USA > New Mexico > Men of our day; or, biographical sketches of patriots, orators, statemen, generals, reformers, financiers and merchants, now on the stage of action > Part 29
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In the fall of 1850, he received and declined a unanimous nomination for a seat in the State Legislature, tendered by the Democratic County Convention. But, a few months later, while engaged, with a gang of men, in rebuilding a bridge over the Tuckahannock, he was informed that he had been nominated for Congress. The campaign into which he now entered was a most spirited one-the Democratic party in his district being divided on the Wilmot proviso, the breach becoming more fully developed after the passage of the compromise measures of 1850. One wing of the party re-nominated Mr. Wilmot, while the other selected James Lowrey, Esq., of Tioga county, each candi-
HON. GALUSHA A. GROW. 1 365
date canvassing the district in person, and their respective friends becoming warmly enlisted. The Whig candidate was John C. Adams, a lawyer of Bradford county. The district, which then comprised Susquehanna, Bradford, and Tioga counties, usually gave a Democratic majority of about two thousand five hundred. Eight days bofore the election, Wilmot and Lowry agreed, after consultation with respective friends, to withdraw from the con- test, if the Democrats of the district would re-assemble and nominate Grow, who was then unknown in Tioga county, but had taken a very active part in his own county, in the presiden- tial elections of 1844 and 1848, had been a warm supporter of Wilmot, and was his law partner for two years.
The conference composed of both sets of conferees met at Nelsonboro, Tioga county, the week before the election, and all agreed on Grow as a candidate. He was elected by twelve hundred and sixty-four majority, and took his seat in December, 1851, the youngest member of Congress.
He continued to represent the district for twelve consecutive years, being elected by majorities ranging from eight thousand to fourteen thousand, and once by the unanimous vote of the district, so that he was often styled "Great Majority Grow."
With the exception of Wilmot, who was elected six years, no representative had ever been elected in the district to exceed four years.
A new Congressional apportionment of the State, in 1861, united Susquehanna county with Luzerne county, and made the district Democratic, by which he was defeated in the election of 1862 ; since which time he has been engaged in lumbering and his old pursuit of surveying, trying to regain health, which had become very feeble when he left Washington in the spring of 1863.
In 1855 l.e spent six months in Europe, and most of the
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summer of 1857 in the western territories. He was one of the victims of the National Hotel poisoning, in the winter and spring of 1857.
In Congress, the most important Committees on which he served, were the Committees on Indian Affairs, Agriculture, and Territories. For six years he was on the Committee on Terri- tories, and four years its chairman ; embracing all the time of the Kansas troubles ; and so devoted was he to the interest and affairs of Kansas, that his fellow members often designated him (good- naturedly), the member from Kansas.
His twelve years of service extended through a most impor- tant period of the Republic; the repeal of Missouri compromise, election of Banks speaker, the Kansas troubles, Lecompton bill, the Homestead bill, the Pacific railroad, etc., as well as the Fremont and Lincoln campaigns, etc.
Mr. Grow's maiden speech in Congress was made on the " Homestead bill," a measure which he continued to press at every Congress until its final passage as a law in 1861. In- deed, the persistency of his efforts for its success, gained for him the appropriate soubriquet of "The Father of the Homestead bill." In the speech to which we allude, delivered March 30th, 1852, Mr. Grow remarks: "Most of the evils that afflict society have had their origin in violence and wrong, enacted into law by the experience of the past, and retained by the prejudices of the present." * * * " The struggle between capital and labor is an unequal one at best. It is a struggle between the bones and sinews of men and dollars and cents; and in that struggle it needs no prophet's pen to foretell the issue. And in that strug. gle, is it for this Government to stretch forth its arm to aid the strong against the weak? Shall it continue, by its legislation, to elevate and enrich idleness on the weal and the woe of indus- try ?" * * * " While the public lands are exposed to indis-
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criminate sale, as they have been since the organization of the Hovernment, it opens the door to the wildest system of land nonopoly-one of the direst, deadliest curses that ever paralyzed he energies of a nation or palsied the arm of industry. It needs no lengthy dissertation to portray its evils. Its history in the Old World is written in sighs and tears." " If * * * you would raise fallen man from his degradation, and elevate the servile from his groveling pursuits to the rights and dignity of men, you must first place within his reach the means for supplying his pressing physical wants, so that religion may exert its influence on the soul, and soothe the weary pilgrim in his pathway to the tomb." * * " If you would lead the erring back from the paths of vice and crime to virtue and honor, give him a home-give him a hearthstone, and he will surround it with household gods. If you would make men wiser and better, relieve your almshouses, close the doors of your penitentiaries, and break in pieces your gallows, purify the influences of the domestic fireside. For that is the school in which human character is formed, and there its destiny is shaped; there the soul receives its first impression and man his first les- son, and they go with him for weal or for woe through life. For purifying the sentiments, elevating the thoughts, and devel- oping the noblest impulses of man's nature, the influences of a moral fireside and agricultural life are the noblest and the best. In the obscurity of the cottage, far removed from the seductive influences of rank and affluence, are nourished the virtues that counteract the decay of human institutions, the courage that defends the national independence, and the industry that sup- ports all classes of the State."
In all the exciting discussion of public affairs, since 1850, Mr. Grow has taken an active and influential part, especially in those relating to the extension or perpetuity of slavery.
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Mr. Grow, although educated a Democrat, and his family con- nections all belonging to that party, (but now being Republi- can,) has always been thoroughly anti-slavery in his convictions and his utterances, asserting boldly that "slavery, wherever it goes, bears a sirocco in front and leaves a desert behind." He resisted with all his energies the repeal of the Missouri compro- mise, and, from the date of its consummation, he wholly severed his connection with the Democratic party. When, upon the floors of Congress, southern bullies adopted the bludgeon and revolver as their logic, he met their insolence with a muscular argument, which proved the sincerity of his declaration to Keitt, the South Carolinian, that " no nigger-driver could crack his whip over him." And soon after the infamous assault upon Senator Sumner by this same Keitt and his friends, Mr. Grow took occasion, in a speech on the admission of Kansas, to assert that "tyranny and wrong rule with brute force one of the ter- ritories of the Union, and violence reigns in the capital of the Republic. In the one, mob-law silences with the revolver the voice of man pleading for the inalienable rights of man ; in the other, the sacred guarantees of the Constitution are violated, and reason and free speech are supplanted by the bludgeon ; and, in the Council Chamber of the nation, men stand up to vin. dicate and justify both. Well may the patriot tremble for the future of his country when he looks upon this picture and then upon that !"
In 1859, he was mainly instrumental in defeating the attempt in the Senate to increase the rates of postage from three to five and ten cents on letters and double the old rates on printed matter.
On the 4th of July, 1861, Mr. Grow was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, an office which he held during the first two years of the war, receiving, at the close of his term,
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the first unanimous vote of thanks which had been given by that body to any speaker, in many years. The eloquent and patriotic words which he uttered upon taking the chair of the House, at a time when the rebel flag of the new Confederacy was flaunting in the very sight of Washington, were made good by the alacrity with which-when the mob held possession of Baltimore, severing the connection with the North,-he seized a musket, and as a member of Clay's brigade, stood "on watch and ward," until the arrival of the New York seventh and other troops, via Annapolis, brought safety to the capital. He was drafted under the first draft; and, although exempted by the board of examination, as unfit for military duty, by reason of his health, he still furnished a substitute who served through the war.
Mr. Grow's public career, as will be seen, has been promi- nently marked by his persistent advocacy of free homesteads, free territory, human freedom, cheap postage, and, indeed, every measure by which the people were to be made wiser, purer, or happier. It is a record of which every public man may well be proud; a record peculiarly befitting one who, brought up a farmer's boy, has never forgotten or hesitated to acknowledge the interests which the working-men of the Republic have upon his services. Though young in years, and far from robust in health; and with no adventitious aid from wealth or family influence, he has already achieved a national repu- tation.
His long public career as a politician, has been marked by a straightforwardness and fidelity which excite the admiration of the people. It has been marred by no wavering, no eccentrici- ties, no lapses from the path of principle, but he has carried the flag of the party and the country, undismayed, through battle,
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through defeat, and victory, relying upon the immutability and truth of the cause, with
"Not a star tarnished, not a stripe polluted."
Vigorous outdoor exercise during the past four years, has tended greatly to re-establish his health, and may we sincerely hope, fit him for a still more extended career of public influence and usefulness.
HON. EDWIN D. MORGAN,
UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM NEW YORK.
HE ability which is developed in an active business life, in great commercial transactions, and the rapid changes and fluctuations of trade and finance, have proved in practice a's valuable in the management of the public affairs of the State and nation, as that which comes from the exclusive study of law. The accomplished merchant, banker, or financier, is, indeed, more likely to take a plain, common- sense view of the questions of state, and to be unembarrassed by the quibbles, chicanery and superfine distinctions and defi- nitions of the lawyer, than the man who has been trained in the school of precedents, authorities, and legal hair-splitting. To this class of business-men, Senator Morgan belongs, and the signal services he has rendered to the State and nation, are due, in perhaps equal measures, to the eminently practical and sensible constitution of his mind, and to the thoroughness and carefulness of his business training.
EDWIN DENNISON MORGAN was born in Washington, Berk- shire county, Massachussetts, February 8th, 1811. In early childhood, he developed a fondness for mathematics, and an aptitude for trade, which indicated very plainly his future vocation. At the tender age of eleven years, he became clerk to a grocer in Hartford, Connecticut, and was so faithful and attentive to his employer's interests, and so courteous as a sales-
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man, that, in 1831, when he was but twenty years of age, he was offered a partnership in the store, which he accepted. These nine or ten years of boyhood and youth had not been confined merely to the drudgery of the grocery ; the hours of leisure had been diligently employed in the culture of his mind, and the next year he was chosen a member of the city council of Hart- ford, at a time when it was composed of intelligent and able men.
The little city of Hartford did not long furnish a sufficiently wide sphere of action for the aspiring young grocer ; so, in 1836, he removed to New York city, and engaged in mercantile pursuits with his brother, and the firm grew and prospered, till in a few years it attained a high rank among the safest and most extensive commercial houses of the metropolis, its trans- actions reaching to all parts of the United States and Europe. In 1849, Mr. Morgan was chosen an alderman of New York, and the same year elected to the State Senate, and served there for two terms (four years). In 1855, he was appointed com- missioner of emigration, and held the office until 1858. His early political affiliations were with the Whigs, though he was strongly opposed to slavery. When the Republican party was formed, he gave it his adhesion, as representing his views, and at the National Republican Convention, in Pittsburgh, in 1856, was one of its vice-presidents, and from that time till 1864, chairman of the National Republican Committee.
In 1858, Mr. Morgan was nominated by the Republicans as their candidate for Governor of the State of New York, and elected by a handsome majority. His administration was one of the ablest which the State had had for years, and com- manded such general approval, that he was nominated for a second term without opposition in his party, in 1860, and elected by a very heavy majority. This second term was one of immense labor, care, and responsibility to the governor, He
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promptly responded to the President's call of April 15th, 1861, and regiment after regiment went forward to Washington, and other points on the border, and among them, the gallant New York seventh, at whose coming loyal citizens of Washington, for the first time, felt safe; the twelfth and seventy-first; the fight- ing sixty-ninth (Irish); and the stately seventy-ninth (Scotch) ; the Brooklyn fourteenth, composed, as some writers said, of boys who looked as if they ought to be in school, but who fought with all the steadiness of veterans; the twenty-sixth, a Utica regiment of great gallantry ; and others of perhaps equal merit, all of whom participated in the bloody field of Bull Run. The militia could only be required to serve out of the State for three months at a time, and Governor Morgan had no sooner dispatched these to the seat of war, than he commenced organiz- ing, as rapidly as possible, volunteer regiments to serve for three years, or the war.
President Lincoln had commissioned him, in the spring of 1861, major-general of volunteers, in order to facilitate his labors in raising and organizing regiments. He held this rank till the close of his term of office as governor, (January, 1863,) but declined all compensation. No officer under his command was, however, more constantly and laboriously engaged in his duties, than the governor. Yet with his systematic business habits, the ability acquired by long practice to manage and control great enterprises, he was never flurried, but maintained constantly the most perfect order, and quietly performed his duties, as they required his attention.
In the twenty months of his administration, during the war, he raised, organized, and sent forward from his State, two hundred and twenty-three thousand troops. In the guberna- torial election of 1862, Governor Morgan was not a candidate, having withdrawn from the canvass to give place to the gallant
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soldier, General James S. Wadsworth, who, however, was not elected, the Democracy prevailing by the popular cry of "a more active prosecution of the war," in electing a man who was wholly opposed to the war. The Legislature was, however, Republican, and at its session, Governor Morgan was elected United States Senator, for the term ending March 4th, 1869.
His course in the Senate has been uniformly dignified and honorable to the State which he represents. He seldom speaks; never, unless on important questions, and is then always listened to with attention. He has during his whole Senatorial career, held an important position on the Committees on Commerce, Manufacturing, the Pacific Railroad, Military Affairs, Finance, and Mines, and Mining, and on all these great national interests has rendered material and permanent service to the country. On the retirement of Secretary Fessenden from the office of Secretary of the Treasury, President Lincoln offered Senator Morgan the position, but he declined it, much to the regret of the President.
ANDREW
CURT
SEDWIND
MO
CORNELIUS
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W.
A.
BUC
AM
HAMLIN
HANNIBAL
HON. CHARLES SUMNER.
UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM MASSACHUSETTS.
HARLES SUMNER was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on the 6th of February, 1811. His father, Charles Pinckney Sumner, a graduate of Harvard College, a lawyer by profession, and for fourteen years, during the latter part of his life, sheriff of Suffolk county, was a gentle- man of eminent probity, literary taste and ability, of whom it has been said that "the happiness of mankind was his control- ling passion." These graces of disposition, as well as his noble and sympathetic character were inherited by his son; who, at an early age, manifested uncommon powers of intellect and an intense thirst for knowledge. He prepared for college at the Boston Latin school, where he manifested a peculiar fondness for the classics and for the study of history ; winning at the close of his course, the prizes for English composition and Latin poetry, besides the Franklin medal. In 1830, Mr. Sumner graduated from Harvard college, and in the following year entered the law school at Cambridge, where he enjoyed the friendship as well as the teachings of that eminent jurist, Judge Story ; pursuing his studies with an indomitable energy and assiduity. "He never relied upon text-books," we are told, " but sought original sources, read all authorities and references, and made himself familiar with books of the common law, from the year-books, in uncouth Norman, down to the latest reports.
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It was said that he could go into the law-library, of which he was the librarian, and find, in the dark, any volume, if in its proper place." While a student of law, he became an esteemed contributor to the " American Jurist," a quarterly journal of extensive celebrity and circulation among the profession, of which he soon assumed the editorial charge. In 1834, he was admitted to the bar at Worcester, and commenced practice in his native city. Being, soon after, appointed reporter to the Circuit Court, he published three volumes, known as "Sumner's Reports;" and for three successive winters after his admission to the bar, lectured to the students of the Cambridge law school, in the absence of Professors Greenleaf and Story ; having, also, for some time, the sole charge of the Dane school. These and other labors were performed in such a manner as to rapidly advance him to the front rank of his profession, and to attract to him the admiration of Chancellor Kent, Judge Story, and other distinguished lawyers. In 1833, he edited, with a judiciousness and scope of learning which surprised even the highest legal authorities, Andrew Dunlap's " Treatise on the practice of the Courts of Admiralty in civil causes of maritime jurisdiction,"-his valuable comments forming an appendix which contained as much matter as the original work. In 1837, Mr. Sumner set sail for Europe, with the highest reputa- tion as a young lawyer of exalted talent, brilliant genius, and commanding eloquence, and bearing with him valuable letters of introduction from our highest legal dignitaries to their friends of the English bar. "When he reached England, he was received with marked distinction by eminent statesmen, lawyers, and scholars. During his stay in England, which was nearly a year, he closely attended the debates in Parliament, and heard all the great speakers of the day, with many of whom he became intimately acquainted. His deportment was so gentle-
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manly, his mind so vigorous and accomplished, and his address so winning, that he became a favorite with many in the best circles of English society. The most flattering attentions were shown Mr. Sumner by distinguished members of the English bar and bench, and while attending the courts at Westminster Hall, he was frequently invited by the judges to sit by their side at the trials. At the meeting of the British Scientific Association, he experienced the same flattering attentions. In town and country, he moved freely in circles of society, to which intelligence and refinement, wealth and worth, lend every charm and grace. Nor did the evidence of such respect and confidence pass away with his presence. Two years after his return from England, The Quarterly Review, alluding to his visit, stepped aside to say : He presents, in his own person, a deci- sive proof that an American gentleman, without any official rank or wide-spread reputation, by mere dint of courtesy, candor, an entire absence of pretension, an appreciating spirit, and a culti- vated mind, may be received on a perfect footing of equality in the best circles-social, political, and intellectual; which, be it observed, are hopelessly inaccessible to the itinerant note- taker, who never gets beyond the outskirts of the show-house."
Eight years later yet, he received a compliment which, from an English bench, is of the rarest occurrence. On an insurance question, before the Court of Exchequer, one of the counsel having cited an American case, Baron Parke, the ablest of the English judges, asked him what book he quoted. He replied Sumner's Reports. Baron Rolfe said, "Is that the Mr. Sumner who was once in England ?" On receiving a reply in the affirmative, Baron Parke observed, " We shall not consider it entitled to the less attention, because reported by a gentleman whom we all knew and respected." Not long ago, some of Mr. Sumner's estimates of war expenses were quoted by Mr,
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Cobden, in debate, in the House of Commons. In Paris he was received with the same cordiality as in England, and was speedily admitted to a, familiar intercourse with the highest intellectual classes. He attended the debates of the Chamber of Deputies, and the lectures of all. the eminent professors in different departments, at the Sorbonne, at the College of France, and particularly in the law schools. He attended a whole term of the Royal Court at Paris, observing the forms of procedure; received many kindnesses from the judges, and was allowed to peruse the papers in the cases. While residing in Paris, he became intimately acquainted with General Cass, the American minister, at whose request he wrote a masterly defence of the American claim to the northeastern boundary, which was received with much favor by our citizens, and re- published in the leading journals of the day. In Italy, Mr. Sumner devoted himself, with the greatest ardor, to the study of art and literature, and read many of the best works of that classic land, on history, politics, and poetry. In Germany, he was also received with that high regard which is justly paid to distinguished talent and transcendent genius. Here he formed an intimate acquaintance with those eminent jurists, Savigny, Thibaut, and Mittermaier. He was kindly received by Prince Metternich, and became acquainted with most of the professors at Heidelberg, and with many other individuals distinguished in science and literature, as Humboldt, Ranke, Ritter, etc.
With his mind thus enriched by travel, and by additional stores of varied knowledge, Mr. Sumner returned to his native land in 1840, and resumed the practice of his profession. His principal attention, however, was given to the leisurely study of the science and literature of law, rather than to its active prose- cution in the professional arena. In 1843, he again resumed the
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position of lecturer at the Cambridge law school, and in 1844-'46, edited an edition of Vesey's Reports, in twenty volumes-a great enterprise, conceived and executed in the happiest spirit-which elicited from the Boston Law Reporter the truthful estimate of Mr. Sumner's abilities, that "in what may be called the litera- ture of the law-the curiosities of legal learning-he has no rival among us."
On the 4th of July, 1845, Mr. Sumner delivered an oration before the municipal authorities and citizens of Boston on The True Grandeur of Nations, an admirable production, advocating the doctrine of universal peace among nations. This oration, by its ennobling sentiments, its beautiful imagery, classic allu- sion and elegant diction, not only produced a profound impres- sion upon those who listened to it, and fully established his reputation as an orator, but led to prolonged controversy upon the subject of war in general and of the Mexican war in par- ticular.
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