Every member of Congress belonged to it, and it has been commonly said that Henry Wilson and other prominent office-holders of that time were elected upon that platform. The national Know-Nothing party did not agitate the slavery question, but maintained that Congress ought not to legislate on the question of slavery, which was regulated by the statutes of the various states.

In 1856 the Republicans of the Massachusetts congressional district in which Worcester is situated came to the front, but, feeling that they stood no show of winning at the pending elections, made alliances with the Know-Nothing party, whereby the offices were to be divided, and Col. Alexander Dewitt made an agreement with Henry Chapin that he would not run against him. At the last moment, however, Governor Gardiner sent word that he must make the run against Chapin. It was at this crisis that Charles White, a party manager, nominated Eli Thayer for Congress, and took a carriage and went to the Oread to notify him of his nomination.

Mr. Thayer was warmly greeted in the convention and, although it was but five days before the election, he announced his determination to stump the district and called for means of transportation to the various towns and villages. During the five days he made on an average four speeches a day. At the close of the campaign Dr. Joseph Sargent said to Mr. Thayer that no man could do what he had done and live, but he replied that he was prepared to undertake the same ordeal again in the same cause.

During this campaign he would speak at Clinton in the morning, at Leominster at noon, at Ashburnham in the afternoon and at Fitchburg in the evening, and it was in this way that he covered the entire Worcester district in the short space of five days. The result of this bitter contest was most gratifying to Mr. Thayer, who won by a vote of nearly two to one. The election was in November, 1856, but Mr. Thayer did not take his seat until the December of the following year.

At this time a new matter was interesting the southern members—the retention of the state of Kansas in the Democratic column. The notable southern propagandists, of which Quitman of Mississippi was the representative, had, in order to amend the neutrality laws, put on foot a scheme for the unification of Mexico, Cuba and Central America and the formation of an immense slave empire. This was regarded by the northern representatives with a great deal of apprehension, but much to the surprise of everyone Mr. Thayer came out in favor of it.

MR. WILLIAM J. FARRELL.
Of New York.
A New Life Member of the Society.

He said to the southern leaders that he intended to colonize this new empire with New England Yankees. His speeches on Central American colonization, on the “Suicide of Slavery,” and on the “Admission of Oregon” brought him great fame. Against the caucus decision of his own party he secured the admission of Oregon into the Union, and in this act, though in opposition to partisan dictation, he was sustained by leading Republican organs throughout the country, although he received some censure in his own district.

Soon after these speeches his political enemies in the district began to organize against him, but his popularity was not to be overcome and he was returned with a flattering endorsement. During his second term in Congress he was instrumental in the admission of Oregon as a state to statehood. The Republicans were of the opinion that the admission of Oregon into the Union would mean heavier Democratic representation. Mr. Thayer, however, argued that the best way to make Oregon a Republican state would be to admit it into the Union. Succeeding events proved that his view of the matter was correct, but at the time the Republicans in the House opposed the admission.

Mr. Thayer, during the discussion of the bill, went to Alexander H. Stephens, then chairman of the Committee on Territories of the House, and told him that he should work for the passage of the bill and it was to his everlasting credit that Oregon was admitted to the Union by a majority of eleven votes, of which fourteen had been won over by the untiring efforts of Mr. Thayer.