USA > Pennsylvania > Lives of the governors of Pennsylvania : with the incidental history of the state, from 1609 to 1873 > Part 31
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His efforts to sustain the credit of the State and to secure the payment of interest on the public debt drew upon him national attention, and were frequently noticed in Europe, where many of the obligations of the State were held. By his recommendation the Act of 1840 was passed, requiring the interest on the State debt to be paid in specie or its equiva- lent. One of his last acts, as Governor, was the suppression of the riots which occurred in Philadelphia in 1844, and the courage and decision displayed on his taking command of the military in person were generally commended and long remembered by men of all parties. Both branches of the City Council, then opposed to his administration, honored him with an expression of their thanks, and a resolution unani- mously passed by those bodies was presented to him in person, accompanied with an address by the Mayor of the City.
Having completed, in 1845, the longest term as Governor allowed by the new Constitution, he retired from public life, and returned to his favorite pursuit of making iron. The adaptation of anthracite coal to the manufacture of this metal was then almost unknown, and having given much reflection to the subject, and made many practical experiments, he erected at Harrisburg, at a large cost, the first anthracite fur- nace built in that portion of the State. The experiment was successful, and it was followed by numerous others in various sections, much to the profit of their owners and to the advan- tage of the public revenues. He took pleasure in conducting the affairs of this establishment, and in advancing the art, by explaining and illustrating to visitors the improvements which he had introduced.
Few men ever had more ardent friends or returned their friendship with more cordial warmth than did David R. Porter. It was a common remark that he had never turned his back on a friend or forgotten him in a difficulty. With
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those whom he distrusted, he maintained no intercourse what- ever, and this sometimes obtained for him the character of a resentful man; but the truth was far otherwise, for no man ever possessed a more forgiving temper; and though his abhor- rence of insincerity frequently tinged his manner with reserve and coldness, thousands of men in all parts of the State had sounded the depths of his large and generous heart and knew well its warm attachments and generous sympathies. The greatest errors of his life were lending pecuniary credit to those who had been unfortunate, and in being influenced by the tear of sorrow to pardon some offender against the law, whom other men would have sternly punished.
In the ordinary intercourse of life, his manner was calm and self-possessed, and his words were notably few; but his conversation was frequently pervaded by a quiet humor which made it attractive, especially to the young. His remarks were so pointed, his memory so clear, and his information so accurate and comprehensive, as to make his conversation es- pecially instructive on many topics least treated in books : such as the courses of streams and mountain chains, and the nature of mineral deposits; the progress of legislation, the changes of political parties, and the characteristics of the dif- ferent races by whom the country was settled. Respecting the history of the constitutions, both State and National, he was profoundly informed. There was scarcely a clause in any of those instruments which he had not thoroughly investigated with the eye both of a lawyer and a man of business. For this reason he was much consulted on important State legisla- tion even after his retirement to private life.
He was for many years the friend of the late President Buchanan, and the correspondence which they maintained for a long period shows how frequently that statesman con- sulted him on questions of national interest, and how greatly he relied upon his judgment.
There was another public man with whom his intimacy was even closer, - Gen. Sam. Houston of Texas, whose career as a military commander, an executive officer, and effective ora-
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tor, is yet fresh in the public recollection. It appears to have commenced on the election of General Houston to the Senate of the United States, and to have grown stronger as age ad- vanced, until death cut it short. On going to, or returning from Washington, the General frequently spent a few days with his friend at Harrisburg, and for a long period scarcely a week elapsed without a letter passing between them. When Gen. Houston was nominated as an independent candidate for Governor of Texas, Mr. Porter strongly urged him to accept the nomination, for the purpose of strengthening the hands of the Union men of the South, and, in opposition to the belief of most persons, predicted his election. The pre- diction was realized and the aged hero stood manfully by his patriotic principles as a friend of the Union until overpowered by a rebel legislature and driven from office. On his election as Governor, Gen. Houston invited Mr. Porter to visit him in Texas, that he might have the advantage of the practical knowledge and judgment of the latter respecting the most favorable route for a railroad through Texas to the Pacific coast, the Texas route being regarded by both as the best for the great national thoroughfare. The invitation was ac- cepted, and several months were spent determining the most feasible direction for locating it, and in organizing a company for its construction. These efforts, it is believed, would have been successful had they not been brought to a sudden ter- mination in the fall of 1860, by the secession of the Southern States.
Mr. Porter returned to his home in Harrisburg, and con- tributed his influence to sustain the Government in the fierce conflict which had commenced. He scouted the doctrine of secession, and maintained, as he had long done, in its fullest extent, the maxim of Jackson, "The Union must and shall be preserved." To encourage others, he shouldered his mus- ket at the age of more than seventy years, and with the young men of the town joined in military drill. He rejoiced greatly over the success of the Union arms, and was much gratified that one of his sons, General Horace Porter, had borne an
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honorable part in many battles. When, however, the course of the national administration failed to meet his approval, he was decided in expressing his condemnation, and in main- taining that the South must be brought back to a whole Con- stitution and not to a broken one - a distinction likely to be misunderstood, in a time of popular excitement, but to the dan- ger of being so misunderstood he was entirely indifferent.
During the winter of 1867, while attending at night a meeting of his church, he contracted a severe cold. While others regarded the attack as light, he believed that it would prove fatal, and began to prepare for the approaching change. During the succeeding summer he was able to walk out, but in the beginning of August his strength declined. With great composure and even cheerfulness, he arranged several matters of business and conversed calmly of his ap- proaching end. On being asked how he felt on the near pros- pect of death, he said: " I have obtained perfect peace. I am not conscious of a doubt or a fear." On the 6th of August, surrounded by several children and a devoted wife, his hands . having been folded on his breast, he thanked those about him for their kindness and dutifulness, and composed himself as if to fall asleep. As one and another passage of Scripture was repeated, he expressed his assent, until the pulse became still, and the aged heart ceased to beat. He had passed away as gently as a child falls to sleep in its mother's arms. The pub- lic business was, at the request of the Governor of the Com- monwealth, generally suspended. Large numbers of citizens came from every section of the State to pay to his memory the last sad tribute of their respect. His remains were de- posited in the beautiful cemetery which lies within sight of the scenes of his most useful labors, where a simple monu- ment truthfully records that he was a man of large influence for many years in the affairs of his native State.
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FRANCIS RAWN SHUNK .*
GOVERNOR UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF 1838. January 21, 1845, to July 9, 1848.
F IRANCIS RAWN SHUNK was of German descent. He was born at the Trappe, a village in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, August 7th, 1788. His father, John, was the son of Francis Shunk, who emigrated from the Palatinate of the Rhine, in Germany, about the year 1715. His mother, Elizabeth Rawn, was the daughter of Casper and Barbara Rawn, the former of whom also emigrated from the Palati- nate. The memory of this couple is still held in the highest veneration by all who were acquainted with them. They were examples of those excellent virtues, and that devoted piety, which elevate our nature, and invest with dignity the hum- blest conditions of life.
The mother of Governor Shunk was a woman distin- guished for her kindness and affection, and for her devo- tion to the happiness of her children. He often spoke of her in terms of the most devoted attachment, and cherished her memory with filial piety to the last hour of his life. There can be no doubt but that her influence was greatly felt in the formation of his early character, and its subsequent develop- ment. His father was a man of strong and stern mind, yet naturally facetious and fond of indulging in this propensity.
His parents were not able to furnish the means, or spare his time to secure, in the ordinary way, even the rudiments of an education. Much of his childhood and youth was
* This account of the Life and Character of Governor Shunk has been abridged from a Discourse delivered upon the occasion of his death by his friend and neighbor, Rev. William R. De Witt, D. D.
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devoted to manual labor. When not more than ten or twelve years of age, he was employed by the neighboring farmers to aid them in their agricultural pursuits. He has been heard to say, that, among the sweetest hours of his ex- istence were those, when returning from the toils of the week to the home of his childhood, he was permitted to repose his aching head on the lap of his mother, and listen to the sooth- ing accents of her voice, consoling him under his trials, and encouraging his hopes for the future. Notwithstanding his want of facilities for securing an education, his untiring in- dustry, combined with his earnest desire for self-improvement, enabled him to make such advances in learning, that at the early age of fifteen he became a teacher, and soon after the instructor of the school at the village where he was born. From that time until 1812, he seems to have been employed as a teacher during the few months of the year the school was continued, and the rest of the time as a laborer in the pursuits of agriculture. The intervals of toil were devoted to the im- provement of his mind in every useful branch of study. In 1812 he was selected by Andrew Porter, then Surveyor- General under the administration of Governor Snyder, to fill a clerkship in his department. While thus employed, he com- menced and prosecuted the study of the law with Thomas Elder, Esq., of Harrisburg. In 1814 he marched as a private, with many of his fellow-townsmen, to the defence of Balti- more. Soon after, he was chosen, first an assistant, and then the principal clerk of the House of Representatives, and for many years performed, with great fidelity, the arduous duties of that office. He was subsequently elected secretary of the Board of Canal Commissioners, and served in that capacity during a period when the condition of our public improve- ments called for the most constant and strenuous efforts on the part of the commissioners, and rendered the situation of their secretary anything but a sinecure. In 1838 he was chosen by Governor Porter Secretary of State. On retiring from that office, he removed to Pittsburg, and engaged in the practice of the law. In 1844 he was called from his retirement by the
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voice of the people of the Commonwealth, to fill the highest office in their gift. He so conducted his administration, as their chief executive, that he received from them the highest expression of their confidence and regard, by being re-elected with an increased majority, and that too against an opposing candidate of the most estimable character, whose exalted virtues and worth were acknowledged by all.
But he had scarcely entered upon the duties of his second term before he became the victim of a disease which in its early progress excited apprehensions in the minds of his friends that it might prove fatal. The Governor himself, though conscious that his disease was deep-seated, yet seemed to cherish, with confidence, the hope that the vigor of his con- stitution, and the skill of his physician, would eventually restore him to health. It was not until the morning of the 9th of July, when a severe and copious hemorrhage from the lungs took place, that he gave up entirely the hope of life, and felt that his days were indeed numbered. Upon that day, being Sunday, he wrote the following letter of resigna- tion - the last public act of his life :
TO THE PEOPLE OF PENNSYLVANIA :
It having pleased Divine Providence to deprive me of the strength necessary to the further discharge of the duties of your Chief Magistrate, and to lay me on a bed of sickness, from which I am admonished by my physicians, and my own increasing debility, I may, in all human probability, never rise, I have resolved, upon mature reflection, under a convic- tion of duty, on this day, to restore to you the trust with which your suffrages have clothed me, in order that you may avail yourselves of the provision of the Constitution to choose a successor at the next general election. I, therefore, hereby resign the office of Governor of the Commonwealth of Penn- sylvania, and direct this, my resignation, to be filed in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth.
In taking leave of you under circumstances so solemn, ac- cept my gratitude for the confidence you have reposed in me.
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My prayer is, that peace, virtue, intelligence, and religion. may pervade all your borders - that the free institutions you have inherited from your ancestors may remain unimpaired till the latest posterity - that the same kind Providence, which has already so signally blessed you, may conduct you to a still higher state of individual and social happiness -and when the world shall close upon you, as I feel it is soon about to close upon me, that you may enjoy the consolations of the Christian's faith, and be gathered, without a wanderer lost, into the fold of the Great Shepherd above.
HARRISBURG, July 9, 1848.
FRS. R. SHUNK.
Governor Shunk was emphatically a self-made man. His early life was one of privation and toil beyond his years. Much of that time, now devoted to learning even by those whom penury visits with its.severest trials, was spent by him in labor, and when he sought to improve those intervals, usually spent in repose, in the cultivation of his mind, the facilities enjoyed for that culture were greatly inferior to those now possessed even in the most adverse circumstances of life. Books, especially those designed to aid the youthful student in his advancement in learning, were then compara- tively rare. Yet what he wanted in the means of improve- ment, he more than supplied by the diligent improvement of the means he enjoyed. What books he could obtain he read with deep interest, not lounging on a sofa, or around a mar- ble centre-table brightly illumined with an astral lamp; but often in the chimney-corner, by the light which a wood-fire or its embers reflected, and when his body, fatigued with the toils of the day, called for the repose of the night. What he read he pondered until it became a part of his own mental being. Could we have seen the youthful laborer in the field, striving to maintain his place side by side with vigorous manhood, we might have thought of him in the future, when his frame had become matured, as a profitable workman; but could we have seen him, when the toils of the day were
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ended, and those with whom he had wrought retired to rest, poring over some old worn-out book but valuable for the thoughts it contained, it would not have required the ken of a prophet to have foretold that he would become more than a laborer.
His love for the German language amounted to a passion, and it is said he read it with great beauty. Though not un- acquainted with the best English writers, he delighted most in German literature, especially in German poetry, and had a taste for its deep and abstract philosophy, for the study of which few minds were better adapted. He revelled in the abstractions of Kant and Fichte, of Schelling and Hegel, those princes of German philosophy, as he did in the deep musings, the sombre imagery and recondite thoughts, of the most distinguished German poets.
His professional attainments, especially in the more abstract principles of law, were large, and as a counsellor he had few superiors. But he shrunk from the personal collision its practice in the courts involved, and retired from the bar to engage in employments and studies more congenial with his taste.
His administration as the Chief Magistrate of this Com- monwealth shows, that he was no novice in the great and fundamental principles of government. His state papers in- dicate that he had deeply studied the questions of policy in- volving the great interests of this Commonwealth and the country at large, that he had looked at their remote as well as immediate consequences, and contemplated their influence on the progress and advancement of the entire community, under the fostering care of our free institutions, as well as their adaptation to the mere accumulation of gain. The opinions which these papers contain commend themselves to our attention, not only for the candor with which they are expressed, but for the reasons by which they are sustained.
Free institutions cannot exist without the intellectual and moral culture of the masses of the community. Of nothing was Governor Shunk more deeply convinced than of this.
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Our common-school system had a deep hold on the affections of his heart. He knew it had many imperfections, particu- larly as it was carried into operation in some of the rural districts; he knew it was not accomplishing all that was de- sirable; but he believed it would yet work its way into the confidence of the people, and be itself the most efficient means of curing many of its defects. IIe rejoiced in the good it had effected, and with a generous enthusiasm exulted in the good it would effect.
The welfare of human society depends on nothing more than preserving inviolate the institution of the family as God has formed it. But for years past, with a ruthless hand and a reckless spirit, it had been invaded by the Legislature. The sacred ties of matrimony had been broken for the slight- est reasons, and those natural and sacred bonds which God has himself formed between parents and children had been rudely violated. So regardless had the Legislature become of the sanctity of these bonds, that not only applications from our own citizens crowded upon them for their dissolution, but from other States where a wiser policy and a sterner morality prevailed, - the licentious, who desired to be free from the restraints their marriage vows imposed, hastened hither to take advantage of a laxer morality, in securing by legislative enactments the dissolution of the marriage contract.
At first, Governor Shunk seems to have yielded, without reflection, to the policy that had prevailed; but no sooner did he reflect upon it, than he was convinced of its enormous evil, and labored to resist it. Much was done by him to check that licentious disregard for the marriage relation which began to prevail to an alarming extent, and which threatened the most serious evils to the purity of domestic institutions - the most effectual guardian of public morals. Cases undoubtedly occur which call for the interference of law, as well as for the exercise of our warmest sympathy; but they are comparatively few. The conduct of Governor Shunk on this subject secured the warm approbation of the
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virtuous of all parties. On no subject was he more loudly or universally applauded.
He adopted the maxim as sound, that that government was best which governed least, and hence he was, in the main, in favor only of general laws for the protection of property, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, operating equally on all, and leaving all alike free, in the exercise of their natural energies, to advance their own interests.
He said, "it was not by looking to special legislation for privileges which are denied to others, but by a just and manly self-reliance, that men secure their own progress and the well-being of the State." The tendency of capital to accumulate in the hands of the few, the power which it always wields, the antagonism between it and labor, and the encroachments of the former on the just rights of the latter, even under the best administration of the most equitable laws, he regarded as one of the dangers of republics. The distinctions thus created engender unhappy jealousies; and even the appearance of oppression on the one side too often excites to lawless aggression on the other. This tendency he thought should by no means be increased by legislation. Hence he resisted all grants of special privileges for the prose- cution of private gain, as creating artificial distinctions, as repugnant to the spirit and genius of republican institutions, and calculated to destroy, ultimately, that equality of condi- tion essential to the preservation of equal rights.
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In securing this equality, he regarded, as most important, the operation of intestate laws, and laws prohibiting the entailment of estates; and consequently regarded all contriv- ances, in the shape of corporations with special privileges, by which wealth is aggregated and perpetuated under the con- trol of a few individuals, as artificial aristocracies of the worst kind, and directly opposed to the natural simplicity of our democratic institutions. He dreaded their demoralizing ten- dencies in our elections, from the power which they might acquire over the property, and consequently over the inde- pendence of the electors.
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Wealth he regarded as of minor consequence in promoting either the happiness of individuals, or the welfare of the community. A lofty independence of character, a free mind, a good conscience, generous and kind affections, combined with the sanctifying power, the holy aspirations, and the ani- mating hopes, of a pure Christianity, he considered the essen- tial elements of human happiness. He believed that man, never, since the sad apostasy, was placed in a better civil and social condition, to secure this happiness, than in our own beautiful country, and under our own free institutions.
When we review his life, when we reflect on the defects of his early education, on the serious difficulties to which he was subjected in the culture of his mind, when we look at his on- ward progress through life - his steady advancement from the poor laboring boy to the Chief Executive of this great Commonwealth, and the ability with which he performed the duties of that exalted station, we cannot but cherish the high- est respect for his mental acquisitions. His example presents in the strongest light the genius of free institutions, in open- ing the road to the highest eminence to the poorest and humblest of our youth, and should excite all to a virtuous emulation to excel in the culture of their minds; for, although all cannot reach the Executive chair, all may become re- spected, useful, and eminent in the several spheres of life.
But we should do signal injustice to the character of Gov- ernor Shunk, and omit one of the most important elements of his success in life, if we did not refer to his moral as well as intellectual culture. He was a sincere, honest, upright man, pure in his private morals, and no less so in his public character. The political principles and policy, avowed in his State papers, were sincerely entertained. They were not set forth, as some, who knew him not and did not agree with him, may erroneously suppose, to please the popular taste. He never courted popular favor at the expense of sincerity and truth. He did not believe that the end justified the means. The want of political integrity, in his view, involved the want of private worth. The man who was dishonest in
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