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DEATH OF MRS. WILSON. -
VISIT TO EUROPE. - WRITINGS. - NOMINATION. - ELECTION.
IN May, 1870, Mr. Wilson
was brought into profound affliction by the decease of his beloved wife,
who for many months had been sinking under an incurable disease. At the
close of the 28th she passed peacefully away; and those who stood around
her dying-bed then realized the meaning of the words, "He giveth his
beloved sleep."
An address was made at
her funeral in the church by the Rev. Edmund Dowse; and her remains, in
a casket covered with flowers, and followed by a big concourse of
sincere mourners, were borne to the Dell-park Cemetery, where they
repose beside those of her only son.
Mrs. Wilson was a woman
of rare gentleness, earnest in purpose, unassuming in manner, ever
blessing those around her by her words and deeds of love. Early in life
she became a Christian; and she united with the Congregational church at
Natick on the fifth day of December, 1852. Whether moving in the
fashionable society at Washington, or in the quiet circle of her home,
she was ever a bright ornament of the doctrines she professed. Her
sufferings, though severe, she bore without a murmur or complaint, and
shed the light of a sanctified and loving heart upon her friends and
kindred to the last. In her elevation, she did not cast off, as many do,
the companions of early days; and they will always bear among the
richest treasures of the memory the smile and the tear of her sympathy
and affection.
"Into the sacred privacy
of that wifely devotion which she always manifested," says one who knew
her excellence, "we may not intrude: but it can least be said, that she
was all that the heart could desire a Christian wife to be; and eternity
alone can reveal how great was her influence upon the companion of her
life, whose feet she, more than any other human instrumentality, led to
the cross of Christ."
Another writer said of
her, "For thirty years she has been of rare service to her husband in
all sweet and wifely qualities. Of true instincts, unobtrusive piety,
untiring benevolence, and equal temperament, ever a lover of justice,
she was alike guide and inspirer to her husband, whose long,
distinguished, and honorable career is, in no small degree, due to her
discreet and loving co- operation."
Her character is thus
portrayed by Mrs. Mary Clemmer Ames: -
Within the last week, the
body of one has been laid in her native earth whose lovely presence will
long be missed in Washington. Mrs. Wilson, the wife of Senator Wilson,
went out from among us in the fair May days; and the places which have
known her here so long and so pleasantly, will know her, save in memory,
no more forever. She was a gentle, Christian woman. I have never yet
found words rich enough to tell all that such a woman is. My pen lingers
lovingly upon her name. I would fain say something of her who now lives
beyond the mood of all human praise that would make her example more
beautiful and enduring to the living. For, in profounder intellectual
development resulting from wider culture and larger opportunity, are we
in no danger of losing sight of those graces of the spirit, which,
however exalted her fate, must remain to the end the supreme charm of
woman? There is nothing in all the universe so sweet as a Christian
woman; as she who has received into her heart, till it shines forth in
her character and life, the love of the divine Master.
"Such a woman was Mrs.
Wilson in this gay capital. When great sorrow fell upon her, and
ceaseless suffering, the light from the heavenly places fell upon her
face: with an angel patience, and a childlike smile, and an unfaltering
faith, she went down into the valley of shadows. She possessed a keen
and wide intelligence. She was conversant with public questions, and
interested in all those movements of the day in which her husband takes
so prominent a part. Retiring by nature, she avoided instinctively all
ostentatious display; but, where help and encouragement were needed by
another, the latent power of her character sprang into life, and then
she proved herself equal to great executive effort. No one can praise
her so eloquently as he who loved her and knew her best. To hear Senator
Wilson speak of his wife when he taught her, a little girl in school;
when he married her, 'the loveliest girl in all the county;' when he
received into his heart the fragrance of her daily example; when he
watched over her dying, only to marvel at the endurance and sweetness
and sunshine of her patience, is to learn what a force for spiritual
development, what a ceaseless inspiration, was this wife to her husband.
Precious to those who live is the legacy of such a life."
Mr. Wilson regarded his
wife and always spoke of her with most affectionate tenderness. He fully
appreciated and revered her excellences. To him her word and her wishes
were sacred. Her departure filled his heart with unutterable grief; and
the dark cloud of that bereavement still casts its shadow over his
pathway. But he has the hope of the Christian, which alone can give the
cloud a "silver lining."
In a letter in response
to an invitation to the "Gathering of the Howe Family," held in
Framingham, Aug. 31, 1871 he thus touchingly alludes to her: -
"I regret, and shall long
continue to regret, that I was not permitted on that occasion to mingle
with those who bear the name of one endeared to me by the holiest and
tenderest ties of earth; of one of the purest and loveliest spirits that
ever blessed kindred and friends by her presence, or left, in passing
through death to a higher life, more precious memories."
In the memorial of that
meeting the author says, "Mrs. Wilson was a lady of unusual mental and
personal attractions, blending grace with dignity in manner, and
ornamenting, both in private and in public life, the doctrines of her
Lord and Master."
None but him that has
followed the light of the house-hold to the silent grave can know the
desolation of a deserted home. To relieve his mind from the sad memories
which every object tended to awaken, Mr. Wilson decided to spend the
summer of 1871 abroad. Leaving New York in "The Scotia" on the 7th of
June, he had a prosperous voyage across the Atlantic, and was somewhat
"lionized" by the passengers, as one of them has written, on the way.
The writer adds, "He spoke to me with feeling of the virtues of one whom
he had just, of her sickness and her death; showed me the picture of her
face; and expressed the hope that he should meet her in the skies."
Mr. Wilson did not visit
Europe to study art, to gain receptions, or to hunt for kings. He was,
however, kindly received by Mr. Gladstone, Thomas Hughes', and other
eminent men. He had the pleasure of spending several days in the British
Parliament, as well as in the French National Assembly, and of listening
to the debates. The plain and sensible style of speaking of the former
body he admired. With the exception of the strong and fervid Spurgeon,
the English preachers did not please him, their manner being too
monotonous and scholastic.
He travelled over six
thousand miles in Europe, visiting Amsterdam, Berlin (where he was
cordially received), Vienna, and many other cities; noticing the manners
and customs of the people, and, as far as possible, the working of the
different educational, religious, and political systems.
Never had the liberal
institutions of America appeared more glorious to him than when, after
this survey of foreign life, he breathed again the air of freedom.
During his absence he wrote once a week to Mrs. Howe, the mother of his
departed wife, who now, though over eighty years of age, presides over
his household with dignity and grace.
This was the
memorial-year of the American Missionary Association; and at the meeting
in Hartford, Oct. 24, Mr. Wilson made a brief and vigorous address, in
which he presented his belief in our common brotherhood, and his view of
the work to be done by the philanthropists of America: -
"God has given us the
care of this magnificent continental empire, broad and grand. It is
ours, ours to develop and improve: the responsibility is with us, - with
the people of these United States. These poor black men at the South
need our prayers and our labor; they need education, moral culture, and
elevation. And they are not the only ones who need it: there are
thousands of others, who have been referred to in the admirable address
to which we have just listened,— others coming from the Eastern world.
Our gateways are open on the Atlantic and on Pacific coast; and people
will come here. I would bind my heart and hand, and what little I have
of property, and the aspirations of my soul, to elevate humanity. Every
human being who steps on the soil of the North-American republic, - no
matter where he comes from, nor what blood runs in his veins, nor what
language he speaks, - he is a man: God made him, and our Lord and Master
Jesus Christ died for him as well as for us; and it is our duty to lift
him up. It is our duty to elevate all classes and conditions of men who
come to our shores. God knows tonight there is a mighty work to do. Look
over the broad land to-day, and what do we see? It is not alone the poor
negro, whose mind for long centuries has been closed against education
and culture. Look at the poor white people of the South, who were
trampled down when the black men were trampled down. Look at the master
class; look at the Ku-Kluxes: they dishonor human nature to-night. I
tell you, friends, we have a work to do in the South, not only for the
black race, but for our own white race. Slavery is gone: but it has left
passions, prejudice, and ignorance; and it is for us to remove them.
"Look at our own country,
- whole sections of it dishonored every day. Men abuse public stations,
dishonor their names, and degrade their country. We have examples of
this before us to-day that astonish the world. Education will not cure
this entirely. We want, with our education, a great deal of moral
culture. We want the heart cultivated as well as the head. This is the
great want of the times.
"I would make this
republic an honest example to all nations. To every philanthropist, to
every humble Christian, - I would say to all such, that, among all the
benevolent associations of our country, this is one of the best, and
should have our contributions, our generous support, and our prayers in
our closets on bended knees."
In the early part of this
present year (1872) Mr. Wilson published the first volume, containing
six hundred and seventy pages in royal octavo, of "The History of the
Rise and Fall of the Slave-Power in America."
It is indeed refreshing,
now that the clamor of war has subsided and the smoke of the
battle-fields rolled away, to sit calmly down in the sunlight of peace,
and trace the progress of that malignant power which grew with the
nation's growth; which fastened on the body politic, until it perished
in the very wounds it had itself inflicted. Human servitude was the
cause of our calamity as a nation; and, in rising up from those
calamities, we look back upon them as upon some fearful dream. With
consummate ability, Mr. Wilson, in this portion of his work, presents
the origin, progress, domination, of this power in America, up to its
Texan victory in 1844; and in the two succeeding volumes, to be
published in 1873-4 will describe its arrogant assumptions up to 1861,
and then its mighty struggle for existence, till its final overthrow and
extinction in the surrender of the rebel arms, and reconstruction of the
rebel States. No man living has higher qualifications for such a work
than Mr. Wilson. With accurate knowledge of our national history; with
more than thirty years' experience as a legislator; with an intimate
personal acquaintance with the prominent political leaders of that
period; with views enlarged by years of meditation on the theme, - he
brings to the execution of this great work accomplishments which must
render it, when completed, one of the most valuable contributions to
American history ever made. Through the first volume the hand of the
master is visible on every page; and, although the master is of
necessity a partisan, he has, in general, risen above the spirit of
partisanship, and ascribed honor to whom honor is due.
"Of the living and of the
dead," he says, "I have written as though I were to meet them in the
presence of Him whose judgments are ever sure." To the Christian patriot
the author's constant reference to the hand of God in the evolution of
our national destiny is as satisfactory as it is in itself just and
philosophical. This, he says, in closing his first volume, should be "a
perpetual inspiration in the darkest hour, a perennial source of faith
and hope, of consolation and of courage." "This work," says an able
writer, "must take first rank among the historical productions of the
nineteenth century; and it will give to the author an additional claim
upon the consideration of his countrymen that he has written so well of
that work in which he was one of the chief actors, thus winning for
himself the position of the scholar and the historian, in addition to
that of the politician and the statesman. He and others have done that
which deserves to be well told; and he has told it well. His words, like
his works, will be immortal, - the just reward of the excellence of
both."
As an example of the
author's imaginative power, and vigor of his style, the closing page of
his chapter on "The Amistad" captives may be cited. It will be
remembered that in 1839 these Africans, fifty-two in number, rose upon
the captain and the crew of "The Amistad," took the vessel, and then,
through their ignorance of navigation, were landed and imprisoned at New
London. The administration would have returned them to the, hands of the
slave-trader; but, through the humane exertions of Mr. Lewis Tappan and
his friends, the captives, after a sharp contest in the courts, were set
free. After stating the whole case with perspicuity and force, the
author says,-
"In all the acts of
slavery's grim tragedy, there have been few scenes which presented more
elements of interest than that of 'The Amistad ' captives. With two
continents and the wide Atlantic for a theatre; with the robber-chiefs
of Africa, the slave-pirates of the ocean, the representatives of a
European monarchy and an American republic, for actors, seemingly
engaged in a common cause, and inspired by a common spirit, - it
presented through the whole, with dramatic variety and force, the
strangest contrasts and the most unlooked-for and contradictory
combinations. It presented barbarism in its most repulsive and rudest
aspect, and Christianity in its most attractive and lovely attitude. It
began with the midnight hunt for captives in the wilds of Africa: it
closed by Christian men and women sending and accompanying these
captives back to Africa to plant churches and schools among their
benighted countrymen. Through the whole, however, the one dark and
hideous fact stands out, -that slavery is essentially the same, its
adherents substantially alike. A system of violence impatient of all
restraints, whether of reason or of conscience, humanity or religion,
time laws of the heart or the laws of the State, it seems mainly intent
on compassing its own ends by whatever means and at whatever hazards. It
was the same in Africa and in America; in the barracoon and in the
middle passage; under a monarchy or in a republic; in a Pagan,
Protestant, or Catholic country."
At the Republican
Convention held in Philadelphia last June, Mr. Wilson received the
nomination for vice-president of the United States. Mr. Colfax, who was
a personal friend of Mr. Wilson, had, in a private letter, signified his
intention of declining a renomination, when the latter allowed his name
to be presented. The vote for these gentlemen in the convention was very
close when Virginia changed twenty of her votes from John F. Lewis to
Mr. Wilson, and made sure his nomination. On the reception of the
despatch announcing it in the Senate, Mr. Colfax came forward and
heartily congratulated his friend on the result. Among many
congratulations, the following was received from Philadelphia, which
doubtless is the general sentiment of the people of color, for whom Mr.
Wilson has labored so long and effectually
PHILADELPHIA, June 6, 1872.
The colored working-men
of the country send you their congratulations, and second your
nomination ; and will march in solid columns to the polls in November,
and cast their votes for the representative laboring-man of the American
nation.
(Signed) ISAAC MYERS,
Pres. Colored National Labor Union.
Speaking of the
nomination, "The New-York Tribune" said, -
"Henry Wilson is a
working-man, and life-long Republican, who has passed through thirty
years of political contests without a question of his devotion to
principle, or a stain upon his integrity."
This letter of acceptance
points briefly to the leading features of the past, present, and future
policy of the Republican party.
HON. HENRY WILSON'S LETTER
ACCEPTING THE NOMINATION.
WASHINGTON, June 13,
1872. To the Hon. THOMAS SETTLE and others, President and
Vice-Presidents of the National Republican Convention held at
Philadelphia on the 5th and 6th of the present month.
Gentlemen, - Your note of
the 10th instant, conveying to me the action of the convention in
placing my name in nomination for the office of Vice-President of the
United States, is before me. I need not give you the assurance of my
grateful appreciation of the high honor conferred upon me by this action
of the Fifth National Convention of the Republican party. Sixteen years
ago, in the same city, was held the first meeting of the men who, amid
the darkness and doubts of that hour of slaveholding ascendency and
aggression, had assembled in a national convention to confer with each
other on the exigencies to which that fearful domination had brought
their country. After a full conference, the highest point of resolve
they could reach, the most they dared to recommend, was the avowed
purpose to prohibit the existence of slavery in the Territories. Last
week the same party met by its representatives from thirty-seven States
and ten Territories at the same great centre of wealth, intelligence,
and power, to review the past, take note of the present, and indicate
its line of action for the future. As typical facts, headlands of the
nation's history, there sat on its platform, taking an honorable and
prominent part in its proceedings, admitted on terms of perfect equality
to the leading hotels of the city, not only the colored representative
of the race which were ten years before in abject slavery, but one of
the oldest and most prominent of the once despised abolitionists, to
whom. was accorded as to no other the warmest demonstration of popular
regard and esteem; an ovation not to him alone, but to the cause he had
so ably and so many years represented, and to men and women, living and
dead, who toiled through long years of obloquy and self-sacrifice for
the glorious fruition of that hour. It hardly needed the brilliant
summary of its platform to set forth its illustrious achievements. The
very presence of those men was alone significant of the victories
achieved, the progress already made, and the great distance which the
nation had travelled between the years 1856 and 1872. But, grand as has
been its record, the Republican party rests not on its past alone: it
looks to the future, and grapples with its problems of duty and of
danger. It proposes, as objects of its immediate accomplishment,
"complete liberty and exact equality for all;" the enforcement of the
recent amendments to the National Constitution; the reform in the civil
service the national domain to be set apart for homes for the people;
the adjustment of the duties on imports, so as to secure remunerative
wages to labor; the extension of bounties to all soldiers and sailors
who in line of duty became disabled; the continual and careful
encouragement and protection of voluntary immigration, and guarding with
a zealous care the rights of adopted citizens; the abolition of the
franking privilege, and the speedy reduction of the rates of postage;
the reduction of the national debt and rates of interest, and resumption
of specie payment; the encouragement of American commerce and of
ship-building; the suppression of violence, and the protection of the
ballot-box. It also placed on record the opinions and purposes of the
party in favor of amnesty; against all forms of repudiation and indorsed
the humane and peaceful policy of the administration in regard to the
Indians. But, while clearly defining and distinctly announcing the
policy of the Republican party on these questions of practical
legislation and administration, the convention did not ignore the great
social problems which are pressing their claims for solution, and which
demand the most careful study and wise consideration. Foremost stands
the labor question. Concerning the relations of capital and labor, the
Republican party accepts the duty of so shaping legislation as to secure
full protection and the amplest field for, capital, and for labor, the
creator of capital, time largest opportunities, and a just share of
mutual profits of these two great servants of civilization. To woman
too, and her new demands, it extends time hand of grateful recognition,
and proffers it a most respectful inquiry. it recognizes her noble
devotion to the country and freedom, welcomes her admission to wider
fields of usefulness, and commends her demands for additional rights to
the calm and careful consideration of the nation; to guard well what has
already been secured, to work out faithfully and wisely what is now in
hand, and to consider the questions which are looming up to view but a
little way before us. The Republican party is to-day what it was in the
gloomy years of slavery, rebellion, and reconstruction,— a national
necessity. It appeals therefore, for support, to the patriotic and
liberty-loving; to the just and humane; to all who dignify labor; to all
who would educate, elevate, and lighten the burdens of the sons and
daughters of toil. With its great record and the work still to be done
under the great soldier whose historic renown and whose successful
administration for the last three years begat such popular confidence,
the Republican party may confidently, in the language of the convention
you represent, start on a new march to victory. Having accepted
thirty-six years ago the distinguished doctrines of the Republican party
of to-day; having, during the years of that period, for their
advancement, subordinated all other issues, acting in and co-operating
with political organizations with whose leading doctrines I sometimes
had neither sympathy nor belief; having labored incessantly for many
years to found and build up the Republican party; and having, during its
existence, taken a humble part in its grand work,—I gratefully accept
the nomination thus tendered; and shall endeavor, if it shall be
ratified by the people, faithfully to perform the duties it imposes.
Respectfully yours,
(Signed) HENRY WILSON.
At a grand ratification
meeting held in Fancuil Hall on the 22d of June, 1872, in which able
speeches were made by Judge Hoar and Gen. Butler, Mr. Wilson, being
presented amidst a storm of cheers and applause, in substance said,—
"MR. CHAIRMAN AND
FELLOW-CITIZENS, - I thank you for this kind welcome, and will not
detain you at this late hour by any remarks of mine. I hardly know why I
was invited here. The doctrines of your platform I have proclaimed to
hundreds of thousands of men in nearly thirty States of the Union. I
gave an unhesitating support to Gen. Grant during the war, and I have
given an unhesitating support to his administration during the past
three years (applause); and I assure you to-night, if you need the
assurance, that I shall give my support to his re-election to the
presidency. (Applause.) As for myself, I leave it to my friends,
personal and political, in Massachusetts and in the country; and I am
sure, whatever my friends may say, that those who do not agree with me
politically will not accuse me of any want of fidelity to myself. I only
say to you at this hour, that I trust you, men of Boston and of
Massachusetts, will this year, and in the future, be as true as you have
been for the past twelve years for the cause of the country and the
cause of liberty. No matter who may be the candidate at Baltimore,
—whether it he Horace Greeley or any other man, - you will meet in this
canvass the Democratic party of the United States. You have met the
party before; you have defeated it before. You can, and I have no doubt
whatever you will, defeat it in the coming election. Listen to no voice.
You remember Republicans said a few years ago in Virginia, 'We will put
up a Republican for governor, and we will have a Republican
administration with the support of the Democratic party.' He went into
power. The Republicans were defeated; and ho became - what he knew he
was before - the mere instrument of the Democratic party in Virginia.
Republicans in Western Virginia joined t.1e Democratic party; and to-day
the question is submitted in a constitutional convention, whether the
black men shall have the right to vote or not. Republicans joined
Democrats, and restored the Democracy to power, in Tennessee; and the
school system, under which there were a hundred and ninety thousand
children in the schools in that State, was broken down. Republicans
joined the Democrats in Missouri; and Frank Blair, who represents
Democracy, sits in the Senate of time United States. The experiment made
shows, that, when they join issue, the Republicans go to the Democratic
party: that party would never come to them. Stand, then, I say, by the
Republican platform, by the Republican candidates. (Applause.) Continue
and hold and secure what we fought for in war; and, in addition to all,
march with events, keep pace with human progress, bearing the flag of
Republican civilization and improvement in our country, and our efforts
will be blessed for the good of our country and the world." (Applause.)
Of his title to the
suffrage of the colored people of America, Mr. Garrison thus, in a
recent letter, speaks: -
During thirty-six years
of public life he has made the freedom of the race, so long peeled and
trodden down, paramount to all other political considerations. Instead
of persistently shunning antislavery meetings, he was a frequent
attendant upon them, and freely participated in their proceedings. Now
that he has been deservedly nominated by the Republican party for the
vice-presidency of the United States, and, if elected, may possibly, in
the turn of events, be the acting president, it should be a matter of
pride and gratitude on the part of colored voters to give him their
united suffrages."
When the news of his
nomination to the vice-presidency was telegraphed to him by his friends
in Natick, his touching reply was, "Place a bouquet of flowers on my
wife's grave." She ever shone as a benignant star in his memory. In July
he visited North Carolina and Virginia, and made effective speeches at
Wilmington, Richmond, and other cities, aiming ever to conciliate the
disaffected Republicans, to induce them to return to the ranks of the
regular party, and to stand true to the principles for which they had so
manfully contended on the field of battle. The meeting at Wilmington
continued seven hours; and great enthusiasm was manifested by the white
as well as colored citizens. He returned in excellent health, and with
hopeful views of the condition of the States he had visited. He observed
to a friend, on his return, that, during thirty-two years of political
life, he had made about thirteen hundred speeches that had appeared in
print; and that, so far as he could remember, he had uttered but one
sentence that he regretted, and that because of misapprehension: it was
in reply to Mr. Benjamin of Louisiana, when he charged him with treason
to a country "which even secured freedom to the race that stoned the
prophets, and crucified the Redeemer of the world."
In August following, he
made a Western tour, and was everywhere received with great enthusiasm
by the people.
At Richmond, Ind., he
addressed an audience of ten thousand persons; and his earnest and
eloquent appeals for the maintenance of the integrity of the Republican
party met with hearty and prolonged responses from the vast multitude.
Returning home (Aug. 13), he spoke to an enthusiastic meeting in Natick;
and a banner bearing the names of Grant and Wilson was unfurled in the
westerly part of the town, near the spot where he had arrived, penniless
and unknown, in 1833, and where he commenced making "brogans" in the
little shop of Mr. William P. Legro. He then, in September, visited
several cities in Maine, where he met with a most cordial reception, and
spoke with his wonted fire and wisdom before many enthusiastic
audiences. As many as fifteen hundred people, for instance, received him
in Columbia hall, Bath; and hundreds were unable to gain admittance.
Thus moving with untiring activity from State to State, and city to
city, he conducted, as a veteran understanding well the strategy of the
opposing forces, this exciting presidential campaign.
It was urged against him,
that he had once belonged to the Native American party; and he, of
course, admitted it. "But," said he, "in 1854, there were a million men
in this movement. I, with the rest, went into it, as the people went
into the Union leagues, to break up the old parties. The antislavery
friends, then, out of this, formed the Republican party. In the National
Convention at Philadelphia, I told them, that if they adopted that
narrow, intolerant, bigoted platform, I would use my influence to crush
it to atoms. They adopted it. I left it; and we crushed it to atoms."
Attempts were also made to implicate him in the questionable
transactions of the Credit Mobilier, by which the fair fame of several
congressmen was tarnished; but he most emphatically and truly denied
that he ever received any of its bonds, shares, or stocks; and, though
some property belonging to his wife had been therein invested, it was
immediately withdrawn when it appeared that such investment might not be
legal, just, and right.
Of the departure of his
colleague, Mr. Sumner, from the ranks of the old Republicans, he spoke
with unfeigned sorrow. "I have," said he to a friend, "most earnestly
expostulated with him on his course. I believe that he is wrong: I have
frankly told him so but, without resenting my appeal to him, he stands
immovable. I am sorry for him." Then, in reference to himself, Mr.
Wilson said, "My own course has been as straight as that of a
cannon-ball; and men will yet acknowledge it." It is worthy to be noted,
and alike honorable to both, that political differences produced no
personal animosity between these eminent statesmen. Though diametrically
opposite in mental temperament and habits of thought, they well
understood each other's worth and power, and had labored too long,
shoulder to shoulder in the great struggle for human freedom, to allow
any place for personal resentment. And so they continued to speak kindly
to and of each other, the ties of friendship remaining bright, until
severed by Mr. Sumner's death.
Though the most strenuous
efforts were made by the opposition, so effective were the arguments of
Mr. Wilson and his coadjutors, such were the memories and convictions of
the soldiers who had imperilled their lives for the maintenance of the
Union, and such were the popular traits and characteristics of the
candidates, proclaimed by the press, the platform speakers, and set
forth in the campaign melodies, such as
"A song and a chant
For Wilson and Grant,
Who rose from the lowliest station;
The tried and the true,
Who whate'er they may do
Will be done for the good of the nation.
Chorus: Then work for our leaders,
All good men,
For they are men of leather,
And raise the chant
For Wilson and Grant,
And we'll vote them in together,"
and received with wild
enthusiasm in the vast assemblies of the people, that the Grant and
Wilson ticket became triumphant in November; and the "Natick cobbler"
reached the second position in the government of the nation. Well,
indeed, had he, by his long and faithful services, by his eminent
abilities, and his life of immaculate integrity, earned this high
distinction; yet his noble soul was not in anywise elated by the honor.
He even expressed regret to his intimate friends at his elevation,
inasmuch as it deprived him of the opportunity of discussing great
national questions in the chamber of the Senate, where he had so long
effectually served his country.
President Grant and
Senator Wilson received on the popular vote a majority of 762,991 over
Horace Greeley and B. Gratz Brown, and 300 to 66 electoral votes thrown
for various candidates; and so on the 4th of March, 1873, Mr. Wilson
took his seat as presiding officer of the United-States Senate, where he
had most manfully defended, for almost twenty years, the principles of
the Constitution and of civil freedom. So poor was Mr. Wil3on at the
time of his inauguration, that, on the evening previous to that
ceremony, he called, says Mr. F. B. Carpenter, on Mr. Sumner, and said,
-
"Sumner, can you lend me
a hundred dollars? I have not got money enough to be inaugurated on."
Mr. Sumner replied, "Certainly. If it had been a large sum, I might not
have been able to help you; but I can always lend a friend a hundred
dollars." He then gave Mr. Wilson a check for the amount; and, after the
latter had retired, Mr. Sumner, turning to Mr. Carpenter, remarked,
"There is an incident worth remembering, - such a one as could never
have occurred in any country but our own." |
