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government and the extension of its system brought its own undoing. The free states at last stood together in opposition to the extension of slavery in defiance of every compromise and arrangement to save the institution. They appealed to the nation, resorted to the polls, elected a different President, and changed the administration of the government. This ought to have settled the matter, and secured a change of national policy, as it always had done.

But these were differences as fundamental, as essentially opposed to each other, as light and darkness, truth and falsehood, right and wrong, where no adjustments and compromises can be permanent, since "nothing is settled until it is settled right." Here is where Mr. Seward's "irrepressible conflict" was taking place, and what Mr. Lincoln styled "a house divided against itself," which could not stand. These were the convictions which such men were so much censured for uttering, as if they wanted to bring about the catastrophe they were only anxious to avert. But they knew what the result of such differences had been and foresaw what they must be until, as Mr. Lincoln explained himself, "The nation must become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of Slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates will push it forward until it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new, North as well as South."

It is easy to say that such a violent settlement of the matter might have been avoided, which is true if the slave states would have adhered honestly to their original contract with the free states, and let freedom fairly gain the ascendency as it was doing, and bless the slave states as it had their neighbors. Or it might have been accomplished if the slaves had all been purchased and emancipated by the General Government, as Mr. Lincoln attempted to buy

off the border slave states from the Confederacy. What if it had cost the four hundred millions at which they were valued, or even twice that sum; how cheap compared with the mere money cost of the war. But this was not to be, and without doubt the means resorted to were the only ones that could effectually prevent all new disputes and compromises, and after punishing us sufficiently for our connivance with such a system of oppression and degradation, assuredly prevent all desire from any quarter to have the system back again. Certain it is that it brought into striking and humiliating contrast our claim to be a free and independent Republic, where all are entitled to "life, liberty and pursuit of happiness," as compared with an actual enslavement of so many millions capable like ourselves of intellectual and moral ennoblement, but scarcely allowed any one of these "inalienable rights." Besides such" times of ignorance as God winked at," when it was deemed right to sell into slavery, and even put to death every captive taken in war, and when only two centuries before Christian England did not scruple to carry on the African Slave Trade:-these times had passed away, and God was "commanding all men everywhere to repent." And in the light of a purer Christianity, and a higher civilization, and a greater regard for human rights, our consciences were more sensitive to such a crime, and we could not fail to hear ringing in our ears as the voice of God"Let my people go." The question at issue had ceased to be merely a political one; it was fearfully moral, as we were compelled to feel when we were all so scourged for our connection with it. This religious conviction and moral sentiment were the reliance of the free states when the crisis came, and this moral sentiment buoyed us up when the struggle was severest and the times darkest. It was such principles that, overlooking the interests of trade, the consideration of friendship, party connections, and all else as

compared with the claims of duty, justice, humanity, Christianity, neither fainted nor faultered till the work was accomplished.

Such was the state of things, and such the appeal made to the country by the end of the first year of President Buchanan's administration; so that the next three years1858-59-60-were the period of deepest interest, greatest excitement, most earnest discussion, and determined energy in public affairs, that the country ever witnessed. These were the years which immediately preceded Mr. Lincoln's election, and which were to be followed so soon by the breaking out of our Civil War.

CHAPTER II.

MR. BUCKINGHAM'S ELECTION IN 1858.

Financial and Social Troubles of the Time-Events of the Next Two Years, Leading to the Election of Mr. Lincoln and the Outbreak of the War-Governor Buckingham's Messages During the Period and His Recognition of the Real Situation.

In the spring of 1858, the political outlook of the country was most threatening and its financial affairs seemed in the worst possible condition. The currency was in a very bad state. Instead of our present banking system, for which we are indebted to President Lincoln's administration, and particularly to Mr. Chase, his Secretary of the Treasury, every State had its own system of banking. The bills of one State might not pass current elsewhere, or if they did it might be at a discount, instead of being as they now are current and of their face value everywhere. Then there had been a suspension of specic payment throughout the country. There was great business embarrassment everywhere, and the failure of the Life & Trust Company of New York city, the largest institution of the kind in the country, caused a panic which brought on the worst financial crisis we have ever passed through, unless it was the one in 1837. A convention of banking and business men had been called in Connecticut, of which Mr. Buckingham was a member, where it is said his knowledge of such subjects so favorably impressed that body, as to make his nomination most acceptable to the business interests of the State. That it might well have done so, is evident from the attention he gave to those matters when he

became Governor. His first message to the Legislature devoted a considerable space to considerations and recommendations upon the subject of banking and the currency, though the improvements soon made in the national banking system must have removed the necessity for State action upon most of them. The threatening aspect of public affairs also called for a wise and reliable man at the head of the State, even if he was not an experienced statesman, and certainly demanded something more than any mere politician, however able. Then one was needed who, in the breaking up and readjustment of parties, should claim the respect and confidence of all parties, and around whom, in case the determination to nationalize slavery should continue and lead to civil war, all patriots and lovers of liberty could rally, as they so nobly did. The Springfield Republican, then as now an independent and able paper, and watching from an adjoining State the course of things in Connecticut, thus puts the matter at the opening of the year, and commends the nomination made for governor :

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"Such a money panic was never witnessed before, and has not stopped in this country, but has swept over Europe uproɔting all our theories and affecting all monetary systems alike, coming and going like a scourge sent for a purpose from heaven. There is no comfort in the contemplation of the serious changes of the last year, save in the belief of an overwhelming providence, and faith in the world's progress. "Mr. William A. Buckingham, who is nominated for governor by the Republicans, is a leading, liberal citizen, and wealthy manufacturer of Norwich. He has intelligence, integrity, and practical ability, which is creditable to the party to have recognized in his nomination, and his election will be an honor to the State. The proportion of such men in our politics is only too small Mr. Buckingham was a Whig, and passed from that organization, upon its death, to the Republicans without turning aside from the straight path to dally with Americanism. (January 15, 1858.)

He was elected Governor by a fair majority where parties were so evenly divided. His majority at this first election. was 2,449, and his plurality 2,753, a larger plurality and

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