3-046-995 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The late Mr. W H. Seward, American statesman, 1872. In Georgia, '...he came into personal contact with the system of slavery and acquired his strong feeling against it...[As governor] his administration was distinguished by valuable reforms...a public lunatic asylum, the abolition of imprisonment for debt, and the removal of all traces of slavery from the State laws...[He] became known as one of the best advocates in the US Courts. When one Van Zandt was charged with harbouring fugitive slaves in Ohio, Mr. Seward was the leading counsel for the defence...all the Southern men opposed his Administration...Mr. Seward at once roused a violent opposition by declaring that he would consent to no more concessions to slavery...Mr. Lincoln, on coming to power, at once made Mr. Seward Secretary of State...On the evening on which Mr. Lincoln was shot down in his box at the theatre in Washington, a man ran up stairs to Mr. Seward's room, and stabbed him with a knife in the neck and face. Mr. Seward was perfectly collected, and protected himself as he could, and the assassin failed to accomplish his murderous purpose. Mr. Seward was frightfully wounded, but recovered, and continued to occupy the post of Secretary of State during Mr. Johnson's Presidency'. From "Illustrated London News", 1872.