of a Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution, first proposed by himself in the Fortieth Congress, for the purpose of securing to women all the civil rights enjoyed by other citizens. In addition to the great labor involved in the careful preparation of so many speeches, Mr. Julian was ten years a member of the House Committee on Public Lands, and eight years the Chairman of it. During four years he was a member of the important Joint Committee of both Houses on the Conduct of the War. For two years he was a member of the House Committee on Reconstruction; and he was also one of the Committee that prepared articles of impeachment against President Johnson. This brief outline may serve to give an idea of his unremitting industry, and of the enlightened patriotism which kept such vigilant watch over the interests of the country, in all directions. Next to his powerful aid in the extermination of Slavery, I think we owe him most for his exertions, in various forms, to establish and promote the Homestead Policy, and to keep the Public Lands out of the clutches of speculators and monopolists. But his efforts in that direction of course raised up a host of enemies among the legions who seek to acquire wealth at the expense of the United States. In 1870, the forces. against him were marshaled with so much skill, that he again lost his election; a result to be deeply regretted at this period, when political corruption spreads so widely, and honesty is comparatively rare. In private life, Mr. Julian has the universal reputation of being most exemplary. He has been twice married, and in both cases is said to have had the good fortune to become united with a sensible, conscientious, and energetic woman. In 1845 he married Miss Anne E. Finch, of Indiana, who died in the year 1860; and in 1863 he married Miss Laura Giddings, of Ohio. She is the daughter of the able and heroic Joshua R. Giddings, to whom the ལ country owes an everlasting debt of gratitude for his powerful and persistent battling with the Slave Power in Congress through many a stormy year. The State of Ohio would have done herself honor if she had kept that brave veteran in Congress as long as he had a voice to speak or vote. Mrs. Julian, being "Brutus' wife and Cato's daughter," may well be stronger than her sex, "being so fathered and so husbanded." John Stuart Mill acquired faith in woman's capacity for public affairs by the intelligent sympathy and coöperation of his remarkable wife in the advancement of all the great principles that interested his own mind. Perhaps Mr. Julian may be under similar obligations to his fortunate experience in matrimony. On most of the great questions of the day he has been in advance of public opinion; and his annunciation of principles for which he contended against powerful odds, seems like the voice of prophecy when read in connection with the ultimate triumph of those principles. It will be the same with the great principle of the perfect equality of the sexes, which he espoused many years ago, and now advocates so earnestly with a minority. Mr. Julian is eminently Western in his character: frank and fearless, prompt and decided; loyal in his attachments, but ready to thrust at friends or foes, if they place themselves in a position to impede the progress of Truth and Freedom. He seems to have chosen for his motto: "First be sure you are right, then go ahead." And he has gone ahead, like a steam-engine, and drawn many cars full after him. It has been said of John Bright of England that during thirty or forty years of public life, he has never swerved from the straight line on which he started; that his principles have known no change, except the greater development and perfection which result from experience; and that events were continually proving his foresight and corroborating his opinions. I know of no public man in this country, except the Hon. Charles Sumner, to whom this remark can be so justly applied as to the Hon. George W. Julian. His speeches furnish proof of this. They reflect credit on our National Legislature, and form a valuable record of an important transition state in the history of the Republic. b CONTENTS. PAGE 1 Delivered at the Free Soil State Convention, Indianapolis, May 25, 1853. THE CAUSE AND CURE OF OUR NATIONAL TROUBLES In Committee of the Whole on the State of the Union, January 14, 1862. In Committee of the Whole on the State of the Union, February 7, 1865. |