti-slavery
sentiments, and labored to promote the anti-slavery cause, and I
tell you now, that I will continue to do so. You shall not
proscribe anti-slavery principles, measures or men, without
receiving from me the most determined and unrelenting hostility.
It is a painful thing to differ from our associates and
friends--but when duty, a stern sense of duty, demands it, I shall
do so. Reject this majority platform--adopt the proposition to
restore freedom to Kansas and Nebraska, and to protect the actual
settlers from violence and outrage--simplify your rules--make an
open organization--banish all bigotry and intolerance from your
ranks--place your movement in harmony with the humane progressive
spirit of the age, and you may win and retain power, and elevate
and improve the political character of the country. Adopt this
majority platform--commit the American movement to the slave
perpetualists and the slave propagandists, and you will go down
before the burning indignation and withering scorn of American
freemen."

But the pro-slavery platform was adopted, and most of the delegates from the North retired from the National Council. A meeting was at once held, over which General Wilson presided. This meeting adopted a protest against the action of the council, and announced their final separation from the national organization. The American organization was shivered to atoms, and no man contributed more to that result than General Wilson; and in doing it he but redeemed the words he had uttered while his election to the Senate was pending. The New York "Tribune," referring to the action of the council, said:

"The antecedents of Mr. Wilson naturally made him the particular
object of hostility to the slave-drivers in the convention; and
one of the earliest displays after the body was organized, was a
grossly personal attack upon him by a delegate from Virginia. But
the assailants had now met an antagonist who was not to be cowed
or silenced, and the response they received was of a character to
induce them not to repeat their experiment. We have the unanimous
testimony of many northern members of the convention to the signal
gallantry and effect of Mr. Wilson's bearing, and to the bold,
virile and telling eloquence of his speeches. While all have done
so well in bringing about results so gratifying, it may be
invidious to particularize; but a few names among the northern
members, who were devoted from the start to the work of creating a
unity and a strength of _northern back-bone_, should justly be
exposed to the public appreciation and honor that they deserve.
First stands Henry Wilson of Massachusetts, preeminent as the
leader in the whole movement. He was handsomely sustained by all
his associates, and the numerous insidious efforts of the enemy to
separate them from him, only attached them the more closely to his
side. He has the highest honor in this contest, exhibited the
greatest political ability, and broke down many strong prejudices
against him, both among Massachusetts men who were witnesses to
his conduct, and among the delegates of the other States, North
and South. No man went into that council with more elements of
distrust and opposition combined against him; no one goes out of
it with such an enviable fame, or such an aggregation to his
honor. He is worthy of Massachusetts, and worthy to lead the new
movement of the people of that State, which the result here so
fitly inaugurates."

General Wilson, during the summer and autumn of 1855, visited thirteen States, travelled more than twenty thousand miles, consulted with leading men of all parties, and addressed tens of thousands of people in favor of the fusion of men of all parties for freedom. In the State council of the Americans of Massachusetts, at Springfield, on the 7th of August, he made an elaborate speech on the "necessity of the fusion of parties," in which he invoked the members to sustain the resolution announcing the readiness of the Americans "to unite and cooperate with" men of other parties, in forming a great party of freedom. On that occasion he said:

"The gathering hosts of northern freemen, of every party and
creed, are banding together to resist the aggressive policy of the
Black Power. Freedom, patriotism, and humanity demand the union of
the freemen of the Republic, for the sake of liberty now perilled.
Religion sanctions and blesses it.

"How and where stands Massachusetts? Shall she range herself in
line, front to the Black Power, with her sister States? or shall
she maintain the fatal position of isolation? Here and now, we,
the chosen representatives of the American party of this
Commonwealth, are to meet that issue, to solve that problem.

"The American party of Massachusetts, dashing other organizations
into powerless fragments, had grasped the reins of power, placed
an unbroken delegation in Congress pledged to the policy of
freedom, ranged this ancient Commonwealth front to front with the
slave power, and written, with the iron pen of history, upon her
statutes, declarations of principles and pledges of acts hostile
to the aggressive policy of the slaveholding power. When the Black
Power of the imperious South, aided by the servile power of the
faltering North, imposed upon the national American organization
its principles, measures and policy, the representatives of the
American party of this Commonwealth, spurned the unhallowed
decrees, turned their backs, forever, upon that prostituted
organization, and their action received the approving sanction of
this State council by a vote approaching unanimity. The American
party, as a national organization, is broken and shivered to
atoms. By its own act the American party of Massachusetts has
severed itself from all connection with that product of southern
domination and northern submission.

"The American party of Massachusetts has, during its brief
existence, uttered true words and performed noble deeds for
freedom. The past at least is secure. Whatever may have been its
errors of omission or commission, the slave and the slave's
friends will never reproach it. Holding, as it does, the reins of
power, it has now a glorious opportunity to give to the country
the magnanimous example of a great and dominant party, in the full
possession of consummated power, freely yielding up that power,
for the holy cause of freedom, to the equal possession of other
parties, who are willing to cooperate with it upon a common
platform. Here and now, we, its representatives, are to show by
our acts whether we can rise above the demands of partisan policy,
to the full comprehension of the condition of public affairs--to
the full realization of the obligations which fidelity to freedom
now imposes upon us.

"If the representatives of the American party reject this
proposition for fusion, I shall go home once more with a sad
heart--but I shall not go home to sulk in my tent--to rail and
fret at the folly of men; I shall go home, sir, with a resolved
spirit and iron will, determined to hope on and to struggle on,
until I see the lovers of universal and impartial freedom banded
together in one organization--moved by one impulse. For seven
years I have labored to break up old organizations, and to make
new combinations, all tending to the organization of that great
party of the future, which is to relieve the government from the
iron dominion of the Black Power.

"Sir, gentlemen may defeat this proposed fusion here to-day, but
they cannot control the action of the people. A fusion movement
will be made under the lead of gentlemen of the Whig, Democratic
and Free-soil parties, of talents and character. The movement will
be in harmony with the people's movements in the North. Sir, such
a movement will put a majority of the men, who voted with you last
autumn, in a false position before the country, or drive them from
your ranks. I cannot speak for others, but I tell you frankly,
that I cannot be placed in a false position--I cannot, even for
one moment, consent to stand arrayed against the hosts of freedom
now preparing for the contest of 1856. I tell you frankly that
whenever I see a formation in position to strike effective blows
for freedom, I shall be with it in the conflict--whenever I see an
organization in position antagonistic to freedom, my arm shall aid
in smiting it down."

The proposition for a union of the people was lost by a small vote, and the twenty-one years' amendment adopted by a small majority. Against the twenty-one years proposition, General Wilson said:

"Sir, the American movement is not based upon bigotry, intolerance
or proscription. If there is anything of bigotry, intolerance or
proscription in the American movement--if there is any disposition
to oppress or degrade the Briton, the Scot, the Celt, the German
or any one of another clime or race, or to deny to them the
fullest protection of just and equal laws, it is time such
criminal fanaticism was sternly rebuked by the intelligent
patriotism of the State and country. I deeply deplore, sir, the
adoption of the twenty-one years amendment. It will weaken the
American movement at home and in other States, especially in the
West, and tend to defeat any modification whatever of the
naturalization laws. I warn gentlemen, who desire the correction
of the evils growing out of the abuses of the naturalization laws,
against the adoption of extreme opinions; I tell you, gentlemen of
the council, that this intense nativism kills--yes, sir, it kills
and is killing us, and unless it is speedily abandoned, will
defeat all the needed reforms the movement was inaugurated to
secure, and overwhelm us all in dishonor. Every attempt, by
whomsoever made, to interpolate into the American movement,
anything inconsistent with the theory of our democratic
institutions--anything inconsistent with the idea that 'all men
are created equal'--anything contrary to the commands of God's
Holy Word that 'the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto
you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as
thyself,'--is doing that which will baffle the wise policy which
tries to reform existing evils and to guard against future
abuses."

General Wilson engaged with his accustomed industry and energy in the practical business, and in the exciting debates of the memorable session of 1855-6. In February, he made a speech on the affairs of Kansas, replete with facts not then familiar to the country. This speech went through three editions, and nearly 200,000 copies were circulated through the free States. In April, General Wilson made a speech in favor of receiving the petition of the Topeka Legislature for admission into the Union, and on this occasion in reply to the taunts of Mr. Douglas about "Amalgamationists," he said:

"Mr. President, the senator from Illinois tells us, with an air of
proud assurance, that the State he represents does not believe the
negro the equal of the white man; that she is opposed to placing
that degraded race upon terms of equality; that she had a right to
enact her black laws; and that if we of Massachusetts do not like
those acts, she does not care. Illinois, he tells us, does not
wish the blood of the white race to mingle with the blood of the
inferior race--Massachusetts can do otherwise if she chooses. Let
me tell the honorable senator from Illinois, that these taunts, so
often flung out about the equality of races, about amalgamation,
and the mingling of blood, are the emanations of low and vulgar
minds. These taunts usually come from men with the odor of
amalgamation upon them. Sir, I am proud to live in a commonwealth
where every man, black or white, of every clime and race, is
recognized as a man, standing upon terms of perfect and absolute
equality before the laws. Yes, sir, I live in a commonwealth that
recognizes the sublime creed embodied in the Declaration of
Independence--a commonwealth that throws over the poor, the weak,
the lowly, upon whom misfortune has laid its iron hand, the
protection of just and equal laws. Sir, the people of
Massachusetts may not believe that the African race,

"Outcast to insolence and scorn,"

is the equal to this Anglo-Saxon race of ours in intellectual
power; but they know no reason why a man, made in the image of
God, should be degraded by unjust laws, because his Creator has
given him a weak body or a feeble mind. Sir, the philanthropist,
the Christian, the true Democratic statesman, will see in the fact
that a man is weak, ignorant, and poor, the reason why the State
should throw over him the panoply of just and equal laws."

In the latter part of May, 1856, Mr. Sumner was assailed in his seat in the Senate chamber by Mr. Brooks of South Carolina, and beaten over the head with a cane until he fell unconscious upon the floor, covered with blood. When the assault was made, General Wilson was in the room of Speaker Banks engaged in conversation with several members of the House. Returning to the Senate Chamber, he found his friend and colleague almost unconscious in the hands of his friends. He aided in the sad task of bearing him to his chamber and placing him on his couch of pain. That night the Republican members met at the house of Mr. Seward, and commissioned General Wilson to call the attention of the Senate to the assault upon his colleague, which duty he performed next day in a few very appropriate words. On motion of Mr. Seward, a committee was appointed, and on the morning of the 27th, Mr. Slidell, Mr. Toombs, Mr. Douglas and others rose to make some personal explanations concerning the statement made to the committee by Mr. Sumner. The floor and galleries were crowded, and every word was listened to with the most intense interest. General Wilson rose to defend his absent colleague, who was confined to his room, as he declared, from the effects "of _a brutal, murderous, and cowardly assault_." He was instantly interrupted by an exclamation from Mr. Butler, and cries of order increased the intense excitement which prevailed in the crowded chamber. Threats of personal violence were made by Mr. Brooks' friends, and several members of both houses assured General Wilson that they would stand by him in any emergency. That evening, after the adjournment of Congress, he was compelled to leave Washington for Trenton, to address the Republican State convention of New Jersey. On his return, on the morning of the 29th, he was called upon by General Lane, of Oregon, and a challenge from Mr. Brooks placed in his hands. General Wilson promptly responded by placing in the hands of General Lane, through his friend, Mr. Buffinton, the following note:

WASHINGTON, _May 29, 10-1/2 o'clock_.

"HON. P. S. BROOKS,

"SIR: Your note of the 27th inst. was placed in my hands by your
friend General Lane, at twenty minutes past ten o'clock to-day.

"I characterized, on the floor of the Senate, the assault upon my
colleague as 'brutal, murderous, and cowardly.' I thought so then,
I think so now. I have no qualifications whatever to make in
regard to those words.

"I have never entertained or expressed in the Senate or elsewhere,
the idea of personal responsibility in the sense of the duellist.

"I have always regarded duelling as the lingering relic of a
barbarous civilization, which the law of the country has branded
as a crime. While, therefore, I religiously believe in the right
of self-defence in its broadest sense, the law of my country and
the matured convictions of my whole life alike forbid me to meet
you for the purpose indicated in your letter.

"Your obedient servant,

"HENRY WILSON."

This prompt and emphatic response, declining to fight a duel, but at the same time avowing his readiness to maintain the right of self-defence, was most enthusiastically approved and applauded by the people and presses of the North, and he received many letters, from men of the highest character, warmly commending his noble and dignified course.

On the 13th of June, General Wilson made a full and elaborate reply to Mr. Butler, and in defence of Mr. Sumner. This speech and his speeches on the bill to admit Kansas, his speech in defence of the acts of Col. Fremont, and against using the army to enforce the acts of the territorial legislature of Kansas, were largely circulated through the country.

On the adjournment of Congress, General Wilson entered into the Presidential campaign, and gave all his energies to secure the triumph of the Republican cause.

During the sessions of 1856-7-8 and 1858-9, General Wilson was in constant attendance upon Congress, and his duties, owing to the prolonged absence of his colleague, were very arduous and pressing. In those sessions he took his full share of labor in the committee rooms, on the floor of the Senate, and on matters of legislative action. He took part in the debates during these sessions, upon all questions of importance, and on most of the questions before the Senate, he delivered elaborate speeches. Those upon the affairs of Kansas exhibit an amount of information, concerning that territory, surpassed by no other member of either House of Congress, and his speeches on the Treasury Note bill, the expenses of the Government, the revenue collection appropriations, the tariff, the President's Message, and the Pacific Railroad, are remarkable for fullness and accuracy of facts, and clearness and force of statement. His speech in March, 1850, in reply to Mr. Hammond of South Carolina, is one of the most effective speeches ever delivered in Congress, in defence of free labor. It is full of facts and points of great power, and few speeches ever made in Congress have had a wider circulation, or received warmer approval, in the free States.

Mr. Hammond characterized the manual laborers as "slaves"--the "mud-sills" of society. This extract is quoted from General Wilson's reply:

"Mr. President, the senator from South Carolina tells us that 'all
the powers of the world cannot abolish' 'the thing' he calls
slavery. 'God only can do it when he repeals the fiat, "the poor
ye have always with you;" for the man who lives by daily labor,
and your whole class of hireling manual laborers and operatives,
are essentially slaves! Our slaves are black; happy, content,
unaspiring; yours are white, and they feel galled by their
degradation. Our slaves do not vote; yours do vote, and, being the
majority, they are the depositaries of all your political power;
and if they knew the tremendous secret, that the ballot-box is
stronger than an army with banners, and could combine, your
society would be reconstructed, your government overthrown, and
your property divided.'

"'The poor ye have always with you!' This fiat of Almighty God,
which Christian men of all ages and lands have accepted as the
imperative injunction of the common Father of all, to care for the
children of misfortune and sorrow, the senator from South Carolina
accepts as the foundation-stone, the eternal law, of slavery,
which 'all the powers of earth cannot abolish.' These precious
words of our Heavenly Father, 'the poor ye have always with you,'
are perpetually sounding in the ears of mankind, ever reminding
them of their dependence and their duties. These words appeal
alike to the conscience and the heart of mankind. To men blessed
in their basket and their store, they say 'property has its duties
as well as its rights!' To men clothed with authority to shape the
policy or to administer the laws of the State, they say, 'lighten
by wise, humane, and equal laws, the burdens of the toiling and
dependent children of men!' To men of every age and every clime
they appeal, by the Divine promise that 'he that giveth to the
poor lendeth to the Lord!' Sir, I thank God that I live in a
commonwealth which sees no warrant in these words of inspiration
to oppress the sons and daughters of toil and poverty. Over the
poor and lowly she casts the broad shield of equal, just, and
humane legislation. The poorest man that treads her soil, no
matter what blood may run in his veins, is protected in his rights
and incited to labor by no other force than the assurance that the
fruits of his toil belong to himself, to the wife of his bosom,
and the children of his love.

"The senator from South Carolina exclaims, 'The man who lives by
daily labor, your whole class of manual laborers, are essentially
slaves'--'they feel galled by their degradation!' What a sentiment
is this to hear uttered in the councils of this democratic
Republic! The senator's political associates who listen to these
words which brand hundreds of thousands of the men they represent
in the free States, and hundreds of their neighbors and personal
friends as 'slaves,' have found no words to repel or rebuke this
language. This language of scorn and contempt is addressed to
senators who were not nursed by a slave; whose lot it was to toil
with their own hands--to eat bread earned, not by the sweat of
another's brow, but by their own. Sir, I am the son of a 'hireling
manual laborer' who, with the frosts of seventy winters on his
brow, 'lives by daily labor.' I, too, have 'lived by daily labor.'
I, too, have been a 'hireling manual laborer.' Poverty cast its
dark and chilling shadow over the home of my childhood, and want
was there sometimes--an unbidden guest. At the age of ten
years--to aid him who gave me being, in keeping the gaunt spectre
from the hearth of the mother who bore me--I left the home of my
boyhood, and went to earn my bread by 'daily labor.' Many a weary
mile have I travelled

"'To beg a brother of the earth
To give me leave to toil.'

"Sir, I have toiled as a 'hireling manual laborer' in the field
and in the workshop; and I tell the senator from South Carolina
that I never 'felt galled by my degradation.' No, sir--never!
Perhaps the senator who represents that 'other class which leads
progress, civilization, and refinement,' will ascribe this to
obtuseness of intellect and blunted sensibilities of the heart.
Sir, I was conscious of my manhood; I was the peer of my employer;
I knew that the laws and institutions of my native and adopted
States threw over him and over me alike the panoply of equality; I
knew, too, that the world was before me, that its wealth, its
garnered treasures of knowledge, its honors, the coveted prizes of
life, were within the grasp of a brave heart and a tireless hand,
and I accepted the responsibilities of my position all unconscious
that I was a 'slave.' I have employed others, hundreds of
'hireling manual laborers.' Some of them then possessed, and now
possess, more property than I ever owned; some of them were better
educated than myself--yes, sir, better educated, and better read,
too, than some senators on this floor; and many of them, in moral
excellence and purity of character, I could not but feel, were my
superiors. I have occupied, Mr. President, for more than thirty
years, the relation of employer and employed; and while I never
felt 'galled by my degradation' in the one case, in the other I
was never conscious that my 'hireling laborers' were my inferiors.
That man is a 'snob' who boasts of being a 'hireling laborer,' or
who is ashamed of being a 'hireling laborer;' that man is a 'snob'
who feels any inferiority to any man because he is a 'hireling
laborer,' or who assumes any superiority over others because he is
an employer. Honest labor is honorable; and the man who is ashamed
that he is or was a 'hireling laborer' has not manhood enough to
'feel galled by his degradation.'

"Having occupied, Mr. President, the relation of either employed
or employer for a third of a century; having lived in a
commonwealth where the 'hireling class of manual laborers' are
'the depositaries of political power;' having associated with this
class in all the relations of life; I tell the senator from South
Carolina, and the class he represents, that he libels, grossly
libels them, when he declares that they are 'essentially slaves!'
There can be found nowhere in America, a class of men more proudly
conscious or tenacious of their rights. Friends and foes have ever
found them

'A stubborn race, fearing and flattering none.'

"Ours are the institutions of freedom; and they flourish best in
the storms and agitations of inquiry and free discussion. We are
conscious that our social and political institutions have not
attained perfection, and we invoke the examination and the
criticism of the genius and learning of all Christendom. Should
the senator and his agitators and lecturers come to Massachusetts
on a mission to teach our 'hireling class of manual laborers,' our
'mud-sills,' our 'slaves,' the 'tremendous secret of the
ballot-box,' and to help 'combine and lead them,' these
stigmatized 'hirelings' would reply to the senator and his
associates, 'We are freemen; we are the peers of the gifted and
the wealthy; we know the "tremendous secret of the ballot-box;"
and we mold and fashion these institutions that bless and adorn
our proud and free Commonwealth! These public schools are ours,
for the education of our children; these libraries, with their
accumulated treasures, are ours; these multitudinous and varied
pursuits of life, where intelligence and skill find their reward,
are ours. Labor is here honored and respected, and great examples
incite us to action. All around us in the professions, in the
marts of commerce, on the exchange, where merchant-princes and
capitalists do congregate; in these manufactories and workshops,
where the products of every clime are fashioned into a thousand
forms of utility and beauty; on these smiling farms, fertilized by
the sweat of free labor; in every position of private and of
public life, are our associates, who were but yesterday "hireling
laborers," "mud-sills," "slaves." In every department of human
effort are noble men who sprang from our ranks--men whose good
deeds will be felt and will live in the grateful memories of men
when the stones reared by the hands of affection to their honored
names shall crumble into dust. Our eyes glisten and our hearts
throb over the bright, glowing and radiant pages of our history
that records the deeds of patriotism of the sons of New England
who sprang from our ranks and wore the badges of toil. While the
names of Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, Nathaniel Greene and
Paul Revere live on the brightest pages of our history, the
mechanics of Massachusetts and New England will never want
illustrious examples to incite us to noble aspirations and noble
deeds. Go home, say to your privileged class, which, you
vauntingly say, "leads progress, civilization and refinement,"
that it is the opinion of the "hireling laborers" of
Massachusetts, if you have no sympathy for your African bondmen,
in whose veins flows so much of your own blood, you should at
least sympathize with the millions of your own race, whose labor
you have dishonored and degraded by slavery! You should teach your
millions of poor and ignorant white men, so long oppressed by your
policy, the "tremendous secret that the ballot-box is stronger
than an army with banners!" You should combine and lead them to
the adoption of a policy which shall secure their own emancipation
from a degrading thralldom!'"

Early in January, 1859, Gen. Wilson was reelected United States Senator for six years from March 3, 1859. He had in the Senate 35 to 5 votes, and in the House of Representatives 199 to 36 votes. Before the people and in the legislature, he was without a competitor in the ranks of his own party; and the unity of sentiment in favor of his reelection was a noble tribute of which any public man might justly be proud.

JEFFERSON DAVIS.

Jefferson Davis is a native of Kentucky. His father took him, when he was an infant, to Mississippi Territory, about the year 1806. His father was moderately wealthy and gave his son an excellent education. He had the ordinary course at the schools, and then entered Transylvania University College, Kentucky. There he remained till his father removed him to West Point as a cadet. This was in 1822, and in 1828 he left it with honor as brevet second lieutenant, and was at once placed in active service. He served in the Indian war of the times so ably as to gain almost immediately a first lieutenant's commission. The famous Indian chief, "Black Hawk," became his prisoner, and a strong friendship was struck up between the lieutenant and his prisoner, which lasted till the death of the latter.

In 1835, Mr. Davis, sickened of military life without the excitement of actual engagement with an enemy, and retired from the service, settling down upon a cotton plantation in Mississippi. For nearly ten years he remained on his plantation in quiet, cultivating cotton and his intellect at the same time, for he was during all these years of rural life a great student and reader. He was contentedly preparing himself for the future occasion which should call for his services. In 1843, he took the stump for Mr. Polk, and such was his ability before the people that they sent him to Congress in 1845. When he had been in Washington but a few months, the war with Mexico broke out, and his constituents raised a regiment of volunteers, who elected Mr. Davis as their colonel. He immediately resigned his seat in Congress, and went with his regiment to join General Taylor in Mexico. The history of Col. Davis' career in Mexico is full of interest, but we cannot stay to elaborate it. At Buena Vista he won laurels of glory, in the parlance of the soldier. Says a friend of his:

"His men--though volunteers--showed a steadiness which equalled
anything that might have been expected of veteran troops; and they
were handled in so masterly a way, that, if the glory of that day
were to be assigned to any one corps rather than any other, they
would probably bear away the palm. Every one remembers the proud
appeal of Colonel Davis to another regiment of volunteers, who
were finding the fire rather warm, to 'Stay and re-form behind
that wall'--pointing to his Mississippians. Throughout the war, he
and his brave riflemen loom up at intervals whenever the fire
grows hot or the emergency grave, and never without good effect.
They were armed with a peculiar rifle, now best known as the
Mississippi rifle, chosen by their colonel himself; it was
scarcely less deadly than the Minie. Their colonel set the example
of intrepidity and recklessness of personal injury: at Buena Vista
he was badly wounded at an early part of the action; but he sat
his horse steadily till the day was won, and refused even to
delegate a portion of his duties to his subordinate officers."

The term of service for which his regiment was enlisted having expired, his medical advisers insisted upon his going home and curing himself of his wounds. He did not stay long, however; for that very year--in the late autumn--he was appointed United States Senator by the Governor of Mississippi to fill a vacancy, and when the legislature of the State came together, it elected him to the same high office for the ensuing six years.

In the Senate he at once took a high position. He was made Chairman of the Military Committee of the Senate, a position he has held during his entire term of senatorial services, and which he has honored. In the long and excited debates of 1849-50, and 1850-51, Mr. Davis took a prominent part, and always what is termed an ultra-sectional position. He was the champion of the extreme South, and made some of the ablest speeches of the entire slavery debate.

In September, 1851, Mr. Davis was nominated by the Democrats of Mississippi, as their candidate for Governor. He at once resigned his seat in the Senate. He lost an election by a thousand votes--and retired to his plantation.

Upon the nomination of Franklin Pierce to the Presidency, he took the stump for him in several of the more doubtful southern States, and with great success. His popularity before the people as a speaker was great, and his success was in due proportion.

Mr. Pierce rewarded Mr. Davis for his eminent services in the campaign by the offer of the Secretaryship of War--an office which he was peculiarly qualified to fill. He was quite successful as Secretary of War, though his unfortunate quarrel with General Scott (about the merits of which we are incompetent to pronounce an opinion), damaged his popularity with a portion of his friends. When the Pierce administration went out, Mr. Davis was reelected United States Senator, and he has latterly been looked upon as a Democratic leader in the Senate.

In his personal appearance in the Senate-room, Mr. Davis has few equals. Tall, upright, stern, and with the bearing of a prince, he at once commands the admiration of the stranger so far as his personal appearance is concerned. His military manners have followed him from the camp into the Senate. We say this in no offensive sense, though it is true that the senator often unintentionally offends by the quickness, the savageness, and the irritability of his style and speech. This is not intentional, and though it now and then gives offence, it at the same time gives great force to the sentiment which the senator may be uttering at the time. He has a peculiar voice, keyed high, yet musical, and his words come flowing out like so many cannon-balls with the force of gunpowder behind them.

The political position of Mr. Davis cannot be misunderstood. He is ultra-southern. Not a disunionist, at all events; but a disunionist in a certain event. He stands by the extreme southern men--occupies an extreme southern position for a man who claims yet to stand by the national Democratic party. His views upon the non-intervention doctrines of Mr. Douglas, we shall quote that we may not do him injustice. He is an enthusiastic and consistent advocate of utter free trade. Nothing short of absolute free trade will suit him or satisfy him. He is also opposed to the Homestead bill, and all like appropriations of the public lands. He is in favor of the acquisition of Cuba, but opposed the Senate resolution--proposed--giving Mr. Buchanan power to make war upon the southern republics when he should think the occasion demanded it.