"To our friends upon this side of the house, let me say, if you cannot vote for the bill, assist us in having it voted upon as it is. Put on no riders. Give us no side-blows. Aid in keeping them off. Let the measure stand or fall upon its merits. If you cannot vote for the bill, vote against it just as it stands.
"I see my time is nearly out, and I cannot go into the discussion of other branches of the question; but may I not make an appeal to all sides of the house to come up to do their duty to-day? I have spoken of the rapid development of our country and its progress in all its material resources. Is it true that the intellectual and moral development of our country has not kept pace with its physical? Has our political body outgrown the heads and hearts of those who are to govern it? Is it so, that this thirty-fifth Congress is unequal to the great mission before it! Are we progressing in everything but mind and patriotism? Has destiny cast upon us a heavier load of duty than we are able to perform? Are we unequal to the task assigned us? I trust not. I know it is sometimes said in the country that Congress has degenerated. It is for us this day to show whether it is true or not. For myself, I do not believe it. It may be that the esprit de corps may have some influence on my judgment. Something may be pardoned to that. But still I feel that I address men of as much intelligence, reflection, talent, integrity, virtue and worth, as I have ever met in this hall; men not unfit to be the Representatives of this great, growing and prosperous Confederacy. The only real fitness for any public station is to be up to the requirements of the occasion, whatever that be. Let us, then, vindicate our characters as fit legislators to-day; and, with that dignity and decorum which have so signally marked our proceedings upon other great, exciting questions before, and which, whatever may be said of our debates, may be claimed as a distinguished honor for the present House of Representatives, let us do the work assigned us with that integrity of purpose which discharges duty regardless of consequences, and with a patriotism commensurate with the magnitude of the subject under all its responsibilities."
Mr. Stephens took very decided ground in favor of the Lecompton bill in 1857-8, and when that was likely to fail in favor of the English Compromise. He is also, while a Union man, very much in sympathy with the Southern Rights school of politicians, and has made two or three speeches in defence of filibusterism in the house. He has not entirely forgotten that he was once a Whig, for last winter he spoke in favor of, and supported heartily the French Spoliation bill. He is a very fair political opponent, doing everything in an open and frank manner, but a very shrewd tactician. He has rarely allowed himself to be led into excited, partisan or sectional speeches, and, therefore, has long been looked upon in Congress as an admirable party manager.
N. P. BANKS.
Few men in the country have, in these latter days of politics, been so uniformly successful, even when circumstances were untoward, as Governor Banks. He is known by the people as a lucky man. He succeeds in whatever he undertakes. He has risen from an obscure young man to be Speaker of the National House of Representatives, and Governor of one of the first States of the Union. What may not such a man expect if he be ambitious?
Mr. Banks was born in Waltham, Mass., January 30, 1816, where he received a common school education. At a very early age he was placed to work in a cotton-mill, in his native town, as a common hand. His father was an overseer in the same mill. Here he remained for some time, but not liking the business left the mill, and learned the trade of machinist. While thus engaged, a strolling theatrical company passed through Waltham, and young Banks was so much taken with their acting, that he learned to perform several parts himself. He succeeded so well that a tempting offer was made to him to follow the fortunes of the company. He was sufficiently wise to refuse the offer. There can be no doubt that to this dramatic corps Mr. Banks owes much of his after success. They taught him much of that gracefulness which, to this day, distinguishes him as an orator and a presiding officer.
Banks now joined a village lyceum and made himself a ready speaker—then delivered temperance speeches, and at last drifted into politics as a Democrat. He edited a village paper in Waltham, a Democratic paper, and Mr. Polk gave him an office in the Boston Custom House. In attending political meetings, Mr. Banks often acted as presiding officer, and it was soon discovered that he possessed a remarkable talent for such a post. In 1849, Mr. Banks was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, and put himself down in the list of members as a "machinist." The very next year he turned to the law—in 1851 was chosen Speaker of the State Legislature, and was a prominent advocate of the coalition between the Democrats and Free Soilers. This was his first step out of the Democratic party toward Republicanism. The next year he was reëlected speaker, and in the autumn was elected to Congress. While in Congress, during his first term, he voted against the Kansas-Nebraska bill, though he was one of those Democrats who voted to take the bill up, a movement which insured its final success.
In 1854, Mr. Banks was taken up by the Americans and Republicans, and sent again to Congress, where, after a memorable two months' contest, yet fresh in the reader's memory, he was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives. No man has ever surpassed, if one has ever equalled him, as a speaker of that turbulent body, and he left the post with the highest honors. He was reëlected to Congress, but after taking his seat and remaining a month at Washington, he resigned it to assume the governorship of Massachusetts, to which office the people of the State had elected him by a tremendous majority.
He was reëlected in the fall of 1858 by a heavy majority, and at this time fills the Governor's chair. This, in a few words, is Governor Bank's political career. As a politician, he has shown himself shrewd, as a presiding officer prompt, graceful, commanding, and as an administrator, a governor, he has proved himself to be a man of rare genius. This, in fact, is Governor Bank's forte. He has a genius for governing men—that most rare of all gifts. He cannot be said to have made a political blunder in his life, speaking after the fashion of political men.