The Senate
then contained many other men of note. Silas Wright, of New York;
Preston, of South Carolina; Benton, of Missouri; Linn, of Missouri,
more remarkable for personal beauty than talents. In the House Mr.
Adams was then a chief figure. His contest over the right of petition
had commended him to one portion of the country, and made him the
object of hostility to another portion. I recall one Monday, when he
had the right to present petitions, and although they were laid on the
table without debate he was able to consume time by presenting them
singly. As the supply in his hands and on the table seemed
inexhaustible, a compromise was made finally, and the petitions went in
in a mass. Of other speakers that I heard I recall Henry A. Wise, and
Sergeant S. Prentiss. Of their style and quality I can say nothing.
The reported speeches of Prentiss do not justify the reputation that he
enjoyed as an orator when living.
The incident which produced the most lasting impression upon me, when
in Washington, was an interview with a slave, a woman fifty years or
more of age. I had then no love for the system of slavery. I had read
Clarkson's and Wilberforce's writings, and I knew the history of the
struggle in England for the abolition of the slave trade, and slavery
in the British West Indies. I had also attended some anti-slavery
meetings in Massachusetts, at which the leaders, Phillips, Garrison,
Foster, Parker, and Pillsbury had denounced the institution.
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