Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1886-02-18
Governor seymour's Career.

ings ana ne never IelG That he completely re-
covered from it. At the time Of his death his
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 possible candidate for the
presidency. He was born in Pompey, Onon-
ga county, N. Y, 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
10 Utlea. The boy was sent to the academies
OF oxford and Geneva, New York. When
in his fifteenth year his father,
hoping to benefit his health sent him to a
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
1923 he was admitted to the bar At about
the same time he was married to Miss
Mary Bleecker, of Albany, a young lady of
many accomplishments. His father diving 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
Governor William L. Marcy in 1888. an
pointed Mr.. Seymour on his military
staff, position which he held for six
years. In 1S41 he was elected to the
assembly as a Democrat. The assembly
OF 1872, in which he took his seat,
included such men as Michael Hoffman,
John A. Dix, Sanford E. Church and Calvin
hubbard among its leaders, but
friends BY the proficiency which Be displayed
in the science Of legislation. Returning
to Utica after the session he
was elected mayor of that city. The
following winter he was again nominated
for the assembly, and was reelected in 1874,
and made speaker of the house for the
legisla ure followed, in which the bill for a
constitutional invention 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 q hope
less minority, he was induced to accept
the Democratic nomination for governor,
and after very vigorous campaign was
defeated by Washington Hunt, the Wing
candidate, by the scant majority Of 1921 In
1852, however, he again ran against the same
opponent and TompSins the Free Soil candi-
date. and this time he was successful, being
elected by a plurality of q, 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
q strcl.g hold in the minds of the voters
and were clamoring loudly for a stringent
prOhlbitory law modelled on that which had
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,
The Pr0hibitionist Myron H. Clark, was
elected by a 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
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 Horatio Seymour won
it by a majority of 10,752. 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
for them, and undertook to garrison the forth
fcations Of New York with State militia
The troops were actually on the move from
the interior when on July 13 the order was
countermanded at the request OF Heneral
Wool. That day the terrible draft riots be-
gan Governor Seymour was at Long
Branch, but he hurried to the city, and on the
14th issued two prOclamations, one calling on
the rioters to disperse and the other declaring
the city in a state of insurrection.
He divided the city into districts,
placed under the control Of military
men, who were ordered to organize the citi-
zens, and g. 900 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 quelling the disturbance In one OF these
addresses In front OF the City Hall he said to
the rioters: III bsg you to listen to
me as a friend, for I am your
| friend and the friend Of your families"
This form of speech was often quoted after
ward, aud Horatio Seymour was held up as
processing himself friend" of the rioters,
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 nominated
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, but
1 finally consented, and made spirited
| personal canvass, He was defeated, Grant
| and Colfax receiving a popular vote Of
| 3,0l3, ,l89 against 2, ,703, 900 for Seymour and
Blair. The electoral vote gave Grant 2l4
and Seymour S0-a majority Of l34 for
Grant After his defeat Seymour made up
his mind never to run for office again. He
was named in every Democratic national con-
! vention after 1858. but was not again nomi-
| mated In 1916 the State convention nominated
him for governor, but he perenlptorily de-
cIined, and Governor Robinson was substi-
| tuted for him. He had resided quietly at his
home Ia Deertield, occasionally writing arti-
dies on political subjects and advocating the
policy of free canals and addressing agricul-
| lural societies. He was for years president
| ,E the National Dairymens association aud
| ,g the Prison association Of the United
States.