SILAS WRIGHT, LATE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING A SELECTION FROM HIS SPEECHES IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, AND HIS ADDRESS READ BEFORE THE NEW YORK STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. AUTHOR OF THE tilwe BY JOHN S. JENKINS, HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK.” "The Cato of the American Senate." THOMAS H. Benton. AUBURN AND BUFFALO: JOHN E. BEARDSLEY. ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1847, by ALDEN & MARKHAM, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for A THOMAS B. SMITH, STEREOTYPER, PREFACE THE biography of SILAS WRIGHT can be but little more than the political history of the State and Nation for the last twenty-five years. His life was spent in the service of his country;-not in a sphere requiring the exhibition of military capacity, or physical daring and fortitude, but in one demanding, at least, as high an order of talent, and far more of those nobler qualities, which so exalt and dignify the human character— moral courage and integrity. He had but just established himself in the practice of his profession, when he was elected to the New York Senate; and from that time until within a few months previous to his death, he remained in public life. In preparing this volume, the author has not been free from diffidence, and distrust of his ability, to execute the task without favor or prejudice. If, however, anything has been omitted which should have been said, or anything inserted that would have been more wisely left unsaid, no one can regret it more deeply than himself. It is an error of judgment on his part, |