%\]t S tlsk c portrait. REPORT OF PROCEEDINGS ON THE OCCASION OF THE RECEPTION OF THE Portrait of Nathaniel Silsbee BY THE SENATE OF MASSACHUSETTS, F EXDAY, M a y 26, 1882. BOSTON : WRIGHT & POTTER PRINTING CO., STATE PRINTERS, 18 Post Office Square. 1882. PROCEEDINGS. Se n a t e , May 26, 1882. The Senate met at 11 o’clock, a . m ., Hon. R obert R. Bishop of Middlesex, President, in the chair. The Divine blessing was invoked by the Chaplain of the Senate, Rev. E dm u nd D o w se of Sherborn. The P resident read to the Senate the following communi­ cation : — P e a b o d y , E s s e x C o u n t y , M a s s ., 15 May, 1882. Hon. Robert R. Bishop, President Massachusetts Senate: Dear Sir, — Knowing the interest you have taken in endeavoring to secure a collection of portraits of all the past presidents of the honorable body over which you now preside, it gives me pleasure to assist in this praiseworthy object and to offer through you, as a gift to our Commonwealth, to be placed on the walls of her Senate chamber, a painting of the late Nathaniel Sil3bee of Salem, who presided for the three terms of 1823, 1824 and 1825. In parting with this original portrait, I do so with the feeling that there is no more fitting place for it to be preserved than on the walls of that historic building, which stands, and which 1 trust will be allowed to stand perpetually, representing the State which Mr. Silsbee loved to serve and honor. This portrait was painted by Chester Harding about the year 1832, and has remained in the possession of the immediate family ever since. The only copy ever made is in the possession of the East India Marine Society at Salem, which organization, and its museum, Mr. Silsbee, with his brother-in-law, Hon. Jacob Crowninshield, Dr. Nathaniel Ilowditch, and a few associates commenced. In 1816, Colonel Pickering, who represented this District in Con­ gress, having made himself verjr unpopular by his vote on the Com­ pensation Bill, Mr. Silsbee was selected by the Republican party as their candidate for Congress. On his being announced Mr. Pick­ ering declined, and Mr. Stephens was nominated as his successor; and Mr. Silsbee, after a very sharp and close contest, was elected by seven votes — Salem and Essex South District being in old party times the scenes of the closest conflicts, and most contested battles. A t the close of his first term in Congress, no candidate was openly nominated in opposition to Mr. Silsbee, though at the polls Mr. Pickering, who was always a personal friend, was sprung upon him by the latter’s political adherents and received many votes, but Mr. Silsbee was triumphantly re-elected. After serving his second term in Congress, Mr. Silsbee returned to receive the thanks and congratulations of all, and a public dinner was given him in June, 1820, by all parties. Particular praise was then awarded to him for opposing the extension o f slavery and the Missouri Com­ promise, and for resisting that tariff which the South then imposed on us, but which since, by the change of our habits of business which it produced, is now indispensable to our success, but withheld by the very party who imposed it upon us. The last is a singular fact in the history of our politics. In 1821, Mr. Silsbee, who had resigned his seat in Congress, was returned to our State Legislature as a representative from Salem ; and in that body, to him and the Hon. Peter C. Brooks, the impor­ tant subject of banks was committed. In 1823, on Governor Brooks declining the chair of State, the Republican party came into power. Essex County for the first time returned Republican sena­ tors, at the head of whom was Mr. Silsbee ; and that year and the two succeeding he presided over the Senate as president. When Mr. Silsbee was called to preside in the Senate, it was the first time he was a member of that board, and he had never been accustomed to preside over any similar assembly. It was a situa­ tion of great embarrassment. The late John Phillips, the former president, and Mr. Silsbee’s competitor, would have been fully jus­ tified, by the feelings of that period, in amusing himself with the embarrassment of his successful competitor. But such was not Mr. Phillips’ course. He gave Mr. Silsbee every assistance during the session of that day, and at its close told Mr. Silsbee that he felt for the embarrassment of his position, and that he would meet him the next morning an hour before the assembling of the Senate and point out to him all the duties of his office. During the time that Mr. Silsbee presided over the Senate, by the appointment of Lieut.-Governor Lincoln as Judge, the office of Lieut.-Governor became vacant; and Mr. Silsbee would have suc­ ceeded to that office, and also succeeded Gov. Eustis in the guber­ natorial chair, had not a deep intrigue defeated it. Mr. Silsbee never attended a party caucus, until lie was drawn into one by stratagem, and placed in the chair, by one who well knew that he would not accept the nomination of a meeting over which he pre­ sided. Though he refused to be reported as a candidate, yet he received the greatest vote, and at the next ballot would have been chosen, but being in the chair he immediately declined, and in con­ sequence Mr. Morton was elected Lieut.-Governor. In the spi'ing session of 1826, on the resignation of Hon. James Lloyd, Mr. Silsbee was elected to supply his place in the United States Senate, and was afterwards re-elected for a full term, thus becoming the colleague of the Hon. Daniel Webster. He continued in the Senate until 1835. Mr. Silsbee was the firm supporter of the administration of John Quincy Adams, and the moment after the election was over, and Mr. Adams defeated, Mr. Silsbee offered to give up his seat in the Senate, that Mr. Adams might take his place; but Mr. Adams absolutely declined it. When he, Mr. Silsbee, declined, Mr. Adams was brought forward; but the evil genius of Massachusetts ruled the hour, and he was defeated. Mr. Silsbee, in the House and in the Senate, ever enjoyed the highest confidence of his colleagues and his constituents. None was ever more faithful and attentive to all his duties. He was president of the State convention at Worcester, and was elected delegate to the convention to nominate President in 1840. His sick­ ness occasioned his absence, his absence defeated the nomination and election of Mr. Clay, and entailed on us the disasters conse­ quent thereon. Mr. Silsbee began his business career soon after the breaking out of the French Revolution, and the general warfare in which all Europe became embroiled. A new field of enterprise was then thrown open to the active minds of our countrymen, exhausted and impoverished b}' the war, from which they had lately emerged, and eager to embrace the golden opportunities which then presented. The beneficent effects of our new government began to be seen and felt in the protection of the industry and interest of our own citi­ zens. This new state of tilings opened to us channels of business throughout the commercial world which had been filled by others » — and enabled us by our neutral position, wisely resolved on, to carry on the trade of nations driven from the sea by the naval su­ periority of their enemies. A t this favorable point of time, Mr. i-iilsbee, having finished his term of service at one of the best private schools of instruction, under the Rev. Manasseh Cutler of Hamilton, and having aband- , oned the collegiate course for which he had been prepared, and been initiated into the forms of business and the knowledge of the counting-room, he engaged in the employ of Elias Hasket Derby, Esq., the leader of the vanguard of India adventure. At the age of eighteen he embarked on the sea of fortune as a clerk of a merchant vessel. In December, 1792, he sailed in command of a new ship belong­ ing to Mr. Derby, the “ Benjamin,” one hundred and ninety tons, for the Isle of France and the East Indies. Neither he nor his chief officer, Mr. Cleveland (afterwards Captain Cleveland), had then attained the age of twenty-one. This is probably the vessel that has been described as one which today would scarcely be deemed suitable for a coasting craft-— un­ coppered, without the improved nautical instruments and science which now universally prevail— the commander trusting only to his dead reckoning, his eyes and his lead. Not one on board had attained the age of his majority'. Captain Cleveland’s “ Voyages” contain the following passage relating to this voyage : — “ It is not probable that the annals of the world can furnish another example of an enterprise of such magnitude and skill, being conducted by so young a man, aided only by those who were yet younger, and accomplished with the most entire success,” Fearless, sagacious, adventurous, yet prudent, success almost uniformly crowned his efforts. Many of his voyages appear like fictions of romance compared with the quiet safety and regularity of the present time. The lawless violence of belligerents, and the jealousy and suspicions which ever attend neutral commerce, called into exercise every power which mental skill and physical skill could devise.