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5 2D Congress, "l SENATE. ■ r Mis. Doc. 
 
 ist Session. / | No. 220. 
 
 MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 
 
 LIFE AND CHARACTER 
 
 EPHRAIM KING WILSON 
 
 (A SENATOR FROM MARYLAND), 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE 
 
 SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 
 
 May 6 and July 2, 1892. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF CONGRESS. 
 
 WASHINGTON: 
 
 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
 1893. 
 
 CxC^ 
 
 ■-. 
 

 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That 
 there be printed of the eulogies delivered in Congress upon the Hon. 
 Ephraim King Wilson, late a Senator from the State of Maryland, 8,000 
 copies, which shall include 50 copies to be bound in full Morocco, to be 
 delivered to the family of the deceased, and of those remaining, 2,600 
 copies shall be for the use of the Senate, and 5,350 for the use of the House 
 of Representatives; and the Secretary of the Treasury is directed to have 
 engraved and printed a portrait of the said Ephkaim King Wilson to 
 accompany said eulogies. 
 
 AUG 6 jyub 
 0. ot 0, 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Death and funeral services ~ 
 
 Announcement in the Senate o 
 
 Announcement in the House of Representatives 14 
 
 Proceedings in the Senate : ' 
 
 Address of Mr. Gorman, of Maryland jg 
 
 Mr. "Wilson, of Iowa 21 
 
 Mr. Berry, of Arkansas 26 
 
 Mr. Piatt, of Connecticut 29 
 
 Mr. Gray, of Delaware 33 
 
 Mr. Mitchell, of Oregon 3g 
 
 Mr. Pasco, of Florida 44 
 
 Mr. Dixon, of Ehode Island 4g 
 
 Mr. Gibson, of Maryland 50 
 
 Proceedings in the House of Representatives : 
 
 Address of Mr. Page, of Maryland g0 
 
 Mr. Herbert, of Alabama 74 
 
 Mr. McKaig, of Maryland 73 
 
 Mr. Joseph D. Taylor, of Ohio 75 
 
 Mr. Tracey, of New York _ 80 
 
 Mr. Rusk, of Maryland 83 
 
 Mr. Cummings, of New York 85 
 
 Mr. Rayner, of Maryland 86 
 
DEATH AND FUNERAL OF SENATOR WILSON. 
 
 Hon. Ephraim King Wilson, United States Senator from 
 the State of Maryland, died at his apartments in the Hamilton 
 House, Washington, at five minutes past 10 o'clock p. m., 
 Tuesday, February 24, 1891, of organic disease of the heart. 
 
 The life so suddenly ended had been one of usefulness and 
 distinction. The outlines of his career, sketched with char- 
 acteristic modesty by himself, are as follows : 
 
 Ephraim King Wilson, of Snow Hill, was bom at Snow Hill, Mary- 
 land, December 22, 1821, was educated at Union Academy, Snow Hill, and 
 at Washington Academy, Princess Anne, Maryland, and graduated at Jef- 
 ferson College, Pennsylvania in 1841 ; studied law and practiced in tbat 
 profession for twenty years; was a member of tbe Maryland bouse of 
 delegates in 1847; was an elector for Pierce and King in 1852; was a Rep- 
 resentative in tbe Forty-second Congress; was judge of tbe first judicial 
 circuit of Maryland from 1878 to 1884 ; was elected to tbe United States 
 Senate as a Democrat to succeed James I}. Groome, Democrat, and took bis 
 seat March 4, 1885. His term of service will expire Marcb 3, 1891. 
 
 Mr. Wilson had been reelected for the term beginning 
 March 4, 1891. 
 
 The death of Mr. Wilson was announced the following morn- 
 iDg in the Senate by Mr. Gorman, and in the House of Repre- 
 sentatives by Mr. Gibson. After the appointment of com- 
 mittees to take charge of the funeral ceremonies, and to escort 
 the remains to their last resting place, both Houses, as a mark 
 of respect to the memory of the deceased, adjourned. 
 
 The committee on the part of the Senate was composed of 
 the following Senators: Mr. Gorman, of Maryland; Mr. Gray, of 
 
6 Death and funeral of Senator Wilson. 
 
 Delaware; Mr. Jones, of Arkansas ; Mr. Faulkner, of West Vir- 
 ginia; Mr- Pasco, of Florida; Mr. Spooner, of Wisconsin ; Mr. 
 Mitchell, of Oregon; Mr. Wilson, of Iowa; and Mr. Dixon, of 
 Rhode Island; and on the part of the House of Representa- 
 tives, of the following Representatives : Mr. Gibson, Mr. Rusk, 
 Mr. McComas, Mr. Stump, Mr. Stockbridge, and Mr. Mudd, 
 of Maryland; Mr. Stone, of Missouri ; Mr. Browne, of Virginia ; 
 and Mr. Abbott, of Texas. 
 
 Brief but impressive funeral services were held Monday 
 morning at the Hamilton House, and were attended by the 
 President, the Vice-President, members of the Senate and 
 House of Representatives, and friends of the deceased states- 
 man. The remains of Mr. Wilson were then placed on a 
 special train which left Washington about noon of the same day, 
 and they were accompanied by the family of the deceased and 
 the committee of the Senate and House of Representatives. 
 At Baltimore Governor Jackson joined the party and went 
 with them to Snow Hill, as did also Messrs. J. Harry Preston, 
 William C. Harden, and Edward McMaster, a committee of 
 the house of delegates of Maryland, who had been appointed 
 by Speaker Hubner to cooperate with the committee of the 
 senate of Maryland, consisting of Senators Smith, of Worces- 
 ter, Peter, of Howard, and Randall, of Anne Arundel, which 
 had been appointed by President Brattan. 
 
 When Snow Hill, the home of the dead Senator, was 
 reached, a large number of his neighbors and friends were 
 waiting at the station to attest by their presence their sorrow 
 at the death of Mi. Wilson, and their regret for the loss 
 which the State has suffered by his decease. 
 
 The funeral look place at Snow Hill, Friday, February 27. 
 No ceremonies were held at the house of the deceased, whither 
 his remains had been borne, but :it 11 o'clock the funeral cor- 
 tege proceeded to Makemie Memorial Presbyterian church. 
 
Death and funeral of Senator Wilson. 7 
 
 The esteem, in which the dead statesman was held was shown 
 by the large concourse which followed his remains to their last 
 resting place. The public buildings in the town were closed, 
 and during the funeral the church bells were tolled, and busi- 
 ness generally was suspended. The funeral services were con- 
 ducted by the Rev. D. B. Fitzgerald. The pallbearers were 
 selected from Senator Wilson's intimate friends in Snow Hill, 
 and were: J. T. Matthews, P. D. Cottiugham, Col. John Wal- 
 ter Smith, George W. Purnell, Capt. William E. Timmons, 
 and George S. Richardson. 
 
 The services at the church were simple but impressive. 
 While the casket was being borne in, preceded by the Con- 
 gressional committee, acting as an honorary escort, a quar- 
 tette of voices rendered beautifully the touching words of a 
 funeral hymn. Rev. William B. Walton, of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church, read a scriptural lesson, which was followed 
 by prayer and a sermon by the pastor of the church, Rev. I). 
 B. Fitzgerald. The sermon was a forcible and eloquent 
 tribute to the character of Mr. Wilson. 
 
 At the conclusion of the services the body was borne 
 through the church to the cemetery adjoining, and laid at rest 
 by the side of his kindred. 
 
ANNOUNCEMENT IN THE SENATE OF THE DEATH OF 
 SENATOR WILSON. 
 
 Wednesday, February 25, 1891. 
 The Senate met at 11 o'clock a. m. 
 
 Rev. J. G. Butler, D. D., the Chaplain of the Senate, offered 
 the following prayer : 
 
 Thou God of all consolation, grant strength and comfort and 
 blessing to Thine handmaiden, and to this family passing 
 through the deep waters of affliction. We thank Thee for this 
 life, so pure, so true, so noble, so useful, so long preserved, 
 fashioned and molded in the faith of Christ. 
 
 O, Thou who livest and wast dead, and who art alive for- 
 evermore, we rejoice in the hope of the life to come; and we 
 pray that as we walk through these shadows we may have 
 good consciences toward God and toward our neighbor, so 
 guarding ourselves, so walking in the obedience and faith of 
 the gospel, living soberly, righteously, and godly, that when 
 life's labor is ended and life's conflict is done, we may be gath- 
 ered to I lie rest that remaineth for Thy people on high. 
 
 Sanctify, we pray Thee, this providence; and as we abide 
 under the dark shadow, coming to us time and again, time and 
 again, so quickly, grant that Thy spirit may speak to our 
 consciences, that we may he quickened in our lite toward Cod 
 
 and toward tho future, toward the life that abideth. Restrain 
 us. and strengthen us. and help us, and Itless us, so that living 
 8 
 
Announcement of death of Senator Wilson. 9 
 
 to God here, serving our fellowmen, adorning the doctrine of 
 God our Saviour in all things, we maybe fitted for the home 
 in the heavenly land where they die no more. 
 
 Guide these Thy servants this day. Give unto us Thy peace. 
 Are we not Thy children, though compassed about with infirm- 
 ities? We pray for strength from God. Conscious of our 
 sins, we ask pardon. We look to Thee for wisdom to guide; 
 and O that God may clothe us with might by His spirit in the 
 inner man, so that living a true and pure and manly and Chris- 
 tian life we may serve our generation and falling asleep be 
 gathered to the fathers. 
 
 We ask these mercies with guidance, and help, and blessing, 
 and peace, in the name of Chris t our Savior. Amen. 
 
 The Journal of yesterday's proceedings was read and ap- 
 proved. 
 
 Mr. Edmunds. I ask unanimous consent that the business 
 of the Senate be suspended for a few moments until the Sena- 
 tor from Maryland [Mr. Gorman] can be consulted as to what, 
 under the circumstances, may be done out of respect for the 
 memory of our late colleague. 
 
 The Vice-President. That course will be pursued if there 
 be no objection. [After a pause.] 
 
 Mr. Gorman. Mr. President, it becomes my most painful 
 duty to announce to the Senate the death of my honored col- 
 league, Hon. Ephraim King Wilson, who breathed his last 
 in this city, at his quarters in the Hamilton House, at five 
 minutes past 10 last night. My late colleague, although not 
 in robust health, was in this Chamber on Saturday last, giving 
 that earnest attention to public business which was the rule 
 of his life. On Sunday last he was indisposed, but none 
 around him supposed it was more than a temporary trouble, 
 
10 Announcement of death of Senator Wilson. 
 
 soon to pass away. His death, therefore, comes as a sudden 
 shock, not only to his associates and the country, but to his 
 family. 
 
 My lamented friend, however, had for some years anticipated 
 a sudden taking- off. He was conscious that he had an affec- 
 tion of the heart which might terminate his career at any 
 moment, and yet, with the courage of a hero, he went on in 
 the discharge of his private and public duties as serenely, as 
 cptietly, and as methodically as if he were in robust health. 
 
 He had nearly reached the allotted time of three-score years 
 and ten. He was beloved and honored by the people of his 
 State; he had served them in the State legislature, as a 
 Presidential elector, as a member of the House of Eepresenta- 
 tives, and as an associate justice of the circuit court, and has 
 been twice elected as a member of this body. His career here 
 is familiar to all. We knew him as a man of very high intelli- 
 gence, a lawyer of acumen and rare logical power, and a 
 gentleman without reproach. He enjoyed the esteem of every 
 member of this body without regard to party. The loss of 
 such a man is a loss to the nation. But in Maryland his death 
 will be specially mourned. The people of that State have lost 
 an upright citizen, an exalted patriot, a true friend, and faith- 
 ful neighbor. He died as he had lived, a modest, painstaking. 
 Christian man. 
 
 Mr. President, at the proper time, I shall ask the Senate to 
 fix a day on which proper tribute may be paid to his memory. 
 I oiler the resolutions which I send to the desk. 
 
 The Vice-President. The resolutions will be read. 
 
 The Chief Clerk read the resolutions, as follows: 
 
 "Resolved, Thai the Senate has heard with great sorrow of the death of 
 the Hon. Ephraim K. Wilson, Late a Senator from the State of Maryland. 
 
 Resolved, Thai .•> committee of nine Senators be appointed by the presid- 
 ing officer to take order for superintending tin' funeral of Mr. Wilson. 
 
Announcement of death of Senator Wilson. 11 
 
 Resolved, That as a further mark of respect entertained by the Senate 
 for his memory, his remains he removed from Washington to Maryland in 
 charge of the Sergeant-at-Arins, and attended by the committee, who shall 
 have full power to carry this resolution into effect. 
 
 Resolved, That the Secretary communicate these proceedings to the House 
 of Representatives and invite the House of Representatives to attend the 
 funeral to-morrow, Thursday, and to appoint a committee to act with the 
 committee of the Senate. 
 
 Resolved, That as a further mark of respect the Senate do now adjourn. 
 
 Mr. Spooner. Mr. President, when, at another session of 
 Congress, the Senate shall, in obedience to its custom, pause 
 in the transaction of the public business to pay tribute to 
 the memory of our dead colleague and friend, I shall not be a 
 member of this body, and so can not then claim the right and 
 privilege of mingling with your tributes of respect and affec- 
 tion my own. I therefore must beg the indulgence of the Sen- 
 ate on this occasion to pay, albeit only in the faltering and 
 unstudied words of sorrow, a brief personal tribute to the 
 memory of Senator Wilson, of Maryland. He and I entered 
 the Senate upon the same day. He became a member of the 
 Committee on Claims and took his seat with that committee 
 on the same day and at the same hour with me. I have had 
 for years the honor to be its chairman, and he has remained 
 continuously one of its members, and my association with him 
 has, by virtue of that relationship, been, almost from the 
 beginning, intimate, both personally and officially. I was long 
 ago admitted to his confidence, and highly honored as I felt 
 myself to be by his personal friendship, his death brings to 
 me a keen sense of personal loss. 
 
 It is not to be expected that justice can be done to his char- 
 acter and attainments in the informal speech of this hour. He 
 was peculiarly modest and unobtrusive, yet possessed in full 
 degree of that spirit and independence essential to true manli- 
 ness. He had convictions, and the courage to avow and be 
 guided by them. He has not taken very active part in the cur- 
 
12 Announcement of death of Senator Wilson. 
 
 rent proceedings of this body. This was attributable in part 
 to the characteristic which I have mentioned, and in part to 
 the fact that for years the specter of death has been ever with 
 him, the unbidden guest at every feast and the companion of 
 every waking hour. But he was able, Mr. President, when 
 duty bade him and when health permitted him, to cope success- 
 fully in debate, here or elsewhere, with any antagonist and 
 upon any subject. His naturally strong mind had been disci- 
 plined and developed by years of study and reflection, until 
 his mental powers were really great. He was capable of easy 
 and accurate generalization and of ready and acute analysis. 
 He was a man of great learning in the law, and his tempera- 
 ment was essentially judicial. I never knew or was associated 
 with one from whom injustice and harshness of judgment were 
 less to be expected than from him. 
 
 He made several reports to the Committee on Claims upon 
 complicated subjects, which for comprehensiveness of treat- 
 ment, for legal ability, and for literary beauty commanded the 
 instantaneous and unanimous admiration and approbation of 
 the members of that committee, and his judgment as embodied 
 in a report did not in any instance fail to become the judg- 
 ment of the Senate. 
 
 He has made during his term elaborate speeches upon impor- 
 tant subjects, and they will afford permanent evidence of his 
 great ability as a constitutional lawyer and of his thorough 
 knowledge of constitutional history. 
 
 Mr. President, another thing will be well remembered of him. 
 He was a gentleman of the old school, and his courtesy to all 
 with whom he came in contact, of high or of low degree, was 
 never failing,an<l was always beautiful. His aspirations were 
 all lofty, and in his public and private life he was a Christian 
 gentleman. His death is a loss to the Senate, to his Stat.'. 
 and to the country. It can not be said that he died untimely. 
 
Announcement of death of Senator Jf '//son. 13 
 
 " for death can not come to him untimely who is fit to die," 
 and our friend from Maryland was fit to die. 
 
 The Vice-President. The question is on agreeing to the 
 resolutions. 
 
 The resolutions were agreed to unanimously. 
 
 The Vice-President appointed under the second resolu- 
 tion, as the committee on the part of the Senate to attend the 
 funeral, Mr. Gorman, Mr. Gray, Mr. Jones of Arkansas, Mr. 
 Pasco, Mr. Faulkner, Mr. Spooner, Mr. Wilson of Iowa, Mr. 
 Mitchell, and Mr. Dixon. 
 
 The Senate accordingly (at 11 o'clock and 27 minutes a. m.) 
 adjourned until to-morrow, Thursday, February 26, 1891, at 11 
 o'clock a. m. 
 
ANNOUNCEMENT IX THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
 OF THE DEATH OF SENATOR WILSON. 
 
 February 25, 1891. 
 
 Mr. Gibson. Mr. Speaker, it becomes my melancholy duty 
 to announce to this House the death of Ephraim K. Wilson, 
 late a Senator of the United States from Maryland, who died 
 last night in this city at ten minutes past 10 o'clock. As con- 
 spicuous:, Mr. Speaker, as has been the Fifty-first Congress in 
 the death of its members, it lias suffered no more serious loss 
 than in the death of Ephraim K. AVilson, a Senator from Mary- 
 land. 1 knew Senator AVilson well. I enjoyed his confidence 
 and regard through many years. I knew him in all the rela- 
 tions of life — social, professional, and political. 
 
 In all of these he more than measured up to all of the require- 
 ments of the positions in which those relations' placed him. 
 Kindly and courteous to all, dignified yet unostentatious, too 
 gentle in his intercourse to be other than gentlemanly, with a 
 regard for the feelings of others as sensitive as instinct, he 
 moved in and out among his fellows as absolutely the imper- 
 sonation of the gentleman of the old school as it has ever been 
 my good fortune to observe. As a lawyer he ranked high. 
 lie was careful anil painstaking in his investigation of every 
 subject which was presented for his consideration; lie was al- 
 ways :i , Safe counselor and fearless and eloquent as an advo- 
 cate. "Hedespised theartful trickery of ignoble minds," which 
 has been assigned as an attribute of his profession, but ever 
 recognized and taught In his faith and in his pracl ice I hal there 
 it 
 
Announcement of death of Senator Wilson. 15 
 
 was an "atmosphere nearer the sun in which the great jurists 
 of twenty generations had lived and dwelt, an atmosphere 
 adorned by a Webster and a Curran, an Erskine and a Grimke," 
 and a host of others standing no less high in the appreciation 
 of the profession. 
 
 As a statesman his views were always elevated and broad- 
 gauged. The ends he aimed at were his God's and his country's. 
 He died surrounded by all of the gentle ministries that make 
 life worth the living. Few men in public life have passed from 
 earth away, full of years as well as of honors, as he who has 
 left behind him the record of a life in which there was so little 
 ' to condemn, to conceal, or to excuse, and so much to commend 
 and to take pattern by. I feel, Mr. Speaker, that the occasion 
 is not proper nor is the opportunity meet for me to indulge in 
 any lengthy eulogy upon the life and the character of my dis- 
 tinguished friend and whilom colleague. Suffice it to say in 
 this connection that I feel that the language of common eulogy 
 would only too poorly express my estimate of his virtues. I 
 send to the Clerk's desk, Mr. Speaker, resolutions which I ask 
 to have read and submitted to the House : 
 
 The Speaker. Before presenting the resolutions offered by 
 the gentleman from Maryland, the Chair will cause to be read 
 to the House the resolutions of the Senate. 
 
 The Senate proceedings were read, as follows : 
 
 • In the Senate of the United States, 
 
 February 25, 1891. 
 
 Resolved, That the Senate has heard with great sorrow of the death of 
 the Hon. Ephraim K. Wilson, late a Senator from the State of Maryland. 
 
 Resolved, That a committee of nine Senators he appointed by the Pre- 
 siding Officer to take order for superintending the funeral of Mr. Wilson. 
 
 Besolved, That as a further mark of respect entertained by the Senate 
 for his memory, his remains he removed from Washington to Maryland in 
 charge of the Sergeant-at-Arms and attended by the committee, who shall 
 have full power to carry this resolution into effect. 
 
 Resolved, That the Secretary communicate these proceedings to the 
 House of Representatives, and invite the House of Representatives to at- 
 
16 Announcement of death of Senator Wilson. 
 
 tend the funeral to-morrow (Thursday), and to appoint a committee to 
 act with the committee of the Senate. 
 
 Resolved, That as a further mark of respect the Senate do now adjourn. 
 
 In compliance with the foregoing, the Presiding Officer appointed as said 
 committee : 
 
 Mr. Gorman, Mr. Gray, Mr. Jones of Arkansas, Mr. Pasco, Mr. Faulkner. 
 Mr. Spooner, Mr. Wilson of Iowa, Mr. Mitchell, and Mr. Dixon. 
 
 The Speaker. The clerk will now read the resolutions 
 offered by the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Gibson]. 
 
 The Clerk read as follows : 
 
 Resolved, That the House has received with profound sorrow the intelli- 
 gence of the death of Senator Ephkaim K. Wilson, of Maryland. 
 
 Resolved, That the Speaker of the House appoint a committee of nine 
 members, to act in conjunction with the committee of the Senate, to make 
 the necessary arrangements and accompany the remains to the place of 
 burial. 
 
 Mr. McComas. Mr. Speaker, the House has but a few days 
 of this session remaining, and they will be busy ones, but I 
 hope that during that time an appropriate occasion may be 
 found, on behalf of the State so greatly honored by Senator 
 Wilson, for members of this House to do honor to his distin- 
 guished public services and his blameless life. 
 
 The resolutions were agreed to. 
 
 The Speaker appointed as a committee on the part of the 
 House, Mr. Gibson, Mr. McComas, Mr. Rusk, Mr. Stockbridge, 
 Mr. Stump, Mr. Mudd, Mr. Stone of Missouri, Mr. Browne of 
 Virginia, and Mr. Abbott. 
 
 The SPEAKER. The Clerk will read the last resolution 
 offered by the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Gibson!. 
 
 The resolution was read, as follows: 
 
 Resolved, Thai as a farther mark of reaped the House do now adjourn. 
 
 The resolution was agreed to; and the House aeeordingh 
 (at 5 o'clock and ."> minutes p.m.) adjourned until 8 p.m. 
 
EULOGIES IN THE SENATE. 
 
 May C, 4802. 
 
 The Presiding Officer. The hour of 2 o'clock having 
 arrived, the Senate will proceed to consider the special order, 
 unanimously agreed to he taken up at this hour, on which the 
 Chair recognizes the Senator from Maryland (Mr. Gorman). 
 
 Mr. Gorman. Mr. President, I offer the resolutions which 
 I send to the desk. 
 
 The Presiding Officer. The resolutions will be read. 
 
 The clerk read as follows : 
 
 Resolved, That the Senate has heard with profound sorrow of the death 
 of Ephraim K. "Wilson, late a Senator from the State of Maryland. 
 
 Resolved, That as a remark of respect to the memory of the deceased, the 
 husiness of the Senate be now suspended to enable his associates to pay' 
 proper tribute of regard to his high character and distinguished public 
 services. 
 
 Eesolved, That the Secretary of theSenate communicate these resolutions 
 to the House of Representatives. 
 
 The Presiding Officer. The question is on the adoption 
 of the resolutions offered by the Senator from Maryland. 
 
 The resolutions were unanimously agreed to. 
 
 S. Mis. 229 2 n 
 
18 Address of Mr. Gorman, of Maryland, on the 
 
 Address of Mr. Gorman, of Maryland. 
 
 Mr: President : Another of those solemn occasions which 
 have so often of late painfully checked the proceedings of the 
 Senate and turned our thoughts from the affairs of public life 
 and the strifes of ambition to the serious future, brings us to-day 
 in the presence of the grave, and makes it our duty to offer trib- 
 utes of respect to the memory of a former associate, who for 
 nearly six years enjoyed the unbroken confidence and esteem 
 of this body. 
 
 My late colleague and friend, Ephraim King Wilson, was 
 born at Snow Hill, Md., December 22, 1821, and died in this 
 city February 24, 1891. He had thus almost completed the 
 period allotted by the Psalmist as the limit of human life, when 
 called to the dread account. 
 
 Like most public men who have attained national distinction, 
 he had to struggle against adverse fortune, and to depend 
 mainly on self-exertion for support and advancement. His 
 lather, an eminent lawyer, died when this son was a child, be- 
 queathing to him a good name as his only inheritance. He 
 attended school at his birthplace until the age of 15, and then 
 moved to Philadelphia in the hope of pursuing his studies there 
 and of permanently improving his condition. 
 
 Without means to attain the first object, he sought employ- 
 ment in a store and remained in thai service for a year. The 
 friendly aid of relatives induced him to return home, where he 
 resumed the plan of education originally formed, at the local 
 academies. In 1841, when 20 years old. he graduated with ex- 
 cellent repute at Jefferson College, Pennsylvania. 
 
 He taught Bchoolfor six years in the academies where he had 
 been a prominent pupil, and where his sterling qualities were 
 
Life and character of Ephraim King Wilson. 19 
 
 greatly valued by the faculties of those institutions. During 
 this time of struggling self-support he studied law and was ad- 
 mitted to the bar in 1818. But in the previous year, the peo- 
 ple, who knew the worth of his character and the measure of 
 his intellectual reach, elected him to represent them in the 
 house of delegates as a starting step to his predicted emi- 
 nence. 
 
 For twenty years he practiced law with success in a locality 
 where the professional business was not large, and its rewards 
 were limited as compared with those of the great cities. He 
 served as an elector in 1852 on tlie Pierce and King ticket 
 when the Democrats achieved a notable victory over the Whigs 
 of that day. 
 
 In 1869 he was chosen school examiner ami treasurer of 
 Worcester County, and in 1872 he was elected to the House of 
 Eepresentatives in the Forty-second Congress. Subsequently 
 he became judge of the first judicial district of Maryland, and 
 for six years he won golden opinions for the manner and abil- 
 ity with which that high trust was administered. 
 
 On retiring from the bench he was elected to the Senate in 
 1881, and was reelected in 1890, but died a week before his 
 second term would have begun. 
 
 In these different positions, held from early manhood to the 
 close of a long and honorable career, he always attracted the 
 fullest trust of the people whom he served. Those who knew 
 him best loved him most for the virtues which, early in life, had 
 enlisted their sympathy and won their affection. 
 
 He made no claim to be a brilliant orator nor a showy states- 
 man. On the contrary, he shrank from public parade of any 
 kind; was of a retiring nature, and belonged to that valuable 
 order of public men who, in Parliament and in Congress, do so 
 much to shape legislation by wise counsel and temperate action. 
 He Avas therefore strong in the committee room, where measures 
 
20 Address of Mr. Gorman, of Maryland, on the 
 
 are primarily considered, and where his investigations, judg- 
 ment, and advice were always treated with deserved deference. 
 His speeches before the Senate were arguments, clear, strong, 
 and convincing, and never failed to give high evidence both of 
 the manly sincerity of his convictions and the ex silence of his 
 intellectual ability. 
 
 Duty was the guide of his life, as conscience was his mentor. 
 His convictions were strong because they rested on principles 
 that rarely relaxed, and. if at all, only on changed conditions 
 justifying the exception. No Senator was more profoundly im- 
 pressed than he with the perils involved in the "force bill," nor 
 was any more grateful for the patriotic and generous support 
 from the other side which averted that threatened evil. He 
 would have made any personal sacrifice to recognize their aid 
 on that occasion. 
 
 His speech on that bill, treating the subject in its constitu- 
 tional, legal, and political aspects, was a masterly exposition of 
 every point, and placed him in the front of a debate which will 
 pass into history as among the most memorable and important 
 that ever engaged the best minds of the Senate. 
 
 Hisnioralcoui agewasof the highest purity and strength. An 
 incurable malady had long warned him that the sword of the 
 destroyer hung suspended by a hair over his head, and might 
 fall at any unexpected moment. With the linn faith of a true 
 Christian he accepted the doom without a murmur, trusting to 
 the mercy of Cod, and pursued his paths in private and public 
 lite calmly, as if no warning had been given. 
 
 My personal acquaintance with Mr. Wilson began twenty 
 years ago, when lie became a member of the Forty-second Con- 
 gress. Residing in different parts of the State, our intercourse 
 was limited until he entered the Senate in 1885. From that 
 time forward, until he was summoned ;it the bar of Divine 
 Justice, our relations were intimate and cordial, marked by a 
 
Life and character of Ephraim King Wilson. 21 
 
 perfect reciprocal confidence, and without a jar to disturb an 
 earnest friendship, which will always be preserved among my 
 most cherished recollections. 
 
 An exemplary life of stern integrity, of sterling honor, and 
 of sincere devotion to the cause of justice, under all condi- 
 tions, furnish the noblest epitaph to embalm his memory. 
 
 When, in the order of Providence, our time comes to close 
 these earthly scenes and to prepare for the everlasting future, 
 as we all should strive to do, let us indulge the cheering hope 
 of being welcomed, as he deserved to be, with " Well done, 
 good and faithful servant." 
 
 Address of Mr. Wilson, of Iowa. 
 
 Mr. President : My personal acquaintance with Ephraim 
 King Wilson is limited to the few years of his membership 
 of this body. During that comparatively brief period I came 
 to know him well. Our association was of such character as 
 gave me definite knowledge of the man, and I found him one — 
 
 Who many a noble gift from Heaven possessed. 
 
 He was a good man. Can I say more of and for him than 
 these few words express"? They embrace all of duty, of con- 
 science, of effort, of mindfulness of others, which evolve that 
 character of human life which stamps with its approval of those 
 lines of Longfellow wherein he says : 
 
 Theie is no death! what seems so is transition; 
 
 This life of mortal breath 
 Is but a suhurb of the life elysian, 
 
 Whose portal we call death. 
 
 As we now look upon the portal through which our honored 
 and respected associate has gone from us, and recall the char- 
 
22 Address of Mr. Wilson* of Iowa, o?i the 
 
 acteristics of the life which he passed in the held of mortal 
 activities, we will not doubt that he now participates in joys 
 which abound in the "life elysian." 
 
 He served his State and the nation in various public posi- 
 tions. At the early age of 26 years he was elected a member of 
 the Maryland house of delegates. This fact bears testimony 
 of the high esteem in which the community of which he was a' 
 member held him. Nor did his official conduct detract from 
 character and volume of that esteem. He served his State 
 in both the legislative and judicial departments of its govern- 
 ment. He also served the State and the nation in both brandies 
 of Congress. And the members of this body know that he was 
 faithful to his trust and competent to discharge its duties. 
 Conscience and duty were his constant companions. Hand in 
 hand they walked with him. This was as he desired it should 
 be, and their presence rounded out the perfection of the quiet 
 contentment and peaceful satisfaction of his useful life. 
 
 This dominant trait in the character of Senator Wilson 
 was not confined to the sphere of his public service. As a 
 member of the community in which his home was situate it 
 was ever present with him. Hence while his standard of per- 
 sonal and private conduct was of a high and exacting order, 
 it was not void of a recognition of the element of weakness so 
 often found in men. He recognized that men whose lives were 
 not wholly in harmony with the standard which measured his 
 own might still have done some deeds and effected some results 
 which would make himself and all others of right tendencies 
 their debtors. In such cases I feel quite sure that he would 
 have liccn willing to apply the words of Whittier, in respect 
 of Burns, and have stud: 
 
 Lei those who never erred forgel 
 
 His worth, in vain bewailings; 
 Sw<'rt soul of song! — I own my debt 
 
 I Irtcanceled by bis failings ! 
 
Life and character of Ephraim King Wilson. 23 
 
 Nor would this have lowered the high character of the stand 
 aid which he had erected for the regulation of his own conduct. 
 The more probable effect would have been to have drawn the 
 attention of the erring- ones to that better rule of life and of 
 action presented by his standard, at the base of which Justice 
 and Mercy joined hands. Many incidents in the life and ex- 
 periences of our departed associate illustrative of the sug- 
 gestion I have expressed might be cited, but I will let them 
 rest where he planted them and with an assurance that I may 
 with truth repeat in his case the words of another: 
 
 Man's works shall follow him. 
 
 In other lines of life than those I have indicated our de- 
 parted brother gave abundant evidence that he was what I 
 have called him — a good man. His domestic life presents a 
 picture of beauty, love, tranquillity, and happiness upon which 
 we may look and in very truth exclaim: "There is no place 
 like home. 1 ' 
 
 These descriptive words are few in number, but in compre- 
 hensive reach they are without limit in respect of all facts and 
 tendencies which carry us toward a realization of the best 
 conditions of society. If they could truthfully be applied to 
 all of the shelters of domestic life in this land, the necessity for 
 the enactment of regulative laws by the nation and of the 
 States would be greatly reduced. That this is not so is not 
 the fault of the man to whose name we do honor to-day. He 
 did his part. In his own case he succeeded. His example 
 and efforts aided many others. He was not selfish. He wished 
 well to all. He worked for what he deemed the good of all. 
 While in some respects his judgment may have failed in its 
 efforts to reach right conclusions, it did not do so in respect 
 of those domestic conditions which constitute home life. It 
 would never have been deemed inappropriate by his neighbors 
 
24 Address of Mr. Wilson, of Ioiva, on the 
 
 for them to hear his domestic circle singing that soul-pleasing 
 song, Sweet Home. And it may be truthfully said when that 
 song and the conditions of the home in which it may be sung 
 are in harmony peace and joy therein abound. 
 
 It may be said that such homes are effects, and that causes 
 lie behind them. I will not dispute the correctness of this 
 proposition. I prefer to admit that it is true, for the admission 
 opens the door to an inquiry the results of which will support 
 every assertion I have made concerning the life and ways of 
 Senator Wilson. Why was he the kind of man I have de-. 
 scribed ? Trace his life back to the home in which he was 
 born and spent his childhood, and with which his youth and 
 early manhood were connected, and there is found a chain of 
 evidence of unbroken links connecting his sturdy excellence of 
 character as we knew him with surroundings and influences 
 ever present in the home of his parents. They were members' 
 of the Presbyterian Church, and religious thougths, methods, 
 and incentives to right action were always active in evolving 
 the correct and admirable traits of character which we know 
 Senator Wilson possessed, and which assured to him the re- 
 spect and confidence of every member of this body who served 
 with him during the years of his membership here. 
 
 The influences which I have named as ever present in the 
 home of his parents failed not in their action upon him. Day 
 by day he felt their ever-present force, and as the passing years 
 moved him on to that period of life when he could appreciate 
 the lessons which they evolved, he appropriated it unto him- 
 self as a rule of action, and obeyed it to the close of his life. 
 He came to realize that — 
 
 The great Creator i<> revere 
 Must sure become t li«* creature. 
 
Life and character of Ephraim King Wilson. 25 
 
 He took to himself the lesson which the conditions of the 
 parental home life taught him with hrin resolve : 
 
 Not for to hide it in a hedge, 
 
 Nor for a train attendant ; 
 But for the glorious privilege 
 
 Of being independent. 
 
 To the practicalities and daily routine of his life he applied 
 that lesson, and through all the years and experiences of his 
 temporal journey it assured to him an independence of action 
 which belongs only to those whose motives, actions, and lives 
 are open books for all to read and understand. Such independ- 
 ence always gives happiness to its possessor, who is never 
 weighted down by any secret which he fears may come to the 
 knowledge of others. This character of independence accom- 
 panied Senator Wilson from the home of his childhood, where 
 the religious teachings and influences of his parents prepared 
 him for that journey of life which closed in the home of his own 
 family, where like conditions were ever present. 'All along the 
 journey of his life this element of strength accompanied him. 
 In early home, in school, in private occupations, in the domestic 
 circle, in public station, and in the presence of that messenger 
 who summoned him to enter upon the life elysian this element 
 of strength was ever with him. This proves that by him its 
 presence was ever welcome; that his heart and mind were ever 
 open to it. 
 
 Mr. President, we do but perform a duty by according formal 
 recognition to the admirable traits of character ever present in 
 the life of Senator Wilson. Let not our remembrances of him 
 end with this day. We owe it to ourselves as well as to him 
 that this shall not be. The lines of the years which measured 
 his life do also encircle a neld of reminiscences where we may 
 gather facts, test principles, study motives, and learn how 
 surely moral forces and religious influences tend to promote 
 
26 Address of Mr. Berry, of Arkansas, on the 
 
 the best interests of the individual, the home, the family, and 
 the community. We may do all of this and not sever contact 
 with the actual facts of his personal experiences in life. And 
 this but proves that all that I have said in respect of the high 
 standard of his character, the facts, methods, influences, and 
 motives which developed and established it, and the results 
 which came to himself and others therefrom constitute but a 
 true story of his life. This being the case, I feel free to ear- 
 nestly repeat the injunction I have heretofore uttered — let not 
 remembrances of him end with this day. The lessons embraced 
 in the lines of his life may be helpful to all who remain on 
 Time's side of the portal through which he has passed from us 
 to the life elysian. He has gone from us, but the lessons 
 remain with us, and if studied and rightly used will give 
 strength to all who advance toward the portal through which 
 he has passed. 
 
 Address .of Mr. Berry, of Arkansas. 
 
 Mr. Berry : Mr. President, when I came here in March, 1885, 
 I met for the first time Hon. E. K. Wilson, who had a few days 
 before taken his seat in this body as a Senator from the State 
 of Maryland. He was then past the meridian of life, had served 
 in the other House of Congress, and for many years as judge 
 of the court in his State, and was in full possession of strong, 
 vigorous, and well-cult ivated intellectual powers. From that 
 time until his death in February, 1891, I sat near him in this 
 Chamber, and learned to know him intimately and well. 
 
 I know from the character of the man and from conversations 
 bad witli him that the idea would have been peculiarly and es- 
 pecially disagreeable to him if lie had thought that any Sena- 
 
Life and character of Ephraim King Wilson. 27 
 
 tor here would after his de;ith overstate, embellish, or exagger- 
 ate in any way his abilities, his virtues, or his good qualities. 
 I would not willingly disregard his wishes in this behalf, and 
 yet it is difficult to speak of him as he was without seeming to 
 exaggerate to thtfse who did not know him well. Judge Wil- 
 son was peculiarly and in a marked degree a modest man, and 
 [ think in his own mind habitually underrated and underesti- 
 mated his powers and his abilities. He was a man of studious 
 habits, and with strangers retiring in his disposition. He had 
 read and thought much. He knew the history of his own and 
 other countries Avell. He was an accurate and profound law- 
 yer, and had made a special study of the Constitution of the 
 United States. 
 
 lie was thoroughly familiar with all of its clauses and sec- 
 tions, with the reasons given by its trainers for their adoption, 
 together with the rulings and decisions of the Supreme Com I 
 bearing upon each. And the speeches made by him here as to 
 the powers and duties of Congress under the Constitution en- 
 title him to rank with the ablest lawyers of the Senate. There 
 is running through all of these speeches a- purity of thought 
 and purpose, a devotion to duty, a love of country, and an 
 earnest desire for the happiness and prosperity of the people 
 that show him to have been a patriot and a true man. 
 
 Judge Wilson was not a great leader of men, nor did he 
 desire to be; he was too modest and unassuming for that; he 
 did not possess that aggressiveness, that self assertion, that 
 inborn desire to control and direct the actions of others that is 
 necessary to successful leadership. And yet the knowledge of 
 men and their conduct, the quick perception of justice, of right 
 and wrong, and firmness in adhering to principle were. qualities 
 that he possessed to an unusual degree, I have never known 
 a more thoroughly honest man or a purer man in each and all 
 of his acts, both public and private. 
 
28 Address of Mr. Berry, of Arkansas, on the 
 
 During the six years that I was associated with hiin I never 
 knew him to do an act that a gentleman ought not to do, or that 
 could justly be the subject of criticism ; and when his mind and 
 conscience were convinced that he was right, no persuasion and 
 no influence could swerve or change him fromlns course. I dis- 
 tinctly remember a conversation I had with him shortly before 
 his death. It was in regard to a bill pending here to which we 
 were both strongly opposed. I asked him, in case it became 
 necessary to defeat it, if he thought we would be justified in 
 withholding our votes for the purpose of breaking a quorum, and 
 he answered me in substance that he regarded the bill as a very 
 bad one; that it would work great injury to the people of the 
 country, and especially to the people of the Southern States; that 
 he was bound to those people by many ties, and especially by the 
 fact that his favorite brother had fallen in battle a soldier in the 
 Southern army, and that there was tfo personal sacrifice that 
 he would not make to serve them, or to prevent injury to the 
 country in which they lived; but the Constitution required him 
 as a Senator to vote if present, that he had sworn to obey it, and 
 that he dared not violate his oath. 
 
 And this, Mr. President, was in keeping with his whole life 
 and the principle upon which he acted in every case. Without 
 any pretense and without parade of superior virtue he did the 
 right as he saw the right. Judge Wilson lived for years in 
 the constant expectation of sudden death; he knew that the 
 disease from which he was suffering was liable to cause his 
 death at any moment; he often spoke of it, not lightly or irrev- 
 erently, nor in any gloomy or desponding way, but calmly and 
 courageously, as a brave man would speak of something that 
 could not be avoided, and that ho was ready to meet without 
 fear of the future, but that he hoped might be postponed for 
 the sake of his wife and daughters, who were dependent upon 
 him, and to whom he was devotedly attached. Judge Wilson 
 
Life and character of Ephraim King Wilson. 29 
 
 believed in the Christian religion with all the faith and con- 
 fidence of a little child, or, as he once said, that he had no 
 more doubt of its truth than he had that sooner or later death 
 would come to us all. 
 
 Such is a simple statement of the life and character of the 
 deceased Senator as it was impressed upon me. He was the 
 highest and best type of the old-time Southern gentleman — 
 brave, generous, open, direct, and unsuspicious, despising 
 fraud, false pretense, and double dealing of every character, 
 full of charity for the faults and mistakes of others, always 
 respectful and deferential to all womanhood, thoughtful and 
 considerate of the feelings of all with whom he came in con- 
 tact, devoted to his country, his home, and his family, he lived 
 and died the true gentleman and the true man. As I stood 
 by his deathbed in the presence of his weeping wife and 
 daughter, I could but feel that it was impossible for any man 
 to have been intimately associated with him, without having 
 a higher and better opinion of his fellow-man, and without 
 feeling also that for one who had done his duty so faithfully 
 and well here, it could not be otherwise than well with him 
 hereafter. 
 
 Address of Mr. Platt,' of Connecticut. 
 
 Mr. President : An exacting and somewhat impatient pub- 
 lic is at times disposed to criticise the Senate because on oc- 
 casions when one of our members has deceased we pause for an 
 hour and lay aside the intense work of Senatorial life to recall 
 his virtues and to pay our tribute of respect to his memory. I 
 think the Senate does well to pause. I think it is well at times 
 to forget the intense, practical, utilitarian life which we live 
 and turn our thoughts to other features of life. 
 
30 Address of Mr. Piatt, of Connecticut, on the 
 
 "Life" and "death" are the two most momentous words in 
 our language. Their correspondents are the most momentous 
 words in every language. Each is equally a mystery. 
 
 Life is a thing of daily experience. From the time when we 
 first know that we live till we pass off the stage we are daily 
 conscious of living. We enjoy life and cling to it. Death is 
 not a matter of human experience. No man has experienced 
 death. We only know that we shrink from it. It seems to me 
 sometimes that these matters of life and death and their issues 
 arc of such transcendent importance, are of so much more con- 
 sequence than the affairs of state, important as they are, that 
 we do not think half enough of them. 
 
 I believe, then, it is well for the Senate to pause at times — to 
 let a calm as of the holy Sabbath stillness steal over this room, 
 where there is so much of contention and strife and struggle, 
 that we may think upon what we are and what we are to be. 
 
 1 can not speak of the deceased Senator from the standpoint 
 of an intimate personal friendship. Indeed, the associations 
 of Senators here seldom result in close and intimate Mend- 
 ships. We all come to the Senate somewhat late in life; the 
 Constitution prevents very young men from entering the Sen- 
 ate, and the ties of close personal friendship are not often 
 formed after the years when men usually enter this body. And 
 yet there is something growing out of our relations, sonic- 
 thing growing out of daily association in this Chamber, even 
 if we do not see one another in the home, which 1 think 
 leads ns to appreciate a fellow Senator perhaps as much as in 
 the case of intimate personal friendship outside of the Senate 
 Chamber. We come intuitively, as it were, to know each other: 
 and 1 tli ink in no body in the world does a man pass for what 
 he really is and in no other body is a man so well known by his 
 associates ami comrades as here in the Senate. 
 
 So I feel to-day that I have a right to speak a word in mem- 
 
Life and character of Ephraim King J J T ilson. 31 
 
 cry of the deceased ; that I have a right to lay my tribute upon 
 his grave; that I have a right to mingle my voice with the 
 voices of those who were his more intimate personal friends. 
 
 He impressed me as being eminently a statesman, a gentle- 
 man of the olden time, a gentleman of the universal type, in 
 the best sense of that word — a gentle man, one whose train of 
 thought and expression reminded us of the times past, when 
 this Government was in its infancy — and, sitting here to-day, 
 I have thought that his appearance in the Senate Chamber 
 was very much what we might expect if Samuel Chase and 
 Charles Carroll of Carrollton, who signed the Declaration of 
 Independence, or Luther Martin, who was so conspicuous in 
 the Constitutional Convention, were permitted to come and 
 take their seats in this Chamber. 
 
 lie was a surviving representative and type of that class of 
 men. He was simple, affable, courteous, dignified in his bear- 
 ing, as he was faithful, earnest, and patriotic in his character. 
 He was more than that — he was a Christiau gentleman; and 
 in these days, when men struggle for fame and position and 
 for what are supposed to be the honors of this earthly life, it 
 is well to remember that there is no honor higher than that of 
 a Christian gentleman. He acted well his part, and-we are 
 told that ''there all the honor lies." 
 
 He has gone from us, and I am sorry to say that when an as- 
 sociate departs from among us or from the walks of life we are 
 apt to ask two questions about the deceased: Was he rich?- 
 As the world measures riches, I do not know and I do not care. 
 I know, whether he had pecuniary means and wealth or not, 
 that he was rich in all those qualities of mind and heart whieli 
 ennoble human nature; and that in that sense he was rich. 
 Was he great? I do not know, because I do not know what 
 constitutes greatness. I do not know by what standard Ave 
 are to judge men when we call them great. I know that no 
 
32 Address of Mr. Piatt, of Connecticut, on the 
 
 man can be honored by a State like Maryland with a seat in 
 this body and be reelected with unanimity who is not able and 
 strong, and who has not earned in some way the confidence of 
 the people whom he represents. 
 
 It is enough for me to know this about him. And I know, 
 too, that it may well satisfy human ambition to* be able to rep- 
 resent a State in this Chamber, and to so possess the confi- 
 dence of one's constituents as to be thus reelected. 
 
 Greatness is often factitious, deceptive; it is often wrought 
 out for men by various means. I know that the deceased Sena- 
 tor never struggled to be esteemed great. I know that he 
 would never make use of any means to parade himself in his 
 State or in the nation as a great man. I know that he had no 
 desire for what is called a national reputation ; that he was 
 content if he were known and appreciated within the borders 
 of the State where he was born and where, I have no doubt, 
 he looked forward with pleasure, if one can be pleased with 
 such prospect, to sleeping in its soil. Senators who knew him 
 most fully have said today, in our hearing, that he was a good 
 man, a pure man, an honest man. Are not these qualities 
 after all the real essentials of true greatness? 
 
 He has left us. One Saturday afternoon, in the busiest and 
 most intense period of our legislation, he left his seat, appar- 
 ently as well as usual, and apparently with no notice that he 
 was to be summoned away, and on the Tuesday following he 
 was gone. 
 
 Has that life which so impressed itself upon us- for his life 
 has impressed itself upon ours— ended ? It is said that no 
 man lives for himself, no true man lives entirely in himself, 
 but also in the lives of others with whom he associates and 
 upon whom he impresses his own character. Has that lite 
 ended? Eope says no. Faith adds its negative; reason con 
 vinces ns that it is not ended. So we hope, we believe, and in 
 
Life and character of Epliraim King Wilson. 33 
 
 the light of revelation we know, that the mortal life which 
 was so developed and rounded out here has now begun its 
 period of immortal development and growth, and that if we 
 are true, as he was true, we may yet meet him, who has but 
 gone away, in that other world where all strife and struggle 
 shall cease, except the strife as to who may best perform the 
 will of the Infinite Master. 
 
 Address of Mr. Gray, of Delaware. 
 
 Mr. President : I came into this body on the same day 
 with Judge Wilson, and though I had long known him by 
 reputation I had never met him before. Our acquaintance 
 then begun ripened into a friendship which grew stronger 
 with each succeeding year, and continued unbroken until that 
 sad night when I stood beside his dying bed and witnessed 
 through my tears the last expiring sigh which released his 
 chafing spirit aud marked the close of his honored and useful 
 life. 
 
 It is not for me to dwell at length upon his character as de- 
 veloped in the State in which he lived, and in the atmosphere 
 of home and neighborly surroundings; but it is pleasant for 
 me now to recall that my own State and the eastern shore of 
 Maryland, where Judge Wilson passed his life, arc essentially 
 one community. The lower peninsula of Delaware and of the 
 Eastern Shore counties of Maryland and Virginia is geograph- 
 ically unique. Its isolation before the days of modern trans- 
 portation compelled a business and social intercourse which 
 threw its people upon their own resources and produced a 
 homogeneity of population, interests, and feeling that is largely 
 observable down to the present day. Its people are the de- 
 S. Mis. 229 3 
 
34 Address of Mr. Gray, of Delaware, on the 
 
 scendents of the original English settlers, with little or no for- 
 eign admixture since the war of the .Revolution. And the 
 sturdy virtues of the original stock have been preserved and 
 strengthened under the opportunities presented by a fertile 
 soil, abundant room, and free institutions. 
 
 Nowhere have the best traditions and instincts of the Anglo- 
 Saxon race taken deeper root than in this region, or more con- 
 spicuously borne their natural fruit of individual liberty pro- 
 tected by law, and of that developed capacity for self-govern- 
 ment which has made possible the distinctive American com- 
 monwealth, and which remains the surest safeguard of its per- 
 petuity. 
 
 Born of the best of this stock, Judge Wilson, by the in- 
 herited tendency of an honorable lineage, molded by such an 
 environment, developed that beautiful and well-rounded 
 character that it is our pride to speak of as typically American. 
 
 No truer representative of an intelligent, honest, and noble 
 people ever held commission on this floor. With no alloy of 
 selfishness or self-seeking to mar the fair proportions of his 
 character, he seemed to avoid rather than seek the distinction 
 of public office, and the State that delighted to honor him, 
 whether in high judicial station or as one of its representa- 
 tives in one branch and the other of the Federal Congress, 
 honored itself in so choosing him. nigh individual character 
 must always be the most valued product of a free State, and on 
 the other hand no contribution can be made by the citizen to 
 the upbuilding of his State and the well-being of its society 
 more valuable and enduring than the high character himself 
 achieves by the practice of private and civic virtues. This 
 contribution Judge Wilson made in full measure to his State 
 and to the nation. 
 
 His was a rare combination of intellectual and moral 
 strength. His opinions on public questions were not hastily 
 
Life and character of Ephraim King Wilson. 35 
 
 formed, but were the result of careful and painstaking investi- 
 gation, by a well-disciplined mind, and were vitalized by an 
 earnest moral nature. Judge Wilson thought and reasoned 
 honestly, and a certain intellectual integrity characterized his 
 mental processes and gave an almost religious strength and 
 fervor to his convictions. These he could not compromise, 
 much less surrender. 
 
 It is not surprising that such a man should impress himself 
 strongly on tho,se with whom he came in contact. But Judge 
 Wilson had a natural reserve, and was so free from anything 
 like self-exploitation, that only those who became well ac- 
 quainted with him and were honored with his friendship 
 could fully appreciate the value of his counsel, and the wisdom 
 that characterized his thoughtful utterances. His judgment 
 on public questions was often sought by his party associates, 
 and was freely and fearlessly though withal modestly given. 
 His speeches were always carefully prepared, and were char- 
 acterized by clearness of thought, logical presentation of the 
 matter in hand, and a sincerity of conviction that was itself 
 persuasive. He never failed to secure respectful attention 
 from the members of this body, as well from those who differed 
 as from those who agreed with him politically. 
 
 These speeches as they are preserved in the record of our de- 
 bates will be an enduring monument to his broad statesmanship, 
 and a valuable contribution to the political thought of our time. 
 But their present effect was due to the high, sincere character 
 that was behind them. Such a character is stronger always than 
 speech. The latter is only one mode of expression of the former ; 
 but there are a hundred other ways, often unseen, in which 
 character exerts its potent influence on the thoughts and actions 
 of men. We all felt stronger and safer forjudge Wilson's 
 presence among us. Low or unworthy conceptions of public 
 
36 Address of Mr. Mitchell, of Oregon, on the 
 
 duty could not assert themselves or thrive in the moral atmos- 
 phere that surrounded Judge Wilson. He was — 
 
 The still strong man in a blatant land — 
 
 so beautifully described in "In Memoriam." 
 
 If time permitted it would be pleasant to dwell upon those 
 tender graces of his character which so endeared him to his 
 friends and made friends of so many. The quiet genial smile 
 with which he greeted you, and the genuine courtesy of his 
 manner, were the outward expression of an inward grace; with 
 an unobtrusive consideration for others, and an unaffected 
 suppression of self; with an unvaunted, but always present, 
 through quiet courage, he filled the ideal of a Christian gen- 
 tleman. Clear in his high office, conscientious in the discharge 
 of every duty, with unclouded mind and unabated Christian 
 fortitude, he calmly awaited the inevitable end that sooner or 
 later must come to all. As we stood by his open grave in the 
 old churchyard at Snow Hill, where we laid him to rest in the 
 soil of the State he loved so well and served so faithfully, the 
 prayer of the Psalmist almost involuntarily rose to our lips, 
 " Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be 
 like his." 
 
 Address of Mr. Mitchell, of Oregon. 
 
 Mr. President: I respond with pleasure but in sorrow to 
 the request of the friends of our late colleague to add a word 
 of tribute to liis memory. 
 
 WhenEPHRAiM K. Wilson, late a Senator from the State of 
 Maryland, responded to the call of the Great Master, ;i good 
 man in Hie broadest sense of that term, an able, efficient, and 
 faithful Senator, passed to his rest. 
 
Life and character of EpJiraim King Wilson. 37 
 
 It is, perhaps, a custom, which would doubtless be " more 
 honored in the breach than the observance, " to indulge in ex- 
 aggerated eulogium on occasions like the present. While 
 desiring to avoid subjecting myself to this criticism, I feel con- 
 strained to say it has never been my good fortune to become 
 associated, either in public or private life, with a man more 
 justly entitled to universal esteem, or more lovable in all 
 respects, than was the late Senator Wilson. For six years 1 
 had the honor of being associated with him in the performance 
 of the arduous duties of two important committees of the Sen- 
 ate — Claims and Post-Offices and Post-Eoads. 
 
 The intimate official and personal association which this serv- 
 ice together of necessity created, afforded ample opportunity 
 to become thoroughly acquainted with our late colleague in 
 the several capacities of lawyer, judge, legislator, and private 
 gentleman ; and thus knowing him, no words of mine can 
 appropriately or adequately express the high esteem with 
 which I came to regard him long ere he was called to pay that 
 greatest of all debts which nature and nature's God exact 
 sooner or later of every individual of the human race. 
 
 Senator Wilson was in many respects — yes, I may say in all 
 respects, a model man. Modest and retiring in disposition, 
 courteous and kind in demeanor, he at all times, on all occa- 
 sions, from all with whom he came in contact, compelled the 
 very highest order of esteem and won univers al respect. Firm 
 in his convictions, deliberate in action, conscientious in the 
 discharge of every duty, earnest and able in the advocacy of 
 the right as he understood it, unsparing and even caustic in 
 his denunciation of that which be believed to be wrong, he 
 stood in all these respects a peer among the very best of his 
 associates both within and without the Senate. 
 
 Judge Wilson was an able lawyer. There was nothing 
 erratic in his mental make-up. He possessed that rare faculty 
 
38 Address of Mr. Mitchell, of Oregon, on th e 
 
 of quickly noticing and accurately marking; legal distinctions. 
 He had a judicial mind. He readily comprehended and was 
 quick to grasp the nature and scope of a legal proposition, and 
 he seldom failed in accurately defining its boundaries, or in 
 making correct application of the principle involved to the facts 
 of the casein hand. He approached the investigation of a case 
 with the utmost care, with scrupulous exactness, always bring- 
 ing to bear upon it the most thorough research, and not until 
 he had completely mastered every detail of both fact and law in- 
 volved was he willing to define his position and rest his judg- 
 ment. In the performance of official duty, industry, conscien- 
 tiousness, and thoroughness were with him marked character- 
 istics. 
 
 He was not an orator. His speeches in the Senate, while 
 characterized by faultless diction and good literary taste, were 
 not eloquent in phrase, but consisted rather of plain and accu- 
 rate statements of facts and principles, followed by logical de- 
 ductions and forceful arguments. His speeches were well cal- 
 culated to carry conviction by reason of his faultless premises 
 and correct reasoning. They were free, however, from any 
 attempt at embellishment — to please the fancy or excite the 
 imagination with the flowers of rhetoric. 
 
 He was a plain man of the older and better type. While in 
 his daily life he was genial, companionable, and unostenta- 
 tious, he was nevertheless always dignified in bearing, and in 
 his intercourse with his fellow-men all the characteristics of 
 the true Southern gentleman were always manifest. Well 
 grounded in the current literature of the day. he was wholly 
 free from the arts of the pedant. 
 
 lie was an able and safe committeeman, a wise counselor, 
 an upright judge. As a member of the Committee on Claims; 
 SO great was the confidence reposed in him by his associates, 
 both in respect of his legal ability to analyze and develop the 
 
Life and character of Ephraim King Wilson. 39 
 
 real merits of a claim and of his absolute impartiality as be- 
 tween claimant and the Government, that when he stated his 
 conclusion it was, as a rule, accepted nern. con. And to-day if 
 in the investigation of a case in that committee the statement 
 is made that such case had at some prior time been examined 
 and reported upon by the late Senator Wilson of Maryland, 
 his report is immediately procured and his conclusions almost 
 invariably adopted without further debate. 
 
 The State he has served so faithfully in the capacity of judge 
 and legislator may in its past history have produced more emi- 
 nent, more brilliant men, but in those great qualities of moral 
 worth, integrity of purpose, and unflinching fidelity to every 
 public and private trust, no one of them, however eminent, how- 
 ever brilliant, however good or great in all respects, is justly 
 entitled to any more honorable mention or any more prominent 
 place in the history of the State or nation. The captivating 
 eloquence of a Winter Davis, the magic logic and surpassing 
 power of argument of a Eeverdy Johnson, may through the 
 pages of history linger with matchless inspiration on the ears 
 of future generations, to charm the fancy and incite the imagi- 
 nation of men ; yet from those same historic pages is reflected 
 the record of the genial, modest, noble life of our deceased col- 
 league, which will live in history as one well worthy of imita- 
 tion—a lesson to instruct, when the mere eloquence of words 
 and the masterly logic of a great mind have lost their poten- 
 tiality and wasted their power to charm. 
 
 In the death of the late Senator Wilson I confess having ex- 
 perienced a personal loss, and in sorrow 1 submit this brief but 
 imperfect tribute to his memory. What a blessed satisfaction 
 it must be to those who stood in closer relationship, bound to 
 him by tender kindred ties, that the life that has gone out was 
 so completely faultless, so free from all blemish, so pure, so 
 exceptionally good ! It is indeed with saddened hearts, moist- 
 
40 Address of Mr. Mitchell, of Oregon, on the 
 
 ened eyes, and inexpressible sorrow we take final earthly leave 
 of a loved one as lie stands on the brink of that dark and silent 
 river; and when the phantom boat with its muffled oars and 
 unseen sails moves noiselessly out across its measureless 
 waters, bearing such loved one to the hidden shore of that 
 "undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler re- 
 turns," the heart grows weary and life seems to us worse than 
 death, and to us to die seems better than to live. But then it 
 is when encompassed by this whirlwind of sorrow that the 
 knowledge of the fact, if fortunately the fact it be, that the 
 record of the life obscured is such an one as marks the career, 
 both public and private, of our late colleague, comes to the 
 rescue, the sun breaks through the rifting clouds and again we 
 think it good to live. 
 
 An able lawyer, a faithful, practical, efficient legislator, an 
 upright judge, a modest, unassuming, dignified private gentle- 
 man has preceded us in the journey to the tomb. But he has 
 left a monument to his name and fame more enduring than 
 marble shaft and imperishable as the stars— a monument 
 budded by himself It is the proud, the spotless record of a 
 pure, active, unostentatious, and useful public and private life. 
 Peace to the ashes of the distinguished dead ! His life was 
 gentle as a mother's love and pure as the mountain stream. 
 His name will be revered and his virtues treasured in the minds 
 and hearts of his countrymen, but by none with greater devo- 
 tion and fidelity than those who knew him best. 
 
Life and character of Ephraim King Wilson. -41 
 
 Address of Mr. Pasco, of Florida . 
 
 Mr. President : During the closing hours of the Fifty-first 
 Congress two of our distinguished colleagues departed this 
 life; one, after suffering for months from a lingering and 
 painful disease, which had made his seat long vacant before the 
 final summons came, the other, after a brief illness, previous 
 to which he had been in engaged with his usual assiduity in 
 the daily discharge of his duties in this Chamber. They were 
 both near the borderline of the allotted time of man; Senator 
 Hearst had passed over it some six months before, and Senator 
 Wilson would have crossed it before the completion of the year 
 upon which he had entered. The exacting demands of public 
 1 msiness so near the close of the session did notpermit their sur- 
 viving colleagues to notice these sad events immediately after 
 their occurrence in the manner established and sanctioned by 
 the time-honored practice of this body, and it has been deferred 
 to the present session to pay the usual tributes to the memo- 
 ries of those whose terms were thus prematurely closed. 
 
 My intimacy and association with Senator Wilson during 
 the few years I have been honored with a seat in the Senate 
 justify me in taking a personal part in the exercises of this day, 
 which has been set apart to pay fitting tributes to his memory, 
 and my admiration and regard for him make it a pleasant privi- 
 lege to speak of his excellent qualities, his many virtues, his 
 recognized ability as a lawyer, his faithful devotion to his duties 
 as a public officer. 
 
 When I first came here as a member of this body, more 
 than four years ago, I was assigned to a seat that brought me 
 very near to him. I also found myself associated with him up* m 
 one of the hard-working committees of the Senate, and in our 
 
42 Address of Mr. Pasco, of Florida, on the 
 
 daily association and the frequent discussions and consultations 
 of the committee room we had excellent opportunities of form- 
 ing correct opinions of one another, and our acquaintance gradu- 
 ally ripened into a mutual friendship. 
 
 He enjoyed the advantages of a liberal education, and after 
 graduating at Jefferson College in Pennsylvania he studied 
 and practiced law and for six years was judge of the circuit 
 in which his home was included. His associates upon the 
 Committee on Claims of this body will all bear testimony to 
 the diligence with which he investigated matters committed to 
 him for examination, the readiness with which he discerned 
 the important points of a case, the clearness with w r hich he 
 stated his conclusions, the strength of argument with which 
 he fortified these conclusions in the committee room, and, 
 when it became necessary, on the floor of the Senate. Al- 
 though one of the older members of the committee he shrank 
 from no labor, lie avoided no responsibility, and was seldom 
 absent from the committee room when the time arrived for 
 holding a meeting. And when important legal questions were 
 discussed upon this floor he not infrequently submitted a pre- 
 pared argument, which included the results of his study and 
 investigation, and his colleagues, who were interested in the 
 subject under discussion, always found it profitable and in- 
 stinctive to listen to liis statement of the question and the 
 conclusions he had reached. 
 
 The people of Maryland were fond of doing him honor. In 
 addition to his judicial services he represented his county in 
 the house of delegates, his district in the national House of 
 Representatives, his State in the electoral college, and in 1885 
 he became a member of this body. He had already been 
 elected to serve a second term when his life of usefulness was 
 closed before the new term commenced. In all these official 
 positions he sustained himself well and discharged his duties 
 
 earnestly, faithfully, conscientiously, successfully. 
 
Life and character of Ephraim King Wilson. 43 
 
 In this busy world of Congressional life there are niaiiy and 
 various fields of usefulness. Opportunities for distinction are 
 afforded to men whose abilities and acquirements are altogether 
 dissimilar and whose previous opportunities and attainments 
 have been widely different. Some have made legislation their 
 profession and are armed and equipped with a thorough knowl- 
 edge of all its details. During a long experience in public 
 life they have assisted in making history and know the inside 
 as well as the outside workings of the principal events which 
 have transpired within their period of observation and action. 
 Some have spent the best years of their lives upon some par- 
 ticular subject until they have really become experts, and when 
 matters come before us in which those subjects are involved, 
 these specialists are in a position to render invaluable service 
 to the country. 
 
 The large majority of our membership, however, in both 
 Houses come from the ordinary walks of life, and most fre- 
 quently without any special training for the duties to be dis- 
 charged here. They come from the different professions, from 
 manufacturing interests, agricultural pursuits, mining indus- 
 tries, banking institutions, and other places of industry and 
 activity. But whatever his previous experience a career is 
 open to each. Some have a fondness and capacity for work 
 that is done directly under the eye of the public and very 
 naturally a higher estimate is put upon their services than 
 upon the services of those whose best work is done in shap- 
 ing the business of the body in the committee room and in 
 the daily social intercourse of Senators with one another. 
 
 The brilliant speech is discussed from one end of the coun- 
 try to the other; but the carefully prepared report, which dis- 
 poses of some great subject and includes the result of weeks of 
 labor, is quietly filed away in the document room after its re- 
 sults have been accepted and acted upon, and in the vast 
 
44 Address of Mr. Pasco, of Florida, on the 
 
 majority of cases it is never even read publicly before the 
 Senate. But Senators know the great value of work of this 
 sort, and we are better aWe to appreciate those by whom it 
 is done than those are who only see the results and hear the 
 public debates. 
 
 Much of Senator Wilson's work was done in this quiet, un- 
 obtrusive way, though he was ever ready to defend his views and 
 opinions publicly when the occasion required. He always thor- 
 oughly mastered his subject, and his opponent could never 
 present a phase of it that he had not studied and considered. 
 But his best work was in preparing for his committee meetings 
 and in his consultations with his associates in the committee 
 room. During the six years of his service he examined many 
 cases and subjects of very great importance, and left the results 
 of his investigations among the printed reports of his commit- 
 tee, where they will remain among our permanent records as 
 silent witnesses of his ability and industry. His mind was emi- 
 nently judicial, and there was no pride of opinion in him to keep 
 him from modifying his decision, even up to the last moment 
 that he had control of a case, if his researches or the light of 
 the conference, room developed new facts or clearer views of 
 the law. 
 
 It was in this quiet, unostentatious way that he went on the 
 discharge of his duties here, enjoying the esteem of his asso- 
 ciates and the confidence of the people whose interests he rep- 
 resented. 
 
 I have stated that death came to him after only a short warn- 
 ing, but the visit was not unexpected. He had been looking- 
 for it for many months, and at one time felt so doubtful ;is to 
 whether he would live to complete his first term that he seri- 
 ously contemplated whether he should not decline a reelection. 
 Some improvement in his symptoms, however, caused him to 
 dismiss this idea from his mind; but he used to talk of his 
 
Life and character of Ephraim King Wilson. 45 
 
 symptoms and premonitions to his associates calmly and evi- 
 dently without mental disturbance. He felt at times that he 
 could not be sure of a single day arid that he might be stricken 
 down at any moment. 
 
 But he was prepared for the change, and death had no terrors 
 for him. His daily walk among us attested the sincerity of the 
 religious faith he professed. There was no ostentation about 
 his religion, but during his long life it bore fruit, which proved 
 it to be genuine. He was truthful, kind-hearted, gentle, for- 
 bearing, free from malice and ill-will, generous, and just. No 
 one who associated with him could doubt his sincerity. His 
 faith and his works were in entire harmony. 
 
 Senator Wilson was born at Snow Hill, on the eastern shore 
 of Maryland. It is the county seat of Worcester County, a 
 quiet little town, apart from the great lines of trade and travel, 
 in the midst of an agricultural country, between the Atlantic 
 and the Chesapeake. Here he grew up, and here his home 
 life was spent among neighbors and family connections, who 
 loved and respected him. 
 
 It is in such quiet sections of our country, where there are 
 comparatively few changes in the population, that life is spent 
 most serenely. Men so situated do not hurry through the days 
 of their usefulness in a mad rush for money and power and 
 fame, and decay prematurely, but they grow old gradually, like 
 the ripening grain, and enjoy the autumn of life with its mel- 
 lowing tints. 
 
 I was a member of the committee that accompanied the re- 
 mains of our departed friend to this peaceful home and saw on 
 every side proofs of the high regard and respect in which he 
 was held by all classes of his people. The coming of the funeral 
 train had been announced by telegraph, and when we reached 
 the section of country where he lived there were groups of 
 people at every little station, white and black, who had col- 
 
46 Address of Mr. Dixon, of Rhode Island, on the 
 
 lected to hear the particulars of his death and show their re- 
 spect for "the Judge," as he was familiarly called. 
 
 When the burial services were held the morning after we 
 reached Snow Hill, a large part of the population attended the 
 funeral procession to the church where he had worshiped all his 
 days, and the house was filled with an attentive congregation. 
 We saw him laid at rest in the old-fashioned churchyard among 
 the relatives and friends and neighbors who had gone before 
 him to the life beyond. 
 
 This was the last of earth to him. But what a grand de- 
 parture from earth's scenes. What a noble ending of a well- 
 spent life was his. Faithful to every trust, enjoying the love 
 of his family and neighbors, retaining to the last the confi- 
 dence of the people of Maryland, he laid down life's burdens 
 and cares and entered upon his eternal rest. 
 
 Well may the members of his family rejoice rather than sor- 
 row as they contemplate his serene and peaceful and success- 
 ful life and his happy departure; well may the great State that 
 gave him birth and honored him in his lifetime delight to do 
 honor to his memory. 
 
 Address of Mr. Dixon, of Rhode Island. 
 
 Mr. President: A custom, grateful in observance and ap- 
 propriate in ceremony, suspends the daily routine of the Sen- 
 ate, while the individual members of this body cease from labor. 
 
 This is not alone because an associate has been taken from 
 his place, not alone because of sorrow, for "the air is full of 
 farewells to the dying," but because a part is wanting of the pre- 
 Bcribed means and appliances in the Government; because a 
 break is made in the constitutional consl ruction of the Senate. 
 
Life and character of Ephraim King Wilson. 47 
 
 By the incident of death, a great State has been deprived of 
 her constitutional representation here. 
 
 This, sir, it is that bids us pause while the tribute paid by 
 the affectionate sorrow of those who here were his associates, 
 to the memory of Ephraim K. Wilson, points to that place 
 once so familiar to him, recalls that figure once so familiar to us, 
 when day by day as health permitted with unobstrusive dig- 
 nity he met the duties of his office. He was known in his 
 place in the Senate as an unassuming man of strong intellect, 
 sound judgment, scholarly attainment, careful and thorough 
 in investigation. He did not often take part in debate, yet 
 when he did address the Senate he was heard with deference 
 by his colleagues, for all knew that his words were studied, 
 that his sentiments were expressed after mature deliberation, 
 and free from the bias of partisanship. Although he viewed 
 the great questions of national import and administration in 
 the light of his political affiliation, he would not allow his judg- 
 ment to be perverted by party considerations nor permit his 
 party allegiance to interfere with the continuance of the busi- 
 ness of this body for the purpose of accomplishing a party ad- 
 vantage. Steadfast to his official obligations, constant in his 
 service, his patriotism directed his partisanship. 
 
 Learned in the law, his knowledge, guided by a sound 
 judgment, brought him to conclusions in which his associates 
 were apt to coincide when he had expressed the reasoning 
 which led to his decision. Gifted with great mental power, 
 trained by assiduous study, with rare perception, governed by 
 a strict regard to the dictates of conscience in all things, he 
 endeavored to do exact and equal justice. 
 
 His familiar friends knew that he was conscious of an infirm- 
 ity that some day would loose the silver cord and break the 
 pitcher at the fountain. Full well he knew that in his daily 
 life he must avoid excitement, that he must shun the combat 
 and live apart from strife if he would live out many days. 
 
48 Address of Mr. Dixon, of Rhode Island, on the 
 
 I first met Mr. Wilson at the beginningof the last Congress; 
 we were assigned upon the same committee. In frequent meet- 
 ings, the singular, almost feminine geutleness of his character, 
 appealed to me; while, perhaps, disparity in years and strength 
 moved him to tell me of himself, and of the care that he had 
 exercised, made necessary by his ailment— an ever-present 
 and impending shadow. 
 
 Others, in more fitting diction than I could use, have here re- 
 called Mr. Wilson's service to his State and country ; have told 
 how willingly the people of his State had honored him; of his 
 career while arbitrating their disputes, as judge, and then be- 
 stowed the expression of their highest confidence by elevating 
 him to be their Senator. Not once, for he was just about to 
 enter on a second term of service in the Senate when the 
 shadow rested, and in the moment of its resting a change had 
 come, and Epiiraim K. Wilson had " entered into converse 
 with the mighty dead." 
 
 Mr. President, it is difficult to say what is the measure of a 
 man. To the possession of great wealth some ascribe success; 
 in the expression of popular applause some see the culmination 
 of desire; the adulation paid to conquering heroes some think 
 the highest aim of human ambition ; while others who recall 
 the day when that place — his place that had been — just across 
 this Chamber was draped with black, while on the outer door 
 way to this room in heavy folds was hung the emblem of our 
 mourning, the conspicuous tokens that death had entered here, 
 might think that this could measure what he was. But, when 
 the supreme moment comes and fading sight leaves sightless 
 eyes, we do not measure men by such rude scales. 
 
 It is the custom when a member of this body dies, that some 
 of his companions, appointed by the presiding officer, shall rep- 
 resent the Senate at the funeral. With others, I performed 
 that service, and journeyed from the Capitol to Mr. Wilson's 
 
Life and character of Ephraim King Wilson. 49 
 
 home. A company of mourners — for all were mourners — gath- 
 ered in and round the church where Mr. Wilson in his life 
 had met in worship with his friends. It seemed as if the whole 
 community had gathered there to do him reverence. 
 
 Old men were in that company, whose whitened locks and fee- 
 ble steps betoken that their separation from their friend would 
 not be long; young men were there, and through their tears 
 looked on the face of him who had been from their youth their 
 counsellor and friend; and children, too, had come in sorrow; 
 and all were mourners; not because a Senator was dead, no. 
 because a leader of the people had passed away, but because 
 their neighbor, their kind, true, noble-hearted friend had 
 passed the " portal we call Death." And when the man of 
 God arose a solemn silence fell upon the congregation, broken 
 only by the preacher's voice as he rehearsed in part the story 
 of Mr. Wilson's life, spoke of him as a friend, a neighbor, and 
 a man, and bade the youth to emulate the virtues of the man 
 who was their father's friend and theirs; spoke words of com- 
 fort to them, and, quoting from the word of him who when on 
 earth had said, " I am the resurrection and the life," told them 
 they should not grieve as those who have no hope. Tenderly 
 the friends of earlier years bore their dead friend into the little 
 churchyard, called in ancient Saxon phrase " God's acre," and 
 there committed his ashes to the earth and his spirit unto Him 
 
 who gave it. 
 As we turned to leave that new-made grave, that little 
 
 "chamber that faces toward the sunrising," I looked into the 
 faces of his mourning friends, old men and young, and each 
 one told how good he was, how gentle and how kind; how he 
 had ministered to the wants of those in need, had sympathized 
 with those who were distressed. The whole community had 
 sought his counsel, and in perplexity had gone to him for aid ; 
 and as they told the story, into my mind came that old tale 
 S. Mis. 229 4 
 
50 Address of Mr. Gibson, of Maryland, on the 
 
 about the search for that rare face, cut strong, yet kind, 
 against the sky. The rugged rocks set in the mountain side, 
 so massive and so grand, when viewed from one position, show 
 the form and feature of the human face. So it seemed to me, 
 I had viewed him. In his place here, the strong and sturdy 
 mind, set in the structure of the Government; and when I 
 viewed him there, that one position gave a new picture, and I 
 beheld the kindliest, gentlest phase of his whole character. 
 There his greatness only made his character more gentle, there 
 his fame but made his life more kind ; and I saw the measure 
 of that man in the sorrow of his friends. 
 
 We eulogize the dead, raise monuments to heroes, embalm 
 the memory of statesmen in the archives of the nation. The 
 eulogy is forgotton, the monument crumbles, the archives of 
 nations are obliterated, but such a life as Mr. Wilson lived is 
 a memorial time can not destroy; for "each man makes his 
 own stature, builds himself; virtue alone outbuilds the Pyra- 
 mids; her monuments shall last when Egypt's fall." 
 
 Address of Mr. Gibson, of Maryland. 
 
 Mr. President : While the arrows of death which flew so 
 thick and last among the ranks of the Fifty-first Congress rob- 
 bed the councils of our country of many from other States with 
 whom it was our happy fortune to meet, those of us from the 
 State which I have the honor, in part, to represent are called 
 upon to-day to mourn the loss of a personal friend and colleague. 
 
 Asa friend lamenting his death, and as a Senator of the 
 United States, among the first and the earliest of my duties in 
 this body, 1 to-day lay my tribute of respect upon the grave of 
 myhonored predecessor, the late Senator Ephbaim K. Wilson. 
 
Life and character of Ephraim King Wilson. 51 
 
 Cox, Nutting, and Wilber, of New York ; Randall, Kelley, and 
 Watson, of Pennsylvania; Gay, of Louisiana; Laird, of Ne- 
 braska ; Townshend, of Illinois ; Walker, of Missouri, and Phe- 
 lan, of Tennessee, in the House; while Beck, Wilson, and 
 Hearst, in the Senate, complete the dread list of those who fell 
 victims to the grim reaper death. 
 
 As thus conspicuous, Mr. President, as was the Fifty-first 
 Congress in the death of its members, it suffered no more 
 serious loss than in the death of Senator Wilson. 
 
 The insatiate archer found no more shining mark than in him. 
 
 In the city of Washington, at ten minutes past 10, on Tues- 
 day night, February 21, 1891, Senator Wilson died of heart 
 disease. He sank away without pain. 
 
 He was conscious almost to the last. When asked if he suf- 
 fered any pain his lips moved in answer: "No." 
 
 He had for some time had a premonition of death. It seems, 
 in talking to an associate — Senator Berry of Arkansas — 
 shortly before his death, he remarked: " I have heart disease, 
 and fear it will carry me off like a flash some day." 
 
 I entered Congress with him in 1885, he having been elected 
 to the Senateby the preceding legislature, while I had just been 
 elected to my first term in the House. I qualified as a' mem- 
 ber of the House when Congress first assembled, early in 
 December, but he was unable to take the oath of office as a 
 member of the Senate until the 19th of March following. 
 
 His delay in taking his seat in the Senate was due to his 
 desperate illness, from the first attack of what, it seems, he 
 felt himself was to be the fatal malady which would take him 
 off sooner or later. 
 
 When he first appeared in the Senate — speaking of himself 
 afterwards with reference to that period — he said: " I have 
 often thought of the startled gesture of surprise my friends 
 made when they first saw me — a pale, thin, haggard man, just 
 
52 -Address of Mr. Gibson, of Maryland, on the . 
 
 arisen from a bed of dangerous and protracted illness ! To 
 me small, then, indeed, did the chances appear that I would 
 live to serve in the Senate as long as I have." 
 
 That terrible form of heart disease known as angina pectoris 
 had claimed him for its own, and for him there was never 
 more of hope in this world. His friends — myself among the 
 number — did not appreciate this fact ; but he knew it, and we 
 now realize that he appreciated it. " He knew that the angel 
 of death had come near him before," and " wondered why he 
 ' had stayed his dart." 
 
 As time drew on he recovered, apparently, his usual good 
 health. His friends felt that the grand climacteric of his life 
 had been reached and successfully passed, and were looking 
 forward for him for a new lease of life of usefulness to his 
 State and country. Alas, how little they knew. 
 
 For many weeks and months did he bear with silent solici- 
 tude and noble reticence the consciousness of a painful and 
 fatal malady. " The specter of death had been ever with him, 
 the unbidden guest at every feast, and the companion of every 
 waking hour." He walked in the very valley of the shadow of 
 death. And yet all the while he sought to have those 
 about him infer that his eye had not grown dim, and that 
 neither was his natural force abated. 
 
 Senator Wilson's life, from his youth up, was passed 'mid 
 the scenes and associations of that beloved section of the 
 State where he was horn. He was never far away from •• the 
 brooks by which, in early life, he sported." He lived under 
 the trees his fathers had 1 planted, enjoyed their shade, and 
 was nourished by their fruit. 
 
 While his life was not one of vicissitudes, it Mas not an un- 
 eventful one. lie was born December 21, 1821, at Snow Hill, 
 Worcester County, on the eastern shdreof Maryland, a section 
 of his State he was specially called to represent as a Senator 
 of the Tinted States. 
 
Life and character of Ephraim King Wilson. 53 
 
 After being admitted to the bar, in 1848, lie opened a law 
 office in his native town of Snow Hill. His faithfulness to all 
 the duties of life both public and private, soon brought him 
 clients and a lucrative practice, furnishing him at the same 
 time with passports to universal confidence and esteem. 
 
 He practiced law for twenty years, but the altercations of 
 the profession and the excitement of the trial table were not 
 congenial to his tastes, and we find him withdrawing from the 
 bar, and, like Diocletian of old, retiring to the peaceful pur- 
 suits of agriculture upon his farm. 
 
 Without desiring it, in 1872, he was nominated and elected 
 to Congress, and distinguished himself to an extent rarely 
 attained in one term. Contrary to the practically unanimous 
 demand of his constituents, he declined a renomination, and 
 again retired to the indulgence of quiet taste in farming and 
 literary pursuits. He was not long, however, permitted to 
 remain in retirement. 
 
 In the winter of 1878 he was appointed by the governor of 
 Maryland as associate judge to fill an unexpired term. In the 
 following fall he was elected for a term of fifteen years as one 
 of the associate justices of the first judicial circuit of Mary- 
 land. 
 
 He was elected to the United States Senate in January, 1884, 
 to succeed Senator James B. Groome. His election to the 
 United States Senate came as unexpectedly to him as did his 
 election to the House of Eepresentatives. But the Senate of 
 the United States was to him, after all, the forum of his efforts, 
 and its honorable commendation was the goal of his ambition. 
 On January 15, 1890, he was elected for the term expiring 
 March 4, 1897. Alas, that when his people commended this 
 chalice of exultant satisfaction to his lips he should not be per- 
 mitted to enjoy it ! He never lived to enter upon his second 
 term. 
 
54 Address of Mr. Gibson, of Maryland, on the 
 
 Judge Wilson was twice married. His first wife was Mary 
 Dickerson, of Worcester County, who left him two children, 
 a daughter, Ella, and a son, W. Sidney Wilson. This son was 
 the "apple of his father's eye," a man of magnificent physique, 
 pleasant address, happy social qualities, and of high position 
 in his chosen profession of the law. He represented with honor 
 and distinction his county in the house of delegates of Mary- 
 land, and was subsequently elected to the position of prose- 
 cuting attorney for his county, a position which he now holds 
 with distinguished success. 
 
 In 1869 Judge Wilson married Miss Julia A. Knox, of Snow 
 Hill. Four children blessed that marriage, two sons and two 
 daughters. The sacred and tender relations of Judge Wil- 
 son's domestic life were of the happiest character. In early life 
 he was united to the Presbyterian Church, and he died in the 
 faith of his fathers. Within the sacred precincts of the church- 
 yard of old " Makmie Church," in the restoration of which he 
 took such a leading part, his remains lie buried. 
 
 I knew Senator Wilson well. I knew him in all the rela- 
 tions of life— social, professional, and political. In all of these 
 he more than measured up to all the requirements of the posi- 
 tions in which those relations placed him. He was not an 
 aggressive man in any sense. He was not wont to ride forth 
 like a knight full-armed, with couched lance, to strike with 
 pointed steel the shield of his adversary, challenging him- to 
 mortal combat, or with mighty mace or battle-ax cleave his 
 way through the ranks of the opposition. He was not "aborn 
 leader of men," nor a "tighter" in the sense where blows were 
 to be dealt and felt. He cared not to blaze a path for himself 
 through unbroken forests, but preferred rather to follow where 
 
 others had led. content to make broader the paths lie trod, and 
 smoother and brighter to travel because of his having traveled 
 therein himself. 
 
Life and character of Ephraim King Wilson. 55 
 
 Yet lie was not lacking in force of character. He had strou g 
 convictions on all questions of public policy, and had the cour- 
 age of his convictions. While the tenor of his life was even 
 and noiseless and without the dash and brilliancy that attracts 
 attention, in the Senate of the United States he knew that he 
 would meet with the best minds of his country in his day, and 
 it was his pride not to shrink from contests with such, nor did 
 he fail to measure up to all the requirements of statesmanship 
 that every occasion demanded of him. 
 
 He was strong and unswerving in his party faith. As a Dem- 
 ocrat, the principles of Jefferson were the rule and guide of his 
 faith and practice, yet he could hardly be called a partisan. His 
 political creed was, " That he serves his party best who serves 
 his country best." As a statesman his views were always ele- 
 vated and broad- gauged. The ends he aimed at were his God's 
 and his country's. 
 
 But it was not in the world of politics that Judge Wilson 
 found a congenial field for the fullest scope of his ability. As 
 a lawyer Judge Wilson ranked high, not perhaps so much as a 
 brilliant advocate as he did as a thorough lawyer. Cautious, 
 painstaking, and laborious in the examination of every ques- 
 tion presented to him for his judgment, he was always a sate 
 counsellor and advisor. Yet it can scarcely be said of him 
 that he was fond of his profession ; the practice of the law was 
 a business with him, hardly a labor of love. 
 
 He accepted public office as a duty, because he felt that his 
 people called him to it, and that they did so because they 
 had confidence in his integrity, intelligence, and industry, and 
 to accept was his duty out of grateful regard for their confi- 
 dence reposed in him. 
 
 It was in his position as a judge on the bench that Judge 
 Wilson found his most congenial surroundings. His was a 
 judicial mind. With a bearing the most dignified, he was 
 
56 Address of Mr. Gibson, of Maryland, on the 
 
 * 
 
 always upright and above suspicion. He held the scales of jus- 
 tice with an even hand. 
 
 Judge Wilson typified, to an absolute degree, the exalted 
 chivalry of the profession so grandly portrayed by the eloquent 
 Senator from Indiana (Mr. Voorhees), then a member of the 
 House of Representatives, in his celebrated speech made in 
 February, 18G3, in the House of Representatives : 
 
 I belong, sir — 
 
 Said the eloquent Senator — 
 
 to a profession which is glorious in history. I rejoice that I have spent 
 some of the days of my manhood in the study of a science in the adornment 
 of which Erskine and Curran, Webster and Grimke spent their lives. The 
 legal profession has had much to bear in the hostile criticisms provoked 
 by an unworthy class who inhabit the vestibule of her temple and allure 
 to their meshes the unwary pilgrims who seek her shrine for substantial 
 relief. The artful trickery of ignoble minds has been assigned as an attri- 
 bute of the profession of the law and its lower walks. That pestilential 
 brood which swarms around the base of the pedestal of honorable fame lias, 
 to the casual observer, sanctioned such a view. But this is all unjust. 
 There is an atmosphere near the sun in which the great jurists of twenty 
 fenerations dwell; they have been the forerunners of legal liberty. They 
 have never hung upon the skirts of governmental progress. 
 
 Other pro Cessions have formed technical barricades against the advance of 
 popular freedom, and questioned the divinity of the people; hut those who 
 have drunk deep of the fountains of that "perfection of reason, " English 
 and American law, recognize the voice of the people as the voice of God. 
 It is a matter of record that the legal profession has been the patient, the 
 toiling, the inspired handmaiden of liberty. I pause, however, to inquire 
 whether my brethren of the law have forgotten the examples of the past ; 
 whether the exalted chivalry of the profession is dead? Do yon stand by 
 power, or do you stand by the oppressed in destitution? Is your motto 
 the scepter of exaggerated and bloated authority, or is it the farmer at the 
 plow handle, in grand though humble demand for his rights asa freeman 
 under the ( 'oust it nl ion .' The mission of the law, as the chosen apostle of 
 freedom, has always been to succor the oppressed, the feeble, the suffer- 
 ing, and the poor, and to minister, in the spirit of the great Master, to 
 these whom Christ blessed upon the Mount of Olives. 
 
 It was in this atmosphere near the sun that lived and dwelt 
 the honored subject of these remarks. 
 
Life and character of Ephraim King Wilson. 57 
 
 Of his distinguished services to his State and nation in the 
 Senate of the United States it is not necessary that I should 
 add to what my colleague has so well and fittingly recounted. 
 Of his personal traits of character it were small worth for me 
 to speak among those in this Chamber who knew him closely. 
 Kind and courteous to all, dignified and unostentatious, slow 
 to take offense and ready to forgive; too learned in those 
 traits which make the gentleman to be otherwise than gentle; 
 with a delicacy of regard for the feelings of others, and as sen- 
 sitive as instinct, he moved in and out among his fellows as 
 absolutely the impersonation of a gentleman of the old school 
 as it has ever been my good fortune to observe. 
 
 He died surrounded by all the gentle ministries that make 
 life worth living. Few men in public life have passed from 
 earth away whose lives after the last page has been written 
 will bear as close a scrutiny and have so little to hide and ex- 
 cuse, so much to commend, reflect upon, and take pattern by. 
 
 I saw him die ! I watched his last feeble fleeting breath, 
 and as awed I stood in that chamber of death, amid that awful 
 stillness which is like unto nothing save the stillness of the 
 breast when the spirit hath departed, breathing an inward 
 prayer that "Heaven might rest the soul of my deceased 
 friend," I could not fail to add the heartfelt invocation for 
 myself that I might — 
 
 So live, that when thy summons comes to join, 
 The innumerable caravan which moves 
 To that mysterious realm, where each shall take 
 His chamber in the silent halls of death, 
 Thou go not, like the quarry slave at night, 
 Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed 
 By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave, 
 Like him who wraps the drapery of his couch 
 About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams. 
 
 Mr. President, I ask for the adoption of the resolution which 
 I send to the desk. 
 
58 Address of Mr. Gibson, of Maryland, on the 
 The Presiding Officer. The resolution will be read. 
 The Secretary read as follows : 
 
 Resolved, That as an additional mark of respect to the memory of the 
 deceased, the Senate do now adjourn. 
 
 The resolution* was agreed to unanimously; and (at 3 o'clock 
 and 50 minutes p. m.) the Senate adjourned, the adjournment 
 being until Monday, May 9, 1892, at 12 o'clock m. 
 
Life and character of Ephraim King Wilson. 59 
 
 EULOGIES IN THE HOUSE OF REPRE- 
 SENTATIVES. 
 
 July 2, 1892. 
 The Speaker. The Clerk will now report the special order. 
 
 The Clerk read as follows : 
 
 Resolved, That Saturday, July 2, beginning at 3 o'clock p. m., will be 
 set apart for the consideration of Senate resolution with reference to the 
 death of Hon. Ephraim K. Wilson, late a Senator from Maryland, and for 
 paying tribute to his memory. 
 
 The Speaker. The gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Page], 
 offers resolutions which the Clerk will now report. 
 
 The Clerk read as follows : 
 
 Resolved, That the House has heard with profound sorrow of the death 
 of the Hon. Ephraim King Wilson, late a Senator of the United States 
 from the State of Maryland. 
 
 Resolved, That as a mark of respect to the memory of the deceased, and 
 in recognition of his eminent abilities as a distinguished public servant, 
 the House, at the conclusion of these memorial proceedings, shall stand 
 adjourned. 
 
 Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the Senate. 
 
 Resolved, That the Clerk be instructed to send a copy of these resolu- 
 tions to the family of the deceased. 
 
 The Speaker. The Clerk will also report the Senate resolu- 
 tions which are on the Speaker's table. 
 
60 Address of Mr. Page, of Maryland, on the 
 
 The Clerk read as follows : 
 
 In the Senate of the United States, May 6, 1892. 
 
 Resolved, That the Senate has heard with profound sorrow of the death 
 of Ephraim K. Wilson, late a Senator from the State of Maryland. 
 
 Resolved, That as a mark of respect to the memory of the deceased, the 
 business of the Senate be now suspended, to enable his associates to pay 
 proper tribute of regard to his high character and distinguished public 
 service. 
 
 Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate communicate these resolutions 
 to the House of Representatives. 
 
 Resolved, That as an additional mark of respect to the memory of the de- 
 ceased the Senate do now adjourn. 
 
 Address of Mr. Page, of Maryland. 
 
 Mr. Speaker: The certainty of death, despite the evidences 
 of mortality that always confront us, is with the majority of 
 men an unimpressive fact. The " customary suits of solemn 
 black," suggesting- as they do the vacant place in many a 
 household, the innumerable fatalities that go so far in making 
 up the daily papers what we call " news," even the funeral 
 cortege, as it wends its way to the place of burial, utterly fail 
 to arrest their serious attention and press home the thought 
 that each in his turn must — 
 
 In the dust be equal made 
 
 With the poor crooked scythe and spade. 
 
 Perhaps it is well that it should be so. The path of each 
 one, through whatever domain it may lie, is so beset with sor- 
 rows that we are compelled to limit the scope of our sym- 
 pathies. The vale of tears is wide enough at best. But when 
 the shafts of the dread Archer strike one who is near to us, by 
 association or otherwise; one, perhaps, with whose life, char- 
 acter, and aims we have some acquaintance, we are constrained 
 
Life and character of Ephraim King Wilson. 61 
 
 to pause awhile amid our pursuits and meditate upon the 
 event. To feel the loss of him with whom we have been asso- 
 ciated for days or months or years ; to find each day his ac- 
 customed place vacant, or filled by another; to know that hav- 
 ing fought his fight and won or lost, he is now sleeping his 
 last sleep; these must "give us pause," and bring to us the 
 contemplation of the end that awaits us all. The influences 
 of such a moment turn our minds % to the contemplation and 
 study of the thoughts and deeds of him whom we have lost, 
 and thus, while we pay our tribute of respect, we may also 
 extract wholesome lessons of life to our own advantage. 
 
 Such possibly are among the reasons which have induced 
 both Houses of Congress, from the earliest days of the Eepub- 
 lic, to devote brief periods of their sessions to the review of the 
 life and services of deceased members. 
 
 It is, however, not only in the observance of this time-honored 
 custom that I desire to pay my humble tribute to the memory 
 of the late Senator from Maryland, the Hon. Ephraim Kino 
 Wilson, who died in this city on the 24th day of February, 
 1891, but to perform a labor of love regarding one of whom I 
 have for many years entertained the highest respect and ven- 
 eration. During all my adult years I have had the pleasure 
 of his acquaintance and enjoyed the favor of his friendship. 
 For many years I was honored with his intimacy. I knew 
 him well in the retirement of private life; I was a practitioner 
 in his court during the whole period he occupied the bench, 
 and I have spent many agreeable and profitable hours in his 
 society. 
 
 While, therefore, the estimate of him which I shall express 
 is formed from a standpoint of a long personal friendship, I 
 can at least defend it by my testimony as a witness to some of 
 the best and most active years of his life. 
 
 Fphraoi King Wilson was born in the town of Snow Hill, 
 
62 Address of Mr. Page, of Maryland, on the 
 
 in Worcester County, in the State of Maryland, on the 22d of 
 December, 1821. He sprang from an ancestry worthy of such 
 a son. His father, who bore the same name, was a most ac- 
 complished gentleman, an erudite and skillful lawyer, and noted 
 for the sterling honesty of his character. His memory is still 
 cherished by the people among whom he lived and died as one 
 of the worthies whose names and fame have illumined the his- 
 tory of their native county. His mother, rich in all the virtues 
 of her sex, was the daughter of a no less honored sire, Gen. 
 John Gunby, her father, was a well-known gentleman of his 
 day, who, after a well-spent life, went to his last account hon- 
 ored ami mourned by all who knew him. 
 
 When Judge Wilson was yet a small boy his father died, 
 leaving a family, consisting of his mother, one sister, and him- 
 self, in straitened circumstances. Until 15 years of age he 
 attended school at the academy in Snow Hill. Deeming it 
 then his duty to do something to maintain himself, he became 
 a clerk in a store in Philadelphia. Here he remained a year, 
 when, through the liberality of a relative, he was enabled to 
 further prosecute his education at Washington Academy, an 
 institution located in Somerset County, well and favorably 
 known in its day for the thoroughness of its instruction and 
 the competency of its teachers. 
 
 It would be interesting to be able to state what progress he 
 has made. His preceptors, however, are long since dead; and 
 all 1 have been able to learn (obtained from the only person 
 whom I knew to have been his fellow-pupil) is, that he was a 
 diligent student, quick to acquire and understand, and reckoned 
 to be the "smartest boy" of the school. His progress must 
 have been considerable, however, for through the same liber- 
 ality which enabled him to attend this school he was provided 
 with the means to matriculate at Jefferson College at Cannons- 
 burg, Pa., where he graduated in 1840. 
 
Life and character of Ephraim King Wilson, 63 
 
 Another proof of bis progress at Washington Academy is 
 found in the fact that upon his graduation from college he be- 
 came a teacher of the former institution, remaining there in 
 that capacity for several years. He then taught for about six 
 years in the academy at Snow Hill, thus becoming a teacher in 
 both of the primary schools where he had been educated. It 
 was during this period that he began the study of law, and in 
 the year 1848 was admitted to the bar of his native county. 
 
 For about twenty years he practiced his profession with unre- 
 mitting diligence. His talents, industry, and unswerving in- 
 tegrity soon brought him abundant business. He became a 
 most skillful and learned lawyer. 
 
 For many years he shared with the late Judge John K.Frank- 
 lin, also a very accomplished lawyer, almost the entire busi- 
 ness of his bar; and upon Judge Franklin's elevation to the 
 bench, he. enjoyed the undisputed position of being without a 
 rival. Both as an adviser and as a pleader he was eminently 
 successful. A habit of patient examination, united to great 
 legal acquirements and a sound and unerring judgment, gave 
 to his opinion almost the force of law; and if perchance his 
 judgment was put to the test in the courts, the result most 
 generally vindicated the confidence reposed in him. At the 
 trial table, however, he won his greatest successes as a lawyer. 
 He was sure to detect the vital points of his case, and passing 
 by the less important matters, he urged these upon court and 
 jury with great effect. 
 
 These arduous labors, however, could not fail to make them- 
 selves felt at last upon a constitution never robust. It was 
 while he was in the full tide of practice that the first symp- 
 toms of that malady which pursued him to the end were first 
 manifested, and in the year 1867 his strength became so im- 
 paired that he was compelled to withdraw permanently from 
 the practice of his profession. He retired to his farm near 
 
64 Address of Mr. Page, of Maryland, on the 
 
 Snow Hill, in the hope that rest and quiet would restore him 
 again to health. During the period of his activity at the bar 
 he was not only an energetic man of business, but a legal stu- 
 dent in every sense of the word. Nothing interested him so 
 much as the investigation of intricate legal questions. He 
 became most skillful in drawing nice distinctions, in discrimi 
 nating between apparently conflicting opinions, and in recon- 
 ciling them upon philosophic principles. 
 
 The habit of study acquired during this period he maintained 
 to the end of his life. It was then, also, he acquired that criti- 
 cal acquaintance with the organic law of his country, which 
 served him so well in his career in the Senate, where he was 
 called upon frequently to examine and discuss important ques- 
 tions involving constitutional construction. But while he was 
 thus devoted so especially to the duties of his profession (and 
 in the sense of being a seeker for office, by no means a politi- 
 cian), he was, nevertheless, not indifferent to public affairs. 
 From his earliest manhood he was a Democrat of the Jeffer- 
 sonian type, and deemed it always his duty to promote by his 
 personal efforts and influence the prosperity of that political 
 party. He thus became conspicuous in the councils of the 
 party throughout the State, and in his own county was the ac- 
 knowledged leader. Yet up to his retirement from the bar, 
 when he was 40 years of age, he had never been induced to 
 accept public office but twice. In 1847 (before his admission to 
 the bar) he represented his county in the legislature of his 
 State, and in 1X.~>2 \v;is an elector upon the Pierce and King 
 ticket. 
 
 In 1809 he was chosen examiner of the public schools of Wor- 
 cester Comity, but, on account of the condition of his health 
 he resigned, having continued in that position one year. 
 Alter three years more of seclusion upon his farm, his health in 
 the meantimehaving somewhat improved, he was again brought 
 
Life and character of Ephraim King Wilson. 65 
 
 from his retirement by being- nominated and elected to the 
 House of Eepresentatives in the Forty- third Congress. After 
 serving with great credit to himself to the end of his term, he 
 declined the renomination which was conceded him, and again, 
 sought the quiet of his rural home, where he remained until 
 the winter of 1878, when he was appointed by the governor of 
 Maryland a judge of the circuit court of the first judicial dis- 
 trict of Maryland. At the ensuing election he was elected by 
 the people a j udge of that court for a term of fifteen years. 
 
 In speaking of him as a judge, I may as well repeat what has 
 beeu said of him elsewhere, namely : "He won golden opinions 
 for the manner and ability with which the high trust was ad- 
 ministered." That this is literally true I can testify from my 
 own personal knowledge. His manner on the bench, while 
 thoroughly dignified, was also exceedingly kind and courteous. 
 His temper was equable and bland. To the younger members 
 of the bar he was indulgent and considerate, and to the older 
 respectful and patient. Yet there was no element of weakness 
 in anything he said or did. "No judge ever maintained the pro- 
 prieties of his court with more firmness than he. His mind 
 was eminently judicial; no pride of opinion interfered with his 
 calm and impartial search for truth. He was swerved neither 
 by fear, favor, nor affection. 
 
 The humblest suitor in his court was as sure of justice as the 
 most powerful. He held the scales of justice with absolute 
 fairness. The numerous opinions now spread on the records 
 attest the conspicuous and conscientious ability with which he 
 discharged his duties. These opinions exhibit the most pains- 
 taking industry and care in the search tor authority and in the 
 very elaborate and satisfactory reasonings by which he sus- 
 tained his conclusions. These are the facts that won for him 
 "golden opinions." They have embalmed his memory in the 
 minds and hearts of his judicial associates and of all who were 
 
 S. Mis. 229 5 
 
66 Address of Mr. Page, of Maryland, on the 
 
 before him as practitioners or suitors. They entitle him to take 
 rank among the greatest of Maryland's nisi prius judges. 
 They crown hin? with the just glory of having fully maintained 
 the high character that has always attached to the judiciary 
 of his State of having kept pure and unspotted the ermine with 
 which he was invested, and they will forever keep his memory 
 sweet in the minds of all who are familiar with his judicial 
 career. 
 
 While still occupying his place on the bench, in January, 
 1884, he was elected to the Senate of the United States. This 
 new honor, one of the highest, if not the highest, a State can 
 confer on one of its citizens, came to him as an unsought ex- 
 pression of the public appreciation of his talents and honesty. 
 When I review at this hour the circumstances which brought 
 about his election I am able to recall no other cause for his se- 
 lection to that responsible position than the general opinion 
 of his eminent fitness for the place. He accepted it with a 
 deep sense of anxiety lest his physical condition should pre- 
 vent him from efficiently discharging its duties. 
 
 The same malady, which had first become manifest while he 
 was at the bar, still kept him in constant anticipation of a par- 
 oxysm more severe than usual that would either disable or 
 destroy him. It was with this dread shadow, almost of death 
 itself, and at times fearfully real by actual pain and suffering, 
 constantly upon him, that he passed through his entire service 
 in the Senate. Those who observed his retiring habits in the 
 Senate, how he kept himself from scenes of excitement, how he 
 forebore from participating in the heats of extemporaneous 
 debate, little knew of the dreadful disease that was sapping 
 his life, compelling him to check (though it could not destroy) 
 that restless energy that had made him for the first half of his 
 adult life one of the most energetic of human beings. 
 
 To me it seems marvelous thai under these circumstances 
 
Life and character of Ephraim King Wilson. 67 
 
 he could have accomplished what he did. His brother Sen- 
 ators have borne ample testimony to the faithfulness and abil- 
 ity of his Senatorial services. Says one : 
 
 He always thoroughly mastered his subject, and his oppoueut could 
 •never present a phase of it he had not studied and considered. But his 
 best work was in preparing for his committee meetings— he examined 
 many cases and subjects of very great importance, and left the results of 
 his investigations among the printed reports of his committee, where they 
 will remain among our permanent records as silent witnesses of his in- 
 dustry and ability. 
 
 Of him another Senator has said : 
 
 He was known in his place in the Senate as an unassuming man of strong 
 intellect, sound judgment, scholarly attainment, careful and thorough in 
 investigation. Gifted with great mental powers, trained by assiduous 
 study, with rare perception, governed by a strict regard for the dictates 
 of conscience in all things, he endeavored to do exact and equal justice. 
 
 Yet another of his associates thus speaks of him as a Senator : 
 
 No truer representative of an intelligent, honest, and noble people ever 
 held commission on this floor. His was a rare combination of intellectual 
 and moral strength. His opinions on public questions were not hastily 
 formed, but were the result of careful and painstaking investigation, by a 
 well-disciplined mind, and well vitalized by an earnest moral nature. He 
 thought and reasoned honestly. His judgment on public questions was 
 often sought by his party associates and was freely and fearlessly though 
 modestly given. His speeches were always carefully prepared and were 
 characterized by clearness of thought, logical presentation of the matter 
 in hand, and a sincerity of conviction that was itself persuasive. These 
 speeches, as they are preserved in the record of our debate, will be an en- 
 during monument to his broad statesmanship and a valuable contribution 
 to the political thought of our time. 
 
 I cite these passages for two reasons — first, because they are 
 the unbiased opinions of able and distinguished gentlemen, 
 given with a full knowledge of the facts, and therefore of the 
 utmost value; and, second, because they are adequate expres- 
 sions of my own estimate of the value of his Senatorial services. 
 
 An examination of the record will show the wide range of 
 subjects he discussed on the floor of the Senate The bill 
 
68 Address of Mr. Page, of Maryland, on the 
 
 known as the Blair educational bill, the relations between the 
 President and the Senate, the tariff, the fisheries, and the elec- 
 tion law, commonly referred to as the " force bill," were the 
 subjects of many of his speeches. 
 
 No one can peruse them without being impressed with hi* 
 ability and his deep love of his country and its institutions. 
 He believed that the Constitution was the sheet anchor of our 
 liberties, and all through these speeches, in one form or 
 another, the idea is presented and enforced that there " is no 
 safety to our institutions but in confining both the General 
 Government and the States within their legitimate powers and 
 duties, both as to appropriations and legislation." He resisted 
 with all the force of his mind any proposed infringement upon 
 these principles. The " force bill," he thought, was a most 
 dangerous measure, fraught with evil to the whole country, 
 and his speech on the subject, stimulated as he then was to 
 the importance of the occasion, exhibits his powers and his 
 patriotism in their fullest development. This was his last 
 effort and it was his ablest. A little more than sixty clays 
 after he had passed away; was it indeed that- 
 stronger by weakness wiser men become 
 As they draw near to their eternal home! 
 
 In January, 1890, he was elected to a second term. I remem- 
 ber eonversiug with him a few weeks after his reelection. He 
 seemed full of dark forebodings for the future, He expressed 
 great doubts if he had done wisely in permitting his name to 
 go before the legislature for reelection. He said: "I do not 
 think I can live my term out, and is it right to accept under 
 such circumstances?" His sensitive nature shrank from ac- 
 cepting any position without feeling assured that he would be 
 able to discharge its duties to the end. It was the last time I 
 ever saw him. On the 24th of February, 181)1, came the par- 
 
Life and character of Ephraim King Wilson. 69 
 
 oxysm he had so long expected, and on that day, surrounded 
 by his friends and his family, he sank peacefully to rest. 
 
 But death had not caught him unawares. For many years 
 he had been preparing for the end that came that day. Always 
 a firm believer in the truths of Christianity, he had, in the 
 prime of life, united with the Presbyterian Church, in which 
 he afterwards became a ruling elder, and his walk and conver- 
 sation to the end of life proved the sincerity of his purpose 
 and the depth of his convictions. For years he had looked 
 death in the face ; realized, as only one with an incurable mal- 
 ady can realize, that it might at any moment come, and when 
 the hour struck he was ready to accept it with an unfaltering 
 trust in the blessed promises of his Lord and Master. 
 
 I can not conclude this humble tribute without a word as to 
 his private life. Here, as elsewhere, the dominant feature of 
 his character was his conscientious devotion to duty. I think 
 I never saw a more conscientious man. On the bench, in Con- 
 gress, and in private life he was scrupulous, diligent, and pains- 
 taking in the extreme to discharge fully and completely every 
 duty. u To him was life a simple act of duties to be done." He 
 not only acted honestly, but thought honestly. No kind of in- 
 ducement ever swerved him a hair's breadth from what his con- 
 science told him was right. In society he was always affable 
 and pleasant. No one ever enjoyed a joke more than he, and 
 he was as fond of hearing them as of telling them himself. He 
 was possessed of a singularly bright and cheerful disposition. 
 Always he had a pleasant word for friend or acquaintance. 
 Of him it was indeed said : 
 
 Truth, simple truth was written on his face, 
 Yet while the serious thought his soul approved, 
 Cheerfulness he seemed, and gentleness he loved. 
 
70 Address of Mr. Page, of Maryland, on the 
 
 He was kind, charitable, and generous. Many a public en- 
 terprise iu this community and many of the poor have already 
 felt the loss of his thoughtful liberality. 
 
 He was twice married. Of the first marriage two children, 
 a son, W. Sidney Wilson a promising member of the bar, and 
 a daughter, survive. In 1869, he married bis second wife, 
 Miss Julia Knox, of Snow Hill, who, with her four children, 
 also survive him. It was in the quiet of domestic life, in the 
 bosom of his family, that he shone brightest. He loved his 
 home with an intensity that neither pleasure nor fame nor 
 honors could abate. There his presence was like sunshine; 
 it always made home warmer and brighter. He won by bis 
 own tender and affectionate kindness the love that was lav- 
 ished upon him by wife and children. In the retirement 
 of the domestic circle he ceased to be the judge and the Sena- 
 tor ; he was only the husband and the father, guiding those 
 about him by his wisdom, but entering into all their employ- 
 ments with sympathy, and cheering them with the brightness 
 of his own sunny nature. 
 
 And now he is no more. The gentle friend, the loving hus- 
 band and father, the patriotic citizen, the just judge, the able 
 and incorruptible Senator, the pure Christian has passed from 
 earth to the better land beyond the stars. But he has left 
 those who come after him a noble legacy of high thoughts and 
 noble deeds. These shall live after him, and shall tend to 
 make the world purer and better. 
 
 Eappy is he of whom, after he is gone, this can be said with 
 truth, and happy the people who are jealous to preserve the 
 memorials of such a lite as an example and an inspiration to 
 all their citizens, and particularly to the youth of the land. 
 
Life and character of Ephraim King Wilson. 71 
 
 Address of Mr. Herbert, of Alabama. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : Truth and honor are to aoility a passport to 
 success. 
 
 Senator Ephraim K. Wilson, whose honored name is one 
 of the many that suggests the thought, ended more than a year 
 ago a life the memory of whose beauty and integrity the fleet- 
 ing years will not efface. He was said to be in his young days 
 a man of unusual and remarkable energy, as the fact of his 
 career would easily lead one to believe. Overexertion in youth 
 brought on ill-health, and this compelled him to a less active 
 use of the wonderfully judicial mind that nature had fitted him 
 with and that years of study and varied reading had ripened 
 into that of a scholar. 
 
 To begin with, his capital was a stout heart, a steady head, 
 a willing hand, and an empty purse. 
 
 To begin with, "the elements were well mixed in him." 
 
 His father, though an able and well-known lawyer, had been 
 able financially to give him a college education and nothing 
 more. He had his own way to make and he made it. He be- 
 gan life as a clerk in a Philadelphia store, and afterwards for 
 seven years taught school, studying law at the same time. He 
 was an exhaustive student, and when admitted to the bar his 
 thorough knowledge soon told. There is always need and a 
 place for such a man as he. 
 
 The people of his State conferred upon him one honor and 
 another. It is said that he never sought a public office, be- 
 lieving that the office should seek the man. He served a term 
 in the legislature of his State, was an elector on the Pierce and 
 King ticket, school examiner of his county, was elected to the 
 
72 Address of Mr. Herbert, of Alabama, on the 
 
 Forty-sixtli Congress, declining to rim a second time, and in 
 1878 was appointed associate judge of the circuit court of the 
 first judicial circuit of Maryland, an office which he held when 
 first elected United States Senator. He died before the begin- 
 ning of his second Senatorial term. It is said in Maryland 
 that the people had never greater confidence in the impar- 
 tiality of the judicial opinion of any judge than in that of Sena- 
 tor Wilson while on the bench. 
 
 His speeches abounded in classical and historical allusions, 
 apt and natural. His imagery was effective; his sentences 
 rounded and sonorous. He made a lawyer's statement and a 
 judge's summing up of his views. He deliberated carefully, 
 but having reached a conclusion, he announced it boldly and 
 maintained it with zeal. A thorough Democrat, he had a 
 Democrat's high estimate of the " uncrowned queen, public 
 opinion." Jealous of the honor that should be deserved by 
 his colleagues in public office, he says, speaking in favor of a 
 bill preventing members of Congress from acting as attorney 
 for any railway company receiving aid from the Government : 
 
 The bill will teach members of Congress that the people expect them not 
 only to be pure, but free from the suspicion of corruption. 
 
 In these simple words he set forth the lesson his whole life 
 teaches. 
 
 He was conscientous, painstaking, and thorough.. In private 
 his manner was affable, dignified, open-hearted, and finished. 
 America maywell be proud that this quiet gentleman, who held 
 his course, did his duty, asked favors of no man, so cultured in 
 mind and heart, was one of her statesmen, and be most willing 
 to say, in pointing to the ruling principle of his well-spent life — 
 
 The sou] thai can be honest is the only perfect man. 
 
Life and character of Ephraim King Wilson. 73 
 
 ADDRESS OF MR. McKAIG, OF MARYLAND. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : It has been rightly said that " some men seem 
 to be sent into the world for the purpose of action only," for 
 their faculties are all strung up to toil and enterprise, and their 
 spirits and their frames are alike redolent of energy. They 
 pause and slumber like other men, but it is only to recruit from 
 actual fatigue ; they occasionally want quiet, but only as a re- 
 freshment to prepare them for renewed exertion, not as a nor- 
 mal condition to be wished for or enjoyed for itself. They need 
 not rest, not repose.- They think, they never meditate, and 
 their mission, their enjoyment, the object and condition of their 
 existence is work; they could not exist here without it. 
 
 There are others who skim over the surface of life, reflecting 
 just as little as these and not reposing much oftener; whose 
 sensibilities are quick, whose temperaments are cheerful, whose 
 frames are naturally active but not laborious ; on whom nature 
 and the external world play as on a stringed instrument, some- 
 times drawing out sweet sounds, sometimes discordant ones; 
 but whom the inner world seldom troubles with any intimation 
 of its existence, men whom the interests of the day suffice to 
 occupy; the depths of whose souls are never irradiated' by 
 gleams or stirred by breezes from a " remoter life." 
 
 The third type are the spirits whom God has cast in a dif- 
 ferent mold, or framed of less harmonious substance; men 
 gifted with that contemplative faculty which is a blessing or 
 a curse, according as it is linked with a cheerful or a melan- 
 choly temperament, according as it is content to busy itself 
 only with derivatives and secondary matter, or dives down to 
 the hidden foundation of things; according as it can wander 
 
74 Address of Mr. McKaig, of Maryland, on the 
 
 happily and curiously among the flowers and fruits of the 
 Tree of Life, or as it is dangerously impelled to dig about its 
 roots and analyze the soil in which it grows, seeking whence 
 it came and whither it is bound— 
 
 The bills where its life rose 
 And the sea to which it goes. 
 
 The spirit of the late distinguished Senator, E. K. Wilson, 
 from Maryland, was thoroughly imbued with the contem- 
 plative faculty linked with a cheerful temperament; so bril- 
 liantly described by the gifted author quoted from, a faculty 
 that enabled him to wander happily and curiously anioDg the 
 flower and fruit of the "Tree of Life," and a temperament 
 that brought him the fullest fruition of life's affections and 
 sympathies in the strong personal attachments felt for him by 
 the citizens who enjoyed the honor of his acquaintance both 
 in private and public life— his name among them being a 
 synonym of integrity, reliability, and judicial and political 
 incorruptibility. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, early in the race of life fortune had selected 
 him as one of her favorites, but this was supplemented by 
 earnest, unrelaxing zeal in his life work, that gave merit its 
 reward and established for him a character for fair dealing, 
 Legitimate and honest in every sense of the word, and a sound 
 and reliable judgment. There was nothing vacillating in his 
 character; he was controlled by no varying currents of senti- 
 ment impelling him hither and thither, but his plans and pur- 
 poses, maturely considered, were carried out to a successful 
 termination with a spirit that evinced the strong, self-reliant 
 man. 
 
 Born as he was at Snow Hill, Md., December 22, 1821, with- 
 out the advantages of wealth and power, he steadily climbed 
 tli«' ladder of life with an eye single to self-respecting honesty 
 
Life and character of Ephraim King Wilson. 75 
 
 until he died a Senator of the United States in Washington 
 City, February 24, 1891, full of honor, just finishing- a Sena- 
 torial term and about to commence another by the unanimous 
 selection of the legislature of his native State, that he loved 
 so dearly and honored so much by his wise and statesmanlike 
 representation, thus portraying the vast and limitless possi- 
 bilities of American manhood. He had thus, as the senior 
 Senator of the State said, "almost completed the period 
 allotted by the Psalmist as the limit of human life" when 
 he fell asleep in Jesus. 
 
 Of all the thoughts of God that are 
 Borne inward unto souls afar, 
 
 Along the Psalmist's music deep, 
 Now tell me if there any is, 
 For gift or grace surpassing this : 
 
 "He giveth His beloved sleep." 
 
 Why trace his onward, upward career as he steadily passed 
 each milepost of his life, filling worthily and competently the 
 various stations he was called to by his constantly extending 
 circle of friends from mercantile pursuits to bar, bench, and Sen- 
 ate Chamber, leaving the impress of his genius upon the posi- 
 tions held and giving evidence of the rare combination of moral 
 and intellectual strength that constituted him a marked man 
 among his fellow-citizens. The results of his work at the bar, 
 on the bench, and in the Senate Chamber gave ample testimony 
 of the careful and mature consideration applied to every branch 
 of his life work and makes it an achievement that might well 
 serve as a shining example to the aspiring youth of our land as 
 they seek to enter public life. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, my personal acquaintance with the late distin- 
 guished Senator was limited and wholly formal in character, 
 yet such was the strong personality of the gifted gentleman, 
 penetrating as it did every section of his native State, carry- 
 ing with it the knowledge of his rare worth, that he was known 
 
76 Address of Mr. Joseph D. Taylor, of Ohio, on the 
 
 and appreciated among the people of Western Maryland, 
 though a comparative stranger, as highly as those sections 
 favored by his occasional presence. 
 
 The genial nature and strong social disposition of the late 
 Senator was in keeping with the section of the State in which 
 he lived, and of the proverbial hospitality of whose citizens 
 he was one of the noblest and truest exponents. Like many 
 of our distinguished public men who have died with the repre- 
 sentative harness upon them, his end was quick and compara- 
 tively painless. 
 
 No tedious confinement marked the approach of relentless 
 death. The silver cord simply parted, and as he passed into 
 the Valley of the Shadow of Death, he could have murmured 
 in the words of the poet : 
 
 Life! we've been long together, 
 
 Through pleasant and through cloudy weather; 
 
 'Tis hard to part when friends are dear ; 
 
 Perhaps 'twill cost a sigh, a tear; 
 
 Then steal away, give little warning, 
 
 Choose thine own time ; 
 
 Say not good night, but in some happier clime 
 
 Bid me good morning. 
 
 Address of Mr. Joseph D. Taylor, of Ohio. 
 
 Mr. Speaker: In response to the request of the members 
 ' of the House from the State of Maryland, I have the opportu- 
 nity and the honor of taking sonic part in paying a deserved 
 tribute of respect to the memory of an honored Senator and a 
 distinguished man, the late Ephraim K. Wilson, a United 
 States Senator from the State of Maryland. 
 
 The only personal acquaintance I had with Senator Wilson 
 began and ended in the Hotel 1 Iamilton, in this city, where we 
 
Life and character of Ephraim King Wilson. 77 
 
 both boarded, and where he died, on the 24th of February, 
 1891, at the ripe old age of almost threescore years and ten. 
 Of course 1 knew him as a Senator from Maryland and a* a 
 man of the highest character, but this embraces the only per- 
 sonal acquaintance that I had with him. 
 
 I remember the shadow and the sorrow that came into that 
 hotel when the serious illness of Senator Wilson was first 
 known. Every heart was full of sympathy for him and his 
 family. My wife was with his family very frequently during 
 his illness, to render any assistance that she could, and was 
 with them when he died. 
 
 The frequency of death never seems to soften the shock or 
 diminish the startling character of the announcement, espe- 
 cially when it occurs under the roof which shelters us, or in 
 
 the koine in which we are living, and in this case the sad 
 
 i 
 
 whisper went from room to room like a flash, and every heart 
 in that hotel was touched as with a personal sorrow. Death 
 comes so near under such circumstances that we realize how 
 frail our hold is on this human life of ours. 
 
 A man like Senator Wilson would naturally attract atten- 
 tion and be the subject of frequent comment in a public house 
 where there were many other public men with their families 
 and friends, and I venture the assertion that there was never 
 heard in that hotel an unfavorable comment on Senator Wil- 
 son. His appearance, his manner, and his modesty gave him 
 easy access to all who met him, and he needed no one to say 
 that he was an honest, dignified gentleman, for that was written 
 on his face and corroborated by every act that he did and by 
 every word that he uttered. I remember the discussions of 
 his character and courage when he voted against the free- 
 coinage bill, and the admiration exj)ressed for his independ- 
 ence on all hands, and I then learned what sort of man he was, 
 and I have since learned that he was always that kind of a 
 
78 Address of Mr. Joseph D. Taylor, of Ohio, on the 
 
 mail ; that it had been his practice through life to do his duty 
 honestly and conscientiously, no matter what others thought 
 o» did. 
 
 The address of the gentleman from Maryland (Me. Page)^ to 
 which we have listened, emphasized by other speakers, is a 
 great tribute to a great man. Xo monument could be built 
 higher, no memory could be burnished brighter. The pano- 
 rama of Senator Wilson's life which has been spread out be- 
 fore us in these addresses this afternoon will live longer than 
 granite or marble or brass can possibly endure. The fame of 
 a good man who distinguished himself at the bar, on the bench, 
 in the House, in the Senate, in the church, and in the home, in 
 public and private life, ought to endure longer than shafts of 
 granite or marble or brass. The world is better because of the 
 life of such a man. These influences which he exerted, these 
 examples which his life has furnished, will bear fruit in time 
 and in eternity. There is a greatness in a well-rounded human 
 life that overshadows all other earthly honors, no matter how 
 brilliant. 
 
 And it is well, Mr. Speaker, that in these days when we have 
 so much crimination and recrimination, so much perfidy and in- 
 famy, so much that is degrading and demoralizing, that we can 
 turn to examples of purity and integrity in public life, and de- 
 clare to the world that such men are possible even in this day. 
 In saying this, however, I do not mean to say that the num- 
 ber of such men is growing less. On the contrary, I believe 
 that the public service was never purer than it is to-day, and 
 the way to make public men pure is to encourage the dissemi- 
 nation of noble characteristics and punish the wrongs of evil do- 
 ers in public places. 
 
 I am glad, Mr. Speaker, to.have an opportunity of express- 
 ing my appreciation of the life and character of Senator Wil- 
 son. 1 am proud of a country that produces such men. 1 
 
Life and character of Ephraim King Wilson. 79 
 
 honor a flag beneath whose folds a man can start at the bot- 
 tom of life's rugged ladder and climb to the top. In European 
 countries a man can never rise above the stratum of society in 
 which he is born, but in this country the barefooted orphan 
 can scale every obstacle and reach any eminence. As we have 
 heard, Senator Wilson was a self-made man; starting in the 
 world without fortune or influence he made great progress and 
 gained great distinction. I admire his character as a lawyer; 
 I admire his character as a judge; I admire his character as a 
 member of Congress, but I admire more than all this his char- 
 acter as a man. I appreciate what he did for the State in 
 which he was born and in which he is buried ; I appreciate 
 what he did for the country on the bench and in the councils 
 of the nation, but I appreciate more what he did for the home 
 and the purity of private life. 
 
 I wish we had more such men. The State of Maryland did 
 a noble act in electing and in reelecting Senator Wilson, and I 
 honor i\i^ people of that great State for selecting such a man 
 for such a place. The recognition of such men for public places 
 will exert a healthful influence upon the young men of the 
 country, and go a great way toward giving the people honest 
 and trustworthy public officials. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, these tributes of respect seem strange in this 
 Hall, where conflicts and controversies seem even now to echo 
 from these walls. The silence of this hour seems so in contrast 
 with the noisy scenes we witness here from day to day that I am 
 almost shocked at this sublime stillness. But again and again 
 death enters the chamber and bears his victim. The laws we 
 make *here can be amended or repealed, but the inexorable 
 law of death is incapable of change or modification. It be- 
 longs to every age and clime, enters alike the hovel and the 
 palace, knows no distinctions or exceptions, and we can only 
 bow submission to its stern decrees. There is one way and 
 
80 Address of Mr. Tracey, of New York, on the 
 
 only one way to meet the dreaded foe. In all the ages no other 
 has been discovered. It is to be ready, because in such an hour 
 as we think not the messenger cometh. Again and again he 
 has entered this Hall during this session, and the lesson that 
 lings out is that we should be ready. In the midst of life we 
 are in death. 
 
 In the awful presence of death, earth and its honors, life and 
 its emoluments, sink into utter insignificance. Time and eter- 
 nity are the only rocks which seem uncovered in the presence 
 of such a wave. The one thought that comes to me here and 
 now, in the midst of these words of eulogy, is this : If Senator 
 Wilson could recross the shadowy river and speak to us from 
 his own lips, what would he say? Would he talk of tolls or 
 tariffs; of trade or traffic; of currency or revenue 1 Or would 
 he point to those great principles of moral courage and eternal 
 justice, which are higher than men or measures, greater than 
 states or nations, which belong to the present as well as the 
 future, which pertain to the life that now is and the life that 
 is to come? But we do not need even this. His whole life 
 speaks to us. The influences which linger around his pathway 
 are full of lessons. The church where he worshipped, the 
 neighborhood where he lived, his public and private career, all 
 signify the wisdom of a well-spent life. 
 
 Address of Mr. Tracey, of New York. 
 
 Mr. Speaker: My acquaintance with the late Senator Wil- 
 son was confined entirely to our meetings in the Senate < Miam- 
 ber. Soon niter arriving in Washington and entering upon my 
 duties as a member of the I louse, I had occasion to call upon him 
 and requesl Ins aid in ;i matter of legislation in which I took 
 
Life and character of Efhraim King Wilson. 81 
 
 an interest, and the impression he then made upon me was 
 one which I shall never forget. His manner was so kind and 
 courteous that I was encouraged in the efforts that I was mak- 
 ing to procure the legislation to which I have referred and 
 those who were directly interested in it-people of moderate 
 means, living in this neighborhood-came to me later and ex- 
 pressed their great feeling of gratitude for the kindness he 
 had displayed toward them. 
 
 So it happened that time and again when I had business 
 with the Senate I felt that in Senator Wilson I had a friend 
 whom I could always approach and by whom 1 should always 
 be received with courtesy. A few days.before his death-in- 
 deed, I think it was the last day he was in the^Senate-I had 
 occasion to ask his attention to a matter affecting a person in 
 humble life, a small private bill for the poor widow of a soldier, 
 and although the Senator was busy with his official duties, he 
 immediately left his seat in the Senate Chamber and came 
 with me down stairs into the committee room to look after the 
 matter. 
 
 From there I went with him to the staircase, where he stood, 
 and we had some conversation. He spoke of his impaired 
 health, and remarked how necessary it was for him to be care- 
 ful. .Within two days from that time it happened that I was 
 taken down with illness, and the day Senator Wilson died 
 the doctor came from his bedside to attend me, so that I had 
 reason to be peculiarly impressed and shocked when I heard 
 of his death. 
 
 On several occasions, when I had the honor of conversing 
 with Senator Wilson upon matters of business, he entered 
 into brief discussions of the public questions that were then 
 before Congress, and I was greatly impressed with the sin- 
 cerity and earnestness which he exhibited. It was quite evi- 
 dent to me that in sound Democratic principles he was thor- 
 S. Mis. 229 6 
 
82 Address of Mr. Tracey, of New York, on the 
 
 oughly well grounded, and that in his action upon public 
 questions he was governed by the highest and most patriotic 
 motives. On one of the occasions to which I have referred 
 there was a financial measure pending before Congress in 
 which he took a deep interest and in respect to which he was 
 inclined to cast his vote in a way that was likely to disappoint 
 some of his colleagues for whom he had a high regard, but he 
 did not hesitate. 
 
 In speaking of the subject, he said to me that he felt it his 
 duty to act in the manner in which he did act, and I saw that 
 he had promptly decided to pursue what he felt to be the 
 proper course. 
 
 The maimer of Senator Wilson, as those who knew him will 
 remember, was exceedingly modest. If he suffered in any re- 
 spect in the estimation of the people with whom he came in 
 contact, it was due to this humility of demeanor ; but anyone 
 who was brought into direct intercourse with him realized in a 
 very short time the high motives which • go verned his actions, 
 and the elevation of his mind and character. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, I was not regularly assigned a place on the 
 list of those who were to speak on this occasion; but remem- 
 bering that we were to devote a portion of this day to com- 
 •memorating the character and services of Senator Wilson, I 
 asked the privilege of testifying in this brief and informal man- 
 ner my deep sense of obligation to him and my high apprecia- 
 tion of his greatness as a legislator and as a true American 
 gentleman. 
 
 
Life and character of Ephraim King Wilson, 83 
 
 Address of Mr. Rusk, of Maryland. 
 
 Mr. Speaker: As a member of the Maryland senate in 1S82 
 I cast my vote for the late Hon. E. K. Wilson upon Ms elec- 
 tion to the Senate of the United States; as a member of the 
 House of Eepresentatives I attended with its committee bis 
 funeral services, and accompanied the remains of our deceased 
 friend to their last resting place in the churchyard of old 
 "Makmie Church;" there in the chilling blast of winter, sur- 
 rounded by the hundreds who had known and loved him for 
 so many years, in the beautiful little town of Snow Hill, be- 
 tween the bay and ocean, under the very shadows of the an- 
 cient church in which he and his fathers had worshipped, we 
 paid the last tributes of respect to this kindly gentleman, 
 learned lawyer, and patriotic citizen and statesman. 
 
 My own acquaintance with Senator Wilson commenced with 
 his election to the Senate. I had known of him in former years 
 as an able lawyer, upright and learned judge, and diligent 
 member of Congress, butit was only upon a closer acquaintance 
 with him that I really learned what manner of man he was; 
 how kind and attentive to all who approached him; how earnest 
 and devoted in the performance of his duty; how scrupulously 
 exact in the examination of matters laid before him in the per- 
 formance of his duty as Senator. I was amazed at the time 
 and thought given by him even to matters in which perhaps 
 no one but some obscure claimant ag ainst the Government 
 might be interested. Yet he examined proofs and weighed 
 evidence in such matters with the same judicial fairness which 
 characterized his actions when on the bench, and his conclu- 
 sions when reached were so firmly hedged about with fact 
 and law that no one would think of going behind a report pre- 
 
84 Address of Mr. Rusk, of Maryland, on the 
 
 pared by him. His carefulness in these less important matters 
 did 'not indicate that he was a man of mere detail and given 
 only to the consideration of small things. On the contrary, 
 while he approached the consideration of great questions affec- 
 ting the welfare of the nation with the same care, yet his 
 intellect grasped with equal force the most intricate questions. 
 
 He had been a close student of our institutions, was thor- 
 oughly drilled in political history, and a master of constitu- 
 tional law, and with these prerequisites of statesmanship, he 
 brought to the consideration of all questions, his calm judicial 
 temperament, great erudition and profound love^of country. 
 It seems strange to us that this superbly equipped man, this 
 loving father and husband, this patriotic citizen, doing so 
 much good for his people and his country, should be cut off in 
 the height of his usefulness, when his years of toil and study 
 were bearing full fruition, but to him it seemed well, and lie 
 dreaded not the approach of death. He had faithfully done 
 his work, had developed the faculties given him, had remem 
 bered his Creator in the days of his youth, and unto the last 
 days of his busy life, and was prepared for the great mysteri- 
 ous change which comes to all. 
 
 His memory is embalmed in the hearts of loving friends. 
 His State has placed his name among those of other great and 
 good men whose deeds adorn its annals. The Congress of the 
 United States has placed on record its appreciation and admi- 
 ration of the man and statesman, and his life's history being 
 written, we leave him at rest. * 
 
 Another hope which purifies our race, 
 
 That, when that fearful bourne forever past, 
 They may hud rest — and rest so loug to last. 
 
Life and character of Ephraim King Wilson. 85 
 
 ADDRESS OF MR. CUMMINGS, OF NEW YORK. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : Maryland has been singularly fortunate in 
 the selection of the men she has sent to speak and act for her 
 in the Senate of the United States. She is not a large State, 
 sir, but she has chosen to be represented by large men. From 
 the day when she sent Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, to rep- 
 resent her in the council of the States down to the present 
 time the Senators from Maryland have generally been unsur- 
 passed in ability, character, and influence. William Pinkney, 
 the great orator, jurist, and statesman, in his day the leader 
 of the American bar, enhanced his own fame and the glory of 
 his native State as a Senator from Maryland. 
 
 At a later day, in our own time, another great son of Mary- 
 land, hardly less distinguished as a lawyer and statesman, 
 Keverdy Johnson, maintained her prestige in the Senate of 
 the United States. But, Mr. Speaker, without stopping to 
 call the names of all the eminent men who have given weight 
 and influence to Maryland in that august body, I feel war- 
 ranted in saying that among them all there has been no one 
 more earnestly and conscientiously devoted to his public duties, 
 more patriotic in his impulses, more genial in private life, or 
 more worthy of the respect, esteem, and affection of his fellow- 
 citizens than the man whose character and services we com- 
 memorate here to-day. The death of Senator Wilson was a 
 loss not merely to Maryland, but to the country at large. Men 
 of such energy, ability, fidelity, and high character are rare, 
 either in or out of Congress. 
 
 My own acquaintance with him was comparatively slight, 
 but so deeply was I impressed by his high qualities of mind and 
 
86 Address of Mr. Rayner, of ATarylatid, on the 
 
 heart, that I could not permit the occasion to pass without pay- 
 ing this brief, unstudied tribute to his memory. If Maryland 
 in the years to come shall continue to send to represent her 
 in the national councils such men as she has sent in the past, 
 her escutcheon will lose no ray of its luster and she herself 
 will maintain no secondary rank in the galaxy of States. 
 
 Address of Mr. Rayner, of Maryland. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : I can hardly hope to add anything new to 
 the tributes that have been paid to the memory of S'enator 
 Wilson. Whatever has been said of him by those who knew 
 him best has been well deserved. The State that I have the 
 honor in part of representing upon this floor cherishes with 
 pride the record of his public services. Maryland has fre- 
 quently sent to the halls of Congress those who have taken a 
 conspicuous part in the history of the country, but I am sure 
 that no one who has ever represented her has surpassed Sena- 
 tor Wilson in a* faithful devotion to her interests and in a 
 patriotic performance of the duties of his elevated position. 
 He was a true type of the best citizenship of his native State, 
 and his career in official life furnishes an example worthy of 
 emulation. 
 
 Upon occasions of this sort the strong ties of friendship and 
 attachment sometimes lead us to overestimate the character of 
 the dead, but I earnestly believe that in this case the plainest 
 statement will furnish the highest panegyric that can possibly 
 be paid to his memory. Almost every life contains an object- 
 lesson, which, if studied and appreciated, may become of great 
 prolit and instruct ion to those who survive. Our lives, though 
 ciosely analogous, are yet widely apart, and each one manifests 
 
Life and character of Ephraim King Wilson. 87 
 
 its own essential and peculiar features. The distinguishing 
 quality of Judge Wilson's public life was character, if I may 
 use that word in its restricted signification. 
 
 Men prominent in the public service have attained distinction 
 in various ways; some through the exhibition of dauntless 
 courage at critical periods of the nation's history; others by 
 great originality of thought and diplomacy in the arena of 
 statesmanship; others by wise and successful management 
 upon the field of party conflict; but his heroism and his origi- 
 nality consisted in the subordination of his private ambition to 
 the public good, and in the use of the faculties and ability with 
 which he was endowed for the benefit of his constituents and 
 the welfare of his fellow man. He was imbued with strong 
 convictions, possessed of earnest purposes, and of a sincere de- 
 sire to do whatever was right according to the impulses of his 
 heart and the dictates of his conscience, regardless of any re- 
 ward that it might bring to him or any "hostile criticism that 
 it might subject him to. 
 
 I would not give a reputation of that sort for all the ap-, 
 plause that ever greeted the ear of victory, or for all the 
 laurel wreaths that ever adorned the achievements of fame. 
 What is victory, and what is fame, compared with character? 
 What is success, compared with truth and sincerity! What 
 do all these temporary and transient honors amount to, that 
 are but the fleeting possession of a few days, and then forgot- 
 ten, compared with that immortal honor of having done what 
 is right, and dying with the conscious satisfaction of having 
 faithfully maintained the principles of truth and justice at the 
 post of public duty? 
 
 When we examiue the record of Judge Wilson as a mem- 
 ber of the Senate we will find the principles that I have ad- 
 verted to illustrated to a remarkable degree. Over and over 
 again, upou great public questions, differing from a large num- 
 
88 Address of Mr. Rayner, of Maryland, on the 
 
 ber of his constituents, he fearlessly gave expression to the 
 conclusions and convictions of his own mind upon the subject- 
 matter before him. He never permitted, in any instance that 
 I know of, the paltry considerations of personal succe ss or de- 
 feat to affect his judgment. When, after patient study and 
 deliberation, his opinion became formed, he never changed it 
 to gratify the ends of personal ambition. 
 
 In the examination of the many important matters in which 
 he took a prominent part he was not in the habit of putting to 
 himself the question, How will this affect my chances or my 
 prospects for a continuance in office! But I apprehend the 
 questions that he did address to himself were. Which is the 
 just and honorable side that I ought to take upon this measure; 
 upon which side does the path of duty lie? And I know that 
 when he found it out he remained steadfast at his post, and 
 did not swerve to the right and to the left and trim his sails 
 to make for a harbor of safety. 
 
 1 believe that his life teaches a lesson, a great lesson, to the 
 generation of young men who may succeed him in these halls. 
 Here is the place where those who represent the intelligence 
 and the wisdom of the country are supposed to assemble, and 
 day after day we have exhibitions of great intellect and genius 
 manifested from the places that surround us. There is no 
 scarcity of competent and capable men in the councils of the 
 nation. Providence seems to have endowed the human race 
 with an abundance of brains, and wheu it comes to the use of 
 those great arts which find so frequent an opportunity for dis- 
 play here, the arts of eloquence, and of satire, and of invec- 
 tive, and of ready, fluent argument in the heat of discussion 
 and debate, we can more than hold our own with any repre- 
 sentative assemblage in the world. 
 
 I want to say, however, Mr. Speaker, in closing this short 
 tribute to the memory of my distinguished colleague, that while 
 
Life and character of Ephraim King Wilson. 89 
 
 lie was a man gifted with those accomplishments and possessed 
 of all the necessary qualifications that entitled him to reflect 
 so much credit upon the State that he represented, in my 
 opinion the priceless inheritance that he has left to his family 
 and the inestimable legacy that he has bequeathed to those 
 who may follow him, standing out in bold relief in all of his 
 public utterances, are a pure and spotless character, that cor- 
 ruption neyer dared approach, and an exalted spirit of patriot- 
 ism, indicative of the early days of the Republic, that scorned 
 upon every occasion to make the slightest sacrifice of principle 
 or the slightest compromise upon the honored traditions of his 
 party, or in any degree to lower that lofty standard of public 
 duty which he had so closely followed in every position of trust 
 and honor that he ever held at the hands of a constituency 
 who will cherish his memory, and who with grateful pride will 
 preserve and treasure high up among the scrolls of her distin- 
 guished dead the recollection of his stainless name. 
 
 Mr. Page, of Maryland. Mr. Speaker, I have received a 
 telegram from my colleague [Mr. Compton], who intended to 
 be present on this occasion, informing me that he is too unwell 
 to attend, and asking that his absence be explained in that 
 way. 
 
 On motion of Mr. Page, of Maryland, the resolutions were 
 then adopted unanimously; and the House accordingly (at 3 
 o'clock and 40 minutes p. m.) adjourned until Tuesday, July 
 5, at 11 a. m. 
 
/