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5IST Congress, 1 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. ( Mis. Dc 
 ist Session, j _ !__ 
 
 MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 
 
 LIFE AND CHARACTER 
 
 RICHARD W. TOWNSHEND, 
 
 A REPRESENTATIVE FROM ILLINOIS, 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE 
 
 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND IN THE SENATE, 
 
 FIFTY-FIRST CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF CONGRESS. 
 
 WASHINGTON: 
 
 GOVERNMENT PRINTING Ol'KIC E 
 
 189O. 
 
Joint resolution to provide for printing the eulogies delivered in Congress 
 upon the late RICHARD W. TowxsHEND. 
 
 Resolved by the Senate and lions,- of Representatives of tin- United 
 States of America in Congress assembled, That there be printed of the 
 eulogies delivered in Congress upon the late Richard W. Townshend, 
 a Representative in the Fifty-first Congress from the State of Illinois, 
 twenty-five thousand copies,of which six thousand copies shall be for 
 the use of the Senate and nineteen thousand copies shall be for the use 
 of the House of Representatives: and that the Secretary of the Treasury 
 he. and lie is hereby, directed to have printed a portrait of said RICHARD 
 W. Townshend to accompany said eulogies; and for t lie purpose of en- 
 graving and printing said portrait the sum of one thousand dollars, or so- 
 much thereof as may he necessary, is hereby appropriated out of any 
 money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated. That of the quota to 
 the House of Representatives the Public Printer shall have fifty copies 
 bound in full morocco with gilt edges for the use of the widow of fch< 
 deceased. 
 
 Approved. June 5, 1890. 
 
PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 
 
 ANNOUNCEMENT OF DEATH. 
 
 December 18, 1889. 
 
 Mr. Williams, of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I rise to per- 
 form the sad duty of announcing to this House the death of 
 my distinguished friend and predecessor, Hon. Richard W. 
 Townshend, late a Representative from the State of Illinois. 
 Mr. Townshend died at the Riggs House, in this city, on 
 the 9th of March last. I now send to the desk resolutions I 
 desire adopted. At some future time I shall ask an oppor- 
 tunity for members to express their tribute of respect to the 
 memory of the deceased. 
 
 The Clerk read as follows: 
 
 Resolved, That this House has heard with profound sorrow the an- 
 nouncement of the death of Hon. Richard W. Townshend, late a Rep- 
 resentative from the State of Illinois. 
 
 That in the death of Mr. Townshend the country lost a patriotic citi- 
 zen and the people a faithful public servant. 
 
 That the Clerk transmit a copy of these resolutions to the family of the 
 deceased and communicate the same to the Senate. 
 
 That as further mark of respect to the memory of the deceased the 
 House do now adjourn. 
 
 The Speaker. The Chair will put the question on the 
 several resolutions. 
 
 The resolutions were unanimously adopted. 
 
Address of Mr. Williams, of Illinois, on the 
 
 EULOGIES. 
 
 February 15, 1890. 
 
 Mr. Williams, of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I desire to pre- 
 sent resolutions, which I send to the desk, and ask their 
 adoption at the conclusion of the ceremonies fixed for to-day. 
 
 The Clerk read as follows: 
 
 Resolved, That the business of the House be now suspended, that appro- 
 priate honors may be paid to the memory of Hon. Richard Wellington 
 Townshend, late a Representative in Congress from the State of Illinois. 
 
 That in the death of Mr. Townshend his district and State lost an able 
 and faithful public servant and the country a legislator and statesman 
 who stood high in its councils. 
 
 That as a further mark of respect to the memory of the deceased, the 
 House, at the conclusion of these ceremonies, shall adjourn. 
 
 That the Clerk transmit a copy of these resolutions to the Senate. 
 
 ADDRESS OF MR. WILLIAMS, OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Mr. Speaker: These resolutions arc presented for the 
 consideration of this House, that we may pause in our legis- 
 lative proceedings and pay a proper tribute of respect to the 
 memory of the deceased. So frequently has the messenger 
 »f death called for members of the present Congress that we 
 are more deeply than ever impressed with the thought thai 
 the paths of glory lead Inn to the grave. Among those 
 ilius summoned from their high positions <>r public trust 
 during this short period appears the illustrious name of my 
 worthy predecessor, Hon. Richard Wellington Town- 
 shend. late a distinguished Representative from the Nine- 
 
Life and Character of Richard IV. Townshend. 5 
 
 teenth district of Illinois. Mr. Townshend, after a brief 
 illness, died at the Riggs House in this city on the 9th of 
 March last,-leaving his wife, a daughter, and a son to mourn 
 the irreparable loss. 
 
 Although a stranger upon this floor, I feel that I would be 
 untrue to the people I have the honor to represent should 
 I fail to rise and record their high appreciation of Mr. 
 Townshend as their neighbor, their friend, and Represent- 
 ative in Congress. Mr. Townshend was born in Prince 
 George's County, Md., on the 30th of April, 1840, came to 
 the city of Washington at the age of ten years, and was 
 here educated at public and private schools. While serving 
 as a page in this House he made the acquaintance of Judge 
 Samuel S. Marshall, then a prominent member of Congress 
 from the State of Illinois, and who afterward proved to be 
 a very dear and valuable friend to Mr. Townshend. 
 
 Judge Marshall, attracted by the ability and energy of 
 young Townshend, induced him to go to Illinois, which he 
 did in 1858. After having taught school for a short time he 
 studied law in the office of Judge Marshall, at McLeans- 
 borough, was admitted to the bar. and soon began its prac- 
 tice. From 1863 to 1868 he was clerk of the circuit court of 
 Hamilton County; from 1868 to 1872 he was prosecuting 
 attorney for the twelfth judicial circuit of Illinois, embracing 
 nine counties, and it was in this position that he became so 
 well and favorably known throughout his district. He was 
 at once recognized as an able lawyer, an effective advocate, 
 and fearless prosecutor. So successful was he in his con- 
 victions that the criminals arraigned in his courts always 
 dreaded his presence before the jury. In 1864, 1865, 1874, 
 and 1875, he was a member of the Democratic State central 
 committee. 
 
 In 1872 he was a delegate to the Democratic national con- 
 
6 Addi'ess of Mr. Williams, of Illinois, on the 
 
 vention at Baltimore. In 1876 Mr. Townshend was elected 
 to the Forty-fifth Congress as a Democrat by a plurality of 
 nearly 4,000 votes, notwithstanding the Democratic nominee 
 two years previous had been defeated by an independent 
 candidate. He was reelected to the Forty-sixth, Forty- 
 seventh, Forty-eighth, Forty-ninth, Fiftieth, and Fifty- 
 first Congresses. Thus did the page and student of Judge 
 Marshall soon become his worthy successor at this 
 Capital. 
 
 Mr. Townshend brought to his duties in this House that 
 same integrity, energy, and courage so conspicuous in all 
 his official life. While others may have been more able and 
 prominent in the legislation of this body, none were more 
 honest, none were more industrious, none were more faith- 
 ful in the discharge of their duty as public servants than 
 Mr. Townshend. 
 
 But I leave it to those who were associated with him in 
 this Chamber to speak more fully of his services as a na- 
 tional legislator. As one fresh from his district, I wish to 
 assure his brothers in this House of the high regard in 
 which he was held by those people to whom he had given so 
 many years of useful service. They found in him many 
 noble attributes to admire and remember. In his great 
 kindness and gratitude to his constituents how often he 
 went outside the ordinary province of a Representative to 
 serve their private interest. I doubt that there was ever a 
 Representative in this Hall who within the same length of 
 time did more real, hard service for his constituents than 
 Mr. Townshend. Nor do I believe thai any member was 
 ever nearer the hearts of the people he represented. No 
 Representative had more of the confidence and love of the 
 people of his own Congressional district than Mr. Town- 
 shend. And as an evidence of such regard his constituents 
 
Life and Character of Richard W. Townshend. 7 
 
 kept him in Congress for over twelve years by almost a 
 unanimous choice, and their deepest regret was that he could 
 not live to serve them longer in the place he had filled so 
 well. 
 
 His death was such a sudden and unexpected shock to his 
 constituents that they scarcely yet realize that he is gone, 
 that they shall see his friendly and familiar face no more 
 forever. Well do I remember that melancholy hour in 
 which his district received the sad news that Dick Town- 
 shend was dead; it brought a grief to every heart, a gloom 
 to every brow. His constituents in all parts of the district, 
 regardless of political sentiment, assembled in multitudes 
 to mourn the loss of a friend and Representative dear to them 
 all. And especially did the old soldiers weep in their deep 
 affliction, for they felt that in the death of Mr. Townshend 
 they had lost a true friend and tried champion, always re- 
 sponsive to their appeals, always liberal to their cause. 
 There was a common feeling throughout the district that 
 there was no one to take his place. The able and efficient 
 manner in which he had performed every duty in this high 
 office could only give additional embarrassment to his suc- 
 cessor in this new field of service. 
 
 Death is always an unwelcome messenger, but especially 
 when he calls from among us one so devoted to his family, 
 so attached to his friends, and so useful to his country. 
 
 How unfortunate for his constituents that he should be so 
 suddenly taken from their necessities at the very zenith of 
 his usefulness, and with what significance can we say, in the 
 language of another— 
 
 We expect the sun to go down in the evening; we expect the flower to 
 wither in the fall; we expect the stream to be frozen in the winter: but 
 that the sun should go down at noon, that the flower should wither in 
 the summer, that the stream of life should be frozen before the chill of 
 old age had come upon it, this is sad. 
 
8 Address of Mr. Williams, of Illinois, on the 
 
 But this is the case of our departed brother. At the merid- 
 ian of life, with a future full of promise, he was summoned 
 to his Master. 
 
 There is a lesson in the life of Mr. Townshend that ap- 
 peals to the ambitious young men of the country. At one 
 time a poor orphan page upon this floor, without any capital 
 save his young ambitious mind, westward he went his way 
 in search of wider fields for future glory, and by persistent 
 industry and a faithful adherence to public duty he soon 
 returned to this same Hall as one of its most useful mem- 
 bers. Let the pages of this House and the young men of 
 the country, with that same kind of pluck and energy, en- 
 deavor to follow so bright an example in whatever vocation 
 they may select, for — 
 
 The heights by great men reached and kept 
 
 Were not attained by sudden flight; 
 But they, while their companions slept, 
 
 Were toiling upward in the night. 
 
 In the death of Mr. Townshend his family lost a devoted 
 husband and a loving father, whose presence always made 
 In. me supremely happy; his neighbors, a kind and courteous 
 friend, whose warm heart and cordial hand t hey were always 
 glad to meet; his distrid and Stale, an able and industrious 
 Representative, who was true to every trust. 
 
 Upon the loss of such a husband, such a father, and such 
 a friend, how sweet is the thought that there is no death. 
 
 The stars go down 
 
 To rise upon some fairer shore; 
 And bright in I leaven's jeweled crown 
 
 They shine forever more. 
 
 Yes, Mr. Speaker, Mr. T<»\vnshend is gone; gone from 
 the glories of this life to tin- crowning glories of eternity; 
 gone from his seal in this Hall to a higher and happier seat 
 
Life and Character of Richard IV. Townshend. 9 
 
 in the halls of immortality, but his memory still lives and 
 will continue to live in the hearts of the people he repre- 
 sented so long, so faithfully, and so well. 
 
 ADDRESS OF MR. HOLMAN, OF INDIANA. 
 
 Mr. Speaker: I can not permit this occasion to pass with- 
 out adding my tribute of respect to the memory of Richard 
 W. Townshend and expressing my great esteem for his 
 virtues and worth as a man and of the value of his services 
 as a Representative of the people. I was not a member of 
 this House during the first two terms of his service. I first 
 became personally acquainted with Mr. Townshend at the 
 opening of the Forty-seventh Congress, although I had 
 known him well before that time by reputation. During 
 the sessions of the Forty-eighth and Forty-ninth Congresses 
 we were associated together on the Committee on Appropri- 
 ations, and during this period I became not only intimate 
 with Mr. Townshend. but we became warmly attached to 
 each other, and it is a great pleasure to me to remember 
 that that attachment and the kindly sentiment which ex- 
 isted between us continued uninterrupted during his life. 
 
 Mr. Townshend was in many respects a very remarkable 
 man. His energy, mental and physical, seemed inexhaust- 
 ible. He had at different times the control of very im- 
 portant bills under the jurisdiction of the Committee on 
 Appropriations, which, as chairman of subcommittees, he 
 managed on the floor of the House and on committees of 
 conference. He was painstaking, careful, and judicious in 
 the preparation of his bills. He became thoroughly con- 
 versant with all the details, and when he came upon the 
 
10 . iddress of Mr. Hohnan, of Indiana, on the 
 
 floor of the House, as gentlemen who served with him will 
 remember, he was a complete master of the subjects pre- 
 sented and always prepared to defend every detail. 
 
 Mr. Townshend, while one of the most affectionate men 
 I ever knew, a man of kindly impulses, affectionate and 
 generous nature, was at the same time exceedingly positive 
 in his convictions. In debate he never sought to placate his 
 adversary or avoid antagonisms; he neither gave nor sought 
 quarter. He presented his views forcibly and fearlessly, 
 never hesitating to express his convictions, no matter what 
 hostility they might provoke, and yet after a heated debate 
 he never hesitated, in a kindly spirit, to meet his opponent 
 and erase forever any ill-feeling the debate may have engen- 
 dered, an admirable quality alike of head and heart. As a 
 member of the Committee on Appropriations, and after- 
 wards as chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs of 
 this House, Mr. Townshend rendered very valuable serv- 
 ices to the country. He participated in debate upon nearly 
 all of the great questions which arose during the whole time 
 he was a member of the House. 
 
 HeAvas a man of large views. His friends may claim for 
 him that he was possessed of real breadth of statesmanship. 
 And in evidence of this he was at an early hour an advo- 
 cate of the policy of uniting together in an American Zoll- 
 verein, an "American commercial union." all the Sialic on 
 this continent from Behring Sea to the farthest extreme of 
 South America. 
 
 1 believe he brough.1 into Congress the first well defined 
 expression of such a policy in the form of a bill proposinga 
 congress of all the States of America, with a view of freer 
 commercial relations and breaking down all the barriers 
 and restrictions on trade and commerce between the nations 
 of this continent. This measure was pending in t his House 
 
Life and Character of Richard TV. Townshend. 1 1 
 
 at the time the last Congress expired. I have before me the 
 bill introduced by him as far back as the 4th day of Jan- 
 uary, 1888, in which his views are carefully and fully ex- 
 pressed. It has been said that Mr. Clay during the period 
 of his public service suggested such a convention of repre- 
 sentatives of all the States of America. It is well known 
 that the present distinguished Secretary of State made a 
 similar suggestion during the administration of Mr. Gar- 
 field; but so far as I am aware Mr. Townshend was the 
 first who brought it in a definite form into the Congress of 
 the United States. It would have been gratifying to him 
 and it would have been a source of gratification to his friends 
 had he lived to see the present meeting of a congress of the 
 American nations on the general plan that he suggested, but 
 not so comprehensive, not so broad, as that which he sought 
 to accomplish, though still in the same line as his policy 
 expressed. 
 
 Mr. Townshend's death in the very vigor of manhood, 
 when his manly powers were just fully developed, was a very 
 sad event. It is impossible for us to understand the ways 
 of Providence, but we must feel that the Being who guides 
 and directs the whole frame of nature cares for all of His 
 creatures and doeth all things well. We humbly bow to 
 the decrees of the all-wise and merciful Ruler. And yet the 
 providence by which, in the very vigor of manhood, the 
 very period of life of the greatest usefulness to his family. 
 his friends, and to his country, the hour of departure of our 
 friend came, is inscrutable to us; but I hope and believe the 
 hour will come when we shall all see that all of the affairs 
 of this world and of the universe are directed by an all-wise 
 and merciful Father. 
 
 Mr. Townshend's record in this House is honorable and 
 valuable, without a blemish, and it is pleasant to remember 
 
12 Address of Mr. Spinola, of New York, on the 
 
 that it will endure on the records of Congress as long as our 
 race shall survive. Peace to his dust; honor to his memory. 
 
 ADDRESS OF MR. SPINOLA, OF NEW YORK. 
 
 • Mr. Speaker: Death, passing all barriers and scorning 
 all human resources, has entered the House of Representa- 
 tives and removed from its ranks one of the oldest in service 
 
 of us all. 
 
 Richard W. Townshend was bom in Maryland, but 
 became a resident and Representative from the State of 
 Illinois. He was preeminently and always a citizen of the 
 great Republic, and during twelve years of continuous serv- 
 ice illuminated the debates of this Hall and shared the 
 burdens of its committees with indefatigable zeal for the 
 public good. 
 
 He began his life (if it may be so described) where others 
 of this and the coordinate branch of Congress began theirs: 
 as a page in the Capitol. 
 
 His brightness, earnestness, and ability attracted the at- 
 tention of the Hon. S. S. Marshall, then a Representative 
 from a southern Illinois district; and seeing the capacities 
 young Townshend he invited him to make his home in 
 the West. In the West Mr. Townshend studied law. and 
 speedily embarked in business enterprises which identified 
 him with some of the largest operations in his section of the 
 Slate, [n those business enterprises he met full measure of 
 success; and here, too, awaited him that greatest success 
 which can befall a man: he met a true woman, who became 
 his bride, and who survives him to-day, supported by her 
 children, the sorrowful witness of these obsequies. 
 
 For an instant 1 turn from the dead to the living, that I 
 
Life and Character of Richard IV. Townshend. 13 
 
 may record the gracious and fragrant act of Hon. Mr. 
 Williams, his successor on this floor. No more gracious per- 
 sonal act could have been done than when Mr. Townshend's 
 successor, knowing the desire of his heart, appointed his son 
 to the Military Academy. 
 
 In the name of Mr. Townshend's friends and his family; 
 in the name of the widow whose lot he has softened, I thank 
 his generous successor for his thoughtful act. Of such are 
 the beautiful deeds that soften sorrow, and make us proud 
 of our kind. 
 
 But from the pleasures of domestic life and from the en- 
 grossment of private business, Mr. Townshend turned with 
 natural aptitude to public affairs, and in the year 1876 was 
 elected a Representative from what is now the Nineteenth 
 district of his State. Himself a young man, he entered this 
 Hall when gigantic presences filled it and voices were heard 
 here that sounded to the remotest bounds of the nation. 
 Some of those strong men remain with us, some have joined 
 the silent majority, and others have been transferred to the 
 Senate Chamber. But, with and among all these, Town- 
 shend took part as the brave, bright man that he was, and 
 speedily won their confidence, affection, and regard. 
 
 One characteristic which was impressed upon all who met 
 Mr. Townshend was his indefatigable industry in his pub- 
 lic duties. I know of no man who so ceaselessly went to and 
 fro in the interests of his constituents or who so untiringly 
 labored for the good of those who had elected him; no man 
 bore more closely to heart the claims, the sorrows, and the 
 rights of his constituency. His life has been a complete 
 refutation of the idle statement thai" an American Congress- 
 man is a person of ease and luxuriousness. 
 
 Mr. Townshend's life was a never-ending round of toil; 
 toil that met him when he went among his people; toil which 
 
14 Address of Mr. Spinola, of New York, on the 
 
 accompanied him to Washington; toil that environed him 
 by day and by night. He listened with dutiful regard both 
 to the plaintive cry of the solitary suppliant for justice and 
 to the solemn and imperious demand for recognition of the 
 great interests and issues of his times. 
 
 His was the typical life of the member of this House. At 
 his door in the morning stood clamorous need and claimed 
 his aid; through all the day it stalked by his side from De- 
 partment to Department, begrudging him the time he spent 
 in hasty meals, and at night, invading the precincts of his 
 home, it scourged him to his couch with its words of trouble 
 and fretful reproach. 
 
 To the multiplicity of such labors and cares — which have 
 aged and burdened many of us — is due his final taking off; 
 and in the prime of manhood he fell a sacrifice beneath the 
 burdens of his high office, as distinctly as though he had 
 perished upon the front line of battle. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, the same sacrifices are made to-day in the 
 Hall of this House. Men come here as did Mr. Townshend, 
 full of hope, broad aspirations, country -loving desires, and 
 of the noble ambition to stand well in the affections of their 
 countrymen. Around them gather ten thousand cares. 
 Righteous ambition is dimmed by the multitudinous demands 
 of exacting private interests, which will not be neglected or 
 deferred, and at the end of many careers that opened with 
 high and proud hopes, strengthened by ardent friends, full 
 of augury and kind omen, is a broken life and energies, ex- 
 hausted by bearing petty burdens. 
 
 For this condition of affairs the Representatives must and 
 will provide efficient remedy, trusting to the great and 
 thoughtful citizens hack of them for appreciative considera- 
 tion. And surely the 60,000,000 who constitute this greatest 
 of nations, a nation of boundless resources, whose Treasury 
 
Life and Character of Richard IV. Townshend. 15 
 
 is overflowing with wealth and whose only dangers arise from 
 abundance, will not always deny to the public servants the 
 aid their offices imperatively demand. 
 
 But (luring his career and in the midst of his arduous and 
 exacting cares Mr. Townshend kept a steadfast eye upon 
 the larger interests of his country. He helped to settle the 
 mighty issues that grew out of our troubles and war ; he 
 helped to frame the laws upon which the Republic's spread- 
 ing domain stands ; and looked with a far-seeing eye to the 
 important future that was to give the opportunity for a 
 great continental union, where, unembarrassed, trade and 
 liberty of commerce might seek their higher development. 
 And so, for years, he devoted himself to a study of the rela- 
 tii »ns existing between the United States and the other States 
 of this continent, bringing forward bill after bill and meas- 
 ure after measure to secure an American federation, the 
 result now happily within our attainment. 
 
 The record of Mr. Townshend's labors and his speeches 
 upon this subject have been indelibly carved upon the granite 
 tablet of our history, and. whoever may bear this subject 
 forward to fruition, it will be found that the master hand of 
 the dead Representative worked upon its foundation and 
 helped to make it secure. 
 
 Personally I knew him from the opening of the Fiftieth 
 Congress. I found him in every relationship, private or 
 public, a kindly, genial gentleman : glad to give me the re- 
 sult of his experience; glad to advise me when I should re- 
 quire it; glad to listen to me when I desired to speak. 1 
 found him the counselor and friend, and always able and 
 sagacious. He welcomed me into these halls, did what he 
 could to make the path of legislation smooth for me, and 
 extended to me every courtesy and facility. 
 
 He whose past we review this day was devotedly attached 
 
1G Address of Mr. Compton, of Maryland, on the 
 
 to the principles of his great party; for them and it he 
 wrought ceaselessly, and, while we differ in our estimate of 
 those views, we all accord him a prominent place in their 
 advocacy. 
 
 Through the great organization he loved, he saw advanced 
 his country's glory and increasing fame; he was one of its 
 leaders and helped to create its power and extend its useful- 
 ness. Higher than party with him was his country, and he 
 loved the Union with a lover's love, and rejoiced in its growth 
 and power. 
 
 And now we leave him to his deep repose; no more an 
 actor in these scenes, he has joined the ranks of the immortal, 
 awaiting the reward of toil and thought and speech, in the 
 great hereafter, which is with God. The considerate judg- 
 ment of his peers and former associates assigns him a noble 
 place among the thousands who have here wrought with 
 singleness of purpose for the public good; in the memory 
 and affections of the people he served he will live while any 
 of this generation survive; from his place of rest he will 
 see that this patriotic devotion to the cause of his country and 
 his kind will be rewarded by the greatness of the one and 
 the continued regard of all. 
 
 ADDRESS OF MR. COMPTON, OF MARYLAND. 
 Mr. Speaker: As the Repr v esenta1 ive of the Congressional 
 district and a resident of the county in which Richard 
 Wellington Townshend was born, 1 enter the list of those 
 who propose to do honor to his memory by these memorial 
 ceremonies, impelled by the obligations of a melancholy 
 Inly, as well as by the impulses which the partiality of per- 
 sonal regard inspires. Maryland cherishes the memory of 
 
Life and Character of Richard II \ Townshend. 1 7 
 
 lier worthy sons with the tenderness and constancy of ma- 
 ternal love, and, as she points with the pride of a Roman 
 mother to her precious jewels, in the long roll of her cher- 
 ished ones she recognizes the name of him whose virtues 
 we commemorate to-day. 
 
 In the bright morning of life he left the State of his 
 nativity, never more to return to it as a resident; but, sir, 
 before doing so he had imbibed from the moral and social 
 atmosphere which surrounded him at the place of his birth 
 the impress of precepts and the influence of the example of 
 men who measured their conduct by a code of ethics as high 
 and correct as any probably that ever obtained in any com- 
 munity in this country. 
 
 I venture in this presence the assertion that in no section 
 of the original thirteen States was the standard of manhood 
 •and the touchstone of men's conduct more elevated and 
 exacting than in that section of the State of Maryland in 
 which his life began. 
 
 Among those men, to falter where courage was required 
 was to forfeit the respect of his fellows, high and low; to 
 equivocate was to sacrifice the esteem of his neighbors; to 
 seek to prosper by the arts of modern (so-called) smartness 
 was to incur the condemnation of all whose good opinion 
 was worth possessing; to take advantage of the weak or im- 
 pose upon the defenseless was to provoke the contempt of 
 all. These were with them as the laws of the Medes and 
 Persians, imperishable and never to be violated with impunity. 
 
 It was in this school that our departed friend learned the 
 first and most enduring lessons of his life, and their control- 
 ling influence characterized and marked with emphasis his 
 conduct in his intercourse with all men. Sir. there are two 
 considerations which suggest themselves in this connection 
 in which I speak which it may not be amiss to record. 
 H. Mis. 262 2 
 
18 Address of Mr. Compton, of Maryland, on the 
 
 In no era of recorded history can there be found a type of 
 manhood which coin pares with that developed and displayed 
 by the men of this country during the first fifty years of our 
 independence as a nation. This was the product of a com- 
 bination which, under the circumstances which procured it, 
 made the result both natural and certain. 
 
 The simplicity of a stern dignity which rebuked all levity; 
 the earnestness of convictions unyielding and unconquer- 
 able; the intensity of abhorrence of tyranny which went to 
 the extreme of persecu! ion for repression sake, as illustrated 
 by the intrepid Puritan of the North in contact on the tented 
 field and in the forum of high debate in support of a com- 
 mon cause, with the chivalric courage, the courteous bear- 
 ing, the generous sympathy, the unselfish heroism of the 
 gallant Cavalier of the South, begot a style of manners and 
 a code of morals out of which grew a type of manhood 
 which the world has never seen surpassed. Nowhere was 
 this type more strongly marked or more robust than in the 
 middle latitude of the old thirteen, where our late friend 
 first breathed the air of heaven. 
 
 And now. sir. as to the second thought which occurs to 
 me -another class of notable men. and of which class Mr. 
 Townshend was a representative specimen. Sir.it is the 
 strongesl and boldest of the hive which ventures farthest 
 and remains away longest. So il has ever been tin- strong- 
 est ;md boldest of t he youth of the Eastern States who have 
 shaken the dust of their native hills from their feet, severed 
 the ties of home and kindred, and ventured to breast the 
 billows and challenge the chances of fortune in the unde- 
 veloped West. Southwest, and Northwest. Ami behold the 
 marvelous result! Not only mighty empires springing into 
 being as by magic, but empires peopled with a race of men 
 who have been and are giants in t heir day and generation. 
 
Life and Charade} of Richard W. Townshend. 19 
 
 The Atlantic Coast States still have, and ever will have 
 while free American States exist, their men of mark, tall 
 and imposing oaks in any forest; but the West, Northwest, 
 and Southwest, in the persons of the descendants from this 
 stock, is ornamented with whole forests of such. 
 
 But, Mr. Speaker, the distinguishing characteristics of 
 Richard W. Townshend were such as would have won for 
 him distinction and success in any locality or community. 
 
 Generous almost to a fault, courageous, persevering, 
 true to trusts and to friends, self -asserting, and having well- 
 grounded convictions, while in his intercourse with his fel- 
 lows he accorded to all, high and low, the generous cour- 
 tesy which is their due, he walked with head erect and 
 demanded and commanded at all times the consideration 
 which was his due. " 
 
 He treated with passionate contempt the truckling spirit 
 of those who would fawn upon or natter the creatures of 
 ostentatious wealth. He respected merit wherever found 
 and loved the people. 
 
 Never, sir. in the history of this House did any member 
 ever devote himself with more untiring zeal in the discharge 
 of every duty attaching to the position, and a contented and 
 generous constituency estimated him at his real value. With 
 an enlightened conscience he respected sacred things; he 
 interpreted the Constitution as meaning what it said, and 
 relied upon the enforcement of democratic principles as the 
 only guaranty for the perpetuation of " liberty regulated by 
 law.'* and was an enthusiast in his creeds, because he believed 
 the converse of these propositions meant the ultimate tri- 
 umph of infidelity, despotism, and anarchy. Well trained 
 and vigorous, he was armed for the defense of his princi- 
 ples. 
 
 Standing thus at the zenith of his worth and in the prime 
 
20 Address of Mr. Compton, of Maryland, on the 
 
 of life, the fell stroke of the fatal destroyer caine. When 
 the sun of his life shone brightest it paled suddenly and dis- 
 appeared forever. Forever, did I say ? Nay, sir, let us hope 
 only to reappear in a purer ether to shine with imperishable 
 glory in the world eternal. With this hope let the unavail- 
 ing tear be dried. And who would relinquish this hope ? 
 Why shrinks the soul back upon itself and startles at de- 
 struction ? Are we but as the beasts of the field and the 
 grass that withers ? Is it to live, to die, and be buried that 
 we were created and endowed with Godlike attributes ? Are 
 "the vain pomp and glory of this world " the acme of human 
 hopes ? Is the fear of "falling into naught" or the ''dread 
 of something after death" to chill our efforts or dwarf our 
 aspirations ? If so, then hope bids the world farewell, our 
 civilization is a mockery, and the maxim of the fool, "Let 
 us eat, drink, and be merry," is the summum bonum of hu- 
 man happiness and the ne plus ultra of human wisdom. 
 
 But. " while that which we know is little," "are we not of 
 nobler substance than the stars" and "have we not faculties 
 while they have none ?" 
 
 Dust thou art, to dust returnest, was not spoken of the soul. 
 Whether in ignorance and groping in the midnight of bru- 
 tish savagery or on the highest peaks of intellectual attain- 
 ment^, man has n<»t and nevei will renounce the hope kindled 
 by the spark of divinity within him. 
 
 Win weep, then, I'm- him who serenely to his final rest has passed, while 
 the soft memory of his virtues yet lingers, like twilight hues when the 
 bright sun has set ': 
 
Life and Character of Richard W. Towns he nd. 21 
 
 Address of Mr. Henderson, of Illinois. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : I can not permit this occasion to pass with- 
 out paying some tribute of respect to the memory of my late 
 colleague- and friend, Hon. Richard W. Townshend. For 
 twelve successive years Mr. Townshend and myself served 
 together in this body as Representatives from the same 
 State; and during all that time, while differing as we did, 
 and sometimes widely, on political questions, yet our per- 
 sonal relations were ever of the most friendly character. 
 And to-day, looking back over our long association here, I 
 well remember many acts of kindness which I received from 
 his hands; for all of us, Mr. Speaker, have it in our power 
 at times to assist each other in the performance of our va- 
 ried and oftentimes perplexing duties as members of this 
 body; and it gives me pleasure to say on this occasion that 
 Mr. Townshend was, during all of our association in the 
 public service, my personal friend, and that I never ap- 
 pealed to him in vain for assistance when it was in his power 
 to render it. Grateful as he was for favors received, Mr. 
 Townshend was ever prompt and ready to return them 
 when the opportunity was offered. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, Richard W. Townshend was, to a great ex- 
 tent, the architect of his own fortunes. At the age of ten 
 years he was attending school in this city, and I have been 
 informed that in his boyhood he was a page in this body. 
 At the age of eighteen years he went with Hon. Samuel S. 
 Marshall, for many years a distinguished Representative in 
 Congress from the State of Illinois, to that State and read 
 law in his office. He was a little later elected clerk of the 
 circuit court of the county in which he lived, and served in 
 
22 Address of Air. Henderson, of Illinois, on the 
 
 that capacity for several years. Then he was elected State's 
 attorney, and served for a time in that capacity. In 1876 
 he was elected a Representative in Congress from the State 
 of Illinois, and served as such to the day of his death, having 
 been successively elected a member of the Forty-fifth. Forty- 
 sixth, Forty-seventh, Forty-eighth, Forty-ninth, Fiftieth, 
 and Fifty-first Congresses, but departed this life just after 
 the expiration of the Fiftieth Congress. 
 
 But it is not my purpose, Mr. Speaker, to speak at length 
 of the public service of my late colleague on this occasion. 
 That will be better done, I am sure, by others. I desire, 
 however, to add my testimony to the fidelity and ability 
 with which he served his constituents and his country, to 
 his kindness of heart, and to the warmth and sincerity of his 
 friendship. Richard W. Townshend, Mr. Speaker, was 
 an earnest, able, and faithful Representative, always active 
 and energetic in the discharge of his public duties and in 
 doing whatever he believed to be for the best interests of his 
 constituents and the country. 
 
 He was not, in my opinion, a strong man physically, but 
 he was a man of great mental activity and of more than 
 ordinary ability, and during his long service here he served 
 his constituents not only with .ureal fidelity, but with un- 
 tiring, unceasing energy and industry. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, it was with deep sorrow and regret that I 
 heard of the illness and death of my friend and colleague, 
 and to-day my heart is full of sorrow and sympathy for his 
 bereaved widow and family. Cut down, as he was. in 
 the vigor of his manhood and in the midsl of his activity 
 and usefulness, his decease is deeply deplored by his constit- 
 uents and friends and by the State which he represented in 
 part with distinguished ability tor so many years as a mem- 
 ber of this I louse. 
 
Life and Character of Richard W. Townshend. 23 
 
 But he is gone, Mr. Speaker, and how soon we shall follow 
 him none of us know. But we do know that death has been 
 busy with the members of the Fifty-first Congress, and that 
 some of the most distinguished and useful of our associates 
 have been taken from us. We can not to-day speak of the 
 death of Richard W. Townshend without remembering 
 that the lamented S. S. Cox, Judge Kelley, and others have 
 since followed him to "the undiscovered country, from 
 whose bourn no traveler returns." 
 
 It is sad, indeed, to think that the voices of these dis- 
 tinguished men, heard so often in these halls during my 
 service here, will be heard no more forever. They were 
 able and faithful Representatives and public servants, and 
 it will be well for us if we imitate their virtues and dis- 
 charge our duties here with the same fidelity and honesty 
 which characterized them in their long and faithful public 
 service. Then it can be said of us, as I am sure we may all 
 say of them, 
 
 Well done, thou good and faithful servants. 
 
 Address of Mr. Hooker, of Mississippi. 
 
 Mr Speaker: When requested by the gentleman from 
 Illinois [Mr. Williams], the immediate. successor of our de- 
 ceased friend, to take part in these obsequies of our lamented 
 brother, I responded that I would regard it not only as a 
 duty to do so, but one which, in view of the relations which 
 existed between Mr. Townshend and myself, I should feel 
 myself remiss if I did not consent to perform. And though 
 I have no written speech to deliver commemorative of the 
 virtues and public services of our friend and brother. I have 
 
24 Address of Mr. Hooker, of Mississippi, on the 
 
 a word to say in reference to my connection with him in the 
 rendering of those services. 
 
 Sir, death to the old or those whom Providence has afflicted 
 with infirmities seems natural, but when it comes to those 
 who are in the meridian of life and at the very acme of their 
 usefulness, it is hard for frail humanity to exclaim: 
 
 The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of 
 the Lord. 
 
 Mortality is the fate of all, but he whose magic hand 
 
 swept across the chords of the human heart with a touch 
 
 probably never equaled by another has told us that even in 
 
 this case — 
 
 The weariest and most loathed worldly life 
 That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment 
 Can lay on nature is a paradise 
 To what we fear of death. 
 
 That sentiment of the great English poet may be true, Mr. 
 Speaker, but there is another equally true — that to him who 
 has met the duties and obligations of life and discharged 
 them faithfully death comes but once, and once only to the 
 brave, come when it may. Thus it came most unexpectedly 
 to our deceased brother. 
 
 I was associated with him in many Congresses in which 
 he served, and in the Fiftieth Congress, which had just 
 closed. Only a few days before his death I met him in these 
 Halls and had familiar social intercourse with him. He 
 looked the picture of health, and he was animated, as his 
 distinguished colleague, General Henderson, has said, by 
 the hope, the elastic spirit, and the fine temper which al- 
 ways distinguished him. little apprehending that he in his 
 turn, and in a few days, must pay the debt of mortality 
 which, all humanity must pay. And 1 was grieved ere yet I 
 had peached my home to learn by the telegraphic wire that 
 
Life and Character of Richard JV. Townshend. 25 
 
 he whom I had left in such robust health, in such vigorous 
 physical condition, and such hopeful frame of mind had, 
 alas! passed away in the prime of his manhood. 
 
 It was my fortune, Mr. Speaker, to be associated with Mr. 
 Townshend from his first entrance into these Halls. The his- 
 tory of his life has been given by his distinguished successor 
 from his own Congressional district, and given, too, by my 
 friend from Maryland [Mr. Compton], who represents the 
 district in which Mr. Townshend was born. At an early age 
 he left the home of his nativity and came to this city, ex- 
 hibiting even in his boyhood those marvelous traits of his 
 character — zeal, intrepidity, energy, fidelity, and honesty in 
 the discharge of whatever duty was devolved upon him. 
 
 Moved by the spirit which moves so many of our young 
 men in the Eastern and Middle States, he sought his fortune 
 in the great West. Making his home in the State of Illinois, 
 he was there the recipient of many honors. Admitted to the 
 bar at the age of twenty-two, elected to the responsible posi- 
 tion of representing his constituency in the central execu- 
 tive' committee for several years; elected as a delegate to 
 the convention which met in 1872; and then, sir, the same 
 spirit that animated him in the discharge of these duties 
 recommended him to the constituency in whose midst he 
 lived, and he had the honor to be selected by a large major- 
 ity to the Forty-fifth, the Forty-sixth, the Forty-seventh, 
 the Forty-eighth, the Forty-ninth, the Fiftieth, and the 
 Fifty-first Congresses. In all these positions he discharged 
 the duties that devolved upon him with wonderful zeal and 
 fidelity. 
 
 When he was nominated by the Speaker of the last House 
 of Representatives as chairman of the Committee on Mili- 
 tary Affairs I must confess that I felt some anxiety, some 
 trepidation as to how he would meet the responsibilities of 
 
26 Address of Mr. Hooker, of Mississippi, on the 
 
 the grave position to wliich the Speaker had assigned him; 
 for I had not understood that he had been so situated as to 
 acquire knowledge of military affairs. But I was more than 
 gratefully disappointed when I, as an humble member of 
 that committee, associated with him in the last Congress, 
 found that he brought to the discharge of the duties of the 
 chairmanship of this great committee, having in its care the 
 Army of the United States and the laws which govern it — 
 I found that by zeal and industry and study and familiarity 
 with military men, whose society he always courted, he had 
 made himself preeminently familiar with the questions com- 
 ing before him in the position to which the Speaker of the 
 last House had assigned him. 
 
 No man has exhibited on this floor a greater knowledge 
 of the laws which should govern the country in providing 
 for its soldiers and officers. He familiarized himself most 
 thoroughly with all the laws that had been enacted on this 
 subject. In the debates on this floor when he imagined, and 
 probably imagined correctly, that the particular jurisdiction 
 of his own committee was invaded by others, he defended it 
 with all the zeal and earnestness, and even, I may saw ag- 
 gressiveness, which characterized him whenever he spoke 
 upon any subject. No public position was ever filled with 
 greater honor, fidelity, zeal, and courage than his chairman- 
 ship of that committee. 
 
 The honorable gentleman [Mr. Cutcheon] who bas now 
 the honor to preside overthat committee was associated witli 
 us in the last Congress. The besl wish that I can make for 
 him is that in the administration of Ins great duties hemay 
 imitate the zeal, the ability, the learning, and the bravery 
 which distinguished our deceased comrade in the discharge 
 of those responsible duties. 
 
 others have spoken of Mr. Townshend's private and 
 
Life and Character of Richard IV. Townshend. 27 
 
 social virtues. It was my fortune to be with him in the 
 Forty-fifth Congress, the Forty-sixth and the Forty-seventh, 
 and to be with him again in the Fiftieth Congress. It is a 
 source of profound regret to me that I can not have the 
 pleasure of being with him in the present Congress. 
 
 But early as he departed this life, soon as the great de- 
 stroyer mowed him down, he has left behind him a name 
 and a record upon the Congressional history of this country 
 that will cause him to be forever remembered in the estima- 
 tion of those with whom he associated and the constituency 
 whom he served so faithfully and bravely. 
 
 Long as was my association with him, Mr. Speaker, I did 
 not discover that he had a single vice or fault. If he had, 
 intimate association for several years never disclosed it to 
 me. We may now commit his remains to the bosom of our 
 common mother, the earth, with the declaration that no 
 man knew him so intimately as to discover that he was ever 
 afraid to speak his sentiments, ever afraid to announce his 
 views. Performing faithfully all the duties of life, if he 
 had any faults I did not know them; and if there were such 
 we commit them with him to the judgment of that Great 
 Author of our common being who holds the scales of justice 
 to weigh us all with even balance and omnipotent power. 
 We commit them to the keen gaze of Him — 
 
 Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and meted 
 out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a 
 measure, and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance. 
 
28 Address of Mr. Cutcheon, of Michigan, on the 
 
 ADDRESS OF MR. CUTCHEON, OF MICHIGAN. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : Success among men is not measured so 
 much by the absolute elevation that is gained as it is by the 
 distance traveled ; not so much by the honors that are at- 
 tained as by the obstacles which are overcome and by the 
 character which is developed in overcoming those obstacles. 
 Some men are born with all the adventitious aids of wealth, 
 of powerful friends, of influential connections. To such 
 there is no excuse for not succeeding, except the want of 
 ability to succeed. But others are obliged to contest every 
 inch of ground and grow strong with battle; and in such, 
 courage and vigor are developed by the conflict. Of this 
 latter class of men, Mr. Speaker, men who have grown 
 strong by conflict, was Mr. Richard W. Townshend, our 
 deceased colleague, in whose memory we speak to-day. 
 
 It is not necessary for me, sir, to repeat the history of 
 his life. I shall merely recall some of the steps of his prog- 
 ress in order that we may thereby measure the strength of 
 his character and the power of his will. Born in an adjoin- 
 ing county of Maryland, almost if not quite within sight of 
 the dome of this Capitol, he was at two years of age, by the 
 death of his father, left an orphan, the youngest hut one of 
 nine children. With his mother be removed while still a. 
 child to this city, in order that the children mighl enjoy bet- 
 ter advantages foran education than could beobtained in the 
 country where they were residing. It was here in 1 his ( !ap- 
 iinl that he gained whatever schooling he received. While 
 still in early life he became a clerk in Shillington's book- 
 store in thi- city, which then occupied the corner of Four- 
 and-a-half Streel and Penns\ Ivania avenue, and it was there 
 
Life and Character of Richard IV. Townskend, 29 
 
 that lie met and became acquainted with the great states- 
 men of the day, about the time of the great agitation over 
 the repeal of the Missouri compromise and the enactment of 
 the Kansas-Nebraska bill. 
 
 It was there, Mr. Speaker, that Mr. Townshend was accus- 
 tomed to hear the voices of such statesmen as Douglas and 
 Cass and became inspired with the hope and purpose that 
 he might himself participate in the councils of the nation. 
 At a later date, through the assistance of one of the honor- 
 able Representatives of the State of Illinois, he received an 
 appointment as page upon the floor of this House, during 
 the Speakership of our venerable colleague who but a few 
 moments ago sat here upon my right, General Banks. 
 Through the advice and counsel of Hon. S. S. Marshall, of 
 Illinois, he was induced, like many other young men of the 
 day, to try his fortunes in the great, growing, and inviting 
 Western country, and with Mr. Marshall he went to Illinois, 
 and after a temporary stay at Cairo he settled at McLeans- 
 borough, where he remained until 1873. Four years after 
 his movement westward, having occupied himself mainly in 
 teaching and the study of the law, he was admitted to the 
 bar of that State, and his next step in the progress of life 
 was his election as clerk of the county in which he resided, 
 and, on the expiration of his term in that office, he was 
 elected prosecuting or State's attorney for the twelfth ju- 
 dicial district, comprising, I believe, some six counties. At 
 the end of that period of service, having removed in the 
 meantime to Shawneetown, which remained his home until 
 his lamented death, for some four years he engaged in the 
 business of his profession as a .practitioner of the law and 
 also in the banking business. 
 
 But the industry which he had displayed in the offices to 
 which he had already been called pointed to him as a man 
 
30 Address of Mr. Cutcheon, of Michigan, on the 
 
 fitted for a higher and wider sphere of action, and so in 1876 
 the constituency of that Congressional district called upon 
 him to become their standard-bearer as the representative 
 of the Democratic party and to come to this Capital as their 
 Representative in Congress. At each successive election 
 after that date he was again and again returned until death 
 took him from the scene of usefulness and activity which 
 he so well occupied. 
 
 I have thus, Mr. Speaker, very briefly recounted the out- 
 ward aspect of his life and growth, not so much to dwell 
 upon his several successive stages of activity, as to indicate 
 thereby the growing and increasing confidence which the 
 people with whom he came in contact reposed in him. 
 
 In this House he was called to various fields of activity. 
 He served upon the Committee on the Judiciary, and for a 
 number of terms upon the Committee on Appropriations, 
 and finally as chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs. 
 11 was not until the Forty-eighth Congress, when I took my 
 seat in this body, that I became personally acquainted with 
 .Mi-. TmvxsHEND, and not until the Fiftieth Congress that 
 the acquaintance ripened into anything that could be called 
 intimacy between us. We sat upon opposite sides of this 
 Hall. Our opinions differed widely and very frequently 
 clashed, and yet I learned to know Mr. Townshend as a 
 man of earnest, strong conviction, fearless in the expression 
 of what he believed to be right, and one who always had 
 the eonrage of his convictions. 
 
 At the organization of the Fiftieth Congress it became ap- 
 parent to the then Speaker of the House thai Mr. Town- 
 shend whs entitled to an appointment among the higher 
 ormore Lmportanl chairmanships of the committees of the 
 House. The gentleman who would have been the senior mem- 
 ber on the Democratic side of the Committee on Militarj 
 
Life and Character of Richard IV. Townshend. 31 
 
 Affairs in the Fiftieth Congress was General Wheeler, of 
 Alabama. But I presume that the fact that his colleague, 
 Colonel Herbert, also of Alabama, was already at the head 
 of the great Committee on Naval Affairs was the reason 
 why another was selected to fill the chairmanship of Mili- 
 tary Affairs, and that honor and responsibility fell upon our 
 lamented colleague. 
 
 It was. perhaps, as has been indicated by my friend, Gen- 
 eral Hooker, a bold thing for a man who had seen no mili- 
 tary service and who had never served on the Committee on 
 Military Affairs, to accept the chairmanship of that very 
 important committee, amongst associates composed almost 
 entirely of military men, and numbering among them such 
 veterans as Generals Hooker and Spinola, and especially was 
 this so when we look back at the long line of distinguished 
 soldiers who have served at the head of that committee since 
 the beginning of the late war. The first of these was Gen- 
 eral Robert C. Schenck. a major-general of volunteers. He 
 was succeeded by the lamented James A. Garfield, a major- 
 general of volunteers and afterward President of the United 
 States. Then came General John A. Logan, of Illinois; 
 General John Coburn, of Indiana; General Henry B. Ban- 
 ning, of Ohio; General W. A. J. Sparks, of Illinois; Gen- 
 eral T. J. Henderson, our distinguished colleague who has 
 just spoken: Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans, for a long 
 time at the head of the Army of the Cumberland, and Gen- 
 eral Edward S. Bragg, of Wisconsin, the gallant com- 
 mander of the "Iron Brigade." These were the men who 
 had held position as chairman of the Committee on Military 
 Affairs from 1801 until the beginning of the Fiftieth Con- 
 gress, and to this illustrious line our friend and colleague, 
 Mr. Townshend. was called. I must confess. Mr. Speaker, 
 that for one, serving then my third term on that committee, 
 
32 Address of Mr. Cutcheon, of Michigan, on the 
 
 I felt some misgivings as to his success in carrying the bur- 
 dens which this appointment imposed, not from any want 
 of confidence in his ability, but from a distrust of his famil- 
 iarity with the affairs of that important committee and with 
 the special line of legislation intrusted to it. 
 
 But all such apprehensions were soon dissipated. He as- 
 sumed the position to which he was assigned with confidence 
 in himself and in his ability to meet every just requirement, 
 and with an industry, a modesty, a discernment, and an im- 
 partiality which very soon gained him the confidence of every 
 member of that committee. Strong partisan as he was in 
 party contests upon this floor, within the committee-room no 
 member of that committee could ever have discerned to which 
 political party he belonged. He applied himself at once and 
 in earnest to acquire the necessary knowledge and familiar- 
 ity, not only with the duties of the office, but with the great 
 questions that came before the committee, until he made him- 
 self master of the situation. We all shall remember the 
 «• ii-nest fight Mr. Townshend made for what he believed to 
 be the just rights of his committee in the Fiftieth Congress. 
 I refer to the matter of seacoast defense. His committee 
 li ad reported a bill upon this subject which was upon the 
 Calendar, and when it was proposed to take this juris- 
 diction from his committee and transfer it to another we 
 shall ever remember the vigor, the earnestness, and the cour- 
 age with which he contended for what he believed to be the 
 right. We shall als<> remember another fighl which lie made 
 in the Forty-ninth Congress upon the Mexican pension bill. 
 His name will be ever intimately connected with that legis- 
 lation. 
 
 There were other measures thai were very dear to his heart, 
 one of which has already been alluded to: the bill to bring 
 about a conference or congress of the American nations. 1 
 
Life and Character of Richard IV. Townshend. 33 
 
 can not say that the idea originated with him. I believe that 
 honor belongs to Henry Clay, and after him to Stephen A. 
 Douglas, of his own State; but it has had no warmer friend 
 and no more zealous advocate in Congress since I have had 
 the honor to be a member of the House than was our col- 
 league, Mr. Townshend. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, I am glad to have had this opportunity to 
 bear my testimony to his fidelity and patriotism, and to ren- 
 der this inadequate tribute to his character and work. 
 
 Our eulogies will not be long remembered, their breath 
 will pass like the perfume of a fading flower, but his w< >rk 
 will abide and his memory will be cherished long after the 
 last echo of our praises shall have passed into oblivion. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, it is no light responsibility to be a member of 
 this House. When we consider the number and the breadth 
 of the questions which are here to be discussed and decided, 
 the responsibility is indeed a great one. To take charge of 
 one of the great committees of this House is a larger responsi- 
 bility. But when you come to test the real power of a 
 man, it can best be done when you try his hold upon the 
 people from whom he comes, and the fact that Mr. Town- 
 shend was returned to this House by a great constituency 
 that knew him well for seven successive Congresses is suffi- 
 cient and adequate evidence that he came close to the hearts 
 of his people. He was a gentleman in his bearing, always 
 urbane, always friendly, and whenever he went among the 
 people he had a friendly word and a cordial grasp of the hand 
 for every one. 
 
 I shall remember with pleasure, and with pleasure only. 
 my association with him on the Committee on Military Af- 
 fairs. But he has gone from us. I shall never forget the 
 last time that I met him, apparently in the fullness of 
 health and in the zenith of a successful career. I met him 
 ) H. Mis. 262 3 
 
34 Address of Mr. MaisJi, of Pennsylvania, on tlie 
 
 at a reception which was given in this city to a former Vice- 
 President of the United States, Hon. Hannibal Hamlin, of 
 Maine. We parted that night for the last time, and almost 
 before I was aware that he was ill came the stunning intelli- 
 gence that he had passed away. Having tarried in the city 
 after the adjournment of Congress it was my fortune to be 
 one of those who bore him to his last resting place. On the 
 romantic and picturesque banks of Rock Creek we laid him 
 
 to his rest — 
 
 After work well done, 
 After battle well won. 
 
 A patriotic citizen, a clean-handed and far-seeing states- 
 man, a loving and affectionate father and husband — in the 
 broadest and fullest sense of the word a good man — we laid 
 him to his rest. May he sleep in peace! 
 
 Address of Mr. Maish, of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Mr. Speaker: We withdraw for a short time from the ex- 
 citing scenes of legislative strife to pay the last sad rites to 
 a departed brother. It is fitting that we should do this; pre- 
 eminently so when in honor of agood man and faithful pub- 
 lic servant. Our late brother merits our highest homage, 
 for he adorned every public station lie was called upon to fill. 
 
 F first met him at the opening of the Forty-fifth Congress, 
 his first appearance here as a Representative. Our acquaint- 
 ance soon ripened into a warm personal attachment which 
 continued unbroken until death removed him from ourmidst. 
 At the end of the Forty-fifth Congress I retired from pub- 
 lic life, and returned to it again al the Fiftieth Congress. 
 My old friend, who had been here uninterruptedly all the 
 time, cordially welcomed me back to this Hall, and for the 
 
Life and Character of Richard IV. Townshend. 35 
 
 two sessions that we served together in that Congress he 
 was my daily companion. His death, therefore, was to me 
 more than an ordinary loss. A friend whose adoption I had 
 tried and whom I had grappled to my soul with hooks of 
 steel has passed from time into eternity. I dare not trust 
 myself to dwell longer upon my personal relations with 
 him. • 
 
 The road to public station in our country is opened to all. 
 The opportunity to reach it is afforded by our free institu- 
 tions; but for this very reason genuine merit is most certain 
 to win, and therefore it is safe to conclude that the man who 
 succeeds in public life is the one who most deserves success. 
 The people, who are the fountain of power in this country, 
 are not slow to discern the merits of a competitor for public 
 honor. This is strikingly illustrated in the career of Mr. 
 Townshend. Without the advantages of a thorough educa- 
 tion, he rose by gradual steps from the position of a page in 
 this House to the exalted office of Representative in Con- 
 gress. The bald summary of the principal events of his 
 life as given in the Congressional Directory will give you 
 the successive steps of his ascent, and I will read it, for it is 
 replete with instruction: 
 
 Richard W. Townshend, of Shawneetown. was born in Prince 
 George's County, Md., April 30, 1840; came to Washington City when 
 ten years of ag?, and was there educated at public and private schools,* 
 removed to Illinois in 1858; taught school in Fayette County; studied law 
 with S. S. Marshall at McLeansborough ; was admitted to the bar in 1862, 
 and has since practiced; was clerk of the circuit court of Hamilton County 
 1863-1868; was prosecuting attorney for the twelfth judicial circuit 1868- 
 1872; removed in 1873 from McLeansborough to Shawneetown, where he 
 was an officer of the Gallatin National Bank; was a member of the 
 Democratic State central committee of Illinois 1864, 1865, 1874, and 1875; 
 was a delegate to the national Democratic convention at Baltimore in 
 1872; was elected to the Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth, Forty-seventh, Forty- 
 eighth. Forty-ninth, and Fiftieth Congresses, and was reelected to the 
 Fifty-first Congress. 
 
36 Address of Mr. Maish, of Pennsylvania, on the 
 
 Such continued preferment by his constituents is the best 
 evidence of his worth. He was their trusted servant, and 
 the longer he continued in their service the stronger became 
 their attachment for him. What a touching spectacle was 
 presented in his district when the sad intelligence of his 
 death reached it. His grief -stricken people assembled in 
 the churches, in the courthouses, in the schoolhouses to do 
 honor to his memory, and in solemn language gave expres- 
 sion to the love and esteem in which they held him and the 
 deep sense of the loss they sustained. No higher testimony 
 could be produced of the deep place he occupied in the 
 hearts of his people. 
 
 I have no doubt that it was fortunate for Mr. Townshexd 
 to have commenced life in a book-store in this city, as he did . 
 for whilst there he acquired an insatiable thirst for English 
 literature, a passion that never deserted him during his act- 
 ive and busy life. There it was that he laid the ground- 
 work of his future success. In that little store he formed 
 the acquaintance of some of the great statesmen of those 
 clays, and their example filled him with high and laudable 
 aspirations. As he once told me. he left his humble station 
 here to seek liis fortune in the West with the firm resolution 
 that he would return to the Capital of his country as a Rep- 
 resentative in Congress. He had read much, and inwardly 
 learned and digested whai he had read. He was. therefore, 
 according to Lord Bacon, both a full and a ready man. and 
 such undoubtedly lie was. 
 
 Tlic pel-son a 1 characteristics of our brother were all calcu- 
 lated to contribute to his success in life. So thoroughly did 
 lie. under all circumstances, maintain liis integrity, that 
 picion never dared to whisper his name. He was always 
 actuated by the highesl sense of duty. Expediency could 
 jiot swerve him from ii nor part} advantage induce him to 
 
Life and Character of Richard W. Townshend. 37 
 
 abandon it. To him its call was always imperative. He 
 was an indefatigable worker. He had the genius of method- 
 ical application, and that enabled him to do the work of two 
 ordinary men. Great labor is the price of success, and he 
 paid to the very farthing its exacting price. 
 
 He often participated in the discussions of this body, and 
 his addresses give evidence of the great care and research 
 he bestowed upon their preparation. He possessed many of 
 the highest qualities of the orator. He was gifted with a 
 singularly melodious voice. Clear as the notes of a lute, it 
 could be distinctly heard in every part of this Hall. Though 
 he knew no other language but his mother tongue, of this, 
 however, he was a master. To these qualities he added a 
 most agreeable manner. His delivery was easy and grace- 
 ful. He was highly endowed with the faculty of impromptu 
 speaking, and hence he was a ready and forcible debater. 
 
 He was cut down with his armor on in the very prime of 
 life. To what honors he would have reached had he lived 
 another score of years no one can conjecture. When we 
 contemplate the wonderful success he already achieved and 
 his great resources, we can not doubt, to borrow the lan- 
 guage of another — 
 
 That in his left hand would have been uncounted riches and abundant 
 honor, if only length of days had been given to his right. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, all that was mortal of poor Dick Townshend 
 lies beneath the sod, but the immortal lives and whispers to 
 ear and heart in the old sweet, gentle tones of the joy of a 
 coming reunion. 
 
38 Address of Mr. Lane, of Illinois, on the 
 
 Address of Mr. Lane, of Illinois. 
 
 Mr. Speaker: It is said that in life we are in the midst 
 of death. At the end of every life there is an open grave. 
 Life passes through us; we do not possess it. It is the off- 
 spring of death, and one life is but a gleam of time between 
 two eternities. 
 
 There is nothing of which we are so fond and withal so 
 careless as life. God is the Giver, and life is with us a part- 
 nership, and the great problem of life is to make the ideal 
 real, and connect the divine at the summit of the mountain 
 with the human at the base. It is written that "all men 
 must die." No lawyer has ever yet perfected an appeal or 
 sued out a writ of error from the judgment which dooms us 
 to death. From it no appeal lies. 
 
 The mandate and sentence are issued from a court of last 
 resort, People come and go as the grass of the field or the 
 leaves of the forest, and the countless millions that throng 
 the world to-day and dispose of its business will to-morrow 
 melt as snow before the meridian sun. But is this all? Is 
 death to be the end? The grave without hope? If there is 
 no morning to dawn upon the night of death's sleep then 
 sorrow has no consolation and life is without a meaning. 
 Can we only agree with the poetess when she says: 
 
 Life, I know not what thou art, 
 But I know that thou and I must part; 
 And when, or where, <>r how we met. 
 i own t<> nir 's a sitivI yet, 
 
 * * * * 
 
 Tis hard to part when friends are <!<>ar; 
 Perhaps "twill cost a sigh, a tear: 
 Then steal awaj . give little warning; 
 
 i Ihoose thine own time, say not good night, 
 But in some brighter cli l>i<l me good morning. 
 
Life and Character of Richard J J \ Townshend. 39 
 
 In the beautiful drama of Ion the instinct of immortality, so 
 
 eloquently written by the death-devoted Greek, finds a deep 
 
 response in every thoughtful soul. When about to yield his 
 
 young existence as a sacrifice to fate, his beloved Clemanthe 
 
 asks him if they should not meet again; to which he replied: 
 
 I have asked that dreadful question of the hills that look eternal : of the 
 streams that flow forever ; of the stars among whose fields of azure my 
 raised spirit has walked in glory. All were dumb. But while I gaze upon 
 thy face I feel that there is something in that love that mantles through its 
 beauty that can not wholly perish. We shall meet again, Clemanthe. 
 
 It was asked many generations ago: 
 
 If a man die, shall he live again ? 
 
 Later on it was answered by the blessed Master, who said : 
 
 He that belie veth on Me hath everlasting life. 
 
 It is not all of life to live, nor all of death to die, and every 
 man has lived long enough who has gone through life with an 
 untarnished character. So it was with my friend Richard 
 W. Townshend. He died like a hero; he fell at his post, 
 contending for the right. What better ending of a human 
 life could there be ? Mr. Townshend was himself and no 
 one else; he was no imitator; he said and did what no one 
 but Richard W. Townshend could say and do. Such a 
 character as his could not be constructed or put together. 
 It needs first of all a principle that is animated, and one, 
 therefore, that is animating. It wants an impulse, glowing, 
 determined, and passionate, and these were possessed in an 
 eminent degree by Mr. Townshend. 
 
 The last time I saw him in this Chamber he was engaged 
 in a protracted debate with that distinguished statesman and 
 prince of parliamentarians, now unfortunately absent from 
 this House, Mr. Randall, of Pennsylvania. That evening, 
 as we shook hands and parted at the door of this Chamber, 
 I congratulated him on the splendid effort he had made in 
 the defense of his committee. He told me he was very tired, 
 
40 Address of Mr. Lane, of Illinois, on the 
 
 and thus we separated for the night. The next morning he 
 was taken sick, and in a little over one week from that time, 
 when, at my home in Illinois, his friends wired me that he 
 was dead, I could scarcely believe my senses; yet it was true. 
 I could only see him as he contended on this floor for more 
 than two hours in debate in that memorable contest that I 
 have mentioned, in the full meridian of his manhood and in 
 the very zenith of his power. He had taught school when a 
 young man in one of the counties in the district which I now 
 have the honor to represent on this floor, and he was very 
 well acquainted there, and when it became known that he 
 was no more every head was bowed in sorrow and every 
 heart went out in loving sympathy to his heartbroken widow 
 and his orphan children. He was well known all over the 
 State of Illinois, but more particularly in the southern part, 
 where he resided, and in the Nineteenth district of that State, 
 which for so many terms he represented on this floor. 
 
 He moved to Illinois when he was but eighteen years of 
 age, and without money and by his own exertions he rapidly 
 rose to eminence and was in the true sense of that term a 
 self-made man. From a clerk in a book -store to a page in 
 Congress; from a- page to a school teacher; from a teacher 
 to a lawyer; from a lawyer to a clerk of a circuit court; fr< im 
 clerk of the circuit court to prosecuting attorney for the 
 twelfth district of Illinois, and from prosecuting attorney to 
 a seat in Congress, to which place be was five times reelected. 
 He was a true embodiment of American progress and man- 
 hood, and an example to every aspiring, moneyless young 
 man in this nation, as to the boundless possibilities that are 
 opm before him. 
 
 In what country in the world could a child of poverty have 
 risen to the highest honors of the State? In what land and 
 under whal civilization hut our own could like results be 
 
Life and Character of Richard IV. Townshend. 41 
 
 accomplished? And, Mr. Speaker, pardon me for the allu- 
 sion when I say that the great State of Illinois has contrib- 
 uted its full quota of such men to the nation and to the 
 world, prominent among whom were a Douglas and a Lin- 
 coln. But death has no respect for greatness. The strong 
 and brave are stricken down side by side with the feeble 
 and the timid. The rich and poor, peasant and king, are 
 subject alike to his fatal shaft. It is so ordered by our heav- 
 enly Father, and I bow my head in humble submission, and 
 on this occasion I pay my simple but heartfelt tribute of 
 respect to the memory of my departed friend, one whom I 
 could always trust and whose conduct was uniformly marked 
 by dignity, courtesy, and kindness. 
 
 His friends and associates, the members of this House, the 
 whole people of the State that he loved and served so well, 
 have joined in lamenting his death and honoring his mem- 
 ory. Oh, that my confused mind could conceive and my 
 poor stammering tongue express in some fitting words the 
 deep sense of the loss my sad heart feels at the death of him 
 we mourn to-day. But I am cheered when I see that my 
 colleagues here to-day, who knew our departed friend more 
 intimately than I, have done ample justice to his memory 
 in their eloquent eulogies. We know that the mortal body 
 of our friend lies in the silent city of the dead; but that is 
 not death, for the immortal soul is safe in the abode of the 
 blessed, beyond the reach of praise and censure, where it 
 shall enjoy a state of eternal felicity forever. 
 
 There is no death ! The stars go down 
 
 To rise upon some fairer shore, 
 And bright in heaven's jeweled crown 
 
 They shine for evermore. 
 
 There is no death ! But angel forms 
 
 Walk o'er the earth with silent tread; 
 They bear our best loved things away 
 
 And then we call them dead. 
 
42 Address of Mr. Henderson, of Ioiva, on the 
 
 Address of Mr. Henderson, of Iowa. 
 
 Mr. Speaker: Death, though no more mysterious than 
 birth, is the most fearful word known to human speech. No 
 matter what may be your religion, it brings terror to life's 
 busy circle. 
 
 Be you the trustful Christian, believing without a doubt 
 in another state of existence where we can recognize the ob- 
 jects of our earthly loves, or be you one who sees in death 
 only the closing scene in life's drama or tragedy, and hoping 
 only for mental sleep and rest, with swift alliances with 
 other forces, but all unconscious of the former self; believe 
 or think or hope whatever you will, death is "the king of 
 terrors," and few, a sad, sad few, may bid him welcome. 
 
 And yet death, always approaching — cold, relentless death, 
 is ever just, and nature's kindest messenger to man. 
 
 It strikes the mighty leader in the battle's front. It strikes 
 the mightier leader in the field of thought. We see it 
 entering the poor man's home and leave a wife and little ones 
 without a shield from poverty and want. The sweetest face, 
 the brightest eye, and loveliest form are powerless, even for 
 an instant, to keep back the falling blow. It touches the 
 cradle and the pretty baby wakes no more. It walks 
 through your city to-day and to-morrow you are a stranger 
 in your own home. 
 
 We tax philosophy, call out the last reserve of courage, 
 1 < 'a u on religion and appeal to hope, ami yet how hard it is 
 to say amen, amen! 
 
 And yet I do repeat that death, cold, seeming cruel, is 
 ever just and kind, and tender as the mother's kiss upon her 
 baby's face. 
 
Life and Character of Richard IV. Townshend. 43 
 
 The last year, it seems to me, has been more than full of 
 death's unexpected visits. In twenty-five years the last 
 twelve months have seemed to bring more than the usual 
 number of destroying calls. I do not speak from authentic 
 data, but yet it has been my observation that the blows, to 
 an unusual extent, have fallen on the strong, the active, 
 and those whose strength and years seemed full of promise 
 for a long and active life. Of this class Hon. R. W. 
 Townshend was a conspicuous example. He had left us 
 even before we could believe that this active, vigorous, 
 plucky man could really be in danger. Of all our number 
 none seemed further removed from the assaults of fatal ill- 
 ness. His death leaves a great gap in our circle here, and 
 who can estimate the loss of so devoted a husband and 
 father ? In this city his loss was deeply felt and pro- 
 foundly mourned. 
 
 He was an earnest, reliable, and warm friend of the Dis- 
 trict of Columbia. Here is a great city, filled with a most 
 intelligent and moral people, and yet without direct repre- 
 sentation on this floor. Interests pressing from home upon 
 Representatives cause us to be indifferent to the great wants 
 of these people. Mr. Townshend was a bright exception 
 to this rule, and never failed, by vote and voice, to fight for 
 and defend the interests of the citizens of this District. 
 
 He was not content with following others in legislation, 
 though reliable and never faltering in support of party 
 issues. But he had the ability, industry, and ambition to 
 enter large fields. I instance his investigations and elab- 
 orate speech touching Pan-American interests, a speech 
 that vouches for much hard work and painstaking investi- 
 gation. It showed that he was a man who comprehended 
 extended American interests, and that he was in the 
 advance guard of those favoring more intimate commercial 
 
44 Address of Mr. Henderson, of Iowa, on the 
 
 relations between all the countries of North and South 
 America. His activity as to interests that have called 
 the great Pan-American Congress to our national capital 
 attest the progressive and aggressive bent of his vigorous 
 mind. 
 
 All will admit the integrity of our deceased brother. In 
 his long term of service in this House who ever heard his 
 integrity as a law-maker and as a man called in question ? 
 He leaves a spotless name to his descendants. 
 
 He was a Democrat of the strongest type. He was an un- 
 compromising partisan, and he fought for his party as if 
 fighting for his life. In non-partisan matters he was kind 
 and obliging to a degree worthy of imitation. 
 
 Socially he had but few equals. Full of clean, generous 
 mirth and a happy humor, he was always a rich addition to 
 a social gathering. He had the true gift of conversation, 
 which is to find points of agreement and not points of 
 difference. No man ever left a company of which Mr. 
 Townshend was*, part feeling wounded by unkind or even 
 thoughtless observations by him. He was ever the genial, 
 warm-hearted, happy friend. 
 
 He was a self-made man, and grew stronger because of 
 the difficulties and single-handed struggles of early life. 
 His success attested the opportunities in this Republic for 
 pluck, courage, and ability to climb in spite of poverty and 
 adverse early conditions. 
 
 He was a keen debater and a ready talker. 
 
 He was a close observer and quick to understand the pub- 
 lic pulse, and in an eminent degree possessed thai industry 
 so vital to real success, whether in private or in public life. 
 
 We nave losl a strong man from our numbers, and one 
 deserving the tributes this day paid lo bis memory. While 
 speaking of Mr. Townshend to-daywe can not forget the 
 
Life and Character of Richard IV. Townshend. 45 
 
 lamented Cox, the lamented Kelley, and others who have so 
 long been conspicuous as members of this body. I trust 
 that we shall all take a lesson from the death of these distin- 
 guished men, and that at least we shall endeavor, while we 
 remain here, to discharge our public duties with 'the same 
 fidelity which they exhibited, and with the same entire devo- 
 tion to our constituents and to our country. 
 
 ADDRESS OF MR, MCMlLLIN, OF TENNESSEE. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : No word can fittingly describe the calam- 
 ity a family sustains when its head is taken. No human 
 tongue can express the loss that a country sustains when a 
 wise patriot falls. But these two impossibilities, Mr. 
 Speaker, will not deter me from coming and, in my humble 
 way briefly, on this sad occasion, laying my offering of 
 affectionate regret and high appreciation upon the tomb of 
 Richard W. Townshend. You have already been told 
 how he struggled in early youth in Maryland and in this 
 city, and how later on he went to the Mississippi Valley, 
 the most marvelous valley of the whole earth, which 
 Napoleon predicted when selling it to us would cause its 
 possessor to be the greatest nation in the world. He went 
 there and pitched his tent beside its most beautiful waters. 
 
 It did not take a discriminating people, a people who loved 
 a " government of the people, by the people, for the people," 
 long to see that in Mr. Townshend they could have a fit- 
 ting Representative and that with him could be safely 
 lodged their dearest interests. So that we see his life epito- 
 mized by a statement that, although he was cut down at the 
 untimely age of forty-eight, although he had passed but 
 twenty-seven years from his majority until his death, 
 
46 Address of Mr. McMillin, of Tennessee, on the 
 
 twenty-one of those years had been spent in the public serv- 
 ice, and in all that twenty-one years eye hath not seen nor 
 ear heard a single man who ever raised his voice against 
 the intelligence, the integrity, or the industry of this man. 
 
 And, Mr. Speaker, whilst I do not believe that for a free 
 American citizen there ought to exist an aristocracy of any 
 kind, while I believe that individual " citizenship and indi- 
 vidual worth are the things most to be lauded and most to 
 be sought as characteristics of the citizen, 1 do hold that if 
 there were one at the feet of which an American could prop- 
 erly bow, it would be found in a combination of such intel- 
 ligence, integrity, and industry as were possessed by our 
 lost friend. He was elected by the people a member of this 
 House and sent here, and it was my fortune for ten years to 
 be intimately associated with him. On committee, in the 
 House, in the city, everywhere, he was the same man, the 
 same great good man, the same man with two sides to his 
 life, one of velvet, to be presented in love and affection 
 to his family and friends; another, with a coat of mail and 
 a mailed hand to be raised wherever right cried out, and to 
 smite wherever wrong should be smitten. He served on the 
 Committees on Revision of the Laws, Judiciary, Appropria- 
 fcions, and as chairman of the Committee on Military Af- 
 fairs. He and I were together on the first-named commit- 
 tee, and together worked on the Supplement to the Revised 
 Stat iites of the United States, comparing its provisions with 
 the original statutes, and I found him ever vigilanl and effi- 
 cient. 
 
 Of his public service here you have already been told. 
 Those who have served here will agree, I think, that I do 
 nut overdraw the picture wlien I say that in all the earth 
 there is no spot where ii is so hard to succeed as on the floor 
 of the House of Representatives of the United States. There 
 
Life and Character of Richard IV. Townshend. 47 
 
 is no other place in the world where all of the honors one 
 may have deserved and won, where all of the distinctions that 
 may have crowned him, and all of the intellectuality he may 
 have evinced go for so little in the estimate that is made of 
 him, and where he is put so thoroughly upon his own re- 
 sources to see what he can now do, as in this Hall. Many 
 great intellects fail to achieve the success expected of them 
 here. This trying ordeal Mr. Townshend met, and met 
 successfully. He was recognized here as a leader and he 
 deserved to be so recognized. He held to the sense of duty 
 so beautifully expressed by Mr. Webster: 
 
 With conscience satisfied with the discharge of duty, no consequences 
 can harm us. 
 
 A sense of duty pursues us ever. It is omnipresent like the Deity. If 
 we take to ourselves the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost 
 parts of the eai'th, duty performed or duty violated is with us for our hap- 
 piness or our misery. If we say that darkness shall cover us, in the dark- 
 ness, as in the light, our obligations are still with us. They are with us 
 in this life, will be with us at its close, and in that scene of inconceivable 
 solemnity which lies yet farther onward, we shall still find ourselves sur- 
 rounded by a sense of duty, to pain us wherever it has been violated and 
 to console us where God in his mercy has given us grace to perform it. 
 
 This sense of duty our deceased friend lived by and died 
 by. He might truly say, Mr. Speaker, as did the great car- 
 dinal of France when his "enemies" were mentioned: 
 
 I have no enemies save the enemies of the State. 
 
 If it be true, as has been very beautifully said, that — 
 
 We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths — 
 then may it be truly said that the life of our friond was a full 
 one. At all times and under all circumstances he was the 
 same painstaking, patient, intelligent public servant, know- 
 ing only the discharge of his duty, knowing only love to his 
 country and love to his friends. 
 
 It has been said, and truly said, that he had strong politi- 
 cal convictions. Yes; he was of those who had intelligence 
 
48 Address of Mr. Springer, of Illinois, on the 
 
 enough to have convictions and boldness enough to avow 
 them. This was only a result of his intense love of country 
 and his anxiety for its good; but he had at the same time 
 that feeling of brotherhood which rises above politics, which 
 lias been the comfort of us all, and without which of ttimes 
 the bickerings and the hot contests of this Hall would be 
 almost unendurable. Mr. Speaker, I know I voice the senti- 
 ment of every one who knew our departed friend when I say 
 that no one who ever served with him here does not have a 
 bleeding heart this day for the irreparable loss his family 
 and his country have sustained. 
 
 Address of Mr. Springer, of Illinois. 
 
 Mr. Speaker: After all that has been said on this occa- 
 sion in reference to the life and character of our deceased 
 friend and brother, it seems unnecessary for me to say any- 
 thing further. But at the risk of wearying the House I 
 must add my humble tribute to his memory. 
 
 Richard Wellington Townshend was born in Prince 
 George's County. Md., April .')<>. L840, and died in the city 
 of Washington, in March, 188!), having scarcely reached the 
 age of forty-nine years. He came to this city when only 
 ten years <>f age. and resided here until L858. He then went 
 to Illinois, being bud eighteen years old a1 the time. 
 
 In his choice of a home in Illinois he was Largely influ- 
 enced by Hon. Samuel S. Marshall, who was at that time a 
 member of Congress from the district afterwards repre- 
 sented by Mr. Townshend. Judge Marshall was a mem- 
 ber of this Bouse from L855 to L859, and from L865 to L875. 
 Ih- was one of the ahlest niein I iers of this body, and is a 
 gentleman of the highest character and noblest* impulses. 
 
Life and Character of Richard W. Townshend. 49 
 
 Soon after lie entered Congress lie formed the acquaintance 
 of young Townshend, who was then only fifteen years of 
 of age and was one of the pages of this House. 
 
 A mutual attachment sprang up between the statesman 
 and the page, which grew with advancing years, each year 
 uniting them firmer than before in the bonds of friendship. 
 Mr. Townshend studied law in Judge Marshall's law office 
 at McLeansborough, and when the judge retired from Con- 
 gress, after fourteen years of distinguished service, having 
 attained the distinction of leadership of his party in this 
 House, it was his earnest desire that Mr. Townshend should 
 succeed him. His wishes were gratified, and at the Congres- 
 sional convention of his party in 1876, Mr. Townshend, 
 then only thirty-six years of age, was unanimously nomi- 
 nated as the Democratic candidate for Congress. This, it 
 will be remembered, was a Presidential' year. 
 
 Mr. Tilden was the Democratic candidate, and a tremen- 
 dous effort was put forth by his party supporters to secure 
 his election. It was important that the ablest men in the 
 party should be selected, in a time like this, to lead the 
 party in the local Congressional contests. The selection of 
 Mr. Townshend, at this important epoch in his party's his- 
 tory, for so responsible a position, was the highest testimony 
 which could be given to his ability and his integrity. It is 
 needless to add that he was elected. He proved worthy of 
 the important trust confided to him, and was continued in 
 Congress until the day of his death. He had at that time 
 completed six terms of service and had entered on the 
 seventh. He enjoyed the confidence of his constituents to 
 the fullest extent, and, had he lived, would undoubtedly 
 have remained in Congress as long as he desired to do so. 
 
 His service in this House has been important and valuable 
 to the country. His committee assignments attest the high 
 H. Mis. 202 4 
 
50 Address of Mr. Springer, of Illinois, on the 
 
 appreciation of his ability by the Speakers and the House. 
 In the Forty-fifth Congress, the first in which he served, he 
 was assigned to the Committees on Patents and Private 
 Land Claims ; in the Forty-sixth, to the Committees on 
 Patents, the Revision of the Laws, and to the chairman- 
 ship of the Committee on Expenditures in the Navy De- 
 partment ; in the Forty-seventh Congress, to the Committee 
 <.n the Judiciary: in the Forty-eighth and Forty-ninth 
 Congresses, to the Committee on Appropriations; and in 
 the Fiftieth Congress, to the chairmanship of the Commit- 
 tee on Military Affairs. 
 
 While a member of the Appropriations Committee he was 
 chairman of the subcommittee on the Army appropriation 
 bill, and his earnest and able services on this committee and 
 on the Military Committee are remembered and appreciated 
 by those who served in the House at that time. He was al- 
 ways deeply interested in the measures under his manage- 
 ment, and was quick to repel assaults and fearless in defense 
 of the action of his committee. He did not hesitate to attack 
 his assailants, whether on his side of the House or on the 
 other. But he did not indulge in denunciations, buthurled 
 his facts and arguments at his opponents with a zeal and 
 forcethal never failed to convince the House of the sincerity 
 of his purpose. 
 
 While in the heat of debate he appeared at times as if 
 moved by passion, yet he preserved the proprieties of-debate, 
 and never rarried ortreasured up personal resentments. His 
 earnestness in debate evinced his integrity and the deep 
 conviction of the justness of his cause. But socially his 
 amiability and good nature won for him the good will and 
 confidence of all who knew him. He was the sonl of honor. 
 He w.-i- incapable of doing a mean thing. He was kind to a 
 fault, ami losl no opportunity to serve his friends or respond 
 
Life and Character of Richard IV. Townshend. 51 
 
 to the demands of his constituents. His correspondence was 
 very large, and generally carried on by himself without the 
 aid of a clerk. He was a hard worker. 
 
 Every request from his constituents was granted promptly 
 and without waiting to be called upon. He flooded his dis- 
 trict with documents, speeches, and official reports. He be- 
 lieved in furnishing information to the people on all the 
 great measures pending in Congress. Upon the adjourn- 
 ment of each session he repaired to his home in Illinois and 
 devoted his time to public speaking in his district or in per- 
 sonal visits to friends in the several counties. His whole 
 time, while in Congress, was given to the public service. 
 
 In his domestic relations he was most happily situated. 
 His faithful wife and affectionate children made his home 
 attractive and inspired him with a laudable ambition to earn 
 a reputation and leave behind him a name which they would 
 delight to honor. He was attentive to their every want, 
 and naught ever occurred to mar the happiness or disturb 
 the sweet simplicity of wedded love. They were all in love 
 with each other, and exemplified that fact in every word., 
 thought, and act. In their great grief at his untimely 
 death there must be some consolation in the reflection that 
 in his lifetime there was no unpleasant memories to disturb 
 their minds or unkind words to add new pangs. On the 
 contrary, his very name is dear to them; his memory will 
 bring back the happiness of the past and will strew with 
 flowers the desolate paths of the future. 
 
 To me Mr. Townshend's death is a personal loss as well 
 as a great bereavement. He was my friend. We counseled 
 with each other, we worked together, we sympathized with 
 each other in defeat, and rejoiced together in success. I 
 never could quite understand the mysterious providence 
 which called him hence at a time when he could accomplish 
 
52 Address of Mr. Springer, of Illinois. 
 
 so much for the betterment of mankind and for the good of 
 his country. But it is not necessary that I should under- 
 stand it. 
 
 God moves in a mysterious way 
 His wonders to perform. 
 
 He permits tyrants to be exalted upon thrones and per- 
 mits His saints to be led to the block. He cuts down the 
 great and good in the midst of their usefulness and permits 
 the wicked to multiply their days. But His infinite wisdom 
 is not to be measured - by our ignorance. His designs are 
 not to be criticised by our feeble minds. As well might we 
 attempt to "bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose 
 the bands of Orion." It is enough for us to know that He 
 that created the universe and guides the stars in their course, 
 that counts the hairs of our head and notes the sparrow's 
 fall, will order and direct our ways so as best to accomplish 
 His purpose. He has seen fit to take from us, from his fam- 
 ily, from his constituents, and from his country, one whom 
 we all loved and honored and whose death we all deplore. But 
 to him who lives, as did our deceased friend, an upright life. 
 death has no terrors and can not destroy. He still lives in 
 the hearts of his countrymen, in the sacred memory of his 
 wife and children, in the bosom of his God. 
 
 The question being taken on agreeing to the resolutions 
 -ii limit led by Mr. Williams, of Illinois, they were unani- 
 mously adopted. 
 
 And then, on motion of Mr. Williams, of Illinois, the 
 House adjourned. 
 
PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE. 
 
 December 19, 1889. 
 
 Mr. Cullom. I ask that the resolutions of the House of 
 Representatives in reference to the death of Hon. Richard 
 W. Townshend, late a member of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives, be read. 
 
 The Vice President. The Chair lays before the Senate 
 the resolutions referred to, which will be read. 
 
 The Chief Clerk read as follows: 
 
 In the House of Representatives, December 18, 1889. 
 
 Resolved, That this House has heard with profound sorrow the an- 
 nouncement of the death of Hon. Richard W. Townshend, late a Repre- 
 sentative from the State of Illinois; 
 
 That in the death of Mr. Townshend the country lost a patriotic citizen 
 and an able and faithful public servant; 
 
 That the Clerk transmit a copy of these resolutions to the family of the 
 deceased and communicate the same to the Senate; 
 
 That as a further mark of respect to the memory of the deceased this 
 House do now adjourn. 
 
 Mr. Cullom submitted the following resolutions; which 
 were read: 
 
 Resolved, That the Senate has heard with profound sorrow the an- 
 nouncement of the death of Hon. Richard W. Townshend, late a Repre- 
 sentative from the State of Illinois. 
 
 Resolved, That as a mark of respect to the memory of the deceased the 
 Senate do now adjourn. 
 
 The Vice-President (at 4 o'clock and 25 minutes p. m.). 
 The Senate stands adjourned until to-morrow, Friday, De- 
 cember 20, at 12 o'clock meridian. 
 
 53 
 
54 Proceedings in the Senate. 
 
 March 14, 1890. 
 
 Mr. Cullom, of Illinois. I desire to call up the resolu- 
 tions of the House of Representatives in relation to the 
 death of the late Mr. Townshend, of my State. 
 
 The Presiding Officer. The Chief Clerk will read the 
 resolutions of the House of Representatives. 
 
 The Chief Clerk read as follows: 
 
 In the House of Representatives, February 15, 1890. 
 
 Resolved, That the business of the House be now suspended that 
 appropriate honors may be paid to the memory of Hon. Richard Wel- 
 lington Townshend, late a Representative in Congress from the State of 
 Illinois. That in the death of Mr. Townshend his district and State 
 lost an able and faithful public servant and the country a legislator and 
 statesman who stood high in its councils. 
 
 That as a further mark of respect to the memory of the deceased the 
 House, at the conclusion of these ceremonies, shall adjourn. 
 
 That the Clerk transmit a copy of these resolutions to the Senate. 
 
 Mr. Cullom. I offer the resolutions I send to the desk 
 for consideration and adoption. 
 The Presiding Officer. The resolutions will be read. 
 The Chief Clerk read as follows: 
 
 Resolved, That the Senate sir res with the House of Representatives in 
 its expressions of sorrow at the death of Hon. Richard W. Townshend, 
 late a Representative in that body from the State of Illinois. 
 
 Resolved, That as a mark of sympathy toward the family of the de- 
 ceased the Secretary of the Senate be directed to transmit to them a copy 
 of these proceedings. 
 
Life and Character of Richard IV. Townshend. 55 
 
 ADDRESS OF MR. CULLOM, OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Mr. President: I ask the attention of the Senate while I 
 submit some remarks appropriate to the occasion suggested 
 by the resolution just read. We are again called upon to 
 pay our tribute of respect to the memory of a deceased mem- 
 ber of Congress, Richard Wellington Townshend, a Rep- 
 resentative from the State of Illinois. It is fitting that the 
 Senate shall pause from its ordinary labors and express its 
 appreciation of the life and character of the deceased. 
 
 Mr. President, the death-roll of the present Congress has 
 been unusually large, and, in language not to be misunder- 
 stood, reminds us '• that in the midst of life we are in death." 
 
 Richard W. Townshend, whose death we mourn to-day, 
 was born in Prince George's County, Md., April 30, 1840, and 
 died in this city March 9, 1889, being nearly forty-nine years 
 old, having scarcely reached the zenith of his manhood. 
 
 In early youth, while yet a boy, an orphan boy, he came 
 to this city, where he attended the schools, and for a time 
 was a page-boy in the House of Representatives, of which 
 body he subsequently became, and continued for many years, 
 a distinguished member. While young Townshend was a 
 page in the House, S. S. Marshall, then an honored mem- 
 ber from Illinois and now an honored citizen of that great 
 Commonwealth, became attached to him and advised him to 
 go to Illinois, which he did in 1858. There he taught school 
 for a time, and finally studied law in the judge's law office. 
 He was subsequently licensed to practice law, was soon 
 elected clerk of the circuit court, afterwards elected prose- 
 cuting attorney for the judicial circuit in which he lived, 
 and became known as an able lawyer and prosecutor. 
 
56 Address of Mr. Cullom, of Illinois, on the 
 
 In those days, when the State was less densely populated, 
 a judicial circuit comprised many more counties than now, 
 and the ability and valuable services of Mr. Townshend in 
 protecting the peace and good order of the people made him 
 a tower of strength in his section. 
 
 He was always an uncompromising Democrat, and was 
 ready to defend "his party and its principles and policies on 
 any proper occasion. He was a man of courage, was honest 
 in what he avowed, and was therefore aggressive in dealing 
 with his political enemies. He held various positions at the 
 hands of his political friends before he was elected to Con- 
 gress. As I have said, he was circuit clerk, prosecuting at- 
 torney, and was also long a member of the Democratic State 
 committee, and once or more a delegate to the Democratic 
 national convention. He was prominent in the councils of 
 his party because he was recognized as wise and sagacious as 
 a leader. In 1876 his career as a member of Congress began 
 by his election in his district, in which he was elected six 
 successive times, the last time in 1888. In all this period of 
 service he grew more and more in public favor, and stronger 
 as a legislator and in the esteem of his colleagues and all 
 who knew him. 
 
 Mr. President, there have been few public men so devoted 
 to the interests of the people of their districts as was he; 
 never tiring, always on the alert, ever watchful, ever toiling, 
 to work for bis constituents was to him absolutely a, labor of 
 love. He was an honest, generous, able man, sincere in his 
 convictions and strong in his adherence to whai he believed. 
 Under our constitutional Govermnenl the Senators and Rep- 
 resentatives bring from their several States and districts the 
 sentiments, views, ami expressed desires <»f the people they 
 most directly represent touching national affairs and national 
 legislation, and by so doing a consensus of public opinion of 
 
Life and Character of Richard W. Townshend. 57 
 
 every section is voiced in our legislative action as nearly as 
 may be, and it is true more exactly, perhaps, in the House 
 of Representatives than in the Senate. Townshend always 
 sought to reflect in his legislative action what he believed 
 was the voice of a majority of his people at home, and such 
 a course made him strong. In a government by the people 
 the duty of their representatives, either in this body or the 
 other branch of Congress, is to represent and carry out the 
 wishes of the people, so far as the Constitution will permit. 
 
 Mr. Townshend acted upon that idea, that it was his duty 
 as a Representative elected by the people of his district to 
 come here and faithfully, honestly, and devotedly carry out 
 their wishes so far as he was able to do. 
 
 It was my good fortune to be somewhat intimately 
 acquainted with Mr. Townshend for many years. As a 
 citizen, as a lawyer, and as a public servant, he was faithful 
 in all the relations of life. 
 
 It is a solemn duty to pay the last tribute to our departed 
 friends who have been identified with us in the performance 
 of any public trust. I think that the bond of friendship 
 becomes stronger between men who share the responsibility 
 of public duty together than it does between men in the 
 common walks of life. The attachment that grows and 
 strengthens with years between men who have been in the 
 Army and stood shoulder to shoulder in battle becomes 
 strong and undying as life itself; so, perhaps, in a less 
 degree do the friendships become strong between men 
 thrown together in the discharge of public duty in civil 
 affairs. 
 
 Mr. Townshend's services as a member of Congress were 
 valuable, and were more and more appreciated from year to 
 year. A reference to the record of the Congresses in which 
 he was a member shows that at each succeeding Congress 
 
58 Address of Mr. Cullom, of Illinois, on the 
 
 greater responsibilities and more onerous duties were placed 
 upon him by the body to which he belonged. He was a 
 member of many important committees at different times, 
 such as the Judiciary and Appropriations, and during the 
 last Congress, if not in more than one Congress, was chair- 
 man of the Committee on Military Affairs. He took great 
 pride in the latter position, and was liberal in his considera- 
 tion of the needs of the Army, and appreciated its important 
 relation to the Government. He was greatly interested in 
 the National Military School at West Point, where, as 
 members of the Board of Visitors, we met with others but 
 a few years ago to investigate its condition and needs. 
 
 He was greatly interested in and strongly advocated the 
 congress of the American States which is now in session in 
 this city and which I trust and believe will result in binding- 
 together socially, commercially, and politically the people 
 of the United States, the Republic of Mexico, and all the 
 States of Central and South America. 
 
 I can not undertake, on an occasion like this. Mr. Presi- 
 dent, to make even a passing reference to the many meas- 
 ures of public utility with which Mr. Townshend was 
 closely identified. On the 9th of March last, now a few 
 days more than one year ago. his labors, struggles, and con- 
 flicts ended, and be passed forever from sight. His work 
 was done, he finished his course, and he lias gone. 1 trust, 
 where suffering and conflict are no more. 
 
 Mr. President, these sad .occasions seem to occur so often 
 in Congress that we are apt to pass over them lightly. The 
 Senate will lie culled upon to pause several times before this 
 session closes to pay tribute to those who were elected to the 
 present Congress and who have passed away: Cox. that bril- 
 liant leader of the Democratic side of the House and friend 
 to humanity in the broadesl sense, is gone: Kelley, that 
 
Life and (_ liaractcr of Richard IV. Townshend. 59 
 
 great advocate of protection to American labor and indus- 
 try, has gone; Newton W. Nutting, of New York; James 
 Laird, of Nebraska; and Edward J. Gay, of Louisiana, 
 have passed away, making six in number thus early in the 
 present Congress who were elected to it and are now no 
 more. 
 
 Such occasions are solemn, Mr. President, and to me the 
 more often they occur the more startling and solemn they 
 seem. Mr. Townshend was a man of great social qualities. 
 He was fond of his friends and to have them around him. He 
 was kindly and friendly in his nature and sought to make 
 all his friends. He was a devoted husband, and loved his 
 children as the apple of his eye. He left behind a heart- 
 broken wife, a grown son, and a beautiful, loving daughter. 
 
 Mr. President, I have sometimes thought that death would 
 have comparatively few terrors, so far as this world is con- 
 cerned, if we were not so dependent upon each other. The 
 happiness of one depends upon others ; so the life of this 
 stricken family household— widow, son. and daughter- 
 seems enveloped in gloom and darkness since the husband 
 and father died. He was their head, their pride, their life. 
 He is gone; peace to his ashes ! 
 
 Address of Mr. Vest, of Missouri. 
 
 Mr. President: The insoluble mystery of death again con- 
 fronts us. In its presence rhetoric loses its charm and logic 
 reaches no conclusion. 
 
 It has been said that the greatest terror in death is the 
 dread of annihilation; but more terrible than this is the 
 absolute isolation of the grave. Every man must die alone. 
 
60 Address of Mr. Vest, of Missouri, on the 
 
 When we pass through that shadowy portal no human voice- 
 can cheer us upon the dark pathway, no caressing hand can 
 lead or assist; we must make that journey alone. 
 
 Sir, in the presence of the profound mystery and the 
 tragedy that ends a human life, with all its passions and 
 temptations and sorrows and joys, in the presence of the 
 fact that we know so little why that life began and know so 
 little why that life has ended, exaggerated encomium is as 
 futile and as out of place as criticism or censure. 
 
 My acquaintance with Richard W. Townshend began 
 eleven years ago, when I entered the Senate. We were from 
 the same section of the country. I afterwards came to 
 know him well, and he impressed me as a strong, earnest, 
 brave man, with large heart and large brain. He was 
 devoted to the district he represented, and understood fully 
 all the wants of its people. He was a typical Western Rep- 
 resentative, aggressive in debate, but kindly and generous 
 in word and deed. The constituents he represented were 
 composed of those sturdy, self-reliant, and independent men 
 of the prairies before whom no public official either timid 
 .ir dishonest could survive. The proudest epitaph that I 
 could announce for him to-day is that for six consecutive 
 terms he possessed the absolute confidence of such a con- 
 stituency. 
 
 In every home in southern Illinois the name of Dick 
 Townshend, as they loved to call him, is to-day a house- 
 hold word. He was a perfectly natural man. Children 
 came to him at sighl and nestled in his arms as if lie were 
 .■hi old and familiar friend. To the poor, the oppressed, the 
 an fortunate, he was tender and patient. If all those to 
 whom he spoke kindly words and for whom lie did kindly 
 acts were gathered together i1 would be a vast multitude. 
 and if each of those who were happier by reason of his life 
 
Life and Character of Richard W. Townshend. 61 
 
 could cast one leaf upon his grave he would sleep now be- 
 neath a wilderness of foliage. 
 
 Sir, compared with this, how poor a monument of granite 
 or a shaft of spotless marble ! His place in the councils of 
 the nation is worthily filled, but his place in the hearts of 
 the thousands who loved him will be vacant until they, too, 
 shall have passed through the ever-open gates of the silent 
 city. 
 
 Address of Mr. Hale, of Maine. 
 
 Mr. President: My acquaintance with Mr. Townshend 
 began with the Forty-fifth Congress, in the House of Rep- 
 resentatives, of which he and I were then members. 
 
 He was new in service and young in years for the House, 
 but he soon attracted my attention, as he did that of old 
 members, and he immediately made friends there, who after- 
 wards watched with satisfaction his constant increase in 
 power and influence in the body. 
 
 His mental and physical organization was such.that while 
 he was unusually clear and direct and persistent in his course 
 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. 
 
 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 Representatives performs lie bore a more and more 
 conspicuous part. His service upon important committees 
 
62 Address of Mr. Hale, of Maine, on the 
 
 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 appearance one month before his death Mr. Town- 
 shend might count upon a most enviable future public life. 
 He had an admiring, unquestioning constituency. He had 
 laid broad 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 close study into social, economic, and financial 
 questions, and had broadened it by wide general reading. 
 
 To the ordinary view few men had better promise 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 
 wenl <>ut whatever there might have been for him otherwise 
 of honor or glory to come. 
 
 Ilr 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 pleasure which comes from the recollection of 
 scenes brightened l>y love. 
 
 All of ns who met him here in public or private life, 
 especially the members of that great body where he took so 
 
Life and Character of Richard IV. Townshend. 63 
 
 active a part, will miss him long, and long regret Mm. 
 During the fourteen years over which my acquaintance 
 with Mr. Townshend extended, every incident of our inter- 
 course has left with me nothing but pleasant memories, and 
 my brief tribute to his merit is most sincerely given. 
 
 Address 'OF Mr. Jones, of Arkansas. 
 
 Mr. President : Upon occasions like this, when the 
 usual course of public business is suspended, and for a time 
 the important public interests and the political demands of 
 a great nation are laid aside, and the representatives of peo- 
 ple and of States assemble to pay the last sad tribute of 
 respect to one who was of us, but who is not, and to solemnly 
 bear public testimony to his worth and merit to the end 
 that those who come after us may know that we were not 
 unmindful of his public services and private virtues, we are 
 forcibly reminded that — 
 
 To our graves we walk 
 In the thick foot-prints of departed men. 
 
 To one to whom life offers nothing, for whom disappoint- 
 ment has blasted hope, in whose bosom ambition is dead, 
 or to one who is compelled to drag out an existence rendered 
 miserable by misfortune or disease, for whom no loving 
 hands smooth the rough places of life, for whom there is no 
 rest, no peace, the grave is doubtless welcome, and that — 
 
 Sinless, stirless rest. 
 That change which never changes — 
 
 is a merciful release, a happy dispensation for him, and a 
 calamity to no one. But to one in the prime and vigor of 
 mature manhood : in the full enjoyment of his matured but 
 scarcely ripened powers ; just in the summer and approach- 
 
64 Address of Air. /ones, of Arkansas, on the 
 
 ing the autumn of Iris life, when the ripening fruits of his 
 years of toil are about to be garnered ; blessed by Provi- 
 dence with a happy family, the pride of his life and the 
 solace of his heart ; full of hope and ambition for his coun- 
 try, his family, and himself, to be suddenly cut off is terri- 
 ble and makes those who witness it to shudder. Such was 
 the life "and death of Mr. Townshend. 
 
 Few men had more to live for or a better right to expect 
 many years of success, prosperity, and happiness. No 
 thought of his early departure from the walks of life en- 
 tered the minds of those who knew him, and the sad an- 
 nouncement that he had "gone from the earth forever," was 
 a shock to every one of his hosts of friends. 
 
 Such things bring home to us all with crushing force the 
 vanity of all human calculations, but — 
 
 Men drop so fast ere life's mid stage of life we tread 
 Few know so many friends alive as dead. 
 
 Even in this world, however — 
 
 We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; 
 In feelings, not in figures on a dial. 
 We should count time by heart throbs. He most lives- 
 Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best. 
 
 Measured by this standard, the life of Mr. Townshend 
 filled a Larger space than that allotted to mo^t men. 
 
 The very first day of my experience in Congress, amid the 
 bustle and confusion incident to the organization of the 
 House of Representatives, in the wilderness of strange 
 faces and the stirring scenes of such an occasion, my atten- 
 tion was attraded to him, and though. I atthe time had no 
 idea who he was. 1 never lost sigh.1 of him afterward. 
 
 Fearless and aggressive in the advocacy of the righl as he 
 saw it. he never occupied a doubtful position, bul boldly and 
 effectively presented his views whenever occasion required. 
 
Life and Character of Richard W. Townshend. 65 
 
 Keenly attentive to the current of public affairs here and 
 abroad, he was a valuable and conspicuous representative of 
 the people, and the esteem in which his qualities and endow- 
 ments were held by his associates in the House is indicated 
 by the fact that while Hon. Samuel J. Randall was chair- 
 man of the Committee on Appropriations he always had Mr. 
 Townshend associated with him upon that most important 
 and responsible committee. A ready debater, a hard worker, 
 familiar with the whole current of public affairs, he was 
 trusted and relied upon by his committee in all their con- 
 tests upon the floor. He left his impress upon public affairs, 
 a record of his work as a public man which is an honor to 
 him, to his State, and his constituents, and which is a rich 
 heritage to his family; but the distinction which he would 
 himself have prized most, of which he would himself have 
 felt the proudest, is the sincere love and affection for him and 
 his memory which warms the hearts of those amongst whom 
 he lived, to whom he was best known, and to whose service 
 he devoted his life. In the long years to come his name and 
 his memory will be remembered and cherished by thousands 
 of loving friends and admirers in his far-away prairie home. 
 Few men have had so deep and firm a hold on the confi- 
 dence of their constituents as he. Coupled with the qualities 
 which distinguished him as a public man he had personal 
 qualities which bound him as with "hooks of steel" to those 
 who knew him best. I often had occasion to notice his 
 courteous and kindly demeanor towards those occupying the 
 more lowly walks of life, and no man was freer than he from 
 that characteristic of ignoble men, servility to place and 
 power and arrogance towards the humble and lowly; but, 
 being a thorough man of the people, he saw and respected 
 the man, in utter disregard of the trappings of position or 
 the drawbacks of a humble station. I happen to know how 
 H. Mis. 262 5 
 
66 Address of Mr. Jones, of Arkansas. 
 
 upon an occasion he won the admiration and sincere esteem 
 of an old lady traveling a long distance alone by his constant, 
 delicate, and courteous attentions. She never forgot hini or 
 his thoughtful kindness to her, and she never will. 
 
 His accurate knowledge of what Mr. Lincoln called "our 
 plain, common people," his familiarity with their domestic 
 life, with their hopes and fears, his intimate knowledge of 
 their struggles and their hardships, and his deep and sin- 
 cere sympathy with them in all these won for him the place 
 in their love and confidence which he enjoyed through life 
 and which will "keep his memory green" after death. 
 
 T< > <>ne whose life was thus devoted to the good of his fel- 
 low-men in every public duty and whose private life and 
 daily walk were marked by words of good cheer to the faint- 
 hearted and deeds of unselfishness to all, one who, in a word, 
 devoted himself to the good of his fellow-men— 
 
 There is no death. What seems so is transition ; 
 
 This life of mortal breath 
 Is but a suburb of the life elysian 
 
 Whose portal we call death. 
 
 The Presiding Officer. The question is on agreeing to 
 the resolutions submitted by the Senator from Illinois. 
 
 The resolutions were agreed to unanimously. 
 
 Mr. (Jullom. I move as a further mark of respect to the 
 memory of the deceased that the Senate do now adjourn. 
 
 The motion was agreed to unanimously ; and the Senate 
 adjourned until Monday, March 17, 1890, at 12 o'clock me- 
 ridian. 
 

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