Springfield 1636-1886, History of Town and City, by Mason A. Green ...

SPRINGFIELD, 16S6-1SS6. 467
At the gubernatorial election Springfield had stood : Whigs,
3,272 ; democrats, 3,209 ; Avhile at the November election Taylor
]iolled 3,302; Cass, 3,0(i0 ; Van
Buren, 1,200. And this was in
the face of a remarkable series of political orations which the
brilliant George Ashman had delivered throngli this part of the
State. Mr. Mills was an extensive speaker himself, Init the denmnd
for him in the eastern part of the State weakened his home canvass.
Sumner wrote the following letter to Mr. Mills, dated Boston,
Nov. 19, 1850: " Can't you come to the House of Representatives
at Boston this winter? We all feel that your presence would add
nuich to our strength and character. You have already, 1 know,
made sacrifices for our cause ; but I have thought that you might
serve in our supreme court without any serious inconvenience, while
the good to be derived fiom such service would be incalculable. We
need wise, discreet, and just counsels ; and I know no person
who can give them better than yourself. Our party must now meet
the trials of success, which are more dangerous than those of
defeat." Mr. Mills obeyed the summons, but owing to a deadlock
the town was not represented in the Legislature for two or three
years.
Henry Wilson, the Natick shoemaker, another free-soiler destined
to rise to senatorial distinction, was another personage that Mr.
Mills came in contact with at this time. In his " History of the Rise
and Fall of the Slave Power in America " Mr. Wilson refers to
jMr. jNIills as a man "who had long been one of the honored and
trusted leaders of the democratic party."
In accordance with a legislative resolution, in 1849, Governor
Briggs appointed B. R. Curtis, of Boston, N. J. Lord, of Salem,
and Mr. Chapman to draw up a practice act for the courts of
justice of the Connnonwealth, except for criminal cases. The rules
of practice had become involved. No uniform principle was dis-
coverable in the various acts of the Legislature on this subject.
At the foundation was the old common-law pleading. Thirteen