Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/818

 792 SEWARD SEWARD, Anna, an English authoress, born at Eyam, Derbyshire, in 1747, died in Lichfield, Marclj 25, 1809. At nine years of age she could repeat the first three books of "Para- dise Lost." At Lichfield, where the greater part of her life was passed, she became inti- mate with Dr. Erasmus Darwin, of whom in 1804 she published a memoir, in which she lays claim to the first 50 lines of his " Botani- cal Garden." Her poetical works consist of "Louisa," a metrical novel (1782), and "Son- nets" (1799). Her elegies on Captain Cook and Major Amliv had great celebrity. She was called by her contemporaries of the Delia Cruscan school " the swan of Lichfield." She bequeathed a mass of manuscript poetry and correspondence to Sir Walter Scott, which he edited in 1810. Constable also published six volumes of her correspondence (1811). SEWAED, William Henry, an American states- man, born in Florida, Orange co., N. Y., May 16, 1801, died in Auburn, N. Y., Oct. 10, 1872. He graduated at Union college in 1820, having passed six months of his senior year in teach- ing in Georgia, and was admitted to the bar in 1822. He commenced practice in Auburn, where in 1824 he entered upon political life by preparing an address for a republican con- vention, announcing an opposition to the "Al- bany regency," as the leaders of the democrat- ic party of New York were then styled, which was continued until crowned with success in 1838. In August, 1828, he presided over a young men's convention in New York, called to favor the reelection of John Quincy Adams to the presidency, and on his return home was tendered a nomination as member of congress, which he declined. In 1830 he was elected to the state senate as an anti-mason by a majority of 2,000, although the district had given a large adverse majority the preceding year. He ori- ginated an opposition to corporate monopolies which has since ripened into a system of gen- eral laws. In 1833 he made a rapid tour of Great Britain and a portion of the continent, and contributed a series of letters to the Al- bany " Evening Journal." In 1834 he was the whig candidate for governor, and was defeated by W. L. Marcy; but in 1838 he was elected governor by a majority of 10,000 over Gov. Marcy. Among the measures to which he di- rected his attention were the extension of pub- lic education, the prosecution of the public works, including the enlargement of the Erie canal, and the removal of the legal disabili- ties imposed on foreigners. A prominent fea- ture of his administration was his effort to se- cure the diffusion of common school education among children of every class, especially those in large cities and of foreign parentage, advo- cating an equal distribution of the public funds among all schools established with that object. Amid much opposition he exerted all his in- fluence in favor of a reform in the courts of law and of chancery, preparing the way for the radical changes effected in the constitution of 1846. The geological survey of the state, the perfection of the general banking system, and the establishment of a lunatic asylum were also measures of his administration. Imprison- ment for debt was entirely abolished, the anti- rent rebellion was subdued, and every vestige of slavery was cleared from the statute books. In a controversy between Gov. Seward and the executive of Virginia on the application of the latter for the return of two seamen charged with abducting slaves, Seward main- tained that no state could force a requisition upon another state founded on an act which was only criminal by its own legislation, and which, compared with general standards, was not only innocent, but humane and praise- worthy. The correspondence, known as "the Virginian controversy," was widely published. Mr. Seward was reflected in 1840. On retiring from office (Jan. 1, 1843) he resumed the prac- tice of law, first in the state courts, and after- ward acquiring a lucrative share of patent causes in the courts of the United States. He occasionally appeared in criminal cases where persons were, as he thought, unjustly accused, when he not only gave his best efforts gratui- tously, but sometimes furnished large sums for a proper defence. His arguments in the cases of Van Zandt, charged with harboring fugitive slaves in Ohio, of Freeman, charged with murder, and of 50 citizens of Michigan indicted for conspiracy, hold a high rank in the records of criminal trials. In 1844 Mr. Seward entered with energy into the presiden- tial contest in behalf of Henry Clay, and again in 1848 in support of Gen. Taylor. In Febru- ary, 1849, he was elected United States sen- ator. On the meeting of congress in Decem- ber following, the members from the south, apprehending the adoption of an anti-slavery policy, took ground in opposition to Gen. Tay- lor's administration, and Mr. Seward soon be- came the leader of the administration party. In his subsequent speeches he avowed a de- termination to make no further concessions to the slave power, and was denounced as a sedi- tious and dangerous agitator. In a speech on the admission of California into the Union, March 11, 1850, he used the following. lan- guage : " It is true, indeed, that the national domain is ours. It is true, it was acquired by the valor and with the wealth of the whole nation. But we hold, nevertheless, no arbi- trary power over it. We hold no arbitrary authority over anything, whether acquired lawfully or seized by usurpation. The consti- tution regulates our stewardship ; the consti- tution devotes the domain to union, to justice, to defence, to welfare, and to liberty. But there is a higher law than the constitution, which regulates our authority over the do- main, and devotes it to the same noble pur- poses. The territory is a part, no inconsider- able part, of the common heritage of man- kind, bestowed upon them by the Creator of the universe. We are his stewards, and must