■itlirwiiirnfniiiiiiliiiiifliii ikieiia:2i:zii^2Li;5ii5; SOMETHING^MEN I HAVE MOWN ADLAI E. STEVENSON ^ %9^ FROM THE BENNO LOEWY LIBRARY COLLECTED BY BENNO LOEWY 1854-1919 BEQUEATHED TO CORNELL UNIVERSITY The date shows when this volume was taken. To renew this book copy the call No. and give to the librarian. HOME USE RULES Mffi"—nj All books subject to recall ' ' J ^' All borrowers must regis- ter in the library to borrow ^ . , books for home use. »ii*.«. "."".■-. ^jj books must be re- ' turned at end of college fffW I'S iQAQ Jt ^®*^ ^°^ inspection and 1^ Jp * repairs. Limited books must be returned within the four week limit and not renewed. Students must return all books before leaving town. Officers should arrange for the return of books wanted during their absence from town. Volumes of periodicals and ofipamphlets are held in the library as much as possible. For special pur- poses they are given out for a limited time. Borrowers should not use their library privileges for the benefit of other persons. Books of special value and gift books, when the giver wishes it, are not allowed to circulate. Readers are asked to re- port all cases of books marked or mutilated. Do not deface books by marks and writing. Cornell University Library E661 .S84 Something of men I have known, 3 1924 030 905 040 Clin Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/cletails/cu31924030905040 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN WITH SOME PAPERS OF A GENERAL NATURE, POLITICAL, HISTORICAL, AND RETROSPECTIVE BY ADLAI E. STEVENSON FULLY ILLUSTRATED SECOND EDITION CHICAGO A. C. McCLURG & CO. 1909 Copyright A. C. McCLURG & CO. 1909 Published October, 1909 Second Edition, December 17, 1900 ^-S.?^\2] ert' I>a(te>{trt $»m R. B. DONNELLKY i SciNS COMPANY CHICAGO TO MY WIFE JLetltta (Sceen ^tetaeneion the patient listener to these "twice-told tales" FOREWORD TO WRITE in the spirit of candor of men he has known, and of great events in which he has himself borne no inconspicuous part, has been thought not an unworthy task for the closing years of more than one of the most eminent of our public men. It may be that the labor thus imposed has oftentimes enabled the once active participant in great affairs submissively "to entertain the lag end of his life with quiet hours." Following the example of such at a great distance and along a humbler path, I have attempted to write something of events of which I have been a witness, and of some of the principal actors therein during the last third of a century. My book in the main is something of men I have person- ally known ; the occasional mention of statesmen of the past seems justified by matters at the time under discussion. With the hope that it may not be wholly without interest to some into whose hands it may fall, I now submit this slight contribution to the political literatm-e of these passing days. A. E. S. Bloomington, Illinois, Augutt 1, 1909. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. On the Circuit 1 II. In the House op Representatives . . 12 III. Again in Congress 47 IV. The Vice-President .... 60 V. The Senate op the United States . . 67 VI. A Tribute to Lincoln .... 82 VII. Stephen A. Douglas . 92 VIII. The First Political Telegram 128 IX. Along the Bypaths of History . 136 X. The Code op Honor .... 146 XI. A Princely Gift ... 174 XII. The Old Ranger ... 182 XIII. The Mormon Exodus from Illinois . 197 XIV. A Kentucky Colonel .... 216 XV. Forgotten Events op the Long Ago . 219 XVI. Robert G. Ingersoll .... 225 XVII. A Camp-meeting Orator . . . 229 XVIII. Cleveland as I Knew Him 239 XIX. The Unanimous Choice por Speaker 246 XX. A Lawyer op the Old School . .251 XXI. High Debate in the Mountains . . 256 XXII. The Sage op the Bar . .262 XXIII. "The Gentleman prom Mississippi" 268 XXIV. An Old-time Country Doctor . 273 XXV. A Question op Availability . . . 285 XXVI. A Statesman op a Past Era . .288 XXVII. Not Guilty op Preaching the Gospel . 295 XXVIII. Among the Actors 302 XXIX. The Lost Art op Oratory . 308 CONTENTS— Cojrfirn^ CHAPTER PAOE XXX. The Colonels 318 XXXI. Reminiscences. 321 XXXII. A Tribute to Ireland .... 329 XXXIII. The Blind Chaplain . . . .332 XXXIV. A Memorable Centennial . . . 334 XXXV. Columbus Monument in Central Park . 342 XXXVI. A Platform not Dangerous to Stand Upon 344 XXXVII. Anecdotes op Governor Oglesby . . 346 XXXVIII. The One Enemy 348 XXXIX. Contrasts op Times 349 XL. Endorsing the Administration . . 350 XLI. Anecdotes about Lincoln . . . 352 XLII. First Legislative Assembly in America . 355 XLIII. A New Day Added to the Calendar . 368 XLIV. A Mountain College . . . .371 XLV. Dedication op a National Park . . 376 XL VI. A Bar Meeting Still in Session . . 378 XLVII. The Hayne-Webster Debate Recalled . 381 XL VIII. In the Highlands 383 XLIX. Anecdotes op Lawyers .... 386 L. Our Noble Calling. .... 397 LI. The "Home-Coming" at Bloomington . 413 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Adlai E. Stevenson Frontispiece AdiiAI E. Stevenson at 30 8 James S. Ewing . 9 George F. Hoar . 12 SamueIi J. Tilden 13 James G. Blaine . . 18 Robert E, Williams . 19 James A. Garfield 22 Nath. p. Banks . 23 William R. Morrison . 26 William M. Springer . 27 Samuel J. Randall 30 Alexander H. Stephens 30 Lucius Q. C. Lamar 30 James B. Beck . 30 David Dudley Field . 31 Henry Watterson 33 Samuel S. Cox 34 Levi P. Morton . 48 James A. McKenzie 49 William McKinley 56 Senate Testimonial to Mi I. Stevenson as > President of Senate 57 Abraham Lincoln 82 Andrew Johnson 83 Ulysses S. Grant . 100 Horatio Seymour . 101 Stephen A. Douglas . 126 Samuel F. B. Morse 127 William M. Gwin . 170 James Shields . 171 James Smithson . . 174 XI LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS — Co/ifrnwed Joseph Henry . John Reynolds . Joseph Smith R. G. Ingeksoll . Peter Cartwright Cleveland and Stevenson William Freeman Vilas William M. Evarts Joe Wheeler David Davis S. S. Prentiss Edwin Booth Joseph Jefferson RuFUS Choate . Isaac N. Phillips William Jennings Bryan W. H. MiLBURN . R. J. Oglesby Joseph W. Fifeb Lawrence Weldon Thomas F. Marshall . Matthew T. Scott Adlai E. Stevenson . Lyman Trumbull Home of Adlai E. Stevenson, Bloomington, III, PAGE 175 196 197 226 227 240 241 262 263 286 287 304 305 312 313 316 317 346 347 352 353 372 373 382 383 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN ON THE CIRCUIT DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTRY AFTER THE CIVII. WAR SLAV- ERY THE APPLE OF DISCORD BEFORE THE WAR LINCOLN AS A COUNTRY LAWYER SOCIABILITY OF THE LAWYERS OF THE PERIOD THEIR EXCELLENCE AS ORATORS HENRY CLAY AS A PARTY LEADER EULOGIUMS ON LAWYERS LINCOLN'S ADMIRATION FOR GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT THE WRITER'S ADDRESS ON THE LAW AND LAWYERS. THE period extending from my first election to Congress in 1874, to my retirement from the Vice-Presidency in 1897, was one of marvellous development to the coun- try. Large enterprises were undertaken, and the sure founda- tion was laid for much of existing business conditions. The South had recovered from the sad effects of the Civil War, and had in a measure regained its former position in the world of trade, as well as in that pertaining to the affairs of the Government. The population of the country had almost doubled; the ratio of representation in the Lower House of Congress largely augmented; the entire electoral vote increased from 369 to 444. Eight new States had been admitted to the Union, thus increasing the number of Senators from seventy-four to ninety. "^he years mentioned likewise witnessed the passing from the national stage, with few exceptions, of the men who had taken a conspicuous part in the great debates directly pre- ceding and during the Civil War and the reconstruction period which immediately followed. By the arbitrament of war, 1 2 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN and by constitutional amendment, old questions, for a half- century the prime cause of sectional strife, had been irrevo- cably settled, and passed to the domain of history New men had come to the front, and new questions were to be dis- cussed and determined. To the student of history, the years immediately pre- ceding the Civil War are of abiding interest. In some of its phases slavery was the all-absorbing subject of debate throughout the entire country. It had been the one recog- nized peril to the Union since the formation of the Govern- ment. Beginning with the debates in the convention that formulated the Federal Constitution, it remained for seventy years the apple of discord, — the subject of patriotic appre- hension and repeated compromise. The last serious attempt to settle this question in the manner just indicated was by the adjustment known in our political history as "the compro- mise measures of 1850." These measures, although bitterly denounced in the South as well as in the North, received the sanction in national convention of both of the great parties that two years later presented candidates for the Presidency. It is no doubt true that a majority of the people, in both sec- tions of the country, then believed that the question that had been so fraught with peril to national imity from the begin- ning was at length settled for all time. The rude awakening came two years later, when the country was aroused, as it had rarely been before, by impassioned debate in and out of Congress, over the repeal of the Missoxu-i Compromise. It was a period of excitement such as we shall probably not see again. Slavery in all its phases was the one topic of earnest discussion, both upon the hustings and at the fireside. There was httle talk now of compromise. The old-time statesmen of the Clay and Webster, Winthrop and Crittenden, school soon disappeared from the arena. Men hitherto compara- tively unknown to the country at large were soon to the front. Conspicuous among them was a coimtry lawyer whose home was at Springfield, Illinois. With the mighty events soon to follow, his name is imperishably linked. But it is not of Lincoln the President, the emancipator, the martyr ON THE CIRCUIT 3 we are now to speak. It is of Lincoln the country lawyer, as he stepped upon the arena of high debate, the unswerving antagonist of slavery extension half a century and more ago. His home, during his entire professional Ufe, was at the capital of the State. He was, at the time mentioned, in general practice as a lawyer and a regular attendant upon the neighboring courts. His early opportimities for education were meagre indeed. He had been a student of men, rather than of books. He was, in the most expressive sense, "of the people," — the people as they then were. For, "Know thou this, that men are as the time is." His training was, in large measure, under the severe condi- tions to be briefly mentioned. The old-time custom of "riding the circuit" is to the present generation of lawyers only a tradition. The few who remember central Illinois as it was sixty years ago will readily recall the full meaning of the expression. The district in which Mr. Lincoln practised extended from the counties of Livingston and Woodford upon the north, almost to the Indiana line — embracing the present cities of Danville, Springfield, and Bloomington. The last named was the home of the Hon. David Davis, the presiding judge of the district. As is well known, he was the intimate friend of Mr. Lincoln, and the latter was often his guest during attendance upon the courts at Bloomington. At that early day, the term of coiu-t in few of the counties continued longer than a week, so that much of the time of the judge and the lawyers who travelled the circuit with him was spent upon horseback. When it is remembered that there were then no railroads, but few bridges, a sparse popidation, and that more than half of the area embraced in the district was unbroken prairie, the real significance of riding the cir- cuit will fiilly appear. It was of this period that the late Governor Ford, speaking of Judge Young, — whose district extended from Quincy, upon the Mississippi River to Chi- cago, — said: "He possesses in rare degree one of the high- est requisites for a good circuit judge, — he is an excellent horseback rider." 4 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN At the period mentioned there were few law-books in the State. The monster libraries of later days had not yet ar- rived. The half-dozen volumes of State Reports, together with the Statutes and a few leading text-books, constituted the lawyer's library. To an Illinois lawyer upon the cir- cuit a pair of saddle-bags was an indispensable part of his outfit. With these, containing the few books mentioned and a change or two of linen, and supplied with the necessary horse, saddle and bridle, the lawyer of the pioneer days was duly equipped for the active duties of his calling. The lack of numerous volumes of adjudicated cases was, however, not an unmixed evil. Causes were necessarily argued upon prin- ciple. How well this conduced to the making of the real lawyer is well known. The admonition, "Beware the man who reads but one book," is of deep significance. The com- plaint to-day is not of scarcity, but that "of the making of many books there is no end." Professor Phelps is authority for the statement that "it is easy to find single opinions in which more authorities are cited than were mentioned by Marshall in the whole thirty years of his imexampled judicial life; and briefs that contain more cases than Webster referred to in all the arguments he ever delivered." The lawyers of the times whereof we write were, almost without exception, politicians — in close touch with the people, easy of approach, and obliging to the last degree. Generally speaking, a lawyer's office was as open to the pub- lic as the Courthouse itself. That his surroundings were favorable to the cultivation of a high degree of sociability goes without saying. Story-telling helped often on the cir- cuit to while away the long evenings at country taverns. At times, perchance, " The night drave on wi' sangs and clatter." Oratory counted for much more then than now. WTien an important case was on trial all other pursuits were for the time suspended, and the people for miles around were in prompt attendance. This was especially the case when it ON THE CIRCUIT 5 was known that one or more of the leading advocates were to speak. The litigation, too, was to a large extent different from that of to-day. The coimtry was new, population sparse ; the luxuries and many of the comforts of life yet in the future; post-offices, schools, and churches many miles away. In every cabin were to be found the powder-horn, bullet-pouch, and rifle. The restraints and amenities of modern society were in large measure unknown; and altogether much was to be, and was, "pardoned to the spirit of liberty." There were no great corporations to be chosen defendants, but much of the time of the courts was taken up by suits in ejectment, actions for assault and battery, breach of promise, and slander. One, not infrequent, was replevin, involving the ownership of hogs, when by unquestioned usage all stock was permit- ted to run at large. But criminal trials of all grades, and in all their details, aroused the deepest interest. To these the people came from all directions, as if summoned to a general muster. This was especially true if a murder case was upon trial. Excitement then ran high, and the arginnents of coim- sel, from beginning to close, were listened to with breathless interest. It will readily be seen that such occasions furnished rare opportunity to the gifted advocate. In very truth the general acquaintance thus formed, and the popularity achieved, have marked the beginning of more than one suc- cessful and brilliant pohtical career. Moreover, the thorough knowledge of the people thus acquired by actual contact — the knowledge of their condition, necessities, and wishes — resulted often in legislation of enduring benefit to the new country. The Homestead law, the law setting apart a moiety of the public domain for the maintenance of free schools, and judicious provision for the establishment of the various chari- ties, will readily be recalled. Politics, in the modern sense — too often merely "for what there is in it" — was unknown. As stepping-stones to local offices and even to Congress, the caucus and the convention were yet to come. Aspirants to public place presented their claims directly to the people, and the personal popularity of 6 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN the candidate was an important factor in achieving success. Bribery at elections was rarely heard of. The saying of the great bard, " If money go before, All ways do open lie," awaited its verification in a later and more civilized period. As late even as 1858, when Lincoln and Douglas were rival aspirants to the Senate, when every voter in the State was a partisan of one or the other candidate, and the excitement was for many months intense, there was never, from either side, an intimation of the corrupt use of a farthing to influence the result. No period of our history has witnessed more intense devo- tion to great party leaders than that of which we write. Of eminent statesmen, whose names were still invoked, none had filled larger space than did Henry Clay and Andrew Jack- son. The former was the early political idol of Mr. Lincoln; the latter, of Mr. Douglas. Possibly, since the foundation of the Government, no statesman has been so completely idolized by his friends and party as was Henry Clay. Words are meaningless when the attempt is made to express the idolatry of the Whigs of his own State for their great chief- tain. For a lifetime he knew no rival. His wish was law to his followers. In the realm of party leadership a greater than he hath not appeared. At his last defeat for the Presi- dency strong men wept bitter tears. When his star set, it was felt to be the signal for the dissolution of the great party of which he was the founder. In words worthy to be recalled, "when the tidings came Hke wailing over the State that Harry Percy's spur was cold, the chivalrous felt somehow the world had grown commonplace." The following incident, along the line indicated, may be considered characteristic. While Mr. Clay was a Senator a resolution, in accordance with a sometime custom, was intro- duced into the Kentucky House of Representatives instructing the Senators from that State to vote in favor of a certain bill then pending in Congress. The resolution was in the act of passing without opposition, when a hitherto silent member ON THE CIRCUIT 7 from one of the mountain counties, springing to his feet, exclaimed: "Mr. Speaker, am I to understand that this Legislature is undertaking to tell Henry Clay how to vote?" The Speaker answered that such was the purport of the reso- lution. At which the member from the mountains, throw- ing up his arms, exclaimed "Great God!" and sank into his seat. It is needless to add that the resolution was imme- diately rejected by unanimous vote. Two-thirds of a century ago the Hon. John P. Kennedy wrote of the lawyers of his day : " The feelings, habits, and associations of the bar in general, have a very happy influence upon the character. And, take it altogether, there may be collected from it a greater mass of shrewd, observant, droll, playful, and generous spirits, than from any other equal numbers of society. They live in each other's presence like a set of players; congregate in courts like the former in the green room; and break their unpremeditated jests, in the intervals of business, with that sort of undress freedom that contrasts amusingly with the solemn and even tragic seriousness with which they appear in turn upon the boards. They have one face for the public, rife with the saws and learned gravity of the profession, and another for them- selves, replete with broad mirth, sprightly wit, and gay thought- lessness. The intense mental toil and fatigue of business give them a pecuUar reUsh for the enjoyment of their hours of relaxa- tion, and, in the same degree, incapacitate them for that frugal attention to their private concerns which their limited means usually require. They have, in consequence, a prevailing air of unthriftiness in personal matters, which, however it may operate to the prejudice of the pocket of the individual, has a mellow and kindly effect upon his disposition. In an old member of the profession, one who has grown gray in the service, there is a rich unction of originality that brings him out from the ranks of his fellowmen in strong rehef. His habitual conver- sancy with the world in its strangest varieties and with the secret history of character, gives him a shrewd estimate of the human heart. He is quiet, and unapt to be struck with wonder at any of the actions of men. There is a deep current of observation running calmly through his thoughts, and seldoni gushing out in words; the confidence which has been placed in him, in the thousand relations of his profession, renders him constitutionally cautious. His acquaintance with the vicissitudes of fortune, as they have been exemplified in the lives of individuals, and 8 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN with the severe afflictions that have 'tried the reins' of many, known only to himself, makes him an indulgent and charitable apologist of the aberrations of others. He has an impregnable good humor that never falls below the level of thoughtfulness into melancholy." A distinguished writer, two generations ago, said of the early Western bar : " Not only was it a body distmguished for dignity and tol- erance, but chivalrous courage was a marked characteristic. Personal cowardice was odious among the bar, as among the hunters who had fought the British and the Indians. Hence, insulting language, and the use of billingsgate, were too hazardous to be indulged where a personal accounting was a strong possi- bility. Not only did common prudence dictate courtesy among the members of the bar, but an exalted spirit of honor and well- bred politeness prevailed. The word of a counsel to his adver- sary was his inviolable bond. The suggestion of a lawyer as to the existence of a fact was accepted as verity by the court. To insinuate unprofessional conduct was to impute infamy." I distinctly recall the first time I saw Mr. Lincoln. In September, 1852, two lawyers from Springfield, somewhat travel-stained with their sixty miles' journey, alighted from the stage-coach in front of the old tavern in Bloomington. The taller and yoimger of the two was Abraham Lincoln; the other, his personal friend and former preceptor, John T. Stuart. That evening it was my good fortune to hear Mr. Lincoln address a political meeting at the old Courthouse in advocacy of the election of General Winfield Scott to the Presidency. The speech was one of great ability, and but little that was favorable of the military record of General Pierce remained when the speech was concluded. The Mexican War was then of recent occurrence, its startling events fresh in the memory of all, and its heroes still the heroes of the hour. The more than half-century that has passed has not wholly dispelled my recollection of Mr. Lincoln's eloquent tribute to "the hero of Lundy's Lane," and his humorous description of the military career of General Frank- lin Pierce. The incident now to be related occurred at the old National ADLAI E. STEVENSON AT 30 JAMES S. EWING ON THE CIRCUIT 9 Hotel in Bloomington in September, 1854. Senator Doug- las had been advertised to speak, and a large audience was in attendance. It was his first appearance there since the pas- sage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. The writer, then a student at the Wesleyan University, with his classmate James S. Ewing and many others, had called upon Mr. Douglas at his hotel. While there the Hon. Jesse W. Fell, a prominent citizen of Bloomington and the close friend of Mr. Lincoln, also called upon Mr. Douglas, and after some conversation with him said in substance, that inasmuch as there was pro- found interest felt in the great question then pending, and the people were anxious to hear both sides, he thought it would be well to have a joint discussion between Judge Doug- las and Mr. Lincoln. To which proposition Mr. Douglas at once demanded, "What party does Mr. Lincoln repre- sent?" The answer of Mr. Fell was, "The Whig party, of course." Declining the proposition with much feeling Mr. Douglas said, "When I came home from Washington I was assailed in the northern part of the State by an old line aboli- tionist, in the central part of the State by a Whig, and in southern Illinois by an anti-Nebraska Democrat. I cannot hold the Whig responsible for what the abolitionist says, nor the anti-Nebraska Democrat responsible for what either of the others say, and it looks like dogging a man all over the State." There was no further allusion to the subject, and Mr. Lincoln soon after called. The greeting between Judge Douglas and himself was most cordial, and their conversa- tion, principally of incidents of their early lives, of the most agreeable and famihar character. Judge Lawrence Weldon, just then at the beginning of an honorable career, was present at the above interview, and has in a sketch of Mr. Lincoln given its incidents more in detail. Courts of justice, and the law as a distinctive calling, are the necessary outgrowths of civiUzation. In his rude state, man avenged his wrongs with his own strong arm, and the dogma, "Might makes right," passed unchallenged. But as communities assumed organic form, tribunals were insti- tuted for the administration of justice and the maintenance 10 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN of public order. The progress of society, from a condition of semi-barbarism and ignorance to a state of the highest culture and refinement, may be traced by its advancement in the modes of administering justice, and in the character and learning of its tribunals. The advance steps taken from time to time in the history of jurisprudence are the milestones which stand out on the highway of civilization. All along the pathway of human progress, the courts of justice have been the srn-e criteria by which to judge of the intelligence and virtue of om- race. Truly it has been said: "With the coming of the lawyer came a new power in the world. The steel-clad baron and his retainers were awed by terms they had never before heard and did not understand, such as precedent, principle, and the Uke. The great and real pacifier of the world was the lawyer. His parchment took the place of the battle-field. The flow of his ink checked the flow of blood. His quill usurped the place of the sword. His legalism dethroned barbarism. His victories were victories of peace. He impressed on individuals and on communities that which he is now endeavoring to impress on nations, that there are many controversies that it were better to lose by arbitration than to win by war and bloodshed." It is all-important, never more so than now, that the people should magnify the law. Whatever lessens respect for its authority bodes evil and only evil to the State. No occasion could arise more appropriate than this in which to utter solemn words of warning against an evil of greater menace to the pubhc weal than aught to be apprehended from foreign foe. In many locaUties a spirit of lawlessness has asserted itself in its most hideous form. The rule of the mob has at times usurped that of the law. Outrages have been perpetrated in the name of summary jxistice, appalling to all thoughtful men. It need hardly be said that all this is in total disregard of individual rights, and utterly subversive of all lawful authority. By the solemn adjudication of courts, and under the safeguards of law, the fact of guilt is to be established, and ON THE CIRCUIT 11 the guilty punished. The spirit of the mob is in deadly antagonism to all constituted authority. Unless curbed it will sap the foundation of civilized society. Lynching a human creature is no less murder when the act of a mob than when that of a single individual. There is no safety to society but in an aroused public sentiment that will hold each participant amenable to the law for the consequences of the crime he either perpetrates or abets. This is the land of liberty, "of the largest liberty," but let it never be forgotten that it is liberty regulated by law. Let him be accounted a public enemy who would weaken the bonds of human society, and destroy what it has cost our race the sacrifice and toil of centuries to achieve. The sure rock of defence in the outstretched years as in the long past, will be the intelligence, the patriotism, the virtue of a law-abiding, liberty-loving people. To a degree that cannot be measured by words, the temple of justice will prove the city of refuge. "The judiciary has no guards, no palaces, or treasuries; no arms but truth and wisdom; and no splendor but justice." II IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NOTABLE MEMBERS OF THE FORTY-FOURTH CONGRESS TRIAL OF GENERAL BELKNAP THE PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST BETWEEN HAYES AND TILDEN CREATION OF THE ELECTORAL COMMIS- SION THE writer's SPEECH ON THAT OCCASION PROMI- NENT MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE DURING THIS CONGRESS ANECDOTES OF MR. BLAINE OTHER MEMBERS ANECDOTES OF MR. HOAR ELECTION OF THE " BLIND PREACHER " MR. LAMAR'S error at table "blue jeans WILLIAMS" retirement of dr. butler from the chaplaincy mr. Blackburn's speech at an execution — mr. cox's ready WIT — ^ proctor knott's ability as a lawyer — his speech ON DULUTH his REPLY TO HIS COMPETITOR FOR THE GOV- ERNORSHIP. THE forty-fourth Congress — the first of which I was a member — assembled December 6, 1875. Among its members were many gentlemen of distinction, some of whom had known active service in the field. Pohtical dis- abihties had been in large measure removed, and the South was now, for the first time since the war, represented in Con- gress by its old-time statesmen. Of this number may be mentioned Mr. Stephens of Georgia, Mr. Lamar of Mississippi, and Mr. Reagan of Texas. From the membership of this House were afterwards chosen twenty-six Senators, ten mem- •bers of the Cabinet, one Justice of the Supreme Court, and, from this and the House immediately succeeding, three Vice- Presidents and two Presidents of the United States. The proceedings of this Congress marked an important epoch in our history. During its first session occurred the masterful debate upon the General Amnesty Bill. The very depths of partisan feeling were stirred, and for many days it was indeed a titanic struggle. The speeches attracting the greatest attention were those of Blaine and Garfield upon the one side, and Hill of Georgia and Lamar upon the other. This 12 GEORGE F. HOAR SAMUEL J. TILDEN IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 13 great debate recalled vividly that of Webster and Hayne, in the other wing of the Capitol, almost half a century before. This session also witnessed the impeachment of a Cabinet officer, General Belknap, Secretary of War. The trial occurred before the Senate, sitting as a court of impeachment during the closing weeks of the session, and resulted in his acquittal, less than two-thirds of the Senators voting for conviction. General Belknap was represented by an able array of counsel, chief of whom were Judge Black of Pennsylvania and the Hon. Matthew H. Carpenter of Wisconsin. Mr. Knott of Kentucky, Mr. Hoar of Massachusetts, and Mr. Lord of New York, con- ducted the prosecution in the main as managers on the part of the House of Representatives. The principal contention on the part of the coimsel for the accused was that there could be no conviction, inasmuch as Belknap had resigned his office before the articles of impeachment had been preferred. This view seems to have been decisive of the final vote of many Senators, and the accused stood acquitted at the bar of the Senate. When the second session of this Congress convened, in December, 1876, the excitement throughout the country was intense over the pending Presidential contest between Hayes and Tilden. As will be remembered, the electoral vote of two States, Louisiana and Florida, was claimed by each of the candidates. These votes were decisive of the result. As the days passed and the time approached for the joint session of the Senate and the House, for the purpose of count- ing the electoral votes and declaring the result, the tension became greater, and partisan feeling more intense. The friends of Hayes were in the majority in the Senate; those of Tilden, in the House. With conflicting certificates, both purporting to give the correct vote from each of the States named, and no lawful authority existing to determine as to their validity, it can readily be seen that the situation was one to arouse the grave apprehension of all thoughtful men. The condition was without a precedent in our history. Twice had there been a failure to elect a President by the people, and by constitutional provision the election in each instance 14 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN devolved upon the House. In the first-mentioned case, in 1801, Mr. Jefferson was chosen; and in the latter, in 1825, Mr. John Quincy Adams. In neither of the cases just mention- ed had there been a question as to how any State had voted. It was simply that no person had received a majority of all of the electoral votes cast. The method of settlement was clearly pointed out by the Constitution. As already indicated, the case was wholly different in the Hayes-Tilden contro- versy. The question then was as to how certain States had voted. It was for the purpose of ascertaining this fact and certifying the same to the joint session of the Senate and House, that the Electoral Commission was constituted. The bill having this end in view originated in the House in Jan- uary, 1877; the Commission was constituted, and the con- troverted questions were soon thereafter determined. The Electoral Commission was an imperative necessity. As such it was created, — consisting of five members each, from the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the Supreme Court. Its decisions were adverse to Mr. TUden from the beginning, and resulted in the finding that all the disputed votes should be counted for his opponent. This, it will be remembered, gave Hayes a majority of one on the final count, and resulted in his induction into office. Par- tisan feeling was at its height, and the question of the justice of the decision of the Electoral Commission was vehemently discussed. To the end that there might be a peaceful determination of the perilous question, that of disputed succession to the Presidency, I was an earnest advocate of the bill creating the Commission. Upon the question of concurrence by the House of Representatives in the final determination of the Commission, bitter opposition was manifested upon the part of friends of Mr. Tilden, and a heated partisan debate resulted, and during this debate I spoke as follows : " When this Congress assembled in December, it wit- nessed the American people from one end of the country IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 15 to the other divided upon the question as to which candi- date had been lawfully elected to the high office of President of the United States. The business industries of the coun- try were paralyzed, pubhc confidence destroyed, and the danger of civil war was imminent. That Mr. Tilden had received a majority of more than two hundred thousand of the popular vote was not disputed. That he had secured a majority of the Presidential electors in the several States, and was lawfully entitled to be inducted into the great office, was the firm belief of fully one-half of the people of this coimtry. The hour was one of great peril to our institutions, and many were apprehensive that we were but entering into the dark night of anarchy and confusion. After many weeks of angry discussion, which resulted in still further arousing the passions of the people, a measure of adjustment was pro- posed. It was believed that there was still patriotism enough left in the American Congress to secure an honorable and fair settlement of this most dangerous question. We all recall how our hopes revived, and how gladly we hailed the intro- duction of the bill recommended by a joint committee of con- ference of the Senate and House of Representatives. It was welcomed as the harbinger of peace by the entire people of our country. " I gave that bill my earnest support. It had in the House no friend more ardent in its advocacy than myself. I believed it to be a measure in the interest of peace. I believed that those who framed it, as well as those who gave it their support upon the floor, were honest in their statements, that no man could afford to take the Presi- dency with a clouded title, and that the object of the bill was to ascertain which of the candidates was lawfully entitled to the electoral votes of Florida and Louisiana. I never mis- trusted for a moment that statesmen of high repute could in so perilous an hour, upon so grave a question, palter with words in a double sense. " We who are the actors in this drama know, and history will record the fact, that the Conference Bill became a law, and the Electoral Commission was organized, not for the pur- 16 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN pose of ascertaining which candidate had prima facie a ma- jority of the electoral votes; not for the purpose of ascertain- ing that the Governor of Florida, and the de facto Governor of Louisiana, had given certificates to the Hayes electors. It was never dreamed that a tribunal, consisting in part of five judges of the highest court upon earth, was to be con- stituted, whose sole duty was to report a fact known to every man in the land, that the returning-board of Louisiana had given the votes of that State to the Hayes electors. The avowed object of that bill was to ascertain which candidate had received a majority of the legal votes of those States. The avowed object of the bill was to secm-e the ends of justice; to see that the will of the people was executed; that the Republic suffered no harm; to see that the title to this great office was not tainted with fraud. How well the members of this tribunal have discharged the sacred trust committed to them, let them answer to history. " The record wiU stand that this tribunal shut its eyes to the light of truth; refused to hear the undisputed proof that a majority of seven thousand legal votes in the State of Louis- iana for Tilden was by a fraudulent returning-board changed to eight thousand majority for Hayes. The Republican Representative from Florida, Mr. Purman, has solemnly declared upon this floor that Florida had given its vote to Tilden. I am not sm-prised that two distinguished Repubh- can Representatives from Massachusetts, Mr. Seelye and Mr. Pierce, have in such thrilling tones expressed their dissent from the judgment of this tribunal. By this decision fraud has become one of the legalized modes of securing the vote of a State. Can it be possible that the American people are prepared to accept the doctrine that fraud, which vitiates all contracts and agreements, which taints the judgments and decrees of courts, which will even annul the solemn covenant of marriage — fraud, which poisons wherever it enters can be inquired into in all the relations of human life save only where a returning-board is its instrument, and the dearest rights of a sovereign people are at stake? " But we are told that we created this tribunal and must IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 17 abide its arbitrament. I propose to do so in good faith. I have, from the beginning, opposed every movement that looked only to delay. I have voted against all dilatory motions. But the decision of this tribunal is too startling and too far-reaching in its consequences to pass unchallenged. That the returning-board of Louisiana will find no imitators in our future history is more than I dare hope. The per- nicious doctrine that fraud and perjury are to be recognized auxiliaries in popular elections is one that may return to plague its inventors. The worst effect of this decision will be its lesson to the young men of our country. Hereafter old-fashioned honesty is at a discount, and villainy and fraud the legaUzed instruments of success. The fact may be con- ceded, the proof overwhelming, that the honest voice of a State has been overthrown by outrage and fraud, and yet the chosen tribunal of the people has entered of solemn record that there is no remedy. '0 Judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts!' " My criticism of the decision of this tribunal rests upon its finding in the cases of Louisiana and Florida; upon the Oregon case I have no criticism to offer. It is true that but two votes of that State could have been given to Hayes had the decision first adopted by the Commission been followed in the case of Oregon. However inconsistent it may be with other rulings of the Commission, standing alone it is in the main correct. The sanctity of seal of State and certificate of Governor applied only to Louisiana and Florida; the Governor of Oregon was not of the household of the faithful. " The people of Oregon cast a majority of their votes for Hayes, and no vote or act of mine shall stand in the way of its being so recorded. Such have been my convictions from the beginning, and the great wrong done in Louisiana and Florida cannot warp my convictions at this hour. " We have now reached the final act in this great drama, and the record here made will pass into history. Time, the great healer, will bring a balm to those who feel sick at heart because of this grievous wrong. But who can estimate, 18 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN what seer can foretell, the evils that may result to us and our children from this judgment? Fortunate, mdeed, wiU it be for this country if our people lose not faith m popular insti- tutions; fortimate, indeed, if they abate not their confidence in the integrity of that high tribunal, for a century the bul- wark of our liberties. In aU times of popular commotion and peril, the Supreme Court of the United States has been looked to as the final arbiter, its decrees heeded as the voice of God. How disastrous may be the result of decisions so manifestly partisan, I will not attempt to forecast. " Let this vote be now taken and the curtain fall upon these scenes forever. To those who believe, as I do, that a grievous wrong has been suffered, let me entreat that this arbitrament be abided in good faith, that no hindrance or delay be interposed to the execution of the law, but that by faithful adherence to its mandates, by honest efforts to revive the prostrate industries of the country, by obedience to the constituted authorities, we wiU show ourselves patriots rather than partisans in this hour of our country's misfortune." Some mention will now be made of prominent members of the House during this Congress. The Hon. Michael C. Kerr of Indiana was elected Speaker of the House. The vote of the Republican minority was given to the Hon. James G. Blaine, who had been Speaker during the three Congresses immediately preceding. Mr. Kerr was a gentleman of high character and well recognized ability. He had been for many years a member of the House, and was familiar with the de- tails of its business. He was in failing health at the time of his election, and died before the close of the first session of that Congress. He was physically unable to preside during the greater part of the session, and was frequently relieved from the onerous duties of the Chair by two new members who were yet to achieve distinction in that body Mr Blackburn of Kentucky and Mr. Springer of Illinois. ' ' Mr. Blaine, the leader of the minority, had been for tw I years a member of the House, having been first elected ^f the age of thirty-three. He was a brilliant debater w U JAMES G. BLAINE ROBERT E. WILLIAMS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 19 versed in parliamentary law, and at all points fully equipped for the conflict. With the exception of Henry Clay, the House of Representatives has probably never known his equal as a party leader. That he possessed a touch of humor will appear from the following. While the discussion was at its height upon his amendment excluding Jefferson Davis from the benefit of the General Amnesty Bill, Mr. Blaine, looking across to the opposite side of the Chamber, said: "I confess to a feeling of commiseration for some gentlemen upon the other side, who represent close districts. Sur- rounded by their Southern associates here, and with intense Union consituencies at home, their apprehension, as they are called to vote upon this amendment, is indeed deplor- able. It reminds me of a Hibernian procession I once saw moving down Broadway, where the serious question was how to keep step to the music, and at the same time to dodge the omnibuses!" My seat was just across the aisle from that of Mr. Blaine. When introduced, I handed him letters of introduction from two of his college classmates, the Hon. Robert E. Williams and the Rev. John Y. Calhoun. After reading the letters and speaking most kindly of his old Washington College classmates, he brusquely inquired, "What are John Y. Calhoun's pohtics?" I answered, "He is a Democrat." Blaine instantly replied, "Well, how strangely things do come around in this world! When we were in college to- gether, Calhoun was the strongest kind of a Presbyterian." I intimated that his sometime classmate was still of that eminently respectable persuasion. The reply was, in manner indicating apparent surprise, "Is it possible that out in your country a man can be a Presbyterian and a Democrat at the same time?" I was a member of the Board of Visitors to West Point in June, 1877. Mr. Blaine and Bishop Quintard of Tennessee were also members. General Hancock was with our Board for some days at the httle West Point Inn, and delivered the address to the graduating class of cadets. He was then in 20 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN excellent health, and as superb in appearance as he had been courageous in battle. I have never heard more brilUant con- versation than that at our table, in which the chief partici- pants were Gail Hamilton, Bishop Quintard, General Hancock, Senator Maxey, and Mr. Blaine. The last named, "upon the plain highway of talk," was vmrivalled. While the Board was in session, Mr. Blaine and I spent some hours with the Hon. Hamilton Fish, late Secretary of State, at his country home near West Point. Near by was still standing the historic Beverly Robinson House, the home of Benedict Arnold when he was in command of the Colonial forces at West Point. As we passed through the quaint old mansion, Mr. Blaine, whose knowledge of our Revolutionary history was all-embracing, described graphically the con- ditions existing at the time of Arnold's treason, and just where each person sat at the breakfast table in the old dining-room in which we were then standing, on the fateful morning when the courier from the British camp hurriedly announced to General Arnold the capture of Major Andr6. Mr. Blaine and I were once passing along Pennsylvania Avenue, a third of a century ago, when he remarked that the old building just to our right had once been a high-toned gam- bling house; that there were traditions to the effect that even some well-known statesmen were not wholly unadvised as to its exact location and uses. He then told me that during his first term in Congress he was early one morning passing this building on his way to the Capitol. Just as he reached the spot where we were then standing, the Hon. Thaddeus Stevens came down the steps of the building mentioned, and, immediately after his cordial greeting to Mr. Blaine, was accosted by a negro preacher, who earnestly requested a contribution toward the building of a church for his people. Promptly taking a roll from his vest pocket, Mr. Stevens handed the negro a fifty-dollar bill, and turning to Blaine, solemnly observed, " God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform 1 " IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 21 At the time first mentioned, Mr. Blaine was in excellent health, buoyant in spirits, aggressive to the last degree, and full of hope as to the future. The disappointments and bereavements that saddened the closing years of his Ufe had as yet cast no shadow upon his pathway. Next in leadership to Mr. Blaine, upon the Republican side, was the Hon. James A. Garfield. He possessed few of the qualities of brilliant leadership so eminently character- istic of Blaine, but was withal one of the ablest men I have ever known. Gifted with rare powers of oratory, with an apparently inexhaustible reservoir of information at his command, he knew no superior in debate. At one period of his life he was the recipient of public honors without a parallel in our history. While yet a Representative in Con- gress, he was a Senator-elect from Ohio, and the President- elect of the United States. For once, it indeed seemed that "fortune had come with both hands full." In the words of the Persian poet, "he had obtained an ear of corn from every harvest." And yet, a few months later, in the words of his great eulogist, "The stately mansion of power had become to him the wearisome hospital of pain, and he begged to be taken from its prison walls, from its oppressive, stifling air, from its homelessness and its hopelessness." My personal acquaintance with Mr. Garfield began early in January, 1876, when we were members of the House Committee appointed by the Speaker to convey the re- mains of a deceased member to his late home, Norwich, Connecticut, for burial. Another member of the Com- mittee was Representative Wheeler of New York. It was late Saturday afternoon when we were conveyed by car- riages from the crossing at Jersey City to the depot where the Norwich train was in waiting. Our route lay for some distance along Broadway, through the very heart of the great metropolis. As we passed the hurrying throngs that crowded the great thoroughfare that sombre winter evening, Mr. Garfield remarked that it was a scene similar to the one we were then witnessing that suggested to Mr. Bryant one of the most stirring of his shorter poems. 22 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN At our request and in tones that linger even yet in my memory, he then repeated these Hnes : " Let me move slowly through the street Filled with an ever shifting train, Amid the sound of steps that beat The murmuring walks like autumn rain. " How fast the flitting figures come. The mild, the fierce, the stony face; Some bright with thoughtless smiles, and some Where secret tears have left their trace! They pass to toil, to strife, to rest. To halls in which the feast is spread, To chambers where the funeral guest In silence sits beside the dead. Each where his tasks or pleasures call They pass, and heed each other not. There is Who heeds. Who holds them all In His large love, and boundless thought. These struggling tides of life that seem In wayward, aimless course to tend. Are eddies of the mighty stream That rolls to its appointed end." Norwich, the home of the deceased member, Mr. Stark- weather, and where he was laid to rest, is a beautiful city and one of much historic interest. It was here that Benedict Arnold was born, and the ruins of his early home were still to be seen. Of greater interest was a monument stand- ing in an old Indian burying-ground near the centre of the city, — "Erected to the Memory of Uncas." It was within the memory of the oldest inhabitant that the President of the United States and his Cabinet were in attendance at the dedication of this monument, and deeply interested in the impressive ceremonies in honor of "the last of the Mohicans." An exceedingly courteous gentleman upon the same side of the chamber was the Hon. Nathaniel P. Banks of Massa- chusetts. He had been a Major-general dm-mg the late war and was an ex-Governor of his State. He first achieved national distuiction in the thirty-fourth Congress when JAMES A. GARFIELD NATH. P. BANKS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 23 after a protracted and exciting struggle, he was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives. In the body over which he had so ably presided in ante-bellum days, he had again taken his seat. While by no means taking the highest rank as a debater, he was familiar with the complicated rules governing the House, and his opinion challenged the highest respect. He and Mr. Blaine were the only members of that House who had previously held the position of Speaker. Near General Banks sat the Hon. William D. Kelley of Pennsylvania. He had known many years of legislative service, and was long "the father of the House." One of the features of its successive organization, as many old members will recall, was the administration of the official oath to the Speaker-elect by the member who had known the longest continuous service — "the gentleman from Pennsylvania." When in the fulness of time he passed to "the house not made with hands," his mantle fell upon Judge Holman of Indiana. The House probably contained no member of rarer attain- ments in scholarship than Julius H. Seelye of Massachusetts. He stood in the front ranks of the great educators of his day, and was President of Amherst College during the latter years of his life. His political service was limited to one term in Congress. His speech near its beginning upon the General Amnesty Bill challenged the profound attention of the House, and at once gave him honored place in its mem- bership. The Congressional career of the Hon. George W. Mc- Crary, of Iowa, terminated with this Congress. He was recognized as one of the ablest lawyers of the House, and was one of its most agreeable and courteous members. During the presidency of Hayes he held the position of Secretary of War, and was later a Judge of the United States Circuit Court. The Hon. Joseph G. Cannon of Illinois, the present Speaker, was just at the beginning of his long Congressional career. For many years he has been an active leader of the House and a prominent participant in its important debates. 24 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN His characteristic patience and long-suffering courtesy have no doubt at times been sorely tried by attempts to enlarge the sum total of appropriation bills reported by the Committee of which he was chairman. To the important post of "watch- dog of the Treasiury" he was, nem. con., the successor to the lamented Holman. In this connection a suggestive incident is recalled. One of the guides of the Capitol, when some years ago showing a visitor through the Vice-President's chamber, called attention to a little old-fashioned mirror upon its walls. The guide explained that this mirror was purchased at a cost of thirty dollars when John Adams was Vice-President, but when the bill for its payment was before the House, Mr. Holman objected. A Western member, who had just been defeated upon a proposed amendment to an appropriation bill, by reason of a fatal point of order raised by the chairman, promptly exclaimed, "I move to strike out Holman and insert Cannon." The sagacity and untiring industry of Mr. Cannon have elevated him to the Speakership, and possibly yet higher honors await him. It is a significant fact in this connection, however, that notwithstanding the brilliant array of ambi- tious statesmen who have held the Speakership for more than a century, only one, Mr. Polk, has ever reached the Presidency. The forty-fourth Congress was the last of which the Hon. William A. Wheeler of New York was a member. He was elected Vice-president in 1876, and the duties of that office have rarely been discharged by an abler or more courteous officer. He was highly esteemed by his associates dm-ing his long service in the House. His principle in action seemed ever to be, "there is nothing so kingly as kindness." Messrs. Hale and Frye of Maine, Aldrich of Rhode Island, Money of Mississippi, Taylor of Tennessee, and Elkins of West Virginia, were members of this House; all of whom are now Senators of marked ability, and well known to the entire country. A member of this House, who at a later date, and in the other wing of the Capitol, achieved yet greater distinction, IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 25 was the Hon. George F. Hoar of Massachusetts. At the close of this Congress he was transferred to the Senate, where for more than a quarter of a century he was a prominent leader. His ability and attainments were of the highest, and he was the worthy successor of Webster in the great body of which he was so long an honored member. In addition to more solid quahties, Mr. Hoar was gifted with a keen sense of humor, as will appear from one or two incidents to be mentioned. In the House Mr. Springer, in order to prevent the reconsideration of resolutions and debate thereupon under the rules, had frequently cut off the possi- biUty of such debate by the timely interposition of the words, "Not to be brought back on a motion to reconsider." Now, it so fell out that upon a certain day Mr. Springer received a telegram calling him home just as the roll-call was ordered upon an important bill. Earnestly desiring to vote — which owing to the early departure of his train was impossible if he waited until his name was regularly reached upon the roll — he moved to the front of the Speaker and, after brief explanation, asked unanimous consent to vote at once. Per- mission was of course granted, his name at once called, and his vote given. Grateful for the courtesy, he bowed repeatedly to each side of the Chamber, and, hurrying up the aisle, was about to take his exit, when Mr. Hoar, pointing his finger at the retreating figure, solemnly exclaimed, "Not to be brought hack upon a motion to reconsider!" At a much later day the Senate was "advising and con- senting" over the appointment of a distinguished gentleman whose name had just been sent in for confirmation as Am- bassador to an important European Court. The gentleman in question had voted for the then incumbent of the great office, but his former political affiliations had been wholly with the opposing party. The nomination was about being confirmed without objection when Mr. Hoar, arising with apparent reluctance, said: " As this is in some measure a family affair, Mr. President, I hesitate to interfere. If our friends upon the opposite side of the Chamber are satisfied with this appointment, I certainly 26 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN shall interpose no objection. The gentleman named is well qualified, and has more than once held high place at the hands of the party which he has but recently deserted, and to which he will no doubt return in due time. We have, however, in New England an old-time custom, as sacred as if part of the written law, that if a man is so unfortunate as to lose his com- panion he will not marry again within one year. Now sir, I have always thought this rule, as to time, might well be applied to the matter of office-seeking. Where a man has been repeat- edly honored by his party as this appointee has been, but where, prompted by motives purely unsehish no doubt, he has gone over to the camp of the enemy, I think a due sense of modesty should impel him to serve in the ranks at least one year before being an applicant for high office at the hands of his newly found friends." Crossing over now to the Democratic side of the Chamber, well to its front sat the Hon. William R. Morrison of Illinois. By virtue of his position as Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means he was the traditional leader of the House. Possessing little of the brilliancy of the leader of the minority, Colonel Morrison was none the less one of the ablest and most useful members of that body. He had for many sessions been a member of the House, and had been a soldier in the Mexican and in the Civil War. His record was honorable both as soldier and legislator. He was the author of the Tariff Bill which was fully debated during the first session of that Congress, and was in some measure a determining factor in the Presidential campaign that soon followed. At a later day. Colonel Morrison was a prominent candidate for nomi- nation as President by the national convention of his party. His personal friendships and antagonisms were well known. It is related of him that during a serious illness, apprehend- ing that the dread messenger was in near waiting, arousing himself to what appeared to be a last effort, he said in scarcely audible tones to a sorrowing colleague at his bedside: "I suppose when this is all over they will have something to say about me, as is the custom, in the House. Well, if Springer, and Cox, and Knott, and Stevenson want to talk, let them go ahead, but if old Spears tries to speak jiist cough him down.'" WILLIAM R. MORRISON ■:^-^g' i WILLIAM M. SPRINGER IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 27 Never in any political gathering has there been a more effective speech, of a single sentence, than that in which Colonel Morrison presented to the Deipocratic caucus of the House members the name of the "Blind Preacher" for Chaplain. Three or fom- candidates were already in nomi- nation when Morrison arose and said: "Mr. Chairman, I present for the office of Chaplain of the House the name of Doctor Milbum, a man who loves God, pays his debts, and votes the Democratic ticket." Before the applause that followed had entirely died away the names of his competitors were withdrawn, and the " BHnd Preacher " was nominated by acclamation. The Hon. William M. Springer, of the same State, had just entered upon his twenty years of continuous service in the House. He came promptly to the front as a ready debater and skilful parliamentarian. He was thoroughly educated, ambitious, and withal an excellent speaker, and was the possessor in full measure of the suaviter in modo. His personal popularity was great, and a more obliging, agree- able, and pleasing associate it would have been difficult to find. He was optimistic to the last degree. To him every cloud had a silver lining, — the lining generally concealing the cloud. It was said of him by one of his colleagues that when the election returns were coming in, showing over- whelming defeat to his party, — even before they were fully summed up, — Mr, Springer with beaming countenance would promptly demonstrate by figures of his own how we were sure to be victorious four years later. The Hon, Carter H. Harrison was a prominent member of the Ilfinois delegation. He soon took high rank as an orator, and never failed to command the attention of the House. Few speeches delivered during that session of Con- gress were so generally pubfished, or more extensively quoted than were those of Mr. Harrison. At the end of four years' service in Congress he was elected Mayor of Chicago, an office he filled most acceptably for many years. His tragic death, upon the concluding day of the great Exposition, was imiversally deplored throughout the entire country. 28 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN The Hon. John H. Reagan, of Texas, was a Represen- tative in Congress before the war. At its beginning he re- signed his seat in the House, and cast in his fortunes with the South. He was early selected a member of the Davis Cabinet, and continued to discharge the duties of Postmaster- General until the fall of the Confederacy. He was a citizen of Texas while it was yet a Republic, and took an active part in securing its admission to the Federal Union. Judge Reagan was a gentleman of recognized ability, and of exceed- ingly courteous and dignified bearing. An old-time statesman, on the same side of the Chamber, was the Hon. Fernando Wood of New York. A generation had passed since he first entered Congress. He was a Repre- sentative in the old hall of the Capitol while Webster, Calhoun, and Clay were in their prime. Erect, stately, faultless in his attire, and of bearing almost chivalric, Mr. Wood was long one of the active and picturesque personages of the House. At the time whereof we write, his sands were almost run, but, courageous to the last, he was in his accustomed seat but a little time before the final summons came, and he died, as was his wish, with the harness on. All in all, we shall hardly see his Uke again. Surrounded by his colleagues near the centre of the hall sat one of the most remarkable men of his day, philosopher, jurist, statesman, orator, Lucius Q. C. Lamar of Mississippi. In his early manhood he was a member of the House, and even then was recognized as one of the most brilliant of the many brilliant men his section had sent to the national councils. During the war his services in field and council were given to the South, and something less than a decade after the return of peace, Mr. Lamar, still in his prime, again took his seat in the hall where his first laurels had been won. His great speech — one that touched all hearts — was not long delayed; the occasion was the day set apart in the House for tributes to the memory of the lamented Sumner. Many eulogies were delivered; that of Lamar still lingers in the memory of all who heard it. "The theme was worthy the orator: the orator, the theme." As a splendid tribute IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 29 to a great tribune, as a plea for peace, — abiding, eternal, between all sections of a restored union, — it stands unsur- passed among the great masterpieces of ancient or modem eloquence. Later, Mr. Lamar was a prominent participant in one of the fiercest debates the Senate has ever known. A leading Senator upon the opposite side of the chamber, in advocat- ing the passage of the "Force BiU," reflected bitterly upon Mississippi and her Senators. In replying to the personal portion of the speech, Lamar said, "The Senator has uttered upon this floor a falsehood — knowing it to be such. The language I have used, Mr. President, is severe. It was so intended. It is language, sir, that no honest man would deserve, and that no brave man will wear!" Mr. Lamar was one of the most absent-minded of men. A number of years ago, by invitation of the Faculty, he de- livered an address to the graduating class of Centre College, Kentucky. The day was quite warm, the exercises some- what protracted, and, at the close of his able and eloquent address, he was very much exhausted. An excellent "CoUation, prepared by the ladies coimected with the College, was served in the chapel near by, at the close of the exercises. Seated upon the platform, with Mr. Lamar at the head of the table, were Doctor Young, the President, Justice Harlan, Governor Knott, the Rev. Doc- tor Bullock, Chaplain of the Senate, Judge McCormick, and others. At the plate of each guest a large tomato was in readi- ness and, excellent itself, was, moreover, the earnest of better things to come. Immediately upon being seated, Mr. Lamar "feU to" and, wholly obhvious of the surroundLags, soon made way with the one viand then in visible presence. Just as its last vestige disappeared, the President of the College arose and, with a solemnity eminently befitting the occasion, called upon Doctor Bullock to offer thanks. Deeply chagrined, Mr. Lamar was an attentive listener to the im- pressive invocation which immediately followed. At its conclusion, with troubled countenance, he turned to Knott 30 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN and said, "I am humiliated at my conduct. I should have remembered that Presbyterians always say grace before meals, but I was very himgry and exhausted, and the tomato very tempting; I have really disgraced myself." To which Knott replied, "You ought not to feel so, Mr. Justice; that blessing of Doctor Bullock's was broad and general; in large measure retrospective, as well as prospective. It reminds me of a little incident that occurred on the 'Rolling Fork.' An old-time deacon down there was noted for the lengthy blessing which at his table was the unfailing prelude to every meal. His hired man. Bill Taylor, an unconverted and im- patient youth, had fallen into the evil habit of commencing his meal before the blessing thereon had been fully invoked. The frown and rebuke of the good deacon were alike unavail- ing in effecting the desired reform. Righteously indignant thereat, the deacon, in a spirit possibly not the most devout, at length gave utterance to this petition, 'For what we are abovi to receive, and for what William Taylor has already received, accept our thanks, Lord ! ' " In cheery tones the great orator at once repUed, "Knott, you are the only man on earth who could have thought of such a story just at the opportune moment." The temporary depression vanished; Lamar was himself again, and was at once the brilliant conversationaUst of the de- lighted assemblage. The surviving members of that Congress wiU recall a little chair that daily rolled down the aisle to the front of the Speaker's desk. It contained the emaciated form of a man whose weight at his best was but ninety poimds Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia, "whose little body lodged a mighty mind." No one who saw Mr. Stephens could ever forget him. He looked as though he had just stepped out from an old picture, or dropped down from the long-ago There was probably as little about him " of the earth earthv '' as of any mortal this world has known. Upon his weak frame time had done its work, and, true it is, "the surest poison is time." And yet, his feeble piping voice — now scarcely heard an arm's length away — was potent in the contentions SAJIUEL J. RANDALL ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS LUCIUS Q. C. LAMAR JAMES B. BECK V DAVID DUDLEY FIELD IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 31 ol the great hall when he was the honored associate of men whose public service reached back to the formation of the Government. In the old hall near by — now the ValhaUa of the nation — he had sat with John Quincy Adams and contemporaries whose names at once recaU the Revolutionary period. After serving as Vice-President of the Confederacy, whose rise and fall he had witnessed, Mr. Stephens, with the shadows falling about him, was, by imanimous voice of his people, again, in his own words, "in our father's house." His apartments in the old National Hotel, as he never failed to explain to his visitors, were those long occupied by his poUtical idol, Henry Clay. His couch stood in the exact spot where Mr. Clay had died; and he no doubt thought — possibly wished — that his own end might come just where that great Commoner had breathed his last. This, however, was not to be. His last hours were spent at the capital of his native commonwealth, which had, with scarce a dissenting voice, just honored itself by electing him to its chief execu- tive office. The Hon. Samuel J. Randall, of Pennsylvania, was the successor of the lamented Kerr as Speaker of the House. As such he presided during the last session of the forty-fourth Congress, and during the two Congresses immediately suc- ceeding. He had long been a member, coming in with Blaine and Garfield just before the close of the war. Able, courageous, and thoroughly skilled in parhamentary tactics, he had achieved a national reputation as the leader of the minority in the forty-third Congress. During the pro- tracted and exciting struggle near its close, over the Force Bill — the House remaining in continuous session for fifty- six hours — Mr. Randall had displayed wonderful endurance and marvellous capability for successful leadership. He was more than once presented by his State in Democratic national conventions for nomination to the Presidency. He was an excellent presiding officer, prompt, often aggressive, and was rarely vanquished in his many brilliant passages with the leaders of the minority. One incident is recalled, however, when the tables were turned against the Speaker, 32 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN no one joining more heartily than himself in the laugh that followed. Mr. Conger, of Michigan, with great earnestness and persistency, was urging the consideration of a resolution which the Speaker had repeatedly declared out of order. By no means disconcerted by the decision, Mr. Conger, walking down the aisle, was vehement in his demand for the immediate consideration of his resolution. At which the Speaker with much indignation said, " Well, I think the Chair has a right to exercise a httle common sense in this mat- ter." To which Mr. Conger instantly responded, " Oh, if the Chair has the slightest intention of doing anything of that kind, I wilHmmediately 'take my seat!" The Hon. David Dudley Field, elected to fill a vacancy, was a Representative, from the city of New York during the closing session of the forty-fourth Congress. He was an eminent lawyer, and, at the time, stood at the head of the American bar. His name is inseparably associated with many important refcyms in legal procedure during the last half century. He had been instrumental in securing the appointment of a committee of distinguished jurists, chosen from the leading nations, to prepare the outlines of an inter- national cpde. His report accompanying the plan, to the preparation of which he had given much thought and time, received the earnest commendation of leading publicists and jurists in Em-ope, as well as in his own country. His untiring efforts, looking to the substitution of international courts of arbitration for war, have given his name honored place among the world's benefactors. Mr. Field was the eldest of four brothers, whose names are known wherever our language is spoken. The family was dis- tinguished for talents of the highest order. It would indeed be difl&cult to find its counterpart in our history. One of the brothers, Stephen J. Field, was for a third of a century a dis- tinguished justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. The youngest, Dr. Henry M. Field, was eminent alike as theologian and author. The name of the remaining brother Cyrus W. Field, is, and will continue, a household word in two hemispheres. After repeated failures, to the verge even SAMUEL S. COX HENRY WATTERSON IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 3S of extremity, "the trier of spirits," the dream of his life became a reality. The Atlantic cable was laid, and, in the words of John Bright, Mr. Field had "moored the New World alongside the Old." The Hon. Henry Watterson, of Kentucky, was a repre- sentative during the closing session of this Congress. As the editor of a great journal, Mr. Watterson was aheady well known to the country. His talents were of a high order. In his chosen field he had no superior. For many years he was a recognized leader of his party, and one of the chief managers in all its national conventions. His contributions to the literature of three decades of political campaigns were almost tmparalleled. As a forcible, trenchant writer he is to be mentioned with Greeley, Raymond, Prentice, and Dana. His career, too, as a public lecturer, has been both successful and brilliant. The Congressional service of Mr. Watterson terminated with the session just mentioned. His speech, near its close, upon the bill creating an electoral commission to determine the Tilden-Hayes Presidential controversy was listened to with earnest attention, and at once gave him high place among the great debaters of that eventful Congress. While a passenger on a train to Washington, to be present at the opening of Congress, my attention was directed to a man of venerable appearance, who entered the sleeping-car at a station not many miles out from Cincinnati. He was dressed La "Kentucky jeans" and had the appearance of a well-to-do farmer. Standing in the aisle near me, he was soon engaged in earnest conversation with the porter, endeavoring to secure a berth. The porter repeatedly assured him that this was impossible, as every berth was taken. He told the porter that he was quite ill, and must get on his journey. I then proposed that he share my berth for the night He gladly did so until other accommodations were provided. On the Monday following, when the House was in the process of organization, the name of James D. Williams of Indiana being called, my sleeping-car acquaintance, still attired in blue jeans, stepped forward with his colleagues to the Speaker's desk and was duly sworn in as a member of 34 SOMETHING OP MEN I HAVE KNOWN Congress. This was his first term, but he soon became quite well known to the country. As chairman of the Committee of Accoimts, having to do with small expenditures, he closely scrutinized every claim presented, and scaled to the lowest many pet measxares. His determination to economize, as well as his peculiarity of dress and appearance, soon made him an especial object of amusement to newspaper correspondents. He was the butt of many cheap jokes; one being his alleged complaint that hundreds of towels were being daily used by members at the Capitol, at the public expense, while at his home, on his farm, one towel would last a week, with eleven in the family. Despite, however, all jokes and gibes, he soon became the most popular man in his State. "Blue Jeans Williams" became a name to conjure with; and in the cele- brated campaign of 1876, after an exciting contest, he was elected Governor, defeating an able and popular leader, who, twelve years later, was himself elected President of the United States. No sketch of "the American Commons" during the last fifty years would be in any measure complete that failed to make mention of the man who was nineteen times elected a Representative, the Hon. WiUiam S. Holman, of Indiana. Whatever the ups and downs of party supremacy, despite all attempts by gerrymandering to relegate him to the shades of private life. Judge Holman, with unruffled front, "a mien at once kindly, persuasive, and patient," held sturdily on his way. Amid political upheavals that overwhelmed all his associates upon the ticket, his name, like that of Abou Ben Ad- hem, led all the rest. From Pierce to McKinley — whatever the issues, and howsoever determined — at each successive organization of the House "the gentleman from Indiana" was an unfailing respondent to the opening roll-caU. An old English stanza comes to mind : " And this is law, that I '11 maintain Until my dying day, sir. That whatsoever King shall reign. Still 1 11 be vicar of Bray, sir." IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 35 His integrity was unquestioned; his knowledge of public business, phenomenal. With no brilliancy, little in the way of oratory. Judge Holman was nevertheless one of the most valuable members ever known to the House of Representa- tives. The Lobby regarded him as its mortal foe. He was for years the recognized "watch-dog of the Treasury." Personal appeals to his courtesy, to permit the present consideration of private bills, had, in the main, as well have been made to a marble statue. His well known and long to be remembered, "I object, Mr. Speaker," soimded the knell of many a well devised raid upon the Treasiu-y. It may be that he some- times prevented the early consideration of meritorious meas- ures, but with occasional exceptions his objections were wholesome. He kept in close touch with the popular pulse, and knew, as if by instinct, which would be the safe and which the dangerous side of the pending measure. It some- times seemed that he could even " look into the seeds of time and tell which grain will grow and which wiU not." It has been said that even great men have at times their little weaknesses. An incident to be related will show that possibly Judge Holman was no exception to that rule. The consideration of sundry bills for the erection of post-office buildings in a number of districts having "gone over" by reason of his objection, the members having the bills in charge joined forces and lumped the several measures into an "onrni- bus bill" which was duly presented. The members especially interested in its passage, to "make assxirance doubly sure," had quietly inserted a provision for the erection of a Govern- ment building in one of the cities of Holman's district. When the bill was read. Judge Holman, as he sat busily writing at his desk, was, without solicitation upon his part, the closely observed of every member. Apparently oblivious, however, to all that was occurring, he continued to write. No objec- tion being made, the bill was in the very act of passing when an exceedingly bright member from Wisconsin, "being moved and instigated by the devil," no doubt, rushed to the front and exclaimed, "Mr. Speaker, I desire to call the attention of the gentleman from the fourth district of Indiana to the fact 36 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN that the Treasury is being robbed ! ' ' Unmoved by the appeal, the Judge continued to write, and, as one of his colleagues afterwards remarked, "was chewing his tobacco very fine." After a moment of suspense, and amid applause in which even the galleries took part, the member from Wisconsin, in tragic tones, exclaimed, "Ah, Mr. Speaker, our watch- dog of the Treasury, like all other good watch-dogs, never barks when his friends are around!" Mr. Blackburn, of Kentucky, began his long and eventful legislative career as a member of this Congress. As the repre- sentative of the Ashland District, he was the successor of Clay, Crittenden, Marshall, Breckenridge, Beck — illustrious names in the history of the State and of the nation. He was worthy the succession, and, at the close of ten years' service in the House, was elected to the Senate. He came within a few votes of being chosen as the candidate of his party for Speaker at the opening of the forty-sixth Congress. He was a born orator. It was as natural for him to speak as to breathe. Wake him up at any hour of the night, and he would be ready upon the instant for an eloquent speech of any length, upon any subject. Thoroughly familiar with all that pertained to our political history, with a voice easily heard above the storm, he was ever in the forefront of the hurly- burly of heated partisan debate. There was little that was conciliatory about him. He neither gave nor asked quarter. A born fighter, he had rather " Follow his enemy through a fiery gulf, Than flatter him in a bower." Possessing neither the keen wit of his colleague, McKenzie, nor the profoimd humor of Knott, he was nevertheless the hero of more interesting narratives than any member who ever crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains. The incident to be related may have suggested the witty reply of Senator Proctor to the Vice-President when invited by the latter to come into the devotional exercises : " Excuse me, I am paired with Blackburn on prayers." This equals his reply when asked by Senator Hale what he thought IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 37 of Senator Chandler: "I like him, but it is an acquired taste." Upon the occasion of the retirement of the Rev. Dr. Butler from the Chaplaincy of the Senate — a position he had filled most acceptably for many years — many of the Sena- tors spoke regretfully of his retirement. The speech of Mr. Blackburn, for beauty of expression and pathetic eloquence, was unrivalled. He spoke most tenderly of the faithfulness of the venerable man of God; how for long years he had gone in and out before us; of his daily walk and conversation; how, Uke the Blessed Master, his only thought was of doing good; of how he had often invoked the Divine blessing upon us and our loved ones, and lifted us as it were in his arms up to the very throne of grace. The orator seemed inspired, as though his lips were indeed touched with a live coal from the altar. The counterpart of the scene that followed his closing words had never been witnessed in legislative assembly. All were in tears. It was even said that venerable Senators, who had never shed a tear since the ratification of the treaty of Ghent, actually sobbed aloud, and refused to > be comforted. At length, amid silence that could be felt, an adjournment was effected, and the Senators passed sadly out to their homes. As he passed the Chair, Senator Vest, in undertone, remarked to the Vice-President, "Jo never saw him!" The next day, in the absence of his successor, "the bUnd chaplain," Dr. Butler again, and for the last time, officiated, simply repeating in manner most solemn and impressive, the Lord's Prayer. At its conclusion, Senator Blackburn, who had been a most attentive listener, came forward to the desk and remarked to Vice-President Stevenson: "I tell you, sir, I like that new chaplain of ours. What a splendid prayer! There is something original about that man!" Thirty years and more ago, when first a candidate for Congress, Mr. Blackburn attended a public execution — in common parlance "a hanging" — in one of the counties of his district. Being a gentleman of great distinction, and a candidate for Congress, he was appropriately invited by the sheriff to occupy a seat with the prisoner and his spiritual 38 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN adviser upon the gallows. At the near approach of the fatal hour, the sheriff, with watch in hand, amid the sea of upturned faces, stated to the prisoner that he had yet five minutes to live, and it was his privilege if he so desired to address the audience. The prisoner meekly replied that he did not wish to speak. Whereupon Mr. Blackburn, stepping promptly to the front of the scaffold, said: "As the gentleman does not wish to speak, if he will kindly yield me his time, I will take this occasion to remark that I am a candidate for Congress, regularly nominated by the Democratic Convention," etc. This incident being told in the presence of Mr. Marshall, the opposing candidate, the latter remarked that he remembered it well, and could vouch for its truth. He then added that when Mr. Blackburn proposed to speak out the prisoner's time, the latter turned to the Sheriff and inquired who that was. To which the officer replied, "Captain Blackburn." At this the prisoner, who had amid all the exciting scenes of his arrest and trial, and even up to the present mo- ment, with his open coffin beside him, displayed mar- vellous fortitude, suddenly exhibiting deep emotion, piteously exclaimed, "Please hang me first, and let him speak afterwards!" When, in the tide of time, will the House of Representa- tives witness the like of "Sunset" Cox? Beginning a Con- gressional career, which was to terminate only with his death, when scarcely of the constitutional age, he was in close suc- cession a representative from two great States, — in his early manhood from the Capital district of Ohio, and in his ma- turer years, even down to old age, the most prominent of the delegation from the great State of New York, Mr. Cox was gifted as few men have been in this world. His literary attainments were of a high order, and some of the books of which he was the author will no doubt furnish instructive and entertaining reading for many generations to come. He was an indefatigable student, and seemed, as did Lord Bacon, to have "taken all knowledge for his province." His ac- curate knowledge of the history of all countries and times was a marvel, and, all at his instant command, placed him IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 39 upon rare vantage ground in the many forensic struggles in which he took part. Woe betide the unfortunate antag- onist whose record was other than faultless. He was a born debater, full of resources, and aggressive to the last degree. He never waited for opportunities, but sought them. In great emergencies he was often put forward by his political associates for the fierce encounter with the great leaders upon the opposite side of the Chamber. He was withal one of the most kindly of men. He was the soul of personal and official honor. His integrity could know no temptation. It may truly be said of him that — " Whatever record leaps to light, He never can be shamed." His sympathies were deeply enlisted for the safety of those "who go down to the sea in ships." For years he was the earnest advocate of a thorough fife-saving system. Much of the present efficiency of this humane branch of the public service is due to his untiring efforts. He had travelled to all countries, and even to the islands of the sea. He was of simny disposition, and believed that "whatever places the eye of Heaven visits are to the wise man ports and happy havens." Mr. Cox was one of the most genial and defightful of asso- ciates. With him and Vance, Knott, and Randolph Tucker as companions for the social hour, the night would flee away like a shadow. His wit was of the rarest order. He would have been on terms of recognized kinship with Sydney Smith and Charles Lamb. He once said of a vinegar-visaged member that the only regret he had on earth was that there were no more commandments to keep; what few there were he kept so easily. As illustrating his readiness and elasticity, whatever the emergency, two instances, out of the many that crowd upon memory, wiU be given. During an all-night session of the House, amid great confusion, the roll-call was ordered. The first name, "Mr. Archer," was called, and the response "Aye" was given. The clerk, faiUng to hear the response, immediately repeated, "Mr. Archer," to which the latter, in tones heard above the din of many voices, again answered 40 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN "Aye." Instantly Mr. Cox exclaimed: "Insatiate Archer, would not one sufl&ce?" A new member from a district far to the westward entered the House. His advoirdupois was in keeping with the vast territorial area he represented. As a wit, he was without a rival in his section. The admiration of his constituents over the marvellous attainments of the new member, scarcely exceeded his own. Only the opportunity was wanting when the star of the gentleman from New York should go down and his own be in the ascendant. The opportimity at length came. Mr. Cox was the victim of the hour; the recipient of many compHments much more fervid than kind. The seven vials of wrath were opened upon him. A vast storehouse of wit, ancient and modem, was literally exhausted for the occasion. Even the diminutive size of the New York member was mentioned in terms of disparagement. The speech caused much merriment in the House during its delivery, and its author with an air of self-satisfaction rarely witnessed, even in that body, resumed his seat. Mr. Cox at once took the floor. No attempt will be made to do justice to his speech. The manner, the tone of voice, which caused an uproar upon the floor and in the galleries, can never find their way into print. Referring to the iU-mannered allusion to his size, he said "that his constituents preferred a repre- sentative with brains, rather than one whose only claims to distinction consisted in an abnormal abdominal develop- ment." In tragic tones he then pronounced a funeral eulogy over his assailant, and suggested, as a fitting inscription for his tombstone, the pathetic words of Byron, " 'Tis Greece, but living Greece no more!" Soon after the nomination of Tilden for President, Mr. Cox was invited to attend a political meeting at the State capital, and address the Democracy of Vermont. When the scarcity of Democrats in the Green Mountain State is taken into account, the significance of Mr. Cox's reply will readily appear. His telegram was to the effect that pressing engage- ments prevented his attending, but "if the Democracy of IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 41 Vermont will drop into my library any afternoon, about four o'clock, I will address them with great pleasure." In attempting to write something of a member so long and so favorably known to the House as the Hon. J. Proctor Knott of Kentucky, I am reminded of the opening sentences of the touching tribute of Judge Baldwin to an honored associate: "I nib my pen and impart to it a fine hair stroke in order that I may give the more delicate touch which can alone show forth the character of this distinguished gentleman. If I hold the pen in hand in idle reverie, it is because my mind rests lovingly upon a picture I feel incapable of transcribing with fidelity to the original; and therefore I pause a moment to look once more at the original, before it is obscured by the rude counterpart." It was worth while to have known Proctor Knott, to have been his contemporary in public life, the sharer of his confi- dence, the guest at his hearthstone. In the highest sense of the expression, he was a gentleman of the old school. To him there was rare meaning in the words, "Old wood to burn! Old wine to drink! Old friends to trust! " He was as familiar with the Bible, with Shakespeare, and Bums, as though he had written them. His quotations, whether in private conversation, or in pubhc speech, were always timely. There was httle in the way of the best literature, ancient or modem, that he had not read. As was truly said of the gifted Prentiss : "His imagination was colored and imbued with the light of the shadowy past. He lingered spell-bound among the scenes of mediaeval chivalry. His spirit had dwelt until almost natural- ized in the mystic dreamland of the Paladins, Crusaders, and Knights Templars; with Monmouth and Percy, with Bois- Guilbert and Ivanhoe and the bold McGregor; with the Cava- liers of Rupert, and the iron enthusiasts of Fairfax." He was the inveterate hater of shams of aU kinds, and of mere pretenders o^ every description. He ever avoided the short cuts, and kept steadily along in the old way. His heroes, like those of Dickens, were taken from the common walk; the men he had met in the road and at the hustings, at 42 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN whose firesides he had passed many hours. Whatever con- cerned them, whatever involved in any manner their welfare, was of deep interest to him. Jf he had chosen his own epitaph it might have read : " In common ways, with common men, I served my race and time." He was both an artist and a poet. He loved flowers, and there was to his ears no music so sweet as the merry laughter of children. And, whether in private life, or in his great executive office as "the arbiter of human fate," the tale of woe never failed to touch a sympathetic cord. He had in very deed, " A tear for pity, and a hand open as day to melting charity." He was welcome at every hearthstone, as one "who cometh imto you with a tale which holdeth children from play, and old men from the chimney comer." Soon after his admission to the bar, Mr. Knott removed to Missouri, where he was almost immediately elected to the responsible position of Attorney-General of the State. In due time he returned to his native State, and was for six terms a representative in Congress. Yet later, and as the shadows were beginning to fall to the eastward, he was, almost by common acclaim, called to the chief executive office of the commonwealth. It may truly be said of him that "with clear head, and with clean hands, he faithfully discharged every public trust." Mr. Knott entered Congress just at the close of the great Civil War. It was a period of excitement throughout the entire country, and of intense foreboding to the section he represented. In the debates of that stormy period he bore no mean part. He was counted a foeman worthy the steel of the ablest who entered the lists. A thorough student from the beginning, of all that pertained to Magna Charta, the Bill of Rights, and the Federal Constitution, he was equipped as few men have been, for forensic contests that have left their deep impress upon history. The evidence of his ability as a IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 43 lawyer is to be found in the satisfactory manner in which for three Congresses he discharged the duties of the trying posi- tion of Chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives. The ablest lawyers of both political parties constituted this great committee, and its chairman, if possess- ing only mediocre talents or attainments, would have been sadly out of place. But with his heavy armor laid aside, the genius of Knott was made manifest along more pleasing lines. Few speeches ever deUvered in Congress have been so generally read, or so thoroughly imbedded into current literature, as one he delivered soon after his first admission to the House. Duluth awoke the morning after its delivery to find itself famous. As " the zenith city of the usalted seas," it has been known and read of all men. As such, it will probably continue to be known for ages to come. The speech hopelessly defeated a bill making a land grant to a proposed railroad, of which Duluth was to be a terminus. His mirthful prediction, how- ever, as to its marvellous future has been fulfilled. How true it is that "jesters do oft prove prophets!" Bearing in mind that the great city of to-day then had no place even upon the map, the words quoted from the speech will be appreciated: " Duluth, Duluth ! The word fell upon my ear with peculiar and indescribable charm, like the gentle murmur of a brook stealing forth in the midst of roses, or the soft sweet accent of an angel's whisper in the bright joyous dream of sleeping inno- cence. Duluth ! 'T was the name for which my soul had panted for years, as the hart panteth for the water brooks. I was convinced that the greatest calamity that ever befell the benighted nations of the ancient world was their having passed away without a knowledge of the actual existence of Duluth; that their fabled Atlantis, never seen save by the hallowed vision of inspired poesy, was in fact but another name for Du- luth; that the golden orchard of the Hesperides was but a poeti- cal synonym for the beer-gardens in the vicinity of Duluth. As that name first fell upon my ear, a resplendent scene of ineffable glory opened before me, such as I imagine burst upon the en- raptured visions of the wandering Peri through the opening gates of Paradise." Mr. Knott was often the sad and silent man. His real 44 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN intimacies were few, and to strangers he was reserved. But to those who came within the circle of his personal friendship he was one of the most delightful of companions. No man was ever less given to a parade either of his friendships or of his animosities. His enemies — and it would have been strange if, passing through the eventful scenes he did, he had had none — knew just where to find him. He was, in very truth, " Lofty and sour to them that loved him not; But, to those men that sought him, sweet as summer." The cause often of mirth in others, he was at times far from being joyous himself. Few men have been the posses- sors in so rare degree of the gift of humor, the sure indica- tion of the hmnane and sympathetic in our nature; that "which blends the pathetic with the ludicrous, and by the same stroke moves to laughter and to tears." As Emerson says, "Both an ornament and safeguard — genius itself." The line of separation between wit and humor is shadowy, not easily defined. There may be in the same individual, in some measure, a blending of the two. As has been said: "While wit is a purely intellectual thing, into every act of the humorous mind there is an influx of the moral nature. Humor springs up exuberantly, as from a fovintain, and runs on, its perpetual game to look with considerate good-nature at every object in existence, and dismiss it with a benison." While wit, the piu^ely intellectual quaUty, sparkles and stings, humor, "touched with a feeling of our infirmity," would "gently scan thy brother man," remembering ever that " What 's done we partly may compute, But know not what 's resisted." It is not strange, then, that he who in large degree pos- sesses or is possessed by this subtle quality should be subject to moods, it may be melancholy — "the effect of that humor that sometime hath his hour with every man." That Gov- ernor Knott was deeply endowed with humor in its best sense, no one who knew him could doubt. In relating inci- dents that convulsed his listeners, he gave no sign; his own IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 45 features remained as solemn as if he were attending the obsequies of his dearest friend. There is something that is suggestive in the lines of Thomas Hood, " There 's not a string attuned to mirth But has its chord in melancholy." While Governor of Kentucky, he sent to the Hon. Stoddart Johnston, a certificate, officially signed and bearing the impress of the great seal of State, duly commissioning him as "Mister," a distinctive and honorable title that no Ken- tuckian had previously borne. This recalls the witty remark of Max O'Rell: "The only thing that Mr. IngersoU appears to hold in common with his countrymen is the title of Colo- nel." Many years ago McCullough, the tragedian, was giving his splendid impersonations of the two masterpieces of Shakespeare at the national Capital. The morning follow- ing one of these, Mr. Knott and I, passing along the avenue on our way to the House, were stopped by an exceedingly solemn-visaged individual who, addressing the former, said: "Mr. Knott, I would like to have your judgment as to which is the best play, Hamlet or Macbeth." Gazing earnestly at his inquisitor, and in a tone at once deprecatory and inimitable, Knott replied: "My friend, don't ask me that question. I am a politician, and a candi- date for reelection to Congress; my district is about equally divided; Hamlet has his friends down there, and Macbeth his, and I am unwilling to take any part between them!" When in joint canvass with his competitor for the Gover- norship of his State, Mr. Knott, having, by appointment, at one of the county seats in "the Purchase," made the opening speech, was seated near by to listen to that of the opposing candidate. The latter, a gentleman having a high sense of propriety, and a dignity of bearing that would have done no discredit to an assembly of divines, had been exceedingly annoyed by Knott's speech, which had in very truth kept the audience in an uproar during its entire deUvery. Beginning his reply, he said: 46 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN "Fellow-citizens, I will -endeavor to indicate to you the kind of a man who, in my judgment, should be elected to the position of Governor of this grand old conamonwealth. In the first place, that exalted position should never be filled by one who, for lack of serious argument, constantly appeals to the risibilities of his audience; never by a wit, a mere joker, a story-teller; in other words — if you will pardon me, my fel- low-citizens — by a mere buffoon. On the contrary, the incumbent of the exalted position of chief executive of this grand old commonwealth should be a gentleman of char- acter, of ability, the worthy successor of Shelby, of Morehead, of Crittenden; he should be a gentleman of scholastic attain- ments and of dignified bearing, well versed in classic lore, and a thorough student of the higher order of state-craft. In a word, fellow-citizens, you should elect as your Governor a gentleman of lofty character, of ripe scholarship, of com- manding dignity, of exalted statesmanship, of — " At this point, Knott, interrupting, said, in manner and tone the exact counterpart of that of the speaker, "Pardon me, Colonel Smith, but I am too modest a man to hsten longer to the beautiful and truthful description you have just given of me!" Whereupon, amidst the wildest applause, he retired from the hall, as did the audience, and the speaking for the day, and the joint discussion for the campaign, were closed. Ill AGAIN IN CONGRESS CHANGES IN THE PERSONNEL OF THE HOUSE CONTRASTED WITH THOSE IN THE BRITISH HOUSE OF COMMONS LEVI P. MORTON MR. COVERT AND MR. SHELLEY GEN. JOSEPH E. JOHN- STON TWO NOTABLE SPEECHES BY JAMES A. MoKENZIE — JOHN E. KENNA BENJAMIN BUTTERWORTH MR. KEIFER OF OHIO MR. CARLISLE OF KENTUCKY SPEAKER REED PRESIDENT MCKINLEY THE WRITER'S SPEECH AT THE PEACE JUBILEE BANQUET, 1898. AFTER an absence of two years I was returned to the forty-sixth Congress. Circumstances over which I had no control had prevented my taking a seat in the intervening Congress, my successful competitor being the Hon. Thomas F. Tipton. In politics, however, as in other things, "the whirUgig of time brings in his revenges," and I was in turn the successful competitor of my late opponent in his candidacy for reelection. Meanwhile, many changes had occurred in the personnel of the House. Many famiUar names had been dropped from its roll. Of these, nine had been transferred to that of the Senate, a former member was now in the Cabinet, and Mr. Wheeler of New York was Vice-President. A significant fact in this connection, and one illustrating the uncertainty of the tenure by which place is held in that body, was that more than one-third of those with whom I had so recently served were now in private life. Possibly no feature of our governmental system causes more astonishment to intelli- gent foreigners than the many changes biennially occurring in the membership of the House of Representatives. There is marked difference between the British House of Commons, and the popular branch of the American Congress. A seat lost in the latter — it may be by a single unfortimate utter- ance, or impopular vote — is usually a seat lost forever; while in the former, membership may continue for an almost 47 48 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN indefinite period, and until an "appeal to the country" by the Ministry upon a new and vital issue. If defeated by one constituency, the member of Parliament may soon be returned by another, the question of residence having no significance. In fact if possessing superior talents, the member is liable to be chosen by two or more constituencies at the same election, the choice then resting with himself as to which he will repre- sent. Such has been the experience of the most eminent of British statesmen. The names of Burke, Peel, Gladstone, and Balfour, quite recently, will readily be recalled in this connection. In the little island the aspirant to legislative honors has several hundred constituencies from which to choose, or to be chosen, while in the larger America his political fortimes are usually bound up in his own residence district. Upon the roll of the House in the new Congress, called in special session in March, 1879, in addition to some heretofore mentioned, were names well known to the country. Of these none is more worthy of honorable mention than that of the Hon. Levi P. Morton of New York. In the buaness world his name was a synonym for integrity. The head of a great banking house, he was almost as well known in the principal cities of Europe as in the great city of his residence. At the time of his first election to Congress Mr. Morton was, by appointment of the President, an honorary commissioner to the Paris Exposition. At the close of his legislative career he held successively the honored positions of Ambassador to France, Vice-President of the United States, and Governor of New York. In Congress, Mr. Morton was the able repre- sentative of a great constituency; as chief executive of his State his name is worthy of mention with the most eminent of those who have been called to that exalted station; as ambassador to a foreign court the honor of his country was ever in safe keeping; as Vice-President, he was the model presiding officer over the greatest deliberative body known to men. One of the brightest members of the New York delegation was the Hon. James W. Covert of Flushing. Altogether he LEVI P. MORTON / ->j:?^%,w. 1 p "1 iw J^BS^'^xv 1 S^HCTJ'Tj ^I^^HhK.-'V Af,^*^ 'Jm 'aSBSt^^^^^T ^^SBbSis^ ^ ' ' V/ ' it/^^^^ j^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H J ^i^^ B* .^HHHHBn! ?-■ JAMES A. McKENZIE AGAIN IN CONGRESS 49 served ten years in the House, and became in time-one of its leading members. He was an excellent lawyer, a delightful associate, and an able and ready debater. That he was ^fted with a touch of the humorous will appear from the fol- lowing. The House was passing through the agony of an all-night session. Confusion reigned supreme. During it all, Mr. Shelley, from one of the Gulf States, stood at his desk and repeatedly made the point of order upon Covert, Springer, Kenna, McKenzie, and others, as they successively addressed the Chair, that " the gentleman is not speaking from his desk." The point of order was as repeatedly sustained by the Speaker, the rules requiring members to address the Chair only from their respective desks. The confusion at length became so great that many members, in their eagerness to be heard, pressed to the front. The voice of Mr. Shelley, however, was heard above the din still calling for the enforcement of the rule; to which the Speaker, his patience exhausted, now turned a deaf ear. Desperate beyond measure, Mr. Shelley at length left his own desk, and taking his position immedi- ately in front of the clerk's desk fiercely demanded, "Mr. Speaker, I call for the enforcement of the rule." At which Covert immediately exclaimed, "Mr. Speaker, I call for the enforcement of the rule in Shelley's case!" Almost directly in front of the Speaker's desk sat a gentle- man, small in stature, and of quiet, dignified bearing, "the silent man," "whose voice was in his sword," General Joseph E. Johnston of Virginia. Until this, his first election to Congress from the Capital District of the Old Dominion, he had known none other than miUtary public service. He was a bom soldier. No one who saw him could mistake his calling. Napoleon did not more truly look the soldier than did General Johnston. A graduate of West Point, his first service was in the Black Hawk War, and later in Mexico. For gallant conduct at the battle of Cerro Gordo, he was brevetted colonel in the regular army. His last service was when, as Lieutenant-General of the Confederate Army, he surrendered to Sherman, thus ending the great Civil War. He had already reached the allotted threescore years and ten when he entered 50 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN Congress, and its ordinary details apparently interested him but little. He earnestly desired the return of the era of good feeling between the North and South,andupon his motion the House duly adjourned in honor of the day set apart for the decoration of the graves of Union soldiers. No member of this House attracted more attention than did the Hon. James A. McKenzie of Kentucky, the repre- sentative from what in local parlance was known as "the pennyryle district." He was the youngest member of the body, tail, erect, and handsome. Mr. McKenzie rendered a valuable service to his constituents and the country dm-ing this Con- gress, by securing the passage of a bUl placing quinine upon the free list. His district was seriously afflicted with the old-time fever and ague, and the reduction by his bill to a nominal cost of the sure and only specific placed his name high upon the list of benefactors. Two of his kinsmen, one from Illinois, the other from Florida, occupied seats immediately in his front. Addressing them one day, he said: "It seems strange, indeed, that we three cousins — one from Illinois, one from Florida, and one from Kentucky — are all here together in Congress"; and then added, with apparent gravity, "and ours not an office- seeking family either!" As the session drew near its close, he made repeated efforts to obtain imanimous consent for the consideration of a bill for the erection of a Government building in the prin- cipal city of his district. The interposition of the stereo- typed "I object" had, however, in each instance, proved fatal. During a night session, near the close, of the Congress, requests for recognition came to the Speaker from all parts of the chamber. In the midst of the tumult Mr. McKenzie arose and, addressing the Chair, stated with great solemnity of manner that he arose to a question of personal privilege. This at once arrested the attention of the Speaker, and he requested the gentleman from Kentucky to state his question of privilege. "I rise, Mr. Speaker," said McKenzie, "to a question of the highest privilege, one pertaining to the right of a member to a seat upon this floor — in the next Congress AGAIN IN CONGRESS 61 If I don't get that post-office bill through now, my seat will be imperilled. I beg the House for unanimous consent for its immediate consideration." The House was convulsed; no objection was interposed, the bill was considered and passed, and McKenzie's seat was safe for many years to come. Has there ever been a more telling two-minutes' speech, than that of McKenzie in the National Convention of 1892, when he arose to second the nomination of Cleveland? After a night of intense excitement, the convention was still in session at three o'clock in the morning. A storm was raging without, while within, thousands in the great hall were im- patiently and loudly demanding an immediate vote. More than one of the chief orators of the party, — men well known to the country — had in vain attempted to be heard. Chaos seemed to have come again at the crucial moment that Mc- Kenzie, standing upon his chair in the centre of the vast enclosure, began: "If I speak longer than two minutes, I hope that some honest half-drowned Democrat will suspend my carcass from one of the cross-beams of this highly artistic, -but terribly leaky auditorium. Cleveland needs no nomina- tion from this convention. He has already been nominated by the people all along the line — all the way from Hell Gate to Yuba Dam!" The bedlam that now broke loose exceeded all that had gone before. The uproar drowned the voice of the orator within, and even, for the time, called a halt upon the raging elements without. The speech was never concluded. What might have been the closing words of McKenzie's speech, with such a beginning, can never be known. The effect of his opening, however, was instantaneous. It was the immediate prelude to the overwhelming nomination of his candidate. The Hon. John E. Kenna, of West Virginia, was just at the beginning of a remarkably brilliant career. He was under thirty years of age when he first entered Congress. At the close of his third term in the House, he was elected to the United States Senate, and held his seat in that body by successive elections until his death at the early age of forty-four. He possessed rare gifts as a speaker, and was 52 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN an active participant in many of the important debates dur- ing that eventful period. Senator Kenna was the beloved of his State, and his early death brought sorrow to many hearts. His manners were pleasing, and he was companionable to the last degree. He often related an amusing incident that occurred in the convention that first nominated him for Congress. His name was presented by a delegate from the Crossroads in one of the mountain counties, in substantially the following speech: "Mr. President, I rise to present to this convention, as a candidate for Congress, the name of John E. Kenna — the peer, sir, of no man in the State of West Virginia." Among the new members elected to this Congress was the Hon. Benjamin Butterworth of Ohio, His ability as a law- yer and his readiness in debate soon gave him prominence, while his abundant good-nature and inexhaustible fund of anecdotes made him a general favorite in the House. One of his stories was of a Western member whose daily walk and conversation at the national Capital was by no means up to the orthodox home standard. The better element of his constituents at length became disgusted, as reports derogatory to their member from time to time reached them. A bolt in the approaching Congressional convention was even threatened, and altogether serious trouble was brewing. The demand was imperative upon the part of his closest friends that he at once come home and face his accusers. Homeward he at length turned his footsteps, and was met at the depot by a large concourse of his friends and con- stituents. Hurriedly ahghting from the train and stepping upon the platform, with beaming countenance and heart made glad by such an enthusiastic reception, he thus began: "Fellow-citizens, my heart is deeply touched as my eyes behold this splendid assemblage of my constituents and friends gathered here before and around me. During my absence in Congress my friends have spoken in my vindication. I am here now to speak for myself. Vile slanders have been put in circu- lation against me. I have been accused of being a defaulter; I have been accused of being a drunkard; I have been accused AGAIN IN CONGRESS 53 of being a gambler; but, thank God, fellow-citizens, no man has ever dared to assail my good moral character! " One incident is related by Butterworth of a judge in his State who, becoming thoroughly disgusted with the ease with which naturalization papers were obtained, determined upon a radical reform. That the pathway of the reformer — along this as other lines — was by no means one of flowers will appear from the sequel. Immediately upon taking his seat, the judge, with great earnestness of manner, announced from the bench that thereafter no applicant could receive from that court his final papers, entitling him to the exercise of the high privilege of citizenship, imless he was able to read the Constitution of the United States. A few mornings later, Michael O'Connor, a well-known partisan of the Seventh Ward, appeared in court accompanied by a diminutive- looking coimtryman, Dennis Flynn by name. Mr. O'Connor stated to the judge that his friend Dennis Flynn had already taken out his first papers, and the legal time had passed, and he now wanted His Honor to grant him his final papers. With much solemnity of manner the judge inquired whether Mr. Flynn had ever read the Constitution of the United States. Somewhat abashed by the imusual interrogatory, Mr. O'Connor looked inquiringly at Mr. Flynn, at which the latter, wholly unconscious of the purport of the inquiry, looked appealingly to Mr. O'Connor. The latter then repUed that he presumed he had not, at which the judge, handing the applicant a copy of the revised statutes containing the Constitution, admonished him to read it carefully. Mr. FljTin, carrying the volume in his arms, and followed by his patron, sadly left the court-room. Just eight minutes elapsed, the door suddenly opened and both reappeared, Mr. O'Connor in front, bearing the book aloft, and exclaiming, "Dinnie couldn't rade it. Your Honor, but I rid it over to him, and he is parefictly deloighted wid it!" Three gentlemen, each of whom at a later day reached the Speakership, had served but a single term in the House at the opening of the forty-sixth Congress: Mr. Keifer of Ohio, Mr. Carlisle of Kentucky, and Mr. Reed of Maine. Mr. 5i SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN Keif er was a gentleman of ability and of exceedingly courteous manners. He took a prominent part in debate, and was the immediate successor of Mr. Randall in the Chair. After an absence of twenty years he has again been returned to his seat in the House. Few abler men than Mr. Carlisle have been in the public service. He was a recognized leader of his party from his first appearance in the House, and an authority upon all questions pertaining to tariff or finance. During his long service as Speaker he established an endiuing reputation as an able presiding officer; as possessing in the highest degree "the cold neutrality of the impartial Judge." While a Senator, he was appointed by President Cleveland to the important position of Secretary of the Treasury. The duties of that great office have never been discharged with more signal ability. Mr. Reed stood alone. He was unUke other men, a fact which probably caused him little regret. Self-rehant, aggres- sive, of will indomitable, he was a political storm centre during his entire public career. His friends were devoted to him, and he was never forgotten by his enemies. Whoever was brought into close contact with him, usually carried away an impression by which to remember him. Upon one occasion, in the House, when in sharp debate with Mr. Springer, the latter quoted the familiar saying of Henry Clay, "Sir, I would rather be right than be President." Mr. Reed, in a tone far from reassuring, retorted, "The gentleman from Illinois will never be eiiher!" The retort courteous, however, was not always from the lips of the Speaker. Mr. Springer, having at one time re- peatedly attempted, but in vain, to secure the floor, at length demanded by what right he was denied recognition. The Speaker intimated that such ruling was in accord with the high prerogative of the Chair. To which Springer replied: " Oh, it is excellent To have a giant strength; but 't is tyrannous To use it like a giant." AGAIN IN CONGRESS 55 Of immense physical proportions, towering above his fellows, with voice by no means melodious, a manner far from conciliatory, a capacity for sarcastic utterance that vividly recalled the days of John Randolph and Tristram Burgess, and, withal, one of the ablest men of his generation, Mr. Reed was in very truth a picturesque figure in the House of Representatives. He apparently acted upon the supposi- tion of the philosopher Hobbes that war is the natural state of man. The kindly admonition, " Mend your ways a little Lest they may mar your fortunes," if ever given him, was imheeded. In very truth, " He stood, As if a man were author of himself, And knew no other kin." No man in his day was more talked of or written about. At one time his star was in the ascendant, and he seemed to be on the highroad to the Presidency. His great ambition, however, was thwarted by those of his own pohtical household. At the close of a turbulent session, while he was in the Chair, the usual resolution of thanks to the Speaker "for the able, fair, and courteous manner in which he had presided" was bitterly antagonized, and finally adopted only by a strictly party vote. It was an event with a single antecedent in our history, that of seventy-odd years ago, when the Whig minority in the House opposed the usual vote of thanks to Speaker Polk upon his retirement from the Chair. In the latter case, the cry of persecution that was instantly raised had much to do with Mr. Polk's almost immediate election to the Governorship of his State, and his subsequent eleva- tion to the Presidency. -The parallel incident in Mr. Reed's career, however, failed to prove "the prologue to the swelUng act." The Hon. William McKinley, of Ohio, was a member of this Congress. He was one of the most pleasing and delights ful of associates, and my acquaintance with him was of the 66 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN most agreeable character. One of his eariiest official acts as President was my appointment as a member of the Bi- metaUic Commission to Europe. Mr. McKinley was in very truth one of Fortune's favorites: five times elected a member of the House of Representatives, three times Governor of his State, and twice elevated to the Presidency. He was the third of our Presidents to fall by the hand of an assassin. His tragic death is yet fresh in our memories. The last time I met President McKinley was at the Peace Jubilee Banquet at the Auditorium in Chicago, on the even- ing of October 19, 1898. On this occasion, following the toast to the President of the United States, I spoke as follows : " The incumbent of this great office holds with imchal- lenged title the most exalted station known to men. Mon- archs rule by hereditary right, or hold high place only by force of arms. The elevation of a citizen to the Presidency of the United States is the deliberate act, under the forms of law, of a sovereign people. As an aspirant, he may have been the choice only of a political party; as the incumbent of the great office, he is the representative of all the people — the President of all the people. It augurs well for the future of the Republic when the American people magnify this office; when they honor, as now, the President who has so ably upheld its dignity, so worthily met its solemn responsi- bilities, so patriotically discharged its exacting and impera- tive duties. "The office of President of a self-governing people is unique. It had no place in ancient or mediaeval schemes of govern- ment, whether despotic, federative, or in name republican. It has in reality none amongst the nations of modem Europe. The Presidency of the United States, in the highest degree, represents the majesty of the law. It stands for the unified authority and power of seventy-five miUions of free men. It typifies what is most sacred to our race : stability in govern- ment and protection to hberty and life. The President is ^''fSit.i- WILLIAM McKINLEY U»wv ttK*mA»\ AxJCXvurv., t^A.a'fu^iJuL \>cOkfvu^^ 4Lu)[ vvAjin.yMXaXt.»n, GkA^Ju LMA«-K*Anji-V\A A- [» n^JL tO'n.tt caIavIumju 'CM^I 'rfnnvA J O-i^ WuK- Wy-»VV VJUUiAMS » (\MHrf pnvUp" I xffiM^v^ j£^Aj^^ y^uhujiH^ ''^,'-:'.u ^■--^ ':s.^Q« o > a 03 H <: m O WILLIAM FREEMAN VILAS CLEVELAND AS I KNEW HIM 241 the responsible position of Postmaster-General. And yet both of these gentlemen were personally strangers to Mr. Cleveland when he was first named for the Presidency. His appointments to important diplomatic positions likewise strikingly illustrated his aptness in forming a correct estimate of men from whom his appointees were to be chosen. No incumbent of the Presidency was ever less of a time- server than Cleveland. "Expediency" was a word scarcely known to his vocabulary. Recognizing alike the dignity and responsibility of the great office, he was in the highest degree self-reUant. None the less he at all times availed himself of the wise counsel of his official advisers. In matters faUing within their especial province their determination was, except in rare instances, conclusive. In no sense was his mind closed against the timely coimsel of his friends. Far from being opinionated, in the offensive sense of the word, the ulti- mate determination, however, was after "having taken coun- sel from himself." The incident contributing perhaps more than any other to his defeat in 1888 was his tariff-reduction message to Con- gress one year prior to that election. An abler state paper has rarely been put forth. It was a clear, succinct presenta- tion of existing economic conditions; in very truth an unan- swerable argument for tariff reduction. It is not yet forgotten how promptly this message was denounced by the entire oppo- sition press as a "free-trade manifesto," and how this cry increased in voice and volume xmtil the close of the Presiden- tial contest. And yet, in sending this message to Congress, Mr. Cleveland was entirely consistent with himself. Its utterances were in clear accord with the platform upon which he had been nominated and with his letter of acceptance. It is one of the anomalies of politics that the clear-cut sen- tences measurably instrumental in compassing his defeat in 1888, were upon the banners of his triumphant partisans in the campaign of 1892. In the year last named, Mr. Cleveland was for the third time the candidate of his party for the Presidency. His nomination, by a two-thirds vote, was upon the first ballot, 242 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN and marked an era in the history of national conventions. His candidacy was bitterly antagonized by the delegation from his own State, his name being presented by Governor Abbott of New Jersey. It is a fact of much significance that neither in the platform upon which he was nominated, nor in the letter of acceptance, was there the slightest departure from his emphatic utterances upon the tariff in the memor- able message of 1887. The salient issues of the campaign were "tariff reform" and hostiUty to the then pending "Force bill." From first to last Mr. Cleveland was in close consulta- tion with the leaders of his party and advised as to every detail of the contest. The result was a vindication of his former administration and an unmistakable endorsement of the tenets of the Democratic faith. In this brief sketch, there can be but slight reference to the important questions which now for four years engaged his attention. Almost his first official act after his second inauguration was the withdrawal from the Senate of the Hawaiian Annexation Treaty recently submitted by President Harrison for ratification. Firmly believing that the late United States Minister to the imfortunate island had at least acquiesced in the overthrow of the Hawaiian Govern- ment, President Cleveland, with the hope that he might measurably repair the wrong, recalled the Annexation Treaty, as stated. In his message of withdrawal were the words: "A great wrong has been done to a feeble and independent State." This almost forgotten incident is now recalled only to empha- size the spirit of justice that characterized his dealings with foreign Governments. And yet history will truly say of him that, while just to other Governments, no President has more firmly maintained the rights of his own. This assertion finds verification in the Venezuelan message, which, for the moment, almost startled the coimtry. By many it was for the time believed to be the prelude to war. In very truth, as the sequel proved, it was a message of peace. It was a critical moment, and the necessity imperative for prompt, decisive action. If the Monroe Doctrine was to be maintained, Great Britain could CLEVELAND AS I KNEW HIM 243 not be permitted arbitrarily to divest Venezuela of any por- tion of her territory. The arbitration proposed by President Cleveland, resulting in peaceable adjustment, established what we may well beUeve will prove an enduring precedent. One sentence of the memorable message is worthy of remem- brance by the oncoming generations: "The Monroe Doctrine was intended to apply to every stage of our national life, and cannot become obsolete while our RepubUc endures." I had excellent opportunities to know Mr. Cleveland. I was a member of the first and third conventions which named him for the Presidency, and actively engaged in both the con- tests that resulted in his election. As assistant Postmaster- General during his first term, and Vice-President during the second, I was often "the neighbor to his counsels." I am confident that a more conscientious, painstaking official never filled public station. In his appointments to oflace his chief aim was to subserve the pubUc interests by judicious selec- tions. The question of rewarding party service, while by no means ignored, was immeasurably subordinate to that of the integrity and efficiency of the applicant. He was patriotic to the core, and it was his earnest desire that the last vestige of legislation inimical to the Southern States should pass from the statute books. He did much toward the restoration of complete concord between all sections of the country. Mr. Cleveland possessed a kind heart, and was ever just and generous in his dealings. Wholly unostentatious himself, the humblest felt at ease in his presence. Possibly no incum- bent of the great office was more easily accessible to all classes and conditions. Courteous at all times, no guards were necessary to the preservation of his dignity. No one would have thought of undue familiarity. He was a profound student of all that pertained to human affairs. He had given deep thought to the science of govern- ment, and was familiar with the best that had been written on the subject. Caring httle for the light Uterature of the day, his concern was with the practical knowledge bearing upon existing conditions and that might aid in the solution of the ever-recurring problems confronting men in responsible posi- 244 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN tions. He loved to talk of the founders of the Government and of the matchless instrument, the result of their wise deliberations, declared by Gladstone, "the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time from the brain and purpose of man." The Constitution was in very truth "the man of his counsel," and, in my opinion, no statesman in ancient or modern times so challenged his profound admira- tion as did James Madison. Mr. Cleveland was sociable in the best sense of that word, and the cares of state laid aside, in the company of friends he was an exceedingly agreeable companion. While by no means the best of story-tellers himself, he had a keen apprecia- tion of the humorous and ludicrous phases and incidents of life. I shall not soon forget an evening I spent with him in company with Governor Proctor Knott of Kentucky. The greatest story-teller of the age was at his best, and the delight of the occasion was, as Cleveland declared, "beyond expres- sion." More than once I have been a guest in his home. During the campaign of 1892, when his associate on the national ticket, I spent some days in conference with him at Gray Gables. The memory of that long-ago visit lingers yet. He was the a^eeable host, the gentleman; more than that, the tender, considerate husband, the kind, affectionate father. It has never been my good fortune to cross the threshold of a more delightful home. I saw Mr. Cleveland last upon the occasion of his visit to Arbor Lodge, Nebraska, to deliver an address at the imveiling of the statue of the late Sterling Morton, former Secretary of Agriculture. The address was worthy of the occasion, and indeed a just and touching tribute to the memory of an excel- lent man, and able and efficient Cabinet Minister. In my last conversation with Mr. Cleveland upon the occasion men- tioned, he spoke feelingly of our old associates, many of whom had passed away. I remember that the tears came to his eyes when the name of Colonel Lamont happened to be mentioned. During our stay at Arbor Lodge, the beautiful Morton CLEVELAND AS I KNEW HIM 245 home, by invitation of the superintendent, Mr. Cleveland visited the State Asylum for the Blind at Nebraska City. In his brief address to the vmfortunate inmates of the in- stitution, Mr. Cleveland mentioned the fact that in his early life he had been for some time a teacher in an asylum for the blind, and spoke of his profound interest in whatever con- cerned their welfare. I have heard him many times, but never when he appeared to better advantage, or evinced such depth of feeUng as upon this occasion. The passing of Cleveland marks an epoch. He was indeed a striking figure in American history. Take him all in all, we may not look upon his like again. The "good citizen- ship," an expression frequently on his lips, to which he would have his countrymen aspire, was of the noblest, and no man had a clearer or loftier conception of the responsible and sacred character of public station. With him the oft-quoted words, "A public office is a public trust," was no mere lip- service. His will be a large place in history. His administra- tion of the government will safely endure the test of time. " Whatever record leaps to light, He never can be shamed." In victory or defeat, in office or out, he was true to his own self and to his ideals. His early struggles, his firmness of purpose, his determination that knew no shadow of waver- ing, his exalted aims, and the success that ultimately crowned his efforts have given him high place among statesmen, and will be a continuing inspiration to the oncoming generations of his countrymen. XIX A UNANIMOUS CHOICE FOR SPEAKER A MEETING OF PROSPECTIVE SPEAKERS DR. ROGERS WITHIN SIGHT OF THE GOAL OF HIS AMBITION HE STATES THE GROUND OF HIS HOPE THE FOUNDATION PROVES TO BE ONLY SAND A TEMPEST CALMED BY THE DOCTOR. AT a banquet in Washington in the winter of 1880-81, a large number of Representatives were present. Among the number were Reed, McKinley, Cannon, and Keifer. These gentlemen were all prospective candidates for the Speakership of the then recently elected House of Represen- tatives. The best of feeling prevailed, and the occasion was one of rare enjoyment and mirth. Each candidate in turn was introduced by the toast-master as "the Speaker of the next House," and in his speech each claimed all the others as his enthusiastic and reliable supporters. The apparent confidence of each candidate in the support of his rivals re- minded Mr. Cannon of the experience of an Illinois legislator, which he requested his colleague from the Bloomington dis- trict to relate. That the reader may appreciate the incident then related, some mention must be made of Dr. Thomas P. Rogers of Bloomington. He was a gentleman of the old school, a politician from the beginning, of inflexible integrity and an earnestness of purpose that knew no shadow of turning. He was as devoid of any possible touch of humor as was his own marble bust of Thomas Jefferson. He was the personal friend of Lincoln and of Douglas, and the poUtical follower of the latter. The fondness of a mother for her first-born hardly exceeded that of Dr. Rogers for the party of his choice. Any uncomplimentary allusion to his "principles" was consid- ered a personal injury, and his devotion to party leaders, from Jackson to Douglas, savored of idolatry. Some camp- meeting experiences in early life had given zest and tone 246 A UNANIMOUS CHOICE FOR SPEAKER 247 to his style of oratory, which stood him well in hand in his many political encounters of a later day. For three consecutive terms the Doctor had been a mem- ber of the Legislature, and his record from every point of view was without a blemish. At his fourth election, it was found that for the first time for a decade or more his party had secured a majority in the House, to which the Doctor had just been elected. The goal of his ambition was the Speakership, and it truly seemed that his hour had now come. Soon after these facts were known beyond peradventure, the Doctor came one day into my office. After election matters had been talked over at length and with much satis- faction, the Doctor modestly intimated a desire to be a can- didate for the Speakership. I at once gave him the promise of my earnest support and inquired whether he had any friends upon whom he could rely in the approaching caucus. He assured me that there were four members of the last House reelected to this, upon whom he knew he could ab- solutely depend imder all circumstances. Upon my inquiry as to their names, he said : "Hadlai," — the Doctor, it may be here mentioned, had from my boyhood kindly given me the benefit of an "H" to which I laid no claim and was in no way entitled — "Had- lai, you take your pencil and take down their names as I give them to you." I at once took my seat, and pencil in hand, looked in- quiringly toward the Doctor. "Hadlai," he continued, "put down Heise of Cook. John and I have been friends for more than thirty years; I worked for him for a delegate-at-large to the last National Convention, and he told me then, ' Doctor, if there is anything I can do for you, just let me know.' " To which I rephed, "Heise of Cook, dead sure," and his name was at once placed in the Rogers column. "Now, Hadlai," continued the Doctor, "There is Arm- strong of La Salle; Wash and I were boys together in Ohio, and sat side by side in the Charleston Convention when we were trying to nominate Douglas. He has told me more 248 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN than once that if ever we carried the House, he was for me for Speaker above any man on earth." At which I unhes- itatingly placed Armstrong of La Salle in the same column with Heise of Cook. "Now, Hadlai," continued the Doctor, after a moment's pause, "there is Cummins of Fulton; I helped elect Jim Chair- man of the last State Convention, and he has told me again and again that he hoped he would live to see me Speaker, so I can count on Jim without doubt." I at once placed Cummins in the colunm of honor with Heise and Armstrong, and calmly awaited further instructions. "Now, Hadlai, there is Moore of Adams; Alf got into trouble over a bill he had in the last Legislature; he could neither get it out of the committee, nor the committee to take any action, so he came over to my seat terribly worried, and says he, 'Doctor, for God's sake, get me out of this!' I did, Hadlai, and Alf was the most grateful man you ever saw on earth, and told me then, 'Doctor, I would get up at two o'clock at night to do you a favor.' I can safely count onhim." It is needless to say that Moore of Adams roimded out the quartette of faithful supporters. "Now, Hadlai," remarked the Doctor, after contemplating with apparent satisfaction the list I had handed him, "if you will give me some paper and envelopes and a pen and some stamps, if you have them handy, I will write to all of them now." The articles mentioned were pro- duced, the letters written, stamped, and duly mailed, and the good Doctor departed in an exceedingly comfortable frame of mind. Time passed, as is its wont; but for some weeks I neither saw nor heard from the Doctor. Meeting him on the street at length, I at once inquired whether he had received replies to his letters. "Come into the office, Hadlai, and I will explam." Pained to observe that the tone and air of confidence so perceptible in our last interview was lacking, I followed with some mis- giving into his office. A UNANIMOUS CHOICE FOR SPEAKER 249 "Yes, Hadlai," he slowly began, "I have heard from all of them. Heise of Cook [the familiar appellations of the former interview were wanting] writes assm-ing me that there is no man Uving for whom he entertains a more profomid respect than for myself, Hadlai; but that owing to unforeseen compUcations arising in his county, he has reluctantly con- sented to allow his own name to be presented to the caucus." The name of Heise of Cook was immediately stricken from the head of the list. Then a reverie into which the Doctor had fallen was at length disturbed by my inquiry, "What about Armstrong?" "Yes, Hadlai, Armstrong of La Salle writes me that in his judgment there is no man Uving so deserving of the grat- itude of the party, or so well qualified for the office of Speaker as myself, but that the pressure from his constitu- ents has been so great that he has finally consented to allow his own name to be presented to the caucus." " Fare-you-well, Mr. Armstrong," was my hurried ob- servation, as the name of that gentleman disappeared from my list. Arousing the Doctor at length from the reverie into which he had again fallen, I ventured to inquire as to the state of mind of Mr. Cummins. "Yes, Hadlai, Cummins of Fulton says that in a certain contingency he will himself be a candidate, and Moore of Adams writes me that he is a candidate!" It may not be out of place to supplement this little narra- tive by relating an incident that illustrates the fact that a man wholly devoid of any sense of humor himself may at times be the xmconscious cause of amusement to others. Imprimis: The Doctor, while a member of the General Assembly, voted for a measure known in local parlance as "The Lake Front Bill." The criticism which followed vexed his righteous soul, and he patiently awaited the opportunity for public explanation and personal vindication. Now it so fell out that at the time whereof we write there was much excitement — a tempest in a tea-pot — in the little city of Bloomington, over a change in "readers" recently 250 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN ordered in the schools by the Board of Education. After much discussion on the streets and at the corners, a public indignation meeting was called for Saturday evening at the east door of the Court-house. Meanwhile the indignation against the offending Board intensified, and there was some apprehension even of serious trouble. At the appointed time and place, the meeting assembled and was duly organized by the selection of a Chairman. Calls at once began for well- known orators at the bar and upon the hustings. "Ewing," "Fifer," "Rowell," "Prince," "LiUard," "Phillips," "Ker- rick," "Weldon," were heard from the crowd in rapid succes- sion. It was like "calling spirits from the vasty deep." No response was given, no orator appeared; and, as is well known, an indignation meeting without an orator is as impossible as "Hamlet" with the Prince of Denmark omitted. But sure enough, — " Fortune sometimes brings in boats that are not steered." At the auspicious moment, from the rear of the crowd Tom HuUinger called out, "Doctor Rogers, Doctor Rogers!" The hour had struck. Without waiting further call, the Doctor promptly took the stand and waiving the formality of an in- troduction, began: "I am deeply gratified to have this opportunity to explain to my fellow-citizens who have known me from my early manhood my vote upon the Lake Front Bill," and a two- hour vindication immediately followed. No allusion being made to the object of the meeting, or the change of school- books, of which the Doctor knew as little and cared as little as he did of the thirteenth century controversy between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, with the waning hours the ex- citement subsided. The change of readers became a dead issue; the era of good feeling was restored; and to this blessed hour, except in a spirit of mirth, the school-book question has never been mentioned. XX A LAWYER OF THE OLD SCHOOL JUDGE AHRINGTON, THE IDEAL LAWYEB EULOGIZED BY OTHER JUDGES BOOKS HIS EARLY COMPANIONS BECOMES SUC- CESSIVELY A METHODIST PREACHER, A LAWYER, AND A JUDGE WRITES SOME SKETCHES OF LIFE IN THE SOUTHWEST HIS APOSTROPHE TO WATER RECITED BY GOUGH. IN the old Supreme Court-room at Ottawa, almost a half- century ago, I saw and heard Judge Alfred W. Arrington for the first time. For two hours I listened with the deepest attention to his masterly argument in a cause then exciting much interest because of the large amount involved. The dry question of law under discussion, " as if touched by the enchanter's wand," was at once invested with an inter- est far beyond its wont. As I hstened to the argument of Judge Arrington, and witnessed the manner of its delivery, he appeared in the most comprehensive sense the ideal lawyer. He seemed, indeed, as he probably was, the sole sur- vivor of the school of which Wirt and Pinckney were three generations ago the typical representatives. His dignified bearing, old-time apparel, and lofty courtesy toward the Court and opposing counsel, all strengthened this impres- sion. He had a highly attractive appearance, and as was said by a contemporary, "to crown all, a massive Websterian forehead, needing no seal to give the world assurance of a man." " Sage he stood. With Atlantean shoulders, fit to bear The weight of mightiest monarchies; his look Drew audience and attention still as night Or summer's noontide air." Since then I have listened to advocates of national renown in our great court and in the Senate sitting as a High Court of Impeachment, but at no time or place have I heard an abler, more scholarly, or more eloquent argument than that 251 252 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN of Judge Arrington in the old court-room at Ottawa, Illinois, on that day long gone by. The most eminent members of the Chicago bar were the eulogists of Judge Arrington when he passed to his grave, near the close of the great Civil War. Judge Wilson, in presenting resolutions in honor of the deceased, voiced the sentiments of his associates when he said: " For more than thirty years at the bar and upon the bench, I have been associated with the legal profession; and I may say without offence that of the many able men I have known I regard Judge Arrington, take him all in all, as the ablest." The venerable Judge Drummond said: "I have rarely heard a man whose efforts so constantly riveted the attention from the beginning to the close of his dis- course. For while he trod with firm and steady steps the path of logic, his vivid imagination was constantly scattering on each side flowers of fragrant beauty, to the wonder and delight of all who heard him. He was a great lawyer in the highest and largest sense of the term — great in the extent and thoroughness of his legal learning, in the vigor and acuteness of his reasoning, and in the power of his eloquence." The Hon. Melville W. Fuller, the present Chief Justice of the United States, said: " When he arose to discuss a question, he exhibited a perfect knowledge of every phase in which it could be presented; and men never grew weary (especially if the argument involved Constitutional construction, in which department he stood primus inter illustres) of admiring the amplitude of his legal attainments, the accuracy of his learning, the compactness of his logic, and the majestic flow of his eloquence, and more than all, that firmnes and breadth of mind which lifted him above the ordinary contest of the forum. " It is a source of the deepest consolation that he found peace at the last; that that grand spirit, before it took its everlasting flight, reposed in confidence on the Book of Books; that its departure was illumined by that precious light which ever ren- ders radiant the brief darkness 'twixt mortal twilight and im- mortal dawn." And yet, alas, his name has now almost passed from the memories of men; the veil of time has settled over him; no A LAWYER OF THE OLD SCHOOL 253 distinct image is recalled by the mention of his name. How suggestive this, of the ephemeral fame of even a great lawyer: " Swift as a shadow, short as any dream, Brief as the lightning in the coUied night." Words long since uttered by an eminent jurist have not lost their significance: "There is, perhaps, no reputation that can be achieved amongst men that is so transitory, so evanescent, as that of a great advocate. The very wand that enchants us is magical. Its effects can be felt; it influences our actions; it controls and possesses us; but to define it, or tell what it is, or how it produces these effects, is as far beyond our power as to imprison the sun- beam. In the presence of such majestic power we can only stand awed and silent." There was much of romance, and somewhat of mystery, that gathered about the life of Judge Arrington. Bom of humble parentage in the pine forests of North Carolina, with no advantages other than those common in the remoter parts of our coimtry a century ago, from the beginning he appar- ently dwelt apart from the conditions surrounding him. At an early age he removed with his father's family to the then wilds of the Southwest. There, upon the very border line of civilization, his asso- ciates for a time were the advance guard, the adventurers and soldiers of fortune that in a large measure constituted the civilization of the southwestern frontier during the early years of the last century. With his early environment, his subsequent career seems a marvel. It can only be explained upon the supposition that though with them, he was not of them. " His soul was like a star, and dwelt apart." His companions were his books. Denied the advantages of early scholastic training, he was, from the beginning, an omnivorous reader. He cared little for the alltu:ements and excitement of society. At the age of seventeen, he joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was soon after licensed to preach. For four years he rode the circuit, enduring all the discomforts and dangers then and there incident to his calling. His field may be called the Ultima Thule, bordering upon the Rio Grande and inhabited by Indians. Untutored audiences 254 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN were stirred to the depths by his fervid appeals. Church buildings were yet in the future; the congregations assembled in God's first temples, and hstened with rapt attention to the fiery eloquence of the delicate, youthful messenger, whose soul seemed on fire. A gentleman who had heard Arrington writes: " He was then young, delicate, as brilliant as a comet, and almost as erratic. Without research or mental discipline, he could electrify an audience beyond all living men, and arouse in the minds of those who heard him the wildest enthusiasm." For some cause, possibly never to be explaiaed, he sud- denly abandoned the ministry, began the study of the law, and when a little past the age of twenty-one, was admitted to the bar. After some years of successful practice in the rude frontier courts of Arkansas, he removed to Texas, where he was soon appointed a judge, and assigned to the Rio Grande circuit. In addition to his judicial labors, he now wrote and pubUshed some graphic and interestiug sketches of border life, vivid pictures of conditions then existing in the South- west among a people the like of which we shall not see again, a people upon whom the restraints and amenities of civiUzed life sat but hghtly, who were in large degree a law imto them- selves, and with whom revenge was virtue. One of his pubhcations, "Paul Denton," stiU has a place in many of our libraries. It is, in part, a narrative of the thrilling experiences of an early Methodist circuit-rider — pre- siunably himself — upon the southwest border. In this will be found his marvellous apostrophe to water, which, as was said by Judge Dent, "was so famiUar to the lecture-going public of the last generation owing to its frequent declamation from the rostrmn by the temperance lecturer, Gough." The hero of the book, Paul Denton, had been announced to preach at a famous Spring, where "plenty of good liquor" was promised to all who would attend. During the sermon, a desperado demanded: "Mr. Denton, where is the liquor you promised?" "There!" answered the preacher in tones of thunder, and pointing- his motionless finger at a spring gushing up in two A LAWYER OF THE OLD SCHOOL «55 strong columns from the bosom of the earth with a sound like a shout of joy. "There," he repeated, "there is the liquor which God the Eternal brews for all his children. Not in the simmering still over the smoky fires choked with poisonous gases, surrounded with stench of sickening odors and corrup- tions, doth your Father in heaven prepare the precious essence of life — pure cold water; but in the green glade and grassy dell, where the red-deer wanders and the child loves to play, there God brews it; and down, low down, in the deepest valleys, where the fountains murmur, and the rills sigh, and high upon the mountain-tops where the naked granite glitters like gold in the sun, where the storm-cloud broods and the thimder-storms crash; and far out on the wide, wild sea, where the hurricane howls music and the big waves roll the chorus, sweeping the march of God — there he brews it, the beverage of life, health-giving water. "And everywhere it is a thing of life and beauty — gleam- ing in the dew-drop; singing in the simimer rain; shining in the ice gem tiU the trees aU seem turned to living jewels; spreading a golden veil over the sun or a white gauze around the midnight moon; sporting in the glacier; folding its bright snow-curtain softly about the wintry world; and weaving the many-colored bow whose warp is the rain-drops of earth, whose woof is the simbeam of heaven, all checkered over with the mystic hand of refraction. "Still it is beautiful, that blessed life-water! No poisonous bubbles are on its brink; its foam brings not murder and mad- ness; no blood stains its liquid glass; pale widows and starving orphans weep not burning tears into its depths; no drunkard's shrieking ghost from the grave curses it in the world of eternal despair. Beautiful, pure, blessed, and glorious. Speak out, my friends, would you exchange it for the demon's drink, alcohol?" In Calvary Cemetery, Chicago, rests all that is mortal of Judge Arrington. "Tread lightly on his ashes, ye men of genius, for he was your kinsman I Weed clean his grave, ye men of goodness, for he was your brother 1" XXI HIGH DEBATE IN THE MOUNTAINS COLONEL WOOLFOBD, A HEBO UNDER GENERAL ZACHARY TAYLOR — HI8 MANNER OF FIGHTING — HIS DEFENCE OP A YOUTH CHARGED WITH MURDER — HE MAKES A SPEECH THAT IN- FURIATES GENERAL FRY. ONE of the men not easily forgotten was the Hon. Frank Woolford, a member of Congress from the movintains of Kentucky nearly a quarter of a century ago. He was without reservation a typical mountaineer. He practised law in the local courts, and was prominent in the poUtics of his State. His style of oratory bore little resemblance to that of the British House of Lords. He had been a soldier in two wars, and his dauntless courage and inexhaustible good humor made him the idol of his comrades. He had been of the heroic band of "Old Rough and Ready" that repelled the charge of twenty thousand lancers under Santa Ana at Buena Vista. He was as brave as Marshal Ney, and it was said of him that the battle-field was his home as the upper air was that of the eagle. He promptly espoused the cause of the Union at the outbreak of the Civil War and was chosen Colonel of a mounted regiment gathered from his own and adjacent counties. He knew how to fight, but of the science of war as taught in the schools he was as ignorant as the grave. It was said that his entire tactics were embraced in two commands: "Huddle and fight," and "Scatter." When the first was heard his men "huddled and fit"; and when retreat was the only possible salvation, the command to "scatter" was obeyed with equal alacrity. Each man was now for himself, and "devil take the hindmost" for a time, but the sound of Wool- ford's bugle never failed to secure prompt falling into line at the auspicious moment. " Woolford 's cavalry" was the 256 HIGH DEBATE IN THE MOUNTAINS 257 synonjma for daring, even at the time when the recital of the deeds of brave men filled the world's great ear. Woolford and his troopers were in the thickest of the fight at Mill Spring, where Zollicoffer fell; later, they hung upon the flanks of Bragg on his retreat southward from the bloody field of Perryville. More than once during those troublous times our hero was a " foeman worthy the steel " of John Mor- gan, Forrest, and the gallant Joe Wheeler of world renown. At the close of the war. Colonel Woolford returned to his mountain home and was in due time elected a Representative in Congress. Years later, with life well rounded out, he met the only foe to whom he ever surrendered, and lamented by all, passed to the beyond. Some faint idea of Colonel Woolford's style of eloquence at the bar may possibly be gathered from the following. He was retained to defend a half-grown, illiterate youth under indictment for murder. The crime was committed near " Jimtown," but by a change of venue the trial took place at Danville, in the neighboring county of Boyle. Danville, it must be remembered, was the Athens of Kentucky. It was the seat of Centre College, of a Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and of more than one of the public institutions of the State. It was the home of men of prominence and wealth, and for three generations had been renowned for the high character, attainments, and culture of its people. In his speech to the jury in behalf of his imfortimate client, the Colonel insisted that the poor boy at the bar of justice, bom and reared in the mountains, without any of the advan- tages of churches and schools, was not to be held in the same degree responsible as if his lot had been cast in Danville. In his argument he said: "Here you have your schools, your Centre College, your Theological Seminary, your churches. Every third man you meet on the streets is a minister of the Gospel, and the others are all teachers in the Sunday school. Here you have your great preachers, Young, Green, Humphreys, Yerkes, Robertson, Breckenridge — in fact, Presbyterianism to your hearts' content in the very air. But this poor boy has known nothing of these things. O gentlemen, what might not this poor boy have been, 258 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN and what might not poor Jimtown have been, with all these advantages?" Throwing up his arms, in tragic tones he exclaimed: " Oh, Jimtown! Jimtown! Had the mighty things that have been done in Danville been done in thee, thou wouldst long since have repented in sackcloth and ashes! " The incident which I shall now relate was told me by my kinsman, General S. S. Fry of Danville. He and Colonel Woolford were friends from boyhood, and comrades in the Mexican and Civil wars. Their party affiliations, however, were different, General Fry being a Republican, and Colonel Woolford a Democrat. During the reconstruction period, soon after the close of the Civil war, a barbecue was given to the Colonel, then a candidate for Congress, in one of the mountain counties of his district. As a matter of course, the Colonel was to be the orator of the occasion. In order, if possible, to counteract the evil effect of his speech, the Republican State Committee requested General Fry to attend the barbecue, and engage Colonel Woolford in public debate. In compliance with this request. General Fry, after a horseback ride of many hours, put in an appearance at the appointed time and place. The attendance was general; the people of the entire county, of both sexes and of all ages and conditions, were there. The barbecue was well under way when General Fry arrived. A table of rough boards and of sufficient length had been constructed, and was literally covered with savory shote and mutton just from the pit where barbecued. These viands were abundantly supplemented with fried chicken, salt-rising bread, beaten biscuit, "com dodgers," and cucumber pickles. To this add several repre- sentatives of the highly respectable pie family, and possibly an occasional pound cake, and the typical barbecue is before you. General Fry, upon his arrival, was warmly greeted by Colonel Woolford, whose hearty invitation to partake was not limited to the viands mentioned. The feast being at length happily concluded, and the crowd assembled around HIGH DEBATE IN THE MOUNTAINS 259 the speaker's stand, Colonel Woolford said to his old-time comrade: "Now, General Fry, you just go ahead and speak just as long as you want to. The boys have all heard me time and again, and I have nothing new to tell them, but they will be glad to hear you. When you get through, of course, if there is a Uttle time left, I may say 'howdy' to the boys, and talk a Uttle while, but you just go ahead." After formal introduction by the Colonel, General Fry did "go ahead," and discuss the financial question, the tariff, reconstruction, and dwelt earnestly and at length upon the magnanimity of the Republican party toward the men lately m rebeUion against the Government. Since the surrender at Appomattox, no life had been taken, no one punished, no man ever put on his trial. It was without a parallel in history, and as a matter of simple gratitude, the Republican party was entitled to the support of the entire Southern people for such magnanimity. The speech at length concluded. Colonel Woolford arose and without even the formaUty of saying "howdy," or honor- ing finance or tariff with the briefest mention, proceeded: " General Pry has dwelt long and loud upon the magnanim- ity of the Republican party. He has told you that when the war was over and the last rebel had laid down his arms, a hand- shaking took place all around, everybody was forgiven, and the peace of heaven came down like a dove upon the whole Southern people. Yes — a hell of a magnanimity it was ! How did they show the magnanimity that General Fry talks so much about? You all remember Stonewall Jackson, one of the grandest men God ever made. This same magnanimous Republican party took him prisoner, tried him by a drumhead court-martial, and shot him down like a mad dog after he had surrendered up his sword." At which General Fry interposed: "Why, Colonel Woolford, you ought not to make such a statement as that. Stonewall Jackson was accidentally shot by one of his own men in battle, and his memory is honored by all the people North and South." To this the Colonel replied: " Don't try to deceive these people. We don't put on style and wear store clothes like you big folks do down about Danville, 260 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN but we live in our plain way, wear our home-spun and eat our hog and hominy; but if there is anything on earth that these people do love, it is the truth. What did this same magnanimous Repub- lican party that General Fry had told you so much about do with General Robert E. Lee? I knew General Lee, I served with him in Mexico, and although we fought on different sides in the last war, I always respected him as a brave soldier. Well, after he had surrendered at Appomattox, and his men had all laid down their arms, what did this same magnanimous party that General Fry talked so much about do with General Lee? Why, they tried him by a drumhead court-martial and shot and quar- tered him right on the spot!" Again interrupting, General Fry indignantly exclaimed: "It is an outrage. Colonel Woolford, to attempt to deceive these people by such statements. General Lee was never even imprisoned, and is still alive, the president of a college in Vir- ginia, and highly esteemed by everybody." The Colonel answered: " Now, General Fry, you have been treated like a gentle- man ever since you came to these mountains; we gave you the best we had to eat, gave you the last drop out of the bottle, and listened quietly to you just as long as you wanted to speak. We don't wear Sunday clothes. General Fry, like you do down in Danville, but just live in our plain way in our log cabins, and eat our hoe-cake, and say our prayers, but if there is anything on God's earth that we do love, it is the truth. It is wrong for you. General Fry, to try and fool these people. Yes, this same magnanimous party that General Fry has been telling you about, what did they do with poor old Jeff Davis after he was captured? Now, I never was fond of old Jeff myself, and I fought four years against him in the last war. But I was on the same side with him in Mexico, I saw him head the charge of the Mississippi rifles, and drive back the Mexican lancers after McKee and Clay and Hardin had been killed at Buena Vista, and I know he was no coward. Well, after he was in prison and as helpless as a child, what did they do with him? Why they just took him out, and without even giving him a drumhead trial, tied him up and burned him to ashes at a stake! " ' Fry sprang to his feet, exclaiming: " Great God I Jeff Davis is still alive, at his home in Missis- sippi, and has never even been tried; it is damnable to make such statements to these people, Colonel Woolford!" HIGH DEBATE IN THE MOUNTAINS 261 The Colonel thereupon, with a deeply injured air, said: " General Fry, you and I have been friends a life-time. We hooked watermelons, hunted coons, and attended all the frolics together when we were boys. We slept under the same blanket, belonged to the same mess, and fought side" by side at Palo Alto and Cerro Gordo; we shed our blood on the same battlefields when fighting to save this glorious Union. I have loved you. General Fry, like a brother, but this is too much, it is putting friendship to a turrible test; it is a little more than flesh and blood can stand." Pausing for a moment, he apparently recovered himself from the deep emotion he had just shown, then quietly re- suming, he said, "What I have said about the way they treated old Jeff is true, and here is my witness." He called out, "Bill, tell the General what you saw them do with old Jeff." Bill, a tall, lank, one-gallowsed moimtaineer, leaning against a sapling near by, promptly deposed that he was present at the time, saw old Jeff led out, tied to a stake and finally disappear in a puff of smoke. At this, General Fry, without the formality of a farewell, immediately shook the mountain dust from his feet, moimted his horse, and, looking neither to the right nor to the left, retraced his steps to Dan- ville, and without delay informed the State Committee that if they wanted any further joint debates with old Frank Wool- ford, they would have to send some one else. Years after, seated at my desk in the Postofiice Depart- ment in Washington, after I had appointed a few cross-road postmasters for Congressman Woolford, I ventured to in- quire of him whether he had ever had a joint debate with General Fry. With a suppressed chuckle, and a quaint gleam of his remaining eye, he significantly replied, "/( won't do, Colonel, to believe everything you hear! " XXII THE SAGE OF THE BAR ■WITTY SAYINGS BY MR. EVAETS HE DEFENDS PRESIDENT JOHN- SON BEFORE THE COURT OF IMPEACHMENT DIFFERENT OPINIONS AS TO THE REAL CHARACTER OF THAT TRIBUNAL — MR. BOUTWELL'S ATTEMPT TO INDICATE THE PUNISHMENT MERITED BY THE PRESIDENT MR. EVARTS'S REPLY EX- CHANGE OF COURTESIES BY MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE, THE late William M. Evarts, at one time the head of the American bar, said many things in his lighter moments worthy of remembrance. Upon his retirement from the bar to accept the position of Secretary of State, a farewell dinner was given him by prominent lawyers of New York. The appointments, viands, etc., it is needless to observe were all after the most approved style. Somewhat out of wont, however, a magnificent goose with all its appm-tenances and suitably dished was placed immediately in front of the guest of honor. The grosser part of the feast concluded, the toast was proposed: "The Sage of the Bar." Slowly arising, Mr. Evarts surveyed for a moment the dish before him, and began : "What a wonderful transition! An hour ago you beheld a goose stuffed with sage; you now behold a sage stuffed -with goose! " It is not entirely forgotten that during the administration of which Mr. Evarts was a part, total abstinence was faith- fully enforced in the great dining-room of the Executive Mansion upon all occasions. To those who knew the Secre- tary of State, it is hardly necessary to say that he had little sympathy with this arrangement, that to him it was a custom " more honored in the. breach than the observance." Now it so happened that at a state dinner, upon a time, a mild pimch in thimbleful instalments was served to the guests in lieu of more generous beverages. Raising the tiny vessel and bowing to the Austrian Ambassador at his side, 263 WILLIAM M. EVARTS JOE WHEELER THE SAGE OF THE BAR «63 Mr. Evarts in undertone significantly observed, "Life-saving station!" To a "candid friend" — from whom God preserve us — who once took him to task for his lengthy and somewhat in- volved sentences, Evarts replied, "Oh, you are not the first man I ever encountered who objected to a long sentence." During his ofiicial term above mentioned, Mr. Evarts accompanied a prominent member of the British Parliament to Mount Vernon. Standing in front of the old mansion, so dear to all American hearts, the distinguished visitor, looking across to the opposite shore, remarked: "I read in a history that when Washmgton was a boy he threw a dollar across the Potomac; remarkable indeed that he could have thrown a dollar so far, a mile away across the Potomac; very remark- able indeed, I declare." "Yes," replied Evarts, "but you must remember that a dollar would go a great deal farther then than it does now." This incident being told to a member of Congress of Hibernian antecedents, he immediately replied: "Yes, he might have told the Britisher that when Washington was a boy he sure enough threw a dollar across the Potomac, and when he got to be a grown-up man, he threw a sovereign across the Atlantic." Mr, Evarts was counsel for President Johnson in his fam- ous arraignment before the Senate, sitting as a High Court of Impeachment. His speech, lasting many hours, was an able and exhaustive discussion of the salient questions involved in the trial. The leading managers upon the part of the House of Representatives were Benjamin F. Butler, George S. Boutwell, and John A. Bingham. The retort courteous was freely indulged in many times by the managers and coun- sel from the beginning to the close of the long-drawn-out prosecution. It is a singular fact, and to this generation renders the entire proceeding measurably farcical, that the managers upon the part of the House, and the counsel for the impeached President, were at cross-purposes from the beginning as to the real character of the tribunal before which they were 264 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN appearing. The latter regarded it as a court, and constantly addressed its presiding officer, the Chief Justice of the United States, as "Your Honor"; while the former insisted that it was only the Senate, and continually addressed the Chief Justice as "Mr. President." The issues involved were likewise argued by the opposing counsel from wholly different standpoints. The contention of the defence as stated by counsel was : "We are then in a court. What are you to try? You are to try the charges contained in these articles of impeachment, and nothing else. Upon what are you to try them? Not upon com- mon fame; not upon the price of gold in New York, or upon any question of finance; not upon newspaper rumor; not upon any views of party policy; you are to try them upon the evidence offered here and nothing else, by the obligation of your oaths." The contrary contention as stated by one of the managers was as follows; "We define, therefore, an impeachable high crime or mis- demeanor, to be one in its nature or consequences subversive of some fundamental or essential principle of government, or highly prejudicial to the public interest; and this may consist of a violation of the Constitution, of law, or of duty by an act com- mitted or omitted, or without violating positive law, by the abuse of discretionary powers from improper motives, or for any im- proper purpose." With gulf as broad between managers and coimsel as that separating Dives and Lazarus, not only as to the issues to be tried, but as to the nature of the functions and designation of the tribimal before which they were appearing, and with the decision of the Chief Justice upon questions of law arising continually over-ruled by the majority of the Senators, it may reasonably be supposed that there was much in the way of "travelling out of the record" in the heated discussion which followed. The associates of Mr. Evarts — Stanberry, Curtis, Groes- beck, and Nelson — were the most solemn of men, and what- ever there was "bright with the radiance of utterance" to lessen the tension of the protracted struggle, came from his own lips. THE SAGE OF THE BAR 265 Near the close of his speech, Manager Boutwell, in attempt- ing to indicate the punishment merited by the accused, said: " Travellers and astronomers inform us that in the southern heavens near the Southern Cross there is a vast space which the uneducated call a hole in the sky, where the eye of man, with the aid of the telescope, has been unable to discover nebula, or asteroid, planet, comet, star or sun. In that dreary, cold, dark region of space, which is only known to be less than infinite by the evidences of creations elsewhere, the Great Author of celestial mechanism has left the chaos which was in the begin- ning. If this earth were capable of the sentiments and emotions of justice and virtue which in human mortal beings are the evi- dences and the pledge of our divine origin and immortal destiny, it would heave and throw with the energy of the elemental forces of nature, and project this enemy of two races of men into that vast region, there forever to exist in a solitude eternal as life, or as the absence of life, emblematical of, if not really, that outer darkness of which the Saviour of Man spoke in warn- ing to those who are the enemies of themselves, of their race, and of their God." To the above Mr. Evarts replied: "I may as conveniently at this point of the argument as at any other pay some attention to the astronomical punishment which the learned and honorable manager, Mr. Boutwell, thinks should be applied to this novel case of impeachment of the Presi- dent. Cicero, I think it is, who says that a lawyer should know everything, for sooner or later there is no fact in history, in science, or of human knowledge, that will not come into play in his argument. Painfully sensible of my ignorance, being devoted to a profession which sharpens and does not enlarge the mind, I yet can admit without envy the superior knowledge evinced by the honorable manager. Indeed, upon my soul, I believe he is aware of an astronomical fact of which many professors of that science are wholly ignorant. Nevertheless, while some of his honorable colleagues were paying attention to an unoccupied and unappropriated island on the surface of the seas, Mr. Mana- ger Boutwell, more ambitious, had discovered an untenanted and unappropriated region in the skies reserved, he would have us think, in the final counsels of the Almighty as the place of punishment for convicted and deposed American Presidents. At first I thought that his mind had become so enlarged that it was not sharp enough to discover that the Constitution had limited the punishment, but on reflection I saw that he was as legal and logical as he was ambitious and astronomical, for the 268 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN Constitution has said 'removal from office,' and has put no distance to the limit of removal, so that it may be, without shed- ding a drop of his blood, or taking a penny of his property, or con- fining his limbs, instant removal from office, and transportation to the skies. Truly this is a great undertaking and if the learned manager can only get over the obstacles of the laws of nature, the Constitution will not stand in his way. He can contrive no method but that of a convulsion of the earth, that shaU pro- ject the deposed President to this infinitely distant space; but a shock of nature of so vast energy and for so great a result on him, might unsettle even the footing of the firm members of Congress. We certainly need not resort to so perilous a method as that. How shall we accomplish it ? Why, in the first place, no- body knows where that space is but the learned manager himself, and he is the necessary dejmiy to execute the judgment of the court." Two of the managers, Butler and Bingham, were at sword's points, and had but recently assailed each other with great bitterness in the House. How all this was turned to account by the counsel will now appear. In vindicating the President against the charge of undignified utterances and impropriety of speech in recent public addresses, Mr. Evarts candidly admits that the Executive, whose early educational advantages had been meagre indeed, and who was confessedly imtaught of the schools, "had gotten into trouble by undertaking to be logical with a metaphor." He insisted, however, that the President should be bound by no higher standard of propriety of speech than that set by the House of which the Honorable Managers were members. The rule governing the House in such matters will readily appear from a recent exchange of courtesies between the two distinguished members referred to above, Mr. Bingham and Mr. Butler. The former said : "I desire to say, Mr. Speaker, that it does not become a gentleman who recorded his vote fifty times for Jefferson Davis as his candidate for President of the United States, to under- take to damage this cause by attempting to cast an imputa- tion either upon my integrity or my honor. I repel with scorn and contempt any utterance of that sort from any man, whether he be the hero of Fort Fisher, not taken, or of Fort Fisher, taken!" THE SAGE OF THE BAR 267 To which Mr. Butler replied: "But if during the war, the gentleman from Ohio did as much as I did in that direction, I shall be glad to recognize that much done. But the only victim of the gentleman's prowess that I know of was an innocent woman on the scaf- fold, one Mrs. Surratt. I can sustain the memory of Fort Fisher if he and his present associates can sustain him in shedding the blood of a woman tried by a military commission and convicted, in my judgment, vnthovi sufficient evidence!" To which Mr. Bingham repUed: "I challenge the gentle- man, I dare him anywhere, in this tribunal or in any tribunal, to assert that I spohated or mutilated any book. Why, sir, such a charge without one tittle of evidence is only fit to come from a man who lives in a bottle, and is fed with a spoon! " "Now, what under heavens that means," protested Evarts, "I do not know, but it is within the common law of courtesy in the judgment of the House of Representatives," XXIII "THE GENTLEMAN FROM MISSISSIPPI" JOHN ALLEN, MEMBER OF CONGRESS HE PAYS A COMPLIMENT TO GENERAL WHEELER HIS MODEST LUNCH — A SOUTHERN- ER'S VIEW OF PREDESTINATION A SKULKEE's OBJECTION TO BE SHOT BY A " LOW-DOWN YANKEE " JOHN ALLEN's TILT AVITH COLONEL FELLOWS. THE subject of this brief sketch is still in life, very much so; and that he " Shall live the lease of nature, pay his breath To time and mortal custom " is the prayer of friends and political foes alike. Who does not know or has not heard of "Private John Allen," the some- time member of Congress from Mississippi? A more charm- ing gentleman or delightful companion for the hours of rec- reation and gladness has rarely appeared in this old world. He was, while in his teens, a private soldier in the Confederate army, later was a practising lawyer, and in time "reluctantly yielding to the earnest solicitations of his friends," gener- ously consented to serve a few terms in Congress. From his first entrance into the House, he was well known to all its members. No one needed an introduction — they all knew John Allen. Upon the conclusion of his first speech, which possibly referred to the improvement of the Tombigbee River, he modestly remarked: "Now I am through my speech for this time, Mr. Speaker, and will immediately retire to the cloak- room to receive the congratulations of my friends." Speaker Reed, with whom he was a great favorite, never failed to "recognize" John, and in fact by common consent he was always entitled to the floor. This fact will shed some light upon the following incident. During the roll-call of the House upon a motion to adjourn at a late hour of a night 368 "THE GENTLEMAN FROM MISSISSIPPI" 269 session, Mr. Allen passed down the aisle, with hat and overcoat upon his arm, and, stopping immediately in front of the Clerk's desk, said, "Mr. Speaker, — " "For what purpose," said Reed, "does the gentleman from Mississippi interrupt the roll-call ?" "Mr. Speaker," continued Allen, "I rise to a parliamen- tary inquiry. I want to know how General Wheeler voted on this motion." To this "parliamentary inquiry" the Speaker after ascertaining the fact replied that the gentleman from Alabama had voted "aye." "Well, then, Mr. Speaker," said John, "just put me down the same way with General Wheeler; I followed him four years, and he never led me into danger yet." Seated one day in the Senate restaurant, I observed Mr. Allen standing at the entrance. Upon my invitation, he took a seat at my table. "What will you have, John?" said I. With an abstracted air, and the appearance of being extremely embarrassed by his surroundings, he replied, "It makes mighty little difference about me anyway," and turning to a waiter he slowly drawled out, "Bring me some terrapin and champagne." Then, in an apologetic tone he quietly observed, "I got used to that durin' the Wah." After a moment's pause, he continued, " By the way, did you ever hear the expression 'before the Wah'?" I inti- mated that the expression had not wholly escaped me. "I heard it once tmder rather peculiar circumstances," said John. "Down in the outskirts of my deestrict, there is an old-time religious sect known as the 'hard-shell' or 'iron- jacket' Baptists; mighty good, honest people, of course, but old-fashioned in their ways and everlastingly opposed to all new-fangled notions, such as having Temperance societies, Missionary societies, and Sunday schools. They would, how- ever, die in their tracks before they would ever let up on the good old church doctrines, especially predestination. Oh, I tell you they were predestinarians from away back. John Calvin with his vapory views upon that question would not have been admitted even on probation. Sometimes the preacher during his sermon, turning to the Amen corner «70 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN would inquire: 'When were you, my brother, predestinated to eternal salvation, or eternal damnation?' "Well, the answer that had come down from the ages always was, 'From the foimdation of the world.' "When I was making my first race for Congress, I spoke in that neighborhood one Saturday, and stayed all night with one of the elders, and on Sunday of course I went to church. During the sermon, the preacher while holding forth as usual on his favorite doctrine, suddenly turning to a stranger who had somehow got crowded into the Amen corner, said: 'My brother, when were you predestinated to eternal salvation or eternal damnation?' To which startling inquiry the stranger, terribly embarrassed, hesitatingly answered : 'I don't adzactly remember. Parson, but / think it was befo' the Wah.' " A comrade of John in Company G was a tow-headed, lantern-jawed fellow who never failed somehow to get to the rear and to a place of comparative safety at the first intima- tion of approaching battle. He was proof alike against the gibes of his comrades and the threats of his officers. Upon one occasion the approach of the enemy was heralded by a few shells bursting suggestively near the spot where Company G was stationed. The tow-headed veteran immediately be- gan preparations to retire. With threatening mien, levelled revolver, and oaths that would have done no discredit to "our army in Flanders," the Captain ordered the skulker back into line, upon pain of instant death. Leaning upon his musket, and with familiar gaze upon his irate superior, the culprit slowly drawled : "I don't mine bein' muddered by a high-tone Southern gentleman like you, Cappen, but dam if I'm gwyen to eternally disgrace my family by lettin' one of them low- down Yankees shoot me!" Allen was no exception to the rule that men gifted like himself are subject to occasional seasons of gloom, but his greeting usually came as a benediction. At the banquet table, when dull care was laid aside and he was surrounded by genial companions, — "for 'tis meet that noble minds keep ever with their likes" — his star was at its zenith. Then indeed, all rules were suspended; no point of order suggested — "the "THE GENTLEMAN FROM MISSISSIPPI" ill man and the hour had met." His marvellous narratives of quaint incidents and startling experiences, his brilliant re- partee, sallies of wit, banter, and badinage have rarely been heard since the days of the Round Table or the passing of "the Star and Garter." Once, however, John Allen confessedly met his match in the person of the Hon. John R. Fellows, who had been Colonel of an Arkansas regiment in the Confederate service; later a prominent leader of Tammany Hall, and was at the time mentioned, a Representative in Congress from New York. He was the "Prince Rupert of Debate," and was gifted with eloquence rarely equalled. At a banquet given in his honor upon his retirement from Congress, a hundred or more of his associates were guests, including, of course, the subject of this sketch. Men high in councils of State, leaders of both parties, and of both Houses, had gathered around the board, and good-fellowship and mirth reached the high-water mark. By common consent Fellows and Allen were in undisputed possession of the floor. Such passages-at-arms no pen can describe. Even "John Chamberlain's" in its palmiest days has never known the like. Near the close Allen said : "There is one thing I would like to have Colonel Fellows explain. He was captured the first year of the war, and never exchanged, but held as a prisoner by the Federals until the war was over. I was taken prisoner five times, and always promptly exchanged. I would hke Colonel Fellows to explain how it was that he was kept in a place of safety, while I was always at the front?" When the applause which followed had subsided. Colonel Fellows arose and said: "I am grateful to my friend from Mississippi for giving me an opportunity to explain that part of my military record which I apprehend has never been sufficiently clear. It is true. I was taken prisoner the first year of the war, and the enemy, well knowing the danger of my being at large, per- sistently refused to release me imtil peace was restored. Had I been promptly exchanged, the result of that war might have 272 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN been different! But why it was, that my friend from Missis- sippi was so repeatedly and promptly exchanged is a question that until yesterday I have never been able to understand. It has given me deep concern. I have pondered over it during the silent watches of the night. Yesterday, however, my mind was completely set at rest upon that question by reading the correspondence — to be found in Volume 748, page 421 of the 'Record of the War of the RebelUon' — be- tween President Lincoln and President Davis relating to the exchange of Private John Allen of Company G, Fourteenth Mississippi Volunteers. The correspondence covers many pages of this valuable publication, but I will read only the closing communication." And while John with a new supply of terrapin before him was listening intently. Fellows carefully adjusting his eye- glasses and taking a letter from his pocket, continued : "The letter I will read from President Lincoln concluded the correspondence, and is as follows: 'Dear Jeff: With this I return you Private John Allen of Company G, Fourteenth Mississippi. I require no prisoner in exchange. The Lord's truth is, Jeff, / had rather fight John than feed him!' " XXIV AN OLD-TBIE COUNTRY DOCTOR THE WHITER AT HIS INN, THE TRAVELLER'S HOME — DOCTOR JOHN, ONE OP HIS EARLIEST ACQUAINTANCES THE DOC- TOR'S LIBERALITY IN ADMINISTERING MEDICINE — A DISAP- POINTMENT IN EARLY LIFE — THE DOCTOR'S IGNORANCE OF THE "solar system" A DIFFICULTY WITH THE LAND- LADY A QUESTION OF ORTHOGRAPHY THE DOCTOR A3 A MEMBER OF A TOTAL-ABSTINENCE SOCIETY. UPON my admission to the bar in 1858, 1 located at Meta- mora, a village of five hundred inhabitants, about forty miles northwest of Bloomington. It was beautifully and quietly situated, eight miles from the railroad, and was at the time the eounty-seat of Woodford Coimty; one of the finest agricultural portions of Illinois. Metamora contained many delightful families, and a cor- dial welcome was accorded me. The old tavern, "Traveller's Home," was mine inn, and as a hostelry it possessed rare advantages. The one that chiefly recommended it to me was its extremely moderate charges. Two dollars and a half per week for board and lodging, "washing and mending " included, were the inviting terms held out to all comers and goers. There was much, however, in the surroundings, appointments, etc., of this ancient inn, little calculated to reconcile delicately toned mortals to things of sense. It was of this place of entertainment that Colonel IngersoU spoke when, in his description of the tapestry of Windsor Castle, he said that it reminded him of a Metamora table-cloth the second week of court. The dear old tavern has fallen a victim to the remorseless tooth of time, but, in the palmy days of Metamora, when it was the county-seat, and the Spring and Fall terms of court were as regular in their coming as the seasons themselves, the old tavern was in its glory, and for all "transients" and 273 274 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN "regulars" it was the chief objective point. For a decade or more its walls gave shelter to Judge Treat, Judge Davis, Mr. Lincoln, General Gridley, Judge Purple, and more than once to General Shields and Stephen A. Douglas. At a later date it was upon Uke occasion the stopping place of Colonel Inger- soU, John Bums, Judge Shaw, James S. Ewing, Robert E. Williams, Judge Richmond, and other well-known members of the bar. One of my earliest acquaintances in Metamora, and one not soon to be forgotten, was Doctor John — familiarly called "Doc," except upon state occasions. As I write, the vision of the Doctor arises before me out of the mists of the shadowy past. His personal appearance was indeed remarkable. Stand- ing six feet six in his number elevens, without an ounce of superfluous flesh, a neck somewhat elongated and set off to great advantage by an immense "Adam's apple," which ap- peared to be constantly on duty, head large and features a trifle exaggerated, and with iron gray locks hanging gracefully over his slightly stooped shoulders, the Doctor would have given pause to the McGregor, even with foot upon his native heather. He first saw the light of day in the "Panhandle" of the Old Dominion; the part thereof afterwards detached for the formation of the new State. How this all came about was to the Doctor as inexplicable as the riddle of the Sphinx; but he scouted the thought that he had ever ceased to be a son of "the real old Virginny." He claimed to be a descendant of one of " the first families," and there lingered about him in very truth much of the chivalric bearing of the old cavalier stock. No man living could possibly have invited a gentle- man "to partake of some spirits" or "to participate in a glass of beer," in a loftier manner than did the Doctor. Not himself a member of the visible church, nor even an occasional attendant upon its service, the heart of the Doctor neverthe- less, like that of the renowned Cave Burton, responded feel- ingly to every earnest supplication "for the preservation of the kindly fruits of the earth to be enjoyed in due season.' And with the Doctor, as with Cave, the question of the qvwnr tity of the kindly fruits thus preserved was of far greater AN OLD-TIME COUNTRY DOCTOR 275 moment than any mere matter of sentiment as to their qvality. The intellectual attainments of the Doctor, it must be admitted, were not of the highest order. He was a student of men rather than of books. He had journeyed but little along the flowery paths of literature. He never gave "local habi- tation or name" to the particular Medical College which had honored him with its degree. He was, as he often asserted, of the "epleptic" school of medicine. In reply to my inquiry as to what that really was, he solemnly asseverated that it was the only school which permitted its practitioners to accept all that was good, and reject all that was bad, of all the other schools. In his practice he had a supreme contempt for what he called "written proscriptions," and often boasted that he never allowed one of them to go out of his office. He infinitely preferred to compoimd his own medicines, which, with the aid of mortar and pestle, he did in unstinted measure in his office. On rainy days and during extremely healthy seasons, his stock was thereby largely augmented. In administering his "doses" his generous spirit manifested itself as clearly as along other lines. No "pent-up Utica" contracted his powers. It has been many times asserted, and with apparent confidence, that no patient of his ever complained of not having received full measure. There were no Oliver Twists among his patrons. It was a singular fact in the professional experience of this eminent practitioner, that his patients, regardless of age or sex, were all afflicted with a like malady. Many a time as he returned from a professional visit, mounted on his old roan, with his bushel measure medicine bag thrown across his saddle, ia answer to my casual inquiry as to the ailment of his patient, he gave in oracular tones, the one all-sufficient reply, "only a slight derangement of the nervous system." He never quite forgave Mr. Lincoln the reply he once miade to an ill-advised interruption of the Doctor during a political speech. "Well, well. Doctor," replied Mr. Lincoln, good-humoredly, "I will take anything from you except your medicines." 276 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN The Doctor was a bachelor, and his "May of life" had fallen into the sear and yellow leaf at the time of which we write. He was still, however, as he more than once assured me, an ardent admirer of "the opposing sect." In one of his most confidential moods, he disclosed to me the startling fact that he had in early life been the victim of misplaced confidence. In an unguarded moment he entrusted the idol of his heart to the safe keeping of a friend, in the whiteness of whose soul he trusted as in a mother's love, while he, the confiding Doctor, journeyed westward to seek a home. " He knew not the doctrine of ill-doing, Nor dreamed that any did." Alas for human frailty, "the badge of all our race." Upon his return after an absence of several moons, he found to his unspeakable dismay that that same "friend" had taken to wife the idol whose image had so long found lodgment in the Doctor's own sad heart. Too late he realized, as wiser men have done before and since, that " Friendship is constant in all other things Save in the office and affairs of love." The Doctor was much given at times to what he denomi- nated "low down talks" such as are wont when kindred souls hold close converse. Seated in my office on one occasion, at the hour when churchyards yawn, and being as he candidly admitted in a somewhat "remiscent" mood, he unwittingly gave expression to thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls, when I made earnest inquiry, "Doctor, what in your judg- ment as a medical man is to be the final destination of the human soul?" The solemn hour of midnight, together with the no less solemn inquiry, at once plunged the Doctor into deep thought. First carefully changing his quid from the right to the left jaw, he slowly and as if thoughtfully measuring his words, replied : " Brother Stevenson, the solar system are one of which I have given very little reflection." It is a sad fact that in this world the best of men are not wholly exempt from human frailties. Even in the AN OLD-TIME COUNTRY DOCTOR 277 noble calling of medicine there have been at times slight outcroppings of a spirit of professional jealousy. That the subject of these brief chronicles was no exception to this infirmity will appear from a remark he once made in regard to a professional contemporary whose practice had gradually en- croached upon the Doctor's beat. Said he: "They talk a good deal about this Doc Wilson's practice; but I'll 'low that my books will show a greater degree of mortality than what hisn will." The Doctor was one of the regular boarders at the historic inn already mentioned. By long and faithful service he had won the honored position of chief boarder, and his place by common consent was at the head of the table. No one who ever sat at that delightful board could forget the dignified manner in which the Doctor would take-his accustomed seat, and without unnecessary delay proceed to appropriate what- ever viands might be within his reach. As a matter of especial grace upon the part of the good landlady, an old-fashioned com pone and a pitcher of sweet milk appeared occasionally upon the supper table of this most excellent inn. Such visita- tions were truly regarded, even by the veterans, as very oases in the desert of life. Now, it so happened, that upon a cold December evening, between the first and second tolling of the supper bell, the boarders in anxious ex- pectancy were awaiting the final summons, in a small chamber hard by the dining-room. To this assembly the writer hereof remarked : " It seems to me, gentlemen, that it has been a long time since we have been favored with pone bread and sweet milk. I therefore move that Doctor John be appointed a committee of one to request Mrs. Sparks to have these dehcacies for supper to-morrow night." A hearty second was immediately given by Whig Ewing, Esq., at a later day distinguished both as an orator and a Judge. Without shadow of opposition the resolution was adopted, and upon summons the boarders were almost im- mediately thereafter in their accustomed places at the table. Turning to the landlady as she slowly approached with a «78 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN platter of cold biscuits, the Doctor in most conciliatory tone, said: "Mrs. Sparks, at a regular meeting of the boarders held this evening I was appointed a committee of one to invite you to have corn pone and sweet milk to-morrow evening." A deep frown at once encircled the fair brow of our hostess. Unlike that of the late Mrs. Tam O'Shanter, her wrath needed no nursing to keep it warm. Advancing a step, and with ap- parent effort suppressing her emotion, she slowly articulated, " What did you say , Doctor P" Presaging danger in the very air, the Doctor repeated in husky tones, "At a regular meeting of the boarders held this evening, I was appointed a committee of one to invite you to have corn bread for supper to-morrow evening." At the repetition the frown upon the brow of the fair one darkened and deepened. Advancing a step nearer the object of her wrath, she said, "If you or any of the other boarders are dissatisfied with my house, you can leave, and leave now! " With the thermometer at zero and Peoria seventeen miles away, and the Illinois out of its banks, there was little that was comforting in her words. The stillness of the grave was upon that little assembly. At length, to relieve the strain of the situation, if possible, the writer inquired, "What was your remark. Doctor John?" to which the Doctor, in a tone somewhat hopeful but by no means confident, replied, "I was just remarking to our beloved landlady, brother Stevenson, that at a regular meeting of the boarders held this evening I was appointed a committee to invite her to have corn bread for supper to-morrow night." To which I modestly replied, "Well, if any such meeting as that was ever held, it is very strange that I heard nothing about it." This kindly observa- tion only deepened the gloom, and perceptibly lessened the distance between the irate hostess and the chief boarder. The latter in sheer desperation at length appealed for succor to Ewing, who until this moment, strangely enough, had been an attentive Ustener. Thus appealed to, the latter, with Prince Albert buttoned to the very top, and with the states- man's true pose, said : "I beg to assure you, Mrs. Sparks, that I am profoundly AN OLD-TIME COUNTRY DOCTOR 279 ignorant of any such meeting of the boarders as has been indicated. Had I been apprised that such meeting was contemplated I would have attended and used my utmost endeavor to secure the defeat of its ill-timed resolution. Let me say further, madam, that I am not fond of corn bread. The biscuits with which we are nourished from day to day are exactly to my taste, and even if they were a few degrees colder I would cherish them still the more fondly. In the years gone by, madam, I have been a guest at the Astor, the Gait, the St. Charles, and at the best hotels in London and upon the continent of Europe. None of them in my humble judgment are comparable to this. I assure you sol- emnly, madam, that I have lingered in this village month after month only because of my reluctance to tear myself away from your most excellent hotel." With finger raised, step advanced, and eye fixed uncharit- ably upon the offending physician, the gentle hostess in voice little above a whisper, said, "Doc, I think you made that up out of whole cloth." The crisis was reached; flesh and blood could endure no more. The Doctor rose, and waiving all for- malities and farewells, " stood not upon the order of his going." For reasons unnecessary to explain, I did not seek the Doctor that evening nor the following day. Morning and noon came and went, but the chief boarder did not appear. The vacant chair was to those who lingered a pathetic re- minder of the sad departure. When, upon the following evening, the surviving boarders gathered to their accustomed places, they beheld in wonderment a splendid pone, savory and hot, flanked upon its left by the old yellow pitcher filled to its brim with rich, sweet milk. A moment later, and all eyes were turned to the open door through which a once familiar figure moved to his seat. Sud- denly stretching both arms to the middle of the table, with one hand the good Doctor grasped the pone, and with the other the pitcher, and holding both aloft as he gazed upon each boarder in turn, exclaimed, "I understand the boarders are not fond of corn bread." In the twinkling of an eye, the Doctor, the pitcher, the pone had all disappeared from the 280 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN dining-room, and the latter two were ne'er heard of more. The poetic justice of the situation, however, was so complete, that no word of complaint was ever uttered. Some weeks after the events last narrated, I heard the sound of many voices accompanied by peals of laughter com- ing from the office of Doctor John. Stopping at his door, I soon learned that the tumult was occasioned by a discussion as to whether the Doctor could spell "sugar " correctly. The faction adverse to the physician was led by one William Hawkins, a country schoolmaster. The latter and his aUies bantered and badgered the old Doctor to their hearts' con- tent. Rendered desperate at length by their merciless gibes, the Doctor, taking from his vest pocket a five-dollar bill — one I had loaned him an hour before with which to pay a couple of weeks' board — he offered to bet the full amoimt that he could spell the word correctly. A like amount being at length raised by the adverse faction, the question at once arose as to who should be the arbiter. Observing me for the first time as I stood at the door, the Doctor declared his willing- ness to accept me as "empire." It may here be remarked that the honorable office to which I was thus nominated is sometimes called "umpire." Webster, Worcester, and pos- sibly other lexicographers give the latter pronunciation the preference. But the Doctor being "an old settler" and much better acquainted in that locality than either of the other authorities, his preference will be recognized, and "empire" it will be to the end of this chapter. At all events my nomi- nation — for the first and only time — was unanimously con- curred in. Stepping at once into the office and confronting the leaders of the opposing faction, I stated candidly that while I highly appreciated the distinction tendered, still I was unwilling to accept the responsible position of "empire" save upon the explicit agreement that, whatever the decision, there should be no complaint or grumbling upon the part of the disaffected or disgrimtled hereafter; that "empires" after all were only men and liable to the mistakes and errors inci- dent to our poor humanity. To the end, therefore, that an "empire" act with proper independence, it was all impor- AN OLD-TIME COUNTRY DOCTOR 281 tant that his decision pass unchallenged. These reasonable requirements being readily acquiesced in, the office was ac- cepted and the money hazarded by each faction carefully deposited in the "empire's" vest pocket. The arbiter now solemnly addressing the principal actor said: "Doctor, the word is, ' sugar'; proceed to spell." The Doctor immediately stood up. The psychological question, if it be such, is here presented whether standing is the more eligible position for the severe mental effort indi- cated above. Waiving all discussion upon this interesting point, the fact is here faithfully chronicled that the Doctor stood up. Looking neither to the right nor to the left, but standing majestically in the middle of the room, and present- ing in some of its characteristics the beauty and symmetry of an inverted L, the Doctor began, " S-h-o-o-g — " whereupon the little schoolmaster burst into loud laughing. Solemnly warning him against the repetition of such conduct, the arbiter reminded him that such manifestations in the very presence of the "empire," were in some countries punished with immediate death, and again significantly warned him against its recurrence. At the same time the Doctor was reminded that he had not yet completed the spelling of the word. The Doctor rephed, "If it is just the same to you, Mr. Empire, I believe I will begin all over again." Permis- sion being granted, the spelling was resumed : "S-h-o-o-g-o-r." To this the arbiter responded, "You have spelled the word correctly, Doctor," and immediately handed him the stakes. One of the interesting events occurring during my resi- dence in Metamora, was a noted temperance revival under the auspices of "the Grand Worthy Deputy" of a well-known temperance organization. A lodge was duly organized, and a profound interest aroused in the good work. During the visit of the excellent lady who bore with becoming modesty the somewhat formidable title above given, the interest deep- ened, meetings were of nightly occurrence, and large numbers were gathered into the fold. For many days ordinary pur- suits were suspended, and the grand cause was the only and all-absorbing topic of conversation. 282 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN Chief among the initiated was our old friend Doctor John. His conversion created a profound sensation, and it veritably seemed for a time as though a permanent breach had been effected in the ramparts of Satan. It was even boasted that the Presbyterian clergyman, one saloon keeper, and the writer of these truthful annals were, as Judge Tipton would say, "substantially" the only adherents remaining to His Satanic Majesty. The pressure was, however, soon irresisti- ble, and the writer, deserting his sometime associates, at length passed over to the wwsilent majority. The Doctor was the bearer of my petition, and in due time, and as the sequel will show, for only a short time, I was in good and regular standing. As explanatory of the sudden termination of what might imder happier auspices have proved an eminently useful career, it may be casually men- tioned that upon the writer's first introduction into the lodge, in answer to the official inquiry solemnly propounded, "Why do you seek admission into our honorable order?" he im- wittingly replied, "Because Doctor John joined." This was for the moment permitted to pass, and the ex- ercises of the session reached the high-water mark of enter- tainment. At some time during the evening, by way of "exemplifying the work," Doctor John had for the second time taken the solemn vow henceforth and forever to abstain from the use of all fluids of alcoholic, vinous, or fermented character. The hour for separation at length drew nigh. Thus far all had gone merry as a marriage bell. All signs betokened fair weather. Barring the temporary commotion occasioned by the uncanonical reply of the writer above given, not a ripple had appeared upon the surface. It was at length an- nounced that this was the last evening that the Grand Worthy Deputy could be with us, as she was to leave for her distant home by the stage coach in the early morning. Splendidly set off in her great robes of office, her farewell words of in- struction, encouragement, and admonition, were then most tenderly spoken. Before pronouncing the final farewell — " that word which makes us linger " — she calmly remarked that this would be her last opportunity to expound any con- AN OLD-TIME COUNTRY DOCTOR 28S stitutional question that might hereafter arise pertaining to the well-being of the order, and that she would gladly answer any inquiry that any brother or sister about the lodge niight propose. Her seat was then resumed, and silence for the time reigned supreme. At length, amid stillness that could no longer be endured, she arose and advancing to the front of the platform, repeated, in manner more solemn than before, the invitation above given. Still there was no re- sponse. It all seemed formidable and afar off. In the hope that he might in some measure dispel the embarrassment, the unworthy chronicler of these important events, from his humble place in the northwest corner of the lodge, for the first and last time addressed the chair. Permission being graciously given him to proceed, he candidly admitted that he had no constitutional question himself to propound, but that Brother John was in grave doubt touching a question upon which he would be glad to have the opinion of the chair. "I imderstand," continued the speaker, "from the nature of the pledge that if any brother, or sister even for that matter, should partake of liquors alcoholic, vinous, or fer- mented, he or she would be liable to expulsion from the order. Am I correct?" "That is certainly correct. Brother Stevenson," was the prompt reply in no imcertain tone. "I so understand it," continued the speaker, "and so does Brother John. What he seeks to know is this: If in an un- guarded moment he should hearken to the voice of the tempter, and so far forget his solemn vows as to partake of alcoholic, vinous, or fermented liquors, and be expelled there- for, would he thereby be wholly beyond the pale of the lodge, or would he by virtue of his second obligation taken this night, have another chance, and still retain his membership in the order?" The ofiicial answer, in tone no less uncertain than before, was instantly given. "No, sir, if Brother John or you either, should drink one drop of the liquors mentioned and be expelled therefor, you 284 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN would both be helplessly beyond the pale of the lodge, even though you had both taken the cbligation a thoiisand times! " As the ominous applause which followed died away, Brother John, half arising in his seat, vehemently exclaimed, "Mrs. Worshipful Master, / never told him to ask no 8V£h damn fool question! " XXV A QUESTION OF AVAILABILITY A POLITICAL BANQUET IN ATLANTA, GA. GENERAL GORDON PROPOSES "the democracy OF ILLINOIS" THE WRITER'S RESPONSE A DESIRE IN ILLINOIS TO NOMINATE THE HON. DAVID DAVIS FOR PRESIDENT. ABOUT the year of grace 1889, a number of distinguished statesmen were invited to attend a political banquet to be given by the local Democratic Association of the splendid city of Atlanta, Georgia. Among the guests were Representative Flower of New York and General Collins of Massachusetts; the chief guest of the occasion was the Hon. David B. Hill, then the Governor of New York. The banquet was under the immediate auspices of the lamented Gordon, and of Grady of glorious memory. The board liter- ally groaned under the rarest viands, and Southern hospitality was at its zenith. It was, all in all, an occasion to live in memory. I was not one of the invited guests of the com- mittee, but being in a neighboring city was invited by Mr. Grady to be present. At the conclusion of the feast, a toast was proposed to "The Gallant Democracy of New York." Glasses were touched and the enthusiasm was unbounded. The toast was of course responded to by the distinguished Governor of the Empire State. He was at his best. His speech, splendid in thought and diction, was heard with breathless interest. The keynote was struck, and speech after speech followed in the proper vein. There was no discordant note, the burden of every speech being the gallant Democracy and splendid statesmanship of the great State of New York. When the distinguished guests had all spoken, the mas- ter of ceremonies, General Gordon, proposed a toast to "The Democracy of Illinois," and called upon me to respond. I 285 286 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN confessed that I was only an average Democrat from Illinois; that way out there we were content to be of the rank and file, and of course 'to follow the splendid leadership and the gal- lant Democracy of which we had heard so much. To vote for a New York candidate had by long usage become a fixed habit with us, in fact, we would hardly know how to go about voting for a candidate from any other State; and I then related an incident on the question of supporting the ticket, which I thought might be to the point. In 1872, in the portion of Illinois in which I live, there was an earnest desire on the part of conservative Democrats and liberal Republicans^ to elect the Hon. David Davis to the Presidency. He had been a Whig in early life, brought up in the school of Webster and Clay, and was later the devoted personal and political friend of Mr. Lincoln. An earnest Union man during the war, he had at its close favored the prompt restoration to the Southern people of all their rights under the Constitution. As a judge of the Supreme Court, he had rendered a decision in which human life was involved, in which he had declared the supremacy of the Federal Con- stitution in war as well as in peace. Believing that he would prove an acceptable candidate, I had gladly joined the move- ment to secure his nomination at the now historic convention which met at Cincinnati in May, 1872. For many weeks prior to the meeting of that convention, there was little talked of in central Illinois but the nomination of Judge Davis for President. Morning, noon, and night, "Davis, Davis, Davis," was the burden of our song. He did not, as is well known, receive the nomination, that honor, of course, passing to a distinguished Democratic statesman of New York. Two or three days before I was to leave my home for the Cincinnati convention, an old Democratic friend from an adjoining county came into my office. He was an old-timer in very truth. He was born in Tennessee, had when a mere boy fought under Jackson at Talladega, Tallapoosa, and New Orleans, had voted for him three times for the Presidency, and expected to join him when he died. He had lived in DAVID DAVIS ^n^ ■^ *^^ S. 8. PRENTISS A QUESTION OF AVAILABILITY 287 Illinois since the " big snow," and his party loyalty was a proverb. As I shook hands with him when he came into my office, he laid aside his saddle-bags, stood his rifle in the corner, took off his blanket overcoat, and seating himself by the fire, inquired how my " folks " all were. The answer being satisfactory, and the fact ascertained by me that his own " folks " were well, he asked, "Mr. Stevenson, who are you fur fur President?" Unhesitatingly and earnestly I replied, "Davis." A shade, as of disappointment, appeared for a moment upon his countenance, but instantly recovering himself, he said, "Well, if they nominate him, we will give him the usual majority in our precinct, but don't you think, Mr. Steven- son, it is a leetle airly to bring old Jeff out? " XXVI A STATESMAN OF A PAST ERA ZEBULON B. VANCE, THE IDOUZED GOVEENOR OF NORTH CARO- LINA HIS LEARNING AND HIS HUMOR HE RECALLS MEN AND MATTERS OF THE OLDEN TIME — HE SUITS HIS CREED TO HIS AUDIENCE — HIS SPEECH IN FAVOR OF HORACE GREELEY. A NAME to conjure with in the old North State is Zeb Vance. What Lee was to Virginia, Hendricks to In- diana, Clay to Kentucky, and Lincoln to Illinois, Zebu- lon B. Vance was for a lifetime to North Carolina. He was seldom spoken of as Governor, or Senator, but alike in piny woods and in the mountains, he was familiarly called "Zeb Vance." It were scant praise to say merely that he was pop- ular. He was the idol of all classes and conditions. A dec- ade has gone since he passed to the grave, but his memory is still green. A grateful people have erected a monument to commemorate his public services, while from the French Broad to the Atlantic, alike in humble cabin and stately home, his name is a household word. " He had kept the whiteness of his soul, And thus men o'er him wept." The expression "rare," as given to Ben Jonson, might with equal propriety be applied to Senator Vance. Deeply read in classic lore, a profound lawyer, and an indefatigable student from the beginning in all that pertained to human government, he was the fit associate of the most cultured in the drawing-room or the Senate. None the less, with the homely topics of everyday life for discussion, he was equally at home, and ever a welcome guest at the hearthstone of the humblest dweller in pine forest and mountain glen of his jiative State. Of all the men I have ever known, Vance was 'par excellence the possessor of the wondrous gift of humor. It was in- 288 A STATESMAN OF A PAST ERA 289 grained; literally a part of his very being. He once told me that he thought his fame for one generation, at least, was secure, inasmuch as one-half of the freckled-faced boys and two-thirds of the "yaller" dogs in North Carolina had been named in his honor. Upon one occasion in the Senate, a bill he had introduced was bitterly antagonized by a member who took occasion in his speech, while questioning the sincerity of Vance, to extol his own honesty of purpose. In replying to the vaimt of superior honesty by his opponent, Vance quoted the old Southland doggerel: " De darky in de ole camp ground Dat loudest sing and shout Am gwine to rob a hen-roost Befo' de week am out." The summer home of Senator Vance diu-ing the later years of his life was in his native county of Buncombe, about twenty miles from Asheville, where for some days I was his guest, many years ago. Leaving the cars at the nearest sta- tion and following the trail for a dozen miles, I found the Senator snugly ensconced in his comfortable home at the top of the mountain. He was alone, his family being "down in the settlements," as he told me. An old negro man to whom Vance once belonged, as he assured me, was housekeeper, cook, and butler, besides being the incumbent of various other offices of usefubiess and dignity. The first inquiry from Vance as, drenched with rain, I eiitered his abode and approached a blazing fire, was, "Are you dryf" It would only gratify an idle curiosity to tell how the first moments of this memorable visit passed. Suffice it to say that old-time Southern hospitality was at its best, and so continued till the morning of the fifth day, when I descended in company with my host to the accustomed haimts of busy men. . The days and evenings passed with Vance at the cheerful fireside of his mountain home still live in my memory. He literally "unfolded himself," and it was indeed worth while to listen to his description of the quaint times and customs 290 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN with which he was familiar in the long ago, to hear of the men he had known and of the stormy events of which he had been a part. His public life reached back to a time anterior to the war. He was in Congress when its Representatives assembled in the Old Hall, now the "Valhalla" of the nation. Events once of deep significance were recalled from the mists of a long past; men who had strutted their brief hour upon the stage and then gone out with the tide were made to live again. Incidents once fraught with deep consequence but now relegated to the by-paths of history, were again in visible presence, as if touched by the enchanter's wand. The scenes, of which he was the sad and silent witness, attendant upon the withdrawal of his colleagues and associ- ates from both chambers of the Capitol, and the appeal to the sword — precursors of the chapter of blood yet to be written — were never more graphically depicted by mortal tongue. I distinctly recall, even at this lapse of time, some of the incidents he related. When first he was a candidate for Congress, far back in the fifties, his district embraced a large portion of the territory of the entire western part of his State. Fully to appreciate what follows, it must be remembered that at that time there was in the backwoods country, and in the out-of-the-way places, far off from the great highways, much of antagonism between the various religious denominar tions. At times much of the sermons of the rural preachers consisted of denimciations of other churches. By a perusal of the autobiography of the Rev. Peter Cartwright, it will be seen that western North Carolina was only in line with other portions of the great moral vineyard. The doc- trines peculiar to the particular denomination were preached generally with great earnestness and power. "Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love," was too seldom heard in the rural congregations. In too many, indeed, Christian charity, even in a modified form, was an unknown quantity. Under the conditions mentioned, to say that seekers of A STATESMAN OF A PAST ERA 291 public place obeyed the Apostolic injunction to be "all things to all men" is only to say that they were — candidates. It so fell out that our candidate for Congress at the time mentioned was quietly threading his way on horseback to meet his appointment. Far out from the county seat, in a wild and sparsely populated locality, at a sudden turn in the road he found himself in the immediate presence of a wor- shipping congregation in God's first temple. It was what is known in mountain parlance as a "protracted meeting." The hour was noon, and the little flock had just been called from labor to refreshment. The cloth was spread in the shade of a large tree, and liberally suppHed with ham, fried chicken, salt-rising bread, corn dodgers, cucumber pickles, and other wholesome edibles. When Vance appeared upon the scene, the leader of the little flock at once greeted him with cordial invitation to "light and take a bite with us." The candidate accepted the invitation, and fastening his horse to a convenient tree, approached the assembled worshippers, introducing himself as "Zeb Vance, "Whig candidate for Con- gress." The thought uppermost in his soul as he shook hands all around and accepted the proffered hospitahty was, "What denomination is this? Methodist? Baptist? Whatf" As soon as this inquiry could be satisfactorily answered, he was, of course, ready to join; his "letter" was ready to be handed in. But as he quickly scanned the faces about him, he could get no gleam of light upon the all-important ques- tion. Suddenly his meditations were ended, the abstract giving way to the concrete, by the aforementioned leader abruptly inqmring, "Mr. Vance, what persuasion are you of?" The hour had struck. The dreaded inquiry must be answered satisfactorily and at once. That Vance was equal to the emergency will be seen from the sequel. Promptly laying down the chicken leg, the chunk of salt- rising bread, and cucumber pickle with which he had been abimdantly supplied by one of the dear old sisters, and assum- ing an appropriate oratorical pose, with his eyes intent upon his interrogator, he began: 292 SOMETHING OP MEN I HAVE KNOWN "My sainted grandfather was, during the later years of his long and useful life, a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church." The gathering brow and shaking head of the local shepherd would even to a less observing man than the candi- date have been sufficient warning that he was on the wrong trail. " But," continued the speaker, " my father during long years of faithful service in the Master's cause was an equally devout member of the Methodist Episcopal Church." The sombre aspect of the shepherd, with the no less signi- cant shake of the head, was immistakable intimation to our candidate that danger was in the very air. Ralljdng himself, however, for the last charge, with but one remainmg shot m his locker, the orator earnestly resumed: "But, when / came to the years of maturity, and was able, after prayer and medi- tation, to read and imderstand that blessed book myself, I came to the conclusion that the old Baptist Church was right." "Bless God!" exclaimed the old preacher, seizing Vance by the hand. "He is all right, brethren! Oh, you'll get all the votes in these par.ts, Brother Vance!" Talking along religious lines at the time of the visit men- tioned, he illustrated the difference between profession and practice. "Now, there is my brother Bob," referrmg to General Robert B. Vance; "he is, you know, a Methodist, and believes in falling from grace, bvi he never falls, while I am a Presbyterian, and don't believe in falling from grace, but I am always falling!" The first wife of Senator Vance was a Presbyterian. Some years after her death, he was married to an excellent lady, a devoted member of the Roman Catholic Church. Soon thereafter, he was taken to task by an old Presbyterian neighbor, who expressed great surprise that he should marry a Catholic. "Well," replied the Senator with imperturbable good humor, "the fact is. Uncle John, as I had tried Rum, and tried Rebellion, I just thought I would try Romanism too!" Many years ago, near the western border of Buncombe County, lived an old negro who had in early life been a member of the family of the father of Senator Vance. In a little A STATESMAN OF A PAST ERA 293 cabin at the foot of the mountain, "Uncle Ephraim," as the old negro was familiarly called, was, as he had been for two or three decades, "living on borrowed time." How old he was no man could tell. When in confidential mood, he would sometimes tell of the troubles he and his old master used to have with the Tories during the Revolutionary War. Mr. Vance, in his first race for Congress, having finished his speech at the cross-roads near by, visited the old man, from whom, of course, he received a warm welcome. In reply to the inquiry of his visitor as to how he was getting along, the old negro slowly replied: "Mighty po'ly, mighty po'ly, Mause Zeb, mighty po'ly forninst the things of dis world, but it 's all right over yander, over yander." "What church do you belong to. Uncle Ephraim?" said Vance. "Well, Mause Zeb, I 's a Presbyterian." "Uncle Ephraim," said Vance with great solemnity, "do you believe in the doctrine of election?" After a pause and with equal solemnity, the old man responded: "Mause Zeb, I don't pertend to understand fully the ins and outs of dat doctrine, but 'cordin' to my under- standin', it 's de doctrine of de Bible, and I bleebes it." "Uncle Ephraim," said Vance, "do you think I have been elected?" "Mause Zeb," said the old man in pathetic tone, "ef it 's dest de same to you, I would a leetle ruther you would wif- draw dat question. I 's poorty ole and gittin' a little too near de grabe to tell a lie, but de fac am, I bin livin' round in dese parts nigh onto a hundred years and knowed a heap of de big mens dat's dead and gone, and I neber yet knowed nor hear tell of no man bein' 'lected, what wan't a candidate." Like many other orators of his party, Senator Vance found the position of champion of the Democratic nominee for President in 1872 one of extreme embarrassment. A story he occasionally told, however, reUeved the situation greatly. He said: "My fellow-citizens, I am somewhat in the position of an old-time, illiterate backwoods preacher, who was with 294 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN great difficulty able to read ofif, after a fashion, one favorite hymn at which his book always opened at the opportune moment. One Sunday morning, just before the beginnmg of the services, some mischievous boys, not having the fear of the Lord before their eyes, got hold of the book and pasted 'Old Grimes' over the favorite hymn. At the auspicious moment the book opened at the accustomed place, and the old preacher, after properly adjusting his glasses, slowly began: ' Old Grimes is dead, that good old man.' Amazed beyond description, the preacher instantly suspended the reading, carefully wiped off his glasses, looked appealingly to the congregation, and again solemnly and slowly began: 'Old Grimes is dead, that good old man.' The congregation now equally astounded with himself, the aged pastor suspended the reading, carefully removed his glasses, and lajTng down the book, solemnly observed: 'My beloved friends, I have been a-readin' and a-singin' outen this blessed book for nigh onto forty year, and I never seed this hymn in thar before; but it 's in thar, brethren, and we '11 sing it through if it smashes up this meetin' ! ' "Now," continued Vance, "my beloved brethren, I have been a-readin' and a-votin' of the Democrat ticket nigh onto forty year, and I never seed the name of old Horace Greeley on a Democrat ticket before; but it 's on thar, brethren, and we '11 vote it through if it kills us — and it does come deoilish near killing the most of us!" XXVII NOT GUILTY OF PREACHING THE GOSPEL THE "drake constitution" IN MISSOURI THE CRIME OF PREACHING THE GOSPEL A PROVISION OF THIS CONSTITU- TION FOUND TO BE A VIOLATION OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES MINISTERS OF VARIOUS SECTS TRIED FOR PREACHING WITHOUT FIRST TAKING AN OATH TO SUP- PORT THE "drake constitution" THE JUDGE FINDS THAT NOT ONE OF THEM HAS PREACHED THE GOSPEL. THE "holding" of a nisi jrrius judge upon one of the western circuits of Missouri, near the close of the Civil War, is without a precedent, and it is quite probable that no occasion will ever arise for citing it as an authority. It will remain, however, a case in point of how a "horse-sense" judge can protect the innocent against unusual and unjust prosecution. What is known in Missouri history as the "Drake Con- stitution" had then but recently supplanted the organic law under which the State had for a long time had its being. No counterpart of the Constitution mentioned has ever been framed in any of the American States. It could have been only the product of the evil days when "judgment had fled to brutish beasts, and men had lost their reason." Possibly at no time or place in our history has there been more em- phatic verification of the axiom, "In the midst of arms, the laws are silent." The "Drake Constitution" was formulated at a time when fierce passion was at its height, when the sad conse- quences of civil strife were felt at every fireside, when neigh- bor was arrayed against neighbor, the hand of brother uplifted against brother, and "a man's foes were they of his own household." As is well known, certain provisions of this Constitution were, at a later day — upon a writ of error — set aside by the Supreme Court of the United States as being 295 296 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN in violation of the Federal Constitution. One of the thirty distinct affirmations or tests of the Drake Constitution was to the effect that, if any minister or priest should be guilty of the crime of preaching the Gospel, or of solemnizing the rite of marriage, without first having taken an oath to support said Constitution, he should, upon conviction, be subjected to a fine of not less than five hundred dollars, imprisonment for six months in the common jail, or both. Under the provision indicated, a Catholic priest was con- victed in one of the circuit courts of Missouri, and duly sen- tenced to fine and imprisonment. Upon his appeal, the Supreme Court of the United States reversed the decision of the lower court, and virtually abrogated the provision of the Constitution under which the accused had been convicted. The great court of last resort decided the test oath, imposed as above mentioned, to be a violation of that provision of the Constitution of the United States which declares, "No State shall pass any bill of attainder, or ex post facto law." It held a bill of attainder to be "a legislative act which inflicts pimishment without a judicial trial"; and an ex post facto law "one which imposes a punishment for an act which was not punishable at the time it was committed; or imposes additional punishment to that then prescribed." The court said: "The oath thus required is, for its severity, without any precedent that we can discover. In the first place, it is retrospective; it embraces all the past from this day; and if taken years hence, it will also cover all the intervening period. ... It allows no distinction between acts springing from malignant enmity, and acts which may have been prompted by charity, or affection, or relationship. . . . The clauses in question subvert the presumptions of innocence, and alter the rules of evidence which heretofore, under the imiversally recognized principles of the common law, have been supposed to be fundamental and unchangeable. They assume that the parties are guilty; they call upon the parties to establish their innocence; and declare that such innocence can be shown only in one way — by an inquisition in the form of an expurgatory oath into the consciences of the parties." NOT GUILTY OF PREACHING THE GOSPEL 297 And then, as preliminary to the discharge of the priest from long imprisonment, the court concludes its opinion with a pertinent quotation from the writings of Alexander Hamilton: "It substitutes for the established and legal mode of investi- gating crimes and inflicting forfeitures, one that is unknown to the Constitution, and repugnant to the genius of our law." * During the period extending from the promulgation of the Drake Constitution to the setting aside of some of its obnoxious provisions as heretofore mentioned, an old-time judge still held court on one of the Missouri circuits. He had somehow been overlooked in the political upheaval to which the State had been subjected. He had come down from a former generation, and, imabashed by the clash of arms, still moved sturdily on in his wonted way. The rife spirit that boded destruction to ancient landmarks had passed him by; Magna Charta and the Bill of Rights were to him abiding verities. Now it so fell out that during the period mentioned, while presiding in one of the border counties of his circuit, he was greatly astonished, at the opening of his court upon a certain morning, to find half a dozen ministers of the Gospel, all of whom were personally known to him, snugly seated in the prisoners' box. With characteristic brusqueness, the judge at once de- manded of the attorney for the Commonwealth why these men were under arrest. The not unexpected reply was, that they had been indicted for preaching without first taking an oath to support the Constitution of the State of Missouri. "Ah, Mr. Prosecutor, a very serious offence, a very serious offence indeed. The makers of our fundamental law have wisely provided that no man shall be permitted to preach the Gospel imtil he has first taken an oath to support the Con- stitution of the State of Missouri. It is the duty of this court to see to it that this wholesome provision of our Constitution is duly enforced." Addressing himself now to the prisoner nearest him. His Honor inquired: "Is it possible, sir, that you have been guilty of the crime of preaching the Gospel without having first ♦Fourth Wallace Reports. 298 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN taken an oath to support the Constitution of the State of Missouri?" The prisoner, a tall, venerable-appearing gentle- man, in typical black, quietly replied that he could not con- scientiously take the required oath, but had only continued in the pastoral work in which he had been for a lifetime engaged. "A mere subterfuge, a mere subterfuge, Mr. Prosecutor," observed the judge, as with apparent fierceness his eyes were fixed upon the offender. "This prisoner cannot be per- mitted, sir, to interpose his conscience as a barrier against the enforcement of this salutary provision of our most excellent Constitution. He must be punished, sir, he must be punished." After reading aloud the penalty imposed for the com- mission of the offence mentioned, and with pen in hand as if about to make the appropriate entry upon the docket, His Honor again turned to the priconer and inquired : " Of what church are you a minister?" The steady reply, as of one prepared for the worst, was, "I am a Presbyterian, Yoiu- Honor." ' ' Presbyterian ! Presbyterian ! ' ' quickly observed the sage interpreter of the law. "Oh, you preach the tenets and doc- trines of the Presbyterian Church, do you?" An afiirmative reply was modestly given. "You preach," continued His Honor in apparent amaze- ment, "the doctrine of infant baptism, and of the final per- severance of the saints, do you?" An answer like the last being given, the judge remarked: "You appear to be a man of intelligence, but don't you know, sir, that that is n't the Gospel? He has not been guilty of preaching the Gospel, Mr. Prosecutor, and will have to be discharged. You can go, sir, but if this court ever hears that you have been actually guilty of preaching the Gospel, you will be punished to the full extent of the law." Addressing himself now to the comparatively youth- ful occupant of the lately vacated seat. His Honor inquired: "What is your church, sir?" In a manner by no means aggressive, and with tones the NOT GUILTY OF PREACHING THE GOSPEL 299 counterpart of the humblest that ever came from an Amen corner, the reply was, "I am a Methodist, may it please the Court." Eying the prisoner keenly, and with a manner expressive of surprise to which all that had gone before seemed indiffer- ence itself, his Honor, with apparent difficulty, at length ejaculated: "A Methodist, a Methodist, Mr. Prosecutor. Oh, you preach the doctrines of the Methodist Chiu-ch, do you? — in- fant baptism, and falling from grace?" To these hurried interrogatories, an affirmative was meekly but distinctly given. "Well, don't you know that that is n't the Gospel? He is not guilty of preaching the Gospel, Mr. Prosecutor, and will have to be discharged. You can go, sir, but if this Court ever learns that you have been really guilty of preaching the Gospel without first taking an oath to support the Constitu- tion of the State of Missouri, you will have to be punished, sir; the Court will see that there is no evasion of this salu- tary provision of our most excellent Constitution. Go, sir." A clean-shaven, benevolent-looking gentleman of middle age was next in evidence. He had but recently assumed his present pastorate and was a deeply interested and attentive observer of all that was happening. In reply to the inquiry from the bench, he answered that he was a Universalist. "A Universahst!" replied the judge, almost astounded beyond the power of expression. Recovering himself, he at length inquired: "You preach the doctrine of imiversal salvation, do you?" A slight bow indicated such to be the fact. "You preach," continued his Honor, with warmth well suited to the subject-matter, "that there is no hell?" A bow, much more emphatic, was unmistakable ev- idence that its author was a man who had the courage of his convictions. "He doesn't beUeve that there is any hell, Mr. Prosecu- tor," thundered the judge, "he will have to be discharged; 300 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN it is no violation of the Constitution of the State of Missouri to preach such infernal nonsense as that." The official admonition, "Depart, sir," was promptly obeyed, and the apostle of the broad highway followed quickly in the wake of the aforementioned disciples of Calvin and Wesley, in the "narrow path " which led straightway out of the crowded court-room. In rapid succession the two remaining prisoners on the front bench were questioned, and each in turn foimd "not guilty" of preaching the Gospel. An avowal of his belief in the tenet of "the ApostoUc succession" instantly resulted in the acquittal of the first, while the second was with equal promptness found "not guilty" upon his admission that he preached the doctrine of "regeneration by — " There was much confusion in the court-room at this moment, and the reporter failed to catch the concluding words of the con- fession. Finding himself, moreover, getting into deep water, he thoughtfully left on record that both the Episcopalian and the Christian pastor left the court-room with the admoni- tion ringing in their ears, that if they were ever actually found guilty of preaching the Gospel they should be duly punished. _ A lone prisoner remained in the dock. The days of the years of his pilgrimage were not few, and quite probably, except in a figurative sense, not evil. He was of sturdy build, quiet manners, and his countenance was indicative of great sincerity. In a voice extremely deferential he stated that he had once ministered to a dying Confederate, and it was impossible for him to take the required oath that he had never expressed any sympathy for any person who had ever been engaged in the Rebellion. "Of what church are you a minister?" interrupted the judge. "The Baptist Church," was the answer. "The Baptist Church, " instantly repeated the judge, and looking very earnestly at the accused, he asked ; "Do you preach the doctrines of the Baptist Church?" An affirmative answer having been given. His Honor said: NOT GUILTY OF PREACHING THE GOSPEL 301 "Upon his own confession he is guilty, Mr. Prosecutor; the Court holds the Baptist to he the true church, and this defendant has been guilty of preaching the Gospel without first taking the oath to support the Constitution of the State of Missouri. He will have to be punished." Addressing the prisoner, he said; "You will have to be punished, sir; this Court can permit no excuse or evasion." The graveyard stillness that now fell upon the Uttle as- semblage was at length broken by His Honor reading aloud the prescribed punishment for preaching the Gospel without first having taken the required oath. "Yes, a fine of five hundred dollars or six months in the common jail, or both. A clear case, Mr. Prosecutor, this prisoner must be made an example of; hand me the docket, Mr. Clerk, Yes, the full penalty." Then, before making the fatal entry, suddenly turning to the prisoner, he demanded ; "How long have you been preaching the Gospel?" In hardly audible accents, the answer tremblingly given was, "I have been trying to preach the Gospel — " " Only trying to preach the Gospel, only trying to preach the Gospel! " exclaimed the judge. "There is no law, Mr. Prosecutor, against merely trying to preach the Gospel. You can go, sir; but if this Court ever hears that you have succeeded in actually preaching the Gospel, you will be punished, sir! " XXVIII AMONG THE ACTORS THE GIVING OF PLEASURE THE ACTOB'S AIM PRAISE OF NOTABLE ACTORS BARRETT, FORREST, MoCULLOUGH, EDWIN BOOTH, WILKES BOOTH, JEFFERSON, IRVING — MACBETH'S PRAISE OF SLEEP. ON the evening of October 27, 1908, a meeting was held in the Grand Opera House, Chicago, Illinois, m the interest of the Democratic candidates in the campaign then pending. The meeting began a few minutes after mid- night, and the immense audience consisted, in a large measure, of actors and actresses and their attendants from the various theatres of the city. After an eloquent poUtical speech. by the Hon. Samuel Alschuler and a stirring recitation by one of the actors, I was introduced, and spoke as follows : "I am grateful for the opportunity under such happy auspices, to bid you good-morning. I would count my- self forttinate, indeed, could I contribute even the small- est mite to the enjoyment of those who have in such imstinted measure dispensed pleasure to so many of the hu- man family, to the representatives of a profession which, struggling up through the centuries, has at last found hon- ored and abiding place in a broader civilization, a calling whose sublime mission it is to give surcease to harassing care, to smooth out the wrinkles from the brow, bring glad- ness to the eye, to teach that ' Behind the clouds is the sun still smiling '; in a word, to add to the sum of human happiness. "It has been my good fortune, in the happy years gone by, to have had the personal acquaintance of some of the most eminent of yom- profession. Under the witchery of this inspiring presence, 'the graves of memory render up their dead.' i^ain I hear from the lips of Barrett: 'Take away 302 AMONG THE ACTORS 303 the sword; States can be saved without it!' 'How love, like death, levels all ranks, and lays the shepherd's crook beside the sceptre!' "Who that ever saw Forrest 'sitting as if in judgment upon kings' could forget that superb presence? In the silent watches, even yet, steal upon us in ominous accents the words, 'Put out the light, and then put out the light!' Complimented upon the manner in which he played Lear, he angrily exclaimed: 'Played Lear, played Lear? I play Hamlet, I play Macbeth, I play Othello; but I am Lear!' Possibly the art of the tragedian has known no loftier tri- lunph than in Forrest's rendition of Lear's curse upon the imnatural daughter: ' Let it stamp wrinkles in her brow of youth; With cadent tears fret channels in her cheeks; Turn all her mother's pains and benefits To laughter and contempt!' "A third of a century ago, I made the acquaintance of John McCuUough, then at the very zenith of his fame. In even measure as was the elder Booth Richard the Third, Forrest, King Lear, or Edwm Booth, Hamlet, so was McCul- lough the born Macbeth. When I first saw him emerge with dishevelled hair and bloody hands from the apartment of the murdered king, I was, I confess, in mortal dread of the darkness. I have heard another since of even greater repute in that masterful impersonation, but with me to the last, John McCullough will remain the veritable Macbeth. His are the words that linger: ' I go, and it is done; the beU invites me, Hear it not, Duncan; for it is the knell That summons thee to heaven or to hell.' "Edwin Booth has stepped from the stage of living men, and when m the tide of time will such a Hamlet again appear? To him Nature had been prodigal of her choicest blessings. Every gift the gods could bestow to the full equipment of the interpeter, the actor, the master, was his. ' He was a man, take him for all in all. We shall not look upon his like again.' 304 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN "Many moons will wax and wane before from other lips, as from his, will fall: ' Or that the Everlasting had not fixed His canon 'gainst self-slaughter.' or, giving expression to thoughts from the very depths, which have in all the ages held back from such dread ending: 'To die, to sleep; To sleep I perchance to dream; aye, there 's the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come. When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause.' "The ever-abiding memory that his brother was the real actor in a tragic scene that gave pause to the world, burdened the heart and mellowed the tone of Edwin Booth, and no doubt linked him in closer touch with what has, as by the enchanter's wand, been portrayed of the 'melancholy Dane.' 'Two years before the assassination of President Lincoln, I heard Wilkes Booth as Romeo at the old McVicker. The passing years have not wholly dimmed his ' Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain-tops,' and then, as if forecasting a scene to strike horror even in 'States unborn and in accents yet unknown,' the exclamation: ' I must be gone and live, Or stay and die I' "High on the list of the world's benefactors write the name of Joe Jefferson, as one who loved his fellow-men. Whatever betide, his fame is secure. 'Age cannot wither*; it was in very truth high privilege to have known him; to have met him face to face. "There come moments to all when we gladly put aside the masterpieces of the great bard, and find solace in sim- pler lays; such as, it may be, appear of kinship with the happenings of daily life. The mighty thoughts of the former imceasingly suggest life's endless toil and endeavor. "In words that have touched many hearts our own poet suggests: EDWIN BOOTH JOSEPH JEFFERSON AMONG THE ACTORS 305 ' Read from some humbler poet, Whose songs gushed from his heart; Such songs have power to quiet The restless pulse of care.' "And so, there are times when the stately rendition of the masterpieces, even with the greatest tragedians in the role, weary us, and we give glad welcome to Bob Acres with 'his courage oozing out at his finger ends,' or to dear old Rip and 'Here's to yourself and to your family. Jus' one more ; this one won't count! ' "The superb acting of Irving in Louis the Eleventh; the grandeur of Forrest with 'Othello's occupation gone'; of McCuIlough in Macbeth, 'supped full with horrors'; even of Booth with the ever-recurring 'To be, or not to be,' the eternal question, all pass with the occasion. But who can forget the gladsome hours of mingled pathos and mirth with glorious Joe Jefferson, the star! His life was hourly the illustration of the sublime truth: ' There is nothing so kingly as kindness.' "Upon his tablet might truly be written: ' He never made a brow look dark, Nor caused a tear but when he died.' "It is ever an ungracious task to speak in terms of dis- paragement of a lady. There is one, however, of whom, even in this gracious presence, I am constrained to speak without restraint. To the splendid assemblage before me she was unknown; possibly, however, some veteran upon this platform may have enjoyed her personal acquaintance. I refer to the late Mrs. Macbeth. I would not be misunder- stood. My criticism of the conduct of this lady has no reference to her share in the 'taking off' of the vener- able Duncan. Even barring her gentle interposition, he would long ere this have 'paid his breath to time and mortal custom.' My cause of complaint is more serious and far-reaching. It will be remembered that her high- placed husband upon a time was the victim of insomnia. 306 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN In his wakeful hours, as he tossed upon his couch, he even made the confession, now of record, that ' Glamis hath murdered sleep.' " He apparently drew no comfort from the reflection that his late benefactor, the murdered king, ' After life's fitful fever he sleeps well.' " Burdened with thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls, the sometime Thane of Cawdor indulged in an apostrophe to 'the dull god' which has enduring place in all language: ' Sleep, that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care. The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath. Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course. Chief nourisher in Life's feast,—' "At this crucial moment, came the untimely interruption of Mrs. Macbeth, demanding of her husband, 'What do you mean? ' "The spell was broken, and for all time the sublime apos- trophe to sleep imfinished. What he might next have said, whose lips can tell? Words possibly to be spoken by every tongue, to be crystallized into every language. Her ill-fated interruption can never be forgiven. The practical lesson to be drawn, one for all the ages, is the peril involved in a wife's untimely interruption of the wise observations and sage reflections of her husband. "This coming together to-night may justify the remark that satire upon the proverbial caution of candidates in ex- pressing an opinion upon any subject was perhaps never better illustrated than in the incident now to be related. Upon a time many years ago, when approaching the Capitol from Pennsylvania Avenue in company with my friend Proc- tor Knott, a tall, solemn-appearing individual addressed the latter as follows: 'Mr. Knott, I would like to have your opinion as to which is the best play, "Hamlet" or "Macbeth." ' With a characteristic expression of coimtenance, Knott, with deprecatory gesture, slowly replied : " 'My friend, don't ask me that question; I am a politician, a candidate for Congress, and my district is about equally AMONG THE ACTORS 307 divided; Hamlet has his friends down there, and Macbeth has his, and / will take no part between them.' "This observation recalls an incident of recent occurrence in a neighboring city. A friend of mine, a minister of the Gospel — you will bear in mind that my friends are not ail actors — and this recalls the dilemma of a candidate who, upon inquiry as to the comparative merits of heaven and its antipode, cautiously declined to express an opinion, on the ground that he had friends in both places — this minister, upon being installed in a new pastorate, was almost immediately requested to preach at the funeral of a prominent member of his congregation. Unacquainted as he was with the life of the deceased, he made inquiry as to his last utterances. "He recalled the last words of Webster, 'I am content'; of John Quincy Adams, 'This is the last of earth'; and even the cheerless exclamation of Mirabeau, 'Let my ears be filled with martial music, crown me with flowers, and thus shall I enter on my eternal sleep.' Charged with these re- flections, and hoping to find the nucleus of a fimeral sermon, the minister made inquiry of the son of the deceased parish- ioner, 'What were the last words of your father?' The unexpected reply was, 'Pap he did n't have no last words; mother she just stayed by him till he died.' "And now, my friends, as the curtain falls, my last words to you: ' Say not Good-night, But in some brighter clime Bid me Good-morning! ' " XXIX THE LOST ART OF ORATORY DANiEii Webster's speeches — his patriotic service in FORMULATING THE ASHBURTON TREATY PRENTISS'S DE- FENCE OF THE RIGHT OF MISSISSIPPI TO REPRESENTATION THE EFFECT OP HIS ELOQUENCE ON A MURDERER — HIS PLEA FOR MERCY TO A CLIENT — WEBSTER WINS AN APPAR- ENTLY HOPELESS CASE INGERSOLL'S REVIEW OP THE CAREER OF NAPOLEON — HON. ISAAC N. PHILLIPS'S EULOGY UPON ABRAHAM UNCOLN SENATOR INGALLS'S TRIBUTE TO A COLLEAGUE A SINGLE ELOQUENT SENTENCE FROM EDWARD EVERETT SPEECH OP NOMINATION FOR WILLIAM J. BRYAN — MR. BRYAN'S ELOQUENCE — CLOSING SENTENCES OF HIS "prince OP PEACE." ONE of the most cultiired and entertaining gentlemen I have ever known was the late Gardner Hubbard. His last years were spent quietly in Washington, but earlier in life he was an active member of the Massachusetts bar. In my conversations with him he related many interesting incidents of Daniel Webster, with whom he was well ac- quainted. In the early professional life of Hubbard, Mr. Webster was still at the bar; his speech for the prosecution in the memorable Knapp murder trial has been read with pro- found interest by three generations of lawyers. As a powerful and eloquent discussion of circumstantial evidence, in all its phases, it scarcely has a parallel; quotations from it have found their way into all languages. How startling his de- scription of the stealthy tread of the assassin upon his victim! We seem to stand in the very presence of murder itself: "Deep sleep had fallen on the destined victim and on all beneath his roof. A healthful old man, to whom sleep was sweet, and the first sound slumbers of the night held him in their soft but strong embrace. The assassin enters through the window, already prepared, into an unoccupied apartment. With noiseless foot he paces the lonely hall, half lighted by the moon; he winds up the ascent of the stairs, and reaches the door 308 THE LOST ART OF ORATORY 309 of the chamber. . . . The face of the innocent sleeper is turned from the murderer, and the beams of the moon, resting on the gray locks of his aged temple, show him where to strike. The fatal blow is given, and the victim passes, without a struggle, from the repose of sleep to the repose of death. The deed is done. He retreats, retraces his steps to the window, passes out through it as he came in, and escapes. He has done the murder. No eye has seen him, no ear has heard him. The secret is his own, and it is safe." The speech throughout shows Webster to have been the perfect master of the human heart, — of its manifold and mysterious workings. What picture could be more vivid than this? " Such a secret can be safe nowhere. The whole creation of God has neither nook nor corner where the guilty can bestow it and say it is safe. Not to speak of that eye which pierces through all disguises and beholds everything as in the splendor of noon, such secrets of guilt are never safe from detection even by men. True it is, generally speaking, that murder will out. True it is, that Providence hath so ordained, and doth so govern things, that those who break the great law of Heaven by shedding man's blood seldom succeed in avoiding discovery. Meantime the guilty soul cannot keep its own secret. It is false to itself; or rather, it feels an irresistible impulse of conscience to be true to itself. It labors under its guilty possession, and knows not what to do with it. The human heart was not made for the residence of such an inhabitant." The closing sentences of this speech — which resulted in the conviction and execution of the prisoner — will endure in our literature unsurpassed as an inspiration to duty : " There is no evil that we cannot either face or fly from but the consciousness of duty disregarded. A sense of duty pursues us ever. It is omnipresent like the Deity. If we take to our- selves the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, duty performed, or duty violated, is still with us, for our happiness or our misery. If we say, 'The darkness shall cover us,' in the darkness as in the light our obligations are yet with us. We cannot escape their power, nor fly from their presence. They are with us in this life, will be with us at its close; and in that scene of inconceivable solemnity which lies yet farther onward, we shall still find ourselves surrounded by the con- sciousness of duty, to pain us wherever it has been violated, 310 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN and to console us so far as God may have given us grace to per- form it." Upon one occasion, when in Boston, Mr. Hubbard and I visited together Faneuil Hall. He pointed out the exact place upon the platform where he saw Mr. Webster stand when he delivered his speech in vindication of his course in remaining in the Cabinet of President Tyler after all his Whig colleagues had resigned. The schism in the Whig ranks, occasioned by the veto of party measures, paramount in the Presidential contest of 1840, and the bitter antagonism thereby engendered between Henry Clay and President Tyler, will readily be recalled. The rupture mentioned oc- casioned the retirement of the entire Cabinet appointed by the late President Harrison, except Mr. Webster, the Secre- tary of State. His reasons for remaining were in the highest degree patriotic, and his speech in Faneuil Hall a triumphant vindication. The enduring pubhc service he rendered while in a Cabinet with which he had no partisan affiliation was formulating, in conjunction with the British Minister, the Ashburton treaty. If Mr. Webster had rendered no other public service, this alone would have entitled him to the gratitude of the coimtry. This treaty, advantageous from so many points of view to the United States, adjusted ami- cably the protracted and perilous controversy — unsettled by the convention at Ghent — of our northeastern boundary, and possibly prevented a third war between the two great English-speaking nations. The words once uttered of Burke could never with truth be spoken of Webster: "He gave to party that which was intended for his country." Mr. Hubbard insisted that the speech mentioned stood unrivalled in the realm of sublime oratory. He declared that the intervening years had not dimmed his recollection of the appearance of "the God-like Webster" when he exclaimed: "The Whig party die! The Whig party die! Then, Mr. President, where shall I go?" Some years before, I heard Wendell Phillips allude to the above speech in his celebrated lecture upon Daniel O'Con- nell. He said, when the startling words, "Then, Mr. Presi- THE LOST ART OF ORATORY 311 dent, where shall I go ? " fell from the lips of the mighty orator, a feeling of awe pervaded the vast assemblage; something akin to an awful foreboding that the world would surely come to an end when there was no place in it for Daniel Webster. This seems a fitting place to allude to possibly the high- est tribute ever paid by one great orator to another — in the loftiest sense, a tribute of genius to genius. Mr. Hub- bard told me he was one of the immense audience gathered in Faneuil Hall to ratify the nomination of Harrison and Tyler soon after the adjournment of the Whig National Con- vention in 1840. Edward Everett presided; and among the speakers were Winthrop, Choate, Webster, and the gifted Sargent S. Prentiss of Mississippi. The eloquence of the last named was a proverb in his day. He had but recently de- livered a speech in the House, vindicating his right to his seat as a Representative from Mississippi, which cast a spell over all who heard it, and which has come down to the pres- ent generation as one of the masterpieces of oratory. The closing sentence of this wondrous speech — a thousand times quoted — was: " Deny her representation upon this floor; then, Mr. Speaker, strike from yonder escutcheon the star that glitters to the name of Mississippi — and leave only the stripe, fit emblem of her degradation!" Upon the conclusion of Prentiss's Faneuil Hall speech, just mentioned, amidst a tumult of applause such as even Faneuil Hall had rarely witnessed, Mr. Everett, turning to Mr. Webster, inquired: "Did you ever hear the equal of that speech?" "Never but once," was the deep-toned reply, " and then from Prentiss himself." Judge Baldwin, his long-time associate at the bar of Mississippi, has given a vivid description of the effect of the power of Mr. Prentiss before the Jury in the prosecution of a noted highwayman and murderer in that State: " Phelps was one of the most daring and desperate of ruffians. He fronted his prosecutor and the court not only with composure, but with scornful and malignant defiance. When Prentiss arose to speak, and for some time afterwards, the criminal scowled upon him a look of hate and insolence. But when the orator, 312 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN kindling witli his subject, turned upon him and poured down a stream of burning invective like lava upon his head; when he depicted the villainy and barbarity of his bold atrocities; when he pictured, in dark and dismal colors, the fate which awaited him, and the awful judgment to be pronounced at another Bar upon his crimes when he should be confronted with his innocent victims; when he fixed his gaze of concentrated power upon him, the strong man's face relaxed; his eyes faltered and fell; until, at length, unable to bear up under self-conviction, he hid his head beneath the bar, and exhibited a picture of ruffianly audacity cowed beneath the spell of true courage and triumphant genius." In his early practice in Mississippi, in closing a touching and eloquent appeal to the jury on behalf of a client whose life was trembling in the balance, Prentiss said : " I have somewhere read that when God in His eternal coun- cils conceived the thought of man's creation, he called to him the three ministers who wait constantly upon the throne, Justice, Truth, and Mercy, and thus addressed them : " ' Shall we make man?' " Then said Justice, ' God, make him not, for he will trample upon Thy laws.' " Truth made answer also, ' God, make him not, for he will pollute Thy sanctuaries.' " Then Mercy, dropping upon her knees and looking up through her tears, exclaimed ' God, make him. I will watch over him through all the dark paths he may have to tread.' " Then God made man and said to him: ' Thou art the child of Mercy; go and deal in mercy with thy brother.' " In speaking of Mr. Webster's marvellous power over a jury, Mr. Hubbard told me that he was present during the trial of a once celebrated divorce case in one of the courts of Boston. The husband was the complainant, and the alleged groimd the one of recognized sufficiency in all coimtries. Mr. Webster was the counsel for the husband; Rufus Choate for the wife. As an advocate, the latter has had few equals, no superiors, at the American bar. In the case mentioned, with a distressed woman for a client, what was dearer than life, her reputation, in the balance, it may well be believed that the wondrous powers of the advocate were in requisition to the utmost. RUFUS CHOATE ISAAC N. PHILLIPS THE LOST ART OF ORATORY 313 At the conclusion of Choate's speech, as Mr. Hubbard assured me, the case of the injured husband appeared hope- less. It seemed impossible that such a speech could be success- fully answered. The opening sentence, in deep and measured tones, of Webster in reply, the prelude to an unrivalled argument and to victory, was : " Saint Paul in the twenty-fourth verse of the seventh chap- ter of his wondrous Epistle to the Romans says: ' O wretched man tha4; I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?' You alone, gentlemen, can deliver this wretched man from the body of this dead woman!" What in word-painting can exceed the following from an address by Robert G. IngersoU? "A little while ago, I stood by the grave of the old Napo- leon — a magnificent tomb of gilt and gold, almost fit for a dead deity — and gazed upon the sarcophagus of black Egyp- tian marble, where rest the ashes of that restless man. I leaned over the balustrade and thought about the career of the great- est soldier of the modern world. " I saw him walking upon the banks of the Seine contem- plating suicide. I saw him at Toulon; I saw him putting down the mob m the streets of Paris; I saw him at the head of the army in Italy; I saw him crossing the bridge of Lodi with the tri- color in his hand; I saw him in Egypt in the shadow of the Pyramids; I saw him conquer the Alps and mingle the eagles of France with the eagles of the crags; I saw him at Marengo, at Ulm, and Austerlitz; I saw him in Russia, where the infantry of the snow and the cavalry of the wUd blast scattered his legions like winter's withered leaves; I saw him at Leipsic in defeat and disaster — driven by a million bayonets back upon Paris — clutched like a wild beast — banished to Elba. I saw him escape and retake an empire by the force of his genius. I saw him upon the frightful field of Waterloo, where Chance and Fortune combined to wreck the fortunes of their former king, and I saw him at St. Helena, with his hands crossed behind him, gazing out upon the sad and solemn sea. " I thought of the orphans and widows he had made, of the tears that had been shed for his glory, and of the only woman who ever loved him, pushed from his heart by the cold hand of ambition; and I said I would rather have been a French peas- ant and worn wooden shoes; I would rather have lived in a hut with a vine growing over the door, and the grapes growing 314 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN purple-in the rays of the autumn sun; I would rather have been that poor peasant with my loving wife by my side, knitting as the day died out of the sky, with my children about my kaee and their arms about me; I would rather have been that man and gone down to the tongueless silence of the dreamless dust, than have been that imperial impersonation of force and murder." In his eloquent eulogy upon Abraham Lincoln, my neighbor and friend, Hon. Isaac N. Phillips, said: " He lived with Nature and learned of her. He toiled, but his toil was never hopeless and degrading. His feet were upon the earth but the stars shining in perennial beauty were ever above him to inspire contemplation. He heard the song of the thrush, and the carol of the lark. He watched the sun in its course. He knew the dim paths of the forest, and his soul was awed by the power of the storm." The closing sentences of Senator Ingalls's tribute to a departed colleague were sombre indeed: "In the democracy of Death all men are equal. There is neither rank, nor station, nor prerogative, in the republic of the grave. At that fatal threshold the philosopher ceases to be wise, and the song of the poet is silent. There Dives relinquishes his riches and. Lazarus his rags; the creditor loses his usury, and the debtor is acquitted of his obligation; the proud man sur- renders his dignity, the politician his honors, the worldling his pleasures. Here the invalid needs no physician, and the laborer rests from unrequited toil. Here at last is Nature's final decree of equity. The wrongs of time are redressed, and injustice is expiated. The imequal distribution of wealth and honor, capacity, pleasure, and opportimity, which makes life so cruel and inexplicable a tragedy, ceases in the realms of Death. The strongest has there no supremacy, and the weakest needs no defence. The mightiest captain succumbs to the invincible adversary who disarms alike the victor and the vanquished." In his day Edward Everett was the most gifted of Ameri- can orators. His style, however, to readers in " these piping times of peace," seems a trifle stilted. What orator of the twentieth century would attempt such a sentence as the following from Everett's celebrated eulogy upon Washington: "Let us make a national festival and holiday of his birth- day; and ever, as the twenty-second of February returns, let us remember that, while with these solemn and joyous rites of observance we celebrate the great anniversary, our fellow-citizens THE LOST ART OF ORATORY 315 on the Hudson, on the Potomac, from the Southern plains to the Western lakes, are engaged in the same offices of gratitude and love. Nor we, nor they alone; beyond the Ohio, beyond the Mississippi, along that stupendous trail of immigration from the East to the West, which, bursting into States as it moves west- ward, is already threading the Western prairies, swarming through the portals of the Rocfy Mountains and winding down their slopes, the name and the memory of Washington on that gracious night will travel with the silver queen of heaven through sixty degrees of longitude, nor part company with her tUl she walte in her brightness through the Golden Gate of California, and passes serenely on to hold midnight court with her Australian stars. There and there only in barbarous archipelagos, as yet untrodden by civilized man, the name of Washington is im- known; and there, too, when they swarm with enlightened mil- lions, new honors shall be paid with ours to his memory." In my judgment the greatest living orator is William J. Bryan. I have never known a more gifted man. A thor- ough scholar — having like Lord Bacon taken all knowledge for his province — a fearless champion of what he deems the right, he is in the loftiest sense "without fear and without reproach." In introducing him to an immense audience in Blooming- ton when he was first a candidate for the Presidency, I said: "The National Democracy in the Chicago convention se- lected for the Presidency a distinguished statesman of the great Northwest. For the first time in more than one hundred years of our history, a candidate for the great office has been taken from a State lying west of the Mississippi. " In the nomination of our standard-bearer, the convention builded better than it knew. Each passing hour has but em- phasized the wisdom of its choice. Truly it has been said: 'When the times demand the man, the man appears.' The times demanded a great leader — the great leader has appeared! His campaign is the marvel of the age. From the Atlantic seaboard, two thousand miles to the westward, his eloquent words have cheered the despondent, given new hopes and aspirations to the people, touched the hearts of millions of his countrymen. In advocating his election we have kept the faith. We have not departed from the teachings of the fathers. We sacredly preserve the ancient landmarks — the landmarks of all previous Democratic conventions." Rarely has a speech been uttered so effective in its imme- 316 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN diate result as that of Mr. Bryan in the Democratic National Convention of 1896. The occasion was one never to be for- gotten. When Mr. Bryan began his speech he had not been mentioned as a candidate for the Presidency; at its close there was no other candidate. The closing sentences of the memorable speech were: " Our ancestors, when but three millions in number, had the courage to declare their political independence of every other nation; shall we, their descendants, when we have grown to seventy millions, declare that we are less independent than our forefathers? No, my friends, that will never be the verdict of our people. Therefore, we care not upon what lines the battle is fought. If they say bimetallism is good, but that we cannot have it until other nations help us, we reply that, instead of having a gold standard because England has, we will restore bimetallism, and then let England have bimetallism because the United States has it. If they dare to come out in the open field and defend the gold standard as a good thing, we will fight them to the uttermost. Having behind us the producing masses of this nation and the world, supported by the commercial interests, the laboring interests, and the toilers everywhere, we will answer their demand for a gold standard by saying to them : ' You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.'" The closing sentences of his "Prince of Peace" have been read in all languages : " But this Prince of Peace promises not only peace but strength. Some have thought His teachings fit only for the weak and the timid and unsuited to men of vigor, energy, and ambition. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Only the man of faith can be courageous. Confident that he fights on the side of Jehovah, he doubts not the success of his cause. What mat- ters it whether he shares in the shouts of triumph? If every word spoken in behalf of truth has its influence and every deed done for the right weighs in the final account, it is immaterial to the Christian whether his eyes behold victory or whether he dies in the midst of the conflict. ' Yea, though thou lie upon the dust. When they who helped thee flee in fear, Die full of hope and manly trust, Like those who fell in battle here. Another hand thy sword shall wield. Another hand the standard wave, WILLIAM JEXNINGS BRYAN W. H. MILBURN THE LOST ART OF ORATORY 317 Till from the trumpet's mouth is pealed The blast of triumph o'er thy grave.' " Only those who believe attempt the seemingly impossible and, by attempting, prove that one with God can chase a thou- sand and two can put ten thousand to flight. I can imagine that the early Christians who were carried into the arena to make a spectacle for those more savage than the beasts, were entreated by their doubting companions not to endanger their lives. But, Imeeling in the centre of the arena, they prayed and sang until they were devoured. How helpless they seemed and, measured by every human rule, how hopeless was their cause! And yet within a few decades the power which they invoked proved mightier than the legions of the emperor, and the faith in which they died was triumphant o'er all that land. It is said that those who went to mock at their sufferings returned asking them- selves, ' What is it that can enter into the heart of man and make him die as these die?' They were greater conquerors in their death than they could have been had they purchased life by a surrender of their faith. " What would have been the fate of the Church if the early Christians had had as little faith as many of our Christians now have? And, on the other hand, if the Christians of to-day had the faith of the martyrs, how long would it be before the ful- filment of the prophecy that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess? " Our faith should be even stronger than the faith of those who lived two thousand years ago, for we see our religion spread- ing and supplanting the philosophies and creeds of the Orient. " As the Christian grows older he appreciates more and more the completeness with which Christ fills the requirements of the heart and, grateful for the peace which he enjoys and for the strength which he has received, he repeats the words of the great scholar. Sir William Jones: ' Before thy mystic altar, heavenly truth, I kneel in manhood, as I knelt in youth. Thus let me kneel, till this dull form decay, And life's last shade be brightened by thy ray.' " XXX THE COLONELS A CONVIVIAI. MEETING OP LAWYERS HILARITY SMOTHERED BY THE MAINE LAW A FAINTING WAYFARER IS REFUSED A DRINK IN A MAINE VILLAGE THE APOTHECARY DEMANDS A physician's PRESCRIPTION — SNAKE-BITES IN GREAT DEMAND. SOME years ago, I spent a few weeks of inclement winter in a beautiful village in southern Georgia. Upon call- ing at his office to renew my acquaintance with a well- known lawyer, he soon invited in the remaining members of the local bar. Everything was propitious, and the con- versation never for a moment flagged, many experiences of the legal practitioners of the South and of the North be- ing related with happy effect. I at length remarked that since my arrival, I had, some- what to my surprise, learned that " local option " had been adopted in their county. An aged brother, in a tone by no means exultant, assured me that such was the fact. I then observed that I was not a hard drinker, but being a total stranger and liable to sudden sickness, I asked what I would do \mder such circumstances. An equally venerable brother, who bore the unique title of " Colonel," slowly responded, " Have to do without, sir; have to do without; not a drop to be had in the county, absolutely not a drop, sir." The brief silence which followed this annoimcement was broken by the corroborative testimony of a more youthful associate of similar official distinction, and a genial and hos- pitable expression of countenance, somehow suggesting mem- ories of old cognac. " Yes, sir, the use of spirituous liquors is now only a tradition with us; but I have heard my father say, that 318 THE COLONELS 319 before the war, the indulgence in such hospitality was not uncommon among gentlemen." At the conclusion of still further cumulative testimony of the same tenor, I remarked that something about the general situation reminded me of an incident that occurred in a State far to the north while the " Maine Law " was in operation. A dilapidated-looking pedestrian, with a pack on his back, early one afternoon of a hot July day pulled up in front" of the post-office in a small village in the interior of Maine. Humbly addressing a citizen who was just coming out with his copy of the Weekly Tribune in hand, he inquired, " Where can I get a drink? " "The Maine Law is in force," was the reply, "and it is impossible for you to get a drink in the State." The heart of the wayfarer sank within him. "Would you let a man die right here on your streets, for lack of a drink? " The " better angel " of the citizen being touched thereat, he replied, " My friend, I am very sorry for you, but no liquor is ever sold here, except by the apothecary, and then only as a medicine." Upon further inquiry, the important fact was disclosed that the shop of the apothecary was three-quarters of a mile away, on the left-hand side of the road. With an alacrity indicating something of hope, the pedestrian immediately gathered up his pack, and through the dust and heat at length reached the designated place. Sinking apparently exhausted upon the door-step, he feebly requested the man behind the counter to let him have something to drink. The im- mediate reply of the apothecary was that the Maine Law was in force, and no spirituous liquors could be sold except upon the prescription of a physician. After earnest inquiry, it was ascertained that the nearest doctor's office was one mile away, and the man with the pack again betook him- self to the weary highway. Returning an hour later, in tone more pitiful that before, he begged the apothecary, as he 320 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN hoped for mercy himself, to let him have a drink. Upon inquiry as to whether he had procured the required certifi- cate, he said, "No, the doctor wouldn't give me any." The assurance of the apothecary that the case appeared hopeless only added to the distress of the poor man, whose sands seemed now indeed to be running low. Stirred to the depths by the agony of his visitor, the apothecary at length said, " My friend, I would be glad to help you, but it is impos- sible for me to let you have a drink of spirituous liquor unless you have a doctor's certificate or have teen snake-bit." At the last-mentioned suggestion, the face of the man of repeated disappointments measurably brightened, and he eagerly inquired where he could find a snake. The now sympathetic man of bottles told him to follow the main road three miles to the forks, and then a few hundred yards to the west, and he would find a small grove of decayed trees, where there still lingered a few snakes, and by the exercise of a reasonable degree of diligence he might manage to get bit, and thereby lay the foundation for the desired relief. With bundle again in place, and evincing a buoyancy of manner to which he had been a stranger for many hours, the traveller resumed the quest. Hours later, when the shadows had lengthened, and the fire-flies were glistening in the distance, " With a look so piteous in purport. As if he had been loosed out of hell To speak of horrors," he reentered the apothecary's shop, threw down his bundle, and in tones suggestive of the agony of lost souls, agam begged for a drink. " Did you get snake-bit? " was the feeling inquiry of the man at the helm. " No," was the heart-rending reply, "every snake I met had engagements six months ahead, for all the bites he cotdd furnish!" XXXI REMINISCENCES A BARBECUE AT THE BLUE SPRING, KY. NOTABLE NATIVES OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD THE SCHOOLHOUSE CHURCH — SOME OF THE PREACHERS — THE TEACHER OF SINGING HOW THE SCHOOLMASTER WAS PAID — MANNERS AND DISCIPLINE THE DEBATING SOCIETY — THE WRITER'S SPEECH TO HIS OLD NEIGHBORS SOME BOYHOOD FRIENDS. SOON after my nomination for the Vice-Presidency, in 1892, I attended a barbecue at the Blue Spring, a stone's throw from my father's old home in Kentucky. This was in the county of Christian, in the southwestern part of the State. It is a large and wealthy coimty, its tobacco product probably exceeding that of any other county in the United States. Christian Coimty was the early home of men distinguished in the field, at the bar, and in the State and National coun- cils. Hopkinsville, the county-seat, had been the home of Stites, the learned Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals; of Jackson, who fell while gallantly leading his command at the battle of Perry ville; of Morehead, an early and distinguished Governor of the Commonwealth; of Sharp, whose legal acu- men would have secured him distinction at any bar; of McKenzie, whose wit and eloquence made him the long- time idol and the Representative in Congress, of the famed "Pennyrile" district; of Bristow, the accomplished Secre- tary of the Treasury during the administration of Presi- dent Grant; of the Henry brothers, three of whom, from different States, were at a later day Representatives in Congress, and one the Whig candidate against Andrew Johnson for Governor of Tennessee. Hon. Gustavus A. Henry, well known as the "Eagle Orator of Tennessee," was the Whig candidate for Governor of the State in opposition to Andrew Johnson, at a later day 321 322 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN President of the United States. The latter was at the time an old-fashioned, steady-going mountain orator with none of the brilliancy of his gifted antagonist. At the close of a series of joint debates Johnson said: "This speech terminates our joint debates. I have now encountered the 'Eagle Orator' upon every stump in the State, and come out of the contest with no flesh of mine in his claws — no blood of mine upon his beak." To which Henry instantly replied: "The eagle — the proud bird of freedom — never wars upon a corpse!" A few miles from the Blue Spring, in the same county, were the early homes of Senator Roger Q. Mills of Texas, Governor John M. Palmer of Illinois, and Jefferson Davis of the Southern Confederacy. Less than a score of miles to the southward, upon the banks of the Cumberland in Tennessee, stood historic Fort Donelson; while a few hours' journey to the northward stands the monument which marks the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln. Following the earliest westward trail from Iredell County, North Carolina, across the Blue Ridge Mountains, for a great distance along the banks of the romantic French Broad my grandfathers, "Scotch-Irish Presbyterians," James Stevenson and Adlai Ewing, with their immediate families and others of their kindred, had in the early days of the century, after a long and perilous journey, finally reached the famous Spring already mentioned. Near by, their tents were pitched, and in time permanent homes established in the then wilderness of southwestern Kentucky. The first public building constructed was of logs, with puncheon floor, and set apart to the double purpose of school- house and church for the use of all denominations. Its site was near the spot where the speaker's stand was now erected for the barbecue which I have mentioned. From the pulpit of this rude building, the early settlers had more than once listened spell-bound to the eloquence of Peter Cartwright, Henry B. Bascom, Nathan L. Rice, Finis Ewing, and Alexander Campbell. In this old church the time-honored custom was for some REMINISCENCES 323 one of its oflBcers to line out the hymn, two lines at a time, and then lead the singing, in which the congregation joined. Among my earUest recollections is that of my uncle, Squire McKenzie, one of the best of men, standing immediately in front of the pulpit, and faithfully discharging this im- portant duty after the hymn had been read in full by the minister. I distinctly recall the solemn tones in which, upon communion occasions, he lined out, in measured and mellow cadence, the good old hymn beginning: " 'T was on that dark, that doleful night, When powers of earth and hell arose." Mr. Sawyer, too, the old-time singing-school teacher, has honored place in my memory. Once a month, in the old church, the singing-school class of which we were all members regularly assembled. The school was in four di- visions, Bass, Tenor, Counter, and Treble; each member was provided with a copy of the "Missouri Harmony," with "fa," "sol," "la," "mi," appearing in mysterious characters upon every page: the master, magnifying his office, as with timing- fork in hand he stood proudly in the midst, raised the time, and as it progressed smiled or deeply frowned upon each of the divisions as occasion seemed to require. His voice has long been hushed, but I seem again to hear his cheery com- mand, "Attention, class! Utopia, page one hxmdred!" Looking back through the long vista of years, it is my honest belief that such singing as his, at home or abroad, I have never heard. Upon his tablet might appropriately have been inscribed : " Sleep undisturbed within this sacred shrine. Till angels wake thee with notes like thine." To this old field school came in the early times the "schol- ars " for many miles around. It was in very truth the only Alma Mater, for that generation, of almost the entire southern portion of the county. My father in his boyhood attended this school, as did his kinsmen, John W. and Fielding N. Ewing; the last named of whom was, at a much later period, 324 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Bloomington, Illinois, and his elder brother was the Mayor of that city. At that early day, and later when I attended the same school, there were no salaries provided for the teachers. The schoolmaster visited the families within reasonable distance of the schoolhouse with his subscription paper, and the school was duly opened when a sufficient number of pupils had subscribed. The ways of the old field school and the methods of the old-time teachers belong now to the past. Once experienced, however, they have an abiding place in the memory. The master, upon his accustomed perch near the spacious fire- place, with his ever-present symbol of authority, the rod— which even Solomon would have considered fully up to the orthodox standard — in alarming proximity; the boys "mak- ing their manners" by scraping the right foot upon the floor and bowing low as they entered the school-room; the girls upon like occasions equally faithful in the practice of a be- witching little "curtsey" which only added to their charms: the "studying aloud," the hum of the school-room being there- by easily heard a mile or two away; the timid approach to the dreaded master with the humble request that he would "mend a pen," "parse a verb," or "do a sum." An hour, called recess, was given for the diimer from the baskets brought from home, and then the glorious old games, marbles, town-ball, and "bull pen," to the heart's content! At the sound of the ominous command, "Books!" each scholar promptly resumed his seat, the merry shout of the playground at once giving way to the serious business of "saying lessons." In those good old days, the slightest act of omission or com- mission upon the part of the pupil was confronted with a terrible condition instead of a harmless theory. In very truth the uncomfortable effect of the punishment unfailingly administered— "doing his duty to your parents," as the petty school-rooni tyrant was wont to observe — was in small degree lessened by the comforting assurance that the victim "would thank him for it the longest day he lived!" Then, to crown all, came the debating society, with the REMINISCENCES 325 schoolmaster presiding, the entire neighborhood, sweethearts and all, in attendance, and the boys for the first time testing their oratorical powers. Vigilant preparations having been made for the discussion of such momentous questions as: "Which deserves the most credit, Columbus for dis- covering America, or Washington for defending it?" or "Which brings the greater happiness to mankind, pursuit or possession?" In "Georgia Scenes" is an amusing account of a debate in a backwoods "Academy" nearly a century ago. The two brightest boys, after anxious preparation, succeeded in form- ulating for debate a question utterly meaningless, but which appeared upon hurried reading to touch the very bed-rock of human government. The "conspirators" mentioned were the respective leaders in the debate which closed the public exercises of the annual "Exhibition" of the Academy. The leaders had made careful preparation for the contest, and appeared fully to imderstand the question, and each in turn highly complimented the able argument of his rival. Much amusement was caused by the remaining speakers, when called in order, who candidly admitted that they did n't understand the question, and patiently submitted to the fine imposed by the rules of the Society. That a boy of but mediocre talents should have failed to participate in the debate, will not be considered remarkable when the ques- tion is stated: "Whether, in pubUc elections, the vote of faction should prevail by internal suggestions, or the bias of jurisprudence? " The late General Gordon related to me the above incident, and added that the leaders mentioned were at a later day well known to the country, one the learned Bishop Longstreet of Georgia, the other the eloquent Senator McDufiie of South Carolina. Events almost forgotten, forms long since vanished, were vividly recalled as, after long absence, I revisited the spot inseparably blended with the joyous associations of child- hood. The platform from which I was to speak had been erected near the ruins of the old church above mentioned, of 326 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN which my grandfather had been a rulmg elder, my fa1 mother, and other kindred the earliest members. Upon my introduction to the vast assemblage — the { things suggested by "barbecue" having meanwhile give all an abundant feeling of contentment — I began by 1 reference to the pleasure I experienced in agaia visiting, s the passing of the years which separated childhood i middle age, scenes once so famiUar, and meeting face to so many of my early associates and friends, and remar that in the early days in Illinois the not unusual reply of Kentucky emigrant, when asked what part of the Old C monwealth he came from was, "From the Blue Grass, "From near Lexington," but that my invariable answe that inquiry had ever been, "From the Pennyrile!" Some mention I made of Mr. Caskie, the dreaded scl master of the long ago, caused a momentary commotio the audience, and immediately a man of white hairs and be by the weight of more than fourscore years, was lifted to front of the platform. With arm about my neck, he earne inquired: "Adlai, I came twenty miles to hear you sp don't you remember me?" The audience apparently ap ciated the instant reply: "Yes, Mr. Caskie, / still have a marks left to remember you by!" The venerable and long ago forgiven schoolmaster fearfully deaf, and to prevent the possibiUty of a single \ escaping him, he stood close beside me, and with his 1 behind his ear and the other resting tenderly on my shoul faithfully followed me in my journeyings to and fro across stage during the two-hours' speech which followed. My speech at length concluded, I was warmly greetec scores of old neighbors and friends. Just forty years passed since my father had removed his family to Illii and it may well be believed that it was difficult to r( promptly all the names and faces of those I had know: childhood. Even a candidate has, at such times, "s rights imder the Constitution"; one of which, I hon( believe, is total exemption from the tormenting inqui " Do you know me? Well, what is my name? " The lau REMINISCENCES 327 even of Job, had he ever been a candidate, would probably have turned to willows. I am here reminded of an experience of one of my early competitors for Congress. It was his happy forte to re- member instantly all his old acquaintances; not only that, but to know their full names. To call out in friendly and familiar tone, in and out of season, "Bill," "Dick," "Sam," "Bob," a hundred times a day, was as natural to him as to teeathe. Upon one occasion, however, the fates seemed shghtly untoward. At the close of one of our joint debates, in the southern part of the district, he was greeted by a demure- looking individual with the salutation, "How are you, Judge?" "My dear sir," exclaimed the regular candidate, grasping the interrogator warmly by the hand, "how are you, and how is the old lady?" "I am not married. Judge," was the deliberate response, as of one assuming the entire responsibility. "Certainly not, certainly not, my dear sir; I meant your mother. How is that excellent old lady?" "My mother has been dead twenty years, Judge," was the mournful reply. A trifle embarrassed, but not entirely off his base, the judge looked earnestly into the face of the bereaved, and said : "My friend, excuse me, your countenance is perfectly familiar to me, but I do not at this moment remember exactly who you are." The response was, "Judge, / am an evangelist." To which the candidate for Congress, now upon a firm footing, tapped the man of the sacred office familiarly upon the shoulder and cheerfully exclainied, "Why, damn it, Van, I thought I ought to know you!" Returning now for brief sojourn to the afore-mentioned barbecue, with a faithful kinsman as monitor, aided by a slight moiety of tact to be credited to personal account, I managed passably well to get through the trying ordeal. "The old gentleman with the long white beard, coming 328 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN toward us," observed my monitor, "is Uncle Jake Anderson. He has a hat bet that you will know him." Thus advised, I was ready for trial, and warmly grasping the hand extended me, I earnestly inquired, "Uncle Jake, how are you?" "Do you know me, boy?" was his immediate response. "Know you?" I repUed. "You and my father were near neighbors for years; how could I help knowing you? " "Yes, of course," he said, "but you being gone so long, and now running for President, I did n't know but what you had forgotten all about the old neighbors down on the Lick." Assuring him that I had forgotten none of them, and congratulating him upon the hat he had won, I passed on to the next. The interview described was repeated with slight variar tions, many times, when my attendant remarked : "That man leaning against the tree is John Dunloe; do you remember him? " "Certainly," I replied, "I went to school with him." Immediately approaching my early classmate I took him by the hand and said, "How are you, John?" "Why, Adlai, do you know me?" was the prompt response. "Know you," said I, "did n't we go to school together to Mr. Caskie right here at Blue Water, when we were boys?" "Yas, of course we did," slowly answered my sometime school-fellow, "but you been 'sociatin' with them big fellows down about Washington so long, that I did n't know but what you had forgot us poor fellows down in the Pennyrile." Assuring him that I nevgr forgot my old friends, I in- quired, "John, where is your brother Bill?" "He 's here," was the instant reply "Me and Bill started before daylight to get to this barbecue in time. Bill 'lowed he 'd riUher go forty miles on foot to hear you make a speech, than go to a hangin'." XXXII A TRIBUTE TO IRELAJJD* THE WHITEE's visit TO NOTABLE PLACES IN IRELAND HIS TRIBUTE OF PRAISE TO HER GREAT MEN AMERICA'S OBU- GATION TO IRISH SOLDIERS AND STATESMEN. I ACCEPTED with pleasure the invitation to meet with you. For the courtesy so generously extended me I am profoundly grateful. Within late years it has been my privilege to visit Ire- land; and I can truly say that no country in Europe possessed for me a deeper interest than the Uttle island about whose name clusters so much of romance and of enchantment. I saw Ireland in its beauty and in its gloom; in its glory and in its desolation. I stood upon the Giant's Causeway, one of the grand masterpieces of the Almighty; I visited the his- toric parks and deserted legislative halls of venerated Dublin; threaded the streets and byways of the quaint old city of Cork; listened to the bells of Shandon; sailed over the beautiful lakes of Killarney, and gazed upon the old castles of Muckross and of Blarney, whose ivy-covered ruins tell of the far-away centuries. What a wonderful island! The birthplace of wits, of warriors, of statesmen, of poets, and of orators. Of its people it has been truly said: "They have fought success- fully the battles of every country but their own." Upon occasion such as this, the Irishman — to whatever spot in this wide world he may have wandered — lives in the shadow of the past. In imagination he is once more under the ancestral roof; the vine-clad cottage is again a thing of reality. Again he wears the shamrock; again he hears the songs of his native land, while his heart is stirred by memories of her wrongs and of her glory. What a splendid contribution Ireland has made to the * Speech delivered by Mr. Stevenson at a banquet of the United Irish Societies of Chicago, September, 1900. 329 330 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN world's galaxy of great men! In the realm of poetry, Gold- smith and Tom Moore; of oratory, Sheridan, Emmett, Grattan, O'Connell, Burke, and in later years Charles Stewart Pamell, whose thrilling words I heard a third of a century ago, plead- ing the cause of his oppressed countrymen. The obligation of America to Ireland for men who have aided in fighting her battles and framing her laws cannot be measm-ed by words. In the British possessions to the north- ward, in the old city of Quebec, there is one spot dear to the American heart — that where fell the brave Montgomery, fighting the battles of his adopted country. What school- boy is not familiar with the story of gallant Phil Sheridan and "Winchester twenty miles away"? Illinoisans will never forget Shields, the hero of two wars, the senator from three States. It was an Irish- American poet of a neighbormg State who wrote of our fallen soldiers words that will live while we have a country and a language: " The muffled drum's sad roll has beat The soldier's last tattoo; No more on life's parade shall meet That brave and fallen few." The achievements of representatives of this race along every pathway of useful and honorable endeavor are a part of our own history. We honor to-day the far-away island, the deeds and sacrifices of whose sons have added so brilUant a chapter to American history. From the assembling of the First Continental Congress to the present hour, in every legislative hall the Irishman has been a factor. His bones have whitened every American battlefield from the first con- flict with the British regulars to the closing hour of our struggle with Spain. The love of hberty is deeply ingrained into the very life of the Irishman. The history of his country is that of a gallant people struggling for a larger measure of freedom. His most precious heritage is the record of his countrymen, who upon the battlefield and upon the scaffold have sealed their devotion to hberty with their blood. With such men it was a living faith that — A TRIBUTE TO IRELAND 331 " Whether on the scaffold high Or in the battle's van The fittest place for man to die Is where he dies for man." With a history reaching into the far past, every page of which tells of the struggle for liberty, it is not strange that the ss^mpathies of the Irishman are with the oppressed every- where on God's footstool. Irishmen, in common with liberty- loving men everjrwhere, looked with abhorrence upon the attempt of a great European power to establish monarchy upon the ruins of republics. May we not confidently abide in the hope that brighter days are in waiting for the beautiful island and her gallant people? I close with the words: "God bless old Ireland!" XXXIII THE BLIND CHAPLAIN DB. MILBURN's solemnity IN PRAYER HIS VENERABLE AP- PEARANCE HIS CONVERSATIONAL POWERS HIS CUSTOM OF PRAYING FOR SICK MEMBERS. NO Senator who ever sat under the ministrations of Dr. Milburn, the blind chaplain, can ever forget his earnest and solemn invocation. When rolling from his tongue, each word of the Lord's Prayer seemed to weigh a pound. His venerable appearance and sightless eyes gave a tinge of pathetic emphasis to his every utterance. He was a man of rare gifts; in early Ufe, before the entire failure of his sight, he had known much of active service in his sacred calling upon Western circuits. He had been the fellow-laborer of Cartwright, Bascom, and other eminent Methodist ministers of the early times. Dr. Milburn was the Chaplain of the House during the Mexican War, and often a guest at the Executive Mansion when Mr. Polk was President. He knew well many of the leading statesmen of that period. He possessed rare con- versational powers; and notwithstanding his blindness, poverty, and utter loneliness, he remained the pleasing, entertaining gentleman to the last. It was the custom of the good Chaplain, with the aid of a faithful monitor, to keep thoroughly advised as to the health of the senators and their families. The bare mention, in the morning paper, of any ill having befallen any states- man of whom he was, for the time, the official spiritual shep- herd, was the unfailing precursor of special and affectionate mention at the next convening of the Senate. Moreover, iv the discharge of this sacred duty, his invariable habit was to designate the object of his special invocation as "the Senior Senator" or "Junior Senator," carefully giving the name of his State. It is within the realm of probability that since 332 THE BLIND CHAPLAIN 333 the first humble petition was breathed, there has never been an apparently more prompt answer to prayer than that now to be related. The Morning Post contained an item to the effect that Senator Voorhees was ill. Dm-ing the accustomed invoca- tion which preceded the opening of the session, an earnest petition ascended for "the Senior Senator from Indiana," that he might "soon be restored to his wonted health, and permitted to return to the seat so long and so honorably occupied." A moment later, the touching invocation being ended, and the Senate duly in session, the stately form of "the Sen- ior Senator from Indiana" promptly emerged from the cloak- room, and quietly resumed the seat he had "so long and so honorably occupied." XXXIV A MEMORABLE CENTENNIAL GEORGE WASHINGTON LAYING THE CORNER-STONE OF THE CAPITOL — PROGRESS OF THE REPUBUC DURING THE NINE- TEENTH CENTURY — NOTABLE MEN WHO WERE CONSPIC- UOUS AT THE nation's BIRTH — CONGRESS HELD AT VARIOUS PLACES BEFORE 1800 — THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA FORMED — NECESSITY FOR ENLARGING THE CAPITOL AT WASHINGTON — A DOCUMENT BY WEBSTER DEPOSITED BENEATH THE CORNER-STONE OF THE ADDITIONS — HIGH DEBATES HELD IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE — PRESENT LOCATION OF THE SENATE CHAMBER — GREAT INCREASE OF POPULATION, TERRITORY, AND COMMERCE — THE TWO DIVISIONS OF CON- GRESS. ON the eighteenth day of September, 1893, the first cen- tennial of the laying of the corner-stone of the national Capitol was celebrated by appropriate ceremonies in Washington City. President Cleveland presided, and seated upon the plat- form were the members of his Cabinet, the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court of the United States, and the Foreign Ambassadors. The oration was delivered by the Hon. William Wirt Henry, of Richmond, Virginia, grandson of Patrick Henry. The addresses which followed were by myself, representing the Senate; Speaker Crisp, representing the House; and Jus- tice Brown, the Supreme Court. I spoke as follows: "This day and this hour mark the close of a century of our national history. No ordinary event has called us together. Standing in the presence of this august assem- blage of the people, upon the spot where Washington stood, we solenmly commemorate the one-hundredth anniversary of the laying of the corner-stone of the nation's Capitol. 334 A MEMORABLE CENTENNIAL 335 "It is well that this day has been set apart as a national holiday, that all public business has been suspended, and that the President and his Cabinet, the members of the great Court, and of the Congress, unite with their covmtrymen in doing honor to the memory of the men who, one hundred years ago, at this hour, and upon this spot, put in place the corner-stone of the Capitol of the American Republic. The century rolls back, and we stand in the presence of the grand- est and most imposing figure known to any age or country. Washington, as Grand Master of Free and Accepted Masons, clothed in the symbolic garments of that venerable Order, wearing the apron and the sash wrought by the hands of the wife of the beloved La Fayette, impressively and in accord- ance with the time-honored usages of that Order, is laying his hands upon the corner-stone of the future and permanent Capitol of his country. The solemn ceremonies of the hour were conducted by Washington, not only in his office of Grand Master of Free Masons, but in his yet more august office of President of the United States. Assisting him in the fitting observance of these impressive rites, were representatives of the Masonic Lodges of Virginia and Maryland, while aroimd him stood men whose honored names live with his in history — the men who, on field and in council, had aided first in achiev- ing independence, and then in the yet more difficult task of garnering, by wise legislation, the fruits of victory. Truly, the centennial of an event so fraught with interest should not pass imnoticed. "History furnishes no parallel to the century whose close we now conamemorate. Among all the centuries it stands alone. With hearts filled with gratitude to the God of our fathers, it is well that we recall something of the progress of the yoimg Republic, since the masterful hour when Washington laid his hands upon the foundation-stone of yonder Capitol. "The seven years of colonial struggle for liberty had terminated in glorious victory. Independence had been achieved. The Articles of Confederation, binding the Col- onies together in a mere league of friendship, had given place 336 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN to the Constitution of the United States — that wonderful instrument, so aptly declared by Mr. Gladstone to be 'the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man.' "Without a dissenting voice in the Electoral Colleges, Washington had been chosen President. At his council- table sat Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Inde- pendence; Hamilton, of whom it has been said, ' He smote the rock of the national resources, and abundant streams of revenue gushed forth. He touched the dead corpse of the public credit, and it sprung upon its feet'; Knox, the brave and trusted friend of his chief during the colonial struggle; and Edmimd Randolph, the impress of whose genius has been indelibly left upon the Federal Constitution. Vermont and Kentucky, as sovereign States — coequal with the original thirteen — had been admitted into the Union. The Supreme Court, consisting of six members, had been constituted, with the learned jurist John Jay as its Chief Justice. The popular branch of the Congress consisted of but one hundred and five members. Thirty members consti- tuted the Senate, over whose deliberations presided the patriot statesman, John Adams. The population of the entire country was less than foiir millions. The village of Wash- ington, the capital — and I trust for all coming ages the cap- ital — contained but a few hmidred inhabitants. "After peace had been concluded with Great Britain, and while we were yet under the Articles of Confederation, the sessions of the Congress were held successively at Prince- ton, Annapolis, Trenton, and New York. In the presence of both houses of Congress, on the thirtieth day of April, 1789, in the city of New York, Washington had been inaugurated President. From that hour — the beginning of our Govern- ment imder the Constitution — the Congress was held in New York, until 1790, then in Philadelphia imtil 1800, when, on November 17, it first convened in Washington. The neces- sity of selecting a suitable and central place for the permanent location of the seat of Government early engaged the thought- ful consideration of our fathers. It cannot be supposed A MEMORABLE CENTENNIAL 337 that the question reached a final determination without great embarrassment, earnest discussion, and the manifestation of sectional jealousies. But, as has been well said, the good genius of om- system finally prevailed, ' and a district of ter- ritory on the River Potomac, at some place between the mouths of the Eastern branch and the Conococheague,' was, by Act of Congress of June 28, 1790, ' accepted for the per- manent seat of the Government of the United States.' From the seventeenth day of November, 1800, this city has been the capital. When that day came, Washington had gone to his grave, John Adams was President, and Jefferson the presiding officer of the Senate. It may be well to re- call that upon the occasion of the assembling for the first time of the Congress in the Capitol, President Adams ap- peared before the Senate and the House, in joint session, and said: " ' It would be unbecoming the representatives of this nation to assemble for the first time in this solemn temple, without look- ing up to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe and imploring His blessing. You will consider it as the capital of a great nation, advancing with unexampled rapidity in arts, in commerce, in wealth, and population, and possessing within itself those re- sources which, if not thrown away or lamentably misdirected, will secure it a long course of prosperity and self-government.' "To this address of President Adams the Senate made reply: " ' We meet you, sir, and the other branch of the national Legislature, in the city which is honored by the name of our late hero and sage, the illustrious Washington, with sensations and emotions which exceed our power of description.' "From the date last given until the burning of the Cap- itol by the British, in 1814, in the room now occupied by the Supreme Court Library, in the north wing, were held the sessions of the Senate. That now almost forgotten apartment witnessed the assembling of Senators who, at an earlier period of our history, had been the associates of Washington and of Franklin, and had themselves played no mean part in crystalUzing into the great organic law, the deathless principles of the Declaration of Independence. 338 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN From this chamber went forth the second Declaration of War against Great Britain; and here, before the Senate as a court of impeachment, was arraigned a Justice of the Su- preme Court of the United States, to answer the charge of alleged high crimes and misdemeanors. "With the rolling years and the rapid growth of the Repub- lic, came the imperative necessity for enlarging its Capitol. The debates upon this subject culminated in the Act of Con- gress of September 30, 1850, providing for the erection of the north and south wings of the Capitol. Thomas U. Walter was the architect to whose hands was committed the great work. Yonder noble structure will stand for ages the silent witness of the fidelity with which the important trust was discharged. "The comer-stone of the additions was laid by President Fillmore, on the fourth day of July, 1851. In honor of that event, and by request of the President, Mr. Webster pronounced an oration, and while we have a country and a language his words will touch a responsive chord in patri- otic hearts. Beneath the comer-stone was then deposited a paper, in the handwriting of Mr. Webster, containing the following words: " ' If it shall be, hereafter, the will of God, that this structure shall fall from its base, that its foundation be upturned and this deposit brought to the eyes of men, be it then known that on this day the Union of the United States of America stands firm, that their Constitution still exists unimpaired, with all its orig- inal usefulness and glory, growing every day stronger and stronger in the affections of the great body of the American people, and attracting more and more the attention of the world. And all here assembled, whether belonging to public life or to private life, with hearts devoutly -thankful to Almighty God for the preservation of the liberty and happiness of the country, unite in sincere and fervent prayers that this deposit, and the walls and arches, the domes and towers, the columns and entablatures now to be erected over it, may endure forever.' " From the sixth day of December, 1819, imtil January 4, 1859, a period of thirty-nine years, the sessions of the Senate were held in the present Supreme Court room. This A MEMORABLE CENTENNIAL S39 was, indeed, the arena of high debate. When, in any age, or in any country, has there been gathered, within so small compass, so much of human greatness? Even tosug- gest the great questions here discussed and ^ determined, would be to write a history of that eventful period. It was, indeed, the coming together of the master spirits of the second generation of American statesmen. Here were Macon and Crawford, Benton, Randolph, Cass, Bell, Houston, Preston, Buchanan, Seward, Chase, Crittenden, Sumner, Choate, Everett, Breese, Trumbull, Fessenden, Doi^las, Clay, Calhoun, Webster, and others scarcely less illustrious. Within the walls of that Uttle chamber was heard the won- drous debate between Hayne and Webster. There began the fierce conflict of antagonistic ideas touching the respective powers of the States and of the Nation — a confliict which, transferred to a different theatre, found final solution only in the bloody arbitrament of arms. "For more than a third of a century the sessions of the Senate have been held in the magnificent chamber of the north wing of the Capitol. Of the procession of sixty-two Senators that, preceded by the Vice-President, Mr. Breck- enridge, entered the Chamber for the first time, on the fourth day of January, 1859, but four survive; not one remains in public life. It is, indeed, now a procession of shadows. "When the foundation-stone of this Capitol was laid, our Republic was in its infancy, and self-government yet an untried experiment. It is a proud reflection to-day that time has proved the true arbiter, and that the capacity of a free and intelligent people to govern themselves by writ- ten constitution and laws, of their own making, is no longer an experiment. The crucial test of a century of unparalleled material prosperity has been safely endured. "In 1793 there was no city west of the AUeghanies. To- day a single city on Lake Michigan contains a population of a little less than one-half of the Republic at the time of the first inauguration of Washington. States have been carved out of the wilderness, and our great rivers, whose silence met no 340 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN break on their pathway to the sea, are now the arteries of our interior trade, and bear upon their bosoms a commerce which surpasses a hundred-fold that of the entire country a century ago. "From fifteen States and four millions of people, we have grown to fifty States and Territories, and sixty-seven mil- lions of people; from an area of eight hundred and five thou- sand, to an area of three million, six hundred thousand square miles; from a narrow strip along the Atlantic seaboard, to an unbroken possession from ocean to ocean. How marvel- lous the increase in our national wealth! In 1793, our im- ports amounted to thirty-one million, and our exports to twenty-six million dollars. Now our imports are eight hun- dred and forty-seven milUon, and our exports one bilUon and thirty milhon dollars. Thirty-three million tons of freight are carried on our Great Lakes, whose only burden then was the Indian's canoe. Then our national wealth was incon- siderable; now our assessed valuation amounts to the enor- mous sum of twenty-four bilhons, six hundred and fifty million dollars. Then trade and travel were dependent upon beasts of burden and on sailing vessels; now steam and electricity do our bidding, railroads cover the land, boats burden the waters, the telegraph reaches every city and hamlet; distance is annihilated, and " 'Civilization, on her luminous wings, Soars, Phcenix-like, to Jove.' "In the presence of this wondrous fulfilment of predicted greatness, prophecy looks out upon the future and stands dumb. "When this corner-stone was laid, France, then in the throes of revolution, had just declared war against Great Britain — a war in which all Europe eventually became in- volved. Within a century of that hour, m the capital of France, there convened an international court, its presiding officer an eminent citizen of the French Republic, its mem- bers representatives of sovereign European States, its object the peaceable adjustment of controversies between Great Britain and the United States. A MEMORABLE CENTENNIAL 841 "Was it Richelieu who said, 'Take away the sword; States can be saved without it ' ? " In no part of our mechanism of government was the wis- dom of our fathers more strikingly displayed than in the division of power into the three great departments — legisla- tive, executive, and judicial. In an equal degree was that wisdom manifested by the division of the Congress into a Senate and a House of Representatives. Upon the Senate the Constitution has devolved important functions other than those of a merely legislative character. Coequal with the House in matters of legislation, it is, in addition, the advisory body of the President in appointments to office, and in treat- ing with foreign nations. The mode of election, together with the long term of service, unquestionably fosters a spirit of conservatism in the Senate. Always organized, it is the continuing body of our national legislature. Its members change, but the Senate continues — the same now as at the first hour of the Republic. Before no human tribunal come for determination issues of weightier moment. It were idle to doubt that problems yet lie in our pathway as a nation, as difl&cult of solution as any that in times past have tried the courage or tested the wisdom of our fathers. Yet, may we not confidently abide in the faith that in the keeping of those who succeed the illustrious sages I have named, the dearest interests of our country will be faithfully conserved, and in the words of an eminent predecessor, 'though these marble walls moulder into ruin, the Senate, in another age, may bear into a new and large chamber the Constitution, vigorous and inviolate, and that the last generation of posterity shall witness the deUberations of the representa- tives of American States, still united, prosperous, and free'? "And may our fathers' God, 'from out whose hand the centuries fall like grains of sand,' continue to the American people, throughout all the ages, the prosperity and blessings which He has given to us in the past," XXXV COLUMBUS MONUMENT IN CENTRAL PARK FITNESS OP NEW YORK AS THE SITE FOB THE STATUE — VAST IMPORTANCE OF THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA COLUMBUS's HUMILITY AND HIS TRUST IN GOD THE STATUE UNVEILED CONCLUDING WORDS OF MR. DEPEW'S ORATION. FACING the statue of Shakespeare in Central Park, New York, is that of Christopher Columbus. It was unveiled with appropriate ceremonies. General James Grant Wilson presided; Mrs. Julia Ward Howe read her beautiful poem, "The Mariner's Dream," and the oration was de- livered by the Hon. Chauncey Depew. Upon this occasion I spoke as follows: " This hour will live in history. Central Park, beautiful and magnificent, is the fitting place for the statue of Columbus. It is well that to the City of New York, the metropolis of the continent, should have fallen the grateful task of portraying to the millions of all the coming ages the features of the man who, despite obstacles and dangers, marked out the pathway to the New World. " The name and fame of Columbus belong exclusively to no age or country. They are the enduring heritage of all people. Your President has truly said : ' In all the transac- tions of history, there is no act which, for vastness and per- formance, can be compared to the discovery of the continent of America. In the modest words of the great navigator, he 'only opened the gates'; and lo! there came in the builders of a new and mighty nation. " It is said that in Venice there is sacredly preserved a let- ter written by Columbus a few hours before he sailed from Palos. With reverent expression of trust in God, humbly, but with unfaltering faith, he spoke of his proposed voyage to that famous land. He builded better than he knew. His dream, while a suppliant in the outer chambers of kings, and while 342 COLUMBUS MONUMENT IN CENTRAL PARK 343 keeping lonely vigil on the deep, was the discovery of a new pathway to the Indies. Yet who can doubt that to his prophetic soul was then foreshadowed something of that famous land with the warp and woof of whose history, tra- dition, and song, his name and fame are linked for all time? Was it Mr. Winthrop who said of Columbus and his compeers: 'They were the pioneers in the march to independence; the precursors in the only progress of freedom which was to have no backward steps.' " Is it too much to say of this man that among the world's benefactors a greater than he hath not appeared? What page in our history tells of deeds so fraught with blessings to the generations of men as the discovery of America? Colum- bus added a continent to the map of the world. " I will detain you no longer. Your eyes will now behold this splendid work of art. It is well that its approaches are firm and broad, for along this pathway, with the rolling cen- turies, will come, as pilgrims to a shrine, the myriads of all lands to behold this statue of Columbus, this enduring monu- ment of the gratitude of a great city, of a great nation." As the last words were spoken, I leaned over and grasped the rope fastened to the flag that enveloped the statue. The flag parted on either side and was removed by attendants. The statue stood revealed in all its beauty under the shade of the great elms of the Mall. Mr. Depew concluded his eloquent oration with the follow- ing words: " We are here to erect this statue to his memory because of the unnumbered blessings to America and to the people of every race and clime which have followed his discovery. His genius and faith gave succeeding* generations the opportunity for life and liberty. We, the heirs of all the ages, in the plenitude of our enjoyments, and the prodigality of the favors showered upon us, hail Columbus our benefactor." XXXVI A PLATFORM NOT DANGEROUS TO STAND UPON A CITIZEN WHO LONGED TO BE A MEMBER OF THE MISSOURI LEGIS- LATURE A COMMITTEE APPOINTED BY A MEETING OP HIS FRIENDS DIFFICULTY IN ARRANGING THE PLATFORM — THE RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED UNANIMOUSLY. THE builders of political platforms, which uniformly "point with pride" and "view with alarm," may pos- sibly glean a valuable suggestion from the following incident related by Governor Knott. In the coxmty in the good State of Missouri in which his fortune was cast for a while, there lived and flourished, in the ante-bellum days, one Solomon P. Rodes, whose earnest and long-continued yearn- ing was to be a member of the State Legislature. So intense, indeed, had this feeling become in the mind of Solomon, that he at length openly declared that he "would rather go to the Missouri Legislater, than to be the Czar of Rooshy." And in passing, it may here be safely admitted that even a wiser man than Solomon might make this declaration in these early years of the twentieth century. Following the example of greater men than himself when aspiring to public office, Mr. Rodes called a meeting of his party friends in his precinct, to the end that his modest "boom" might be successfully latmched. After the accus- tomed organization had been effected, a committee of five, of which our aspirant was chairman, was duly appointed to prepare and present appropriate resolutions. The committee at once retired for consultation, to a log in the rear of the schoolhouse, leaving the convention in session. No rattling orator being present to arouse the enthusiasm so essential to patient waiting, the little assemblage, wearied by the delay, at length despatched a messenger to expedite, if possible, the labors of the committee. The messenger foimd the committee in a condition far otherwise than encouraging. A PLATFORM NOT DANGEROUS TO STAND UPON 345 The resolutions had failed to materialize, and the chairman, seated upon the log, with pencil in hand, and gazing pensively upon a blank leaf before him, seemed the very picture of despair. Upon a second admonition from the unreasonably impatient meeting, that adjournment would immediately take place vmless the resolutions were reported, the committee hastily concluded its labors and, preceded by the chairman with document in hand, solemnly returned to the place of assembly. The resolutions, two in number, and unanimously and with great enthusiasm promptly adopted, were in words and figures as follows, to-wit : " (1) Resolv that in the declaration of independence and likewise also in the constitution of the united states, we rec- ognize a able and well ritten document, and that we are tetotually oppose to the repeal of airy one of the aforesaid instruments of riting. Resolv : " (2) that in our fellow-townsman, Solomon P. Rodes, we view a onest man and hereby annominate him for the legis- later." XXXVII ANECDOTES OF GOVERNOR OGLESBY oglesby's greatness in discussing questions connected with the rebellion his work in the mexican and civil wars — he visits the orient — fails to find out who built the pyramids. FEW men have enjoyed a greater degree of popularity than did the late Governor Oglesby of Illinois. He was whole-souled, genial, and at all times the most delightful of companions. He stood in the front rank of campaign orators when slavery, rebellion, war, and recon- struction were the stirring questions of the hour. In the discussion of these once vital issues, with the entire State for an audience, he was without a peer. But when they were relegated to the domain of history and succeeded by tariff, finance, and other commonplace, everyday questions, the Governor felt greatly hampered. In a large degree Othel- lo's occupation was gone. Cold facts, statistics, figures running up into the millions, gave Uttle opportunity for the play of his wonderful imagination. In his second race for Governor, in a speech at Bloom- ington, he said, in a deprecatory tone: "These Democrats undertake to discuss the financial question. They ought n't to do that. They can't possibly understand it. The Lord's truth is, fellow-citizens, it is abovi all we Republicans can do to understand that question ! " He was a gallant soldier in the Mexican and in the great Civil "War, and in the latter achieved distinction as a com- manding officer. With Weldon, Ewing, McNulta, Fifer, Rowell, and others as listeners, he once graphically described the first battle in which he was engaged. Turning to his old- time comrade, McNulta, he said: "There is one supreme moment in the experience of a soldier that is absolutely 346 R. J. OGLESBY JOSEPH W. FIFER ANECDOTES OF GOVERNOR OGLESBY 347 ecstatic!" "That," quickly replied McNulta, "is the very moment when he gets into battle." " No, damn it," said Oglesby, " it is the very moment he gets out!" In his early manhood, Oglesby spent some years abroad. His pilgrimage extended even to Egypt, up the Nile, and to the Holy Land. Few persons at that time having visited the Orient, Ogles- by's descriptions of the wonders of the far-off coimtries were listened to with the deepest interest. With both mem- ory and imagination in their prime, it can easily be believed that these wonders of the Orient lost nothing by his de- scription. Soon after his return he lectured in Bloomington. The audience were delighted, especially with his descrip- tion of the P3Tamids. None of us had ever before seen or heard a man who had actually, with his own eyes, beheld these wonders of the ages. Near the close of his lecture, and just after he had suggested the probabiUty of Abraham and Sarah having taken in the Pyramids on their wedding trip, some one in the audience inquired: " Who built the Pyramids ? " " Oh, damn it," quickly replied the orator, " I don't know who built them; / asked everybody I saw in Egypt and none of them knew! " For much that is of interest in the career of Governor Oglesby I am indebted to his honored successor in office, my neighbor and friend, Hon. Joseph W. Fifer — than whom the country has had no braver soldier and the State no abler Chief Executive. XXXVIII THE ONE ENEMY CALEB CUSHING'S POLITICAI. CAREER — HIS GREAT AMBITION A SEAT UBON THE SUPREME BENCH HIS APPOINTMENT THERE- TO HIS ONE ENEMY DEFEATS HIS CONFIRMATION. "He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare, And he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere." THE truth of the above couplet has rarely had more forcible illustration than in the case of the late Caleb Gushing of Massachusetts. In politics he was succes- sively Whig, Democrat, and Republican. During his first political affiliation, he was a Representative in Congress; in the second a member of Pierce's Cabinet; and in the third a Minister abroad. He was an eminent lawyer, and for a term ably discharged the duties of Attorney-General of the United States. His one ambition was a seat upon the Supreme Bench. This was at length gratified by his appointment as Chief Justice of the Great Court. Unfortunately he had, years before, given mortal offence to Aaron A. Sargent, then re- cently admitted to the bar. The latter soon after moved to California, and became in time a Senator from that State. When the appointment of Cushing came before the Sen- ate for confirmation, his one enemy was there. The appointee had long since forgotten the yotmg lawyer he had once treated so rudely, but he had not been forgotten. The hour of revenge had now come. After a protracted and bitter struggle, Sargent, of the same political affiliation as Cushing, succeeded in defeating the confirmation by a single vote. The political sensation of the hour was the Senator's prompt message to his defeated enemy: "Time at last sets all things even; And if we do but watch the hour. There never yet was human power Which could evade, if unforgiven, The patient search and vigil long, Of him who treasures up a wrong." 348 XXXIX CONTRASTS OF TIMES TRAVELLING IN 1845 COMPARED WITH THAT OF THE PRESENT DAY. T TI THILE I was Assistant Postmaster-General, Senator \ \ Whitthorne, of Tennessee, called at the Department to see me on official business. Seated at a window overlooking the Capitol, he remarked that the chords of memory were touched as he entered the room; that when barely of age, he occupied for a time a desk as a clerk just where he was seated. He then told me that at the time of the Presidential election in 1844 he was a law student in the office of Mr. Polk, and by his invitation came on with him to Washing- ton. The journey of the President>-elect, from Nashville to Washington, was in February, 1845, just prior to his inaugu- ration. He was accompanied by the members of his im- mediate family, his law student Mr. Whitthorne, and the Hon. Cave Johnson, who was soon to hold a position in his Cab- inet. The journey to Washington, as Senator Whitthorne told me, was of two weeks' duration: first, by steamboat on the Cumberland and the Ohio to Pittsburg; thence by stage coach to the national Capitol. At the time mentioned, railroads scarcely had an ex- istence south of the Ohio and west of the Alleghanies; and save the single wire from Washington to Baltimore, no tele- graph line had been constructed. How striking the commentary, ahke upon human ac- complishment, and upon opportimity under our free insti- tutions, is here presented! The wearisome and hazardous journey of half a month by steamboat and stage coach had been succeeded by one in palace car of a day and a night of comparative ease and safety, and the clerk had risen from a humble place in the Department to that of Senator from one of the great States of the Union. 349 XL ENDORSING THE ADMINISTRATION DIFFICULTY EXPERIENCED BY DEMOCRATIC MEMBERS IN PROCUR- ING APPOINTMENTS FOR THEIR CONSTITUENTS A NEW MEMBER THREATENS TO FRAME RESOLUTIONS OP CONDEMNA- TION — HE DOES THE VERY OPPOSITE — AN EXPLANATORY ANECDOTE. THE Democratic members of the forty-ninth Congress who yet smrive will probably recall something of the difficulty they experienced in procuring for aspiring constituents prompt appointments to positions of honor, trust, and profit, imder the then lately inaugurated admin- istration. An earnest desire was felt, and vehemently ex- pressed at times, by those who had been long excluded from everything that savored of Federal recognition, for sweep- ing changes all along the line. A new member of the House, from one of th^ border States, believing that his grievances were far too heavy to be meekly borne, made open declaration of war, and asserted with great confidence and with the free use of words nowhere to be found in "Little Helps to Youthful Beginners," that at the approaching Democratic convention of his State, res- olutions of condemnation of no imcertain soimd would be adopted. Some conciUatory observations, which I ventured to offer, were treated with scorn, and the irate member, still breathing out threatenings, hastily turned his footsteps homeward. A few mornings later, I was agreeably surprised to find , in The Post a telegram to the effect that upon the assem- bling of the convention aforementioned, the honorable gentle- men above designated, securing prompt recognition from the chair, had, imder a suspension of the rules, secured the unan- imous adoption of a resolution enthusiastically and uncon- 350 ENDORSING THE ADMINISTRATION 351 ditionally endorsing every act, past, present, and to come, of the national Democratic administration. Upon the return of the member to Washington, I ex- pressed to him my surprise at a conversion which, in sud- denness and power, had possibly but one parallel in either sacred or profane history. Closing his near eye, he said: "Look here! I can illustrate my position about this matter by relating a little incident I witnessed near the close of the war. Just as I was leaving an old ferry-boat in which I had crossed the Tennessee River, my attention was at- tracted to a canoe near by in which were seated two fisher- men, both negroes, one a very old man and the other a small boy. Suddenly the canoe capsized and they were both dumped in the deep water. The boy was an expert swimmer and was in no danger. Not so with the old man; he sank immediately, and it certainly seemed that his fishing days were over. The boy, however, with a pluck and skill that did him great credit, instantly dived to the bottom of the river, and with great difficulty and much personal peril finally succeeded in landing the old man upon the shore. "Approaching the heroic youth, as he was wringing the water from his own garments, I inquired, "'Your father, is he?' "'No, sir,' was the quick reply, 'he ain't my father.' '"Your grandfather, then?' "'No, sir, he ain't my grandfather nuther, he ain't no kin to me, I tell you.' "Earnestly expressing my surprise at his having imperilled his own Ufe to save a man who was no kin to him, the boy replied, '"You see, dis was de way of it, boss; de oh man, he had debait!'" XLI ANECDOTES ABOUT LINCOLN LINCOLN 'S TROUBLE WITH THREE EMANCIPATION ENTHUSIASTS — A schoolboy's trouble WITH SHADRACH, MESHACH, AND ABEDNEGO PRETTY WELL OFF WITH A FORTUNE OP FIFTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS LINCOLN REBUKES SOME RICH MEN WHO DEMAND A GUNBOAT FOR THE PROTECTION OF NEW YORK. THE Hon. John B. Henderson, now of Washington City, but during the war and the early reconstruction period a distinguished Union Senator from Missouri, relates the following incident of Mr. Lincoln. During the gloomy period of 1862, late one Sunday afternoon he called upon the President and found him alone in his library. After some moments Mr. Lincoln, apparently much depressed, stated in substance: "They are making every effort, Henderson, to induce me to issue a Proclamation of Emancipation. Sumner and Wilson and Stevens are constantly urging me, but I don't think it best now; do you think so, Henderson?" To which the latter promptly replied that he did not think so; that such a measure, under existing conditions, would, in his judgment, be ill-advised and possibly disastrous. " Just what I think," said the President, "but they are constantly coming and urging me, sometimes alone, sometimes in couples, and sometimes all three together, but constantly pressing me." With that he walked across the room to a window and looked out upon the Avenue. Sure enough, Wilson, Stevens, and Sumner were seen approaching the Executive Mansion. Call- ing his visitor to the window and pointing to the approach- ing figures, in a tone expressing something of that wondrous sense of humor that no burden or disaster could wholly dispel, he said, "Henderson, did you ever attend an old field school?" Henderson replied that he had. "So did I," said the President; "what Uttle education I 352 LAWRENCE WELDON THOMAS F MARSHALL ANECDOTES ABOUT LINCOLN 353 ever got in early life was in that way. I attended an old field school in Indiana, where our only reading-book was the Bible. One day we were standing up reading the account of the three Hebrew children in the fiery furnace. A little tow-headed fellow who stood beside me had the verse with the unpronounceable names; he mangled up Shadrach and Meshach woefully, and finally went all to pieces on Abed- nego. Smarting under the blows which, in accordance with the old-time custom, promptly followed his delinquency, the little fellow sobbed aloud. The reading, however, went roimd, each boy in the class reading his verse in turn. The sobbing at length ceased, and the tow-headed boy gazed intently upon the verses ahead. "Suddenly he gave a pitiful yell, at which the school- master demanded : "'What is the matter with you now? "'Look there,' said the boy, pointing to the next verse, "there comes them same damn three fellows again!'" As indicating the slight concern Mr. Lincoln had about money-making, as well as the significance of the expression "well off" half a century or so ago, the following conversa- tion, related by Judge Weldon, is in point. At the opening of the De Witt Circuit Court in May, 1859, just a year before his first nomination for the Presidency, Mr. Lincoln was present, unattended for possibly the first time by his life-long friend. Major John T. Stuart. Upon inquiry from Weldon as to whether Stuart was coming, Lin- coln replied, "No, Stuart told me that he would not be here this term." Weldon then remarked, "I suppose the Major has gotten to be pretty well off and does n't have to attend all the courts in the Circuit." "Yes," replied Lincoln, "Stuart is pretty well to do, pretty well to do." ' "How much is the Major probably worth, Mr. Lincoln?" asked Mr. Weldon. "Well," replied the latter, after a moment's thought, "I 354 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN don't know exactly; Stuart is pretty well off; / suppose he must be worth abovi fifteen thousand dollars." Another incident characteristic of Mr. Lincoln was re- lated by his friend Judge Weldon. During the gloomiest period of the war, and while our seaboard cities were in constant apprehension of attack, a delegation of business men from New York visited Washing- ton for the pu5pose of having a gimboat secured for the defence of their city. At their request. Judge Weldon ac- companied them to the Executive Mansion and introduced them to the President, The spokesman of the delegation, after depicting at length and in somewhat pompous manner, the dangers that threatened the great metropoUs, took occa- sion, in manner at once conclusive, to state that he spoke with authority, that the gentlemen constituting the committee of which he was the chairman represented property aggre- gating in value many hundreds of millions of dollars. At this, Mr. Lincoln interposing impatiently, and in a manner never to be forgotten, said : "It seems to me, gentlemen, that if I were as rich as you say you are, and as badly scared as you appear to be, I would, in this hour of my country's distress, just buy that gunboat myself!" XLII THE FIRST LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY IN AMERICA FAR-EEACfflNG EFFECTS OF THE FOUNDING OF THE VIRGINIA HOUSE OF BURGESSES VIRGINIA'S GIFT OF TERRITORY TO THE GOVERNMENT KASKASKIA CAPTURED FROM THE BRITISH JAMESTOWN THE SCENE OF THE FIRST BRITISH COLONY THE BEGINNINGS OF COLONIAL, SELF-GOVERNMENT SALUTARY LAWS MADE POCAHONTAS GOVERNMENT BY CHARTER DESPOTISM OF JAMES I MACAULAY ON THE STUART DYNASTY THE THIRTEEN ORIGINAL COLONIES UNJUST TAXATION PROGRESS OF REPUBLICAN PRINCIPLES VIRGINIA NOTABLE FOR HER STATESMEN. ON the thirtieth of July, 1907, at the Jamestown Exposi- tion, was celebrated the anniversary of the assembling of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, the first legisla- tive body to assemble upon the Western continent. The meeting was presided over by the present Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses, and by invitation of the Presi- dent of the Exposition addresses were made by ex-speakers CarUsle, Keifer, and myself. My address was as follows: "We have assembled upon historic ground. We cele- brate to-day a masterful historic event. Other anniversaries, sacredly observed, have their deep meaning; no one, how- ever, is fraught with profoimder significance than this. " The management of the great Exposition did well to set apart this thirtieth of July to commemorate the coming together at Jamestown of the first legislative assembly in the New World. The assembling of the representatives of the people upon the eventful day two himdred and eighty-six years ago — of which this is the anniversary — marked an epoch which, in far-reaching consequence, scarcely finds a parallel in history. It was the initial step in the series of stupendous events which found their culmination in the Bill 355 356 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the formula- tion of the Federal Constitution. " From my home, a thousand miles to the westward, in the great valley of the Mississippi, I come at your bidding to bear part in the exercises of this day. Not as a stranger, an alien to your blood, but as yoiu- cotmtryman, your fellow-citizen, I gladly lift my voice in this great assemblage. And when were the words, 'fellow-citizens,' of deeper significance or suggestive of a more glorious past than to-day, as we gather upon this hallowed spot to commemorate one of the grandest events of which history has any record? " The magical words, 'fellow-citizens,' never fail to touch a responsive chord in the patriotic heart. Was it the gifted Prentiss who at a critical moment of our history exclaimed, 'For whether upon the Sabine or the St. Johns; standing in the shadow of Bimker Hill, or amid the ruins of Jamestown; near the great northern chain of lakes, or within the sound of the Father of Waters, flowing unvexed to the sea; in the crowded mart of the great metropolis, or upon the western verge of the continent, where the restless tide of emigration is stayed only by the ocean — everywhere upon this broad domain, thank God, I can still say, 'fellow-citizens '? " And truly, an Illinoisan is no stranger within the confines of 'the Old Dominion.' You have not forgotten, we cannot forget, that the territory now embraced in five magnificent commonwealths bordering upon the Ohio and the Mississippi, was at a crucial period of our history the generous gift of Virginia to the general Government, — a gift that in splendid statesmanship and in far-reaching consequence has no coimterpart; one which at the pivotal moment made pos- sible the ratification of the Articles of Confederation — the sure forecast of 'the more perfect Union' yet to follow. Illinois, the greatest of the commonwealths to which I have alluded, can never forget that it was a Virginian, George Rogers Clark, who, m the darkest days of the Revolution, led the expedition — 'worthy of mention/ as was said by John Randolph, 'with that of Hannibal in Italy,' — by which the ancient capital, Kaskaskia, was captured, the Brit- FIRST LEGISIATIVE ASSEMBLY IN AMERICA 357 ish flag deposed, and Illinois taken possession of in the name of the commonwealth whose Governor, Patrick Henry, had authorized the masterful conquest. Nor can it be forgotten that the deed of cession by which Illinois became part and parcel of the general Government, bears — as commissioners upon the part of Virginia — the honored names of Arthur Lee, James Monroe, and Thomas Jefferson. Is it to be won- dered at, that a magnificent Illinois building adorns the grounds of the Jamestown Exposition, — and that Illinois hearts everywhere beat in unison with yours in the celebra- tion of one of the epoch-marking days of all the ages? " The time is propitious for setting history aright. This exposition will not have been in vain if the fact be crystal- lized into history yet to be written, that the first settle- ment by English-speaking people — just three centuries ago — upon this continent, was at Jamestown. And that here self- government — in its crude form but none the less self-govern- ment — had its historical beginning. Truly has it been said by an eminent writer of your own State, that prior to De- cember, 1620, 'the colony of Virginia had become so firmly established and self-government in precisely the same form which existed up to the Revolution throughout the English colonies had taken such firm root thereon, that it was begin- ning to affect not only the people but the Government of Great Britain.' In the old church at Jamestown, on July 30, 1619, was held the first legislative assembly of the New World — the historical House of Burgesses. It consisted of twenty-two members, and its constituencies were the several plantations of the colony. A speaker was elected, the session opened with prayer, and the oath of supremacy duly taken. The Governor and Council occupied the front seats, and the members of the body, in accordance with the custom of the British Parliament, wore their hats during the session. " This General Assembly convened in response to a sum- mons issued by Sir George Yeardley, the recently appointed Governor of the colony. Hitherto the colony had been gov- erned by the London Council; the real life of Virginia dates from the arrival of Yeardley, bringing with him from 358 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN England ' commissions and instructions for the better es- tablishing of a commonwealth.' " The centuries roll back, and before us, in solemn session, is the first assembly upon this continent of the chosen rep- resentatives of the people. It were impossible to overstate its deep import to the struggling colony, or its far-reaching consequence to States yet unborn. In this little assem- blage of twenty-two burgesses, the Legislatures of nearly fifty commonwealths to-day and of the Congress with its represen- tatives from all the States of ' an indestructible imion ' find their historical beginning. The words of Bancroft in this connection are worthy of remembrance: 'A perpetual interest attaches to this first elective body that ever assem- bled in the Western world, representing the people of Vir- ginia and making laws for their government more than a year before the Mayflower with the Pilgrims left the harbor of Southampton, and while Virginia was still the only British colony on the continent of America.' " It is to us to-day a matter of profoimd gratitude that these the earliest American lawgivers were eminently worthy their high vocation. While confotmding, in some degree, the separate fimctions of government, as abstractly defined at a later day by Montesquieu, and eventually put in concrete form in our fundamental laws, State and Federal — it is none the less true that these first legislators clearly discerned their inherent rights as a part of the Enghsh-speaking race. More impor- tant still, a perusal of the brief records they have left, im- presses the conviction that they were no strangers to the underlying fact that the people are the true source of political power, the evidence whereof is to be found in the scant records of their proceedings — a priceless heritage of all future generations. And first — and fundamental in all legislative assemblies — they asserted the absolute right to determine as to the election and quahfication of members. Grants of land were asked, not only for the planters, but for their wives, ' as equally important parts of the colony.' It was wisely provided that of the natives ' the most towardly boys in wit and the graces' should be educated and set FIRST LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY IN AMERICA 359 apart to the work of converting the Indians to the Christian reUgion; stringent penalties were attached to idleness, gam- bling, and drunkenness; excess in apparel was prohibited by heavy taxation; encouragement was given to agriculture in all its known forms; while conceding 'the commission of privileges' brought over by the new Governor as their fun- damental law, yet with the liberty-guarding instinct of their race they kept the way open for seeking redress, 'in case they should find aught not perfectly squaring with the state of the colony.' No less important were the enactments regulating the dealings of the colonists with the Indians. Yet to be mentioned, and of transcendent importance, was the claim of the burgesses ' to allow or disallow,' at their own good pleasure, all orders of the coiu-t of the London Com- pany. And deeply significant was the declaration of these representatives of three centuries ago, that their enactments were instantly to be put in force, without waiting for their ratification in England. And not to be forgotten is the stu- pendous fact that while the battle with the imtamed forces of natiu-e was yet waging, and conflict with savage foe of constant recurrence, these legislators provided for the main- tenance of pubUc worship, and took the initial steps for the establishment of an institution of learning. It is not too much to say that the hour that witnessed these enactments witnessed the triumph of the popular over the court party; in no unimportant sense, the first triumph of the American colonists over kingly prerogative. Looking through the mists of the mighty past, Mr. Speaker, to the House of Bur- gesses, over which your first predecessor presided, would it be out of place to apply to that assemblage the historic words spoken of one of a later period: 'Nobles by the right of an earUer creation, and priests by the imposition of a mightier hand'? " Did the occasion permit, it would be of wondrous interest to linger for a time with these, the earliest colonies in this, the cradle of American civilization; to know something of their daily Hfe, their hopes and ambitions, their struggles and triumphs; something of their ceaseless vigil and of the perils 360 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN that environed them; to recall stirring incidents and heroic achievements; to catch a gleam of a spirit of self-sacrifice and devotion which in all the annals of men scarcely finds a parallel. It would be of curious interest to watch the par rade and pomp of governors and councils of royal appointment in attempted representation of a pageantry famihar to the Old World, but which was to have no permanent abiding- place in the New. Governors and their surbordinates — though bearing the royal commission, yet in rare instances to be classed only as bad or indifferent — pass in long pro- cession before us into the dim shadows. But out of the mists of this long past, two figures emerge that have for us an abiding interest, John Smith and Pocahontas — names that have place not alone in romance and song, but upon the pages of veritable history. " Colonial governors strutted their brief hour upon the stage and have long passed to oblivion; but Smith, the in- trepid soldier, the ever-present friend and counsellor of the early colonists, their stalwart protector — alike against the bullet of the savage and the mandate of official power — will not pass from remembrance so long as heroic deeds are counted worthy of enduring record among men. "With dark backgroimd of rude cabin and wigwam, of scantily appointed plantation, and of far-stretching forest — with its mysterious voices and manifold perils — there passes before us the lovely form of the beautiful Indian maiden, the daughter and pride of the renowned native chieftain. So long as courage and fidelity arouse sympathy and admira- tion, so long will the thrilling legend of Pocahontas touch responsive chords in human hearts. Its glamour is upon the early pages of colonial history; her witchery lingers upon stream and forest, and the firm earth upon which we tread seems to have been hallowed by her footsteps. "A name that sheds lustre upon the earliest pages of our Colonial history is that of Sir Edwin Sandys. Under his courageous leadership, what was known as the Virginia or Liberal party in the London Company obtained a signal triumph over that of the court. The result was the formal FIRST LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY IN AMERICA 361 grant to the colony guaranteeing free government by writ- ten charter. Its declared purpose was to secure 'the great- est comfort and benefit to the people and the prevention of injustice, grievances, and oppression.' It provided for full legislative authority in the Assembly, and was with some modifications the model of the systems subsequently in- troduced into the other EngUsh colonies. " By this charter, representative government and trial by jury became recognized rights in the New World. Upon this charter, as has been truly said, ' Virginia erected the superstructure of her liberties.' " The coming of this charter marked an epoch in the his- tory of the Jamestown colony, and set the pace for English- speaking settlements yet in the future. " It was in very truth the first step in the direction of the establishment of the great Republic which was to be the enduring beacon-light of self-governing peoples in all future ages. " To a full appreciation of the supreme significance of the mighty event we to-day celebrate and its results — now con- stituting so inspiring a chapter of history — some accoimt must be taken of conditions then existing in the mother country. While obtaining the guarantee of a large measure of self-government for the New World, Sir Edwin Sandys and his co-patriots were imable to secure that which even sa- vored of liberal administration in the Old. James — the first of the Stuart Dynasty — was upon the English throne. In narrow, selfish state-craft he is possibly in the long list of sovereigns without a rival. The exercise and maintenance of royal prerogative was with him the 'be all and end all' of government, and, abetted by the sycophants about him, he unwittingly laid the train of inexorable events that were to culminate in the execution of one and the banishment of another of his line. His claim was that of absolute power, and during a reign of twenty-two years — extending from the death of Queen Elizabeth to the year 1625 — he was the unrelenting foe of whatever pertained to freedom in religion or in government. His apparent indifference to the execu- 362 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN tion of his mother — the ill-fated Mary, Queen of Scots — and his condemnation of the illustrious Sir Walter Raleigh to the scaffold, are alone sufficient to render the memory of this monarch forever infamous. It is a marvel, indeed, that with James the First upon the throne, and popular free- dom in such low state throughout his immediate realm, that so large a measure of liberty should have been conceded to the distant colony. The achievement is the enduring evi- dence of unsurpassed courage in the men in whose immedi- ate keeping were the early fortxmes of the Virginia colony, and sheds unfading lustre upon their memories. " Nor can it be forgotten that from the masterful horn- that witnessed the assembling of the first House of Burgesses until the abdication of James the Second, the welfare of the Virginia colony was in large measure in the iron grasp of stern antagonists to all that pertained to liberty of con- science and to popular rule. Whatever there was of prog- ress during the seventy years — barring the brief period of the Commonwealth — that immediately preceded the historic English Revolution, and the crowning of William and Mary, was despite the untiring hostihty of the Stuart Dynasty. During this period the lives of Englishmen at home were as the dust in the balance. It witnessed the very heyday of the infamous Star Chamber. It was of Strafford, the bloody instrument (though wearing judicial ermine) of Charles the First, that Macaulay said: 'If justice, in the whole range of its wide armory, contained one weapon which could pierce him, that weapon his pursuers were boimd, before God and man, to employ.' " And for all time, the Stuart Dynasty itself remains im- paled by the pen of the same master: " 'Then came those days never to be recalled without a blush — the days of servitude without loyalty, and sensuality without love, of dwarfish talents and gigantic vices, the paradise of cold hearts and narrow minds, the golden age of the coward, the bigot, and the slave. The principles of liberty were the scoff of every grinning courtier, and the anathema maranatha of every fawn- ing dean. In every high place worship was paid to Charles and James — Belial and Moloch, — and England propitiated those FIRST LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY IN AMERICA 36S obscene and cruel idols with the blood of her best and bravest children. Crime succeeded to crime and disgrace to disgrace, until the race, accursed of God and man, was a second time driven forth to wander on the face of the earth, and to be a bjnvord and a shaking of the head to the nations.' " It is our pleasing task to turn now from the dark annals of our English forebears to the stupendous events of which that we to-day celebrate is the historical forecast. With the passing years, a continuing tide of emigration was setting in from the Old to the New World. Additional settlements had sprung into being, and the Plantation in its distinctive sense had given way to the Colony, to be succeeded yet later by the State. The glory of Jamestown had measurably departed, and to Williamsburg, and yet later to the now splendid city upon the James, had been transferred the seat of Virginia authority. New England, despite natural ob- stacles and constant peril, was surely working out her large place in history. Puritan, Quaker, Dutchman, Cavalier, Scotch-Irish, and Huguenot — ' building better than they knew ' — had established permanent habitations from Ply- mouth Rock to Savannah. Brave men from the early fringe of settlements upon the Atlantic — regardless of obstacle and danger — had pushed their way westward, and laid the sure foundations of future commonwealths. From New Hampshire to Georgia, thirteen English-speaking colonies, with a population aggregating near two millions, had at- tained to a large measure of the dignity of distinctive States. Their allegiance, meanwhile, to the mother country had been unfaltering, and in her fierce struggle with France for the mastery of the continent, America had sealed her loyalty with the best blood of her sons. "The successors to the first House of Burgesses had learned well the lessons gleaned from the scant pages of their earliest history. Attempts to tax the unrepresented colonies soon encountered concerted hostility. 'No taxation without representation' became the universal slogan. The words spoken in the British Parliament by Barre — worthy com- rade of the gallant Wolfe on the Heights or Abraham — near 364 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN a century and a half after the event we now celebrate, will quicken the pulses of all coming generations of American patriots. Said he: '"Your oppressions planted them in America. They fled from your tyranny to a then uncultivated, unhospitable country where they exposed themselves to almost all the hardships to which human nature is liable, among others to the cruelties of a savage foe; they grew by your neglect of them. As soon as you began to care for them, that care was exercised in sending per- sons to rule them, to spy out their liberties, to misrepresent their actions and to prey upon them; men whose behavior on many occasions has caused the blood of those sons of liberty to recoil within them; men promoted to the highest seats of justice, some who, to my knowledge, were glad, by going to a foreign country, to escape being brought to the bar of a court of justice in their own. The colonists have nobly taken up arms in your defence; have asserted a valor amid their constant and laborious industry for the defence of a country whose frontier was drenched in blood. And, believe me — remember, I warn you — the same spirit of freedom which actuated that people at first will accom- pany them still.' "And how prophetic now seem the words of Burke in the same great debate; " 'There is America, which at this day serves for little more than to amuse you with stories of savage men and uncouth manners, yet shall, before you taste of death, show itself equal to the whole of that commerce which now attracts the envy of the world.' " Standing at this hour almost within hailing distance of the spot that witnessed the surrender of Cornwallis and the termination of the War of the Revolution, it would be passing strange if we should fail to catch something of the inspiration of the impassioned words of Barre and of Burke, and their wondrous associations. " It is said that in Venice there is sacredly preserved a letter written by Columbus a few hom-s before he sailed from Palos. With reverent expression of trust in God — humbly but with unfaltering faith — he spoke of his past voyage to 'that famous land.' His dream while a suppliant in the outer chambers of kings, and while keeping lonely vigil upon the FIRST LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY IN AMERICA 365 deep, was the discovery of a new pathway to the Indies. Yet who can doubt that to his prophetic soul was even then fore- shadowed something of 'that famous land' with the warp and woof of whose history, tradition, and song his name and fame are linked for all time. Can it not truly be said of the members of the first House of Burgesses, as was said of Colum- bus and his compeers, 'They were pioneers in the march to independence — precursors in the only progress of freedom which was to have no backward steps ? ' They only ' opened the gates' and lo! there came in the builders of a new and mighty nation. " Had it been given to the Virginia — the American — legislators whose memories we honor this day, ' to look into the seeds of time,' what mighty events, with the rolling years and centuries, would have passed before their visions. They would have seen the colony they had planted in the wilder- ness, day by day strengthening its cords, enlarging its borders, and with firm tread advancing steadily to recognized place among the nations. They would have beheld the savage foe — giving way before the inexorable advance of the hated 'pale face' — sadly retreating toward the ever-receding western verge of civilization. It would have been theirs to witness the symbol of French and Spanish authority disappear forever from mainland and island of the New World. Follow- ing the sim a thousand miles toward his setting, their eyes would have been gladdened by the great river flowing un- vexed from northern lake to southern sea through a mighty realm that knew no allegiance other than to the government that here had its feeble beginning. They would — near a century and a half later than the meeting of the first House of Burgesses — have beheld their descendants listening in rapt attention to the impassioned demmciation by Patrick Henry of the tjTanny of the royal successor of James the First; the thirteen colonies arming for the seven years' struggle with the most powerful of nations ; the presentation, by a Virginian, in the wondrous assemblage at Philadelphia of the Declaration of Independence; under the matchless leadership of a Vir- ginian yet more illustrious than Jefferson, the Colonial army. 366 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN with decimated ranks and tattered standards, would have passed in review — all past suffering, sacrifice, humiliation, and defeat forgotten in the hour of splendid triumph, Yet later, and in the great convention over which Washington presided, and in which Madison was the chief factor, they would have witnessed the deathless principles of the historic Declaration crystallized into the Federal compact, which was destined forever to hold States and people in fraternal union. They would have seen a gallant people of the Old World — catching inspiration from the New — casting off the oppres- sion of centuries and, through baptism of blood, fashioning a Republic upon that whose liberties they had so signally aided to establish. Yet later, and not France alone, but Mexcio and States extending far to the southward, substituting for monarchical rule that of the people under written Constitu- tions modeled after that of the great American Republic. And yet more marvellous, in Great Britain the divine right of kings an exploded dogma; the royal successor to the Stuarts and George the Third only a ceremonial figiu-ehead in govern- ment; the House of Lords in its death struggle; all real politi- cal power centred in the Commons, and England — though still tmder the guise of monarchy — essentially a republic. " And what a grand factor Virginia has been in aiU that pertains to hiunan government in this Western world during the past three centuries. From the pen of one of her illus- trious sons, George Mason, came the 'Bill of Rights' — now in its essentials embedded by the early amendments into our Federal Constitution; from that of another, not alone the great Declaration, but the statutes securing for his own State religious freedom, and the abolition of primogeniture — the detested legacy of British ancestors. His sword returned to its scabbard with the achievement of the independence of the colonies, and the mission of Washington was yet but half accomplished. To garner up the fruits of successful revolu- tion by enduring stable government was the task demanding the loftiest statesmanship. The five years immediately suc- ceeding our first treaty of peace with Great Britain have been truly defined, ' our period of greatest peril.' It was fortunate, FIRST LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY IN AMERICA 367 indeed, that Washington was called to preside over the his- toric convention of '87, and that his spirit — a yearning for an indissoluble union of the States — permeated all its delibera- tions. Fortunate, indeed, that in its councils was his colleague and friend, the constructive statesman, James Madison. In- separably associated for all time with the formulation and inter- pretation of the great covenant are the names of two illustrious Virginians — for all the ages illustrious Americans — Madison, the father, and Marshall, theexpoimder of the Constitution. "It remained to another son of this first commonwealth, from the high place to which he had been chosen, to enxmciate in trenchant words, at a crucial moment, a national policy which, under the designation of 'the Monroe doctrine,' has been the common faith of three generations of his coimtrymen and is to remain the endiu-ing bar to the establishment of monarchial government upon this western hemisphere. " Four decades later, at the striking of the hour that noted the inevitable 'breaking with the past,' it remained to still another illustrious successor of Jefferson — alike of Virginian ancestry, and born within her original domain — by authori- tative proclamation to Uberate a race, and thereby, for all time, to give enlarged and grander meaning to our imperish- able declaration of human rights. " My countrymen, the little settlement planted just three centuries ago near the spot upon which we have to-day assem- bled has under divine guidance grown into a mighty nation. Eighty millions of people, proud of local traditions and achievements, yet looking beyond the mere confines of their distinctive commonwealths, find their chief glory in being citizens of the great Repubhc. The mantle of peace is over our own land, and our accredited representatives in the world's conference, at this auspicious hour, are outlining a policy that looks to the establishment of enduring peace among all the nations. To-day, inspired by the sublime lessons of the event we celebrate and with hearts of gratitude to God for all he hath vouchsafed to our fathers and to us in the past, let us take courage, and turn our faces hopefully, reverently, trustingly to the future." XLin A NEW DAY ADDED TO THE CALENDAR THE HIGH CHARACTER OP STERLING MORTON AS A MAN AND A PUBLIC SERVANT HONORED BY CLEVELAND ORIGINATOR OF ARBOR DAY. I RECALL with pleasure years of close personal friendship with J. Sterling Morton. He was a gentleman of lofty character and recognized ability. Much of his life was given to the pubUc service. As Secretary of Agriculture he was in close touch with President Cleveland during his last ofHcial term. At the dedication of the monument erected to his mem- ory at his home, Nebraska City, October 28, 1905, 1 spoke as follows: " I coimt it high privilege to speak a few words upon an occasion so fraught with interest to this State, and to the entire coimtry. I gladly bear my humble tribute to the man whom I honored in life, and whose memory I cherish. A manlier man than Sterhng Morton, one more thoughtful, kind, considerate, self-reliant, hopeful, I have not known. Truly — " 'A man he seemed, of cheerful yesterdays, And confident to-morrows.' Of few men could it more truly be said, 'He took counsel ever of his courage — never of his fears.' With firm convic- tions upon pending vital issues, he did not shrink from the conflict. His antagonist he met in the open. In the words of Lord Brougham, 'His weapons were ever those of the warrior — never of the assassin.' " This, is indeed no ordinary occasion. Here and now, we unveil a monument erected in honor of the memory of one who, alike in private life and in public station, illus- trated the noblest characteristics of the American citizen. Something of his life and achievements we have heard with 368 A NEW DAY ADDED TO THE CALENDAR 369 profound interest from the lips of the chosen orator of this great occasion, ex-President Cleveland — one indeed emi- nently fitted for the task. The orator was worthy the subject; the subject — honoring the memory of one of the benefactors of his age — worthy the orator. " In all the relations of life, the man whose memory we honor this day was worthy the emulation of the young men who succeed him upon the stage of the world. With clear brain and clean hands he ably and faithfully administered high public trusts. He was in the loftiest sense worthy the personal and official association of the eminent Chief Magis- trate at whose Council Board he sat, and whose confidence he fully shared. " Fortune, indeed, came with both hands full to Nebraska, when J. Sterling Morton, in early manhood, selected this struggling frontier State for his home. How well, and with what large interest, he repaid Nebraska for a confidence that knew no abatement, this noble monument is the enduring witness. " Under his guiding hand, a new day was added to the calendar. The glory is his of having called Arbor Day into being. Touched by his magic wand, milUons of trees now beautify and adorn this magnificent State. It is no mere figure of speech to say that the wilderness — by transition almost miraculous — has become a garden, the desolate places been made to blossom as the rose. 'Tree-planting day' is now one of the sacred days of this commonwealth. Henceforth, upon its annual recurrence, ordinary avocations are to be suspended, and this day wholly set apart to pursuits which tend to beautify the home, make glorious the landscape, and gladden the hearts of all the people. Inseparably asso- ciated in all the coming years with this day and its memories will be the name of J. Sterling Morton. That he was its inspiration, is his abiding fame. " In other times, monuments have been erected to men whose chief distinction was, that desolation and human slaughter had marked their pathways. The hour has struck, and a new era dawned. The monument we now unveil is to 370 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN one whose name brings no thoughts of decimated ranks, or of desolated provinces, no memories of beleagured cities, of starving peoples, or of orphans' tears. In all the years, it will be associated with glorious peace. Peace, 'that hath her victories no less renowned than war'; peace, in whose train are happy homes, songs of rejoicing, the glad laughter of children, the planting of trees, and the golden harvest. 'Soft peace she brings; wherever she arrives. She builds our quiet as she forms our lives; Lays the rough paths of peevish nature even, And opens in each heart a little heaven.' " XLIV A MOUNTAIN COLLEGE SUCH INSTITUTIONS VALUABLE FOB MOULDING CHARACTER MR. SCOTT BOTH HONORABLE AND PRUDENT IN BUSINESS HIS GREATNESS AS AN AGRICULTURIST HIS AVOIDANCE OF PUBLIC LIFE HIS SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC VIRTUES DEPEN- DENCE OF THE NATION ON THE CHARACTER OF ITS LITERARY INSTITUTIONS. IN 1895, Mrs. Julia Green Scott, of Bloomington, Illinois, established a college in the mountains of Kentucky in honor of the memory of her husband. He was a native of Kentucky, and the institution bears his honored name. Upon the occasion of the dedication I spoke as follows: " The dedication of the Matthew T. Scott, Jr., Collegiate Institute marks an important epoch in the history of central eastern Kentucky. It cannot be doubted that this institu- tion will be potent for good in moulding the character and fitting the youth of this and succeeding generations for the important duties that pertain to citizenship in a great Re- public. Is it too much to believe that this may be reckoned as one of the many agencies in this land, that in the out- stretched years will inspire our youth with yet higher ideals of advancement — nobler conceptions, it may be, of the grave duties that await them in life? Would that the words I now repeat of one of England's great statesmen could be indelibly impressed upon the memory of all who may hereafter pass out from these walls: 'Be inspired with the beUef that life is a great and noble calling; not a mean and grovelling thing that we are to shuffle through as we can, but an elevated and lofty destiny.' " It is eminently fitting to this occasion, that I recall some- thing of the man whose honored name has been appropriately given to this institution. And yet, I am not unmindful of the fact that if in life he would shrink from public mention of 371 372 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN his name, or of aught associated with it in the way of bene- factions. He was a native of Kentucky — born in Fayette County, February 4, 1828. His father, of the same name, was an honored citizen of Lexington, and for many years the leading banker of the State. The son inherited the high sense of personal honor, and the splendid capacity for business, that for a lifetime so eminently characterized his father. A graduate of Centre College at the age of eighteen, his fortunes were soon cast in Central Illinois, where his remaining years were spent, and where his ashes now repose. During his early residence in Illinois Mr. Scott reahzed — as few men did fully at that day — the marvellous prosperity that surely awaited the development of the resources of that great State. It was the day of golden opportunity for the man of wise forecast. His investments were timely; his business methods all upon the highest plane. He became in time a large landed proprietor, and stood in the van of the advanced agricultu- rists of his day. He formulated endm-ing systems of tilling the soil, and making sure the munificent rewards of labor wisely bestowed upon this, the primal calling of man. His methods were in large measure adopted by others, and have proved no unimportant factor in the development and pros- perity of the great agricultural interests of the State. " Mr. Scott was in the largest sense a man of affairs. He was ever the safe coimsellor in the many business enterprises of which he was the foimder. It were scant praise to say he was possessed of the highest integrity. His was indeed an integrity that could know no temptation. Faithful to every obligation, he was incapable of an ignoble act. He was emi- nently a just man, possessing in a marked degree the sturdy characteristics of his Scotch-Irish ancestors. His principle in action was : 'For justice all place a temple, And all season Summer.' " He was in no sense a self-seeker. Deeply interested in public affairs, and having the courage of his convictions upon the exciting questions of the day, he was never a candidate MATTHEW T. SCOTT 'w^/^f^z^''y^f/'^''f'."'^ ADLAI E. STEVENSON A MOUNTAIN COLLEGE 373 for public office. Declining the nomination tendered hira , by his party for Congress, he chose the quiet of home rather than the turmoil of public life. In the advocacy, however, of what he believed to be for the public weal, ' he took counsel ever of his courage, never of his fears.' That he possessed the ability to have acquitted himself with honor in respon- sible positions of public trust, no one who knew him could doubt. " Courteous to all with whom he came in contact, he was the highest type of the old-school gentleman. He exemplified in his daily life the truth of the poet's words : 'That best portion of a good man's life. His little, nameless, unremembered acts Of kindness and of love.' " No man ever had a loftier appreciation of what was due to woman. There was in very truth a relish of old-time chivalry in his bearing in the presence of ladies. He was never happier than when surroimded by children, by whom he was ever trusted and loved. " No higher tribute could be paid him than by the words spoken with equal truth of another: 'With him the assured guardian of my children, T could have pillowed my head in peace.' " Holding steadily, and without reservation, to the Pres- byterian faith of his fathers, he was none the less imbued with a true catholic spirit, and gave where needed, liberally of his abundance. He was deeply touched by every tale of human sorrow, ' His hand open as day to melting charity.' " I may be pardoned for adding that Mr. Scott was su- premely happy in his domestic ties. Blessed in all who gathered about his hearthstone, his cup of happiness was full to overflowing. All who crossed his threshold felt that they were indeed in the sunshine of the perfect home. He sleeps in the beautiful cemetery near the city he loved, his grave covered with flowers by those to whom in hf e he had been a benefactor and friend. To those to whom his toils and cares 374 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN were given, to kindred and friends, his memory will ever be a precious heritage. Truly, 'The just Keeps something of his glory, in his dust.' " I know of no words more fitting with which to close this poor tribute to the man I honored and loved, than those of Dr. Craig in his beautiful eulogy upon the Rev. Dr. Lewis W. Green, father of Mrs. Julia G. Scott, the noble and gifted woman whose generosity has made possible the founding of the Institution we now dedicate: " ' Society at large felt the impress of his noble character, his polished breeding, and his widespread beneficence. His deter- mination to excel, and that by means of faithful diligence and laborious application, should arouse our young men to like fidel- ity to their increasing opportunities. He was the most unselfish of men, the most affectionate of friends, the humblest of Chris- tians. He owed much to the soil from which he sprung. He repaid that much, and with large interest.' " The Institution we now dedicate is just upon the thres- hold of what we trust will prove an abundantly useful and honorable career. And while we may not 'look into the seeds of time and say which grain will grow and which will not,' yet we may well believe that under judicious manage- ment, already assured, this will prove a potent agency in the great work of education. "In this connection the words of a former President of Transylvania University, and of Centre College, Dr. Green, possess to-day as deep significance as when uttered almost a half-century ago : " 'But it may be truly said, that no domestic instruction, however wise, no political institution, however free, no social organization, however perfect, no discoveries of science, however rapid or sublime, no activity of the press — pouring forth with prolific abundance its multitudinous publications — no accumu- lation of ancient learning in stately libraries, no one, nor all of these together, can supersede the education of the school; nay, all of them derive then- noblest elements and highest life from the instruction of the living teacher. The intelligence of families, the wisdom of Governments, the freedom of nations, the progress of science itself, and of all our useful arts, is measured by the con- A MOUNTAIN COLLEGE 375 dition and character of our literary institutions. . . . It is from such as these, that the world's great men have sprung. It is from the deep, granite foundations of society that the materials are gathered to rear a superstructure of massive grandeur and enduring strength. The God of nature has scattered broadcast over all our land and our moimtain heights, in our secluded valleys, and in many a forest home, the choicest elements of genius; invaluable means of intellectual wealth, the noblest treasures of the State.' " The hour has struck, and the Matthew T. Scott, Jr., Collegiate Institute enters now upon its sacred mission. " May we not believe that here will be realized in full frui- tion the fond hopes of those who have given it being? that as the years come and go, there will pass out from its walls those who by diligent application are fitted for the responsible duties that await them in life, well equipped, it may be, to acquit themselves with honor, in the high places of school, of church, or of State? " XLV DEDICATION OF A NATIONAL PARK CHICKAMAUGA NATIONAL PAEK DEDICATED BY ACT OF CONGRESS THE SURVIVORS OF THE GREAT BATTLE NOW BUT FEW — THE REAL CONSECRATION WAS ACCOMPLISHED BY THE HEROES OF THE FIGHT. THE Chickamauga National Park was by act of Congress dedicated September 19, 1895. Senators Pabner, of Illinois, and Gordon, of Georgia, were the orators of the occasion. The immense audience assembled included the Governors of twenty States and committees of both Hovises of Congress. I presided on the occasion, and delivered the following address : " I am honored by being called to preside over the cere- monies of this day. By solemn decree of the representatives of the American people, this magnificent Park, with its won- drous associations and memories, is now to be dedicated for all time to national and patriotic purposes. " This is the fitting hour for the august ceremonies we now inaugurate. To-day, by act of the Congress of the United States, the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park is forever set apart from all common uses, solemnly dedicated for all the ages to all the American people. "The day is auspicious. It notes the anniversary of one of the greatest battles known to history. Here, in the dread tribunal of last resort, valor contended against valor. Here brave men struggled and died for the right, ' as God gave them to see the right.' " Thirty-two years have passed, and the few survivors of that masterful day — victors and vanquished alike — again meet upon this memorable field. Alas, the splendid armies which rendezvoused here are now little more than a procession of shadows. 376 DEDICATION OF A NATIONAL PARK 377 " ' On fame's eternal camping-ground, Their silent tents are spread.' " Our eyes now behold the sublime spectacle of the honored survivors of the great battle coming together upon these heights once more. They meet, not in deadly conflict, but as brothers, under one flag, fellow-citizens of a common country, all grateful to God, that in the supreme struggle, the Government of our fathers — our conmion heritage — was triumphant, and that to all the coming generations of our countrymen, it will remain ' an indivisible union of indestructible States.' " Our dedication to-day is but a ceremony. In the words of the immortal Lincoln at Gettysburg: 'But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our power to add or detract.' "I will detain you no longer from listening to the eloquent words of those who were participants in the bloody struggle — the sharers alike in its danger and its glory." XLVI A BAR MEETING STILL IN SESSION APPOINTMENT OF A COMMITTEE TO FORMULATE RULES FOR COURT PROCEDURE SOME MEMBERS AGREE TO VOTE DOWN THE MOTION TO ADJOURN THE MOTION REJECTED THREE TIMES INDIGNATION OF THE PRESIDENT. ' A BAR meeting recalled by the mention of Mr. Ingersoll would be worth while if it could only be described as it actually occurred. At the opening of the December term of the Circuit Court in Woodford in the year of grace 'fifty-nine, John Clark, Esq., announced that a meeting of the Bar would be held at the courthouse at "early candle-lighting" on that very evening, for the purpose of formulating rules to be presented to the Court for its government during the term. At the appointed hour, the lawyers, "home and foreign," being promptly in attendance and the court-room crowded, an organization was duly effected by the election of Colonel Shope, an able and dignified barrister of the old school, as President. As imdisputed spokesman of the occasion, Mr. Clark, at once moved the appointment of a committee of five to prepare the aforementioned rules. The motion prevailing, nem. con., in accordance with time-honored usage, the mover of the resolution was duly appointed Chairman, with Ingersoll, Shaw, Ewing, and the chronicler of these important events as his coadjutors. Upon the retirement of the committee, the rules already prepared by Clark were read and promptly approved, and that gentleman instructed to present them to the Bar meeting — then in patient waiting. As the recognized parliamentarian of the occasion — with the proposed rules in safe keeping — was in the van, upon the return to the court-room Ingersoll quietly proposed to his three untitled associates that, after the adoption of the reso- lutions, we should vote dovm Clark's motion to adjourn and 378 A BAR MEETING STILL IN SESSION S79 thereby remain all night in session. In approved form, and with a dignity that would have done no discredit to a high- church bishop, the' rules were read off by the Chairman and agreed to without a dissenting voice. After a brief silence, Mr. Clark arose and said: "Mr. Presi- dent, if there is no further business before this meeting, I move we do now adjourn." The motion was duly seconded by Welcome P. Brown, who had been Probate Judge of McLean County far back in the thirties, and postmaster of the struggling village of Bloomington when Jackson was Presi- dent. President Shope promptly arose and in the blandest possible terms submitted: "Gentlemen of the Bar, all who are in favor of the motion to adjourn will please say. Aye." Clark, Brown, and a half-dozen others at once voted, "Aye." "Those opposed to the motion to adjourn will please say. No," was the alternative then submitted by the impartial presiding officer. Ingersoll, his confederates, and a sufficient contingent won over quietly voted, "No." "The motion is lost," observed the President, resuming his seat. "What is the further pleasure of the meeting?" The silence of the grave for a time prevailed, Ingersoll and his followers deport- ing themselves with a solemnity well befitting an occasion for prayer. Again arising, the chairman of the committee — in a voice less rotimd than before — said: "Well, Mr. Presi- dent, if there is no further business before this meeting, I move we do now adjourn." Duly seconded, the motion was again put, Clark and half a dozen others voting as before. "Those opposed," remarked the President — in tones per- ceptibly less conciliatory than an hour earlier — "will say. No." The scarcely audible, but none the less effective "No" prevailed, the leader meanwhile giving no sign and apparently rapt as if unravelling the mysteries beyond the veil. A silence that could be felt now in very truth fell upon the meeting in the old courthouse assembled. Even the by- standers seemed impressed that something far out of the ordinary was happening. Receiving little in the way of encouragement, the Chair- man of the late committee, as he dubiously looked around 380 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN upon the forms of the silent majority — each of whom sat apparently buried in thought that touched the very depths, — again and for the last time addressed the presiding officer: "Mr. President, I move that we adjourn^ Conclusions being again tried in wonted parliamentary form between the opposing forces, with like result as before, the venerable president, — by way of prelude first giving full vent to an exclamation nowhere to be found in the Methodist "book of discipline," — at once indignantly vacated the chair, and literally shook the dust of the court-room from his feet. The others "stood not upon the order of their going," and although fifty years have come and gone, that identical Bar meeting in the old courthouse at Metamora is still in session, — never having been officially adjourned even to this day. XLVII THE HAYNE-WEBSTER DEBATE RECALLED THE PUBLIC CAREER OF LYMAN TRUMBULL HE HEARS CALHOUN MAKE A MASTERLY SPEECH IN HIS OWN DEFENCE TARIFF LAW THE SUBJECT OF DISCUSSION MR. HAYNE'S REPLY. EX-SENATOR LYMAN TRUMBULL called upon me at the Vice-President's Chamber a few months before his death. It was upon the occasion of his last visit to Washington. He pointed out to me with much interest the seat he had occupied for many years in the Senate. The Senators to whom I introduced him had all come in since his day. His associates in that chamber, with three or four exceptions, had passed beyond the veil. The public career of Mr. Trumbull began nearly two-thirds of a century ago. He was distinguished as a judge, and later as an able and active participant in exciting debates in the Senate, extending from the repeal of the Missouri Compromise to the impeachment of President Johnson. He was a mem- ber when the sessions of the Senate were held in the old cham- ber, and Cass, Crittenden, Douglas, Tombs, and Jefferson Davis were among his early official associates. As Chairman of the Judiciary Committee he had reported the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. In the course of my conversation with him upon the occasion first mentioned, I inquired whether he had ever met either Webster, Clay, or Calhoun. He replied that it was a matter of deep regret to him that he had never seen either Clay or Webster, but that he had in his early manhood heard a masterful speech from Mr, Calhoun. Mr. Trumbull had then just been graduated from an eastern college; and on his way to Greenville, Georgia, to take charge of a school, he spent a few days in Charleston, South Carolina. This was in 1833, and the speech of Mr. Calhoun was in vindication of 381 382 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN his course in the Senate in voting for the Compromise Bill of Mr. Clay, which provided for the gradual reduction of the tariff. The alleged injustice of the tariff law then in force had been the prime cause of the "nullification" excitement precipitated by South Carolina at that eventful period. The proclamation of President Jackson, it will be remembered, proved the death-blow, and the nullification excitement soon thereafter subsided. Mr. Trumbull told me he distinctly recalled John C. Calhoun, his commanding presence and splendid argument, as he addressed the large assemblage. As a clear-brained logician — whose statement alone was almost unanswerable argument — he thought Mr. Calhoun unsur- passed by any statesman our country had known. Mr. Trumbull added that at the close of Mr. Calhoun's speech before mentioned, amid great enthusiasm, "Hayne! Hayne!" was heard from every part of the vast assemblage. For an hom- or more he then Ustened spell-bound to Robert Y. Hayne, the formidable antagonist even of Webster in a debate now historic. Mr. Trumbull said that of the two generations of public men he had heard, he had never list- ened to one more eloquent than Hayne. LYMAN TRUMBULL xLvm IN THE HIGHLANDS THE -WKITER THE QUEST OF A GENTLEMAN IN THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS DUNSTAFFNAGE CASTLE lONA AND SAINT COLUMBA SENATOR BECK AND MR. SMITH BOTH DEVOTEES OF BURNS. DURING a sojourn of some weeks on the western coast of Scotland, I was the guest for a time of Mr. Stewart, the head of what remained of a once powerful clan in the Highlands. My host was a distinguished member of the London Bar, but spent his Summers at the home of his ancestors a few miles out from Alpin. Here, in as romantic a locaUty as is known even to the Highlands, with his kin- dred about him he enjoyed a full measure of repose from the distracting cares of the great metropolis. At the time of my visit his brother, an officer of the British army, just returned from India, was with him. Both gentlemen wore kilts for the time; and all the appointments of the house were reminders of bygone centuries when border warfare was in full flower, forays upon the Lowlands of constant oc- currence, and the principle of the clans in action, " Let him take who has the power And let him hold who can." At the bountifully furnished board of my Highland host there was much "upon the plain highway of talk" I will not soon forget. And then, with the gathering shadows in the ancestral hall, with the rude weapons of past genera- tions hanging upon every wall, and the stirring strains of the bagpipe coining from the distance, it was worth while to Usten to the Highland legends that had been handed down from sire to son. Not far away was the old castle of Dunstaffnage, which in its prime had been the scene of innumerable tournaments 383 384 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN and battles that have added many pages to Scottish annals. Within the enclosure of the old castle sleeps the dust of long- ago kings — the veritable grave of Macbeth being readily pointed out to inquiring travellers. The conversation around the hearthstone of my host turned to the famous island of the Inner Hebrides, lona, with its wonderful history reaching back to the sixth cen- tury. The ruins of the old monastery, built fourteen hun- dred years ago by the fugitive Saint, Colvunba, are well worth visiting. The dust of the early kings of Norway, Ireland, and Scotland rest within these ancient walls, and it is gratifying to know that here even the ill-fated Duncan " After life's fitful fever sleeps well." It would have been passing strange, with host and guests all of Scottish lineage, if there had been no mention of Rob- bie Bvu-ns, for in old Scotia, whether in palace or hovel, the one subject that never tires is the "ploughman poet of Ayr." A little incident of slightly American relish wWch I related the evening of my departure needed no " surgical operation" to find appropriate lodgment. Senator Beck of Kentucky was a Scotchman. He was in the highest sense a typical Scotchman — lacking nothing, either of the brawn, brain, or brogue, of the most gifted of that race. It is needless to say he was a lover of Burns. From " Tam O'Shanter " to " Mary in Heaven, " all were safely garnered in his memory — to be rolled out in rich, melodious measure at the opportune moment. The close friend and associate of Senator Beck, when the cares of State were for a time in abeyance, and the fishing season at its best, was " old Smith," superintendent of the Botanical Gardens, also a Scotchman, and likewise in intense degree a devotee of Burns. The bond of union between the man of flowers and the Kentucky statesman was complete. Now, it so fell out that a newly elected member of the House, from the Green River district, one day called upon his distinguished colleague of the Senate, and requested a note of introduction to the superintendent of the Botanical IN THE HIGHLANDS 385 Gardens, as he wished to procure some flowers to send a lady constituent then in the city. "Certainly, certainly," replied the ever-obliging statesman; " I will give you a line to old Smith." Just as the delighted member was departing with the letter in hand, Senator Beck remarked, in his pecu- liarly snappy Scotch accent, " Now, Tom, if you will only tell old Smith that you are a great admirer of his country- man, Robbie Burns, he will give you all the flowers in the conservatory." The member, who knew as little of Burns as he did of the "thirty-nine articles," departed in high feather. Almost immediately thereafter, presenting his letter, he was received with great cordiaUty by the superintendent and assured that any request of Senator Beck would be cheer- fully granted. Just as he was reaching out for the fragrant bouquet the superintendent was graciously presenting, the closing words of the Senator were indistinctly recalled, and in manner indicating no small measure of self-confidence, the member remarked, "By the way, Mr. Smith, I am a great admirer of your covmtryman, Jimmy Burns." "Jim- my Burns! Jimmy Burns! Jimmy Burns!" exclaimed the overwhelmingly indignant Scotchman, "Jimmy Burns! De- part instantly, sir!" The member from the Green River district departed as bidden, taking no thought of the flowers; delighted — as he often asseverated — to have escaped even with his life. XLIX ANECDOTES OF LAWYERS JUDGE Baldwin's book, " the flush times " — defendant's COUNSEL ASKS ONE QUESTION TOO MANY — CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE AGAINST A CARD-PLAYER JOHN RANDOLPH'S RE- VENGE — HORACE GREELEY NOT A MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL '— A candidate's QUALIFICATIONS FOR SCHOOL-TEACHING — THE AUTHOR OF " DON'T YOU REMEMBER SWEET ALICE, BEN BOLT?" — A CANDIDATE'S POSITION WITH REGARD TO THE MAINE LAW — GOVERNOR TILDEN'S POPULARITY — MR. TRAVERS MISSES A PORTRAIT — A CANDIDATE FOR HOLY ORDERS TELLS A BIBLE STORY. NO better place can be fovind for studying that most in- teresting of subjects, Man, than in our courts of jus- tice. Indeed, what a readable book that would be which related the best things which have occurred at the bar! Judge Baldwin conferred an inestimable blessing upon our profession when he wrote "The Flush Times," a book that will hold a place in our literature as long as there is a lawyer left on earth. To two generations of our craft this book has furnished agreeable and delightful entertainment. To the practitioner " shattered with the contentions of the great hall," its pages have been as refreshing as the oasis to the travel-stained pilgrim. The late Justice Field, long his associate upon the su- preme bench of California, told me that Judge Baldwin was one of the most genial and delightful men he had ever known, and certainly he must have been to have written "Cave Burton," "My First Appearance at the Bar," "A Himg Court," and "Ovid Bolus, Esq., Attorney-at-law and Solicitor in Chancery." Almost every Bar has some tradition or incident worth preserving — something in the way of brilliant witticism or repartee that should not be wholly lost. Of the race of old- time lawyers — of which Mr. Lincoln was the splendid type — 386 ANECDOTES OF LAWYERS 387 but few remain. Of the survivors, I know of no better repre- sentative than Proctor Knott of Kentucky. The possessor of ability of the highest order, and of splendid attainments as well, he is of all men the best story-teller this country of ours has known. Among his delighted auditors in and out of Congress have been men from every section and of exalted public station. For some of the incidents to be related I am indebted to Governor Knott. The obligation would be much greater if the stories could be retold in manner and form as in days gone by, and upon occasions never to be forgotten when they fell from his own lips. If, however, even fairly well I might garner up and hand down some of the experiences of the generation of lawyers now passing, I would feel that I had, in some humble meas- ure, discharged that obligation that Lord Bacon says, "every man owes to his profession." ONE QUESTION TOO MANY What lawyer has not, at some time, in the trial of a case asked just one qtiestion too many? I know of nothing bet- ter along that line of inquiry than the following related by Governor Knott. He was attending the Circuit Court in one of the Green River counties in Kentucky, when the case of the "Commonwealth versus WiUiam Jenkins" was called for trial. The aforesaid William was imder indictment for having bitten off the ear of the prosecuting witness. Fairly strong but by no means conclusive testimony against the defendant had been given when the State "rested." A lawyer of the old school, who still carried his green bag into Court, and who never wearied of telling of his conflicts at the bar with Grundy, Holt, and Ben Hardin, in their palmiest days, was retained for the defence. His chief wit- ness was Squire Barnhouse, who lived over on the " Rolling Fork." He was the magistrate for his precinct, deacon in the church, and the recognized oracle for the neighborhood. Upon direct examination, in the case at bar, he testified that "he knowed the defendant William Jenkins; had knowed him thirty year or more; knowed his father and mother 388 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN afore him." Inquired of then as to the general reputation of the defendant, as to his being "a peaceable and law- abiding citizen," he was found to be all that could be reason- ably desired. Squire Barnhouse was then asked whether he was pres- ent at the Caney Fork muster, where it was alleged that the defendant had bitten off the ear of the prosecuting witness. It turned out that he was present. Further questioned as to whether he had paid particular attention to the fight, he replied that he did; that he "had never seed Billy in a font before, and he had a kind of family pride in seein' how he would handle himself." Further questioned as to whether he saw the defendant bite off the ear of the prosecuting wit- ness he replied, "No, sir, no thin' uv the kind, no thin' uv the kind." This was followed by the inquiry as to whether his opportunities were such that he would most probably have seen it, if it had occurred. "In course I would, in course I would," was the emphatic reply. The witness was here turned over to the Commonwealth's attorney, who declined to cross-examine, and Squire Barn- house was in the act of leaving the stand when in an evil hour it occurred to defendant's counsel to ask one question more. "By the way, Sqiiire, just one more question, just where you stand; now I understood you to say" — repeating the answers already given; "now just this question, did you see anything occur while the fight was going on, or after it was over, that would lead you to beUeve that this defend- ant had bitten off the ear of the prosecuting witness?" The Squire, half down the witness stand, answered, "No, sir, nothing uv the kind," then, slowly and thoughtfully, "nothing uv the kind." A moment's pause. "Well, since you mention it, I do remember that just as Billy rizeaed up offen him the last time, I seed him spit out a piece of ear, bvi whose ear it was, I don't pertend to know." CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE In the good Coimty of Scotland, in the State of Missouri, back in the ante-bellum days there lived one Solomon Davis, ANECDOTES OF LAWYERS 889 whose chronic horror was card-playing. The evils of this life were in his judgment largely to be attributed to this terrible habit. It was his belief that if the Grand Jury would only take hold of the matter in the right spirit, a stop could be put to the " nefarious habit of card-playing, which was ruining the morals of so many young men in Scotland County." This was the burden of his discourse in and out of season. His ardent desire that he himself should be called on the Grand Jury to the accomplishment of the end mentioned was at length gratified. At a certain term of court he was not only summoned upon the Grand Jury, but duly appointed its foreman. Upon the adjournment of court for dinner, immediately thereafter, one Ben Mason, the wit of the bar, — and not himself wholly unacquainted with the pastime that involved spades, kings, and even queens, — ardently congratulated the new foreman upon his appointment, assuring him that now his opportunity had come to put an end, by the omnipotent power of the Grand Jury, " to the nefarious habit of card- playing which was ruining the morals of so many yoimg men in Scotland County." "And now. Squire," continued Ben, "I can give you the name of a gentleman who does n't play himself, but is always around where playing is going on, and he can tell you who plays, where they play, how much is bet, and all about it." Delighted at this apparently providential revelation, the Squire had a subpoena forthwith issued for the witness men- tioned, one Ranzey Sniffle, a half-witted fellow who had never taken or expected to take a part in the game himself, but whose cup of happiness was full to the brim when, in return for punching up the fire, mixing the drinks, and snuffing the candle, he was permitted to see the play actually going on. Trembling with apprehension at the dread summons to appear before the "Grand Inquest" — if it had been three centuries eariier at Saragossa it could scarcely have ap- peared more alarming — the witness was ushered into the immediate presence of the awful tribunal over which Squire Davis was now presiding. After taking the customary oath, 390 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN and telling his name, age, and where he lived, Mr. Sniffle was questioned by the foreman as to his personal knowledge of any game or games of cards being played for money, or any valuable thing, within one year last past, within the said Coxmty of Scotland, and solemnly warned, if he had any such knowledge, to proceed in his own way, and tell all about it; to tell when and where it was, who were present, and what amount, if any, was bet. Recovering himself a Uttle by this time, the witness began: "The last time I seed them playin'. Squire, was at Levi Myers's sto' ; they sot in about simdown last Saturday night, and never loosened their grip until Monday momin' about dayUght." "Now, Mr. Sniffle," interrupted the Squire with great dignity, "will you proceed in your own way, to give to the gentlemen of this Grand Jury the names of the persons who were thus engaged not only in violating the statute law of Missouri, but in violating the law of God by desecrating His holy Sabbath?" "Well, Squire," continued the witness, slowly counting off on his fingers, "thar was Levi Myers, Sanmiy Hocum, Mose Johnson, Josiah Davis," — "Suspend, Mr. Sniffle, sitspend," commanded the Squire with great indignation, and turning to his official associates, he continued, "I am aware, gentle- men of the Grand Jury, that my son Josiah is sometimes present when cards are being played, but he assures me on his honor as a gentleman, that he never fa^es part, and doesn't even know one card from another. Now, Mr. Witness, do you undertake, under the solemn sanction of an oath, to say that my son Josiah was engaged in the game? By the way, Mr. Sniffle, do you understand the nature of an oath?" "No, Squire," slowly replied the witness, "I dun know as I do." "Don't you know what will become of you, Ranze, if you swear to a lie?" quickly asked a juryman from a back seat. "Yas, in course, if I swar to a he, they '11 send me to the penitentiary, and then I '11 go to hell afterwards," replied Mr. Sniffle. ^ ANECDOTES OF LAWYERS 391 The cffmpetenq/ of the witness thus appearing, the fore- man proceeded : "Now, Mr. Sniffle, do you, under the solemn sanction of an oath, undertake to say that my son Josiah was engaged in that game?" "I dun know as I adzackly understand the meanin' of bein' engaged in the game; but I seed Josiah a-dealin' the papes, when his time come to fling a card he flung it, and uv'ry now and then, he rech out and drug in the chicerokum. I dun know as I adzackly understand 'bout bein' engaged in the game, but if that were bein' engaged, then Josiah were engaged!" JOHN RANDOLPH OF ROANOKE Seldom have more significant words been uttered than those of John Randolph of Roanoke, when told that a certain man had been denoimcing him. "Denouncing me," replied Randolph, with astonishment, "that is strange, / never did him a favor." The voice of but one John Randolph of Roanoke has mingled in the contentions of the Great Hall. That was no cause for regret, as for a hfetime he was the dread of political foes and friends alike. A coUeague from "the vaUey" probably remembered him well to the last. That colleague, recently elected to fill a vacancy caused by the death of a member of long service, signalized his entrance into the House by an unprovoked attack upon Mr. Randolph. The latter, from his seat near by, listened with apparent unconcern to the fierce personal assault. To the surprise of all, no immediate reply was made to the speech, and the new member flattered himself, no doubt, that the "grim sage" was for once completely unhorsed. A few days later, however, Randolph, while discussing a bill of local importance, casually remarked: "This bill, Mr. Speaker, lost its ablest advocate in the death of my lamented colleague, whose seat is still vacant! " HORACE GREELEY It will be remembered that the will of Stephen Girard of Philadelphia, after a splendid bequest for the establishment 392 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN of the great University which bears his name, provided that no minister of the Gospel should ever be permitted to enter the grounds of the institution. It so happened upon a time, that Horace Greeley, wearing white hat and cravat, and with his ministerial cast of coun- tenance well in evidence, sauntered up to the gate of the Girard institution and was about to enter. He was instantly stopped by the keeper, who bluntly told him that he could not enter. "What the hell is the reason I can't?" demanded Greeley. "Oh! I beg your pardon," apologized the astonished gate- keeper, "walk right in, sir; you can." PATRIOTIC TO THE CORE Judge Allen of southern Illinois, a leading member of Congress a half-century ago, during a recent address to the old settlers of McLean County related an incident of early days on the Wabash. Population was sparse, and the com- mon school was yet far in the future. The teacher who could read, write, and "cipher" to the "single rule of three" was well equipped for his noble calling. Lamentable failures upon the part of aspirants to attain even the modest standard indicated, were by no means of rare occur- rence. Back in the thirties, an individual of by no means pre- possessing appearance presented himself to Judge Allen's father, the Magistrate, Ruling Elder, and ex-ofjicio school director for his precinct, and asked permission "to keep school." Being interrogated as to what branches he could teach, the three R's — readin', 'ritin', and 'rithmetic — were, with apparent confidence, at once put in nomination. "Have you ever taught geography and English gram- mar?" was the next inquiry. With a much less confident tone, as he had probably never heard of either, he replied: "I have teached geography some, but as for English grammar, I wouldn't 'low one of 'em to come into my school- house. 'Merican grammar is good enough for me!" ANECDOTES OF LAWYERS - 393 "SWEET ALICE, BEN BOLT" A touching scene occurred in the House of Representatives a number of years ago, when an aged member from New Jer- sey arose, and for the first time addressed the Speaker. All eyes were turned in his direction as he stood calmly awaiting recognition. He was tall, spare, and erect. His venerable appearance and kindly expression, coupled with most courte- ous manners, at once commanded attention. As in husky tones he again said, "Mr. Speaker!" there came from the farthest end of the Great Hall in a whisper, but distinctly heard by all, the words, " Sweet Alice, Ben Bolt. " A moment later, and from the floor and gallery many voices blended in the familiar refrain, "Don't you remember sweet Alice Ben Bolt?" The ovation which immediately followed was such as is rarely witnessed in the Great Hall. Business was suspended for the moment, and the hand of the new member warmly grasped by the chosen representatives of all parties and sections. It was an inspiring tribute, one worthily bestowed. The member was Thomas Dunn English, author of the little poem, sung in palace and cottage, which has found its way into all languages, and touched all hearts. THE MAINE LAW The mention of the "Maine Law" recalls a Uttle episode that occurred in the early days in the good county of McLean, One Dimcan — no kinsman to him who had been "So clear in his great office " — was again a candidate for the Legislature. The temperance question, in some of its many phases, was then giving much trouble to aspirants to public place. In the midst of his opening speech at the old courthouse, the candidate was interrupted by one of the inquisitive men who always appear when least wanted, with the question: "Mr. Duncan, are you in favor of the Maine Law?" "Yes, yes," quickly replied the candidate, "I am coming to that very soon." Shying off to the tariff, the improvement of Western rivers, and the necessity of rigid economy in all public expenditures, 394 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN our candidate was about to close when the same troublesome inquiry, "Mr. Duncan, are you in favor of the Maine Law?" again greeted his unwilling ears. "Oh, yes," exclaimed the orator, in tone and manner indicating much thankfulness: "I am glad you called my attention to this subject; I was about to forget it. My fellow-citizens have a right to know my views upon all public questions, and I have nothing to conceal. I have no respect for candidates who attempt to dodge any of these great questions. I have given you fully, my views upon the tariff, upon a general system of internal improvements, and something of my own services in the past; and now thanking you for your attention, will"— "Mr. Duncan, are you in favor of the Maine Lawf" were the words that again escaped the lips of the importunate inquisitor. Fully appreciating his dilemma — with constituents about equally divided upon the dangerous question — the candidate at once nerved himself for the answer upon which hung his hopes and fears, and boldly repUed : " Yes, sir, I am in favor of the law, but everlastingly opposed to its enforcement!" HOW HE GOT HIS MAJORITY One of the candidates upon the ticket with Mr. Tilden when he was elected Governor of New York, was the late William Dorshemer. Judge Maynard told me that he was present in the library of Mr. Tilden when Dorshemer called, immediately after the full election returns had been received. Tilden's popularity at the time was very great — growmg out of his successful prosecution of the noted Canal ring, — and resulted in the triumph of the ticket of which he was the head. Mr. Dorshemer, the Lieutenant-Governor elect, was greatly delighted that his own majority exceeded that of the more distinguished candidate for the Chief Execu- tive office. During the conversation, Dorshemer remarked to Tilden: "Your majority is only fifty thousand, while mine is fifty-one thousand, five hundred." "Yes, yes," quickly remarked Tilden; "you got the fifteen hundred; / gave you the fifty thousand .'" ANECDOTES OF LAWYERS »95 WILLIAM R. TRAVERS The generation now passing has known no man of keener wit than the late WiUiam R. Travers, of New York. An impediment of speech not infrequently gave zest and vim to his words, when they finally found utterance. He was for a lifetime steeped in affairs of great concern and among his associates were prominent factors in the commercial and political world. On his revisiting Baltimore some years after his removal to New York, an old acquaintance remarked, "You seem to stutter more in New York than you did here, Mr. Travers." To this the brief reply at length came, "Have to — it 's a bigger place." Back in the days when Gould and Fisk were names to conjure with in the mart and on the board; when railroads and gold mines were but pawns upon the chessboard of "money changers and those who sold doves"; when "Black Friday" was still fresh in -the memories of thousands, this incident is said to have occurred. To weightier belongings, Gould and Fisk had added by way of pastime a splendid steamer to ply between Fall River and New York. Upon its trial voyage, Travers was the guest of its owners. The appointments of the vessel were gorgeous in the extreme, and in the large saloon were suspended life- size portraits of Gould and of Fisk. After a promenade of an hour in company with the originals, Travers suddenly paused in front of the portraits, gazed earnestly at each in turn, and then — with eyes fixed on the intervening space — slowly ejaculated: "Where 's Christ?" TOLD BY COLONEL W. D. HAYNIE The following, told with happy effect by Colonel W. D. Hajmie of the Chicago Bar, probably has no parallel in theological literature. A colored brother who felt called upon to preach, appUed to the Bishop of his church for license to exercise the sacred office. The Bishop, far from being favorably impressed by the appearance of the can- didate, earnestly inquired whether he had read the Bible, 398 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN and was familiar with appropriate stories to relate, as occasion might require, to his Sunday school and congregar tion. The answer was, "Boss, I has read dat book from led to led." In response to the request of the good Bishop that he would repeat a Bible story, the applicant for Holy Orders began: "One time dar wus a wicked ole King, an' his name was Ahab; an' he live in Babylon; an' he wus a mighty warrior; an' one day he wuz marchin' along at de head uv his army fru de streets of Babylon, an' he seed Bersheby standin' up on de house-top; an' he said to his soldiers, 'Bring me Bersheby fur my wife'; an' day brung him Bersheby fur his wife. An' ole Ahab he march a long ways off, and fit a big battle, an' tuk a hull lot of prisoners; an' cum a-marchm' back fru de streets of Babylon, wid de brass bans a-playin', and de stars an' stripes a-floatin'; an' Bersheby she wuz a-standin' on de house-top, and she holler out, " ' How did you cum out wid 'em, old Ahab?' " An' it make him powerful mad you know; an he say to his soldiers, 'Frow her down to me.' And dey frowed her down to him; and den he say. Trow her down to me seven times'; and dey frowed her down seven times; and den he say, 'Frow her down to me seventy times seven times !' and dey frowed her down to him seventy times seven times; an' po' ole Bersheby, she crawl away and lay down at de rich man's gate, and de dogs come and lick her wouns, and when dey gevered her up, dar was 'leven basketfuls left, an' whose wife will she be in de resurrection f" L OUR NOBLE CALLING THE LEGAL PROFESSION — TAKEN BY SURPRISE — MISSING THE POINT OF THE JOKE A REMARKABLE INCIDENT A JUDICIAL DECISION ON BAPTISM A DOUBTFUL COMPLIMENT STRONG PERSONAL ATTACHMENT IRISH WIT ENGLISH JOKES ABOUT LAWYERS GREATNESS UNAPPRECIATED ALL IN HIS WIFe's NAME A RETORT BY CURRAN — REMITTING A FINE A CASE " ON all-pours" — "going out with THE TIDE." AS we well know, lawyers generally entertain an exceed- ingly exalted opinion of their profession. Textbooks, opinions of courts, addresses innumerable to graduating students, all bear witness to the fact that our noble profession is the most honorable of human caUings, the safeguard of society, the palladium of our liberty. True, some uncharitable layman has suggested: "Yes, all this, and more, has been said a thousand times, bvi always by lawyers." There are persons yet in life who, practically at least, hold with Aaron Burr, that "law is that which is boldly asserted and plausibly maintained," and that lawyers, like the Roman augurs of old, always smile when they meet one another on the street. The by no means exalted opinion of two men as to "our noble profession" will appear from the following. A few days after Knott was admitted to the bar, he was sitting alone in his office, waiting for clients, when a one- gallowsed, awkward-looking fellowfromthe " brush " walked in without ceremony, dropped into the only vacant chair, and inquired: "Air you a lawyer, mister?" Assuming the manner of one of the regulars, Knott unhesitatingly answered that he was. "Well," said the visitor, "I thought I would drap in and git you to fetch a few suits for me." Picking up his pen with the air of a man with whom suing people was an everyday, matter-of-course sort of an affair, Knott said: 397 398 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN "Who did you wish to sue?" To which — with a prolonged yawn — the prospective client drawled out: "I ain't partic- ular, Mister, I jest thought I 'd get you to pick out a few skerry fellows that would complemise easy !" The remaining incident is an experience of my own, when, at the age of twenty-two, I had himg out my sign in the then county-seat of Old Woodford. My first client had retained me to obtain a divorce because of abandonment during the two years last past by the sometime partner of his joys and sorrows. The bill for divorce was duly filed; but on " the coming in of the answer," a con- tinuance of the suit, for cause shown, was granted to the de- fendant. At an early hour on the morning thereafter, my client called, and I soon discovered he was in a frame of mind by no means joyous. The disappointment he expressed at the continuance of his suit was evidently sincere. My explanar tion of the impossibiUty of preventing it, and the confident hope I held out that he would certainly get his divorce at the next term, evidently gave him little relief. He at length intimated a desire to have a confidential talk with me. I took him into my "private ofiice" (that has a professional sound, but as a matter of fact my office had but one room, and that was "open as day" to everybody) and assured him that whatever he said to me would be in the strictest confidence. Feeling that I was on safe ground, I now spoke in a lofty tone of the sacred relation existing between counsel and client, and that any communication he desired to make would be as safe as within his own bosom, " or words to that effect." Relieved, apparently, by the atmosphere of profound secrecy that now enveloped us, he "unfolded himself " to the effect that some years before he had been deeply in love with an excellent young lady in his neighborhood, but for some trifling cause he could now hardly explain, he had in a pique suddenly turned his attentions to another to whom he was soon united in the holy bonds that he was now so anxious to have sundered by the strong arm of the law. A deeply drawn sigh was here the prelude to the startling OUR NOBLE CALLING S99 revelation, that since his present sea of troubles had encom- passed him about the old flame had been rekindled in his heart. I now candidly informed him that I was wholly in- experienced in such matters, but as his counsel I would take the liberty to advise him of the monstrous impropriety of any visible manifestation or expression of the newly revived attachment. This was followed by the comforting assurance upon my part, however, that when divorced, he would be thereby restored to all his ancient rights and privileges, and lawfully entitled to reenter the matrimonial lists in such direction, and at whatever gait seemed to him best. The sigh to which the above was the prelude, hardly prepared me for the startling revelation that another fellow was now actu- ally keeping company with the yoimg lady. My client's feelings here overcame him for a moment, and he complained bitterly of his hard fate in being "tied up," while the coast was clear to his competitor. After a moment of deep study, he expressed the opinion in substance, that if his rival could only be held in check until the divorce was granted, he was confident all would be well. I here told him that this was all beyond my depth, and along a line where it would be impossible for me to render him any service. Hitching his chair up a httle closer, and looking at me earnestly he said: "You are a good-looking young fellow, and rather a glib talker, and I will give you this hundred dollars if you will cut that fellow out imtil I get my divorce!" Declining with some show of indignation, as well as surprise — for I was young then in the practice — I as- sured him that his proposal was out of the domain of profes- sional service, and could not be thought of for a moment. In a tone indicating deep astonishment, he said : " Why, I thought a lawyer would do anything for money!" "Yes," I replied, "most anything, but this is the exception; and besides, if the young lady is as beautiful as you say she is, you would be in greater danger from me at the end of your probation than from the other fellow." " Oh, Lord, I had n't thought of that," he exclaimed, as he pocketed his hundred dollars, picked up his hat, and left my office. 400 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN Near the close of the following term of court, as the decree was being signed granting the divorce aforementioned, I approached my client as he sat solitary in the rear of the court- room, and earnestly congratulated him upon the fact that he was now free and at liberty to fight his own battles. "Yes," he replied, with a groan that touched the heart of the tipstaff near by, "but it 's too late now; she married that other fellm last Thursday." TAKEN BY SURPRISE Upon a time, far back, Ballou, of happy memory, was Judge of the Woodford Circuit Court. A young lawyer, after diligent preparation and exhaustive argument, confidently submitted his first case to the tender mercies of the Court. To his utter dismay. His Honor promptly rendered a decision adverse to the contention of the youthful barrister. Deeply humiliated by his defeat, the latter exclaimed: "I am aston- ished at such a decision!" The admonition of a brother, to patience, failing to accomplish its charitable purpose, the irate attorney asseverated more excitedly than before, his astonish- ment at such a decision. Whereupon the judge ordered the clerk to enter up a fine of five dollars against the offending attorney for contempt of court. Silence now reigned supreme, and the victim of judicial wrath sank back into his seat, utterly dismayed. The strain of the situation was at length relieved in part by an old lawyer from the opposite side of the trial table, slowly arising and solenmly remarking: "Something might be said, Your Honor, in extenuation of the conduct of my young friend. It is his first case, one In which he felt the deepest interest, and upon the successful issue of which, he had founded his fondest hopes. I trust Your Honor, upon due reflection, will remit this fine. It is true, he has with much vehemence expressed his astonishment at the decision of the Court. But his youth and inexperience must surely be taken into account. Ah, Your Honor, when our young brother has practised before this court as long as some of us have, he will not be surprised at any decision Your Honor may make !" OUR NOBLE CALLING 401 MISSING THE POINT OF THE JOKE Sidney Smith is credited with saying that it required a surgical operation to get a joke into a Scotchman's head. And not a bad reply that of the Scotchman : " Yes, an English joke." It is unnecessary, however, to cross the Atlantic in order to find a few well authenticated cases where the surgical opera- tion would have been required. The Hon. Samuel H. Treat, United States Judge of Southern Illinois, was one of the ablest and most upright of judges, and possibly — on or off the bench — the most solemn-appearing of all of the sons of men. This little incident was related by Judge Weldon. Soon after the close of the War, he one day told Judge Treat a story he had heard upon a recent visit to Washington. McDougall, formerly of Illinois, but at that time a Senator from Cali- fornia, had become very dissipated near the close of his term. At a late hour one night a policeman on the Avenue found him in an utterly helpless condition — literally in the gutter. As the officer was making an ineffectual attempt to get the unfortunate statesman upon his feet, he inquired: "Who are you? " The reply was : " This morning I was Senator McDou- gall, but now I am Sewered f" A few moments later Mr. Hay came into the office and Judge Treat said: "Hay, Weldon has just told me a good story about our old friend McDougall. Mac was in the gutter, and a policeman asked him who he was, and Mac told him, "This momiDg I was Senator McDougall, but now I am the Hon. William H. Seward!" AN INCIDENT Upon the occasion of the celebration of the fiftieth anni- versary of the organization of the City of Bloomington, the oration was delivered by the Hon. James S. Ewing, late Minis- ter to Belgium. In the course of his address, he related the following incident: " In the early history of this county, two boys one day went into the old courthouse to hear a lawsuit tried. There 402 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN were assembled eight young lawyers, not all of them engaged in the trial, but giving strict attention to the proceedings. It was not a suit of great importance. " The Court was presided over by Samuel H. Treat, who afterwards became a United States District Judge and one of the most distinguished lawyers and jurists in the State. "One of the lawyers was David Davis, first a noted lawyer, then a circuit judge, then a judge of the Supreme Court of the United States, then a United States Senator and acting President of the Senate; a citizen of State and na- tional fame whom the people of Bloomington loved and delighted to honor. " Another was John T. Stuart, a brilliant lawyer, several times a member of Congress, and one of the most lovable of men. "Another one was David B. Campbell, then the prose- cuting attorney and afterwards a prominent lawyer and citizen of Springfield. "Another was Edward D. Baker, who was afterwards a United States Senator from Oregon; a famous orator who immortaUzed himself by his marvellous oration over Senator Broderick. " Another was James A. McDougall, a brilliant Irishman, afterwards a United States Senator from the State of Cali- fornia. "And Abraham Lincoln, who has passed beyond the domain of human praise into the pantheon of universal history. " I might add that one of those boys afterwards became the Vice-President of the United States; and the other is your speaker. " Speaking to any audience in America, I might say in the world, I doubt if such an incident could be truthfully related of any other gathering." A JUDICIAL DECISION ON BAPTISM It is rarely the case that a Court is called upon to decide questions of a purely theological character. Of necessity. OUR NOBLE CALLING 40S however — property interests being involved, — controver- sies, measurably of a religious character, sometimes arise for judicial determination. The case to be mentioned is probably the only one where "baptism " — the true mode and manner thereof — has ever come squarely before an American judge. A man under sentence of death for murder was awaiting execution in the jail of one of the counties in northern Kentucky. Under the ministrations of the pastor of the Baptist Church, the prisoner at length made "the good confession" and desired to be baptized. To this end, the faithful pastor applied to the circuit judge before whom the prisoner had been tried, for permission to have the rite observed in the Kentucky River near by. The judge — more deeply versed in "Blackstone" and "Ben Monroe" than in theological lore — decUried to have the prisoner removed from the jail, but gave permission to have him baptized in his cell. The physical impossibility of the observance of the solemn rite in the prisoner's cell was at once explained. "Certainly," said the judge in reply, "I know there is no room in there to baptize him that way; but take a bowl of water and sprinkle him right where he is con- fined." "But," earnestly interposed the man of the sacred office, "our church does not recognize sprinkling as vahd baptism. We hold immersion to be the only Scriptm-al method." "Is it possible?" exclaimed the judge, greatly svirprised. "Well, this Court decides that sprinkling is valid baptism; and I tell you once for all, that that infernal scoun- drel will be sprinkled, or he will he hung without, being bap- tized at all!" Inasmuch as this decision has never been overruled by a higher court, it stands as the only judicial determination of the long-controverted question. A DOUBTFUL COMPLIMENT Mr. Clark was the leader of the Metamora Bar when I located there — and so continued. My first case, and the compliment of somewhat doubtful significance bestowed upon its termination, came about in this wise. I was retained for 404 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN the plaintiff before Squire Fairchild in a suit involving the ownership of a calf of the alleged value of seven dollars. It being my first case, and having the aforementioned leader as my professional antagonist — and what was of far greater consequence, a contingent fee of two dollars and a half trem- bling in the balance — it may well be supposed that no effort was spared upon my part. I won the case, of course — what lawyer ever told about a case that he had not won? The same evening a httle group in the village store were discussing the merits of the case, and comparing the forensic effort of the new lawyer with that of the old-time leader already mentioned. At length one Tobias Wilson, as he slid down from his accustomed perch upon the counter, signifi- cantly observed: "Men, you may say what you please, but for my part, I had ruther hear Stevenson speak two minutes than to hear old Clark all day ! " STRONG PERSONAL ATTACHMENT Mr. Clark — whose early advantages had been none of the best — was once counsel for the proponent in a closely contested will case. The testator, passing by the next of kin, had left his entire estate to a personal friend, a man not of his own blood. In attempting to impress upon the jury the reasonableness of this disposition, Clark said: "This, gentlemen of the jury, is another striking illustration of the power of human friend- ship. All history — sacred and profane — is full of instances of strong personal attachments. Who can ever forget the undying affection of David and Jonathan, of Damon and Pythias, of Scylla and Charybdis ?" IRISH WIT Judge Baldwin has left of record the witty reply of Jo Heyfron, an Irish lawyer, to a Mississippi judge. The judge, having rendered a very ridiculous decision in a cause in which Heyfron was engaged, the latter slowly arose as if to address the Court. The judge, exceedingly pompous and a poor lawyer withal, in imperative tone said: "Take your seat, Mr. OUR NOBLE CALLING 405 Heyfron; you have practised at this bar long enough to know that when this Court renders a decision, its wisdom can only be called in question in a higher Court." "If Your Honor plase," replied Jo in deprecatory tone, "far be it from me to impugn in the slightest degray the wisdom of Your Honor's decision. I only designed to rade a few lines from the book I hold in my hand, in order that Your Honor might parsave how profoundly aignorant Sir William Blockstone was upon this subject!" It is difficult, at this day, to realize that such scenes could ever have been enacted in an English Court, as were not in- frequent diuring the era embracing the celebrated "State Trials." While one of these was in progress, and Curran in the midst of his argument, the judge contemptuously turned his back upon the advocate, and began fondling a favorite dog at his side. The argvraient was at once sus- pended. "Proceed, sir," were the words which at length broke the stillness that had fallen upon the vast assemblage. "Ah!" exclaimed Curran, "I was only waiting for Your Lordship to conclude your consultation with your learned associate!" ENGLISH JOKES ABOUT LAWYERS Possibly the most solemn book in the world, not excepting Burton's "Anatomy of Melancholy," or even "Fearne on Contingent Remainders," is an English pubUcation of a half- century or so ago, entitled "Jokes about Great Lawyers." Of several hxmdred alleged jokes two or three will bear transplanting. "My Lord," began a somewhat pompous barrister, "it is written in the book of nature — " " Be kind enough," inter- posed Lord EUenborough, "to give me the page from which you quote." "To the opening remark of an equally pompous barrister: "My Lord, the imfortunate client for whom I appear — " "Proceed, sir, proceed," hastily observed the judge, "so far the court is with you! " EUenborough, when at the bar, after protracting his argu- 406 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN ment to the hour of adjournment, said that he would con- clude when it should be His Lordship's pleasure to hear him. The immediate reply was: "The Court will hear you, sir to-morrow; but as to the pleasure, that has long been out of the question." GREATNESS UNAPPRECIATED Gibbon has somewhere said, that one of the liveliest pleasures which the pride of man can enjoy is to reappear in a more splendid condition among those who have known him in his obscurity. A case in point is of a lawyer of prominence in one of the Western States, who soon after his appointment to a seat m the Cabinet revisited his early home. Meeting an acquaint- ance upon his arrival at the railway station, the visitor, with emotions akin to those described by Gibbon, ventured to inquire what his old neighbors said when they heard of his being appointed to a place in the Cabinet. The unexpected reply was: "Oh, they did n't say nothin'; they just laughed !" ALL IN HIS WIFE'S NAME The late Colonel Lynch was for many years the recognized wit of the Logan County Bar. His repeated efforts, upon a time, to collect a judgment against a somewhat slippery debtor, were unavailing; the claim of the wife of the debtor, to the property attached, in each instance proving successful. Immeasm-ably disgusted at the "unsatisfied" return of the third writ, the Colonel indignantly exclaimed: "Yes, and I suppose if he should get religion, he would hold that, too, in his wife's name!" A RETORT BY CURRAN The stinging retort of the Irish advocate Curran is re- called. At the close of his celebrated encoimter with one of the most overbearing of EngUsh judges, the latter insultingly remarked to the somewhat diminutive advocate: "I could put you in my pocket, sir." To which, with the quickness of a lightning flash, Curran retorted: "If you did, Your Lordship OUR NOBLE CALLING 407 would have more law in your pocket than you ever had in your head!" Fiercely indignant, the judge repUed: "Another word, and I will commit you, sir." To which Curran fearlessly retorted : "Do, and it will be the best thing Your Lordship has com- mitted this term!" REMITTING A FINE About every courthouse in the "Blue Grass" still linger traditions of the late Thomas F. Marshall. For him Nature did well her part. He was a genius if one ever walked this earth. Tall, erect, handsome, of commanding presence, and with intellectual endowment such as is rarely vouchsafed to man, no place seemed beyond his reach. Having in addition the prestige of family, that coimted for much, and being the possessor of inherited wealth, it indeed seemed that to one man "fortune had come with both of her hands full." The successor of Clay and Crittenden as Representative for the Ashland District, a peerless orator upon the hustings, at the bar, and in the Great Hall, his life went out in sorrow and disappointment. " Of all sad words of tongue or pen The saddest are these, 'It might have beeni'" His eulogy upon the gifted and lamented Menifee, the tribute of genius to genius, belongs to the realm of the loftiest eloquence, and seldom have words of deeper pathos been written than his own obituary — "Poor Tom's a-cold" — by George D. Prentice. As to why that which seemed so full of promise " turned to ashes upon the hps," the following will explain. Meeting his kinsman, theRev.Dr.Breckenridge, he said: "Bob, when you and I graduated, you took to the pulpit and I to the bottle, and / have stuck to my text a good deal closer than you have to yours ! " Not inaptly has hell been described as "disqualification in the face of opportunity." Bearing in mind Marshall's invariable habit of not paying 408 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN his debts, the point of the closing remark of the judge in the incident to be related will appear. Marshall was engaged in the defence of a man charged with murder in a county some distance from his own home. Failing repeatedly in his at- tempt to introduce certain testimony excluded by the Court, he at length exclaimed: "It was upon just such rulings as that that Jesus Christ was convicted." "Mr. Clerk, enter up a fine of ten dollars against Mr. Marshall for contempt of court," was the prompt response of the judge. " Well, " said Marshall, "this is the first time in a Christian country I have ever heard of a man being fined for abusing Pontius Pilate!" "Mr. Clerk," said the judge, with scarcely suppressed indignation, "enter up a fine of twenty-five dollars against Mr. Marshall for contempt of court, and the further order that he be imprisoned in the common jail of the county until the fine and costs are paid." The death-like stillness that fell upon the assemblage was at length broken by Mr. Marshall arising and gravely address- ing the Court: "If Your Honor please, I am engaged in the trial of an important case, one where human life may depend upon my efforts. I have just been fined twenty-five dollars and ordered to be imprisoned until the fine is paid. Upon a careful ex- amination of my pockets, I find that I have not that amount nor any other amount about my person. I am more than one hundred miles from home and among strangers. In looking over this audience, I find but one familiar face, that of Your Honor. I am therefore constrained to request Your Honor, as an old and cherished friend, to lend me the amount neces- sary to discharge this fine." Instantly the judge exclaimed: "Remit that fine, Mr. Clerk; the State is vwre able to lose it than I am." A CASE "ON ALL-FOURS" Near two-thirds of a century ago, one of the best^known lawyers in Illinois was Justin Butterfield. He was one of the OUR NOBLE CALLING 409 most eloquent of the gifted Whig leaders of the State when the list included such names as Lincoln, Stuart, Hardin, Browning, Baker, and Linder. He was the earnest cham- pion of General Zachary Taylor for the Presidency in 1848, and his party devotion was rewarded by appointment to the commissionership of the General Land Office. The only appointment for which Mr. Lincoln was ever an applicant was that given to Butterfield soon after the inauguration of President Taylor. Of few lawyers have brighter things ever been told than of Justin Butterfield. During the fierce anti-Mormon ex- citement — which resulted in the destruction of the Nauvoo Temple and the expulsion of the Mormons from the State — the "Prophet," Joseph Smith, was placed upon trial for an alleged felony. The Hon. Nathaniel Pope was the presiding judge, and Butterfield coimsel for Smith. A large audience, including many elegantly dressed ladies, was in attendance. When he arose to address the Court, Butterfield with great dignity began: "I am profoundly impressed with the solemnity of the situation and the awful responsibility resting upon me. I stand in the presence of his Holiness the Pope, surrounded by angels, to speak in defence of the Lord's anointed Prophet!" While in active practice, Butterfield was upon one occasion opposing coimsel to the Hon. David A. Smith in the Supreme Court of the State. The latter had concluded his argument and with head resting upon the table in front, had fallen asleep while Butterfield was speaking. A gleam of sunlight which had found its way through the window opposite, had fallen upon the very bald head of Smith, causing it to shine with imwonted brilliancy. Suddenly pausing and with arm extended toward his sleeping antagonist, Butterfield solemnly observed : "The light shineth upon the darkness and the darkness comprehendeth it not !" As the Old State Bank was about to expire by reason of limitation, the General Assembly passed a bill extending its corporate hfe fifteen years. In litigation in which Butter- 410 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN being involved, the opposing counsel insisted that the legal effect of said Act was the creation of a new bank. Butter- field in reply insisted that "a new bank had not been created, but simply the Ufe of the old one prolonged. A case in point, your Honor, precisely 'on all-fours' with this, is the well-authenticated one of the good Hezekiah when the Lord lengthened out his life fifteen years for meritorious conduct. Now, sir, did he thereby make a new Hezekiah, or did he leave him just the same old Hezekiah?" "GOING OUT WITH THE TIDE" Soldier, lawyer, and wit was Colonel Phil Lee of Ken- tucky. When it is borne in mind that he was of exceedingly small stature the following incident — one he often related — will be appreciated. Immediately upon attaining his majority he was a candi- date for the Legislature. On election day he was quietly seated on a barrel in the room where the election for his pre- cinct was being conducted, when an old Deacon from the Tan Bark settlement came in to vote. His choice for the State officers and for Sheriff was called out after some little parley- ing as to who were the best men, and the voter was about to retire, when one of the judges said, "Deacon, ain't you going to vote for a candidate for the Legislature?" "Yas, of course, I like to forgot all about that; who is running for the Legislature?" At which Phil, hopping down from the barrel, said, "Deacon, I am a candidate." "Who, you?" inquired the Deacon — with half con- temptuous gaze at the diminutive-looking aspirant; then turning to the judge he said, "Just 'put me down for the other fellow!" Admitted to the bar at Shepherdsville in his native county of Bullitt, when barely of age, his first appearance was as attorney for the plaintiff in a breach-of-promise case of much local celebrity. His speech held the jury and by-standers literally spellbound, and it was confidently asserted that the OUR NOBLE CALLING 411 classic banks of Salt River will probably never witness such flights of eloquence again. At its close Phil was warmly congratulated by an old Squire from the "Rolling Fork." " Phil, that was a mighty fine speech, a mighty fine speech, Phil, now mind, I tell you. That speech reminded me of Henry Clay." At the first mention of that name, the Squire was promptly invited out to take a drink. The first round of hospitaUty happily concluded, Phil was in readiness for any additional observations from the Squire. "Yes, Phil, when you kinder rared back and throwed your right hand straight up, thinks I, Henry Clay, Henry Clay!" Whereupon the Squire was without imnecessary delay invited to take another drink. This accomplished, the Squire still held the floor. " Yes, Phil, yes, Phil, todes the last when you made that big swoop with both arms and 'peared like you was gwyen right up to the rafters, thinks I, Shore 'nough, Henry Clay come back from his grave!" As flesh and blood could not stand everything, the old Squire was promptly invited to take another drink. Number three being properly placed to his credit, the Squire continued : "Yes, Phil, you peared to me to be Henry Clay right over again with jist one leetle difference." At this Mr. Lee, curious to know what could be the one possible Uttle difference, when there were so many points of resemblance between two such orators as himself and Henry Clay, ventured to inquire. "I think," said the Squire, "this, Phil, — you peared to kinder lack his idees!" And now comes the tragic ending of a brilliant career. Lee, while Commonwealth's attorney, was in the last stages of that dread disease, consumption. A murder case was on trial in which he felt a deep interest. The case was one of unusual atrocity, and the accused — a man of some local prominence — had been exceedingly defiant towards the wan and emaciated prosecuting attorney from its beginning. With much difficulty Colonel Lee succeeded in getting to the court-room in order to make the closing speech to the jury. 412 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN Utterly exhausted, — after depicting the horrible crime b its enormity and demanding the extreme penalty of the 1 upon its perpetrator, — at its close, in tones that touched hearts of all who heard him, he exclaimed: "Gentlemen of the jury, I have prosecuted the pleas this Commonwealth until the blood has dried up ia my vei and the flesh has perished from my bones!" These were his last words — and his life went out tl same night just as the clock struck twelve. At the si same hour the steps of the jury were heard slowly ascend to the court-room which had witnessed his last effort — tli verdict, "Guilty; the penalty, death!" LI THE "HOME-COMING" AT BLOOMINGTON McLean county's readiness to welcome her children — HONOR to the early SETTLERS BEAUTY OF THE COUNTY ITS PROGRESS ITS ORGANIZATION PRAISE OF JOHN McLean his career in congress, in the ILLINOIS LEGIS- LATURE, AND IN THE SENATE MoLEAN COUNTY'S HEROISM REMINISCENCES OF THE OLD COURT-HOUSE FRENCH EX- PLORERS IN THE ILLINOIS COUNTRY MARQUETTE AND JOLIET EXPLORE THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI LA SALLE EXPLORES THE ST. LAWRENCE, THE OHIO, AND THE MISSISSIPPI TO ITS MOUTH EXTENT OF FRANCE'S POSSESSIONS IN AMERICA THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN FRANCE AND GREAT BRITAIN GEORGE R. CLARK CAPTURES KASKASKIA FROM THE BRITISH VIRGINIA CEDES TERRITORY, INCLUDING ILLINOIS, TO THE UNITED STATES THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE ILLINOIS OR- GANIZED — SUMMARY OF SUCCEEDING EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. THE McLean County (Illinois) "Home-Coming" of June 15, 1907, was an event of deep significance to all Central Illinois. On that occasion I delivered the welcoming address, as follows: "These rare days in June mark a memorable epoch in the history of this good county. The authoritative proclamation has gone forth that her house has been put in order, that the latch-string is out — all things in readiness — and that McLean County would welcome the return of all her children who have in days past gone out from her borders. "In the same joyous and generous spirit in which the welcome was extended, it has been heeded, and from near and far, from the land of flowers and of frosts, from the valley of the Osage, the Colorado, and the Platte, from the golden shores of California, and 'where rolls the Oregon' — sons and daughters of this grand old county have gladly turned their footsteps homeward. 413 414 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN " ' When thy heart has grown weary and thy foot has grc sore, Remember the pathway that leads to our door.' "As in the ancient days all roads led to Rome, so in year of grace, and in this glorious month of June, all re lead back to the old home; to the hearthstones around w' cling the tender memories of childhood, and of loved ( gone — to the little moimds where sleep the ashes of cestral dead. "The 'Home-coming' to which you have been invited leave its lasting impress upon all your hearts. The kij words that have been spoken, the cordial grasp of the hi the unbidden tear, the hospitality extended, have all g assurance that you are welcome. Here, for the time, let care and the perplexities that environ this mortal life be aside, let whatever would in the slightest mar the deligh this joyous occasion be wholly forgotten; so that in the tant future, to those who return and to those who stay, recollection of these days will be one of unalloyed pleas and so that, when in the years to come we tell over to children of the return to the old home, this reunion will in our memories as one that, like the old sun-dial, 'ma] only the hours which shine.' "No place so fitting for this home-coming could have 1 selected as this beautiful park, where the springing g transparent lake, and magnificent grove — 'God's temple ' — seem all to join in welcoming your return. I from a mere hamlet, a splendid city has sprung into b during the years of your absence! No longer a frontiei lage, off the great highway of travel, with the mail reae it semi-weekly by stage-coach or upon horseback, — as fathers and possibly some who now hear me may have kii it, — it is now ' no mean city.' Its past is an inspiration future bright with promise. It is in very truth a deligl dwelling-place for mortals, and possibly not an unfit abk place for saints. Whoever has walked these streets, kr kmship with this people, called this his home — whei upon this old earth he may since have wandered — has ii THE "HOME-COMING" AT BLOOMINGTON 415 better moments felt an unconquerable yearning that no dis- tance or lapse of time could dispel, to retrace his footsteps and stand once more within the sacred precincts of his early home. Truly has it been said : ' No man can ever get wholly away from his ancestors.' Once a Bloomingtonian, and no art of the enchanter can dissolve the spell. 'Once in grace, always in grace,' whatever else may betide! Eulogy is ex- hausted when I say that this city is worthy to be the seat of justice of the grand old county of which it is a part. "Upon occasion such as this, the spirit of the past comes over us with its mystic power. The years roll back, and splendid farms, stately homes, magnificent churches, and the marvellous appliances of modern life are for the moment lost to view. The bloommg prairie, the log cabin nestling near the border-line of grove or forest, the old water-mill, the cross- roads store, the flintlock rifle, the mould-board plough, the dinner-hom, — with notes sweeter than lute or harp ever knew, — are once more in visible presence. At such an hour Uttle stretch of the imagination is needed to recall from the shadows forms long since vanished. And what time more fitting can ever come in which to speak of those who have gone before, — of the early settlers of this good county? "It was from the beginning the fit abode for men and women of God's highest type — and such, indeed, were the pioneers. Their early struggles, their sacrifices, all they suffered and endured, can never be fully disclosed. But to them this was truly ' the promised land ' — a land they might not only view, but possess. From New England, Ohio, the 'Keystone,' and the 'Empire' State, from the beautiful valley of the Shenandoah and the Commonwealths lying westward and to the south, came the men and the women whose early homes were near the banks of the little streams and nestled in the shades of the majestic groves. Here they suffered the hardships and endured the privations that only the frontiers- man might know. Here beneath humble roofs, their children were bom and reared, and here from hearts that knew no guile ascended the incense of thanksgiving and praise. The early settlers, the pioneers, the men who laid the foundations 416 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN of what our eyes now behold, builded wisely and well. The descendants to-day are in large measure the beneficiaries c all that they so wisely planned, so patiently endured. The: names and something of what they achieved will go down i our annals to the after times. Peace to their ashes; to thei memory all honor! They were the advance guard — th builders — and faithfully and well they served their race an time. Upon nobler men and women the sun in all his cours hath nowhere looked down. "And where upon God's footstool can domain more mag nificent than this good county be found; one better adapte to the habitation of civilized man? The untrodden prairie of three-quarters of a century ago, as if touched by the warn of magic, have become splendid farms. And groves mor beautiful the eye of man hath not seen. "Containing a population of less than two thousand a the time of its organization, there are more than sevent; thousand souls within the bounds of this good county to-daj The log cabin has given way to the comfortable home. Th value of farm lands and their products have increased beyon( human forecast or dream. As shown by the last Govern mental report, McLean Coimty contains four thousand eigh hundred and seventy-three farms, aggregating seven hun dred thirty-seven thousand five hundred and seventy-eigh acres. The corn product for the year 1899 exceeded fifteei millions of bushels, being near one-twentieth of that of th entire State. In the value of its agricultural products it i third upon the list of counties in the United States. "The life of the farmer is no longer one of drudgery am isolation. Modern conveniences and appliances have ii large measure supplanted the hard labor of human hands lessened the hours of daily toil, and brought the occupant c the farm into closer touch with the outer world. More thai all this, our schoolhouses, imiversities, churches, and insti tutions for the relief of the unfortimate and dependent, al bear witness to the glad fact that in our material developmen the claims of education, of religion, of charity, have not be© forgotten. It is our glory, that in all that tends to humai THE "HOME-COMING" AT BLOOMINGTON 417 progress, in all that ministers to human distress, in whatever appeals to and develops what is best in man, or brings con- tentment and happiness to the home — in a word, in the grand march of civilization — McLean County moves in the van. "Possibly no occasion more fitting can arise in which briefly to speak of the organization of McLean County, and something of important events of its history. At the session of the Legislature at Vandalia in the winter of 1830-31, a petition — borne to the State capital by Thomas Orendorff and James Latta — was duly presented, praying for the or- ganization of a new county to be taken from Tazewell and VermiUon. The territory embraced in the proposed county hicluded the presents limits of McLean and large portions of neighboring counties organized at a later day. In accordance with the petition, a bill was passed, and its approval by the Governor on the twenty-fifth day of Decem- ber, 1830, marks the beginning of the history of this good county. "The name of 'McLean' was adopted upon the motion of the Hon, William Lee D. Ewing, some of whose kindred have for many years been residents of this city. Mr. Ewing had been the close friend of the man whose name he thus honored, and was himself in later years a distinguished Senator in Congress. "By the terms of the bill mentioned, the seat of justice of said county was to be ' called and known by the name of Bloomington.' It was further provided that until other- wise ordered the courts of said county should be held at the house of James Allen. The first term of the Circuit Court was held in April, 1831, at the place indicated, the historic 'Stipp House,' but recently standing, a pathetic reminder of by-gone days. The presiding judge of that court was the Hon. Samuel D. Lockwood, of Springfield — an able and emment jurist of spotless record. By legislative enactment, five times since its organization, valuable por- tions of McLean — aggregating nearly four-sevenths of its original territory — have been carved in the formation of the 418 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN counties of Logan, Livingston, Piatt, DeWitt, and Woodford. Notwithstanding all this, McLean County yet remains — and by constitutional inhibition and the wisdom of our people will for all time remain — the largest county in the State. " A word now of the man whose name was upon every in- vitation to this home-coming, in honor of whom this county was named, John McLean, one of the ablest and most dis- tinguished of the first generation of public men in Illinois. Born in North Carolina in 1791, his early years were spent m Kentucky. In the last-named State he studied law and was admitted to the Bar. He removed to Illinois in 1815 and located in Shawneetown upon the Ohio River for the practice of his profession. The county of Gallatin, his future home, was then one of the most populous in the Illinois Territory. In fact, at the time mentioned, and for some years after the organization of the State, there were few important settle- ments one hundred miles north of the Ohio River. "In the largest degree Mr. McLean was gifted with the qualities essential to popular leadership in the new State. He was present at all public assemblages whether convened for business or pastime, and a leading spirit in all the amusements and sports of the hour. But 'men are as the time is.' At all events, if the testimony of his con- temporaries is to be taken, his popularity knew no bounds. The late General McClemand, his fellow-townsman, said of Mr. McLean: " 'His personality interested and impressed me. The image of it still lingers in my memory. Physically, he was well de- veloped, tall, strong, and stately. Socially, he was affable and genial, and his conversation sparkled with wit and humor.' "The following words of another contemporary, Governor Reynolds, are of interest: " 'Mr. McLean was a man of gigantic mind, of noble and manly form, and of lofty, dignified bearing. His personality was large, and formed on that natural excellence which at aU times attracted the attention and admiration of all beholders. The vigor and compass of his intellect was exceedingly great, and his eloquence flowed in torrents, deep, strong, and almost irresistible.' THE "HOME-COMING" AT BLOOMINGTON 419 "At the election immediately succeeding the adoption of the Constitution under which Illinois was admitted into the Union, Mr. McLean was chosen the Representative in Congress. Soon thereafter, he presented to the House of Representatives the State Constitution then recently adopted at Kaskaskia; and upon its formal acceptance by that body, Mr. McLean was duly admitted to his seat as the first Repre- sentative from Illinois in the Congress of the United States. He was defeated for reelection by the Hon. Daniel P. Cook, one of the most gifted men Illinois has known at any period of her history. "Rarely have men of greater eloquence than Cook and McLean been antagonists in debate either upon the hustings or in the halls of legislation. With the people of the entire State for an audience, the exciting issues of that eventful period were argued with an eloquence seldom heard in fo- rensic discussion. In very truth, each was the worthy an- tagonist of the other. It is not too much to say that, with the single exception of the masterful intellectual combat more than a third of a century later between Lincoln and Douglas, Illinois has been the theatre of no greater debate. "Upon his retirement from Congress, Mr. McLean was elected to the Lower House of the Illinois Legislature and subsequently chosen Speaker of that body. The valuable service he there rendered is an important part of the early history of the State. He resigned the speakership in order the more effectually to lead the opposition to a bill charter- ing a State bank. His prediction as to the evils to the State, of which the proposed legislation would be the sure forerunner, were more than verified by subsequent events. More than a decade had passed before the people were relieved of the financial ills which John McLean ineffectually sought to avert. No other evidence of his statesmanship is needed than his masterly speech in opposition to the ill-timed legislation I have indicated. "Apart from the fact that his name is continually upon our lips, the career of Mr. McLean is well calculated to excite our profound interest. During the fifteen years of his resi- 420 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN dence in Illinois, he held the high positions of Representative in Congress, Speaker of the popular branch of the State Leg- islature, and was twice elected to the Senate of the United States. At his last election he received every vote of the joint session of the General Assembly — an honor of which few even of the most eminent of our statesmen have been the recipients. "His personal integrity was beyond question, and it may truly be said of him that he ably and faithfully discharged every public duty. He died at the early age of thirty-nine, the period when, to most public men, a career of usefulness and distinction has scarcely begun. Upon the occasion of the announcement of his death to the Senate his colleague, Sen- ator Kane, paid an eloquent tribute to his lofty character, his abiUty, and his worth, and deplored the loss his State had sustained in his early death. "He lies buried in the State that had so signally honored him, near the beautiful river upon whose banks he found a home when Illinois was yet a wilderness. Such, in brief, was the man McLean, whose honored name this good county will hand down to the after times. No higher tribute need be paid to his memory than to say, his name was worthy this magnificent domain to which it was given. " In no part of this broad land has there been more prompt response than in this to the authoritative call to arms. In the largest measure McLean County has met every require- ment that patriotism could demand. Full and to overflow- ing has been her contribution of means and of men. "In almost the last struggle with the savage foe, as he burned his wigwam and disappeared before the inexorable advance of civilized men; in the War with Mexico, by which States were added to our national domain; in that of the great Rebellion, where the life of the nation was at stake, and in our recent conflict with Spain — four times during a history that spans but a single life, McLean County has sent her full quota of soldiers to the field. Few survive of the gallant band who stood with Bissell and Hardin at Buena Vista, or followed Shields and Baker through the burning THE "HOME-COMING" AT BLOOMINGTON 421 sands from the Gulf to the City of Mexico. And at each successive reunion of comrades in the great civil strife, there are fewer, and yet fewer, responses to the solemn roll-call. " ' On Fame 's eternal camping-ground, Their silent tents are spread.' "And what a record is that of this glorious county dur- ing the eventful years of '61-'65 ! With a population of but forty per cent of that of to-day, more than four thou- sand of her brave sons marched gallantly to the front. They gathered from farm, from shop, from mart and hall — to die, if need be, that their country might live. On many fields now historic, where brave men struggled and died, soldiers from this grand county were steadily in line. Along every pathway of danger and of glory they were to be found. In every grade of rank were heroes as knightly as ever fought beneath a plume. Even to name the heroes that old McLean equipped for the great conflict would be but to call over her muster rolls of officers and men. "The chords of memory are touched as the vision of the Old Courthouse rises before us. Its walls were the silent witnesses of events that would make resplendent the pages of history. Here assembled lawyers, orators, statesmen, whose names have been given to the ages. Here, at a critical period in our history the great masters of debate discussed vital questions of state — questions that took hold of the life of the republic. Here, at times, debate touched the springs of political power. Here in the high place of authority sat one destined later to wear the ermine of the greatest court known to men. During his membership of that court in the eventful years immediately following the great conflict, questions novel and far-reaching pressed for determination; questions no less important than those which had in the infancy of the republic exhausted the learning of Marshall and his associates. It is our pride that our townsman, David Davis, was among the ablest of the great court, by whose adjudication renewed vigor was given to the Constitution, and enduring safeguards estab- lished for national life and individual liberty. 422 SOMETHING OP MEN I HAVE KNOWN "To the Old Courthouse in the early days came the tal- ented and genial James A. McDougal, then just upon the threshold of a brilliant career, which culminated in his election as a Senator from California; also John T. Stuart, the able lawyer and gentleman of the old school. He was a Repre- sentative in Congress more than two-thirds of a century ago, when his district embraced all Central and Northern Illinois — extending from a line fifty miles south of Spriagfield to Chicago and Galena. In Congress he was the political asso- ciate and friend of Webster, of Crittenden, and of Clay. Many years ago, upon the occasion of Mr. Stuart's last visit to Bloomington, he told me, as we stood by the old 'Stipp' home, that he there, in 1831, witnessed the beginning of the judicial history of McLean County, when Judge Lockwood opened its first court. With deep emotion he added that he was probably the last survivor of those then assembled, and that his own days were almost numbered. His words were pro- phetic, as but a few months elapsed before he, too, had passed beyond the veil. There came also Edward D. Baker, Rep- resentative from Illinois and Senator from Oregon. To him Nature had beej lavish with her gifts. His eloquence cast a spell about all who heard him. As was said of the gifted Prentiss: 'The empyrean height into which he soared was his home, as the upper air the eagle's.' Our language con- tains few gems of eloquence comparable to his wondrous eulogy on the lamented Broderick. His own tragic death in one of the early battles of the great war cast a gloom over the nation. "In his official capacity as prosecuting attorney came also to the Old Courthouse the youthful Stephen A. Douglas. A bom leader of men, with a courage and eloquence rarely equalled, he was well equipped for the hurly-burly of our early political conflicts. Save only in his last great contest, he was a stranger to defeat. Public Prosecutor, Member of the Legislature, and at the age of twenty-eight Judge of the Supreme Court of the State; later a Representative, and at the age of thirty-three a Senator in Congress. Amid storms of passion such as, please God, we may not see again, THE "HOME-COMING" AT BLOOMINGTON 423 he there held high debate with Seward, Chase, and Sumner; and measured swords with Tombs, Benjamin, and Jefferson Davis upon vital issues which, transferred later from forvim and from Senate, were to find bloody arbitrament by arms. Beginning near the spot where we have to-day assembled, the career of Douglas was indeed marvellous. Defeated for the great office which had been the goal of his ambition; amid the war-clouds gathering over the nation, and the yet darker shadows falling about his couch, he aroused himself to the last supreme effort, and in words that touched milUons of responsive chords, adjured all who had followed his political fortunes to know only their country in its hour of peril. With his pathetic words yet lingering, and ' before manhood's morn- ing touched its noon,' Douglas passed to the great beyond. "Out of the shadowy past another form is evoked, famil- iar once to some who hear me now. Another name, greater than any yet spoken, is upon our lips. Of Abraham Lincoln the words of the great orator, Bossuet, when he pronounced his matchless eulogy upon the Prince of Cond6, might truly be spoken: " ' At the moment I open my lips to celebrate the immortal glory of the Prince of Condd, I find myself equally overwhelmed by the greatness of the theme and the needlessness of the task. What part of the habitable globe has not heard of the wonders of his life? Everywhere they are rehearsed. His own country- men, in extolling them, can give no information even to the stranger.' "Of Lincoln no words can be uttered or withheld that could add to or detract from his imperishable fame. His name is the common heritage of all people and all times. "When in the loom of time have such words been heard above the din of fierce conflict as his sublime utterances but a brief time before his tragic death? ' ' ' With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan — to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.' 424 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN "The men who knew Abraham Lincohi, who saw him face to face, who met him upon our streets, and heard his voice in our public assemblages, have, with few exceptions, passed to the grave. Another generation is upon the busy stage. The book has forever closed upon the dread pageant of civil strife. Sectional animosities, thank God, belong now only to the past. The mantle of peace is over our entire land, and prosperity within all our borders. '"Till the war-drum throbs no longer, And the battle-flags are furled In the parliament of man. The federation of the world.' "Through the instrumentaUty in no small measure of the man personally known to some who hear me, the man McLean County delighted to honor, no less as a private citizen than as President, this Government, imtouched by the finger of time, has descended to us. Let it never be forgotten that the responsibility of its preservation and transmission will rest upon the successive generations of his countrymen, as they shall come and go. "Truly has it been said : ' To-day is the pupil of yesterday,' and also ' History is the great teacher of human -nature by means of object-lessons drawn from the whole recorded life of himian nature.' There is, then, no dead past. Every event is in a measure significant. The annals of the ambi- tions, the crimes, the miseries, the wrongs, the struggles, the achievements of men in the long past are fraught with lessons of deep import to all succeeding generations. Each age is the heir to that which preceded. We make progress in proportion as we wisely ponder significant events. "McLean County had its historical beginning as a de- pendent but distinct poUtical organization on the joyous Christmas Day of 1830. Stretching backward from that date, its history is bound up solely in that of Illinois, under its various organizations and names. A brief time upon occasion such as this given to a hurried review of the masterful epochs in the history of the great State of which oiu- own coimty is so important a part, cannot be wholly misspent. THE "HOME-COMING" AT BLOOMINGTON 425 Bearing in mind that 'that which comes after ever conforms to that which has gone before,' significant events of the past must be known, to the end that we intelligently comprehend the present, and are enabled, even in scant measure, to fore- cast the futm-e. "No State of the American Union has a history of more intense interest than our own. Its early chapters, indeed, savor of the romantic rather than of the real. I do not speak of the long-ago time when Illinois forest and prairie were the home and hunting-ground of the red man, and his frail bark the only craft known to its rivers. That period belongs to the border-land age of tradition rather than of veritable history. It is of Illinois under the domination of civilized men I would speak. "For near a century preceding the Treaty of Paris in 1763, 'the Illinois country' was a part of the French domain. Inseparably linked with that portion of its history are names that will live with those of the Cabots and Columbus. The great navigator in his lonely search for a new pathway to the Indies was buoyed by a courage, a yeammg for discovery, scarce greater than that which in the heart of the new con- tinent sustained the later voyagers and discoverers, Marquette, Joliet, Hennepin, and La Salle. "America's obligation to France is enduring — for ex- plorers in the seventeenth century no less than for defenders in that which immediately followed. The historic page which tells of the loftj"^ heroism of LaFayette has for us no deeper interest than that which records the daring achieve- ments of the early French pathfinders and voyagers. Two centuries and a half ago Marquette and Joliet, bearing the commission of the French Governor of Quebec, embarked upon their expedition for the discovery of new countries to the southward. Animated by the earnest desire of extending the blessings of religion no less than that of adding to the domaia of their imperial master, they set out upon an expedi- tion which has become historic. The bare recital of what befell them would fill volumes. Now meeting with the scattered tribes of Indians, bestowing presents and in turn 426 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN sharing the hospitaUty offered; now speaking wordsof admoni- tion and of instruction; now gathering up the crude materials for history; now reverently setting up the cross in the wil- derness; again threading the pathless forests, or in frail barks sailing unknown waters, they pursued their perilous journey. "In time, after looking out upon the waters of Lake Michigan, crossing Lake Winnebago, visiting the ancient villages of the Kickapoos, 'with joy indescribable,' as Mar- quette declared, they for the first time beheld the Mississippi. In June, 1673, upon the east bank of the great river, they landed upon the soil of what is now the State of Illinois. At the Uttle village they first visited they received hospitable treatment. Its inmates are known in our early history as ' the mini' — a word signifying men. The euphonic termina- tion added by the Frenchmen gives us the name Illinois. It is related that, upon the first appearance of Marquette and Joliet at the door of the principal wigwam of the village, they were greeted by an aged native with the words: 'The sun is beautiful. Frenchmen, when you come to visit us; you shall enter in peace into all our cabins; it is well, my brothers, you come.' In the light of the marvellous results of the visit, the words of the aged chieftain seem prophetic. We, too, may say it was well they came. "The glory of having discovered the upper Mississippi and the valley which bears its name belongs to Marquette and Joliet. It was theirs to add the vast domain imder the name 'New France' to the empire of le Grand Monarque. In very truth a princely gift. But no history of the great valley and the majestic river would be complete which failed to tell something of the priest and historian, Hennepin, and of the knightly adventures of the ChevaUer La Salle. "Much,, indeed, that is romantic surrounds the entire career of La Salle. Severing his connection with a theological school in France, his fortunes were early cast in the New World. From Quebec, the ancient French capital of this continent, he projected an expedition which was to add empire to his own country and to cast a glamour about his own name. It has been said that his dream was of a western waterway to THE "HOME-COMING" AT BLOOMINGTON 427 the Pacific Ocean. In 1669, with an outfit that had cost him his entire fortune, with a small party he ascended in canoes the St. Lawrence, and a few weeks later was upon the broad Ontario. Out of the mists and shadows that enveloped much of his subsequent career, it were impossible at all times to gather that which is authentic. It is enough that, with Hennepin as one of his fellow-voyagers, he reached the Ohio and in due time navigated the Illinois, meantime visiting many of the ancient villages. " But his great achievement — and that with which abides his imperishable fame — was his perilous descent of the Mississippi from the Falls of St. Anthony to the Gulf of Mexico. On the sixth day of April, 1682, upon the east bank of the lower Mississippi, with due form and ceremony and amid the solemn chanting of the Te Deum and the plaudits of his comrades, La Salle took formal possession of the Loiiisiana country in the name of his royal master, Louis the Fourteenth of France. "For the period of ninety-two years, beginning with the discoveries of Marquette and JoUet, the Illinois country was a part of the French possessions. Sovereignty over the vast domain of which it was a part was exercised by the French King through his commandant at Quebec. But as has been truly said, 'The French sought and claimed more than they had the abiUty to hold or possess. Their line of domain ex- tended from the St. Lawrence around the Great Lakes and through the valley of the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico, a distance of over three thousand miles.' Truly a magnificent domain, but one destined soon to pass forever from the possession of the French monarch and his line. "The hour had struck, and upon the North American continent the ancient struggle for supremacy between France and her traditional enemy was to find bloody arbitrament. Great Britain claimed as a part of her colonial possessions in the New World the territory bordering upon the Great Lakes and the rich lands of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. As to the merits of the French and EngUsh contention as to superior right by discovery or conquest, it were idle now to 428 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN argue. Our concern is with the marvellous results of the long-continued struggle which for all time determined the question of race supremacy upon this continent. "Passing rapidly the minor incidents of the varjring fortunes of the stupendous struggle which had been transferred for the time from the Old World to the New, we reach the hour which was to mark an epoch in history. The time, the thirteenth of September, 1759; the place, the Heights of Abraham at Quebec. There and then was fought out one of the pivotal battles of the ages. It was the closing act in a great drama. The question to be determmed: Whether the English-speaking race or its hereditary foe was to be master of the continent. It was in reality a struggle for empire — the magnificent domain stretching from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico. The incidents of the battle need not now be told. Never were EngUsh or French soldiery led by more knightly captains. The passing years have not dis- pelled the romance or dimmed the glory that gathered about the names of Wolfe and Montcalm. Dying at the self-same moment — one amid the victors, the other amid the van- quished — their names live together in history. "By the treaty of Paris which followed, France surren- dered to her successful rival all claim to the domain east of the Mississippi River. In accordance with the terms of the treaty, Gage, the commander of the British forces in America, took formal possession of the recently conquered territory. Proclamation of this fact was made to the inhabitants of the Illinois coimtry in 1764, and a garrison soon thereafter estab- lished at Kaskaskia. Here the rule of the British was for the time imdisputed. British domination in the Mississippi Valley was, however, to be of short duration. Soon the events were hastening, the forces gathering, which were in tiHii to wrest from the crown no small part of the splendid domain won by Wolfe's brilliant victory at Quebec. "In this hurried review I reach now an event of trans- cendent interest and one far-reachmg in its consequences. While our Revolutionary War was in progress, and its glo- rious termination yet but dimly foreshadowed, General George THE "HOME-COMING" AT BLOOMINGTON 429 Rogers Clark planned an expedition whose successful termina- tion has given his name to the list of great conquerors. Bearing the commission of Patrick Henry, Governor of Vir- ginia, with two himdred followers equally brave as himself, the heroic Clark crossed the Ohio and began his perilous march. After enduring untold hardships, the undaunted leader and his httle band reached Kaskaskia. The British commander and his garrison were surprised and quickly cap- tured. The British flag was lowered, and on the fourth day of July, 1778, the Illinois country was taken possession of in the name of the Commonwealth whose Governor had authorized the expedition, "Five years later occurred an event of mighty significance, and of far-reaching consequence — one that in very truth marks the genesis of Illinois history. I refer to the cession by Virginia of the vast area stretching to the Mississippi — of which the spot upon which we are now assembled is a part — to the general Government. To the deed of cession, by which Illinois became a part of the United States, as commissioners upon the part of Virginia, were signed the now historic names of Arthur Lee, James Monroe, and Thomas Jefferson. "The next milestone of Illinois upon the pathway to state- hood was what is so well known in our political history as the Ordinance of 1787. Not inaptly has it been called ' the second Magna Charta,' 'a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night,' in the settlement and government of the Northwestern States. Two provisions of the great ordinance possessed a value that cannot be measured by words: One, that the States to be formed out of said territory were to remain forever parts of the United States of America; the other, that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude should exist therein, other- wise than for crime whereof the party should have been duly convicted. "The value of the great Ordinance to millions who have since f oimd homes within the limits of the vast area embraced within its provisions cannot be overstated. Our eyes behold to-day the marvellous results of the far-seeing statesmanship in wMch it was conceived. 430 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN "Momentous events now followed in rapid succession: The disastrous defeat of General St. Clair, first Governor of the Northwest Territory, near the old Miami village; the ap- pointment of General WajTie, hero of Stony Point, to the command of the Western army; his crushing defeat of the Indian foe at tke Maimiee Rapids, and the treaty of Green- ville, which for the time gave protection to the frontiersmen against the savage; the attempt of the French minister. Genet, to create discord in the western country, and in fact to establish a Government in the Mississippi Valley, inde- pendent of that of the United States; and the threatened conflict with Spain regarding the free navigation of the Mis- sissippi — all possess an interest to lUinoisans which time cannot abate. "All apprehension, however, was for the time removed by the treaty between our Government and Spain, by which it was provided that the middle of the Mississippi should be our western border and that the navigation of the entire river to the Gulf should be free to all the people of the United States. Passing over the later faithless attempt of Spain to abrogate this salient provision of the treaty, it is enough that the question was forever put at rest by the purchase by our Government in 1803, for fifteen millions of dollars, from the great Napoleon, of the entire Louisiana country, stretch- ing from the Gulf to the domain of Canada — out of which have been carved sixteen magnificent States, destined to abide and remain forever sovereign parts of our federal Union. "And while Spain has sustained crushing and retributive defeat and her flag has disappeared forever from mainland and island of the western world, the great river, gathering its tributaries from northern lake to southern sea, flows unvexed through a mighty realm that knows no symbol of authority save only our own Stars and Stripes. "Illinois was represented for the first time in a legislative chamber in the general assembly of the Northwest Territory, which convened in Cincinnati in 1799. By act of Congress in May, 1800, a new territorial organization was created, by which the territory now embraced in the States of Indiana THE "HOME-COMING" AT BLOOMINGTON 431 and Illinois was formed, to be known as ' Indiana Territory,' and the capital located at Vincennes. In February, 1809, by act of Congress, the 'Territory of Illinois' was duly or- ganized, its seat of government estabUshed at Kaskaskia, and thenceforth Illinois has a history separate and apart. Nine years later — December, 1818 — with a population scarcely one-half that of McLean County to-day, it was duly admitted a State of the federal Union. "Beginning with Illinois at the coming of Joliet and Mar- quette in the seventeenth century, we have rapidly fol- lowed its thread of history for a century and a half, until it became a State of the American Union. We have seen it under the rule of the Frenchman, the Briton, the Virginian, under its various territorial organizations, until eighty-nine years ago it reached the dignity of statehood. We have seen its seat of authority at Quebec, at New Orleans, at Cin- cinnati, at Vincennes, and finally at Kaskaskia. We have noted something of its marvellous development, of its wonder- ful increase in population. "Just one hundred and seven years ago, when by act of Congress Illinois became part of the Indiana Territory, it contained a population of less than two thousand white per- sons, only eight hundred of whom were of the EngUsh-speak- ing race. Less than two decades later, with a population of less than forty thousand, and an area greater, with a single exception, than any of the original States, we have witnessed its admission to the Union. How marvellous the retrospect at this hour! And yet, 'the pendulum of history swings in centuries in the slow but sure progress of the human race to a higher and nobler civilization.' "Events of thrilling interest and of scarce less consequence than those already mentioned followed the admission of the State into the Union. In brief summary: The unsuccessful attempt to introduce slavery; the fatal duel between Stewart and Bennet and the trial and execution of the survivor for murder, thereby placing the ban of judicial condemnation upon the barbarous practice; the visit of LaFayette to Illinois and his brilliant entertainment by the Governor and 4S2 SOMETHING OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN Legislature at the old executive mansion; the removal of the State capital from the ancient French village of Kaskaskia to Vandalia, and near two decades later to Springfield; the memorable contest for Congress between Cook and McLean, each possessing in large measure the rare gift of eloquence, and both dying lamented in early manhood; the organiza- tion of two splendid counties that will keep the honored names of Cook and McLean in the memories of men to the latest posterity; the Black Hawk War and the final treaty of peace which followed the defeat and capture of the renowned Sac chief; the riots at Alton and the assassination of the heroic Love joy while defending the right of free speech and of a free press; the advent of the prophet Joseph Smith, the rapid growth of the Mormon Church, its power as a pohtical factor in the State, the building of the million-dollar temple at Nauvoo, the murder of the Mormon prophet, and the final exodus of his adherents to the valley of the Wasatch and the Great Salt Lake; the construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, the precursor of grander material achievements soon to follow; the bravery of the Illinois troops during the war with Mexico; the wonderful tide of immigration fiowing in from the older States and from Europe; the invaluable serv- ices of Senator Douglas in securing the celebrated land grant under which the Illinois Central Railroad was constructed, and Chicago brought into commercial touch with the River Ohio and the States to the southward; the dawn of the era of stupendous agricultural development, and of marvellous activity on all lines, and through all channels of trade; the wonderful growth of Chicago, springing with giant bound, within the span of a single life, from a mere hamlet to be the second city upon the continent; the unparalleled railroad construction, giving Illinois a greater mileage than any one of her sister States; the inunense development of its untold mineral resources, and the advance by leaps and bounds along all lines of manufacturing; the impetus given to the higher conception and purpose of human Ufe by the creation of a splendid systiem of public schools and universities; the esta,b- lishment of institutions and asylimis for the considerate care THE "HOME-COMING" AT BLOOMINGTON 433 and relief of the unfortunate and afflicted of our kind; the building of homes 'for him who hath borne the battle and for his orphan'; the masterful debates between Lincoln and Douglas, the prelude to events destined to give pause to the world, and to change the trend of history. And, to crown all, how, when the nation's life was in peril, Illinois, true to her covenant under the great Ordinance that had given her being, gave one illustrious son to the chief magistracy of his country, another to the captaincy of its armies, and sent her soldier heroes by myriads along every pathway of danger and of glory. "As one standing, alas, 'upon the western slope,' let me adjure the young men of this magnificent county — my home for more than half a century — to study thoroughly the history of our own State, and of the grand repubhc of which it is a part. Illinois, in all that constitutes true grandeur in a people, knows no superior among the great sisterhood of States. Her pathway from the beginning has been lumi- nous with noble achievement. It is high privilege and high honor to be a citizen of this grand repubUc. It is in very truth a government of the people, in an important sense a government standing separate and apart; its foimdations the morality, the intelligence, the patriotism of the people. Never forget that citizenship in such a government carries with it tremendous responsibility, a responsibiUty that we cannot evade. Study thoroughly how our Uberties were achieved, and the benefits of stable government secured by the great compact which for more than a century, in peace and diu-ing the storm and stress of war, has held States and people in indissoluble union; and how, during the great civil conflict — the most stupendous the world has known — human liberty, through baptism of blood, obtained a new and grander meaning, and the Union established by our fathers was made, as we humbly trust in God, enduring for all time." THE END INDEX Abbott, Governor, 242 Adams, John, 24, 60, 61, 63, 87, 221, 336, 337 Adams, John Quincy, 14, 31, 76, 94, 98, 102, 139, 140, 147, 154, 159, 178, 194, 307 Aldrioh, Senator, 24 Alien and Sedition Laws, 79 AUen, John, 268-272 Allison, Senator, 227 Alschuler, Hon. Samuel, 302 Ames, Fisher, 159 Amnesty Bill, General, 12, 19, 23 Andr6, Major, 20 Archer, Representative, 39 Armstrong, W., 247, 249 Arnold, Benedict, 20, 22 Arrington, Judge A. W., 251-255 Arthur, Chester A., 61, 62 Ashburton Treaty, 310 B Bainbridge, Captain, 149 Baker, Senator E. D., 93, 96, 167, 402, 409, 420, 422 Baldwin, Judge, 41, 183, 311, 386, 404 Baltimore convention, of 1844, 128; of 1860, 124, 125 Banks, Hon. Nathaniel P., 22, 23 Barrett, Lawrence, 302 Barron, James, 148-150 Barry, William T., 143, 144 Bascom, Henry B., 322, 332 Bayard, Thomas P., 240 Beauregard, General, 101 Beck, Senator James B., 36, 384, 385 Belknap, General, 13, 79 Bell, John, 102, 194, 339 Benjamin, Senator, 114, 423 Bennett, WUliam, 170, 185, 186, 431 Benton, Thomas H., 102, 138, 154, 194, 220, 222, 339 Berrien, J. M., 141, 143, 144 Bingham, John A., 263, 266, 267 Bissell, Governor, 171, 420 Black, Judge, 13 Blackburn, J. C. S., 18, 36-38 Bladensburg, Md., 146-154 Blaine, James G., 12, 18-21, 23, 109, 112, 124, 134, 227, 240 Blair, Francis P., 138 "Blind Preacher," see Milburn, Rev. W. H. Blodgett, Judge, 205 "Bloody Island," 171 Bloomington, 111., 401, 414-417 Bloimt, Representative, 159 Boggs, Governor, 205 Bonaparte, Napoleon, 84, 85, 88 Bond, Governor Shadrack, 171, 184 Booth, Edwin, 303, 305 Booth, Wilkes, 303, 304 Boutwell, George S., 263, 265 Boyd, Linn, 98, 227 Branch, John, 141, 143, 144 Brandon, Vt., 92, 93 Breckenridge, Senator John C, 36, 61, 121, 125, 339 Breckenridge, Rev. Dr., 407 Breese, Sidney, 98, 102, 104, 339 Broderick, David C, 167, 422 Brown, Judge, 334 Brown, Welcome P., 379 Browning, Hon. Orville H., 93, 96, 213, 409 Bryan, William J., 315-317 Buchanan, James, 106, 107, 114, 194 339 Buena Vista, battle of, 95, 171, 214, 216, 256, 420 Bullock, Rev. Dr., 29 Burgess, Tristram, 55 Burns, John, 274 Burr, Aaron, 60, 63, 75, 76, 79, 158, 160-166 Burr, Rev. Aaron, 161 Burr, Mrs. Edith, 161 Burr, Theodosia, 166 Butler, Benjamin F., 80, 125, 263, 266, 267 Butler, Rev. Dr., 37 Butterfield, Justin, 408-410 435 436 INDEX Butterworth, Hon. Benjamin, 52, 53 Bynum, Representative, 151 Cadwallader, Colonel, 156 Calhoun, John C, 61, 102, 104, 143, 144, 154, 194, 339, 381, 382 Calhoun, Rev. John Y., 19 California, 103, 125, 168 Campbell, Alexander, 322 Campbell, David B., 402 Campbell, Thompson, 170 Cannon, Hon. Frank J., 197 Cannon, George Q., 197, 198 Cannon, Hon. Joseph G., 23, 24, 246 Carlin, Governor, 195 Carlisle, Representative, 53, 54, 355 Carpenter, Hon. Matthew H., 13 Carthage, HI., 209, 210 Cartwright, Peter, 229-238, 290, 322 332 Cass, 'Senator, 154, 194, 224, 339, 381 Caton, John D., 97 Chandler, Senator, 37 Charleston convention of 1860, 108, 124, 125 Chase, Justice, 79 Chase, Senator, 114, 339, 423 Chicago, ni., 183, 432 Chickamauga National Park, 376 Choate, Rufus, 134, 311, 312, 313, 339 Cilley, Jonathan, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154 Clark, Daniel, 136 Clark, George Rogers, 84, 356, 428 Clarke, Professor, 175 Clay, Henry, 6, 19, 31, 36, 54, 75, 86, 94, 95, 97, 98, 103, 104, 106, 114, 120, 124, 134, 139, 140, 147, 154, 194, 216, 223, 224, 286, 288, 310, 339, 381, 382, 407, 411, 422 Clayton, Senator, 102 Cleveland, Grover, 51, 54, 239-245, 334, 368, 369 Clinton, DeWitt, 157, 158, 159 Clinton, George, 61, 63 ClSture, 73, 74 Cobb, Howell, 98 Code of honor, the 146-173 Colfax, Schuyler, 61 Collins, General, 285 Colquitt, Senator, 66 Columbus, Christopher, 342, 343, 364 "Compromise measures of 1850," 2 Confederation, Articles of, 68-70 Conference Bill, 15 Conger, Representative, 32 Congress: 27th, 130-134 28th, 98 44th, 1st Session, 12, 13 44th, 2nd Session, 13-46 46th, 47-56, 128 Constitution of the United States, the, 67, 69-73; twelfth amend- ment to, 76 Convention of 1787, 67, 69-72 Conway Cabal, the, 155, 156, 157 Cook, Daniel P., 96, 139, 419, 432 Cooper, Dr., 161, 162 Corcoran, W. W., 219 Corwin, Senator, 102 Covert, Hon. James W., 48, 49 Cox, Samuel S. ("Sunset"), 26, 38- 41, 133 Crawford, William H., 76, 94, 139, 339 Crisp, Speaker, 334 Crittenden, Senator John J., 36, 97, 102, 151, 194, 339, 381, 407, 422 Cummins, J., 248, 249 Curtis, Benjamin R., 80, 264 Gushing, Caleb, 125, 348 D Dallas, George M., 61, 102, 129 Davis, Hon. David, 3, 227, 274, 286, 287, 402, 421 Davis, Jefferson, 19, 102, 114, 171, 260, 266, 272, 325, 381, 423 Dayton, Senator, 102, 114, 158 Decatur, Stephen, 85, 148-150 Depew, Hon. Chauncey, 342, 343 Dickinson, Charles, 141 Dix, Senator, 102 Donnelly, Hon. Ignatius, 217 Dorshemer, William, 394 Douglas, Stephen A., 9, 92-127, 154, 205, 213, 226, 238, 246, 247, 274, 339, 381, 419, 422, 423, 432, 433 Drake Constitution, 295-301 Dred Scott Decision, 111, 119, 122 Drummond, Judge, 252 Duels, notable, 147-173 INDEX 487 Duluth, Minn., 43 Duncan, Dr., 151 E Eaton, Hon. John H., 136, 138, 140, 144, 145 Eaton, Mrs. John H., 136, 137, 138, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145 Edwards, Ninian, 96 Electoral college, 78 Electoral Commission, 14-18, 33, 77 Elkins, Senator, 24 Ellsworth, Miss, 134 Ellsworth, Oliver, 72 Emancipation, proclamation of, 90 "Englidi Amendment," 108 English, R. W., 173 English, Thomas Dunn, 393 Evarts, William M., 80, 262-267 Everett, Edward, 134, 311, 314, 339 Ewing, Adlai, 322 Ewing, Finis, 322 Ewing, James S., 9, 96, 260, 274, 346, 378, 401 Ewing, Hon. William Lee D., 417 F Fairbanks, Charles W., 61 Fell, Hon. Jesse W., 9 Fellows, John R., 271, 272 Ferguson, William I., 170 Fessenden, Senator, 339 Ficklin, Representative, 98 Field, Cyrus W., 32, 33 Field, Dr. Henry M., 32 Field, Hon. David Dudley, 32 Field, Stephen J., 32, 167, 386 Fifer, Joseph W., 250, 346, 347 Fillmore, Millard, 61, 62, 194 Fish, Hon. Hamilton, 20, 98 Florida, 15-17, 76, 125 Flower, Representative, 285 "Flush Times, The," 386 Flynn, Dennis, 53 Foltz, Dr., 151 Force Bill, 29, 31, 242 Ford Governor, 3, 186, 198, 202, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213 Ford, Judge, 97 Forrest, Edwin, 303, 304, 305 Forrest, General, 257 Franklin, Benjamin, 69, 132, 147, 387 Freeport, El., 119, 121, 122 Fremont, John C, 106, 114, 169 Fry, General S. S., 258-261 Frye, Senator, 24 Fugitive Slave Law, 103, 115, 119, 120 Fuller, Melville W., 240, 252 G Gaines, General Edmund P., 136, 137 Gaines, Myra Clark, 136, 137 Gallatin, Albert, 220 Gardner, Mr., 222 Gardner, Miss, 222, 223 Garfield, James A., 12, 21, 22, 62, 227 Garland, Senator, 240 Gates, General Horatio, 155, 156 George the Third, 85 Gerry, Elbridge, 61, 63 Giddings, Joshua R., 98 Giles, Senator William B., 219-221 Gihner, Hon. Thomas W., 221, 222 Gilmer, Miss, 219 Gordon, General, 285, 325 Grady, Henry W., 285 Graham, Miss, 219, 220 Grant, Ulysses S., 101 Graves, William J., 150, 151, 152 Greeley, Horace, 294, 391, 392 Greene, Nathaniel, 155 Gridley. General, 274 Grundy, Felix, 138, 194, 216 Gwin, WiUiam M., 169, 170 Gwinett, Button, 154, 155 Hale, Senator, 24, 36, 102 Hamilton, Alexander, 63, 69, 75, 76, 157, 160-166, 297, 336 Hamilton, Gail, 20 Hamlin, Hannibal, 61, 98 Hancock, Gen. Winfield Scott, 19, 20, 101 Hardin, Ben, 194 Hardin, John J., 93, 96, 173, 213, 214, 409, 420 Harlan, John Marshall, 29 Harrison, Benjamin, 242 Harrison, Hon. Carter H., 27 Harrison, William Henry, 82, 98, 106, 114, 311 438 INDEX Hawaiian Annexation Treaty, 242 Hayes, Rutherford B., 13, 14, 16, 17, 76 Hayes-Tilden contest, 13-18, 33, 76, 77 Hayne, Robert Young, 13, 339, 382 Haynie, Col. W. D., 395 Heise, John, 247, 249 Henderson, Hon. John B., 352 Hendricks, Thomas A., 61, 288 Hennepin, Louis, 425-427 Henry, Hon. Gustavus A., 321, 322 Henry, Hon. William Wirt, 334 Henry, Patrick, 87, 334, 357, 365, 429 Henry, Prof. Joseph, 174, 180 Hill, Hon. David B., 285 Hill, Gen. A. P., 101 Hill, Representative, 12 Hoar, Hon. George F., 13, 25, 26 Hobart, Garrett A., 61 Hoge, Joseph P., 205-207 Hohnan, Hon. William S., 23, 24, 34^36 Homestead law, 5 House of Representatives, the, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 79, 80 House of Representatives con- trasted with British House of Commons, 47, 48 Houston, Sam, 101, 102, 130, 339 Howe, Mrs. Julia Ward, 342 Hubbard, Gardner, 308, 310, 312, 313 Hull, Isaac, 85 Hungerford, Henry James, 177 Hunt, Washington, 98 niinois, 84, 182, 183, 356, 357, 425, 426-433 Illinois Central Railroad, 104 Illinois Constitutional Convention of 1847, 170 Illinois Tenth General Assembly, 96 Impeachment, of Belknap, 13, 79; of Chase, 79; of Johnson, 62, 79, 80, 263-266; of Tyler, 62 Ingalls, John J., 314 Ingersoll, Clark, 227 IngersoU, Robert G., 45, 225-228, 273, 274, 313, 378 Ingham, Secretary, 141, 143, 144 Ireland, a tribute to, 329-331 Irving, Henry, 305 Jackson, Andrew, 6, 76, 94, 95, 97, 99, 124, 136, 138, 139, 141, 143, 144, 169, 177, 178, 189, 194, 246, 321, 379, 382 Jackson, Dr. Charles S., 131 Jackson, Gen. Stonewall, 101, 259 Jackson, Mrs. Andrew, 141 Jamestown Exposition, 355, 357 Jamestown, Va., 357, 361, 363 Jay, John, 336 Jefferson, Joe, 304, 305 Jefferson, Thomas, 14, 60, 61, 63, 73, 75, 84, 119, 124, 160, 221, 336, 337, 357, 365, 429 John, Doctor, 274-284 Johnson, Andrew, 61, 62, 79, 97, 98, 263, 321, 322 Johnson, Hon. Cave, 349 Johnson, Representative, 130 Johnson, Richard M., 61, 75 Johnson, Sen. Reverdy, 102 Johnston, Gen. Joseph E., 49, 101 Johnston, Hon. Stoddart, 45 Joliet, Louis, 425-427 Jones, John Rice, 171 Jones, Senator, 151, 152, 153 K Kane, Senator, 420 Kansas, 105, 107, 108, 115, 117, 122 Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 9, 105, 106, 119, 121, 122, 123 Kaskaskia, 111., 182, 183, 356, 428, 429, 431, 432 Keifer, Representative, 53, 54, 246, 355 Kelley, Hon. William D., 23 Kellogg, Judge, 226 Kendall, Amos, 138 Kenna, Hon. John E., 49, 52 Kennan, Commodore, 222 Kennedy, Hon. John P., 7, 130 Kentucky House of Representa- tives, 6 Kerr, Hon. Michael C, 18, 31 King, William R., 61, 63, 102 Kinney, Rev. William, 189 Knott, Hon. J. Proctor, 13, 26, 29, 30, 36, 39, 41-46, 148, 244, 306, 344, 387, 397 Knox, Henry, 336 INDEX Salle, Robert de, 425-427 ce Front Bill, 249, 250 nar, Lucius Q. C, 12, 28-30, nont, Daniel S., 239, 244 igley, S. P., 174, 176, 181 .ta, James, 417 irens, Col. John, 157 V, William, 206, 209 V, Wilson, 209 vrence, James, 85, 148 eoompton Constitution," 107, 108 !, Arthur, 357, 429 !, Gen. Charles, 155, 156, 157 !, Col. Phil, 410-412 !, Gen. Robert E., 101, 260, 288 vis, Meriwether, 84 .coin, Abraham, 2, 3, 6, 8-9, 62, 9, 82, 83, 85, 86, 88, 89, 90, 91, (3, 96, 98, 102, 107, 109, 110, 11, 113, 114, 115, 116, 120, 122, 23, 124, 125, 171-173, 225, 226, !37, 246, 272, 274, 275, 286, 288, ;04, 314, 322, 352-354, 377, 386, :02, 409, 419, 423, 433 looln Centenary, 82 der, V. F., 409 !kwood. Judge, 97, 422 ;an. Gen. John A., 93, 96 igstreet. Gen. James, 101 •d. Representative, 13 lisiana, 15-17, 76, 125 lisiana Purchase, 84, 102, 430 M 3on, Nathaniel, 220 iison, James, 69, 71, 83, 87, 117, 19, 124, 157, 220, 244, 366, 367 ine Law, the, 393, 394 ining, Daniel, 239, 240 rquette. Father, 425-427 •shall, Thomas F., 36, 38, 194, 16, 407, 408 •tin, Luther, 79 Jon, George, 69, 366 son, James Murray, 89 !on. Senator, 102, 131 cey, Senator, 20 cimilian. Emperor, 169, 170 jTiard, Judge, 394 ]leUan, Gen. George B., 101 iJlemand, General, 96 :orkle, Hon. J. W., 169 jormiok, Judge, 29 McCrary, Hon. George W., 23 McCullough, John, 45, 303, 305 McDougall, Sen. James A., 213, 401, 402, 422 McDuffie, Senator, 325 Mcintosh, General, 154 McKenzie, Hon. James, 36, 49, 50, 51, 148, 321 McKibben, Joseph C, 166, 167 McKinley, William, 55, 56, 62, 246 McLean, John, 96, 417-420, 432 McLean County, 413-432 Menifee, Representative, 150, 151, 216, 407 Merryman, Dr., 172, 173 Metamora, lU., 225, 273, 274, 281 Mexican War, 8, 101, Milburn, Rev. W. H., 27, 332, 333 Mills, Senator Roger Q., 322 Mirabeau, Charles Maurice, 88, 307 Missouri Compromise, 2, 103, 105, 115, 117 Money, Senator, 24 Monroe, James, 76, 94, 139, 357, 429 Monroe Doctrine, 242, 243, 367 Montgomery, Richard, 330 Moore, A., 248, 249 Morehead, Governor, 321 Morgan, John, 257 Mormon exodus from Illinois, Mormonism, and the Mormon war, 197-215 Morrison, Hon. William R., 26, 27, 227 Morse, Samuel F. B., 129-135 Morton, Hon. Levi P., 48, 61 Morton, Sterling, 244, 368, 369 N National Hotel, Bloomington, HI., 9 Nauvoo, m., 202-204, 207, 209- 211 Nebraska, 105, 107, 115, 117 New Mexico, 103 New Orleans, battle of, 85, 99, 136, 137 Norwich, Conn., 22 O O'Connor, Michael, 53 Oglesby, Gov. Richard J., 346, 347 O'Hara, Theodore, 216 440 INDEX Oregon, 17, 100 Orendorff, Thomaa, 417 Ottawa, El., 110, 111, 115, 124 Palmer, Gov. John M., 322 Paterson, William, 70 Peace Jubilee Banquet, 56 "Peggy O'Neal," see Eaton, Mrs. John H. Pendleton, Nathaniel, 162, 165 Perry, Oliver Hazard, 85, 148 Phelps, Professor, 4 Phillips, D. L., 250 Phillips, Hon. Isaac N., 314 Phniips, Wendell, 310 Pierce, Franklin, 8, 101, 194 Pierce, Representative, 16 Pinckney, Charles C, 69, 79, 251 Pocahontas, 360 Polk, James K., 24, 55, 100, 101, 128, 194, 332, 349 Pope, Hon. Nathaniel, 409 Pope, Judge, 205 Pratt, O. C., 171 Pratt, Orson, 215 Pratt, Parley P., 212 Prentiss, S. S., 41, 83, 216, 311, 312, 356 President, the oflSce of, 56-58, 62, 63, 74, 75, 76, 78, 79 Presidential contest, of 1824, 138, 139; of 1856, 106; of 1860, 108, 225, 226; of 1876, 13-18, 76, 77; of 1884, 239, 240; of 1888, 241; of 1892, 241, 242. Preston, Senator, 154, 194, 339 Previous question, 73, 74 Prime, Dr., 135 Princeton, man-of-war, 222, 223 Proctor, Senator, 36 Purman, Representative, 16 Purple, Judge, 274 Q Quintard, Bishop, 19, 20 R Randall, Hon. Samuel J., 31, 32, 54 Randolph, Edmund, 336 Randolph, John, 55, 69, 79, 138, 189, 140, 147, 220, 339, 356, 391 Reagan, Hon. John H., 12, 28 Reed, Hon. Thomas B., 53, 54, 55, 246, 268, 269 Reynolds, Gov. John, 182-196, 202, 203, 418 Rhett, Barnwell, 98 Rice, Nathan L., 322 Richmond, Judge, 274 Rigdon, Sydney, 199, 212 Robinson House, Beverly, 20 Rodes, Solomon P., 344, 345 Rogers, Dr. Thomas P., 246-250 Roosevelt, Theodore, 61, 62 Rush, Richard, 178, 179 Rutledge, Edward, 69 S San Jacinto, battle of, 101 Sandys, Sir Edwin, 360, 361 Santa Ana, Gfeneral, 101, 256 Sargent, Aaron A., 348 Scates, Judge, 97 Schoenberg, Colonel, 151 Scott, Gen. Winfield, 8, 101, 114 Scott, Jr., Collegiate Institute, Matthew T., 371-375 Scott, Matthew T., 371, 372, 373 Scott, Mrs. Julia Green, 371, 374 Seelye, Julius H., 16 Semple, Senator, 96 Senate, the, 64^66, 67-81, 337-341 Seward, William Henry, 90, 114, 154, 339, 423 Sharon, Senator, 169 Shaw, Judge, 274, 378 Shelley, Representative, 49 Sheridan, Phil., 330 Sherman, Gen. W. T., 101 Sherman, James S., 61 Sherman, Roger, 69, 72 Shields, Gen. James, 96, 171-173, 274, 330, 420 Slavery, 2, 3, 86, 102, 103, 105, 106, 108, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123 Slidell, John, 89, 98 Smith, Capt. John, 360 Smith, Hon. David A., 409 Smith, Hiram, 206, 209, 211 Smith, Joseph, 198-213, 409 Smith, Joseph F., 208, 432 Smithson, James, 174-181 Smithsonian Institution, 174-181 Spears, Representative, 26 Spencer, Hon. Hamilton, 166 INDEX 441 Springer, Hon. William M., 18, 25, 26, 49, 54 Stanberry, Henry, 80, 264 Stanford, Senator, 66 Stanley, Representative, 130 Stephens, Alexander H., 12, 30, 31, 98 129 133 Stevens, Hon. Thaddeus, 20, 80, 352 Stevenson, Adlai E., first impres- sions of Lincoln, 8; on the law and lawyers, 9-11; member forty- fourth Congress, 12; speech in favor of the Hayes-Tilden Elec- toral Commission, 14-18; member Board of Visitors to West Point 1877, 19, 20; member forty-sixth Congress, 47; member Bimetallic Commission to Europe, 66; speech at Peace Jubilee Banquet, Chica^ go 1898, 56-59; speech before the Senate upon retiring from office, 64-66; speech at Lincoln Centen- nial Celebration, Bloomington, Dl., 82-91; assistant Postmaster- General, 243; speech at banquet of United Irish Societies 1900, 329-331; speech at Centennial celebration of laying of corner- stone of the National Capitol, 334; speech at unveiling of statue of Columbus, New York, 342-343; Speech at Jamestown Exposition, 355-367; speech at dedication of Matthew T. Scott, Jr., Collegi- ate Institute, 371-375; speech at dedication of Chickamauga Na- tional Park, 376-377; address at McLean County "Home Com- ing," 413-433 Stevenson, James, 322 Stewart, Alphonso, 170,431 Stites, Judge, 321 Stockbridge, Senator, 66 Stockton, Commodore R. P., 222 Strode, Colonel, 111 Stuart, John T., 8, 93, 96, 353, 402, 409,422 Sumner, Charles, 28, 114, 339, 352, 423 Swartout, John, 158 Talleyrand, Gabriel Honors Ri- quetti, 88 Taney, R. B., Ill, 119 Taylor, John, 198, 209, 210, 211 Taylor, Senator, 24 Taylor, Zachary, 62, 101, 106, 114, 409 Telegraph, Morse's electro-mag- netic, 129, 130-135 Terry, David S., 167, 168 Texas, 103, 125 Texas, annexation of, 101 Thatcher, Representative, 159 Thomas, Gen. George Henry, 101 Thornton, Colonel, 168 Tilden, Samuel J., 13-16, 40, 76, 394 Tipton, Hon. Thomas F., 47 Tombs, Senator, 114, 381, 423 Tompkins, Daniel D., 61 Travers, William R., 395 Treat, Judge Samuel H., 97, 274, 401, 402 Treaty of Ghent, 85, 100 Trent, S. S., 89 Trumbull, Senator Lyman, 339, 381, 382 Tucker, Randolph, 39 Tumey, Hon. James, 187 Tyler, John, 61, 62, 98, 99, 101, 222, 223, 224, 310, 311 U Upshur, A. P., 222 Utah, 103 Van Buren, Martin, 61, 75, 128, 129, 141, 142, 143, 144, 179, 203 Van Ness, W. P., 161, 162 Vance, Gen. R. B., 292 Vance, Zebulon B., 39, 66, 288-294 Vandalia, El., 96, 111 Venezuela, 242, 243 Vest, Senator, 37 Vice-presidency, the, 60-66 Vice-president, the, 60, 62, 63, 64, 75, 78, 79 Vigilance Committee, 168 Vilas, Hon. WiUiam F., 239, 240 Virginia, 356-367 Voorhees, Senator, 227, 333 W Walker, Cyrus, 205, 206 Walker, Hon. Robert J., 107 442 INDEX Walter, Thomas U., 338 Washington, D. C, 334, 336-341 Washington, George, 69, 73, 84, 87, 88, U7, 119, 155, 156, 157, 161, 165, 177, 220, 221, 263, 314, 335, 336, 337, 366, 367 Watterson, Hon. Henry, 33 Webb, James Watson, 150, 151, 152 Webster, Daniel, 13, 59, 80, 97, 99, 102, 104, 106, 134, 142, 144, 154, 194, 286, 307, 308, 311, 312, 313, 338, 339, 381, 422 Weldon, Judge Lawrence, 9, 250, 346, 353, 354, 401 Wentworth, Representative, 98 Wheeler, Joe, 257, 269 Wheeler, Hon. William A., 21, 24, 47, 61 Whiteside, Gen. Samuel, 173 Whitney, William C, 239, 240 Whitthorne, Senator, 349 Wilkes, Captain, 89 Williams, James D., ("Blue Jeans"), 33, 34 Williams, Hon. Robert E., 19, 274 Williams, Senator, 153 Wilson, Henry, 61, 66, 97 Wilson, James, 69, 71 Wilson, Gen. James Grant, 342 Wilson, Judge, 252 Wintersmith, Col. Dick, 216-218 Winthrop, Robert C, 97, 134, 311, 343 Wirt, William, 79, 149, 150, 251 Wise, Henry A., 98, 151, 152 Wood, Hon. Fernando, 28, 133 Woodbury, Senator, 194 Woolford, Hon. Frank, 256-261 Wright, Hendrick B., 128 Wright, Senator Silas, 129, 134, 154, 194 Yeardley, Sir Greorge, 357 Young, Brigham, 198, 208, 212, 214 Young, Judge, 3 Young, President, 29 iil ii 1