USA > Maine > Biographical encyclopedia of Maine of the nineteenth century > Part 5
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M ORRILL, LOT MYRICK, Senator from Maine, the sixth son of Peasley Morrill and Nancy Macomber, was born in Belgrade, in Kennebec County, Maine, May 3, 1813. Peasley Morrill may be taken as a typical represen- tative of the hardy pioneers who extended the blessings of civilization over the frontier wilderness of Maine. Enterprising, energetic, free-handed, public-spirited, intensely interested in the young commonwealth which a successful revolu- tion had established in this New World, he was imbued with the spirit of his age, and at the same time contributed the force of his own character to shape the tendencies of that age. In 1797 he appears to have been enrolled as a citizen of the territory of Augusta, then a part of Hallowell. Some time afterward he removed to Belgrade and bought a farm. Here was born to him a family of seven sons and seven daughters; the quality of these sons may be inferred from the fact that two of them became chief magistrates of their native State-an instance never repeated in its history. The various avocations which the primitive New England life in the earlier part of this century afforded gave ample employment to ambitious and capable youth, and admirable opportunity to develop their characters.
Young Morrill attended the common-school, and passing easily through its limited curriculum, was promoted to the academy, one of those admirable and fruitful institutions which his little town, like many other of the precincts of Maine, had been careful to pro- vide itself with in the very infancy of its settlement. But it is only in the vacation of bodily toil that the luxury of books can be enjoyed by the son of a poor farmer with a family of fourteen to maintain. As soon as he was old enough the boy was detailed alternately to help run the saw-mill and to tend the general store; for an 'enterprising
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citizen, to make both ends meet, must eke out the income of the farm with the small profits of a retail trade, and such rude manufacture as the everywhere abounding forest supplied the raw materials for.
When he was thirteen years of age his father took young Lot to Augusta to attend court. There had been a breaking in the night-time into the house of one of the neighbors, and a stealing therefrom of a considerable sum in silver coin. Suspicion fell upon three young men, and they were arrested and taken to Augusta for examination before a magistrate. Samuel Wells, a young lawyer of Hallowell, afterward a Judge of the Supreme Court and Governor of the State, was employed to defend them, and he con- ducted the defence with such admirable ability, tact, and courtesy, that the farmer's son found his imagination quite carried captive. Of all employments it seemed to him that of the advocate, who stands up before the tribunals of justice to defend the rights and character of his fellow-men, is the noblest ; and he formed then and there the purpose to make him- self a lawyer: From this time he pursued his studies with new diligence, and advanced in learning with the impetus which definite purpose always givcs. To supply the necessary expenses of his education, he taught school, beginning the vocation when only sixteen years old, in his own district, and winning honor in spite of the proverb repeated on . weightiest authority. At eighteen he entered college in the neighboring town of Water- ville. The expenses of a college course, though at that time and place very small, were too great to be met by the scanty income of a Kennebec farm ; so he engaged himself as principal of a select school in the western part of the State of New York, and remained there a year. He left college without graduating, and with such intellectual outfit as the partial course and the discipline of teaching gave him, began the study of law with Judge Edward Fuller of Readfield. Mr. Howe of Wisconsin, so long his associate in the U. S. Senate, was his fellow-student, and they afterward began practice together in Readfield ; Mr. Howe finding his clients principally among his friends, the Whigs, and Mr. Morrill among the Democrats.
It was not, however, till the year 1837, when he was twenty-four years of age, that Mr. Morrill was admitted to the bar. During his legal novitiate he had learned the art of public speaking, and the facility, so much prized, of thinking upon his feet. Ardent in feeling, fluent of speech, alert to seize the strong points of any question, he found ample themes for his eloquence in the political discussions rife over the State and country between the Whigs on the one hand and the Democrats, to whom his ancestral prepossessions allured him, on the other hand; and on the temperance question, in which the people of Maine have always taken a keen interest, and to the radical side of which he has always adhered with grcat devotion.
Readfield was soon found too narrow a theatre for his professional activity, and in 1841 Mr. Morrill removed to Augusta, where soon afterward he formed a law partnership with
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Senator James W. Bradbury and the late Judge Rice. Never were his taste and ambition more gratified than during the few years that preceded the beginning of his public life. He was engaged in many cases of magnitude both in his own and other counties of the State, and his frequent employment as counsel before legislative committees favorably introduced him to the prominent men of the State, and admirably fitted him for the political career he so successfully fulfilled in the councils of the General Government.
Though his employments were for several years almost exclusively professional, Mr. Morrill's political opinions were too pronounced for him to remain inactive ; and though his county and his town, under the assiduous instructions of the patriotic and devoted editor of the Kennebec Journal, Luther Severance, had few honors to bestow upon an ardent Demo- crat, he was Chairman of the State Democratic Committee continuously from 1849 to 1856.
In 1853, much to his own surprise, he was nominated and elected a member of the Legislature from Augusta, and in so high consideration was he held by his fellow-members, that his friends voted for him for U. S. Senator against William Pitt Fessenden, who was elected. After two years service in the House, Mr. Morrill was elected to the State Senate, and was its President in 1855. He especially distinguished himself in this body by the able speeches he made against the removal of Judge Davis by address, and also against the repeal of the prohibitory or Maine law.
It had long been the practice of the dominant party to introduce into each branch of the Legislature during each session resolutions affirmatory of its distinctive political doc- trines. During this session resolutions intended to pledge the Democrats of Maine to some further concessions to the tolerance of slavery in the Territories had been introduced into the Maine Senate. Mr. Morrill left the chair, and made a speech in fiery protest against this new departure, indicating that, if the issue came between his party attachment and his hostility to slavery, the ties of party could not be depended upon to hold his allegiance.
Two years before, the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, led by Senator Douglas of Illinois, had broken the unity of the Democratic Party. The elections of that year, osten- sibly under the influence of an anti-Catholic, anti-alien, sentiment, but really the effect of the revulsion of moral feeling on the part of thousands of Democrats, who shuddered at the new proslavery attitude of their party leaders, had gone strongly against the Democrats. In Maine the opposition had been strengthened by a desertion to them of the radical temperance men. The coalition had been able to elect Anson P. Morrill, elder brother of Lot M., Governor in 1854 on a temperance and antislavery issue. Though a reaction fol- lowed next year, which made Judge Wells, the Democratic candidate, Governor, it was evident that the Democratic Party had lost the control of the State, and that the elements of opposition had only to combine to hold it by a strong majority.
In spite of his open revolt against the determined policy of his party, Mr. Morrill was
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put the next year upon the State Committee, but after the convention at Cincinnati, at which Mr. Buchanan was nominated President, he declined to attend the meetings of the committee, and in a letter written to E. Wilder Farley he thus indicated his purposes :
"The candidate is a good one, but the platform is a flagrant outrage upon the country and an insult to the North.
"Many people in the North will go for all this with their eyes open, for the sake of political power- there are many who will not."
This terminated his connection with the Democratic Party, and placed him squarely with the hosts of conscientious men who, coming from the Whigs, the Democrats, and the Abolitionists, cast their fortunes together to make opposition to the spread and domina- tion of slavery the sole common article of their political creed, and took the name of Republicans.
Mr. Hamlin, who had been elected Governor of Maine in 1856, had been re-elected to the U. S. Senate during the winter of 1857, so that the new party had to provide itself in the election of that year with a new candidate for Governor. There was a disposition to select some one who had been long identified with the party, and Mr. Morrill's caution and hesitation in breaking with his political associates was regarded by some as evidence of want of depth of conviction and earnestness of adhesion to antislavery ideas; but the dis- position to make the new movement as catholic and comprehensive as possible, and to recognize the fidelity that had placed party allegiance below patriotism and the cause of liberty, induced the gubernatorial convention with great enthusiasm to give Mr. Morrill its nomination, and he was elected, and twice re-elected, to the executive chair of the State.
Having expressed a wish to retire from this high office, Mr. Morrill was nominated, and on the roth of June, 1861, elected, to the U. S. Senate. He took his seat in that body on the 17th of the same month, as a colleague of Mr. Fessenden.
On the 19th of January the General Assembly of Virginia invited commissioners from such States as were willing to meet commissioners from that State, in an effort "to adjust the present unhappy controversies," "so as to afford to the people of the slave-hold- ing States adequate guarantees for the security of their rights."
What was referred to in this invitation as an unhappy controversy was the action of the people of seven slave-holding States, under the lead of South Carolina, who, with no other provocation than the election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency, had committed treason against the United States, seized the national property in their territory, and estab- lished a hostile confederation at Montgomery under a new and slave-holding constitution. What seemed to be needed was, that the rebellious States, instead of receiving new guaran- tees for their rights, should be subjected to some coercion for their rebellion, and should give some new guarantees to the Union to remain obedient to its Constitution and laws.
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The feeling in the State of Maine was, that such a conference of commissioners to make new concessions to the slave-holding States under the threat of secession and war, was an ignoble humiliation of the dignity of the Government ; and there was no disposition to meet the overtures of Virginia by sending a specially elected commission. To go, however, to the utmost verge of forbearance before resorting to coercion, now generally foreseen to be inevitable, the delegation of Maine in Congress were authorized to act in behalf of the State, and took their seats in the conference on the 6th day of its session. Mr. Morrill was immediately placed on a committee of one from each State to report what measures seemed to be right and proper to restore harmony and preserve the Union.
During the session of nineteen days various amendments to the Constitution, to be submitted by Congress to the States, were proposed, all more or less strengthening the guarantees of slavery, and the votes of the Maine delegation were unanimously and steadily given against them. In a prolonged and able debate on the twelfth day, Mr. Morrill gave this exhibition of his clear-sightedness and of his eloquence :
" .. . Once for all, let me ask those gentlemen who are proposing to settle our differences, Do you propose to make war upon the sentiments, the principles, of the North ? If you do, we may as well drop the discussion here. Our people, and we their representatives, cannot meet you upon that ground. Our principles cannot be interfered with; we carry them with us always. Our consciences approve them. We can negotiate with you upon subjects which do not involve their sacrifice. If it is your purpose to attack them, you may abandon all other purposes as far as this body is concerned. Thie people of the North will never sacrifice their principles.
"Sir, in my judgment all such questions are unworthy of our consideration. We spend time to little purpose upon them. The true question here is, What will Virginia do? How does Virginia stand ? She to-day holds the keys of peace or war. She stands in the gateway threatening the progress of the Government in its attempts to assert its legal authority. Evade it as you may, cover it as you will, the true question is, What will Virginia do? She undertakes to dictate the terms upon which the Union is to be preserved. What will satisfy her? The peril of the time is secession. Six States are already in revolution. A distinct confederacy, a new Government, has been organized within the limits of the United States. Does Virginia to-day frown on these atrocious proceedings ? No. So far from that, she affirms that these States have a right to do what they have done. She boasts that she has armed her people, that she has raised five millions of money, and that she will use both to prevent the interference of the National Government with these States now in revolution. Whether her course will conciliate the free States, whether under such circumstances the free States will negoti- ate with Virginia or others in her position, I leave for others to consider. It is my opinion that the people of this country will first of all demand the recognition of the supremacy of the Government.
" No action of the conference can be consummated for months-I might almost say for years. Any propositions we may make must go to the people. They must and will take time for consideration Endeavor to force their action, and you will secure the rejection of the terms proposed. While the people are acting you will have a Government and it must operate. It must operate not upon a section only, but upon the whole country. During this time does Virginia propose to maintain the position she has assumed-to prevent by force of arms the execution of the laws of the Union in the seceding
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States ? Yes, and we are told her position is one exhibiting the highest patriotism. In my judgment her position is one of menace, and not of pacification. If I rightly understand her, nothing that is here proposed to be done will satisfy her even if adopted."
To this appeal Mr. Seddon of Virginia replied :
" Now, if the gentleman wants my private opinion, I will tell him that whether the propositions of the majority of the committee or her own be adopted here or by the people, the purpose of Virginia to resist coercion is unchanged and unchangeable."
And Mr. Morrill resumed :
"Ther, let it be understood that Virginia has spoken ; that she makes the Crittenden Resolutions her ultimatum; that she must have them and all of them, and that nothing less will satisfy her.
" ... If Virginia puts her ancient Commonwealth across the path of the Government; if she stands between the Administration and the enforcement of the laws, the execution of its official duty, its posi- tive obligations-if this is the manner in which she proposes to mediate, her mediation will be accepted nowhere. Such I understand to be the position she assumes. It is a position of menace.
"I will now answer the question of the gentleman from Virginia in relation to the proposed policy of the incoming Administration. I have no personal knowledge upon this subject. Mr. Lincoln I never saw in my life. I know nothing of his opinions, except from his speeches; but I will say that if he and his Administration do not use every means which the Constitution has given them to assert the authority of the Government in all the States-to preserve the Union and the Union in all its integrity, the people will be disappointed."
On the Ist of March, 1861, the resolutions of the Peace Conference were laid before the U. S. Senate by the Vice-President. In their terms they fairly prohibited slavery in all national territory north of the parallel of 36° 30', and left the status of persons claimed as slaves in the territory south of that line to be determined by the Supreme Court. In other words, they re-established the Missouri Compromise, under which, and the decisions of the Federal courts, slavery had found no difficulty in extending itself close up to the compromise limit. Virginia and several other States, soon to plunge into rebellion, still had Senators and Representatives in Congress, who were actively endeavoring to promote by legislation the ends their allies, despairing of that resource, were seeking to establish by arms. Among these Senators Mr. Hunter of Virginia moved as an amendment to the Peace Conference resolutions the following words :
" In all the territory south of said line of latitude slavery of the African race is hereby recognized as existing, and shall not be interfered with by Congress, but shall be protected as property by all the departments of the Territorial Government during its continuance."
The next day and the day preceding the expiration of the Thirty-sixth Congress Mr. Morrill made his first speech in the Senate, in which he said :
". . . It is a proposition which contemplates the acquisition of territory below 36° 30', and which is to incorporate into that instrument a recognition of slavery of the African race. That is the real
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objection to this proposition. It is to change entirely the fundamental law of the land in regard to slavery. Nobody pretends that the Constitution now in express terms, whatever may be the impli- cation, contains a recognition of slavery. Here, under this proposition of the Senator from Kentucky, slavery in terms-'slavery of the African race' -- is to be introduced into this Constitution; and it is this part of the proposition that Senators upon this side of the Chamber must strenuously protest against.
"Having stated her proposition to the country for pacification, how has she borne herself ? The honorable Senator from that State has told you repeatedly, and has told the country, that she intended to maintain an armed intervention between the Government and the States in rebellion against the Government of this country ; that she had raised money ; that she had armed her people, and that, till it was known whether the non-slaveholding States would accept the proposition she intended to put to them, she meant to maintain the attitude of armed intervention between the Government of this country and the States in revolt.
" Now, Mr. President, I submit whether, under such circumstances, Senators upon the other side of the Chamber can properly urge upon our consideration such propositions as these. I maintain that the attitude of Virginia in this respect is one of menace to the nation; that, while she offers us a proposition, she stands upon her arms to see that that proposition is accepted. '
In the same speech he exposed again the treacherous position of Virginia, who was, through her Senators and commissioners, dictating the terms upon which the Government should treat with the rebels, while she could give no assurance that the rebels would return to their allegiance, and was actually armed to prevent the Government crossing her territory to suppress the insurrection.
Both Mr. Mason and Mr. Douglas, with considerable hauteur, attempted to interrupt and catechize the new member, who ventured thus early, and without any previous parlia- mentary training in Congress, to interpose in a debate with the old leaders of the Senate, but the self-possession and resources of Mr. Morrill enabled him to come off with signal honor in the encounter.
Congress convened in extra session, on the proclamation of the President, July 4, 1861. On the second day of August, Mr. Morrill made a brief speech on a resolution to approve and confirm certain acts of the President for suppressing the Rebellion, in which he said :
" Of course, however, with the views I entertain that these measures are within the constitutional scope of the Federal Executive, that he has not trampled upon the Constitution or the laws in what he has done, there is no inconsistency in my voting to ratify them, particularly inasmuch as they are so vigorously assailed upon the other side. It does no harm to ratify them, to declare them valid. If he has acted within the scope of the constitutional powers of the Government, we may ratify his acts : there is no doubt about that."
A minority of the Senators-led by Breckenridge of Kentucky, soon afterward him- self a leader in the Rebellion-were unwilling to approve the patriotic acts of the President. Mr. Morrill and a portion of the loyal Senators, believing the acts strictly
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necessary, legal, and constitutional, deemed it an impertinence to confirm them, and so a majority of the Senate being unwilling to vote on the resolution, the extra session expired without a vote being taken on it, and it was not afterward brought forward.
During the regular Session of Congress, on the 5th of March, 1862, Mr. Morrill spoke at length and with great ability on a pending bill to confiscate the property and emancipate the slaves of rebels. He said :
" The great measure before us-and none greater has ever been before the Senate-has been charac- terized in this debate in earnest, eloquent, indignant, and I think I am authorized to say, satirical speech, as extraordinary, unconstitutional, oppressive, and inexpedient. Wlien I freely confess to its opponents that it does not belong to the ordinary class of legislation, I concede no more than must be confessed of much that has been done on behalf of the nation, here and elsewhere, by the National Legislature and by the Federal Executive, since our troubles began.
"Sir, it were better that that man had not been born who shrinks from taking the responsibility when a distracted and bleeding country requires 'the dauntless spirit of resolution.' As to the rest: The Constitution, I conceive, is the strength and shield of the nation in its hour of peril, and must not be construed so as to hamper honest endeavor in its behalf. Clemency on the lips of an American Senator to the malignant enemy of the Republic is cruelty to its friends; and that is expedient which is de- manded for the present safety and future security of free institutions."
The measure, which conferred the power upon the President as commander-in-chief of the army to order the confiscation of the property of certain classes of rebels and to eman- cipate their slaves, was antagonized by other and substituted measures of confiscation and emancipation, some of them far more summary and sweeping, and applying to the property and slaves not only of all persons in rebellion, but of all persons in rebel territory, loyal and disloyal. They awarded fine, imprisonment, and death as the penalty of treason. But all these measures required that the emancipation, confiscation, fine, and execution should follow conviction by a competent court, and be parts of strictly judicial proceedings. There were able lawyers in the Senate, like Collamer of Vermont, who could not understand how property could be taken without due process of law, and could not comprehend how war suspended all the processes of courts. Mr. Morrill exposed with great cogency the delusiveness of such devices. He saw that what was needed was not a new criminal code and new penalties for treason, but new weapons in the hands of the military commanders for combating the Rebellion and depriving it of its resources. He explained how convic- tions could only be obtained after the insurrection had been put down by force of arms, and after submission and peace had restored the supremacy of the civil power ; whereas what was wanted was an effective instrumentality for overthrowing the Rebellion by depriving it of its resources, and by taking away from it in its slaves its very motive and objects. Mr. Morrill's ideas were in the exact line by which Mr. Lincoln advanced a few months later to the emancipation of all the slaves in the insurrectionary States-after giving three
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