MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 
 
 FRANCIS BROWNE STOCKRRIDGE, 
 
 LATE A SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF MICHIGAN, 
 
 AND 
 
 PHILIP SIDNEY POST, 
 
 LATE A REPRESENTATIVE FROM THE STATE OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM W. GROUT, 
 
 OF VERMONT, 
 
 IN THE 
 
 HOITSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 
 
 FEBRUARY 21 and 26, 1895. 
 
 W AS H I N GTON. 
 1895. 
 
MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 
 
 OF 
 
 HON. WILLIAM W. GROUT. 
 
 The House having under consideration resolutions expreasive of sorrow 
 on the death of Senator Francis B. Stockbridge and Representative Philip ^ 
 Post- 
 
 Mr. GROUT said: 
 
 FRANCIS BROWNE STOCKBRIDGE. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, my acquaintance with Francis Browne Stock- 
 bridge, late a Senator from the State of Michigan, was not inti¬ 
 mate, but sufficient to give a distinct impression of his manly, 
 sturdy character. 
 
 His"neighbors at home and his colleagues in the Senate all tes¬ 
 tify to his singleness of purpose and his straightforwardness; 
 also to his great good sense and his faithful perseverance in 
 whatever work he undertook. His judgment was always excel¬ 
 lent. whether on questions of business or of public concern. 
 Though always able to express himself clearly and forcibly, he was 
 in no sense an orator. In fact, he made no attempt at display in 
 speech, but was rather a mau of action than of words. 
 
 He had only a common-school education, with perhaps a term 
 or so at the academy. He was a native of the State of Maine and 
 was 68 years of age at the time of his death. He had been eight 
 years in the Senate, having been first elected in 1886 and again in 
 189;i. 
 
 The high honor of a seat in the United States Senate is matter 
 of recognition by the entire American people. And no man can 
 reach that enviable distinction, and especially be reelected, except 
 there be that in him worthy of high approval in the estimation of 
 the people of his State. It seems that Senator Stockbridge had 
 reached this commanding position with the people of the great 
 State of Michigan, and liad become the worthy successor in the 
 Senate of such distinguished men as Lewis Cass, Zachariah Chan¬ 
 dler, and Jacob M. Howard. Yes, Senator Stockbridge had made 
 his way to this goal of great difficulty and placed his name among 
 these great names in the history of his State. And the question I 
 am going to ask, if you wiU bear with me for a little time while I 
 answer it, is. By what means was this grand result reached? 
 What was the secret of this great success? 
 
 And first of all, in answering, let me say that this was not Sen- 
 2 1863 
 
3 
 
 ator Stockbridge’s first great success. He had before tliat made 
 a great success in business and amassed a large fortxine. not by 
 speculation, but by a lifetime of industry and patient labor. He 
 had also accomplished the great success of Nvnnningthe lu'arts and 
 the absolute confidence of all who knew hijn; the great success of 
 being esteemed, not only independent and able, but thoroughly 
 upright, and always to be relied upon to perform to the utmost 
 verge all that he had promised, and frequently more than was ex¬ 
 pected of him, not only in matters of charity biit in busine.ss as 
 well. And these great successes, possibly thoxight by sonxe not 
 very great, but, I repeat, these great sxiccesses were the st(*pi)ing- 
 stones by which Senator Stockbridge rose in the estimation of the 
 people of Michigan, till they crowned his reasonable ambition 
 for a seat in the United States Senate with success also, thereby 
 honoring honest worth and providing themselves with a represent¬ 
 ative in that body sure to guard well their interests and always to 
 uphold their honor. 
 
 Senator Stockbridge had served creditably in both branches of 
 the State legislature, and had shown himself familiar with pxiblic 
 questions, both State and national. In his extensive business en¬ 
 terprises he had displayed great courage and ability; in fact, here 
 he was a veritable leader among men. But that which most of all 
 impressed the people with his superiority was the rectitude of his 
 life, both public and private, and the nobility and grand individu- ■ 
 ality of his character. He wiis, indeed, a fine specimen of Ameri¬ 
 can manhood, and his noble (jualities came partly from inherit¬ 
 ance and partly from a well-ordered life, into which entered but 
 little of frivolity and vanity, and much of sober, thoughtful work, 
 not only as the means of success for himself but of usefulness to 
 his fellow-man. He was a good illustration of the poet's concep¬ 
 tion that— 
 
 Life is real: life i.s earnest: 
 
 And the fjrave is not its goal; 
 
 Dust thou art. to dust returnest. 
 
 Was not spoken of the soul. 
 
 He was in the first place born ivith that idea. He was of good, 
 strong Puritan stock, which is never quite destitute of energy and 
 a certain religious flavor which have made New England civili¬ 
 zation what it is, and not alone New England civilization, but 
 largely that of the gi’eat West. 
 
 He acciuired no extravagant false notions in the receptive, for¬ 
 mative period of childhood and youth, spent as it was in the sim¬ 
 ple, quiet home of his father, a country doctor. And if we had a 
 full and particular history of the four years, from the age of 17 to 
 21, spent by young Stockbridge in the wholesale store in Boston, 
 we should undoubtedly find him strictly faithful and conscien¬ 
 tiously diligent in the work of his employer and exemplary in all 
 his habits—doubtless standing then, as in aU after life, on the prin¬ 
 ciple of total abstinence from intoxicating drinks, which he did 
 not depart from here at the capital, but exemplified, as few have 
 the courage to do, by having no wine served at his elegant and 
 sumptuous dinner parties. 
 
 Yes; if the curtain could be raised on these four years, young 
 Stockbridge would undoubtedly be presented as “ many a time 
 and oft ” politely but firmly declining the invitation or friends 
 and acquamtances to partake of the flowing bowl. 
 
 1863 
 
It woiUd also disclose tlie fact that his companionship was not 
 with the prodigal young man who “ wasted his substance in riot¬ 
 ous living.” He evidently did not invest all his current earnings 
 in “ wild oats,” as was unquestionably done by many a gilded 
 and giddy youth of his acquaintance, whose life naturally enough 
 in most instances ended early in failure. 
 
 No; for at the age of 21 we find him with some cash and much 
 character, and with good habits and good health, settled in the' 
 lumber business in the then young city of Chicago. Here, as at 
 every point in life, he was successful. His upright dealing won 
 confidence and credit, and his business sagacity and foresight, 
 backed by unusual energy of character, soon carried him from his 
 lumber yard in Chicago to the sources of supply in the pineries of 
 Michigan. 
 
 Here he bought lands and built mills and pushed his fortunes 
 till he was accounted a rich man. Villages sprung up about him 
 and thousands of men were in his employ; ail of whom, because 
 of his kindly relations with them, had come to look upon him as 
 a sort of foster father. 
 
 Of a sudden, however, one of those terrible forest fires which 
 have more than once devastated the State of Michigan overran 
 his lan(ls and swept lumber and mills out of existence. He was 
 thought to be utterly ruined, but the indomitable spirit within 
 him rose equal to the occasion. 
 
 He at once set himself with lanabated courage to the work of re¬ 
 pairing his fortune. His em^oyees stepped forward to a man 
 with a loan of their savings. They had implicit confidence in Mr. 
 Stockbridge, tne same as the people of ^lichigan had when they in¬ 
 trusted him with their interests in the Senate of the United States. 
 And thus seconded by the men in his employ he resumed busi¬ 
 ness, striking out into new fields, and, pheenix-like, out of the 
 ashes of his first estate sprung another far greater, but which he 
 all the time looked upon as a trust fund for the benefit of man¬ 
 kind—for the relief of the orphan world, rather than for his own per¬ 
 sonal use and aggrandizement. He always held open hand toward 
 charities, both great and small; to which the Kalamazoo College, 
 Academy of Music, and Young Men's Christian Association bund¬ 
 ing stand as eloquent witne-sses; while tlie church of which he was 
 a member leaned upon him as upon a pillar for support. And the 
 
 E oor whom we have with us always, and whose benevolent steward 
 e felt himself to be, were never turned empty away—he seldom, 
 if ever, stopping to inqiiire if, perchance, he might not sometimes 
 be imposed upon. 
 
 Such, in brief, were some of the qualities of the late Senator 
 Stockbridge. and is it any wonder that when his sudf'' ^n death was 
 announced the newspapers told us of many a moist eye and husky 
 voice in the city where he had his home and where everyone felt 
 that he had lost a personal friend? 
 
 Any picture of Senator Stockbridge would be incomplete which 
 did not present his benevolent and sympatlietic acts as wholly 
 without ostentation or display, and as well guarded by a dignified 
 and quiet reserve, both of manner and speech, which to the stran¬ 
 ger seemed to make him a little inaccessilde; but with the ac- 
 q^uaintance and the friend the cordiality was complete, while wdth 
 the needy a statement of the case was all that was necessary. 
 
 The picture would also be incomplete if it did not disclose un- 
 
derneath this sol)er, earnest exterior a vein of pleasantry and 
 Iinnior that always relished a joke and had a ke(‘n sense of the 
 ludicrons ; a taste, also, for the beautiful, both in art and nature, 
 especially for that most beautiful and noble of animals for the use 
 of man. "the horse. And so strong was his admiration not only 
 for the beautiful but for the lively in nature, that he had one of 
 the largest and best establishments for breeding the trotting horse 
 in the whole Northwest, in which he took great pride and jileasure. 
 Here is, indeed, a bright, brisk spot in the otherwise quiet outline 
 of his sedate career. 
 
 But the picture would be still incomplete, sadly incomplete, if 
 it did not bear testimony to those rare qualities of head and lieart 
 which always saved him from serious mistakes and kept him on 
 the right side of all i)ublic questions. He was wise and patriotic. 
 His judgment was clear, strong, and practical. His convictions 
 were always a fixed quantity; he was never tossed abotat by the 
 uncertain wnds of expediency, and, as the resiilt, his imblic rec¬ 
 ord is one of fidelity to duty and of honor alike to himself, his 
 party, and his State. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, aside from respect for the dead, if there be'any 
 profit to the Americ-.jin people in the memorial exercises held from 
 time to time in the two Houses over deceased Senators and Mem¬ 
 bers. it is to be found in the lesson for the living, and especially for 
 young men, to be drawn from the life and career of those who have 
 gone out from amongst us and are now at rest. 
 
 It seems to me that in the life of this deceased Senator may be 
 found a valuable lesson for Aimnican youth. Here was a poor boy 
 of humble birth, who won his way to a seat in the American Sen¬ 
 ate. with only limited educational advantages, and with none of 
 the gifts or arts of oratory, which sometimes obscivre d('fects in 
 judgment and are frequently acce])ted as a substitute for sounder 
 q^ualities, but which never fail to dazzle and attract, and are really 
 the mediumshii) of the highest public service ; with none of the 
 arts, either, of the professional politician, but with a life devoted 
 to the stern demands of busine.ss. in which everything he under¬ 
 took was thoroughly and conscientiously done; a life of which 
 each day gave proof of his sense of responsibilitj' to his Creator 
 and his fellow-man; a life filled with the every-day heroism of 
 the faithful and the just; in short, a life w'orthy of imitation and 
 of commemoration. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, the following verses from Longfellow's ‘‘Psalm of 
 Life ” were written of sucli men as the late Senator Stockbridge, 
 and are fit to be read in any presence: 
 
 Lives of prreat men all remind us 
 We can make our lives sul)lime. 
 
 And departing, leave liehind us 
 Footprints on the sands of time. 
 
 Footprints that perhaps another. 
 
 Sailing o’er life's solemn main, 
 
 A forlorn and shipwreck'd brother, 
 
 Seeing, shall take heart again. 
 
 Let us. then, be up and doing, 
 Witli a hi.'art for any fate; 
 Still achieving, still pursuing, 
 Learn to labor ana to wait. 
 
G 
 
 Tuesday, Fehmary 26,1895. 
 
 PHILIP SIDNEY POST. 
 
 Air GROUT, Mr, Speaker, my first ac(iuaintance with Philip 
 Sidney Post, late a member of this House from the State of Illi¬ 
 nois, was in the Fiftieth Congress, although 1 came near know¬ 
 ing him at the Poughkeepsie Law School, where he was a student 
 in 1855. just ahead of my own entrance into tliat institution in 
 1850. He was admitted to the bar in Illinois in 1856 and entered 
 at once into active practice, taking good rank in the profession. 
 
 Very soon, however, with our deceased brother, as with thou¬ 
 sands of others in that day, were the peaceful encounters of the 
 courts suddenly exchanged for the bustle of the camp and the 
 fearful onset of battle. „ - , 
 
 Young Post was among the first to rally in defense of the flag 
 and for the preservation of the Union, and he was at once recog¬ 
 nized as brave and callable, and accordingly rapidly rose from the 
 lowest commissioned grade to be brevet brigadier-general. 
 
 He was second lieutenant in the Fifty-ninth Illinois Infantry 
 June 8, 1861; was adjutant July 21, 1861; major January 1, 1862; 
 colonel March 9, 1862, and brevet brigadier-general December 16, 
 1864. the date of the battle of Nashville, where his conduct was 
 exceptionally gallant and where he wa.s severely wounded. His 
 
 S )tion to be colonel was also marked by a severe wound in the 
 of Pea Ridge, March 7, two days before the date of his com- 
 mi.s.sion. 
 
 His command while in the Army was nearly all the time out of 
 proportion to his rank, being much of the time of a brigade and 
 some of the time of a division, thereby showing plainer than words 
 can tell the confidence reposed in him by his superior oflicers, with 
 whom his standing was de.servedlvhigh. 
 
 Not alone, however, did his soldierly (pialities fix attention with 
 his superiors, but in a marked degi’ee did he command the confi¬ 
 dence and esteem of the officers and men under his command, 
 thereby enabling him always to keep abreast, if not ahead, of 
 what was expected of him. His military career was, in short, a 
 well-rounded success, and would alone entitle him to a place in 
 the history of his State and natit>n. But his civil life was little 
 less distingui.shed. 
 
 At the close of the war he returned to his profession, but had 
 hardly gathered uj) the broken threads of his early practice when, 
 in 1866, he was ajiiiointed by President Johnson consul to Vienna. 
 And so satisfactory was his service that he was continued by 
 President Grant, who, in 1874, promoted him to be con.sul-general 
 for Austria-Hungary, which office he held till 1879, when he re¬ 
 signed, having been for thirteen years in the consular service; a 
 long period under the present American system, whicli keeps not 
 only consular and diplomatic offices but all others subject to the 
 rise and fall of political parties. 
 
 This long-continued acquaintance of General Post with Ameri¬ 
 can commercial interests abroad made him an earnest advocate of 
 a permanent consular system, wholly inde])endent of party poli¬ 
 tics, as calculated to secure greater efficiency and so more effec- 
 tuallv serve and protect the commercial rights of the American 
 people in foreign countries. And in the consideration of this and 
 1803 
 
7 
 
 cognate questions in this body from time to time his opinions 
 were always received uith respectful attention. 
 
 They were really helpful in the solution of all quastions con¬ 
 nected with our foreign service. 
 
 After General Post's return from his long and honorable resi¬ 
 dence abroad he found himself irresistibly drawn into the politics 
 of his State and district. He served four" years, from 1882 to 1886, 
 as member at large on the Illinois Republican State Central Com¬ 
 mittee. 
 
 His old comrades also again gathered around him. and in 1886 
 . plactal him at their head as commander of the Grand Army of 
 the Republic for the department of Illinois. They had in the long 
 ago been with him in the shock of battle, and after twenty years 
 or peace they formed again at his command, but then only in mem¬ 
 ory of that sad but heroic time. 
 
 General Post's political star was now ascendant in his Congres¬ 
 sional district, and the same year he was elected to a seat in this 
 Hou.se, which he held continuously till his death. He was also re¬ 
 elected to the next Congress. This plainly shows the full esteem 
 and confidence in which he was held by the people of his district, 
 who always felt a just pride in his service here, which was alike 
 honorable to him and them. 
 
 His committee work was always careful and conscientioxis. I 
 speak from personal knowledge of that in the Fifty-first Congress, 
 during which time we were associates on the District of Columbia 
 Committee, and at a time, too, when important questions involving 
 large interests were up for consideration. 
 
 General Post was not a neutral quantity, b\it a man of opinions 
 and convictions, and never wanting in courage to exi)res8 them, 
 though always with proper respect for the opinions of others. 
 This, coupled with a quick perception and a high sense of honor, 
 made him always useful and reliable, aJid gave him good rank, 
 indeed excellent rank, as citizen, lawyer, soldier, consiu, and law¬ 
 maker. 
 
 But in the midst of usefulne.ss, in the full maturity of his powers 
 and in apparently perfect health, with no hint of weakness or 
 decay, the summons came, and our friend was hurried over the 
 river before his fellows in this House so mtich as knew of his ill¬ 
 ness. 
 
 It is true the corporal form was left and has since been lowered 
 by loving hands into the arms of our cojnmon mother, but the 
 part that animated the clay and for the time made it something 
 more than dust, that had intelligence and moral perception; that 
 loved, hoped, and feared; that part, on service of Avarrant by the 
 rider on the pale horse, mysteriously left its tenement here never 
 to return—the very suddenness of the departure saying to us all, 
 “Be ye also ready.” 
 
 Mr. Speaker, occurrences like this bring us face to face with the 
 unfathomable mvstery of death, equaled only by the ^^eater mys¬ 
 tery of life. In fact all is mystery. Man’s origin, existence, and 
 destiny are all "wrapped in mystery, and only for the Book of Books 
 and the hope and faith which it inspires all would be darkness, 
 both at the beginning and at the end. Possibly, however, hardly 
 that, for since the creation of man, in all ages and among all tribes 
 and peoples, both civilized and savage, there has existed with 
 many a belief in a future state, and with all a desire for it. And 
 1863 
 
8 
 
 reason, unassisted by revelation, leads tp the conclusion that, as 
 throughout the material world man's desire for a thing is proof of 
 its existence, so it would be unrea.sonable to say that in the spiritual 
 domain he was hungering and thirsting after that which had no 
 existence; unreasonable to say that this law that runs through all 
 nature, suppljdng everywhere in response to demand, and even in 
 this mortal state feeding the si)iritual man according to desire, 
 does not apply to the soul’s universal prayer that it may live be¬ 
 yond the tomb. 
 
 Here, then, seems to be a ray of hope outside of revelation, but 
 the Word of God is, after all, our reliance. That tells us in sim¬ 
 ple phrase, not only of the origin of the race, how “The Lord God 
 formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his 
 nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul;” but it 
 also lights up the portals of the grave. 
 
 It contains the express promise of man’s resurrection from the 
 dead: “ For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made 
 alive.” 
 
 To such, however, as are not satisfied with this authority, but, 
 perchance, have been led by eloquence and wit and good digestion 
 at $:100 a night to deny its authenticity, I can only say, in me lan¬ 
 guage of Longfellow’s “ Golden Legend:” 
 
 There is no confe-ssor like unto Death; 
 
 Thou canst not see him, but he is near: 
 
 Thou needst not whisper above thy breath, 
 
 And he will hear; 
 
 He will answer the questions. 
 
 The vaKue surmises and suggestions 
 That fill thy soul with doubt and fear. 
 
 13C3 
 
 O