The Washington herald., 1914-02-08
Representative Of Delaware m Upper House Of cenres
Was Born Into Democratic Party" and Got Into
. Politics Merely BY Accident

, in New England. She is ready for mat
rimony and q family. Girls of fourteen
get married In New Mexico. The foot
rule adopted In Washington WIN not
measure the people of the entire nation.
They are too many and the country ID
too big The rights Of the States, the
duty Of the States. in other words, to
handle their own peculiar problems is the
most pressing political question Of the
day."
He Answered Jefferson Davis.
States rights is an ancient Salisbury
issue. But the States must remain in
the Union. Willard Salisbury. the faith
err, answering Jefferson Davis in the Sem
ate. shouted: "As Delaware was the
first to adopt the Constitution of the
United States. she will be the last to do
any act looking to separation" The old
man understood his people. Delaware.
ninety-six miles long and thirty-hve miles
broad In its widest part. narrowing to ten
miles in places. stayed in the Union
Willard Salisbury. the son and the pres
ent Senator. was born five days after the
attack on Fort Sumter.
My mother" he told me. "often spoke
of the exciting and disagreeable expert
ences of my father and herself during
tht CiNh war pCiiod- W hcfi a COMPANY VI
Federal troops came to Georgetown.
which was our home, all the political
enemies of the Saulsburys would regain
their power of speech and make threats
against the family. My father. then a
Senator. would take US on such occasions
to the town of Milton and the house of
my grandfather. James Ponder. Al
the soldiers left Georgetown and our
enemies again were quiescent. we would
return to our own residence"
Though a Union man. Willard Sauls-
bury. the elder. hoped the war would be
settled by negotiation and not fought to
conclusion. The three Saulsbury
brothers had been shareholders.
MY father" the Senator said to me.
owned farms in the southern county Of
the State, but he rented them out and
had nothing to do with their cultivation.
In those days. and It is so nor. the farm
ing and professional classes belonged to
the Democratic party in the main. The
farmers lived in Kent. the middle county.
and in Sussex. the county to the south.
New Castle, the remaining county, Is the
center of our manufacturing interests,
and our manufacturers are mostly Re-
publicans. New Castle Is hilly. Kent is
rich and fiat, and Sussex. whose people
are of English descent and sympathized
with the South fifty years ago, is sandy.
Sau1sburys and Their slaves.
while my father owned slaves. some
FIVE or six in number. he only used them
as domestic servants. His farms. as I
have said, were leased to tenants. 1 found
a letter some years ago which my uncle
Cove Salisbury wrote to my father. He
said he wanted a tidy and reliable nurse
for his children and couldn't find a negro
woman of that kind in the region where
he resided. The woman was found, and
Cove salisbury doubtless paid the price
her master asked for her-ssoo perhaps,
or possibly S1,90.
Although many persons held slaves
in our State, II was only with the feeling
that slavery was an unavoidable neces-
sity. No Delaware negroes were sold
outside the Commonwealth. A sale OF
that kind would have been looked upon
almost as a social crime. Many men
manumitted their blacks by deed or set
them free by will. Families were COM
PEELED to have servants. and the only
way they could be obtained was by pur-
chase.
when the proclamation OF emancipa-
ton was published. thought 1t wasn't