One self-contained, Homeric figure, of the remote countryside in which Iwas born, had the true Spirit of Democracy and shed its light abroad inthe Senate of the United States and the Capitol at Albany. He carriedthe candle of the Lord. It led him to a height of self-forgetfulnessachieved by only two others--Washington and Lincoln. Yet I have beensurprised by the profound and general ignorance of this generationregarding the career of Silas Wright, of whom Whittier wrote theselines:
"Man of the millions thou art lost too soon! Portents at which the bravest stand aghast The birth throes of a future strange and vast Alarm the land. Yet thou so wise and strong Suddenly summoned to the burial bed, Lapped in its slumbers deep and ever long, Hear'st not the tumult surging over head. Who now shall rally Freedom's scattering host? Who wear the mantle of the leader lost?"
The distinguished Senator who served at his side for many years, ThomasH. Benton of Missouri, has this to say of Silas Wright in his ThirtyYears' View:
"He refused cabinet appointments under his fast friend Van Buren andunder Polk, whom he may be said to have elected. He refused a seat onthe bench of the Supreme Court of the United States; he rejectedinstantly the nomination of 1844 for Vice-President; he refused to beput in nomination for the Presidency. He spent that time in decliningoffice which others did in winning it. The offices he did accept, itmight well be said, were thrust upon him. He was born great and aboveoffice and unwillingly descended to it."
So much by way of preparing the reader to meet the great commoner inthese pages. One thing more is necessary to a proper understanding ofthe final scenes in the book--a part of his letter written to Judge Finejust before the Baltimore convention of 1844, to wit:
"I do not feel at liberty to omit any act which may protect me frombeing made the instrument, however honestly and innocently, of furtherdistractions.
"Within a few days several too partial friends have suggested to me theidea that by possibility, in case the opposition to the nomination ofMr. Van Buren should be found irreconcilable, a compromise might be madeby dropping him and using my name. I need not say to you that a consenton my part to any such proceeding would justly forfeit my standing withthe democracy of our state and cause my faith and fidelity to my partyto be suspected everywhere.... To consent to the use of my name as acandidate under any circumstances, would be in my view to invite you tocompromise the expressed wishes and instructions of your constituentsfor my personal advancement. I can never consent to place myself in aposition where the suspicion of acting from such a motive can justlyattach to me....
"If it were proper I could tell you with the most perfect truth that Ihave never been vain enough to dream of the office of President inconnection with my own name, and were not Mr. Van Buren the candidate ofour State, I should find just as little difficulty as I now do, intelling you that I am not and can not under any circumstances be acandidate before your convention for that office."
According to his best biographer, Jabez Hammond, Mr. Wright stilladhered to this high ground in spite of the fact that Mr. Van Burenwithdrew and requested his faithful hand to vote for the Senator.
There were those who accused Mr. Wright of being a spoilsman, the onlywarrant for which claim would seem to be his remark in a letter: "Whenour enemies accuse us of feeding our friends instead of them never letthem lie in telling the story."
He was, in fact, a human being, through and through, but so upright thatthey used to say of him that he was "as honest as any man under heavenor in it"
For my knowledge of the color and spirit of the time I am indebted to along course of reading in its books, newspapers and periodicals, notablyThe North American Review, The United States Magazine and DemocraticReview, The New York Mirror, The Knickerbocker, The St. LawrenceRepublican, Benton's Thirty Years' View, Bancroft's Life of MartinVan Buren, histories of Wright and his time by Hammond and Jenkins, andto many manuscript letters of the distinguished commoner in the New YorkPublic Library and in the possession of Mr. Samuel Wright of Weybridge,Vermont.
To any who may think that they discover portraits in these pages Idesire to say that all the characters--save only Silas Wright andPresident Van Buren and Barton Baynes--are purely imaginary. However,there were Grimshaws and Purvises and Binkses and Aunt Deels and UnclePeabodys in almost every rustic neighborhood those days, and I regret toadd that Roving Kate was on many roads. The case of Amos Grimshaw bearsa striking resemblance to that of young Bickford, executed long ago inMalone, for the particulars of which case I am indebted to my friend,Mr. H.L. Ives of Potsdam.
THE AUTHOR.