The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-03-03
Governor Seymour's Career.

wife was also very sick.
Governor Seymour's Career.
Horatio Seymour was in his seventy-sixth
year, and for the last thirty years of his life
has been one of the most widely known of
the. Democrats Of the country, scarcely a
national convention having been held dur
ing that time in which his name was not
mentioned as a possible candidate for the
presidency. He was born in Pompey, Onon-
da5a county, NY, May 81, 1910. His father,
Henry Seymour, was one Of the leading men
of the little village, and took an active part
in the politics of the State. When Horatio
was about nine years old his parents removed
to Utica. The boy was sent to the academies
of Oxford and Geneva, New York. When
boDaf in his to sssesh bsse his year YSss sn es b ss s
military school at Middletown, Conn. Here
he gained health and strength, studied hard,
and improved rapidly. After leaving the
school he studied law in Utica, and in
1928 he was admitted to the bar. At about
the same time he was married to Miss
Mary Bleecker, Of Albany, young lady of
many accomplishments. His father dying he
never entered actively upon the practice Of
his profession, his time being fully occupied
in the management of his own large estate
and that of his WIFE,
WV T" All1ol L. @uoASy III 4cccs 81
pointed Mr.. Seymour on bis military
staff, a position which he held for six
years In 1871 he was elected to the
assembly as Democrat. The assembly
of 1s4S, in which he took his seat,
included such men as Michael Hoffman,
John A. Dix, Sandford E. Church and Calvin
7. Hubbard among its leaders, but
Horatio Seymour took a position in the
front rank from the first, surprising even his
friends by the proficiency which be displayed
in the science of legislation. Returning
to Utica, Utica after the session ul he
oowne xds aea wneE % 6e %a U tas aesn ey nSymnd aei
for the assembly, and was reelected in 1874,
and made speaker of tho house for the
session of 1915. An exciting session Of the
legislature followed, in which the bill for
constitutional convention was passed, and the
Democracy was disrupted from one end Of
the State to the other.
For the next five years Horatio Seymour
remained quietly at his home in Utica,
taking no active part in politics. In 1850,
however, when his party was in a hope
less minority, he was induced to accept
the Democratic nomination for governor,
and after q very vigorous campaign was
defeated by Washington Hunt, the Wing
candidate, by the scant majority of 262! In
1852, however, he again ran against the same
opponent and Tompkins, the Free Soil candi-
date. and this time he was successful, being
elected by plurality of 22,506. He entered
upon his first term as governor during one OF
the most exciting periods in the history of New
York. The advocates Of temperance had gained
strong hold in the minds of the voters,
and were clamoring loudly for stringent
recently been passed in Maine The legisla-
ture of 1854 passed such law, and Governor
Seymour promptly vetoed it on the ground
that it was unconstitutional His action cost
him his seat. He was renominated in the
fall Of 1854, and ran against Prohibitionist,
a Know-Nothing, and a Free Soil candidate.
The Prohibitionist, Myron H. Clark, was
elected by plurality Of 300 votes, and Gov
ernor Seymour again retired to private life.
Events were fast moving onward to the
great crash of 1861. Mr.. Seymour was Of
fered foreign mission after the election of
Buchanan, but declined it, and remained in
retirement until the fall of 1862, when the
term of Edwin D. Morgan, the Republican
war governor of New York, was
about to close. Horatio Seymour was
made the Democratic nominee for
governor, and General James s. Wadsworth
was his Republican opponent. Seymour made
a personal canvass of the State. Most of the
prominent Democratic orators had gone over
TO the Republicans, and he was forced to take
nearly all the burden of the campaign on his
own shoulders, The fight was close and
bitter one, but HorHa:io Seymour won
it by a majority of 1O,752. In his
inaugural address, January !, 1868, he
announced his intention of stand
ing firmly by the government in its effort to
sustain the Union, and declared that "under
no circumstances can the division of the
Union be conceded" He forwarded troops
to Washington as fast as the President called
ward, and Horatio Seymour was held up as
protesting himself ''friend" of the riooers,
but he never replied to the attacks or denied
the words. In forty-eight hours the riot was
put down, but many rioters were shot before
this was accomplished.
Governor Seymour presided over the Demo,
cratic convention of 1864, which nonlnated
General Mcclellan for the presidency, and
also over that of 1868, held in this city, by
which Seymour was nominated to contest
for the prize against General Grant. he had
declined to accept the nomination., put
finally consented and made eooa.a spirlseat pGsnt
and Colfax receiving a popular vote OF
S,O13, 1873, against z, ,7O3,6 for Seymour and
Blair. The electoral vote gave Grant ia
and Seymour S0-a majority OF l34 for
GRAFT. After his defeat Seymour made up
for them, and undertook to garrison the forti-
fcations Of New York with State militia.
The troops were actually on the move from
the interior when on July IL the order was
countermanded at the request of General
Wool. That day the terrible draft riots be-
gan. Governor Seymour was at Long
Branch, but he hurried to the city, and on the
18th issued two proclamations, one calling on
the rioters to disperse and the other declaring
the city in q state of insurrection
He divided the city into districts,
placed under tho control Of military
inen, who were ordered to organize the citi-
zens, and 5000 stand of arms were issued to
these and other organizations. The governor
visited the riotous districts in person, and by
persuasion as well as by the use Of force aided
in auelling the disturbance. In one of these
addresses in front of the City Hall he said to
the rioters: II beg you to listen to
me as a friend, for. l am your,
friend and the friend of your families. "
This form of speech was often quoted after
his mind never to run for office again., he
was named in every Democratic national con-