unequaled by that of any other public man of the time, receiving some 30,000 votes more than his associates on the ticket. Clark was declared elected by an apparent plurality of 309 votes in a grand total of 469,431. It is due to the truth of history to state that it was then intimated that the State officers, though politically opposed to Governor Seymour, would have given him the certificate of election, and thus secured him the office, had he consented to file objections to certain returns which were manifestly irregular, and probably tampered with by some of the unscrupulous men aiming at the control of public affairs. This contest Governor Seymour refused to make, inasmuch as his associates on the ticket were defeated, and he cheerfully welcomed Clark as his successor, placing in his hands the insignia of power, and throughout his administration contributing in many pleasant ways to make his position respected and comfortable.

We should fail to do justice to the ability of Seymour at this time, if we omitted to state that "the Maine Law," vetoed by him, but re-enacted and approved by Governor Clark, was declared unconstitutional and void by the concurrence of all but one of the Judges of the Court of Appeals of the State, and that the leading opinions of the eminent judges who passed upon the question sustained each and every of the principal objections to the bill enumerated in the veto message, which has been heretofore given to the reader. Thus this measure of pains and penalties, which cost the people of the State so much litigation, became a dead letter upon the statute-book, and was ultimate

ly given up by the very men that originally passed it. All were compelled to acknowledge the legal acumen and sound constitutional views of the governor; but how few of "the Scribes and Pharisees" that made the welkin ring with their denunciations of him have publicly admitted their own error or his vindication—more of them subsequently found the drunkard's level, and now fill dishonored graves— a warning to all who habitually assume morals superior to the rest of mankind, and when they pray, if they ever do, thank God they are not as other men. During the first gubernatorial term, Governor Seymour felt many defects in the organization of the executive department of the State. After his

retirement and surrender of office to a Republican successor, he urged upon the State Legislature a complete reorganization of the office-and an increase of office force to meet the growing wants of the State."

In accordance with his suggestion, the office was created, a Department of Record, and its efficiency greatly improved by the legislation thus suggested.

To bring about this change, although for the benefit of his political opponents, he spent much time and effort at Albany, as he felt it was due to the dignity of the State, and he was unwilling that his successors should be crippled, as he had been, by the want of a sufficient clerical force and of laws to to preserve records and papers of great value.

CHAPTER VII.

GOV. SEYMOUR'S SPRINGFIELD SPEECH. - THE DEMOCRATIC THEORY OF GOVERNMENT.

IN 1856, soon after the nomination of Buchanan and Breckinridge by the Cincinnati Convention, leading members of the Democratic National Committee, solicited Governor Seymour, whose eloquence had made a deep impression upon that Convention, to make a speech which should give the key-note to the campaign, and be received, as Governor Seymour's speeches have ever since been received, as the platform, in fact, of the party. In response to this invitation, Gov. Seymour, at Springfield, Massachusetts, on the 4th day of July, 1856, before assembled thousands, uttered his views of "the Democratic Theory of Government," in a speech which was received with universal acclaim, and which was published and republished throughout the land, as a campaign document, contributing, in no small degree, to the brilliant victory of that year.

The reader will find that the extracts we give from this speech are as fresh and applicable to the present condition of things, as on the day of its first publication, showing the catholicity and immutability of the principles expounded.

The speech was as follows:

"For the purpose of standing upon the soil of Massachusetts, to

defend the principles of our party, and the honor and interests of our whole country, I declined the invitations to meet on this day the Democracy of Philadelphia, exulting in the nomination of Mr. Buchanan, or to unite with thousands who cluster around the timehonored halls of St. Tammany, in the city of New York. In a great battle, we love to stand where our ranks are thinnest, and our opponents muster in their might. We seek out the adversaries of religious and political freedom in their strongholds, and we raise the standard of our Union where sectional jealousy, bigotry, and hate are most rife. I honor those who stood up manfully in this State against the overwhelming numbers of the advocates of Alien and Sedition laws; against those who preached and practised treason in the last war with Great Britain; against those who prayed that our armies in Mexico might be met with bloody hands and hospitable graves; against those who have persecuted defenseless women for their religious faith; against those whose chief effort at this time is to teach one half of our common country to hate the other half. I have lately been upon the shores of the great lakes at the North, upon the banks of the Mississippi at the West, in the valley of the Potomac at the South, and upon the margin of the Hudson in New York, and it gives me pleasure to say to you who live along the course of the Connecticut, and amid the hills of New England, that but one sentiment animates the great national party to which we belong; and to tell you, the true men of Massachusetts, that however small your numbers may be here, that you belong to a brotherhood who, like yourselves, love our whole country, and who are strong enough to defend it against either foreign assault or domestic treason.

"We meet upon a day thick clustering with memories sacred to American patriots. These will animate us upon this occasion. No word will be uttered here which will jar with the recollections of the past. If those who, eighty years ago, came from the North, the West, and the South, to rescue Boston from hostile hands, and to drive destroying armies from the soil of Massachusetts, could have heard, in anticipation, our words, telling of the greatness of our country, and of our devotion to its preservation, their hearts would have thrilled with joy and pride. If, on the other hand, their hearing had been cursed by the appeals to passion and prejudice which are made, even now, in a neighboring assemblage, how would that patriotic array have been struck down by the base ingratitude! The strong heart of Washington would have given way as he listened to the revilings of his native State and of the descendants of those

who had followed him from Virginia, to peril their lives for this State in the day of its trial and distress.

"At this time our country is convulsed with moral disorders, with religious dissensions, and political agitations. Denunciatory language and violent conduct disgrace our national capitol. Most of the great religious denominations are divided, and glare across a sectional line with fierce hatred, withholding from each other the charity and courtesies which they extend to their co-religionists from foreign lands. Another tie which has heretofore held our country together, has been disbanded, and from its ruins has sprung a political organization trusting for its success to sectional prejudices. It excludes from its councils the people of nearly one half the Union; it seeks a triumph over one half our country. The battle-fields of Yorktown, of Camden, of New Orleans, are unrepresented in their Conventions, and no delegates speak for the States where rest the remains of Washington, Jefferson, Marion, Sumter, or Morgan, or the later hero, Jackson. They cherish more bitter hatred of their own countrymen, than they have ever shown toward the enemies of our land. If the language they hold this day had been used eighty years since, we should not have thrown off the British yoke. Our national Constitution would not have been formed, and if their spirit of hatred continues, our Constitution and Government will cease to exist.

"The democratic theory takes away control from central points and distributes it to the various localities that are most interested in its wise and honest exercise. It keeps at every man's home the greatest share of the political power that concerns him individually. It yields it to the remoter legislative bodies in diminishing proportions as they recede from the direct influence and action of the people. The principle of self-government is not the demagogical idea that the people, in their collective capacity, are endowed with a wisdom, patriotism, and virtue superior to their individual characters. The people, as a society, are as virtuous or as vicious, as intelligent or as ignorant, as brave or as cowardly, as the persons who compose it. The great theory of local self-government under which our country is expand, ing itself over a continent, without becoming weak by its extensionis founded on these propositions. That Government is most wise, which is in the hands of those best informed about the particular questions on which they legislate; most economical and honest, when controlled by those most interested in preserving frugality and virtue; most strong, when it only exercises authority which is beneficial in its action to the governed. These are obvious truths, but

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