Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1873-05-02
WILLIAM II. SEWARD.


From this address we make the following |
extracts:
On this occasion Il Is not my design TO fol- |
low the common course OF q purely chrono |
logical narrative That work has been already |
well done by others who have preceded me. II |
will suffice 10 state that Mr.. Seward was born |
with the century, and issued from the college |
Mt Schenectady at the age of nineteen. Three |
years, passed In the customary probation Of
lawyers office, gave him his profession, and
one year more found him married. From that
moment he could hope to enlarge the basis OF
his imperfect education only by asnatching
what he might out of the intervals of rest in a
busy life. Hence il becomes proper to assume
that, in the just sense of the word, Mr. Seward
was never q learned man. In the nrdor with
which he rushed into affairs, the wonder is that
he acquired what he did. To his faculty of
rapid digestion of what nc could read, he was
indebted for the attainments he actually mas
tered For 1t should be further remarked, that
though he faithfully applied himself TO his
profession, II was not an occupation congenial
to his taste. On the contrary he held it I'm
aversion. He felt in himself capacity to play
noble part on the more spacious theater of
state affairs. His aspiration was for the fame
of statesman, and in indulging this propensi-
ty he committed no mistake
The chief characteristic OF his mind was its
breadth of view. In this sense he was phi
losopher studying politics. He began by form
ing for himself a general idea of government,
ny WHICH all questions OF u practical nature
that came up for consideration were to be test
ed This naturally led him to prefer the field
of legislation to that of administration, though
he proved equally skillful in both. Almost
simultaneously with his marriage he appeared
ready to launch into the political conflicts of
the hour. Commencing in this small way he
rose by easy degrees into the atmosphere of
statcsmanship. AS the result of season of
political chaos and dissension the Wing ele-
ment rose as the antagonist of the Democratic
marty . In the uttib1lpa nv i'm at
tions sight was lost Of the policy which was
secretly laboring for the extension of slave
territory. Such being the state of things at
the outset. of Mr.. Stewards career the first
thing necessary for him to do was to choose
his side. Under his fathers roof the influences
naturally carried him to sympathize with the
old JeffersOnian party on the one hand, while
the relics of the slave system remaining in the
family as house servants-the least repulsive
form of that relation-seemed little likely to
inspire in him much aversion to 1t on the
other.
Nevertheless, he early formed his conclu-
sions adversely to the organization in New
York protesting to be the successors of the
Jefferson school, and not less so to the perpet-
uation of slavery anywhere On the other
hand the selection of the more conservative
side, which he finally made, was one not unat-
tended with difficulty. The idea of popular
form of government, which he had built up in
his own mind, was one of the most expansive
kind. In this he was conservative, that he
sought to change only the better 70 expand on
~ wider scale. So far as / can comprehend the
true sense OF the word democracy, | have new
cr found my idea more broadly developed than
by him. 1t is far more practical than ANYTHING
ever taught by Jefferson, and throws into deep
shadow the performances of most of his mod
ern disciples. He soon became a representa-
tive of the younger, the ardent and the liberal
division which favored policy more in har-
mony with the nature Of our institutions than
suited the adherents to long-established ideas
Yet these were not long in finding out that he
was possessed of powers to direct the popular
sense, which, ON the whole, it was not eXpedi-
cnt for them TO neglect. Presently an occasion
made him prominent in the State elections
The inconsistency, which he could not fail to.
expose of thepoNver of secret societies with
popular Institutions, as illustrated in the we'll
known story of the abduction and death of
Morgan, made him first member of the Sen
ate of this State, and afterward raised him to
be the Governor for two terms
The sentiments of Mr.. Seward on the subject
of slavery had been early expressed. Previ-
ously to graduating at college he had passed
six months in the State of Georgia, but he
seems not to have been converted by his eXpe-
rience to any faith in the system. His first
public demonstration was made in Fourth of
July Grafton, delivered at Auburn, when he
was twenty-four years old. In this speech the
deliberate claim of right in the Federal gov
ernmenttpo emancipate slaves by Legislation
was notices. remarkable than the miscalcula-
ilOu VI llC lOlCC VI lllC pdsslOUS WHICH lcu Inc
South, in the end, to the very step that brought
ON the predicted consequences. Yet in his
conclusion he proved a prophet. But he then
could little have foreseen the share he was to
have in controlling the final convulsion.
Mr.. Seward terminated his career as State
politician with very elaborate exposition of
his views of policy, presented with great ab-
ity. From this date Mr.. Seward remained
several years in private life, steadily pursuing
ms profession The course of public affairs
had not proven propitious to his party.
General Taylor was made President, and ST.
multaneously Mr.. Seward was for the first
time transferred from the field of State to that
of national affairs. He came into the Senate of
the United States not to leave it for twelve
years. He came under circumstances of no
triiing embarrassment. The new President
was at the time utterly unknown TO the public
men and especially to him. l am very sure
that Mr. Seward felt for some time quite un-
certain what the issue would be. Everything
depended upon the natural powers of General
Taylor to distinguish the true from the false
path. Happily for Mr.. Seward, he determined
to be guided by his counsel. Then came the
struggle with Mexico, and Mr.. Seward and the
President differed in their policy. The success
sive specches--one on the llth of March, the
next on the I'd of July, and the last on the
1lth of September of the year 1S50-displayed
in the clearestlight his whole policy on this
vital subject. At the very outset he declared
himself opposed to compromise with slavery
in any and all the forms in which it had been
proposed, and he followed up the words with
close argument against each of those forms.
Then began the great reaction in the North
and West At last the election of 1856 dis
played the fact that parties had thrown off dis
guises and were placing themselves upon the
real issues vital to the country. Although the
result still favored the Shareholders and James
Buchanan was made to succeed Franklin
Pierce, the severity of the struggle indicated
but too plainly the beginning of the end.
From this moment the Republican party be-
came the true antagonist to that domination.
Mr.. Seward now, for the first time, enjoyed the
great advantage of being perfectly free from
cmbarassments sprnging out of a union with
paralyzng associates in the same party. He
took the field with all his vigor, and the
speeches which he made, both in the Senate
and before the people, remain to testify to his
powers and his success. The effects of the new
union, reinforcedby the extreme policy adopted
by the opposite side, were made perceptible in
the steady increase of the minOrites in both
Houses of Congress. The opening of the
Thrty-siXth Congress showed that in the pop
lllar branch the Republican party counted q
plurality of the members After a long-con
tinued struggle they succeeded in electing
their Speaker 1t looked if the handwriting
would soon be visible ON the wall, Then came
moment when candidate of the party, al
last thoroughly organized, was to be nom
mated for the Presidency of 1861.
Abiding to Mr.. Stewards failure to gel
the nomination for the Presidency by the
Chicago Convention in 1860, the orator
saidl:
Placing myself in the attitude of Mr.. Seward
at the moment when the news of so strange
decision would reach his ears, | think might
like jacques in the play, have moralized for al
instant upon mans ingratitude. But Mr. Sew
ard, when he heard of il, did not reason on th
low level. That he deeply felt such a refusa
to recognize the value of his long and earnes
labors in perious cause have every reason
to believe. | had been long watching hi
course with the deepest interest, sometimes
fearful lest he might bend towards the delusv,
track of eXpediency, at Others impatient at hi
calmness in moments fit TO call out the fire O
Demosthenes, yet, ON the whole, if | may be 81
bold as to confess ii, fastened 70 his footsteps
10y the conviction that he alone of all other
had most marked himself as u disciple of tn
school in which had been bred mYsef Il