The times., 1899-07-09
THE LATE GEORGE W. JULIAN.
Personai Recoliectiona of the Indi
nna Reconstructionist.


The death of George Washington Julian |
which occurred at his home near Indianap- |
oils. Ind, Friday morning. in his eighty |
second year, removes from the list of |
Statesmen of national repute one of the !
best known figures, Jeremiah NJ. Wilson, |
who succeeded Mr.. Julian in Congress in
1871. had net heard OF his death when seen
by Times reporter last night.
Il first knew George w. Julian said
Judge Wilson. in 1853, when he was a
practicing lawyer in Centersville. Ind. The
speeches he made in Congress and on the
stump up to the emancipation of slaves
were exceedingly bitter against the in
stitution Of slavery and the Democratic
party. There are few men that 1 have
known who could use the English Ian
guage more successfully in the way of bit
terness toward his adversaries, and while
he made and retained a large number of
friends. the ability with which he at
tackled the Democratic party and the
friends of slavery and the injury he in
ficted upon that institution were the
means of making for him many enemies.
Mr.. Julian was thoroughly an Indiana
tion and energy, and when in 1s44 he for
the first time seriously entered politics. his
strong and determined character made him
power and leader in his party, Mr..
Julian cast his first vote in 1910 for Har-
| rison and Tyler, for the reason. he said.
that Van Buren, was an aristocrat. while
Harrison was poor man who lived in
log cabin. His political knowledge ct that
time was limited, and his associations car
ried him into the ranks of the whig party
before he had investigated the questions of
the day. In 1874 he took the stump for
| Clay and .Frelinghuysen, having in the
mean time made more complete study OF
| the pertinent political questions. He be-
| lieved that the triumph of the Democratic
party meant the extension of slavery and
| war with Mexico, and the idea. influenced
by the teachings of Claiming. Adams, and
| Joshua r. Giddings implanted In him a
| deep and undying hatred for the institution
of slavery, which became the handspring
| OF his political career. In 1916 he was
elected to the State Legislature. where he
| fought for the abolition OF capital punish
| ment.
1T was at this time that he married
! Miss Annie E. Finch his first wife. AS
| the political situation darkened and the
| I,
| War, his interest in the slavery question
| increased, he determined that he would
never vote for a stakeholder. In 1S4S
| General Taylor, the Whfg candidate. was
| the owner of 200 slaves. Wayne county
was solidly Whig, but in spite of the ef-
forts of his friends. Mr.. Julian affiliated
with the Free Soil party and was chosen
a delegate to the Buffalo convention and
an elector Of the Fourth Congressional
! district of Indiana. He began an untiring
campaign with such zeal and displayed
such fertility and profundity in the argu-
ments he brought to bear on the ques-
tions that his friends realized that they
had underestimated his ability. The re-
suit of the campaign was his nomination
by the Free Soil party to Congress in 1S43.
| Feeling during the campaign ran high
| throughout the State and Mr.. Julian was
| subjected to the insults OF the men who had
| formerly been his friends Speaking of
this period in his political recollections Mr..
| Julian once said:
81 was subjected to torrent of bill
| ingsgate that rivaled the fish market
Words were neither minced nor mollifed,
but made the vehicle of political wrath
| and the explosions of personal malice. The
! charge of "abolitionism' was flung at me
everywhere, and it is impossible now to
realize the odium then attaching to that
term by the general opinion. l was an
|
| was branded as the apostle of disunion'
and the Orator of free dirt" 1t was a
standing charge of the Wings that l car
| ried in my pocket lock OF the hair of
| Frederick Douglass to regale my senses
with its aroma when | grew faint. They
| declared that my audiences consisted of
eleven men, three boys. and a negro
and sometimes | could not deny that this
inventory was not very far from the truth.
I was threatened with mob violence by my
own neighbors, and treated as II slavery
had been an established institution Of the
State, with its machinery of overseers and
background of pauperized whites.
| ~ frequently spoke as often as three
time day, and generally from two to
| three hours at meeting. | spoke at
crossroads, in barns. in porkhouses, in
sawmills, In any place in which a few
! or many people would hear me; but l
was rarely permitted to enter any OF the
| churches
Mr.. Julian's election to the Thirty-f frst
| Congress was made possible by the en-
| dorsement of the Democratic party. but
| the campaign was made as a Free Soiler.
He defeated Samuel w. Parker, the Whig
candidate. to the great modification OF his
| enemies. formerly his friends. In the
| Thirty-frst Congress he and eight other
| anti-slavery representatives were known
| as the nine worthless He opposed the
!, fugitive slave law, the Texas boundary
bill. the abandonment OF the Wilmot pro-
viso, and the organization of a House in
| the interest of slavery. His arguments
lacerated the principles and feelings of
the opposition and have become permanent
features of the political literature of the
| country.
| In 1851 Julian was again candidate for
Congress. but was beaten by Parker be-
cause Oliver P. Morton and other Demo-
| Gratis refused to support the Free Sellers
against the Wings sinee the former party
had become synonym for abolition. Mr..
Julian withdrew from politics until 1852
when the Pittsburg Convention of Free
Soilers nominated him for Vice President
on the ticket with John P. Hale. 'Popu-
lar Sovereignty" and Know Nothingism'
brought him back into politics in 1854.
His anti-slavery friends had joined the
Know Nothing party, which he fought IN
aided, and his speeches on the subject form
some of the most interesting literature of
the period.
His reelection occurred in 1860 and he
advocated a strong and determined admin
istration in regard to the war. His sup
port of negro suffrage before his party was
ready for 1t made for him many more enc
mics. He was member of the committee
appointed to prepare articles for the i'm
peachment of President Johnson. He pro-
posed the fifteenth and also the sixteenth
amendments to the Constitution.
He believed" said Judge Wilson, ''in
land for the landless and homes for the
homeless. He was appointed by Speaker
Colfax to the craftsmanship of the Commit
tee on Public Lands of the House and sup
nortad the homestead hill In 1871 he