frankness pervaded his conversation and manners, and the listener forgot the man, his achievements, and position, in the topic of conversation. He has no affected dignity, but is simple and natural in all his ways and habits. There are distinguished politicians, so-called great men, in this country, whose greatness consists principally in a pompous dignity of manners and rhetoric. The chronic dullness of such men passes with the multitude for profundity of intellect. We hear a great deal of the look of latent power which such men wear, and indeed if they possess power it must be latent, for they never give the world any evidence of their godlike proportions of mind. Mr. Seward has not achieved the brilliant position which he occupies by any such method; he has earned it by a life of severe labor, and the fruits of his earnest toil remain an imperishable monument to his memory.

He has long been a resident of Auburn-one of the most beautiful cities in the state of New York-and early became distinguished in his profession. His social position is a happy one; his wealth is sufficient for his wants, and he is universally beloved by his townsmen. Though wealthy, his habits are simple, and he is as much the friend of the poor man when at home, as of the wealthy and influential. He is not merely theoretical, therefore, in his professions of democracy. For several years he has been a mem

ber of the Episcopal church, at Auburn, and has always conducted himself like a christian gentleman.

The father of Mr. Seward was a Jeffersonian democrat, and the son accepted the politics of his father; but in a short time after he had begun the practice of law, he left the democratic ranks for those of the great opposing party. When the Missouri compromise agitation swept over the country, he at once sided, instinctively, with the friends of freedom, and made several public speeches against any compromise with slavery. In 1830 he was elected to the state senate on anti-masonic grounds. In 1833 he made the tour of Europe. One year later he was nominated for governor by the whig party of his native state, and was defeated. In 1838 he was again nominated to that office, and was elected by ten thousand majority. When his term of office expired he was reëlected by a handsome, though not quite so great, a majority. While occupying the executive chair he used his influence for the repeal of all state laws which in any manner countenanced the institution of negro slavery. The law which permitted a southern slave-owner to retain possession of his slave, while traveling through the state, was repealed. A law was also passed which allowed a fugitive the benefit of a jury trial. An act was also passed prohibiting state officers from assisting in the recovery of fugitives, and denying the use of the jails for the

confiuement of fugitive slaves under arrest. Afterward, these laws were very unjustly pronounced unconstitutional by the United States supreme court. Another law was passed, chiefly through his influence, for the recovery of kidnapped colored citizens of New York. Under the operation of this humane enactment, Solomon Northup, who for twelve years, had been forced to toil upon southern soil, was rescued, to the great joy of his family and friends. The history of the wrongs perpetrated upon him have since been published in a book form, and have met with an extraordinary sale. To crown his official acts, just before retiring from office, Mr. Seward recommended the abolition of that law which demanded a freehold qualification of negro voters. He saw the bitter injustice of the law, and recommended that negroes be admitted to the exercise of the same rights accorded to white men. The manly courage which he displayed in this recommendation can never be forgotten, so long as humane and generous hearts beat upon American soil. One of the noblest of his official acts, however, we have yet to relate. The governor of Virginia made a requisition upon him for the surrender of men accused of assisting certain slaves to escape from their owners. He refused to comply with the demand, upon the ground that the article in the constitution authorizing a demand of fugitives from justice, contemplated only crimes

which were such by the universal laws of the states, and by the general opinion of the civilized world. Aiding a slave to escape from oppression was an act of humanity, and as the laws of New York did not acknowledge it to be a crime, he did not feel authorized to surrender the accused. A long controversy was the result of this righteous decision, and retaliatory measures were tried by Virginia, but Governor Seward remained firm to the end.

In 1847, Mr. Seward defended John Van Zandt, who was accused of aiding the escape of slaves from their master, at the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States. His argument made on that occasion, is one of the most eloquent ever delivered at Washington. He would accept no compensation for his services. Still later, in the famous Van Nest murder case, Mr. Seward proved the depth of his philanthropy and the loftiness of his courage.

While riding once upon the banks of the beautiful Owasco Lake, the friend who was with us pointed out a pleasant farm-house as the scene a few years ago of a terrible murder, and not far distant in a lonely churchyard, we saw the graves of the victims. A negro by the name of William Freeman, at the age of sixteen, was sent to the state prison for five years for alleged horse stealing. He declared his innocence of the charge, and it has since been admitted by those who tried him, that he was undoubtedly

innocent of the crime; but through the perjury of the real thief he was sent to prison. The injustice of his punishment, coupled with barbarous treatment while confined in prison, resulted in an insanity which bordered upon idiocy, and when at last his term expired, he went forth into the world demented, with only this one idea in his brain-that the world had deeply wronged him. One night, without any provocation, this lunatic negro entered the house of a Mr. Van Nest, and murdered him, his wife, a child, and the mother of Mr. Van Nest, a woman of seventy. He was arrested the next day, and such was the terrible indignation of the people of Auburn, that it was with great difficulty that they were prevented from hanging him upon the spot. Freeman, like an idiot, as he was, confessed, and laughed at the murder. This only the more enraged the populace. They clamored for his blood. Mr. Seward had acquired a great reputation for defending successfully accused criminals, and it at once was feared that he would be employed in the defense of the crazy negro. Such was the excitement against him-he was absent at the souththat his law partners were obliged publicly to promise that he would not defend the accused. Upon his return, his family expected the populace would outrage his person. He saw the feeling was intense upon the subject-that it was predetermined that the negro should be hung. He made the necessary ex