SERVICE AS CITY ATTORNEY AT SPRINGFIELD
1855 and 1856
My election as City Attorney of Springfield signalized at once my
active interest in politics at the very moment when the war cloud
was beginning to take shape in the political heavens--a portentous
cloud, but recognized as such at that time by comparatively few of
the thinking people. It had seemed certain for years that a struggle
was sure to come. Being a very young man, I suppose I did not
realize the horrors of a civil war, but I watched with keen interest
the signs of dissolution in political parties, and realignments in
party ties.
In 1854 the country seemed on the verge of a war with Spain over
Cuba which happily was averted. The _Black Warrior_ had been seized
in Havana Harbor, and the excitement throughout the country when
Congress prepared to suspend the neutrality laws between the United
States and Spain was intense.
It was about this time also that the famous Ostend manifesto was
issued without authority from any one. The American representatives
at the Courts of England, France, and Spain met at Ostend to confer
on the best method of settling the difficulties concerning Cuba
and obtaining possession of the island. They issued a manifesto in
which they recommended that Cuba should be purchased if possible,
failing which that it should be taken by force:
"If Spain, actuated by stubborn pride and a false sense of honor,
should refuse to sell Cuba to the United States, then by every law,
human and divine, we shall be justified in wresting it from Spain,
if we possess the power."
The Ostend manifesto was repudiated; but it is certain that we
would have then intervened in favor of freeing Cuba, had it not
been for the dark war clouds which were so quickly gathering over
our own country.
Among the other vital conditions which helped to keep the country's
interest and attention divided at this critical time was the Missouri
Compromise repeal, May 30, 1855. This repealing act early began
to bear political fruit. Already treaties had been made with half
a score of the Indian Nations in Kansas, by which the greater part
of the soil for two hundred miles west was opened. Settlers,
principally from Missouri, immediately began to flock in, and with
the first attempt to hold an election a bloody epoch set in for
that region between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions,
fanned by attempts in Massachusetts and other Eastern States to
make of Kansas a Free State.
By methods of intimidation, Whitfield, a slave-holder, was elected
the first delegate to Congress. At a second election thirteen
State Senators and twenty-six members of a Lower House were declared
elected. For this purpose 6,320 votes were cast--more than twice
the number of legal voters.
Foreign affairs other than Spain's unfriendly activities also had
a share in distracting attention. The United States paid Mexico
ten million dollars to be free of the Guadalupe Hidalgo obligation
to defend the Mexican frontier against the Indians.
My first experience after I was elected City Attorney, was to
prosecute persons charged with violating the ordinances prohibiting
the sale of intoxicating liquors. One of my preceptors, the Hon.
Benjamin S. Edwards, was a strong and earnest temperance man. He
volunteered to assist me in the prosecution of what we called
"liquor cases." The fact is that for a time he took charge of the
cases, and I assisted him. Life was made a burden to violators of
liquor ordinances that year in Springfield.
The following year, 1856, was a Presidential year. I was chosen
as an elector on what was called the "Fillmore Ticket." I did not
at that time believe very strongly in Fremont for President. During
the same year, I was nominated as a candidate for the House of
Representatives of the Illinois Legislature, and was supported by
both the Fillmore party and the Free-soil party and thus elected.
The House of Representatives of the Legislature of 1856 was so
close that if all the members who had not been elected as Democrats
united, they had one majority. If any one of them went to the
Democrats, the Democrats would have the control. One of the men
elected on the Fillmore ticket went over, thus giving the Democracy
the coveted one necessary. The Republicans, or as they were then
called, Free-soilers, attempted to organize the House by recognizing
the clerk of the previous House, who was a Free-soiler, it then
being the custom to have the clerk call the House to order and
preside until a temporary organization was perfected. The Democrats
refused to recognize the clerk whom the opposition recognized.
The Democrats declared by vote the election of a temporary chairman,
nominated and elected a sergeant-at-arms and a deputy, and ordered
the two latter officers to carry the clerk out of the hall; which
was promptly done at the expense of a good suit of clothes to the
clerk who departed reluctantly. This was my first experience in
legislation.
A careful reading of the annals of the State of Illinois will show
that this incident is by no means unique in its history.
To go back a few years, when Edward Coles, who had been private
secretary to President Madison, was elected Governor, it was by a
mere plurality vote over his highest competitor, and--to use the
language of former Governor Ford--he was so unfortunate as to have
a majority of the Legislature against him during his whole term of
service. The election had taken place soon after the settlement
of the Missouri question. The Illinois Senators had voted for the
admission of Missouri as a Slave State, while her only Representative
in the Lower House voted against it. This all helped to keep alive
some questions for or against the introduction of slavery.
About this time, also, a tide of immigrants was pouring into Missouri
through Illinois, from Virginia and Kentucky. In the Fall of the
year, every great road was crowded with them, all bound for Missouri,
with their money and long trains of teams and negroes. These were
the most wealthy and best educated immigrants from the Slave States.
Many people who had land and farms to sell, looked upon the good
fortune of Missouri with envy; whilst the lordly immigrant, as he
passed along with his money and droves of negroes, took a malicious
pleasure in increasing it by pretending to regret the short-sighted
policy of Illinois, which excluded him from settlement, and from
purchasing and holding lands.
In this mode a desire to make Illinois a Slave State became quite
prevalent. Many persons had voted for Brown or Phillips with this
view, whilst the friends of a Free State had rallied almost in a
body for Coles.
Notwithstanding the defeat of the Democrats at this election, they
were not annihilated. They had been beaten for Governor only by
a division in their own ranks, whilst they had elected a large
majority of each House of the Assembly, and were determined to make
a vigorous effort to carry their measure at the session of the
Legislature to be held in 1822-23. Governor Coles, in his first
message, recommended the emancipation of the French slaves. This
served as the spark to kindle into activity all the elements in
favor of slavery.
Slavery could not be introduced, nor was it believed that the French
slaves could be emancipated, without an amendment to the Constitution;
the Constitution could not be amended without a new convention, to
obtain which two thirds of each branch of the Legislature had to
concur in recommending it to the people; and the voters, at the
next election, had to sanction it by a majority of all the votes
given for members of the Legislature.
When the Legislature assembled, it was found that the Senate
contained the requisite two-thirds majority; but in the House of
Representatives, by deciding a contested election in favor of one
of the candidates, the Slave party would have one more than two-
thirds, while by deciding in favor of the other, they would lack
one vote of having the majority. These two candidates were John
Shaw and Nicholas Hanson, who claimed to represent the County of
Pike, which then included all the military tract and all the country
north of the Illinois River to the northern limits of the State.
The leaders of the Slave party were anxious to re-elect Jesse B.
Thomas to the United States Senate. Hanson would vote for him,
but Shaw would not; Shaw would vote for the convention, but Hanson
would not. The party had use for both of them, and they determined
to use them both, one after the other. For this purpose, they
first decided in favor of Hanson, admitted him to a seat, and with
his vote elected their United States Senator; and then, toward the
close of the session, with mere brute force, and in the most
barefaced manner, they reconsidered their former vote, turned Hanson
out of his seat, and decided in favor of Shaw, and with his vote
carried their resolution for a convention.
There immediately resulted a very fierce contest before the people,
characterized by lavish detraction and personal abuse--one of the
most bitter, prolonged, and memorable in the history of the State
--and the question of making Illinois permanently a Slave State
was put to rest by a majority of about two thousand votes. The
census of 1850 was the first that enumerated no slaves in our State.
In this connection I cannot avoid giving a little account of
Frederick Adolphus Hubbard, who was Lieutenant-Governor when Coles
was Governor. Hubbard seemed to be a very ignorant man, but
ambitious to become Governor of the State, or to attain some other
position that would give him reputation.
"It is related of him that while engaged in the trial of a lawsuit,
involving the title to a certain mill owned by Joseph Duncan [who
afterwards became Governor], the opposing counsel, David J. Baker,
then recently from New England, had quoted from Johnson's New York
reports a case strongly against Hubbard's side. Reading reports
of the decisions of courts before juries was a new thing in those
days; and Hubbard, to evade the force of the authority as a precedent,
coolly informed the jury that Johnson was a Yankee clock-peddler,
who had been perambulating up and down the country gathering up
rumors and floating stories against the people of the West, and
had them published in a book under the name of 'Johnson's Reports.'
He indignantly repudiated the book as authority in Illinois, and
clinched the argument by adding: 'Gentlemen of the jury, I am sure
you will not believe anything that comes from that source; and
besides that, what did Johnson know about Duncan's mill anyhow?'"( 1)
Hubbard, in 1826, became a candidate for Governor of Illinois. He
canvassed the State, and the following is a sample of his speeches,
recorded by Ford:
"Fellow-citizens, I offer myself as a candidate before you for the
office of Governor. I do not pretend to be a man of extraordinary
talents, nor do I claim to be equal to Julius Caesar or Napoleon
Bonaparte, nor yet to be as great a man as my opponent, Governor
Edwards. Nevertheless I think I can govern you pretty well. I do
not think it will require a very extraordinary smart man to govern
you; for to tell you the truth, fellow-citizens, I do not believe
you will be very hard to govern, nohow."( 2)
In 1825, Governor Coles notified Lieutenant-Governor Hubbard that
he had occasion to leave the State for a time and required the
latter to take charge of affairs. Hubbard did so, and when Governor
Coles returned Hubbard declined to give up the office, asserting
that the Governor had vacated it. He based his contention upon
that clause of the Constitution that provided that the Lieutenant-
Governor should exercise all the power and authority appertaining
to the office of Governor, in case of the latter's absence from
the State, until the time provided by the Constitution for the
election of Governor should arrive. He claimed that the Governor
had vacated the office until the time of the election of a new
Governor, and declined to surrender. The result was, the Governor
had to get a decision of the Supreme Court, which was to the effect
that there was no ground on which to award the writ. Coles was
obliged to submit, but not until he had appealed to the Legislature,
where his contention was equally unsuccessful.
At one time, after repeated and annoying application, Hubbard
obtained from Governor Edwards what he had reason to believe was
a recommendation for a certain office. He became a little suspicious
that the letter was not very strong in his behalf, and in speaking
of it afterwards, in his lisping manner, said: "Contrary to the
uthage amongst gentlemen, he thealed it up; and contrary to the
uthage amongst gentlemen, I broke it open; and what do you think
I found? Instead of recommending me, the old rathcal abuthed me
like a pickpocket."
( 1) Moses, page 334.
( 2) Ford, page 61.