SEWARD, WILLIAM H. 



729 



case of James Fenimore Cooper vs. Greeley 

 & McElrath, for libel in the Tribune, in which 

 he appeared for the defendants. He defended, 

 in 1847, John Van Zandt, charged in Washing- 

 ton with aiding fugitive slaves. The case of 

 William Freeman, indicted for the murder of 

 the Van Nest family, in which Mr. Seward 

 appeared for the defense, resulted in a verdict 

 of insanity. He had previously defended, upon 

 the same grounds, Henry Wyatt, indicted for 

 the murder of a fellow- convict in the Auburn 

 Prison. The excitement occasioned by the 

 crime of Freeman was intense, and the humane 

 efforts of Governor Seward were unsuccessful, 

 except in obtaining for him an appeal to the 

 higher court, though Freeman afterward jus- 

 tified the plea in his behalf, by dying utterly 

 idiotic in prison after a new trial had been 

 granted him. Mr. Seward's defence of Abel F. 

 Fitch and forty -nine others, for conspiracy to 

 destroy the property of the Michigan Central 

 Railroad. Company, is also notable in judicial 

 annals. To the annexation of Texas he re- 

 mained an uncompromising opponent to the 

 bitter end. During the war with Mexico, how- 

 ever, which resulted from the consummation 

 of that measure, his course was patriotic, and 

 he constantly recommended a vigorous conduct 

 of hostilities. He warmly supported the elec- 

 tion of General Taylor in 1848, and acted 

 through the canvass with unusual energy. It 

 was now, though not for the first time, that 

 he announced his idea, since so well known, 

 and so often discussed, of " the antagonistical 

 elements of society in America, Freedom and 

 Slavery," and which was subsequently formu- 

 lated by him into that pithy expression " the 

 irrepressible conflict." This was thoroughly 

 developed in his great speech at Cleveland, 

 Ohio. Mr. Seward was elected to the Senate 

 of the United States in the place of Mr. Dix, 

 in 1849, there being no serious opposition to 

 him. He went to the Thirty-first Congress 

 with thirty-three other Whig members, and 

 with one Democrat. He was the friend of 

 General Taylor, and that President extended 

 to him full confidence. He supported the in- 

 vitation to organize State governments, ex- 

 tended by the President to California and New 

 Mexico. It was in a speech in the Senate, 

 March 11, 1850, that he used the phrase 

 "higher law," which has since become so 

 famous. His opposition to the compromise 

 measures, and his support of emancipation in 

 the District of Columbia, mark the general 

 tenor of his course upon the most exciting 

 question of the day. He ardently supported 

 the " French Spoliation Bill," and in February, 

 1851, advocated the principles subsequently 

 embodied in the " Homestead Law." He was 

 prompt in submitting a resolution to the Senate 

 offering a cordial welcome to Kossuth, then 

 about to visit this country. In a speech on 

 Mr. Foote's resolution, he expressed his sym- 

 pathy with the exiled Irish patriots, and his 

 speech on "Freedom in Europe," containing 



an able review of the Hungarian Revolution, 

 has been much admired. President Taylor 

 died in 1850. Mr. Seward had heartily op- 

 posed the compromise measures up to that 

 time, and he continued his opposition, though 

 his associates proved less faithful. The main 

 features of the bill became law seriatim, and 

 this was inconsiderately thought to be a final 

 solution of the problem. Mr. Seward did not 

 think so, and refused to say so ; and the slavery 

 question, in its different aspects, became the 

 vital point in the election of 1852. 



The nomination of General Scott for the 

 presidency in 1852 met Mr. Seward's approval, 

 though he could not sanction the platform 

 adopted. The election resulted in the over- 

 whelming defeat of the Whigs ; but Mr. Sew- 

 ard, undismayed by this disaster, resumed his 

 place in the Senate with his characteristic 

 calmness and assiduity. He found time also 

 to prepare two orations ; one, at the dedica- 

 tion of a university at Columbus, Ohio, on 

 " The Destiny of America," the other before 

 the American Institute, at New York, on " The 

 True Basis of American Independence." 



In the debates on the Nebraska Bill, in the 

 session of 1853-'54, Mr. Seward was conspic- 

 uous for his able yet calm and dispassionate 

 arguments against it. The contest was hope- 

 less, so far as immediate results were con- 

 cerned, from the beginning, but it was gallantly 

 maintained to the end. His eloquent defense 

 of the three thousand and fifty New England 

 clergymen who sent in a remonstrance against 

 the bill, attracted at the time much notice and 

 approbation. In the summer of 1854 he made 

 the annual oration before the Literary Societies 

 of Yale College, on " The Physical, Moral, and 

 Intellectual Development of the American 

 People." On this occasion, he received the 

 honorary degree of LL. D., which was also 

 conferred by Union College, in 1866. In Feb- 

 ruary, 1855, Mr. Seward was reflected to the 

 Senate for six years from March 4, 1855, by a 

 large majority, against the determined opposi- 

 tion of both the American and Democratic 

 parties. In the Kansas debates of the ensuing 

 session, he took an active part, and his speeches 

 were marked with their usual clearness and 

 fairness. When Senator Sumner was assaulted 

 by Mr. Preston Brooks, in the Senate-cham- 

 ber, May 22, 1856, Mr. Seward was the first 

 Senator to call for a committee of inquiry into 

 the matter, and, though he was not appointed 

 on the committee, his whole course was dig- 

 nified and honorable, and his rebuke was felt 

 the more keenly from its judicial impartiality. 

 The nomination of Colonel Fremont for the 

 presidency by the Republican party in 1856 

 was a serious disappointment to many of Mr. 

 Seward's friends ; but he himself manifested 

 no disappointment or chagrin, and entered 

 upon the canvass with great zeal and energy. 

 The Republicans were defeated but not de- 

 moralized, and, under Mr. Seward's leadership 

 in the Senate, they made a gallant though in- 



