I went so far as to
establish an office there and place in it two young lawyers,
nominally my partners, but the great political currents of that
time soon diverted me from the practice of the law into the political
contests that grew out of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise.

"The direful spring of woes unnumbered."

Before entering upon an account of my political life it seems
appropriate for me to state my political bias and position. I was
by inheritance and association a Whig boy, without much care for
or knowledge of parties or political principles. No doubt my
discharge from the engineer corps by a Democratic Board of Public
Works strengthened this bias. I shouted for Harrison in the campaign
of 1840. In 1842 I was enthusiastic for "Tom Corwin, the wagon-
boy," the Whig candidate for Governor of Ohio. In that canvass
Governor Corwin addressed a great meeting at Mansfield. I heard
his speech, and was full of enthusiasm. Mr. Corwin was certainly
the greatest popular orator of his time. His face was eloquent,
changeable at his will. With a look he could cause a laugh or a
tear. He would move his audience at his pleasure. I vividly
remember the impression he made upon me, though I cannot recall
anything he said. At the close of the meeting I was requested by
the committee in charge to take Mr. Corwin in a buggy to Bucyrus.
This I cheerfully did. I noticed that Mr. Corwin was very glum
and silent, and to cheer him up I spoke of his speech and of the
meeting. He turned upon me, and with some show of feeling, said
that all the people who heard him would remember only his jokes,
and warned me to keep out of politics and attend to my law. He
told me that he knew my father, and was present at his death at
Lebanon, where he, Mr. Corwin, lived. And then, brightening up,
he gave me an interesting account of the early settlement of Ohio,
and of the bar and bench, and of his early life as a wagon boy in
Harrison's army. His sudden fit of gloom had passed away. I do
not recall any circumstance that created a deeper impression on my
mind than this interview with Mr. Corwin. His advice to keep out
of politics was easy to follow, as no one could then dream of the
possibility of a Whig being elected to office in Richland county,
then called "the Berks of Ohio." Mr. Corwin was defeated at that
election.

I took but little part in the campaign of 1844, when Mr. Clay was
a candidate for President, but I t