USA > Indiana > Wayne County > Richmond > Memoirs of Wayne County and the city of Richmond, Indiana; from the earliest historical times down to the present, including a genealogical and biographical record of representative families in Wayne County, Volume I Pt. 1 > Part 20
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After he had come from Washington to Indianapolis, he took a suite of rooms at the Remy Ilotel, where his callers numbered thirty or forty every day. Men from every State sought his in- fluence, and his daily mail was enormous. He seldom threw a letter into the waste basket. That Governor Morton should have been able, in his condition of health, partially paralyzed and seri- ously enfeebled, to hold during nearly ten years the position of acknowledged leader of the Senate and the greatest political or- ganizer of his time, is a striking proof of his wonderful energy and will power. In the spring of 1877, the Senate ordered an in- vestigation into the case of Senator Grover, of Oregon, who was charged with having procured his election corruptly. This duty was referred to Senators Morton, Saulsbury, and McMillan. The last public appearance of Senator Morton in Indiana was on Decora- tion Day, at Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis, in honor of the memory of the soldiers buried there. Thus his last public utterance in the State was in connection with the brave patriots for whom he cared so tenderly in life. He was in poor health when he started for Oregon, but thought the journey would do him good. By the time he reached Portland, Ore., he was apparently in fine health and ready for any amount of hard work. At the conclusion of the investigation he addressed a public meeting at Salem in a speech of considerable length, which the Oregon papers pronounced the best ever heard in the State. Leaving Oregon, accompanied by his wife and youngest son, he reached San Francisco early in August. On the 6th, after an entertainment in which he had eaten heartily, he found he had less command of his limbs than usual and noticed a numbness on his left side. By morning his entire left side had become paralyzed. As soon as he knew his condition he was de- termined at once to start for Indiana. A special car was prepared for him and he was accompanied by his wife and son, brother-in- law, and physician. His home in Indianapolis was not in condition to receive him, so he was taken to Mrs. Burbanks', his wife's mother, at Richmond.
On Sept. 13, the President of the United States visited Richmond for the express purpose of calling upon the sick Sena- tor. On Oct. 15, his health was so much improved that he was taken to his own home at Indianapolis. The short trip seemed to do him good and the hope of his recovery was strengthened.
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All this time he took a lively interest in current affairs and espe- cially in what was passing in the political world. He wanted those around him to read to him constantly, which they did. His mind continued active and clear, and when friends visited his bedside he would welcome them with a pleasant smile and grasp of the hand. Thursday. Nov. 1, was dark and gloomy. It was evi- dent that Morton had not many hours to live. During the day he lay very quietly, speaking only to make known his wants. Shortly before 5 o'clock he had a paroxysm of pain and appeared to be dy- ing, though he still gave signs of recognition. lle said, "I am dy- ing; I am worn out." These were his last words ; then he ceased to move and at twenty-eight minutes past 5 o'clock the vital spark went out and the great and illustrious life had reached its end.
The news of Senator Morton's death caused a profound sensa- tion throughout the country. Although the event had been antici- pated for several days, it came as a shock at last and created a sorrow so deep and widespread that it could only be compared to that caused by the tragic death of Abraham Lincoln. Flags were displayed at half-mast and bells were tolled throughout the land. His remains lay in state at the court house during Sunday and part of Monday, and were reviewed by many thousands of persons who came from far and near to take a last look at one who had filled so large a place in the history of the country. After solemn ceremonies at the church the procession formed, by far the largest ever seen in Indiana, and the remains of the dead Governor and Senator were borne to Crown Hill Cemetery and there laid to rest, close to the graves of the soldiers for whom he had so tenderly cared. He was at the time of his death but fifty-four years of age. Indiana lost in him her most eminent statesman, the country one of its wisest counsellors, and the Republican party of our State its greatest leader. llis services to his State and his Nation will live forever in history, while the enmities which he engendered have al- ready been buried. He was possessed of an intense nature and human ambitions, but he was a man of powerful convictions. The world loves to honor those lofty spirits, whose life powers were dedicated to the cause of human liberty. Morton was a giant, physically, morally, and intellectually, and was led only by an overmastering sense of duty. A high forehead, large head, black hair, dark, searching eyes, a huge, well proportioned body and broad shoulders, and a commanding presence, were the physical manifestations of Morton's indomitable will and the plain and simple strength of his intellect and character. He was the greatest
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debater of his time-intense, logical and profound; bold, manly and energetic. The thought was so prominent that it stood boldly to the front and the words seemed massed behind it, crowding ir- resistibly upon his auditors.
Senator Booth has said: "As a debater, he was an athlete, trained down to pure muscle. In speech, he was careless of the graces of oratory and polish of style; his earnestness enchained attention, his directness carried conviction, and there was a natural symmetry in the strength of his statements above the reach of art." There were probably no other men of his time who could hold so many thousands in silence before him for so many hours. In the early part of his career his splendid physical presence added much to the effect he produced, and later, when crippled with disease he spoke from his seat (Sitting Bull, his enemies called him), his oratory lost nothing by the infirmity. His friendship for the sol- diers did not proceed from mere desire for popularity. At any hour, no matter how imperative the demands upon his time, he gave away to their appeals and became as tender as a woman in his sympathy. Thousands of hearts were cheered and saved by his timely suc- cor. Nor did he forget the widowed and the fatherless. Indiana soldiers came to know this stern, unyielding man was as gentle as a woman and as tender as an angel of mercy when he looked upon their wounds and beheld their suffering.
Morton's home life was ideal. The wish of one was the desire of all. Never cloud shadowed it nor frown chilled it. The peace, the love, good-night kisses, and the happy morning greetings were always present. Those who gained admission to his home circle could not fail to observe the spirit of love and confidence that pre- vailed. Morton belonged to no church. He seldom spoke of re- ligion. Yet, although he cared little for theology, he was by no means without religious feeling. Morton expressed his faith in immortality and his belief in a religion of love that discarded the "dry husks of creeds" and planted itself in the broadest philan- throphy and tolerance. The kindliness of his character, the un- selfishness of his disposition, was manifested in his consideration of the needs of others, and the honesty of his purpose in rendering every possible aid to all, constituted the strength of his character. "Grit is the grain of character. It may generally be described as heroism materialized-spirit and will thrust into heart, brain and backbone, so as to form part of the physical substance of the man." The writer of that truth might well have had Oliver P. Morton in mind. Time has cast no cloud upon his memory nor darkened a
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single spot upon his record. Linking his destiny with that of the Union, he became the rivet which made secure the position of his State, and earned in full measure the honor his State accords him. The world is so much better than it was before. Men's minds as well as bodies everywhere are free. Slavery is gone forever, and on the seat of independence, dignity, and power, free labor sits enthroned. Liberty at last is dwelling among the sons of men. All this we owe to the heroes of the people, those minds of light and lion hearts and wills imperial, who voiced the people's thoughts, led the people's cause to victory, and enshrined the people's rights in the people's imperishable nation; and among them stands our Morton, immortal with the immortality of deeds.
CHAPTER XIII.
GEORGE W. JULIAN.
ANCESTRY-EARLY STRUGGLES-STUDIES LAW-ENTERS POLITICS AND BE- GINS HIS CAREER AS A STATESMAN-SERVICES IN CONGRESS-POLIT- ICAL CAMPAIGNS-PUBLIC LAND POLICY-PERSONAL CHARACTERIS- TICS.
The success or failure of a nation is due to the character of its men. In studying the history of the United States one can see that its rapid progress is due to certain men who have been will- ing to give their time and thought to its betterment. Among these men, George W. Julian ranks high, and one cannot fail to notice the part he played in establishing the great principles of justice and freedom upon which the nation is founded. He will long be re- membered for the effective work he did in Congress during the re- construction period, as well as the active part he took in the strug- gle against slavery and his connection with the reorganization of the Republican party: He seemed to live ahead of the times and then did much in preparing the citizens and directing their thoughts on the approaching problems.
George W. Julian's paternal ancestors were of French extrac- tion and were the first ones of that name to come to America, where they settled on the eastern shore of Maryland near the close of the Eighteenth century. On account of continued Indian troubles the family soon after fled to North Carolina. George W. Julian's father and mother left North Carolina near the beginning of the Nineteenth century and were among the very earliest settlers of the Indiana Territory. They settled near Centerville, the county seat of Wayne county, where George W. was born, May 5, 1817. Ilis father was very prominent among the pioneers of Indiana, and in 1822 became a member of the State legislature.
When George W. was six years old his father died, leaving his mother with six children, almost destitute. As many great men have done, he developed his courage, character, and strength,
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in the severe struggle for existence that followed. The family tried to get their support from a barren farm, a sugar grove being its only source of revenue. The mother wove cloth for the neighbors, while George W. and his brothers would weave straw hats. George was very ambitious, however, and would not let his poverty dis- courage him. lle attended the common public schools in winter and applied himself well. After working hard all day at school, and in the fields, he was accustomed to split a quantity of kindlings, and in place of oil or candle pursue his studies until late by their light. His interest in books was nourished, and devouring all the knowledge he could grasp in school and from the books, which he was able to borrow in the neighborhood, he soon equaled the teach- ers. This diligence and indomitable perseverance in the line of mental improvement, as well as his determination to succeed, de- veloped in him very young the habit of self-reliance and close ob- servation. When George W. Julian was eighteen years old he began to teach school, and doubtless was far more efficient than the average teacher. Although self-distrust was an almost insur- mountable obstacle for him he showed his strength and nerve at many times. A story is told of an attempt made by some of the big boys of his school, re-enforced by some men at work on the Cumberland Road, near by, to compel him to treat on Christmas day, according to the custom of that locality. Julian, remembering the tendency to riotous conduct and also on account of his finan- cial difficulties, refused to do it, and had the nerve and strength to stand for his own convictions against that crowd.
During the three years he taught he was continually studying, by himself, rhetoric, languages, logic, natural philosophy, chemis- try, mathematics, and surveying. In the summer, when his short term of school was over, he engaged in surveying, and at one time was employed as rodman. In 1839 he started West, seeking work as a surveyor, but was unsuccessful and returned to Center- ville to continue the study of law, which he had begun the year before while teaching school in Western Illinois. He studied un- der Jolin S. Newman, of Centerville, and was admitted to the bar in 1840. In his practice self-distrust seemed an almost insur- mountable obstacle. He became a public speaker only by most vigorous training and persistent self-conquest. The assurance of a successful lawyer was lacking, and in his autobiography he says: "Sometimes in my despair I felt that I must break the chains which bound me, but I was powerless to do so, and no word of encourage- ment from any quarter cheered me." His mother did all that was in her power to help him and encourage him.
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Centerville was not an easy town for the study of law. In this little town there was collected some of the best talent of the State, political and professional men of eminence, as Nimrod 11. Johnson, John Newman, Charles H. Test, Joshua 1I. Mellett, James Raridan, and others who have had prominent places among the influential men of Indiana. A sort of aristocracy had arisen among these men which was hard for a young and inexperienced lawyer to break into. Thus, because of this, George W. Julian, Oliver P. Morton, Will McCullough, and a few others, organized a debating society in Centerville known as the "Dark Lyceum." Their meetings were held in the second story of an old seminary building, these sessions usually being held in the dark so the debators might speak and gesticulate with free will. This secret society grew in importance, and they took in new law students until they had an enrollment of sixteen. Their rooms were fitted up and a library was bought. In this society all the great men, such as Caesar, Demosthenes, Cicero, and others, were claimed as members. Their meetings were carried on with great formality, and each evening some pro- found question was argued, as well as questions of the day, such as the Monroe Doctrine, the Wilmot Proviso, and other phases of the vital slave question, which resulted in the conversion of many of its members to the Republican party. George W. Julian cast his first Presidential ballot for General Harrison, in 1840. He knew nothing of party politics and was influenced by his early associa- tions and, as he says, in his "Political Recollections": "In the mat- ter of attending mass-meetings, singing Whig songs and drinking hard cider, I played a considerable part in the memorable campaign of that year." He also supported the Whig candidate because he regarded him as a poor man and thought he would be a better man to administer to the poor people in their poverty and hard times than Van Buren, who was an aristocrat and had high ambitions to gain all control in his hands by overthrowing the liberties of the people. This first campaign disappointed Julian. He always took things very seriously, and of the nature of the campaign he says, in his "Political Recollections": "It was a grand national frolic, in which the imprisoned mirth and fun of the people found such jubilant and uproarious expression that anything like calmness of judgment and real seriousness of purpose was out of the question in the Whig camp."
In 1844 his political convictions were more advanced and matured. From the beginning he upheld Clay, although he did not agree on all his methods and was greatly grieved and disappointed
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over what was known as the "Alabama Letter." in which he made known some of his views on slavery. At this time Julian stated, for the first time, his thoughts on many of the public questions which were worked out later, as repudiating the public lands as a source of revenue, and on the subject of protection. On the sub- jeet of slavery he was very much alive. Being of Quaker training and aroused by the anti-slavery papers against the usurpation that would lead to the extension of slavery and war, he thought it his duty to resist the election of Polk. And thus he made his first ven- ture as a stump speaker, and was very much disappointed that his efforts did not aid in the election of the Whig candidate.
He began his career as a statesman the next year in the State legislature of Indiana. He was a representative of the Whig party, but never hesitated to act independently of the party principles when they clashed with his own convictions. Because of his inde- pendence along this line he received much censure from his constit- uents when he supported the "Butler Bill," a bill which provided that one-half the State debt be cancelled and the State saved from repudiation. His advocacy of this important measure probably lost for him the re-election but won for him his seat in United States legislature, because so many Democrats voted for him. He also distinguished himself in this State legislature by his earn- est support of the abolition of capital punishment. He was a member of the committee to which the bill was referred, and through his persistence in bringing the bill before the house with favorable reports, finally succeeded in getting it passed, with its amendments; and on the motion of Julian it was named "An act relative to the punishment of treason and murder in the first de- gree." Failing to be re-nominated, he returned to Centerville and took up his law practice. After the Presidential election of 1844 he resolved never to vote for another slaveholder, and when Tay- lor, a slaveholder, was nominated on the Whig ticket, he lost inter- est in politics and decided to devote all his attention to his pro- fession. His sympathy was with the new national party, the Free Soil or Liberty party, which was gaining in strength and which had nominated Van Buren as their candidate. He defended this Aboli- tionist party and claimed the treatment given them as unjust. They had been very much misrepresented and misunderstood, and their only offense was the espousal of the truth in advance of the multi- tude, which slowly and finally followed their example. He desired to avoid strife with the Whigs, who were among his best friends and clients, but his conscience would not permit that he remain
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quiet and not exert his influence against the evils of slavery. He saw clearly that the system of slavery was degrading throughout, in its character and its consequences. He was essentially a re- former and, being independent, broke fearlessly with his party, when he could not follow them. Julian was ahead of his time, and especially in his opinions on slavery. He saw, in 1844, what it took many men ten years longer to see, and for this reason was criticised and considered radical by many of his old Whig friends. When he was invited to become a delegate to the Free Soil convention in Buffalo, on Aug. 9, 1848, he accepted the nomination, and from that time became an active and ardent worker in the Abolition party.
This convention was historic and marked an epoch in party politics and the anti-slavery movement. Its leaders were men of character and ability and from various factions. It was a tedious process to harmonize all the different elements which had drifted into the party, the disappointed Clay Whigs, the Liberty party, the "Conscience Whigs," the "Land Reformers" of New York, and also the advocates of "cheap postage for the people." Martin Van Buren seemed to be the candidate for nomination for President. Julian felt he could not support Mr. Van Buren under any circum- stances after the last campaign, but the growing spirit of political fraternity modified his views. He saw that the leaders of all fac- tions would have to yield to one man in order to unite on the one great and vital issue. All divisions finally gave way and Van Buren was nominated by acclamation.
The new national party was now launched and Julian hurried home to take up the fight. He gained much criticism for his move and in his "Political Recollections" describes his treatment by his Whig friends : "Words were neither minced nor modified, but made the vehicles of political wrath and explosives of personal malice. The charge of 'Abolitionism' was flung at me everywhere, and it is im- possible now to realize the odium then attaching to that term by the general opinion. I was branded as the 'apostle of disunion' and 'the orator of free-dirt.' I was threatened with mob violence by my own neighbors and treated as if slavery had been an established institution of the State-while these same Whigs, as if utterly un- conscious of the irony of their professions, uniformly resolved in their convention that 'the Whig party is the only true Free Soil party." " These taunts and jeers made no impression on Julian, and he sallied forth on the work of the campaign, riding a huge white horse, "fully sixteen hands high and rather thin in flesh." He spoke two and three times a day, usually in barns, crossroads, saw
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mills, or any other place where a few or many people were liable to hear him. His Whig neighbors declared his audience consisted of "eleven men, three boys, and a negro," which Julian said was not far from true in many places. But he "considered principle more important than audience" and continued his work, proclaiming anti- slavery truths. He describes his feelings in his "Political Recollec- tions": "I was so perfectly swallowed up in my work and domi- nated by the singleness of my purpose that I took no thought of any thing else; and the vigor of my invective, in dealing with the scurrilous attacks of my assailants, was very keenly realized and, I believe, universally acknowledged. With the truth on my side, I was delighted to find myself perfectly able, single-handed, to fight and battle against the advantages of superior talent and the trained leadership of men of established reputation on the stump." Although he was not successful in electing Van Buren, the results of this contest were remarkable in aiding and preparing the way for the great work of the succeeding years.
Julian's next move was towards the United States Congress. Although he had acquired many enemies by his recent acts during the Presidential campaign, he announced his intention to run for Congress. The parties at that time were so confused that every one seemed to be a party of his own. The contest was bitter, be- yond all precedent ; but after a hard fight and by the union of Free Soilers, Democrats, and Independent Whigs, he was elected by a small majority. In this Congress, after having been delayed in arriving by a serious illness, he hastened to join the Free Soil rep- resentatives, whose political troubles and fortunes were similar to his own. The "immortal nine," as they were often called, were soon together. This group was composed of Julian and eight other anti-slavery men, such as David Wilmot, then famous as the author of the "Proviso," and Joshua Giddings, who, as Julian says, "was as familiar with the slavery question, in all its aspects, as he was with the alphabet." During this Congress the slavery question re- ceived daily attention. The great issue was the Congressional prohibition of slavery in the Territories, known as the "Wilmot Proviso," for which Julian worked with tireless efforts. In the same spirit he fought against the Fugitive Slave Bill, which con- verted the North into slave hunting ground for the South; also the Texas Boundary Bill, popular sovereignty on the slave ques- tion in the Territories, and the organization of the House in the interest of slavery. During the first months of this session his spare moments were devoted to the preparation of a speech on the
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slavery question. His constituents expected it, as well as the mem- bers of Congress. He says, in his "Political Recollections," "It was my darling purpose and I resolved to do my best on it." He worked over the various phases of the subject and examined the question from the Southern as well as the Northern standpoint. On May 14, after anxiously waiting for the floor for many days, he delivered this speech and received much candid commendation in the news- papers and from various men for his views. He says, in his "Po- litical Recollections": "I was flattered beyond measure and found my self-esteem germinating into new life under these fertilizing dews."
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