J t yi E H A L F 
 
 1 5 C) :2: 
 
 '-'BRAitV OF 
 
 CONGRESS 
 
 °°°ifi3iSSb7 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
 UNITED STATES OF A^.1ERICA. 
 Chap. iiMCU',.f<^/ 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 
 
 EUGENE HALE. 
 
 RtPREStNTA I IVF, AND SENATOR FROM 
 THE STATE OF MAINE, 
 
 DELIVKRED IN 
 
 THE HOUSH OF REPRHSENTATIVHS AND 
 
 IN THH UNITED STATES SENATE, 
 
 \%C) to 18C)2. 
 
 WASHINGTON : 
 
 GOVERNMENT I'KINTING OFFICE. 
 
 IS97. 
 
^'^^^ 
 
 \< 
 
 %^ 
 
 2' :. 
 
WILLIAM PITT FHSSHNDKN. 
 
 In tUc House of RcprcscnCativL's, Dtccnihcr 14, iSOt), 
 
 Mr. Speaker: I speak as a young mau who 
 admired and revered William Pitt Fessen- 
 DEX. Twelve years ago, when I cast m\ first 
 \-ote, he was an honored Senator from the State 
 of Maine. In that State his life had been 
 passed, and his education and experience had 
 been such as to emincntlv fit him for the high 
 place which he then filled. 
 
 He was a "radnate of our oldest coUeye, had 
 chosen the profession of law, been admitted to 
 practice at an early age and for many ^-ears had 
 given to it his best talent, which had carried him 
 to the head of the profession in his State. 
 
 His professional life was always marked by 
 the highest sense of honor, by a keen sympathy 
 for the poor or oppressed suitor, and by a plainly 
 
 3 
 
shown impatience at that public clamor which 
 now and then usurps the place of public justice 
 and demands a victim without much heed as to 
 the question of guilt or innocence. His single 
 term in this House, and his longer service in our 
 State legislature, had prevented his mind from 
 running in a purely legal channel, and he stood, 
 b}' natural ability and varied training, the peer 
 of his fellows in the United States Senate. 
 
 Since that time his public life has been open 
 to the view of all, and in common with, I sup- 
 pose, a large majoritv of men who have watched 
 it, I have learned the lesson of respect for its 
 excellence. Within the last few years I have 
 enjoyed the privilege of his close acquaintance 
 and friendship, and can bear testimony to the 
 kindness of heart and graciousness of manner 
 which made him, to those who knew him best, 
 the good friend and fascinating companion. I 
 hope to carry through my life a green memory 
 of the good counsel and help that he always 
 generously gave me. 
 
 Of his career as a public man it is not fitting 
 that I should attempt to speak. It was open to 
 
5 
 
 inspection from its beginning- to its close, and 
 like the broad river which gains ne-w volume 
 with every affluent, it increased in its force with 
 each year until at last it ended in that vast sea 
 whither all human life flows. Others who have 
 been intimately associated witli him in the im- 
 portant legislation of the last fifteen years, and 
 who can more clearly point out the guiding and 
 restraining influence of his mind upon that 
 legislation, have spoken in language of full 
 appreciation. 
 
 But I can not fail to render my tribute of 
 admiration for the inflexible spirit of indepen- 
 dence that he alwavs displayed in maintaining 
 what he belie\-ed to be right, refusing to be 
 swayed by popular outcry or the fear of party 
 displeasure. And this, joined with the absence 
 of any overweening desire to enforce views 
 simply as his own views, thus preventing him 
 from becoming an "impracticable" in politics, 
 made him what seems to me as the nearly com- 
 plete pattern of an American legislator. 
 
 His steadfastness in adhering to a given 
 course when both wind and tide were against 
 
him was shown most conspicuously in the im- 
 peacliment trial. But I have studied his life 
 before that event closely enoiigh to see that anj-- 
 one well knowing him need not take that in- 
 stance into the account in concluding that Mr. 
 FessENDEN would not be turned from the way 
 he believed to be the right wa\' bv fear of im- 
 mediate unpopularity. No tempest of voices 
 ever dictated to him who should be released to 
 the people and who should be crucified. 
 
 But he who believes that his firmness came 
 from a defiant and unsvuipathetic spirit I think 
 wholly wrong. 
 
 Mr. Fessenden understood fully and talked 
 freely with his friends of the burdens and 
 restraints imposed by a political life, and he 
 always strove to so bear himself that no re- 
 proach of neglected dtitj^ could be laid at his 
 door, and that his acts and his motives should 
 not be cheapened by the inducements that beset 
 the politician. He has portrayed all this in his 
 eulogy upon the Honorable Solomon Foot, a 
 Senator from Vermont, who died in iS66, and 
 whom he respected and loved. 
 
7 
 
 From his place in the Senate Chamber he 
 
 then said: 
 
 "When, Mr. President, a man, however emi- 
 nent in other pnrsnits and whatever claims he 
 may ha\-e to public confidence, becomes a mem- 
 ber of this body, he has ninch to learn and much 
 to endure. Little does he know of what he will 
 have to encounter. He may be well read in pub- 
 lic affairs, but he is unaware of the difftculties 
 which must attend and embarrass every effort to 
 render what he may know a^■ailable and useful. 
 He may be upright in purpose and strong in the 
 belief of his own integrity-, but he can not even 
 dream of the ordeal to which he can not fail to 
 be exposed; of how nnich courage he must pos- 
 sess to resist the temptations which daily l)eset 
 him; of that sensitive shrinking from unde- 
 served censure which he must learn to control ; 
 of the ever-recurring contest between a natural 
 desire for public approbation and a sense of pub- 
 lic duty; of the load of injustice he must be con- 
 tent to bear even from those who should be his 
 friends; the imputations on his motives; the 
 sneers and sarcasms of ignorance and malice; 
 
8 
 
 all the manifold injuries which partisan or pri- 
 vate nialignit}- disappointed of its object may 
 shower upon his unprotected head. All this, 
 if he would retain his integrity, he must learn 
 to bear unmoved and walk steadily onward in 
 the path of public duty, sustained onl}' b}- the 
 rei^ection that time may do him justice; or, if 
 not, that his individual hopes and aspirations 
 and even his name among men should be of lit- 
 tle account to him when weighed in the balance 
 against the welfare of a people of whose destiny 
 he is a constituted guardian and defender." 
 
 As I read these words the form of the dead 
 statesman rises before me ; I behold him in his 
 place in the Senate Chamber presenting the 
 matured result of his thought and investiga- 
 tion, or casting his vote uninfluenced by any 
 consideration whether he was for the time in 
 the majority or minorit}-; or again I listen to 
 his ^■oice, when, besieged h\ importunate sup- 
 plicants for political influence or political place, 
 his stern rebuke broke down the brazen front 
 of the man who sought to put his own advance- 
 ment higher than the good of the public sen-- 
 
9 
 
 vice; and when I interpret this loftiness by the 
 light of the words which he uttered at the grave 
 . of the friend whom he loved, I know that he was 
 not jnst because his natnre was cold and that 
 he did not hate deniagognes because he had no 
 sympathy with the people, bnt that his ideal of 
 the Senator was so high and he so loyally strove 
 to reach it that his course carried him over all 
 the pain and heart-sickness which he often felt 
 when the people mnrmnred and friends grew 
 estranged. 
 
 But he went in quest of no popularitv that 
 had to be bought by timeserving, and never 
 kept himself before the people by eccentric 
 courses and dangerous experiments in legisla- 
 tion. It was not of such as he that Dryden 
 wrote — . 
 
 A daring pilot in extremity; 
 
 Pleas'd with the danger, when the waves went hisjh 
 He sought the storms, but for a calm unfit 
 Would steer too nigh the sands to boast his wit. 
 
 He had no such ambition for leadership that 
 for its sake he would bring the Republic nigh 
 to final shipwreck. 
 
lO 
 
 Mr. Speaker, our own State mourns an hon- 
 ored son and. the nation has lost a tried and 
 faithful public servant. Those who have for 
 years taken part in our National Government 
 will miss the leader who was yet the comrade 
 in this, that he took upon himself his full share 
 of the burden and work of the day. 
 
 But to the young men who are just entering 
 public life the deprivation is even greater. 
 That life, with its temptations and seducements, 
 is all before us. There are tricks and shams 
 and intimidations that are set as pitfalls in oiir 
 paths. With much that is noble and inspiring 
 about us, there are manifold inclinations to sloth, 
 to fickleness, and it may be to corruption. 
 Who can tell whether he has not alread_y set 
 his feet in the way that leads down to moral 
 death ? 
 
 We need the tones of that voice which never 
 directed the coward's retreat, the splendid calm 
 of that clear face which kept its serenity when 
 the battle around liim was at its thickest; we 
 need the actual sight of and association with him 
 and all such as he was, who by example and 
 
II 
 
 precept elevate our aims, establish tmr character, 
 and make us truly public servants for 'the 
 public good. And for him who, connected with 
 public affairs, seeks to build up an honorable 
 reputation, what better course can be given than 
 to emulate the steadfastness, the sobrietv, the 
 justice of William Pitt Fessenden? 
 
SAMUEL F. HERSEY. 
 
 In the Holl^c of Kcpresentatives, Ft-bruary 20, 1S75. 
 
 Mr. Speaker: We are but five in this House 
 from the State of Maine when all are present, 
 and one of our number has been taken away by 
 death. Hon. SA^irEL FrEEM.\n Hersev, who 
 represented the Fourth district of Maine in this 
 Congress, died at his home in Bangor on the 
 third day of this month. The fatal disease that 
 at last ended in death fastened upon him many 
 months ago and broke down the physical strength 
 which had been marked in his previous life. It 
 interfered seriously with his duties in the last 
 session of this Congress, driving him from the 
 Capitol in the late winter months after he had 
 resolutely fought its approaches, turned his home 
 durnig the summer and fall into a house of 
 sickness, and inexorably forbade any attempt 
 
to share in the labors and duties of the present 
 session. 
 
 The resolute will of my late colleague and 
 friend was so noticeable a feature in his char- 
 acter that I shall be well borne out by those 
 who knew him best in saying that nothing less 
 than the painful disease under which he suffered 
 could have kept him away from the post to 
 which a trusting people had called him. As I 
 remember him and recall an acquaintance of 
 many years, there arises before me no instance 
 when he shrank from a duty laid upon him. 
 
 General Hersey was born in Sumner, in the 
 county of Oxford and State of Maine, on the 
 22d of April, 1812. He came from Revolution- 
 ary stock, his maternal grandfather having 
 been an ofificer in the war for independence; 
 and he was reared in that best school for early 
 boyhood which the New England fireside, hill- 
 side, and schoolhouse furnish. \\'hen at the 
 age of 21 he entered upon mercantile business 
 for himself, he had secured the good education 
 that the district school and the county academy 
 afforded, and was well fitted to enter into the 
 
15 
 
 conflict of active life. In business he almost 
 always prospered, increasing his ventures and 
 his gains from year to year, and latterly extend- 
 ing his operations into ]\Iinnesota, Wiscon- 
 sin, and other Northwestern States. He was 
 prompt and energetic in affairs, honest and con- 
 scientious in his dealings, and, as his fortune 
 increased, gave liberallj- of his store. 
 
 He was always trusted by the people among 
 whom he lived, representing the town of Mil- 
 ford in the lower house of the Maine legislature 
 in 1S42, and the city of Bangor, to which he 
 afterward renio\-ed, in one branch or the other 
 of the State legislature in 1S57, 1865, 1867, and 
 1869, besides serving for some years as a mem- 
 ber of the executive council. 
 
 After filling other important State offices, he 
 was first elected to this House in September, 
 1S72, and was reelected in 1874. From partici- 
 pation in what promised to be the stirring scenes 
 of the Forty-fourth Congress he has been cut oft". 
 Had he lived, his position must always have 
 been clearly defined. His was never a haltine 
 or doubtful course. His religious and political 
 
i6 
 
 beliefs were a part of his life; and he accepted 
 the consequences of those beliefs boldly. 
 
 This positiveness of character led him not to 
 fear antagonism ; but his kindness of heart raised 
 up friends and prevented lifelong enmities. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, our deceased colleague will be 
 greatly missed in our own State, where he has 
 been for years a prominent citizen. To his 
 neighbors and friends the loss will come nearer; 
 to his family it can never be repaired. On this 
 floor those who knew him during the brief 
 weeks that he was in attendance know that 
 this House has lost an honest, useful member. 
 
 But awful as is the coming of death, and 
 sobering as must be its contemplation, the way 
 along: which a human life is sometimes led to it 
 is so beset with suffering and agony that to our 
 limited vision the final summons must then 
 seem more like a relief than a doom. 
 
 General Hersey's disease was severe and 
 protracted. It never broke down his mind or 
 his spirit, but it wasted his body and racked 
 him with pain such as few men, fortunately, 
 are ever called to endure. It was incurable, 
 
17 
 
 and at last he sank under it. But he died in 
 his own house, with his wife and children about 
 him, and loving hands smoothed his winter 
 shroud. Thinking of how vexed had been his 
 last days and how peaceful was his death, who 
 will not ask with vSpenser — 
 
 Is not short pain well Ijorne that brings long ease 
 And lays the .soul to rest in quiet grave ? 
 Sleep after toil, port after .stormy seas, 
 Peace after war, death after life doth .sometimes greatly 
 please. 
 
 Mr. vSpeaker, I move the following resolu- 
 tions : 
 
 Rcsolz'cd, That this House has heard with 
 deep regret the death of Hon. Samuel F. Her- 
 SEV, a member of this House from the vState of 
 Maine. 
 
 Rcsoli'cd, That as a testimonial of respect to 
 the memory of the deceased the officers and 
 members of this House will wear the usual 
 badge of mourning for the space of thirt\- davs. 
 
 R('st>/i'f(/, That a copy of these resolutions be 
 transmitted by the Clerk to the faniih- of the 
 deceased. 
 
HENRY H. STARKWFATHHR. 
 
 In Che House of Representatives.. February za. iK;^. 
 
 Mr. SpeakKr: From the day when I first 
 entered this House, seven years ago, the de- 
 ceased member and I have been thrown much 
 together. We both served upon the Committee 
 on Naval Affairs in the Forty-first Congress, 
 and during all the arduous labors of the Com- 
 mittee on Appropriations for the Forty-third 
 Congress we sat at the same table, engaged in 
 the same work. Still later (and this recollec- 
 tion summons his face before me in clear relief) 
 he .sat next on my right in the chair which is 
 to-day vacant ; and so it came about that I knew 
 him well — were it not for that fine reserve which 
 was a feature of his character, I should say 
 intimately. 
 
 Like other gentlemen who have served with 
 him on committees, I learned to value Mr. 
 
 "9 
 
20 
 
 Starkweather for the faithful sen-ices that 
 he brought to every duty laid upon him and 
 for the clear judgment that he displayed in 
 oftentimes conilicting national, sectional, and 
 political interests. Through it all he was hon- 
 est and earnest of purpose; and though by no 
 means an aggressive man in temper, he was 
 effective and spirited in maintaining his views, 
 and if ever assailed in any manner reflecting 
 on the consistency of his political course, he 
 always showed that he was amply capable of 
 taking care of himself. 
 
 He has left this presence where not a few 
 still remain who have served with him, and 
 among them all I venture to say there is not 
 one who does not feel that he was honest, capa- 
 ble, and faithful. 
 
 His constituents appreciated this high char- 
 acter, and manifested their appreciation by re- 
 peated returns. It is no common thing, either 
 in Connecticut or in any State, for a member of 
 this House to be returned here at five successive 
 elections. Few higher honors ever fall upon 
 an American citizen. From some acquaintance 
 
31 
 
 with his constituents I have been impressed 
 with the belief that their confidence in him lias 
 been for ten years a growing and not a waning 
 sentiment. 
 
 Like man}' of our public men, Mr. STARK- 
 WEATHER ga\-e his best years to the service of 
 his country, and died a poor man ; but he has 
 left to his dear wife and children that precious 
 legacy, a good name and the memory of a well- 
 spent life. 
 
 Upon this floor we have all seen him, atten- 
 tive and watchful ; in the committee rooms of 
 this Capitol, where is molded the legislation of 
 forty millions of people, some of us haxe sat b}' 
 him, and have been benefited by his coun.sels. 
 
 The years of his public service have come 
 and have gone. They failed not with him, as 
 they fail not with most of us, to deepen the 
 unseen burdens of mortality and to sap the 
 strength with which we resist the common decay. 
 But out of it all Mr. vStarkweather brought 
 none or little of the accumulations for which 
 many men in other walks barter health, honor, 
 and life. 
 
22 
 
 He was content to do well liis duty, and the 
 recollection of his patient life and the ■ protec- 
 tion of a kind Creator and Father will; I know, 
 raise up friends for those who were dependent 
 upon him and who are well-nigh heartbroken 
 at his loss. 
 
 Listening the other day to the deep and 
 fervent words which he had written for an 
 occasion like this, in memory of his deceased 
 friend, the late Senator from Connecticut, in 
 which in rapt language he prefigured the soul's 
 relation to the illimitable future and also look- 
 ing back, as I now do, to the incidents and 
 observations of everyday life, which are apt 
 to elude us until after our friends are taken 
 from us, I am impressed with the belief that 
 Mr. Starkweather carried with him, as a 
 constant presence, the conviction that death 
 might at any time come to him. He was never, 
 or at least not for years, what might be called 
 a well man. Lassitude, weakness, illness, all 
 conspired to drag him down. Against these 
 he always made an uncomplaining and manly 
 resistance, and notwithstanding them wrought 
 
2 3 
 
 out a life of useful deeds such as few meu cau 
 ever compass. 
 
 But, Mr. Speaker, what struggles aud mis- 
 givings the watches of the night, could they be 
 laid bare, might show to us we can never know. 
 There are no such heroic combats as these silent, 
 solitary ones with the relentless foe that at last 
 occupies all human fields. The ordinary con- 
 flicts of human life sink into littleness beside 
 them. To know that the destroyer has made 
 his lodgment, and that whatsoever may be the 
 tic that binds us to life — the allurements to 
 public station, the charm of love and friendship, 
 the laughter and confidence of little children — 
 he will yet give us but little notice, is what, 
 with most men, breaks down courage and pal- 
 sies every effort. Thinking of such a conflict, 
 and believing as I do that our friend waged it, 
 I recall the words of Thackeray upon another 
 of life's lost battles: 
 
 The thought of it smites me down in humble 
 submission before the Ruler of Kings and Men, 
 the Monarch Supreme, the Inscrutable Dis- 
 penser of life, death, happiness, victory. 
 
24 
 
 He who left lis was no recreant here. He 
 succumbed onl}* when the hand could be no 
 more upraised and the asserting will failed for- 
 ever. But he has left with us the memory of 
 the cheerful companion, the good friend, the 
 honest, faithful public servant. 
 
AMBROSE E. BURNSIDE. 
 
 la tlie Senate of the United States. January ^3, 1SS2. 
 
 ]Mr. President: It would not be fitting for 
 me in the little time which I shall take to 
 attempt to speak of the public life and sen-ices 
 of General BuRNSiDE. I could add nothing 
 to Senator Anthony's portrayal. 
 
 But since General Burxside came into the 
 Senate it has been my good fortune to know 
 him well and to see much of him, and I desire 
 to say a few words in token of the regard which 
 I felt for him living and the tender memory 
 which I bear for him now that he is gone. 
 
 That memory recalls him as a man who out 
 of years of activity and sometimes of awful con- 
 flict brought a nature of exceeding purity and 
 sweetness. 
 
 His education was a military one. In his 
 
26 
 
 youth he took part in the war which the Re- 
 public waged against Mexico. 
 
 His active participation in our last and 
 greatest of wars is a part of the histor}^ of the 
 countr}'. 
 
 He was brought face to face with suffering 
 and pain and death, and must have learned to 
 look upon these as everyday incidents. He 
 beheld as a near spectator the most tremendous 
 European conflict of the century. But war 
 never roughened nor hardened him. 
 
 Some of us who never knew him until the 
 long ease which peace brings after war had set 
 in found him intrepid and fearless, it is true, 
 as Bunyan's Greatheart, but magnanimous, 
 gentle, and tender as the blameless king, the 
 head of the Round Table. Nor did changed 
 fortune or hard fate have power to warp his 
 spirit. 
 
 In the great war of the rebellion he com- 
 manded our first happy and successful expedi- 
 tion, and later his name was associated with an 
 army corps whose fortunes he led, sometimes to 
 the heights of victory, sometimes into the sad 
 
27 
 
 valley of defeat. His coininand of our greatest 
 army was not fortunate, aud the fact that it was 
 imposed on him with no willing consent on his 
 part, and that events compelled him to lay it 
 down after a great disaster, might have embit- 
 tered a less generous nature. 
 
 In General Burnside's heart no room was 
 ever found for bitterness or jealousy or envy. 
 "An unexhausted kindliness glowed like daily 
 sunrise there." 
 
 Side by side with this softer part of character 
 his strength of spirit always asserted itself, and 
 made him the most manly and fearless of men. 
 
 Time and again I have seen him endure a 
 test more to be dreaded by a sensitive nature 
 than the facing of armed men or the fire of 
 converging batteries — the standing alone and 
 maintaining the cause of an absent and unpop- 
 ular friend when clamorous voices told him too 
 plainly how absolutely he was alone. 
 
 On such a field General BfRXSiDK would not 
 even draw ofT into the refuge of silence. 
 
 He was a friend worth ha\-ing, and it will be 
 long before men will cease to sigh or women 
 
28 
 
 to weep because they go their ways withoiit 
 him. 
 
 Standing here in the place which he left va- 
 cant, I realize how much better we should be 
 if he were still a moving, living form among us, 
 how great was our loss in his removal. 
 
RICHARD W. TOWNSHEND. 
 
 In the Senate of the Inited States. March 14. iS()o. 
 
 Mr. President: IVIy acquaintance with Mr. 
 TowNSHEND began with the Forty-fiftli Con- 
 gress, in the House of Representatives, of whicli 
 he and I were then members. 
 
 He was new in service and j-oung in years 
 for the House, but he soon attracted my atten- 
 tion, as he did that of other old members ; and he 
 immediately made friends tliere, who afterwards 
 watched with satisfaction liis constant increase 
 in power and influence in that body. 
 
 His mental and physical organization was 
 
 such that, while he was usually clear and direct 
 
 and persistent in his coiirse upon subjects where 
 
 he took special interest in legislation, his nature 
 
 was so affectionate and his ways were so pleasant 
 
 that all who were associated with him felt an 
 
 interest in his success. 
 
 29 
 
3° 
 
 He had both boldness and ambition, and these 
 pushed him on ; but he constantly increased in 
 mental stature, and whenever I met him I was 
 impressed with the growth in the reach of his 
 mind. 
 
 His industry was so patent that all who have 
 spoken of him have made mention of it; and 
 in the great work which the House of Repre- 
 sentatives performs he bore a more and more 
 conspicuous part. His service upon important 
 committees there shows the estimation in which 
 he was held, and the people whom he served 
 attested their confidence in him by giving him 
 what few men have ever had in this country — 
 seven successive elections. 
 
 I can well believe that sadness pervaded his 
 district, Mr. President, when the people heard of 
 their great loss and knew that the man who had 
 so faithfully and ably represented them had been 
 cut down in his prime. 
 
 To all appearances, one month before his death 
 Mr. ToWNSHEND might count upon a most envi- 
 able future piiblic life. He had an admiring, 
 unquestioning constituency. He had laid broad 
 
31 
 and deep the foundations for wide influence in 
 Congress. He was a man of the people and 
 trusted by the people. He had filled his mind 
 with special knowledge derived from a close 
 study of social, economic, and financial questions, 
 and had broadened it by wide general reading. 
 To the ordinary view, few men had better prom- 
 ise of a far-reaching political career, crowned 
 with the Republic's higher honors; but no man, 
 Mr. President, with whatever "eagle eyes" he 
 may "stare" at the ocean of the future, can tell 
 when his voyage there may be interrupted. He 
 of whom we speak to-day was suddenly snatched 
 from his high vantage ground, and in what we 
 call his untimely eclipse went out whatever 
 there might have been for him otherwise of 
 honor or glory to come. "He only heard 
 Fame's thunders wake." 
 
 His friends love to think of him and his 
 genial ways and kindly deeds. Those nearest 
 and dearest to him will never lose the sad pleas- 
 ure which comes from the recollection of scenes 
 brightened by love. 
 
 All of us who met him here in public or pri- 
 
32 
 
 \ate life, especially the members, of that great 
 body where he took so active a part, will miss 
 him long, and long regret him. During the 
 fourteen years over which my acquaintance 
 \\ith Mr. TowNSHEND extended every incident 
 of our intercourse has left with me nothing but 
 pleasant memories, and my brief tribute to his 
 merit is most sincerely given. 
 
JAMES B. BECK. 
 
 Id tho Senate wf the United States, August 23. iS«}o. 
 
 Mr. President: The life of the kite Senator 
 from Kentuck}- has been so well portrayed here, 
 and his character has been so finely delineated, 
 that there is no need for me to dwell npon them, 
 and I shall content myself with a very brief, 
 nnaffected tribnte to a man who always com- 
 manded my respect and had "gained my personal 
 regard and affection. 
 
 I first knew ^Ir. Beck dnring his service and 
 mine in the Honse of Representatives, where 
 he was then a most prominent actor on his side 
 of the Chamber, and where he manifested the 
 same earnestness and vigor which afterwards 
 marked his life here. That acqnaintance, I am 
 glad to say, ripened into a friendship, when I 
 came into the Senate, the memory of which I 
 3 33 
 
34 
 
 shall always carefull}' and fondly cherish. I do 
 not, in going back over these years, bring np a 
 single incident of onr acquaintance which does 
 not carr}' with it the most pleasing of recollec- 
 tions. 
 
 During all the time that I have been a mem- 
 ber of this body up to the day of the death 
 of Senator Beck he and I had what is known 
 in the Senate as a "general pair," and it was 
 characteristic of the frank and generous way 
 which he had of doing things that wheir the 
 agreement was made between us he said, "Let 
 either of us vote whenever he has a mind to," 
 and during all these years this relation, so 
 necessary in the business of the Senate both to 
 the body and to the individual, never rested as 
 a burden upon either of us ; neither ever ques- 
 tioned the vote of the other. 
 
 The State of Kentucky has sent very many 
 able men into public life. These men have 
 made her illustrious in war and peace. Some of 
 them have been sons of her soil, who were there 
 born and lived and died, and others have be- 
 taken themselves to the State and have made it 
 
35 
 their own and have helped to produce tlic Ken- 
 tucky of the past and the Kentucky of to-day. 
 But, IMr. President, among all these that State 
 has never found a truer, aliler, and more faithful 
 and efficient representative in public life than 
 this large-minded, hardheaded, genial-natured 
 Scotchman, who came an untried lad out from 
 the fields of old Dumfriesshire, and going to 
 Kentucky fought out his manly battle there for 
 preferment against all rivals in the State that 
 he had adopted and made his home. 
 
 From this training at home he came a well- 
 prepared man into Congress. His mind was 
 wide and large. Strong as he was npun the 
 special subjects to which he de\-oted great atten- 
 tion, he went far beyond these, and I have known 
 few Senators who were better up in what may 
 be called the business of the Senate than was 
 ]Mr. Beck. His memory was retentive. His 
 habit was formed upon the models of extreme 
 industry, and I think he was as well equipped 
 for general debate upon the subjects arising 
 here as any Senator whom I ha\-e known in my 
 service. 
 
36 
 
 All these things, Mr. President, we nionni 
 and miss ; we miss the rugged earnestness of the 
 Senator from Kentuck\'; we miss his aggres- 
 sive self-assertion; we miss his sharp retort; 
 we miss his red-handed foray into the territory 
 of every political foe; but missing them and 
 mourning them, we wish that he were here 
 to-day! We miss his genial nature, his wide, 
 broad, embracing friendship. We miss those 
 occasions when, work and business laid aside, 
 we met him at one place or another when the 
 hour was devoted to enjoyment, and where our 
 dear, lost friend was at his best, and then, Mr. 
 President, we know the aching void which 
 nothing can fill. 
 
 When JamEvS B. Beck left us, Mr. President, 
 we lost an able Senator, a true, high-minded 
 man, a character of loft}- integrity, a good 
 friend, the memory of whom time ma}- possibly 
 dim, but certainly, with me, can never efface. 
 
ADMIRAL DAVID DIXON PORTER. 
 
 In tlu- Senate nf tlu- United States, February i,i, i8ql 
 
 Mr. President: All the history of the Eng- 
 Hsh-.speaking people has been illustrated by 
 the exploits of great commanders who have 
 fought upon the seas. In the annals of Great 
 Britain there ha\-e been no names which have 
 awakened popular enthusiasm like those of the 
 naval chieftains who fought England's battles 
 against her foes upon the great deep. It is 
 doubtful whether the Eno-land of the eieht- 
 eenth and nineteenth centuries was ever elec- 
 trified b}- the deeds of anv of her high com- 
 manders — Wellington, the highest of all, upon 
 the land — as she was bv the victories of Nelson ; 
 and the names of her admirals are set high 
 in her lists of glory — Nelson himself and Jervis 
 and Rodney and Collingwood 
 
 37 
 
38 
 
 Mr. Plxtmr. And Drake. 
 
 Mr. Halk. Not to go back to that period which 
 is suggested b}' the Senator from Kansas — the 
 times of Drake and Grenville and Hawkins, who 
 won the greatest of sea fights with little ships 
 not larger than the coasting schooners of to-day. 
 
 This pride in the Navy and this interest in 
 conflicts fought upon the waters was brought to 
 America by our ancestors, and our people have 
 shown it in every crisis when war has come upon 
 our horizon. It was so in the American Revo- 
 lution. It was so emphatically in 1812 in the 
 war with Great Britain. 
 
 The pictures covering the first half of the 
 present century that will be found in the 
 houses of the American people of the command- 
 ers who in war have maintained the flag show- 
 to us the faces of Perr^- and ]\Iacdonough and 
 Hull and Bainbridge and Decatur and the elder 
 Porter, and in that tremendous conflict which 
 raged in this country covering the 3'ears of 
 what we call the civil war, while the commands 
 of the naval officers were small as compared 
 with those of tlie generals who fought upon the 
 
39 
 
 land, vet every American heart beats responsive 
 to the glorions deeds performed in our Na\-y 
 under the great captains who led it. 
 
 Mr. President, thev are now nearl}- all gone — 
 Farragut, Du Pont, Rowan, Foote, Dahlgren, 
 Winslow, and others, not to name those who 
 are living. Among these men Admiral PoRTKR 
 ranked as of the highest. No difficultv ever 
 appalled him; no consultation in which PoRTKR 
 was engaged ever had but one result, and that 
 was to fight a battle. His resources were amaz- 
 ing; his courage was of the very highest order, 
 and where he led \-ictorv followed. 
 
 I think, Air. President, that Admiral PoRTER 
 was almost the onh- survivor of those who held 
 independent commands during the war upon 
 the sea. Rear Admiral Worden being the only 
 other who comes now to m\ mind. We have 
 not seen the Admiral much of late, but those 
 of us who knew him well in the years past 
 never failed to be impressed by him. We shall 
 miss that alert, earnest, communicative pres- 
 ence; we shall miss the reminiscent faculty 
 which Admiral PoRTKR to a great extent po.s- 
 
40 
 
 sessed, and, missing him and calling np his 
 well-earned fame, we can wish that the glory 
 which was his may be emulated and won by 
 worthy successors in the American Navy. 
 
 Mr. President, in token of our appreciation of 
 the character of him who has gone, of the loss 
 which the country has sustained, and of our 
 deep S3anpathy with those who are nearest and 
 most bereaved, I move that the Senate do now 
 adjourn. 
 
PRESTON B. PLUMB. 
 
 In tUc Sfnatc of the United States, February i». iHitz. 
 
 Mr. President: After all that has been so 
 well said, I can only speak of the late Senator 
 from Kansas as we saw him here. When he 
 died this body lost one of its ablest members. 
 Wherever Mr. Plumb was he made himself felt, 
 and this floor afforded a fitting arena for the 
 display of his great abilities. Few important 
 measnres in the past fifteen years have become 
 laws without the help of his forming hand. 
 Few schemes of doubtful wisdom have gone to 
 their grave without being assisted thereto by 
 him. His activity and energy were immense, 
 and his investigation and reflection covered the 
 widest range of subjects. His ser^•ice upon 
 important committees was so faithful that when- 
 ever a meeting was called it found him present, 
 prepared and ready for work. He made this 
 
 41 
 
42 
 
 his business, and if he had doubts to raise and 
 objections to urge these were first brought for- 
 ward in the committee room. He was in this 
 respect an example whom we will do well to 
 follow. 
 
 On this floor he never championed a measure 
 without first studying it from all sides, and no 
 man here could maintain his cause better than 
 Mr. Plumb. He was by nature aggressiA-e, and 
 I think all of us felt that we were undertaking 
 a dangerous business when we opposed him, 
 and that we needed to be armed and equipped 
 most completely, else our discomfiture would 
 be certain, inevitable. He scrutinized closeU' 
 all important bills, and whenever, as the result 
 of such scrutiny, he became the assailant, the 
 Senator who had charge of the bill so assailed 
 needed to have all his wits about him if he 
 would save his measure. 
 
 Not a few of us have felt keenly wounds 
 received in encounter with Mr. Plumb; but 
 however sharply we may have differed with 
 him, I think we have all felt that the warfare 
 was honorable, and that in the thrust and parry 
 
43 
 of debate the deceased Senator was a fair and 
 oftentimes generous antagonist. He could not 
 help being positive. His whole life, from boy- 
 hood, had been active, earnest, and, whenever 
 the need arose, belligerent. 
 
 His colleague, in a eulogy which T have never 
 seen surpassed here, and which seemed to me 
 to be a model for such an occasion as this, has 
 told us the most interesting story of that life, 
 built up as it was by never-ceasing activity and 
 effort. None of his successes were accidental; 
 all his great triumphs were hardly earned. The 
 people of a great vState loved and honored him 
 and placed unqualified trust in him. The people 
 of a greater nation were coming to know him 
 and to properly estimate him, and he was at his 
 best when death knocked at his door and would 
 have entrance. Longer service here would have 
 made his public life of still greater value, for 
 he was -growing every day; but this was not 
 
 to be. 
 
 His social side was of the kind that makes 
 it pleasant to recall. His attachments were 
 strong, he loved to be with his friends, and in 
 
44 
 
 every company where he was found he added 
 to the sum of enjoyment. He was a liberal 
 giver, and in the many drafts which I have 
 known made upon his generosity I do not recall 
 one which he did not honor, and those who 
 knew him best will long remember the unpro- 
 claimed charities which beflowered his pathway 
 all through life. 
 
 Our deceased colleague, Mr. President, wore 
 himself out before his time. He hardly knew 
 the meaning of the word rest. No man here 
 put as many working hours into each day as 
 he, and his work was always done at highest 
 pressure. He had no idle moments. He was 
 constantly investigating, reading, and thinking, 
 and so it came about that, at an age when the 
 best part of his life ought to have been before 
 him, all the machinery of his being suddenl}- 
 stopped ; it could run no longer. His work was 
 done, although much is left to do in which he, 
 as we look at it, ought to have a part. 
 
 This great body has never too much of the 
 earnestness, the assiduit}', the experience which 
 Mr. Plumb furnished to its ser^dce. 
 
 LofC. 
 
45 
 
 The Senate, though it is beyond the constant 
 fluctuations which are a feature of the other 
 branch of the National Legislature, is yet a 
 greatly shifting assembly. Mr. Plumb, at the 
 time of his death, had been a Senator for almost 
 fifteen years. There are l)Ut seven who have 
 seen longer continuous service. They are Sen- 
 ators Morrill, Sherman, Ransom, Allison, Jones 
 of Nevada, Dawes, and Cockrell. Six others 
 took seats in this Chamber at the same time 
 with Mr. Plumi!. All the rest of us, .seventy- 
 five in all, are, comparatively speaking, new 
 Senators. 
 
 Mr. President, the old landmarks here are 
 disappearing. Death, withdrawal, the nnitation 
 of politics, eat them away. Now an oak in the 
 forest has fallen. Which of us, as we look at 
 that seat which he held so long, does not, 
 through memor^v's vista, behold that rugged 
 front, that aggressive presence, that intrepid, 
 ruthless combatant? And which of us, seeing 
 that he is not there, does not feel that in his 
 eclipse there has passed from sight a most 
 conspicuous figure of the United States Senate? 
 
JAMFS G. BLAINE. 
 
 In the Senate i>t' tbc United States. January 27, iSg^ 
 
 I\Ir. President : We are again summoned 
 into the presence of death. A very great man 
 has passed from this earth. Hon. J.ames G. 
 Blaixe died in his house in this city at 11 
 o'clock this morning. His long illness had in 
 some measure prepared us for this, but the 
 dread eyent will carry .sadness and mourning 
 throughout all the United vStates, and will 
 awaken interest and sorrow whereyer ciyilized 
 man liyes on the face of the globe. 
 
 Mr. Bl.vixe'.s career was so remarkable and 
 his public services were so great that in all the 
 histories which may be written of his time he 
 will stand as a central figure, not onh- as to his 
 own country, but upon policies and subjects that 
 affected other great nations. 
 
48 
 
 He belonged, Tvlr. President, not to any State, 
 but to all the country. Pennsylvania, which 
 gave him birthplace and nurtured him, and 
 Maine, where he made his home and where he 
 became her first citizen and where his lap was 
 filled with all the honors the State could bestow, 
 mourn him no more to-day than the dwellers by 
 the shores of the great Gulf and in the cabins 
 of the far Sierras. 
 
 It is no time or place for me to speak in detail 
 of his distinguished public life. He was for years 
 a leading member upon the floor of the House of 
 Representatives, and for six years presided there 
 as its Speaker. His service in this Chamber 
 covered busy years. He was twice Secretary of 
 State, and until of late a member of the present 
 Administration. 
 
 I do not think there is one Senator here who 
 will not deem it fitting, in view of this, and that 
 he died where his last eastward look from his 
 chamber window might embrace this Capitol 
 where his voice had been so many times heard, 
 that we make a precedent at this time, if there 
 is none already, and that, notwithstanding Mr. 
 
49 
 
 Blaixe at the time of his death was a pri- 
 vate citi/.en, this body take an immediate ad- 
 joiiniment. 
 4 
 
 O 
 
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