ene of
its mortal labours, it is now moved with more than human indignation
against those who are perverting its last great public act."[439]

[Footnote 437: _Ibid._, p. 222.]

[Footnote 438: James F. Rhodes, _History of the United States_, Vol.
1, p. 453.]

[Footnote 439: F.W. Seward, _Life of W.H. Seward_, Vol. 2, p. 220.]

Seward's speech created a profound impression throughout New York and
the North. "It probably affected the minds of more men," says Rhodes,
"than any speech delivered on that side of this question in
Congress."[440] Senator Houston had it translated into German and
extensively circulated among the Germans of western Texas. Even Edwin
Croswell congratulated him upon its excellence. It again directed the
attention of the country to his becoming a presidential candidate,
about which newspapers and politicians had already spoken. Montgomery
Blair's letter of May 17, 1873, to Gideon Welles, charges Seward with
boasting that he had "put Senator Dixon up to moving the repeal of the
Missouri Compromise as an amendment to Douglas' first Kansas bill, and
had himself forced the repeal by that movement, and had thus brought
life to the Republican party."[441] Undoubtedly Seward read the signs
of the times, and saw clearly and quickly that repeal would probably
result in a political revolution, bringing into life an anti-slavery
party that would sweep the country. But the charge that he claimed to
have suggested the repeal, smells too strongly of Welles' dislike of
Seward, and needs other evidence than Blair's telltale letter to
support it. It is on a par with Senator Atchinson's assertion, made
under the influence of wine, that he forced Douglas to bring in the
Nebraska bill--a statement that the Illinois Senator promptly stamped
as false.

[Footnote 440: James F. Rhodes, _History of the United States_, Vol.
1, p. 453.]

[Footnote 441: Gideon Welles, _Lincoln and Seward_, p. 68.]

The temper of the people of the State began to change very soon after
the introduction of Douglas' proposal. Remonstrances, letters, and
resolutions poured in from Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, and
other cities. Senator Fish presented a petition headed by the Bishop
of the Episcopal Church and signed by a majority of the clergymen of
New York City. Merchants, lawyers, and business men generally, who had
actively favoured the compromise of 1850, now spoke in earnest protest
against the repeal of the compromise of 1820