eloquent of the numerous discourses which were prepared on that great national bereavement. Its closing sentences, instituting a comparison between the death scenes of Napoleon and Adams, are scarcely surpassed in pathetic eloquence by any modern production. Believing that a popular biography of that eminent statesman would be more useful in disseminating and inculcating his principles, than any other contributions that he could make to his memory, Gov. Seward applied himself to the preparation of such a work. With the aid of a competent friend,* it was brought out in 1849, in the midst of many absorbing professional engagements. The author's expectations were fully realized. More than thirty-two thousand copies of the work have been already published, and its circulation has been continually increasing.

At the annual commencement of Union College in 1843, Gov. Seward was invited to deliver the address before the Phi Beta Kappa Society, of which he is a member. He accepted the appointment, and took for his theme, "The Elements of Empire in America. The address was worthy of his manly and vigorous intellect, and his extensive literary attainments. It presented a comprehensive view of the resources of the American Union, and pointed out the grandeur of its destiny, under the principles of justice and freedom, on which it was founded. By special invitation, he repeated the address at the commencement of Amherst College, the same year.

During the ensuing six years, Gov. Seward devoted himself to the duties of his profession with brilliant and growing success. At first, his practice was confined to the various courts of the state, in which he received liberal retainers for his services. After the lapse of about two years, however, his peculiar aptitude for subjects involving scientific and mechanical principles gained him a large and lucrative practice in the trial of patent cases in the United States courts. He was thus brought into contact with the most distinguished jurists of the country, whom his breadth of intellect and sound legal learning enabled him to meet on equal terms. At the same time, his genial and generous disposition, and the natural frankness of his manners gave him great influence with a jury, and made his services indispensable as counsel in criminal cases. His zeal in the defence of persons unjustly + See Vol. III. p. 11.

*Rev. J. M. Austin.

accused was so great, that he has been known not only to give his best efforts gratuitously, but to furnish a large amount of funds from his own means in their behalf.

In 1845, Gov. Seward was engaged in a libel suit in the Supreme Court of New York, in the case of J. Fenimore Cooper vs. Greeley & McElrath, publishers of the New York Tribune. He was counsel for the defendants. It was deemed a case of much importance, involving as it did, the rights of newspaper publishers to utter their opinions, as to the character and acts of men holding positions of influence before the public. Gov. Seward's argument* in this case, was a sound and searching production. It sifted thoroughly and to the bottom, the whole subject of libel, the modifications which that law appears to have undergone by judicial construction in this state, and the rights of the press and the people: the right of free thought and free speech, on the one hand, and the right of exemption from vituperation and libel on the other-all were brought under review, and discussed with clearness and effect. The public and the press will acknowledge their obligations to Gov. Seward for the ability and force with which the freedom of speech and of opinion was illustrated and defended on that trial.

At the solicitation of citizens of Cooperstown, N. Y., Gov. Seward left the state fair at Auburn, in 18-, to defend a person of politics adverse to his own, charged with the crime of murder. When he had the pleasure of securing a verdict which reduced the crime to manslaughter, in opposition to the opinion of the court, he declined to receive any compensation for his successful effort in behalf of the prisoner, although it was tendered by the jury who felt themselves indebted to him for showing how they could rightfully vindicate the laws, and by it save a human life.

In 1847, Gov. Seward was solicited by certain humane persons in Cincinnati, with a tender of compensation, to be raised by subscription, to appear before the Supreme Court at Washington, in behalf of John Van Zandt, who was charged with aiding certain fugitives in an attempt to escape from slavery. He consented to undertake the case. The argument+ which he delivered on this occasion presented a masterly and unequaled analysis of the fugitive slave law of 1793, and the provisions of the federal constitu*See Vol. I. p. 391. See Vol. L p. 476.

tion in regard to the subject. It also stated most of the important objections now urged against the present fugitive slave law. In this case, also, Gov. Seward declined all compensation.

In Sept. of the same year, Gov. Seward was invited by the Irish citizens of the city of New York, to deliver a eulogy on the life and character of Daniel O'Connell.* An immense assemblage of adopted and native born citizens, listened to him with the highest admiration. Like all similar efforts from the pen of Gov. Seward, it was a production at once chaste and eloquent, full of historical and classical allusions, with many passages of the most thrilling pathos, and did ample justice to the principles and deeds of the great Irish orator.

In 1845, a convict of the state prison at Auburn, Henry Wyatt, was indicted for the murder of a fellow-convict. His attempts to procure able counsel, had failed for want of ability to make the usual recompense. On the day but one preceding his trial, he invoked Gov. Seward's interposition for his defence. His appeal was promptly accepted. During the trial, many striking incidents were disclosed, which showed that the crime was committed in a morbid state of mind. The case clearly fell within a class which medical writers designate under the general name of moral insanity. Gov. Seward procured, at his own expense, the scientific witnesses necessary to present the case fairly to the jury. He followed in his defence with an argument of great power and pathos. The jury divided and could not agree upon a verdict. His second trial at the next Circuit Court, was eagerly anticipated, with full confidence that he would be acquitted. This event, however, was destined to become the occasion of difficulties such as few advocates have been called to encounter. After the close of the first trial, Gov. Seward left Auburn on a professional tour to Washington and the southern states.

While the case of Wyatt was yet the topic of discussion in Auburn and its vicinity, a singularly revolting occurrence took place, which served to increase the agitation of the public mind. This was the massacre of nearly a whole family by William Freeman, a negro of twenty-three years of age, who had been six months before discharged from the Auburn state prison, after an imprisonment of five years. The bloody scene occurred at the residence of John G. Van Nest, a wealthy and highly respectable * See Vol IIL p. 44.

farmer, and a friend and former client of Gov. Seward's, whose house stood in a secluded grove, near the suburbs of Auburn, on the shores of the Owasco Lake. Having armed himself with carefully prepared weapons, Freeman entered the dwelling at ten o'clock at night, and slew Mr. Van Nest, his wife, then pregnant, a child sleeping in its bed, and the mother-in-law of Van Nest, Mrs. Wyckoff, an aged woman of seventy. The hired man, who came to the defence of the family, was severely injured and left for dead. The murderer, being disabled by a wound from old Mrs. Wyckoff, desisted from further violence, and made his escape. Taking a horse from the stable, he rode him a few miles, when he stabbed the animal, which had become incapable of travelling. He then stole another horse, which proved to be more fleet, and pursuing his flight, rode to the house of a relative about thirty miles from Auburn. There he offered the horse for sale, and proposed to take up his residence, until he should recover from his wound. He was traced and arrested, in a few hours, and brought back to the scene of butchery, and into the presence of the surviving witnesses. On being questioned, he at once confessed the crime, not only without apparent remorse or horror, but with frequent and irrepressible fits of laughter. The public indignation was so excited at this awful tragedy, that it required all the dexterity of the police to keep Freeman from being torn to pieces on the spot. He was at length committed to the jail, by a successful stratagem, but the crowd could with difficulty be prevented from forcing the doors. They were appeased only by the assurance of one of the judges of the county, that Freeman should be tried and executed, and that there should be no plea of insanity and "no Governor Seward to defend him."

None of the usual motives appearing on the part of Freeman for the commission of such a desperate act, it was rumored that he had been present during Wyatt's trial, and had learned from the argument of Gov. Seward that responsibleness for crime might be avoided on the ground of insanity. This became the popular explanation of the horrible catastrophe. The public feeling ran high against Gov. Seward. Even threats of personal violence were openly made. The excitement became so intense, that when he returned from the south, his family and friends were surprised that on reaching the depot at Auburn, he was permitted to pass to his residence without outrage.

In this state of affairs, the governor, Silas Wright, was induced to issue an order for a special term of the Court of Oyer and Terminer, to be held at an early day, by Judge Whiting, to dispose of the cases both of Wyatt and Freeman. During the interval, public tranquillity was restored, by the assurance of Gov. Seward's law-partners, while he was absent, that he would not engage in the defence, it being well understood that no other advocate would consent to give his services to so odious a cause.

Gov. Seward was unmoved by the tempest of excitement around him. With characteristic courage and calmness, he proceeded to examine the subject, as a philanthropist and lawyer. He felt as keenly as any one, the enormity of the deed. But impelled by a strong sense of duty, he was determined to look thoroughly into the case of the wretched negro. At his solicitation, accordingly, three intelligent and humane citizens of Auburn made several visits to Freeman in jail. They reduced their conversations with him to writing, and submitted them to Gov. Seward's inspection. The result of the investigation, together with other facts which had become known to him, convinced him that whatever was the condition of Freeman's mind prior to the homicide, he was then sunk into a state of dementia, approaching idiocy.

The court began with the trial of Wyatt. Gov. Seward, aware of the intense and aggravated excitement which prevailed, applied for a postponement of the case, but without effect. A week was consumed without finding a single impartial juror. The attorney general, John Van Buren, was sent for, with haste. On his arrival, the court reversed the principles by which the trial of jurors had ever been conducted, as laid down by Chief Justice Marshall, and adopted a standard that permitted jurors to be sworn although they confessed to a bias, or an opinion formed of the prisoner's guilt. The obtaining of a juror, even under this unprecedented decision, was regarded as a triumph, in a controversy in which not only the people of Auburn and its vicinity, but of the whole state took sides for or against Gov. Seward.

A trial conducted under such circumstances, could have but one result. At the expiration of a month, Wyatt was convicted and sentenced to be executed. Moral insanity was thus, so far as the verdict of a jury could go, judicially abolished. Gov. Seward devoted four weeks of uninterrupted labor to this case, without