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GEORGE F. HOAR
From a photograph taken by Brady, Washington, about 1869,
when Mr Hoar entered the House of Representatives

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

OP SEVENTY YEARS

BT
GEORGE F. HOAR

WITH PORTRAITS

VOLUME II,

NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1903

COPYEIGHT, 1903
BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

•¦A 1-3 0--'..'"T

PRGEB OF O^" ~S '
E NEW ERA PRINTING COMPANY, «. „
LAMCA8TER. PA.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I
Election to the Senate  1
CHAPTER II
President Hayes  7
CHAPTER III
Cabinet of President Hayes  16
CHAPTER IV
Attempt to Reopen the Question op the Title to the
Presidency  41
CHAPTER V
The Senate in 1877  45
CHAPTER VI
Leaders op the Senate est 1877  52
CHAPTER VII
Committee Service in the Senate  94
CHAPTER VIII
The River and Harbor Bill  112
CHAPTER IX
Chinese Treaty and Legislation  120
CHAPTER X
The Washington Treaty and the Geneva Awaed  127
v

vi CONTENTS
CHAPTER XI
The President's Power op Removal  135
CHAPTER XII
Fisheries  145
CHAPTER XIII
The Federal Elections Bill  150
CHAPTER XIV
Constitutional Amendments and the Presidential Succes
sion Bill  166
CHAPTER XV
President Cleveland's Judges  172
CHAPTER XVI
Some Southern Senators  181
CHAPTER XVII
CusHMAN Kellogg Davis  193
CHAPTER XVIII
George Bancropt  202
CHAPTER XIX
Visits to England (1860, 1868, 1871)  207
CHAPTER XX
Visits to England, 1892  214
CHAPTER XXI
Visits to England, 1896  231
CHAPTER XXII
Silver and Bimetallism  242

CONTENTS vii
CHAPTER XXIII
Visits to England, 1899  254
CHAPTER XXIV
A Republican Platform  263
CHAPTER XXV
Official Salaries  266
CHAPTER XXVI
Propriety in Debate  269
CHAPTER XXVII
The Fish-ball Letter  271
CHAPTER XXVIII
The Bird Petition  274
CHAPTER XXIX
The a. p. A. Controversy  278
CHAPTER XXX
The English Mission  294
CHAPTER XXXI
President Roosevelt and the Syrian Children  296
CHAPTER XXXII
National Bankruptcy  300
CHAPTER XXXIII
The Philippine Islands  304
CHAPTER XXXIV
Appointments to Office  327
CHAPTER XXXV
Oratory and Some Orators I Have Heabd  330

viii CONTENTS
CHAPTER XXXVI
Trusts  ^^^
CHAPTER XXXVII
Recollections of the Worcester Bab  367
CHAPTER XXXVIII
Some Judges I Have Known  387
CHAPTER XXXIX
Political and Religious Faith  434
CHAPTER XL
Edward Everett Hale  441
APPENDIX
The Forest of Dean (by John Bellows)  449
Index  471

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
CHAPTER I
ELECTION TO THE SENATE
I HAVE every reason to believe that my constituents in the
Worcester district would have gladly continued me in the
public service for ten years longer, if I had been so minded.
I presided over the District Convention that nominated my
successor. Before the convention was called to order the
delegates crowded around me and urged me to reconsider
my refusal to stand for another term, and declared they
would gladly nominate me again. But I persisted in my
refusal. I supposed then that my political career was
ended. My home and my profession and my library had
an infinite attraction for me. I had become thoroughly sick
of Washington and politics and public life.
But the Republican Party in Massachusetts was having
a death struggle with General Butler. That very able,
adroit and ambitious man was attempting to organize the
political forces of the State into a Butler party, and to
make them the instrument of his ambitions. He had in
some mysterious way got the ear of General Grant and the
control of the political patronage of the State, so far as
the United States offices were concerned. I had denounced
him and his methods with all my might in a letter I had
written to the people of Massachusetts, from which I have
already made extracts. I had incurred his bitter personal
enmity, and was regarded with perhaps one exception, that
of my older brother Judge Hoar, as his most unrelenting
opponent. The people of Massachusetts were never an office-seeking
people. There is no State in the Union whose representa-
1 1

2 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
fives at the seat of Government have less trouble in that
way, or that gives less trouble to the Executive Departments
or to the President. I have had that assurance from nearly
every President since I have been in public life. And the
people of Massachusetts have never concerned themselves
very much as to who should hold the Executive offices, small
or large, so that they were honestly and faithfully served,
and that the man appointed was of good character and
standing. The reform which took the civil service out of
politics always found great favor in Massachusetts. But
since General Butler, in some way never fully explained to
the public, got the ear of the appointing power he seemed
to be filling all the Departments at Washington with his
adherents, especially the important places in the Treasury.
The public indignation was deeply aroused. Men dreaded
to read the morning papers lest they should see the an
nouncement of the removal from the public service of some
honest citizen, or brave soldier, who was filling the place of
postmaster or marshal, or Custom House official, or clerk
in a Department at Washington, and the putting in his place
some unscrupulous follower of the fortunes of General But
ler. The climax was reached when Butler's chief lieuten
ant, Simmons, was appointed Collector of the Port of Bos
ton. Judge Russell, the old Collector, was an able and
very popular man. He had given Butler a sort of half
hearted support. But he was incapable of lending himself
to any base or unworthy purpose. He was compelled to
vacate the office, much to his disgust. He accepted that of
Minister to Venezuela, an unimportant foreign mission, and
William A. Simmons was appointed in his place. The
process of weeding out the Custom House then went on
with great rapidity. Colonel Moulton, one of the bravest
soldiers of the Civil War, who had been under rebel fire
in a Charleston dungeon,, and Colonel A. A. Sherman a
man with a marvellous military record, were removed to
make way for men for whom, to say the least, the public
had no respect. The order for their removal was recalled
in consequence of a direct appeal to President Grant. Mr.
Hartwell, the Treasurer, an excellent officer, who had gradu-

ELECTION TO THE SENATE 3
ated the first scholar at Harvard, was removed. Mrs.
Chenoweth, a very accomplished lady, widow of one of the
bravest officers of the Civil War, a member of Grant 's staff,
who was filling a clerical position at the Custom House,
was notified of her removal. That also was arrested by a
direct appeal to Grant. General Andrews, one of our best
officers, afterwards professor at West Point, was dropped
from the office of Marshal, and one of the adherents of
Butler put in his place.
The indignation of the better class of Republicans was
aroused. Before the appointment of Simmons, Mr. Bout-
well had been elected Senator, and Mr. Richardson had suc
ceeded him as Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. Boutwell
was a favorite with the President. Mr. Sumner, then the
senior Senator, was on the most unfriendly relations with
the President, and had opposed his reelection to the best of
his ability. It was not considered likely, under the custom
then universally prevailing and indeed prevailing ever
since, that President Grant would ever have made such an
appointment without the entire approval of the Senator
from the State interested, with whom he was on most
friendly terms and who had served in his Cabinet as Secre
tary of the Treasury. Governor Boutwell was consulted
about it, and gave it his approval, although it is understood
that afterward, in obedience to the indignant feeling of the
people, which was deeply excited, he voted against the con
firmation of Simmons in the Senate. At the same time he
informed his associates that he did not wish to have them
understand that he requested them to vote against Simmons
because of his opposition, or because of any so-called cour
tesy of the Senate. Simmons was the manager of Mr.
Boutwell 's campaign for reelection, and General Butler was
his earnest supporter, giving him notice and urging him to
repair at once to Boston when the movement against him
became formidable.
I am quite sure that but for the determination of the people
of Massachusetts not to endure Butler and Butlerism any
longer, and probably but for the appointment of Simmons,
I should never have been elected Senator. It is likely there

4 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
would have been no change in the office until this moment.
When I left home for Washington, at the beginning of
the December session of Congress in 1876, the late Adm
Thayer told me that some of the Republicans had got sick
of Butler's rule, and they were determined to have a candi
date for Senator who could be trusted to make zealous oppo
sition to him and his methods, and that they proposed to
use my name. I told him I did not believe they would be
able to get twenty-five votes, that Mr. Boutwell, then Sena
tor, was an able man, and that I did not think the fact even
that he was understood to be a strong friend and ally of
General Butler would induce the people to displace him.
Mr. Thayer replied that at any rate there should be a
protest. I had no communication from any other human being
upon the subject of my candidacy for the Senate, and made
none to any human being, with one exception, until my elec
tion by the Legislature was announced. My oldest sister
was fatally sick, and I received a letter every day giving
an account of her condition. In a postscript to one letter
from my brother, he made some slight allusion to the elec
tion for Senator then pending in the Massachusetts Legis
lature. But with that exception I never heard about it and
had nothing to do with it.
I can truly say that I was as indifferent to the result, so
far as it affected me personally, as to the question whether
I should walk on one side of the street or the other. I did
not undervalue the great honor of representing Massachu
setts in the Senate of the United States. But I had an
infinite longing for my home and my profession and my
library. I never found public employment pleasant or con
genial. But the fates sent me to the Senate and have kept
me there until I am now the man longest in continuous legis
lative service in this country, and have served in the United
States Senate longer than any other man who ever repre
sented Massachusetts.
The last three times I have been elected to the Senate I
have had, I believe, every Republican vote of the Legisla
ture, and I was assured— of course I cannot speak with

ELECTION TO THE SENATE 5
much confidence of such a matter— that I could have aU
the Democratic votes, if necessary. I state these things
with a feeling of natural pride. But I do not attribute it
to any special merit of mine. It has been the custom of
Massachusetts to continue her Senators in public life so
long as they were willing, and were in general accord with
the political opinion of the majority of the people.
I have, however, owed very much indeed to the modera
tion and kindness of the eminent gentlemen who might have
been most formidable competitors, if they had thought fit.
Just before the election of 1883, when all the discontented
elements were seeking a candidate. General Francis A.
Walker, one of the ablest men ever bom on the soil so
productive of good and able men, was proposed as my com
petitor. He would have had a great support. I think he
would have liked the service, for which he was so eminently
fitted. He had been my pupil, and had gone from my office
to the War. He came out promptly in a letter in which he
declared that in his judgment Mr. Hoar was the fittest per
son in the Commonwealth for the office of Senator. Gov
ernor Long was my Republican competitor in 1883. But
on two or three occasions since, when he was proposed in
many quarters for the office of Senator, he promptly re
fused to have his name submitted to the Legislature, and
declared himself for me. He is a man of brilliant ability,
and a great favorite with the people of the Commonwealth.
General William F. Draper, lately Ambassador to Italy, a
most distinguished soldier, a business man of great sagacity
and success, having inherited from his father a right to the
regard of the people— a regard which has been extended
not only to him, but also to his very able and excellent
brothers — more than once when there has been an election
of Senator, has been proposed in many quarters. He has
promptly, both in letter and in public interviews, rejected
the suggestion, finally with impatience that he was put to
the trouble of repeating himself in the matter so often.
I think that in any other State than Massachusetts, and
even there, without the great kindness and moderation of

6 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
these gentlemen, my tenure of office, which will have con
tinued for thirty-eight years, if my life be spared, would
have been much shorter.
Mr. Sumner was in general accord with the Republicans
of Massachusetts on important questions in issue in his
time. But he bitterly and savagely attacked President
Grant at the height of his popularity, and did his best to
defeat him for reelection. He allowed his name to be used
as candidate for Governor, against Governor Washburn.
The defeat of Grant would, of course, have caused that of
Henry Wilson, candidate for the Vice-Presidency. Still I
have little doubt that if Mr. Sumner had lived, he would
have been reelected to the Senate without any very for
midable opposition.

CHAPTER II
PRESIDENT HAYES
President Hayes's Administration began under circum
stances of peculiar difficulty. In the first Congress of
his term the Democrats had a majority in the House.
They had refused to pass the Army Appropriation Bill
the winter before and would not consent to such a bill in
the following winter without a condition that no military
force should be used to maintain order at elections, or to
keep in power state governments obnoxious to them. But
his worst foes were of his own household. There were two
factions among the Republicans, one led by Mr. Blaine and
the other by Conkling and Cameron. Blaine and Conkling
had been disappointed aspirants for the Presidency. Mr.
Hayes and his advisers were in favor of what was called
reform in the civil service and utterly rejected the claim
of Senators and Representatives to dictate nominations to
executive and judicial . offices. With the exception of
Stanley Matthews of Ohio and my colleague, Mr. Dawes, I
was, I believe, the only cordial supporter of the President
in the Senate.
Mr. Blaine was disposed, I think, in the beginning, to
give the President his support. But he was rendered ex
ceedingly indignant by the refusal of President Hayes to
appoint Mr. Frye to a seat in the Cabinet, which Mr. Blaine
desired, as it would smooth the way of Mr. Eugene Hale,
his most intimate friend, and strongest supporter, to suc
ceed Mr. Hamlin in the Senate. President Hayes was will
ing to appoint Mr. Hale to a Cabinet office. But Mr. Hale,
I think very wisely, declined the overture, as he had before
declined the tender of a seat in the Cabinet from President
Grant. He would have made an excellent Cabinet officer.
But he was specially fitted for the more agreeable and per-
7

8 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
manent public service of Senator. I do not know what
occasioned President Hayes's reluctance to comply vrith
Mr. Blaine's desire. But it was a fortunate decision for
Mr. Frye. If he had gone into the Cabinet, in all likelihood
the people of Maine would have chosen another Senator
when Mr. Blaine became Secretary of State under Garfield
in 1881, and according to the habit of the people of that
State would have continued him in their service. So Mr.
Frye's brilliant and useful career in the Senate would have
been wanting to the history of the Republic.
I had myself something to do with the selection of the
Cabinet. I had been a member of the Convention held at
Cincinnati that had nominated President Hayes. The
Massachusetts delegation had turned the scale between him
and Blaine. Their votes gave him the slender majority to
which he owed his nomination. I had also been a member
of the Electoral Commission to which the contest between
him and Tilden had been submitted and I had been on the
committee that framed the bill under which that Commis
sion was created. I had voted with the Democrats of the
House to support that bill against the judgment of a large
majority of the Republicans. I agreed with President
Hayes in the matter of a reform in the civil service and in
his desire to free the Executive power from the trammel
of senatorial dictation.
I had formed a strong friendship with Mr. McCrary in
the House of Representatives and had earnestly com
mended him to the President for appointment to the office
of Attorney-General. I did not expect to make any other
recommendation. There had been an unfortunate es
trangement between the Republicans of Massachusetts and
of Maine by reason of the refusal of the Massachusetts
delegation to support Mr. Blaine for the Presidency. I
thought it desirable for the interest of the Republican Party
that that breach should be healed and especially desirable
that the incoming administration, so beset with difficulty,
should have the powerful support of Mr. Blaine and of
those Republicans of whom he was the leader and favorite.
So I thought it best that he should be consulted in the mat-

PRESIDENT HAYES 9
ter of the selection of a Cabinet officer from New England
and that I should keep aloof.
But the day after President Hayes 's inauguration, rather
late in the afternoon, Mr. Blaine came into the Senate Cham
ber and told me with some appearance of excitement that
he thought the President wanted to see the Massachusetts
Senators. I did not, however, act upon that message, ajad
did not go to the White House that day. I was at my room
in the evening when Senator Morrill of Vermont came and
told me that President Hayes wished him to inquire of me
what Massachusetts man I desired to have appointed to a
place in the Cabinet. I told Mr. Morrill that there were
two gentlemen of great capacity and high character, either
of whom would make an excellent Cabinet officer. One of
them was William B. Washburn, and the other Alexander
H. Rice. Each of them had held the office of Governor of
the Commonwealth, and each of them had been a very emi
nent member of the House of Representatives. But I said
that each belonged to what might be called a separate
faction or division in the Republican Party, and the ap
pointment of either would be distasteful to some of the sup
porters of the other. I added that there was one man of
whom I thought very highly indeed, an intimate friend of
mine, whose appointment I thought would give pleasure to
everybody in Massachusetts. That was General Charles
Devens, then Judge of the Supreme Court, a very eminent
advocate and orator, and one of the most distinguished
soldiers the State had sent into the war.
Mr. Morrill went back to the President vrith the message.
Early the next morning I received notice from the White
House that the President wished to see me. I complied
with his desire at once. Mr. Dawes had also been sent for
and was there. The President said he could offer General
Devens the Department of War, or perhaps the Navy. Mr.
Dawes thought that he would not be willing to accept the
latter. I told the President that I thought he would; that
General Devens was a native of Charlestovra. He had al
ways taken great interest in the Navy. He had known a
great many of the old and famous naval officers, and some

10 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
of his near relatives had been in that service. But the
President finally authorized me to send a telegram to Gen
eral Devens offering him the Department of War. I sent
the telegram and requested Devens to come at once to Wash
ington, which he did. At the same time, the President
stated his purpose to offer Mr. McCrary the Department
of Justice. In the course of the day, however, it was re
ported to the President that Mr. McCrary had formed a
decided opinion in favor of the McGarrahan claim, a claim
which affected large and valuable mining properties in Cali
fornia. Most persons who had investigated the claim be
lieved it to be utterly fraudulent. There were many per
sons of great influence who were interested in the mining
property affected. They strongly appealed to the Presi
dent not to place in the office of Attorney-General a man
who was committed in favor of the claim. The President
then asked rne if I thought General Devens would be will
ing to accept the office of Attorney-General, and exchange it
for that of Secretary of War later, when the McGarrahan
claim had been disposed of so far as Executive action was
concerned. I told the President that I thought he would.
When General Devens arrived I stated the case to him.
He said he should be unwilling to agree to such an arrange
ment. He would be willing to accept the office in the begin
ning, but if he were to give up the office of Attorney-General
after having once undertaken it, he might be thought to
have failed to discharge his duties to the satisfaction of the
President, or that of the public. He was unwilling to take
that risk.
So the President determined to offer the Department of
Justice to General Devens, and the Department of War to
Mr. McCrary, a good deal to the disappointment of the lat
ter. All McCrary 's ambitions in life were connected with
his profession. He took the first opportunity to leave the
Executive Department for a judicial career.
The other members of the Cabinet were: William M.
Evarts, Secretary of State; John Sherman, Secretary of
the Treasury ; Carl Schurz, Secretary of the Interior ; David

PRESIDENT HAYES 11
M. Key, Postmaster-General; Richard M. Thompson, of
Indiana, Secretary of the Navy.
President Hayes was a simple-hearted, sincere, strong
and wise man. He is the only President of the United
States who promised, when he was a candidate for office, not
to be a candidate again, who kept his pledge. He carried
out the principles of Civil Service Reform more faithfully
than any other President before or since down to the acces
sion of President Roosevelt. General Grant in his "Me
moirs" praises the soldierly quality of President Hayes
very highly. He was made Brigadier-General on the rec
ommendation of Sheridan, and bre vetted Major-General for
gallant and distinguished services. He wrote, after the
Presidential election, to John Sherman, as follows: "You
feel, I am sure, as I do about this whole business. A fair
election would have given us about forty electoral votes at
the South, at least that many; but we must not allow our
friends to defeat one outrage by another. There must be
nothing curved on our part. Let Mr. Tilden have the place
by violence, intimidation and fraud rather than undertake
to prevent it by means that will not bear the severest
scrutiny. ' '
He upheld the good faith of the nation in his veto of the
bill to authorize the coinage of the silver dollar of 412^
grains, and to restore its legal tender character in 1878 ; and
in his veto of the bill violating our treaty with China. He
grew steadily in public favor with all parties, and with all
parts of the country, as his Administration went on. Un
der his Administration the resumption of specie payments
was accomplished; and, in spite of the great difficulties
caused by the factional opposition in his own party, he
handed down his office to a Republican successor.
The weakness and folly of the charge against the decision
of the Electoral Commission, that it was unconstitutional
or fraudulent, and the fact that the American people were
never impressed by those charges, is shovtm by the fact that
General Garfield, one of the majority who gave that deci
sion, was elected to succeed President Hayes, and that six of
the eight members of that majority, now dead, maintained.

12 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
every one of them, throughout their honored and useful lives,
the respect and affection of their countrymen, without dis
tinction of party. Certainly there can be found among the
great men of that great generation no more pure and brill
iant lights than Samuel F. Miller, William Strong, Joseph
P. Bradley, Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, Oliver P. Morton
and James A. Garfield. There are two survivors of that
majority, Mr. Edmunds and myself. Neither has found
that the respect in which his countrymen held him has been
diminished by that decision.
President Hayes has been accused of abandoning the re
construction policy of his party. It has also been said that
he showed a want of courage in failing to support the Re
publican State Governments in Louisiana and South Caro
lina ; that if the votes of those States were cast for him they
were cast for Packard and Chamberlain at the elections
for Governor held the same day, and that he should have
declined the Presidency, or have maintained these Gov
ernors in place. But these charges are, at the least, incon
siderate, not to say ignorant. It ought to be said also that
President Grant before he left office had determined to do
in regard to these State Governments exactly what Hayes
afterward did, and that Hayes acted with his full approval.
Second, I have the authority of President Garfield for say
ing that Mr. Blaine had come to the same conclusion. The
Monday morning after the electoral count had been com
pleted and the result declared, Blaine had a long talk with
Garfield, which Garfield reported to me. He told him that
he had made up his mind, if he had been elected, to offer
the office of Secretary of State to Mr. Evarts, or, if any
thing prevented that, to Judge Hoar. He further said that
he thought it was time to discontinue maintaining Republi
can State Governments in office by the National power
and that the people of the Southern States must settle
their State elections for themselves. Mr. Blaine by his dis
appointment in the formation of President Hayes's Cabinet
was induced to make an attack on him which seems incon
sistent with this declaration. But Mr. Blaine soon aban
doned this ground, and, so far as I now remember, never

PRESIDENT HAYES 13
afterward advocated interference with the control of the
Southern States by National authority. It seems to me
that President Hayes did only what his duty under the Con
stitution peremptorily demanded of him. I entirely ap
proved his conduct at the time, and, so far as I know and
believe, he agreed exactly with the doctrine on which I
always myself acted before and since. The power and duty
of the President are conferred and limited by the Consti
tution. The Constitution requires that no appropriation
shall be made for the support of the Army for more than
two years. In practice the appropriation is never for more
than one year. That is for the express purpose, I have
always believed, of giving to Congress, especially to the
House of Representatives, which must inaugurate all ap
propriation bills, absolute control over the use of the Army,
and the power to determine for what purposes the military
power shall be used. At the session before President
Hayes 's inauguration the Democratic House of Representa
tives had refused to pass an Army Bill. The House refused
to pass an Army Bill the next year, except on condition that
the soldiers should not be used to support the State Gov
ernment. It became necessary to call a special session of Congress
in October, 1877, by reason of the failure of the Army Ap
propriation Bill the winter before. The first chapter of the
Statutes of that session, being an act making appropriations
for the support of the Army for the fiscal year ending June
30, 1878, and for other purposes, enacts "that none of the
money hereby appropriated shall be expended, directly or
indirectly, for any use not strictly necessary for, and di
rectly connected with, the military service of the Govern
ment; and this restriction shall apply to the use of public
animals, forage, and vehicles."
It was, therefore. President Hayes 's Constitutional duty,
in my judgment, to desist from using the military power of
the Government on the 30th day of June, 1877, when the
fiscal year expired for which there was an appropriation
for the support of the Army. In fact he removed the
troops a little earlier. But he received assurances from the

14 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
Democratic leaders— whether they were made good I will
not now undertake to inquire — that there should be no un
lawful force on their part after the removal of the troops.
Mr. Hayes was right and wise in securing this stipulation,
if he could, by freeing these communities from military
grasp a few weeks before he would have been compelled to
do it at any rate. Obedience to this clear mandate of Con
stitutional duty was not in the least inconsistent with a
faithful and vigorous use of all the other powers which were
lodged in his hands by the Constitution for securing the
rights of the colored people, or the purity and integrity of
National elections. It is true that substantially the same
vote elected Packard of Louisiana as that which chose the
Hayes electors. But the authority to declare who is the
President lawfully chosen, and the Constitutional power to
maintain the Governor in his seat by force are lodged in
very different hands. The latter can only be used by the
National Executive under the circumstances specially de
scribed in the Constitution, and it can never be used by
him for any considerable period of time contrary to the will
of Congress, and without powers put in his hands by legis
lation which must originate in the body which represents
the people.
The infinite sweetness and tact of his wife contributed
greatly to the success of the Administration of President
Hayes. She was a woman of great personal beauty. Her
kindness of heart knew no difference between the most illus
trious and the humblest of her guests. She accomplished
what would have been impossible to most women, the main
tenance of a gracious and delightful hospitality while
strictly adhering to her principles of total abstinence, and
rigorously excluding all wines and intoxicating liquors
from the White House during her administration. The old
wine drinkers of Washington did not take to the innovation
very kindly. But they had to console themselves with a
few jests or a little grumbling. The caterer or chef in
charge of the State dinners took compassion on the in
firmity of our nature so far as to invent for one of the
courses which came about midway of the State dinner, a

PRESIDENT HAYES 15
box made of the frozen skin of an orange. When it was
opened you found instead of the orange a punch or sherbet
into which as much rum was crowded as it could contain
without being altogether liquid. This was known as the
life-saving station.
Somebody who met Mr. Evarts just after he had been
at a dinner at the White House asked him how it went off.
"Excellently," was the reply, "the water flowed like cham
pagne."

CHAPTER III
CABINET OF PRESIDENT HAYES
There has hardly been a stronger Cabinet since Wash
ington than that of President Hayes. Its members worked
together in great harmony. All of them, I believe, were
thoroughly devoted to the success of the Administration.
The Secretary of State was William M. Evarts. He was
my near kinsman and intimate friend. His father died in
his early youth. My father was Mr. Evarts 's executor, and
the son, after his mother broke up housekeeping, came to
my father's house in his college vacations as to a home.
He studied law at the Harvard Law School, and with Dan
iel Lord, a very eminent lawyer in New York. One of his
early triumphs was his opening of the celebrated Monroe-
Edwards case. The eminent counsel to whom the duty had
been assigned being prevented from attendance by some
accident, Evarts was unexpectedly called upon to take his
place. He opened the case with so much eloquence that the
audience in the crowded court-room gave him three cheers
when he got through.
He rose rapidly to a distinguished place in his profes
sion, and before he died was, I suppose, the foremost advo
cate in the world, whether in this country or Europe. He
was counsel for President Johnson on his impeachment;
counsel for the Republican side in support of the title of
President Hayes before the Electoral Commission ; counsel
for the United States against Great Britain before the Tri
bunal at Geneva. He was counsel in the celebrated Lemon
case, where the case was settled as to the rights of slave
owners to bring their slaves into the free States, and hold
them in transitu. In all these he was successful. He was
counsel also in another trial of almost equal interest and
celebrity, the Tilton divorce suit— in which Henry Ward
16

CABINET OP PRESIDENT HAYES 17
Beecher was charged with adultery. In this the jury dis
agreed. But the substantial victory was with Evarts 's
client. Mr. Evarts was a man of unfailing equanimity and good
nature, never thrown off his balance by any exigency in
diplomacy, in political affairs, or in the trial of causes.
Any person who has occasion to follow him in his diplo
matic discussions will be impressed with the far-sighted
wisdom and caution with which he took his positions.
He was always a delightful orator. He rose sometimes
to a very lofty eloquence, as witness especially his argu
ment in defence of President Johnson. He had an unfail
ing wit. You could never challenge him or provoke him to
an encounter without making an abundant and sparkling
stream gush forth. He never came off second best in an
encounter of wits with any man. He was a man of great
generosity, full of sympathy, charity, and kindliness. If
his biography shall ever be properly written, it will be as
delightful as that of Sheridan or Sidney Smith for its wit,
and will be valuable for the narrative of the great public
transactions in which he took a part. Especially it will
preserve to posterity the portraiture of a great lawyer and
advocate of the time before the days of specialists, when
the leaders of the American Bar were great lawyers and
advocates. I do not think Evarts 's capacity as a diplomatist is
known. Perhaps it never will be thoroughly understood.
The work of a Secretary of State in dealing with foreign
countries is performed in the highest confidence and does
not ordinarily come to light until interest in the transaction
to which it relates has grown cold. Evarts conducted some
very delicate negotiations, including that in regard to the
Fortune's Bay matter, with much skill. He was careful
never, for the sake of present success, to commit the coun
try to any doctrine which might be inconvenient in the re
mote future.
I think Evarts failed to appreciate his own political
strength. He was in the early part of his life devoted to
Mr. Webster, for whom he had great reverence, and later
2

18 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
to Mr. Seward. He sometimes, I think, failed to take
wholly serious views of political conditions, so far as they
affected him personally. I do not think he ever knew the
hold he had upon the respect of the country, or upon the
affection of the men with whom he was brought into inti
mate association in public life, and at the Bar. He was
very fond of his friends, classmates and kindred, and of
his college.
After the defeat of the Republican Party in 1884 he was
chosen Senator from the State of New York. He had been
candidate for the Senate in 1861, to succeed Mr. Seward,
His competitor was Horace Greeley, Some of Mr, Evarts 's
friends thought that the old supporters of Mr. Seward, and
perhaps Mr. Seward himself, did not stand by him as his
unfailing and powerful support of Seward would have led
men to expect. But when he came into public life in 1885,
and took his seat as a Senator from the great State of New
York, men looked to him to be the great leader in restoring
the broken ranks of the Republican Party. I think it would
have been easy to make him the Republican candidate, and
to elect him to the Presidency in 1888, if he had been will
ing to take that position himself. But he did not in the
Senate, or in the counsels of the party, take or attempt to
take the leadership for which he was fitted.
He was invited in the spring or early summer of 1885 to
address a political club in Boston. The whole country lis
tened eagerly to see what counsel the great Senator and the
great Constitutional lawyer, and great orator, had to give to
his party associates and to the people in that momentous
time. But he contented himself with making a bright and
witty speech. The club was known as the Middlesex Club,
though it had its meetings in Boston. He gave a humorous
description of the feelings of the Middlesex man when he
went over to Boston, and those of the Boston man when he
went over to Middlesex ; and told one or two stories of his
early days in Boston, where he was born. That was all.
I felt as I listened as though a pail of ice-water had been
poured down my spine.

CABINET OP PRESIDENT HAYES 19
But modesty and disinterestedness are qualities that are
so infrequent among public men that we may well pardon
this bright and delightful genius for that fault.
In the last years of his service in the Senate he had a
very serious affliction of the eyes, which rendered it impos
sible for him to use them for reading or study, or to recog
nize by sight any but the most familiar human figures. He
bore the calamity with unfailing cheerfulness. I believe it
was caused by overwork in the preparation of a case. The
first I knew of it, he asked me to meet him at Concord,
where he was about to make a visit. He told me what had
happened, and that his physicians in Washington and New
York thought there was a possibility that the congestion
of the veins surrounding the optic nerve might be absorbed.
But they thought the case very doubtful, and advised him
to go to Europe for the benefit of the journey, and for the
possible advantage of advice there. He wanted me to un
dertake the duties devolving on him in the Committee of
which he was Chairman, and to attend to some other public
matters in his absence. His physician in Paris told him
there was not the slightest hope. He thought that the dark
ness would certainly, though gradually, shut down upon
him. He received this sentence with composure. But he
said that he had long wished to see Raphael's famous Vir
gin at Dresden, and that he would go to Dresden to see it
before the night set in. This he did. So the faces of the
beautiful Virgin and the awful children were, I have no
doubt, a great consolation to him in his darkened hours,
John Sherman was Secretary of the Treasury. I sat
next to him in the Senate for several years, I came to
know him quite intimately, I suppose few men knew him
more intimately, although I fancy he did not give his in
most confidence to anybody, unless to his brother the Gen
eral, or to a few persons of his own family or household,
I paid the following tribute to him the day after his death :
"It is rarely more than once or twice in a generation that
a great figure passes from the earth who seems the very

20 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
embodiment of the character and temper of his time. Such
men are not always those who have held the highest places
or been famous for great genius or even enjoyed great pop
ularity. They rather are men who represent the limitations
as well as the accomplishments of the people around them.
They know what the people will bear. They utter the best
thought which their countrymen in their time are able to
reach. They are by no means mere thermometers. They
do not rise and fall with the temperature about them. But
they are powerful and prevailing forces, with a sound judg
ment and practical common sense that understands just how
high the people can be lifted, and where the man who is
looking not chiefly at the future but largely to see what is
the best thing that can be done in the present should desist
from unavailing effort. Such a man was John Sherman,
for whom the open grave is now waiting at Mansfield. For
nearly fifty years he has been a conspicuous figure and a
great leader in the party which has controlled the Govern
ment. Of course, in a republic it can be claimed for no
man that he controlled the course of history. And also, of
course, it is not possible while the events are fresh to assign
to any one man accurately his due share in the credit for
what is done, especially in legislative bodies, where matters
are settled in secret council often before the debate begins
and almost always before the vote is taken.
"But there are some things we can say of Mr. Sherman
without fear of challenge now and without fear of any rec
ord that may hereafter leap to light.
"He filled always the highest places. He sat at the seat
of power. His countrymen always listened for his voice
and frequently listened for his voice more eagerly than for
that of any other man. He became a Republican leader
almost immediately after he took his seat in the House of
Representatives in 1855. He was candidate for Speaker
before the war, at the time when the Republican Party
achieved its first distinct and unequivocal national success,
unless we except the election of General Banks, who had
himself been elected partly by Know-Nothing votes. Mr.
Sherman failed of an election. But the contest left him

CABINET OF PRESIDENT HAYES 21
the single preeminent figure in the House of Representa
tives—a preeminence which he maintained in his long ser
vice in the Senate, in the Treasury, and down to within a
few years of his death.
"He was a man of inflexible honesty, inflexible courage,
inflexible love of country. He was never a man of great
eloquence, or greatly marked by that indefinable quality
called genius. But in him sound judgment and common
sense, better than genius, better than eloquence, always pre
vailed, and sometimes seemed to rise to sublimity which
genius never attains. His inflexible courage and his clear
vision manifested themselves in the very darkest period
of our history, when hope seemed at times to have gone
out in every other heart. There is a letter in his Memoirs,
written April 12, 1861, which, as I remember the gloom and
blackness of that time, seems to me one of the sublimest
utterances in our history. The letter was written to his
brother William, afterward the General, who had been
offered a place in the War Department, which Mr. Chase
urged him to accept, saying that he would be virtually Sec
retary of War. The offer must have been a dazzling temp
tation to the young soldier who had left his profession and
was engaged in civil duties as an instructor, I think, in a
college somewhere. But John earnestly dissuades his
brother from accepting it, urges him to take a position in
the field, and foretells his great military success. He then
adds the following prediction as to the future of the coun
try. It was written at midnight at the darkest single hour
of our history:
" 'Let me now record a prediction. Whatever you may
think of the signs of the times, the Government will rise
from the strife greater, stronger and more prosperous than
ever. It will display every energy and military power.
The men who have confidence in it, and do their full duty
by it, may reap whatever there is of honor and profit in
public life, while those who look on merely as spectators
in the storm will fail to discharge the highest duty of a
citizen, and suffer accordingly in public estimation.'

22 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
"Mr. Sherman's great fame and the title to his country
men's remembrance which will most distinguish him from
other men of his time, will rest upon his service as a finan
cier. He bowed a little to the popular storm in the time of
fiat money. Perhaps if he had not bowed a little he would
have been uprooted, and the party which would have paid
our national debt in fiat money would have succeeded. But
ever since that time he has been an oak and not a willow.
The resumption of specie payments and the establishment
of the gold standard, the two great financial achievements
of our time, are largely due to his powerful, persistent and
most effective advocacy.
"It is a little singular that two great measures that are
called by his name are measures, one of which he disap
proved, and with the other of which he had nothing to do. I
mean the bill for the purchase of silver, known as the Sher
man Law, and the bill in regard to trusts, known as the Sher
man Anti-Trust Law. The former was adopted against his
protest, by a committee of conference, although he gave it a
reluctant and disgusted support at the end. It was, in my
judgment, necessary to save the credit of the country at the
time, and a great improvement on the law it supplanted.
"The other, known as the Sherman Anti-Trust Bill, I sup
pose he introduced by request. I doubt very much whether
he read it. If he did, I do not think he ever understood it.
It was totally reconstructed in the Judiciary Committee."
Mr. Sherman was delightful company. He had a fund
of pleasant anecdote always coming up fresh and full of
interest from the stores of long experience.
He was wise, brave, strong, patriotic, honest, faithful,
simple-hearted, sincere. He had little fondness for trifling
and little sense of humor. Many good stories are told of
his serious expostulation with persons who had made some
jesting statement in his hearing which he received with
immense gravity. I am ashamed to confess that I used to
play upon this trait of his after a fashion which I think
annoyed him a little, and which he must have regarded as
exceedingly frivolous.

CABINET OP PRESIDENT HAYES 23
He used occasionally to ask me to go to ride with him.
One hot summer afternoon Mr, Sherman said: "Let us go
over and see the new electric railroad," to which I agreed.
That was then a great curiosity. It was perhaps the first
street railroad, certainly the first one in Washington which
had electricity for its motive power, Mr, Sherman told his
driver to be careful. He said the horses were very much
terrified by the electric cars. I said: "I suppose they are
like the labor reformers. They see contrivances for doing
without their labor, and they get very angry and manifest
displeasure," Mr, Sherman pondered for a moment or
two, and then said with great seriousness : ' ' Mr, Hoar, the
horse is a very intelligent animal, but it really does not
seem to me that he can reason as far as that." I told the
General of it afterward, who was full of fun, and asked
him if he really believed his brother thought I made that
remark seriously ; to which he replied that he had no doubt
of it; that John never had the slightest conception of a jest.
At another time, one very hot summer day, Mr. Sherman
said: "Hoar, I think I shall go take a ride; I am rather
tired. When a vote comes up, will you announce that I
am paired with my colleague'?" I called out to Senator
Rollins of New Hampshire, who sat a little way off, and
who kept the record of pairs for the Republican side:
"Rollins, there will be no vote this afternoon, except one
on a funeral resolution in honor of Mr, Allen of Missouri,
Will you kindly announce that Mr. Sherman is paired with
his colleague!" Mr, Sherman got up in great haste and
went over to Mr. Rollins, and said : ' * Mr. Rollins, Mr. Hoar
entirely misunderstood me. I never should think of an
nouncing a pair on a funeral resolution."
Mr. Sherman was not an eloquent man, except on some
few occasions, when his simple statement without orna
ment or passion rose to the highest eloquence by reason of
the impressiveness of his fact or of his reasoning. His
memory failed in his last years, and the effect of age on
his other faculties became apparent when he undertook to
deal with new and complicated subjects. But he was clear
to the last when his great subject of finance was under con-

24 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
sideration. One of the most admirable examples of his
power, also one of the most admirable examples of Ameri
can campaign speaking, is his statement of the financial
issue between the two parties at the beginning of the cam
paign of 1896. It struck the key-note. The other Repub
lican speakers only followed it.
He took great satisfaction in his New England ancestry.
He frequently spoke with great pleasure of a visit made by
him and the General, some twelve or fifteen years ago, I
think, to Woodbury, Connecticut, where his ancestors dwelt.
He took a special pride in the character of his father, one of
the Ohio pioneers, from whom, I judge from his account,
both his illustrious sons derived in large measure their
sterling quality. He was a far-away kinsman of my own,
a relationship of which it may well be believed I am highly
proud, and of which both General Sherman and Senator
Sherman were kind enough frequently to speak.
For me his death ended an intimate friendship of nearly
twenty-five years, during many of which we sat side by side
in the Senate Chamber and enjoyed much unreserved social
intercourse in long rides and walks. Among the great
characters which America has given to mankind these two
famous brothers, so different, yet so like in their earnest
love of country, their independence and courage, their devo
tion to duty, will ever hold a high place.
George W. McCrary had been an eminent member of the
House of Representatives, where he had the confidence of
both parties. He was a protege of Judge Miller, with
whom he studied law. His chief ambition, however, was
for judicial service. He was much disappointed when it
was found desirable that he should take the Department of
War instead of the Department of Justice to which Presi
dent Hayes originally intended to invite him. He very
gladly accepted the offer of a seat on the Bench of the
United States Circuit Court. He filled that office with
great credit, and it is highly probable would have been
promoted to the Supreme Court of the United States, but
for his untimely death.

CABINET OF PRESIDENT HAYES 25
He was the originator of the method of solution of the
dispute as to the title to the Presidency in 1876. It ought
to be said, however, that it was done in full consultation with
Mr. Blaine. I was then quite intimate with both of them,
and a member of the Committee in the House who reported
the plan. On the seventh day of December, 1876, at the
beginning of the winter session, after the election, Mr. Mc
Crary offered the following resolution. It was adopted.
"Whereas there are differences of opinion as to the
proper mode of counting the electoral votes for President
and Vice-President and as to the manner of determining
questions that may arise as to the legality and validity of
returns made of such votes by the several States;
"And whereas it is of the utmost importance that all
differences of opinion and all doubt and uncertainty upon
these questions should be removed, to the end that the votes
may be counted and the result declared by a tribunal whose
authority none can question and whose decision all will
accept as final: Therefore,
"Resolved, That a committee of five members of this
House be appointed by the Speaker, to act in conjunction
with any similar committee that may be appointed by the
Senate, to prepare and report without delay such a meas
ure, either legislative or constitutional, as may in their
judgment be best calculated to accomplish the desired end,
and that said committee have leave to report at any time. ' '
I do not know that a sketch of Richard W. Thompson, or
,Dick Thompson, as he was familiarly and affectionately
called, properly finds a place in my autobiography. I knew
him very slightly. I dare say I visited the Navy Depart
ment in his time. But I have now no recollection of it. I
had a great respect for him. He lived in the lifetime of
every President of the United States, except Washington,
and I believe saw every one of them, except Washington,
unless it may be that he never saw Theodore Roosevelt.
He was a very interesting character, a man of great com
mon sense, public spirit, with a wonderful memory, and a

26 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
rare fund of knowledge of the political history of the North
west. Indeed he was an embodiment of the best quality
of the people of the Ohio Territory, although bom in Vir
ginia. His great capacity was that of a politician. He
made excellent stump speeches, managed political conven
tions with great shrewdness, and also with great integrity,
and had great skill in constructing platforms. Colonel
Thompson was a very valuable political adviser. It has
never been the custom to select Secretaries of the Navy
on account of any previously acquired knowledge of naval
affairs, although the two heads of that Department ap
pointed by Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt have con
ducted it with wonderful success in a very difficult time. A
day or two after the Inauguration, John Sherman, the new
Secretary of the Treasury, gave a very brilliant dinner
party to the Cabinet, at which I was a guest. The table
was ornamented by a beautiful man-of-war made out of
flowers. Just before the guests sat down to dinner a little
adopted daughter of Secretary Sherman's attached a pretty
American flag to one of the masts. Somebody called
attention to the beauty of the little ornament. I asked
Secretary Thompson across the table to which mast of a
man-of-war the American flag should be attached. Thomp
son coughed and stammered a little, and said: "I think I
shall refer that question to the Attorney-General."
David M. Key was appointed Postmaster-General in fur
therance of President Hayes's desire, in the accomplish
ment of which he was eminently successful, to promote har
mony between the sections, and to diminish, so far as
possible, the heat of party feeling which had blazed so in
tensely at the time of his election. Mr. Key was a Demo
crat, and never, I believe, certainly not during President
Hayes's Administration, abandoned his allegiance to the
Democratic Party. He had been a member of the Senate
from Tennessee, and Lieutenant-Colonel in the Confederate
Army. His appointment was a popular one. Mr. Key
administered the affairs of the Department very satisfac
torily, in which he was aided very much by his Assistant

CABINET OF PRESIDENT HAYES 27
Postmaster-General, Mr. Tyner, who had been an eminent
member of the House, to whom, I suppose, he left the mat
ter of appointments to office,
Carl Schurz was a very interesting character. When I
entered the House he was a member of the Senate from the
State of Missouri. He was admirably equipped for public
service. Although a native of Germany, he had a most ex
cellent, copious and clear English style. No man in either
House of Congress equalled him in that respect. He was
a clear reasoner, and not lacking on fit occasion in a stir
ring eloquence. He had rendered great service to the coun
try. The value to the Union cause of the stanch support
of the Germans in the Northwest, including Missouri,
whose principal city, St. Louis, contained a large German
population, can hardly be over-estimated. Without it Mis
souri would have passed an ordinance of secession, and the
city would have been held by the Confederates from the
beginning of the war. To prevent this the patriotism and
influence of Carl Schurz, then very powerful with his Ger
man fellow-citizens, largely contributed. He also combated
with great power the dangerous heresy of fiat money and
an irredeemable currency. He was a stanch advocate of
civil service reform, although he left Congress before the
legislation which accomplished that was adopted. "So he
will be entitled to a high place in the history of the very
stormy time in which he has lived, and to the gratitude of
his countrymen.
But he seems to me to have erred in underrating the
value of party instrumentalities and of official power in
accomplishing what is best for the good of the people.
When his Republican associates committed what he thought
some grave errors, he helped turn Missouri over to the
Democrats, who have held it ever since. So the political
power of the State since Mr. Schurz abandoned the Repub
lican Party because of his personal objection to President
Grant, has been exerted against everything Mr. Schurz
valued— honest elections, sound money, security to the en
franchised Southern men, and the Constitutional rights

28 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
which Mr. Schurz helped gain for them. He has never
seemed to care for organization, still less to be influenced
by that attachment to organization which, while sometimes
leading to great evil, has been the source of inspiration of
nearly everything that has been accomplished for good in
this world.
Mr. Blaine says of him, with some exaggeration, but with
some truth, that he has not become rooted and grounded
anywhere, has never established a home, and is not identi
fied with any community.
So the influence of Mr, Schurz has only been to contribute
some powerful arguments to the cause which he espoused,
and never, certainly for a great many years, that of a
leader. Mr. Schurz 's arguments for the last thirty years
would have been as effective if published anonymously, and
I dare say more effective than they have been when given
to the world under his name,
Mr. Blaine says of him that he has not the power of
speaking extempore; that he requires careful and studious
preparation, and is never ready, off-hand, to shoot on the
wing. I do not agree with Mr, Blaine's estimate of Mr,
Schurz in that particular, I have heard him make very
effective speeches in the Senate, and elsewhere, that were
undoubtedly extemporary, Mr. Blaine says that Mr.
Schurz is so deficient in this respect that he has been known
to use manuscript for an after-dinner response. But that
has been done, not infrequently, by persons who have first-
rate capacity for extemporary speaking, but who desire to
say something to a number of persons much greater than
those who sit about the tables, who are eager to read what
they say. That should be carefully matured both in thought
and phrase, and should convey their meaning with more pre
cision than off-hand speaking is likely to attain, and be re
ported with more accuracy than off-hand speaking is likely
to get.
I have never been intimate with Mr. Schurz. I deeply
lamented his action in supporting Mr. Cleveland, and con
tributing what was in his power to the defeat of the Re
publican Party on two occasions— a defeat which brought

CABINET OP PRESIDENT HAYES 29
so much calamity to the Republic. I have thought that in
his dislikes and severe judgment of individuals he lost
sight of great principles. His independence of his own
party led him to support a very much worse party domina
tion, and to help to accomplish measures and establish prin
ciples to which he had been all his life utterly opposed.
But the services to which I have alluded should not be for
gotten. They entitle him to the highest respect, and should
far outweigh his faults and mistakes,
Mr. Schurz made one very unfortunate mistake quite
early in the course of his administration of the Interior
Department. He had formed the opinion, I suppose with
out much practical experience in such matters, that it would
be a good plan to get the civilized Indians of the country
into the Indian Territory. Accordingly he had issued an
order for the removal of the Ponca Indians, of Nebraska,
to the Indian Territory. The Poncas were a small tribe,
living on excellent lands, to which they were exceedingly
attached. They were a peaceful people. It was their
boast that no Ponca had ever injured a white man. Mr.
Schurz had been informed that the Poncas were willing to
go. But when they heard of the scheme, they strenuously
objected. They sold their ponies to enable an agent to go
to Washington to make their protest known. But Mr.
Schurz was immovable. The Nebraska Senators waited
upon him, but their expostulations were received with dis
dain, as the counsel of politicians who were not entitled to
much respect. The removal was effected. The Indian
Territory proved unhealthy for them. A part of the tribe
made their escape, took the coffins of those who had died
with them, and made their way back to the original home
of their ancestors.
The public feeling was deeply aroused. I happened to
be at home in Worcester when a meeting was called by
clergymen and other philanthropic gentlemen. It was ad
dressed by a young Indian woman, named Bright Eyes, who
belonged, I think, to a tribe closely allied to the Poncas. I
attended the meeting, but was careful not to commit myself
to any distinct opinion without knowing more of the facts.

30 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
^Vhen I got back to Washington, President Hayes called
on me at my room. It was the only time I have ever known
a President of the United States to call upon a member
of either House of Congress on public business, although
I believe President Lincoln sometimes did it; and it may
possibly have happened on other occasions. President
Hayes was very much excited. He seemed at the time to
think that a great wrong had been done by the Secretary.
He brought his fist down upon the table with great empha
sis, and said: "Mr. Hoar, I will turn Mr. Schurz out, if
you say so." I said: "0 no, Mr. President, I hope noth
ing of that kind will be done. Mr. Schurz is an able man.
He has done his best. His mistake, if he has made one, is
only that he has adhered obstinately to a preconceived
opinion, and has been unwilling to take advice or receive
suggestions after he had determined on his course. It
would be a great calamity to have one of your Cabinet dis
credited by you." President Hayes took that view of it.
Indeed, I believe on further and fuller inquiry, he came to
the conclusion that it was his duty to sustain the Secretary,
so far as to keep in the Indian Territory the fragment of
the Ponca Tribe who were still there.
I took no public part in the matter. My colleague, Mr.
Dawes, who was a very earnest champion and friend of the
Indians, commented on the course of the Secretary in the
Senate with great severity; and he and the Secretary had
an earnest controversy.
Mr. Schurz was a great favorite with our Independents
and Mugwumps, many of whom had, like him, left the Re
publican Party in 1872, and some of whom had not returned
to their old allegiance. Mr. Schurz was invited to a public
dinner in Boston, at which President Eliot, Dr. James Free
man Clarke and several eminent men of their way of think
ing, took part. They did not discuss the merits of the prin
cipal question much, but the burden of their speech was
eulogy of Mr. Schurz as a great and good man, and severe
condemnation of the character of the miserable politicians
who were supposed to be his critics and opponents. There
was a proposition for a call for a public meeting on the

CABINET OF PRESIDENT HAYES 31
other side to condemn the Secretary, and stand by the In
dians. In this call several very able and influential men
joined, including Governor Long. I advised very strongly
against holding the meeting. I was quite sure that, on the
one hand, neither Mr. Schurz nor the Administration was
likely to treat the Indians cruelly or unjustly again; and
on the other hand I was equally ,sure of the absolute sin
cerity and humanity of the people who had found fault
with his action. A day or two, however, after the Schurz
dinner, a reporter of a prominent newspaper in Boston
asked me for an interview about the matter, to which I
assented. He said : ' ' Have you seen the speeches of Presi
dent Eliot and Dr. Clarke and Mr. Codman at the Schurz
banquet?" I said, "Yes." He asked me: "What do you
think of them?" I said: "Well, it is very natural that
these gentlemen should stand by Mr. Schurz, who has been
their leader and political associate. President Eliot's
speech reminds me of Baillie Nichol Jarvie when he stood
up for his kinsman, Rob Roy, in the Town Council of Glas
gow when some of the Baillie 's enemies had cast in his teeth
his kinship with the famous outlaw. 'I tauld them,' said
the Baillie, 'that barring what Rob had dune again the
law, and that some three or four men had come to their
deaths by him, he was an honester man than stude on ony
of their shanks."' This ended the incident, so far as I was
concerned. To draw an adequate portraiture of Charles Devens
would require the noble touch of the old masters of paint
ing or the lofty stroke of the dramatists of Queen Eliza
beth's day. He filled many great places in the public ser
vice with so much modesty and with a gracious charm of
manner and behavior which so attracted and engrossed our
admiration that we failed at first to discern the full strength
of the man. It is not until after his death, when we sum
up what he has done for purposes of biography or of eu
logy, that we see how important and varied has been the
work of his life.
Charles Devens was bom in Charlestown, Massachusetts,

32 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
April 4, 1820. His family connections led him to take early
in life a deep interest in the military and naval history of
the country, especially in that of the War of 1812; while
the place of his birth and the fact that he was the grandson
of Richard Devens gave to him the interest in the opening
of the Revolution which belongs to every son of Middlesex.
He was a pupil at the Boston Latin School ; was graduated
at Harvard in 1838 ; was admitted to the bar in 1840 ; prac
tised law in Northfield and afterward in Greenfield; was
Senator from Franklin County in 1848 and 1849 ; was Brig
adier-General of the militia; was appointed United States
Marshal by President Taylor in 1849, holding that office
until 1853; removed to Worcester in 1854; formed a part
nership with George F. Hoar and J. Henry Hill in Decem
ber, 1856; was City Solicitor in the years 1856, 1857 and
1858. The news of the surrender of Fort Sumter was re
ceived in Worcester Sunday, April 14. Monday forenoon
came the confirmation of the news and President Lincoln's
call for 75,000 volunteers. General Devens was engaged
in the trial of a cause before the Supreme Court, when the
news was told him. He instantly requested another mem
ber of the Bar to take his place in the trial, went imme
diately up street, offered his services to the Government,
was unanimously chosen the same day Major of the Third
Battalion of Massachusetts Rifles, commissioned the next
day, April 16, departed for the seat of war April 20. The
battalion under his command was stationed at Fort Mc-
Henry. On the 24th of July following he was appointed
Colonel of the Fifteenth Massachusetts Regiment.
Gen. Devens was in command of the Fifteenth Regiment
at the disastrous battle of Ball's Bluff, where he was struck
by a musket ball, which was intercepted by a metallic but
ton which saved his life. His conduct on that day received
high encomium from General McClellan. He was soon after
appointed a Brigadier-General of Volunteers, and assigned
to a brigade in Couch's Division of the Fourth Corps, His
division was engaged in the battle in front of Fort Ma-
gruder on the 5th of May, 1862. On the 31st of the same
month he was engaged in the most critical portion of the

CABINET OF PRESIDENT HAYES 33
desperate fight at Fair Oaks, where his command was con
spicuous for valor and devotion. This was one of the most
stubbornly contested fields of the war. Gen. Devens was
severely wounded toward the close of the day, but with a
few other officers he succeeded in reforming the repeatedly
broken lines and in holding the field until reinforcements
arrived and stayed the tide of Confederate triumph. He
returned to his command as soon as his wound would per
mit, and took part in the battle of Fredericksburg in Decem
ber, 1862. In his official report General Newton says : ' ' My
acknowledgments are due to all according to their oppor
tunities, but especially to Brigadier-General Charles Dev
ens, who commanded the advance and the rear guard, in the
crossing and recrossing of the river." In the following
spring General Devens was promoted to the command of a
division of the Eleventh Corps. He was posted with his
division of 4,000 men on the extreme right of the flank of
Hooker's army, which was attacked by 26,000 men under;
the great rebel leader, Stonewall Jackson. General Devens
was wounded by a musket ball in the foot early in the day ;
but he kept the field, making the most strenuous efforts to
hold his men together and stay the advance of the Confed
erates until his Corps was almost completely enveloped by
Jackson's force and, in the language of General Walker,
"was scattered like the stones and timbers of a broken dam."
He recovered from his wound in time to take part in the
campaign of 1864. His troops were engaged on the first
of June in the battle of Cold Harbor, and carried the en
emy's entrenched line with severe loss. On the third of
June, in an attack which General Walker characterizes as one
"which is never spoken of without awe and bated breath
by any one who participated in it, ' ' General Devens was car
ried along the line on a stretcher, being so crippled by in
flammatory rheumatism that he could neither mount his
horse nor stand in his place. This was the last action in
which he took an active part. On the third of April, 1865,
he led the advance into Richmond, where the position of
Military Governor was assigned to him after the surrender.
He afterwards was second in command to General Sickles,
3

34 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
in the Southeastern Department, and exercised practically
all the powers of government for a year or two. This com
mand was of very great importance to him as a part of his
legal training. Upon him practically devolved the duty of
deciding summarily, but without appeal, all important ques
tions of military law as well as those affecting the civil
rights of citizens during his administration.
He was offered a commission in the regular army, which
he declined. He came back to Worcester in 1866 ; renewed
his partnership with me for a short time; was appointed
Justice of the Superior Court April, 1867; was appointed
Justice of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts in 1873;
was offered the appointment of Secretary of War in the
Cabinet of President Hayes March 5, 1877; a day or two
later was tendered the office of Attorney-General by the
President, which he accepted and held until the expiration
of President Hayes's Administration. He was offered the
office of Judge of the Circuit Court of the First Circuit at the
death of Judge Shepley, which he very much desired to
accept. But the President, although placing this office at
his disposal, was exceedingly unwilling to lose his service
in the Cabinet ; and General Devens, vsdth his customary self-
denial, yielded to the desire of his chief. He was again
appointed Justice of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts
in 1881, and held that office until his death.
He was elected a member of the American Antiquarian
Society October 21, 1878. He was a member of the Mas
sachusetts Historical Society. He received the degree of
LL.D. from Harvard University in the year 1877. He was
chosen President of the Harvard Alumni Association, and
again elected President of that Association in 1886, in
order that he might preside at the great celebration of the
250th anniversary of the foundation of the college, which
he did with a dignity and grace which commanded the ad
miration of all persons who were present on that interest
ing occasion. He died January 7, 1891.
General Devens gained very soon after establishing him
self in Worcester the reputation of one of the foremost
advocates at the bar of Massachusetts. He was a model

CABINET OF PRESIDENT HAYES 35
of the professional character, of great courtesy to his op
ponent, great deference to the court, fidelity to his client,
giving to every case all the labor which could profitably be
spent upon it. The certainty of the absolute fidelity, thor
oughness, and skill with which his part of the duty of an
important trial would be performed, made it a delight to
try cases as his associate. He was especially powerful
with juries in cases involving the domestic relations, or
which had in them anything of the pathos of which the
court-house so often furnishes examples. He did not care
in those days for the preparation or argument of questions
of law, although he possessed legal learning fully adequate
to the exigencies of his profession, and never neglected any
duty. His fine powers continued to grow as he grew older.
I think he was unsurpassed in this country in the gen
eration to which he belonged in native gifts of oratory.
He had a fine voice, of great compass and power, a grace
ful and dignified presence. He was familiar with the best
English literature. He had a pure and admirable style, an
imagination which was quickened and excited under the
stimulus of extempore speech, and was himself moved and
stirred by the emotions which are most likely to move and
stir an American audience. Some of his addresses to
juries in Worcester are now remembered, under whose
spell jury and audience were in tears, and where it was
somewhat difficult even for the bench or the opposing coun
sel to resist the contagion. He never, however, undertook
to prepare and train himself for public speaking, as was
done by Mr. Choate or Mr. Everett, or had the constant
and varied practice under which the fine powers of Wendell
Phillips came to such perfection. But his fame as an ora
tor constantly increased, so that before his death no other
man in Massachusetts was so much in demand, especially
on those occasions where the veterans of the war were
gathered to commemorate its sacrifices and triumphs.
Among the most successful examples of his oratoric
power is his address at Bunker Hill at the Centennial in
1875, where the forming the procession and the other exer-

36 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
cises occupied the day until nearly sundown, and General
Devens, the orator of the day, laid aside his carefully pre
pared oration and addressed the audience in a brief speech,
wholly unpremeditated, which was the delight of every
body who heard it*
At New Haven he delivered the address before the Army
of the Potomac in commemoration of General Meade and
the battle of Gettysburg, which is a fine specimen of historic
narrative mingled and adorned with stately eloquence. At
the banquet in the evening of the same day the gentleman
who had been expected to respond to the toast, "The pri
vate soldier," was unexpectedly called away, and General
Devens was asked at a moment's notice and without prep
aration to take his place. I heard President Grant— no
mean judge— who had himself listened to so much of the
best public speaking in all parts of the country, say that
General Devens 's response to this toast was the finest
speech he ever heard in his life. The eulogy upon Grant
delivered at Worcester, especially the wonderful passage
where he contrasts the greeting which Napoleon might ex
pect from his soldiers and companions in arms at a meet
ing beyond the grave with that which Grant might expect
from his brethren, is also one of the best specimens of elo
quence in modem times. Surpassing even these are the
few sentences he addressed to his regiment after the battle
of Ball's Bluff.
General Devens had a modest estimate of his own best
powers. While he was an admirable judge, bringing to the
court the weight of his great experience, his admirable
sense, his stainless integrity, his perfect impartiality, his
great discernment, his abundant learning, it has always
seemed to me that he erred after the war in not preferring
* " The oration by Judge Devens was magnificent. He spoke wholly with
out notes and his effort was largely extemporaneous. He began by saying
that the lateness of the hour ('twas nearly six o'clock) would prevent his
following the train of any previously prepared effort and he would briefly
review the history of the battle and its results upon the world's history. He
spoke for nearly an hour and a quarter, holding his fine audience in rapt
attention by his eloquence, the elegance of his diction and his superb enuncia
tion. It was, indeed, a wonderful effort, and will compare favorably with
Webster's great orations in '25 and '43."— From the diary of Henry H. Edea.

CABINET OF PRESIDENT HAYES 37
political life to his place upon the bencn. He could easily
have been Governor or Senator, in which places the affec
tion of the people of Massachusetts would have kept him
for a period limited only by his own desire, and might well
have been expected to pass from the Cabinet to an even
higher place in the service of his country. But he disliked
political strife, and preferred those places of service which
did not compel him to encounter bitter antagonisms.
He filled the place of Attorney-General with a dignity and
an ability which has been rarely if ever surpassed by any
of the illustrious men who have filled that great office. The
judges of the Supreme Court long after he had left Wash
ington were accustomed to speak of the admirable manner
in which he discharged his duties. I once at a dinner heard
Mr, Justice Bradley, who was without a superior, if not
without a peer in his day, among jurists on either side of the
Atlantic, speak enthusiastically of his recollection of General
Devens in the office of Attorney-General. Judge Bradley
kindly acceded to my request to put in writing what he had
said. His letter is here inserted:
Washington, January 20th, 1891,
Hon. Geo. F. Hoar.
My Dear Sir: You ask for my estimate of the services
and character of General Devens as Attorney-General of the
United States, In general terms I unhesitatingly answer,
that he left upon my mind the impression of a sterling,
noble, generous character, loyal to duty, strong, able, and
courteous in the fulfillment of it, with such accumulation of
legal acquirement and general culture as to render his coun
sels highly valuable in the Cabinet, and his public efforts
exceedingly graceful and effective. His professional ex
hibitions in the Supreme Court during the four years that
he represented the Government, were characterized by
sound learning, chastely and accurately expressed, great
breadth of view, the seizing of strong points and disregard
of minute ones, marked deference for the court and cour
tesy to his opponents. He was a model to the younger
members of the bar of a courtly and polished advocate.

38 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
He appeared in the court only in cases of special impor
tance ; but of these there was quite a large number during
his term. As examples, I may refer to the cases of Young
V. United States (97 U, S, 39), which involved the rights
of neutrals in our Civil War, and particularly the alleged
right of a British subject, who had been engaged in running
the blockade, to demand compensation for a large quantity
of cotton purchased in the Confederacy and seized by the
military forces of the United States;— Reynolds v. United
States (98 U. S. 145), which declared the futility of the
plea, in cases of bigamy among the Mormons, of religious
belief, claimed under the first amendment of the Constitu
tion; and established the principle that pretended religious
belief cannot be accepted as a justification of overt acts
made criminal by the law of the land; — The Sinking Fund
Cases (99 U, S, 700), which involved the validity of the
act of Congress known as the Thurman Act, requiring the
Pacific Railroad Companies to make annual payments for a
sinking fund to meet the bonds loaned to them by the Gov
ernment;— Tennessee V. Davis (100 U, S, 257), as to the
right of a United States officer to be tried in the Federal
courts for killing a person in self-defence whilst in the dis
charge of his official duties;— The Civil Rights case of
Strander v. W, Virginia and others (100 U, S, 303^22),
in which were settled the rights of all classes of citizens,
irrespective of color, to suffrage and to representation in
the jury box, and the right of the Government of the
United States to interpose its power for their protection;—
Neal V. Delaware (103 U. S. 370), by which it was de
cided that the right of suffrage and (in that case) the con
sequent right of jury service of people of African descent,
were secured by the 15th Amendment to the Constitution,
notwithstanding unrepealed state laws or constitutions to
the contrary.
In all these cases and many others the arguments of the
Attorney-General were presented with distinguished ability
and dignity, and with his habitual courtesy and amenity of
manner ; whilst his broad and comprehensive views greatly
aided the court in arriving at just conclusions. In all of

CABINET OP PRESIDENT HAYES 39
them he was successful; and it may be said that he rarely
assumed a position on behalf of the Government, in any
important case, in which he was not sustained by the judg
ment of the court. His advocacy was conscientious and
judicial rather than experimental— as is eminently fitting in
the official representative of the Government. It best sub
serves the ends of justice, the suppression of useless litiga
tion, and the prompt administration of the law.
I can only add that the members of the Supreme Court
parted with Attorney-General Devens with regret. Of
him, as of so many other eminent lawyers, the reflection is
just, that the highest efforts of advocacy have no adequate
memorial. Written compositions remain; but the noblest
displays of human genius at the bar— often, perhaps, the
successful assaults of Freedom against the fortresses of
Despotism — are lost to history and memory for want of
needful recordation, Vixere fortes ante Agamemnona; or,
as Tacitus says of the eloquent Haterius, ' ' Whilst the plod
ding industry of scribblers goes down to posterity, the sweet
voice and fluent eloquence of Haterius died with himself, ' '
Very truly yours, Joseph P. Bradley.
He was an admirable historical investigator and narrator.
He carefully investigated the facts. He told the story of
the heroic days of the Revolution and of the heroic days of
the War for the Union with a graphic power which will give
his addresses on such subjects a permanent place in our
best historical literature.
But it is as a soldier that his countrymen will remember
him, and it is as a soldier that he would wish to be remem
bered. Whatever may be said by the philosopher, the
moralist, or the preacher, the instincts of the greater por
tion of mankind will lead them to award the highest meed
of admiration to the military character. Even when the
most selfish of human passions, the love of power or the
love of fame, is the stimulant of the soldier's career, he
must at least be ready for the supreme sacrifice— the will
ingness to give his life, if need be, for the object he is pur-

40 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
suing. But when his end is purely unselfish, when the love
of country or the desire to save her life by giving his own
has entire mastery of the soul, all mankind are agreed to
award to the good soldier a glory which it bestows nowhere
else. There was nothing lacking in General Devens to the
complete soldierly character. He had a passionate love of
his country; he was absolutely fearless; he never flinched
before danger, sickness, suffering or death. He was
prompt, resolute and cool in the face of danger. He had
a warm and affectionate heart. He loved his comrades,
especially the youth who were under his command. He
had that gentle and placable nature which so often accom
panies great courage. He was incapable of a permanent
anger. He was still less capable of revenge or of willing
ness to inflict injury or pain.
As Clarendon says of Falkland: "He had a full appetite
of fame by just and generous actions, so he had an equal
contempt for it by base and servile expedients. ' ' He never
for an instant tolerated that most pernicious and pestilent
heresy, that so long as each side believed itself to be in the
right there was no difference between the just and the un
just cause. He knew that he was contending for the life of
his country, for the fate of human liberty on this continent.
No other cause would have led him to draw his sword; and
he cared for no other earthly reward for his service.
Oh just and faithful knight of God,
Ride on, the prize is near.

CHAPTER IV
ATTEMPT TO REOPEN THE QUESTION OF THE TITLE TO
THE PRESIDENCY
In general the determination of the title to the Presi
dency was acquiesced in in a manner highly creditable to
the people. The Democratic Party submitted to their dis
appointment in a manner which was on the whole exceed
ingly praiseworthy. This was due very largely to the in
fluence of Mr. Lamar, of Mississippi, and I suppose to that
of Mr. Bayard, of Delaware, But there were not wanting
persons who were willing to revive the question for political
advantage, whatever the effect upon the public tranquillity.
On May 13, 1878, when the President had been for more
than a year in the quiet possession of his office, Mr, Clark-
son N, Potter, of New York, introduced in the House of
Representatives a resolution for the appointment of a
Committee to investigate alleged frauds in the States of
Louisiana and Florida, in the recent Presidential election.
This resolution was adopted by the House, in which every
possible parliamentary method for its defeat was resorted
to by the Republican minority. The Republicans were ex
ceedingly alarmed, and the proceeding seemed likely to
create a financial panic which would disturb and injure the
business of the country.
Shortly after Mr, Potter's committee was appointed, it
was expected that a report would be made denying the
validity of President Hayes 's title, and that the Democratic
House of Representatives would be advised to refuse to
acknowledge him as President. This would have thrown
the Government into great confusion and would have made
a square issue. A caucus of Republican Senators was held,
and the following gentlemen were appointed a Committee,
with directions to report what action, if any, ought to be
41

42 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
taken by the Senate in the matter : Mr. Edmunds, Mr. Howe,
Mr, Conkling, Mr, Allison, Mr, Sargent, Mr. Ingalls, Mr,
Oglesby, Mr. Jones (of Nevada), Mr. Christiancy, Mr.
Blaine, Mr. Hoar,
I was requested by my associates to prepare an address
to the people, to be signed by the Republican Senators, ar
raigning the Democratic leaders for their unjustifiable and
revolutionary course, and pointing out the public danger.
The Committee had a second meeting, when I read to them
the following address, which I had prepared and which I
still have in my possession:
"Our sense of the presence of a great public danger
makes it our duty to address you. We are satisfied that
the leaders of the Democratic Party meditate an attack on
the President 's possession of his office, the results of which
must be the destruction of the reviving industries of the
country, civil confusion and war. There has been differ
ence of opinion whether the count of the electoral vote,
which under the Constitution determines the President's
title must be made by the two House of Congress, or by the
President of the Senate in their presence. In the count of
electoral votes, which resulted in the declaration of the elec
tion of President Hayes, both methods concurred, the action
of the two Houses being in accordance with a law regulating
their proceedings, enacted in the last Congress to meet the
case by large majorities of both branches. The title of
President Hayes, therefore, not only rests upon the strong--
est possible Constitutional sanction, but the honor of both
the great parties in the country is solemnly pledged to main-
tain it.
"Yet the Democratic majority in the House of Represen
tatives has set on foot a proceeding, which they call an in
vestigation, intended, if they can get control of the next
Congress, to pave the way for the expulsion of President
Hayes, and the seating of Mr. Tilden in his place. It will
be the President's duty to maintain himself in office, and
the duty of all good citizens to stand by him. The result is
Civil War.

THE TITLE TO THE PRESIDENCY 43
"We know that many Democratic Senators and Repre
sentatives disclaim in private the purpose we attribute to
their leaders, and denounce the wickedness and folly of an
attempt to set aside the accepted result of the last election
of President. You doubtless know that many of your
Democratic neighbors give you the same assurance. Be not
lulled by these assurances into a false security. He is little
familiar with the history of that party who does not know
how its members follow in compact columns where its
leaders point the way. Like assurances preceded the repeal
of the Missouri Compromise. Like assurances on the part
of many Democrats at the South preceded the late rebellion.
Such convictions on the part of the Democrats, however
honest or earnest, of the danger and dishonor of the pro
ceedings just inaugurated found expression in but a single
dissenting vote in the House of Representatives,
' ' They say that they believe that the result in two of the
States was accomplished by fraud. We believe, on the
other hand, that those States, and others whose votes were
counted for Tilden, were strongly Republican, and would
have been counted for Hayes without a question, but for
violence and crime. The Constitution provides the time,
place and manner in which these contentions must be set
tled. They have been so settled as between Hayes and Til
den, and it is only by usurpation and revolution that a sub
sequent Congress can undertake to reopen them. You
know how easily party majorities persuade themselves, ox*
affect to persuade themselves, of the existence of facts,
which it is for their party interest to establish.
"At the end of his four years the President lays down his
office, and his successor is chosen. The people have in their
hands this frequent, easy and peaceful remedy for all evils
of administration. The usurpation by Congress of the
power to displace a President whenever they choose to
determine that the original declaration of the result of an
election was wrong, on whatever pretence it is defended, is
a total overthrow of the Constitution.
"If you would ward off this blow at the national life, you

44 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
have one perfect means of defence, the election of a Repub
lican majority in the next House of Representatives."
When they had all agreed to it, Mr. Conkling, a member
of the Committee who had not attended the previous meet
ing, came in late. The document was read to him. He op
posed the whole plan with great earnestness and indigna
tion, spoke with great severity of President Hayes, and said
that he hoped it would be the last time that any man in the
United States would attempt to steal the Presidency. Mr.
Conkling 's influence in the Senate and in the country was
then quite powerful. It was thought best not to issue the
appeal unless it were to have the unanimous support of the
Republicans. But the discovery of some cipher dispatches
implicating some well-known persons, including one mem
ber of Mr. Tilden 's household, in an attempt to bribe the
canvassing boards in the South and to purchase some Re
publican electors in the South and one in Oregon, tended to
make the leading members of that party sick of the whole
matter. President Hayes served out his term peacefully
and handed over the executive power, not only to a Repub
lican successor, but to a member of the majority of the
Electoral Commission. So it seems clear that the bulk of
the American people had little sympathy with the com
plaints.

CHAPTER V
THE SENATE IN 18Y7
When I came to the Senate that body was at the very
height of its Constitutional power. It was, I think, a more
powerful body than ever before or since. There were no
men in it, I suppose, who were equal in reputation or per
sonal authority to either of the great triumvirate— Web
ster, Clay and Calhoun. If we may trust the traditions
that have come down from the time of the Administrations
of Washington and Adams, when the Senate sat with closed
doors, none of them ever acquired the authority wielded by
the profound sagacity of Ellsworth.
But the National authority itself, of which the Senate
was a part, was restricted by the narrow construction which
prevailed before the Civil War. During the Civil War
everything was bowed and bent before the military power.
After the war ended the Senate was engaged in a con
troversy with Andrew Johnson, during which there could
be no healthy action either of the executive or the legisla
tive branch of the Government. It was like a pair of shears,
from which the rivet was gone.
With the coming in of Grant harmonious relations were
established between the two departments. But the Senators
were unwilling to part with the prerogatives, which they had
helped each other to assert, and which had been wrenched
from the feeble hand of Johnson. What was called Sena
torial Courtesy required every Senator belonging to the
party in the majority to support every other in demanding
the right to dictate and control the executive and judicial
appointments from their respective States. So every Sen
ator had established a following, like that of the Highland
chieftain- "Vich Ian Vohr with his tail on"— devoted, of
45

46 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
course, to the party, but devoted more completely and imme
diately to his political fortunes.
President Grant in the beginning undertook to break
down this arrogant claim. He recommended the repeal of
the Civil Tenure Act, the establishment of a system of com
petitive examinations for appointments in the civil service
and, under the advice of Attorney-General Hoar, made his
nominations to the new Circuit Court without regard to
Senatorial dictation. But he very soon abandoned this pur
pose, and formed a close friendship and alliance with the
most earnest opponents of the reform.
While, in my opinion, this claim of the Senators was un
tenable and of injurious public consequences, it tended to
maintain and increase the authority of the Senate. The
most eminent Senators— Sumner, Conkling, Sherman, Ed
munds, Carpenter, Frelinghuysen, Simon Cameron, An
thony, Logan— would have received as a personal affront
a private message from the White House expressing a
desire that they should adopt any course in the discharge of
their legislative duties that they did not approve. If they
visited the White House, it was to give, not to receive advice.
Any little company or coterie who had undertaken to ar
range public policies with the President and to report to
their associates what the President thought would have
rapidly come to grief. These leaders were men, almost all
of them, of great faults. They were not free from ambition.
Some of them were quite capable of revenge, and of using
the powers of the Government to further their ambition or
revenge. But they maintained the dignity and the authority
of the Senatorial office. Each of these stars kept his own
orbit and shone in his sphere, within which he tolerated no
intrusion from the President or from anybody else.
The reform of the civil service has doubtless shorn the
office of Senator of a good deal of its power, I think Presi
dent McKinley, doubtless with the best and purest intentions,
did still more to curtail the dignity and authority of the of
fice, I dare say the increase in the number of Senators has
had also much to do with it. President McKinley, with his
great wisdom and tact and his delightful individual quality,

THE SENATE IN 1877 47
succeeded in establishing an influence over the members of
the Senate not, I think, equalled from the beginning of the
Government, except possibly by Andrew Jackson, And
while the strong will of Jackson subjugated Senators, in
many cases, as it did other men, yet it roused an antag
onism not only in his political opponents, but in many im
portant men of his own party, which would have overthrown
him but for his very great popularity with the common
people. President McKinley also made one serious mis
take, of which indeed he did not set the example. Yet he
made what was before but an individual and extraordinary
instance, a practice. If that practice continue, it will go far,
in my judgment, to destroy the independence and dignity of
the Senate. That is, the appointment of members of the
Senate to distinguished and lucrative places in the public
service, in which they are to receive and obey the command
of the Executive, and then come back to their seats to carry
out as Senators a policy which they have adopted at the
command of another power, without any opportunity of con
sultation with their associates, or of learning their asso
ciates' opinions.
The Constitution provides. Article I., Sec. 6,
"No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for
which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under
the authority of the United States, which shall have been
created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been in
creased, during such time ; and no person holding any office
under the United States shall be a member of either House
during his continuance in office."
It is, I suppose, beyond dispute that the intention of
that provision was to protect the members of the Legislative
branch of the Government from Executive influence. The
legislator was not to be induced to create a civil office, or to
increase its emoluments, at the request of the Executive,
in the hope that he might be appointed. He was to preserve
his independence of Executive influence, and to approach
all questions in which he might have to deal with matters

48 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
which concerned the Executive power, or Executive action,
absolutely free from any bias.
This provision comes, with some modification, from the
English Constitution. The fear of Executive influence was
in that day constantly before the framers of the Constitution
and the people who adopted it. Roger Sherman, in his cor
respondence with John Adams, says that he "esteems the
provision made for appointment to office to be a matter of
very great importance, on which the liberties and safety of
the people depend nearly as much as on legislation."
"It was," he says, "a saying of one of the Kings of Eng
land that while the King could appoint the Bishops and
Judges he might have what religion and laws he pleased."
Mr. Sherman adds: "By such appointments, without
control, a power might be gradually established that wohld
be more formidable than a standing army."
I think that sooner or later some emphatic action will be
taken, probably in the form of a declaratory resolution,
which will put an end to this abuse. But there will always
be found men in either branch who desire such honorable
employment. They will be men of great influence. There
are also frequently men of personal worth who always sup
port whatever the President of the United States thinks fit
to do, and trot or amble along in the procession which
follows the Executive chariot. So, if any President shall
hereafter repeat this attempt it will require a good deal of
firmness to defeat it.
Senator Morgan of Alabama made a very bright com
parison of the relation to the White House of some very
worthy Senators to that of the bird in a cuckoo clock. He
said that whenever the clock at the White House strikes
the bird issues out of the door in the Senate Chamber, and
says: "Cuckoo, Cuckoo," and that when the striking is
over, he goes in again and shuts the door after him. He was
speaking of Democratic Senators. But I am afraid my ex
cellent Republican brethren can furnish quite as many in
stances of this servility as their opponents.
The President has repeatedly, within the last six years,
appointed members of the Senate and House to be Commis-

THE SENATE IN 1877 49
sioners to negotiate and conclude, as far as can be done by
diplomatic agencies, treaties and other arrangements with
foreign Governments, of the gravest importance. These
include the arrangement of a standard of value by Interna
tional agreement ; making the Treaty of Peace, at the end of
the War with Spain; arranging a Treaty of Commerce
between the United States and Great Britain; making a
Treaty to settle the Behring Sea controversy ; and now more
lately to establish the boundary line between Canada and
Alaska. President McKinley also appointed a Commission, in
cluding Senators and Representatives, to visit Hawaii, and
to report upon the needs of legislation there. This last was
as clearly the proper duty and function of a committee, to be
appointed by one or the other branch of Congress, as any
thing that could be conceived.
The question has been raised whether these functions were
offices, within the Constitutional sense. It was stoutly con
tended, and I believe held by nearly all the Republican Sen
ators at the time when President Cleveland appointed Mr.
Blount to visit Hawaii, and required that the diplomatic
action of our Minister there should be subject to his ap
proval, that he was appointing a diplomatic officer, and
that he had no right so to commission Mr. Blount, without
the advice and consent of the Senate. President McKinley
seemed to accept this view when he sent in for confirmation
the names of two Senators, who were appointed on the Com
mission to visit Hawaii. The Senate declined to take action
upon these nominations. The very pertinent question was
put by an eminent member of the Senate : If these gentle
men are to be officers, how can the President appoint them
under the Constitution, the office being created during their
term? Or, how can they hold office and still keep their seats
in this body? If, on the other hand, they are not officers,
under what Constitutional provision does the President ask
the advice and consent of the Senate to their appointment?
But the suggestion that these gentlemen are not officers,
seems to me the merest cavil. They exercise an authority,
and are clothed with a dignity equal to that of the highest
4

50 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
and most important diplomatic officer, and far superior to
that of most of the civil officers of the country. To say
that the President cannot appoint a Senator or Representa
tive postmaster in a country village, where the perquisites
do not amount to a hundred dollars a year, where perhaps
no other person can be found to do the duties, because that
would put an improper temptation in the way of the legis
lator to induce him to become the tool of the Executive will,
and then permit the President to send him abroad ; to enable
him to maintain the distinction and enjoy the pleasure of a
season at a foreign capital as the representative of the
United States, with all his expenses paid, and a large
compensation added, determined solely by the Executive
will ; and to hold that the framers of the Constitution would
for a moment have tolerated that, seems to me utterly pre
posterous. Beside, it places the Senator so selected in a position
where he cannot properly perform his duties as a Senator.
He is bound to meet his associates at the great National
Council Board as an equal, to hear their reasons as well as
to impart his own. How can he discharge that duty, if he
had already not only formed an opinion, but acted upon the
matter under the control and direction of another depart
ment of the Government?
The Senate was exceedingly sensitive about this question
when it first arose. But the gentlemen selected by the Ex
ecutive for these services were, in general, specially com
petent for the duty. Their associates were naturally quite
unwilling to take any action that should seem to involve a
reproof to them. The matter did not, however, pass with
out remonstrance. It was hoped that it would not be re
peated. At the time of the appointment of the Silver Com
mission, I myself called attention to the matter in the
Senate. Later, as I have said, the Senate declined to take
action on the Commission appointed to visit Hawaii. But
there was considerable discussion. Several bills and reso
lutions were introduced, which were intended to prohibit
such appointments in the future. The matter was referred
to the Committee on the Judiciary. It turned out that three

THE SENATE IN 1877 51
members of that Committee had been appointed by Presi
dent McKinley on the Canadian Commission. One of them,
however, said he had accepted the appointment without due
reflection, and he was quite satisfied that the practice was
wrong. The Committee disliked exceedingly to make a
report which might be construed as a censure of their asso
ciates. So I was instructed to call upon President McKin
ley and say to him in behalf of the Committee, that they
hoped the practice would not be continued. That task I
discharged. President McKinley said he was aware of the
objections ; that he had come to feel the evil very strongly ;
and while he did not say in terms that he would not make
another appointment of the kind, he conveyed to me, as
I am very sure he intended to do, the assurance that it
would not occur again. He said, however, that it was not
in general understood how few people there were in this
country, out of the Senate and House of Representatives,
qualified for important diplomatic service of that kind, espe
cially when we had to contend with the trained diplomatists
of Europe, who had studied such subjects all their lives.
He told me some of the difficulties he had encountered in
making selections of Ministers abroad, where important
matters were to be dealt with, our diplomatic representatives
having, as a rule, to be taken from entirely different pur
suits and employments.
That Congress in the past has thought it best to extend
rather than restrict this prohibition is shown by the statute
which forbids, under a severe penalty, members of either
House of Congress from representing the Government as
counsel.

CHAPTER VI
LEADERS OF THE SENATE IN 1877
As I just said, there was no man in the Senate when I
entered it who equalled in renown either Webster, Clay or
Calhoun, or wielded in the Senate an influence like that of
Oliver Ellsworth, With at most but two or three excep
tions, no one of them would be counted among the great
men of the century in which he lived, or will be remembered
long after his death. But the average excellence was high.
It was a company of very wise men, fairly representing the
best sentiment and aspiration of the Republic. The angers
and influences of the Civil War had gradually cooled under
the healing influence of Grant. The American people was
ready to address itself bravely to the new conditions and
new problems, or to old problems under new conditions.
I shall speak briefly here of some of the principal Sena
tors who were there when I took my seat on March 4, 1877,
or who came into the Senate shortly afterward during that
Congress. Others I have mentioned in other places in this
book. William A. Wheeler, of New York, was Vice-President
and President of the Senate. On the Republican side were :
William B. Allison of Iowa, Henry B. Anthony and Am
brose E. Bumside of Rhode Island, James G, Blaine and
Hannibal Hamlin of Maine, Blanche K.Bruce of Mississippi,
Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania, Roscoe Conkling of New
York, John A. Logan of Illinois, Henry L. Dawes of Massa
chusetts, George F. Edmunds and Justin S. Morrill of Ver
mont, Frederick T. Frelinghuysen of New Jersey, John J.
Ingalls of Kansas, John P. Jones of Nevada, Stanley
Matthews and John Sherman of Ohio, John H. Mitchell of
Oregon, Oliver P. Morton of Indiana, Aaron A. Sargent of
52

LEADERS OP THE SENATE IN 1877 53
California, Henry M. Teller of Colorado, Bainbridge Wad-
leigh of New Hampshire and William Windom of Minne
sota. On the Democratic side were : Thomas F. Bayard and Eli
Saulsbury of Delaware, James B. Beck of Kentucky, Francis
M. Cockrell of Missouri, A. H. Garland of Arkansas, John
B. Gordon of Georgia, L. Q. C. Lamar of Mississippi, Matt
Ransom of North Carolina, Allen G. Thurman of Ohio,
William P. Whyte of Maryland, M. C. Butler of South
Carolina, William W. Eaton of Connecticut, James B.
Eustis of Louisiana, Francis Kernan of New York, J. R.
McPherson of New Jersey, and Daniel W. Voorhees of
Indiana, Henry B. Anthony was the senior member of the Senate
when I entered it. When he died he had been a Senator
longer than any other man in the country, except Mr.
Benton, He had come to be the depository of its traditions,
customs and unwritten rules. He was a man of spirit,
giving and receiving blows on fit occasions, especially when
anybody assailed Rhode Island. He had conducted for
many years a powerful newspaper which had taken part in
many conflicts. But he seemed somehow the intimate
friend of every man in the Senate, on both sides. Every
one of his colleagues poured out his heart to him. It seemed
that no eulogy or funeral was complete unless Anthony had
taken part in it, because he was reckoned the next friend
of the man who was dead.
He was fully able to defend himself and his State and
any cause which he espoused. No man would attack either
with impunity under circumstances which called on him for
reply, as he showed on some memorable occasions. But he
was of a most gracious and sweet nature. He was a lover
and maker of peace. When his own political associates put
an indignity upon Charles Sumner, the great leader of
emancipation in the Senate, which had been the scene of his
illustrious service, no man regretted the occurrence more
than Mr. Anthony.

54 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
And straight Patroclus rose,
The genial comrade, who, amid the strife
Of kings, and war of angry utterance.
Held even balance, to his outraged friend
Heart-true, yet ever strove with kindly words
To hush the jarring discord, urging peace.
Mr. Anthony was a learned man; learned in the history
of the Senate and in parliamentary law ; learned in the his
tory of his country and of foreign countries ; learned in the
resources of a full, accurate and graceful scholarship. Since
Sumner died I suppose no Senator can be compared with
him in this respect. Some passages in an almost forgotten
political satire show that he possessed a vein which, if he
had cultivated it, might have placed him high in the roll of
satiric poets. But he never launched a shaft that he might
inflict a sting. His collection of memorial addresses is un
surpassed in its kind of literature. He was absolutely
simple, modest, courteous and without pretence. He was
content to do his share in accomplishing public results, and
leave to others whatever of fame or glory might result from
having accomplished them.
To be, and not to seem, was this man's wisdom.
The satire, of which I have just spoken, is almost for
gotten. It is a poem called "The Dorriad," written at the
time of the famous Dorr Rebellion. The notes, as in the
case of the "Biglow Papers," are even funnier than the
text. He gives an account of the Dorr War in two cantos,
after the manner of Scott's "Marmion." He describes the
chieftain addressing his troops on Arcote's Hill, the place
where one Arcote; in former days, had been hung for sheep-
stealing, and buried at the foot of the gallows.
The Governor saw with conscious pride,
The men who gathered at his side ;
That bloody sword aloft he drew,
And "list, my trusty men," he cried—
"Here do I swear to stand by you,
As long as flows life's crimson tide; —
Nor will I ever yield, until

LEADERS OP THE SENATE IN 1877 55
I leave my bones upon this hill."
His men received the gallant boast
With shouts that shook the rocks around.
But hark, a voice? old Arcote's ghost
Calls out, in anger, from the ground,
"If here your bones you mean to lay.
Then, damn it, I'll take mine away."
I do not know that I can give a fair and impartial estimate
of Roscoe Conkling. I never had any personal difficulty
with him. On the other hand, he was good enough to say of
a speech which I made in the Presidential campaign of 1872,
that it was the best speech made in the country that year.
But I never had much personal intercourse with him, and
formed an exceedingly unfavorable opinion of him. He
was an able man, though not superior in ability to some of
his associates. I do not think he was the equal in debate
of Mr. Blaine, or of Carl Schurz, or, on financial questions
with which the latter was familiar, of John Sherman. But
he was undoubtedly a strong man. His speech nominating
Grant at the National Convention of 1880 was one of very
great power. But he was unfit to be the leader of a great
party, and was sure, if he were trusted with power, to bring
it to destruction. He was possessed of an inordinate
vanity. He was unrelenting in his enmities, and at any time
was willing to sacrifice to them his party and the interests
of the country. He used to get angry with men simply
because they voted against him on questions in which he
took an interest. Once he would not speak to Justin S.
Morrill, one of the wisest and kindliest of men, for months,
because of his anger at one of Morrill's votes. I suppose he
defeated the Republican Party in New York when General
John A. Dix was candidate for Governor. That opinion,
however, depends chiefly on common rumor. Governor
Boutwell, in his "Recollections," says that Mr. Conkling
contributed secretly to the defeat of Mr. Blaine, although
he had been willing to support Blaine four years before.
He was one of the men whose counsel wrought grievous
injury to Grant, and persuaded him to permit the foolish

56 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
attempt to nominate him for a third term. The deserved
respect which the American people had for Grant, and his
great influence, would not induce them to bring Conkling
and the men who were his associates again into power. I
can hardly think of a man of high character in the Republi
can Party, except Grant, who retained Conkling 's friend
ship. His resignation of the office of Senator showed how
utterly lacking he was in sound political wisdom, or in lofty
political morality. That a Senator of the United States
should vacate his own office because he could not control
Executive patronage was a proceeding not likely to be re
garded with much respect by the American people, I sup
pose he expected that he would be returned by the New
York Legislature, and that the scene of his coming back
would be one of great dramatic effect.
The reason of his action was President Garfield's nomi
nation of Judge Robertson, who had been his own earnest
supporter for the Presidency, to the office of Collector of the
port of New York, It happened in this way : General Gar
field 's nomination for the Presidency, of which I have told
the story in another place, was brought about in part by the
aid of some of the New York delegation, led by Judge
Robertson, who had broken away from Conkling 's leader
ship. He was of course angry. After Garfield's election,
he demanded that no one of the New York opponents to
Grant's nomination should be appointed to office by the in
coming Administration. Garfield told me the whole story
during the spring session of 1881. He had an interview
with Conkling, I think by his own request, and endeavored
to come to some understanding with him which would ensure
harmony. He told Conkling that he desired to make one
conspicuous appointment of a New York man who had sup
ported him against President Grant, and that thereafter ap
pointments should be made of fit men, without regard to the
factional division of the party in New York, between his"
supporters and those of Grant, and that the Senators would
in all cases be consulted. Conkling would not listen to the
suggestion, and declared that he would not consent to the ap
pointment of Judge Robertson to any important office in this

LEADERS OP THE SENATE IN 1877 57
country ; that if the President chose to send him abroad, he
would make no objection. President Garfield told me that
Conkling 's behavior in the interview was so insolent that it
was difficult for him to control himself and keep from order
ing him out of his presence. Nothing could be more prepos
terous or insolent than the demand of a Senator from any
State that a President just elected, who had received the
support of the people of that State, should ostracize his own
supporters. It would have been infamous for Garfield to
yield to the demand.
I ought, in saying that there was no man of high character
and great ability among the leaders of the Republican Party
who retained Conkling 's friendship, to have excepted
Hamilton Fish. He was a man of great wisdom, who under
stood well the importance to the Republican Party of avoid
ing a breach with the powerful Senator from New York.
But Conkling was jealous of all the other able men in the
Republican Party in his own State. He could —
Bear, like the Turk, no brother near the throne.
The spirits of good and evil politics have striven with one
another in New York from the beginning of her history as
Jacob and Esau strove together in the womb. In general
the former has prevailed in western New York and along
the lakes. In the city of New York sometimes one has car
ried the day, and sometimes the other. When the bad ele
ment was in power, the noble State has reminded me of
Tennyson's eagle caught by the talons in carrion, unable
to fly or soar.
Oliver Wolcott, who had been one of Washington's Cabi
net, afterward Governor of Connecticut, dwelt in New York
for some time. He gives this account of New York politics.
"After living a dozen years in that State, I don't pretend
to comprehend their politics. It is a labyrinth of wheels
within wheels, and it is understood only by the managers.
Why, these leaders of the opposite parties, who— in the
papers and before the world— seem ready to tear each

58 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
other's eyes out, will meet some rainy night in a dark entry,
and agree, whichever way the election goes, they will share
the spoils together!"
John G. Palfrey, in his wonderful "Papers on the Slave
Power, ' ' was led by his natural impatience with the conduct
of the great State, which seemed to him such an obstacle in
the path of Liberty, to utter the following invective :
"Poor soulless giant, her honorable history is yet to
begin. From her colonial times, when, patching up a das
tardly truce, she helped the French and Indians down from
the Berkshire hills against the shield which brave Massa
chusetts held over the New England settlements, through
the time of her traitors of the Revolutionary age, down to
the time of her Butlers and her Marcys, her Van Burens
and Hoyts, poltroonery and corruption have with her ruled
the hour. Nature has her freaks, and in one of them she
gave a great man, John Jay, to New York. Hamilton was
a waif from the West Indies on her spirit-barren strand,
and Rufus King from Massachusetts. No doubt, among her
millions, she has many wise and good, but the day when they
begin to impress any fit influence of theirs upon her coun
sels, will open a new chapter in the annals of New York,"
I am tempted to quote this powerful invective for its liter
ary excellence, and not for its justice. The history of New
York, on the whole, has been a noble history. It must be
considered that any people that opens its hospitable door of
welcome to all mankind, with the elective franchise, must
itself, for a time, seem to suffer in the process, and must be
strongly tempted to protect itself against evil government
by getting control of the powers of Government by unjustifi
able methods.
For many years a large majority of the people of the city
of New York were of foreign birth or parentage. But how
wonderfully most of these have grown in the elements of
good citizenship, and of honorable manhood; and how
wonderfully their sisters and daughters have grown in the

LEADERS OP THE SENATE IN 1877 59
elements of womanhood. Freedom is the best school
teacher. Sometimes a political leader in New York who had got
power by forbidden ways, has used it for the good of the
Republic. I suppose the worst examples of all low political
leadership were the Pelhams, the Duke of Newcastle and
his brother; yet without them. Lord Chatham's glorious
career would have been unknown to the history of English
liberty. Chatham used to say: "The Duke of Newcastle
lends me his majority to carry on the Government."
Let me not be understood as meaning to compare Roscoe
Conkling with such characters. He was fearless. He was
a powerful debater. He never flinched in debate from the
face of any antagonist. There was something almost sub
lime in his lofty disdain. He was on the side of the coun
try in her hour of peril, I like Charles Sumner and John
Jay and John Adams better. Neither of these men could
have lived long on terms of friendship with Conkling, I do
not think George Washington could have endured him. But
let what was best in him, after all, be remembered, even if
we do not forget his great faults.
I ought not, in speaking of the eminent Senators whom I
have known, to omit Blanche K, Bruce of Mississippi. Ex
cept Mr, Revels, from the same State, he is the only negro
who ever sat in the Senate of the United States, He con
ducted himself with great propriety. He was always cour
teous and sensible. He had a clear understanding of great
questions which came up, and was quite influential with his
fellow Senators. When the Chinese matter was up, he
stated in a few words that he could not, when he recalled the
history of his own race, consent to vote for any measure
which discriminated against any man by reason of his race
or color. He left the Senate Chamber, I believe, with the
entire respect of his associates on both sides. He was after
ward Register of the Treasury. His speech and vote on the
Chinese question were in contrast with those of Senator
Jonas, of the neighboring State of Louisiana, In my speech
in opposition to the Chinese bill, or that on the Chinese

60 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
Treaty, I alluded at some length to the treatment of the
Jews in the dark ages and down to a very recent time.
Senator Jonas, who was a Jew, paid me some compliments
about my speech. I said : ' ' Why will you not remember the
terrible history of the men of your own race and blood, and
help me resist a like savage treatment of another race?"
Mr. Jonas rejected the suggestion with great emphasis, and
said: "Mr. Hoar, the Jews are a superior race. They are
not to be classed with the Chinese."
There were several negro Representatives from the South
when I was in the House of Representatives. All of them
behaved with great propriety. They were men who took
care of themselves and the interests of their people in any
debate. Mr. Rainey, of South Carolina, had a spirited tilt
with S. S. Cox, one of the most brilliant of the Democratic
leaders, in which he left Cox unhorsed and on his back in
the arena. None of them ever said an indiscreet thing, no
one of them ever lost his temper or gave any opportunity
for an angry or intolerant or contemptuous reply.
Soon after Alexander H. Stephens, Vice-President of the
Confederacy, came to the House, in the Congress of 1875-7,
unanimous consent was asked that he might address the
House at length, without being limited by the hour rule.
Judge Hoar, then a member of the House, stipulated that
Mr. Elliott, of South Carolina, should, if he liked, have leave
to reply. This could not decently be refused, and that was
granted also. Thereupon Stephens made a powerful
speech, for which he had doubtless made most careful
preparation. Robert B. Elliott then made, on the instant
that Stephens got through, an admirable reply, of which it
is great praise and still not saying too much that it deserves
to rank with the speech of Mr. Stephens.
Elliott delivered an excellent eulogy on Charles Sumner,
in Boston, which was published with those of Carl Schurz
and George William Curtis, and was entirely worthy of the
companionship. Perhaps, on the whole, the ablest of the colored men who
served with me in Congress, although each of the gentlemen

LEADERS OF THE SENATE IN 1877 61
I have named deserves high commendation, was John
R. Lynch of Mississippi. I had a very pleasant acquaint
ance with him when he was in the House. He was after
ward Fourth Auditor of the Treasury.
I was the means of procuring for him a national distinc
tion which very much gratified the men of his color through
out the country. The supporters of Mr. Blaine in the Na
tional Convention of 1884 had a candidate of their own for
temporary presiding officer. I think it was Mr. Clayton
of Arkansas. It was desired to get a Southern man for
that purpose. The opponents of Mr. Blaine also desired to
have a candidate of their own from the South. The colored
Southern men were generally Blaine men. I advised them
to nominate Lynch, urging that it would be impossible for
the Southern colored people, whatever their preference
might be as a candidate for the Presidency, to vote against
one of their own color. Lynch was nominated by Henry
Cabot Lodge, afterward my colleague in the Senate, and
seconded by Theodore Roosevelt and by George William
Curtis. Lynch presided over the Convention during the
whole of the first day, and a part of the second. He made
an admirable presiding officer.
Quite curiously, I have had something to do with intro
ducing a little more liberal practice in this respect into
the policy of the country.
I was the first person who ever invited a colored man to
iake the Chair in the Senate. I happened to be put in the
Chair one afternoon when Vice-President Wheeler was
away, I spied Mr. Bruce in his seat, and it occurred to me
that it would be a good thing to invite him to take my
place, which he did.
When I was presiding over the National Convention of
1880, one of the English Royal Princes, Prince Leopold,
Duke of Albany, son of Victoria, visited the Convention.
He was brought up and introduced to me. I suppose that
was one of the very rare instances in which a scion of the
English Royal House was presented to anybody, instead of
having the person presented to him. Wishing to converse
with the Prince, I called Mr. Bruce to the Chair. I thought

62 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
it would be an excellent opportunity to confer an honor upon
a worthy colored man in the presence of a representative of
this Royal House. Frederick Douglas afterward called on
me with a delegation of colored men, and presented me
with a letter signed by prominent colored men of the coun
try, thanking me for this act.
It also was my fortune to secure the selection, on my
recommendation, of the first colored man ever appointed to
the Railway Mail Service, This was soon after I entered
the House of Representatives in 1869,
Perhaps I may as well add in this connection that I believe
I recommended the first married woman ever appointed
postmaster in this country, shortly after I entered the
House. When Colonel Chenoweth, who had been on General
Grant's staff, a most brilliant and able officer of the War,
died in office as Consul at Canton, China, to which he was
appointed by President Grant, I urged very strongly upon
Grant the appointment of his widow to the place. She had,
during her husband's illness, performed a great part of the
duties very well, and to the great satisfaction of the mer
chants doing business there, I told General Grant the
story. He said he would make the appointment — to use his
own phrase— if Fish would let him. But Mr, Fish was
inexorable. He thought it would be a very undignified pro
ceeding. He also urged, with great reason, that a Consul
had to hold court for the trial of some grave offences, com
mitted often by very bad characters, and that it was out of
the question that a delicate lady should be expected to know,
or to have anything to do with them. So the proposal fell
through. Daniel W. Voorhees of Indiana served in the House with
me. I had with him there one very angry conflict. But it
did not interrupt our friendly relations. He was a man of
a good deal of eloquence, very popular in his own State, and
said to have been a very successful and able lawyer, espe
cially in arguing cases to juries. His political speeches in
the Senate were carefully prepared, very able statements

LEADERS OF THE SENATE IN 1877 63
of his side, and very severe denunciations of his antagonists.
But he was a very kind-hearted man indeed, always willing
to do a kindness to any of his associates, or to any person
in trouble. If he could not be relied on to protect the
Treasury against claims of doubtful validity, when they
were urged by persons in need, or who in any way excited
his sympathy, it ought to be said in defence of him, that he
would have been quite as willing to relieve them to the
extent of his power from his private resources.
Bainbridge Wadleigh of New Hampshire succeeded to the
Chairmanship of the Committee on Privileges and Elections
after Mr. Morton's death in the summer of 1869. He was a
modest, quiet and unpretending man, of stainless integrity,
of great industry in dealing with any matter for which he
had direct responsibility, and of great wisdom and practical
sense. I formed a very pleasant friendship with him, and
regretted it exceedingly when he left the Senate, after serv
ing a single term. There was at the time a very bad prac
tice in New Hampshire of frequently changing her Senators.
So few of the very able men who have represented her in
the Senate for the last fifty years have made the impres
sion upon the public service, or gained the fame to which
their ability would have entitled them, if they had had longer
service. Mr. Wadleigh was an excellent lawyer, and the
Senate gave him its confidence in all matters with which his
important Committee had to deal.
David Davis of Illinois was a very interesting character.
He had been a successful lawyer, an eminent Judge in his
State, and a very admirable Judge of the Supreme Court
of the United States, to which office he was appointed by
Abraham Lincoln.
He entered the Senate when I did, and served one term of
sis years. His service in the Senate did not add at all to
his distinction. The one thing he had done in life of which
he was very proud and which was of most importance, was
bringing about the nomination of Abraham Lincoln at Chi
cago. Of that he liked to discourse whenever he could get

64 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
a listener, and his discourses were always so entertaining
that everybody listened who could.
David Davis thought that but for him Lincoln would not
have been nominated. I have little doubt that he was right.
He had many able and bright men to help him. But he was
the leader, director and counsellor of all the forces. He
threw himself into it with all the zeal of a man fighting for
his life. He made pledges right and left, seeming to dis
cover every man's weak point, and used entreaty, flattery
and promises without stint, and, if he were himself to be
believed, without much scruple. When somebody said to
him in my hearing, "You must have used a good deal of
diplomacy. Judge, at that Convention." "Diplomacy," re
plied Davis, ' ' My dear man, I lied like the devil. ' ' He had
that sense of humor peculiar to Americans, which likes to
state in an exaggerated way things that are calculated to
shock the listener, which our English and German brethren
cannot comprehend. So I do not think this statement of
Davis's is to be taken without many grains of salt. I sup
pose he thought the man to whom he said it would not take
it too literally.
Judge Davis was a man of very warm sympathy. He
liked to give accounts of cases he had tried, sitting in equity,
or I think sometimes in divorce cases, where he had invented
a curious rule of law, or had stretched his discretion, to save
some poor widow, or wronged wife, or suffering orphan, a
share of an estate to which their legal title was in con
siderable doubt. If he were led by his sympathies ever to
be an unjust Judge, at least the poor widow had no need
to worry him by her importunities. He avenged her speed
ily the first time.
He was a Republican before and during the War, and a
steadfast supporter of Lincoln's policies. His opinions
had been in general in support of the liberal construction
of the Constitution, under which the National powers had
been exerted to put down the Rebellion.
He was elected to the Senate after resigning his place on
the Supreme Court Bench, by a union of Democrats of the
Illinois Legislature with a few discontented Republicans,

LEADERS OP THE SENATE IN 1877 65
defeating Logan. When he came to the Senate he preserved
his position as an Independent. He did not go into the
caucuses of either party. He had no sympathy with the
more radical element among the Democrats. Yet he liked
to be considered a special representative of the Labor Party
in the country. I think he hoped that there might be a
union or coalition of the Democrats and Labor men in the
Presidential election of 1880, and that in that way he would
be elected President.
His seat was on the Republican side. When there was a
division, if he voted with the Republicans, he sat in his seat,
or rose in his seat if there was a rising vote ; but when, as
not unfrequently happened, he voted with the Democrats,
he always left his seat and went over to the Democratic
side of the Chamber, and stood there until his name was
called, or his vote counted. As he passed Conkling one day
in one of these movings, Conkling called out: "Davis, do
you get travel for all these journeys?"
When the Senate came together in special session, on
Monday, October 10, 1881, it was found that the Democrats
had a majority of two. One Senator only was present from
Rhode Island, one only from Nevada, and the two newly
elected Senators from New York had not been admitted to
their seats. A motion of Mr. Edmunds that the oath pre
scribed by law be administered to the Senators from New
York was laid on the table. On that vote the Democrats
had a majority of two, Mr. Davis voting with the Republi
cans. On a resolution that Thomas F. Bayard, a Senator
from Delaware, be chosen President pro tempore, Mr. Ed
munds moved an amendment by striking it all out and in
serting a resolution that the oath of office be administered
to Mr. Miller and Mr. Lapham of New York, and Mr. Aid-
rich of Rhode Island, by Mr. Henry B. Anthony, the senior
Senator of the Senate. That resolution was lost by a vote
of thirty-four to thirty-three, Mr. Davis voting with the
Republicans. Mr. Edmunds then moved to add to the reso
lution declaring Mr. Bayard President pro tempore, the
the words "for this day." That was lost by one vote, Mr.
5

66 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
Davis voting with the Republicans. After several other
unsuccessful attempts, Mr. Bayard was chosen President
pro tempore, the resolution being carried by a majority of
two votes, Mr. Davis not voting. Thereupon Mr. Bayard
accepted the office in a speech, brief, but which clearly im
plied an expectation on his part to continue in it for a con
siderable period of time.
The next day, being Tuesday, October 11, Mr. Aldrich of
Rhode Island, Mr. Lapham and Mr. Miller of New York,
were admitted to their seats. This left a majority of two
for the Republicans, if Mr. Davis acted with them, and the
two parties tied, if Mr. Davis acted with the Democrats,
The Democrats had succeeded in electing their President
pro tempore, whom the Republicans could not displace, and
there was left before the body a struggle for the organiza
tion of the Senate, including the executive officers and the
Committees, in which no progress could be made without
Mr, Davis 's help.
That being the condition of things, the Republicans called
a caucus, in which Senator Logan, Mr, Davis's colleague,
appeared with a message from Mr. Davis. The substance
of the message was that Mr. Davis thought that the Republi
cans ought to leave the organization, so far as the executive
offices were concerned, in the hands of the Democrats, who
had elected the existing officers during the previous Con
gress, and that the Committees should be appointed with
Republican majorities. Mr. Logan further announced that
if the Republicans should see fit to elect Mr. Davis President
pro tempore, he would vote in accordance with that under
standing. Mr. Ingalls of Kansas and I were quite unwill
ing to accede to this arrangement. But at that time the
Committees lasted only for the session for which they were
appointed. So the Senate could transact no business of
importance, and the office of Secretary, and Sergeant-at^
Arms, and Door-keeper, and all the important offices of the
Senate would continue in Democratic hands. So, very re
luctantly, we yielded to the desire of our associates. Where
upon a resolution was adopted continuing the standing Com
mittees for the session as they had come over from the last

LEADERS OF THE SENATE IN 1877 67
session, and indeed from the session before, Mr. Davis
voting with the Republicans. This vote was passed by a
majority of two votes. General Logan then introduced the
following resolution: That David Davis, a Senator from
Illinois, is hereby chosen President pro tempore of the Sen
ate. This was also passed by a majority of two votes, Mr.
Davis and Mr, Bayard not voting. Mr. Bayard descended
from the elevation he had occupied for so short a time, amid
general laughter in which he good-naturedly jointed, and
Mr. Davis ascended the throne. He made a brief speech
which began with this sentence : ' ' The honor just conferred
upon me comes, as the seat in this body which I now hold
did, without the least expectation on my part. If it carried
any party obligation, I should be constrained to decline this
high compliment, I do not accept it as a tribute to any per
sonal merit, but rather as a recognition of the independent
position which I have long occupied in the politics of the
country, ' '
So, it was Mr, Davis's fortune to hold in his hands the
determination between the two parties of the political power
of the country, on two very grave occasions. But for
his choice as Senator from Illinois, he would have been on
the Electoral Commission. I do not think, in so important
a matter, that he would have impaired his great judicial
fame by dissenting from the opinion which prevailed. But
if he had, he would have given the Presidency to Mr,
Tilden. And again, but for the arrangement by which he
was elected to the Presidency of the Senate, the Republicans
would not have gained control, so far as it depended on the
Committees, He did not make a very good presiding officer. He never
called anybody to order. He was not informed as to par
liamentary law, or as to the rules of the Senate. He had
a familiar and colloquial fashion, if any Senator questioned
his ruling, of saying, "But, my dear sir"; or, "But, pray
consider." He was very irreverently called by somebody,
during a rather disorderly scene in the Senate, where he lost
control of the reins, the "Anarch old."
But, after all, the office of presiding over the Senate is

68 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
commonly not of very great consequence. It is quite im
portant that the President of the Senate should be a pleas-
ant-natured gentleman, and the gentleman in the Senator
will almost always respond to the gentleman in the Chair,
Senators do not submit easily to any vigorous exercise of
authority, Vice-Presidents Wheeler, Morton and Steven
son, and more lately, Mr. Frye, asserted their authority
with as little show of force as if they were presiding over a
company of guests at their own table. But the order and
dignity of the body have been preserved.
Mr. Davis's fame must rest on his long and faithful and
able service as a wise, conscientious and learned Judge, In
writing these recollections, I have dwelt altogether too much
on little foibles and weaknesses, which seem to have some
thing amusing in them, and too little, I am afraid, on the
greater qualities of the men with whom I have served. This
is perhaps true as to David Davis. But I have said very
much what I should have said to him, if I had been chatting
with him, as I very frequently did, in the cloak room of the
Senate. He was a man of enormous bulk. No common arm chair
would hold him. There is a huge chair, said to have been
made for Dixon H. Lewis of Alabama, long before the
Civil War, which was brought up from the basement of
the Capitol for his use. The newspaper correspondents
used to say that he had to be surveyed for a new pair of
trousers. I was one night in the Chair of the Senate when the ses
sion lasted to near three o 'clock in the morning. It was on
the occasion of the passage of the bill for purchasing silver.
The night was very dark and stormy and the rain came
down in torrents. Just before I put the final question I
sent a page for my coat and hat, and, as soon as I declared
the Senate adjourned, started for the outer door. There
were very few carriages in waiting. I secured one of them
and then invited Davis and his secretary and another Sen
ator, when they came along, to get in with me. When we
stopped to leave Judge Davis at the National Hotel, where
he lived, it was found impossible to get the door of the hack

LEADERS OF THE SENATE IN 1877 69
open. His great weight pressed it down, so that the door
was held tight as in a vise. The hackman and the porters
pulled on the outside, and the passengers pushed and strug
gled from within; but in vain. After fifteen or twenty
minutes, it occurred to some one that we within should all
squeeze ourselves over to one side of the carriage, and those
outside use their whole strength on the opposite door. This
was successful. We escaped from our prison. As Davis
marched into the hotel the hackman exclaimed, as he stared
after him: "By God, I should think you was eight men."
Eli Saulsbury of Delaware was a very worthy Southern
gentleman of the old school, of great courage, ability and
readiness in debate, absolutely devoted to the doctrines of
the Democratic Party, and possessed of a very high opinion
of himself, I knew him very intimately. He was Chair
man of the Committee on Privileges and Elections, and was
a member of it when I was Chairman. We went to New
Orleans together to make what was called the Copiah investi
gation. We used to be fond of talking with each other. He
always had a fund of pleasant anecdotes of old times in the
South. He liked to set forth his own virtues and proclaim
the lofty morality of his own principles of conduct, a habit
which he may have got from his eminent colleague, Senator
Bayard, who sometimes announced a familiar moral princi
ple as if it were something the people who listened to him
were hearing for the first time, and of which he in his youth
had been the original discoverer. I once told Saulsbury,
when he was discoursing in that way, that he must be de
scended from Adam by some wife he had before Eve, who
had nothing to do with the fall. He was fond of violently de
nouncing the wicked Republicans on the floor of the Senate,
and in Committee. But his bark was worse than his bite.
When the Kellogg case was investigated by the Committee
on Privileges and Elections, when I first entered the Senate,
Mr. Saulsbury rose in the first meeting of the Committee
and proceeded to denounce his Republican associates. He
declared they came there with their minds made up on the
case, a condition of mind which was absolutely unfit for a

70 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
grave judicial office, in the discharge of which all party
considerations and preconceived opinions should be ban
ished. He said we should have open minds to hear the
arguments and the evidence to be introduced, as if it were
a solemn trial in a court of justice. When he was in the
midst of a very eloquent and violent philippic, the Chair
man of the Committee, Bainbridge Wadleigh, said quietly,
"Brother Saulsbury, haven't you made up your mind?"
Mr. Saulsbury stopped a moment, said, "Yes, I have made
up my mind," broke into a roar of laughter, and sat down.
He was a confirmed and incorrigible bachelor. There
was in New Orleans, when we were there, a restaurant
famous all over the country, kept by a very accomplished
widow. The members of the Committee thought it would
be a good thing if we could have such a restaurant as that
in Washington. We passed a unanimous vote requesting
Mr. Saulsbury to marry the widow, and bring her to Wash
ington, as a matter of public duty. He took the plan into
consideration, but nothing came of it. Some mischievous
newspaper correspondent circulated a report, which went
through the country, that Mr. Saulsbury was very much in
love with a lady in Washington, also a charming widow. It
was said that he visited her every evening; that she had a
rare gift of making rum punch ; that she always gave him a
glass, and that afterward, although he was exceedingly
temperate in such things, he fell on his knees, offered him
self to the widow, and was refused ; and that this ceremony
had been repeated nightly for many years. I once men
tioned this story to him, and he didn't deny it. But, on the
other hand, he didn't admit it.
When he was chosen to the Senate he had two brothers
who competed with him for the office. One of them was then
Senator. The Senate had a good deal of difficulty in getting
through its business before the 4th of March, when the new
Administration came in, and the term of the elder Mr.
Saulsbury ended. There had been an all-night session, so
some of the Senators had got worn out and overcome by the
loss of sleep. Just before twelve o'clock at noon Senator
Willard Saulsbury put his head down on his desk and fell

LEADERS OF THE SENATE IN 1877 71
asleep. The Senate was called to order again for the new
session, the roll called, and Mr. Saulsbury 's brother Eli had
been sworn in. Willard waked up, rose, and addressed the
Chair. The presiding officer quietly replied: "The gentle
man from Delaware is no longer a member of the Senate."
Whereupon he quietly withdrew.
Matthew C. Butler of South Carolina was another South
ern Democrat, fiery in temper, impatient of control or oppo
sition, ready to do battle if anybody attacked the South,
but carrying anger as the flint bears fire. He was zealous
for the honor of the country, and never sacrificed the inter
est of the country to party or sectional feeling. He was
quite unpopular with the people of the North when he en
tered the Senate, partly from the fact that some of his kin
dred had been zealous Southern champions before the War,
at the time of some very bitter sectional strifes, and because
he was charged with having been the leader and counsellor
in some violent and unlawful conduct toward the colored
people after the War, I have not investigated the matter.
But I believe the responsibility for a good deal of what was
ascribed to him belonged to another person of the same
name. But the Republicans in the Senate came to esteem
and value Senator Butler very highly. He deserves great
credit, among other things, for his hearty and effective sup
port of the policy of enlarging the Navy, which, when he
came into public life, was feeble in strength and antiquated
in construction. With his departure from the Senate, and
that of his colleague, General Wade Hampton, ended the
power in South Carolina of the old gentry who, in spite
of some grave faults, had given to that State an honorable
and glorious career. When the Spanish War broke out,
General Butler was prompt to offer his services, although
he had lost a leg in the Civil War.
James B, Beck came into the House of Representatives
when I did, in 1869, He served there for six years, was out
of public life for two years, and in 1877 came to the Senate
when I did.

72 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
I do not think any two men ever disliked each other more
than we did for the first few years of our service. He hated
with all the energy of his Scotch soul,— the perfervidum
ingenium ^'coiorttm,— everything I believed. He thought
the New England Abolitionists had neither love of liberty
nor care for the personal or political rights of the negro.
Indeed he maintained that the forefathers of the New Eng
land abolitionists were guilty of bringing slavery into this
continent. He hated the modern New England theological
heresies with all the zeal of his Scotch Presbyterian for
bears. He hated the Reconstruction policy, which he
thought was inspired by a desire to put the white man in the
place where the negro had been. He hated with all the
energy of a free-trader the protection policy, which he
deemed the most unscrupulous robbery on a huge scale. He
considered the gold standard a sort of power press with
which the monopolists of the East were trying to squeeze
the last drop of blood out of the farmers and workingmen
of the South. He thought the public debt was held by men
who had paid very little value for it, and who ought to be
paid off in the same cheap money which was in vogue when
it was originally incurred. He hated New England culture
and refinement, which he deemed a very poor crop coming
from a barren intellectual soil. He regarded me, I think, as
the representative, in a humble way, of all these things, and
esteemed me accordingly.
I was not behindhand with him, although I was not quite
so frank, probably, in uttering my opinions in public debate.
But I found out, after a little while, that the Northern men
who got intimate with him on committees, or in private in
tercourse, found him one of the most delightful companions,
fond of poetry, especially of Bums, full of marvellous
stores of anecdotes, without a jot of personal malice, ready
to do a kindness to any man, and easily touched by any
manifestation of kindly feeling toward him, or toward his
Southern neighbors and constituents. My colleague, Mr.
Dawes, served with him on some of the great committees of
the Senate and in the House, and they established a very
close and intimate friendship, I came to know Mr. Beck

LEADERS OP THE SENATE IN 1877 73
later. But he had changed his feeling toward me, as I had
toward him, long before either found out what the other was
thinking about. So one day— it was the time of Mr.
Dawes's last reelection to the Senate— he came over to my
side of the Chamber, took my hand and said with great
emotion: "I congratulate you on the reelection of Mr.
Dawes. He is one of my dearest friends, and one of the
best men I ever knew in my life. ' ' And then, as he turned
away, he added: "Mr. Hoar, I have not known you as well.
But I shall say the same thing about you, when your reelec
tion takes place."
He had a powerful and vigorous frame, and a powerful
and vigorous understanding. It seemed as if neither could
ever tire. He used to pour out his denunciation of the greed
of the capitalists and monopolists and protectionists, with
a fund of statistics which it seemed impossible for the in
dustry of any man to have collected, and at a length which
it would seem equally impossible for mortal man to endure.
He was equally ready on all subjects. He performed with
great fidelity the labor of a member of the Committee on
Appropriations, first in the House, and afterward in the
Senate, I was the author of a small jest, which half amused
and half angered him. Somebody asked in my hearing how
it was possible that Mr. Beck could make all those long
speeches, in addition to his committee work, or get time for
the research that was needed, and how it was ever possible
for his mind to get any rest ; to which I answered, that he
rested his intellect while he was making his speeches. But
this was a sorry jest, with very little foundation in fact.
Anybody who undertook to debate with him, found him a
tough customer. He knew the Bible— especially the Psalms
of David— and the poems of Burns, by heart. When he died
I think there was no other man left in the Senate, on either
side, whose loss would have occasioned a more genuine
and profound sorrow.
When I came into the Senate one of the most conspicuous
characters in American public life was Oliver P. Morton
of Indiana. He had been Governor of Indiana during the

74 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
War. There was a large and powerful body of Copper
heads among the Democrats in that State. They were very
different from their brethren in the East. They were ugly,
defiant and full of a dangerous activity. Few other men
could have dealt with them with the vigor and success of
Governor Morton. The State at its elections was divided
into two hostle camps. If they did not resort to the wea
pons of war, they were filled with a hatred and bitterness
which does not commonly possess military opponents. Gov.
Morton, in spite of the great physical infirmity which came
upon him before the War ended, held the State in its place
in the Union with an iron hand. When he came to the
Senate he found there no more powerful, brave or unyield
ing defender of liberty. He had little regard for Constitu
tional scruples. I do not think it should be said that he
would willingly violate his oath to support the Constitution,
But he believed that the Constitution should be interpreted
in the light of the Declaration of Independence, so as to be
the law of life to a great, powerful and free people. To this
principle of interpretation, all strict or narrow criticism,
founded on its literal meaning, must yield.
His public life was devoted to two supreme objects :
1, Preservation of the Constitutional authority of the
Government. 2. The maintenance by that authority of the political and
personal rights of all citizens, of all races and classes.
As I have said, he interpreted the Constitution in a man
ner which he thought would best promote these objects. He
had little respect for subtilties or refinements or scruples
that stood in the way.
He was for going straight to his object. When the Hayes
and Tilden contest was up, he was for having the Presi
dent of the United States put Hayes and Wheeler in power '
by using all the National forces, military and other, that
might be needful. He was a member of the Committee that
framed the bill for the Electoral Commission, but refused to
give it his support,
I made a very pleasant acquaintance with him during the
sessions of that Committee. I suppose it was due to his

LEADERS OP THE SENATE IN 1877 75
kindly influence that I was put upon the Committee of Privi
leges and Elections, of which he was Chairman, when I en
tered the Senate, But he died in the following summer, so
I never had an opportunity to know him better. He was
a great party leader. He had in this respect no superior in
his time, save Lincoln alone.
It was never my good fortune to be intimate with Zach-
ariah Chandler, But I had a good opportunity for observ
ing him and knowing him well. I met him in 1854, at the
Convention held in Buffalo to concert measures for pro
tecting and promoting Free State immigration to Kansas,
He was the leading spirit of that Convention, full of wis
dom, energy and courage. He was then widely known
throughout the country as an enterprising and successful
man of business. When I went into the House of Repre
sentatives, in 1869, Mr, Chandler was already a veteran in
public life. He had organized and led the political forces
which overthrew Lewis Cass and the old Democratic Party,
not only in Michigan but in the Northwest, He had been
in the Senate twelve years. Those twelve years had been
crowded with history. The close of the Administration of
Buchanan, the disruption of the Democratic Party at
Charleston, the election and inauguration of Lincoln, the
putting down of the Rebellion, the organizing, directing and
disbanding of great armies, the great amendments to the
Constitution, and the contest with Andrew Johnson, had
been accomplished. The reconstruction of the rebellious
States, the payment of the public debt, keeping the national
faith under great temptation, reconciliation and the proc
esses of legislation and administration under the restraints
which belonged to peace, were well under way. In all these
Chandler bore a large part, and a part wise, honest, power
ful and on the righteous side. I knew him afterward in the
Department of the Interior. He was, in my judgment, the
ablest administrative officer without an exception who has
been in any executive department during my public life.
His sturdy honesty, his sound, rapid, almost instinctive.

76 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
judgment, his tact, his business sense, his love of justice,
were felt in every fibre and branch of the great Interior
Department, then including eight great bureaus each almost
important enough to be a Department by itself.
The humblest clerk who complained of injustice was sure
to be listened to by the head of that great Department, who,
with his quick sympathy and sound judgment, would make
it certain that right would be done.
Chandler has little respect for the refinements of speech
or for literary polish. He could not endure Mr. Sumner's
piling precedent upon precedent and quotation upon quota
tion, and disliked his lofty and somewhat pompous rhetoric.
He used sometimes to leave his seat and make known his
disgust in the cloak room, or in the rear of the desks, to
visitors who happened to be in the Senate Chamber. But
he was strong as a rock, true as steel, fearless and brave,
honest and incorruptible. He had a vigorous good sense.
He saw through all the foolish sophistries with which the
defenders of fiat money, or debased currency, sought to de
fend their schemes. He had no mercy for treason or rebel
lion or secession. He was a native of New Hampshire.
He had the opinions of New England, combined with the
directness and sincerity and energy of the West, He had
a very large influence in making the State of Michigan
another New England.
He was a sincere, open-hearted, large-hearted and affec
tionate man. He was the last man in the world of whom
it would be proper to speak as a member of an intrigue or
cabal. His strategy was a straightforward, downright
blow. His stroke was an Abdiel stroke.
This greeting on thy impious crest receive.
His eloquence was simple, rugged, direct, strong. He
had a scanty vocabulary. It contained no word for treason
but "treason." He described a lie by a word of three
letters. The character of his speech was that which
Plutarch ascribes to Demosthenes. He was strongly stirred
by simple and great emotions— love of country, love of free-

LEADERS OP THE SENATE IN 1877 77
dom, love of justice, love of honesty. He hated cant and
affectation. I believe he was fond of some good literature, but he
was very impatient of Mr. Sumner's load of ornament and
quotation. He had little respect for fine phrases or for fine
sentiment or the delicacies of a refined literature. He was
rough and plain-spoken. I do not think he would ever have
learned to care much for Tennyson or Browning. But the
Psalms of David would have moved him.
I suppose he was not much of a civil service reformer.
He expected to rule Michigan, and while he would have
never bought or bribed an antagonist by giving him an
office, he would have expected to fill the public offices, so far
as he had his way, by men who were of his way of thinking.
He was much shocked and disgusted when Judge Hoar
wanted to inquire further concerning a man whom he had
recommended for the office of Judge of the Circuit Court.
The Judge said something about asking Reuben Rice, a
friend he highly respected who had lived long in Michigan.
Chandler spoke of it afterward and said: "When Jake
Howard and I recommended a man, the Attorney-General
wanted to ask a little railroad fellow what he thought of
him." He joined with Conkling and Carpenter and Edmunds in
their opposition to the confirmation of Judge Hoar. He
came to know the Judge better afterward and declared that
he himself had made a mistake.
He was a strong pillar of public faith, public liberty, and
of the Union. He had great faults. But without the aid
of the men whom he could influence and who honored him,
and to whom his great faults were as great virtues, the
Union never would have been saved, or slavery abolished,
or the faith kept. I hold it one of the chief proofs of the
kindness of divine Providence to the American people in a
time of very great peril that their leaders were so different
in character. They are all dead now— Sumner and Fessen-
den and Seward and Wilson and Chase and Stanton and
Grant and Sherman and Sheridan and Chandler,— a circle

78 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
in which Lincoln shines as a diamond in its setting. Not
one of them could have been spared.
It is proper that I should add that I have known very
well a good many of the most eminent citizens of Michigan.
This list includes Governor and Senator Henry P. Baldwin,
and Judge Christiancy, who displaced Chandler in the Sen
ate. I have frequently heard them speak of Mr. Chandler.
Without an exception I believe they held him in profound
esteem and honor. They were proud of him as the most
eminent citizen of their State which has been prolific of
strong men, speaking of him as we do of Sumner or
Webster. Mr. Chandler was a remarkable example of what I have
often noticed, how thoroughly the people come to known the
true character of a public man, even when the press of the
whole country unite to decry him. I suppose there was not
a paper in New England, Republican or Democratic, that
spoke kindly of Zach, Chandler for many years. He was
disliked by the Democratic press for his unyielding Re
publicanism, He was disliked by the Republican press that
supported Charles Sumner, for his opposition to him. He
was represented as a coarse, ignorant and unscrupulous
man. In the campaign of 1879 I sent him a telegram, ask
ing him to visit me in Massachusetts and make a few
speeches in our campaign. I added : ' ' You will be received
with unbounded respect and honor." The telegram was
an astonishment and revelation to the old man. He had no
idea that the people of New England had that opinion of
him. Governor Baldwin told me that he happened to be
passing Chandler's house just as he received my message.
Chandler knocked on the window for the Governor to come
in. He had the telegram in his hand when the Governor
entered, and exclaimed: "Look at that; read that; and I
did not graduate at Harvard College either." His col
league. Senator Ferry, alludes to his gratification at the re
ceipt of this message, in his obituary delivered in the Sen
ate. He spoke in Worcester and Boston and Lowell, and in
one or two other places. His passage through the State
was a triumphal march. He was received as I had pre-

LEADERS OF THE SENATE IN 1877 79
dieted. In Worcester we had no hall large enough to hold
the crowds that thronged to see him, and were compelled
to have the meeting in the skating-rink. Chandler went
back to Michigan full of satisfaction with his reception. I
think he would have been among the most formidable can
didates for the Presidency at the next election, but for his
sudden death. If he had been nominated, he would un
doubtedly have been elected. But, a short time after, he
was one morning found dead in his bed at Chicago. In his
death a great and salutary force was subtracted from the
public life of the country, and especially from the public
life of the great State to whose history he had contributed
so large and noble a part.
I have found among some old' notes a few sentences with
which I presented him to a mighty audience in my own
city: "Worcester is here in person to-night to give a welcome
from the heart of Massachusetts to the Senator of Michigan.
If our guest had nothing of his own to recommend him, it
would be enough to stir the blood of Massachusetts that he
represents that honored State, another New England in her
interests and in her opinions. With her vast forests, her
people share with Maine, our own great frontier State, those
vast lumber interests, for which it has been our own policy to
demand protection. Daughter of three mighty lakes, she
takes a large share in our vast inland commerce. Her
people are brave, prosperous and free. They have iron in
their soil, and iron in their blood. Great as is her wealth
and her material interest, she shares with Massachusetts the
honor of being among the foremost of American States in
educational conditions. Massachusetts is proud to—
Claim kindred there, and have the claim allowed.
"But our guest brings to us more than a representative
title to our regard. The memory of some of us goes back
to the time when, all over the great free Northwest, the
people seemed to have forgotten to what they owed their
own prosperity. The Northwest had been the gift of Free-

80 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
dom to the Republic on her birthday/. In each of her million
homes dwells Liberty, a perpetual guest. But yet that
people in Illinois and Michigan and Indiana and Ohio
seemed for a time to have forgotten their own history,
and to be unworthy of their fair and mighty heritage. They
had been the trusted and sturdy allies of the slave power in
the great contest for the possession of the vast territory
between the Mississippi and the Pacific. The old leaders,
Douglas in Illinois and Cass in Michigan, who ruled those
States with an almost despotic power, sought to win the
favor of the South for their aspirations for the Presidency
by espousing the doctrine of squatter sovereignty, under
which the invaders from the slave States hard by, without
even becoming residents in good faith, might fix forever the
character of that fair domain. At that time a young knight,
a figure of manly courage and manly strength, came for
ward to challenge General Cass to a struggle for the
supremacy in Michigan. It was our guest of this evening.
As you all know, the young champion vanquished the
veteran warrior in a trial by battle for the freedom of the
Continent. I met him at Buffalo in 1854, in the height of
the conflict, at a gathering of a few gentlemen to concert
measures for sustaining, aiding and arming the Free State
immigrants in Kansas. He was the leader and the life of
the company. Many of those immigrants had gone from
Worcester County, where the Emigrants' Aid Society was
first devised by Edward Hale and organized by Eli Thayer.
I met him again when I went to Washington in 1869. I
found him among the foremost of the leaders of the Senate.
He had gone through the great period of the Civil War, and
the period before the Civil War. He had stood by Lincoln
in that time of trouble. He had stood firm as a rock for the
financial integrity of the country. Afterward it was my
good fortune to know a good deal of his administration of
the great Department of the Interior. I have never known,
or known of, a better administration of any Department
from the beginning of the Government, than his of that
great office, with its eight important bureaus.

LEADERS OP THE SENATE IN 1877 81
"He brings to you to-night the news from Maine and the
news from Ohio, He can tell you what the Republicans are
thinking of and are doing all over the country, as they pre
pare themselves for the great contest beginning this year,
to end, as we hope and believe, with a great Republican vic
tory in 1880."
John James Ingalls was in many respects one of the
brightest intellects I ever knew. He was graduated at Wil
liams in 1855. One of the few things, I don't know but I
might say the only thing, for which he seemed to have any
reverence was the character of Mark Hopkins, He was a
very conspicuous figure in the debates in the Senate. He
had an excellent English style, always impressive, often on
fit occasions rising to great stateliness and beauty. He was
for a good while President pro tempore of the Senate, and
was the best presiding officer I have ever known there for
conducting ordinary business. He maintained in the chair
always his stately dignity of bearing and speech. The
formal phrases with which he declared the action of the
Senate, or stated questions for its decision, seemed to be a
fitting part of some stately ceremonial. He did not care
much about the principles of parliamentary law, and had
never been a very thorough student of the rules. So his
decisions did not have the same authority as those of Mr.
Wheeler or Mr, Edmunds or Mr, Hamlin,
I said to him one day, "I think you are the best presiding
officer I ever knew. But I do not think you know much
about parliamentary law." To which he replied: "I think
the sting is bigger than the bee."
He never lost an opportunity to indulge his gift of
caustic wit, no matter at whose expense. When the morn
ing hour was devoted to acting upon the reports of commit
tees in cases of private claims, or pensions, he used to look
over, the night before, the reports which were likely to be on
the next day's calendar. When a bill was reached he would
get up and make a pretty sharp attack on the measure, full
of wit and satire. He generally knew very little about it.
6

82 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
When he got through his speech he would disappear into the
cloak room and leave the Senator who had reported the bill,
and had expected to get it through without any difficulty—
the case being very often absolutely clear and just— to
spend his time in an elaborate and indignant explanation.
Mr. Ingalls disliked very much the scrupulous adminis
trations of Hayes and Harrison. He yielded to the craze
for free silver which swept over parts of the West, and in
so doing lost the confidence of the people to whose momen
tary impulse he had given way. If he had stood stanchly
on the New England doctrines and principles in which he
was educated, and which I think he believed in his heart,
he would have kept his State on the right side. Shortly
before the campaign in which he was defeated for Senator,
he said in the cloak room, in my hearing, that he did not
propose to be a martyr. He was the author of a beautiful
poem, entitled "Opportunity," which I think should accom
pany this imperfect sketch. Opportunity.
Master of human destinies am I !
Fame, love and fortune on my footsteps wait,
Cities and fields I walk; I penetrate
Deserts and seas remote, and passing by
Hovel and mart and palace — soon or late
I knock unbidden once at every gate!
If sleeping, wake — if feasting, rise before
I turn away. It is the hour of fate.
And they who follow me reach every state
Mortals desire, and conquer every foe
Save death; but those who doubt or hesitate.
Condemned to failure, penury and woe.
Seek me in vain and uselessly implore.
I answer not, and I return no more !
Ingalls was a native of Haverhill, Massachusetts. Some
where about 1880, being in Boston, he gave an interview to
one of the papers in which he commented very severely on
the want of able leadership in the Republican Party in

LEADERS OP THE SENATE IN 1877 83
Massachusetts. I suppose the criticism was directed at me,
although he did not mention my name. In 1880 Massachu
setts gave a Republican majority of 48,697, and Kansas
a Republican majority of 41,897. Mr. Ingalls 's leadership
in Kansas had been manifested very largely in the control
of official patronage. He said in the Senate that he and his
colleague sought to get rid of all Democrats in office in
Kansas as with a fine-toothed comb.
So far as I had been concerned, and so far as the Republi
can leaders in Massachusetts had been concerned, with the
exception of General Butler, a different policy had been
adopted. We had never attempted to make a political in
strument of official patronage. There had never been any
thing like a "boss" or a machine. Our State politics had
been conducted, and our candidates for office nominated,
after the old fashion of a New England town meeting.
When an election approached, or when a great measure or
political question was to be decided, men who were in
fluential consulted together informally, ascertained the pub
lic sentiment, deferred to it, if it seemed to be right, and
did what they could to persuade it and guide it by speech
and discussion in the press, if it needed guidance, and
trusted, hardly ever in vain, to the intelligence of the people
for the result. I do not know but the diminution of the
comparative importance of the towns, and the change of
the Commonwealth and cluster of cities and manufactur
ing villages, and the influx of other elements than that of the
old New England stock may not bring about, or if indeed
it is not already bringing about, a different conduct of
affairs. But I have never adopted any other method, and
I have never desired that my public life or influence should
survive the introduction of any other method in Massachu
setts. Mr. Ingalls 's methods and mine have been tested
by their results. The people of Kansas are largely of
Massachusetts origin. I believe if her leading men had pur
sued Massachusetts methods she would to a great extent
have repeated Massachusetts history. Our method of polit
ical management and control has been vindicated by the fact

84 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
that the Commonwealth has been kept true to its ancient
faith, except in a very few years when accidental causes
have caused the election of a Democratic Governor, Those
elections were protests against an attempt to depart from
the old-fashioned method of ascertaining the will of the
people in selecting Republican candidates. Massachusetts
has kept the succession of United States Senators unbroken,
and has had a Republican delegation in the House ever
since the party came into power, with two exceptions. She
has in general maintained her great Republican majority.
On the other hand Kansas has been represented in turn by
Democrats and Populists and Socialists and the advocates
of fiat money and free silver.
Senator Cockrell of Missouri entered the Senate two years
before I did, and has been there ever since. He is a man
of great sincerity and integrity, of great influence with his
own party, and highly esteemed by his Republican asso
ciates. He can generally be depended upon for a fair vote,
certainly always for an honest and incorruptible vote, and to
do full justice to a political opponent. He used for many
years to prepare one speech, in each session, in which he
went over the political issues of the two parties in a violent
and extreme fashion. He would give us the whole history of
the year and point out the imperfections and weakness and
atrocity of the party in power in a most unsparing fashion.
This speech he would frank home to Missouri, He seemed
to think his duty as a Democratic politician was done, and
he would betake himself to statesmanship the rest of the
year. I think he has of late discontinued that practice, I
do not want what I have said to be taken too seriously.
There is scarcely a member of either side in either House
who would be more missed from the public service, if any
thing were to happen to him, than Mr. Cockrell, nor for
whom all men have a kindlier and more affectionate regard.
Like Mr. Allison, he knows the mechanism of administra
tion and legislation through and through. He would be
entirely competent to fill a chair of public administration

LEADERS OF THE SENATE IN 1877 85
in any college, if, as I hope may be done, such chairs shall
be established.
When Justin Morrill died, not only a great figure left the
Senate Chamber— the image of' the ancient virtue of New
England— but an era in our national history came to an end.
He knew in his youth the veterans of the Revolution and
the generation who declared independence and framed the
Constitution, as the young men who are coming to manhood
to-day know the veterans who won our victories and the
statesmen who conducted our policy in the Civil War, He
knew the whole history of his country from the time of her
independence, partly from the lips of those who had shaped
it, partly because of the large share he had in it himself.
When he was born Washington had been dead but ten years.
He was sixteen years old when Jefferson and Adams died.
He was twenty-two years old when Charles Carroll died.
He was born at the beginning of the second year of Madi
son's Presidency, and was a man of twenty-six when Madi
son died. In his youth and early manhood the manners of
Ethan Allen's time still prevailed in Vermont, and Allen's
companions and comrades could be found in every village.
He was old enough to feel in his boyish soul something of
the thrill of our great naval victories, and of the victory at
New Orleans in our last war with England, and, perhaps,
to understand something of the significance of the treaty
of peace of 1815. He knew many of the fathers of the
country as we knew him. In his lifetime the country
grew from seventeen hundred thousand to thirty-six hun
dred thousand square miles, from seventeen States to forty-
five States, from four million people to seventy-five million.
To the America into which he was bom seventeen new
Americas had been added before he died.
A great and healthful and beneficent power departed
from our country's life. If he had not lived, the history of
the country would have been different in some very im
portant particulars; and it is not unlikely that his death
changed the result in some matters of great pith and
moment, which are to affect profoundly the history of the
country in the future. The longer I live, the more carefully

86 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
I study the former times or observe my own time, the more
I am impressed with the sensitiveness of every people,
however great or however free, to an individual touch, to
the influence of a personal force. There is no such thing
as a blind fate; no such thing as an overwhelming and
pitiless destiny. The Providence that governs this world
leaves nations as He leaves men, to work out their own
destiny, their own fate, in freedom, as they obey or disobey
His will. Man is his own star; and the soul that can
Render an honest and a perfect man
Commands all life, all influence, all fate;
Nothing to him falls early or too late.
Our acts our angels are, or good or ill;
Our fatal shadows that walk by us still.
It is wonderful what things this man accomplished alone,
what things he helped others to accomplish, what things
were accomplished by the political organization of which
he was a leader, which he bore a very large part in accom
plishing. Mr. Morrill's public life was coincident with the advent
of the Republican Party to National power. His first im
portant vote in the House of Representatives helped to elect
Mr. Banks to the office of Speaker, the first National victory
of a party organized to prevent the extension of slavery.
From that moment, for nearly half a century, Vermont
spoke through him in our National Council, until, one after
another, almost every great question affecting the pubhc
welfare has been decided in accordance with her opinion.
It would be impossible, even by a most careful study of
the history of the country for the last forty years, to deter
mine with exactness what was due to Mr. MorrilPs per
sonal influence. Many of the great policies to which we
owe the successful result of the Civil War-the abolition
of slavery, the restoration of peace, the new and enlarged
definition of citizenship, the restoration of order, the estab
lishment of public credit, the homestead system, the founda
tion and admission of new States, the exaction of apology

LEADERS OP THE SENATE IN 1877 87
and reparation from Great Britain, the establishment of the
doctrine of expatriation, the achievement of our manufac
turing independence, the taking by the United States of its
place as the foremost nation in the world in manufacture
and in wealth, as it was already foremost in agriculture, the
creation of our vast domestic commerce, the extension of
our railroad system from one ocean to the other — were
carried into effect by narrow majorities, and would have
failed but for the wisest counsel. When all these matters
were before Congress there may have been men more brill
iant or more powerful in debate. But I can not think of any
wiser in counsel than Mr. Morrill. Many of them must
have been lost but for his powerful support. Many owed
to him the shape they finally took.
But he has left many a personal monument in our legis
lation, in the glory of which no others can rightfully claim
to rival him. To him is due the great tariff, that of 1861,
which will always pass by his name, of which every protec
tive tariff since has been but a modification and adjustment
to conditions somewhat changed, conditions which in gen
eral, so far as they were favorable, were the result of that
measure. To him is due the first antipolygamy bill, which
inaugurated the policy under which, as we hope and believe,
that great blot on our National life has been forever ex
punged. The public buildings which ornament Washing
ton, the extension of the Capitol grounds, the great building
where the State, War and Navy Departments have their
home, the National Museum buildings, are the result of
statutes of which he was the author and which he conducted
from their introduction to their enactment. He was the
leader, as Mr. Winthrop in his noble oration bears witness,
of the action of Congress which resulted in the completion
of the Washington Monument after so many years' delay.
He conceived and accomplished the idea of consecrating the
beautiful chamber of the old House of Representatives as a
Memorial Hall where should stand forever the statues of the
great men of the States. So far, of late, as the prosperity
and wise administration of the Smithsonian Institution has
depended upon the action of Congress it has been due to

88 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
him. Above all, the beautiful National Library building,
unequalled among buildings of its class in the world, was
in a large measure the result of his persistent effort and
powerful influence, and stands as an enduring monument
to his fame. There can be no more beautiful and enviable
memorial to any man than a portrait upon the walls of a
great college in the gallery where the figures and faces of its
benefactors are collected. Mr. Morrill deserves this expres
sion of honor and gratitude at the hands of at least one great
institution of learning in every American State. To his
wise foresight is due the ample endowment of Agricultural
or Technical colleges in every State in the Union.
He came from a small State, thinly settled— from a fron
tier State. His advantages of education were those only
which the public schools of the neighborhood afforded. All
his life, with a brief interval, was spent in the same town,
nine miles from any railroad, escept when absent in the
public service. But there was no touch of provincialism in
him. Everything about him was broad, national, American,
His intellect and soul, his conceptions of statesmanship and
of duty expanded as the country grew and as the demands
upon him increased. He was in every respect as competent
to legislate for fifty States as for thirteen. He would have
been as competent to legislate for an entire continent so long
as that legislation were to be governed, restrained, inspired
by the principles in which our Union is founded and the
maxims of the men who builded it.
He was no dreamer, no idealist, no sentimentalist. He
was practical, wise, prudent. In whatever assembly he was
found he represented the solid sense of the meeting. But
still he never departed from the loftiest ideals. On any
question involving righteousness or freedom you would
as soon have had doubt of George Washington's position
as of his. He had no duplicity, no indirection, no diplo
macy. He was frank, plain-spoken, simple-hearted. He
had no faculty for swimming under water.
His armor was his honest thought
And simple truth his utmost skill.

LEADERS OF THE SENATE IN 1877 89
The Apostle's counsel to his young disciple will serve for
a lifelike portraiture of Justin Morrill :
"Be sober-minded:
"Speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:
"In all things showing thyself a pattern of good works:
in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity:
' ' Sound speech that can not be condemned ; that he that is
of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing
to say of you. ' '
If you wish to sum up the quality of Justin Morrill in a
single word, mind, body, and soul, that word would be
Health. He was thoroughly healthy, through and through,
to the center of his brain, to his heart's core. Like all
healthy souls, he was full of good cheer and sunshine, full
of hope for the future, full of pleasant memories of the
past. To him life was made up of cheerful yesterdays and
confident to-morrows. But with all his friendliness and
kindliness, with all his great hold upon the love a«nd respect
of the people, with all his large circle of friends, with all
his delight in companionship and agreeable converse, he
dared to be alone. He found good society enough always,
if no other were at hand, in himself. He was many times
called upon to espouse unpopular causes and unpopular
doctrines. From the time when in his youth he devoted
himself to the anti-slavery cause, then odious in the nostrils
of his countrymen, to the time when in the last days of his
life he raised his brave voice against a policy upon which
the majority of his political associates seemed bent, he never
yielded the conclusions of his own judgment or the dictates
of his own conscience to any majority, to any party dicta
tion, or to any public clamor. When Freedom, Righteous
ness and Justice were on his side he considered himself in
the majority. He was constant in his attendance on the
worship of a small and unpopular religious denomination.
He never lost his good nature, his courage, or his supreme
confidence in the final triumph of truth.
Mr, Morrill was not a great political leader. Great politi
cal leaders are not often found in the Senate nowadays. He

90 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
was contented to be responsible for one man; to cast his
share of the vote of one State ; to do his duty as he conceived
it, and let other men do theirs as they saw it. But at least
he was not a great political follower. He never committed
himself to the popular currents, nor studied the vanes to
see how the winds were blowing, nor sounded the depths
and the shallows before he decided on his own course.
There was no wire running to his seat from any centre of
patronage or power. To use a felicitous phrase, I think of
Senator Morgan of Alabama, he did not "come out of his
door and cry 'Cuckoo!' when any clock struck elsewhere."
Mr. Morrill was a brave man — an independent man. He
never flinched from uttering his thought. He was never
afraid to vote alone. He never troubled himself about
majorities or administrations, still less about crowds or
mobs or spasms of popular excitement. His standard of
excellence was high. He was severe, almost austere, in his
judgments of other men. And yet, with all this, everybody
liked him. Everybody who came to know him well loved
him. It seems strange that he never incurred enmities or
provoked resentments. I suppose the reason is that he
never had any controversy with anybody. He did not
mingle in the discussions of the Senate as a debater. He
uttered his opinion and gave his reasons as if he were utter
ing judgments. But he seldom or never undertook to reply
to the men who differed from him, and he rarely, if ever,
used the weapons of ridicule or sarcasm or invective, and he
never grew impassioned or angry. He had, in a high degree,
what Jeremy Taylor calls "the endearment of prudent and
temperate speech."
He was one of the men that Washington would have loved
and Washington would have leaned upon. Of course I do
not compare my good friend with him to whom no man
living or that ever lived on earth can be compared. And
Mr. Morrill was never tried or tested by executive or by
military responsibilities. But the qualities which belonged
to Washington belonged to him— prudence, modesty, sound
judgment, simplicity, absolute veracity, absolute integrity,
disinterestedness, lofty patriotism. If he is not to be com-

LEADERS OF THE SENATE IN 1877 91
pared with Washington, he was at least worthy to be the
countryman of Washington, and to hold a high place among
the statesmen of the Republic which Washington founded.
Neither ambition nor hatred, nor the love of ease nor the
greed of gain, nor the desire of popularity, nor the love of
praise, nor the fear of unpopularity found a place in that
simple and brave heart.
Like as a ship that through the ocean wide
By conduct of some star doth make her way —
no local attraction diverted the magnet in his soul, which
ever pointed to the star of duty.
As I just said, he was one of the men that Washington
would have loved and that Washington would have leaned
upon. If we do not speak of him as a man of genius, he
had that absolute probity and that sound common sense
which are safer and better guides than genius. These gifts
are the highest ornaments of a noble and beautiful char
acter; they are surer guides to success and loftier elements
of true greatness than what is commonly called genius. It
was well said by an early American author,* now too much
neglected, that—
"There is no virtue without a characteristic beauty. To
do what is right argues superior taste as well as morals;
and those whose practice is evil feel an inferiority of in
tellectual power and enjoyment, even where they take no
concern for a principle. Doing well has something more in
it than the mere fulfilling of a duty. It is a cause of a just
sense of elevation of character; it clears and strengthens
the spirits ; it gives higher reaches of thought. The world
is sensible of these truths, let it act as it may. It is not
because of his integrity alone that it relies on an honest man,
but it has more confidence in his judgment and wise con
duct, in the long run, than in the schemes of those of greater
intellect who go at large without any landmarks of princi
ple. So that virtue seems of a double nature, and to stand
oftentimes in the place of what we call talent."
* Richard H. Dana, the elder.

92 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
He was spared the fate of so many of our great New Eng
land statesmen, that of closing his life in sorrow and in
gloom. His last days were days of hope, not of despair.
Sumner came to his seat in the Senate Chamber as to a soli
tude. When he was struck with death there was found
upon his table a volume of Shakespeare with this passage,
probably the last printed text on which his eyes ever gazed,
marked with his own hand :
"Would I were dead! if God's good will were so;
For what is in this world, but care and woe?
The last days of Samuel Adams were embittered by pov
erty, sickness, and the death of his only son.
Daniel Webster laid wearily down his august head in dis
appointment and sorrow, predicting with dying breath that
the end had come to the great party to whose service his
life was given.
When John Quincy Adams fell at his post in the House
of Representatives a great newspaper declared that there
could not be found in the country another bold enough or
bad enough to take his place.
But Mr, Morrill's last days were filled with hope and not
with despair. To him life was sweet and immortality as
sured. His soul took its flight
On wings that fear no glance of God's pure sight.
No tempest from his breath.
And so we leave him. His life went out with the century
of which he saw almost the beginning. What the future
may have in store for us we cannot tell. But we offer this
man as an example of an American Senator and American
citizen than which, so far, we have none better. Surely that
life has been fortunate. He is buried where he was bom.
His honored grave is hard by the spot where his cradle was
rocked. He sleeps where he wished to sleep, in the bosom
of his beloved Vermont. No State ever mourned a nobler
son ; no son was ever mourned by a nobler State. He en-

LEADERS OP THE SENATE IN 1877 93
joyed to a ripe old age everything that can make life happy
—honor, love, obedience, troops of friends.
The love of friends without a single foe.
Unequalled lot below.
He died at home. The desire of the wise man.
Let me die in my nest,
was fulfilled to him. His eyes in his old age looked un-
dimmed upon the greatness and the glory of his country,
in achieving which he had borne so large a part.

CHAPTER Vn
COMMITTEE SERVICE IN THE SENATE
I WAS appointed upon the Committee on Privileges and
Elections, March 9, 1877, and have continued a member of
it ever since.
I was appointed on the same day a member of the Com
mittees on Claims, Indian Affairs and Agriculture. I made
a special study in the vacation of 1877, expecting to master,
as well as I could, the whole Indian question, so that my ser
vice on that Committee might be of some value. But I was
removed from the Committee on Indian Affairs, by the
Committee who made the appointments, in the following
December. This was very fortunate for the country and
for the Indians. Mr. Dawes, my colleague, not long after
was placed upon the Committee. He was a most intelligent,
faithful and stanch friend of the Indians during the re
mainder of his lifetime. He was ready, at the Departments
and on the floor of the Senate, and wherever he could exert
an influence to protect and baffle any attempt to wrong them.
His quiet and unpretending service to this unfortunate and
oppressed race entitles him to a very high place in the affec
tionate remembrance of his countrymen.
The Committee on Agriculture was then of little impor
tance. I remained a member of it for a few years, and then
gave it up for some service in which my constituents were
more immediately interested.
In December, 1878, I was put on the Committee on Pat
ents, and remained upon it for a little while. The Commit
tee had to deal occasionally with special cases of applica
tions for extension of patents by statute, which demanded
a knowledge of the patent law, and industry and sound
judgment on the part of the Senator to whom they were
94

COMMITTEE SERVICE IN THE SENATE 95
committed for report. But they were not of much public
interest or importance.
In December, 1879, I was put on the Committee on the
Revision of the Laws ; in December, 1883, on the Joint Com
mittee on the Library ; in December, 1884, on the Committee
on the Judiciary, of which I have been a member ever since ;
in December, 1888, on the Committee on Relations with
Canada; in December, 1891, on the Committee on Woman
Suffrage ; in December, 1895, on the Committee on Rules.
I was on the Committee on Claims for ten years, from
March 9, 1877, to March 4, 1887. It is impossible to estab
lish by the record the part any man performs, who is a
member of a deliberative body consisting of several per
sons, in influencing its decisions, or in establishing the prin
ciples on which they are based. But I believe I may fairly
claim, and that I could cite my associates on the Committee
to bear testimony, that I had a great deal to do, and much
more than any other person, in settling the doctrines upon
which the Senate acted in dealing with the great ques
tions of the claims of individuals and States and corporate
bodies growing out of the War. Upon the rules then estab
lished the Government claims amounting to hundreds upon
hundreds of millions of dollars were decided. The victori
ous Republic dealt justly and generously with the van
quished and misguided men who had assailed it and sought
its destruction.
The general doctrines by which Congress was governed
were these :
1. No rightful claim accrued to anybody for the destruc
tion or injury to property by military movements, or opera
tions, in a country which was the theatre of war.
2, A fair price was to be paid for supplies for the use of
the Army in the field (1) to loyal persons, (2) to disloyal
persons, if it were shown by a certificate of the officer who
took them, or otherwise, that they were taken with the pur
pose of paying for them. Inhabitants of States in re
bellion were presumed to be disloyal, unless their loyalty
were shown affirmatively.

96 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
3. A like rule was followed in determining the question
of payment for the use of buildings, occupied as soldiers'
quarters, or for other official purposes, by the Army, or in
jury to them caused by such occupation,
4, Property taken by the Army was paid for at its actual
value to the Government, and not necessarily at its value
to the owner.
5, No claim accrued by reason of the destruction of prop
erty whether of loyal or disloyal persons, to prevent its fall
ing into the hands of the enemy.
6, An exception to the principle above stated, founded
not on any strict principle or established law or conduct
of Governments, but on sound public policy, was adopted
in the case of institutions of charity, education and religion,
I first affirmed that doctrine in the House of Representa
tives, in the case of the College of William and Mary of Vir
ginia, against the almost unanimous opinion of my political
associates, I thought that such a principle would be a great
protection to such institutions in all future wars, that it
would tend to heal the bitter recollections of the Civil War
and the estrangements then existing between the sections
of the country, I have lived to see the doctrine thoroughly
established, the College of William and Mary rebuilt by
the Government, and every church and school and hospital
which suffered by the military operations of the Civil War
reimbursed, if it has presented its claim.
If I have been able to render any public service, I look
upon that I have rendered upon the Committee on Claims,
although it has attracted but little attention, and is not of a
nature to make great public impression, as perhaps more
valuable than any other.
The duties of that Committee, when I was upon it, were
very laborious. I find that in the first session of the first
Congress, I made reports in seventeen cases, each of them
involving a study of the evidence, a finding of the facts, and
an investigation, statement and consideration of important
principles of law, in most cases to be applied to a novel state
of facts, I think that winter 's work upon the Committee on
Claims alone required more individual labor than that re-

COMMITTEE SERVICE IN THE SENATE 97
quired to perform the duties of his office by any Judge of
a State Court, of which I have any knowledge ; and that the
amount of money, and importance of the principles involved
very far exceeded that involved in the aggregate of the
cases in the Supreme Court of any State for a like period,
I was a member of the Committee on the Library for sev
eral years. For two or three years I was its acting Chair
man during the summer, and in that capacity had to approve
the accounts of the Congressional Library, and the National
Botanic Garden,
To that Committee were referred applications for the
erection of monuments and statues and similar works
throughout the country, including the District of Columbia,
and the purchase of works of art for the Government, They
used to have a regular appropriation of fifteen thousand
dollars annually, to be expended at their discretion, for
works of art. That appropriation was stopped some years
ago. My service on that Committee brought me into very de
lightful relations with Mr, Sherman and Mr. Evarts, I
introduced and got through a bill for a monument and statue
to Lafayette and, as acting Chairman of the Library Com
mittee was, with the Secretary of War and the Architect
of the Capitol, a member of the Commission who selected
the artists and contracted for the statue and monument. A
resolution to build the monument passed the Continental
Congress, but was not carried into effect by reason of the
poverty of the Confederacy in that day. In Washington's
first Administration somebody called attention to the fact
that the monument had not been built, to which my grand
father, Roger Sherman, answered: "The vote is the monu
ment." I was led by this anecdote to do what I could to
have the long-neglected duty performed. The statue and
monument, by two French artists of great genius, now
stands at one comer of Lafayette Square. The statue of
Rochambeau has just been placed at another corner of that
square. 7

98 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
I was also fortunate enough, when I was on the Library
Committee, to secure the purchase of the Franklin Papers
for the Department of State. William Temple Franklin,
the Doctor's son, died in London, leaving at his lodgings a
mass of valuable correspondence of his father, and other
papers illustrating his life, especially in France. They
were discovered in the possession of the keeper of his lodg
ings, many years after, by Henry Stevens, the famous anti
quary and dealer in rare books, Stevens had got into
difficulties about money, and had pledged the collection for
about twenty-five thousand dollars. It had been offered
to the Government. Several Secretaries of State, in suc
cession, including Mr, Blaine, had urged Congress to buy
it, but without avail.
One day Mr. Dwight, Librarian of the State Department,
came to see me at the Capitol about some not very impor
tant matter. While I was talking with him, he said that the
one thing he wished most was that Congress would buy the
Franklin Papers. He added "I think if I were to die, the
words ' Franklin Papers, ' would be found engraved on my
heart," I said I thought I could accomplish the purchase.
So I introduced a resolution, had it referred to the Library
Committee, and we had a hearing. It happened that Edward
Everett Hale, who probably knew as much about the sub
ject and the value of the papers as anybody, was then in
Washington. At the same time John Russell Bartlett was
here, who had charge of the famous Brown Collection in
Rhode Island. They were both summoned before the Com
mittee, and on their statement the Committee voted to recom
mend the passage of the resolution. It passed the Senate.
The provision was then put upon the Sundry Civil Appro
priation bill. With it, however, was a provision to buy the
Rochambeau Papers, which had been sent to this country
on the assurance of Mr. Sherman, who was Chairman of
the Committee on the Library, that Congress would pur
chase them. There was also a provision for buying the
papers of Vans Murray, Envoy to France in Napoleon's
time ; and for buying two other quite important manuscript
collections. When the bill got into the House, all these

COMMITTEE SERVICE IN THE SENATE 99
things were stricken out. The Conference Committee had
a great strife over them, the House refusing to put any of
them in, and the Senate insisting on all. At last they com
promised, agreeing to take them alternately, including the
first one, rejecting the second; including the third, rejecting
the fourth, and so on. In this lottery the Franklin Papers
were saved, and Mr. Sherman's Rochambeau Papers were
stricken out, much to his disgust. But he got an appro
priation for them in a subsequent Congress.
The Committee on Rules have the control of the Capitol,
and the not very important power of assigning the rooms to
the different Committees. Beyond that they have not, in
general, much to do. There have been few important amend
ments to the rules in my time, of which I was the author
of two.
One of them provides that an amendment to any bill
may be laid on the table, on special motion, without carry
ing the bill itself with it. The motion to lay on the table
not being debatable, this enables the Senate to dispose
promptly of a good many propositions, which otherwise
would consume a good deal of time in debate. There had
been such a provision as to appropriation bills before.
When I first suggested this change, Mr, Edmunds exclaimed
in a loud whisper, "we won't do that." But I believe he
approved it finally.
The other was an amendment relating to order in debate,
made necessary by a very disagreeable occurrence, which
ended in the exchange of blows in the Senate, by two Sena
tors from the same State. I had long had in mind to pro
pose, when the occasion came, the last clause of this amend
ment. If Senators are to be considered to any degree as
ambassadors of their States, it would seem proper that they
should not be compelled to hear any reproachful language
about the State they represent. Such attacks have given
rise to a great deal of angry debate in both Houses of Con
gress. The following is the amendment:

100 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
No Senator in debate shall directly or indirectly by any
form of words impute to any Senator or to other Senators
any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming a Senator.
No Senator in debate shall refer offensively to any State
of the Union.
I was also for several years a member of the Committee
on Woman Suffrage. That Committee used to hear the
advocates of Woman Suffrage who liked to have their argu
ments reported and sent through the mails as public docu
ments under the franking privilege.
Although a very decided advocate of the extension of the
right of suffrage to women, I have not thought that it was
likely that that would be accomplished by an amendment to
the National Constitution, or indeed that it was wise to
attempt to do it in that way. The Constitution cannot be
amended without the consent of three-fourths of the States.
If a majority can be got in three-fourths of the States for
such an amendment, their people would be undoubtedly
ready to amend their State Constitutions by which, so far
as each State is concerned, the object would be accom
plished. So it seems hardly worth while to take the trouble
of plying Congress with petitions or arguments.
But my longest service upon Committees has been upon
the two great Law Committees of the Senate,— the Com
mittee on Privileges and Elections, and the Committee on
the Judiciary,
I have been a member of the Committee on Privileges and
Elections since March 9, 1877. I was Chairman for more
than ten years. I have been a member of the Committee
on the Judiciary since December, 1884, and have been its
Chairman since December, 1891, except for two years, from
March 4, 1893, to March 4, 1895, when the Democrats held
the Senate.
While I was Chairman it was of course my duty to repre
sent and defend in debate the action of these Committees on
all the important questions referred to them, I have also,
by reason of my long service, now more than twenty-sis

COMMITTEE SERVICE IN THE SENATE 101
years, on the Committee on Privileges and Elections, been
expected to take part in the discussion of all the Election
cases, and of all matters affecting the privileges and dignity
of the Senate, and of individual Senators, The investiga
tions into alleged outrages at the South, and wrongs con
nected with them, have been conducted by that Committee.
So it has been my fortune to be prominent in nearly all of
the matters that have come up in the Senate since I have
been a member of it, which have excited angry sectional or
political feeling. Matters of finance and revenue and pro
tection, while deeply interesting the people, do not, in gen
eral, cause angry feeling on the part of the political leaders.
To this remark, the state of mind of our friends, whom we
are in the habit of calling Mugwumps, and who like to call
themselves Independents, is an exception. They have com
monly discussed the profoundest and subtlest questions
with an angry and bitter personality which finds its parallel
only in the theological treatises of the dark ages. It is
lucky for some of us that they have not had the fires of
Smithfield or of the Inquisition at their command.
So, at various times in my life, I have been the object of
the most savage denunciation, sometimes from the Inde
pendent newspapers, sometimes from the Democratic news
papers, especially those in the South, and sometimes from
the press of my own party whom I have offended by differ
ing from a majority of my political friends.
But such things are not to be taken too seriously. I have
found in general that the men who deliver themselves with
most bitterness and fury on political questions are the men
who change their minds most easily, and are in general the
most placable, and not uncommonly are the most friendly
and pleasant men in the world in private intercourse. I
account it my great good fortune that, although I have never
flinched from uttering whatever I thought, and acting ac
cording to my own conviction of public duty, that, as I am
approaching four score years, I have, almost without an
exception, the good will of my countrymen, certainly if I
may trust what they tell me when I meet in private inter
course men from different parts of the country, or what they

102 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
are saying of me just now in the press. But it is quite pos
sible that I may say or do something before I get through
which will change all that. So whether my sunset, which is
to come very soon, is to be clear or under a cloud, it is im
possible even to guess.
During this period I have taken a leading part in all ques
tions affecting the security of the right of suffrage con
ferred by the Constitution of the United States on the
colored people, of honesty in elections, of questions affect
ing disputed titles to seats in the Senate, and the extension
of suffrage to women.
A very interesting question, now happily almost for
gotten, came up at the December session of 1878, and was
renewed at the following March session of 1879.
In 1878 the Democrats had a majority in the House of
Representatives, while the Republicans had the Presidency
and the Senate. In March, 1879, there was a Democratic
majority in the Senate and in the House, but a Republi
can President. The Democratic Party chafed exceedingly
under the National laws for securing the purity of elections,
and for securing impartial juries in the courts of the United
States. In the December session of 1878, the House in
serted a provision repealing these laws. They insisted, in
conference, on keeping in this provision, and refused to
consent to the passage of the Executive, Legislative and
Judicial Appropriation Bill, unless the Senate and the Pres
ident would yield to their demand. Mr. Beck of Kentucky,
one of the conferrees on the part of the Senate, representing
what was then the Democratic minority, but what became
at the March session the majority, stated the doctrine of the
House, as announced by their conferrees— adding that he
agreed with it— that unless the States should be allowed to
conduct their own elections in their own way, free from all
Federal interference, they would refuse under their Con
stitutional right to make appropriations to carry on the
Government. This was in defiance of the express provision of the Con
stitution that Congress might at any time alter the regula
tions prescribed by the State Legislatures as to time, place

COMMITTEE SERVICE IN THE SENATE 103
and manner of holding elections for Senators and Repre
sentatives. Mr. Beck declared that that course would be adopted and
adhered to, no matter what came of the Appropriation Bills.
He was followed by Mr. Thurman of Ohio, the leader of his
party in the Senate, and Chairman of the Judiciary when
it came into power. He said it was a question upon which
he had thought long and deeply, one of the gravest which
ever arose for the consideration of the American Congress,
and added:
"We claim the right, which the House of Commons in
England established after two centuries of contest, to say
that we will not grant the money of the people unless there
is a redress of grievances. . . . England was saved from
despotism and an absolute monarchy by the exercise of the
power of the House of Commons to refuse supplies except
upon conditions that grievances should be redressed. . . .
It is a mistake to suppose that it was a fight simply between
the Throne and the Commons ; it was equally a fight between
the Lords and the Commons ; and the result of two centuries
of contest in England was the rule that the House of Lords
had no right to amend a Money Bill."
This startling proposition claimed that it was in the
power of the House of Representatives to control the entire
legislation of the country. It could, if the doctrine of Mr.
Beck and Mr. Thurman had prevailed, impose any condi
tion upon an appropriation for the Judges ' salaries, for the
salaries of all executive officers, for carrying on the courts,
and for all other functions of the Government.
I made a careful study of this question and satisfied the
Senate,— and I think I satisfied Mr. Beck and Mr. Thurman,
—that the doctrine had no support in this country, and had
no support even in England. An examination of Parlia
mentary history, which I studied carefully, afforded the
material for giving a narrative of every occasion when the
Commons exerted their power of withholding supplies as
a means of compelling a redress of grievances, from the

104 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
Conquest to the present hour. I did not undertake in a
speech in the Senate to recite the authorities in full. But I
summed up the result of the English and American doctrine
in a few sentences, which may be worth recording here.

'<!

' First. The Commons never withheld the supplies as a
means of coercing the assent of the Crown or the Lords to
legislation. "Second. The supplies withheld were not the supplies
needed for the ordinary functions of government, to which
the ordinary revenues of the Crown were sufficient, but were
for extraordinary occasions, as to pay the King's debts, or
to conduct foreign wars.
i I Tiiird. That when the hereditary revenues of the Crown,
or those settled on the King for life at the beginning of his
reign, ceased to be sufficient for the maintenance of gov
ernment and for public defence, the practice of withholding
supplies ceased.
"Fourth. There has been no instance since the Revolu
tion of 1688 of attaching general legislation to a bill for
raising or appropriating money, and scarcely, if ever, such
an instance before that date. When such an attempt has
been made it has been resisted, denounced and abandoned,
and the English Constitutional authorities, without excep
tion, are agreed that such a proceeding is unwarrantable,
revolutionary and destructive of the English Constitution.
"It is true that the luxury or the ambition of Kings or
their indulgent bounty to their favorites led them to assem
ble Parliament and to ask additional supplies from their
subjects. It is also true that these requests furnished the
occasion to the Commons to stipulate for redress of griev
ances. But the grievances so redressed had no relation to
the laws of the Realm. These laws were made or altered
by the free assent of the three estates in whom the law
making power vested by the Constitution. The grievances
of which the Commons sought redress, whether from Tudor,
Plantagenet or Stuart, were the improper use of prerog
atives, the granting of oppressive monopolies, the waging
of costly foreign wars, the misconduct of favorites and the

COMMITTEE SERVICE IN THE SENATE 105
like-. The improvident expenditure of the royal patrimony,
the granting the crown lands or pensions to unworthy per
sons, is a frequent ground of complaint.
"But there is a broader and simpler distinction between
the two cases. The mistake, the gross, palpable mistake,
which these gentlemen fall into in making this comparison,
lies at the threshold. The House of Commons, in its dis
cretion, used to grant, and sometimes now grants, supplies
to the King. The American Congress, in its discretion,
never grants supplies to the President under any circum
stances whatever. The only appropriation of the public
money to which that term can properly apply, the provision
for the President's compensation, is by design and of pur
pose placed wholly out of the power of Congress. The
provision is peremptory that—
' ' ' The President shall, at stated times, receive for his
services a compensation, which shall neither be increased
nor diminished during the period for which he shall have
been elected, and he shall not receive within that period
any other emolument from the United States, or any of
them.' "Alexander Hamilton, in No. 72 of the 'Federalist,' de
clares that the very purpose of this enactment is to put it
beyond the power of Congress to compel the President 'to
surrender at discretion his judgment to their inclinations. ' ' '
Almost immediately after I entered the Senate the case
came up of the title of William Pitt Kellogg to a seat in the
Senate from Louisiana.
In January, 1877, a Republican Legislature was organ
ized in Louisiana, which recognized Mr, Packard as the
lawful Governor of the State. Packard had been elected,
according to the claim of the Republicans, at the same elec
tion at which the Republican electors, who cast their votes
for President Hayes, had been chosen. That Legislature
elected Kellogg. When President Hayes refused to con
tinue his support of the Republican government in Louis
iana by military force, the Democrats organized the Legis
lature, a Democratic Governor took possession of power.

106 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
and the Republican State Legislature melted away. It had
done little or nothing, except to elect Mr. Kellogg,
Under these circumstances, the Democrats on the Com
mittee on Privileges and Elections, and in the Senate,
claimed that the recognition of the Democratic Governor
had an ex post facto operation which determined the title
and the right of the Legislature who undertook to elect Mr.
Spofford, Mr. Kellogg 's competitor. The Republicans, on
the other hand, claimed that nothing which occurred after
ward could operate to determine the question of the lawful
ness of the Kellogg Legislature, or its power to elect a Sen
ator. That must be settled by the law and the fact. Upon
these we thought Kellogg 's title to be clear. Kellogg was
seated. But when the Democrats got a majority, two years
later, the Committee on Privileges and Elections, under the
lead of Benjamin H. Hill of Georgia, undertook to set aside
this judgment, and to seat Mr. Spofford. Mr. Hill made a
long and, it is unnecessary to say, an able report, setting
forth the view taken by himself and by the majority of the
Committee, and recommended the admission of Mr. Spof
ford. I advised the Republican minority to decline to fol
low the Democrats into the discussion of the evidence,
and to put the case alone and squarely on the authority of
the previous judgment of the Senate. This I did in the fol
lowing report:
The undersigned, a minority of the Committee on Privi
leges and Elections, to whom was referred the memorial
of Henry M. Spofford, claiming the seat now occupied
by William Pitt Kellogg, submit the following as their
views :
On the 30th day of November, 1877, the Senate passed
the following resolutions.
"Resolved, That William Pitt Kellogg is, upon the
merits of the case, entitled to a seat in the Senate of the
United States from the State of Louisiana for the term of
six years, commencing on the 4th of March, 1877, and that
he be admitted thereto on taking the proper oath.

COMMITTEE SERVICE IN THE SENATE 107
"Resolved, That Henry M. Spofford is not entitled to a
seat in the Senate of the United States. ' '
The party majority in the Senate has changed since Mr.
Kellogg took the oath of office in pursuance of the above
resolution. Nothing else has changed. The facts which
the Senate considered and determined were in existence
then, as now. It is sought, by mere superiority of numbers,
for the first time, to thrust a Senator from the seat which
he holds by virtue of the express and deliberate final judg
ment of the Senate.
The act which is demanded of this party majority would
be, in our judgment, a great public crime. It will be, if
consummated, one of the great political crimes in American
history, to be classed with the Rebellion, with the attempt
to take possession by fraud of the State Government of
Maine, and with the overthrow of State Governments in the
South, of which it is the fitting sequence. Political parties
have too often been led by partisan zeal into measures
which a sober judgment might disapprove; but they have
ever respected the constitution of the Senate,
The men whose professions of returning loyalty to the
Constitution have been trusted by the generous confidence of
the American people are now to give evidence of the sincer
ity of their vows. The people will thoroughly understand
this matter, and will not be likely to be deceived again.
We do not think proper to enter here upon a discussion
of the evidence by which the claimant of Mr. Kellogg 's seat
seeks to establish charges affecting the integrity of that
Senator, Such evidence can be found in abundance in the
slums of great cities. It is not fit to be trusted in cases
affecting the smallest amount of property, much less the
honor of an eminent citizen, or the title to an object of so
much desire as a seat in the Senate, This evidence is not
only unworthy of respect or credit, but it is in many in
stances wholly irreconcilable with undisputed facts, and Mr.
Kellogg has met and overthrown it at every point.
George F, Hoar,
Angus Cameron,
John A, Logan,

108 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
The Democratic majority presented their report, without
asking to have it read. Then we of the minority presented
ours, and had it read. It attracted the attention of the Sen
ate and of the country. My report contains but a few sen
tences. That of the Democratic minority occupies eight
columns of very fine print in the Congressional Record.
The result was that some of the Southern Democrats, in
cluding Mr. Bayard of Delaware, General Gordon of
Georgia, General Wade Hampton of South Carolina, and
Mr. Pendleton, of Ohio, refused to support their associates
in the extreme measure of unseating a Senator when noth
ing had happened to affect the judgment which seated him,
except that the majority of the Senate had changed. Some
of the Democratic gentlemen, however, while resting upon
the old judgment of the Senate, and while refusing to set
that aside, thought the Democratic charges made out on
the evidence, and that Mr. Kellogg 's conduct and character
deserved the severest denunciation. Senator Pendleton, of
Ohio, however, with a courage and manliness that did
him infinite credit, after stating what his Democratic
brethren said: "I am bound to say that I have read the
evidence carefully, and there is nothing in it that in the
least warrants any imputation upon the integrity of that
Senator. ' '
In speaking of my Committee service, perhaps I ought to
say that I was appointed one of the Regents of the Smith
sonian Institution in the year 1881. I liked the position
exceedingly. I was very much interested in the work of the
Institution, and enjoyed meeting the eminent scholars and
men of science who were its members. After I had been a
member a year or two a very eminent Republican Senator
complained that I was getting more than my share of the
prominent places in the gift of the Senate, and specified the
Regency of the Smithsonian Institution as an instance. I
thought there was great justice in the complaint, and ac
cordingly I resigned and Justin S. Morrill was put in my
place. It was a very fortunate thing. Mr. Morrill's in
fluence secured the construction of the National Museum
building, which I do not think it likely that I could have

COMMITTEE SERVICE IN THE SENATE 109
accomplished. That Museum was then in charge of the
Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.
A somewhat similar thing happened to me later. In the
year 1885 the Nominating Committee of the Senate, of which
Senator Allison was then Chairman, proposed my name for
the Committee on Foreign Relations. I should have liked
that service very much, I should have liked to study the
history of our diplomacy, and the National interests spe
cially in charge of that Committee, better than anything else
I can think of. But I was then a member of the Committees
on the Judiciary, Privileges and Elections, Library, Patents
and the Select Committee to Inquire into the Claims of Citi
zens of the United States against Nicaragua, no one of
which I desired to give up. On the other hand. Senator
Frye of Maine, a very able Senator to whom the Repub
licans of Massachusetts were under special obligations
for his service in their campaigns, was not at that time
placed in positions on Committee service such as his ability
and merit entitled him to. Accordingly I told the Com
mittee I thought they had better amend their report and put
Mr, Frye on the Committee on Foreign Relations instead
of myself. That was done.
I incline to think that if that had not been done, and I
had remained on the Committee on Foreign Relations, that
I could have defeated the Spanish Treaty, prevented the
destruction of the Republic in the Philippine Islands, and
the commitment of this country to the doctrine that we can
govern dependencies under our Constitution, in which the
people have no political or Constitutional rights but such as
Congress choose to recognize.
I am not sure that modesty or disinterestedness has much
place in the matter of the acceptance of high political
office. We often hear a gentleman say: "I am not fit to be
Judge ; I am not fit to be Governor, or Senator, or member
of Congress. I think other men are better qualified, and I
will not consent to stand in their way. ' ' This is often said
with the utmost sincerity. But anybody who acts on such
a feeling ought to remember that if he accept the office, it
will not be filled by a worse man than he ; if he accept the

110 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
office, it being a political office, he is sure that the office will
be filled by a man who will desire to accomplish, and will do
his best to accomplish, the things he thinks for the public
good. He should also remember, so far as the matter
of ability is concerned, that other men are likely to be much
better judges of his capacity than he is himself. If men
are likely often to overrate their own capacity, they are also
very often likely to underrate it.
Let me not be understood as commending the miserable
self-seeking which too often leads men to urge their own
claims without regard to the public interests. A man who
is his own candidate is commonly a very bad candidate for
his party.
One vote, more than once, would have saved the country
from what I think its wretched policy in regard to the
Philippine Islands. There was just one vote to spare when
the Spanish Treaty was ratified. One Senator waited
before voting until the roll-call was over and the list of the
votes read by the clerk, before he finally voted for the
treaty. He said he did not wish to butt his head against
the sentiment of his State if he could do no good ; but if his
vote would defeat it, he should vote against it. If there had
been one less vote, his vote would have defeated it. The
Treaty would have been lost, in my opinion, if Senator Gray,
one of the Commissioners who made it, who earnestly pro
tested against it, but afterward supported it, had not been
a member of the Commission. The resolution of Mr. Bacon,
declaring our purpose to recognize the independence of the
Philippine people, if they desired it, was lost also by a single
vote. The Philippine Treaty would have been lost but
for Mr. Bryan's personal interposition in its behalf. It
would have been defeated, in my judgment, if Speaker
Reed, a man second in influence and in power in this
country to President McKinley alone, had seen it to be
his duty to remain in public life, and lead the fight
against it.
So I think it is rarely safe for a man who is in political
life for public, and not for personal ends, and who values
the political principles which he professes, to decline any

COMMITTEE SERVICE IN THE SENATE HI
position of power, either from modesty, doubt of his own
ability, or from a desire to be generous to other men.
My twenty years' service on the Committee on the
Judiciary, so far as it is worth narrating, will appear in the
account of the various legal and Constitutional questions
which it affected.

CHAPTER Vni
THE RIVER AND HARBOR BILL
I HAVE throughout my whole public political life acted
upon my own judgment. I have done what I thought for
the public interest without much troubling myself about
public opinion. I always took a good deal of pride in a
saying of Roger Sherman's. He was asked if he did not
think some vote of his would be very much disapproved in
Connecticut, to which he replied that he knew but one way
to ascertain the public opinion of Connecticut; that was to
ascertain what was right. When he had found that out, he
was quite sure that it would meet the approval of Con
necticut. That in general has been in my judgment abso
lutely and literally true of Massachusetts. It has required
no courage for any representative of hers to do what he
thought was right. She is apt to select to speak for her,
certainly those she sends to the United States Senate, in
whose choice the whole Commonwealth has a part, men who
are in general of the same way of thinking, and governed
by the same principles as are the majority of her people.
When she has chosen them she expects them to act accord
ing to their best judgment, and not to be thinking about
popularity. She likes independence better than obsequious
ness. The one thing the people of Massachusetts will not
forgive in a public servant is that he should act against his
own honest judgment to please them. I am speaking of
her sober, second thought. Her people, like the rest of
mankind, are liable to waves of emotion and of prejudice.
This is true the world over. It is as true of good men as
of bad men, of educated as of ignorant men, whenever they
are to act in large masses. Alexander Hamilton said that
if every Athenian citizen had been a Socrates, still every
Athenian assembly would have been a mob. So I claim no
112

THE RIVER AND HARBOR BILL 113
credit that I have voted and spoken as I thought, always
without stopping to consider whether public opinion would
support me.
The only serious temptation I have ever had in my public
life came to me in the summer of 1882, when the measure
known as the River and Harbor Bill was pending. The bill
provided for an expenditure of about eighteen million dol
lars. Of this a little more than four million was for the
execution of a scheme for the improvement of the Missis
sippi River and its tributaries, which had been recom
mended by President Arthur in a special message. All the
other appropriations put together were a little less than
fourteen million dollars. The bill passed both Houses.
President Arthur vetoed it, alleging as a reason that the
measure was extravagant; that the public works provided
for in it were of local interest, not for the advantage of
international or interstate commerce; and that it had got
through by a system of log-rolling, the friends of bad
schemes in one State joining with the friends of bad
schemes in another, making common cause to support the
bill. He added that in that way, the more objectionable the
measure, the more support it would get. The press of the
country, almost without exception, supported the President.
The reasons which applied to each improvement were not
well understood by the public. So the conductors of the
newspapers naturally supposed the President to be in the
right in his facts. The Democratic newspapers were eager
to attack Republican measures. Where there were factions
in the Republican Party, the Republican papers of one fac
tion were ready to attack the men who belonged to the
other. The independent newspapers welcomed any oppor
tunity to support their theory that American public life
was rotten and corrupt. So when the question came up
whether the bill should pass notwithstanding the objections
of the President, there was a storm of indignation through
out the country against the men who supported it.
But the committees who had supported it and who had
reported it, and who knew its merits, and the men who had
voted for it in either House of Congress, could not well

114 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
stultify themselves by changing their votes, although some
of them did, I was situated very fortunately in that re
spect, I had been absent on a visit to Massachusetts when
the bill passed. So I was not on record for it, I had given
it no great attention. The special duties which had been as
signed to me related to other subjects. So when the meas
ure came up in the Senate I had only an opinion founded
on my general knowledge of the needs of the country and
the public policy, that it was all right. My reelection was
coming on. I was to have a serious contest, if I were a can
didate, with the supporters of General Butler, then very
powerful in the State. He, in fact, was elected Governor in
the election then approaching. My first thoughts were that
I was fortunate to have escaped this rock. But when the
vote came on I said to myself : ' ' This measure is right. Is
my father's son to sneak home to Massachusetts, having
voted against a bill that is clearly righteous and just, be
cause he is afraid of public sentiment?" Senator McMillan,
the Chairman of the Committee who had charge of the bill,
just before my name was called, asked me how I meant to
vote. I told him I should vote for the bill, because I be
lieved it to be right, but that it would lose me the support
of every newspaper in Massachusetts that had been friendly
to me before. I voted accordingly. The vote was met by
a storm of indignation from one end of Massachusetts to
the other, in which every Republican newspaper in the
State, so far as I know, united. The Springfield Republi
can and the Boston Herald, as will well be believed, were
in glory. The conduct of no pick-pocket or bank robber
could have been held up to public indignation and contempt
in severer language than the supporters of that bill, A
classmate of mine, an eminent man of letters, a gentleman
of great personal worth, addressed a young ladies' school,
or some similar body in Western Massachusetts, on the sub
ject of the decay of public virtue as exemplified by me. He
declared that I had separated myself from the best elements
in the State.
The measure was passed over the President's veto. But
it cost the Republican Party its majority in the House of

THE RIVER AND HARBOR BILL 115
Representatives. A large number of the members of the
House who had voted for it lost their seats. If the question
of my reelection had come on within a few weeks thereafter,
I doubt whether I should have got forty votes in the whole
Legislature. If I had flinched or apologized, I should have
been destroyed. But I stood to my guns. I wrote a letter
to the people of Massachusetts in which I took up case by
case each provision of the bill, and showed how important
it was for the interest of commerce between the States, or
with foreign countries, and how well it justified the moder
ate expenditure. I pointed out that the bill had been, in
proportion to the resources of the Government, less in
amount than those John Quincy Adams and Daniel Webster
had formerly advocated; that Mr. Webster, with the single
exception of his service for preserving the Union, prided
himself on his support of this policy of public improve
ment more than on anything else in his life, and had made
more speeches on that subject than on any other. Mr.
Adams claimed to be the author of the policy of internal
improvements. So that it was a Massachusetts policy, and
a Massachusetts doctrine. I asked the people of Massa
chusetts to consider whether they could reasonably expect
to get their living by manufacture, to which nearly the whole
State was devoted, bringing their raw material and their
fuel and their iron and coal and cotton and wool from across
the continent, and then carrying the manufactured article
back again to be sold at the very places where the material
came from, in competition with States like Pennsylvania
and New York and Ohio and Indiana, unless the cost of
transportation was, so far as possible, annihilated, I con
cluded by saying that I knew they would not come to my
way of thinking that afternoon or that week, but that they
were sure to come to it in the end. With very few excep
tions the letter did not change the course of the newspapers,
or of the leading men who had zealously committed them
selves to another doctrine. But it convinced the people,
and I believe it had a very great effect throughout the
country, and was the means of saving the policy of internal
improvements from destruction.

116 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
Mr. Clapp, of the Boston Journal, with a manliness that
did him infinite credit, declared publicly in its columns that
he had been all wrong, and that I was right. The Worcester
Spy, edited by my dear friend and near kinsman, Evarts
Greene, had with the rest of the press attacked my vote.
Mr. Greene himself was absent at the time, so the paper was
then in charge of an associate. When Mr. Greene returned
I asked him to spend an afternoon at my house. That was
before my letter came out. I had sent to Washington for
all the engineers ' reports and other documents showing the
necessity of every item of the bill. Mr, Greene made a
careful study of the bill and agreed with me.
The Boston Herald also obtained all the material from
Washington and sent it to a very able gentleman who,
though not taking any part in the ordinary conduct of the
Herald, was called upon for services requiring special
ability and investigation. They asked him to answer my
letter. He spent five days in studying the matter, and then
wrote to the managing editor of the paper that Mr, Hoar
was entirely right, and that he should not write the article
desired. The Herald, however, did not abandon its posi
tion. It kept up the war. But I ought to say it so far
modified its action that it supported me for reelection the
next winter.
The Springfield Republican saw and seized its opportu
nity. It attacked the River and Harbor Bill savagely. It
said : ' ' Mr, Hoar is a candidate for reelection and has dealt
himself a very severe blow. The Commonwealth was pre
pared to honor Messrs. Crapo and Hoar anew. To-day it
pauses, frowns and reflects." So it kept up the attack. It
had previously advocated the selection of Mr. Crapo as can
didate for Governor. It bitterly denounced me. Mr. Crapo
had himself voted for the River and Harbor Bill. It could
not consistently maintain its bitter opposition to me, be
cause of my vote, while supporting Mr. Crapo. So it de
clared it could no longer support him.
When the State Convention came the feeling was still
strong, though somewhat abated. I had been asked by the
Committee, a good while before, to preside at the Conven-

THE RIVER AND HARBOR BILL 117
tion. This I did. I was received rather coldly when I went
forward. But I made no apologies. I began my speech by
saying: "It gives me great pleasure to meet this assembly
of the representatives of the Republicans of Massachusetts.
I have seen these faces before. They are faces into which
I am neither afraid nor ashamed to look." The assembly
hesitated a little between indignation at the tone of defiance,
and approval of a man's standing by his convictions. The
latter feeling predominated, and they broke out into ap
plause. But the resolutions which the Committee reported
contained a mild but veiled reproof of my action.
Mr. Crapo was defeated in the Convention. I have no
doubt he would have been nominated for Governor, but for
his vote for the River and Harbor Bill. His successful com
petitor, Mr. Bishop, was a gentleman of great personal
worth, highly esteemed throughout the Commonwealth, and
of experience in State administration. But it was thought
that his nomination had been secured by very active politi
cal management, concerted at the State House, and that the
nomination did not fairly represent the desire of the people
of the Commonwealth. Whatever truth there may have
been in this, I am very sure that Mr. Crapo 's defeat could
not have been compassed but for his vote for the River and
Harbor Bill. The result of the above feeling, however, was
that the Republican campaign was conducted without much
heart, and General Butler was elected Governor.
When the election of Senator came in the following
winter, I was opposed by what remained of the feeling
against the River and Harbor Bill. My principal Republi
can competitors were Mr. Crapo, whose friends rightly
thought he had been treated with great injustice ; and Gov
ernor Long, a great public favorite, who had just ended a
brilliant and most acceptable term of service as Governor.
Governor Long had presided at a public meeting where
President Arthur had been received during the summer, and
had assured him that his action had the hearty approval and
support of the people of the Commonwealth. I had, of
course, no right to find the least fault with the supporters
of Governor Long. He would have been in every way a

118 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
most acceptable and useful Senator, I ought to say that,
as I understood it, he hardly assumed the attitude of a can
didate for the place, and declared in a public letter or speech
that he thought I ought to be reelected. So, after a some^
what earnest struggle I was again chosen.
One curious incident happened during the election. The
morning after the result was declared, a story appeared in
the papers that Mr. Crapo 's supporters had been led to
come over to me by the statement that one of them had re
ceived a telegram from him withdrawing his name, and
advising that course. The correspondent of one of the
papers called upon Mr. Crapo, who answered him that he
had never sent any such telegram to Boston. So it was
alleged that somebody who favored me had brought about
the result by this false statement. A newspaper corre
spondent called on me in Washington, and asked me about
the story. I told him that I had not heard of the story, but
that if it turned out to be true I, of course, would instantly
decline the office. A full investigation was made of the
matter, and it turned out that Mr. Crapo had sent such a
telegram to a member of the Legislature in New Bedford,
who had taken it to Boston and made it known.
The next winter, at my suggestion, a resolution was
passed calling upon the Secretary of War, Mr. Lincoln, to
specify which items in the River and Harbor Bill of the pre
vious winter were not, in his opinion, advisable, or did not
tend to promote international or interstate commerce. He
replied specifying a very few items only, amounting alto
gether to a very few thousand dollars. This reply was made
by the Secretary of War, as he told me in private afterward,
by the express direction of the President, and after consulta
tion with him. That ended the foolish outcry against the
great policy of internal improvement, which has helped to
make possible the marvels of our domestic commerce, one
of the most wonderful creations of human history. The
statistics of its vast extent, greater now, I think, than all
the foreign commerce of the world put together, from the
nature of the case, never can be precisely ascertained. It
is not only wonderful in its amount, but in its origin, its

THE RIVER AND HARBOR BILL 119
resources, and in its whole conduct. All its instrumentali
ties are American, It is American at both ends, and
throughout all the way. This last year a bill providing for
an expenditure of sixty millions, nearly four times the
amount of that which President Arthur, and the newspapers
that supported him, thought so extravagant, passed Con
gress without a murmur of objection, and if I mistake not,
without a dissenting vote.
I should like to put on record one instance of the gen
erosity and affection of Mr. Dawes. He had not voted when
his name was called, expecting to vote at the end of the roll-
call. He meant to vote against the passage of the bill over
the veto. But when he heard my vote for it, he saw that I
was bringing down on my head a storm of popular indigna
tion, and made up his mind that he would not throw the
weight of his example on the side against me. So, con
trary to his opinion of the merits of the bill, he came to my
side, and voted with me.
I suppose a good many moralists will think that it is a
very wicked thing indeed for a man to vote against his con
victions on a grave public question, from a motive like this,
of personal friendship. But I think on the whole I like
better the people, who will love Mr. Dawes for such an act,
than those who will condemn him. I would not, probably,
put what I am about to say in an address to a Sunday-
school, or into a sermon to the inmates of a jail or house
of correction. I cannot, perhaps, defend it by reason. But
somehow or other, I am strongly tempted to say there are
occasions in life where the meanest thing a man can do is
to do perfectly right. But I do not say it. It would be better
to say that there are occasions when the instinct is a better
guide than the reason. At any rate, I do not believe the re
cording angel made any trouble for Mr. Dawes for that vote.

CHAPTER IX
CHINESE TREATY AND LEGISLATION
Much of what I have said in the preceding chapter is,
in substance, applicable to my vote on another matter
in which I had been compelled to take an attitude in op
position to a large majority of my own party and to the
temporary judgment of my countrymen: that is the pro
posed legislation in violation of the Treaty with China; the
subsequent Treaty modifying that negotiated in 1868 by Mr.
Seward on our part, and Mr. Burlingame for China; and
the laws which have been enacted since, upon the subject
of Chinese immigration. I had the high honor of being
hung in effigy in Nevada by reason of the report that I had
opposed, in secret Session of the Senate, the Treaty of 1880.
My honored colleague, Mr. Dawes, and I were entirely
agreed in the matter. Mr. Dawes complained good-
naturedly to Senator Jones, of Nevada, that he had been
neglected when the Nevada peopled had singled me out for
that sole honor, to which Mr. Jones, with equal good-nature,
replied that if Mr. Dawes desired, he would have measures
taken to correct the error, which had inadvertently been
made. In 1868 the late Anson Burlingame, an old friend of mine
and a man highly esteemed in Massachusetts, who had been
sent to China as the American Minister in Mr. Lincoln's
time, was appointed by the Chinese Government its Am
bassador, or Envoy, to negotiate treaties with the United
States and several European powers. He made a journey
through this country and Europe, travelling with Oriental
magnificence, in a state which he was well calculated to
maintain and adorn. It was just after we had put down the
Rebellion, abolished slavery, and made of every slave a
120

CHINESE TREATY AND LEGISLATION 121
freeman and of every freeman a citizen. The hearts of the
people were full of the great doctrines of liberty which
Jefferson and the Fathers of our country had learned from
Milton and the statesmen of the English Commonwealth.
The Chinese Treaty was concluded on the 28th of July,
1868, between Mr. Seward and Mr. Burlingame and his asso
ciate Plenipotentiaries Chih-Kang and Sun Chia-Ku. It
contained the following clause :
"The United States of America and the Emperor of
China cordially recognize the inherent and inalienable right
of man to change his home and allegiance, and also the
mutual advantage of free migration and emigration of their
citizens and subjects respectively from one country to the
other for purposes of curiosity, of trade, or as permanent
residents." Article VII. of the same Treaty stipulated that citizens of
each power should enjoy all the privileges of the public edu
cational institutions under the control of the government of
the other, enjoyed by the citizens or the subjects of the most
favored nation, and that the citizens of each might, them
selves, establish schools in the other's country. Congress
passed an Act, July 27, 1868, to a like effect, to which the
following is the preamble to the first section :
"Whereas the right of expatriation is a natural and in
herent right of all people, indispensable ta the enjoyment
of the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness ;
and whereas in the recognition of this principle this gov
ernment has freely received emigrants from all nations, and
invested them with the rights of citizenship; and whereas
it is claimed that such American citizens, with their de
scendants, are subjects of foreign states, owing allegiance
to the governments thereof; and whereas it is necessary to
the maintenance of public peace that this claim of foreign
allegiance should be promptly and finally disavowed:
Therefore," etc.
Thereafter, in the first term of the Administration of
President Hayes, in the December Session of 1878, a bUl

122 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
was introduced which, almost defiantly, as it seemed to me,
violated the faith of the country pledged by the Burlingame
Treaty. There had been no attempt to induce China to
modify that Treaty. I resisted its passage as well as I
could. But my objection had little effect in the excited
condition of public sentiment. The people of the Pacific
coast were, not unnaturally, excited and alarmed by the im
portation into their principal cities of Chinese laborers,
fearing, I think without much reason, that American labor
ing men could not maintain themselves in the competition
with this thrifty and industrious race who lived on food
that no American could tolerate, and who had no families
to support, and who crowded together, like sardines in a
box, in close and unhealthy sleeping apartments, I sup
posed that the labor of this inferior class would raise the
condition of better and more intelligent laborers. That,
however, was a fairly disputable question. But I could not
consent to striking at men, as I have just said, because of
their occupation. This bill was vetoed by President Hayes,
who put his objections solely upon the ground that the bill
was in violation of the terms of the existing Treaty. The
House, by a vote of 138 yeas to 116 nays, refused to pass
the bill over the veto.
But in 1880 a Treaty was negotiated, and approved by
the Senate and ratified July 19, 1881, which relieved the
United States from the provisions of the Burlingame
Treaty, and permitted the exclusion of Chinese laborers,
I made a very earnest speech, during a debate on this Treaty
in Executive Session of the Senate, in opposition to it.
The Senate did me the honor, on the motion of Mr. Dawes,
of a vote authorizing my speech to be published, notwith
standing the rule of secrecy. But one Senator from the
Pacific coast complained, I think with some reason, that I
was permitted to publish my argument on one side when he
not only was not permitted to publish his on the other, but
his constituents had no means of knowing that he had
defended their views or made proper answer to mine. So
I thought it hardly fair to make my speech public, and it
was not done.

CHINESE TREATY AND LEGISLATION 123
Later, in the spring of 1882, a bill was passed to carry
into effect the Treaty of 1880. That I resisted as best I
could. In opposition to this bill I made an earnest speech
showing it to be in conflict with the doctrines on which our
fathers founded the Republic; with the principles of the
Constitutions of nearly all the States, including that of Cali
fornia, and with the declarations of leading statesmen down
to the year 1868. I showed also that the Chinese race had
shown examples of the highest qualities of manhood, of
intelligence, probity and industry. I protested against a
compact between the two greatest nations of the Pacific,
just as we were about to assert our great influence there,
which should place in the public law of the world, and in
the jurisprudence of America, the principle that it is fitting
that there should be hereafter a distinction in the treat
ment of men by governments and in the recognition of their
right to the pursuit of happiness by a peaceful change of
their homes, based, not on conduct, not on character, but
upon race and occupation; by asserting that you might
justly deny to the Chinese what you might not justly deny
to the Irish, that you might justly deny to the laborer what
you might not deny to the idler. I pointed out that this
declaration was extorted from unwilling China by the de
mand of America; and that laborers were henceforth to be
classed, in the enumeration of American public law, with
paupers, lazzaroni, harlots, and persons afflicted with pesti
lential diseases. I ended what I had to say as follows :
"Humanity, capable of infinite depths of degradation, is
also capable of infinite heights of excellence. The Chinese,
like all other races, has given us its examples of both. To
rescue humanity from this degradation is, we are taught to
believe, the great object of God's moral government on
earth. It is not by injustice, exclusion, caste, but by rever
ence for the individual soul that we can aid in this con
summation. It is not by Chinese policies that China is to
be civilized, I believe that the immortal truths of the Dec
laration of Independence came from the same source with
the Golden Rule and the Sermon on the Mount. We can

124 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
trust Him who promulgated these laws to keep the country
safe that obeys them. The laws of the universe have their
own sanction. They will not fail. The power that causes
the compass to point to the north, that dismisses the star on
its pathway through the skies, promising that in a thousand
years it shall return again true to its hour and keeps His
word, will vindicate His own moral law. As surely as the
path on which our fathers entered a hundred years ago led
to safety, to strength, to glory, so surely will the path on
which we now propose to enter bring us to shame, to weak
ness, and to peril, ' '
The Statute then enacted, expired by its own limitation
twenty years afterward. Meantime the prejudice against
Chinese labor had modified somewhat. The public had
become somewhat more considerate of their rights and, at
any rate, there was a desire to maintain some show of
decency in legislating in the matter. So a more moderate
Statute was enacted in 1902. I was the only person who
voted against it in either House. It was, of course, clear
that resistance was useless. It was not worth while, it
seemed to me, to undertake to express my objections at
length. I contented myself with the following brief remon
strance :
"Mr. President, I think this bill and this debate indicate
a great progress in sentiment. The sentiment of the coun
try has passed, certainly so far as it is represented by a
majority of the Senate, the stage, if it ever was in it, of a
reckless seeking to accomplish the result of Chinese ex
clusion without regard to constitutional restraints, treaty
obligations, or moral duties. There was in some quarters,
as it seemed to me, in olden times, a disregard of all these
restraints, certainly in the press, certainly in the harangues
which were made to excited crowds in various parts of the
country. Among others I can remember a visit of the
apostle of Chinese exclusion to Boston Common which indi
cated that spirit.

CHINESE TREATY AND LEGISLATION 125
"Now, that has gone largely, and the Senate has dis
cussed this question with a temperate desire on the part
of all classes and all Senators, whatever ways of thinking
they have, to do what seemed to them for the benefit of
labor, the quality of the citizenship of this country, in a
moderate and constitutional fashion,
"But I cannot agree with the principle on which this
legislation or any legislation on the subject which we have
had in the country since 1870 rests, I feel bound to enter
a protest. I believe that everything in the way of Chinese
exclusion can be accomplished by reasonable, practical and
wise measures which will not involve the principle of strik
ing at labor, and will not involve the principle of striking
at any class of human beings merely because of race, with
out regard to the personal and individual worth of the man
struck at. I hold that every human soul has its rights,
dependent upon its individual personal worth and not de
pendent upon color or race, and that all races, all colors, all
nationalities contain persons entitled to be recognized
everywhere they go on the face of the earth as the equals
of every other man."
I do not think any man ever hated more than I have
hated the affectation or the reality of singularity. I know
very well that the American people mean to do right, and
I believe with all my heart that the men and the party with
whom I have acted for fifty years mean to do right. I
believe the judgment of both far better than my own. But
every man's conscience is given to him as the lamp for his
path. He cannot walk by another light.
It is also true that the great political principles which
have been in issue for the last thirty years, have been, in
general, those that have been debated for centuries, and
which cannot be settled by a single vote, in a legislative
body, by the result of a single election, or even by the opin
ion of a single generation. In nearly every one of what I
am sorry to say are the numerous instances where I have
been compelled to act upon my judgment against that of my
own party, and even against that of the majority of my own

126 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
countrymen, the people have subsequently come around to
my way of thinking, and in all of them, I believe, I have
had on my side the opinion of the great men of the great
generations of the past. Certainly the Chinese Exclusion
Bill and the Chinese Treaty; the Spanish Treaty and the
War against the Philippine people could not have lived an
hour before the indignation of the American people at any
time from the beginning down to the time when, in 1876,
they celebrated the centennial of their Independence.

CHAPTER X
THE WASHINGTON TREATY AND THE GENEVA AWARD
The Treaty of Washington, creditable to all who en
gaged in it, not to be judged by its details, but by its great
effect in securing peace to the world, saved Great Britain
from a war with us, in which it is not unlikely that the
nations of Europe who hated her would have come to take
part on our side. But it saved us from the greater danger
of having the war spirit renewed and intensified by this
gigantic struggle, from an international hatred which would
not have cooled again for a century; or, if we did not
declare war, from taking the ignoble attitude of a great and
free people lying in wait for an opportunity to revenge
itself. It was the purpose of that Treaty to remove every cause
of quarrel. One constant cause of quarrel, for many years,
had been the exercise of our right to fish on the shores
of Newfoundland. In the Treaty it was agreed that the
United States should have, in addition to her existing rights
for ten years, and for such further time as the parties
should agree, the right to take fish on the sea coast of the
British Provinces north of us, with permission to land for
the purpose of drying nets and curing fish, and that we
were to pay for the privilege a sum to be fixed by arbitra
tors. Two of these arbitrators were to be appointed by
the United States and Great Britain; the other, who would
serve as an umpire, to be agreed upon by the two powers,
or, if not agreed upon within a certain time, then to be
appointed by the Emperor of Austria. Great Britain in
sisted upon having the Belgian Minister to the United States
for the third arbitrator, and refused to name or suggest or
agree to any other person. So the time expired. There
upon the Belgian Minister, Mr. Delfosse, was selected by
127

128 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
the Emperor of Austria. Mr, Delfosse 's own fortune in
public life depended upon his Sovereign's favor. We had
already notified Great Britain that, if the Belgian Minister
were selected, he would probably deem himself disqualified
by reason of the peculiar connection of his Government
with that of Great Britain, When the Treaty was nego
tiated. Earl de Grey, Chairman of the Commissioners, said,
speaking of the Government to whom the matter might be
referred: "I do not name Belgium, because Great Britain
has treaty arrangements with that Government which might
be supposed to incapacitate it." Belgium, as was noto
rious, was dependent upon Great Britain to maintain its
political existence against the ambitions of France and
Germany. Mr. Delfosse 's sovereign was the son of the
brother of Queen Victoria's mother and Prince Albert's
father, and was, himself, brother of Carlotta, wife of Maxi
milian, whom we had lately compelled France to abandon
to his fate.
The referee awarded that we should make a payment to
Great Britain for this fishery privilege of five million five
hundred thousand dollars. We never valued them at all.
We abandoned them at the end of ten years. It would
have been much better to leave the matter to Great
Britain herself. If she had been put upon honor she would
not have made such an award. No English Judge who
valued his reputation would have suggested such a thing,
as it seemed to us.
I would rather the United States should occupy the posi
tion of paying that award, after calling the attention of
England to its injustice and wrong, than to occupy the posi
tion of England when she pocketed the money. A war with
England would have been a grievous thing to her working-
men who stood by us in our hour of peril, and to all that
class of Englishmen whom we loved, and who loved us.
Such a war would have been a war between the only two
great English-speaking nations of the world, and the two
nations whose policy, under methods largely similar,
though somewhat different, were determined by the public
opinion of their people.

THE WASHINGTON TREATY 129
If however our closer and friendlier relations with Eng
land are to result in our adopting her social manners, her
deference to rank and wealth, and in adopting her ideas of
empire and the method of treating small and weak nations
by great and strong ones, it would be better that we had kept
aloof, and that the old jealousy and dislike engendered by
two wars had continued.
A very interesting question was settled during the Ad
ministration of President Hayes as to the disposition of
the $15,500,000 recovered from Great Britain by the award
of the tribunal of Geneva for the violation of the obligations
of neutrality during the Civil War. Great Britain, after
what we had claimed was full notice of what was going on,
permitted certain war vessels to be constructed in England
for the Confederate Government. She permitted those
vessels to leave her ports and, by a preconcerted arrange
ment, to receive their armament, also procured in Great
Britain. She turned a deaf, an almost contemptuous ear,
to the remonstrances of Mr. Adams, our Minister. The
Foreign Office, after a while, informed him that they did
not wish to receive any more representations on that sub
ject. But, as the War went on and the naval and military
strength of the United States increased and became more
manifest. Great Britain became more careful. At last some
Rebel rams were built by the Lairds, ship-builders of Liver
pool. Mr. Adams procured what he deemed sufficient
evidence that they were intended for the Confederate ser
vice, and made a demand on Lord Russell, the British For
eign Minister, that they be detained. To this Lord Russell
replied that he had submitted the matter to the Law officers
of her Majesty's Government, and they could see no reason
for interfering. To this Mr. Adams instantly replied that
he received the communication with great regret, adding,
"It would be superfluous in me to point out to your Lord
ship that this is war." Lord Russell hastily reconsidered
his opinion, and ordered the rams to be stopped.
He afterward, as appears in his biography by Spencer
Walpole, admitted his error in not interfering in the case
of the vessels that had gone out before. But the mischief

130 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
was done. The terror of these Confederate vessels had
driven our commerce from the sea, or had compelled our
merchant vessels to sail under foreign flags, and had enor
mously increased the rate of insurance to those who kept
the sea under our flag.
After the War had ended a demand for compensation was
earnestly pressed upon Great Britain, A demand was
made to refer the claims to arbitration, and a Treaty nego
tiated for that purpose by Reverdy Johnson under Andrew
Johnson's Administration, was rejected by the Senate, on
the ground, among other reasons, that the element of chance
entered into the result.
Thereafter, in General Grant's time, a Joint High Com
mission to deal with this controversy was agreed upon be
tween the two countries, which sat in Washington, in 1871,
The Commissioners in behalf of the United States were
Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State ; Robert C. Schenck, then
our Minister to England ; Samuel Nelson, Judge of the Su
preme Court; Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar, lately Attorney-
General, and George H. Williams, afterward Attorney-Gen
eral. On behalf of Great Britain there were Earl de Grey
and Ripon, afterward Marquis of Ripon; Sir Stafford H.
Northcote, afterward Earl of Idesleigh; Edward Thornton,
then the British Minister here; John A. MacDonald, Pre
mier of Canada, and Montague Bernard, Professor of Inter
national Law at Oxford. The two countries could not, in
all probability, have furnished men more competent for
such a purpose. They agreed upon a treaty. The rules
by which neutral governments were to be held to be
bound for the purposes of the arbitration were agreed on
beforehand in the Treaty itself. They agreed to observe
these rules between themselves in the future, and to invite
other maritime powers to accede to them. The Treaty also
contained a statement that Her Britannic Majesty had "au
thorized her High Commissioners and Plenipotentiaries to
express in a friendly spirit the regret felt by Her Majesty's
Government for the escape, under whatever circumstances,
of the Alabama and other vessels from British ports, and
for the depredations committed by those vessels." I am

THE WASHINGTON TREATY 131
not aware that a like apology has ever been made by Great
Britain during her history, to any other country. There
was a provision also, for the reference of some other mat
ters in dispute between the two countries. One of these
related to the fisheries— a source of irritation between this
country and the British possessions north of us ever since
the Reve^ution.
I will not undertake to tell that part of the story here.
It was agreed to submit the questions of the claims growing
out of the escape of the Rebel cruisers to a tribunal which
was to sit at Geneva. Of this, one member was to be ap
pointed by each of the parties, and the others by certain
designated foreign governments. Our Commissioner was
Charles Francis Adams, who had borne himself so wisely
and patiently during the period of the Civil War. The
English Commissioner was Sir Alexander Cockburn, Lord
Chief Justice of England. The United States was repre
sented by Caleb Cushing, William M. Evarts and Morrison
E. Waite, afterward Chief Justice of the United States, as
counsel. Adams rarely betrayed any deep emotion on any public
occasion, however momentous. But it must have been hard
for him to conceal the thrill of triumph, after the ignominy
to which he had submitted during that long and anxious
time, when he heard the tribunal pronounce its judgment,
condemning Great Britain to pay $15,500,000 damages for
the wrong-doing against which he had so earnestly and
vainly protested. Perhaps the feeling of his grandfather
when he signed the Treaty of Independence in 1783 might
alone be compared to it. Yet his father, John Quincy
Adams, had something of the same feeling when, at the
close of a war which put an end forever to the impressment
of American seamen, and made the sailor in his ship as safe
as the farmer in his dwelling, he signed the Treaty which
secured our boundary and our fisheries as they had been
secured by his father.* John Quincy Adams had struck, by
the direction of his father, in 1815, a seal which he gave to
*This story is told more fully at page 147. It seems appropriate in
both places.

132 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
his son, with the injunction to give it to his, bearing the
motto, "Piscemur, venemur, ut olim, "— We keep our hunt
ing grounds and our fishing grounds as of old. I doubt if
three such achievements, by three successive generations,
can be found in the annals of any other family however
illustrious. The $15,500,000 was promptly paid. Then came the ques
tion what to do with it. There was no doubt anywhere,
that the owners of vessels or cargoes that had been captured
or destroyed by the cruisers for whose departure from
British ports Great Britain was in fault, were entitled to
be paid. That, however, would not consume the fund. The
fund had been paid in gold coin by Great Britain, Septem
ber 9, 1873, and had been covered into the Treasury the
same day. This sum was invested in a registered bond for
the amount, of the five per cent, loan of 1881, dated Sep
tember 10, 1873, inscribed, "Hamilton Fish, Secretary of
State, in trust. To be held subject to the future disposition
of Congress, etc." This sum largely exceeded what was
necessary to make good the principal of all losses directly
resulting from the damages caused by the insurgent cruis
ers, above what had already been reimbursed from insur
ance. These claims were popularly termed the ' ' claims for
direct damages."
The question what to do with the balance was the subject
of great dispute throughout the country, and of much de
bate in both Houses of Congress. Some persons claimed
that the owners directly damaged should receive interest.
That would still leave a large part of the fund undisposed
of. It was insisted that the remainder belonged to the
Government for the benefit of the whole people who had
borne the burden and cost of the war. Others claimed that,
as nothing but direct damages were lawfully assessable, the
balance should be paid back to Great Britain. Still others
claimed that the persons who had suffered indirectly by
the loss of voyages, the increased rates of insurance, and
the breaking up of business, were justly entitled to the
money. Still others, perhaps the most formidable and per
sistent of all, claimed that the underwriters who had paid

THE WASHINGTON TREATY 133
insurance on vessels or cargoes destroyed, were entitled
to the money on the familiar principle that an insurer who
pays a loss is subrogated to all the legal and equitable
claims of the party insured.
These disputes prevented any disposition of the fund by
Congress until the summer of 1874.
Judge Hoar, who was then a Member of the House of
Representatives, suggested that as everybody agreed that
the claims for direct damages ought to be paid, that it was
not fair that they should be kept waiting longer in order to
settle the dispute about the rest of the fund. In accordance
with his suggestion a Court was provided for by Act of
Congress, whose duty it was to receive and examine all
claims directly resulting from damages caused by the in
surgent cruisers. They were directed, however, not to
allow any claim where the party injured had received in
demnity from any insurance company, except to the excess
of such claim above the indemnity. They were further
authorized to allow interest at the rate of four per cent.
The Court performed its duty. When its judgments had
been paid there still remained a large balance. The ablest
lawyers in the Senate, in general, pressed the claim of the
insurance companies to the balance of the fund, including
Mr. Edmunds, Judge Davis, Judge Thurman and Mr. Bay
ard. I took up the question with a strong leaning for the in
surance companies. I was, of course, impressed by the well-
known principle of law that the underwriter who had paid
for property destroyed by the cause against which he had
insured, was entitled to be substituted to all other rights or
remedies which the owner may have for reimbursement of
his loss. I was very much impressed also in favor of the
insurance companies, who were making what they doubtless
beheved an honest and just claim, fortified by many of the
best legal opinions in Congress and out of it, by the char
acter of the attacks made on them, especially by General
Butler. These attacks appealed to the lowest passions and
prejudices. It was said that the companies were rich ; that
they made their money out of the misfortunes of their coun
trymen ; that they were trying to get up to their arm-pits in

134 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
the National Treasury, and that they employed famous
counsel. If there be anything likely to induce a man with
legal or judicial instincts to set his teeth against a proposi
tion, it is that style of argument.
But I came to the conclusion, both from the history of
the proceedings at Geneva, and from the nature of the sub
mission, that the claim that had been established against
Great Britain was a National claim, made by National au
thority for a National injury. That this was the character
of the claim our counsel gave express notice to Great
Britain and to the tribunal. This opinion was asserted by
Mr. Adams, one of the arbitrators, in his opinion, and by
Mr. Fish in his instructions to the counsel. When the Gov
ernment of the United States received it, it seemed to me
that it was entitled to apply it in its high discretion ; and to
give it to such persons entitled to its protection or con
sideration as it should see fit. I made a careful argument
in support of this view. I thought, accordingly, that the
balance of the fund, after compensating all persons, not yet
paid, for claims directly resulting from damage done on the
high seas by Confederate cruisers, and the class of insur
ance companies above mentioned, should be paid to persons
who had paid premiums for war risks after the sailing of
any Confederate cruiser. I maintained this doctrine as
well as I could against the powerful arguments I have
named. There were other very strong arguments on the
same side, and I had the gratification of being assured by
several Senators that my presentation of the case had con
vinced them. Mr. Blaine, who had, himself, earnestly en
gaged in the debate, said that he thought that the opinion
of the majority of the Senators had been changed by my
argument.

CHAPTER XI
THE PRESIDENT'S POWER OF REMOVAL
The two most important questions of the construction of
the Constitution which came up in our early history have
been finally put a,t rest in our day. I have had something
to do with disposing of both of them. With the disposi
tion of one of them I had a leading part.
The first of these questions was whether in executing the
powers conferred upon it by the Constitution, Congress
must confine itself to such means and instrumentalities as
are strictly and indispensably necessary to their accomplish
ment; or whether it might select, among the measures which
fairly promote such Constitutional ends, any method which
it shall think for the public interest, exercising this power
in a liberal way, and remembering in doing so that it is a
Constitution— the vital power of a free people, — we are
defining and limiting, and not an ordinary power of at
torney. This question first came up in Washington's Administra
tion, on the bill for establishing a National Bank. Sel
dom any doubt is raised now as to the Constitutional power
of the National Government to accomplish and secure any
of the great results which we could not secure before the
war, by reason of what is called the doctrine of State Rights.
Democrat and Republican, men of the South and men of the
North now agree in exercising without a scruple the power
of Congress to protect American industries by the tariff, to
endow and to subsidize railroads across the continent, and
to build an Oceanic canal.
I have in my possession, in Roger Sherman's and James
Madison's handwriting, a paper which contains the first
statement of a controversy which divided parties and sec-
135

136 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
tions, which inspired Nullification, and which entered
largely in the strife which brought on the Civil War.
(In Roger Sherman's handwriting.)
"You will admit that Congress have power to provide by
law for raising, depositing and applying money for the pur
poses enumerated in the Constitution." X (and generally
of regulating the finances). "That they have power so far
as no particular rules are pointed out in the Constitution
to make such rules and regulations as they may judge neces
sary and proper to effect these purposes. The only question
that remains is— Is a bank (a necessary and) a proper meas
ure for effecting these purposes ? And is not this a question
of expediency rather than of right?"
(The following, on the same slip of paper, is in James
Madison's handwriting.)
"Feb. 4, 1791. This handed to J. M. by Mr. Sherman
during the debate on the constitutionality of the bill for a
National bank. The line marked X given up by him on the
objection of J. M- The interlineation of 'a necessary &' by
J. M, to which he gave no other answer than a smile, ' '
The other matter relates to the power of removal from
office. Upon that the Constitution is silent. In the begin
ning two views were advocated. There was a great debate
in 1789, which Mr. Evarts declares, "decidedly the most
important and best considered debate in the history of Con
gress." The claim that the power of removal is vested
absolutely in the President by the Constitution prevailed in
the House of Representatives, under the lead of Madison,
by a majority of twelve, and by the casting vote of John
Adams in the Senate. Mr. Madison said :
"The decision that is at this time made will become the
permanent exposition of the Constitution ; and on a perma
nent exposition of the Constitution will depend the genius
and character of the whole Government."
One party claimed that the power of removal was a neces
sary incident to the power of appointment, and vested in

THE PRESIDENT'S POWER OF REMOVAL. 137
the President by virtue of his power to appoint. It was
claimed also on the same side that the President's duty to
see the laws faithfully executed could not be discharged if
subordinates could be kept in office against his will. In
most cases the President never executes the laws himself,
but only has to see them executed faithfully.
This view prevailed, as we have seen, in Washington's
Administration. It continued to be acted upon till the time
of President Johnson. In General Jackson's time its
soundness was challenged by Webster, Calhoun and Clay.
But there was no attempt to resist it in practice. Mr. Web
ster in 1835 earnestly dissented from the original decision,
while he admitted that he considered it "a settled point;
settled by construction, settled by precedent, settled by the
practice of the Government, and settled by statute. ' ' It re
mained so settled, until, in the strife which followed the
rebellion, a two-thirds majority in Congress was induced
by apprehension of a grave public danger to attempt to
wrest this portion of the executive power from the hands
of Andrew Johnson, The statute of March 2, 1867, as con
strued by nearly two-thirds of the Senate, enacted that
officers appointed by the predecessor of President Johnson,
who, by the law in force when they were appointed, and by
the express terms of their commission, were removable at
the pleasure of the President, should remain in office until
the Senate should consent to the appointment of their suc
cessors, or approve their removal.
In 1867 Congress undertook to determine by statute the
construction of the Constitution as to this disputed ques
tion. Some persons claimed that that power existed in the
provision— "To make all laws which shall be necessary and
proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers,
and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the Gov
ernment of the United States, or in any Department officer
thereof." The Constitutionality and effect of this statute were de
bated on the trial of President Johnson. But it served its
purpose during the last two years of Johnson's Administra
tion. Five days after Grant's inauguration, the House of

138 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
Representatives, by a vote of 138 to 16, passed a bill totally
repealing it. The Senate was unwilling to let go the hold
which it had acquired on the Executive power, but proposed
to suspend the law for one year, so that there might be no
obstacle in the path of General Grant to the removal of the
obnoxious officials who had adhered to Andrew Johnson,
So a compromise was agreed upon. It permitted the Presi
dent to suspend officers during the vacation of the Senate,
but restored officers so suspended at the close of the next
session, unless, in the meantime, the advice and consent of
the Senate had been obtained to a removal or the appoint
ment of a successor.
President Grant, in his message of December, 1869, urged
the repeal of this modified act on the ground that—
"It could not have been the intention of the framers of
the Constitution that the Senate should have the power to
retain in office persons placed there by Federal appoint
ment, against the will of the President. The law is incon
sistent with a faithful and efficient administration of the
Government. What faith can an Executive put in officials
forced on him, and those, too, whom he has suspended for
reason? How will such officials be likely to serve an Ad
ministration which they know does not trust them?"
The House acted on this recommendation, and passed a
bill for the repeal of the statutes of 1867 and 1869 by a vote
of 159 to 25. For this bill the whole Massachusetts dele
gation, including Mr. Dawes and myself, voted. It was
never acted on by the Senate. In 1872 a similar bill passed
the House without a division.
The Democratic Party has invariably supported the posi
tion of Madison and Jackson, that the power of removal is
vested by the Constitution in the President, and cannot
be controlled by legislation.
This was the condition of matters when Mr. Cleveland
came into office March 4, 1885. The Revised Statutes,
Sections 1767-1772, contained in substance the law as it
was left by the legislation of 1867 and 1869 (Sec. 1767):
' ' Every person holding any civil office to which he has been

THE PRESIDENT'S POWER OF REMOVAL. 139
or hereafter may be appointed by and with the consent of
the Senate, and who shall have become duly qualified to act
therein, shall be entitled to hold such office during the term
for which he was appointed, unless sooner removed by and
with the advice and consent of the Senate, or by the ap
pointment, with the like advice and consent, of a successor,
in his place, except as herein otherwise provided."
The President was however authorized to suspend civil
officers during the recess, except Judges, until the next
session of the Senate, and to designate a substitute who
should discharge the duties of the office, himself being sub
ject to removal by the designation of another.
The President was further required to nominate within
thirty days after the commencement of each session of the
Senate persons to fill all vacancies in office, which existed at
the meeting of the Senate, whether temporarily filled or not,
and in place of all officers suspended. If no appointment
were made, with the advice and consent of the Senate during
such session, the office was to be in abeyance.
It will be seen that this statute required the assent of the
Senate to the exercise of the President's power of removal,
although without its consent he could suspend the officer so
as to deprive him of the emoluments of his office.
So the appointment of a new officer by the advice and con
sent of the Senate operated in such case as a removal of
the person then holding office, and a failure of the Senate
to confirm such proposed appointment had the effect to re
store the officer suspended, or temporarily removed.
Under these conditions there grew up a very earnest con
troversy between President Cleveland and the Republican
majority in the Senate, led by the Judiciary Committee, of
which Mr. Edmunds was then Chairman. It has been, I
suppose from the beginning of the Government, the practice
of the President to furnish to the Senate all papers and
documents in his possession relating to the fitness of officials
nominated to the Senate.
Mr. Cleveland made no objection, if I understood him cor
rectly, to continuing that practice. But he claimed that the
Senate had nothing to do with the exercise of his power of

140 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
removal, and therefore was not entitled to be informed of
the evidence upon which he acted in that. So he refused
and sustained the heads of Departments in refusing the re
quest of the Senate to send for its information the docu
ments on file relating to removals.
This position was encountered by the Republican ma
jority, some of them claiming that the Senate had the same
rightful share in the removals as in appointments, and that
no difference was to be made between the two cases. Others
believed, as I did, that although the power of removal might
be exercised by the President alone on his own respon
sibility, without requiring the advice and consent of the
Senate, still that while the President was proceeding under
the law by which the appointment itself operated as a re
moval, and a failure to affirm the appointment restored the
old officer to his place again, that the Senate whose action
was to have that important effect, was entitled not only to
know whether the public interest would be served by the
appointment of the proposed official on his own merits
solely, but also whether it would be best served by the re
moval of his predecessor or by the restoration to office of his
predecessor. Both the President and the Senate were
acting under the existing law, treating it as in force and
valid. Now suppose it were true that the question of ad
vising and consenting to the appointment proposed by the
President were a very doubtful one indeed, the question on
its merits being closely balanced; and the officer to be
removed or restored according as the Senate should consent
or refuse to consent, was a man of conspicuous and un
questioned capacity and character, against whom no reason
able objection was brought, to be removed for political
reasons solely. The Senate certainly, in exercising its
power had the right to consider all that the President had
a right to consider, and therefore it seems to me that we
were justified, in that class of cases, in asking for the docu
ments in his possession bearing upon the question of
removal. It will be observed that in none of the arguments of this
Constitutional question has it been claimed that the Presi-

THE PRESIDENT'S POWER OP REMOVAL. 141
dent had the right without statute authority to suspend
public officers, even if he had the right to remove them.
That right, if he had it at all, he got under the statute under
which he and the Senate were acting.
On the 17th of July, 1885, the President issued an order
suspending George M. Duskin of Alabama, from the office
of Attorney of the United States, by virtue of the authority
conferred upon him by Sec. 1768 of the Revised Statutes,
which is a reenactment of the law of which I have just
spoken. On the 14th of December, 1885, the President nominated
to the Senate John D, Burnett, vice George M, Duskin, sus
pended. The Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary,
as had been usual in such cases, addressed a note to the
Attorney-General, asking that all papers and information
in the possession of the Department touching the con
duct and administration of the officer jjroposed to be re
moved, and touching the character and conduct of the per
son proposed to be appointed, be sent to the Committee for
its information. To this the Attorney-General replied that
he was directed by the President to say that there had been
sent already to the Judiciary Committee all papers in the
Department relating to the fitness of John D. Burnett, re
cently nominated, but that it was not considered that the
public interests would be promoted by a compliance with
said resolution and the transmission of the papers and docu
ment therein mentioned to the Senate in Executive session.
That made a direct issue. Thereupon a very powerful
report affirming the right of the Senate to require such
papers was prepared by Mr. Edmunds, Chairman of the
Committee on the Judiciary, and signed by George F. Ed
munds, Chairman, John J. Ingalls, S. J. R. McMillan,
George F. Hoar, James F. Wilson and William M. Evarts.
This was accompanied by a dissenting report by the min
ority of the Committee, signed by James L. Pugh, Richard
Coke, George C. Vest and Howell E. Jackson, afterward As
sociate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
So it will be seen that the two sides were very powerfully
represented. The report of the Committee was encountered

142 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
by a message from President Cleveland, dated March 1.
1886, in which the President claimed that these papers in
the Attorney-General's Department were in no sense upon
its files, but were deposited there for his convenience. He
said: "I suppose if I desired to take them into my custody
I might do so with entire propriety, and if I saw fit to de
stroy them no one could complain. ' ' Continuing, the Presi
dent says that the demands of the Senate "assume the right
to sit in judgment upon the exercise of my exclusive dis
cretion and Executive function, for which I am solely re
sponsible to the people from whom I have so lately received
the sacred trust of office."
He refers to the laws upon which the Senate based its
demand and said: "After an existence of nearly twenty
years of almost innocuous desuetude these laws are brought
forth — apparently the repealed as well as the unrepealed—
and put in the way of an Executive who is willing, if per
mitted, to attempt an improvement in the methods of
administration. The Constitutionality of these laws is by
no means admitted."
The President seemed to forget that he had taken action
under those laws, and had expressly cited them as the
authority for his action, in his message announcing the
suspension of the official.
The controversy waxed warm in the Senate, and in the
press throughout the country. The effect of it was that the
confirmation of Mr. Cleveland's nominees for important
offices was postponed for several months, in some cases
eight to ten, but as they were exercising their functions
under temporary appointments, it made no difference to
them. When they were at last confirmed by the Senate,
they received commissions dated from the appointment
which took place after the advice and consent of the Senate.
So the four years, for which they could hold office, began
to run then, and when a new Administration of different
politics came into power, they held their office for a period
considerably more than four years, except a few who were
actually removed by President Harrison.
I do not think the people cared much about the dispute.

THE PRESIDENT'S POWER OF REMOVAL. 143
The sympathy was rather with President Cleveland. The
people, both Republicans and Democrats, expected that the
political control of the more important offices would be
changed when a new party came into power, and considered
Mr. Edmunds's Constitutional argument as a mere ingen
ious device to protract the day when their political fate
should overtake the Republican officials.
I united with the majority of the Committee in the report,
for the reasons I have stated above. I still think the posi
tion of the Senate right, and that of the President wrong.
But I never agreed to the claim that the Senate had any
thing to do with the President's power of removal. So I
took the first opportunity to introduce a bill repealing the
provisions of the statute relating to the tenure of office,
which interfered with the President's power of removal,
so that we might go back again to the law which had been
in force from the foundation of the Government, and in the
controversy with President Jackson. A majority of the Re
publicans had attempted to do that, as I have said, in the
first session of Congress under President Grant. But it
had been defeated by the Senate, So I introduced in the
December session, 1886, a bill which became a law March
3, 1887, as follows :
"Be enacted, etc. That sections 1767, 1768, 1769, 1770,
1771, and 1772 of the Revised Statutes of the United States
are hereby repealed,
"Sec. 2. This repeal shall not affect any officer hereto
fore suspended under the provisions of said sections, or any
designation, nomination or appointment heretofore made by
virtue of the provisions thereof.
"Approved, March 3, 1887,"
But the blood of my Republican associates was up. I got
a few Republican votes for my Bill. It passed the House
by a vote of 172 to 67. Every Massachusetts Representa
tive voted for the Bill, as did Speaker Reed, But in general
the votes against it were Republican votes. Governor Long
made an able speech in its favor.

144 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
In the Senate three Republicans only voted with me.
Among the nays were several Senators who, as members
of the House, had voted for a Bill involving the same prin
ciple in 1869. Mr. Evarts, though absent at the time of the
vote, declared his approval of the Bill in debate ; and so, I
think, did Mr, Dawes, although of that I am not sure. Mr.
Edmunds opposed it with all his might and main.
Mr, Sherman, always a good friend of mine, remonstrated
with me. He asked me with great seriousness, if I was
aware of the extent of the feeling among the Republicans of
the Senate at my undertaking to act in opposition to them on
this and one or two other important matters, to which he
alluded. I replied that I must of course do what seemed to
be my duty, and that in my opinion I was rendering a
great service to the Republican Party in getting rid of the
controversy in which the people sympathized generally with
the Democrats, and that I thought the gentlemen who dif
fered from me, would come to my way of thinking pretty
soon. The result proved the soundness of my judgment.
I do not think a man can be found in the Senate now who
would wish to go back to the law which was passed to put
fetters on the limbs of Andrew Johnson. I have asked
several gentlemen who voted against the repeal whether
they did not think so, and they all now agree that the meas
ure was eminently wise and right. The opposition to the
statute of 1887 was but the dying embers of the old fires
of the Johnson controversy.

CHAPTER XII
FISHERIES
If, on looking back, I were to select the things which I
have done in public life in which I take most satisfaction,
they would be, the speech in the Senate on the Fisheries
Treaty, July 10, 1888, the letter denouncing the A. P. A., a
secret, political association, organized for the purpose of
ostracizing our Catholic fellow-citizens, and the numerous
speeches, letters and magazine articles against the subjuga
tion of the Philippine Islands.
I do not think any one argument, certainly that my argu
ment, caused the defeat of the Fisheries Treaty, negotiated
by Mr. Joseph Chamberlain and Mr. Bayard during Mr.
Cleveland's first Administration. The argument against
it was too strong not to have prevailed without any one
man's contribution to it; and the Senate was not so strongly
inclined to support President Cleveland as to give a two-
thirds majority to a measure, unless it seemed clearly for
the public interest. He had his Republican opponents to
reckon with, and the Democrats in the Senate disliked him
very much, and gave him a feeble and half-hearted support.
The question of our New England fisheries has interested
the people of the country, especially of New England, from
our very early history. Burke spoke of them before the
Revolutionary War, as exciting even then the envy of Eng
land. One of the best known and most eloquent passages
in all literature is his description of the enterprise of our
fathers. Burke adds to that description:
"When I reflect upon the effects, when I see how profit
able they have been to us, I feel all the pride of power sink,
and all presumption in the wisdom of human contrivances
10 145

146 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
melt and die away within me. My rigor relents. I pardon
something to the spirit of Liberty."
The War of the Revolution, of course, interrupted for a
time the fisheries of the American colonies. But the fisher
men were not idle. They manned the little Navy whose
exploits have never yet received from history its due meed
of praise. They furnished the ships' companies of Manly
and Tucker and Biddle and Abraham Whipple. They
helped Paul Jones to strike terror into St, George's Chan
nel, In 1776, in the first year of the Revolutionary War,
American privateers, most of them manned by our fisher
men, captured three hundred and forty-two British vessels.
The fisheries came up again after the war, Mr. Jeffer
son commended them to the favor of the nation in an elab
orate and admirable report. He said that before the war
8,000 men and 52,000 tons of shipping were annually em
ployed by Massachusetts in the cod and whale fisheries.
England and France made urgent efforts and offered large
bounties to get our fishermen to move over there.
For a long time the fisheries were aided by direct bounties.
Later the policy of protection has been substituted,
John Adams has left on record that when he went abroad
as our representative in 1778, and again when the Treaty
of 1783 was negotiated, his knowledge of the fisheries and
his sense of their importance were what induced him to
take the mission. He declared that unless our claims were
fully recognized, the States would carry on the war alone.
He said :
"Because the people of New England, besides the natural
claim of mankind to the gifts of Providence on their coast,
are specially entitled to the fishery by their charters, which
have never been declared forfeited."
In the debate on the articles of peace in the House of
Lords, Lord Loughborough, the ablest lawyer of his party,
said: "The fishery on the shores retained by Britain is in the
next article not ceded, but recognized as a right inherent in

FISHERIES 147
the Americans, which though no longer British subjects,
they are to continue to enjoy unmolested."
This was denied nowhere in the debate,
John Adams took greater satisfaction in his achievement
which secured our fisheries in the treaty of 1783 than in any
other of the great acts of his life,* After the treaty of 1783
he had a seal struck with the figures of the pine tree, the deer
and the fish, emblems of the territory and the fisheries se
cured in 1783. He had it engraved anew in 1815 with the
motto, "Piscemur, venemur, ut olim." I have in my pos
session an impression taken from the original seal of 1815.
This letter from John Quincy Adams tells its story:
"Quincy, September 3, 1836.
"My Dear Son: On this day, the anniversary of the defini
tive treaty of peace of 1783, whereby the independence of
the United States of America was recognized, and the anni
versary of your own marriage, I give you a seal, the im
pression upon which was a device of my father, to com
memorate the successful assertion of two great interests in
the negotiation for the peace, the liberty of the fisheries, and
the boundary securing the acquisition of the western lands.
The deer, the pine tree, and the fish are the emblems rep
resenting those interests.
"The seal which my father had engraved in 1783 was with
out the motto. He gave it in his lifetime to your deceased
brother John, to whose family it belongs. That which I
now give to you I had engraved by his direction at London
in 1815, shortly after the conclusion of the treaty of peace
at Ghent, on the 24th of December, 1814, at the negotiation
of which the same interests, the fisheries, and the bounty
had been deeply involved. The motto, 'Piscemur, vene
mur, ut olim, ' is from Horace.
"I request you, should the blessing of heaven preserve the
life of your son, Charles Francis, and make him worthy
of your approbation, to give it at your own time to him as
a token of remembrance of my father, who gave it to me,
and of yours, John Quinoy Adams. ' '
"My son Charles Francis Adams."
* See Ante, p. 131.

148 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
The negotiations of 1815 and 1818 were under the control
of as dauntless and uncompromising a spirit, and one quite
as alive to the value of the fisheries and the dishonor of
abandoning them as that of John Adams himself. If John
Quincy Adams, the senior envoy at Ghent, and the Secre
tary of State in 1818, had consented to a treaty bearing the
construction which is lately claimed he never could have
gone home to face his father. When the War of 1812 ended.
Great Britain set up the preposterous claim that the war
had abrogated all treaties, and that with the treaty of 1783
our rights in the fisheries were gone. There was alarm in
New England; but it was quieted by the knowledge that
John Quincy Adams was one of our representatives. It
was well said at that time that, as
"John Adams saved the fisheries once, his son would a
second time,"
When someone expressed a fear that the other commis
sioners would not stand by his son, the old man wrote in
1814, that—
"Bayard, Russell, Clay, or even Gallatin, would cede the
fee-simple of the United States as soon as they would cede
the fisheries" (pp. 21-22).
These fisheries still support the important city of Glouces
ter, and are a very valuable source of wealth to the hardy
and enterprising people who maintain them. Their story is
full of romance. A touching yearly ceremonial is cele
brated at the present time in Gloucester in commemora
tion of the men who are lost in this dangerous employment.
But the value of the fisheries does not consist chiefly in
historic association or in the wealth which they contribute
to any such community.
They are the nursery of seamen, more valuable and less
costly than the Naval School at Annapolis. They train the
men who are employed in them to get to be at home on the
sea. They are valuable for naval officers and for sailors.
Whenever there shall be a war with a naval power, they

FISHERIES 149
will be thrown out of employ, and will seek service in our
Navy. All the English authorities, I believe, concur in this
opinion. I read in my speech a very interesting letter from
Admiral Porter who testified strongly to that effect.
While it is true that many of our common sailors engaged
in our cod and other fisheries are of foreign birth, it is
equally true that they, almost all of them, come to live in
this country, get naturalized and become ardent Amer
icans. This is true of the natives of the British Dominions.
But it is still more true of the Scandinavians, a hardy and
adventurous race, faithful and brave, who become full of the
spirit of American nationality.
Mr. Bayard who was, I think, inspired by a patriotic and
praiseworthy desire to establish more friendly relations
with Great Britain, seemed to me to give away the whole
American case, and to have been bamboozled by Joseph
Chamberlain at every point. The Treaty gave our markets
to Canada without anything of value to us in return, and
afforded no just indemnity for the past outrages of which
we justly complained, and gave no security for the future.
The Treaty, which required a two-thirds majority for its
ratification, was defeated by a vote of twenty-seven yeas
to thirty nays. There were nine Senators paired in the
affirmative, and eight in the negative. The vote was a strict
party vote, with the exception of Messrs. Palmer and
Turpie, Democrats, who were against it.
I discussed the subject with great earnestness, going
fully into the history of the matter, and the merits of the
Treaty. I think I may say without undue vanity that my
speech was an important and interesting contribution to a
very creditable chapter of our history.

CHAPTER Xni
THE FEDERAL ELECTIONS BILL
In December, 1889, the Republican Party succeeded to
the legislative power in the country for the first time in
sixteen years. Since 1873 there had been a Democratic
President for four years, and a Democratic House or Senate
or both for the rest of the time. There was a general
belief on the part of the Republicans, that the House of
Representatives, as constituted for fourteen years of that
time, and that the Presidency itself when occupied by Mr.
Cleveland, represented nothing but usurpation, by which,
in large districts of the country, the will of the people had
been defeated. There were some faint denials at the time
when these claims were made in either House of Congress
as to elections in the Southern States. But nobody seems
to deny now, that the charges were true. Mr. Senator
Tillman of South Carolina stated in my hearing in the
Senate :
"We took the Government away. We stuffed ballot
boxes. We shot them. We are not ashamed of it. The
Senator from Wisconsin would have done the same thing.
I see it in his eye right now. He would have done it.
With that system— force, tissue ballots, etc.— we got tired
ourselves. So we called a Constitutional Convention, and
we eliminated, as I said, all of the colored people whom we
could under the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments.
"I want to call your attention to the remarkable change
that has come over the spirit of the dream of the Republi
cans; to remind you, gentlemen of the North, that your
slogans of the past— brotherhood of man and fatherhood
of God — have gone glimmering down the ages. The
brotherhood of man exists no longer, because you shoot
150

THE FEDERAL ELECTIONS BILL 151
negroes in Illinois, when they come in competition with your
labor, and we shoot them in South Carolina, when they
come in competition with us in the matter of elections. You
do not love them any better than we do. You used to pre
tend that you did; but you no longer pretend it, except to
get their votes.
"You deal with the Filipinos just as you deal with the
negroes, only you treat them a heap worse."
No Democrat rose to deny his statement, and, so far as
I know, no Democratic paper contradicted it. The Republi
cans, who had elected President Harrison and a Republican
House in 1888, were agreed, with very few exceptions, as to
the duty of proAdding a remedy for this great wrong.
Their Presidential Convention, held at Chicago in 1888,
passed a resolution demanding, "effective legislation to
secure integrity and purity of elections, which are the foun
tains of all public authority," and charged that the "present
Administration and the Democratic majority in Congress
owe their existence to the suppression of the ballot by a
criminal nullification of the Constitution and the laws of
the United States."
In the Senate at the winter session of 1888 and at the
beginning of the December session of 1889, a good many
Bills were introduced for the security of National elections.
Similar Bills were introduced in the House. A special
Committee was appointed there to deal with that subject.
I had, myself, no doubt of the Constitutional authority of
Congress, and of its duty, if it were able, to pass an effective
law for that purpose.
I was the Chairman of the Committee on Privileges and
Elections, and it was my duty to give special attention to
that subject. I had carefully prepared a Bill in the vaca
tion, based on one introduced by Mr. Sherman, providing
for holding, under National authority, separate registrations
and elections for Members of Congress, But when I got to
Washington, I found, on consultation with every Republi
can Senator except one, that a large majority were averse
to an arrangement which would double the cost of elections

152 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
throughout the country, and which, in States where personal
registration every year is required, would demand from
every citizen his presence at the place of polling or regis
tration four times every alternate year. That is, in the
years when there were Congressmen to be elected he must
go twice to be registered— once for the State election, and
once for the Congressional— and twice to vote. So I drew
another Bill. I say I drew it. But I had the great advan
tage of consultation with Senator Spooner of Wisconsin,
a very able lawyer who had lately come to the Senate, and
I can hardly say that the Bill, as it was finally drafted, was
more mine or his. This Bill provided, in substance, that
there should be National officers of both parties who should
be present at the registration and election of Members of
Congress, and at the count of the vote, and who should
know and report everything which should happen, so that
all facts affecting the honesty of the election and the return
might be before the House of Representatives. To this
were added some sections providing for the punishment of
bribery, fraud and misconduct of election officers.
In the meantime the House of Representatives had ap
pointed a special Committee charged with a similar duty.
Members of that Committee saw me, and insisted, with a
good deal of reason, that a measure which concerned the
election of members of the House of Representatives,
should originate in that body. Accordingly the Senate
Committee held back its Bill, and awaited the action of the
House, which sent a Bill to the Senate, July 15, 1890. The
House Bill dealt not only with the matter of elections, but
also with the selection of juries, and some other important
kindred subjects. Our Committee struck out from it every
thing that did not bear directly on elections ; mitigated the
severity of the penalties, and reduced the bulk of the Bill
very considerably. The measure was reported in a new
draft by way of substitute. It remained before the Senate
until the beginning of the next Session, when it was taken
up for action. It was a very simple measure.
It only extended the law which, with the approbation of
both parties, had been in force in cities of more than twenty

THE FEDERAL ELECTIONS BILL 153
thousand inhabitants, to Congressional districts, when there
should be an application to the Court, setting forth the
necessity for its protection. That law had received the
commendation of many leading Democrats, including S. S,
Cox, Secretary Whitney, the four Democratic Congressmen
who represented Brooklyn, and General Slocum, then Rep
resentative at large from the State of New York. It had
been put in force on the application of Democrats quite as
often as on that of Republicans. We added to our Bill a
provision that in case of a dispute concerning an election
certificate, the Circuit Court of the United States in which
the district was situated should hear the case and should
award a certificate entitling the member to be placed on the
Clerk's roll, and to hold his seat until the House itself
should act on the case. That provision was copied from
the English law of 1868 which has given absolute public
satisfaction there. This was the famous Force Bill, and
the whole of it— a provision that, if a sufficient peti
tion were made to the court for that purpose, officers,
appointed by the court, belonging to both parties should
be present and watch the election; that the Judge of
the Circuit Court should determine, in case of dispute,
what name should be put on the roll of the House of
Representatives, in the beginning, subject to the Consti
tutional power of the House to correct it, and that a moder
ate punishment for bribery, intimidation and fraud, on
indictment and conviction by a jury of the vicinage, should
be imposed. That was the whole of it.
But the Southern Democratic leaders, with great adroit
ness, proceeded to repeat the process known as "firing the
Southern heart," They persuaded their people that there
was an attempt to control elections by National authority.
They realised that the waning power of their party at the
South, many of whose business men saw that the path of
prosperity for the South as well as for the North lay in the
adoption of Republican policies, might be reestablished by
exciting the fear of negro domination. The Northern
Democrats, either very ignorantly or wilfully, united in the
outcry. Governor William E. Russell of Massachusetts, a

154 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
gentleman of large influence and popularity with both
parties, telegraphed to President Cleveland a pious thanks
giving for the defeat of this "wicked Bill."
Some worthy Republican Senators became alarmed.
They thought, with a good deal of reason, that it was better
to allow existing evils and conditions to be cured by time,
and the returning conscience and good sense of the people,
rather than have the strife, the result of which must be
quite doubtful, which the enactment and enforcement of this
law, however moderate and just, would inevitably create.
On reflection, I came myself to the conclusion that, while
the Bill was reasonable and there was no reasonable doubt
of the power of Congress to enact it, yet the attempt to pass
it, if it were to fail, would do the cause infinite mischief. It
would be an exhibition of impotence, always injurious to
a political party. It would drive back into the Democratic
Party many men who were afraid of negro domination ; who
looked with great dislike on the assertion of National power
over elections, and whom other considerations would induce
to act with the Republicans. So I thought it was best to
ascertain carefully the prevailing opinion and see if we
were likely to get the Bill through, and, if we found that
unlikely, not to proceed far enough to have a debate in
either House.
Accordingly I visited the House of Representatives, saw
several of my Massachusetts colleagues and some other
leaders. They agreed that, if I found that the Bill could
not, in all probability, pass the Senate, it should be arranged
to lay it aside in the House without making any serious
movement for it there. After that arrangement was made
there was a Senate caucus. I brought up the matter and
moved the appointment of a Committee to consider the
whole question of legislation with reference to the security
of elections. A gentleman who had recently become a
Member of the Senate rose and quite angrily objected to
taking up the matter for consideration. He declared that
he would not consent to have the subject introduced in a
Republican caucus. The proceedings of such caucuses are
supposed to be kept from the public. But they are pretty

THE FEDERAL ELECTIONS BILL 155
sure to leak out, I could not very well get up and say that
my reason for asking for a committee was to see whether
the law should be suppressed or not. So I did not urge my
motion. But I did the best I could.
Before reporting the Bill I saw every Republican Sena
tor and obtained his opinion upon it. I have in my posses
sion the original memoranda of the various answers. Not
only a majority of the Republican Senators, but a majority
of the whole Senate declared emphatically for an Election
Bill, I further consulted them whether the authority, in
case of a disputed election, to order, upon hearing, the
name of the person found to be elected to be placed on the
roll should be lodged in the United States Courts, or in
some special tribunal. Two or three preferred that the
court should not be invoked. But a majority of the whole
Senate favored vesting the power in the courts, and those
who preferred another way stated that they were willing to
abide by the judgment of the Committee,
When the House Bill came up, it was, on the 7th of
August, 1890, reported favorably with my Bill as a substi
tute. Meantime the McKinley Tariff Bill, which Mr. Cleve
land had made, so far as he could, the sole issue in the late
election, had been matured and reported. It affected all
the business interests of the country. They were in a state
of uncertainty and alarm, Mr, Quay of Pennsylvania pro
posed a resolution to the effect that certain enumerated
measures, not including the Election Bill, should be con
sidered at that session, and that all others should be post
poned. That, I suppose, would have had the entire Demo
cratic support and Republicans enough to give it a majority.
It would have postponed the Election Bill without giving
any assurance of its consideration at the short session. So a
conference of Republicans was held at which an agreement
was made, which I drew up, and signed by a majority of the
entire Senate. It entitled the friends of the Election Bill to
be assured that it would be brought to a vote and passed at
the short session, if there were then a majority in its favor.
This is the agreement, of which I have the original, with
the original signatures annexed, in my possession.

156 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
"We will vote: 1. To take up for consideration on the
first day of the next session the Federal Election Bill, and to
keep it before the Senate to the exclusion of other legislative
business, until it shall be disposed of by a vote. 2. To
make such provision as to the time and manner of taking
the vote as shall be decided, by a majority of the Republican
Senators, to be necessary in order to secure such vote, either
by a general rule like that proposed by Mr. Hoar, and now
pending before the committee on rules, or by special rule of
the same purport, applicable only to the Election Bill. ' '
At the next December session the Bill was taken up for
consideration and, after a few days' debate, there was a
motion to lay it aside. Since the measure had been first
introduced, the sentiment in certain parts of the countryi
in favor of the free coinage of silver had been strengthenedw
Several of the Republican Senators were among its most
zealous advocates. There was a motion to lay aside the
Election Bill which was adopted by a bare majority— the
Democrats voting for it and several of the Silver Republi
can Senators, so-called. All but one of these had signed
their names to the promise I have printed. I never have
known by what process of reasoning they reconciled their
action with their word. But I know that in heated political
strife men of honor, even men of ability, sometimes deceive
themselves by a casuistic reasoning which would not con
vince them at other times.
The Election Bill deeply excited the whole country. Its
supporters were denounced by the Democratic papers
everywhere. North and South, with a bitterness which I
hardly knew before that the English language was capable
of expressing. My mail was crowded with letters, many
of them anonymous, the rest generally quite as anonymous,
even if the writer 's name were signed, denouncing me with
all the vigor and all the scurrility of which the writers were
capable. I think this is the last great outbreak of anger
which has spread throughout the American people,
I got, however, a good deal of consolation from the
stanch friendship and support of the Republicans of Mas-

THE FEDERAL ELECTIONS BILL 157
sachusetts, which never failed me during the very height
of this storm. Whittier sent me a volume of poetry which
he had just published, with the inscription written on the
blank leaf in his own hand, ' ' To George F. Hoar, with the
love of his old friend, John G, Whittier, ' ' I think I would
have gone through ten times as much objurgation as I had
to encounter for those few words.
There has never since been an attempt to protect National
elections by National authority. The last vestige of the
National statute for securing purity of elections was re
pealed in President Cleveland's second Administration, un
der the lead of Senator Hill of New York. I have reflected
very carefully as to my duty in that matter, I am clearly
of the opinion that Congress has power to regulate the
matter of elections of Members of the House of Represen
tatives and to make suitable provisions for honest elections
and an honest ascertainment of the result, and that such
legislation ought to be enacted and kept on the statute book
and enforced. But such legislation, to be of any value
whatever, must be permanent. If it only be maintained
in force while one political party is in power, and repealed
when its antagonist comes in, and, is to be constant matter
of political strife and sectional discussion, it is better, in
my judgment, to abandon it than to keep up an incessant,
fruitless struggle. It is like legislation to prohibit by law
the selling of liquor, I believe that it would be wise to
prohibit the sale of liquor, with the exceptions usually made
in prohibitory laws. But if we are to have in any State,
as we have had in so many States, a prohibitory law one
year, another with different provisions the next, a license
law the next, and the difficulty all the time in enforcing
any of them, it is better to give the attempt at prohibition
up and to adopt a local option, or high license, or some
other policy. In other words, it is better to have the second
best law kept permanently on the statute book than to have
the best law there half the time.
So, after Senator Hill's repealing act got through the
Senate, I announced that, so far as I was concerned, and so
far as I had the right to express the opinion of Northern

158 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
Republicans, I thought the attempt to secure the rights of
the colored people by National legislation would be aban
doned until there were a considerable change of opinion
in the country, and especially in the South, and until it had
ceased to become matter of party strife. To that announce
ment. Senator Chandler of New Hampshire, who had been
one of the most zealous advocates of the National laws,
expressed his assent. That statement has been repeated
once or twice on the floor of the Senate. So far as I know,
no Republican has dissented from it. Certainly there has
been no Bill for that purpose introduced in either House
of Congress, or proposed, so far as I know, in the Repub
lican press, or in any Republican platform since.
The question upon which the policy of all National elec
tion laws depends is, At whose will do you hold your right
to be an American citizen? What power can you invoke if
that right be withheld from you? If you hold the right at
will of your State, then you can invoke no power but the
State for its vindication. If you hold it at the will of the
Nation, as expressed by the people of the whole Nation
under the Constitution of the United States, then you are
entitled to invoke the power of the United States for its
enforcement whenever necessary. If you hold it at the
will of the white Democracy of any State or neighborhood
then, as unfortunately seems to be the case in a good many
States, you will be permitted to exercise it only if you are
a white man, and then only so long as you are a Democrat.
I have had during my whole life to deal with that most
difficult of all political problems, the relation to each other,
in a Republic, of men of different races. It is a question
which has vexed the American people from the beginning
of their history. It is, if I am not much mistaken, to vex
them still more hereafter. First the Indian, then the Negro,
then the Chinese, now the Filipino, disturb our peace. In
the near future will come the Italian and the Pole and the
great population of Asia, with whom we are soon to be
brought into most intimate and close relation.
In my opinion, in all these race difficulties and troubles,
the fault has been with the Anglo-Saxon. Undoubtedly the

THE FEDERAL ELECTIONS BILL 159
Indian has been a savage ; the Negro has been a savage ; the
lower order of Chinamen have been gross and sometimes
bestial. The inhabitants of the Philippine Islands, in their
natural rights, which, as we had solemnly declared to be a
self-evident truth, were theirs beyond question, have com
mitted acts of barbarism. But in every case, these inferior
and alien races, if they had been dealt with justly, in my
opinion, would have been elevated by quiet, peaceful and
Christian conduct on our part to a higher plane, and brought
out of their barbarism. The white man has been the
offender. I have no desire to recall the story of the methods by
which the political majorities, consisting in many communi
ties largely of negroes and led by immigrants from the
North, were subdued.
This is not a sectional question.
It is not a race question. The suffrage was conferred on
the negro by the Southern States themselves. They can
always make their own rules. If the negro be ignorant, you
may define ignorance and disfranchise that. If the negro
be vicious, you may define vice and disfranchise that. If
the negro be poor, you may define poverty and disfranchise
that. If the negro be idle, you may define idleness and dis
franchise that. If the negro be lazy, you may define lazi
ness and disfranchise that. If you will only disfranchise
him for the qualities which you say unfit him to vote and
not for his race or the color of his skin there is no Consti
tutional obstacle in your way.
So it was not wholly a race or a color problem. It was
largely a question of party supremacy. In three states,
Alabama, South Carolina and Florida, white Democrats
charged each other with stifling the voice of the majority by
fraudulent election processes, and in Alabama they claimed
that a majority of white men were disfranchised by a false
count of negro votes in the black belt.
It was not wholly unnatural that the men who, in dealing
with each other, were men of scrupulous honor and of un
doubted courage should have brought themselves to do such
things, or at any rate to screen and sympathize with the

160 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
more hot-headed men who did them. The proof in the
public records of those public crimes is abundant. With
the exception of Reverdy Johnson of Maryland there is no
record of a single manly remonstrance, or expression of
disapproval from the lips of any prominent Southern man.
But they had persuaded themselves to believe that a con
test for political power with a party largely composed of
negroes was a contest for their civilization itself. They
thought it like a fight for life with a pack of wolves. In
some parts of the South there were men as ready to mur
der a negro who tried to get an office as to kill a fox
they found prowling about a hen roost. These brave and
haughty men who had governed the country for half a cen
tury, who had held the power of the United States at bay
for four years, who had never doffed their hats to any
prince or noble on earth, even in whose faults or vices there
was nothing mean or petty, never having been suspected of
corruption, who as Macaulay said of the younger Pitt, "If
in an hour of ambition they might have been tempted to
ruin their country, never would have stooped to pilfer from
her," could not brook the sight of a Legislature made up
of ignorant negroes who had been their own slaves, and of
venal carpet-baggers. They could not endure that men,
some of whom had been bought and sold like chattels in the
time of slavery, and others ready to sell themselves, al
though they were freemen, should sit to legislate for their
States with their noble and brave history, I myself,
although I have always maintained, and do now, the equal
right of all men of whatever color or race to a share in the
government of the country, felt a thrill of sadness when I
saw the Legislature of Louisiana in session in the winter
of 1873.
There was a good deal to provoke them also in the char
acter of some of the Northern men who had gone to the
South to take an active part in political affairs. Some of
them were men of the highest character and honor, actuated
by pure and unselfish motives. If they had been met cor
dially by the communities where they took up their abode
they would have brought to them a most valuable quality of

THE FEDERAL ELECTIONS BILL 161
citizenship. If Northern immigration and Northern capital
had been welcomed at the South it would have had as
helpful an influence as it had in California and Oregon.
But the Southern men treated them all alike. I incline to
think that a large number of the men who got political office
in the South, when the men who had taken part in the Re
bellion were still disfranchised, and the Republicans were
still in power, were of a character that would not have been
tolerated in public office in the North. General Willard
Warner of Alabama, a brave Union soldier, a Republican
Senator from that State, was one of the best and bravest
men who ever sat in that body. Governor Packard of
Louisiana was I believe a wise and honest man. But in
general it was impossible not to feel a certain sympathy with
a people, who whatever else had been their faults never
were guilty of corruption or meanness, or the desire to
make money out of public office, in the intolerable loathing
which they felt for these strangers who had taken posses
sion of the high places in their States.
President Grant gave the influence and authority of his
Administration toward maintaining in power the lawfully
chosen Republican State Governments. But in spite of all
he could do they had all been overthrown but two when the
Presidential election was held in 1876. Those two were
South Carolina and Louisiana. The people of those two
States had chosen Republican Governors at the State elec
tion held on the same day with the election of the President.
But these Governors could not hold their power twenty-
four hours without the support of the National Administra
tion. When that was withdrawn the negro and carpet-bag
majority was powerless as a flock of sheep before a pack
of wolves to resist their brave and unscrupulous Democratic
enemy, however inferior the latter in numbers.
In attempting to give a dispassionate account of the his
tory of this great question which has entered so deeply into
the political and social life of the American people almost
from the beginning, it is hard to measure the influence of
race prejudice, of sectional feeling, and of that other power
ful motive, eagerness for party supremacy.
11

162 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
Suffrage was conferred upon the negro by the Southern
States themselves. Under the Constitution every State can
prescribe its own qualifications for suffrage, with the single
exception that no State can deny or abridge the right of a
citizen of the United States to vote on account of race, color
or previous condition of servitude.
But I am bound to say, indeed it is but to repeat what
I have said many times, that my long conflict with their
leaders has impressed me with an ever-increasing admira
tion of the great and high qualities of our Southern people.
I said at Chicago in February, 1903, what I said, in sub
stance, twenty years before in Faneuil Hall, and at about
the same time in the Senate :
' ' Having said what I thought to say on this question, per
haps I may be indulged in adding that although my life,
politically and personally, has been a life of almost constant
strife with the leaders of the Southern people, yet as I grow
older I have learned, not only to respect and esteem, but to
love the great qualities which belong to my fellow citizens
of the Southern States. They are a noble race. We may
well take pattern from them in some of the great virtues
which make up the strength, as they make the glory, of
Free States. Their love of home; their chivalrous respect
for woman; their courage; their delicate sense of honor;
their constancy, which can abide by an opinion or a pur
pose or an interest of their States through adversity and
through prosperity, through the years and through the gen
erations, are things by which the people of the more mer
curial North may take a lesson. And there is another
thing— covetousness, corruption, the low temptation of
money has not yet found any place in our Southern politics.
' ' Now, my friends, we cannot afford to live, we don 't wish
to live, and we will not live, in a state of estrangement from
a people who possess these qualities. They are our kin
dred ; bone of our bone ; flesh of our flesh ; blood of our blood,
and whatever may be the temporary error of any Southern
State I, for one, if I have a right to speak for Massachusetts,
say to her, 'Entreat me not to leave thee, nor to return from

THE FEDERAL ELECTIONS BILL 163
following after thee. For where thou goest I will go, and
where thou stayest, I will stay also. And thy people shall
be my people, and thy God my God. ' ' '
In July, 1898, I was invited to deliver an address before
the Virginia Bar Association. I was received by that com
pany of distinguished gentlemen with a hospitality like that
I had found at Charleston the year before. Certainly the
old estrangements are gone. I took occasion in my address
to appeal to the Virginia Bar to give the weight of their
great influence in sustaining the dignity and authority of
the Supreme Court, in spite of their disappointment at some
of its decisions of Constitutional questions. They received
what I had to say, although they knew I differed from
them on some of the gravest matters which concerned the
State, and had been an anti-slavery man from my youth,
with a respect and courtesy which left nothing to be desired.
At the banquet which followed the address, this toast was
given by William Wirt Henry, a grandson of Patrick Henry,
himself one of the foremost lawyers and historians of the
South. I prize very highly the original which I have in his
handwriting, "Massachusetts and Virginia.
"Foremost in planting the English Colonies in America;
"Foremost in resisting British tyranny;
"Foremost in the Revolution which won our Indepen
dence and established our free institutions;
"May the memories of the past be the bond of the future."
My own endeavor, during my long public life, has been to
maintain the doctrine of the Declaration of Independence,
which declares the right of every man to political equality
by virtue of his manhood, and of every people to self-gov
ernment by virtue of its character as a people. This our
fathers meant to lay down as the fundamental law of States
and of the United States, having its steadfast and immov
able foundation in the law of God. It was never their pur
pose to declare that ignorance or vice or want of experience
of the institutions of a country should not disqualify men
from a share in the Government. Those things they meant

164 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
to leave to the discretion of the power, whether State or Na
tional, which was to prescribe the qualifications of suffrage.
But they did not mean that the accident of birthplace, or the
accident of race, or the accident of color, should enter into
the question at all. To this doctrine I have, in my humble
way, endeavored to adhere. In dealing with the Chinese, or
any class of immigrants, I would prescribe as strict a rule as
the strictest for ascertaining whether the immigrant meant
in good faith to be an American citizen, whether he meant to
end his life here, to bring his wife and children with him,
whether he loved American institutions, whether he was fit to
understand the political problems with which the people had
to deal, whether he had individual worth, or health of body
or mind. I would make, if need be, ten years or twenty years,
as the necessary period of residence for naturalization.
I would deal with the Negro or the German or the French
man or the Italian on the same principle. But the one thing
I have never consented to is that a man shall be kept out of
this country, or kept in a position of inferiority, while he is
in it, because of his color, because of his birthplace, or be
cause of his race.
One matter in connection with the management of the
Elections Bill I have never been able to think of since with
out a shudder. The Democrats in the Senate, led by Mr.
Gorman, the most skilful of their leaders, endeavored to
defeat the bill by the tactics of delay. If the debate could
be prolonged so that it was impossible to get a vote with
out the loss of the great Appropriation Bills, or some of
them, the bill, of course, must be laid aside. So the Re
publicans, on the other hand, as is usual in such cases, re
frained from debate, leaving their antagonists to take up
the time. Every afternoon at about five o 'clock some Dem
ocrat would come to me saying that he was to take the floor,
but that he did not feel well, or was not quite ready
with some material, and ask me as a personal favor to let
the matter go over until the next morning. This happened
so often that I became satisfied it was a concerted
scheme, and made up my mind that I would not yield to
such a request again.

THE FEDERAL ELECTIONS BILL 165
But one afternoon Senator Wilson of Maryland, a quiet
and most estimable gentleman, whom I had known very well,
and for whom I had a high regard, came to me and said he
felt quite unwell ; he could go on that afternoon, if I insisted
upon it; but he would like much better to put off speaking
till the next day. I was just beginning my answer to the
effect that I had heard that so often that I had determined I
would not yield again to the request. But I said to myself.
It cannot be possible that this man would undertake to de
ceive me. He is a gentleman of high character, absolutely
honorable and incapable of falsehood. So I answered. Of
course, Mr. Wilson, if you are ill, I will consent to your
desire, Mr. Wilson made his speech the next day. This
was December 15. A few weeks after, on the 24th of Feb
ruary, Mr. Wilson died suddenly of heart disease. It was
an affection of which he had been conscious for some years,
and which he had for some time expected would cause
sudden death. I dare say if he had been compelled to pro
ceed with his speech that day it would have been fatal. In
that case my life would have been embittered by the
memory. We had a meeting of the Republican members of the Com
mittee, for consultation, before we reported the Bill. Mr.
Evarts, while he approved the principle of the measure,
shared very strongly my own hesitation, caused by the fear
of the political effect of the defeat of a measure likely to
excite so much angry strife throughout the country. After
hearing the opinion of those who favored going on with
the Bill, Mr. Evarts said: "I spent a Sunday with Judge
Kent on the Hudson a good many years ago, with several
New York lawyers. We all went to the Episcopal church
in the forenoon, and dined with the Judge after church.
During the service one of the company kept far behind in
the responses, which annoyed the Judge a good deal. At
dinner he broke out, 'Davis, why can't you descend into
hell with the rest of the congregation?' I will descend into
hell with the rest of the congregation. ' '
Mr. Evarts made the descent and stood loyally by the
measure in the debate to the best of his great ability.

CHAPTER XIV
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS AND THE PRESIDENTIAL
SUCCESSION BILL
When I entered the Senate, I found one very serious in
convenience and one very great public danger in existing
conditions. The great inconvenience grew out of the fact that by
the Constitution the session of Congress must end on the
fourth of March every other year. A third of the Senate
goes out at the same time, and every fourth year the Presi
dential term ends. That session of Congress meets, accord
ing to our usage, on the first Monday of December. The
meeting cannot well come much earlier without preventing
the members of the two Houses of Congress from taking part
in the political campaign, where they are justly expected
by the people to give an account of their stewardship, and
to discuss the questions to be considered by the people in
the election. So there are but thirteen weeks in which to
pass fourteen or fifteen great Appropriation Bills, making
it impossible to deal with any other great subject except by
unanimous consent. The result is also that the Appropria
tion Bills are put in the power of a very few men indeed.
The House has to submit to the dictation of the Appropria
tion Committee, and cannot be allowed to debate, or even
to have a separate vote on matters which nearly the whole
House would like to accomplish, if there were time, but
which the Chairman of the Appropriation Committee, who
is usually omnipotent with his associates, may happen to
dislike. On the other hand, in the Senate, where there is
no cloture rule, any single member, or at best, a very few
members, can defeat an Appropriation Bill and compel an
extra session by exercising their right of uncontrolled
debate. 166

THE PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION 167
Besides; people from all parts of the country like to
attend the inauguration of a new President. The fourth of
March is at an inclement season, and is apt to be an in
clement day, and it may come on Saturday or Sunday or
Monday. So persons who attend may be obliged to be away
from home over Sunday, and a great many persons have lost
their health or life from exposure in witnessing the inaugu
ration. I prepared a Constitutional amendment providing that
the inauguration should take place on the last Thursday in
April. I have reported this to the Senate several times. It
has always passed that body with scarcely a dissenting
vote, on debate and explanation. If that had been adopted,
if the session were to begin in the middle of November, a
week after the November elections— which could be accom
plished by an act of Congress,— instead of thirteen weeks,
to which the session is now limited, there would be a session
of twenty-three or twenty-four weeks. This would give
time for the consideration of such legislation as might be
needful. It would probably, also, permit the shortening
somewhat of the long session, which not infrequently ex
tends to July or August. But the plan has never found
much favor in the House. Speaker Reed, when he was in
power, said rather contemptuously, that "Congress sits
altogether too long as it is. The less we have of Congress,
the better,"
The public danger is found in the fact that there is no pro
vision in the Constitution for the case where the President
elect dies before inauguration. The provision is :
"In case of the Removal of the President from Office, or
of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the
Powers and Duties of the said Office, the same shall devolve
on the Vice-President, and the Congress may by Law pro
vide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or In
ability, both of the President and Vice-President, declaring
what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer
shall act accordingly, until the Disability shall be removed,
or a President shall be elected."

168 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
Strictly construed, it is only in the case of the death,
inability, etc., of a President, that a Vice-President can suc
ceed, or in case of the death, inability, etc, of the President
and Vice-President both, that Congress has power to declare
on whom the office shall devolve. It must be a President
and Vice-President that die; not merely a President and
Vice-President-elect. That this is not an imaginary danger
is shown by the fact of the well-known scheme to assassinate
Lincoln on his way to the seat of the Government, and also
by the fact that either the President or the Vice-President
has died in office so many times in the recollection of men
now living. President Harrison died during his term ; Pres
ident Taylor died during his term; Vice-President King
died during Pierce's term; President Lincoln died during
his second term; Vice-President Wilson died during Grant's
term; President Garfield died during his term; Vice-Presi
dent Hendricks died during Cleveland's term; Vice-Presi
dent Hobart died during McKinley 's term, and President
McKinley during his own second term. So within sixty
years eight of these high officials have died in office ; five of
them within thirty years ; four of them within twenty years.
I have also drawn and repeatedly procured the passage
through the Senate of an amendment to the Constitution to
protect the country against this danger. That also has
failed of attention in the House. I suppose it is likely that
nothing will be done about the matter until the event shall
happen, as is not unlikely, that both President and Vice-
President-elect shall become incapacitated between the elec
tion and the time for entering upon office.
I was more successful in providing against another situa
tion that might prove quite awkward. In Washington's
Administration Congress exercised, as far as it could, the
power given by the Constitution to provide against the death
or disability of both the President and Vice-President, if it
should happen after they had entered upon office, as follows :
"In case of removal, death, resignation or inability of
both the President and the Vice-President of the United
States, the President of the Senate, or, if there is none, then

THE PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION 169
the Speaker of the House, for the time being, shall act as
President, until the disability is removed or a President
elected. ' '
There is a tradition that when this awkward arrange
ment was made, the proposition that the Secretary of State
should succeed in the case of such vacancy was defeated by
the suggestion that Mr. Jefferson had too much power and
consequence already. The arrangement seemed to me
clearly objectionable. In the first place the Vice-President,
who, it is supposed, has died or become incapable, is the
Constitutional President of the Senate. The Senate, under
the practice and construction of its power which prevailed
down to a very recent period, only elected a President pro
tempore when the Vice-President vacated the chair. His
office terminated when the Vice-President resumed it, and
there was no Constitutional obligation on the Senate to elect
a President pro tempore at all. So it was quite uncertain
whether there would be a President pro tempore of the Sen
ate at any particular time, especially when the Senate was
not in session. There have been two instances where the
President of the Senate has refused to vacate the chair, for
the reason that he did not desire to have a President pro
tempore elected, and thereby have an honor conferred on a
member of another party than his own. That happened
once in the case of Vice-President Gerry, and again, within
my personal knowledge, in the case of Vice-President
Arthur. When he succeeded to the Presidency there was
no President of the Senate who would have taken his place
if he too had happened to be assassinated. So of the
Speaker of the House. For a great many years the first
session of a newly-elected House of Representatives has
begun in December. There is no Speaker from the previous
fourth of March until that time. Beside, the Senate, whose
members hold office for six years and of whom only one-
third goes out every two years, is very apt to have a ma
jority whose political opinions are opposed to those which
have prevailed in the last Presidential election. So, if the
President and Vice-President both die before taking their

170 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
seats, the President of the Senate is quite likely to bring
into the Executive Office opinions which the people have
just rejected in the election.
On the other hand, the Secretary of State is always a
member of the party that has prevailed in the last election,
and is usually the member of the party, next to the President
himself, highest in its confidence. Our Secretaries of State,
with rare exceptions, have been among the very ablest public
men of the country. Among them have been Timothy Pick
ering, John Marshall, James Madison, James Monroe, John
Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, Martin Van Buren, Edward
Livingston, Louis McLane, John Forsyth, Daniel Webster,
John C. Calhoun, James Buchanan, John M. Clayton,
Edward Everett, William L. Marcy, Lewis Cass, William
H. Seward, Elihu B. Washburne, Hamilton Fish, William
M. Evarts, James G. Blaine, Thomas F. Bayard, John Sher
man, and John Hay. These men, with scarcely an excep
tion, have been among the very foremost statesmen of their
time. Several of them have been Presidents of the United
States, and a good many more of them have been prominent
candidates for the Presidency. On the other hand, the list
of Presidents of the Senate contains few names of any con
siderable distinction. Another objection to the arrangement
was the fact that the President of the Senate and the Speaker
of the House might be changed at the will of the body that
elected them. So the acting President might be displaced
at the will of a political body. There is a good deal of
reason, also, for claiming that if Congress declare that the
officer should act as President, he must discharge the duties
of his office and the duties of President at the same time, a
burden which would be very hard for one man to support.
Accordingly I drew and introduced the existing law, which
reads as follows:
"Be it enacted, etc.. That in case of removal, death, resig
nation or inability of both the President and Vice-President
of the United States, the Secretary of State, or if there be
none, or in case of his removal, death, resignation or in
ability, then the Secretary of the Treasury, or if there be

THE PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION 171
none, or in case of his removal, death, resignation or in
ability, then the Secretary of War, or if there be none, or in
case of his removal, death, resignation or inability, then the
Attorney-General, or if there be none, or in case of his re
moval, death, resignation or inability, then the Secretary of
the Interior, shall act as President until the disability of the
President or Vice-President is removed or a President shall
be elected :
"Provided, That whenever the powers and duties of the
office of President of the United States shall devolve upon
any of the persons named herein, if Congress be not then
in session, or if it would not meet in accordance with law
within twenty days thereafter, it shall be the duty of the
person upon whom said powers and duties shall devolve to
issue a proclamation convening Congress in extraordinary
session, giving twenty days ' notice of time of meeting.
"Sec, 2, That the preceding section shall only be held
to describe and to apply to such officers as shall have been
appointed by the advice and consent of the Senate to the
offices therein named, and such as are eligible to the office of
President under the Constitution, and not under impeach
ment by the House of Representatives of the United States
at the time the powers and duties of the office shall devolve
upon them respectively,
"Seo. 3, That sections one hundred and forty-six, one
hundred and forty-seven, one hundred and forty-eight, one
hundred and forty-nine and one hundred and fifty of the
Revised Statutes are hereby repealed {January 19, 1886)."
There was some objection to it at first. It was resisted very
strenuously to the end by Senator Edmunds, But after full
discussion it passed the Senate with few dissenting votes.
In the House Mr. Reed, afterward Speaker, appealed
without success to the political feeling of his associates,
demanding to know if they would rather have Mr. Bayard,
who was then Secretary of State, than John Sherman, who
then happened to be President of the Senate, for President
of the United States. But the House, also, by a large ma
jority, passed the measure.

CHAPTER XV
PRESIDENT CLEVELAND'S JUDGES
I EARNESTLY Supported William B. Hornblower against
the opposition of Senator Hill, when he was nominated by
Mr. Cleveland for Judge of the Supreme Court of the
United States. I was then on the Judiciary Committee. I
made very careful inquiry, and had reason to believe that
the best lawyers in New York thought highly of him. Judge
Gray told me that Mr. Hornblower had argued a case in
the Court not long before, and that as the Judges walked
out Judge Blatchf ord said to him : " I hope you have as good
a man in your Circuit to succeed you, when the time comes,
as we have in ours in Mr. Hornblower to succeed me."
I did not, however, support Mr, Wheeler H. Peckham.
The newspapers circulated the story extensively that— to
use the phrase of one of them— I "led the opposition."
That was not true. I expected to vote for Mr. Peckham
until just before the vote was taken. I had communicated
my expectation to support him to Senator Vilas, who had
charge of the case. I thought before the vote was taken it
was my duty to tell him I had changed my mind. So I went
round to his seat and told him. Nobody else knew my pur
pose till I voted.
I had no political sympathy with Senator Hill, still less
with the claim often imputed to the Senate by writers of
newspapers, but of which I have never seen the slightest
evidence, that Senators have the right to dictate such
appointments. But I thought Mr. Cleveland ought not to
have made such an appointment without consulting Mr. Hill,
who was a lawyer of eminence and knew the sentiment of
the majority of the Democratic Party. Mr. Cleveland had
nominated in succession two persons to an office which ought
172

PRESIDENT CLEVELAND'S JUDGES 173
to be absolutely non-partisan, who belonged to a very small
company of men devoted to his personal fortunes, who had
bitterly attacked Mr. Hill. I should not, however, have
deemed this objection sufficient to justify a vote against Mr.
Peckham, but for the fact that I became satisfied he was a
man of strong prejudices, with little of the judicial temper
or quality about him, and quite likely to break down under
the strain of heavy responsibility.
I urged Mr. Vilas to ask President Cleveland to send in
the name of Mr. Hornblower again, having some hope that
the Senate would reconsider its action in his case. But
President Cleveland solved the difficulty quite skilfully by
sending in the name of Senator White of Louisiana, a most
admirable gentleman and Judge, and afterward, when there
came another vacancy, that of Rufus W. Peckham of New
York, both of whom were confirmed, I believe, without an
objection. I just referred to Senator William F. Vilas, of Wisconsin.
I should like to put on record my great esteem for his char
acter as a man, and the excellence of his service as a Sena
tor. He was on the Judiciary Committee while I was Chair
man, and also for a time when his party had the majority.
He was industrious, wise, conservative, courteous, and fair,
a most admirable lawyer, full of public spirit, well ac
quainted with the mechanism of the Government, and doing
always much more than his full share of the work of the
Committee and of the Senate. I hope the country may have
again the benefit of his great ability in some department of
the public service.
Chief Justice Fuller said with singular felicity :
"Mr. Justice Lamar always underrated himself. This
tendency plainly sprang from a vivid imagination. With
him the splendid passions attendant upon youth never faded
into the light of common day, but they kept before him as an
ideal, the impossibility of whose realization, as borne in
upon him from time to time, opposed him with a sense of
failure. Yet the conscientiousness of his work was not

174 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
lessened, nor was the acuteness of his intellect obscured by
these natural causes of his discontent; nor did a certain
Oriental dreaminess of temperament ever allure him to
abandon the effort to accomplish something that would last
after his lips were dumb."
Matthew Arnold says in one of his essays that Americans
lack distinction. I have a huge liking for Matthew Arnold.
He had a wonderful intellectual vision. I do not mean to
say that his three lectures on translating Homer are the
greatest literary work of our time. But I think, on the
whole, that I should rather have the pair of intellectual
eyes which can see Homer as he saw him, than any other
mental quality I can think of. But Mr. Arnold has never
seemed to me to be fortunate in his judgment about Amer
icans. He allows this quality of distinction to Grant, but
denies it, for all the world, to Abraham Lincoln. The
trouble with Mr. Arnold is that he never travelled in the
United States, when on this side the Atlantic. He spent
his time with a few friends who had little love for things
American. He visited a great city or two, but never made
himself acquainted with the American people. He never
knew the sources of our power, or the spirit of our people.
Yet there is a good deal of truth in what he says of the
Americans of our time. It is still more true of the English
men of our time. The newspaper, and the telegraph, and
the telephone, and the constant dissemination of news, the
public library and the common school and college mix us
all up together and tend to make us, with some rare and de
lightful exceptions, eminently commonplace. Certainly the
men who are sent to Congress do not escape this wearying
quality. I know men who have been in public office for
more than a generation, who have had enormous power and
responsibility, to whom the country is indebted for safety
and happiness, who never said a foolish thing, and rarely
ever when they had the chance failed to do a wise one, who
are utterly commonplace. You could not read the story of
their public career without going to sleep. They never said
anything worth quoting, and never did anything that any

PRESIDENT CLEVELAND'S JUDGES 175
other equally good and sensible man would not have done
in their place. I have a huge respect for them. I can never
myself attain to their excellence. Yet I would as lief spend
my life as an omnibus horse as live theirs.
But we have occasionally some delightful exceptions. It
so happens that some of the best, most attractive men
I have known, were from the South. They are men
who stood by the Southern people through thick and thin
during the Rebellion, and in resisting every attempt on the
part of the victorious Northern majority to raise the colored
people to a political equality. They have all of them, I
believe, been Free Traders. In general they have opposed
the construction of the Constitution which has prevailed in
New England and throughout the North, and in which I
have myself always believed.
I have never had much personal intimacy with any of
them. I have had some vigorous conflicts with one or two
of them. Yet I have had from each before our association
ended, assurances of their warm personal regard. One of
them, perhaps, on the whole, the most conspicuous, is Lucius
Q. C. Lamar. His very name, Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus,
indicates that his father must have looked for his example
for his son to follow far away from the American life about
him. Lamar was one of the most delightful of men. His Eng
lish style, both in conversation and in public speaking, was
fresh and original, well adapted to keep his hearers ex
pectant and alert, and to express the delicate and subtle
shades of meaning that were required for the service of his
delicate and subtle thought.
He had taken the part of the South with great zeal. He
told me shortly before he left the Senate that he thought it
was a great misfortune for the world that the Southern
cause had been lost. He stood by his people, as he liked to
call them, in their defeat and in their calamity without flinch
ing or reservation. While he would, I am sure, have done
nothing himself not scrupulously honorable, and while there
was nothing in his nature of cruelty, still less of brutality,
yet he did not stop to inquire into matters of right and wrong

176 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
when a Southerner had got into trouble, by reason of any
thing a white Democrat had done in conflict with the National
authority. Yet Mr. Lamar desired most sincerely the recon
ciliation of the sections, that the age-long strife should come
to an end and be forgotten, and that the whole South should
share the prosperity and wealth and refinement and con
tentment, which submission to the new order of things would
bring. He was a far-sighted man. He was not misled by tem
porary excitement or by deference to the majority of his
political friends who were less far-sighted than he, into any
mistakes. When there was an attempt to break faith in
regard to what was called the Wheeler compromise in the
Democratic House, Mr. Lamar interposed and prevented it.
Just after the count under the Electoral Commission had
been completed, there was a very dangerous movement to
delay action on the returns from Vermont, which would have
prevented the completion of the work before the 4th of
March. Mr. Lamar put forth all his powerful influence
among his Democratic associates on the floor of the House,
and saved the peace of the country. He knew very well
that the cause of the South, as he would have called it,
and the cause of the Democratic Party itself, would not be
promoted by a new civil convulsion, still less by any breach
of faith.
He voted against the free coinage of silver in spite of the
fact that the people of his State earnestly favored it, and
against the express instructions of its Legislature. In 1874,
at a time when the passions of the Civil War seemed to blaze
higher, and the angry conflict between the sections seemed
to blaze higher even than during the war itself, he astonished
and shocked the people of the South by pronouncing a tender
and affectionate eulogy on Charles Sumner. He testified to
Sumner 's high moral qualities, to his intense love of liberty,
to his magnanimity, and to his incapacity for a personal
animosity, and regretted that he had restrained the impulse
which had been strong on him to go to Mr. Sumner and
offer him his hand and his heart with it. It would have
been almost impossible for any other man who had done

PRESIDENT CLEVELAND'S JUDGES 177
either of these things to go back to Mississippi and live.
But it never shook for a moment the love for Lamar of a
people who knew so well his love for them.
Afterward Mr. Lamar was made an Associate Justice of
the Supreme Court of the United States. I voted against
him— in which I made a mistake— not because I doubted his
eminent integrity and ability, but because I thought that he
had little professional experience and no judicial experience,
and that his health— he was then beginning to show signs of
the disease which ended his life shortly after— was not suffi
cient for undertaking the great study and the labor which
the new office would require. He was not long on the Bench,
and was not greatly distinguished as a Judge. But he wrote
a few opinions which showed his great intellectual capacity
for dealing with the most complicated legal questions, espe
cially such are apt to arise in patent cases.
He was a delightful man in ordinary conversation. He
had an infinite wit and great sense of humor. He used to
tell delightful stories of queer characters and events that had
come within his own observation. My relations to him for a
good while were entirely antagonistic. We had some very
sharp controversies. He would never tolerate any expres
sion, in his presence, of disrespect to Jefferson Davis. He
would always meet the statement that Mr. Davis was a
traitor with a vigorous denial. When I made a motion ex
cepting Jefferson Davis from the benefit of the bill to pen
sion the soldiers of the Mexican War, Mr. Lamar compared
him to Prometheus, and me to the vulture preying upon his
liver. He was the last person from whom I should have
expected an expression of compliment, or even of kindness
in those days. Yet when the question of my reelection was
pending in 1883 and the correspondent of a newspaper
which was among my most unrelenting and unscrupulous
opponents thought he might get some material which would
help him in his attacks, called upon Mr. Lamar in the Demo
cratic cloak room, and asked him what he thought of me,
Mr. Lamar replied in language which seems almost ridicu
lous to quote, and which was inspired only by his indignation
at the attempt to use him for such a purpose : ' ' Sir, Massa-
12

178 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
chusetts has never been more powerfully represented in the
Senate, not even in the time of Daniel Webster, than by Mr.
Hoar." It was with feeling of great pleasure that in 1886 I saw
Harvard confer her highest honor on this delightful Missis-
sippian. He was, in his time, I think, the ablest representative,
certainly among the ablest, of the opinions opposed to mine.
He had a delightful and original literary quality which, if
the lines of his life had been cast amid other scenes than
the tempest of a great Revolution and Civil War, might
have made him a dreamer like Montaigne ; and a chivalrous
quality that might have made him a companion of Athos and
D 'Artagnan, His eulogy on Calhoun, with whom in general he sym
pathized, was a masterpiece of eloquence, but his eulogy on
Charles Sumner, which probably no other man in the South
could have uttered without political death, was greater still.
It was a good omen for the country. At the moment he
uttered it, I suppose Charles Sumner was hated throughout
the South with an intensity which in this day of reconcilia
tion it is almost impossible to conceive. Yet Mr. Lamar in
his place in the House of Representatives dared to utter
these sentences :
"Charles Sumner was bom with an instinctive love of
freedom, and was educated from his earliest infancy to the
belief that freedom is the natural and indefeasible right of
every intelligent being having the outward form of man.
In him, in fact, this creed seems to have been something
more than a doctrine imbibed from teachers, or a result of
education. To him it was a grand intuitive truth, inscribed
in blazing letters upon the tablet of his inner consciousness,
to deny which would have been for him to deny that he him
self existed. And along with this all-controlling love of
freedom he possessed a moral sensibility keenly intense and
vivid, a conscientiousness which would never permit him to
swerve by the breadth of a hair from what he pictured to
himself as the path of duty. Thus were combined in him

PRESIDENT CLEVELAND'S JUDGES 179
the characteristics which have in all ages given to re
ligion her martyrs, and to patriotism her self-sacrificing
heroes." After speaking of the kindness of Mr. Sumnfer to the
South, and his spirit of magnanimity, he added :
"It was my misfortune, perhaps my fault, personally
never to have known this eminent philanthropist and states
man. The impulse was often strong upon me to go to him
and offer him my hand, and my heart with it, and to express
to him my thanks for his kind and considerate course toward
the people with whom I am identified. If I did not yield
to that impulse, it was because the thought occurred that
other days were coming in which such a demonstration might
be more opportune and less liable to misconstruction. Sud
denly and without premonition, a day has come at last to
which, for such a purpose, there is no to-morrow. My
regret is therefore intensified by the thought that I failed
to speak to him out of the fulness of my heart while there
was yet time. ' '
That Mr. Lamar well understood what was to be the effect
of this wonderful speech upon the whole country is shown
by his letter to his wife the next day, in which he says : "I
never in all my life opened my lips with a purpose more
single to the interests of our Southern people than when I
made this speech."
I said of this speech in an article in the North American
Review :
"The eloquent words of Mr. Lamar so touched the hearts
of the people of the North that they may fairly be said to
have been of themselves an important influence in mitigating
the estrangements of a generation."
The following letter explains my absence from the Senate
when Judge Lamar's death was announced:

180 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
Washington, D, C, January 29, 1893.
My Dear Madam:
I was kept in bed, under the orders of my physician, the
day the death of your lamented husband was announced to
the Senate. I regret exceedingly that I could not be in my
place to express my sence of the great public loss and my
warm personal admiration for his great qualities of intellect
and of heart, I served with him in the House of Represen
tatives for more than four years, and in the Senate for more
than eight years. It was a stormy and exciting time. We
differed widely on very grave questions, and this difference
was more than once very sharply manifested in public; but
the more I knew him, the more satisfied I became of the
sincerity of his patriotism, of his profound and far-sighted
wisdom, of the deep fountain of tenderness in his affection
ate and simple heart, and of his brave and chivalrous quality
of soul, I was more than once indebted to him for very
great kindness indeed, under circumstances when I do not
think he supposed it would ever come to my knowledge.
Some of his judgments on the Supreme Bench are charac
terized by marvellous beauty and felicity of style. He main
tained his place on that great tribunal to the satisfaction of
his friends and the admiration of his countrymen, in spite
of failing health and of the fact that the best years of his life
had been given to other studies than that of the law.
It is a good omen for our country that the friends and dis
ciples of Charles Sumner unite with the people of Missis
sippi in their reverence for this noble and manly character.
I am f aithfuly yours,
George F. Hoar.
Mrs, Lamar.

CHAPTER XVI
SOME SOUTHERN SENAl'ORS
Another most delightful Democrat, with whom it was my
pleasure to form quite intimate relations, was Senator How
ell E. Jackson of Tennessee. He had been in the Confeder
ate service. I think he did not approve Secession, but like
most others who dwelt in the South, thought his allegiance
primarily due to his State. He was an admirable lawyer,
faithful, industrious, clear-headed and learned in the law.
He had been a Whig before the war, and, like other South-
em Whigs, favored a moderate protective tariff. He was
anxious to have the South take her place as a great manu
facturing community, for which her natural resources of
iron and coal and her great water power gave her such
advantages. He was opposed to the Republican measures
of Reconstruction and to placing the negro on a political
equality with the whites. But he also discountenanced and
condemned any lawless violepce or fraud.
Senator Jackson was appointed Judge of the United
States Circuit Court by President Cleveland. He held that
office when a vacancy on the Bench of the Supreme Court
came by the death of Justice Lamar. The election of 1892
had resulted in the choice of President Cleveland. The
Democrats in the Senate were determined that no Republi
can who should be nominated by President Harrison should
be confirmed, and did not mean, if they could help it, that
the place should be filled during the December session. The
only way to get such a confirmation would be for the Re
publican majority to put the question ahead of all other
subjects, to go into Executive session every day as soon as
the Senate met, and remain there until the judgeship was
disposed of. The Democrats must then choose between de-
181

182 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
feating the Appropriation Bills, and compelling an extra
session, which the in-coming Administration would not like.
In order to do that, however, the small Republican majority
must hold together firmly, and be willing to take the risk of
an extra session.
I called on President Harrison and urged upon him the
appointment of Judge Jackson. I represented that it was
desirable that there should be some Democrats upon the
Bench, and that they should be men who had the confidence
of their own part of the country and of the country at large ;
that Judge Jackson was a man of admirable judicial quality;
that he had the public confidence in a high degree, and
that it would be impossible for the Democratic Party to
object to his selection, while it would strengthen the Bench.
So I thought that even if we could put one of our men
there without difficulty, it would be wise to appoint Jack
son. President Harrison was very unwilling, indeed, to take
this view. He answered me at first in his rough impulsive
way, and seemed very unwilling even to take the matter into
consideration. But after a considerable discussion he asked
me to ascertain whether the Republicans would be willing,
if he sent in a Republican name, to adopt the course above
suggested, and transact no other business until the result
was secured, even at the risk of defeating the Appropriation
Bills and causing an extra session. I went back to the
Senate and consulted a good many Senators. Nearly all of
them said they would not agree to such a struggle; that
they thought it very undesirable indeed; that the effect
would be bad. So it was clear that nothing could be
accomplished in that way. I went back to the White
House and reported. I got the authority of the gentlemen
I had consulted to tell the President what they said. The
result was the appointment of Judge Jackson, to the great
satisfaction of the country. He was a very industrious and
faithful Judge. But his useful life came to an end soon
afterward, I suppose largely as the result of overwork in his
important and laborious office.

SOME SOUTHERN SENATORS 183
The Attorney-General said of Mr. Justice Jackson : ' ' He
was not so much a Senator who had been appointed Judge,
as a Judge who had served for a time as Senator. ' '
I served with Senator Jackson on the Committee on
Claims, and on the Committee on the Judiciary. We did
not meet often in social life. He rarely came to my room.
I do not remember that I ever visited him in his home. But
we formed a very cordial and intimate friendship. I have
hardly known a nature better fitted, morally or intellectually,
for great public trusts, either judicial or political, than his.
In the beginning, I think the framers of the Constitution in
tended the Senate to be a sort of political Supreme Court,
in which, as a court of final resort, the great conflicts which
had stirred the people, and stirred the Representatives of
the people in the lower House, should be decided without
heat and without party feeling. It was, I have been told,
considered a breach of propriety to allude to party divisions
in the early debates in the Senate, as it would be now deemed
a breach of propriety to allude to such divisions in the Su
preme Court of the United States.
Howell E. Jackson had this ancient Senatorial tempera
ment. He never seemed to me to be thinking of either
party or section or popular opinion, or of the opinion of
other men ; but only of public duty.
He never flinched from uttering and maintaining his
opinions. He never caressed or cajoled his political
antagonists. It is a great tribute to his personal quality
that he owed his election as Senator to his political oppon
ents who, when his own party was divided, joined a majority
of his party to elect him. He also, as has been said, owed
his appointment as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court
to the impression which his probity and ability had made
on his pohtical opponents. When sick with a fatal illness
he left a sick bed to take his place upon the Bench at the call
of duty when the Income Tax case was to be decided. There
is no doubt that the effort hastened his death. I do not
agree with the conclusion to which he came on that great
occasion. But the fact that he came to that conclusion is
enough to make me feel sure that there were strong reasons

184 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
for it, which might well convince the clearest understand
ing, and be reconciled with the most conscientious desire to
do right.
No list of the remarkable Senators of my time would be
complete which did not contain the name of Senator Vest of
Missouri. He was not a very frequent speaker, and never
spoke at great length. But his oratoric powers are of a
very high order. On some few occasions he has made
speeches, always speaking without notes, and I suppose
without previous preparation so far as expression and style
go, which have very deeply moved the Senate, though made
up of men who have been accustomed to oratory and not
easily stirred to emotion. Mr. Vest is a brave, sincere,
spirited and straightforward man. He has a good many of
the prejudices of the old Southern Secessionist. I think
those prejudices would long ago have melted away in the
sunshine of our day of returning good feeling and affection,
but for the fact that his chivalrous nature will not permit
him to abandon a cause or an opinion to which he has once
adhered, while it is unpopular. These things, however, are
never uttered offensively. He is like some old cavalier who
supported the Stuarts, who lived down into the days of the
House of Hanover, but still toasted the King over the water.
' Among the most interesting characters with whom it has
been my fortune to serve is Senator John W. Daniel of
Virginia. Our ways of life, and in many particulars our
ways of thinking, are far apart. But I have been led to
form a great respect for his intellectual qualities, and for
his sincere and far-sighted patriotism,
Mr. Daniel came into the Senate in 1887, He had been
known as a very eminent lawyer at the Virginia Bar, author
of two excellent law books. He had served a single term
in the National House of Representatives. He had won a
National reputation there by a very beautiful and brilliant
speech at the completion of the Washington Monument.
There were two notable orations at the time, one by Mr.
Daniel and one by Robert C. Winthrop, These gentlemen
were selected for the purpose as best representing two sec-

SOME SOUTHERN SENATORS 185
tions of the country. Mr. Winthrop was, beyond all ques
tion, the fittest man in the North for such a task. I have a
special admiration for the spirit and eloquence with which
he performed such duties. To my mind no higher praise
could be given Mr. Daniel's address than that it is worthy
of that company.
I had occasion to look at Mr. Winthrop 's address some
little time ago, and, opening the volume containing it in the
middle, I read a page or two with approval and delight
thinking it was Mr. Winthrop 's. But I found, on looking
back to the beginning that it was Senator Daniel's.
Mr. Daniel speaks too rarely in the Senate. He is always
listened to with great attention. He speaks only on im
portant questions, to which he always makes an important
contribution. He has the old-fashioned Virginia method of
speech, now nearly passed away,— grave, deliberate, with
stately periods and sententious phrases, such, I suppose,
as were used in the Convention that adopted the Constitu
tion, or in that which framed or revised the Constitution of
Virginia. Mr, Daniel was a Confederate soldier. He is a Vir
ginian to his heart's core. He looks with great alarm on the
possibility that the ancient culture and nobility of the South,
and the lofty character of the Virginian as he existed in the
time of Washington and Marshall and Patrick Henry may
be degraded by raising what he thinks an inferior race to
social or even political quality.
But he retains no bitterness or hate or desire for revenge
by reason of the conflict of the Civil War. He delivered an
address before the President of the United States, the Su
preme Court, the representatives of foreign Governments,
the two Houses of Congress and the Governors of twenty-
one States and Territories, on the 12th of December, 1900,
on the occasion of the celebration of the Centennial Anni
versary of establishing the seat of Government at Wash
ington, That remarkable address was full of wise counsel
to his countrymen. Coming from a representative of Vir
ginia, who had borne arms and been badly wounded in the
Civil War, it had a double value and significance. Mr,

186 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
Daniel declared the cheering and hopeful truth that great
races are made of a mixture of races, and that the best and
bravest blood of the world's great races is mixed in the
American, He appealed eloquently to the circumstances
which should stir the heart of the whole people to a new and
loftier love of country. He pointed out that the differences
in forty-five great Commonwealths are not greater than ought
to be expected, and indeed not greater than is healthy. He
pointed out the National strength, the power of our great
volunteer soldiery, and congratulated the country that the
Republic stands at the dawn of a new century, with every
man under its flag a freeman and ready to defend it. He
called upon his countrymen to stand by the Monroe Doc
trine, to be ready to defend it, if need be, in arms. He then
specially appealed to the people to foster the inventive
genius of the country, and repeated Mr. Jefferson's lofty
prophecy that in some future day—
"The farthest star in the heavens will bear the name of
Washington, and the city he founded be the Capital of the
universal Republic."
Isham G. Harris entered the Senate the same day I did.
I counted him always among my friends, although we had
some sharp passages. I cannot describe him better than by
reprinting here what I said of him in the Senate after his
death. "Mr. President, the great career of Senator Harris is well
known to his countrymen. He has been for more than a
generation a striking and conspicuous figure in our public
life. His colleague, his successor, the men of his own polit
ical faith, the people of the great State which he served and
honored and loved so long, will, each in their own way, por
tray his character and record their esteem and affection.
' ' My tribute must be that of a political opponent. So far
as I have been able to exert any influence upon the history
of my country during the long conflict now happily past, it
has been in opposition to him, to the party to which he be
longed, to the opinions which he held, I am sure, quite as
zealously and conscientiously as I hold my own.

SOME SOUTHERN SENATORS 187
"We entered the Senate on the same day. He was a
Southerner, a Democrat and a Confederate. I was born
and bred in New England, a Republican, and an Abolition
ist. We rarely spoke in the same debate except on different
sides. Yet I have no memory of him that is not tender and
affectionate, and there is nothing that I can honestly say of
him except words of respect and of honor.
"He was a typical Southerner. He had the virtues and
the foibles that belonged to that character in the generation
the last of whom are now passing from the stage of public
action. He was a man of very simple and very high quali
ties. He was a man of absolute frankness in public behavior
and in private dealing. The thought that was in his heart
corresponded absolutely with the utterance of his lips. He
had nothing to conceal. I was about to say he was a man
without the gift of diplomacy; but he was a man with the
gift of the highest diplomacy— directness, simplicity, frank
ness, courage— qualities which make always their way to
their mark and to their goal over all circumlocutions and
ambiguities. "He was a man of brief, clear and compact speech. He
would sum up in a few vigorous and ringing sentences the
argument to which other men would give hours or days. He
had an instinct for the hinge or turning point of a debate.
"He was a man of absolute integrity and steadfastness.
What he said, that he would do. Where you left him, there,
so long as he lived, you would find him when you came back.
He was a man of unflinching courage. He was not afraid
of any antagonist, whether in the hall of debate or on the
field of battle.
"He was an acknowledged master of parliamentary law,
a system upon which not only the convenient procedure of
legislative bodies largely depends, but which has close rela
tions to Constitutional Liberty itself. How often a few
simple and clear sentences of his have dispersed the clouds
and brought order out of confusion in this Chamber.
"His great legislative experience made him invaluable as
a servant of his own State, of the country and as a counsellor
to his younger associates.

188 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
' ' He was a pleasant man in private intercourse. He had
great sense of humor, a gift of portraiture, a good memory.
So he brought out of the treasure-house of his varied ex
perience abundant matter for the delight of young and old.
There is no man left in the Senate who was better company
in hours of recreation.
' ' His influence will be felt here for a long time. His strik
ing figure will still seem to be hovering about the Senate
Chamber, still sitting, still deliberating, still debating.
"Mr. President, it is delightful to think how, during the
lives of the men who took part in the great conflict which
preceded and followed the Civil War and the greater con
flict of the war itself, the old bitterness and estrangements
are all gone. Throughout the whole land the word 'coun
tryman' has at last become a title of endearment. The
memory of the leaders of that great conflict is preserved
as tenderly by the men who fought with them as by the men
who followed them. Massachusetts joins with Tennessee in
laying a wreath on the tomb of her great soldier, her great
Governor, her great Senator. He was faithful to truth as
he saw it; to duty as he understood it; to Constitutional
Liberty as he conceived it.
' ' If, as some of us think, he erred, his error was that of a
brave man ready to give life and health and hope to the
unequal struggle.
To his loved cause he offered, free from stain,
Courage and faith; vain faith, and courage vain.
"And, Mr. President, when he returned to his allegiance,
he offered to the service of his reunited country the same
zeal and devotion he had given to the Confederacy. There
was no reserved or half-hearted loyalty. We could have
counted on his care for the honor and glory of the country,
on his wise and brave counsel, in this hour of anxiety, with
an unquestioning confidence. So Massachusetts to-day
presses the hand of Tennessee and mourns with her for her
great citizen who has departed."
James B. Eustis of Louisiana was of old Massachusetts
stock. His father was graduated at Harvard, and went to

SOME SOUTHERN SENATORS 189
New Orleans, where he acquired great distinction at the
bar, and as Chief Justice of that State. Senator Eustis 's
great-uncle was General Eustis, an eminent soldier of the
Revolutionary War, and afterward Governor of Massachu
setts. Senator Eustis seemed somewhat indolent, and to take
very little interest indeed in what was going on, except on
some few occasions when he bore himself in debate with
remarkable ability. I think his grave, scholarly style, and
his powerful reasoning, the propriety, dignity and modera
tion with which he dealt with important subjects, made him
nearly the finest example of Senatorial behavior I have ever
known. He once made a speech in Executive session, on
a topic which was suggested suddenly and he could not
have anticipated, on the character and history of French
diplomacy, which was marvellous alike for his profound and
accurate knowledge of the subject and the beauty and grace
of his discourse.
I was not intimate with him in Washington. But I met
him in Paris, while he was Ambassador there under Presi
dent Cleveland's Administration. I have delightful mem
ories of his hospitality, especially of one breakfast, where
there was but one other guest beside myself, in a beautiful
room overlooking the Seine and the Place de la Concorde.
If I were to select the one man of all others with whom
I have served in the Senate, who seems to me the most per
fect example of the quality and character of the American
Senator, I think it would be Edward C. Walthall of Missis
sippi. I knew him personally very little. I do not now
remember that I ever saw him, except in the Capitol, or in
the Capitol grounds. I had, I dare say, some pleasant talks
with him in the Senate Chamber, or the cloak room. But I
remember little of them now. He rarely took part in debate.
He was a very modest man. He left to his associates the
duty of advocating his and their opinions, unless he was
absolutely compelled by some special reason to do it him
self. When he did speak the Senate listened to a man of
great ability, eloquence and dignity. I once heard him en-

190 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
counter William M. Evarts in debate. Evarts made a pre
pared speech upon a measure which he had in charge.
Walthall 's reply must have been unpremeditated and wholly
unexpected to him. I think Evarts was in the right and
Walthall in the wrong. But the Mississippian certainly got
the better of the encounter.
It is a remarkable truth, which impresses itself upon
me more and more the longer I live, that men who are per
fectly sincere and patriotic may differ from each other on
what seem the clearest principles of morals and duty, and
yet both sides be conscientious and patriotic. There is
hardly a political question among the great questions that
have excited the American people for the last half century
on which we did not differ from each other. The difference
was not only as to the interpretation of the Constitution, and
the welfare of the people, but seemed to go down to the very
roots of the moral law.
Yet what I have just said about him is without exaggera
tion. I have the right to believe that he entertained the
kindliest and most cordial feeling of regard for me. Not
long before he died. President McEIinley sent for me to come
to the White House. He wished to talk with me about what
he should do in dealing with Cuba. He was then holding
back the popular feeling, and resisting a demand which mani
fested itself among Republicans in both Houses of Congress
for immediate and vigorous action which would without
doubt have brought on the war with Spain without delay.
He hoped then that the war might be avoided. I had to go
to the Capitol before complying with the President's re
quest, as it was shortly before the time for the session. As
I was leaving the Capitol to go to the White House, I met
Senator Walthall. He said, "You seem to be going the
wrong way this morning," or something like that. I said,
"Yes, I am going to see the President." Senator Walthall
said : " I wish you would be good enough to say to him from
me that he may depend upon the support of the Democrats
in the Senate, with only one or two exceptions," whom he
named, ' ' to support him in his efforts to avoid war, and to
accomplish a peaceful solution of the difficulties in regard

SOME SOUTHERN SENATORS 191
to Cuba," I undertook to give the message. And just as
we were parting. Senator Walthall turned and said to me
that he wished to tell me how highly he regarded me, and
how sensible he was, notwithstanding my very strong North
ern feeling, of my appreciation of the character of the
Southern people, and my desire to do them full justice. He
added that he regarded it one of the most pleasant things
that had happened to him in life that he had had the pleasure
of serving with me. I do not now remember that I ever
spoke to him again. He did not come to the Senate Cham
ber very often afterward. I have thought since that this un
wonted expression of deep feeling from a gentleman not
wont to wear his heart upon his sleeve toward his political
opponent, and a man with whom he so often disagreed, was
due to a premonition, of which he was perhaps unconscious,
that the end of his life was near, and to the kindly and gen
tle emotions which in a brave and affectionate heart like
his the approach of death is apt to bring.
I could hardly venture to repeat this story, to which there
is no other witness than my own, but for some letters in my
possession from Mr. Walthall's daughter and friend in
which the writers quote even stronger expressions of his
regard. I heard a great deal of him from Senator Lamar, who '
loved him as a brother, and almost worshipped him as a
leader. Senator Lamar told me that he thought Walthall
the ablest military genius of the Confederacy, with the ex
ception of Lee, and, I think, of Stonewall Jackson. Indeed,
I think he expressed doubt whether either exception could
be made. He said that if anything had happened to Lee,
Walthall would have succeeded to the chief command of the
Confederate forces. General Walthall seemed to me the
perfect type of the gentleman in character and speech. He
was modest, courteous and eager to be of service to his
friends or his country. The description of the young
Knight given us by Chaucer, the morning star of English
poetry, still abides as the best definition of the gentleman.
Curteis he was, lowly and serviceable.

192 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
His colleague, Mr. Williams of Mississippi, after Wal
thall's death, described the Southern gentleman of our time
in a sentence which deserves to stand by the side of
Chaucer's: "The ideal gentleman was always honest; spoke the truth;
faced his enemy ; fought him, if necessary ; never quarrelled
with him nor talked about him; rode well; shot well; used
chaste and correct English ; insulted no man— bore no insult
from any; was studiously kind to his inferiors, especially
to his slaves ; cordial and hospitable to his equals ; courteous
to his superiors, if he acknowledged any; he scorned a
demagogue, but loved his people. ' '
I do not undertake to draw his portraiture, I suppose
that whoever does that must describe a great soldier and a
great lawyer, as well as a great Senator, I only state what
I saw of him in the Senate Chamber. It was said of him by
an eminent Republican Senator, his associate on the Com
mittee on Military Affairs, that in dealing with questions
which affected the right of Union soldiers, or growing out
of service to the Union during the Civil War, no stranger
could have discovered on which side of that great war he
had ranged himself.

CHAPTER XVn
CUSHMAN KELLOGG DAVIS
I reprint here a paper read before the American Anti
quarian Society shortly after Mr. Davis's death.
Cushman Kellogg Davis was born at Henderson, Jeffer
son County, New York, June 16, 1838, and died at St. Paul,
Minnesota, November 27, 1900. On his mother's side he
was descended from Robert Cushman and Mary AUerton,
the last survivor of the company which came over in the
Mayflower. He was graduated at the University of Michi
gan in 1857, and admitted to the Bar shortly before the
breaking out of the Civil War. He enlisted at the beginmng
of the War and served as First Lieutenant of Company B,
Eighth Wisconsin Regiment, until 1864, when he was com
pelled by physical infirmity to resign his commission. He
was an excellent soldier. He sustained an injury to one
of his eyes, which caused him much pain through life, until
a few years before his death he lost the sight of that eye
altogether. After his return from the war, he began the practice of
the law anew, in which he gained great distinction. For
many years, and until his death, he was the acknowledged
leader of the Bar of his State. He was a member of the
State Legislature of Minnesota in 1867, United States Dis
trict Attorney from 1868 till 1873, and Governor of the
State in 1874 and 1875. He was one of the Regents of
the State University of Minnesota from 1892 to 1898. In
1887 he was elected United States Senator, and reelected in
1893 and 1899. He held the office of Senator until his death.
He was Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations
irom March, 1897, till his death. He was one of the Com
missioners who negotiated the Treaty of Paris with Spain.
13 193

194 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
He was a great lover of books, of which he had a costly
collection. He knew Shakespeare very thoroughly, and
was the author of a book called "The Law of Shakespeare."
He was also a zealous and thorough student of the career
of Napoleon, whose civic and military career he greatly
admired. His mind was a marvellous storehouse of liter
ary gems which were unknown to most scholars, but re
warded his diligent search and loving study of his books.
Many good stories are told by his companions of the
Bar and in public life of his apt quotations. It is said that
he once defended a Judge in an impeachment case. The
point involved was the power of the court to punish for
contempt, and Davis quoted in support of his position the
splendid and well-known lines of Henry the Fourth, in the
famous scene where the Chief Justice punishes the Prince
of Wales for contempt of the judicial office and authority.
For this anecdote, the writer is indebted to Senator Lodge.
In the Senate, during the Hawaiian debate, he quoted this
passage from Juvenal:
Sed quo ceeidit sub crimine; quisnam
Delator? quibus judieiis; quo teste probavit?
Nil horum; verbosa et grandis epistola venit
A Capreis. Bene habet; nul plus interrogo.
He then proceeded :
"My friend from Massachusetts (Mr. Hoar) requests me
to translate that. He does not need it, of course. But
another Senator (Mr. Washburn) suggests that some of the
rest of us do. I will not attempt to give a literal transla
tion, but I will give an accurate paraphrase, which will
show its application 'Into what crime has he fallen?
By what informer has he been accused? What judge has
passed upon him? What witness has testified against him?
Not one or any of these. A verbose and turgid message
has come over from Capri. That settles it. I will inter
rogate no further.' "
The most ardent admirers of the then President, Mr.
Cleveland, could not help joining in the laugh.

CUSHMAN KELLOGG DAVIS 195
Mr. Davis took great delight in his descent from the
early settlers of Plymouth, and valued exceedingly the
good will of the people of Massachusetts. The members
of the Society who were fortunate enough to meet him will
not forget their delight in his pleasant companionship,
when he visited Massachusetts a few years ago to attend
our meeting and contribute a paper to our Proceedings.
He had hoped to repeat the visit.
I prefer, instead of undertaking to complete this imper-"'
feet sketch by a new portraiture of my honored friend, to
add what I said in the Senate, when the loss of Mr. Davis
was still recent:—
"Mr. President: There is no Senator who would not be
glad to lay a wreath of honor and affection on the monu
ment of Cushman K. Davis. That, however, is more espe
cially the right of his colleague and his successor and the
members of the great Committee where he won so much of
his fame. I ought to say but a few words.
"The Senate, as its name implies, has been from the
beginning, with few exceptions, an assembly of old men. In
the course of nature many of its members die in office. That
has been true of thirty-eight Senators since I came to the
Capitol. Others, a yet larger number, die soon after they
leave office. Of the men with whom I have served in this
Chamber fifty-eight more are now dead, making in all ninety-
six, enough and to spare to organize another Senate else
where. To that number has been added every Vice-Presi
dent but two. Upon those who have died in office eulogies
have been pronounced in this Chamber and in the House.
The speakers have obeyed the rule demanded by the decen
cies of funeral occasions — nil de mortuis nisi bonum— if not
the command born of a tenderer pity for human frailty-
jam parce sepulto. But in general, with scarcely an excep
tion, the portraitures have been true and faithful. They
prove that the people of the American States, speaking-
through their legislative assemblies, are not likely to select
men to represent them in this august assembly who are lack-
mg in high qualities either of intellect or of character.

196 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
However that may be, it is surely true of Mr. Davis that
whatever has been or will be said of him to-day, or was said
of him when the news of his death first shocked the country,
is just what would have been said when he was alive by any
man who knew him. I have served with him here nearly
fourteen years. I have agreed with him and I have differed
from him in regard to matters of great pith and moment
which deeply stirred the feelings of the people, as they did
mine, and doubtless did his own. I never heard any man
speak of him but with respect and kindness.
' ' Of course, Mr. President, in this great century which is
just over, when our Republic — this infant Hercules— has
been growing from its cradle to its still youthful manhood,
the greatest place for a live man has been that of a soldier
in time of war and that of a statesman in time of peace.
Cushman K. Davis was both. He did a man's full duty in
both. No man values more than I do the function of the
man of letters. No man reveres more than I do the man of
genius who in a loving and reverent way writes the history
of a great people, or the poet from whose lyre comes the
inspiration which induces heroic action in war and peace.
But I do not admit that the title of the historian or that of
the poet to the gratitude and affection of mankind is greater
than that of the soldier who saves nations, or that of the
statesman who creates or preserves them, or who makes
them great. I have no patience when I read that famous
speech of Gladstone, he and Tennyson being together on a
journey, when he modestly puts Mr. Tennyson's title to the
gratitude of mankind far above his own. Gladstone, then
Prime Minister, declared that Tennyson would be remem
bered long after he was forgotten. That may be true. But
whether a man be remembered or whether he be forgotten;
whether his work be appreciated or no ; whether his work be
known or unknown at the time it is accomplished, is not the
test of its greatness or its value to mankind. The man who
keeps this moral being, or helps to keep this moral being we
call a State in the paths of justice and righteousness and
happiness, the direct effect of whose action is felt in the com
fort and happiness and moral life of millions upon millions

CUSHMAN KELLOGG DAVIS 197
of human lives, who opens and constructs great highways of
commerce, who makes schools and universities not only pos
sible but plenty, who brings to pass great policies that allure
men from misery, and poverty, and oppression, and serfdom
in one world, to free, contended, happy, prosperous homes
in another, is a great benefactor to mankind, whether his
work be accomplished with sounding of trumpets, or stamp
ing of feet, or clapping of hands, or the roar and tumult of
popular applause, or whether it be done in the silence of
some committee room, and no man know it but by its results.
"I am not ready to admit that even Shakespeare worked
on a higher plane, or was a greater power on earth, than
King Alfred or George Washington, even if it be that he
will survive them both in the memory of man. The name
of every man but one who fought with Leonidas at Ther-
mopylas is forgotten. But is -^schylus greater than Leon
idas, or Miltiades, or Themistocles ? The literature of
Athens preserves to immortality the fame of its great
authors. But it was Solon, and Pericles, and Miltiades that
created and saved and made great the city, without which
the poets could not have existed. Mr. Tennyson himself
came nearer the truth than his friend, Mr. Gladstone, when
he said : He
That, through the channels of the state,
Conveys the people's wish, is great;
His name is pure; his fame is free.
"There have been soldiers whose courage saved the day
in great decisive battles when the fate of nations hung in the
scale, yet whose most enduring monument was the column
of smoke which rose when their death shot was fired. There
have been statesmen whose silent influence has decided the
issue when the country was at the parting of the ways, of
whose service history takes no heed. The great Ohio Terri
tory, now six imperial States, was twice saved to freedom
by the almost unnoticed action of a single man. With all re
spect for the man of letters, we are not yet quite ready to
admit that the trumpeter is better than the soldier, or the
painter greater than the lion.

198 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
"There is no need of many words to sum up the life and
character of "Cushman Davis. His life was in the daylight.
Minnesota knew him. His country knew him and loved
him. He was a good soldier in his youth, and a great Sena
tor in his maturer manhood. What can be said more, or
what can be said better, to sum up the life of an American
citizen? He offered his life for his country when life was
all before him. His State and his country rewarded him
with their highest honor. The great orator and philosopher
of Rome declared in his youth, and repeated in his age, that
death could not come prematurely to a man who had been
Consul. This man surely might be accounted ready to die.
He had discharged honorably life's highest duty, and his
cup of honor and of glory was full.
' ' We are thinking to-day of something more than a public
sorrow. We are mourning the loss of a close and delightful
companionship, a companionship which lightened public
care and gave infinite pleasure to private intercourse. If
he had never held office, if his name had never been heard
even beyond the boundaries of a single municipality, he
would have been almost anywhere a favorite and foremost
citizen. He was, in the first place, always a gentleman ; and
a true gentleman always gives tone to any company in which
he is found, whether it be among the rulers of States or the
humblest gathering of friendly neighbors. Lord Erskine
said on a great occasion :
" ' It is impossible to define in terms the proper feelings
of a gentleman ; but their existence has supported this coun
try for many ages, and she might perish if they were lost. '
"Certainly our friend had this quality. He was every
where a gentleman. He met every occasion in life with a
simple and quiet courtesy. There was not much of defer
ence in it. There was no yielding or' supplication or timid
ity in it. I do not think he ever asked favors, though no
man was more willing to grant them. But there is some
thing more than this in the temper of which I am speaking.
The man who possesses it gives unconsciously to himself or
to his associates tone to every circle, as I just said, in whicli
he is found. So, wherever he was, his manner of behavior

CUSHMAN KELLOGG DAVIS 199
prevailed, whatever might have happened to the same men
if they had been left alone.
"Senator Davis was a man who kept well his own counsel.
He was a man to whom it was safe for other men to trust
their counsel. His conversation, to which it was always a
delight to listen, had no gossip in it. Still less had it ever
anything of ill nature or sarcasm. He liked to share with
a friend the pleasure he took in finding some flower or gem
of literature which, for long ages till he found it in some
out-of-the-way nook, had— Blushed unseen.
And wasted its sweetness on the desert air.
"He had what Jeremy Taylor calls 'the great endearment
of prudent and temperate speech.'
"His conversation was sparkling and witty and full of
variety, but no spark from him was ever a cinder in the eye
of his friend.
"He had a learning rare among public men, and, for its
variety, rare, I think, among scholars. He would bring out
bits of history, full of interest and instruction, from the
most obscure sources, in common conversation. He was an
excellent Latin scholar. He had read and mastered Tacitus,
and a man who has mastered Tacitus has had the best gym
nastic training of the intellect, both in vigor and style, which
the resources of all literature can supply.
"One secret of his great popularity with his companions
here— a popularity I think unexcelled, indeed, I incline to
think unequalled by that of any other man with whom I
have served— is that to which the late Justin Morrill owed
so much. He never debated. He rarely answered other
men's arguments, never with warmth or heat. But he was
exceedingly tenacious of his own opinion. He was, in the
things he stood for, as unyielding as flint and true as steel.
But his flint or steel never struck out a spark by collision
with any other. He spoke very rarely in debate in general ;
only when his official place on his committee, or something
which concerned his own constituents especially, made
speaking absolutely imperative. Then he gave his opinion

200 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
as a judge gives it, or as a delegate to some great interna
tional council might be supposed to give it; responsible for
it himself, but undertaking no responsibility for other men's
opinion or conduct ; never assuming that it was his duty or
within his power to convert, or change, or instruct them,
still less to chastise them. Whether that way be the best
way for usefulness in a deliberative body, especially in a
legislative body of a great popular government, I will not
undertake now to say. Certainly it is not the common way
here or elsewhere. It is very rare indeed, that any man
possessing the great literary and oratorical power of Mr.
Davis, especially a man to whom nobody ever thought of
imputing timidity or undue desire to enjoy public favor,
or want of absolute confidence in his own opinions, will be
found to refrain from employing these qualities to persuade
or convince other men.
' ' He had a rare and exquisite gift which, if he had been a
man of letters and not a man engaged in a strenuous public
life, would have brought him great fame. Once in a while
he said something in private, and more rarely, though once
or twice, in a public speech, which reminded you of the deli
cate touch of Hawthorne. His likening President Cleve
land and Mr. Blount, looking upon the late royalty of the
Sandwich Islands with so much seriousness, to Don Quixote
and Sancho Panza taking in great earnest the spectacle of a
theatrical representation at a country fair and eager to
rescue the distressed damsel, was one of the most exquisite
felicities of the literature of the Senate.
"He had great pride in his ancestry, and was a great
lover of the history of New England and Plymouth, from
which they came, though he never gave himself airs on ac
count of it. He was a descendant of Robert Cushman, the
preacher of the Pilgrims, whose service was in a thousand
ways of such value to the little colony at Plymouth. Yet
it had never happened to him to visit the scenes with which
the feet of his ancestors had been so familiar, until a few
years ago he did me the honor to be my guest in Massachu
setts, and spent a few days in visiting her historic places.
He gazed upon Boston and Plymouth and Concord rever-

CUSHMAN KELLOGG DAVIS 201
ently as ever Moslem gazed upon Mecca or the feet of
pahner stood by the holy sepulchre. That week to him was
crowded with a delight with which few other hours in his
life could compare. I had hoped that it might be my for
tune and his that he might visit Massachusetts again, that
her people might gather in her cities to do him honor, and
might learn to know him better, and might listen to the sin
cere eloquence of his voice. But it was ordered otherwise.
"There are other things his country had hoped for him.
She had hoped a longer and higher service, perhaps the
highest service of all. But the fatal and inexorable shaft
has stricken him down in the full vigor of a yet strenuous
manhood. The great transactions in which he had borne
so large a part still remain incomplete and their event is still
uncertain. "There is a painting which a great Italian master left
unfinished. The work was taken up and completed by a
disciple. The finished picture bears this inscription : 'What
Titian left unfinished, Palma reverently completed, and dedi
cated to God.' So may our beloved Republic fiind always,
when one servant leaves his work unfinished, another who
will take it up and dedicate it to the country and to God. ' '

CHAPTER XVni
GEORGE BANCROFT
One of the most delightful friendships of my life was with
George Bancroft, the famous historian. I never knew him
until I went to Washington in 1877. But we established at
once, as matter of course, the relation of an intimate friend
ship. He was born in Worcester, to which he was much
attached, though he had spent little of his life there after
he had left college, Mrs, Bancroft had known my oldest
brother and sister intimately, when she lived in Boston, I
had learned from Mr. Emerson, who rarely gave his praise
lightly, as well as from my own study, to value Mr. Ban
croft very highly as a historian, which he soon found out,
I almost always found him waiting for me on the door
step of my dwelling when I came from church the first Sun
day after I reached Washington, at the beginning of a ses
sion. I have enjoyed many hours at his table, rendered
delightful by the conversation of the eminent guests whom
he gathered there, but by no conversation more delightful
than his own.
Mr. Bancroft had two enthusiasms which made him a great
historian— an enthusiasm for truth which spared no labor
and left no stores of information unsearched, and an
enthusiastic love of country. He believed that the great
emotions and motives which move a free people are the
noble, not the mean motives. He has written and inter
preted the history of the United States in that faith. I be
lieve his work will endure so long as the love of liberty shall
endure. I gave my estimate of him at a meeting of the
American Antiquarian Society, of which we were both
chosen Vice-Presidents, in October, 1880, just after the com
pletion of his eightieth year and of his "History of the
United States, ' ' as follows : 202

GEORGE BANCROFT 203
"It is not usual to discuss the report of the committee to
propose a list of officers. But one of the names reported
gives special interest to the occasion. On the third of this
month of October, our honored associate Mr. Bancroft com
pleted his eightieth year. At the same time he completed
his 'History of the United States' to the formation of the
Federal Constitution.
"This Society, while it is national and continental in the
scope of its investigations, strikes down its roots into the
soil of this locality, where its founder dwelt, and where its
collections are kept.
"For both these reasons we cherish our relations to Mr.
Bancroft. He was bom within a few rods of this spot. He
is descended by the mother's side from an old Worcester
County family who were conspicuous in the administration
of its public affairs long before the Revolution. His father
was one of the six persons who petitioned for the act of in
corporation of this Society, and one of its first members.
His brother by marriage. Governor Davis, was your pred
ecessor in the President's chair.
"These reasons would be enough to induce us to value
our relation. But he has filled a highly honorable and con
spicuous place in public life. He is, I believe, the senior
person living who has been a member of the Cabinet. He is
the senior among living persons who have filled important
diplomatic stations. He has represented the United States
at Berlin and at St. James.
"His history is, and doubtless will be, the great standard
authority upon the important period which it covers. He
is the only person living whose judgment would change the
place in public estimation held by any of the great states
men of the Revolutionary times. He has had the rare good
fortune among men of letters, to have proposed to himself
a great task, requiring a lifetime for its accomplishment, the
successful achievement of which is enough to make any life
illustrious, and to have lived to complete it with powers of
body and mind undiminished. It is his fate to know, while
alive, the estimate in which he will be held by posterity. In

204 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
his case, that knowledge can be only a source of pleasure
and satisfaction.
' ' In this Mr. Bancroft resembles Gibbon. We all remem
ber Gibbon's delightful account of the completion of his
great work.
"In another thing, alone among great historians, Mr,
Bancroft resembles Gibbon, As an artist he has accom
plished that most difficult task of composing a history made
up of many separate threads, which must keep on side by
side, yet all be subordinate to one main and predominant
stream. But his narrative never loses its constant and fas
cinating interest. No other historian, I believe, except
Gibbon, has attempted this without becoming insufferably
dull. "Mr. Bancroft tells the story of thirteen States, separate,
yet blending into one National life. It is one of the most
wonderful things in our history, that the separate States
having so much in common, have preserved so completely,
even to the present time, their original and individual
characteristics. Rhode Island, held in the hollow of the
hand of Massachusetts; Connecticut, so placed that one
would think it would become a province of New York ; Dela
ware, whose chief city is but twenty-five miles from Phila
delphia, yet preserve their distinctive characteristics as if
they were states of the continent of Europe, whose people
speak a different language. This shows how perfectly state
rights and state freedom are preserved in spite of our Na
tional union, how little the power at the centre interferes
with the important things that affect the character of a peo
ple. Why is it that little Delaware remains Delaware in
spite of Pennsylvania, and little Rhode Island remains
Rhode Island notwithstanding her neighbor Massachusetts?
What makes the meadow flower its bloom unfold?
Because the lovely little flower is free
Down to its roots, and in that freedom bold
And so the grandeur of the forest tree
Comes, not from casting in a formal mould.
But from its own divine vitality.

GEORGE BANCROFT 205
"But Mr. Bancroft is more fortunate than Gibbon.
Gibbon wrote of decline, of decay, of dissolution, and death ;
of the days, to use his own words, 'when giants were be
coming pigmies.' Bancroft tells the story of birth, and
growth, and youth, and life. His name is to be inseparably
associated with a great and interesting period in the world's
history ; with what in the proud imagination of his country
men must ever be the greatest and most interesting of all
periods, when pigmy villages were becoming giant States.
I am sure that it is a delight to this assembly of distin
guished scholars, assembled near his birthplace, to send
him, at the completion of his great work, and of his eightieth
year, their cordial salutation."
I went to see Mr. Bancroft on the evening of the last Sun
day in December, 1890. He was sitting in his library up
stairs. He received me in his usual emphatic manner, tak
ing both my hands and saying, ' ' My dear friend, how glad
I am to see you!" He was alone. He evidently knew me
when I went in, and inquired about Worcester, as he com
monly did, and expressed his amazement at its remarkable
growth. I stayed with him about twenty or thirty minutes. The
topics of our conversation were, I believe, suggested by me,
and the whole conversation was one which gave evidence of
full understanding on his part of what we were talking
about. It was not merely an old man's memory of the past,
but the fresh and vigorous thought on new topics which
were suggested to him in the course of the conversation. I
think he exhibited a quickness and vigor of thought and in
telligence and spoke with a beauty of diction that no man
I know could have surpassed.
I asked him if he could account for the interest in his
torical study among the older Harvard graduates, and men
tioned the fact that the principal historians of this country,
including himself, Prescott, Sparks, Motley, Palfrey and
Parkman, were all Harvard men and were eminent at a
time when there were scarcely any other eminent historical
scholars in America. He did not directly answer this ques-

206 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
tion, but said that his own inclination toward history, he
thought, was due very much to the influence of his father.
He said his father would have been a very eminent his
torian, if he had had material at his command, and that he
had a remarkably judicious mind.
He spoke of some clergymen, especially the Unitarian
clergymen, so many of whom belonged to Harvard at his
time. He said he had little sympathy for the Unitarianism
of his day, "for its theology, no; for its spirituality, yes."
He asked me about the Election Bill pending in the Sen
ate. I spoke of the great storm of abuse I had had to en
counter for advocating it, but said I thought on the whole
the feeling between the different sections of the country and
different political parties was better than it ever had been
before in this country, and much better than that which now
existed between different political parties in foreign coun
tries. He cordially agreed to this, and made some observa
tions which I do not now recall, but which were interesting
and bright.
After we had talked together for some time, he said : "My
memory is very poor: I cannot remember your first name."
I said: "It is the same as yours, Mr. Bancroft— George."
He paused a moment with an amused and puzzled look, and
said : ' ' What is your last name ? ' ' He had evidently known
me very well during most of the preceding part of the inter
view. I told his son about this conversation the day after Mr.
Bancroft's death. He said that the presence of a visitor
acted in this way as a stimulant, but that he had not lately
shown much intelligence in the family, seeming lost and
feeble.

CHAPTER XIX
VISITS TO ENGLAND
[1860, 1868, 1871]
I WAS bom within a mile of the spot where the War of
the Revolution began. My ancestors and other kindred on
both sides took an active and prominent part in the struggle
with England, I am descended from the early Puritans of
Massachusetts in every line of descent. So it will readily
be believed that all my feeling and sympathy have been on
the side of my country in the great controversy with Eng
land, which began with the exile of the Pilgrims in 1620 and
continued, with little interruption, until our last great
quarrel with her, which ended with the arbitration at Geneva.
Yet I am a passionate lover of England. Before I ever
went abroad, I longed to visit the places famous in her his
tory, as a child longs to go home to his birthplace.
I have visited Europe sis times. On each occasion I de
voted the largest part of my time to Great Britain, The
desire to see England again has increased with every visit.
Certainly there is nothing like England, and there never has
been anything like England in the world. Her wonderful
history, her wonderful literature, the beauty of her archi
tecture, the historic and poetic associations which cluster
about every street and river and mountain and valley, her
vigorous life, the sweetness and beauty of her women, the
superb manhood of her men, her navy, her gracious hos
pitality, her courage and her lofty pride— although some
single race of people may have excelled her in a single par
ticular—make up a combination never equalled in the world.
I am, of course, not to be understood to bring my own
country into the comparison.
The first time I went abroad was in 1860. I had for a'
companion my friend from infancy, George M. Brooks, of
207

208 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
Concord. We travelled like a couple of Bohemians, never
riding where we could walk; lunching or dining where he
happened to find ourselves when we were hungry; taking
second or third class carriages on the railroads, and getting
into conversation with anybody who would talk to us. I
doubt whether I shall ever have in this world, or in another,
a sensation more delicious than that I had when the old
steamer, "America," steamed up the Channel toward the
mouth of the Mersey, with the green shores of Ireland on
one side and England on the other. I am afraid if I were
to relate the story of that journey, it would be only to please
myself by reviving its recollections, and not for the delight
of my readers, so many of whom have a similar memory of
their own.
We heard John Bright and Lord John Russell and Lord
Palmerston in a great debate in the House of Commons on
the paper duties, and saw Lord Brougham walking back
ward and forward on the terrace by Brougham Castle, near
Penrith. We saw Edinburgh and the Trosachs, and Abbots-
ford and Stirling. I had been a loving reader of Scott from
my childhood, and was almost as much at home in Scotland
as if I had been born in the Canongate or the Saltmarket.
I had had a special fancy for reading and studying topo
graphical books on London, and found myself, pretty soon,
so much at home there that I think I could have made a very
decent living as a guide.
We spent a month in Switzerland. I made the journey
over the mountain passes on foot, keeping up with my com
panion, who had a horse or a mule. I could walk twenty-
five or thirty miles a day without great fatigue.
Augustus Flagg of the famous book-selling firm of Little
& Brown, with whom I had dealt a great deal, was on the
ship when I went out. He went abroad to purchase books
for his house. In those days the book-stalls in London
were mines of rare treasures. They had not been much
examined by collectors or dealers, and the men who kept
them did not know the value of books that were almost price
less in the eyes of virtuosos. Mr. Flagg and I spent
together a good many days in ransacking the old book-stalls

VISITS TO ENGLAND 209
and shops, some of them in out-of-the-way places in the old
city, even below the Tower. I could not afford to buy a
great many books then. But I knew something about them,
and the experience was like having in my hands the costliest
rubies or diamonds.
The journey each way, which now takes six or seven
days, then took fourteen. The Cunard steamer, whose suc
cessor, with its bilge keel and its vastly greater size, is as
comfortable, even in very rough weather, as the first class
city hotel, was as disagreeable in rough weather, to a man
unaccustomed to the ocean, as a fishing-smack. But the pas
sengers got well acquainted with one another. There was
agreeable society on board, and the days passed pleasantly.
Among the passengers was Joseph Coolidge of Boston,
father of Thomas Jefferson Coolidge, late Minister to
France. Mr. Coolidge had been a great traveller in his
day ; had had some commercial occupations in the East, and
was very pleasant company. His wife was a granddaugh
ter of Mr. Jefferson. He told me that two of Mr. Jeffer
son's daughters— or granddaughters, I am not now abso
lutely sure which— had kept school and earned money,
which they had applied to the payment of Mr. Jefferson's
debts. The story was highly creditable to these Virginia
ladies, who might well have thought that their illustrious
ancestor's service might excuse his family from making
sacrifices in discharge of such an obligation, if his country
men at large did not feel its force.
I went over pretty much the same ground in 1868 with
three ladies. I made both these journeys as an ordinary
sightseer. I took few letters of introduction. I did not
deliver those, except in one or two cases to American gen
tlemen living abroad.
One experience in this latter journey, however, it may be
worth while to tell. I had a very pleasant friendship with
Henry T. Parker, a Boston man and a graduate of Harvard,
who had a comfortable property and had married an English
lady and had settled in London. He found an occupation,
congenial to his own taste, in buying books, as agent of some
14

210 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
of the great libraries in the United States, including the
Harvard Library and the Boston City Library. He was an
intimate friend of Mr. Cox, the accomplished Librarian of
the Bodleian, to whom he gave us letters.
Mr. Cox treated us with special courtesy and showed us
many treasures of the Libraiy, especially some wonderful
illuminated manuscripts. One of them, the Due de Mont-
pensier, who had been at Oxford shortly before and who was
an authority in such matters, felt confident was illustrated
by Raphael. Mr. Cox had discovered, just before I was
there, in some crypt where it tiad lain unknown for two hun
dred years, a touching letter from Clarendon, who was Chan
cellor of the University, which I think will move the heart
of every man who loves the college where he was educated.
The letter was written by Lord Clarendon just after he had
landed at Calais, a hopeless exile, on his last flight from the
country to which he was never again to return. The great
orator, statesman, historian, lawyer, judge, — counsellor,
companion and ancestor of monarchs,— flying for his life,
in his old age, into a foreign land, from the court of which,
for a generation, he had been the ornament and head, soon
as his feet touch a place of safety, thinks of his University,
See the noble heart through the simple and stately rhetoric :
Good Mr. Vice-Chan cellor :
Having found it necessary to transport myselfe out of
England, and not knowing when it shall please God that I
shall returne againe, it becomes me to take care that the
University may not be without the service of a person better
able to be of use to them than I am like to be, and I doe
therefore hereby surrender the office of chancellor into the
hands of said University, to the end that they may make
choyce of some other person better qualified to assist and
protect them, than I am. I am sure he can never be more
affectionate to it. I desire you as the last suite I am likely
to make to you, to believe that I doe not fly my country for
guilt, and how passionately soever I am pursued, that I have
not done anything to make the University ashamed of me, or
to repent the good opinion they had once of me, and though

VISITS TO ENGLAND 211
I must have no mention in your publique devotions, (which
I have always exceedingly valued,) I hope I shall always be
remembered in your private prayers, as
Good Mr. Vice- Chancellor,
Your affectionate servant. Clarendon.
Calais, this 7-17 Dec, 1667.
In 1871 I went abroad alone. I spent the whole time in
England, except for a brief visit to Scotland. My purpose
in going away was to get a vacation. I meant to do some
studying in the British Museum, especially to make a thor
ough study of the conditions and economic principles affect
ing the strife between capital and labor, which then threat
ened both this country and England. I got a collection of
the authorities and the references. But I did not find that
I got a great deal of light from anything that had been
written or said so far. I made a few very agreeable
acquaintances. I had a letter to Thomas Hughes, and
visited him at his house. I found George W. Smalley, who
had been a pupil in my office, established in a delightful
house near London. He seemed to be on terms of intimacy
with the famous Englishmen who were the leaders of both
political parties, and with many eminent men of letters. I
spent a delightful evening with Mr. Hughes at a club which
I think was called the European Club, or something like
that, where the members smoked clay pipes and drank beer.
There seemed to be no other provision for the refreshment
of the body or soul. But the conversation was very pleas
ant. The members sat together about a table, and the con
versation was quite general and very bright. The talk
turned, during the evening, on Scotsmen. The Englishmen
present seemed to have something left of the old prejudice
about Scotland with which Dr. Johnson was possessed.
They imputed to the modern Scotsmen the same thrifty
habit and capacity for looking after himself that prevailed
a hundred years before, when Dr. Johnson and John Wilkes,
who quarrelled about everything else, became reconciled
when they united in abuse of their Northern neighbors. Sir

212 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
Frederick Pollock cited a marginal note from the report of
some old criminal case, to the following effect : ' ' Possession
of property in Scotland evidence of stealing in England."
I was guilty of one piece of stupid folly. Mr. Hughes
kindly proposed to take me to see Carlyle. This was not
very long after our war, when our people were full of indig
nation at Carlyle 's bitter and contemptuous speech about
us, especially his "American Iliad in a Nutshell." I was
a little doubtful about what sort of a reception I should get,
and declined the invitation. I have bitterly regretted this
ever since. My brother visited Carlyle about 1846, bearing
with him a letter from Emerson. Carlyle was very civil to
him, and liked him very much, as appears by a letter from
him to Mr. Emerson.
During this visit I heard a great debate between Glad
stone and Disraeli. A brief account of it will be found in
the chapter on "Some Famous Orators I have Heard."
A friend in Worcester gave me a letter to Mr. Wornum,
the Director of the National Gallery, with whom he had
been a fellow-pupil at Kensington. Mr. Wornum received
me with great cordiality. He asked me to come to the
Gallery the next day, when it would be closed to the public.
He said he would be glad to show it to me then, when we
would be free from interruption. He was the author of
what I understand to be an excellent history of painting, and
was regarded as the most competent judge in Europe of
the value and merit of paintings. I suppose Parliament
would at any time, on his sole recommendation, have given
ten or twenty or perhaps fifty thousand guineas for a mas
terpiece. I shall never forget the delight of that day. He
told me the history of the great paintings in the National
Gallery, some of which had belonged to monarchs, popes,
noblemen or famous merchants of almost all the countries
in Europe. He said that while there were many larger
galleries, the National Gallery was the best in the world as
affording the best and most characteristic examples of every
school of painting. I cannot remember much that was said
in that long day, interrupted only by a pleasant lunch to
gether. But it was a day full of romance. It was as if I

VISITS TO ENGLAND 213
had had in my hand the crown jewels of every potentate in
the world, and somebody had told me the history of each
gem. For this picture Francis the First, or Charles V., or
Henry VIII. had been bidders. This had belonged to
Lorenzo de Medici, or Pope Leo X. This had come from
the famous collection of Charles I., scattered through Eu
rope on his death ; and this had belonged to some nobleman
whose name was greater than that of monarchs.
Mr. Wornum spoke of his treasures with an enthusiasm
which no worshipper at the throne of any Saint or Divinity
could surpass. That day was among the few chiefest de-
hghts of my life.

CHAPTER XX
VISITS TO ENGLAND
1892
My next visit to England was in the spring of 1892. The
winter before, I had a severe attack of iritis, which left my
eyes in a very demoralized condition. I did not find much
relief in this country, not, I suppose, because of want of
skill in our ophthalmic surgeons, but because of the impos
sibility of getting any rest anywhere where I could be
reached by telephone or telegraph. To a person who can
bear an ordinary voyage there is no retreat like an ocean
steamer. Telephone, telegraph, daily paper; call or visit
of friend, client, or constituent; daily mail— sometimes it
self, to a busy public man, enough for a hard day's work-
all these are forgotten. You spend your ten days in an in
finite quiet like that of Heaven. You sit in your deck-chair
with the soft sea breeze on your forehead, as the mighty
ocean cradle rocks you, and see the lace of an exquisite
beauty that no Tyrian weaver ever devised, breaking over
the blue or purple waves, with their tints that no Tyrian
dye ever matched. Ah! Marconi, Marconi, could not you
let us alone, and leave the tired brain of humanity one spot
where this "hodge-podge of business and trouble and care"
could not follow us and find us out?
On this journey I visited England, France and Switzer
land. It so happened that I had had a good deal to do with
the appointment of our Ministers to these three countries.
Colonel John D. Washburn, a very accomplished and de
lightful gentleman, now dead, had been a pupil of mine as
a law student. He lived in Worcester and had been a very
eminent member of the Massachusetts Legislature. I think
he would have been Governor of the State and had a very
214

VISITS TO ENGLAND 215
brilliant career but for a delicacy of organization which
made him break down in health when under any severe
strain of responsibility, especially such as involved antag
onism and conflict. He was of a very friendly, gentle dis
position, and disliked to be attacked or to attack other men.
I told Mr. Blaine, the Secretary of State when Mr. Harri
son's Administration came in, that I had but one favor to
ask of it ; that was, that he should send Washburn as Minis
ter to Switzerland. I had two or three very pleasant days
with him at Berne. But he had sent his family away and
was preparing to resign his place. So I had not much op
portunity of seeing Switzerland under his guidance.
Thomas Jefferson Coolidge, then Minister to France, had
also been appointed on my very earnest recommendation.
He was a great-grandson of Thomas Jefferson, a very able
business man, highly esteemed throughout the country. His
guidance was implicitly followed by many people in impor
tant business transactions. He had had the charge of the
financial affairs of some large manufacturing corporations,
and was understood to have extricated the Northern Pacific
Railroad out of some serious difficulties, into which it fell
again after he left its control. He had been a Democrat.
But he had seen the importance of the protective policy to
American interests, as would naturally be expected of a de
scendant of that high protectionist, Thomas Jefferson. He
had no sympathies with any measures that would debase or
unsettle the currency, and set his face and gave his power
ful influence against all forms of fiat or irredeemable paper
money, and the kindred folly of the free coinage of silver
by this country alone, without the concurrence of the com
mercial nations of the world.
Soon after Mr. Harrison's Administration began, I re
ceived a message about nine o 'clock one evening, asking me
to go to the White House at once. I obeyed the summons.
The President said he desired, if I had no objection, to send
in the name of Dr. Loring of Massachusetts, as Minister to
Portugal. I told him that I had no objection whatever ; that
Dr. Loring was an able man of agreeable manners, and had
performed admirably every public duty he had undertaken.

216 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
I said that the Doctor had felt a little disturbed, I thought,
that I had refused to call a meeting of the Massachusetts
delegation to press his name upon the President for a Cabi
net office, to which President Harrison replied, "I put my
foot on that pretty quick." Dr. Loring had been a great
friend and supporter of Mr. Blaine, the Secretary of State.
I conjectured, although the President did not say so, that
the choice of Dr. Loring had been made at the Secretary's
instance. The President then said that he wanted to talk with me
about the English Mission, which had troubled him a good
deal. He mentioned the names of several prominent men
in different parts of the country, including that of Robert
Lincoln and Mr. Jewett, an eminent lawyer in Chicago,
whose name was earnestly pressed upon him by the Sena
tors from Illinois. I said that I had known Mr. Lincoln
pretty well when he was in President Garfield's and Mr.
Arthur 's Cabinet, and thought very highly of him. He was
a very modest man indeed, never pressing any claim to pub
lic consideration or office, either on his own account or as
his father's son, and never seeking responsibility. But I
had noticed that when he had anything to say or anything
to do, he always said or did the wisest and best thing to be
said or done under the circumstances. I do not know how
much influence what I said had, but it seemed to gratify
President Harrison exceedingly, and he stated that he was
strongly inclined to appoint Mr. Lincoln.
I was told that the next morning he sent for the two Illi
nois Senators, and told them that he had made up his mind
to nominate Mr. Lincoln, and that one of them. Senator
Farwell, was exceedingly offended. He was also much dis
turbed by President Harrison's attitude in regard to the
appointment of the postmaster at Chicago. The result was
that when President Harrison's name came up for another
nomination, Mr. Farwell was opposed to him, and when he
was with difficulty nominated for reelection, the State of
Illinois voted for Cleveland. Senator CuUom, though not
liking very well to have his opinion disregarded, was more
discreet. He did not see fit to make the exercise of the

VISITS TO ENGLAND 217
President's rightful and Constitutional prerogative a reason
for breaking off his friendly relations with the Administra
tion, with whose principles he was in full accord. This is
an instance of President Harrison's want of tact. I have
little doubt that if, before finally announcing his intention,
he had sent for the Illinois Senators— as Abraham Lincoln
would have done, or as President McKinley would have done
—gone over the whole ground with them, and told them his
reasons and desire, they would have cheerfully acquiesced
in the conclusion to which he had come, and their friendship
with him would have been strengthened and not weakened.
After saying what was to be said about the English Mis
sion, I said to President Harrison : ' ' We have a gentleman
in Massachusetts, whom I think it is very desirable indeed
to place in some important public service; that is Thomas
Jefferson Coolidge. He is a great-grandson of Mr. Jeffer
son." I said to the President the substance of what I have
just stated above, about Mr. Coolidge. I added that while
Mr. Coolidge would be an excellent person for the English
Mission, which his uncle Mr. Stevenson had held, yet, of
course, I did not think, under the circumstances, that it
would be proper to make another important diplomatic ap
pointment from Massachusetts just then; but I hoped that
an opportunity might come later. President Harrison
seemed to be much impressed with the suggestion, and said
that he would bear it in mind.
When I went back to my room, it occurred to me that I
had better speak to Mr. Blaine about it. If he first heard
of it from the President he might think that I was trying
to deal with the President about matters in his Department
over his head and without consulting him. So I went round
to the State Department early the next morning, and told
Mr. Blaine what I had said to the President. I found that
he knew all about Mr. Coolidge. I inadvertently spoke of
him as grandson of Mr. Jefferson. Blaine immediately
corrected me by saying, "great-grandson." He seemed to
like the plan very well.
Nothing came of the matter at that time. But later, when
the Pan-American Commission was appointed, the Presi-

218 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
dent, of his own motion, appointed Mr. Coolidge as one of
the American representatives. Later, I happened to be one
day at the White House, and President Harrison told me
that Whitelaw Reid had announced his intention of resign
ing the French Mission before long. I reminded him of our
conversation about Mr. Coolidge, and urged his name very
strongly upon him. He hesitated a good deal. I got the
approval of every New England Senator but one to the pro
posal. The President still hesitated and seemed inclined to
appoint Mr. Andrew D. White. But he finally yielded to
the urgency for Mr. Coolidge. I should have been sorry if
anything I had done had resulted in depriving the country
of the service of Andrew D. White. I suppose him to be
one of the very best representatives we ever had abroad.
But an opportunity came soon after, to send him first to Rus
sia, and then to Germany, where he has represented what is
best in the character, ability, desire, interest and scholarship
of the American people.
So we had two first-rate representatives abroad instead
of one. Mr. Coolidge discharged his functions to the satis
faction of the Administration, and to the universal approval
of his countrymen.
He received me when I visited Paris with a very cordial
and delightful hospitality. I had the pleasure of meeting
at his house at dinner M. Ribot, then Prime Minister of
France and afterward President of the French Republic,
and several others of the leading men in their public life.
But I spoke French very imperfectly indeed, and under
stood it much less, when spoken by a Parisian. The con
versation was, in general, in French. So I got very little
knowledge of them by being in their society.
My visit in England gave me a good deal more to remem
ber. Mr. Lincoln also received me with great cordiality.
He gave a dinner at which several of the leaders of the
Liberal Party were present ; among them. Sir William Ver
non Harcourt. I had letters to Sir William Vernon Har-
court, and to Lord Rosebery, and to Lord Coleridge, Lord
Chief Justice of England. Sir William Vernon Harcourt
and Lord Rosebery each called on me, and spent an

VISITS TO ENGLAND 219
hour at my room. But Parliament was dissolved just
at that time, so the Liberal leaders had at once to begin
the campaign which resulted in Mr. Gladstone's victory.
So I had no opportunity to make an intimate acquaintance
with either of them. I owed to Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes
an introduction to John Bellows, a Quaker, a most delight
ful gentleman, the first authority in his time on the Roman
antiquities of Great Britain, a fine classical scholar and
learned in old English literature and in the languages from
which came the roots of our English tongue, I formed with
him a close friendship which ended only with his death, in
1902. A year before he died he visited me in my home at
Worcester, and received the degree of Master of Arts from
Harvard. Mr. Bellows is the author of the wonderful
French Dictionary.
I spent a few days with Lord Coleridge in Devon. His
house at Ottery St. Mary 's is close to the spot where Samuel
Taylor Coleridge was born. I met there several of the race.
I do not know whether they were living in the neighborhood
or happened to be there on a visit.
I found in the church, close by, the tomb of John Sher
man, one of my own kindred, I have no doubt, of the race
which came from Colchester and Dedham in Essex, and
Yaxley in Suffolk.
The Lord Chief Justice was much distressed lest he had
done wrong in complying with General Butler's invitation
to visit him at Lowell. He said that many of his American
friends had treated him coldly afterward, and that his friend
Richard Dana, whom he highly esteemed, had refused to
call upon him for that reason.
I told him he did absolutely right, in my opinion. I said
that General Butler was then Governor of the Common
wealth of Massachusetts, and that an eminent person, hold
ing a high official character, from a foreign country, could
not undertake to question the personal character, or the title
to be considered gentlemen, of the men whom the Ameri
can people put into their high places.
Lord Coleridge said he received fifty guineas every morn
ing for his services in the Tichborn trial. ' ' But, ' ' he added.

220 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
"my general practice in my profession was so much inter
rupted by it that I could not have got along that year but
for my salary as Attorney-General."
He spoke with great pride of his cross-examination of the
Claimant. He said one of the papers had complained that
his cross-examination did no good to his case whatever.
"But I made him admit that he sent his photograph to some
person, as the photograph of Arthur Orton. " He said the
common people in England still held to their belief that the
Claimant was the genuine Sir Roger Tichborne, and, by a
curious contradiction, this feeling was inspired largely by
their sympathy with him as a man of humble birth. I said :
"Yes, I think that is true. I heard somebody, a little while
ago, say that they heard two people talking in the cars, and
one of them said to the other, 'They wouldn't give him the
estate, because he was the son of a poor butcher.' " This
very much amused the Lord Chief Justice.
I asked him about the story I had heard and had verified
some time before, of the connection, in the person of Lady
RoUe, between two quite remote periods. Lady RoUe was
alive until 1887, maintaining her health so that she gave din
ner parties in that year, shortly before she died. She was
the widow of Mr. Rolle, afterward Lord RoUe, who made a
violent attack on Charles James Fox in 1783. He was then
thirty-two years old. From him the famous satire, the
RoUiad, took its name. When he went to pay his homage
to Queen Victoria at her Coronation in Westminster Abbey,
he was quite feeble, and rolled down the steps of the throne.
The young Queen showed her kindness of heart by jumping
up and going to help him up in person. Some of the English
told the foreigners present at the ceremonial that that was
part of the ceremony, and that the Rolles held their lands
on the tenure of going through that performance at every
coronation. Lady Rolle was married to her husband in
1820. He was then sixty-nine, and she a young girl of
twenty years old. He was eighty or ninety years old when
he died, and she survived as his widow for many years.
Something came up on the subject of longevity which in
duced me to refer to this story and ask Lord Coleridge if

VISITS TO ENGLAND 221
it were true. We were then riding out together; "Yes,"
said he, "there," pointing to a dwelling-place in full sight,
"is the house where she lived."
His Lordship asked me about an American Judge with
whom he had some acquaintance. I told him that I thought
his reputation was rather that of a jurist than a Judge.
"Oh, yes," said he, "a jurist is a man who knows something
about the law of every country but his own. ' '
Lord Coleridge had a good reputation as a story-teller.
It was pleasant to get an auditor who seemed to like to hear
the stories which have got rather too commonplace to be
worth telling over here. He had a great admiration for
President Lincoln, and was eager to hear anything anybody
had to tell about him. I told him the famous story of Lin
coln's reply to the man who had left with him his poem to
read, when he gave it back. "If anybody likes that sort of
thing, it's just the sort of thing they'd like." I overheard
his Lordship, as he circulated about the room, a little while
afterward, repeating the story to various listeners.
He thought Matthew Arnold the greatest living Eng
lishman. He spoke with great respect of Carlyle. He
said: "Emerson was an imitator of Carlyle, and got his
thoughts from him. ' ' I could not stand that. It seemed to
me that he had probably never read a page of Emerson in
his life, and had got his notion from some writer for a maga
zine, before either of these great men was well known. I
took the liberty of saying, with some emphasis, "Emerson
was a far profounder and saner intellect than Carlyle. ' ' To
which he said, "Why, what do you say?" I repeated what
I had said, and he received the statement with great polite
ness, but, of course, without assent.
During this summer I paid a visit to Moyle 's Court, near
Southampton, formerly owned by Lady Alice Lisle, whose
daughter married Leonard Hoar, President of Harvard Col
lege. Leonard Hoar was the brother of my ancestor, John
Hoar of Concord, and the son of Charles Hoar, Sheriff of
Gloucester. There is a statement in an old account of some
Puritan worthies that I have seen, to the effect that John

222 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
Hoar and Leonard married sisters. If that be true, John
Hoar's wife, Alice, was a daughter and namesake of Lady
Alice Lisle. Although I should like to believe it, I am afraid
that the claim cannot be made good. Lady Alice Lisle was
a lady of large wealth and good lineage. Her husband was
John Lord Lisle, who was Lord Justice under Cromwell, and
one of the Judges in the trial of Charles I. He drew the in
dictment and sentence of the King, and sat next to Brad-
shaw at the trial, and directed and prompted him in difficult
matters. He was murdered one Sunday morning on his way
to church when in exile at Lausanne, Switzerland, on the
Lake of Geneva, by three ruffians, said to be sent for that
purpose by Queen Henrietta. Lady Alice Lisle was a victim
of the brutality of Jeffries. After Monmouth's rebellion and
defeat, she gave shelter and food to two fugitives from Mon
mouth's army. The report of her trial is in Howell. There
was no proof that she knew that they were fugitives from
Monmouth's army, although she supposed one of them was
a Dissenting minister. There had been no conviction of the
principals, which the English law required before an acces
sory after the fact could be found guilty. She suggested
this point at the trial, but it was overruled by Jeffries. He
conducted the case with infinite brutality. She was a kindly
old lady, of more than seventy years. She slept during
part of the trial, probably being fatigued by the journey,
in which she had been carried on horseback from Moyle 's
Court to Winchester, and the sleepless nights which would
naturally have followed. She was sentenced to be burned
at the stake. But the sentence was commuted to beheading,
at the intercession of the gentry of the neighborhood. She
had disapproved of the execution of the King ; said she had
always prayed for him, and had a son in the King's army.
Macaulay 's account of the story is familiar to all readers
of English history.
I was received at the old house with great kindness by
Mrs. Fane, wife of the present proprietor. It is a beauti
ful old house with carved oak partitions, with a dining room
rising to the roof. Lady Lisle 's chamber and the place
where the two fugitives were concealed are still shown.

VISITS TO ENGLAND 223
Mrs. Fane had gathered some local traditions which are not
found in print. One old lady, who had been well known to
persons now living, had received some of them from her
grandmother, who was cotemporary with Lady Alice.
The lady was very popular with her tenants in the neigh
borhood. The messenger who came from Winchester to
arrest her took her on horseback behind him, according to
the custom of the time. The horse cast a shoe. The mes
senger was for pressing on without regard to the suffering
of the animal. She insisted that he should stop and have
the horse shod. The man roughly refused. She said: "I
have made no outcry, on my own account. But everybody
here loves me. If you do not stop, I shall cry out. You
will never get away with me alive. ' ' The fellow was fright
ened and consented to stop at a smithy. When the smith
had finished his work. Lady Lisle said: "I will be back
this way in two or three days, and I will pay you. ' ' To this
the messenger said : ' ' Yes, you will be back this way in two
or three days, but without your head."
The headless body was brought back from Winchester
after the trial. The next day, when the household were at
dinner, a man came to the outside and thrust into the dining
room window a basket, containing her head. This was said
to be for ' ' greater indignity. ' '
Lady Lisle had known Hicks, one of the persons whom
she relieved, before. When the court was sitting for the
trial of Charles I., she went up to London to expostulate
with her husband. She arrived at his lodgings just as he
was setting out in a procession, with some state, for West
minister Hal], where the trial was held. As she approached
to speak to him, he did not recognize her in the soiled dress
in which she had travelled, and motioned her away rather
roughly. It was said that she was overcome by the press
in the crowd and fell to the ground. Hicks, who was a
Dissenting minister, raised her up and took her to his own
lodging near by in the Strand. She said to him that she
could not recompense him there, but if he would come to
Hampshire, or to the Isle of Wight, where she had prop
erty, she would be glad to repay him.

224 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
Saturday, October 22, 1892, with Mrs. Hoar and her sis
ter, Mrs. Rice, I went from Southampton to Ringwood, about
twenty miles, and thence drove to EUingham Church, about
two miles and a half. The church is a small but very beau
tiful structure of stone, with a small wooden belfry. The
tomb of Lady Alice Lisle is a heavy, flat slab of gray stone,
raised about two or three feet from the ground, bearing the
following inscription: Here lies Dame Alicia Lisle
and her daughter Ann Harf eld
who dyed the 17th of Feb. 1703-4
Alicia Lisle dyed the
second of Sept. 1685.
It is close to the wall of the church, on the right of the
porch. In the church is seen the old Lisle pew of carved
oak, now the pew of the Earl of Normanton. Opposite the
pew is the pulpit, also of carved black oak, apparently an
cient. The church contains a tablet to the memory of the
former owner of Moyle 's Court, who died in 1622.
Moyle 's Court is about a mile and a half from EUingham
Church. The drive is along a beautiful lane shaded by
trees whose branches meet from the two sides, through a
beautiful and fertile country, adorned by herds of fine cattle.
Moyle 's Court is a large two-story building, consisting of
two square wings connected by the main building. The
wings project from the main building in front, but the whole
forms a continuous line in the rear. As you approach it,
you pass numerous heavy, brick outbuildings, including sev
eral farmhouses, one of which is quite large, and apparently
of great antiquity. We were received by Mrs. Fane with
the greatest courtesy. She said that the landed estate con
nected with Moyle 's Court is very large, now or recently
yielding the Earl of Normanton seven thousand pounds a
year. The present occupant of Moyle 's Court, Frederick Fane,
Esq., came there about twenty-one years before. The house
was then much dilapidated, but he has restored it in a style
in keeping with the ancient architecture. The principal

VISITS TO ENGLAND 225
room is a dining hall, rising from the ground some twenty-
five feet in height, with a gallery at one end, on a level with
the second story. The walls of this room are of beautiful,
carved oak, the front of the gallery being ancient, and as
it existed in the time of Lady Alice Lisle. The staircase,
also of fine, carved oak, is of equal antiquity. The carved
oak in the passages and some of the other rooms has been
restored by Mr. Fane from material found in the attic.
There is also a curious old kitchen, with a large fireplace,
with a closet in the chimney where it is said one of the per
sons succored by Lady Alice Lisle was found hidden. In
the cellar is a curiously carved head on a stone beam, which
seemed as if it might formerly have supported a mantel
piece or shelf. It is said that this portion of the cellar was
once a chapel.
Some of the chambers have been named by Mr. Fane from
persons connected with the tragedy— Dame Alicia, Mon
mouth, Nelthrop, Hicks, Tryphena— these names being in
scribed on the doors. The room is shown where Lady Lisle
is said to have been seized.
The old tombstone over the grave of Leonard Hoar and
his wife, at the Quincy burial-ground, in Massachusetts, is
almost an exact copy of that over Lady Alice Lisle, at EUer-
ton near Moyle 's Court. They were doubtless selected by
the same taste. Mrs. Leonard Hoar, whose maiden name
was Bridget Lisle, was connected quite intimately with
three of the great tragedies in the history of English liberty.
Her father, as has been said, was murdered at Lausanne.
Her mother was murdered under the form of the mock
judgment of Jeffries, at Winchester. Her niece mar
ried Lord Henry Russell, son of the Duke of Bedford, and
brother of Lord William Russell, the story of whose tragic
death is familiar to every one who reads the noble history
of the struggle between liberty and tyranny which ended
with the Revolution of 1688.
Bridget Hoar married again after the death of her hus
band, President Hoar. Her second husband was a Mr.
Usher, who seems to have been insane. She lived with him
very unhappily, then separated from him and went back to
15

226 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
England, staying there until he died. She then came back
to Boston and died, May 25, 1723. At her own request she
was buried at the side of her first husband. A great con
course of the clergy and the principal citizens, including the
Governor, attended her funeral.
It was my good fortune to be instrumental, after this visit,
in correcting an evil which had caused great annoyance to
our representatives abroad for a good many years.
The Americans have never maintained their representa
tives abroad with a dignity becoming a great power like the
United States. The American Minister is compelled by our
rules to wear a dress which exposes him to be mistaken for
a waiter at any festive gathering. Distinctions of rank are
well established in the diplomatic customs of civilized na
tions. It is well understood that whether a representative
of a country shall be an Ambassador, a Minister Plenipoten
tiary, a Minister Resident, or a Charge d'affaires, depends
on the sense of its rank among the nations of the world of
the country that sends him. For many years all argument
was lost on Congress. The United States representative
must not adopt the customs as to dress of the effete mon
archies of the old world. To send an Ambassador instead
of a Minister was to show a most undemocratic deference to
titles, abhorrent to every good republican. There had been
several attempts to make a change in this matter, always un
successful, until I went abroad in 1892.
When I was in London in that year, I saw a great deal of
Mr. Lincoln. He told me how vexatious he found his posi
tion. When the Minister for Foreign Affairs received the
diplomatic representatives of other countries at the Foreign
Office, Ambassadors were treated as belonging to one rank,
or class, and the Ministers as to a lower one. The members
of each class were received in the order of their seniority.
We change our Ministers with every Administration. So
the Minister of the United States is likely to be among the
juniors. He might have to wait all day, while the represen
tatives of insignificant little States were received one after
another. If, before the day ended, his turn came, some
Ambassador would arrive, who would get there, perhaps,

VISITS TO ENGLAND 227
five minutes before it was time for Mr. Lincoln to go in,
he had precedence at once. So the representative of the
most powerful country on earth might have to lose the whole
day, only to repeat the same experience on the next.
An arrangement was made which partly cured the trouble
by the Minister for Foreign Affairs receiving Mr. Lincoln,
on special application, informally, at his residence, on some
other day. But that was frequently very inconvenient.
And, besides, it was not always desirable to make a special
application for an audience, which would indicate to the
English Government that we attached great importance to
the request he might have to make, so that conditions of im
portance would be likely to be attached to it by them. It
was quite desirable, sometimes, to mention a subject inci
dentally and by the way, rather than to make it matter of
a special appointment.
When I got to Paris, I found Mr. Coolidge complaining
of the same difficulty. I told our two Ministers that when
I got home I would try to devise a remedy. Accordingly
I proposed and moved as an amendment to the Consular and
Diplomatic Appropriation Bill, the following clause:
"Whenever the President shall be advised that any for
eign government is represented, or is about to be repre
sented in the United States, by an Ambassador, Envoy
Extraordinary, Minister Plenipotentiary, Minister Resident,
Special Envoy, or Charge d'affaires, he is authorized, in his
discretion, to direct that the representative of the United
States to such government shall bear the same designation.
This provision shall in no wise affect the duties, powers, or
salary of such representative."
This had the hearty approval of Senators Allison and
Hale, the leading members of the Committee on Appropria
tions, and was reported favorably by that Committee.
Senator Vest was absent when the matter came up, and it
passed without opposition. Mr. Vest announced, the next
day, that he had intended to oppose it. I am afraid if he
had, he would have succeeded in defeating it.

228 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
When it went to the House, the Committee on Appropria
tions consented to retain the amendment, and it was favored
by Mr. Hitt of Illinois, who had, himself, represented the
country abroad and knew all about such matters. There
was a little opposition in the House. But it was quieted
without great difficulty. Vice-President Morton, who had,
himself, represented the country at Paris, went personally
to the House and used his great influence in favor of the
proposition. Mr. Blount of Georgia, a very influential
Democrat, threatened to make a strong opposition. But the
gentlemen who favored it said to him : ' ' Now you are going
out of the House, but your countrymen will not long let you
stay in retirement. You will be summoned to important
public service somewhere. It is quite likely that your polit
ical friends will call you to one of these important diplo
matic places, where you will be in danger of suffering the
inconvenience yourself, if the present system continue."
Mr. Blount was pacified. And the measure which I think
would have been beaten by a pugnacious opposition in either
House of Congress, got through.
Among the most impressive recollections of my life is the
funeral of Tennyson in Westminister Abbey. I got a seat
at the request of the American Minister by the favor of
Archdeacon Farrar, who had charge of the arrangements.
It was a most impressive scene. I had a seat near the grave,
which was in the Poets ' Corner, of which the pavement had
been opened. The wonderful music; the stately procession
which followed the coffin through the historic West en
trance, in the most venerable building in the world, to lay
the poet to sleep his last sleep with England's illustrious
dead of more than a thousand years.
In those precincts where the mighty rest,
With rows of statesmen and with walks of Kings,
to which Ne'er since their foundation came a nobler guest,
was unspeakably touching and impressive. The solemn

VISITS TO ENGLAND 229
burial service was conducted by the aged Dean, doomed, not
long after, to follow the beloved poet to his own final rest
ing-place near by.
The choir sang two anthems, both by Tennyson— "Cross
ing the Bar" and "Silent Voices"— the music of the latter
by Lady Tennyson.
The grave lay next to Robert Brownings', hard by the
monument to Chaucer. I looked into it and saw the oaken
coffin with the coronet on the lid.
The pall-bearers were the Duke of Argyle, Lord Dufferin,
Lord Selbourne, Lord Rosebery, Mr. Jowett, Mr. Lecky,
Mr. Fronde, Lord Salisbury, Dr. Butler, Head of Trinity,
Cambridge, Sir James Paget, Lord Kelvin and the United
States Minister. The place of Mr. Lincoln, who had gone
home on leave of absence, was taken by Mr. Henry White.
After depositing the body, the bearers passed the seat
where I sat, one by one, pressing through between two rows of
seats, so that their garments touched mine as they went by.
The day was cloudy and mournful, blending an unusual
gloom with the dim religious light of the Abbey. But just
as the body was let down into the earth, the sun came out
for a moment from the clouds, cheering and lightening up
the nave and aisles and transepts of the mighty building.
As the light struck the faces of the statues and the busts, it
seemed for a moment that the countenances changed and
stirred with a momentary life, as if to give a welcome to
the guest who had come to break upon their long repose.
Of course it was but an idle imagination, begot, perhaps, of
the profound excitement which such a scene, to the like of
which I was so utterly unaccustomed, made upon me. But
as I think of it now, I can hardly resist the belief that it
was real.
It was my good fortune during this journey to become the
purchaser of Wordsworth's Bible. It was presented to him
by Frederick William Faber, the famous writer of hymns.
While it is absolutely clean, it bears the mark of much use.
It was undoubtedly the Bible of Wordsworth's old age. On
my next visit to England I told John Morley about it. He
said, if it had been known, I never should have been allowed

230 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
to take it out of England. It bears the following inscription
in Faber 's handwriting: William Wordsworth
From Frederick Wm Faber,
In affectionate acknowledgment of his many kindnesses,
and of the pleasure and advantage of his friendship.
Ambleside. New Year's Eve. 1842. A. D.
Be stedfast in thy Covenant, and be conversant
therein, and wax old in thy work. Ecclesiasticus XI. 20.

CHAPTER XXI
VISITS TO ENGLAND
1896
In 1896 I found myself again utterly broken down in
health and strength. I had, the November before, a slight
paralysis in the face, which affected the muscles of the lower
lid of one of my eyes, causing a constant irritation in the
organ itself. After a time this caused a distortion of the
lips, which I concealed somewhat by a moustache. But it
operated, for a little while, as an effective disguise. When
I came home during the winter, an old conductor on the
Boston & Albany Railroad, whom I had known quite well,
when he took my ticket looked at me with some earnestness
and said, "Are you not related to Senator Hoar?" To
which I answered, ' ' I am a connection of his wife, by mar
riage. ' '
I found I must get rid of the work at home, if I were to
get back my capacity for work at all. So I sailed for South
ampton before the session of Congress ended. It was the
only time I had absented myself from my duties in Con
gress, except for an urgent public reason, for twenty-seven
years and more.
I saw a good many interesting English people. It is not
worth while to give the details of dinners and lunches and
social life, unless something of peculiar and general interest
occur. Almost every American who can afford it goes
abroad now. Our English kinsmen are full of hospitality.
They have got over their old coldness with which they were
apt to receive their American cousins, although they were
always the most delightfully hospitable race on earth when
you had once got within the shield of their reserve.
I remember especially, however, a very pleasant Sunday
spent on the Thames, at the delightful home of William
231

232 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
Grenfell, Esq., which I mention because, by a fortunate acci
dent, the visit had some very interesting consequences.
There I met Sir John Lubbock, now Baron Avebury, famous
for his writings on financial questions and on Natural His
tory, especially for his observations of the habits of ants.
He told me, if I am not mistaken, that he had personally
watched the conduct and behavior of more than fifteen thou
sand individual ants. There was a company of agreeable
English ladies and gentlemen. They played games in the
evening after dinner, as you might expect of a company of
American boys and girls of sixteen or eighteen years old.
Mr. Grenfell was a famous sportsman. His house was
filled with the trophies of his skill in hunting. I was told
that he had crossed the Channel in a row-boat.
Sir John Lubbock invited me to breakfast with him a few
days afterward in St. James Square. There I met a large
number of scientific men, among them the President of the
Geographical Society, and the Presidents or Heads of sev
eral other of the important British Societies. I was pre
sented to all these gentlemen. But I found I could not eas
ily understand the names, when they were presented. Eng
lishmen usually, even when they speak the language exactly
as we do, have a peculiar pronunciation of names, which
makes it very hard for an American ear to catch them. I
could not very well say, "What name did you say?" or ask
the host to repeat himself. So I was obliged to spend the
hour in ignorance of the special dignity of most of the illus
trious persons whom I met.
Just behind my chair hung a full-length portrait of Ad
miral Boscawen, a famous naval officer connected with our
early history. For him was named the town of Boscawen
in New Hampshire, where Daniel Webster practised law.
The house where we were had been his. I think he was in
some way akin to the host.
I sailed for home on Wednesday. The Friday night be
fore, I dined with Moreton Frewen, Esq., an accomplished
English gentleman, well known on this side of the Atlantic.
Mr. Frewen had been very kind and hospitable to me, as he
had been to many Americans. He deserves the gratitude

VISITS TO ENGLAND 233
of both nations for what he has done to promote good feeling
between the two countries by his courtesy to Americans of
all parties and ways of thinking. He has helped make the
leading men of both countries know each other. From that
knowledge has commonly followed a hearty liking for each
other. I mention this dinner, as I did the visit to Mr. Grenfell,
because of its connection with a very interesting transaction.
The guests at the dinner were Sir Julian Pauneefote, after
ward Lord Pauneefote, the British Ambassador to the
United States, who was then at home on a brief visit; Sir
Seymour Blaine, an old military officer who had won, as I
was told, great distinction in the East, and two Spanish
noblemen. The soldier told several very interesting stories of his
military life, and of what happened to him in his early
days. Of these I remember two. He said that when he was a
young officer, scarcely more than a boy, he was invited by
the Duke of Wellington, with other officers, to a great ball
at Apsley House. Late in the evening, after the guests had
left the supper room, and it was pretty well deserted, he
felt a desire for another glass of wine. There was nobody
in the supper room. He was just pouring out a glass of
champagne for himself, when he heard a voice behind him.
"Youngster, what are you doing?" He turned round. It
was the Duke. He said, "I am getting a glass of wine."
To this the Duke replied, "You ought to be up-stairs danc
ing. There are but two things. Sir, for a boy like you to be
doing. One is fighting; the other dancing with the girls.
As for me I'm going to bed." Thereupon the Duke passed
round the table; touched a spring which opened a secret
door, in what was apparently a set of book-shelves, and dis
appeared. Sir Seymour Blaine told another story which, I dare say,
IS well known. But I have never seen it in print. He said
that just before the Battle of Talavera when the Duke, then
Sir Arthur Wellesley, was in command in Spain, the Eng-
hsh and French armies had been marching for many days

234 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
on parallel lines, neither quite liking to attack the other, and
neither having got the advantage in position which they
were seeking. At last, one day, when everybody was pretty
weary with the fatigues of the march, the Duke summoned
some of his leading officers together and said to them: "You
see that clump of trees (pointing to one a good distance
away, but in sight from where they stood) —when the head
of the French column reaches that clump of trees, attack.
As for me I 'm going to sleep under this bush. ' ' Thereupon
the great soldier lay down, all his arrangements being made,
and everything being in readiness, and took his nap while
the great battle of Talavera— on which the fate of Spain and
perhaps the fate of Europe depended— was begun. This
adds another instance to the list of the occasions to which
Mr. Everett refers when he speaks of Webster's sleeping
soundly the night before his great reply to Hayne.
"So the great Conde slept on the eve of the battle of
Rocroi; so Alexander slept on the eve of the battle of Ar-
bela; and so they awoke to deeds of immortal fame!"
But this dinner of Mr. Frewen 's had a very interesting
consequence. As I took leave of him at his door about
eleven o'clock, he asked me if there were anything more
he could do for me. I said, "No, unless you happen to
know the Lord Bishop of London. I have a great longing
to see the Bradford Manuscript before I go home. It is in
the Bishop's Library. I went to Fulham the other day,
but found the Bishop was gone. I had supposed the Li
brary was a half-public one. I asked the servant who came
to the door for the librarian. He told me there was no such
officer, and that it was treated in all respects as a private
library. But I should be very glad if I could get an oppor
tunity to see it." Mr. Frewen answered, "I do not myself
know the Bishop. But Mr. Grenfell, at whose house you
spent Sunday, a little while ago, is his nephew by marriage.
He is in Scotland. But if I can reach him, I will procure for
you a letter to his uncle. ' ' That was Friday. Sunday morn
ing there came a note from Mr. Grenfell to the Bishop. I en-

VISITS TO ENGLAND 235
closed it to his Lordship in one from myself, in which I said
that if it were agreeable to him, I would call at Fulham
the next Tuesday, at an hour which I fixed. I got a cour
teous reply from the Bishop, in which he said that he would
be glad to show me the ' ' log of the Mayflower, " as he called it.
I kept the appointment, and found the Bishop with the book
in his hand. He received me very courteously, and showed
me a little of the palace. He said that there had been a
Bishop 's palace on that spot for more than a thousand years.
I took the precious manuscript in my hands, and examined
it with an almost religious reverence. I had delivered the
address at Plymouth, the twenty-first of December, 1895, on
the occasion of the two hundred and seventy-fifth anniver
sary of the landing of the Pilgrims upon the rock. In pre
paring for that duty I read carefully, with renewed enthu
siasm and delight, the noble and touching story as told by
Governor Bradford. I declared then that this precious his
tory ought to be in no other custody than that of their
children. There have been several attempts to procure the return
of the manuscript to this country. Mr. Winthrop, in 1860,
through the venerable John Sinclair, Archdeacon, urged the
Bishop of London to give it up, and proposed that the Prince
of Wales, then just coming to this country, should take it
across the Atlantic and present it to the people of Massa
chusetts. The Attorney-General, Sir Fitzroy Kelley, ap
proved the plan, and said it would be an exceptional act of
grace, a most interesting action, and that he heartily wished
the success of the application. But the Bishop refused.
Again, in 1869, John Lothrop Motley, then Minister to Eng
land, who had a great and deserved influence there, repeated
the proposition, at the suggestion of that most accomplished
scholar, Justin Winsor. But his appeal had the same fate.
The Bishop gave no encouragement, and said, as had been
said nine years before, that the property could not be alien
ated without an Act of Parliament. Mr. Winsor planned to
repeat the attempt on his visit to England in 1887. When
he was at Fulham the Bishop was absent, and he was obliged
to go home without seeing him in person.

236 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
In 1881, at the time of the death of President Garfield,
Benjamin Scott, Chamberlain of London, proposed again in
the newspapers that the restitution should be made. But
nothing came of it.
When I went abroad I determined to visit the locality on
the borders of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, from which
Bradford and Brewster and Robinson, the three leaders of
the Pilgrims, came, and where their first church was formed,
and the places in Amsterdam and Leyden where the emi
grants spent thirteen years. But I longed especially to see
the manuscript of Bradford at Fulham, which then seemed
to me, as it now seems to me, the most precious manuscript
on earth, unless we could recover one of the four gospels
as it came in the beginning from the pen of the Evangelist.
The desire to get it back grew and grew during the voyage
across the Atlantic. I did not know how such a proposition
would be received in England. A few days after I landed
I made a call on John Morley. I asked him whether he
thought the thing could be done. He inquired carefully into
the story, took down from his shelf the excellent though
brief life of Bradford in Leslie Stephen's "Biographical
Dictionary, ' ' and told me he thought the book ought to come
back to us, and that he should be glad to do anything in his
power to help. It was my fortune, a week or two after, to
sit next to Mr. Bayard at a dinner given to Mr. Collins, by
the American consuls in Great Britain. I took occasion to
tell him the story, and he gave me the assurance, which he
afterward so abundantly and successfully fulfilled, of his
powerful aid. I was compelled, by the health of one of the
party with whom I was travelling, to go to the Continent
almost immediately, and was disappointed in the hope of
an early return to England.
After looking at the volume and reading the records on
the fiyleaf , I said : ' ' My Lord, I am going to say something
which you may think rather audacious. I think this book
ought to go back to Massachusetts. Nobody knows how it
got over here. Some people think it was carried off by
Governor Hutchinson, the Tory Governor; other people
think it was carried off by British soldiers when Boston was

VISITS TO ENGLAND 237
evacuated; but in either case the property would not have
changed. Or, if you treat it as booty, in which last case, I
suppose, by the law of nations ordinary property does
change, no civilized nation in modern times applies that
principle to the property of libraries and institutions of
learning. ' '
The Bishop said: "I did not know you cared anything
about it."
"Why," said I, "if there were in existence in England
a history of King Alfred's reign for thirty years, written
by his own hand, it would not be more precious in the eyes
of Englishmen than this manuscript is to us."
"Well," said he, "I think myself that it ought to go
back, and if it depended on me it would have gone back
before this. But many of the Americans who have been
here have been commercial people, and did not seem to care
much about it except as a curiosity. I suppose I ought not
to give it up on my own authority. It belongs to me in my
official capacity, and not as private or personal property. I
think I ought to consult the Archbishop of Canterbury.
And, indeed," he added, "I think I ought to speak to the
Queen about it. We should not do such a thing behind Her
Majesty's back."
I said: "Very well, when I go home I will have a proper
application made from some of our literary societies, and
ask you to give it consideration."
I saw Mr. Bayard again and told him the story. He was
at the train when I left London for the steamer at South
ampton. He entered with great interest into the matter, and
told me again he would do anything in his power to for
ward it.
When I got home I communicated with Secretary Olney
about it, who took a kindly interest in the matter, and wrote
to Mr. Bayard that the Administration desired he should do
everything in his power to promote the application. The
matter was then brought to the attention of the Council of
the American Antiquarian Society, the Massachusetts His
torical Society, the Pilgrim Society of Plymouth and the
New England Society of New York. These bodies ap-

238 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
pointed committees to unite in the application. Governor
Wolcott was also consulted, who gave his hearty approba
tion to the movement, and a letter was despatched through
Mr. Bayard.
Meantime, Bishop Temple, with whom I had my conver
sation, had himself become Archbishop of Canterbury, and
in that capacity Primate of all England. His successor.
Rev. Dr. Creighton, had been the delegate of Emanuel,
John Harvard 's College, to the great celebration at Harvard
University in 1886, on the two hundred and fiftieth anniver
sary of its foundation. He had received the degree of Doc
tor of Laws from the University, had been a guest of Presi
dent Eliot, and had received President Eliot as his guest in
England. The full story of the recovery of the manuscript, in which
the influence of Ambassador Bayard and the kindness of
Bishop Temple, afterward Archbishop of Canterbury, had
so large a part, is too long to tell here. Before the
question was decided Archbishop Temple consulted Her
Majesty, Queen Victoria, who took a deep interest in the
matter, and gave the plan her cordial approval. I think,
as I had occasion to say to the British Ambassador after
ward, that the restoration of this priceless manuscript did
more to cement the bonds of friendship between the people
of the two countries than forty Canal Treaties. In settling
Imperial questions both nations are thinking, properly and
naturally, of great interests. But this restoration was an act
of purest kindness. The American people, in the midst of
all their material activities, their desire for wealth and em
pire, are a sentimental people, easily and deeply stirred by
anything that touches their finer feelings, especially any
thing that relates to their history.
The Bishop was authorized to return the manuscript by
a decree rendered in his own Court, by his Chancellor. The
Chancellor is regarded as the servant of the Bishop, and
holds office, I believe, at his will. But so does the King's
Chancellor at the King's will. I suppose the arrangement
by which the Chancellor determines suits in which his supe
rior is affected may be explained on the same ground as

VISITS TO ENGLAND 239
the authority of the Lord Chancellor to determine suits in
which the Crown is a party.
I was quite curious to know on what ground, legal or
equitable, the decree for the restoration of the manuscript
was made. I wrote, after the thing was over, to the gentle
man who had acted as Mr. Bayard's counsel in the case,
asking him to enlighten me on this subject. I got a very
courteous letter from him in reply, in which he said he was
then absent from home, but would answer my inquiry on his
return. After he got back, however, I got a formal and
ceremonious letter, in which he said that, having been em
ployed by Mr. Bayard as a public officer, he did not think
he was at liberty to answer questions asked by private per
sons. As the petition and decree had gone on the express
ground that the application for the return of the manuscript
was made by Mr. Bayard, not in his official, but only in his
private capacity, as he had employed counsel at my request,
and I had been responsible for their fees, I was, at first,
inclined to be a little vexed at the answer. On a little reflec
tion, however, I saw that it was not best to be too curious on
the subject; that where there was a will there was a way,
and probably there was no thought, in getting the decree, on
the part of anybody concerned, to be too strict as to legali
ties. I was reminded, however, of Silas Wegg's answer to
Mr. Boffin, when he read aloud to him and his wife evening
after evening "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Em
pire," which Silas had spoken of at first, as "The Decline
and Fall of the Russian Empire." Mr. Boffin noticed the
inconsistency, and asked Mr. Wegg why it was that he had
called it ' ' The Decline and Fall of the Russian Empire ' ' in
the beginning. To which Mr. Wegg replied that Mrs. Boffin
was present, and that it would not be proper to answer that
question in the presence of a lady.
The manuscript was brought to Massachusetts by Mr.
Bayard, on his return to the United States at the end of his
ofiScial term. It was received by the Legislature in the
presence of a large concourse of citizens, to whom I told
the story of the recovery. Mr. Bayard delivered the book
to the Governor and the Legislature with an admirable

240 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
speech, and Governor Wolcott expressed the thanks of the
State in an eloquent reply. He said that "the story of the
departure of this precious work from our shores may never
in every detail be revealed; but the story of its return
will be read of all men, and will become a part of
the history of the Commonwealth. There are places and
objects so intimately associated with the world's greatest
men or with mighty deeds that the soul of him who gazes
upon them is lost in a sense of reverent awe, as it listens
to the voice that speaks from the past, in words like those
which came from the burning bush, 'Put off thy shoes from
off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy
ground. '
"The story here told is one of triumphant achievement,
and not of defeat. As the official representative of the Com
monwealth, I receive it, sir, at your hands. I pledge the
faith of the Commonwealth that for all time it shall be
guarded in accordance with the terms of the decree under
which it is delivered into her possession as one of her chief
est treasures. I express the thanks of the Commonwealth
for the priceless gift, and I venture the prophecy that for
countless years to come and to untold thousands these mute
pages shall eloquently speak of high resolve, great suffering
and heroic endurance made possible by an absolute faith in
the over-ruling providence of Almighty God."
The Bishop gave the Governor of Massachusetts the right
to deposit the manuscript either in his office at the State
House or with the Massachusetts Historical Society, of
which Archbishop Temple and Bishop Creighton, who suc
ceeded Bishop Temple in the See of London, were both Hon
orary members. The Governor, under my advice, depos
ited the manuscript in the State House. It seemed to him
and to me that the Commonwealth, which is made up of the
Colony which Bradford founded, and of which he was Gov
ernor, blended with that founded by the Puritans under
Winthrop, was the fitting custodian of the manuscript which
contains the original record of the life in Leyden of the
founders of Plymouth, of the voyage across the sea, and of
the first thirty years of the Colony here. It is kept in the

VISITS TO ENGLAND 241
State Library, open at the page which contains the Compact
made on board the Mayflower— the first written Constitu
tion in history. Many visitors gaze upon it every year.
Few of them look upon it without a trembling of the lip and
a gathering of mist in the eye. I am told that it is not un
common that strong men weep when they behold it.

16

CHAPTER XXII
SILVER AND BIMETALLISM
I WAS compelled, by the state of my health, to be absent
from the country in the campaign which preceded the Presi
dential election of 1896, except for the last week or two.
But, of course, I took a very deep interest indeed in the
campaign. Mr. Bryan 's theories, and those of his followers
in many parts of the country, had thoroughly alarmed the
business men of the Northern and Eastern States. But in
the new States of the Northwest, especially in those that
contained silver mines, a large majority of the people, with
out distinction of party, had become converts to the doctrine
that the United States should coin silver at a ratio compared
to gold of sixteen to one, and make the silver so coined legal
tender in the payment of all debts, public and private. The
price of silver as compared with that of gold had been con
stantly falling for several years past. This was attributed
to the effect of the legislation which demonetized silver ex
cept to a limited amount. Several eminent Republicans,
both in the Senate and in the House, as well as many others
in private station, left the Republican Party on that issue.
Several States that had been constantly and reliably Repub
lican became Democratic or Populist, under the same influ
ence. The Democratic Platform of 1896 demanded the imme
diate restoration of the free coinage of gold and silver at the
present ratio of 16 to 1, without waiting for the consent of
any other nation. That doctrine was reaffirmed and en
dorsed in the Democratic National Platform for 1900.
There were two theories among the persons who desired
to maintain the gold standard. One was entertained by the
persons known as Gold Monometallists. They insisted that
no value could be given to any commodity by legislation.
242

SILVER AND BIMETALLISM 243
They said that nothing could restore silver to its old value
as compared with gold; that its fall was owing to natural
causes, chiefly to the increased production. They insisted
that every attempt to restore silver to its old place would
be futile, and that the promise to make the attempt, under
any circumstances, was juggling with the people, from which
nothing but disaster and shame would follow. They justly
maintained that, if we undertook the unlimited coinage of
silver, and to make it legal tender, under the inevitable law
long ago announced by Gresham, the cheaper metal, silver,
would flow into this country where it would have a larger
value for the purpose of paying debts, and that gold, the
more precious metal, would desert the country where there
would be no use found for it so long as the cheaper metal
would perform its function according to law. From this, it
was claimed, would follow the making of silver the exclu
sive basis of all commercial transactions; the disturbance
of our commercial relations with other countries, and the
establishment of a standard of value which would fluctuate
and shrink as the value of silver fluctuated and shrank. So
that no man who contracted a debt on time could tell what
would be the value of the coin he would be compelled to
pay when his debt became due, and all business on earth
would become gambling. They, therefore, demanded that
the Republican Party should plant itself squarely on the
gold standard; should announce its purpose to make gold
the exclusive legal tender for the country, and appeal to
the people for support in the Presidential election, standing
on that ground.
To them their antagonists answered, that the true law
was stated by Alexander Hamilton in his famous Report,
accepted by all his contemporaries, and by all our statesmen
of all parties down to 1873 or thereabouts, and recognised in
the Constitution of the United States. That doctrine was,
that the standard of value must necessarily be fixed by the
agreement of all commercial nations. No nation could,
without infinite suffering and mischief, undertake to set it
self against the rule adopted by the rest of mankind. It was
best, if the nations would consent to it, to have two metals

244 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
instead of one made legal tender, at a ratio to be agreed
upon by all mankind, establishing what was called Bimetal
lism. If this were done, the Gresham law could not operate,
because there would be no occasion for the cheaper metal to
fiow into any one country by reason of its having a prefer
ence there in the payment of debts ; and nothing which would
cause the more precious metal to depart from any country
by reason of its being at a disadvantage. If such a rule
were adopted, and a proper ratio once established, it would
be pretty likely to continue, unless there were a very large
increase in the production of one metal or the other. If
the supply of gold in proportion to silver were diminished
a little, the corresponding demand for silver by all man
kind would bring up its price and cure the inequality. So,
if the supply of gold were to increase in proportion to silver,
a like effect would take place.
If, however, the nations of the world were to agree on one
metal alone, it was best that the most precious metal should
be taken for the purpose.
The above, in substance, was the doctrine of Alexander
Hamilton, the ablest practical financier and economist that
ever lived, certainly without a rival in this country.
The duties specially assigned to me in the Senate and in
the House related to other matters. But I made as thorough
and faithful a study as I could of this great question, and
accepted Hamilton's conclusions. I believed they were
right in themselves, and thought the reasons by which they
were supported, although the subject is complex and diffi
cult, likely to find favor with the American people. Silver
has always been a favorite metal with mankind from the
beginning. While gold may be the standard of value, it is
too precious to be a convenient medium of payment for
small sums, such as enter into the daily transactions of ordi
nary life. It is said that you can no more have a double
standard, or two measures of value, than you can have a
double standard, or two measures of distance. But the com
pensating effect may be well illustrated by what is done by
the makers of clocks for the most delicate measurements of
time, such as are used for astronomical calculations. The

SILVER AND BIMETALLISM 245
accuracy of the clock depends upon the length of the pendu
lum and the weight which the pendulum supports. If the
disk at the end of the pendulum be himg by a wire of a
single metal, that metal expands and shrinks in length under
changing atmospheric influences, and affects the clock's rec
ord of time. So the makers of these clocks resort to two or
three wires of different metals, differently affected by the
atmosphere. One of these compensates for and supplements
the other, so that the atmospheric changes have much less
effect than upon a single metal.
Beside the fact that I thoroughly believed in the sound
ness of bimetallism, as I now believe in it, I thought we
ought not to give our antagonists who were pressing us so
hard, and appealing so zealously to every debtor and every
man in pecuniary difficulties, the advantage, in debate before
the people, of arraying on their side all our great authori
ties of the past. We had enough on our hands to encounter
Mr. Bryan and the solid South and the powerful Demo
cratic Party of New York and the other great cities, and
every man in the country who was uneasy and discontented,
without giving them the right to claim as their allies Alex
ander Hamilton, and George Washington, and Oliver Ells
worth, and John C. Calhoun, and Daniel Webster, and
Henry Clay, and Thomas H. Benton. I was, therefore,
eager that the Republican Party should state frankly in its
platform what I, myself, deemed the sound doctrine. It
should denounce and condemn the attempt to establish the
free coinage of silver by the power of the United States
alone, and declare that to be practical repudiation and na
tional ruin. But I thought we ought also to declare our
willingness, if the great commercial nations of the earth
would agree, to establish a bimetallic system on a ratio to
be agreed upon.
Some of the enemies of the Republican Party, who could
not adopt the Democratic plan for the free coinage of sil
ver, without contradicting all their utterances in the past,
denounced this proposal as a subterfuge, a straddle, an at
tempt to deceive the people and get votes by pledges not
meant to be carried out.

246 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
I believed then, and I believe now, that we were right in
demanding that the Republican Party should go into the
campaign with the declaration I have stated.
It is true that you cannot give value to any commodity
by law. It is as idle to attempt to make an ounce of silver
worth as much as an ounce of gold by legislation, as it is to
try to make one pound weigh two pounds, or one yard meas
ure two yards. You cannot increase the price of a hat, or
a coat, or a farm, by act of Congress. The value of every
article, whether gold or silver, whether used as money or as
merchandise, must depend upon the inexorable law of de
mand and supply. But you can, by legislation, compel the
use of an article, which use will create a demand for it, and
the demand will then increase its price. If Congress shall
require that every soldier in the United States Army shall
wear a hat or a coat of a particular material or pattern, or
shall enact that every man who votes shall come to the polls
dressed in broadcloth, if there be a limited supply of these
commodities, the price of the hat or the coat or the broad
cloth will go up. So, when the nations of the world joined
in depriving silver of one of its chief uses— that of serving
the function of a tender for the payment of debts, the value
of silver diminished because one large use which it had
served before was gone. Whether this doctrine be sound or
no, it was the result of as careful study as I ever gave in my
life, to any subject, public or private. It was not only the
doctrine of the Fathers, but of recent generations. It was
the doctrine on which the Republicans of Massachusetts, a
community noted for its conservatism and business sagacity,
had planted the Commonwealth, and it was the doctrine on
which the American people planted itself and which tri
umphed in the election of 1896.
I have been accused, sometimes, of want of sincerity, and,
by one leading New England paper, with having an imper
fect and confused understanding of the subject. Perhaps I
may be pardoned, therefore, for quoting two testimonials to
the value of my personal contribution to this debate. One
came from Senator Clay of Georgia, one of the ablest of
the Democratic leaders. After I had stated my doctrine in

SILVER AND BIMETALLISM 247
a brief speech in the Senate one day, he crossed the cham
ber and said to me that, while he did not accept it, he thought
I had made the ablest and most powerful statement of it he
had ever heard or read. The other came from Charles
Emory Smith, afterward a member of President McKin
ley 's Cabinet and editor of the Press, a leading paper in
Philadelphia. I have his letter in which he says that he
thinks that an edition of at least a million copies of my
speech on gold and silver should be published and circu
lated through the country. He also said, in an article in
the Saturday Evening Post, June 14, 1902:
"In the great contest over the repeal of the Silver Pur
chase Act he made the most luminous exposition, both of
what had been done, and the reasons for it ; and what ought
to be done, and the grounds for it, that was heard in the
Senate." It occurred to me that I could render a very great service
to my country, during my absence, if I could be instru
mental in getting a declaration from England and France
that those countries would join with the United States in an
attempt to reestablish silver as a legal tender.
It was well known that Mr. Balfour, Leader of the Admin
istration in the House of Commons, was an earnest bimetal-
list. He had so declared himself in public, both in the
House and elsewhere, more than once.
There had been a resolution, not long before, signed by
more than two thirds of the French Chamber of Deputies,
declaring that France was ready to take a similar action
whenever England would move. I, accordingly, with the
intervention of Mr. Frewen, the English friend I have just
mentioned, arranged an interview with Mr. Balfour in
Downing Street. We had a very pleasant conversation in
deed. I told him that if he were willing, in case the United
States, with France and Germany and some of the smaller
nations, would establish a common standard for gold and
silver, to declare that the step would have the approval of
England, and that, although she would maintain the gold

248 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
standard alone for domestic purposes, she would make a
substantial and most important contribution to the success
of the joint undertaking, that it would insure the defeat of
the project for silver monometallism, from which England,
who was so largely our creditor, would suffer, in the begin
ning almost as much as we would, and perhaps much more,
and would avert the panic and confusion in the business of
the world which would be brought about by the success of
the project.
I did not state to Mr. Balfour exactly what I thought the
contribution of England to this result ought to be. He, on
the other hand, did not tell me what he thought she would
do. I did not, of course, expect that England would estab
lish the free coinage of silver for her own domestic pur
poses. But I thought it quite likely that she would declare
her cordial approval of the proposed arrangement between
the other countries, and would reopen her India mints to the
free coinage of the rupee, and maintain the silver standard
for the Queen's three hundred million subjects in Asia.
This contribution, I thought, if Great Britain went no far
ther, would give great support to silver, and would ensure
the success of the concerted attempt of the other commer
cial nations to restore silver to its old place.
Mr. Balfour expressed his assent to my proposal, and
entered heartily into the scheme. He said he would be very
happy indeed to make such a declaration. I suggested to
him that I had been authorized to say, by one or two gentle
men with whom I had talked, that, if he were willing, a
deputation of the friends of Bimetallism would wait upon
him, to whom he could express his opinion and purpose.
He said he thought it would be better that he should write
a letter to me, and that if I would write to him stating what
I had said orally, he would answer it with such a statement
as I desired. I told him I was going to Paris in a few days,
and that I would write to him from Paris when I got there.
The matter was left in that way. The next day, or the next
day but one, a luncheon was given me at White's, the club
famous for its memories of Pitt and Canning and the old
statesmen of that time, and still the resort of many of the

SILVER AND BIMETALLISM 249
Conservative leaders of to-day. There were present some
fifteen or twenty gentlemen, including several members of
the Government. A gentleman who had known of my inter
view with Mr. Balfour, and sat at the table some distance
from me, made some allusion to it which was heard by most
of the guests. I said that I did not like to repeat what Mr.
Balfour had said ; that gentlemen in his position preferred,
if their opinions were to be made public, to do it for them
selves, rather than to have anybody else do it for them.
To this, one member of the Government— I think it was
Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, but I will not undertake to be
sure— said: "It is no secret that Mr. Balfour's opinions
are those of a majority of Her Majesty's Government."
I went to Paris, and wrote at once the letter that had been
agreed upon, of which I have in my possession a copy. I
at once secured an introduction to M. Fougirot, the Member
of the French Assembly who had dravm and procured the
signatures to the resolution to which I just referred. That
is, I am told, a not uncommon way in France of declaring
the sense of the House in anticipation of a more formal vote.
He entered heartily into the plan. He thought Germany
would at once agree, at any rate, he was sure that Belgium,
Spain, Italy and all the European commercial powers would
come into the arrangement, an(^ that the whole thing would
be absolutely sure if Great Britain were to agree. I waited
a week or two for the letter from Mr. Balfour. In the mean
time I got a letter from Mr. Frewen, who told me that Mr.
Balfour had shown him the letter he had written to me ; that
it was admirable, and eminently satisfactory. But no let
ter came. I waited another week or two, and then got an
other letter from Mr. Frewen, in which he said that he had
taken no copy of Mr. Balfour 's letter, and had returned the
original, and asked me, if I had no objection, if I would give
him a copy of it. I answered that I had heard nothing,
whereupon Mr. Frewen wrote a note to Mr. Balfour, telling
him that I had not heard. Mr. Balfour said that he had,
after writing the letter, submitted it to a meeting of his col
leagues ; that one of them had expressed his most emphatic
disapproval of the plan, and that he did not feel warranted

250 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
in taking such a step against the objection of one of his col
leagues. I gathered, from what I heard afterward, that Mr.
Balfour wished he had sent the letter without communi
cating its contents. But of this I have no right to be sure.
Mr. Balfour sent Mr. Frewen the following letter, which is
now in my possession. It was, I suppose with his approval,
sent to me. 10 Downing Street, Whitehall, S, W.
August 6, 1896.
Dear Moreton Frewen.
I think Senator Hoar has just reason to complain of my
long silence. But, the truth is that I was unwilling to tell
him that my hopes of sending him a letter for publication
had come to an end, until I was really certain that this was
the case. I am afraid however that even if I am able now
to overcome the objections of my colleagues, the letter itself
would be too late to do much good. Please let me know
what you think on this subject.
Yours sincerely, Arthur James Balfour.
I never blamed him. He was in the midst of a good deal
of difficulty with his Education Bill. Certainly there can
be no obligation on the Leader of the English House of
Commons to do anything that he is not sure is for the inter
ests of his ovra country, or his own party, for the sake of
benefiting a foreign country, still less for the sake of affect
ing its politics. Indeed, I suppose Mr. Balfour would have
utterly and very rightfully disclaimed any idea of writing
such a letter, unless he thought what was proposed would
benefit England. When I went back to London, an offer
was made me later to arrange another interview with Mr.
Balfour, and see if something else could not be devised.
This I declined. I thought I had gone as far as I properly
could, with a due sense of my own dignity. The exigency
at home had pretty much passed by,
A day or two after I got to Paris, after I had seen M.
Fougirot, I cabled my colleague, Mr, Lodge, at St. Louis,

SILVER AND BIMETALLISM 251
where the delegates to the convention to nominate a Presi
dent were then gathering, stating my hope that our conven
tion would insert in its platform a declaration of the purpose
of the Republican Party to obtain, in concert with other
nations, the restoration of silver as a legal tender in com
pany with gold, and that I had reason to feel sure that such
a plan could be accomplished. This cable reached St. Louis
on the morning the convention assembled. I do not know
how much influence it had, or whether it had any, in causing
the insertion of that plank in the platform. Such a plank
was inserted. In my opinion it saved the Presidential elec
tion, and, in my opinion, in saving the Presidential election,
it saved the country from the incalculable evil of the free
coinage of silver.
After I came home, at the next winter's session, I told
the story of what I had done, to a caucus of the Republican
Senators. A Committee was thereupon appointed by John
Sherman, President of the Caucus, to devise proper means
for keeping the pledge of the National platform and estab
lishing international bimetallism in concurrence with other
nations. The Committee consisted of Messrs. Wolcott,
Hoar, Chandler, Carter and Gear. They reported the Act
of March 3, 1897, authorizing a commission to visit Europe
for that purpose, of which Senator Wolcott was chairman.
A Commission was sent abroad by President McKinley,
in pursuance of the pledge of the Republican National plat
form, to endeavor to effect an arrangement with the leading
European nations for an international bimetallic standard.
Senator Wolcott of Colorado, who was the head of this Com
mission, told me he was emboldened to undertake it by the
account I had given. The Commission met with little suc
cess. I conjecture that the English Administration, al
though a majority of the Government, and probably a ma
jority of the Conservative Party, were Bimetallists and
favored an international arrangement on principle, did not
like to disturb existing conditions at the risk of offending
the banking interests at London, especially those which had
charge of the enormous foreign investments, the value of
which would be constantly increasing so long as their debts

252 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
were payable, principal and interest, in gold, the value of
which, also, was steadily appreciating.
It has been the fashion of some quite zealous— I will not
say presumptuous, still less ignorant or shallow writers on
this subject— to charge bimetallists with catering to a mis
chievous, popular delusion, for political purposes, or with
shallowness in thinking or investigating. I have had my
share of such criticism. All I have to say in reply to it is
that I have done my best to get at the truth, without, so far
as I am concerned, any desire except to get at and utter the
truth. In addition to the authority of our own early states
men, and to that of the eminent Englishmen to whom I have
referred, I wish to cite that of my pupil and dear friend,
General Francis A. Walker, who is declared by abundant
European, as well as American authority, to be the foremost
writer on money of modern times. He was a thorough be
liever in the doctrine I have stated.
He pointed out the danger, indeed the ruin, of undertak
ing to reestablish silver without the consent of foreign na
tions. But he declared that the happiness and, perhaps,
the safety of the country rested on Bimetallism. He said:
"Indeed, every monometallist ought also to be a monocu-
list. Polyphemus, the old Cyclops, would be his ideal. Un
fortunately our philosophers were not in the Garden of Eden
at the time when the Creator made the mistake of endowing
men with eyes in pairs. Perhaps it would not be too much
to say that there are probably few men whose eyes do not
differ from each other as to every element affecting vision
by more than the degree from which gold and silver varied
from the French standard of fifteen and a half to one for
whole decades."
The German Imperial Parliament passed a resolution, in
June, 1895, in favor of Bimetallism, and the Prussian Par
liament passed a resolution favoring an international bime
tallic convention, provided England joined it. May 22, 1895.
The great increase in the gold product of the world, and
the constant diminution in the value of silver, have put an

SILVER AND BIMETALLISM 253
end to the danger of the movement for the free coinage of
silver, and made the question purely academic or theoretic,
at any rate for a good while to come. The same causes have
diminished the desire for a bimetallic standard, and make
the difficulty of establishing a parity between silver and
gold, for the present, almost insuperable. So the question
which excited so much public feeling throughout the world
for nearly a quarter of a century, and endangered not only
the ascendency of the Republican Party, but the financial
strength of the United States, has become almost wholly one
of theory and of ancient history.
After leaving Paris I spent a few delightful weeks at
Innsbruck in Austria, and Reichenhall in Germany, both
near the frontier between those two countries. The wonder
ful scenery and the curious architecture and antiquity of
those towns transport one back to the Middle Ages. But I
suppose they are too well known now, to our many travel
lers, to make it worth while to describe them. I went to
those places for the health of a lady nearly allied to my
household. She was under the care of Baron Liebig, one
of the most famous physicians in Germany, the son of the
great chemist. I got quite well acquainted with him. He
was a very interesting man. He had a peculiar method of
dealing with the diseases of the throat and lungs like those
under which my sister-in-law suffered. He had several
large oval apartments, air-tight, with an inner wall made of
porcelain, like that used for an ordinary vase or pitcher.
From these he excluded all the air of the atmosphere, and
supplied its place with an artificial air made for the purpose.
The patients were put in there, remaining an hour and three
quarters or two hours each day— I do not know but some of
them a longer time. Then they were directed to take long
walks, increasing them in length day by day, a considerable
part of the walk being up a steep hill or mountain. I be
lieve his method was of very great value to the patient who
was in my company. The Baron thought he could effect a
complete cure if she could stay with him several months.
But that was impossible.

CHAPTER XXIII
VISITS TO ENGLAND
1899
I visited England again in 1899. I did not go to the Con
tinent or to Scotland. My wife consulted a very eminent
London physician for an infirmity of the heart. He told her
to go to the Isle of Wight ; remain there a few weeks ; then
to go to Boscombe ; stay a few weeks there ; then to Malvern
Hills, and thence to a high place in Yorkshire, which, I
believe, is nearly, if not quite, the highest inhabited spot in
England. This treatment was eminently advantageous.
But to comply with the doctor's direction took all the time
we had at our command before going home.
We had a charming and delightful time in the Isle of
Wight. We stayed at a queer little old Inn, known as the
"Crab and Lobster," kept by Miss Cass, with the aid of
her sister and niece. We made excursions about the island.
I saw two graves side by side which had a good deal of
romance about them. One was the grave of a woman. The
stone said that she had died at the age of one hundred and
seven. By its side was the grave of her husband, to whom
she had been married at the age of eighteen, and who had
died just after the marriage. So she had been a widow
eighty-nine years, and then the couple, separated in their
early youth, had come together again in the grave.
We found a singular instance of what Americans think
so astonishing in England, the want of knowledge by the
people of the locality with which they were familiar in life,
of persons whose names have a world-wide reputation. In
a churchyard at Bonchurch, about a mile from our Inn at
Ventnor, is the grave of John Sterling— the friend of Emer
son—of whom Carlyle wrote a memoir. Sterling is the
254

VISITS TO ENGLAND 255
author of some beautiful hymns and other poems, including
what I think the most splendid and spirited ballad in English
literature, "Alfred the Harper." Yet the sexton who ex
hibited the church and the churchyard did not seem to know
anything about him, and the booksellers near by never had
heard of him. The sexton showed, with great pride, the
grave of Isaac Williams, author of the "Shadow of the
Cross" and some other rather tame religious poetry. He
was a devout and good man, and seemed to be a feeble imi
tator of Keble. I dare say, the sexton first heard of Ster
ling and saw his grave when we showed it to him.
The scenery about Boscombe and the matchless views of
the Channel are a perpetual delight, especially the sight, on
a clear day, of the Needles.
We did not find it necessary to obey the doctor 's advice to
go to Yorkshire. After leaving Boscombe, I spent the rest
of my vacation at Malvern Hills, some eight or nine miles
north of Worcester, and some twenty miles from Gloucester.
The chief delight of that summer — a delight that dwells
freshly in my memory to-day, and which will never be for
gotten while my memory endures— was a journey through
the Forest of Dean, in a carriage, in company with my
friend— alas, that I must say my late friend!— John Bel
lows, of Gloucester. He was, I suppose, of all men alive,
best qualified to be a companion and teacher on such a
journey. He has written and published for the American
Antiquarian Society an account of our journey— a most de
lightful essay, which I insert in the appendix. He tells the
story much better than I could tell it. My readers will do
well to read it, even if they skip some chapters of this book
for the purpose. I am proud and happy in this way to asso
ciate my name with that of this most admirable gentleman.
I visited Gloucester. I found the houses still standing
where my ancestors dwelt, and the old tomb in the Church
of St. Mary de Crypt, with the word Hoare cut in the pave
ment in the chancel.
My ancestors were Puritans. They took an active part
in the resistance to Charles I., and many traces are pre
served of their activity in the civic annals of Gloucester.

256 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
Two of my name were Sheriffs in those days. There were
two other Sheriffs whose wives were sisters of my direct
ancestors. Charles Hoar, my direct ancestor, married one
of the Clifford family, the descendant of the brother of Fair
Rosamond, and their arms are found on a tomb, and also
on a window in the old church at Frampton-on-Severn, eight
miles from Gloucester, where the Cliffords are buried. The
spot where fair Rosamond was born, still, I believe, belongs
to the Clifford family.
I got such material as I could for studying the history
of the military operations which preceded the siege and
capture of Worcester and the escape of Charles II. Sev
eral of the old houses where he was concealed are shown, as
also one in Worcester from which he made his escape out
of the window when Worcester was stormed, just as Crom
well's soldiers were entering at the door.
Shakespeare used to pass through Gloucester on his way
to London. Some of his celebrated scenes are in Glouces
tershire. The tradition is that Shakespeare's company
acted in the yard of the New Inn, at Gloucester, an ancient
hostelry still standing, a few rods only from the Raven
Tavern, which belonged to my ancestors, and is mentioned
in one of their wills still extant. I have no doubt my kin
dred of that time saw Shakespeare, and saw him act, unless
they had already learned the Puritanism which came to
them, if not before, in a later generation.
I purchased, some years ago, some twenty ancient Glouces
tershire deeds, of various dates, but all between 1100 and
1400. One of them was witnessed by John le Hore. It was
of lands at Wotton-under-Edge in Gloucestershire. I have
in my possession a will of Thomas Hore of Bristol, dated
1466, in which he mentions his wife Joanna, and his daugh
ters Joanna and Margery, and his sons Thomas and John.
These names— Thomas, John, Joanna and Margery— are the
names of members of the family who dwelt in the city at
Gloucester in later generations. So I have little doubt that
Thomas was of the same race, although there is a link in the
pedigree, between his death and 1560 or 1570 which I can
not supply. This Thomas bequeathes land at Wotton-

VISITS TO ENGLAND 257
under-Edge, so I conjecture that John also was of the same
race. A large old black oak chest bound with iron, be
queathed by Thomas to Bristol in 1466, is still in the pos
session of the city.
I was very much gratified that the people of the old City
of Gloucester were glad to recognize the tie of kindred which
I, myself, feel so strongly. I received a handsome box, con
taining a beautifully bound copy of an account of the City
from the Trader's Association of the City of Gloucester.
This account of the matter appears in the Echo, a local
paper of July 4, 1899.
Gloucester City. Gloucester Traders' Association.
Interesting Presentation
On Monday evening a largely attended public meeting
was held in the Guildhall under the auspices of the Glouces
ter Traders' Association for the purpose of hearing ad
dresses on "The municipal electricity supply." Mr. D.
Jones (president) occupied the chair, and there were also
present on the platform the Mayor (Mr. H. R. J. Braine),
City High Sheriff (Mr. A. V. Hatton), CounciUors Hol-
brook, Poole and several members of the association.
The Chairman said that in his position as president of the
association it was his pleasurable duty to present a copy of
their guide to Mr. G. F. Hoar, the distinguished member of
the United States Government, who had always taken a
great interest in their historic City.— The presentation con
sisted of a handsomely carved box made by Messrs. Mat
thews and Co. from pieces of historic English oak supplied
by Mr. H. Y. J. Taylor. On the outside of the cover are
engraved the City arms, and a brass plate explaining the
presentation. A beautifully printed copy of the well-known
guide, bound in red morocco, has been placed within, and on
the inside of the cover there is the following illuminated
address :
"To the Hon. G. F. Hoar, of Worcester, Mass., Senator
of the United States of America. Sir,— The members of
the Traders' Association, Gloucester, England, ask your ac-
17

258 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
ceptance of a bound copy of their guide to this ancient and
historic City, together with this box made from part of a
rafter taken from the room in which Bishop Hooper was
lodged the night before his burning, and from oak formerly
in old All Saints ' Church, as souvenirs of the regard which
the association entertains for you and its recognition of your
ardent affection for the City of Gloucester, the honored place
of the nativity of the progenitor of your family, Charles
Hoar, who was elder Sheriff in 1634 ; and may these sincere
expressions also be typical of the sterling friendship exist
ing between Great Britain and America."
"Senator Hoar had been unable to attend the meeting, and
the presentation was entrusted to the American Vice-Con-
sul, Mr. E. H. Palin, to forward to him. Remarking on
the presentation, the Mayor expressed his regret that Mr.
Hoar had been unable to accept the high and important posi
tion of American Ambassador which had been offered to
him. Addresses on the installation of the electric light were
then given by Mr. Hammond, M.I.C.E., and Mr. Spencer
Hawes. ' '
I was invited by the Corporation of the City to visit them
in the fall and receive the freedom of the City, which was
to be bestowed at the same time on Sir Michael Hicks-
Beach. But I had arranged to return to the United States
before the time fixed for the ceremonial. So I was deprived
of that great pleasure and honor.
I had a great longing to hear the nightingale. I find in
an old memorandum that I heard the nightingale in War
wickshire in 1860, somewhere about the twentieth of May.
But the occurrence, and the song of the bird,, have wholly
faded from my memory. When I was abroad in 1892 and
'96 I hoped to hear the song. But I was too late. Mrs.
Warre, wife of the Rector of Bemerton, George Herbert's
Parsonage, told me that the nightingales were abundant in
her own garden close to the Avon, but that they did not sing
after the beginning of the nesting session which, according
to a note to White's "History of Selborne," lasts from the
beginning of May to the early part of June. Waller says:

VISITS TO ENGLAND 259
Thus the wise nightingale that leaves her home,
Pursuing constantly the cheerful spring,
To foreign groves does her old music bring.
There are some counties in England where the bird is not
found. It is abundant, in Warwickshire, Gloucester and the
Isle of Wight. It is not found in Scotland, Derbyshire or
Yorkshire or Devon or Cornwall. Attempts to introduce it
in those places have failed. The reason is said to be that
its insect food does not exist there.
I utterly failed to hear the nightingale, although I was
very close upon his track. On the night of the fifth of
June at Freshwater, close to Tennyson's home, we were
taken by a driver, between eleven and twelve at night, to
two copses in one of which he said he had heard the night
ingale the night before ; and at the other they had been heard
by somebody, from whom he got the information, within a
very few days. But the silence was unbroken, notwith
standing our patience and the standing reward I had offered
to anybody who would find one that I could hear. Two
different nights shortly afterward, I was driven out several
miles past groves where the bird was said to be heard fre
quently. Nothing came of it. May 29, at Gloucester, I rode
with my friend, H. Y. J, Taylor, Esq., an accomplished anti
quary, out into the country. We passed a hillside where he
said he had heard the nightingale about eleven o'clock in the
daytime the week before, Shakespeare says :
The nightingale, if she should sing by day,
When every goose is cackling, would be
No better a musician than the wren.
But the nightingale does sometimes sing by day. Mr.
Taylor says that on the morning he spoke of the whole field
seemed to be full of singing birds. There were larks and
finches and linnets and thrushes, and I think other birds
whose names I do not remember. But when the nightingale
set up his song every other bird stopped. They seemed as
much spellbound by the singing as he was, and Philomel had
the field to himself till the song was over. It was as if

260 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
Jenny Lind had come into a country church when the rustic
choir of boys and girls were performing.
The nightingale will sometimes sing out of season if his
mate be killed, or if the nest with the eggs therein be de
stroyed. He is not a shy bird. He comes out into the highway
and will fly in and out of the hedges, sometimes following
a traveller. And the note of one bird will, in the singing
season, provoke the others, so that a dozen or twenty will
sometimes be heard rivalling one another at night, making
it impossible for the occupants of the farmhouses to sleep.
The superstition is well known that if a new-married man
hear the cuckoo before he hear the nightingale in the spring,
his married peace will be invaded by some stranger within
the year. But if the nightingale be heard first he will be
happy in his love. It is said that the young married swains
in the country take great pains to hear the nightingale first.
We all remember Milton's sonnet:
0 nightingale, that on yon bloomy Spray
Warbl'est at eve, when all the woods are still,
Thou with fresh hope the Lover's heart dost fill,
While the jolly hours lead on propitious May,
Thy liquid notes that close the eye of Day,
First heard before the shallow Cuckoo's bill
Portend success in love; 0, if Jove's will
Have linkt that amorous power to thy soft lay,
Now timely sing, ere the rude bird of Hate
Foretell my hopeless doom in some Grove nigh;
As thou from year to year hast sung too late
For my relief ; yet hadst no reason why,
Whether the Muse, or Love, call thee his mate,
Both them I serve, and of their train am I.
1 had a funny bit of evidence that this superstition is not
entirely forgotten. A very beautiful young lady called upon
us in London just as we were departing for the Isle of
Wight. I told her of my great longing to hear the night
ingale, and that I hoped to get a chance. She said that she
had just come from one of her husband's country estates;

VISITS TO ENGLAND 261
that she had not seen a nightingale or heard one this year,
although they were very abundant there. She said she had
seen a cuckoo, which came about the same time. I suppose
she observed a look of amusement on my countenance, for
she added quick as lightning, "But he didn't speak."
I made this year a delightful visit to Cambridge Univer
sity. I was the guest of Dr. Butler, the Master of Trinity,
and his accomplished wife, who had, before her marriage,
beaten the young men of Cambridge in all of the examina
tions. Dr. Butler spoke very kindly of William Everett,
with whom he had been contemporary at Cambridge. He
told me that Edward Everett, when he received his degree
at Oxford, was treated with great incivility by the throng
of undergraduates, not because he was an American, but
because he was a Unitarian. I told this story afterward
to Mr. Charles Francis Adams. He confirmed it^ and said
that his father had refused the degree because he did not
wish to expose himself to a like incivility.
I dined in the old hall of Trinity, and met many very
eminent scholars. I saw across the room Mr. Myers, the
author of the delightful essays, but did not have an oppor
tunity to speak to him. I was introduced, among other
gentlemen, to Aldus Wright, Vice or Deputy Master, emi
nent for his varied scholarship, and to Mr. Frazer, who had
just published his admirable edition of Pausanias.
A great many years ago I heard a story from Richard H.
Dana, illustrating the cautious and conservative fashions of
Englishmen. He told me that when the Judges went to
Cambridge for the Assizes they always lodged in the House
of the Master of Trinity, which was a royal foundation, the
claim being, that as they represented the King, they lodged
there as of right. On the other hand the College claims that
they are there as the guests of the College, and indebted to
its hospitality solely for their lodging. When the Judges
approach Cambridge, the Master of Trinity goes out to meet
them, and expresses the hope that they will make their home
at the College during their stay ; to which the Judges reply
that "They are coming." The Head of the College con
ducts them to the door. When it is reached, each party

262 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
bows and invites the other to go in. They go in, and the
Judges stay until the Assize is over. This ceremony has
gone on for four hundred years, and it never yet has been
settled whether the Judges have a right in the Master's
house, or only are there as guests and by courtesy. I sup
pose that in the United States both sides would fight that
question until it was settled somehow. Each would say:
"I am very willing to have the other there. But I want to
know whether he has any right there." I asked about the
truth of this story. Dr. Butler said it was true and seemed,
if I understood him aright, to think the Judges' claim was
a good one. Mr. Wright, the Deputy Master, to whom I
also put the question, spoke of it with rather less respect.

CHAPTER XXIV
A REPUBLICAN PLATFORM
I HAVE had occasion several times to prepare the Repub
lican platform for the State Convention. The last time I
undertook the duty was in 1894. I was quite busy. I
shrunk from the- task and put it off until the time
approached for the Convention, and it would not do
to wait any longer. So I got up one morning and re
solved that I would shut myself up in my library and not
leave it until the platform was written. Accordingly I sat
down after breakfast, with the door shut, and taking a pencil
made a list of the topics about which I thought there should
be a declaration in the platform.
I wrote each at the top of a separate page on a scratch-
block, intending to fill them out in the usual somewhat
grandiloquent fashion which seems to belong to that kind
of literature. I supposed I had a day's work before me.
It suddenly occurred to me : Why not take these headings
just as they are, and make a platform of them, leaving the
Convention or the public to amplify as they may think fit
afterward. Accordingly I tore out the leaves from the
scratch-block, and handed them to a secretary to be put into
type. The whole proceeding did not take fifteen minutes.
The sense of infinite relief that the Convention had when,
after listening for a moment or two, they found I was get
ting over what they expected as a rather tedious job, with
great rapidity, was delightful to behold. I do not believe
there was ever a political platform received in this country
with such approval, certainly by men who listened to it, as
that: Platform
"The principles of the Republicans of Massachusetts are
as well known as the Commonwealth itself; well known as
the Republic ; well known as Liberty ; well known as Justice.
263

264 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
Chief among them are:
An equal share in Government for every citizen.
Best possible wages for every workman.
The American market for American labor.
Every dollar paid by the Government, both the gold and
the silver dollars of the Constitution, and their paper repre
sentatives, honest and unchanging in value and equal to
every other.
Better immigration laws.
Better naturalization laws.
No tramp, Anarchist, criminal or pauper to be let in, so
that citizenship shall not be stained or polluted.
Sympathy with Liberty and Republican government at
home and abroad.
Americanism everywhere.
The fiag never lowered or dishonored.
No surrender in Samoa.
No barbarous Queen beheading men in Hawaii.
No lynching.
No punishment without trial.
Faith kept with the pensioner.
No deserving old soldier in the poorhouse.
The suppression of dram drinking and dram selling.
A school at the public charge open to all the children, and
free from partisan or sectarian control.
No distinction of birth or religious creed in the rights of
American citizenship.
Devotion paramount and supreme to the country and to
the flag.
Clean politics.
Pure administration.
No lobby.
Reform of old abuses.
Leadership along loftier paths.
Minds ever open to the sunlight and the morning, ever
open to new truth and new duty as the new years bring their
lessons. ' '
I ought to explain one phrase in this platform, which I
have since much regretted. That is the phrase "No bar-

A REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 265
barous Queen beheading men in Hawaii. ' ' It was currently
reported in the press that the Queen of Hawaii^ Liliuoka-
lani, was a semi-barbarous person, and that when Mr.
Blount, Mr. Cleveland's Commissioner, proposed to restore
her government and said that amnesty should be extended
to all persons who had taken part in the revolution, she had
said with great indignation, "What, is no one to be be
headed?" and that upon that answer Mr. Blount and Mr.
Cleveland had abandoned any further purpose of using the
power of the United States to bring the monarchy back
again. That, so far as I knew, had never been contradicted
and had obtained general belief.
I ought not to have accepted the story without investiga
tion. I learned afterward, from undoubted authority, that
the Queen is an excellent Christian woman; that she has
done her best to reconcile her subjects of her own race to the
new order of things ; that she thinks it is better for them to
be under the power of the United States than under that of
any other country, and that they could not have escaped
being subjected to some other country if we had not taken
them ; and that she expended her scanty income in educating
and caring for the children of the persons who were about
her court who had lost their own resources by the revolu
tion. I have taken occasion, more than once, to express, in
the Senate, my respect for her, and my regret for this mis
take.

CHAPTER XXV
OFFICIAL SALARIES
When I was in the House the salaries of the Judges of
the Supreme Court of the United States were raised to ten
thousand dollars a year, and a provision for a retiring pen
sion, to be continued for life to such of them as became sev
enty years old, and had served ten years on the Bench, was
enacted. But it is always very difficult indeed to get salaries raised,
especially the salaries of Judges. That it was accomplished
then was due largely to the sagacity and skill of Mr. Arm
strong of Pennsylvania. He was a very sensible and excel
lent Representative. His service, like that of many of the
best men from Pennsylvania, was too short for the public
good. I had very little to do with it myself, except that I
talked the matter over a good deal with Mr. Armstrong, who
was a friend of mine, and heartily supported it.
After I entered the Senate, however, I undertook to get
through a bill for raising the salaries of the Judges of the
United States District Courts. The District Judges were
expected to be learned lawyers of high reputation and char
acter, and large experience. Very important matters in
deed are within the jurisdiction of the District Courts.
They would have to deal with prize causes, if a war were
to break out. In that case the reputation of the tribunals
of the United States throughout the world would depend
largely on them. They have also had to do a large part of
the work of the Circuit Courts, especially since the estab
lishment of the Circuit Courts of Appeals, as much of the
time of the Circuit Judges is required in attendance there.
I had great difficulty in getting the measure through. But
at last I was successful in getting the salaries, which had
266

OFFICIAL SALARIES 267
ranged from $1,500 to $4,000 in different districts of the
country, made uniform and raised to $5,000 a year.
Later I made an attempt to have the salaries of the Judges
of the Supreme Courts of the United States increased. My
desire was to have the salary of the Associate Judges fixed
at $15,000, being an increase of fifty per cent., that of the
Chief Justice to be $500 more. I met with great difficulty,
but at last, in the winter of 1903, I succeeded in getting
through a measure, which I had previously reported, which
increased the salary of the Associate Judges to $12,500, and
that of the Chief Justice to $13,000. The same measure in
creased the salaries of the District Judges from $5,000 to
$6,000, and that of the Circuit Judges from $6,000 to $7,000
a year. The salary of Senators and Representatives is shamefully
small. This is a great injustice, not only to members of
the two Houses, but it is a great public injury, because the
country cannot command the service of able men in the
prime of life, unless they have already acquired large for
tunes. It cannot be expected that a lawyer making from
$25,000 to $50,000 a year, or a man engaged in business,
whose annual income perhaps far exceeds that amount, will
leave it for $5,000 a year. In that way he is compelled not
only to live frugally himself, but what is more disagreeable
still, to subject his household to live in the humblest style
in a costly and fashionable city, into which wealthy persons
are coming from all parts of the country.
The members of Congress have a great many demands
upon them, which they cannot resist. So a Senator or Rep
resentative with $5,000 a year, living in Washington a part
of the year and at home the other part, cannot maintain his
family as well as an ordinary mechanic or salaried man who
gets $2,500 or $3,000 a year, and spends all his time in one
place. The English aristocracy understand this pretty well.
They give no salary at all to the members of their House
of Commons. The result is that the poor people, the work
ing people and people in ordinary life, cannot get persons

268 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
to represent them, from their own class. That will soon be
true in this country, if we do not make a change. I sup
pose nearly every member of either House of Congress wiU
tell you in private that he thinks the salary ought to be
raised. But the poor men will not vote for it, because they
think the example will be unpopular, and the rich men do
not care about it.

CHAPTER XXVI
PROPRIETY IN DEBATE
The race of demagogues we have always with us. They
have existed in every government from Cleon and the Sau
sage-maker. They command votes and seem to delight pop
ular and legislative assemblies. But they rarely get very
far in public favor. The men to whom the American people
gives its respect, and whom it is willing to trust in the great
places of power, are intelligent men of propriety, dignity
and sobriety.
We often witness and perhaps are tempted to envy the
applause which many public speakers get by buffoonery, by
rough wit, by coarse personality, by appeal to vulgar pas
sions. We are apt to think that grave and serious reason
ings are lost on the audiences that receive them, half asleep,
as if listening to a tedious sermon, and who come to life
again when the stump speaker takes the platform. But it
will be a great mistake to think that the American people do
not estimate such things at their true value. When they
come to take serious action, they prefer to get their inspira
tion from the church or the college and not from the circus.
Uncle Sam likes to be amused. But Uncle Sam is a gentle
man. In the spring of 1869, when I first took my seat in
Congress, General Butler was in the House. He was per
haps as widely known to the country as any man in it except
President Grant. He used to get up some scene of quarrel
or buffoonery nearly every morning session. His name was
found every day in the head-lines of the newspapers. I
said to General Banks one day after the adjournment:
"Don't you think it is quite likely that he will be the next
President of the United States?" "Never," said General
Banks, in his somewhat grandiloquent fashion. "Why,"
269

270 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
said I, "don't you see that the papers all over the country
are full of him every morning? People seem to be reading
about nobody else. Wherever he goes, the crowds throng
after him. Nobody else gets such applause, not even Grant
himself. ' '
"Mr. Hoar," replied General Banks, "when I came down
to the House this morning, there was a fight between two
monkeys on Pennsylvania Avenue. There was an enormous
crowd, shouting and laughing and cheering. They would
have paid very little attention to you or me. But when they
come to elect a President of the United States, they won't
take either monkey."
The men who possess the capacity for coarse wit and rough
repartee, and who indulge it, seldom get very far in public
favor. No President of the United States has had it. No
Judge of the Supreme Court has had it, no Speaker of the
House of Representatives, and, with scarcely an exception,
no eminent Senator.

CHAPTER XXVII
THE FISH-BALL LETTER
In August, 1890, the Pittsburg Post, a Democratic paper,
made a savage attack on me. He attributed to me some
very foolish remark and declared that I lived on terra
pin and champagne; that I had been an inveterate office-
seeker all my life ; and that I had never done a stroke of use
ful work. Commonly it is wise to let such attacks go with
out notice. To notice them seriously generally does more
harm than good to the party attacked. But I was a good
deal annoyed by the attack, and thought I would make a
good-natured and sportive reply to it, instead of taking it
seriously. So I sent the editor the following letter, which
was copied quite extensively throughout the country, North
and South ; and I believe put an end, for the rest of my life,
to the particular charges he had made :
United States Senate,
Washington, D. C, Aug. 10, 1890.
To THE Editor oe the Pittsburg Post:
My Dear Man: Somebody has sent me a copy of your
paper containing an article of which you do me the
honor to make me the subject. What can have put such
an extravagant yarn into the head of so amiable and
good-natured a fellow? I never said the thing which
you attribute to me in any interview, caucus or any
where else. I never inherited any wealth or had any.
My father was a lawyer in very large practice for his
day, but he was a very generous and liberal man and
never put much value upon money. My share of his estate
was about $10,500. All the income-producing property I
have in the world, or ever had, yields a little less than $1,800
a year; $800 of that is from a life estate and the other thou-
271

272 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
sand comes from stock in a corporation which has only paid
dividends for the last two or three years, and which I am
very much afraid will pay no dividend, or much smaller
ones, after two or three years to come. With that exception
the house where I live, with its contents, with about four
acres of land, constitute my whole worldly possessions, ex
cept two or three vacant lots, which would not bring me
$5,000 all told. I could not sell them now for enough to pay
my debts. I have been in my day an extravagant collector
of books, and have a library which you would like to see and
which I would like to show you. Now, as to office-holding
and working. I think there are few men on this continent
who have put so much hard work into life as I have. I
went one winter to the Massachusetts House of Representa
tives, when I was twenty-five years old, and one winter to the
Massachusetts Senate, when I was thirty years old. The
pay was two dollars a day at that time. I was nominated on
both occasions, much to my surprise, and on both occasions
declined a renomination. I afterward twice refused a nom
ination for Mayor of my city, have twice refused a seat on
the Supreme Bench of Massachusetts, and refused for years
to go to Congress when the opportunity was in my power.
I was at last broken down with overwork, and went to Eu
rope for my health. During my absence the arrangements
were made for my nomination to Congress, from which, when
I got home, I could not well escape. The result is I have
been here twenty years as Representative and Senator, the
whole time getting a little poorer year by year. If you
think I have not made a good one, you have my full author
ity for saying anywhere that I entirely agree with you.
During all this time I have never been able to hire a house
in Washington. My wife and I have experienced the vary
ing fortune of Washington boarding houses, sometimes very
comfortable, and a good deal of the time living in a fashion
to which no mechanic earning two dollars a day would sub
ject his household. Your "terrapin" is all in my eye, very
little in my mouth. The chief carnal luxury of my life is in
breakfasting every Sunday morning with an orthodox
friend, a lady who has a rare gift for making fish-balls and

THE FISH-BALL LETTER 273
coffee. You unfortunate and benighted Pennsylvanians can
never know the exquisite flavor of the codfish, salted, made
into balls and eaten on a Sunday morning by a person whose
theology is sound, and who believes in all the five points
of Calvinism. I am myself but an unworthy heretic, but I
am of Puritan stock, of the seventh generation, and there is
vouchsafed to me, also, some share of that ecstasy and a dim
glimpse of that beatific vision. Be assured, my benighted
Pennsylvania friend, that in that hour when the week be
gins, all the terrapin of Philadelphia or Baltimore and all
the soft-shelled crabs of the Atlantic shore might pull at my
trousers legs and thrust themselves on my notice in vain.
I am faithfully, Geo. F. Hoar.

18

CHAPTER XXVIII
THE BIRD PETITION
Before the year 1897 I had become very much alarmed at
the prospect of the total extinction of our song-birds. The
Bobolink seemed to be disappearing from the fields in Mas
sachusetts, the beautiful Summer Red Bird had become ex
tinct, and the Oriole and the Scarlet Tanager had almost
disappeared. Many varieties of song-birds which were
familiar to my own boyhood were unknown to my children.
The same thing seems to be going on in other countries.
The famous Italian novelist, Ouida, contributed an article
in the North American Review a few years ago in which
she describes the extermination of the Nightingale in Italy.
The Director of the Central Park, in one of his Reports,
stated that within fifteen or twenty years the song-birds of
the State of New York had diminished forty-five per cent.
One afternoon in the spring of 1897, Governor Claflin
called on me at my Committee Room in the Capitol and told
me a lady had just visited his daughter at her rooms who
had on her head eleven egrets. These egrets are said to
come from the female White Heron, a beautiful bird abound
ing in Florida. They are a sort of bridal ornament, grow
ing out on the head of the female at pairing time and perish
ing and dropping off after the brood is reared. So the orna
ment on the horrible woman's head had cost the lives of
eleven of these beautiful birds and very likely in every case
the lives of a brood of young ones.
When I went home I sat down after dinner and wrote
with a pencil the following petition.
"To the Great and General Court of the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts :
"We, the song-birds of Massachusetts and their playfel
lows, make this our humble petition: 274

THE BIRD PETITION 275
"We know more about you than you think we do. We
know how good you are. We have hopped about the roofs
and looked in at the windows of the houses you have built
for poor and sick and hungry people and little lame and
deaf and blind children. We have built our nests in the
trees and sung many a song as we flew about the gardens
and parks you have made so beautiful for your own chil
dren, especially your poor children, to play in.
' ' Every year we fly a great way over the country, keeping
all the time where the sun is bright and warm ; and we know
that whenever you do anything, other people all over the
great land between the seas and the great lakes find it out,
and pretty soon will try to do the same thing. We know;
we know. We are Americans just as you are. Some of us,
like some of you, came from across the great sea, but most
of the birds like us have lived here a long while ; and birds
like us welcomed your fathers when they came here many
years ago. Our fathers and mothers have always done their
best to please your fathers and mothers.
"Now we have a sad story to tell you. Thoughtless or
bad people are trying to destroy us. They kill us because
our feathers are beautiful. Even pretty and sweet girls,
who we should think would be our best friends, kill our
brothers and children so that they may wear plumage on
their hats. Sometimes people kill us from mere wantonness.
Cruel boys destroy our nests and steal our eggs and our
young ones. People with guns and snares lie in wait to
kill us, as if the place for a bird were not in the sky, alive,
but in a shop window or under a glass case. If this goes
on much longer, all your song-birds will be gone. Already,
we are told, in some other countries that used to be full of
birds, they are almost gone. Even the nightingales are
being aU kiUed in Italy.
"Now we humbly pray that you will stop all this, and will
save us from this sad fate. You have already made a law
that no one shall kill a harmless song-bird or destroy our
nests or our eggs. Will you please to make another that no
one shall wear our feathers, so that no one will kill us to get
them? We want them all ourselves. Your pretty girls are

276 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
pretty enough without them. We are told that it is as easy
for you to do it as for Blackbird to whistle.
"If you will, we know how to pay you a hundred times
over. We will teach your children to keep themselves clean
and neat. We will show them how to live together in peace
and love and to agree as we do in our nests. We will build
pretty houses which you will like to see. We will play
about your gardens and fiower beds,— ourselves like flowers
on wings,— without any cost to you. We will destroy the
wicked insects and worms that spoil your cherries and cur
rants and plums and apples and roses. We will give you
our best songs and make the spring more beautiful and the
summer sweeter to you. Every June morning when you go
out into the field. Oriole and Blackbird and Bobolink will
fly after you and make the day more delightful to you ; and
when you go home tired at sundown. Vesper Sparrow will
tell you how grateful we are. When you sit on your porch
after dark, Fife Bird and Hermit Thrush and Wood Thrush
will sing to you; and even Whip-poor-will will cheer up a
little. We know where we are safe. In a little while all
the birds will come to live in Massachusetts again, and
everybody who loves music will like to make a summer home
with you."
I thought it might, perhaps, strike the Legislature of
Massachusetts and the public more impressively than a sober
argument. The whole thing took only fifteen or twenty min
utes. The petition was signed by all the song-birds of
Massachusetts, and illustrated by Miss Ellen Day Hale with
the portraits of the signers. It was presented to the Massa
chusetts Senate by the Honorable A. S. Roe, Senator from
the Worcester District. The Legislature acted upon it and
passed the following Statute :
"Whoever has in his possession the body or feathers of
any bird whose taking or killing is prohibited by section
four of chapter two hundred and seventy-six of the acts of
the year eighteen hundred and eighty-six, or wears such
feathers for the purpose of dress or ornament, shall be pun-

THE BIRD PETITION 277
ished as provided in said section: provided that this act
shall not be construed to prohibit persons having the certifi
cate provided for in said sections from taking or killing such
birds ; and provided, further, that this act shall not apply to
Natural History Associations, or to the proprietors of mu
seums, or other collections for scientific purposes.
"Approved June 11, 1897."
This Statute was copied in several other States. I think
the petition helped a good deal the healthy reaction which,
owing largely to the efforts of humane societies and Natural
History Associations and especially of some very accom
plished ladies, has arrested the destruction of these beauti
ful ornaments of our woods and fields and gardens, "our
fellow pilgrims on the journey of life," who have so much
of humanity in them and who, like us, have their appointed
tasks set to them by the great Creator.

CHAPTER XXIX
THE A. P. A. CONTROVERSY
One very unreasonable, yet very natural excitement has
stirred deeply the American people on several occasions in
our history. It came to us by lawful inheritance from our
English and Puritan ancestors. That is the bitter and al
most superstitious dread of the Catholics, which has resulted
more than once in riots and crimes, and more than once in
the attempt to exclude them from political power in the
country. This has sometimes taken the form of a crusade
against all foreigners. But religious prejudice against the
Catholics has been its chief inspiration.
I just said that this feeling, though absolutely unjustifi
able, was yet quite natural, and that it came to us by lawful
inheritance. I have always resisted it and denounced it to
the utmost of my power. My father was a Unitarian. I
was bred in that most liberal of all liberal faiths. But I
have believed that the way to encounter bigotry is by liber
ality. If any man try to deprive you of your absolute
rights, begin to defend yourself by giving him his own.
Human nature, certainly American human nature, will
never, in my opinion, long hold out against that method of
dealing. Our people, so far as they are of English descent, learned
from their fathers the stories of Catholic persecution and
of the fires of Smithfield. Fox's "Book of Martyrs," one
of the few books in the Puritan libraries, was, even down to
the time of my youth, reverently preserved and read in the
New England farmhouses.
So it was believed that it was only the want of power
that prevented the Catholics from renewing the fires of
Smithfield and the terrors of the Inquisition. It was be-
278

THE A. P. A. CONTROVERSY 279
lieved that the infallibility and supremacy of the Pope
bound the Catholic citizen to yield unquestioning obedience
to the Catholic clergy in matters civil and political, as well
as spiritual. There was a natural and very strong dread
of the Confessional.
This feeling was intensified by the fact of which it was
partly the cause, that when the Irish- Catholics first came
over they voted in solid body, led often by their clergy, for
the Democratic Party, which was in the minority in the New
England States, especially in Massachusetts. England
down to a very recent time disqualified the Catholics from
civil office.
Our people forgot that the religious persecution, of which
they cherished the bitter memory, was the result of the spirit
of the age, and not of one form of religious faith. They
forgot that the English Protestants not only retaliated on
the Catholics when they got into power, but that the Bishops
from whose fury, as John Milton said, our own Pilgrim
fathers fled, were Protestant Bishops and not Catholic.
They forgot the eight hundred years during which Ireland
had been under the heel of England, and the terrible history
so well told by that most English of Englishmen, and Prot
estant of Protestants, Lord Macaulay.
"The Irish Roman Catholics were permitted to live, to
be fruitful, to replenish the earth ; but they were doomed to
be what the Helots were in Sparta, what the Greeks were
under the Ottoman, what the blacks now are at New York.
Every man of the subject caste was strictly excluded from
any public trust. Take what path he might in life, he was
crossed at every step by some vexatious restriction. It was
only by being obscure and inactive, that he could, on his
native soil, be safe. If he aspired to be powerful and hon
oured, he must begin by being an exile. If he pined for mili
tary glory, he might gain a cross or perhaps a Marshal's
staff in the armies of France or Austria. If his vocation
was to politics, he might distinguish himself in the diplo
macy of Italy or Spain. But at home he was a mere Gibe-
onite, a hewer of wood and a drawer of water. The statute

280 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
book of Ireland was filled with enactments which furnish to
the Roman Catholics but too good a ground for recriminat
ing on us when we talk of the barbarities of Bonner and
Gardiner; and the harshness of those odious laws was ag
gravated by a more odious administration. For, bad as the
legislators were, the magistrates were worse still. In those
evil times originated that most unhappy hostility between
landlord and tenant, which is one of the peculiar curses of
Ireland. Oppression and turbulence reciprocally generated
each other. The combination of rustic tyrants was resisted
by gangs of rustic banditti. Courts of law and juries ex
isted only for the benefit of the dominant sect. Those
priests who were revered by millions as their natural ad
visers and guardians, as the only authorised expositors of
Christian truth, as the only authorised dispensers of the
Christian sacraments, were treated by the squires and squi
reens of the ruling faction as no good-natured man would
treat the vilest beggar."
When I came into political life shortly after 1848, I found
this anti-Catholic feeling most intense. The Catholics in
Massachusetts were, in general, in a very humble class.
The immigration, which had well begun before the great
Irish Famine, was increased very much by that terrible
calamity. The Irishmen were glad to build our railroads
at sixty cents a day, dwelling in wretched shanties, and liv
ing on very coarse fare. They had brought with them the
habit of drinking whiskey, comparatively harmless in their
native climate— though bad enough there— but destructive
in New England. So they contributed very largely to the
statistics of crime and disorder.
Even then they gave an example— from which all man
kind might take a lesson— of many admirable qualities.
They had a most pathetic and touching affection for the
Old Country, They exhibited an incomparable generosity
toward the kindred they had left behind. From their scanty
earnings, Edward Everett, a high authority, estimates that
there were sent twenty millions of dollars in four years to
their parents and kindred.

THE A P. A. CONTROVERSY 281
There was some jealousy on the part of our working
people, especially the men and women employed in large
manufacturing establishments, lest the Irish, by working
at cheaper wages, would drive them out of employment.
But the Irishman soon learned to demand all the wages he
could get. The accession of the Irish laborer increased
largely the productive forces of the State. So there was
more wealth created, of which the better educated and
shrewder Yankee got the larger share. By the bringing in
of a lower class of labor he was elevated to a higher place,
but never driven out of work. The prejudice of which I
have spoken showed itself in some terrible Protestant riots
in New Orleans and in Baltimore, and in the burning of the
Catholic Convent at Charlestown.
There was also a strong feeling that the compact body of
Catholics, always voting for one political party was a dan
ger to the public security. Of course this feeling mani
fested itself in the Whig Party, for whose adversary the
solid Irish- Catholic vote was cast. As early as 1844, after
the defeat of Mr. Clay, Mr. Webster made a suggestion—
I do not know where it is recorded now, but I was in
formed of it on good authority at about the time he made
it— that there must be some public combination with a
view to resist the influence of our foreign element in our
politics. But there was no political movement on any considerable
scale until 1854. In that year there was a very dangerous
crusade which came very near National success, and which
got control of several States.
In the fall of 1857 the Republican Party elected its first
Governor. The slavery question was still very prominent,
and the people were deeply stirred by the attempt to repeal
the Missouri Compromise. So in that year, under the lead
ership of Nathaniel P. Banks, Gardner, the Know-Nothing
Governor, was defeated, and from that time the strength of
Know-Nothingism was at an end. I was elected to the Sen
ate in the fall of 1856 as the Republican candidate from the
county of Worcester over the Know-Nothing and Demo
cratic candidates.

282 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
It is a remarkable fact that of the men Imown to join the
Know-Nothing Party, no man, unless he were exceedingly
young and obscure when he did it, ever maintained or re
gained the public confidence afterward, with the exception
of Henry Wilson, Anson Burlingame and Nathaniel P.
Banks. These men all left it after the first year. Wilson
and Burlingame denounced it with all the vigor at their
command, and Banks led the forces of the Republican Party
to its overthrow.
I ought to say, however, of this movement and of the
A. P. A. movement, as it is called, of which I am now to
speak, that I do not think the leaders in general shared the
bitter and prescriptive feeling to which they appealed. The
secret organization, founded on religious prejudice, or on
race prejudice, is a good instrument to advance the political
fortunes of men who could not gain advancement in an
established political organization. So a great many men
are active and busy in such organizations, who would be
equally active and busy in movements founded on precisely
the opposite doctrines, if they could as well find their ad
vancement in them. Yet, as I have said, the prejudice which
lay at the bottom of this movement was very powerful, very
sincere, and not unnatural.
Secret societies were formed all over the country. It
seemed not unlikely that the surprise of 1854 would be re
peated, and that the great Republican party, which had done
so much for civil liberty, would either be broken to pieces
or would be brought to take an attitude totally inconsistent
with religious liberty.
The organization, calling itself the American Protective
Association, but known popularly as the A. P. A., had its
branches all over the North. Its members met in secret,
selected their candidates in secret — generally excluding all
men who were not known to sympathize with them— and
then attended the Republican caucuses to support candidates
in whose selection members of that political party who were
not in their secret councils had no share. Ambitious candi
dates for office did not like to encounter such a powerful
enmity. They in many cases temporized or coquetted with

THE A. P. A. CONTROVERSY 283
the A. P. A., if they did not profess to approve its doctrine.
So far as I know, no prominent Republican in any part of
the country put himself publicly on record as attacking this
vicious brotherhood. Many men who did not agree with
it were, doubtless, so strong in the public esteem that they
were not attacked.
That was the condition of things when, in the early sum
mer of 1895, I delivered an address at the opening of the
Summer School of Clark University in which I spoke
briefly, but in very strong terms, in condemnation of the
secrecy and of the prescriptive principles of this political
organization. I declared : " I have no patience or tolerance
with the spirit which would excite religious strife. It is as
much out of place as the witchcraft delusion or the fires of
Smithfield. ' ' I added : ' ' This Nation is a composite. It is
made up of many streams, of the twisting and winding of
many bands. The quality, hope and destiny of our land
is expressed in the phrase of our Fathers, 'E Pluribus
Unum'— of many, one— of many States, one Nation — of
many races, one people— of many creeds, one faith— of many
bended knees, one family of God." A little later I went
with the Massachusetts Club, of which I was a member, to an
outing at Newport. There, briefly but still more emphati
cally, I called upon the people not to revive the bitter memo
ries of ancient, social and religious strife.
These two speeches excited the indignation of the leaders
of this organization. A gentleman named Evans, I believe
born in England, took up the cudgels. He was supported
by many worthy clergymen and a good many newspapers
which had been established to support the doctrine of the
A. P. A. organization. Mr. Evans, if I am right in my
memory, claimed that he was not a member of the organiza
tion. But he stood up for it stanchly in two letters to me,
in which he very severely denounced what I had said, and
pointed out the wicked behavior of some Catholic priests to
whom he referred. He said he had looked up to me as he
formerly did to Charles Sumner and William H. Seward;
that my course would tend as absolutely to the breaking up
of the Republican Party as Daniel Webster's speech did to

284 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
the breaking up of the old Whig Party, and that I had rung
my own death knell; that the one mistake Wesley made
when he called slavery "the sum of all villainies" was that
he did not except the Roman Catholic Church. He added
that there were at least three million members of these pa
triotic orders, constituting at least three fifths of the Repub
lican Party, and that their membership was being added to
daily. Mr. Evans also said, what was absolutely without
foundation, that I had said, "We need a Father Confessor."
That gave me my opportunity. I answered with the fol
lowing letter in which I stated my own doctrine as vigor
ously and clearly as I knew how. Worcester, Aug. 5, 1895.
T. C. Evans, Esq. :
My Dear Sir— One of the great evils, though by no means
the greatest evil of secret political societies, is that foolish
and extravagant statements about men who don't agree
with them get circulated without opportunity for contradic
tion or explanation. You seem to be a well-meaning and
intelligent man ; yet I am amazed that any well-meaning and
intelligent man should believe such stuff as you repeat in
your letter of August 3. I never said, thought or dreamed
what you impute to me. I don 't believe there ever was any
report in the Worcester Telegram to that effect. Certainly
there is none in the report of what I said in the summer
school at Clark University the morning after, and there is no
such statement in any of the other Worcester newspapers.
I never anywhere expressed the idea that there should be a
confessional or that there was any need of a Father Con
fessor, or that I wanted to see something in our Protestant
churches like the Father Confessor in the Catholic. The
whole thing is a miserable lie and invention made out of
whole cloth. The language, which you quote, about an
attempt to recall on one side, "the cruelties of the Catholic
Church and frighten our women and children with horrid
hobgoblins," is not my language. That does appear in
the Telegram. But it is the reporter 's statement of what he
understood my idea to be in his own language. What I said

THE A. P. A. CONTROVERSY 285
was : ' ' We are confronted with a public danger which comes
from an attempt to rouse the old feelings of the dark ages,
and which ought to have ended with them, between men
who have different forms of faith. It is an attempt to
recall on one side the cruelties of the Catholic Church and
to frighten old women of both sexes, and, on the other side,
to band the men of the Catholic Church together for polit
ical action. Both these attempts will fail."
There is no more zealous believer in the principles of the
New England Puritans, and no more zealous advocate of
them, than I am. There is not a man in Massachusetts
who has more at heart the welfare and perpetuity of our
system of free common schools than I have. I was the first
person, so far as I know, who called public attention to the
fact that they were in danger, in any formal way. I drew
and had put into the platform of the Republican State Con
vention the following resolution: "The Republican Party
ever has maintained and ever will maintain and defend
the common schools of Massachusetts as the very citadel of
their liberties and the source of her glory, greatness and
happiness. They shall be kept open to all the children and
free from all partisan and sectarian control. ' '
This doctrine I stand by. And I stand by the further
doctrine, as I stated at length in my address at Clark Univer
sity, that the whole resources of the Commonwealth are
pledged to their support, and that that is the bottom mort
gage on every dollar of our property, and that no person
can escape or be allowed to escape that responsibility. The
difference between you and me is a difference of method.
I want to get the 700,000 Catholics in Massachusetts on our
side. I want them to send their children to the public
schools, to pay their share of the cost, and when their young
men and women are suitable, are intelligent, liberal persons,
attached to the school system, I want some of them to be
employed as teachers. I don't wish to exclude them from
my political support when they are Republicans and agree
with me in other matters, because of their religious faith.
Nor do I wish to exclude them from being public school
teachers, if they will keep their particular religious tenets

286 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
out of their instruction, because of their religious faith, any
more than I would have excluded Phil Sheridan from his
office in the army, or would have refused to support him for
any public office, if he had been nominated for it. Further,
I want to state and advocate my opinions in the face of day ;
and you may be sure that I shall do this without flinching
before anybody's threats or anybody's displeasure or indig
nation. You, on the other hand, I understand, want to go
into a cellar to declare your principles. You want to join
an association whose members are ashamed to confess they
belong to it; many of whom, without apparently forfeiting
the respect of their fellows, lie about their membership in it
when they are asked about it. You want to mass together
the whole Catholic population of Massachusetts to the sup
port of their extreme and wrong-headed priests, if any such
can be found.
The difference between us is a difference of methods in
accomplishing the same result. I think your method would
overthrow the common school system, would overthrow the
Republican Party, and would end by massing together all
the Catholic voters, as proscription always does mass men
together, to increase and strengthen that political power
which you profess so much to dread.
When O'Neill, the young Catholic soldier of Worcester,
lay dying, he said: "Write to my dear mother and tell her
I die for my country. I wish I had two lives to give. Let
the Union flag be wrapped about me and a fold of it laid
under my head." I feel proud that God gave me such a
man to be my countryman and townsman. I have very little
respect for the Americanism that is not moved and stirred
by such a story. If O'Neill had left a daughter who had
her father's spirit, I would be willing to trust my child or
grandchild to her instruction in secular education in the pub
lic school, even if the father had kissed with his last breath
the cross on which the Saviour died, or even if the parting
soul had received comfort from the lips of Thomas Conaty
or John Power or John Ireland or Archbishop Williams.
When John Boyle O'Reilly, the Catholic poet, sang the
praises of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, in that noblest of odes,

THE A. P. A. CONTROVERSY 287
when he quoted in his preface from William Bradford and
John Robinson and Robert Cushman, I was glad to hear
what he said, especially when he quoted from the lips of the
clergyman Robinson: "I charge you before God that you
follow me no further than you have seen me follow the Lord
Jesus Christ. If God reveal anything to you by any other
instrument of His, be as ready to receive it as ever you
were to receive any truth by my ministry, for I am verily
persuaded, I am very confident, the Lord hath more truths
yet to break forth out of His Holy Word. ' ' I liked what he
said. If I understand your former letter correctly, you
didn't. There is where we differ. When John Boyle
O'Reilly said, declaring the very spirit of New England
Puritanism, and speaking of religious faith, ' ' the one sacred
revolution is change of mind," when he spoke these noble
lines :
So held they firm, the Fathers aye to be,
From Home to Holland, Holland to the sea-
Pilgrims for manhood, in their little ship,
Hope in each heart, and prayer on every lip.
Apart from all— unique, unworldly, true,
Selected grain to sow the earth anew ;
A winnowed part— a saving remnant they;
Dreamers who work ; adventurers who pray !
We know them by the exile that was theirs ;
Their justice, faith and fortitude attest.
When he further said:
On the wintry main
God flings their lives as farmers scatter grain,
His breath propels the winged seed afloat ;
His tempests swerve to spare the fragile boat;
Here on this rock and on this sterile soil,
Began the kingdom, not of kings, but men;
Began the making of the world again,
Their primal code of liberty, their rules
Of civil right; their churches, courts and schools;
Their freedom's very secret here laid down^
The spring of government is the little town !

288 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
On their strong lines, we base our social health—
The man— the home — the town— the Commonwealth!
Their saintly Robinson was left behind
To teach by gentle memory ; to shame
The bigot spirit and the word of flame ;
To write dear mercy in the Pilgrim 's law ;
To lead to that wide faith his soul foresaw-
I liked what he said. If I understand your former letter,
you didn't. You don't want a man who differs from you
saying or thinking such things. I want the whole 700,000
Catholics of Massachusetts to believe what John Boyle
O'Reilly believed, and to love and reverence the Puritan
founders of Massachusetts as he did, and I think my way is
the way to make them do it. You don 't, if I understand you.
You think the way to make good citizens and good men of
them and to attract them to Protestantism, is to exclude
them, their sons and daughters, from all public employment,
and to go yourself into a dark cellar and curse at them
through the gratings of the windows.
I stated my religious faith and my ideas of the relation
of our religious denominations to each other, in an address
I delivered at Saratoga last year, of which I send you a
copy, and which I hope, as you have kindly volunteered to
send me so much of your opinion, you may perhaps be will
ing to read. It doesn't become me to say anything about it
myself. I am deeply sensible of its imperfections. It fails
to do justice to what is in my own heart. But perhaps I
may be permitted to say that within a few weeks after it was
delivered, an eminent Catholic clergyman sent me a message
expressing his delight in it. The most famous Episcopal
Bishop in the country said to a friend of mine that he had
read it with great pleasure and that it sounded to him like
the old times. A Baptist minister, bearing one of the most
distinguished names in the country, wrote me a letter, in
which he said, as he read it, "At every sentence, I said to
myself, Amen, Amen." An eminent Orthodox minister,
Doctor of Divinity, read it aloud to his parish, in full, instead
of his Sunday's sermon. And a very excellent and able

THE A. P. A. CONTROVERSY 289
Methodist minister wrote to me and said, "If that is Unita
rianism, I am afraid I am a Unitarian." I think the time
has come to throw down the walls between Christians and
not to build new ones. I think the time has come to incul
cate harmony and good will between all American citizens,
especially between all citizens of the old Commonwealth of
Massachusetts. You quote some expressions which you attribute to Cath
olic clergymen. If you don 't get any nearer right in quoting
them than you do in quoting me, I don't believe that they
ever said any such thing. If they have, they never will per
suade any considerable number of Catholic laity in this
country, in this nineteenth century, to follow them. You may
perhaps induce the Catholic young men and women of Mas
sachusetts to believe there is something in what those clergy
men say. They never will succeed in doing it themselves.
I don't think you will succeed in getting any considerable
number of the people of this country, who are able to read
and vrrite, or to count ten on their fingers, to believe that, as
I am entering my seventieth year, I am actuated by any per
sonal ambition, in the counsel which I give my fellow citi
zens. I don't think you will get them to believe that, if I
were so actuated, I should begin by saying anything which
would estrange a considerable number of the Protestant
Republican citizens of Massachusetts. I don't think you
will convince them that I am indifferent to the good will of
so large a portion of the American people as are said to be
enlisted in the ranks of the secret society to which you refer.
If you know as little of your Catholic fellow citizens as you
know of me, you have a good deal as yet to learn of the sub
ject of which you are speaking.
On the other hand, you may be quite sure I should be
unwilling to do injustice to any of my fellow citizens. They
will hardly need be assured that I would not lightly or unnec
essarily incur their disapprobation. But you may perhaps
think it pardonable that I should not be thoroughly informed
as to the principles, motives or conduct of a secret society.
As you have undertaken the duty of giving me information,
will you kindly answer for me the following questions :
19

290 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
1st. Is the organization to which you refer a secret organ
ization? Are its discussions in the face of day? Do the
persons whose political errors they especially oppose have
an opportunity to know their purposes and to be convinced
by their arguments? If the organization be in any respect
secret, why is it deemed necessary to maintain such secrecy
in the United States of America and at the close of the nine
teenth century?
2d. Is it the custom of many persons who belong to it to
deny, when inquired of, that they are members of such an
association? And if this be true, does such a falsehood cost
them the respect and friendship of their associates or dimin
ish their influence in the order?
3d. Do members of the association, after joining it, retain
their membership in other political parties? Do they
agree together upon candidates for office or delegates
to conventions to nominate officers and then go into their
party caucuses to support such delegates agreed upon in
secret, without consultation with their political brethren?
If that be true, does it seem to you that that course is
honest? 4th. Do you understand that any considerable number of
Catholic laymen, in this country, accept the interpretation
which you put upon the fifteen articles which you quote as
principles of the Roman Catholic Church? Is it not true
that that interpretation is absolutely rejected by the Catholic
laity in general, and that they affirm for themselves as abso
lute independence of the Pope or of the clergy in all secular
matters as you or I claim for ourselves in regard to Protes
tant clergymen?
5th. Are not Italy and France, two Catholic countries,
to-day as absolutely free from any temporal power or in
fluence of the Pope or the Catholic clergy as is Massachu
setts? 6th. I have had sent me a little leaflet, purporting to be
the principles of the American Protective Association,
which you doubtless have seen. When you say, in your
third article, that the American Protective Association is
"opposed to the holding of offices in the National, State or

THE A. P. A. CONTROVERSY 291
municipal Government, by any subject or supporter of such
ecclesiastical power," and in your fifth article, that you
"protest against the employment of the subjects of any
un-American ecclesiastical power as officers or teachers of
our public schools," do you mean, or no, that no Catholic
shall hold such National or State or municipal office, and that
no Catholic shall be a teacher in a public school? You don't
answer this question by quoting the language of church
officials in by-gone days or the intemperate language of
some priests in recent times. It is a practical question. Do
you or do you not mean to exclude from such office and from
such employment as teachers the bulk of the Catholic popu
lation of Massachusetts?
7th. Is it your opinion that General Philip H. Sheridan,
were he living, would be unfit to hold civil or military office
in this country? Or that his daughter, if she entertained
the religious belief of her father, should be disqualified from
being a teacher in a public school?
I have no pride of opinion. I shall be very glad to revise
any opinion of mine and, as you state it, I shall be very
glad to "know better in the future," if you will kindly
enlighten me.
You and I, as I have said, have the same object at heart.
We desire, above all things, the maintenance of the principles
of civil and religious liberty ; and above all other instrumen
talities to that end, the maintenance of our common school
system, at the public charge, open to all the children and
free from partisan or sectarian control. If you and I differ,
it is only as to what is the best means of accomplishing these
ends. If you think that they are best accomplished by secret
societies, by hiding from the face of day, by men who will
not acknowledge what they are doing, and by refusing public
employment to men and women who think on these subjects
exactly as we do, but whose religious faith differs from ours,
then I don't agree with you. I think your method will result
m driving and compacting together, in solid mass, persons
who will soon number nearly or quite fifty per cent, of the
voting population of Massachusetts. Nothing strengthens
men, nothing makes them so hard to hear reason, nothing so

292 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
drives them to extremity in opinion or in action as persecu
tion or proscription.
On the other hand, my method is the method of absolute
freedom and of pure reason. The Catholic boy, who has
grown up in our common schools, who has formed his
youthful friendships with his Protestant classmates, whose
daughter or sister, as he grows older, is employed as a
teacher, will very soon be as attached to our common school
system as we are ourselves. He will be required, as he gets
property, to pay his share of its support. He cannot ask
to be exempt from a tax to which all Protestants cheerfully
submit, whether their own children be in the schools or not,
and he will not easily be made to give his consent to paying
twice. The American Spirit, the Spirit of the age, the
Spirit of Liberty, the Spirit of Equality, especially what
Roger Williams called "Soul Liberty" is able to maintain
herself in a fair field and in a free contest against all comers.
Do not compel her to fight in a cellar. Do not compel her
to breathe the damp, malarial atmosphere of dark places.
Especially let no member of the Republican Party, the last
child of freedom, lend his aid to such an effort. The atmos
phere of the Republic is the air of the mountain top and the
sunlight and the open field. Her emblem is the eagle and
not the bat. I am faithfully yours, George F. Hoae.
After the publication of the foregoing letter, I received
one from Theodore Roosevelt, who was holding a high office
in New York City, then at the beginning of his illustrious
political career. He expressed his hearty sympathy and
approval, and offered to lay aside everything else and come
to my aid, if I so desired. I need not say I took special
pleasure in this letter, which disclosed so unmistakably the
honest and brave heart of the man, who was then in his
difficult office fighting wild beasts at Ephesus. But I did
not need to accept his offer.
I was angrily denounced. But the leading Republican
papers soon came to my support. The Republican political

THE A. P. A. CONTROVERSY 293
leaders generally, though quietly, approved what I had said
and done. The generous and just heart of the American
people was stirred, and the result was that the movement,
inspired by bigotry and intolerance, lost its force, languished
for a year or two, and was little heard of afterward.
I dare say that the same causes which excited it may pro
voke a similar movement more than once hereafter. But I
believe it will fail as that failed.
I know how prone men are, especially old men, in telling
the story of their lives, to over-estimate the value and the
consequence of the things in which they have taken a part.
But I think I am not extravagant in claiming that the over
throw of this dangerous delusion was of great value not
only to the Republican Party, but to the cause of religious
liberty in this country, and that the success of the A. P. A.
would have been the destruction of both.

CHAPTER XXX
THE ENGLISH MISSION
I MAY as well put on record here a matter which I suppose
has never been made public. When in President Hayes's
time Mr. Welsh resigned the English Mission, Mr. Lowell,
then in Spain, was strongly recommended for the place.
Mr. Evarts, Secretary of State, was quite unwilling to have
Mr. Lowell appointed. I fancied that Mr. Evarts might
have been influenced somewhat by his reluctance to ap
point a Harvard man. He was an exceedingly pleasant-
natured man, with no bitterness in him. But he entered
with a good deal of zeal into the not unhealthy rivalry be
tween the two famous Universities, Harvard and Yale. Of
course I did not like that notion. President Hayes had an
exceedingly friendly feeling for Harvard. He had studied
at the Harvard Law School, and later had the degree of
Doctor of Laws there. Mr. Lowell hesitated about accept
ing the duty. I said to the President: "In the matter of
the English Mission, if Mr. Lowell declines, I have a sug
gestion to make which Mr. Evarts, I am afraid, won't like
very well. But I wish to ask you to consider it, Evarts or
no Evarts." My relations with both of them made this
familiar and half -boyish style of dealing with so important
a matter not unbecoming. "I think President Eliot would
be an excellent person for such a service. It is understood
that he is somewhat out of health. I think if he should go
to England for a year or two, and take a vacation from his
duties at the College, it would reflect great credit on your
Administration and on the country, and he would return to
his duties at Harvard with renewed health and added repu
tation and capacity for usefulness." Mr. Hayes did not
quite commit himself. But he expressed his very emphatic
approval of the idea, and said he guessed it might be brought
to pass. But I had, at his request, sent a cable to Mr. Low-
294

THE ENGLISH MISSION 295
ell who was then in Spain, urging him to take the place.
He was then hesitating, but finally, as is well known, con
sented, I was on the friendliest terms with President Hayes, As
I have already said he was good enough to offer me the
office of Attorney-General, when the appointment of Devens
to the Circuit Court was under consideration.
I had already, before that time, received from Mr. Evarts,
Secretary of State, the offer of the English Mission, as I
have said in another place, when Mr. Welsh resigned.
I may as well state here, although it belongs to a later
time, that the offer was made to me again, by President
McKinley. I give the correspondence with President Mc
Kinley when he made me that offer:
Executive Mansion, Washington, D. C.
September 13, 1898.
Hon. George F. Hoar (Confidential),
Worcester, Massachusetts.
It would give me much satisfaction to appoint you Am
bassador to London. Will it be agreeable to you?
William McKinley.
September 14, 1898.
To THE President, Washington, D. C.
I am highly honored by your confidence, for which I am
grateful. But I believe I can better serve my country, and
better support your Administration by continuing to dis
charge the legislative duties to which I have been accus
tomed for thirty years, than by undertaking new responsi
bilities at my age, now past seventy-two. If it were other
wise, I cannot afford to maintain the scale of living which
the social customs of London make almost indispensable to
an Ambassador, and I have no right to impose upon my
wife, in her present state of health, the burden which would
fall upon her. Be assured of my warm personal regard and
of my desire to stand by you in the difficult and trying
period which is before you,
Geo. F. Hoar,

CHAPTER XXXI
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT AND THE SYRIAN CHILDREN
A VERY touching incident, characteristic of the kind heart
of President Roosevelt, ought to be put on record in con
nection with his visit to Worcester.
During the Christmas holidays of 1901 a very well known
Syrian, a man of high standing and character, came into my
son's office and told him this story:
A neighbor and countryman of his had a few years before
emigrated to the United States and established himself in
Worcester. Soon afterward, he formally declared his inten
tion of becoming an American citizen. After a while, he
amassed a little money and sent to his wife, whom he had left
in Syria, the necessary funds to convey her and their little
girl and boy to Worcester. She sold her furniture and
whatever other belongings she had, and went across Europe
to France, where they sailed from one of the northern ports
on a German steamer for New York.
Upon their arrival at New York it appeared that the chil
dren had contracted a disease of the eyelids, which the doc
tors of the Immigration Bureau declared to be trachoma,
which is contagious, and in adults incurable. It was ordered
that the mother might land, but that the children must be
sent back in the ship upon which they arrived, on the fol
lowing Thursday. This would have resulted in sending
them back as paupers, as the steamship company, compelled
to take them as passengers free of charge, would have given
them only such food as was left by the sailors, and would
have dumped them out in France to starve, or get back as
beggars to Syria.
The suggestion that the mother might land was only a
cruel mockery. Joseph J. George, a worthy citizen of Wor
cester, brought the facts of the case to the attention of my
son, who in turn brought them to my attention. My son had
296

ROOSEVELT AND THE SYRIAN CHILDREN 297
meantime advised that a bond be offered to the Immigration
authorities to save them harmless from any trouble on ac
count of the children.
I certified these facts to the authorities and received a
statement in reply that the law was peremptory, and that it
required that the children be sent home; that trouble had
come from making like exceptions theretofore ; that the Gov
ernment hospitals were full of similar cases, and the authori
ties must enforce the law strictly in the future. Thereupon
I addressed a telegram to the Immigration Bureau at Wash
ington, but received an answer that nothing could be done
for the children.
Then I telegraphed the facts to Senator Lodge, who went
in person to the Treasury Department, but could get no more
favorable reply. Senator Lodge's telegram announcing
their refusal was received in Worcester Tuesday evening,
and repeated to me in Boston just as I was about to deliver
an address before the Catholic College there. It was too late
to do anything that night. Early Wednesday morning, the
day before the children were to sail, when they were already
on the ship, I sent the following dispatch to President Roose
velt: To THE President, White House, Washington, D. C.
I appeal to your clear understanding and kind and brave
heart to interpose your authority to prevent an outrage
which will dishonor the country and create a foul blot on
the American flag. A neighbor of mine in Worcester,
Mass., a Syrian by birth, made some time ago his public
declaration for citizenship. He is an honest, hard-working
and every way respectable man. His wife with two small
children have reached New York.
He sent out the money to pay their passage. The chil
dren contracted a disorder of the eyes on the ship. The
Treasury authorities say that the mother may land but the
children cannot, and they are to be sent back Thursday.
Ample bond has been offered and will be furnished to save
the Government and everybody from injury or loss. I do
not think such a thing ought to happen under your Admin-

298 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
istration, unless you personally decide that the case is with
out remedy. I am told the authorities say they have been
too easy heretofore, and must draw the line now. That
shows they admit the power to make exceptions in proper
cases. Surely, an exception should be made in case of little
children of a man lawfully here, and who has duly and in
good faith declared his intention to become a citizen. The
immigration law was never intended to repeal any part of
the naturalization laws which provide that the minor chil
dren get all the rights of the father as to citizenship. My
son knows the friends of this man personally and that they
are highly respectable and well off. If our laws require
this cruelty, it is time for a revolution, and you are just the
man to head it. George F. Hoar.
Half an hour from the receipt of that dispatch at the
White House Wednesday forenoon, Theodore Roosevelt,
President of the United States, sent a peremptory order to
New York to let the children come in. They have entirely
recovered from the disorder of the eyes, which turned out
not to be contagious, but only caused by the glare of the
water, or the hardships of the voyage. The children are
fair-haired, with blue eyes, and of great personal beauty, and
would be exhibited with pride by any American mother.
When the President came to Worcester he expressed a
desire to see the children. They came to meet him at my
house, dressed up in their best and glorious to behold. The
President was very much interested in them, and said when
what he had done was repeated in his presence, that he was
just beginning to get angry.
The result of this incident was that I had a good many
similar applications for relief in behalf of immigrants com
ing in with contagious diseases. Some of them were meri
torious, and others untrustworthy. In the December ses
sion of 1902 I procured the following amendment to be
inserted in the immigration law.
"Whenever an alien shall have taken up his permanent
residence in this country and shall have filed his preliminary

ROOSEVELT AND THE SYRIAN CHILDREN 299
declaration to become a citizen and thereafter shall send for
his vrife or minor children to join him, if said wife or either
of said children shall be found to be affected with any con
tagious disorder, and it seems that said disorder was con
tracted on board the ship in which they came, such wife or
children shall be held under such regulations as the Secre
tary of the Treasury shall prescribe until it shall be deter
mined whether the disorder will be easily curable or whether
they can be permitted to land without danger to other per
sons; and they shall not be deported until such facts have
been ascertained."

CHAPTER XXXII
NATIONAL BANKRUPTCY
I HAVE, since I have been in the Senate, taken great inter
est in the passage of a bill for a system of National Bank
ruptcy. The Constitution gives Congress power to estab
lish a unifonn system of Bankruptcy. The people of Massa
chusetts, a commercial and manufacturing State from the
beginning, have always desired a Bankrupt law. They were
large dealers with other States and with other countries.
Insolvent debtors in Massachusetts could not get discharge
from their debts contracted in such dealings. The Massa
chusetts creditors having debts against insolvents in other
States found that their debtors under the laws of those
States either got preferences or made fraudulent assign
ments which they could not detect or prevent.
On the other hand, the bankruptcy laws have always been
unpopular in many parts of the country. The Democrat
who strictly construed the Constitution did not like to see
this power of Congress vigorously exercised. The National
Courts, who must administer such laws, were always the
object of jealousy and suspicion in the South and West.
The people did not like to be summoned to attend the settle
ment of an estate in bankruptcy, hundreds and hundreds of
miles, to the place where the United States Court was sit
ting, in States like Texas or Missouri. The sympathy of
many communities is apt to be with the debtor, and not with
the creditors, who were represented as harpies or vultures
preying on the flesh of their unfortunate victims. A good
example of this prejudice will be found in an extract from
the speech of Senator Ingalls, of Kansas. He said in
defending what was known as the equity scheme :
' ' The opposition arose first, from the great wholesale mer
chants in the chief distributing centres of the country. They
300

NATIONAL BANKRUPTCY 301
have their agents and attorneys in the vicinity of every
debtor, obtaining early information of approaching disaster,
and ready to avail themselves of the local machinery of
State courts by attachment or by preferences, through which
they can secure full payment of their claims, to the exclusion
of less powerful or less vigilant but equally meritorious
creditors. Naturally they want no Bankrupt law of any
description. "Second. From the disabled veterans of the old army
registers; from the professional assignees and wreckers of
estates, who, by exorbitant fees and collusive sales of assets
to convenient favorites, plundered debtor and creditor alike
and made the system an engine of larceny and confiscation.
"Third. From those who desire, instead of a system
for the discharge of honest but unfortunate debtors upon
the surrender of their estates, a criminal code and a thumb
screw machine for the collection of doubtful and desperate
debts. They covet a return to the primitive practices which
prevailed in Rome, when the debtor was sold into slavery
or had his body cut into pieces and distributed pro rata
among his creditors.
"Fourth. From those timid and cautious conservatives
who believe that nothing is valuable that is not venerable.
"Like the statesman described by Macaulay, they prefer
to perish by precedent rather than be saved by innovation.
They adhere to ancient failures rather than incur the risk
of success through venture and experiment.
"Fifth. From Boards of Trade, Chambers of Commerce
and other ornamental organizations who, being entirely unin
formed on the subject, permit themselves to become the con
duits through which the misrepresentation and animosity of
avaricious creditors and rapacious attorneys are discharged
upon Congress and the country."
I had moved in the Senate, in 1882, a bill favored by the
merchants and manufacturers of Massachusetts, which was
largely the work of Judge John Lowell, of the United States
Circuit Court, one of the most accomplished lawyers of his
day, as an amendment to a bill which Mr. Edmunds, Mr.

302 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
Davis and Mr. Ingalls had reported as a Subcommittee to
the Senate Judiciary Committee, and which had been re
ported from that Committee to the Senate.
The Lowell Bill was on my motion substituted for the
report of the Judiciary Commitee, by a majority of three.
This bill was extensively discussed in June and December.
But I was unable to secure its passage. It passed the Sen
ate, but it did not get through the House.
I have had the Parliamentary charge of all Bankruptcy
measures in the Senate from that time. After the failure
of the Lowell Bill, the Boards of Trade and Chambers of
Commerce, and other like associations throughout the coun
try, took up the matter very zealously by employing an able
lawyer, the Hon. Jay L. Torrey of Missouri, to present the
matter in the two Houses of Congress. He was thoroughly
acquainted with the principles and history of Bankruptcy
laws in this country and England. But he had no com
promise in him. He insisted on the Bill which he drew,
which was a modification of the Lowell Bill, vnthout being
willing to make any concession to objection or difference of
opinion in Congress, or out of it. He said he would have a
perfect law, or none at all. The measure as he drew it was
apparently very austere and harsh to the debtor. It enu
merated a large number of offences for which the debtor
was to be punished by fine and imprisonment, and by a
denial of his discharge. Mr. Torrey 's provisions were not
very unreasonable. But they made it seeih as if the Bill
were a penal code for the punishment of fraudulent debtors.
A simple provision that any debtor who wilfully should
make false answer to any question lawfully put to him by
the Court, or who wilfully concealed or attempted to conceal
any property from his assignee should lose his discharge and
be punished with a proper and moderate punishment, would
have answered the whole purpose. I take some blame to
myself for not insisting more strenuously upon modifying
Mr. Torrey 's measure. But he constantly visited different
Senators and Representatives and came back to me with
glowing accounts of the prospects of the Bill, and of their
promises to support the Bill. He was also the agent of the

NATIONAL BANKRUPTCY 303
business organizations of the country who had passed reso
lutions in favor of the measure as he had drawn it. It
seemed to me therefore that if I should get the Bill amended
and then it got lost, I should incur the great reproach of
having obstinately set up my judgment against that of this
large number of the ablest men in the country, who were so
deeply interested in the matter. So the Bill, though brought
up and pressed Congress after Congress, failed until Mr.
Torrey enlisted in the Spanish War.
I then introduced a Bill in a softened and modified form.
It was attacked in that form by Senator Nelson of Minne
sota, a very excellent lawyer and gentleman of great influ
ence, in the Senate. He succeeded in having the Bill modi
fied and softened still more. The Bill then passed and went
to the House which, under the leadership of the Judiciary
Committee, substituted the original Bill.
Mr. Nelson and I, with Mr. Lindsay of Kentucky, were
put on the Conference Committee in the Senate, with Mr.
Henderson, afterward Speaker, Mr. Ray of New York, now
Judge of the U. S. District Court, and Mr. Terry of Mis
souri, on the part of the House. We struggled nearly the
whole winter. Mr. Nelson and Mr. Ray took the burden of
the contest upon their shoulders. Their attempts at com
promise reminded their brethren of the old scientific prob
lem— "What will happen when an irresistible force encoun
ters an immovable obstacle." But both gentlemen, each
exceedingly firm in his own opinion when he thought he was
in the right, were wise and reasonable and conscientious
men. So at last they agreed upon the present Bankruptcy
Bill, which became a law July 1, 1898. It was on the whole
satisfactory to the country, except for one clause in it, which
was interpreted by the United States Supreme Court in a
manner contrary to the understanding and expectation of
the framers of the Bill.
A law was passed February 7, 1903, correcting this and
some minor defects. It is hoped, though we cannot be sure in
such a matter, that a permanent system of Bankruptcy, so
essential to all commercial, indeed to all civilized nations, is
now established, and will be maintained in the United States.

CHAPTER XXXIII
THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
It has been my singular ill fortune that I have been com
pelled to differ from the Republican Party, and from a good
many of my political associates, upon many important mat
ters. It has been my singular good fortune that, so far, they
have all come to my way of thinking, as have the majority
of the American people, in regard to every one, with per
haps one exception. That is the dealing of the American
people with the people of the Philippine Islands, by the
Treaty with Spain. The war that followed it crushed the
Republic that the Philippine people had set up for them
selves, deprived them of their independence, and estab
lished there, by American power, a Government in which the
people have no part, against their will. No man, I think,
will seriously question that that action was contrary to the
Declaration of Independence, the fundamental principles
declared in many State constitutions, the principles avowed
by the founders of the Republic and by our statesmen of
all parties down to a time long after the death of Lincoln.
If the question were, whether I am myself right, or
whether my friends and companions in the Republican
Party be right, I should submit to their better judgment.
But I feel quite confident, though of that no man can be
certain, that if the judgment of the American people, even
in this generation, could be taken on that question alone, I
should find myself in the majority. If it be not so, the
issue is between the opinion of the American people for
more than a century, and the opinion that the American
people has expressed for one or two Presidential terms.
Surely I do not need to argue the question; at any
rate, I will not here undertake to argue the question, that
our dealing with the Philippine people is a violation of the
304

THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 305
principles to which our people adhered from 1776 to 1893.
If the maintenance of slavery were inconsistent with them,
it was admitted that in that particular we were violating
them, or were unable from circumstances to carry them into
effect. Mr. Jefferson thought so himself.
But the accomplishment by this Republic of its purpose
to subjugate the Philippine people to its will, under the
claim that it, and not they, had the right to judge of their
fitness for self-government, is a rejection of the old Ameri
can doctrine as applicable to any race we may judge to be
our inferior.
This doctrine will be applied hereafter, unless it be aban
doned, to the Negro at home. Senator Tillman of South
Carolina well said, and no gentleman in the Senate contra
dicted him: "Republican leaders do not longer dare to call
into question the justice or the necessity of limiting Negro
suffrage in the South." The same gentleman said at an
other time: "I want to call your attention to the remark
able change that has come over the spirit of the dream of
the Republicans. Your slogans of the past— brotherhood
of man and fatherhood of God— have gone glimmering down
through the ages. The brotherhood of man exists no
longer. ' ' These statements of Mr. Tillman have never been
challenged, and never can be.
I do not mean here to renew the almost interminable de
bate. I will only make a very brief statement of my posi
tion: The discussion began with the acquisition of Hawaii.
Ever since I came to the Senate I had carefully studied the
matter of the acquisition of Hawaii. I had become thor
oughly satisfied that it would be a great advantage to the
people of the United States, as well as for the people of
Hawaii. Hawaii is 2,100 miles from our Pacific coast. Yet if a
line be drawn from the point of our territory nearest Asia
to the Southern boundary of California, that line being the
chord of which our Pacific coast is the bow, Hawaii will fall
this side of it. Held by a great Nation with whom we were
at war, it would be a most formidable and valuable base of
20

306 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
supplies. We had sustained a peculiar relation to it.
American missionaries had redeemed the people from bar
barism and Paganism. Many of them, and their descend
ants, had remained in the Islands. The native Hawaiians
were a perishing race. They had gone down from 300,000
to 30,000 within one hundred years.
The Japanese wanted it. The Portuguese wanted it.
Other nations wanted it. But the Hawaiians seemed neither
to know nor care whether they wanted it or no. They were
a perishing people. Their only hope and desire and expec
tation was that in the Providence of God they might lead a
quiet, undisturbed life, fishing, bathing, supplied with trop
ical fruits, and be let alone.
We had always insisted that our relation to them was
peculiar ; that they could not be permitted to fall under the
dominion of another power, even by their own consent. That
had been declared by our Department of State under Admin
istrations of all parties, including Mr. Webster, Mr. Seward,
and Mr. Bayard. They were utterly helpless. As their
Queen has lately declared: "The best thing for them that
could have happened was to belong to the United States. ' '
By the Constitution of Hawaii, the Government had been
authorized to make a treaty of annexation with this country.
It was said that that Constitution was the result of usur
pation which would not have to come to pass but for
American aid, and the presence of one of our men-of-war.
But that Government had been maintained for six or seven
years. Four of them were while Mr. Cleveland was Presi
dent, who it was well known would be in full sympathy with
an attempt to restore the old Government. So if the people
had been against it, the Government under that Constitution
could not have lasted an hour.
President Harrison had negotiated a treaty of annexation,
against which no considerable remonstrance or opposition
was uttered. My approval of it was then, I suppose, well
known. Certainly no friend of mine, and nobody in Massa
chusetts, so far as I know, in the least objected or remon
strated against it. The treaty was withdrawn from the con
sideration of the Senate by President Cleveland.

THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 307
Another was negotiated soon after President McKinley
came in. Meantime, however, the controversy with Spain
had assumed formidable proportions, and the craze for an
extension of our Empire had begun its course. Many Re
publican leaders were advocating the acquisition of the
Hawaiian Islands, not for the reasons I have just stated, but
on the avowed ground that it was necessary we should own
them as a point of vantage for acquiring dominion in the
East. It was said that China was about to be divided among
the great Western powers, and that we must have our share.
I saw when the time approached for action on the McKinley
Treaty that the question could not be separated, at least in
debate, from the question of entering upon a career of con
quest of Empire in the Far East.
Under these circumstances the question of duty came to
me : Will you adhere to the purpose long formed, and vote
for the acquisition of Hawaii solely on its own merit? Or,
will you vote against it, for fear that the bad and mischiev
ous reasons that are given for it in so many quarters, will
have a pernicious tendency only to be counteracted by the
defeat of the treaty itself ?
I hesitated long. President McKinley sent for me to
come to the White House, as was his not infrequent habit.
He said he wanted to consult me upon the question whether
it would be wise for him to have a personal interview with
Senator Morrill of Vermont. He had been told that Mr.
Morrill was opposed to the Treaty. The President said:
"I do not quite like to try to influence the action of an old
gentleman like Mr. Morrill, so excellent, and of such great
experience. It seems to me that it might be thought pre
sumptuous, if I were to do so. But it is very important to
us to have his vote, if we can. ' ' The President added some
thing implying that he understood that I was in favor of
the Treaty.
I said, "I ought to say, Mr. President, in all candor^ that
I feel very doubtful whether I can support it myself."
President McKinley said: "WeU, I don't know what I shaU
do. We cannot let those Islands go to Japan. Japan has
her eye on them. Her people are crowding in there. I

308 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
am satisfied they do not go there voluntarily, as ordinary
immigrants, but that Japan is pressing them in there, in
order to get possession before anybody can interfere. If
something be not done, there will be before long another
Revolution, and Japan will get control. Some little time
ago the Hawaiian Government observed that when the im
migrants from a large steamer went ashore they marched
with a military step, indicating that they were a body
of trained soldiers. Thereupon Hawaii prohibited the
further coming in of the Japanese. Japan claimed that
was in violation of their treaty, and sent a ship of war
to Hawaii. I was obliged to notify Japan that no compul
sory measures upon Hawaii, in behalf of the Japan Gov
ernment, would be tolerated by this country. So she de
sisted. But the matters are still in a very dangerous
position, and Japan is doubtless awaiting her oppor
tunity. ' '
I told President McKinley that I favored then, as I always
had, the acquisition of Hawaii. But I did not like the spirit
with which it was being advocated both in the Senate and
out of it. I instanced several very distinguished gentlemen
indeed, one a man of very high authority in the Senate in
matters relating to foreign affairs, who were urging publicly
and privately the Hawaiian Treaty on the ground that
we must have Hawaii in order to help us get our share of
China. President McKinley disclaimed any such purpose.
He expressed his earnest and emphatic dissent from the
opinions imputed to several leading Republicans, whom he
named. I never, at any time during the discussion of the Philip
pine question, expressed a more emphatic disapproval of the
acquisition of dependencies or Oriental Empire by military
strength, than he expressed on that occasion. I am justified
in putting this on record, not only because I am confirmed
by several gentlemen in public life, who had interviews with
him, but because he made in substance the same declarations
in public.
He declared, speaking of this very matter of acquiring
sovereignty over Spanish territory by conquest:

THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 309
"Forcible annexation, according to our American code of
morals, would be criminal aggression."
He said at another time:
"Human rights and constitutional privileges must not be
forgotten in the race for wealth and commercial supremacy.
The Government of the people must be by the people and
not by a few of the people. It must rest upon the free
consent of the governed and all of the governed. Power,
it must be remembered, which is secured by oppression or
usurpation or by any form of injustice is soon dethroned.
We have no right in law or morals to usurp that which be
longs to another, whether it is property or power."
I suppose he was then speaking of our duty as to any
people whom we might liberate from Spain, as the result of
the Spanish War. He unquestionably meant that we had
no right, in law or morals, to usurp the right of self-gov
ernment which belonged to the Cubans, or to the Philippine
people. Yet I have no doubt whatever that in the attitude that
he took later he was actuated by a serious and lofty purpose
to do right. I think he was led on from one step to another
by what he deemed the necessity of the present occasion. I
dare say that he was influenced, as any other man who was
not more than human would have been influenced, by the
apparently earnest desire of the American people, as he
understood it, as it was conveyed to him on his Western
journey. But I believe every step he took he thought neces
sary at the time. I further believe, although I may not be
able to convince other men, and no man will know until the
secret history of that time shall be made known, that if he
had lived, before his Administration was over, he would
have placed the Republic again on the principles from which
it seems to me we departed— the great doctrine of Jefferson,
the great doctrine of the Declaration of Independence, that
there can be no just Government by one people over another
without its consent, and that the International law declared
by the Republic is that all Governments must depend for

310 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
their just powers upon the consent of the governed. This
was insisted on by our Fathers as the doctrine of Interna
tional law, to be acted upon by the infant Republic for it
self. In this I am confirmed by the testimony of Mr. Secre
tary Long, who was in President McKinley 's most intimate
counsels. The Treaty negotiated by President McKinley with Ha
waii was not acted upon. It was concluded to substitute a
joint resolution, for which there was a precedent in the case
of the acquisition of Texas. I voted for the joint resolution,
as did Senator Hale of Maine, and several Democratic Sena
tors, who were earnestly opposed to what is known as the
policy of Imperialism.
I left the President, after the conversation above related,
without giving him any assurance as to my action. But I
determined on full reflection, to support the acquisition of
Hawaii, in accordance with my long-settled purpose, and at
the same time to make a clear and emphatic statement of
my unalterable opposition to acquiring dependencies in the
East, if we did not expect, when the proper time came, to
admit them to the Union as States. This I did to the best
of my power. I was invited to give an address before a
college in Pennsylvania, where I took occasion to make an
emphatic declaration of the doctrine on which I meant
to act.
Afterward, July 5, 1898, I made a speech in the Senate,
on the joint resolution for the acquisition of Hawaii, in which
I said that I had entertained grave doubts in regard to that
measure; that I had approached the subject with greater
hesitation and anxiety than I had ever felt in regard to any
other matter during the whole of my public life.
I went on to say:
"The trouble I have found with the Hawaiian business
is this : Not in the character of the population of the Sand
wich Islands, not in their distance from our shores, not in
the doubt that we have an honest right to deal with the exist
ing government there in such a matter. I have found my
trouble in the nature and character of the argument by

THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 311
which, in the beginning and ever since, a great many friends
of annexation have sought to support it. . . .
"If this be the first step in the acquisition of dominion
over barbarous archipelagoes in distant seas; if we are to
enter into competition with the great powers of Europe in
the plundering of China, in the division of Africa; if we
are to quit our own to stand on foreign lands; if our com
merce is hereafter to be forced upon unwilling peoples at
the cannon's mouth; if we are ourselves to be governed in
part by peoples to whom the Declaration of Independence
is a stranger; or, worse still, if we are to govern subjects
and vassal States, trampling as we do it on our own great
Charter which recognizes alike the liberty and the dignity of
individual manhood, then let us resist this thing in the be
ginning, and let us resist it to the death.
"I do not agree with those gentlemen who think we would
wrest the Philippine Islands from Spain and take charge
of them ourselves. I do not think we should acquire Cuba,
as the result of the existing war, to be annexed to the United
States." I reinforced this protest as well as I could. But I went
on to state the reasons which had actuated me in favoring
the measure, and that my unconquerable repugnance to the
acquisition of territory to be held in dependency did not
apply to that case.
I cited the Teller resolution, and declared that it bound
the American people in honor, and that its principle applied
to all Spanish territory. I maintained that there was noth
ing in the acquisition of Hawaii inconsistent with this doc
trine. I think so still.
I was bitterly reproached by some worthy persons, who I
suppose will always find matter for bitter reproach in every
thing said or done on public matters. They charged me
with speaking one way and voting another. But I am con
tent to leave the case on its merits, and on the record.
The war went on. The feeling of the country was deeply
excited. President McKinley made his famous Western
journey. He was greeted by enthusiastic throngs. The

312 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
feeling in that part of the country in favor of permanent
dominion over the Philippine Islands was uttered by excited
crowds, whom he addressed from the platform and the rail
road cars as he passed through the country. But the sober,
conservative feeling, which seldom finds utterance in such
assemblies, did not make itself heard.
The President returned to Washington, undoubtedly in
the honest belief that the country demanded that he acquire
the Philippine Islands, and that Congress should govern
them. I have never attributed publicly, or in my own heart, to
President McKinley any but the most conscientious desire
to do his duty in what, as the case seems to me, was an
entire change of purpose. Many military and naval officers,
from whose reports he had to get his facts almost Wholly,
insisted that the Philippine people were unfit for self-gov
ernment. After the unhappy conflict of arms the solution
of the problem seemed to be to compel the Philippine people
to unconditional submission. It would not be just or fair
that I should undertake to state the reasons which controlled
the President in adopting the conclusions to which I did not
myself agree. I am merely telling my own part in the trans
action. "When I got back to Washington, at the beginning of the
session in December, 1898, I had occasion to see the Presi
dent almost immediately. His purpose was to make a
Treaty by which, without the assent of their inhabitants, we
should acquire the Philippine Islands. We were to hold and
govern in subjection the people of the Philippine Islands.
That was pretty well understood.
The national power of Spain was destroyed. It was clear
that she must submit to whatever terms we should impose.
The President had chosen, as Commissioners to negotiate
the Treaty, five gentlemen, three of whom. Senators Cush
man K. Davis, and William P. Frye and Whitelaw Reid, the
accomplished editor of the New York Tribune, former Min
ister to France, were well known to be zealous for acquiring
territory in the East. Mr. Frye was said to have declared in
a speech not long before he went abroad that he was in favor

THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 313
of keeping everything we could lay our hands on. I sup
pose that was, however, intended as a bit of jocose extrava
gance, which that most excellent gentleman did not mean to
have taken too seriously.
Mr. Day, the Secretary of State, and Senator Gray of
Delaware, were understood to be utterly opposed to the pol
icy of expansion or Imperialism.
I do not know about Mr. Day. But it appeared, when
three years afterward the correspondence between the Com
missioners and the Department of State became public, that
Mr. Day expressed no objection to the acquisition of Luzon,
but objected to a peremptory demand for the whole Philip
pine Island group, thereby— to use his language— "leaving
us open to the imputation of following agreement to nego
tiate with demand for whole subject matter of discussion
ourselves." The public impression as to Senator Gray is confirmed
by the following remonstrance, which appears in the same
correspondence :
Peace Commissioners to Mr. Hay
[Telegram.] Paris, October 25, 1898.
The undersigned cannot agree that it is wise to take
Philippine Islands in whole or in part. To do so would be
to reverse accepted continental policy of the country, de
clared and acted upon throughout our history. Propinquity
governs the case of Cuba and Porto Rico. Policy proposed
introduces us into European politics and the entangling alli
ances against which Washington and all American statesmen
have protested. It will make necessary a navy equal to
largest of powers; a greatly increased military establish
ment ; immense sums for fortifications and harbors ; multiply
occasions for dangerous complications with foreign nations,
and increase burdens of taxation. Will receive in compen
sation no outlet for American labor in labor market already
overcrowded and cheap; no area for homes for American
citizens ; climate and social conditions demoralizing to char
acter of American youth; new and disturbing questions in-

314 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
troduced into our politics; church question menacing. On
whole, instead of indemnity — injury.
The undersigned cannot agree that any obligation incurred
to insurgents is paramount to our own manifest interests.
Attacked Manila as part of legitimate war against Spain.
If we had captured Cadiz and Carlists had helped us, would
not owe duty to stay by them at the conclusion of war. On
the contrary, interests and duty would require us to abandon
both Manila and Cadiz. No place for colonial administra
tion or government of subject people in American system.
So much from standpoint of interest ; but even conceding all
benefits claimed for annexation, we thereby abandon the in
finitely greater benefit to accrue from acting the part of a
great, powerful, and Christian nation; we exchange the
moral grandeur and strength to be gained by keeping our
word to nations of the world and by exhibiting a magna
nimity and moderation in the hour of victory that becomes
the advanced civilization we claim, for doubtful material ad
vantages and shameful stepping down from high moral posi
tion boastfully assumed. We should set example in these
respects, not follow in the selfish and vulgar greed for terri
tory which Europe has inherited from mediaeval times. Our
declaration of war upon Spain was accompanied by a solemn
and deliberate definition of our purpose. Now that we have
achieved all and more than our object, let us simply keep
our word. Third article of the protocol leaves everything
concerning the control of the Philippine Islands to negotia
tion between the parties.
It is absurd now to say that we will not negotiate but will
appropriate the whole subject-matter of negotiation. At
the very least let us adhere to the President's instructions
and if conditions require the keeping of Luzon forego the
material advantages claimed in annexing other islands.
Above all let us not make a mockery of the injunction con
tained in those instructions, where, after stating that we took
up arms only in obedience to the dictates of humanity and
in the fulfillment of high public and moral obligations, and
that we had no design of aggrandizement and no ambition of
conquest, the President among other things eloquently says :

THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 315
"It is my earnest wish that the United States in making
peace should follow the same high rule of conduct which
guided it in facing war. It should be as scrupulous and
magnanimous in the concluding settlement as it was just and
humane in its original action."
This and more, of which I earnestly ask a reperusal, binds
my conscience and governs my action. George Gray.
Wednesday, 12.30, night.
Senator Gray afterward signed the Treaty, defended it in
debate, and voted for its ratification. He vigorously de
fended his vote on the fioor of the Senate, chiefly by the
argument that when he learned that it was the purpose of
the United States to expel Spain from the Philippine
Islands, he concluded it was our duty to remain there for
the protection of the people against foreign rapacity and
against domestic anarchy. He claimed that he had been in
fluenced in coming to this conclusion very considerably by
the fact that I was reported to have said that under no cir
cumstances would we give back the Philippine people to
Spain. That was true. I believed then, and believe now,
that it was our duty to deliver them from Spain, to protect
them against her, or against the cupidity of any other nation
until her people could have tried fully the experiment of self-
government, in which I have little doubt they would have
succeeded. When I saw President McKinley early in December, 1898,
he was, I suppose, committed to the policy to which he ad
hered. He greeted me with the delightful and affectionate
cordiality which I always found in him. He took me by the
hand, and said : ' ' How are you feeling this winter, Mr. Sen
ator?" I was determined there should be no misunder
standing. I replied at once : ' ' Pretty pugnacious, I confess,
Mr. President." The tears came into his eyes, and he said,
grasping my hand again: "I shall always love you, what
ever you do."
I found we differed widely on this great subject. I de
nounced with all the vigor of which I was capable the

316 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
Treaty, and the conduct of the war in the Philippine Islands,
in the Senate, on the platform, in many public letters, and
in articles in magazines and newspapers. But President
McKinley never abated one jot of his cordiality toward me.
I did not, of course, undertake to press upon him my advice
in matters affecting the Philippine Islands, about which we
differed so much. But he continued to seek it, and to take
it in all other matters as constantly as ever before.
In order that it may not be supposed that I deceived my
self in regard to President McKinley 's kindly regard, I may
perhaps be pardoned for saying that his close friend. Sena
tor Hanna, has more than once assured me that McKinley 's
love for me was never abated, and for citing a sentence from
an article by Charles Emory Smith, his trusted counsellor
and able and accomplished Postmaster-General, in his Cabi
net. Mr. Smith says:
' ' Senator Hoar was the earnest foe and critic of President
McKinley 's policy. But President McKinley had the warm
est regard and consideration for him. Nothing, indeed, in
public life was sweeter than the sentiment of these different
and differing men toward each other. President McKinley
was anxious to commission Senator Hoar as Minister to Eng
land, and proffered him the place. It was without any
desire to remove him from the arena of contention— appre
hension of such a reflection restrained the proffer for a
time— though the contention had not then been fully devel
oped. ' '
After President McKinley 's death I expressed the public
sorrow and my own in an address to a vast audience of the
people of my own city of Worcester, in Mechanics' Hall;
and again, at the request of the Republican State Commit
tee, at the Republican State Convention shortly afterward.
I have reason to know that both these addresses gave
pleasure to many of the lamented President's closest and
warmest friends throughout the country. I was afterward
invited by the City Government of Worcester to deliver a
historical eulogy on President McKinley before them. That

THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 317
office, it seemed to me, I ought to decline. It was not be
cause I was behind any other man in admiration or personal
affection for that lofty and beautiful character. But I
thought that address, which was not only to utter the voice
of public sorrow, but to give a careful and discriminating
sketch of the public life of its subject, ought to be delivered
by some person who agreed with him in regard to the most
important action of his life. I could not well pass over the
Philippine question. I could not well speak of it without
stating my own opinion. I could not undertake to state
President McKinley 's opinion, conduct or policy, without
expressing my disapproval of it, and if I did not do that, I
could not state it without being thought by those who heart
ily approved it, not to have stated it justly and fairly.
I had repeatedly declared, during the preceding two years,
both before and since his death, my highest admiration for
the intellectual and moral qualities of my beloved friend,
and my belief that he would have a very high place in his
tory among the best and ablest men of the country.
But I thought the story of the important part of his life
should be told from his point of view, and not from mine ;
that the reasons which governed him should be stated by a
person sure to appreciate them fully. If a great Catholic
Prelate were to die, his eulogy should not be pronounced
by a Protestant. When Dr. Channing died, we did not select
a Calvinist minister to pronounce his funeral sermon. When
Charles Sumner died Mr. Schurz and Mr. Curtis, not some
old Whig, and not some earnest supporter of General Grant,
pronounced the eulogy. I suppose nobody would have
dreamed of asking a Free Trader to pronounce the eulogy
on President McKinley if he had died soon after the begin
ning of his first term. So I declined the office. The City
did not ask anybody else to fill my place, or perform the
task. I will not now renew the debate about our treatment of
the people of the Philippine Islands. My opinion has not
at all changed. I think that under the lead of Mabini and
Aguinaldo and their associates, but for our interference, a
Republic would have been established in Luzon, which would

318 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
have compared well with the best of the Republican Govern
ments between the United States and Cape Horn. For
years and for generations, and perhaps for centuries, there
would have been turbulence, disorder and revolution. But
in her own way Destiny would have evolved for them a form
of civic rule best adapted to their need. If we had treated
them as we did Cuba, we should have been saved the public
shame of violating not only our own pledges, but the rule
of conduct which we had declared to be self-evident truth
in the beginning of our history. We should have been saved
the humiliation of witnessing the subjection by Great Britain
of the Boers in South Africa, without a murmur of disap
proval, and without an expression of one word of sympathy
for the heroic victims.
My term as Senator expired on the fourth of March, 1901.
The election of Senator for the following term came in Jan
uary of that year. I differed sharply from my colleague,
Mr. Lodge, in this whole matter. But the people of Massa
chusetts, with the generous and liberal temper which ever
distinguished that noble Commonwealth, desired that their
Senators should act upon their own judgment, without any
constraint. A resolution was introduced at the session of the Legis
lature of 1899 by Mr. Mellen, Democratic member from
Worcester, thanking me for my speech in opposition to the
Spanish Treaty, endorsing the doctrine of that speech, and
condemning the subjugation of the Philippine people by
force of arms.
Charles G. Washburn, Republican member from Worces
ter, introduced a resolution commending my speech, and
declaring it to be "A speech of the loftiest patriotism and
eloquent interpretation of the high conception of human
freedom which the fathers sought to preserve for all time
in the Declaration of Independence and in the Constitution
of the United States."
These resolutions, if adopted, would, by implication, con
demn the well-known opinion and action of my colleague.
They were encountered by several others, none of which
referred to either Senator, but expressed approval of the

THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 319
Spanish Treaty. One of them, however, presented in the
House by Mr. Mills of Newburyport, declared that the
Treaty ought to be ratified, and then the United States
should fulfil to Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands the
pledge of self-government and independence made to Cuba.
Very wisely all these resolutions were referred to the Com
mittee on Federal Relations, who reported this as a com
promise :
Resolution Reported by the Committee on Federal Rela
tions, OP THE Legislature, March 29, 1899
Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General Court as
sembled, that Massachusetts, ever loyal in sympathy and
support of the General Government, continues her unabated
confidence in her Senators, and with a just pride in the elo
quent and memorable words they have uttered, leaves them
untrammelled in the exercise of an independent and patriotic
judgment upon the momentous questions presented for their
consideration. The whole matter was then dropped. But the Legisla
ture, and the generous people of Massachusetts whom they
represented, acted upon the spirit of the Committee's Reso
lution. I was reelected without opposition. I had every
Republican vote, and many Democratic votes, of the Legis
lature. My affectionate and cordial relations with my brill
iant and accomplished colleague have never suffered an
instant's interruption.
I think I am entitled to record, however, that this result
was not accomplished by any abatement of my opposition to
the policy of Administration as to the Philippine Islands.
I made a great many speeches within a few weeks of the
Presidential election in 1900. The members of the Senate
and House, of the Massachusetts Legislature, who were to
choose a Senator, were to be chosen at the same time. I
expressed my unchanged and earnest opposition of disap
proval to the whole business at length.

320 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
In speaking of the habit of appealing to the love of the
flag in behalf of this policy of conquest, I said that there
was but one symbol more sacred than the American flag.
That was the bread and wine which represented the body
and blood of the Saviour of mankind; adding, that a man
who would use an appeal to the flag in aid of the subjuga
tion of an unwilling people, would be capable of using the
sacramental wine for a debauch.
The week before the election of Senator came on a bill
for the reorganization of the Army was before the Senate.
That contained a provision for increasing the Army to a
hundred thousand men, allowing the President, however, to
reduce it to seventy thousand, and to raise it again if neces
sary, so it would in his discretion be elastic, within those
limitations. Mr. Bacon of Georgia, who seemed to be the leader of the
Democrats on that measure, inquired of the Republicans
who were managing the bill, how many men they needed,
and what time would be required to put down the insurrec
tion in the Philippine^ Islands. Senator Bacon said that
they would give them the hundred thousand men, or any
force they might demand for one or two or three or
five years, or for any required time. But they were un
willing to give the President the power of expanding and
contracting the army in time of peace. This was in full
Senate. I followed with a statement that I had no objection to
giving the President this discretion, and did not disapprove
the bill on that account. I thought the size of the Army in
time of peace should be left largely to the opinion of the
experts, especially General Miles, the famous soldier at the
head of the Army, who thought the regular Army should
consist of one for every thousand of our population. That
would be about eighty thousand then, and before long would
require a hundred thousand men. But I said I was opposed
to raising soldiers to carry on the war in the Philippine
Islands. The only way to stop it that I knew was to refuse
to vote for the Army Bill. I voted against it solely on that
account.

THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 321
I meant that if the Legislature of Massachusetts were to
reelect me, no man should ever have it to say that I had
bought my reelection by silence on this question, or con
cealed my opinion, however extreme it might be, until after
election. After my election I delivered an address before the two
Houses of the Legislature, at their request, and was received
with a most cordial enthusiasm.
Yet I think that if any leading Republican who had dif
fered from me on this question, especially Governor Long,
of whose brilliant administration of the Navy the people of
the Commonwealth were so proud, had pressed his candidacy
for the office in opposition to me, as has been the custom
in like cases in other States, it is not unlikely that he would
have been elected.
I have no doubt I should have found Governor Roger Wol
cott a formidable competitor, if he had lived and been will
ing. Governor Wolcott had made a statement in public,
quietly and briefly, as was his wont, expressing his sym
pathy with me when the question qf the Treaty was under
debate. Somewhat later he made a statement in the same
way, expressing his opinion that the Administration should
be supported. Both these declarations were in general
terms. They were not inconsistent with each other. But
death arrested the honorable and useful career i of Roger
Wolcott when he was still in the prime of life, in the strength
of his noble manhood, a strength which seemed rapidly en
larging and growing as if in early youth.
I have no doubt that the subjugation of the Philippine
Islands, the acquisition of a dependency to be held in sub
jection by the United States, the overthrow of the great
doctrine that Governments rest on the consent of the gov
erned ; that all the painful consequences which have attended
the war for the subjugation of that distant people, would
have been avoided if the Democratic opposition had been
hearty and sincere. The same spirit that defeated the Elec
tion Bill in spite of the majority in its favor, would have
easily accomplished that result. The Democratic Party, as
a party, never meant business in this matter. I do not deny
21

322 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
that many Democrats— I dare say a majority of the Demo
crats—were as earnestly and seriously opposed to the acqui
sition of the Philippine Islands as I was myself. But they
never wielded their party strength in opposition to it. I
said to one eminent Democratic leader early in the year
1900: "There is one way in which you can put an end to
this whole business. If you can elect a Democratic House
it will have power under the Constitution to determine the
use to which the Army shall be put. In that way you com
pelled President Hayes to refrain from further support by
military force of the Republican State Governments in the
South. ' ' He answered : ' ' Mr. Hoar, we shall never do any
thing as radical as that."
"When Senator Bacon made the offer to the majority of
the Senate to agree to give them all the military power they
desired for the suppression of the resistance in the Philip
pines for as long a time as they should think it necessary,
the entire Democratic Party in the Senate was in their seats,
and there was no expression of dissent.
I think the Democratic Party feared the fate of the Fed
eralists who opposed the War of 1812, and of the Democrats
who opposed the War for the Union in 1861. This of course
in the nature of things is but conjecture.
Seventeen of the followers of Mr. Bryan voted for the
Treaty. The Treaty would have been defeated, not only
lacking the needful two thirds, but by a majority of the Sen
ate but for the votes of Democrats and Populists.
Senators Morgan and Pettus of Alabama, Senator Mc-
Laurin of South Carolina, Senator McEnery of Louisiana,
were avowed supporters of the Treaty from the beginning.
Mr. Bryan in the height of the contest came to Washing
ton for the express purpose of urging upon his followers
that it was best to support the Treaty, end the War, and let
the question of what should be done with our conquest be
settled in the coming campaign. He urged upon them, as
I was told by several Democrats at the time who did not
take his advice, that the Democratic Party could not hope
to win a victory on the financial questions at stake after
they had been beaten on them in a time of adversity; and

THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 323
that they must have this issue for the coming campaign. He
was besought by his wiser political associates to go
away and leave the Senate to settle the matter. But he re
mained. After that it became impossible, not only to defeat the
Treaty, but to defeat the policy which had inspired it. The
Treaty pledged that the Philippine Islands should be gov
erned by Congress. It undertook obligations which require
for their fulfilment, at least ten years ' control of the Islands.
It put the people of the Philippine Islands in the attitude
of abandoning the Republic they had formed, and of ac
knowledging not only our supremacy but that they were
neither entitled or fit to govern themselves or to carry on
the war which had unfortunately broken out. I do not mean
to imply that, as I have said, a large number of the Demo
cratic Party both in public life and out of it, were not sincere
and zealous in their opposition to this wretched business.
But next to a very few men who controlled the policy of the
Republican Party in this matter, Mr. Bryan and his follow
ers who voted in the Senate for the Treaty are responsible
for the results.
I have been blamed, as I have said already, because, with
my opinions, I did not join the Democratic Party and help
to elect Mr. Bryan. I disagreed with him and his party as
to every other issue then pending before the American peo
ple. So differing from him, I found nothing in his attitude
or that of his party, to induce me to support him, or even to
inspire my confidence in their settlement of the question of
Imperialism or expansion.
In my opinion, if he had been elected, he would have
accepted the result, have put the blame for it on his prede
cessor in office, and matters would h^ve gone on very much
as they have under Republican control.
I have been told by many Senators who voted for the
Treaty, that they regretted that vote more than any other
act of their lives. Enough Senators have said this to me
in person, not only to have defeated the Treaty, but if they
had so voted, to have defeated it by a majority. A very
eminent Republican Senator told me that more than twenty

324 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
Senators, who voted for the Treaty, had given the same
assurance to him. But they are very unwilling to make the
declaration public. Several gentlemen, however, have pub
licly expressed their regret for their vote, as is well known ;
enough to have changed the result.
When I think of my party, whose glory and whose ser
vice to Liberty are the pride of my life, crushing out this
people in their effort to establish a Republic, and hear people
talking about giving them good Government, and that they
are better off than they ever were under Spain, I feel very
much as if I had learned that my father, or some other hon
ored ancestor, had been a slave-trader in his time, and had
boasted that he had introduced a new and easier kind of
hand-cuffs or fetters to be worn by the slaves during the
horrors of the middle passage.
I do not believe that there is a respectable or intelligent
Filipino to-day, unless possibly some Macabebe scout, who
would not get rid of the Government of the United States
at once, if he could. Buencamino is said to be one of the
ablest of their public men. He has been quoted as friendly
to us, and is so. There is no doubt that he has so expressed
himself. He has been appointed a member of the Taft Gov
ernment, and has had committed to him the responsible and
important duty of deciding the appointments to the offices
which are to be filled by the native Filipinos, under the ex
isting establishment. It is said by both sides that he is
crafty and selfish and ambitious, and that he likes to be on
the side that is strongest. How that may be, I do not know.
But he will not even pretend to accept the rule of the United
States willingly. He appeared as a witness before a Com
mittee of the House of Representatives, when in this coun
try in 1902. He was asked whether his people approved the
policy of the Democratic Party. He answered emphati
cally: "No. They do not wish to have the United States
abandon them to the ambition or cupidity of foreign Gov
ernments." But he added: "Every Filipino is in favor
of the policy advocated by Senator Hoar." "What!" said
his inquirer, with great surprise, "Do you mean to say that
every Filipino agrees with Senator Hoar in his views?"

THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 325
"Yes," replied the man, with great emphasis; "every Fili
pino agrees with Senator Hoar."
I mentioned this one day in conversation with President
Roosevelt. He told me that Buencamino had said exactly
the same thing to him.
General Miles told me on his return from his journey
round the world that he saw many leaders of the Philippine
people ; that they spoke of me with great regard and attach
ment. June 17, 1902, an eminent Hindoo scholar, published a
long article in the Japan Times, in which he said:
"The speech of Mr. Hoar, though an address to his own
countrymen, is a message of hope to the whole world which
sank with despondency at the sight of Republican America
behaving like a cruel, tyrannical and rapacious Empire in
the Philippines and particularly to the broken-hearted peo
ple of Asia who are beginning to lose all confidence in the
humanity of the white races. Or is it that they have lost it
already? Hence all papers in Asia should reprint his
speech, translate it, and distribute it broadcast. Let it be
brought home to the Asiatic people so that they may know
and worship their champion and his forefathers. Thanks
to the awakening in America, thanks to the forces that are
at work to chase out the degenerating, demoralizing passion
for territorial aggrandizement from the noble American
mind and save it for itself and for the world at large from
the cancer of Imperialism."
I am afraid I am committing an offence against good taste
in repeating such laudations. But it must be remembered
that a public man who has to encounter so much bitter revil
ing and objurgation, is fairly entitled to have a little extrava
gance on the other side that the balance may be even. I
would rather have the gratitude of the poor people of the
Philippine Islands, amid their sorrow, and have it true that
what I may say or do has brought a ray of hope into the
gloomy caverns in which the oppressed peoples of Asia
dwell, than to receive a Ducal Coronet from every Monarch

326 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
in Europe, or command the applause of listening Senates
and read my history in a Nation's eyes.
At first there can seem nothing more absurd than the
suggestion of my Asiatic friend that the people of Asia
should worship their champion and his ancestors. But on
second thought, it is fair to say that while no human being
can be entitled to be worshipped by any other, yet that we
got our love of Liberty from our ancestors, or at any rate
that is where I got mine, and that they are entitled to aU
the credit.

CHAPTER
APPOINTMENTS TO OFFICE
Among the great satisfactions in the life of public men is
that of sometimes being instrumental in the advancement to
places of public honor of worthy men, and of being able to
have a great and salutary influence upon their lives. I have
always held to the doctrine of what is called Civil Service
Reform, and have maintained to the best of my ability the
doctrine of the absolute independence of the Executive in
such matters, and his right to disregard the wishes or opin
ions of members of either House of Congress, and to make
his appointments, executive and judicial, without advice, or
on such advice as he shall think best. But, at the same time,
there can be no doubt that the Executive must depend on
some advice other than his own, to learn the quality of men
in different parts of this vast Republic, and to learn what
will be agreeable to public opinion and to the party which is
administering the Government and is responsible for its ad
ministration. He will, ordinarily, find no better source of
such information than in the men whom the people have
shown their own confidence by entrusting them with the im
portant function of Senator or Representative. He will
soon learn to know his men, and how far he can safely take
such advice. He must be careful to see to it that he is not
induced to build up a faction in his party, or to fill up the
public offices with the partisans of ambitious but unscrupu
lous politicians. When I entered the House of Representa
tives, before the Civil Service Reform had made any prog
ress, I addressed and had put on file with the Secretary of
the Treasury a letter in which I said that I desired him to
understand when I made a recommendation to him of any
person for public office, it was to be taken merely as my opin-
327

328 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
ion of the merit of the candidate, and not as an expression
of a personal request ; and that if he found any other person
who would in his judgment be better for the public service,
I hoped he would make the selection without regard to my
recommendation. I have never undertaken to use public office as personal
patronage, or to claim the right to dictate to the President
of the United States, or that the Executive was not entirely
free, upon such advice as he saw fit, or without advice, if he
thought fit, in making his selection for public office.
It has been my good fortune to have influenced, or I
think I may fairly say, procured the appointment to
public office of many gentlemen who would not have been
appointed without my active efforts. I have no reason to be
ashamed of one of the list. I believe that the following
gentlemen, beside others less distinguished, who have been
very satisfactory, able and faithful public servants, owe their
appointment to my original suggestion, or would not have
been appointed without my earnest efforts.
Charles Devens, Attorney-General; Alanson W. Beard,
Collector of the Port of Boston; Horace Gray, first to the
office of Reporter of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts,
and later to that of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court
of the United States; J. Evarts Greene, Postmaster of
Worcester; Thomas L. Nelson, Judge of the District Court
of Massachusetts ; Francis C. Lowell, Judge of the District
Court of Massachusetts; Howell E. Jackson, Associate Jus
tice of the Supreme Court of the United States; John D.
Washburn, Minister to Switzerland.
I think I may also fairly claim that the election of William
B. Washburn as Governor of Massachusetts was due not
only to the fact that I originally proposed him as a candi
date, but to my active efforts in the campaign which preceded
the Convention which nominated him.
There is no man in this list of greater ability or of higher
quality of manhood than Evarts Greene. Mr. Greene was
compelled by the illness of his wife to remain fast-bound in
one spot, instead of going to some large city where his great
talent would have commanded a very high place indeed in

APPOINTMENTS TO OFFICE 329
his profession as editor. When he edited the Worcester
Spy, it was one of the most influential Republican news
papers in the country. The Spy got into pecuniary diffi
culties. Mr. Greene, with some reluctance, accepted the
office of Postmaster, an office which, according to usage in
such cases, was in my gift.
Just before Postmaster-General Wanamaker, whose execu
tive ability no man will question, went out of office, he re
quested Mr. Greene to send to the Department an account of
the improvements he had made and proposed in the post-
office service. This was sent in a circular all over the coun
try to other like post-offices.
Just before Mr. Greene died, President Roosevelt visited
Worcester. In passing the post-office, where the persons
employed in the service were collected, he stopped and said
he was glad to see "what we have been accustomed to con
sider the record post-office. ' ' This, as may well be believed,
gave Mr. Greene great satisfaction.

CHAPTER XXXV
ORATORY AND SOME ORATORS I HAVE HEARD
The longer I live, the more highly I have come to value
the gift of eloquence. Indeed, I am not sure that it is not
the single gift most to be coveted by man. It is hard, per
haps impossible, to define, as poetry is impossible to define.
To be a perfect and consummate orator is to possess the
highest faculty given to man. He must be a great artist,
and more. He must be a great actor, and more. He must
be a master of the great things that interest mankind. What
he says ought to have as permanent a place in literature as
the highest poetry. He must be able to play at will on the
mighty organ, his audience, of which human souls are the
keys. He must have knowledge, wit, wisdom, fancy, imag
ination, courage, nobleness, sincerity, grace, a heart of fire.
He must himself respond to every emotion as an ^olian
harp to the breeze. He must have
An eye that tears can on a sudden fill,
And lips that smile before the tears are gone.
He must have a noble personal presence. He must have,
in perfection, the eye and the voice which are the only and
natural avenues by which one human soul can enter into and
subdue another. His speech must be filled with music, and
possess its miraculous charm and spell,
Which the posting winds recall,
And suspend the river's fall.
He must have the quality which Burke manifested when
Warren Hastings said, "I felt, as I listened to him, as if I
were the most culpable being on earth"; and which made
Philip say of Demosthenes, "Had I been there he would
have persuaded me to take up arms against myself."
330

SOME ORATORS I HAVE HEARD 331
He has a present, practical purpose to accomplish. If he
fail in that he fails utterly and altogether. His object is to
convince the understanding, to persuade the will, to set
aflame the heart of his audience or those who read what he
says. He speaks for a present occasion. Eloquence is the
feather that tips his arrow. If he miss the mark he is a
failure, although his sentences may survive everything else
in the permanent literature of the language in which he
speaks. What he says must not only accomplish the pur
pose of the hour, but should be fit to be preserved for all
time, or he can have no place in literature, and a small and
ephemeral place in human memory.
The orator must know how so to utter his thought that it
will stay. The poet and the orator have this in common.
Each must so express and clothe his thought that it shall
penetrate and take possession of the soul, and, having pene
trated, must abide and stay. How this is done, who can
tell? Carlyle defines poetry as a "sort of lilt." Cicero
finds the secret of eloquence in a
Lepos quidem celeritasque et brevitas.
One writer lately dead, who has a masterly gift of noble
and stirring eloquence, finds it in "a certain collocation of
consonants." Why it is that a change of a single word, or
even of a single syllable, for any other which is an absolute
synonym in sense, would ruin the best line in Lycidas, or
injure terribly the noblest sentence of Webster, nobody
knows. Curtis asks how Wendell Phillips did it, and
answers his own question by asking you how Mozart did it.
When I say that I am not sure that this is not the single
gift most to be coveted by man, I may seem to have left out
the moral quality in my conception of what is excellent. But
such is the nature of man that the loftiest moral emotions
are still the overmastering emotions. The orator that does
not persuade men that righteousness is on his side will sel
dom persuade them to think or act as he desires ; and if he
fail in that he fails in his object; and the orator who has not
in fact righteousness on his side will in general fail so to
persuade them. And even if in rare cases he do persuade

332 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
his audience, he does not gain a permanent place in litera
ture. Bolingbroke 's speeches, though so enthusiastically
praised by the best judges, have perished by their own
worthlessness. Although the danger of the Republic, and his own, still
occupied his thoughts, Cicero found time in his old age to
record, at the request of his brother Quintus, his opinion, de
omni ratione dicendi. It is not likely that the treatise "de
Oratore" or that "de Claris Oratoribus" will ever be
matched by any other writer on this fascinating subject, ex
cept the brief and masterly fragment of Tacitus.
He begins by inquiring why it is that, when so many per
sons strive to attain the gift of eloquence, and its rewards
of fame and wealth and power are so great, the number of
those who succeed as orators is so small in comparison with
the number of those who become great generals, or states
men, or poets. I suppose this fact, which excited the won
der of Cicero, exists in our country and our time. There
is a foreign country which is to us as a posterity. If we
reckon those Americans only as great orators who are ac
cepted in England as such, or who, belonging to past gen
erations are so accepted now by their own countrymen, the
number is very small. A few sentences of Patrick Henry
are preserved, as a few sentences of Lord Chatham are pre
served. The great thoughts of Webster justify, in the esti
mation of the reader, the fame he enjoyed with his own
generation. The readers of Fisher Ames— alas, too few-
can well comprehend the spell which persuaded an angry
and reluctant majority to save the treaty to which the nation
had pledged its faith, and, perhaps, the life of the nation
itself. With these exceptions, the number of American ora
tors who will live in history as orators can be counted on
the fingers of one hand.
I have never supposed myself to possess this gift. The
instruction which I had in my youth, especially that at Har
vard, either in composition or elocution, was, I think, not
only no advantage, but a positive injury. Besides the ab
sence of good training, I had an awkward manner, and a
harsh voice. Until quite late in life I never learned to man-

SOME ORATORS I HAVE HEARD 333
age so that I could get through a long speech without serious
irritation of the throat. But I have had good opportunity to
hear the best public speaking of my time. I have heard in
England, on a great field day in the House of Commons, Pal
merston, Lord John Russell, and John Bright, and, later, Dis
raeli, Gladstone, and Bernal Osborne. I have heard Spur-
geon, and Bishop Wilberforce, and Dr. Guthrie in the pulpit.
At home I have heard a good many times Daniel Webster,
Edward Everett, Rufus Choate, Robert C. Winthrop, John
P. Hale, Wendell Phillips, Charles Sumner, Richard H.
Dana, Ralph Waldo Emerson, James G. Blaine, Lucius Q.
C. Lamar, James A. Garfield, William McKinley, William
M. Evarts, Benjamin F. Thomas, Pliny Merrick, Charles
Devens, Nathaniel P. Banks, and, above all, Kossuth; and
in the pulpit, James Walker, Edwards A. Park, Mark Hop
kins, Edward Everett Hale, George Putnam, Starr King,
and Henry W. Bellows. So, perhaps, my experience and
observation, too late for my own advantage, may be worth
something to my younger readers.
I am not familiar with the books which have been lately
published which give directions for public speaking. So I
dare say that what I have to advise is already well known
to young men, and that all I can say has been said much
better. But I will give the result of my own experience
and observation.
In managing the voice, the speaker when he is engaged
in earnest conversation, commonly and naturally falls into
the best tone and manner for public speaking. Suppose you
are sitting about a table with a dozen friends, and some
subject is started in which you are deeply interested. You
engage in an earnest and serious dialogue with one of them
at the other end of the table. You are perfectly at ease, not
caring in the least for your manner or tone of voice, but only
for your thought. The tone you adopt then will ordinarily
be the best tone for you in public speaking. You can, how
ever, learn from teachers or friendly critics to avoid any
harsh or disagreeable fashion of speech that you may have
fallen into, and that may be habitual to you in private con
versation.

334 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
Next. Never strain your vocal organs by attempting to
fill spaces which are too large for you. Speak as loudly and
distinctly as you can do easily, and let the most distant por
tions of your audience go. You will find in that way very
soon that your voice will increase in compass and power, and
you will do better than by a habit of straining the voice
beyond its natural capacity. Be careful to avoid falsetto.
Shun imitating the tricks of speech of other orators, even
of famous and successful orators. These may do for them,
but not for you. You will do no better in attempting to imi
tate the tricks of speech of other men in public speaking than
in private speaking.
Never make a gesture for the sake of making one. I be
lieve that most of the successful speakers whom I know
would find it hard to tell you whether they themselves make
gestures or not, they are so absolutely unconscious in the
matter. But with gestures as with the voice, get teachers or
friendly critics to point out to you any bad habit you may
fall into. I think it would be well if our young public speak
ers, especially preachers, would have competent instructors
and critics among their auditors, after they enter their pro
fession, to give them the benefit of such observations and
counsel as may be suggested in that way. If a Harvard
professor of elocution would retain his responsibility for his
pupils five or ten years after they got into active life he
would do a great deal more good than by his instruction to
undergraduates. So far we have been talking about mere manner. The
matter and substance of the orator's speech must depend
upon the intellectual quality of the man.
The great orator must be a man of absolute sincerity.
Never advocate a cause in which you do not believe, or affect
an emotion you do not feel. No skill or acting will cover
up the want of earnestness. It is like the ointment of the
hand which bewrayeth itself.
I shall be asked how I can reconcile this doctrine with the
practice of the law. It will be said the advocate must often
defend men whom he believes to be guilty, or argue to the
court propositions he believes to be unsound. This objec-

SOME ORATORS I HAVE HEARD 335
tion will disappear if we consider what exactly is the func
tion of the advocate in our system of administering justice.
I suppose it is needless to argue to persons of American
or English birth that our system of administering justice is
safer for the innocent and, on the whole, secures the punish
ment of guilt and secures private right better than any other
that now exists or that ever existed among men. The chief
distinction of the system we have inherited from England
consists in two things : first, the function of the advocate, and
second, that cases are decided not upon belief, but upon
proof. It has been found that court or jury are more likely
to get at truth if they have the aid of trained officers whose
duty it shall be to collect and present all the arguments on
each side which ought to be considered before the court or
jury reach the decision. The man who seems clearly guilty
should not be condemned or punished unless every consider
ation which may tend to establish innocence or throw doubt
upon guilt has been fully weighed. The unassisted tribunal
will be quite likely to overlook these considerations. Public
sentiment approves the judgment and the punishment in the
case of John W. Webster. But certainly he should never
have been convicted without giving the fullest weight to his
previous character and to the slightness of the temptation
to the commission of such a crime, to the fact that the evi
dence was largely circumstantial, to the doubt of the identity
of the body of the victim, and to the fact that the means
or instrument of the crime which ordinarily must be alleged
and proved in cases of murder could not be made certain,
and could not be set forth in the indictment. The question
in the American or English court is not whether the accused
be guilty. It is whether he be shown to be guilty, by legal
proof, of an offence legally set forth. It is the duty of the
advocate to perform his office in the mode best calculated to
cause all such considerations to make their due impression.
It is not his duty or his right to express or convey his indi
vidual opinion. On him the responsibility of the decision
does not rest. He not only has no right to accompany the
statement of his argument with any assertion as to his indi
vidual belief, but I think the most experienced observers will

336 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
agree that such expressions, if habitual, tend to diminish
and not to increase the just influence of the lawyer. Theie
never was a weightier advocate before New England juries
than Daniel Webster. Yet it is on record that he always
carefully abstained from any positiveness of assertion. He
introduced his weightiest arguments with such phrases as,
"It will be for the jury to consider," "The Court will
judge," "It may, perhaps, be worth thinking of, gentle
men, ' ' or some equivalent phrase by which he kept scrupu
lously off the ground which belonged to the tribunal he was
addressing. The tricks of advocacy are not only no part of
the advocate 's duties, but they are more likely to repel than
to attract the hearers. The function of the advocate in the
court of justice, as thus defined and limited, is tainted by
no insincerity or hypocrisy. It is as respectable, as lofty,
and as indispensably necessary as that of the judge himself.
In my opinion, the two most important things that a young
man can do to make himself a good public speaker are :
First. Constant and careful written translations from
Latin or Greek into English.
Second. Practice in a good debating society.
It has been said that all the greatest Parliamentary ora
tors of England are either men whom Lord North saw, or
men who saw Lord North— that is, men who were conspicu
ous as public speakers in Lord North's youth, his contem
poraries, and the men who saw him as an old man when they
were young themselves. This would include Bolingbroke
and would come down only to the year of Lord John Rus
sell's birth. So we should have to add a few names, espe
cially Gladstone, Disraeli, John Bright, and Palmerston.
There is no great Parliamentary orator in England since
Gladstone died. I once, a good many years ago, studied
the biographies of the men who belonged to that period who
were famous as great orators in Parliament or in Court, to
find, if I could, the secret of their power. With the excep
tion of Lord Erskine and of John Bright, I believe every
one of them trained himself by careful and constant trans
lation from Latin or Greek, and frequented a good debating
society in his youth.

SOME ORATORS I HAVE HEARD 337
Brougham trained himself for extemporaneous speaking
in the Speculative Society, the great theatre of debate for
the University of Edinburgh. He also improved his Eng
lish style by translations from Greek, among which is his
well-known version of the "Oration on the Crown."
Canning's attention, while at Eton, was strongly turned
to extemporaneous speaking. They had a debating society,
in which the Marquis of Wellesley and Charles Earl Grey
had been trained before him, in which they had all the forms
of the House of Commons — Speaker, Treasury benches, and
an Opposition. Canning also was disciplined by the habit
of translation.
Curran practised declamation daily before a glass, recit
ing passages from Shakespeare and the best English orators.
He frequented the debating societies which then abounded
in London. He failed at first, and was ridiculed as ' ' Orator
Mum. ' ' But at last he surmounted every difficulty. It was
said of him by a contemporary : ' ' He turned his shrill and
stumbling brogue into a flexible, sustained, and finely modu
lated voice ; his action became free and forcible ; he acquired
perfect readiness in thinking on his legs ; he put down every
opponent by the mingled force of his argument and wit ; and
was at last crowned with the universal applause of the so
ciety and invited by the president to an entertainment in
their behalf. ' ' I am not sure that I have seen, on any good
authority, that he was in the habit of writing translations
from Latin or Greek, but he studied them with great ardor
and undoubtedly adopted, among the methods of perfecting
his English style, the custom of students of his day of trans
lation from these languages.
Jeffrey joined the Speculative Society, in Edinburgh, in
his youth. His biographer says that it did more for him
than any other event in the whole, course of his education.*
Chatham, the greatest of English orators, if we may judge
by the reports of his conteinporaries, trained himself for
public speaking, ^by ..constant translations from Latin and
Greek. The education of his son, the younger Pitt, is well
known. His father compelled him to read Thucydides into
English at sight, and to go over it again and again, until
22

338 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
he had got the best possible rendering of the Greek into
English. Macaulay belonged to the Cambridge Union, where, as in
the society of the same name at Oxford, the great topics of
the day were discussed by men, many of whom afterward
became famous statesmen and debaters in the Commons.
Young Murray, afterward Lord Mansfield, translated Sal-
lust and Horace with ease; learned great part of them by
heart; could converse fluently in Latin; wrote Latin prose
correctly and idiomatically, and was specially distinguished
at Westminster for his declamations. He translated every
oration of Cicero into English and back again into Latin.
Fox can hardly have been supposed to have practised
much in debating societies, as he entered the House of Com
mons when he was nineteen years old. But it is quite prob
able that he was drilled by translations from Latin and
Greek into English ; and in the House of Commons he had in
early youth the advantage of the best debating society in the
world. It is said that he read Latin and Greek as easily as
he read English. He himself said that he gained his skill
at the expense of the House, for he had sometimes tasked
himself during the entire session to speak on every question
that came up, whether he was interested in it or not, as a
means of exercising and training his faculties. This is what
made him, according to Burke, ' ' rise by slow degrees to be
the most brilliant and accomplished debater the world ever
saw. ' '
Sir Henry Bulwer's "Life of Palmerston" does not teU
us whether he was trained by the habit of writing transla
tions or in debating societies. But he was a very eager
reader of the classics. There is little doubt, however, con
sidering the habit of his contemporaries at Cambridge, and
that he was ambitious for public life, and represented the
University of Cambridge in Parliament just after he became
twenty-one, that he belonged to a debating society and that
he was drilled in English composition by translation from
the classics.
Gladstone was a famous debater in the Oxford Union, as
is well known, and was undoubtedly in the habit of writing

SOME ORATORS I HAVE HEARD 339
translations from Greek and Latin, of which he was always
so passionately fond. He says in his paper on Arthur Hal-
lam that the Eton debating club known as the Society sup
plied the British Empire with four Prime Ministers in four
score years.
The value of the practice of translation from Latin or
Greek into English, in getting command of good English
style, in my judgment, can hardly be stated too strongly.
The explanation is not hard to find. You have in these two
languages and especially in Latin, the best instrument for
the most precise and most perfect expression of thought.
The Latin prose of Tacitus and Cicero, the verse of Virgil
and Horace, are like a Greek statue, or an Italian cameo—
you have not only exquisite beauty, but also exquisite pre
cision. You get the thought into your mind with the accu
racy and precision of the words that express numbers in the
multiplication table. Ten times one are ten— not ten and
one one-millionth. Having got the idea into your mind with
the precision, accuracy, and beauty of the Latin expression,
you are to get its equivalent in English. Suppose you have
knowledge of no language but your own. The thought
comes to you in the mysterious way in which thoughts are
born, and struggles for expression in apt words. If the
phrase that occurs to you does not exactly fit the thought,
you are almost certain, especially in speaking or rapid com
position, to modify the thought to fit the phrase. Your sen
tence commands you, not you the sentence. The extem
porary speaker never gets, or easily loses, the power of
precise and accurate thinking or statement, and rarely at
tains a literary excellence which gives him immortality. But
the conscientious translator has no such refuge. He is con
fronted by the inexorable original. He cannot evade or
shirk. He must try and try and try again until he has got
the exact thought expressed in its English equivalent. This
is not enough. He must get an English expression if the
resources of the language will furnish it, which will equal
as near as may be the dignity and beauty of the original.
He must not give you pewter for silver, or pinchbeck for
gold, or mica for diamond. This practice will soon give him

340 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
ready command of the great riches of his own noble English
tongue. It will give a habitual nobility and beauty to his
own style. The best word and phrase will come to him spon
taneously when he speaks and thinks. The processes
of thought itself will grow easier. The orator will get
the affluence and abundance which characterize the great
Italian artists of the Middle Ages, who astonish us as
much by the amount and variety of their work as by its ex
cellence. The value of translation is very different from that of
original written composition. Cicero says:
"Stilus optimus et prsestantissimus dicendi effector ac
magister. ' '
Of this I am by no means sure. If you write rapidly you
get the habit of careless composition. If you write slowly
you get the habit of slow composition. Each of these is an
injury to the style of the speaker. He cannot stop to cor
rect or scratch out. Cicero himself in a later passage states
his preference for translation. He says that at first he used
to take a Latin author, Ennius or Gracchus, and get the
meaning into his head, and then write it again. But he soon
found that in that way if he used again the very words of
his author he got no advantage, and if he used other lan
guage of his own, the author had already occupied the
ground with the best expression, and he was left with the
second best. So he gave up the practice and adopted in
stead that of translating from the Greek.
But to go back to what makes an orator. As I have said,
his object is to excite the emotions which, being excited, will
be most likely to impel his audience to think or act as he
desires. He must never disgust them, he must never excite
their contempt. He can use to great advantage the most
varied learning, the profoundest philosophy, the most com
pelling logic. He must master the subject with which he
has to deal, and he must have knowledge adequate to illus
trate and adorn it. When every other faculty of the orator
is acquired, it sometimes almost seems as if voice were nine-

SOME ORATORS I HAVE HEARD 341
tenths, and everything else but one-tenth, of the consummate
orator. It is impossible to overrate the importance to his
purpose of that matchless instrument, the human voice.
The most fastidious critic is by no means the best judge,
seldom even a fairly good judge, of the public speaker. He
is likely to be a stranger to the emotion which the orator in
spires and excites. He is likely to fall into mistakes like
that which Goldwin Smith makes about Patrick Henry. Mr.
Smith ridicules Henry's speech and action and voice. The
emotion which the great Virginian stirred in the breasts of
his backwoodsmen seems very absurd to this cultured Eng
lishman. The bowings and changes of countenance and ges
ticulating of the orator seem to him like the cheapest acting.
Yet to us who understand it, it does not seem that Patrick
Henry in the old church at Richmond need yield the palm
to Chatham in St. Stephen's Chapel, either for the grandeur
of his theme or of his stage, or the sublimity of his elo
quence. Matthew Arnold had the best pair of intellectual eyes of
our time. But he sometimes made a like mistake as a critic
of poetry. He speaks slightingly of Emerson's Fourth of
July Ode- Oh tenderly the haughty day
Fills his blue urn with fire ;
One morn is in the mighty heaven,
And one in our desire.
What did the Englishman know of the Fourth of July emo
tion which stirred all America in the days when the country
had just escaped destruction, and was entering upon its new
career of freedom and of glory? What could he understand
of that feeling, full of the morning and of the springtime,
which heard the cannon boom and the bells ring, with stir
ring and quickened pulse, in those exultant days? Surely
there never was a loftier stroke than that with which the
New England poet interpreted to his countrymen the feeling
of that joyous time— the feeling which is to waken again
when the Fourth of July comes round on many anniver
saries :

342 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
Oh tenderly the haughty day
Pills his blue urn with fire ;
One morn is in the mighty heaven,
And one in our desire.
It is often said that if a speech read well it is not a good
speech. There may be some truth in it. The reader cannot,
of course, get the impression which the speaker conveys by
look and tone and gesture. He lacks that marvellous influ
ence by which in a great assembly the emotion of every indi
vidual soul is multiplied by the emotion of every other. The
reader can pause and dwell upon the thought. If there be
a fallacy, he is not hurried away to something else before he
can detect it. So, also, more careful and deliberate criti
cism will discover offences of style and taste which pass
unheeded in a speech when uttered. But still the great
oratorio triumphs of literature and history stand the test of
reading in the closet, as well as of hearing in the assembly.
Would not Mark Antony's speech over the dead body of
Csesar, had it been uttered, have moved the Roman popu
lace as it moves the spectator when the play is acted, or the
solitary reader in his closet? Does not Lord Chatham's "I
rejoice that America has resisted ' ' read well ? Do not Sheri
dan 's great perorations, and Burke's, in the Impeachment
of Warren Hastings, read well? Does not "Liberty and
Union, Now and Forever ! ' ' read well ? Does not ' ' Give me
Liberty or Give me Death!" read well? Does not Fisher
Ames's speech for the treaty read well? Do not Everett's
finest passages read well?
There are examples of men of great original genius who
have risen to lofty oratory on some great occasion who
had not the advantage of familiarity with any great author.
But they are not only few in number, but the occasions are
few when they have risen to a great height. In general
the orator, whether at the Bar, or in the pulpit, or in public
life, who is to meet adequately the many demands upon his
resources, must get familiarity with the images and illustra
tions he wants, and the resources of a fitting diction, by soak
ing his mind in some great authors which will alike satisfy

SOME ORATORS I HAVE HEARD 343
and stimulate his imagination, and supply him with a lofty
expression. Of these I suppose the best are, by common
consent, the Bible, Shakespeare, and Milton. It is a maxim
that the pupil who wishes to acquire a pure and simple style
should give his days and nights to Addison. But there is
a lack of strength and vigor in Addison, which perhaps pre
vents his being the best model for the advocate in the court
house or the champion in a political debate. I should rather,
for myself, recommend Robert South to the student. If the
speaker, whose thought have weight and vigor in it, can say
it as South would have said it, he may be quite sure that his
weighty meaning will be expressed alike to the mind of the
people and the apprehension of his antagonist.
There is one great difference between the condition of the
American orator and that of the orator of antiquity. The
speaker, in the old time, addressed an audience about to act
instantly upon the emotions or convictions he had himself
caused. Or he spoke to a Judge who was to give no reason
for his opinion. The sense of public responsibility scarcely
existed in either. The speech itself perished with the occa
sion, unless, as in some few instances, the orator preserved
it in manuscript for a curious posterity. Even then the best
of them had discovered that not eloquence, but wisdom, is
the power by which states grow and flourish.
"Omnia plena consiliorum, inania verborum.
"Quid est tarn furiosum quam verborum vel optimorum
atque ornatissimorum sonitus inanis nulla subjecta sententia
nee scientia?"
Cicero's oratory is to excite his hearers, whether Judges
or popular assembly, for the occasion. Not so in general
with our orator. The auditor is ashamed of excitement. He
takes the argument home with him: He sleeps on it. He
reads it again in the newspaper report. He hears and reads
the other side. He discusses with friends and antagonists.
He feels the responsibility of his vote. He expects to have
to justify it himself. Even the juryman hears the sober
statement of the Judge, and talks the case over with his asso
ciates of the panel in the quiet seclusion of the jury-room.

344 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
The Judge himself must state the reasons for his opinions,
which are to be read by a learned and critical profession and
by posterity. The speaker 's argument must be sounded, and
rung, and tested, and tried again and again, before the au
ditor acts upon it. Our people hear some great orators as
they witness a play. The delight of taste, even inteUec-
tual gratification, caused by what is well said, is one thing.
Conviction is quite another. The printing-press and
the reporter, the consultation in the jury-room, the re
flection in the Judge's chamber, the delay of the election
to a day long after the speech, are protections against
the mischief of mere oratory, which the ancients did not
enjoy. I heard a debate in the House of Commons in 1860, on the
paper duties, in which Lord John Russell, Palmerston, Glad
stone, and John Bright took part. Gladstone 's part was not
very prominent. I now remember little that he said. His
image, as it then appeared, is effaced by his later appear
ance on a much greater occasion. Bright spoke admirably,
both in manner and matter. He was an Independent, though
giving general support to the measures of the Government,
in which Palmerston and Lord Russell were the leaders. He
complained bitterly of their acquiescence in what he thought
the unconstitutional attitude of the House of Lords, in re
fusing to consent to the abolition of the paper duties, for
which the House of Commons had voted. But the Govern
ment, though they had tried to abolish the duty, were very
glad to hold on to the revenue. Bright had none of the Eng
lish hesitation, and frequent punctuation of sentences with—
"er"—"er"— which has led some one, speaking of English
orators, to say that "to err" is human. He reminded me
in general, in look, voice, and manner, of the late Richard
H. Dana, although he sometimes threw more passion and
zeal into his speech than Dana ever indulged. Periods fol
lowed each other in easy and rapid flow. He had a fine voice
and delivery, easily filling the hall from his place below the
gangway. Palmerston, in his jaunty and off-hand way, rebuked
Bright for desiring to make the House of Commons adopt a

SOME ORATORS I HAVE HEARD 345
resolution which would only show its own helplessness. On
the whole, he seemed to me to get the better of the debate.
Bright could not persuade the House, or the people of Eng
land, to make a great constitutional question out of the paper
duties, especially after the powerful speech of Lord Lynd-
hurst, who, then more than ninety years old, argued for the
side of the Lords with a power that no other speaker on the
subject rivalled.
I heard Gladstone again in 1871, when there was a great
struggle between him and Disraeli over the Parliamentary
and Municipal Elections Bill. I visited the House with
Thomas Hughes, to whom I was indebted for much courtesy
while in London, and had a seat on the floor just below the
gallery, where a few strangers are, or were then, admitted
by special card from the Speaker.
Bernal Osborne, Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, Sir Stafford
Northcote, Gladstone, and Disraeli took part in the debate.
The bill was introduced by Mr. Gladstone's Government.
The question that night was on a motion to strike out the
provision for the secret ballot ; so the opponents of the Gov
ernment had the close in support of the motion. The report
of Hansard purports to be in the first person. But I can
testify from memory that it is by no means verbally accu
rate. I have no doubt the speeches were taken down in
short-hand. The phonetic system was then used. But the
report seems to be about like those which our good short
hand reporters used to make before that invention. The
speeches are well worth studying by a person who wishes to
get an idea of the intellectual and literary quality of these
champions. There is no great passage in any one of them.
But the capacity and quality of power appear distinctly.
Osborne was full of a shrewd and delightful wit, without the
vitriolic flavor which often appears in the sarcasm of Dis
raeli. Gladstone showed his power of elevating the discus
sion to a lofty plane, which his opponent never reached,
although Disraeli launched at him many a keen shaft from
below. Mr. Hughes sat by me most of the night, and occa
sionally brought and introduced to me some eminent person
whom he thought I would like to know.

346 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
The members of our National House of Representatives,
however turbulent or disorderly, never would submit to the
fashion of treating a speaker whom they do not want to hear,
which prevails in the House of Commons. When Mr. Glad
stone got through, the night was far spent, and the House
evidently wanted to hear Disraeli, then vote and go home.
Mr. Plunket, a member for the University of Dublin, who
seemed an intelligent and sensible man, rose, wishing to cor
rect a statement of Mr. Gladstone's, which he thought had
done him an injustice. Disraeli rose about the same time,
but bowed and gave way. The House did not like it. Poor
Plunket 's voice was drowned in the storm of shouts— "Sit
down. Sit down. Dizzy, Dizzy, ' ' in which my friend, Mr.
Hughes, although of Gladstone's party, joined at the top of
his lungs. I think the Bedlam lasted five minutes. But
Plunket stood his ground and made his correction.
Although Bernal Osborne was a man of great wit and
sense, and Sir Stafford Northcote and Sir Michael Hicks-
Beach were then, as the latter is now, very eminent charac
ters, yet the only speakers who belonged to the rank of the
great orators were Gladstone and Disraeli. I will not under
take to add another description of Gladstone to the many
with which every reader of mine is thoroughly familiar.
The late Dr. Bellows resembled him very nearly, both in his
way of reasoning and his manner of speech. Persons who
have heard Dr. Bellows at his best will not deem this com
parison unworthy.
Gladstone was terribly in earnest. He began his speech
by a compliment to Northcote, his opponent, for whom he
had shown his esteem by sending him to the United States
as one of the Joint High Commission to make the Alabama
Treaty. But when Mr. Gladstone was well under way. Sir
Stafford interposed a dissent from something he said by call
ing out, "No, no"— a very frequent practice in the House.
Gladstone turned upon him savagely, with a tone of anger
which I might almost call furious : ' ' Can the gentleman tol
erate no opinion but his own, that he interjects his audible
contradiction into the middle of my sentence ? ' ' The House
evidently did not like it. Hughes, who agreed with Glad-

SOME ORATORS I HAVE HEARD '347
stone, said to me : ' ' What a pity it is that he cannot control
his temper ; that is his great fault. ' '
There are no passages in this speech of Gladstone that
can be cited as among the best examples of the great style of
the orator. But there are several that give a good idea of
his manner, and show something of the argument in two or
three sentences: "I am not at all ashamed of having said,
and I say it again, that this is a choice of evils. I do not
say that the proposal for a secret ballot is open to no objec
tions whatever. I admit that open voting has its evils as
well as its merits. One of these merits is that it enables a
man to discharge a noble duty in the noblest possible man
ner. But what are its demerits ? That by marking his vote
you expose the voter to be tempted through his cupidity and
through his fears. We propose, by secret voting, to greatly
diminish the first of these, and we hope to take away the
second. We do not believe that the disposition to bribe can
operate with anything like its present force when the means
of tracing the action of the man bribed are taken away, be
cause men will not pay for that they do not know they will
ever receive."
"I think it is too late for the honorable gentleman to
say, 'We are passing through an experiment; wait for more
experiment.' " "We have already been debating this sub
ject for forty years; we have plenty of time on our hands;
it is a Godsend to have anything to fill up our vacant hours ;
and therefore let us postpone the subject in order that it may
be dealt with in future years. ' '
The great quality of Gladstone, as of Sumner, is his pro
found seriousness. He makes the impression on his hear
ers, an impression made, but not so strongly, upon his read
ers, that the matter he is discussing is that upon which the
foundations of heaven and earth rest.
It would be a great mistake to hold Disraeli cheap. He
turned the tables upon Osborne, who had gone into several,
what Disraeli called, archaeological details, with respect to
the antiquity of the ballot, and had cited a proclamation of
Charles I. prohibiting the ballot in all corporations, either
in the city of London or elsewhere, which Disraeli said "was

348 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
done with the admirable view of identifying the opinions
of those who sit on this side of the House with the political
sentiments of that monarch. But there was another asser
tion of the principle that the ballot should be open that the
gentleman has not cited. That occurred in the most mem
orable Parliament that ever sat in England- the Long Par
liament. . . . They wished it therefore to be exercised, not
to satisfy the self-complacency of the individual, but with
due respect for common-sense and the public opinion of the
country, and influenced by all those doctrines and all that
discipline of party which they believed to be one of the best
securities for public liberty. ' '
Gladstone showed in his speech the profounder reflection
on the general subject, the more philosophy, and the intenser
earnestness ; Disraeli showed quickness of wit, a ready com
mand of his resources, ability for subtle distinctions, and
glimpses of his almost Satanic capacity for mocking and
jeering. He describes Mr. Gladstone most felicitously as
' ' inspired by a mixture of genius and vexation. ' ' He speaks
of his majority as a "mechanical majority, a majority the
result of heedlessness of thought on the part of members
who were so full of other questions that they gave pledges
in favor of the ballot without due consideration."
He said: "There is a celebrated river, which has been
the subject of political interest of late, and with which we
are all acquainted. It rolls its magnificent volume, clear and
pellucid, in its course; but it never reaches the ocean; it
sinks into mud and morass. And such will be the fate of
this mechanical majority. The conscience of the country is
against it. It is an old-fashioned political expedient;
it is not adapted to the circumstances which we have to
encounter in the present, and because it has no real foun
dation of truth or policy, it will meet with defeat and dis
comfiture. ' '
Gladstone had, what is quite rare, and what no famous
American orator that I now think of, except Choate and
Evarts, have had— a tendency to diffuse and somewhat in
volved speech, and at the same time a gift of compact epi
grammatic utterance on occasions. When Mr. Evarts, who

SOME ORATORS I HAVE HEARD 349
was my near relative, and a man with whom I could take a
liberty, came into the Senate, I said to him that we should
have to amend the rules so that a motion to adjourn would
be in order in the middle of a sentence ; to which he replied
that he knew of nobody in this country, who objected to long
sentences, except the criminal classes.
Gladstone was the last of a school of oratory, and the last
of our time— I hope not for all time— of a school of states
men. When he entered upon a discussion in Parliament,
or on the hustings, he elevated it to the highest possible
plane. The discussion became alike one of the highest moral
principles and the profoundest political philosophy. He
seemed to be speaking as our statesmen of the Revolutionary
time, and the time of framing our Constitution. He used to
speak to all generations alike. What he had to say would
have been true and apt and fit to be uttered in the earlier
days of Athens or of Rome, and true and apt and fit to be
uttered for thousands of years to come. He had, in a large
measure, a failing which all Englishmen have, and always
had: the notion that what is good for England is good for
humanity at large. His morality and his statesmanship
were insular. Still it was a lofty morality and a lofty ideal
statesmanship. It was sincere. What he said, that he be
lieved. It came straight from his heart, and he kindled in
the bosoms of his listeners the ardor of his own heart. He
was not afraid of his ideals.
I heard Dr. Guthrie in Edinburgh in 1860. It was a hot
day. My companion was just getting well from a danger
ous attack of bleeding at the lungs. We made our way with
difficulty into the crowded church. The people were, almost
all of them, standing. We were obliged, by my friend's
condition, to get out again before the sermon. I remember,
however, the old man's attitude, and his prayer in the racy,
broad Scotch, the most tender, pathetic, and expressive lan
guage on earth for the deeper emotions as well as for humor.
I wonder if my readers have ever seen the version of the
Psalms— "Frae Hebrew IntU Scottis," by P. Hately Waddell,
LL.D., Minister, Edinburgh, 1891.

350 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
If not, and they will get it, a new delight is in store for
them, and they will know something of the diction of Dr.
Guthrie. He once began a prayer, "0 Lord, it is a braw thing to
loe ye. But it is a better (bitter) thing to hate ye."
The beauty of this dialect is that while it is capable alike
of such tenderness, and such lofty eloquence, and such ex
quisite and delicate humor, it is, like our Saxon, incapable
of falsetto, or of little pomposities.
I heard Lyman Beecher, then a very old man, before a
meeting of the members of the Massachusetts Legislature in
1852, when the measure known as the Maine Liquor Law was
pending. He bore unmistakable marks of advanced age.
But there were one or two passages that showed the power
of the orator, one especially in which he described the beauty
and delight of our homes, and intemperance threatening
them with its waves like a great sea of fire.
I saw Henry Ward Beecher several times in private, and
had pleasant talks with him. But I am sorry to say I never
heard him speak, so far as I can now remember, on any occa
sion when he put forth his power. But if half that is told
of his speeches, during the Civil War, some of them to hos
tile and angry audiences, be true, he was a consummate mas
ter. One story is told of him which I suppose is true, and,
if it be true, ranks him as one of the greatest masters of his
art that ever lived. It is said that he was speaking to a
great crowd in Birmingham, or perhaps Liverpool, which
constantly goaded him with hostile interruptions, so that he
had great difficulty in getting on. At last one fellow pro
voked the cheers and applause of the audience by crying
out— "Why didn't you put down the Rebellion in sixty days
as you said you would?" Beecher paused a moment until
they became still, in their eagerness to hear his reply, and
then hurled back— "We should if they had been English
men. ' ' The fierce, untamed animal hesitated a moment be
tween anger and admiration, and then the English love of
fair play and pluck prevailed, and the crowd cheered him
and let him go on.

SOME ORATORS I HAVE HEARD 351
But any man who reads Beecher 's delightful "Letters
from the White Mountains," or some of his sermons, and
imagines his great frame, and far-sounding voice, will get
a conception of his power to play on the feelings of men,
of his humor, and pathos, and intense conviction, and rapid
ity in passing from one emotion to another, and will under
stand him.
I heard Rufus Choate a great many times. I heard nearly
all the speeches given in Brown's Life; and I heard him
a great many times at the Bar, both before juries and the full
Court. He is the only advocate I ever heard who had the
imperial power which would subdue an unwilling and hos
tile jury. His power over them seemed like the fascination
of a bird by a snake. Of course, he couldn't do this with
able Judges, although all Judges who listened to him would,
I think, agree that he was as persuasive a reasoner as ever
lived. But with inferior magistrates and juries, however
intelligent, however determined they were in a made-up
opinion, however on their guard against the charmer, he was
almost irresistible. There are very few important cases
recorded that Choate lost. Non supplex, sed magister aut
dominus videretur esse judicum.
Choate 's method was pure persuasion. He never ap
pealed to base motives, nor tried to awake coarse prejudices
or stormy passions. He indulged in no invective. His wit
and sarcasm and ridicule amused the victim almost as much
as it amused the bystander. He had the suaviloquentia
which Cicero attributes to Cornelius. There was never a
harsh note in his speech.
Latrantur enim jam quidam oratores, non loquuntur.
When he was confronted with some general rule, or some
plain fact, he had a marvellous art of subtle distinction. He
showed that his client, or witness, or proposition, belonged
to a class of itself. He invested it with a distinct and in
tense personality. He held up his fact or his principle
before the mind of the Court and the jury. He described
and pictured it. He brought out in clear relief what distin
guished it from any other fact or proposition whatever. If

352 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
necessary, he would almost have made a jury, before he was
through, think the Siamese twins did not look alike, and
possibly that they never could have been born of the same
parents. He had a voice without any gruff or any shrill tones. It
was like a sweet, yet powerful flute. He never strained it
or seemed to exert it to its fullest capacity. I do not know
any other public speaker whose style resembled his in the
least. Perhaps Jeremy Taylor was his model, if he had any
model. The phraseology with which he clothed some com
monplace or mean thought or fact, when he was compelled
to use commonplace arguments, or to tell some common story,
kept his auditors ever alert and expectant. An Irishman,
who had killed his wife, threw away the axe with which
Choate claimed the deed was done, when he heard somebody
coming. This, in Choate 's language, was "the sudden and
frantic ejaculation of the axe." Indeed his speech was a
perpetual surprise. Whether you liked him or disliked him,
you gave him your ears, erect and intent. He used manu
script a great deal, even in speaking to juries. When a
trial was on, lasting days or weeks, he kept pen, ink, and
paper at hand in his bedroom, and would often get up in the
middle of the night to write down thoughts that came to
him as he lay in bed. He was always careful to keep
warm. It was said he prepared for a great jury argument
by taking off eight great coats and drinking eight cups of
green tea.
When I was a young lawyer in Worcester I had something
to do before the Court sitting in the fourth story of the old
stone court house in Boston. I finished my business and
had just time to catch the train for home. As I came down
the stairs I passed the door of the court-room where the
United States Court was sitting. The thick wooden door
was open, and the opening was closed by a door of thin
leather stretched on a wooden frame. I pulled it open
enough to look in, and there, within three feet of me, was
Choate, addressing a jury in a case of marine insurance,
where the defence was the unseaworthiness of the vessel. I
had just time to hear this sentence, and shut the door and

SOME ORATORS I HAVE HEARD 353
hurry to my train : ' ' She went down the harbor, painted and
perfidious— a coffin, but no ship."
I hear now, as if still in the eager throng, his speech in
Faneuil Hall during the Mexican War. He demanded that
we should bring back our soldiers to the line we claimed as
our rightful boundary, and let Mexico go. He said we had
done enough for glory, and that we had humiliated her
enough. "The Mexican maiden, as she sits with her lover among
the orange-groves, will sing to her guitar the story of these
times— 'Ah, woe is me, Alhama, ' for a thousand years to
come. ' '
Choate, like other good orators, and like some great poets,
notably Wordsworth, created the taste which he satisfied.
His dramatic action, his marvellous and strange vocabulary,
his oriental imagination, his dressing the common and mean
things of life with a poetic charm and romance, did not at
once strike favorably the taste of his Yankee audiences.
Webster and Everett seem to have appreciated him from the
first. But he was, till he vindicated his title to be a great
lawyer, rather a thorn in the flesh of Chief Justice Shaw, of
whose consternation and amazement, caused by the strange
figure that appeared in his court-room, many queer stories
used to be told. But the young men and the people liked
him. "Non probantur haec senibus— ssepe videbam cum invi-
dentem tum etiam irascentem stomachantem Philippum —
sed mirantur adulescentes multitude movetur."
It was a curious sight to see on a jury twelve hard-headed
and intelligent countrymen— farmers, town officers, trustees,
men chosen by their neighbors to transact their important
affairs— after an argument by some clear-headed lawyer for
the defence, about some apparently not very doubtful trans
action, who had brought them all to his way of thinking, and
had warned them against the wiles of the charmer, when
Choate rose to reply for the plaintiff— to see their look of
confidence and disdain— "You needn't try your wiles upon
23

354 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
me." The shoulder turned a little against the speaker— the
averted eye— and then the change ; first, the changed posture
of the body ; the slight opening of the mouth ; then the look,
first, of curiosity, and then of doubt, then of respect; the
surrender of the eye to the eye of the great advocate ; then
the spell, the charm, the great enchantment— till at last, jury
and audience were all swept away, and followed the con
queror captive in his triumphal march.
He gesticulated with his whole body. Wendell Phillips
most irreverently as well as most unjustly compared him to
a monkey in convulsions. His bowings down and straight
ening himself again were spoken of by another critic, not
unfriendly, as opening and shutting like a jack-knife. His
curly black hairs seemed each to have a separate life of its
own. His eyes shone like coals of fire. There is a passage
of Everett's which well describes Choate, and is also one of
the very best examples of Everett, who, with all his fertility
of original genius, borrowed so much, and so enriched and
improved everything that he borrowed. Cicero said of
Antonius :
' ' Omnia veniebant Antonio in mentem ; eaque suo quseque
loco, ubi plurimum proficere et valere possent, ut ab impera-
tore equites pedites levis armatura, sic ab illo in maxume
opportunis orationis partibus conlocabantur. "
Now see what Everett does with this thought in his eu
logy, spoken in Faneuil Hall, the week after Choate 's death:
"He is sometimes satisfied, in concise epigrammatic
clauses, to skirmish with his light troops, and drive in the
enemy 's outposts. It is only on fitting occasions, when great
principles are to be vindicated, and solemn truths told, when
some moral or political Waterloo or Solferino is to be fought,
that he puts on the entire panoply of his gorgeous rhetoric.
It is then that his majestic sentences swell to the dimensions
of his majestic thought ; then it is that we hear afar off the
awful roar of his rifled ordnance ; and when he has stormed
the heights, and broken the centre, and trampled the squares,
and turned the staggering wings of the adversary, that he

SOME ORATORS I HAVE HEARD 355
sounds his imperial clarion along the whole line of battle,
and moves forward with all his hosts, in one overwhelming
charge. ' '
One of the most remarkable advocates of my day was Sid
ney Bartlett. He seldom addressed juries, and almost never
public assemblies. He was a partner of Chief Justice Shaw
before 1830. He argued cases before the Supreme Court of
the United States and before the Supreme Court of Massa
chusetts after he was ninety. He cared for no other audi
ence. He had a marvellous compactness of speech, and a
marvellous sagacity in seeing the turning-point of a great
question. He found the place where the roads diverged,
got the Court's face set in the right direction, and then
stopped. He would argue in ten or fifteen minutes a point
where some powerful antagonist like Curtis or Choate would
take hours to reply. I once told him that his method of
argument was to that of ordinary lawyers like logarithms
to ordinary mathematics. He seemed pleased with the com
pliment, and said, "Yes, I know I argue over their heads.
The Chief Justice told me he wished I would talk a little
longer." I do not know that Bartlett ought to be reckoned
among orators. But he had a great power of convincing,
and giving intellectual delight to minds capable of appre
ciating his profound and inexorable logic.
Edward Everett seems to me, on the whole, our best ex
ample of the orator, pure and simple. Webster was a great
statesman, a great lawyer, a great advocate, a great public
teacher. To all these his matchless oratory was but an in
strument and incident.
Choate was a great winner of cases, and as relaxation he
gave, in the brief vacations of an overworked professional
life (he once defined a lawyer's vacation as the time after he
has put a question to a witness while he is waiting for an
answer), a few wonderful literary and historical addresses.
He gave a brief period of brilliant but most unwilling ser
vice in each House of Congress. He made some powerful
political speeches to popular audiences. But his heart was
always in the court-house. No gambler ever hankered for

356 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
the feverish delight of the gaming table as Choate did for
that absorbing game, half chance, half skill, where twelve
human dice must all turn up together one way, or there is
no victory.
But Everett is always the orator. He was a clergyman
a little while. He was a Greek professor a little while. He
was a College President a little while. He was a Minister to
England a little while. He was Representative in Congress
and Senator. He was Governor of the Commonwealth. In
these places he did good service enough to make a high repu
tation for any other man. Little of these things is remem
bered now. He was above all things— I am tempted to say,
above all men— the foremost American orator in one class.
There is one function of the orator peculiar to our country,
and almost wholly unknown elsewhere. That is the giving
utterance to the emotion of the people, whether of joy or
sorrow, on the occasions when its soul is deeply stirred—
when some great man dies, or there is a great victory or
defeat, or some notable anniversary is celebrated. This
office was filled by other men, on some few occasions by
Daniel Webster himself, but by no man better than by Ever
ett. A Town, or City, or State is very human. In sorrow it
must utter its cry of pain; in victory, its note of triumph.
As events pass, it must pronounce its judgment. Its con
stant purpose must be fixed and made more steadfast by
expression. It must give voice to its love and its approba
tion and its condemnation. It must register the high and
low water mark of its tide, its rising and its sinking in heat
and cold. This office Edward Everett, for nearly fifty years,
performed for Massachusetts and for the whole country.
In his orations is preserved and recorded everything of
the emotion of the great hours of our people 's history. The
camera of his delicate photography has preserved for future
generations what passed in the soul of his own in the times
that tried the souls of men.
I do not know where he got his exquisite elocution. He
went abroad in his youth, and there were good trainers
abroad, then. He must have studied thoroughly the
speeches of Cicero and the Greek orators. Many casual

SOME ORATORS I HAVE HEARD 357
phrases in his works, besides many quotations, show his
familiarity with Cicero's writings on oratory.
If you would get some faint, far-off" conception of him,
first look at the best bust or picture of Everett you can find.
Imagine the figure with its every movement gentle and
graceful. The head and face are suggestive of Greek sculp
ture. This person sits on the platform with every expres
sion discharged from the face, looking like a plaster image
when the artist has just begun his model, before any charac
ter or intelligence has been put into it. You think him the
only person in the audience who takes no interest whatever
in what is going on, and certainly that he expects to have
nothing to do with it himself. He is introduced. He comes
forward quietly and gracefully. There is a slight smile of
recognition of the welcoming applause. The opening sen
tences are spoken in a soft— I had almost said, a caressing
voice, though still a little cold. I suppose it would be called
a tenor voice. There was nothing in the least unmanly
about Edward Everett. Yet if some woman had spoken in
the same tones, you would have not thought them un
womanly. Ilia tanquam eycnea fuit divini hominis vox et oratio.
He has found somewhere in the vast storehouse of his knowl
edge a transaction exactly like the present, or exactly in
contrast with it, or some sentiment of poet or orator which
just fits the present occasion. If it be new to his audience,
he adds to it a newer delight still by his matchless skill as
a narrator— a skill almost the rarest of all talents among
public speakers. If it be commonplace and hackneyed he
makes it fresh and pleasant by giving in detail the circum
stances when it was first uttered, or describes some occasion
when some orator has applied it before; or calls attention
to its very triteness as giving it added authority. If he
wish to express his agreement with the last speaker and
"say ditto to Mr. Burke," he tells you when that was said,
what was the occasion, and gives you the name of Mr.
Kruger, who stood for the representation of Bristol with
Burke.

358 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
Mr. Everett's stores were inexhaustible. If any speaker
have to get ready in a hurry for a great occasion, let him
look through the index of the four volumes of Everett's
speeches, and he will find matter enough, not only to stimu
late his own thought and set its currents running, but to
illustrate and adorn what he will say.
But pretty soon the orator rises into a higher plane. Some
lofty sentiment, some stirring incident, some patriotic emo
tion, some play of fancy or wit comes from the brain or heart
of the speaker. The audience is hushed to silence. Per
haps a little mist begins to gather in their eyes. There is
now an accent of emotion in the voice, though still soft and
gentle. The Greek statue begins to move. There is life in
the limbs. There has been a lamp kindled somewhere behind
the clear and transparent blue eyes. The flexible muscles
of the face have come to life now. Still there is no jar or
disorder. The touch upon the nerves of the audience is
like that of a gentle nurse. The atmosphere is that of a May
morning. There is no perfume but that of roses and lilies.
But still, gently at first, the warmer feelings are kindled in
the hearts of the speaker and hearers. The frame of the
speaker is transfigured. The trembling hands are lifted
high in air. The rich, sweet voice fills the vast audience
chamber with its resonant tones. At last, the bugle, the
trumpet, the imperial clarion rings out full and clear, and
the vast audience is transported as to another world— I had
almost said to a seventh heaven. Read the welcome to
Lafayette or the close of the matchless eulogy on that illus
trious object of the people's love. Read the close of the ora
tion on Washington. Read the contrast of Washington and
Marlborough. Read the beautiful passage where, just be
fore the ocean cable was laid, the rich fancy of the speaker
describes— "The thoughts that we think up here on the earth's sur
face in the cheerful light of day— clothing ourselves with
elemental sparks, and shooting with fiery speed in a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, from hemisphere to hemisphere,
far down among the uncouth monsters that wallow in the
nether seas, along the wreck-paved floor, through the oozy

SOME ORATORS I HAVE HEARD 359
dungeons of the rayless deep; the last intelligence of the
crops, whose dancing tassels will in a few months be coquet
ting with the west wind on those boundless prairies, flashing
along the slimy decks of old sunken galleons, which have
been rotting for ages ; messages of friendship and love, from
warm, living bosoms, burn over the cold green bones of men
and women, whose hearts, once as fond as ours, burst as the
eternal gulfs closed and roared over them, centuries ago."
Read the passage in the eulogy on Choate where he describes
him arming himself in the entire panoply of his gorgeous
rhetoric— and you will get some far-away conception of the
power of this magician.
One thing especially distinguishes our modern orator from
the writer in the closet, where he writes solely for his read
ers, or where he has prepared his speeches beforehand—
that is, the influence of the audience upon him. There is
nothing like it as a stimulant to every faculty, not only imag
ination, and fancy, and reason, but especially, as every expe
rienced speaker knows, memory also. Everything needed
seems to come out from the secret storehouses of the mind,
even the things that have lain there forgotten, rusting and
unused. Mr. Everett describes this in a masterly passage in
his Life of Webster. Gladstone states it in a few fine
sentences :
"The work of the orator, from its very inception," he
says, "is inextricably mixed up with practice. It is cast in
the mould offered to him by the mind of his hearers. It is
an influence principally received from his audience (so to ¦
speak) in vapor, which he pours back upon them in a flood.
The sympathy and concurrence of his time is, with his own
mind, joint parent of his work. He cannot follow nor frame
ideals ; his choice is to be what his age would have him, what
it requires in order to be moved by him, or else not to be
at all."
I heard six of Kossuth's very best speeches. He was a
marvellous orator. He seemed to have mastered the whole
vocabulary of English speech, and to have a rare gift of
choosing words that accurately expressed his meaning, and

360 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
he used so to fashion his sentences that they were melodious
and delightful to the ear. That is one great gift of oratory,
as it is of poetry, or indeed of a good prose style. Why it
is that two words or phrases which mean precisely the same
thing to the intellect, have so different an effect on the emo
tions, no man can tell. To understand it, is to know the
secret not only of reaching the heart, but frequently of con
vincing the understanding of men.
Kossuth made a great many speeches, sometimes five or
six in a day. He could have had no preparation but the few
minutes which he could snatch while waiting for dinner at
some house where he was a guest, or late at night, after a
hard day's work. But his speeches were gems. They were
beautiful in substance and in manner. He was ready for
every occasion. When the speaker who welcomed him at
Roxbury told him that Roxbury contained no historic spot
that would interest a stranger, Kossuth at once answered,
"You forget that it is the birthplace of Warren." When
old Josiah Quincy, then past eighty, said at a Legislative
banquet that he had come to the time— "when the keepers
of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow
themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few,
and those that look out of the windows be darkened, and
they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be
in the way, ' ' Kossuth interrupted him, ' ' Ah ! but that was
of ordinary men. ' '
I was a member of the Legislature when Kossuth visited
Boston. I heard his address to the House and to the Senate,
his reply to the Governor's welcome. I heard him again
at the Legislative banquet in Faneuil Hall, and twice in
Worcester— on the Common in the afternoon, and at the
City Hall in the evening. I shook hands with him and per
haps exchanged a word or two, but of that I have no mem
ory. Afterward I visited him with my wife at Turin in
1892, when he was a few months past ninety. He received
me with great cordiality. I spent two hours with him and
his sister, Madam Ruttkay. They both expressed great
pleasure with the visit, and Madam Ruttkay kissed Mrs.
Hoar affectionately when we took leave. Kossuth's beau-

SOME ORATORS I HAVE HEARD 361
tiful English periods were as beautiful as they were forty
years before, at the time of his famous pilgrimage through
the United States. His whole conversation related to the
destiny of his beloved Hungary. He spoke with great dig
nity of his own share in the public events which affected his
country. There was nothing of arrogance or vanity in his
claim for himself, yet in speaking of Francis Joseph, he
assumed unconsciously the tone of a superior. He main
tained that constitutional liberty could never be permanent
where two countries with separate legislatures were under
one sovereign. He said the sovereign would always be able
to use the military and civil power of one to accomplish his
designs against the liberty of the other. The opinion of
Kossuth on such a question is entitled to the greatest defer
ence. But I incline to the belief that, while undoubtedly
there may be great truth in the opinion, the spirit of liberty
will overcome that danger. Hungary and Hungary's chief
city seem rapidly to be asserting control in their own affairs
and an influence in the Austro-Hungary Empire which no
monarch will be able to withstand, and which it is quite
likely the royal family will not desire to withstand. In these
days monarchs are learning the love of liberty, and I believe
in most cases to-day the reigning sovereigns of Europe are
eager to promote constitutional government, and prefer the
title of Liberator to that of Despot.
I have heard Wendell Phillips speak a great many times.
I do not include him in this notice, because, if I did, I ought
to defend my estimate of him at considerable length, and to
justify it by ample quotation. I think him entitled to the
very highest rank as an orator. I do not estimate his moral
character highly. I think he exerted very little influence on
his generation, and that the influence he did exert was in the
main pernicious. I have had copied everything he said,
from the time he made his first speech, so far as it is found in
the newspapers, and have the volumes in which his speeches
are collected. I never had any occasion to complain of him
on my own account. So far as I know and believe, he had
the kindliest feeling for me until his death, and esteemed my
public service much more highly than it deserved. But he

362 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
bitterly and unjustly attacked men whom I loved and hon
ored under circumstances which make it impossible for me
to believe that his conduct was consistent with common hon
esty. He seemed never to care for the soundness of his
opinion before he uttered it, or for the truth of the fact
before he said it, if only he could produce a rhetorical
effect. He seemed to like to defame men whom the peo
ple loved and honored. Toward the latter part of his
life, he seemed to get desperate. If he failed to make an
impression by argument, he took to invective. If vinegar
would not answer he resorted to cayenne pepper. If that
failed, he tried to throw vitriol in the eyes of the men whom
he hated. His remedy for slavery was to destroy the coun
try, and to leave the slave to the unchecked will of the South.
During Lincoln's great trial, he attacked and vilified him.
At the time when nearly every household in the North was
mourning for its dead, he tried to persuade the people that
Lincoln did not mean to put down the Rebellion. He never
gave the people wise counsel, and rarely told them the honest
truth. He rarely gave his homage to anybody. When he
did, it was to bad men, and not to good men.
There can be no worse influence upon the youth of the
Republic than that which shall induce them to approve sen
timents, not because they are true, but only because they
are eloquently said.

CHAPTER XXXVI
TRUSTS
I HAVE given the best study I could to the grave evil of the
accumulation in this country of vast fortunes in single hands,
or of vast properties in the hands of great corporations—
popularly spoken of as trusts— whose powers are wielded
by one, or a few persons. This is the most important ques
tion before the American people demanding solution in the
immediate future. A great many remedies have been pro
posed, some with sincerity and some, I am afraid, merely for
partisan ends. The difficulty is increased by the fact that
many of the evils caused by trusts, or apprehended from
them, can only be cured by the action of the States, but can
not be reached by Congress, which can only deal with inter
national or interstate commerce. As long ago as 1890 the
people were becoming alarmed about this matter. But the
evil has increased rapidly during the last twelve years. It
is said that one man in this country has acquired a fortune
of more than a thousand million dollars by getting an advan
tage over other producers or dealers in a great necessary of
life in the rates at which the railroads transport his goods to
market. In 1890 a bill was passed which was called the Sherman
Act, for no other reason that I can think of except that Mr.
Sherman had nothing to do with framing it whatever. He
introduced a bill and reported it from the Finance Commit
tee providing that whenever a trust, as it was called, dealt
with an article protected by the tariff, the article should be
put on the free list. This was a crude, imperfect, and unjust
provision. It let in goods made abroad by a foreign trust
to compete with the honest domestic manufacturer. If
there happened to be an industry employing thousands or
363

364 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
hundreds of thousands of workmen, in which thousands of
millions of American capital was invested, and a few per
sons got up a trust— perhaps importers, for the very purpose
of breaking down the American manufacturer— and made
the article to a very small extent, all honest manufacturers
would be deprived of their protection.
Mr. Sherman's bill found little favor with the Senate. It
was referred to the Judiciary Committee of which I was
then a member. I drew as an amendment the present bill
which I presented to the Committee. There was a good deal
of opposition to it in the Committee. Nearly every member
had a plan of his own. But at last the Committee came
to my view and reported the law of 1890. The House dis
agreed to our bill and the matter went to a Conference Com
mittee, of which Mr. Edmunds, the Chairman of the Com
mittee, and I, as the member of the Committee who was
the author of the bill, were members. The House finally
came to our view.
It was expected that the Court, in administering that law,
would confine its operation to cases which are contrary to the
policy of the law, treating the words "agreements in re
straint of trade" as having a technical meaning, such as
they are supposed to have in England. The Supreme Court
of the United States went in this particular farther than was
expected. In one case it held that "the bill comprehended
every scheme that might be devised to restrain trade or com
merce among the several States or with foreign nations."
From this opinion several of the Court, including Mr. Jus
tice Gray, dissented. It has not been carried to its full ex
tent since, and I think will never be held to prohibit the
lawful and harmless combinations which have been per
mitted in this country and in England without complaint,
like contracts of partnership which are usually considered
harmless. We thought it was best to use this general phrase
which, as we thought, had an accepted and well-known mean
ing in the English law, and then after it had been construed
by the Court, and a body of decisions had grown up under
the law, Congress would be able to make such further amend
ments as might be found by experience necessary.

TRUSTS 365
The statute has worked very well indeed, although the
Court by one majority and against the very earnest and
emphatic dissent of some of its greatest lawyers, declined to
give a technical meaning to the phrase "in restraint of
trade." But the operation of the statute has been healthy.
The Attorney-General has recently given an account of suits
in equity by which he has destroyed a good many vast com
binations, including a combination of the six largest meat
packing concerns in the country ; a combination of railroads
which had been restrained from making any rebate or grant
ing any preference whatever to any shipper; and a pooling
arrangement between the Southern railroads which denied
the right of the shippers interested in the cotton product in
the South to prescribe the route over which their goods
should pass. He has also brought a suit in equity to prevent
the operation of a proposed merger of sundry transconti
nental railroads, thereby breaking up a monopoly which
affected the whole freight and passenger traffic of the
Northwest. The publicuneasiness, however, still continued. The matter
was very much discussed in the campaign for electing mem
bers of the House of Representatives in the autumn of 1902.
I made two or three careful speeches on the subject in
Massachusetts, in which I pointed out that the existing law,
in general, was likely to be sufficient. I claimed, however,
further, that Congress had, in my opinion, the power of con
trolling the whole matter, by reason of its right to prescribe
terms on which any corporation, created by State authority
or its own, should engage in interstate or international com
merce. It might provide as a condition for such traffic by
a corporation, that its officers or members should put on file
an obligation to be personally liable for the debts of the con
cern in ease the conditions prescribed by Congress were not
complied with.
The House of Representatives passed a very stringent
bUl known as the Littlefield Bill, which was amended by the
Judiciary Committee, of which I was the Chairman, by add
ing the provisions of a bill which I had, myself, previously
introduced, based on the suggestions above stated.

366 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
But there was a general feeling that the amendments to
the existing law proposed by the Administration were all
that should be made at present. These consisted in provid
ing severe penalties for granting rebates by railroads to
favored shippers; for having suits under the existing law
brought forward for prompt decision, and for giving the
new Department of Commerce large powers for the exami
nation of the conduct of the business of such corporations,
and to compel them to make such returns as should be
thought desirable.
I should have preferred to have the bill I reported brought
forward and discussed in the Senate, although there was
obviously no time, with the pressure of other business, to
get it through. But it was thought best by a majority of
the Republicans not to take it up. Some of them thought it
was likely, if passed, to have a very serious and perhaps
disastrous effect on the country. So far as I know, nobody
in either House of Congress or in the press has pointed out
why such a result would be likely to follow.
On the whole I was very well satisfied. The interests con
cerned are vast. A rash or unskilful remedy might bring
infinite trouble or ruin to lawful business. The work of
restraining the trusts is going on very well under the law of
1890. It is a matter which must be discussed and consid
ered by the American people for a great many years to come,
and the evils from the trusts at present are rather in antici
pation than in reality. So I am very well content, for the
present, with what has been accomplished.

CHAPTER XXXVII
RECOLLECTIONS OF THE WORCESTER BAR
The Worcester Bar, when I came to it, was much like a
class of boys in college. There was rivalry and sharp prac
tice in some cases, and roughness of speech toward each
other and toward witnesses and parties. But in the main,
the lawyers stood by one another and were ready to help
each other in trouble, and the lawyer's best and most trust
worthy friends were his associates. The Judge and the
jurymen, and the lawyers from out of town used to come into
Worcester and stay at the old Sykes or Thomas Tavern,
opposite the court-house, and at another one known as the
United States Hotel, further south. The former was kept
for a good many years by an old fellow named Sykes. He
was a singular-looking person— a large head, stout body,
rather protuberant belly, and short curved legs and very
long arms. He had large heavy eyebrows, a wide mouth
and a curved nose and sallow complexion looking a good deal
like the caricatures of the Jewish countenance in the comic
newspapers. He had two sons who looked very much like
him and seemed about as old as their father. One day the
three were standing in front of his tavern when a country
man came along who undertook to stop with his load at the
front door of the tavern. Sykes was standing there with
his two sons, one on each side of him. He did not like to
have the countryman stop his load in that spot and called out
to him rather roughly, ' ' Move along. ' ' The fellow surveyed
the group for a moment with an amused look and complied
with the order, but shouted out to the old man: "Wal, this
is the fust time I ever saw three Jacks of Spades in one
pack." The Court sat till six o'clock and often far into the eve
ning, and began at half -past eight or nine. So there was no
367

368 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
chance for the country lawyers to go home at night. There
was great fun at these old taverns in the evening and at
meal times. They insisted generally, like Mrs. Battles in
whist, on the rigor of the game, and the lawyer had to look
sharp after his pleadings or he found himself tripped up.
The parties could not be witnesses, nor could any person
interested in the result of the trial. So many a good case,
and many a good defence failed for want of the legal evi
dence to make it out. But the whole Bar and the public
seemed to take an interest in important trials. People came
in from the country round about with their covered wagons,
simply for the pleasure of attending Court and seeing the
champions contend with each other. The lawyers who were
not engaged in the case were always ready to help those who
were with advice and suggestion. It used to be expected
that members of the Bar would be in the court-house hearing
the trials even if they were not engaged in them. That was
always an excuse for being absent from the office, and their
clients sought them at the court-house for consultation. I
cannot but think that the listening to the trial and argument
of causes by skilful advocates was a better law school than
any we have now, and that our young men, especially in the
large cities, fail to become good advocates and to learn the
art of putting in a case, and of examining and cross-exam
ining witnesses, for want of a constant and faithful attend
ance on the courts.
In those old times, our old lawyers, if Charles Lamb had
known them and should paint them, would make a set of
portraits as interesting as his old Benchers of the Inner Tem
ple. Old Calvin Willard, many years sheriff of Worcester,
would have delighted Elia. He did not keep the wig or the
queue or the small-clothes of our great-grandfathers, but
he had their formal and ceremonial manners in perfection.
It was like a great State ceremonial to meet him and shake
hands with him. He paused for a moment, surveyed you
carefully to be sure of the person, took a little time for
reflection to be sure there was nothing in the act to com
promise his dignity, and then slowly held out his hand. But
the grasp was a warm one, and the ceremony and the hand-

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE WORCESTER BAR 369
shake conveyed his cordial respect and warmth of regard.
He always reminded me of the Englishman in Crabbe's
"Tales" who, I think, may have been his kinsman.
The wish that Roman necks in one were found
That he who formed the wish might deal the wound,
This man had never heard. But of the kind
Is the desire which rises in his mind.
He'd have all English hands, for further he
Cannot conceive extends our charity.
All but his own, in one right hand to grow;
And then what hearty shake would he bestow.
Mr. Willard was once counsel before a magistrate in a
case in which he took much interest. A rough, coarse coun
try lawyer was on the other side. When Willard stated
some legal proposition, his adversary said : "I will bet you
five dollars that ain't law." "Sir," said Mr. Willard,
drawing himself up to his full height, with the great sol
emnity of tone of which he was master: "Sir, I do not
permit myself to make the laws of my country the subject
of abet."
Another of the old characters who came down to my time
from the older generation was Samuel M. Burnside. He
was a man of considerable wealth and lived in a generous
fashion, dispensing an ample hospitality at his handsome
mansion, still standing in Worcester. He was a good black-
letter lawyer, though without much gift of influencing juries
or arguing questions of law to the Court. He was a good
Latin scholar, very fond of Horace and Virgil, and used to
be on the committees to examine the students at Harvard,
rather disturbing the boys with his somewhat pedantic ques
tioning. He was very nearsighted, and, it is said, once
seized the tail of a cow which passed near him in the street
and hurried forward, supposing some woman had gone by
and said, "Madam, you are dropping your tippet."
One of the most interesting characters among the elders
of the Worcester Bar was old Rejoice Newton. He was a
man of excellent judgment, wisdom, integrity and law
learning enough to make him a safe guide to his clients in
24

370 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
their important transactions. He was a most prosaic per
son, without sentiment, without much knowledge of litera
ture, and absolutely without humor. He was born in North-
field near the banks of the Connecticut River and preserved
to the time of his death his love of rural scenes and of farm
ing. He had an excellent farm a mile or two out of town,
where he spent all the time he could get from his profes
sional duties. He was associated with Chief Justice Shaw
in some important cases, and always thought that it was due
to his recommendation that Governor Lincoln appointed the
Chief Justice— a suggestion which Governor Lincoln used
to repel with great indignation. The Governor was also a
good farmer, especially proud of his cattle. Each of them
liked to brag of their crops and especially of the products
of their respective dairies. Governor Lincoln was once dis
coursing to Devens and me, in our office, of a wonderful cow
of his which, beside raising an enormous calf, had produced
the cream for a great quantity of butter. Mr. Devens said:
"Why, that beats Major Nevrton's cow, that gave for months
at a time some fifteen or eighteen quarts at a milking."
"If Brother Newton hears of my cow," said Governor Lin
coln, "he will at once double the number of quarts." The
old Major was quite fond of telling stories, of which the
strong points were not apt to suffer in his narration. One
Fourth of July, when he had got to be an old man, he came
down street and met a brother member of the Bar, who took
him up into the room of the Worcester Light Infantry, a
Company of which the Major's deceased son had long ago
been the Captain. The members of the Company were spend
ing the Fourth with a bowl of punch and other refreshments.
The Major was introduced and was received with great cor
diality, and my friend left him there. The next day my
friend was going down street and met the Captain of the
Light Infantry, who said: "That was a very remarkable
old gentleman you brought into our room yesterday. He
stayed there all the forenoon, drinking punch and telling
stories. He distinctly remembered Geneial Washington.
He went home to dinner, came back after dinner, drank some
more punch, and remembered Christopher Columbus."

RECOLLECTIONS OP THE WORCESTER BAR 371
The old Major was once addressing the Supreme Court
and maintained a doctrine which did not commend itself to
Chief Justice Shaw. The Chief Justice interposed:
"Brother Newton, what is the use of arguing that? We
have held otherwise in such a case (citing it) and again and
again since." The Major paused, drew his spectacles slowly
off his nose, and said to the Court with great seriousness:
"May it please your Honors, I have a great respect for the
opinions of this Court, except in some very gross cases. ' '
A man by the name of Lysander Spooner, whose misfor
tune it was to be a good deal in advance of his age, the
author of a very clever pamphlet maintaining the uncon
stitutionality of slavery, also published some papers attack
ing the authenticity of the Christian miracles. In these
days of Bob IngersoU such views would be met with entire
toleration, but they shocked Major Newton exceedingly, as
they did most persons of his time. Spooner studied for the
Bar and applied to be admitted. He was able to pass an
examination. But the Major, as amicus curice, addressed
the Court and insisted that Spooner was not a man of proper
character, and affirmed in support of his assertion that he
was the author of some blasphemous attacks on Christian
ity. The result was that Spooner 's application was denied.
The Court adjourned for dinner. It was the day of the
calling of the docket, and just before the Judge came in in
the afternoon, the whole Bar of Worcester County were as
sembled, filling the room. The Major sat in a seat near
one of the doors. He had dined pretty heavily, the day
was hot and the Major was sleepy. He tipped back a little
in his chair, his head fell back between his shoulders and
his mouth opened, with his nose pointed toward the zenith.
Just then Spooner came in. As he passed by the Major,
the temptation was irresistible. He seized the venerable
nose of the old patriarch between his thumb and finger, and
gave it a vigorous twist. The Major was awakened and
sprang to his feet, and in a moment realized what had hap
pened. He was, as may be well supposed, intensely indig
nant. No Major in the militia could submit to such an in
sult. He seized his chair and hurled it at the head of the

372 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
offender, but missed, and the bystanders interposed before
he was able to inflict the deserved punishment.
The Major lived to a good old age. His mental faculties
became somewhat impaired before he died. He had great
respect for his excellent son-in-law, Colonel Wetherell, who
was on Governor Andrew's staff during the War, and
thought that anything which ought to be accomplished could
be accomplished by the influence of the Colonel. Somebody
told him during the hardest part of the war that we ought
to bend all our energies to the capture of Richmond. If
Richmond were to fall the rebellion would be easily put
down. "You are quite right, sir," said the Major. "It
ought to be done, and I will speak to Colonel Wetherell
about it." But everybody who knew the worthy Major, un
less it were some offender against justice, or some person
against whose wrong-doing he had been the shield and
protector to a client, liked the kindly, honest and sturdy old
man. He was District Attorney for the district which in
cluded Worcester County— an office then and ever since held
by admirable lawyers. He prided himself on the fact that
he never drew an indictment which was not sustained by
the Court, if it were questioned. He liked to recite his old
triumphs. He especially plumed himself on his sagacity in
dealing with one case which came before him. A complaint
was made of a book well knovsm at that time, the memoirs
of a dissolute woman, which was full of indecency, but in
which there could not be found a single separate indecent
sentence or word. The Major was at a loss for some time
what to do in indicting it. If he set forth the whole book,
it would give it an immortality on the records of the court
which perhaps would be worse for the public morals than
the original publication. Finally he averred in the indict
ment that the defendant had published a book so indecent
that it was unfit to be spread on the records of the court.
The question went up to the Supreme Court and the indict
ment was held good. It was difficult for the Court or the
jury to find that such a book was fit to be spread on the
records of the Court, and the Major secured his victory and
convicted his criminal.

RECOLLECTIONS OP THE WORCESTER BAR 373
One of the bright young lawyers who came to the Bar a
few years after I did, was Appleton Dadmun. He died of
consumption after a brief but very successful career. He
was the very type and embodiment of the Yankee country
man in his excellencies and his defects and in his fashion
of speech and behavior. He was a graduate of Amherst
College. The only evidence I ever discovered of his class
ical education was his habit of using the Greek double nega
tive in ordinary English speech. He used to employ me
almost always as senior when he had a case to argue to a
jury, or an important law argument in Court. He would
put off the engagement until just as the case was coming on.
He used to intend to try his cases himself. But his heart,
at the last moment, would fail him. He was as anxious
about his clients' causes as if they were his own. He was
exceedingly negligent about his pleadings and negligent in
the matter of being prepared with the necessary formal
proofs of facts which were really not doubtful but which
were put in issue by the pleadings. When I was retained
my first duty was to prepare an amendment of the declara
tion or the answer or plea, or, perhaps, to see whether he had
got the attesting witness to prove some signature. But when
we had got past all that I used to find that he had prepared
his evidence with reference to what was the pinch of the
case and what was likely to be finally the doubtful point in
the mind of court or jury with infinite sagacity and skill.
I have rarely known a better judge of the effect of evidence
on the mind of ordinary juries. He took his clients into his
affection as if they had been his own brethren or children,
and seemed always to hate to be compelled to make any
charge for his services, however successful.
He had a pleasant wit. On one occasion a member of the
bar named Holbrook, who was not a bad fellow, but had, like
the rest of the world, some peccadilloes to repent of, came
into the Court-house one morning just as the Court was
coming in where the lawyers were gathered. Much excited,
he said he was riding into Worcester in a chaise from the
neighboring town where he spent his nights in the summer.
His horse had run away and tore at a terrible rate down

374 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
Main Street, swinging the chaise from one side to the other
as he ran, and breaking some part of the harness and per
haps one of the shafts. But at last he had contrived to
crawl out through the window behind in the chaise top and
hold on to the cross-bar. Letting himself down just as the
chaise had got to the extremity of its sway from one side
to another, he let go and escaped without injury. But, he
said, it was a terrible five minutes. Every action of his life
seemed to rush through his memory with the swiftness of
a torrent. "You ought to have very heavy damages, sir,"
said Mr. Dadmun.
Another of the brightest of the young lawyers when I
came to the Bar was H. He had, however, had rather an
unfortunate introduction to life. His father, who was a
very wealthy and prosperous manufacturer, sent him to Yale
College and supplied him liberally with money, not only for
his support, but for the indulgence of every extravagant
taste. Beside spending what his father allowed him, he
incurred a good many debts, expecting to find no diffi
culty in their payment. His father failed in business with
a great crash about the end of his junior year and died sud
denly. He kept on, however, on credit, until he graduated,
and then came out with a heavy load of debt, and no re
sources for studying his profession. He got through, how
ever, by dint of plausible manners. He was a very honest
fellow in all other respects, but he got the habit of incurring
debts which he could not pay. Then he took to drinking
hard, and finally went to New York, and died after a career
of dissipation. But everybody liked him. Drunk or sober,
he was the best company in the world, full of anecdote fla
vored with a shrewd and not ill-natured wit. There was a
manufacturer in a village near Worcester who had failed in
business owing large debts all about. He was a man of
enormous bulk, the fattest man in the whole region round
about, weighing considerably over three hundred. He left
the State to avoid his creditors, and dwelt in New York,
keeping himself out of their reach. At last it was dis
covered by a creditor that he used to come to Worcester in
the train which arrived from New York on the Western

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE WORCESTER BAR 375
Railroad shortly before midnight Saturday, go over to
his old home, which was not far off, stay there Sunday,
when he was exempt from arrest, and take the cars Sunday
night at about the same hour for New York. Accordingly
old Jonathan Day, a veteran deputy-sheriff, armed with an
execution, lay in wait for him one dark and stormy Saturday
night at the little old wooden depot of the Western Railroad,
some hundred or two feet from Grafton Street. The train
came in, and the debtor got out. The old General laid his
hands on him, and told him he was his prisoner. He pro
tested and demurred and begged, making all manner of
promises to pay the debt if the officer would not take him to
jail. But Day was inexorable. Meantime the train had
gone on, and the keeper of the depot had put out the lights
and gone off. There was nobody left in the darkness but
the officer and the debtor. "Well," said the fellow, "if
you are going to take me to jail you must carry me. I won't
walk." So he sat himself down on the platform. Day
tried to persuade him to walk, and then tugged and tugged
at his collar, but without the slightest effect. He might as
well have tried to move a mountain. He waited in a good
deal of perplexity, and at last he heard the rattle of wheels
on Grafton Street, and gave a loud yell for assistance. The
owner of the wagon come to the scene. General Day de
manded his help as one of the posse comitatus. But it was
as hard for the two to move the obstruction as it had been
for the old General alone. So the General put the debtor in
charge of his new recruit, and went off up street to see
what counsel he could get in the matter. All the lights in
the lawyers' offices and places of business were out except a
solitary gleam which came from the office of my friend H.
He was sitting up alone, soaking himself with the contents
of a bottle of brandy. General Day found him sitting there
and stated his' case. My friend heard it through, took it
into consideration, and took down and consulted the Re
vised Statutes and the Digest. At last he shook his head
with an air of drunken gravity and said: "I don't find any
express provision anywhere for such a case. So I think we
must be governed by the rule of law for the case nearest

376 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
like it we can find. That seems to be the case of the attach
ment of personal property, such as lumber, which is too
bulky to be removed. My advice to you is to put a placard
on him saying he is attached, and go off and leave him till
Monday morning."
Wlien I was a young man, one summer a few years after
my admission to the Bar, I took a journey on foot with Hor
ace Gray through Berkshire County. We started from
Greenfield and walked over the Hoosac Mountain to Adams
and Williamstown, then over the old road to Pittsfield, then
to Stockbridge, Great Barrington, and the summit of Mt.
Washington, now better known as Mt. Everett or Taghconic ;
thence to Bashpish Falls in New York, and to the Salisbury
Lakes in Connecticut. We visited many interesting places
and enjoyed what has always seemed to me the most beau
tiful scenery on earth.
There were one or two quite ludicrous adventures. I
went alone to the top of Bald Mountain in Lenox one day.
Gray had been there and preferred to visit a neighboring
hilltop. As I approached the summit, which was a bare
pasture, I came upon a powerful bull with a herd of cattle
near him. He began to bellow and paw the ground and
move toward me in angry fashion. There was no chance
for any place of refuge which I could hope to gain. I looked
around for some rock or instrument of defence. It was, I
think, the most imminent danger to which I have ever been
exposed. I was calculating my capacity for dodging the
creature when suddenly a sound like a small clap of thunder
was heard. The rest of the herd, which seemed quite wild,
seeing the approach of a stranger, had taken alarm and
started off down the hillside on a full run, their rushing
and trampling causing the earth to reverberate beneath their
tread and produce the sound of which I have just spoken.
The old bull hearing the sound and seeing his companions
departing concluded he would follow their example. He
turned tail too, and retreated down the mountain side, much
to my relief.
On our walk through Lanesboro we stopped at a plain
country tavern to get lunch. There were several codgers

RECOLLECTIONS OP THE WORCESTER BAR 377
such as in those days used to haunt country bar-rooms about
eleven o'clock in the morning and four o'clock in the after
noon. Sitting in an old wooden chair tilted back against
the wall of the room was one of them curled up with his
knees sticking up higher than his head. He looked at
Gray's stately proportions and called out: "How tall be
you?" Gray, who was always rather careful of his dig
nity, made some brief answer not intended to encourage
familiarity. But the fellow persisted: "I would like to
measure with you." Gray concluded it was best to enter
into the humor of the occasion. So he stood up against the
wall. The other man proceeded to draw himself up out of
the chair, and unroll, and unroll, and unroll until at last his
gigantic stature reached up almost as high as Gray's. But
he fell short a little. I learned, later, that it was a man
named Shaw who afterward became famous as a writer and
humorist under the pseudonym of Josh Billings. He was
the son of Henry Shaw, formerly of Lanesboro ; at that time
a millionaire dwelling in New York, and known to fame as
one of the two Massachusetts Representatives who voted for
the Missouri Compromise in 1820. Henry Shaw was, I be
lieve, a native of Lanesboro, and had represented the Berk
shire district in Congress.
The person whom the Worcester lawyers of this time
like best to remember was Peter C. Bacon. He was the
Dominie Sampson of the Worcester Bar. I suppose he was
the most learned man we ever had in Worcester, and prob
ably, in Massachusetts. He was simple and guileless as a
child; of a most inflexible honesty, devoted to the interest
of his clients, and an enthusiastic lover of the science of the
law. When, in rare cases, he thoroughly believed in the
righteousness of his case, he was irresistible. But in gen
eral he was full of doubts and hesitation. He was, until
he was compelled to make his arguments more compact by
the rules of court limiting the time of arguments, rather
tedious. He liked to go out into side-paths and to discourse
of matters not material to the issue but suggested to him as
he went along. He had a curious fashion of using the an
cient nomenclature of the Common Law where it had passed

378 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
out of the knowledge even of most lawyers and the compre
hension of common men. He would begin his appeal to the
jury in some case where a fraud had been attempted on his
client, by saying, "Gentlemen, the law abhorreth covin."
He was a lawyer everywhere. His world was the Court
house and his office. I met him in the street, of a Sunday
noon, one summer and said to him, "Why, Brother Bacon,
you must have had a long sermon to-day."
"Oh," Mr. Bacon said, "I stayed to the Sunday-school.
I have a class of young girls. It's very interesting. I've
got 'em as far as the Roman Civil Law."
Mr. Bacon could seldom be made angry by any incivility
to himself. But he resented any attempt to deprive a client,
however much of a ne'er-do-well he might be, of all the
rights and forms of a legal trial. He was also much dis
turbed if any lawyer opposed to him misstated a principle
of law, who ought, in his judgment, to know better. I was
once trying a case against him and his partner. Judge Aid-
rich, where General Devens was my associate. Devens was
summing up the case, and complaining of the conduct of
some parties interested in the estate of a deceased person.
One of them was a son of a deceased niece. There being
no children, under our law, the nephews and nieces inherit,
but not the children of deceased nephews or nieces, when
there are living nephews or nieces. General Devens, not
having in his mind the legal provision at the moment, said
to the jury: "The sound of the earth on the coffin of the
old lady had scarcely ceased when one of these heirs hur
ried to the probate office to get administration. ' ' Mr. Bacon
rose and interrupted him with great emotion. "He is not
an heir."
"I said," Mr. Devens repeated, "one of these heirs, Mr.
A. F."
Bacon burst into tears and said again, with a broken voice :
"He is not an heir, I say, he is not an heir."
I saw the point and whispered to Devens: "An assumed
heir. ' '
"Very well," Devens said, "an assumed heir, if my
friend likes it better." Bacon replied with a "Humph"

RECOLLECTIONS OP THE WORCESTER BAR 379
of contentment and satisfaction, and the matter subsided.
As I was walking home from the court-house with Mr. Bacon
afterward I expressed my regret at the occurrence and told
him that General Devens had the greatest respect for him.
Mr. Bacon replied: "He had no business to say it. Aid-
rich told me to tell him he had not read the 'Revised Stat
utes.' But I would not say such a thing as that, sir, about
any man. ' '
But Brother Bacon had the kindest of hearts. It was im
possible for him to bear malice or retain resentment against
anybody. When I was a youngster I was once in a case
where Bacon was on the other side. Charles Allen was my
associate. It was a case which excited great public feeling.
There were throngs of witnesses. It was tried in the midst
of the terrific heats of one of the hottest summers ever
known in Worcester. Allen, who had a power of stinging
sarcasm which he much delighted to use, kept Bacon nervous
and angry through the whole trial. At last, one afternoon.
Bacon lost his patience. When the Court adjourned, he
stood up on a little fiight of steps on the outside of the Court
house and addressed the crowd, who were going out. He
said: "Charles Allen has abused me all through this trial.
He is always abusing me. He has abused me ever since I
came to this Bar. I have said it before and I will say it
again— /le is a curious kind of a man." This utterance
relieved Brother Bacon's wounded feelings and he never
probably thought of the matter again.
One of the great events in Bacon's life was his receiving
the degree of Doctor of Laws from Brown University, where
he was graduated. This gave infinite satisfaction to his
brethren of the Bar, who were all very fond of him. It was
at once proposed, after the old Yankee fashion in the coun
try when a man got a new hat or a new suit of clothes, that
we should all go down to T.'s to "wet" it. T. was the
proprietor of a house a few miles from Worcester, famous
for cooking game and trout in the season, and not famous
for a strict observance of the laws against the sale of liquor.
There was a good deal of feeling about that among the tem
perance people of the town, although it was a most excellent.

380 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
properly kept house in all other respects. But the prejudice
against it of the strict teetotalers had occasioned some en
tirely unfounded scandal about its management in other
matters. Mr. Bacon, when invited by the Bar to go as a
guest, accepted the invitation, but stipulated that he should
have provided for him a pint bottle of English ale. He said
he was opposed, on principle, to drinking intoxicating li
quors, but his doctors had ordered that he should drink a pint
of ale every day with his dinner. That was provided. The
Bar sat down to dinner at an early hour and the fun and
frolic were kept up far into the small hours of the night.
Brother Bacon was the subject of every speech and of every
toast. He seemed to think it was necessary for him to reply
to every speaker and toast. So he was kept on his legs a
great part of the night. As he sipped his modest tumbler
of ale, Brother Dewey, who sat next to him, would replenish
it, when Mr. Bacon was not looking, from a bottle of cham
pagne. So at least two quart bottles of champagne were
passed into the unsuspecting Brother Bacon through
that single pint of beer. When we broke up, the host
came to ask us how we had enjoyed ourselves, and Mr.
Bacon told him he would like to know where he got that
English ale, which he thought was the best he had ever
tasted in his life. It is the only instance that I know of in
modern times of the repetition of the miracle of the widow's
cruse. Judge Thomas, then holding the Supreme Court at Wor
cester, wanted very much indeed to go down with the Bar,
but he thought it would not quite do. The next morning
Mr. Bacon had to try a libel for adultery between two par
ties living in the town where the Bar had had their supper.
He had had no chance to see his witnesses, who got into
town just as the Court opened. So he had to put them on
and examine them at a venture. The first one he called was
a grave-looking citizen. Mr. Bacon asked him a good many
questions, but could get no answer which tended to help his
case, and at last he said, with some impatience : ' ' Mr. Wit
ness, can you tell me any single fact which tends to show
that this man has committed adultery?"

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE WORCESTER BAR 381
"Well, all I know about it, Squire Bacon," replied the
witness, "is that he's been seen at Charlie T.'s"— the inn
where Bacon had had his supper the night before. There
was an immense roar of laughter from the Bar, led by Judge
Thomas, the ring of whose laugh could have been heard
half way across the square.
Brother Bacon, though a modest and most kindly man,
used to think he had a monopoly of the abstruser knowledge
in regard to real property and real actions. It used some
times to provoke him when he found a competent antagonist
in cases involving such questions. There was a suit in
which Bacon was for the demandant where a creditor had
undertaken to levy an execution on property standing in a
wife's name but claimed to have been conveyed to her in
trust for the husband on consideration paid by him. In such
cases, under the Massachusetts law, the land may be levied
upon as the property of the debtor, notwithstanding the
ostensible title is in another. The wife contested the facts.
But after the bringing of the suit, the wife died, and the
husband by her death became tenant by the courtesy. Of
course his title as tenant by the courtesy was unaffected by
the previous levy, and his wife 's right to contest the demand
devolved upon him. The husband and wife had both been
made parties defendant to the suit under the Massachusetts
practice. It would not do to let the creditor get judgment.
Under the advice of Mr. Nelson, afterward Judge, one of the
most learned and careful lawyers, the defendant pleaded a
special non-tenure, and the case was reported to the full
bench of the Supreme Court, where Mr. Bacon was em
ployed for the plaintiff. The report inaccurately said that
the defendant filed a disclaimer. Mr. Bacon made a very
learned argument to show that upon the facts the disclaimer
could not be supported, and was going on swimmingly, un
der full sail. Mr. Bacon said in his argument: "If he had
pleaded non-tenure, I admit, your Honors, he would have
been pretty well off. ' ' Whereupon Judge Hoar sent for the
original papers, and looking at them read the plea, and said :
"Isn't that a plea of non-tenure?" Mr. Bacon was obliged
to admit that it was. The Chief Justice said: "Well, then,

382 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
the tenant is in the condition which you describe as being
pretty well off, isn't he. Brother Bacon?" Bacon answered
with an angry and impatient ' ' Humph. ' ' The Chief Justice
said: "Are there any other objections to the plea, Brother
Bacon?" "More than forty, your Honor," replied Bacon
indignantly, "which I would state to you at a proper time."
The Chief Justice said that that seemed to be the proper
time. But Mr. Bacon sat down in high dudgeon, without
further remark.
He was the kindliest of men, both to man and beast. I
once was at a country tavern where Bacon and I were to
dine. It was about the time of the session of the Supreme
Court. I was sitting on the veranda of the hotel waiting
for dinner to be ready, in the summer afternoon. Mr. Ba
con took a little walk, and as he came along and was passing
the porch, a puppy ran after him, came up behind, and
seized his pantaloons in his teeth, making quite a rent in
them. Bacon looked round and saw the mischief, and shook
his finger at the poor dog. I am sure he had no idea that
anybody of the human species was within hearing. The
animal crouched down in great terror, expecting a beating.
Mr. Bacon paused a moment with his uplifted finger, and
addressed the cur. "Why do you try to bite me? Why do
you tear my pantaloons? Do you think I can go through
the Supreme Court without pantaloons?" With that he
left the poor dog to the reproaches of his own conscience
and took no further notice of the transaction.
I ought perhaps, as I have told this story at Brother
Bacon's expense, to tell one at my own where he came out
decidedly ahead. We were opposed in a real estate case
where the other evidence of the title was pretty strong
Bacon's way, but the ancient bounds seemed to agree with
my client's theory. I addressed the jury with all the earn
estness in my power in favor of the importance of main
taining the ancient landmarks, quoting the curse of the
Scripture on him that removed them, and endeavored to
make them see how much of the safety and security of prop
erty depended on sticking to them in spite of any amount
of fallible human testimony. I thought I had made a good

RECOLLECTIONS OP THE WORCESTER BAR 383
impression. When Brother Bacon came to reply, he told
the jury about the Roman god Terminus who watched over
boundaries, and after quite an eloquent description, he told
the jury : "Brother Hoar always seems to me when he makes
this argument, which I have heard a good many times be
fore, to think he is the god Terminus, and that the protection
of all our modern landmarks is his exclusive province."
The jury were very much amused. I have forgotten how
the case was decided. But I should doubtless remember if
it had been decided in my favor.
Quite late in life some of Mr. Bacon's clients, seeing that
he was out of health, and grateful for his long, faithful and
poorly paid service, made an arrangement to send him on a
journey to Europe. He was gone a little more than a year,
visiting England, France, Italy and Spain, and returning
with new vigor for another ten years of hard work. His
interest in Europe had come chiefly from the literature
which he had read in his younger days. He was not very
familiar with much English prose or poetry later than the
time of Addison. In one of his first letters in London he
announced with great satisfaction, "I have a room not far
from the celebrated Westminster Abbey mentioned in the
Spectator." But Brother Bacon ought not to be remembered alone, or
chiefly, for his eccentricities. He was a profound, accurate
and able jurist. The great interests of clients were safe
with him. To him the profession of the lawyer was a sacred
office. I never think of him without recalling Cicero 's beau
tiful description in the "De Oratore" of the old age of the
great lawyer:
Quid est enim prseclarius quam honoribus et reipublicse
muneribus perfunctum senem posse suo jure dicere id quod
apud Enium dicit ille Pythias Apollo, se esse eum, unde
sibi, si non populi et reges, at omnes sui cives consilium
expetant ; suarum rerum incerti quos ego ope mea ex
incertis certos compotesque eonsili dimitto
ut ne res temere tractent turbidas.

384 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
Est enim sine dubio domus jurisconsulti totius oraculum
civitatis. Mr. Bacon lived to celebrate his golden wedding, and
ended a stainless and honored life in a ripe old age, mourned
by the whole community, of which he had been a pillar and
an ornament. His portrait hangs in the Court House where
he would have loved best to be remembered.
In my early days at the Worcester Bar there were a good
many bright men, young and old, who had their offices in
the country towns, but who tried a good many cases before
juries. All the courts for the county in those days were
held in Worcester. Among these country lawyers was old
Nat Wood of Fitchburg, now a fine city; then a thriving
country town. Mr. Wood had a great gift of story-telling,
and he understood very well the character and ways of coun
try farmers. He used to come down from Fitchburg at the
beginning of the week, stop at the old Sykes Tavern where
the jurymen and witnesses put up, spend the evening in the
bar-room getting acquainted with the jurymen and telling
them stories. So when he had a case to try, he was apt to
have a very friendly tribunal. His enemies used to say
that he always contrived to sleep with one juryman himself,
and have his client sleep with another, when he had a case
coming on. He was quite irritable and hasty, and would
sometimes break out with great indignation at some fancied
impropriety of the other side, without fully understanding
what was going on. I was once examining a witness who
had led rather a roving and vagabond life. I asked him
where he had lived and he named seven different towns in
each of which he had dwelt within a very short time. I
observed: "Seven mighty cities claimed great Homer
dead. ' ' Wood instantly sprang to his feet with great indig
nation. "Brother Hoar, I wish you would not put words
into the witness's mouth."
Wood was a native of Sterling, a thinly settled country
town near the foot of Mount Wachusett. The people of that
town were nearly equally divided between the Unitarian and
Universalist congregations. Each had its meeting house
fronting on the public common or Green, as it was called.

RECOLLECTIONS OP THE WORCESTER BAR 385
In the summer the farmers would come to meeting from dis
tant parts of the town, bringing luncheon with them; have
a short intermission after the morning service, and then
have a second service in the afternoon. During the recess,
in pleasant summer weather, the men of the two congrega
tions would gather together on the Green, discussing the
news of the town, and very often getting into theological
controversies. In the winter, they gathered in the tavern
or post-office in the same way. There was one Universalist
champion who told the gathering that he would make any
man admit the truth of Universalism in five minutes. He
was a well known and doughty champion, and the Unita
rians were rather loth to tackle him. But, one Sunday,
Lawyer Wood came home to spend the day at his birthplace,
and the Unitarians thought it was a good chance to encoun
ter the Universalist champion. So they accepted his chal
lenge and put Wood forward to meet him.
The Universalist theologian began: "You'll admit there
is a God?"
"No, I'll be damned if I do," replied Wood.
The fellow was completely non-plussed. He had got to
take up his five minutes in compelling Wood to admit the
existence of a Creator. So he was obliged to retire from
the field discomfited.
Another of our leaders at the Bar was Henry Chapin. He
had made his way from a rather humble place in life to be
one of the leaders of a very able Bar, Mayor of Worcester,
and to hold a place of large influence in the various busi
ness, social, charitable and religious activities of the com
munity. He was not specially learned, specially profound
or specially eloquent. But he had a rare gift of seizing
upon the thought which was uppermost in the minds of ex
cellent and sensible men, country farmers, skilled workmen
in the shops, business men, expressing it in a clear and vig
orous way, always agreeing with the best sentiment of the
people. This, with an unfailing courtesy and pleasant hu
mor and integrity of character and life gave him great popu
larity. He was exceedingly happy in short speeches at din
ners or at political meetings. He had a fund of entertaining
25

386 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
anecdote which never seemed to fail. He was very careful
not to seem dogmatic, or to assert himself too strongly. He
would put forward his opinion with saying, "It strikes my
mind," or "It has occurred to me," or "I thought perhaps
it was possible," or "It is my impression." I remember
once protesting before old Judge Byington against some
objection which the counsel on the other side had made to a
witness testifying to his impressions. I told the Judge that
Brother Chapin never in his life stated anything more
strongly. If you asked him if he were married, he would
say it was his impression he was. The Judge said: "Well,
we have a lawyer in Berkshire County who has the same
habit. Only if you ask him if he is married it is his im
pression he isn't."
It is said that when he went to see the Siamese Twins, he
observed to the exhibitor, "Brothers, I suppose." But I
believe that story had been told before of one of the Royal
Dukes. Mr. Chapin was nominated by the Republicans for Con
gress and accepted and would have had a useful and dis
tinguished public life. But he became alarmed by the oppo
sition of the Know-Nothings and withdrew from the can
vass much to the dissatisfaction of his political friends.
That ended his political aspirations. But he was soon after
appointed to the more congenial office of Judge of Probate,
which he discharged to great public satisfaction until his
lamented death.

CHAPTER XXXVIII
SOME JUDGES I HAVE KNOWN
Unquestionably the most important character in the legal
history of Massachusetts is Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw.
He was a great lawyer before he came to the Bench. He
had written one or two very able articles for the North
American Review, one of them a vigorous statement of the
opinion of Massachusetts upon slavery. He was the author
of a petition signed by many of the leading men of Massa
chusetts in opposition to the high tariff of 1828. No more
powerful statement of the argument against high protection
can be found. I have been surprised that the modern free
traders have not long ago discovered it, and brought it to
light. He was one of the managers of the impeachment of
Judge Prescott, securing a conviction against a powerful
array of counsel for the defendant, which included Daniel
Webster. He was consulted in difficult and important mat
ters by eminent counsel in other counties than Suffolk.
But all these titles to distinction have been forgotten in
his great service as Chief Justice of Massachusetts for thirty
years. No other judicial fame in this country can rival his,
with the single exception of Marshall. He was induced to
undertake the office of Chief Justice very reluctantly, by
the strong personal urgency of Mr. Webster. Mr. Webster
used to give a humorous account of the difficulty he had in
overcoming the morbid scruples of the great simple-hearted
intellectual giant. He found Mr. Shaw in his office in a
cloud of tobacco-smoke. Mr. Webster did not himself
smoke, and was at some disadvantage during the interview
for that reason.
Mr. Shaw was rather short in stature and, in the latter
part of his life, somewhat corpulent. He had a massive
387

388 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
head, a low forehead, and strong and rather coarse features.
He reminded you of the statues of Gog and Magog in the
Guildhall in London. His hair came down over his fore
head, and when he had been away from home for a week
or two, so that his head got no combing but his own, it was
in a sadly tangled mass. His eye was dull, except when it
kindled in discussion, or when he was stirred to some utter
ance of grave displeasure.
There is an anecdote of Mr. Choate which occasionally
goes the rounds of the papers, and which is often repeated
quite inaccurately. The true version is this. I heard it
within a few hours after it happened, and have heard it at
first hand more than once since.
Mr. Choate was sitting next to Judge Hoar in the bar
when the Chief Justice was presiding, and the Suffolk
docket was being called. The Chief Justice said something
which led Mr. Choate to make a half -humorous and half-
displeased remark about Shaw 's roughness of look and man
ner, to which Judge Lloar replied: "After all, I feel a
reverence for the old Chief Justice."
"A reverence for him, my dear fellow?" said Choate.
"So do I. I bow down to him as the wild Indian does
before his wooden idol. I know he's ugly; but I bow to a
superior intelligence. ' '
Judge Shaw's mind moved very slowly. When a case
was argued, it took him a good while to get the statement
of facts into his mind. It was hard for him to deal readily
with unimportant matters, or with things which, to other
people, were matters of course. If the simplest motion were
made, he had to unlimber the heavy artillery of his mind,
go down to the roots of the question, consider the matter in
all possible relations, and deal with it as if he were besieg
ing a fortress. When he was intent upon a subject, he was
exceedingly impatient of anything that interrupted the cur
rent of his thought. So he was a hard person for young
advocates, or for any other unless he were strong, self-pos
sessed, and had the respect of the Judge. My old friend
and partner. Judge Washburn, once told me that he dreaded
the Law term of the Court as it approached, and sometimes

SOME JUDGES I HAVE KNOWN 389
felt that he would rather lay his head down on the rail, and
let a train of cars pass over it, than argue a case before
Shaw. The old man was probably unconscious of this fail
ing. He had the kindest heart in the world, was extremely
fond of little children and beautiful young women, and espe
cially desirous to care for the rights of persons who were
feeble and defenceless.
I was myself counsel before him in a case where the ques
tion was whether a heifer calf, worth six or seven dollars,
the offspring of the one cow which our law reserves to a
poor debtor against attachment, was also exempt. My op
ponent undertook to make some merriment about the ques
tion, and there was some laughter at the Bar. The old Chief
Justice interposed with great emotion: "Gentlemen, re
member that this is a matter of great interest to a great
many poor families." There was no laughter after that,
and that heifer calf did duty in many a trial afterward,
when the young advocates at the Worcester Bar had some
poor client to defend.
The Chief Justice had not the slightest sense of humor.
When old Judge Wilde, the great real property Judge, died
after an illustrious judicial service of thirty-five years,
somebody showed Chief Justice Shaw a register published
in Boston which recorded his death, "Died in Boston, the
Honorable Samuel S. Wilde, aged eighty, many years Jus
tice of the Peace." It was passed up to the Bench. The
old Chief Justice looked at it, read it over again, and said,
"What publication is this?"
In the old days, when the lawyers and Judges spent the
evenings of Court week at the taverns on the Circuit, the
Chief Justice liked to get a company of lawyers about him
and discourse to them. He was very well informed, indeed,
on a great variety of matters, and his talk was very interest
ing and full of instruction. But there was no fun in it.
One evening he was discoursing in his ponderous way about
the vitality of seed. He said: "I understand that they
found some seed of wheat in one of the pyramids of Egypt,
wrapped up in a mummy-case, where it had been probably
some four thousand years at least, carried it over to Eng-

390 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
land last year and planted it, and it came up and they had
a very good crop."
"Of mummies, sir?" inquired old Josiah Adams, a wag
gish member of the Bar.
"No, Mr. Adams," replied the Chief Justice, with a tone
of reproof, and with great seriousness. "No, Mr. Adams,
not mummies— wheat."
Adams retired from the circle in great discomfiture. He
inquired of one of the other lawyers, afterward, if he sup
posed that the Chief Justice really believed that he thought
the seed had produced mummies, and was told by his friend
that he did not think there was the slightest doubt of it.
Chief Justice Shaw, though very rough in his manner,
was exceedingly considerate of the rights of poor and friend
less persons. Sometimes persons unacquainted with the
ways of the world would desire to make their own argu
ments, or would in some way interrupt the business of the
court. The Chief Justice commonly treated them with great
consideration. One amusing incident happened quite late
in his life. A rather dissipated lawyer who had a case
approaching on the docket, one day told his office-boy to
"Go over to the Supreme Court and see what in hell they
are doing. ' ' The Court were hearing a very important case
in which Mr. Choate was on one side and Mr. Curtis on the
other. The Bar and the Court-Room were crowded with lis
teners. As Mr. Curtis was in the midst of his argument,
the eye of the Chief Justice caught sight of a young urchin,
ten or eleven years old, with yellow trousers stuffed into
his boots, and with his cap on one side of his head, gazing
intently up at him. He said, "Stop a moment, Mr. Cur
tis." Mr. Curtis stopped, and there was a profound sUence
as the audience saw the audacious little fellow standing en
tirely unconcerned. "What do you want, my boy?" said
the Chief Justice. "Mr. P. told me to come over here and
see what in hell you was up to, ' ' was the reply. There was
a dive at the unhappy youth by three or four of the deputies
in attendance, and a roar of laughter from the audience.
The boy was ejected. But the gravity of the old Chief
Justice was not disturbed.

SOME JUDGES I HAVE KNOWN 391
He had a curiously awkward motion, especially in moving
about a parlor in social gatherings, or walking in the street.
I once pointed out to a friend a ludicrous resemblance be
tween his countenance and expression and that of one of the
tortoises in the illustrations of one of Agassiz's works on
natural history. To which my friend replied: "It is the
tortoise on which the elephant stands that bears up the
foundations of the world," alluding to the Hindoo mythol
ogy. _
Chief Justice Shaw's opinions, as we have them in the
reports, are exceedingly diffuse. That practice would not
answer for a generation which has to consult the reports of
forty-five States and of the Supreme Court and nine judicial
circuits of the United States, besides the reports of the deci
sions of some of the District Judges, and in most cases the
English decisions. But it would be a great public loss if
any of Chief Justice Shaw's utterances were omitted. His
impulse, when a question was argued before him, was to
write a treatise on the subject. So his decisions in cases
where the questions raised are narrow and unimportant are
often most valuable contributions to jurisprudence. He sel
dom passed over any point or suggestion without remark.
He went to the bottom of the case with great patience and
incredible industry. The counsel who lost his case felt not
only that he had had the opinion of a great and just mag
istrate, but that every consideration he could urge for his
client was respectfully treated and either yielded to or
answered. Some of his ablest and most far-reaching deci
sions were written after he was eighty years old.
He possessed, beyond any other American Judge, save
Marshall, what may be termed the statesmanship of juris
prudence. He never undertook to make law upon the Bench,
but he perceived with a far-sighted vision what rule of law
was likely to operate beneficially or hurtfuUy to the Repub
lic. He was watchful to lay down no doctrine which would
not stand this test. His great judgments stand among our
great securities, like the provisions of the Bill of Rights.
The Chief Justice was a tower of strength to the Massa
chusetts judiciary. But for him it is not unlikely that the

392 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
State would have adopted an elective judiciary or a tenure
limited to a term of years. But the whole people felt that
his great integrity and wisdom gave an added security to
every man's life, liberty, and property. So the proposition
to limit the judicial tenure, although espoused by the two
parties who together made up a large majority of the people
of the State, was defeated when it was submitted to a popu
lar vote. It is, however, a little remarkable that in the
neighboring State of Vermont, for many years the Judges
of the Supreme Court were annually elected by the Legis
lature, a system which, I believe, has worked on the whole
to their satisfaction. They have had an able judiciary. It
is said that old Chief Justice Shaw was one evening dis
coursing at a meeting of the Boston Law Club to an emi
nent Vermont Judge, who was a guest. He said, "With
your brief judicial tenure, sir"— The Vermohter inter
rupted him and said, "Why, our tenure of office is longer
than yours." "What do you mean?" said the Chief Jus
tice. "I do not understand you." "Why," was the reply,
"our Judges are elected for a year, and you are appointed
as long as you behave yourselves. ' '
Chief Justice Shaw is said to have been a very dull child.
The earliest indication of his gift of the masterly and unerr
ing judgment which discerned the truth and reason of things
was, however, noticed when he was a very small boy. His
mother one day had a company at tea. Some hot buttered
toast was on the table. When it was passed to little Lemuel
he pulled out the bottom slice, which was kept hot by the
hot plate beneath and the pile of toast above. His mother
reproached him quite sharply. "You must not do that,
Lemuel. Suppose everybody were to do that?" "Then
everybody would get a bottom slice," answered the wise
urchin. Judge Shaw had the sturdy spirit and temper of the old
seafaring people of Cape Cod, among whom he was bom
and bred. He was fond of stories of the sea and of ships.
He liked to hear of bold and adventurous voyages. Judge
Gray used to tell the story of the old Chief's standing with
his back to the fire, with his coat-tails under his arm, in the

SOME JUDGES I HAVE KNOWN 393
Judges' room at the Suffolk Court-House, one cold winter
morning, when the news of the fate of Sir John Franklin's
expedition or the story of some other Arctic tragedy had just
reached Boston and was in the morning papers.
"I hope, sir," said Judge Bigelow, "that there will be no
more of these voyages to discover the North Pole."
' ' I want 'em to find that open Polar sea, sir, ' ' said Shaw.
"But don't you think," said Judge Bigelow, "that it is
too bad to risk so many human lives, and to compel the sail
ors to encounter the terrible suffering and danger of these
Arctic voyages?"
"I think they'll find it yet, sir," was all the reply Bige
low could get.
Judge Shaw, in his latter days, was reverenced by the
people of Massachusetts as if he were a demi-god. But in
his native county of Barnstable he was reverenced as a
God. One winter, when the Supreme Court held a special
session at Barnstable for the trial of a capital case. Judge
Merrick, who was one of the Judges, came out of the Court
house just at nightfall, when the whole surface of the earth
was covered with ice and slush, slipped and fell heavily,
breaking three of his ribs. He was taken up and carried
to his room at the hotel, and lay on the sofa waiting for the
doctor to come. While the Judge lay, groaning and in
agony, the old janitor of the court-house, who had helped
pick him up, wiped off the wet from his clothes and said to
him, "Judge Merrick, how thankful you must be it was not
the Chief Justice ! ' ' Poor Merrick could not help laugh
ing, though his broken ribs were lacerating his flesh.
Next to Chief Justice Shaw in public esteem, when I came
to the Bar in December, 1849, was Mr. Justice Wilde. He
was nearly eighty years old, and began to show some signs
of failing powers. But those signs do not appear in his
recorded opinions. He was a type of the old common-
lawyer in appearance and manner and character. He would
have been a fit associate for Lord Coke, and would never have
given way to him. I suppose he was never excelled as a real-
property lawyer in this country. He had the antiquated
pronunciation of the last century, a venerable gray head

394 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
and wrinkled countenance, with heavy gray eyebrows. He
seemed to the general public to be nothing but a walking
abridgment. Still, he was a very well-informed man, and
had represented a district of what is now the State of Maine
in Congress with great distinction. A friend of mine went
rather late to church at King's Chapel one Sunday when
the congregation had got some way in the service, and was
shown into the pew immediately in front of old Judge Wilde.
The Judge was just uttering in a distinct, clear tone, "Lord,
teach me Thy statoots." It was the only petition he
needed to have granted to make him a complete Judge. Of
the Lord's common law he was a thorough master.
He was no respecter of persons. He delivered his judg
ments with an unmoved air, as if he had footed up a column
of figures and were announcing the result. When I was in
the Law School, Mr. Webster was retained to argue an im
portant real estate case before Judge Wilde in Suffolk
County. Mr. Webster was making what would have been
a powerful argument on a question of land-title but for a
statute passed since the days of his constant practice, which
had not come to his knowledge. There was a great audi
ence, and when Mr. Webster had got his point fairly stated,
he was interrupted by Wilde. ' ' Pooh, pooh, Mr. Webster. ' '
The Judge pointed out that Webster had overlooked one link
in the chain of his antagonist's title.
"But," said Mr. Webster in reply, "the descent tolls the
entry. ' '
"That rule is abolished by the statoot, sir."
"Why didn't you tell me that?" said Webster angrily to
his junior.
Another of our great old Judges was Judge Fletcher. He
had had a great practice as an advocate in Boston, especially
as a commercial lawyer. He had a great power of clear
statement. He brought out his utterances in a queer, jerk
ing fashion, protruding his lips a little as he hesitated at
the beginning of his sentences. But he knew how to con
vey his meaning to the apprehension of Courts and juries.
He left the Bench less than two years after I came to the Bar.
I never had but one important case before him. He was a

SOME JUDGES I HAVE KNOWN 395
bachelor. He was very interesting in conversation, liked
the company of young men, who never left him without
carrying away some delightful anecdote or shrewd and pithy
observation. A lawyer from the country told me one day that he had
just been in Fletcher's office to get his opinion. While he
was in the office, old Ebenezer Francis, a man said to be
worth $8,000,000, then the richest man in New England,
came to consult him about a small claim against some neigh
bor. Fletcher interrupted his consultation with my friend
and listened to Mr. Francis's story. In those days, parties
could not be witnesses in their own cases. Fletcher advised
his client that although he had an excellent case, the evi
dence at his command was not sufficient to prove it, and
advised against bringing an action. Francis, who was quite
avaricious, left the office with a heavy heart. When he had
gone, Fletcher turned to my friend and said : ' ' Isn 't it piti
ful, sir, to see an old critter, wandering about our streets,
destitute of proof?"
But the most interesting and racy character among our
old Judges was Theron Metcalf. He used to say of himself
—a saying that did him great injustice— that he was taken
to fill a gap in the Court as people take an old hat to stop a
broken window. He undervalued his own capacity. He
was not a good Judge to preside at jury trials. He had
queer and eccentric notions of what the case was all about,
and while he would state a principle of law with extraordi
nary precision and accuracy he had not the gift of making
practical application of the law to existing facts. So a great
many of his rulings were set aside, and it did not seem, when
he had held a long term of Court, that a great deal had been
accomplished. But he was a very learned common-lawyer.
His memory was a complete digest of the decisions down to
his time. He comprehended with marvellous clearness the
precise extent to which any adjudged case went, and would
stats its doctrine with mathematical precision.
He hated statutes. He was specially indignant at the
abolition of special pleading. He sent word to me, when I
was Chairman of the Judiciary Committee in the Massachu-

396 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
setts Senate, asking to have a provision enacted for sim
plifying the process of bringing before the full Bench for
revision the proceedings in habeas corpus, or mandamus,
or certiorari, or some other special writ, I forget now what.
I called upon him at once, and pointed out to him that ex
actly what he wanted was accomplished by the Practice Act
of 1852. This was the statute under which all our legal
proceedings in cases affecting personal property were had.
Metcalf said, with great disgust: "I have said, sir, that if
they did not repeal that thing I would read it."
He used to enliven his judgments with remarks showing
a good deal of shrewd wisdom. In one case a man was in
dicted for advertising a show without a license. The de
fendant insisted that the indictment was insufficient because
it set out merely what the show purported to be, and not
what it really was. On which the Judge remarked: "The
indictment sets out all that is necessary, and, indeed, all
that is safe. The show often falls short of the promise in
the show-bill."
There was once a case before him for a field-driver who
had impounded cattle under the old Massachusetts law.
The case took a good many days to try, and innumerable
subtle questions were raised. The Judge began his charge
to the jury: "Gentlemen of the jury, a man who takes up
a cow straying in a highway is a fool. ' '
Another time there was a contest as to the value of some
personal property which had been sold at auction. One side
claimed that the auction-sale was a fair test of the value.
The other claimed that property that was sold at auction was
generally sold at a sacrifice. Metcalf said to the jury:
"According to my observation, things generally bring at
auction all they are worth, except carpets. ' '
I once tried a case before him against the Norwich Rail
road for setting fire to the house of a farmer by a spark
from a locomotive. It was a warm summer afternoon when
the house was burnt up. There was no fire in the house ex
cept a few coals among the ashes in a cooking stove where
the dinner had been cooked some hours before. The rail
road was very near the house. There was a steep up-grade,

SOME JUDGES I HAVE KNOWN 397
so that the engineers were tempted to open the bonnet of
their smokestacks for a better draught. We called as a wit
ness a sturdy, round-faced, fat old woman, who testified that
she was sitting at her window, knitting, in a house some
little distance away, when the train went by. She put in a
mark to see, as she expressed it, "how many times round"
she could knit before supper. A few minutes after, she
heard a cry of fire, and looked out and saw a blaze on the
roof of her neighbor's house, just kindling, close to the eaves
on the side where the engine had passed. She threw down
the stocking and went to help. The stocking was found
after the fire with the mark just as she left it. So we
claimed that we could tell pretty well how long the time had
been between the passing of the train and the breaking out
of the fire. Judge Metcalf, who was always fussy and in
terfering, said : ' ' How can we tell anything by that, unless
we know how large the stocking was ? ' ' The old lady, with
a most bland smile, turned to the Judge as if she were sooth
ing an infant, lifted up the hem of her petticoats, and ex
hibited a very sturdy ankle and calf, and said, "Just the
size I wear, your Honor." There was a roar of laughter
in the court-house. The incident was published in the morn
ing paper the next day, much to the Judge's indignation.
He addressed the audience when he came into Court in the
morning, and said: "I see the Worcester Spy has been try
ing to put a fool's cap on my head."
Judge Metcalf told me this story about Chief Justice Par
sons. The Chief Justice's manner to the Bar, as is well-
known, was exceedingly rough. He was no respecter of
persons, and treated the old and eminent lawyers quite as
harshly as the youngsters. The Bar used to call him Ursa
Major. The Chief Justice used to look over the pleadings
carefully before the trials began. It was in the time when
special pleading often brought the issue to be decided into
a narrow compass. Soon after the case was begun, the
Judge would take the case out of the hands of the counsel
and examine the witnesses himself, and give an opinion
which was likely to be implicitly followed by the jury.
Jabez Upham, of Brookfield, in Worcester County, Mr. Jus-

398 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
tice Gray's grandfather, once sent his office-boy to Court
with a green bag containing his papers, thinking there was
no use in going himself. At last the leading members of the
Bar in Boston got very angry, and four or five of them
agreed together to teach the old Chief a lesson. So they
sat down to a trial in the Supreme Court where Parsons
was presiding. Pretty soon he interfered vrith the lawyer
who was putting in the case for the plaintiff, in his rough
way. The lawyer rose and said: "I cannot take care of my
client's rights where my own are not respected," or some
thing to that effect. "I will ask Brother Sullivan to take
my place." Sullivan, who was possessed of the case, took
the place. The trial went on a little while, when something
happened which offended Sullivan. He rose and said he
could not go on with the case after his Honor's remark, and
would ask Brother So-and-So, perhaps Otis, to take his
place. This happened three or four times in succession.
The Chief Justice saw the point and adjourned the Court
very early for the noon recess, and went to the house of his
colleague. Judge Sewall, who lived out somewhere on the
Neck, called him out and said: "You must go down and
hold that Court. There is a conspireacy sir." Parsons
never held a nisi-prius term in Suffolk again.
Chief Justice Shaw used to tell with great indignation the
story of his first appearance before Parsons, when a young
man. There was a very interesting question of the law of
real property, and Samuel Dexter, then the head of the Bar,
was on the other side. Parsons was interested in the ques
tion as soon as it was stated, and entered into a discussion
with Dexter in which they both got earnestly engaged. The
Chief Justice intimated his opinion very strongly and was
just deciding it in Dexter 's favor, when the existence of the
young man on the other side occurred to him. He looked
over the bar at Shaw and said: "Well, young man, do you
think you can aid the Court any in this matter?" "I think
I can, sir, ' ' said Shaw with spirit. Parsons listened to him,
but, I believe, remained of his first opinion.
Judge Metcalf in the time when he was upon the Bench
had the credit, I do not know how well deserved it was, of

SOME JUDGES I HAVE KNOWN 399
not being much given to hospitality. He was never covet
ous, and he was very fond of society and conversation. But
I fancy he had some fashions of his own in housekeeping
which he thought were not quite up to the ways of modem
life. At any rate, he was, so far as I know, never known
to invite any of his brethren upon the Bench or of the Bar
to visit him at his house, with one exception. One of the
Judges told me that after a hard day's work in court the
Judges sat in consultation till between nine and ten o'clock
in the evening, and he walked away from the Court-House
with Judge Metcalf. The Judge went along with him past
the Tremont House, where my informant was staying. As
they walked up School Street, he said: "Why, Judge Met
calf, I didn't know you went this way. I thought you lived
out on the Neck somewhere. " " No, sir, ' ' said Judge Met
calf, "I live at number so-and-so Charles Street, and I will
say to you what I heard a man say the first night I moved in
to my present house. I heard a great noise in the street after
midnight, and got up and put my head out of the window.
There was a man lying on the sidewalk struggling, and an
other man, who seemed to be a policeman, was on top of him
holding him down. The fellow with his back to the ground
said: 'Let me get up,  d  you.' The policeman
answered: "I sha'n't let you get up till you tell me what
your name is and where you live.' The fellow answered,
'My name is Jerry Mahoney,  • d  you, and I
live at No. 54 Cambridge Street,  d  you, where
I'd be happy to see you,  d  you, if you dare
to call.' " That was the only instance known to his
judicial brethren of Judge Metcalf 's inviting a friend to
visit him.
Judge Metcalf 's legal opinions will read, I think, in the
future, as well as those of any Judge of his time. They are
brief, compact, written in excellent English, and precisely
fit the case before him without any extraneous or superflu
ous matter. He would have been a very great Judge, in
deed, if his capacity for the conduct of jury trials and deal
ing with nisi-prius business in general had equalled his abil
ity to write opinions on abstract questions.

400 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
John Davis was never a Judge. But a few words about
him may well find a place here. He had long since with
drawn from the practice of law when I came to Worces
ter. He remained in the Senate of the United States until
March 4, 1853. But the traditions of his great power
with juries remained. I was once or twice a guest at
his house, and once or twice heard him make political
speeches. My father, who had encountered all the great advocates
of his time in New England — Webster, Choate, Jeremiah
Mason, Dexter— used to say that John Davis was the tough
est antagonist he ever encountered. Mr. Davis had no
graces of oratory or of person. He was not without a cer
tain awkward dignity. His head was covered with thick
and rather coarse white hair. He reminded you a little, in
look and movement, of a great white bear. But he had a
gift of driving his point home to the apprehension of juries
and of the people which was rarely equalled. He was a
man of few words and infrequent speech, without wit or
imagination. He thoroughly mastered the subjects with
which he dealt. When he had inserted his wedge, he drove
it home with a few sledge-hammer blows. It was commonly
impossible for anybody to extract it. It was only the great
weight of his authority, and the importance of the matters
with which he dealt, which kept him from seeming exceed
ingly tedious. I remember thinking when I heard him make
a speech in behalf of General Scott in the City Hall, in the
autumn of 1852, that if any man but John Davis were talk
ing the audience could not be kept awake. He spoke very
slowly, with the tone and manner of an ordinary conversa
tion. ' ' The Whigs, fellow-citizens, have presented for your
suffrages this year, for the office of President of the United
States, the name of Major-General Winfield Scott. I know
General Scott. I have had good opportunity to acquaint
myself with his character and public service. I think you
may give him your confidence, gentlemen." That was
pretty much the whole speech. At any rate, there was noth
ing more exciting in it. But it was John Davis that said it,
and it had great effect upon his audience.

SOME JUDGES I HAVE KNOWN 401
Mr. Davis supported General Taylor for President in
1848, thereby, on the one hand, offending Mr. Webster, with
whom his relations had for some time been exceedingly
strained, and the anti-slavery men in Massachusetts on the
other. It was understood also that he had displeased Gov
ernor Lincoln at the time of his election to the Senate, Gov
ernor Lincoln thinking that Mr. Davis had taken an undue
advantage of his official influence as Governor to promote
his own selection. But the two united in the support of
General Taylor, which led Charles Allen to quote a verse
which has been more than once applied in the same way
since. "And in that day Pilate and Herod were made
friends together. ' '
Mr. Davis was a careful and prudent manager of money
matters, and left what was, for his time, a considerable
estate, considering the fact that so much of his life had been
passed in the public service. His success in public life was,
doubtless, in large measure, increased by his accomplished
and admirable wife, the sister of George Bancroft. She was
a lady of simple dignity, great intelligence, great benevo
lence and kindness of heart. Her conversation was always
most delightful, especially in her old age, when her mind
was full of the treasures of her long experience and com
panionship with famous persons. Mr. Davis left five sons,
all of them men of ability. The eldest has been Minister to
Berlin, Assistant Secretary of State, Secretary of Legation
in London, Judge of the Court of Claims, and Reporter
of the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Another son, Horace, has been a member of Congress, emi
nent in the public life of California, and, I believe, presi
dent of the University of California.
John Davis won great distinction by a very powerful
speech on the tariff question in reply to James Buchanan.
Buchanan was one of the most powerful Democratic leaders
in the Senate, but Davis was thought by the Whigs to have
got much the better of him in the debate. It was generally
expected that he would be the Wliig candidate for the Vice-
Presidency in 1840. But another arrangement was made,
26

402 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
for reasons which may be as well told here. The Whig Con
vention to nominate a President was held at Harrisburg,
Pa., on December 4, 1839, nearly a year before the election.
The delegates from the different States were asked to con
sult together and agree upon their first choice. Then they
were asked to say whom they thought next to the person they
selected would be the strongest candidate. When the result
was ascertained, it was discovered that William Henry Har
rison was thought by a very large majority of the Conven
tion to be the strongest candidate they could find. He was
accordingly selected as the Whig standard-bearer. A com
mittee of one person from each State was then chosen to
propose to the Convention a candidate for Vice-President.
Benjamin Watkins Leigh, of Virginia, was a strong sup
porter of Henry Clay, a man of great personal worth, highly
esteemed throughout the country. The Convention ad
journed, and came in after adjournment to hear the report
of the committee. Mr. Leigh accosted the Chairman of the
committee and stood with him in a conspicuous place as the
delegates filed in. He inquired of the Chairman what con
clusion they had come to as to a candidate for Vice-Presi
dent. To which the Chairman replied: "You will be in
formed in due time." When the Convention was called to
order, one of the delegates from Massachusetts made a
speech in which he set forth the high qualities that were
desired in a candidate for this important office, and, after
giving a sketch of exalted character and great capacity for
the public service, he ended by declaring that such a man
was Mr. Leigh, of Virginia, and proposing his name as the
unanimous recommendation of the committee. Mr. Leigh
was taken aback. He had been a zealous supporter of Mr.
Clay. He addressed the chair, saying he was much grati
fied by what had been said by his friend from Massachu
setts, and he hoped he might live in some humble measure
to deserve the tribute which had been paid to him. But he
thought that having been a zealous supporter of Mr. Clay,
and having had, in some sense, the charge of his candidacy,
he could not himself accept a nomination in connection with

SOME JUDGES I HAVE KNOWN 403
another person without exposing himself to the suspicion
that he had in some way benefited by the defeat of his own
candidate and leader. It was said that his embarrassment
was increased by the fact that he had been seen conversing
with the Chairman of the committee by the members of the
Convention. How that is I do not know. The result was
the nomination of Mr. Tyler, his election, his succession to
the Presidency after the death of Harrison, which resulted
in such disastrous consequences to the Whigs.
John Davis was a Federalist and a Whig. His sons were
Whigs and Republicans always on the conservative side of
public questions. His nephew, Colonel Isaac Davis, was in
that respect a contrast to his uncle.
It has been charged that John Davis, by taking up the
time at the close of the session of Congress by an indiscreet
speech, was the means of defeating the Wilmot Proviso,
which had come from the House inserted in a bill for the
incorporation of Oregon as a Territory. This statement has
received general circulation. It is made in Pierce's "Life
of Sumner," and in Von Hoist's "Constitutional History."
There is no truth in it. I investigated the matter very
carefully, and have left on record a conclusive refutation of
the whole story in a paper published by the American Anti
quarian Society.
Mr. Davis's popularity, however, enabled him to render
an important service to his party at home. The Democrats
in 1839 had elected their governor, Marcus Morton, by a
majority of one vote by reason of the unpopularity of the
law to prevent liquor-selling, known as the Fifteen-Gallon
Law, which had been passed in January, 1838. They were
anxious to redeem the State, and summoned John Davis,
their strongest and most popular man, to lead their forces.
He accordingly resigned his seat in the Senate, was chosen
Governor by a large majority, and was reelected to the Sen
ate again the next year.
Sketches like these, made by a man who was young when
the men he is talking about were old, are apt to give promi
nence to trifies, to little foibles and eccentricities. Let no-

404 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
body think that there was anything trifiing or ludicrous
about John Davis. He was a great, strong, wise man, a
champion and tower of strength. He not only respected,
but embodied the great traditions and opinions of Massachu
setts in the great days, after the generation of the Revolu
tion had left the stage when she earned for herself the name
of the ' ' Model Commonwealth, ' ' and her people were build
ing the structure of the Commonwealth on the sure founda
tions which the master-workmen of the Colonial and Revo
lutionary days had laid. The majestic presence of Webster,
the classic eloquence of Everett, the lofty zeal of Sumner
have made them more conspicuous figures in the public eye,
and it is likely will preserve their memory longer in the
public heart. But the figure of John Davis deserves to
stand by the side of these great men in imperishable memory
as one of the foremost men of the State he loved so well
and served so faithfully and wisely.
The Bar of Worcester County in 1850 and the years fol
lowing was a very able one, indeed. It had many men of
high reputation in the Commonwealth and some of wide
national fame. The principal citizen of Worcester and the
most distinguished member of the Bar was Governor Levi
Lincoln. Although he had long since left practice, he used
always to come into the court once at each term of the Su
preme Court, bow respectfully to the Bench, and invite the
Judges to dinner at his house, and withdraw. He filled a
very large place in the history of Massachusetts from the
time of his graduation at Harvard in 1802 until the close of
the War in 1865. There is, so far as I know, no memoir of
him in existence, except one or two brief sketches which
appear in the proceedings of some local societies of which
he was a member.
His father, Levi Lincoln the elder, was an intimate friend
and correspondent of Mr. Jefferson, and Attorney-General
in his Cabinet. He was nominated Judge of the Supreme
Court of the United States by Mr. Madison and confirmed
by the Senate and actually appointed, but was unable to take
the office because of failing sight. He did more, probably,

SOME JUDGES I HAVE KNOWN 405
than any other man to organize and bring to success the
political revolution in New England which followed Jeffer
son's accession to the Presidency in 1801. Many letters to
him are found in Jefferson's published works, and there are
many letters from him to Mr. Jefferson in the Jefferson
papers in the archives at Washington. Some of the corre
spondence on both sides is enough to make the hair of the
civil service reformer stand on end. The son adopted his
father's political opinions and was an enthusiastic supporter
of Jefferson in his youth. Jefferson wrote a letter, which
I think is now in existence, praising very highly some of
young Mr. Lincoln's early performances. He delivered an
address in Worcester, March 4, 1803, a few months after he
left college, in which he proposed that the Fourth of March,
the day of Mr. Jefferson's accession to the Presidency,
should be celebrated thereafter instead of the Fourth of
July. He says : ' ' Republicans no longer can hail the day as
exclusively theirs. Federalism has profaned it. She has
formed to herself an idol in the union of Church and State,
and this is the time chosen to offer its sacrifice." He sets
forth "the long train of monstrous aggressions of the Fed
eralists '' under Washington and Adams ; declares that they
"propose a hereditary executive and a Senatorial nobility
for life," and says that the "hand would tremble in record
ing, and the tongue falter in reciting, the long tale of mon
strous aggression. But on the Fourth of March was an
nounced from the Capitol the triumph of principle. Swifter
than Jove on his imperial eagle did the glad tidings of its
victory pervade the Union. As vanish the mists of the
morning before the rays of a sunbeam, so error withdrew
from the presence of truth, and the deceptions of artifice
from the inquiries of the understanding. The reign of ter
ror had passed," etc., etc. But there never was a better
example of Emerson's maxim that "a Conservative is a
Democrat grown old and gone to seed." As the young man
grew in reputation and influence he became more moderate
in his opinions. He was appointed Judge of the Supreme
Court; then was elected Governor by a union of all parties
in what was called "the era of good feeling" ; held the office

406 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
nine years ; then represented the Worcester district in Con
gress, and withdrew to a dignified and honorable retirement
from which he emergedto hold the office of Mayor of Wor
cester the first year of the life of the city. He was, as I
remember him, the very embodiment of dignity and aris
tocracy. He had a diffuse and rather inflated style, both in
public speaking and in private conversation. His dignity
had a bare suspicion of pomposity in it. He looked with
great disdain upon the simplicity of behavior of some of his
successors, and their familiarity with all classes of the peo
ple. He came into my office one morning full of an intense
disgust with something Governor Briggs had been doing.
He said: "In my time, sir, the office of Governor of the
Commonwealth was an office of dignity. The arrival of
the Chief Magistrate in any town was an event of some im
portance. He travelled in his carriage, with suitable at
tendants. He appeared in public only on great occasions.
But now you see hand-bills about the street giving notice
that there is to be a Temperance tea-party to-morrow after
noon, in some vestry or small hall. Music by the Peak
family. His Excellency George N. Briggs will address the
meeting. Admission, ten cents."
He accepted his position at the head of the social life of
Worcester as matter of course. I remember one night, when
a party was breaking up, I said to the person next to me, in
some jesting fashion: "I am sorry to see the decay of the
old aristocracy." The Governor, who was getting his coat
at the other end of the room, overheard the remark, and
called out: "Who is lamenting our decay?"
The Governor looked with great disgust upon the forma
tion of the Free Soil Party and the Anti-Slavery movement.
But when the war came he remained thoroughly loyal. He
encouraged enlistment in every way, and measures for the
support of the Government had all the weight of his influ
ence. He was a Presidential elector, and voted for Abra
ham Lincoln at the time of his second election.
When Webster was first chosen Senator he refused to be
a candidate for the office until it was ascertained whether
Governor Lincoln would accept it. The Governor then de-

SOME JUDGES I HAVE KNOWN 407
clined, for the reason I have stated in another place. He
was also offered an appointment to the Senate by Governor
Washburn when Mr. Everett resigned in 1853. But it is
said that he was quite desirous of being elected Senator
when Mr. Davis was first chosen.
The Governor was, as just said, an example of Emerson's
famous saying that a Conservative is a Democrat grown old
and gone to seed. He was looked upon as the embodiment
of reverend dignity. His household was at the head of the
social life of Worcester during his later years. Every fam
ily in the County was proud who could trace a connection
with his. There were a few traditions in the old Federalist
families like the Thomases and the Aliens of a time when
the Lincolns were accounted too democratic to be respect
able. But they gained little credence with people in gen
eral. One day, however, I had to try a real estate case
which arose in the adjoining town and involved an ancient
land-title. An old man named Bradyill Livermore was sum
moned as a witness for my client. He was, I think, in his
ninety-fifth year. He lived in a sparsely settled district and
had not been into Worcester for twenty or twenty-five years.
I sat down with him in the consultation-room. After he had
told me what he knew about the case, I had a chat with him
about old times and" the changes in Worcester since his
youth, and he asked me about some of the members of the
Bar then on the stage. Governor Lincoln, who had long
retired, happened to be mentioned. The old fellow brought
the point of his staff down with great emphasis upon the
floor, and then held it loosely with the fingers of his tremb
ling and shaking hand, and said, very earnestly, but with a
shrill and strident voice like that of one of Homer's ghosts:
"They say, sir, that that Mr. Lincoln has got to be a very
respectable man. But I can remember, sir, when he was a
terrible Jacobite."
I have given elsewhere a portraiture of Charles Allen, and
a sketch of his great career. He was a man of slender phys
ical frame and feeble voice. But he was a leader of leaders.
When in 1848 he left the Whig Convention in Philadelphia,.
an assembly flushed with the anticipation of National tri-

408 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
umph, declaring, amid the jeers and hisses of its members,
that the Whig Party was dead— a prediction verified within
four years— down to the election of Lincoln, in 1860, he was
in Massachusetts a powerful influence. He was a great ad
vocate, a great judge, a great counsellor. He was in my
judgment a greater intellectual force than any other man
in his time, Daniel Webster not excepted. It was a force
before which Webster himself more than once recoiled. I
knew him intimately and was, I believe, admitted to no
inconsiderable share of his confidence. But there is no
space here to do justice to my reverence for his noble
character. On the whole, the most successful of the Worcester Bar,
in my time, in the practice of his profession, was Emory
Washburn. He was a man of less intellectual power un
doubtedly than either of his great contemporaries and an
tagonists, Allen, Merrick, or Thomas. Yet he probably won
more cases, year in and year out, than either of them. He
was a man of immense industry. He went to his office early
in the morning, took a very short time, indeed, for his meals,
and often kept at work until one or two o 'clock in the morn
ing of the next day. He suffered severely at one time from
dyspepsia brought on by constant work and neglect of exer
cise; but generally he kept his vigorous health until his
death at the age of eighty. He was indefatigable in his ser
vice to his clients. His mind was like a steel spring press
ing on every part of the other side's case. It was ludicrous
to see his sympathy and devotion to his clients, and his belief
in the cause of any man whom he undertook to champion.
It seemed as if a client no sooner put his hand on the handle
of Washburn's office-door than his heart warmed to him like
that of a mother toward her first-born. No strength of evi
dence to the contrary, no current of decisions settling the
law would prevent Washburn from believing that his man
was the victim of prejudice or persecution or injustice. But
his sincerity, his courtesy of manner and kindness of heart
made him very influential with juries, and it was rare that
a jury sat in Worcester County that had not half a dozen
of Washburn's clients among their number.

SOME JUDGES I HAVE KNOWN 409
I was once in a very complicated real estate case as Wash
burn's associate. Charles Allen and Mr. Bacon were on the
other side. Mr. Bacon and I, who were juniors, chatted
about the case just before the trial. Mr. Bacon said:
"Why, Hoar, Emory Washburn doesn't understand that
case the least in the world." I said: "No, Mr. Bacon, he
doesn't understand the case the least in the world. But you
may depend upon it he will make that jury misunderstand
it just as he does. ' ' And he did.
Charles Allen, who never spared any antagonist, used to
be merciless in dealing with Washburn. He once had a case
with him which attracted a great deal of public attention.
There had been a good many trials and the cost had mounted
up to a large sum. It was a suit by a farmer who had lost
a flock of sheep by dogs, and who tried to hold another
farmer responsible as the owner of the dog which had killed
them. One of the witnesses had been out walking at night
and heard the bark of the dog in the field where the sheep
were. He was asked to testify if he could tell what dog it
was from the manner of his bark. The evidence was ob
jected to, and Allen undertook to support his right to put
the question. He said we were able to distinguish men from
each other by describing their manner and behavior, when
the person describing might not know the man by name.
"For instance, may it please your Honor, suppose a stranger
who came into this court-house during this trial were called
to testify to what took place, and he should say that he did
not know anybody in the room by sight, but there was a
lawyer there who was constantly interrupting the other side,
talking a great deal of the time, but after all didn't seem
to have much to say. Who would doubt that he meant my
Brother Washburn ? ' '
This gibe is only worth recording as showing the court
house manners of those times. It is no true picture of the
honest, faithful and beloved Emory Washburn. He was
public-spirited, wise, kind-hearted, always ready to give his
service without hope of reward or return to any good cause,
a pUlar of the town, a pillar of the church. He had some
times a certain confusion of statement and of thought, but

410 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
it was only apparent in his oral discourse. He wrote two
admirable law-books, one on easements, and one on real
property. Little & Brown said his book on easements had
the largest sale of any law-book ever published in this coun
try up to its time. He was a popular and useful Professor
in the Harvard Law School. He gave a great deal of study
to the history of Massachusetts, and was the author of some
valuable essays on historical questions, and some excellent
discourses on historical occasions. He left no duty undone.
Edward Hale used to say: "If you want anything done
well, go to the busiest man in Worcester to do it— Emory
Washburn, for example." He was grievously disappointed
that he was not appointed Judge of the Supreme Court when
Judge Thomas became a member of the Bench. A little
while afterward there was another vacancy, and Governor
Clifford took Merrick, another of Washburn's contempor
aries and rivals at the bar, although Merrick was a Demo
crat, and the Governor, like Washburn himself, was a Whig.
This was almost too much for him to bear. It took place
early in the year 1853. Mr. Washburn sailed for Europe
a few weeks after, and felt almost like shaking off the dust
of his feet against Massachusetts and the Whig Party. But
he was very agreeably compensated for his disappointment.
During his absence he was nominated by the Whigs for the
office of Governor, to which office he was elected in the fol
lowing January, there being then, under our law, which
required a clear majority of all the votes, no choice by the
people. He made an admirable and popular Governor,
But the Nebraska Bill was introduced in that year. This
created strong excitement among the people of Massachu
setts, and the Know-Nothing movement came that fall, in
spired more by the desire of the people to get rid of the old
parties, and form a new anti-slavery party, than by any real
opposition to foreigners, which was its avowed principle.
This party swept Massachusetts, electing all the State of
ficers and every member of the State Legislature except two
from the town of Northampton. They had rather a sorry
Legislature. It was the duty of the outgoing Governor to
administer the oath to the Representatives- and Senators-

SOME JUDGES I HAVE KNOWN 411
elect. Governor Washburn performed that duty, and
added: "Now, gentlemen, so far as the oath of office is con
cerned, you are qualified to enter upon your duties."
Governor Washburn was a thorough gentleman, through
and through, courteous, well-bred, and with an entirely suf
ficient sense of his own dignity. But he had little respect
for any false notions of gentility, and had a habit of going
straight at any difficulty himself. To this habit he owed
much of his success in life. A very amusing story was told
by Mrs. Washburn long after her husband's death. She
was one of the brightest and sprightliest and wittiest of
women. Her husband owed to her much of his success in
life, as well as much of his comfort and domestic enjoyment.
She used to give sometimes half a dozen entertainments in
the same week. She was never disconcerted by any want
of preparation or suddenness of demand upon her hospital
ity. One day some quite distinguished guests arrived in
Worcester unexpectedly, whom it was proper that she should
keep to dinner. The simple arrangements which had been
made for herself and her husband would not do. She ac
cordingly went at once to the principal hotel of the town, in
the neighborhood, and bargained with the landlord to send
over the necessary courses for her table, which were just
hot and cooked and ready for his own. She got off very
comfortably without being detected.
Her story was that one time when Judge Washburn was
Governor the members of bis Staff came to Worcester on
some public occasion and were all invited to his house to
spend the night. When he got up in the morning he found,
to his consternation, that the man who was in the habit of
doing such services at his house was sick, or for some other
reason had failed to put in an appearance, and none of the
boots of the young gentlemen were blacked. The Governor
was master of the situation. He descended to his cellar,
took off his coat, blacked all the boots of the youngsters him
self, and met them at breakfast with his usual pleasant cour
tesy, as if nothing had happened.
I do not undertake to give a full sketch of Benjamin F.
Thomas. He was one of the very greatest of American

412 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
lawyers. But such desultory recollections as these are apt
to dwell only on the eccentricities or peculiarities or foibles
of men. They are not the place for elaborate and noble
portraiture. Judge Thomas was the principal figure in the Worcester
court-house after Judge Allen's election to Congress in
1848. Judge Thomas did not get large professional busi
ness very rapidly. He was supposed, in his youth, to be a
person of rather eccentric manners, studious, fond of poetry
and general literature and of historical and antiquarian re
search. He was impulsive, somewhat passionate, but stiU
with an affectionate, sunny, generous nature, and a large
heart, to which malice, hatred, or uncharitableness were im
possible. It is said that in his younger days he used to
walk the streets, wrapped in his own thoughts, unconscious
of the passers-by, and muttering poetry to himself. But
when I came into his office as a student, in August, 1849, all
this trait had disappeared. He was a consummate advo
cate, a favorite alike with Judges and jurors, winning his
causes wherever success was possible, and largely employed.
He had a clear voice, of great compass, pitched on rather a
high key, but sweet and musical like the sound of a bugle.
The young men used to fill the court-house to hear his argu
ments to juries. He became a very profound lawyer, al
ways mastering the learning of the case, but never leaning
too much upon authorities. Charles Emerson's beautiful
phrase in his epitaph on Professor Ashmun, "Books were
his helpers, never his masters, ' ' was most aptly applied to
Thomas. If he had any foible which affected at all his use
fulness or success in life it was an impatience of authority,
whether it were the authority of a great reputation, or of
party, or of public sentiment, or of the established and set
tled opinions of mankind. He went on the Supreme Bench
in 1853. Dissenting opinions were rare in the Massachu
setts Supreme Court in those days. In this I think the
early Judges were extremely wise. Nothing shakes the au
thority of a court more than the frequent habit of individual
dissent. But Judge Thomas dissented from the judgments
of his court on several very important occasions. His dis-

SOME JUDGES I HAVE KNOWN 413
senting opinions were exceedingly able. I think it would
have been better if they had not been delivered. I think
he would have been much more likely to have come to the
other conclusion if the somewhat imperious intellect of Shaw
had not been put into the prevailing scale. When all Massa
chusetts bowed down to Webster, Judge Thomas, though he
respected and honored the great public idol, supported
Taylor as a candidate for the Presidency. At the dinner
given to the Electoral College after the election, where Mr.
Webster was present. Judge Thomas shocked the meeting
by saying: "Some persons have spoken of our candidate
as their second choice. I am proud to say that General
Taylor was not only my last, but my first choice." So, when
Judge Thomas was in Congress, while he was as thoroughly
loyal, patriotic, and brave a man as ever lived, he opposed
the policies of the Republican Party for carrying on the
war and putting down the Rebellion. He was thought to
be inspired by a great dislike of submitting to party
authority or even to that of President Lincoln. He was very
fond of young men. When he was Judge they always found
that they had all the consideration that they deserved, and
had no fear of being put at a disadvantage by any antag
onist, however able or experienced. The Judge seemed
always to be stirred by the suggestion of an intellectual
difficulty. When I was seeking some remedy at his hands,
especially in equity, I used to say that I thought I had a
just case, but I was afraid his Honor might think the legal
difficulties were insuperable and I did not know whether I
could get his Honor's approbation of what I asked. He
would instantly rouse himself and seem to take the sug
gestion as a challenge, and if it were possible for human
ingenuity to find a way to accomplish what I wanted he
would do it. He preserved the sweetness and joyous spirit
of boyhood to the day of his death. It was delightful to
catch him when he was at leisure, to report to him any
pleasant story that was going about, and to hear his merry
laugh and pleasant voice. He was a model of the judicial
character. It was a delight to practise before him at nisi
prius. I have known a great many admirable lawyers and

414 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
a good many very great Judges. I have known some who
had more learning, and some, I suppose, though very few,
who had greater vigor of intellect. But no better Judge
ever sat in a Massachusetts court-house. Dwight Foster
felicitously applied to him the sentence which was first
uttered of Charles James Fox, that "his intellect was all
feeling, and his feeling all intellect."
Dwight Foster came to the Bar just a week after I did.
But I ought not to omit him in any account of the Massa
chusetts lawyers or Judges of my time. He rose rapidly
to a place in the first rank of Massachusetts lawyers, which
he held until his untimely death. He was graduated the
first scholar in his class at Yale in 1848. Before he was
graduated he became engaged to a very admirable and ac
complished lady, daughter of Roger S. Baldwin, Governor
of Connecticut and United States Senator, then head of
the Connecticut Bar. This lady had some tendency to a
disorder of the lungs and throat which had proved fatal to
two of her brothers. Dwight Foster was very anxious to
get her away from New Haven, where he thought the climate
and her habit of mingling in gay society very unfavorable
to her health. So he set himself to work to get admitted to
the Bar and get established in business that he might have
a place for her in Worcester. He was examined by Mr,
Justice Metcalf, after studying a little more than a year,
and found possessed of attainments uncommon even for
persons who had studied the full three years and had been
a good while at the Bar. Judge Metcalf admitted him, and
on some other Judge criticising what he had done, the Judge
said, with great indignation, "If he thinks Foster is not
qualified, let him examine him himself."
Mr. Foster's first employment had very awkward con
sequences. The people in Worcester had the old Puritanic
dislike to theatrical entertainments, and had always refused
to license such exhibitions. But a company of actors desired
to obtain a theatre for the season and give performances
in Worcester. There was great opposition, and the city
government ordered a public hearing of the petition in the
old City Hall. Foster was employed by the petitioners.

SOME JUDGES I HAVE KNOWN 415
The hall was crowded with citizens interested in the matter,
and the Mayor and Aldermen sat in state on the platform.
When the hearing was opened, the audience were struck
with astonishment by the coming forward of Dwight Foster's
father, the Hon. Alfred D. Foster, a highly honored citizen
of great influence and ability. He had been in the State
Senate and had held some few political offices, but had dis
liked such service and had never practised law, having a
considerable property which he had inherited from his
father, the former United States Senator. He made a most
eloquent and powerful appeal to the aldermen to refuse the
petition, in the name of morality and good order. He stated
the deplorable effect of attending such exhibitions on the
character of the youth of the city of both sexes, cited the
opinion and practice of our ancestors in such matters, and
made a profound impression. He then warned his hearers
against the young man who was to follow him, whom, he
said, he loved as his life, but he was there employed as a
lawyer with his fee in his hand, without the responsibility
which rested upon them of protecting the morals and good
order of the city. It was very seldom that so powerful a
speech was heard in that hall, although it was the cradle of
the Anti-slavery movement, and had been the scene of some
of the most famous efforts of famous orators. Everybody
supposed that the youth was crushed and would not venture
to perform his duty in the face of such an attack. But he
was fully equal to the occasion. He met his father with a
clear, simple, modest, but extremely able statement of the
other side ; pointed out the harmlessness of such exhibitions
when well conducted, and that the strictness which con
founded innocence and purity with guilt and vice was itself
the parent and cause of vice. He did not allude to his father
by name or by description, but in replying to his arguments
said: "It is said in some quarters," or "An opposition
comes from some quarters" founded on such-and-such
reasons. He got the sympathy of his audience and carried
his point. And from that time nobody hesitated to trust
Dwight Foster with any cause, however important, from
any doubt of his capacity to take care of his clients.

416 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
He had been brought up as a Whig. But when the
Nebraska Bill was passed, he became a zealous and earnest
Republican. He was candidate for Mayor, but defeated
on a very close vote by George W. Richardson. He held
the office of Judge of Probate for a short time, by appoint
ment of Governor Banks; was elected Attorney-General in
1860 when Governor Andrew was chosen Governor, and soon
after was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court, an office
which he filled with great distinction, then left the Bench
to resume his practice, and died of a disease of the heart
which he inherited from his ancestors. He was Governor
Andrew's Attorney-General during the War, who said of
him that "he was full of the fire and hard-working zeal of
Massachusetts." He was the organ of the patriotism and
energy of Worcester at the seat of government during the
war, looking out for the interests of her soldiers, and always
urging the brave and vigorous counsel. I lost a stanch
friend by his death. I can sum up his qualities in no better
way than by the word "manliness." He never uttered an
ignoble word, thought an ignoble thought, or did an ignoble
act. His method of speech was clear, simple, spirited, with
out much pathos or emotion, but still calculated to stir and
move his hearers.
I had more intimate relations with Judge Thomas L.
Nelson than with any other member of the Worcester Bar
except those with whom I formed a partnership. We were
never in partnership. But after I went to Congress in 1869,
he moved into my office until his appointment to the Bench.
So when I was at home we were in the same room. He had
been accustomed for a long time before to employ me to
assist him in important trials before the jury and in argu
ments before the Supreme Court. I suppose I am re
sponsible for his appointment to the District Court, although
the original suggestion was not mine. After the death of
Judge Shepley, there was a general expectation that Judge
John Lowell, of the District Court, would be made Circuit
Judge. One morning one of the Boston papers suggested
several names for the succession, among them that of Mr.
Knowlton, of Springfield, and Mr. Nelson. I said nothing

SOME JUDGES I HAVE KNOWN 417
to him. But he observed : "I see in a paper that I am spoken
of as District Judge. " I replied: "Yes, I saw the article."
Neither of us said anything further on the subject. When
I got to Washington I met Mr. Devens, then Attorney-Gen
eral, who said, "We shall have to appoint a District Judge,
I suppose. I think your friend Nelson is the best man for
it. But I suppose he would not accept it." I said: "No,
I don't believe he would accept it. But, if you think he is
the best man for it, the question whether he will accept it
ought to be determined by him, and not by his friends for
him." I had no thought that Mr. Nelson would leave his
practice for the Bench. But I thought it would be a very
agreeable thing to him to have the offer. I wrote to him a
day or two afterward that I thought it likely he would be
offered the place. He answered by asking me, if it were to
be offered to him, how much time would be given to him to
consider the matter. Soon after I was informed by Attorney-
General Devens that the President had offered him the place
on the Circuit Bench, and that he very much desired to
accept it. But he thought that, although the President had
put the place at his disposal, he was very unwilling to have
any change in the Cabinet, and doubted whether he ought
to accept the offer unless he were very sure the President
was willing to spare him. One day soon after. President
Hayes sent for me to come to see him. I called at the
Attorney-General's office, told him the President had sent
for me, and that he probably wished to speak about the
Circuit Judgeship, and I wanted to know what he would
like to have me say. Devens said that he should prefer that
way of spending the rest of his life to any other. But the
President had done him a great honor in inviting him to
his Cabinet, and he did not wish to leave him unless he were
sure that the President was willing. I went to the White
House. When President Hayes opened the subject, I told
him what was the Attorney-General's opinion. The Presi
dent said that if he could be sure that were true, it would
relieve his mind of a great burden. I told him he could
depend upon it. The President said he did not know
anybody else whom he should be as willing to have in his
27

418 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
Cabinet as Devens, unless I myself would consent to accept
the place. He gave a little friendly urging in that direction.
I told him that I had lately been elected to the Senate after
a considerable controversy, and that I did not think I could
in justice to the people of the State make a vacancy in the
office which would occasion a new strife. I called on Devens
on my way back, and reported to him what the President
had said. He immediately went to the White House, and
they had a full understanding, which resulted in Devens
keeping his place in the Cabinet through the Administration.
It was then suggested that while Judge Lowell was a most
admirable District Judge, and in every way an admirable
lawyer, yet that it would be better if it were possible to get
one of the leaders of the Bar, who would supply what Judge
Lowell lacked— the capacity for charging juries on facts,
and presiding at jury trials, and to leave him in the District
Court, where his services were so valuable. The office of
Circuit Judge was accordingly offered to Mr. William G.
Russell. I wrote to Nelson, asking him to consider my first
letter on the subject as not having been written. Mr. Russell
replied, declining the place, and saying, with great emphasis,
that he was sorry the President should hesitate a moment
about offering the place to Judge Lowell, whom he praised
very highly. But the President and the Attorney-General
thought that it should be offered to Mr. George 0. Shattuck,
a very eminent lawyer and advocate. On inquiry, however,
it turned out that Mr. Shattuck, who was in poor health,
was absent on a journey, and it was so unlikely that he would
accept the offer that it was thought best not to diminish the
value and honor to Judge Lowell of the place by offering
it further to another person. Accordingly the place was
offered to Judge Lowell and accepted by him.
General Devens then said to me: "I have been thinking
over the matter of the District Judge, and I think if a man
entirely suitable can be found in the Suffolk Bar, that the
appointment rather belongs to that Bar, and I should like,
if you have no objection, to propose to the President to offer
it to Mr. Charles Allen." Mr. Allen was later Judge of the
Supreme Court of Massachusetts. I assented, but said : "If

SOME JUDGES I HAVE KNOWN 419
Mr. Allen refuses it, I hope it will then be offered to Mr.
Nelson, in accordance with your original opinion." The
Attorney-General agreed. The offer was made to Mr. Allen,
and by him declined. When the letter of refusal came, the
Attorney-General and I went together to the White House
and showed the President the letter. In the meantime a
very strong recommendation of Mr. Oliver Wendell Holmes,
Jr., now of the Supreme Court, had been received by the
President. He felt a good deal of interest in Holmes. I
think they had both been wounded in the same battle. But,
at any rate, they were comrades. The President then said :
"I rather think Holmes is the man." I then gave him my
opinion of Mr. Nelson, and the President said to Devens:
"Do you agree, Mr. Attorney-General?" Devens said: "I
do." And the President said: "Then Nelson be it." Mr.
Nelson, to my surprise, accepted the appointment.
Judge Nelson was a master of equity and bankruptcy.
No doctrine was too subtle or abstruse for him. The matter
of marshalling assets, or the tacking of mortgages, and such
things which require a good deal of the genius of the mathe
matician, were clear to his apprehension. He was one of
the two or three men in the State who ever understood the
complications of the old loan-fund associations. He was
especially a master of legal remedies. He held on like a
bull-dog to a case in the justice of which he believed. When
you had got a verdict and judgment in the Supreme Court
against one of Nelson's clients, he was just ready to begin
work. Then look out for him. He had with this trait also
a great modesty and diffidence. If anybody put to him
confidently a proposition against his belief. Nelson was apt
to be silent, but, as Mr. Emerson said of Samuel Hoar,
"with an unaltered belief." He would come out with his
reply days after. When he came to state the strong point
in arguing his case, he would sink his voice so it could hardly
be heard, and look away like a bashful maiden giving her
consent. Judge Bigelow told me, very early in Nelson's
career, that he wished I would ask my friend to make his
arguments a little longer, and to raise his voice so the court
could hear him better. They always found his arguments

420 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
full of instruction, and disliked to lose anything so good a
lawyer had to say. His value as a Judge was largely in
consultation and in his sound opinions. I suppose that, like
his predecessor. Judge Lowell, he was not the very best of
Judges to preside at jury trials, or to guide juries in their
deliberations. Indeed, Nelson had many of the intellectual
traits— the same merits and the same defects that Lowell
had. Lowell was a man of great wit, and a favorite with
the Boston Bar when he was appointed. So they made the
best of him. They were not inclined to receive Nelson's
appointment very graciously. It was some years before
he established a high place in their confidence and esteem.
But it was established before his death. Gray and Putnam
and Webb, all in their way lawyers of the first class, found
Nelson a most valuable and acceptable associate, and have
all spoken of him in most enthusiastic terms. He was a
good naturalist. He knew the song-birds, their habits, and
dwelling-places. He knew all the stars. He liked to dis
cuss difficult and profound questions of public policy, con
stitutional law, philosophy, and metaphysics. Sometimes,
when I came home from Washington after a period of hard
work, if I happened to find Nelson in the cars when I went
to Boston, it was almost painful to spend the hour with him,
although his conversation was very profound and interest
ing. But it was like attempting to take up and solve a diffi
cult problem in geometry. I was tired, and wanted to be
humming a negro melody to myself. He was a man of abso
lute integrity, not caring whether he pleased or displeased
anybody. He had a good deal of literary knowledge, was
specially fond of Emerson, and knew him very thoroughly,
both prose and verse. He had a good deal of wit, one of the
brightest examples of which I will not undertake to quote
here. He was a civil engineer in his youth, and was always
valuable in complicated questions of boundary, or cases like
our sewer and water cases, which require the application of
practical mathematics. He was a friendly and placable per
son so far as he was concerned himself, but resented, with
great indignation, any unkindness toward any of his friends
or household. His friend and associate. Judge Webb, after

SOME JUDGES I HAVE KNOWN 421
his death spoke with great beauty and pathos of Nelson's
love of nature and of his old country home:
"When, in later years, he revisited the scenes of his child
hood, he made no effort to conceal his affection for them;
as he wandered among the mountains and along the valleys,
so dearly remembered, his eye would grow bright, his face
beam with pleasure, and his voice sound with the tone of
deep sensibility. He grew eloquent as he described the
beauty spread out before him, and lovingly dwelt on the
majesty and grandeur of the mountain at the foot of which
his infancy was cradled. It was high companionship to be
with him at such times. His ear was open to catch the note
of every bird, which came to him like voices of well-beloved
friends; he knew the brooks from their sources to their
mouths, and the rivers murmured to him the songs they sang
in the Auld Lang Syne. But deep as was the joy of these
visits, they did not allure him from the more rugged paths
of labor and duty. ' '
The wisdom of Nelson's selection, if it need vindication,
is abundantly established by the memorial of him reported
by a committee, of which Lewis S. Dabney was chairman,
and adopted by the Suffolk Bar. The Bar, speaking of the
doubt expressed in the beginning by those who feared an
inland lawyer on the Admiralty Bench, goes on to say :
"Those who knew him well, however, knew that he had
been a successful master and referee in many complicated
cases of great importance; that his mathematical and sci
entific knowledge acquired in his early profession as an
engineer was large and accurate, and would be useful in his
new position ; that he who had successfully drawn important
public acts would be a successful interpreter of such acts;
that always a student approaching every subject, not as an
advocate but as a judicial observer, he would give that atten
tion to whatever was new among the problems of his judicial
office that would make him their best master and interpreter,
and that what in others might be considered weakness or
indolence was but evidence of a painful shrinking from dis-

422 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
playing in public a naturally firm, strong, earnest and per
sistent character, a character which would break out through
the limitations of nature whenever the occasion required it.
"Those who, as his associates upon the Bench, or as prac
titioners before him at the Bar, have had occasion to watch
his long and honorable career, now feel that the judgment
of his friends was the best and that his appointment has been
justified; and those who have known him as an Associate
Justice of the Circuit Court of Appeals have felt this even
more strongly."
Another striking figure of my time was Horace Gray.
He was in the class before me at Harvard, though consider
ably younger. I knew him by sight only in those days. He
was very tall, with an exceedingly youthful countenance, and
a head that looked then rather small for so large-limbed a
youth— rather awkward in his gait and bearing. But after
he reached manhood he grew into one of the finest-looking
men of his time. I believe he was the tallest man in Bos
ton. He expanded in every way to a figure which corre
sponded with his stately height. He was the grandson of
the famous William Gray, the great merchant and ship
owner of New England, who was an important figure in the
days just preceding and just following the War of 1812.
Many anecdotes are still current of his wise and racy say
ings. His sons inherited large fortunes and were all of
them men of mark and influence in Boston. Francis C.
Gray, the Judge 's uncle, was a man of letters, a historical in
vestigator. He discovered the priceless Body of Liberties
of 1641, which had remained unprinted from that time, al
though the source from which our Bill of Rights and con
stitutional provisions had been so largely drawn.
Judge Gray's father was largely employed in manufac
turing and owned some large iron works. The son had been
brought up, I suppose, to expect that his life would be one
of comfort and ease, free from all anxieties about money,
and the extent of the labor of life would be, perhaps, to visit
the counting-room a few hours in the day to look over the
books and see generally that his affairs were properly con-

SOME JUDGES I HAVE KNOWN 423
ducted by his agents and subordinates. He had visited
Europe more than once, and was abroad shortly after his
graduation when the news reached him that the companies
in which has father 's fortune was invested had failed. He
at once hurried home and set himself resolutely to work to
take care of himself. He was an accomplished naturalist
for his age and time, and had a considerable library of
works on natural history. He exchanged them for law
books and entered the Law School. I was splitting wood to
make my own fire one autumn morning when my door, which
was ajar, was pushed open, and I saw a face somewhere up
in the neighborhood of the transom. It was Gray, who had
come to inquire what it was all about. He had little knowl
edge of the rules or fashions of the Law School. I told him
about the scheme of instruction and the hours of lectures,
and so forth. We became fast friends, a friendship main
tained to his death. He at once manifested a very vigorous
intellect and a memory, not only for legal principles, but for
the names of cases, which I suppose had been cultivated by
his studies in natural history and learning the scientific
names of birds and plants. At any rate, he became one of
the best pupils in the Law School. He afterward studied
law with Edward D. Sohier, and immediately after his ad
mission became Imown as one of the most promising young
men at the Bar. Luther S. Cushing was then Reporter of
the decisions of the Supreme Court. He was in poor health
and employed Gray to represent him as Reporter on the
Circuit. Gray always had a marvellous gift of remembering
just where a decision of a principle of law could be found,
and his thumb and forefinger would travel instantly to the
right book on the obscurest shelf in a Law Library. So
nothing seemed to escape his thorough and indefatigable re
search. When he was on the Circuit, learned counsel would
often be arguing some question of law for which they had
most industriously prepared, when the young Reporter would
hand them a law-book with a case in it which had escaped
their research. So the best lawyers all over the State got ac
quainted at an early day with his learning and industry, and
when Cushing soon after was obliged to resign the office of

424 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
Reporter, Gray was appointed by the general consent of the
best men of the profession, although he had as a competitor
Judge Perkins, a very well known lawyer and Judge, who
had edited some important law-books and was a man of ma
ture age. This was in 1854, only three years after his ad
mission to the Bar. The office of Reporter was then one of
the great offices of the State, almost equal in dignity to that
of the Judge of the Supreme Court itself. Four of our
Massachusetts Reporters have been raised to that Bench.
He was quite largely retained and employed during that
period, especially in important questions of commercial law.
He resigned his office of Reporter about the time of the
breaking out of the war. Governor Andrew depended upon
his advice and guidance in some very important and novel
questions of military law, and in 1864 he was appointed
Associate Justice of the Court. In 1873 he became its Chief
Justice, and in 1882 was made Associate Justice of the
Supreme Court of the United States. The extent of his
learning and the rapidity and thoroughness of his research
were marvellous. But it is not upon this alone, or chiefly,
that his fame as one of the great Judges of the world will
rest. He was a man of a native, original intellectual power,
unsurpassed by any man who has been on the Bench in his
time, either in this country or in England. His decisions
have been as sound and as acceptable to the profession upon
questions where no authority could be found upon which to
rest, and upon questions outside of the beaten paths of juris
prudence as upon those where he found aid in his great legal
learning. He was a remarkably acceptable nisi-prius Judge
when holding court in the rural counties, and, though bred
in a city, where human nature is not generally learned so
well, he was especially fortunate and successful in dealing
with questions of fact which grow out of the transactions of
ordinary and humble life in the country. He manifested
on one or two occasions the gift of historical research and
discussion for which his uncle Francis was so distin
guished. It was my sorrowful duty to preside at a meeting of the
Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States to express

SOME JUDGES I HAVE KNOWN 425
their sense of their great loss and that of the whole country,
after Gray's death.
I add some extracts from the remarks which I made on
that occasion:
The Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States come
together to pay a tribute of honor to a great lawyer and
Judge. I shall have, I am sure, another opportunity to put
on record my own sense of the irreparable loss of a dear
friend and comrade of more than fifty years. To-day we
are to speak, as members of the Bar, of an honored Judge
whom the inexorable shaft has stricken in his high place.
He was in his seat in the Supreme Court of the United
States for the last time Monday, February 3, 1902. On the
evening of that day he had a slight paralytic shock, which
seriously affected his physical strength. He retained his
mental strength and activity unimpaired until just before
his death. On the 9th day of July, 1902, he sent his resig
nation to the President, to take effect on the appointment
and qualifying of his successor. So, he died in office, Sep
tember 15, 1902.
On the mother's side Judge Gray was the grandson of
Jabez Upham, one of the great lawyers of the day, who died
in 1811, at the age of forty-six, after a brief service in the
National House of Representatives. He was settled in
Brookfield, Worcester County. But the traditions of his
great ability were fresh when I went there to live, nearly
forty years after his death. The memory of the beauty
and sweetness and delightful accomplishment of Mr. Up
ham 's daughter. Judge Gray's mother, who died in the
Judge's early youth, was still fragrant among the old men
and women who had been her companions. She is mentioned
repeatedly in the letters of that accomplished Scotch lady
—friend of Walter Scott and of so many of the English and
Scotch men of letters in her time— Mrs. Grant of Laggan.
Mrs. Grant says in a letter published in her Memoir : ' ' My
faihng memory represents my short intercourse with Mrs.
Gray as if some bright vision from a better world had come
and, vanishing, left a trail behind." In another letter she

426 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
speaks of the enchantment of Mrs. Gray's character:
"Anything so pure, so bright, so heavenly I have rarely met
with." The title, which the kindness of our countrymen has given
to Massachusetts, that of Model Commonwealth, I think
has been earned largely by the character of her Judiciary,
and never could have been acquired without it. Among
the great figures that have adorned that Bench in the past,
the figure of Justice Gray is among the most conspicuous
and stately.
Judge Gray has had from the beginning a reputation
for wonderful research. Nothing ever seemed to escape his
industry and profound learning. This was shown on a few
occasions when he undertook some purely historical investi
gation, as in his notes on the case of the Writs of Assistance,
argued by James Otis and reported in Quincy 's Reports,
and his recent admirable address at Richmond, on Chief
Justice Marshall. But while all his opinions are full of
precedent and contain all the learning of the case, he was,
I think, equally remarkable for the wisdom, good sense,
and strength of his judgments. I do not think of any Judge
of his time anywhere, either here or in England, to whom
the profession would ascribe a higher place if he be judged
only by the correctness of his opinions in cases where there
were no precedents on which to lean and for the excellent
original reasons which he had to give. I think Judge
Gray's fame, on the whole, would have been greater as a
man of original power if he had resisted, sometimes, the
temptation to marshal an array of cases, and had suffered
his judgments to stand on his statement of legal principles
without the authorities. He manifested another remarkable
quality when he was on the Bench of Massachusetts. He
was an admirable nisi-prius Judge. I think we rarely
have ever had a better. He possessed that faculty which
made the jury, in the old days, so admirable a mechanism
for performing their part in the administration of justice.
He had the rare gift, especially rare in men whose training
has been chiefly upon the Bench, of discerning the truth of
the fact, in spite of the apparent weight of the evidence.

SOME JUDGES I HAVE KNOWN 427
That Court, in his time, had exclusive jurisdiction of
divorces and other matters affecting the marital relations.
The Judge had to hear and deal with transactions of humble
life and of country life. It was surprising how this man,
bred in a city, in high social position, having no opportunity
to know the modes of thought and of life of poor men and
of rustics, would settle these interesting and delicate ques
tions, affecting so deeply the life of plain men and country
farmers, and with what unerring sagacity he came to the
wise and righteous result.
Judge Gray's opinions for the eighteen years during
which he sat on the Bench of Massachusetts constitute an
important body of jurisprudence, from which the student
can learn the whole range of the law as it rests on principle
and on authority.
And so it came to pass when the place of Mr. Justice
Clifford became vacant that by the almost universal consent
of the New England Circuit, with the general approval
of the profession throughout the whole country, Mr. Justice
Gray became his successor. Of his service here there are
men better qualified to speak than I am. He took his place
easily among the great Judges of the world. He has borne
himself in his great office so, I believe, as to command the
approbation of his countrymen of all sections and of all
parties. He has been every inch a Judge. He has main
tained the dignity of his office everywhere. He has endeared
himself to a large circle of friends here at the National
Capital by his elegant and gracious hospitality. His life
certainly has been fortunate. The desire of his youth has
been fulfilled. From the time, more than fifty years ago,
when he devoted himself to his profession, there has been,
I suppose, no moment when he did not regard the office of
a Justice of the Supreme Court as not only the most
attractive but also the loftiest of human occupations. He
has devoted himself to that with a single purpose. He has
sought no fame or popularity by any other path. Certainly
his fife has been fortunate. It has lasted to a good old age.
But the summons came for him when his eye was not
dimmed nor his natural force abated. He drank of the cup

428 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
of the waters of life while it was sweetest and clearest, and
was not left to drink it to the dregs. He was fortunate also,
almost beyond the lot of humanity, in that by a rare felicity,
the greatest joy of youth came to him in an advanced age.
Everything that can make life honorable, everything that
can make life happy— honor, success, the consciousness of
usefulness, the regard of his countrymen, and the supremest
delight of family life— all were his. His friends take leave
of him as another of the great and stately figures in the long
and venerable procession of American Judges.
Next to Judge Wilde in seniority upon the Bench among
the associate Judges was Mr. Justice Charles A. Dewey of
Northampton. He had had a good deal of experience as a
prosecuting attorney in a considerable general practice in
the western part of the State. He was careful in his opin
ions never to go beyond what was necessary for the case
at bar. It is said that there is no instance that any opinion
of his was ever overruled in a very long judicial service.
Judge Dewey was a man of absolute integrity and faith
ful in the discharge of his judicial duty. He had no senti
ment and, so far as I ever knew, took little interest in
matters outside of his important official duties. He was
very careful in the management of property. When the
Democrats were in power in Massachusetts in 1843 they re
duced the salaries of the Judges of the Supreme Court in
violation of the Constitutional provision. Chief Justice
Shaw refused to touch a dollar of his salary until the Legis
lature the next year restored the old salary and provided
for the payment of the arrears. Judge Dewey held out for
one quarter. But the next quarter he went quietly to the
State House, drew his quarter's salary, went down on to
State Street and invested it, and did the same every quarter
thereafter. In the days of my early practice the Supreme Court used
to sit in Worcester for about five or six weeks, beginning
in April. It had exclusive jurisdiction of real actions, and
limited equity jurisdiction. All suits where the matter in
issue was more than three hundred dollars might be brought
originally in that court or removed there by the defendant

SOME JUDGES I HAVE KNOWN 429
from the Common Pleas if the plaintiff began it below. So
the court had a great deal of business. It also had jurisdic
tion of divorce cases, appeals from the Probate Court and
some special writs such as habeas corpus, certiorari and
mandamus. But after all, the old Court of Common Pleas
was the place where the greater part of the law business
of the county was transacted. There were at first four civil
terms in the year, and, after Fitchburg became a half shire,
there were two more terms held there. The Common Pleas
had jurisdiction of all crimes except capital.
There were some very interesting characters among the
old Judges of the Common Pleas. Among the most remark
able was Judge Edward Mellen, who was first side Judge
and afterward Chief Justice. He was a man of great law-
learning, indefatigable industry and remarkable memory
for cases, diffuse and long-winded in his charges, and apt
to take sides. He took everything very seriously. It is
said that he would listen to the most pathetic tale of human
suffering unmoved, but would burst into tears at the men
tion of a stake and stones or two chestnut staddles.
Mellen with the other Judges of the old Common Pleas
Court was legislated off the Bench by the abolition of that
court in 1858. He moved from Middlesex to Worcester and
resumed practice, but was never largely employed. He was
a repository of the old stories of the Middlesex Bar, many of
which died with him.
A LoweU lawyer told me this story of Judge Mellen.
My informant had in his office a law student who spent most
of his time in reading novels and poetry and writing occa
sionally for the newspapers. He was anxious to get ad
mitted to the Bar and had crammed for the examination.
In those days, unless the applicant had studied three years,
when he was admitted as of course, the Judge examined him
himself. The Judge was holding court in Concord, and an
arrangement was made that the youngster should go to the
Judge's room in the evening and submit himself to the ex
amination. He kept the appointment, but in about ten min
utes came out. My informant, who had recommended him,
asked him what was the matter. He said he didn't know.

430 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
The Judge had asked him one question only. He was sure
he answered it right, but the Judge immediately dismissed
him with great displeasure. The next morning the law^-er
went up to Judge MeUen in court and said, "Judge, what
was the matter with the young man last night ? Did you not
find him fitted?"
"Fitted?" said the Judge, "No sir. I asked him what
was the rule in Shelley's Case, and he told me the rule in
Shelley's Case was that when the father was an atheist the
Lord Chancellor would appoint a guardian for his chil
dren. ' '
"Ah," was the reply, "I see. The trouble is that neither
of you ever heard of the other's Shelley."
Judge Byington of Stockbridge in Berkshire used to come
to Worcester a great deal to hold the old Common Pleas
Court. He was an excellent lawyer and an excellent Judge-
dry, fond of the common law, and of black letter authorities.
He had a curious habit of giving his charge in one long sen
tence without periods, but with a great many parentheses.
But he had great influence with the juries and was very
sound and correct in his law. I once tried a case before him
for damages for the seizure of a stock of liquors under the
provisions of the Statute of 1852, known as the Maine
Liquor Law, which had been held unconstitutional by the
Supreme Court. He began: "The Statute of 1852 chap
ter so-and-so gentlemen of the jury commonly known as the
Maine Liquor Law which has created great feeling through
out this Commonwealth some very good men were in favor
of it and some very good men were against it read literally
part of it would be ridiculous and you may take your seats
if you please gentlemen of the jury I shall be occupied some
time in my charge and I do not care to keep you standing
and some of it would be absurd and some of it reads very
weU." And so on.
A neighbor of Judge Byington from Berkshire County
was Judge Henry W. Bishop of Stockbridge. He was an
old Democratic politician and at one time the candidate
of his party for Governor. He was not a very learned
lawyer, but was quick-witted and picked up a good deal from

SOME JUDGES I HAVE KNOWN 431
the arguments of counsel. Aided by a natural shrewdness
and sense, he got along pretty well. He had a gift of rather
bombastic speech. His exuberant eloquence was of a style
more resembling that prevalent in some other parts of the
country than the more sober and severe fashion of New
England. Just before he came to the Bench he was counsel
in a real estate case in Springfield where Mr. Chapman,
afterward Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, was on the
other side. The evidence of recent occupation and the
monuments tended in favor of Chapman's client. But it
turned out that the one side had got a title under the original
grant of the town of Blandford, and the other under the
original grant of an adjoining town, and that the town line
had been maintained from the beginning where Bishop
claimed the true line to be. When he came to that part of
the case, he rose mightily in his stirrups. Turning upon
Chapman, who was a quiet, mild-mannered old gentleman,
he said: "The gentleman's eyes may twinkle like Castor
and Pollux, twin stars ; but he can 't wink out of sight that
town line of Blandford. He may place one foot on Orion
and the other on Arcturus, and seize the Pleiades by the
hair and wring all the water from their dripping urns ; but
he can't wash out that town line of Blandford." The
local newspaper got hold of the speech and reported it, and
it used to be spoken occasionally by the school boys for their
declamation. Bishop is said to have been much disturbed
by the ridicule it created, and to have refused ever to go to
Springfield again on any professional employment.
Judge Aldrich was appointed to the Bench of the Superior
Court of Massachusetts by Governor William B. Washburn
after I left the practice of the law for public life. I ap
peared before him in a very few cases and must take his
judicial quality largely from the report of others. He was
a very powerful and formidable advocate, especially in
cases where moral principles or the family relations were
concerned, or where any element of pathos enabled him to
appeal to the jury. The most tedious hours of my life, I
think, have been those when I was for the defendant and
he for the plaintiff, and I had to sit and listen to his closing

432 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
argument in reply to mine. He had a gift of simple elo
quence ; the influence with juries which comes from earnest
ness and the profound conviction of the righteousness of
the cause he advocated, and the weight of an unsullied per
sonal character and unquestioned integrity.
Mr. Aldrich 's appointment to the Bench came rather late
in his life, so he was not promoted to the Supreme Court,
which would undoubtedly have happened if he had been
younger. He was an excellent magistrate and the author
of one or two valuable law books. Although my chief mem
ories of him are of the many occasions on which I have
crossed swords with him, and of battles when our feelings
and sympathy were profoundly stirred, still they are of the
most affectionate character. He had a quick temper and
was easily moved to anger in the trial of a case. But as an
eminent western Judge is reported to have said in speak
ing of some offence that had been committed at the Bar:
"This Court herself are naterally quick-tempered." So
the sparks of our quarrels went out as quickly as they were
kindled. I think of P. Emory Aldrich as a stanch and con
stant friend, from whom, so long as his life lasted, I received
nothing but friendliest sympathy and constant and power
ful support.
Judge Aldrich, as I just said, was a man of quick temper.
He was ready to accept any challenge to a battle, especially
one which seemed to have anything of personal disrespect
in it. I was present on one occasion when the ludicrous mis
spelling of a word, it is very likely, saved him from coming
to blows with a very worthy and well-known citizen of
Worcester County. Colonel Artemas Lee, of Templeton,
one of the most estimable citizens of northern Worcester
County, a man imperious and quick-tempered, who had been
apt to have his own way in the region where he dwelt, and
not very willing to give up to anybody, employed me once
to bring a suit for him against the Town of Templeton to
recover taxes which he claimed had been illegally assessed
and collected. He was a man whose spelling had been
neglected in early youth. Aldrich was for the Town. All
the facts showing the illegality of the assessment, of course,

SOME JUDGES I HAVE KNOWN 433
were upon the Town records. So we thought if the parties
met with their counsel we could agree upon a statement of
facts and submit the question of law to the court. We met
in Judge Aldrich 's office. Colonel Lee and myself and Judge
Aldrich and some of the Town officers, to make up the state
ment. But Mr. Aldrich had not had time to look very
deeply into the law of the case, and made some difficulties in
agreeing upon the facts, which we thought rather unreason
able. We sat up to a late hour in a hot summer evening
trying to get at a statement. At last Lee's patience gave
out. He had had one or two hot passages at arms with
Mr. Aldrich in the course of the discussion already. He
rose to his feet and said in a very loud and angry tone— his
voice was always something like that of a bull of Bashan—
"This is a farce." Aldrich rose from his seat and to the
occasion and said very angrily, "What's that you say. Sir?"
Lee clenched both his fists by his side, thrust his own angry
countenance close up to that of his antagonist, and said, "A
farce. Sir— F-A-R-S-E, Farce." Aldrich caught my eye
as I was sitting behind my client and noticed my look of
infinite amusement. His anger yielded to the comedy of
the occasion. He burst into a roar of laughter and peace
was saved. If Lee had spelled the word farce with a " c, "
there would have been a battle royal.

28

CHAPTER XXXIX
POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS FAITH
I CLOSE this book with a statement of the political prin
ciples which I think define the duty of the American people
in the near future, and from which I hope the Republic will
not depart until time shall be no more; and of the simple
religious faith in which I was bred, and to which I now
hold. They cannot to my mind be separated. One will be found
in some resolutions offered in the Senate December 20, 1899.
The other in what I said on taking the chair at the National
Unitarian Conference, at Washington, in October, 1899,
"Mr. Hoar submitted the following resolution:
' ' Whereas the American people and the several States in
the Union have in times past, at important periods in their
history, especially when declaring their Independence, es
tablishing their Constitutions, or undertaking new and great
responsibilities, seen fit to declare the purposes for which
the Nation or State was founded and the important objects
the people intend to pursue in their political action; and
"Whereas the close of a great war, the liberation by the
United States of the people of Cuba and Porto Rico in the
Western Hemisphere and of the Philippine Islands in the
far East, and the reduction of those peoples to a condition
of practical dependence upon the United States, constitute
an occasion which makes such a declaration proper: There
fore, be it
"Resolved, That this Republic adheres to the doctrines
which were in the past set forth in the Declaration of Inde
pendence and in its National and State constitutions.
"Resolved, That the purpose of its existence and the ob
jects to which its political action ought to be directed are
434

POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS FAITH 435
the ennobling of humanity, the raising from the dust its
humblest and coarsest members, and the enabling of persons
coming lawfully under its power or influence to live in free
dom and in honor under governments whose forms they are
to have a share in determining and in whose administration
they have an equal voice. Its most important and pressing
obligations are:
"First. To solve the difficult problem presented by the
presence of different races on our own soil with equal Con
stitutional rights ; to make the Negro safe in his home, secure
in his vote, equal in his opportunity for education and em
ployment, and to bring the Indian to a civilization and cul
ture in accordance with his need and capacity.
"Second. To enable great cities to govern themselves in
freedom, in honor, and in purity.
' ' Third. To make the ballot box as pure as a sacramental
vessel, and the election return as perfectly in accord with
the law and the truth as the judgment of the Supreme Court.
"Fourth. To banish illiteracy and ignorance from the
land. "Fifth. To secure for every workman and for every
working woman wages enough to support a life of comfort
and an old age of leisure and quiet, as befits those who have
an equal share in a self-governing State.
"Sixth. To grow and expand over the continent and over
the islands of the sea just so fast, and no faster, as we can
bring into equality and self-government under our Consti
tution peoples and races who will share these ideals and help
to make them realities.
"Seventh. To set a peaceful example of freedom which
mankind will be glad to follow, but never to force even free
dom upon unwilling nations at the point of the bayonet or
at the cannon's mouth.
"Eighth. To abstain from intei;"fering with the freedom
and just rights of other nations or peoples, and to remem
ber that the liberty to do right necessarily involves the lib
erty to do wrong ; and that the American people has no right
to take from any other people the birthright of freedom
because of a fear that they will do wrong with it. ' '

436 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
Speech on Taking the Chair at the National Unitarian
Conference, in Washington, October, 1899
' ' The part assigned to me, in the printed plan of our pro
ceedings, is the delightful duty of bidding you welcome.
But you find a welcome from each other in the glance of the
eye, in the pressure of the hand, in the glad tone of the voice,
better than any that can be put into formal words.
Prom hand to hand the greeting goes ;
Prom eye to eye the signals run ;
From heart to heart the bright hope glows:
The seekers of the light are one.
Every Unitarian, man and woman, every lover of God or
His Son, every one who in loving his fellow-men loves God
and His Son, even without knowing it, is welcome in this
company. ' ' We are sometimes told, as if it were a reproach, that we
cannot define Unitarianism. For myself, I thank God that
it is not to be defined. To define is to bound, to enclose, to
set limit. The great things of the universe are not to be
defined. You cannot define a human soul. You cannot de
fine the intellect. You cannot define immortality or eter
nity. You cannot define God.
"I think, also, that the things we are to be glad of and to
be proud of and are to be thankful for are not those things
that separate us from the great body of Christians or the
great body of believers in God and in righteousness, but in
the things that unite us with them. No Five Points, no
Athanasian Creed, no Thirty-nine Articles, separate the men
and women of our way of thinking from humanity or from
Divinity. "But still, although we do not define Unitarianism, we
know our own when we see them. There are men and
women who like to be called by our name. There are men
and women for whom Faith, Hope, and Charity forever
abide; to whom Judea's news are still glad tidings; who be
lieve that one day Jesus Christ came to this earth, bearing a
Divine message and giving a Divine example. There are

POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS FAITH 437
women who bear their own sorrows of life by soothing the
sorrows of others; youths who, when Duty whispers low,
'Thou must,' reply, 'I can'; and old men to whom the ex
perience of life has taught the same brave lesson ; examples
of the patriotism that will give its life for its country when
in the right, and the patriotism that will make itself of no
reputation, if need be, to save its country from being in the
wrong. "They do not comprehend the metaphysics of a Trinal
Unity, nor how it is just that innocence should be punished,
that guilt may go free. They do not attribute any magic
virtue to the laying on of hands ; nor do they believe that
the traces of an evil life in the soul can be washed out by
the sprinkling of a few drops of water, however pure, or by
baptism in any blood, however innocent, in the hour of
death. But they do understand the Ten Commandments
and the Golden Rule, and they know and they love and they
practise the great virtues which the Apostle tells us are to
abide. "I think there can be found in this country no sectarian
ism so narrow, so hide-bound, so dogma-clad, that it would
like to blot out from the history of the country what the
men of our faith have contributed to it. On the first roll
of this Washington parish will be found close together the
names of John C. Calhoun and John Quincy Adams. John
Quincy Adams had learned from his father and niother the
liberal Christian faith he transmitted to his illustrious son.
If we would blot out Unitarianism from the history of the
country, we must erase the names of many famous states
men, many famous philanthropists, many great reformers,
many great orators, many famous soldiers, from its annals,
and nearly all of our great poets from its literature.
"I could exhaust not only the time I have a right to take,
but I could fill the week if I were to recall their names and
tell the story of their lives. Still less could I speak ade
quately of the men and women who, in almost every neigh
borhood throughout the country, have found in this Unitar
ian faith of ours a stimulant to brave and noble lives and a
sufficient comfort and support in the hour of a brave death.

438 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
As I stand here on this occasion, my heart is full of one
memory,— of one who loved our Unitarian faith with the
whole fervor of his soul, who in his glorious prime, possess
ing everything which could make life happy and precious,
the love of wife and children and friends, the joy of pro
fessional success, the favor of his fellow-citizens, the fulness
of health, the consciousness of high talent, heard the voice
of the Lord speaking from the fever-haunted hospital and
the tropical swamp, and the evening dews and damps, say
ing, 'Where is the messenger that will take his life in his
hand, that I may send him to carry health to my stricken
soldiers and sailors?' When the Lord said, 'Whom shall
I send ? ' he answered, ' Here am I : send me. ' *
' ' The difference between Christian sects, like the difference
between individual Christians, is not so much in the matter
of belief or disbelief of portions of the doctrine of the Scrip
ture as in the matter of emphasis. It is a special quality
and characteristic of Unitarianism that Unitarians every
where lay special emphasis upon the virtue of Hope. It
was said of Cromwell by his secretary that hope shone in
him like a fiery pillar when it had gone out in every other.
' ' There are two great texts in the Scripture in whose sub
lime phrases are contained the germs of all religion, whether
natural or revealed. They lay hold on two eternities. One
relates to Deity in his solitude, — 'Before Abraham was, I
am.' The other is for the future. It sums up the whole
duty and the whole destiny of man: 'And now abideth
Faith, Hope, and Charity,— these three.' If Faith, Hope,
and Charity abide, then Humanity abides. Faith is for
beings without the certainty of omniscience. Hope is for
beings without the strength of omnipotence. And Charity,
as the apostle describes it, affects the relations of beings
limited and imperfect to one another.
"Why is it that this Christian virtue of Hope is placed as
the central figure of the sublime group who are to accom
pany the children of God through their unending life? It
* Sherman Hoar, who after a brilliant public and professional career, gave
his life to his country by exposure in caring for the sick soldiers of the
Spanish war.

POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS FAITH 439
is because without it Faith would be impossible and Charity
would be wasted.
"Hope is that attribute of the soul which believes in the
final triumph of righteousness. It has no place in a theol
ogy which believes in the final perdition of the larger num
ber of mankind. Mighty Jonathan Edwards,- the only
genius since Dante akin to Dante,— could you not see that,
if your world exist where there is no hope and where there
is no love, there can be no faith? Who can trust the prom
ise of a God who has created a Universe and peopled it with
fiends? The Apostle of your doleful gospel must preach
quite another Evangel: And now abideth Hate, and now
abideth Wrath, and now abideth Despair, and now abideth
Woe unutterable. With Hope, as we have defined it,—
namely, the confident expectation of the final triumph of
righteousness,— we are but a little lower than the angels:
without it we are but a kind of vermin.
' ' The literature of free countries is full of cheer : the story
ends happily. The fiction of despotic countries is hopeless.
People of free countries will not tolerate a fiction which
teaches that in the end evil is triumphant and virtue is
wretched. Want of hope means either distrust of God or
a belief in the essential baseness of man or both. It teaches
men to be base. It makes a country base. A world wherein
there is no hope is a world where there is no virtue. The
contrast between the teacher of hope and the teacher of
despair is to be found in the pessimism of Carlyle and the
serene cheerfulness of Emerson. Granting to the genius of
Carlyle everything that is claimed for it, I believe that his
chief title hereafter to respect as a moral teacher will be
found in Emerson 's certificate.
"But I must not detain you any longer from the business
which waits for this convention. It is the last time that I
shall enjoy the great privilege and honor of occupying this
chair. "Perhaps I may be pardoned, as I have said something of
the religious faith of my fellow Unitarians, if I declare my
own, which I believe is theirs also. I have no faith in fatal
ism, in destiny, in blind force. I believe in God, the living

440 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
God, in the American people, a free and brave people, who
do not bow the neck or bend the knee to any other, and who
desire no other to bow the neck or bend the knee to them.
I believe that the God who created this world has ordained
that his children may work out their own salvation and that
his nations may work out their own salvation by obedience
to his laws without any dictation or coercion from any other,
I believe that liberty, good government, free institutions,
cannot be given by any one people to any other, but must
be wrought out for each by itself, slowly, painfully, in the
process of years or centuries, as the oak adds ring to ring.
I believe that a Republic is greater than an Empire. I be
lieve that the moral law and the Golden Rule are for nations
as well as for individuals. I believe in George Washing
ton, not in Napoleon Bonaparte ; in the Whigs of the Revolu
tionary day, not in the Tories ; in Chatham, Burke, and Sam
Adams, not in Dr. Johnson or Lord North. I believe that
the North Star, abiding in its place, is a greater influence
in the Universe than any comet or meteor. I believe that
the United States when President McKinley was inaugur
ated was a greater world power than Rome in the height of
her glory or even England with her 400,000,000 vassals. I
believe, finally, whatever clouds may darken the horizon,
that the world is growing better, that to-day is better than
yesterday, and to-morrow will be better than to-day."

CHAPTER XL
EDWARD EVERETT HALE
To give a complete and truthful account of my own life,
the name of Edward Everett Hale should appear on almost
every page. I became a member of his parish in Worcester
in August, 1849. Wherever I have been, or wherever he has
been, I have been his parishioner ever since. I do not un
dertake to speak of him at length not only because he is
alive, but because his countrymen know him through and
through, almost as well as I do.
He has done work of the first quality in a great variety
of fields. In each he has done work enough to fill the life
and to fill the measure of fame of a busy and successful man.
I have learned of him the great virtue of Hope; to judge
of mankind by their merits and not their faults ; to under
stand that the great currents of history, especially in a re
public, more especially in our Republic, are determined by
great and noble motives and not by mean and base motives.
In his very best work Dr. Hale seems always to be doing
and saying what he does and says extempore, without pre
meditation. Where he gets the time to acquire his vast
stores of knowledge, or to think the thoughts we all like to
hear, nobody can tell. When he speaks or preaches or
writes, he opens his intellectual box and takes the first ap
propriate thing that comes to hand.
I do not believe we have a more trustworthy historian
than Dr. Hale, so far as giving us the motive and pith and
essence of great transactions. He is sometimes criticised
for inaccuracy in dates or matters that are trifling or inci
dental. I suppose that comes from the fact that while he
stores away in his mind everything that is essential, and
trusts to his memory for that, he has not the time, which less
441

442 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
busy men have, to verify every unsubstantial detail before
he speaks or writes. Sir Thomas Browne put on record his
opinion of such critics in the "Christian Morals."
' ' Quotation mistakes, inadvertency, expedition and human
Lapses, may make not only Moles but Warts in learned Au
thors, who notwithstanding, being judged by the capital
matter, admit not of disparagement. I should unwillingly
affirm that Cicero was but slightly versed in Homer, because
in his Work De Gloria he ascribed those verses unto Ajax,
which were delivered by Hector. Capital Truths are to be
narrowly eyed, collateral Lapses and circumstantial deliver
ies not to be too strictly sifted. And if the substantial sub
ject be well forged out, we need not examine the sparks
which irregularly fly from it."
When Dr. Hale was eighty years old, his countrymen mani
fested their affection for him in a manner which I think no
other living man could have commanded. It was my great
privilege to be asked to say to him what all men were think
ing, at a great meeting in Boston. The large and beautiful
hall was thronged with a very small portion of his friends.
If they had all gathered, the City itself would have been
thronged. I am glad to associate my name with that of my
beloved teacher and friend by preserving here what I said.
It is a feeble and inadequate tribute.
The President of the United States spoke for the whole
country in the message •which he sent:
White House, Washington, Mar. 25, 1902.
My dear Sen. Hoar: I very earnestly wish I could be at
the meeting over which you are to preside in honor of the
eightieth birthday of Edward Everett Hale. A classical
allusion or comparison is always very trite; but I suppose
all of us who have read the simpler classical books think of
Timoleon in his last days at Syracuse, loved and honored
in his old age by the fellow citizens in whose service he had
spent the strength of his best years, as one of the noblest

EDWARD EVERETT HALE 443
and most attractive figures in all history. Dr. Hale is just
such a figure now.
We love him and we revere him. We are prouder of our
citizenship because he is our fellow citizen ; and we feel that
his life and his writings, both alike, spur us steadily to
fresh effort toward high thinking and right living.
To have written "The Man Without a Country" by itself
would be quite enough to make all the nation his debtor. I
belong to the innumerable army of those who owe him much,
and through you I wish him Godspeed now.
Ever faithfully yours,
Theodore Roosevelt.
I spoke as follows:
"If I try to say all that is in my heart to-night, I do not
know where to begin. If I try to say all that is in your
hearts, or in the hearts of his countrymen, I do not know
where to leave off. Yet I can only say what everybody here
is silently saying to himself. When one of your kindred
or neighbors comes to be eighty years old, after a useful and
honored life, especially if he be still in the vigor of manly
strength, his eye not dim or his natural force abated, his
children and his friends like to gather at his dwelling in his
honor, and tell him the story of their gratitude and love.
They do not care about words. It is enough if there be
pressure of the hand and a kindly and loving glance of the
eye. That is all we can do now. But the trouble is to
know how to do it when a man 's friends and lovers and spir
itual children are to be counted by the million. I suppose
if all the people in this country, and, indeed in all the quar
ters of the globe, who would like to tell their gratitude to
Dr. Hale, were to come together to do it, Boston Common
would not hold them.
"There is once in a while, though the quality is rare, an
author, a historian, or a writer of fiction, or a preacher, or a
pastor, or an orator or a poet, or an influential or beloved
citizen, who in everything he says or does seems to be send
ing a personal message from himself. The message is in-

444 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
spired and tinctured and charged and made electric with
the quality of the individual soul. We know where it comes
from. No mask, no shrinking modesty can hide the indi
viduality. Every man knows from whom it comes, and hails
it as a special message to himself. We say. That is from
my friend to me! The message may be read by a million
eyes and reach a million souls. But every one deems it
private and confidential to him.
' ' This is only, when you come to think of it, carrying the
genius for private and personal friendship into the man's
dealing with mankind. I have never known anybody in all
my long life who seemed to me to be joined by the heart
strings with so many men and women, wherever he goes, as
Dr. Hale. I know in Worcester, where he used to live; I
know in Washington, where he comes too seldom, and where
for the last thirty-three years I have gone too often, poor
women, men whose lives have gone wrong, or who are crip
pled in body or in mind, whose eyes watch for Dr. Hale's
coming and going, and seem to make his coming and going,
if they get a glimpse of him, the event they date from till
he comes again. To me and my little household there, in
which we never count more than two or three, his coming
is the event of every winter.
"Dr. Hale has not been a founder of a sect. He has never
been a builder of partition walls. He has helped throw
down a good many. But still, without making proclama
tion, he has been the founder of a school which has enlarged
and broadened the Church into the Congregation, and which
has brought the whole Congregation into the Church.
"When he came, hardly out of his boyhood, to our little
parish in Worcester, there was, so far as I know, no Con
gregational church in the country whether Unitarian or of
the ancient Calvinistie faith, which did not require a special
vote and ceremonial of admission to entitle any man to unite
with his brethren in commemorating the Saviour as he de
sired his friends and brethren to remember him by the rite of
the last supper. Until then, the Christian communion was
but for a favored few. Mr. Hale believed that the greater
the sinfulness of the individual soul the greater the need and

EDWARD EVERETT HALE 445
the greater the title to be taken into the fellowship and the
brotherhood of the Saviour of souls. So, without polemical
discussion, or any heat of controversy, he set the example
which has been so widely followed. This meant a great deal
more than the abolition of a ceremonial or the change of a
rubric. It was an assertion of the great doctrine, never
tUl of late perfectly comprehended anywhere, that the
Saviour of men came into the world inspired by the love of
sinners, and not for an elect and an exclusive brotherhood
of saints.
"We are not thinking chiefly of another world when we
think of Dr. Hale or when we listen to him. He has been
telling us all his life that what the theologians call two
worlds are but one ; that the Kingdom of God is here, within
and around you ; that there is but one Universe and not two ;
that the relation of man to God is that of father and child,
not of master and slave, or even of sovereign and subject;
that when man wields any of the great forces of the Uni
verse, it is God also who is wielding them through him ; that
the power of a good man is one of God's powers, and that
when man is doing his work faithfully the supreme power of
God's omnipotence is with him.
"Dr. Hale has done a good many things in his own match
less fashion. He would have left a remarkable name and
fame behind him if he had been nothing but a student and
narrator of history, as he has studied and told it ; if he had
been nothing but a writer of fiction— the author of 'The
Man Without a Country,' or 'Ten Times One is Ten,' or 'In
His Name'— if he had done nothing but organize the Lend a
Hand Clubs, now found in the four quarters of the world ; if
he had been nothing but an eloquent Christian preacher;
if he had been nothing but a beloved pastor ; if he had been
only a voice which lifted to heaven in prayer the souls of
great congregations; if he had been only a public-spirited
citizen, active and powerful in every good word and work
for the benefit of this people ; if he had been only the man
who devised the plan that might have saved Texas from
slavery, and thereby prevented the Civil War, and which
did thereafter save Kansas ; if he had been only remembered

446 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
as the spiritual friend and comforter of large numbers of
men and women who were desolate and stricken by poverty
and sorrow ; if he had been only a zealous lover of his coun
try, comprehending, as scarcely any other man has compre
hended, the true spirit of the American people; if he
had been any one of these things, as he has been, it
would be enough to satisfy the most generous aspiration
of any man, enough to make his life worth living for him
self and his race. And yet, and yet, do I exaggerate one
particle, when I say that Dr. Hale has been all these, and
more? ' ' Edward Everett Hale has been the interpreter of a pure,
simple loving and living faith to thousands and thousands
of souls. He has taught us that the fatherhood and tender
ness of God are manifested here and now in this world, as
they will be hereafter; that the religion of Christ is a re
ligion of daily living ; that salvation is the purifying of the
soul from sin, not its escape from the consequences of sin.
He is the representative and the incarnation of the best and
loftiest Americanism. He knows the history of his country,
and knows his countrymen through and through. He does
not fancy that he loves his country, while he dislikes and
despises his countrymen and everything they have done and
are doing. The history he loves and has helped to write
and to make is not the history of a base and mean people,
who have drifted by accident into empire. It is the history
of such a nation as Milton conceived, led and guided by men
whom Milton would have loved. He will have a high and
a permanent place in literature, which none but Defoe shares.
He possesses the two rarest of gifts, that to give history the
fascination of fiction, and that to give fiction the verisimili
tude of history. He has been the minister of comfort in
sorrow and of joy in common life to countless persons to
whom his friendship is among their most precious bless
ings, or by whose fireside he sits, personally unknown, yet a
perpetual and welcome guest.
r "Still, the first duty of every man is to his own family.
He may be a warrior or a statesman, or reformer, or philan
thropist, or prophet or poet, if he careth not first for his own

EDWARD EVERETT HALE 447
household, he is worse than an infidel. So the first duty of
a Christian minister is still that of a pastor to his own flock.
You know better than I do how it has been here in Boston ;
but every one of our little parish in Worcester, man or
woman, boy or girl, has felt from the first time he or she
knew him, ever afterward, that Dr. Hale has been taking
hold of his hand. That warmth and that pressure abide
through all our lives, and will abide to the end. There are
countless persons who never saw his face, who still deem
themselves his obedient, loving and perpetual parishioners,
"I knew very well a beautiful woman, left widowed, and
childless, and solitary, and forlorn, to whom, after every
other consolation seemed to have failed to awake her from
her sorrow and despair, a friend of her own sex said : ' I
thought you were one of Edward Hale's girls.' The appeal
touched the right chord and brought her back again to her
life of courage and Christian well-doing.
' ' He has ever been a prophet of good hope and a preacher
of good cheer. When you have listened to one of his ser
mons, you have listened to an evangel, to good tidings. He
has never stood aloof from the great battles for righteous
ness or justice. When men were engaged in the struggle to
elevate the race for the good of their fellow men, no word
of discouragement has ever come from his lips. He has re
called no memory of old failure in the past. He has never
been found outside the ranks railing at or criticising the men
who were doing the best work, or were doing the best work
they knew how to do. He has never been afraid to tackle
the evils that other men think hopeless. He has uttered his
brave challenge to foemen worthy of his steel. Poverty and
war and crime and sorrow are the enemies with whom he
has striven.
"I do not know another living man who has exercised a
more powerful influence on the practical life of his genera
tion. He has taught us the truth, very simple, but some
how nobody ever got hold of it till he did, that virtue and
brave living, and helping other men, can be made to grow
by geometrical progression. I am told that Dr. Hale has
more correspondents in Asia than the London Times. I

448 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
cannot tell how many persons are enrolled in the clubs of
which he was the founder and inspirer.
"But I am disqualified to do justice to the theme you
have assigned to me. For an impartial verdict you must
get an impartial juryman. You will have to find somebody
that loves him less than I do. You cannot find anybody who
loves him more. To me he has been a friend and father and
brother and counsellor and companion and leader and in
structor ; prophet of good hope, teacher of good cheer. His
figure mingles with my household life, and with the life of
my country. I can hardly imagine either without him. He
has pictured for us the infinite desolation of the man without
a country. But when his time shall come, what will be the
desolation of the country without the man!
"And now what can we give you who have given us so
much? We have something to give on our side. We bring
you a more costly and precious gift than any jewel or
diadem, though it came from an Emperor's treasury.
Love is a present for a mighty King.
"We bring you the heart's love of Boston where you were
born, and Worcester where you took the early vows you
have kept so well; of Massachusetts who knows she has no
worthier son, and of the great and free country to whom you
have taught new lessons of patriotism, and whom you have
served in a thousand ways.
' ' This prophet is honored in his own country. There will
be a place found for him somewhere in the House of many
Mansions. I do not know what will be the employment of
our dear friend in the world whose messages he has been
bringing to us so long. But I like to think he will be sent
on some errands like that of the presence which came to Ben
Adhem with a great wakening light, rich and like a lily in
bloom, to tell him that the name of him who loved his fellow
men led all the names of those the love of God had blessed."

APPENDIX
THE FOREST OP DEAN
By John Bellows
The Forest of Dean, in Gloucestershire, is one of the very
few primeval Forests of Britain that have survived to this
century. It has just been my privilege to accompany Sena
tor Hoar on a drive through a portion of it, and he has
asked me to write a few notes on this visit, for the American
Antiquarian Society, in the hope that others of its members
may share in the interest he has taken in its archaeology.
I am indebted for many years ' acquaintance with George
F. Hoar, through Oliver Wendell Holmes, to the circum
stance that the Hoar family lived in Gloucester from the
time of the Tudors, if not earlier; and this has led him to
pay repeated visits to our old city, with the object of trac
ing the history of his forefathers. In doing this he has
been very successful; and only within the last few months
my friend H. Y. J. Taylor, who is an untiring searcher of
our old records, has come upon an item in the expenses of
the Mayor and Burgesses, of a payment to Charles Hoar,
in the year 1588, for keeping a horse ready to carry to Cir
encester the tidings of the arrival of the Spanish Armada.
And Charles Hoar's house is with us to this day, quaintly
gabled, and with over-hanging timber-framed stories, such
as the Romans built here in the first century. It stands in
Longsmith Street, just above the spot where forty years
ago I looked down on a beautiful tessellated pavement of,
perhaps, the time of Valentinian. It was eight feet below
the present surface; for Gloucester, like Rome, has been
a rising city.
Senator Hoar had been making his headquarters at Mal
vern, and he drove over from there one afternoon, with a
29 449

450 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
view to our going on in the same carriage to the Forest.
A better plan would have been to run by rail to Newnham
or Lydney, to be met by a carriage from the "Speech
House," a government hotel in the centre of the woods;
but as the arrangement had been made we let it stand.
To give a general idea of the positions of the places we
are dealing with, I may say that Upton Knoll, where I am
writing, stands on the steep edge of a spur of the Cottes-
wold Hills, three and a half miles south of Gloucester.
Looking north, we have before us the great vale, or rather
plain, of the Severn, bounded on the right by the main
chain of the Cotteswolds, rising to just over one thousand
feet; and on the left by the hills of Herefordshire, and the
beautiful blue peaks of the Malvems; these last being by
far the most striking feature in the landscape, rising as
they do in a sharp serrated line abruptly from the plain
below. They are about ten miles in length, and the high
est point, the Worcestershire Beacon, is some fourteen
hundred feet above the sea. It is the spot alluded to in
Macaulay 's lines on the Armada—
Till twelve fair counties saw the blaze on Malvern's lonely height;
and two hundred years before the Armada it was on
"Malvern huUes" that William Langland "forwandered"
till he fell asleep and dreamed his fiery "Vision of Piers
Plowman"— In a somere season, when softe was the sonne
when, looking "esteward, after the sonne" he beheld a
castle on Bredon Hill Truthe was ther-ynne
and this great plain, that to him symbolized the world.
A fair f eld f ul of f olke f onde ich ther bytwyne ;
Alle manere of men ; the mene and the ryche.
Now, in the afternoon light, we can see the towns of Great
and North Malvern, and Malvern Wells, nestling at foot
of the steep slant; and eight miles to the right, but over

THE FOREST OF DEAN 451
thirty from where we stand, the cathedral tower of Worces
ter. The whole plain is one sea of woods with towers and
steeples glinting from every part of it ; notably Tewkesbury
Abbey, which shines white in the sunlight some fourteen
miles from us. Nearer, and to the right, Cheltenham
stretches out under Cleeve Hill, the highest of the Cottes
wolds ; and to the left Gloucester, with its Cathedral dwarf
ing all the buildings round it. This wooded plain before us
dies away in the north into two of the great Forests of
ancient Britain; Wyre, on the left, from which Worcester
takes its name; and Feckenham, on the right, with Droit-
wich as its present centre. Everywhere through this area
we come upon beautiful old timber-framed houses of the
Tudor time or earlier; Roman of origin, and still met with
in towns the Romans garrisoned, such as Chester and Glou
cester, though they have modernized their roofs, and changed
their diamond window panes for squares, as in the old house
of Charles Hoar 's, previously mentioned.
Now if we turn from the north view to the west, we get
a different landscape. Right before us, a mile off, is Rob
in's Wood Hill, a Cotteswold outlier; in Saxon times called
"Mattisdun" or "Meadow-hill," for it is grassed to the top,
among its trees. "Matson" House, there at its foot, was
the abode of Charles I. during his siege of Gloucester in
1643. To the left of this hill we have again the Vale of the
Severn, and beyond it, a dozen miles away, and stretching
for twenty miles to the southwest are the hills of the Forest
of Dean. They are steep, but not lofty— eight hundred or
nine hundred feet. At their foot yonder, fourteen miles off,
is the lake-like expanse of the Severn ; and where it narrows
to something under a mile is the Severn Bridge that carries
the line into the Forest from the Midland Railway. Berke
ley Castle lies just on the left of it, but is buried in the trees.
Thornbury Tower, if not Thornbury Castle, further south,
is visible when the sun strikes on it. Close to the right of
the bridge is an old house that belonged to Sir Walter
Raleigh; and, curiously enough, another on the river bank
not far above it is said to have been occupied by Sir Francis
Drake just before the coming of the Armada. The Duke

452 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
of Medina Sidonia, who commanded the Spanish fleet, was
ordered to detach a force as soon as he landed, to destroy
the Forest of Dean, which was a principal source for timber
for the British navy; and it is probable that the Queen's
ministers were aware of this and took measures in defence,
with which Drake had to do.
Two miles lower than the bridge is the Forest port of
Lydney, now chiefly used for shipping coal ; and as the ex-
Verderer of the Forest resides near it, and he would be able
to furnish information of interest to our American visitor,
we decided to drive to Lydney to begin.
It was too late to start the same day, however; and
Senator Hoar stayed at Upton, where his visit happens to
mark the close of what is known as the "open-field" sys
tem of tillage; a sort of midway between the full posses
sion of land by freehold, and unrestricted common rights.
The area over which he walked, and which for thousands
of years has been divided by "meres" and boundary stones,
is now to be enclosed, and so will lose its archaeological
claims to interest. In one corner of it, however, there still
remains a fragment of Roman road, with some of the paving
stones showing through the grass of the pasture field. The
name of this piece of land gives the clue to its history. It
is called Sandford; a corruption of Sarn ford, from sarnu
(pronounced "sarney") to pave; and fford, a road. These
are Celtic Cornish and Welsh words ; and it should be noted
that the names of the Roman roads in the Island as well as
those of the mountains and rivers, are nearly all Celtic, and
not Latin or Saxon.*
We made a short delay in the morning, at Gloucester,
to give Senator Hoar time to go on board the boat "Great
Western ' ' which had just arrived in our docks from Glouces
ter, Massachusetts, to visit the mother city, after a perilous
voyage across the Atlantic by Captain Blackburn single-
handed. Senator Hoar having welcomed the captain in
his capacity of an old Englishman and a New Englander
* The Whitcombe Roman Villa, four miles east of Upton, stands in a field
called Sandals. In Lyson's description of it, written in 1819 it stands as
Saj-ndells. The paved road ran through the dell.

THE FOREST OP DEAN 453
"rolled into one," we set out for Lydney, skirting the bank
of one arm of the Severn which here forms an island. It
was on this Isle of Alney that Canute and Edmund Ironside
fought the single-handed battle that resulted in their divid
ing England between them.* We pass on to the Island at
Westgate Bridge; and a quarter of a mile further leave it
by Over Bridge; one of Telford's beautiful works. Just
below it the Great Western Railway crosses the river by
an iron bridge, the western piers of which rest upon Roman
foundations. One remarkable thing which I believe I forgot to men
tion to George Hoar as we crossed the Island, is, that
the meadows on both sides of the causeway belong to the
"Freemen" of the city; and that, go back as far as we
may in history, we cannot find any account of the original
foundation of this body. But we have this clue to it—
that Gloucester was made into a Colony in the reign of
Nerva, just before the end of the first century; and in
each Roman colony lands were allotted to the soldiers of
the legions who had become freemen by reason of having
served for twenty-five years. These lands were always on
the side of the city nearest the enemy; and the lands we
are crossing are on the western side of Glevum, nearest
the Silures, or South Welsh, who were always the most
dangerous enemies the Romans had in Britain. Similarly,
at Chester, the freemen's lands are on the west, or enemy's
side, by the Dee. In Bath it was the same.
Immediately after passing "Over" Bridge we might tum
off, if time permitted, to see Lassington Oak, a tree of giant
size and unknown age ; but as Emerson says—
There's not enough for this and that.
Make thy option which of two !
and we make ours for Lydney. A dozen miles drive, often
skirting the right bank of the Severn, brings us to Newnham,
a picturesque village opposite a vast bend, or horse-shoe,
of the river, and over which we get a beautiful view from
the burial ground on the cliff. The water expands Uke a
* Sharon Turner's " Anglo Saxons," Vol. III., Chap. XV.

454 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
lake, beyond which the woods, house-interspersed, stretch
away to the blue Cotteswold Hills; the monument to
William Tyndale being a landmark on one of them— Nibley
Knoll. Just under that monument was fought the last
great battle between Barons. This battle of Nibley Knoll,
between Lord Berkeley and Lord Lisle, left the latter dead
on the field, at night, with a thousand of the men of the two
armies ; and made Lord Berkeley undisputed master of the
estates whose name he bore.
We now leave the river, and turn inland ; and in a short
time we have entered the Forest of Dean proper; that is,
the lands that belong to the Crown. Their area may be
roughly set down as fifteen miles by ten; but in the time
of the Conqueror, and for many years after, it was much
larger ; extending from Ross on the north, to Gloucester on
the east, and thence thirty miles to Chepstow on the south
west. That is, it filled the triangle formed by the Severn
and the Wye between these towns. It is doubtless due to
this circumstance of its being so completely cut off from the
rest of the country by these rivers that it has preserved
more remarkably than any other Forest, the characteristics
and customs of ancient British life, to which we shall
presently refer; for their isolation has kept the Dean For
esters to this hour a race apart.
Sir James Campbell, who was . for between thirty and
forty years the chief "Verderer," or principal government
officer of the Forest, lives near Lydney. He received us
with great kindness, and gave us statistics of the rate of
growth of the oak, both with and without transplantation.
Part of them are published in an official report on the For
est (A 12808. 6/1884. Wt. 3276. Eyre & Spottiswoode,
London) and part are in manuscript with which Senator
Hoar has been presented. Briefly, the chief points are these :
In 1784 or thereabouts acorns were planted in "Acorn
Patch Enclosure" in the Forest; and in 1800 trees marked
A and B were taken from this place and planted opposite
the "Speech House." Two, marked D and F, were drawn
out of Acorn Patch in 1807 and planted near the Speech
House fence. Another, marked N, was planted in 1807,

THE FOREST OP DEAN

455

five and one-half feet high, in the Speech House grounds,
next the road; and L, M, N, X, have remained untrans-
planted in the Acorn Patch.
The dimensions were (circumference, six feet from the
ground), in inches—

A

B

D

F

L

M

N

X

In 1814, Oct.

5, 14f

14

11

9i

15f

181

13

241

1824, Oct.

20, 29i

28|

25f

m

22i

23|

301

321

1844, Oct.

5, 58i

58

45

46

35

341

57

441

1864, Oct.

1, 731

71

59i

671

461

44

731

56

Another experiment tried by Sir James Campbell him
self gave the following results :
Experiment begun in 1861 to test the value, if any, of
merely lifting and replanting oak trees in the same holes
without change of soil, situation, or giving increased space ;
as compared with the experiment already detailed, which
was begun in 1800.
In 1861, twelve oak trees of about 25 years' growth,
which had been self-sown (dropping from old trees after
wards cut down) in a thick plantation, were selected, all
within gunshot of each other, and circumferences measured
at five feet from the ground. Of these, six were taken up
and immediately replanted in the same holes. The other
six were not interfered with at all.

Aggregate admeasurement of six
dug up and replanted. Marked
in white paint 1, 2, 3, &c.
1861, 241 inches.
1866, 37f
1886, 1181
1888, 1251
1890, 1331
1892, 141

Thus proving

Aggregate admeasurement of six
not interfered with. Marked
in red paint 1, 2, 3, &o.
97 iTi/ilioa /'*• ^¦' ^i inches more than the\
^ I iiiL.j-ieo ^ transplanted ones, at starting. /
461
/I. e., the transplanted ones had\
V now regained 10^ inchcB. )
/The transplanted trees In '88 had\
\ outgrown the others by 2 ins. /

118f1231128i3ii

/The transplanted trees in '90 had\
V outgrown the others by 5| ins. )
/The transplanted trees in '92 had'\
I, outgrown the others by 9| ins. /

hat merely transplanting is beneficial to

oaks; the benefit, however, being greater when the soil is
changed and more air given.*
* The Earl of Ducie, who has had very large experience as an arboricul
turist, does not hold the view that oaks are benefited by transplanting, if the
acorns are sown in good soil. In the case of trees that show little or no

456 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
From Lydney a drive of a few miles through pleasant
ups and downs of woodland and field, brings us to White-
mead Park, the official residence of the Verderer, Philip
Baylis. The title "Verderer" is Norman, indicating the
administration of all that relates to the "Vert" or "Green
ery" of the Forest; that is, of the timber, the enclosures,
the roads, and the surface generally. The Verderer 's Court
is held at the ' ' Speech House, ' ' to which we shall presently
come: but the Forest of Dean is also a mineral district,
and the Miners have a separate Court of their own. That
some of their customs go back to a very remote antiquity
we may well believe when we find the scale on which the
Romans worked iron in the Forest; a scale so great that
with their imperfect method of smelting with Catalan fur
naces, etc., so much metal was left in the Roman cinder
that it has been sought after all the way down to within
the present generation as a source of profit; and in the
time of Edward I., one-fourth of the king's revenue from
this Forest was derived from the remelted Roman refuse.
I have a beautiful Denarius of Hadrian which was found
in the old Roman portion of the Lydney-Park Iron Mine
in 1854, with a number of other silver coins, some of them
earlier in date; but when we speak of "mines," the very
ancient ones in the Forest were rather deep quarries than
what would now be termed mines. As we drive along we
now and then notice near the roadside, nearly hidden by the
dense foliage of the bushes, long dark hollows, which are
locally known as "scowles," another Celtic word meaning
gorges or hollows; something like ghyll in the Lake Dis
trict, "Dungeon Ghyll," and so on. These were Roman and
British Hematite mines. If we had been schoolboys I would
have taken Senator Hoar down into a scowl and we should
both have come back with our clothes spoiled, and our arms
full of the splendid hartstongue ferns that cover the sides
and edges of the ravine. But they are dangerous places
satisfactory progress after four years, but are only just able to keep alive,
he cuts them down to the root. In the next season 80 per cent, of them
send up shoots from two to three feet high, and at once start off on their
life's mission.

THE FOREST OF DEAN 457
for any but miners or schoolboys; and I shrank from en
couraging an enthusiastic American to risk being killed in
a Roman pit, even with the ideal advantage of afterwards
being buried with his own ancestors in England ! So I said
but little about them.
The Miners' Court is presided over by another govern
ment officer, called the "GaveUer"; from a Celtic word
which means holding; as in the Kentish custom of "Gavel
kind."* These courts are held in "Saint Briavels" (pro
nounced "Brevels") Castle: a quaint old building of the
thirteenth century, on the western edge of the Forest,
where it was placed to keep the Welsh in check. It looks
down on a beautiful reach of the river Wye at Bigswear;
and it was just on this edge that Wordsworth stood in 1798,
when he thought out his "Lines composed a few miles above
Tintern Abbey," etc.
Five years have passed; five summers, with the length
Of five long winters ; and again I hear
These waters rolling from their mountain springs
With a soft inland murmur. Once again
Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs.
Senator Hoar will recall the scene from the railway below :
the "Plots of cottage ground" that "lose themselves
'Mid groves and copses";
and he will say how exactly the words describe
These hedge-rows ; hardly hedge-rows ; little lines
Of sportive wood run wild,
for they cover yards in width in some places, as he will
remember my pointing out to him. The castle is placed
on the outside of the Forest and close on the Wye, to
guard what was seven centuries ago the frontier of Wales ;
and the late William Philip Price (Commissioner of Rail
ways and for many years member of Parliament for
Gloucester) told me that when he was a boy the Welsh
* I suspect " Gaffer," the English equivalent of " Boss," may be the same
root: i. e., the taker or contractor.

458 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
tongue was still spoken at Landogo, the next village down
the river, midway between Bigswear and Tintern.
Philip Baylis showed us some of the old parchments
connected with the Mine Court; one document especially
precious being a copy of the "Book of Denys," made in
the time of Edward HI. It sets forth the ancient customs
which formed the laws of the miners. At this point the
Verderer had to settle some matter of the instant, but he
put us under the care of a young man who acted as our
guide to one of the ancient and giant oaks of the Forest,
on the "Church Hill" enclosure, about three-quarters of a
mile up the hill above the Park. NichoUs ("History of the
Forest of Dean," page 20) thinks the name Church Hill
comes from the setting apart of some land here for the
Convent of Grace Dieu to pay for masses for the souls of
Richard II., his ancestors and successors.
It was a steep climb; and the evening twilight was com
ing on apace as we followed the little track to the spot
where the old oak rises high above the general level of the
wood, reminding one of Rinaldo's magical myrtle, in
"Jerusalem Delivered":
O'er pine, and palm, and cypress it ascends:
And towering thus all other trees above
Looks like the elected queen and genius of the grove !
Only that for an oak of similar standing we must say
"king" instead of "queen"; emblem as it is of iron
strength and endurance.
It is not so much the girth of the tree as its whole
bearing that impresses a beholder; and I do not think
either of us will forget its effect in the gloom and silence
and mystery of the gathering night.
Resisting a kindly pressure to stay the night at White-
mead, that we might keep to our programme of sleeping
at the Speech House, we started on the last portion of the
long day's drive. The road from Parkend, after we have
climbed a considerable hill, keeps mostly to the level of a
high ridge. It is broad and smooth; and the moonlight
and its accompanying black shadows on the trees made the

THE FOREST OF DEAN 459
journey one of great beauty; while the mountain air les
sened the sense of fatigue that would otherwise have
pressed heavily on us after so long a day amid such novel
surroundings. The only thing to disturb the solitude is
the clank of machinery, and the lurid lights, as we pass a
colliery; and then a mile or two more with but the sound
of our own wheels and the rhythm of the horses' feet, and
we suddenly draw up at an hotel in the midst of the For
est, its quiet well-lighted interior inviting us through the
doorway, left open to the cool summer night air. We are
at the Speech House. We had bespoken our rooms by
wire in the morning: Senator Hoar had a chambre d'hon-
neur, with a gigantic carved four-post bed that reminded
him of the great bed of Ware. His room like my "No. 5,"
looked out over magnificent bays of woodland to the north.
The Speech House is six hundred feet above the sea, and
the mountain breeze coming through the wide open window,
with this wonderful prospect of oak and beech and holly in
the moonlight, — the distance veiled, but scarcely veiled, by
the mist, suggest a poem untranslatable in words, and in
communicable except to those who have passed under the
same spell. We speak of a light that makes darkness
visible; and similarly there are sounds that deepen the long
intervals of silence with which they alternate. One or two
vehicles driving past ; now and then the far-off call of owls
answering one another in the woods— one of the sweetest
sounds in nature— the varying cadence carrying with it a
sense of boundlessness and infinite distance ; and with it we
fall asleep.
If there is anything more beautiful than a moonlight
summer night in the heart of the Forest of Dean, it is
its transformation into a summer morning, with the sparkle
of dew on the grass, and the sunrise on the trees ; with the
music of birds, and the freshness that gives all these their
charm. As soon as we are dressed we take a stroll out among
the trees. In whichever direction we turn we are struck
by the abundance of hollies. I believe there are some
three thousand full grown specimens within a radius of a

460 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
mile of the Speech House. This may be due to the spot
having been from time immemorial the central and most
important place in the Forest. The roads that lead to it
still show the Roman paving-stones in many places, as
Senator Hoar can bear witness ; and the central point of a
British Forest before the Roman time would be occupied
by a sacred oak. The Forest into which Julius Csesar
pursued the Britons to their stronghold, was Anderida,
that is, the Holy Oak; from dar, oak (Sanskrit, dam, a
tree), and da, good. It is worth remarking that this idea
survives in the personal name, Holyoak ; for who ever heard
of "Holyelm," or "Holyash," or a similar form com
pounded of the adjective and the name of any other tree
than the oak? If there is an exception it is in the name
of the holly. The Cornish Celtic word for holly was Celyn,
from Celli (or Kelli), a grove; literally a grove-one; so that
the holly was probably planted as a grove or screen round
the sacred oak. Such a planting of a holly grove in the
central spot of the Forest in the Druid time, would account
for these trees being now so much more numerous round
the Speech House than they are in any other part of the
woods. The Saxon name is merely the word holy with
the vowel shortened, as in TioKday; and that the tree really
was regarded as holy is shown by the custom in the Forest
Mine Court of taking the oath on a stick of holly held in
the hand. This custom survived down to our own times;
for Kedgwin H. Fryer, the late Town Clerk of Gloucester,
told me he had often seen a miner sworn in the Court,
touching the Bible with the holly stick! The men always
kept their caps on when giving evidence to show they
were "Free miners."
The oaks, marked A. B., of whose growth statistics have
already been given, stand on the side of the Newnham road
opposite the Speech House. The Verderer is carrying on
the annual record of their measurements.
We return to the house by the door on the west; the one
at which we arrived last evening. It was then too dark to
observe that the stone above it, of which I took a careful
sketch several years ago, is crumbling from the effects of

THE FOREST OF DEAN 461
weather, after having withstood them perfectly for two
centuries. The crown on it is scarcely recognizable; and
the lettering has all disappeared except part of the R.
We breakfast in the quaint old Court room. Before us is
the railed-off dais, at the end, where the Verderer and his
assistants sit to administer the law. On the wall behind
them are the antlers of a dozen stags; reminders of the
time, about the middle of the present century, when the
herds of deer were destroyed on account of the continual
poaching to which they gave occasion. Many of the cases
that come before the Court now are of simple trespass.
This quaint old room, with its great oak beam overhead,
and its kitchen grate wide enough to roast a deer— this
strange blending of an hotel dining-room and a Court of
Justice, has nevertheless a link with the far distant past
more wonderful than anything that has come down to us
in the ruins of Greece or Rome.
Look at the simple card that notifies the dates of hold
ing the Verderer 's Court. Here is an old one which the
Verderer, Philip Baylis, has kindly sent to Senator Hoar
in response to his request for a copy.
V. R.
Her Majesty's Forest of Dean,
Gloucestershire.
VERDERERS' COURT.
Verderers :
Charles Bathurst, Esq. Sir Thomas H.
Crawley-Boevey, Bart.
Maynard Willoughby Colchester- Wemyss, Esq.
Russell James Kerr, Esq.
Deputy-Surveyor :
Philip Baylis, Esq.
Steward :
James Wintle.
 NOTICE. 
The VERDERERS of Her Majesty's Forest of Dean hereby give
Notice that the COURT of ATTACHMENT of our Sovereign Lady
the Queen for the said Forest will be holden by adjournment, at
the Speech House, in the said Forest, at half-past Two o'clock, in
the afternoon, on the following days during the year 1897, viz.:

462 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
Wednesday, the 27th January ;
Monday, the 8th March ;
Saturday, the 17th April;
Thursday, the 27th May ;
Tuesday, the 6th July;
Monday, the 16th August;
Friday, the 24th September;
Wednesday, the 3rd November;
Monday, the 13th December. James Wintle, Steward.
Newnham, 1st January, 1897.
Many years ago I stood in this Court Room examining
a similar notice, puzzled at the absence of any system or
order in the times appointed for the sittings, which did not
come once a month, or every six weeks ; and did not even
fall twice in succession on the same day of the week.
Turning to the landlord of the hotel I asked, "What is the
rule for holding the Court? When is it held?" "Every
forty days at twelve o'clock at noon" was the reply. Re
flection showed that so strange a periodicity related to no
notation of time with which we are now in touch; it must
belong to a system that has passed away; but what could
this be?
We are reminded by the date of the building we are in
(1680), that the room itself cannot have been used for much
more than two centuries for holding the Courts.
But there was a Verderer 's Court held in several Forests
besides this Forest of Dean, long before the Stuart days.
The office itself is mentioned in Canute's Forest Charter,
dating back nearly nine hundred years; and as at that
period about a third of England was covered with Forests,
their influence must have been very powerful; and local
laws and customs in them must have been far too firmly
established for such a man as Canute to alter them. He
could only have confirmed what he found; much as he
confirmed the laws of nature as they affected the tides at
Southampton !
The next Forest Charter of national importance after
Canute's, is that of Henry III., in 1225. It is clear that

THE FOREST OF DEAN 463
he, again, made no material change in the old order of
things; and in recapitulating the old order of the Forest
Courts, he ordains that the Court of Attachment (called in
Dean Forest the Court of the Speech) was to be held
every forty days. This Court was one of first instance,
simply for the hearing of evidence and getting up the
cases for the ' ' Swainmote, ' '* which came three times a year.
The Swains were free men ; and at their mote evidence was
required from three witnesses in each case, on which the
Verderer and other officers of the king passed sentence in
accordance with the laws laid down in this Charter. From
this Swainmote there was a final appeal to the High Court
of the Judges in Eyre (Eyre, from "error" to wander,
being the Norman French for Itinerant, or, on Circuit)
which was held once in three- years.
The forty-day court was common to all the ancient for
ests of Britain; and that they go back to before the time of
Henry III. is clear from the following extracts from Coke's
Fourth Institute, for which I am indebted to the kindness
of James G. Wood, of Lincoln's Inn.
Cap. LXXIII.
Of the Forests and the Jurisdiction of the Courts
[p 289] of the Forest.
And now let us set down the Courts of the
Forests— Within every Forest there are these
Courts
1. The Court of the Attachments or the Wood-
mote Court. This is to be kept before the
Verderors 'every forty days throughout the year
—and thereupon it is called the Forty-day
Court— At this Court the Foresters bring in
the Attachments de viridi et venalione [&c &c]

*That the Forest Charter of Hen. III. did not establish these courts is
proved from a passage in Manwood, cap. 8, which runs thus : " And the said
Swainmotes shal not be kept but within the counties in the which they have
been used to be kept."

464 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
2. The Court of regard or Survey of days is
holden every third year [&c &c]
*******
3. The Court of Swainmote is to be holden
before the Verderors as judges by the Steward of
the Swainmote thrice in every year [&c]
*******
4.  The Court of the Justice Seat holden
before the Chief Justice of the Forest  aptly
called Justice in eire — — — and this Court of
the Justice Seat cannot be kept oftener than
every third year.
*******
[319] For the antiquity of such Forests ivithin England
as we have treated of the best and surest argument
thereof is that the Forests in England (being in
number 69) except the New Forest in Hampshire
erected by William the Conqueror as a conquerer,
and Hampton Court Forest by Hy 3, by authority
of Parliament, are so ancient as no record or his
tory doth make any m^ention of any of their Erec
tions or beginnings.
Here then we have clear evidence that nearly seven hun
dred years ago the Verderer 's Court was bein^ held at
periods of time that bore no relation to any division of the
year known to the Normans or Plantagenets, or, before them,
to the Saxons, or even, still earlier, to the Romans. We
are, therefore, driven back to the period before the Roman
invasion in Britain, and when the Forest legislation was, as
Csesar found it, in the hands of the Druids. In his brief
and vivid account of these people he tells us that they used
the Greek alphabet; and as he also says they were very
proficient in astronomy, it seems clear that they had their
astronomy from the same source as their literature. Their
astronomy involved of necessity their notation of time.
And the Greeks, in turn, owed their astronomy to the Egyp
tians, with whom the year was reckoned as of three hundred
and sixty days ; and this three hundred and sixty-day year

THE FOREST OF DEAN 465
gives us the clue to the forty-day period for holding the
Forest Courts in Ancient Britain.
We cannot fail to be struck, as we examine the old Forest
customs, with the constant use of the number three, as a
sacred or "lucky" number, on every possible occasion. We
have just seen the role it plays in the Mine Court, with its
three presiding officials, its jury of multiples of three
(twelve, twenty-four, forty-eight) ; its holly stick oath sworn
by three witnesses. We have noticed the Swainmote Court,
also requiring three witnesses, held three times a year, and
subordinate to the Court of Eyre held once in three years ;
to which should be added the perambulation of the Forest
bounds at the same triennial visit in Eyre, when the king's
officers were accompanied by nine foresters in fee {three
threes) and twenty-four jurors {eight threes).
To go fully into the role of the number three in British
traditions would require a profound study; but it may be
useful briefly to note its influence on the Bardic poetry —
the Triads, where the subjects are all grouped in threes.
Nor was this predilection confined to the Island. We find
it affecting the earliest history of Rome itself, with its nine
gods ("By the nine gods he swore") and the nine books
which the Sibyl destroyed by threes, till the last three were
saved. Then we have the evidence in the name nundina*
for a market, that the week was originally a cycle not of
seven, but of nine days; and our own saying that a given
thing is a "nine days wonder" is undoubtedly a survival
from the period when the nine days made a week,f for such
* The Romans meant by nundinas periods that were really of eight days ;
but they made them nine by counting in the one from which they started. So
accustomed were they to this method of notation that the priests who had the
control of the calendar, upset Julius Caesar's plan for intercalating a, day
once in four years ("Bissextile" by insisting that the interval intended was
three years! Augustus was obliged to rectify this by dropping the overplus
day it occasioned.
It is this Roman custom of inclusive reckoning which has led to the
French calling a week huit jours, and a fortnight, une quinzaine.
t The word week comes from wika (= Norsk vika) to bend or turn. The
idea connected with it was no doubt that of the moon's turning from one of
its quarters- to the next. I can remember when some of the people in "the
Island" in Gloucester always made a point of turning any coins they had in
30

466 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
a phrase expresses a round number or unit of time ; not nine
separate days.
Shakespeare had been struck with the relationship of the
nine day week, alluded to in the proverb, to the more modem
one of seven days, as is shown by his very clever juxtaposi
tion of the two in "As You Like It." In Act III., Scene 2,
he makes Celia say to Rosalind
"But didst thou hear without wondering how thy name
should be hanged and carved upon these trees?"
And Rosalind replies
"I was seven of the nine days out of the wonder before
you came"— e^c.
Gloucester, down till the Norman time, and after, was the
great manufactory of the iron brought from the Forest of
Dean. The rdetal was brought up the Severn by barges, to
the quay which stood at the road running straight down
from Longsmith Street (in which Charles Hoar's house
stands), and buried under all this street we find the cinder
and slag of the Roman forges. In Domesday Book (which
was ordered to be drawn up at a Parliament in Glouces
ter in 1083) it states that the City had paid to the King
(^. e., Edward the Confessor) ten dicres of iron yearly.
This is very remarkable, for a dicre was three dozen rods
or bars; so that the whole tribute was three hundred and
sixty bars, or one bar per day for the Druid year of three
hundred and sixty days.*
their pockets when it was new moon and repeating a sort of invocation to
the moon ! How or when the nine day week was exchanged by western nations
for the seven day one, we do not know; but it is likely that it may have been
brought about by the Phoenicians and Jews, who regarded the number seven
as the Druids regarded three — as something especially sacred. They had
much of the commerce of Southern Europe in their hands, and, therefore, a
certain power in controlling the markets, which it would be a convenience to
Jews to prevent falling on the sabbath day. The circumstance that the lunar
month fitted in with four weeks of seven days no doubt made it easier to effect
the change from nundinm.
* For more than a century after Julius Csesar had altered the year to
three hundred and sixty-five days, the Roman soldiers were still paid at the
ancient rate of three hundred and sixty days only, losing the rest as " ter-
¦minalia," or days not counted as belonging to the year! The proof of this
is that in the time of Domitian a soldier's year's pay divided by three hun-
dren and sixty gives an even number of ases.

THE FOREST OF DEAN 467
And now we come back to the Verderer 's Court at the
Speech House with a clear reason for its being held "every
forty days at twelve o'clock at noon."
Forty days was the ninth of the Druid year of three
hundred and sixty, and was a period of five weeks of eight
days each, but which according to the ancient method of
counting were called "nine-days." And the reason the
Court sits "at Twelve o'clock at noon" is because the Druid
day began at noon. Even now, within ten miles of where
I write, the children on Minchinhampton Common, on the
Cotteswold Hills, keep up "old May Day," which was the
opening of the Druid year, though they are ignorant of this.
Boys and girls arm themselves on that day with boughs of
the beech, and go through certain games with them; but
exactly as the clock strikes twelve they throw them away,
under pain of being stigmatized as "May fools!"
Well has Oliver Wendell Holmes put it, that "All things
are in all things!" Even this commonplace list of Court
days in the Forest of Dean becomes a beautiful poem when
the light of such a past shines on it ; just as the veriest dust
of the Krakatoan volcano evolves itself into every color
of the rainbow when it rises into the sunset sky.
Since writing this paper I find that Philip Baylis, the
Verderer of the Forest of Dean, has kindly sent three or
four dozen of young oak trees from the Government planta
tions, to Washington, in order that they may be planted
there and in some other places in the United States, to begin
the century with. The State Department of Agriculture
has arranged for the planting of these oaks, and the periodi
cal record of their measurements, so that a valuable basis
wiU be established for an experiment that may be carried
on for a century, or more; and we, the archasologists of
the nineteenth century, shall have wiped away the stigma
implied in the old Aberdeen Baillie 's remark, that as
Posteerity had never done anything for us, we ought not to
do anything for posteerity!
The Earl of Ducie has sent, accompanying these Forest
of Dean oaks, four small plants, seedUngs from the great
Chestnut Tree on his Estate at Tortworth ; the largest and

468 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SEVENTY YEARS
oldest of its sort in Great Britain. It measures forty-nine
feet round the trunk.
Leaving the Speech House for Coleford and Newland we
descend a steep hill for half a mile, and crossing the rail at
the Station we begin to ascend the opposite rise through
the woods. As the carriage climbs slowly up we keep on
the lookout for the margin-stones of the Roman paving
which here and there show through the modem metaled
surface— pieces fifteen to twenty inches long by about five
inches in thickness, and set so deep in the ground that
eighteen hundred years ' wear has never moved them. They
are buttressed on the outer edge by similar blocks set four
or five inches lower, and themselves forming one side of
the solidly paved water-way or gutter which was con
structed as part of every such road on a steep gradient, to
secure it from abrasion by flood or sudden rush from heavy
rainfall. There are many excellent examples of this in the
Forest of Dean. We are on the watch, however, for some
part where the "margines" remain on both sides of the way.
At last we come upon such a place, and alighting from the
carriage we strain the tape measure across at two or three
points. The mean we find to be thirteen feet and seven
inches. As the Roman foot was just over three per cent.
less than ours, this means that the Romans built the road
here for a fourteen-foot way. So far as I have examined
their roads they were always constructed to certain stand
ard widths— seven feet, nine feet, eleven feet, thirteen feet,
fourteen feet, or fifteen feet.
It is not too much to say that most of the main roads in
England are Roman; but the very continuity of their use
has caused this to be overlooked. All the old roads in the
Forest of Dean have been pronounced by the Ordnance
Surveyors, after close examination, to bear evidences of
Roman paving, although for some centuries since then
wheel carriages went out of use here !
There is a vivid description in Statins of the making of
an imperial-road through such another Forest (if not indeed
this very one!) especially worth recalling here, because it
was written at very nearly the period of the building of

THE FOREST OF DEAN 469
this track over which we are journeying; i. e., near the end
of the first century.
The poet stands on a hill from which he can see the effect
of the united work of the army of men who are engaged in
the construction : perhaps a hundred thousand forced labor
ers, under the control of the legionary soldiers who act as
the engineers. He makes us see and hear with him the tens
of thousands of stone cutters and the ring of their tools
squaring the "setts"; and then one platoon after another
stepping forward and laying down its row of stones followed
by rank after rank of men with the paviours' rammers,
which rise and fall at the sweep of the band-master's rods,
keeping time in a stately music as they advance; the con
tinuous falling and crashing of the trees as other thousands
of hands ply the axes along the lines, that creep, slowly, but
visibly, on through the Forest that no foot had ever trod
den—the thud of the multitudinous machines driving thei
piles in the marshy spaces; the whole innumerable sounds
faUing on the ear like the roaring of a great and vast sea.
The language Statius uses is more simple than mine ; but
this is substantially the picture he gives: and I know of
nothing that so impresses on the imagination the thunder
of the power of the Roman Empire as this creation in the
wilderness, in one day, of an iron way that shall last for all
time. We are here in the sweet silence of a summer morning,
eighteen hundred years after such a scene, and able men
tally to catch some glimpse of it; some echo of the storm
that has left behind it so ineffaceable a mark.
"I intended to ask ydu just now whether the man you
spoke to in the road was a typical native of the district?"
said Senator Hoar. "He was dark and swarthy, with very
black hair and piercing eyes; not at all like the majority of
people we see in Gloucester for instance." "Yes, he is a
typical Forester"; exactly such a man as Tacitus describes
his SUurian ancestors; so Spanish in appearance that he
tries to account for it by remarking that "that part of Brit
ain lies over against Spain"; as if it was such a short run
across the Bay of Biscay to the upper end of the Bristol

470 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP SEVENTY YEARS
Channel that nothing would be more natural than for Span
iards to sail over here with their wives and families and
become Silures !
These Western Britons, both here in the Forest and in
Cornwall certainly remind one of Spaniards. The type is
of an older Celtic than that of the present Welsh people
proper, as some evidences in the language also point to the
occupation being an older one. With respect to this par
ticular district of the Forest and the East of Monmouth
shire, one more element must not be left out of the account:
and that is, that Caerleon was founded by the second legion
being removed to it from Gloucester about the time this
road was made; and that it remained for three hundred
years the headquarters of that legion, which was a Spanish
one raised in the time of Augustus. Forty years ago I
remember being at Caerleon (two and one half miles from
Newport), when I met the children of the village coming
out of school. It was hard to believe they were not Span
ish or Italian!
At all events this part of Britain lies over against Bos
ton; and Americans can cross over and see Caerleon for
themselves more easily than the people could, of whom
Tacitus wrote.

INDEX

INDEX

Abbott, Josiah G., i. 174
Adams, Charles Francis, Jr., i. 155,
197, 424; ii. 147, 261
Adams, Charles Francis, Sr., i. 31,
148, 153, 155, 156, 170, 176, 284,
425; ii. 129, 131, 134, 147
Adams, John, i. 6, 10, 11, 12, 16, 23,
30, 33, 155, 222, 305, 309, 310, 355,
378, 415; ii. 45, 48, 59, 85, 136, 146,
147, 148, 405.
Adams, John Quincy, i. 26, 38, 39,
146, 156, 229, 291; ii. 92, 115, 131,
147, 148, 170, 437
Adams, John Quincy, 2d, i. 357
Adams, Josiah, i. 39 ; ii. 390
Adams, Louisa Catherine, i. 156
Adams, Samuel, i. 5, 290; ii. 92, 440
Adams, Sanford, i. 44
Agassiz, Alexander, i. 422, 424
Agassiz, Louis, i. Ill, 224, 424
Alcott, A. Bronson, i. 73, 74
Alden, Commodore, i. 209
Aldrich, Nelson W., ii. 65, 66
Aldrich, P. Emory, Judge, ii. 378, 379,
431, 432, 433
Aldrich, Thomas B., i. 425
Allen, Charles, i. 30, 116, 128, 132,
133, 137, 146, 148, 154, 160, 162,
165, 170, 178, 180, 190, 368; ii. 379,
401, 407, 408, 409, 412, 418, 419
Allen, Ethan, ii. 85
Allen, Mr. (Missouri), ii. 23
Allerton, Mary, ii. 193
Allison, William B., i. 229, 238, 239,
317, 411, 412, 413; ii. 42, 52, 84,
109, 227 ; character of, i. 238
Allston, Washington, i. 61
Ames, General Adelbert, i. 337
Ames, Fisher, i. 9 ; ii. 332, 342
Ames, Oakes, i. 312, 316, 317, 318, 319,
320, 324

Ames, Oliver, i. 316
Amory, William, i. 422
Andre, John, i. 15
Andrew, Governor John A., i. 6, 153,
168, 169, 255, 302, 333, 335, 343,
350, 357, 359, 425 ; ii. 372, 416, 424
Andrews, General, ii. 3
Anthony, Senator Henry B., ii. 46, 52,
53, 54, 65
A. P. A. Controversy, ii. 278-293
Appleton, T. G., i. 424
Appointments to office procured by
Mr. Hoar, ii. 327-329
April 19, 1775, Musket captured from
British on (see Peirce, Abijah), i.
21; stories of, 49, 50
Armstrong, Mr. (of Pennsylvania),
ii. 266
Arnell, Samuel M., i. 274
Arnold, Benedict, i. 102, 310, 329, 355
Arnold, Matthew, i. 87; ii. 174, 221,
341
Arthur, Chester A., i. 392, 405, 406,
407, 408; ii. 113, 117, 119, 169, 218
 Reasons why he failed to be nom
inated in 1884, i. 405
Ashmun, Eli P., i. 230
Ashmun, George, i. 133, 154
Ashmun, Professor, i. 67; ii. 412
Atchison, David R., i. 187
Atwater, Dr., i. 431
Avery, Edward, i. 345, 358
Bachi, Dr., i. 103
Bacon, Senator Augustus O., ii. 110,
320, 322
Bacon, Leonard W., i. 18, 431
Bacon, Peter C, i. 160; ii. 377, 378,
379, 380, 381, 382, 383, 384, 409
Baker, Amos, i. 49, 50
Baker, Lovell, i. 184

478

474

INDEX

Baldwin, Senator Henry P., ii. 78
Baldwin, John D., i. 192
Baldwin, Roger S., i. 8, 19; ii. 414
Baldwin, Judge Simeon, i. 15, 19
Balfour, Arthur James, ii. 247, 248,
249, 250
Ballou, Adin, i. 292, 293, 295
Bancroft, George, ii. 202, 203, 204,
205, 206, 401
Bancroft, Mrs. George, ii. 202
Bankruptcy bills, ii. 300-303
Banks, Grovernor Nathaniel P., i. 93,
190, 203, 213, 222, 223, 224, 225; ii.
20, 86, 269, 270, 281, 282, 333, 416
 Character of, i. 222 ; speech at
Harvard, 223; great service to
schools and colleges, 224-225
Bar, Worcester, recollections of, ii.
367-386
Barere, i. 329
Barnard, General, i. 271
Barnard, Judge, i. 316
Bartholomew, A. J., i. 377
Bartlett, Dr., i. 59, 61, 74
Bartlett, John Russell, ii. 98
Bartlett, Sidney, i. 178, 186; ii. 355
Batchelder, i. 185
Bayard, Senator James A., i. 317, 318
Bayard, Thomas F., i. 291 ; ii. 41, 53,
65, 66, 07, 69, 108, 133, 145, 148,
149, 170, 171, 236, 237, 238, 239,
306
Baylis, Philip, ii. 456, 458, 461, 467
Beard, Alanson W., i. 406, 409; ii.
328
Beck, Dr. Charles, i. 97-99, 111
Beck, James B., i. 326; ii. 53, 71-73,
102, 103
Beecher, Henry Ward, i. 81; ii. 17,
350-351
Beecher, Lyman, i. 31, 39, 47; ii. 350;
anecdote of, i. 47
Beers, Deacon, i. 15
Belknap, General William W., i. 307,
309, 311, 324, 364, 366, 368
Belknap impeachment, i. 354-368
Bellows, Henry W., ii. 333, 346
Bellows, John, ii. 219, 255, 449
Bent, William H., i. 409
Benton, Senator Thomas H., ii. 53,
245

Bernard, Montague, ii. 130
Bigelow, Chief Justice, i. 166; ii. 381,
382, 393, 419
Bigelow, Edwin Moses, i. 105, 109
Bigelow, Erastus B., i. 159
Bigelow, Francis, i. 181, 182
Biglow, Hosea, i. 55, 295
Bimetallism and silver, ii. 242-253
Bingham, John A., i. 203, 229, 317,
350
Bird, Francis W., i. 192, 193, 289
Birney, i. 145
Bishop, Judge Henry W., ii. 430, 431
Bishop, Joel W., ii. 117
Blackburn, Captain, ii. 452
Blaine, James 6., i. 200, 201, 202,
203, 204, 205, 209, 228, 229, 239,
240, 253, 262, 263, 278, 279, 280,
281, 317, 318, 321, 332, 350, 376,
378, 379, 380, 381, 382, 383, 385,
387, 389, 392, 393, 395, 398, 401,
405, 406, 407, 408, 409, 410, 413,
414; ii. 7, 8, 9, 12, 25, 28, 42, 52,
55, 61, 98, 134, 170, 215, 216, 217,
333
 Character, i. 200 ; relations with
Butler, 200-203; anecdote of, 239;
candidate for nomination for the
Presidency in 1876, 378-380; rea
son why Kentucky delegates re
fused to support his nomination for
President in 1876, 381 ; ill at Milan
in 1888, 409; Republican conven
tion of 1888, 409-421
Blaine, Sir Seymour, ii. 233
Blanchard, Thomas, i. 159
Blatchf ord. Judge, ii. 172
Bliss, Rev. Daniel, i. 70
Bliss, George, i. 31, 331
Bliss, Phoebe, i. 70
Blood, Master, i. 49
Blount, James H., ii. 49, 200, 228,
265
Blunt, William E., i. 410
Bohim, Sir Henry de, i. 59
Booth, Senator, i. 364
Borden, Nathaniel B., i. 186
Bourne, Jonathan, i. 409
Boutell, L. H., i. 8, 12
Boutwell, George S., i. 29, 162, 171,
173, 178, 197, 203, 206, 225, 240,

INDEX

475

241, 242, 317, 318, 325, 326, 327,
366, 384, 386, 387, 389; ii. 3, 4, 55
 Character of, i. 240
Bowditoh, Dr., i. 82
Boy, life of, seventy years ago, i. 40-
59
Boyhood in Concord, i. 40-59
Bradford, Gamaliel, i. 83
Bradford, Governor William, i. 5; ii.
235, 236, 240, 287
Bradford manuscript, return of, ii.
234-241
Bradley, Justice Joseph P., i. 287,
306; ii. 12, 37, 39
Bradshaw, John, i. 38
Breckenridge, John C, i. 332
Brewster, Elder, ii. 240
Briggs, Governor George N., i. 26, 50,
133, 170, 178, 179; ii. 406
Brigham, William, i. 31
Bright, John, ii. 208, 333, 336, 344, 345
Brimmer, Martin, i. 425
Bristow, Benjamin H., i. 376, 380,
381, 382; candidate for nomination
for President in 1876, i. 380
Brooks, George M., i. 53, 225 ; ii. 207 ;
character of, i. 225
Brooks, James, i. 317, 324
BrooTcs, Nathan, i. 56
Brooks, Phillips, i. 424
Brougham, Lord, ii. 208, 337
Brown, John, i. 267, 268
Browne, Sir Thomas, ii. 442
Bruce, Blanche K., ii. 52, 59, 61
Bruce, Robert, i. 58, 59
Bryant, William Cullen, i. 156
Bryan, William Jennings, i. 199; ii.
110, 242, 245, 322, 323
Bryce, James, i. 288
Buchanan, James, ii. 75, 170, 401
Buckingham, Duke of, i. 350
Buckingham, Joseph T., i. 154, 155
Buckminster, Joseph Stevens, i. 90
Buencamino, ii. 324, 325
Buffalo, convention at, i. 187
Buffington, James, i. 227, 228; anec
dote of, i. 227-228
Bulkeley, Peter, i. 62, 75, 76, 77
Bullock, Governor Alexander H., i.
386, 430; refusal of English mis
sion, i. 429-430

Bulwer, Sir Henry, ii. 338
Burchard, i. 408
Burchard, Horatio C, i. 326
Burden, Frederick L., i. 409
Burgoyne, i. 49
Burke, Edmund, i. 199, 422; ii. 145,
330, 357, 338, 342, 440
Burlingame, Anson, i. 153; ii. 120,
121, 122, 282
Burnett, John D., ii. 141
Burnham, Choate, i. 387
Burns, Anthony, i. 180, 182, 185
Burnside, Ambrose E., ii. 52
Burnside, Samuel M., ii. 369
Burr, Aaron, i. 329, 355
Butler, Benjamin F., i. 174, 178, 201,
202, 203, 204, 205, 210, 211, 213,
217, 226, 227, 228, 229, 297, 312,
316, 325, 329, 330, 331, 332, 333,
334, 335, 336, 337, 338, 339, 340,
341, 342, 343, 344, 345, 346, 347,
348, 349, 350, 351, 352, 353, 354,
355, 356, 357, 358, 360, 361, 362,
363, 386, 406, 408; ii. 1, 2, 3, 4,
83, 114, 117, 133, 219, 269
 Law practice, ii. 330; anecdote
of, 331-335; delegate to Democratic
convention, 332; promptly offered
services to Grovernment, 332; his
phrase "Contraband of War," 332;
Governor Andrew's letter to, 333;
English style of, 333, 334; military
career, 335 ; Governor Andrew's
judgment of, 335; defeat at Big
Bethel, 335, 336; retreat from
Fort Fisher, 336; Badeau's account
of, 336, 337; General Grant's ac-
^ count of, 338-342 ; Admiral Porter's
account of, 339 ; Secretary of Na-yy's
message to, 339; Grant requests
his removal, 340; ordered to report
at Lowell, 342; New Orleans bank
transaction, 343; treasurer of Na
tional Soldiers' Home, 344; fiat
money scheme, 344; resolutions of
Republican convention of his dis
trict, 345; statement of Edward
Avery, 345; how elected governor,
345; attack on Commonwealth,
346; attack on citizen soldiery,
346 ; candidate for Republican nomi-

476

INDEX

nation in 1871 and 1873, 348; State
convention of 1871, 348, 349; defeat
of, 349; his letter to the people of
Massachusetts, 350; Mr. Hoar's re
ply to letter, 350-352; speech at
Worcester, 352 ; Mr. Hoar's reply to
same, 352, 353 ; nomination for Con
gress in 1874, 353, 354; explanation
of fiat money scheme, 354; Mr.
Hoar's reply thereto, 354 ; James F.
Rhodes's opinion, 361; influence
with Grant, 361-363; relations with
President Hayes, 363; leaves the
Republican party, 363
Butler, Henry M., ii. 261, 262
Butler, Matthew C, i. 124, 125; ii.
53, 71
Butman, Asa 0., i. 182, 183, 184, 185
Butman riot, i. 180-185
Buttrick John, i. 49
Byington, Judge, ii. 386, 430

Cabot, George, i. 6, 229
Cabot, J. Elliot, i. 424
Calhoun, John C, i. 8, 134, 233, 428,
429; ii. 45, 52, 137, 170, 178, 245,
437
Cameron, Angus, ii. 107
Cameron, Don, i. 381, 384, 388, 390,
391, 392, 398
Cameron, Senator Simon, i. 364, 383;
ii. 7, 46, 52
Campbell, Sir James, ii. 454, 455
Campbell, Lewis D., i. 148
Campbell, Lord, i. 76, 77
Candler, John W., i. 417
Canning, George, ii. 337
Capen, Elmer H., i. 410
Carey, Thomas G., i. 134
Carlyle, Thomas, ii. 212, 221, 254, 331,
439
Carpenter, Senator, ii. 46, 77
Carroll, Charles, ii. 85
Carter, Henry, i. 377
Carter, Thomas H., ii. 251
Cass, Lewis, i. 30, 146, 148; ii. 2, 75,
80, 170
Cass, Miss, ii. 254
Catholics may be trusted with govern
ment, i. 5

Cessna, John (Cessna vs. Myers), i.
269, 270
Chadboume, Paul A., i. 377
Chamberlain, Governor, ii. 12
Chamberlain, Joseph, ii. 145, 149
Chandler, Senator William E., i. 391 ;
ii. 158, 251
Chandler, Zachariah, i. 187; ii. 75, 76,
77, 78, 79
Channing, Ellery, i. 70
Channing, Professor, i. 87, 97, 105, 123,
124
Channing, William Ellery, i. 37, 65,
74, 75, 81 ; ii. 317
Chapin, Henry, ii. 385, 386
Chapman, Chief Justice, i. 79; ii. 431
Chase, Chief Justice Salmon P., i. 2,
209, 282, 283, 284, 285, 286, 287; ii.
2, 21, 77
Chatham, Lord, ii. 337, 342
Chenoweth, Colonel B. P., ii. 62
Chenoweth, Mrs., ii. 3
Cherokees, removal by Georgia terri
bly punished, i. 17
Child, Professor Francis J., i. 100, 105,
109, 121, 128
Chinese treaty, legislation of, ii. 120-
126
Choate, George Cheyne Shattuck, i.
109
Choate, Joseph H., i. 361
Choate, Rufus, i. 18, 23, 101, 110, 133,
136, 138, 140, 141, 143, 152, 154, 157,
178, 230; ii. 35, 333, 348, 351, 352,
353, 354, 355, 356, 359, 388, 390, 400
Christiancy, Judge, ii. 42, 78
Claflin, William, i. 154, 386; ii. 274
Clapp, William W., ii. 116
Clarendon, Lord, ii. 210, 211
 Letter of, ii. 210, 211
Clarke, James Freeman, i. 90, 244, 377,
424; ii. 30, 31
Clarkson, James H., i. 412
Clay, Henry, i. 135, 142, 152, 188, 233,
281, 291, 376; ii. 45, 52, 137, 148,
170, 245, 281, 402
Clay, Senator, ii. 246
Clayton, John M., ii. 170
Clayton, Powell, ii. 61
Cleveland, Grover, i. 198, 249, 251, 268,
408, 409; ii. 28, 49, 138, 139, 142, 143,

INDEX

477

145, 150, 154, 155, 157, 168, 172, 173,
181, 189, 194, 200, 216, 265, 306
Cleveland, judges appointed by, ii.
172-180
aifford, Charles W., i. 387
Clifford, Governor John Henry, ii. 410
Clifford, Judge Nathan, ii. 427
Cobbett, William, i. 334
Cobden, Richard, i. 230
Cockburn, Sir Alexander, ii. 131
Cockrell, Senator Francis M., i. 238;
ii. 53, 84
Codman, Charles R., i. 387; ii. 31
Cogswell, General William, i. 410
Coke, Lord, i. 89; ii. 393
Coke, Richard, ii. 141
Coleridge, Lord, ii. 218, 219, 220, 221
- — ^ Visit to, 219-221; anecdote of,
219-221
Colfax, Schuyler, i. 205, 317, 319, 331,
350
Collins, Patrick A., ii. 240
Colored children, story of New Haven
girls disobeying the law by teach
ing, i. 16
Combe, Dr. George, i. 96
Committee service, House of Repre
sentatives, i. 262-281; revision of
the laws, 262; education and labor,
attempt to abolish Bureau of Edu
cation, 264; railroads and canals
270-274; Eada jetties, 270-274
Howard investigation, 274, 275
Louisiana investigation, 275-278
Union Pacific Railroad's investiga
tion of Credit Mobilier, 278 ; Blaine,
James G., investigation of, 279-281
war claims, principles on which set
tied, ii. 95-97 ; Lafayette statue, 97
purchase of Franklin papers, 98, 99
amendment to rules providing for
laying amendments on the table,
99; amendment to rules for preserv
ing decorum in debate, 100; Mr.
Hoar declined appointment to Com
mittee on Foreign Relations, 109
Conaty, Thomas, ii. 286
Concord, boyhood in, i. 40-59; perma
nence of population, 40; pure de
mocracy, 40; marriage notices in,
48; dialect of boys in, 51; anecdotes

of boys in, 51; games of boys in,
52; studies of boys in, 53; school
discipline, 53, 54; stages in, 56; fa
mous men of, 60-80; men in Con
gressional Library, 60
Congress, election to, i. 192-196
Conkling, Roscoe, i. 205, 243, 317, 318,
376, 379, 381, 382, 384, 389, 392, 393,
394, 395, 401; ii. 7, 42, 44, 4G, 52,
55, 56, 57, 59, 65, 77
Connecticut Compromise, Roger Sher
man author of, i. 11
Constitution, strict and liberal con
struction of; paper in handwriting
of James Madison and Roger Sher
man, ii. 135, 136
Constitutional amendments and Presi
dential Succession Bill, ii. 166-172
Controversy between Senate and Presi
dent Cleveland, ii. 139-144
Coolidge, Joseph, ii. 209
Coolidge, Thomas Jefferson, ii. 209,
215, 217, 218, 227
 Appointment of, to French mis
sion, ii. 212-218
Copley, John Singleton, i. 91
Cornwallis, capture of, i. 55
Corruption, political,''305-315
Corse, General, i. 416, 417, 418, 421
Corthell, Elmer L., i. 272
Corwin, Thomas, i. 233
Cousin, Victor, i. 94
Couture's picture of the decadence of
the Romans, i. 33
Cox, General, i. 306
Cox, Librarian, ii. 210
Cox, S. S., i. 198, 220, 321, 334; ii. 60,
153
Crapo, William W., i. 345; ii. 116, 117,
118
Credit Mobilier, i. 314-324
Creighton, Dr., ii. 238, 240
Creswell, J. A. J., i. 384, 389, 392
Crompton, George, i. 159
Cross, Joseph H., i. 64
CuUom, Senator, ii. 216
Curran, John P., ii. 337
Curtis, General, i. 337
Curtis, Judge Benjamin R., i. 37, 90,
110, 182; ii. 355, 390
Curtis, Burrill, i. 33, 75

478

INDEX

Curtis, Charles P., i. 110
Curtis, Daniel Sargent, i. 110, 111, 124
Curtis, George T., i. 181
Curtis, George William, i. 33, 34, 75,
407; ii. 60, 61, 317, 331
Curtis, Thomas B., i. 110
Cushing, Caleb, i. 173, 234; ii. 131
Cushing, Luther S., ii. 423
Cushing, Justice William, i. 426
Cushman, Robert, ii. 193, 200, 287
Dabney, Lewis S., ii. 421
Dadmun, Appleton, ii. 373, 374
Dalton, Dr. John Call, i. 128
Dalton, Tristram, i. 229
Dana, Richard H., i. 31, 109, 132, 148,
154, 178, 179, 182, 302, 377, 424; ii.
219, 261, 333, 344
Dana, Richard H., Sr., ii. 91
Dane, Nathan, i. 130
Daniel, Senator John W., ii. 184, 185,
186
Daniels, Augustus Enoch, i. 113
Davis, Cushman Kellogg, ii. 193, 194,
195, 196, 198, 199, 200, 312
Davis, David, i. 388; ii. 63, 64, 65,
66, 67, 68, 133, 302
Davis, Horace, ii. 401
Davis, Colonel Isaac, ii. 403
Davis, Jefferson, i. 173, 332, 357, 418,
419; ii. 177
Davis, Mrs. Jefferson, i. 419, 420
 Bill for relief of, i. 421
Davis, John, i. 23, 133; ii. 203, 400,
401, 403, 404, 407
Davis, Robert T., i. 186, 377
Davis, William T., i. 377
Dawes, H. L., i. 35, 178, 201, 202, 203,
204, 213, 220, 228, 229, 231, 232, 234,
264, 285, 317, 326, 350, 364, 416, 429;
ii. 7, 9, 30, 52, 72, 73, 94, 119, 120,
122, 138, 144
 In House of Representatives, i.
201-203; character of, 228-232;
anecdote showing stanch friend
ship of, ii. 119
Day, Jeremiah, i. 15
Day, Jonathan, ii. 375
Day, Sherman, i. 32
Day, William R., ii. 313
Dean, Forest of, journey through, iL
449-470

Debate, personalities in, i. 220-222;
propriety in, ii. 269; anecdote relat
ing to, 269
Delfosse, Belgian Minister, ii. 127, 128
Democrats may be trusted with gov
ernment, i. 4
Depew, Chauncey M., i. 411, 412
Derby, George H., i. 73
Devens, General Charles, i. 166, 168,
169, 368; ii. 9, 10, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36,
37, 39, 40, 295, 328, 333, 370, 378, 379,
417, 418, 419
Devens, Richard, ii. 32
Dewey, Judge Charles A., ii. 428
Dewey, Francis C, ii. 380
Dexter, Franklin, i. 31, 129, 136, 138
Dexter, Samuel, i. 6, 17; ii. 398, 400
De Young, Michael H., i. 412
Disraeli, Benjamin, ii. 212, 333, 336,
345, 346, 347, 348
Dissenting opinions, i. 167
Dix, General John A., ii. 55
Douglas, Frederick, ii. 62
Douglas, Stephen A., i. 189, 332, 345,
357; ii. 80
Downing, Jack, i. 53
Draper, George, i. 293
Draper, General William F., i. 293;
ii. 5
Duskin, George M., ii. 141
Dwight, John S., i. 424
Dwight, President, i. 17
Dwight, Theodore F., ii. 98
Dwinal, James F., i. 377
Eads, James B., i. 271, 272, 273, 274
Eads jetties, i. 270-274
Earle, David M., i. 359
Earle, John Milton, i. 154
Eaton, General, i. 2, 265, 282
Eaton, Dorman B., i. 237
Eaton, William W., i. 364; ii. 53
Edes, Henry H., ii. 36
Edmunds, Senator George F., i. 195,
205, 256, 364, 376, 385, 386, 387, 388,
406, 408; ii. 12, 42, 46, 52, 65, 77,
81, 99, 133, 139, 141, 143, 144, 171,
301, 364
Education, Bureau of, attempt to
abolish, i. 264
Edwards, Jonathan, ii. 439

INDEX

479

Eldridge, Azariah, i. 387
Electoral Commission, i. 369-374
Eliot, President Charles W., i. 89, 127,
425; ii. 30, 31, 238, 294
Eliot, George, i. 22
Eliot, Thomas D., i. 24, 317, 318
Elliott, Robert B., ii. 60
Ellis, Dr. Calvin, i. 104, 106, 128
Ellis, Dr. George E., i. 93
Ellsworth, Fanny, i. 16
Ellsworth, Oliver, i. 8, 10, 11, 12, 13,
15, 16; ii. 45, 52, 245
Emerson, Charles Chauncey, i. 60, 62,
63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 298 ; ii. 412
 Character of, by Webster, i. 63 ;
by Robert C. Winthrop, 67, 68; by
Samuel May, 64; by Harriet Mar-
tineau, 67; by Oliver Wendell
Holmes, 63, 64; by William Ellery
Channing, 65 ; by Ralph Waldo Em
erson, 63-67 ; by Joseph H. Cross, 64
Emerson, Edward W., i. 425
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, i. 26, 32, 37,
48, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 67, 69, 70,
71, 72, 74, 75, 77, 82, 85, 135, 136,
167, 298, 422, 424; ii. 202, 212, 221,
254, 333, 341, 405, 407, 419, 420,
439, 453
Emerson, Rev. William, i. 70
Endicott, WUliam, Jr., i. 425
Endicott, Judge William C, i. 128,
425
England, visits to, ii. 207-262
English Mission, offer of, ii. 294, 295
Erskine, Lord, ii. 198, 336
Eustis, General, ii. 189
Eustis, James B., ii. 53, 188, 189
Evans, T. C, ii. 283, 284
Evarts, Jeremiah, i. 8, 17, 18, 33
Evarts, Mrs. Jeremiah, i. 15, 16
Evarts, Mrs. Mehitable, answer to
Washington, i. 15; dined with Han
cock, 16
Evarts, William M., i. 2, 8, 15, 19, 110,
256, 279, 343, 367, 429, 432; ii. 10,
12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 97, 131, 136, 141,
144, 165, 170, 190, 294, 295, 333, 348
 Anecdote of, ii. 15, 165
Everett, Edward, i. 23, 50, 63, 81, 82,
88, 90, 93, 101, 122, 123, 128, 133,
143, 157, 223, 224, 359; ii. 35, 170,

234, 261, 280, 333, 342, 353, 354, 355,
356, 357, 358, 359, 404, 407
Everett, William, ii. 261
Faith, political, ii. 434; religious, 435
Fane, Frederick, ii. 224, 225
Fane, Mrs., ii. 222, 223, 224
Farm and school, i. 81-85
Farnsworth, General, i. 203, 204, 229,
264
Farquhar, David, i. 410
Farrar, Frederick William, ii. 228
Farrar, George, i. 81
Farrar, Deacon James, i. 81
Farrar, Professor John, i. 81
Farrar, Timothy, i. 81
Farwell, Charles B., i. 412; ii. 216
Fay, A. G., i. 30
Fay, Lucy P., i. 48
Federal Elections Bill, ii., 150-165
Felton, Professor Cornelius C, i. 93,
94, 99, 100, 115, 126, 223, 424
Felton, John, i. 94, 114, 115, 116, 118,
128
Felton, Samuel M., i. 115
Ferry, Senator, ii. 78
Fessenden, William Pitt, ii. 77
Field, Justice, i. 116
Field, Walbridge A., i. 425
Fields, James T., i. 425
Filley, Chauncey L., i. 412
Fillmore, Millard, i. 191, 376
Fish, Hamilton, i. 306; ii. 2, 57, 62,
130, 132, 134, 170
Fish-ball letter, ii. 271-273
Fisheries, ii. 145-149
Fiske, David, i. 402
Fiske, Elijah, i. 402
Fitz, Eustice C, i. 387
Flagg, Augustus, ii. 208
Fletcher, Judge, i. 152; ii. 394, 395
Forbes, John M., i. 377, 424
Fomoni, Dr., i. 409
Forsyth, John, ii. 170
Foster, Alfred D., ii. 415
Foster, Charles, i. 326, 327
Foster, Judge Dwight, i. 368; ii. 414,
415
Fougirot, M., ii. 249, 250
Fowler, Joseph F., i. 317
Fox, Chas. James, ii. 338
Francis, Ebenezer, ii. 395

480

INDEX

Franklin, Sir John, ii. 393
Franklin, William Temple, ii. 98
Franklin Papers, purchase of, ii. 98-
99
Frazer, Professor J. G., ii. 261
Frelinghuysen, Frederick T., ii. 12,
46, 52
French, Daniel Chester, i. 60
Frewen, Moreton, ii. 232, 234, 247, 249,
250
Frothingham, Oetavius B., i. 128
Frye, William P., i. 36, 209, 243, 253,
275, 347, 383, 393; ii. 7, 8, 68, 109,
312
Fugitive Slave Law, trials of, i. 181-
182
Fuller, Chief Justice, i. 4; ii. 173
Fuller, Margaret, i. 74
 Anecdote of, i. 74
Gallatin, Albert, i. 291; ii. 148
Gardner, Henry J., i. 189, 190, 281
Garfield, Abram, i. 402, 403
Garfield, Captain Benjamin, i. 402
Garfield, Edward, i. 402
Garfield, James A., i. 198, 203, 229,
239, 240, 309, 317, 376, 393, 394, 395,
396, 397, 398, 399, 400-405; ii. 8,
11, 12, 56, 57, 168, 216, 236, 333
 Nomination of, by Republican
Convention of 1880, i. 396; pre
vented from declining nomination
by point of order, 396, 397; char
acter of, 399, etc.; ancestry of,
402, etc.
Garfield, Rebecca, i. 402
Garfield, Lieutenant Thomas, i. 402
Garfield, Thomas, Jr., i. 402
Garland, A. H., ii. 53
Garrison, William Lloyd, i. 148, 196,
234
Gaskill, Peter, i. 291
Gaston, William, i. 357, 360
Gaylord, Emerson, i. 410
Gear, John H., ii. 251
Geneva Award and Washington
Treaty, ii. 127-134
George, Joseph J., ii. 296
Gerry, Vice-President, ii. 169
Gibbs, George L., i. 410
Gibbs, Wolcott, i. 424

Gile, William A., i. 410
Gladstone, William E., ii. 212, 219, 333,
336, 338, 344, 345, 346, 347, 348, 349,
359
Godkin, E. L., i. 424
Goldsmith, Oliver, i. 422
Goodhue, Benjamin, i. 229
Good Will and Good Hope, leaaon of
life, i. 3, 4
Goodwin, William W., i. 425
Gordon, General, i. 419, 420; ii. 108
Gordon, John B., ii. 53
Gore, Christopher, i. 230
Gorham, Geo. G., i. 391
Gorman, Arthur P., ii. 164
Gould, Benjamin Apthorp, i. 128
Gould, Judge James, i. 431, 432
Gould, J. Henry, i. 410
Gove, Jesse M., i. 410
Grant, General, i. 22, 173, 197, 198,
200, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 209,
210, 211, 212, 213, 225, 233, 237, 240,
241, 242, 245, 246, 249, 251, 255, 256,
257, 260, 283, 284, 286, 287, 296, 305,
306, 309, 312, 328, 331, 336, 337, 338,
339, 340, 341, 342, 349, 350, 355, 358,
361, 362, 363, 376, 378, 379, 380, 381,
384, 385, 386, 387, 388, 389, 390, 391,
392, 393, 394, 395, 396, 405; ii. 1, 2,
3, 6, 7, 11, 12, 27, 36, 45, 46, 52, 55,
56, 62, 77, 130, 137, 138, 143, 161, 168,
174, 269, 270, 317
 Visit of, to Worcester, i. 203;
messages of, 204, 205 ; veto of Infla
tion Bill, 206-208 ; anecdote of, 206-
210; opinion of Sheridan, 209; dis
like of Sumner, 210, 211
Grant, Mrs., ii. 425
Gray, Asa, i. 422, 424
Gray, Charles Earl, ii. 337
Gray, Francis C, ii. 422, 424
Gray, George, ii. 110, 313, 315
Gray, Justice Horace, i. 105, 110, 111,
128, 163, 164, 417, 422, 424; ii. 172,
328, 364, 376, 377, 392, 398, 420, 422,
423, 424, 425, 426, 427
Gray, Mrs., ii. 425, 426
Gray, John C, i. 425
Gray, William, ii. 422
Greeley, Horace, i. 109, 197, 284, 334;
ii. 18

INDEX

481

Green, Samuel A., i. 360
Greene, J. Evarts, i. 34; ii. 116, 328,
329
Greenleaf, Professor Simon, i. 89, 111,
129, 178, 431, 432
Grenfell, William, ii. 232, 233, 234
Gresham, Sir Thomas, ii. 243
Grinnell, George, i. 27
Grier, Judge, i. 207, 287
Gurney, E. W., i. 425
Guthrie, Dr., ii. 333, 349, 350
Hale, Edward Everett, i. 26, 27, 90,
158; ii. 80, 98, 333, 410, 441, 442, 443,
444, 445, 4'46, 447; friendship for,
444, 445, 446, 447
 Friendship for, ii. 441 ; Mr.
Hoar's address on eightieth birth
day, 441-448
Hale, Ellen Day, ii. 276
Hale, Eugene, i. 229, 238, 256, 393; ii.
7, 227, 310
Hale, John P., ii. 333
Hall, Fitzedward, i. 107, 108, 128
Hamilton, Alexander, i. 15, 16, 229,
247, 250; ii. 58, 105, 112, 243, 244,
245
Hamilton, Single-Speech, i. 113
Hamlin, Senator Hannibal, i. 383, 392;
ii. 7, 52, 81
Hampton, General Wade, ii. 71, 108
Hancock, John, i. 14, 16, 357
Hancock, Madam, i. 14
Hanna, Senator Mark, ii. 316
Harcourt, Sir William Vernon, ii.
218
Harding, Alpheus, i. 387
Hardy, Alpheus, i. 377
Harrington, Jonathan, i. 49, 50
Harris, Dr., i. 125
Harris, Isham G., ii. 186
Harris, William T., i. 265
Harrison, Benjamin, i. 23, 146, 197,
266, 287, 376, 411, 413, 414, 415,
416, 417, 418, 419, 420; ii. 82, 142,
151, 168, 181, 182, 215-218, 306
 Nomination for Presidency, i.
413; character of, 413-420; anec
dote of, 413-421
Harrison, William Henry, ii. 402, 403
Hart, Thomas H., i. 417
31

Hartwell, Shattuck, i. 128; ii. 2
Harvard, John, i. 106
Harvard, sixty years ago, i. 86-130;
alumni dinner, 360, 361
Hastings, family of Mendon, i. 291
Hawes, Dr. Russell L., i. 159
Hawley, General, i. 319
Hawthorne, Nathaniel, i. 60, 69, 70,
424; ii. 200
 Early poetry of, i. 69; married,
69; goes to live in Old Manse, 69;
shyness of, 69, 70
Hawthorne, Mrs., 69
Hay, Secretary John, i. 22; ii. 170,
313
Hayden, Edward D., i. 410
Hayes, Rutherford B., i. 198, 244, 354,
363, 369, 376, 381, 382, 383, 429; ii.
7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 24, 26, 30,
34, 41, 42, 43, 44, 74, 82, 105, 121,
129, 294, 295, 322, 417
 Character of, i. 382 ; oppo
sition to, of Republican leaders,
382, 383; formation of cabinet,
ii. 6-11; veto of Silver Bill, 11;
veto of bill violating treaty with
China, 1 1 ; course in refusing to
support governments in South Car
olina and Louisiana commended,
11-14; cabinet of, 16-44
Hayes, Mrs., sweetness and beauty of,
ii. 14; anecdote of, 14
Hedge, Frederick H., i. 424
Henderson, David B., ii. 303
Hendricks, Vice-President, ii. 168
Henry, John, i. 9
Henry, Joseph, i. 2
Henry, Patrick, i. 9, 10; ii. 163, 185,
332, 341
Henry, William Wirt, i. 9; ii. 163
Herbert, George, i. 39, 129, 161
Hicks-Beach, Sir Michael, i. 345, 346
Higginson, Henry L., i. 425
Higginson, Colonel Thomas Went-
worth, i. 180, 183, 184, 185
Hill, Benjamin H., ii. 106
Hill, Dan, i. 292
Hill, Senator David B., u. 157, 172,
173
Hill, J. Henry, ii. 32
Hill, Thomas, i. 118, 119, 128

482

INDEX

Hillard, George S., i. 178, 179, 180
Hillhouse, Senator James, i. 16, 17
Hillhouse, Mary, i. 16
Hiscock, Frank, i. 411, 412
Hitchcock, President, i. 224
Hitchcock, Senator, i. 364
Hitt, Robert R., ii. 228
Hoar, Alice, ii. 222
Hoar, Charles, ii. 221, 256, 258, 449,
451, 466
Hoar, Daniel, i. 403
Hoar, E. R., i. 19, 30, 33, 61, 74, 134,
136, 140, 141, 146, 148, 149, 150, 151,
154, 176, 182, 198, 209, 234, 240, 241,
286, 287, 289, 306, 349, 353, 354, 366,
377, 422, 424; ii. 1, 12, 46, 60, 77, 130,
133, 381, 388
Hoar, Elizabeth, i. 35, 60, 65
Hoar, George F., i. 22, 27, 28, 32,
33, 34, 35, 36, 64, 162, 197, 199,
205, 208, 209, 267, 273, 276, 277, 293,
367, 368, 377, 387, 407, 409, 415, 417,
418, 419, 420, 423, 424; ii. 5, 23, 30,
32, 37, 42, 60, 73, 107, 116, 141, 156,
157, 178, 180, 194, 231, 250, 251, 257,
258, 270, 273, 292, 295, 298, 316, 322,
324, 325, 383, 384, 409, 434, 442, 449,
452, 453, 456, 457, 459, 460, 461, 469
'  Early plan of life, i. 161,
162; first speech, 162; nomina
tion for Legislature, 162; service
there, 163; practice act, 163; service
in State Senate, 164; speech on the
rights of juries, 164; nomination
for mayor, 165; partnership with
Washburn, 165; offer of place on
Supreme Bench, 165; professional
labor, 166; hard work, 166; presi
dent of Worcester Lyceum, 167;
delegate to Buffalo convention, 187 ;
election to Congress, 192-196; at
tachment to party, 196-200; part in
obtaining legislation against South-
em outrages, 205-206; conflict with
Cox, 220, 221; conflict with Voor
hees, 221; bill for relief of William
and Mary College, 265; bill to re
build same, 265, 266; bill for na
tional education, 265; letter from
Henry A. Wise, 267; case of Cessna
vs. Myers, 269; report on law of

domicile, 269; Eada jetties, 274;
General Howard investigation, 274,
275; Louisiana investigation, 275-
278; tribute from Lucius Q. C.
Lamar, 276; tribute from William
B. Lamar, 277; Credit Mobilier,
278; anecdote of C. P. Huntington,
278; James G. Blaine investigation,
279-281; letter in reply to General
Butler, 350-352; speech in reply to
Butler at Worcester, 352, 353;
speech in reply to Butler's explana
tion of his fiat money scheme, 355-
360; elected president of Harvard
Alumni Association, 360; declined,
360, 361; argument in Belknap im
peachment, 364-366; letter concern
ing same, 366-368; delegate to
Republican Convention of 1876, 377 ;
delegate to Republican Convention
of 1880, 387; president of same, 392;
delegate to Republican Convention
of 1884, 405; delegate to Republican
Convention of 1888, 409; ill at Milan
in 1892, 409; Republican Convention
of 1888, efforts of Massachusetts
delegation to vote for Mr. Hoar,
410, 411; Mr. Hoar's refusal, 410,
411; charge of bigotry and intoler
ance answered, 420, 421; recom
mended Howell E. Jackson for
United States Supreme Court, 420;
recommended General Corse for
Postmaster, 421; recommended
William L. Putnam for Circuit
Judge, 421 ; correspondence with
Oliver Wendell Holmes, 423, 424;
offer of English embassy, 429;
election to Senate, ii. 1-6; kindness
of competitors, 5; recommended
Mr. McCrary for Cabinet, 8; recom
mended Mr. Devens for Cabinet, 9;
committee service in Senate, 94-
112; on Indian affairs, 94; on agri
culture, 94; on patents, 94; on
claims, 95; on revision of laws, 95;
on library, 95; on judiciary, 95; on
relations with Canada, 95; on
woman's suffrage, 95; on rules, 95;
war claims, principles on which
settled, 95-97; author of policy in

INDEX

483

dealing with war claims, 95-97;
purchase of Franklin papers, 98, 99;
Lafayette statue, 97; amendment of
rules for preserving decorum in de
bate, 100; privileges and elections
committee, 100-102; speech on
power of Congress to withhold sup
plies, 102-105; Kellogg case, 105;
report on same, 106, 107 ; declined
membership of committee on for
eign relations, 109; regent of
Smithsonian Institution, 108; vote
on River and Harbor Bill, 112; let
ter defending same, 115; speech at
State Convention in 1883, 116; re
election to Senate in 1883, 117; op
position to Chinese treaty legisla
tion, 120-126; hung in effigy in
Nevada, 120; position on distribu
tion of Geneva award, 134; author
of repeal of tenure of Office Bill,
143, 144; passage of same, 144; John
Sherman remonstrates, 144; speech
on fishery treaty, 149; conduct of
Federal Elections Bill, 156-165; un
popularity at South by reason of
same, 156-165; affectionate message
from John G. Whittier, 157; ad
dress at Chicago, 162; address be
fore Virginia Bar Association, 163;
prepared constitutional amend
ment to change date of inaugura
tion, 166, 167; prepared constitu
tional amendment providing for
Presidential succession in case of
death of President and Vice-Presi
dent elect, 167, 168; author of Presi
dential Succession Bill, 168-171;
action on President Cleveland's
judges, 172-180; letter to Mrs.
Lamar, 180; speech on Isham G.
Harris, 186; relations with Senator
Walthall, 191; tributes to Cush
man Kellogg Davis, 193-201 ; friend
ship with George Bancroft, 202-206;
¦visits to England, 210; visit to Bod
leian Library (see Lord Clarendon's
letter), 210; visit to Sir Thomas
Hughes, 211 ; visit to National Gal
lery, 212, 213; recommended John
D. Washburn for Minister to Switz

erland, 214; recommended Thomas
J. Coolidge for Minister to France,
215; recommended Robert T. Lin
coln, 216; friendship with John
Bellows, 219; procured change of
title of American representatives
abroad, 226-228; attended Tenny
son's funeral, 228, 229; purchase of
Wordsworth Bible, 229; visit to
England in 1896, 231-241; met Sir
John Lubbock, 232; dined with
Moreton Frewen, 232; obtained re
turn of Bradford papers, 234-241;
delivered address at Plymouth, De
cember 21, 1895, 235; visit to Bishop
Temple at Fulham, 234, 235; visit
to England in 1896, 242-253; opin
ions on bimetallism, 242-253; con
ference with Mr. Balfour, 247-250;
letter from Mr. Balfour, 250; con
ference with M. Fougirot, 249 ; cable
despatch to Senator Lodge on plank
in Republican platform, 250; visit
to England in 1899, 254-262; visit
to Isle of Wight, 254; houses
and tombs of ancestors in Glouces
ter, 256, 257; discovery of black
oak chest bequeathed by Thomas
Hoar to Bristol in 1466, 257; re
ceived handsomely carved box from
the Traders' Association, Glouces
ter, England, 257, 258; invited to
receive freedom of city, 258; search
for nightingale, 258-261; visit to
Cambridge, England, 261, 262; visit
to Trinity Church, Cambridge, 261,
262; claim of judges as to visit to
Cambridge, 261, 262 ; drew Massa
chusetts Republican platform in
1884, 263 ; got through measures for
raising judges' salaries, 266, 267;
propriety in debate, 269; anecdote
relating to, 269; reply to charges by
Pittsburg Post of being rich and
living in luxury — fish-ball letter,
271-273; wrote song birds' petition,
274; statute for their relief, 276 ; A.
P. A. controversy, 278-293 ; refused
English embassy, 294, 295; procured
release of Syrian children, 296-299;
had charge of bankruptcy bills, 300-

484

INDEX

303; Philippine Island question,
304-326; oratory and orators, 330-
362; companions at Worcester bar,
367-386; judges known by, 387-433;
political faith, 434; religious faith,
435; address on eightieth birthday
of Edward Everett Hale, 441-448;
journey through the Forest of Dean,
449-470
Hoar, Mrs., i. 8, 399 ; ii. 224, 360
Hoar, John, i. 20, 402; ii. 221, 222
Hoar, Leonard, ii. 221, 222, 225
Hoar, Mrs. Leonard, ii. 225
Hoar, Samuel, i. 20, 22, 23, 24, 25,
26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 35, 37, 38,
39, 44, 59, 146, 148, 154, 176, 402;
ii. 419
 Power as advocate, 22, 23 ; re
sembled Roger Sherman, 23 ; ser
vice in House of Representatives,
23, 24; mission to Charleston, 24-
27 ; reconciliation with people of
Charleston, 27, 28; defeats bill to
abolish corporation of Harvard Col
lege, 28, 29 ; had charge of founding
Republican party, 30; tributes to,
32-38; anecdotes of, 38-44
Hoar, Sherman, ii. 438
Hobart, F. A., i. 387
Hobart, Garret A., ii. 168
Holbrook, Charles A., ii. 373
Holman, i. 203
Holmes, Dr. Oliver Wendell, i. 63,
422, 423, 424; ii. 219, 449, 467
Holmes, O. W., Jr., i. 424; ii. 419
Hood, General, i. 2, 236, 237
Hooker, General Joseph, ii. 33
Hooper, Edward W., i. 425
Hooper, Samuel, i. 213
Hopkins, Archibald, i. 399
Hopkins, Erastus, i. 132, 154
Hopkins, Mark, i. 224, 399; ii. 81,
333
Hopkins, Mrs. Mark, i. 399
Hopkins, W. S. B., i. 387
Hornblower, William B., ii. 172, 173
Horton, N. A., i. 387
House of Representatives in 1869,
members of, i. 222-244
Howard, General Oliver O., i. 274,
275; investigation of, 274, 275

Howard, Jake, ii. 77
Howe, Elias, i. 159
Howe, Estes, i. 425
Howe, Samuel G., i. 132, 153, 424
Howe, Timothy 0., i. 205, 384, 392;
ii. 42
Howells, William D., i. 422, 424
Howland, Joseph A., i. 185
Hughes, Thomas, ii. 211, 212, 345, 346
Hunt, W. M., i. 425
Huntington, Asahel R., i. 137, 138,
139
Huntington, C. P., i. 278, 279
Huntington, Rev. Dr., i. 32
Hurlburt, General, i. 25, 26
Hutchinson, Governor, ii. 236
Hyde, Henry D., i. 377
Hyde, Henry S., i. 409
Inauguration of President, constitu
tional amendment changing date of,
ii. 166, 167
Ingalls, Senator John J., ii. 42, 52,
66, 81, 82, 83, 141, 300, 302
IngersoU, Eben C, i. 221
IngersoU, Robert G., i. 221; ii. 371
Ireland, John, ii. 286
Irving, Washington, i. 33
Jackson, Andrew, i. 65, 428; ii. 47,
137, 138, 143
Jackson, Edmund, i. 170
Jackson, Francis, i. 148
Jackson, Judge Howell E., i. 287,
420; ii. 141, 181, 182, 183, 328
Jackson, James, Jr., i. 67
Jackson, Stonewall, ii. 33, 191
James, Henry, i. 425
James, William, i. 424
Jay, John, i. 15, 16, 305; ii. 68, 69
Jefferson, Thomas, i. 9, 16, 92, 265,
305, 309, 310, 355, 426, 427; ii. 85,
121, 145, 169, 186, 209, 215, 217,
305, 309, 404, 405
Jeffrey, Lord, ii. 337
Jenks, Thomas A., father of Ci-vil
Service Reform, i. 237
Jennison, Dr., i. 126
Jewett, Mr., ii. 216
Johnson, Andrew, i. 213, 240, 245,
247, 248, 249, 252, 256, 296, 31S,

INDEX

485

343, 415; ii. 16, 17, 45, /5, 130, 137,
138, 144
Johnson, George W., i. 387
Johnson, Reverdy, ii. 130, 160
Johnson, Samuel, i. 422
Jonas, Senator, ii. 59, 60
Jones, Senator John P., ii. 42, 52, 120
Jones, Paul, ii. 146
Jouffroy, i. 94, 129
Judges, famous, ii. 387-433
Kasson, John A., i. 326
Kellogg, Governor William Pitt, i.
243, 262; ii. 69, 105, 106, 107, 108
Kellogg case, ii. 105; report on, 106,
107
Kelley, Sir Fitzroy, ii. 235
Kelly, William D., i. 202, 203, 317,
326
Kelsey, Mr., i. 326
Kendall, Edward, i. 55
Kent, Chancellor, i. 15, 89
Kent, Judge, ii. 165
Keppel, Admiral, i. 340
Kernan, Francis, ii. 53
Kerr, Michael C, i. 203, 263
Kettle, Nabby, i. 72
Key, David M., ii. 11, 26
Keyes, Edward L., i. 148
Keywood, Dr. Abiel, i. 48
King, Starr, i. 37 ; ii. 333
King, Rufus, i. 90; ii. 58
King, William R., ii. 168
Knowles, Lucius J., i. 159
Knowleton, Chief Judge, ii. 416
Knowlton, William, i. 387
Know Nothing Party and its over
throw, i. 188-191
Kossuth, Louis, ii. 333, 359, 360, 361
Lafayette statue, ii. 97
Lamar, Justice L. Q. C, i. 201, 275,
276, 277, 310; ii. 41, 53, 173, 175,
176, 177, 178, 179, 181, 191, 333
Lamar, Mrs. L. Q. C, ii. 180
Lamar, W. B., i. 278
Lane, George M., i. 105, 106, 109
Langdell, Professor, i. 118
Lapham, Elbridge G., ii. 65, 66
Laud, Archbishop, i. 80

Lawrence, Abbott, i. 133, 135
Learned, Edward, i. 377
Lee, Colonel Artemus, ii. 432, 433
Lee, General, i. 210; ii. 191
Lee, Richard Henry, i. 9
Legal tender case, i. 286-288
Legislative powers, reservation of
those not granted by Congress to
the States or people, Roger Sher
man author of, i. 13
Leigh, Benjamin Watkins, ii. 402
Leonard, Mrs. Clara, i. 346
Leverett, Governor John, i. 5
Leverrier, i. 100
Lewis, i. 119, 120
Lewis, Dixon H., ii. 68
Liebig, Baron, ii. 253
Liliuokalani, Queen, ii. 265; charac
ter, in justice to, 264
Lincoln, Abraham, i. 21, 22, 227, 245,
274, 296, 376, 389, 400; ii. 30,
32, 63, 64, 75, 78, 80, 120, 168, 174,
217, 221, 304, 362, 406, 408, 413
 Strange vision of, i. 21
Lincoln, Levi, Attorney-General, i. 4,
26, 427 ; ii. 404
 Appointed Judge of Supreme
Court of United States, i. 426;
refusal of same, 426
Lincoln, Governor Levi, Jr., i. 33, 133,
427, 428; ii. 370, 401, 404, 405,
406, 407
 Offered the office of Senator
from Massachusetts, i. 427; refusal
of same, 427-429
Lincoln, Robert T., i. 398; ii. 118,
216, 218, 226, 227
Lindsay, William, ii. 303
Lisle, Lady Alice, ii. 221-225
Lisle, John Lord, ii. 222
Littlefield, William B., i. 410
Livermore, Bradyill, ii. 407
Livermore, Mrs., i. 82
Livingston, Edward, ii. 170
Lloyd, James, i. 230
Lodge, Henry Cabot, i. 12, 196, 387;
ii. 61, 194, 250, 297, 318
Logan, John A., i. 203, 236, 237, 317,
384, 389; ii. 46, 52, 65, 66, 67, 107
 character, i. 236; anecdote of,
236

486

INDEX

Long, John D., i. 299; ii. 5, 31, 117,
143, 310, 321
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, i. 102,
111, 126, 156, 422, 424
Lord, Daniel, ii. 16
Lord, Otis P., i. 80, 178
Loring, George B., i. 377; ii. 215, 216
Loughborough, Lord, ii. 146
Louisiana investigation, i. 275-278
Lovering, William C, i. 387
Lowell, Francis C, ii. 328
Lowell, James Russell, i. 46, 51, 60,
72, 121, 156, 209, 244, 377, 422,
424, 429, 430; ii. 294
Lowell, Judge John, i. 128, 417, 424;
ii. 301, 416, 418, 420
Lubbock, Sir John, ii. 232
Lyman, Theodore, i. 424
Lynch, John R., ii. 61
Lyndhurst, Lord, i. 91; ii. 345
McCall, Samuel W., i. 410, 417
McClellan, General, ii. 32
McCrary, George W., i. 268 ; ii. 8, 10,
24, 25
McEnery, Senator, ii. 322
McGarrahan, i. 10
McKinley, President William, i. 3,
197, 199, 281; ii. 26, 46, 47, 49, 51,
110, 168, 190, 217, 246, 251, 295,
307, 308, 310, 311, 312, 315, 316,
317, 333, 440
 Lesson of his life, i. 5
McLane, Louis, ii. 170
McLaurin, Senator, ii. 322
McLean, C. R., i. 377
McMillan, Senator S. J. R., ii. 114,
141
McPherson, J. R., ii. 53
Macaulay, Thomas B., ii. 338
MacDonald, John A., ii. 130
Mackintosh, John G., i. 410
Madison, President James, i. 426; ii.
85, 135, 136, 138, 170, 404
Mann, Horace, i. 98, 99, 181
Marcy, William L., ii. 170
Marden, George A., i. 387
Margry, M., historical papers, i. 403
Marshall, Chief Justice, i. 89, 265, 287,
427; ii. 170, 185, 387, 391, 426
Martineau, Harriet, i. 67

Marvell, Andrew, i. 64
Mason, Geo.'ge, i. 9
Mason, Jeremiah, i. 18, 23, 43, 431; ii.
400
 Anecdote of, i. 43
Mason, John C, i. 159
Massachusetts, noble quality of people
of, i. 3-6; her leadership in contest
with slavery, 131; political condi
tions in 1848, 133; obstacles to anti-
slavery movement in, 133; Whig
leaders in, 133; Webster's great in
fluence in, 133; model common
wealth, 133; Conscience Whigs, 134;
Cotton Whigs, 134; political history
of, from 1848-1869, 170-187; co
alition in, 170-176; Constitutional
Convention of 1853, 171-180; pro
posed constitution in, 171-180; Re
publican platform, ii. 263-265
Matthews, Stanley, i. 429; ii. 7, 52
May, Samuel, i. 36, 64, 289
Mayhew, Aaron C, i. 193
Maynard, Horace, i. 18
Mellen, Judge Edward, ii. 429, 430
Mellen, James H., ii. 318
Mellen, Prentiss, i. 230
Memmenger, C. S., i. 25
Merrick, Pliny, i. 160, 174, 175; ii.
333, 393, 408, 410
Merrick, Timothy, i. 387
Merrick, William M., i. 268
Merrill, George S., i. 410
Metcalf, Judge Theron, i. 168; ii. 395,
396, 397, 398, 399, 414
Miles, General, ii. 320, 325
Miles, Mr., of Newburyport, ii. 319
Miller, Henry W., i. 207
Miller, John F., i. 124
Miller, Justice Samuel F., i. 264; ii. 12,
24
Miller, Warner, i. 411, 412; ii. 65, 66
Mills, Elijah H., i. 230, 427, 428
Mitchell, Senator John H., i. 364; ii.
52
Mitchell, Rev. Walter, i. 24, 109
Monroe, President James, i. 265, 366;
ii. 170
Montaigne, Michael de, i. 299, 300,
301; ii. 178
Moore, James F., i. 377

INDEX

487

Morgan, Senator John T., ii. 48, 90,
322
Morley, John, ii. 229, 236
Morrill, Senator Justin S., i. 265, 364;
ii. 9, 52, 55, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 92,
108, 199, 307
Morris, Robert, i. 10
Morse, R. M., Jr., i. 387
Morton, Governor Levi P., i. 255; ii.
68, 228
Morton, Marcus, i. 23, 145, 176, 178;
ii. 403
Morton, Marcus, Jr., i. 178
Morton, Oliver P., i. 376, 381 ; ii. 12,
52, 63, 73, 74
Motley, J. L., i. 233, 424; ii. 205, 235
Moulton, Colonel, ii. 2
Moyle's Court, visit to, ii. 221
MuUer, Max, i. 108
Mulligan Letters, i. 279
Murray, Mansfield, Lord, ii. 338
Myers vs. Cessna, i. 269
Myers, Frederick W. H., ii. 261
National education, bUl for, i. 265
Nelson, Knute, ii. 303
Nelson, Justice Samuel, i. 251, 360;
ii. 130
Nelson, Judge Thomas L., ii. 328, 381,
416, 417, 418, 419, 420, 421
Newton, General John, ii. 33
Newton, Rejoice, ii. 369, 370, 371, 372
Niblack, William E., i. 326
Nightingale, ii. 258-261
Normanton, Earl, ii. 224
North, Lord, ii. 336, 440
Northcote, Sir Stafford H., ii. 130, 345,
346
Norton, Andrews, i. 86
Norton, Charies E., i. 422, 424
Nott, Judge Charles C, i. 399
Nourse, Joel, i. 159
Novel reading, i. 59
Noyes, Charles J., i. 410
Nugent, Lord, i. 351
O'Connor, Charles, i. 371
Oglesby, Senator Richard, i. 364; ii. 42
Olmsted, F. L., i. 424
Olney, Richard, ii. 237

O'Neill, Thomas, ii. 286
Oratory and orators, ii. 330-362
O'Reilly, John Boyle, ii. 286, 288
Osborne, Bernal, ii. 333, 345, 346, 347
Osgood, J. Felt, i. 377
Otis, Harrison Gray, i. 90
Otis, James, ii. 121, 426
Packard, Governor, ii. 12, 14, 105, 161
Palfrey, Dr. John G., i. 153, 155, 175,
176; ii. 58, 205
Palmer, Thomas M., ii. 149
Palmerston, Lord, ii. 208, 333, 336, 344
Paper money, Roger Sherman's oppo
sition to, i. 12
Park, Edwards A., ii. 333
Parker, Henry T., ii. 209
Parker, Chief Justice Joel, i. 89, 129
Parker, Theodore, i. 74, 167, 182
Parkman, Francis, i. 128, 403, 424; ii.
205
Parliament, Roger Sherman denied
power of, to legislate for colonies,
i. 12
Parsons, Theophilus, i. 129; ii. 397,
398
Paterson, William, i. 8
Patterson, James W., i. 317, 319
Pauneefote, Sir Julian, ii. 233
Payne, Abraham, i. 148
Peckham, Rufus W., ii. 173
Peckham, Wheeler H., ii. 172, 173
Peirce, Colonel Abijah, i. 20; musket
captured from British, 21 ; singular
death of, 21; strange vision of, 21
Peirce, Professor Benjamin, i. 99, 100,
424
Pendleton, Senator George H., ii. 108
People's Party, nomination of Devens
for Governor by, i. 169
Perce, Legrand W., i. 266
Perkins, Charles C, i. 425
Perkins, Edward N., i. 424
Perkins, Judge J. C, ii. 424
Perry, Nat, i. 103
Peters, Judge John A., i. 235
Petigru, James L., i. 25, 26
Pettus, Senator Edmund W., ii. 322
PhUadelphia Convention, Allen and
Wilson depart from, i. 146; Free Soil
Convention in 1848, call for written

488

INDEX

by E. R. Hoar, 146-148; presided
over by Samuel Hoar, 146; eminent
Free Soil leaders, 152-156
Philippine Island question, ii. 304-326
Phillips, Stephen C, i. 31, 154, 170
Phillips, S. R., i. 377
Phillips, Wendell, i. 61, 167, 182; ii.
35, 331, 333, 354, 361
Phoenix, John, i. 73
Pickering, Edward C, i. 425
Pickering, Timothy, ii. 170
Pierce, Edward L., i. 377
Pierce, President Franklin, i. 173, 376;
ii. 168
Pierce, Henry L., i. 343, 360
Pierce, Phineas, i. 387
Pierpont, Edwards, i. 343
Piper, John J., i. 79
Platform, Republican, ii. 263-265
Piatt, Thomas C, i. 411, 412
Plunket, Mr., ii. 346
Poland, Judge Luke P., i. 203, 233,
234, 264, 311, 321, 324
 Character of, 233-235 ; anecdote
of, 234
Political conditions in 1869, i. 245-253
Polk, James K., i. 376
Pollock, Sir Frederick, ii. 211, 212
Pond, Lucius W., i. 193
Popkin, Dr., i. 126
Porte, Comte de la, i. 103
Porter, Admiral, i. 209, 336, 337, 339,
341, 342; ii. 149
Porter, Dudley, i. 387
Potter, Clarkson N., ii. 41
Power, John, ii. 286
Prescott, Benjamin, i. 14
Prescott, Judge James, i. 23; ii. 387
Prescott, Captain John, i. 402
Prescott, William H., i. 424; ii. 205
President's power of removal, ii. 135-
144
Presidential Succession Bill, ii. 168-
171
Prince, William M., i. 410
Princeton, battle of, Isaac Sherman
led advance, i. 14
Privileges and elections, committee
on, judicial fairness of, 268; ii.
100-102
Pugh, James L., ii. 141

Pumpelly, R., i. 425
Putnam, George, ii. 333
Putnam, Rufus, i. 290
Putnam, Judge William L., i. 417,
418, 421; ii. 420
Quay, M. S., i. 412; ii. 155
Queen Liliuokalani, ii. 264
Quincy, Edmund, i. 424
Quincy, Josiah, i. 33, 88, 91, 93, 143,
223; ii. 360
Quincy, Miss, i. 93
Rainey, Joseph H., ii. 60
Randall, Samuel J., i. 203
Randolph, Peyton, i. 13, 265
Randolph, Mrs., i. 82
Ransom, Matt, ii. 53
Rantoul, Robert, i. 30, 230
Ray, George W., ii. 303
Reconstruction, i. 254-261
Reed, John, i. 133
Reed, Major, i. 272
Reed, Thomas B., i. 197, 253, 266; ii.
110, 143, 167, 171
Reid, Whitelaw, ii. 218, 312
Repeal of tenure of office law, ii. 143,
144
Representative Americans abroad,
style of, ii. 226-228
Republican convention of 1876, i.
375-383
Republican convention of 1880, i.
384-404; candidate in, 384-388;
dangerous plot to control, 388-393;
Roscoe Conkling's speech in, 394,
395 ; Conkling's bad management,
395; nomination of Garfield, 396;
Sheridan interrupts proceedings,
397; influence of Massachusetts
delegation in, 398, 399
Republican convention of 1884, i.
405-408
Republican convention of 1888, con
sultation of delegates, i. 411;
Blaine defeated, 412; Harrison
nominated, 413
Republican Party, foundation of, i.
131-157
Revels, Hiram R., ii. 59
Rhodes, James F., i. 361

INDEX

489

Ribot, M., ii. 218
Rice, Governor Alexander H., i. 296,
386; ii. 9
Rice, Reuben, ii. 77
Rice, W. W., i. 343
Rice, Mrs., ii. 224
Richardson, George W., ii. 416
Richardson, H. H., i. 425
Richardson, William A., i. 325, 326,
327, 328; ii. 3
Ripley, Eben L., i. 409
Ripley, Dr. Ezra, i. 47, 48, 62, 70
Ripley, Mrs. Sarah, i. 60, 82-87
 Her wonderful genius, 82 ; chosen
as example of American womanhood
for the first century, 82; Emerson's
account of, 82, 83; epitaph of, 85
Ripon, Marquis, ii. 128, 130
River and Harbor Bill, ii. 112-119
Roberts, Ellis H., i. 326
Robertson, Judge William H., ii. 56
Robertson, Senator, i. 364
Robeson, George M., i. 209
Robinson, George D., i. 357, 359
Robinson, John, ii. 240, 287
Robinson, William S., i. 78, 79, 80,
155; anecdote of, 79, 80
Rockwell, Frank W., i. 417
Rockwell, Horace, i. 417
Rockwell, Julius, i. 31
Roe, A. S., ii. 276
Rogers, William B., i. 424
Rolle, Lady, ii. 220
Rolle, Lord, ii. 220
Rollins, Edward H., ii. 23
Roosevelt, President Theodore, ii. 11,
25, 26, 61, 292, 296, 297, 298, 325,
329, 443
Rosebery, Lord, ii. 218
Rowse, S. W., i. 425
Ruggles, Dr. Aper, i. 159
Russell, Daniel, i. 387
Russell, E. Harlow, i. 110
Russell, Jonathan, i. 291 ; ii. 148
Russell, Judge Thomas, i. 128; ii. 2
Russell, Lord John, ii. 129, 208, 333,
336, 344
Russell, William A., i. 377, 417
Russell, Governor William E., ii. 153
Russell, William G., ii. 418
Ruttkay, Madam, ii. 360

St. John, Sir John, i. 76
St. John, Oliver, i. 76, 77
St. John, Lord Chief Justice, pa
rentage of, i. 76, 77; settled in
Concord, 76, 77
St. John, William, i. 70
Salaries of judges, ii. 266, 267; mem
bers of Congress, 267, 268
Sales, Don Francisco, i. 126, 127
Saltonstall, Leverett, i. 133
Sanborn, John D., i. 311, 312, 325,
326, 327, 358
Sanborn contracts, i. 325-329
Sandford, John E., i. 377, 387
Sargent, Senator Aaron A., i. 203,
364; ii. 42, 52
Sargent, Horace Biuney, i. 128
Sargent, Dr. Joseph, i. 158
Sargent, Joseph L., i. 410
Saturday Club, i. 422-425
Saulsbury, Eli, ii. 53, 69, 70, 71
Saulsbury, Willard, ii. 70, 71
Saunders, Lord C. J., i. 89
Sa-wyer, Senator Philetus, i. 392
Schenck, Robert C, i. 203, 229, 232,
233, 350; ii. 130; character of, i.
232, 233
Schofield, Glenni W., i. 317
Schouler, General, i. 29, 79
Schurz, Carl, i. 197 ; ii. 10, 27, 28, 29,
30, 31, 55, 60, 317
Schuyler, Mrs., i. 82
Scott, Benjamin, ii. 236
Scott, Walter, i. 58, 168; ii. 425;
"Tales of a Grandfather," i. 59
Scott, General Winfield, i. 376; ii.
400
Sedgwick, Theodore, i. 9
Seelye, Julius H., i. 387
Senate, Roger Sherman, author of
scheme of, i. 11; in 1877, ii. 45-
51 ; leaders of, in 1887, 52-93
Senators, impropriety of appointment
to public places by Executive, ii.
47-51
Sewall, Judge Samuel, ii. 398
Seward, William H., i. 376; ii. 18, 77,
120, 121, 170, 283, 306
Shattuck, George O., ii. 418
Shaw, Henry, ii. 377
Bhaw, Henry W., ii. 377

490

INDEX

Shaw, Judge Lemuel, ii. 23, 89, 160,
168, 178; ii. 353, 355, 370, 371,
387, 388, 389, 390, 391, 392, 393,
398, 413, 428
Sheldon, Lionel A., i. 326
Shellabarger, Judge Samuel, i. 205,
311, 321
Shepley, Judge George F., ii. 34, 416
Sheridan, General Philip H., i. 208,
209, 210, 386, 397; ii. 11, 17, 77,
286, 291, 342
 Interrupts proceedings of Repub
lican convention of 1880, i. 397
Sherman, Colonel A. A., ii. 2
Sherman, Lieutenant- Colonel Isaac, i.
14, 15
Sherman, Isaac, correspondence with
Anthony Wayne, i. 15
Sherman, Captain John, i. 402
Sherman, John, i. 2, 257, 364, 376, 385,
387, 393, 394, 396, 400, 401, 408, 410,
411, 413 ; ii. 10, 11, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23,
24, 26, 46, 52, 55, 77, 97, 98, 99, 144,
151, 170, 171, 251, 363, 364
 Candidate for Presidential nomi
nation in 1888, i. 410; refusal of
Massachusetts delegate to support,
410
Sherman, Joseph, i. 402
Sherman, Rev. Josiah, i. 18, 431
Sherman, Roger, i. 7, 8, 9, 10-14, 19,
23, 48, 431; ii. 97, 112, 135, 136
 His family, i. 7-9 ; author of
clause in Constitution to vote by
States, 12 ; author of reservation of
legislative powers not granted by
Congress to the States or people, 13
Sherman, Roger Minott, i. 18, 19, 431,
432, 433
 Character of, 431-433; anecdote
of, 431-433
Sherman, General William T., i. 2, 18,
22, 209, 236, 340, 386, 407; ii. 19, 21,
23, 24
 Objections to a nomination for
the Presidency, i. 408
Short, Charies, i. 105, 107, 109
Shortley, William, i. 299
Shute, James M., i. 377
Sickles, General Daniel E., ii. 33
Silver and bimetallism, ii. 242-253

Silver Commission of 1897, ii. 251
Simmons, William A., i. 210, 211, 386;
ii. 1, 3
Sims, i. 180
Sinclair, John, ii. 235
Slocum, General Henry W., ii. 153
Smalley, George W., ii. 211
Smith, Charles Emory, ii. 246, 316
Smith, Goldwin, ii. 341
Smith, Nathan, i. 433
Smith, Sidney, i. 53; ii. 17
Smith, Wellington, i. 387
Smithsonian Institution, Regent of, ii.
108
Sohier, Edward D., ii. 423
Song birds, petition of, ii. 274-277;
statute for protection of, 276
Soule, Judge Augustus L., i. 109
South, Robert, i. 129
Southern people may be trusted with
government, i. 5
Southern Senators, ii. 181-192
Sparks, Jared, i. 88, 93, 102; ii. 205
Spofford, Henry M., ii. 106, 107
Spooner, Senator John C, i. 412; ii.
152
Spooner, Lysander, ii. 371
Sprague, Peleg, i. 178
Spurgeon, Rev. Charles H., ii. 333
Stanton, Edwin McM., i. 340; ii. 77
Statesmanship, secret of, to withstand
people on fit occasions, i. 6
Steams, George L., i. 303
Stephens, Alexander H., ii. 60
Sterling, John, ii. 254, 255
Stevens, Frank S., i. 409
Stevens, Henry, ii. 98
Stevens, Thaddeus, i. 239, 268; anec
dote of, i. 268
Stevenson, Adlai E., ii. 68
Stevenson, Andrew, ii. 217
Stewart, Alexander T., i. 241
Stone, Eben F., i. 22, 23
Stone, Dr. Jas. W., i. 162
Stony Point, Isaac Sherman com
manded Connecticut regiment at, i.
14
Storey, Charles, i. 50
Storey, Moorfield, i. 50
Storrs, Dr. Richard S., i. 81
Story, Judge Joseph, i. 89, 91, 427

INDEX

491

Story, William W., i. 424
Stowell, Martin, i. 185
Stringfellow, General, i. I87
Strong, Colonel, i. 391, 392
Strong, Judge William, i. 287; ii. 12
Sullivan, James, ii. 398
Sumner, Charles, i. 6, 30, 79, 132, 148,
153, 162, 168, 171, 178, 180, 185, 186,
190, 192, 197, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214,
215, 217, 218, 227, 230, 255, 256, 257,
262, 295, 301, 302, 335, 350, 359, 366,
403, 425; ii. 2, 3, 6, 46, 53, 54, 59,
60, 76, 77, 78, 92, 176, 178, 179, 180,
283, 317, 333, 347, 404
 Election of, i. 185-187, 213-215
Supplies, power of House to withhold,
ii. 102-105
Sykes, Reuben, ii. 367
Syrian children, release of, ii. 296-299

Taber, Frederick W., ii. 229, 230
Taney, Chief Justice, i. 4
Taylor, General Zachary, i. 30, 146,
148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 376; ii. 32,
168, 401, 413
Taylor, H. Y. J., ii. 257, 259, 449
Taylor, Jeremy, ii. 90, 199, 352
Teller, Henry M., i. 197; ii. 53
Temple, Bishop, ii. 238, 240
Tennyson, Alfred, ii. 196, 197, 228,
229
 Funeral of, ii. 228, 229
Tenure of office law, ii. 143, 144
Terry, General A. H., i. 340, 341, 342
Terry, Mr., of Missouri, ii. 303
Thanksgiving in old times, i. 58
Thatcher, Professor Thomas A., i. 34
Thayer, Adin, i. 192, 227, 289, 290,
291, 292, 293, 295, 296, 297, 299, 300,
301, 302, 303; ii. 4
Thayer, Caleb, i. 291, 295
Thayer, Eli, i. 187, 189, 295; ii. 80
Thayer, Elijah, i. 295
Thayer, Elisha, i. 295
Thayer, Hannah, i. 291
Thomas, Judge Benjamin F., i. 158,
160, 366, 367; ii. 333, 380, 381, 408,
410, 411, 412, 413
Thomas, General George H., i. 2, 236,
237, 404

Thompson, Charles F., i. 357
Thompson, Richard M., ii. 11
Thompson, Richard W., ii. 25, 26
Thoreau, Henry, i. 57, 60, 70, 71, 72
Thoreau, Henry D., anecdote of, i. 57
Thoreau, John, i. 57
Thornton, Edward, ii. 130
Thurman Act, ii. 38
Thurman, Allen G., ii. 53, 103, 133
Tilden, Samuel J., i. 324, 367, 371 ; ii.
8, 11, 42, 43, 44, 67, 74
Tillman, Senator Benjamin R., ii. 150,
305
Torrey, Professor Henry W., i. 113
Torrey, Jay L., ii. 302, 303
Townsend, Martin I., i. 263
Trumbull, Senator Lyman, i. 2, 197,
209
Tuckerman, Edward, i. 128
Tufts, Arthur W., i. 410
Turpie, David, ii. 149
Tweed, William M., i. 348, 352, 360
Tyler, President John, i. 135, 418; ii.
403
Tyner, James N., ii. 27

Union Pacific Railroad's investigation
of Credit Mobilier, i. 278
Upham, Jabez, ii. 397, 425
Usher, Hezekiah, ii. 225

Van Buren, Martin, i. 30, 150 ; ii. 170
Vane, Sir Henry, i. 5
Vedder, Dr. Charles S., i. 27, 28
Vest, George C, ii. 141, 184, 227
Viau, M., i. 102, 103
Vilas, Senator William F., ii. 172,
173
Voorhees, Daniel W., i. 220, 221; ii.
53, 62

Wade, Benjamin F., i. 331
Wadleigh, Senator Bainbridge, i. 364;
ii. 53, 63, 70
Waite, Morrison R., ii. 131
Walcott, Henry P., i. 425
Waldron, Henry, i. 326
Walker, Amasa, i. 192

492

INDEX

Walker, Francis A., i. 424; ii. 5, 33,
252
 Opinion of, on bimetallism, 252
Walker, President James, i. 29, 38,
86, 88, 91, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 124,
223; ii. 333
Walpole, Spencer, ii. 129
Walthall, Edward C, ii. 189, 190,
191, 192
Wanamaker, John, ii. 329
Ward, Samuel G., i. 424
Ware, Dr. Henry, i. 86
Warner, General Willard, ii. 161
Warre, Mrs., ii. 258
Warren, Dr. John C, i. 104
Warrington. See Robinson, William S.
Washburn, Cadwallader C, i. 238,
264
Washburn, Charles G., ii. 318
Washburn, Judge Emory, i. 137, 160,
165, 168, 194; ii. 388, 408, 409,
410, 411
Washburn, Henry S., i. 175
Washburn, John D., ii. 214, 215, 328
Washburn, Governor William B., i.
213, 223, 225, 226, 227, 240, 349,
350, 387; ii. 6, 9, 328, 407, 431
 Character of, i. 225-227
Washbum, William D., ii. 194
Washbume, Elihu B., i. 237, 238,
316; ii. 170
 Character of, i. 237 ; anecdote of,
238
Washington, George, i. 9, 14, 15, 16,
80, 204, 229, 247, 250, 252, 265,
305, 309, 310, 378, 384, 418; ii. 16,
25, 45, 57, 59, 85, 88, 90, 91, 97,
137, 168, 185, 186, 197, 245, 358,
370, 405, 440
Washington Treaty and Geneva
Award, ii. 127-134
Waters, C. H., i. 377
Wayland, Francis, i. 175
Wayne, General Anthony, i. 14, 15
Weatherbee, J. Otis, i. 387
Webb, Judge Nathan, i. 104, 128; ii.
420
Webster, Daniel, i. 4, 6, 18, 23, 27,
33, 43, 62, 63, 64, 81, 98, 99, 131,
133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139,
142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 148, 150,

151, 152, 156, 157, 162, 171, 179,
180, 181, 223, 230, 232, 233, 250,
281, 366, 376, 427, 428, 429, 431;
ii. 17, 36, 45, 52, 78, 92, 115, 137,
170, 178, 232, 234, 245, 281, 283,
306, 331, 332, 333, 336, 353, 355,
356, 387, 394, 400, 401, 404, 406,
408, 413
Webster, Daniel, in Faneuil Hall, i.
135; at Bunker Hill, 135; at Wy-
man trial, 136-139; conflict -with
Judge Allen, 137; at inauguration
of Edward Everett, 143; quarrel
with Huntington, 138; votes on con
firmation of judges in United States
Supreme Court, 141 ; appearance in
Concord of, 142; appearance in
court of, 142; statue of, 152; death
of, 157; before legislative commit
tee, 144; style of, 145; appealed
to by Free Soil convention, 148,
149; letter to E. R. Hoar, 149,
150; appealed to by young men,
151
Webster, Fletcher, i. 149
Webster, John W., i. 101 ; ii. 335
Webster, Julia, i. 151
Weitzel, General, i. 337, 341
Wellesley, Marquis of, ii. 337
Wellington, Duke of, anecdote of, ii.
233, 234
Wells, Daniel, i. 138
Welsh, John, i. 429; ii. 294, 295
Wesson, John, i. 56
Wetherell, Colonel John W., ii. 372
Wheeler, John W., i. 410
Wheeler, William A., i. 242, 243, 244,
275, 369; ii. 52, 61, 68, 74, 81;
character of, i. 242-244
Whipple, Edwin P., i. 424
White, Andrew D., ii. 218
White, Senator Edward D., ii. 173
Whitney, Professor Edward B., 1.
108
Whitney, Eli, i. 159
Whitney, Henry, i. 113, 127
Whitney, M. B., i. 387
Whitney, William, i. 377
Whitney, William C, ii. 153
Whittier, John Greenleaf, i. 156, 289,
303, 422, 424; ii. 157

INDEX

493

Whittredge, Dr., i. 25
Whyte, William P., ii. 53
Wilberforce, Bishop Samuel, ii. 333
Wilbur, Edward P., i. 410
Wilde, Judge Samuel S., ii. 389, 393,
394, 428
Willard, Calvin, ii. 368, 369
Willard, Major Simon, i. 75
William and Mary College, bill for
relief of, i. 265 ; bill to repeal, 265,
266; bill to rebuild, 420
Williams, Archbishop, ii. 286
Williams, Bishop, i. 125
Williams, George H., ii. 130
Williams, John S., of Mississippi, ii.
192
Williams, Roger, ii. 292
Wilmot, Proviso, i. 115; ii. 403
Wilson, Henry, i. 29, 31, 132, 146,
148, 153, 168, 178, 179, 189, 205,
213, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 317,
318, 319, 335, 350; ii. 6, 77, 168,
282
Wilson, Mrs. Henry, i. 318
Wilson, James P., i. 317; ii. 141,
165
Wilson, Jeremiah M., i. 311, 321
Wilson, Senator, from Maryland, ii.
165; anecdote of, 165
Windom, William, ii. 53
Winsor, Justin, ii. 235
Winthrop, John, i. 5; ii. 240

Winthrop, Robert C, i. 67, 68, 133,
157, 185, 223, 230; ii. 87, 184, 185,
235, 333
Wise, Henry A., i. 188, 266, 267
Wolcott, Senator Edward 0., ii. 251
Wolcott, Oliver, ii. 57
Wolcott, Governor Roger, ii. 238, 240,
321
Wood, Rev. Mr., i. 15
Wood, Mrs., i. 16
Wood, Fernando, i. 275, 326
Wood, Nat, ii. 384, 385
Woodman, Horatio, i. 424
Woolsey, President Theodore D., i.
431, 432
Worcester Fire Society, i. 426-430
Worcester, life in, i. 158-169; charac
ter of city, 158; physicians in, 158;
mechanics in, 159; farmers in, 159;
bar of, 160; lyceum, 167
Wordsworth Bible, ii. 229
Wordsworth, William, i. 132, 273;
ii. 229, 230, 353, 457
Wornum, Ralph N., ii. 212, 213; visit
to, at National Gallery, 213
Worthington, Roland, i. 406
Wright, Aldus, ii. 261, 262
Wright, Elizur, i. 181, 182
Wyman, Jeffries, i. 422, 425
Wyman, Tommy, i. 57
Wyman, William, i. 136, 137, 139,
140, 141, 149

YALE UNIVERSITY

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