760 



WILSON, HENRY. 



WISCONSIN. 



poet Whittier to carry to Washington a long pe- 

 tition from Massachusetts against the measure. 

 In the year 1846 he offered a resolution in the 

 Legislature denouncing slavery, and supported 

 it by an elaborate and comprehensive speech. 

 In 1848 he was a delegate to the Whig National 

 Convention held in Philadelphia and on the 

 rejection of antislavery resolutions he spoke 

 in protest and withdrew. On his return he 

 defended his action to his constituents and 

 soon after bought The Boston Republican, and 

 edited it for two years in the interest of the 

 " Free-Soil " party. In 1850 and again in 1851 

 he was a member of the State Senate, and dur- 

 ing both terms was President of the Senate. 

 As chairman of the "Free -Soil" Committee 

 he contrived the coalition which elected Mr. 

 Boutwell Governor in 1851, and in 1852 Messrs. 

 Rantoul and Sumner United States Senators. 

 In 1852 he was made president of the " Free 

 Soil" National Convention assembled at Pitta- 

 burg, chairman of the National- Committee, 

 and candidate for Congress. He failed of his 

 election by only ninety-three votes. He was a 

 member of the Massachusetts Constitutional 

 Convention of 1853, in which he attempted to 

 secure the admission of blacks into the militia, 

 and in the same year was defeated as " Free- 

 Soil " candidate for Governor. In 1855 he was 

 elected to succeed Edward Everett in the 

 United States Senate, where he acted with the 

 American or "Know-nothing" party, who had 

 aided in his election. But in the "Know- 

 nothing" Convention held in Philadelphia in 

 1855 he remonstrated against the pro-slavery 

 platform it adopted, and by the withdrawal of 

 himself and friends divided and broke up the 

 party. Mr. Wilson now joined in organizing 

 the Republicans on the basis of opposition to 

 the extension of slavery, when on the 22d of 

 May, 1856, Mr. Sumner, his colleague, was as- 

 saulted by Mr. Brooks, of South Carolina. Mr. 

 Wilson, in a speech to the Senate, the next 

 morning, denounced the act as " brutal, mur- 

 derous, and cowardly." For this language he 

 was challenged by Mr. Brooks, but he declined 

 the challenge on the ground that dueling is a 

 barbarous and unlawful practice, while he stated 

 that he believed in the right of self-defense in 

 the broadest sense. Mr. Wilson's first speeches 

 in the Senate were in favor of the repeal of the 

 Fugitive Slave Law and the abolition of slavery 

 in the District of Columbia. His speech in de- 

 fense of free labor, made in reply to Mr. Ham- 

 mond, of South Carolina, March, 1859, had a 

 very large circulation in the Northern States. 

 In the same year he was reflected to the Sen- 

 ate by a nearly unanimous vote. In March, 

 1861, he was made chairman of the Commit- 

 tee on Military Affairs, of which he had been a 

 member for four years previous. In this capac- 

 ity he induced Congress to authorize the em- 

 ployment of five hundred thousand volunteers 

 and the reorganization of the military system 

 of the United States. His extraordinary exer- 

 tions during this short session won for him the 



admiration of General Scott. In the reform 

 and reconstruction acts passed by the Thir- 

 ty-seventh and Thirty-eighth Congresses Mr. 

 Wilson took a leading part. He was reflected 

 for the term beginning 1865 and ending 1871. 

 In 1872 Mr. Wilson visited Europe. Toward 

 the close of his third term as Senator he was 

 again reflected for the term extending from 

 1871 to 1877. In June, 1872, he was nominated 

 as Yice-President, to which office he was elect- 

 ed. In 1873 he was stricken with paralysis, from 

 which he never fully recovered. His death 

 was caused by apoplexy. He wrote the fol- 

 lowing voluminous work : " History of the 

 Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America." 

 The first volume was completed in 1872. Dur- 

 ing the summer of 1875, he labored, often ten 

 hours a.day, on the pages of the third volume, 

 which he has left incomplete. His minor 

 works are : " History of the Antislavery Meas- 

 ures of Congress ; " " Military Measures of 

 the United States Congress ; " " Testimonials 

 of American Statesmen and Jurists to the 

 Truths of Christianity ; " and " History of the 

 Reconstruction Measures of the Thirty-ninth 

 and Fortieth Congresses." 



WISLICENUS, GUSTAV ADOLF, a German 

 theologian, born November 20, 1803 ; died 

 October 14, 1875. In Halle, where he studied 

 theology, he took part in the political move- 

 ment of the students, and in 1824 was sen- 

 tenced to twelve years' imprisonment, but was 

 pardoned in 1829. In 1834 he received an ap- 

 pointment as minister in Kleinichstedt, and in 

 1841 in Halle. In consequence of a liberal ad- 

 dress delivered in Kothen in 1844, he was called 

 upon by the Consistory of Saxony to produce 

 the manuscript of it. In answer to this he 

 gave in a pamphlet, "Ob Schrift, ob Geist," a 

 complete exposition of his views. In 1846 he 

 was removed from his position, and from that 

 time acted as preacher for the Freie Gemein- 

 ' den. In 1853, in consequence of his work, 

 "Die Bibel im Lichte der Bildung unserer 

 Zeit," he was again prosecuted, and, foreseeing 

 his conviction, he left Prussia in 1853, and was 

 soon after sentenced to three years' imprison- 

 ment. He then went to the United States, 

 where he first delivered lectures in Boston. 

 In May, 1854, he went to New York, and for a 

 time had charge of a school in Hoboken. In 

 1856 he returned to Europe and settled per- 

 manently at Zurich. Here he wrote his prin- 

 cipal work, "Die Bibel fur denkende Leser " (2 

 vols., 1863-'64). In 1873 he published "Ge- 

 genwartund Zukunft der Religion." 



WISCONSIN. The Legislature assembled 

 January 13th and adjourned March 6th, which 

 is the shortest session ever held except that of 

 twenty-five years ago. The work of the ses- 

 sion comprises 344 laws, 7 joint resolutions, 

 and 12 memorials to Congress. One of the 

 most important subjects before the Legislature 

 was that of railroads. The result, however, 

 was simply an amendment of the Potter law. 

 The principle of this law is not changed ; the 



