the abolition of imprisonment for debt, which at length passed; while the measure was fully completed, as will be seen in the sequel, under his subsequent administration. At the close of the session Mr. Seward was appointed to draw up the address to the people of the minority of the legislature. In this address* he reviewed the financial condition of the state, and exposed the mismanagement of the treasury. He showed the radical defects of the safety fund system, which under partisan control gave the government of the state to the Albany regency. This monopoly was overthrown by the whigs on their accession to power in 1837, and the freedom of banking, under suitable safeguards, permitted to all citizens. The controversy between New York and New Jersey was at that time a source of much excitement. The address exposed the conduct of the executive, showing that it amounted to virtual nullification. On the 4th of July, 1831, Mr. Seward delivered an anniversary oration†t before the citizens of Syracuse. He took for his subject, The Prospects of the United States. In a strain of masculine eloquence, he defended the American people against the charge of national vanity and presumption, and uttered a stirring appeal for the cultivation of public virtue and the spirit of devotion to the Union. The meeting of the legislature in 1832 again found Mr. Seward at his post. He entered, with his habitual zeal, upon the great questions which then agitated the public mind. Relying upon the soundness of his principles, he boldly maintained the conflict against a majority so overwhelming, that, to a less ardent temperament than his own, opposition would have seemed hopeless. A resolution was brought into the senate, at the commencement of the session, against renewing the charter of the United States bank. Soon after, a substitute was proposed, declaring the necessity of a national bank for the collection of the public revenue, and the preservation of a * See Vol. III., p. 338. + See Vol. III., p. 200. sound and uniform currency. On the 31st of January, Mr. Seward delivered a speech in support of the proposed substitute. This was his first elaborate effort in the legislature. Having given a minute history of the United States, he discussed the fiscal system of the government, and exposed the fallacy of Gen. Jackson's objections to the renewal of the bank charter. His line of argument was substantially the same as that pursued by Mr. Clay and Mr. Webster in the United States senate. His speech produced a marked sensation throughout the country. The question was new and exciting; it took strong hold of public feeling, and great satisfaction was expressed by the opponents of the federal administration on the appearance of this powerful appeal in its favor. Combined with the discussions on internal improvements and state banks, the speech of Mr. Seward and that of Mr. Maynard, on the same subject, had the effect of concentrating the opposition to the Albany regency and Jackson's administration, in an organized system. This was the origin of the political body which two years afterward, took the name of the Whig Party. On the 20th of March, the question came up on the establishment of a separate penitentiary for female convicts. In his speech on this subject, Mr. Seward took the broadest grounds of Christian philanthropy. He argued that the imprisonment of women in penitentiaries adapted only to the other sex, and under the exclusive management of men, was inhuman, and at war with the benevolent spirit of the age. He showed the benefits which the convicts would derive from the kind and judicious care of persons of their own sex. The prison, he maintained, should be made a house of refuge, rather than a place of punishment, where its unfortunate inmates might find protection from the wrongs they had received, in most cases at the hands of men; where they might receive instruction and guidance-be inspired with new hopes, and prepared to return to society with the prospect of honor and happiness. The measure, which was carried, owed its success to the exertions of Mr. Seward, greatly aided, however, by the efficient co-operation of Mr. M'Donald of Westchester county. In a speech during this session on granting a charter to a whaling company, Mr. Seward made a vigorous attack on the tendency of legislation to corporate monopolies for banking, canals, railroads, and similar purposes. His efforts were not supported, and for a time proved unavailing. But the good seed has since ripened. The present system of opening every branch of business to voluntary association, without legislative interference, is the fruit of the principles he then maintained, and is an ample vindication of their soundness and utility. At the close of the session of 1832, Mr. Seward was again appointed to prepare the address of the minority of the legislature to their constituents. In this document he resumed the discussion of the fiscal affairs of the state, showing the abuses of the administration in management of the public funds for political purposes, exposing the misconduct of the legislature in the incorporation of banking monopolies, and predicting the ruin of the banks from the policy pursued. His prophecy was in due time fulfilled. CHAPTER VII. VISIT TO EU STATE SENATOR- PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION- ITES IN the presidential campaign of 1832, Mr. Seward gave his support to the electors who were to vote for either Mr. WIRT or Mr. CLAY as their vote should prove effective. He has since repeatedly supported Mr. Clay as a candidate for the presidency, although it is known that he always foresaw his defeat, and it is therefore questionable whether that eminent statesman was ever his first choice. At the legislative session for this year, Mr. Seward took a still more prominent share in the proceedings of the senate. The nomination of Mr. Tallmadge, then a member of the senate, to the office of United States senator, called forth the discussion of an important constitutional question. A clause in the state constitution prohibited any member of the legislature from receiving office at the hands of that body, during the term for which he was elected. The attorney-general, to whom the question of eligibility had been submitted, decided in favor of Mr. Tallmadge. This decision was controverted by Mr. Seward in a speech of remarkable power of logic and eloquence. He was overruled by a strictly party vote; but one can hardly read his speech without being convinced that the appointment, made for temporary political purposes, was a violation of the constitution. The nullification movements in the South were brought before the attention of the senate in February, 1833. On the 16th of that month, Mr. Seward introduced a series of resolutions, maintaining that Congress should be governed by a strict construction of the powers intrusted to the general government. In his speech sustaining the resolutions, he rebuked the democratic party in the state for their disposition to tamper with the principles of nullification, while professing to support Gen. Jackson's measures, which threatened the nullifiers with the penalty of treason. During this session, Mr. Seward took part in the discussions on the navigation of the Hudson, and on the increase of judicial salaries. On the 1st of June, 1833, Mr. Seward sailed for Europe in company with his father. They made a rapid tour through parts of the United Kingdom, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Sardinia, and France. During his absence he wrote home a series of letters,* describing the countries that he visited, which were afterward published anonymously in the Albany Evening Journal. After about forty of the series had appeared, their publication was arrested, under circumstances which can not, perhaps, be better explained than by inserting the following extract from the Journal of that date: "LETTERS FROM EUROPE. In reply to numerous inquiries for these letters, it is proper to say that their publication was arrested by the 'veto' of the gentleman who wrote them. It is already known to some of our readers that the author of these letters is the whig candidate for governor. They were hastily written to several of his intimate friends, while making a tour upon the continent. On his return, the friends of Mr. Seward earnestly desired the publication of these letters in a more durable form, but this was declined. After much importunity, however, he yielded a reluctant consent to their anonymous publication in the 'Evening Journal.' The series, thus commenced, were continued, contributing to the interest of our readers, and adding new names to our subscription, until the whig state convention placed their author in a new relation to the public; when, unwilling, we suppose, to superadd to other offences the heinous one of writing 'Letters from Europe,' he desired us to suspend their publication. "From this decision of the author, our readers have appealed to the editor. Having read a portion of these letters, they insist upon the publication of the entire series. They do not, nor can we discover, in the whig nomination for governor, a sufficient reason for cutting off this source of interest and instruction. And besides, the assent of the author to the publi· cation of the whole series, having been obtained before his nomination for governor, we insist that he has not now the right to revoke it. "Under these circumstances, and at the general solicitation of our readers, we take the responsibility of resuming the publication of our 'Letters from Europe.' It is due, however, to Mr. Seward, to say, that they were written solely for the gratification of his own family and a few intimate friends, without the slightest expectation that they would ever be given to the public. If any of his political opponents should think proper to find fault with these letters, we shall respectfully inquire who among them possesses the industry and the talent to have travelled through England, Ireland, Scotland, Holland, Switzerland, Germany, and France, within a period of less than three months, and produce nearly eighty letters (filling upward of nine hundred manuscript pages) of equal interest and intelligence?" These letters exhibit a refined taste, great acuteness of observation, and a genial sympathy with the grand and * See Vol. III. |