- Ulysses, husband of Penelope, 189- borrows Universe, its breeching, 246. University, triennial catalogue of, 191. Us, nobody to be compared with, 225- and see Van Buren, fails of gaining Mr. Sawin's confi- Van, Old, plan to set up, 215. Vattel, as likely to fall on your toes as on mine, 192 -- - - Wilbur, Rev. Homer, A. M., consulted, 181 - - - ter of Rev. Mr. Hitchcock concerning, 265, 266--fond of Milton's Christmas hymn, 266 - his monument (proposed), ib. · his epitaph, ib.- his last letter, 266, 267-his supposed disembodied spirit, 269-table belonging to, ib.-sometimes wrote Latin verses, ib. — his table-talk, 272-275-his prejudices, 273against Baptists, ib. -his sweet nature, 277 -his views of style, 278 -a story of his, ib. Wildbore, a vernacular one, how to escape, 197. Wilkes, Captain, borrows rashly, 234. Wind, the, a good Samaritan, 206. Wingfield, his "Memorial," 241. Wooden leg, remarkable for sobriety, 207- Works, covenants of, condemned, 242. Yankees, their worst wooden nutmegs, 253. IV. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS Page 111. On any pot that ever drew tea. When Mr. Garrison visited Edinburgh in 1846, a handsome silver tea-set was presented to him by his friends in that city. On the arrival of this gift at the Boston custom-house, it was charged with an enormous entrance duty, which would have been remitted if the articles had ever been used. It was supposed that if the owner had not been the leader of the unpopular abolitionists, this heavy impost would not have been laid on a friendly British tribute to an eminent American. Page 111. There jokes our Edmund. Page 112. Let Austin's total shipwreck say. On the occasion of the murder of Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy, editor of an anti-slavery newspaper at Alton, Illinois, an indignation meeting was held in Boston, at which Mr. Austin, AttorneyGeneral of Massachusetts, made a violent proslavery speech, which called forth a crushing reply from Wendell Phillips, who thenceforth became a main pillar of abolitionism. Page 112. Smiles the reviled and pelted Stephen. Stephen S. Foster. Page 112. Sits Abby in her modest dress. Page 131. There is Bryant, as quiet, as cool, and as dignified. [I am quite sensible now that I did not do Mr. Bryant justice in the "Fable." But there was no personal feeling in what I said - though I have regretted what I did say because it might seem personal. I am now asked to write a review of his poems for the North American. If I do, I shall try to do him justice. Letters I. 221.] Page 137. But there comes Miranda, Zeus ! where shall I flee to? [If it be not too late, strike out these four verses in "Miranda :" There is one thing she owns in her own private right, THE BIGLOW PAPERS I am indebted to Mr. Frank Beverly Williams for these illustrative notes. FIRST SERIES It This series of the Biglow Papers relates to the Mexican War. It expresses the sentiment of New England, and particularly of Massachusetts, on that conflict, which in its aim and conduct had little of honor for the American Republic. The war was begun and prosecuted in the interest of Southern slaveholders. was essential to the vitality of slavery that fresh fields should constantly be opened to it. Agriculture was almost the sole industry in which slaves could be profitably employed. That their labor should be wasteful and careless to preserve the productive powers of the soil was inevitable. New land was ever in demand, and the history of slavery in the United States is one long series of struggles for more territory. It was with this end in view that a colony of roving, adventurous Americans, settled in the thinly populated and poorly governed region now known as Texas, revolted from the Mexican government and secured admission to the Union, thus bringing on the war with Mexico. The Northern Whigs had protested against annexation, but after the war began their resistance grew more and more feeble. In the vain effort to retain their large Southern constituent, they sacrificed justice to expediency and avoided an issue that would not be put down. The story of the Mexican War is the story of the gradual decline of the great Whig party, and of the growth of that organization, successively known as the Liberty, FreeSoil, and Republican party, whose policy was the exclusion of slavery from all new territory. One more victory was granted to the Whigs in 1848. After that their strength failed rapidly. Northern sentiment was being roused to a sense of righteous indignation by Southern aggressions and the fervid exhortations of Garrison and his co-workers in the anti-slavery cause. Few, however, followed Garrison into disloyalty to the Constitution. The greater number preferred to stay in the Union and use such lawful political means as were available for the restriction of slavery. Their wisdom was demonstrated by the election of Abraham Lincoln twelve years after the Mexican War closed. Page 181. A cruetin Sarjunt. The act of May 13, 1846, authorized President Polk to employ the militia, and call out 50,000 volunteers, if necessary. He immediately called for the full number of volunteers, asking Massachusetts for 777 men. On May 26 Governor Briggs issued a proclamation for the enrolment of the regiment. As the President's call was merely a request and not an order, many Whigs and the Abolitionists were for refusing it. The Liberator for June 5 severely censured the governor for complying, and accused him of not carrying out the resolutions of the last Whig Convention, which had pledged the party to present as firm a front of opposition to the institution as was consistent with their allegiance to the Constitution." Page 182. Massachusetts... she's akneelin' with the rest. An allusion to the governor's call for troops (cf. note to p. 181) as well as to the vote on the War Bill. On May 11, 1846, the President sent to the House of Representatives his well-known message declaring the existence of war brought on "by the act of Mexico," and asking for a supply of $10,000,000. Of the seven members from Massachusetts, all Whigs, two, Robert C. Winthrop, of Boston, and Amos Abbott, of Andover, voted for the bill. The Whigs throughout the country, remembering the fate of the party which had opposed the last war with England, sanctioned the measure as necessary for the preservation of the army, then in peril by the unauthorized acts of the President. Page 182. Ha'n't they sold your colored seamen? Ha'n't they made your env'ys w'iz? South Carolina, Louisiana, and several other Southern States at an early date passed acts to prevent free persons of color from entering their jurisdictions. These acts bore with particular severity upon colored seamen, who were imprisoned, fined, or whipped, and often sold into slavery. On the petition of the Massachusetts Legislature, Governor Briggs, in 1844, appointed Mr. Samuel Hoar agent to Charleston, and Mr. George Hubbard to New Orleans, to act on behalf of oppressed colored citizens of the Bay State. Mr. Hoar was expelled from South Carolina by order of the Legislature of that State, and Mr. Hubbard was forced_by threats of violence to leave Louisiana. The obnoxious acts remained in force until after the Civil War. Page 183. Go to work an' part. Propositions to secede were not uncommon in New England at this time. The rights of the States had been strongly asserted on the acquisition of Louisiana in 1803, and on the admission of the State of that name in 1812. Among the resolutions of the Massachusetts Legislature adopted in 1845, relative to the proposed annexation of Texas, was one declaring that "such an act of admission would have no binding force whatever on the people of Massachusetts.' John Quincy Adams, in a discourse before the New York Historical Society, in 1839, claimed a right for the States to part in friendship with each other when the fraternal spirit shall give way," etc. The Garrisonian wing of the Abolitionists notoriously advocated secession. There were several other instances of an expression of this sentiment, but for the most part they were not evoked by opposition to slavery. Page 184. Hoorawin' in ole Funnel. The Massachusetts regiment, though called for May 13, 1846, was not mustered into the United States' service till late in January of the next year. The officers, elected January 5, 1847, were as follows: Caleb Cushing, of Newburyport, Colonel; Isaac H. Wright, of Roxbury, Lieutenant-Colonel; Edward W. Abbott, of Andover, Major. Shortly before the troops embarked for the South, on the evening of Saturday, January 23, 1847, a public meeting was held in Faneuil Hall, where an elegant sword was presented to Mr. Wright by John A. Bolles, on behalf of the subscribers. Mr. Bolles' speech on this occasion is the one referred to. Page 184. Mister Bolles. Mr. John Augustus Bolles was the author of a prize essay on a Congress of Nations, published by the American Peace Society, an essay on Usury and Usury Laws, and of various articles in the North American Review and other periodicals. He was also the first editor of the Boston Journal. In 1843 he was Secretary of State for Massachusetts. Page 185. Rantoul. Mr. Robert Rantoul (1805-1852), a prominent lawyer and a most accomplished gentleman, was at this time United States District Attor ney for Massachusetts. In 1851 he succeeded Webster in the Senate, but remained there a short time only. He was a Representative in Congress from 1851 till his death. Although a Democrat, Mr. Rantoul was strongly opposed to slavery. Page 185. Achokin' on 'em. Mr. Rantoul was an earnest advocate of the abolition of capital punishment. Public attention had recently been called to his views by some letters to Governor Briggs on the subject, written in February, 1846. Page 186. Caleb. Caleb Cushing, of Newburyport, Colonel of the Massachusetts Regiment of Volunteers. Page 188. Guvener B. George Nixon Briggs was the Whig Governor of Massachusetts from 1844 to 1851. The campaign referred to here is that of 1847. Governor Briggs was renominated by acclamation and supported by his party with great enthusiasm. His opponent was Caleb Cushing, then in Mexico, and raised by President Polk to the rank of Brigadier-General. Cushing was defeated by a majority of 14,060. Page 188. John P. Robinson. John Paul Robinson (1799-1864) was a resident of Lowell, a lawyer of considerable ability. and a thorough classical scholar. He represented Lowell in the State Legislature in 1829, 1830, 1831, 1833, and 1842, and was Senator from Middlesex in 1836. Late in the guber natorial contest of 1847 it was rumored that Robinson, heretofore a zealous Whig, and a delegate to the recent Springfield Convention, had gone over to the Democratic or, as it was then styled, the "Loco" camp. The editor of the Boston Palladium wrote to him to learn the truth, and Robinson replied in an open letter avowing his intention to vote for Cushing. Page 188. Gineral C. General Caleb Cushing. Page 189. "Our country, however bounded." Mr. R. C. Winthrop, M. C., in a speech at Faneuil Hall, July 4, 1845, said in deprecation of secession: "Our country-bounded by the St. John's and the Sabine, or however otherwise bounded or described, and be the measurements more or less-still our country- -to be cherished in all our hearts, to be defended by all our hands." The sentiment was at once taken up and used effectively by the "Cotton Whigs, those who inclined to favor the Mexican War. Page 190. The Liberator. The Liberator was William Lloyd Garrison's anti-slavery paper, published from 1831 to 1865. The "heresies" of which Mr. Wilbur speaks were Garrison's advocacy of secession, his wellknown and eccentric views on "no government, woman suffrage, etc. Page 191. Scott. General W. Scott was mentioned as a possible Whig candidate for the Presidency in the summer of 1847, but was soon overshadowed by General Taylor. Page 192. Palfrey. December 6, 1847, Mr. R. C. Winthrop, of Boston, the Whig candidate for Speaker of the House in the Thirtieth Congress, was elected after three ballots. Mr. John Gorham Palfrey, elected a Whig member from Boston, and Mr. Joshua Giddings, of Ohio, refused to vote for Winthrop, and remained firm to the last in spite of the intensity of public opinion in their party. The election of a Whig Speaker in a manner depended on their votes. Had they supported Winthrop, he could have been elected on the second ballot. At the third he could not have been elected without them had not Mr. Levin, a Native American member, changed his vote, and Mr. Holmes, a Democrat from South Carolina, left the hall. Mr. Palfrey refused to vote for Mr. Winthrop because he was assured the latter would not, though his power over the committees, exert his influence to arrest the war and obstruct the extension of slavery into new territory. So bold and decided a stand at so critical a time excited great indignation for a time among the "Cotton" Whigs of Boston. Page 193. Springfield Convention. This convention was held September 29, 1847. The substance of the resolutions is given by Mr. Biglow. Page 195. Monteery. Monterey, the capital of Nueva Leon, capitulated September 24, 1846, thus giving the United States' troops control over about two thirds of the territory and one tenth of the population of Mexico. Page 196. Cherry Buster. The Boston Courier, in which the Biglow Papers first appeared, was a Conscience Whig paper. Page 197. Drayton and Sayres. 66 In April, 1848, an attempt was made to abduct seventy-seven slaves from Washington in the schooner Pearl, under the conduct of Captain Drayton and Sayres, or Sayers, his mate. The slaves were speedily recaptured and sold South, while their brave defenders barely escaped with their lives from an infuriated mob. The Abolitionists in Congress determined to evoke from that body some expression of sentiment on the subject. On the 20th of April Senator Hale introduced a resolution implying but not expressing sympathy with the oppressed. It stirred the slaveholders to unusual intemperance of language. Calhoun was amazed that even the Senator from New Hampshire had so little regard for the Constitution," and, forgetting his usual dignity, declared he "would as soon argue with a maniac from Bedlam" as with Mr. Hale. Mr. Foote, of Mississippi, was, perhaps, the most violent of all. He denounced any attempt of Congress to legislate on the subject of slavery as a nefarious attempt to commit grand larceny." He charged Mr. Hale with being as guilty as if he had committed highway robbery," and went on to say, "I invite him to visit Mississippi, and will tell him beforehand, in all honesty, that he could not go ten miles into the interior before he would grace one of the tallest trees of the forest with a rope around his neck, with the approbation of all honest and patriotic citizens; and that, if necessary, I should myself assist in the operation." 66 Mr. Hale stood almost alone with his resolution, which was soon arrested by an adjournment. A similar resolution failed in the House. Drayton and Sayres were convicted by the District Court and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. In 1852 Senator Sumner secured for them an unconditional pardon from President Fillmore. Page 198. Mr. Foote. Cf. note above. Mr. Henry S. Foote was Senator from Mississippi from 1847 to 1852. He was a member of the Confederate Congress, and the author of The War of the Rebellion, and Personal Recollections of Public Men. Page 198. Mangum. The revolution in France was hailed with delight in the United States as a triumph of freedom and popular government. In Congress the event gave opportunity for much sounding declamation, in which the Southern members participated with as much enthusiasm as those from the North. At the same time when the Abolitionists sought to turn all this philosophy to some more practical application nearer home, the attempt was bitterly denounced at Washington and by the Democratic press generally. A striking instance of this inconsistency is afforded by a speech of Senator Foote. "The age of tyrants and slavery," said he, in allusion to France, "is drawing to a close. The happy period to be signalized by the universal emancipation of man from the fetters of civil oppression, and the recognition in all countries of the great principles of popular sovereignty, equality, and brotherhood, is at this moment visibly commencing." A few days later, when Mr. Mann, the attorney for Drayton and Sayres, | quoted these very words in palliation of his clients' offence, he was peremptorily checked by the judge for uttering inflammatory words that might "endanger our institutions." Page 203. Candidate for the Presidency. In the campaign of 1848 the Whigs determined to have substantially no platform or programme at all, in order to retain the Southern element in their party, Accordingly a colorless candidate was selected in the person of General Zachary Taylor, who, it was said, had never voted or made any political confession of faith. He was nominated as the "people's candidate," and men of all parties were invited to support him. He refused to pledge himself to any policy or enter into any details, unless on some such obsolete issue as that of a National Bank. After it became apparent that his followers were chiefly Whigs, he declared himself a Whig also, although not an ultra one." He particularly avoided compromising himself on the slavery question. When, in the beginning of 1847, Mr. J. W. Taylor, of the Cincinnati Signal, questioned him on the Wilmot Proviso, he answered in such vague phrases that the confused editor interpreted them first as favoring and finally as opposing the measure. declaration, together with the candidate's announcement that he was a Whig, was taken in the North to mean that he was opposed to the extension of slavery. The fact that he was a Southerner and a slaveholder was sufficient to reassure the South. Page 203. Pinto. This Pseudonym of Mr. Charles F. Briggs (18101877), the same who was afterwards associated with Edgar A. Poe on the Broadway Review. Page 204. Thet darned Proviso. August 8, 1846, the President addressed a message to both Houses asking for $2,000,000 to conclude a peace with Mexico and recompense her for her proposed cession of territory. On the same day McKay, of North Carolina. introduced a bill into the lower House for this purpose. David Wilmot, of Pennsylvania, a Democrat and a zealous friend of annexation, moved as a proviso that slavery should forever be excluded from the new territory. The motion was suddenly and unexpectedly carried by a vote of 83 to 54. It did not come to a vote in the Senate, for John Davis, of Massachusetts, talked it to death by a long speech in its favor. Nevertheless it became at once a burning question in both North and South. The more pronounced antislavery men of the former section tried to make it the political test in the coming campaign. The refusal of the Whig party to take up the question caused large accessions to the old Liberty party, now known as the Free-Soil, and later to become the Republican party. Page 212. Ashland, etc. It hardly need be said that Ashland was the home of Henry Clay; North Bend, of Harrison; Marshfield, of Webster; Kinderhook, of Van Buren; and Baton Rouge, of General Taylor. |