William Schouler, A history of Massachusetts in the Civil War: Volume 1

[282] often show, he was at the same time the proudest, the firmest, the most determined enemy of any thing like mere pretension, come from whatever source it might. He never took a position which he had not first well considered; and, when his position was taken, nothing but a clear conviction that he was wrong could make him change from it. Though no man cared less for power than he did, no man was more conscientious and scrupulous in the exercise of it. His authority as Governor he regarded as delegated to him by the people. He held it in trust, to be exercised for their benefit, and to be trampled upon by no man. Hence, what may have appeared to some who have read this correspondence as matters of no moment, and which might have been passed by without objection, the Governor viewed as an indignity to the office he filled, involving principles which could neither be compromised with honor, nor ignored with silence. By pursuing this firm and steady course, he was enabled in the end to preserve inviolate the rights of the State, the dignity of its chief officer, and the demands of public justice. It was these traits of character which made him honored and respected while living, and caused him to be mourned for when dead, even as the children of Israel, when bondmen in a strange land, mourned their captivity, and hung their harps upon the willows which grew by the waters of Babylon.