SEYMOUR, Horatio, statesman, born in Pompey Hill, Onondaga County, New York,
31 May 1810; died in Utica, New York, 12 February 1886. He attended school
in his native village until he was ten years of age, when he was sent to
Oxford Academy. In the spring of 1824 he entered Geneva Academy (now Hobart
College), and remained there a year, going thence to Partridge's Military
School at Middletown, Connecticut. He studied law with Greene C. Bronson and
Samuel Beardsley, and was admitted to the bar in 1832, but he never practised
his profession, the care of the property he had inherited taking up much of
his time. He became military secretary of Governor William L. Marcy in 1833,
and held the place until 1839. In 1841 he was elected to the State Assembly
as a Democrat, and in 1842 was elected Mayor of Utica by a majority of 130
over Spencer Kellogg, the Whig candidate. In 1843 he was renominated, but was
beaten by Frederick Hollister by sixteen votes. In the autumn of the same
year he was elected again to the assembly, and in the session that began in
1844 he distinguished himself among men like John A. Dix, Sanford E. Church,
and Michael Hoffman. He was chairman of the Committee on Canals, and
presented an elaborate report, which was the basis of the canal policy of the
state for many years. He advocated the employment of the surplus revenue to
enlarge the locks of the Erie canal and proceed with the construction of the
Black River and Genesee Valley Canals, and he showed thorough confidence in
the development of trade with the west. He was once more elected to the
assembly in the autumn of 1844, and was chosen speaker in the legislature of
1845. In 1850 he became the candidate of the Democratic party for Governor,
as a man acceptable to all its factions; but he was defeated by the Whig
candidate, Washington Hunt, by a majority of 262, though Sanford E. Church,
his associate on the Democratic ticket, was elected Lieutenant-Governor. In
1852 he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention at Baltimore, and
did all in his power to have the vote of the New York delegation cast wholly
for William L. Marcy, but failed. The same year he was again nominated as
the Democratic candidate for Governor, and was elected by a majority of 22,596
over his former competitor, Washington Hunt. During his term there was a
strong temperance movement in the state, and the legislature passed a
prohibitory law, which Governor Seymour vetoed, declaring its provisions to be
unconstitutional, and denying its good policy. In 1854 he was renominated for
the governorship, and received 156,495 votes, to 156,804 cast for Myron H.
Clark, the Whig and temperance candidate, 122,282 for Daniel Ullman, the
"Know-Nothing" candidate, and 33,500 for Greene C. Bronson, the candidate of
the "Hard-shell" Democrats. The vetoed law was again passed by tile
legislature, approved by Gov. Clark, and afterward declared unconstitutional by
the court of appeals. In 1856 Mr. Seymour was a delegate to the Democratic
National Convention at Cincinnati, and he supported the Democratic candidates,
Buchanan and Breckinridge, actively in the presidential canvass of that year.
In a speech delivered at Springfield, Massachusetts, 4 July 1856, he set
forth the political principles that he had previously followed and afterward
adhered to. It gives the key to his whole political career. He argued
against centralization and for local authority "That government is most wise
which is in the hands of those best informed about the particular questions on
which they legislate, most economical and honest when controlled by those most
interested in preserving frugality and virtue, most strong when it only
exercises authority which is beneficial to the governed." He argued against
the attempt to reform by legislative restraint, instancing a prison as a type
of society perfectly regulated and yet vicious. He argued for a liberal
policy in regard to immigration, saying that it was bringing acquisitions of
power, peacefully and easily, such as no conqueror had ever won m war" but he
did not deny the right of the people of this country to regulate immigration
or even to forbid it altogether, which he asserted many years afterward in
regard to the importation of Chinese. He argued that the growth of the north
was so much more rapid than that of the south that political supremacy had
passed into the hands of the free states. He argued for the right of the
people of the territories to settle the slavery question for themselves,
assuming that under such a policy there would be a rapid increase of free
states.
In 1857 Mr. Seymour received from President Buchanan the offer of a
first-class foreign mission, but declined it and he took no prominent part in
politics again until the secession movement began. He was a member of the
committee on resolutions at the convention held in Tweddle Hall, Albany, 31
January 1861, after the secession of six states, to consider the feasibility
of compromise measures and he delivered a speech designed mainly to show the
peculiar dangers of civil war. When the war began in 1861, Mr. Seymour was
in Madison, Wisconsin, and the Democratic members of the legislature, then in
session, called him into consultation as to the proper course of political
action. He counselled the simple duty of loyalty, to obey the laws, and
maintain the national authority, and he was active in raising one of the first
companies of Wisconsin volunteers. When he returned home in the autumn he
spoke at a Democratic ratification meeting held in Utica, 28 October 1861,
saying: "In common with the majority of the American people, I deplored the
election of Mr. Lincoln as a great calamity; yet he was chosen in a
constitutional manner, and we wish, as a defeated organization, to show our
loyalty by giving him a just and generous support." He was an active member of
the committee appointed by Governor Edwin D. Morgan to raise troops in Oneida
county, and he contributed liberally to the fund for the volunteers. In the
following winter he delivered at Albany an address on the state and national
defences; at a meeting of representative Democrats, held in the State Capital
in the disastrous summer of 1862, he introduced a resolution that "we were
bound in honor and patriotism to send immediate relief to our brethren in the
field"; and, at the request of the Adjutant-General of the state, he became
chairman of the committee to take charge of recruiting in his own
neighborhood. On 10 September 1862, the Democratic state convention
nominated him for governor. In his address to that body, accepting the
nomination, he intimated that compromise measures might have prevented the
war, justified the maintenance of party organization, criticised the spirit of
Congress as contrasted with that of the army as he had found both during a
visit to the national capitol and the camps, and argued that the Republican
party could not, in the nature of things, save the nation. After a canvass in
which he asserted on all occasions the right of criticising the administration
and the duty of sustaining the government, he was elected, defeating General
James S. Wadsworth by a majority of 10,752 votes. Perhaps the fairest
statement of his position in regard to the war at that period is to be found
in the following passage from his inaugural message of 7 January 1863 : "The
assertion that this war was the unavoidable result of slavery is not only
erroneous, but it has led to a disastrous policy in its prosecution. The
opinion that slavery must be abolished to restore our Union creates an
antagonism between the free and the slave states which ought not to exist. If
it is true that slavery must be abolished by the force of the Federal
government, that the south must be held in military subjection, that four
millions of negroes must for many years be under the direct management of the
authorities at Washington at the public expense, then, indeed, we must endure
the waste of our armies in the field, further drains upon our population, and
still greater burdens of debt. We must convert our government into a military
despotism. The mischievous opinion that in this contest the north must
subjugate and destroy the south to save our Union has weakened the hopes of
our citizens at home and destroyed confidence in our success abroad." This
argument against the probability of success along the path that finally led to
it was of course supplemented by an unequivocal declaration in favor of the
restoration of the Union and the supremacy of the constitution. On 23 March
1863, President Lincoln wrote to Governor Seymour a letter seeming to suggest
a personal pledge of co-operation, and the Governor sent his brother to
Washington to convey assurances of loyal support, but along with them a
protest against the policy of arbitrary arrests. On 13 April 1863, Governor
Seymour sent to the legislature a message suggesting a constitutional
amendment as a necessary preliminary to a law allowing soldiers in the field
to vote; and on 24 April he vetoed a bill "to secure the elective franchise
to qualified voters of the army and navy of the state of New York," on the
ground that it was unconstitutional. The amendment that he had recommended
was afterward adopted. In everything pertaining to the raising of troops
Governor Seymour's administration showed conspicuous energy and ability, but
especially in the effort to meet Lee's invasion of the north in the early
summer of 1863. On 15 June the Secretary of War telegraphed to Governor
Seymour asking for help, and within three days 12,000 state militia, "well
equipped and in good spirits" were on their way to Harrisburg. The good-will
for such an achievement was not rare during the war, but it was not often
joined with the necessary executive ability, and President Lincoln and Sec.
Stanton both sent their thanks to Governor Seymour for his promptitude. On 2
July, Governor Curtin, of Pennsylvania, telegraphed for aid, and on the two
following days troops were sent to his assistance.
During the absence of the New York militia the draft riots began. They had
their pretext, if not their origin, in two grievances, which were afterward
abolished. One was the commutation clause in the draft law, which provided
that any drafted man might obtain exemption by paving the government three
hundred dollars. The poor regarded this as a fraud upon them in the desperate
lottery of life and death. The other was a discrimination against New York
state, and especially New York city, in the allotment of quotas. Governor
Seymour had been anxious to have this injustice corrected, and to have the
draft postponed; but it began in the metropolis on Saturday, 11 July 1863.
On Sunday the names of those drawn were published, and on Monday the rioting
began. The rioters stopped at no outrage, not even the murder of the innocent
and helpless. That night the governor reached the city, and the next day he
issued two proclamations, the first calling upon all citizens to retire to
their homes and preserve the peace, and the second declaring the city in a
state of insurrection. The same day he took measures for enrolling volunteers
and gathering all available troops. On Tuesday he also spoke to a mob in
front of the city-hall. Then, and ever afterward, his impromptu speech was
the subject of bitter criticism. It seems clear, from various conflicting and
imperfect reports of it, that he promised the crowd that if they had
grievances they would be redressed, declared himself their friend, and urged
the necessity of obedience to law and the restoration of order. The design of
the speech was twofold--to persuade the crowd to disperse, and, in any event,
to gain time for the concentration of the forces within reach to suppress the
riot. Under the direction of General John E. Wool, with but slight aid from
the National Forces, order was restored within forty-eight hours, The rioting
lasted from Monday afternoon until Thursday evening, cost about a thousand
lives, and involved the destruction of property estimated at from half a
million to three million dollars in value. Shortly afterward Governor Seymour
wrote to President Lincoln, pointing out the injustice done in the enrollment,
and asking to have the draft stopped, in order that New York might fill her
quota with volunteers. The president conceded that there was an apparent
unfairness in the enrollment, but refused to stop the draft. A commission,
appointed by the war department to investigate the matter, declared that the
enrollment under the act of 3 March 1863, was imperfect, erroneous, and
excessive, especially with reference to the cities of New York and Brooklyn.
On 16 April 1864, a Republican Legislature passed a resolution thanking
Governor Seymour for his "prompt and efficient efforts" in pointing out the
errors of the enrollment and procuring their correction. He took an active
part in the state canvass of 1863, making many speeches in defence of his own
record and the principles of his party, and attacking the policy of the
administration; but in the election the state gave a Republican majority of
about 29,000. On 22 April 1864, the Governor sent to the legislature a
message urging the payment of interest on the state debt in gold; and this
action was construed by political opponents as a covert attack on the national
credit. On 3 August 1864, the Democratic National Convention met in Chicago,
and Governor Seymour presided, refusing to be a candidate for the presidential
nomination. But he became a candidate for the governorship that year, and was
defeated by Reuben E. Fenton, Republican, by a majority of 8,293.
After the close of the war Mr. Seymour remained a leader in politics. He
made speeches in the state canvasses of 1865, 1866, and 1867, opposing
strongly the reconstruction policy of the Republican party, and criticising
sharply its financial methods. He presided over the state conventions of his
party, 3 October 1867, and 11 March 1868, and over the National Convention
that met in New York city, 4 July 1868. In spite of previous declarations
that he would not be a candidate before that body, and in spite of his
protestations during its proceedings, the convention nominated him for the
presidency, and he allowed himself, against his better judgment, to be
over-persuaded into accepting the nomination. In the election of 3 November
1868, he carried the states of Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana,
Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Oregon; Mississippi, Virginia, and Texas
did not vote; and the rest of the states voted for General Grant, the
Republican candidate. The electoral vote stood 214 for Grant and 80 for
Seymour; the popular vote, 3,015,071 for Grant and 2,709,213 for Seymour.
This defeat virtually closed Mr. Seymour's political carter, for, though
mentioned in connection with the presidency regularly every four years,
offered the senatorship, and nominated for the governorship, he refused
steadily to have anything more to do with public office. The remote origin of
his last illness was a sunstroke, which he suffered in 1876 while overseeing
the repairing of the roads in Deerfield, near Utica, where he had settled in
1864.
Mr. Seymour was of fair stature, lithely and
gracefully built, and had a refined face, lighted up by dark, glowing eyes.
In social intercourse he was simple in manner and considerate in spirit. As
an orator he was easy, agreeable, and powerful, plausible and candid in
ordinary argument, and yet rising often into true eloquence. He made many
speeches on other than political occasions; he loved farming, and often
delivered addresses at agricultural gatherings; he was a member of the
Protestant Episcopal church, and frequently took part in its conventions as a
lay delegate; he was a member of the commission for the state survey, and was
in an especial way the champion of the canal system. It may be said broadly
that he was master of everything connected with the history, topography, and
institutions of New York. Mr. Seymour married, 31 May 1835, Mary Bleecker,
of Albany, who survived him only twenty days. They had no children.
|