This book was digitized by Microsoft Corporation in cooperation witli Cornell University Libraries, 2007. You may use and print this copy in limited quantity for your personal purposes, but may not distribute or provide access to it (or modified or partial versions of it) for revenue-generating or other commercial purposes. Digitized by Microsoft® Cornell University Library E 664 .C75C75 1889a 3 1924 024 243 945 All books are subject to recall after two weeks Olln/Kroch Library DATE DUE «#(#««WB ^p*^^S3W^^" „--«'*-^ ^■SlBPPKBfB^J GAVLOnO PRINTED IN U.SA. Digitized by Microsoft® ¥2 XI Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924024243945 Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING, ORATOR, STATESMAN, ADVOCATE. Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING, ORATOR, STATESMAN, ADVOCATE. BY ALFRED R. CONKLING, PH. B., LL. B. NEW YORK: CHARLES L. WEBSTER & COMPANY. 1889. Digitized by Microsoft® /CORNEllN \ LIBRARY.. Copyrighted, 1889, Bv ALFRED R. CONKLING, {All rights reserved.) PRB»S OF Jenkins &c McCowan, 32^-3a8 Centre St, Digitized by Microsoft® This Volume is respectfully dedicated to the People of New York, who conferred upon ROSCOE CONKLING the uimsual bomr of three successive elections /o the Senate of the United States. Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® TABLE OF CONTENTS. PART FIRST. CHAPTER I. 1635-1829. PACE Genealogy i-8 CHAPTER H. 1829-1850. The Boyhood of Roscoe Conkling 9-18 CHAPTER HI. 1850-1853. The Young Lawyer 19-41 CHAPTER IV. 1853-1858. Legal Practice and Local Politics 42-60 CHAPTER V. 1858-1859. Mr. Conkling as Mayor 61-73 CHAPTER VL August, 1858 — April, 1859. He Is Elected to Congress — Unpublished Correspondence be- tween Mr. Conkling and Thomas Corwin, of Ohio 74-90 CHAPTER Vn. 1859-1861. His First Term in Congress — Extracts from Speeches on the Powers of the Supreme Court of the United States and in Opposition to Slavery 91-120 CHAPTER VHL 1860-1861. The Budge Murder Trial 121-132 7 Digitized by Microsoft® VI 11 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IX. lS6l-l862. PAGK The Thirty-Seventh Congress — A Conkling Regiment — Speech on the Battle of Ball's Bluff — General Stone — Colonel Baker —General McClellan 133-150 CHAPTER X. 1862. The Legal-Tender Act 151-169 CHAPTER XI. 1862-1863. Resolutions — Speeches — He is Renominated and Defeated 170-188 CHAPTER XII. 1863-1865. He Resumes Law Practice — Patriotic Meetings — Addresses — His Renomination and Election 189-212 CHAPTER XIII. 1865. The Haddock Court-Martial — A Case in which Mr. Conkling was Successful 213-244 CHAPTER XIV. 1 865-1 866. The Reconstruction Period 245-268 CHAPTER XV. 1866. His Last Congressional Campaign 269-284 PART SECOND. CHAPTER XVI. 1867. The Young Senator 285-307 CHAPTER XVII. 1868. A Trip to the Rocky Mountains — The Presidential Campaign — Financial Bills in the Senate 308-31 5 Digitized by Microsoft® CONTENTS. IX CHAPTER XVIII. I86Q-187I. PAGE Senator Conkling and President Grant 3I&-337 CHAPTER XIX. 1871. The Syracuse Convention and the State Campaign 338-347 CHAPTER XX. January, 1872. The One-term Dogma 348-359 CHAPTER XXI. 1852-1887. Oratory 360-424 CHAPTER XXII. 1872. The Administration Vindicated — Debates in the Senate — His Greatest Campaign Speech 425-448 CHAPTER XXIII. 1873. His Re-election — A Legal Argument — An Official Trip to Can- ada — He is offered the Chief- Justiceship, and Declines. . . . 449-464 CHAPTER XXIV. 1874. Senatorial Debates — Financial Measures — A Celebrated Case. . . 465-486 CHAPTER XXV. 1875. Senator Conkling and General Sheridan — A Famous Patent Suit 487-493 CHAPTER XXVI. 1876. The State Convention at Syracuse — The Cincinnati Convention — The Hayes-Tilden Campaign — Life in Washington 494-515 CHAPTER XXVII. January-August, 1877. The Electoral Count — The Electoral Commission — Second Trip to Europe 5i6-535 Digitized by Microsoft® X CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXVIII. SePTEMBER-DECEMUKR, 1877. PAGE The State Convention at Rochester — President Hayes and the New York Custom House 536-562 CHAPTER XXIX. 1878. Eulogy on Senator Oliver P. Morton — Mr. Conkling Opposes the Silver Bill— A Notable Chemical Patent Suit 563-573 CHAPTER XXX. January, 1879 — June, 1880. An Unusual Honor — The First Republican to be Elected Thrice to the Senate — Saluted by Negroes — The Utica Convention of February, 1880 ,,,,,,,,. 574-587 CHAPTER XXXI. 1880. The Chicago Convention 588-609 CHAPTER XXXII. 1880. The Presidential Campaign 610-632 PART THIRD. CHAPTER XXXIII. 1880-1881. His Last Year in Public Life — President Garfield — Resignation from the Senate — His Defeat at Albany 633-643 CHAPTER XXXIV. 1850-1888. R£sum6 of His Public Career — Some Anecdotes 644-667 CHAPTER XXXV. 1881-1888. Mr. Conkling as a Lawyer in New York 668-700 CHAPTER XXXVI. March-April, 1888. Conclusion ■. n 701-709 Digitized by Microsoft® List of Fac-si miles. Steel Portrait of Roscoe Conkling Frontispiece. Fac-simile of letter from Hannibal Hamlin to Alfred R. Conkling 401 Fac-simile of letter from U. S. Grant to Roscoe Conkling 460 Fac-simile of letter from Roscoe Conkling to U. S. Grant 460 Fac-simile of letter from Benj. Harrison to Alfred R. Conkling 600 Fac-simile of 306 Grant Medal 609 Fac-simile of letter from Jas. A. Garfield to Roscoe Conkling 634 Fac-simile of letter from Chester A. Arthur to Roscoe Conkling 677 Fac-simile of letter from Allen G. Thurman to Alfred R. Conkling , 686 Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® PREFACE. The biography of Roscoe Conkling must be, to a large extent, the political history of New York and of the United States from the year 1866 to the year 1884. The best part of his life was spent in the service of the State and the nation. When he was elected to Congress, he had won reputation as an orator and an advocate. From that time, down to the year 1881 — excepting the term of the Thirty-eighth Congress — he zealously served his coun- try in the legislative branch of the general Government. Mr. Conkling was so much misunderstood and so im- perfectly appreciated by those who did not personally know him, that an exhaustive biography seems necessary. Soon after his death a brief memorial was published by order of the Legislature of the State of New York; but it was deemed by many of his friends inadequate to com- memorate the life and public services of one who, for so many years, was the recognized leader of the Republican party in his native State, and one of its champions in the nation. The effort has been conscientiously made to set right, before a busy people, one whose repugnance to denying newspaper rumors and calumnies, and whose hatred of personal explanations, have allowed the world to remain in ignorance of his true character. He is known chiefly as a public rather than as a pro- ;fiii Digitized by Microsoft® XIV PREFACE. fessional man, and yet the last seven years of his life, dur- ing which he was engaged in the practice of law in the city of New York, have given him a reputation as a jurist and an advocate second to none in his day. The opinions of many competent persons are quoted to show that the author does not overestimate the profes- sional ability and standing of Mr. Conkling. In fact, one who would have a just idea of modern American eloquence must study t}ie speeches and argu- ments of Roscoe Conkling; and it is believed that public educators may find in the chapter on "Oratory" some useful material for their pupils. These pages will set forth his democratic spirit as well as his sympathy for the poor and the oppressed — espe- cially for the negro race. He was bitterly opposed to slavery, and in his first term in Congress he denounced it in scathing language. Many letters and incidents of his life will furnish ample proof of his hatred of " man's inhumanity to man." It has been the purpose of the writer to present an im- partial life of one of the ablest orators and statesmen that the republic has ever produced; Roscoe Conkling has therefore been called, as it were, to the witness-stand of public opinion, and required "to testify for himself To this end, free use has been made of his speeches, argu- ments and letters, from the Presidential campaign of 1852 down to a day immediately preceding his fatal illness. His speeches are too long and too numerous to print in a general biography. Accordingly, extracts only from the celebrated speeches will be given; and in some cases it is preferable to omit rather than to mutilate them. Digitized by Microsoft® PREFACE. XV It is in contemplation to publish a second volume of his best speeches, and it is believed that such a book will serve as a manual, not only of eloquence, but of recent American history. A complete list of the names of persons who have kindly aided the author would fill a printed page, and he takes this opportunity to record his grateful sense of obli- gation to the gentlemen who have thus contributed to the value of this memoir. He must not, however, fail to express his thanks to Hamilton Fish, Clarence A. Seward, Alonzo B. Cornell, Samuel Wilkeson, Theodore W. Dwight, Isaac H. Bailey, of New York; Francis Kernan, Daniel Batchelor, Theo- dore Pomeroy, William H. Watson, Charles M. Dennison, William H. Comstock, David C. Stoddard, William Blaikie, Addison C. Miller, William J. Bacon, of Utica; D. E. Wager, of Rome; Montgomery H. Throop, of Albany; James Parton, of Massachusetts; U. H. Painter, Samuel Shellabarger, George C. Gorham, of Washington; and James P. Boyd, of Philadelphia. Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Life and Letters of Roscoe Conkling. Part Kirst. 1635-1829. CHAPTER I. GENEALOGY. JOHN CONKLING was probably the first of J a family which, for the greater part of the nineteenth century, has been conspicuous in American politics, statesmanship and jurispru- dence. He lived in Nottinghamshire, England. The records of Saint Peter's parish church in this county show that John Conklin* married Eliza- beth AUseabrook, January 24, 1625. They had two sons, John and Ananias. There is a tradition in the Long Island branch of the family that that branch came from Maid- stone, in Kent. In the summer of 1886 the author visited Maidstone for the purpose of verifying * So spelled in the original records. % Digitized by Microsoft® 2 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONK LING. this impression ; but in searching back to the year 1560, he found no trace of the ConkUng family in the County of Kent. Leaving England with his family about the year 1635, John Conkling landed at Boston, and settled at Salem, Massachusetts. He and his sons engaged in the manufacture of glass, and in the early land-grants they are described as "glasse- men." Their establishment is said by some histo- rians of American industries to have been the first one of the sort in this country. The earliest records of the Conkling family in the United States are to be found at Salem; and the following notes are taken from the original book of grants* of this place. \From the Original Book of Grants of Salem. \ (i) 25th day of the fourth moneth, 1638. "Its ordered that Ananias Conclane and Willm Osborne shall have an acre apiece for house lotts. (2) 25th day of the 12th moneth, 1638. " Granted to Edmond Marshall 3 acres nere the 10 acre lott of Ananias Concline." [The latter was made a freeman in the same year. — A. R. C] (3) The 19th day of the 6th moneth, 1639. " At a genall towne meeting granted to Ananias Concklyn one acre nere unto his dwelling house." (4) A genall towne meeting the nth day of the loth moneth, 1639- * It will be observed that the family name is written in five different ways, for the scriveners of the period had no standard for spelling. The reasonable presumption is that there was but one stock of Conklings in America. Digitized by Microsoft® GENEALOG Y. 3 "Granted one acre more to Ananias Conclyn, and 2 acres a piece to the other tooe viz., Laurence Southwick & Obadiah Holmes, each of them 2 acres to be added to Iheire former lotts." [In the Glasse-house field. — A. R. C] (5) The 2Sth day of the first moneth, 1641, " Granted to Ananias Conclyn a yard conteyning 20 pole." (6) At a genall towne meeting the 27th of the 12th moneth 1642. " Its promised by the towne that the 8 that hath ben — n left by the court by the request of the towne to Ananias Con- dyne and other poore people, shall be repayed the court at the next Indian corne harvest." (7) At a meeting of the 7 men the 30th day of the 3rd moneth, 1649. " Granted unto John Conclyne, Ananias Conclyne and Thomas Scudder to each of them 4 acres to be laid out in the medow aforesaid." The descendants of John Conkling have become numerous in the State of New York and have spread as far west as Ilhnois. They had large famihes, and the name* is now quite common throughout Long Island. At present there are Conklings in eastern Massachusetts, at Philadelphia, at Cincinnati, at Cleveland, at Detroit, and in the cities of Chicago and Springfield, Illinois. The biogra- pher is not aware that any of these families are related to Roscoe Conkling, although it has been said that the ex-Senator had near kinsmen at Springfield. * In the counties of Queens and Suffolk it is now usually spelled Con- klin, without the " g." Digitized by Microsoft® 4 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. On or about the year 1649 John ConkUng and his two sons moved to Suffolk County, New York, Ananias settHng at Easthampton, John at Southold. Roscoe ConkHng is descended from Ananias. John ConkHng's birth and death are thus recorded on his tombstone : "Here lyeth the body of Captain John Conke- lyne, born in Nottinghamshire in Englande, who departed this life the sixth day of April at South- old on Long Island, in the sixty-fourth year of his age. Anno Domini, 1694." Ananias Conkling had two sons, Jeremiah and Benjamin. The former married Mary, daughter of Lion Gardner, of Saybrook. Jeremiah Conk- ling, John Mulford and Thomas Ames bought, December i, 1670, the tract of land between Fort Pond and Great Pond called " the nine score acre purchase." Jeremiah died March 14, 171 2. His wife died June 15, 1726, at the age of eighty-nine. Jeremiah Conkling left two sons, David and Lewis. The latter was born in 1672. He settled in Amagansett about the year 1700, and about 1739 married Mary Stratton. He died October 2, 1 746, leaving two sons, Sineus and Isaac, and four daughters. His wife, Mary, died November 15, 1752, aged seventy -six. Sineus Conkling was born September 6, 1718, married Clement Ayers about 1745, and died in 18 10. He had two sons, Digitized by Microsoft® GENEALOG Y. 5 Isaac and Benjamin. The latter was the grand- father of Roscoe Conkling. Benjamin was born in 1757. He became a farmer and taught himself Latin. He married Esther Hand and died in 1832. Benjamin Conk- ling had five children, viz : Sineus, Alfred, Na- thaniel, Betsey and Phoebe. The first named married Miss Bowditch and died in 1880. Na- thaniel died young. Betsey married Eleazer ConkHng and Phoebe married a Dr. Sherman. Thus much for the uncles and aunts of Roscoe Conkling. Alfred Conkling was born in an ancient frame house at Amagansett, two and a half miles from Easthampton, October 12, 1789. His uncle Isaac had long lived in the same mansion. Alfred attended the district school, and then prepared himself for college by studying with the village parson. In his younger days he was fond of mischief. On one occasion he and a companion took shot- guns, and, disguised as highwaymen, stopped a stage-coach and frightened the passengers. Thereafter when the village schoolmaster wished to censure a boy he would often say, " You are as bad as Alfred Conkling and Charley Jones." The former entered Union College in 1806 and was graduated in 1810. Thus far the family had Digitized by Microsoft® 6 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. been engaged in agricultural and commerical pursuits. Alfred Conkling was the first to gain distinction in professional and public life. He married Eliza Cockburn, May 5, 18 12. His wife was eighteen months his junior, having been born March 22, 1791. She was the daughter of James Cockburn, who was by profession a civil engineer and a relative of the late Lord Chief-Justice Cockburn of Eng- land. James Cockburn left Scotland early in the eighteenth century and went to the Bermudas. Thence he came to New York, and for many years he lived in the central part of the State. He married Margaret, daughter of Colonel Hendrick Frey, a feudal lord in the valley of the Mohawk. Their daughter Eliza was a noted beauty of the time and was called the " belle of the Mohawk Valley." She was a graceful dancer, and an heiress for those days, having a fortune of several thousand dollars. At the time of his marriage, Alfred Conkling was a law student in the office of Daniel Cady, of Johnstown, one of the leading advocates of the Empire State. Here the young couple resided for a year. They then removed to Canajoharie, in Montgomery County, where they lived for twelve years. They had three daugh- ters and four sons. The names of the latter were Frederick, Aurelian and Roscoe. The third Digitized by Microsoft® GEiVEALOG Y. Jr son was called Roscoe, but he died before the birth of the subject of this biography. Alfred Conkling practiced law at Canajoharie until the year 1818. He was then, at the age of twenty-nine, elected District-Attorney of Mont- gomery County. On one occasion when, at a trial for murder, he was summing up, the prisoner, be- ing a mason, made the sign of distress. District- Attorney Conkling was so enraged at the mere thought of the masonic order being used to de- feat the ends of justice that he at once resigned from his lodge. In 1820 Alfred Conkling was elected to the seventeenth Congress, and in 1825 he was appointed United States District Judge for the iiorthern district of New York. He held the latter position for twenty-seven years. Judge Conkling was the author of several works on the law, viz. : i. "The Young Citizen's Manual," 1836; 2. "Treatise on the Organization and Jurisdiction of the Supreme, Circuit and Dis- trict Courts of the United States," 1842 ; 3. "Juris- diction, Law and Practice in Admiralty and Mari time Causes," 1S4S ; and 4. " Powers of the Ex- ecutive Department of the United States," 1866. He also delivered many addresses before literary and collegiate societies. He had a keen, strong, highly cultivated intellect, an extraordinary charm of conversation, great power of labor, a courtly Digitized by Microsoft® 8 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. manner, and a dignity that honored and guarded the high official trusts committed to his keeping. He moved in 1829 to Albany, where Roscoe,* the subject of this memoir, was born October 30, 1829. He was never baptized, but his mother called him Roscoe, after the celebrated author of that name, whose works she was then reading. It is not generally known that Roscoe Conkling was born at Albany. For many years Judge Conkling's frame house at Amagansett, Suffolk County, New York, was commonly, although er- roneously, pointed out to travelers as " Roscoe Conkling's birthplace." As recently as the sum- mer of 1885 this house was thus described and shown to the author. * Roscoe Conkling the first was bom January 13, 1S28, and died July i, in the same year. Digitized by Microsoft® I829-I850. CHAPTER II. THE BOYHOOD OF ROSCOE CONKLING. T3 OSCOE lived for nine years at Albany. His eldest brother, Frederick, was then a sales- man in the wholesale dry-goods business at New York. The three sisters and the other brother resided at home. Judge Conkling's district extended to Buffalo, and as the means of transportation were then primitive, he spent much time in traveling. Dur- ing his quarter of a century on the bench he tried many admiralty and patent causes, as well as suits in bankruptcy. The bankrupt law was passed during his term, and the duties growing out of it proved very laborious to the Judge. In the summer of 1839 Judge Conkling decided to change his residence from Albany to Auburn. When the family was about to move Roscoe met with a severe accident. He was kicked in the face by a horse, his jawbone being broken. When the wound was dressed the boy was told to remain in bed, but he disobeyed the orders of both father Digitized by Microsoft® lO LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. and surgeon, and diverted himself by making and flying a kite on the afternoon of the day of the accident ! When the physician permitted Roscoe to be moved, Judge CoAkUng, with his family, left Albany for Auburn on one of the com- mon freight and passenger canal-boats. The trip lasted several days, and the discomforts of travel would be appalling to those who now roll in a Wagner car from the State capital to Auburn in six hours ! In the stern of the canal-boat was a small apart- ment which served as saloon and stateroom; at night a cloth curtain was hung in the middle to divide the sexes. There was then no newsboy at hand with his attractive comic and illustrated papers. In the absence of awnings, the tourists sat on deck and took sun-baths. When "Low- bridge ! " was called, the ladies went below and the men "flattened " so as to avoid bumping their heads against the timbers; for there was not enough space for a chair on deck when the boat passed under a bridge. On Sunday the party reached Port Byron, which is seven miles from Auburn. Roscoe's trip on " Clinton's big ditch " made him a life-long friend of canals. It is worthy of remark that fifty years later, when a bill to appropriate $1,000,000 was pending in the Legislature, a letter from Mr. Conkling was read wherein he advocated the pres- Digitized by Microsoft® HE A r TENDS SCHOOL A T NEW YORK. \ \ ervation and improvement of the canals of New York. It was at the suggestion of WilHam H. Sew- ard that Judge ConkHng moved his family to Auburn. He hved at "Melrose," the name of his new residence, until about the year 1864. Roscoe was a romping boy and very fond of horses and dogs. His father gave him a white Canadian pony, which was the pride of his youthful days. His love of horseflesh clung to him, for in after years he once rode 500 miles in the far West. When a boy he had no taste for books and the work of the schoolroom was a hardship to him. He remained at Melrose till 1842, when he went to the city of New York to enter the Mount Washington Collegiate Institute, of which Profes- sor George W. Clarke was the principal. It will be remembered that Mr. Clarke afterward became a member of Assembly from the city of New York, and at the Republican State Convention of 1872 at Utica he nominated General John A. Dix for Governor. In leaving his son Roscoe with Professor Clarke, Judge Conkling said : " I have heard of you, and I want to put this lad of thir- teen under your care. He is utterly untutored, but he must be trained to studious habits. Please start him on the road to college." Young Roscoe studied for an academic year at this institution. Digitized by Microsoft® 12 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. It was during his residence in the metropolis that young Conkling received his first lessons in oratory. The eldest brother was then thirty years of age, and had acquired some reputation as a campaign speaker. They took lessons together from an English professor named Harvey, who had heard such masters of eloquence as Daniel O'Connell, Sir Robert Peel, and other political orators in the British Isles. They often delivered speeches to each other for the sake of practice, and used constantly a text-book, long since out of print, entitled " The Art of Speaking," published in London about the year 1787. In this volume were found not only the usual extracts from stand- ard writers of prose and poetry, but also a thorough treatise on the art of expression, including all forms of facial action, as well as of gesture. In 1843 young Conkling entered the Auburn Academy, where he remained for three years. Judge Conkling being a man of high standing in professional and social life, his house was visit- ed by many learned and eminent men. In this atmosphere of law and politics Roscoe grew up, and having a very retentive memory, these early associations made him what might be called a boy of the world. Some of his father's visitors were Chancellor James Kent, ex-Presidents Van Buren and John Quincy Adams, ex-Governor Enos T. Digitized by Microsoft® HE ENTERS THE AUBURN ACADEMY. 13 Throop, Mr. Justice Smith Thompson, of the United States Supreme Court, and Thurlow Weed. He had inherited from his father an aptitude for poHtics, a genius for debate, a love of Hterature and a strong taste and fitness for the law. The Judge devoted as much time as he could snatch from his official duties to teaching his youngest son. His informal lessons, however, did not include oratory ; for, unlike his gifted son, the father was deficient in the qualities and graces of an orator. A schoolmate of young Conkling, who is now one of the most distinguished citizens of New York, thus speaks of his boyhood: Roscoe was large of his age, very athletic, vigorous in his movements, and easily superior to all others in the games and sports of childhood. He was noted then for the accuracy and copiousness of his diction. He was quick of learning, but had too much of a strong, physical, buoyant nature to make himself particularly observant of rules whose enforcement was supposed to be necessary to acquisition. He jumped the rules in every way a high-strung, boisterous boy could, but was never absent from recitation, never indifferent to the lessons, and was always up in class. He was gifted then, as ever since, with a wonderful memory, not only for what he heard and read, but for localities, facts and faces. What cost others a great effort in this respect seemed to be an intuition with him. He was as large and massive in his mind as in his frame, and accomplished in his studies precisely what he did in his social life — a mastery and command which his companions yielded to him as his due. There was no an- tagonism to him or jealousy of him in this recognition of his Digitized by Microsoft® 14 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. superiority, either in his class or on the playground. He was as loyal and chivalrous then as he was in after life; and to be his friend was tantamount to having a protector whom no one dared to disturb. His affluent strength and consciousness of his own ability made him easily a recognized leader, and the position was accorded without envy, friction or complaint. No classmate ever felt that his leadership was an act of usurpation, or in any sense domineering. Though only fifteen years old at this time, he had a great store of memorized poetry and adages on hand, which he quoted freely in his school speeches and playground conversa- tions. This wonderful faculty grew with him, and no public man was ever better equipped with prose and poetical quotations illus- trative of his thoughts and arguments. Young Conkling's education was academic only. His impatience to begin the battle of life was such that he declined to enter upon a collegiate course of study. The reader will remember that in the fall of 1842 Judge Conkling, in placing his son at Profes- sor Clarke's school, said, " Please start him on the road to college." The Judge being a graduate of Union College, it is probable that Roscoe would have entered this institution had he wished for a collegiate education. In the year 1846 he removed to Utica and entered the law offices of Spencer tSc Kernan as a student. Joshua A. Spencer was then one of the leading lawyers of the country. He had just successfully defended McLeod, under indictment for murder, and he had thus won fresh laurels in an international case which threatened to in- Digitized by Microsoft® HE BEGINS THE STUD Y OF LAW. 15 volve the United States in a war with England. Francis Kernan had been his partner since 1840. Mr. Spencer was kind to the students in the office, but he was often absent from home, and too busy in the preparation of his cases specially to instruct any of the young men. He, however, gave to young Conkling during his four years' term of study in the office many valuable hints, which were not forgotten. In August, 1879, while speaking to a friend concerning the importance of pressing a case to trial at the right time, the writer heard Mr. Conkling remark, " Spencer used to say, 'Beat them when you can.' " The young man studied the characters of his preceptors, and while he made neither his model, he learned lessons from each. He admired Mr. Spencer's magnificent manner of accomplishing results, and emulated Mr. Kernan's application and exactness. Both Spencer and Conkling belonged to the Whig party, and the following anecdote shows that the former was, perhaps, responsible for the dibut of the latter as a campaign speaker. One day a countryman came to the great advocate and said : " Mr. Spencer, we want a man to speak at a Whig meeting out in our village. Send us some one who can assert himself, for there's a Digitized by Microsoft® 1 6 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. big bully among the Democrats who breaks up our meetings." The reply was, " I shall send Mr. Conkling ; I think he will make himself heard." During the terrible famine in Ireland of 1847, Roscoe Conkling was but eighteen years of age, and yet his deep sympathy for the sufferers be- yond the sea enlisted him in their cause. He spoke at various places in Central New York in behalf of the starving multitudes of the Emerald Isle. When Roscoe Conkling became a resident of Utica, he soon entered the " society " of the city. Surrounded by a score of strong families, he im- proved his opportunities for social culture and refinement. Mr. Conkling spent his evenings to a great extent in the study of the best English literature, with which he became quite familiar and in which he took much delight. Of foreign languages he was ignorant, and so he remained till the day of his death. During the autumn of 1848 young Conkling spoke in behalf of the Whig candidates (Taylor and Fillmore) in a public hall at Rome. On this occasion the Hon. B. J. Beach (who was then the Whig member of Assembly from that district) presided, and at the close of his remarks con- Digitized by Microsoft® AN INTERESTING ANECDOTE. 17 gratulated the speaker " for the marked ability of his effort." Referring to his abhorrence of slavery, a distin- guished citizen of Utica, Mr. Theodore Pomeroy, has recently related the following anecdote : When Mr. Conkling was a law student at Utica, on a cer- tain occasion he happened to meet at the writer's residence a gentleman who since has occupied an important professorship in one of our oldest and most noted colleges. This gentleman be- ing a Southerner by birth, and then imbued with Southern sen- timents on the subject of slavery, in a conversation with Mr. Conkling entered upon an argumentative discussion in behalf of slavery in the Southern States. Young Conkling at once engaged in the discussion with characteristic point and power, arguing against the pretensions and claims of the South on this vital question, which, less than fifteen years thereafter, plunged the country into the horrors of civil war. The position assumed by Mr. Conkling in that early discussion in favor of freedom and hu- man rights was maintained by him with such an exhibition of intellectual skill and power, that the gentleman asked the writer, "Who is that young men I have so long been conversing with?" On being informed that he was a law student, Roscoe Conkling by name, he replied, "We will hear from him hereafter." The writer well remembers the impression that discussion of nearly forty years ago made upon the two or three persons that heard it, listening with no little surprise to the keen and decisive argu- ments with which he easily met and overpowered his skillful antagonist. But at that time we little imagined this brilliant young student was destined to become the most able and powerful of national leaders in advocating the claims of freedom and human- ity, to result in the final overthrow of the gigantic wrong contem- plated by making human slavery the corner-stone of the Republic. Mr. Conkling now began to use a series of scrap-books. His collections of news cuttings, Digitized by Microsoft® 1 8 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. Congressional and campaign speeches, and printed legal arguments are very comprehensive. Concerning the canal policy of the Empire State, Mr. Conkling was an ardent Whig, and a son of one who supported Governor Clinton in his great achievement of beginning and com- pleting the Erie Canal. He believed that cheap channels of trade and transportation, safe and spacious harbors, and navigable rivers free from impediment were essential to the prosperity of the State and nation. It is worthy of remark that nine years later, during his first Congressional campaign, Roscoe Conkling spoke of himself as " a Seward Whig." He was called " a busy per- sonal and political ally of William H. Seward." In the days of the old Whig party Mr. Conk- ling was a " Woolly Head " of the strongest Free- soil stamp. He remained with this faction of the Whig party until he joined the Republican party, soon after its organization. Digitized by Microsoft® 1850-1853- CHAPTER III. THE YOUNG LAWYER. T IKE that Revolutionary patriot, Gouverneur Morris, Roscoe Conkling was in the practice of law before he was of age. He was admitted to the bar in the early part of 1850, when in his twenty-first year. It is worthy of remark that his first law-suit was argued before Judge Conkling in the United States District Court at Utica. Al- though the Judge was a very Brutus in his utter want of partiality toward his son under such cir- cumstances, young Conkling won his case. Soon after his admission to the bar Mr. Conk- ling went with a party of citizens to Albany, and appeared before the Governor as their spokesman concerning a public measure. The office of District- Attorney then became vacant by the resignation of Calvert Comstock. Governor Fish appointed Roscoe Conkling April 22, 1850, to fill the place. The latter held the position throughout the year. The following letter, which was lately written by ex-Governor Fish to the author, thus explains the appointment of Roscoe Conkling : Digitized by Microsoft® } 20 LIIiE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. New York, March 2, 1889 251 East Seventeenth Street Dear Sir — I have but slight recollection of the cir- cumstances (beyond the general fact) of the appointment of your uncle as District-Attorney of Oneida County. I remember his presence in Albany — it was the first time I had met him — and that I was struck with his youthful appearance and the force of his manner. My present impression is that a vacancy had arisen in the office, and that the Whigs (we were Whigs at that time) and the bar and bench of the county, and a public concurrence of preference and recommendation, indicated Roscoe Conkling as the person to fill the vacancy. However perfunctory may have been my agency in this regard, I shall be pleased to think that I had some participation in the first introduction into official public life of Roscoe Conkling. ******* Very faithfully yours, Hamilton Fish. Daniel Batchelor, of Utica, says of Roscoe Conk- ling : In his early days Mr. Conkling was not very popular amongst the legal profession, for he not only carried himself with an air of conscious superiority, but had also a rough side to his tongue. He could kill with an epithet or a metaphor just as easily then as, in after years, when in court or Senate he lanced an opponent. He once said of a bejewelled and much bedizened fop : " He looks like the cathedral of Milan decorated with five thousand statues and bas-reliefs !" Extreme cleanliness, aversion to jewelry and perfumery on his person, were traits of his personal character. Method, order, arrangement, were his triune synonyms, and these qualities gov- erned his mental nature, as well as the use of the materials with which he worked. He would not read the newspaper till he had smoothly folded it the size of an even quarto or octavo ; nor would he put a bank-bill into his wallet until it was folded mid- way the length, and then exactly over the middle width. Digitized by Microsoft® HE IS APPOINTED DISTRICT- A TTORNE Y. 2 1 This precision in everything was one of the traits that led to his great success in after life, for when meeting, as he some- times did, men of more knowledge than himself, he easily defeat- ed them by the use of his ready burnished weapons. His arrows were never entangled in the quiver, but were quickly drawn, and driven to the mark. Mr. Conkling's commission as District- Attorney was at once a passport to political as well as le- gal consideration. His twenty-first birthday was then six months in the future. He assumed im- mediately the responsibilities of the office, and decided to try cases without the aid of older counsel. This he did with much success, conduct- ing the trials of persons indicted for arson, larceny, forgery, and homicide. In the autumn Mr. Conk- ling was nominated as his own successor. The Whig ticket was defeated, but he received several hundred more votes than were given to his asso- ciates. Upon the expiration of his term of District- Attorney, Mr. Conkling opened a law office at Utica. He soon entered into partnership with the Hon. Thomas R. Walker, an ex -mayor of the city, and remained with him until 1855. Mr. Walker was an intimate friend of Mr. Conkling, and had a strong taste for English literature, which was of course a bond of union between them. Mr. Conkling was very fond of poetry. In his scrap-book of 1849 ^^ '^'^^ some of the earlier Digitized by Microsoft® 2 2 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONK LING. poems of Whittier, Bryant, Longfellow, Holmes, Drake and Prentice, as well as many verses by the newspaper poets of the period. On September 13, 1851, as shown by the name and date in Mr. Conkling's handwriting on the fly-leaf, he bought the Works of Lord Byron, in verse and prose, including his letters and jour- nals. Many passages throughout this volume have his pencil marks in the margin. This is no- ticeable in the "Giaour," "Corsair" and " Childe Harold's Pilgrimage." The first - named poem was in substance committed to memory by Mr. Conkling several years afterward. The pages of " Childe Harold " contain many marks. The closing lines from the tenth stanza of " Mazeppa " are marked. These are very charac- teristic of the latter years of his life and illus- trate his proud spirit. "For 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." One of his favorite verses was: " Still was his soul unsated As the ocean on the beach Moans for the inland quiet Its waves can never reach." Digitized by Microsoft® THE BAR OF ONEIDA COUNTY. 23 A young lawyer is often retained to oppose his former legal preceptors and counselors. It so happened that Francis Kernan was destined to cross swords with Roscoe Conkling in both legal and political arenas. For fully fifteen years these two lawyers were frequently engaged on opposite sides of important cases. They were also com- peting candidates for Congressional honors in the campaigns of 1862 and 1864, and they afterward became colleagues in the Senate. After forming the legal partnership with the late Thomas R. Walker, Mr. Conkling rapidly rose to prominence at the bar of Oneida County, which, for a quarter of a century, had furnished many distinguished men to the Bench and the State government. The list included such lead- ing lawyers as Joshua A. Spencer, Francis Kernan, William and Charles Tracy, William J. Bac©n, Philo Gridley, Samuel Beardsley, Timothy Jen- kins, Ward Hunt, Charles H. Doolittle, P. Shel- don Root, Charles P. ICirkland, Hiram Denio, D. C. Pomeroy and Henry A. Foster. Mr. Conkling's experience as public prosecutor had given him much more court practice than a young man just admitted to the bar usually ob- tains. He soon won a reputation for brilliancy in the court-room. He had great confidence in him- self. His quick retorts and the thorough prepara- Digitized by Microsoft® 24 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONK LING. tion of his cases often disconcerted older attorneys, who were disposed to try suits on general knowl- edge. At this early age the young advocate adopted the rule to make his client's cause his own. It is not too much to say that no lawyer in New York ever devoted himself more earnestly to the interests of his clients than did Roscoe Conkling. He had great aptness in preparing a case which required technical knowledge. The biographer wishes to give a tolerably full record of Roscoe Conkling's early life at the bar for two reasons : First. His enemies (even in obituary notices) have asserted that legal practice was distasteful to him, and that hence it was abandoned for polit- ical honors ; and second, because the fame of the advocate is short-lived, and he is not generally appreciated by those who do not personally know him. It was in these early years that Roscoe Conk- ling laid the foundation of his great forensic elo- quence. I lis contemporaries state that he was then an awkward and somewhat hesitating speaker. One day, in conversation with a prominent pub- lic man of Utica, his older brother Aurelian said, in his presence, " Mr. B , what do you think of Roscoe's elocution ?" The answer was, " I don't like the parenthesis ;" whereupon Roscoe Digitized by Microsoft® THE YOUNG CAMPAIGN SPEAKER. 25 exclaimed, " What's that ? " Mr. B then ex- plained the " parenthesis " by placing his arms akimbo. The young orator saw the point at once and afterward avoided this ungraceful position. Like many young attorneys, Mr. Conkling com- bined law with politics. The year 1852 was the period of another national contest ; and the time had come for the Whig party " to do or die." The Whig party was about to split on the subject of slavery in the Territories. Although young Conkling was born in a slave-holder's fam- ily, we have already learned of his abhorrence to enslavement. He entered the canvass early, for among his old papers there is the outline of a campaign speech, dated June 28. It consists of fourteen heads. To show the reader Mr. Conk- ling's habit of speaking from memoranda, it is given below just as he wrote it. The speech was delivered at Mechanics' Hall in Utica June 29. (i) Vast and various misinformation, &c. (2) Kangaroo ticket. (3) History could be written without the use of P.'s name. (4) History of the world made up of the biography of men, &c. (5) Geo. M. Dallas and Pillow spoke at Philadelphia of the religious test, &c. " Save me from my friends, &c." (6) P.'s letter of acceptance, "painful apprehension," victim for Nov. sacrifice. Masses said in all the Democratic churches. (7) Political nightmare. (8) Platform. Geographers look at celestial bodies, &c. Digitized by Microsoft® 26 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. (9) Father's biography. Noble birth. Lamps lit at Mercer street oil house. Ohio paper thinks he took possession of Pike's army at York in 1814. (10) Scott at Lundy's Lane. Shooting off his epaulettes. (11) Pierce a Gin, like. How many legs has the cat, calling her tail one; but four, as calling her tail one does not make it one. (12) "Our army swore terribly in Flanders." , (13) " All Pierce's relatives," soldiers, only equaled by Tony Lumpkin's account; he said his father was in the Grenadiers, his uncle was a colonel in the militia, and his aunt was a justice of the peace. (14) Tammany society wrote a letter of invitation to a man who hung himself 3 years ago. It will be seen that the speech refers entirely to the Presidental candidates. During the campaign Roscoe Conkling maae several speeches. Two of them, which refer to national issues, were written out before delivery. So far as the biographer knows, these are the only cases where, since his entrance to public life, he thus prepared a stump-speech. Extracts from these addresses will be published on subse- quent pages. As an exercise of memory, he often wrote down from recollection remarks which he had made in public. We print a part of such a composition. The indorsement on the address shows that it was delivered in Ulster County, New York, in 1852. The reader may compare young Conkling's style (as shown in this extract) with his mode of expressing thought after enter- ing the Senate of the United States. Digitized by Microsoft® HE DISCUSSES THE ISSUE OF 18^2. 2 7 There may be those before me who consider the approaching election a mere ripple in the current of political events — who regard it as a mere choice between individuals, a mere personal preference for men. But he who duly ponders upon the subject cannot resist the conclusion that, in the magnitude and duration of its results, it stands almost unrivalled in the liistory of our popular elections. Never before, but once, has been presented unembarrassed to the American people the leading issue of the present contest. In 1844 the great question upon the political tapis was the annexation of Texas. In 1848 the Wilmot Proviso was before the country, and questions springing from slavery and the Territories were the absorbing topics of that campaign. In 1840 was presented, as is now presented to the electors of America, the principle of protecting home manufactures, and then that principle was affirmed with a unanimity without par- allel in the history of controverted political doctrines. With the election of General Harrison in 1840 came a Whig Congress, and with a Whig Congress came the Tariff of 1842. Of the results which followed, it is not necessary for me to speak. Every rivulet in the free States was becoming harnessed and filtered by machinery; almost every stream was made to work its passage to the ocean, and the very foam upon its bosom became a circulating medium. In 1844 we were defeated, partly by the introduction of the Texas question, but partly by another cause, which it is well to pause to consider. Long before the canvass closed it was understood that the State of Pennsylvania would be the Waterloo of the contest, and that the vote of that State must be carried for Mr. Polk, or his election be lost. The vote of Pennsylvania was carried for Polk and Dallas, and how was it done ? By an appeal to the popularity of the Whig doctrine of " Protection to American Labor." By the circulation of the Kane letter and other kindred frauds, pledging Mr. Polk to a protective tariff. Bald and shallow as the deception was, it suc- ceeded; and the votes of the manufacturers and operatives of the State of Pennsylvania were procured for men who, when once secure in their places, turned out to be the most bitter, unrelent- ing, uncompromising foes of the best interests of those whose support had raised them to power. With the defeat of Mr. Clay Digitized by Microsoft® 28 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. in 1844 came a Locofoco Congress, and then followed a repeal of the Tariff of 1842. Thus Mr. Conkling described the depression of business: The effects of this change are now before us. The dark- ness of night is now resting upon populous regions which then were luminous with the fires of prosperity and industry; and where once the clatter of machinery and the busy hum of well-paid labor was heard, the death-like stillness is now un- broken, save by the sound of the sheriff's hammer. If you would know what has befallen the manufacturers of Pennsyl- vania, you will find in the newspapers of that State, under the sheriff's advertisements, the scanty story of their fate. One of the public prints in the county of Clarion contains seven col- umns of execution advertisements, the property to be sold con- sisting exclusively of manufacturing buildings and apparatus. Twenty-three furnaces and workshops have already been sold at public vendue, upon executions against their ruined owners, and all to fulfil the destiny of the horizontal, Locofoco, a^/ valorem, free-trade tariff of 1846. Now, again, for the first time since 1840, is presented to your consideration, unentangled with any paramount issue, the ques- tion of protecting American labor; and the decision now to be rendered upon that question will endure perhaps as long as our political institutions endure, either as a monument of political wisdom or a monument of political folly. Here the speaker referred to certain Enghsh influences upon our elections : It has often been said, I believe truly, that money was sent here from abroad to carry our elections in favor of the princi- ples and candidates of free trade; but never before, as far as I know, since the separation of the colonies from the mother coun- try has so open and avowed an intimacy existed between the politicians of England and the Old World and the politics of this country as now. Digitized by Microsoft® FRANKLIN PIERCE AND FREE TRADE. 29 That General Pierce is running with great popularity among the rich men and capitalists of England is sufficiently manifest from articles in the London Times, the London Leader, the Bir- mingham and Manchester newspapers, and the other free-trade presses of England. If you have read them, you have read denunciations of General Scott and encomiums upon General Pierce, for the avowed reason that Mr. Pierce, if elected, will prove "a valuable practical ally to the commercial policy of Great Britain." It is because an American President will exert the power of his office to maintain a policy which, if established, will realize the British manufacturer's boast, that "he will clothe the world," a policy which, if carried out to the uttermost, will render the whole ocean one splendid parade-ground for the navies of England. And why ? Because America cannot, and, for one, I trust in God she will never, sink so low in wretchedness that she can compete unaided in cheapness of products with the pauper labor of England. Because a system exists in England, a system of double-distilled slavery, a system of grinding oppres- sion, a political and social system, which enables the rich man to wring from the poor man the products of his labor at prices at which an American mechanic would starve. Because human beings in England live like beasts, and the tariff of wages is so adjusted as just to prevent starvation, without leaving to the laborer one farthing for any of the necessities peculiar to human life. Every American elector before casting his vote should hear or read an account of the lives of the manufacturing population in the dominions of the British Queen. He should know some- thing of the existence of those whose fingers spin the fabrics and manufacture the articles which are sent here from abroad. ******* He will then appreciate in part the merits of the principles of " free -trade," a system which flourishes in England because its basis there is money against life, so many pieces of silver for so many ounces of blood. 1 Every American who would estimate the reason that England is able to produce manufactured articles cheaper than we can, should remember the awful tribute-money paid in life and health and misery by the poor into the coffers of the rich. Digitized by Microsoft® 30 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. American slavery is spolcen of as an unmixed and unmitigated social, pxDlitical and moral evil. I believe it is one of the black- est and bloodiest pictures in the book of modern times. Surely there can be few greater monstrosities than the proposition that man can hold property in man, that one race has a right to enslave another, whose only sin consists in being the progeny of tiger-hunters on the gold coast of Africa, and I have to medi- tate upon the justice of Almighty Providence, and to believe that the man is not now unborn by whose hand the accursed institution of American slavery shall perish from the earth! But American slavery compared to English slavery, compared in the magnitude of its horrors with the oppression of the laborers of Great Britain, compared with the condition of things which must exist here before Americans can compete with Englishmen in cheapness of manufactured productions — American slavery, when brought into contrast with these, is as much to be preferred as the Christian religion is preferable to the dark idolatry of chance. In this campaign Mr. Conkling's speeches were more "personal" than those of later years, when he became one of the ablest orators of the Union. Without referring to the private life of Scott and Pierce, he indulged in personalities. He gave his hearers many sharp sayings. He praised Scott and ridiculed Pierce. After the nomination of the State ticket in September, he varied the dis- cussion of national affairs with State issues. He said much concerning canals and river and harbor improvements. He dwelt upon the fact that the candidate of the Democratic party had usually opposed internal improvements. Roscoe Conk- ling acquired early the habit of quoting poetry in Digitized by Microsoft® AN ANECDOTE OF WINFJELD SCOTT. ^T his addresses. He was also fond of recitation, his favorite pieces being Campbell's "Lord Ullin's Daughter," and " Belshazzar's Feast," by Byron. In later years he rarely spoke in Congress or upon the platform without repeating one or more Unes from some standard author. In a ratification meeting at Rome he referred to the recent death of Henry Clay*, the great Whig leader, who came so near being elected President in 1844. When Winfield Scott was canvassing the State, Roscoe Conkling was introduced to him as "the rising young orator, who would stump the north- ern tier of counties of New York." The interview took place at Schenectady on a New York Central Railroad train. "Tell our friends, Mr. Conkling," said the hero of the Mexican War, "I am certain of carrying all but nine States in the Union, and we will probably carry all but three." Young Conkling smiled, but remained silent, for he knew that General Scott had drawn a long bow. The sequel showed that Scott, like Henry Clay in 1824, received the electoral vote of but four States ; viz., Vermont, Massachusetts, Kentucky and Tennes- see. The Whig State Convention of 128 delegates met in the City Hall at Syracuse, September 22, * At Washington, June 2g, 1S52. Digitized by Microsoft® -'a LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. 1852. On that occasion there was a contest in the Fourth Assembly District of Oneida County (north of Utica). It was adjudged to the contestant, who then made Roscoe Conkling his substitute. The Convention was a very staid body. Washing- ton Hunt, of Niagara, was renominated for Gov- ernor ; WilHam Kent, of New York, was named for Lieutenant-Governor ; and Thomas R. Kemp- shall, of Monroe, for Canal Commissioner. Up to this time not a ripple disturbed the political sur- face. The several candidates had been proposed and nominated without even the semblance of a contest. When the nomination for Inspector of State Prisons was announced, Epenetus Crosby, of Dutchess, the " Silver Gray," was named. Mr. Conkling then arose, and proposed A. D. Barber, an innkeeper at New London, on the Erie Canal. The correspondent* of the Associated Press has recently given the author the following account of this speech : Mr. Conkling was youthful in appearance, but by no means boyish. His manner was daring, impassioned, and as if desirous to make a good impression. He appeared more courteous and deferential than any other speaker. The others were grave, like a Presbyterian conference meeting ; he was like a young man in a debating society, resolute to carry his point, and eager to make a good impression. His later efforts were generally somewhat different. His voice was pleasant in tone, the emphasis and cadences well * Dr. Alexander Wilder. Digitized by Microsoft® RIVAL CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATES. 33 turned— as though fresh from school, and yet no schoolboy ; and I remember that I liked to hear him. His dress was almost " foppish." It was everything in place, and set him off well. Indeed, it was as a part of him ; which is the true excellence of clothing. His movements were rapid, but not sudden. It was in this canvass that Mr. ConkHng won his reputation as a campaign speaker. The Whig County Convention assembled at American Hall, Rome, September 30. Mr. Conk^ ling was a delegate from the fourth ward of Utica. When nominations for member of Congress were in order he presented the name of the Hon. Will- iam J. Bacon. He did not, however, receive the support of the convention, for when a ballot was taken, Orsamus B. Matteson was nominated by a large majority. Mr. Conkling then moved that the nomination of Mr. Matteson be made unani- mous. The delegates then proceeded to ballot for sheriff, county clerk, coroner and other officers. In the early part of October a bolt was organ- ized in the Whig party, which resulted in the nomination of the Hon. Joshua A. Spencer as an in- dependent candidate for Congress. Mr. Conkling, having been a pupil of Mr. Spencer, felt under personal obligations to him for many acts of kind- ness. He also admired, as all who knew him did, the ability and character of that Nestor of the Oneida bar. Mr. Matteson was the regular Whig Digitized by Microsoft® 34 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. candidate, but had no personal claims of any sort on Mr. Conkling. Yet Mr. Conkling took strong and active ground for Mr. Matteson, as well as for the rest of the ticket. For his zeal and effi- ciency in that behalf, he received the censure of many who knew his relations with Mr. Spencer. Mr. Conkling, however, then recognized the vital- ity of political principles and the necessity of party organizations for putting them in practice. For that reason he opposed his near and revered friend, and supported, to the extent of his ability, the " regular " candidate of his party. During the remainder of the campaign Roscoe Conkling devoted much time to the support of the Whig ticket. He spoke at Newark, N. J., near Elizabeth, where General Scott then resided. Judging from his custom of later years, he must have paid the expenses of his trip to New Jersey. Considering his small means, this was a sacrifice of interest to political duty. The last Whig rally of the campaign in Oswego County was held at the City Hall in Oswego November i, the eve of the national election. All citizens in favor of prosecuting the work on the Oswego Canal were urged to attend. Mr. Conkling was one of the speakers, and concerning him the Daily Times said, " Mr. Conkling is the man to expose the soft-soap fallacies of Horatio Seymour." Digitized by Microsoft® EXAMPLES OF MR. CONKLING'S COURAGE. 35 The second of November was a disastrous day for the Whigs. The result of the national elec- tion showed that Franklin Pierce had carried all but four States, and that his plurality over General Scott was 215,000. At the same time the Free-soil Democrats polled 156,000 votes for Hale and Jul- ian. The Whig State ticket was also defeated, Horatio Seymour being successful. This election proved to be the funeral of the Whigs as a na- tional party. Slavery and "know-nothingism" speedily became the leading issues in national politics. As to Roscoe Conkling's high courage, a com- panioii of his youth relates the following : When Mr. Conkling was about thirty years of age I was once going with him towards Genesee Street bridge, when we saw a negro on the dock dripping wet and shivering. A lot of loafers were laughing at him. Mr. Conkling, on learning that one of these fellows had thrown the poor negro into the canal, rapidly descended the steps and asked: " Which of you cowardly rascals threw thrtt man into the canal ? " No one answering, Mr. Conkling again said: "If I knew who the dastardly whelp was, I would throw him into the canal. Will somebody point him out to me ?" No one replying, Mr. Conkling berated and defied the entire crowd, not one of which dared to open his mouth. On one occa- sion, after Mr. Conkling had been cheated out of his election, he denounced at a large public meeting, two of the corrupters, who were rich and influential, as "A, the thief, and B, the accomplice." And yet he rarely spoke of a traducer, and never berated him to anybody; a mere "Yes" and "No " was about all he would say of such an one, or, " He is not worth talking of." If a person of influ- ence was incorrigible, Mr. Conkling would say, "We won't talk Digitized by Microsoft® 36 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. about him, we will fight him;" and it was the inspiring fighting qualities of Mr. Conkling, his intrepidity and endurance, that carried him through in many a conflict. He was kind and charitable to the poor, and ever accessible to such, and also to the humblest laborer. With the intellectual he would hold high converse. With the unlearned he was very patient, and seemed to delight in talking down to their level. It is also quite certain that he knew the colloquial vernacular, and could use it as deftly as a drayman or a stevedore. A signifi- cant story, either denunciatory or witty, he always enjoyed, and he would repeat it with much laughter. Roscoe Conkling was always an ardent advo- cate of physical culture, and took great pride in maintaining his magnificent physique in the most robust condition. His muscular exercise consisted in horseback-riding and boxing. Soon after his admission to the bar he bought a fine horse, which soon became nearly as famous on the streets of Utica as was the rider. While mounted he would often stop and shake hands with a day-laborer. This habit was said by his, critics to be a way of fishing for votes, to the end that he might curry favor with the common people. He frequently sparred with " Bill " Supple, then a noted athlete of Utica, and now (1889) the jani- tor of the City Hall. In a recent conversation with the writer, Mr. Supple said, " While boxing, the Senator was very quick in getting back his head out of my reach." Mr. Conkling's taste for sparring in those days led to a great liberty, which Digitized by Microsoft® A FA VORITE BOOK OF ELOQUENCE. 3 7 the newspaper correspondents at Washington took with his name after he entered the Senate. At frequent intervals, when short of material for letters, they would write and " revamp," with variations, the well-known story of a dinner-party at the house of Senator "Zach" Chandler, after which the company adjourned to the library, and Senator Conkling was alleged to have put on the gloves with a Mr. " Howard," of Detroit. The mysterious gentleman was originally " Ned " Price the noted pugilist. Later on he was said to be " Jem " Mace. As the result of the boxing- match. Senator Conkling, in the language of the prize ring, was " knocked out." It is unnecessary to say that the story was ab- solutely false. In 1852 Roscoe Conkling was presented by his brother Frederick with a copy of Professor C. A. Goodrich's Select British Eloquence. He affix^ ed pencil marks to many passages in the writ- ings of the great forensic orators, Chatham, Burke, Fox, Pitt, Erskine, Mansfield and Grattan. A careful perusal of his speeches shows that in later years he often quoted these masters of eloquence, as well as the pieces of poetry which he learned in his early life. Mr. Conkling was also a'great admirer and fre- quent quoter of Lord Macaulay. In his earlier Digitized by Microsoft® 38 LIFE AND LETTERS OF NOSCOE CONKLING. years he bought an edition of this author's Mis- cellaneous Essays, which he used much as a vade- mecum. Looking through this vohime, we find copious pencil marks in the margin of the "gems" in the essays on Milton, Machiavelh, Mackintosh's History of the Revolution in England in 1688, Hal- lam's Constittitional History, Boswell's Life of John- son, Thackeray's History of the Earl of Chatha77t, Mitford's History of Greece, Frederick the Great, the Lays of A7icient Rome and Barfere's Memoirs. A transcript of the above passages would consume too much space in this volume. Suffice it to say that in some essays, e. g., Milton, long paragraphs are marked, the substance of which Mr. Conkling committed to memory. In the last speech writ- ten by him, viz., " Remarks to be made upon the death of Chief -Justice Waite at the memorial meeting of the Bar Association of the city of New York," we find a quotation from page 16 of Macaulay's description of the Puritans in the essay on Milton. This address is published in full in the latter part of this volume. In December Mr. John Bryan gave a banquet at Utica to some friends of the Irish cause. A reference was made to Judge Conkling, who was then the American Minister to Mexico. Mr. Conkling made a sho*rt speech the substance of which is here given just as he wrote it. The in- Digitized by Microsoft® A SOCIAL OCCASION. 39 dorsement reads, " Return of thanks at Mr. Bry- an's supper, Dec. 6, 1852. — R. C." Gentlemen — You will believe that I am not without hesita- tion or emotion in rising to tender to you all my heartfelt thanks for the friendly sentiment which has been offered and received in honor of one dear to me, now far away performing a distant pilgrimage as the servant of his country. Beyond acknowledging, in behalf of my absent father, the compliment paid to him, I should not attempt a word on this occasion, hallowed as it is by the presence of the illustrious stranger in honor of whom we have met together. To an occasion like this, faultless save that, like everything dear and fair, it is passing away — to an occasion when, as the poet has expressed it, " Wishes for fair ones are around oflfered up From each lip that is wet with the dew of the cup,'' nothing which I could say would be a desirable addition : there are too many others, there is too much else here to please and engage your attention. Before sitting down, however, suffer me to give you as a sentiment the fate of an isle of the ocean lying " far from the land where her young hero" breathes. May the shamrock spring up on her bosom, where now stand the barracks of a British soldiery, and may no more sacrilegious foot-prints be left upon turf once pressed by the feet of liberty. A famous case in its day was the trial of Syl- vester Hadcock for the crime of forgery. It was Roscoe Conkling's second case at the bar of Her- kimer. The indictment was found at a Court of Oyer and Terminer, held May, .1853, in that county. At the December term in the same year the prisoner was brought to trial before Judge W. F. Allen. Mr. Conkling defended the ac- cused, and proved that his client could not write. Digitized by Microsoft® 40 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLtNG. whereupon the jury rendered a verdict of "not guilty." It was a great victory for him, for his old and able preceptor, Joshua A. Spencer, aided the Dis- trict-Attorney. He took great exception to Mr. Spencer's part in the case. He argued that one Roger Hawkins was the real plaintiff, and that he had retained the famous advocate to persecute his client. After the trial, Mr. Conkling wrote out the substance of his " summing up," but it is too long for publication. It is dated January 22, 1854. Mr. B. F. Maxson, who is now (1889) a mem- ber of the Rochester bar, was associated with Mr. Conkling in the defence of Hadcock ; and, in a recent letter to the author, he gives the following account of this noted trial : Among the earlier notable efforts of Roscoe Conkling may be mentioned the case of the People against Sylvester Hadcock, the trial of which commenced at Herkimer, December 20, 1853. The defendant was arraigned and tried on an indictment for ut- tering and publishing a receipt of $7 2 5, as and for a receipt for only $25. The trial commenced in the morning and continued to quite a late hour in the evening, when the evidence closed, and the court adjourned to 9 o'clock the following morning for the argument of counsel. After adjournment we retired to our rooms at the hotel for consultation as to the course to pursue in the arguments, as to the points to dwell upon, and as to those which should be unnoticed, and which if alluded to would afford a wicked club in the hands of the great giant against whom we were to con- tend. During the trial the Court House was crowded to its fullest capacity, as it was on the opening of the Court for the argument of the cause. Hadcock, I think, had occupied the position of Digitized by Microsoft® THE TRIAL OF SYLVESTER HADCOCK. 4I Supervisor in the county; was a well-to-do farmer, and had always sustained a reputable character, and was the father of quite a large family of young children, to whom he was greatly attached. Hawkins, upon whose oath the People chiefly depended, had not been in this country long enough to gain a reputation either good or bad, and he could not, therefore, be impeached. The evidence, however, showed that he had passed under different names, and that he told some one that he had sold a flock of sheep in Ireland, got the money for them, and made the man pay for them over again. This evidence afforded a little handle for Mr. Conkling, and he used it in a manner surprising to all. ***** After marking out the course which Spencer would likely pursue, Mr. Conkling directed his attention to the evidence and character of the parties and witnesses in the case, and having portrayed in glowing language the character and standing of the defendant in the community where he was best known, inquired of the jury " if they were to convict the defendant upon the testimony of that old Irishman who fled his country for his country's good, and didn't think enough of his son to go to New York to see him respectably buried. If they were to hang his hat upon the nail to moulder in the cobwebs, whilst he served his term in State's prison, should he live to survive that term. If they were to make vacant the seat at the table where the wife and dear little children were wont to assemble in family devotion, upon such evidence, if so, it would be an occasion of the deepest humiliation," &c. * * * Mr. Conkling was listened to with the profoundest attention throughout. His peroration was superlatively grand, and of a character calculated to produce the keenest emotions. The stal- wart and hard-hearted struggled hard to suppress tears which would come. Jurors were brought to theii; elbows, with hand- kerchiefs to their eyes; and when Mr. Conkling sat down, the jury would have said not guilty, in a second. ******* Then follows a description of Mr. Spencer's " summing up," wherein he referred to Mr. Conk- ling as "my young friend." Digitized by Microsoft® I853-I858. CHAPTER IV. LEGAL PRACTICE AND LOCAL POLITICS. 13 OSCOE CONKLING was now known as a campaign speaker throughout the Empire State. His reputation as a lawyer gradually ex- tended beyond the county of Oneida. The dis- tinction between attorneys and counselors was then sharply defined. The young advocate would not retain counsel, and hence was not popular with the older members of the profession. His courage in court, as well as his unbounded confi- dence in himself, stirred up much feeling against him. During the latter part of the summer Roscoe Conkling's name was mentioned as a candidate for Attorney-General. The Whig State Convention met in September, but not being on the " slate," he failed to receive the nomination. He was much disappointed at the result; and a few days after- ward he wrote, as a mental exercise, what he would have said if nominated. The year 1854 was eventful for the Whigs and Digitized by Microsoft® MJi. JUSTICE HUNT'S OPINION. 43 " Silver Grays " but not for Roscoc Conkling. Daring this period he neither sought nor received poUtical preferment. He was heartily in love with his profession. Mr. Justice Ward Hunt once wrote the follow- ing description of Mr. Conkling as an advocate: As a jury lawyer he was wonderfully successful, equalling in the public judgment his brilliajit preceptor. He was deemed by those who knew him but slightly, as a man of great powers of eloquence, and his success was attributed to his eloquence. This was a great error. He was indeed a man of eloquence, possess- ing a flow of language, a variety of illustration, and an oratorical capacity rarely equalled. He owed much of his success, how- ever, to his diligence and industry. He possessed a capacity of labor unknown to most men. Mr. Conkling never tried a case, in which he was retained in season to enable him to do so, without thoroughly preparing himself upon the law of his case, and with- out a careful examination of his witnesses before they appeared in court. When the time came he was always ready, his wit- nesses testified to what he e-xpected, and he produced the author- ities to sustain his position. Then it was and in aid of these qualities that he allowed his eloquence to be brought to the front. In those days there were no official stenogra- phers, all reporting being done in long-hand. This fact may account for Mr. Conkling's habit of tak- ing copious notes during a trial. At the present day lawyers depend chiefly upon the stenogra- pher's minutes for their testimony. Roscoe Conk- ling had several suits in which ex-Judge Philo Gridley was opposed to him. The latter always made his client's case his own. In his estimation, Digitized by Microsoft® 44 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONK LING. the party as well as the attorney on the other side, were rascals. He was disposed to ridicule and browbeat his adversary. Hence it followed, from the temperament of the two counselors, that when Philo Gridley and Roscoe Conkling were on oppo- site sides, they had a severe forensic struggle. Then parties to the record could not be witnesses, and advocates oftentimes assumed what was diffi- cult of proof. We have learned the young lawyer's method and precision in matters of every-day life. He was equally exacting in the court-room. He would wrap up in paper his legal books until ready for use in court, instead of letting them lie on the lawyers' table, where " the other side" could bor- row the authorities which he was about to cite. He thought it was quite as important to hide his books as his brief. Being a very nervous man, he could not bear to have his person or even his chair touched by others ; and he has more than once said that he feared he might lose his case in court by some ill-bred neighbor insisting upon putting his foot on his chair. He was not then disposed to accept retainers unless he knew that he could succeed on the law and the facts. He preferred to settle a suit out of court if the chances seemed hopeless, and he often sent to legal friends " des- perate" and contingent cases Digitized by Microsoft® A MEMORABLE LA W SUIT. 45 Like other members of his family, Mr. Conk- Hng detested tobacco in every form. If a cUent or clerk smoked a cigar in his office, he would, on entering the room, even in winter, rush to the win- dow and throw it wide open, to allow the foul odor to escape. As an example of the overwhelming way in which he sometimes attacked the opposing party, the author will cite the case of " Doe vs. Roe," at the Oneida Circuit. The descendants of the de- fendant in this suit are still living, so it is deemed wise to omit the real names. This was an equity suit to set aside the security for a loan. The ground of action was that the loan was usurious, and the transaction fraudulent. Roe made the loan to Doe and the latter became the plaintiff. Upon the motion, an issue of fact was formed for a jury ; and at the trial ex-Judge Gridley was asso- ciated with Roscoe Conkling as counsel for Doe. The plaintiff (^Doe^ had no witness but himself. On the cross-examination the defence produced two or more papers signed and sworn to by him, and given upon the loan, and the renewals there- of, in each of which he stated that there was no fraud and no usury. The plaintiff was so completely discredited by this testimony that Judge Gridley thought it a farce to ^o on ; but his associate was determined to pro- Digitized by Microsoft® 46 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. ceed. Doe, on re-direct examination, persisted in his story and said that Roe had forced him to sign and swear to the papers. The defendant was then sworn, denied all the fraud, usury, compul- sion, etc., and furnished some corroborating evidence. He was subjected to a long and mer- ciless cross-examination by Mr. Conkling, who then summed up with great power. The audience, in one or two instances, gave way to applause and throughout the address to the jury refrained, with much difficulty, from constant demonstra- tions. The "scoring" that the defendant received was fearful. After the charge of the Judge, the jury very promptly brought in a verdict for Doe. In speaking of Roscoe Conkling's great capac- ity for preparing a case at short notice, one of his contemporaries has lately said to the author : " Conkling could look into a law-book and soak up law like a sponge." In summing up before juries Mr. Conkling often indulged in many sharp sayings. He some- times gave the "other side" a terrible "word-lash- ing" by using alternately the severest censure and the most cutting ridicule. When appearing for the plaintiff, he would, in some cases, assume that a verdict in his favor was a certainty. Under such conditions, he would read a newspaper as soon as the testimony was taken : and when his oppo- Digitized by Microsoft® HE JOINS THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 47 nent rose to address the jury he would remark, "Are you going to sum up this case?" Roscoe Conkhng had always been a Whig in politics, but the disintegration of the old Whig party afforded him a means of escape from many perplexing political snags and more conservative doctrines. The Republican party was about to be formed and he saw in it an opening for men of progressive ideas and deep-seated convictions. The Whig State Convention met at Corinthian Hall, Syracuse, September 20, 1854. G. S. An- drews of Monroe was chosen president; and Ros- coe Conkling, representing Oneida, was one of the eight vice-presidents. In a brief address he said that having for nine years* attended Whig State Conventions, he had not in that time known a more harmonious meet- ing. He congratulated the party on " its present proud position." The Convention then adjourned sine die. Taking an active part in the canvass, Mr. Conk- ling at once became an original and energetic expounder of Republican principles. Young and aggressive in political life, he appeared to be eminently fitted for the transition period. Being a born leader of men, and possessing brill-" *It will be remembered that he was but sixteen years of age when he began to attend State conventions. Digitized by Microsoft® 48 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. iant oratorical powers and a genius for organiza- tion, he turned these quahties to account in behalf of the harbingers of the new Republican party. Of the name " Republican " he was not then tenacious. It might be said that his motto was, " Place our bark on the highest promontory of the beach, and wait for the rising of the tide to make it float."* At the November election Myron H. Clark and the Whig ticket were successful. The anti-slavery wings of the Whig and Democratic parties, as well as the Prohibitionists, united on Mr. Clark, which enabled him to win at the polls by a small major- ity. He was really a " temperance " Whig. Some of his supporters in certain portions of the State adopted the name of " Republicans." He was suc- ceeded by John A. King, the first Republican Gov- ernor in the State. The Hon. D. E. Wager, of Rome, politely fur- nishes for publication the following reminiscence : The first civil trial of Mr, Conkling's that brought him prominently into notice, more than any former one, was that of Martha Parker by Guardian vs. Rev. V. A. Spencer. Both the parties resided at Hampton, in Westmoreland, in Oneida County, some eight miles from Rome. The real plaintiff was a young lady from eighteen to twenty years of age, who sang in the choir, and was a member of the Presbyterian Church in * This quotation from Lamartine concluded bis famous speech on the Electoral Commission in January, 1877. Digitized by Microsoft® THE CASE OF PARKER AGAINST SPENCER. 49 that village. The defendant was pastor, and had been such since 1841. The action was slander. The actionable words were spoken in 1852, and, in substance, charged the plaintiff with want of chas- tity. This trouble originated in the choir. Mr. Conkling appeared for the plaintiff, and with him was associated JMr. Francis Ker- nan, but it was Mr. Conkling's case. He examined the witnesses and summed up. The late Timothy Jenkins tried the case for the defendant. The trial was in Rome, in October, 1854, before Mr. Justice Bacon, and occupied the greater part of three days. I was present, and remember it about as well, though of course not in all the details, as if it were a week ago. The court-room was crowded each day, and the greatest interest and excitement were manifested, especially on the part of those who resided in Westmoreland or were acquainted with the parties. The de- fendant introduced evidence in justification, one of his witnesses being a young man who testified to taking liberties with the plaintiff. Mr. Jenkins occupied three hours and a half in sum- ming up for the defendant. Mr. Conkling took over two hours. This was a splendid opportunity for Mr. Conkling to display his eloquence and forensic skill, and he did it to great advantage, carrying his audience by storm. His speech was a masterpiece. The jury, after an absence of two hours, returned a verdict of $2,500 for the plaintiff. The audience in the court-house were so indignant at, and so wrought up against, the young man who had testified against the plaintiff that they attempted to mob him. To escape he had to be escorted to the hotel by lady friends; ran up the stairs of the hotel chased by the crowd, and got from an upper story into the back yard by being let down with a rope, from the third or fourth story window. The crowd then went into the street, built a bonfire, and burned him in effigy. Later they hung him in effigy from the top of a high pole which stood near the court-house. I remember well seeing it hang there the next day, and for two or three days thereafter. The defendant appealed to the general term, a new trial was granted, and the case was afterwards settled, as I heard, for $1,600. The plaintiff married and moved out West. The defend- ant died many years ago. 4 Digitized by Microsoft® 50 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. In Mr. Conkling's garret, the biographer found the following reference to the slander suit of Parker versus Spencer. It is in his hand-writing and is thus indorsed : " Mem. written Nov. 1 1, '54, from recollection of scraps here and there in the summing up for plaintiff. — R. C." Gentlemen, have you daughters ? I have sisters, and I would rather follow their hearse, than that one of them should receive an injury so irreparable as that which has been inflicted by the defendant upon this orphan girl. I would rather the clods should fall upon their coffins than that one of them should be robbed of that priceless reputation, without which a woman is a casket without a jewel, a ship with- out a rudder, a helpless, hopeless wreck on Fortune's lonely shore. Have either of you a child whose mother died in its infancy, and whom you have watched with more than a father's care, the object of your hopes and your fears, your joys and your woes, which you lean upon as destined in your declining years to be a source of consolation and of comfort ? Have you such a child ? If you have, your lot and your hopes are just as Ephraim Park- er's were but two short years ago ! Struggling for bread in a far foreign land, in the midst of all his travels and his toil he was ever animated by the thought that he should yet be restored in peace to the home of his children, and the grave of their mother, and when, weary, he sank to rest with only the skies of heaven over him, he dreamed of the day when, with fortunes retrieved, he should return once more to the child he left behind him with nothing to sustain her but the blessing he invoked upon her head. And now the bright dreams of that father are gone forever: the damning whispers of the defendant have gone to California hiss- ing in his ears. ******* What should I say of the act if committed by one absorbed in human matters, and pretending no higher standard of action than the honor and morals of the world ? I might say it was cruel Digitized by Microsoft® A PATHETIC ADDRESS TO THE JURY. 5 I as the grave, I might say it was unpardonable, malignant, mean; but tell me, gentlemen, tell me what I shall say of it when perpetrated by one who professes to devote his life and his thoughts to learning and teaching that great rule of charity, of mercy and of love, whose seat is the bosom of the Almighty, and whose voice is the harmony of the world. How shall I describe the enormity of such a violation of the laws not only of man but of the King of kings by one who, when he thus bid defiance to reason and to right, must have heard, ought to have heard, the pleadings on Calvary, the warnings on the Mount of Olives, and the thunders of Mount Sinai still ringing in his ears. ******* Do you remember an occurrence recorded in the New Testa- ment which happened in Galilee 1800 years ago, when the Scribes and Pharisees brought to our Saviour a woman taken in adultery ? The crime was charged upon her, and it was said that she was taken in the very act. When called upon again and again to pronounce judgment upon her, what was the answer suggested by a divine compassion for the frailty of poor human nature ? " He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last; and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers ? Hath no man condemned thee ? She said, No man, Lord ! And Jesus said unto her. Neither do I condemn thee : go and sin no more." This was the example of that first and greatest priest whose teachings the defendant has spent his whole life in professing — it was the example of Him who said, "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." The narrative comes to us in that sacred record which declares, " Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted," and " For he shall have judgment without mercy that hath shewed no mercy." Digitized by Microsoft® 52 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. This extract from Mr. Conkling's address is the earliest record of the kind that the biographer has found. The reader may observe his pathetic appeal to the jury and his fondness for scriptural quotation. In later speeches and arguments he often referred to the Bible. Of Mr. Conkling's early career, Samuel Earl, of Herkimer, says : I became acquainted with the Hon. Roscoe Conkling soon after his admission to the bar. He at once went to the front and tooic rank with the foremost lawyers in Central New York. Few men rose as rapidly as he did in the profession, and his ser- vices were sought for in nearly all of the important cases which were tried in Oneida and the adjoining counties, from the time of his entrance to the bar to the time he was made United States Senator. I can speak of him only in a general way, except so far as this county is concerned, and here I often met him on the circuit, either as counsel in cases in which I was engaged, or in which he was the counsel upon the opposite side. It was always deemed an important point gained for a litigant to secure Conk- ling's services in his case. Clients and attorneys felt safe if Conkling was on their side — such, indeed, were my feelings if I had him as counsel associated with me; and then, too, if he was the counsel opposed to me I felt that there was trouble ahead. He was the most industrious lawyer I ever knew. He studied his cases as but few lawyers do, and he never sat down to the trial of a case without a full knowledge of the facts, well briefed up, and I have never known him to be taken by surprise, either upon the facts or the law of his case. He had a powerful influence over the juries in this county, and it often seemed to me he won cases that he ought to have lost. Such able jury lawyers as Joshua A. Spencer could not check . his triumphs or prevent victories where, as against other coun- sel, Spencer would have been victorious. I remember one case in particular, in which Sanford Snell, a cheese buyer, sued his Digitized by Microsoft® REMINISCEI^CES B V SAMUEL EARL. 53 uncle, Suffrenus Snell, for slander. The words related to San- ford's dealings as a cheese buyer, which the old man did not think quite honest, and he took the liberty to speak of them, and to characterize them as they seemed to his honest mind. San- ford sued for slander, employing Conkling to prosecute the suit. The old man retained Joshua A. Spencer. The case came on for trial at one of the circuits in this county sometime about 1855, and it attracted considerable interest from the fact that two such able advocates as Spencer and Conkling were in the case, and that it was a suit by a nephew of rather unsavory repu- tation against his uncle, an honest old farmer. The sympathies of the people of his town were all on the side of the old man, and Spencer exerted all his great powers to save his client from being mulcted in damages in a suit which he denounced as unjust, and as being brought by young Snell from unworthy motives. But Conkling, young as he then was, was more than a match for the supposed matchless power of the great advocate, Joshua A. Spencer, and he won for his client a verdict of $1,000 damages, which the old man paid. The result in this case was that Conk- ling, and not Spencer, was considered at the Herkimer bar the greatest advocate and the most formidable opponent upon the trial of a case before a jury. A lawyer in this county by the name of iVIarsh was sued for slander by a female, who alleged that her character for chastity had been assailed. Special damages, as the law then stood, had to be alleged and proved in order to sus- tain the action. Marsh retained Francis Kernan and Roscoe Conkling to defend him, and I thought at the time that they undertook the defence out of sympathy for Marsh, who was com- paratively poor, and almost friendless. Upon the trial of the cas-e the duty of examining and of cross-examining the witnesses fell to Kernan. To prove the special damages, a tailor by the name of Dodge was called in behalf of the plaintiff, who testified that after hearing of the charges of unchastity imputed to her he forbade her to come to his house. Upon his cross-examination he was severely handled by Mr. Kernan, who made it appear quite clearly that his testimony was fixed up for the occasion, and that he was unworthy of belief. Conkling's part in the case was to sum it up to the jury; and he did it in his usual masterly way. Digitized by Microsoft® 54 LIFE AND LETTERS OP ROSCOE CONKLMG, What little was left of the witness Dodge upon his cross-exami- nation by Kernan was completely demolished by Conkling. The result was a six cents' verdict, and Conkling added new laurels to his fame as a jury lawyer in this county. I once brought an action against a young man for breach of promise of marriage, and Conkling was retained to defend. Such was his reputation that when my client heard he was retained she fainted. The defendant paid $i,ooo, and thus settled the case. My memory now extends back over forty years, in which time I have witnessed nearly all the important trials in this county, and in that time none superior to Conkling ever appeared before a Herkimer County jury. Mr. Conkling now associated himself with Montgomery H. Throop, a nephew of ex-Gov- ernor Enos T. Throop and also of the late Justice Ward Hunt, then a young and able lawyer. Mr. Throop had been one of Mr. Conkling's school- mates at Auburn. He threw himself heart and soul into the practice of his profession. Brilliant success crowned the efforts of the new firm, and their labors aided in sustaining the reputation of the famous Oneida County bar. During this period Mr. Conkling lost few cases. He was a painstaking practitioner and the happiest moments of his life were when the client appreciated his professional services. The firm of Conkling & Throop existed from 1855 to 1862. In those days it was customary for lawyers to advertise in the newspapers. An ex- amination of the files of the Utica Observer and Digitized by Microsoft® MR. CONKLING'S MARRIAGE. 55 Herald proves that this firm uiserted a standing advertisement in the columns of these journals. Montgomery H. Throop, the author of the New York annotated code, now of Albany, was the office lawyer, and Roscoe Conkling acted as advo- cate. The former usually argued on appeal cases in which the latter had appeared at circuit. We have seen that Mr. Conkling tried causes at Rome and at Herkimer. He was frequently retained to defend clients in civil as well as crimi- nal suits in the latter place. On the twenty-fifth day of June, 1855, Roscoe Conkling married Julia, daughter of Henry Sey- mour, a man of high social standing and influence at Utica. She was also a sister of the Hon. Horatio Seymour, who had just finished his first term of service as Goveirnor of New York. Their wed- ding-trip was made to Auburn, and a week was passed at Judge Conkling's stately residence. At the same time a family re-union took place. Mrs. S. Hanson Coxe and Frederick A. Conkling, the sister and brother of the groom, with their chil- dren, were present. Outdoor games were played upon the spacious lawn, and Mr. Conkling en- gaged in the sport with his little nieces and neph- ews. Although but five years of age, the author well remembers the occasion and his first impres- sions of his aunt and uncle. Digitized by Microsoft® 56 LIFE AND LETTEJiS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. The firm of Conkling & Throop had a large practice. The former hesitated to undertake more than three or four criminal causes during the year lest he should be named a criminal lawyer. Mr. Conkling took no part in politics during this period. The next year (1856) was eventful for the Republicans. Their national convention met at Philadelphia, June 17, and nominated on the first formal ballot John C. Fremont, of California, the " Pathfinder," and William L. Dayton, of New Jersey. In the same month, James Buchanan, of Penn- sylvania, and John C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, were named in the Cincinnati convention as the Presidential candidates of the Democratic party. Mr. Conkling attended a ratification meeting in Utica, June 25, at which, as chairman of the Com- mittee on Resolutions, he drew and read, among others, the following resolution, that is here re- corded to illustrate the emphatic manner in which he committed himself during the infancy of the new party : Resolved, That the [Republican] nominee for the Presidency possesses many unusual qualifications for the exalted station to which he is likely to be called, that his history abounds in proofs of talent, bravery and truth, and that we are quite content to see the first office in the Republic committed to the hands of John Charles Fr^nont. Digitized by Microsoft® A REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR IS ELECTED. 57 He made many speeches throughout the counties of Oneida and Herkimer during August, Septem- ber and October. He addressed 3,000 men at Trenton, August 27, and he spoke, November 3, before the Fremont Club, of Rome. For the pre- vious week his speech was daily announced in the Utica Herald. At that time orators were rarely reported. The biographer has seen no public record of Roscoe Conkling's speeches nor found any manuscript addresses among his private papers. It is safe to assume that by this time " the young man eloquent," as he was called, ceased to write out his speeches.* In after life he usually spoke from head notes on slips of paper ; and when he be- came a Senator he wrote his memoranda on long envelopes. The election took place November 4, and the Republicans were defeated in the nation, but car- ried the Empire State for President and Governor. Fremont and Dayton had a majority of about 81,000, and John A. King had nearly as large a vote over Erastus Brooks for the office of Gov- ernor. It may be added that Mr. Conkling's "Free- soilism " led him zealously to support General Fremont. In this cause he devoted as much time * During the campaign his brother, Aurelian Conkling, "stumped" in Central New York. Digitized by Microsoft® 58 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CON-KLING. to Speechifying as his jealous mistress, the law, would permit. Mr. Conkling was one of the members of the bar appointed by the court to examine the grad- uates of the law school of Hamilton College for admission to practice in the year 1856. Professor Theodore W. Dwight states : Although but twenty-seven years of age, Roscoe Conkling was then a power at the bar of Central New York. The defend- ants were usually afraid of him and often settled suits at law brought by him and about to be tried before a jury. On the twenty-fifth day of April, 1857, Joshua A. Spencer died, aged sixty-six. Two days after- ward a meeting of the Oneida bar was held at the court-house in Utica. Roscoe Conkling was chosen secretary, and many members of the pro- fession made memorial speeches. It is to be regretted that no biography of Mr. Spencer was written. Although rarely arguing cases in the Court of Appeals, he was probably the ablest advocate and best-known jury lawyer in New York. Mr. Kernan stated that with two exceptions he tried cases in every county of the State. Roscoe Conkling was sincerely attached to Mr. Spencer, and we have seen that they op- posed each other in a few nisi prms cases. It is said in Central New York that Mr. Conk- ling was the first lawyer to receive compensation Digitized by Microsoft® THE TRIAL OF CLARINDA YOVRDAN. 5g above the usual rates at that time. Joshua A. Spencer, who for many years had been leading counsel at the circuits, made small charges for his services — $25, $50, and in extreme cases $75, for the trial. Mr. Conkling soon charged $100 and upward. The nineteenth day of September, 1857, one Clarinda Yourdan was indicted for poisoning her husband. She was called the "Borgia" of the northern part of the county. Roscoe Conkling and Ward Hunt were retained to defend her. J. H. Minger was then District-Attorney, and the Attorney-General of the State assigned Rufus W. Peckham to assist him. The case came on soon afterward at the Oneida Circuit before Judge W. F. Allen. For a private reason an effort was made by Mr. Conkling to postpone the case — at least to get it away from Judge Allen. Several motions were made and denied. Mr. Peckham being at Utica, the struggle to continue the case was hope- less, and the court ruled that the prisoner must be tried. The Judge then told the clerk to empanel a jury, whereupon Mr. Conkling threw down his papers, and retreating, sat down in one of the jurors' seats and said : " If there is to be a judicial murder, I wish to wash my hands of it." His asso- ciate. Ward Hunt, also withdrew from the case. Judge Allen then said that if counsel threw up their Digitized by Microsoft® 6o LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. briefs that was no reason for adjourning the trial. He then assigned ex-Judges Samuel Beardsleyand Philo Gridley. These advocates were allowed one day to prepare the case. On the morrow they entered court and read a brief affidavit stating that, not having had enough time for proper preparation, they were unable to proceed. The cause was then marked off for the term. During the year 1858 Clarinda Yourdan was tried. Ward Hunt re- entered the case, but Mr. Conkling, being mayor of the city, did not wish to appear. After a long trial, in which crowds packed the court-house to hear how Mrs. Yourdan* answered her husband's cries for relief by administering soothing doses of poison, she was convicted of murder and sen- tenced to prison for life. One of the traditions of the Oneida bar is that Roscoe Conkling had now become so formidable as an advocate that some of the lawyers in the county advised their clients to retain him in im- portant cases, for the purpose of keeping him from the service of the other side. *She said to her counsel : " I put ' pison ' on his bread, and if he'd a mind to eat it, why, that ain't none of my business,'' Digitized by Microsoft® I858-I859. CHAPTER V. MR. CONKLING AS MAYOR. ' I "HE year 1858 was, for the subject of this biography, an eventful one. It was a pivot in his poUtical hfe. For seven years, excepting an effort to be nominated as attorney-general in the autumn of 1853, he neither sought nor accept- ed public office. In the year 1858 he carried his city as mayor, and his county for representative in Congress. An available candidate was more than desired by the Republicans. The city of Utica had been Democratic by a small majority. In a search for a suitable man the name of Roscoe Conkling was suggested. His reputation as an advocate and a politician in the best sense made him the " com- ing man " of Oneida County. Although competent judges then considered Mr. Conkling a forcible illustration of the possi- bilities of the law, and although his name is found in the books as a successful advocate in a great variety of civil and criminal suits, his critics in 61 Digitized by Microsoft® 62 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. distant parts of the State, as well as of the re- public, have spoken of him as a politician rather than a lawyer. Hence his biographer should at- tempt to correct this erroneous impression. Be- fore the close of this volume a chapter on " Mr. Conkling's legal life" will be written, in which we shall give the opinions of the late Chief- Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and of associate justices of that court, of some of the judges of the Court of Appeals and of the Supreme Court of New York, as well as the im- pressions of leading lawyers, to the effect that the subject of this biography was one of the ablest advocates of his time. It should be stated, however, that Roscoe Conkling was a good judge of human nature, and a born leader of men. These qualities, added to his vigorous forensic oratory, made him a for- midable man in the political arena. He did not make a trade of politics, but he was one who did everything with all his might. His attributes can best be described by an extract from one of his campaign speeches made in 1880 : "If any Church is worth belonging to, it is worth belonging to not a little. The great Book says: 'Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.' That is as true in politics as in religion." Digitized by Microsoft® HE IS NOMINA TED FOR MA YOR. 63 Whenever he engaged in political work he threw his heart and soul into it, and thus dis- played a degree of facility and skill in town and county matters which gave him reputation as a manager. Yet he clung to the truth and always avoided treachery. He never " sold out " his friends, and in subsequent pages this trait will be illustrated by several examples. Thus much for this apparent digression concerning Mr. Conk- ling's career as a lawyer and partisan. In the year 1858 the Republican party of the city of Utica found itself in imperative need of an available candidate for mayor. The chances of defeat at that time, and the unpleasant duties of the office, created in the minds of many mem- bers of the party an unconquerable repugnance to consenting to a nomination. Mr. Conkling, among others, had emphatically refused to be placed on the ticket ; but the Republican City Convention met February 25, 1858, and nominated him on the first formal ballot. He received twenty-eight votes and his one opponent, Samuel Farwell, seven. The former was then unani- mously nominated. A committee was appointed to notify the candidate. They went to Mr. Conk- ling's house in Whitesboro Street, and were told that he was at Oswego trying a law-suit. On the following day a committee of citizens, of Digitized by Microsoft® 64 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. whom some were Democrats, visited him to urge his acceptance. One of the number said, " You will surely be elected, and then we shall send you to Congress." Here was a case of the "office seek- ing the man, not the man the office." Mr. Conk- ling hesitated, and then declined the honor ; but his visitors insisted, and finally he promised to consider the subject and to give an early answer. On the next day he wrote to his political friends protesting that his private interests would suffer. The yearly salary of the office then was but two hundred and fifty dollars, and his professional in- come was to him a matter of great importance. To yield to the wishes of those who had proffered the nomination was therefore a greater sacrifice to him than would have been involved in the case of almost any other citizen. A man of small property, depending upon an arduous pro- fession which required unremitting attention, he was thus called upon to conduct a canvass then thought to be hopeless, and, if successful, to assume the position of mayor and chief almoner of the city in a year teeming beyond precedent with poverty and distress. The inauguration of the new mayor took place Tuesday, March 9. Upon taking the chair Mayor Conkling addressed the council in substance as follows : Digitized by Microsoft® THE MA YOR'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 65 Gentlemen of the Common Council : By its charter, and the other laws of the State creating and controlling it, the city of Utica is a corporation invested with certain franchises, rights and powers, and curbed by certain limitations and restrictions. It is composed legally of the inhabitants within its limits, for in one sense every elector may be termed a member of the corporation, and every taxpayer may be regarded as a stockholder and owner. Thus existing and thus composed, it possesses in common with most other corporations the privilege of electing by the votes of its members its own directors and trustees. This privilege has just been exercised, and we have been called hereto occupy such seats at the board of directors as the expiration of the official year has rendered vacant. ******* To study and comprehend the varied interests of a populous and increasing city, to regulate its police, to minister to the con- venience, the comfort, and the safety of its inhabitants without the slightest partiality or distinction of party or class, to scrutinize and reduce expenditures, to instil frugality and rigid honesty into every branch of municipal affairs, to multiply the blessings and diminish the curses of civilized society, these, gentlemen, belong to the task, these are some of the duties, a few of the re- sponsibilities, which now await us ; responsibilities which we can scarcely affirm have been forced upon us, but which we have, rather voluntarily assumed, and which, therefore, in their very nature not only, but in the manner in which they have been un- dertaken, bind us to square our conduct by the rule of the most rigid accountability. * * * The country is just emerging from a period of unexampled disaster and gloom ; a period which has passed like an eclipse over the whole commercial world. Our own city especially has, from local as well as general causes, been visited with great calamity. * * * With resources thus paralyzed and burdens thus increased, taxpayers have a right to expect that we shall at least join in that work of retrenchment which is going on in the houses of our citizens and in the expenditures of private life. ******* Digitized by Microsoft® 66 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. " Fidelity, and even common honesty, in public servants may become conspicuous perhaps in the affairs of a city when some of the chief officers of the nation are using the forms of govern- ment for purposes of oppression and of wrong, and when in one portion of our country men — not black men, but white men — are gasping for freedom, because servants are greater than their mas- ters, and because those whom the people honored with their con- fidence have turned traitors to the trust. In conclusion, gentle- men, let me cherish the belief that for all errors and insufficien- cies in me, our constituents will be more than compensated by fidelity and capabilities in you, and that so long as we preserve our motives unspotted, we shall enjoy the approval of our own consciences at least, whatever shall be the verdict which others may pronounce." Mayor Conkling's official duties, added to his large legal practice, were wearisome and onerous. As a diversion he would walk with friends to the neighboring hills. His favorite " pedestrian " companions were Dr. L. W. Rodgers, Erastus Clark and William Blakie. The last named has since spoken of these walking-trips to the author with the remark, " Oh, what a walker and cUmber your uncle once was! we could hardly keep up with him." It may be said that his athletic habits were the secret of his great capacity for work. While never making a " record" in any outdoor sport, Roscoe Conkling's rule to secure sufficient fresh air and exercise enabled him to devote daily from ten to fourteen hours to severe mental ex- ertion. After resigning from the Senate, when he was no longer youthful enough to engage actively Digitized by Microsoft® HIS LOVE OF A THLE TIC SPOR TS. 6 7 in outdoor sports, he oftentimes attended athletic exhibitions, and became a member and governor of the New York Athletic Club. Down to the close of his life he had but one serious illness, i.e., in the fall of 1876, when he suffered from weak eyes and malaria contracted in the unhealthy at- mosphere of Washington. The city of Utica was illuminated August 6, 1858, in honor of the great event of laying the Atlantic telegraph cable. There was a grand dis- play of fireworks. At the public exercises the Hon. Thomas R. Walker made the opening speech. He was followed by Mayor Conkling, who delivered an eloquent address. The following report of the mayor's speech is taken from the Central Independent of August 13, 1858. The editor states that it is made up " from the reports in the Herald and the Observer, and with the assistance of friends who heard it." The biographer publishes the speech to show how the writer loved picturesque illustrations and histori- cal references. We may add that in later years Mr. Conkling would probably not have delivered a similar address without some quotation from the Bible or from Shakespeare. We have assembled to commemorate a great event, to cele- brate a most brilliant victory. Not a victory crowning a success- ful war, not a victory whose heroes waded through seas of slaugh- Digitized by Microsoft® 68 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. ter and of blood ; not a victory which has left the bones of brave men to bleach upon a field of battle and their widows and orphans to mourn that we might rejoice ; but a stainless victory of science and of peace — a victory which leaves no pang and no crime be- hind it and which yet fills the world with its renown and covers its heroes with a lustre which will never fade away. History is filled with great occurrences of which the ocean has been the theatre. Navies have ridden out to battle on the sea, and the world has held its breath to hear their fate, and nations have shuddered at the tale. So ships have drifted where " the breakers talked with death," and have gone down and left a thousand breaking hearts to sorrow for the loved ones and the lost. But ships this day have anchored from a voyage which will be famous when Trafalgar is not remembered and when the ill- fated Fresident and Arctic have perished from the list of remem- bered wrecks. Only twice in naval annals has a vessel floated on the ocean whose story will be told so long and heard so far as that of the fleet which laid down the cable between the Old World and the New. More than three hundred years ago, a sailor of Genoa weighed the anchor of the Santa Maria, and hoisted her sails. She was a little boat, but she carried a mighty enterprise. She was only a chip, but she floated a thought. She was bound upon a daring errand, but she was guided by a master hand. She sailed to make a dread experiment, but she was held on her course by the genius, the enthusiasm and the hope of man. She rode among the trackless surges till she cast her anchor on a western beach, and Columbus stepped from her deck upon the shore of a conti- nent he may be said almost to have created. In later times when oppression ruled the hour and liberty could not be found at home, the little Mayflower struck bravely out for freedom and swam to Plymouth Rock. There with the spark she had kept alive a fire was kindled which will burn as long as the billows roar and break. These twin achievements stand out alone in the history of the sea, unfellowed in the proof they give of the heroism and stead- fastness of man. But this day a miracle is wrought which in Digitized by Microsoft® AN ADDRESS ON THE A TLANTIC CABLE. 69 genius and in wonder is greatest of its kind. The Santa Maria gave the world a continent ; the Mayflower carried and planted in it the seeds which have made it blossom as the rose ; but the Niagara and her sister ships have built a bridge from world to world on which hourly Christendom may cross. That is a great wedding-day when hemispheres are married and lightning is the language in which they are betrothed. It is a joyful holiday for the nations, a proud holiday for New York. In surveying this wondrous achievement, we as citizens may in- dulge in a little local pride. He who first set the magnetic tele- graph in motion is a citizen of this State, and on the green banks of the Hudson he enjoys the honors and the wealth to which his genius has entitled him. So too is he a son of New York who has borne a foremost part in this last and greatest act in the drama of science. When necessity demanded, he staked his fortune on the hazard of the die — he measured his endeavor not by the bright and expectant hour, but he persevered after hope had yielded to despair ; he saw success with that inner eye which no calamity could darken ; with a ready hand he cast his bread upon the waters and it has returned to him after many days. If failure and loss had happened, who would have remembered or honored him ? but now that day has dawned upon him, we have time to pause and think that to New York belongs the name of Cyrus W. Field. But whether to this locality or to that, to this individual or to that, shall be ascribed the glory of the work that's done — these are paltry questions — things which are belittled by considerations reaching all mankind. Let us, rather, turn to the stake which in- telligence and freedom and labor have in this great consum- mation, to the consequences of wealth, of happiness, of prosper- ity and peace destined to flow from such a fountain. See the im- mensity of the undertaking, think of the magnitude of its suc- cess, consider its effects upon the world, beliold how wonderful a thing it is, whether you regard it in the prismatic colors of fancy or through the dry spectacles of fact. To-morrow friends who stand around me may send home words of remembrance and of love, and in an hour receive returning tidings from those they left behind them in the green island of Digitized by Microsoft® 70 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. the sea. The sons of Germany may send their greetings to the fatherland and in a moment greetings will echo back from the Danube to the Rhine. We have henceforth another inducement to hold out to the children of other climes as they come to seek the places which are waiting to receive them. When they turn their backs upon the fraternal roof and the last look has been given they will be cheered by the thought that, when they touch our shores, in that same-hour a spark will snap out of the waves of the sea and fall on the hearthstone at home, there to kindle a blaze of joy and to flash back the welcome signal that all is well. Of the influence to be exerted upon commerce, upon the busi- ness and politics of Christendom, this is not the place to speak. Suffice it to say that every interest and every man in all this broad republic is in some way a gainer by this greatest exploit of the age. To all parts of our country it is a harbinger of blessing and of greatness and especially to New York is it an increase and a dower, for it tends to strengthen her and adorn her more and more as she sits upon the brow of the western continent, queen in the diadem of States. Such demonstrations as this have a high office to do. They help to eke out just rewards to industry and virtue ; they stretch out a helping hand to enterprise and genius ; they do homage not to the destroyers but to the benefactors of mankind. No great truth was ever yet born unto the world without great pangs to him who gave it birth — from Galileo to Columbus, and from Columbus to the humblest of inventors and discoverers, derision and discouragement have tracked the steps of genius and strewn obstacles in its way. It is our privilege this evening to do justice to those whose indomitable perseverance has conferred enduring benefit upon the human race. To those our gratitude is ever due whose deeds redound to the welfare of our country, who help to swell the multitude of good gifts which have made America an asy- lum for the down-trodden and oppressed of every clime and earned her the title of the land of the free and the home of the brave. In the spring election of the following year (1859) the vote for mayor resulted in a tie be- Digitized by Microsoft® HIS SECOND TERM AS MA YOR. yi tween John C. Hoyt (Republican) and Charles S. Wilson, who in the previous year was defeated by Mr. Conkling. An attempt was made, how- ever, by certain persons whose duty it was to can- vass the returns, to change by subsequent cipher- ing, the footings as they were legally made. If neither candidate were elected, the incumbent would continue in office, and therefore, deeming himself interested, Mr. Conkling refrained from voting or acting upon the returns. The residue of the council, however, decided that no choice had been made by the people, and thus, without any participation of his own, the mayor found himself still associated with his official obliga- tions. Mr. Conkling remained in office until the latter part of the year (1859), when he resigned his position as mayor to take the seat in Congress to which he had been elected. Here follows his letter of resignation : To THE Common Council of the City of Utica: Gentlemen — The last charter election having resulted in no choice for the office of mayor, the law continued me in that position for another year. My personal and professional interests demanded my prompt resignation and it did not occur to me that by postponing it I could in any way promote the general good. There were those, however, of all parties who maintained that my stay in office, in the then situation of our municipal affairs, was called for by a due regard for the public welfare. This consideration was ur- gently pressed upon me by men to whose wisdom and expe- Digitized by Microsoft® 72 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. rience I felt compelled to yield. I have, therefore, acted as mayor till now, when other duties call me for a long period from home. No one can doubt the propriety of my resignation, at this time, of the post to which the voice of my fellow-citizens origi- nally called me and the honor of which I gratefully appreciate. To you, individually, I tender my best wishes for your pros- perity. For all of courtesy I have received at your hands, accept my thanks ; for my own shortcomings, I ask your charity. I hereby resign the office of mayor, and leave you with the hope that your future action may in all things redound to the honor and prosperity of the city. Your obedient servant, RoSCOE CONKLING. Utica, Nov. i8, 1859. During Mayor Conkling's second term nothing of especial public interest occurred. He tried many causes at the Oneida and Herkimer Circuits. Among the suits at the latter were the Win field breach of promise case, where he recovered a ver- dict of $2,300, and the memorable case of Bellin- ger vs. Craigue. This was an action for malpractice against a physician, for alleged lack of skill in setting the broken leg of the plaintiff's wife. Messrs. Conk- ling and Throop had been substituted for a law- yer from Little Falls. There was a very able and vigorous defence on the facts as well as on the law by George A. Hardin, afterward (1889) a judge of the Supreme Court. Yet Roscoe Conk- ling, by his skill in the examination of the witnesses, added to his stirring " summing up," Digitized by Microsoft® HE WINS A SUIT FOR MALPRACTICE. 73 gained a verdict of nine hundred dollars, which was then, in such suits, a large sum to recover. In his second official year Mayor Conkling may be said to have been passive in politics. During the Republican County Convention which met in Utica, October 4, 1859, he was not a delegate; but, being a spectator at the rear of the hall, after the nominations had been made, in response to loud calls of " Conkling ! Conkling !" he spoke briefly and assailed the administration of President Bu- chanan. Digitized by Microsoft® August, 1858 — April, 1859. CHAPTER VI. HE IS ELECTED TO CONGRESS UNPUBLISHED CORRE- SPONDENCE BETWEEN MR. CONKLING, AND THOMAS CORWIN, OF OHIO. TT will be remembered that when in February, 1858, a committee of citizens offered Mr. Conkling the nomination for mayor, one of the party said, " We shall send you to Congress." A fortnight later the Rome Daily Sentinel of March 16 announced that " the election of Mayor Conk- ling settles the question that he will be the next nominee of the Republicans for Congress." His name was afterward suggested by the Utica Evening Telegraph of June 18. While no par- ticular candidate was endorsed during the sum- mer several gentlemen who had been mayors of Utica were named for Congressional honors. The following letter from ex-Governor Clark explains itself : New York, August 9, 1858. Hon. RoscoE Conkling, Utica : My Dear Sir: I am pleased to learn, as I have from many quarters, that you will doubtless receive the nomination at the Digitized by Microsoft® A LETTER FROM EX-GOVERNOR CLARK. 75 Republican convention of Oneida County for Congress. I trust you will consent to be a candidate, and if so, I doubt not you will be triumphantly elected. While I do not wish to flatter you, I still beg to say that if every district in our State could be as honorably, ably and truly represented as Oneida would be in your election, it would certainly be gratifying to every true Republican in the State and nation, and especially to your ob't servant, Myron H. Clark. Orsamus B. Matteson had been, for the last ten years, the Whig nominee for Congress in Oneida County. He was now under a cloud and many of his supporters thought it was time for him to retire from politics. The Republican press of the county as well as of the city of New York opposed his renomination. Mr. Conkling was the man to whom discon- tented Republicans turned as the only candidate that could defeat Mr. Matteson. At first Mr. Conkling refused to allow his name to be used, but his political friends would not take " no " for a reply. A companion of his youth, who was now practicing law in the city of New York, was asked to come to Utica to try to persuade Mr. Conkling to accept the nomination. Acting upon this request, the former visited the latter and had an interview of several hours' duration. Mr. Conkling feared that he could not be nominated and that he would be defeated if he became a candidate. In refutation of this timidity, his New Digitized by Microsoft® 76 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. York friend promised him the delegations of all of the northern towns, and urged the strong senti- ment of opposition to Matteson* throughout the county. The result was that he promised to per- mit the use of his name. In after life he often spoke of the folly of " allowing yourself to be nominated for an office when you have no chance of election." We have thus gone into details to show that Mr. Conkling never sought this Con- gressional nomination. He afterward regretted its acceptance, for he often said, " I should have made my fortune before entering Congress." Upon completion of half of his term as mayor, he weighed carefully the question of continuing in political life. In discussing the subject with his wife, he said, " I love my profession and I doubt if I would like anything better." It was a difficult problem to solve — between law and poli- tics — but at the suggestion of warm personal friends he consented, as already stated, to be- come a Congressional candidate. When asked, " Why do you want to go to Congress ?" he replied, " Because some men object to my nomi- nation. So long as one man in the city opposes me, I shall run on the Republican ticket." This * Referring to this gentleman, the newspapers of Oneida published the following couplet : " By all true patriots be it understood, He left his party for his party's good." Digitized by Microsoft® A FIGHT DURING THE PRIMARY ELECTIONS. -J J aggressive spirit characterized his later pubhc hfe. His love of combat was unique. Without being spiteful, he sometimes seemed to fight for the sake of fighting. The cowardly assault of Preston S. Brooks upon Charles Sumner at Washington in 1856 was still fresh in the public mind. Benjamin Allen, who was president of the Fifth Ward Association, of the city of Utica, apropos of the Sumner-Brooks incident said : " Boys, we must now nominate muscle as well as brains for Congress. Let us send Conkling; I guess they won't hurt him!" On the fourth of September, 1858, the Republicans held their primary meetings throughout the city. An unusual degree of interest was shown in the occasion. The Congressional contest in the several wards was between Roscoe Conkling and Charles H. Doolittle, except in the first ward, where both " delegate " candidates favored the former. The result showed that Mr. Conkling received more than double the number of votes cast for Mr. Doolittle. The Conkling delegates were chosen in all the wards excepting the fourth, wherein Mr. Doolittle resided. In the fifth ward, while the balloting was in progress, a gang of ruffians who favored the anti-Conkling delegates rushed (waving their pistols) into the polling-place and seized the ballot-box. It was then cast into the Digitized by Microsoft® 78 LIPE ^^J^ LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. Street, broken in pieces and the tickets scattered over the pavement. The officers of the primary at once gathered up the votes and, after making a canvass of them, found that Charles H. Hop- kins, the ConkUng delegate, had a large majority. The RepubUcan County Convention* met at Rome, September 21. There were two candidates for the office of member of Congress. On the first ballot Roscoe Conkling received sixty-two votes, while Charles H. Doolittle obtained but twenty- three. When the Committee on Resolutions re- ported, the following reference to Mr. Conkling was made. ' ^Resolved, That this convention presents, with pride and con- fidence, the name of Roscoe Conkling as the Republican candi- date for Congress ; pride in his zealous and constant devotion to free principles, in his brilliant and practical talents, shining equally as a public speaker and a clear-headed and energetic business man, and in his spotless and chivalric character; and confidence that the electors of the country will give him a gener- ous and enthusiastic support, which will be rewarded by a Con- gressional career that shall embody the principles, conduce to the interests, and magnify the influence and reputation of the Republicans of Oneida." In response to an invitation, Mr. Conkling entered the hall and addressed the Convention at some length. A brief extract from his speech follows : * One of the delegates was Peter B. Crandall, of Bridgewater, who will again appear in the Haddock court-martial. In 1865 he became pro- vost-marshal at Utica.and proved a useful friend to Mr. Conkling. Digitized by Microsoft® AN ADDRESS TO THE COUNTY CONVENTION. 79 Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention: * * * To study the varied interests of a hundred thousand freemen; to advance the truths we call Republicanism against the alliance of patronage and power, of slavery and wrong; to prove a worthy soldier in the great battle of Freedom, of Equality and Right — these are in part the duties for which you bid me prepare. Such is the task which you have set before me. I ac- cept it [Applause], and in doing so, I leave with you the pledge that the honor of the country shall never be tarnished in my keeping and that no Republican shall find cause to grieve for the vote he may cast for me. [Applause.] The nomination you have bestowed upon me is the offspring of a contest full of endeavor and heated animation. I have been borne forward upon the arms of friends too steadfast and too generous ever to be forgotten; while those who have competed for the honors of this convention have been sustained with a zeal and an effort hardly less devoted. All this is well — well for the party — well for good results. There are, however, considerations connected with it upon which from the outset I have looked with deep regret. Harsh words have been spoken and published and things said in too great excess, by Republicans, one of another. For my own part I have written not a word which has been printed in the canvass, but if any hasty expression has crossed the lips of any friend of mine, or fallen from my own, in which injustice has been done to any true Republican, I here recall it. Let things of this sort be forgiven on every hand and let the waters of forgetfulness conceal them from future view. There is, however, another incident which has grieved me at its every recurrence. I refer to allusions which have been made to the political antecedents of men — to a tendency to put forward some discrimination to be made between members of the same household of faith. In former times I was a Whig and believed in the "mill boy of the slashes." [Applause.] In later days, when divisions had arisen, I was a Seward Whig, but I should be disappointed indeed were I to know that a single vote which has been cast for me was given for no better reason than a recollec- tion of what I was. The thing they are is the test by which Re- publicans are tried and he, who would drive the wedge of an- Digitized by Microsoft® 8o LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. cient divisions and by-gone antagonisms into the party to which we all belong, would split it asunder and strew wreck and ruin in his way. ******* Three rousing cheers were given as the candi- date retired from the platform. Several days later Mr. Conkling challenged his opponent, Mr. Root, to a joint canvass of the dis- trict, as may be seen by the following corre- spondence. MR. CONKLING's letter. Utica, September 28th, 1858. Dear Sir: — Having been nominated by our respective parties for an important representative office, I propose that we meet be- fore the electors of the district to discuss the political issues which now occupy the country and to define our several positions respecting them. The practice of making direct avowals of political views, and submitting to open interrogation and scrutiny, has commended itself of late to candidates for nearly every elective office in the country ; and I welcome the custom, as you doubtles* do, as a harbinger of honesty and truth and as a safeguard against de- ception and all the base appliances of politics. At this time especially, there seems unusual fitness in afford- ing to every elector before he makes choice of a representative in Congress, the opportunity to question the opposing candidates in the presence of each other. So serious are the charges against the Administration of Mr. Buchanan, and so deeply interesting to Oneida County are the issues involved in your election or mine, that they cannot be too freely canvassed. It is the intention of the Republican party to arraign the policy and acts of the President and his supporters in all the particulars mentioned in the resolutions pagged gt the convention held a^; Rome on tUs %i%\ instaqt, Digitized by Microsoft® A CHALLENGE TO UTS OPPONENT. 8 I The times, places and mode of meeting the citizens of the various parts of the county I leave entirely to your convenience, subject only to the proviso that we make haste so as to leave no town unvisited. You will oblige me by returning an answer at your earliest convenience. With much respect, your obedient servant, ROSCOE CONKLING. Hon. P. S. Root, Utica. MR. root's letter. Utica, September 30, 1858. Hon. R. CoNKLING, Dear Sir: — I have received your note of the 28th instant, pro- posing that we meet before the electors of this district to discuss the political issues of the day. I am aware the custom you refer to prevails generally at the South and to some extent in the Western States. That mode of conducting a political canvass, however, has never been adopted in this county or State, and I am disinclined to assume the re- sponsibility of introducing it at the present time. Besides, if disposed to do so, it would be impossible for me, under existing circumstances, to comply with your request. My official and other engagements are such as to require my personal attendance at my office daily, almost. For that reason I could not hope to be able to visit the several towns as suggested by you, however desirable it might be to do so. I must therefore respectfully decline your proposal and for myself take some other method of making known to the electors of the county my opinions upon the questions they are to pass upon in the coming election. The subjects that most deeply concern the public at this time and upon which the Congress, to which one of us will prob- ably be elected, may have occasion to act, are Kansas and the tariff. I will state to you frankly my position on these questions : I am in favor of admitting Kansas with her present population as one of the States of the Union, whenever the people of that 6 Digitized by Microsoft® 82 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. Territory present a Constitution and request such admission. All parties have declared emphatically that her present population was sufficient to justify her admission — the Republicans by voting to admit her under the Topeka and the Democrats under the Lecompton Constitution. I am also in favor of a tariff and ever have been. It is abso- lutely essential for revenue purposes. The millions required an- nually for the support of Government can be provided in no way so well and advantageously as by duties imposed on foreign imports. In adjusting the tariff, regard should be had for the manufacturing and productive interests of the country. They should be fostered and encouraged and it seems to me it can be done, so far as necessary, without difficulty or serious objection, considering the very large amount of revenue required annually for governmental purposes. It is well known that when our various manufacturing estab- lishments are in active, successful operation, all departments of labor and industry flourish aud all classes of community partake of the common benefit. With great respect, your obedient servant, P. Sheldon Root. Mr. Root did not speak during this memorable contest, but O. B. Matteson aided him with the support of an opposition newspaper. The canvass was waged with great activity by both poUtical parties. Mr. ConkUng addressed meetings in all of the thirty-six towns and wards of the county. Coming to Utica with slender means, and rely- ing on his own efforts for his legal education and position, he had the young men in sympathy with him, and they gave him a rousing majority at the polls. The Republican newspapers called Mr. Root Digitized by Microsoft® ENDORSED BY WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 83 "the Buchanan nominee for Congress." They also said: " ConkHng's tour is a triumphal march; his meetings are thronged; his speeches ring with eloquence and liberty and his hearers are enthu- siastic in their praise." While the Congressional candidate went occa- sionally to the neighboring villages to address the voters, a few days later his brother-in-law, Horatio Seymour, visited the same places to overthrow the work that Mr. Conkling had just done. Senator William H. Seward made a speech in behalf of Roscoe Conkling, at Rome, October 29, 1858. Mr. Seward was then the leader of the Re- publican party in New York. Flis voice had long proclaimed its tenets, and his counsel had con- trolled its affairs. Two years later he became the unanimous choice of the New York delegation at the Republican National Convention in Chicago. It was hence " a feather in his cap " when Mr. Conkling obtained Mr. Seward's aid in the can- vass. The Senator spoke at length upon the Re- publican party in general, and the Congressional candidate in particular. Referring to Roscoe Conkling, Mr. Seward, among other things, said: * * * You have decided that the interests of the cause in this district will be best promoted by the election of another member of the party, Mr. Roscoe Conkling. It is my duty to acquiesce in Digitized by Microsoft® 84 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. that decision, and I do acquiesce in it without regarding the sub- ject as open for review or further consideration. As it has been pleasant for me to bear my testimony in behalf of Mr. Matteson, so it is an occasion of sincere pleasure to speak in terms of the highest respect and esteem for the gentleman whom you have nominated to be his successor. Mr. Conkling, as you are aware, has been known to me longer than to yourselves. He was born, I think, certainly he was reared, in the town in which I live, and his parents and family have been for near twenty -five years among my most intimate personal friends. I saw in his child- hood and early youth the indications of that high order of genius and talent which he has since developed among yourselves. While I remarked those indications with pleasure, it would be unjust to withhold the further confession, that when divisions oc- curred which carried many friends into courses and associations diverging from mine, Mr. Conkling remained in the course which I thought was the wise and true one, and perseveringly adhered to my own fortunes in political life. After bearing this testimony of Mr. Conkling, it remains for me to declare, that I earnestly and with my whole heart desire the return of Roscoe Conkling to the House of Representatives. First, because the choice is between him, as a true friend of Freedom, and another, who in my judgment will be unfaithful to that cause. I do not reflect upon the personal integrity of the opposing candidate, but I say that he belongs to the Democratic party of the State of New York, which is faithless to that cause. If he should accept service in that cause, he must be untrue to the party by whose suffrages he was elected. In the choice be- tween that cause and that party, I know no reason to suppose that he would choose the distinction of martyrdom for Freedom's sake. Secondly, I desire Mr. Conkling's election because he will bring into the discharge of his high trust a true devotion to the cause of justice and humanity, as well as confessed and superior ability. Such men will be wanted more in the Congress of 1859 and i860 than ever before. * * * The election occurred November 2, 1858. The whole number of votes cast for member of Con- Digitized by Microsoft® ELECTED BY A LARGE MAJORITY. 85 gress was 19,335, of which Ro'scoe Conkhng re- ceived 11,084 and P. Sheldon Root 8,251. Hence ConkHng's majority was 2,833; a majority that testified to his great local popularity and personal worth. It is worthy of remark that Mr. Conkling's fa- ther represented in the Seventeenth Congress, what might be called the same district of Central New York. Unlike many other prominent public men, Ros- coe Conkling, on his way to that political career upon which his fame rests, did not pass through the lower stages of State politics, i. e., the two houses of the Legislature. We have seen that he held one county and one municipal office, but he was never selectman, alderman, nor member of the board of supervisors. When elected to Congress he was just twenty-nine years of age. Soon after his election, the autograph hunters began to pursue him, as may be seen by the follow- ing letter. It is taken from a copy in his own hand. He then commenced the habit of keeping a transcript of everything except notes answering a social invitation. Utica, November 13, 1858. Afy Dear Sir : Your note of day before yesterday is before me. The signature of an humble son of toil, one of a countless brotherhood! What can it be wanted for? No banker wants Digitized by Microsoft® 86 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. it; no spell, no honor, attaches to it— a worthless thing— per- haps it is to have a place upon the roll of kindly remembered names. This may be it. I'll give it with the kind regards of Your ob't serv't, RoSCOE CONKLING. W. W. Cobb, Esquire. The following correspondence between Thomas Corwin, of Ohio and Roscoe Conkling relates to the Thirty-sixth Congress. Corwin & Sage, Attorneys at Law. ) Lebanon, O., 26th Dec, 1858. ) Dear Sir : I am not /J(?ai/strong. I wish I were somewhat stronger in that quarter than I ever was or shall be. Some rather sad experience has made me rather mulish, or perhaps brought me to a resemblance of the father of that most useful and much abused animal. I feel a disposition to stand still, shake my ears and kick. Whether I am prompted by angels, as was Balaam's /lorse of old, only eternity will decide. I could not believe that it was a sensible and reasonable thing that a man whom they never saw should travel 500 miles to tell your con- stituents how to vote. Yet to comply with your wishes I would have done so, had I not promised a poor God-forsaken Irishman that I would cut him down from the gallows. I did feel very anxious for your success, for I thought there was both knowledge and irut/i in you. Both are now needed in our public affairs more than ever for the last forty years. If you don't see this now, you will when you take your seat in Congress. I may visit New York in March or April. I should like very much to see you then. I have one or two schemes in my head. If I can see them accomplished, I shall have achieved all I wished when I determined once more to leap into the stormy sea of poli- tics. I am not sanguine. I have learned to hope for little, and thank God for very small favors. But if nothing is attempted, Digitized by Microsoft® MR. COR WIN'S LETTERS. 87 nothing will be accomplished. We must try to anchor the old ship in safe mooring. If we fail, why, God only can help us and the good ship too. Your friend, Thos. Corwin. RoscoE CoNKLiNG, Utica, N. Y. [Private.'\ Corwin & Sage, Attorneys at Law. ) Lebanon, O., 16th March, 1859. ) Dear Sir : You may have seen that I am " spoken of " as a proper person to be made Speaker of the next House of Con- gress. I am quite willing to take that "burden" upon me. I do not, will not, solicit the office. Will you do me the favor to say, in reply to this, whether you believe the New York Republi- cans would be likely to vote for me. You see I ask your confi- dence. I beg you to put this in the fire and let me know it if the question I ask is in any sense disagreeable. I do not value any office at a rate so high as the esteem of an honest man. Yours truly, Thos. Corwin. R. CoNKLiNG, Esq. MR. CONKLING TO MR. CORWIN. Utica, March 19, 1859. My Dear Sir : I have the pleasure to acknowledge your favor of the i6th inst., just received. I infer that my letter writ- ten you some time since on my return from Washington has never been received. It related in part to the general subject of your letter now before me. The question you put as to the action of our delegation upon the question of Speaker is hard to answer with any certainty, but you entirely mistake my feelings if you suppose I have the slightest reserve or reluctance in giving you all the light I can. That several of our delegation are for you, I have good reason to believe, and I know of no reason why every man in the delegation may not vote for you. I do not think any committals have been made. It has been suggested that strong combinations may centre Digitized by Microsoft® 88 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. upon Horace F. Clark, anti-Lecompton Democrat, from New York City. In such an event men might of course be carried from their spontaneous preferences. Nothing, however, short of a want of sufficient votes to carry a Republican could bring about such a result, it seems to me. Then, too, our party mana- gers and President - makers will have their "slate," which will " carry " with more or less of the delegation, no doubt. This lamp will be fed with such oil as would flow from the sound of your voice in this State, if you would let it be heard in season. Think of this. Mr. Grow will no doubt seek the place, relying in part upon having received the caucus nomination last year. But there seems of late a drifting toward Mr. Sherman, of your State (who is announced, in case no extra session is called, to go abroad with Dr. Bailey of the National Era) ; this movement would of course add importance to the attitude of your delegation. Assuming that the question in caucus should be a simple one upon Speaker, by itself, untrammeled by location, and Ohio should vote for her most distinguished son, I should marvel if New York did not also vote him. I wish I might see you for an hour or two. If you are to be in or near this State soon, let me know it, if you please, and let me know also how Ohio and other States, as far as you are advised will stand, not only their Representa- tives, but leading men. Mr. Wade, Mr. Lincoln, Mr. Trumbull, Mr. Chase, for example, how are they ? Do not hesitate to write anything to me. You are perfectly safe in doing so. In the hopes of an early reply, I am. Very truly yours, RoSCOE CONKLING. Hon. Thos. Corwin. CoRwiN & Sage, Attorneys at Law. ) Lebanon, O., 24th March, 1859. ) Dear Sir: Thanks for your letter, which I read last night on my return home. I pray you give not a moment's thought to the subject of our correspondence. I should like to have the power to organize the House— that's all. I see the difficulties that lay across the track, and I fear they will be beyond control until we are defeated in i860; then we may unite in a respectable minority. Digitized by Microsoft® A FRIENDLY LETTER. gg We shall be well whipt in the next grand Battle unless we can relax a very little of the selfishness and Egotism of party North and South. At present the South is by far the most unreasoning and unreasonable of the two. The others on all hands deserve death. If I come near you soon, I will advise you of my coming and will contrive to see you. Do not suppose for a moment that I fear to trust you or myself. My confidence is entire, if it exist at all. Besides, on such matters, I have not, never had, a secret. Perhaps that is a grave error. I can't help it, and don't care if it be so. Truly your friend, Thos. Corwin. Hon. R. CONKLING. Utica, April 9th, 1859. My Dear Sir: I have been absent, and now improve the first convenient opportunity to answer your favor of the 24th ult. I am, I confess, a little disappointed by what you say, and not a little sorry for the determination to which you seem virtually to have come, touching the subject of our recent correspondence. I hope my last letter has had nothing to do with your conclusion. I meant it as a simple statement of all the information in my power of the kind most likely to be useful to you, but I fear it in some way failed in its office. You bid me dismiss the whole subject from my thoughts. This I cannot do — I would not do so. As I wrote once before, you enter too largely into my thoughts of a pleasant and instructive term in Congress to allow me to dismiss any matter connected with you which I have a right to meddle with. Why, if I should heed your exhortation, I should drive out of mind the probability of one of the most agreeable things to me which possibly could happen. I hope you will re- consider your present inclination. Of course, as a friend of yours, I would not if I could, be instrumental in inducing you to enter into a personal endeavor for such a re'sult, but if it shall come in a different mode I would have the way clear. But I will not wander into suggestions, for these you do not need from me. Very truly your obt. servant, ROSCOE CONKLING. Hon. Thos. Corwin, Lebanon, O. Digitized by Microsoft® 90 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKHNG. Lebanon, April 16, 1859. My Dear Sir: On my return home this evening I received your letter of the 9th inst., and hasten to answer it. I beg you to believe that my last letter to you was not written in any spirit of petulance, complaint, or dissatisfaction with any- thing contained in your letter to me. Having learned that some of the leading Republicans of this State looked upon me with distrust and did not consider me as friendly to their party organization as they thought I ought to be, I came to the conclusion that it was useless to give myself any further concern, or put my friends to any trouble with refer- ence to the Speakership of the next Congress. The organization of the next House is an object which I have greatly at heart, and I verily believe that I can control it more to the advantage of the country than anyone whom I have yet heard of as likely to be chosen to fill the chair. That opinion was founded not in any egotism, but was the result of my estimate of my particular posi- tion with reference to the different parties. I have been recently in Kentucky, Pennsylvania and New York, and happened to meet with some of the leading minds in all of these States. From all that I have seen, I have come to the conclusion that the con- servatism of the North and of the South will be swallowed up by two violent sectional parties; and my opinion is that Democracy led on by the South will prevail. Facts to be developed this sum- mer, among which the Virginia elections will occupy a conspiciv ous place, may change this view of the subject. My extreme anxiety to accomplish certain great National ob- jects will forbid my entering into a scramble for any office which might embarrass me in the attainment of the ends which I have in view. It was my desire to accomplish these ends which main- ly prompted me to wish the control of the organization of the House. On all these subjects the history of the next six months will throw more light. It will be our duty to act upon matters and things as they may exist when Congress shall assemble. In the mean time, whatever may happen I hope to enjoy much pleas- ure in your society and that of a few other kindred spirits. Yours truly, R. CoNKLiNG, Esq. Thos. Corwin. Digitized by Microsoft® I859-I86I. CHAPTER VII. HIS FIRST TERM IN CONGRESS EXTRACTS FROM SPEECHES ON THE POWERS OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND IN OPPOSI- TION TO SLAVERY. TT is stated in the preceding chapter that Mr. Conkling resigned from the mayoralty Nov- ember 19, 1859. A few days later he went with his family to Washington and began his Con- gressional career. This was perhaps the most exciting and eventful Congress since the year 1812. The Thirty-sixth Congress met Monday, Decem- ber 5, 1859. At that time the State of New York was represented in the Senate by William H. Sew- ard and Preston King, whose terms expired re- spectively in 1 86 1 and 1863. The House consisted of 237 members and five Territorial delegates. It was politically divided as follows : Republicans 109, Democrats 101, Americans twenty-six, and one Whig — Emerson Etheridge, of the ninth dis- trict of Tennessee. It will be seen that, although Digitized by Microsoft® Q2 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. in a minority, the Republicans outnumbered any other party. Of the thirty-three members of the New York delegation, there were twenty-four Republicans, seven Democrats and two Americans. Among the first named were Francis E. Spinner, Eldridge G. Spaulding and Reuben E. Fenton. The Dem- ocrats included Daniel E. Sickles and John Coch- rane, as well as Horace F. Clark, Jo'hn B. Haskin and John H.Reynolds, who were classified as anti- Lecompton Democrats. The two " American " members were Luther C. Carter and George Briggs. Some of Mr. Conkling's associates from other States were, Justin S. Morrill, of Vermont; Charles F. Adams, Alexander H. Rice, Henry L. Dawes and Anson Burlingame, of Massachusetts; Thad- deus Stevens and Galusha A. Grow, of Pennsyl- vania ; Henry Winter Davis, of Maryland ; George H. Pendleton, Clement L. Vallandigham, James M. Ashley, Thomas Corwin, Samuel S. Cox and John Sherman, of Ohio ; William H. English, Will- iam S. Holman and Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana ; Elihu B. Washburne and John A. Logan, of Illi- nois, and John H. Reagan, of Texas. The clerk of the last House (James C. Allen) called the House to order, and only nine members failed to answer to their names. Digitized by Microsoft® MR. PENNINGTON BECOMES SPEAKER. gi The first vote for Speaker took place on the opening day of this Congress. The whole num- ber of votes cast was 230; necessary to a choice, 116; of which Thomas S. Bocock received eighty- six, John Sherman, sixty-six, and Galusha A. Grow, forty-three ; several other candidates each receiving from one to five votes. The result was, of course, no choice. A long and bitter contest over the Speakership ensued. After many ballots John Sherman, who was the Republican candidate, gave way to ex- Governor William Pennington, the sole Republi- can from New Jersey. The forty-fourth ballot decided the battle, Feb- ruary I, i860. There were 233 votes cast; neces- sary to a choice, 1 17, of which William Pennington received 117 John A. McClernand 85 John A. Gilmer 16 Eight other members received severally one or two votes. Governor Pennington was hence declared duly elected; and the clerk, after presiding for the long term of two months, left the Speaker's chair. Slavery was then the supreme issue in the re- public. The raid of John Brown in Virginia and the question of Kansas were its turning-points. In this Congress occurred a long dispute concern- Digitized by Microsoft® g4 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOB CONK LING. ing Hinton Rowan Helper's Impressions of the South, wherein slavery was discussed from the economical standpoint. Mr. Conkling entered Congress against the ear- nest protest of his partner. The firm were grad- ually getting the " cream " of the legal practice of Central New York, yet the inducements were such that he could hardly decline his first nomi- nation. He was but twenty-nine years of age and a nomination was equivalent to an election. His father had been in Congress, and Mr. Conkling took a warm and growing interest in national affairs. Despite the fact that his father had been a slave- holder in the Mohawk Valley, he wished to do his utmost to aid in suppressing slavery. He was one of the youngest members of the House. Consider- ing this fact, his influence and standing are worthy of mention. He took no active part in the " society " of the capital. In fact it was difficult for Northern men to attend social gatherings. The families of mem- bers from the North and South did not associate. Conversation at dinner-parties was embarrassing, for one did not always know his neighbor's views on pubhc questions. Republicans were to a large ex- tent tabooed in Democratic circles. The same spirit was shown in the galleries of Congress. There the Digitized by Microsoft® THE FEELING AGAINST THE NORTH. 95 ladies divided themselves on different sides — the one for the North, the other against it. In this state of affairs Mr. Conkling had neither the wish nor the opportunity to partake of social festivities. National affairs were grave and menacing and the impending crisis at the South was constantly expected. Mr. Conkling was an admirer of the scholarly Henry Winter Davis, of Maryland, and of the swarthy orator, Thomas Corwin, of Ohio. When the latter spoke, the galleries were crowd- ed, as were those of the Senate many years afterward, when Roscoe Conkling had the floor. He engaged in copious correspondence with his father, who was a Nestor in the law. When Judge Conkling received from his son a letter asking advice on some legislative question, he would often sit up late at night to return a prompt reply. A colleague of Roscoe Conkling says of him: "At first Mr. Conkling was quiet, reserved and attentive. Representatives soon appreciated him and consulted him, e. g., Charles Francis Adams. Conkling was politic and very observant. He was also a ready speaker, and his influence could be felt in many ways." One of Mr. Conkling's warmest friends and counselors was Thaddeus Stevens, of Pennsyl- vania. He served with him in two subsequent Congresses and during this period their friend- Digitized by Microsoft® o6 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. ship increased. A notable incident of the ses- sion occurred December 6, when Mr. ConkUng stood in the aisle by the side of Mr. Stevens, to protect him from the assaults of several Southern fire-eaters. The occurrence was minutely de- scribed in the New York Evening Post. The article is here given in substance; and it is worthy of remark that, seven years later, the same newspaper advocated Mr. Conkling's election for Senator, but soon afterward became his bitter enemy. At the time of the Stevens incident it was said that the galleries were full of armed men, who were ready to climb over the railing and drop to the floor in case a fight ensued. Had a collision oc- curred, it is probable that many members would have been killed. [From the "Evening Post," New York, January 14, i860.] An Occasion, and the Man for it. To the Editors of the Evening Post : Early in the session of the present Congress, Stevens, of Pennsylvania, was making an earnest speech in reply to the fire- eaters, who had been thrown into rhetorical convulsions by the ghost of John Brown, when Keitt and several kindred spirits rushed from their seats with the intention of scaring the speaker, or punishing him for the free use of his excoriating Saxon. ******* The clerk could not control them — the laws of God and the laws of man, parliamentary usage, and the rules of courtesy, were gossamer threads to them, for their blood was up, and they were determined to put down by force the man they could not Digitized by Microsoft® A FRIEND OF THADDEUS STEVENS. 97 answer by argument. During this tempest of excitement, a tall, handsome young man, who had been a silent spectator of the storm, quietly arose from his seat and walked hastily to the side of the orator; there he stood, with flashing eyes and folded arms, ready to risk his life in defense of free speech and freedom. Washburne, Kenyon, Sedgwick and others were soon at his side, but he stood there like Saul among the Hebrews, a head and shoulders the tallest. I would say, in parenthesis, that those scions of the South who have regard for their personal welfare had better not venture too far on the good nature of this accomplished gentleman, unless they have enjoyed the advantages of that physical training which will enable them to defend themselves when they deserve to be punished. I speak of the Hon. Roscoe Conkling, of Oneida. He is a man of great physical strength and courage to match, and, I will add, his physical education has not been neglected. He is always a gentleman — a bully, never — and is distinguished for a happy combination of the suave in modo with the forte in re, and will be the last man in Congress to provoke an assault, and the first to resent an insult. * * * * * * * Though eloquent, he has not yet spoken in Congress ; but Oneida has a voice as well as a vote there, and when the time comes for him to speak he will do honor to himself and his con- stituents. Mr. Conkling seldom spoke during the first ses- sion of this Congress, and up to this time his repu- tation as an orator was local, not national. Henry Winter Davis, of Maryland and Thomas Corwin, of Ohio, were perhaps the most prominent orators, although the latter was better known as a Western stump speaker. While a member of Congress, Mr. Conkling was constantly in attendance at the sessions. The 7 Digitized by Microsoft® q8 life and letters of roscoe conkling. winter was mainly devoted to a debate as to what would be the attitude of the Democratic party with regard to the slavery question in the Presi- dential campaign of i860. For the greater part of the session Mr. Conk- ling was a listener and a learner. Two months having been spent in selecting a Speaker, there was no work for him in the committee-room. On February 9, the Speaker announced the stand- ing committees and the member from Oneida was appointed on that for the District of Columbia. Between Northern and Southern members re- lations were now somewhat strained. When- ever a member was seen handing notes or cards to a colleague on the floor of the House, it was at once supposed that the note contained a chal- lenge. A sensational item grew out of this fact, for the correspondent of a New York journal started a rumor that Mr. Conkling had come into collision with Mr. Barksdale, of Mississippi. Apropos to this story Mr. Conkling made the fol- lowing explanation, which is taken from the Con- gressional Globe of January 13, i860 : Mr. Conkling. With the consent of the gentleman from Ten- nessee, I will make a brief personal explanation. My attention has been called to a dispatch, emanating, I suppose, from the reporters' gallery of this House, which has been sent to a news- paper published in the city of New York, in which my name and the name of the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Barksdale) Digitized by Microsoft® A PERSONAL EXPLANATION. 99 are brought into juxtaposition. I ask tlie clerk to read the names I have marked. The clerk read as follows: NOTES BEIWEEN MEMIIERS. Cards between Conkling and Barksdale. Mr. Conkling, of New York, has also passed a note to Mr. Barksdale, of Mississippi. Afr. Conkling. That is enough; and all I desire to say is, that the statement is entirely without foundation, as I never had the pleasure of holding with the gentleman from Mississippi the cor- respondence there referred to, or any correspondence whatever. Mr. Barksdale. I desire simply to corroborate the statement made by the gcntleinan from New York; and to say that there is not the slightest foundation for the dispatch contained in that paper, and that I have never received from that gentleman a mes- sage of any character, much less a hostile one. Mr. Keitt. I did not intend to allude to this matter when it was brought to my attention this morning. It has never been my custom to correct newspaper errors, or to notice any news- paper representations or misrepresentations whatever; but after the member from New York (Mr. Conkling) has disclaimed, my silence might be construed into an affi)mation of the facts stated in that same dispatch. With the excitement yesterday I have only to say that I had nothing to do, and there is no foundation whatever, so far as I am concerned, for that dispatch, as to my sending a message or note to the member from New York. Mr. Vallandigham. Inasmuch as this subject has been intro- duced, I beg leave to say that I was the "second " of the gen- tleman from New York (Mr. Conkling) in passing a little court plaster, in an envelope, from him to the gentleman from Missis- sippi (Mr. Barksdale). I believe that was all that " passed " between them and gave rise to the report just referred to. [Laughter.] The first speech of Mr. ConkUng was upon the contested election case between Daniel E. Sickles and Amos J. Williamson of the third Congres- Digitized by Microsoft® lOO LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. sional district of the city of New York. Several years before, he had been counsel for the contest- ant at an election in Central New York, and he then became familiar with the law of canvassing votes. Mr. Conkling spoke in behalf of Mr. Will- iamson, who was a Republican. This case may be briefly described as follows : The Board of Canvassers for New York County in 1858 returned the votes cast in several Congres- sional districts as cast for metuber of Congress. The Board of State Canvassers held that on this statement they could not give any one a certificate as represetitative in Congress. On this state of facts, and in reply to other Representatives, Mr. Conkling made a long legal argument. Thus he concluded his remarks : " I hope, sir, that we shall be able to steer clear of the techni- cal impediments that have been thrust in our way, and to arrive at the truth touching the rights and qualifications of the person most concerned in these proceedings." Referring to the Sickles- Williamson case, the New York Tribune published the foUowino- dis- patch, dated at Washington, March 20, i860. The contested election case of Messrs. Williamson and Sickles occupied nearly the whole sitting of the House. Messrs. Dawes and Campbell made a clear presentation of the case, sus- taining the resolution of the majority, allowing Mr. Williamson time to take testimony, which was answered by Messrs. Gilmer and Gartrell. Roscoe Conkling's argument reviewing those Digitized by Microsoft® A CELEBRATED CHALLENGE. lOI speeches, defending the action of the Board of Canvassers in not issuing certificates of election, because of the admitted informal- ity of the votes, and sustaining the course which Williamson had pursued as a contestant, made a marked impression. Though addressed to legal propositions mainly, the reasoning was so clear, close and conclusive as to attract general interest, and extort praise from all sides, at once giving Mr. Conkling a prominent position among the ablest minds of the House. No more suc- cessful first effort has been witnessed for years and with so little parade or preparation. Amos J. Cutnmings, of the New York Sun, has lately pubhshed the following reminiscence : I received my first impressions of Roscoe Conkling from reading about him in the newspapers. He was then a Congress- man. It was during the days of the anti-Lecompton fight. John B. Haskin was one of the Douglas Democrats who voted for Pen- nington for speaker. In one of the exciting scenes in the House over the Kansas row, Haskin resented an attempt at " bulldoz- ing " on the part of the Southern members. His gesticulations were so violent that a revolver dropped from his breast pocket, and Conkling quietly kicked it under a seat out of sight. After- ward he returned it to Haskin. The newspaper correspondents got hold of the incident, however,- and told the story in masterly style, giving great credit to Conkling for his presence of mind. The desperate character and the spirit of hos- tility manifested by the Southern members toward the members from the North may be illustrated in the challenge of Mr. Pryor, of Virginia, to Mr. Pot- ter, of Wisconsin, for what the former termed an " affront offered in debate." The correspondence began April ii, i860. Mr. Potter replied on the same day, and referred his opponent to Colonel Digitized by Microsoft® I02 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. Lander, his second. The latter gentleman, in an- swer to a formal challenge, chose bowie-knives as the weapons, and the distance to be four feet at the commencement of the engagement. The member from Virginia at once declined to fight the duel. Mr. Conkling's work in the House was not as a mere district representative, but as a statesman whose intellect and sympathies were broad enough for the whole country. His first long speech was in Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, concerning President Buchanan's last an- nual message. That tool of the propagandists of slavery had united the power of the Executive branch of the Government to that of the Judiciary under the lead of Chief-Justice Taney, to override the Legislative branch, and to fasten human slav- ery forever on the Territories by a dictum of law. The Supreme Court of the United States, in deny- ing the citizenship of Dred Scott, had asserted in effect that every acre of the Territories was al- ready the lawful prey of slavery; and President Buchanan had declared in terms that "neither Congress, nor a Territorial Legislature, nor any human power had authority to annul or impair this vested right." It was this assumption of the Supreme Court to interpret the Constitution, and to bind the law- making department of the Government to that Digitized by Microsoft® A RARE COMPLIMENT. \q-i interpretation, which Mr. Conkling attacked with an argument which defines the limits of the three co-ordinate branches of our Government. He proved from the Constitution itself, and the de- bates and votes of the convention which framed it, that whenever the federal Judiciary gave a decision which, in the judgment of Congress, was subversive of the rights and liberties of the people, or was otherwise hurtfuUy erroneous, it was not only the right, but the solemn duty, of Congress persistently to disregard it. The long argument was from beginning to end unanswerable. Roscoe Conkling was allowed one hour, but at the end of his time, when the hammer fell, and it was found that he had not finished his remarks, a proposition came from the Democratic side of the House that he should be allowed more time, which was agreed to. It is hardly necessary to say that such a tribute is seldom paid to any member of any party, and especially to a young man among the new members of Congress. The speech was delivered April i6, i860, and it is fully reported on pages 233-236, in the appendix to the Congres- sional Globe of the first session of the Thirty-sixth Congress. The Republican Executive Congres- sional Committee printed this speech in pamphlet form and made it a carnpaign document in the Presidential contest of i860. Hon. Preston King, Digitized by Microsoft® I04 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. of New York, was the chairman of this Committee. A small part of the speech is here given : Mr. Conkling said: Mr. Chairman : I purpose to remark upon that part of the message wherein the President informs us that the fate of all the Territories of the republic has been irrevocably sealed by the action of a court of law. The announcement is a very extraordinary one; it could never have been made had our institutions been purely elective. Ob- jectionable as such a system may have appeared to our fathers, it would have preserved the American Congress forever from such a greeting as the present Executive has sent us. With no powers or agencies save those conferred directly by the people, and these deprived of the element of growth by pro- visions uprooting them at frequent intervals, an age of the Gov- ernment would not have come when a judicial tribunal would attempt, in the sense implied by the President, " a final settle- ment " of great political questions. Certainly no such attempt would have been based upon theories falsifying the history of the country, and* calculated to enthrone barbarism in every Terri- torial possession, if not in the States themselves. But, sir, the checks and balances adjusted by our fathers have proved inade- quate to avert so strange a contingency. The Government had not reached the allotted years of man when its judicial depart- ment attempted all that I have stated. In a case presenting the simple question of one poor plaintiff's right to maintain his action, the Supreme Court has undertaken to fix forever the most sacred rights of millions. The step, to be sure, was premature. Ample in jurisdiction, and impatient to exercise it, that august tribunal was unwilling to turn a black man from its doors without exces- sive reasonings. The citizenship of the plaintiff was the only point in judgment, and that being determined adversely to him, the case was at an end. Nevertheless, the opinions swell into a museum of discussion, which, however distinguished the debaters, deserves no reverence as law. Digitized by Microsoft® THE POWERS OF THE SUPREME COURT. 105 If the construction now for the first time contended for Xiy the party calling itself Democratic he true, the apostles of limited government, in their earliest ministrations, installed a power practically as irrevocable and irresponsible as an artificial power could be, and more sweeping and absolute in its supremacy than any judical tribunal mentioned in history. Not the Imperial Chamber of Maximilian, not the courts whose records have been kept by the headsman at the block, certainly no tribunal which has escaped the execrations of humanity, ever wielded such unmeasured power. Why, sir, the infallibility ascribed to the Supreme Court makes the Constitution, the institutions of the country, nothing but wax in the hands of judges; it amounts to a running power of amend- ment. If the Constitution as the court now expounds it is the Constitution we, as legislators, are sworn to support, our alle- giance in the year of grace i860 is due to an instrument very dif- ferent from that which guided those who have gone before us. But, without allowing myself to dwell upon the enormity of such a power, let me speak of the anomaly of its existence. The federal polity of this country is nothing more than three agehcies — the legislative, the executive and the judicial; all alike constituted by the people to do particular acts. However dis- guised by titles or deified by ascriptions, these several depart- ments are mere agents of one principal, servants of one master; acting and being under one appointment, namely, the Constitu- tion of the United States. Now, by what dislocation of the settled notions of centuries should one of three agents, coeval and identical in origin, be suf- fered to determine for himself, as against all the world, not merely his own powers, but the rights and powers of his co-agents, the construction and effect of the common warrant, and the pow- ers, remedies and rights of the common principal; and this with- out escape and without appeal? Bear in mind, in the case I am putting, the principal is the jealous people I have described; the powers flung away are the same just rescued from eternal loss by martyrdom and war. But, sir, this one overmastering agent is a more marvelous creation than I have stated. Its appointment is perpetual, and Digitized by Microsoft® 106 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. was executed in blank, the principal not knowing whose name might fill it at first, nor who would succeed when changes should occur. The other two of these three agents are selected direct- ly and solely by their authorizing power, and they yield up their trusts finally at frequent intervals. But notwithstanding this, the uncounted and unlimited powers were all, we are told, given to the one whose appointment is irrevocable, and whose person- ality the principal can never know. * * * The press comments on this speech may inter- est the reader. The Utica Morning Herald and Daily Gazette published April 25, i860, the following : MR. CONKLING's Sl'EHCH. The late speech of Mr. Conkling on the " Constitutional pow- ers and authority of the Supreme Court" has enlisted a degree of attention and warmth of commendation surpassed by few if any efforts of the session. The Washington Constitution, the per- sonal organ of the President, makes it the subject of a leading editorial, in which the editor, while assailing its doctrines, con- cedes its ability and styles its author " the smooth rhetorician of the Seward school from the Oneida District." The Washington correspondent of the New York Courier and Enquirer pays the speech this glowing compliment : Another young statesman made an effort in the House, which was listened to with the most profound attention by all parties, and which was characterized with unusual ability and research. I allude to the argument of Mr. Roscoe Conkling upon the Con- stitutional powers of the Supreme Court. It was most carefully prepared and was delivered with fine effect to a full house. It is a very rare occurrence that a new or even an old member can secure a good audience of fellow-members, to say nothing of out- siders, when the House is in Cumniiltee of the Wliole. It is Digitized by Microsoft® A BRILLIANT SPEECH. 107 a high compliment, therefore, to Mr. Conkling's talents as a speaker that he was able to retain both members and spectators during his whole hour. But I must pay him the still higher one of saying that all seemed to consider th'emselves well compensated for staying. His searching analysis of the Constitution, and his definition of the powers which it confers upon the co-ordinate branches of the Government, were full of interest, and were com- mended by the ablest lawyers in the House, who thronged around him to tender their congratulations at the close. Among others I noticed Mr. Charles Francis Adams and Hon. Thomas Cor- win, both of whom were very hearty in their greetings. Mr. Conkling's style is very deliberate and pleasing. His voice fills the hall without effort and his manner is entirely easy and self- possessed. If the effort of to-day is any evidence of his ability, he has a brilliant future before him. After the nomination of Lincoln and Hamlin at Chicago, Mr. Conkling left Washington to" " take the stump " in their behalf. He wished to begin at the beginning of the campaign. During the summer recess of the Thirty-sixth Congress, Roscoe Conkling reviewed his political position and discussed the questions of the day. He spoke in Utica, June 5, i860, at the Republican ratification meeting for Lincoln and Hamlin. Among other things he said : . . . " New York was there, bearing aloft the proud banner of the most illustrious of her living sons (Seward). My friends, you may well cheer his name. He went to the United States Senate when it best showed how, in the language of an eminent statesman, mere contact with the institution of slavery tends Digitized by Microsoft® I08 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. to brutalize the character and manners of men. He went to Washington when it was what it is now, a hard place, a discouraging place, for an honest and industrious representative of a free constituency. He went there to vindicate the almost forsaken principles of Washington and Jef- ferson and Madison. He filled the whole country with his renown. His writings and speeches found places in the libraries of statesmen in other lands. If the question at Chicago had been. Who shall be President ? instead of, Who shall be the candidate ? beyond all question the choice would have fallen upon New York's illustrious states- man." Mr. Conkling thus availed himself of the opportunity publicly to express his gratitude to Senator Seward for his aid in the campaign of 1858. In a style often humorous, bringing down the house in roars of laughter, Mr. Conkling proceed- ed to sketch the character of Lincoln and Hamlin. Of the latter he spoke from personal acquaint- ance ; as to the former, he had enjoyed the pleas- ure of hearing Judge Douglas say he was the ablest lawyer in Illinois, and the best stump- speaker in the Union. Mr. Douglas said, more- over, that Lincoln was an honest man, who be- lieved in his politics, and who would carry them out in whatever situation he was placed. This he thought very high endorsement from a Democrat- Digitized by Microsoft® THE DEBATE OF LINCOLN WITH DOUGLAS. 109 ic source. There were two Democratic objections to Mr. Lincoln that he had seen. One was that he was a "Hoosier," deficient in manners. To this Mr. Conkling repUed that he " would uphold ' Iloosier ' manners any day against plantation manners, after having had some experience of the latter. It was objected, also, that Mr. Lincoln was not a good enough lawyer ! Well, the ears of that man must be longer than common who could read Lincoln's debate with Douglas and call the former a third-rate lawyer." He spoke again to four thousand persons at the great Republican meeting at Hampton, Septem- ber I, i860. Said the Utica Herald: * * * He spoke for over two hours and with a power and elo- quence which we have never heard hitn surpass. :|t 3{c l|c ))c ]]t ^ % The speaker discussed the creed of the Republican party; refuted the charge that it was sectional; insisted that the Democ- racy had been the persistent, unwearying apostles of agitation; cited the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, to show who were the fomenters of sectional discord; referred to the election of Speaker, last winter, when for ten long weeks the Republicans sat dumb and patient, while the Democracy raved and ranted like madmen; and charged that the latter have for years exclusively devoted themselves to the business of slavery agitation to the neglect of more practical subjects. Mr. Conkling defined with great clearness the radical differ- ence between the position of the Republicans and their opponents on the question of slavery in the Territories. The former pro- posed to exclude it where it has no right to go, while the latter endeavor to force it upon free Territories in spite both of Con- Digitized by Microsoft® I lO LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. gress and the people. He insisted that the doctrine of the power to restrict slavery was older than the Constitution; that it was never denied by any party until within the past few years; that Douglas himself urged the extension of the Missouri line to the Pacific Ocean. He denied that there was any essential difference between the principles of the Douglas and Breckinridge factions of the Democratic party; denounced Popular Sovereignty as first a humbug and now a cheat — a humbug, because no such thing as a healthy civilization could grow out of competition between slavery and freedom; a cheat, because it is now openly avowed, even by Douglas himself, that not the people, but the Supreme Court, shall exercise "sovereignty" over the Territories. * * * He defended the course of the Republicans in Congress dur- ing the last session; paid an eloquent tribute to Lincoln; and concluded by speaking of the important part which New York is to play in the present canvass. The delegates chosen by the RepubUcans of the several towns of Oneida County met in County Convention at Spencer Hall, Rome, September 4, i860. After the usual preliminary business, J. H. Mayo, of Western, stated that he desired to see the present member of Congress unanimously re- nominated. Two delegates then made brief re- marks, when Mr. Mayo resumed and said: When members of Congress arc struck down in their places while in the discharge of Iheir duties,* it is time for us to con- sider all the qualities of our representatives. Mr. Conkling has never cringed nor trembled in presence of the slave power. When Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, was threatened in the House, Mr. Conkling was the first man to stand by his side, and to protect him from insult and assault. The Convention seems impatient. I want to see physical as well as mental vigor cultivated. (Cries of " Question ! Question !") * Charles Sumner. Digitized by Microsoft® RENOMINA TED BY A CCLA MA TION. \\\ The chairman then put the motion " that Hon. Roscoe Conkling be nominated unanimously, and by acclamation, for representative in Congress." The motion was carried without opposition and three cheers were given for Mr. ConkHng. Nomi- nations for county offices were then made. Next came the reading of the resohitions. The one re- ferring to Mr. Conkhng was as follows: Resolved: That the unanimity and enthusiasm with which Hon. Roscoe Conkling has been nominated by this Convention well exhibits the entire approbation with which the Republicans of Oneida regard his Congressional career. While he has performed his duties with distinguished ability, his fidelity to the cardinal principles of the party has been signal and unwavering, and in his person neither our district nor our country has suffered a stain upon its fair fame. We receive the true and noble service of his first term as an earnest of the valuable and devoted support he will render to the Administration of a Rcpuhlicnn President. Able, trustworthy and upright beyond reproach, his constituents, as with one voice, call him again to the councils of the nation. The committee of three, which had been ap- pointed to notify Mr. Conkling of his renomina- tion, soon returned, accompanied by that gentle- man, who was greeted with tumultuous cheers. Ascending the platform, bespoke substantially as follows: Mr. President: Two years ago a convention like this confer- red upon me the same honor that you have now bestowed. In accepting it then, I left with the people of the District but a single pledge, and that was that Oneida County should not be disgraced or betrayed through me. I promised that no man who gave me Digitized by Microsoft® 112 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. his suffrage or support should find that he had voted for one false to the principles of his party, or one who would tarnish the honor of the District or bring upon it a blot of disgrace. In accepting the nomination now offered me — and what to me is more valuable still, your confidence and approval — I can only renew the same pledge which before I made to you. Thanking you, as I do most profoundly, and through you the great and generous party you represent, for the cordiality and una- nimity with which my name has been presented, I assure you that nothing shall be intentionally wanting on my part to de- serve your partiality and that of the people of the county of Oneida. And now, Mr. President, having said thus much, I have a sug- gestion to make more in harmony with the convenience and wishes of the convention than anything I could say of the con- test before us or the victory vvhich awaits us. This body is com- posed of business men; men who, at a busy season, have met to transact business and for no other purpose. That business is completed, a rain is gathering, and many here are far from home. An adjournment now will enable all, whether dependent upon the railroads or upon special conveyances, to return home before night-fall. Between now and November we shall all meet again — I trust very often — and in that hope I take leave of you for the present. The-Convention adjourned with repeated cheers for Lincoln and Hamhn, for Morgan and ConkUng. Some jealous ward poHticians opposed the renom- ination of Roscoe Conkhng, but his easy victory in the Convention showed that he could rule them " by ever daring to be first." His subsequent successes were the result of a constant collision with the local politicians. Some of Mr. Conkling's friends said that these contests were a continual shock to his personal and states^ Digitized by Microsoft® A CONKLING DEMOCRA T. \\x manlike dignity. They were, however, mistaken, for he went upon the principle that " what is hard to get is worth having." We have seen that in his election as mayor Mr. Conkling received some support from independ- ent Democrats. It is well known to the older cit- izens of Utica that in the Congressional election of i860 he obtained many votes from his political opponents. One of the number was William Dunn, whose name, in Mr. Conkling's copy of the Utica directory of i860, is marked with a cross (X), to which are added the words " Voted Conkling." " Bill " Dunn, as he was commonly called, died in March, 1889, and the following paragraph from the Albany Times oi April 2, 1889, describes him : Utica has lost a notable and beloved figure, William Dunn, the driver of the baggage wagon from the Utica depot. The Utica Observer says : " When Senator Conkling habitually rode from the depot to his house on Bill's wagon, it was the witty gossip of his companion as well as the hard springs of the vehicle that shook up the Senator and gave him an ap- petite. William Dunn was a Democrat, but he was 'a Conkling man' through and through." The Senator had certainly the habit of small courtesies, which in a thousand ways won him many friends. The election took place in November. Out of a total vote of 21,509, Roscoe Conkling received 12,536, being a majority of 3,563 over Devvitt C. Grove. The Republican electors (Lincoln and Hamlin) also received 12,536 votes. Digitized by Microsoft® 114 LIFE AND LETTERS 01' ROSCOE CONKLING. The second session of the Thirty-sixth Con- gress was stormy and exciting, for the Democratic members were fighting their last battles on the eve of their political suicide by secession, o On the first Monday in December, i86r; Roscoe Conkling appeared in his seat and answered to his name at the roll-call. This session has but one parallel in American history. It was a repetition of the year 1832, with this exception : President Jackson, in his message, denied the right of a State to nullify federal legislation, while Mr. Bu- chanan asserted that a State had no constitutional right to secede from the Union, but that the na- tional Government had no constitutional power to prevent it. The President's unpatriotic message led to the introduction of the Crittenden resolution concern- ing the peace conference. Mr. Conkling voted, December 4, 186/, in favor of a motion to ap- point a committee of one from each State to con- fer upon " the perilous condition of the country." It was termed the Select Committee of Thirty- three. Thomas Corwin, the chairman of the Select Com- mittee of Thirty-three, submitted, January 14, 186 1, a report upon the disturbed condition of the coun- try. It was ordered to be printed and made the special order for January 21. Digitized by Microsoft® THE STATE OF THE UNION. \\c Mr. Conkling took this report as the text for a speech upon the state of the Union, and in the midst of these grave troubles he rose and made one 'hi the most stirring addresses of the session. His remarks were widely noticed by the press, the Washington correspondents stating that it made a great sensation in the House. His speech showed the uncompromising front which he presented to the rebeUion from its beginning to its overthrow, and displayed in grand proportions his hatred of human bond- age. A short extract from this speech of January 30, 1 86 1 (including the opening and closing para- graphs), is here printed From the outset of this session, I have had little hope that anything could be done here or in the other end of the Capitol to arrest the revolution now prevailing in some portions of the country. I was long ago convinced that the turbulence now fes- tered to rebellion along the Gulf of Mexico had its origin in causes which Congress could not remove, nor even diminish or retard. Yet I have never doubted that a very numerous class of persons in the slaveholding States — persons whose patriotism might safely challenge comparison with that of any other citizens of the country — were controlled in their political sentiments and action by misapprehensions as to the designs of the masses of the non-slaveholding States; misapi)rehensions which all good men would gladly unite in dispelling. It would be strange, indeed, if this were not so. For years past, gentlemen representing slave- holding constituencies on this floor have not hesitated to dignify with the language of solemn assertion aspersions upon the politi- cal integrity of the Northern people, the wildest, the most pre- Digitized by Microsoft® I 1 6 LIFE AND LETTERS OF H OS CO E CONKLING. posterous, that have come out of the fury and licentiousness of partisan contests. In this connection there is one remark I want to make about war — war, whether it be waged in resistance of laws or for any other purpose. In this material age, war is a very humdrum thing. The battles known to the crusaders, and sung by the Troubadours, have all been fought. War is no longer a question of personal valor or individual prowess; but a mere question of money — a question who can throw the most projectiles, who can indulge in the most iron and lead. It is no longer regulated by the laws of honor and chivalry, but entirely by the laws of trade. But, sir, had I that bad heart, that malevolence, which is sup- posed to exist among the Northern people toward their brothers in the South — and which God knows I do not feel, nor do those I represent — did I desire to sec secession drowned in its own blood, or wither and famish, I would crown every discontented State with instantaneous independence. There would be no more rendition of fugitives then; there would be no general Govern- ment to quell slave insurrections then; there would be no more Monroe doctrine then; no more national vows that European nationalities shall never interfere upon this continent; but hos- tility to slavery, death rather than expansion, would become a leading policy of all nations, whether transatlantic or adjacent. A slaveholding confederacy would cast out its shoe at its peril over one foot of land beyond its present limits capable of yield- ing any product that man can eat or any fabric that man can wear. Confining my view to the State executives who have become actors in treason, and to the people, be they many or few, who have raised the standard of rebellion, I care not in what State, I have no compromise to offer, no terms to talk about; none, until they return to their allegiance, haul down their palmettos and pelicans, doff their cockades, and wear, as we wear, not the livery of treason, but the garb of citizenship and submission to the laws. The people of the State of New York believe in this Govern- ment as their fathers made it. They believe in it, not as a mere commercial league, whose material advantages they can calculate, and whose value they can weigh in golden scales. To them it is Digitized by Microsoft® A WORD-rAINTING. j j 7 something more. They cherish it for its memories of martyrs, of heroes and of statesmen; they cherish it for its wisdom, grand with the revelations, and pregnant with the experience of buried centuries and epochs; they cherish it for the shelter it affords against the tempest which, without it, would burst upon this con- tinent in an hour; above ail, they cherish it for its promises unre- deemed, its mission uncompleted, its destiny unfulfilled. In the world-trod streets of our great metropolis sixty-four languages and dialects are spoken. In this chaos of voices are breathed the prayers and muttered the curses of the exile, the refugee, the emancipated of all Governments and all climes. Of this motley group of tongues there is not one — no, not one— without an anathema to blast the man who would overthrow free institutions in this continent of ours. Among the vocabularies of them all, in which shall be found the word whereby to call so infinite a crime ? It is a deed without a known name. In the debate concerning the Additional Rev- enue Bill, Mr. Conkling said : * * * I am opposed to a gigantic scheme of this sort for laying with inconsiderate haste, upon the States of this Union, a direct annual tax of $50,000,000. Such, in substance, is this bill. I am opposed to a scheme attempting to do it by imposing so enormous a burden chiefly upon the rural districts, upon agricultural property, excluding entirely from its operation the immense active and dormant capital which falls, not under the designation of real estate or land, but belongs to the personal property of the country. I protest against taxing farms, until everything else is taxed. A farmer who makes four per cent, from his farm does well. Why should he be visited with taxes which others escape ? ******* In declaring against this measure I want to be quite sure, in justice to myself and to the people I represent, that no man fastens upon me a false issue; that no one shall be able to sus- pect that I am unwilling or unready to vote any necessary tax, even to the uttermost. No, sir, I am ready to vote all the money Digitized by Microsoft® I l8 LIFE AND LETTERS OF SOSCOE CONKLING. needed to throttle rebellion, to trample to death this painted liz- ard called secession, and to punish this great experiment of per- fidy so severely that never again will its like be attempted on this continent Mr. Conkling voted upon a very important mat- ter February 28, 1861. It was against the pro- posed thirteenth amendment to the Constitution, which provided that no amendment shall be made to th^ Constitution which will authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, Vvithin any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, includ- ing that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of said State. The border States of course demanded this amendment to the Constitution; but its passage and ratification would have had the effect of mak- ing slavery permanent in the nation, so far as any power of the general Government was concerned. Two-thirds of the members of each House voted for the amendment. It was supported by many Republicans as a peace-offering to the South. Of the 117 Republican Representatives, but sixty-five voted nay. Roscoe Conklmg opposed the measure, and among those who stood with him were Anson Burlingame, Owen Lovejoy, Thaddeus Stevens and EUhu B. Washburne. Mr. Conkling could not have done otherwise than to vote against this amendment. He could obey offensive laws which rested upon a pro-slavery Digitized by Microsoft® 7'HE MORRILL TARIFF ACT. I in Constitution until they were repealed, for that was the duty of a good citizen; but he would not con- sent to rivet new fetters on the slave, nor deprive the nation of its sovereign right to alter the Con- stitution. As the Southern Representatives withdrew, the Republican majority increased. Important and much-debated measures were then considered in rapid succession. Roscoe Conkling voted for most of the amendments to the Morrill tariff bill. The Republicans then passed this measure, as well as bills for the admission of Kansas and the or- ganization of other Territories. It may be stated that the Morrill Tariff Act of March 2, 1861, was the beginning of the era of protection under Re- publican auspices, and may be called the basis of the present (1889) tariff. This law authorized war loans, the issue of United States notes, and com- mitted the party to the principle that the repub- lic is a nation and not a league, and that it is supreme within its own constitutional sphere. Early in the year 1861 a triumvirate of Repub- licans assumed to designate candidates for the ofiices which President Lincoln was about to fill in the Oneida district. To accomplish this end they went to Washington and called upon their Representative, handing him their list of candi- dates to endorse for appointment. Mr. Conkling Digitized by Microsoft® I 20 LIFE AND LETTERS OF KOSCOE CONKLING. read it carefully, and, seeing that it contained un- desirable names, he replied : " Gentlemen, when I need your assistance in making the appoint- ments in our district, I shall let you know." Keenly feeling the rebuke the visitors left. This retort was regarded by some of his friends as indiscreet, and as the seed that years afterward ripened into an unfortunate division of the Re- publican party. He considered himself personally responsible for the incumbents of the national of- fices, and he would not allow others to foist inca- pable appointees upon him. It is probable that, had Mr. Conkling exercised some conciliation, and taken counsel with the political friends who had helped to insure his election, all of the bitter feel- ing that followed might have been avoided. The consequence was that some of his political friends became his enemies. This incident is an example of how a sharp reply, however justifiable, may lead to disagreeable results. The world can best judge whether Mr. Conkling acted from a high sense of honor in the selection of public officers in the twenty-first Congressional district, and wheth- er, on the occasion mentioned, his political allies really misunderstood his motives. In either case the effect was practically the same, and the Re- pubhcan party suffered in consequence. Digitized by Microsoft® i86(>-i86i. CHAPTER VIII. THE BUDGE MURDER TRIAL. TN order to show how versatile a man Mr. Conk- hng was, and how his active intellect could grasp a case entirely different from anything he had tried before, as well as the great absorbing and assimilating power of his mind, we shall now proceed to give a brief history of the first of a series of his important legal causes. This case was the trial of the Rev. Henry Budge for murder, wherein Mr. Conkling became a quasi physician and saved his client's neck. Mr. Budge appears to have been a hard-working traveling clergyman, who occasionally labored as a farm hand for his neighbors so as to eke out his scanty salary of $600, taking quietly the reproaches of his wife for doing such humble work. In the month of December, 1859, Mrs. Budge had been sleeping alone for a week in what was called the parlor bedroom, while her husband slept with one of his boys in another room. On Sunday morning, December 11, 1859, their Digitized by Microsoft® 122 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. little daughter Priscilla went to carry a cup of tea to her mother, and found her lying upon her bed with her throat cut. She immediately ran scream- ing to her father, who sent for the neighbors, while he strove to comfort his weeping children. The nearest coroner was sent for, and an inquest was held, which resulted in a verdict of suicide. This would most probably have been the end of the whole affair had not gossip grown into scan- dal and scandal into slander. When Mr. Budge accepted the call to the church at Port Leyden, the congregation was, unfortu- nately, divided on some question concerning the title to the church, and his call, coming of course from the larger party, made the smaller one his bit- ter enemies without any fault on his part. This feel- ing was increased in the case of some of them by his resistance to an attempt on their part to de- duct from his small salary the results of a dona- tion party, he contending, very properly, that it was ridiculously inconsistent to call a donation a payment. With that curious perverseness that sometimes shows itself in human nature, the more he put himself in the right the more they hated him, and the more bitter they became against him, so that after they had begun by saying that perhaps his wife did not commit suicide, they went on to Digitized by Microsoft® MR. BUDGE IS PERSECUTED. 123 whisper that he might perhaps have desired to get rid of her; and, as the Upas growth of evil spread itself among them, they declared openly that he was guilty. They also caused to be printed in Al- bany a pamphlet and a long poem in wretched doggerel accusing him publicly of immorality as well as crime. The quiet pastor was at length aroused and found friends who were willing to aid him in refuting these calumnies. He commenced an ac- tion for libel against Caleb Lyon, one of his assail- ants and the reputed author of the doggerel poem, while his elder brother, L. R. Lyon, a wealthy land-owner, was a staunch supporter of the clergy- man. This action aroused his enemies to fury. They succeeded in having another coroner's inquest held, by the same coroner, four months after the first. They had the body exhumed and an elaborate examination made by a Doctor John Swinburne, to whom they had communicated their view of the case, and who seems to have foolishly attempted to bend the facts to suit their fancies. The animus of the coroner, who was one of Mr. Budge's enemies in the church, was suf- ficiently shown by the fact that on the evening of April 27, i860, while the second inquest was going on, when Mr. Budge's counsel at eleven p. m. Digitized by Microsoft® 124 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONK LING. requested an adjournment, it was refused ; and when, later on, at one o'clock in the morning, Mr. Budge stated that he was sick and begged to be allowed to go to bed, the coroner refused, saying that he must remain, because without him the in- quest could not go on, and thus forced him to re- main until nearly four o'clock that morning. This second coroner's jury found that Mr. Budge was guilty of murder, and he was held for trial. It was at this point that Mr. Conkling came into the case, and a most difficult and complicated case it was. The enemies of his client were so bitter and so aggressive that they had forced their quarrel into the school board as well as into politics. A cir- cular is in existence declaring that every one who voted for a certain school commissioner must be pointed at as upholding the murderer Budge ; and also that all good Democrats should do all they could to insure his conviction. In consequence of this a change of venue was secured from Lewis County to Oneida County. A jury was there impanelled without much difficulty and the trial began at Rome in August, 1861. The theory of the prosecution was that Mrs. Budge had been suffocated or strangled by her husband and her throat then cut by him, and Dr. Digitized by Microsoft® AIDED BY DR. ALONZO CLARK. 125 Swinburne was their main dependence to prove the truth of this. It was certainly a bold thing for a lawyer to undertake to fight a physician of fair standing upon his own ground, but Mr. Conkling was con- vinced of the innocence of his client, and he was not convinced of the correctness of the inferences drawn by Dr. Swinburne in his testimony on the coroner's inquest. The more powerful and em- bittered his client's enemies appeared, the more intense became his determination to rout them all. From the moment that he took charge of the case he commenced a profound study of the lungs, so as to meet the charge of suffocation. He obtained the very efficient aid of Dr. Alonzo Clark, of New York, who made another exp.mina- tion of the body of Mrs. Budge, from which the right lung and other portions had been removed by Dr. Swinburne, and carried by him to his home, as he said, for closer examination. Mr. Conkling had a marvelous power of rapidly absorbing knowledge, and he studied up this case with an intense earnestness that enabled him to badger and to baffle Dr. Swinburne, who must have felt rather dubious about some of the state- ments to which he had committed himself. So very much in earnest was Mr. Conkling that he procured a body foi: dissection and had dis- Digitized by Microsoft® 126 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. sected under his eye the parts of the body that he wished to study. He began the defence by appeaUng, first of all, to common sense, which must have had great in- fluence on the jury. He showed that in a small bedroom, seven feet by nine, on the morning of Sunday, December ii, 1859, Mrs. Budge was found lying on her back on the bed, with her throat cut from ear to ear. This bed was four feet, four inches wide, and of the usual length. It stood in one corner of the room, with the head close up against one wall, and the right side close up against another, so that the only access to it was by the foot and the left side. The head was slightly turned toward the right. The bed-clothes were pulled up smoothly to the upper part of the chest. The arms were on the outside of the bed-clothes. The left arm was bent so that the hand rested on the breast. The right arm was extended at the right side, and un- der it was lying a half-open razor, between the elbow and the wrist, but more toward the wrist. The face was calm like that of one sleeping. There was some slight spattering of blood on the two pillows ; and two slight marks, as if of bloody fingers, were on the face near the nose and on the right pillow. Mr. Conkling called attention to the fact that Digitized by Microsoft® THE THEOR V OF THE PROSECUTION. I 2 7 this State of affairs was utterly inconsistent with the theory of the prosecution. He quoted from the medical books to show that in all cases of at- tempted suffocation or strangulation there is im- mediately instinctive and violent resistance. He proved also, by the same authorities, that a very weak woman in such cases is capable of great re- sistance even against a strong man. Mr. Budge was a slightly built man, weighing certainly not above thirty pounds more than his wife, and she could easily have resisted him. Here, however, there was not the slightest appearance of any struggle. Her placid countenance showed that she had died suddenly, and that it was a painless death. The next argument of the prosecution was about the wound. This was five inches in its curved length and three inches in a straight line. It be- gan under the left ear, cutting down directly to the back-bone, and coming out under the right ear, with a more sloping cut at a point about half an inch lower, as to level, than where it entered. The prosecution contended that no suicide could make so deep a cut. This was soon refuted by the medical authorities, which showed that a per- son strong enough to raise twenty-five pounds could easily make such a cut. They also con- tended that anyone lying on his back could not Digitized by Microsoft® 128 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. make such a cut, because his elbow would come against the bed so as to prevent it. Mr. Conkling called the attention of the jury to the fact that any one of them could, by placing himself on his back upon a bed, take a tooth-brush, or even his thumb, and prove immediately the pos- sibility of such an act. Dr. Swinburne's strongest point was that the condition of the lungs in the post-mortem exami- nation gave conclusive proof of suffocation. Here most probably he felt himself secure, not thinking that any mere lawyer would venture to trespass on his own professional ground and try conclu- sions with him in his own specialty. He little knew the man he had to deal with. Mr. Conkling, upon cross-examination, tested with him his chain of evidence, showing that many of its links were all unsound, and that its holding power was imaginary. He proved by medical ex- perts that the left lung, which had not been taken away, was not congested. He theii called the at- tention of the court and jury to the previous testi- mony of Dr. Swinburne before the coroner, in which he had stated that in all cases of suffocation both lungs were congested. He showed, also, by med- ical testimony, that the blood and serum found in the pleural cavities behind the lungs, instead of being evidence of suffocation, were simply the re- Digitized by Microsoft® DR. SWINBURNES TESTIMONY. \2q suit of post-mortem drainage through the tissues. The carelessness (to put it mildly) of Dr. Swin- burne was shown when he stated that the average specific gravity of a healthy lung was 700. This he was afterward obliged to change to 418. In one place he says that the absence of bruises is untrue, yet in another place he says that the skin, when examined by him the second time (four months after death), was so mildewed that all traces of bruises or abrasions were necessarily ob- scured. He also testified that the trapezius muscle was cut. Mr. Conkling proved that the razor did not come within half an inch of it. He testified that blood moves in the arteries at the rate of one foot per second. Mr. Conkling proved that the surface of a cross-section of the aorta was equal to one square inch ; that one and a half ounces of blood were given out at each pulsation; that there were seventy-two pulsations (average) in a minute, giving one and one-fifth for each second; that one and a half ounces of blood took up the space of two and a half cubic inches. One pulsation and one-fifth would there- fore give (f +Toff=|+Tir=H) \% ounces of blood, and, as one and a half ounces of blood equal two and a half cubic inches, t§ ounces would occupy a space of three inches for one pulsation, so that in place of the blood advancing at the rate of Digitized by Microsoft® 130 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. twelve inches per second, Mr. Conkling proved mathematically to the court and jury that it ad- vanced only three inches per second. This little investigation may serve to show with what pains- taking minuteness Mr. Conkling had studied this case. In this way the testimony of Dr. Swinburne, who was the main-stay of the prosecution, was so thoroughly riddled and torn to pieces, that Judge Allen, though a personal friend of Henry A. Fos- ter, the special counsel to the District-Attorney, felt compelled, at the close of the testimony on the part of the prosecution, to declare the evidence so entirely insufficient that it was not worth while for the jury to retire. When they were polled, each declared the accused not guilty on all the counts in the indictment, and Mr. Conkling had the great gratification of feeling that his unremitting study of medicine, as well as his experience and ability as a lawyer, had saved an innocent man from the hands of such desperately embittered foes. The libel trial then came on in Herkimer County and lasted for three weeks. The defence pleaded justification, so that, to a great extent, the same ground was gone over. Caleb Lyon, who was the author of the wretched doggerel poem that has been spoken of, and who had scattered broadcast through Herkimer County a hbellous pamphlet. Digitized by Microsoft® A GLOWING COMPLIMENT. i -> i was found guilty, but, as he had previously been very popular In that county, the jury brought in a verdict for damages to the amount of only $200. The plaintiff's character was, however, fully vindi- cated, and his persecutors completely checked. On the murder trial Henry A. Foster, one of the prosecutors, had shown so much fierce ani- mosity against the accused that Mr. Conkling, who could hit hard when he chose, compared him to " a bull-dog snuffing for blood around a slaugh- ter-house." Mr. Foster is said to have taken intense offence at this, and never forgave Mr. Conkling until some years after, when he procured Mr. Fos- ter's nomination as one of the judges of the Su- preme Court. It Is said that several years after these trials took place, when Mr. Conkling visited Lewis County, there still appeared to be a feeling on the part of some'persons against him for having saved Mr. Budge. Dr. Alonzo Clark aided Mr. Conkling very mate- rially, and sat up one entire night just before trial- day with him, answering his questions, and giving him necessary information, which he absorbed with such avidity and rapidity that Dr. Clark said afterward to a friend : " Mr. Conkling learned in a few days what it took me thirty years to find out." At a stated meeting of the New York Academy Digitized by Microsoft® 132 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. of Medicine, held December 18, 1861, Dr. Clark read a very careful analysis of this celebrated case, from a medical point of view. This was after- ward published, making an octavo pamphlet of twenty-six closely printed pages, which is still quite interesting to many persons, ij^Mr. Conkling had previously been, for a lay- man, unusually well read in anatomy. This stood him in good stead when these trials came on, and their effect was to give him such a taste for med- ical science as to make him, as his friends said, " half a doctor." After his successful defence of the Rev. Henry Budge, Roscoe Conkling was retained in nearly every important criminal case until the summer of 1867. Being then a Senator of the United States, he began to draw the line against appearing for clients who had been indicted. During the next six years he defended several persons, who were charged with arson and murder. He also defended a soldier for alleged desertion, on a writ of habeas corpus, and prosecuted the Act- ing Provost-Marshal General of the Western Divi- sion of New York for fraud and bribery. These cases will be described in the proper place. They were, perhaps, the greatest triumphs of Mr. Conk- ling's legal life prior to his resignation from the Senate in 1881. Digitized by Microsoft® i86i-i862. CHAPTER IX. THE THIRTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS A CONKLING REGI- MENT SPEECH ON THE BATTLE OF BALL's BLUFF GENERAL STONE — COLONEL BAKER — GENERAL McCLELLAN. TT is well known that the first shot of the War of the Rebellion was fired upon Fort Sumter, April 12, 1 86 1. The President recognized promptly the condi- tion of civil war, and July 4, 1861, called the Thirty- seventh Congress into extra session. The object was to equip an army for the emergency. Hap- pily there was in both Houses a strong Republican majority, and many of the Democratic members favored the preservation of the Union. Henceforth the effective war measures, which were demanded, passed without tedious debate, although the peace Democrats injected terms of negotiation and com- promise into all the bills and resolutions. The delegation from New York included Fred- erick A. and Roscoe Conkling, both of whom on the opening day answered to their names. On Digitized by Microsoft® 134 LIFE AND LETTERS QF SOSCOE CONK LING. the election of a Speaker of the House of Repre- sentatives, Roscoe ConkHng voted first for Fran- cis P. Blair, of Missouri, who, on the first ballot, received forty against seventy-one for Galusha A. Grow, of Pennsylvania, He then, in company with twenty-seven others, changed his vote from Mr. Blair to Mr. Grow, who, having received a majority (ninety votes), was duly elected Speaker. The standing committees were announced July 6. Roscoe Conkling, who, as we have stated, had been a member of the Committee on the District of Columbia in the previous Congress, was pro- moted to the chairmanship, while his brother was appointed upon the Committee on Naval Affairs. In the House were numerous vacant seats, but many members had served in the Thirty-sixth Congress. Among them were Thaddeus Stevens, Elihu B. Washburne, Alexander H. Rice, Samuel S. Cox, Owen Lovejoy, John F. Potter, William S. Holman, Justin S. Morrill, Reuben E. Fenton and Henry L. Dawes. Roscoe Conkling took an active part in the work of this extra session, not only as chairman of the Committee on the District of Columbia, which was now a very important one, but also as chair- man of a special committee to draft a bankrupt law. One of his first acts was to vote in favor of a Digitized by Microsoft® A GENERAL BANKRUPT LAW. 135 resolution to expel John B. Clark, of Missouri, for having taken up arms against the Government of the United States. Soon afterward he introduced a bill " to establish an auxiliary watch for the pro- tection of public and private property in the city of Washington, and for other purposes." It was twice read, referred to the Committee on the Dis- trict of Columbia, and on the next legislative day the measure was called up and passed without a division. In his remarks upon this original bill, Mr. Conk^ ling, replying to a question from a member, said that he was not aware that any similar measure had ever before been introduced. He offered a resolution, July 17, that a select committee of five members be appointed to report at the next session upon the subject of a general bankrupt law. It was agreed to without debate, and Mr. Conkling became the chairman. Roscoe Conkling had carefully studied the sub- ject of bankruptcy ; and he sent to England for the Report of Her Majesty's Commissioners Ap- pointed to Enquire into the Fees, Funds and Estab- lishments of the Court of Bankruptcy; and the Op- erations of the Bankrupt Law Co7tsolidation Act, 1849. Mr. Conkling voted, July 17, against a resolu- tion to allow the Special Committee on Govern- Digitized by Microsoft® 136 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. ment Contracts to sit during the recess of Congress and to incur extraordinary expenses. He spoke at length upon this subject at the second session of the same Congress [April 29, 1862], and extracts from his speech will be given on a subsequent page. Here, as well as on many other occasions, his hand was raised against every one who appeared in the role of a jobber. On the same day Frederick A. Conkling took an active part in the debate upon the item of sugar in the Tariff bill. Later on Roscoe Conkling op- posed various provisions in the Additional Reve- nue bill. The regular session of this Congress began the second of December, 1861. Having been organ- ized at the extra session of July by the election of Galusha A. Grow as Speaker, the House at once proceeded to business. On the fifth instant the vacancies in the standing committees were filled. We have seen that Roscoe Conkling was the chairman of one standing and one select commit- tee. In speaking of the Thirty-seventh Congress, Ben. Perley Poore, in his Reminiscences says : " Roscoe Conkling, who had just entered upon the theatre of his future fame, commanded attention by his superb choice of words in debate, and by his wonderful felicity of expression and epigrammatic style." Digitized by Microsoft® AN IMPORTANT RESOLUTION. m The House unanimously adopted, December 3, a resolution offered by Roscoe Conkling, request- ing " the Secretary of War, if not incompatible with the public interest, to report tp this House whether any, and if any, what measures have been taken to ascertain who is responsible for the dis- astrous movement of our troops at Ball's Bluff." The following letter to the colonel of the Ninety- seventh New York Volunteers explains itself : Washington, Christmas Day, 1861. My Dear Colonel : The regiment you command has, I am informed, done me the honor to assume my name. A compli- ment so unexpected, bestowed upon me in my absence, and by so large a body of my fellow-citizens from different sections of the State, awakens, I need hardly say, lively and enduring emotions. Grateful as I am for unnumbered and undeserved marks of confidence and kindness showered upon me by the generous peo- ple of Oneida County, among them all there is scarcely one that I shall cherish longer than this token of approbation at once so spontaneous and expressive. A thousand men, who as winter approaches leave their homes for the camp, to defend on distant battle - fields the life and honor of their country, are inspired and consecrated by heroic purposes and unfaltering faith. Earnestness and sincerity abide with them, and they mean in seriousness all they say. When they inscribe a name upon their colors, they mean not a mere token of courtesy or friendship, nor simply to make the name less humble than it was before; but they adopt it because they con- sider it associated with some idea. In this case that idea is a vigorous and unconditional prosecution of the war till the Union is restored and the Government acknowledged on the Gulf of Mexico as much as on the river St. Lawrence. It is the idea that whoever and whatever stands in the way of national success must go down before the advancing columns of the Union. Digitized by Microsoft® I ^8 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. •J The colors you cany will never be disgraced; they will be borne forward by men many of whom I have long known and re- spected as neighbors and friends, and though the regiment, how- ever called, would have been an object of interest and pride with me, I shall now watch its career with double solicitude, its ad- vancement with double pleasure. Do me the favor to present my warm acknowledgments to the regiment and reserve them to yourself. I remain your friend, RoSCOE CONKLING. Col. Chas. Wheelock, Boonville, N. Y. Roscoe Conkling's next conspicuous appearance before the House is a chapter in the history of the war. It was unexpected and electric in its effect. The bloody blunder at Ball's Bluff had disgraced our arms and carried mourning into many of the best families in the country. As already stated, a resolution of the House had inquired of the Sec- retary of War if measures had been taken to ascer- tain who was responsible for the disaster. He returned answer that the General in Chief of the army was of the opinion that inquiry into the mat- ter " would at this time be injurious to the public service." Roscoe Conkling determined to fasten responsibility for the error on the author, and to establish at once the supremacy of the House, the representatives of the people, over the military agents who were conducting the people's war. Under a question of privilege, he rose in his place January 6, 1862, and presented the evasion by the Digitized by Microsoft® THE BA TTLE OF BALL'S BL UFF. i ig Secretary of War of the resolution of inquiry, as a breach of the privileges of the House. Before he sat down he had told, with marvelous power and pathos, the story of the shameful and murderous blunder. The House was electrified by the speech, and moved to passionate resentment. The com- manders in the armies took instant notice, from the speech and the proceedings, that the day of re- sponsibility at last had come. Roscoe Conkling said: On the second day of the present session a resolution was adopt- ed by the House in relation to the battle at Ball's Bluff. The resolution proposed no investigation whatever. It simply re- quested the Secretary of War to inform the House whether any, and if any, what, measures had been taken to ascertain who was responsible for a disastrous battle. It did not demand the name of the person, nor even ask whether there was any such person. [The resolution and answer are found at the end of the speech. — A. R. C] I was about to say that if the resolution had called upon the War Department to disclose the name of the person culpable, and an answer had come here, that it would not be compatible with the public interest to disclose the name, the answer might have been preposterous, but still it would have been an answer in form, and responsive. But here comes a communication professing to be an answer, which neither answers the interrogatory, nor in- forms us that in the opinion of any person it would be injurious to the public service to answer it. The reply does not, indeed, refer at all, or relate at all, to the point of the inquiry. To a question whether a particular thing has been done, the Adjutant- Digitized by Microsoft® 140 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. General reports that, in the opinion of the General-in-Chief, it would be injurious to do some other thing. But this is no ordinary matter. The resolution relates to a great national concern ; it relates to an event which I believe to be the most atrocious military murder ever committed in our his- tory as a people. * * * It relates to something more: it relates to a blunder so gross that all men can see it, and no man has ever dared deny or defend it — a blunder which, besides position, be- sides defeat, besides arms and munitions of war, cost us confess- edly nine hundred and thirty men, many of them the very pride and flower of the States from which they came. ******* Now, sir, if there is any objection to this, if there is any objec- tion to our knowing whether the twenty-first of October has been passed over as a mere ripple in the current of events, then, in the name of my people, I demand that those whose business it is to answer should stand up and stand out and say so. * * * * * * We have a committee appointed to investigate the con- duct of the war, and if it is known, and known at this time, that the disaster at Ball's Bluff is likely to be embraced in their inqui- ry, facts and witnesses will be presented to the committee. The House is no doubt aware that the battle of Ball's Bluff, like many other things, has been made the subject of an issue between the regular army and the volunteers. Brigadier-General Stone, who was at the time commanding the division from which the detachment came, which fought the battle, or attempted to fight it, is an officer of the regular army, and Colonel Baker, to whom, after a time, the command, or a part of the command, was assigned, was a volunteer. The friends of these two officers have indulged in much angry controversy as to which should bear the blame; and on the one side the cause has been espoused as if its appropriate office was to fasten some stigma on the volunteer ser- vice, and to determine certain questions of precedence and merit between West Point and the volunteers for the Union. A writer in the New York Times stated, some time ago, that the friends of Colonel Baker would move an investigation, but that they had better not, for if they did the friends of General Stone would re- Digitized by Microsoft® GENERAL STONE AND COLONEL BAKER. 141 taliate, and make it recoil upon Baker and damage his memory. Mr. Speaker, I have no sympathy with this controversy to indulge in here. I have no patience with it as an obstacle to investi- gation; I have no toleration for it as far as it has been used to trade upon the affections and to hush and scare off, with the friends of either party, discussion and inquiry. The effect on either of these officers, or on both of them, of disclosing the truth, ought not in my judgment to weigh one feather against an inves- tigation being had. Hit whom it may, I believe the truth should be known. Suppose its revelation shall shorten the plume of a dead Senator — what then? Is that a reason, in a great public concern like this, why we should hush investigation, or falsify the truth of history? Suppose, on the other hand, it turns out that a brigadier-general, bred at West Point, an officer of the reg- ular army, holding the acting position of a major-general, com- manding a division containing thousands of our countrymen, charged with their safety, their honor and their lives— suppose, I say, it turns out that such a brigadier-general is a martinet and not a soldier; suppose he turns out to be half-way, either in his soldiership or his loyalty, is that a reason why investigation should be muzzled or throttled out of regard to his feelings or the feelings of his caste? Shall we proclaim indulgence for ignor- ance and incompetency, immunity for barbarous negligence, si- lence for military crimes, even though a revelation of the truth would soil the glittering plumage of the highest officer in the armies of the republic? No, sir: whoever is responsible for that fatal field, if he yet lives, ought to be nightly on his knees im- ploring forgiveness for the mighty murder he there committed. If Baker did it, " 'twas a grievous fault, and grievously hath Baker answered it." If Stone did it, he bears a weight of guilt greater, far greater, than many a man has atoned for with his life, who suffered under the judgment of military tribunals, whose moderation and impartiality have never been denied. What is the personal fate or the personal fame of a dozen generals when compared with the preservation, the security, the maintenance, of that great army now standing in the field? ******* I have no doubt, sir, that results of this sort sometimes occur Digitized by Microsoft® 142 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. when human foresight cannot prevent them; but when they occur from gross negligence or ignorance, and we all know it, I say it behooves us to investigate them, and hold them up, in order that we may see round and round, who is responsible for them. If we cannot have indemnity for the past, in the name of humanity let us have security for the future! If we are to preserve the military principle at all, let us preserve the whole of it. If not, introduce into the army the democratic principle, and when an order is given, put it to a vote whether it shall be obeyed or not; but if orders are to be implicitly obeyed, let us have responsibility, rigid responsibility, on the part of those who give them. Now, sir, let me look a few moments at the battle of Ball's Bluff, in order to see whether those who managed it exercised that care and caution which the law exacts of the pilot of a ship, of the engineer who runs a railroad train, of the captain of a steamboat carrying passengers; or whether it was managed with an absence of care and skill, with a reckless disregard of ordinary prudence. Thus Mr. Conkling described the battle: On the twenty-first of October, Leesburg, in the State of Vir- ginia, was occupied by insurgents. The force with which they held it amounted to not less than five or six thousand men. At the same time Poolesville, in the State of Maryland, was occupied by Union forces and was the headquarters of a brigadier-general. Between these two positions, thus occupied, there rolled a swift and swollen river, with an island in the channel, nearest the Maryland side, three miles in length and two hundred yards across. On the same side of the river with Leesburg, and within a day's march of that place, lay General McCall, commanding a division contain- ing fifteen regiments, which marched fully eleven thousand men. If Leesburg were to be attacked, or if a reconnoissance in force were to be made in that direction, one of the first wonders in this case is that the work should have been assigned to General Stone's division, divided as it was from the scene of action by a great river— indeed, by two great rivers— when the division of General McCall was within a day's march of the spot, with neither river, mountain nor barrier to be traversed. Those who, stimulated Digitized by Microsoft® THE BA TTLE-FIELD. 143 by the curiosity not unnatural at a time like this, have refreshed their military history, or dipped into military books, or picked up the current smattering of military knowledge, have not failed to observe that a river unbridged and unfordable is regarded as one of the most formidable and perilous obstacles to military advance. Of all the barriers not absolutely impassable, nothing — if ordi- nary sources of information are to be relied upon — is to be so much dreaded by an attacking army, so much to be shunned at any cost, as a deep, rapid stream, without wharves or bridges, and this even when means of floating transportation are abundant and pre- pared. Common sense has so much to do with this that any man who has ever seen artillery move, may without presumption as- sume to know and comprehend it. Another fact which a civilian may be allowed to state is that an army or detachment attempting to cross a stream of this sort, in the face of an enemy, should be provided not only with means of transportation sufficient to throw it over to the attack, but to bring it off, and bring it off expeditiously and securely in case of a defeat. A pontoon train, if an intrenched bridge cannot be had, a flotilla of bateaux, boats, rafts, something, is the very least, if we may rely on ordinary authorities, which will suffice to meet the requirements of common prudence. But in this case two rivers seem not to have been considered of much account in hin- dering the advance of an army, they were held of importance so slight that a division lying on the fighting side of the river was not brought into requisition at all, not even to protect the cross- ing and the landing, nor to cover a retreat; but the whole work was assigned to the trans-Potomac division of General Stone. The movement was not an unexpected or impulsive one. On the contrary, crossing the river thereabouts, and crossing at or about that time, had occupied for days the attention of officers and men. The landing-place had been selected before the battle day, for on the day before several hundreds of the Massachu- setts Fifteenth and Twentieth had been thrown over to the island, and from the island to the bluff. The crossing-place was one of the most remarkable— confessedly one of the most dangerous— that could have been possibly selected. The landing-place was a bank of clay ten or fifteen feet high, abrupt, almost perpendicu- Digitized by Microsoft® 144 I-IPE. AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. lar, surmounted by a rugged bluiiE one hundred or one hundred and fifty feet in height. The region around about was what lumbermen would call a "wooden country." Timber grew in great abundance in every direction. Within twelve miles of the crossing-place was a saw- mill. * * * Round about this mill, on the railroad, and piled on the canal, was an abundance of timber, round, square and sawed. What could have been done with it, we all know,and we all know how quickly it would have been done. We know what could have been done if nobody but Massachusetts had been there. Not to know that would be to forget that when General Butler called upon theworkingmen of a Massachusetts regiment to step forward, the whole regiment advanced, and that in the regiment were found a plenty of men who could sail the Ironsides, and build and run a locomotive engine, Boats and rafts enough to float thousands could have been put afloat in a few hours, and a bridge would not, I am mformed, have been the work of more than a day and a night. ******* Two weeks before this, however, an order had been given to construct five flatboats and two skiffs — to construct them at Edwards's Ferry, a point in the river some four miles below. Three of those boats were brought up from Edwards's Ferry to this fatal crossing-place. Two of them were used in the channel between the Maryland shore and Harrison's Island, and one of them was used between the island and the bluff. And in this latter channel was also a single row-boat. These four boats, two in either channel, constituted the whole means of transportation upon which the expedition was based. ******* These boats were of sufficient capacity to carry about half a company, some thirty-five men each, and the average time occu- pied in crossing from Maryland to the island was about three- quarters of an hour, leaving the island and the remaining channel still to be traversed. The House will get some idea of the rapid- ity with which this transportation could be carried on, from the operations of the night before the day of which I am speaking. Before Colonel Baker is understood to have had command of the Digitized by Microsoft® A TERRIBLE BLUNDER; H5 expedition, Colonel Devens was ordered to cross four companies of the Massachusetts Fifteenth. He did cross them. He com- menced at two o'clock in the morning, and it was sunrise before he was ready to take up the line of march, showing that more than an hour was necessary for the purpose of throwing one company from the Maryland shore to Ball's Bluff. Colonel Baker's orders came to him about two o'clock in the morning and found him sleeping in his tent. He commenced his crossing at sunrise. Without any wharf to lie to, without any hawser or rope to stretch across the river, the embarkation and transportation of troops, cannon and munitions of war was of course a slow and tantalizing process. Eleven o'clock had come when only a commencement had been made. At this time a boat was found in the canal and measures were taken to transfer it to the river. Whether this was observed on the other side is only matter of speculation; but the time had come when it was too late to mend the matter or correct mistakes, for the rebel fire had opened upon the slender detachment which had crossed. From that time the boats began to pole back with the bleeding and the slain. The house on Harrison's Island had already become a hospital, and every room in it was occupied by wounded and dy- ing men. But still the crossing went on. Seventy-five hundred men, according to General Stone, were detailed for the expedition; but not more than seventeen or eighteen hundred men ever saw the field or crossed the river. Those who did cross crawled up the muddy, slippery bank of clay, and from there, by a winding path, they climbed to the summit of the bluff which lay beyond. The guns were dismounted, and dragged and lifted up with great difficulty and delay. All this hard and perilous ascent led to no field of fair fighting, but only to a trap, an ambush, a slaughter- pen, a Golgotha. The bluff was a mile in length up and down the river and the landing and ascent were made in the middle of it. Behind this point was a six-acre lot skirted by woods on three sides. Into this burial-ground, one by one, as the boat brought them over, went up the devoted seventeen hundred. Their steps, like tracks to the lion's den, all pointed in one direc- tion, from which there was never to be a return. Behind them lO Digitized by Microsoft® 146 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. rolled a river deep, which could never be repassed. Before them, and surrounding them on every side, was a tree-sheltered and skulking foe of three or four times their number. Their move- ments had been watched from the start; the rebels had pre- pared for them a feast of death, and had calculated the number of guests who should partake of it. When that number had been poled and drifted over, the dreadful revelry commenced. It was the refinement of cruelty, and dealt exactly with its victims. They had been sent over too few to remain, and too many to re- turn — a larger number might have held the position, and dis- pensed with means of retreat; a smaller number might have escaped by the boats; but the seventeen hundred had only to stand fast and perish. Nobly did they fulfill their destiny. Desperate stubbornness and heroic courage served only to gild with tints of glory the bloody picture of their fate. In an hour, in less than an hour, the field was a hell of fire, raging from every side. The battle was lost before it had begun. It was from the outset a mere sacrifice, without a promise of suc- cess or a hope of escape. 4s « >): 4< « m « We all know the result. Those who did not die upon the field were forced down the steep bank behind them to the brink of the river. Here, to save their arms from the enemy, they threw them into the stream, and many sought, and more found, a watery grave. The last act of this terrible tragedy of blunders, if not the saddest, was the most sickening and appalling of them all. The flatboat, which by poling and drifting had been made to ply between the island and the bluff, was now laden with the mangled, the weary, and the dying — too heavily laden, and the quick and dead, in one struggling mass, went down together in that doleful river and never rose again. I.eesburg was illuminated that night, illuminated by parricides and rebels, and bloody treason added an- other laurel to Big Bethel, Bull Run, the blockade of the Potomac and the tame surrender of arms in the navy-yards and arsenals. Such, Mr. Speaker, was the battle of Ball's Bluff. Such it stands to-day upon the page of history. The chief mourners for that battle — those who suffered most severely in it — are the Digitized by Microsoft® AN INVESTIGA TION IS DEMANDED. 147 States of New York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. To those States it was the battle of Cannae, for the very pride and flower of their young men were among its victims. No wonder that the army and the country burn with indignation at " The deep damnation of their taking off." ******* Let mismanagement and drowsiness tremble and wake up. Ball's Bluff cries aloud for scrutiny, and I hope the war commit- tee will think so, and probe it thoroughly, unrestrained by any statement that the public interest does not require it, come from what quarter it may. * * * At all events, we shall, be safe in exposing and branding the author or authors of a monstrous mis- take, which has already been told in Gath and published in the streets of Askelon. ******* We have had long chapters of accidents for which no one is blamed, though some one is to blame. Battles and positions given away, and no court-martial, no court of inquiry, no one shot, no one disgraced — nothing but promotions growing out of inglori- ous occurrences. My particular object to-day is to learn whether the military authorities have in any manner looked into the pro- ceedings of the twenty-first of October on the upper Potomac, and in order to obtain that information I offer the following reso- lution: The Clerk read the resolution and answer, as follows: Whereas, on the second day of the session, this House adopted a resolution, of which the following is a copy: "Resolved, That the Secretary of War be requested, if not incompatible with the public interest, to report to this House whether any, and if any, what, measures have been taken to as- certain who is responsible for the disastrous movement of our troops at Ball's Bluff;" And whereas on the sixteenth of December the Secretary of War returned an answer, whereof the following is a copy: Digitized by Microsoft® 148 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. War Department, December 12, 1861. Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of a resolution of the House of Representatives calling for certain information with regard to the disastrous movement of our troops at Ball's Bluff, and to transmit to you a report of the Adjutant-General of the United States Army, from which you will perceive that a compliance with the resolution, at this time would, in the opinion of the General-in-Chief, be injurious to the public service. Very respectfully, Simon Cameron, Secretary of War. Hon. G. A. Grow, Speaker of the House of Representatives. We omit the report. Therefore, Resolved, That the said answer is not responsive, nor satisfac- tory to the House, and that the Secretary be directed to return a further answer. The resolution was further debated at length by Messrs. Richardson, Edwards, Crittenden, Ros- COE CoNKLING, VaLLANDIGHAM, LoVEJOY, WiCK- LiFFE, Dunn and Stevens, Motions to amend and lay on the table vi^ere lost and the resolution passed without amend- ment by the following vote : Yeas, seventy-nine ; Nays, fifty-four. This speech was said at the time to have been a " pivot" in the oratorical hfe of Roscoe Conkling. His eulogists state that it gave him a national rep- utation as an orator and thereafter he never lacked an audience. It was widely commented upon in the public press, and it was said that the description of the battle was wonderfully accu- Digitized by Microsoft® GENERAL MCCLELLAN'S STATEMENT. 140 rate, seeing that it came from one who had not been an eye-witness. Concerning Mr. Conkling's severe criticism of the conduct of General Stone, the latter applied to the aide-de-camp of General McClellan (as likely to be familiar with the wishes of his supe- rior), to learn if he should demand a court of in- quiry. A negative reply was promptly given. He then asked if he should prepare a statement cor- recting the supposed mistakes in the speech of Roscoe Conkling. The answer came, " Write nothing ; say nothing ; keep quiet." In McClellan s Own Story the General, on page 190, says, after giving two pages of the true story of the affair of Ball's Bluff : "I have gone thus much into detail, because at the time I was much ciiticised and blamed for this unfortunate affair, while I was in no sense responsible for it." This is probably a reference to Mr. Conkling's Congressional speech. In opposition to a scheme appropiating $37,000 to send a commission to the London Exposition, Roscoe Conkling said : * * * Now, sir, for one I am opposed to the original bill . . . We have a world's fair now in session on this con- tinent. We are all on exhibition before the world, and we are within the sight and within the hearing of and undergoing the examination of all Christendom. There is a competition going on here, a grapple for the mastery of fine arts and in the arts Digitized by Microsoft® 150 LIFE AND LETTERS OB HOSCOE CONKLING. that are not so fine. ... I believe, sir, that there is a theatre here abundant for the display of every species of national proficiency at this time, affording an opportunity to record, high up as any man desires to see it recorded in the temple of fame, and on the page of history, America's capacity. * * * He introduced, February 13, a resolution to print 5,000 extra copies of the House bill " to es- tablish a uniform system of bankruptcy through- out the United States." This was the bill prepared by the Select Com- mittee of which he was chairman, and which was appointed at the extra session of this Congress. Much to his regret the bill did not become a law. It may be added that no bankrupt law was en- acted until the second session of the Thirty-ninth Congress, when Mr. Conkling urged the adoption of it. Digitized by Microsoft® i862. CHAPTER X. THE LEGAL-TENDER ACT. "DOSCOE CONKLING'S opposition to the legal-tender act of 1862 is a notable inci- dent in his career; His connection with the bill may properly be narrated here. When the War of the Rebellion began, he soon discovered that its successful ending must needs prove a matter of finance. He knew that the Government must emit bills of credit, but the question was, How should the issue of paper money be made ? There was then no national bank currency, nor was there either gold or silver available in the federal Treasury to carry on the war for the Union. Hence the wherewithal to prosecute the war had to be obtained upon the credit of the Government or by taxation. The most convenient form of credit which the authorities of the United States could use in crushing the Rebellion was a funda- ble legal-tender currency. It was a loan to the Government without interest, as well as a national currency, which was greatly needed for small dis- Digitized by Microsoft® 152 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. bursements during the urgent necessities of the civil war. On the thirtieth day of December, 1861, Elbridge G. Spaulding, who had been State Treasurer of New York, introduced a bill "To authorize the is- sue of Treasury notes payable on demand." It was twice read, referred to the Committee of Ways and Means, and ordered to be printed. It was known as House Bill No. 182. A long de- bate followed, in which Roscoe Conkling engaged. On January 7, 1862, the Spaulding bill, with amendments, was reported to the House. The original bill authorized the Secretary of the Treas- ury to issue " for temporary purposes . . . fifty million dollars of Treasury notes." As amended, the amount was raised to "one hundred million dollars of Treasury notes not bearing interest." Roscoe Conkling opposed the measure and on February 4 made a long speech upon it. He was always a "hard money" man; and in his course upon the legal-tender bill he, together with his brother, Frederick A. Conkling, ignoring party lines, endeavored to defeat the measure. This speech was so important that a full report of it seems desirable in this memoir. * * * The credit of a Government, like the credit of an individual, consists of the ability and integrity to pay all debts and perform all promises with scrupulous exactness and punctu- Digitized by Microsoft® l^HE rSEASURY WILL DECIDE THE IVAK . jr-i ality. This ability and integrity, this untarnished public faith and unquestioned pecuniary solvency, is that without which no Government can long survive. Public credit alone cannot con- fer national immortality or national longevity ; but the loss of public credit will be inevitably and swiftly followed by national decrepitude and national death. This is true in peace, when wars and rumors of wars are hushed throughout the earth. It is true in uneventful times, in periods barren of action and prolific of repose. But what shall be said of its urgent, warning truth as Applicable to us in this dark hour of trial and of danger? Im- mediate and adequate financial facilities constitute, beyond all question, the overtopping, overmastering subject with which we have the power to deal. Gentlemen have longed for victories to reinvigorate the lan- guishing energies of finance. Victory no doubt would exert a potent influence; but, sir, the Treasury will control and decide the war, not the war the Treasury. Indeed, the question of money and credit is all there is before us ; it is practically the only un- settled question of the war. Armies and navies may perish, and a public credit well preserved can replace them ; but if the public credit perishes, the army and navy can only increase the disaster and deepen the dishonor. We have patriotism and courage, and fighting men enough to crush rebellion throughout the Union, and then to sweep from this continent every occupant of it but ourselves, and sponge off their ships from our waters. We have in the field the first army in history, the first in the means to conquer with. It is said that in 1811 Napoleon had 1,100,000 men, and other instances are mentioned of exceeding numbers ; but nowhere short of fabu- lous narration can be found an army so numerous, and at the same time so powerful in material, so complete in arms and equipment. Nowhere can be found an army so well paid ; no- where a great army so well fed or cared for ; no nation has ever attempted to maintain an army at anything like the same expense. The Secretary of War says that 718,512 men have taken the field; 77,000 of them were three months' men, but 640,637 are enlisted for the war. We have eighty-three regiments of cavalry ; eight more than France. Every one of this multitude of soldiers is Digitized by Microsoft® 154 ^^^^ ^^^ LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. entitled to at least thirteen dollars a month, besides subsistence and bounties. Sir, there is nothing like it in all history. No na- tion ever attempted it, or approached it ; never for any length of time. * * * Besides our army, we have a navy to construct and maintain, and the future cost of both will be, if not $2,000,000 a day, $45,000,000 a month. To provide these sums so long as they shall be needed, to secure and carry along, till we can pay, the amounts which have already been expended, to devise a policy which shall carry on the Government when the war is ended, and ultimately work out the extinguishment of the public debt — this is the problem to be solved, and the Constitution says that we alone shall solve it. I believe we can solve it, and will solve it ; and I hope by some policy worthy of the occasion and adequate to it. But let us have no make-shifts, no subterfuges, no timid expedients to dodge honest taxation. Above all things, let us practice no concealment or deception upon the tax-payers. * * * Complex as are the circumstances by which we are surrounded, other men have coped successfully with circumstances as diffi- cult, and left behind them the light of their example to warn and guide us. We have the folly of some who have scattered ruin and strewn wreck in the midst of plenty ; we have the wisdom of others who have created and preserved empire in the midst of want, and caused civilization to rise on golden wings out of the very ashes of exhausted systems. Our own statesmen have done far more than their share to endow the world with financial wis- dom. It was to this subject that the greatest of Americans gave his best endeavors. He delved deep in the mines of perpetual prosperity. He founded and organized a new department. He conceived and created a system, and the world saw that it was good. Upon foundations of honesty and truth he reared an en- during structure of public credit, and so pervaded it that to this day we meet at every turn the genius of the builder. He haunts us yet with the maxims he has left ; maxims from which we are invited to depart, though we cannot forget them. He has be- queathed to us his lessons of wisdom with that singular felicity of diction which made Marshall say " his statement was argu- ment, his inference was demonstration." Digitized by Microsoft® THE EXTINGUISHMENT OF DEBT. 155 Hamilton insisted upon " incorporating, as a fundamental max- im, in the system of credit of the United States that the creation of debt should always be accompanied by the means of extinguish- • ment; this is the true secret of rendering public credit immortal." Invested with such attributes, Government securities are the best securities in the world, and can always be used to negotiate loans at the lowest rate of interest. Without these attributes, the obli- gations of a Government are the most worthless, the most short- lived and shallow, of all devices with which to borrow money- Do we not know this ? Do we not heed the teachings of history sanctioned by the founders of our institutions ? Do we not know that, unless we would make shipwreck of everything, we must accompany emission with taxation ? Do we not know that we have no right to authorize the utterance of a dollar of paper, without accompanying it with a tax for its ultimate redemp- tion ? We do know it. But it is said that the principle, though a good one and sound in itself, must at this time be sacri- ficed to necessity. Necessity! that market price of principle at which ever)' virtue has been sold for six thousand years. From the apothecary selling poison, to the lord chancellor sell- ing justice, the plea has always been, " My poverty, but not my will, consents." Sir, I deny that any necessity is upon us to take the case out of settled rules. We need money — large sums of money — and the whole resources and property of the nation are liable to pay tribute to raise it. We owe debts — large debts — and the whole property of the country is holden to pay them. Does anybody suppose that the security is not ample, or the resources not abund- ant ? My colleague from the Erie district [Mr. Spaulding] told us that the taxable property of the nation amounts to si.xteen thousand million dollars ; and he produced a statement from the Census Bureau to prove it. In reality it is vastly more than that, because he gave us a self-fixed valuation — the valuation fixed by proprietors themselves, having an interest in reducing and cover- ing up the amount. According to my colleague, at the end of this fiscal year our debt will be only $650,000,000. One would think here is margin enough for Wall Street, State Street, or Chestnut Street. Sir, it is margin enough, properly husbanded Digitized by Microsoft® 156 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. from first to last, to enable us to raise all the money we want at five per cent., and history proves it. Now, sir, what does this plea of necessity mean — this plea upon which we are invited to leave the trodden paths of safety, and seek new methods of " coining false moneys from that crucible called debt? " What is the necessity which prevents adherence to the old and approved methods of raising money ? The argument must be twofold: first, that the people will be better ready at some other time than the present to pay what, in the end, they must pay, with interest ; and second, that necessary and legiti- mate taxation will be unpopular, and bring denunciation upoii those who vote for it. Sir, I take issue upon both propositions. I say the country is rich and ready. Money is abundant — very abundant. There is in the loyal States $250,000,000 of gold — the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Alley] said the other day $300,000,000 — more than ever before, and if we deserve it we can have it. The whole country is full of wealth. The enormous expenditures of this home war have been made among ourselves, and the money has remained here, and not gone into the channels which foreign war prescribes for currency. The harvest has been abundant ; materials and productions, raw and wrought, have been in great demand ; and nearly every loyal State teems with the elements of material prosperity. From a very extravagant, we have latterly become a very economical people, and thus the per- centage, as well as the aggregate of savings and of earnings, is un- usually great. We are able to pay now, and we can never pay bet- ter than now. So much for the ability of the people to bear taxation. Now, a word as to their willingness to bear it. I believe no error could be greater, no aspersion more libellous upon the patriotic people of the country, than the supposition that they will shrink from paying the legitimate expenses of annihilating rebellion. The millions who have risen in majesty to defend from overthrow the institutions of their fathers have poured out costlier tribute and more precious treasure than taxation asks. They have sent their sons to distant battle-fields, and gone themselves to bare their bosoms to the icy fang of death. When such is the hallowed measure of spontaneous loyalty, shall we presume to impugn it ? Digitized by Microsoft® THE REDEMPTION OF PAPER MONEY. \ c 7 Shall we suppose that those who are pouring out their dearest jewels, and offering more, will palter about honest taxation ? No, sir; it requires no courage for a Representative to vote taxes now. He is entitled to no credit for doing it. The people are eager to be taxed, and no needed levy will be a tribute wrung from reluc- tance, but an offering laid with a bound at the feet of the coun- try. One thing is needed, and only one, to make taxation wel- come. The people must know what is to be done with their money. They must know that some things are not to be done with it. They must know that the money is not to be swept into the lap of gamblers and thieves, whether of high or low degree, in office or out. ******* Above all things else they must know that it is to be applied to the most vigorous policy of war — that policy most destructive of rebellion and most crushing to the idea, whoever dare suggest it, be he in high place or not, of a continental partition, or dis- memberment in any contingency. They must know that no idea of accepting anything less than absolute submission lurks undis- covered or glides unbruised near any department of the Govern- ment. They must know that dalliance and delay find no hiding- place either among the cushions or the saddles on which power is seated. ******* We have abundant means in our hands; the question is, Shall we make proper use of them ? Unless we appeal to the moneyed interest of the country with an adequate policy, we can get no money, and ought not to get it; we shall not deserve it. But if we do present a sound and solid policy, we can realize, and real- ize promptly, all the money we require. We can, in anticipation of taxation, realize it on paper based upon and to be retired by taxation, that being made part of the compact with the public creditor. If this very bill, in place of containing a legal-tender clause, had provided that every note which it proposes to utter should have stamped or inscribed upon it, " Based upon taxation," " To be redeemed by taxation," so as to be inwrought with taxa- tion, that mode of imparting value would, I submit, have been a Digitized by Microsoft® 158 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. vast improvement on the provision as it stands. Such a provision would have seemed like the magic touch of Hamilton. He says: " The true definition of public debt is a property subsisting in the faith of the Government. Its essence is promise. Its definite value depends upon the reliance that the promise will be faithfully fulfilled." ******* There has been some carping at the Committee of Ways and Means because they have not brought in a tax bill before this time. For one, I have no patience with such strictures. Charged, as the committee is, with more onerous and perplexing duties than rest on any other persons in the Government just now, I think it is entitled to the thanks of the House and of the country for its multiplied and conscientious labors, hastened, no doubt, as fast as possible. With very great respect to that portion of the committee favoring this bill, I venture to suggest some criticism upon it. It has not been put forward as a measure calculated or able to stand alone; it is admitted to be incomplete in itself. It is to be propped up by a tax bill. So far, so good; but the two together cannot stand without something else upon which to lean; they are both intended, as is now admitted, as a kind of pedal attachment to a bigger thing — a great banking scheme, a creature of gigantic proportions, "fearfully and wonderfully made! " * * * I do not wish to say anything disrespectful of this great bank- ing invention; but, with him of old, "I fear the Greeks," and when this Trojan horse is trotted out I hope some doubter with a spear will investigate his bowels and see what he is likely to emit, whether armed men or something else; and if armed men, we'll add them to that army which my colleague from the Onon- daga district [Mr. Sedgwick] said the other day goes into winter quarters in summer weather. There is one thing, however, about the proposed banking scheme, and about the bill before us, intended, probably, to at- tract votes, which seems of very questionable policy and very doubtful ethics. I mean hostility to the existing banks of the country. And inasmuch as I own not a farthing in the stock of any bank, and have not the slightest connection with one, perhaps a word in behalf of banks in loyal States will be borne with from me. The present troubles, or rather their own patriotic action, have Digitized by Microsoft® THE STA TE BANKS. 159 ■ broken the banks; for every commercial man in this House knows that the banks were never stronger than when the Secretary of the Treasury appealed to them for loans. They allowed the Government to carry off their specie, their capital from their vaults, and if that did not break them, they at all events might have adopted a policy which would have saved them. But they had to suspend, and the design of this bill would seem to be to prevent their resumption of specie payment. At ail events, it is obviously the policy in some quarters to preach a crusade against the present banks, and array prejudices and votes on that issue. There are two questions to determine before entering upon such a course: first. Is it expedient? second. Is it right? There are in the free States upwards of twelve hundred banks, with an aggregate capital of $350,000,000. They have fifteen thousand directors, and one hundred and eighty or two hundred thousand stockholders. They ramify everywhere, and connect themselves with all the capital of the country. In view of these facts, is it better for the Government to make the banks its fiscal enemies or its fiscal friends? If we have no further use for them, if we have done with them, if we are above and beyond them, it is of no importance as to expediency either way. But, even then, are we justified now in making war upon them ? The banks of New York, Philadelphia and Boston represent a capital of $119,000,- 000, in round numbers. Of that capital they have loaned to the Government $100,000,000. Has any other interest in the coun- try put so nearly its whole capital into the war? I know of none; and I submit to gentlemen whether, even if the stock and assets of these banks were not largely owned by orphans and widows, it would be quite the thing for us just now to indulge in unprofit- able hostility to banks? But, sir, if this scheme is the best thing that can be devised to sustain the credit of the Government, it is entitled to, and I hope will receive, every vote here, no matter whom it benefits or in- jures. It seems to be conceded by the advocates of the measure that unless the legal-tender clause is retained it would not be wise to pass it; in other words, that a good objection to that clause would be fatal to the bill. I propose, therefore, to assign my rea- Digitized by Microsoft® l6o LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. sons briefly for voting against the attempt by legislation to make paper a legal tender. The proposition is a new one. No precedent can be urged in its favor; no suggestion of the existence of such a power can be found in the legislative history of the country; and I submit to my colleague, as a lawyer, the proposition that this amounts to affirmative authority of the highest kind against it. Had such a power lurked in the Constitution, as construed by those who or- dained and administered it, we should find it so recorded. The occasion for resorting to it, or at least referring to it, has, we know, repeatedly arisen; and had such a power existed it would have been recognized and acted on. It is hardly too much to say, therefore, that the uniform and universal judgment of statesmen, jurists and lawyers has denied the constitutional right of Con- gress to make paper a legal tender for debts to any extent what- ever. But more is claimed here than the right to create a legal tender heretofore unknown. The provision is not confined to transactions in futuro, but is retroactive in its scope. It reaches back and strikes at every existing pecuniary obligation. ******* The Constitution of the United States is an instrument of dele- gated and enumerated powers, and Congress has no powers ex- cept those which the Constitution confers. Not so with the Leg- islatures of the States. They have all the residuum of legislative power. In looking, therefore, for a power in the Constitution of a State, the question usually is, has it been taken away or for- bidden ? But, in looking at the federal Constitution, the ques- tion is. Has the power been given; is it there ? Can you put your finger upon it among the grants of the Constitution? If not, if it is not there at all, you have not the power, and there is an end of the whole matter. But, sii', passing, as I see I must, from the constitutional ob- jections to the bill, it seems to me that its moral imperfections are equally serious. It will, of course, proclaim throughout the country a saturnalia of fraud, a carnival for rogues. Every agent, attorney, treasurer, trustee, guardian, executor, administrator, consignee, commission merchant and every other debtor of a fiduciary character, who has received for others money, hard Digitized by Microsoft® THE PROPOSED LEGAL-TENDER SYSTEM. I6l money, worth a hundred cents on the dollar, will forever release himself from liability by buying up fo|; that knavish purpose, at its depreciated value, the spurious currency which we shall have put afloat. Everybody will do it, except those who are more honest than the American Congress advises them to be. Think of savings' banks intrusted with enormous aggregates of the pit- tances of the poor, the hungry, and the homeless, the stranger, the needle-women, the widow and the orphan, and we are arrang- ing for a robbery of ten, if not of fifty per cent, of the entire amount, and that by a contrivance so new as never to have been discovered under the administrations of Monroe Edwards or James Buchanan. To reverse the picture; after the act shall have gone into effect, honest men undertake transactions based upon the spurious ten- der at its then value. By and by comes a repeal, and they are driven to ruin in multitudes by the inevitable loss incident to a return to a metallic currency. I understand there are forty thousand petitioners in both Houses now praying for the passage of a bankrupt law. Sir, provision will be needed on a scale of bankruptcy more liberal and gigantic than England ever saw, for the relief of honest people, who will be cheated and ruined under the legal-tender system now proposed, if the country makes the experiment and survives it. But, surmounting every legal impediment, and every dictate of conscience involved, viewing it as a mere pecuniary expedient, it seems too precarious and unpromising to deserve the slightest confidence. The whole scheme presupposes that the notes to be emitted will be lepers in the commercial world from the hour they are brought into it; that they will be shunned and condemned by the laws of trade and value. If this is not to be their fate, what is the sense, as was said in the federal constitutional Convention, in attempting to legislate their value up. Now, sir, I do not believe that you can legislate up the value of a thing any more than I believe you can make generals heroes by legislation. The Continental Congress tried legislating values up even by resorts to penalties, but the inexorable laws of trade, as independent as the law of gravitation, kept them down. I do Digitized by Microsoft® t62 life and letters of roscoe conk ling. believe you can legislate a value down, and that you can do it by attempting to legislate it«up, and I hope that my time will enable me to give some reasons for that; but let me continue the present point. My colleague argued that any other thing or metal, if stamped with the same value, would be as valuable as coin for commercial purposes within the jurisdiction of the Government so stamping it. Thus a piece of paper and a piece of gold stamped alike would be of equal value. Here is what he said: " Any other metal or thing that should be stamped, and its value reg- ulated by all the Governments of the world, Would pass equally as well in all commercial transactions as gold and silver, although not intrinsically as valuable. Exchange bills or Treasury notes, whose value is fixed by Gov- ernment, and stampted as money, would pass as money in the payment of debts within the jurisdiction of the Government fixing such value." Let us examine this. A piece of gold is coined into an eagle anX\'LIXJ. a history of the subject both at home and abroad. The following is a brief extract from his remarks : In turning to the practices of other nations, we find that we are the only Commercial State, I believe the only one in Christen- dom, without a system of bankruptcy. * * • The resources of the nation should be invigorateil and unlocked, even though in- dividuals may be the losers. * * * Whenever a system of bank- ruptcy is inaugurated — and there must be a Ivginning — it must be undertaken with a certain knowledge that in the shoal of men who rush for relief there will be a large percentage destitute of merit This is inevitable, but I deny that the percentage will be larger now than at an)- other time. On the contuiry, I Uiink, if it were worth while, reasons could be given for the belief that it would be less than it might be hereafter. On January 20 and February 3 the bankrupt law was again brought up, but after brief discus- sion it was laid on the table. On February 20 Mr. Conkling voted against a bill " to provide a national currency, secured by pledge of United States stocks, and to provide for the circulation and redemption thereof." On the twenty-sixth day of February, 1S63, re- garding" the bill to increase the number of general officers, he said : ****** * One of my chief sources of s;Uisfaction since I have had the honor of .1 seat upon this floor has been voting persistently against ever)' measure unnecessarily creating a new office, raising a sal- ary, or devoting to any use a penny of the public which I thought could be sp.ired. If 1 believed this measure unnecessar)' or un- avoidable, 1 should be against it. *»*#*»* Mr. Chairman, I do not often differ with my colle.igae, but I Digitized by Microsoft® SOME WITTY REMARKS. 187 differ now as to the willingness he avows to vote for a bill restrict- ing transactions in gold, if the Secretary of the Treasury should recommend it. I would not vote for such a bill. * * * i think it would be an idle attempt to defy the teachings of all his- tory. See what it is proposed to do. In the first place we issue paper money. Then we provide that everybody shall take it at par. Then we provide that there shall be no other money; this is done by the bank bill, and is to be done by the tax on the cir- culation, which attempts are making to force through. Now the proposition is to forbid the use of gold and silver, and we are told in new-fangled, mystifying phrases that the coin has become " de- monetized" that it is not "mobilized," and new terms are poured upon us to throw dust into our eyes. Mr. Vallandigham: Gold-dust. (Laughter.) Mr. Roscoe Conkling : No, sir, no dust of that kind ; any kind but that. Gold, we are told, has become a "commodity," not money, and therefore must be tabooed; we must prohibit trans- actions in it to keep paper up ; that is the same farce that has been repeatedly pla3'ed in history. A Member: Transactions on time? Mr. Roscoe Conkling : I do not care whether on time or on eternity. (Laughter.) It is just what our forefathers did in the time of Continental money. First they issued paper money. Then they said that everybody should take it. Then that every- body should take it at par. Finally they took the same step we are about to take, in the same false logic that controls us now. * * * And what became of it ? It sank so low * * * that it was not worth a shilling a peck, despite all their enactments. ******* Mr. White, of Indiana: Does the gentleman recollect how long the laws of Lycurgus substituting iron money for gold had effect ? Mr. Roscoe Conkling : Lycurgus was an early friend of mine, but much my senior. He was always reserved with me about his money matters (laughter), and therefore I do not know as much about his currency as I wish I did. The chairman of the Com- mittee of Ways and Means says he knows the Lycurgus alluded to and that he lives in Missouri. (Laughter.) I had reference to another man. Digitized by Microsoft® 1 88 LIFE AND LEISTERS OF ROSCOE CONK LING. Roscoe Conkling was a staunch supporter of Abraham Lincoln. In the autumn of 1862 the President had received a check at the polls, not only in the Empire State, but in various parts of the North. Mr. Conkling believed that the suc- cessful termination of the war could be achieved only through the re-election of Mr. Lincoln. Digitized by Microsoft® 1863-1865. CHAPTER XII. HE RESUMES LAW PRACTICE PATRIOTIC MEETINGS — ^ ADDRESSES HIS RENOMINATION AND ELECTION. IWTR. CONKLING'S second term in Congress having expired March 4, 1863, he returned to Utica and soon resumed the practice of his profession. On leaving Washington he spent a few days in the city of New York. He received an invitation signed by Mayor Opdyke and many leading citizens asking him to name a day when a complimentary dinner could be tendered to him. In reply he suggested " to-morrow as a convenient time" (March 12), and accordingly the banquet took place at Delmonico's. When the cloth was removed, the Mayor, who presided, made a brief address, to which Mr. Conkling responded. He began with some humorous remarks and then spoke in a patriotic strain. The several toasts were replied to by the Hon. David Dudley Field, General John Cochrane, Mr. John Jay and others. On March 20 a meeting of the National Loyal League was held at the Cooper Institute in New 189 Digitized by Microsoft® I go LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. York. Mr. Conkling was one of the four speakers, and we give below a short extract from his re- marks : * * * You come as the heirs of a priceless and imperilled birthright, the defenders of an endangered nationality. * * * You come as the guardians of a mild and nurturing Government assailed by parricides aud assassins, and your mission here is not to recast political parties, but to embalm in the hearts of your countrymen those institutions of equality and freedom in which the freest and best elements of existing systems are blended with the revelations and experience of buried centuries and epochs. Eighty years ago our fathers braved, for seven years, the greatest power on earth and endured all the hardships and pangs of civilized war, with the added horrors of the tomahawk and scalping-knife. They were sustained by an unfaltering purpose. What was it ? It was to plant the tree of constitutional liberty for all. ******* Why should there be, how can there be, any difference now be- tween those who are honestly for God and their country ? " Why," says one, " there are acts of the Administration that I cannot ap- prove of." * * * I advocated the election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency. I voted for him, and, as the representative in Con- gress of a proud and loyal constituency, I have always endeavored to sustain and uphold his Administration. I have confidence in him, and yet there are a great many things which the Administra- tion has done that I do not approve of. But is that any reason why I should not stand by it and hold up its hands even to the uttermost? ["No, No."] Why, if you think you have a poor administration, so much the more it is your duty to help it along. * * * If you cannot sustain Mr. Lincoln for any other reason, sustain him because he is President. Go for the crown, if it hangs on a bush. On the twelfth of April, 1863, which was the Sumter anniversary, the National Loyal League Digitized by Microsoft® MR. VALLANDIGHAM, OF OHIO. I9I again held a mass meeting on Union Square, New York. Among others, Mr. Conkling made a stir- ring speech, which was well received by the thou- sands of hearers. At Mechanics' Hall, Utica, Mr. Conkling, on May 26, spoke a third time at the Convention of the Loyal Leagues, to which dele- gates from every county in the State were invited to attend. New York was divided into eight dis- tricts, and Roscoe Conkling was one of the two members from the fifth district upon the Com- mittee on Address and Resolutions. In his speech he discussed the recent arrest of his former Congressional associate, Clement L. Vallandigham, of Ohio, charged with publicly counselling resistance to the laws. Vallandigham was tried and convicted. He then applied to a Democratic judge, who issued a writ of habeas corptis; but upon its return a judgment was ren- dered which held that he had been properly arrest- ed, and that the case was one in which the judicial power ought not to interfere. This decision ex- cited the " Copperheads " of the city of New York, and led to indignation meetings. Referring to these latter proceedings Mr. Conk- ling said : The whole swarm of sharks and pestilent beings — men who, long before anybody had been arbitrarily arrested; men who, long before one single act had occurred, except the issue by the Presi- Digitized by Microsoft® 192 LIFE AND LE TIERS OF ROSCOE CONK LING. dent of his proclamation in which he called for seventy-five thousand men to preserve from instant extinction your nationality, the very symbols, archives and vestiges of it — when the Presi- dent had done only that, these men reared their heads in base de- nunciation. The whole swarm cries out " Treason!" and indigna- tion meetings are held — indignation meetings which, when they were opened, required word to be sent to the officers of our brave volunteers to keep them away, lest their indignation should termi- nate the proceedings. The same men who will not let the soldiers vote [Applause] justify the Executive of the State in sending to the Senate a message or a political diatribe, which I believe he had no right to send, because no document had been sent him to sign ; but upon his own deliberation he stalks into the Senate with a threat that he will veto their action if they take a certain course. I say it was an act which no House of Commons in England would have submitted to from that which cut off Charles's head. [Ap- plause.] But these men, I say, who want to exclude the soldiers from voting; who send to officers of regiments to prevent soldiers coming to their meetings; those whose pride it ought to be, every day and every night, to reward the heroic ones for their services in the field [Applause] ; the men, who are still outraging public sentiment and trampling upon the rights of the most patriotic ones in the community, have assembled and stand forth bravely as the elected champions of free speech. Who are these men who are so anxious about the God-given right of free speech ? Men have taken part in these indignation meetings, who, I will say — and I will prove it — men have taken part in these meetings, making speeches, and sending messages to arouse the worst pas- sions of the populace, who, within two years and a half, have met secretly, clandestinely, and at night, to arrange to mob a woman because she sought, in a hall which she hired herself, to talk to a few old maids about free speech. But, my fellow-citizens, it is one of the characteristics of this unholy rebellion that you and I are compelled to sit down meekly as disciples of free speech at the feet of those who have for thirty years trampled upon every element of that right. [Applause.] No matter, I did not mean to multiply so many words about that. [" Go on!"] Now I am entirely of opinion — as much so as any gentleman in this room — Digitized by Microsoft® LETTER FROM MR. THROOP. 193 that we ought not to be induced, even to seem — not even to seem, for I would have not only the esse but the vi'deri of the thing — not to seem to give one single inch to the rant and fustian and clamor of these men. They wanted to piclc a flaw and have taken this step to do it. They would array popular passion and prejudice against this Administration, and have seized upon this thing in order to do it. I know they are hypocrites and they know they are. Mr. Conkling now gave himself up to the prac- tice of his long-neglected profession. We have seen that before going to Congress he was one of the ablest advocates in Central New York ; that he was a " cause getting " lawyer before a jury ; and that when he was retained in a case, the most eminent counselors of the Oneida and Herkimer Circuits were engaged to oppose him. In 1862 he had dissolved partnership with Mont- gomery H. Throop, and in the same year he asked Robert Earl, of Herkimer, to become his associate. Mr. Earl accepted the proposal, but owing to ill- health was obliged to withdraw. Hence Mr. Conkling remained alone in practice for some eight years. As to his ability as a law- yer, the following letter from his former partner may interest the reader. 302 State Street, Albany, May 27, 1889. My Dear Sir : I never heard either Daniel Webster or Rufus Choate ; I have often heard Joshua A. Spencer, and * * * I have often sat through trials conducted by him. I think that Mr. Conkling was a much stronger trial lawyer than Mr. Spencer. 13 Digitized by Microsoft® Ig4 -t/i^ff AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. I purposely use the word "trial " instead of "jury," because Mr. Conkling was not only unexcelled in presenting his cause to a jury, but he had a quickness and readiness of resources in all the emergencies of a trial, however sudden and unexpected, which it is no exaggeration to characterize as wonderful. It mattered not what unexpected and adverse circumstance occurred — unforeseen testimony from his opponent, the breaking down of his own wit- ness, a hostile intimation from the judge or a juror, or the like — he was always quick and ready to meet it ; always " fell upon his feet," and either parried it or, not unfrequently, turned it to his own benefit. ******* But as a trial lawyer, as respects either the examination and cross-examination of witnesses, the summing up of the cause to the jury, and the general management of a trial, I never saw his equal, or any approach to his equal, for readiness, fertility of re- sources, quickness of apprehension, tact, perseverance, persua- siveness, brilliant eloquence, and every other quality which enables a man to shine on such an occasion. And I, who say this, was, during the years I was with him, better qualified than any other person to judge upon such points, for I always knew, what his skill concealed from others, where the weak point was. Yours very truly, Montgomery H. Throop. A. R. Conkling, Esq. In consequence of this facility, and in fact genius, in cross-examination and in addressing juries, which he shared with his old preceptor, Joshua A. Spencer, he often said to a legal brother, "My proper place is to be before twelve men in the box." His thorough preparation of the law of both sides of a case generally gave him an advantage over his opponents, and he almost always had something in reserve, which he brought Digitized by Microsoft® A HOSTILE JUDGE. 195 out at the proper time. He could do and say the right thing at the right moment, and thus was never " cornered " in court. This genius for cross-examination in the face of pubhc opinion and serious obstacles was never better shown than in the Budge murder trial, and in the court-martial of Major Haddock, which will be fully described on succeeding pages. His shrewdness and courage in the presence of a hostile and impatient judge were well displayed in the defence of one Evans, who was indicted for arson in Lewis County. At the trial it was proved that the prisoner had been tracked in the snow for the distance of eight miles. Concerning the shape of his boots there was some doubt in the mind of the witnesses for the people. Finally Mr. Conkling cross-examined the maker of the boots in question. He testified that the heels were small and pointed. The counsel for the accused repeated his question (as was his habit when he believed the witness was mistaken) and said, " Are you sure that the boots were of such a shape ?" Here the Judge (LeRoy Morgan) interrupted and said, " Mr. Conkling, we've had enough of this." Thereupon the latter replied, " Will the clerk please enter what the court has just stated?," The record was made and read to the Judge, who did not sus- pect the aim of the counsel. Now it so happened Digitized by Microsoft® 196 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. that the boots were not mated, and that one heel was big and the other small and sharp. When the Judge was charging the jury, and reference was made to the character of the foot- prints in the snow, Mr. Conkling interposed, re- minding his Honor that he had not permitted him to proceed on cross-examination and bring out the facts. This incident ended the case, and the court directed an acquittal. There is reason to believe that if the District-Attorney had known what Mr. Conkling's point was, the prisoner would have been convicted. The next important case in which Mr. Conkling engaged was that of Charles E. Hopson, who, in July, 1863. was arrested as a deserter by the pro- vost-marshal of the Oneida Congressional district. Mr. Conkling, being authorized to appear for the Government, made an elaborate opening argu- ment. He was followed by the Hon. Francis Ker- nan for the prisoner. In reply to the points raised by Mr. Kernan, he argued at some length. The case involved a conflict between the national and State tribunals, and required serious examination. On August 25 Judge Bacon rendered an opinion to the effect that " the order for an attachment is vacated, the writ of habeas corpus is discharged, and the prisoner is to remain in the custody of the provost-marshal to be dealt with according to law." Digitized by Microsoft® AN ALLEGED DESERTER. 197 An appeal from this decision was taken to the General Term of the Supreme Court, but upon the questions involved these judges were equally- divided, and hence there was no authoritative statement of the law in this case. It is found in Barbour's reports. Although Mr. Conkling's argument is interesting to lawyers, it is too long to print, and an extract would be unsatisfactory ; suffice it to say that it is a most complete vindica- tion of the course taken by the Government in re- gard to deserters. Referring to the victory of Roscoe Conkling, Judge Bacon, in a recent letter to the author, says: * * * "The ability with which Mr. Conkling argued the question entirely changed my original impression, and deserves commemoration." Four days after the argument, but, of course, before the decision, Mr. Conkling wrote the fol- lowing letter. It shows his constant watch for the welfare of the Government. Utica, August II, 1863. Sir : Referring to your dispatch and letter, which I acknowl- edged at the time by mail, I have the honor to inform you that the case of Hopson, an alleged deserter, has been very fully argued, and, it is hoped, with favorable effect. Judge Bacon is preparing an opinion which, I think, will reverse his original de- cision and be very satisfactory to the Government. ******* I take leave to say, and I will thank you to show this to Mr. Stanton, that I am persuaded the draft should take place in this Digitized by Microsoft® IqS LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. district at the earliest day for which it can be arranged. Through- out the State each day of delay not absolutely necessary is hurt- ful in many ways. I have the honor to be, your obedient servant, RoSCOE CONKLING. The Provost-Marshal General, Washington, D. C. In September he again appeared for the Govern- ment in two habeas corpus cases arisirig under the draft. The arguments were heard by the Hon. Nathan K. Hall (the successor of Judge Conkling) in the United States District Court. During the autumn it does not appear that Mr. Conkling took an active part in politics. On No- vember 3 the election was held and the State ticket of the Republican party was chosen. In 1864 Roscoe Conkling, while holding no official position, was vigilant of the interests and comfort of the soldiers, as shown by his letters on file in the War Department. On the twenty-sixth of February, 1864, a mass convention of prominent Union men of Oneida County assembled at Rome. Mr. Conkling was one of a committee of eight appointed to draft and report resolutions. The Convention adopted six resolutions, which endorsed warrrily the course of President Lincoln and recommended his re- nomination by the coming National Convention. The attitude of the Union men of Oneida, and especially of Mr. Conkling, is interesting in view Digitized by Microsoft® LETTER FROM ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 199 of the opposition to Lincoln among disaffected Republicans, which afterward manifested itself in the call for an independent convention at Cleveland, Ohio,* just before the regular Repub- lican National Convention of Baltimore. Senti- mental, self-styled leaders in the party had raised the cry of " Anything-to-beat-Lincoln !" but, for- tunately for the welfare of the Union, this oppo- sition soon collapsed, for at the Baltimore Con- vention June 7 the liberator of four million men was nominated by acclamation after Missouri had cast her twenty-two votes for Grant. During the summer some dissatisfied Republi- cans opposed the renomination of Mr. Conkling. His intimate friend, the Hon. Ward Hunt, wrote to the President and received the following reply : Executive Mansion, Hon. Ward Hunt : Washington, Aug. 16 ON, ) , 1864. \ My Dear Sir : Yours of the 9th inst. was duly received, and submitted to Secretary Seward. He makes a response, which I herewith enclose to you. I add for myself that I am for the regu- lar nominee in ail cases, and that no one could be more satisfac- tory to me as the nominee in that district than Mr. Conkling. I do not mean to say there are not others as good as he in the dis- trict, but I think I know him to be at least good enough. Yours truly, A. Lincoln. * Here Generals John C. Fremont and John Cochrane, of New York, were nominated. Digitized by Microsoft® 200 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. Republican sentimentalists were trying to in- duce Lincoln to withdraw, for they entertained the delusion that he could not be re-elected. In reply to the call for a new convention, Mr. Conk- ling wrote the following letters to John Austin Stevens, Jr. : Utica, August 24, 1864. My Dear Sir: Yours of yesterday is at hand with its enclosure. I do not approve of the call or of the movement, and cannot sign it; for that reason, of course, I cannot present it to others to sign. This being my position, it would not be proper nor agreeable to others that I should be present at the conference you speak of, so I must deny myself the pleasure of meeting gentlemen for whom personally I have the highest regard. Can you be right in saying that the private conversation of gentlemen was telegraphed to Washington ? Will you be kind enough to' tell me particularly what there is of this — what was telegraphed ? and what proof have you of it ? I have a special reason for wanting to know, and shall be obliged to you if you will take the trouble to give me particulars. Your friend and servant, R. CONKLING. John Austin Stevens, Jr., Esqr. Utica, August 28, 1864. My Dear Sir : I have the pleasure to acknowledge yours of day before yesterday. I can hardly comprehend, or even credit, on any supposition, how all you say can have taken place. But you seem to have proof enough to show the danger of doing anything in these times except minding one's own business. You may rely on the " call " never making its public appear- ance through me, but I want to say now, while it is yet in season, to prophesy that the whole thing will be out, not in one place, but all over, presently, and I don't know why it is not now. Digitized by Microsoft® A TRUTHFUL PREDICTION. 20I Several days ago a gentleman here mentioned to me that he had received a call (it was the same you sent to me) from a per- son in your city, with whom he had no special relationship, politi- cally or otherwise, with a request to obtain signatures. So much for so much. You can all consult your convenience and ease in the prosecution of 7vhat you propose, T think, for we are dropping downstream 7vith a rapidity which will make your landing, whether you paddle or not. Your friend, ROSCOE CoNKLING. On the day after Roscoe Conkling wrote the above letter, his brother Frederick, who was the colonel of the Eighty-fourth New York Vol- unteers — a regiment raised at his own expense — received the following interesting order from Sec- retary Stanton : War Department, ) Washington City, August 29, 1864. | Col. Conlding, Eighty-fourth Regiment, New York: Colonel: This Department has been informed that a rebel officer is harbored or concealed at or near The Pines, near Seneca; that a gang of horse thieves are encamped or resort near there; that a large contraband trade is carried on, and persons are en- gaged in the manufacture of rebel uniforms, and other disloyal practices. You are directed to use the utmost efforts to arrest the officer, seize, try and execute all marauders and horse thieves, and seize, try and , execute all persons engaged in contraband trade or giving aid to the rebels. Yours, &c., Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. The Democratic National Convention met at Chicago on the same day (August 29), and, upon a platform which declared " the war a failure," Digitized by Microsoft® 202 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOB CONKLING. nominated General George B. McClellan for President and George H. Pendleton for Vice- President. Mr. Conkling was renominated for Congress by a convention held at Rome, September 22, 1864; and he asked to be allowed to decline the nomina- tion in a speech in which he said : I cannot conceal nor can I express the gratification your cor- diality awakens. The nomination you have bestowed and the warmth with which you greet me add another to unnumbered acts of generosity and kindness received at the hands of my neighbors. For months past friends have constantly brought me flattering and urgent assurances that the Union people of the district de- sired me again to represent them, and I cannot deny that these assurances, followed by a spontaneous nomination, have given me much satisfaction. * * * Your nomination is equivalent to an election. If there has ever been any doubt of this district, it has vanished before Sherman and Hancock and Farragut and Grant and Phil Sheridan, and the glorious soldiers with them, who are just now " interfering in elections " and sending dismay into that party whose only chance of triumph must come out of defeat of the Union arms. You have therefore only to nominate a man true to the cause and fit for the place, and above all suspicion of venality, and his election is secure. There is no lack of such candidates ; there are names at your command which will abundantly satisfy all Union men and reflect credit upon the district. / therefore beg the Convention to alloiv me to decline the nomina- tion, to retain my place in the ranks, where I will do any duty you may lay upon me, now and in the future. My interest and inclina- tion are so much averse to a continuance in political life that you must allow me to retire. In conclusion, allow me to assure you that I shall ever grate- fully cherish you and the people of Oneida County as over-indul- gent friends. Digitized by Microsoft® DECLINES A RENOMJNA TION. 203 The only portion of Mr. Conkling's remarks which were not received with favor was that an- nouncing his decHnation. C. T. Pooler, of Mar- shall, immediately rose and moved that his nomi- nation be reaffirmed by acclamation. The motion was unanimously carried, with applause from all parts of the house. It is due to Mr. Conkling to say that in addition to his renomination by the Convention after he had declined, delegates and others gathered around him and insisted that he should be their candidate. Six days after his nomination Mr. Conkling spoke in support of President Lincoln at Devereux Hall in the town of Oneida. He denounced the Rebellion, advocated a continuance of the war, and declared the great importance of the then impending election, saying that the life of the nation and the existence of free institutions de- pended on the re-election of Abraham Lincoln. He held that with the re-election of Mr. Lincoln the Rebellion would be overcome, and contended that "a cessation of hostilities," which was the key-note of the Democratic campaign of that year, was noth- ing else than a lure with which to trick and cheat the nation into a recognition of the Confederacy. Mr. Conkling's prestige as a local leader was not injured by his defeat in 1862. With advanc- ing years his temperament changed slightly. The Digitized by Microsoft® 204 i/^-fi' AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. exactions of legal life, and, to some extent, the needs of his political experience, apparently estranged him from the masses, although he was naturally one of the most approachable of men. His opportunities as an advocate were constantly enlarged, but political leadership was thrust upon him, and he soon became the legatee of WiUiam H. Seward. This was, perhaps, assured by his steadfast support of Lincoln. In this campaign (1864) Mr. Conkling's chances of election were greatly aided by the valuable support of the New York newspapers that were identified with the Union cause. Enthusiastic and whole-hearted appeals to the people of the Oneida district appeared in their editorial columns, repre- senting him to be " undeniably one of the ablest and most devotedly loyal men in the State, fear- less and eloquent, possessing experience, and a staunch supporter of Mr. Lincoln's administra- tion." Among the newspapers extending their aid were the New York Tribune, then edited by Hor- ace Greeley; the New York Times, edited by Henry J. Raymond ; and the New York Evening Post, directed by the veteran William Cullen Bryant. The religious press of the State, speaking through the New York Independent, advocated in the same editorial article the election of Roscoe Conkling in Oneida County, and George William Curtis on Digitized by Microsoft® THE HOME OF SEYMOUR. 205 Staten Island. Both of them, it will be remem- bered, afterward appeared at the Rochester State Convention of the year 1877 where Mr. Conkhng criticised Mr. Curtis for his political course. The following letters were addressed to John Austin Stevens, of New York: Utica, Oct. 8, 1864. My Dear Sir : I have a stiff fight for Congress in this district with three or four men, in our ranlfs ostensibly, who two years ago cost Gen. Wadsworth and myself many votes in this district — about 250 or 300. The operation is again to be attempted, and I want, as far as I can properly have it, the aid and sympathy of our leading friends and journals. The Evening Post had a most friend- ly and handsome paragraph the other day, which was of service. Knowing your intimate and influential relationship with the Post, and elsewhere all around you, I venture to ask you to look over the " Record " I enclose, that you may see what sort of com- petitor I have, &c., &c., and to ask you further that you give me any aid you can by press or suggestion. " The home of Seymour " is a place in which we need all the help we can get at best, and now the operation which the opposi- tion have started to get and use money makes it especially need- ful to have the sympathy of our leading friends. If this will trouble you, dismiss it ; but if not, I shall be very greatly indebted if you will give me a lift. Your friend, ROSCOE CONKLING. Utica, Oct. 10, 1864. My Dear Sir : I have your two notes. Suffice it now to say, in the haste of this moment — I thank you. The Tribune needs no urging. I trust I may yet be able to show you how thoroughly I appre- ciate your good-will. Your friend, R. CONKLING. Digitized by Microsoft® 206 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. The Daily Wisconsin, of Milwaukee, in the edition of Friday, October 21, 1864, paid Roscoe Conkling the following compliment : ******* On the great question of the issue of " legal-tender " Treasury notes, Mr. Conkling proved himself to be a statesman of the first class. We cordially hope that the people of Oneida will re-elect this gifted man to Congress by an overwhelming majority. At the present crisis such men are needed in public trusts. The same article referred to the fact that he had repeatedly told the President that the federal troops could not succeed in Virginia while Gen- eral McClellan was in command. During the autumn Mr. Conkling frankly said to his brother-in-law (Horatio Seymour), " Gov- ernor, you'll be defeated and I'll be elected." For several weeks he devoted his untiring energy as an organizer and orator to the cause of the Union ticket, for, as is stated in another part of this volume, he was not tenacious of the word " Republican." The reader will remember that the County Convention which nominated Mr. Conkling bore the name Union. At the election in November, he was success- ful by a majority of 1,150 votes. His great triumph became apparent early in the evening, and in response to impatient and repeated calls, he soon made his appearance on the platform of Con- cert Hall (where Republicans were receiving the Digitized by Microsoft® RECEIVES MANY DEMOCRATIC VOTES. 207 returns) amidst a tornado of welcoming applause. He entertained his audience in his happiest style for nearly two hours. At length the special train from Boonville arrived, bringing returns which showed in that town 735 majority for Conkling. Cheers and hand - shakings followed, while cannon boomed outside and bonfires blazed. An active politician in Utica tells the author that in the autumnal election of 1864 Roscoe Conk- ling received nearly one-third of the Democratic vote of the county. It is strange that while he was always one of the fiercest and most unsparing assailants of the Democratic party, many of his most profound admirers were the Democrats of Oneida. After his promotion to the Senate it was often remarked that if the votes of his Democratic townsmen could have made Mr. Conkling Presi- dent of the United States he would have reached that distinction. Mr. Conkling's next conspicuous appearance in public was in the libel suit of Sawyer versus Van Wyck. This is one of the series of cases to which we referred on page 121, and which would be given to illustrate the assimilating power of Mr. Conk- ling's mind. It was the first case of the kind that Digitized by Microsoft® 208 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. came to him, and, so far as we know, his first libel suit. After his resumption of legal practice in the city of New York, he defended libel cases against the New York World successfully ; and these will be described in the latter part of this volume. The plaintiff in the suit of Sawyer vs. Van Wyck was a clergyman and a critic of the Bible. He had just written a book entitled Re- co7tstruction of Biblical Theories ; or, Biblical Sci- ence Improved. The defendant was the proprietor of the Chris- tian hitelligencer, which was published in the city of New York. In March, 1863, he printed a brief but unfavorable review of the work, and recom- mended "that the author go, without delay, to Natal, and assist the bewildered bishop of that enlightened colony, or else remove to England and take orders in the Established Church." Ac- cordingly the Rev. Mr. Sawyer sued the newspaper for libel, and the case was tried in February, 1864, when the jury failed to agree. The Hon. Gerrit Smith appeared for the plaintiff. One year later the suit was again brought to trial before the Hon. Joseph MuUin in the city of Utica. The point at issue was whether a man who denied the in- spiration of the Scriptures and of their vital doc- trines was libelled if called an infidel. Roscoe Conkling defended Mr. Van Wyck. Digitized by Microsoft® A THEOLOGICAL LIBEL SUIT 2OQ The charge of the judge was favorable to the de- fendant, and the jury, being out less than ten minutes, returned with the verdict " no cause for action." It is worthy of remark that Mr. Conkling's ser- vices were virtually gratuitous. His argument was published, together with a complimentary editorial, in the Christian Intelligencer of March 2, 1865, from which we give an extract : May it please the Court, Gentlemen of the jury : The apparent parties to this controversy are but two individuals. The one seelcs the other's money ; and the immediate question is whether he shall have it or no. In this view the case is like all others between man and man. But, in a graver sense, it is one case picked out of ten thousand. Indeed, if its like ever came into court before, it has left no trace in the records of the law. The counsel for the plaintiff says it involves the right to speak the truth. It does involve that right as now enjoyed by every man and woman in the State. But it involves a great deal more. A verdict for the plaintiff would affirm, not only that the truth may not be published, but that a religious teacher may not warn his own flock against false doctrines and false professors ; that a disciple of the cross may not defend by words the doctrines which his Master died to immortalize and sanctify. The plaintiff asserts for himself, and no one denies it, the right of complete freedom and belief and disbelief. * * * He holds and publishes dogmas which may be abhorrent to the Chris- tian world and shocking to the sense and consciences of men, and in the eye of human law he is void of offence in doing so. He can be tried before but one earthly tribunal, and that is the bar of pub- lic opinion. That temple has till now been open since free govern- ment began, but the hinges so long rusted must creak again, and the doors be closed, if this action can stand before an American jury. 14 Digitized by Microsoft® 2IO LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. The Constitution of the United States, which, despite libel suits and rebellion, still lives as the supreme law of the land, gives the plaintiff a guaranty that he and his descendants and converts shall forever enjoy complete liberty in religious belief, and the right is theirs also to proclaim any doctrines to the world ; but the same Constitution says that the freedom of the press shall never die, and that the defendant may speak as he deserves of every man who thrusts his theories before the public. The parties take their stands under these conditions. The plaintiff chooses to become a theological pugilist ; he seeks pub- lic religious controversy ; he enters the arena of dispute ; he as- sails sacred things ; he wounds the keenest sensibilities ; he levels his blows at the devout, the inoffensive and the unresisting ; he plants himself upon new positions and challenges all comers ; he gets worsted or he creates less sensation than he expected, and he takes refuge in court and asks damages against a man who has scratched him with a pen — a pen ! the very weapon he himself has wielded to destroy tranquillity, to unsettle faith, to darken hope, to put out that only light which burns unquenched amid the deadly vapors of the tomb. Here Mr. Conkling analyzed the testimony at great length. Although this case created much popular interest at the time, a full report of his long argument seems undesirable. Having com- mented upon the evidence, he thus concluded : Gentlemen, a verdict is asked in this case, not for wounded feelings ; not for any annoyance the plaintiff may have felt at the mention made of him ; not for any injury he has sustained in his personal standing or reputation ; not for diminished sale of any books or publications in which he may be interested ; not for loss of caste as clergyman, or preacher, or even as a business man. All these things are shut out of the case by the allegations and omissions of the complaint. The sole ground of action is alleged damage to the reputation of the plaintiff as a Pibllcal author. No malice is proved, but all Digitized by Microsoft® sAivy£j? vs. VAN ivrcAr. sit malice is disproved ; therefore smart-money cannot be asked, but only strict compensation. I have endeavored to show you that he is just such a Biblical author as the Christian Intelligencer pro- nounced him. If he is, the defendant would not have been liable even had his paper been the means of first assigning the plaintiff his true position before the public. I want now to show you that the notoriety of the plaintiff as an infidel is not due at all to the de- fendant, or to the libel here complained of, but to very different causes. Long before the twenty-sixth of March, 1863, the time the libel was published, Mr. Sawyer formally and publicly withdrew from all fellowship with the Presbyterian and Congregational churches. He did not do so, however, until after repeated avow- als, not made in confidence or secrecy, to Dr. Fowler and to others, that he had ceased to hold the creed he formerly espoused. Having loosened himself from ecclesiastical ties, he became an ex- horter in a secular audience-room in Boston, of assemblages which he styled a " Catholic Congregational Society." This society claimed no relationship to any established church or sect ; it was composed entirely of infidels and backsliders from Christian faith, and the discourses delivered unfolded the sentiments which have been read from Biblical Science Improved and from Mark, and which you have heard avowed by the plaintiff as a witness. Mr. Sawyer thus became a self-proclaimed apostate from faith to free- thinking. ******* So far did all these eccentricities lend fragrance to the repu- tation of the plaintiff that, as he tells us, newspapers — not Sunday papers, or orthodox papers, or religious papers, but secular papers — rejected his communications and refused to admit him into their columns ; and this for the reason that they regarded his produc- tions as infidel in character. An attempt was made to show that the New York Independent printed his articles nearly as late as March, 1863, but on cross- examination it appeared that, the Rev. Dr. Cuyler having de- nounced him in the Independent, he claimed the right to be heard in reply; this of course was accorded him, and, save on this occa- Digitized by Microsoft® 2 1 2 UFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONK LING. sion, it Is years since anything from Mr. Sawyer has been allowed to appear in any paper except the Boston Investigator. Thus it will be seen that, having assumed the character of a skeptic, this gentleman has managed, long before the Intelligencer noticed him, to bring himself into the very white of the public eye. Among the missionaries and other adherents of the Dutch Re- formed Church who comprise the readers of the defendant's jour- nal there was no field for the plaintiff, after all this, as a Biblical author, and therefore no substantial harm came to him from the notice he received. If, therefore, the words had not been justified, the damages would have been only nominal, but we were called upon to justify in order to defend against even nominal damages. Gentlemen, I have done. The case for the defendant is with you, and upon it I ask a verdict which shall shield the rights of all ; which shall assert the freedom of the press ; which shall ac- cord to the plaintiff, and to all of us, absolute liberty in matters of religion ; which shall say to whom it may concern that those who get into fisticuffs about theology, or attempt publicly to pom- mel religion, must abide by the rules of the ring, and not expect juries, if they get hurt, to poultice their bruises. Digitized by Microsoft® 1865. CHAPTER XIII. THE HADDOCK COURT-MARTIAL, TPHE basis of this celebrated trial is found in the following letter from Mr. Conkling to the Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, then Secretary of War, and to the Provost-Marshal General. It seems to have been the first note of warning to the Govern- ment, and " the hand-writing on the wall " to the whole army of bounty brokers, with their con- federates and coadjutors. UxicA, N. Y., January 28, 1865. Sir : I have the honor to ask attention to impediments whicl) Major Haddock, A. A. Provost- Marshal General at Elmira, puts in the way of recruiting here, and which have become so great as to baffle the efforts of Supervisors, Provost-Marshal, and all the rest who are trying to forward enlistments. In the first place, he requires that five-eighths of the local bounty shall be withheld from the volunteer and sent to Elmira to him or a person there designated by him. At Elmira the recruit is paid twenty dollars and the balance is sent to the front, there to be first paid, and the soldier to take the chances of find- ing an opportunity to send it back here. This restriction, whether designed for good or not, will not be accepted by the men who want to enlist, nor by Supervisors and Digitized by Microsoft® 214 I-JfP^ ■'^^^ LETTERS OF XOSCOE CONK'LINd. Others who raise llie inoiiey. The soldiers want to have the money for wives and parents, so as to arrange before they start. In the next place, Major Haddock peremptorily requires the local bounties to be forwarded exclusively in greenbacks or notes of national banks. We cannot get these by any possibility, although we have been and are paying a premium for all we can lay hold of. These things, with some others, have greatly retarded us in filling our quota, which Major Haddock some weeks ago tele- graphed here and wrote was 275, which he has varied twice since, and which turns out to be 1044, after the regulations which we have been put under, and the information we received from Major Had- dock, had substantially put an end to the business of recruiting. I most earnestly ask, writing as I do at the request of commit- tees and other patriotic citizens, that such action may be taken that we shall be allowed a mode of proceeding more practicable and reasonable. We can get men, and, we think, good men, if we are allowed to. ******* I have the honor to be, your ob't serv't, ROSCOE CONKLING. To the Secretary of War and the Provost-Marshal Gen- eral, Washington, D. C* * That Mr. Conkling took a warm interest in the welfare of the soldiers long previous to this date is shown by the following correspondence : [Copy.] Utica, N. Y. , January 9, '64. My Dear Sir: I am sorj-y to add to your troubles, but the condition of the volunteers from this State who have been sent to Elmira demands im- mediate attention. Col. Diven has, I think, done all he could, and I don't write in a spirit of fault-finding toward anyone. But in the present intense weather many men from this county and elsewhere have been kept there for two weeks and upwards without overcoats, and with no shelter in which there is a fire and which they can occupy during the day. They are told to make fires out-doors and warm themselves in that way. This is the account brought back by those who go and come, and beside the suffering of the men, other most injurious eiiects flow from it. Can't there be other rendezvous established in the State? We have ac- commodations here, and they have elsewhere. Digitized by Microsoft® PliA UDS nv THE RECRVITmc SER VICE. 2 1 5 Extensive and pernicious frauds in the recruit- ing service in the Western Division of New York having become known to the pubHc, as well as to the authorities, detectives were sent from Wash- ington to different places in the Division to watch the proceedings there in the bureau of the Pro- vost-Marshal General. These officers several times visited Utica and called upon Mr. Conkling as one of those to whom they had been directed to dis- close their errand, and sought such information as could be given them of places and persons. Their investigations convinced them of a wide-spread system of plunder and unlawful gain emanating from Elmira, or at least receiving sanction there. The facts which they had gathered, and some discoveries made by Mr. Conkling, proved conclu- sively that the tax-payers of many districts were But I won't suggest ; suffice it to say that the tale that comes from El- mira will not bear repetition. Let something be done quickly. Your friend, etc., etc., R. Conkling. Hon. E. M. Stanton. [Copy.] War Department, 1 Washington City, 4:40 p. m. , January 13, 1864. S Hon. RoscoE Conkling, Utica, N. Y. Your letter was received to-day, and was the first intimation that any- thing was needed at Elmira. I have despatched an officer to correct the evil, and will punish anyone who has been guilty of neglect or misconduct in the premises. I thank you for your kindness in apprising me of the condition of things. Edwin M. Stanton. Digitized by Microsoft® 2 1 6 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. robbed, recruits and their families swindled, and the military service demoralized and de- graded ; and this not merely by adventurers and avowed speculators in the public distress, but by those who controlled official action. Of all these things Mr. Conkling duly informed the authorities. The officers also reported the re- sults of their inquiries, and still further investiga- tions were ordered and made. Mr. Conkling thus states his first connection with the affair : * * * Unexpectedly, as I was leaving home to keep a pro- fessional engagement in another direction, a telegraphic dispatch was received from the Secretary of War requesting me to come to Washington at once. No intimation was given of the occasion of the summons or of the subject to which it related. Upon reaching Washington I was for the first time informed that the Acting Assistant Provost-Marshal General at Elmira had been removed, and his successor named, and that he was to be arrested and tried for frauds and corrupt complicities in the ad- ministration of his office. Many papers relating to the matter were submitted to me, and among them a report by an inspector of the regular army, then lately returned from detail to visit Elmira and other places in the Western Division of New York, in which occurs the following ex- tract : I have the honor to report further that, incident to the inspection of the twenty-first district, facts in relation to the administration of Major Haddock, A. A. P.-M. General for Western Division of New York, were adduced which led me to the conviction that he is unfit for the position he holds. Men of undoubted character charge him with being insolent and abusive in discharging his duties and grossly immoral; that he is in col- lusion with bounty brokers, and prostitutes his official position to personal ends. Digitized by Microsoft® APPOINTED JUDGE-AD VOCA TE. 217 The Secretary of War requested me to act as counsel for the United States in the prosecution contemplated, and to conduct the prosecution of Major Haddock. The suggestion was new entirely, the retainer was not desirable, and could not be acceptable without serious injury to more profitable professional employment. I pro- posed in my stead, an eminent lawyer known to the Department, and also suggested the question of the selection of any civilian to act as judge-advocate. It was the wish of the Secretary of War, however, that I should execute his request, and I undertook to do so. Directions were given me to reduce to form the charges and specifications against Major Haddock without loss of time, and subsequently the following orders were received.* War Defartment, ) Washington City, April 3, 1865. ) Sir : I am instructed by the Secretary of War to authorize you to in- vestigate all cases of fraud in the Provost-Marshal's Department of the Western Division of New York, and all misdemeanors connected with re- cruiting. You will from time to time make report to this Department of the prog- ress of your labors, and will apply for any special authority for which you may have occasion. The Judge- Advocate General will be instructed to is- sue to you an appointment as Special Judge-Advocate for the prosecution of any cases that may be brought before a military tribunal. You will also appear, in behalf of this Department, in any cases that it may be deemed more expedient to bring before the civil tribunals. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, C. A. Dana, Asst. Sec. of War. Hon. ROSCOE CONKLING. War Department, Washington City, April 3, 1865, £865. ) The Honorable Roscoe Conkling, having been appointed by the Secre- tary of War to investigate transactions connected with recruiting in the Western Division of New York, all telegraph companies and operators are respectfully requested to afford him access to any despatches which he may require, for the purpose of detecting frauds and bringing criminals to pun- ishment. By order of the Secretary of War. C. A. Dana, Ass't Secretary of War. * These letters are dated on the same day that the Union troops entered Richmond. A R. C. Digitized by Microsoft® 2 I 8 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONK LING. War Department, ) Washington City, April 3, 1865. ) The Honorable Roscoe Conkling having been appointed by the Secre- tary of War to investigate transactions connected with recruiting in the Western Division of New York, all Provost-Marshals and other military oflicers are hereby directed to give him free access to all their official records and correspondence, and to furnish him certified copies of any papers that he may require. By order of the Secretary oe War. C. A. Dana, Ass't Secretary of War. No time was lost in carrying forward the examination, and on the fourteenth of April last the charges and specifications were forwarded to the Department, with a letter, from which the fol- lowing is an extract : This place (Utica) or Syracuse would, if designated as the place of trial, be convenient for witnesses, but I fear it might be, or at least might seem, more harsh toward Major Haddock than Elmira or New York City. I suggest, therefore, that as far as the public interest will allow, a place be fixed for the trial where Major Haddock cannot suffer from any local feeling peculiar to that place. Thil suggestion was made for the reason that it had been left to me to recommend the place at which the court should convene. So much for the origin of the accusations against Major Had- dock, and so much for the history of my connection with the court. Until the assembling of this court at Elmira, Major Haddock was a total stranger to me. I had never known him, or even seen him, to my remembrance, nor had I ever hacj any transaction with him whatever. My sole knowledge of him arose from investigat- ing or observing the rnodes in which bounty-jumpers and swindlers plied their vocation. My sole feeling towards him arose from the same cause. What that feeling was, and how my attention was turned to the matter in which it arose, will appear in part by the following facts. In 1864 the tax of Oneida County (the twenty-first district) was one million, seven hundred and four thousand, seven hundred and eleven dollars and thirty-one cents ($1,704,711.31). This tax was nearly all raised to pay bounty to soldiers. It amounted, in the case of some towns, to nearly twenty-five per cent, of all tax- able property. In such instances one-quarter of the substance of Digitized by Microsoft® BOUNTY FRAUDS JN ONEIDA C6UNTV. 219 the people, at its assessed value, went in a single year, without a grudge, from open hands, to support the Government and provide for the soldier and his family. Prior to the last call for troops (December 19, 1864), Oneida County had furnished about 7,000 men,- and a large part of their bounties had been fraudulently swept away. Saying nothing of 210 credits believed to have been cancelled or withheld by Major Haddock, 783 was the whole number of men demanded under the call of December 19, 1864. Yet the exac- tions were so managed, and the facts so far in the confidential keeping of bounty brokers, that about 1,200 men were paid for or are to be paid for. 1,148 have already been paid for, and a suf- ficient number remain to make the total 1,200. Here is an excess of 417. Seven hundred dollars per man was the usual sum paid, so that $291,000 or thereabouts has, under the last call alone, been wrung from an over-burdened community, and no ingenuity can cover up the motives and abuses by which the result was brought about. If the 210 credits already referred to be included, the excess of credits paid for will be 627, and the excess of money paid $438,900. Such was the tribute paid, not to the Government or to the soldier, but to bounty gamblers and their aiders, for fur- nishing "credits," not men, and this in the district of which I was not only a citizen, but the Representative. As the trial of Major Haddock had special ref- erence to the district which Mr. Conkling had rep- resented in Congress (and which he had again carried at the recent election), a brief account of the fraudulent drafts and enlistments there may be of interest. A statement of the methods employed in deal- ing with Oneida County will illustrate the man- ner in which this branch of the Government Digitized by Microsoft® 220 LIPE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. service was conducted. The quotas, in this last call of 500,000 men (December 19, 1864), were to be assessed so as to equalize the credits from the beginning of the war, thus requiring more from sub -districts, which had failed to supply their full share in previous calls, and less from those which had supplied more. Oneida County had a surplus of 210 credits. There had been a long delay in sending the quota of the twenty-first district to the Provost-Marshal's office, and the Board of Supervisors had called a meeting to raise money for local bounties, when a bounty broker, recently from Major Haddock's office, came and proposed to make a contract with the Board to fill the quota of the entire district for a specified sum. He showed a letter from Major Haddock, which stated that the quota for the district would be nearly 1,200, but he would take his chances and fill it for $750,000. The Board passed a resolution accepting the offer, but before the con- tract was drawn a report came, via Rochester, that the quota for the twenty-first district was but 475. At Major Haddock's court-martial it was shown that, before the meeting of the Board of Super- visors, he had written to three bounty brokers that the quota was only 475, and that the credits would be reserved for their benefit if they suc- Digitized by Microsoft® HOW THE FRAUDS OCCURRED. 221 ceeded in getting the contract. This of course was not known at the Provost-Marshal's office in time to be of use; while, about a week after the meeting of the Board an official letter was receiv- ed from General Fry stating that the quota for the district was 1,044. After the war the records of the War Department showed a surplus of nearly 700 credits for the twenty-first district. This false quota caused an extra tax of $500,000 to be levied in Oneida County. On April 21, 1863, Joseph P. Richardson was, upon recommendation of Mr. Conklingf, given the commission of Provost-Marshal for the Oneida Congressional district. In December, 1864, he was summarily removed by order of General Fry, whereupon Mr. Conkling at once wrote to the Provost-Marshal General and to the Assistant Sec- retary of War (Charles A. Dana), demanding that charges be preferred against Captain Richardson. No answer was given to Mr. Conkling's request. The vacancy was then filled by the appointment of Colonel Poole, who served a few weeks and was then relieved by Peter B. Crandall, a former recruiting agent, who had not solicited this ap- pointment, and whose character was reported as very high. On January 24, he entered upon his duties as Provost-Marshal. So close was the pursuit of the Digitized by Microsoft® 22 2 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. deserters' money by Haddock that an order is in existence in his handwriting, dated Eimira, Jan- uary 24, 1865 (the very day on which Crandall be- gan his official duties), with the simple address of "Col.," which could not have been Crandall, as he was a captain, and which says, " When you come, bring with you all deserters' money in your possession." This money, by law, should have been paid over to the quartermaster of the district. Captain Crandall at first obeyed such orders as these, but finally resolved, after further consideration, and advice of eminent counsel, to refuse to forward this money to Haddock, and it was just this re- fusal of Captain Crandall to obey an illegal order that started, in fact, this whole investigation. Crandall served till March 13, 1865, having been summarily suspended March 1 1 by order of Ma- jor Haddock, who had lately succeeded General A. S. Diven. On March 4 he received from Had- dock an order directing him to pay over to a special agent (who was the Major's private sec- retary) " all moneys, bonds, or other securities whatever that might have been deposited in his hands by any enlisted man, broker, or agent to protect the Government against desertion," or that he might have received from any person what- soever in his capacity as Provost-Marshal, Digitized by Microsoft® THE BOUNTY-JUMPERS. 223 While acting as Provost-Marshal, Captain Cran- dall generally visited Mr. Conkling in the even- ing, and told him of the gross frauds in the bureau. The latter often said: "Don't, don't, Mr. Cran- dall! You don't know what a fight you'll get me into." Yet, at the same time, he was willing to hear rhore of it on the following evening. He dreaded the acquisition of a complete knowl- edge of the fraudulent drafts, for with the in- stincts of a prophet, and with that keen foresight which so characterized his subsequent career, he suspected that the Secretary of War would one day- retain him to investigate the scandalous irregu- larities of the Provost-Marshal General's bureau. Captain Crandall had in his possession a long descriptive list of deserters from New York State regiments at Camp Seward, Auburn. The appli- cants would enlist, receive the $i,ioo bounty, di- vide it with the bounty brokers, and then escape from the rear of the camping-ground, for no guard was stationed there, as was the case at the front. Previous to their escape from Auburn, many of these recruits had deserted at Utica, Oswego, Watertown, Syracuse and other cities. Under assumed names they re-enlisted and received bounty at each place, deserting afterward, and hence were termed " bounty-jumpers." Upon enlistment a recruit would often deposit Digitized by Microsoft® 224 -t/^^ AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. money, i. e., part of his bounty, in the hands of Captain Crandall, with the request that it be sent to his parents or his wife after he had been for- warded to Elmira, and thence, under orders of Major Haddock, transported to the seat of war. Crandall deposited this money in the bank and entered it to the recruit's credit in the cash-book. He usually held $500 till the recruit reported at the rendezvous-camp in Elmira. Then Major Haddock forwarded these soldiers to Virginia without giving them the balance of their bounty; hence these lately enlisted men would write from the field to Captain Crandall, who had originally enrolled them, and ask about the missing money. The following is a copy of one of these letters; written on paper furnished by the United States Christian Commission, and having at its head the following quotation : " This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." City Point, Virginia, March 20, 1865. Friend Mr. Crandal as I promised to write to you after I got to Elmira we liad better barracks than we had at Utica but I did not like the fare. We staid in Elmira about ten days and then started for City Point. We have tents pitched within a mile of the point. We are expecting every day to go front can hear the guns fireing before Petersburg the Army is not more 10 miles from our Camp. Thos 12 boys that came with me are well I drew a hundred dollars at Elmira and kept $15 of it and sent the other $85 to you and if you will place it a? the other is and I Digitized by Microsoft® CRANDALL RETAINS THE MONEY. 22=; will be much obliged did you see that the ring was sent home I would not loose it for anything that fellow never gave me a cent but lo dollars of the bounty I placed in his hands and part of that was bad please excuse bad wrighting and short letter as I burnt my hand and it bothers me considerable please answer soon and let me know what is going on in Utica you may think it strange that I did not put a stamp on the envelope but I could not get any as they are very Hard to get direct Cavalry depot near City Point Va. William H. Grigson. Many letters of similar import were received from newly enlisted men. Concerning the dis- posal of the money of the recruits, Crandall thrice wrote Major Haddock, urging in each case a reply. No answer came, but the Major gave Captain Crandall receipts for the money that he had sent. Soon afterward six recruits sued Crandall for failure to deliver the money (though it was no fault of his), and each recovered judgments for from three to five hundred dollars. Then eminent counsel (the Hon. Ward Hunt) advised Captain Crandall to cease sending the bounty balances. At this juncture Major Haddock became angry at the Captain's course, and the former suspended the latter for disobedience of orders, as we have seen. Meanwhile Haddock had made desperate efforts to obtain the money of the recruits, and to this end had sent his private secretary to Utica. The latter telegraphed to his master: " Crandall is honest; don't be worried about the money." • 15 Digitized by Microsoft® 2 26 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. This was bad news to Haddock, for his emissary- had come to Utica with orders to bring him the bounty. FaiHng in this, Major Haddock sent to Crandall, Captain Meredith, a paymaster in the army, with special orders to bring the money to Elmira. This officer went to Utica, asked for Captain Crandall, and in a dictatorial manner said: " Captain, here is Major Haddock's order to de- liver the money. You are bound to obey. If I order you to shoot that man (pointing to one) you must do it." Crandall replied: " I shall obey no such order to shoot any man, and I won't give the money to Major Haddock." At first Captain Meredith was angry, then he recovered himself and reported to his superior at Elmira that " Cran- dall was all right." A few days later Colonel Baker, of the Secret Service, ordered the arrest of Crandall, but for some reason the following tele- gram was sent from Utica by ,the detective to General Fry: "You had better not arrest Captain Crandall." The order of suspension, signed by Haddock, had the desired effect. In May the Provost-Marshal General wrote him that his ser- vices were no longer required. Mr. Conkling had written, March 13, 1865, to Charles A. Dana, the Assistant Secretary of War, ^s follows: Digitized by Microsoft® CRANDALVS REINSTA TEMENT. 22 7 Captain Crandall was not selected by me, but I heartily con- curred in the selection. I should have picked him out of all the men presentable for the place as one whose purity would never even be suspected. His integrity is above all question, and I will do for him what I never in my life have done but once: I will be personally re- sponsible for him; and I take it upon myself to pronounce the charges you refer to infamously false. Mr. Conkling could not therefore conscientiously remain silent when a faithful and honest officer was thus consigned to oblivion, as he himself said, " for the reason solely that he could not be used by scoundrels." Accordingly he wrote a very warm and strong letter to Secretary Stanton, urg- ing his reinstatement. This was promised, but the Secretary was overwhelmed with work, and it never took place. The conclusion of this letter is worth quoting as showing the spirit that animated Mr. Conkling in this matter: Surrounded as you are by so many weightier matters, you may smile at my earnestness, but if you knew exactly what I know, your indignation would be as great as mine, and mine goes to just that extent that I feel, as to the Provost- Marshal General, that we are at the mercy and dictation of thieves; and if I live, and can do so, I will get to the bottom of this particular proceed- ing, and give it such ventilation as will conduce to the general health. President Lincoln had issued, December 19, 1864, a call for 500,000 men. The bounty and recruit brokers in the interior of New York had formed a Digitized by Microsoft® 2 28 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONK LING. gigantic conspiracy with Major Haddock, Assist- ant Provost-Marshal General of the Western Divi- sion of New York. Referring to the President's last call for troops, a member of the Cabinet* remarked: "Mr. Lin- coln, if recruiting goes forward in this way, your new call for troops will soon be answered;" where- upon the President replied: " Oh yes: we have a pretty big army already — on paper; but what we want is men in boots and breeches. This great array of figures, in respect to soldiers, is not go- ing to suppress the Rebellion. I want men who can carry muskets and eat hard-tack." It appeared that previous to President Lincoln's last call for half a million men, the bounty brokers had been granted such facilities as to make the filling of quotas a very lucrative business. Subsequent events have shown that this last call was the result of premeditated and persistent ef- forts of a few persons to reap a rich harvest of plunder. It was known that bounty-jumping had rapidly increased during the supplying of the prev- ious call. Before this call was made. General Sherman had finished his victorious march to the sea, thereby cutting off, for the most part, the sup- plies of General Robert E. Lee. General Grant, in- front, was forcing Lee's army toward Richmond. * Eclwiq M, Stanton, Digitized by Microsoft® THE LAST DRAFT. 2 20 Hence, with Sherman in the rear, General Lee was virtually surrounded and without a sufficient force for a general engagement. In such a junct- ure a movement was made in Congress to issue a call for more men. It was insisted that if 500,000 more soldiers were put in the field, General Lee would at once surrender and the horrors of war would cease. President Lincoln is said to have thought the extra call unnecessary, and to have written Gen- eral Grant, receiving this reply: " There are all the men and munitions of war that are needed." In spite of the advice of the General of the army, the politicians persisted in urging this " humane " measure, until the President, under pressure, de- cided to issue the call. Here was a fortunate state of affairs for united action on the part of bounty brokers and the re- cruiting department of the Government, The new men were not wanted by the officials in the War Department, for they had enough to do without guarding and drilling raw recruits. Large local bounties had to be paid in order to secure half a million men. The great armies about Rich- mond absorbed public attention, while the citizens of sub-districts were engrossed in finding enough soldiers to fill their quotas . in order to avoid a draft. Digitized by Microsoft® 230 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. The public mind was at that time too deeply engrossed in national affairs to be watching men in charge of the recruiting service. The officials of the War Department, being apprised of what was going on, determined to institute legal pro- ceedings against the culprits. We have already stated that Secretary Stanton persuaded Mr. Conkling to manage the matter for the Govern- ment. He, although disinclined to prosecute the bounty thieves, became, at the earnest solicitation of the Secretary of War, the attorney for the Government, and helped to save the Treasury about $200,000. This sum was obtained from the officer in charge at Camp Seward, Auburn, by the private secretary of Major Haddock, to be deliv- ered to him at Elmira. When he entered the Major's office with two satchels containing this large amount in greenbacks, they were seized by the military authorities, and the money was turned over to the Government,* Prior to the time when Roscoe Conkling was urged, or rather forced, to begin the prosecution of Major Haddock and the bounty thieves, he had no organized band of enemies. At home, as well as in Washington, no one commanded the respect, » Referring to these fraudulent drafts, Mr. Conkling afterward stated on the floor of Congress (April 24, 1866) that " out of 700,000 to 800,000 men /or whom, not (0 whom, enormous bounties were paid, not to exceed 300,000, I believe not 200,000, ever reached the front." Digitized by Microsoft® THE TRIAL BEGINS. 23 I confidence and love of all more than he. No man ever entered upon an unpleasant task with purer motives and a stricter sense of duty than he did upon this. He felt in honor bound to defend his district ; and he did it, though well aware that the struggle would be a bitter one, and that it might reach persons above Major Haddock — officials in higher military and civil stations, yet he never shrunk from doing what he knew should be done. The acceptance of the position of Governmental prosecutor was probably the most important event of his career, for it was the beginning of an "ir- regular " warfare that may be said to have ended only with his life ; and it shaped essentially his subsequent course. He had in his possession many letters concern- ing fraudulent drafts and bounty-jumpers, some of which implicated men high in official station; and, in Mr. Conkling's opinion, the authors of these missives were responsible persons. The trial of Major Haddock began at Elmira May 22. The court was composed of Major- General J. C. Robinson, president ; Colonel Ed- mund L. Dana, 143d Pennsylvania Volunteers; Colonel John Irwin, 149th Pennsylvania Volun teers ; Brevet Colonel T. B. Hamilton, Sixty-sec- ond New York Volunteers ; Lieutenant-Colonel James Glenn, 149th Pennsylvania Volunteers; and Digitized by Microsoft® 232 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. Brevet Colonel John S. Hammell, Sixty-sixth New- York Volunteers. The accused objected to the Hon. Roscoe Conk- ling as judge-advocate, and as there was not a full court, Major G. W. Jones being absent, he claimed that therefore the members should not be sworn. The court-room was cleared for deliberation, and, upon being again opened, it was decided to go on without Major Jones. The court was then sworn by the judge-advocate, and the judge-advocate by the court, and Theodore F. Andrews became the reporter. The accused presented as counsel Judge Smith, of Utica, G. L. Smith, of Elmira, and Colonel George A. Woodward, Twenty-second Regiment, Veteran Reserve Corps (son of the recent candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania). The judge-advocate then read the charges and specifications. These were as follows : Charges against Major Haddock, Twelfth Regi- ment Veteran Reserve Corps, Acting Assistant Provost - Marshal General Western Division of New York : Charge first — Violation of the ninety-ninth article of war. " Art. 99. All crimes not capital, and all disorders and neg- lects which officers and soldiers may be guilty of, to the preju- dice of good order and military discipline, though not mentioned in the foregoing articles of war, are to be taken cognizance of by a general or regimental court-martial, according to the nature and degree of the offence, and be punished at their discretion." Digitized by Microsoft® THE FORMAL CHARGES. 233 This charge contained twenty-six specifications, which related chiefly to bribery and fraudulent drafts. Charge second — Violation of the eighty-third article of war, and conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman. "Art. 83. Any commissioned officer convicted, before a gen- eral court-martial, of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentle- man shall be dismissed the service." ; Charge third — Violation of the eighty-fifth article of war, and fraud. "Art. 85. In all cases where a commissioned officer is cash- iered for cowardice or fraud, it shall be added in the sentence that the crime, name and place of abode, and punishment of the delinquent, be published in the newspapers in and about the camp, and of the particular State from which the offender came, or where he usually resides; after which it shall be deemed scan- dalous for an officer to associate with him." Charge fourth — Fraud: malfeasance in office: abuse of official powers: complicity with bounty brokers in the Western Division of the State of New York: accepting presents and bribes; agree- ing to accept presents and bribes: proposing to accept presents and bribes; being interested pecuniarily in recruiting and filling quotas in the Western Division of the State of New York. In charges second, third and fourth the speci- ^fications correspond respectively to the same num- bers as set forth under charge first. The accused pleaded not guilty to each charge and to the specifications. The trial lasted sixteen days. At the end of the fourth day the venue was changed to Syra- cuse by order of the Secretary of War. On July 6 the court again met, and on August i Judge Digitized by Microsoft® 234 ^^^^ "^^^ LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. Smith summed up for the defence. Judge- Advo- cate ConkUng then replied, and on the next day reviewed the testimony at great length. The arguments were promptly published in the Utica Herald. In giving an account of the trial, a witness, H. A. Dobson, says: I was a clerk in Haddock's office, having been appointed by his predecessor, General A. S. Diven. I did not like the change, especially as I soon found out that he was not honest. After a while, I began to take notes of some of his^ proceedings, hoping to lay them before some one, but as I did not know to whom to present them, I said nothing. Finally I sought a position in Washington, and secured an appointment in the War Department, and left Haddock just before the arrest was made. I did not know of the arrest, nor of the commencement of the trial at Elmira, until the court had adjourned to meet at Syracuse, nor did Mr. Conkling know that I had anything that would be of use to him. Seeing the case mentioned in some paper, I addressed a letter to the Judge-Advocate, not knowing who he was, and re- ceiving an inquiry from him, which I still have, asking me what I knew of certain facts. I proved to be a " missing link " in the chain of evidence, and was summoned before the court, and was kept there in attendance three weeks so as to prevent the intro- duction of testimony to offset mine by tools of Haddock. They tried to do this, but as I was in the court-room I was able to write notes to Mr. Conkling which led to such cross-examinations as completely upset the witnesses. ******* When I arrived at Syracuse, Mr. Conkling met me and took me to his hotel, and did not allow me to register, nor let me be seen by the defence, nor by any of the witnesses for the defence. I staid in my room until wanted, a day or two after my arrival. Mr. Conkling evidently thought that my testimony was very im- portant, for he sent the Marshal for me, with instructions to bring Digitized by Microsoft® Mr. dobson's statement. 235 me to the door and then let him know that I was there, which was done. Mr. Conkling then said he had one more witness to in- troduce, and arose, looked at the court significantly, and then at Haddock, stepped to the door, paused, and again looked at Had- dock, until he had the attention of the court upon him, when he opened the door and led me in, stopping me just where Haddock could see me. He had completely forgotten me until he saw me, and he gave a start, turned pale, and immediately began to talk in an excited manner to Colonel Woodward, his counsel. This was told me; that is, that part which occurred before I came in. I saw him start, and saw him pale. I assisted Mr. Conkling in the preparation of his papers each night after the court adjourned, so as to keep busy, and became well acquainted with him, and gained a warm friend, and a true one, by my conduct in the case. 4f ***** » One of the most exciting episodes of the trial was the cross- examination of Smith. The court ordered that all persons who knew that they were to be witnesses should remain outside of the room until they were called. Smith knew that he was to be a witness, yet he remained, ostensibly as well as actually, the counsel for Haddock. When Mr. Conkling began to cross-ex- amine him, and to bring out his illegal doings in connection with the putting in of substitutes, Smith became very angry, menaced Mr. Conkling, who remained perfectly cool, though he became pale from suppressed anger and excitement; that kind that gave him that clear penetrating thrust, as clean as a rapier, when he spoke, and so violent did Smith become that the court, in view of the protection asked by Smith from the court from such ques- tions, requested Mr. Conkling to tell the court what he expected to develop by his questions. Mr. Conkling arose as cool as could be and said, " May it please the honorable court: It is the prov- ince of the judge-advocate to show the character of the witness, to break his evidence by showing him to be infamous, and if the court please, the judge advocate proposes to prove this witness to be infamous by his own testimony." Smith sprang to his feet and shouted, " I defy you ! " and shook his fist at Mr. Conkling, whose eyes flashed and whose hand closed in a way to show that Digitized by Microsoft® 236 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONK LING. if he had the opportunity at a proper time and place, he would have made short work of Smith. The court interfered and ordered Smith to resume his seat and to behave himself. Then began the series of questions, each one pressed home like a knife, which brought out the fact that he had admitted men in the county jail under charge of murder to be brought before him for the purpose of giving bail, and that he bailed them on condition that they enlist as substitutes. Captain Crandall, in his account of the trial, says : Judge Smith, of Oneida County, was Major Haddock's counsel as well as his most trusted witness before the court-martial. I felt from the beginning of the trial a great curiosity to hear Judge Smith's testimony and his cross-examination by Mr. Conkling. When the time came, in giving in his direct testimony if Mr. Conk- ling raised any objections or made any remark, Smith would turn to him with a look of defiance and contempt. When turned over for cross-examination Mr. Conkling asked, " Are you County Judge of Oneida County ?" Answer, " Yes." Question. "As County Judge, was it your duty to appoint three Commissioners of Excise?" A. "Yes." Q. " Were these Commissioners authorized to appoint an attorney to assist them?" A. "Yes," Q. "Did Mr. B pay you $500 to secure his appointment as such attor- ney?" A. "No." Q. "Are you positive on that point?" A. " Yes." Q. " You cannot be mistaken ?" (Very indignant at the repetition). A. " No." (Mr. Conkling commenced turning a large bundle of papers, looking them all through with apparent disappointment; then, with seeming more care, commenced again to look over the bundle. Soon, with brightened expression, he drew out B 's receipt or check for the $500, reached it to Smith and asked, " Did you receive that amount ?" Smith's de- fiant expression changed, his face colored.) Q. " Will you answer my question ?" Not a word. Mr. Conkling turned toward the court, the answer came faintly— " Yes." Q. "Is Mr. Utley a law partner of yours ?" A. "Yes." Q. " Did you, as judge, let to bail, said Utley his bail, a desperado named Charles E. Norton, Digitized by Microsoft® DEFENCE OF THE ACCUSED. 237 who was in jail charged with burglary and theft, with the under- standing that he would enlist into the United States service and give said Utley the local bounty that was being paid ?" A. "No." Q. " Did you give the sheriff an order to take said Norton from jail to the Provost-Marshal's office ?" A. "No." Q. " Did you give the sheriff an order to take said Norton out of jail ?" A. "No." Q. "Are you certain you did not?" A. "Yes." Q. " Certain that you gave no order to have him taken from jail, did not accept bail, nor favor his enlistment?" A. "Yes, certain." Mr. Conkling took up his bundle and drew out Judge Smith's order to the sheriff, the acceptance of Mr. Utley as bail, and passed it to Smith. Q. "Is that your hand-writing, sir?" No answer, witness turned pale. Q. " Is that your hand-writing, sir?" (Mr. Conkling turned toward the Cdurt.) A. "Yes." Q. "Judge Smith, did Major Haddock give you a statement of credits due the several sub-districts in Oneida County that had not been re- ported to the Provost-Marshal's office?" No answer. Mr. Conkling took up his bundle of papers and commenced turning them over very deliberately. Answer — " Yes." This substan- tiated Richardson's confession to Mr. Conkling and was the lever that removed him from office. The defence was read by Judge Smith. It dis- closed an attempt to reconcile the obligations of official character with unlawful gain by improper commerce with the bounty broker Richardson. It should be stated that there was imprudent inter- course between Haddock and Richardson, as well as grave irregularities that did not admit of de- fence. The counsel for the accused opened his argument with a formal objection that went to the legal organization of the court-martial. He sought to show that the judge-advocate, not the Secre- tary of War, was th? real prosecutor. We have Digitized by Microsoft® 238 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. seen that Roscoe Conkling was directed by Secre- tary Stanton to draw up the necessary charges and specifications. Major Haddock's counsel reviewed each charge, and tried to explain away the grave accusations against his client ; for example, he attempted to throw the burden of a $2,000 bribe upon the broker rather than the officer. He discredited the agreements made with Richardson to divide the profits which were to come from the surplus credits. He asked the court to " pardon errors of judgment " and the " imperfection of human na- ture." In summing up he strove to break the force of each specification, and closed his argument with the following paragraph : The accused leaves now his case with the court with entire confidence. On its independence, firmness and sense of justice he depends as his sole reliance. He appears before judges who can have no motive but an impartial equity. Officers who have well and gallantly performed their part in the tragic strife that has saved a nation will not lay aside their swords to become the ministers of an unjust vengeance, nor strain fact or law to effect an undeserved conviction. They have helped to speed the thunder that has overwhelmed the enemies of the re- public, but they will be slow on the evidence in this case to blast the character of a faithful and loyal officer. In your present capacity, soldiers ! and judges ! you sit as successors to the ancient courts of chivalry, and you will recall that these were the judicial form of an institution whose generous boast it was, not only that it chsrished honor, but that it also protected the weak and innocent J. y.\\ Ihe oppressions of power, that in sugh courts to degrade a Digitized by Microsoft® RE VIE IV OF THE TESTIMONY. 239 knight by staining his reputation was more than taking his life, and that they required the evidence to be as conclusive, the guilt as clear, as if the accused were to be condemned to death. An eye-witness, who heard the "summing up" of Roscoe ConkUng at Syracuse, says : " I recollect Haddock's presence. His face streamed with per- spiration, and was so red that he appeared to "sweat blood," as many remarked. Mr. Conkling thus reviewed the testimony : May it please the Court : Happily for the honor of the military profession, and for the fair fame of our land, prosecutions such as this have, until of late, been unknown in our history. In olden time, and in later time, a commission in the army was a certificate of character and a passport everywhere. But the Rebellion, now ended, seems to have been appointed to illustrate, in manifold ways, the shame not less than the glory of humanity. A vessel tossed and groaning in a gale, a crew heroically manful, and a myriad of sharks following the ship — such is a faithful emblem of our condition during the mighty convulsion which has just sub- sided. The nation was in the last peril of existence. The conti- nent quaked under the tramp of an uncounted host, eager, from general to private, to suffer all, and dare all, for the salvation of the Government of their fathers. But with them came knaves, titled and even shoulder-strapped, a darkening cloud of vampires, gorging themselves upon the heart's blood of their country Shoddy contractors, bounty gamblers and base adventurers found their way even into the army, in order that they might the better, under patriotic pretensions, make to themselves gain of the woes of the community. And accordingly spectacles like this trial have come to be familiar to the public eye. Officers are put to the bar of justice for crimes deserving rank among the baser felonies. Whether such instances shall continue, depends largely upon the result of exposures of which this trial is a somewhat conspicuous one. It is the peculiar privilege of the army that its honor is con- Digitized by Microsoft® 240. LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. fidotl to its own keeping solely. Infractions of its integrity are triable before soldiers alone, and thus the officers of the army be- come the guardians and avengers of its purity and honor. Such a prerogative is the property of no other profession, and it imposes responsibilities in the ratio of its exclusiveness. In one sense, this trial relates to the morale of the army. In another and a broader sense, it relates to the universal interest of the whole pub- lic. The war has ushered in an epoch of heroes and thieves. A carnival of venality has raged, until business connected with the Government has become one grand masquerade of fraud. Courts of every grade are kept open. The national jurisprudence, civil and military, is administered in splendid expense and with super- fluous appointment. Petty offenders and common culprits are the vermin destroyed by the great machinery of justice, while right is humbled and baffled, if not abashed, in the presence of crimi- nals too great to be punished. A prolific cause of this is the free- masonry of profitable crime. Accusations, such as you sit to try, usually involve, as they do in tjiis case, the impunity of many men. The prosecution must encounter, as it has done here, classes and combinations ; and the result of pursuing offenders of such a grade, with the shrewdness, the money, the facilities they possess, is certain to be abortive unless special and exceptional effort s employed. Therefore, special and exceptional effort should be made. Whenever an instance occurs of guilt, traceable to one in an official station of power and sacredness, its exposure and pun- ishment is a triumph of right, which should be emphasized by every salutary lesson which the fact can be made to enforce. Such is, fortunately, the opinion of the Government. Such is the undoubting faith of him selected to conduct this prosecution. The arraignment of the accused proceeds upon the distinct avowal that it is not only justifiable and right, but the solemn duty of the Government to ferret out those iniquities which have marred the sublimest moral spectacle of all time. The prosecution illus- trates the principle that no partisanship of the criminal toward the Administration, that no chagrin which may be felt by the Government at the exposure of the fact that unfit men have been selected for high places, that nothing whatever, shall stand in the wiy of the detection and punishment of crime. Put because Digitized by Microsoft® STATEMENT OF THE CASE. 24 1 vigilance has been employed in uncovering fraud and wrong, the managers of the defence have seen fit to decorate me, and even the Government, with their censure. A labored effort is made to confound vigilance with persecution and injustice, and the resort which has been had to the evidence of a person involved in the misconduct of the accused is made this occasion of censorious complaint. The counsel forget that this trial will stand alone among military trials in the liberties and advantages accorded to the defence. A court composed of those who could have no bias against the accused was appointed at a place selected from regard to his interest, and thronged with the creatures of his official favor; three counsel were admitted, and have been allowed to argue, to examine, and to manage with unrestrained freedom ; the chief witness for the defence has been suffered, before being called him- self to hear all the testimony of opposing witnesses upon the very points upon which a witness should most be tested ; a copy of the record has been furnished the accused from day to day ; an ex- traordinary number of witnesses have been asked for, and not a witness, however obvious his uselessness, has been refused ; and at length, having assented to reading the record from the short- hand notes, until three weeks of extended record had accumu- lated, the accused was indulged in an objection, the effect of which was, after the case for the prosecution was fully disclosed, to give to the defence six weeks to prepare to meet it ; and during this long interval, the accused has had the range of the country. In all this lenity of the court the judge-advocate has fully concurred, but he protests against the attempt now to manufac- ture anything from the case with which to deck, in specious dis- guises, the plea of "malice" and " persecution," that oldest and most threadbare resort of guilt. The true and only question is. What is established by the evidence ? and to that inquiry imme- diate attention is invited. Here Mr. Conkling began to analyze the testi- mony piecemeal. He reviewed it under thirteen different heads, wherein he read many letters and despatches that passed between the prisoner and 16 Digitized by Microsoft® 242 LIfE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKUNG. the bounty brokers or their confederates. Major Haddock's self-incriminating letters were enough to convict him. Such is a rapid collocation of some of the main features of the testimony, and of the considerations suggested by it. The case is one requiring of the prosecution the clearest and most convincing evidence. Proof should always be strong and satisfactory in the same degree in which the guilt it indicates is enormous. The accused is peculiarly entitled to the benefit of this principle of reason and of law. The crimes imputed to him are both atrocious and detestable, and a great presumption of innocence belongs to him as an officer and a man. If guilty, his offence is nothing less than basely intriguing against the army, in the most critical period of its fate, and wield- ing the powers of a great official station against the life of the re- public itself. Is the accusation less heinous than this ? It is charged that when the army, thinned by battles and hard- ships, stood waiting for re-enforcements before closing with the enemy in the last grapple for the mastery ; when exhaustion and and divided sentiment in the loyal States told but too plainly that victory lost for a season would be lost forever ; when a call for three hundred thousand more men had been made, and the des- tiny of the cause hung upon the response — that then, while stand- ing in double trust as a soldier and as a high civil officer, the ac- cused, for a consideration, thwarted the efforts to succor his com- rades in the field, first by conniving at worthless enlistments, and second, by allowing recruits to be robbed, knowing that desertions and demoralization must follow. But yet more sinister acts are laid at his door. It is alleged against him that he conspired to take to himself the moneys by which the army and the Government subsisted, and to add exac- tions to taxes, making them too grievous to be borne, and this at a time when pecuniary disorders were about to solve disastrously the whole problem of the war. The range of such perfidy is bounded only by its power of mischief, and perhaps no man in the nation, save only the Provost-Marshal General himself, held greater Digitized by Microsoft® A FORCIBLE " SUMMING-UP." 243 sway for good or evil in the special field of alleged malfeasance than he who presided with autocratic discretion over one-third of the State of New York. * * * This trial and its result may be looked at by those who come after us as a straw denoting currents in the decadence or the re- generation of public morals. Should it be ever so recurred to, each one who has acted his part in it decently and in order may rest assured that it will be well with him. One humble part has been, we are told, acted zealously — that part is mine. Is it true that T have been diligent in laying bare these iniquities 1 Give me a certificate of my zeal, that T may leave it as a legacy to my children; and bid them say of me, " He did his utmost to gibbet at thi cross- roads of public justice all those who, when war had drenched the land with blood and covered it with mourning, parted the garment of their country among than, and cast lots upon the vesture of the Gov- ernment, even while they held positions of emolument and trust." Two months after the close of the trial the find- ings of the court-martial were published at Wash- ington. They were as follows : * * * And the court does therefore sentence him, Major Had- dock, Twelfth Veteran Reserve Corps, and Acting Assistant Pro- vost-Marshal General, Western Division of New York, " To be cashiered, and utterly disabled to have or hold any office or employment in the service of the United States; that he pay a fine of ten thou- sand dollars to the United States, and be imprisoned at such place as the proper authority may designate until the said fine is paid — the period of said imprisonment not, however, to exceed five years; and in conformity with the Eighty-fifth Article of War, the court add in and to the said sentence that the crime, name and place of abode of the said Major Haddock, to wit, the town of , in the State of New York, and punishment of the said delinquent, bp published in the newspapers of the said State of New York, from which particular State the said fender came, and where he usually resides." II. The proceedings, findings and sentence of the court in the foregoing case of Major Haddock, Twelfth Regiment Veteran Reserve Corps, are approved and will be duly executed. The Digitized by Microsoft® 244 ^'^^ ^^^ LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. State Prison at Concord, New Hampshire, is designated as the place of confinement, where the prisoner will be sent, in charge of a suitable guard, under the orders of the Commanding Gen- eral, Department of the East, for the execution of so much of his sentence as imposes confinement. By order of the Secretary of War, E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant-General. The Judge-Advocate General expressed great surprise at the leniency of the sentence, and the president of the court, General J. C. Robinson, said: "The war has ended successfully and there is a general feeling toward pardon throughout the Government. I have partaken of that feeling. Did the war still contifiue, Major Haddock's sen- tence would have been death." Digitized by Microsoft® 1865-1866. CHAPTER XIV. THE RECONSTRUCTION PERIOD. r^N June 18, 1865, the 117th New York Volun- teers, recruited from Utica and the outlying districts of Oneida County, returned from the field. Mr. Conkling, who was temporarily at his home in Utica, delivered the address of welcome. He spoke as follows: Soldiers and fellow-citizens: * * * In the name of the people of this city, and of the committee, I assure you that the heartiest welcome they can give is offered to you as neighbors and as victorious soldiers of the republic. Three years ago fear was everywhere. No home was safe; strong men bowed them- selves; our Government tottered; our flag was derided and dis- honored on land and on sea, and foreign nations were casting lots for our vesture. Then it was, at the country's call, that you left fireside and home for the camp, the trench and the hospital — then it was that you went out to defend on far distant battle-fields the life and glory of your country. You have done your whole duty. You have made marches more dreadful than battles. You have conquered in fights which will be historic forever. You have belonged to the most glorious army which ever assembled on earth, and of that army you were the first regiment of all to plant the glorious ensign of the republic on the battered parapet of Fort Fisher. (Cheers.) In all this career of glory, of duty, and of daring exploit, a common purpose has inspired you, a common hope has led you on. What was it ? Peace, peace with 245 Digitized by Microsoft® 246 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONJCLING. the Government and the Constitution of our fathers estab- lished, has been the object of the war, and the prayer of every patriot and of every soldier. We have all longed for the time when you who are fathers and you who are sons, you who are husbands and you who are brothers, and you who are lovers, should return once more to gladden the places which have been lonesome and desolate without you. That time, at last, has come, and on this burning Sabbath day have gone up, and on every Sab- bath will go up, from the Christian altars of the land praises and thanksgivings that at last the red eye of battle is closed, and prayers that it never again may open, and above all, that it may never open on the dis-United States of America. This glorious advent of peace comes of the services rendered by you, and by your comrades in arms; and you deserve to be decorated with heroic honors for conspicuous bravery on burning battle-fields, where all were brave. You deserve, as you receive, the gratitude of your neighbors, the thanks, the blessings and the benedictions of the good, the generous and the true. But I will not detain you. It is the Sabbath day, when, even if you were not weary with travel, rest and quiet would be congenial to you, and to those who have come to greet you. Kind hands have provided such tributes of hospitality and thoughtfulness as the notice of your coming has allowed; and now, in the name of this vast multitude, in the name of the whole people of Utica, in the name of the whole people of Oneida County, I assure you once more that a welcome and a God- bless-you is in the hearts, if not on the lips, of all, the young and the old. In reply to an invitation to attend a reception to be given to the " Conkling Rifles," the follow- ing letter was written: Utica, August 7, 1865. My Dear Sir : I have the pleasure to acknowledge your note of to-day inviting me to be present at a reception to be given on the loth inst. to the officers of the Nmety-seventh Regiment. It would give me great satisfaction to join in the occasion you Digitized by Microsoft® THE CONKLING RIFLES. 247 propose. I hold it a privilege of high honor to be permitted at any time to express the feeling of my fellow-citizens and myself toward those whose heroism and devotion have been the salvation of us all. To whatever State or county or regiment they belong, they have my warmest wishes and my high regard. But more than this is true of the men whom Boonville is about to greet. The officers and men of the Ninety-seventh must ever be regarded by me with especial partiality and pride, both as sol- diers and as friends. Having adopted my humble name, and in- scribed it on their batmers, they bore it to victory through thirty battles. Such an honor can never be forgotten, and from the patriot who led at first, to the last private on the roll, all the mem- bers of the regiment, in their lives or in their graves, will ever be held by me in grateful remembrance. It is a matter of sincere regret that I cannot be present on Thursday, but I must forego the pleasure. Continual absence for weeks has postponed matters which can- not now be neglected. Should it be possible to release myself, I will^come, but I have no hope of doing so, and beg you to present to the friends who will assemble my apology and my best wishes. Your friend and fellow-citizen, ROSCOE CONKLING. Sam'l Johnson, Esq., Chairman, &c. The first session of the Thirty-ninth Congress began December ,4, 1865. There were in this House more eminent and able Representatives than in any previous Congress. Among the New York delegates were Henry J. Raymond, John W. Chanler, James Brooks, John H. Ketcham, John A. Griswold (who in 1868 be- came the Republican candidate for Governor), Theodore M. Pomeroy, Giles. W. Hotchkiss and Digitized by Microsoft® 248 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONh'LLNG. Hamilton Ward, who in 1879 was elected At- torney-General. Mr. Conkling was generally re- garded as the ablest man of the delegation. It may be said that in this Congress he established his national reputation as a statesman and as a leader in the councils of the Republican party. Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana, was chosen Speaker, and he appointed Mr. Conkling on the Committee of Ways and Means. James A. Garfield and Rutherford B. Hayes were members of this House. The latter took but little part in the proceedings. In the afternoon of the opening day Thaddeus Stevens offered a concurrent resolution appointing a joint committee of fifteen members to inquire into the condition of the so-called Confederate States, and to report whether they were entitled to representation in either House of Congress. It was known as the Committee on Reconstruction. The resolution was soon passed by a two-thirds vote, the Democrats being recorded in the nega- tive. Roscoe Conkling was one of the Joint Commit- tee. It consisted of six Senators and nine i-epre- sentatives in Congress. Several sub-committees were formed, Mr. Conkling being appointed on that for Virginia, North Carolina and South Caro- lina. Here his colleagues were, Jacob M. Howard, a Senator from Michigan, and Henry T. Blow, a Digitized by Microsoft® THE PKOVOST-MARSHAL GENEKAL. 249 Representative from Missouri. We may state that this Congress was distinguished by measures which have had an enduring effect upon the nation, e. g:, the civil rights bill, the tenure of office law, and the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution. Mr. Conkling submitted, December 5, the fol- lowing resolution : Resolved, That the Committee on Military Affairs be instructed to inquire whether the office of Provost-Marshal General and offices subordinate thereto cannot now advantageously be dis- pensed with, and such business as remains at that bureau be turned over to some necessary and permanent bureau of the War Department. He demanded the previous question and it was adopted without opposition. The reader will recognize that this measure was suggested by the Haddock court-martial. Mr. Conkhng submitted, December 21, the fol- lowing resolution : Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested, if not incompatible with the public interest, to communicate to this House any report or reports made by the Judge- Advocate General, or any other officer of the Government, as to the grounds, facts and accusations, upon which Jefferson Davis, Clement C. Clay, Stephen R. Mallory and David L. Yulee, or either of them, are held in confinement. He asked for immediate action upon this reso- lution, but, objection being made, it went over Digitized by Microsoft® 2 50 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. under the rules. At a later day (January lo) it was adopted. On January 15, 1866, he offered the following important resolution : Resolved, That an amendment of the Constitution of the United States should be submitted to the States for their ratification in one of the two following forms: Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union ac- cording to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of citizens of the United States : Provided, That whenever, in any State, civil or political rights or privileges shall be denied or abridged on account of race or color, all persons of such race or color shall be excluded from the basis of representation. Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which maybe included within this Union accord- ing to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of citizens of the United States : Provided, That whenever, in any State, the elective franchise shall be denied or abridged on ac- count of race or color, all persons of such race or color shall be excluded from the basis of representation. It was, without debate, referred to the Commit- tee on Reconstruction, and ordered to be printed. The next day he submitted the following resolu- tion for reference to the same Joint Committee : Resolved, That, in re-establishing the federal relationship of the communities lately in rebellion, so as to permit them again to participate in administering the general Government, the following are necessary and proper requirements on the part of the United States, and ought to be secured by such measures as will render them, as far as possible, immutable : 1. The absolute renunciation of all the pretensions and eva- sions of secession as a doctrine and as a practice. 2. The repudiation, both by the State and the national Gov- Digitized by Microsoft® IMPOR TANT RESOL UTIONS. 2^1 ernments, of all public debts and obligations, including State and municipal liabilities contracted or assumed in aid of the late rebellion, and including also all claims by or on behalf of those who were in the military or naval service of the insurgents for bounty, pay or pensions, and all claims of persons not loyal to the United States for damage or losses suffered by reason of the Re- bellion and for advances made in its aid. 3. The assurance of human rights to all persons within their borders, regardless of race, creed or color, and the adoption of such provisions against barbarism, disorder and oppression as will relieve the general Government from the necessity of stand- ing guard over any portion of our country to protect the people from domestic violence and outrage. 4. The impartial distribution of political power among all sec- tions of the country so that four million people shall no longer be represented in Congress in the interest of sectional aggrandize- ment and at the same time be excluded from political privileges and rights. 5. The election of Senators and Representatives in truth loyal to the United States, and never ringleaders in the late revolt, nor guilty of dastardly betrayals which preceded the war, or of atroci- ties which war cannot extenuate. The provisions of this resolution offered an ex- cellent basis for the adjustment of any difference of views which existed between Congress and the President. Mr. Conkling would agree to no plan that oper- ated to disfranchise the colored population in the South ; and it has lately been remarked that the greatest reward which he received for aiding in their enfranchisement was the practically solid vote cast at Chicago in 1880 by negro delegations for the nomination of General Grant for President. Digitized by Microsoft® 2 5:2 LII-E AND LETTERS OP ROSCOE CONKLINC. A select committee of nine had been appoint- ed on the bankrupt law. Thomas A Jenckes, of Rhode Island, was the chairman, and he soon in-, troduced a bill ; and in February the debate upon this measure began. It will be remembered that Mr. Conkling had been the chairman of a similar committee in the Thirty-seventh Congress ; and he now took a lead- ing part in the debate. An eminent gentleman who sat in the House with him says : He never shirked a duty. His attendance at committee meet- ing was scrupulously regular and punctual. He studied the bus- iness before his committees; and he kept watchful oversight of the business of the House when in session. No motion escaped him, no proposed amendment passed him unheeded, no reference of business was made whose motive and value he did not see. He never voted on a measure, in committee or in the House, which he did not thoroughly understand, and if he did not understand it, he delayed action till he could study his duty. Night sessions had no terrors for a man who did not live for pleasure, and who was free from every form of loose-living or personal indulgence. Continuous sessions of day and night in a deadlock of party struggle, or in the last hours of an expiring Congress, saw him unwearied at his post, clear-headed and vigilant. Stationed in the row of seats fronting the Speaker's desk, he was a conspicuous figure in the turmoil and disorder, killing with swift use of the rules ill-considered or unwise bills, and remorse- lessly throttling the jobs and corrupt measures which had been kept back for the opportunities of the last minutes of the confu- sion and carelessness. At an early day of his service in the House he was accepted as the representative of the courage of his party. It was not long before he was accepted as the repre- Digitized by Microsoft® THE BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 253 sentative of its integrity; and then came to him the involuntary homage which dishonesty pays to honesty, the fear of his resist- ance, and combinations to weaken and break him down. The Joint Committee on Reconstruction re- ported, in January 1866, a proposed amendment to the Constitution. We print the substance of the speech which Mr. ConkUng made upon it which is entitled the BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. Mr. Speaker: " Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union accord- ing to their respective members, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons." Constitution, Art. i., Sec. 2. This is the provision by which apportionment and representa- tion have till now been regulated in the United States. ■ It is one of the compromises of the Constitution. Strange as it may seem to the gentleman from New Jersey, it owes its existence to the same principle asserted in the pending amendment. AVhat is that principle ? That political representation does not belong to those who have no political existence. The Government of a free political society belongs to its mem- bers, and does not belong to others. If others are allowed to share in its control, they do so by express concession, not by right. It was this principle which rendered necessary such a provis- ion as I have read. It was this principle which brought that pro- vision into our national charter. The slaves of the South were not members of that political society which formed the Constitution of the United States. They were without personal liberty, and therein they were with- out a natural right, not a political right; but they were also with- out political rights, and therefore they were not members of the political community. From this it followed that they were not to be represented as members. From this it followed that politi- Digitized by Microsoft® 254 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. cal power was not to be apportioned by treating them as political persons. Natural persons they were, producers they were, and the prod- uct of their labor was the proper subject of taxation. But direct taxes and representation ought to be distributed uniformly among the members of a free Government. All alike should bear the burdens; all alike should share the benefits. ******* The slave alone was the anomaly and the nondescript. A man and not a man. In flesh and blood, alive; politically dead. * * * What could be done with him ? He was nowhere. ******* This emancipated multitude has no political status. Emancipation vitalizes only natural rights, not political rights. —Enfranchisement alone carries with it political rights, and these emancipated millions are no more enfranchised now than when they were slaves. They never had political power. Their masters had a fraction of power as masters. But there are no masters now. There are no slaves now. The whole relationship in which the power orig- inated and existed is gone. Does this fraction of power still sur- vive? If it does, what shall become of it? Where is it to go? We are told the blacks are unfit to wield even a fraction of power, and must not have it. That answers the whole question. If the answer be true, it is the end of controversy. There is no place logically for this power to go save to the blacks; if they are unfit to have it, the power would not exist. It is a power astray, without a rightful owner. It should be resumed by the whole nation at once. It should not exist; it does not exist. This fractional power is extinct. A moral earthquake has turned fractions into units, and units into ciphers. If a black man counts at all now, he counts as five-fifths of a man, not three-fifths. Revolutions have no fractions in their arithmetic; war and humanity join hands to blot them out. Four million, therefore, and not three-fifths of four million, are to be reckoned in here now, and all these four million are, and are to be, we are told, unfit for political existence. Did the framerg gf the Constitution ever dream of this? Never, Digitized by Microsoft® MODES OF APPOR TIONMENT. 2 5 ij very clearly. Our fathers trusted to gradual and voluntary emancipation, which would go hand in hand with education and enfranchisement. They never peered into the bloody epoch when four million fetters would be at once melted off in the fires of war. They never saw such a vision as we see. Four millions, each a Caspar Hauser, long shut up in darkness, and suddenly led out into the full flash of noon, and each we are told, too blind to walk, politically. No one foresaw such an event, and so no provision was made for it. *^-t:- * * * * * Here follow two tables giving (first) popula- tion, (second) results of different modes of appor- tionment. From these tables it will be seen that no New England Slate would lose a single Representative either by making white men over twenty-one, or all men over twenty-one, the basis of apportion- ment. On the contrary, taking white men over twenty-one as the basis, Massachusetts would gain two, and Connecticut and Maine, one each. New York would gain foun The losses would not be in the East. Upon a basis of male voters, black and white, Ohio and Illinois would lose one representative each, and Penn- sylvania two. California, almost alone of the States heretofore free, would gain. Her extraordinary abundance of male popula- tion would double her representation. It is now three; it would be six. The argument, based on differences between the old States and the new, in respect of age and sex, in population, is overcome by the fact that although these inequalities are large the ratio of rep- resentation is larger; that is to say, that the whole number of representatives being only 241, it takes so many "persons" or "voters" to make up the required constituency for a single one, that the preponderance of men over women, except in California, is too small in any State seriously to affect the result. * * » * * * * It has been said^ in aid of a voting basis, that many of the abuses to which it would be liable could be prevented by restrict- ing the remuneration to male citizens of the United Slates twenty- Digitized by Microsoft® 256 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONK LING. one years old and upward. This would prevent much abuse; but it would shut out four-fifths of the citizens of the country — women and children, who are citizens, who are taxed, and who are, and always have been, represented. It would also narrow the basis of taxation, and in some States seriously. The second plan mentioned, the proposition to prohibit States from denying civil or political rights to any class of persons, en- counters a great objection on the threshold. It trenches upon the principle of existing local sovereignty. It denies to the peo- ple of the several States the right to regulate their own affairs in their own way. It takes away a right which has been always sup- posed to inhere in the States, and transfers it to the general Gov- ernment. It meddles with a right reserved to the States when the Constitution was adopted, and to which they will long cling before they surrender it. No matter whether the innovation be attempted in behalf of the negro race or any other race, it is con- fronted by the genius of our institutions. But, more than this, the Northern States, most of them, do not permit negroes to vote. Some of them have repeatedly, and lately, pronounced against it. Therefore, even if it were defensible as a principle for the general Government to absorb by amendment the power to control the action of the States in sucha matter, would it not be futile to ask three-quarters of the States to do for themselves and all others, by ratifying such an amendment, the very thing which most of them have already refused to do in their own cases? This step will be taken, if taken at all, as a last resort in the attainment of some object too wise and desirable to be opposed. The third proposition is believed by the Committee to avoid, as far as the case admits of, all the objections of the other two. Let me read it as it will stand in the Constitution if adopted by Congress and three-quarters of the States: " Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which shall be included in the Union according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by counting the whole number of persons in each State. Provided, that whenever the elective franchise shall be denied or abridged in any State, on account of race or color, all individuals of such race or color shall be excluded from the basis of representation.'' Digitized by Microsoft® THE COLORED RACE IS FIT TO VOTE. ^57 It contains but one condition, and that rests upon a principle already embedded in the Constitution, and as old as free govern- ment itself. That principle I affirmed in the beginning, namely, that representation does not belong to those who have not politi- cal existence, but to those that have. The object of the amend- ment is to enforce this truth. It therefore provides that whenever any State finds within its borders a race of beings unfit for political existence, that race shall not be represented in the federal Government. Every State will be left free to extend or withhold the elective franchise on such terms as it pleases, and this without losing anything in representation, if the terms are impartial as to all. Qualifications of voters may be required of any kind — qualifications of intelli- gence, of property, or of any sort whatever, and yet no loss of repre- sentation shall thereby be suffered. But whenever, in any State, and so long as a race can be found which is so low, so bad, so ignorant, so stupid, that it is deemed necessary to exclude men from the right to vote merely because they belong to that race, in such case the race shall likewise be excluded from the sum of federal power to which that State is entitled. If a race is so vile or worthless that to belong to it is alone cause of exclusion from political action, the race is not to be counted here in Congress. ******* To return to my argument: the pending proposition commends itself, it is thought, for many reasons. First. It provides for representation co-extensive with taxa- tion. I say it provides for this; it does not certainly secure it, but it enables every State to secure it. It does not, therefore, as the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Rogers) insists, violate the rule that representation should go with taxation. If a race in any State is kept unfit to vote, and fit only to drudge, the wealth created by its work ought not to be taxed. Those who profit by such a system, or such a condition of things, ought to be taxed for it. Let them build churches and school houses, and found newspapers, as New York and other States have done, and edu- cate their people until they are fit to vote. " Fair play," "A fair day's wages for a fair day's work," " Live and let live "—these 17 Digitized by Microsoft® 258 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. mottoes, if blazoned over the institutions of a State, will insure it against being cursed for any length' of time with inhabitants so worthless that they are fit only for beasts of burden. I have said that the amendment provides for representation going hand in hand with taxation. That is its first feature. Second. It brings into the basis both sexes and all ages, and so it counteracts and avoids, as far as possible, the casual and geographical inequalities of the population. Third. It puts every State on an equal footing in the re- quirement prescribed. Fourth. It leaves every State unfettered to enumerate all its people for representation or not, just as it pleases. Thus every State has the sole control, free from all interfer- ence, of its own interests and concerns. No other State, nor the general Government, can molest the people of any State on the subject, or even inquire into their acts or their reasons, but all the States have equal rights. If New York chooses to count her black population as politi- cal persons she can do so. If she does not choose to do so the matter is her own, and her right cannot be challenged. So of South Carolina. But South Carolina shall not say, " True, we have less than three hundred thousand ' persons ' in this State, politically speaking, yet we have in governing the country the power of seven hundred thousand persons." The amendment is common to all States, and equal for all; its operation will of course be, practically, only in the South. No Northern State will lose by it, whether the Southern States extend suffrage to blacks or not. Even New York, in her great population, has so few blacks that she could exclude them all from enumeration and it would make no difference in her repre- sentation. ******* It has been insisted that " citizens of the United States," and not " persons," should be the basis of representation and appor- tionment. These words were in the pending amendment as I originally drew it and introduced it, but my own judgment was that it should be " persons," and to this the Committee assented. Digitized by Microsoft® THE FREED MEN'S BUREAU. 259 There are several answers to the argument in favor of " citi- zens" rather than " persons." The present Constitution is, and always was, opposed to this suggestion. "Persons," and not "citizens," have always con- stituted the basis. Again, it would narrow the basis of taxation and cause con- siderable inequalities in this respect, because the number of aliens in some States is very large, and growing larger now when emi- grants reach our shores at the rate of more than a State a year. ******* I believe it a wise and salutary provision, a solid block, needed in the foundation of our structure for the sake of the white man and the black. Those who lend a helping hand to put it in its place will, I think, deserve well of their country. He who does most toward incorporating it in the Constitution may hope to be heir to the praise, once not well bestowed : " Urbem lateritiam in- venit, marmoriam reliquit." The first breach between the President and Congress was February 19, when the Freedmen's Bureau bill was vetoed. Mr. Conkling voted for it. Mr. Conkling presented, February 26, a petition signed by Lieutenant-General Grant, Major-Gen- eral Howard and others, to the effect that the act of March 3, 1863, may be so amended "as to per- mit soldiers' memorials to pass through the mails upon the payment of usual postage on printed matter." In March, 1866, in his remarks upon the " Loan Bill," he said: * * * Gold and silver are the measures and standards. of value: the honest standards, the world's standards, the real stand- ards. Why ? Because they are money. * * * Coin is the Digitized by Microsoft® 26o LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. true standard of value in the commercial world because it repre- sents the cost of production. That is the difference between a metallic and a paper currency. Its value is not alone in its being stamped or called " money." " The rank is but the guinea's stamp." A silver dollar or a gold eagle represents the cost of produc- ing it, with a trifling difference, perhaps, arising from the expense of coinage, and the alloy which hardens it against attrition and keeps it out of the crucibles of other nations. What does paper represent ? If redeemable in coin, it represents the metallic value behind it; if irredeemable, it represents nothing in itself; it simply is evidence of a promise to pay. ******* I was here when the " legal-tender " policy was launched. I remember the contest well. The financial question was then, even more than now, the overmastering public question. It was the only rock on which we could split, and we all examined our- selves to see we made no blunder which consideration could avoid. I gave my vote and voice against taking the first step toward driving coin from circulation. I believed then, as I believe now, that the hour had not yet come when it was impossible longer to postpone suspension. * * * Therefore I resisted the first motion to suspend specie payments, and I say to the gentleman that those who stood then for the old and approved ways will be able to stand now, and to go as far and as fast as sound discre- tion will permit in the path which leads to frugality and solvency.* * * * Opposed as I was to the experiment of paper being resorted to at the time, dreading as I did, more than I ever dreaded any final result threatened by the war, the effect of a paper policy, I admit and assert that we have escaped, as we had no right to expect, the consequences and disasters of the measure. ******* The subject of this memoir, on the following day, favored a bill providing that " no exemption from liability to State or municipal taxation shall, * Vide speech on " The Public Credit " in Chapter X. Digitized by Microsoft® fnu rMorgan/za tioN 6f The jamj/. 26 1 by virtue of any act of Congress, be held to ex, tend to money on hand." The President returned, without his approval, March 27, the famous civil rights bill ; and about two weeks afterward Mr. Conkling voted with 121 others to pass this measure over the veto.* In the month of April, General Schenck called up for consideration a bill for the reorganization of the army, which had been reported by the Committee on Military Affairs, of which he was chairman. Pending the discussion, Mr. Conkhng moved to strike out the twentieth section, which made pro- vision for the bureau of the Provost - Marshal General as a permanent bureau in the Department of War. General Grant, then Lieutenant-General of the Army, in a letter under date of March 19, 1866, had given an opinion that there were too many bureaus in the War Department, and that the office of Provost-Marshal General was un- necessary. In the debate upon the motion to amend the bill* Mr. Conkling used these words : " My objec- tion to this section is that it creates an unnecessary office for an undeserving public servant; it fastens, * The titles of the bills which he voted to pass over the veto of Mr. John- son are here given : " Reconstruction," " Tenure of Office," " Insurrection- ary State," " Elective Franchise for the District of Columbia," the " Civil Rights" and the " Freedmen's Bureau " acts. Digitized by Microsoft® 262 L/FE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONK UNO. as an incubus upon the country, a hateful instru- ment of war, which deserves no place in a free government in a time of peace." James B. Fry, of Illinois, was then Provost-Mar- shal General, and on the thirtieth day of April a letter written by him to a member of the House, and bearing date the twenty-seventh day of that month, was read from the desk of the clerk of the House. That letter, in addition to many general and in- direct statements of wrong-doing, contained four specific charges against Mr. Conkling : First ; That he had received improperly, if not illegally, the sum of three thousand dollars for his services as judge-advo- cate in the trial of Major Haddock, and for his further services in the prosecution of a class of deserters known as bounty jumpers. Second : That in the discharge of his duties he had not acted in good faith in that he " was as zealous in preventing prosecu- tions at ytica as he was in making them at Elmira." Third : That he "made a case for himself by telegraphing to the War Department that the Provost-Marshal of his district re- quired legal advice, and that thereupon Charles A. Dana, then Assistant Secretary of War, had Mr. Conkling appointed to in- vestigate all frauds in enlistments in Western Ne\v York, with the stipulation that he should be commissioned judge-advocate for the prosecution of any case brought to trial." Fourth : Finally he said of Mr. Conkling: " He can therefore only escape the charge of deliberate and malignant falsehood as a member of Congress by confessing an unpardonable breach of duty as judge-advocate." The letter and charges were referred to a com- Digitized by Microsoft® AN INVESTIGATION TAKES PLACE. 263 mittee composed of members of both political parties. Witnesses were examined, arguments of coun- sel were heard, a thorough examination of the statutes was made, and at the end the Committee, with entire unanimity, submitted a report which was adopted by the House. The concluding paragraphs of the report are in these words : Your committee, having fully and carefully considered the charges against Hon. Roscoe Conkling contained in the letter of General Fry, are unanimously of opinion that none of the charges in the letter, whether made directly and openly or indirectly and covertly, have any foundation in truth, and that the conduct of Mr. Conkling in relation to each of the matters investigated by the committee has been above reproach, and that no circum- stances sufficient to excite reasonable suspicion have arisen which could justify or excuse the attack made upon him in the letter of General Fry. The several charges against the Hon. Roscoe Conkling, con- tained in the letter of General Fry, being unsupported by the testi- mony in any one material particular, although ample opportunity was afforded, at the cost of much time and expense, to enable the writer of that letter to furnish his proofs, the committee ought not to refrain from the expression of their condemnation of the de- liberate act of a public functionary in traducing the official as well as the personal character of a member of the House of Rei)re- sentativesof "the United States by the publication of a libel which he was so illy prepared to sustain. Indignities offered to the character or proceedings of the national legislature by libellous assaults have been resented and punished both in England and the United States as breaches of privilege ; and such assaults upon the official character of members have been held punishable as indignities committed against the House itself. The reason Digitized by Microsoft® 264 l-JP^- --i^J^ LETTERS OF KOSCOE COiVKLlNO. for this rests upon the same ground as that which justifies the ex- ercise of similar authority to |)uiiisli for attempls liy personal vio- lence, menaces or bribes to influence the conduct of members in their official capacity. Your committee deem it proper most earnestly to protest against the practice, which has obtained to some extent, of causing letters from persons not members of the House to be read as a part of a personal explanation, in which the motives of members are criticised, their conduct censured, and they are called to an- swer for words spoken in debate. Such attacks upon members, made in the House itself, and published in its proceedings, and scattered broadcast to the world at the expense of the Govern- ment, are, in the opinion of your committee, an improper check upon the freedom of debate, a violation of the privileges, and an infraction of the dignity of the House. Your committee submit for the consideration of the House the following resolutions, and recommend their adoption : Resolved, That all the statements contained in the letter of General James B. Fry to Hon. James G. Blaine, a member of this House, bearing date the 27th of April, A. D. 1866, and which was read in this House on the 30th of April, A. D. 1866, in so far as such statements impute to the Hon. Roscoe Conkling, a mem- ber of this House, any criminal, illegal, unpatriotic, or otherwise improper conduct or motives, either as to the matter of his pro- curing himself to be employed by the Government of the United States in the prosecution of military offences in the State of New York, in the management of such prosecutions, in taking compen- sation therefor, or in any other charge, are wholly without founda- tion in truth ; and for their publication there were, in the judg- ment of this House, no facts connected with said prosecutions furnishing either a palliation or an excuse. Resolved, That General Fry, an officer of the Government of the United States and head of one of its military bureaus, in writ- ing and publishing these accusations named in the preceding reso- lution, and which, owing to the crimes and wrongs which they im- pute to a member of this body, are of a nature deeply injurious to the official and personal character, influence and privileges of such member, and their publication originating, as in the judg- Digitized by Microsoft® A S&VERE DEK'Ui^CtATlOM. 265 ment of the House they did, in no misapprehension of facts, but in the resentment and passion of their author, was guilty of a gross violation of the privileges of such member and of this House, and his conduct in that regard merits and receives its un- qualified disapprobation. S. Shellabarger, Chairman. W. WlNDOM. B. M. BOYER. B, C. Cook. Samuel L. Warner. When the bill to repeal the tax on oil was be- fore the House the subject of this biography both spoke and voted in its favor ; and he has since been kindly remembered in the oil regions of Pennsylvania. On June 13, 1866, the fourteenth constitutional amendment, consisting of five sections, passed the House, Mr. Conkling voting in the affirmative. It defined national citizenship for the first time and established its rights and privileges. Three days later the President disapproved of it; but it was soon submitted to the several States. In the following January this amendment was ratified by New York; and the ratification was an- nounced by the Secretary of State July 28, 1868.* * Mr. Conkling was disappointed by the narrowness of the scope given to the fourteenth amendment by the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in the Civil Rights cases in the year 1883. The writer hap- pens to know that he wrote to Mr. Justice Harlan, congratulating him on his dissenting opinion, and he takes the liberty of publishing the sub- stance of his letter. He saif*. " It is naked truth to say that it was read, not only with admiration. Digitized by Microsoft® 266 LIFE AND LETTERS OF KOSCOE CONKLING. On June i8 Mr. Fessenden in the Senate, and Mr. Stevens in the House, submitted the majority report of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction. It was a long document signed by twelve mem- bers, including Roscoe Conkling, Thaddeus Ste- vens, Elihu B. Washburne, George S. Boutwell and Justin S. Morrill. Four days afterward a minority report was pre- sented by Reverdy Johnson, A. J. Rogers and Henry Grider. In July, 1866, the bill to preserve the neutral re- lations of the United States being under consid- eration, Mr. Conkling said : * * * My colleague, who says everything well, remarked that our neutrality laws have commanded the respect of other nations. * * * Sir, there was a time when we might be the objects of this respect, the recipients of this approbation, if not with satisfaction, at least with indifference. That was in the time when we were in the midst of undisturbed prosperity. It was * * * in discharging our obligations of neutrality as in- scribed upon our statute-book, giving to them a broad and gen- erous interpretation. But there came another time. There came a dark and portentous hour — an hour when we were no longer but with surprise at its strength of position. For many reasons I would you had never been summoned to the task of writing it. That the decis- ion from which it dissents will stir potent and enduring forces I expect; and that what you have so clearly said will be widely accepted and adopted as truth, seen not only, but seen with the foresight of wisdom — I do not doubt. Several occurrences have already paved the way to a fresh con- sideration of the field covered by the discussion, and others are pretty sure to follow. Narrow as my outlook now is, I content myself with congratu- lating you on an opinion which cannot fail to add to your fame as a jurist and as a statesman." Digitized by Microsoft® run ADMISSION OF SENA TOR PA TTERSON. 267 prosperous, but when we were in time of trouble — in the throes of disturbing revolution. Then we were, as we had a right to suppose, to receive a just return for the hard faith we had so sacredly kept. Did we receive a just return ? Did we receive any return which a proud and powerful people can brook ? Look at the last four years. Begin with the Trent affair. Re- member our harmless merchantmen burned at midnight in mid- ocean. Consider the Canadian raid upon Vermont and its issue. Recall the building of rams, and the fitting out of pirates; and then the laggard and shambling efforts to arrest them. Do not forget the recent incursion upon Canada, nor the rigorous fidelity with which the Government punished that incursion. Bear in mind the approbation with which that rigor was received in Eng- land, the gracious praise of the "Thunderer" of Fleet Street, and from which shall we derive consolation ? * * * Mr. Conkling made, July 27, a stirring speech in the House concerning the admission of David T. Patterson (a Circuit Judge during the war) as a Senator from Tennessee. He closed the de- bate, and finally moved to lay on the table the joint resolution of the Senate and House. The joint resolution read as follows: Be it resolved, &'c.. That Hon. David T. Patterson, a Senator- elect from the State of Tennessee, be admitted to his seat upon taking the usual oath to support the Constitution of the United States, and upon taking so much of the oath prescribed by the act entitled " An act to prescribe an oath of office, and for other purposes," approved July 2, 1862, as is not included in the fol- lowing words, to wit: "That I have neither sought nor accepted, nor attempted to exercise, the functions of any office whatever, under any authority, or pretended authority, in hostility to the United States." Digitized by Microsoft® 268 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. This resolution was, upon motion of Mr. Conk- ling, laid on the table by a vote of eighty-eight to thirty-one. Whoever reviews the Reconstruction period will see Mr. ConkHng,with unfailing diligence and en- ergy, when work was to be done, always present. He devoted his abilities enthusiastically to the re- establishment of order, and the enactment of just laws that should bear equally upon the weak and the strong, the rich and the poor, the proud and the humble. Digitized by Microsoft® 1 866. CHAPTER XV. HIS LAST CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN. ' I "HE Union County Convention met at Rome, September 8, 1866. The meeting was called to order by Charles M. Dennison, of Rome, and on motion the Hon. Richard Hulbert, of Boonville, became the chairman. After the customary routine business, the Con- vention took a recess and assembled later in the day, with the Hon. Alrick Hubbell, of Utica, as president, and Lewis Lawrence, of the same city, as the first vice-president. James Rockwell, of Utica, moved the nomina- tion of the Hon. Roscoe Conkling for representa- tive in Congress and that the result be determined by a rising vote. The motion was unanimously carried, every delegate rising to his feet. Mr. Conkling was conducted to the platform, and spoke substantially as follows: Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention : I return you my thanks for this generous and cordial greeting, and for the re- newed mark of confidence it has been your pleasure to bestow. In 269 Digitized by Microsoft® 270 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. accepting the trust of representing, yet longer, the constituency for which you speak to-day, I can only assure you that in the future, as in the past, the wishes and the interests of the district shall be the guiding star of my actions, and that within the limits of my ability I will defend its honor against all comers. * * * * * * * , The great and glorious party you represent, having stood by the country in its darkest hours, and borne it in triumph through the most trying of human struggles, has still a mission unper- formed. * * * The will of the majority, lawfully expressed, must be the only king; the ballot-box must be the only throne, and before that every knee must bow. The President of the United States (Andrew Johnson), as he goes on his deceitful er- rand, with an imperial condescension, a supercilious patronage, which seem to ape Louis Napoleon, repeats from place to place, " I shall place the Constitution in the hands of the people." This angry man, dizzy with the elevation to which assassina- tion has raised him, frenzied with power and ambition, does not seem to know that not he, but the men who made the Constitu- tion placed it in the people's hands. They placed Andrew Johnson in the people's hands also; and when those hands shall drop their votes into the ballot-box, Andrew Johnson and his policy of arro- gance and usurpation will be snapped like a willow wand. * * * Do not doubt, my friends, that Oneida County will bear herself justly and proudly in the work. Her people are not for sale; they can neither be brow-beaten nor bought. * * * With a just regard for the rights of all sections, they will see to it that the Union and the rights of the people are so anchored as, in the language of one of the resolutions, to make fast the blessings of liberty, prosperity and peace. Mr. Conkling's views on Reconstruction are well expressed in his speech at Mechanics' Hall, Utica, September 13, 1866. It was afterward printed in pamphlet form and would cover forty pages of this memoir; we have space for but one-fifth of it, Digitized by Microsoft® THE POLITICAL PROBLEM OF ,S66. 271 It is entitled " Congress and the President; the Political Problem of 1866." Mr. Chairman and Fellow-Citizens: In so far as this greeting implies personal regard for me, it only adds another to the many occasions scattered through twenty years, for which my gratitude is due to the people of this city and county. ******* You believe your country is at stake now. So do I; and there- fore we assemble under the institutions which our fathers made and which give us, as the remedy for wrongs in government, the silent, potent vote, and enjoin upon us the duty to use it wisel)'. ******* Concerning the debate on the report of the Re- construction Committee, he said : We examined hundreds of witnesses, pushing the sittings into the night. We called witnesses of every shade of opinion, refus- ing none that anybody wanted heard. Rebel and loyalist, civil- ian and soldier, officer and private, were all sought after, and members of the Committee, of opposite politics, were present to examine and cross-examine. This testimony is pregnant through- out, and no man is warranted in calling names, or assuming to know more of this question than other people, unless he has read what the witnesses swore to. Here it is; it fills 814 pages of type too fine for an old man to read. Besides this, there are two hundred and sixty pages of documentary evidence. How many, think you, have read it, of these gentlemen who have suddenly started up to take charge of the business of Recon- struction ? How many of them have taken the trouble to read a page of it, or to study the question at all in its various bearings, before undertaking to pronounce upon one of the greatest and most difficult problems in history ? But then, after alt, what are vol- umes of testimony, what are months of labor, compared to going Digitized by Microsoft® 272 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKUNG. to Philadelphia* and seeing a man from Massachusetts and a man from South Carolina walk into a convention arm in arm ? Who wants to fool away his time in investigating, after he has been to Philadelphia and heard Lee and Stonewall Jackson cheered, and the loyal people of the North lectured and de- nounced by rebels, in reply to serenades where Dixie was played ? Who wants to bother with dry facts, after he has imbibed in- spiration from James L. Orr, a traitor to his country, a ringleader in rebellion, a man tattooed with broken oaths, and afterward a Senator in the Rebel Congress ? You and I, however, not having enjoyed these peculiar advan- tages, want to get at the facts in the old-fashioned way, just as we would go at any matter of business. Let us see, then, what the proof does establish. It shows that the unseemly clamor of Southern rebels for im- mediate representation has certain objects. First — To enable those who plunged the Southern States into secession to resume their old sway in the Government. Second — To obtain pay for emancipated slaves. Third — To make the nation pay for damages done by the war. Fourth — To compel the United States to assume the rebel debt. Fifth — If the rebel debt is not assumed, to repudiate the Union debt. It shows that when the last of the Rebellion was beaten down, the insurgents would have accepted anything, but that, under the patronage of the President, everything is reversed. It shows that lawlessness, disloyalty and contempt abound in the South, and that too where there was nothing of the sort until incited and emboldened by the course of the President. It shows that by pardons, and by favoritism of other kinds, rebels have been lifted up, and loyal men have been put down, until treason is more fashionable and Unionism is more odious than it was during the war, and life and property, and the most sacred rights, are the sport of license and brutality. * The speaker refers to the so-called National Convention which met at Philadelphia, August 14, 1866. Digitized by Microsoft® THE PHILADELPHIA CONVENTION. 273 It shows secret organizations existing and increasing, having for their object hostility to the Government of the United States, and that in case of a foreign war the rebels would take sides against us. Men who went to Philadelphia and danced before the king were called as witnesses, and on their oaths confessed convictions and views utterly destructive of the peace and existence of the United States. In short the examination revealed a state of things which en- tirely prepared us for such atrocities as have since become noto rious. It prepared us to find that nowhere in the South was the Fourth of July celebrated except by negroes. It prevented our being much surprised when women and children were shot down for strewing flowers upon soldiers' graves. This happened in South Carolina, and James L. Orr says South Carolina is per- fectly loyal; but then these women and children were black, and the tenants of those graves, though white, died for the Union, and they had no epitaph except the word " Unknown." Alabama, too, so bewitching at Philadelphia, we were prepared to find, has not to-day a single loyal newspaper published in the State. Memphis, with its tale of horror and of shame, gave no more surprise to those who had been through the Reconstruction inves- tigation than did the fact that Forrest, the murderer and butcher of Fort Pillow, presided the other day in Memphis at a meeting to ratify the Philadelphia Convention. Even New Orleans, with its masquerade of tyranny and car- nage, surprised us not so much by the scenes that were enacted as by the fact that an American President should be found ap- parently falsifying despatches, in order to cover up his purpose to subvert free government in Louisiana and rear upon its ruins a despotism tempered by assassination. Texas we were prepared to find, by this time, as Texas is, one vast arena of treason, violence and wrong. Union men throughout the South— not black men only, but white men— fleeing northward for their lives, even a United States Senator-elect compelled to leave his Slat? to escape murder, and 18 Digitized by Microsoft® 2 74 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. the rebels raised from supplicants to dictators. These are only such things as we reported would occur. We found, therefore, that nothing could be more unnecessary, more unsafe, more mad, than to introduce such elements into the Government without first securing such safeguards as could be properly devised. Mr. Conkling next discussed this proposition: Shall one rebel at the South have as much power as three white men at the North ? AVe found, moreover, that the downfall of slavery had rendered senseless and inoperative the provision of the Constitution appor- tioning representation. We found that four million negroes suddenly changed from slaves to freemen would, unless the Con- stitution was amended, give the Southern States hereafter twenty- four representatives in Congress and in the Electoral College, two-thirds of which would otherwise go to the North, making a difference of more than twenty-four in the result. The Constitution as it stands, made when slavery existed, bases representation upon free persons, and upon " three-fifths of all others." Now there are no "others" than free persons, and hence the States that had slavery propose, in fixing their share of power in the Government, for the future to count every negro not as three-fifths of a man, but as a full man, and they say they shall vote for the negro, he being unfit to vote for himself. By this management they will add two-fifths to the former voting power of the black race, and use that power to govern you and me. In New York 130,000 white people have but one repre- sentative in Congress, but one vote and one voice; but in South Carolina 130,000 whites will have three Representatives, three votes and three voices in Congress, if they are to be allowed to count in their blacks. Is this fair ? Is it to be tolerated ? Is a white man in Charleston as good as three white men in Utica? Are men, as the reward and result of rebellion, to be erected into a ruling political aristocracy ? We hear a great deal about a white man's government, What Digitized by Microsoft® THE NEXT APPORTIONMENT. 275 sort of a white man's government would that be in which politi- cal equaUty between white men is impossible ? Waiving the principle and the right of the thing, look at the re- sult. The whole number of members of the House of Representa- tives is 242. If the old slave States are to be allowed to count their non-voting blacks, the next apportionment will give them ninety-four or ninety-six members. This lacks but twenty-six or twenty-eight of being a majority of all. In other words, twenty- six or twenty-eight votes from the North added to the Southern vote give them the House. Did you ever know the time when they couldn't get twenty-six votes from the North for anything they couldn't carry without? The last Congressional election swept the North like a tornado. We had had, two years before, something such a pretended " Conservative '' movement as is being palmed off now ; it wasn't so barefaced as this, and being the first time, it carried before the people found it out ; it came within an ace of losing us the Gov- ernment and the war, and it re-acted two years afterward, so that true Northern sentiment in the House of Representatives was stronger at the last session than it ever had been before, and yet forty or forty-one men were there to vote for the extremest South- ern views. When a report was made against paying for damages done by the war in Southern States, every Democrat but six, I am sorry to say, voted against it. When a bill was passed to restore to Union men at the South the lands confiscated by the rebel Government, every Democrat voted against it, and every Union man voted for it. Suits have been brought in the South against Union officers for property injured or destroyed in the war. Thirty-five hundred of these suits have been commenced in Kentucky alone. We passed a bill to allow these cases to be removed into the United States Courts, so as to get them before a more unbiased judge and jury, and every Democrat voted against it. The orator referred then to the payment of the rebel debt. Digitized by Microsoft® 276 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. Do you want to give up your interests once more to this alli- ance, with two-fifths added to the old slave power ? Do you want to bind your country hand and foot, and lay it again on the altar at which it has been once offered up ? What would become of it ? What would become of the pen- sion roll of soldiers and their widows and orphans ? What would become of the public debt and the public credit ? What would greenbacks, and five-twenties, and seven-thirties be worth ? The rebels who did the sleight-of-hand at Philadelphia said they would keep the United States securities good. I think they will too, because the Union people of the country are going to fix it that they can't make them bad. But suppose you let them take control, what will they do? Will they say to the North, You have beaten us in the battle; you have desolated our land with fire and sword; you have stripped us; you have annihilated four thousand million dollars by destroy- ing slavery ; you have compelled us to repudiate our debt ; you have prevented our paying our creditors or soldiers ; we are poor, we are naked, but we are going now to keep voting taxes on our- selves to pay the debt you made in destroying us ? Will they say this ? Is it rational to expect it ? Public debts are not repudiated by direct affirmative legisla- tion. The want of legislation is enough to turn to blank paper every greenback in your pocket, every Government note or bond you hold. A majority, or even less, than a majority, in either House of Congress has only to fail to pass a certain iTill, and bank- ruptcy, repudiation and ruin would come like an unforetold eclipse. The rebel debt would not only go up in the market, as it did in England after the Philadelphia Convention, but the rebel debt and Southern war damages would become a stock to be bought up and lobbied through Congress. Men could make hundreds of thousands out of a single vote, and the most enormous corruption fund ever heard of in any country would be brought to bear upon the representatives of the people. Are you ready for this ? Are you ready to put up your rights, Digitized by Microsoft® TI{E KECOA'STKUCTION COMMITTEE. 2^7 your property ami flie honor of the nation to be raffled for by the murderers of your children and the betrayers of your country ? Are you ready, after staggering through four years of agony, to fool away and give away for nothing all you have struggled for the moment you have it in your grasp ? Congress and the Committee of Fifteen thought not. They thought the graves should grow green, that the cripples should have time to limp back to their homes, that the inky cloak should begin to disappear before the authors of our woes come back into the presence of their surviving victims ; and that when they do come, it should be upon terms of equality with the rest of us, and with nothing more. ***** * * Just here I want to inquire of my Democratic friends, where that darkening cloud of negroes is with which emancipation was to cover the North ? Where is that black wave of laborers from the South which was to roll in upon as, to crowd out white men and reduce their wages ? Four years ago mobs were raised, passions were roused, votes were given, upon the idea that emancipated negroes were to burst in hordes upon the North. We said then, give them liberty and rights at the South, and they will stay there and never come into a cold climate to die. We say so still, and we want them let alone, and that is one thing that this part of the amendment is for. With even the chance given them so far, and a hard chance it has been, they have done better than we are sometimes told. The Reconstruction Committee took testimony on that point too, and I wish every one of you would read it. You would see, among other things, that more whites than blacks have been fed and clothed by the Freedmen's Bureau — in Tennessee, three to one ; in Arkansas, for this month of September, the number of whites assisted is 35,000 ; of blacks, only 5,000. So barefaced has become the pretence that the "Bureau of Refugees and Freedmen " has been for the sole benefit of the lazy blacks, that the President is taking on his stumping tour a wholly different tack. Mr. Conkling concluded by the following al- lusions to President Johnson: Digitized by Microsoft® 278 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. Now " the rich traitor " is courted and caressed, and the poor Unionist is butchered by the connivance of Andrew Johnson. After Missouri has passed laws to prevent rebels from voting, and after the courts have sustained those laws, this frenzied usurper dares to tell a deputation of traitors that everything that can be done from Washington by military force will be done to insure rebels the opportunity to vote in Missouri, the laws of the State to the contrary notwithstanding. Not satisfied with betraying the country by official action, and by secret plotting; not satisfied with conniving at the robbery and murder of Unionists, and the exaltation and reward of traitors at the South, he comes now to buffet and slander the Union people of the North, and to blacken the memory of their dead. Let the people of the North sanction or submit to it, and throughout the South the worst impulse will be given to the pub- lic mind, and the worst results for the whole country will follow. Already a revolution and a dictatorship loom in the distance. But let the elections speak out in favor of the mild and safe plan of restoration proposed by Congress, and Southern men of all classes, seeing the folly of continuing resistance, will accept the terms proposed. Then we shall have a Union, not only of States and of people, but of interests, of rights and of hearts, and the nation will enter upon a career of prosperity untold in history or fable.* * The following reference to this speech, talien from the Lockport (N. \.) Journal ai April 18, 1888, may interest the reader: MR. CONKLING'S WONDERFUL MEMORY. We venture to recall just a fact illustrative of Mr.' Conkling's wonder- ful memory, which came under the observation of the writer of this ar- ticle, who in i866 was city editor of the Utica Herald. Mr. Conkling came home that fall to speak at old Mechanics' Hall upon the exciting war and other issues of the hour. The Herald naturally desired a full re- port the next morning. It was impossible to have it, in those days, with- out the copy in advance. This Mr. Conkling furnished the city editor the afternoon of the evening he was to spaak. That evening he delivered it almost word for word as furnished in advance, although the effort to every appearance was extempore. It made upward of eleven solid columns of the Utica Herald. Digitized by Microsoft® J x\-ElV ERA IN POLITICS. 2'Jq It is worthy of remark that during his canvass Mr. Conkling- spoke at fourteen different towns. A new era in the politics of the State was dawning. William H. Seward remained in the Cabinet and hence sustained the President's pol- icy. His friends were nieutral or hostile to the new order of things. Thurlow Weed had lost control of the political destinies of New York. Governor Reuben E. Fenton and Senator Edwin D. Morgan were not orators nor adapted for leadership. Mr. Conkling pulled the laboring oar, exhorted the younger class of men then coming forward and gave to the campaign an energy and enthusiasm which insured success in November. In response to an inquiry from a committee of workingmen, he wrote the following letter : Utica, October 29, 1866. Gentlemen: I have just received your note inquiring my views respecting the movement to reduce and fix the hours of labor which shall constitute a legal day's work. Expressions of opinion in the nature of pledges made by can- didates for office on the eve of election have never seemed to me well chosen modes of promoting the cause of truth. Such ex- pressions, if not always questionable, can have little utility where those from whom they come have previously acted explicitly upon the subject to which they refer. The inquiries you address to me relate to a question which was several times presented for action during the last session of Congress, and upon which my vote is repeatedly recorded. The Congressional Globe. and the journals of the House of Represen- tatives show all these votes. They are all in favor of reducing Digitized by Microsoft® 28o UFE AND LETTERS Oh ROSCOE CONKLING. the hours of daily labor, aiul you would perhaps be better satis- fied by my referring to them and leaving the matter there. It may not be amiss, however, to add that I have seen no rea- son to change the opinion heretofore expressed, in votes and other- wise, and that, never having knowingly given a vote or done an act hostile to the interest of human labor in the past, I mean never to do so in the future. Your obedient servant, ROSCOE CONKLING. Messrs. Trembly & Baxondale. At a mass meeting of workingmen held in Utica on the next day Mr. ConkUng spoke at length. His remarks are reported in the Herald, from which we give the following extract: Mr. Conkling said that he felt honored by the invitation to address such an audience, and grateful for the warmth of their re- ception; that he would say, notwithstanding he was a candidate for office, that no greeting would be more welcome to him than one from the men who represent the enterprise and industry of the day. In saying this, he ascribed to workingmen honor in which he himself claimed some right to share. The amelioration of labor is one of the best methods of ennobling human nature and human character, by advancing human culture, human happi- ness and human opportunity. * * * The purpose of the meeting was not to instruct men how to vote or how not to vote, but to warn all parties, all candi- dates, and all hired runners for candidates, that they must never attempt again to put up such a cause upon the public or the pri- vate shambles. A handful of tricksters had attempted to mort- gage the labor interest to certain political candidates, and had attempted to bind the bargain by palming off upon the public the formalities and pretensions of committees, meetings, processions, music and other apparatus, all paid for, and all insulting to the public judgment and the public sense. Such a transaction, if tolerated, or treated even with contemptuous silence, would in- jure, if it did not ruin, any caiise. Digitized by Microsoft® AN ADJ3RESS TO WORKINGMEN. 28 I *■ * * No one would deny the propriety or patriotism of work- ingmen consulting their own interests in selecting the parties, the candidates, the measures to be supported or opposed. All classes of people should do this. The sewing woman whose slender earnings are invested in Government securities, whether through a savings bank or directly, does right in giving her voice, though she has no vote, for the party and the policy which she believes will make her most secure. Free Government is a great watch-dog, whose business it is to guard the rights and in- terests of the citizen, and no patriotism or duty stands in the way of so voting as to shape the action of Government according to the judgment and advantage of those who vote. * * * Election- eering pledges were not the evidence sought by honest men look- ing after truth. Past acts, whether in public or in private station, previous records, the every-day walk and conversation of life, were the things looked for by all who know that actions speak louder than words. In this instance, a scheme had been con- trived to catechize candidates, not in order to elicit what they had done, nor a free expression of their views, but to get an answer to certain concocted questions. This would have been suspi- cious, even if the purpose had been simply to make the answers public with a view to court votes. The evidence would have been of a suspicious character, even if it had been put fairly be- fore the jury which was to pass upon it. But the managers thought the jury could not be trusted. Workingmen could not judge for themselves. They must have some one to " boss " them; and so this little " ring" of hired fuglemen had set up as school- masters, to discipline and instruct in their political A B C's the men who represent the enterprise and three-fourths of the busi- ness of Oneida County ******* The election occurred November 6. For repre- sentative in Congress the whole number of votes cast was 23,523; of which Roscoe Conkling re- ceived 12,470, and Palmer V. Kellogg 11,053, thus giving the former a majority of 1,417. Digitized by Microsoft® 282 LIFJi AjVD letters OF JROSCOE CONKUNG. Reuben E. Fenton, for Governor, had 12,431 votes, or thirty-nine less than Mr. ConkHng. The demonstration of the Unionists of Utica and vicinity, held in that city on the Saturday evening after the election (November 10), was imposing in point of numbers, and marked by a degree of enthusiasm in keeping with the occasion. Mr. Conkling spoke substantially as follows : Fdlcnv-traitors on the Northern Side of the ^'^ Circle : " For the compliment and kindness of this greeting, I beg you all to accept my grateful acknowledgments, and the assurance that I feel proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with you in the treason in which you are engaged. You celebrate an event for which every patriot of every party ought to be glad, and thankful too, to that Providence which rules the destinies of nations and of men. Four great States have just rendered a verdict for the safety and salvation of the nation; they have calmly considered the question proposed by Mr. Seward, whether they prefer Andrew Johnson " as President or as King," and the answer is; they don't prefer him as either. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Iowa have all solemnly regis- tered their vows that blood-stained traitors shall not govern us, but that a ransomed country shall be ruled by loyal men. These four great States have branded and blasted the assumptions and usurpations of a passionate and perfidious President, and have spurned the menaces, the patronage, the bribes and the base ap- pliances by which it was hoped the people might be corrupted and betrayed. Everything vile that can enter into politics has been banded together, and it has been beaten down by the vir- tue and courage of the people. The jayhawkers, the bushwhackers, the guerrillas, the political bounty jumpers of all parties, locked arms to carry Andrew Johnson through, and he put into their hands, as pillage and plun- Digitized by Microsoft® A MEMORABLE ELECTION. 283 der to be used to gain votes, all the patronage and jobbing of tlie Government. On the other hand, with nothing but right and duty to inspire them, the honest men of all parties locked arms to carry the country through, and the country is triumphant. Many honest men in the first instance gave their countenance to the movement for the President, but finding that they had been deceived and imposed upon, they have quietly ranged themselves under the banner of the Union party, and from this class has come a "ground swell " which carries all before it. ******* Apostasy is not leadership. Frailty, disappointed ambition, or revenge do not lead a nation like ours in an epoch like this. ******* The people, taking not only the Constitution, but their affairs generally, into their own hands, have marked out their policy in lines too strong to be mistaken. Seven States have done so. Maine and Vermont send united delegations by unwonted major- ities. Little Connecticut, a Democratic State, in her local elec- tions shows that a majority of six thousand free voices cry out against the one-man power domineering over the country in the interest of treason. Baltimore, where, only four years ago, a Massachusetts regiment could not march without being murdered, gives twenty-eight hundred majority for Parliament against King. Newark, in New Jersey, the only Northern State which voted for George B. McClellan, says, by twelve hundred majority, that no man shall hold a place in her citj' government who endorses Andrew Johnson. Iowa, dropping in the nomination the only member of her delegation who hesitated in Congress, sends a solid phalanx of earnest men. Indiana gives sixteen thousand majority for Congress, and five hundred even in the district for- merly represented by Daniel W. Voorhees. ******* Mr. Welles, " the ancient mariner," tumbled into Philadelphia, it seems, some thousands of non-residents, under pretence of employing them in the Navy- Yard there. Virginia, Maryland and Delaware seem to have furnished each its quota of rebels colonized in Pennsylvania to vote for Clymer, but all to no pur- pose. Eighteen thousand for Geary is the general result, three Digitized by Microsoft® 284 LlfE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. members of Congress are gained, and the Lancashire district, whose representative Andrew Johnson says should be hung, has sent back brave Thaddeus Stevens by sixty-three hundred ma- jority. In the United States Senate the President has lost more than in the House. The Union gain in the Senate is three already. Corbett in Oregon and Cattell in New Jersey, are both gains, and Edgar Cowan has been frowned down by an indignant peo- ple, amid the jeers ev«n of those who have made gain of his rec- reancy. ******* Congress has proposed an amendment to the Constitution, to make your securities and property safe, to insure the Northern people against being taxed hereafter to pay rebel debts or dam- ages, and to make a loyal man at the North the equal of a rebel at the South, m place of leaving one rebel at the South the equal of three loyal men at the North in governing the country. ******* When Mr. Lincoln lived, we used to be told that the army of office-holders and the patronage of the Government carried elections. Now all this is reversed; everything of place and of power is in the hands of murdered Lincoln's foes; his friends have nothing but the faith he held, and that they mean to keep like "the jewel of liberty in the family of freedom." He voted with eighty-nine others December 17, 1866, for a resolution proposing to impeach Presi- dent Johnson. Digitized by Microsoft® Part Second 1867. CHAPTER XVI. THE YOUNG SENATOR. ' I ^HE Empire State was represented in the United States Senate by ex-Governor Edwin D. Morgan and ex-Judge Ira Harris. The term of th» latter was about to expire on March 4, 1867, and the New York Legislature of that winter was called upon to elect his successor. During the previous Deceinber the press of the State, to a large extent, proposed Roscoe Conkling, and the movement was not confined to the Republican journals. In- deed, the younger and more progressive element in the party regarded him as the coming man. He perceived the opportunity and was prompt to grasp it. He had studied the "situation" in every county of the State. He was confident of his own strength and influence with the leaders and easily secured their allegiance. The canvass for Mr. Conkling collected round Digitized by Microsoft® 286 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONK LING. him that band of powerful and able politicians who were afterward known as the "Stalwarts" of New York. He visited Albany and just before his nomination wrote the following characteristic letter to his wife. At the present day (1889), when the election of United States Senators is generally imputed to bribery, it is gratifying to note that Roscoe Conkling's political promotion was not due to an improper use of money. Delay AN House — with a pillow to write on, in a bedroom next to " Parlor 65," Sunday morn. My dear J . * * * In an experience somewhat varied, tho' short, I have never been in just such a place. On reaching here Tuesday night, on entering the outer door I found myself in the midst of a crowd waiting, and after tossing round as it swayed, and shaking hands for a space, I came at last to the foot of the stairs, and went up with a rush to the two " ladies' parlors," which had " Private Par- lor " on big cards hanging on them, and which had been set apart for me. Here the crowd took and held possession till about 3 o'clock next morning. Hundreds came and went, and until Thursday night this continued from early morning to early morn- ing again. * * * The contest is a very curious and complex one. I could not write you the particulars even if you would care for them. But as it stands I can be chosen, and shall be, I think. Great sums of money are among the influences here. I have resolutely put down my foot upon the ground that no friend of mine, even without my knowledge, shall pay a cent, upon any pre- text nor in any strait, come what will. If chosen, it will be by the men of character, and if beaten this will be my consolation. By-the-by, letters reached New York yesterday from Mr. Bry- ant, in Paris, asking his friends to make every effort for me. The Digitized by Microsoft® ELECTED TO THE SENATE. 287 same from Parke Godwin. In many instances, some of which I shall tell you of, the quality of the support I have is so far above my deserts that it abashes me. The gamblers say that I can have $200,000 here from New York in a moment if I choose, and that the members are fools to elect me without it; only think of it ! But I won't weary you with all this. The whole thing has been amusing and instructive. No political result personal to me can disturb or excite me, and so I have been as well able as the idlest speculator to enjoy the oddities and lessons of the thing. * * * Affectionately, R. C. Mrs. Conkling, Utica. The Republican caucus by which he was nomi- nated for Senator was held January 9, 1867. The other chief candidates were the retiring Senator, Judge Ira Harris, and Noah Davis, then of Orleans County, since so distinguished on the bench in the city of New York. Fifty-five votes were necessary for the nomination. Five ballots were taken, as follows: First. Second. Third. Fourth. 1^ Conkling, 33 39 45 53 >H Davis, 30 41 44 50 H<\ Harris, 32 24 18 6 Balcom, 7 4 2 — Greeley, 6 — — — Folger, I I — — On the fifth and final ballot Mr. Conkling re- ceived fifty-nine votes, to forty -nine for Judge Davis. The Legislature elected him in due form. Of the name " Republican," Roscoe Conkling Digitized by Microsoft® 288 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. was not tenacious. When nominated for United States Senator, he, in his replies to congratulatory- speeches, twice referred to the Republican party as giving up its existence, and being succeeded by the " Union party."* On the night of his election the new Senator received a perfect ovation at the Delavan House. His friends, giving way to their enthusiasm, bore him on their shoulders through the corridors. Considering Mr. Conkling's objection to having his person touched, this was a trying ordeal to pass through. This rapid progress of a generous ambition was thus crowned with a double success, which, per- haps, had no precedent in New York politics. The new Senator took his seat, not only with the warm support and confidence of his own party, but with the best wishes of political opponents. Not a Democratic journal in the State of New York spoke unkindly of his election. The feeling of the more gallant of the Democratic party was voiced by one who declared that it "was a triumph, not of gold, but of intellect," and who congratulated the people of New York that they would " now be heard in * This term was used during the early part of the Civil War, when an unsuccessful attempt was made to substitute for the Republican organi- zation the Union parly, as consisting of patriotic supporters of the Govern- ment without reference to former distinction. The proposition having been abandoned, Mr. Conkling's revival of the term was misunderstood and caused much comment, Digitized by Microsoft® HE SP URNS PA TRONA GE. 280 the United States Senate chamber in a manner which will make the old State feel proud." On the day after his election the Loyal League of Utica (which, as already stated, was a patriotic organization formed in 1863) assembled to cele- brate the success of their standard-bearer. A series of resolutions recognizing his public services was adopted. These were transmitted to Wash- ington by Dr. L. W. Rogers, the president. A few days later the Senator-elect expressed his gratitude in a letter which was published in the Utica Herald. Mr. Conkling's great activity in politics made the county of Oneida a centre of political power. To obtain patronage from an Administration which he despised was not in accordance with his feelings and convictions. He cast executive favor to the winds, aitd would recommend candidates for office only when asked by the members of the Cabinet, as may be seen by the following letter : House of Representatives, Committee of Ways and Means, Washington, D. C, January 28, 1867. Sir: — In conformity with your request that I recommend suit- able persons for the Collectorship and Assessorship of my Dis- trict (the 2ist New York), now vacant, I have the honor to make the following recommendations: For Collector, Levi Blakeslee. For Assessor, Chas. M. Dennison. I have the honor to be, your ob't serv't, RoSCOE CONKLINO. The Hon. Hugh McCulloch, Sec, etc, Digitized by Microsoft® 290 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. Although in the precedhig chapters we have given in detail the official acts of Roscoe Conkling during his three terms in the House of Represent- atives, it vi^ill hardly be possible to present more than an outline of his Senatorial career. Mr. Conkling entered the Senate March 4, 1867, Congress assembling at that, date in obedience to a law just enacted. Surrounded by such prominent associates as Oliver P. Morton, the " War Governor " of Indiana, Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, Zachariah Chandler of Michigan, and James W. Nye, for- merly from New York, but afterward of Nevada, Mr. Conkling began his fourteen years of ser- vice in the Senate. It included the last two years of Andrew Johnson's term as President, from the period of his efforts to obstruct and defeat the Re- construction laws, to his escape, by a bare minority of one vote, from removal by impeachment. Mr. Johnson denied the legitimacy of the new State governments recognized by Congress, and he also denied the validity of the Fourteenth Amend- ment. Mr. Conkling was a member of the Commit- tees on Appropriations, Judiciary, and Mines and Mining. Only twenty - seven States were then represented in the Senate; and, one of the Sena- tors from Maryland being refused a seat, there Digitized by Microsoft® UIS MAIDEN SPEECH. 2QI were but fifty-three in all. At tlie close of Mr. Conkling's first term, the Reconstruction period had ended, and Senators from eleven more States had been admitted, making in all seventy -six members. During his long service in the Senate Mr. Conkling often consulted with his towns- men, Mr. Justice Ward Hunt and ex-Governor Horatio Seymour, the one a Republican, the other a Democrat. He thus obtained two political opinions upon important public and private measures. His maiden speech in the Senate was delivered March 23, 1867. The debate was upon the pro- posed impeachment of Henry A. Smythe, Collector of the Port of New York. Mr. Conkling's effort is thus described by the Washington Chronicle. Roscoe Conkling then rose, and for twenty-five minutes electrified the Senate with a clear and convincing defence and justification of the New York Representative (Mr. Hulbnrd). When he had concluded, the Senate was checked in its purpose to treat the House imperiously, and unanimously referred the whole, question to the Judiciary Committee. No new Senator has ever made in so short a time such rapid strides to a commanding position in that body as Roscoe Conkling. The Chicago Republican of March 28 also thus described him : * * * Roscoe Conkling, the new mem[)er from New York, who, though the youngest man, as well as the youngest Sena- tor, on the floor, is already the leader of the Senate. * * I- Digitized by Microsoft® 292 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. The supplementary reconstruction bill, in which Mr. Conkling was much interested, was vetoed by President Johnson, March 23, the Senate having lately passed it without a division. This measure was repassed on the same day by a vote of forty yeas to seven nays. Mr. Conkling voted in the affirmative. He had now become a prominent object of atten- tion from the newspaper correspondents. Mary Clemmer Ames remarks: * * * His bearing is that of a lawyer. He is an elegant speaker. His voice, fine and penetrating, never lacks volume, but sometimes variety, and when not moved by excitement his fall- ing inflections are monotonous and heavy. Perhaps during his three terms as Senator, Ros- coe Conkling was more frequently reported and described than any of his associates. His strong personality and picturesque manner of expression had made him a central figure. When the re- porters in the gallery seemed to be short of topics they would write about him. Both Houses of Congress voted to adjourn the extra session from March 30 to July 3. The Pres- ident then called, by proclamation, a special session to meet April i, which sat for eighteen days. During the short recesses Mr. Conkling tried two important criminal cases. The first was that Digitized by Microsoft® oi the People of the State of New York vs. Filkins, which was long held in vivid remembrance in Oneida County. This case may be thus described : In June, 1867, Mr. Conkling made one of his most brilliant efforts when acting as senior counsel in the famous trial of one Filkins, at Rome. This case and the circumstances will long be memorable in the history of Central New York. A family by the name of Loomis lived at Sangerfield, in the southeastern cor- ner of Oneida County. There were a mother, two daughters and four sons, George, Grove, Plumb and Dennis. To all appearance they were well-to-do and respectable, owning a farm of two to three hundred acres, with good buildings, fine stock, abundance of help and other signs of thrift. As neighbors they were cour- teous, obliging and of pleasing manners. At this time, how- ever, suspicion fell upon them. There occurred numerous in- stances of horse stealing and burglary, extending far into the ad- joining counties, and evidence soon showed it to be the work of a single organized gang. The Loomises were ascertained to be at the head. Their house was the headquarters, to which resorted desperate characters from far and wide, men and women, experts in crime. It seemed impossible, however, to bring them to jus- tice. When accused they were defended by able counsel, and if brought to trial the jury would fail to agree upon a conviction. Important witnesses would be spirited away, while others would be produced to testify to an alibi. Even indictments were sur- reptitiously taken away, and on one occasion the county clerk's office was burned by incendiaries on purpose to destroy the evidences of guilt. Ten years before, in 1857, one of the fam- ily had been indicted for forgery in Oneida County, and the District- Attorney, when going home late at night from his office, was set upon and his pocket-book robbed of the incriminating paper. This Loomis gang was notorious over the continent. Even the London Quarterly Review and the Westminster Review had articles setting forth their crimes, as illustrating the impunity enjoyed by Digitized by Microsoft® 294 ^/^■£' AND LETTERS OF KOSCOE CONKLINC. lawless individuals in the United States. The patience of the community, however, finally gave way. An assemblage of people, exasperated beyond the pitch of endurance, took the matter into their own hands. Repairing to the Loomis farm, they set fire to the buildings and threatened death to those ever daring to rebuild them. Grove Loomis was beaten till his life was in imminent peril ; Plumb was suspended to a tree and let down barely in time to save him ; and George, the oldest and chief of the gang, was killed outright. These summary proceedings were effectual to dis- perse the surviving members. At the head of the assailants was Filkins, a resident in the neighborhood. He was a powerful man, insensible to fear, and he held the office of deputy-sheriff. On the fifteenth of November ensuing he was indicted on the charges of murder and arson. The trial took place at Rome, in June, 1867, the Hon. Henry A. Foster presiding. The prosecution was conducted by Hiram T. Jenkins, District-Attorney, and John A. Martindale, Attorney- General ; and the defence, by Roscoe Conkling and J. T. Spriggs. Mr. Conkling called the attention of the court to the fact that the grand jury, instead of the evidence of witnesses in person, had accepted that of affidavits alone. He moved, therefore, that the indictment be quashed. The hearing of this motion was set down for the next morning. Mr. Conkling was on hand with a formidable array of authorities. He had also brought with him the English magazines having articles upon the inability of the civil authorities to bring the Loomis gang to justice. He read and commented on these, and portrayed in vivid colors the dire results of such irregularity as existed in the case of this indict- ment. His opponents could answer him only by generalities and vague declarations. The motion was granted and Filkins set free. It was a splendid triumph. The Loomis brothers prosecuted the county of Oneida for the destruction of their buildings by a mob, and received a verdict for a small amount ; but their confederacy was utterly broken up, and the burned buildings were never rebuilt. The following correspondence between Mr. Greeley and Mr. Conkling explains itself: Digitized by Microsoft® LETTER FROM TTORACE CREEl.EV. ^gr [Confidential.] Office of the Trihuie, ) New York, September 7, 1867. j Dear Sir: It is represented to me that the ex-rebels of a leading Southern State are disposed to organize under the Re- construction acts of Congress, ratify the amendments, and send members to Congress who can take the iron-clad oath. If this should be done, would they not, in your judgment, be promptly admitted? Would they be, or would you favor their being, kept out till the other Rebel States should see fit to do likewise? Yours, Horace Grerlf.v. Hon. R. CoNKi.iNG, Utica, N. Y. Utica, September 14, 1867. My Dear Sir: Just at home, I find your note. Replying to your inquiry — it seems to me that any State complying with the prerequisites to recognition ought not to be compelled to abide the event in some other State. On the contrary, the pioneer in good behavior should be commended in that character, as was Tennessee. Truly Yours, ROSCOE CONKLING. The Hon. Horace Greeley. Roscoe Conkling had not been in the Senate many months before RepubHcan newspapers in some of the Northern States began to mention him as a possible candidate for the Presidency in the next year. General Grant then was not regarded with approval by many zealous Republican poli- ticians. It became evident, however, as time elapsed, that the people were in his favor. The Republican State Convention of 1867 met at Syracuse, September 25. The temporary chair- Digitized by Microsoft® 296 LIFE AND LE7"rERS OF ROSCOE CONKUNG. man had no sooner announced the Committee on Permanent Organization than Senator Edward M. Madden offered a resolution instructing them to report the name of the Hon. Roscoe Conkling as president of the Convention. This was a point "scored" over the friends of Governor Fenton. On taking the chair that afternoon, Mr. Conkling made a forcible address severely censuring the acts and poHcy of President Johnson. He next went from Syracuse to Binghamton to defend two physicians upon a- charge of arson. This case aroused much public interest, and may be briefly described as follows: Dr. T , the founder of the inebriate asylum, was jointly indicted with Dr. G for setting fire to the institution. There was a strong local feeling against the defendants, and Mr. Conkling, as well as his associate, the Hon. Francis Kernan, was uneasy as to the result. The trial began in the court of Oyer and Terminer, September 30, and lasted several days. On the opening of the case, Roscoe Conkling moved that the defendants be given a separate trial. This motion was granted. The Dis- trict-Attorney then decided to try Dr. G . This cause gave Mr. Conkling an opportunity to display his wonderful power over a judge and jury. Several hours were spent in examining talesmen before a single juror was chosen. The Senator raised many points, and, under the pretext of ad- dressing the court, was really seeking to influence those spec- tators who were liable to be called as jurors. After the trial had begun and much testimony had been taken, Mr. Kernan moved for an acquittal, but the motion was denied. Mr. Conkling, in his turn, then summed up at great length for the defence; and the jury, after having retired for deliberation, returned in five minutes with a verdict of not guilty. Judge Balcom, who pre- Digitized by Microsoft® A TRIAL POR ARSOfoi of twenty to thirty-four, Mr. Conkling voting in the negative. After further debate upon a motion to adjourn " without day," it was agreed that the Senate should meet again on the twenty-sixth in- stant. In the interval Senator Conkling suffered severely by illness, and it was feared that he could not resume his seat at the next sitting. He, how- ever, dispelled this belief. If unable to walk, he declared he would be carried to the Senate chamber on a shutter, xvith the vote "guilty" pinned to his coat. The trial closed May 26, when the Senate, as a court of impeachment, met for the last time. After a brief debate the roll was again called upon the articles of impeachment. The result was unchanged, as but thirty-five still voted for conviction, and nineteen for ac- quittal. Two-thirds, or thirty-six votes, being nec- essary, the Chief -Justice pronounced Andrew Johnson " not guilty " of high misdemeanors as charged in the articles of impeachment. There- upon the Senate, sitting as a court of impeachment for the trial of Andrew Johnson upon charges formulated by the House of Representatives, ad- journed sine die. Mr. Conkling did not hesitate to make it known that the failure to convict Andrew Johnson was to him a great disappointment, and during the re- Digitized by Microsoft® ^02 LIFE AND LETTERS OF KOSCOE CONKLING. mainiiig year of the President's term, he was in the front rank of his antagonists. During the impeachment trial he received from Professor Louis Agassiz the following letter : My Dear Sir: Will you permit me for half an hour to forget that you are a Senator for New York, and allow me to have a lit- tle talk with you on a matter I hold to be of the highest impor- tance. The greatness of a nation in our days can no longer be meas- ured by its military power, nor by its wealth, nor even by its industrial activity. What it does for the advancement of the human mind, for the expansion of the grasp which that mind ex- ercises for good upon all the material powers of the earth, ami the human intellect itself, that is the true standard of national excellence; and I believe that, before you have reached this climax of active life, it will be so acknowledged by all nations in whom the spirit of freedom has the slightest root. Only three times, thus far, has the United States Government done anything directly for the advancement of human knowledge; for, as long as it does not provide for its National Academy and only gives it a charter, I do not think the organization of that body can be quoted as a fourth instance. The first example is that of the United States Exploring Expedition, which, with all its defects, has done more to establish our character abroad as an intellectual nation than anything else outside of our political or- ganization. The second case is that of the National Observatory since it has been allowed to do scientific work besides regulating the chronometers of the navy. The third is the Coast Survey, with its annually recurring strug- gles for existence. It is the present condition of that great organ- ization which induces me to write to you. I learn from my friend Pierce that there is danger of a curtailment of the appropriation. I believe that it would be a calamity for the nation were such an undertaking reduced in its operations. The Coast Sui-vey is es- sentially the nurse of all higher science in the country. Through Digitized by Microsoft® LETTER FROM PROFESSOR AG A SSI Z. 303 it are carried on, and by it are supported, in tlie regular course of its operations, those higher researches in physical geography and physical astronomy for which neither our colleges nor our local academies have any place. The reduction of the appropriation for the Coast Survey would not only be an interruption of one of the most useful works carried on by Government (and during the war it may be fairly said that it was the right arm of the Navy), but it would at the same time kill the career of the few men we have who prefer the modest existence of a scientific life to that of more remunerative pursuits. It is a thousand pities that our public men do not keep more constantly in mind the intellectual interests of the nation, and that their best efforts in that direction amount only to rhetorical flourish. I know how truly you can appreciate these things, and it is, therefore, to you I now appeal to do your share for the mainte- nance of one of the glories of this country. It would be worthy of your great powers and general culture to stand as the cham- pion of the highest learning in the land, and I am not the only one who entertains that hope of you. Permit me to inscribe myself, Very truly yours, L. Agassiz. Hon. RoscoE Conkling, Cambridge, April 6, 1868. You will excuse me for writing by a friend's hand; but I have been confined to my room for a fortnight by a severe fit of illness, and do not yet feel even up to the exertion of writing a letter ex- cept by dictation. As a member of the Judiciary Committee Mr. Conkling strenuously insisted upon the strict en- forcement of the tenure of office act of 1867. The President was removing the federal office- holders who refused to approve of his policy, and filling the vacancies with his own followers. That Digitized by Microsoft® •'04 ^^P^ ^^^ LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONK LING. law had been enacted to prevent his " revolution- ary " measures, and the vital section of it was that if the person named was not confirmed by the Sen- ate the present incumbent must retain the office during- the recess of Congress.* In his Reminiscences, Ben Perley Poore says : In the great struggle which easued between the President and Congress, the Senate was really under the leadership of Ros- coe Conkling, although Sumner, Fessenden and Wade each regarded himself as at the head of the Republicans in the Upper House. Mr. Conkling was at that time a type of manly beauty. Tall, well made, with broad Moulders and compact chest and an erect carriage, he was always dressed with scrupulous neatness, wearing a dark frock-coat, light-colored vest and trouRers, with gaiters buttoned over his shoes. His nose was large and promi- nent, his eyes of a bluish-gray hue, surmounted by heavy dark auburn eyebrows; his side-whiskers curled closely, and his hair ran down with a sharp point into the middle of his broad, bald forehead, where it rose in a curl. His language was elegant, and when he spoke on the floor every word was clearly enunciated, while slow and deliberate gestures lent effect to what he said. At times, when his features would light up with animation, his deep nostrils would quiver, and lengthen into the expression of scorn, which would often lash an opponent into fury. His manner tow- ard strangers was at times dictatorial, but his personal friends worshiped him, and they have never thrown off their allegiance. During April Mr. Conkling took a leading part in the debate on the naval appropriation bill. The time for the nomination of a Presidential candi- date was approaching. The general sentiment * During the following winter (February, 18O9) Senator Conkling, considering the coming inauguration of General Grant, spoke in favor of amending this law on account of (he exigency for it having been passed, Digitized by Microsoft® NOMINATIOU OF GRANT. 305 throughout the North had indicated General Grant as the man. The RepubHcan National Convention met at Chi- cago in the month of May, 1868. General Joseph R. Hawley was chosen permanent president. The hero of Appomattox was nominated without oppo sition on the informal ballot. There was a contest for second place, Governor Reuben E. Fenton be- ing one of the four aspirants ; but Senator Conk- ling's friends bitterly opposed Mr. Fenton, and after six ballots Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana, re- ceived the nomination. The Democrats met in National Convention, July 4, at Tammany Hall, New York. Horatio Seymour presided over its deliberations. On the twenty-second ballot he was nominated for President, and Francis P. Blair, of Missouri, was given the place for Vice-President. The Senate adjourned July 26, to meet again Sep- tember 21. No quorum being present, further ad- journments were made till October 16 and Novem- ber 10. The three adjourned sessions lasted but a day each and the Senate did not convene until the regular day in December. When Mr. Conkling left Washington and re- turned to Utica in August, he was complimented with a serenade at the Butter field House. The members of the Loyal League were present in force, and the Senator, appearing upon the bal- 39 Digitized by Microsoft® 3o6 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. cony, briefly addressed the company. Among other things he said : When a man's neighbors, who have known him long and well, who know his errors, his foibles and his faults, still give him their confidence and respect, when, returning after a long absence, he finds that a place has been kept for him on the roll of kindjy re- membered names — that man, whoever he may be, is the recipient of the greatest gratification, the greatest satisfaction that man can give or take away. He then exhorted his hesirers to support the Re- pubHcan candidates on the Presidential and State tickets, saying that " the peace, prosperity and progress of the country liang upon the election of Grant and Colfax, of Griswold and Cornell." At this time Mr. Conkling bought the Miller mansion in Rutger Park, Utica. It is worthy of remark that he purchased it out of the proceeds of a single year of legal practice, thus showing what he had earned during his late absence from public life and how much he was losing by resuming his place in Congress. This house became his per- manent residence, and so it remained till his death. Even after resuming the practice of law in the city of New York he always returned to Utica to vote. His pleasant home may be thus described : The house is square and of stuccoed stone, two stories high and painted gray. Its architecture is somewhat antiquated. It has an old-fashioned portico in front, an old-fashioned square roof, and two great chimneys on either end. The glass in the windows is of the small panes in use sixty years ago. The shutters on th^ Digitized by Microsoft® DESCRIPTION OF HIS HOUSE. 307 outside are of the olden kind. The only thing modern about the place is a private telephone wire. The lawn is spacious, and with flower-beds artistically arranged. It is inclosed by an iron fence, the front gates of which are always open. From the portico one looks across Rutgers Street and down John Street. The interior, though not elegant, is comfortable. The front- door opens into a broad hall, with dining-room and billiard-room on the one side and spacious parlors on the other. On the walls of the hall several antlers of elk and deer are hung. The Senator prized them highly, for they were brought from the Rocky Mount- ains by him at great inconvenience. The hall is also ornamented by oil portraits of Senator Conkling's parents, and engravings of Grant and Sheridan* • The most interesting part of the house is, perhaps, the library on the second floor. Here the Senator held frequent conferences with his political lieutenants and pre- pared many forensic arguments and campaign addresses. Several book-cases are filled with valuable volumes, most of which per- tain to modern history, literature and jurisprudence. The walls are adorned with favorite photographs and engravings, among which are those of Lord Byron, Daniel Webster, ex-Senator W. W. Eaton, of Connecticut, and President Santa Anna, of Mexico. The last-named was presented by the Tresident to Judge Conk- ling during his official residence in Mexico. This house, as al- ready stated, was always regarded by the Senator as his residence and it is still (1889) occupied by his widow. * Several years later Generals Grant and Sherman visited the Conk- ling mansion. Digitized by Microsoft® i868. CHAPTER XVII. A TRIP TO THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS — THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN FINANCIAL BILLS IN THE SENATE. TN the summer of 1868 Senator Conkling made his first trip to the Rocky Mountains. He was accompanied by Mr. Justice Ward Hunt, Pro- fessor Louis Agassiz, the Hon. Samuel Hooper, Dr. W. II. Watson (his family physician), Mr. E. F. Shonnard, the Hon. Richard Franchot, the Hon. Alfred C. Coxe (now United States Judge for the Northern District of New York), and Mr. P. V. Rogers. On the outward journey the party stopped at Harrisburg, Pa., to visit Simon Cameron, who was a warm friend of Senator Conkling. Here Mr. Conkling heard with deep regret of the death of his old counselor and Congressional champion, Thaddeus Stevens. A trip was then made to Galena, where the party visited General Grant. The great General gave them a social reception, to which a large number of the citizens were invited. After returning to the special train, 308 Digitized by Microsoft® A TRIP TO THE FAR WEST. 309 the Senator said to one of the party : " That Httle man, no matter what his detractors may say of him, is to-day the most conspicuous figure on this planet. No man has accomplished more." From Galena the party took the train for Du- buque, and thence to St. Louis. In driving about the latter city Mr. Conkling viewed with admira^ tion the statue of Thomas H. Benton. He walked around it again and again, apparently loath to leave the commanding presence of Missouri's great Senator. An excursion to Pilot Knob was made, where on the highest rock a bottle of wine was opened, and the health of General Grant was drunk amid cheers ; after which the tourists returned to St. Louis, where General W. J. Palmer joined the company. They then proceeded to Kansas City. The next stopping-place was Lawrence, where the Senator made the first speech of the journey. A serenade was tendered to him at his hotel, to which he responded in a happy vein. Going westward by way of Fort Wallace the party traveled to Fort Harker, Kansas, which was the temporary terminus of the railway. Here Mr. Conkling met his friend General P. H. Sheridan. The pair walked together about the fort, to the amusement of the bystanders, who seemed to say, " There is the long and the short of it." The re- mark was justified by the fact that Senator Conk^ Digitized by Microsoft® 3IO LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. ling was six feet three inches tall, while the height of the hero of the Shenandoah did not exceed five feet four inches. At Fort Harker an escort of cavalry was fur- nished to the company (several Indian tribes being on the war-path) when they started for Colorado, some in ambulances and some on horseback. Mr. Conkling showed his love for horses by riding all the way to Denver. From Fort Harker to Den- ver they camped every night on the plains; and Mr. Conkling became much attached to General Palmer. One night, after the party had retired, these two gentlemen paced the ground and engaged in con- versation. Their associates in their tents could see their forms by the dim light of the camp-fire. For a full hour they walked to and fro, during which time Senator Conkling recited to his com- panion many passages from the speeches of his old Congressional associate, Thomas Corwin. Of these, his favorite selection from the orator's fa- mous denunciation of the Mexican War was as follows: When Moscow burned, it seemed as if the earth was lighted up, that the nations might behold the scene. As that mighty sea of fire gathered and heaved, and rolled upward higher and yet higher, till its flames licked the stars and fired the whole heavens, it did seem as though the God of the nations was writing in char- acters of flame on the front of his throne that doom that shall Digitized by Microsoft® MK. CO K WIN'S Cf.LEBRATED SPEECH. 311 fall upon the strong nation which tramples in scorn upon the weak. ******* And France, she too has found " room." Her " eagles " now no longer scream along the banks of the Danube, the Po and the Borysthenes. They have returned home to their old eyrie be- tween the Alps, the Rhine and the Pyrenees. So shall it be with yours. You may carry them to the loftiest peaks of the Cordil- leras; they may wave with insolent triumph in the Halls of the Montezumas; the armed men of Mexico may quail before them; but the weakest hand in Mexico, uplifted in prayer to the God of justice, may call down against you a Power in the presence of which the iron hearts of your warriors shall be turned into ashes. Mr. Conkling enlivened the trip by many quo- tations of poetry, especially some passages from Scott, Byron and Macaulay. Leaving Denver, an excursion was taken to Georgetown and Boulder. Mr. Conkling and the younger tourists were mounted, while the older gentlemen (Mr. Justice Hunt and Professor Agas- siz) took the ambulance. The ascent of Gray's Peak was very difficult. When near the summit a heavy snow-storm, accompanied by terrific thun- der, completely obliterated the narrow path. Most of the party abandoned the attempt; but the Sena- tor, leading his horse up the dangerous trail, suc- ceeded in reaching the highest point. From Boulder the travelers drove to Cheyenne by stage- coach, one of the last trips of the overland mail coaching service. The company next went westward by rail to Digitized by Microsoft® 312 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. Bitter Creek, in Wyoming. The latter point was then the terminus of the railway, and was occu- pied by a party of railroad builders, who were lay- ing a mile of track a day. Several weeks had now been spent in the tour, and the party turned their faces homeward. They traveled directly to Omaha by the Union Pacific line. Thence the Senator and his friends returned to Utica, having been absent about six weeks. During the following winter (January 25, 1869), in a Senatorial debate, he thus referred to his trip to the far West. The honorable Senator from Kansas [Mr. Pomeroy] at the last session corrected my geography in reference to Pike's Peak. He thought I supposed it to be much further south than in truth it is, and he left upon my mind the impression that one who began at Atchison and journeyed westward, even as far to the north as this road points, would some time or other encounter Pike's Peak. Since that time, Mr. President, I have seen Pike's Peak — a vision not to be forgotten; and as I saw it in its picturesque vastness, with its cap hidden in the clouds, I could not help wish- ing that it might be seen by that multitude of Americans who turn their backs upon their own country, which they never traverse in its unending stretch and grandeur, and bend their steps to the Alps, the Rhine and the Pyrenees. Returning to Utica on or about the first of Octo- ber, the Senator entered in earnest the political campaign. He exerted himself to defeat Mr. Sey- mour, his own brother-in-law, and to elect Ulysses S. Grant. He spoke a week later at Cooper Insti- Digitized by Microsoft® A JV/TJ^y ANECDOTE. 313 tute, New York. The entire speech was reported in the Utica Herald. On that occasion the speaker discussed chiefly the Finances, the Fourteenth Amendment, Reconstruction and the Pacific Rail- road. He next spoke in Western New York, and then returned to Utica and devoted his energies to swelling the majority in his county. While walking, one day, with his old friend Ben- jamin Allen, he met and shook the hand of a swarthy Irishman who was in the employ of the latter. Mr. Allen said: " Senator, Black Paddy as we call him, has turned Democrat." " How so?" replied Mr. Conkling. Mr. Allen an- swered, "Because he'll vote for Governor Seymour." The Senator at once asked for an explanation, when the Irishman, getting himself out of the difficulty with the ready wit of his nation, said, " Shure, sir, oi'm payin' ye a complimint in votin' ^for yer brother-in-law." That time the Irishman had the advantage in the argument. At the national election Grant and Colfax car- ried every Northern State except New York and New Jersey, receiving 3,012,833 votes, against 2,703,249 for their opponents. In the electoral college the Republican candidates obtained 214 votes, while the Democrats had but eighty. Digitized by Microsoft® 314 ^^^^ ^^^ LETTERS OF KOSCOE CONK LING. In the State of New York the immense number of fraudulent naturaUzation certificates issued had enabled the Democrats to obtain such a majority that they counterbalanced the vote north of Har- lem Bridge. Hence John T. Hoffman was declared to be duly elected over Mr. Conkling's personal friend, John A. Griswold, of Troy. A few years later the Senator said, publicly, "It is a well-known fact that John T. Hoffman was counted in as Gov- ernor over John A. Griswold." During the last session of the Fortieth Congress Mr. Conkling took a leading part in opposing the new subsidy to the Union Pacific Railroad Com- pany, the repeal of the tenure of office act, and especially in financial legislation. In January, 1869, the bill to guarantee the inter- est (involving $2,400,000) on the bonds of the Central Branch Union Pacific Railroad Company, and to appropriate nearly two million acres, was before the Senate for consideration. The subject of this memoir, in a long speech, denounced the measure, and it was beaten by the close vote of twenty-six to twenty-seven. He also introduced a bill to encourage domes-, tic ship-building and foreign commerce, and to carry foreign mails by United States vessels. By request of many bankers and merchants, he offered in January "a bill to prohibit secret sales Digitized by Microsoft® HIS BILL IS APPKOVEO. 315 or purchases of gold or bonds on account of the United States, and for other purposes," which was regarded as the most important measure of the short session. It was warmly endorsed by the Boards of Trade in the large cities. The annexed resolution explains itself. At a stated meeting of the Philadelphia Board of Trade, held on Monday evening, February 15, 1869, the following Resolution Was unanimously adopted, and ordered to be forwarded to both Houses of Congress: Resolved, That the Philadelphia Board of Trade heartily ap- prove of the bill of Senator Conkling entitled " A bill to pro- hibit secret sales or purchases of gold or bonds on account of the United States, and for other purposes" — Senate file 821 — and do earnestly recommend its enactment as a law at the earliest practicable time, as tending to insure fairness and impartiality in the transactions of the Treasury Department, and to relieve the business interests of the country from the risks and fluctuations chargeable to secret and unforeseen dealings in the public funds. Jno. Welch, President. Extracts from the minutes. A. J. Perkins, Secretary. Similar resolutions were adopted by the Cham- ber of Commerce of the State of New York and by the Board of Trade of Chicago. Digitized by Microsoft® I869-I87I. CHAPTER XVJII?^ SENATOR CONKLING AND PRESIDENT GRANT. T T P to the inauguration of Mr. Johnson, the rec- ognized Republican leader in New York politics was William H. Seward; but, as we have said in a previous chapter, his adherence to the accidental President cost him his political life as the head of the party. L By sheer force of will and character, and without federal patronage,' Mr. Conkling won the mantle of Seward.' In New York no man in any political party has since equaled him as a leader. He had not the graces and winning methods of Horatio Seymour nor the shrewdness of Samuel J.Tilden, but he surpassed both in brilliancy and in strength. General Grant was inaugurated as President March 4, 1869, and at the same time Reuben E. Fenton became Senator Conkling's colleague. In Chapter XVI. it was stated that the latter had chiefly controlled the State Convention of 1867. During his two terms as Governor (1865-1869) Mr. Fenton had secured a strong personal following, 316 Digitized by Microsoft® SENA 7 OR FENTOJT. 317 and was to some extent a rival to Mr. Conkling as candidate for leadership in the Empire State ; but it is not too much to say that the subject of this memoir, without federal or State patronage, soon controlled the Republicans of New York. 'j)Senator Fenton first sought, and obtained, the ear of the new President, who conferred upon his friends the most desirable offices in the State. He was a man of plausible address and an adept in political management. He claimed credit for every appointment regarding New York, although in some cases he had not, strictly speaking, sug- gested the name of the appointee. On the other hand, Senator Conkling made no efforts to obtain " recognition." He lived in a sort of dignified retirement, and seemed to act upon the principle that "all things come to those who wait." A friend familiarly told him that "his colleague would pick all the cherries off the tree " unless he hastened to see the President. In common with some other Republican Senators, he did not under- stand General Grant, who was, of course, with- out experience in the civil service of the nation. For a full year matters remained in statu quo. At this time all of the Southern States were not reconstructed, and during Grant's first term the famous fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States was ratified. For several Digitized by Microsoft® 3l8 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. years the President and Congress, sustained by the people at every election, struggled with the rebellious South for the restoration of order and the execution of the laws enacted to enforce the new constitutional guarantees. Mr. Conkling, as chairman of the Committee on the Revision of the Laws, and on the floor of the Senate, greatly aided the new Administratioii. The Judiciary Committee (of which he was a member) reported March 25, 1869, a bill amend- ing the tenure of office act of 1867. /The main feature of it was that the President was empowered to remove, without giving reasons, Cabinet and other civil officers during the session, subject to the action of the Senate, provided the Senate should fill the vacancies; and that during the re- cess the President could suspend and appoint to office until the end of the next session. ^ It is worthy of remark that Mr. Fenton, under instructions of the New York Legislature, favored the repeal of the tenure of office act, while Mr. Conkling disregarded the dictates of a body that did not elect him. This extra session of the Senate lasted but a few weeks, and just before adjournment he did a good service in defeating the measure for the extension of an old land grant to the St. Croix and Lake Superior Railroad Com- pany. He showed that it was a wanton waste of Digitized by Microsoft® A RAILROAD ACCIDENT CASE. -> i g the public domain for the benefit of two Canadian speculators. It was an " off " year in poUtics. There was no State campaign in the autumn; and Senator Conk- hng devoted the long recess to rest and occasional legal practice. In November, 1869, a very important suit for damages was tried at Utica. It was brought by Norman T. Smith against the New York Central Railroad Company, for injuries received while serving as engineer of a special train running from Syracuse to Albany. The plaintiff was act- ing as pilot to the regular engineer. A party of railway officials (the treasurer, counsel, superin- tendent and several directors) who were on the special train wished to reach Utica in time to par- take of a sumptuous repast prepared for them at Bagg's Hotel. The engineer was told to hurry, and the train rushed along at the rate of sixty miles an hour. When Oriskany, a station four miles from Utica was reached, a gravel train go- ing in the same direction was perceived, and al- though the plaintiff whistled " Down brakes ! " so great was the speed of the special train that, be- fore a stop could be made, it ran into the other. The plaintiff was severely injured, and, through Senator Conkling as his counsel, sued the com- pany for $50,000. On reaching the curve the Digitized by Microsoft® 320 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. pilot engineer had not looked at the track to warn his associate, and hence the defence Avas contribu- tory negligence. The Hon. Francis Kernan and the late J. Thomas Spriggs appeared for the rail- road company. The trial created great public interest, and the court-room was packed with spectators. A recess was taken to enable the jury to visit the place of the accident in company with a court officer. Dr. W. H. Watson acted as a medical expert for the plaintiff, and Mr. Conkling examined him with as much skill as he displayed in the medical cross- examination at the famous Budge trial. The counsel for the defendant expected a non- suit. They were much disappointed when the motion was denied, and it was said that a similar case had never been submitted to a jury in Oneida County. Many witnesses, including di- rectors and a large number of engineers, testified for the company. On cross-examination, however, Mr. Conkling confused the engineers, making some contradict themselves. After the evidence had been taken Mr. Kernan addressed the jury, closing with an appeal to dis- abuse their minds of the common prejudice against corporations. Senator Conkling then for two hours summed up with great effect. With much ingenuity he turned every particle of testi- Digitized by Microsoft® HE WINS A LARGE VERDICT. 3 2 I mony to his advantage, and criticised the heart- less directors. Some wore diamonds, and com- menting upon this he said, in substance: "In eternity the pebbles upon the grave of poor Smith (the plaintiff) will shine as brightly as do the dia- monds upon the bosoms of the directors." At the time of the accident, cards and champagne had been found in the private car; and Senator Conkling, in speaking of directors playing poker and drinking while the train was rushing along, used the incident to the benefit of his client. The jury were intelligent men, and with his persuasive eloquence Senator Conkling carried them away. After a brief retirement they ren- dered a verdict of $18,000 — which, up to that time, is said to have been the largest in railroad accident cases. An appeal was taken to the general term of the Supreme Court, but the defendant, before argument, compromised by giving the plaintiff $10,000 in cash, paying Mr. Conkling's fee and the costs. When the counsel of the railroad company ap- pealed from the judgment entered upon the ver- diet, the late Cornelius Vanderbilt, then president of the company, is reported to have said, " Pay the amount of the verdict, for if Conkling tries this case again he may make it $50,000." Indeed, it was a common saying throughout Oneida Digitized by Microsoft® 322 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING County that " the railroad companies don't like Roscoe Conkling." This case is one of the most famous that the Senator ever tried before a jury, and even to this day it is often discussed by lawyers in Central New York. At a meeting of the bar of Utica on the day of Mr. Conkling's funeral, ex-Judge W. J. Bacon, referring to this trial, spoke of Mr. Conkling's powerful summing up and gave a brief quotation from one of his utterances. The regular session of the Forty-first Congress began in December; and the first important topic for consideration was the reconstruction of Georgia. Mr. Conkling of course engaged in the debate of a subject to which he had for the last four years given special attention. Several days later he spoke at length upon the bill to provide for taking the ninth census of the United States. The debate upon this measure lasted till the month of May, when Mr. Conkling was put upon the Conference Committee as one of the three man- agers on the part of the Senate. In February he discussed the franking privilege, and on the anniversary of the birthday of Wash- ington he made a stirring speech in opposition to the resolutions of the Legislature of the State of New York repealing and rescinding the resolution adopted by a preceding Legislature ratifying the Digitized by Microsoft® THE FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT. Z^i fifteenth amendment of the Constitution of the United States. The Legislature of 1870 was the first Democratic Legislature that had been elected in New York since the beginning of the war of the Rebellion. The Democrats knew that the negroes would generally vote the Republican ticket ; hence the party which controlled the Legislature tried to reverse the action of the State of New York by revoking the resolution assenting to the amend- ment of the national Constitution. The Senator's speech was based upon his remarks made January 12, when presenting the concurrent resolution of the Legislature. He then said, in substance : * * * In presenting this transcript of proceedings I dis- charge a distasteful duty. I avow my regret that a record of ac- tion so hasty, so ill-advised and so nugatory should come here at all, and my greater regret that it should come from the State of New York. It carries its own refutation on its face, Its own re- citals cancel it because they show that New York's approval of the great act of equality which temporary majorities seek to de- stroy has passed forever beyond their reach. Mr. Conkling, as chairman of the Committee on the Revision of the Laws, was directed to report it to the Senate with the recommendation that the consideration of the resolution of the Legisla- ture of New York be indefinitely postponed. He regarded this resolution as such a blot upon the fair fame of New York that he spoke Digitized by Microsoft® 324 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. until the subject was exhausted. It was a legal argument that will not bear condensation, so it is here omitted. A few of the more eloquent pas- sages will be found in our chapter on " Oratory." This was the first long speech made by Mr. Conkling in the open sessions of the Senate. It was highly spoken of by the Washington corre- spondents of both Democratic and Republican newspapers in the city of New York. To sum up the several articles, we may say that the speech created a great sensation. When he began, some slight disposition was evinced to occupy time in trifling. Thereupon several of the oldest and ablest Senators united in the expression of a wish ' that no obstacle would be thrown in the way of Mr. Conkling. He was thus paid a rare compli- ment, for it was a very unusual occurrence either in the Senate or House. The speech was listened to with the closest attention, and his argument was conceded to be most logical and convincing. When he concluded, three-fourths of the Senators present crowded about his seat and warmly tendered their congratulations. In the same month (February), when Senator Sumner was advocating the House Census bill, Mr. Conkling attacked him with a sally of sarcasm and ridicule. To test the sense of the Senate, Mr. Conkling moved to lay on the table the House Digitized by Microsoft® SSA'ATOA sOAfN£/i dRiTtCISE3. 325 bill, which proceeding would carry with it all the pending amendments. The motion was carried by forty-six yeas to nine nays. Thereupon Senator Sumner, smarting at the unmerciful "scoring" to which Senator Conkling had subjected him, re- signed his position on the Committee on the Revision of the Laws. The tilt between these two Senators was widely discussed by the press of New York. The Com- mercial Advertiser, of Buffalo, closed a long edi- torial with the verse — . Another's sword had laid him low, Another's and another's ; And every hand that dealt the blow — Ah me ! it was a brother's. Mr. Conkling's next important appearance in the Senate was in the debate upon the Funding bill, March 9 and 10, 1870. In favoring the measure, he argued that there was no precedent for making bonds payable abroad in the currency of any for- eign nation, and objected to the section to estab- lish agencies in Europe to pay the interest on the obligations of the republic. In the latter part of the session he argued in favor of the bill to reduce internal taxes and for other purposes. /^The nomination of Thomas Murphy as Collector at New York in the spring of 1870 occasioned a warm Senatorial struggle, which ended Mr. Fen- Digitized by Microsoft® 326 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE COAfh'UNG. ton's influence with General Grant. Although not appointed at Mr. Conkling's solicitation, he urged the confirmation of Mr. Murphy. A bitter contest occurred in the executive session, which is briefly described in our chapter on " Oratory." After a long debate, Mr. Murphy was confirmed with but three negative votes (forty-eight to three), Senators Sumner and Fowler voting with Mr. Fen- ton. This was in July, 1870. The result of this dif- ference between Senators Fenton and Conkling was widely discussed in the press of New York. It was called a " quarrel," and the organs of each faction, of course, praised their leaders. It is un- necessary to say that Mr. Conkling's course was simply a vindication of General Grant, after he had lost confidence in Mr. Fenton, for reasons which need not be here discussed. Henceforth Mr. Conkling was, excepting perhaps Mr. Morton, of Indiana, more influential with the Administration than any other Senator. Early in August, 1870, the Republican State Committee met at Saratoga, and at the same time a conference of leaders took place. Among those present were Horace Greeley, Alonzo B. Cornell, General G. H. Sharpe, Richard Crowley, Thomas Murphy, E. D. Webster, Sinclair Tousey and Sen- ators Fenton and Conkling. The last named re- ceived a serenade and responded at some length. Digitized by Microsoft® SYMPATHY FOR GERMANY. 327 He commended the President by saying, " Such stewardship deserves and will receive the public approbation." In expressing sympathy for the Germans in the Franco-Prussian War he remarked : War has gone from us — its bloody shadow falls on France- its tramp rocks thrones and kings are sea-sick now. Perhaps war has gone with avenging hand to smite the sick man who domi- nates the land of Lafayette— perhaps war strikes the hour for the Emperor who plotted and schemed against us in the day of our trial. This reference by one of the leaders of the Re- publican party, holding Louis Napoleon as an ally of the South during the Civil War, provoked much comment in the press. God grant [said Mr. Conkling] that no harm may come to Ger- many! Germany sympathized with us, the sons of Germany fought for us, and cheers of victory went up in the German tongue from the burning battle-fields of our Rebellion. Germany's Constitution is like ours; Prussia believes, as we do, iii education for all, and Republicans everywhere join me in this hope that no harm is in store for Germany. In stating that the mission of the Republican party was not yet fulfilled, that it must continue to fight for a fair ballot and an honest count, he significantly remarked : We have at last an act of Congress under which an election may once more be held in the city of New York; a law seeking to substitute a fair election for that scandalous farce which has so often been enacted on election-days. The provisions I speak of will call into being inspectors to watch the registry, the vote, and, above all, the count, and the marshal is empowered to preserve Digitized by Microsoft® 328 LIFR AN3 I.ETTMii OP JiO::it'0« CONKLINC. order ami safety at tlie polls. With a fair electiou and votes fairly coiinteil, we need only conciliation and unity among our- selves, and then action, earnest action, and New York will pro- nounce for the Republican party and the administration of General Grant. To this end let us all work! During the campaign of 1870 General Grant wrote the following, which explains itself : Long Branch, N. J., August 22, 1870. Dear Senator : I have just been shown a despatch from you to Mr. Cornell, stating that you could not well meet me in New York City to-morrow, and expressing surprise rather that I wanted to see you. Before I started West, two weeks ago, I stated to Mr. Murphy and one or two others that I should like to meet you, and would try to do so on my return. Hence the letter to you from Mr. Cornell. I start in the morning for Newport, to remain there until Friday evening. On Saturday I shall reach West Point, where I will remain until Tuesday, the 29th inst., and then return here. 1 should like very much to meet you before the meeting of the State Convention, and, in the meantime, express the hope that you will go as a delegate. Should I not meet you I will write you a letter, specially if you should be a delegate, express- ive of my views as to the Gubernatorial nomination. It was on this subject I wanted to consult more than advise with you. New York, the largest, is certainly the most important State to secure a fair election in, and to secure to the Republican party, if it is right. If it is not right, a majority of the legal voters are the ones so to declare. The proper nominations should be made to test the strength of parties. May I expect to meet you either at West Point on Saturday, Sunday, or Monday next ? Yours truly, U. S. Grant. Hon. RoscoE Conkling, Utica, N. Y. "N(^The Republican State Convention met at Sara- toga, September 7, 1870. It was the scene of an animated contest between the followers of Senator Digitized by Microsoft® MK. wood ford A'OMhVATEV FOR GOlERjVoj!. \in Fenton and those of Senator Conkling. 'J'he two Senators were delegates. The supporters of Mr. ConkHng had a clear majority and elected George William Curtis temporary chairman. The State ticket placed in nomination was headed, by Stew- art L. Woodford as the candidate for Governor. From the accession of Mr. Fenton to the Gover- norship in 1865, his friends had, without serious con- troversy, controlled the State Committee. Many changes were then effected ; the friends of Mr. Conkling obtained about two-thirds of its mem- bers and Alonzo B. Cornell was elected chairman. The great impediment to the purposes of the new Committee existed in the Republican organization in the city of New York. This Committee had been constituted years before to assure the ascen- dancy of Governor Fenton, who was accused of having a secret understanding with the Democratic leaders. jNMany of its officers were holding municipal posi- tions under an arrangement with Tammany Hall, then under the leadership of the notorious William M. Tweed. More than seventy-five per cent, of the members of the Republican Central Commit- tee were Fenton men. Under an investigation directed by Mr. Cornell, it was shown that a clear majority of the chairmen, secretaries and inspect- ors of the Republican district organizations held Digitized by Microsoft® ^30 LIFE AHD LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONK'LING. municipal appointments, many of which were sine- cures. It was apprehended that the defeated faction would secretly oppose the State ticket. The threat had been made, several months previous- ly, to avenge at the polls the removal of Moses H. Grinnell and the appointment of Thomas Murphy as Collector of the Port. With treason in the ranks of the party, Senator Conkling en- tered the canvass and made a series of speeches in the principal cities of the State. He began at Utica on the fourth of October, where he was chosen as chairman of a mass meeting at Me- chanics' Hall. In his speech at Washington Hall, Rochester, October i8. Senator Conkling spoke of the sec- tions of the national naturalization law, which he drew up himself, and which gave the general Gov- ernment the power to appoint supervisors of elec- tions. This enactment also gave to the United States marshals the power to prevent all violations of its provisions. He further charged that it was not now proposed to overturn this law and resort to mob violence. On the contrary he had only to say that if the statute were not already broad enough, it would hereafter be enlarged so as to crush all piracies and all pirates of the ballot-boxes. " We are going, at this election," said he, "to have a Digitized by Microsoft® krEECII UPON THE CANAL POLICV. • -i^J fair vote and a fair count in New York City." He next called attention to the fact that the Ad- ministration had established economy, so that the Governmental expenditures were less now than they had ever been since the days of Andrew Jackson. A saving had been effected in the ex- penses during the eighteen months of Grant's ad- ministration of $170,000,000 as compared with the expenditures of the previous eighteen months. Internal taxes and the revenue tariff had been vastly reduced. His next appearance was at Seneca Falls, and on the following day (October 20) he spoke at St. James's Hall, Buffalo, devoting himself chiefly to the canal policy of the party. This speech upon the canal policy was a formu- lary of the creed of the Republican party which was long adhered to in the State. After address- ing large assemblages at Lockport, Binghamton and Corning, Mr. Conkling spoke at the Cooper Institute, New York, November 3. The great hall was crowded, but the hearers were not all friendly. Senator Conkling was, without provocation, several times interrupted by persons who had come to dis- turb the meeting. The State ticket was defeated, as was beheved, by treachery. When the third session of the Forty-first Con- gress commenced in December, the chief topic was Digitized by Microsoft® 3^2 LIFE AND LETTERS OP ROSCOE CONK LING. the treaty of San Domingo. Several Republican Senators had assailed the Administration. Mr. Conkling vindicated the President in the measures taken for the annexation of that island. When the joint resolution passed the Senate (December 21, 1870) authorizing the appointment of three com- missioners to visit and report upon the republic of Dominica, Mr. Conkling was one of the thirty- two voting for it. Only nine negative votes were given, four of which were by Democrats. In the campaign of 1872 Senator Conkling made an unanswerable defence of the course of Presi- dent Grant regarding the San Domingo question. Indeed, he was then familiarly called " the War- wick of the Administration." |/ He had no patience with the opposition of ^>en- ators Sumner, Trumbull and Schurz toward Gen- eral Grant. He was convinced that they had changed their sentiments through personal rea- sons. As illustrations of his constant support of the Grant administration, we shall refer to two speeches which he delivered, the one upon the " One-Term Dogma," the other referring to the sale of arms to France by American merchants. We shall also give extracts from his greatest cam- paign speech, on July 23, 1872. Contrary to his practice, he then indulged in personalities. This he considered necessary to do on account of Digitized by Microsoft® A FLATTERING OFFER. -,-,-, the malignant attacks on President Grant by former professed friends. In the winter of the years 1870-1871 Senator Conkling's devotion to the Repubhcan party was thoroughly tested, and he acted with a spirit of chivahy which deserves to be remembered. At that time the " Tammany ring " was at the height of its power, and after the autumnal election the Republican cause in the State seemed hopelessly lost. Senator Conkling's own political career was, apparently, about to close. He confidentially told his friends that he did not expect a re-election. If the Tweed regime continued, the Repubhcan as- cendancy was at an end in New York and a Demo- crat would soon succeed him in the Senate. At this very time he ivas offered a legal partnership in the city of New York., with a guarantee of $50,000 a year — an offer most flattering to his professional pride and most advantageous to his personal in- terests. To a man whose political future appeared dark, it was very tempting. If he should accept this lucrative proposal, it would assure ample pro- vision for his family. To decline it might be to sacrifice himself and continue a futile contest, with defeat almost certain. Following the advice of old Republican friends, he refused the offer. In the approaching State campaign, buckling on his armor for a long and bitter fight, he, in concert with oth- Digitized by Microsoft® 334 ^^^^ ^A^ZJ LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. ers, set in operation that political work which re- stored the supremacy of the Republican party in the State of New York. -/f'ln January, 187 1, the press of New York was occupied with discussion of the difference between the two Senators. The friends of Mr. Fenton ac- cused his former colleague of having persuaded the President to appoint his own followers to office. The author has reason to believe that Senator Conk- ling had not at that time requested a single office from General Grant. At this juncture many articles appeared in the Republican press of New York, to the effect that unity and harmony must be secured, or defeat in the autumn would be certain. Mean- while the reorganization of the Republican City Committee was under way. The "Tammany Re- publicans " were summarily dropped from the new Republican organization of the city of New York. To this movement General Grant lent the whole power of his Administration. He clearly saw that, so long as their influence directed the counsels of the party, there could be no hope of success. ■ The Republican State Committee had ordered a complete reorganization of the local party ma- chinery. This radical step was, of course, strongly opposed by the Fenton faction, and the New York Tribune bitterly assailed Mr. Cornell, the chair. Digitized by Microsoft® THE STA TE COMMITTEE IS KEOKGANIZED. 335 man, for this action. The Stale Committee ap- pointed Horace Greeley and Jackson S. Schultz, then President of the Union League Club, com- missioners, with full and absolute power to create a new local organization. Mr. Greeley declined to serve, whereupon William Orton was named as his substitute. Messrs. Schultz and Orton pro- ceeded with the work of reorganization. Mr. Greeley then accepted the chairmanship of the old Gerieral Committee, which now contested the right of the State Committee to order a re- organization, as an act without precedent in the history of the party. Two rival organizations now claimed to be the official representatives of the Republican party in the city of New York. The famous treaty of Washington, the work of the joint commission, was approved by the Senate in the spring of 1871. The particulars of the treaty were divulged soon afterward by two zealous newspaper correspondents. Senators Carpenter and Conkling at once moved that these contuma- cious correspondents be imprisoned for two days as a punishment for violation of rules of the Sen- ate. The two Senators were then roundly abused by the press, and they received the sobriquet of " Common Jailers " Conkling and Carpenter. Early in July, 1871, Senator Conkling visited the President at Long Branch. A plan of action Digitized by Microsoft® 336 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROSCOE CONKLING. for the coming campaign in New York was agreed upon. That summer ex-Senator E. D. Morgan came to the support of the Administration. In the following letter Senator Conkling defined his position : Utica, N Y., Aug. 26, 187 1. \~-My Dear Sir; I wish I could run over to Newport and visit you, but I must relinquisii the pleasure for this year. The Tiew you take of political matters is my view also. Every sincere Re- publican can and must take hold heartily now, for a long pull, a strong pull and a pull all together. ******* Referring to your remarks about the approaching Presidential canvass, I am, as you know, heartily for General Grant. This would be my position, even without my strong regard for him, and confidence in him personally. He has made a better Presi- dent than you and I, when we voted for him, had any right to ex- pect ; and he is a better President every day than he was the day before. He has given the country the best practical administra- tion, in many respects, we have had for a quarter of a century, and the people know it. Those who hold the securities of the country, and property holders in general, dare not run the risk of a Demo- cratic President now; they want no swapping of horses at this time. With General Grant as the candidate, our success is as- sured ; with any other candidate, success is not certain ; and hence the renomination and re-election of General Grant seem to me a foregone conclusion. In the State of New York, more than anywhere else, the path of Republicans appears plain and their duty urgent. Here is the greatest free State in Christendom given over to rascals — a prey to a horde of thieves, who, infesting our chief city, disgrace hu- manity and mildew the Commonwealth by their pestilential prof- ligacy. These plunderers have seized upon the State Govern- ment, the Legislature and all the municipal agencies of the city of New York ; and hitherto they haye tampered with our party Digitized by Microsoft® LETTER TO JOHN A. GR IS WOLD. 337 organizations also, rkbauching and controlling them. The ques- tion facing us is, whether this degrading, flagitious sway shall cease, or be perpetuated and fortified anew. Every one knows that the first step toward remedy and reform is to nominate the best men in the Republican party, and elect them to the Legisla- ture and to the executive offices of the State. And yet, men stand talking about federal patronage, and differences among leaders, and personal feeling between individuals, and the like. AVhat have such things to do with the duty of this hour? What do the people care about them — what should they care ? Of what public consequence are the personal aims and objects and mis- haps of individuals ? For one, if I know how, by act or omission, I have given just offence to any man, I ought to go, and will go, and make any amend m my power ; all who know you, know you would do likewise. But I insist that all who are in earnest should go to work and keep at work. It is high time to be done with unprofitable things signifying nothing, and productive only of harm. The best way to do a thing is to do it. Talking may be good, but talking about what we are willing to do and what might be done, when there is but one straightforward thing to do, is not near so likely to help the Republican party as to take right hold honestly and squarely, as men should who believe in what they are about, and mean it. We shall all be together in redeeming the State, I hope, and many good men will help who never helped us before. This long hurried letter is a poor requital for your kind invita- tion, and a poor substitute for the talk we might have had in your "cottage by the sea." Your friend, ROSCOE CONKLING. Hon. John A. Griswold, Newport, R. I. 23 Digitized by Microsoft® i87i. CHAPTER XIX.