tenance, together with that pathetic eloquence which only an old man can be possessed of, caused him to be well-nigh worshipped by the assemblages which gathered to hear him speak. In 1834, Mr Dickinson was elected the first president of the municipal organization of Binghamton. He was a member of the Democratic national convention at Baltimore in 1835, which nominated Van Buren and Johnson. He was elected to the State Senate in 1836, and served, as senator and member of the court for the came president of the senate, presiding judge of the court of errors, member of the canal board, etc. In the presidential campaign of 1844 he was a delegate to the Democratic national convention, and afterward took an active part in the canvass for Polk and Dallas, a prominent issue in the campaign being the annexation of Texas. He was one of the state electors, and assisted in casting the vote of New York for the successful candidates. In December of the same year Governor Bouck appointed him United States Senator, in place of Hon. N. P. Tallmadge, who had resigned. The state legislature elected Mr. Dickinson for the succeeding regular term of six years, which expired March 3, 1851. He was chairman of the committee of finance, and took a conspicuous part in all prominent measures, including the annexation of Texas, the war with Mexico, the settlement of the Oregon difficulty with Great Britain, the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, the questions growing out of the acquisition of territory, the compromise measures of 1850, and the formation of governments for New Mexico, California, and Oregon. His first effort of importance in the Senate was a speech in advocacy of the annexation of Texas. It may be of interest at the present time to recall the fact that Mr. Dickinson was always something of an "expansionist." In a speech delivered in 1849 he said: "I saw an empire on the north coming in; and whilst I declare myself in favor of the accession at the earliest practicable moment, no one, I hope, fears that I expect to extend slavery there, or, because I am in favor of annexing this, that there is no other direction in which this Union is to expand. [A voice: 'Is it Cuba?'] Yes; Cuba and Canada both. Let the one take care of itself. We'll take DANIEL STEVENS DICKINSON. (This early portrait, copied from a daguerreotype, was furnished by D. C. Kilbourn, Esq., of Litchfield.) correction of errors, for four years. In 1840 he was nominated for lieutenantgovernor. The whole Democratic ticket, state and national, was defeated, though Mr. Dickinson received five thousand more votes in the state than the presidential electors. His name was again brought foward in 1842, and although he published a letter of declination, he was nominated, and elected by twenty-five thousand majority. As lieutenant-governor he be- the other first." 366 In 1848 Mr. Dickinson was a member of the convention which nominated Lewis Cass for the presidency, who was defeated by the popular military hero of the hour, General Zachary Taylor. an In the session of 1850, the excitement growing out of the question of slavery in the territories having increased to alarming extent, both in and out of Congress, Henry Clay introduced in the Senate a proposition for "an amicable arrangement of all questions in controversy between the free and the slave states, growing out of the subject of slavery." A select committee of thirteen was organized, to which the whole matter was referred. Mr. Dickinson was a member of this Besides Henry Clay, the committee. chairman, Daniel Webster, General Cass, William R. King, John M. Clayton, and others of the oldest, ablest, and most conspicuous of the senators, were his associates. The consideration of this important question continued during nearly eight months, and was brought to a close by the passage of bills admitting California as a State, defining the boundaries of Texas, organizing the territories of New Mexico and Utah by acts silent on the subject of slavery, prohibiting the slave. trade in the district of Columbia, and amending the fugitive slave law. It was at the close of the session of 1850 that Mr. Webster indited a letter to Mr. Dickinson which has long been regarded as a most graceful and delicate exhibition of the best traits of a great and noble character. The unpleasant “occurrences" alluded to by Mr. Webster were some sharp passages in debate which took place at an early period in their senatorial acquaintance. The following extract from the letter is an eloquent tribute to the * character of the man to whom it was I hope "In the earlier part of our acquaintance, my dear sir, occurrences took place, which I remember with constantly increasing regret and pain; because the more I have known of you, the greater have been my esteem for your character and my respect But it is your noble, for your talents. able, manly, and patriotic conduct, in support of the great measures of this session, which has entirely won my heart and secured my highest regard. you may live long to serve your country; but I do not think you are ever likely to see a crisis, in which you may be able to do so much, either for your own distinction or for the public good. You have have stood, where others have fallen; you advanced with firm and manly step, where others have wavered, faltered, and fallen back; and for one, I desire to thank you and to commend your conduct out of the fulness of an honest heart." * In August, 1851, Mr. Dickinson addressed a large gathering at the of Litchfield Centennial Celebration county. During the two days devoted to the exercises an address was also delivered by Hon. Samuel Church, LL.D., Chief Justice of the State, a poem was read by Rev. John Pierpont, which was followed by a discourse from Rev. Horace It was at this time that Bushnell, D. D. Mr. Dickinson revisited the scene of his childhood, in the town of Goshen. In 1853 Mr. Dickinson was appointed collector of the port of New York, but he declined the position. From the expiration of his senatorial term up to the breaking out of the rebellion, he was devoted mainly to his professional business and home pursuits. In December, 1850, Mr. Webster addressed a note to Mr. Dickinson, requesting The concluding sentence him to exert his influence in support of a certain measure. was: I pray you give the subject one of your beneficent smiles." After the election of Abraham Lincoln, and as the national political affairs began to assume a serious and threatening aspect, he exerted himself earnestly to avert the impending catastrophe. Unfortunately, as the people then generally believed, his and all other endeavors in that direction failed of success. The first gun fired at Sumpter aroused anew all his love for the Union. He was among the earliest of those who comprehended the situation and came to the support of the government, though the administration had not been of his party nor of his choice. He made the opening speech from the principal stand in front of the Washington monument in Union Square, at the great mass meeting held in New York, April 20, 1861, at which General John A. Dix presided; and from that time onward he devoted himself unsparingly to the work, speaking day after day, frequently twice on the same day, with great popular effect, to large assemblages of the people in New York state, in New England, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and some of the western states. He spoke in Connecticut several times during the war, as many will remember. While rallying his fellow citizens, of all classes, to the support of the government, he took decided ground against keeping up party divisions—exhorting all loyal men, of whatever party, to come to the aid of the administration. Mr. Dickinson participated actively in raising troops for the war in the vicinity of his home. The 89th N. Y. Volunteers, enlisted under authority granted to him from the war department, was named in his honor "The Dickinson Guard," to which he presented a stand of colors. A battery raised at Binghamton and vicinity also bore his name. Prior to the State election of 1863, Mr. Dickinson declined a renomination for the office of Attorney-General. He was nominated by President Lincoln upon the joint commission to arrange indemnities arising under the settlement of the Northwestern boundary between the United States and Great Britain, and the nomination was unanimously confirmed by the Senate without the usual reference; but the position was declined. In December of the same year, Governor Fenton tendered him a seat upon the bench of the Court of Appeals, but that appointment was declined also. The last of Mr. Dickinson's "campaigning" was in the year 1864, when he labored unceasingly for the reëlection of Abraham Lincoln.* Undoubtedly the fatigue and extraordinary exertions incident to this campaign did much to undermine his naturally vigorous constitution and hasten his untimely end. From that time he aged rapidly, appearing fully ten years older than he really was at the time of his death. In the spring of 1865, and among the last of his public acts, President Lincoln tendered to Mr. Dickinson the office of United States District Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Though unsolicited and unexpected, the appointment was accepted, and from that time to In the Baltimore convention, which renominated Lincoln, Mr. Dickinson received 109 votes for Vice-President on the first ballot. History has recorded that Andrew Johnson received the nomination. the close of his life he was actively engaged in the discharge of the duties of that important office. His death occurred suddenly April 12, 1866, at the residence of his son-in-law, Samuel G. Courtney, Esq., in New York city. Though he was denied the fondly cherished hope that he would be permitted to die in his own home at Binghamton, long known as "The Orchard," yet his second desire, to be laid in Spring Forest cemetery, so near, was not denied him. An The Had not Mr. Dickinson's life been almost wholly devoted to public and professional duties, he might undoubtedly have become a poet of distinction. early and learned friend wrote of him: "Mr. Dickinson was a born poet." best known of his poetical compositions are : To Lydia" (his wife), "Come to my Grave Alone,' ""There is a Time," "To Bessie Boyd," "Lines written in 1841," "The Spirit Land," "Ode for the Times," "I'm Growing Gray," and the "Song of the Perished Elm." 66 An extract from an address by Mr. Dickinson on the anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, delivered on the park (now Bushnell park) in Hartford, September 17, 1861, will show in what "fond recollection" and reverence he held the state of his birth: "Were I to remain unmoved by deep emotion, upon an occasion so replete with interest, after an introduction so kind,† and a reception so flattering, I might well be deemed unappreciative and ungrateful; and although utterance and expression may fail me, you have the assurance that my heart is touched by the honor ex tended to me so generously, beyond the power of language to delineate. We have met together, my friends, to interchange opinions upon the principles of the government under which we live; to speak of our beloved Union, now menaced with danger, and to contribute our influence to its preservation and perpetuity. I come among you from another state, under circumstances, to me, of peculiar interest. Early in the present century, a farmer of slender pecuniary means, but strong in generous and manly purpose and self-reliant industry, residing in a secluded and romantic section of this state, removed with his wife and a family of young children to the interior of New York, where the wilderness was but little broken by the habitations of man. There he rekindled his domestic altar-fires, and in the true spirit of his native state, for the first winter devoted the best part of his humble abode to the purposes of a common school, under a Connecticut teacher. Before his 'sturdy stroke' the forest vanished, the wild beast was driven from his lair, and under the influence of his example the schoolhouse sprung up, the church was reared, the cultivated field, the extended meadow and nodding harvest, greeted the eye of the traveller, and homes of comfort and gathering-places of affection arose on every hand. Thus, in the hardy virtues and simple tastes of the primitive settlements, were his family reared and educated, and among them a son aged six years at the time of his change of residence. But years rolled onward, and 'A change came o'er the spirit of my dream The boy had changed to manhood,' *This spirited poem was written in February, 1864, in response to a question by a lady, "Are you for peace?" Secretary of War Stanton secured the poem for publication, and it was widely copied by the loyal press of the country. It was read by the tragedian Murdock before a large audience in the Senate Chamber, at the request of President Lincoln. He was introduced to the audience by Mayor Henry C. Deming. and had gone out to fight the battles of life. He had stood in senates and in forums with the most distinguished of the land; had been laden with the world's honors, and time and bereavement had written care upon his brow, and silvered his head with the snows of life's approaching winter. He had revisited the home of his birth and of his early years, when life had no disguises, hope no blights, and the roses along his pathway were thornless; but the cottage, like those he had first known there in the holy relation of parents, had mouldered to dust; the wide stone hearth and broad fireplace were not there; and where, alas! were the little group who had gathered around them? The garden-plat could be traced by the fragment of stone wall remaining, but the damson-trees, and fennel-bed, and rosebush, had perished. The little pathway to the old gate was obliterated, and the pattering of tiny feet was heard there no more; some were walking the golden streets of Paradise, and some were yet lingering in paths that lead but to the grave.' The broad-leaved maples near the door had disappeared, and those who planted them, and sought their shade, were reposing under the shadow of that tree whose foliage is fadeless. The cool spring which gurgled from beneath the old gray rock, and danced along so merrily to the music of its own rippling, was there, but some of those who drank of its waters now drink of the waters of life, which flow out from the rock of ages. But the boy of six years has been spared, and has returned, covered with years, to discharge a sacred obligation of duty and affection-to cast his humble offering upon the lap of her who gave him birth, and sent him forth into the world, protected by the angel wings of a mother's blessing. He has come to tell of his country's rise, to rejoice in her progress, to mourn over her present decline, and to unite in invocations to Heaven that he may not witness her downfall. "And now on taking leave, in the name of that Constitution which we all love and revere, in the name of this sacred Union of our fathers which shelters and protects us, for the honor and kindness extended me, and the attentions shown me upon this my return to my early home, I can only tender you the sincere tribute of an appreciative and grateful heart. "Yon sun that sets upon the sea |