ecution of the war for the suppression of the rebellion, Mr. Cornell insisted that ample provision should be made for the creation of sinking funds for the gradual extinction of liabilities created.

Under the salutary operation of these wisely framed statutes the State has long since discharged every dollar of the war debt, and, indeed, of all other State indebtedness, except a small remnant of the Canal Fund debt, not yet matured, but for which complete provision is made in the collection of an annual contribution to the sinking fund for this purpose, which will entirely extinguish that obligation before its maturity, and within a very few years from the present time. The bill for the incorporation of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was zealously supported by Mr. Cornell, and the final passage of the measure, which was vigorously resisted by an influential lobby, was due largely to his vigilance and persistence in its behalf. The extremely valuable results which have followed the enactment of this measure have more than vindicated the wisdom of its promoters.

While not endowed with any considerable facility for public speaking and, therefore, taking but little part in the formal discussions of the Assembly or Senate, Mr. Cornell was accustomed to state his views on public questions with a brevity

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and clearness of expression, which, supported by his well-merited repute for practical good sense, gave his voice more than ordinary weight of authority. He was indefatigable in attention to his duties, and rendered invaluable service in the work of the committee room. His wide range of experience and extended knowledge of many subjects gave him an enviable influence in the disposition of business before committees of which he was a member.

The truthfulness of his character and the fairness with which he was accustomed to treat all questions coming before him for consideration, gave him in general the unreserved confidence of his associates, and his position in support of, or in opposition to, a measure was almost sure to carry others with him. While he was habitually publicspirited in reference to the expenditure of State funds for meritorious purposes, he was especially pronounced in his opposition to useless or extravagant measures. In the discharge of official duty he was governed solely by his own view of the public interest. Neither the solicitation of friends nor the menace of opponents was effective in influencing him in the performance of what he believed to be his sworn duty. No more resolute and unimpeachable member of the Legislature ever sat in either house.

CHAPTER XII.

THE CIVIL WAR.

Anti-Slavery Agitation.-Personal Observations.-Opposition to Slavery Extension.--Repeal of Missouri Compromise.-Free Territories.-Republican Success.-Treasonable Teachings. -The Great Rebellion.-Call for Troops.-Sustaining the Government. Encouraging Enlistments.-Care of Volunteers' Families.—Comfort of the Soldiers.-Visiting Battlefields and Hospitals.—Aiding the Sick and Wounded.—Care of Orphans.-Restoration of the Union.-Sustaining the Veterans.

In the long-continued and never-ending controversy over the slavery question, Mr. Cornell's sympathies were ever on the side of freedom. The first serious contention which threatened to cause forcible conflict with the Federal authority -the nullification acts of South Carolina—happened soon after he had attained his majority. From this period, in all of the various divisions of political sentiment into which the "irrepressible conflict" forced itself continuously, or at least at frequent intervals, during the thirty years which elapsed prior to its final culmination in open rebellion, he was uniformly to be found with the

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friends of the black race. Though never identified by political association with that small class of advanced thinkers who declared themselves abolitionists, he was nevertheless in full sympathy with their object. Extensive range of travel through several of the Southern States had given him more than ordinary opportunity for observing the evils resulting from slavery, and it was his belief that the white people themselves suffered but little less than the colored race from those evils.

He saw that civilization was apparently declining instead of advancing, and that the great States of the South were really being dwarfed by the presence of the institution which their people so jealously guarded. In his letters written while journeying in the South, he frequently contrasted the prospects of the two sections, and clearly predicted the inevitable results of the constantly increasing advance in wealth and power which the Northern States. were making as compared with those of the South.

But while fully sympathizing with the general objects desired by the abolitionists, Mr. Cornell, like the great majority of the true friends of freedom, was unable to see that the final liberation of the bondmen was to be hastened by ill-ad

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vised, premature efforts. He was, therefore, in full accord with the sentiments of the Republican party in its declaration of opposition to the farther extension of slavery. While there might be no lawful means to eradicate it from its existing limits, it should not thrust itself upon other States or Territories. Descended as he was from a long line of Quaker ancestry, every instinct of his nature responded in sympathy with the oppressed. The only question as to his political classification, therefore, was governed by his judgment as to the most completely effective way in which ultimate freedom could be insured.

Had the slaveholders been content to accept the basis of the non-extension of slavery into new territory, there can be little doubt that their favorite institution would have remained undisturbed within its old limits for many years. The sentiment in the North was practically unanimous against interference with slavery within the States where it then existed. "Those whom GOD wishes to destroy, He first makes mad.” Never was the significance of this declaration more apparent than in the results which followed the repeal of the Missouri compromise. Designed thus to provide for the introduction of slavery into Kansas and Nebraska, as well as other new Territories, an uproar was raised in the North which effect