History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 182

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1464

USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II > Part 182

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The truth of this prophecy has since been made manifest. General Taylor was elected at the polls, but it was the last victory of the Whig party, which then passed forever from the platform of action into the records of history, " dissolved" into thin air, " leav- ing not a rack behind."

editor knows I do not wish to injure his paper, but help it, and I wish him to look on the faces of these men, and to let him know there are more of the same sort, and let him see that the line of duty and the line of safety coincide." He appealed to Massachusetts to act even if she acted alone, but he said " this agita- tion is more extensive than is supposed." He de- clared that a convention would be held in New York and also in Ohio. He said " most of the young men of Worcester, who are accustomed to speak in political meetings, are on the wrong side of the question. We hope that they will soon be-and the elderly, too-on the right side. As they valne their political safety, let them ground their arms, and, with penitent sub- mission to the spirit of Liberty, let them go forth and show by acts that their repentance is sincere."

He hoped that "the young men who speak in Lyceums will take up the matter and send the young men of the city back with defeat when they go to preach their nauseous doctrine in the ears of the people of Worcester County. Let them meet them and refute them, and send them back ashamed of their work. When the fathers go to whom is given the charge of Worcester County I will endeavor to be there or to follow them." He closed by referring to Henry Wilson, a young man who had been a dele- gate to the Philadelphia Convention from Middlesex District, and whom he introduced to the meeting.

Henry Wilson, then known as the "Natick cob- bler," arose in his seat to make his first of many speeches in the Worcester City Hall. Rough, awk- ward, euveloped from head to foot in a brown linen duster, he spoke a few eloquent words in support of his case and that of Judge Allen.

Sure of the sympathy of the vast audience before him, he told them that they "must not believe all that they read in the newspapers. They will not see As he closed, an earnest form made its way to the desk, and with flashing eye and earnest voice uttered memoriter the immortal resolution : "Resolved, that Massachusetts wears no chains and spurns all bribes; that Massachusetts goes now and will ever go for free soil and free men, for free lips and a free press, for a free land and a free world." that this feeling of dissatisfaction exists throughout Massachusetts. It will be said in Boston that there is no feeling in Worcester, except for Taylor. Not a man, except the crazy one that went to Philadelphia, opposes him, and papers will send the news to Ohio, and the Ohio newspapers will respond, but we shall have a voice from Ohio. There is one paper in Boston This resolution, copied with the other resolutions adopted by the meeting, has since been claimed as written by another person. But no man present at that meeting will ever forget that its author was George Allen, brother of Charles Allen, the orator of the evening. It was adopted with shouts and the great meeting adjourned and its thousands poured out into the communities whence they came, devoted missionaries of the cause of free soil and free men. (the Whig) which will tell you what Massachusetts is doing and what Ohio is doing, and I hope the Massa- chusetts Spy will also tell the people. I hope our friend of the Spy will see that there is something more than a shower coming. I hope he will see that his true interest is in boldly speaking out his princi- ples, and let him be the organ here of what is most emphatically the people's party, sprung from the people, sustained by the people, and he himself will The Free-Soil party was born that night in the City Hall of Worcester. Its anthor (?) was Charles Allen, and it was christened by his brother, George Allen, the veteran champion of anti-slavery in the county. be sustained also. But, gentlemen, organs we must have, and we cannot wait many days for them. We cannot wait and see our principles defamed and our men cut down without presses that will stand up and fearlessly vindicate the right, and receive communica- John S. C. Knowlton, the able Democratic editor of the Worcester Palladium, in his paper of November 8, 1845, referring to the great activity put forth by tions without cutting off all that is valuable in them," and, turning to Mr. John Milton Earle, editor of the Spy, who was sitting in front of him, he added, " The the Free-Soilers in the city and surrounding towns,

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wrote: "This is as it should be, for in Worcester County was the first organized resistance to the nom- ination of Zachary Taylor as the Whig candidate for President." The editor of the Palladium was correct. Others objected to the nomination and expostulated against it at Philadelphia, but Judge Allen threw down the gauntlet of uncompromising combat, and declared the great party dissolved. There were other anti-slavery champions and organizations engaged in movements, having for their object more or less ex- treme opposition to the aggressions of slavery, but these were of local or personal character.

In New Hampshire John P. Hale, ostracized hy the Democratic party in 1844 because of his opposi- tion to the annexation of Texas, had been waging, since then, a sturdy fight against that party in New Hampshire. Mr. Hale was a born politician. De- prived of his seat in Congress by the Democratic party of the State, of which he had been a prominent member, he immediately offered himself as a candi- date to the State Legislature, to which he was elected and from which he was sent in 1846 to the Senate of the United States. Never was there an abler, more eloquent and faithful defender of Northern princi- ples. But he was not the man to found a party. Inflexibly true to his principles, he had not the same solemn and determined earnestness as had Allen, and Sumner, and Phillips, the anti-slavery leaders in Massachusetts. No man ever waged battle in the United States Senate against greater odds, or more bitter foes, or with greater personal success. He never hesitated to enter into such contests, from which he seldom came out second best, but he always fought where strife was thickest and blows the heaviest with a smile on his face and a jest on his lips. He will always he remembered as the great anti-slavery Senator who stood alone in the United States Senate for years, sustaining the struggle sin- gle-handed, until he had the satisfaction of finding himself in a majority in the Senate where he had so bravely and ably stood alone. But he was not the founder of the Free-Soil party, nor did it have its origin in New Hampshire.

In Ohio, since 1840, the Liberty men had maintained an organization of a few thousand voters. There was a strong anti-slavery feeling in Ohio. Salmon P. Chase, a man of great ability and equal ambition, had taken a position somewhat independent of party, always sustaining anti-slavery principles. He was a Democrat, and believed, though with many doubts, that through the agency of that party redemption from slavery would come at last, as did the Conscience Whig leaders in Massachusetts believe that it would come through the Whig party. Mr. Chase was un- doubtedly ready to enter into a new party based on anti-slavery, but he did not organize that party. He waited for the movement in Massachusetts. In the fall of 1847 he attended the National Convention of Liberty Men, at Buffalo, to nominate candidates for

President and Vice-President, as the same party had done twice before. He opposed the nomination of candidates, on the ground that hefore the election of 1848 there would be a change in the aspect of political affairs, which would demand different action than that proposed by the Liberty party, of which he con - sidered himself a member. The convention, however, did not act as advised, but proceeded to nominate John P. Hale for President, and Leicester King for Vice-President. These nominations were withdrawn after the Free Soil nominations were made in 1848. Mr. Chase was influential in issuing a call for a people's convention, to be holden on the 21st of June, 1848, at Columbus. This was the very day on which Judge Allen spoke in Worcester. This call was addressed to anti-slavery men, " To resist hy all con- stitutional means the extension of slavery into terri- tories hereafter acquired." It concludes : " We ask no man to leave his party, or surrender his party views, but we do ask every man who loves his country to be ready, if need be, to suspend for a time the ordinary party contentions, and unite in one manful, earnest, victorious effort for the holy canse of freedom, free territories and free labor. We, therefore, invite the electors of Ohio. friends of freedom, free territo- ries and free labor, without distinction, to meet in mass convention for the purpose of considering the political condition of our country, and taking such action as the exigencies of the time may require, and may God defend the right." In 1849 Mr. Chase was elected to the United States Senate by the Democratic party of Ohio, and stated that while he intended to act in opposition to all pro-slavery measures in all respects, he was a Democrat, and should act in other respects with the Democratic party. We do not find the source of the Free Soil movement in Ohio, nor was Mr. Chase its founder.

In New York there was a movement in the Demo- cratic party in opposition to the election of Cass, the nominee for the Presidency of the Democratic Convention, but this movement was in obedience to the wishes of Martin Van Buren, to gratify his re- venge upon the party which had displaced him as its leader and put General Cass in his place. One would smile now at the claim that the Free-Soil movement had its origin among the Barn-burners of New York, and that Martin Van Buren was its author and constructor.

When we come to Massachusetts we find that the Conscience Whigs were standing in order for the summons to organize against the victorious faction which had so thoroughly triumphed over them in the Philadelphia convention. The leaders had un- doubtedly held consultations, accidental and informal, in Boston, and had proposed the calling of a mass convention, to be held in Worcester, somewhat simi- lar to the mass convention held in Ohio under the auspices of Mr. Chase. Undoubtedly all these move- ments, more or less defined, nearly cotemporaneons in

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time, concurred in the great movement, which had its beginning in 1848, and continued until the great and final victory in the election of Lincoln in 1860.

As different explorers and geographers contend that the great Mississippi River has its origin in this or that lake, or mountain source, each jealous for his own locality, so the men of Ohio, and of New York, and of Boston even, may contend that the mighty party which conquered slavery and made the Republic free and.undivided had its origin in Co- lumbus, or Buffalo, or Boston, with this or that puta- tive father or anthor. The facts prove that it had its origin in Worcester County, and that Charles Allen was its founder and leader.

The meeting of June 21st, at which Judge Allen's great speech was made, chose a committee of twenty- six to take measures in regard to holding a mass convention in the city of Worcester. Charles Allen's name stands at the head of this committee. In the Spy of June 26th this. committee issned its call. This call reads as follows :

" The undersigned, as a committee of a large and enthusiastic meeting of the citizens of Worcester and its vicinity, and in conformity to their instructions, do hereby earnestly call on the citizens of Massachu- setts, without respect to party, to meet in this city, at the City Hall, on Wednesday, the 28th inst., at ten o'clock A.M., to express their sentiments and to adopt measures in favor of free territory and against all nominations for President of the United States of individuals who refuse to declare their opposition to the extension of slavery over the territory recently ac- quired, or which may hereafter be annexed to the Union."

On the evening of June 21st the first organization was effected, and the first act of this organization was the call for this mass convention, to be held at Wor- cester, June 28th. On that day the convention assembled, composed of earnest and determined men from every section of the Old Bay State. It was a solemn and eventfnl gathering. Most of these men had been members of the great Whig party, long par- amount in Massachusetts, under the lead of the great- est of American statesmen, at least of that generation, Daniel Webster. They had broken away from their party. They had turned their backs upon their great leader, although they still vainly hoped that he might not array himself against them. They had undertaken to organize and build up a new party in opposition to the old parties, for the purpose of bring- ing the National Government into accord with the declarations upon which it was based, and with the principles and policy of the men who founded it. It was a great undertaking, and they were great men who entered upon it. On one of the most beautiful days of the beautiful month of June they gathered around the City Hall of Worcester some eight thou- sand strong. The meeting was organized in the morning in the City Hall. The venerable Samuel

Hoar was chosen its president ; vice-presidents and secretaries were chosen. But the hall was too small to accommodate the large and enthusiastic multitude. The meeting was adjourned, first to the Common, and thence, for the afternoon session, to the grove on the hill, near where the Normal School now stands.

Directly after its organization in the morning, Mr. Phillips, of Salem, chairman of the committee on resolutions, stated that the committee was ready to report in part, and reported the following resolution, which was adopted by acclamation :

Resolved, That this convention tenders to Charles Allen and Henry Wilson the warmest thanks for the fidelity, consistency, decision and boldness with which they performed their duty as delegates from Massa- chusetts to the National Whig Convention; that this convention hereby ratifies their acts, and assures them confidently that their services will he held in grateful and proud remembrance by the people of Massachu- setts.

Charles Allen was then introduced amid cheers and plandits. He declared that Taylorism was dead in Worcester County, and reaffirmed the statements which he had previously made respecting " the stu- pendous frand of the Philadelphia convention." Hon. Henry Wilson then spoke with much anima- tion, and was received with great applause. He closed with saying, " It was said that the Whig Party must be purified from abolitionism. I would like to see the Whig Party after snch a separation." He did live to see the Whig party after the separation, and until it dwindled to an infinitesimal and impercepti- ble point.

Amasa Walker, of North Brookfield, spoke in a similar strain, and the old liberty editor, Joshua Leavitt, of Newton, followed him. In the afternoon Lewis D. Campbell, of Ohio, who had sided with Allen and Wilson in the Philadelphia Convention in a certain degree, made a speech. His speech was characterized by the engaging and pleasing eloquence for which Ohio was distinguished then, as well as now. He said he " did not come to the convention to identify himself with any political movement. He was going to return to Ohio and place in the hands of his constituents the glorions flag which they en- trusted to him when he left the Miami, and he should then take his position, and it would be right." Had Mr. Campbell been more of a leader and less of an orator he might have attained a higher position and left a more positive record than he did.

Stephen C. Phillips, of' Salem, followed with an address and with a series of resolutions, which were unanimously adopted.

George Allen's resolution, quoted above, was the most attractive gem in the platform.

Mr. Giddings, of Ohio, the fearless and uncompro- mising member of Congress who represented at that time more than any other one man the convictions of opponents of slavery, and their determinattion that it should be checked at once, briefly addressed the audience. In the evening the hall was again packed. Mr. Giddings concluded his speech. Mr. Lovejoy of

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Cambridge, Charles Francis Adams of Boston, Charles Sumner of Boston, and E. Rockwood Hoar of Concord, addressed the convention, after which the Hutchinson family, the sweet singers of the anti-slavery cause, gave a song, and the convention adjourned. It se- lected a State central committee, of which Freeman Walker, of North Brookfield, and Alexander De Witt, of Oxford, were the members from Worcester County. The battle was set.

The Whigs accepted Judge Allen's challenge, and met in the City Hall Saturday evening, June 24th. Their leaders were there. Judge Barton presided over the meeting. It was not perfectly quiet or wholly satisfactory to those who called it. When Judge Barton had stated the charges made against the Whig party and summed them up, he addressed the audience: "Gentlemen of the Jury, what say you, was the Philadelphia Convention guilty or not guilty ?" And the shout of "guilty !" from all parts of the hall was the quick and determined, though unwelcome, answer that was given him. The stately Governor Lincoln reminded the people of the object of the meeting, which was to ratify the Whig nominations, and intimated that any at- tempt to disturb it might canse future retaliation. He apologized for not making a speech then, but said he would do so upon some future occasion. He introduced to the audience General Leslie Coombs, of Kentucky, "The ever true friend and neighbor of Henry Clay." The audience could not be other- wise than in good humor with this witty and elo- quent Western orator.

Col. Alexander H. Bullock read a long series of resolutions in favor of the nominations of Taylor and Fillmore.

The chairman put the question on the adoption of the resolutions and unfortunately called for the noes, and was met with a thundering response. The meeting then adjourned amid cheers for Zach. Taylor drowned with cheers for Charles Alleo.

The character of this meeting may be inferred from the comments found in the Palladium and the Spy. In the Palladium in was referred to as "a meeting called a ratification meeting. Had it not been so called it would have been thought to be anything else."

In the Spy the enthusiastic Wallace gave jubilant utterance to his feelings at the end of his report of the meeting: "God bless Old Massachusetts! Though the sky of freedom shall fall all around her she will not falter ; her invincible hearts will still hold it up, till other days and better times shall make her principles triumphant."

The Free Soil party, under the lead of Alexander De Witt of the State Committee, immediately proceeded to open and prosecute the county canvass. Meetings were called in all the towns, and even in the school districts of the town Freedom Clubs were organized. Seven hundred joined in Worcester at its first meeting.

Edward Hamilton was chosen its president. He was of an old Worcester family, with physical and mental qualifications equal to any position, but he early turned aside from the path of ambition, which he might have successfully followed, to gratify his great love of literature and art. His speech on assuming the presidency of the Freedom Club showed his power and capacity. Charles White, who afterwards developed into the ablest political organizer known in Worcester County, was on the executive committee of the Freedom Club.

The young men who were accustomed to speak in the lyceums responded to the call of Charles Allen, and the numerous meetings did not lack for speakers. Charles Allen spoke in the larger towns. Alexan- der De Witt, Amasa Walker, Dr. Darling, John W. Wetherell and William B. Maxwell, of Worcester, made numerous speeches. Charles Sumner spoke in Fitchburg and Worcester. On the evening of No- vember 4th he delivered a great oration in the City Hall, which may be found in his works-one of the long and illustrious series which placed his name at the bead of the orators of freedom, and at the same time drew upon him the hatred of the slave-power, of which he became the victim. His eloquence was of a loftier and more labored strain than that of Charles Allen, but while its effect was great, none of his ora- tions in Worcester equaled that delivered by Charles Allen on the night of June 21st.

The Whigs also held numerous meetings in the towns and in the city. Their orators were more cul- tured than those of the Free Soil party. Among them was Judge B. F. Thomas, gifted with a natural elo- quence unequaled by any of his contemporaries, and Alexander H. Bullock, the grace and beauty of whose oratory is still the pride of the city and county ; but they were contending not in an intellectual and rhe- torical struggle, but in a moral contest, in which the hearts of the people were against them.

On the evening of November 6th Daniel Webster, who, with broken heart and bowed head, obeyed the mandate of his old party, and, notwithstanding the wrongs which he had received from it, still helped its cause with his mighty eloquence, spoke in advocacy of the election of Taylor and Fillmore in the City Hall. The meeting was presided over by Gov. Lincoln. The audience was great, and listened to the declin- ing statesman with respect and admiration mingled with sorrow and sympathy. But at the same hour thousands of the citizens of Worcester and adjoining towns filled the streets of the city with a procession, with bands, banners and torchlights, longer and more brilliant than the city had ever witnessed before. As at many other times and occasions, the torchlight procession was more impressive and effective than the speech of the statesman. The buildings were illuminated as it wound its way, amid cheers and ap- plause, to its rendezvous at Lincoln Square, where all who could, found entrance to a building then re-

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cently erected, occupied partly as a station for the Nashua Railroad Company, but afterwards, and for many years, as the boot factory of Joseph Walker. There the popular young lawyer, Henry Chapin, who had recently come from Uxbridge, made his maiden speech for Free Soil. He had been the chairman of the Whig County Committee, and was regarded as one of its most popular and promising young men.

When some grumbler had published a criticism upon his conduct in not issuing an early call for a meeting of the Whig Committee, Mr. Chapin re- sponded with a card in the paper that he would call the meeting at a sufficiently early day, and advised his dissatisfied friend to attend, as there would be plenty of vacancies on the committee, to some one of which he might possibly be elected. The Free Soilers the next year elected him by an overwhelm- ing majority to fill the mayor's chair.

On the next Monday, November 8th, the election, looked forward to so long and so anxiously, oc- curred.

Charles Allen had been unanimously nominated for Congress at the Free Soil Convention. Charles Hud- son, the conservative, experienced and able incum- bent, had been renominated by the Whigs, and Isaac Davis was the candidate for the Democrats. The city of Worcester cast for Charles Allen 1489 votes, for Charles Hudson 589, for Isaac Davis 284. The entire district gave for Allen 6604 votes, for Hudson 4308, for Davis 3087. As a majority was requisite for election, it was not until the third trial, in January, that Allen was elected to fill the seat from which the worthy and highly respected Hudson was displaced. Of the fifty Free Soil Representatives elected to the Massachusetts Legislature, twenty were from Wor- cester County. Of the 38,133 votes given for the Free Soil candidate for President and Vice-President, Worcester County gave 8654 to 5990 given for Taylor and Fillmore. Such was the verdict that she ren- dered as between freedom and slavery. She fired the signal gun in 1848 of the great battle that ended at Appomattox in 1865.

She kept Charles Allen in Congress during two terms, which was as long as he was willing to remain, after which Alexander De Witt succeeded him. Ex- cepting during the Know-Nothing frolic, she has re- mained true to the faith then adopted until the pres- ent. The Know-Nothing movement was really a part of the great revolution, having for its object, and ending in, the overthrow of slavery.

The men who took part in these early conflicts have, most of them, ceased from their earthly labors, but their works survive to vindicate their wisdom and faithfulness. If some of their names are pre- served, and some of their deeds are commemorated in this brief sketch, written by one who began his political life in their ranks, and learned from them principles and practice which he has always en-

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 182

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1464

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1464