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father, with the family of Still; and this | gentleman," he adds, "was not designated by a perverse simplicity which characterized the age."

Wait Still Winthrop, the Chief Justice, appears to have left but two children, of whom John, the only son, resembled his grandfather in an ardent devotion to scientific research, and like him, became a distinguished member of the Royal Society; his introduction to that body being, as we have seen, greatly facilitated by the respect in which the memory of his ancestor was yet held. Attracted by the love of his favorite studies and his attachment to the society of learned men, he removed to England, where he spent his latter days, and died in 1747.

He left a large family behind him. John, the oldest of his sons, married in Boston the daughter of Francis Borland. He was a gentleman of wealth and leisure, and was one of the most respectable citizens of New London, Connecticut. One of the younger sons of this gentleman was the late Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, the father of the present Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Thirtieth Congress.

Robert C. Winthrop, the youngest son of Thomas L. Winthrop, to whom we have just referred, was born in Boston, on the 12th of May, 1809, and was educated at Harvard; where, in 1828, he received his diploma, and with it, one of the three highest honors awarded to his class. He studied law under the direction of Daniel Webster, and was admitted to the bar of Boston in 1831. He devoted but little attention to the practice of his profession, the bent of his mind inclining him much more to the study of public affairs than to

the labors of a vocation which few men pursue but under the spur of a necessity, which, in the present instance, did not exist.

Mr. Winthrop entered into public life in 1834, being then elected to the Legislature of Massachusetts, and has since continued in the public service. He was the representative of Boston in the State Legislature for six years, during the last three of which he was the Speaker of the popular branch of that body; discharging the arduous duties of this post with an address and judgment which elicited the most hon

orable confidence and approbation from the body over which he presided.

The House of Representatives of Massachusetts at that time numbered between five and six hundred members. We may suppose the duties of the Speaker in such a body to exact the highest degree of parliamentary skill and tact in their administration. In this school the incumbent found full and adequate experience; and he left it, after his three years' service, with the reputation of an expert and effective proficient in the rules of legislative proceedings.

Mr. Winthrop first became favorably known beyond the limits of his own State, when, in 1837, he visited the city of New York, at the head of the Massachusetts delegation, which assembled there with the delegations from the Whigs from many other States, to celebrate the great triumph of the Whigs of New York in the elections then recently held. It was a great meeting of congratulation, and intended to concert measures for the co-operation of the Whig party in the Presidential canvass which was soon to open. was a brilliant prelude to the election of 1840, of which the results were at once so glorious and so disastrous.

It

On that occasion, no one drew more observation in the large crowd there assembled, than the subject of this memoir. His speech in the Masonic Hall, where the congratulations of the occasion were proffered and received, is still remembered by those who were present, as one of the most felicitous and attractive incidents of that memorable exhibition. His vivid and animated eloquence stimulated the already excited feeling of the assembly to the highest key of exultation, and old and young left the scene of this event with common prediction of future eminence to the orator, and more extended renown amongst his countrymen.

His congressional career began in 1840. The resignation, in that year, of the representative from Boston, Mr. Abbott Law1ence, led to the choice of Mr. Winthrop by a majority so decisive as almost to deprive the election of its title to be called a contest. He thus took his seat in the House of Representatives at the second session of the Twenty-sixth Congress. He was a member also of the distin

guished Twenty-seventh Congress, where, amongst many worthy, he maintained a position with the best. A personal and private affliction compelled him to resign his seat in the summer of 1842, his place being supplied by the Hon. Nathan Appleton, who relinquished it at the close of that session, to enable his friend to resume his former seat at the commencement of the following winter; which the latter did after an election almost without opposition. Mr. Winthrop has continued ever since to represent the city of Boston by a suffrage equally honorable to him and to the constituency whose confidence he has so signally, won.

His seven years' service in the national counsels have brought him very prominently before the nation. One of the most accomplished debaters in the House of Representatives, he has participated, to some extent, in the discussion of all the great questions which have been presented to that body, during his connection with it. Habitually abstaining from an obtrusive presentation of his opinions, he has never failed to say a right word at the right season; he has, therefore, always spoken effectively, and in such a manner as to win the esteem and confidence of the House. A steadfast Whig, his position has ever been conservative, strong in the advocacy of the national institutions, careful to guard against encroachments on the Constitution, jealous of the ambition of party leaders, and prompt to denounce the excesses into which partisan zeal has often threatened to plunge the policy of the State. Looking with an enlightened view to the capabilities of the country, and justly estimating the elements of national strength and happiness embraced within the Union as it is, he has always contributed his aid to promote their development through the appropriate action of the Constitution, and by the wise policy of protection and encouragement.

In the attempts of the Administration and its supporters to embroil the country in a war upon the Oregon question, he was the friend of conciliatory adjustment and peace, and had the gratification to find the labors of his compeers and himself in that instance successful.

We may take the occasion to observe here that, in the prosecution of this ob

ject, he was the first to propose in Congress a mode of settling the question, which, highly equitable and honorable in itself, was seconded by the approbation of the most judicious persons both at home and abroad. The following resolutions, moved by Mr. Winthrop on the 19th December, 1845, contain the earliest suggestion of an arbitration by eminent civilians. This resort was afterwards formally proposed by the British Government, and if it had not been most unwisely--we must think

refused by the Administration, would have established a happy precedent for the settlement of international differences, and have placed the peace of the world, so far as the example of two of the most powerful nations might tend to establish it, upon the foundation of calm counsel and right reason, instead of leaving it at the mercy of tempestuous passion and the bitter supremacy of the sword.

The resolutions referred to are in these words :

"Resolved, That the differences between the United States and Great Britain, on the subject of the Oregon Territory, are still a fit subject for negotiation and compromise, and that satisfactory evidence has not yet been afforded that no compromise which the United States ought to accept can be effected.

"Resolved, That it would be a dishonor to the age in which we live, and in the highest degree discreditable to both the nations concerned, if

they should suffer themselves to be drawn into

a war, upon a question of no immediate or practical interest to either of them.

"Resolved, That if no other mode for the amicable adjustment of this question remains, it is due to the principles of civilization and Christianity that a resort to arbitration should be itself from all responsibility which may follow the failure to settle the controversy, while this resort is still untried.

had; and that this Government cannot relieve

"Resolved, That arbitration does not necessarily involve a reference to crowned heads; and that, if a jealousy of such a reference is entertained in any quarter, a commission of able and dispassionate citizens, either from the two countries concerned or from the world at large, offers itself as an obvious and unobjectionable alternative."

In the more recent extravagances of those in power, who have committed the nation to all the responsibilities of this odious Mexican war, he has acted with the most enlightened Whigs to give it a direc

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"Gentlemen of the House of Representatives of the United States:

tion as favorable to humanity and justice | dignity of style which may be commended as the frenzy of the Administration will to the imitation of his successors. allow. Utterly opposed to the grounds worthy of being preserved, and we thereupon which this war has been waged, and fore submit it to the judgment of our readcondemning the usurpation of authority, ers:by which the President commenced it, he, nevertheless, did not scruple to vote, with the great body of the Whigs in Congress, the first supplies of men and money, which seemed to be indispensable to the reinforcement of General Taylor at that moment of supposed exigency, of which the Administration took such artful advantage. He has been consistently, ever since, an earnest advocate for peace on terms compatible with the honor and justice of a magnanimous and Christian people.

The same moderation of opinion which appears in this speech, in regard to the great and exciting subjects there referred to, is consistently preserved by Mr. Winthrop upon other topics which have agitated the public. A sincere friend of the Constitution, and earnestly desirous to maintain the harmony of the Union, he has conscientiously, we may say, refrained from those ultra views on the subject of slavery, either in the Northern or Southern aspect of the question, which have so unhappily and so unprofitably distracted some sections of the country. Liberal and tolerant upon that subject, he has firmly maintained his own opinion against those on either side, who we may hope will acknowledge, in their calmer reflections, the wisdom and justice of his moderation.

The recent election of this gentleman to the honorable post he now fills in the House of Representatives, is an expressive token of the good opinion he has won on that theatre where his talents have been most profitably exerted for the benefit of the country. No member of that House might better deserve this distinction. His integrity as a man, his accomplishments as a statesman, and his fidelity as a Whig, render the choice of the House an honor both to the giver and receiver; while his parliamentary skill in the appropriate functions of his office enable him to requite the favor he has received, by the usefulness of

his service.

His address to the House, on the recent occasion of taking the chair, exhibits a just appreciation of the duties committed to him, and affords an example of graceful

"I am deeply sensible of the honor which you have conferred upon me by the vote which has just been announced, and I pray leave to express my most grateful acknowledgments to those who have thought me worthy of so distinguished a mark of their confidence.

"When I remember by whom this chair has when been filled in other years, and, still more, I reflect on the constitutional character of the body before me, I cannot but feel that you have assigned me a position worthy of any man's ambition, and far above the rightful reach of

my own.

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I approach the discharge of its duties with a profound impression at once of their dignity and of their difficulty.

"Seven years of service as a member of this branch of the National Legislature have more than sufficed to teach me that this is no place of mere formal routine or ceremonious repose. Severe labors, perplexing cares, trying responsibilities, await any one who is called to it, even under the most auspicious and favorable cirHow, then, can I help trembling cumstances. at the task which you have imposed on me, in the existing condition of this House and of the country?

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In a time of war, in a time of high political excitement, in a time of momentous national controversy, I see before me the Representatives of the People almost equally divided, not merely, as the votes of this morning have already indicated, in their preference for persons, but in opinion and in principle, on many of the most important questions on which they have assembled to deliberate.

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May I not reasonably claim, in advance, from you all, something more than an ordinary measure of forbearance and indulgence, for whatever of inability I may manifest, in meeting the exigencies and embarrassments which I cannot hope to escape? And may I not reasonably implore, with something more than common fervency, upon your labors and upon my own, the blessing of that Almighty Power, whose recorded attribute it is, that He maketh men to be of one mind in a house?'

"Let us enter, gentlemen, upon our work of legislation with a solemn sense of our responsibility to God and to our country. However we may be divided on questions of immediate policy, we are united by the closest ties of permanent interest and permanent obligation. We are the Representatives of twenty millions of people, bound together by common laws and a

common liberty. A common flag floats daily over us, on which there is not one of us who would see a stain rest, and from which there is not one of us who would see a star struck. And we have a common Constitution, to which the oaths of allegiance, which it will be my first duty to administer to you, will be only, I am persuaded, the formal expression of those sentiments of devotion which are already cherished in all our hearts.

"There may be differences of opinion as to the powers which this Constitution confers upon us; but the purposes for which it was created are inscribed upon its face in language which cannot be misconstrued. It was ordained and established to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.'

"Union, justice, domestic tranquillity, the common defence, the general welfare, and the security of liberty for us and for those who shall come after us, are thus the great objects for which we are to exercise whatever powers have been intrusted to us. And I hazard no

thing in saying that there have been few periods in our national history, when the eyes of the whole people have been turned more intently and more anxiously towards the Capitol, than they are at this moment, to see what is to be done, here and now, for the vindication and promotion of these lofty ends.

"Let us resolve, then, that those eyes shall at least witness on our part duties discharged with diligence, deliberations conducted with dignity, and efforts honestly and earnestly made for the peace, prosperity, and honor of the Republic.

"I shall esteem it the highest privilege of my public life if I shall be permitted to contribute anything to these results by a faithful and impartial administration of the office which I have now accepted."

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REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT.*

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

"WE, the People of the United States," says the preamble to the Constitution, "in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and to our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

"All legislative powers herein granted, shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives."

The object of the Constitution was, then, to establish a government for the whole people. "We, the People," established for ourselves a National government. The States were already established, and maintained a separate existence; but it was necessary that the whole people should be represented, without reference to States; otherwise, there might be an unstable Confederacy, but no Nation--no Union.

A representative government, of which the members have the character of agents for the people, requires that the people be, in some measure, acquainted with the character of their representative agents. It is necessary, for the perfect working of the system, that the voter should be informed, either immediately, or through the general report, of the character of the men for whom he casts his vote. But this end could be attained only by what our author calls "distributive elections;" each district choosing its own representative from among its own citizens. If there were any great names of a reputation extending over the whole Union, they would become the candidates for the higher offices, and might have been elected by a general ticket; but such a course would be impossible for the election of a great crowd of representative agents. Nor would it be a matter of indifference in the result, when the agents of the people

came together in the legislative assembly, whether they were or were not citizens of the districts for which they were chosen. For the Congress is not merely a collection of business agents, assembled about matters of mere pecuniary interest. They bear a character of personal and social, as well as of legal substitutes. Not for the people in the abstract, as one man might represent them, but the people in detail, with all their various interests and feelings; which could only be represented by an assemblage of many men, sent from all parts of the nation, and bearing with them the features and disposition of all the parts. These substitutes were to combine in themselves the characters of free representatives and voluntary defenders of their own particular districts, as well as of legislators for the whole. And this character, all good representatives have invariably borne.

It was not, then, merely to gratify a Democratic tendency, that the Constitution established distributive elections, but to secure a more perfect and real representation. If it were a matter of indifference whether members were elected by a general ticket, or by distributive elections, then it were a matter of equal indifference whether all came from one district, or one from every district-and whether the number deputed were a thousand, an hundred, or only ten. Ten men from Georgia might be elected on a general ticket to legislate for the whole Union, were Congress merely legislators for the whole. The Constitution, therefore, in establishing the present system of elections, contemplated not only the superior function of the national legislator, as such, but also his inferior and social relation, as a representative of the interests, opinions, and even the passions and prejudices of the people from amongst whom he comes.

*The chapter to which these remarks are introductory, is taken from an unpublished work upon the Science of the Laws, by H. W. Warner, Esq.

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