I was made Chairman of the Committee of Probate and Chancery,
the second law committee in the House; and I suppose it is
not presumptuous to say that I did as much of the hard work
of the body and had as much influence in leading its action
and shaping its legislation as anybody.
In the year 1856 I was, with Eli Thayer, sent from Worcester
as a delegate to a Convention held at Buffalo to concert measures
to help the settlers from the Free States in their contest
with slave owners led by Atchison and Stringfellow, of Missouri,
for the possession of Kansas. Atchison had been President
pro tempore of the Senate of the United States. The slave
holders had organized a formidable body of men to drive out
the Free State settlers from the Territories, which had just
been opened after the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. We
met at Buffalo some gentlemen, among whom was Zachariah Chandler,
of Michigan, then in the vigor of early manhood. We made
arrangements for getting large contributions of money and
arms with which the Northern emigrants were equipped, and
which undoubtedly enabled them to maintain successfully their
resistance and establish their free State.
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