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We welcome you as the friend of freedom; we welcome you as the expounder and bold advocate of constitutional rights, and the true embodiment of republican principles. It is with unfeigned joy that we look upon you, for the first time, today, on our own soil. We are not unmindful, sir, of the fact that much of your life has been devoted to the good of your country, and that in the American senate you have ever been foremost in cementing into one common brotherhood this glorious confederacy, ever toiling assiduously for the supremacy of right and for our national prosperity, ever supporting those measures founded in justice, truth and equality, and ever fearlessly opposing tyranny, oppression and wrong. And while the republicans of Minnesota were foremost, in the convention at Chicago, in presenting you as our standard-bearer, yet they were among the first to acquiesce and show their fidelity to principle by their firm and enthusiastic support of the present nominee. Asking you to take one hasty glance at our unequaled products and vast resources, I again bid you welcome, and have the honor, fellow citizens, to present to you the first living American statesman and senator, WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

DUBUQUE, IOWA,-W. B. ALLISON, Esq. :'

Senator Seward: In the name and on behalf of the republicans of the state of lowa, on behalf of the thousands now present, and especially on behalf of the people of this city, whom you have honored by coming among us, I convey to you a cordial, sincere and heartfelt welcome, and an assurance of the exalted sense which we entertain of your character and public services.

The highest moral and intellectual qualities, steadily and triumphantly devoted to the noblest purposes, always command the respect and admiration of an enlightened and Christian people. Though few of the vast multitude now present have ever before met you face to face, yet all have long since learned to admire the eloquent zeal with which you have, for a series of years, maintained that our government was formed, in part, to foster and protect free labor, and to discourage and prohibit, whenever it has the power, slave labor. We all remember with what patriotic devotion you have ever opposed the federal recognition of human bondage, and with what power and eloquence you have battled against the apologists for and supporters of this fivefold barbarism. We remember your gallant but unavailing services in the great contest of 1854, in opposition to the ruthless hands that tore from the statute books the Missouri restriction, which had so long stood as a wall against the encroachments of human servitude.

Iowa was the first sovereign state that indorsed your efforts, and at the ballot box placed the seal of condemnation upon that act of perjury; and up to this hour has stood true to the position then taken.

We remember your eloquent appeals in behalf of the citizens of Kansas in the hour of need and of peril. We remember, also, that your voice and your vote in the senate have ever been in favor of a policy tending to build up and unfold the infant settlements in our expansive west. Especially do we remember your aid in securing to our own state the munificent land grants which will advance us at least a decade in all that develops our material progress. We remember that you have ever aided in the improvement of our own western rivers and harbors-the great natural highways by which we are enabled cheaply to reach the markets of the east. We remember that the cause of domestic industry, of education, of whatever, in short, is calculated to render us a prosperous, united and happy people, has found in you a watchful and efficient advocate.

With all these memories clustering about us and clinging to us, the enthusiasm with which we to-day greet you is but the spontaneous effusion of grateful and patriotic hearts. We recognize you as once the forerunner and now the champion of that million army which marches under the broad banner of republicanism. It is eminently fitting that the people of one sovereign state should assemble to hear and interchange sentiments with the distinguished men of other sovereign states.

1 See ante, page 96.

We are bound together by a thousand ties of interest, of sympathy, of affection and of duty. We have one common origin, one common constitution, one common country, and one common destiny. Especially is it fitting, then, at this hour of general distrust and alarm, that we should inquire "where we are, and whither we are tending."

It has been said the noblest homage a freeman can give, or a freeman receive, is the homage of hearts; that homage the thousand hearts that encircle you tender to you to-day, not the homage due a senator alone, but due the distinguished scholar and statesman whose fume is commensurate with the civilized world, and whose name is sacred to the oppressed everywhere. I do but echo the language of the throng that has crowded around you when I say again that to you we extend a cordial and friendly greeting.

SAINT JOSEPH, Mo.,-T. J. BOYNTON, Esq. :'

Senator SEWARD: I have been delegated by the republicans of St. Joseph to bid you, in their name, and in the name of all our citizens, welcome to our city. We greet you as the foremost man of this age-as the man whose philosophical statesmanship has won for him a name which is as broad as the globe, and which will live forever as the man whose views are more consonant with that spirit of progress which is abroad in the world than the views of any other man of any country. We greet you as the citizen of our country, the broad philanthropy of whose teachings has done most to educate that spirit of progress and give it the true direction.

In one of your late speeches, you have predicted that the time is not distant when the Empire State and the Keystone State and the Old Dominion of the country will lie here in the Mississippi valley. This is a subject in which we, immediately, of the Missouri valley, are vitally interested. As selfish men, we have peculiar reason to greet you cordially; for when those measures which are matters of life or death for us have been deserted by those who should have been their proper and peculiar advocates, they have been championed by yourself. Some of us are republicans, but we are all business men; and we watch the fate, in congress, of those measures for the development of the west on which depends the prosperity or the decline of our city with the most anxious solicitude. We have ever found you our foremost, our most steadfast friend. But I will not weary you, nor those who are waiting to hear you. Once again, as republicans, as citizens of St. Joseph and of the great West, we bid you welcome.

LEAVENWORTH, Kansas,-A. CARTER WILDER, Esq. :2

Sir: I am charged with the very honorable and grateful duty of expressing to you the profound regard and affectionate esteem of my fellow citizens assembled before you; and to extend to you a most cordial welcome to this metropolis of Kansas. We have watched, with pride and gratification, the demonstrations of respect and kindness which have attended every step of your journey from Auburn to Leavenworth. Such sincere homage is due to your character and illustrious public services; and no people have more reason to manifest their gratitude for your fidelity and friendship than the free people of Kansas.

Though holding a seat in the United States senate from the state of New York, Kansas and the Pacific claim you as their senator and statesman. For when you retire, as perhaps you will do on the fourth of March next, from the place to which the empire state deputed you as her senator, and when one who reads the record of your speeches and your votes is asked what state did the occupant of that vacant chair represent, he will be forced to answer, I cannot tell!

Judging from your acts, it would seem that, whosoever were weak and lowly, whosoever brought peril and reproach upon their advocate, whosoever could do nothing in return for countenance and support rendered, they were the persons whom you put yourself forward to represent and defend. You took upon yourself the burdens which others rejected, and braved the unpopularity by which 2 See ante page 100.

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VOL. IV.

See ante page 98.

87

others were dismayed. And thus the heart of the American people is with the man who was always in advance of their opinions, always seeing clear at the hour the truth which was to dawn upon their vision after it had been derided for many days; always combating boldly for the right, which had not yet become respected and acknowledged.

LAWRENCE, Kansas,-Mayor DEITZLER :'

WILLIAM H. SEWARD: The people of Lawrence, through a committee of citizens, and through their municipal authorities, have requested me to extend to you, and to the ladies and gentlemen constituting your party, a hearty welcome to the hospitalities of their city, and to assure you that they appreciate highly the distinguished compliment paid them, in being thus favored with an opportunity of seeing, hearing, and greeting the great republican chief whose name and fame are known and honored throughout the civilized world.

As we stand here, to-day, upon the ground where the Kansas rebellion, socalled, had its origin, and against which were directed, most frequently and persistently, the fierce and violent assaults of the myrmidons of slavery, and look back upon those scenes of oppression and wrong, and feel that we have in our midst the great and good man who, by his eloquent appeals and timely remonstrance, roused the great freedom-loving heart of the north to generous sympathy and noble deeds in our behalf, the occasion becomes one of deep and solemn interest.

In contemplating your distinguished and self-sacrificing services in defense of our cause-services which have enshrined the name of William H. Seward in the hearts of the freemen of Kansas-we are moved, by every sentiment of manly gratitude, and by every feeling of devotion to true greatness and real worth, to pray, with earnestness, God bless, and preserve for a long life of usefulness to the world, the purest patriot and the greatest statesman of the age.

Again we welcome you to the heart of "the Saratoga of Freedom." Governor ROBINSON:1

The freemen of Kansas will not permit that Lawrence alone shall have the honor of bidding you welcome to the state of their adoption. Hence are they here in person, from every county and hamlet, and they bid me give words to their welcome, so far as hearts, throbbing with admiration and love, have utterance.

Owing to the recent settlement of our territory, the rudeness of our homes, the unparalleled obstacles thrown in the way of our progress, and the unprecedented drouth and consequent distress among our people, we cannot hope to receive you with that pomp and circumstance which have marked your progress hither; but we bring, what other states have not to give-hearts overflowing with gratitude and respect due to the deliverer of a people from present and impending evil.

In the days of our political thraldom, when we were mocked with the promise of sovereignty, that we might be enslaved; when our people were persecuted, defrauded, plundered and murdered, that they might be driven to despair and crushed out; then it was that you, our honored guest, stood by us, denounced the tyranny, and interpreted the "handwriting upon the wall" in the ears of the whole nation, until the knees of the tyrant trembled with fear, and his heel was removed from the necks of our people.

The contest which has waged in this country since Kansas was opened to settlement, and before, is not local, but general; is not one of arms, but of ideas. It is true that there has been an occasional collision of arms in Kansas, and a bloody hand struck down one of the noblest and most gifted members of the senate; but here, our weapons of war are exchanged for husbandry-and, like truth crushed to earth, Charles Sumner has risen, and is found in the thickest of the conflict.

With this exception, this warfare has been one of ideas, of mind, of intellect, not carnal, but spiritual; and it is in such a conflict we recognize William H. Seward as commander-in-chief of freedom's host, and as such we welcome him to our

1 See ante page 101.

hearts and homes. His distinguished staff we also welcome as most worthy aids to such a general in such a cause.

In 1854, on the floor of the senate of the United States, you accepted the challenge of the slave power in these memorable words: "Come on, then, gentlemen of the slave states; since there is no escaping your challenge, I accept it in behalf of freedom. We will engage in competition for the virgin soil of Kansas, and God give the victory to the side that is stronger in numbers as it is in right." Six years have elapsed, and to-day we present you Kansas free, to grace your triumph, with a constitution adopted by her people, without a stain of slavery to mar its beauty.

The times are most auspicious. The clouds that have so long darkened our political horizon are fast dispersing southward, and victory is marching upon victory throughout the entire north. With propriety, therefore, may we greet you on this occasion, as a conquering hero, fresh from the field of battle. God grant these triumphs may extend till they shall place the honest statesman of Illinois in the seat of power, with our guest at his right hand, when the conflict between freedom and the federal power shall be effectually and forever repressed.

Again, I welcome you to Kansas. In behalf of the people of whatever party, I welcome you as a statesman whom all Christendom is proud to honor. In behalf of those who battled for freedom on the soil of Kansas, I welcome you as their champion and defender. And in behalf of all the people, of whatever age, condition or sex, I welcome you as their deliverer from despotic rule and the blighting curse of human slavery.

CHICAGO, JOHN WENTWORTH, Mayor:1

Senator SEWARD: In welcoming you to our city, I should do injustice to the sentiments of the friends of free labor did I not congratulate you on the fresh laurels you have acquired by the different speeches you have made on your western tour. They have placed the devotees of human liberty under additional obligations to you, and given them new proof that you had “rather be Right than be President." The truths, which you have uttered with so much eloquence and directness, will outlive the messages of presidents, and reproduce themselves at every attempt of avarice to make merchandise of Humanity. We consider ourselves under the greater obligations to you for the frankness and candor with which you have presented the sole issue of the day; since timid men, over-anxious for success, sometimes manifest a disposition to detract from the moral force of our certainly approaching victory by denying our faith and otherwise lowering our standard. It was our presidential candidate who uttered the words of prophetic truth, that these United States must eventually all be free or all be slave. Most heartily do we thank you for keeping this "irrepressible conflict" before the people in your travels; and never have you presented it with more persuasive accuracy than in your recent speeches. The laborers of this country must own themselves, and the least we can do to effect this object is, in the language of our presidential candidate, "to arrest the further spread of slavery, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction." Speeches like yours are the most effective weapons in the warfare for this extinction. We want no hostile incursions, servile insurrections, nor any illegal act of any kind. They will only retard the progress of the anti-slavery movement. All that is wanted is a corrected southern opinion, reformed legislation, a rightfully interpreted constitution, and that you, sir, shall remain in the senate to originate and advocate measures until this nation shall claim you from the service of the state of New York, and make you the successor of one whose proverbialhonesty and published opinions made him the nearest to your own personality that the late convention could get, without depriving the country of your invaluable services in the senate.

1 See ante page 108.

SPEECH ON INAUGURATION DAY.

Mr. Seward's senatorial office expired with the third day of March, 1861. On the fourth, a delegation from the State of New York, several hundred in number, who were in Washington to witness Mr. Lincoln's inauguration, called upon Mr. Seward. The visit was a token of respect and affection. After a few introductory remarks by James Kelly, Esq., Mr. Sewaid spoke as follows:

FRIENDS, FELLOW CITIZENS AND NEIGHBORS:-I am very deeply affected by this unexpected demonstration of affection on the part of the people of the state of New York. So many familiar faces, seen at this distance from home, and under the circumstances which surround me, awaken memories and sympathies that I should find it difficult to describe. It is just twelve years since I came, a stranger and alone, to this Capital, to represent, in the councils of the Union, the great state from which you have come. This day closes that service of twelve years-a period which now in retrospect seems so short, and yet it has filled up the one-sixth part of the constitutional duration of this great empire. At this hour I appear before you a voluntary citizen, but, God be thanked! a citizen now as always, of the state of New York-one of yourselves-your equal-no longer bearing the responsibilities of a representative. My public acts throughout that long, and to me trying period, are all upon record in the journals and debates of congress. It is almost fearful to think that they are imperishable. Looking backward upon them, I will say and maintain here, and now, that I claim for them all the merit of good motives and honest intentions. Here in this presence, before you, a fair delegation of the constituency I have served; and in the presence of the God who is to be our common judge, I declare that there is not one word of that record which I desire should be obliterated. Although a representative of one state only, I have been all the while conscious that I was also a legislator for all the states-for the whole republic-and I am not ashamed to appeal to every citizen of New York and ask him to say what I have neglected. I am not afraid to appeal to every section-to the east, to the west, to the north, and to the south, equally—and to every state in every section, and to every man, to every woman, to every human being, freeman or bondsman, to say whether, in any word or deed of mine, I have done him wrong. And in labors which demanded abilities I could not claim, and trials which exacted some equanimity of temper, I have here in this Capital neither received nor given personal offense. I have not one enemy in this section to forgive. I know of no one who will utter a personal complaint against I have done little good, indeed-far less than I have wished-but I have been sustained and supported by the people of New York with a generosity that is unparalleled. I know why this is so. The people of New York are habitually constant, and faithful to conscience, to truth, to liberty, to their country, and to their God. They have thought that I endeavored to be likewise faithful. I know their character well, and I know that in the new emergency which our country is now entering upon, they will be equally faithful. I rely on their intelligence, and their patriotism, as I do on the intelligence and patriotism of the whole people of the United States. They will preserve the inestimable legacy of civil and religious liberty which they have received from their heroic fathers. The administration which you have come here to inaugurate comes into power under circumstances of embarrassment and peril; but I believe I know the character and purposes of the Chief Magistrate: I believe that, while he will be firm, he will be also just to every state and every section, and every citizen; that he will defend and protect the rights and interests, the peace and the prosperity of all the states equally and alike, while he will practise the moderation. that springs from virtue, and the affection that arises from patriotism in confederated states. Under his guidance, and with the blessing of God, I believe and trust, and confidently expect, that an administration that is inaugurated amid some distrust and painful apprehensions, will close upon a reunited, restored, prosperous, free and happy republic. The state of New York, the greatest and most powerful of the states, will lead all other states in the way of conciliation; and as the path of wisdom is always the path of peace, so I am sure that now we shall find that the way of conciliation is the way of wisdom.

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