Chicago City (part 2 of 57)

At the date of this writing it is believed the school census of 1886 will show a population of 750,000, and that the year 1890 will show a close approach in population to the million mark. Mr. Ogden's first investments were in real estate. After his election as Mayor he built a magnificent residence on Ontario street in the center of a beautiful lot, occupying an entire square, and thickly covered by a fine growth of native forest trees. His operations in real estate in the aggregate were immense. In this connection, and as showing the practical character of improvements inaugurated by him and his concern for the public credit, nothing better illustrates these features of his character than the reminiscenses of the Hon. J. Young Scammon, who said in an address in 1881:

"He has sold real estate for himself and others to an amount exceeding ten millions of dollars, requiring many thousand deeds and contracts which he has personally signed. Previous to 1857, the sales of his house equaled nearly one million of dollars per annum. In real estate improvements he made many rough places smooth, and the crooked way straight. More than one hundred miles of streets, and hundreds of bridges at street corners, besides several other bridges, including two over the Chicago river, were made by him, at the private expense of himself and clients, and at a cost of probably hundreds of thousands of dollars. * * * He was early engaged in introducing into extensive use in the West McCormick's reaping and mowing machines, and building up the first large factory for their manufacture. In this manufactory, during his connection with it, and at his suggestion, was built the first reaper sent to England, which, at the great London Exhibition in 185 1 did so much for the credit of American practical inventive genius.

"He was a contractor upon the Illinois and Michigan canal, and his efforts to prevent its suspension, and to resuscitate and complete it, were untiring.

"There is no brighter page in Mr. Ogden's history than that which records his devotion to the preservation of the public credit. The first time that we recollect to have heard him address a public meeting was in the autumn of 1837, wmle he held the office of Mayor. Some frightened debtors, assisted by a few demagogues, had called a meeting to take measures to have the courts suspended, or some way devised by which the compulsory fulfilment of their engagements might be deferred beyond that period, so tedious to creditors, known as the 'law's delay.' They sought by legislative action, or 'relief laws,' to virtually suspend, for a season, the collection of debts. An inflammatory and ad captandum speech had been made. The meeting, which was composed chiefly of debtors, seemed quite excited, and many were rendered almost desperate by the recital, by designing men, of their sufferings and pecuniary danger. During the excitement, the Mayor was called for. He stepped forward, and exhorted his fellow citizens not to commit the folly of proclaiming their own dishonor. He besought those of them who were embarrassed, to bear up against adverse circumstances with the courage of men, remembering that no misfortune was so great as one's own per- sonal dishonor ; that it were better for them to conceal their misfortunes than to proclaim them ; reminding them that many a fortress had saved itself by the courage of its inmates, and their determination to conceal its weakened condition, when, if its real state had been known, its destruction would have been inevitable and immediate. 'Above all things,' said he, 'do n'ot tarnish the honor of our infant city.'

"To the credit of Chicago, be it said, this first attempt at 'repudiating debts' met, from a majority of that meeting, and from our citizens, a rebuff no less pointed than deserved ; and those who attempted it merited contempt."

A quotation of two or three examples from Mr. Ogden's own note book will show more clearly than anything else, the wonderfully rapid advance in the value of property in Chicago, which, as has been shown, grew in population from about 4,500 in 1840 to over 700,000 in 1886. He says : "I purchased in 1845, property for $15,000 which, twenty years thereafter, in 1865, was worth ten millions of dollars. In 1844 I purchased for $8,000, what, eight years thereafter, sold for three millions of dollars, and these cases could be extended almost indefinitely."

While the official seal of the city of Chicago was not designed and adopted until some time after the charter election, reference to it will not be out of place at this stage of our municipal history. The design on the face of the seal is an Indian with his bow and quiver, facing an approaching vessel under full sail. Suspended at the top is an Indian cradle containing an infant. It is said the arrival of the United States schooner, Tracy, from Detroit, in the summer of 1804, with supplies for the building of Fort Dearborn, suggested the idea of the ship on the seal. This vessel did not enter the river, but anchored beyond the bar, and discharged its freight by boats. Some 2,000 Indians were attracted by the spectacle and gathered along the shore of the lake, to view, as they said, the "big canoe with wings." It suggested also the manner in which the first white settlers arrived on the site of Chicago. The infant in the cradle represented the embryo city. The Hon. John Wentworth, who was present at the first consultation about the city seal, says the idea was that when barbarism gave way to civilization, when the savages retreated before commerce, the infant in the cradle was to wake up. Mr. Wentworth, in his "Reminiscences of Early Chicago," quaintly says: "Gen. Wayne spelled Chicago with a 'j.' The baby's name in 1795 was 'jo.' He had not got the 'go' then. It was Chica-jo."

The oldest building standing in Chicago in 1886 is the old Clybourne residence, a short distance off of the avenue of that name. The next oldest building was the " Green Tree Inn," at the northeast corner of Lake and Canal streets, which was erected in 1831 and demolished in 1881 to make room for a handsome brick structure. Our nearest land-office was in Southern Illinois, at Palestine, Crawford county, until 1834, when one was established at Danville, Vermillion county, a little further north. There was none at Chicago until 1835, when Col. Edmund D. Taylor was appointed receiver. In 1830 there were fifteen dwelling houses, only three of which remained in 1857, and less than 100 inhabitants. The principal settlement here was at the forks of the Chicago river, called "Wolf Point," where a tavern, schoolhouse, and meeting house were located, and where Jesse Walker, a Methodist missionary residing at Plainfield, Will county, occasionally preached.

When Chicago was laid out into lots by the Canal Commissioners in August, 1830, they were sold for from $10 to $60 each. In the winter of 1832-3, Gurdon S. Hubbard was a member of the. Illinois Legislature, and he introduced the first railroad bill ever introduced into that body. It passed the House and was lost in the Senate by the casting vote of Lieutenant-Governor Casey. Congress had given the power to make either a railroad or a. canal. On November 26, 1833, the first newspaper, the Chicago Democrat, was established by John Calhoun.

The Chicago Daily American was started Tuesday, April 9, 1839, by William Stuart, who had purchased the weekly from Mr. Davis in 1837. The daily was issued in the morning until December 20, 1839, when it was changed to an evening paper. July 28, 1841, Mr. Stuart was appointed postmaster, and surrendered the editorial chair to William W. Brackett.

October 9, 1841, Alexander Stuart, brother of William, purchased the paper, and on July 20, 1842, Buckner S. Morris purchased it, and October 18, 1842, the Daily American ceased to exist. It was resuscitated by William W. Brackett, under the name of the Chicago Express, October 24, 1842, as an afternoon paper. Mr. Brackett continued the Express until April 20, 1844, his office being then in the third story of Asher Rossiter's block, opposite the Tremont House, when he sold the good-will, stock and fixtures to a committee consisting of Walter L. Newberry, S. Lisle Smith, J. Young Scammon, George W. Meeker, John

Frink, Jacob Russell, Giles Spring-, Grant Goodrich, Buckner S. Morris, and George W. Dole. The consideration was $1,500, and these gentlemen then instituted the Chicago Daily Journal on April 22, 1844, making Richard L. Wilson and James Wellington Norris its editors. This was the inception of the present Even ing Jott rnal.

November 23, 1836, John Wentworth became editor of the Chicago Weekly Democrat, established, as stated, in 1833 by John Calhoun, and which Mr. Wentworth shortly afterward purchased. In 1840 he started the Daily Democrat, the first Democratic daily in the Northwest.

A newspaper of December 24, 1836, announces that President Jackson's message to Congress was only twelve days en route from Washington. It was published here Saturday, and the editor announced that he would have issued it Thursday but for the extreme cold weather.

Land speculation had become so brisk in 1835 tnat from January 4 to October 21 of that year the papers announce that Augustus Garrett, afterward Mayor of the city, had sold land at his auction rooms to the amount of $1,800,000. The people had commenced litigation so much that at the opening of the Cook county Circuit Court in May, 1836, there were 230 cases on the civil docket, and the court sat two weeks. Litigation so increased that in May, 1837, there were 700 cases on the civil docket. The newspapers pointed to the alarming fact that over a million dollars were involved in these cases.

On the evening of the 15th of January, 1836, the citizens assembled in mass meeting, and voted that twelve guns be fired for each man that voted for the canal bill, and that the newspapers (there were then but the two weeklies) be requested to publish their names in large capitals, and the names of those who voted against the bill in the smallest kind of italic letters.

On the 4th of July, 1836, almost every man, woman, and child in the city went down to where the canal was to be commenced, then called Canalport, and celebrated the removal of the first shovelful of dirt by the Canal Commissioners, of which Board Col. G. S. Hubbard was one, and he made a speech. Col. Edmund D. Taylor and Walter Kimball, later the City Comptroller, were Marshals on the occasion. The late Dr. William B. Egan delivered the oration. Near the place was a living spring of water. It is related that several boxes of lemons were chopped up and thrown into the spring, along with sufficient sugar to make a good, running article of lemonade, and the experiment was so successful that some person emptied a whole barrel of whiskey into the spring and made a flow of punch. Several old settlers claim that this throwing of whisky and lemons into a spring also took place at the time that John Baptiste Beaubien was elected Colonel of the Militia, at the house of Barney H. Laughton, at the present site of Riverside.

There was great difficulty in the settlement of social lines, owing to the prejudices existing between the emigrants from the South and the East. The various differences were carried into business, politics and the churches. All Eastern people were considered by those from the South as Yankees. The first contest was a political one, and arose over the convention system. The Southerners denounced it as a Yankee innovation upon the old system of allowing every man to run for an office who wanted to do so, all taking chances together in the general complicated scramble. Thomas Ford, born in Uniontown, Penn., in 1800, who had lived in Illinois from 1804, and who came here as Judge, did more than any other person to mollify the prejudices of the South against the North. He early foresaw that all the early settlers of Illinois needed was the growth of more Yankee thrift among them ; and he told his friends that while he remained here he should conform to the Yankee notions. Nearly all of the families of education and wealth who claimed high social position were, about the time of the incorporatien of the city, settled on the North side. The Lake House, the first brick hotel constructed, was the fashionable hotel. On the South side were the stores and other hotels, kept for the accommodation of farmers who came to the city with produce to sell, business men without families, and clerks. The ferry-boat between the North and South sides was a general intelligence office. The ferryman knew nearly every person in the town, and was able to answer all questions as to who had crossed and where they could be found. Packages and letters were left with him to be delivered to persons as they passed. One of the most popular gathering places was the postoffice, on the west side of Franklin street at the corner of South Water. The mail coach was irregular in time of arrival, but the sound of the driver's horn was the signal for assembly at the postoffice. During exciting times the business men would always go to the postoffice themselves instead of sending their employes. The postmaster would throw out an Eastern paper and a reader would be called upon to station himself upon a dry goods box and read the latest news to the crowd. If it was in times of elections and political excitement, two readers from papers of opposite politics would be engaged. Frequently disputes arose and bets would be made as the reading progressed. The West side was the last to advance in population, although at one time prior to the city's incorporation it had, as now, the largest proportion of population. These were the conditions existing when the exciting campaign of 1838 was ushered in. There had been a recent financial panic which had paralyzed business throughout the country, and left in its wake a deplorable state of insecurity and uncertainty, and the responsibility for this condition of affairs was by the Whigs attributed to the weak financial policy of the Jackson and Van Buren administrations. The Whig party, inspired by the prevailing discontent, and with the presidential campaign of 1840 in view, brought to bear every available resource in contesting the elections. It was in this campaign that Stephen A. Douglas, Democrat, and John T. Stuart, Whig, were rivals for election to Congress. They held a joint debate in the Saloon building August 4, and it was the "Little Giant's" first appearance in Chicago as a political speaker, although his fame had preceded him. The vote polled throughout the state in the Congressional districts a^crreqated 36,000, and was the largest ever polled up to that time. In Cook county the Democrats snowed the Whigs under by. a great majority, the result being :

The campaign of 1840, ever memorable in the annals of the nation, found Chicago and Cook county solidly Democratic and singularly free from the seemingly unaccountable enthusiasm for the Whig candidate, William Henry Harrison, that swept over the country. The Hon. George W. Julian, in his "Political Recollections," has pointed out that Gen. Harrison was of Revolutionary blood ; a man who had the confidence of the Fathers of the Republic ; a man of undoubted bravery, with an honorable record both as a soldier and a civilian, and, moreover, that being a poor man and a plain farmer of the West, seemed to add to his qualifications in the eyes of the people. The Democratic journals increased his popularity by unwisely making vindictive personal attacks upon his bravery, and the log cabin and cider barrel devices of the campaign were suggested by one editor, who made the contemptuous observation that he was "a man who should be content with a loe cabin and a barrel of hard cider, without aspiring to the presidency." The first great meeting of the campaign was held on the Tippecanoe battle ground May 29 and 30, and on September 12 there was a monster meeting at Dayton, O., where Gen. Harrison spoke at length, which, it is estimated, was attended by two hundred thousand people. Log cabins, cider barrels, canoes, and immense balls decorated with the stars and stripes, were conspicuous emblems of this campaign, but probably the most distinguishing feature was the campaign songs. A few selections from these once popular songs will not be out of place here, and if they revive the recollections of but a few of the campaigners of over forty-six years ago, they will at least show to the campaigners of 1888 the character of the songs their fathers sang before them, and especially will their revival be apropos if a Western man be again named for the presidency.

The harmless pastime of dyeing the empyrean blue with hard cider in 1840, it will be observed, has given way to the questionable custom of painting the metropolis red in later campaigns.

It's a business we all can take part in, So let us give notice to Martin That he must get ready for startin', For we'll put in Old Tippecanoe. The best thing we can do Is to put in Old Tippecanoe.

The Democrats could devise nothing to stem the spontaneous and remarkable enthusiasm that characterized the Whig Tippecanoe-and-Tyler-too, hard-cider campaign, but Cook county and Chicago were an exception to the general rule of defeat and losses. The election occurred November 3, and the result was as follows :

For President

During the exciting campaign some friend of Gen. Harrison's wrote a letter for the well-known Indian chiefs, Shabonee and Sauganash, to sign, which gives their estimate of his character, and also relates something of their personal history. The letter was published in the Chicago Daily American of June 9, 1840, and of course attracted the attention of all of the friends of the celebrated chiefs, and was used to good effect by the supporters of Gen. Harrison. The following is the letter :

To Gen. Harrison's Friends: - The other day several newspapers were brought to us ; and, peeping over them, to our astonishment we found that the hero of the late war was called a coward. This would have surprised the tall braves, Tecumseh, of the Shawnees, and Round-Head and Walk-in-the-Water of the Wyandottes. If the departed could rise again, they would say to the white man that Gen. Harrison was the terror of the late tomahawkers. The first time we got acquainted with General Harrison, it was at the council fire of the late Old Tempest, Gen.

Wayne, on the headquarters of the Wabash, at Greenville, 1796. From that time until 181 1 we had many friendly smokes with him; but from 1812 we changed our tobacco smoke into powder smoke. Then we found Gen. Harrison was a brave warrior and humane to his prisoners, as reported to us by two of Tecumseh's young men, who were taken in the fleet with Capt. Barclay on the 10th of September, 181 3, and on the Thames where he routed both the red men and the British, and where he showed his courage and his humanity to his prisoners, both white and red. See report of Adam Brown and family, taken on the morning of the battle, October 5, 181 3. We are the only two surviving of that day in this country. We hope the good white men will protect the name of Gen. Harrison. We remain your friends forever,

Billy Caldwell could read and write English ; Shabonee could not. From the construction of this letter it would hardly appear that Caldwell wrote it, and it was probably prepared and read to them, when they afterward affixed their signatures.

Shabonee, or Chamblee by the French pronunciation, was the last of our once noted Chicago Indian chiefs to die. He departed this life July 17, 1859, on his farm of twenty acres near Morris, Grundy county, III, leaving one surviving son and also a grandson, both living in Kansas, where the latter about 1870 became one of the principal chiefs of the decimated tribe of Pottawatomies.

While the slavery issue did not become a political issue of wide dimensions until the Free Soil movement of 1848 set in, there were a few active Abolitionists in Chicago, and occasional a^itation meetings were held. A meeting- to condemn the assault upon the constitutional right of the freedom of the press was held in the Saloon building shortly after the murder of Lovejoy at Alton 1838. The Chicago Colonization Society was organized September 3, 1839. The Chicago Anti-Slavery Society held its first public meeting at the Saloon building January 16, 1840. The officers were Henry Smith, President ; Ira Miltmore, George Foster and J. Johnston, Vice Presidents ; Calvin De Wolf, Secretary ; George Manierre, Treasurer. Resolutions were offered by the Rev. Flavel Bascom, Rev. Isaac T. Hinton and Charles Durant, favoring the adoption of some practical measures for the abolition of slavery, and denouncing the " Black Code " of Illinois. The resolutions, with minor amendments, were unanimous- ly adopted. The Chicago American of July 25, 1840, contains a petition to the Illinois Legislature praying for the removal from the statutes of the laws known as the " Black Code," which prevented negroes from testifying against whites, and permitted any white man to have a black man who did not show his papers of liberty thrown into jail.

The first state convention ever held in Chicago was that of the Liberal party, or Abolitionists, May 27, 1842, to nominate candidates for Governor, Lieutenant-Governor and other state officers. The result of the gubernatorial and congressional election of 1842 in Cook county was as follows:

In 1844 the Abolitionists considered themselves numerous enough to make a showing of strength and try to establish the nucleus of an anti-slavery party, and for the first time they placed a national ticket in the field. While at this date the record of our elections shows plainly the growth of the sentiment that afterward dominated the government and became of world-wide consequence, neither the Democrats or the Whigs paid any attention to the insignificant handful of voters who thus early became pioneers in the course they believed to be right. An Abolitionist was considered to be tainted with a mild species of lunacy, and was tolerated by the indifferent, and despised by the supporters of the slave power. Soon, however, they had awakened public sentiment sufficiently to make themselves hated and feared by the organized power they persistently antagonized. More unpopular by far was the Abolitionist of 1848-58 than the Prohibitionist of to-day, and the humble Mugmump, now pilloried, ridiculed and execrated, leads a charmed political existence, full of ease and contentment, beside that of the hated Abolitionist who byword or pen, or suspected secresy, opposed the monstrous iniquity of slavery.

The result of the election, however, showed that the Clay party had been too sanguine of the country's condition. The splendid record and brilliant qualities of "Harry" Clay had made him popular in Chicago as elsewhere, as evinced by the fact that he received more than double the number of votes polled for both of the other candidates. The news of the result of this election was brought to Chicago by stage, as a special "way-bill" accompanying the letter sack, and addressed to Ellis & Fergus, publishers of the Democratic Advocate, and it was two weeks before the voters knew how extremely close New York state had been. The election of Polk and Dallas was duly celebrated by the Democrats, who built bonfires in the courthouse square and indulged in extemporaneous oratory.

The municipal elections from 1837 to 1842 were conducted in the main upon the basis of selecting the best men for Mayor and Aldermen to supervise and provide for the necessities of the growing city, and while always taking on a decided political cast, were devoid of local excitements of sufficient importance to be chronicled here. Following William B. Ogden there were two Whig Mayors in succession, Buckner S. Morris and Benjamin W. Raymond. Seven Democratic Mayors in succession were then elected before a Whig again filled the office, John P. Chapin in 1846, and he again was followed by eight Democratic Mayors in succession, until in 1855 Dr. Levi D. Boone, formerly a Democrat, was elected upon the American or Know-Nothing ticket.

Buckner S. Morris, the second Mayor of Chicago, who was elected by the Whigs March 6, 1838, was a lawyer by profession and a thorough business man, who in the main carried out Mayor Ogden's ideas and plans in respect to the government of the city. He was born August 19, 1800, and came to Chicago in 1834. He had been admitted to the bar of Kentucky in 1827, and had served two terms in the State Legislature prior to his arrival here. He speedily opened a law office, and August 7 entered into partnership with E. W. Casey. In the fall of 1836 this association was dissolved, and he then, on December 5, 1836, entered into partnership with J. Y. Scammon. June 19, 1835, he was made a member of the first permanent Board of Health of the city. He was elected Alderman of the Sixth Ward in 1839 I was elected to the same position from the same ward in 1844, but resigned. He was an early director and president of the old hydraulic company, the avant courier of the waterworks. On October 15, 1842, he was commissioned Adjutant of the Sixtieth Regiment Illinois Militia (of which John Baptiste Beaubien was Colonel), to date April 14, 1842. In 1852 he was defeated as a Whig candidate for Secretary of State of Illinois. On May 24, 1853, he was commissioned Circuit Judge, having been elected to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge Hugh T. Dickey. Before him the Green uxoricide case was tried, memorable as being the first case in the state wherein the testimony of scientific experts was allowed on the witness stand. In 1855 he was tendered a renomination, which he declined. He then formed various law partnerships, and in i860 was a defeated candidate for Governor. In 1864 he and Mrs. Morris were arrested upon an unfounded charge of disloyalty in connection with the Camp Douglas conspiracy. In the early part of 1865 Judge Morris discontinued his legal practice and attended to his large real estate interests. He died on December 16, 1879, anc^ was buried from St. Mary's Catholic church, Mr. and Mrs. Morris having become converts to that communion after their enforced sequestration.

Benjamin W. Raymond, the third Mayor of. Chicago, was elected March 5, 1839, and again March 7, 1842, the first time as a Whig and the second time as a Democrat, the last time much against his will. He came to Chicago in 1836 and formed a partnership with S. N. Dexter in a grocery and general store. He was a Director of the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad, the ancestor of the Chicago & Northwestern ; a Director of the old Hydraulic Company ; an early member of the Chicago Historical Society; an incorporator of Rose Hill Cemetery Company ; laid out the suburb of Lake Forest, helped found the university there, and was President of the Board of Trustees for twelve years. He was a professing Christian and a strict temperance man, and made a popular candidate and able executive head of the city. He was born in Rome, New York, 1801, and received a good common school education. During his first term there was an exciting contest between the North and South divisions concerning a bridge over the Chicago river. The bridge had been swept away at Dearborn street, and the people of the South side were opposed to its being replaced. There were jealousies existing at the time between the divisions, and the contest was waged with much bitterness. The Council was evenly divided, and Mayor Raymond, who held the casting vote, was a South sider. Finally he decided if the North siders would subscribe $3,000 toward the erection of the bridge they should have it, and this being agreed to he gave the casting vote in favor of the bridge. It was during his term of office that the canal scrip was largely counterfeited, and Mr. Raymond was exceedingly active in putting a stop to it. Several persons were arrested, and two were convicted. When the state ceased work on the canal many laborers were thrown out of employment, and in their distress Mayor Raymond came to their relief by donating the entire salary he had received as Mayor. During his term of office the Fort Dearborn reservation was laid out in town lots and sold. It had been expected by the people that the land would be donated by the government to the city, but the order went out for the sale of Fort Dearborn addition. Through the efforts of Mr. Raymond Dearborn Park was reserved to the city, and State street was laid out one hundred and twenty feet wide instead of sixty feet.

Alexander Lloyd, the fourth Mayor of Chicago, was a Democrat. He was elected March 3, 1840, and served his term acceptably to the people. He was for a number of years engaged in business as a builder and contractor, and was also the owner of a lumber yard and proprietor of a grocery store. The store was conducted as late as 1857, under the firm name of Lloyd & Thomas. Mr. Lloyd was a man of the strictest probity, and his uprightness of character gave him the confidence of the people.

Francis C. Sherman, the fifth Mayor of Chicago, was a Democrat, and was elected March 5, 1841. He was one of the pioneers, having reached Chicago from Connecticut in 1834. He was a merchant by pursuit and was also a building contractor, and was interested in brick making at a later date. Mr. Sherman was elected Alderman of the first ward, on the charter election ticket, in 1837 ; was elected and served as a County Commissioner from 1840 to 1845; was elected to and made chairman of the Board of Supervisors in 1851, and April 15, 1862, was again elected to the Mayoralty and served three successive terms. His first inaugural message to the Council was as follows :

"It having been customary for my predecessors in office to give some expression of their sentiments in entering upon their municipal duties, it would hardly be taken as an excuse that no portion of my life has been devoted to those studies and pursuits, which qualify me for addressing the public. My only faults, I hope, will be those arising from inexperience and errors of judgment, for I can assure you that I need but know the right to diligently pursue it. Having been elected to office on the strength of certain fixed political principles, it would savor of hypocrisy or demagogism for me to say that in my official capacity I shall know no distinction between parties, but on the contrary, it will be my constant study to prove that the principles which have so recently triumphed in our city, naturally tend to peace and good order, and to the honor and profit of our corporation. And, gentlemen of the council, in such a course of conduct, I shall rely upon your ready concurrence and hearty co-operation, hoping frequently to profit by your longer experience and superior knowledge. The task which we have undertaken is an arduous one. The financial affairs of our city are considerably embarrassed, and the conflicting claims of individuals seeking important offices are to be decided upon. By studying economy, then, in our expenses, and the strictest moral rectitude, as well as the best talents in our officers, shall we best merit public approbation ; which, though often late, is always sure."

In 1842 Benjamin W. Raymond's name was again used in connection with the Mayoralty, and while he did not desire the office he consented to the use of his name. The Democrats had a family quarrel on hand which, it was represented to Mr. Raymond, could be settled more satisfactorily by his^election than in any other manner. Eli B. Williams and Augustus Garrett were the rival Democratic candidates. In the convention which was held in the Planter's Hotel, at the southwest corner of Randolph and Wells streets, an effort was made to maintain harmony by pledging all of the delegates to vote for Williams before the convention proceeded to ballot. This well-meant endeavor came to naught by the perverseness or loyalty of one delegate, Robinson Tripp by name, who refused to go into the arrangement. Augustus Garrett received the nomination and made a good fight, but when Mr. Raymond was induced to run, the friends of Mr. Williams went over to him and thereby made his election certain. Augustus Garrett was elected Mayor the year following, however, and again in 1845. ^n ms inaugural message following his second election Mayor Raymond said :

"The receipts during the past year have exceeded the expenditures some $3,000, thereby reducing the liabilities of the city from $15,395 to $12,233. As a decrease of business and prosperity may be expected during the coming year, there should be the most rigid economy in the management of the affairs of the city. Men of tried integrity should be placed in office, and salaries should be reduced. The bridge at Clark street is meet- ing with favor from many, and though some would have preferred to have placed it at the foot of Dearborn street, no change should now be made in its location. I would suggest the foundation of Hook and Ladder Company No. 2, as the construction of houses is such that Hook and Ladder companies can do more good than engines. Our public schools are somewhat crowded, over 400 pupils being now in attendance. A small tax should be laid if they are to be properly maintained, and new schools should be opened."

Mr. Raymond was one of the first directors of the Chicago & Galena Union Railroad, and was active in advancing the educational interests of the West. He laid out the town of Lake Forest and was mainly instrumental in founding the university there, being President of the Board of Trustees of the institution for twelve years. He was also one of the Trustees of Beloit College and of the Rockford Female Seminary. He built the first woolen mill at Elgin, and in 1864 founded the watch manufactory there, and was the first President of the company. He departed this life April 6, 1883, having seen the city of his choice and pride fulfill every hope he entertained of its great destiny.

Augustus Garrett, the seventh Mayor of Chicago, was elected for his first term March 7, 1843, as a Democrat. He was another one of the pioneer business men of the city, and was noted for his liberality and public spirit. He was born in New York, and had been a successful auctioneer in Cincinnati and New Orleans. He met with financial reverses, however, and when he reached Chicago he was bankrupt. The Rev. Jeremiah Porter and the people of his church interested themselves in Mr. Garrett, and he was soon in easy financial circumstances. He sent for his wife, whom he had been obliged to leave at the home of her parents in New York, and both became permanent residents here. Under the ministration of the Rev. Peter R. Borein they were converted and joined the Methodist church in 1839. In 1840 Mr. Garrett was elected Alderman, and his business and executive ability were so apparent that the Democrats made him their candidate for Mayor upon the expiration of his term in the council. He died in December, 1848. In 1853 his widow bequeathed the greater portion of her husband's large estate to the Garrett Biblical Institute, and two years later, in November, 1855, she departed this life.

In his inaugural message of 1843, Mayor Garrett gives a good idea of the condition of the affairs of the city at that time. In the first place he proposed a reduction of city taxes, and rec- ommended reform and retrenchment in the direction of economizing in public expenditures, and suggested that salaries be fixed at a more moderate rate. The City Clerk should not be paid more than $400 ; the holders of the principal of the city debt should be asked to defer pressing for the payment of the same ; music should not be taught in the public schools ; great care should be taken in the selection of appraisers of school lands ; measures should be taken as soon as the weather would permit to inclose a new burying ground ; great care should be taken in passing ordinances not to adopt any that would operate oppressively on any one class of citizens. Mayor Garrett hoped the Sabbath would be better observed than had been customary. There had been great improvement with respect to temperance, owing to the formation of the Catholic Temperance and Washington Temperance Societies. The great scarcity of money was dwelt upon, and the Abolitionists and their "Underground Railway" came in for the following notice :

"It has been intimated that a combination has been entered into here and at some point on the Mississippi river, for the transfer of slaves from a sister state into Illinois, and from rumors of this kind existing abroad, serious injury may be done to the character of our city, and as I am of the opinion that no right exists for such interference, I deem it a duty to recommend our citizens to take all legal and honorable means to suppress anything of the kind, that may operate abroad so injuriously to our reputation."

March 7, 1844, the eighth city election occurred, and Alson S. Sherman, a prominent citizen, received a majority of the votes. A question was raised, however, as to the legality of his election, one of the judges of election never having been naturalized. The courts decided the election invalid, and a special election was ordered. During the interval Mayor Garrett held over. At the second election Alson S. Sherman was elected by an increased majority. Mr. Sherman was born in Barre, Vt., April 21, 181 1, and he came to Chicago in November, 1836. His business was that of a contractor and builder, and from 1845 to 1855 he was engaged in the marble, stone and milling business. Mr. Sherman was an active man, of great public spirit, and he was frequently called upon to take part in local politics. Besides filling the Mayor's chair he served one term as Chief Engineer of the fire department, two terms as Alderman, ten years on the Board of Water Commissioners, and was a City School Trustee for a number of years. His residence in late years was at Waukegan.

Augustus Garrett was again elected Mayor at the ninth cityelection, March 5, 1845. ^n ms inaugural message published in the Weekly Democrat, March 12, 1845, it was stated that much of the city's money had been injudiciously expended, especially the $2,918.40 expended in endeavoring to protect the lake shore from the action of the water. " Most of this large sum might as well have been expended in purchasing salt and throwing it into the lake," continues the message. Another great source of expenditure had accrued in the erection of a large building in the First Ward, intended to be occupied as a schoolhouse, which it was supposed would accommodate one thousand children. Mayor Garrett advised that this building be sold ; and the money which it would bring, $6,000, be expended in the erection of four smaller schoolhouses. The management of the school fund was extolled and the message suggested that the available portion of it, some $2,500, be borrowed by the city, and with that and other funds payment might be made of money borrowed from Strachan & Scott, which was bearing 9 per cent, interest, and which if not paid on maturity, would bear 12 per cent, interest. The message continued :

"Leases of wharfing privileges may be a source of legal trouble, and action upon them should be deferred until the canal is completed. The planking of Lake street, which was commenced last year, should be completed at the expense of those owning lots on that street.

"It appears by the recent election that there are more than 2,000 voters in this city, and the street tax will consequently be over $6,000. Allowing one half to be collectable, it will be sufficient to make the requisite repairs upon our streets during the year. Our street expenses should be confined strictly within the receipts of that tax. * * * There are moneys due from some of the city's former officers amounting to $924.33. I most earnestly call on the Council to take immediate measures to enforce the collection of the whole of these moneys from the late officers or their sureties.

"I perceive that in the aggregate $41 1.93 have been paid the last year for city printing. This is indeed a large sum, and in order that we may not hereafter pay a higher price than necessary, I would recommend that measures be taken to let the printing to the lowest bidder. There are a large number of printing establishments in our city, and with such competition as would naturally arise, we may reasonably expect to procure the work to be done at its real worth."

John P. Chapin, tenth Mayor of Chicago, was elected over Charles Follansbee March 3, 1846. He was the first Whig to fill the office since 1839. Mr. Follansbee was defeated by the Irish Democrats, who bolted his nomination for the reason that he was one of the signers of the "Native American" petition, which favored the enactment of a law requiring twenty-one years' residence in the United States of all foreigners before they should be entitled to naturalization as citizens. Mayor Chapin's administration, and that of his successor, Mayor Curtiss, was unmarked by measures or happenings of any great consequence to the city, although both Mayors were popular men, and their administration of office satisfactory to the people.

Mr. Chapin was elected Alderman of the First Ward in 1844. He was in no sense a politician, but was well known as an enterprising man of business. For many years he was a forwarding and commission merchant, having for some time conducted the business alone, and later becoming a member of the firm of Wadsworth, Dyer & Chapin, engaged in the packing business, and owning a large packing house on the south branch of the Chicago river.

The Democrats reunited in 1847, anc^ March 2 of that year elected James Curtiss as the eleventh Mayor of Chicago. Mr. Curtiss was a lawyer by profession, a native of New York state, who arrived in Chicago in 1835. He was an able practitioner at the bar, and likewise an active politician. He became Clerk of the County Court, States Attorney, and served two terms as Alderman in the Council, and was twice elected to the Mayoralty, the last time March 5, 1850.

At the expiration of Mayor Chapin's term in 1847 Chicago had become a bustling little city of 16,859 inhabitants. February 16 the City Council by ordinance increased the number of wards from six to nine, and the city limits were extended southward to Twenty-second street, westward to Western avenue, and northward to Sedgwick street and Fullerton avenue. Subsequently two more wards were added, making eleven wards altogether at the close of Mayor Woodworth's first term.

Chapter Iii Election Slavery In The Common Council Campaign Of

Chicago was the scene in July, 1847, of a notable gathering in the interest of commerce. It was the " Peoples'," or River and Harbor Convention, which continued over July 5, 6 and 7. More than 20,000 strangers were in the city, 10,000 of whom were delegates to the convention. Horace Greeley reported the proceedings in editorial correspondence to the New York Tribune, and Thurlow Weed to the Albany Evening Journal. Under date of July 5, 4 p. m., Mr. Greeley wrote :

" Chicago has been filling up with delegates to the People's Convention for the last ten or fifteen days, but it was not until Saturday that the pressure became burdensome. When we arrived on the Oregon, at sunrise yesterday morning, there was scarcely a spare inch of room in any public house save in a few bedrooms long since bespoken. But the citizens had already thrown open their dwellings, welcoming strangers in thousands to their cordial and bounteous hospitality ; the steamboats, as they came in, proffered their spacious accommodations and generous fare to their passengers during their stay ; and though four or five boats full freighted came in yesterday, and two more, with a thousand or fifteen hundred each, came in this morning, I believe there are none left in doubt as to their chance of shelter tonight at this present writing. At all events, the people of Chicago have earned a noble reputation for hospitality and public spirit.

" The grand parade took place this morning, and. though the route traversed was short, in deference to the heat of the weather, the spectacle was truly magnificent. The citizens of

Chicago, of course, furnished the most imposing part of it - the music, the military, the ships on wheels, ornamented fire engines, etc. I never witnessed anything so superb as the appearance of some of the fire companies with their engines drawn by led horses, tastefully caparisoned. Our New York firemen must try again ; they have certainly been outdone."*

One of the resolutions adopted by the convention deprecated the association of questions of internal improvements with party politics, and with this Mr. Greeley did not agree. The convention was the most important factor that ever occurred to demonstrate the natural facilities of Chicago as a shipping center, to call attention to her superb geographical position, and to enlist potent interest in the advancement of her material welfare. Preliminary meetings were held in New York and Chicago. The call for the convention was signed by John Wentworth, George Manierre, J. Young Scammon, Isaac N. Arnold and Grant Goodrich. It adjourned sine die July 7, after having done more to promote the welfare of Chicago than, probably, any other assemblage of representative citizens accomplished at any time. Every person present, both in speeches in the Convention and in personal converse with each other, evinced the utmost confidence in the future of Chicago, and many delegates showed their faith by purchasing real estate here.

December 1, 1847, the Hon. Jesse B. Thomas, appointed to report certain statistics in relation to the population, etc., of Chicago to a select committee of the Executive Committee of the River and Harbor Convention, made a report in which the population of the city and of each ward in 1840, 1843, and 1845, and the increase of each period, and the total increase, were given as follows :

Politics And Politicians

Population of the City of Chicago and the several precincts in Cook county in 1S45; showing the number subject to military duty, the value of live stock, and the amount of grain and the number of pounds of wool produced:

The total population of the city, according to the census of 1S46, was that year 14,199. The census of this year, just completed, gives us on the first day of September, 1847, in round numbers, 17,000.

The approach of the Presidential campaign of 1848 was marked by a steadily growing interest in the slavery question. There was every evidence that a split in the Democratic party over the slavery issue was imminent. The followers of Martin Van Buren in the East were anxious for an opportunity to avenge the wrong done their chief in 1844, and the members of the Liberty party were not unwilling to join hands with the Antislavery, Whigs, and Democrats of the North, if a satisfactory and honorable basis of action could be devised. This condition of affairs resulted in the call for the National Free Soil Convention at Buffalo, on the 9th ot August, 1848. The history of the Abolition movement; the "Black Law" agitation, and the many momentous issues involved in the Free Soil movement of 1848; the later debates between Douglas and Lincoln, are themes of national history that have all been dwelt upon at length by able writers who have traced them up to and through the great war of the rebellion. In all of these movements Chicago and her citizens played a prominent and important part. Zebina East- man, who in 1842 established in Chicago the Western Citizen, and Hooper Warren, the noted Abolitionist, and publisher of the Commercial Advertiser, were the leading spirits in every movement in behalf of freedom for the slaves. Zebina Eastman established his paper here in response to the earnest request of James H. Collins, Dr. C. V. Dyer, Calvin DeWolf, S. D. Childs, H. L. Fulton, L. C. P. Freer, N. Rossiter, the Rev. Flavel Bascom, J. Johnston, and other early Abolitionists, who had, since the murder of Elijah P. Lovejoy, at Alton, in 1837, continued to antagonize the pro-slavery men, and it was owing to threats of the latter that no Abolition organ should be established in Chicago that they decided upon bringing Zebina Eastman to the city. Eastman had been the assistant to Benjamin Lundy, publisher of the "Genius of Universal Emancipation," at Lowell, LaSalle county, and had upon the death of Lundy continued the paper as the "Genius of Liberty." In 1853 the name of the "Western Citizen" was changed to the "Free West," and its publication was continued for some years thereafter. One of the many deserving colored men befriended by Zebina Eastman was John Jones, whom he taught to read, and who afterward spoke and wrote in behalf of the enfranchisement of his race. He was one of the first colored men in the state to be elected to an office, having been twice elected a County Commissioner, and serving in the same body of which Carter H. Harrison, one of our later Mayors, was a member. It is related that John Brown was often a visitor at John Jones' house, the last time when on his way to Harper's Ferry, on which occasion he advised Mr. Jones to lay in a stock of cotton, sugar and tobacco, for he was going to " raise their price." Mr. Jones was born in North Carolina in 1816, and came to Chicago in the latter part of 1841. Mr. Jones died in 1879, leaving a widow and one child, and an estate amounting to $70,000.

The Chicago Democrat and the Commercial Advertiser frequently contained advertisements offering rewards for the capture of runaway slaves. The famous "Underground Railroad" had many branches centering in Chicago, and Zebina Eastman sent the first passenger over this road through Chicago to liberty in Canada. The last slavery disturbance in Chicago is related by Mr. Eastman to have occurred in 1845-6, when a negro was seized by Henry Rhines, a "nigger hunter," and was rescued by citizens from the office of Justice L. C. Kerchival, where he was on trial. The crowd of sympathizers was so dense in the little box of an office in a frame building on Clark street, and upon the stairs, that they picked the negro up and rolled him over their heads to the street below, and at the same time pressed so closely upon Rhines that he could not use his pistol. No prosecutions followed this rescue, but a meeting was called to protest against the assembling of and "lawless acts" of mobs. The anti-slavery men gathered and secured control of this meeting, and unanimously adopted resolutions offered by J. Young Scammon, which deprecated all illegal interference with the law, and especially illegal arrests of people who had made Chicago an asylum from oppression, and declared that Chicago was on the side of humanity and bound to protect legally any fugitive from oppression.

Dr. Charles Volney Dyer was for many years an officer of the " Underground Railroad," and spared neither time, money or personal exertion to assist in the enfranchisement of slaves. As a peculiar and fitting recognition of his efforts, President Lincoln, in 1863, appointed him Judge of the Mixed Court for the suppression of the African Slave Trade. After living a life full of honor and service to his fellow-citizens, Dr. Dyer's demise occurred at Lake View, 111., on April 24, 1878.

The Gem of the Prairie of June 3, 1848, contains an account of the kidnapping of Abram Ross, a colored man, from his house on State street at 1 1 :30 o'clock at night by slave agents, assisted by a band of hired ruffians. Ross was supposed to be a fugitive slave. He is described as " a stout, good-natured mulatto, about thirty-five years of age, well known about the city, having been employed for some time back in delivering bottled soda for Dr. Carpenter." The men burst into the house, dragged the occupant out of bed, secured Ross, placed him in a buggy and started for the Illinois river. The next morning several citizens started in pursuit, and they arrived at Peru just too late to intercept the kidnappers, who had taken a boat for St. Louis with their captive. That night, while between Peru and Meredosia, Ross succeeded in climbing out of a stateroom window, swam ashore, and twenty-one days after his capture, June 24, reappeared in Chicago and gave an account of his adventure to his friends. It afterward transpired that the Chicago ruffians who assisted in his capture were paid in gold coin which turned out to be counterfeit. Ross, by invitation, addressed a mass meeting in front of the Court House, giving an account of the manner in which he was kidnapped, and his escape. The Gem of the Prairie commented on this affair as follows: lived in a free state, and that the man-hunter would not dare - after what has happened here - to track his prey into the midst of the city. But we have not made sufficient allowance for the audacity of these wretches. * * We give these gentry warning ! They now hide from the daylight. A committee of public safety should be organized to ferret them out in the darkness. Their only resource is brute violence. Let them bear in mind that outraged and insulted humanity can arm itself as well as they ! "

A great Free Soil meeting was held in the Saloon building on the evening of April i, 1848. On motion of George Manierre the meeting was organized by calling His Honor, Mayor James H. Woodworth to the chair. On motion of H. W. Clarke, the following named gentlemen were nominated vice-presidents :

Dr. D. Brainard moved that a committee of five be appointed to draft resolutions explaining the sentiments of the meeting. The chair appointed as such committee Dr. D. Brainard, Prentis Law, Isaac N. Arnold, Samuel Hoard, and S. S. J. Lowe.

Mayor Woodworth addressed the meeting upon the political issues of the day, and characterized slavery as a curse and a blot upon our national escutcheon.

Addresses were made by Norman B. Judd and Henry Brown, the latter speaking at length in favor of harbor and river improvements, and taking stronggrounds against extension of slavery into the territory to be acquired from Mexico.

The Committee on Resolutions reported through Dr. Brainard a set of resolutions, thirteen in number, of which the following is an abstract :

1. Resolved, That we are unalterably hostile to the further extension of slavery ; that while we will not join in the fanaticism which converts a public misfortune into an individual crime, we will on all proper occasions declare we regard slavery as a disgrace and blot upon the good name of our country.

2. That in the establishment of territory now free, it should be made a fundamental principle that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall be allowed, except as punishment of crime.

7. Declares that the Democracy does not ask to make this a test question ; but, on the other hand, in case the issue is forced upon them and must be met, they will never turn doughface at the beck of Southern dictation and prove recreant to their convictions of right and duty.

8. Deprecates the pro-slavery movement of the South, and declares that if it be persisted in it will arouse the self-respect and energies of the Northern free Democracy, who, sacrificing for the time their party predilections to cherished principles, would ultimately accomplish for themselves a Cerro Gordo triumph.

The 9th and 10th resolutions again refer to the ordinance of 1786 in words of praise ; the 1 ith favors judicious harbor and river appropriations ; the 12th eulogizes Thomas H. Benton, and the 13th lauds Silas H. Wright.

After the adoption of the resolutions by acclamation the meeting was eloquently addressed by Henry Brown, Isaac N. Arnold, Thomas Hoyne, Dr. Brainard and George Manierre. Before the meeting adjourned Thomas Hoyne, Dr. Brainard, Mark Skinner, Isaac N. Arnold, E. S. Kimberly, George Manierre and Asa F. Bradley were appointed a committee to formulate and issue an address to the people.

On the afternoon of July 4, 1848, a meeting indorsing Martin Van Buren as the Free Soil candidate was held in the public square, and able speeches were made by Dr. Brainard, Thomas Hoyne, I. N. Arnold, William B. Ogden and W. H. Bushnell.

When the Free Soil party was organized the main principle enunciated in its platform was hostility to the further spread of slavery, but this alone was not sufficient to commend a new party to the disaffected of all other parties. The Liberty party had nominated John P. Hale as its candidate in 1847. The Southern Democratic slavery party had nominated Gen. Cass at

Chicago, Cook County And Illinois

Baltimore, May 22, 1848. The Whig National Convention met at Philadelphia June 7, and nominated Gen. Zachary Taylor, and the friends of Henry Clay were again raising the cry of treachery to their favorite. The Buffalo Free Soil Convention of August nominated Martin Van Buren and Charles Francis Adams for Vice-president, and already the campaign cry of "Van Buren and Free Soil - Adams and Liberty," was reverberating throughout the country. The Democratic ascendancy in Chicago and Cook county had remained uninterrupted except in 1840, when the councils of the party were temporarily divided. Now the forces of Democracy were again to be divided as between Gen. Cass, the regular nominee, and Martin Van Buren, the choice of the Northern Democratic Free Soilers, who, in the main, took issue with their Southern friends over the admission of Texas as a slave State and the Wilmot proviso. While Van Buren carried both the city and the county by a plurality, and the Whig candidate, Zachary Taylor, received a majority over Gen. Lewis Cass, straight Democrat, the vote of the latter, added to the Democratic vote given Van Buren, would prove that the Democrats were yet largely in the majority if united. The vote in Cook county was as follows :

City Of Chicago

The Gem of the Prairie, which was practically the weekly edition of the Tribune at this time, under date of August 19, 1848, published the following official returns of the Congressional vote in Cook county and the vote for county officers, the Congressional contest being the memorable one between J, Young Scammon and "Long John" Wentworth.

For Coroner

While the Free Soil ticket received at large something less than 300,000 votes and failed to carry any electoral votes, it snatched the long-looked for presidential prize from Gen. Cass and the Southern slaveocracy, and while Gen. Taylor was elected, the triumph of the Whig party was brief. Its death knell had been sounded. The Free Soil movement seated Chase in the United States Senate from Ohio; placed in the lower house of Congress enough men to hold the balance of power, kept slavery out of Oregon, and compelled the admission of California as a free state.

Shortly before the National election was held Chicago and the county of Cook had passed through a series of contests of an exciting local nature. The Chicago Daily Democrat for March and April, 1848, contains the vote for and against the new State Constitution, and for and against the negro clause, prohibiting escaped slaves from coming to Illinois. The vote on the adoption of the Constitution by city divisions was as follows :

For the Constitution, North Division, 170; South Division, 566; West Division, 154; Total, 990. Against the Constitution, North Division, 261 ; South Division, 319; West Division, 86; Total, 666 ; Majority for, 324.

For the Negro Clause, North Division, 40 ; South Division, 95 ; West Division, 41 ; Total, 176. Against the Negro Clause, North Division, 388 ; South Division, 484; West Division, 190; Majority against, 886.

The total vote in Cook county was 400 for and 1,084 against the "Negro Clause." Cook county outside of Chicago, 224 for the Negro Clause, and 32 against.

For the 2-mill tax, North Division, 164 ; South Division, 413; West Division, 193; Total, 770. Against, North Division, 259 ; South Division, 145 ; West Division, 38. Majority for, 328. Total vote in the State of Illinois :

"Many appear to be under the impression that the voting at the next August election will be by ballot under the new Constitution. This is an error. Section 15, of the schedule of the new Constitution provides that the General Assembly after their first session after the adoption of the new Constitution shall pass laws regulating the mode of voting by ballot, etc., but that until such laws are passed the voting at all our elections shall be viva voce, as at present."

For Mayor, James Curtiss, nominated on the second ballot, receiving 18 votes, and L. C. Kerchival, 11. For Marshal, R. C. Ross, 21 votes; B. Daily, 8 votes. For Collector, James Fitzsimmons, 20; A. D. Taylor, 7 ; H. Barnes, 3. For Treasurer, Andrew Getzler, 24 ; C. Taylor, 2 ; W. Wright, 2. For Attorney, P. Ballengall, 24 votes ; G. Manierre, 2. For Surveyor, Asa F. Bradley, 22 ; G. W. Clark, 8 ; James Carney, 3.

Mayor, James H. Woodworth, Ind., 1,971 ; James Curtiss, Dem., 1,361 ; Marshal, Ambrose Burnham, Ind. Whig, 1,973 ; R. C. Ross, Dem., 1,265 ; Collector, A. D. Taylor, Dem., 1,948 ; J. Fitzsimmons, Dem., 1,254 ; Attorney, G. Spring, Whig, Ind., 1,912; P. Ballingall, Dem., 1,312; Surveyor, no opposition, A. F. Bradley ; Treasurer, W. L. Church, Ind., 1,941 ; Andrew Getzler, Dem., 1,257. The Independents also elected their Assessors and Street Commissioners in the North and South Divisions and the straight Democrats theirs in the West Division, where they had no opposition. The Independents also elected their Alderman in the Eighth Ward, and narrowly escaped getting John H. Kinzie through in the Ninth, he having been defeated by Samuel McKay by only one vote, as the following resume will show : Aldermen, First Ward, E. Manierre, no opposition ; Second Ward, H. L. Rucker, no opposition ; Third Ward, William Jones, 377 ; W. H. Adams, 41 ; Fourth Ward, Robert Foss, 196 ; C. L. P. Hogan, 172 ; Fifth Ward, J. C. Haines, 248 ; T. Blaney, 3 ; R. Hugunin, 75 ; F. H. Taylor, 70 ; Sixth Ward, A. Pierce, 175 ; Joseph Berry, 90 ; Seventh Ward, P. Turbot, 135 ; E. Granger, 114 ; Eighth Ward, William B. Herrick, 291 ; J. Daley, 184 ; Ninth Ward, Samuel McKay, 131 ; J. H. Kinzie, 130. It will be seen that three other Independents were elected in the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Wards who did not have the direct indorsement of the Independent convention. The election was an exciting one, and the summary given shows that even at this early day something besides the nomination of a well-organized party was sometimes necessary to political success.

For some time a feeling had prevailed that the city was becoming disorderly, and that reform was necessary. March 4, 1848, the city Council adopted the following :

Whereas, Richard C. Ross, City Marshal, has proved to be an inefficient officer by countenancing gambling houses, particularly keno tables, and with his full knowledge tolerated violations of the license ordinance ; therefore

Be it ordained by the Common Council of the city of Chicago, that any person or persons who shall keep within the city of Chicago a keno game, or who shall run or otherwise use the same, or determine any chance or hazard by which any person or persons are to receive any money, check or checks, bank notes or bills, or other valuable thing, shall for each offense pay a penalty of $25, to be recovered by the city of Chicago before any Justice of the Peace, or any court having jurisdiction thereof.

Mayor James H. Woodworth's inaugural message of 1848 gives a better idea of the condition of municipal affairs than almost any other printed statement could convey. After recommending that $5,000 be borrowed to meet current expenses he suggested that the salaries of city officers should be in a large measure derived from the fees collected. He recommended the building of a house for the hose company, and one for a hook and ladder company about to be organized. It was also suggested that a city physician be appointed for attendance at the city hospital. The low stage of water in the Chicago river was adverted to, and it was stated that this must in a measure be remedied at the city's expense. The negotiations between the County Commissioners and the Council in respect to the public square he hoped would be brought to a favorable termination. The relative advantages between planking and paving streets should be determined. The wharfing privileges had been so arranged with individuals that the city would receive six per cent, upon a sum varying but little from $180,000 principal, payable at the option of purchasers. The first $30,000 of the principal was to be used for paying off city liabilities, and the balance of the principal, when paid, to be added to the school fund.

" Mortality in Chicago. - A comparison of the mortality of the city in the months of July and August in 1847 and 1848, on data furnished us by Mr. Bates, the city sexton, shows the following results :

" It will thus be seen that, notwithstanding the large increase in population within the year, there has been a considerable gain in the public health in 1848 over that for the corresponding period of 1847."

October 28 it is stated that Norris' Chicago Directory, just published, contains about 6,000 names. November 4 it is stated that the population of the city, as given by the same directory, is as follows :

The Illinois and Michigan Canal was then the great commercial highway between the city and the interior of the state. The following references to canal craft and tolls are selected as showing the volume of traffic at that date :

"September 30 : Canal Craft. - There are 150 boats of all descriptions running upon the canal, with an aggregate of about 13,000 tons capacity."

Mayor Woodworth was re-elected by the Democrats March 6, 1849. 1° his second inaugural message, he recommended an immediate and thorough cleansing of the city, in view of the probable approach of the cholera, and the adoption of a uniform system of drainage. Among other plans suggested was that of putting down sewers near the surface of the ground in the principal streets leading to the Chicago river, connecting the whole with the reservoirs of the Chicago Hydraulic Company, with a view of cleansing the pipes by forcing a rapid passage of fresh water through them by means of this connection.

The increase of petty crimes and the prevalence of criminals was commented upon, and the establishment of a Bridewell or House of Correction was recommended. It was noted that the depressed condition of the city's finances made it impossible to make such appropriations for the maintenance of the Fire Department as its necessities required. Mention was made of damage done by a flood in the river, and it was further stated that the public grounds between Michigan avenue and the- lake shore were being wasted away by the action of the water. The outstanding orders upon the city treasury amounted to between $3,000 and $4,000, and the available means of the city were insufficient to liquidate this indebtedness. The result of this condition of affairs was the depreciation in value of city orders, and a resultant loss to their holders of from 5 to 6 per cent.

Mayor James H. Woodworth was a native of New York, who arrived in Chicago in 1833, and early became prominent in business and political life. He was engaged in the milling business, and was part owner of the old Hydraulic Mills for a time. He was elected Alderman in 1845, an^ also in 1847, and in 1854 he was elected to Congress, serving during the session of 1855-7.

In the spring of 1850 the Democrats again nominated James Curtiss, and he was duly elected March 5, and served as the fourteenth Mayor of Chicago.

For two years following the adoption of the new state constitution of 1848, containing the "Negro Clause," and during Mayor Curtiss' second term the agitation over the "Black Laws" was kept up by citizens of Chicago and generally throughout the state. July 8, 1850, Isaac N. Arnold, J. H Collins, John M. Wilson, Edwin C. Larned, George Manierre and Grant Goodrich issued a challenge in which, like knights of old, they proposed to contend against any orators that might come, that the Fugitive slave law was unconstitutional and should be repealed.

Whereas, The Fugitive Slave act recently passed by Congress is revolting to our moral sense and an outrage upon our feelings of justice and humanity, because it disregards all the securities which the Constitution and laws have thrown around personal liberty, and its direct tendency is to alienate the people from their love and reverence for the Government and institutions of our country ; therefore,

Resolved, That as the Supreme Court of the United States has solemnly adjudged that State officers are under no obligations to fulfill duties imposed upon them as such officers by an act of Congress, we do not, therefore, consider it our duty or the duty of the city officers of the city of Chicago to aid or assist in the arrest of fugitives from oppression, and by withholding such aid or assistance we do not believe that our harbor appropriations will be withheld, our railroads injured, our commerce destroyed, or that treason would be committed against the Government.

Whereas, The Fugitive Slave bill virtually suspends the habeas corpus act, and the Senators and Representatives in Congress of the free States who sneaked away from their seats and aided and abetted in the passage of this law, richly merit the reproach of all lovers of freedom, and are only to be ranked with the traitor Benedict Arnold, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed his Lord and Master for thirty pieces of silver ; therefore,

Resolved, That the citizens, officers, and police of the City of Chicago be, and they are hereby requested to abstain from any and all interference in the capture and delivering up of the fugitives from unrighteous oppression, of whatever nation, name or color.

Resolved, That the Fugitive Slave law lately passed by Congress is a cruel and unjust law, and ought not to be respected by an intelligent community, and that this Council will not require the city police to render any assistance for the arrest of fugitive slaves.

the Council by cutting off the harbor appropriations and railroad grants, was held at the City Hall, October 23. Senator Douglas addressed the meeting, expounding the Fugitive Slave law, and advocating it as a wise and necessary measure. Resolutions were adopted eulogistic of the Congress and impliedly indorsing the Fugitive Slave bill, and B. S. Morris thereupon introduced the following resolution, which was also adopted :

Resolved, That our Senators and Representatives in the Congress of the United States are entitled to our most profound gratitude for their exertions in procuring the passage of several laws at the late session of Congress, calculated to insure the completion of a railroad through the center of our State, and to restore its credit to that position it is entitled to occupy.

Resolved, That we, the people of Chicago, repudiate the resolutions passed by the Common Council of Chicago upon the subject of the Fugitive Slave law, passed by Congress at its last session.

At a meeting of the Common Council held the following night, October 24, Aid. Dodge moved to reconsider the action on the Fugitive Slave law. Carried, ayes 12, nays 1. Aid. Hamilton then offered a resolution to expunge tjie resolutions from the record, which on his own motion was laid upon the table.

In February, 1851, the Democrats nominated Walter S. Gurnee for mayor. He was a substantial business man, being in the saddlery business and carrying a stock of general hardware, and was also one of the first directors of the Board of Trade. Later on, and until his retirement from business, he operated one of the largest tanneries in the West. He had great confidence in the future of Chicago, and made liberal investments in real estate. He was born at Haverstraw, New York, in 18 13, and arrived in Chicago in 1836. In 1863 he removed to New York City.

The date of Mayor Gurnee's first election was March 4, 1851, and in his inaugural message, delivered March 11, he referred first to the report of the Finance Committee, which showed an indebtedness of $101,304.19, and recommended that inasmuch as the portion falling due during the current year bore 12 per cent, interest, the funding of the whole debt, and that bonds be issued at a lower rate of interest. The message adverted to the importance of sustaining the water commissioners ; recommended a permanent system of sewerage, the excavation and purification of the river, cleansing of the streets ; the erection of public buildings in the Court House square commensurate with the city's importance; the extension of the public schools, and the reorganization of the police department. It was also suggested that all ordinances which could not be strictly enforced be repealed, as, if allowed to remain, they would have a tendency to encourage violations of those which were susceptible of enforcement.

In 1850 the Democrats carried Cook county in the Congressional election for Richard S. Molony, of Belvidere, by 2,863 votes, to 1,880 for Churchill C. Coffins, the Whig candidate; Molony's majority being 983. This vote was considered indicative of the way in which the county would go at the next Presidential election, and it was not a mistaken basis, for Franklin Pierce carried the county November 3, 1852, by a majority of 885 over Winfield Scott, the Whig candidate, and John P. Hale, Free Soiler, and the city of Chicago by 646 votes over the combined vote of his opponents, the vote being as follows :

This was the last of Democratic ascendancy in the politics of Cook county and Chicago, and the causes leading to the decline of the party here were the same that operated adversely to the National party at large. The unpopularity of Whig principles and the reaction from 1848 had weakened and disintegrated that party, and the defeat of Gen. Scott was the finishing blow. The Whigs never again nominated a candidate, but four years following many of them gave their votes to Fillmore, the candidate of the American party, and successor to President Taylor, after the latter's death, in July, 1850. The Democratic party would therefore have had a clear field in 1856 had it not been for the organization of the Republican party. By some authorities it is claimed that the Liberty party supplied the nucleus of the Republican party. In 1842 the Liberty party polled but 142 votes in Illinois; in 1852 it had 10,000 votes in the State, but

John P. Hale, the Free Soil candidate, got fewer votes by far in Cook county than Van Buren had polled as the first Free Soil candidate in 1848. The Republican party was not at first a party of Abolition, nor was emancipation thought of by many of its founders until the exigencies of war and the arrogant and traitorous action of the slave power moved President Lincoln to issue his famed Emancipation Proclamation. The party at first was composed of anti-slavery Democrats, anti-slavery Whigs, and anti-slavery Americans, all animated with the hope of preventing the further absorption of free territory and of checking the aggressive movements of the adherents of slavery in the councils of the government. These unsettled elements were not all united in a distinct, well-organized and formidable party until John C. Fremont was chosen as a leader upon the bold, broad and inspiring declaration that there should be no further extension of slavery or aggrandizement of power by its promoters, and the adoption of a platform embodying other popular principles. The question of whether the Republican party of Illinois or of the nation first had birth is a debatable one. Biographers of Zebina Eastman relate that it was born at a meeting held in Rockford in June, 1854, which meeting was presided over by Hooper Warren or Selden M. Church, the latter for many years a citizen of Rockford, and prominently identified with the antislavery movement. Other political authorities make claims of meetings having been held in Springfield, Jacksonville and Bloomington as early as 1853. It is probable, however, that the anti-slavery sentiment first developed organization nearer the Northern than the Southern end of the " Underground Railroad ;" in the clear air and by the pure waters of Lake Michigan rather than on the sultry confines of Egypt.

In April, 1854, a meeting of prominent Chicago and state politicians, including Democrats and Whigs, who were opposed to the course of Stephen A. Douglas in the United States Senate, was held in Room 4, Tremont House. There were present Abraham Lincoln, Lyman Trumbull, Mark Skinner, O. H. Browning, John E. Stewart, David Davis, Norman B. Judd, J. Young Scammon, Francis C. Sherman and others equally wellknown. Those present pledged themselves to the support of an "Anti- Nebraska" party, and appointed a committee to agitate the subject. This led to a fusion of sentiment that revolutionized the politics of the entire northern part of the state.

tur February 22, 1856. Among the prominent men present were Dr. C. H. Ray, of the Chicago Tribune, George Schneider, founder of the Illinois Staats Zeitung, and William 13. Ogden. This meeting issued a call for a state convention to be held at Bloomington, May 29. Prominent Chicago men in this convention were James McKee, who was elected one of the Vice- Presidents ; C. L. Wilson, one of the Secretaries ; Dr. C. H. Ray, and Norman B. Judd, who were made members of the State Central Committee, and John Wentworth and Lyman Trumbull, delegates. On the 17th of June the great convention of antislavery Democrats and Whigs of the North was held at Philadelphia, and John C. Fremont was nominated for the presidency by the National Republican party, the name already adopted by the organization in Illinois. The election duly occurred November 4, 1856, after an exciting campaign of five months' duration, and the result in Cook county and Chicago, was as follows :

Dr. Levi D. Boone and W. N. Danenhower were electors on the Fillmore ticket. This ticket received 37,531 votes in Illinois as against 105,528 for Buchanan, and 96,278 for Fremont. The Democrats secured a majority in both houses of the Legislature. Samuel Holmes was elected Speaker of the House over Isaac N. Arnold, by a vote of 36 to 28.

While Buchanan carried the state of Illinois by a plurality of 9,250, the Republicans elected Bissell governor over Richardson, by a majority of 4,697. Thus the Republican party had, by the surprising favor with which its principles were received, swallowed up in four years the Whig and Free Soil parties, and had weakened the Democrats to such an extent that they never recovered lost ground as a National party embodying the same platforms of principles as had theretofore characterized the party. During the time these important elections transpired the Congressional elections in the district including Cook county followed the same tendency of sentiment.

The census of 1850 increased the representation of Illinois in Congress from seven to nine members, and by the redistribution the numbers of the districts were changed. In 1852 the First District extended from Galena to Waukegan, in Lake county, and Zebina Eastman and other Chicagoans took considerable interest in the politics of the district, although it did not belong to Chicago. The voters of the Liberty party then held the balance of power in several districts, and in the First District they were advised by Zebina Eastman not to throw away their votes. Their votes went to elect Elihu Washburne, of Galena, then a Whig, over Thompson Campbell, Democrat, or "Locofoco," and although Mr. Washburne made no pledges, he proved to be a sincere friend of the cause, and became a prominent Republican leader when that party was formed. He represented the First District from 1853 to 1863, and the Third from 1863 to March 9, 1869, when he resigned to accept the office of Minister to France. Mr. Washburne gave the protection of the American flag to the Germans in Paris during the Franco-German war, and in 1880 was a prominent candidate for the presidency, his residence being then and since in Chicago.

John Wentworth was elected to Congress in 1842 from the then Fourth District, which included Cook county, and served four terms in succession as a Democrat. He was elected as a Democrat from the Second District and served from 1853 to 1855, and from the First District from 1855 to 1867. The Congressional vote of Cook county in 1854, was for James H. Woodworth, Free Soil, 3,448 ; for Turner, Democrat, 1,175.

In 1858 there were three candidates : John F. Farnsworth, Republican, who received 10,108 votes ; Thomas Dyer, Douglas Democrat, 8,278 votes, and Robert Blackwell, Administration Democrat, 305 votes.

Chapter Iv

LINCOLN, SHIELDS AND TRUMBULL - A MEMORABLE CONTEST - THE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES THE CAMPAIGN OF I 860 CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY IN THE WAR DOUGLAS' PATRIOTISM

The first real break of the Democratic grasp upon the politics of Illinois in which prominent Chicago men took an active part, was at the time of the Kansas-Nebraska excitement. In the Senate of the Nineteenth General Assembly, which convened January i, 1855, were Norman B. Judd, Burton C. Cook and John M. Palmer, all anti-Nebraska Democrats. A United States Senator to succeed Senator James Shields was to be elected. Abraham Lincoln was the Whig candidate, and Gen. Shields the Democratic. The balloting commenced in joint session February 8, and resulted as follows :

On the seventh ballot Gen. Shields' name was withdrawn, and that of Joel A. Matteson substituted. The result was, Matteson, 44 ; Lincoln, 38 ; scattering 16.

The result of the tenth ballot was Trumbull, 51 ; Matteson, 47 ; scattering 1, and Trumbull having received a majority of all votes cast, was declared the Senator elect.

It is related that when Mr. Lincoln found that he could not get the votes of Messrs. Judd, Cook, Palmer, and that of Henry S. Baker, an anti-Nebraska Whig, which would have secured his election, he, while standing in the lobby, reached over and

Chicago, Cook County, And Illinois. 8 I.

Lyman Trumbull was re-elected United States Senator January 10, 1861, over Samuel S. Marshall, by a vote of 54 to 46. The Republicans had a majority in both branches of the legislature, and it was the first time in the history of the state that any party other than the Democratic had a majority in both Houses.

Senator Douglas challenged the manner in which the first election of Trumbull was brought about in his second joint debate with Lincoln at Freeport, August 27, 1858. These two oratorical giants had debated before this at Chicago. July 9, at Chicago, Douglas made a deliberate and carefully phrased conclusion on Lincoln's speech of June 16, and the following day (July 10), Lincoln made a brief review of Douglas' speech of the 9th. This preliminary crossing of swords led to the challenge of Douglas to a joint debate by Lincoln, July 24. The challenge and reply were written in Chicago, both at the Tremont House, where both of these eminent men were frequently guests, and Mr. Lincoln's challenge was handed to Mr. Douglas by Norman B. Judd, who then represented Cook county in the State Senate. Douglas fixed upon the places of meeting and Lincoln accepted the list July 31. In his address at Freeport, Mr. Douglas said :

"In 1854, after the death of Clay and Webster, Mr. Lincoln, on the part of the Whigs, undertook to Abolitionize the Whig party, by dissolving it, transferring the members into the Abolition camp, and making them train under Giddings, Fred Douglas, Lovejoy, Chase, Farnsworth, and other Abolition leaders. Trumbull undertook to dissolve the Democratic party by taking them into the Abolition camp. Mr. Lincoln was aided in his efforts by many leading Whigs throughout the state, your Member of Congress, Mr. Washburne, being one of the most active. Trumbull was aided by many renegades from the Democratic party, among whom were John Wentworth, Tom Turner and others with whom you are familiar. * * *

"When the bargain between Lincoln and Trumbull was completed for Abolitionizing the Whig and Democratic parties they 'spread' over the state, Lincoln pretending to be an old line Whig, in order to rope in the Whigs, and Trumbull pretending to be as good a Democrat as he ever was in order to coax the Democrats over into the Abolition ranks. * * *

" It has been published to the world and satisfactorily proven, that there was, at the time the alliance was made between Trumbull and Lincoln to Abolitionize the two parties, an agreement that Lincoln should take Shields' place in the United States Senate, and Trumbull should have mine so soon as they could conveniently get rid of me. When Lincoln was beaten for Shields' place * * * he felt sore and restive ; his friends grumbled, and some of them came out and charged that the most infamous treachery had been practiced against him ; that the bargain was that Lincoln was to have had Shields' place and Trumbull was to have waited for mine, but that Trumbull, having the control of a few Abolitionized Democrats, he prevented them from voting for Lincoln, thus keeping him within a few votes of an election until he succeeded in forcing the party to drop him and elect Trumbull. Well, Trumbull having cheated Lincoln, his friends made a fuss, and in order to keep them and Lincoln quiet, the party were obliged to come forward, in advance, at the last state election, and make a pledge that they would go for Lincoln and nobody else. Lincoln could not be silenced in any other way."

Prior to the opening of the joint debates Lincoln's friends were fearful that he would commit himself by expressions which would allow Douglas the advantage over him, and when, at the opening of the debate just quoted from, Lincoln propounded four certain questions bearing upon the extension of slave territory, they came to him and insisted that he had played right into Douglas' hands ; that he had done just what Douglas could most have desired him to do, and had as good as elected him to the Senate.

Lincoln replied : "That may be, but it will defeat him for the Presidency." The answers made by Douglas to these questions lost him the support of the Southern Democrats in i860, and created the opportunity for the election of a president by the Republicans, and Lincoln was the man of the hour, who, on account of the prominence he had gained in his controversy with Douglas, became the popular and victorious nominee of the Republican party.

Mr. Lincoln was nominated for President by the Republican National Convention, which assembled in the Wigwam building, southeast corner of Lake and Market streets, May 16, i860, and Mr. Douglas by the Democratic National Convention, at Baltimore, June 18.

field. The Lincoln and Hamlin electoral ticket was headed by- Leonard Swett. It received 171,137 votes in the State, and of the number 14,589 were given to Mr. Lincoln in Cook county. Among the Douglas and Johnson electors were S. Corning Judd, James L. D. Morrison, and Calvin A. Warren. The highest vote the ticket received in the State was 158,257, and in Cook county 9,846. The Bell and Everett electors received 4,851 votes in the State, and 107 in Cook county. This ticket is called by many the " Straight Whig " ticket, and by others the " Constitutional Union" ticket, the latter from the convention of twenty States that met in convention at Baltimore, May 9. The Breckinridge and Lane ticket, called the Bourbon, or Southern Democratic ticket, received 2,288 votes in the State and 87 of them were cast in Cook county. In this election Isaac N. Arnold, Republican, defeated Augustus M. Herrington, Douglas- Democrat, for Congress, receiving 14,663 votes in Cook county to 9,791 for Herrington, who ran slightly behind Douglas. The total vote for Congressman in the district was 47,856, of which Arnold received 30,834; Herrington, 16,950; scattering, 72.

The Twenty-Second General Assembly convened January 7, 1 86 1. The Chicago delegation numbered William B. Ogden in the Senate, and in the House J. Young Scarrwnon, William H. Brown, S. M. Wilson and Homer Wilmarth. April 23 Gov. Richard Yates convened the General Assembly in extraordinary session to take action upon President Lincoln's call for 75,000 men to put down the rebellion and preserve the Union. Governor Yates, in his message to the Assembly, in referring to the services tendered him in his efforts to raise troops and money, said: "Our principal city (Chicago) has responded with contributions of men and money worthy of her fame for public spirit and patriotic devotion. Nearly a million of money has been offered to the State, as a loan, by our patriotic capitalists and other private citizens, to pay the expenses connected with the raising of our State troops and temporarily providing for them."

Lyman Trumbull, who had just been elected United States Senator, and John A. McClernand, who had been returned to Congress from the Sixth district, ably addressed the Senate and House in January in favor of the prosecution of the war and crushing the rebellion.

The patriotic principles and unselfish disposition of Senator Douglas were illustrated by his visit to President Lincoln, shortly after his proclamation calling for 75,000 troops had been issued, and his assurance to his successful rival that he intended to stand by him as long as his country was in peril. It was then the famous "Douglas dispatch" was formulated and sent to the country through the medium of the Associated press. It was as follows :

"April 18, 1 86 1, Senator Douglas called on the President and had an interesting conversation on the present condition of the country. The substance of it was, on the part of Mr. Douglas, that while he was unalterably opposed to the administration in all its political issues, he was prepared to fully sustain the President in the exercise of all his constitutional functions to preserve the Union, maintain the Government and defend the Federal capital. A firm policy and prompt action were necessary. The capital was in danger, and must be defended at all hazards, and at any expense of men and money. He spoke of the present and future, without reference to the past."

The General Assembly of Illinois having passed a joint resolution requesting Senator Douglas to address them on the great issues of the hour, he arrived at Springfield and addressed the two Houses April 25. The following are extracts from his speech on this occasion :

" For the first time since the adoption of the Federal Constitution, a widespread conspiracy exists to overthrow the best government the sun of heaven ever shone upon. An invading army is marching upon Washington. The boast has gone forth from the Secretary of War of the so-called Confederate States that by the first of May the rebel army will be in possession of the National capital, and by the first of July its headquarters will be in old Independence Hall. * * The only question for us is whether we shall wait supinely for the invaders, or rush, as one man, to the defense of that we hold most dear. Piratical flags are afloat on the ocean, under pretended letters of marque. Our great river has been closed to the commerce of the Northwest. * * So long as hope remained of peace, I plead and implored for compromise. Now, that all else has failed, there is but one course left, and that is to rally as one man under the flag of Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison and Franklin. At what time since the government was organized have the constitutional rights of the South been more secure than now? For the first time since the Constitution was adopted, there is no legal restriction against the spread of slavery in the territories. When was the Fugitive Slave law more faithfully executed ? What single act has been done to justify this mad attempt to overthrow the Republic ? We are told that because a certain party has carried a Presidential election, therefore the South chose to con- sider their liberties insecure ! I had supposed it was a fundamental principle of American institutions that the will of the majority, constitutionally expressed, should govern ! If the defeat at the ballot-box is to justify rebellion, the future history of the United States may be read in the past history of Mexico. It is a prodigious crime against the freedom of the world to attempt to blot the United States out of the map of Christendom. How long do you think it will be before the guillotine is in operation ? Allow me to say to my former political enemies, you will not be true to your country if you seek to make political capital out of these disasters ; and my old friends, you will be false and unworthy of your principles if you allow political defeat to convert you into traitors to your native land. The shortest way now to peace is the most stupendous and unanimous preparations for war."