Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/583

Rh committee he had arranged a coalition with the Democrats by which George S. Boutwell was elected governor in 1851 and Charles Sumner and Robert Rantoul were sent to the U. S. senate. He was a candidate for congress in 1852, and failed of elec- tion by oidy ninety-three votes, although in his district the majority against the Free-soilers was more than 7,500. In 1853 he was a member of the State constitutional convention and proposed a pro- vision to admit colored men into the militia organ- ization. In the same year he was defeated as the Free-soil candidate for governor. He acted with the American party in 1855, with the aid of which he was chosen to succeed Edward Everett in the U. S. senate. He was a delegate to the American national convention in Philadelphia in that year, but, when it adopted a platform that countenanced slavery, he and other Abolitionists withdrew. He had delivered a speech in advocacy of the repeal of the fugitive-slave law and the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia shortly after taking his seat in the senate in February, 1855. On the dis- ruption of the American organization through the secession of himself and his friends, he took an active part in the formation of the Republican party, with the programme of opposition to the extension of slavery. On 23 May, 1856, the morn- ing after his colleague in the senate, Charles Sum- ner, was assaulted by Preston S. Brooks, Mr. Wil- son denounced the act as " brutal, murderous, and cowardly." For this language he was challenged to a duel by Brooks ; but he declined on the ground that the practice of duelling was barbarous and unlawful, at the same time announcing that he be- lieved in the right of self-defence.

During the next four years he took part in all the important debates in the senate, delivering elaborate speeches on the admission of Kansas, the treasury-note bill, the expenditures of the govern- ment, the Pacific railroad project, and many other topics. His speeches bore the impress of practical, clear-sighted statesmanship, and if the grace of oratory and polished diction was wanting, they always commanded attention and respect. The congressional records during his long term of ser- vice in the senate show that he was one of the most industrious and efficient members of that body, and that his name stands connected with nearly all the important acts and resolves. Strong in his convictions, he was fearless in their expres- sion, but he was scrupulously careful in his state- ments, and the facts he adduced were never suc- cessfully disputed. In March, 1859, he made a notable reply to James H. Hammond, of South Carolina, in defence of free labor, which was print- ed and widely circulated through the northern states. He had been continued in the senate for a full term by an almost unanimous vote of the Massachusetts legislature in the preceding Janu- ary. In March, 1861, he was made chairman of the committee on military affairs, of which he had been a member during the preceding four years. He induced congress to authorize the enlistment of 500,000 volunteers at the beginning of hostili- ties between the states, and during the entire period of the war he remained at the head of the committee, and devised and carried measures of the first importance in regard to the organization of the army and the raising and equipment of troops, as well as attending to the many details that came before the committee. He had been connected with the state militia as major, colonel, and brigadier-general from 1840 till 1851, and in 1861 he raised the 22d regiment of Massachusetts volunteers, and marched to the field as its colonel, serving there as an aide to Gen. George B. Mc- Clellan till the reassembling of congress.

During the session of 1861-'2 he introduced the laws that abolished slavery in the District of Colum- bia, put an end to the " black code," allowed the enrolment of blacks in the militia, and granted freedom to slaves who entered the service of the United States and to their families. During the civil war he made many patriotic speeches before popular assemblages, lie took a prominent part in the legislation for the reduction of the army after the war and for the reconstruction of the southern state governments, advocating the policy of granting full political and civil rights to the emancipated slaves, joined with measures of con- ciliation toward the people who had lately borne arms against the United States government. He was continued as senator for the term that ended in March, 1871, and near its close was re-elected for six years more. He was nominated for the office of vice-president of the United States in June, 1872, on the ticket with Ulysses S. Grant, and was elected in the following November, re- ceiving 286 out of 354 electoral votes. On 3 March, 1873, he resigned his place on the floor of the senate, of which he had been a member for eighteen years, in order to enter on his functions as president of that body. The same year he was stricken with paralysis, and continued infirm till his death, which was caused by apoplexy.

It is but just to say of Henry Wilson that with exceptional opportunities which a less honest statesman might have found for enriching himself at the government's expense, or of taking advan- tage of his knowledge of public affairs and the tendency of legislation upon matters of finance and business, he died at his post of duty, as he had lived, rich only in his integrity and self-respect. Among his many published speeches may be men- tioned " Personalities and Aggressions of Mr. But- ler " (1856) ; " Defence of the Republican Party " (1856); "Are Workingmen Slaves? "(1858); "The Pacific Railroad " (1859) ; and " The Death of Sla- very is the Life of the Nation " (1864). He was the author of a volume entitled " History of the Anti- Slavery Measures of the Thirty-seventh and Thirty- eighth United States Congresses," in which he re- lates the progress of the bills relating to slavery and cites the speeches of their friends and opponents (Boston, 1865) ; of a history of legislation on the army during the civil war, with the title of "Military Measures of the United States Congress" (1866); of a small volume called " Testimonies of American Statesmen and Jurists to the Truths of Christianity," being an address that he gave before the Young men's Christian association at Natick (1867) ; of a " History of the Reconstruction Measures of the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses, 1865-8" (1868) ; of- a series of articles on Edwin M. Stanton that were reprinted from a magazine, with those of Jeremiah S. Black, with the title of "A Contribution to History" (Easton. Pa., 1868) ; of a published oration on " The Republican and Democratic Parties " (Boston, 1868) ; and of a great work bearing the title of " History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America," on which he labored indefatigably during his last illness, yet was not quite able to complete (3 vols., Boston, 1872-5). See his " Life and Public Services," which was written by his friend, Thomas Russell, and Rev. Elias Nason, who was his pastor for many years (1872). Congress directed to be printed a volume of " Obituary Addresses," that were delivered in both houses, on 21 Jan., 1876 (Washington, 1876).