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MR. WILSON'S ENDEAVOR TO
UNITE CONFLICTING PARTIES ON THE SLAVE -QUESTION. -THE SENTIMENT OF THE
STATE UPON AGGRESSIONS OF THE SOUTH. - ELECTION TO THE UNITED-STATES
SENATE.- SPEECH IN THE SENATE.
ALTHOUGH Mr. Wilson
received in September of this year (1853) all but three of the six
hundred votes of the Free Democratic Convention as their candidate for
governor, he failed of an election. This was owing mainly to a letter of
Mr. Caleb Cushing, denouncing, on behalf of the administration, the
union of the Democrats with the Reform party, and to the animosity of
the Whigs, arising from the active part Mr. Wilson took in support of
liberal principles in the Constitutional Convention. In spite of this
combination, however, over thirty thousand votes were thrown for him;
and neither he himself, nor his supporters, wavered in their purpose or
their hopes. Defeat was, to them, the signal for renewed vigilance and
exertion. The Southern Congress - men were pressing their proslavery
measures with more and more audacity; while the Northern members,
Charles Stunner and his few compeers excepted, anxious for personal
power, and intimidated by the constant threatening of a dissolution of
the Union, presented but a feeble opposition. It was not the time for
the friends of the slave, though defeated, to full back, or to be
disheartened. "The principles of civil freedom," said Mr. Wilson,
"spring from the New Testament; and the word of the Lord will stand. Let
us, then, go forward."
In the following year (1854) the attempt to
abrogate the Missouri Compromise (carried into effect May 31), and thus
extend the blight of slavery over the vast domains of Kansas and
Nebraska, threw the country into intense excitement. Mr. Wilson went to
Washington in May, and held a consultation with the opponents of the
Kansas and Nebraska Bill, then pending, in the hope of uniting men
opposed to slavery into one solid organization against its further
extension over the States and Territories of the Union. His grand idea
was free labor for the whole continent of America. For party, or for
name or men, he had but little care, provided he could in any way arrest
the encroachments of the slave-power, and make advancement towards the
consummation of his purpose. His thought was one, - it was earnest and
sincere, - "and that was, death to human servitude." He would not,
unless compelled, resort to force, but was ready to unite with any
organization for the overthrow of a system which he deemed indefensible
either by the laws of God, of nature, or humanity, opposed to civil
progress, barbarous and cruel, and a dishonor and disgrace to the
American name. He was called an agitator: he had no time to answer, but
moved onward. Finding that the Free-soil party had not strength to meet
the exigency, he avowed, in a convention of this body held in Boston on
the last day of the month (May), that they were ready to abandon every
thing but principle, and unite with men of any political standard for
the sake of union in resisting the aggressive policy of the South. They
were willing to place any men in power who would stand faithful to the
cause of freedom and of human right. "They were ready," he declared, "to
go to the rear. If a forlorn hope was to be led, they would lead it. it.
They would toil others might take the lead, hold the offices, and win
the honors. The hour had come to forin one great Republican party, which
should hereafter guide the policy and control the destinies of the
republic." For the
purpose of' uniting political parties on the slave-question, a
convention was held in Worcester on the tenth day of August, 1854; and
there, again, Mr. Wilson and his associates urged with great force and
ability the fusion of the different organizations into one grand body
for the effectual resistance of the aggressive policy of the South. The
Free-soil party would concede everything but principle: all they
demanded was the acceptance of their doctrines of perpetual hostility to
the slave-power." These overtures were steadily rejected by the Whig
element in the convention; yet, with unabated energy, Mr. Wilson
continued to press the importance of merging every political creed in
one. In his desire to combine the antislavery elements in the State, he
accepted the nomination of the Republicans for governor, and was again
defeated at the election. For entering into the American organization
this year, his course was criticised by many: but the people, finding
union under the Whig leadership impossible, went into that party; and
he, believing that it might be so liberalized and broadened in its
principles as to advance the cause of freedom, decided (March, 1854) to
cast in his influence with them. Personally he is, and ever was, a
friend to the foreigner, and ever bids him welcome to the rights and
privileges of this free country: but then the slave-power was triumphant
in the passage of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise; and he deemed
it advisable to array, as far as possible, the powerful American
organization against the proslavery propagandists. In his expectations
he was not disappointed; for this union resulted in the election of
several liberal men as representatives to Congress, and "of the most
radical antislavery State legislature ever chosen in America."
In a letter dated April 20, 1859, he thus
presents the course of policy which he has undeviatingly pursued; and in
it we may discover the reason of his union with the American party: -
"For more than twenty years I have believed
the antislavery cause to be the great cause of our age in America, - a
cause which overshadowed all other issues, state or national, foreign or
domestic. In my political action I have ever endeavored to make it the
paramount question, and to subordinate all minor issues to this one
grand and comprehensive idea. It seems to me that the friends of a cause
so vast, so sacred, should ever strive to save it from being burdened by
the pressure of temporary interests and local and comparatively
immaterial questions. With the issues involved in the solution of the
slavery question in America, with the lights I have to guide my action,
I should feel, if I put a burden on the antislavery cause by pressing
the adoption of measures of minor importance, that I was committing a
crime against millions of hapless bondmen, and should deserve their
lasting reproaches and the rebuke of all true men who were toiling to
dethrone that gigantic power which perverts the National Government to
the interest of oppression."
Mr. Wilson, as an acknowledged leader,
evinced the skill of a practised engineer in so blending and combining
political parties as to form a legislature of all character. But it will
be remembered that the sentiment of the State against the aggressions
and the insolence of the South had for several years been steadily
gaining strength. The passage of the Fugitive-slave Act, 1850, by which
the North became a vast slave-hunting field; the trial and rendition of
Anthony Burns in 1854 the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, by which
the Missouri Compromise was virtually repealed; the border-ruffianism
and the reign of terror in Kansas, in whiuch many people from
Massachusetts lost their property or their lives, - these with other
acts and outrages of the slaveholding party, whose policy was to select
for leaders Northern men with Southern principles, awakened more and
more the indignation of this State. The pulpit began to speak upon the
theme; the press proclaimed the iniquity; the workman in his workshop
talked of the Missourian barbarities in Kansas; and the statesman showed
the suicidal policy of the South: so that the anti-servile legislature
of 1855 was but an exponent of the spirit of the State; and Mr. Wilson,
as he himself declared, "instead of controlling circumstances, was, by
the force of circumstances," led into success.
While the heart of the Commonwealth was
throbbing under the arrogant assumption of the slavocracy, now
triumphing in the reclamation of the fugitive, in the atrocities of the
Missourians in Kansas, and the subserviency of a Northern president, Mr.
Edward Everett, on account of failing health, sent in his resignation to
the Senate. Mr. Sumner was making great efforts to resist Southern
influence, and dealing gallant blows in defence of freedom. Now, who
shall be sent to stand by him? Who shall take the place of the
accomplished orator, four years of whose term were unexpired, and face
with all front the issues on the floor of Congress? Who has the
historical knowledge, the legislative skill, the statesmanship, the
honesty, the unconquerable will, the force, and the backbone, to meet
the exigency? Who can best represent the principles, the spirit, and the
fire of Massachusetts in the Senate-chamber? The answer of the State
was, "Henry Wilson." On the first ballot in the caucus he was nominated,
notwithstanding strenuous opposition, by a majority of more than a
hundred votes. Pending the election, several gentlemen in favor of
nationalizing the American party solicited him to write a letter
modifying his avowed opinions oil slavery question, that they might,
consistently with their political principles, give him their support.
They might as easily have moved the granite hills from which he came. He
assured them that his opinions on slavery question were the matured
convictions of his life, and that he would not qualify them to win the
highest position on earth; that he had not travelled one mile [In a
letter to Hon. Gilbert Pillsbury, dated Natick, March 10, 1855, he says,
You also know that I never travelled a single mile to secure a vote, or
asked s single member of the House or Senate to vote for me.] nor
uttered one word to secure his nomination; that, if elected, he should
carry his opinions with him into the Senate; and, if the party with
which he acted proved recreant to freedom, he would shiver it, if he
possessed the power, to atoms.
He was elected by two hundred and
thirty-four to a hundred and thirty votes in the House, and twenty-one
to nineteen votes in the Senate; [N. F. Bryant of Barre and J. A.
Rockwell were the principal opposing candidates in the House, and B. M.
Wright in the Senate.] and took his seat in the Senate of the United
States on the tenth day of February, 1855. It was a time of wild and
stormy debate in Congress on great questions between the friends and
foes of slavery. The Southern men were combining with a section of the
American party of the North, and presenting an unbroken front against
the advocates of freedom. They seemed to menace and to fight, as if the
crisis and the doom of their inhuman domination had arrived. The great
"Northern hammer," wielded by the stalwart arm of Giddings, Hale, or
Sumner, was descending with effect; and the cry of "No more slave
States" was pealing through the land.
The halls of Congress rang with fierce
invective, threats of violence, and oaths of condign punishment. "To
me," said Mr. Giddings, "it is a severer trial of human nerve than the
facing of cannon and bullets on the battle-field."
Mr. Wilson was now forty-three years old,
[The following description of Mr. Wilson's personal appearance was
written at the time: "The senator from Massachusetts is about five feet
ten inches high; and weighs, I should think, about a hundred and
sixty-five pounds. He has a small hand and foot, and seems built for
agility. His complexion is florid, his hair brown, and his eye blue. His
ample brow Indicates ideality and causation; his voice Is strong and
clear. He is, on the whole, decidedly good-looking; and seems fearless
and good-natured In the performance of his senatorial.] he had arrived
at the full vigor of manhood; his health was perfect; his principles
were fixed, his plans matured; his heart and hand were ready for the
contest; and, on entering that tumultuous assembly, he took position at
once, and stood firm as a rock for truth and liberty. Though he had not
the grace or rhetoric of his predecessor, he had the knowledge, the
tact, the working-power, the dauntless heroism, which come to the front
when mighty interests are at stake.
In his first speech in the Senate he
announced his determination fearlessly to stand with his antislavery
friends in the defence of the rights of the colored race. It was upon
the bill of Mr. Toucey of Connecticut, "to protect persons executing the
Fugitive-slave Act from prosecution by State courts." "Now, sir," said
Mr. Wilson, "I assure senators from the South that we of the free States
mean to change our policy. I tell you frankly just how we feel, and just
what we propose to do. We mean to withdraw from these halls that class
of public men who have betrayed us and deceived you, - men who have
misrepresented us, and not dealt frankly with you; and we intend to send
men into these halls who will truly represent us, and deal justly with
you. We mean, sir, to place in the councils of the nation men who, in
the words of Jefferson, 'have sworn on the altar of God eternal
hostility to every kind of oppression of the mind and body of man.' Yes,
sir, we mean to place in the national councils men who cannot be seduced
by the blandishments, or deterred by the threats, of power, - men who
will fearlessly maintain our principles. I assure senators from the
South that the people of the North entertain for them and their people
no feelings of hostility; but they will no longer consent to be
misrepresented by their own representatives, nor proscribed for their
fidelity to freedom. This determination of the people of the North has
manifested itself during the past few months in acts not to be misread
by the country. The stern rebuke administered to faithless Northern
representatives, and the annihilation of old and powerful political
organizations, should teach senators that the days of waning power are
upon them. This action of the people teaches the lesson, which I hope
will be heeded, that political combinations can no longer be
successfully made to suppress the sentiments of the people. We believe
we have the power to abolish slavery in all the Territories of the
Union; that, if slavery exists there, it exists by the permission and
sanction of the Federal Government, and we are responsible for it. We
are in favor of its abolition wherever we are morally or legally
responsible for its existence.
I believe conscientiously, that if slavery
should be abolished by the National Government in the District of
Columbia and in the Territories, the Fugitive-slave Act repealed, the
Federal Government relieved from all connection with or responsibility
for the existence of slavery, these angry debates banished from the
halls of Congress, and slavery left to the people of the States, the men
of the South who are opposed to the existence of that institution would
get rid of it in their own States at no distant day. I believe, that, if
slavery is ever peacefully abolished in this country,-and I certainly
believe it will be, - it must be abolished in this way.
The senator from Indiana (Mr. Pettit) has
made a long argument to-night to prove the inferiority of the African
race. Well, sir, I have no contest with the senator upon that question;
but I say to the senator from Indiana, that I know men of that race who
are quite equal in mental power to either the senator from Indiana or
myself, - men who are scarcely inferior, in that respect, to any
senators upon this floor. But, sir, suppose the senator from Indiana
succeeds in establishing the inferiority of that despised race: is
mental inferiority a valid reason for the perpetual oppression of a
race? Is the mental, moral, or physical inferiority of a man a just
cause of oppression in republican and Christian America? Sir, is this
democracy? Is it Christianity? Democracy cares for the poor, the lowly,
the humble. Democracy demands that the panoply of just and equal laws
shall shield and protect the weakest of the sons of men. Sir, these are
strange doctrines to hear uttered in the Senate of republican America,
whose political institutions are based upon the fundamental idea that
'all men are are created equal.' If the African race is inferior, this
proud race of ours should educate and elevate it, and not deny to those
who belong to it the rights of our common humanity.
"The senator from Indiana boasts that his
State imposes a fine upon the white man who gives employment to the free
black man. I am not surprised at the degradation of the colored people
of Indiana, who are compelled to live under such inhuman laws, and
oppressed by the public sentiment that enacts and sustains them. I thank
God, sir, Massachusetts is not dishonored by such laws! In Massachusetts
we have about seven thousand colored people. They have the same rights
that we have; they go to our free schools; they enter all the business
and professional relations of life; they vote in our elections; and, in
intelligence and character, are scarcely inferior to the citizens of
this proud and peerless race whose superiority we have heard so
vauntingly proclaimed to-night by the senators from Tennessee and
Indiana." Mr.
Wilson's uncompromising attitude in the Senate drew forth many
expressions of admiration even from his political opponents at home. The
following frank letter from the late Hon. George Ashmun indicates the
spirit with which many, who then disagreed with him, regarded his
consistent action:-
SPRINGFIELD, Feb. 28, 1855.
DEAR Sir,-This world has many seemingly
queer changes. It seems queer to see you in the United-States Senate,
and perhaps more queer for me to say to you an approving word. But I
have a short memory for wrongs which are merely personal to myself, and
am quite ready to do justice in spite of some needless abusive things
which the newspapers have formerly reported from you. I therefore sit
down for a moment to say that your letter to "The Organ," and some brief
speeches in the Senate, have given me entire satisfaction. It is not
very important for me to say it, nor for you to hear it but, having
myself cut loose from all party alliances for the present and the
future, I can afford to do what a party man cannot; i.e., tell the truth
of friend or foe.
Your demonstrations thus far show two things: 1st, That, when a man of
sense finds himself in a national position, he is quite sure to throw
off the slough of provincialism; and, 2d, That, whatever your
antecedents may have been, you have the courage to take ground which men
of sense at home will sustain you in.
I mean to see in you nothing else than a
Massachusetts senator, and hope to see in your course nothing else than
a vindication of Massachusetts honor. You have, by the present confusion
of all old parties, a clear field, and ample room to conquer all the
prejudices which the low arid miserable strife of factions at home may
have given life to; and you will find but feeble and fickle support in
the mere appliances of party. You cannot conform to the narrow and
exacting spirit of a local party; but you can deserve and command the
respect and confidence of those whose eyes look beyond a village or a
provincial horizon.
It is and has been too much the habit of our
people to abuse their senators and representatives at Washington for any
nonconformity to every article in their several and individual creeds.
Your predecessors have been shamefully treated in this respect; and the
consequence has been that their hands have been weakened, and
Massachusetts has lost nearly all its ancient influence.
I hold to a different doctrine, and feel
that a liberal confidence in advance is due alike to ourselves and our
servants. Therefore, while I should not by my vote have placed you in
the Senate, and while I cannot agree to some of your heresies, I feel
moved to send you this expression of my sincere gratification at the
ground on which you have placed yourself at the outset of your career.
Very respectfully,
GEO. ASHMUN.
Mr. WILSON.
In a sermon delivered
July 1, 1855, the Rev. Theodore Parker thus, in his plain way, refers to
Mr. Wilson's advancement and his brave defence of freedom: -
"When a noble man rises in the State, how
much we honor him! when a mean man, how we despise him! Massachusetts,
within a few months, has taken a man from a shoemaker's bench, and
placed him in the Senate, in the very chair left vacant by the most
scholarly man, who had fallen from it, and rolled wallowing in the dust
at his feet and, when the senatorial shoemaker speaks brave words of
right and justice (and in these times he speaks no other), the people,
not only of Massachusetts, but of all the North, rise up, and say, 'Well
done! here are our hands for you.'"
The following letter also shows Mr. Parker's
estimation of his senatorial course: -
BOSTON, July 7, 185?
MY DEAR WILSON, - I cannot let another day
pass by without sending you a line - alI I have time for - to thank you
for the noble service you have done for the cause of freedom. You stand
up most manfully and heroically, and do battle for the right. I do not
know how to thank you enough. You do nobly at all places, all times. If
the rest of your senatorial term be like this part, we shall see times
such as we only wished for, but dared not hope as yet. There is a North,
a real North, quite visible now. God bless you for your services, and
keep you ready for more.
Heartily yours,
THEODORE PARSER, |
