![]() Alone they cannot remake the world or save man from degradation. Science and technology are not ends in themselves but means to an end. His heaven is a heaven of material things made possible by the product of science and technology. Seward because I am convinced that man in his continuing conquest of the physical world has not learned how to control himself. I raise my second question concerning Mr. As in 1860, also, we are at the moment witnessing the preliminaries of the forthcoming battle at Chicago. The prospect of Republican success in 1952 as in 1860 presents opportunities for the ambitious who would occupy the White House. In 1952, as in 1860, the political party in power may be voted out of control. Today the question of civil rights and other domestic issues though important, are, in the opinion of many, of less consequence than what our policy or policies should be in a world increasingly divided between the forces of democracy and totalitarianism. The fundamental issue involved not theories but two incompatible modes of living. Yet they were sufficiently distinct to indicate that the social, political, economic, and intellectual ideals of the South differed radically from those of the North. The lines dividing the sections were not always clear-cut. Before the Civil War the United States was a federation of sections as well as a union of states. To domestic issues in 1952 must be added far-reaching matters of foreign policy. Then as now deep-seated economic and moral issues of a domestic nature were to the fore. Today, as in 1860, the people of the United States are in the midst of an exciting and significant presidential campaign. These are: (1) Why did he fail to become President of the United States at the eve of the Civil War? (2) In terms of value what kind of a human was he? I have purposely selected these questions for it seems to me that both have meaning for us in the mid-twentieth century. Instead, therefore, of reharrowing the ground so well-tilled by Professor Perkins, I should like this evening with your permission to confine myself to two questions concerning Seward's interesting life and distinguished career. Those in this company who have read Dexter Perkins' masterful account of Seward published in the Dictionary of American Biography in 1935 or his shorter but equally illuminating statement which appeared last autumn in the University of Rochester Library Bulletin, will, I am confident, agree with me. In the second place I am aware as I know all of you are, that in this audience I have a dear friend and co-worker in the academic vineyard who has long been interested in and is familiar not only with the principal facets of Seward's varied career but with the literature and other source material out of which any definitive portrayal of William Henry Seward, must be constructed. Russell kindly invited me to be with you this evening and pressed for a topic I was bold enough to suggest "William Henry Seward in Retrospect." I say "bold" on two counts: first, because any definitive evaluation of Seward cannot be made, it would seem to me, without fuller exploration of the mass of source material in the Seward Collection, much of it now available for the first time. What more persuasive reason could there be than that here too are deposited the papers of Thurlow Weed, Seward's aide, mentor, and teammate in as efficient a political combination as the state of New York or the nation has ever known? The fact that the Seward Collection, so indispensable to the student of nineteenth-century American history, has come to this great university center is in itself a guarantee that nothing will be left undone to make its treasures available to all who would explore this rich storehouse of source material. In more ways than one it is fitting that this collection of the correspondence, diaries, legal papers, account books, and manuscript records of William Henry Seward and of other members of the Seward family should be housed here. First of all may I personally and on behalf of a sister university with which I have long been associated, congratulate the Rush Rhees Library of the University of Rochester for having been chosen as the permanent repository of the rich Seward Collection. It is a great privilege to be with you on this memorable occasion. Chairman, Professor Perkins, Ladies and Gentlemen: The major portion of the address is here reproduced. Carman, Professor of History at Columbia University. de Kiewiet, in which he accepted the bequest of the Seward Papers on behalf of the University, the address of the evening was delivered by Dr. On the evening of April 25, 1952, the William Henry Seward Room in Rush Rhees Library was formally opened with appropriate ceremonies.
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