democracy, the leaders of the party were bent on personal
interests, irrespective of the rights of humanity and the
public good, he left them at once and for ever. He has
attached but-slight importance to mere party, names. The
diffusion of genuine republican sentiments among the peo-
ple, and their practical realization in the institutions and
laws of his country, have been the leading objects of his
political life.

Mr. Seward first had occasion to express his convictions
on the subject of slavery during the protracted struggle on
the admission of Missouri into the Union. He perceived,
at that early period, the subserviency to southern influence
and dictation which prevailed in the democratic party in
the state of New York. From that day to the present, his
life has been devoted to the principles of liberty. In his
view, freedom is national, and slavery sectional. With
him the purpose of the Union is to establish the blessings
of equality, justice, and humanity; not to enlarge the area
of bondage and oppression. His hostility to slavery has
not been the result of policy, but of principle -- of the
strongest conviction of its inherent injustice, and its ten-
dency to corrupt and destroy the noblest institutions of the
country. His rule of action on the subject has been uni-
form from the commencement of his political career. He
has never suffered the fear of consequences to silence his
voice in defence of freedom, when any practical benefit
was at stake; but he has strictly avoided every act that
was adapted to inflict a needless wound upon an opponent,
or to foment an unprofitable excitement.

In his measures with regard to slavery, Mr. Seward has
been no fanatic. Detesting the institution, he has waged
against it an honorable warfare. But he has refrained,
with scrupulous care, from infringing on the constitutional
rights of slaveholders, or depriving them of any privilege
to which they are entitled by law. This is the extent of
his concessions. He refuses to accord any advantage be-

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