THE LIFE OF SILAS WRIGHT, LATE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING A SELECTION FROM HIS SPEECHES IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, AND HIS ADDRESS READ BEFORE THE NEW YORK STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. BY JOHN S. JENKINS, AUTHOR OF THE HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK." 66 'LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON," ETC., ETC. "The Cato of the American Senate." THOMAS H. Benton. AUBURN: ALDEN, BEARDSLEY & CO. 1852. ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1847, by ALDEN & MARK HAM, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Northern District of New York. THOMAS B. SMITH, STEREOTYPER, 216 WILLIAM STREET, N. Y PREFACE THE biography of SILAS WRIGHT can be but little more than the political history of the State and Nation for the last twenty-five years. His life was spent in the service of his country;-not in a sphere requiring the exhibition of military capacity, or physical daring and fortitude, but in one demanding, at least, as high an order of talent, and far more of those nobler qualities, which so exalt and dignify the human character— moral courage and integrity. and integrity. He had but just established himself in the practice of his profession, when he was elected to the New York Senate; and from that time until within a few months previous to his death, he remained in public life. In preparing this volume, the author has not been free from diffidence, and distrust of his ability, to execute the task without favor or prejudice. If, however, anything has been omitted which should have been said, or anything inserted that would have been more wisely left unsaid, no one can regret it more deeply than himself. It is an error of judgment on his part, and not of intention. Of one thing he is quite confident, that not a single word has been written, with even the most distant hope of furthering the views or interests of any class, or faction, or party; but the work has been prepared simply and solely to present a complete and impartial life of one of the ablest-by many regarded as the ablest-statesmen that New York has ever produced. To commend this book to those who are familiar with the character and extent of Mr. Wright's services to the State and to the Union, would not only be unwise and indelicate in the author, but it would be justly considered as labor lost. To his political friends and-not his foes, for he had no personal enemies-to those who disagree with him in regard to questions of public policy, it cannot be unpleasant to speak well of the memory of so great and good a man. The sources of information to which the author has had access have been various, and he has freely made use of them. In this connection he takes pleasure in acknowledging his indebtedness to those friends of the deceased who have cheerfully responded to his numerous inquiries. He has spared no pains in his attempt to render the work as full and complete as possible; the utmost care and accuracy have been preserved; and he is conscious of omitting nothing that it was in his power to supply. Errors and imperfections there may be; yet he trusts that he can rely upon a generous public to overlook them. PREFACE. The Appendix contains several of the speeches of Mr. Wright in the Senate of the United States: those relative to the pressure and the removal of the deposits-to Mr. Clay's resolutions of Censure—and to the revision and modification of the Tariff law of 1842. Extracts from others of special importance are given in the body of the work, or his views upon the important questions agitated in the State and National Legislatures are stated as briefly and as distinctly as the size of the volume, and the ability of the author, would admit. The Address read before the New York State Agricultural Society has also been inserted, as well because of the importance of the subjects discussed, as for the reason, that it contains the last words of its lamented author to that large class of which he was an honored member-the Farmers of New York. |