A long life was the possession of General Banks, and I
have only to consider how its opportunities were treated, and its
duties performed. The beginnings of his life were humble enough, but
the beginnings of life, whether humble or otherwise, are of no
considerable consequence to strong characters.
General Banks' public career began with his election to the
Massachusetts House of Representatives, when he was far along in his
thirty-third year. His eminence as a debater and his pre-eminence as
a parliamentarian, were established without much delay, and in 1851 he
was raised to the speaker's chair. In 1852, he was again elected
speaker of the house, and in 1853, and without debate, he was chosen to
preside over the Constitutional Convention. He was then elected to
Congress, and thenceforward he was a conspicuous personality in the
great events of the war; both on the civil and military side of
affairs. He achieved distinction in the Thirty-third Congress, and
after a long and bitter contest in the Thirty-fourth Congress, he was
elected speaker of the House of Representatives. His associates in
that House gave him rank next to Mr. Clay, and through tradition that
rank is still accorded to him.
During his administration as Governor of the State, from 1858 to 1861,
he made military preparations for that contest of arms, which even
then was thought by some not to be improbable and by a few thought to
be inevitable.
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