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A.D. AET.

1840 39 Effects the Entire Abolition of Imprisonment for Debt.

Attempts to Settle the Anti-rent Difficulties.
Advocates Reforms in the Election Laws..

His Course in the M'Leod Case...

Enlargement of Erie Canal-Construction of Lateral Canals..
Positions of the two Parties on Improvements....

Gov. Seward Opposes the Suspension of the Public Works..
Advocates the Erie, Central, Northern, and Hudson Railroads..
Refuses to Pardon Benjamin Rathbun and John C. Colt....
Grants a Conditional Pardon to James Watson Webb.
Vetoes a Bill in relation to Madame D'Hauteville...
Suppresses a Veto of the New York Registry Law..
Urges the Repeal of all Acts favorable to Slavery.
Recommends a Jury Trial for Fugitive Slaves..
Recommends the Extension of the Right of Suffrage..
Controversy with the Executive of Virginia relating to Fugitives...
1842 41 Signifies his intention to retire from Office, Reasons therefor.......
Mr. Clay Proposed for the Presidency-Mr. Seward's Views..
1843 42 John Quincy Adams Visits Auburn-Mr. Seward's Address..
Resumes the Practice of his Profession.... . . . .
His Disinterestedness, Zeal, and Sacrifices as a Lawyer..
Libel Suit, Cooper vs. Greeley-Fugitive Slave Case.
Trial of Wyatt and Freeman, Great Excitement....
His Experience as Counsel-Patent Cases-Detroit Case.
His Course towards Mr. Clay in the Election of 1844..
Advocates a Convention to form a New Constitution....
Gen. Taylor's Election, Mr. Seward's Views and Course..
Elected Senator-State of Parties-Freedom.....
His Relation with President Taylor......

1846 44

1846 45 1848 47 1849 48

1850 49 Speeches in the Senate-California--The Higher Law.
Compromise, District of Columbia, New Mexico...
Public Lands-Kossuth, O'Brien, Meagher......
Vindication of John Quincy Adams-Gen. Cass.
Pacific Railroad-John M. Clayton-A. H. Buell.
Duties on Railroad Iron-Texas Creditors..

1852 51

1853

52

CONCLUSION..

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MEMOIR.

THE ancestors of WILLIAM HENRY SEWARD were of Welsh extraction. The first of that name in America emigrated from Wales during the reign of Queen Ann, and settled in Connecticut. A branch of the family, from which Mr. Seward is descended, removed to Morris Co., N. J., about the year 1740. His paternal grandfather, John Seward, resided in Sussex Co., in that state, where he sustained a high reputation for enterprise, integrity and ability. On the breaking out of the Revolution, he became a prominent leader of the whig party, and on more than one occasion during the long struggle, was engaged in active service. He died in 1799, leaving a family of ten children. His son, Samuel S. Seward, received an academic and professional education, instead of a share in the paternal inheritance. Having completed his studies, he established himself in the practice of medicine in his native place, and soon after became connected in marriage with Mary Jennings, the daughter of Isaac Jennings, of Goshen, New York.

Removing to Florida, a village in the town of Warwick, in Orange Co., N. Y., in the year 1795, he combined a large mercantile business with an extensive range of professional practice, each of which he carried on successfully for the space of twenty years. He retired from active business in 1815, and devoted himself to the cultivation of the estate, of which, by constant industry and economy, he had become the owner. Dr. Seward was a man of more than common intellect, of excellent business talents, and of strict probity. After his withdrawal from business, he was in the habit of lending money to a considerable extent among the

farmers in his neighborhood; and it is said that no man was ever excused from paying the lawful interest on his loans-that no man was permitted to pay him more than that interest-and that no man who paid his interest punctually was ever required to pay any part of the principal. He was a zealous advocate of republican principles, and exerted a leading influence in the affairs of the party. In 1804, he was elected to the legislature, and during the continuance of the republicans in power, he was never without one or more offices of public trust. Although not a member of the legal profession, he was appointed First Judge of Orange County, in 1815, which office he held for seventeen years. His exercise of the judicial functions was marked by discretion, impartiality, and promptness, and he is remembered to this day as one of the best judges the county ever had. After a visit to Europe, he lived in the enjoyment of universal respect until 1849, when he died in a ripe old age. Dr. Seward was the friend of religion, education, and public improvement. He founded the "S. S. Seward Institute," at Florida, an excellent high school for young persons of both sexes. He endowed this seminary with a permanent fund of $20,000, and continued its steadfast friend until the close of his life.

The wife of Dr. Seward was Mary Jennings, whose family had emigrated from Ireland at an early day. She was a woman of a clear and vigorous understanding, with singular cheerfulness of temper, and while devoted with untiring industry to the interests of her family, was a model of hospitality, charity, and self-forgetfulness. She died in 1843.

The subject of this memoir never forgot that he had Irish blood in his veins. This fact serves to explain, in part, the strong attachment he has always cherished for the Irish population of our country. While travelling through Ireland in 1833, his indignation was greatly aroused by the sight of the oppressions inflicted on the people by the British Government. He ascribed a large share of the miseries of that unhappy country to its political mismanagement, and especially to the annihilation of its parliament, by the act of union. In writing home from Ireland, he expresses himself in the following terms:

"But all this glory has departed. The very shadow, (and for a long time the Irish Parliament was but the shadow) of independence has vanished; Ireland has surrendered the individuality of her national existence, to share, like a younger sister, that

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