Geners' Library Lavane love 9-25-53

INTRODUCTION.

BY L. MARIA CHILD.

No one who has observed the course of our public men, and who sincerely believes in the great principles of justice and freedom on which the government of the United States is founded, can fail to honor the character and appreciate the labors of the Hon. George W. Julian, whose name has for several years past been familiar to the public as a prominent Member of Congress from Indiana.

Like many of our distinguished citizens, he is what is called "a self-made man;' a class that would be better designated as labor-made men. His paternal ancestors emigrated from France to the eastern shore of Maryland the latter part of the seventeenth century. His father was one of the pioneer settlers of Indiana, and became a member of the Legislature of that State. He established himself near Centreville, the shire town of Wayne County, where George was born May 5, 1817. When he was six years old, the father died; leaving a widow with six children and straitened means for their support. She was a faithful mother to the little orphans, but they were obliged to struggle with many difficulties. Under this early rigorous training of circumstances, George grew mentally and physically vigorous. From boyhood he was distinguished by uncommon diligence and perseverance, both in work and study. The common country schools of that period, and the occasional loan of a good book from some friendly neighbor, constituted the whole of the

educational advantages within his reach; but he availed himself of them to the utmost. After working all day in the fields he was accustomed to split a quantity of kindlings, and, in lieu of oil or candles, pursue his studies till late into the night by the light they afforded. It was fortunate for himself and for his country, that he was not born to drift down the stream of life in a pleasure-barge, gazing listlessly at the stars above him, or at the flowers on the banks; that he was, on the contrary, from childhood upward, obliged to row his own boat, against the current, and often among snags and rapids. The arduous task imparted muscular strength to mind and body, and formed him to habits of self-reliance and close observation. The well-known Quaker, Elias Hicks, used to say, "It takes live fish to swim up stream;" and George W. Julian, by his success in that operation, has proved himself very much alive.

At eighteen years old he began to teach school, and discharged creditably the duties of that vocation. Even at that early age, he manifested the tendency, which has since characterized him, to take a firm stand against abuses. The big boys of his school combined with some men at work on the Cumberland Road to compel him to "treat" on Christmas Day, according to a custom prevailing in that region; but being aware that the holiday was thus often made an occasion of riot, and sometimes of violence, he manfully resisted all their importunities and threatenings.

He continued to teach school for nearly three years, and toward the close of that period began to study law. He was admitted to the Bar in 1840, and has practiced law ever since, in his native place, with the interruptions incident to an active political career. In 1845, he was elected to the Legislature of Indiana, where he distinguished himself by his earnest opposition to the barbarism of Capital Punishment, and by his exertions to prevent

the repudiation of the State Debt. Although he belonged to a Whig family, and was elected by Whig votes, he never hesitated to act independently of his party whenever their views conflicted with his own principles. From the commencement of his public career, it was evident that his character furnished none of the materials necessary for a political tool. The lines of Schiller might be justly applied to him,

"This man was never made

To ply and mould himself, like wax, to others:

It goes against his heart; he cannot do't."

About this period the writings of Dr. Channing awakened in his mind a lively interest on the subject of Slavery. It was a question that greatly plagued the politicians of that period, and both parties would gladly have dodged it if they could. Finding that impossible, they exerted their ingenuity to devise perpetual compromises between the antagonistic principles of freedom and oppression. Such service was alien to Mr. Julian's nature. He saw clearly that the system of slavery was evil throughout, in its character and its consequences; and no motives of expediency could tempt him to suppress his convictions. It was a severe trial to him when the Whigs nominated General Taylor for the Presidency. He wanted to act with his old political friends and allies; but his conscience was disquieted at the idea of helping to make the owner of many slaves the ruler of the Republic. For a while, he remained neutral. But Anti-slavery was then assuming a political form under the name of the Free Soil Party, whose object mainly was to prevent the extension of Slavery over any new Territories. He lent a thoughtful ear to the arguments they advanced, and when they invited him to become a delegate to their great Convention at Buffalo, in 1848, he accepted the nomination. The proceedings of that convention were in harmony with his state of mind, and he returned from it full of

enthusiasm for the new Party of Freedom. He canvassed for it with unexampled zeal and energy; going from place to place, and often making three speeches a day. Nothing kindles intellect into such a glowing flame as a living coal from the altar of Truth. Those who had previously recognized Mr. Julian as a man of very promising ability were surprised at the masterful energy and eloquence which he now exhibited. But the more efficiently he advocated unpopular truths, the more he was hated and maligned. Only those who were themselves abolitionists, at that stormy period, can imagine how much he had to encounter from the alienation of friends and relatives, the misrepresentations of political opponents, and the displeasure of former political associates. He was accused of being a general disorganizer of society; of trying to promote bloody insurrections at the South; of intending to cheapen the labor of white men by flooding the North with fugitive slaves; and of the crowning iniquity of promoting marriages between blacks and whites. But though he was persecuted as such a dangerous disturber of the public peace, editors indulged in facetious gibes and jeers concerning the smallness of the audiences he addressed; representing them as consisting mostly of "negroes and women." Mr. Julian considered large principles more important than large audiences; and he went on proclaiming Anti-slavery truths to whomsoever would listen, spicing his discourse with pungent sarcasms on all those who proved recreant to the cause of freedom. The armor of his pro-slavery adversaries was full of holes, through which his keen eye and skillful hand could easily pierce them to the marrow of their bones with the sharp arrows of truth. The worst of all was that they knew he was in the right; and his ability to prove it made him the most thoroughly hated man by all the time-servers of that region.

The result of this fierce struggle between truth and

falsehood, freedom and slavery, was highly creditable to the good sense and correct principles of the people in Mr. Julian's District. They signified their high appreciation of his character by electing him to Congress in 1849. A large portion of the Democratic Party, willing to defeat the Whig ticket by any process, threw their votes for him. This led to charges of "bargain and corruption." But Mr. Julian, who never prowled in dark corners, but always walked abroad in open daylight, had repeatedly and publicly declared that he wanted the vote of no man who did not stand fairly and squarely on the platform of his own avowed principles; and the slander, though oft repeated, was not believed. His election was fairly earned and richly deserved. Probably there was no individual who labored more efficiently than he did to extend the principles of the Free Soil Party, - principles which made California a Free State, rescued Oregon from the curse of Slavery, and culminated in the overwhelming strength and final ascendency of the Republican Party.

As a Member of Congress Mr. Julian manifested the same uprightness and downrightness of character, which had previously distinguished him. There was then before the House a Bill called the Wilmot Proviso, intended to prevent the extension of Slavery into the new Territories acquired by the war with Mexico. The Slave Power and its servile tools at the North, sought to checkmate the increasing influence of Free Soil principles, by inaugurating an idea which they styled "the doctrine of popular sovereignty;" the plain meaning of which was that the people who settled a Territory had a right to decide whether they would introduce Slavery or not, and that Congress had no right to legislate on the subject. Their plan was to crowd the poor, ignorant whites of the South into the Territories, and by their agency secure the introduction of Slavery; a plan which not long after began to be worked out in the murderous onslaughts of Missouri