"Having occupied, Mr. President, the relation of either employed or employer for a third of a century; having lived in a commonwealth where the 'hireling class of manual laborers' are 'the depositaries of political power;' having associated with this class in all the relations of life; I tell the senator from South Carolina, and the class he represents, that he libels, grossly libels them, when he declares that they are 'essentially slaves!' There can be found nowhere in America, a class of men more proudly conscious or tenacious of their rights. Friends and foes have ever found them
'A stubborn race, fearing and flattering none.'
"Ours are the institutions of freedom; and they flourish best in the storms and agitations of inquiry and free discussion. We are conscious that our social and political institutions have not attained perfection, and we invoke the examination and the criticism of the genius and learning of all Christendom. Should the senator and his agitators and lecturers come to Massachusetts on a mission to teach our 'hireling class of manual laborers,' our 'mud-sills,' our 'slaves,' the 'tremendous secret of the ballot-box,' and to help 'combine and lead them,' these stigmatized 'hirelings' would reply to the senator and his associates, 'We are freemen; we are the peers of the gifted and the wealthy; we know the "tremendous secret of the ballot-box;" and we mold and fashion these institutions that bless and adorn our proud and free Commonwealth! These public schools are ours, for the education of our children; these libraries, with their accumulated treasures, are ours; these multitudinous and varied pursuits of life, where intelligence and skill find their reward, are ours. Labor is here honored and respected, and great examples incite us to action. All around us in the professions, in the marts of commerce, on the exchange, where merchant-princes and capitalists do congregate; in these manufactories and workshops, where the products of every clime are fashioned into a thousand forms of utility and beauty; on these smiling farms, fertilized by the sweat of free labor; in every position of private and of public life, are our associates, who were but yesterday "hireling laborers," "mud-sills," "slaves." In every department of human effort are noble men who sprang from our ranks—men whose good deeds will be felt and will live in the grateful memories of men when the stones reared by the hands of affection to their honored names shall crumble into dust. Our eyes glisten and our hearts throb over the bright, glowing and radiant pages of our history that records the deeds of patriotism of the sons of New England who sprang from our ranks and wore the badges of toil. While the names of Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, Nathaniel Greene and Paul Revere live on the brightest pages of our history, the mechanics of Massachusetts and New England will never want illustrious examples to incite us to noble aspirations and noble deeds. Go home, say to your privileged class, which, you vauntingly say, "leads progress, civilization and refinement," that it is the opinion of the "hireling laborers" of Massachusetts, if you have no sympathy for your African bondmen, in whose veins flows so much of your own blood, you should at least sympathize with the millions of your own race, whose labor you have dishonored and degraded by slavery! You should teach your millions of poor and ignorant white men, so long oppressed by your policy, the "tremendous secret that the ballot-box is stronger than an army with banners!" You should combine and lead them to the adoption of a policy which shall secure their own emancipation from a degrading thralldom!'"
Early in January, 1859, Gen. Wilson was reëlected United States Senator for six years from March 3, 1859. He had in the Senate 35 to 5 votes, and in the House of Representatives 199 to 36 votes. Before the people and in the legislature, he was without a competitor in the ranks of his own party; and the unity of sentiment in favor of his reëlection was a noble tribute of which any public man might justly be proud.
JEFFERSON DAVIS.
Jefferson Davis is a native of Kentucky. His father took him, when he was an infant, to Mississippi Territory, about the year 1806. His father was moderately wealthy and gave his son an excellent education. He had the ordinary course at the schools, and then entered Transylvania University College, Kentucky. There he remained till his father removed him to West Point as a cadet. This was in 1822, and in 1828 he left it with honor as brevet second lieutenant, and was at once placed in active service. He served in the Indian war of the times so ably as to gain almost immediately a first lieutenant's commission. The famous Indian chief, "Black Hawk," became his prisoner, and a strong friendship was struck up between the lieutenant and his prisoner, which lasted till the death of the latter.
In 1835, Mr. Davis, sickened of military life without the excitement of actual engagement with an enemy, and retired from the service, settling down upon a cotton plantation in Mississippi. For nearly ten years he remained on his plantation in quiet, cultivating cotton and his intellect at the same time, for he was during all these years of rural life a great student and reader. He was contentedly preparing himself for the future occasion which should call for his services. In 1843, he took the stump for Mr. Polk, and such was his ability before the people that they sent him to Congress in 1845. When he had been in Washington but a few months, the war with Mexico broke out, and his constituents raised a regiment of volunteers, who elected Mr. Davis as their colonel. He immediately resigned his seat in Congress, and went with his regiment to join General Taylor in Mexico. The history of Col. Davis' career in Mexico is full of interest, but we cannot stay to elaborate it. At Buena Vista he won laurels of glory, in the parlance of the soldier. Says a friend of his:
"His men—though volunteers—showed a steadiness which equalled anything that might have been expected of veteran troops; and they were handled in so masterly a way, that, if the glory of that day were to be assigned to any one corps rather than any other, they would probably bear away the palm. Every one remembers the proud appeal of Colonel Davis to another regiment of volunteers, who were finding the fire rather warm, to 'Stay and re-form behind that wall'—pointing to his Mississippians. Throughout the war, he and his brave riflemen loom up at intervals whenever the fire grows hot or the emergency grave, and never without good effect. They were armed with a peculiar rifle, now best known as the Mississippi rifle, chosen by their colonel himself; it was scarcely less deadly than the Minié. Their colonel set the example of intrepidity and recklessness of personal injury: at Buena Vista he was badly wounded at an early part of the action; but he sat his horse steadily till the day was won, and refused even to delegate a portion of his duties to his subordinate officers."
The term of service for which his regiment was enlisted having expired, his medical advisers insisted upon his going home and curing himself of his wounds. He did not stay long, however; for that very year—in the late autumn—he was appointed United States Senator by the Governor of Mississippi to fill a vacancy, and when the legislature of the State came together, it elected him to the same high office for the ensuing six years.