Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 February 1912 — New News of Yesterday [ARTICLE]

New News of Yesterday

By E. J. EDWARDS

Famous “Hale Storm of 1845.”

Sensational Climax of Debate Between »3ohn P. Hale, the AHtl-Siavery Leader of New Hampshire, and ' Gen. Franklin Pierce. John P. Hale is a name forgotten probably by all but a very few of those who were personally familiar with the leading minds In public life of the era which closed with the termination of the Civil war. To the younger generation at this time Mr. Hale's name has no significance whatever. Yet he was for a quarter of a century one of the leading figures in our public life. He was three times elected United States senator from New Hampshire. He was twice nominated by the Free Soil party for president, and he was United States minister to Spain through the four years of President Johnson’s administration. Hale was one of the great anti-slav-ery leaders of the late forties and the fifties of the last century; at one time he was the only anti-slavery advocate with membership in the United States senate. He opposed the annexation of Texas on the ground that It would be slave territory, and he alone, of all the senate, refused to vote In favor of the resolution tendering the thanks of congress to Oenerals Scott and Taylor for their victories In the Mexican war, which made it certain that this country would have Texas. Not until Chase and Seward entered the senate in 1849 did Hale havs any help in waging hid anti-slavery fight on the floor of the senate. Two years later Hale was Joined by Charles Sumner. Senator Hale possessed a, national reputation as a political orator. He was a man of Impressive personal appearance. His voice was clear and resonant, yet It had almost a musical quality In It; and be possessed a personal magnetism which caused him to be numbered aiflong the most effective speakers in the yearn between 1845 and 1865. One of his greatest triumphs of oratory came when he set out alone in 1845 to win his native state of New Hampshire over to the anti-slavery cause. He went to work in the face of an apparently invincible Democratic majority; he addressed meetings in every towp and village of the state, and when the votes were cast he had the satisfaction of knowing that the legislature, thanks to his single-handed battle, would be controlled by Whigs and Independent Democrats. That campaign, which has gone down In political history as the “Hale Storm of 1845,” was perhaps the most exciting campaign that Hale ever waged. It was full of exciting and dramatic incidents, but the one that Hale, in his closing years, took most delight in telling was the following: “One of my Democratic opponents in the ‘Hale Storm of 1845’ was Franklin Pierce, against whom I ran for president in 1852. We were both

citizens of the same town. Concord— Chat is, I was practically a citizen of the state capital, though my legal residence was In Dover, some miles to the east “Well, I was going up and down and across the state talking up the antislavery cause, and General Pierce was ae busy in behalf of the Democratic doctrines. We were the leaden on the two sides of the qneetlon, and so It was arranged that we meet In political debate at the state capital. Pierce, of coarse, had long been known to New Hampshire voters; I had already gained prominenoe as an antislavery leader. The Interest In the debate was state-wide, and the church in which the debate wae held wae packed to suffocation on the appointed evening. “Let me tell yon right here that General Pierce wae an excellent speaker and a sincerely conscientious Democrat; he was a much abler man than many persons gave him the credit of being. And what a speech he made that night in reply to mine, which, of course, I made as strong'as I was capable of doing: It was late when we had said oar last says, and then. Just at adjournment there occurred the most interesting incident of the whole debate. Somebody—l never knew who it was—cried but In a voice that tarried all over the church: ‘Yon ought to go home proud because yon have been hearing tonight a man who Is

to to president ot the United States!’ The people cheered, Mr* Pierce and I exchanged compliments, neither of ns dreaming that Abe prediction would come true. Nor, of course, did It enter our minds that seven ?e*» later we wonld both be presidential candidates, he upon the victorious Democratic ticket and I at the head of the Free Soil ticket.” (Copyrlebt, HU. by B. J. Edwards. Alt Rights Reserved.)